4 February 2009
No army or police reshuffle in the next three weeks (2)
King Norodom Sihamoni left Cambodia today for a three-week visit to China where he will stay with the King-Father and the Queen-Mother in Beijing. Some observers infer that there would be no army or police reshuffle during the King's absence because only the Monarch can sign off Royal Decrees promoting or demoting high-ranking government officials.
49 potential Assembly seats for non-CPP parties (1)
Funcinpec (FUN) and Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP), which have just signed a cooperation agreement for the upcoming provincial and district elections in May 2009, would have won 9 National Assembly seats, instead of 4 (2 + 2 ), had they presented a single list of candidates at the last parliamentary poll in July 2008.
If the following non-CPP political parties had been united last year they would have won the following number of Assembly seats (out of 123):
Land grabber Keat Kolney testified in favor of Hor Nam Hong in Paris (1)
In relation with the defamation lawsuit he filed against opposition leader Sam Rainsy before the French Court , Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Nam Hong produced last December in Paris a testimony from Ms Keat Kolney, who is Finance Minister Keat Chhon's sister.
Keat Kolney wrote: "Mr. Hor Nam Hong, whom I knew and met at special meetings presided over by Ieng Sary [at the Boeng Trabek re-education camp], was torn apart [in his conscience] and had to resign himself to following the will of the Khmer Rouge."
Keat Chhon recognizes that he was Pol Pot's personal secretary and special adviser from 1975 to 1982. His sister Keat Kolney is currently involved in land grabbing in the Northeast of Cambodia and has clashed with indigenous people (hill tribe minorities) there.
See details of Keat Kolney's activities at http://tinyurl.com/cos5al and at http://tinyurl.com/dkeedq
Semantics and politics: "Siem" and "Yuon" versus Thailand and Vietnam (2)
Ordinary Cambodian people continue to widely use old and traditional terms to speak about their neighbors even though they may not sound politically correct for some people.
For instance, headlines in today's main Khmer-language newspapers, both government-affiliat ed and opposition-affiliat ed, call Thailand or Thai authorities "Siem". Similarly, the same newspapers have been often calling Vietnam or Vietnamese authorities "Yuon".
Actually, the words "Siem" and "Yuon" have been used by the Khmer people since several hundreds years ago, at a time when Thailand (formerly Siam ) and Vietnam (formally Annam ) did not exist under their current names, as evidenced by inscriptions on century-old temple steles.
Nowadays, in their daily language, Khmer people indifferently use "Siem" or "Thai" on the one hand, and "Yuon" or " Vietnam " on the other. There are old geographic places such as Siem Reap province, Kampong Siem district (in Kampong Cham province), Banteay Yuon (a village in Pursat province), Prek Yuon (a river in Kandal province). In culinary arts, there is a dessert called Chomnei Siem (Thai delicacy) and a dish called Samlo M'chu Yuon (Vietnamese sour soup).
Therefore "Siem" and "Yuon" are not derogatory words as some foreign "experts" pretend.
See today's Cambodian newspapers' headlines at http://tinyurl.com/d9ouqu
[End]
King Norodom Sihamoni left Cambodia today for a three-week visit to China where he will stay with the King-Father and the Queen-Mother in Beijing. Some observers infer that there would be no army or police reshuffle during the King's absence because only the Monarch can sign off Royal Decrees promoting or demoting high-ranking government officials.
49 potential Assembly seats for non-CPP parties (1)
Funcinpec (FUN) and Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP), which have just signed a cooperation agreement for the upcoming provincial and district elections in May 2009, would have won 9 National Assembly seats, instead of 4 (2 + 2 ), had they presented a single list of candidates at the last parliamentary poll in July 2008.
If the following non-CPP political parties had been united last year they would have won the following number of Assembly seats (out of 123):
- Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) + Human Rights Party (HRP): 34 instead of 29 separately (26 + 3).
- SRP + HRP + NRP: 41 seats instead of 31 separately (26 + 3 + 2).
- SRP + HRP + NRP + FUN: 46 seats instead of 33 separately (26 + 3 + 2 + 2).
