Vietnam Delegation Visit Greensboro, North Carolina

TEN DELEGATES FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM‘S CENTRAL HIGHLANDS WAS INVITED TO VISIT GREENSBORO, NC WHERE THE MAJORITY OF DEGAR REFUGEES ARE LIVING

The US State Department invited ten delegates from the government of Vietnam’s Central Highlands to visit the United States and tour Washington, DC, one major Degar resettlements in Greensboro, NC and then San Francisco Bay area.  The delegation visited the city of Greensboro, NC for two days on March 3 – 4, 2008.  The names of the delegates are as follows:

Mr. Cuong Van BUI
Officer, Central Highland Affairs Committee

Mr. Dien LE
Vice Chairman, Central Party Committee of the Kontum Province

Mr. Cu Ngoc LU
Chairman, Dak Lak Province People’s Committee

Mr. Nam Van MAI
Principal Vice Chairman of the Central Highland Affairs Committee

Mr. Nam Hoanh NGUYEN
Deputy Director General, Americas Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Dung The PHAM
Chairman, Gia Lai province People’s Committee

Mr. Hung Viet TRAN
Chief of Staff, the Central Highland Affairs Committee

Mr. Tam Thanh TRAN
Political Desk Officer, Vietnam – US Division, the Americas Dept., Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Dung TRINH
Deputy Chief of Staff, the Central Highland Affairs Committee

Mr. Tai Tan VO
Deputy Director, Ethnicity & Religious Affairs Department, Central Highland Affairs Committee

Before the Vietnamese delegation arrived in Greensboro, NC on March 2, 2008, Mr. Kok Ksor was invited to attend the meeting by the Piedmont Triad Council for International Visitors (PTCIV). He was asked to describe how the Degar Montagnard refugees were treated by the US government and to relay Degar concerns over loved ones remaining in Vietnam. Unfortunately, Mr. Ksor was never allowed to deliver his statement at the meeting and was never even told why. Even though Mr. Ksor was not allowed to speak at the meeting, we are still so very thankful to PTCIV because they included his statement in their packages that were handed out to people who attended the meeting.  The statement is as follows:

STATEMENT ON THE OCCASION OF VN DELEGATION VISIT US

Submitted by Kok Ksor to the Piedmont Triad Council for International Visitors in Greensboro, NC March 3, 2008

First, I would like to thank the Piedmont Triad Council for International Visitors, especially Mr. Ralph Cauthen, for making it possible for me to be here today. I would also like to welcome the Vietnamese delegation from Vietnam.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of Degar Montagnard refugees, I would like to express my very deep appreciation and sincere thanks to the US government and American people, especially the local governments and citizens of North Carolina and South Carolina. I appreciate the compassion and generosity you have shown to us by offering our Degar refugees a sanctuary and a home in your beautiful States.

I also want to extend my thanks to the Lutheran Families, churches, church members, manufacturers, companies and all other friends who have involved themselves in assisting Degar refugees with housing, food, sponsors, education, training, jobs, healthcare and other miscellaneous needs.

We, the Degar refugees and the Degar people in general, can never thank the government of the United States and the people of America enough for their kindness, compassion, generosity and all the assistance that they have offered to our refugees. We pray that our Almighty God will richly bless and protect the United States of America and its people.

I came to the United States in 1974 and, after the fall of South East Asia in 1975, I became one of the first refugees from the Degar Montagnard Tribes of the Central Highlands of South Indochina.  At that time, only a handful of Degar Montagnards were able to manage to escape Vietnam and come to the United States.  In 1986, around 200 Degar refugees came from Thailand and in 1992 around 400 more came from the jungles of Cambodia.

As refugees in the United States, we have received the best treatment from the US government that any group of refugees around the world could ever have hoped to receive. 

And, we have experienced and enjoyed the real and true freedom of this country. In the United States of America, it doesn’t matter what race, color, nationality or country of origin someone claims, we are all free and equal before law. This is very different from Vietnam, where the Degar people have substandard and second-class citizenship.

In the United States,

• We do not fear that some law men will come to our house to arrest and torture us for no reason because in this country, they only arrest people who have committed crimes.
• We can freely travel to wherever we want in the entire country or even abroad as long as we carrying our personal identification cards.
• We can join any church and worship any kind of religion we want. We can even establish our own church or place of worship and no one will punish us for it.
• We can pursue higher education without any discrimination of who we are or what so ever. Our children can claim the same education as every other child in this country.
• We can freely express our thoughts even if we disagree with the government.
• We can freely form an association and get together without any interference from government.
• We can freely have peaceful protests if there is something we want to express. Government officials do not get angry and will sometimes even come out to see what we have to say. This is a demonstration of democracy in this country.
• If we choose, we can become citizens of this country, vote in its elections and support candidates of our choice for city council and other offices, including the President.

