18. Kampuchea Krom

-Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation official web site - May 5, 2002"...activities have concentrated on many fronts to alert the human rights abuse in Kampuchea Krom (converted to the name of South Vietnam at Indochina war and after) under the Vietnamese leaders...Prey Nokor was one of the most important commercial cities of all in Kampuchea-Krom, but the name was first changed to Saigon and then to Ho Chi Minh City by the Vietnamese Communist in 1975." "Our mission is through the use of peaceful measures and the international laws, to seek freedom, justice and the right to self determination for Khmer Krom people who are living under the oppression of the Vietnamese Socialist government." They have an interesting map that incorporates the southern Vietnam area into Cambodia.

-The "menace" of Vietnam and/or China - May 5, 2002 One of the polital undercurrents of Cambodian politics is the idea that Cambodia is slowly being taken over by Vietnam or China (Cambodia is said to be, for some reason, the "apple of China's eye"). At the same time, some Cambodians claim the entire southern part of Vietnam for Cambodia. Here's some intersting text from a newsletter (apprently translated from French) from Khemara Jati, Montreal, Quebec, and dated April 4, 2002. See also the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation official web site5 / Precisions of our Compatriots and readersa / The vietnamisation of Cambodians of Kampuchea Krom is possible by the using of the only French and Vietnamese languages in the administration and school. Louis Malleret, in 1946 (3), pled in vain the using also of the Cambodian language in the cities and villages where Cambodians are in majority. Thus the vietnamisation was done and is done by the disappearance of the Cambodian language. Especially the written language is the fundamental support of the cultural identity.Let us recall that on the French arrival, Cambodians were majority in many provinces of Cochin-China. But the forced vietnamisation, political and cultural, imposed by the colonial authorities which, gradually, made possible to the Vietnameses to become majority .....

-The demise of Cambodian donut shops - LA Times, May 5, 2002....For more than two decades, Cambodian immigrants, in particular, have made a mark in the doughnut business, which requires few English-language and technical skills. Drawing on the money and support of family and friends who paved the way, many ascended to the middle class by cultivating this particular retailing niche in their adopted homeland, just as thousands of Vietnamese newcomers gravitated to the nail salon business and many Thai immigrants opened neighborhood restaurants.Now, Cambodian immigrants, who operate an estimated 75% of California's nearly 2,500 doughnut shops, are struggling, especially in Southern California, the epicenter of the nation's most intense doughnut wars. They and other independent operators must grapple with a resurgent Winchell's Donut House, which is renovating stores and has boosted its advertising budget, and the exploding popularity of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, which has attracted a cult-like following and has grand expansion plans for the Southland........Ning Yen, who supplies 1,600 doughnut shops in Southern California, the nation's most crowded market. Just a few years ago, Cambodians and other immigrants called on him for advice on how to operate and get financing for doughnut shops. The "godfather" of Cambodian doughnut makers would freely dispense words of wisdom to fledgling entrepreneurs, who in turn would buy sugar, dough and icing from his company, B&H Distributors.His telephone isn't ringing as much now, except for queries from financially strapped customers who are seeking more time to pay him.... (from A Hole in Their Dreams, Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2002)

-Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc - Phnom Penh Post, 06:46, April 28, 2002 To Cambodians the island is still wistfully known by its Khmer name "Koh Tral". While the island has never had a Khmer administration, it has long been claimed by Cambodia. Some of the country's more strident nationalists still regard the island as part of Cambodia.
-