by Khmer Circle:
And yet many a disingenuous Cambodia commentator, academic, 'expert' etc. would laugh off the notion that Vietnam exercises any amount of unduly influence upon Cambodia and its installed administration. Paradoxically or ironically, Vietnamese regime spokesmen or leaders will insist - and have insisted - that all ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia, most of whom have entered the country illegally since 1979 following the armed invasion and occupation of the country by Vietnam - are "practically Cambodians"; and even those ethnic Vietnamese themselves who have been in the country long enough to have integrated themselves into mainstream culture and way of life would claim that they are ‘Khmers’ - which is true in that cultural sense but these folk are probably in the minority who have either survived the Pol Pot period or have returned from Vietnam after that above mentioned invasion.
Why the paradox? Well, for the indigenous Khmers in Vietnam to be considered "Vietnamese" by the Hun Sen regime is in effect to deny any state/national responsibility towards this minority, leaving them further stripped of any protection or intervention from a state that they naturally turn to for protection from undue mistreatment from the de facto colonial authorities in that country.
In contrast, insisting that the ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia are Khmers or Cambodians amounts to the full affirmation of the legitimacy and legality of their status in Cambodia, and unlike their Khmer Krom counterparts who are being thus abandoned to their fate in Vietnam or Kampuchea Krom, these ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodian can expect to fare far better socially and politically while the regimes on both side of the border agree which one of the two groups are to be afforded special treatment and which are not.
Unlike the Khmer Kroms, the ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia are no second class citizens, and this is evidenced by Hanoi's demand that they be well looked after and facilitated as well as by the social-economic arrangement put in place for their general well-being in the form of Vietnamese associations that have mushroomed all over the country.
Such arrangements and priority status attached to this ethnic group by Hanoi betray its long term intentions towards a country that has in recent centuries been ruthlessly subjugated and dismembered in the worst possible way. The KR period is partly a culmination of this national experience of pain and humiliation. However, since Pol Pot and his colleagues were 'Khmers' by ethnicity or 'race' just as Hun Sen and his CPP colleagues are also apparently 'Khmers' it would be unreasonable or irrational to pin any 'blame' or responsibility on that other party, eh?
^^^
Sok Ey San had said that the Cambodian government doesn’t have a responsibility to monitor their well-being.
2024.07.18
The longtime spokesman for Cambodia’s ruling party has publicly apologized for referring to the Khmer Krom people as Vietnamese in a recent interview with Radio Free Asia.
Sok Ey San was asked last week if Cambodia would push for an end to Vietnam’s restrictions on the nearly 1.3-million strong indigenous Khmer Krom community that live in a part of Vietnam that was once southeastern Cambodia.
The July 9 comments prompted criticism on social media among Cambodians. Support for the Khmer Krom is a sensitive political issue in Cambodia, where many people believe the lower Mekong delta region was unfairly handed over to Vietnam by France in 1949.
The spokesman for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party told RFA in the interview that Khmer Krom “call themselves Khmer Krom, but in fact, all of them have Vietnamese nationalities.”
Sok Ey San, who is also a senator, talked to RFA ahead of Vietnam State President To Lam’s July 12-13 visit to Cambodia. He noted that no Khmer Krom hold Cambodian passports or citizenship, and all are Vietnamese citizens.
“Why is it necessary for the Royal Government of Cambodia to demand on behalf of the Khmer Krom?” he asked.
On Wednesday, Sok Ey San said in a statement that he had no intention to “discriminate or be narrow minded” in his remarks.
“And if my words spoken out via interviews with the media hurt the feelings of brothers and sisters, I apologize,” he said.
The Khmer Krom community has faced serious limitations on freedom of expression, assembly and movement. Additionally, the Vietnamese government has tried to restrict and control Buddhist temples attended by Khmer Krom people.
As Khmers, they are ethnically similar to most Cambodians, and are considered outsiders in Vietnam, where they face social persecution and strict religious controls.
Thers Chantrea, president of the Khmer Krom Youth Council, said the Cambodian government does have a responsibility to look out for the interests of the Khmer Krom.
The Vietnamese government has often made statements to officials in Phnom Penh about the well-being of Vietnamese immigrants to Cambodia, he said.
“Shouldn’t we respect what the late King Norodom Sihanouk said – that for Khmer people, regardless where they live, they are still Khmer,” he said. “So, the Khmer Krom is also Khmer.”
Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed.
1 comment:
The root cause of the problem is that Ah Kantorb Sok Ey San aka Nguyen Van Kouk is the spokesman for the government. It is natural that he said all kind of shit to hurt Khmer people's feeling.
Remove this asshole from his position is the right thing to do.
Spokesman Kanduoy Meh Vear Ey !!
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