July's elections once again highlighted the discrimination that ethnic Vietnamese people born in Cambodia so often encounter
When Ly Sieng, 60, arrived at her local polling station in Cambodia on 28 July, she was shocked to find a mob of hundreds blocking her way.
She realised the group was targeting her as a Yuon, a racially charged but commonly used Khmer word for Vietnamese; she was terrified. [Read the real definition of the word "Yuon" here].
"The opposition youth blocked us, yelling: 'Yuon! Yuon! Go away! Don't let them vote.' I tried three times with help from police officers but couldn't vote," says Sieng, a grandmother who lives in a fishing village outside the capital, Phnom Penh.
"I have voted in every past election, but this time could not, even though I have enough legal documents. [Perhaps 30] of us could not vote. We were so frightened. So we gave up."
Though born in Cambodia, fluent in Khmer and descended from a family who has lived in the country for generations, Sieng and others in her ethnic-Vietnamese community are not treated like Cambodians.
Official numbers are hard to come by, but an estimated 5% of Cambodia's 15 million-strong population is thought to be of Vietnamese ethnicity.
Sieng's experience of Cambodia's disputed poll is a nasty byproduct of an anti-Vietnamese sentiment that runs deep in Cambodian society. Bound with historical grievances, fears of uncontrolled immigration, and political populism, such antipathy has led to violence in the recent past.
Numerous similar incidents of "ethnically motivated disenfranchisement" on election day were catalogued (pdf) by a leading human rights group.
This vigilante action was often based on the idea that "strange",
pale-skinned, Vietnamese-looking voters unable to speak Khmer had been
issued with temporary election IDs to cast ghost votes for the ruling
party – a claim widely believed, but not thoroughly substantiated, by
many opposition supporters.
Prime Minister
Hun Sen's Cambodian People's party, which emerged out of a
Vietnamese-installed regime in the 1980s, is seen as cosy with Hanoi.
This relationship vexes many Cambodians and has long been exploited for political gain by opposition leader Sam Rainsy, whose pre-election return from self-exile was accompanied by a resurgence in his party's anti-Vietnamese rhetoric.
"Numerous
ethnic Vietnamese have Cambodian ID documentation and have integrated
well into society – however, it is true that others continue to live
at the margins of society and face difficulties substantiating their
legal status," says Lyma Nguyen, an international civil party lawyer
representing ethnic Vietnamese victims at the Khmer Rouge tribunal.
"Authorities
need to distinguish between individuals who have resided for many
generations in Cambodia and those who migrated to the country more recently, some for economic purposes."
Many long-term ethnic Vietnamese once possessed Cambodian citizenship or legal residence, but were kicked out of the country when the Khmer Rouge took power in 1975. The 20,000 or so that stayed behind were all systematically killed (pdf).
A
Vietnamese invasion brought an end to the regime in 1979 – an
intervention seen by many as a humiliation rather than a liberation –
but hundreds of thousands of ethnic-Vietnamese who, like Sieng, returned
to their homeland, were treated like immigrants. They still are.
"We
missed our homeland [Cambodia]," says Phang Thy Ang, 62, who was also
blocked on polling day, "so we secretly returned [in the 80s], but our
properties were lost. We started our lives [again] with nothing but our
bare hands."
Boat Without Anchors
(pdf), a legal report co-authored by Nguyen, concludes that many
long-term ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia could be considered stateless,
as they are not recognised as citizens under either Cambodian or
Vietnamese law.
This is compounded by a lack of knowledge about
their rights, discrimination by the authorities, and the high costs (due
to corruption) of obtaining legal documents, the report says.
The weak application of the nationality law
and the lack of a clear naturalisation process leaves many ethnic
Vietnamese Cambodians in a legal grey area, according to Ou Virak,
president at the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.
"If
you don't have a process to citizenship then you don't know who is what
… you have to tell from the look and the language, the accent. And
that's not appropriate," says Virak.
The consequences of this go
beyond the right to vote. Without documentation, some ethnic Vietnamese
people do not have access to many basic economic, political and social
rights, says Nguyen. She adds that some of these problems directly
affect development in ethnic-Vietnamese communities. "Much of this
appears to be connected to [their] existence at the margins of Cambodian
society."
The Vietnamese issue has long reared its head at election time, a trend reinforced by the opposition's campaign this year.
"I pity Khmers very much," Rainsy was reported as saying three days before the election.
