Kampuchea Krom Group Joins San Francisco Peace March

Photo: KKF

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
27/06/2007

An advocacy group for the Khmer Kampuchea Krom, a highly politicized ethnic group in Cambodia and Vietnam, joined a peace march in San Francisco Sunday, protesting the US visit of Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet.

Rights groups say the Kampuchea Krom and other minority groups face oppression and abuse in the communist country.

"The Vietnamese government has empowered their authorities and its people to inhumanely treat the Khmer Krom people and to destroy ancient Buddhist temples and seize their lands and homes," said Thach N. Thach, president of the US-based Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation.

Anti-Hanoi protest in front of the White House

Demonstrators protest in Lafayette Park across from the White House, Friday, June 22, 2007, as Nguyen Minh Triet, the president of Vietnam was to meet with President Bush. (Photos: AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Americans Against the Annexation of Cambodia and Laos by Vietnam

AAACLV Press Release

My name is Nicole Ung, and I'm with the Americans Against the Annexation of Cambodia and Laos by Vietnam (AAACLV). I am here in front of the White House to protest President Bush's hosting of Vietnam's President Nguyen Minh Triet, the leader of a repressive neo-colonialist regime.

Vietnam is in egregious violation of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreement because of its annexation of Cambodian territories, and its neo-colonization of Laos. Furthermore, Vietnam's tri-border security and economic development zone scheme, involving three North Eastern provinces of Cambodia and three South Eastern provinces of Laos, is but yet another form of expropriation, land-grabbing and plunder of all the natural resources of its neighbors. AAACLV also wants to bring attention to the fact that Vietnam policies amount to de-facto ethnic cleansing of the native population in the territories involved. Vietnam's neo-colonization of Cambodia is so apparent that authorities of the Hun Sen government have completely abdicated their authority. They no longer prosecute even common law crimes committed by Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia, thereby relegating Cambodians to second-class status in their own country.

AAACLV points out that what is happening now in Cambodia and Laos is proof that Vietnam's aim has always been its expansion into and domination over all of the countries of former Indochina, and validates the reason for America's involvement in that war. Although this vindication comes 32 years too late, it is now clear that those Americans, Cambodians, Lao, and ethnic minorities who gave up their lives in the Vietnam War did it for the right cause -- to stop the expansion of a ruthless, evil communist regime.

AAACLV would like to appeal to the Congress and President Bush to suspend aid to Vietnam until:

• Vietnam stops supporting and manipulating Hun Sen and his ruthless regime.
• Vietnam agrees to recognize the borders set by the 1954 Geneva Convention, void all treaties Vietnam and Cambodia have signed between 1979 and 2005 that amount to Vietnam's expansion into Cambodian territory and unlimited settlement of Vietnamese population in Cambodia.
• Stop all their religious persecution and policies of ethnic-cleansing against the minorities who fought on the US side during the Vietnam War.
  

AAACLV also appeals to the American people to voice their support for the American Veterans and the families of the more than 55 thousand Americans who lost their lives in Vietnam by:

• calling on American businesses that have already invested in Vietnam to divest from Vietnam until that government stops its expansionism and lives up to international laws. These include, but are not limited to: Intel, Microsoft, SSA Marine, Honeywell International, International Textile Group (ITG), Winvest Investment, Wells Fargo & CO,
• calling upon those businesses that are about to invest in Vietnam to halt their plans by boycotting that regime until it stops its expansionism and tyrannical rule over its people and the peoples of Cambodia and Laos. These include, but are not limited to: Abbott International, Agilent, Alcoa, Apco Worldwide, Boeing Company, Chevron, Conoco, Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, JHPIEGO, Raytheon International Inc, Time Warner, UPS, Vietnam Partners, Universal Telecom Services, Inc.
  

AAACLV supports the American Veterans in their search for a full and accurate accounting of the US MIA in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

AAACLV will protest in front of the White House Friday June 22, 2007.

Nicole Ung
President Americans Against the Annexation of Cambodia and Laos by Vietnam
President Cambodia Border Committee for Florida

For additional information or to contact AAACLV:
AAACLV
5979 N Dixie Hwy, #281
Oakland Park, FL 33334
Ph: 561-386-0634
Fax: 954-489-1240
Email: aaacalav@gmail.com

Nguyen Minh Triet's visit to the US sparked protests in Little Saigon and across the country

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Orange County pushes discussion on Vietnam

Vietnamese groups meet with Sanchez and Pelosi to take up democratic reform with the nation's president

By KATHRINE SCHMIDT
The Orange County Register (Southern Calif., USA)

WASHINGTON Rep. Loretta Sanchez and three Vietnamese community leaders met with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Wednesday to make sure she knows what their concerns are about that country's government before she sits down with its president today.

