THE CAMBODIAN OPPOSITION HAS NO ANTI-VIETNAMESE SENTIMENT

12 April 2014

THE CAMBODIAN OPPOSITION HAS NO ANTI-VIETNAMESE SENTIMENT

There is a foreign-entertained allegation of racism, more precisely of anti-Vietnamese sentiment, against the Cambodian political opposition (CNRP) led by Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha.

This groundless allegation, which is alien to any ordinary Cambodian citizen, stems from ignorance of Cambodia’s political environment and the Khmer language, culture and history on the part of some Westerners who then easily fall prey to political manipulation orchestrated by the ruling CPP.

As a matter of fact, some dubious foreign experts on the payroll of the Cambodian government (Allen Meyers, Helen Jarvis, Raoul Jennar, etc.) have been trying to manipulate non-Cambodian observers into believing that any opponent to the Vietnamese-installed and communist-born Hun Sen regime is an extremist who harbours anti-Vietnamese sentiment. By doing so, they are deflecting attention from Cambodia’s real problems and scapegoating the patriotic and democratic opposition for the government’s destructive corruption and human rights abuses.

Unfortunately, some foreigners, especially Western journalists who don’t have time to make in-depth analysis, keep repeating among themselves the above race-related allegation and end up getting disturbed by simplistic and sensationalist reports in the foreign press and literature on Cambodia.

The following evidence will set the record straight.

I- A FALSE SEMANTICAL CONTROVERSY: THE APPELLATION “YUON” IS NOT DEROGATORY AND RACIST

At the basis of the race-related allegation is the appellation “Yuon,” which is commonly used by the Khmer (or Cambodian) people to designate the Vietnamese but is viewed as derogatory and racist by some misled Westerners.

For instance, Sam Rainsy’s denunciation, in the Khmer language, of “Cambodia’s economic colonization by Yuon companies” has been reported as a racially charged statement, with the attention being concentrated on “Yuon” rather than on “colonization.”

Actually, this appellation “Yuon” just means Vietnamese, as “Deutsch,” on the banks of the Rhine, means German. In no way could it be compared to the word “Boche,” which the French used to call the Germans when France was under Nazi occupation during World War II.        

Fortunately, once the record is put straight on this false semantical controversy, the rest of the argument behind the anti-Vietnamese allegation will fall apart.

Please read the following documents or listen to the following audios:
- Sam Rainsy's letter in The Phnom Penh Post, 03 March 2014, The word ''yuon'' and its origins: http://tinyurl.com/ktpa5gj
- Explanation given in the most authoritative Cambodian dictionary (1967): http://tinyurl.com/n3aq2a2
- Speeches by the late King Norodom Sihanouk: http://tinyurl.com/od7khha, http://tinyurl.com/llq8tq9
- Interview of Government’s spokesman Phay Siphan (on VOA, 28 January 2010): https://app.box.com/s/hnvkvvnkk4w8vi534i2p
- Excerpts from recent pro-CPP and independent newspapers and Website postings: http://tinyurl.com/qbjqk6w
- Recent articles by Khmer independent historians and scholars:

• Objectors to yuon have been hypnotised by foreign ''experts'': http://tinyurl.com/p432adj
• "Yuon", a Traditional Appellation: http://tinyurl.com/lf9lujp
• Yuon: What's in a xenonym? : http://tinyurl.com/m9v5v28
• Meaning of Yuon (1): http://tinyurl.com/njzkcmq

II- BEHIND THE SEMANTICAL CONTROVERSY: AN INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO DENIGRATE THE DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION

In order to discredit its political opponents and to deflect public attention from real problems it is unable or unwilling to address, the current Phnom Penh government -- whose top leaders were put in power by the Vietnamese communist invasion army in 1979 -- has depicted Cambodians who continue to use the term "yuon" as "racists" and "extremists." This is part of an international campaign to denigrate the patriotic and democratic opposition and its leaders.

Prime Minister Hun Sen started this campaign to mislead foreign leaders and gullible Westerners with the help of foreign fake experts who know little about our country. In an October 3, 1998 letter to U.S. senators John McCain and John Kerry, Hun Sen capitalized on the senators’ ignorance of the term "yuon" by stating, “Mr. Sam Rainsy referred to me as a yuon puppet. In case Your Excellencies are not familiar with the term yuon, yuon is a highly derogative and racist term used to denigrate those of Vietnamese ancestry”. Hun Sen is known for his ties to the Vietnamese. What I said was nothing new. But Hun Sen chose to attack my use of the term “yuon” rather than answer the charge that he served the interest of a foreign nation rather than his own.

It is politically expedient but historically inaccurate to accuse Cambodians who denounce the colonization of Cambodia and are only fighting for the independence of their nation, of being "racist." Based on the use of a single word, the accusation of racism is groundless and inconsistent because countless people and organizations -- from the late King Norodom Sihanouk to government officials to pro-CPP medias to ordinary citizens -- used or are using the terms "yuon" and "Vietnamese" interchangeably.

