Khmer Krom

Before the French conquest

Khmer Krom are Khmer ethnic populations of a region that was previously part of the Khmer Empire ^[11] .

Since the beginning of the XVII century, Vietnamese settlers began to gradually populate these lands. They vietnamized the region and isolated the local Khmers from Cambodia, and over time the Khmers became a minority in the region.

In Chinese, the Khmers called “haoman” Chinese. 高棉 , pinyin : gāomián , the Vietnamese reading of these characters is “kaomi” ( cao miên ) . The English name “Khmer” is also found in Vietnam, and previously the variants “kul” ( Cul ) , “hens” ( Cur ) , “Vietnamese from Mien” ( Việt gốc Miên ) and tho ( Thổ ) were in use ^[12] . By government decree 117-CT / TƯ of September 29, 1981, the term Khome was recognized as recommended, unlike several pejorative ones : Mien ( người Miên ) , tho ( người Thổ ) , Vietgokmyen ( người Việt gốc Miên ) Khome ( người Khờ-me ) ^[13] .

The most important port for the Khmers was Prei Nokor, which developed from a village founded by Khmer fishers long before the Viet. In 1623, King allowed the refugees fleeing the to settle in the vicinity of Prey Nokor and build a customs house named Saigon there. ^[14] Weakened by the war with Thailand, the Khmer Empire was unable to hold onto a region that began to intensively Vietnamize. Since 1698, the delta region came under the control of Vietnam, over time, the Vietnamese changed the name Prey Nokora to Saigon, and then to Ho Chi Minh . The loss of the Mekong Delta region meant for Cambodia a lack of access to the South China Sea . In 1757, the Vietnamese colonized the provinces of Sadek (Psar Dèk, Vietnamese as Shadek ) and Moat Chrouk (Vietnamese as Tyaudok ). In 1845, King of Cambodia Ang Duong recognized the transfer of sovereignty over the delta to Vietnam ^{[15] [16] [17] [note 1]} .

French Indochina

During the colonial regime, in the 1940s, some Khmer Krom supported Vietnam , allied with the nationalist Khmer organization , which consisted mainly of Khmer Krom ^[19] . Other Khmer-Krom supported the French, in particular, some Buddhist monks, whom the local police pushed ^[20] .

The Khmers did not give up hope for the return of the Mekong Delta, as seen in a letter to Napoleon III of 1856, which confirms that Cambodia does not waive its rights to the region ^{[note 2] [22]} . However, on February 17, 1859, the French occupied the disputed territory and began a “peacekeeping” operation against the indigenous Khmer population ^[23] . French troops used interethnic hostility, hiring Khmer-chrome in the army ^[24] .

Khmer-krom’s hopes of expelling the Vietnamese quickly dwindled. As a result, a shortage of labor was constantly felt in the region, compounded by the rapid development of the region. Subsequently, the French cultivated among the Vietas the image of the Khmer conquerors ^[25] .

Modernity

The colony lasted until June 4, 1949, after which Kokhinhin came under the rule of Vietnam ^[26] . King Norodom Sihanouk confirmed Cambodia’s claim to the region, citing a promise to transfer Vinlong , Tiaudok and Hatien made in 1864 to admiral during a visit to Saigon ^[27] .

After gaining independence, an assimilation campaign flared up again, spurred on in 1956 by a decree on nationalization ^[28] . The state ordered the closure of pagodas and schools opened at them, banned the use of the Khmer language and obliged the Khmers to take Vietnamese names ^[20] . This practice took place in the 19th century, when Emperor Min Mang forced the Khmers to adopt one of five surnames: Dan ( Danh ) , Kim ( Kim ) , Kien ( Kiến ) , Sean ( Sơn ) , Thkh ( Thạch ) ^[29] . The school in Shokchang was transformed into Vietnamese ^[20] .

