61st Anniversary of the Painful Loss of Kampuchea Krom - Organized by KKF Europe

Click on the announcement in Khmer and French to zoom in

Where:
Wat Bhodhivongsa Pagoda
101 Blvd. de la Republique, 77420 - Champs-sur-Marne
France

When:
06 June 2010
from 9:30AM to 2PM

Contact:
Vien Thach: 01 4383 5187
Sua Th.: 01 6035 2744
Lea: 06 4616 3815
Bunroeun: 06 6481 4841

Not only does it oppress Khmer Krom people, Vietnam now wants to obliterate the history of Kampuchea Krom as well

SRP MP Son Chhay (Photo: RFA)

Map of Kampuchea Krom taken over by Vietnam with France collusion (Map: www.khmerkromngo.org)

Son Chhay reacts to Vietnamese article

09 August 2007
By Kim Pov Sottan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

SRP MP Son Chhay sent an official reaction demanding that the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs resolve a problem with Vietnam whereby a Vietnamese national news agency published a claim that the land of Kampuchea Krom is Vietnamese land, and that it was not obtained from Vietnam’s invasion on Cambodia.

In a letter sent to the president of the National Assembly on Thursday requesting that the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs resolve this issue, Son Chhay who is in charge of the foreign affairs committee of the National Assembly, calls the Vietnamese claim a rewriting of history by Vietnam, and an insult on past Cambodian kings. He also said that the Vietnamese claim inflicts additional anger and suffering on Khmer Krom people.

Son Chhay said: “We can see that in Southeast Asia, there is a move to strengthen the mutual recognition. It is not right that, at this time, Vietnam is fabricating fake history that affects the honor of (past) Cambodian kings, and affects the truth. This action is not acceptable by Cambodians. It is time that Cambodia stands up to defend what belongs to our nation.”

At the beginning of this week, the Vietnamese website www.baocantho.com.vn posted for the world to know that Khmer Krom people, who are currently living in South Vietnam, are mere ethnic minorities. The website went on to claim that these Khmer Krom people fled Cambodia to avoid the genocides perpetrated by the past Cambodian kings.

The article was prepared by the committee of the southwest zone commandment of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The article also provided a summary which claims that the southern portion of Vietnam was obtained by land clearing made by Vietnam only, and that this land has nothing to do with Cambodians.

This type of articles had been rejected by Cambodian historians who said that during its apogee, the Khmer empire extends all the way to the China Sea. It was not until the 16th century that the more powerful Annam kingdom swallowed the entire kingdom of Champa. Annam then moved southward and aggressed Cambodia until it took over the Kampuchea Krom lands bordering the lower Mekong River. It was not until 1949 that the entire 16 provinces and cities of Kampuchea Krom fell under the occupation of Vietnam at the end of the French colony in Indochina [KI-Media: it was in fact colonial France which unfairly turned the ownership of Kampuchea Krom to the Vietnamese in 1949].

RFA tried to obtain clarification from the minister of education (Kol Pheng) on this historical issue, but he said that he cannot comment about it yet. Up until now, the Cambodian ministry of information did not react yet to this (false) claim made by the Vietnamese authority.

Khmer Kampuchea Krom call for intervention

Left: Officials participating in the commemoration ceremony, CPP and CPP government officials are nowhere to be seen. Right: Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (Photo: Sralanh Khmer newspaper)

04 June 2007
By Sophorn
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom community called on the international community and the government of Cambodia to help intervene urgently with the Vietnamese authority which defrocked, arrested, and jailed Khmer Krom monks.

During a ceremony marking the commemoration of Khmer Krom nationalist heroes, and the 04 June event (the date France decided to transfer the ownership of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam), Thach Setha, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom community, called on the national and international communities to help intervene with the Vietnamese government for the release of 5 Khmer Krom monks who are currently being jailed, and the return of the religious status to 16 other monks who were defrocked by force.

Thach Setha added that these monks did not do anything wrong, they only express their opinions to demand for their ability to study Khmer literature.

Thach Setha said: “Today, on this painful day marking the loss of our lands, our voice is a calling voice, a pleading to the national and international community to please help intervene with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam government so that it releases the (Khmer Krom) monks who were sentenced to jail, and so that it allows the other 16 monks to rejoin the Buddhist religious order again. We (Cambodia) have the full right to intervene, this is not an internal issue of Vietnam, this issue involves Khmer people, this issue involves the Cambodian government.”

Monk Yoeung Sin, President of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom monks association, said Khmer Kampuchea Krom people, the rightful owners of the lands and the waters (of Kampuchea Krom), have suffered for the past 57 years because of all kinds of Vietnamese government oppressions, such as farm land confiscation, confiscation of pagodas, and in 2007, the Vietnamese government has imposed a severe restriction of Khmer Krom monks by preventing them to go out to beg for their daily alms, by defrocking Khmer Krom monks, by jailing them, etc…

RFA was not able to obtain any comment on this issue from government officials.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who was also present at the ceremony, said that he demands that monks and laymen to have the same rights. He condemned the action taken by the Vietnamese authority to defrock and jail Khmer Krom monks, as barbaric.

Sam Rainsy said: “They (Vietnamese gov’t) oppress Khmer Krom monks, they jail them, these are barbaric acts that all those who love justice and democracy must condemn.”

The 58th mourning commemoration of the transfer of the Kampuchea Krom lands to the Vietnamese government, perpetrated by the French colonial regime in 1949, was participated by officials from the Sam Rainsy Party, the Funcinpec party, and the representative of the King only.

Commemoration of the lost of Kampuchea Krom

Tuesday, May 28, 2007
By Ung Chansophea
Cambodge Soir
Unofficial translation from French by Luc Sâr

Click here to read Cambodge Soir’s original article in French

As it was done every year, the 12 Khmer Krom associations in Cambodia will commemorate of June 4, the loss of Kampuchea Krom in front of Wat Botum pagoda in Phnom Penh.

On June 4, 1949, the French colonial administration transferred the ownership of this province (Kampuchea Krom) to Vietnam. According to Ang Chanrith, the executive director of the KKHRO NGO, the municipality, the Ministry of Interior and the Royal Palace gave the green light to this demonstration. “The king even sent us $2,000 to prepare for this ceremony commemorating the memories of Cambodians who died during this painful period,” he stressed. Yoeung Sin, the leader of the Khmer Krom Monks Association, added that the king will send Princess Sisowath Monipong Pongneary to act as his representative (during the ceremony). The organizers expect to see 4,000 people participating in the event. Ang Chanrith said that this will also be an opportunity to renew the call for the release of five Khmer Krom monks jailed in Vietnam.