Sunday, February 14, 2010

The “Yuon” controversy: Facts and fictions

Op-Ed By Khmerization
6th February, 2010

I have been called a revanchist and an ultra-nationalist in the past for writing articles in defence of the Cambodian territorial integrity. I hope that this time, with a fine-tuned tone and less rhetoric, I won’t be labelled a racist for writing this article in defence of the word “Yuon”.

In light of an increase in the misunderstanding of the etymology of the word “Yuon”, in particular by foreigners, and the recent controversy generated by the Phnom Penh Post’s definition of the word “yuon“ as “a racist epithet for the Vietnamese“, it is imperative that this term be clarified and defined once and for all.

The word “Yuon” is a neutral term the Khmer people use to call the Vietnamese people. It is neither racist, pejorative nor derogatory. It is a xenonym the Khmer people used to denote the Vietnamese people, the same as the xenonym “Mien” the Vietnamese people use to call the people from Cambodia, instead of the word “Khmer” the Cambodians use to call themselves.

In spite of widespread misunderstanding of the semantics and etymology of the word “Yuon”, especially the demonisation and pejorativisation of the word, especially by foreigners, the use of the word itself is defendable.

An epigraphical defence

The Khmer people used the term “Yuon” for eons, long before the word “Vietnam” came into being, at least since the 9th century, while the word Vietnam only came into being in the 19th century. Before then, Vietnam was known as Annam (Annamese), Tonkin (Tonkinese) or Cochin-China (Cochin-Chinese).

Some speculate that the term “Yuon” is probably a cognate of the Chinese word “Yueh” that denotes the Vietnamese people, a term brought into the Khmer terminology by Chou Takuan, the famed Chinese emissary to the Khmer court at Angkor in the 13th century. Others claimed that Khmer inscriptions and many scholars and academics, past and present, can attest to the semantics and etymology of the word “Yuon”. According to Prof. Vong Sotheara, lecturer of Khmer History and Epigraphy at Royal University of Phnom Penh, the “Yuon” epithet had appeared in the Khmer epitaphs as an ethnonym since the 9th century. In an e-mail to Khmerization, Prof. Vong Sotheara said and I quote “As far as I observed from inscription studies, the word Yuon had appeared in the Khmer writing during the 9th century as an ethnonym. But at that time, Khmer ancestors wrote as 'Yvan' by using subscript 'va' instead of vowel 'u' or 'ou'. Then in Preah Khan inscription of Virakumara, a son of Jayavarman 7, wrote about Vietnamese King who attended a sacred water ablution for the Khmer King's offering”.

Dr. Sophal Ear, a professor at a U.S Naval University and Mr. Kenneth T. So, a rocket scientist with Boeing, authors of a detailed paper on the xenonym of the word “Yuon”, had come across the writings of Prof. George Coedes (1908-1968), the French expert on the Southeast Asian classical study who wrote extensively on Khmer history, who had found an earlier evidence of the word “Yuon” inscribed in Khmer on a stele dating to the time of the Khmer King Suryavarman I (1002-1050.) Mr. Bora Touch, a prominent lawyer who did extensive research on Khmer history and politics, had also claimed to have come across the works of Prof. Georges Coedes. Mr. Bora Touch wrote “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), an 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).”

Dr. Sophal Ear and Mr. Kenneth T. So wrote that many prominent French historians had also used the word “Yuon” extensively in their books. They claimed that Mr. Adhémar Leclère, a Colonial French Governor of Cambodia, who had lived 25 years in Cambodia, used the word Yuon throughout his book “Histoire du Cambodge depuit le 1er siècle de notre ère” (Librairie Paul Geuthner, 1914: 99, 413, 432, 434, 435, and 469).

A scholarly defence

In early October 2009, many scholars and historians, the majority of them Westerners, had actively debated online the etymology of the word “Yuon”. Many had come out in the defence of the word, claiming that it is a neutral term with no pejorative, derogatory and racist connotations as the word has been used by many countries throughout the South East Asian region. The word “Yuon”, they asserted, had been widely used as a neutral term by the Burmese, Laotians, the Thais and many ethnic and tribal groups in Cambodia and Vietnam such as the Cham Muslims, Bahnar, Stieng, Jarai and Radé people as well.

Thérèse Guyot, Ph'D Candidate from EPHE, claimed that the word “Yuon“ had been widely used by the ethnic and tribal people of Cambodia and Vietnam to refer to the Vietnamese people. “In my current study of legal Cham archives, (dated from the 18th-19th centuries), the term yuon designates kinh (Vietnamese) people, with no pejorative meaning at all, as the Annam people (Cham people use "yuon klap" when they talk about Tonkin people)…….Cambodians, but also Bahnar, Stien, Jorai and Radé people as well, use the same word, or a derived form of it (juon), when they speak about kinh people”, she wrote.

