Congratulations to Youhorn Chea, 3-time Mayor of Dandenong, Australia

Mayor Youhorn Chea with his grandsons Aiden Darith-Tang and Tristan Sachakrya-Youhorn.

Chea mayor for the third time

12 Dec 11
By Nicole Precel
Dandenong Leader

YOUHORN Chea has big plans for the city.

Councillor “Uncle” Chea was voted Greater Dandenong mayor for the third time at last week’s council meeting, beating out candidates Angela Long and Yvonne Herring.

Joining the council in 1997, Cr Chea became the first Cambodian-born mayor in Australia in 2001/02 and donned the robes again in 2006/07.

As a refugee, he escaped the killing fields of Cambodia in 1982, and started his life in Australia at the Enterprise Migrant Hostel in Springvale. He has not left the suburb since.

A cultural look at policing

Changing families: Cabramatta police multicultural liaison officer Phiny Ung says cultural and generational change can be difficult for families. Picture: Chris De Jong

26 Oct, 2011
BY JENNA DAROCZY
Fairfield City Champion (Australia)

AS A mother of four and grandmother of more, Phiny Ung has had her fair share of ups and downs in raising teenagers.

But she says they've been her best teachers in terms of helping other families in Cabramatta with troubled youth.

"My eldest was born in Cambodia, the others were born here and they never let me get away with comparing how things are here with how I was raised," she said.

"It never works because the children don't understand how different it is.

"I tell parents that here all the time. Just because they see their children as having every benefit, their kids don't understand what their parents' culture was like."

Cambodian refugee's new mushrooming career

Mushrooming the business (Sarina Locke)

Thursday, 07/07/2011
By Sarina Locke from Murrumbateman 2582
ABC Rural (Australia)

"I survived through the war by eating caterpillars, I survived through the war by eating cockroaches."

"We were forced to come out (to Australia), if not we get raped or killed. "

Helen Chu is not angry or bitter, but she does carry the mental scars of seeing Khmer Rouge soldiers torture and murder friends and family.

She was lucky enough to arrive in Australia as a child and to benefit from a good education, despite her experience of racism in Cabramatta, Sydney.

She attended University, became a teacher and then five years ago, bought land at Murrumbateman to establish a sophisticated mushroom farm, selling to Canberra consumers.

Helen Chu was born Heang Pao, but she doesn't know her exact date of birth, as the documents were destroyed before she arrived in Australia in 1982.

Survivors of The Killing Fields Revisited

Click here to watch the streaming video

FOUR CORNERS
Investigative TV journalism at its best.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Program Transcript

Reporter: Marian Wilkinson Producer: Janine Cohen


Date: 27/06/2011


SURVIVORS OF THE KILLING FIELDS REVISITED


UNG BUN HEANG: I think the refugees should allow to live, if they are genuine refugee they should allow to live in this society. You know look back, you know we were refugee too. We came here, we worked so hard and we contribute everything what we have.

And right now I can - I don't want to say anyone else but my family - I have four kids, beautiful kids, good citizen, and I can guarantee they're going to be a good taxpayer for this country.

KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: One view on Australia's refugee policy from someone who knows what it's like to be one.

Ung Bun fled the Killing Fields of Cambodia nearly three decades ago.

Welcome to Four Corners.

From the mid-70s to the mid-80s after the Vietnam War, Australia accepted some 90,000 Indo-Chinese refugees. Some came by boat, many more were accepted from camps across South-East Asia and Hong Kong.

But at various points through that decade controversy raged over whether too many Asians were being settled here.

Big Buddha planned for Parafield Gardens

ENTRANCING: Vuthol Sieng says the archway planned for Parafield Garden's Khmer Buddhist Association will be similar to those in Cambodia.

26 Apr 11
By Katelin Nelligan
News Review Messenger (Australia)

A GIANT Buddha statue is planned for a 10m-high entrance to Parafield Garden’s Khmer Buddhist Association.

The association has lodged plans with Salisbury Council for the elaborate archway at its Salisbury Hwy base.

The plans are out for public consultation until Monday, May 2.

The archway would include figures of elephants topped by a four-faced Buddha statue, similar to those found on many Cambodian temples.

Men get 20 years each for party murder

Three men get 20 years each in jail for killing of Thea Kheav at a party (7pm TV News SA)

Thursday, April 14, 2011
ABC News (Australia)

Three men have received 20-year jail sentence for murder even though the South Australian Supreme Court heard it was likely they were not the ones who stabbed the victim.

The men were found guilty of murder by a jury after prosecutors alleged they were part of a joint enterprise to harm the victim.

Thea Kheav was held down and stabbed at a party in Adelaide's northern suburbs in 2007.

Congratulations to Greater Dandenong Young Achiever Kalyan Ky!

Young achiever: Kalyan Ky. (Pictures: Ted Kloszynski)

Greater Dandenong honours Kalyan Ky and other key achievers

31 Jan, 2011
BY SARAH O'CONNOR
Great Dandenong Weekly (Australia)

GREATER Dandenong's 2011 Young Achiever of the Year is using her experiences as a refugee to help other young people in the area.

Kalyan Ky, 24, was awarded at the City of Greater Dandenong Australia Day celebration last week along with Citizen of the Year Ruth Hartnett, Good Neighbour of the Year Raymond Johnston and Non-Resident of the Year Barbara Siddall.

Ms Ky's parents left Cambodia as refugees in the late 1980s, first heading to Malaysia, then New Zealand, before settling in Australia about seven years ago.

Congratulation to Vanty Tang: 1st in the state of New South Wales, Australia

Click on the article to zoom in

Weightlifter shows strength in face of adversity

Triumph through adversity ... Vannara Be has risen from grape farming to gold medal-hunting. (Getty Images)

October 1, 2010
By Jano Gibson in Delhi
ABC Grandstand Sport (Australia)

As a little boy, Vannara Be grew up hearing about the torture inflicted on his relatives by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Two of his father's siblings were murdered, his grandmother lost an eye and his father was left with severe psychological mental scars.

But almost 30 years since that reign of terror, 22-year-old Be has become the first Cambodian-born competitor to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games.

The diminutive weightlifter, who lived with his parents and three siblings on the outskirts of Phnom Penh until he was 10, only received his Australian citizenship late last year.

Not until today, at a press conference in Delhi, did he learn he was the first Cambodian to wear the green and gold.

"I just found out today," he said.

"It's pretty nervous. Suddenly you are representing your country."

His family's first link to Australia came through one of his uncles, who fled to the country on a boat in the 1980s.

His uncle was granted refugee status and eventually persuaded Be's father to come to Australia for a short work trip at a farm in Victoria.

The owner of the farm offered to sponsor him to return on a working visa.

