Center for Advanced study
Final Draft Reports
For Discussion at the National Symposium
on Erthnic Groups in Cambodia
Phnom Penh 18-19 July 1996
Introduction
Pen Dareth
Introduction
Project Initiative
Why Study Ethnic Groups in Cambodia?
Scope and Coverage
Research Design
Research Staff
Monitoring and Evaluation
Institutional Framework
Review of the Research Results
A note on Statistics
Non-Khmer ethnic groups constitute approximately ten percent of the population of Cambodia. The lack of reliable information--demographic, socio-economic and cultural--on this segment of Cambodia's population contributes to ethnic misunderstanding and tension and, in some cases, to discrimination against members of these groups.
The foundation of any civil society is based on the ability of its citizens to tolerate, recognise, and appreciate the views of other people. The revitalisation of Cambodia depends in part on a stable social peace. Essential ingredients in this process are reduction of internal discord and the promotion of peace through acts of reconciliation. The Center for Advanced Study strongly believes that for the sake of all the people in Cambodia, ethnic problems should be resolved in a peaceful manner. Cambodia's ethnic munities need to seek ways to live amicably with each other.
History has shown that the Khmer people are capable of showing tolerance for diversity within their own ethnic group and of living in harmony with other groups. In the 1990s and beyond, Cambodia once again has an opportunity to ac modate its minority munities. These include the Vietnamese, Muslim Chams, Chinese, indigenous peoples (hill tribes or highlanders) found primarily in the northeast, as well as the Kampuchea Krom, or ethnic Khmers who derive from southern Vietnam in an area once part of the Khmer empire.
The Interdisciplinary Research on Ethnic Groups in Cambodia (IREGC) project has conducted a preliminary demographic assessment of Cambodia's ethnic groups and undertaken research into their socio-economic, cultural, and legal-political status and history.
The aim of the research has been to identify ways in which the rights of ethnic minority groups can best be protected. Another objective has been to identify problems surrounding the integration of minorities into Cambodian society, as well as to assess problems regarding respect for the ethnic minorities' human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction to race, sex, language or religion.
Our research offers the Royal Government re mendations on protecting the rights of ethnic minorities. The studies reveal the extent to which minority munities enjoy basic rights, such as protection under the law and the constitution.
The Center, through its independent academic status, is capable of providing dispassionate research in this area. Through sustained research and documented case studies, the Center's efforts point to solutions that can help peaceably reconcile the peoples of Cambodia, as well as contribute to more harmonious relations between Cambodia and her neighbours.
Project initiative
The IREGC study was initiated through discussions in late 1994 and early 1995 with the United Nations High missioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR began its activities in Cambodia with emergency relief operations in 1980. The primary role played by the mission since the October 1991 Paris Peace Accords and the memorandum of understanding signed in November 1991 by UNHCR, the Thai government, and the Supreme National Council of Cambodia, has been to organise and implement the voluntary, safe, and dignified return of some 370,000 Cambodians from Thailand to their homeland. In accordance with its traditional role and its mandate of international protection and the pursuit of durable solutions for refugees and other persons of concern, UNHCR looks forward to a peaceful Cambodia where all Cambodians, regardless of ethnic origin, race, colour or creed, can freely and actively participate in rebuilding their war-ravaged homeland.
The international munity has shown concern about the rising problem of ethnic violence and tension in the world. Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1966, to which Cambodia is a party, provides for the promotion and protection of ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. On 18 December 1992, the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. There is thus a strong desire in the world to promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to minority groups as an integral part of social development within a democratic framework based on the rule of law. This will also contribute to the strengthening of friendship and cooperation between peoples and states. At the 85th plenary meeting of the 48th session of the UN General Assembly on 20 December 1993, the General Assembly proclaimed 1995 as the "United Nations Year for Tolerance."
UNHCR has sought consistently to analyse the root causes and to find solutions to problems involving ethnic minorities crisis around the world. At its 51st session on 3 March 1995, the United Nations mission on Human Rights requested the United Nations Centre for Human Rights (UNCHR) in Cambodia, in cooperation with appropriate UN agencies, to develop and implement programmes with the consent and cooperation of the Royal Government of Cambodia in the priority areas identified by the UN Special Representative, giving particular attention to vulnerable groups, including women, children and minorities.
