Only weeks after Mr. Thach Ngoc Thach, the president of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) issued a stern warning to Khmer-Kroms to not trust any new group who claim to represent them; three Khmer Kroms were accused of being part of a terrorist group, but as twisted it may be none of the accused is of Khmer-Krom descendent.

A group of six men arrested by Cambodian police suspected of a terrorist plot to cause explosion during Bun Oum Tuk, the traditional Khmer boat racing festival to be held this weekend.

According to some news report, up to three of these men are Khmer-Krom; apparently their suspected motive was to hit back on the Cambodian for having close ties with Vietnam.

It is now revealed, none of these men are Khmer-Krom, their motives are unclear, and they do not belong to any political party. But why were some of them pronounced as Khmer-Kroms?

In a speech to KKF delegates at the Symposium in The Hague on 2nd October 2006, Mr Thach said “We must unite to fight. We have always said that Youn are very clever, they have many tactics to segregate us, but some of our compatriots are still not realizing this, thinking it’s a democracy [by forming their own group], so in a democracy they can do what they want. This is how we commit suicide.” Could this be one of the tactics that Mr. Thach is talking about? Could this be an attempting to label Khmer Krom as terrorists?

This event is yet another wake up call for all Khmer-Kroms to unite and form one voice in their struggle for self-determination. The old Khmer proverb says “chong kiss mouy bach kach min bak” meaning a bunch of chop sticks together cannot be broken by hands. By segregating, it allows the enemy to infiltrate in to rank and causes mistrust between Khmer-Kroms.