Op-ed day 3: Tuol Sleng, an Opportunity Lost --by Melanie

Visiting Tuol Sleng, the Genocide Museum where approximately 30,000 people were held before being killed, was one of the most disturbing and profound experiences I have ever had.  Since it is the actual physical place where that happened, there is an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and horror that permeates it. The buildings have been virtually unaltered and the actual artifacts, such as torture devices and blood stains on the ceiling, left me with a sickening sense of cruelty. Being in that space with those objects made me connect to the horror the victims experienced in a very intimate way. While I believe that that is exactly what a genocide museum should do, I found it very disturbing that the museum failed to provide any education information about the Khmer Rouge and why the genocide happened.  It was further strange to me that the vast majority of the visitors were foreigners and, though I was one of them, were walking around the site taking photos. It seemed to trivialize the horror that happened there.  Given how recent the genocide is and that there is such a lack of education about it in Cambodia, my concerns were amplified by Theary Seng’s statement that “Cambodians walk away [from  the museum] only thinking that they are cruel people.” As someone who lost her parents to the regime and has spent her life dedicated to advocating for human rights in Cambodia, her concerns that the museum is actually having a negative impact were  deeply troubling to me. While I recognize that there are many reasons why the museum is the way it is, I cannot get rid of the feeling that a grave injustice is being done to the 1.7 million people who died in the genocide. As the principle education forum for Cambodians in learning about it, the failure to include any contextual information does nothing in creating understanding and facilitating reconciliation in a country that’s society is understandably marred by a lack of trust, fear and bitterness.  Given the lack of education about the genocide in Cambodian schools and indeed the general lack of information or conversation about it, the museum is a particularly significant forum. By failing to educate Cambodians, it therefore is a huge opportunity lost.