Op-Ed by Khmerization
6th October, 2011
Re: Chinese language schools mushrooming in Cambodia
Originally, I did not wish to make any comments regarding the issue of Chinese schools mushrooming in Cambodia. But since some readers wanted to know where I stand on this issue and, to a certain degree, have solicited my comments, I would just let my views be known now.
I know my views are at odds with the general views and will certainly cause controversy and despite the anticipation that my views will attract unpleasant comments, and I myself might be accused of being a racist, I must weather the storm and be brave enough to express my unconventional views regardless. However, before I go any further, I wish to let readers know that I am not pure Khmer. My parents immigrated from overseas to settle in Cambodia when they were very young, but I was born in Cambodia, grew up and educated in Cambodia, so I have a strong bond and cultural attachment with Cambodia. And as a result, I will always be Khmer more than anything else.
The issue of immigrants’ assimilation into the Khmer society has been a controversial and thorny issue for generations and must be discussed in comparison and with an analogy to other developed countries in order to avoid the stigmatisation that could degenerate into so much controversy and racist exchanges.
Many Khmers have immigrated to live in many developed countries such the U. S, Australia, the UK, France and other countries in the last 30 years or so. Many of us would have known that, in order to assimilate these immigrants into their society and to give them a chance of equal footing with their fellow natives in their careers and livelihood, immigrants in these countries have to attend schools that teach in these countries’ languages. Immigrants in these countries can study their own languages, not exclusively, but only collaterally or sides by sides with the languages of their adopted countries and that they could only study them at the weekend or after hour schools.
In Cambodia, Chinese or Vietnamese children study in the Chinese or Vietnamese languages in exclusive Chinese or Vietnamese schools and refused to attend Khmer-language schools. As a result, these Chinese and Vietnamese children can’t speak and write Khmer, have no attachments to Cambodia and the Khmer cultural heritage and as a result hated and looked down on Khmer and the Khmer heritage. We know that Chinese is the language of commerce, but it must not be allowed to be learned exclusively, but rather be allowed to be learned side by side or collaterally as secondary to the Khmer language.
All immigrants living in Cambodia should be allowed to practice and learn their languages and cultural heritage as well as their religion. There is no question of banning them from preserving their own original heritage. However, the Cambodian government has the duty and the obligation to integrate and assimilate them into the Cambodian society in order to preserve national unity and social cohesion.
I want to just take an example of an assimilation measure that had been taken by a few countries in Asia that have been very successful in preserving national unity and social cohesion in those countries. Indonesia has about 6 million ethnic Chinese living throughout the countries. Many of these Chinese are third or fourth generation immigrants. In around 1965, Gen. Suharto, a fierce Indonesian nationalist, fearing a Chinese domination of Indonesia, staged a coup against President Sukarno, who was very close to the Chinese communist leaders, and incited native Indonesians to kill hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chinese by accusing them of being collaborators of Communist China. From then on, almost all ethnic Chinese were forced to adopt Indonesian surnames and forced to stop speaking and studying the Chinese language. Now, nearly all the 6 million Chinese in Indonesia can’t speak and write the Chinese language. Another case of a successful assimilation is Thailand. There are approximately 9 million Chinese living in Thailand and most of them can’t speak Chinese. During the rule of Plaek Pibulsongkram in the 1940s and 1950s, who was a Chinese himself, the ethnic Chinese have, through Thailand’s assimilation policy, been forced or coerced into changing their names and surnames into Thai names. The Thai policy, even though could be a violation of human rights, was a very successful policy which has seen Thailand become a stable and successful society where all its citizens have united around their Thai-ness to develop their countries together without confronting with the issue of ethnic divide or social unrest. Another country is Vietnam. There are about roughly 3-5 million Chinese living in Vietnam. All of them have adopted Vietnamese names, or a form of Vietnamese-sounded Chinese names. Chinese in Vietnam, like in Cambodia, were a little bit liberal pre-1975 in practicing their culture and language, but after the communist takeover in 1975 they were persecuted because of their ethnic background due in part to the China-Vietnam conflict caused by China aiding the Khmer Rouge after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979. Japan is another country that has successfully assimilated all immigrants into its society. All immigrants in Japan, if they wanted to be become a Japanese citizen or be successful in Japan, must adopt Japanese names and surnames. We hardly see any naturalised Japanese citizens having other names other than their Japanese names.
