Page 1: Remembering the FallenBy Lianna Ly
Wednesday, May 10th, 2000
April 17, 2000, the Khmer Student Association (KhSA) at the University of Washington, hosted a Candlelight Vigil. The purpose of this vigil was to commemorate the two million Cambodian lives lost during Pol Pots regime between 1975-1979.
April 17th, 1975, is the day the Khmer Rouge entered the capital, Phnom Penh, and forever changed Cambodian history. The Khmer Rouge evacuated the cities and forced the people to live and work in the countryside. They planned to make Cambodia a self-sufficient country forcing the people to work 12-15 hours a day. The Khmer Rouge persecuted the monks, the educated, and the wealthy. In the end, approximately 2 million Cambodians died, either of persecution, overwork, or starvation.
On April 15, 1998, Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge died. Later the Khmer Rouge defected to the government.
 | | Phatry Pan, co-organizer of the vigil, holds up the article that made the front page of The Seattle Times, Slowly Cambodians Speak Out. Standing beside him is special guest speaker and author, Loung Ung, and co-organizer Lianna Kalyanei Ly. | Student organizers of the vigil were inspired by listening to author Loung Ung speak during their spring break. She is the author of First They Killed My Father. Ung reminded them that this year marked the 25th year since the Khmer Rouge entered Cambodia.
This first annual candlelight vigil brought the Cambodian community together because April 17th, has an emotional connection to every Cambodian alive. KhSA received emails and responses from California, Washington DC to as far as the Philippines, Montreal, and Cambodia.
This vigil was also chance for people outside the Cambodian community to gain awareness that it has been 25 years and not a single Khmer Rouge leader has been punished for the killings of two million human lives. |
