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p K. Nordenstreng. Has the population begun returning home?

p Heng Samrin. People can now go back to their native cities, towns and villages. We have already set about creating the appropriate conditions for this. The schools and hospitals that were destroyed have started to be rebuilt in some areas.

p K. Nordenstreng. When will you be able to reopen the schools?

p Keo Chanda. In heavily populated regions, particularly those that were under our control from the very outset, the schools are already open. Unfortunately, we haven’t yet been able to open them in recently liberated districts.

p K. Nordenstreng. Where are you finding teachers from? Are they teachers from the old schools?

p Keo Chanda. All the teachers were barbarously killed during the rule of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary. While the war was on we trained teachers in the liberated regions and set up special teaching courses.

p K. Nordenstreng. You keep mentioning the liberated districts from which the struggle against the Pol Pot regime was waged. From roughly what time were you able to normalise life in these districts and firmly establish yourself there?

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p Hun Sen. Late 1977. Long before the formation of the KUFNS we were already in control of a considerable area, where life had been more or less normalised.

p K. Nordenstreng. In what part of the country?

p Hun Sen. Primarily in the northeast of Kampuchea.

p K. Nordenstreng. Near the Laotian border?

p Hun Sen. Yes, in the areas bordering on Laos and Vietnam.

p K. Nordenstreng. Were there people who supported Pol Pot because they were taken in by his slogans, but would now like to establish contact with you?

p Heng Samrin. Pol Pot and Ieng Sary had very few followers. The majority of the Kampuchean population supports the KUFNS. Every family lost at least one member to the bloody regime, so Pol Pot and Ieng Sary obviously don’t enjoy much support among the Kampuchean people.

p K. Nordenstreng. What are the plans of the Kampuchea United Front as regards rebuilding the political system? Do you intend to follow Vietnam’s example and create several political parties?

p Keo Chanda. We are attempting to create a United Front representing the broadest strata of workers to rally all the political and religious organisations in the country. We do not want any party to remain outside the Front.

p K. Nordenstreng. Does this imply religious freedom?

p Keo Chanda. The Front supports full freedom of religious belief. The ruined temples and pagodas are now being restored.

p K. Nordenstreng. Are you opposed to the capitalists of Lon Nol’s time returning to the country?

p Heng Samrin. Definitely. It is not the bourgeoisie of the Lon Nol regime that is to play the leading role in our society. Many Kampuchean capitalists who remained in the country were killed under the Pol Pot regime and their property confiscated. If surviving members of the bourgeoisie wish to co-operate with the KUFNS, we will be only too glad to welcome them.

p K. Nordenstreng. Do you intend, during the reconstruction of the economy, to introduce a system of small private 131 enterprise as the core of the country’s economic system or do you plan to rely solely on the public sector?

Heng Samrin. Heavy industry will be fully nationalised. As for consumer and handicrafts industries, private enterprise will be permitted, but under state control.