These measures of assimilation adopted by the above countries have made these countries strong politically, economically and socially because all the people living in the countries have pledged their allegiance to the countries and have a strong bond and cultural attachment to the motherland through assimilation programs or, in most cases, forced assimilation.
Many Khmers who live in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan have to change their names into these countries’ names before they can obtain citizenship of these countries. The case in point is a Cambodian man, Sophalay De Monteiro, who lived for 36 years in Vietnam, had remained stateless for 36 years because he refused to change his name into Vietnamese name and therefore was not allowed to be naturalized as Vietnamese citizen until he agreed to change his name, even though he was married to a Vietnamese woman for nearly 30 years.
Coming back to the issue of Chinese schools in Cambodia, I personally think that Chinese or other foreign languages could only be taught as a second language and be secondary to the Khmer language only in any official communications.
Cambodia’s liberal policy towards immigrants during the Sihanouk regime in the 1950s has caused some social incohesions that have lasted until today. In the 1950s, when Sihanouk has a very cosy, personal and diplomatic relationships with the Chinese leaders, particularly with Mao Tse-tung and Premier Chou Enlai, he allowed Chinese schools to mushroom throughout the country, and allowed Chinese to study Chinese exclusively without having to study the Khmer language, and as a result most Chinese immigrants studied only the Chinese language and not the Khmer language, and therefore had no allegiance or any attachment to Cambodia. Many Chinese or Vietnamese who were born in Cambodia, and who had immigrated to overseas, often identified themselves as Chinese and Vietnamese or hated and looked down on Khmers and Khmer cultural heritage. This is the result of the liberal or the failed assimilation policy of the previous Cambodian governments.
I am of the opinion that the Khmerisation of all immigrants is imperative for social cohesion and national unity. When I say Khmerisation, I do not mean that all immigrants must be Khmer in and out, but they must think Khmer, learn the Khmer language and culture and assimilate into the Khmer society fully, but without having to give up or sacrifice their ethnic identity.
I must also acknowledge that many previous generations of Chinese migrants have assimilated almost fully into the Cambodian society, but what worries me is the new generations of Chinese or Vietnamese immigrants who are flowing freely and daily into Cambodia without some sort of control. If there is no measure, such as through education and the teaching of Khmer language and cultural heritage, to assimilate them into the Khmer society, Cambodian social cohesion and national unity is at risk and the Cambodian society as a whole could be fragmented and disintegrated.
While cultural diversity, through the preservation of one’s own linguistic and cultural heritage in their adoptive countries, is a prerogative for all immigrants under international laws, sometimes national unity and social cohesion must be factored into the equation and takes precedent above all else in order to maintain the progress and the political stability of the country. Evidences of ethnic violence and ethnic cleansing such as in Bosnia and other newly-created nations could be a warning sign of social incohesion as a result of a failed policy of assimilation and could be repeated in other places, if measures are not taken to fully assimilate all ethnic groups into one society.
6th October, 2011
Re: Chinese language schools mushrooming in Cambodia
Originally, I did not wish to make any comments regarding the issue of Chinese schools mushrooming in Cambodia. But since some readers wanted to know where I stand on this issue and, to a certain degree, have solicited my comments, I would just let my views be known now.
I know my views are at odds with the general views and will certainly cause controversy and despite the anticipation that my views will attract unpleasant comments, and I myself might be accused of being a racist, I must weather the storm and be brave enough to express my unconventional views regardless. However, before I go any further, I wish to let readers know that I am not pure Khmer. My parents immigrated from overseas to settle in Cambodia when they were very young, but I was born in Cambodia, grew up and educated in Cambodia, so I have a strong bond and cultural attachment with Cambodia. And as a result, I will always be Khmer more than anything else.
The issue of immigrants’ assimilation into the Khmer society has been a controversial and thorny issue for generations and must be discussed in comparison and with an analogy to other developed countries in order to avoid the stigmatisation that could degenerate into so much controversy and racist exchanges.
Many Khmers have immigrated to live in many developed countries such the U. S, Australia, the UK, France and other countries in the last 30 years or so. Many of us would have known that, in order to assimilate these immigrants into their society and to give them a chance of equal footing with their fellow natives in their careers and livelihood, immigrants in these countries have to attend schools that teach in these countries’ languages. Immigrants in these countries can study their own languages, not exclusively, but only collaterally or sides by sides with the languages of their adopted countries and that they could only study them at the weekend or after hour schools.