Between 1964 and 1974, Khmer-Krom was called upon to join the mobile strike groups of the US Army ^[30] . At first they fought on the side of South Vietnam against the Viet Cong, but over time their opponents appeared, units of the Kampuchea Krom Breakthrough Front ( French Front de Lutte du Kampuchea Krom ), founded by a Buddhist monk named Samouk Sen. They were also called "White Scars" ( Khmer. Kangsaing Sar ; Vietnamese. Can Sen So ). These units were affiliated with ^[31]

Ngo Dinh Zieh - the Catholic ruler of Vietnam, sought to slow down the spread of Buddhism, and also resettled the Vietas to the south, Vietnamese region ^[28] . Vietnamization caused the rise of Khmer nationalism ^[20] . The most successful was the Khmer Front of Kampuchea-chrome, led by Chau Dar, who demanded equal rights with the Vietnamese. In 1963, Chau Dara assembled a 1,500th Khmer detachment and demanded the return of the Mekong Valley to Cambodia, after which the government stopped him ^[28] .

During this period of time, several nationalist movements formed, both among the Khmer-Krom and among the Tam and Thong . In 1964, the Khmer Front of Kampuchea-krom and the Tampa Liberation Front merged with Bajaraka , an ethnic nationalist group of mountain peoples. This alliance became the forerunner of the United Front for the Liberation of the Oppressed Peoples ^[28] .

After the victory of the Communists in 1975, the White Scars moved to the border with Cambodia. In 1976, a group of 68 people, together with the commander, turned from Takeo province to the Khmer Rouge leaders, asking them to hand over to Kieu Samphan their decision to surrender. At first they were well received, but after the local administration received orders from Phnom Penh, the Khmer-Krom leader was sent to the capital, where he was tortured and killed, and 67 other members of the detachment were destroyed on the spot. Over the following months, up to the 2000 White Scars that crossed the border of Kampuchea in the hope of salvation were killed ^[32] .

Taking into account the long history of Khmer nationalism, the state painfully responds to any attempts to revive Khmer-krom identity ^[33] .

Unlike the national majority - Vietas , Mahayana followers or Catholics - Khmers profess Theravada Buddhism , and many believe that this religion shaped their culture and is important for self-determination.

Khmer Buddhists have come out with peaceful protests, demanding political change, at least from the colonial period. Among the speakers were several Cambodian intellectuals - and Buddhists born in southern Vietnam - Sean Ngok Min and Tu Samut ^[34] . They gathered people in sermons in the Khmer pagodas of Cambodia and southern Vietnam, demanding that Theravada Buddhism be preserved and urging people to join the anti-colonial movement ^[20] .

French police brutally crushed the peaceful Umbrella Uprising on July 20, 1942. A thousand monks protested in Phnom Penh against the arrest and deprivation of the rank of nationalist monk , who strongly opposed the proposal to Romanize Khmer writing ^[35] . The French administration considered this “the first organized campaign against colonial rule in Cambodia” ^[20] , requiring the Pali School and the stop the monks from interfering in politics and delivering opposition sermons ^[35] . Many of the protesters fled to Thailand, and the Pali School was closed for six months ^[36] . Hem Chieu was exiled to Prison, where he died in 1943. ^[20]

In the 1960s, after Vietnam gained independence, many Khmer monks were killed or executed on the tops of the Khleang pagodas (Shokchang, 1960) and Chek Chroun (Chavin, 1963) ^[20] . Despite the repression that forced many Khmers to flee to Cambodia, in 1974 the government estimated the Khmer population at 500,000, and the number of pagodas in southern Vietnam at 400 ^[20] .

In November 1969, the Vietnamese police brutally suppressed the peaceful manifestation of two hundred Khmer monks protesting against the state’s assimilation policy. The following year, a series of smaller demonstrations swept through the delta region ^[20] .

Khmer Rouge and Country Unification

Some Khmers considered peaceful resistance insufficient. Among them were Ieng Sari and Son Sen , the future leaders of the Khmer Rouge , developed a program that included the return of Khmer-Krom land to Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge invasion of South Vietnam in 1975 was also partially motivated by the desire to return the Mekong Delta ^[37] .

After the unification of the country in 1976, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam recognized the merits of the Khmer-Krom Buddhists and intellectuals in the victory of the socialist revolution ^[20] . Despite this, the new laws adopted after the unification, as well as the fierce battles with the Khmer Rouge at the borders in 1978-1979, seriously affected the Khmer Krom from the Mekong Delta, including the “displacement” and restrictions imposed on the religious practices of the ordination of monks ^{[38 ]} .

