Khmer Krom divided in commemoration

By Ly Menghour

The Mekong Times

Two Khmer Krom organizations will today hold separate commemorations of the 59th anniversary of the French ceding of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam June 4, 1949.The Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community is to hold the ceremony at Chaktomuk Conference Hall, while the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Coordination Committee (KKKCC) is holding their ceremony at KKKCC head office in the Phnom Penh suburbs.Kim Van Chheng, president of the KKKCC – an umbrella organization counting six Khmer Krom associations as members – said their traditional Buddhist ceremony is for “dedicating merit to the souls of hero monks, kings, heroes and heroines who sacrificed their strength for their nation, religion and King.”Thach Setha, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, said his organization is holding a ceremony at their head office after being refused permission to use Wat Botum. “We requested permission from City Hall, but they declined,” he said. “[E]very year since 2000, we have held a ceremony near Botum Pagoda without any problem. But this year they stopped us.”Thach Setha, also a senior member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said he has invited 1,949 monks to symbolize the year France ceded Khmer Kampuchea to Vietnam. “The events tomorrow are … to help the [young] Cambodian generation remember the lost Khmer Kampuchea Krom land but it’s not a day for anger or threats,” he stressed.Ceremonies involving Khmer Kampuchea Krom monks’ associations are conspicuous only by their absence. The well-known Khmer Krom Samaki Rangsey Pagoda in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district decided against a commemoration, said the Venerable Yoeurng Sin, chief monk of Khmer Samaki Rangsey Pagoda and chief of the Kampuchea Krom Monk Association.Khmer Krom organizations are notorious for their feuds and infighting, despite a common goal of freeing the 10 million ethnic Khmer Krom living under Vietnamese rule.