With the adoption of Cambodia's first Immigration Law after the two decades of war and destruction, the UNHCR office in Cambodia has taken initiatives to raise minority issues in Cambodia with governmental and non-governmental institutions.
An Initiative Group for the IREGC study was established in December 1994. The meeting of this Initiative Group on 5 December 1994 resulted in the establishment of a Working mittee for an interdisciplinary study on ethnic minorities in Cambodia. The first meeting of this Working mittee was held on 2 February 1995, when the mittee debated whether there was a need for an ad hoc survey or an in-depth, detailed study.
After long discussion the Working mittee came to the following conclusions and set parameters and objectives for the study:
1) There was an urgent need for a study on ethnic groups in Cambodia. There was at that time no clear law defining their status. Furthermore, a definition of the term "ethnic minority" appropriate for Cambodia had to be determined.
2) Updated statistics on Cambodia's ethnic groups were essential because previous surveys were not reliable. Furthermore, a socio-economic survey focusing on minorities was also essential.
3) The study had to be a scientific one to determine details on minority issues, and also to look at historical factors and to dispel certain myths about minorities.
4) The study had to be qualitative, but it was still important that quantitative aspects not be ignored.
The long-term objective of the study was to promote national reconciliation, tolerance, and interethnic harmony.
Why study ethnic groups in Cambodia?
To understand the present and future status of ethnic groups in a plural and multicultural society, a look first into history is essential. Throughout Asia there has been a desire by governing elites to make ethnic minorities and minority issues invisible. Cambodia has in the past been no exception to this. Furthermore, these elites often advance the suggestion that it is the minorities themselves who, like a virus invading a body, bring about confrontation and violence within a state. Cambodia is a classic example of a country where a history of political manoeuvring by internal and external powers has created havoc and stood in the way of the evolution of stable and peaceful ethnic relations. It is this historical experience which has left Cambodians obsessed with being destroyed by the Vietnamese.
Pluralism is a concept which is anathema to many of the majority munities of Asia. These munities, with their sense of historical destiny, find it easy to link the nation-state to the majority group, while other ethnic groups are ac modated but not given full rights. The lack of a pluralistic consciousness relates not only to the issue of ethnic groups, but also wider questions of tolerance of dissent and of diverse political opinions. This tradition of exclusion remains an obstacle to the emergence, or re-emergence, of a viable civil society within Cambodian political culture.
Cambodia, as the site of a United Nations experiment in peace-keeping, poses special problems. Simply asserting minority rights is no solution if there is no system or process of peaceful conflict resolution between groups. Recent Cambodian history, that is, during the Sangkum Reastr Niyum era (1954-70) under the leadership of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, suggests that the Cambodian people are capable of showing tolerance. Creating internal peace is a first step towards helping ethnic munities coexist on an amicable basis and enabling them to interact for the benefit of society as a whole.
Scope and coverage
To gather the requisite data, ascertain the characteristics of the ethnic groups, and fulfil the objectives of this research, the ideal scope and coverage of the project would have been as broad as possible. However, there were three basic constraints which hindered nationwide research: (1) difficult geographical access and poor security in some areas, (2) financial constraints, and (3) limited time.
Due to these factors and to a general lack of munications infrastructure in Cambodia, it was necessary to limit the size and scope of the project. While these factors pushed us towards qualitative research, quantitative aspects were also included as far as possible. Research activities were conducted along two "tracks" over a period of eight months:
a) Track One
Limited qualitative " munity-based research studies" on specific ethnic groups in Cambodia. This involved a cluster approach based on interviews with ten to one hundred families of a particular ethnic group. These studies were undertaken by trained anthropologists and other social researchers. The senior researchers were expatriates who worked with Cambodian research assistants using informal interviewing methods based on a set of mon guidelines.
b) Track Two
The pilation of an inventory of statistics and other existing information and background materials pertaining to ethnic groups in Cambodia. Materials were gathered from governmental and non-governmental institutions and authorities and academic researchers, as well as from organisations of ethnic groups themselves across Cambodia.
