March 10, 2013– On a Sunday sunshine afternoon, it was a perfect weather in the “Lone Star State” of Texas, Khmer-Krom community of Metropolitan of Dallas-Fort Worth organized a special event to extend a warm welcome to the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) delegation on their campaign for the long struggle on religious rights and the freedom of the Khmer-Krom people in Mekong Delta (Kampuchea Krom).
Two senior members of the KKF Board of Directors, Mr. Tran Manh Rinh and Mr. Tran Giap traveled from Philadelphia, and with special guests Mr. Trieu Chiem from New Jersey and Mr. Huynh Sang from San Jose, CA.
With both the local community and the associations of Khmer-Krom in Dallas-Fort Worth, over 50 community members came out to listen to the briefing on the KKF activities around the world in the past years. The documentary materials and memoir as well as the activities photos were presented to the members at the gathering event. It was an overwhelming experience for the local community members and observers to learn that the KKF has achieved tremendous stride in order to raise Khmer-Krom issues to world community and to seek help to the Khmer-Krom people in Kampuchea Krom (south Vietnam).
The highlights of the meeting were:
- The current religious violations at several Khmer-Krom Buddhist pagodas in several provinces: Kleang (Soc Trang), Preah Trapeang (Tra Vinh) , and Mot Chruok (An Giang). The constant heavy surveillance on Khmer-Krom Buddhist pagodas (e.g. the unrest at Ta Sek pagoda in Soc Trang) and harassment and intimidations by the Vietnamese authorities on the local Khmer-Krom monks demonstrate the ongoing oppression on the local Khmer-Krom by the Hanoi regime.
- Rights of the Khmer-Krom to pursue higher education are limited.
The meeting was ended with a Q&A session, and with great community appreciations from the members, who also expressed strong supports toward KKF’s long struggle to bring freedom and justice to Khmer-Krom people in homeland.
Last but not least, KKF Board of the Directors expressed their sincere thanks to everyone who had participated at the event, especially Mr. Trieu Chantha for providing his resident as place to meet. KKF delegates also promised to bring human rights training to the Dallas-Fort Worth in the near future.