- SRP + HRP + NRP + FUN + Smaller Parties: 49 seats instead of 33 separately (26 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 0).
Land grabber Keat Kolney testified in favor of Hor Nam Hong in Paris (1)
In relation with the defamation lawsuit he filed against opposition leader Sam Rainsy before the French Court , Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Nam Hong produced last December in Paris a testimony from Ms Keat Kolney, who is Finance Minister Keat Chhon's sister.
Keat Kolney wrote: "Mr. Hor Nam Hong, whom I knew and met at special meetings presided over by Ieng Sary [at the Boeng Trabek re-education camp], was torn apart [in his conscience] and had to resign himself to following the will of the Khmer Rouge."
Keat Chhon recognizes that he was Pol Pot's personal secretary and special adviser from 1975 to 1982. His sister Keat Kolney is currently involved in land grabbing in the Northeast of Cambodia and has clashed with indigenous people (hill tribe minorities) there.
See details of Keat Kolney's activities at http://tinyurl.com/cos5al and at http://tinyurl.com/dkeedq
Semantics and politics: "Siem" and "Yuon" versus Thailand and Vietnam (2)
Ordinary Cambodian people continue to widely use old and traditional terms to speak about their neighbors even though they may not sound politically correct for some people.
For instance, headlines in today's main Khmer-language newspapers, both government-affiliat ed and opposition-affiliat ed, call Thailand or Thai authorities "Siem". Similarly, the same newspapers have been often calling Vietnam or Vietnamese authorities "Yuon".
Actually, the words "Siem" and "Yuon" have been used by the Khmer people since several hundreds years ago, at a time when Thailand (formerly Siam ) and Vietnam (formally Annam ) did not exist under their current names, as evidenced by inscriptions on century-old temple steles.
Nowadays, in their daily language, Khmer people indifferently use "Siem" or "Thai" on the one hand, and "Yuon" or " Vietnam " on the other. There are old geographic places such as Siem Reap province, Kampong Siem district (in Kampong Cham province), Banteay Yuon (a village in Pursat province), Prek Yuon (a river in Kandal province). In culinary arts, there is a dessert called Chomnei Siem (Thai delicacy) and a dish called Samlo M'chu Yuon (Vietnamese sour soup).
Therefore "Siem" and "Yuon" are not derogatory words as some foreign "experts" pretend.
See today's Cambodian newspapers' headlines at http://tinyurl.com/d9ouqu
[End]
14 comments:
If khmers dont still excetp CPP or Youn Puppet to run the country, We will never have real democracy, Soverienty, integrity and independent country.
Big worried from Old man
correct: If khmers still except....
And Ah youn call us Kamean ! So what the fuck with you, UN????
If they really want to make Fusion,
I think they will get more than 49 seats.
But Rainsy and Kem Sokha just don't want it.
The propositions have been maided by
Mr Ok Socheat and Mam Sonando.
CPP is afraid of that Fusion, But... sigh !
This fusion mean a lots.
Most of the peoples whom had defected to CPP will come back!
Right now, they don't wanna fight a losing battle !
You stupid above and KI too are you fools! Ah Kwack would arange to have just the same as now!
Mothee fucker , lightning strike, would just cheated the same and forever until lighning strike him to meet ah Hok Landy!!!!
The Yuon will always be the "Yuon". It's not derogatory. It's a noun that we have used to identify our eastern neighbors across the border for centuries. It's part of the Khmer vocabulary and we shouldn't be told by non-Khmers about our rights of usage. I will forever use the word "Yuon" to identify the "Vietnamese". As for the Thai, the nouns "Thai" and "Siem" are interchangeable.
