Southeast Asia : Crucible of genocide
The misleading portrayal of Southeast Asia as an oasis of economic growth and calm in global media belies the boiling over of ethnic tensions and discontent. From Mindanao where Philippine government forces extrajudicially kill indigenous Lumad and Moro minorities, to West Papua where the Indonesian government is fighting indigenous Papuan fighters for independence, to Champa, Kampuchea Krom and the Central Highlands in Vietnam where indigenous Chams, Degars and Khmer Krom are killed extrajudicially and raped by the police, to the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh where the Bangladeshi military, police and settlers engage in extrajudicial murders and rape of indigenous Jumma peoples, the Chakma Buddhists, Marma Buddhists, Tripuri Hindus, Mro and numerous other ethnic minorities. All of these countries are experiencing economic growth as none of them are sanctioned for their human rights abuses against these ethnic and religious minorities. In the current political environment, ethnic minorities of Southeast Asia have few foreign backers to rely on. All of the above-mentioned minorities are subjected to rape, murder and settler colonialism by the Vietnamese Kinh, Bangladeshi Bengali Sunni Muslims, Filipino Visayans and Indonesian Javanese Sunni Muslim dominant ethnicities in their countries. Degars, Chams, Khmer Krom, Lumads, Moros and Papuans have been reduced to numerical minorities in either all or part of their native lands.
The western media seeks to mask these ethnic conflicts and portray the Middle East as the tinderbox of the world or mention these countries only in the context of the China-US Cold war over the South China Sea and economic investment by China in these nations. The indigenous minorities such as the Chams, Khmer Krom, Degars, Moros and Papuans have directly demanded western nations including Washington DC answer and condemn human rights violations including Benny Wenda of the Free Papua Movement, the International Office of Champa (IOC), Council of Indigenous Peoples in Today's Vietnam (CIP TVN), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). They demanded the US stop ignoring human rights violations, some of them such as the Moros and Degars have directly mentioned the US-China Cold war as a reason for the US ignoring crimes against them. PurePapua, the account name of a well known Papuan activist on Twitter has also mentioned China as a reason for Australia’s support of Indonesia. Obama himself in an interview with Jeffery Goldberg’s Atlantic magazine attempted to portray the Middle East as a region of chaos while claiming Southeast Asia was an exemplar of stability and development. Obama knowingly sold attack helicopters to Indonesia for use in West Papua and his staff sent an automated reply to a letter by the Moro MNLF group, ignoring the contents of the letter and spewing standard boilerplate template language about peace while not mentioning Moros even once in the reply.
The western neoliberal and neocons support the cause of Rohingya, ethnic Bengali Sunni Muslims against Myanmar while the same westerners support the extrajudicial murder of Moro Sunni Muslims in Mindanao by American trained special forces. American news agencies like CNN, Washington Post, New York Times as well as British BBC propagate the idea that Myanmar is a criminal nation while its ok for the Philippines, to engage in extrajudicial murder of Sunni Muslims. The Moros are an indigenous people of Mindanao and it shows that western neoliberals do not care about Sunni Muslims but rather their own geopolitical interests since the Philippines is a military ally of the United States.
In the case of Indonesia, West Papuans have the support of leftists in Britain including the Labour party and some far leftists in Australia and New Zealand but no support among leftists in the US and Canada. Britain’s Labour party can afford to criticize Indonesia but due to the large population of South Asian Sunnis in the UK it is political suicide for Labour to criticize Bangladesh over the Chittagong Hill Tracts. One Green Party MP in the UK has mentioned the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Both the UK Labour and Conservative parties support Bangladesh and training it’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) to kill indigenous Jummas of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. In the US and Canada no criticism of Indonesia, Bangladesh or the Philippine’s policy towards ethnic minorities is allowed at the government level. China supported East Timorese during the Suharto government but stopped supporting groups in Indonesia after East Timor’s independence and the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Indonesia.
No political party in any country has ever condemned human rights violations against Chams despite lobbying by Cham NGOs in the US and UN. Only a few politicians in Australia and US have mentioned Degars and Khmer Krom in the context of some of them being former members of the CIDG force during the Vietnam war. Benny Wenda of the Free West Papua movement has lobbied in Washington DC like the Chams have but the US has refused to condemn Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh over human rights abuses.
