Stop the fight among us: the Khmers

Stop fighting among ourselves

If the report in Bangkok Post (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/224455/cambodian-move-raises-border-tension) is true—that Hun Sen is putting the Khmer Rouge soldiers to face the Thai forces around Preah Vihear—then it would mean that those poor Khmers, mostly the underprivileged ones, are being sent to the frontlines to face the almighty Thai army.  Although the Khmer Rouge are considered battle hardened in the past, these soldiers are now older and have not been in combat for many years.

The Khmer Rouge soldiers are not equipped with proper protection and sophisticated weapons. They are not armed to the teeth. Their fighting ability is no match to Thailand’s military might, which is among the best in Asia, if not in the world. This comment should not be misconstrued as a submission to the Thai, but it is just the matter of fact. It has nothing to do with nationalism or patriotism.

It reminds me of the many events in the recent pasts, whereby the Khmers are being sacrificed for the livelihoods of others.

In the 1970’s, when Cambodia was invaded by the then North Vietnamese and Vietcong, thousands of young Khmer men were sent to combat against the more experienced Vietnamese armed forces and thousands of Khmers were killed. Many of my friends who went to fight in the battles--such as in Chenla I, Chenla II, just to name a few--had never returned from the battlefields. Those young men and women were the cream of the crops for the Khmer race. They could have been here with us and produced thousands more offsprings.

Needless to say, thousands of young Khmer men and women who went to join the Khmer Rouge, the Khmer Roumdos of Prince Sihanouk and the North Vietnamese/Vietcong to battle the Khmer Republican Army were also killed and maimed.  Hundreds of thousands of Khmer lives were destroyed by the American air raids. Millions tons of bomb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88jrZjsNHPc&feature=player_embedded) were used in a few short years. Many of my relatives and friends who went to join in the fight never came back. Those were the cream of the crops of Khmer blood.  They could have been here with us and produced thousands more Khmer children.

Map showing 115,273 targets of U.S. secret bombing of Cambodia between October 1965 and August 1973. (Taylor Owen)

www.japanfocus.org/-Ben-Kiernan/3380

The remaining Khmer young men, women and their family members whom were left over from the 70-75 war--most of them sided with the American-backed government of Lon Nol--were savagely murdered during the Pol Pot rule of 75-79. Some two millions Khmer lives vanished in a few short years.  Most of them were the cream of the crops of Khmer race. If they were here with us, they could have produced millions Khmer families.

                                            From: https:/.../tag/vietnam-invaded-cambodia/

 
Then, the last waves of the killings were during and after the Vietnamese invasion of 1979. Countless of Pol Pot’s soldiers –all Khmer—were sacrificed to fight against the hundreds of thousands well armed Vietnamese invading forces.  Can we imagine, how many Khmers were shot to death by the Vietnamese and how many were maimed and injured? At the same time, the Vietnamese also recruited thousands more of Khmer men and women to fight against the Khmer Rouge guerilla. Countless more Khmers on both sides died in the many battles during and after the Vietnamese invasion.

What about the K5 Plan? During my first visit to Cambodia in 1992, I learned a new “saying” by Cambodian people-Tov Chiss Laan, Mok Vinh Chiss Chaan—it meant when young Khmer men and women were sent to serve in the K5 Plan they went by the truckloads, but when they returned, they (their ashes) came back inside small urns.  Thousands more of Khmers—the cream of the crops—were sacrificed. They could have produced thousands more Khmer families, if they were here with us.

Now, a decade later, the last cream of the crops of Khmer men and women—they are called the Khmer Rouge soldiers, along with the so-called Cambodian Royal Armed forces, who are mostly underprivileged--are about to be sacrificed against the almighty Thailand’s armed forces.  Meanwhile, those children of the rich and powerful ones, many of whom are new comers (can't even enunciate Khmer words), enjoy their time singing in Karaoke bars, eating and drinking in fine restaurants and nightclubs, driving luxurious vehicles, etc…

My Khmer brothers and sisters: Whether you are in Vietnam, in Thailand and elsewhere in the world, let’s us stop fighting against each other.  There are many Thai soldiers who are Khmer as well as there are many Vietnamese soldiers who are Khmer. Let’s furthermore remember that during Vietnam War, many of our Khmer brothers and sisters who lived in Kampuchea Krom were sent to fight into the fierce battlefields. We had killed each other in the battlegrounds throughout Vietnam as well as in Cambodia.  The so-called Mike’s Forces army was nearly wiped out—many thousands of those fine young men and women were Khmer.  They could have produced thousands Khmer families in that region if their lives were spared from the fighting. 

                                   http://www.kneesinthebreeze.com/images/soos/index.html

Now this: By looking at the elements of Thai fighters, I see that many of them are the underprivileged ones. Many of whom are Khmer men and women who are of Thai nationals. They are being positioned to confront their brothers and sisters--Khmer men and women who are also poor and uneducated inside Cambodia. Shall we fight and kill each other again?


                            Source: Cambodian Newspaper Koh Santepheap

Wherever we are, we all are Khmer- Just Khmer—not Khmer Loeur, Khmer Kandal, Khmer Krom, Khmer Krao or Khmer Khnong.  Our Khmer race is being wiped out.  Whether we are being systematically eradicated by others, by our own past ignorance or both, we need to stop the annihilation right now.  

Stop the Killing! One Khmer life is priceless.