Both Tracks One and Two were implemented in cooperation and coordination with the administrative bodies concerned, in particular the Ministries of the Interior, Religious Affairs, Culture and Fine Arts, and Rural Development, the National Institute of Statistics of the Ministry of Planning, and appropriate district and provincial authorities. The IREGC project also cooperated with the Highland People's Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Cambodian office of UNCHR, UNHCR, the United Nations Family Planning Association (UNFPA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and other relevant and petent parties.
Track Two activities were based on extensive reading of Cambodia's political and social history and field trips to areas throughout the kingdom. Interviews were conducted with a cross-section of political leaders, government officials, non-governmental organisation (NGO) representatives as well as members and representatives of ethnic groups in rural and urban areas.
Research design
To obtain the requisite information in accordance with the objectives of the project, the IREGC staff was organised into eight research teams each working on a particular ethnic group, plus one research team devoted to Track Two documentation.
For Track One, the eight research teams were:
• One research team on the Cham ethnic group
• One research team on the Chinese ethnic group
• Three research teams on the Vietnamese ethnic group
• One research team on the Lao ethnic group
• Two research teams on the indigenous hill tribes or highland peoples.
Each research team was led by a researcher with previous experience in conducting socio-anthropological field research. Each team took three months to conduct its field research on a specific ethnic group in one or more munities, focusing on descriptive information relating to the basic characteristics (social, economic, cultural, etc.) of these groups. At the same time, each team was given the opportunity to develop specific questions appropriate for its ethnic group and to follow up important leads as they arose.
Research staff
a) Track One
The Cham team consisted of Dr William Collins (who also served as Research Coordinator), assisted by Mr Id Sokri.
The Chinese team consisted of Ms Penny Edwards (Ph.D. candidate), assisted by Mr Chan Sambath (BA).
The Vietnamese teams consisted of Dr Didier Bertrand, Ms Annuska Derks (MA) and Ms Christine Leonard (Ph.D. candidate), assisted by Dr Sieng Huy, Sok Chamnan (BA), and Mr Thach Sin Thoung.
The Lao team consisted of Ms Claire Escoffier (MA), assisted by Mr Heng Kim Van (MA).
The hill tribe teams consisted of Dr Frederic Bourdier and Ms Joanna White (Ph.D. candidate), assisted by Dr Hean Sokhom, Mrs Chou Putheany (BA) and Mr Hun Thirith (MA).
b) Track Two
This team consisted of Dr Pen Dareth (who was also Project Director), assisted by Dr Ly Neang Say Hong and Mr Vong Em San An (MA).
Monitoring and evaluation
At the second meeting of the Working mittee on 15 March 1995, an Advisory Board consisting of eight experts was established. At its fourth meeting on 31 May 1995, the decision was made to change the Advisory Board into a Steering mittee consisting of the aforementioned eight experts plus one representative of the research teams and three members of the project's management. The mittee thus consisted of twelve members. The purpose of this mittee was to monitor, evaluate, and advise on all aspects of the research.
The Steering mittee had the following duties:
1) Advising the Center for Advanced Study on research into ethnic groups;
2) Conducting mid-term and final evaluations of the research activities and of the project as a whole;
3) Advising the Project Director on the quality of the research.
The following experts served as members of the Steering committee:
• Dr Peter Schier, Permanent Representative of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation
• Dr
Vincent Fauveau, Country Representative of UNFPA
• Mr Hou Taing Eng, Director of the National Institute of Statistics
• Dr Lao Mong Hay, Executive Director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy
• Mr Walter Hoffmann, Senior Protection Officer of the UNHCR office
• Mr
Jérôme Sauvage, Assistant Resident Representative of UNDP
• Ms Rita Cauli, Technical Coordination Office of the European Union
• Ms
Monique Sokhan, Program Officer at UNCHR
• Prof. Franklin Huffman, United States Information Services
• Prof. Everett Kleinjans, President of the Center for Advanced Study
• Dr Pen Dareth, IREGC Project Director
• Dr William Collins, IREGC Research Coordinator
Mr Hans Beckers (of the International Organisation on Migration) and Mr Kenneth Riebe (of CIDSE), served as observers.