Mr. Liam Kelly, from the University of Hawaii, claimed the word “yuon” had been used by the Burmese to describe the Vietnamese as well. “I think it is in Burmese as well - no wait, did the Burmese refer to the Chinese as yuon?”, Mr. Liam Kelley wrote.

Dr. Philip Taylor, professor of Anthropology at the Australian National University, asserted that the term “Yuon“ is not pejorative. “I would say that as used in in many mien tay (Khmer) contexts, they (the term Yuon and Mien) are not uniquely pejorative”, he wrote.

Dr. Steve Hedder, from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London who is an expert on Khmer affairs and can speak Khmer fluently, asserted that the word “Yuon” had been used in pre-colonial times and had only been racialised and pejorativised only after the invention of the word “Vietnam” by the French colonialists in the 19th century. “Generally speaking, Khmer, Yuon, Siem (Thai) and Khloeng (Indian) were used in pre-colonial times colloquially, non-pejoratively and non-racially. With the colonial-era invention of Vietnam, Thailand and India, these words were used in official parlance, but very rarely in common speech, and without pejorative connotations,” he said.

The pejorativisation of the word “Yuon”

Dr. Hedder asserted that the word "yuon" had only been considered as pejorative and derogatory by the Vietnamese people during the Sihanouk and Nol Lon regimes from the 1940s to the 1970s. “The racialisation on pejorativisation of Yuon in Khmer became increasingly pronounced in Sihanoukist and Republicanist discourse, while not be so attached to the rarified term Vietnam, still largely reserved for officialese”, he wrote.

Dr. Hedder also claimed that it was the Vietnamese-installed government of Mr. Heng Samrin and Hun Sen, from 1979 onward, that the word “Yuon” had been propagated as a pejorative term. “The Vietnamese-crafted People's Republic of Kampuchea, having no choice but to curry favour with its mentors and protectors, went along with Vietnamese insistence at accepting the pejorativisation of Yuon as an accomplished and irreversible fact, and so tried to propagate (the) use of Vietnam beyond official circles, but with limited effect, and also rendering refusal to accept this top-down, foreign-state-dominated-and-imposed way of talking an act of nationalist defiance”, he asserted.

He wrote that the Cambodians have many prejudicial terms to describe the Vietnamese people. “I would finally point out that beyond Yuon there are a number strictly prejudicial terms for Vietnamese, eg, nheung (from the Vietnamese surname Nguyen), skeidaung (coconut husk), in contrast to which Yuon remains relatively tame”, he said.

Mr. Bora Touch, however, put the blames squarely on UNTAC (United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia), the UN body responsible for peacekeeping in Cambodia from 1991-1993, for propagating the racialisation on the pejorativisation of the word “yuon” to the point of almost criminalising it. “Yasushi Akashi, the head of UNTAC, was hypnotised 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 advisers even discussed criminalising the use of the term”, claimed Mr. Bora Touch.

Conclusion

Through inscriptions, historical evidences and scholarly testimonies, it is clear that the term “Yuon” is not pejorative, derogatory or “a racial epithet for the Vietnamese” in any way. Those, especially foreigners, who claimed that the word “Yuon” is “a racist epithet for the Vietnamese” either through ignorance, chicanery or obfuscation, have done so, intentionally or unintentionally, with the aim of creating racial conflicts and demonising the Khmer people vis-à-vis the Vietnamese people.

So the claims that the word “yuon” is pejorative, derogatory and has racist connotations are fictions.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Dr. Khmerization. Now no-one can claim that the term "youn" is derogatory to vietnamese. And so the case is closed!

Anonymous said...

True, the case must be closed now. Many Khmer scholars had written many articles and explained clearly about the word "yuon".

The so-called foreign experts on Cambodia must not incite racial hatred between Khmers and the Vietnamese because of their misinformed view of the word "Yuon".

It is not racist and derogatory. The Viets called Khmers "Mien" which means "Barbarians" and we never protested. Why should they get offended with the word Yuon which is a neutral term?

khmer said...

The so-called western experts who are looking down to us as a people like the rat Raoul Jennar are in fact a new colonist-mercenary working for the viet expansinisme.
We should just ignore them that all

Anonymous said...

Well done PhD Khmerization. You have done great research and your explain is superb.

Thank you for all your inputs into Khmer causes.

Anonymous said...

The word "Youn" is a Cambodian word the Khmers use to identify the very people the English men, the Americans and the Australians call "Vietnamese".

It simply refers to a group of race in Vietnam. It does not have any bad meaning attached to it.

Youn (Khmer)=Vietnamese (English)= Vietnamien (French)...and so on.

What is so hard to understand? The word "Youn" is what the Khmers use to call the Vietname man or woman in the same manner as the Americans call the Khmer man or woman a Cambodian.

