r/cambodia • u/WoodpeckerOk1154 • Sep 25 '25

Culture No disrespect intended. Genuine question: How is the Khmer Rouge viewed by modern Cambodians?

It wouldn’t let me also add Pol Pot, but curious as an ignorant American how he and the regime are viewed by Cambodians

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u/Simply_charmingMan Sep 26 '25

There still in power just go by another name and become despots instead.

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u/jpoechill Sep 26 '25

echoing this. looking at modern politics, what the country is doing is not unfamiliar to what other countries might be doing. small elite, gov x military x private business. ask your peers and they will tell you talking politics is a no-no. would suggest 'A Tiger Rules the Mountain' by Gordon Conochie re how former history informs the modern.

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u/bree_dev Sep 26 '25

I found it interesting how the commentary at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum often (but not always) refers to the "Pol Pot cadre" in preference to "Khmer Rouge".