Vietnamese / Its Colonization On the Khmerkroms and Other Indigenous Peoples

Continue from previous edition.
By Sothy Kien

Khmer Krom: When Will Vietnam Say Sorry?

Indigenous Khmer Krom Buddhists in Kampuchea-Krom (1909)

What else is happening behind closed doors? Who is bringing justice to these people, if the only justice served is one ruled by the violator?

Perhaps the Vietnamese government never introduced or initiated the Stolen Generation but the discriminatory actions against the Khmer Krom are no less degrading or inhumane.

For over two hundred years the majority of world knew nothing about the existence of Khmer Krom people. France knew and Cambodia knew but they were abandoned to the hands of the Vietnam, a race bent on colonising all of the current Vietnam regardless of the human price tag.

How many of our ancestors died trying to defend their religion, culture and nation? How many were buried deep to their neck and used as a stand for hot tea, a well known quote by Khmers, “do not spill the master’s tea?” How many Khmer Krom women became widow or were raped, used and abused by the Vietnamese officials?
How many were forced to abandon their ancestral home and land, uprooted and dump to a small aliquot of land with no means to make their traditional living?

Today, hundred of thousands remain homeless and jobless. Children as little as five are without education and hunt the rubbish rubble for scrapes of leftover food. Thousands more are dying because they cannot afford to take their sick mother, father or siblings to a medical centre in Prey Nokor (renamed Ho Chi Minh) city.
Vietnamese people and officials, often refer to the Khmer people as “backward” or “uncivilized” a description which shows their contempt towards the indigenous peoples.

How would you feel if you were called “backwards” as if you were dump and stupid? Treated worse than a dog and told to do everything according to the ideals of the Vietnamese communist government?

If the very roots you and your ancestors have created and practiced for centuries were forced to one side and you to speak, dress and act Vietnamese? If you were a peaceful Buddhist monk who stood up for your religious beliefs only to be hammered on the bench of a prison table like a nail standing out of place?
In the eyes of the Khmer Krom people, Vietnam has much to be sorry for.
Much to be sorry about.

The pain and the suffering that the Khmer Krom people endured since Vietnam started its southward (Nam Tien) ambition to occupy the Mekong Delta in the early 1600s is something Vietnam cannot deny.

When will the cycle of hate stop? In 10 or twenty years or will it run its course of another century before our children of today learn to love and respect one another?
If one travels through Kampuchea-Krom, one can see the statue and pictures of Ho chi Minh everywhere. No one can doubt that Vietnamese communist government is proud of the father of liberation, one that freed Vietnamese people from the French colonisation. When will the day come when Vietnam stops being so proud of its nationality that it works to destroy the nation of another because they think they are far more superior than us?

Vietnam did not like having the French colonising them but we like it even less being doubly colonised by first the Vietnamese then the French. Now it is Vietnam that continues to colonise us and change our way of life to suit that of its nation without fear of justice or consequence.

“It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us. With some noble exceptions, we failed to make the most basic human response and enter into their hearts and minds. We failed to ask - how would I feel if this were done to me?” - Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia 1991

For the western countries such as Australia, USA and Canada, the gross actions were perpetrated by their forefathers in the past, but in Vietnam these inhumane and atrocious acts are still being committed.

When will Vietnam stop being defensive and learn the importance of saying sorry as the first step of reconciliation for the sake of not only Khmer Krom but deeper still for all of human kind?

Using Australia’s prime example of Sorry Day we ask that Vietnam stop committing atrocious acts against the indigenous peoples of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam today.
We ask that Vietnam stand forth and be a positive role model for other Asian countries by apologising to those they have hurt in order to conquer their lands as the first step to reconciliation.

We ask that you start NOW.

End

Vietnamese / Its Colonization On the Khmerkrom and Other Indigenous Peoples

By Sothy Kien

Indigenous Khmer krom Buddhists in Kampucheakrom in 1909


Khmer Krom: When Will Vietnam Say Sorry?

On February 13th 2008, Australia’s newly elected Prime Minister; Kevin Rudd will make a historic apology to its indigenous peoples, the Aboriginal Peoples.

Since Britain invaded Australia 220 years ago, hundreds of thousands of Aboriginal people have been killed, displaced or forced to assimilate into the British culture and ideals.

As early as mid 1800s, thousands of Aboriginal children were brutally taken from their parents and given to the white Australians, judged by them as unfit to be parents. They were sent to children’s homes, starved and told that they a shameful bunch to society.