Why do we get bothered by what those foreigners think about the word anyway? After all, they learn to speak and understand Khmer and they are not the Khmers, themselves.

If they decide to interprete the Khmer word differently from us, then they are wrong; simple as that. We don't need to correct them or respond to them because obviously they are wrong.

How on earth can they tell us how to interpret our own word?

Anonymous said...

I think it is all about being politically "correct" for the elitist. To call Asians oriental is politically incorrect. You know who is raising this fuss? I think its the UN and the globalists.

I call them sons of a devil for the purpose that they love the misfortune of the Khmer people and taking advantage of the weak and the defenseless.

Anonymous said...

Why argues with youn or any youns ?

They have disrespected khmer, killed khmer, stole khmer land in the past. ( khmer krom )

And now, still doing that! Who care whether the word youns is racist or not. They don't care about khmer or have any respect for khmer or khmer land.

if any, or until. Then we might discuss that issue of the word "youn" with any of them.

Right now, we should only talk about fact and truth.

Anonymous said...

Democratic Kampuchea Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Regime

Members:
Pol Pot
Nuon Chea
Ieng Sary
Ta Mok
Khieu Samphan
Son Sen
Ieng Thearith
Kaing Kek Iev
Hun Sen
Chea Sim
Heng Samrin
Hor Namhong
Keat Chhon
Ouk Bunchhoeun
Sim Ka...

Committed:
Tortures
Brutality
Executions
Massacres
Mass Murder
Genocide
Atrocities
Crimes Against Humanity
Starvations
Slavery
Force Labour
Overwork to Death
Human Abuses
Persecution
Unlawful Detention


Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime

Members:
Hun Sen
Chea Sim
Heng Samrin
Hor Namhong
Keat Chhon
Ouk Bunchhoeun
Sim Ka...

Committed:
Attempted Murders
Attempted Murder on Chea Vichea
Attempted Assassinations
Attempted Assassination on Sam Rainsy
Assassinations
Assassinated Journalists
Assassinated Political Opponents
Assassinated Leaders of the Free Trade Union
Assassinated over 80 members of Sam Rainsy Party.

"But as of today, over eighty members of my party have been assassinated. Countless others have been injured, arrested, jailed, or forced to go into hiding or into exile."
Sam Rainsy LIC 31 October 2009 - Cairo, Egypt
  
Executions
Executed over 100 members of FUNCINPEC Party
Murders
Murdered 3 Leaders of the Free Trade Union 
Murdered Chea Vichea
Murdered Ros Sovannareth
Murdered Hy Vuthy
Murdered Journalists
Murdered Khim Sambo
Murdered Khim Sambo's son 
Murdered members of Sam Rainsy Party.
Murdered activists of Sam Rainsy Party
Murdered Innocent Men
Murdered Innocent Women
Murdered Innocent Children
Killed Innocent Khmer Peoples.
Extrajudicial Execution
Grenade Attack
Terrorism
Drive by Shooting
Brutalities
Police Brutality Against Monks
Police Brutality Against Evictees
Tortures
Intimidations
Death Threats
Threatening
Human Abductions
Human Abuses
Human Rights Abuses
Human Trafficking
Drugs Trafficking
Under Age Child Sex
Corruptions
Bribery
Embezzlement
Treason
Border Encroachment, allow Vietnam to encroaching into Cambodia.
Signed away our territories to Vietnam; Koh Tral, almost half of our ocean territory oil field and others.  
Illegal Arrest
Illegal Mass Evictions
Illegal Land Grabbing
Illegal Firearms
Illegal Logging
Illegal Deforestation
Illegally use of remote detonation on Sokha Helicopter, while Hok Lundy and other military officials were on board.
Illegally Sold State Properties
Illegally Removed Parliamentary Immunity of Parliament Members
Plunder National Resources
Acid Attacks
Turn Cambodia into a Lawless Country.
Oppression
Injustice
Steal Votes
Bring Foreigners from Veitnam to vote in Cambodia for Cambodian People's Party.
Use Dead people's names to vote for Cambodian People's Party.
Disqualified potential Sam Rainsy Party's voters. 
Abuse the Court as a tools for CPP to send political opponents and journalists to jail.
Abuse of Power
Abuse the Laws
Abuse the National Election Committee
Abuse the National Assembly
Violate the Laws
Violate the Constitution
Violate the Paris Accords
Impunity
Persecution
Unlawful Detention
Death in custody.

Under the Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime, no criminals that has been committed crimes against journalists, political opponents, leaders of the Free Trade Union, innocent men, women and children have ever been brought to justice.

Anonymous said...

Very clear!

Thank you Khmerization.

Anonymous said...

