Say No to Betrayal, but Yes to Loyalty to the Khmer Nation

'Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monuments' like this one have sprung up all over Cambodia's cities and population centres since the fall of the KR regime in 1979. The embedded emblem and message to Cambodians is not confined to "fraternal solidarity" and friendship between the two countries alone, but also to the tragedy and chaos that called for Vietnam's armed intervention in Cambodia in the late 1970s, and hence to the Cambodian people's scared psyche or sub-conscious fear and distrust of their own instinctive nationalistic feelings towards Vietnam's historical aggression that can be said to have ironically and in reality spurned and provoked that reaction in the first instance. The large numbers of Cambodians turning up to mourn the late N Sihanouk's death are also a testimony to their anxiety and fear of an uncertain future, and to what may happen in a new era minus one of their country's most enduring and pivotal national figures, for whatever reasons - School of Vice [credit: google]

The Chams had lost all that mattered to them as a distinct cultural entity and people. Their records and history as a once  proud and glorious nation whose artistic and cultural achievements rival those of Angkor are today reduced to no more than relegated relics of the past and objects of visitor curiosity on display at museums like this one in Da Nang's Cham Musem. Whilst Vietnam's government and tourism authorities seek to promote Vietnam as a colourful "multi-ethnic" destination made up of distinct cultural groups, the outward projection of racial, ethnic harmony betrays sharply the reality and legacy of systematic violence that had in recent centuries been [and arguably still being] directed towards dismembering minority groups to fit them into the cast iron blue print of auto-cultural genocide and against a largely alien, unhappy imposed experience that is "Vietnamisation" in practice - School of Vice [flickriver.com]   

by Anonymous Author

It is so so sad and hurtful for me to hear my respected Dr. Lao Mong Hai to even speak those words of letting go and forgetting the Khmer ancestral islands and territory in the hands of the predatory Vietnamese. This is so so outrageous. This was how the Cham people lost their territory to the Viets. According to the written records of the Cham people, their leaders finally SURRENDERED and GAVE UP the very own ancestral remaining territory to the Vietnamese predatory invaders. The Chams of the time were completely crashed emotionally and heartbroken beyond repairs. They protested bitterly, but it was their unfaithful, low-spirited, foolish, stupid Cham leaders of the time who signed away their very last remaining refuge to the control of the Vietnamese. Look at the Cham people in Vietnam now. They are the most pathetic, looked down upon, fallen human beings surrounded by jeering Viets. The Chams lost their natural names and language and customs and all their Chamness completely. Even when they became the leaders of the Viets, they still did nothing for recognition of their Cham brothers and sisters. Nothing to improve the lives of the Chams were made into law during the administrations of the Pham Van Dong of the North Vietnam, and Nuygen Van Thieu of South Vietnam. Look at those names, and one might think they were ethnic Vietnamese, but NO, the fact is they were of ethnic Cham. Look at the Khmer refugees stuck in Vietnam. They too had to change their names (first and last) into the Vietnamese name and became Vietnamese citizens if they want to participate in the Vietnamese dominated society. 

I don't know why my respected Dr. Lao Mong Hai even chose to speak those words of surrendering and giving up the Khmer ancestral land and islands to the Viets. Was he a quitter before he got his doctoral degree? The answer is NO! Especially, the Koh Tral Island, the Cambodians still have THE Chance in the international court because the wording of Breve and continuous claims from King Ang Duong. If Dr. Lao Mong Hai is a LOSER and a QUITTER, then he should just keep his comments to himself and not saying anything at all. 

This is an act of treason. Looking back at Khmer historical records, I become so disappointed at the numerous insider traitors of the Khmer nation and people. For example, even during the last blooming of the Angkorean Era, there were some Khmer-Indian Brahmin families who betrayed their Angkorean King and went to side with the Siamese invaders. Then later on, there was a Khmer governor who betrayed the Khmer King and ceded some Khmer western provinces to the Thai control. Then in the eastern part of the country, there was a Chinese man by the name of Maccau whom the Khmer King bestowed upon the title of governor and he too later on betrayed the very Khmer King by siding with the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty and ceding the some of the Khmer eastern provinces to the Vietnamese control. Do you recall also when the Khmer Angkorean King trusted completely his Angkor-trained-and-raised Lao son-in-law Fa Ngoun whom the King made into a general of the Khmer Army of 10,000 men. Fa Ngoun also betrayed the Khmer King and grabbed Khmer ancestral territory for his Lao people. If we keep reading into the details of the Khmer historical records, we will understand that the Thais were able to free themselves from the Khmer because they pretended to work for the Khmer Kings, but then they started to take over the Khmer province of Sokhotai. The Angkorean King also trusted a Cham general to administer Champa on behalf of the Khmer King in Angkor, but this Cham general turned around and liberated his country instead. 

The Khmers learned very well of the details how the Vietnamese came to occupy their territory and eventually carve it up to be theirs. It was during one Khmer King's reign who at his Vietnamese wife's request ALLOWED the settlement of just a few landless Vietnamese people in the Khmer territory. Look at those areas now. The Viets took over them completely, squeezed the Khmer people out, and now they changed the Khmer names to Saigon and other Vietnamese-sounding names. The Khmer also learned very well how the Chinese played some effective roles in facilitating the invaders to conquer the Khmer people. Remember, it was the Chinese emissary who trained the Cham soldiers to invade the mighty Khmer Angkor City. Remember also that it was the Chinese gunpowder invention that enabled the Vietnamese to push back the Khmer warriors successfully. Also, it was the Mongols from China who caused the great migrations of the Thai and Lao people into the Khmer empire. 

So I guess Dr. Lao Mong Hai is one of those special Khmers of ethnic Chinese who chooses to be happy to see the Khmer territory dismembered by the surrounding predatory neighbors. 

My question remains is: When will this pattern of betraying STOP! When will it STOP! Say NO! to betrayal, but do Say YES to the Loyalty of the Khmer Nation!