i know, foreigners who don't understand khmer seemed to have problem with khmer calling "siem" and "youn" for thailand and vietnam respectively. the article should clear or help them to understand that better. it's not necessarily derogatory for khmer people to call our neighboring countries "siem" and "youn". it is the khmer language to call these people so. just like in any language, they have their own way of calling a country on the planet. take for instance, cambodia itself was known or called differently in several languages, too, like cambodge, kampodscha, cambodgia,campuchia, cambodia, etc, while the native khmer actually have always called our own country "kampuchea" or "srok khmer", prateh khmer, etc. for those foreigners who don't understand the khmer way, they seemed to think by khmer people calling "siem" and "youn" is derogatory, not so. these terms were dubbed by the khmer people long ago even before the "siem" and "youn" changed their countries' names to "thailand" and "vietnam", but khmer people are still refer to these two countries the old way. nothing's wrong with that. thailand and vietnam will always be known in cambodia as "siem" and "youn". don't think that's going to change overnight! those individual foreigners who seemed to say that these khmer terms are "derogatory" should study khmer to understand the origin of our language.
and since i brought up studying khmer language, it is not hard to learn the khmer language. here's a helpful hint for learning khmer language: please start by learning the khmer alphabets because the key to speaking, pronouncing, and writing khmer is to study its alphabets from the begining. and khmer is not easy for self-taught, especially in the very beginning. a native khmer teacher is needed with saying the alphabets in khmer. if one learns how to pronounce the khmer alphabets and where each alphabet belongs in a written word, etc, from there, the more advance one gets the easier it will become. i'm s native khmer speaker. when i first learn how to reading and write the khmer language, i, too, thought it was hard, until i master the khmer alphabets, then everything became so easy.
another hint is: khmer people learn our own language by repetition like in mantra almost, the more you keep repeat the sound, the alphabet, the word, etc, the better you will master it. it is so true in learning the khmer language, repeat, repeat, repeat... can't emphasize this enough! another unique aspect of the khmer language is the use of subscripts which tend to make the pronounciation quick or fast, not slow at all! it's almost like using or converting to a contraction by using an apostrophe, pronounce khmer word with subscript very fast, do not let your tongue drag that word, pronounce it very quick, very fast; otherwise, you will sound like the way the "siem" speak, thus it is not khmer as the khmer language is non-tonal. try it, it's easy to learn. have fun!
It is a big blow to Sam ransy for loosing court case with Hor Nam Hong. Sam rainsy needs to be carefull for his appeal. He has to make sure that his appeal will give him in favour for his political life in Cambodia. In reality, Sam Ransy should have won the court case in the first place if he was carefull with his affidavits and his witness. He needs a lot of victims to support his case. Indeed Hor Nam Hong lawyer is very smart to lodge the complain the district court which is very cheap and can give him good result because district court need short time to get hearing. He cannot win if he go to the Hish Court. The High Court needs more moneys and more fee to the lawyer.
I hope Sam rainsy will win in his appeal but I still insist him to be very carefull with his appeal and his affidavits and I insiste him to get more victims to write the affidavits for him. His witness are not necessary people from Boeung Trabet but all victims from Khmer Rouge. They must understood of power struggle during khmer rouge regime. Only Pol Pot closed association to have survive from all training camp and those who have promoted to chief of the camp were the most important people of people Pol Pot. Areak Prey
Hey! you good 3:38!
Calling them Vietnam or Siam simply means that you recognize their legality of expansion or in order words you accept the loss of land to them.
In contrast, Cambodian represents only small ethnic. Introducing yourself as Khmer is much better because Khmers are every where starting from Burma to Khmer Krom. Suryavarman was the only king who was able to UNITE all Khmers. Many Khmers (even in Cambodia alone) are not united and are very ignorant.
yes, khmer people have always called ourselves khmer. the term "cambodian", although the same as khmer, is actually how westerners or foreigners in the west like the EU, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canadia, etc call us. agreed that we should educate or encourage to foreigners, by all means, like through embassies, to tourists, etc, by introducing ourselves as "khmer". and also educate everyone that we prefer foreigners called our ethnicity as "khmer", and not so much as "cambodian". khmer is better than being called "cambodian". and it is "khmer", not ka mere, khman, or whatever!
...Read the Yuon stuffffff.......
By Bora Touch
Because of general ignorance and political manipulation, especially by foreigners with the foreign "experts" on Cambodia being the worst offenders, the term "Yuon" has become so controversial that the Khmers and the Khmer language have become the victims. The term has been criticized by foreign experts as "contemptible" "derogatory" and as having a "savage connotation". The word has been used by certain political factions as a tool to discredit or demonize their political rivals for their own political gain.