A distinction must be made between “derogatory” and “politically incorrect.” Please read Sam Rainsy's letter in The Phnom Penh Post, 03 March 2014, The word ''yuon'' and its origins: http://tinyurl.com/ktpa5gj

III- CLARIFICATION ON THE CNRP’S STANCE ON THE “VIETNAMESE ISSUE”

The following texts will help stop information distortion in the form of simplistic and sensationalist clichés on the “Vietnamese issue” as raised in Cambodia:
- Anti-Vietnamese Rhetoric Is Being Misinterpreted, Misdirected: http://tinyurl.com/lbrhvju
- The Word ''Yuon'' Is Not to Blame for Mob Killing of Vietnamese Man: http://tinyurl.com/lafzh38
- Critic's ''False Controversy'' Masks Pro-CPP Views: http://tinyurl.com/l94tru4

IV- CNRP NOT SCAPEGOATING VIETNAMESE IMMIGRANTS FOR CAMBODIAN PROBLEMS

There is a related allegation that the opposition CNRP has been "scapegoating" Vietnamese immigrants for Cambodian problems." We would like to point to the fact that the CNRP’s political platform for the last elections of July 2013 and the current parliamentary term, is made up of seven points (pensions, civil service, minimum wages, farm prices, health care, education and employment, inflation) corresponding, in our views, to Cambodia’s most fundamental problems. None of the problems put forward are related, for both the cause and the solution, to any foreign people. They are just Cambodian problems to be addressed by Cambodians alone.

V- EXAMPLE OF A FOREIGN OBSERVER BEING MANIPULATED BY CPP PROPAGANDA AGAINST CNRP

Sam Rainsy’s following interview with ABC Radio Australia on 19 March 2014 shows the example of a foreign journalist being manipulated when he speaks about an incident out of its context while referring to the “reputation of being anti-Vietnam” unfairly attributed to the CNRP:http://tinyurl.com/qx8d9zz

Please read also « Beware of Political Manipulation With Regard to the Appellation "Yuon" and to Race-Related Allegations in Cambodia » : http://tinyurl.com/ojguvu6

VI- A LONG HISTORY OF WARS, OCCUPATIONS AND CONFLICTS IN THE INDOCHINA PENINSULA BETWEEN CAMBODIA AND THAILAND ON THE ONE HAND AND CAMBODIA AND VIETNAM ON THE OTHER 

The history of Cambodia in Asia is, for some periods of time, reminiscent of that of Poland in Europe. For centuries, Cambodia, a country caught between two powerful neighbours, had resisted Thailand and Vietnam’s expansionisms as Poland had resisted Germany and Russia’s expansionisms. The fear and suspicion that the Cambodian people feel towards the Thai and the Vietnamese can be compared to the fear and suspicion that the Poles used to feel towards the Germans and the Russians.

In the first half of the 19 ^th century, Cambodia was an occupied country and the occupying "Yuon" (the appellation "Vietnamese" did not exist yet at that time) forced the Khmer to abandon their language, culture and traditions. It was under the policy of Vietnamization conducted by Annam’s Emperor Ming Mang and General Truong Minh Giang, who acted as a viceroy ruling Cambodia as a colony, with an iron fist. Countless Cambodians who resisted the Vietnamese attempt to destroy their culture and their identity and to swallow their country, were massacred in what could be seen as the beginning of a genocide (see “L’annexion du Cambodge par les Vietnamiens au XIXe siècle” by Khin Sok. Editions You Feng, Paris, 2002).

In 1949 Cambodia officially lost 21 provinces (Cochinchina or Kampucha Krom) to Vietnam after more than 400 years of fierce resistance. Those Khmer now living under Vietnamese rule (Khmer Krom or Southern Khmer) complain of being continuously persecuted by the Yuon.

In 1979 Vietnam’s army invaded Cambodia and installed a Hanoi-subservient regime whose top leaders are still in power and turn a blind eye to the ongoing colonization of their country.

To understand Cambodians’ fear of their Eastern neighbours please read: http://tinyurl.com/lbrhvju

VII- SAM RAINSY’S VISION OF A NEW ASEAN

Regarding Sam Rainsy’s vision of Cambodia’s relations with its neighbouring countries please read the following excerpt from an interview in The Nation (Bangkok), 10 March 2014:

Interviewer (Suthichai Yoon): Apart from Vietnam, there are also issues with Thailand. How would you handle Thailand if you are Prime Minister, especially the Preah Vihear issue?

Sam Rainsy: You know, I've lived in Europe for many years, and I'm fascinated by the European Union, the E.U. as a regional grouping. I dream of a new ASEAN built on the same model as the European Union. This trend of grouping would be based on common values, on democratic values, on respect for human rights, good governance, rule of law. I think if we share common values, we will become the best of friends and the best of allies, working for common prosperity, I'm also fascinated and inspired by the reconciliation between France and Germany, which had been fighting each other for centuries, but eventually, after the end of war, they achieved reconciliation. They work together, share common values, built the core of the E.U., which is a real success story. I dream of an ASEAN built on the same model, even though Cambodia-Thailand on the one hand, Cambodia-Vietnam on the other hand have not always been friendly to each other. But we can, and must and will achieve reconciliation. Like France and Germany we must work together for peace and common prosperity.

Read full interview: http://tinyurl.com/kl6cqw7

CNRP Cabinet