The whole family arrived in Australia in 1998, but it was only last November that Be received his citizenship.

He said he took up weightlifting to get out of school and had never really had the ambition to represent Australia.

"As a little kid you go to school. To get out of school you go play different sports," he said.

Be, who will be competing in the 62-kilogram weightlifting competition, said he can hoist 148 kilograms.

He credited some of his physical strength to his early days working with his mother in her Cambodian shop and later with his father on the farm.

"During picking season you carry weights around, like grapes in a bucket," he said.

"I'm not too sure where I get my strength from.

"Maybe from there, picking grapes."

Cambodian Refugee Competes For Australia In India

Oct 1, 2010
DENNIS PASSA, AP Sports Writer

NEW DELHI (AP) ― The son of a refugee Cambodian family which lived through the ravages of the Pol Pot regime will compete in weightlifting for Australia at the Commonwealth Games.

Vannara Be, who came to Australia in 1998 as a 10-year-old child, will compete in the 62-kilogram division when the weightlifting competition begins Monday.

The 22-year-old Be, who considers himself a longshot for a medal, became an Australian citizen last November when the government fast-tracked his citizenship so he could compete in New Delhi.

"It's a dream come true," Be said Friday at the athletes' village. "You never expected to be in a country like Australia, and now to represent them is quite amazing."

Be's father, who was mentally scarred by Pol Pot's terror reign in the late 1970s when two of his brothers were killed and his mother lost an eye in the violence, went to Australia in 1996 to work in a vineyard in the Yarra Valley of Victoria state.

The rest of the family followed the father two years later from their home outside Phnom Penh. The pint-sized Be has an older sister and two younger sisters, Socheata, 20, and Richny, 16, both budding weightlifters.

Be first took up weightlifting at Mount Lilydale Mercy College in Melbourne's northern suburbs "to get out of school," he said.

He credited some of his early strength to working with his mother in her Cambodian shop and later with his father on the land.

"During picking season you carry weights around, like grapes in a bucket," he said.

Be's coach, Anthony Dove, said the young lifter had an incredible work ethic.

"He trains about 10 times a week, twice a day," Dove said. "It's amazing how quickly he has picked up the sport. He's very astute and asks a lot of questions. He always wants to put more weight on the bar. Nothing will hold him back."

From Cambodia to Delhi, via Australia for Vannara Be [-We are proud of you also, Vannara!]

Weightlifter Vannara Be impresses Indian ladies at the athletes village. Picture: Alex Coppel Source: News Limited

October 01, 2010
Mike Colman in Delhi
The Australian

HIS uncle was a boat person, a refugee from Pol Pot's reign of terror. His father was an immigrant who bent his back dawn to dusk picking grapes to provide his family with a future. Now Commonwealth Games weightlifter Vannara Be has become the first Cambodian-born athlete to represent Australia.

So how does he feel?

"Surprised actually," he said after being presented to the media. "I didn't know until someone just told me."

But if Victoria-based Be was vague about his standing in Australian sporting history, he has total clarity about his own family history and the terrible affect the Pol Pot regime had upon it.

"My aunty and uncle were murdered, my grandmother lost an eye," the 22 year-old said. "They say she cried so much when she lost her children that it just disappeared."

In the early 1980s, Be's uncle managed to flee Cambodia for Thailand, then got on a boat to Australia. By 1996 he had become a citizen and on a trip home to Phnom Penh urged Be's uncle to join him in the new country.

"Dad came out on a short-term visa. My aunty was working on a vineyard in the Yarra Valley and dad tagged along and worked with her. When it came time for him to leave, the lady who owned the farm asked him to stay. He said he couldn't leave his family behind so she did all the work to get us all to Australia. It was all because my father had worked so hard."

Just four years old when he arrived in Australia, Be proved he too was a hard worker, helping his parents pick grapes and carrying them in crates from an early age.

"Maybe that's where I got my strength from. Who knows?"

While the source of his talent is a mystery - there is no culture of weightlifting in Cambodia although Be's three sisters have all taken up the sport - there is no question about his earliest motivation.

"I took it up because playing sport meant you could get time off school," he said. "If you were in a competition you could get a whole day off."

The turning point of his career came when the family gained permanent residency last year.

"Before that we were always wondering if we would have to go back to Cambodia," he said. "I had no real goal because I didn't know what my future was. I'd only train once or twice a week. Then when we knew we would be staying I got serious."

Competing in the 62kg class, Be has a best lift of 115kg in snatch and 138kg in the clean and jerk.

While none of his family will be in Delhi, he knows they will be watching him compete on television.

"My mother is so proud, she is ringing me every day," he said.

Nurse Leakhana Om injured in sickening hit-run at East Oakleigh

Leakhana Om, who was injured in a hit-run in East Oakleigh. Picture: VICTORIA POLICE Source: Herald Sun

August 29, 2010
Mark Buttler
Herald Sun (Australia)

A WOMAN left with horrendous injuries after a callous hit-run collision worked tirelessly to help others.

Leakhana Om, 68, is in hospital with many broken bones, spinal injuries and horrific internal damage after being struck and left for dead at East Oakleigh.

Police are still looking for the driver.

Mrs Om had been out for her regular morning stroll near her home when she was hit beside Clayton Rd, near Stewart St, at 11am on Friday.

Only the quick intervention of a passing ambulance on its way to the nearby Monash Medical Centre saved her from an even worse plight.

Mrs Om's daughter Socheata today said her mother worked as a nurse looking after the elderly.

When not at work, the devout Buddhist spent almost of all of her remaining time trying to help others in her native Cambodia.

"She's very kind. She's very generous,'' Ms Ty said.

"It's pretty devastating. It's not something you'd wish upon anyone.''

Doctors at the Royal Melbourne Hospital have placed Mrs Ty in an induced coma.

Ms Ty said whoever hit her mother should face up to what they had done.

"Come to the police and turn yourself in,'' she said.

Leading Sen-Const Mark Smith said Mrs Ty had been able to indicate she had been hit by a truck, which would have been extensively damaged.

He said it was unclear why the driver would not have stopped.

"That bemuses us as well. (It's) very callous,'' Leading Sen-Const Smith said.

Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or go to
www.crimestoppers.com.au.

Appeal to hit-run driver to come forward

August 23, 2010
AAP (Australia)

The parents of a 13-year-old boy brain damaged in a hit-and-run in Sydney's west last Australia Day are appealing for the driver to hand himself in to police.

Vissal Um had only been living in Australia six weeks when he was hit by a black Toyota Hilux while riding his bike on Sackville Street at Canley Vale about 8.25pm (AEST) on January 26.

Vissal and his bike were dragged 20 metres by the car, which did not stop and continued along Pevensey Street.

Advertisement: Story continues below Vissal's father, Seng Hong Tann, was only metres behind his son and witnessed the accident.