In his letter to editor of Washington Times, 13/9/02, Dr. David Roberts defamatorily called the opposition leader, Mr. Sam Rainsy, a racist for using the term "yuon" when referred to Vietnamese. Roberts was harshly critical of Mr Rainsy and wrote: "Mr. Rainsy is not a democrat. He is a disappointed authoritarian in the Cambodian tradition. He refers to his Vietnamese neighbors as 'yuon,' meaning savage."
Mr. Yasushi Akashi, the Head of UNTAC, was hypnotized by the foreign "experts" on Cambodia to the degree of, reportedly, speechlessness, when a Khmer journalist used "yuon" to refer to Vietnamese when asking him questions. Akashi's foreign advisors even discussed criminalizing the use of term. Although the use of the term was not criminalized, "insults" and "racial incitement" (which are undefined which led to broad discretion or political abuses) were made criminal offences in the UNTAC criminal Code 1992. The drafters of the Code had a misplaced focus. They apparently were so obsessed with ensuring use of the word "Yuon" could be actionable that they failed to criminalize the offence of assault. As a result, assault is not punishable under the Code unless it results in permanent injury lasting six months. This has provided the police with an implicit license for torturing accused people - unless an accused person suffers permanent injury it is difficult to complain about police treatment during questioning. The Code further fails to include basic criminal defenses such as insanity and self defence. But, congratulations, if someone utters the word "youn" they can be charged with "insult" under Code.
Samdech Hun Sen's letter to US Senators John McCain and John Kerry of 3/10/1998, capitalized on the senators' ignorance of the term "Youn" in Hun Sen's campaign against Mr. Rainsy. Hun Sen stated, "Mr. Sam Rainsy referred me as a "Yuon" puppet. In case Your Excellencies are not familiar with the term "Yuon", "Yuon" is highly derogative and racist term used to denigrate those of Vietnamese ancestry". Hun Sen is known for his ties to the Vietnamese. What Sam Rainsy said was nothing new. Hun Sen chose to attack his use of the term "youn" rather than answer the charge that he was too close to the Vietnamese.
The term began to be politicized in late 1970s, especially during the Khmer Rouge-Vietnam war. In an attempt to demonize KR, the Vietnamese propagandists propagated that "Yuon is the pejorative term for the Vietnamese": see Hanoi's propaganda against KR: Kampuchea Dossier (KD), April 1978, Pt I, p 35. On the following page, they added "Annamites" in French, or Annam in Khmer, "is another pejorative term meaning Vietnamese" p36. The term "Annam", or "Annamese" in English being pejorative is more than ridiculous considering the fact that Annam was the name of a country. While few Khmer know this Vietnamese self-adopted definition, anything is possible in propaganda war.
Dr. Robert's definition of "youn" as "savages" appears to have been drawn from the KR's definition of the term found in the KR Black Papers (1978) p.9. The definition is, incorrect and baseless and was included by the KR and the Vietnamese for the purpose of their respective propaganda. The adoption of this definition by Dr Roberts and others flies in the face of more than a thousand of years of evidence to the contrary.
Let me set the record straight. The term is neither new nor contemptible or derogatory. In fact, the Khmers have been using the term for more than a thousand years and it has become a piece of Khmer tradition and language. As far as the surviving recorded evidence shows, the word "yuon" appears in Khmer inscriptions dating back to the reign of King Suryavarman I (1002-1050), a immediate predecessor to the Angkor Wat temple builder Suryavarman II: see Inscription K105 or Coedes, Inscriptions du Cambodge, K. Hall, Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia (1985) etc. "Yuon" was used in the context of trade and commence to refer to the Vietnamese people and in no way was a term of contempt.