The government of Vietnam during the Khmer Rouge reign allowed monks who fled from Kampuchea to settle in pagodas in the Mekong Valley. After the victory of Vietnam over the Khmer Rouge in 1979, these monks returned to the country to serve in local pagodas instead of practically destroyed monasticism ^[38] .

Since the mid-1980s, the government began to take more and more repressive measures against Khmer-krom. One of the first was the ban on monks traveling without documents. In 1984, most monastery libraries were closed, and monks who taught Khmer religion or culture were arrested. The government believed that the Khmer-Krom had joined the underground opposition organization KC-50, funded by the United States of America . In Chavin province, the measures were the most severe, for example, Khim Tok Choeng, the manager of the Preah Trapeang pagoda, was arrested in 1985, after which the government returned him in a Vietnamese coffin. At the same time, other monks were killed similarly - Thong Kong, Thong Zet and Kim Shang, president of the central committee of Theravada monks in Vietnam ^[20] .

Since the 1990s

Although the persecution weakened in the 1990s, observers note that the government has only moved from brutal measures to less visible ones, restricting freedom of movement , religion , assembly, and union in relation to Khmer-krom ^{[20] [33]} . For example, freedom of religion in Vietnam remains a privilege granted by the state, and not an inalienable right. On the other hand, any activity that could threaten the authority of state power is tightly controlled or prohibited.

Some Khmer Buddhists wish to engage in religious activities under the control of a monastic order, rather than a state, as is customary in Vietnam ^[39] . Above all Buddhists is the council of the sangha , in which the majority are adherents of the Mahayana; this body, and not the believers themselves, the followers of Theravada, makes all decisions regarding ordination, ceremonies, and religious education programs.

As in the case of other religions, the government imposes restrictions on Khmer believers, for example, prohibiting the free passage from one pagoda to another without official permission. Religious organizations that try to function freely without state control are believed to undermine the authority of the government. The government brutally responds to the demands of religious freedom, especially in South Vietnam, where religion is traditionally associated with political movements, as well as influence from outside the country, as it can cause a decrease in the Party’s authority ^[38] .

2007 Events and the Current Situation with Religious Freedom

In 2007, Khmer monks again began to protest, demanding the removal of restrictions on the duration of religious holidays, on participation in the appointment of people who determine the ordination of monks, as well as on the content of religious education programs in pagoda schools. The monks also demanded the opening of more primary and secondary schools with Khmer language instruction, where the history, culture and geography of Cambodia would be taught. Despite the promise to consider the claims, a few days later the police surrounded the pagodas of the protest leaders, after which the 20 monks responsible for the demonstrations were cut off and expelled from the pagodas, sent home and sent to house arrest or in prisons. Usually, the sangha (community), and not the state, made the decision to disband ^[38] .

Nevertheless, it should be noted that in addition to Khmer-krom, followers of other religions are also being persecuted, for example, Hoahao ^[40] , members of the ^[40] , Protestants, Catholics ^[41] , Mennonites ^[42] and adherents of the kaodai religion are also being persecuted.

Other minorities, for example, Hmongs , Christian Thongs from the Central Plains, are constantly in conflict with the state ^[43] . Human rights leaders of independent religious organizations, from the United Buddhist Church, Mennonite pastor and Catholic priest paid for their activities in Vietnamese prisons. ^[42]

The Vietnamese government explains all sanctions against minorities by the struggle against separatism and irredentism . Many Khmer Krom are indeed nationalists and accuse Vietnam of annexing the Mekong Valley. In internal documents, the government justifies its actions by preventing the Khmer from creating an independent state. However, there is no evidence that monks protesting in 2007 mentioned independence. ^[38]

After the Khmer Rouge invasion in 1978–1979, many Khmer-Krom fled, leaving their homes. After returning in 1979, many found Vietnamese who settled there on their land. The government distributed small plots of land among the refugees, but the land on them is barren, and the Khmers cannot grow enough food for food ^[38] .

In 1986, the Sixth Congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party decided to begin economy and turning it into a market economy. In 1988, the Politburo created a system of treaties that allowed peasants willing to participate to obtain land. According to the 1993 law, all land in the country belongs to the state, but peasants have the right to own, sell, change, occupy and inherit land. Peasants received a certificate for land use, called the "red book", which was supposed to prevent the confiscation of land ^[44] .

