Culture & History: Norng Chan Phal, the mystery of the little boy from Cambodia’s S-21 prison
- Christophe Gargiulo
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Norng Chan Phal was one of four surviving children found within the grounds of the S-21 prison after the Khmer Rouge abandoned the capital in 1979. Mr. Chan Phal and the other children were hiding under a pile of clothes behind the prison and were discovered by Vietnamese soldiers.
From these painful memories, Eng Kok Thay, director of the Cambodian Institute for Peace and Development, produced a 120-page book detailing the horror of the child’s imprisonment and that of his parents.
“The Mystery of the Boy from S-21” was printed in 1,000 copies in English. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, Mr. Chan Phal and other orphans were gathered by officials of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea and placed in orphanages.
Mr. Chan Phal, now 48 years old and a father of two, recounts that his father was arrested in December 1978 and imprisoned at Tuol Sleng. A few months later, he, his mother, and his younger brother Norng Chan Ly were also taken to the prison.
“… one day, I looked at my mother through the window and saw her looking at us… that was the last time I saw her…,” he recalls.
He was then 9 years old. Mr. Kok Thay says he was inspired to write Chan Phal’s story when he met the young survivor at S-21 ten years ago, during research to collect evidence related to Khmer Rouge crimes. Chan Phal also testified at the trial of Duch.
Mr. Kok Thay stated that he would distribute copies of the book free of charge to the Tuol Sleng Museum, schools, and orphanages so that the younger generation would not forget…
The book
The life journey of Norng Chan Phal is a story of family, love, and the struggle to survive and rebuild a life after the Khmer Rouge genocide. It is also a story of separation between a young boy, his siblings, and their parents. Norng Chan Phal witnessed the day his mother was taken from him at S-21. He saw her tortured and beaten, yet as a child, he did not have the mental capacity to understand what was happening. Nevertheless, he remembers it very clearly and tells the story as it is in this book.
This work is also a story of resilience and of Cambodia’s early efforts to rebuild a shattered society. One of the lesser-known aspects of these efforts is the creation of a network of orphanages to shelter, feed, and educate lost children and those whose parents were killed.
Norng Chan Phal was rescued from S-21. As an orphan, his survival and education became the responsibility of the state. However, even with the most developed care system, a child can never feel the love of lost parents.