76th Anniversary of the Loss of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam
By Soben Ung
The Khmer Krom Association of New England gathered on June 8th in Chelmsford, MA to commemorate the 76th Anniversary of the Loss of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam. Over 100 guests attended, including State Representative Rodney Elliott as well as Cambodian-American State Representative Tara Hong, who was recently elected to the 18th Middlesex District. Madam Mu Sochua made a guest appearance, as the Former CNRP Deputy Vice President and a current leader in the Khmer Movement for Democracy, alongside exiled CNRP parliament members His Excellency Ho Van, His Excellency Long Ry, and His Excellency Nuth Rumdol. A leader of the Khmer Krom Federation, Mr. Thach Manrinh, and Venerable Sanbanditho Tran Vathana from the Soriya Ransey Temple in Philadelphia also made guest speeches. The President of Cambodian Global Youth Network Sophorn Lary and Lowell School Committee Dominik Lay also attended.
Nearly 10 years have passed since the Loss of Kampuchea Krom remembrance event was last held in Lowell. The New England association formed relatively recently to help preserve Khmer Krom identity, culture, and history. The revival of this event marks an important step in their mission to spread awareness and education about Khmer Krom roots and culture.
Kampuchea Krom was lost to Vietnam in an illegal annexation on June 4th, 1949
Currently, there are still over 10 million Cambodians living in South Vietnam, whose identity as Native Cambodians are suppressed by the Vietnamese government. Khmer Krom’s 23 provinces, originally titled with Cambodian names, were all changed to Vietnamese following the annexation. The surnames of Khmer Krom individuals living within these provinces were also changed to Vietnamese over time to make them easy to track, should they try to escape and live elsewhere. Despite this harsh repression and treatment by the Vietnamese government, the Khmer Krom people persist in their efforts to preserve their religion and culture.
Madam Mu Sochua declared during her speech that she is “the daughter of Kampuchea Krom”, as her father was born in Svay Thong, Kampuchea Krom. Madam Sochua is one of the most respected women in Cambodia, and her efforts have been recognized worldwide. For over four decades, she has tirelessly fought for the rights of women and promoted democracy–from FUNCIPEC, to the Sam Rainsy Party, to the Cambodian National Rescue Party, which was dissolved in 2018 by Hun Sen after CNRP gained nearly 50% of the parliamentary seats. Madam Sochua currently serves as the leader of the Khmer Movement for Democracy, which engages Cambodians around the world in essential discussion of the authoritarian state of their government. Cambodia was ruled by Hun Sen’s iron fist for 40 years, and is now forced to bow to his son, even though neither won a proper election.
Madam Sochua stated that people may not understand why she hasn’t joined with any Khmer Krom associations, including the Khmer Krom Federation’s pursuit of Khmer Krom rights on the international stage. “However, the fight for Cambodia is everyone’s fight, from everywhere. Today, the history of losing Cambodian land is repeating again. We continue to lose continuously.
“Today, we meet not to celebrate, but to remember and hold our hands tighter. 76 years is enough.
“I thank you, Khmer Krom Association of New England, for allowing me to attend this event. We continue our demands to not lose our Cambodian land any further. We must join forces. We cannot put Khmer Krom aside and only worry about North Cambodian (Khmer Surin) or Central Cambodian, because if we do that, we lose each other. Today, we joined together to show that our Khmer souls will always stay with us. We did not lose Cambodia, and we never lost our souls as Kampuchea Krom. This fight is recognized by the international stage. And I want to thank and praise the Khmer Krom Federation, and all Khmer Krom Associations, for fighting for this issue at the United Nations. It is so very important. It shows that Khmer Krom buddhist monks, heroic women, and youths have always showed their identity. I am so proud and I feel that while we shed tears together, we never stay still. We march forward, always. And today showed that,” said Madam Sochua.
She reminded the audience of Thach Setha, a prominent Khmer Krom who served as Senator in the Sam Rainsy party in the early 2000s; now in Preysor Prison. He recently sent a message for us to not worry about him. He declared that he would stay in prison until the end of his life if he had to, but told us not to give up and instead continue the fight, in hopes that he would one day witness the victory of a free national soul.
“We filed a bill to make sure Cambodia has free election and democracy at the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Rodney Elliott, Massachusetts State Representative of District 17 and representing part of Lowell and Chelmsford, was also present. He formerly served as Lowell City Councillor and Mayor. As Mayor, he went to visit Cambodia in 2016, and since then has gone thrice on his own as a private citizen. Representative Elliott stated, “We filed a bill to make sure Cambodia has free election and democracy at the Massachusetts House of Representatives. We filed this bill so that something like this will never happen again; so no one would lose their identity, their culture, and their land, and we want to make it clear to people in Massachusetts. That’s why I join with you here today–to let the next generation know that this can never happen again.”