In Cambodia, Chinese or Vietnamese children study in the Chinese or Vietnamese languages in exclusive Chinese or Vietnamese schools and refused to attend Khmer-language schools. As a result, these Chinese and Vietnamese children can’t speak and write Khmer, have no attachments to Cambodia and the Khmer cultural heritage and as a result hated and looked down on Khmer and the Khmer heritage. We know that Chinese is the language of commerce, but it must not be allowed to be learned exclusively, but rather be allowed to be learned side by side or collaterally as secondary to the Khmer language.
All immigrants living in Cambodia should be allowed to practice and learn their languages and cultural heritage as well as their religion. There is no question of banning them from preserving their own original heritage. However, the Cambodian government has the duty and the obligation to integrate and assimilate them into the Cambodian society in order to preserve national unity and social cohesion.
I want to just take an example of an assimilation measure that had been taken by a few countries in Asia that have been very successful in preserving national unity and social cohesion in those countries. Indonesia has about 6 million ethnic Chinese living throughout the countries. Many of these Chinese are third or fourth generation immigrants. In around 1965, Gen. Suharto, a fierce Indonesian nationalist, fearing a Chinese domination of Indonesia, staged a coup against President Sukarno, who was very close to the Chinese communist leaders, and incited native Indonesians to kill hundreds of thousands of ethnic Chinese by accusing them of being collaborators of Communist China. From then on, almost all ethnic Chinese were forced to adopt Indonesian surnames and forced to stop speaking and studying the Chinese language. Now, nearly all the 6 million Chinese in Indonesia can’t speak and write the Chinese language. Another case of a successful assimilation is Thailand. There are approximately 9 million Chinese living in Thailand and most of them can’t speak Chinese. During the rule of Plaek Pibulsongkram in the 1940s and 1950s, who was a Chinese himself, the ethnic Chinese have, through Thailand’s assimilation policy, been forced or coerced into changing their names and surnames into Thai names. The Thai policy, even though could be a violation of human rights, was a very successful policy which has seen Thailand become a stable and successful society where all its citizens have united around their Thai-ness to develop their countries together without confronting with the issue of ethnic divide or social unrest. Another country is Vietnam. There are about roughly 3-5 million Chinese living in Vietnam. All of them have adopted Vietnamese names, or a form of Vietnamese-sounded Chinese names. Chinese in Vietnam, like in Cambodia, were a little bit liberal pre-1975 in practicing their culture and language, but after the communist takeover in 1975 they were persecuted because of their ethnic background due in part to the China-Vietnam conflict caused by China aiding the Khmer Rouge after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979. Japan is another country that has successfully assimilated all immigrants into its society. All immigrants in Japan, if they wanted to be become a Japanese citizen or be successful in Japan, must adopt Japanese names and surnames. We hardly see any naturalised Japanese citizens having other names other than their Japanese names.
These measures of assimilation adopted by the above countries have made these countries strong politically, economically and socially because all the people living in the countries have pledged their allegiance to the countries and have a strong bond and cultural attachment to the motherland through assimilation programs or, in most cases, forced assimilation.
Many Khmers who live in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan have to change their names into these countries’ names before they can obtain citizenship of these countries. The case in point is a Cambodian man, Sophalay De Monteiro, who lived for 36 years in Vietnam, had remained stateless for 36 years because he refused to change his name into Vietnamese name and therefore was not allowed to be naturalized as Vietnamese citizen until he agreed to change his name, even though he was married to a Vietnamese woman for nearly 30 years.
Coming back to the issue of Chinese schools in Cambodia, I personally think that Chinese or other foreign languages could only be taught as a second language and be secondary to the Khmer language only in any official communications.