As a matter of fact, "yuon" was well known and used by early European travellers and officials; for instance by the British linguist Lieut-Col James Low in his "On the Ancient Connection Between Kenah and Siam", Journal Indian Arch. Vol v. (1851) p513, by a famous French naturalist Henri Mouhot in his "Notes on Cambodia, Lao Country," Journal Royal Geog. Soc. London, Vol. 32 (1862),p.157; by a Thai King Mongkut (1851-68) in his official correspondence, Pharatchahatthalekha prahatsomdet phrachomklaochauyuhau (114-116), etc. "Yuon" was still in use by some French writers after the independence of Indochina states, for instance, by a French Sgt. Resen Riesen, Jungle Mission (1957). In Khmer writings, the term "youn" was not used as a racist slur nor to indicate contempt, but to refer to what since WWII have been known as Vietnamese people. None of Khmer language dictionaries define "youn" as "savage" or indicate that it is a pejorative term. "Yuon" has been used in old and new Khmer poetry and songs for hundreds of years compared to the term "Vietnamese" which has been used about 50 years ago.
Additionally, the Khmer dish named "samlor mchu yuon" means Vietnamese sour soup. In fact, it would be odd to call that particular dish "samlor mchu Vietnam" because it is not the traditional name, even the Vietnamese-Cambodians refer to it using the word "youn".
It is true that most Vietnamese do not know the term "yuon" and only the Khmer colloquially use it to refer to them, but this surprises no Khmer because equally most of the Vietnamese do not know that almost the whole of south Vietnam (from Don Nai to Hatien provinces) rightly belong(ed) to Cambodia and the Vietnamese ancestors (and themselves) have colonized that part of Khmer lands for the last 3 centuries. "Yuon" had been used long before the beginning of this brutal Vietnamese colonization process starting in late 15th century. Knowledge by the Vietnamese, therefore, is not a test of the meaning or offensiveness of the term.
Some "experts" have argued that if the Vietnamese are offended with the use of term, the Khmer should follow their wish. Well, a lot of Khmer traditions and words may offend the Vietnamese but this should not force the Khmer to give up their traditional and cultural habits, and there are many Khmer terms which Vietnamese had adopted in their language. Political "correctness", or forced accommodation rather, is not new to the Khmer. Back in the 19th century, the Khmer were forced to learn and speak Vietnamese rather than the Khmer language and to behave and to dress the way the Vietnamese under the policy of Vietnamization by Emperor Minh Mang or his dynasty. Phnom Penh was changed to Tran Tay; a Phnom Penh fort was changed to "Annam"; and all Khmer districts were changed to Vietnamese names; Khmer traditional royal coronation, in case Queen Ang Mei; and titles were changed to adopt the Vietnamese way. When the Khmer resisted, they were punished and, in some cases, executed. The resistance has continued.
The question is should the Khmer give up this piece of their traditional language or culture, thus stop resisting? Why should we?. It is time for dispassionate discussion of the term rather than inflammatory comments by foreigners and by Mr Hun Sen. Perhaps the foreign "experts" should see that in a sense they have been manipulated by Mr Hun Sen, and the Vietnamese rather than lecturing the Cambodians about hate language. The tone of foreigners, particularly in their criticism of Sam Rainsy, smacks of paternalism. As if we do not know what words in our own language mean. Believe me, Khmers know which words in their own language are "bad" or pejorative and we do not need foreigners to teach us or show us the way.
For Vietnamese to accept another term, "yuon", and learn that the term is not pejorative and not contemptible is perhaps easier and cheaper than forcing the Khmer to give it up, a task which could include destroying the 1000 year-old inscription (or at least obscuring the "offensive" word in that inscription) as well as destroying all Khmer dictionaries.
Mr. Bora Touch is a writer from Sydney, Australia.
i'd like to ask where they learned that the khmer name for "siem" and "youn" are derogatory or bad as in name calling or whatever? can those people speak fluent khmer to claim such distorted khmer meaning? i wouldn't be surprise if they learnt from siem people and youn people about this distorted interpretation! go figure! for the millionth, billionth times, it's not derogatory in khmer! it is just the khmer language because like any language on the planet, we, khmer, do have our own terms for certain nationality on the the planet as well. so, please don't misinterpret or twist our real khmer name for these neighboring countries! thank you.
please learn khmer language so not to misunderstand khmer meaning in all of this!
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