Members of the original Initiative Group were the late Mr Walter Hoffman, Dr Pen Dareth, Prof. Everett Kleinjans, Dr Thach Bunroeun and Dr Peter Schier.
Institutional framework
The Center for Advanced Study is a non-political, problem-oriented academic institution whose main purpose is to promote the enhance the quality of life of the Cambodian people. In order to attain this, the Center pursues the following activities:
1) Carrying out policy-oriented research and publishing the results to government, business, and educational leaders and other interested parties;
2) Promoting the establishment of boards, missions and other institutional structures which will implement the policies adopted;
3) Advising government agencies on policy and making re mendations on the enactment of laws and on policy implementation;
4) Conducting educational and training seminars and organising forums for policy-makers, business leaders and innovators;
5) Training young Cambodian scholars through research assistantships and guiding them through programmes to develop their knowledge and skills so that they are able to move towards attaining a graduate degree;
6) Developing cooperative relations with other institutions both at home and abroad;
7) Administering an exchange programme through which Cambodian scholars are sent abroad and international scholars brought to Cambodia;
8) Providing a place where Cambodian scholars living abroad can return home to help in the above activities; and
9) Functioning as a neutral meeting ground where Cambodian and international scholars and policy-makers are free to exchange knowledge, ideas and views about topics of importance and interest.
As an academic institution, the Center for Advanced Study is not aligned with any political philosophies or parties. It neither prescribes nor proscribes values for others. However, it maintains basic values--of openness, honesty, civility and mutual respect--for all those who participate in its programmes. It chooses for its staff people who possess humanistic convictions and are willing to apply those convictions in their work as researchers and educators. Such a position ensures that the knowledge gained through Center programmes can be shared with all and that participants in the Center's research programmes are free to speak and write as scholars who have integrity and feel a deep sense of responsibility towards the Cambodian people.
By focusing on Cambodian problems, the Center for Advanced Study reinforces itself as a Cambodian academic institution, while maintaining its con itant international character through a board, administration, and staff that are at least twenty-five percent international.
Review of the research results
a) The Chams
Dr Collins provides a historical context for the Chams, situating them both in their relations with their geographical neighbours, the Vietnamese and Khmers, and in their relations with their ethnolinguistic cousins, the Malays and Indonesians. He examines the southward movement of the Vietnamese at the expense of the nation of Champa, located in what is now central Vietnam. This Vietnamese pressure occasioned several migrations of Chams to Cambodia from the fifteenth century onwards. The Cham immigrants were granted land to settle by the Cambodian rulers, who had themselves in the fifteenth century shifted from the Angkor area to the lower reaches of the Mekong because of pressure from the Thai. In Cambodia, the Chams formed links with the Malays who were established as river traders, and together they formed a Muslim munity.
Dr Collins examines recent history through Cambodian political rhetoric referring to minorities. He then discusses the current situation of the Muslim munity in Cambodia in terms of variations in appeals that are made to a sense of Cham heritage, definitions of "appropriate" culture for Cambodian Muslims and acceptable Islamic beliefs and practices. Dr Collins discusses the social changes in the Cambodian Muslim munity by examining the recent development aid offered by international Islamic donors, mainly Arab and Malay. He also examines Islamic reform movements in Cambodia. Dr Collins concludes his discussion with an account of the challenges faced by Cambodia's Muslims in the area of education and security of livelihood.
b) The Chinese
Ms Penny Edwards places the ethnic Chinese munity of Cambodia in careful historical context. She examines the various kinds of Chinese immigration to Cambodia, and focuses particularly on the shifting definitions of "Chineseness" over time, in doing so exploding the myth of sharp boundaries between the ethnic groups in Cambodia, either among the Chinese or between Chinese and Khmers.
She discusses the Chinese in terms of the perceptions of successive governments in China and in terms of the adaptation of these Chinese munities in Southeast Asia. She re-examines the usefulness of dialect group associations as a mode for understanding the Chinese in Cambodia.
Much of Ms Edwards' research was undertaken among rural Chinese in Cambodia, enabling her to provide a detailed discussion of the worship of Bentougong by both the "Black Chinese" (Chinese farmers) and Khmers alike. Her emphasis on the rural Chinese helps overturn the stereotype which holds that all Chinese in Cambodia are rich urban tycoons.
