Khmer overseas ask the American president to investigate Khmer Krom's issues

Source: Radio Free Asia
Reported by Khmerization

Overseas Khmers are gathering signatures in order to send a petition to U.S President Barack Obama (pictured) to ask him to order an investigation into the abuses and persecutions of Khmer Krom by the Vietnamese authority, reports Radio Free Asia.

Dr. Tith Naranhkiri, a professor from the John Hopkins University and a former
senior official of the IMF, told RFA that his group wants Vietnam to respect the human rights of the Khmer Krom people. He said: "We want President Obama to investigate that issue. If the President wants the respect of human rights and if he wants justice, it must not for our country (America) only, but it must be for the whole world. This is what we want. We want the President to examine the human right abuses in Cambodia and of the Khmer Krom (in Vietnam). The President has defended the victims of Darfur. Why can't he defend the victims of Cambodia and the Khmer Krom people? This is what we want. We are not asking them (American leaders) to do what is impossible. We only ask what they have promised to do for us. And if we don't remind them, who will remind them?"

Dr. Tith Naranhkiri said that he is really worried about the situations in Cambodia and in Kampuchea Krom. He said: "First, what can we do about the Vietnamese persecutions of the Khmer Krom people? Secondly, what can we do about the illegal Vietnamese immigrants who had come to settled in Cambodia since 1979 under the Khmer-Vietnamese Friendship Treaty. Now, our country has no indepedence. If the Vietnamese tell Hun Sen to turn right, he will turn right. If the Vietnamese tell him to turn left, he will turn left. The illegal Vietnamese settlers poured into Cambodia everyday without any attempt to stop them. This is because our Khmer leaders are corrupt, so the Vietnamese they use money to bribe them. Also Hun Sen is very scared of Vietnam because he was propped up by Vietnam. This is why I do not talk about the two issues separately because now the Vietnamese abused and persecuted the Khmer Krom and also they send their settlers to live in Cambodia. So, at this present time, they have achieved both of their aims. That's why I am really worried that if the Vietnamese invade Cambodia again, we have nowhere to escape."