The Absence of Moral Order

Of the four great monsters of the Twentieth Century only one, Adolf Hitler, died an appropriate death and his memory has engendered nearly universal repulsion [outside the Muslim world, that is]. The others, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, all died peacefully and their memories have been honored, even revered, by substantial numbers of people.

Take for instance this disturbing story out of Cambodia.

Pol Pot, one of the most brutal mass murderers of the last century, has become a sort of bookie for those who pray to him for numbers. For many here, he is the guardian spirit of the Dangrek Mountains, curing ailments and dispensing lottery numbers.

People who live here say visitors have plucked the last bits of bone from among the cinders and carried them home for good luck. A casino is being built nearby to capitalize on this spiritual bounty.

Stop for a second and remember what this guy did. He and his followers over a four year span of time killed off -- that's right, executed -- 1.7 million people, fully one quarter of Cambodia's population. He was the man most responsible for the infamous "killing fields."

But today he is remembered with affection.

Here, in one of the last strongholds of the Khmer Rouge before the movement finally collapsed as a guerrilla army in 1998, some of its most reviled leaders are remembered with loyalty and affection.

"The way I see it, he wasn't a bad guy," said Loan Pheap who served under Pol Pot in a women's military brigade and now sells gasoline and plants from her house beside the cremation site.

"I still regard him as my father," she said. "He arranged my marriage because we didn't have any parents. During the wedding he told us to love each other forever, just the way a parent would."

How touching!

Hundreds of people attended his funeral, weeping for a man who is accused of ordering tens of thousands of killings, but whom they remember as a benevolent patron, distributing rice and cattle even as he executed those who broke his austere communist regulations.

As the chieftain of Anlong Veng he banned theft, drunkenness, prostitution, marriage outside the commune, private enterprise, any contact with outsiders and listening to any radio station other than that of the Khmer Rouge, all punishable by death.

That's right -- death for listening to a radio station or talking to anyone from outside the village.

Many people here are bitter about the changes [since Pol Pot's death] - "worse than bad," one farmer said - remembering what they say was a time of purity, order and discipline.

"I loved him," said Yun Hat, a former Khmer Rouge soldier who lost a leg to a land mine just as Ta Mok had. "He gave us everything we needed. We lived in love and happiness. I never saw him commit any crime."

Read it here.

And also note this description of the funeral rites honoring Ta Mok, Pol Pot's right hand man.