The Four Year Plan
The Communist Party of Kampuchea wrote the four - year plan in early 1976, and the four - year plan was activated from 1977 to 1980. The four-year plan was the policy that called for the collectivization of all private property, placed high national priority on the cultivation of rice. So many people suffered from this four- year plan.
In 1976, everyone was required to bring their private possessions including kitchen utensils to be used collectively. And as the part of the process, Cambodian families were split up and people were assigned to work groups. The husbands and wives were separated; children and parents were separated by force.
People had to suffer from a poor working condition and harsh treatment in the working place. Khmer Rouge forced people to work hard without any proper rest time because the four-year plan aimed at achieving an average national yield of three tons of rice per hectare. This was an impossible task because Cambodians had never forced to produce that much rice before, and as the country had been devastated by war, it was lack of tools, farm animals and healthy force.
The leaders of Democratic Kampuchea divided the country's rice fields into number -one rice fields and simple rice fields. The farmers in the number-one rice fields required more than double tons per hectare than the farmers in the simple rice fields. In addition, the yields increased every year. This means that farmers who were in the number -one rice field suffered even more.
In theory, the crop was divided into four portions. Some of it was intended to feed people; everyone was entitled to received 312 kilograms of rice a year or 0.85kg a day. Some of the remaining crop was to be retained as seed rice and some was to be kept at a reserve. The last and biggest portion of the crop was to be sold abroad to earn foreign exchange, which could then be used to purchase farm machinery, goods and ammunition. Unfortunately, because production almost never reached the required level, almost no rice was saved for the people or for seed. The most of the harvest was used to feed the army and factory workers or exported to China and several other socialist countries. So, in Democratic Kampuchea, almost no one ever had enough to eat. People had only some rice porridge mixed with bit of vegetables. Only the Khmer Rouge and soldiers received cooked rice. All survivors of the regime agree that what they remember most aside from hard labor and execution was the extreme shortage of food.
The leaders also didn’t care about the people's condition. They ignored the miseries that flowed inevitably from overwork, poor living conditions, malnutrition, lack of freedom and basic rights, and untreated diseases even though those made the plan to be implemented.
The reason why Khmer Rouge activated the four-year plan was that the leaders of Democratic Kampuchea hoped to make Cambodia completely independent in both the economic and political spheres, and turn Cambodia from an undeveloped agricultural country to a modern agricultural country. But, the leaders killed man intellectuals, technicians and closed all universities, schools and other educational institutes throughout the country even though educated people are needed to develop country.
People lived in a very poor condition throughout the period of Democratic Kampuchea, and the four- year plan took away people's happiness and dignity.
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 6. Page 26
Source Analysis
Source 4
The Communist Party of Kampuchea wrote the four - year plan in early 1976, and the four - year plan was activated from 1977 to 1980. The four-year plan was the policy that called for the collectivization of all private property, placed high national priority on the cultivation of rice. So many people suffered from this four- year plan.
In 1976, everyone was required to bring their private possessions including kitchen utensils to be used collectively. And as the part of the process, Cambodian families were split up and people were assigned to work groups. The husbands and wives were separated; children and parents were separated by force.
People had to suffer from a poor working condition and harsh treatment in the working place. Khmer Rouge forced people to work hard without any proper rest time because the four-year plan aimed at achieving an average national yield of three tons of rice per hectare. This was an impossible task because Cambodians had never forced to produce that much rice before, and as the country had been devastated by war, it was lack of tools, farm animals and healthy force.
The leaders of Democratic Kampuchea divided the country's rice fields into number -one rice fields and simple rice fields. The farmers in the number-one rice fields required more than double tons per hectare than the farmers in the simple rice fields. In addition, the yields increased every year. This means that farmers who were in the number -one rice field suffered even more.
In theory, the crop was divided into four portions. Some of it was intended to feed people; everyone was entitled to received 312 kilograms of rice a year or 0.85kg a day. Some of the remaining crop was to be retained as seed rice and some was to be kept at a reserve. The last and biggest portion of the crop was to be sold abroad to earn foreign exchange, which could then be used to purchase farm machinery, goods and ammunition. Unfortunately, because production almost never reached the required level, almost no rice was saved for the people or for seed. The most of the harvest was used to feed the army and factory workers or exported to China and several other socialist countries. So, in Democratic Kampuchea, almost no one ever had enough to eat. People had only some rice porridge mixed with bit of vegetables. Only the Khmer Rouge and soldiers received cooked rice. All survivors of the regime agree that what they remember most aside from hard labor and execution was the extreme shortage of food.