Ms Edwards discusses the treatment of the Chinese under various Cambodian regimes. She reveals the resurgence of ethnic Chinese identity which is reflected in the rebuilding of Chinese schools, the refurbishing of ancestral tombs and the public practice of Chinese ritual. She also notes the strong tendencies toward Sino-Khmer intermarriage and patterns of Chinese assimilation to Khmer culture.
Finally, Ms Edwards draws an important distinction between the long-standing ethnic Chinese munities in Cambodia and recent immigrants from the People's Republic of China who sometimes buy their way into Cambodia in order to reach opportunities in third countries.
c) The Vietnamese
This is perhaps the most sensitive ethnic topic in the Cambodian context, and was therefore examined by three research teams.
Dr Didier Bertrand provides an extremely sensitive analysis of Vietnamese identity and Khmer-Vietnamese relations against a background discussion of some of the major variations within the Vietnamese munity. He makes the essential distinction between the Vietnamese of Cambodia and the Vietnamese in Cambodia.
The Vietnamese of Cambodia are exemplified by a detailed examination of Vietnamese fishing munities. Dr Bertrand paints a picture of rural Vietnamese families, often living exclusively on floating villages, who have developed intricate exchange patterns with the land-based, rice-growing Khmers over centuries. These are ethnic Vietnamese who consider themselves Cambodian.
Dr Bertrand shows the Vietnamese in Cambodia, by contrast, to be recent economic migrants--construction workers, artisans, cooks, mercial sex workers--who are generally found in the urban milieu and who acknowledge that they are in Cambodia temporarily to seek economic opportunities.
Dr Bertrand points out that much interethnic animosity is generated in the urban context, and he argues that these feelings may actually be a socially permitted expression of underlying conflicts between Khmers themselves, which the Khmers are reluctant to avow.
Dr Bertrand's research enabled him to uncover a widespread pattern of extortion practised upon ethnic Vietnamese by armed, uniformed individuals. In the rural context, clusters of Vietnamese fishing families are easily victimised targets both for extortion by officials and for more violent attacks by the so-called Khmer Rouge elements still operating. In the urban context, Vietnamese are often led by the authorities to live in concentrated ghettos where non-Khmer speaking new ers especially are targets for intimidation and extortion.
Dr Bertrand examines other aspects of the human rights situation of the Vietnamese, as well as strategies the Vietnamese have adopted to assimilate, integrate or ac modate to their situation as an ethnic minority regarded with considerable hostility by the ethnic majority.
Ms Annuska Derks examines the history of the Vietnamese munity in Cambodia and adds further support to the distinction between the long-standing ethnic Vietnamese munities of Cambodia and the recent influx of Vietnamese migrants. She examines various perceptions of the Vietnamese of their own ethnic identity, focusing on language, costume, religion and settlement preferences.
In her discussion of the economic activities of the Vietnamese in Cambodia, Ms Derks provides a detailed and empathetic portrayal of Vietnamese prostitutes in Phnom Penh. She also adds a survey of Vietnamese fishing activities. She concludes by stressing the diversity within the Vietnamese munity and the actual diversity of intercultural relations between Khmers and Vietnamese, in contrast to the simple and misleading stereotypes often found in the mass media.
Ms Christine Leonard, herself a Khmer-American, utilises her unique vantage point to pare and contrast perceptions of the Khmers and perceptions of the Vietnamese towards one another. In a very insightful analysis, she describes Khmer feelings of the threat to "Khmerness" which the Vietnamese represent. In the areas of Cambodian national integrity, Cambodian political sovereignty and Cambodian cultural survival, Ms Leonard suggests that conflicts between Khmers and Vietnamese may in fact be projections of conflicts between Khmers onto the Vietnamese as scapegoats.
In her analysis of the Vietnamese perceptions of their own ethnic identity, she sees a yearning by many Vietnamese to be e Cambodian. She discusses the strategies the Vietnamese employ to ac plish this assimilation in the face of the obstacles presented by the stereotypes which are generated by Khmer fears and perceptions.
d) The Lao
Ms Claire Escoffier examines the history of the Lao people and their relations with the Khmers. She studied Lao villages near the present Vietnamese border in Svay Rieng and Prey Veng provinces, which probably derive from the settlement of captives brought from Laos by a seventeenth century Khmer king. The pattern of assimilation of these munities is contrasted to the efforts of the Lao of Stung Treng, near the Lao border, to preserve their ethnic identity vis à vis the Khmers.
