The Overseas Vietnamese Associations in Cambodia worry Khmer citizens (Photo and article: Khmer Nation newspaper)By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
06 April 2009
Behind the bitter sentiment toward the Vietnamese in Cambodia is a forgotten, significant piece of history that only goes back about 60 years, according to a US researcher.
Shawn McHale, a professor at George Washington University, told a US audience recently that the period between 1945 and 1949 marked the turning point in the sour relationship between the two neighbors, including Cambodia’s claim to land in southern Vietnam, Vietnamese settlement and intervention in Cambodia and anti-Vietnamese propaganda by the French.
Many Cambodians point to a long history of strife with their eastern neighbors. But past researchers have also failed to look at the Vietnamese perspective, McHale said, in arguments rejected by other researchers and representatives of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom, the Khmer ethnic group living in southern Vietnam.
As the French were leaving what was then called Indochina, an area that took up Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, they partitioned the Mekong Delta into southern Vietnam. However, McHale says, recognizing that anti-Vietnamese sentiment could be stirred up in the Khmers, they used the latter in an alliance against the Viet Minh, the anti-colonialist group fighting for independence in northern Vietnam.
“The French actually played off, in certain times, the ethnic Khmer against the ethnic Vietnamese,” McHale told a group of some 20 professors and students. “The French actually came to realize that the ethnic Khmers could be a staunch ally against the communist-led Viet Minh, so they allied more with ethnic Khmers.”
McHale claims the French aligned with Cambodia, staging racist propaganda against the Vietnamese. That anti-Vietnamese sentiment was then picked up by the Khmer Rouge, whose racist policies led to the deaths of thousands of Vietnamese.
McHale, who took several research trips to Vietnam and three trips to Cambodia, criticized past researchers for not looking at root causes leading to the controversy between Cambodia and Vietnam. Researchers tend to look at the existing hatred between Cambodia and Vietnam, but they did not take into account the periods when both sides got along, he said.
“The fact is the Khmers and Vietnamese manage to get along most of the time, whether they are in Vietnam or in Cambodia,” he said. “So any explanation has to explain why people didn’t get along sometimes and other times [they]…actually end up butchering each other.”
While some research looks at discrimination against the Khmer ethnic group by Vietnamese, they fail to look at the voice of the Vietnamese. For instance, McHale said, the Vietnamese suffered under a movement he called “Kap Yuon” or, the Yuon Beheadings, which he said took place in 1945. Yuon is derogatory term in Khmer for the Vietnamese.
Some of McHale’s arguments, however, met criticism from the Khmer Krom community.
“The French did not favor the Khmers more than the Vietnamese. If they did, they would not have given Khmer territory to Vietnam,” said Thach Setha, a former Cambodian senator and chairman of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, in a phone interview with VOA Khmer. “This is an analysis that I would say does not match with the real history of the Khmer people.”
It was not territorial issues alone that led to the rivalry between the two neighbors, but a long history of cultural and religious repression, he said.
Some researchers point to periods between the 17th Century and 19th centuries, when Cambodia fell under Vietnamese hegemony.
“There were uprisings against the Vietnamese in the 18th Century, when the Vietnamese forced the Khmers to change their traditions and to dress like Vietnamese,” said Ros Chantraboth, a Cambodian history and vice president of the Cambodian Royal Academy.
The “Kap Yuon” uprising could not have taken place during the near-century rule of the French, which ended in 1954, he said.
Whatever the past history, more recent events have also strained the relationship between citizens in the two countries.
The Cambodian government enjoys a strong relationship with Vietnam, with many of its senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, placed in administrative positions after Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979 and began a decade-long occupation.
Now, Vietnamese associations exist in all 24 municipalities and provinces in Cambodia.
“In general, Vietnamese and Cambodians live together in harmony,” said Sem Chi, chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Cambodia.
Still, fear of Vietnamese integration into Cambodia, whether through political influence from Hanoi or by immigration from Vietnamese into Cambodia, is a sensitive subject for some everyday Cambodians.
McHale argues that a better understanding of the history between the two neighbors, and the period of 1945, could help smooth tensions between them.
Shawn McHale, a professor at George Washington University, told a US audience recently that the period between 1945 and 1949 marked the turning point in the sour relationship between the two neighbors, including Cambodia’s claim to land in southern Vietnam, Vietnamese settlement and intervention in Cambodia and anti-Vietnamese propaganda by the French.
Many Cambodians point to a long history of strife with their eastern neighbors. But past researchers have also failed to look at the Vietnamese perspective, McHale said, in arguments rejected by other researchers and representatives of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom, the Khmer ethnic group living in southern Vietnam.
As the French were leaving what was then called Indochina, an area that took up Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, they partitioned the Mekong Delta into southern Vietnam. However, McHale says, recognizing that anti-Vietnamese sentiment could be stirred up in the Khmers, they used the latter in an alliance against the Viet Minh, the anti-colonialist group fighting for independence in northern Vietnam.