The leaders also didn’t care about the people's condition. They ignored the miseries that flowed inevitably from overwork, poor living conditions, malnutrition, lack of freedom and basic rights, and untreated diseases even though those made the plan to be implemented.
The reason why Khmer Rouge activated the four-year plan was that the leaders of Democratic Kampuchea hoped to make Cambodia completely independent in both the economic and political spheres, and turn Cambodia from an undeveloped agricultural country to a modern agricultural country. But, the leaders killed man intellectuals, technicians and closed all universities, schools and other educational institutes throughout the country even though educated people are needed to develop country.
People lived in a very poor condition throughout the period of Democratic Kampuchea, and the four- year plan took away people's happiness and dignity.
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 6. Page 26
Source Analysis
Source 4
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 6. Page 28
This source is an interview by from Um Saret, a 57-year-old woman living in Phnom Penh. It is taken from the history of democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) book and was published by Khamboly, Dy, who has worked for the documentation center of Cambodia since 2003. this interview contains a woman talking about her experiences during the creation of two new social systems. Um Saret describes how painful life was without enough to eat in the source.
The purpose of this source is to convey the miserable life under the Khmer Rouge's four year plan, to report Khmer Rouge's poor care of the people, and to support the fact that Khmer Rouge violated the human rights. The author chose the interview format because it is an effective format of source which clearly shows how the four year plan affected individual's life in a very negative way and how much people suffered from it. This interview is from a person who has really experienced the cruel treatments, so it has high reliability and it gives more faith to the audience. The audience will take the issue more seriously as they know that those cruel and unbelievably sad things happened to people. It can also make the Khmer Rouge look worse by induce a sympathetic feeling of audience. The source is basically saying that people starved to death under the Khmer Rouge. People even ate such things as tadpoles, poisonous snake and arum. We can tell that Um Saret is having a negative perspective towards the Khmer Rouge. From this source, we can tell that the source is referring to the time period when the Khmer Rouge was ruling Cambodia and when it forced people to work hard without any proper rest time because the four-year plan aimed at achieving an average national yield of three tons of rice per hectare. This piece was created when people kept died because of poor working condition, lack of nutrition and diseases. This source is reflecting it by state what people ate instead of food, showing deaths, and how much they suffered because of starvation. Even children were suffering from hunger and they got sick by eating poisonous things. The controversies that can be tell by this source is that Khmer Rouge violated human rights. Neither food nor medical care was provided for people, and they were even threatened. “The unit chief said, 'You behave with very low character. Be careful! Angkar will take you for execution.'" from the source shows that people lived in fear. The limitation of this source is that it is only talking about the starvation and the pain that people who worked in the rice field got. The four-year plan is not all that. This source is missing information about killing intellectuals, closed technicians, universities, schools and other educational institutes throughout the country.
Source 5
This source is an interview by from Um Saret, a 57-year-old woman living in Phnom Penh. It is taken from the history of democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) book and was published by Khamboly, Dy, who has worked for the documentation center of Cambodia since 2003. this interview contains a woman talking about her experiences during the creation of two new social systems. Um Saret describes how painful life was without enough to eat in the source.
The purpose of this source is to convey the miserable life under the Khmer Rouge's four year plan, to report Khmer Rouge's poor care of the people, and to support the fact that Khmer Rouge violated the human rights. The author chose the interview format because it is an effective format of source which clearly shows how the four year plan affected individual's life in a very negative way and how much people suffered from it. This interview is from a person who has really experienced the cruel treatments, so it has high reliability and it gives more faith to the audience. The audience will take the issue more seriously as they know that those cruel and unbelievably sad things happened to people. It can also make the Khmer Rouge look worse by induce a sympathetic feeling of audience. The source is basically saying that people starved to death under the Khmer Rouge. People even ate such things as tadpoles, poisonous snake and arum. We can tell that Um Saret is having a negative perspective towards the Khmer Rouge. From this source, we can tell that the source is referring to the time period when the Khmer Rouge was ruling Cambodia and when it forced people to work hard without any proper rest time because the four-year plan aimed at achieving an average national yield of three tons of rice per hectare. This piece was created when people kept died because of poor working condition, lack of nutrition and diseases. This source is reflecting it by state what people ate instead of food, showing deaths, and how much they suffered because of starvation. Even children were suffering from hunger and they got sick by eating poisonous things. The controversies that can be tell by this source is that Khmer Rouge violated human rights. Neither food nor medical care was provided for people, and they were even threatened. “The unit chief said, 'You behave with very low character. Be careful! Angkar will take you for execution.'" from the source shows that people lived in fear. The limitation of this source is that it is only talking about the starvation and the pain that people who worked in the rice field got. The four-year plan is not all that. This source is missing information about killing intellectuals, closed technicians, universities, schools and other educational institutes throughout the country.
