Born foreign: in Cambodia, it’s not easy being Vietnamese
- Many ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia are effectively stateless, long-standing victims of historical resentments
- But despite the difficulties many face even accessing basic services, few would opt to leave
Vietnamese, Khmer and English can be seen on signs advertising the shops and cafes scattered throughout the area, as Vietnamese drinks and spices adorn market shelves.
Street sellers pique people’s interest with Vietnamese lottery tickets and multilingual chatter fills the neighbourhood.
By a brightly painted church, 25-year-old Dara* checks the engine of his Honda bike. The son of an ethnic Vietnamese Catholic family who live about 50km from Phnom Penh, he is one of 63,000 ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia, according to a 2013 population survey – though human rights groups say the true number is around four times higher.
“I have Cambodian papers. My family had connections with the authorities and got them done for me when I was 12,” said Dara, the only member of his family to have Cambodian citizenship.
Around 90 per cent of Cambodia’s ethnic Vietnamese population lack an official means of formal identification, according to the Phnom Penh-based Minority Rights Organisation.