Nguyen Minh Triet's visit is the first of any Vietnamese president to the United States. His trip has sparked protests in Little Saigon and across the country, given what many Vietnamese Americans describe as the regime's poor human rights record and recent crackdown on pro-democracy groups and activists.

Triet will go to Dana Point on Friday after meetings today on Capitol Hill and Friday with President Bush.

The Vietnamese community leaders hoped that Pelosi and Bush would capitalize on the recent closer relations between the two countries – spurred in part by a successful trade agreement and Vietnam's entrance into the World Trade Organization last year – and push the country toward change.

They want Pelosi "to impress upon the Vietnamese president that he must respect human rights, particularly freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and association, and that they must release the peaceful dissidents," said Diem Do, chairman of the Vietnam Reform Party, an international group active in Orange County.

Do, who lives in Anaheim, joined Bich Nguyen of the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans and Thich Giac Duc, a prominent Buddhist leader from Boston in the meeting with the Speaker.

"We walked out of the building, and all felt it was an excellent meeting and an excellent opportunity," Do said. "It was a very lively exchange, and she was very, very engaged. She repeated over and over again that she will bring up the issue that we have discussed to the Vietnamese president tomorrow."

Do has been lobbying in Washington on the issue in recent weeks. He met with Bush and Vice President Cheney, representatives at the State Department and the National Security Agency, and with Rep. Ed Royce, R-Fullerton.

"I really hope that between (the Bush) meeting and this meeting today with the Speaker, we can really send a very strong message," Do said. "They are in a very good position to leverage some changes in Vietnam."

Earlier this year, the Vietnamese government arrested several of the leaders of Block 8406, a coalition of Democratic reform groups. Priest Nguyen Van Ly and lawyer Nguyen Van Dai are among those accused of spreading propaganda against the government, and could serve up to 20 years if convicted.

The House unanimously passed a resolution last month urging Vietnam to release the prisoners and reverse course on human rights.

"She's a very big person with respect to human rights, and she's very interested to see the depth of the human rights issues there," Sanchez said of Pelosi. "I think we educated her, we left her material, and she said that she was going to bring the points up with the president.

Ever since she was elected to Congress Sanchez has made trips to Vietnam and been criticized by the Vietnamese government for meeting with dissidents and arguing for increased human rights and religious freedoms.

"This is a continuous fight," Sanchez said. "We're on the right side of this issue."

Contact the writer: 202-628-6381 or kaschmidt@ocregister.com

Nguyen Minh Triet likely to hear complaints about human rights from US lawmakers

Vietnam's president likely to hear complaints about human rights from US lawmakers

Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON: Vietnam's president may face an uncomfortable reception with U.S. lawmakers keen to discuss claims of widespread human rights abuse in his country as well as its spectacular economic success.

Nguyen Minh Triet was to visit Washington on Thursday, the first such trip by a president of the communist-led country since the Vietnam War, with a delegation of more than 100 Vietnamese businessmen. The group planned to play up negotiations to buy jets from Boeing Co. and a possible Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which sometimes acts as a road map to eventual free trade negotiations.

Triet also must navigate potential political hazards in the U.S. Congress, where lawmakers have criticized Vietnam for ignoring human rights pledges and increasing its repression of dissidents.

"I'll let him know that if we're going to bolster our friendship with Vietnam, as he wishes, Vietnam must embrace political pluralism in all of its forms," said Republican Rep. Ed Royce, who plans to attend the Thursday meeting hosted by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Silencing dissidents and suppressing religious freedoms are not the ways toward a close partnership."

Triet was to meet Friday with President George W. Bush at the White House.

Vietnam, which has one of Asia's fastest growing economies, achieved its goal of membership in the World Trade Organization in January; U.S. officials expressed hope at the time that the country had begun making progress toward turning around a dismal rights record.

Rights group say, however, that Vietnam has embarked on one of the worst crackdowns on dissidents in years. Vietnam has arrested or sentenced at least eight pro-democracy activists in recent months, including a dissident Catholic priest who was sentenced to eight years in prison.

In a message of disapproval to Vietnam, Bush met in May with four Vietnamese-American activists.

