July 27th, 1961. Phnom Penh.

The ticking of the clock on the wall and the pleasing and soft noise of a pen being used on a paper was all the noise that could be heard on the office. The main delegate of the Communist Party of Kampuchea looked busy, his concentration and thin face gave way to a slightly vulnerable look in his eyes.

“Damn it.” He muttered while writing, even almost frustrated - the document, which was handwritten, was composed of several topics. The most important was the elaboration of a new tax reform, proposed to ease the tax burden on the population.

The typewriter nearby was old and slightly dusty, a letter had been written with it, whose wrinkled tips and creases of folding gave the impression that it had been written a long time ago, kept in a drawer for no one to see.

Using the rotary dial on his phone, whose plastic was slightly cracked and squeaked, he dialed the office of the Prime Minister, Penn Nouth. A female voice soon answered.

“This is the office of the Prime Minister, how may I help you?” She asked

“Hello, this is Tou Samouth. I am with the Workers Party of Kampuchea. I would like to deliver a letter of sorts to the Prime Minister, let our voice be heard. We represent more than 6,000 civilians in the poorer districts of Phnom Penh and they agreed with the survey that had these bullet points. Is it okay if I send such a letter for the reviewing of the Prime Minister?”

“Um, six thousand civilians? Okay, I suppose? I need your identification number and current address for archive-keeping purposes.”

“Of course, it’s 558-96-5481. I’m currently at 49th Street, no. 1200.”

“Okay, I got all that. Thank you for your call, we will be waiting for your letter.”

And soon the call had ended, Tou was glad that he gave the woman a fake ID number, who knows what could have happened if he had actually dared to give his real one? The government would have arrested him in minutes.

After an hour, the letter had reached it's intended target - a security officer made sure that it was clean of anything, in dire times such as these it was no surprise that radicals wanted to end the life of the Prime Minister or, god forbid, the king himself.

When the PM finally opened the letter, it contained the following:

"Dear Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, I represent the Workers Party of Kampuchea - in a district alone we represent 6,000 peasants, workers and miners that depend on you to survive, yet you keep stomping them down as if they were roaches, fighting for their survival. I present to you the following suggestions for a better government, for we are not the enemy. The true enemy in this country is not communism but hunger, despair, the intense inflation and the cornered market when it comes to jobs. Help our nation be free and please follow these:

• The reduction of wage tax by 3.2% to reduce the tax burden on our workers.
• The increase of minimum wage by 5% to stimulate the market and increase the wealth of those that provide yours.
• The increasing of tariffs of goods coming in by the United States of America and other western powers - we need to maintain our national sovereignty and not be led by them as if we were sheeps.
• The reduction of communications with the government of the Republic of Vietnam, whose puppeted American government leads to the corruption of the values of the worker.
• The increase in infrastructure for the farmers - our GDP is dominated by agriculture yet the government denies the essential basics for the survival of the farmers who keep your children and wife fed.

I ask of you to follow these for the good of the country, let aside the ego and the desire for control, this is not an ideological battle but a path to progress. Sincerely, Tou Samouth - General Secretary of the Workers Party of Kampuchea.