After the death of 20-25% of Cambodia's population in a four year period, anything related to Choueng Ek is controversial. Getting there is an uncomfortable ride even though it's just outside of Phnom Penh and apparently the new owner will be responsible for making it easier to get to for visitors. Perhaps during the process they can do something to improve the lives of those who inhabit the area and not just the one day tourists. If they maintain the spirit of the location and make it more accessible to visitors so that people do not forget the dark period of modern Cambodian history, why not? What would be wrong would be forgetting what happened or ignoring the event. People ought to know more about the genocide in places such as Cambodia and Rwanda so whatever needs to be done to facilitate that learning is important.
For any recent visitors to Cambodia, does anyone know if this is the same museum that Aki Ra started just outside of the Angkor complex? Aki Ra was a child soldier in the Khmer Rouge and dedicated his life to removing land mines from the Cambodian countryside. His old website is no longer active and I know that the government wanted to shut him down for various reasons, mostly political spin control. If it's the same, it is well worth while to visit and to help. He's still digging up mines left from the war in the 60's and 70's including the American intervention there, not to mention unexploded bombs from US bombers which litter SE Asia and still kill and injure people.
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