One of the activists, Diem Do, chairman of the Vietnam Reform Party, met with Pelosi on Wednesday. He urged her to press Triet to release political prisoners and respect the rights of Vietnamese citizens.

Pressure by lawmakers and by Bush, he said, could result in progress in Vietnam. "Vietnam needs the U.S. for economic development; it needs the U.S. to integrate into the international community," he said. "The U.S. is in a great position to exert pressure for human rights and democracy in Vietnam."

Vietnam does not tolerate any challenge to Communist one-party rule; it insists, however, that only lawbreakers are jailed. In an attempt to ease misgivings in Washington, Vietnam released two political dissidents recently.

Frederick Brown, a Southeast Asia specialist at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, said Triet will be prepared for strong words from some in Congress.

"He will get an earful on Capitol Hill with regard to human rights," Brown said. But, he said, "there's no denying the really immense gains that have been made in the relationship because of two-way trade."

Since the two countries began a bilateral trade agreement in 2001, trade has been booming. It reached nearly $10 billion (€7.45 billion) last year. Vietnam's WTO entry is expected to lead to further U.S. investment.

Mr. President: Remember Us!

Hundreds of Degar Montagnards gathered in Washington, DC on June 16 to ask President George W. Bush to remember them in his upcoming discussion with Vietnamese leader Nguyen Minh Triet who will visit the White House next week. (Lisa Fan / The Epoch Times)

Indigenous peoples of Vietnam, the Degar Montagnards, ask President Bush to bring up their persecution with visiting Vietnamese leader Triet

Jun 18, 2007
By Scott Johnson
Special to the Epoch Times

Twelve bus loads of Degar Montagnards arrived outside Lafayette Square across from the White House at about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 16. Some 700, dressed in white shirts with Montagnard Foundation logos, they walked in orderly fashion carrying Montagnard and U.S. flags and signs. The signs said, "President Bush Remember us" and "Vietnam stop killing Degar Christians."

Outside the White House they gathered in the street and lined up to make an impressive site. Kids as young as three or four stood with their parents. Soon some Cambodians of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom came and joined them and the crowd stretched down the street.

There was a band of Degar Montagnards (French for 'mountain dwellers') dressed in loin clothes and traditional clothes carrying gongs and large drum like instruments, in the same fashion they have done for thousands of years. A group of women in traditional dress also held hands and danced to the beat of the drums and ancient gongs.

Kok Ksor, President of the Montagnard Foundation, addressed the crowd and made a plea to President Bush followed by a mass prayer vigil.

"We, the proud indigenous Degar Montagnard people as members of the Montagnard Foundation stand here today in front of the White House to speak publicly on behalf of our brothers and sisters who suffer persecution inside Vietnam. We are here to ask President George W. Bush to remember us in his upcoming discussions with Vietnamese [leader] Nguyen Minh Triet who is visiting the White House next week and also for the Vietnamese [leader] to cease his government from persecuting our people."

During the long Vietnam War, an estimated 100,000 Montagnards served with the U.S. military and by the end of the war over a quarter of our population, over 200,000 people had died, including half of all adult males being killed, according to Ksor. He described what happened to his people when the communist took over Vietnam in 1975.

"…the communists enacted a brutal revenge against our race, killing or imprisoning our leaders and Christian pastors in brutal re-education camps. Ever since, the Vietnamese government has continued land exploitation, Christian persecution, torture, killings and imprisonment of our people. The communist regime in Hanoi continues today to torture and kill our house church Christians who resist joining the 'official' church. Hundreds of our people remain in prison for peacefully demonstrating for human rights, for spreading Christianity or for fleeing to Cambodia. Many of our prisoners have been specifically beaten to cause a slow death from internal injuries."

Ksor next described the extra security measures the communists Vietnamese use in the central highlands on the Montagnards: "surveillance, arrests, beatings, electric shock torture, imprisonment and murder."

As I filmed and watched the crowd, directly in front of me the entire group of 700 plus Montagnards prayed. A number of Montagnards started crying. I recall one young man who looked to me in his late 20s was wiping away his tears, crying while he was trying to pray and the scene really hit me. I thought: "These are the people the Vietnamese [regime] tortures and kills." I thought of the torture victims who were electric shocked that I had interviewed in the past and the ones describing how their relatives were beaten or imprisoned.

