Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Khmer Kampuchea Krom call for intervention

Left: Officials participating in the commemoration ceremony, CPP and CPP government officials are nowhere to be seen. Right: Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (Photo: Sralanh Khmer newspaper)

04 June 2007
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia

Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom community called on the international community and the government of Cambodia to help intervene urgently with the Vietnamese authority which defrocked, arrested, and jailed Khmer Krom monks.

During a ceremony marking the commemoration of Khmer Krom nationalist heroes, and the 04 June event (the date France decided to transfer the ownership of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam), Thach Setha, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom community, called on the national and international communities to help intervene with the Vietnamese government for the release of 5 Khmer Krom monks who are currently being jailed, and the return of the religious status to 16 other monks who were defrocked by force.

Thach Setha added that these monks did not do anything wrong, they only express their opinions to demand for their ability to study Khmer literature.

Thach Setha said: “Today, on this painful day marking the loss of our lands, our voice is a calling voice, a pleading to the national and international community to please help intervene with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam government so that it releases the (Khmer Krom) monks who were sentenced to jail, and so that it allows the other 16 monks to rejoin the Buddhist religious order again. We (Cambodia) have the full right to intervene, this is not an internal issue of Vietnam, this issue involves Khmer people, this issue involves the Cambodian government.”

Monk Yoeung Sin, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom monks association, said Khmer Kampuchea Krom people, the rightful owners of the lands and the waters (of Kampuchea Krom), have suffered for the past 57 years because of all kinds of Vietnamese government oppressions, such as farm land confiscation, confiscation of pagodas, and in 2007, the Vietnamese government has imposed a severe restriction of Khmer Krom monks by preventing them to go out to beg for their daily alms, by defrocking Khmer Krom monks, by jailing them, etc…

RFA was not able to obtain any comment on this issue from government officials.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who was also present at the ceremony, said that he demands that monks and laymen to have the same rights. He condemned the action taken by the Vietnamese authority to defrock and jail Khmer Krom monks, as barbaric.

Sam Rainsy said: “They (Vietnamese gov’t) oppress Khmer Krom monks, they jail them, these are barbaric acts that all those who love justice and democracy must condemn.”

The 58th mourning commemoration of the transfer of the Kampuchea Krom lands to the Vietnamese government, perpetrated by the French colonial regime in 1949, was participated by officials from the Sam Rainsy Party, the Funcinpec party, and the representative of the King only.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fuck that craps, the vietnamese has
the right to enforce their laws
against offenders just as the US
and other country has.

The commemoration is a joke.
None of the indigenous people on
this planet celebrates any
commemoration of lost land to
foreigners. If they do, I certainly
like to know what date does the
red indian commemorates the lost
of their land to the cowboy.

Furthermore if we are to observe
such a commemoration, we should
also observed a commemoration of
the Chompa lost lands to Ah Khmer-
Youns, on and on, which is stupid
and childish.

Khmer Young said...

Everybody has equal rights to commemorate their national days as well as other memorable days.

All nations and indigenous nations have their own particular dates to remind and commemorate their heros/heroins and ancestors. There are several examples about this. That why there is UNPO or Indegenous Day Forum that just recently finished in NY to uplift the fundamental rights of those minor groups.

Khmer Kampuchea Krom as well as Khmer Leur Sorin/Boriram have their own ancestor and memorable days.

We are Khmers, the race who love harmony and peace....but we will not give up to surrender any enemies who are trying to destroy and eliminate our race.

KY

Anonymous said...

hay, the newest nations are East Timor, Ukriane, Kazakhstan,Belerus, and Georgia just to names a few and they all under occupation for a few hundred of years.

Anonymous said...

Bullshit, there is not indegenous
day to commemorate the lost
of their land on this planet as Ah
Khmer-Youns are doing . So, stop
embarassing yourself before khmer
people here, stupid (5:00)!

Anonymous said...

Indegineous people like Maori of New Zealand, Hawaiian or Indian of America and Aboriginal Nations in Canada or Australia....each have their days to celebrate annually and have whole hearted supported by those governments.

As same as Khmer Kampuchea Kroms are welcomed by Cambodians and only Yuan individuals who see this day of commemoration as the danger and threat to them....

Yuan is not only swallowed Khmer Krom, but this robbery nation has also infiltrated to dominate and devastate Cambodia currently.

Anonymous said...

Noope, no one is celebrating nor
commemorating their lost land on
this planet.

Anonymous said...

ONLY YUON BRAIN THAT NOT DOING THAT STUPID,
BECAUSE YUON TRY VERY HARD TO GET CAMBODIA
BUT FOR CAMBODIAN AND KHMER KROM ,HAVE KNOWN THE YUON TIEF BETTER THEY KNOW THEM SELF,DO NOT CONFUSE ALL KHMER PPL,YOU YUON POPUS TEUK.