This video is about the annual Khmer Boat Racing Festival (Water Festival) in Khleang province (ខេត្តឃ្លាំង/ស្រុកទ្រាំង) [renamed Soc Trang in Vietnamese] in Vietnam. Khleang [or Srok Treang] province was part of Cambodia but later disputed between Cambodia and Vietnam during French Colonial times until 1949 when France ceded the Cochin-China (Mekong Delta), or known in Khmer as Kampuchea Krom (Lower Cambodia), to Vietnam. The population is said to be predominantly ethnic Khmer (Cambodian) [but Vietnamese sources claim only 30% is Khmer], creating a Khmer enclave within Southern Vietnam. The Khmers of Khleang celebrate this event earlier than their counterpart in Cambodia where the event will fall 11-13 Nov this year. The status of the indigenous Khmers of South Vietnam is a thorny issue in Cambodian-Vietnamese relations. For Vietnam they are a challenge for national assimilation policies and may present irridentist threats, while for Cambodia, they are living reminders of historical (and perhaps contemporary) grievances of Vietnamese encroachment and expansion.
The song with this video has an anti-Vietnamsese content and does not necessarily represent the views of NeoKhmer.
Following the recent flare-up of events that led to the Khmer-Thai border dispute, it is very likely that the issue of Khmers Krom will be even more problematic. Ethnic identity and minority rights are, and will remain, contentious issues.