Known as the Stolen Generation, one cannot begin to comprehend the heartache and grief that they went and continue to go through.
Today, it seems that life is getting a bit better for the Indigenous Australians.
The long awaited apology by Australia’s current Prime Minister to the Stolen Generation will be one that stops the nation and perhaps the world as Australia takes a brave step in righting past wrongs.

While the majority of Australians and perhaps the world are celebrating such an event, others are not, asking why should they be the ones apologising for something that their forefathers did.

If we do not bear the sins of our forefather, when will the hate stop and forgiveness start?

Australia is not the only guilty party with its treatments of its indigenous peoples. Canada and United States of America have had their share of bad history. In the southeast countries, Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam are on top of the list of human rights violators.

For the Indigenous Khmer Krom Peoples of current day Vietnam, an apology as such from the Vietnamese communist government seems like a speck in the horizon. Far and a long time in coming if at all.

Especially if the first step of recognising that Khmer Krom people are the indigenous peoples of the Mekong Delta is not yet achieved.

Two years ago, during the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Vietnam government representatives claimed that it was up to the minority people to determine who are indigenous. However, no legislation or initiative is in place to promote such an act only empty words to further falsify and deny the existence of indigenous peoples such as the Khmer Krom people of the Mekong Delta and the Montagnards of the central Highlands.

“It begins, I think, with the act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the disasters. The alcohol. We committed the murders.….. We practised discrimination and exclusion.” - Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia 1991

If the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation did not enlighten the issue of the Khmer Krom to international community, would Vietnam place its indigenous peoples as a priority?
How much longer will the Vietnamese communist government continue to deny that it was never their lands in the first place?

Their basic fundamental freedoms and rights continue to be severely restricted. The Khmer’s unique culture is changed at will by Vietnamese officials. Some Khmer Buddhist temples are no longer a place of peace and meditation but a working office for communist officials. Buddhist monks are disrobed and imprisoned for organising peaceful demonstrations to demand their religious rights.

More disturbing still, Vietnamese officials are resorting to the use of violence in public to silence land activists. These are just a small portion of crimes coming to international light.

....To Be Continued

A Matter of Hate or Justice? A twist by the Vietnamese and the Vietnamese Colonialist Government and Those Who Support Them

A Matter of Hate or Justice?

Khmer Krom and other human rights organisation often portray its peoples as the ones suffering or are victims of human rights abuse by the dominant government. More recently, however, observers within Vietnam and aboard are saying that such organisations are only projecting hate rather than love.

Interestingly, it seems like the Vietnamese communist government have the same ideology. They believe that they are the victims of much hate from organisations such as the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation and the Montagnard Foundation.

But the question is really whether it is about hate? Isn’t reporting human rights abuse a sign of love? That one cannot stand to see people abused and used, a sign of caring?

If the Vietnam government had any control over the UN, one of the first organisations they would probably boot out is KKF. Is that a sign of love?

The fact that KKF is still participating in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues is not for the lack of trying on Vietnam’s part to stop it.

In 2007, they successful closed down the viewing of documentaries about the Khmer Krom people and the Hmong at the United Nations.

Why does Vietnam want to shut Khmer Krom organisation or indigenous organisation and keep them away from the international eye?

Is it because KKF was hitting too close to the real situation in Vietnam in regards to its people?

Most Vietnamese people would be proud of the amazing economic achievements of Vietnam today.

But on whose lands and natural resources are they cultivating such success?

First come first serve? Not anymore, Khmer Krom people were in the Mekong Delta centuries ago but today Vietnam government is pocketing all the riches and the indigenous peoples are ranked the poorest.

Why is constructive feedback from KKF so ill receive by Vietnam? Constructive criticism is clearly not a matter of hate? Rather a good way to improve things that are not working?

Think honestly for a moment.

If the Khmer Krom issues were not raised at the UN or during a peaceful protest, would Vietnam really care?

Honest? I think not.

Jacobsen Trudy and Her Lie, She Lies Because She Hates

Dr. Jacobsen Trudy's Falsification Because of Her Hatred Toward the Cambodian

Jacobsen history challenged

Trudy Jacobsen's article (PPPost, March 10, 2006) generally distorts the historical facts.

I disagree with her assertion that "explanations of Cambodian ill-will toward the Vietnamese are vague and unsatisfactory." The "ill-will" is, in fact, well documented even back in the 17th century.