Vissal was rushed to The Children's Hospital at Westmead suffering head injuries and was placed in an induced coma.

Although he has recovered from most of his physical injuries, doctors say he now has a permanent severe brain injury.

He also has a hearing impairment on his left side which will impact significantly on his learning ability.

Vissal and his mother had arrived in Australia from Cambodia just six weeks before the crash.

His parents will on Monday appeal for the male driver of the car to come forward.

Senior Sergeant Peter Jenkins said witness reports show the man would have known he was involved in a collision.

"We appeal to him to come forward or to anyone who may know of his identity to contact police," Sen Sgt Jenkins said in a statement on Monday.

"This little boy's life has been changed forever as a result of this incident and the impact on the family, who are only recent arrivals to Australia, has been significant."

Mr Tann said he will be forever haunted by the sight of his injured son lying on the road.

"I cannot understand how anyone could not stop to help an injured child," he said.

Anyone who witnessed the incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Family of injured 13-year-old [Cambodian] boy appeal for hit run driver to come forward – Metropolitan Crash Unit

Monday, 23 Aug 2010
NSW Police Force (Australia)

Police and the family of a 13-year-old boy injured in a hit and run incident on Australia Day this year are appealing for the driver to hand himself in to police.

At about 8.25pm on Tuesday 26 January this year, 13-year-old Visal Um was riding his blue mountain bike along Sackville Street, Canley Vale.

Approaching an intersection, he commenced crossing into Pevensey Street when he was hit by a black Toyota Hilux making a right hand turn.

Visal was struck and his bike dragged 20 metres.

The driver did not stop and continued along Pevensey Street.

Visal’s father, Seng Hong Tann, was only metres behind his son also riding a bike and witnessed the impact.

Visal was rushed to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead suffering head injuries and was placed in an induced coma.

Although he has recovered from most of his physical injuries his treating doctors say he now has a permanent severe brain injury.

He also has a hearing impairment on the left side which will impact significantly on his ability to learn.

Visal and his mother only arrived in Australia from Cambodia just six weeks before the crash.

Metropolitan Crash Unit investigator Senior Sergeant Peter Jenkins today appealed for the driver of the Black Toyota Hilux vehicle to come forward.

“There were several witnesses at the time and we believe the driver would have known he had been involved in a collision,” Sn Sgt Peter Jenkins said.

“We appeal to him to come forward or to anyone who may know of his identity to contact police.

“This little boy’s life has been changed forever as a result of his incident and the impact on his family, who are only recent arrivals to Australia, has been significant.”

Visal’s father, Seng Hong Tann said he will be forever haunted by the sight of his injured son lying on the roadway.

“I wish no other parent would ever have to suffer this horrific experience,” Mr Tann said.

“I am one of the lucky ones and am very grateful my son is alive.

“However I cannot understand how anyone could not stop to help an injured child.”

Anyone who witnessed the incident or who has any information which may lead to the identity of the driver relating to the driver is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Callers can remain anonymous.

Maribyrnong Detention Centre [Cambodian] detainee escapes on ten-pin bowling trip

August 03, 2010
Amelia Harris
Herald Sun (Australia)

A CAMBODIAN man who overstayed his visitors' visa escaped custody while on an excursion to a bowling alley.

He and another detainee were visiting the alley at a nearby shopping centre on Saturday with two staff when he fled.

The man, who has been held at the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre since January, remains on the run.

The 80-bed centre is run by Serco, a private security firm that receives about $70 million a year to run the nation's detention centres.

A Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokeswoman said the man escaped on Saturday morning.

"The man, who is originally from Cambodia and another client were being escorted by two detention service provider officers when the man ran off,'' the spokeswoman said.

"Extra Serco staff were immediately called to the scene, but the man was unable to be relocated.''

Police were notified about the escape.

It is believed the escape was captured on CCTV.

The Department has called for a report into the incident from Serco.

Phiny Ung’s migration story

My husband drew this portrait of myself soon after my baby was born. There were no oils. He would go around the street trying to look for paint in the big, big sea of rubbish. He was really thrilled in gaining his skill back after it got rusty for four years. I had to sit for him to draw for a few hours and I had to run to feed the baby and come back. We really, really fell in love; it was really sentimental. We built up our relationship through hardship. I know many couples divorce soon after Pol Pot because that was the circumstance that they decide to tie the knot.

• cultural background: Cambodian
• town, region, country of origin: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• start of migration journey: Bangkok, Thailand, 1980
• place of arrival in australia: Brisbane on 25th May 1980
• first home in australia: We were sponsored by my brother-in-law and lived with his family in Brisbane.
• first job in australia: I volunteered as a receptionist for a small taxation office to practice my English, then a TAFE teacher for young, unemployed Cambodians in Sydney.
• other jobs in australia: Interpreter for health department; restaurant owner; Cambodian liasion and multicultural lisasion officer, NSW Police – all located in Sydney.

Click here for Ung Phiny's complete story, video and additional photos

Phiny Ung’s migration memories:

I was born in 1956 in the capital city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. My parents were usually away from home so I spend most of the time with my grandmother and grown-up siblings in Phnom Penh.

Agriculture is a big influence [on] our economy and [we] have very natural gift of plenty of fish around December to February. I was so amazed how we can get close to nature. That goes back to the way that grandma used to do things. She passed it on and made sure we learned. She usually had the tamarind paste – put a bit of water to get some juice – and mix with some garlic and onion, brown it. Then she cooked with some fish sauce and also with some meat, then we can go with a very nice fish. It was very, very happy time. I was fortunate to be a favourite granddaughter.

Mum and Dad go to different province where [Dad] was the governor. Summer in Cambodia were with my parents and the younger siblings. Dad attend[ed] a special school to train for diplomat [and] my [eldest] brother was an army lieutenant in the Sihanouk regime. He got married in early January [1975 and] it was fortunate he got injured a few months before the country fall onto Pol Pot regime otherwise we would have been separated from him.’

Phiny’s eldest brother’s wedding, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, January 1975
“I got that photo from his wife’s relative who lives in France, otherwise I wouldn’t have anything. I couldn’t carry much of a memory from my past during my escape to the Thai border.”

The evacuation of Phnom Penh was in April 1975 when Pol Pot came to power. The Khmer Rouge told [us] that the Americans will bomb soon so to survive we have to get fast out of the city.

We learned later that they just want to punish people who live in the city because we were the enemy of state. They said people who [worked] with the government would be called back in a few weeks when they install the new regime. Who is to know that they kill because they want to clean the old regime and start the new one?

They evacuate three or four million people in a few days. It was shock and disbelief. It was terribly chaotic, there was no planning. A big tragedy unfolded, we did not know what to say except follow orders. There’s always a gun fired to the air, to push and order people to move on. The streets were full of people. People died along the street, some woman gave birth to a baby on the street. It was horrible, horrible.