“The French actually played off, in certain times, the ethnic Khmer against the ethnic Vietnamese,” McHale told a group of some 20 professors and students. “The French actually came to realize that the ethnic Khmers could be a staunch ally against the communist-led Viet Minh, so they allied more with ethnic Khmers.”
McHale claims the French aligned with Cambodia, staging racist propaganda against the Vietnamese. That anti-Vietnamese sentiment was then picked up by the Khmer Rouge, whose racist policies led to the deaths of thousands of Vietnamese.
McHale, who took several research trips to Vietnam and three trips to Cambodia, criticized past researchers for not looking at root causes leading to the controversy between Cambodia and Vietnam. Researchers tend to look at the existing hatred between Cambodia and Vietnam, but they did not take into account the periods when both sides got along, he said.
“The fact is the Khmers and Vietnamese manage to get along most of the time, whether they are in Vietnam or in Cambodia,” he said. “So any explanation has to explain why people didn’t get along sometimes and other times [they]…actually end up butchering each other.”
While some research looks at discrimination against the Khmer ethnic group by Vietnamese, they fail to look at the voice of the Vietnamese. For instance, McHale said, the Vietnamese suffered under a movement he called “Kap Yuon” or, the Yuon Beheadings, which he said took place in 1945. Yuon is derogatory term in Khmer for the Vietnamese.
Some of McHale’s arguments, however, met criticism from the Khmer Krom community.
“The French did not favor the Khmers more than the Vietnamese. If they did, they would not have given Khmer territory to Vietnam,” said Thach Setha, a former Cambodian senator and chairman of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, in a phone interview with VOA Khmer. “This is an analysis that I would say does not match with the real history of the Khmer people.”
It was not territorial issues alone that led to the rivalry between the two neighbors, but a long history of cultural and religious repression, he said.
Some researchers point to periods between the 17th Century and 19th centuries, when Cambodia fell under Vietnamese hegemony.
“There were uprisings against the Vietnamese in the 18th Century, when the Vietnamese forced the Khmers to change their traditions and to dress like Vietnamese,” said Ros Chantraboth, a Cambodian history and vice president of the Cambodian Royal Academy.
The “Kap Yuon” uprising could not have taken place during the near-century rule of the French, which ended in 1954, he said.
Whatever the past history, more recent events have also strained the relationship between citizens in the two countries.
The Cambodian government enjoys a strong relationship with Vietnam, with many of its senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, placed in administrative positions after Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979 and began a decade-long occupation.
Now, Vietnamese associations exist in all 24 municipalities and provinces in Cambodia.
“In general, Vietnamese and Cambodians live together in harmony,” said Sem Chi, chairman of the Vietnamese Association in Cambodia.
Still, fear of Vietnamese integration into Cambodia, whether through political influence from Hanoi or by immigration from Vietnamese into Cambodia, is a sensitive subject for some everyday Cambodians.
McHale argues that a better understanding of the history between the two neighbors, and the period of 1945, could help smooth tensions between them.
14 comments:
time and again, many scholar foreign still mention that the khmer term "youn" is derogatory! i think it is about time someone educate them about this youn. really, every language in the world do have their own terms, but for a foreign to claim that the khmer term "youn" is degrading for vietnamese is very uneducated and ignorant of them, to say the least. i wouldn't be surprise if these so-scholars learnt from the vietnamese about this meaning. i suggest that these scholarly people for once learn from khmer people on the term "youn" for a change. it is really is not derogatory! maybe the way people used it may sound derogatory, but really the term itself is just a plain everyday khmer term for vietnamese. yes, we, khmer people do have our own coined terms for everything in the universe, too, you know. and most definitely, our term "youn" doesn't necessarily mean derogatory toward the vietnamese. for example, we also used the term "siem" to mean our neighbor to the west and "liev" not "lao" our other neighbor to the north. does that mean those terms, too, are derogatory towards those other neighbors? well, it all depends on how we say it with other pronounce, etc... however, my point is the term solely by itself is not derogatory like i see many uninformed people are saying all the time. wrong way to go, my dear! why not ask our educated khmer people the real meaning before claiming to know the meaning in khmer language! thank you.
i think the traditional antagonistic view between khmer and youn people are based mostly on misunderstanding and disrespect for each other cultural and traditional difference first off, than it was the losing of land territories such as khmer krom region of the delta delta and most recently khmer's koh tral island. the youn people have a tendency to want to convert khmer culture, tradition, way of life, etc... and impose on khmer people their much hated youn culture and tradition and so on. really, that the major root of the conflict, however, it not the only one. the way khmer people view it was, if youn can respect and let khmer way alone and do not try to impose on khmer way like culture, tradition, custom, etc..., then i don't think our khmer people have any problem living along side of them. it's called mutual respect, you know! the old saying treat us the way you people wanted to be treated can do a long way! god bless cambodia.
i know, i can say "kap vietnamese" to mean the same as "kap samlap youn". it just a plain, everyday term, my dear! stop trying to defend the youn or be brain-washed by youn. ask the highley khmer speaker about this meaning for a change would ya! thank you.