First of all, according to a Khmer chronicle, the Collection of the Council of Kingdom (1951) and Vietnamese sources, King Suryapeur (1603-1618) did not marry his son (King Jaya Cheastha II 1613-1628) to a Vietnamese lady Chov, or Ngoc Van, a daughter of Lord/Viceroy Nguyen Phuc (or Vuong Sai, 1613-1635) before he died, as Jacobsen claims. King Suryapeur died in 1619 and Cheastha II married Chov in 1620 for the reasons of mutual defense and trade interests (Vuong Sai needed him because of Champa's threat in the south and Emperor Le's threat to the North. Cheastha II needed Vuong Sai because of the constant threat from Siam).

Contrary to the general misunderstanding being also compounded by Jacobsen, Cheastha II was not "young and inexperienced." Like his successor son, he was a nationalist, a scholar and was 42 years of age by the time he married Chov. He already had had four wives, having been married since the age of 26. Chov was his last wife, after a Laotian wife, Bous.

In 1623, Cheastha II gave permission for five years only to let the Vietnamese build commercial centers in "Prey Nokor" and Kampong Krabey and to collect tax from Vietnamese-Chinese traders in addition to building military training camps to prepare for wars with Champa and Emperor Le of then Dai Viet (now Vietnam).

He did not give permission to allow Vietnamese to settle in Cambodia. Additionally, the 1623 permission might not have been as a result of an invasion, but it was smart coercion by the Vietnamese at a time when the King/Cambodia was engaging in wars defending against Siamese aggressions on two fronts: Siamese naval attacks in the south by the sea on Banteay Meas (Ha Tien) and on land from the west. A Vietnamese envoy showed up at the Royal Palace at Udong presenting a letter from Lord Vuong Sai seeking the above permission. Fearing what might come if he rejected it, the King agreed.

Five years later, the year he was supposed to get the land back, the King died. In 1638, his successor, King Angtong Rajathirajthipadey (1635-1639), asked for the return of the territories, but he was asked to delay for a while.

When King Ramathipadey (Ang Chant) in 1641 demanded the return of the land, the former Queen of Cheastha II intervened again seeking a delay. Perhaps to divert the King's attention, in 1658 the Queen openly supported the pretenders (young princes Angton and Utey) to the throne. To the Queen's disbelief, after their victory, Angton and Utey attacked the Vietnamese and demanded the return of the land.

Wars and rebellion broke out again in 1699, 1731, 1739 and up until the French arrived in 19th century. Sensing the French were about to invade Vietnam, King Ang Duong dispatched a letter dated November 25, 1856, to Napoleon III warning him that the territories from Dong Nai down to the islands of Koh Tralach (Con Dao) and Koh Trol (Phu Quoc) belong to Cambodia. "If by chance", the King stated, "Anam [Vietnam] would offer any of these lands to Your Majesty, I beg Him not to accept them for they belong to Cambodia." In 1859, the King sent troops to retake the lands. The King died in 1860 and his mission failed.

Prey Nokor's proper name was Preah Reach Nokor which, according to a Khmer Chronicle means a "Royal City"; later became locally "Preykor" meaning "kapok forest" (from which "Saigon" was derived). It was not a "Wild City" or sparsely populated as Jacobsen claims. Jacobsen ignores the fact that there were two other Khmer provinces, Kampong Srakartrei (Dong Nai) and Baria, to the north bordering Champa state. A part of the pre-Angkor capital Vyadhpura, it was a main Khmer seaport city, a center of trade for many years.

The Vinh Te canal event occurred during the reign of King Angt Chan (1797-1835), and was one of the most horrific examples of the Vietnamese treatment of the Khmer. I am appalled that Jacobsen trivializes the magnitude of the suffering. It was not just "two Vietnamese overseers" who picked out three Khmer "from the Cambodian contingents" and used their heads to cook the Yuon masters' tea. In fact, it was a national humiliation.

The K5 Plan (1979-1990) is not a valid comparison. The Vinh Te Canal Plan (which lasted four years) saw 10,000 people perish in awful circumstances, according to a British Envoy John Crawfurd's report (1830).

In 1820, the King, being an absolute hostage of the Vietnamese army, managed to engineer a rebellion led by the Venerable Kae Kong and two of the King's top officials. The rebellion failed. To avoid death, Ang Chant was forced to cede three districts of Chau Doc province to Vietnam. While in Kampuchea Krom Father Le Fevre noted the suppression: about 3 million were "subjected Cambodians" (1847).