My father inherit a sword from his family heirloom. It’s been passed on a few generations. Mum used to tell us not to take the sword out from the case, only in a very emergency situation when it needs to be used and that meant killing people. Our great, great grandfather had used the sword to fight. I think it is more than a good 200 years. I recall Mum and my biggest sister work hard trying to hide this sword into a long pillow where she can also fit some other valuables, belongings and currency. When we settle in the countryside, Mum told one of our brothers to bury the sword. We can only take it out when Pol Pot finish or we return to capital city.

My parents were born in Phnom Penh so my father decided to follow his good friend (Bunheang’s[1] uncle), to the eastern part of Cambodia, about 100 kilometres away. Dad’s philosophy is that if we can go somewhere with water and rice plantation then we will survive. I remember we would take a break and try to feed two abandoned children because they’re separated from their parents. It just fit perfectly to the saying, ‘Every man for themselves’. Those babies were about 20 months old, just lay on the concrete floor. I spent some time to put food in their mouth but I could not take the baby with me because I have other things for my family and we had to move on, we’re not allowed to stay and do what we want – the Khmer Rouge soldier would move people on every minute. We would be shot.

During Pol Pot, regardless of what government ranking you were, [you] fall into enemy of state category, what they consider to be educated or intellectual. Even my [siblings who] were high school students, the widow of the army officer and a primary school teacher. Mum came from a very well trained family. The way she talked, the way our family was set up, we’d been accused that we were connected to royal family. That put us into a class. The ideology created hostility between two groups of people who live in the city and in the countryside. I was very angry, very upset about the way we’d been treated but then again you look at the primitive [life] of the farmers.

We were accused of being corrupt, having lifestyle of imperialism, capitalism, that we’d been brainwashed. We were treated as traitors. [There] was a very severe sentence for that. Usually they take to the pagoda and interrogate people there. All I know is that my father and eldest brother [had] their hands tied to their back, taken away to the re-education camp which was the gaol. The villagers [said] they’d been beaten and taken away. We never seen them [again].

They planned to take us all, they really made us go through a very, very traumatic time. It was torture, psychological torture, where we had to prove that we’re loyal to the government organisation, Angkar, they want to test our resilience. [When] taking family member, we’re not to show any emotion because we had to be very strong and work very hard to prove our loyalty. We cannot cry or display any emotion in public [otherwise] we’re having the same fate, we’d be taken away.

The only thing we can focus or encourage to do so is to work 15 or 16 hours a day, wearing the black pyjama – a wrap type thing – and no school, no market, no money. It just was purely working seven days a week. We just had to follow the instruction by getting up at dawn, working on rice field production, and come home at dusk.

When we reach 16 we had to join the mobile brigade or conscription to join the battlefield. Some children never return to their family. When we get married we are allowed to work at the local village and do rice production, dig the dam and many other heavy work.

We had been put into lots of assignments risking life: we’d been ordered to do some work on the other side of a river without knowing how to swim. I would just hang onto a buffalo tail, there’s no OH&S (occupational health and safety) for people because it’s Communist. They don’t respect life and there’s no humanity; it’s just survival.

The Communists are trying to control people, everything belonged to Angkar with very, very grass roots people to take power. You just had to follow what they say. You cannot take your own knowledge and say, “Look, this is not the right way”. You just have to be dumb, deaf and blind to follow the order. In order to be alive you have to be obedient. They’d been trained to dislike or be hostile with the city people.

Bunheang was a student at the university of fine arts and a cartoonist [for] a well-known newspaper. He’d been strong in political cartoons since he was 17 years old so he had been [well] trained in Cambodian politics. We decided to ‘tie the knot’.

I was worried that we will be accepted for marriage; I was a daughter of a government official and [his] family also from ‘imperialist’ background. We’re not allowed to hold hands, walk side by side, call each other [names to] show affection like ‘honey’, ‘darling’. Every night they have spy to check.

We cannot pick any time to get married because Angkar permit[ted] people to get married only twice a year; it is a mass wedding. Both families have to put an application to the chief of the village. On 5th October 1977 we had to walk about five kilometres from our village to attend one of the temples. Angkar [use] it as the big centre because it was no longer to practice religion. They divide the wedding into morning and afternoon, the morning for people very close to the organisation, the grass root people.

It was a very sad but funny business if you compare to the normal life wedding, like my brother’s and sister’s. You don’t have to prepare anything, you just have to go to work until the eve of the wedding. I had to borrow some good clothes from the neighbour because my black pyjama that I had been issued was so worn out.

I still recall that day. I was so upset and sad because my father was taken away two years before that and I lost three siblings so it wasn’t really a joyful day. We don’t even know what our future would be like.

The way of the wedding is to go in front of the chief of the village. There was a long table and a list with names. Because they’re not able to read and write that well and we cannot show them that we know how to, we just put our thumb into that stamp pad and print our thumb next to our name, so we don’t actually have a marriage certificate! That was the main ceremony. Next day we had to go to work, business as usual.

Soon after the Vietnamese regime came in we knew there was going to be a change. We don’t trust that Vietnam will bring any peace or stabilisation to Cambodia apart from looking for their own interest to invade.

I get pregnant with my first daughter so the first thing to do is to look for some place I can give birth with comfort. Living in the countryside there is no hospital and I’m not comfortable to follow traditional midwife. Knowing it is a big risk, we try to join the new government installed by the Vietnamese army. My husband joined with the department of information [with] his skill of drawing. We have regular ration for our salary and a really nice hospital. That was in 1979 and my daughter was born in July.

My husband had been told he would be sent to do training in Vietnam or East Germany. We suspect it might not be the case because of the racial hostility [for] ethnic Chinese which falls into my husband’s family. So we knew we’re not really that safe.

After Pol Pot we cannot go back to our own family home because it’s been occupied by the government official because that’s quite a big house. Nothing is belonging to you anymore, everything is to the government.

To travel to the Thai border is almost impossible at that time, only the people that transport food. So we bribed the driver of the truck that carried rice to Battambang, the province close to the border. It’s about 250 kilometres away but it took us ten days because the road had been badly damaged during the war. We paid them in gold and have to go on top of rice which is really dusty. That is really hard with the five months old baby.

We almost got killed several times; sometimes the lorry capsized. We had to pass through many checkpoints and don’t have any more valuable thing to trade, so I have to make the decision to follow my husband and [his] family because my mother-in-law had some gold. It was a tough decision to leave my mother and younger siblings behind. If I survive, then I will find a way for them to follow me.