US politicians have attacked Duterte over his drug war as a cover for their dislike over his policies diverting from his pro US predecessor Aquino but none of them have criticized the Philippine military’s extrajudicial killings of Lumads and Moros since the US government strongly supports these policies of murder. Human rights “leaders” like Ken Roth and the US government hate Duterte in the Philippines and the Hasina Awami League government in Bangladesh not because of murder of minorities such as Jummas, Lumads and Chams, but rather over certain policies like Duterte’s attacks against Obama and Awami League’s hanging of Jamiat e Islami leaders and suppression of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Much like Ken Roth and many US politicians hate President Sisi in Egypt for his repression and executions of Muslim Brotherhood members, not for his human rights abuses of Coptic Christians. The ruling party and opposition in those countries all support murder and rape of minorities. Both Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Bangladesh Awami League support the rape and murder of indigenous Jummas in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Both Duterte and his pro-US predecessor Aquino support murder of indigenous Lumads and Moros in Mindanao. Both Sisi and the Muslim Brotherhood support murder and repression of Coptic Christians in Egypt. Both Communist Vietnam and South Vietnam engaged in repression, rape and murder of Chams, Khmer Krom and Degars hence why US government backed Radio Free Asia has a Vietnamese language section staffed by South Vietnamese exiles but no Cham or Degar language broadcasting.
The minority Chams, Khmer Krom and Degar who founded the FULRO movement to fight for independence against the South Vietnamese, US and North Vietnamese successively. Vietnam’s Communist government attempts to draw support from all the major world powers at once rather than one. The Degars have complained that the Obama administration has deliberately ignored them to curry favour with Vietnam against China while repeated attempts by Cham NGOs to lobby for attention to human rights concerns including extrajudicial murder & rape by Vietnamese police against Chams as well as destruction of Champa’s Hindu cultural heritage have gone ignored by the west. Cham Hindu temples have been demolished by the Vietnamese now and in the past by the US during the war. Cham girls have been raped and Cham murdered by Vietnamese police. During the Second Indochina war (so called “Vietnam war” by the US), the US founded the rival CIDG group to attempt to draw support away from FULRO but it failed as members of CIDG left to join FULRO rather than vice versa. The Khmer Krom are Theravada Buddhists, Chams are Hindus, Sunni Muslims or follow a hybrid religion of the two and Degars are animist and Chistian.
India instructed the Jummas in the Shanti Bahini that it formerly supported to lay down their arms in 1997 after PM Hasina’s Awami League government came to power in 1996 after having achieved their desired result of pressuring the BNP and other anti-India governments in Bangladesh during the insurgency. Since then the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts have gone unsupported by any country. Bangladesh has continued its genocidal campaign of rape and colonial settlements of Bengali Muslim colonists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to marginalize and destroy the indigenous Jumma peoples, the Chakma Buddhists, Marma Buddhists, Tripuri Hindus, Mro and numerous other ethnicities. The Buddhists among the Jumma follow the Theravada school.
China has consistently refused to support ethnic minorities and movements in US client regimes since the end of the first Cold War. During the Cold War, China supported the East Timorese independence movement while the US, UK and Australia supported the Suharto government in Indonesia. China has since then stopped supporting movements in Indonesia after East Timor’s independence and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Indonesia. China has increased investment in Indonesia since then despite Indonesia’s military maintaining close ties to the US and Australia. China has instead ploughed investment into Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and the Philippines. This was a far cry from the days of the Song dynasty and Ming dynasty when China militarily supported Champa against Vietnam with weapons shipments and direct military support in coordinated warfare. The MNLF expressed desire on their website for China to enter the fray against America’s ally in the Philippines, President Benigno Aquino III on their side but it was largely ignored by China. The former Cham fighter Po Dharma has rebuked Vietnam for misleadingly using a Cham document in its dispute with China over several South China Sea islands but it was ignored by China again. China’s declared geopolitical policy towards the third world is heavy investment to draw them economically closer to Beijing despite military ties with the US, leaving there no major power to confront US supported client regimes.
