A local group representing the Khmer Krom ethnic minority has gained the support of the Ministry of Cult and Religions in its bid to deliver Buddhist text books to Khmer Krom monks in Vietnam.
The Khmer Kampuchea Krom Coordination Committee struggled to win government support in its attempt to travel to southern Vietnam to deliver 1,000 religious books written in Khmer.
“The Vietnamese Embassy should allow the committee to bring the Buddhist books to Vietnam,” Minister of Cult and Religions Chea Savoeun said Wednesday.
Chea Savoeun said he hasn’t received a reply to two letters he sent to the local Vietnamese Embassy on the committee’s behalf.
The territory, known to many Cambodians as Kampuchea Krom, is located in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and was officially ceded to Vietnam by French colonial authorities in 1949.
Members of the Khmer Krom community in Cambodia have claimed that they should have the right to travel in the territory without Vietnamese visas.
Vietnamese Embassy Press Attache Nguyen Than Duc said Wednesday he was not aware of the ministry letters, but suggested the Ministry of Cult and Religions contact its counterpart in Vietnam as well as the Vietnamese foreign ministry.
The Vietnamese Embassy had previously agreed to allow members of the Khmer Krom minority in southern Vietnam to travel to Cambodia to accept the books. On Wednesday, Nguyen Than Duc said that local Khmer Krom would need to apply for visas and passports before they enter Vietnam.
Khmer Krom committee executive director Kim Vanchheng also alleged Wednesday that the Ministry of Cult and Religions was not committed to helping their cause.
“The intervention is ineffective,” Kim Vanchheng said. “The ministry doesn’t try its best to help us.”
Kim Vanchheng threatened that protests may follow.
“The Vietnamese have found many pretexts to delay the committee from sending the Buddhist books,” he said.