Source 5
Khamboly, Dy. A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) . [Phnom Penh, Cambodia]: Documentation Center of Cambodia, 2007 . Print. Chapter 6. Page 28
This source is taken from the history of democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) book and was published by Khamboly, Dy, who has worked for the documentation center of Cambodia since 2003. This interview contains a woman talking about her experiences during the creation of two new social systems. It is a photo of people transporting dirt on an irrigation project. The purpose of this source is to show the poor working condition and type of work that people had to do. The author chose this particular format because as this source is a picture, we, the audience an really see what happened in the Khmer Rouge regime and how was like it visually. This gives clearer and stronger impact on people than just a type of reading. This source tells that people had to work very hard in a harsh condition under the Khmer Rouge regime. Through this source, we can tell that the time period is when Khmer Rouge was ruling Cambodia and when the was activating the four-year plan, so it will be around 1977 to 1980. This piece was created under the circumstance when people were forced to work without rest and without getting enough nutrition to keep the energy. The environment, people's facial expression and their skinny body shape reflects the circumstance.
The limitation of this source is that it doesn’t have any explanation. It is just a one picture of people working. If I didn’t know that this is showing the working condition under the Khmer Rouge, I wouldn’t be able to find out that people were suffering from starvation and many other things that affected them negatively such as diseases and fear to Khmer Rouge.
How does it violate human right?
Human Right Article 25.
· (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, and housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
· (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
In the source, there are many aspects that show how Khmer Rouge violated human rights.
Um Saret's father, sister and her children, and her child died due to serious malnutrition.
"..being unable to withstand hunger, my Father caught tadpoles for food.. Though he knew that it was poisonous, he still ate that snake, which killed him. My sister and her children died of starvation… She died as a result." from the source supports that Khme Rouge violated the human right article 25's first point. The Khmer Rouge violated the victim's right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services. The Khmer Rouge also violated the second point of the article 25 because as the source is stating, not only adults, but children are also part of the victims. Children of Um Saret's sister and her own child died due to the malnutrition. This shows that Khmer Rouge violated the right to be entitled to special care and assistance.
This source is taken from the history of democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) book and was published by Khamboly, Dy, who has worked for the documentation center of Cambodia since 2003. This interview contains a woman talking about her experiences during the creation of two new social systems. It is a photo of people transporting dirt on an irrigation project. The purpose of this source is to show the poor working condition and type of work that people had to do. The author chose this particular format because as this source is a picture, we, the audience an really see what happened in the Khmer Rouge regime and how was like it visually. This gives clearer and stronger impact on people than just a type of reading. This source tells that people had to work very hard in a harsh condition under the Khmer Rouge regime. Through this source, we can tell that the time period is when Khmer Rouge was ruling Cambodia and when the was activating the four-year plan, so it will be around 1977 to 1980. This piece was created under the circumstance when people were forced to work without rest and without getting enough nutrition to keep the energy. The environment, people's facial expression and their skinny body shape reflects the circumstance.
The limitation of this source is that it doesn’t have any explanation. It is just a one picture of people working. If I didn’t know that this is showing the working condition under the Khmer Rouge, I wouldn’t be able to find out that people were suffering from starvation and many other things that affected them negatively such as diseases and fear to Khmer Rouge.
How does it violate human right?
Human Right Article 25.
· (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, and housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
· (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
In the source, there are many aspects that show how Khmer Rouge violated human rights.
Um Saret's father, sister and her children, and her child died due to serious malnutrition.
"..being unable to withstand hunger, my Father caught tadpoles for food.. Though he knew that it was poisonous, he still ate that snake, which killed him. My sister and her children died of starvation… She died as a result." from the source supports that Khme Rouge violated the human right article 25's first point. The Khmer Rouge violated the victim's right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services. The Khmer Rouge also violated the second point of the article 25 because as the source is stating, not only adults, but children are also part of the victims. Children of Um Saret's sister and her own child died due to the malnutrition. This shows that Khmer Rouge violated the right to be entitled to special care and assistance.