Sam Rainsy's letter to The Phnom Penh Post regarding the use of the word "Yuon"

The Editor
The Phnom Penh Post
Phnom Penh

February 2, 2010

Sir,

In your February 2 article titled “Sam Rainsy declares border victory” you quoted me as using the word “Yuon,” which you labeled as a “racist epithet for the Vietnamese.”

If you were right in your definition of the word “Yuon,” how come Mr. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers -- whom you also quoted in the article – could also use this word “Yuon” twice in a short interview on Voice of America on January 28? The interview can been heard at http://tinyurl.com/yae2yqr

If you were right in your definition, how come Cambodia’s national Dictionary by Buddhist Supreme Patriarch Samdech Chuon Nath (Buddhist Institute, 1967) gives a totally different meaning to the word “Yuon,” described as a most common word with no racist connotation whatsoever? Everybody can consult the dictionary at page 955 by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/ycdq2dr

Actually, the word “Yuon” has been used by the Khmer people since long before the appearance of the relatively recent word “Vietnam” or “Vietnamese.”

Besides, in the same article, the same Mr. Phay Siphan was quoted, in his capacity as government representative, as declaring, “Sam Rainsy’s evidence [of border encroachment by Vietnam] is not true. If Sam Rainsy says it is true evidence, we want him to bring it to show us.”

I would like to invite Mr. Phay Siphan and all his colleagues in the government to read the documents I have presented as evidence to the public opinion by just clicking at http://tinyurl.com/yeaoxyf and at http://tinyurl.com/yk5zbtt .

Yours sincerely,

Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament
Paris