Cambodia’s liberal policy towards immigrants during the Sihanouk regime in the 1950s has caused some social incohesions that have lasted until today. In the 1950s, when Sihanouk has a very cosy, personal and diplomatic relationships with the Chinese leaders, particularly with Mao Tse-tung and Premier Chou Enlai, he allowed Chinese schools to mushroom throughout the country, and allowed Chinese to study Chinese exclusively without having to study the Khmer language, and as a result most Chinese immigrants studied only the Chinese language and not the Khmer language, and therefore had no allegiance or any attachment to Cambodia. Many Chinese or Vietnamese who were born in Cambodia, and who had immigrated to overseas, often identified themselves as Chinese and Vietnamese or hated and looked down on Khmers and Khmer cultural heritage. This is the result of the liberal or the failed assimilation policy of the previous Cambodian governments.
I am of the opinion that the Khmerisation of all immigrants is imperative for social cohesion and national unity. When I say Khmerisation, I do not mean that all immigrants must be Khmer in and out, but they must think Khmer, learn the Khmer language and culture and assimilate into the Khmer society fully, but without having to give up or sacrifice their ethnic identity.
I must also acknowledge that many previous generations of Chinese migrants have assimilated almost fully into the Cambodian society, but what worries me is the new generations of Chinese or Vietnamese immigrants who are flowing freely and daily into Cambodia without some sort of control. If there is no measure, such as through education and the teaching of Khmer language and cultural heritage, to assimilate them into the Khmer society, Cambodian social cohesion and national unity is at risk and the Cambodian society as a whole could be fragmented and disintegrated.
While cultural diversity, through the preservation of one’s own linguistic and cultural heritage in their adoptive countries, is a prerogative for all immigrants under international laws, sometimes national unity and social cohesion must be factored into the equation and takes precedent above all else in order to maintain the progress and the political stability of the country. Evidences of ethnic violence and ethnic cleansing such as in Bosnia and other newly-created nations could be a warning sign of social incohesion as a result of a failed policy of assimilation and could be repeated in other places, if measures are not taken to fully assimilate all ethnic groups into one society.
7 comments:
ah hun sen does not care because he is afraid of his bosses yuon and china. ah hun sen is a traitor to Cambodia and the people.
I tend to agree with the views expressed in this article. Assimilation through education is the best option for national unity. The Chinese or other immigrants coming to live in Cambodia must assimilate themselves into the Khmer society. This would mean learning the Khmer language and culture, not their own. I also agree with Khmerization that immigrants can learn their language, but they have to study Khmer as the main language. At a time of a long history of national division, Cambodia needs an assimilation program to unite all Cambodians under one banner- Cambodia.
Dear Friends, Remember this:
since the year 1960's there was a drain of outstanding students from the Chinese Scool to the State High school.Why? because the quality of national education was good.
Now many parents, Khmer, Khmer-chineses or Chinese sent their children to Chinese School, because of the very poor quality of the national education.
This is very clear.The Ministry of Education has been aware about this. But it's uncapable to carry out the reform.
Yes, I heard old people said that students who failed went to private schools in the 1950s and 1960s, only outstanding students can matriculate to state schools. That means the quality of state schools were better at that time than private schools. I too believe that immigrants should be allowed to preserve their culture and language, but they must study Khmer language as their main subject. Immigrants children can't just learn to read and write in their language and do not learn to read and write Khmer language. This is not right.
as a person of both khmer and chinese heritage, i really feel for this article, its ashame tht the cambodian government is doing nuthin about proper assimilation of the recent immigrants, past generations of viet/chinese/other ethnics were properly assimilated. multicuturalism is a fukin social failure. Cambodia its not the only Asian country having this problem. Recent immigrates to KOREA are doing the same shit and yes Korea is one homogeneous country. theres nuthin wrong learning diffrent languages, but refusing to assimilate to your host country will cause widespread unrest in the future. for FORIEGNERS IN CAMBODIA ASSIMILATE, FOR KHMERS OVERSEA (KOREA) AND PLAN TO LIVE THERE FOR ALL YOUR LIFE ASSIMILATE. Multiculturalism is a WESTERN DISEASE.
perthkhmeguy
liberalization of any immigration policies will cause alot of issues, such as CIVIL WAR especially regrading non assimilation.
perthkhmerguy
Great analysis and balanced. As a Khmer-born citizen of Cambodia whose parents were born overseas, I also believe that all immigrants, especially the new ones, must assimilate fully into the Khmer society. I think they can learn their language and culture, but they must learn Khmer as their number language. Allowing immigrants to alienate themselves from the general Khmer population, practicing their own culture and speaking their own language exclusively is a recipe for social unrest and national division.
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