‘Dangerous elements’ in Cham population: US reportMonday, 05 May 2008
Craig Guthrie
The Mekong Times
The US government’s country report on Cambodia’s counter-terrorism efforts in 2007 has praised the government for its anti-terrorism efforts, but warned fatal flaws in society, border control and dangerous elements in the nation’s Cham Muslim present a terrorism threat.
“Cambodia’s political leadership demonstrated a strong commitment to take aggressive action against terrorists [in 2007] … However, Cambodia’s ability to investigate potential terrorist activities was limited by a lack of training and resources,” said the US Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism’s country report for Cambodia, released Apr 30.
“[P]orous borders, endemic corruption, massive poverty, high unemployment, a poor education system and disaffected elements in the Cham Muslim population … leave the country vulnerable to terrorism and terrorist influence,” it added.
Cham Muslims, which make up approximately five percent of the population, are not considered politically active, but the government feared last year that Cham areas were again being used as “safe havens” for terrorists, according to the report.
The report cites the case of Bali bomber Hambali, a key member of Jemaah Islamiya who it said took refuge in a Muslim school in Kandal province in 2002-2003.
Ahmed Yahya, the leader of the Cambodian Islamic Association and an ethnic Cham, strongly disagreed with the US State Department’s charges against his people.
“I don’t know why the State Department continues to cite the case of the Kandal school and I don’t know why it continues to try and give Cham Muslims a bad image… Sometimes they say we are good, sometimes bad,” he said.
There has been no rise in fundamentalism amongst Cambodian Cham Muslims, who are only concerned with improving their living standards, said Ahmed Yahya. “I am in communication with the communities each day and there are no terrorist sympathies among them,” he stressed.
“Cambodia’s political leadership demonstrated a strong commitment to take aggressive action against terrorists [in 2007] … However, Cambodia’s ability to investigate potential terrorist activities was limited by a lack of training and resources,” said the US Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism’s country report for Cambodia, released Apr 30.
“[P]orous borders, endemic corruption, massive poverty, high unemployment, a poor education system and disaffected elements in the Cham Muslim population … leave the country vulnerable to terrorism and terrorist influence,” it added.
Cham Muslims, which make up approximately five percent of the population, are not considered politically active, but the government feared last year that Cham areas were again being used as “safe havens” for terrorists, according to the report.
The report cites the case of Bali bomber Hambali, a key member of Jemaah Islamiya who it said took refuge in a Muslim school in Kandal province in 2002-2003.
Ahmed Yahya, the leader of the Cambodian Islamic Association and an ethnic Cham, strongly disagreed with the US State Department’s charges against his people.
“I don’t know why the State Department continues to cite the case of the Kandal school and I don’t know why it continues to try and give Cham Muslims a bad image… Sometimes they say we are good, sometimes bad,” he said.
There has been no rise in fundamentalism amongst Cambodian Cham Muslims, who are only concerned with improving their living standards, said Ahmed Yahya. “I am in communication with the communities each day and there are no terrorist sympathies among them,” he stressed.
3 comments:
we will not discriminate against our own people whether they are muslims or buddhist. They do not make terrorist. The people the US should be concern in allowing terrost to thrive are the Sok An, Lundi , and Hun Si people they are the real terrorist
please note that the so-called cham people of people have been living side by side peacefully with our khmer brothers for centuries and centuries without any problem, except under the short period under the infamous KR era. please note this, khmer people usually do not have any problem with other religion or race unless they are violating or making trouble with us. otherwise, khmer people welcome everyone who want to assimilate into the rich khmer culture and tradition. not all khmer philosophies or views are bad or detrimental to cambodia. maybe a few are bad, however, for most, they are good for cambodia for millenium already, except for period during dark ages ( all countries on the planet have dark periods, so cambodia is no exception either), but we hope to learn from our history as well as others. thank you.
Yeah, but you are talking history. Today, we have too many intruders who want to keep us at each other throat nonstop. It wont be long now before Cambodia will become like Iraq.
Post a Comment