Mum lost Dad and four other children, it was tough enough, but to lose me again, not knowing what’s going to happen because I might not be successful with my escape and the grandchild? But if I don’t come then my husband would not come, so I just had to be brave. We were so upset knowing we were going to be apart. I don’t know where the strength came from. She gave me a statue of Buddha and the photo of my great-uncle dressed as a very high ranking senator.

I had to leave behind lots of significant things including the sword. Another memorable thing was the portrait my husband draw of myself soon after my baby was born. There were no oils. He would go around the street trying to look for paint in the big, big sea of rubbish. He was really thrilled in gaining his skill back after it got rusty for four years. I had to sit for him to draw for a few hours and I had to run to feed the baby and come back.

We really, really fell in love in that I never knew before. It was really sentimental. We built up our relationship through that hardship and get to know each other. I know many couples divorce soon after Pol Pot because that was the circumstance that they decide to tie the knot.

But I knew I could do something with this education certificate. I learn the skill of hiding things during Pol Pot because it’s a matter of life and death. I insert that small certificate into the waistband in several folds. I knew it’s a big risk because it explains what I do, where I was born, even the table number I sat during the exam. It prove[s] my level of education, which isn’t very high but high enough for guards to consider I would be a threat to the government. I don’t know whether I’ll be alive or dead during my escape but I’m just looking for something to represent me and that’s the only thing I had at that time.

We present a false document at every checkpoint. Our original application is to attend the wedding of a relative near the border. Smuggling and bribery is in full practice so we pay those guards but the photo and Buddha statue [were] confiscated. They said, “You connected to the high ranking government?” so I had to make up story, but they have the small statue and said, “You’re trying to smuggle out of the country with this”. They just kept accusing and accusing and I said, “No, with baby I do not go anywhere, this is for my family heirloom, it’s left over from the Pol Pot regime. This is sacred for our family”. So we pay them gold or some bracelet and they keep quiet but then they took away the photo and the Buddha. But I’m glad I make the good decision of folding that certificate into my trouser waistband.

It was very, very scary experience, it was a miracle. We follow the guide we hired to show us the way to the Thai border. For local villagers, this is their trade; it’s a clandestine type of smuggling. I didn’t know I was pregnant with my second child, too stressed to know what’s happening.

For about 12 kilometres that would be about six or seven hours’ ride. Sometimes you’re slow, there’s several checkpoints and the very difficult part was to pass guerillas – Khmer Rouge resistance – and the Vietnamese troops which represent the government.

When we pass the Vietnamese we say we go to the next village to express our loss during Pol Pot. The Vietnamese have to give compassion to prove that they are friend to Cambodia. Then we go to Khmer Rouge and I pretend to be the wife of that [local villager]. It’s really hard to hide skin colour, the appearance, when you’re not really a farmer or villager. For me I can blend in alright but my husband, it was so terrible.

We managed to get to [the border] and were trying to get to the camp [to] access international aid. We registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to get our rations. There were several camps. There was a horrible experience where some refugees in the next [camp] were taken back by the Thai government. We had to take risks all the time, we were not sure whether we were being totally protected or not, we could not communicate with the Thai driver.

Finally we [were] taken to the proper camp and stayed there for about three months. I managed to contact my aunty in Paris, so she sent money. Straight away I found someone to go back to Cambodia and then trying to get my surviving relatives, my mother and siblings, to the camp. My husband has a brother who lives in Australia so he sponsored us. That was [why] we left so quickly and move[d] to a holding centre [for two months], waiting for the flight. We were held back for six weeks because my daughter was very ill and had been taken to hospital.

Each day we go to the big centre to see [if] our name is on the board [to depart]. Your destiny [is] from day to day. Once we [were] called, I cannot lose the opportunity [but] then was so worried I would leave before my mother and sibling arrived. I can’t telephone, there’s no means of communication. We were so fortunate that they arrived just 10 days before I left. I managed to take a photo of them and I treasure that Polaroid. I was just overwhelmed with joy to be reunited with them and at the same time knowing there was only half of [the family] that made it.Phiny’s family reunite at Khao-I Dang refugee camp, Thailand, January 1980

“Mum, my sisters and brothers arrived and reunited with me. It was one of my happiest times to be together again [but] only half of [the family] made it.”

I accomplished one of the tasks I promised my mother [but she] was upset I left her again. That’s the second time we had to say goodbye but this time we would have more of a hope. I would try to get them out and I did.

[Coming to Australia was] the feeling of the unknown, the feeling of surviving, feeling to be grateful. I can’t deny I feel relieved and happy but it’s mixed with that sadness. [On] 25th of May 1980, I arrived in Brisbane and that was such a wonderful experience.

We were greeted by one of the immigration officials and it was so warm a welcome. I just never thank enough to the Australian government and the people the gratitude that [they] gave me life. This is the first thing I can put my trust in. I’m no longer cheating death, we were not at risk. I have a place to live without fear of being killed. And when I met that officer although we cannot communicate, I can understand and they really do their best to make the three of us feel welcome. Once we touched down, we were so overwhelmed.

The officer put us in a taxi. We saw the big road, the city and things like that and then the taxi driver happened to be female!! It was a Sunday and I did not know shopping wasn’t open so the city is quite deserted. We have a sense of suspicion all the time because we’d been through too much and I said, “What’s happening? Where’s the people?” Later we learned many people go to church.

My brother-in-law did not know the day we arrive [so] when we arrive to their house it was a complete surprise! They’re all scream[ing]. Then my daughter is so dehydrated because she had diarrhoea and didn’t eat. She looked half-dead and didn’t talk. It was so horrific. That night my sister-in-law call her friend, a paediatrician. It’s so lucky we have the top class treatment.

She had to be hospitalised that night and it was so difficult to let her go. We’re curious about [the hospital] and it was just a big experience. It was like coming out from hell and then we see different faces, different way of people treating. That is really mesmerising.

We stayed there until I gave birth to my second daughter in September. Then we move out from my sponsor to try and settle ourselves. During that time my husband managed to get a part-time job soon after he finished his English class. I was busy with two babies, so he’s the only one who can earn. I got home tutor and I learn English with the children [watching kids’] TV programs. That was a very good experience.

Phiny & Bunheang with their two young daughters, Brisbane, Australia, 1980
“[On] 25th of May 1980, I arrived in Brisbane and that was such a wonderful experience. This is the first thing I can put my trust in. I’m no longer cheating death, we were not at risk. I have a place to live without fear of being killed. Once we touched down, we were so overwhelmed.”

It took us a few weeks before we get rid of all the jetlag and of course adjust our way of life. The cooking – we didn’t really have difficulty comparing to other refugees [who] have to get used to lamb. So we did not experience the government migrant hostel so we accommodate to our liking with the rice and things like that, so I have no trouble.

