By Hassan Kasem
References in election campaign reporting, “Plenty of Mud, Paucity of
Policy, in Election Discourse,” (May 31, page 1) to the word “Yuon”
being implied or employed as a derogatory term does not address the
historical context of the word.
The word Yuon is meant for an ethnic group known to the majority
Khmer people for centuries. The Khmer call this ethnic group just that.
In most households the word “Yuon” is used widely among Khmer, but in
public everyone tries to be politically correct by referring to “Yuon”
as “Vietnam” or “Junjiat Vietnam” (ethnic Vietnamese). The ethnic Cham
call them Kuchi.
I find no difference in referring to colored and non-white people as Negro, Black and African-American, and White, Caucasian.
I asked many Vietnamese who were born and grew up in Cambodia before
1970—scholars, shop owners, activists—who said the word Yuon was never
taken as an offensive, derogatory term or a slur.
After 1975, the Communist regime wanted every ethnic group in
Vietnam, (the Radhe, the Jarai, the Khmer, the Bahnar, the Koho, the
Cham, etc.) to be known as Vietnamese. A similar approach has been
attempted in Cambodia, suggesting that the Khmer should be called
“junjiat Kampuchea,” instead of Khmer, as they know themselves to be.
This new appellation “junjiat Kampuchea” would include many Vietnamese
immigrants, illegal or otherwise.
The Khmer people were compelled to use the word “junjiat Vietnam,”
instead of “junjiat Yuon” by UNTAC without study or consultation for
what the word really means.
It would do a great service to the Khmer people if independent
journalists find out why all of a sudden Yuon is a sensitive word.
Hassan Kasem, Washington
1 comment:
If people find it offensive, why insist on using the word? No blacks in America want to be called Negroes, although the word in the old days were acceptable.
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