Cambodian Teacher Sentenced to Jail For Criticizing Monument to Cambodian-Vietnamese Ties

 

Editorial by Khmer Circle: 

 

For the casual and uninitiated observers alike, "animosity" isn't just simply a 'historical' thing, left over from the past. The Vietnamese state is still doing what it possibly can to deny Cambodian people the right to exercise their national self-determination and sovereignty and, this is not limited to that sizeable portion of southern Vietnam and is now that country's most fertile part – ‘Rice Bowl’ - the Mekong Delta that still remains very much in the hearts and souls of most Khmers. Read some of the independent reports in recent years on the mistreatments of the indigenous Khmers there to find out what life is like for them under Vietnamese occupation and hegemony.

The cruel irony is that the current plight of the Khmer Krom and their brethren in Cambodia today is not too dissimilair to that of the Vietnamese people themselves during that not-too-distant past of Chinese subjugation and enslavement lasting about a thousand years. This reason and experience have been the main factor and driving force behind Vietnam's 'Nam Tien' movement or Southward territorial expansion that among other things resulted in the physical extermination of and, genocide against the Champa Kingdom a few centuries ago as well as the de facto genocide against the Khmer people in the 1970s by proxy or covert means via a movement created by the Hanoi leadership itself: Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. 

These ubiquitous Thanks-giving monuments or homages in eternal gratitude to Vietnam is another form of cultural genocide in itself, acting as Vietnam's answer to that 'centuries of animosity' between the two nations as it seeks to whitewash history by instilling half-truths in public consciousness and criminalising a nation's collective memory. Remember even the word 'yuon' - a term in the Khmer language referring to the Vietnamese and most probably a corruption of the word 'Nguyen': a common surname in Vietnam is banned and detested - even by a bunch of vociferous, ‘respectable’ academics abroad as "derogatory" and or racist towards ethnic Vietnamese. While it is true that many Cambodians rarely distinguish between ordinary Vietnamese and their state in their minds, the lingering 'negative' perception and mistrust engendered among most Khmers over centuries are not going to be easily undone by public misinformation and concoctions of facts and history which is what these 'stupas' and monuments attempt to do. 

What might have been the outcome of the war with the US in the 1960s and 1970s had the North Vietnamese not been able to move their critical war-time supplies through the territories of both neutral Laos and Cambodia i.e., the Ho Chi-minh Trials, plunging those two small countries into a bloody conflict in the process who had no apparent use for either Communism or armed confrontation with the Americans? Would Pol Pot and the murderous Khmer Rouge or even their former cadres installed in power in the present Cambodian regime since the former's overthrow in 1979 had come to power without Hanoi's active patronage and intervention? 

Where are the monuments in Vietnam to commemorate the genocides committed against the people and nation of Champa, the various hill tribes of central and North Vietnam as well as the Khmer Krom in the Mekong Delta and their brethren in the rest of Cambodia today?

 

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Rights groups say the verdict is a violation of Yuong So Da’s freedom of expression.

2021-05-25
 

 

Yuong So Da in an undated photo.
Yuong So Da Facebook

 

A court in western Cambodia’s Pailin province has sentenced a schoolteacher to one year in prison for “incitement” after he criticized a monument to Cambodian-Vietnamese ties, prompting condemnation from rights groups who said the verdict violates his freedom of expression.

According to an April 9 ruling by the Pailin Provincial Court’s presiding judge Huy Nyhour, which was made public on Monday, Yuong So Da was tried and found guilty in absentia of “incitement to commit a felony” according to Article 495 of Cambodia’s penal code.

The verdict cited a comment Yuong So Da posted to Facebook in September 2020, which implied that the Cambodian-Vietnamese Friendship Monument in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin symbolized Cambodia’s increasing subservience to Vietnam.

“Now Cambodia has a [Cambodia-Vietnam] monument in nearly every province and soon the country will have two flags to raise,” the Facebook comment said.

Yuong So Da, who has been living in hiding for the past six months, called the court verdict “unjust and unacceptable” in an interview with RFA’s Khmer Service on Tuesday.

“This matter is related to my freedom of expression, and I am a person who likes to speak the truth,” he said, speaking from an undisclosed location.

“I didn’t think the authorities would seek to arrest to me and that the court would try me. I am a teacher and an author—why are they making problems for me?”

Yuong So Da said he is considering appealing the court ruling, which he must do by mid-July.


The Cambodian-Vietnamese Friendship Monument in Cambodia's Pailin province, in an undated photo. RFA
 

Centuries of animosity

Animosity between Vietnam and Cambodia goes back centuries, but was heightened by the Vietnamese war that ousted Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime in 1979 and paved the way for long-ruling prime minister Hun Sen’s ascension to power.

Accusations over the demarcation of the border between Vietnam and Cambodia have become a prominent feature in Cambodian politics as Hun Sen’s opponents have attempted to paint the strong man as a tool of the Vietnamese.

Union leader Rong Chhun was officially charged with “incitement to commit a felony or cause social unrest” under Article 495 and jailed at Prey Sar Prison in Phnom Penh on Aug. 1, 2020, a day after his arrest for claiming the government has allowed Vietnam to encroach on farmland along their shared border. His arrest prompted near daily protests in the capital Phnom Penh.

Ying Mengly, Battambang provincial coordinator for Cambodian rights group Adhoc, told RFA that posting comments on Facebook is an exercise in freedom of expression recognized by the constitution and called the verdict against Yuong So Da a “serious threat” to the country’s rule of law.

“I would like the court to drop the charges against the teacher,” he said. “He is just an individual. How were his comments considered incitement?”

“The state has many media outlets that can inform people [about the monument]. The government and courts need to open up and allow [criticism].”

While Yuong So Da is in hiding, he has used Facebook to ask that people to look after his parents, who he claims are facing pressure from authorities. On Tuesday, he posted a comment requesting donations of rice, pens and books in the event that he is jailed.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.