In practice, many poor peasants, especially Khmer-Krom, sold their plots to pay debts or more expensive fertilizers and medicines ^[45] . As a result, there has been a jump in speculation, fraud and land conflicts ^[46] .

Articles 28.3, 38 and 38.2.c of the 1993 law stated that municipal disputes should resolve such disputes. In case of disagreement with the decision of the committee, you can appeal to the administration or the court. Khmer-krom cannot take advantage of these recommendations, reporting corruption among local authorities and unwillingness to consider cases not in favor of an ethnic majority, as well as cases involving unlawful seizure of land by officials ^[47] . Researcher and economist Philip Taylor noted that the main problem of Khmer-krom remains the lack of access to a fair trial ^[45] .

Desperate to find legal ways to return their lands, Khmer peasants organize protests that are periodically brutally dispersed. For example, on February 26, 2008, police used electric batons and dogs against protesters in Anzyang. Several people were injured, nine were arrested ^[42] .

Although the Mekong Delta is the main rice-growing region, the Khmers do not receive much profit. A study by the Australian Agency for International Development showed that Khmer poverty has ethnic roots. In the poorest provinces - Shokchang and Chavin - the most important Khmer Krom communities are located. Everywhere Khmer poorer than other nations ^[3] .

Many Khmer-Krom either rent land or abandon agriculture altogether, doing low-paid labor such as freight transportation or recycling ^[3] . There is also an inexhaustible flow of youth from the delta to the Ho Chi Minh factories ^[48] .

More and more Khmers are protesting for lack of land, legal protection and livelihoods ^[39] .

The Vietnamese government claims that ethnic discrimination “does not exist” in the country, and that all ethnic groups have the same rights in all matters ^[49] . The 1992 Constitution proclaims the rights of minorities, and article 5 prohibits any form of discrimination based on nationality and guarantees the right to use one’s own language or script, the right to preserve national identity and culture. Articles 36 and 39 allow the privileged position of minorities in matters of education and health ^[50] . The Ethnic Committee of the Vietnamese Assembly develops and coordinates policies for minorities, and the Committee of National Minorities and Mountainous Areas adopts anti-poverty programs ^{[51] [52]} .

The article, posted on the website of the state-owned radio station Voice of Vietnam in 2007, denies any allegations of discrimination, calling all who report it “ hostile forces ” who want to split the country. It states that Vietnam has invested more than a trillion dong in the construction of infrastructure buildings for more than 200 Khmer communities (including the construction and renovation of 108 Khmer pagodas and the provision of land to more than 60,000 poor Khmers). It also states that Khmers can study in their native language, and Khmer newspapers are available in the provinces of Shokchang and Chavin ^[53] .

Despite this, Khmer-Krom have reported discrimination by the state, which limits their ability to attend higher education institutions with Khmer teaching, prohibits Khmer publication of the history and culture of this people, restricts the practice of Theravada Buddhism, suppresses peaceful protests to prevent Khmer assistance, as well as offering only monetary compensation in exchange for confiscated land ^[54] .

Despite talking about a multicultural society, the state does not take concrete steps to preserve the Khmer-Krom culture, and loud rhetoric on the international scene contrasts with the policy of isolation and depletion of the Khmer, which will lead to the disappearance of their culture ^{[33] [45]} .

The true state of affairs is difficult to assess, given the difficulties that human rights defenders faced in Vietnam. However, the widespread belief that discrimination exists provokes conflict in itself, and the state exacerbates the problem by denying it and punishing protesters ^{[33] [38]} .

In addition, the Khmers joined the Organization of Peoples Without Representation (UNPO) ^[55] .

The evidence of discrimination is based in part on the fact that the Khmer are not only the poorest people in the region, but also the least educated - these phenomena influence each other and increase marginalization. Many believe that the main task of state policy in education is to assimilate into a society where vietas dominate, preventing access to higher education and destroying the basis of their culture - the Khmer language ^[38] .

