Khmer people in Vi Binh commune (Hau Giang province) come to Ratana Paphia Vararam temple to perform a ritual to welcome Chol Chnam Thmay New Year. (Photo: Hong Thai/VNA)
On June 2.6, the Cambodia Spark newspaper (Rasmei Kampuchea) - one of the oldest and most prestigious press agencies in the Kingdom of Cambodia - published an article titled "Vietnam is interested in creating sustainable livelihoods associated with conservation." , promoting the cultural values of the Khmer nation."
Informational article on the Vietnamese Government's policy of prioritizing development investment towards the ethnic minority communities in Vietnam in general, the Mekong Delta region in particular, including ethnic minorities. Khmer – one of 53 ethnic minorities living in Vietnam.
The article quotes discussions and presentations at the seminar "Solutions for sustainable socio-economic development for ethnic minorities in the Mekong Delta" that took place in Can Tho City in the middle of the year. The week of May 5.2023, said that the Mekong River Delta area has a natural area of 40.816,4 km2 with a coastline of 750 km and a border with Cambodia, a length of 330 km, a population of 17,3 million people with 44 components. nations live together.
According to the results of the statistical survey of 53 ethnic minorities in 2019, this area has 43 ethnic minorities living with more than 1,3 million people, accounting for nearly 7,6% of the region's population.
Among the ethnic minority communities in the region, the Khmer have the largest number with over 1,1 million people.
According to the article, like the community of other ethnic minorities living in this land for a long time, the Khmer people live intertwined with the Kinh people in 9 provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta including Soc Trang and Tra provinces. Vinh, Kien Giang, An Giang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau, Hau Giang, Vinh Long and Can Tho cities, mostly associated with agricultural production.
The author of the article believes that ethnic minorities in Vietnam in general and Khmer in particular have their own cultural identity, traditional religion, customs and language, and their own writing and language, contributing to the creation of their own culture. Vietnamese culture is unified in diversity, as shared by Venerable Ly Hung at the seminar "Each ethnic group has its own cultural identity, contributing to the diversity, richness and unity in Vietnamese culture". The South in general, and the river culture of the Southwest region in particular.”
The way back to the Khmer Soc Trang villages. (Photo: Chanh Da/VNA)
Along with focusing on investing in building infrastructure systems in ethnic minority areas through many priority programs and projects over the years, the Party and Government of Vietnam have often paid attention to , creating conditions for Khmer people to maintain religious activities and traditional festival activities of the nation.
The whole region has 446 Khmer Theravada Buddhist temples with over 8.000 monks studying, considered the heart of Khmer Phum Soc, where religious rituals and traditional festivals such as New Year's Eve, Buddha's Birthday, Worshiping Grandparents, Ook-om-boc... bustling and busy.
According to the author of the article, in addition to paying attention to investment in economic development and improving the lives of the people, policies on education, training, and fostering human resources in the Khmer ethnic community are also concerned. focus on and gradually promote efficiency.
The Mekong Delta region currently has 34 boarding schools for ethnic minorities with the size of more than 11.600 students, mainly the children of Khmer people. Notably, along with the effective organization of teaching in boarding schools for ethnic minorities, the number of pupils and students of ethnic minorities is increasing; Ethnic literacy policy is also regularly concerned through the arrangement of teaching and learning Khmer characters at high schools in places where there are not enough conditions to open boarding schools for ethnic minorities, as well as organizing literacy teaching activities. ethnic minorities at Khmer pagoda sites during the summer.
In addition, in the Mekong Delta region, there is also the University of Southern Khmer Language, Culture, Arts and Humanities under Tra Vinh University, which is considered as a human resource incubator and a place to train staff. intellectuals inherit and follow in the footsteps of the previous generations in preserving the traditional cultural identity of the Khmer people in Vietnam.
Citing researchers and managers at the above-mentioned workshop, the article in the Cambodian newspaper Spark said: “The issue of creating sustainable livelihoods for ethnic minorities in the Mekong Delta in general. The Khmer community in Vietnam in particular is built from the foundation of preserving and promoting the nation's cultural traditions.
In that context, the Party and State of Vietnam have identified views, goals and solutions for the development of ethnic minority areas by 2030, with a vision to 2045. In which, emphasis is on creating livelihoods. sustainable on the basis of preserving, preserving and promoting the traditional cultural identity of the nation.”
According to Spark of Cambodia, relevant agencies and departments of Vietnam at all levels have been focusing on implementing 3 national target programs. In particular, the National Target Program on socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2021-2030 (phase I from 2021 to 2025) has been approved by the Government of Vietnam. approved with a total estimated cost of nearly 137.665 billion VND.
From the perspective of the above approach, the article emphasizes "For localities in the Mekong Delta, the implementation of this program with related projects is considered as fundamental solutions for economic development. socio-economic development, creating sustainable livelihoods associated with the preservation and promotion of cultural traditions in ethnic minority areas in general and Khmer ethnic minorities in particular.
VNA