I could also see some ex-Green berets too in the crowd. One guy Joe Rimar wearing his green beret stood with the Montagnard group. He was carrying a loin clothe he was given by Montagnards during the Vietnam war.

Around noon the crowd moved out to 17th Street and made its way to Constitutional Ave. I was in the front and watched hundreds of Montagnards crossing streets, carrying flags and banners as people in cars all looked over and watched in amazement.

Near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, the Montagnards dispersed into the trees. They then made their way over towards the Wall and spread out. Crowds leaving the Vietnam Wall memorial all stood at the fence, reading the banners and many asked questions from those near the fence. A number of veterans and various people from all age groups appeared supportive.

At the Wall, Kok Ksor spoke again, this time about the sacrifice Americans made in Vietnam.

"As we stand here we can see the names of 58,000 Americans on the black marble of the Vietnam Wall memorial who died for freedom in Southeast Asia. We pay tribute to them and pray for their souls and pray that their sacrifice was not in vain. We the Degar Montagnard people still have hope that the ultimate sacrifice made by these Americans will one day bring true democracy and freedom to Vietnam..."

A prayer vigil again was done and hundreds of Montagnard prayed in their tribal languages. They also chanted "President Bush remember us" and the tribal band circled around the park banging their gongs. The group then disbanded and boarded their buses around 4 p.m.

Scott Johnson is an advisor to the Montagnard Foundation.

Political Cartoon: The Victim of Communism Memorial

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

FORUM: Vietnam and communism's victims

Vietnam pulls the strings of
the marionette Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen

Khmer Krom demonstration in Washington DC (Photo: kounsrey, Khmer Krom Network)

Members of the Hmong community call for the release of former Laotion General Vang Pao, who is being held on charges of trying to overthrow the government of Laos, during a demonstration outside the Robert T. Matsui Federal Courthouse in in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, June 11, 2007. A magistrate judge ordered Pao, 77, who led a Hmong fighting force that helped the CIA and American forces during the Vietnam War, detained until his trial. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Thai Vang bows his head with other members of the Hmong community outside the Federal Courthouse in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, June 11, 2007, as they pray for the release of former guerilla leader Vang Pao for allegedly planning to overturn the current Laotian government. A federal magistrate ordered Van Pao who led a Hmong fighting force that helped the CIA and American forces during the Vietnam War, detained until his trial. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

June 17, 2007
By Mike Benge
The Washington Times (USA)

Last Tuesday, June 12, President Bush spoke at the dedication of the Victims of Communism Memorial that honors the memories of those killed in communist regimes. He said their deaths should remind the American public "evil is real and must be confronted." Ironically, this Friday, June 22, President Bush will honor the president of a tyrannical communist regime that murdered over a million Vietnamese and ethnic minorities with a White House visit during which he has the opportunity to confront that evil.

Recently, dozens of democracy activists, journalists, cyber-dissidents and Christian and other religious leaders were arrested and imprisoned by the Vietnamese communists. Congressional leaders and human-rights groups have charged Hanoi with "unbridled human-rights abuses," the "worst wave of oppression in 20 years." Those recently arrested are but a few of the hundreds of political and religious prisoners in Vietnam; some have been tried, while those less visible simply "disappeared." This mounting crackdown is a deliberate diplomatic slap in the face of the United States.

Hanoi brazenly aired on TV the kangaroo court trial of Thaddeus Nguyen Van Father Ly, who was muzzled during the proceedings. In Vietnamese, the colloquial phrase for censorship is "bit mieng" -- to cover the mouth. The picture of Father Ly's muzzling seems a literal enactment of an old cliche. Denied representation, Father Ly was sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

Mr. Bush's endorsement for Hanoi's admission into the World Trade Organization at last year's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Hanoi, the removal of Vietnam from listed as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), and the granting of Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) were all predicated on the Communist Party substantially improving its human-rights record.

It should come as no surprise that after the granting of these privileges, the Vietnamese communists continued and intensified their repression.

Though Vietnam professes great strides in religious freedom, one must look under the veneer to seek the truth. For example, in 2006, the Vietnamese government claimed that "25 denominations" had received certificates to carry on religious activities, when in fact they were only individual house churches.

The price of these certificates is the surrender of religious freedom. The church must submit to the central Bureau of Religious Affairs (CBA) a list of the names and addresses of members, and only those approved by the CBA can attend services. All sermons must be approved by the CBA, and all sermons, including those of minorities, must be given in Vietnamese. Pastors and priests can neither deviate from the approved sermon nor proselytize, and the CBA police monitor all services.