The word “YUON” was originally introduced, without passion or prejudice, as a reference to the ethnic group living in the Northern part of what is presently known as Vietnam. In the present days though, particularly after the 1979 invasion, Vietnam has fallaciously publicized or campaigned that word, which has been in use for hundreds of years, as racist, derogatory or pejorative. For Khmer people, such campaign shows once again Vietnamese’s blatant attempt at deception to rewrite its dark history, and to cast aggressors as victims and vice versa.

Historically, “yuon” ethnic had repeatedly exploited Khmer’s compassion, kindness, generosity, and later weakness, to absorb Khmer’s land and assimilate Khmer’s culture and tradition. Some of the methods they used to assimilate Khmers were among the most cruel and barbaric in human history. Till the present days, these Yuons continue to inflict suffering on Khmer people, and I would challenge Westerners to visit or live with Khmer Krom people to discover the trust themselves.

Yuons know fully well that Khmers would never forgive and trust them again because of the historical losses and suffering. So they are doing everything they can to erase that dark history from Khmers’ memory. One way to achieve that goal is to eliminate the word “Yuon” from Khmer language because they (Yuons) see that word as a bitter reminder to all Khmers of the deceptions, coercions, crimes and atrocities committed by Yuon ethnic to Khmer people. By forcing Khmers to call them Vietnamese, they hope Khmer younger and future generations will not remember the dark history. They are wrong! As our ancestors had done in the past, we will resist them and tell the history to our children and grand children as it happened.

So why is it so important to Vietnam that current and future Khmer generations are not reminded or told of the dark history between Khmers and Yuons? To some foreigners, it has the appearance of a normal way to leave the past behind and embrace a new world. But to Khmer people who have been exposed to Vietnam’s ambitions and aggressions for hundreds of years, it is just another yuons’ attempt to fulfill Ho Chi Minh’s dream of annexing the remaining Khmer territory.

Undeterred Nationalist

Anonymous said...

It is all about a fucking stupid Westerner so called themselves as an expert (PhD) on Asian linguistic ology so the speak....by ignoring the true Historical origin of the term which has been used for thousand of years before this particular expert come to being. Now, the Viet. Cong as American would referred to them during Viet. War as a defines "gook" as "a low prostitute." Why this fucking stupid scholar shit debated on this. Viet. Cong as a whole is racist; they have been trying so hard to wipe out Khmer, Khmer tradition, and culture. Khmer Krom is an valid example of the Viet. Cong's cowardly act towar Khmer....and more. This is the reality. I persoanally invite this stupid so called smart ass scholar to look into this. By calling Viet. Cong. "Youn" does not harm the Viet. Cong in any way shape or form but killing and torturing Khmer is the real problem.

Anonymous said...

now, the world is expected to understand khmer terms better after reading this. thank you for educating the world in the interest of khmer people.

Anonymous said...

Great piece of work Khmerization!

KY

Anonymous said...

Fisrt we (Khmers) Should ask these foreigners, how do they know it is racist to use a word YOUN?
Who tell or pay them (foreigners) to labeled us (Khmers) as a rasist?
Do these foreigners gets their fact straight before they called us (Khmers) are racist?
Do they know those who are the loving peaceful Viet Namese people, have been ROBBED and Killed us (Khmers) for centuries?
it is pure and sample for these evils Viet to paid these foreigners to labeled us Khmers as racist, so the world can see and believe that we are the bad guys and deserved to be robbed and killed.It is very dangerous games.
We must take these Foreigners to COURT TO MAKE THEM PAY for being unfaired and stupids.

Anonymous said...

Very, very clear Khmerization. any foreign "experts" who read this piece will realized that they have demonized and done a great disservice to the Cambodian people for labeling them as racists when they used the word Yuon to call the Vietnamese.

The word Yuon is a word we used to call the Vietnamese. It does not carry any racist, or derogatory connotations at all.

Anonymous said...

you know if Khmer call them YOUN they fell shame themselve because they still remember what YOUN did to khmer hundred years in the past till now. they just want to find pretext of to eliminate the word YOUN from khmer brain. If so, they may take a big more of ours.

Anonymous said...

The youn created the words youn is racist .THAT IS NEW WAY TO KILL AND JAIL KHMER PEOPLE

Anonymous said...

To kill and jail khmer people in their home land ,it mean youn has alot power to control Cambodian government and the khmer government just the employee of the youn.
Khmer people help your self to wake up! Or one way to go minorities in your land .

Anonymous said...

please we ask non-khmer people to have respect for my khmer language. we khmer didn't go around to criticize your language whichever language you are, so, we expect you to respect khmer too, thank you.

Anonymous said...

Phnom Penh regime doesn't decide how I speak, they are not Khmer to tell me what is the right or wrong way to speak in my native Khmer tongue. If however they ever decide to ban the word yuon, I will continue to refer to Vietnamese as Yuons and my Khmer children will refer to Vietnamese as Yuons as well as their childrens children.