Tuesday, May 26, 2009

How do know about the Uncle Ho's Dream of Real Estate Business in Cambodia?

Now, Cambodia and Vietnam has agreed to waive visa fee from both sides for their people who wish to travel to these two countries. Undeniably, the Vietnamese will travel to Cambodia more than Cambodian travel to Vietnam. Cambodian population has currently had about 14 millions. Vietnamese population has currently had about 80 millions. Ho's dream of using their people as the special agent to expand his real estate is absolutely intellectual and successful.

Cambodia is a weak state with a powerful man because this country cannot autonomously control the flows of foreign migration particularly Vietnamese immigrants. CPP has guaranteed stability, but it is the stability of the death because each day Vietnamese population can easily expand their kins entire Cambodia.

The drawing mirrored by Sacrava interpreted the reality happening in Cambodia. Cambodia is moving to become a sub-state of Vietnam under its neo-colonialism strategy. It is true that stability in Cambodia comes from the expense of the sovereign integrity that Cambodia has to share it for under the CPP.

Of course, the triumph of Vietnam to attain Ho Chi Minh's vision of Indo-China Confederation is presently ongoing. This triumph has been flexible to the change of world politic which has tremendously shaped from world war, to cold war, and to capitalism finally.

Capitalism is about the trading, labor migration, and flows of financial and human capitals. Vietnam has capitalized on economic development through economic liberalization and export-led growth focus. In recent decades, Vietnam is satisfied with its growth so it can can diffuse the ideology of Indochina Confederation any time to neighboring countries such as Lao and Cambodia. They have used different terms of Confederation such as eternal friendship, comprehensive corporation, or peaceful neighborhood development etc.

In term of labor migration, many countries have strictly controlled the in and out of labor migration into their territory. But Cambodia has never enforced its immigration laws to control the flows of labor migration. Cambodia has hugely been flown in by labor migrations from China and Vietnam. What Cambodia is worrying is Vietnamese migration to Cambodia.

Cambodia-Vietnam border demarcation is just the facade of Uncle Ho's plan. In the past, Vietnamese king assured to respect Champa's border land but imposed their citizens to migrate and live in Champa. Prey Norkor of Jey Chettha II had got promision from Vietnam about respecting his territory land. Vietnam just borrowed the space to train their people. Current situation in Cambodia is the same. Many economic contracts including border demarcation and border-pole installation with Vietnam is just the facade of colonization because Vietnamese labor migration is non-stop influx into Cambodia.

We don't have reliable statistics of how much Vietnamese population has already lived in Cambodia and how much each day Vietnamese migration crossed the border and resettled in Cambodia.

But what we are knowing is the lacking of laws enforcement of immigration laws of Cambodia. Worse, it includes the epidemic corruption of immigration officials that can lead to easily moving to Cambodia of those Vietnamese population.

Now, Cambodia and Vietnam has agreed to waive visa fee from both sides for their people who wish to travel to these two countries. Undeniably, the Vietnamese will travel to Cambodia more than Cambodian travel to Vietnam. Cambodian population has currently had about 14 millions. Vietnamese population has currently had about 80 millions. Ho's dream of using their people as the special agent to expand his real estate is absolutely intellectual and successful.

There is a short joke quoted by Alternative Watch that [Three leaders, one Siam, one Viet, and one Khmer, come across a lamp and a genie pops out of it.

“I will grant you each one wish; that’s three wishes in total,” says the genie.

The Khmer leader thinks for a while, and says, “I want a wall around Cambodia to protect it for all eternity from those with less than good intentions.” So with a blink of the genie’s eye, WHOOSH, there is a huge wall around Cambodia.

The Viet leader is amazed, and asks, “I am curious about this wall. Please tell me more about it.”

The genie proudly explains, “Well, it is 50 metres high, 20 metres thick protecting Cambodia so that nothing can get in or out without permission.”

The Viet leader says, “Ah, it is getting tough. My uncle Ho always wants to expand the real estate. So my wish is to have Khmer leaders as our gofers for all eternity.”

Again, with the blink of the genie’s eye, the Khmer leader bows and invites the Vietnamese leader in. The Siam leader says, “Fill the wall up with water.”]

This joke correctly implies to current stability of Cambodia. When Thailand is so openly aggressively to Cambodia land, Vietnam is so successfully and secretly expanding and dominating Cambodia.

How big wall (border demarcation) Cambodia can build when 80 millions of Vietnamese can access freely to Cambodia land? How easy to bribe corruption immigration officials in Cambodia to become Cambodian citizenship? Including the political maneuver to having more Vietnamese inside Cambodia to favorably vote for the CPP, the power competition in the hand of CPP will eventually spread all Vietnamese population entire Cambodia.

Bravo Uncle Ho in the tale of strong man in a weak state of Cambodia!