Like the appellation of "Kling" for the Indians and "Seam" for the Thai, "Yuon" has been traditionally used by Khmer to mean "Vietnamese" for the past 2000 years. During this time "Vietnam" changed its name constantly. The term "Yuon" appears in Khmer traditional songs, poems, laws, historical texts etc.

Before its invasion, in 1978, in its campaign to demonize the KR, Vietnam politicized the terms "Yuon" and "Anam" as being pejorative. Pre-war Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia knew the term was not pejorative, but the new Vietnamese settlers who came to Cambodia in 1979 got caught up in this political nonsense. With Vietnam's foreign cronies' assistance, the Khmer are now trashed for using a traditional term that was made negative by the Vietnamese themselves. Further, "Yuon," which appears in Khmer ancient inscriptions (inscription K105 of King Suryavarman I) refers to what is recently known as "Vietnamese" and certainly not "Javanese" as Jacobsen claims: (Post 10/2/06). The term "Javanese" is Anglicized. The Khmer have always used the term, "Chvea," or Java. "Chvea" appears in three Angkorian inscriptions mentioning Jayavarman II from Java.

Jacobsen is also wrong to say past Khmer kings supported by Vietnamese "are loathed," but kings placed on the throne by Thais are "lauded". The truth is Cheastha II's father King Suryapeur was forced to abdicate because people thought he was too influenced by the Siamese (for instance, wearing Siamese royal costumes). King Suryapeur's predecessor was ousted because his mother was Laotian.

Bora Touch - Sydney
Truong Mealy - former Cambodian Ambassador to Japan

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 08, April 21 - May 4, 2006
© Michael Hayes, 2006. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.PhnomPenhPost.com - Any comments on the website to Webmaster

Note: The writing is posted by the Weblog Administrator, new tittle is added to this writing.

Khmerkroms and Their Homeland Under the Vietnamese Colonization

Geography
Kampuchea-Krom means "Cambodia Below" or "South Cambodia". Kampuchea-Krom was the southernmost territory of the Khmer Empire, and it was once known as (French) Cochin China. It is the southwestern part of Vietnam. It covers an area of some 89,000 km2 with Cambodia to the north, the Gulf of Thailand to the west, the South China Sea to the southeast and the Champa territory to the northeast. Prey Nokor was one of the most important commercial cities of all in Kampuchea-Krom, but the name was first changed to Saigon and then to Ho Chi Minh City by the Vietnamese Communist in 1975.

People
Population:

It is estimated that there are about 8 million Khmers living in Kampuchea-Krom. Approximately 80 percent of them live in the Mekong delta, and a small number is in other provinces throughout the southern part of Vietnam. Besides the Vietnamese, there are other people living in Kampuchea-Krom, including the Chinese, the Chams, the Montagnards, and many other small ethnic groups.

The Khmers-Krom is outnumbered by these population groups. About 70 percent of the Vietnamese and 95 percent of the Chinese live in the cities and fill most of important jobs in government and business. The Khmers-Krom live throughout the country, especially in the Mekong delta.

Culture and language:

Approximately 95 percent of the Khmers-Krom are Buddhists. They practice Hinayanna Buddhism, whereas most Vietnamese practice Mahayanna Buddhism, or Chistianity. The Chams are Muslims, and the Chinese are mostly Buddhists, and some Christians. There are more than 580 temples and more than 10,000 monks throughout Kampuchea-Krom. Some temples were built many centuries ago and are still standing today, but
many others were destroyed during the wars
(The Khmer pagodas, 450 in the delta of Mekong, play a fundamental role as guardians of the Khmer culture and notably in the field of education).

For centuries, Theravada Buddhism has been part of the Khmer identity and culture. Practiced by virtually all Khmers Krom, Theravada Buddhism influences all aspects of life to a much greater extend than do religions in the West.

The Khmer Krom sees Theravada Buddhism as a rational religion, possessing a coherent philosophy, which neither incites violence nor excites passion. Theravada Buddhism shaped the Khmer Krom way of life, guiding the standards of conformity for men, women and children. Religious institutions are responsible for the education and personality formation of the children. (Theravada Buddhism is probably the same as Hinayanna Buddhism).