Major western and Asian media have refused to carry stories on the plight of these ethnic minorities. In this context these minorities have few options. One of them is coordinated social media efforts combined with publishing in alternative media. The Lumads have not taken up arms and the Jummas, Degars, Khmer Krom and Chams put down their arms in the 1990s and none of them have seen the repression against them cease. In this context it seems unlikely the Papuan and Moro groups like MNLF will ever lay down their arms and with them the fantasy of uninterrupted economic growth and stability in Southeast Asia will always remain elusive. Such attempts and wishful thinking by American administrations that Southeast Asia will see uninterrupted economic growth in contrast to the Middle East will not face the test of reality. Ignoring genocide does not meant that their victims, such as the Papuans, will put their arms down. The administration of Obama hoped that the Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s peace deal with the Moro MILF group during his second term would end internal insurgency in the Philippines and leave it to focus on China instead. Obama ignored the other Moro group MNLF warning of impending warfare against his ally President Benigno Aquino III in the Philippines on the MNLF’s official website months before their uprising in Zamboanga city in 2013 and battle with the Philippine military which effectively destroyed his vaunted pivot to the Asia-Pacific region against China during his administration. This indicates a broader arrogance on the part of American planners at the top levels of government to ignore reality when the enemy was providing free intelligence on their public platform warning that they would attack the Philippine state. Such unimpeded arrogance appears to still be the mark of American policy towards the Southeast Asian region. How can America confront China when it ignored clear signs of an impending battle? Even approaching this form a neutral point of view, denial of reality is not a good way for American political planners to push their genocidal interests in the region.
Champa
Ahmad, A. (2013, October 21). Saving Champa. Retrieved from https://www.gofundme.com/f/4wbixw
Bray, Adam. (2017, April 10). The Cham: Descendants of Ancient Rulers of South China Sea Watch Maritime Dispute From Sidelines. Retrieved from https://www.ioc-champa.com/english/the-cham-descendants-of-ancient-rulers-of-south-china-sea-watch-maritime-dispute-from-sidelines-by-adam-bray-the-ancestors-of-vietnams-cham-people-built-one-of-the-great-empires-of-southeast-asia/
Bray, Adam. (2014, June 18). The Cham: Descendants of Ancient Rulers of South China Sea Watch Maritime Dispute From Sidelines. National Geographic, Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/6/140616-south-china-sea-vietnam-china-cambodia-champa/
Bray, Adam. (2011, May 29). Quang Ngai's Cham Connection. Retrieved from http://fisheggtree.blogspot.com/2011/05/quang-ngais-cham-connection.html
Bray, Adam. (2012, April 2). Who are the Cham People: An Unauthorized History of Champa. Retrieved from http://fisheggtree.blogspot.com/2012/04/who-are-cham-people-unauthorized.html
Dharma, Po, & Karim, Abd. (2012, February 20). Ariya Po Ceng. Retrieved from http://champaka.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=430:ceng-po&catid=74:sakarai&Itemid=79
Dharma, Po. (n.d.). From the F.L.M to Fulro (1955-1975) (978516101 758350473 Musa. Porome, Trans.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20140325182816/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/80-from-the-f-l-m-to-fulro-1955-1975
Dharma, Po. (2015, December 27). Ký sự: Phong trào thanh niên Chăm tham gia Fulro 1968. Retrieved from http://champaka.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1332:ky&catid=43:quandiemlichsu&Itemid=65
Dharma, Po. (2012, November 4). Po Dharma, tác phẩm số III: Lịch sử 33 năm cuối cùng của Champa. Retrieved from http://dev.champaka.info/?p=3087
Dharma, Po. (n.d.). The History of Champa. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20140827090407/http://chamtoday.com/images/IOC-Champa/PHOTO/ARTICLE/Dharma/History_of_Champa_Final.pdf
Dharma, Po, & Tu, Sean. (n.d.). The Uprisings of Katip Sumat and Ja Thak Wa (1833-1835). (978516101 758350473 Sean Tu, Trans.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20140316032645/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/78-the-uprisings-of-katip-sumat-and-ja-thak-wa-1833-1835
Dharma, Po. (2013, September 8). Tiểu sử Ts. Po Dharma, tác giả Lịch Sử 33 Năm Cuối Cùng Champa. Retrieved from http://champaka.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=911:tiens&catid=34:lichsu&Itemid=28
Dharma, P. (2013, April 24). Viếng thăm mộ Thiếu Tướng Les Kosem, sáng lập viên phong trào Fulro. Retrieved from http://champaka.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=777:viengtham&catid=80:2012&Itemid=92
Greer, Tanner. (2017, January 5). Cambodia Wants China as Its Neighborhood Bully. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/05/cambodia-wants-china-as-its-neighborhood-bully/
Idres Bin, Suleiman. (2011, September 12). The case of the fallen Champa. Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20121226155355/http://chamtoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=218:thecaseofthefallenchampa&catid=47
Nguyen, Dominique. (2013, June 6). Post-FULRO Events (1975-2004) (978531561 758360090 Sean Tu, Trans.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20140316034024/http://chamtoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=79%3Achuyevuiboltarie&catid=37&Itemid=1 and https://web.archive.org/web/20140325182851/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/79-post-fulro-events-1975-2004
