Racism - What Are We Talking About ? French & English version

Brief discussion paper

March 18, 2012

After being back yesterday from a business trip in Singapore, I am outraged to see few of Cambodians consider other Cambodians who denounce Vietnam’s growing influence and intrusion in Cambodia as “racist”.

What shocks me even more is that the use of the term “racism” comes from a few people who are supposed to have a certain level of intelligence which is high enough to help them fully appreciate the consequences of such a statement addressed to the Cambodian and foreign public.

I invite you all to review the definition of “racism” and the conditions under which it was used and is still used today. Being unable to further develop my views, due to the lack of time, on this topic, I just would like to raise one and only one question that could help us put our mind in order.

During my stay in Singapore, I met few of Australian, French and British diplomats. In talking with them about everything, I sympathized with them. And one of them told me the follwing fact:

“In all ministerial departments and at every level of the Cambodian government, Cambodians only have a role of facade. The political backstage is led with a strong grip by Vietnamese politicians, holding Cambodian citizenship and officially act as advisors but who have the real political and military power”.

The question I ask myself which surely and certainly could help people to assess if the use of the term “racism” is appropriate regarding the current situation of Cambodia or is just a way to “give a weapon” to “criminals” to then stab us in the chest.

Can we call them “racist” when:

1. Tibetans denounce the annexation of Tibet by China and Chinese oppression?
2. the people of East Timor denounced the colonization of their country and the bloody repression perpetrated by Indonesia?
3. Martin Luther King denounced segregation practiced by the “White” against “people of color”?
4. Laotians who denounce the transformation of Laos by Hanoi into a mere Vietnamese province?

Kith Chamroeun

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Brève note de réflexion

Mars 18, 2012

De retour hier d’un voyage professionnel à Singapour, je suis outré de voir qu’un certain nombre de Cambodgiens qui qualifient de « racisme » le fait de parler de tout ce qui touche les agissements du Vietnam au Cambodge.

Opinion: Why I can't shrug off KDWB's hateful slur against Hmong community

Bee Vang

04/07/2011
By Bee Van
TwinCities.com

Last week a chilling thing happened. I started hearing funny noises. Noises that were almost incomprehensible. But the eerie thing was, I was sure I'd heard them before ...

Here's what they sounded like: "Lighten up." "Quit being so dang sensitive." "Can't you take a joke?"

As a Hmong actor who portrayed Thao Vang Lor in Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," something echoed in me this spring as I listened to the uproar about an impromptu song on the radio station KDWB. During the shooting of the film, I tried to stay true to the script. But as a Hmong person, I also tried to do justice to my own life and to that of others like me.

"Gran Torino," as many know, is the story of an aging Detroit white man who gets involved with a neighboring Hmong family and attempts to intervene in their lives and prevent the teenage boy Thao from getting drawn into a gang. During casting, when I first saw excerpts from Gran Torino, I was puzzled because so many things in it seemed distorted and unrecognizable. One of the lines jumped out at me. In the scene when Thao was getting to know his white neighbor, Walt, the old man had been insulting him with a litany of racial slurs: "chink," "gook," "swamp rat." My character blurted out this reply: "You can call me whatever you want, because you know what? I'll take it."

"I thought that killing was bad, but shooting Cambodians over land is okay, right?": Thai shameful propaganda for Thai children

KI-Media Note: How could The Bangkok Post print something that is filled with racism like this?

Impressions of a 9-year-old at the border (sic!)

12/02/2011
Arglit Boonyai
Bangkok Post

Hello, my name is Buk Kum. I am 9 years old and live in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province.

Sorry, my Thai is not very good but I still like to call myself a Thai person, even though sometimes people from Bangkok laugh at my accent. I don't mind. I think Thailand is a nice place.

Living in this part of Thailand is very scary right now. There are lots of soldiers and guns and I can't even go to school because a bomb landed on it and now it is all blown up and stuff. I don't even have any new clothes to wear because some bombs fell near my house. It happened so quickly that I couldn't even get fresh clothes.

Now I have to stay in a tent with my mum, dad and two sisters.

I think all the fighting is very confusing. I don't really understand why this has to happen. I hear all the puyai talking about the situation. They say that we must be patriotic and fight for ownership of a temple called Phra Viharn. I just want to go back to school and play with my friends.

