Cambodia keeps lid on dark past

But on the streets of Phnom Penh, which the Khmer Rouge evacuated in 1975 as part of an effort to turn the entire country into an agrarian commune, reactions are mixed. Some fear stirring up political tensions here after years of relative stability. Others say they prefer to focus on the future.

For many of these young Cambodians, the "Killing Fields" - a 1984 Hollywood film about an American journalist in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge - is no more compelling than any other DVD sold in the city's bustling markets. "I don't think we need to review this history. It happened in the past, and we don't need to look back," says Von Chantas, a high school senior.

Still, for every person ready to forget, others are hungry to learn. Mr. Youk says he often gets visits from seniors who've picked up snippets in class or at home and want to find out more.

"We're the younger generation and we've been told stories by our parents, so we want to know for sure what happened during the Khmer Rouge time," says 15-year-old Som Kimheang.

In the past decade, most educators in Cambodia have settled on silence as the easiest option. Then in late 2001, the education ministry decided to include a new section on the Khmer Rouge in 12th-grade social-sciences textbooks, reversing an old policy.

That ray of light appeared to end only a few months later. Politicians accused the government of a biased account of the 1993 general election, a turning point in modern Cambodia, and the book was recalled. Now officials say they are working on an updated edition, but refuse to say when it will be completed. Teachers say they have no choice but to strike this period from classes.

Copies of the book missing the final chapter mysteriously are on sale in bookstores in Phnom Penh, even though the education ministry says it hasn't issued a new version.

Chhut Sereyrum, a member of the committee that drafted the 2001 textbook, admits that their historical account leaves many unanswered questions, including how some Khmer Rouge leaders were never prosecuted and others are even prospering today in parts of rural Cambodia as well as the capital.

The answer, he says, is to hold a war-crimes tribunal and lay the ghosts to rest. "It's very important to teach our children about history. But if we don't have a trial of the Khmer Rouge, it's very difficult to teach this history because some of them are still in power. If you say something careless, it could be dangerous," he says.

To Youk, who has amassed 800,000 documents in his archive, such excuses don't hold, given the wealth of evidence against the Khmer Rouge. He says teachers in some schools are covering this period anyway, often using supplementary texts such as survivors' accounts of their suffering.

Instead of waiting for a state-sanctioned tribunal, committee members should be busy conducting research for their textbooks, he says. "They don't understand the difference between history and propaganda."

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