Groups advocating for the rights of the Khmer Krom, the population of ethnic Cambodians living in present-day southern Vietnam, have expressed anger at the Vietnamese Embassy for what they are calling discrimination.
Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Duy Hung has refused to meet with representatives of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Coordination Committee to discuss their plans to take Khmer-language “Buddhist Bibles” into Vietnam. The ambassador said he had no objection to the plan but that the group should go through proper channels. “If they want to come to Vietnam, they have to apply for a visa,” he said.
Mom Sarin, a spokesman for the committee, said the rebuff puts him in a bind. “We will have no problems entering Kampuchea Krom personally by using our passports and visas to visit relatives,” he said. But, he said, if they try to hand out the Buddhist texts without special permission, “we will be given many problems, or we will be arrested by Vietnamese authorities.”
“We have sent three letters to the Vietnamese ambassador in Cambodia to set up a meeting aimed at asking his opinion on carrying Buddhist Bibles to Kampuchea Krom,” Mom Sarin said. “We have, unfortunately, so far not received any official written reply.”
Nguyen Duy Hung said he had answered the group.
“I have spoken to them already, and told them I am very busy right now,” he said. “I do not have time to deal with this group.”
Mom Sarin is also president of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Association, which claims that Khmer Krom in Vietnam are being subjected to severe ethnic and religious persecution.
The Vietnamese Embassy denies these allegations. The Khmer Krom have “complete freedom of worship,” the ambassador said.
The area around the Mekong Delta was ceded to Vietnam by the French when they abandoned their colonial interests. Khmer Krom advocacy groups have long been trying to get France to renege on the gift, and Kampuchea Krom separatism has been a sensitive issue in Cambodian-Vietnamese relations for years.
Khmer Krom advocacy groups have long been trying to get France to renege on the gift, and
