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THE OVERVIEW OF CAMBODIA ETHNIC MINORITY
Figures on the ethnic make-up of Cambodian society are somewhat difficult to determine, and the most recent population census in 1998 did not address the question of ethnicity. However it is thought that ethnic Khmers - drawn from the Eastern Mon-Khmer group of the Mon-Khmer language family - make up around 96 per cent of Cambodia's total population.
Ethnic Khmers living just outside the kingdom in An Giang, Bạc Liêu, Kiên Giang, Sóc Trăng and Trà Vinh Provinces of southern Việt Nam (an area known in Cambodia as Kampuchea Krom or Lower Cambodia which was ceded to the Việt kingdom in 1749) maintain their own distinct cultural identity.
The largest single minority group in Cambodia is that of the Cham-Malays - drawn from the Chamic branch of the Austronesian or Malay-Polynesian language group of the Austro-Thai language family - who are settled mainly along the Mekong River to the north of Phnom Penh. Descended from the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Champa in what is now south-central coastal Việt Nam, they adopted their faith and script from the Malays, who settled in Kampot at the invitation of Muslim Khmer King Chan in 1642. Consequently their language and script differs somewhat from that of their cousins in Việt Nam. Partly urbanised, often educated and much involved in trade and commerce, the Cham were severely persecuted during the Pol Pot years and their present population of 220,000 (1992) compares to a figure of over 800,000 during the 1950s and 1960s.
Numbering around 50,000, the ethnic Chinese - drawn from the Han (Sinitic) language group of the Sino-Tibetan language family - constitute another important ethnic group in Cambodia, although as in neighbouring Thailand, they have been assimilated to a greater degree than in many other parts of South East Asia. Over the past few years there has arguably been a fresh wave of siniticisation as ethnic Chinese business people from Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore have invested in Cambodia and the Chinese government has provided important bilateral aid. Chinese language schools are popular and there are now several local Chinese-language newspapers in Phnom Penh. Major Chinese festivals such as Chinese New Year and the Harvest Moon Festival are widely observed. Although they are not official holidays, market traders and stallholders close shop in such large numbers that in the centre of Phnom Penh, business activity almost comes to a halt.
A community of some 95,000 ethnic Vietnamese (Viet-Muong branch, Mon-Khmer language group, Austro-Asiatic language family) is dominant in Cambodia’s fisheries and manual trades.
Cambodia is also home to numerous hill tribe peoples, collectively referred to by the government as Khmer Loeu (‘Highland Khmer’), a name coined in the 1960s by Prince Norodom Sihanouk to help generate a feeling of unity between the highlanders and the lowland ethnic Khmer majority. The most numerically significant of these hill tribes are the Pnong (or Mnong, 19,000), the Kui (16,000), the Brau with their sub-groups the Kravet and the Krung (15,000), the Rhade (or Ede, 15,000), the Jarai (15,000), the Tampuan (13,500) and the Stieng (5,000).
The majority of Cambodia’s hill tribes hail from the Mon-Khmer speaking group of the Austro-Asiatic language family, of which three distinct ethno-linguistic branches are represented: the Bahnaric language branch of north eastern Cambodia, the Katuic language branch of northern and north-central Cambodia and the Pearic language branch of western and south-westerm Cambodia.
The traditional homeland of the Bahnaric peoples straddles the border with southern Laos and the central highlands of Việt Nam. Ethnicities drawn from this branch and settled in Mondulkiri, Ratanakiri, Stung Treng and eastern Kratie Provinces of Cambodia include the Brau and their sub-groupings the Kravet and Krung (West Bahnaric); the Lamam, Kaco and Tampuan (Central Bahnaric); and the Pnong - including their Kraol sub group - and Stieng (South Bahnaric).
The Katuic branch of Mon-Khmer is represented in Cambodia by the Kui of Preah Vihear and northern Kompong Thom Provinces.
Ethnicities belonging to the Pearic branch of Mon-Khmer include the Pear of Kompong Thom, the Samre of coastal Koh Kong Province, the Saoch of the coastal Kampot Province, the Somray of northern Pursat and southern Battambang Provinces and the Suoy of Kompong Speu, Kompong Chhnang and eastern Pursat Provinces. The Pearic language branch is believed to represent the ancient population of western Cambodia, and still had many speakers in Angkor city when Chinese traveller and writer Zhou Daguan visited the country seven hundred years ago. Today the Pearic languages are on the verge of extinction, with only people over the age of 50 or 60 years remembering when they were used. The closest related language to Pear found outside Cambodia is Chong, which is spoken in Thailand’s Chanthaburi province by some 3,000 speakers, including children.
Two hill tribe groups - the Jarai and Rhade (or Ede) of Ratanakiri Province – hail from the Austronesian or Malay-Polynesian language group of the Austro-Thai language family and are linguistically related to Cham, probably representing an expansion of the Old Cham language from the coastal kingdom of Champa into the highlands. Today the great majority of Jarai and Rhade speakers are found on the other side of the border in Việt Nam, where they number several hundred thousand and are concentrated in the eponymous Gia Lai Province.
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