His Excellency Ho Van, a senior parliament member, shed light on the struggle of the Khmer Krom people to have a temple of their own in Cambodia. In the time he served as chairman of the Commission of Investigation and Anti-corruption, he helped Khmer Krom claim ownership of a piece of land and build their own temple. It became the only one in Cambodia and still stands today as Wat Preput Rainsy in Phnom Penh.
His Excellency Long Ry said that he worked with many Khmer Krom while serving as member of parliament in Cambodia, and he had the utmost respect for the Khmer Krom, who were always willing to sacrifice their lives for the country. Ultimately, he lamented the ease at which trust was lost between Cambodians – that “[Hun Sen’s people] are very good at dividing us; it was the ones who we trusted the most, ones who dined and drank with us that betrayed us.”
“In light of remembering the loss of Kampuchea Krom, which was seceded to Vietnam, we mourn the enormous loss of Khmer as a whole. Together with it, we also lost our identity, our national religion and culture.
“While our land still exists, we lost the rights to rule–lost rights as Khmer nationals. Today is a painful day for Kampuchea Krom, but this sadness and regret is for all Cambodians,” said Venerable Sanbanditho Tran Vathana.
He said that the monk role is important in uniting Khmer Krom and preserving our identity by continuing to build Buddhist temples. To build Khmer Buddhist temples is one of the few rights we have as Khmer Krom. But under the Vietnamese rule, they continue to divide and disorganize our community over and over. Every 10 years or so, they would split the towns and cities and dislocate all the existing support systems, to disincentivize the gathering of Khmer Krom at temples.
“Vietnamese have a policy: Nguoi di trouc, nha nuoc theo sao — meaning ‘the people go first, then the government follows after’
They sent people to live on our land first, but they teach their children to take roots in it, who are slowly followed by the government. Khmer Krom and Khmer Central (mainland Cambodians) are honest people because our country is vast. We have a rich culture and display high morality toward other neighboring nationals, but they are not the same,” he said.
“In 1945, when Ho Chi Minh declared independence in Ha Noi, the South Vietnamese also rose up and fought against the French. The movement was called ‘Nam Bo Khang Chien’: when they killed thousands of Khmer Krom in Ca Mao (Tha Kmao) by burning them alive, after lying that they were summoned to a meeting,” said Mr. Thach Manrinh, a veteran of the Khmer Krom Federation. “If Khmer Krom are truly a part of Vietnamese citizenship, a part of Vietnam–why does no Vietnamese history ever talk about this?”, he asked.
“Hitler faced the international court for killing Jews, but the Vietnamese burning Khmer Krom alive occurred in deadly silence.
Instead of transparency, the Vietnamese twisted the facts of this story, creating a sick comedy through theater. They invented the slang phrase “Kap Youn”, and via a famous Cai Luong singer they called Khmer Krom in Kleang as ‘tho gi’. As said in Soc Trang, ‘tho gi kap youn giu lam’, or ‘Khmer Krom savages chopped Vietnamese’, even stating the year it happened as though it were actual history. From theater to culture to politics, they hid everything and looked down upon us,” he said.
Mr. Manrinh continued to elaborate on the history behind Khmer Krom. At the time France was negotiating with Bao Dai, Khmer Krom did not have an organization to represent them. Both Ho Chi Minh and Bao Dai wanted Cochin. Consequently, on June 4th, 1949, France transferred Cochin to Bao Dai in name only—France still held full administrative and protective rights. Therefore, Ho Chi Minh continued to fight until 1954, until France lost the war at “Dien Bien Phu”. Mr. Manrinh said that “we must learn from our mistakes and prepare ourselves.”
“The question is: Are our efforts, by the KKF and all other Khmer Krom associations, successful? We have many hopes. As of now, all the dominating countries–Russia, China and the U.S.—are volleying insults and breaking laws left and right. This is a sign of imminent danger; that it won’t be long before a massive war arrives. So we ask, as a small country, can we protect ourselves?”
“Vietnam’s political climate will change again, and every Khmer Krom will be ready,”
According to Mr. Manrinh, Vietnam is facing big internal political conflicts, and change is coming. The current President, To Lam, is in danger of losing his seat. It is likely that the next step will be the removal of Article 4 in their constitution, which will allow an opposition party to be established. “When that is the case, Khmer Krom around the world must be ready,” Mr. Manrinch said. “We must not wait until the change has already happened and try to tack on demands afterwards–it would be too late.”
