KHMER ROUGE: THE DISEMPOWER OF ANIMAL FARM

Khmer Rouge: The disempower of animals in Animal Farm

The four years nightmare in Cambodia, between 1976 and 1979, was still in the
commemoration of Cambodians. In this period, Cambodia was governed by Communist
Party of Kampuchea (CPK) or as known as Khmer Rouge, which the leader, who was trusted
he, could develop Cambodia, was known as Pol Pot. His aim was to create the utopia society
by which his residents would not be exploited by the foreigners and he used Marxist theory in
ruling and developing his country (Troeung, Y., 2015, 237). The eradication of foreigners by
Pol Pot was similar to Animal Farm by George Orwell in the way that animals in Manor farm
expel humans out and build up better quality of animals lives. The origin of Manor farms
revolution is that no animal receives good care and enough food from their hard working as a
result of greedy human. After human are abolished, animals control themselves and establish
their own society, Animal Farm, by creating seven commandments and having their own
leader, Napoleon. Both leaders from Khmer Rouge and Animal Farm share some tactics in
ruling their followers. The explicit character of the two leaders is to disempower others by
using trickery methods. In Animal Farm by George Orwell, the pigs use their intelligence
to disempower the other animals.
Napoleon creates false impression about equality society to other animals in order to
make him controls absolute power. He commands Squealer, one of his honest followers who
is good at speaking as Orwell says, The best known among them was a small fat pig named
Squealer, with very round cheeks, twinkling eyes, nimble movements, and a shrill voice. He
was a brilliant talker, and when he was arguing some difficult point he had a way of skipping
from side to side and whisking his tail, which was somehow very persuasive. The others said
of Squealer that he could turn black into white (p. 16), illustrating that Squealer persuades
others in believing that Animal Farm is better than Manor Farm. According to Orwell, No
one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be

KHMER ROUGE: THE DISEMPOWER OF ANIMAL FARM

only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves (p. 55) Napoleon uses
Squealer as a tool to convince other animals to acknowledge only the positive side of having
him as a leader. Other animals esteem and honor pigs that make their life free from human.
Therefore, animals believe and follow pigs command without awareness. Moreover, he uses
animals greatest fear, Mr. Jones, to threaten them and makes animals to sacrifice their right
in keeping Animal Farm peaceful. As Orwell says, It is for your sake that we drink that milk
and eat those apples. Do you know what would happen if we pigs failed in our duty? Jones
would come back! Yes, Jones would come back! Surely, comrades, cried Squealer almost
pleadingly, skipping from side to side and whisking his tail, surely there is no one among
you who wants to see Jones come back? (p.36) demonstrating that the pigs use their
knowledge to gain privilege to eat milk and apple without sympathy. Pigs claim that they are
important to maintain peaceful in the farm and finally hold the absolute power.
All animals except pigs have to work very hard because they hope they will receive
the advantages from farm products. However, they receive less than they expect because the
pigs get the most as they claim that they are brainworkers. These demonstrate that the labor
animals do not live in true equal society. The same as in Cambodia, which people were
forced to leave the capital, Phnom Penh, in order to work for the government to gain benefit.
However, they did not receive anything from their hard work because all of their products
had to send to the Pol Pot. According to Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, A few days after they
took power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge forced perhaps two million people in Phnom Penh and
other cities into the countryside to undertake agricultural work (Cambodia Tribunal Monitor,
n. d.).
Napoleon relies on the inability to read and memorize of animals to control Animal
Farm. Pigs are the only animals that can read and write fluently as they usually claim that

