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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

A Cambodian Prison Portrait - One Year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21


HOLA everyone,

Lie Wen here again.

I'm going to be sharing on the book - A Cambodian Prison Portrait by Vann Nath.


~INTRODUCTION~
Vann Nath is a talented artist, who was one of the lucky 7 survivors of the Khmer Rouge's S-21, known as Tuol Sleng. S-21 was a secret prison where at least 14000 prisoners were tortured and executed! This Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, last from April 1975 to January 1979. The high school, Tuol Sleng, was converted into this prison. Besides the 14000 who were killed, others were indirectly affected. Hundreds and thousands more died of starvation, overwork, or disease. The estimated death toll was MORE than 1 000 000!


~INFORMATION OF THE AUTHOR~
Vann Nath was born into a farming family in 1946 (he is 62 now, with a wife and 3 children). He lived in Battambang, a city northwest of Cambodia. He took up painting, and the 'wonderful' paintings of people being tortured in the book are painted by him. Vann was 'arrested' in December 29, 1977. He did not commit any offence but he was still tortured. Then, Vann became ONE OF THEM! He klled at least four or five people, and some new-born babies. Yes, but he had no choice. If you had a choice, would you become one of them to survive, or rebel and perhaps get executed?

~IN CONCLUSION...~
This book shows the pain and suffering Vann Nath got in the S-21. Though some parts are slightly disgusting ( torture scences, cruel acts ), you will find the book VERY INTERSTING. You will realise how fortunate you are, for being able to live in a safe country like Singapore. Imagine, if you lived in Cambodia, and this happened. Would you be as lucky as Vann and have that SLIM 0.05% chance of surviving? It also adds on to the History of Cambodia, as now S-21 is no longer existing.

IF YOU HAD ENJOYED MY REVIEW, I'M SURE YOU WILL TOO ENJOY THIS BOOK!

THANK YOU!



To really end off, as my previous post had promised, I will show you a video on YouTube about some Americans visiting the Iban Headhuntes.

Roll the 9:38 video and ENJOY!

Um, click here to view the video. You might want to open another page of this blog while the video loads. Once again, ENJOY!



[9:01 PM]


Posted at 9:01 PM, 1 Comment(s)


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