March 10, 2006
Khmer Krom refugees in Cambodia, numbered around one million, have sent a letter to the Vietnam's PM Phan Van Khai on his trip to Cambodia this week. The letter seeks the following demands to be fulfilled in their homeland Kampuchea Krom:
- Respect Khmer Krom indigenous rights
- Provide fund to many Khmer Krom schools that have been run by Khmer Krom in many temples
- Respect Khmer Krom religious rights to practice freely
- Permit Kleang (Soc Trang) province to conduct the Flower Festival more than the State's dictated-one day in the province
- Allow Khmer Krom overseas to move freely in their homeland while visiting
- Respect free press such as listening to news and to express opinion freely
- School courses and programs should be allowed to conduct in Khmer Krom language
- State must fund the cures of Khmer Krom's current blindness epidemic in the provinces Kleang (Soc Trang) and Bac Lieu (Polev) which is accounted for around 3,000 victims.
