Vietnamese authority confiscates Khmer Krom's land to give to Vietnamese citizens

By Khmerization
Source: RFA

Khmer Krom farmers living in three provinces in southern Vietnam could lose their farms and rice fields through confiscations by Vietnamese authority.

Mr. Thach Ngoc Thach (pictured), president of the overseas-based Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation, said the confiscations of lands belonging to Khmer Krom families happened everywhere in Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam) through the forced evacuations/evictions of those Khmer Krom families from their ancestral villages. "The Vietnamese authority evacuated (evicted) the land owners from their lands and then give those lands to Vietnamese families", he said.

He said many Khmer Krom families had come out to protest, but were arrested and jailed by the Vietnamese authority, such as Ms. Neang Yen and Ms. Neang Yorn, who were from Moat Chrouk (Chau Doc) province, were jailed since 2009. He said in Khleang (Soc Trang) province, the land confiscations were widespread also. He said those who dare to come out and protest were arrested and jailed. "The Vietnamese provincial authority since 1975 had confiscated their rice fields and after that they redistributed the lands to other families. Mr. Vinh Ba dared to protest and was arrested and jailed", he said.

Mr. Vinh Ba was released at the end of March, but was still under police surveillance. In Preah Tropeang (Tra Vinh) province, there were also many cases of land confiscations and jailings of Khmer Krom people who dared to protest. Ms. Tran Thi Chau was jailed since 2010 after she protested against the confiscation of her land. And Mr. Chau Hen, who had fled Vietnam to seek political asylum with the UNHCR in Thailand, was recently jailed for two years after being sent back to Vietnam by the UNHCR.