When we come home, after the daily chore, we say, “What can we tell?” because even our own relative, my brother-in-law who sponsor us, find it hard to believe what happened. So we had to tell. Luckily Bunheang can use his skill of drawing.

He get the Indian ink, cardboard and some pointy pen. He said, “You have to remind me what you saw”. So we talked together, combined [our] experiences and then he start into his drawing. So every night when I put the children to sleep, we sit together, concentrate and recall. This is our homework [for] nearly four months. Every night.

We have no photograph and we worry we may forget. So it’s sort of an archive. After it’s built up for more than 90 drawings, then he start to show people. Much later he [worked with] a Queensland University lecturer to publish a book called Murderous Revolution.

» Khmer Rouge Toons illustration website

We have nightmare all the time. When I hear the knock at the door, I just don’t want to open [it]. We do not know who’s there, who will bring bad news; my mother and surviving relatives are still at the camp. So I hate to answer door. I had enough bad news. I was so afraid.

I did not know until much later that [the drawings were] helping us let our traumatising experience flow out. When you were the victim of terrible experience you can only think about what’s happening. You don’t have time to think what you’re going to do next. At that time there wasn’t a system of having counselling and with our culture, counselling is very much talking to your religious leader, relative or someone elderly in the community.

We have French as our second language. We [studied a little] English during secondary school but we only start to learn English when we arrived in Australia. When I arrive[d] in Australia the language experience was [intertwined with] discrimination. I can understand English but I can’t speak [much] just yet because I need a lot of practice. I recall when I went to greengrocer and trying to pick a few pears, that shop owner snatched that bag out and pour out the pears, grab all of the second grade and then charge me. I used my gesture not accepting that and protest. He just show me out of the shop, like, “You’re not accepted”. I recall I haven’t seen much of Asian appearance at that time so I was really the new face of physical appearance of the migration in the 1980s on the streets of Brisbane.

It’s sad but I cannot take that sort of racial discrimination as a very serious thing because I’ve been through too much. We learn to accept that we are newcomers so maybe this is the way it is? Communication was a really big problem but we try hard to learn and win the support by just being nice and friendly to others, not respond in a negative way. That’s the only way I can put myself into facing the discrimination which is a thousand things – on the bus, the train, sometime we got spat at but it’s [not] life threatening. It hurts, it’s really hard to take, but then we [had] a lot more to deal with, so we managed to toss it aside.

There’s no need to get involved in that kind of provocation. “Well you think you are the winner, so be it. We are the loser? Yes, of course I’m a loser; I lost my land, I lost my home country, I lost everything and I’m just coming to look for peace”. So we have to stick to that peaceful life.

Bunheang got an illustrator job in Brisbane three months after he attended the English class with the migrant education centre but it was only part-time, only about $10 more than the unemployment benefit because we have two small children and I wasn’t working.

I sponsor my mother [and siblings?] and they join me a year after [in Brisbane but] late ’81 [we came to Sydney]. My husband got a very good job he always dreamed to do, working in the animation studio. The studio in Sydney offered that position for a trial for 10 days. Bunheang did not believe that he get paid while on trial and the pay was almost double.

When he told me [he got the job], first I was so thrilled but then again it hit me hard I had to leave my mother again because I can’t afford to take them with me. So Mum again had to go through with a sense of loss, the third time.

Mum followed me [to Sydney] a year after, [she] missed her grandchildren. There is more opportunity in Sydney, we have more cosmopolitan, more Asian sort of concentration than Brisbane at that time. We become tourist at many occasion by learn[ing] the public transport. [Even] though it was very limited resource we were so happy.

Many other fellow refugee were not able to gather their strength to pick up the pieces in settling with the new life. The lack of confidence has really deterred [some] and I was able to work with many to build confidence and [improve their] education levels. I started as a receptionist with a small taxation office [where] I brought our tax return, but that was volunteering. It was only for a short time, trying to practice my English. Later I got a very good job as a part-time teacher with TAFE to work with young, unemployed Cambodians [aged] between 15 and 24 for three years. I also worked as a healthcare interpreter with the health department.

Australia [was] about to celebrate the bicentennial year, ’88, and the market crashed. The company my husband worked for suffered a great loss, so we [were] nervous because we bought a home. We thought maybe we look at a new venture by starting our own business. That was in 1988 and we went to Mosman [on Sydney’s lower north shore]. We found an old Bulgarian restaurant, Sofia, so there is no connection to Cambodia at all! We introduce[ed] our food to the Australian community in the upmarket northern suburbs. We travel three hours a day from the Fairfield area [in south-west Sydney] and we decide I have to resign from my government position. if I can escape from one country to another I [shouldn’t] worry too much!

Apsara, the dancing angel [which] culturally is very Cambodian, went surprisingly well thanks to my grandmother and mother who passed on the cooking skill. I use[d] all the family recipes. It lasted about four years [but] it was hard to run with small daughters and we didn’t close until two in the morning.

My husband decorated the restaurant with his drawings; that captured lots of attention. Word of mouth really did us a big favour; we seem[ed] to attract professionals and politicians. I recall Mr and Mrs Greiner[2] came to dinner and the producer, Bruce Dover, from A Current Affair with Channel Ten, was a regular face.

Bruce talked about the Pol Pot drawings and our life experiences. He said, “Do you think you can go back?” That was in 1989. At that time, it wasn’t really accessible [for] Cambodians to return because of the political situation with Vietnam. We had to get permission from the government because they control everything.

Mum was so shocked. How could I be so silly to leave [my] husband and children behind to take such a big risk? I said, “Mum, it’s not about money, it’s about confronting my past and the hope that I might find my sibling or Dad”. I heard people united after many years [after] they separate. If I knew [where] Dad is buried or siblings were killed, then I would be able to [have] closure because we did not really have a chance to grieve properly.

So I was an interpreter with the film crew to do the documentary, that’s all I knew. But once I got there it turned out I was the person that they were going to make the documentary about! They called it The Waiting Fields[3].

It was a really big experience and I spent about two weeks in Cambodia. The focus was on the refugee experience. I met my surviving relatives and went to the site where it was still fresh with mass graves. I didn’t go to Tuol Sleng prison because I wasn’t ready to. That was the place they held my father, brothers and sister and kill or torture them. I’ll never be ready to go to a place like that. I went to a place not far [away] and saw the remaining clothing still scattered everywhere. I learned [my grandmother] passed away when Pol Pot came to evacuate people from the city to the countryside.

I met my aunty. It was a complete surprise [for her]. I recognised her straight away but she took awhile to just absorb the reality. She didn’t know that I return to my homeland, nobody know. After we escape, we don’t communicate [for] a long time. Through another refugee friend we know she is still alive and okay in Phnom Penh. They film[ed our reunion] after nine years.