I heard mummy talking about the yellow-shirt people. She said that they are bad because they like to cause trouble. She said they are the ones who stirred up the Cambodians and made them attack us.

They want to be the owners of Phra Viharn Temple or something, but mummy said because they started the fighting, no one can go there now. It doesn't matter who the temple belongs to; at least if there is no fighting everyone can visit it.

I don't agree with mummy, though. I think the yellow-shirt people are nice. They want Thailand to be strong and not give in to the Cambodians. The Cambodians are weaker than us so they should do what we say. I thought that killing was bad, but shooting Cambodians over land is okay, right? Well, that's what I think. But mummy said that I was foolish for thinking that.

Interesting Comments and Conversations from our readers about "are Khmers racist to Vietnamese?"

Vietnam invasion has been banned by the major vote in the UN, why some of us here still see Vietnam's invasion is right?

If a Khmer man agrees that Vietnam invasion is right, he/she should go to live in VN rather than shouting from Cambodia land.

In reality, VN has planned to annex Cambodia long time ago. Their invasion of Khmer land was not intending to free Cambodia, but to install their puppet for their long term domination.

Use your brain again! 2:55 AM
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You don't have to go live in Vietnam just because you see Vietnamese invasion as a positive thing for Khmer race. Only ignorant racist Khmer that let ethnic racism be the barrier between them and the truth.

Vietnam invaded Cambodia. What did Cambodian people lose? Maybe here and there but nothing compared to the million of lives saved and the Khmer cultures. If Vietnam didn't invade, how many of you so high and mighty self-proclaimed Khmer warriors would be here to express your opinions so freely?

Despite whatever the intention of the invasion was, Vietnam consequentially saved Khmer people and culture from extinction. If you have been through the Khmer Rouge time, you would be a cynic or a legally retarded person to disagree with that.

Just by accepting the fact that Vietnam did save Khmer's ass doesn't mean I am worshiping them. I am simply able to come to term with what actually happened, unlike some people.

There are many Khmer who turned themselves into cynics just because they can't accept history for reality's sake.

I apologize to generalize Khmer overseas as being ignorant of that. I know that there are Khmer overseas who can see what is what and not have extreme ethnic racism blind them from the truth. Many of those Khmer I'm talking about are from Canada. Many of whom believe in the progress and the current Khmer government but afraid to openly say so. That's what I hear from my uncle in Canada. However, that is changing because many of them are starting to voice their beliefs and opinions over those cynical bunch. If you're from Canada, you know what I'm talking about exactly.

3:20 AM
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3:20AM

Khmer has experienced badly about the accusing of "political involvement" or "racism" when Cambodians express their opposite view to the government. Current government has learned well how to label the opposite dissents. They have learned well from the Khmer Rouge.

The idea of disfavoring the presence of VN in Cambodia land and their invasion is not linked to racism or disrespectful to the dignity of Vietnamese people at all. You should not overstate about that.

Simple things for you to consider:
1. The UNs as well as the international communities have condemned VN of their invasion in Cambodia and they have to withdraw all troops. So, this decision is wrong for you? Or this decision is racist to VN?
2. For the sake of Khmer and future Khmer, do we favor foreign invasion in our land? Or do we favor brutality happens in our land? The answer is both of them are piss!
3. What is your central productive debate for Cambodia? Or your central debate is to divert the Cambodian people who has less understanding about the situation, the internal laws, the brutality, and the sentiment of Cambodians?

Learn more and use your brain before throwing something unproductive like this.

But what we have seen now, Hun Sen government has paid much attention to VN, so does this evidence not show the VN's long term intention to keep their status quo in Cambodia or what? VN's domination over Cambodia is still ongoing or not?

4:08 AM
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2:55 AM and 4:08 AM,

My post is 2:47 AM. I signed my name Free Spy.

After I read your reply I don't believe you understood my comments.
Your words are your own bombs, so fix it and use your brain before you write a reply.

Getting too excited doesn't help.
Ask me what I meant but don't change my word from great to right.

4:27 AM
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More corrupt degrees like Sophan Seng won't help Cambodia to become a competitive nation with other develop and competitive nations in the world.

Degrees like this only help to create more corruption over the already so rotten in Cambodia.

