Cambodia’s future depends on its poor, discriminated, and marginalised people
I believe the future of Cambodia depends on how the country supports its poor, discriminated, and marginalised people. Inequality will always exist, but all countries that neglect their downtrodden will bear the weight of reproach and the constant risk that immense talent, prospects, and capabilities of the future are being abandoned and lost forever.
In the spirit of helping one of the poorer and more marginalised communities in Cambodia, Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) plans to pilot a new development program in Anlong Veng in 2021. At the foot of the Dangrek Mountains on the remote northern border with Thailand, Anlong Veng has deep connections to Cambodia’s dark past.
Following their brief but brutal rule characterised by the “killing fields” and the deaths of up to two million Cambodians, the Khmer Rouge were ousted from power by Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation Army and Vietnamese forces. It was to the mountains and jungles of Anlong Veng that Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime fled, and from this place continued a guerrilla war for twenty more years.
Youk Chhang
