The "Yuon" and "Mien" epithet

By Bopha Angkor

Khmer called yuons as yuons is nothing pejorative or racist slur but just a Khmer word among other to referring to yuon people before the word viet or Vietnamese exist in yuon or the world history. While Khmer call Yunan or Yueh people as yuon, the word contains no pejorative or racial slurs. Perhaps later, yuons themselves turned this word into bloody and barbaric meant by their own terrors and horrific crimes committed endlessly against other in particularly against Khmer people. Now yuons are being horrify by their own horrible crimes and want to people to forget about it. And as always, yuons have their very own way to impose their thinking. - But while yuons called Khmer "Mien/barbarian" yuons used it in a very intentionally nasty racist slur against Khmer people. Youns hate Khmer and used to call Khmer barbarians or black skin because yuons hate people with dark skin and first of all, youns want to kill Khmer to rob Khmer land and natural resources as yuons did against Cham people, Laos people and Khmer krom people. Khmer people generally have more brown skin than yuons. This is the real yuon reason of yuon naming Khmer as “Mien or barbarian” People don’t need to ding hard to understand this yuon word “Mien” And this act from yuons is beyond homophobia slur regard to Khmer people. Although Khmer never offense by this yuon hatred labelling of them because Khmer know that it doesn’t reflect of reality but of yuon hatred and racist slurs only. Oddly as it can be, no one care about such the condemnable criminal act from yuons as they never care about the countless inhuman repulsive crimes that yuons committed against so much innocent life Cham people, Laos people, Khmer krom people as Khmer people.

Some time back, some yuons harassed and insulted Khmers who referring themselves as Khmer the barbarian, the extremist, the racist. These yuons want Khmers to call themselves Kampuchun or Kampuchea (Cambodian) instead. As I’m concerned, Khmer rouge as Cpp love to call Khmer person “Kampuchea” instead of Khmer too. It is nothing surprise while we all know where these khmer rouge come from and learned from.

No matter the” word yuon come from Yueh, Yunan, or Yuvana which is uncertain one, I call every Khmer to referring to yuon as yuon. Why? Because in that word recited thousands years of Khmer history with yuons. This word bears memory of Khmer people and their suffering victims of yuon racial animosity and crime against them. It is part of our history that we Khmer have duty to remember and transmit it generation to generation for the sake of people who are victims of yuon racist hatred and atrocity.

Whose individual has rights to tell a people to forget their history, memory of their people, their family that individual must also as much criminal as those who perpetuated hideous crimes against Khmer?