Page 49 - Cornice_Grade 10

“Rise in Power of the Cambodian Dictator”

Kathmandu, Nepal
2nd January, 1975

The nation of Cambodia has been facing desolation for the

past decades, filled with internal and external warfare. In
1955, the nation went through the Vietnamese War. Only this
year did the war come to an abrupt end but it marked the
beginning of a greater hurdle to overcome. The political

party called the Khmer Rouge recently took control over the
government, under the leadership of Saloth Sar, more
commonly known as Pol Pot. His rise in power gave birth to
a completely adversarial nation.

Pol Pot started out as nothing but the son of a farmer but he
made his way up the political ranks from the bottom. He
went on to lead the Khmer Rouge political party as far as

challenging the then government of Lon Nol in Cambodia.
The sole purpose of the Khmer Rouge is to build an agrarian
society throughout the nation. With Pol Pot’s ambition to
make Cambodia an agriculture based self-sufficient nation,

the nation is going through a humanitarian crisis.

The Khmer rouge has deprived Cambodian civilians of
human rights. The Cambodians are now demanded to close

any industries owned and go back solely to agriculture and
farming. Although Pol Pot’s ideology does make sense, the
nation is going backwards in terms of development. “I want
you to know that everything I did, I did for my country” said

Pol Pot famously, justifying his acts of dictatorship.

-Saarthak Pandey