Although the Mekong Delta has a higher percentage of secondary and primary schools than in any other region of the country, it occupies the penultimate place in adult literacy and the last in school education, here a third of all cases of school leaving in the country occur, 83% of workers low-paid jobs, 96% of the population have low income and educational level ^{[3] [45]} . In the 100,000th Chavini in 2007, 6,000 students dropped out of school. Of these, 70% call financial difficulties and the need to work, and 30% say that they are “incapable of learning” ^[56] .

The problems are often associated with the plight of families where there is no way to send a child to school, as there are not enough working hands, which aggravates the financial situation of the Khmers. Many children with low learning abilities are Khmer ^[56] . Difficulties accumulate for them: due to lack of education, they do not receive proper knowledge of the Vietnamese language ^[45] .

In the AusAID report, it is recommended that the educational system be changed to make it “more accessible and more socializing for Khmer children” ^[3] .

The Vietnamese government responds to claims by talking about a policy of teaching people of all nations Vietnamese, the state language, while also mentioning the right to use their native languages ​​by minorities orally and in writing ^[50] . However, in reality, Khmer students not only have difficulty learning Vietnamese, but they also cannot learn Khmer. In the schools of the Mekong Delta, the vast majority of courses are taught in Vietnamese; Khmer lessons take only two hours a week ^[45] .

For many Khmer-krom, the only ways to learn to read and write in their native language is to go to Pali schools at pagodas or to be tonsured as monks. Girls cannot become monks and traditionally do not attend schools at pagodas, so they often do not receive education at all ^[38] .

Khmer-krom consider themselves the heirs of the Khmer empire of Cambujades , which dominated the region in the IX-XVI centuries. On the other hand, Khmer irredentism in this region has always flourished. In addition, Cambodia, which is 90% Khmer, has always been loyal to the Khmers from Vietnam, allowing them to cross the border if they wanted to travel, study or relocate. The state officially declares that it considers Khmer-krom citizens of Cambodia ^{[57] [58]} .

In the recent past, Cambodian authorities, especially during the Lon Nol Republic period, actively used Khmer Krom for their anti-Vietnamese policies. Khmer-krom police were directly responsible for the massacre of the Vietnamese in Cambodia in April 1970 ^[59] , at the same time the Republican army received reinforcements from the Vietnamese Khmers equipped and trained by American instructors ^{[60] [61]} . Khmer-krom ethnic groups included Kabodzhi anti-communist leaders such as Son Sann and Dien Del .

The Khmer-krom problem remains political, because many Cambodians believe that the ruling People’s Party of Cambodia and its leader, the Prime Minister of Cambodia , Hun Sen , gained power in 1979 from the Vietnamese military who invaded Cambodia as part of the Khmer Rouge war; they remain under the control of Vietnam. In addition, the Khmer is alive (and constantly used by various movements) the idea that the greatness of the Angkor Empire was undermined by the Viet.

Following Vietnam’s brutal response to the 2007 demonstrations, the Cambodian government also began to curb the peaceful protest movements of the monks who fled to Cambodia in an attempt to draw attention to the actions of the authorities. The suspicious death of monk Aang Sok Thoeun shortly after he took part in a demonstration in Phnom Penh in February 2007 ^[62] and the Cambodian authorities took part in the arrest of Tim Sakhorn, later extradited to Vietnam, in June 2007. ^[63] suggest a growing danger to the Khmers in Vietnam. In November 2007, a Vietnamese court sent Tim Sakhorn to prison for “conspiracy against national unity” ^[64] .

After Cambodia began to accept fewer refugees, they changed direction to Thailand, which traditionally hosted the Khmers ^[23] ; in 2008, about 50 monks and 100 lay people fled there ^[38] .

1. ↑ The annexation is constantly controversial: many Khmers claim that the region did not belong to Vietnam until 1949 ^[18] .
2. ↑ Je pris votre Majesté de connaitre le nom des provinces ravies, ce sont celles de Song Nay, enlevée depuis plus de 200 ans, mais beaucoup plus récemment celles de Saïgon, de Long Hô, Psar Dec, Mi Thô, Pra-trapang Ong Môr , Tiec Khmau, Peam ou Hatien, les îles de Cô Trol et de Tralach. Si par hasard les Annamites venaient à offrir à VM quelqu'une de ces contrées, je la prie de ne pas la recevoir parce quéelles appartiennent au Cambodge ^[21] .

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