She said I am welcome to take whatever I want to take back, especially the sword and my portrait. I was speechless. I knew if I go myself as a tourist, I wouldn’t be allowed to take it because the government controls everything.

I arrange with the film crew to look for my family home. They organised to have a big family gathering. Finally we found it and I took some photos. People get really excited as it’s obviously it’s filming [by] foreigners. What shocked me most was that the orchard garden and big playground we all loved had been replaced by ugly timber. Another shock was that people were quite withdrawn.

Phiny revisits her family home, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 1989
“I was so excited when the film crew finally found my family home. [But] I walk in and it’s totally different. The look of it is run down, disgusting, old paint and the second shock is new faces I don’t know. They speak my language but I had never met them before.”

Everybody is grateful I’m back alive. I leave Mum to make the decision who is to inherit the sword and [she] pick one of my brothers and I picked up [its] wooden case. So I take that as my belonging even though I’m a girl and not right [to] continue that inheritance. It’s part of the culture, you know. Too bad I was born a woman!

In 1993, the Dateline program at SBS television [wanted] me to confront the Khmer Rouge chief of our village. I’d been working voluntarily with the Khmer Community of New South Wales in 1984. One day I saw the Khmer Rouge chief of our village talk to our welfare worker for housing commission. I recognised him straight away and I believe he would feel the same way.

He accept[ed] he was the Khmer Rouge cadre but denied the killing. That’s another tragedy unfold I’ve got to learn to live with. A person involved with the life and death of my family is here with his ten surviving children. It was really tough. For my part I have to talk about it for the sake of my own history, but some people in the community portray me as the troublemaker and that I am jealous of his family’s business success.

There are people who have done some terrible crime but then live with us every day and pretend to be a good person or try to forget their past without asking proper forgiveness. He was trying to hide that and if I’m not exposing it the story would just go untold. Many have recognised him but wouldn’t dare take the same step.

My pure intention is I want to rest, I want to find closure for my personal tragedy. I cannot find my father’s body, I cannot find my father’s grave, I cannot locate the place where he was killed so what else do I have? [If I] hear the perpetrator apology I can forgive them.

Other people have difficulty to face the truth and try to sweep [it] under the carpet. The Khmer Rouge trial taking place in Cambodia [with] United Nations [support] also opens cans of worms.

In 1993 I fell pregnant with my third child and it happened to be a boy. We believe that was the gift from the big Buddha and my wish was granted. There’s 11 years gap so we decided to have another one, so we have four children, two girls and two boys.

That was in 2001 when my brother who inherited the sword got married in Melbourne. It is family tradition to take a photo before we carry the dowry to the bride’s family. That took me back to the time when I reunite with my family at the camp, but now we have triple numbers in that photo.

Phiny’s youngest brother’s wedding, Melbourne, Australia 2001

“It is family tradition to take a photo before we carry the dowry to the bride’s family. That took me back to the time when I reunite with my family at the camp, but now we have triple numbers in that photo.”

I know it’s difficult to be an individual who lives in constant fight of the difference in society and I just want to help the disadvantaged where they cannot use their intellectual ability or language skill to guide themselves. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last 25 years with serving the community [in a] development job. I [currently] work with the New South Wales police force as ethnic community liaison officer.

I work with any community, particularly the new emerging community where I have a lot of experience about understanding issues on prejudice, discrimination, racial tension. We tackle the problem about social hatred or why the community not really trust police or why the police don’t understand the community perception.

I decided not to go back to Cambodia. I can’t stand the corruption. I can’t stand the different level of life with poor and rich. I cannot tolerate the social injustice. It doesn’t matter how much I miss Cambodia, my homeland. I know I won’t return until the country goes back to the standard I would like to see.

PHINY UNG was interviewed on 20 January 2010

Interview, research, text edit, photography & film production by Andrea Fernandes, NSW Migration Heritage Centre

Film edit by Linda Kruger

Web layout by Annette Loudon, NSW Migration Heritage Centre

With assistance from Bunheang Ung and Cambodian Buddhist Society
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Bunheang and I later married.

[2] Nick Greiner was the NSW Premier at the time.

[3] A few years beforehand the movie The Killing Fields came out. (This film was based on Cambodian life during the Pol Pot regime.)

Our MP from Morphettville to Phnom Penh

Democratic crusader ... Chhay Son lives at Morphettville but is a member of the Cambodian Parliament.

20 Jul 10
By David Goldsmith
Guardian Messenger (Australia)

THE quiet streets of Morphettville are far removed from the government halls of Phnom Penh.

But Chhay Son is equally at home in both.

As a member of the Cambodian Parliament since 1993, the 54-year-old spends large chunks of each year away from his family - wife Christina and their three children - and his comfortable Adelaide house.

But it’s a sacrifice the one-time refugee is prepared to make to promote democracy in the country of his birth, still bearing the scars of the bloody Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s.

“I like doing this sort of work because I believe I can contribute something,” the former high school teacher says of his role as an opposition MP.

“But without the support of my family you cannot do these sorts of things.

“They know what I’m doing there and that I’m not fooling around I’m committed to promoting democracy in the country and in the region.”

Mr Son was recognised with an OAM in the recent Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his service to international relations and to the community through the Cambodian-Australian Association of SA, which he helped establish in 1981, soon after his arrival in Adelaide.

He says the group aimed to help make life a little easier for others who had also fled the war-torn country.

“Many of them did not speak a word of English, particularly the older people and they found themselves really isolated,” he says.

“So I did what I could to set up the association to bring them together and support them to resettle in this new country.”

And while he enjoys his political role, he says there is “nothing better” than being back in Adelaide with his family.

“I don’t get much sleep in Phnom Penh,” he laughs.

“The country is still not able to enjoy the type of security I enjoy here.

“You feel 100 per cent secure (here), you’re with the family and you can have a good night’s sleep.

“I don’t wake up in the middle of the night and worry about anything.”

"I grew up having everything I wanted, but seeing Cambodia and the living conditions there made me reassess my life": Siv Rauv

Making poverty history: Siv Rauv, front, marched with her friends, from left, Amy Hawkins, Kate Vernon-Bowers and Amber Drake, to campaign for an end to world poverty. Picture: Natalie Roberts

Young ambassadors plead for world's poor
27 May, 2010
BY RODERICK SHAW
Penrith City Star (Australia)

SIV RAUV of Glenmore Park has been campaigning to end poverty around the world.

Ms Rauv, 22, and 999 other young Australians were ambassadors for the Make Poverty History campaign, organised by Oxfam, World Vision and the Oaktree Foundation.

``We took to the road,'' she said. ``A large part of our campaign is to get 40,000 petitions to Federal Parliament.''

She said anti-poverty campaigns were working and the Oaktree Foundation's research showed extreme poverty fell from 42per cent of the world's people in 1990 to 20per cent.