4:40 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Many Khmers before Sophan Seng earned PhD in Political Science at oversea Univ., but they couldn't do much to help the country. Not many jobs available for them if they don't have Computer skill to do the job. Yes Sophan Seng i sgoing to have a tough time to earn the living with that no use degree. May be Sophan Seng can join Theary Seng with a good income in Cambodia. By the time the ECCC runs out of cash at least each has a few hundred thousand dollars in their bank account. Then go to the next one.

4:52 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am wondering "sake of the degree" is for money or for fame or for goodness or for what?

But criticizing his academic degree with that idea reflecting only the persons who always think and practice in that way.

5:19 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

4:08 AM

You tell other to go back and learn more but you seem to be the one that just doesn't read thoroughly or comprehend fully what my comment meant.

Can you quote when in my comments on this article did I mention or even refer to any welcoming of Vietnamese invasion? You yourself need to learn stop putting words in people's mouth and need to learn to listen to what other are saying, not just listen but hearing only what you want to hear because it seems whatever I wrote down doesn't get through your ear canal at all.

You still think I am saying I welcome Vietnamese invasion because you are so open-minded that you only pick up from my comment what you want to hear. Maybe, something you should learn is to not jump into a discussion with a preconceived mindset.

If you read my comment carefully you would get that I said Vietnam invaded Cambodia but whatever their intention, they saved our asses. Now accept that fact or not, regardless of any of your nationalistic ego. The history has it Vietnam invaded Cambodia. Vietnam drove out the autogenocidal Khmer Rouge. Those are historical accounts.

I am not trying to give credits to Vietnam because their intention was something different from saving Khmer but I am grateful as a normal human being would, despite their intention, of them because they did kick out the Khmer Rouge from power and thus Khmer people were saved from the Khmer Rouge's murdering campaign.

Now, can you comprehend the above?

Let me put it in an analogy term what I am saying.

You are standing waiting to cross the street on a curb. A drunk driver is driving recklessly on the road and is going to hit you. By the time you realize this approaching car, it is too close already for you to escape. You are bound to get hit for sure. A biker out of nowhere hits you from behind before the car hits you and knocks you out of the way of the car. You are alive with a few bruises.

The biker didn't have the intention of saving your life. His knocking you out of the way of the car was not intentional at all. But, he did save your life, didn't he?

Would you be mad at the biker or be a decent human being and thank this guy for saving your life even if it was unintentional of him?


My point in understanding and appreciating the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia is the same as the analogy above. They didn't invade to save Khmer but they did. Can you get that notion? You wouldn't go cuss and beat the shit out of the biker that just unintentionally saved your life, would you? Get it?


As for appearing to be a victim of double standard in racism. I am a Khmer person and I lived in Cambodia and in the US so I can tell from personally experience that Khmer are very racist toward the Vietnamese. Don't try to justify that using the old I'm a victim technique. Now, I am no Vietnamese so I don't know if they are racist toward us but from my experience as Khmer, I know for a fact that Khmer are racist toward the Vietnamese.

5:49 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

5:49AM

Comparing like a biker and the drunk driver is not realistic to the situation, particularly political situation happened between Cambodia and Vietnam. If you spend your time a little to read the history of Cambodia and Vietnam relationship from the past to the period of brutality, you will learn new thing and perceive some complex things better than just analogy such a simple one.

Every scholar and historian concluded that VN created Pol Pot party, and VN created CPP. The designer painted this story. The KR and CPP are the two outstanding actors in this play. Take your time to watch the movie called "Resident Evils". You will realize the concept of the play writer and the play actors. Cambodian people through these two outstanding groups are the actors. Actors can only act, cannot rewrite the play?

Your simple assumption is like that: you are the actor, you can not upgrade yourself to rewrite the play. Cambodia will loss its race if it cannot update to rewrite the play. More we act, more we loss to the play writer.

Regarding RACISM. We don't have empirical study that Khmers are racist towards VN. First, many researchers assumed that KR is racist toward Vietnamese people. But they found out that many Vietnamese still survived from the KR. If we compare the number of death, we can see that KR's cadres and their families/members died more than other groups including Buddhist monks, Muslims, minority, Vietnamese, Chinese etc.

So, be in empirical analysis...don't use your own emotion to judge others.

Khmers are not racist at all. Part of their extreme opinions are caused by the political leaders and political environment that have been using violent political rhetoric to contend their opponents. Khmer people are easy out going, honest, smiling and kind...etc But the culture of violence-prone from their leaders make them worse.

