Khmer Krom to petition the visiting Vietnamese PM for more freedom

By Khmerization

Source: RFA

Nine Khmer Krom associations have said on Monday that they plan to issue a joint statement to ask the visiting Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung to respect the freedom and human rights of the Khmer Krom people living in Vietnam.

Mr. Yont Tharo (pictured), president of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Cultural Centre who is also a member of parliament from the opposition Sam rainsy Party, said many Vietnamese immigrants who are living illegally in Cambodia had been accorded better treatment by the Cambodian government than the Khmer Krom people, who are the indigenous inhabitants of the former Kampuchea Krom territory in Vietnam and who have been deprived of their basic human rights and freedom for many centuries.

However, Mr. Tang Sarak, president of World Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation, said his group will not send any petitions to the Vietnamese Prime Minister as he considers him to be a mute person who has ignored his letters and petitions in the past. He said, in the past he had sent petitions and letters to Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung asking Vietnam to stop persecute, oppress and violate the Khmer Krom people, but he has never received any replies or any resolutions to the issues raised.