After 1975 (land reform acts), in the name of the proletariat revolution, no one was allowed to own land. The only means to make a living for Khmer Krom was stolen. Ironically, when the communist government ensured that no Khmer farm land was left for private ownership it started to sell or distribute to farmers. The loser of this deceitful scheme was the Khmer. Khmer Krom had to buy back their own land.

Those who could not afford became tenants on their own land. Furthermore, the government official or their family kept all fertile lands. As a result, most Khmer were left starving. During the 70s virtually all traditional religious activities ceased. They could not even afford to buy a robe for their children to be ordained. Today, the current authority somewhat allowed the Khmer to resume their religious practice and renovate their
temples.

According to the KKF, this gesture is only a trap to attract much needed foreign currency from the Khmer Krom abroad who generously send the money back home.

On the political front, the Vietnamese attacked more directly to dissolve Khmer Krom religion. John Crowley, an officer of the U.S. Embassy to Bangkok wrote about religious repression toward Khmer Krom as follows: The Socialist Republic of Vietnam Government seeks to destroy Khmer culture in Vietnam through other, more subtle means: Repairing or making addittion to temples is forbidden New temples cannot be constructed Ordination of those under 55 years of age is forbidden Temples cannot be used as meeting area All temple donations must be given through government representative, etc.

All of this, and much more, can be seen as a sophisticated campaign to decentralize, fractionalize and reduce the influence of Buddhism on the Khmer Krom in Vietnam. The Khmer language is spoken in all Khmer families and communities.

For official business, however, the Vietnamese language is strictly enforced. About 10 percent of the Khmers-Krom is able to speak and write Vietnamese correctly. The Khmer language is taught at home and in the temples, but it is not permitted in any official business.

The struggle against the Vietnamese government to allow the use of Khmer in school or public place has been advocated for years, but no satisfactory result has ever been achieved. In many of instances, thousands of Khmers-Krom were accused, jailed, tortured, deported, or persecuted for speaking, learning or teaching the Khmer language. The Vietnamese do not allow books or documents to be written or published in Khmer unless they are to be used as propaganda.

The Khmer language is spoken almost exclusively in rural zones, only the children going to school understand Vietnamese. However, once they re-enter on their premises they exclusively speak Khmer with their parents. Conversely, in the urban zones, where the mixed marriages are very numerous and the exchanges with the Vietnamese and the Chinese are very many, the Khmer language is not any more spoken but by the old ones; the young people speak Vietnamese almost exclusively.

Environmental problems:

There are 2 problems in some of the zones which have strong Cambodian settlement. The salt deposit to the grounds make the coastal areas more and more sterile. In the district of Duyen Hai the rice yield has decreased by 50 to 90% in 30 years. This salt deposit worsens with the increase in the use of water of the Mekong in agriculture.The irrigation canals multiply in the regions of An Giang, Long Xuyen, Can Tho. Worsening factors: destruction of the mangrove, the floods which kill people and destroy the harvests. They are due to the rains of July to October and the resulting swelling of the water of the Mekong, the weak slope of the river, the low dams, the weak drainage and the problem of the deforestation.

Economy:

Agriculture is very important in Vietnam. The industry and services sectors are not very well developed. Agriculture is even more important in the Mekong delta, the area where the Khmer Krom people live. After 1975 (land reform acts), in the name of the proletariat revolution, no one was allowed to own land. The only means to make a living for Khmer Krom was stolen.

Ironically, when the communist government ensured that no Khmer farm land was left for private ownership it started to sell or distribute to farmers. The loser of this deceitful scheme was the Khmer. Khmer Krom had to buy back their own land.
Those who could not effort became tenants on their own land.

Furthermore, the government official or their family kept all fertile lands. As a result, most Khmer were left starving. The economic status of the Khmer Krom is reducing from land-owners to barely physical laborers for less than 1.0 U.S. dollar per working day. They are living ten folds below poverty level but the government of Vietnam constantly prevents any international organisations to observe the facts to help these people.

History:

The Khmer-Krom people have been in existence in this part of the peninsula since the beginning of the first century. The territory was immense compared to the Khmer popularion at that time, creating opportunities for expansionist neighbours to invade.

Therefore, Vietnam moved their people to Kampuchea-Krom using all kinds of tactics. The epoch of the Khmer Empire has been from the start of the 9th century until early 15th century. During this period, the Empire was a major power in South East Asia.