You should spend more time to study general Khmer characteristic.

6:33 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

6:33 AM

"Khmers are not racist at all. Part of their extreme opinions are caused by the political leaders and political environment that have been using violent political rhetoric to contend their opponents."

No matter what your motive is. Justification for racism is all the same. Worthless.

The white people justify slavery by saying black people are subhuman. Even scientific studies conducted by the white men support his ideology of white superiority. Does that justify slavery? You make the call.

As for Khmer who are subjected to your so-called violent political landscape, your action defines who you are. Your justification for racism among Khmer are caused by a system of self-defense? The white felt like they were defending themselves too to keep black enslaved.

The KKK justifies their racism as a self-defense against the extinction of white race. Does their justification make them not a racist? They are just defending themselves, right?

You and other people who justify your hatred by saying you're defending yourself from unfavorable political environment?

You say you're not racist but just reacting to events. Maybe you should consider this. Your unfavorable events make you defensive and a racist in the process.

Like I said, I am Khmer and Khmer are just like other race. There are nice and bad ones. There are racist Khmer and there are open-minded Khmer. Don't try to cover up the racism we have. The way to solve problem isn't to justify it using bogus excuses but to face it and work from there.

A person can be a loving open-minded one to some people but not so to others. Khmer are no exception. Khmer could be so nice and welcoming to our own kind and say white people but not so much to black huh? My uncle didn't want to buy a house because it was located next to a black family. Is his action a defense for his safety or his concern for his safety brings out racism from him?

I am no perfect person so I am also fallible to all these problems. But, at least, according to me, I see that. Some people become instantly blind when it is their mistakes.

7:54 AM
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Anonymous Free Spy said...

7:54AM,
Humans are all racist to some extent, just that some don't show like some do.

You can argue about what racism means, but surely not that it means absolutely nothing.

Not every French colonist identified himself as White Supremacy, or not every Vietnamese identidied himself as the invader, or not every Khmer identified himself as the bad Buddhist.

We use the English language as a form of our communication, but not every critic understand ours.

8:20 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

7:54AM

Now you are dragging to the big topic of racism. So, now you get that the problem of self-defending is racist or not? Khmers from the past to present are the victim. So, when the victim reacted to the perpetrator, it is racist or not? Between Khmer and Vietnam, which one is the perpetrator and which one is the victim.

I don't want to detail this problematic issue.

But to have empirical study about RACISM in Cambodia would be worthier.

In America, there were handful evidence of racism because the white enslaved the black, traded the black, and pissed out the black for centuries. Nazi Hitler targeted the Jews and tended to extinct them.

How about Khmers? How about Khmer Rouge regime that is known for its most brutality? Did KR kill all other race like Hitler? Or everyone single family of Cambodia also lost their relative?

So, get into your mind now. Khmers in empirical study since the past to present, we don't have evidence that Khmers are racist at all? We heard that Khmers are racist from Vietnam part only?

Vietnam labeled Khmers as racist,and Hun Sen followed that, and you also follow that too?

9:32 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Um, both the Khmer Republic and Democratic Kampuchea purposefully killed a lot of Vietnamese civilians. Not that I defend Vietnam, or Thailand for that matter, but the idea that Cambodia has also been a victim is a result of nationalist education, or distorted sense of diaspora. How do you think Khmer Empire got to be an empire in the first place if Khmers were always victims?

9:45 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

So, when you link to the very long time of history of Khmer Empire about its victim or perpetrator, it has two premises:

1. Vietnam and Thailand were not born in that time.

2. So, what your productive debate linking to present?

Our central debate now is abut Khmers are racist to Vietnamese or not?

What else do you want to make our debate precise?

9:56 AM
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Anonymous Anonymous said...

Vietnam also killed many Khmers and Khmer Krom.

Thailand also killed many Khmers at the camp.

We have all the evidence to study about this killing. But it seems not in case of racism. It was just a trajectory of political hatred.

Unfriendly neighbors in Southeast Asia

November 20, 2008
By Mong Palatino
UPI Asia Online

Column: Peripheries

Daly City, CA, United States, — There are numerous border disputes in Southeast Asia. The most well-known case today involves the historic Preah Vihear temple and the four square kilometers of territory around it, which are claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia. Last month, Thai and Cambodian soldiers violently clashed near the controversial temple.

