Bou Meng

Bou Meng

Bou Meng  (Khmer: ប៊ូ ម៉េង) was born in 1941 in Kampong Cham Province, French Indochina (Present Day: Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia.)

His Family (Father: Bou Hak and his Mother: Lay Kat) were Peasants who lived along the Mekong River.

Meng studied at Kor Wat with the Monks since there were very few Schools and Teachers in French Cambodia for the Cambodian People.

There he was taught Khmer Literature, Mathematics and Painting.

In 1953 the French left Indochina and Cambodia became an Independent Country.

In 1956, when he was 15 years old, Meng became a Buddhist Monk.

At the time every Cambodian Family had to have a Monk as it was considered bad luck not to.

At the same time he also studied Painting from a Chinese Painter and a Cambodian Painter who had studied at the Fine Arts University in Phnom Penh.

In 1963, Meng returned to his hometown - Kampong Cham - where he started to work for Cinema Theaters as a Painter.

His job was to paint the pictures for each movie.

It soon earned him a good living, and he married Ma Yoeun.

In 1967 the Cambodian Civil War started between the Cambodian Monarchy under Prince Norodom Sihanouk and the Khmer Rouge Communists under Pol Pot.

Note: Norodom Sihanouk was King of Cambodia from 1941-1955 and again from 1993-2004, but from 1960 until 1970 he was just known as Prince Norodom Sihanouk – Cambodia’s Head of State.

In 1968 Meng also ran a small Painting Shop in Chamkar Leu District of Kampong Cham Province.

On March 18, 1970 Prince Sihanouk was dethroned by a Coup d'état and Lon Nol took power over Cambodian Cities and Urban Areas.

The Rural Areas were controlled by the Khmer Rouge.

From April until July 1970 the United States also fought inside Cambodia against the Khmer Rouge and the North Vietnamese Communists and from July 1970 until April 1973 they bombed Cambodia killing around 150,000 Cambodians on all sides.

Their Son was born in 1972 and their Daughter in 1974.

On April 17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge entered Cambodia’s Capital, Phnom Penh, ending the Cambodian Civil War and starting the Cambodian Genocide.

The Khmer Rouge immediately started to evacuate Phnom Penh and every other Cambodian City.

They used the threat that Americans were going to bomb the Cities to force the 2.5 Million Civilians living in Phnom Penh alone (including the Sick and the Elderly) out of the Capital and into the Jungles.

20,000 People from Phnom Penh were killed by the Khmer Rouge during the Evacuation alone.

The Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot declared Cambodia to be in “Year Zero” of their Communist Society and so went about torturing and murdering: anyone with an Education, anyone who wore Glasses, anyone who spoke a Foreign Language (many Cambodians spoke French because it had been a Colony until 1953), anyone who wasn’t Ethnically Cambodian (ie. Chinese and Vietnamese who had lived in Cambodia for Centuries) and those who were Christian or Hindu or Buddhist.

While Phnom Penh was being emptied Meng was forced by the Khmer Rought into the Capital.

Meng was forced to work at the State Commercial Office, while his Wife Ma Yoeun was assigned to work at a Hospital.

In 1976, he and his Wife were assigned to work at the Rassey Keo Technical School, while their Children were sent to a Children's Center to become indoctrinated in Communist Teachings.

Shortly afterwards Meng and his Wife were sent to the Ta-Lei Cooperative, an Agricultural Working Site used as a Detention Center by the Khmer Rouge.

At Ta-Lei Meng and His Wife had to work from morning to night, sometimes until midnight.

 The supply of food was completely inadequate and consisted of only a daily spoonful of porridge and half a spoonful of soup.

On August 16, 1977 Meng was sent to Security Prison 21.

Security Prison 21 (also known as S-21) was a Former High School that the Khmer Rouge used as a Prison.

20,000 People were tortured at S-21 from 1976-1979 with 18,133 of them murdered by the Khmer Rouge there.

Meng was Interrogated and tortured with bamboo sticks and electric shocks for weeks.

After weeks of torture Meng finally agreed with the Khmer Rouge that he was part of both the CIA and the KGB (despite one being from Capitalist America and the other from Communist USSR.)

After his Forced Confession Meng was made to make Portraits and Paintings of the Khmer Rouge Youths (most of those in the Khmer Rouge were those under 16 years old and illiterate.)

He was told that if the Paintings were lifelike he would be killed.

He continued to make these Portraits in S-21 until 1979.

On January 7, 1979 Meng and the other Prisoners were walked out of S-21, past Choeung Ek (the Killing Fields) and were eventually freed by the Vietnamese Communists who had just started fighting against the Khmer Rouge (who were also murdering Vietnamese Cambodians.)

Bou Meng was only 1 of 7 known People who went into S-21 and survived (out of it’s 20,000 Prisoners.)

He later learned that his Wife was murdered at S-21.

He also learned that his Son and Daughter had starved to death in the Children’s Center.

2.8 Million Cambodian Men, Women and Children were murdered by the Khmer Rouge Communists from 1975-1979.

Security Prison 21 was turned into the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum to honor the 20,000 Men, Women and Children tortured and murdered there from 1976-1979.

Pol Pot died in the jungles of Cambodia in 1998 (he was never brought to justice for his crimes.)

Bou Meng testified at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in 2006.

He has worked at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21) as a Guide and Witness to the Mass Murders.

Meng is still living in Cambodia and is either 84 or 85 years old.