Koh Tral Island must not be forgotten

By Ms. Rattana Keo

Why do Koh Tral Island, known in Vietnam as Phu Quoc, a sea and land area covering proximately over 10,000 km2 [Note: the actual land size of Koh Tral itself is 574 square kilometres (222 sq miles)] have been lost to Vietnam by whose treaty? Why don’t Cambodia government be transparent and explain to Cambodia army at front line and the whole nation about this? Why don't they include this into education system? Why?

Cambodian armies are fighting at front line for 4.6 km2 on the Thai border and what's about over 10,000km2 of Cambodia to Vietnam. Nobody dare to talk about it! Why? Cambodian armies you are decide the fate of your nation, Cambodian army as well as Cambodian people must rethink about this again and again. Is it fair?

Koh Tral Island, the sea and land area of over 10,000 square kilometres have been lost to Vietnam by the 1979 to 1985 treaties. The Cambodian army at front line as well as all Cambodian people must rethink again about these issues. Are Cambodian army fighting to protect the Cambodia Nation or protecting a very small group that own big lands, big properties or only protecting a small group but disguising as protecting the Khmer nation?

The Cambodian army at front lines suffer under rain, wind, bullets, bombs, lack of foods, lack of nutrition and their families have no health care assistance, no securities after they died but a very small group eat well, sleep well, sleep in first class hotel with air conditioning system with message from young girls, have first class medical care from oversea medical treatments, they are billionaires, millionaires who sell out the country to be rich and make the Cambodian people suffer everyday.

Who signed the treaty 1979-1985 that resulted in the loss over 10,000 km2 of Cambodia??? Why they are not being transparent and brave enough to inform all Cambodians and Cambodian army at front line about these issues? Why don't they include Koh Tral (Koh Tral size is bigger than the whole Phom Phen and bigger than Singapore [Note: Singapore's present land size is 704 km² (271.8 sq mi)]) with heap of great natural resources, in the Cambodian education system?

Look at Hun Sen's families, relatives and friends- they are billionaires, millionaires. Where did they get the money from when we all just got out of war with empty hands [in 1979]? Hun Sen always say in his speeches that Cambodia had just risen up from the ashes of war, just got up from Year Zero with empty hands and how come they are billionaires, millionaires but 90% of innocent Cambodian people are so poor and struggling with their livelihood every day?

Smart Khmer girl Ms. Rattana Keo,
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A Brief History of Koh Tral

Dear Readers,

The history of Koh Tral island has been a mystery to many Khmer people and the loss of this island to Vietnam has been a painful memory for all Khmers.

Koh Tral was a Cambodian island, and technically and legally, remained a Cambodian island until today, except the physical administration of it. The misinterpretation of the Brevie Line, called "Ligne Brevie" in French, led to the transfer of administration, and eventually the ownership, of Koh Tral to Vietnam. In 1939, Mr. Brevie, a French colonial officer, was commissioned to draw an administrative line between the Cambodian and Cochinchina's (Kampuchea Krom) maritime borders. As Mr. Brevie's letter below shows, the drawing of the "Ligne Brevie" was for administration purposes only, and not for the delimitation of the borderlines. Mr. Brevie's letter, published below, stated: "The powers of administration and police on these islands will be clearly divided between Cochinchina and Cambodia in order to avoid any disputes in the future. It is understood that this is only the administration and police, and that the issue of territorial dependence of these islands remains fully booked."

The meaning of Mr. Brevie's letter "the issue of territorial dependence of these islands remains fully booked" suggested that the territorial dependence of these islands remains fully in the hands of Cambodia as these islands were historically under the administration of Cambodia for generations. Thus, Koh Tral is unquestionably a Cambodian island. Please read facts below and conclude it for yourself. Khmerization
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(The letter below is translated by Google Translate Tool. The original French text can be found here).

Hanoi, 31 January 1939
BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
GOVERNOR GENERAL POLICIES OF INDOCHINA
No. 367-API Grand Officier de la Legion d'Honneur
to
The Governor of Cochinchina
Saigon

SUBJECT: Islands in the Gulf of Siam

I have the honor to inform you that I have to re-examine the issue of islands in the Gulf of Siam whose possession is disputed between Cambodia and Cochin.

The location of this string of islands, de-seeded along the Cambodian coast and some of which are so close to the coast that atterrissements which currently seem to be welded to the shores of Cambodia in the relatively near future, calls logically geographically and the need for these islands, a matter for the Administration of that country.

If I am not allowed to continue much longer the state of affairs requires that the inhabitants of these islands to address, or the price of a long voyage, is the price of a long detour through the territory of Cambodia, the administration of Cochinchina. Accordingly, I have decided that all the islands north of a line perpendicular to the coast from the border between Cambodia and Cochinchina and forming an angle with 140'c northern Meridien, according to the map attached, will be administered by Cambodia. The protectorate assume, in particular, the burden of policing of these islands.