Porome, Khaleelah. (n.d.). Mission to Vietnam Advocacy Day (Vietnamese-American Meet up 2013) in the U.S. Capitol. A UPR report By IOC-Campa. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20141019202638/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/news-tin-t-c/world-th-gi-i/100-mission-to-vietnam-advocacy-day
Porome, Musa. (2013, July). On behalf of the International Office of Champa (IOC):. Retrieved from https://dvov.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/upr-cham-report-6-2013.pdf
Porome, Musa. (n.d.). Ramadan Greeting! Chúc Mừng Ramuwan. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20150203010314/http://chamtoday.com/index.php/news-tin-t-c/tin-c-ng-d-ng/170-ramadan-greeting-chuc-m-ng-ramuwan
Người bản địa Philippine đòi được bảo vệ vùng đất tổ tiên của họ (Philippine tribal demand protection of ancestral lands) (980336406 759476484 Musa Porome, Trans.). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20141019194235/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/165-ngu-i-b-n-d-a-philippine-doi-du-c-b-o-v-vung-d-t-t-tien-c-a-h
Taylor, Philip. (December 2006). Economy in Motion: Cham Muslim Traders in the Mekong Delta. The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 7(3), 237-250. doi:10.1080/14442210600965174 Retrieved from
Thul, Prak Chan. (2014, April 29). Investors wary as anti-Vietnamese feeling grows in Cambodia. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/cambodia-racism-idUSL3N0NE1HW20140428
Tu, Qasim. (2018, January 20). Peitition. Retrieved from https://www.ioc-champa.com/english/petition/
Council of Indigenous Peoples in Today's Vietnam. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2020, from http://web.archive.org/web/20140107084207/http://www.cip-tvn.org/
Hai văn thư chính thức của vua Champa dưới thời Tây Sơn. (2014, April 12). Retrieved from http://dev.champaka.info/?p=4477
Lịch trình biến cốtheo niên đại. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dev.champaka.info/images/stories/CHAMPAKA/TAPSAN/Champaka12/14%20lich%20trinh%20bien%20co%20271-280.pdf
The Raja Praong Ritual: A Memory of the Sea in Cham- Malay Relations (n.d.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20140316032921/http://chamunesco.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110:the-raja-praong-ritual-a-memory-of-the-sea-in-cham-malay-relations&catid=45:van-hoa&Itemid=120
Voice of Youth. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20141019194328/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/voice-of-youth
West Papua
https://twitter.com/PurePapua/status/1274253404764856320
https://twitter.com/PurePapua/status/1260845333044748288
Mindanao
REVISITING THE FEBRUARY 7-8, 1974 BURNING OF JOLO. (2013, February 7). Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20170527094721/http://mnlfnet.com/Articles/Editorial_07Feb2013_Revisiting%20the%20Feb%207%20Burning%20of%20Jolo.htm
RRayhanR. (2012, July 29). RECLAIMING BANGSAMORO HUMANITY FROM FOREIGN COLONIZERS. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20150930185637/http://mnlfnet.com/Articles/BYC_29July2012_Reclaiming%20Bangsamoro%20Humanity%20from%20Foreign%20Colonizers.htm
IMPACT OF POSSIBLE CHINA-PHILIPPINES WAR WITHIN FILIPINO-MORO WAR IN MINDANAO. (2012, August 11). Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20150514060042/http://www.mnlfnet.com:80/Articles/Editorial_11August2012_Impact%20of%20Possible%20China-Phil%20War%20Within%20Filipino-Moro%20War%20in%20Mindanao.htm
RRayhanR. (2012, July 17). An Open Letter to US President Barack Obama. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20151002225907/http://mnlfnet.com/Articles/BYC_17July2012_Open%20Letter%20to%20President%20Barrack%20Obama.htm
Chittagong Hill Tracts
Iqbal, Jamil. M. (2009, November 2). The fate of the Chittagong Hill Tracts tribes of Bangladesh. Retrieved from https://marxist.com/fate-chittagong-hill-tracts-tribes-bangladesh.htm
McEvoy, Mark. (2014, April 3). Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh – rapists act with impunity. Survival. Retrieved from https://survivalinternational.org/news/10141
McEvoy, Mark. (2014, April 3). Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh – rapists act with impunity. Survival. Retrieved from https://survivalinternational.org/news/10141
Sattar, Maher. (2015, June 24). Bangladesh indigenous ban ‘worse than apartheid’. Al Jazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2015/06/24/bangladesh-indigenous-ban-worse-than-apartheid/
Jumma People of the CHT. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20080617152734/https://angelfire.com/ab/jumma/bground/people.html
Jummas. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/jummas
Baghaihat communal attack on indigenous Jumma peoples by Army and Bengali settlers. (2010, February 24). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wYioQ4qNZA
Bangladesh military and settler Bangali Muslims vandalized Buddhist temple in Bangladesh. (2018, October 24). Retrieved from https://youtube.com/watch?v=KH2R2mW8euE
Chittagong Hill Tracts TERRIFIED voices_part1. (2011, May 24). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 9gxfqs_K6zE
Muslim Attacked on Indigenous Buddhist in Longadu, Chittagong, Bangladesh. (2017, June 4). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5FKqdaKCDQ
Religious Persecution in the CHT. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://angelfire.com/ab/jumma/religion.html
One sided boxing
In the new Cold War between China and the US, the US has been largely landing one sided punches against countries it perceives at clients of China while China has refused to attack US clients, instead funneling heavy economic investment into them. The cases of Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Vietnam show that there is no desire by China to confront the US, or any desire of India to confront the US in the case of Bangladesh.