KY

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, as a Viet, it sounds like I am reading a funny story written for secondary students, nothing less, a very short sighted, illiterate, uneducated guess!

1. If there were more inward travels, I would be very happy since that's a source for local income from tourism. If you want to "keep your traditional Khmer's rituals, your language, your country", shut the border and ya done! So what's the point?

2. True that Vietnam has 80-90 millions in population, but do you know where they live? most are in rural areas, can't move. More and more are coming to cities to find jobs. I would be VERY SURPRISE if they find a better environment in Phnompenh than home cities, so they have to leave. Even I don't endorse this view that many Vietnameses see Cambodia as a sub-class place, I would be happy if you could even point out, or prove that Cambodia is such good that Viet has to flood to your country to find job.

3. There is no strategy such as traveling agents, if the Viet wanted to dominate and over take Cambodia it would have done so long ago and you won't even have a chance to call such an independent country Cambodia anymore. True that Cambodia is small compared to Vietnam, but that doesn't mean Viet is going to take whatever out there for themself. It's a ridiculous view. You better blame (if you are unhappy with) the current status for your own people's unwillingness/incapacity to make changes. I, too, blame our system for failing to live up to the capacity of out country and resource. But changes must come from inside, I don't see if we can "impose" our lifestyle on you. So be it. Of course I want my country to be like South Korea or at least Malaysia. But changes must be from our people.

4. Separate your hatred of the Viet (well I could understand) from logical senses, I would be very happy to see our countries come closer, and people live peacefully with each others. I am an outward looking person, so I finding myself pretty easy to see others in their own ways, but can reason well with. You, and many as well, need to take out the extreme nationalistic views (which is out of reason, ultra nationalism and full of sefishness), in order to see the world a better place. I am saying this to many of my collegues too that if they keep such view for themself, they would just find more isolation, unhelpfulness and reluctance in opening eyes to the world.

Khmer Young said...

Dear 5:37 AM,

Thank you very much for your input. Of course, I and my Cambodian friends have no prejudice or discrimination towards Vietnamese. I think your sense of understanding and judging to my view is messily unfiltered.

However, you are right with the idea of short-sighted or long-sighted point of view.

Regarding to your assumption that Vietnamese will never want to migrate to Cambodia is contradict to the raw data we got inside Cambodia. Many workers who bear Cambodian citizens id arrested in Thailand are Vietnamese. Thai policemen tried to get Khmer interpreter for them, but they cannot speak Khmer properly or unable to write their name in Khmer language.

Inside Cambodia, Vietnamese population has been tremendously grown up in two ways:
1. Their relatives who have settled in Cambodia several years ago are trying to bring their relatives to live in Cambodia with them.
2. Many new workers and immigrants of Vietnamese are traveling to Cambodia to seek a new space because in Vietnam land is too dense.

Traveling to each country is part of freedom of human being, but government of Vietnam has strictly implemented its immigration law. Cambodia is really slack to enforce the laws. Cambodian leaders are drunk of entitlement, power, money and reputation.

Vietnamese travelers will increase in the income of local Cambodians? Of course, no empirical study related to this assumption of yours. But what we have seen in everywhere inside Cambodia is that many business places such as bus stations, market places, fishing lakes/rivers, and tourist sites are full of Vietnamese. Cambodia has lost jobs to hundred thousands of Cambodian labors. Cambodia is losing benefits from Vietnamese immigrants because those incoming workers have never paid tax to the government. Worse, they have been taken advantage of easy lifestyle to earn their living and send money back to their family in Vietnam among less competitive Cambodians.

But if it is a normal practice of people flows, it will not be a matter. It is really matter in this article because:
1. Uncle Ho was very smart to use his people for the independence and expanding territorial land. Of course, Uncle Ho copied this idea from Vietnamese ancestors (Uncle Ho is not Vietnamese by origin, he is Chinese) to send his over populated people to seek new land/space as the instrumental real estate expanding.
2. Current Cambodian government has not paid attention in dealing with Vietnamese population in Cambodia. In this case, we can say it is because of corruption, gratefulness from many top leaders regarding Vietnam who helped them to have today, and domination influence of Vietnam inside CPP party. There are Vietnamese associations spreading entire Cambodia to help support in all fields such as resettlement, finding jobs and emergent assistance etc. This would be a well planned to planting Vietnamese population inside Cambodia so that one day Cambodian people will become a minor group in their own land as well as their ancestral land. Vietnamese has 80 millions with high rate of birth, Cambodia has 14 millions with low rate of birth imply well "the concept of using people to expand real estate business".

My point of view responding to your input is baseless of racial discrimination. It is the truth happening inside Cambodia. I am admiring Vietnamese government that has genuinely been working for their people and nation. But current Cambodian government is in contrast.

Regards,

KY