Ms Escoffier describes the settlement patterns of the Lao, along rivers in a very sparsely populated region of northern Cambodia, which have enabled them to serve as intermediaries in trade between the highland tribes in the forests and Chinese merchants in towns downstream. The forest products obtained were ultimately used by the Khmer elite in trade and tribute.
Ms Escoffier discusses the Lao native herbalist healers to illustrate the knowledge of the Lao of the forest potential for remedies and to illustrate the fate of these practitioners in the face of recent Khmer "colonisation" of Stung Treng and in view of the import and promotion of Western medicines.
Ms Escoffier also discusses Theravada Buddhism, which is shared by both the Lao and Khmers, to illustrate the tragic losses the Lao experienced during the Pol Pot regime and to reveal an area where an expected tolerance between Khmers and Lao tends not to materialise.
e) Highlanders
Two teams went to the northeastern provinces of Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri to study the diverse highland groups scattered in these mountainous regions.
Ms Joanna White focused on the legends, myths and folklore of the highlanders to obtain an insight into highlander concepts of the origins of peoples and tribes, cultural differences, migrations, interethnic relations and much else. Her valuable account preserves the words of the highlanders themselves, who she points out, are rarely heard.
Ms White examines the historical record from the highlander perspective to reveal a story of slave raiding, forced labour demands, forced resettlement and forced cultural change undertaken by various lowland powers at different times. Focusing on ethnic identity in the contemporary period, Ms White discusses the main aspects of highlander culture—customary law, village authority, the rituals of the life cycle, the worship of ancestors and the patterns of reciprocal labour exchange. She also considers the influence of the expanding market economy, and Khmer influence via schools and the government administration, on highland culture.
Ms White draws attention to the radical changes threatening the highlanders brought by unrestricted mercial exploitation of the forests and the resettlement of lowland Khmers into these provinces under the banner of "development." Against this background, Ms White considers the right of the indigenous peoples to have a voice and to express a choice in the discussion about changes to which they are and will be subject.
Dr Frederic Bourdier, an anthropologist and geographer, approached the highlands with an extremely nuanced attention to the interplay of nature and culture. His ecological, demographic and geographical findings enable him to place land use, village formation, migrations and conflict in a context of the delicate balance between human needs and forest resources.
Dr Bourdier describes the sustainable agriculture practised over millennia by the highlanders, in which a cleared patch of forest is farmed for a short period then allowed to lie fallow for fifteen to twenty years to regenerate. The resulting twenty-year cycle of movement through the forest by these highlanders is mis-perceived by lowlanders as nomadism, when, in fact, there is an intricate web of land use and landholding rules observed among highlander munities. The lowlanders misunderstand slash-and-burn agriculture as destructive when, in fact, viewed over the twenty-year cycle, it is perfectly sustainable. It is the lowland settlers who often over-use the forest and land, contributing to destruction of the highland environment.
Dr Bourdier gives rich detail on the delicate balance between humans and the forest that is ac plished and regulated by the plex ritual life of the highlanders. This ritual is based on the concept that the forest and earth are a sacred terrain through which humans must tread with care and respect.
Dr Bourdier discusses the problem of the changes awaiting the highlanders. He examines the traditional political autonomy of highland villages, the ancestral techniques for maintaining equilibrium with forest spirits, and the richness of tribal oral traditions in which the highlanders' plex rules and knowledge are lodged. He discusses the threats to this culture by an intrusive market economy, land grabbing by lowlanders, the exactions of local government authorities and the expansion of Christian and Buddhist missionary efforts. He ends a finely detailed paper with a question about who development in this region is supposed to help.
f) Statistics
Official statistics on the number of ethnic minorities in Cambodia have been misleading. In 1992, for example, the Department of Ethnic Minorities of the Ministry of Religious Affairs stated that there were over 309,000 people in Cambodia belonging to ethnic minority groups—around 3.5% of the total population of 8,900,000. These figures are unreliable because a large proportion of the ethnic minority population--such as the Lao, Thai, Malay, Burmese, Chinese and Vietnamese--was regarded as "foreign residents" rather than ethnic minorities of Cambodia.
