Friday, 09 April 2010
Khouth Sophakchakrya
The Phnom Penh Post
“The Vietnamese government always tells the international community that they always pay attention to improving the lives of ethnic groups in their country, but it is not true ... They consider Khmer Krom as animals and then tortured us when we demand freedom” - Thach Sung, a representative of a group 22 Khmer Krom asylum seekers deported from Thailand in DecemberKHMER Krom advocacy groups have called on authorities in Vietnam to release ethnic Khmers being held in Vietnamese jails and to relax cultural and religious restrictions ahead of next week’s Khmer New Year holiday.
Thach Setha, president of the Khmer Krom Association, said that on the occasion of the annual holiday, which begins April 14, Vietnam should loosen government controls and respect the rights of the country’s ethnic Khmer minority.
“I asked for the Vietnamese government to provide freedom and release Khmer Kampuchea Krom who have been arrested and jailed due to land disputes and attempts to preserve their religion and culture,” he said.
Thach Setha said that “hundreds” of Khmer Krom are languishing in prison on political charges after advocating for the use of the Khmer language and the right to practise Theravada Buddhism, which differs from the Mahayana Buddhism practised by the ethnic Vietnamese majority.
A Human Rights Watch report released in January 2009 documented the “severe and often shrouded methods used by the Vietnamese authorities to stifle dissent” among the country’s ethnic Khmer minority, particularly “ethnic-based grievances” and demands for religious freedom.
“Wary about the possible nationalist aspirations of the Khmer Krom, the Vietnamese government is quick to suppress peaceful expressions of dissent,” the report stated, noting that the government prohibits most peaceful protests and bans the formation of independent human rights groups.
In a meeting in the Mekong Delta on Tuesday, President Nguyen Minh Triet said the Khmer minority was an inseparable part of the Vietnamese nation, and had contributed to Vietnam’s economic development despite the great difficulties stemming from previous wars, according to a state-run media report.
The report also quoted the president as saying that the Communist Party of Vietnam always “made efforts to stabilise the economy and consolidate national solidarity in order to support and improve the lives of ethnic groups including theKhmer ethnic minority”.
However, Thach Sung, a representative of a group 22 Khmer Krom asylum seekers deported from Thailand in December, said that he did not believe that the Vietnamese authorities had done anything to improve the lives of ethnic minorities in the country, especially the Khmer.
“The Vietnamese government always tells the international community that they always pay attention to improving the lives of ethnic groups in their country, but it is not true,” he said.
“They consider Khmer Krom as animals and then tortured us when we demand freedom.”
Ny Chakrya, a senior investigator for local rights group Adhoc, said that the Khmer Krom should be able to live “with the same peace and freedom” as ethnic Vietnamese living inside Cambodia.
9 comments:
good move, don't be silent, fight and demand rights for indigenous minorities in viet/youn. human rights people should relocate to youn to help fight for indigenous people's rights there as well.
savecambodian.blogspot.com
The Viet don't care about the suffering they have causes to those indigenous and the minorities, they just care for themselves.
The Viet don't even care to call those indigenous people the right name!
These criminals Viet are trying to hide the truth from the world. They even lies to their children about the indigenous, the histories and the lands they robbed.
ASEAN must take a close look at Vietnam itself. This country (Vietnam) has the most brutal, oppression in Southeast Asia against the ethnic groups namely Khmer Krom and others.
Please take a look before it's teaching Thailand and Myanmar.
yuon help khmer krom, that true.yuon want to win heart& mind of KK by build house for the poor, better road, electricity to most KK villages, khmer language allow to teach few hours a week at public school. better than not thing isn't it? but, is that enough?. NO NO NO. yuon own KK alot more than that.
How many percent of KK have been benefit from the so call"help" from yuon gov't? very very small, but yuon propagada make it big. meanwhile yuon never say a word about robbe all kk land.KK have no ownership on their own land. yuon gov't allow kk to temperary use but not own because all land belong to yuon gov't. so, they can take it anytime they want, that why alot of kk protest.
Free my people and let my people go!
indigenous khmer krom people should have all the rights in viet/youn country. it wasn't their fault that france handed their ancestral khmer lands to be administrated by viet/youn country, you know! if viet/youn not happy with this, then by all mean, hand back the khmer krom lands of the mekong delta to cambodia, the rightful owner, really! indigenous khmer krom people weren't some kind of economic migrants or something, they lived there for 1000 of years, going back even before viet/youn people migrated into khmer krom people's lands, ok!
I WANT KHMER KROM back from VN
The France, you are the one who most involved with my Khmer land
Why don't we ask France do somethings for their memorable mistake
I Love Khmer
i think human rights should establish a permanent base in cambodia, and from cambodia, they should go to work in youn to free or fight for indigenous people's rights in viet/youn country as well. they all need the help to fight for their freedom and rights, etc...
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