The famous architecture and construction of the ancient Angkor Wat, and many other monuments in the Empire had brought the Khmer artistic to a very high level. The ruined port of Oc-Eo (O-Keo in Khmer) in the province of Rach Gia in today southern Vietnam, was the busiest port in the region, where the Khmers, Chams, Chinese, Indians, and Europeans did their trading.

The township of Prey Nokor was a commercial center for the Khmer Empire, and it was once the most important military garrison against the Vietnamese southward movement. After over one thousand years under Chinese domination, the Vietnamese ambition on territory expansion gained strength in the 11th century. Vietnam moved its southern border further and further to the south and as a result the Khmer Empire declined from the 14th to the 19th century.

The Vietnamese leaders used inter-marriage as another means of manipulation to capture the territory of Kampuchea-Krom. The territory therefore became smaller and smaller as time went by and in 1954, as the French left the territory, Kampuchea-Krom was incorporated into Vietnam, rather than Cambodia. The Khmer-Krom people have been legally separated from the motherland Cambodia since then.

They are now considered as Khmers in Vietnam and, and as Vietnamese in Cambodia. During the presidency of the Republic of South Vietnam (1955-1963), Ngo Dinh Diem ordered that all Khmer names be changed to Vietnamese, and the Khmer-Krom identity was altered by a new and easily identifiable as the Vietnamese of Khmer Origin.

As a result of this decree, some of those who worked for the government, including military officers, lost their Khmer identity.

Organizations:

The Khmer Krom are represented in UNPO by the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation. The three branches of the federation have been elected from the representatives of Khmer Krom constituencies around the world. The officers of the federation from different regions of the world are the legitimate representatives of the Khmer Krom people.The Executive Committee of the Federation is placed under a Steering Committee, after consultation with member organisations of the Federation in each region.

Read more about Khmerkroms on UNPO official web site: www.unpo.org

A Letter from Rebecca Sommer

Some background on the Khmer Krom, courtesy of Rebecca Sommer:

Please click on the link or copy the address below into your address box to get to the weblink and watch the video.
www.rebeccasommer.org/documentaries/Khmer-Krom/index.php


“The Khmer Krom, who originated as the "first peoples" in the Mekong River Delta, usually live in villages surrounded by rice fields. The majority of the deeply religious Khmer Krom population sustain themselves with farming, fishing and hunting.”

Letter from Rebecca Sommer:

Dear Mr. Kinchen.

First of all I would like to thank you for writing articles which one usually doesn't find in the mainstream media. You ensure that the voices of many desperate peoples are heard, loud and clear, in the public -- around the globe. The very same peoples, which are silenced by force, intimidation, and misinformation propaganda by powerful entities.

The information which I provided to you and which was included in your recent article on the Khmer Krom in southern Vietnam, is just one example of many - on how indigenous people are oppressed and silenced. I am not astonished that the Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Marine did not find any "heavy" security presence while visiting the scene of the most recent atrocities against the Khmer Krom Buddhist monks.

It’s certain that the military and police presence was ordered to step back into the background while the Ambassador made his prominent visit. Wouldn't you do the same, if you know that someone important is coming to investigate something which you do not want to be visible to the outside world? I am also not astonished that the Ambassador was told in "private" by a senior monk, that there was no government crackdown against Khmer Krom Buddhists.

Let me explain that I visited numerous temples while traveling through the traditional land of the first peoples of southern Vietnam, the Khmer Krom. What struck me during my many conversations, (also in private), with monks, villagers, and refugees outside Vietnam -- was their collective voice explaining that the Buddhist temples, and Buddhist schools, are severely infiltrated and controlled by the Vietnamese authorities.,

I may not have made that clear to you -- the Buddhist temples chief monks are in most cases put in their positions by the governmental authorities. This --- I have been told in so many cases, that I would say -- the claims were countless. In some very few cases, Chief monks are able to hold their positions, by juggling a balance of acting as traitors -- but secretly protecting their very own peoples.

This, Mr. Kinchen, I have been told by the very same chief monks, or senior monks, on filmed tapes -- and heard this with my own ears. It is left to our imagination, who this senior monk was serving. With my eyes I saw the fear of Chief monks -- any monks for that matter -- who informed to be targeted for any whatsoever small issues, and explained to be under constant intimidation by local authorities which do not halt to enter and day and night into the temples for investigations, and placing into the temples their spies.

