More than 100 members of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association in Cambodia on Monday agreed to form a new organization to protect the rights of Khmer Krom living in Vietnam, an official said.
The new group, called the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, will push for the rights of ethnic Khmers in Vietnam in areas such as education, said Thach Setha, a Sam Rainsy Party senator and head of the Friends of Kampuchea Krom Association, on Monday.
“Vietnamese force the Khmer Krom [living in Vietnam] to speak Vietnamese, educate the children about Ho Chi Minh, and now a lot of young [Kampuchea Krom] people do not respect their parents,” Thach Setha said.
The Vietnamese government has previously stated that the rights of the Kampuchea Krom are not being violated.
Kampuchea Krom activists estimate that upward of 12 million ethnic Khmers live in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.
Thach Setha said he will register the new Kampuchea Krom committee with the Ministry of Interior, and if the ministry doesn’t grant them official status in three months he will form the organization without government approval.
He added that ministry officials threatened some of the Khmer Krom Association’s members not to join Monday’s meeting, but declined to say which Ministry of Interior officials allegedly made the threats.
A Ministry of Interior official, however, said the new group can form legally as long as they do not get involved in political matters.
“The law allows people to have rights and to form associations, but those associations are not allowed to practice politics,” said General Khieu Sopheak, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.
During Monday’s meeting, the 100 people in attendance agreed not to become involved in the affairs of political parties.
The new organization’s aims are primarily centered on nonviolent protection of the rights of the ethnic Khmers in Vietnam, as well as their art, literature and customs, Thach Setha said, adding that the organization may also publish “documents” related to the Kampuchea Krom.
The Kampuchea Krom came into the spotlight recently after a series of high-profile protests by members in Phnom Penh. Also, the US-based leader of a Kampuchea Krom nationalist movement, Thach Sang, threatened in July to use force if the Vietnamese government did not share some power with the ethnic Khmers living in Vietnam.
Thach Sang, a former Funcinpec parliamentarian and the head of the Kampuchea Krom National Liberation Front, was investigated by the government and the US after he made the threats.
The newly formed Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, however, has no association or involvement with Thach Sang, said Son Soubert, a member of the Constitutional Council who attended the meeting on Monday.
“In Asian countries, we have peace—why would we want to make war?” Son Soubert asked. “The community is only demanding the rights of the Khmer people.”