The list of privileges and freedoms of living in this country goes on and on and this is what a democratic government is all about; the government is by the people and for the people.

But, even though we, the Degar refugees in the United States, have a very good life here, we are still very concerned about our families and friends who we have left behind in the Central Highlands. 

They have told us almost daily about their sufferings and the difficulties they have endured since 1975 and they have asked us not to forget them but to do something to help them. We are saddened by their hardship and our happiness here in the US only makes us feel guilty because they are suffering so terribly.  Therefore, we are really concerned about their wellbeing.

I also wanted to tell you that the allegations by the Vietnamese government and some of its people – that the Montagnard Foundation and its supporters are terrorists, separatists, rebels, etc, is completely untrue. These are lies and are a pretext to stop the international community from supporting us and to make an agenda of destroying our people.

Most of the Degar people are Christians. Therefore, we do understand that God created all mankind, God loves all mankind, Jesus Christ died for all mankind and God created the planet earth and all things in it for all mankind to enjoy.

We do not hate the Vietnamese people because they are of a different people from us. We see it like this, if we hate those who God loves, it means we are going against God.  If so, we are not the children of our Almighty God.

We want to live in peace and harmony with the Vietnamese. Look at the documents of French officials and the last Vietnamese Emperor, Bao Dai, in 1950.  Emperor Bao Dai wrote that “pursuant to the wishes expressed by the representatives of the Montagnard populations on May 26, 1950 in Kontum, on June 5, 1950 in Pleiku, on June 10, 1950 in Darlac, on June 26, 1950 in Haut-Donnai:” the Degar people’s wishes is to live alongside the Vietnamese people.

This is the legal proof that the Degar people has shown to the international community to establish that our people wanted to live with the Vietnamese people as one people and one nation.  Unfortunately, the Vietnamese government and its people have not shown the Degar Montagnards that they have the same desire. We have seen only policies that appear to reflect hatred and genocide.

All our people want is for the Vietnamese government and its people not to deprive our brothers and sisters of their basic human rights, indigenous peoples’ rights and especially the rights to free use of our ancestral lands.

Besides, Vietnam has become a member state of the United Nations.  It has joined WTO and has gained a seat at the most prestigious agency of the United Nations, the UN Security Council.  It has also ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on September 24, 1982, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on December 24, 1982, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on December 24, 1982 and many other United Nations’ documents. In addition, Vietnam has just voted “yes” to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on September 12, 2007. Do they have any intentions at all of abiding by their agreements?

Also, look at the following:

Vietnam Constitution Chapter Five: Fundamental Rights and Duties of the Citizen

Article 52 states: “All citizens are equal before the law”.

Article 58 paragraph 2 states: “The State protects the citizen’s right of lawful ownership and right of inheritance”.

Article 68 states: “The citizen shall enjoy freedom of movement and of residence within the country; he can freely travel abroad and return home from abroad in accordance with the provisions of the law”.

Article 69 states: “The citizen shall enjoy freedom of opinion and speech, freedom of the press, the right to be informed, and the right to assemble, form associations and hold demonstrations in accordance with the provisions of the law”.

Article 70 paragraph 1 & 2 states: “The citizen shall enjoy freedom of belief and of religion; he can follow any religion or follow none. All religions are equal before the law.

The places of worship of all faiths and religions are protected by the law”.

Article 71 paragraph 1 & 3 states: “The citizen shall enjoy inviolability of the person and the protection of the law with regard to his life, health, honor and dignity.

It is strictly forbidden to use all forms of harassment and coercion, torture, violation of his honor and dignity, against a citizen”.

Article 72 paragraph 1 states: “No one shall be regarded as guilty and be subjected to punishment before the sentence of the Court has acquired full legal effect”.

Article 73 paragraph 3 states: “Safety and secrecy are guaranteed to the citizen correspondence, telephone conversations and telegrams”.

Are these laws genuine or are they only intended for mere appearances?

We pray the Degar people will one day live in a truly free Vietnam where fundamental human rights and indigenous rights of all Vietnam’s citizens are equally respected.

Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you, to express our concerns, and to let us see each other in person, so that we might try to understand each other.

I pray that our Almighty God will make this meeting to be a constructive means for our future relationship.  Thank you and God bless.

Prepared by,

Kok Ksor, President of the Montagnard Foundation, Inc.