"They have lost their farmland, because Yuons are always coming in, and
the authorities do not protect their fellow Khmers at all, but protect
the invading Yuons. Now they have brought Yuons to vote for Hun Sen, so
Khmers should vote for Sam Rainsy to protect our territory."
In a
post-election interview, Rainsy distanced himself from the Vietnamese
issue that has long been a feature of his campaign rhetoric. "We do not
think that the Vietnamese living in Cambodia is a problem," he said.
"You have to open your mind and note that the Cambodia National Rescue
Party [supporters] have blocked people from voting, including Khmer
people, regardless of their ethnic group because … they want to be
stringent in order to prevent ghost voters."
Three days later, Rainsy's party released a statement,
aimed at the international community, saying it "opposes violence,
racism, xenophobia and discrimination" and would comply with
"international human rights standards" in addressing immigration issues.
For
those who, like Sieng, have experienced first-hand the local
consequences of nationalist political rhetoric, such lofty promises may
have come too late.
"We wish to live [in Cambodia] for ever and die here and scatter our ashes here, because our parents died here too," she says.
9 comments:
If the situation is so bad, GO BACK to your own country! On the contrary to what Mr. Panniah wrote, the Yuons act like they are above us and act they own our country.
Viet and Khmer are Mon-Khmer people. We are one. STop hurting each other.
If Viet are Mon Khmer why did try speak Chinese and came from China. The evil Viet can befriends with us if they return Koh Tral ad all the resources that they stole for te pay 31 years.
Vietnam cannot return Koh Tral (Phu Quoc) because it's too populated with Vietnamese already. Do you want to take these millions of them? Of course you don't want them but where can they go? Vietnamese don't speak Chinese, what are you talking about? Southern Vietnamese are mixed of Khmer-Viet-Chinese. There is already so much Khmer blood in Vietnamese already. Mabye the Mon-Khmer who are Viet mixed with Southern Chinese ok, but Vietnamese spoken words are sometimes similar to Khmer words.
u guys r so racist, cant u see tht some of them have lived here for generations, and theres no such thing as a pure race.
You have to be such a shallow thinker to think that Viet are somehow related to Mon-Khmer. Let me make it clear about the Vietnamese origin. Vietnamese people are only as old as Vietnam. And Vietnam in historical time period is a young nation, however Vietnam has its root since Dai Viet. Modern day Vietnamese people are a cross-breed of the Dai people, Tai(Thai?)people, Chinese, and Cham. After Annam(Vietnam) conquered Champa kingdom, Cham people gone through force-assimilation to become Vietnamese, similar to Khmer Krom currently being force to become Vietnamese in south Vietnam. This is why some Vietnamese have dark skin. So just because some Vietnamese have dark skin do not mean they were Mon-Khmer.
Khmer or Cambodia is as old as the founding kingdom of Khmer by Jayavarman 2 in 6th century, however; Khmer has our root since Funan(Kampuchea Krom, now south Vietnam) kingdom and Chenla(Laos and Cambodia), that's over 2000 years of history. Modern Khmer are the descendent of the people of Funan and Chenla or Mon-Khmer(pre-Khmer)We are the orginal inhabitant of the land of Indochina.
Vietnamese are invaders that came from the north and slowly pushing south into Champa kingdom, and later into Khmer(Cambodia). So if you're Vietnamese, you know the truth. Don't try to confuse people who know little or nothing about this part of the region. Your country Vietnam are made up of stolen lands from Champa and Khmer. This is why we call you thieves.
I have a question for Kevin Ponniah, how much did Youn pay you to write this article? You are fking corrupted mind and should not be allowed to live in Australia or become an Australian citizen at all.
To Kevin Ponniah the owner of this Article. The issue is not with a handful of Vietnamese people who live there legally, It is all about the majority of them (Vietnamese) who live there illegally along riverside and most of them are soldiers who were sent by the Viet Gov to help CPP stay in power for many years. Beside they have destroyed our homeland nature resource such as tree, fish, environment plus they have polluted our young generation mind. Like Sok Kong's son who act like a thug and we all know well that he is a Viet.
Freedom of speech and media and therefore he can write whatever his heart desire. Even it is offensive. The key for us, khmer, is to be respective even if it is offensive to us. An average intelligent person read above article will understand the motive of the writer. The english proverb say: the devil is in the detail. Remember we have been oppressed, especially in the freedom of the media, so let's us deal with this type of article with respect. Our latest saying goes like this: Meas tirk doub min klach plerng. (24 karat gold, will always be 24 karat gold no matter how much heat is applied to it... With this saying in mind, let it be.
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