All the islands south of this line, including the island of Phu Quoc, (called Koh Tral in Cambodian) continue to be administered by Cochinchina. It is understood that the line set by the bypass north of the island of Phu Quoc (Koh Tral) passing 3 kms from the extremes of the north coast of this island.

The powers of administration and police on these islands will be clearly divided between Cochinchina and Cambodia in order to avoid any disputes in the future.

It is understood that this is only the administration and police, and that the issue of territorial dependence of these islands remains fully booked.

You'd like to make arrangements so that my decision to receive its immediate implementation.

Please accused received the letter.

Signed: BREVIE
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The facts about Koh Tral below are taken out of CARAWEB website.

Click here for Map of Koh Tral

A note by H.E. Dr. Say Bory
August 16, 2000

The Vietnamese had given this island a Vietnamese name: Phu Quoc

Historical Benchmarks:

# 1856: King Ang Duong apprise Mr. de Montigny, French envoy in visit to Bangkok, through the intermediary of Bishop Miche, his intention to yield Koh Tral to France (cf. “The Second [French] Empire of IndoChina”).

# 1863: Establishing the Protectorate of Cambodia, France annexed Kampuchea Krom, made a French colony out of it, and named it “Cochinchine”.

# May 25, 1874: Koh Tral (Phu Quoc) which belonged to Cambodia (under the reign of King Ang Duong) was placed under the administration of the Governor of Cochinchine, i.e. under the administration of France, by the French Protectorate.

# June 16, 1875: Koh Tral is attached to the inspection district of Hatien which was colonized by France. One needs to recall that in 1855, King Ang Duong reminded Napoleon III [first French President (1948-1852), later French Emperor (1852-1870)] that “the territories annexed by Vietnam located between the Western branch of the Mekong [River] and the Gulf of Siam (Hatien area) were “actually Cambodian land” (cf. A. Dolphin-Dauphin-Meunier – “History of Cambodia”, pg. 99). Therefore, Koh Tral always remains a Cambodian island, even though it is under the administration of colonial France.

# January 31, 1939: the “Brévié Line” which is not a maritime border demarcation, but rather a line dividing the police and administrative authority “on the islands along the Gulf of Siam” [was established]. By this act, Koh Tral was placed, as it did in 1875, under the French colonial administration of Cochinchine. Brévié himself specified that “the territorial dependence of these islands (including that of Phu Quoc) remains entirely reserved”.

# June 04, 1949: In spite of Cambodian protests and the Deferre Motion [the Deferre Motion has been part of the Bill of Transfer of French Cochinchine to Vietnam which spelled out specific rights of the Khmer Krom people], France voted a law allowing the attachment of the Cochinchine territory (Khmer territory) to Vietnam.

# April 24, 1954: at the Geneva Conference, Cambodia still continued to protest against the unjust and uneven transfer of her Cochinchine lands to Vietnam by France, and reserved her right to litigate the case at the United Nations.

# June 07, 1957: Norodom Sihanouk, President of the Council of Ministers, requested in a letter to Lon Nol, then National Defense Minister, to ensure the protection of all islands located along the Gulf of Siam (thus also including Koh Tral), and in particular, the group of islands of Poulo-Pangjang (Khmer name: Koh Krachak Ses; Vietnamese name: Tho Chu), Koh PouloWai (Khmer name: Koh Ach Ses) and Koh Tang.

# December 30, 1957: In his Kret regarding the delimitation of the Cambodian continental shelf, King Norodom Suramarit clearly reaffirmed that Cambodia reserved her retention on her historical rights to Koh Tral (cf. Article 6 of the Kret).

# 1963: In the book “Cambodia Geography” published in 1963 by Tan Kim Huon, a Khmer scholar who was also an agricultural engineer and forestry expert, [he indicated that] Koh Tral is indeed a Cambodian island (cf. maps no. 3, 12, and 19).

# 1969: Koh Tral (Phu Quoc) is included in the official list of Cambodian islands published by the Industry and Mineral Resources Ministry, and was numbered 61 (on a total of 64 islands).

# July 01, 1972: Following the July 1, 1972 Kret, the Khmer Republic Government maintains its reaffirmation of its sovereignty on its continental shelf and warns oil companies against [potential] consequences of any of their actions undertaken in this zone. Koh Tral still remains Cambodian.

# 1975 to End of 1978: Status quo.

# July 07, 1982: Koh Tral (Phu Quoc) and Poulo-Pangjang (Tho Chu) appear in the Vietnamese territory, on a map attached to the “Treaty on the Historical Water Zone between the Popular Republic of Kampuchea and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”.

# Therefore, Vietnam annexes 30,000 sq. km. of Khmer maritime territory, and it creates the “historical sea” extending 10,000 sq. km. off of Koh Tral (cf. Cambodia: Oil Research, Continental Shelf - Mr. Sean Pengse, April 1995).

Conclusion:
Based on the facts cited above, a self-conclusion is obvious.

Notes:
1. Several of the Krets referred above are available at: http://www.cfcambodge.org/Anglais/CadreA.htm
2. A map showing the Brevie Line is attached below. It was adapted from a map published on the CBC.