``The government said it would increase international aid by 9per cent that was encouraging,'' Ms Rauv said. ``We're petitioning for more effective aid, so more goes to the poorest countries in our region with the funds to go to those who need it.''

The 1000 ambassadors from around Australia met in Canberra for three days, speaking to MPs and exchanging ideas.

Ms Rauv's parents are from Cambodia, which she has visited.

``I grew up having everything I wanted,'' she said, ``but seeing Cambodia and the living conditions there made me reassess my life.

``We have the resources to end global poverty, so I don't see why there's still poverty out there.''

Cambodia's time to shine

May 4, 2010
SOURCE: Epicure

This spicy cuisine is stepping up for a turn in the spotlight, writes David Sutherland.

CHAN Uoy is excited. The part-owner and food director of Melbourne's only Cambodian restaurant, Bopha Devi (which is at two locations: Docklands and Yarraville), is rapt that a Cambodian cookbook, From Spiders to Water Lilies, has been released in Australia. Not just because it supports a great cause - homeless children in Cambodia - but also because it finally puts Cambodian food in the spotlight.

''In terms of tourism, Cambodia is only just now starting to emerge from its black hole, so our cuisine has not become as familiar to people as, say, Thai or Vietnamese,'' he says. ''People have for too long associated Cambodia with Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge and the killing fields. It's about time our great food got some exposure.''

Cambodian food has some similarities to the cuisine of neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam. It also has some marked differences.

Advertisement: Story continues belowThe most obvious is prahok, Cambodia's fermented salted fish, which grew from Cambodia's heavy historical reliance on its massive lake, Tonle Sap (meaning ''Great Lake''), and the Mekong River for freshwater fish.

''In the days of the Khmer empire, people salted and fermented the fish to preserve it,'' Uoy says. ''Over the centuries, prahok has contributed to the flavour of all sorts of Cambodian dishes.''

Prahok is used in everything from soups and salads to curries and stir-fries, and its distinctive salty-pungent flavour provides Cambodian cuisine with its most distinctive element.

''You could say it's an acquired taste,'' Uoy says. ''You either appreciate it or you don't. But when it's used correctly and in the right proportions, it can really enhance a dish.''

Prahok appears in various recipes in From Spiders to Water Lilies, which was produced by Friends International, a Cambodian-based charity dedicated to protecting vulnerable children. Apart from the other work the charity does to save children from poverty, slavery and abuse, Friends International also has a restaurant in the capital, Phnom Penh, where it teaches former street children how to cook, wait tables and run a business.

The restaurant - named Romdeng, meaning ''friends'' in Khmer - has become hugely popular, both with locals and tourists. It was the restaurant's head chef, Gutav Auer, who assembled the recipes for the book from his own collection and that of the restaurant team.

Uoy says the recipes that are featured in From Spiders to Water Lilies are ''quintessential dishes that encapsulate the essence of Cambodia''.

From Spiders to Water Lilies ($45) is available at cambodiancooking.com.au or from Bopha Devi Docklands and Yarraville.

Aussie Rules catches on with Asians

April, 01 2010
By Michael Smith
VNS

HCM CITY — When Pangnha Chhiev first started playing Australian Rules football in Melbourne he knew his parents would forbid it.

So for the first month that he played, Chhiev packed a racquet in his bag and told his mum that he was going to play tennis. He could only hide it for a month as washing lines full of footy socks, shorts and jerseys raised his mum's suspicions.

Chhiev lived in Melbourne's south east near Springvale where the city's Vietnamese population concentrated. He was then in his last year of university and knew from past experience (he had requested to play football when he was only 10) that his parents did not approve of the dangerous sport.

Traditional Asians, both from Cambodia with some family ties in Viet Nam, Chhiev's parents also believed that their son's studies must come before any sporting interests.

Nearly ten years on, Chhiev is now captain of the only Asian Australian Rules Football team in Australia, the Southern Dragons. The team is mostly Vietnamese.

"There's some really passionate parents now. The parents have come around and accepted Australian culture and want their kids to get involved," said the 29-year-old, who was in Viet Nam last week with fellow team member John Hong to visit Hong's family.

"It's a big achievement in itself, because before the parents were always trying to protect us."

The Southern Dragons is made up of about 80 players mostly of Vietnamese descent, with about five players, including Chhiev, of Cambodian descent plus a smattering of different races including a couple of Australians. About half of the players were born in Viet Nam, but grew up in Australia.

It plays in third division of the Southern Football League (SFL) in Melbourne, and was formed in late 2008 from a smaller suburban outfit, the Elgar Park Dragons, which both players were also members of.

SFL had actually approached the Elgar Park Dragons and asked them to join their league as they were trying to promote the sporting code across all cultures.

Hong and Chhiev said it had been a risk to join SFL, but it paid off.

"If we joined that league, we knew were going to get hurt," Hong said, explaining that some of the Dragon's players were as young as 16 and quite skinny.

"Its one thing to play in an amateur league and win half of our games, but its another thing to join a big league like SFL, where the players are much bigger and get beaten by 100 points every time we play," he said.

He said losing like that would have cost the club dearly in membership numbers, but gratefully it never happened.

What happened instead was – they played a 2007 season finalist in their first game of the SFL league last year and kept up with them for the first three quarters – only losing in the final quarter.

Congratulated

Over beers after the match, the other team congratulated the Southern Dragons, saying they had expected a walk-over but were surprised to find a tough, skilful opponent instead.

Hong and Chhiev said what the Dragons lack in they make up for in fitness, agility and passion.

They said their fear of the bigger players was worse than the players themselves – so once they had played in the SFL a few times the fear went away.

The Southern Dragon's headquarters are in the Melbourne suburb of Clayton, which has a large population of Vietnamese and neighbours Springvale, the centre of Vietnamese culture in the city.

Club captain Chhiev said his club aimed to make Asians, particularly Vietnamese, feel comfortable to join in the national sport. Team members were always bringing newcomers – giving the Southern Dragons one of SFL's biggest member lists.

"With Australian Rules footy, there's a lot of Asians around who love the game but wouldn't be comfortable going down to park to play."

"That's what the club is all about."

The pair, who played some footy with the local team in HCM City last week, said the Dragons players hang out all the time together. They are very close knit and passionate, so anyone from Springvale who wants to join the club would already know at least one other team member.

For the last six months the team has been trying to organise a trip to Viet Nam to play the Australian Rules Football club here, Viet Nam Swans.

They are planning to come in January. There would be irony in the contest that would speak volumes for the sport as a builder of multicultural communities: A team from Australia made up of players mostly of Vietnamese descent, coming to Sai Gon to play a team from Viet Nam made up of mostly white Australians.