THE VIETNAMESE CIVILIAN MURDERED DEGAR CHRISTIAN FREE OF CHARGE

By MFIPR

We the Degar people, both Christians and non Christians alike, have been experiencing cruelty and hate at the hands of Vietnamese people and government since 1975. Many Degar people have been murdered and targeted by the Vietnamese civilians, military, and police free of charge. Why do we say this? We say this because of the many reported senseless criminal acts that we see against the Degar Christians such as that against our Christian Brother Huoi who was murdered by a Ethnic Vietnamese citizen without punishment.

Huoi was a 23 year old young man from the village of Ploi Adok Kong, district of Dakdoa in the province of Gialai. On May 17 of 2009, Huoi along with two of his friends, Han and Nun, were standing and talking on the street in front of the house of their friend Nguin. Adjacent to Nguin’s house, at approximately 20 meters away, was a Vietnamese store owned by a man name Minh. While the three young men were talking, someone from the store came out and gestures and asked them to come over. Huoi decided to go and see if the Ethnic Vietnamese man needed some help. But as Huoi approached the store, the Vietnamese man suddenly went back inside the store. By the time Huoi reached the door of the store, the man came out and stabbed Huoi in his stomach with a big knife; killing him right on the spot and then he ran away. When Huoi’s family and friends heard of what had happened, they came to the store to look for the killer but he was gone. They then immediately went to the Vietnamese security police who offered them no help. This situation is a prime example of the Vietnamese government’s unwillingness to uphold the law when violations of the law are committed by Vietnamese citizens against a minority such as the Degar people. This outright neglect to protect all citizens of Vietnam is deplorable and should not be allowed to continue. The Vietnamese government has been running on the platform of human rights at the United Nations and no one has called them out on their lies and deceit but they continue to get the international community’s support.

Our Degar people have experienced many things like this since 1975. The Vietnamese rules and laws seem to only protect ethnic Vietnamese and not all citizens of Vietnam especially the indigenous Degar people.

After they had invaded the Central Highlands in 1975, the Hanoi government accused the indigenous Degar people of siding with US forces and South Vietnam. This is the excuse that the government gives in order for them to have the right in the eyes of the international community to murder our people at will. During the war, the indigenous Degar people were used by the US extensively because of their loyalty and fearlessness. But we saw no fruits for our labor.

Instead, while thousands of the Degar people die in a war that has no benefit to them, we continue to suffer because we were allies of the US. This was South Vietnam’s war with the North. Why is it that the Degar people continue to suffer and not the South Vietnamese? Why is the International community more concerned about how the North is treating the former South Vietnamese people than they are with what is happening to the Indigenous Degar people. The Degar people were the innocent bystanders who were not suppose to be part of the casualties of this war. Instead, it’s sad to say that North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the US did not care for the lives of the Degar people. We are now hated by everyone because we are asking for help.

The indigenous Degar people did not create the war nor did they know where the war came from or what it was for. What we do know is that the war was fought on our homeland. It destroyed our people and our land where we have lived for thousands of years in peace and freedom. Most of the battles were fought in the Central Highlands not in Hanoi. As a result, hundreds of thousands of innocent Degar people died because of the war.

After the war had ended in 1975 many countries around the world gave aid in money to help rebuild and strengthen Vietnam. None of it went to help rebuild the lives of the Degar people. Vietnam has now become one of the most powerful countries in the world. They abuse their power by quieting any critics who try to speak out against their unfair treatment of the Indigenous Degar people while others watch as they destroy the Degar race.

We the Degar indigenous people are helpless in stopping the genocidal policies of the Vietnamese government toward our people but we can pray to our Almighty God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to help us to endure the painful agony of death. On the contrary, we want to thank and praise our Almighty God for allowing our people to be ignorant, poor and weak so that we cannot harm the one who is hurting us.

Just like apostle Paul stated in 2Corinthians 12:8-10 three times I pleaded with the Lord to take away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I hope these verses from the Bible will reach the Degar people in the Central Highlands to comfort them in their time of hardship and needs.