Another White ignorant who claims to be scholar,Shawn McHale, a professor at George Washington University.
It's so sad that he had twisted the victims into the Racists (?).
This guy has no idea what he talks about Khmer & Yuon.
In the old day,the hollywood movies had shown the image of the savage of Indian-People who were the real victims of white settlement .They massacred & wiped them out from their land.
And it does to Khmer Krom !!!!!
To Dr. Shawn McHale,
As an educator one must research to the best of his or her knowledge before attempting to voice an opinion about such issues. Having been there for three years did not constituted the integrity about the definition of such event to which it has its own version of problems between Cambodia and Vietnam.
"Kap Youn" was an event that long embedded into every Cambodians'heart for what the Vietnamese have done to Khmers as a whole...not to mention the hegemony of Champa which was a country that was cruelly swallowed and destroyed by Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh once said, "the creation of Indochina Federation is a vital focus of the Vietnamese Communist Party endeavor, thus Laos and Cambodia must be dissolved in order to form this unity and its headquarter will remained in Hanoi." Here is a representation made by Mr. Markey Gregory T. titled Indochina: Five Years of Communist Rule ( here is a link) http://www.heritage.org/Research/AsiaandthePacific/bg118.cfm
Mr. McHale, the long envisioned made by Ho Chi Minh was and is a dangerous one attempting to conquor entire Southeast Asia region and incorporate into one Union of States for the interests of Vietnam. This evil predetermined ideology not only threatening the peace proccess and harmony among its neighbors, but also a preponderance of guilt to swallow Cambodia and Laos as a whole. The idea of creating Indochina Federation is alive and growing very strongly in every Vietnamese who is living inside of Cambodia and Laos. A thief will never admit to anything, therefore, a country which wishes to conquor another would never admit either. However, as Cambodians we can sense the covert agenda which consistantly pursuing by Vietnam.
I ask of you Mr. McHale to open your eyes and ears and study of Vietnamese behaviors psychologically and mentally. On the surface they can be charm and nice, but deep down underneath they can be very very dangerous; and their vengence can take a long time before they begin to appear on the surface.
I thank you Mr. McHale.
ST
Mr. McHale? or Mr. McHell?
If you wanna know the essence of the Vietnamese, just move down to VN village and live along their side?
The anti-VN sentiment is not sth irrational, racism nor traditional hate..
The true that Khmer could not live with the VN in harmony is because of the tradition, the way of life and different in culture. I don't include the devil mind of the VN people toward the Khmers, since you Mr. McHell, could not believe or understand about that.
As a man who has been living just next to the VN community in Cambodia for more than 20 years, I believe that there would not be any chance that Khmer and VN lifesyle could be merged together.
Their unfaithfulness, noisiness...are the barriers...
I'm really sickened tired of how these foreigners want to play expert on Cambodia!
As long as the Khmer Krom people still live under the Viet oppression that alone is enough to remind all Khmer people that the Viet must not be trusted and these fucken Viet deserve to be hate!
When Khmer people born to this world they chose to live under God not under the Viet oppression! So the discussion of Khmer and Viet conflict will go on forever until the Khmer Krom is free from Viet domination!
No Khmer people should be used as an example by the Viet of their victory including the Khmer Krom!
Until youns return the land to khmer and treat khmer rightously. Khmer will alway call them " youn " and will never be peace.
Untrue with the Khmer and the YOUN can live side by side with each other.
Look at our poor Khmer Krom is currently living under oppressions, inhumane etc.
Can these foreigners open their eyes??
Khmer Border,
I agree, as long as Khmer Kampuchea Krom is still under youn oppression, youn will never have peace. We will fight to get our land back until the last Khmer Krom no longer exist.
Mister "scholar" McHale,
manifestly you know little if nothing of the Khmer language and very little about Khmer history. We Khmers are fed up with certain token journalists, like you, who pretend to be "experts on Cambodia". The YUON state is an ennemy of the Khmer nation.
I haven't the time nor the energy to give you a khmer language course and frankly you don't deserve it because you should have diligently done your research before talking out of your ass.
ហ្នឹងហើយ! ដែលគេថា មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរ សុទ្ធតែជាកញ្ជះយួននោះ។
I hope that Mr. McHale does not have a Vietnamese wife. she can be an influencial force
No, I do not have a Vietnamese wife.
So many of you seem to think they know what I think, who I sympathize with, know how terrible I am. Amazing.
You would think that I gave a talk supporting Vietnamese oppression of Khmer Krom.
One suggestion -- learn more before jumping to conclusions. At least a few of you have been civil.
"McHell"
Post a Comment