China has consistently refused to support ethnic minorities and movements in US client regimes. During the Cold War, China supported the East Timorese independence movement while the US, UK and Australia supported the Suharto government in Indonesia. China has since then stopped supporting movements in Indonesia after East Timor’s independence and the establishment of diplomatic relations with Indonesia. China has increased investment in Indonesia since then despite Indonesia’s military maintaining close ties to the US and Australia.
In the Philippines, China has refused to support Moro and Lumad movements despite Moros highlighting old ties with China, instead opting to invest in the government of Duterte who has continued the Aquino administrations extrajudicial killings of Moros and Lumads despite his pretentions to break with the west. Both the pro-western Aquino and now the “anti-western” Duterte have committed the same crimes against indigenous peoples.
China has ploughed investment into Bangladesh whether it was ruled by BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) or BAL (Bangladesh Awami League). Bangladesh is far closer to the US and UK than it will ever be with China. From the training of the extrajudicial murder squad Rapid Action Battalion by the UK and its ties to US Marshalls, Bangladesh will always be closer to the western side and it would be foolish of China to assume otherwise. India instructed the Jummas in the Shanti Bahini to lay down their arms in 1997 after PM Hasina’s Awami League government came to power in 1996 after having achieved their desired result of pressuring the BNP and other anti-India governments in Bangladesh during the insurgency. Since then the indigenous peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts have gone unsupported by any country. Bangladesh has continued it’s genocidal campaign of rape and colonial settlements of Bengali Muslim colonists in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to marginalize and destroy the indigenous Jumma peoples, the Chakma Buddhists, Marma Buddhists, Tripuri Hindus, Mro and numerous other ethnicities.
Vietnam occupies a grey area in this new Cold War. The minority Chams, Khmer Krom and Degar who formed the FULRO movement to fight for independence against the South Vietnamese, US and North Vietnamese successively. Vietnam’s Communist government attempts to draw support from all the major world powers at once rather than one. The Degars have complained that the Obama administration has deliberately ignored them to curry favour with Vietnam against China while repeated attempts by Cham NGOs to lobby for attention to human rights concerns including extrajudicial murder & rape by Vietnamese police against Chams as well as destruction of Champa’s cultural heritage have gone ignored by the west. China has also invested in Vietnam and its bauxite mines instead of continuing to support ethnic minorities which have precedent in Chinese history. In the Song dynasty and Ming dynasty China supported Champa militarily both in offensive military actions and weapons supplies to Champa and accepted the migration of several thousand Cham refugees to Hainan island where they live today. During the Cold War China supported North Vietnam and the Khmer Rouge while FULRO fought against North Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge forces both during the Vietnam war in the 1970s and later during the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia. It was only during the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia that links between China and FULRO were established in the 1980s while FULRO was fighting against both the Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge. Vietnam put former Khmer Rouge members in power such as Hun Sen and Heng Samrin both of whom signed off and agreed with atrocities perpetrated in 1975-1977 until their defections.
Vietnamese is one of the languages on Radio Free Asia as it was one of the enemies of the US in the Cold War, but at the same time Radio Free Asia does not have Cham nor any Degar languages as the US supported South Vietnam who were also enemies of FULRO.