Fortunately the clash produced few deaths and injuries. But unfortunately, it generated ultranationalist and racist sentiments in both countries. Many Thais, including politicians, accused Cambodians of betraying Thailand in the past.

On the other hand, some Cambodians criticized their neighbor for being arrogant. Thailand and Cambodia do not only share borders, they also have a common political and economic history.

The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is just one of the many quiet conflicts in Southeast Asia, especially in the Indochina region. There are still unsettled border feuds between Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia today. Recently, a maritime dispute in the Bay of Bengal was reported between Myanmar and Bangladesh.

In other parts of the region, the Philippines has not renounced its claim over Sabah, which is part of Malaysia today. Some Filipino scholars believe Malaysia has been secretly supporting the Muslim insurgents in the southern Philippines to protect its interests in Sabah.

This year Singapore was recognized by the World Court as the owner of a tiny but important island in the Singapore Strait, which is also claimed by Malaysia.

These border disputes are partly colonial legacies. Western powers created artificial boundaries in the past which inflamed ethnic rivalries.

It is also understandable why governments today are asserting their geopolitical interests. Each country has to protect its sovereignty and more importantly, it has to secure the territories with abundant resources. But the aggressive behavior of many leaders in the region may also be a tactic to gather domestic support for their unpopular administrations. Nationalism is being invoked for the wrong reasons.

The border disputes in the region signify the lack of camaraderie among Southeast Asians. Every country believes its people are superior over their neighbors. This form of racism seems to be endorsed by social and cultural institutions of many countries in the region. An editor of the Bangkok Post raised this point when he exposed what Thai schools are teaching his daughter:

“Like most Thais, she feels Burma is fierce and heartless, Cambodia cannot be trusted and Laos is inferior to Thailand – because the history textbooks teach her so.”

Many people in Thailand believe they once owned parts of their neighboring countries, making them feel they are the greatest in the region. In a similar way, almost all Filipinos think that other Southeast Asians have learned agriculture by studying in the Philippines.

Last month, homeowners in a village in Singapore protested the construction of a dormitory for migrant workers, citing security concerns, the migrants’ poor hygiene and the negative impact of the building on real estate prices in the area. They have forgotten that many of their ancestors were also migrants and that most of the migrant workers today in Singapore have come from neighboring countries in the region.

The unfriendliness of Southeast Asians to each other is really disappointing. But this condescending behavior toward fellow Southeast Asians is almost no different to what the people in the region are showing to their fellow citizens in their home countries.

The dominant Buddhist Thais are not on good terms with many ethnic Malay Muslims who are living in southern Thailand. The Catholic majority in the Philippines is denying Muslim Filipinos in the southern Philippines their right to self-determination. Many residents of West Papua are asserting their independence from Indonesia. Racism is again a very serious, if not the most important, political issue in multi-ethnic Malaysia.

The unspoken hostility between Southeast Asians makes it difficult and almost impossible to implement region-wide initiatives. For example, there have been proposals for sending a unified team to the Olympics, the use of a single currency like the euro for Europe, and the issuance of a single visa for the whole region.

A divided Southeast Asia does not benefit the interests of each country in the region. It makes it easy for big countries like China, Japan and the United States to obtain advantageous deals from Southeast Asian countries.

The United States has clinched military basing agreements with several Southeast Asian countries; Japan has been successful in acquiring one-sided bilateral economic agreements in the region; and China is acting like the big brother of Southeast Asian nations.

Things could be different if Southeast Asia were united. Powerful countries would rethink their negotiating tactics if they were dealing with a united Southeast Asia, instead of a small country with little economic and political bargaining power.

But many Southeast Asians do not realize this need for unity. They have overlooked the advantages of creating a united regional bloc since they are distracted by trivial conflicts. It seems they prefer to convince themselves that their neighbors are inferior instead of reaching out to their fellow Southeast Asians.

China, Japan and India are among the big powers in Asia. A united Southeast Asia could alter the balance of power in this part of the world.
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(Mong Palatino is an activist and regional editor for Southeast Asia of Global Voices Online. He can be reached at mongpalatino@gmail.com and his website is www.mongpalatino.motime.com. ©Copyright Mong Palatino.)