The Plight of Cambodia’s Khmer Krom Community
Marching
in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh to mark the 23rd anniversary of
the Paris Peace Agreement – the country’s national day – between 800 and
1,000 protestors delivered a petition to several embassies and the UN’s
offices, accusing Cambodia’s ruling party of failing to adhere to the
spirit of the peace accord.
Venerable Soeun Hai, one of the protest leaders told
reporters, “the rally is to urge the government to fully implement the
agreement for the sake of peace, national unification, democracy,
development, independence and sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Still, none of the protesters went to the Vietnamese embassy, for fear
of confrontation with the Cambodian authorities there.
The Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh has been the site of a series of
protests in Phnom Penh recently, all steeped in historical grievances.
Earlier this month, a five-day protest was organized in Phnom Penh by
the Khmer Kroms, ethnic Khmer from South Vietnam entitled to Cambodian
citizenship. It was at least the fourth of its kind since June 2014, and
yet it was not repressed by the authorities despite the demands
of the Vietnamese government. Hundreds of monks and nationalists
gathered in front of the Vietnamese embassy and called for a boycott of
Vietnamese products until Trung Van Thong, a spokesperson for the
Vietnamese embassy to Cambodia, apologizes for a comment he made on a
radio program last June. Thong had stated that an area in southern
Vietnam that was once part of the Khmer Empire belonged to Vietnam
“long” before France’s official transfer of the land in 1949.
Unlike the protests of Cambodian garment workers asking for a higher
minimum wage, these protests are not as easy for the authorities to put
down. When the Cambodian government does try to repress them, they are
seen as submitting to the will of Vietnam. When it doesn’t, it shows how
politically sensitive the issue is.
Kampuchea Krom literally means “the lower land of Kampuchea.” “Krom”
in Khmer also means “below,” and denotes the “southern” part of
Cambodia. Known as Cochinchina during the era of the French protectorate
established in the region, Kampuchea Krom is home to Ho Chi Minh City,
the largest city in Vietnam. However, little is known about the region
in the post Angkor era – a period from around the 15th century until the
mid-19th century. This makes determinations of which country has a
stronger historical claim to the area extremely difficult.
What is clear, however, is that on June 4, 1949, the decolonization
process began in Vietnam, and France started its official transfer of
the land to Vietnam.
“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,” the statement said.
“His statement is a falsification of history,” said Son Chum Chuon, a
program officer at the Khmer Kampuchea Krom for Human Rights and
Development Association (KKKHRDA), which is based in Phnom Penh. “It has
never successfully been proved that Kampuchea Krom belonged to Vietnam
before 1949.”
An Issue for “All Cambodians”
Today, ethnic Khmers in Kampuchea Krom are more focused on keeping
their culture and traditions alive than on seeking sovereign territory.
Still, there is nowhere they can call home. In fact, Khmer Krom are
leaving Vietnam and Cambodia because of the discrimination they face in
both countries.
In Vietnam, Khmer Krom traditions and religion are at stake because
“assimilation” is the norm for all 54 ethnic groups living in the
country. And in Cambodia, it is usually very difficult for them to get
Cambodian nationality, although the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC)
considers that Khmer Kroms to be Khmer. Ang Chanrith, the director of
the recently registered Minority Rights Organization (MIRO), has been
working with Khmer Krom in Cambodia since 1998. He told The Diplomat
that more than 200 Khmer Krom were given refugee status in Thailand
because of the difficulties they face. The UNHCR, the UN Refugee’s
agency, assesses their asylum claims on an individual basis, as with
asylum-seekers from other countries. Since the agency does not break its
statistics down by ethnicity, religion, or other such categories, it is
impossible to state how many Khmer Krom are official refugees. By the
end of 2013, however, there were more than 100 people of concern to
UNHCR from Cambodia living in Thailand.
Although the recurring demonstrations do not make the headlines
outside Asia, the plight of this ethnic minority group – shuttled
between Vietnam and Cambodia since the 1950s – has political
implications for both countries.
KKKHRDA’s Chum Chuon told The Diplomat that it could be “a
significant issue” for “it can maybe change the vision of some Cambodian
citizens by showing the real nature of the current Cambodian
government.”
Echoing this view, Chanrith explains that “Khmer Krom have an impact
on all Cambodian citizens because they show how the current government
chooses to ignore this issue and refuses to defend its own people. The
Cambodian government already lost face since it did not ask Vietnam to
correct the historical record.”
Dr. Jean-Michel Filippi, a professor of Khmer Studies at the Royal University of Phnom Pen, points to the deportation of Khmer Krom monks
who criticized Vietnamese politics too loudly as an example of the
political impact in the last few years. “In fact, the current leadership
already did everything possible to undermine the question and will
continue to do so. Should the political opposition win, things would
change considerably,” he told The Diplomat.
Khmer Krom demands center a growing anti-Vietnamese feeling in Cambodia, which is expressed by the country’s opposition party. Sebastian Strangio, a journalist and author of the forthcoming book Hun Sen’s Cambodia,
sees “the recent Khmer Krom protests [as] an outgrowth of the general
fear and hostility that many Cambodians have historically felt towards
Vietnam,” noting that the Vietnamese overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in
January 7, 1979 represents “the main faultline in modern Cambodian
politics.” To Strangio, opposition politicians like Sam Rainsy and Kem
Sokha have frequently played on these animosities in order to undermine
the legitimacy of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government. “It has
great emotional resonance for many Cambodians, but also serves to
undermine the party’s credentials as the party of tolerance and liberal
values,” he says.
The West Begins to Listen
A few years ago, A few years ago, Thach Setha, executive director of
the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, an association of 12 Khmer Krom
organizations, was worrying
that the Khmers Krom would disappear through assimilation. But
diplomacy and stepped-up activism has changed the outlook somewhat.
“In the past, it was very difficult for us to be heard, to
demonstrate and state our demands out loud,” said Chuon. “Today, the
media makes it easier.” He acknowledges also a tailwind from the United
States, as it seeks better relations with Vietnam. “The U.S. pays
attention to the discrimination of the Khmer Krom in Vietnam and this is
why diplomats and government officials ask Vietnam to improve their
human rights record to maintain good relations,“ Chuon said.
The United Nations is also showing interest. At the end of his
mission to Vietnam last June, Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN Special
Rapporteur on the Freedom of Religion or Belief, was concerned
by reports of surveillance, intimidation and harassment experienced by
some of his interlocutors. His end of mission statement referred to the
fact that “[...] some Buddhist monks who identified themselves as
‘Khmer Krom’ would wish to have more autonomy not only within the
Vietnam Buddhist Sangha – the sole legitimate religious organization in
and outside Vietnam – but also outside of this official Buddhist
umbrella.” His final findings from the mission will be released in March
2015.
Early this year, during the Universal Periodic Review of Vietnam –
all member states of the UN go through a review of their human rights
record – a number of civil society organizations submitted information
on the Khmer Kroms to the Human Rights Council. Vietnam, however, refused
to comment or make commitments during the process. Four months after
the radio statement, the Khmer Kroms are still waiting for an apology.
“We will hold other demonstrations and would like the Cambodian
government to change,” says Chuon. The question now will be whether the
Cambodian authorities allow those demonstrations to continue.
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