KHMER ROUGE: THE DISEMPOWER OF ANIMAL FARM

they are intelligence. They trick others who cannot read and memorize well about the seven
commandments, which they change secretly. According to Orwell:
she fetched Muriel. Muriel, she said, read me the Fourth Commandment. Does it
not say something about never sleeping in a bed? With some difficulty Muriel spelt it
out.It says, No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets (p. 26-27)
and
No animal shall kill any other animal. And though no one cared to mention it in the
hearing of the pigs or the dogs, it was felt that the killings which had taken place did
not square with this. she fetched Muriel. Muriel read the Commandment for her. It
ran: No animal shall kill any other animal without cause (p. 35).
The evidences above illustrate that Napoleon changes many rules to benefit the group of pig
in every time that they break the old rule. The weakness of animals is their intellectual and
memorizes skill, so they cannot catch what are the changes in Seven Commandment.
Therefore, even though Napoleon makes changes to Seven Commandments, some animals
suspect about that a little while, as they cannot remember the exact rules. Therefore, other
animals do not have any chance to accuse the pigs faults.
In addition, Pol Pot took advantages of uneducated people for his power. He used
more violent method than Napoleon by killing educated people in order to prevent the
opposite idea. He also made troop by uneducated people, which always supported him
without question. Moreover, According to the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, ...they abolished
money, free markets, normal schooling, private property, foreign clothing styles, religious
practices, and traditional Khmer culture. Public schools, pagodas, mosques, churches,
universities, shops and government buildings were shut or turned into prisons, stables,
reeducation camps and granaries (Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, n. d.). Pol Pot realized that

KHMER ROUGE: THE DISEMPOWER OF ANIMAL FARM

education is the most dangerous enemy to his position and government. Therefore, he
destroyed the schooling system in Cambodia and learned men were killed.
Fright and violence are spread throughout the Animal Farm after Napoleon orders
secret puppies to abolish animals that show the attempted rebellion over him. Orwell says,
They were shaken and miserable. They did not know which was more shocking the
treachery of the animals who had leagued themselves with Snowball, or the cruel retribution
they had just witnessed (p. 84-85) depicting that animals feel fear to be killed by the dogs if
they dishonor and break the rule of Animal Farm. Animals are standing between the line of
death and life. If they obey the rule and respect leader, they can live peaceful. However,
doing in opposite ways may lead them to their death. Nevertheless, Napoleon not only use
nine secret puppies to threaten others, but also order them to protect him from the rebellion.
Orwell says, Four dogs guarded his bed at night, one at each corner, and a young pig named
Pinkeye was given the task of tasting all his food before he ate it, lest it should be poisoned
(p. 95-96) illustrating that Napoleon knows that there will be animals who have opposed idea,
so he has to have his guard to protect him from danger. Therefore, the weak animals do not
have enough ability to reduce Napoleons power.
Pol Pot also used the same ways as Napoleon by spreading terror throughout the
country. He used his military power to menace Cambodians who try to question and get the
idea of opposition. During his reign power, a lot of people were killed savagely and cruelly.
According to Field, N., Om, C., Kim, T.,& Vorn, S., More than 1.5 million Cambodians
died during the violent Khmer Rouge (KR) regime and its aftermath; estimated to be up to
20% of the existing Cambodian population at the time when the regime was in power from
1975 to 1979 ( Field, N., Om, C., Kim, T.,& Vorn, S., 2011, p.211). Even though Pol Pot
died for some period of time, Cambodian still feel wholeheartedly angry and sorrow to what
used to happen in the past.

KHMER ROUGE: THE DISEMPOWER OF ANIMAL FARM

To sum up, Khmer rouge and Animal farm by Orwell share some actions in order to
disempower others. There are three main methods, which are used by Pol Pot and Napoleon;
creating illusion to build misunderstanding about equality society, using others limited
knowledge to exploit, and expanding fear by using violence. Both characteristics can reflect
to human nature that people who stronger, smarter, and more powerful usually use their
intelligence to gain benefit of those who weaker as long as their desires are not stopped.

KHMER ROUGE: THE DISEMPOWER OF ANIMAL FARM

References
Field, N. P., Om, C., Kim, T., & Vorn, S. (2011). Parental styles in second generation effects of
genocide stemming from the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. attachment & human
development, 13(6), 611-628. doi:10.1080/14616734.2011.609015
Khmer Rouge History. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cambodiatribunal.org/history/
cambodian-history/khmer-rouge-history/
Troeung, Y. (2015). Human rights and the literary self-portrait: Vann Nath's a Cambodian prison
portrait : one year in the Khmer Rouge's S-21. rethinking history, 19(2), 235-251.
doi:10.1080/13642529.2014.973715

KHMER ROUGE: THE DISEMPOWER OF ANIMAL FARM