Khmer Kampuchea Krom Gov't in Exile Letter to Pres. George W. Bush on the eve of his departure to Vietnam

SUPREME NATIONAL COUNCIL OF KAMPUCHEA-KROM

INDEPENDENCE - FREEDOM - JUSTICE

Office of the Prime Minister

November 7, 2006

President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington D.C. 20500
Via email: president@whitehouse.gov

Dear Mr. President:

On the eve of your departure to Hanoi, Vietnam, for the APEC Summit, we, the Khmer-Krom people, citizens of the United States of America, wish you a brilliant success in your holistic mission.

We are writing to you to bring forth certain facts that Vietnam, your host country, does everything possible – including modify history, in order to hide the truth from the world.

Khmer-Krom (about eight million) are indigenous people of the Southern part of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula, or former French Cochin-China (or Kampuchea-Krom in our language). The French colonized Kampuchea-Krom in 1859; then France ceded this territory on June 4, 1949 to Vietnamese authorities in order to appease the rising communist movement led by Ho Chi Minh in North Vietnam. In so doing, the French colonial authorities of Indochina did the population transfer of Vietnamese citizens from Tonkin (North Vietnam) to Annam (Central Vietnam) and to Cochin China in the south in order to hold on to Colonial power.

As to the Khmer-Krom people, for more than five decades under the Vietnamese colonial yoke, our nation is facing an uncertain fate because of the Vietnamese government’s so-called “national unification program” which means to legalize the final phase of taken over of Montagnard, Cham, and Khmer-Krom territories. In other word, the Unification is made on lands that never belong to Vietnam! As a result, the following have happened to Khmer-Krom:

1. More than one million Khmer-Krom were displaced and took refuge in Cambodia;
2. Our tradition, custom, and culture, are prohibited or severely censured;
3. Our religious institutions are secretly controlled, constantly intimidated, and terrorized;
4. Our people’s human rights are subjected to abuse by Vietnamese authorities of all levels;
5. Our land is shared, bought, confiscated, or taken away by local authorities;
6. Injustice to Khmer-Krom people exists everywhere;
7. No equality of life, and Vietnamese double-standard treatment is a norm in our society.

Because of the gravity of the situation mentioned above, the people of Kampuchea-Krom have elected their representatives and senators from all walks of life around the world to endorse the formation of the Government of Kampuchea-Krom in exile. The government’s main goal is to gain the rights to self-determination for the Khmer-Krom in an independent Kampuchea-Krom. We will persist by non-violent means. Further, Kampuchea-Krom is now member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), and member of the United Nations Permanent Indigenous Forum.

We, Khmer-Krom, appeal to the United States to act as a catalyst in encouraging Vietnam to de-colonize Cochin-China (or Kampuchea-Krom) so that our people had not died in vain fighting with the US Special Forces against the Vietcong/North Vietnamese during Vietnam War. This is done in the belief that the region will find a real political stability, genuine respect of human rights, freedom, democracy and justice.

We thank you, Mr. President, for your kind attention.

This 12th day of November 2006

(Signed) Kim T. Khu, President, Khmer-Krom Senate
(Signed) Ong Son, President, Khmer-Krom Parliament
(Signed) Tan D. Thach, President, Supreme National Council
(Signed) Chanh Thach, Prime Minister of Kampuchea-Krom

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Contact: Sharon Young - kkgovernment@yahoo.com