Warning: Hostile groups exploit Khmer nationalism to undermine Vietnam’s national solidarity

8/9/16

Now, many Vietnamese Cambodian have suffered unfair treatments from Cambodian government. Each month, many Vietnamese people who have lived and worked in Cambodia are expelled for illegally living and working there, even they have lived there for years. But, no one, no international organizations as normal, raises their voice for them. Many Vietnamese people have lost their properties and livelihood, have been violated human rights, but no complaint is made except from the Vietnamese government. So sad for human rights organizations which are always ready to criticize Vietnam when they have chance, but dumb in these.
 Vietnamese Cambodian have suffered not only from the Cambodian government but also from anti-Vietnam sentiment of the Khmer Krom who are indigenous Khmer people in southern Vietnam. They groundlessly consider themselves as Vietnam’s victims when Vietnam took their land in the past. There’s no evidence and no good reason for these nonsense, but still there are many groups in the name of preserving the Khmer rights and even requesting for a Khmer State like The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) and Montagnard Foundation (Vietnamese: Tổ chức Quỹ người Thượng). Who are they? And Who do they represent for? Let find out and see their true face, true purpose.
 In the Khmer language, Krom means "lower" or "below", as it refers to the lower reaches of the Mekong Delta, south of Cambodia proper. In the Vietnamese language, they are known as Khơ-me Crộm or Khơ-me dưới, which literally means "Khmer from below", a translation of the Khmer term.
The Khmer Krom are ethnic Khmer who inhabit Kampuchea Krom, an area in southern Vietnam that was once part of the Khmer Empire.[2]Among the Khmer Krom the belief is held that they are the descendants of ancient Funan, the core of Suvarnabhumi, which covered a vast extent of Southeast Asia including present day Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Malaya, Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia. Now, there are about nearly two million Khmer Krom in Vietnam.
In history, a weakened Khmer state after repeated warfare with Siam in the 17th century left the Mekong Delta poorly administered. Concurrently Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trịnh–Nguyễn War in Vietnam pushed into the area. Cambodian king Chey Chettha II (1618–1628) in 1623 officially sanctioned the Vietnamese to operate a custom house at Prey Nokor, then a small fishing village. The settlement grew steadily as a major regional port, attracting even more settlers.
The Nguyễn Lords of  Huế in 1698 commissioned Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, to organize the territory along Vietnamese administrative lines, thus by de facto detaching it from Cambodia and joining it to Vietnam. With the loss of the port of Prey Nokor, then renamed Sài Gòn, Cambodia's control of the area grew increasingly tenuous while increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers to the Delta isolated the Khmer of the Mekong Delta from their brethren in Cambodia proper. By 1757, the Vietnamese had absorbed the provinces of Psar Dèk (renamed Sa Đéc in Vietnamese) on the Mekong itself, and Moat Chrouk (Vietnamized to Châu Đốc) on the Bassac River. Yes, from that time, as an historical circumstance, the Khmer Krom has been an integral part of Vietnam’s peoples community.
The Party and State of Vietnam always pay attention to create favourable conditions for the Khmer Krom, as one of the 54 ethnic peoples in the country, to live and develop their livelihood and culture. 
But now, there are some elements, for various purposes, try to reclaim land for the Khmer Krom as an independent state. Many independent NGOs report that the human rights of the Khmer Krom are being violated by the Vietnamese government, and that Khmer Krom are reportedly forced to adopt Vietnamese family names and speak the Vietnamese language. In these elements, we can see two prominent groups The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) and Montagnard Foundation, Inc.
 The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) (1985) is an organization self-declared representing the Indigenous Khmer-Krom Peoples living in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, internationally advocating for human rights, religious freedom and self determination.
Montagnard Foundation is an anti-communist organization that claims to protect the rights of the Montagnard people. It is a non-profit organization, founded in 1990 and based inSouth Carolina in the United States, led by exiled leader Kok Ksor that has spoken out against Vietnam's polices.
Those groups have raised budget by deceiving Khmer-Krom exiles living in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and sympathizers who have no knowledge about the real situation in Vietnam.
Deceived by their alleges, ethnic minority Khmer Krom in Cambodia has held anti-Vietnam rallies, especially last year after a Vietnamese diplomat said the former Kampuchea Krom provinces belonged to Vietnam long before France's official transfer of the land in 1949. And, they even call to boycott Vietnamese people who are living in Cambodia. Many Vietnamese have been suffer unfair treatments and lost their properties.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh has many times vehemently condemns any fabrication, distortion, slander, legally-groundless opposition by any organization or individual against the unity and territorial integrity of Vietnam. Vietnam urges that countries and international organizations encourage citizens of all countries to respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Vietnam, in compliance with international law and the Charter of the United Nations.
It can see that these moves as acts of intervention into the sovereignty and internal affairs of Vietnam, going contrary to the laws of Cambodia, which stipulates "Cambodia does not allow any force or individual to use its territory to counter any other country".
         In conclusion, Southern Vietnam (Kampuchea Krom) is an integral part of the territory of Vietnam, in compliance with international law, fully recognized by the United Nations, international organizations and all countries in the world./.
Chia sẻ bài viết ^^
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All comments [ 10 ]


yobro yobro 8/9/16 13:11

It's so warning that Anti-Vietnamese sentiment dominates Cambodia, even among otherwise progressive NGOs and political groups.

For A Peace World 8/9/16 13:12

The Vietnamese community had been pushed away from the land they considered their home – since the early 1990s they had been forced to relocate several times. Although most in the community were in fact born in Cambodia, without proper identification they had few avenues to challenge the eviction.

Vietnam Love 8/9/16 13:13

We do not support those who used freedom of speech to make personal insults and provocative attitude in order to drive a wedge between the peoples of the two countries

John Smith 8/9/16 13:15

Cambodian government should have measures to stop these elements ruin the two countries' relations.

Gentle Moon 8/9/16 13:15

We request that Cambodian authorities take measures to satisfactorily settle the incident and prevent similar actions from recurring in the future in order to ensure the smooth implementation of border delineation and marker planting for the common interest of both peoples

LawrenceSamuels 8/9/16 13:17

Vietnam has shown its willingness to solve the border issue by agreeing to have a third party, especially France, joining in the demarcating process.

Socialist Society 8/9/16 13:18

The problem here is that ultra-nationalism has quietly colonized emerging opposition to the current regime. So entrenched is the idea that the current regime is a Vietnamese puppet (i.e. it is quintessentially opposed to Khmerness) that opposition to the Hun Sen regime and opposition to Vietnamese are too often one and the same thing. It's so totally wrong and dangerous.

Me Too! 8/9/16 13:21

The sad tragedy is that in fact hundreds of thousands of Viet Cambodians are already disenfranchised and with such limited political space to discuss the issue, any fair and just resolution remains far off in the future.

Voice of people 8/9/16 13:22

Among these Cambodian extremists were a number of parliamentarians from the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.

Red Star 8/9/16 13:23

Vietnam attaches great importance to neighborly friendship and comprehensive cooperation with Cambodia, and wants to build a border of peace and friendship with that country.

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