Do We Have Pride to Be Born As Khmer?

When you are visiting Preah Vihear temple, you will see a big billboard with the writing in Khmer and English ‘We have Pride to Be Born as Khmer’. It is not known who planted this billboard near Preah Vihear temple. But the locals in the area said the Khmer authority has planted the billboard. Regardless of who planted it, the billboard is a mean to remind all Khmers that we are a nation that has dignity and pride and we have to love and protect Khmer land.

The slogan ‘We have Pride to Be Born as Khmer’ is a very good patriotic reminder for Khmers. This slogan is also coincident the provisions in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia, like Article 49 which says: All Khmer citizens shall have the duty to take part in the national reconstruction and to defend the homeland. To have pride to be born as Khmer means to have pride to love Khmer land and to protect Khmer land.

Do Meas Srey and Prom Chea, Khmer farmers in Svay Rieng who are being imprisioned by Hun Sen court for protecting Khmer land from Yuon encroachment, have pride to be born as Khmer? I think, of course, Mrs. Meas Srey and Mr. Prom Chea have pride to be born as Khmer and that’s why they risk their lives to protect their rice fields which are located on Khmer land. I think other Khmers also have pride to be born as Khmer such as Khmer soldiers who fight against Thai aggression on the Khmer-Thai border.

How about the Cambodian officials who jail Mrs. Meas Srey and Mr. Prom Chea? Do they have the pride to be born as Khmer? If they have pride to be born as Khmer, why they imprison Khmers who dare to protect Khmer land? What Hun Sen government is doing to Khmers people regarding the defending national border is just a mockery to the slogan ‘We have Pride to Be Born as Khmer’.

Do you have pride to be born as Khmer when Khmer leaders jail their people because they protect Khmer land?

Khmer Borann
Phnom Penh