Since the Mekong Delta was handed over to the Vietnamese after the French withdrawal in 1954, the
ethnic Cambodians who inhabit the Mekong Delta have been facing an identity crisis. They are blending
into mainstream Vietnamese society and learning to adapt to the style of Vietnamese governance.
This amalgamation has highlighted a number of political and cultural issues that are impacting the next
generation.
Chinese manuscripts dating back to 1ad identify the Khmer Krom (literally meaning Khmer from below)
as the indigenous population of the Mekong Delta. The root of the Angkor Empire and the origin of
Theravada Buddhism in South East Asia, the Khmer Krom are the architectural and cultural genesis of
modern Cambodia’s identity.
According to census figures, the Khmer Krom represent 1.2 million of the 17 million inhabitants of
the Mekong Delta. The Delta is home to 447 Khmer temples and over 10000 Khmer monks practicing
Theravada Buddhism. In Tra Vinh, the cultural stronghold of Kampuchea Krom, 90% of the temples are
Khmer, some of which date back to the 4th
The urban centre of Tra Vinh is quintessentially Vietnamese. Cafes, clothing shops and street vendors
are the staple diet of the town; the passing tourist would never know that this area was once
predominantly Khmer. The Khmer language cannot be heard, and all signs are in Vietnamese. Only with
a trained eye would one be able to recognize the Khmer features within the population.
The rural areas of Tra Vinh portray a different story. Littered across the landscape of rice fields are
a number of Khmer Pagodas. These pagodas act as the epicentre for the Khmer communities which
dominate the area. Khmer is the only language spoken, and the only language known to the older
generation, a stark contrast to the centre of Tra Vinh.
This ancient claim to the land that the Khmer Krom have farmed for centuries is not endorsed by the
Vietnamese government who regard the Khmer Krom as an ethnic minority, not an indigenous group. As
an ethnic minority, the Khmer Krom feel they are being oppressed and are not represented at political
level. Their sole voice resides outside their homeland, the Kampuchea Khmers Krom Federation (KKF).
Formed in 1985 by affiliates residing in western countries the KKF represents the Khmer Krom at the
United Nations.
“We are facing a cultural genocide,” says Mr Thach Thach, president of the KKF.
Members of the KKF, senior monks in the Mekong Delta and the general populace unanimously agree
that the Khmer Krom race is declining and they fear for the future. Succumbing to the pressures of
urbanization and globalization are two major contributing factors, but many Khmer Krom and their
disconnected representatives feel that they are being deliberately persecuted by the ruling government.
A sentiment which is open to debate, are the Khmer Krom being persecuted? Or are they being treated
as an ethnic minority in a Communist state?
century A.D.
“What the Khmer Krom want is to have basic rights to live peacefully on their homeland,” says Serey
Chau of the KKF Youth Federation (KKYFC). These basic rights come in the form of access to Khmer
language in schools and freedom of speech. “Vietnam continues to ban language publication of their
history and cultures,” claims Sothy Kien of the KKYFC.
What the KKF see as human rights abuses, the Vietnamese government sees as a natural tool in
implementing a Communist agenda. Many publicized defrockings are due to monks disseminating
Khmer literature, organizing protests without permission or accessing ‘restricted information.’
The Vietnamese government maintains that they are not committing human rights abuses and stated at
the United Nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues that it refuses to listen to any group claiming
to represent an ethnic minority in Vietnam.
The Vietnamese government has made concessions by including Khmer language lessons into some
government schools and offering Khmer studies at a few universities in the Mekong Delta but the KKF
do not feel enough is being done. “Much more work has to be done by Vietnam to ensure that Khmer
students get the same opportunities as Vietnamese students without bias or discrimination such as
incorporating the Khmer language at all levels of the schooling, in particular kindergarten and post-
secondary education,” says Sothy Kien of the KKYFC.
The KKF identify other areas where they feel the Khmer Krom are being persecuted: their religion is
controlled by the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha (VBS), a council formed in 1981 and controlled by the
government. They believe that this council is used as a political tool to control religious freedom and
defrock monks based on political values, not religious principles. Sothy Kien cites the recent example of
Venerable Ly Chanh Da, a Khmer abbot who was beaten, defrocked twice and humiliated in public for
wanting to teach Khmer classes.
Vietnam is predominantly an Atheist republic; Vietnamese who practice Buddhism follow a different
sect, Mahayana Buddhism (9% of the population). The VBS was formed to unite all sects of Buddhism
in Vietnam. By controlling Buddhism the government has been able to oversee its constitutional
mandate: ‘Religious associations are prohibited to use religion to propagate ideologies that are opposed
to the government.’ This mandate has been the basis for numerous defrockings of Theravada Buddhist
monks.
With their religion no longer an independent organization, Theravada monks are afraid to speak out and
voice their opinion for fear of arrest. This fear has silenced the vast majority of the Khmer Krom.
Due to Vietnam’s tight lipped policy on internal matters and its refusal to enter into dialogue at
international level, where the truth lies is ambiguous. There is resentment from the Khmer Krom
towards the Vietnamese because of the Delta’s history, but Vietnamese authorities have been heavy
handed on monks who have spoken out, and see their attempts to connect with their only hope of a
political voice, the KKF, as a crime. A crime punishable by defrocking.
Perhaps the largest problem facing the Khmer Krom is not the perceived persecution by the Vietnamese
but the urbanization of Vietnam that is breaking up Khmer communities much like urban migration is
in Cambodia. As the Khmer Krom enter into the melting pots of the larger cities in the Mekong such as
Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho, they are leaving their culture behind. These cities are of great contrast to Soc
Trang and Tra Vinh where the Khmer Krom culture is still recognizable in the rural communities. They
have blended into mainstream society adopting Vietnamese names through marriage and speaking
predominantly in Vietnamese. “Unable to return to their homelands for traditional Khmer holidays they
are gradually losing their culture without knowing it,” states Serey Chau of the KKYFC. This equation has
left the future of the Khmer Krom in the hands of the local pagodas.
The Khmer Krom are proud people and this is clear when visiting the temples in the Mekong Delta. They
are immaculately preserved and a symbol that the Khmer Krom remain in Vietnam. During Vietnamese
school holidays they teach Khmer literature and language to local schoolchildren. They pass down
the traditional arts from generation to generation and are still the binding factor among rural Khmer
communities in the Mekong Delta.
But the Krom fight an uphill battle to survive as an Ethnic minority in a Communist state. No longer an
independent group who can educate their children in their own language and practice religion freely,
they are coming to terms with life in modern Vietnam.
For the new generation of Khmer Krom, many of them speak Vietnamese as their first language, and a
hashed blend of Khmer and Vietnamese as their second language whilst wearing traditional Vietnamese
dress to school, and surrounded by Vietnamese signs.
With no representation at political level inside Vietnam and marginalized to the rural areas, the Khmer
Krom have resigned to protecting their culture from Vietnamese influence as they witness the first
generation who are unaware of their heritage.