Yes, "spies", because that is how the Khmer Krom described them, not in one temple, in all temples I visited and in every village I heard this claim, over and over again. Many voices, but one collective voice with the same story. Usually, every monk, and every villager said that they know who the "spies" are, but what can they do? Report them to the governmental authorities? The sad part is that this forced infiltration and surveillance has caused many disappearances and imprisonment of Khmer Krom people -- or simply such intimidation that they are too afraid and silenced.

I met many of them who were released and told me their story. Not one or two stories. Especially those are targeted, which are loved by their Khmer Krom communities --- those who truly engage in social and cultural activities for the betterment of their communities --- the way the communities wants and needs them..

Beautiful, peaceful and kind people- who have committed no crime, but were targeted for their leadership roles and good examples they set within their communities. The Khmer Krom, a deeply religious people, say that they are not to be allowed to truly have their religion. That they are supposed to have another religion, which means, praying and following the communist doctrines of the country in which they live.

That they are not allowed to study certain ancient text of Buddha's teachings, or the pure Sanskrit language in the Pali schools. Everything is controlled, changed, and communist propaganda included, other parts are excluded and if taught in the temples, once again, is arrested.

They are not allowed to transmit their full knowledge of their peoples’ history which goes back to the Funan culture, because it would mean that the future generations of Khmer Krom would remain with their pride and feeling of belonging as an informed people, with their distinct identity as the Khmer Krom.

It appears to me, that the Khmer Krom are to be Vietnamized until they vanish as a people, and are simply “Vietnamese.” Therefore, I thank you for reporting on the latest incident, where the Khmer Krom temples and the monks stood up on behalf of their communities and their religious belief system, and peacefully protested against this ongoing oppression. That needed a lot of courage of the monks, and a lot of devotion, as for sure, they have to pay now a heavy price. many are hiding, others fled to Cambodia, some were arrested, some are under surveillance, they all pay a heavy toll. They knew it, but they did it, regardless. Because they want to have the right to their own religion, and traditional way of life.

Sadly, Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Marine was pulled aside by one of those senior monks, who decided for his individual gain and security to play the rules of the game established by Hanoi, by misinforming the Ambassador that there was no government crackdown against Khmer Buddhists.

For sure, this senior monk will walk free, while the others don't. But the good part is, that the outside world can have its own informed opinions, and luckily the Khmer Krom, the poorest of the poor in southern Vietnam, the most marginalized and disadvantaged and oppressed, use these days modern tools, even so they endure raids in their offices, temples, computers are checked on a monthly bases by the authorities, are arrested and imprisoned for having listened to foreign radio such as Radio Free Asia, or Voice of America, or checking in the internet information on human rights laws from the UN -- Some few Khmer Krom have cameras today, they will continue using them, and the internet or phone, messengers and letters, to inform the outside world.

This information flow cannot be stopped, only denied - if at all. Wouldn't the world be a better place, if human rights and the truth would not any longer be pushed aside --- for the sake of diplomacy and globalization interests?

Rebecca Sommer, Representative of the NGO Society for Threatened Peoples International, in consultative status to the United Nations ECOSOC and in participatory status with the Council of Europe. Indigenous Peoples Department, USA website: http://www.gfbv.de e-mail: rebeccasommer@earthlink.net

Portion of the Ultimate Truth About Kampucheakrom

http://www.rebeccasommer.org/documentaries/Khmer-Krom/index.php
Human Right Documentary Film


This Human Right documentary film is portraiting the ultimate truth on Khmer Kampucheakrom situation. These indigenuous people are being oppressed by the Vietnamese Colonialist Government.

Hale to all the heroes who manage to voice up the struggles and injustices inflicted upon the Kampucheakrom people. To watch this video, you can also go to the following web links:

http://www.khmerkrom.ca

http://www.khmerland.net

After accessing into this website, click on Video which is written in Khmer on the menu to view the film.

This video serves as an eye opening to those who have not heard of the Khmer Kampucheakrom. The Kampucheakrom people are struggling to survive from forced assimulation and ethnic cleansing act upon their own homeland. The evil land hungry theft from the North, namely the Vietnamese Colonialist Government, has swallowed these indigenuous Khmerkroms and many others alive with no mercy. The Vietnamese Colonialist Government relentlessly marches southward to expand its little Vietnam on the expenses of the Chams and the Khmers, and set up treacherous strategy to eliminate all these indigenuous peoples from the surface of their homelands.

Watch this video and see how evil evils could be. It is certainly one of most satanous acts taken place in our modern day.