Mission to Vietnam Advocacy Day (Vietnamese-American Meet up 2013) in the U.S. Capitol. A UPR report By IOC-Campa.
Written by Khaleelah Porome
Khaleelah Porome
The IOC, is an organization that promotes the preservation of the Kingdom of Champas history and culture. The Champa people are an indigenous group of people that have existed in Vietnam since the 7th century. It remained in its glory days until its fall in the 10th century to its northern neighbor, Dai Viet (present day Vietnam). In 1653, Champa became a vassal state of the Nguyen until, in 1832,
Emperor Minh Menh annexed its remaining territories. This caused the erasure of the Kingdom of Champa from the map. Today all that remains of the Kingdom of Champa are its archaeological sites and the survivors of Emperor Minh Menhs ethnic cleansing policies. After 1975, when Saigon fell to the communist government of North Vietnam, the Cham lost their farms, land and properties, because they were confiscated by the government. They have been prohibited to worship and practice their religions. Practicing Hindu Cham had several ancient temples that were used for worship, confiscated and converted into tourist destinations by the Vietnamese government for their own financial benefit, violating the Cham Hindu beliefs.
About 130,000 Cham people in Vietnam currently exist in Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces (central Vietnam); Chau Doc, Ho Chi Minh City, and Tay Ninh (Southern Vietnam). The rest have fled seeking refuge in the U.S., Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and across Europe.
The Cham people are currently recognized by the Vietnamese government as minority group, even though they are indeed and in fact, indigenous. They meet all requirements by the UN standards and criteria, to be considered indigenous, however the Vietnamese government refuses to acknowledge this.
Recent human rights violations by the Vietnamese government against the Cham people:
In 2012, the local police used their power to bust into a local Mosque and took away a generator that provided electricity to over 40 families in the village of Chau Giang, and not long after that they came and kidnapped young village girls at their discretion to rape and sexually abuse them, eventually releasing them.
On 2009, a farm land owned by 13 Cham families From Vân Lâm villages was confiscated, when they tried to stand up for their ownership, they were apprehended by the police and discarded in an undisclosed remote location in the jungle.
In 2010, two young Cham college students from Thành Tín village are on vacation took a walk from their village to the city being stop and beat up to death.
In March 2013, a poor Cham college student Thành Xuân Thịnh from Phươc Nhơn village took out a loan for school, upon graduation he was unable to get a job and sought the help of staffing agency to place him in a position, so he could pay back his student loans. The agency had promised to staff him within weeks. After a few months, he was still unemployed, and when he approached the agency about a refund, they set him on fire, and he burned to death.
Cham people who have escaped Vietnam and have become U.S. citizens, have tried to return to their native land, of Vietnam to visit family and friends. Each time they return to Vietnam they are discriminated against, harassed, and even imprisoned. Mr. Nguyen V. Xung, an exchange student to Saudi Arabia in 1973 went back to Vietnam to visit his aging mother, was kept in the hotel overnight then was eventually deported out a day after that. Mr. Musa Porome, went to Vietnam in 1989 was kept at a hotel for 5 days while being interrogated by police agents and was eventually deported out of the country. Mr. Qasim Tu went to Vietnam in 2004, and was harassed and subjected to intimidation by Vietnamese secret agent over several days, and unable to visit his family. When Mrs. Man Jone tried to visit she was arrested and imprisoned under the accusations that she was trying to introduce a new religion to the community.
The Vietnamese government is currently building a nuclear power plant in a Cham village, with old and used technology from old North Korean power plants. Many people have fought against it, including Vietnamese politicians and scientists, citing the long term adverse affects it would have on the local villages and eventually extended further into the major cities of Vietnam. People that have spoken out publicly or post anything on social media sites, are immediately approached by and harassed by the Vietnam government. A prime example is when Mr. Musa Porome wrote a letter questioning the reasoning for the development of the nuclear power plant in a currently populated area, and speaking out about it. The government immediately fired back by threatening and intimidating him and his remaining family that still resides in Vietnam. They later tried to retract the statement, when he did not back down. But, he was unable to go back to Vietnam back in November 2012, for fear that they would do something to him if he went to visit.
There are ancient Cham towers that still remain in these indigenous areas. These towers are currently being funded by UNESCO for up keep and maintenance to benefit the tourism industry. These towers are highly visited by tourist all over the world. The profit received does not benefit any of the Cham people, nor the villages in which the towers exist. It is a direct violation of the terms of agreement for the UNESCO funding.
These are just a few of the incidences against the Cham people, that have recently been relayed and documented. Many go undocumented because most people are in fear of their lives and their families lives if they speak out and protest the wrongful actions of the government.