Table 1: Ethnic Groups in Cambodia according
to the Department of Ethnic Minorities of the Ministry for Religious Affairs (1992)
|
Ethnic Group |
Population |
Percentage of Total |
|
Chams |
195,215 |
65.01 |
|
Lao |
21,649 |
7.21 |
|
Phnong |
19,000 |
6.33 |
|
Kuy |
15,771 |
5.25 |
|
Tampuan |
13,556 |
4.51 |
|
Kreung |
9,368 |
3.12 |
|
Prov |
5,286 |
1.76 |
|
Thai |
3,976 |
1.32 |
|
Stieng |
3,571 |
1.19 |
|
Kraveth |
3,012 |
1.00 |
|
Kraol |
2,677 |
0.89 |
|
Mil |
2,076 |
0.69 |
|
Pear |
1,294 |
0.43 |
|
Kachac' |
1,282 |
0.43 |
|
Jorai |
997 |
0.33 |
|
Lun |
464 |
0.15 |
|
Loemoun |
355 |
0.12 |
|
Poang |
260 |
0.09 |
|
Kaning |
150 |
0.05 |
|
Arach |
100 |
0.03 |
|
Kachrouk |
100 |
0.03 |
|
Saoch |
71 |
0.02 |
|
Kola |
31 |
0.01 |
|
Khmer Khe |
10 |
0.00 |
|
Anang |
na |
na |
|
Arab |
na |
na |
|
Chong |
na |
na |
|
Kachang |
na |
na |
|
Kaying |
na |
na |
|
Mon |
na |
na |
|
Nong |
na |
na |
|
Rhade |
na |
na |
|
Samre |
na |
na |
|
Sispre |
na |
na |
|
Thnal |
na |
na |
|
Total |
300,271 |
100.00* |
Total percentage by calculation less than 100.00% because of rounding
A similar finding was obtained in a survey by the Administration Department of the Ministry of the Interior in 1995, which found a minority population of almost 443,000 in a total of over 9,672,000 ( prising therefore 3.8% of the total).
Table 2: Ethnic Groups in Cambodia according
to the Administration Department
of the Ministry of the Interior (1995)
|
Ethnic Group |
Population |
Percentage of Total |
|
Chams |
203,881 |
46.05 |
|
Vietnamese |
95,597 |
21.59 |
|
Chinese |
47,180 |
10.66 |
|
Lao |
19,819 |
4.48 |
|
Tampuan |
15,861 |
3.58 |
|
Kuy |
14,186 |
3.20 |
|
Jorai |
11,549 |
2.61 |
|
Kreung |
7,854 |
1.77 |
|
Phnong |
5,323 |
1.20 |
|
Kraveth |
3,585 |
0.81 |
|
Stieng |
3,234 |
0.73 |
|
Brao |
2,585 |
0.58 |
|
Thai |
2,454 |
0.55 |
|
Kraol |
1,962 |
0.44 |
|
Robel |
1,640 |
0.37 |
|
Pear |
1,440 |
0.33 |
|
Thmaum |
453 |
0.10 |
|
Loemoun |
280 |
0.06 |
|
Saoch |
72 |
0.02 |
|
Kachac' |
6 |
0.00 |
|
Other |
3,708 |
0.84 |
|
Total |
442,699 |
100.00* |
Total percentage by calculation less than 100.00% because of rounding.
The situation of the ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese illustrate the short ings of these official statistics.
In fact, ethnic Chinese were a significant minority group before the Khmer Rouge era, and Chinese immigration to Cambodia dates back as far as the Angkor period. The current official population is estimated at a little over 200,000, more than half of whom reside in Phnom Penh. Independent observers suggest a total of at least 300,000. As far as the ethnic Vietnamese are concerned, the Khmer Rouge claimed there were four million in Cambodia, while the State of Cambodia put their number at 200,000. Independent observers have given estimates of between 500,000 and one million.