Montagnards, Hmong and other Christians, Khmer Krom Monks, members of the Cao Dai faith, and Hoa Hao are still relentlessly persecuted. This is what Hanoi calls religious freedom, and the U.S. administration was naive enough to believe them and removed them from the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list of countries that suppress religious freedom.

Recently, the Vietnamese communist regime demanded of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues the cancellation of scheduled films to be screened at the May 22 forum. One film, "Hunted Like Animals," sponsored by the Hmong-Lao Human Rights Council depicted the genocide against the Hmong, and the other film depicted human-rights abuses against the Khmer Krom by the Vietnamese communists. It should come as no surprise that the United Nations acquiesced to the demands of the repressive Hanoi regime.

Reminiscent of the days of slavery in the "Old South," Montagnards who flee from repression in the Central Highlands are hunted down like wild animals. Vietnam pays bounties to Cambodian police for every Montagnard they catch and turn over to them. Vietnam considers refugees seeking asylum in another country to have violation its national security, punishable by imprisonment for up to 15 years.

Recently, three Montagnards were arrested by Cambodian police and charged with "human trafficking" for the so-called crime of aiding other Montagnards to flee the repression in Vietnam via the Montagnards' "underground railroad." Although Cambodia does little to stop the trafficking of children for prostitution, the communist regime is prosecuting these Montagnards on Vietnam's request in hopes it will convince the U.S. it is serious about trafficking. Vietnam pulls the strings of the marionette Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Reports continue from behind the curtain of silence drawn around the Central Highlands of the torture and deaths of Montagnard Christians. During a February trip to Hanoi, Ellen Sauerbrey, assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, told a press conference that the Vietnamese officials assured her that Montagnards can freely travel to the Embassy in Hanoi or the Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City to voice any grievances.

She said Montagnards should stay in Vietnam and not seek asylum in Cambodia. Given the Vietnamese communists history of repression and broken promises, how can Mrs. Sauerbrey be naive enough to believe Montagnards suffering persecution would ever to be allowed through the phalanx of Vietnamese police surrounding the U.S. Embassy and Consulate?

As predicted, Hanoi has announced the release of a few token high-profile political prisoners in an attempt to smooth the way for the arrival of Vietnam's President Triet, and in hopes of placating President Bush, the State Department and Congress. Can this administration be gullible enough to fall for yet another charade by the Vietnamese communists?

President Bush, keeping faith in the spirit of the Victims of Communism Memorial that "evil is real and must be confronted," should demand of Vietnam's president the release of all of the hundreds of political prisoners including those recently arrested and the more than 350 Christian Montagnards that seem to have been forgotten by this administration.

Mike Benge is an advocate for human rights and religious freedom in South East Asia.

Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) calls for demonstration against Nguyen Minh Triet's visit to the US

Protest Against Visit of Nguyen Minh Triet,
Communist President of Vietnam to Washington D.C

2007-06-07
Press Release

A peaceful demonstration is expected to be conducted at the White House and Vietnam Memorial Park starting at 10am – 2pm on Saturday June 16th 2007, Washington D.C.

The Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation peaceful demonstration will be jointly conducted with Montagnard Foundation to protest against the visit of Nguyen Minh Triet, Communist President of Vietnam to Washington D.C on 23rd June 2007.

We urge Mr. Bush and the Congress to take actions to stop the inhumane policies and practices of the Vietnamese government towards its indigenous peoples. Vietnam has and continues to enforce its religious policies towards the Khmer-Krom people by brutally beating and defrocking our Buddhist monks without legal cause.

Vietnam has systematically attempted to eradicate the Khmer-Krom people by continuing to deny their most basic human rights and fundamental freedoms such as freedom of speech, information, religious belief, peace, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, the right fair trial by peers and most importantly, the freedom to live in dignity as a human being.

The government has empowered their authorities and its people to inhumanely treat the indigenous Khmer-Krom people and its minority peoples and to destroy ancient Buddhist temples and seize their lands and homes.

We urge the United States to act decisively, to ask the Communist government of Vietnam to stop the play of window dressing and effectively into practice the basic fundamental freedoms and rights as guaranteed by its constitution and international treaties. We also ask that the Vietnamese government to immediately release 5 disrobed Buddhist monks currently imprisonment for the mere act of conducting a peaceful demonstration on 8th February, 2007.

Respectfully yours,

Thach N. Thach