A Change of Guard

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Friday 5 February 2010

Yuon is neutral word to refer to Vietnam, not a racist epithet


Editor’s note: The decision to characterise the term yuon as a racist epithet when used to describe the country of Vietnam or its citizens in the story ‘Sam Rainsy declares border victory’ (February 2, 2010) by Meas Sokchea was made by the editors of The Phnom Penh Post. We invite all readers to register their opinions on this issue and urge them to direct their comments to the editors of the newspaper and not individual reporters, who played no role in determining editorial policy on this matter.

Dear Editor,

I am dismayed at Sokchea Meas’s ignorance of the meaning of the word yuon (“Sam Rainsy declares border victory”, February 2, 2010). As a Cambodian, Mr Meas should have known clearly that this word had existed in the Khmer vocabulary since time immemorial, even before the existence of the word “Vietnam” and that the meaning of the word is not “a racist epithet”.

The word yuon we Cambodians use to describe the Vietnamese people is equivalent to the word mien the Vietnamese people use to describe the Khmer people. If the Vietnamese are offended by the word yuon, then should we Khmer be offended by the word mien that they use to describe us?

The word yuon is a neutral vocabulary. It does not carry any racist connotations. If anything at all, it is just a slang word equivalent to the words “Aussie” for the Australians, “Yankee” for the Americans, “Pommie” for the English or “Kiwi” for the New Zealanders, etc.
Justify Full
Also, the word yuon is a Khmer word we use to call the Vietnamese, while the word Vietnam is a Vietnamese word the Vietnamese people use to describe themselves. If the Vietnamese are offended by the word yuon, should the French be offended when the English people called them French instead of the French words “Francais” or “Francaise”? Or vice versa, should the English people feel offended when the French people call them “Anglais” or “Anglaise” instead of “English”?

The Thai call Khmer kmen, not Khmers, and we don’t feel offended. But when Khmer people call Thai people siem (derived from the word Siam), the world thinks that we are racist. The world has always looked at Cambodians as the villains with regard to Khmer-Vietnamese relations and Khmer-Thai relations. It is not fair.

I hope The Phnom Penh Post can be clear on the definition of the word yuon from now on.

For your information, I’d like to draw your attention to a detailed article by Kenneth T So regarding the definition of the word yuon:
http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/01/is-using-word-yuon-justified-and.html

Khmerization
Phnom Penh
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Suggesting that yuon is a racist word incites racial hatred

Dear Editor,

I am writing this email to you because of the accusation made by your media to Mr Sam Rainsy of racism for calling Vietnam as yuon. I would like to declare to you that I am not a supporter of the Sam Rainsy Party or a supporter of any group at all. My background is that I have a father of Chinese origin and a mother who was half Cambodian and half Vietnamese. So I am a supporter of diversity and multicultural society.

Indeed, the word yuon is a Cambodian word to refer to Vietnamese (English), Vietnamien (french), Voatnam (Chinese Chao Zhou), Yieknam (in Vietnamese language) or Yia Nam (Chinese mandarin). Therefore in each language, each nationality has their word to call something differently. Your media accusation to Mr Sam Rainsy is indeed very provocative and inciting of hate rather than helping to promote cultural diversity.

I call on you to make a public apology for making a wrong judgment and inciting hatred among Vietnamese citizens and Cambodian opposition party members.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Meng Ly
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A good paper makes a bad decision about the meaning of yuon

Friday, 05 February 2010
By Patrick Chum

Dear Editor

I’ve been a loyal Phnom Penh Post reader for more than 10 years because of your ethics in news reporting. You care about our community and report news as is and unbiased.

In reference to the article “Sam Rainsy declares border victory” (February 2, 2010), I am very offended by Meas Sokchea’s description of the word yuon as a racist word.

Meas Sokchea should educate himself before saying such things. And you should read, then double check, for references before this slips to the printing room. We Khmers call the Vietnamese yuon freely.

For the record, yuon is never a racist word. Sir, I can prove it.

Patrick Chum
Los Angeles

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just Googled and 95% of Khmer men has small brains. That's why they ran away like rabbits hiding in the USA and France while their country is plundered and raped by the Viets and Siems. All they do is curse and grunt "fuck this, fuck that".
That is how small-brain Khmer men speak. They are truly the most pathetic group of men on the planet.

Anonymous said...

My hat off to these three people who had gotten their messages across to Phnom Penh Post's readers.

The word "yuon" is not a racist epithet, it is a neutral word that Khmers have been using it for centuries, since the 9th century- long before the word "Vietnam" came into being.

The whole region of South East Asia, the Burmese, Lao, Thai, the Stieng, Jarai, Rade people and the Cham people used this word to refer to the Vietnamese. So why ignorant foreigners never condemn these races as racists, why they only condemn Khmers for using the word?