The Man With Nine Lives

by Bats Mohsinali


Although it has been thirteen years since the civil war under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge reign has ended, the casualties and memories live on.

We met up with Moun Sinath, a caretaker and guide of the war museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He had a lot of tales to tell us about his colourful life and his own experiences with war.

"Some people call me a cat, a cat has nine lives," he said at first.

A living and breathing proof of the effects of war, Sinath proudly shows off his war scars. "I got shot in the stomach and the doctor said that if I was ten minutes late, then he would have sent me to the grave to bury me. But he tried again and again, he pumped blood into my heart, and so I finally survived," said Sinath.

"I don't have a gall bladder" he adds, rather nonchalantly.




Saloth Sar, better known as Pol Pot (May 19, 1925 – April 15, 1998) was the leader of the communist movement known as the Khmer Rouge. Dominated during 1975-1979, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot seized control of Phnom Penh in 1975 and overthrew the premier of Cambodia at the time, Lon Nol, who was backed up by the U.S. government.

In 1979, after an invasion by Vietnam, Pol Pot fled into the jungles of southwest Cambodia, leading to the fall of the Khmer Rouge government. In 1997, he was arrested and imprisoned by Ta mok, the Khmer Rouge millitary commande, and finally passed away under house arrest in 1998 under house arrest. Under his reign, the people of Cambodia suffered from starvation, political executions and even forced labor. An estimated death toll of 750,000 to about 1.7 million people were killed. This was about 26 per cent of the population at the time.

"I lost my entire family when I was ten." He noted. Though most war victims would be psychologically traumatized, Sinath showed no remorse and carries on with his life.

"I have only two years left until I become completely blind. My right eye has lost sight after a bomb exploded and shards of bone from my leg went to my eye. My left eye can only see 60 per cent," he said.

Moreover in 1987, Sinath took a bullet in his knee.

"There (he points to the flesh between his kneecaps) is a ball bearing, there is another in my wrist," he stretches out his battle wounds for us to see.

In 1985, he recalls while proudly showing off the scar was the time that he had gotten a hip bone operation also after another landmine attack.

"My heart stopped three times, and the operation took five hours," he said.

Countless times Sinath has cheated death, yet he lives to tell the tale. As though he has nothing to fear and nothing to lose, Sinath told his story with an eerie calm. As the manager and tour guide to the war museum, Sinath overlooks the working of the museum, not the typical and conventional museum; the war museum lacks the feel of a swanky, air-conditioned room that usually makes the typical museum.

After paying the three dollar entrance fee, you are welcomed by an enormous helicopter, one that sits, unused and full of memories of carnage and destruction. The plane that sits across it holds just about the same amount of weight. After taking all of that in, you move on to the open space museum that is the actual war museum.

Heavy duty war artillery and machinery sit motionless, just like the helicopter and plane, rusted, broken down, used yet full of memories of their very own. Amongst the green grass and open space they look out of place. That is when the real and full effects of war will hit you. Dwelling deeper into the museum, some of the war relics have barricades on them.



The reason for this is the continuing existence of landmines. Even though some of the landmines have been detonated and de-mined, they are left behind as a bitter reminder of their suffering. Further along is a display of a make believe man with a mine detector machine. The story behind this was as the man was looking for mines to de-mine, unknowingly one blew up on him. This, according to Sinath is the case with most was victims.

A large amount of victims can be seen around the town of Siem Reap. Sinath himself is an amputee, yet once again that has not stopped him. With the aid of a wooden leg, Sinath goes about his daily business. He touched upon the time when he learned to speak English "I was recovering in the hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. I have been to Thailand, yet I have never seen it. I simply heard and smelt it," he laughs. "It was during my recovery time that I learnt to speak English, by listening to other people converse."

Moun Sinath is a living war relic. Although he has survived, the after effects continue to taunt him, but like a handful of the landmine victims here in Siem Reap, Sinath refuses to be beaten down by his handicap, and pushes through.