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Mr. Kok Ksor's Speech
at the Ninth Commemoration of Vietnam Human Rights Day on Friday, May
9, 2003 at the Russell Caucus Room, Russell Senate Office Building.
Honorable guests and Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen:
My name is Kok Ksor I am the president of the Montagnard Foundation.
It is an honor for me to be here with you today, and I would like to
thank Dr. Quan Nguyen, for his generous invitation.
I speak to you today under the gravest of circumstances
- as the land of my birth, the central highlands of Vietnam - is under
martial law.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have recently documented
the grave repression suffered by the Montagnard people today in the
Central Highlands, especially for those who are Christians.
Thanks to the commendable role of the U.S. Government, hundreds of
Montagnards have been able to expatriate to the U.S. from Cambodia.
Among those that have not forgotten us, there is also Dr. Que Nguyen,
who has written about the plight of the Montagnards and who has put his
life at risk for criticizing the Communist regime of Vietnam. Dr. Que
is now under arrest. Today our prayers are for him. Dr. Que is also
known to you all as someone who believes and practices nonviolence.
Nonviolence is difficult for people that suffer violence on a daily
basis. But we need to confront hate with different weapons. Since
many years, after the bloodshed of the Vietnam’s Wars, and in
particular thanks to a friendship and working relationship that I have
been developing with the non-governmental organization called the
Transnational Radical Party; I have become convinced that nonviolent
methods are the only one that can lead us towards a better future. For
this reason over the last two years MFI has promoted and supported some
nonviolence initiatives launched by the TRP.
The Montagnard Foundation and I personally, have been officially
accused before the United Nations by the Vietnamese Communist
Government of being terrorists, and to promote the creation of an
independent State. These allegations were lodged after the TRP allowed
me to speak on its behalf at the 58th session of the Commission on
Human Rights last year to denounce human rights violations in Vietnam.
I should also like to take this opportunity to state that the MFI is
not working for the creation of an independent Degar State separated
from Vietnam. The priorities of MFI are to stop the ongoing repression
of the Degar people, and the recognition of their individual rights.
We do not ask for independence but for a simple right to exist as
human beings and the right, as indigenous people, to farm our ancestral
lands because the land is our heart and without our heart we cannot
live. Now, our heart has been taken from us by the current communist
government.
Today, here in Washington DC I plea for all Vietnamese citizens to
unite in order to bring about a free and democratic nation open to all.
Only through the ascertainment of civil, political and indigenous
rights we will be able to live together free and in harmony with one
another.
Thank you very much, God bless you and may God bless America.
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