Former Khmer Rouge guerrillas who turned to God now ask for forgiveness

Many former members of the notorious Khmer Rouge who have turned to Christianity after the fall of Pol Pot's regime are now asking for forgiveness, but many of their fellow Cambodians doubt the sincerity of their conversions.

During Pol Pot's reign, the Khmer Rouge tried to eliminate religion from Cambodia by destroying temples, pagodas, and churches. After the fall of the regime, the guerrilla fighters fled westward to the mountainous terrain of the Koh Kong province and the dense jungles of Battambang, according to LA Times.

Kong Duong, Pol Pot's former chief propagandist and head of the Khmer Rouge radio station between 1979 to 1996, said that Christians were the first to visit the guerrilla fighters.

"It was through the activity of the Christians going around this area and connecting with Khmer Rouge people — that is perhaps the reason people started liking it and believing in it," said Kong, who now works as the director of the provincial information department as well as a broadcaster for Christian radio programs.

Norng Chhay, who was recruited by the Khmer Rouge when he was 15 years old, acknowledged his role in the genocide that killed roughly 2 million Cambodians.

"Even though I was not a direct perpetrator or the one who beat people to death, I too participated in it because I was the one who brought them to their deaths," he said. "I used to escort them to the fields, and I have witnessed people being beaten and then thrown into mass graves," he went on to say.

He said that it was the fear for his own safety that made him participate in the executions.

"People today are fast to judge our past actions even though they do not understand what we have gone through," Norng remarked.

Some former Khmer Rouge members have yet to acknowledge their crimes despite turning to Christianity.

Sok Sem, a former military unit commander, believes that the mass killings never occurred. He said that he never witnessed any executions, and the ones that he killed were on the battlefield.

One of the most notorious cases was that of Kaing Guek Eav, also known by his alias, Duch. He was the head of an infamous Tuol Sleng prison camp where he oversaw the torture and executions of about 20,000 Cambodians.

Duch, who was baptized in 1995, was the first senior Khmer Rouge official to be sentenced to life in 2012 for crimes against humanity.

Cambodians do not believe that Duch's conversion was genuine, but author Robert Carmichael said that his psychological profile indicated that he was drawn to Christianity in the same way he was attracted to the communist ideologies espoused by the Khmer Rouge.

Morm Phin, a 75-year-old Christian pastor, believes that forgiveness should be extended toward Duch and other Khmer Rouge leaders.

She used to work as a technical supervisor at a weaving factory that produced uniforms for Khmer Rouge soldiers. In 1978, she was transferred to work as a medic at a hospital where she saw prisoners shackled, tortured, and starved to death at the detention center next door.

That same year, she witnessed the death of her cousin who was brutally beaten along with seven others by the soldiers in front of a crowd. According to Morm, the soldiers asked the crowd to raise their hands if the prisoners should live but nobody responded out of fear.

"Even though it was my own blood relative, I did not raise my hand," she said.

Morm, who now runs a small church in her modest home, believes that she has been forgiven by God and she should learn to forgive the others.

"The Bible taught me that I need to learn to forgive, and that is also why God has forgiven me for my sins," she said, adding, "I don't think I am a perfect person in my past, but I believe that one day, I could be with God when I pass away."