Han Sok Reasey, one of the students from Peam Jiang High School in the O'Raing Ove area, claimed to have some knowledge of the Khmer Rouge regime. Even so, Sok Reasey states that under that rule, Cambodians nationwide experienced terrible suffering.
Around 240 students from Peam Jiang High School in Orang Ove District, Tbong Khmom Province, were brought by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on July 12, 2023, to the Win Win Memorial, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, and Choeung Ek Genocide Center to explore and learn about history. A presentation on the trial proceedings and trial legacy from the trials of former senior officials of the Khmer Rouge regime was also given to the students by a representative of the Khmer Rouge tribunal.
During her participation in the study tour, Sok Reasey said, "Grandma said that at that time (Democratic Kampuchea Regime), Cambodians lived in misery and hunger, and were abused... and knowing all this, I feel sorry for that, because it should not have happened to the Cambodian people."
Leap Liching, a fellow 11th grader at Peam Jiang High School, echoed Reasey's assertion that she learnt about the Khmer Rouge regime's inhabitants through her teachers and grandparents. Liching claimed that the Khmer Rouge starved people, made them labor, tortured, and prosecuted, and even brought her grandfather for execution but let him escape.
Liching is aware that all young people in Cambodia must come together, love one another, work hard, and not emulate the Khmer Rouge to stop a terrible dictatorship from taking power there once more.
For Sok Reasey, the younger generation must thoroughly understand Cambodian history, particularly that which relates to the murderous rule, without ignoring the agony and devastation caused by the Khmer Rouge dictatorship.
To encourage remembering and involvement in efforts to stop atrocities like the Khmer Rouge regime, ECCC arranges weekly study excursions for students, youth, and the public.
More than 600,000 members of the local and international public have taken part in the study trip since it began up until 2023, with the Public Affairs Section of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia coordinating it.
