Solutions for the sustainable socio-economic development on Khmer community in the southern Vietnam

AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

SOLUTIONS FOR THE SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ON
KHMER COMMUNITY IN THE SOUTHERN VIETNAM
Mai Phu Hop1
1

Can Tho University

Information:
Received: 26/09/2018
Accepted: 03/05/2019
Published: 11/2019
Keywords:
Vietnam, Khmer people,
barriers.

ABSTRACT
Vietnam is a country with 54 ethnic groups and with different capacities for
socio-economic development. The majority of these ethnic minorities have
many limitations in siad development. Consequently, the State has supportive
policies for these ethnic groups. In the South, the socio-economic life of the
Khmer people has recently improved and developed more than before.
However, from the perspective of socio-economic development towards
sustainability, it still reveals limitations and weaknesses such as poverty,
disease, development of education - training employability and the living
environment. In fact, it is very necessary to research and assess in a
comprehensive way the causes of these challenges prior to proposing and
recommending sustainable development solutions for the Khmer people in
the South today.

1. INTRODUCTION

pagoda not only plays an important role and
position in religious life but also is the center of
Khmer community and culture (Phan An, 2005).
The history of formation and development of the
southern region in particular and Vietnamese
history in general shows that the Khmer people
are an integral part of the Vietnamese multi-ethnic
and multicultural community. The Khmer people
in the south have lived and developed with Kinh,
Hoa, and Cham cultures. In recent time they have
shown their attachment and solidarity in life as
well as in the fight against invaders to protect
national independence and the sacred sovereignty
of the Fatherland. Therefore, the Khmer culture
has harmonized and integrated with other cultures
in the South, contributing to the mosaic of a
community of rich and deeply identifiable
Vietnam.

The Khmer ethnic group in Vietnam has about 1.3
million people (Bùi Thị Ngọc Lan, 2014). They
live mainly in the southern provinces of Vinh
Long, Tra Vinh, Can Tho, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu,
Ca Mau, Kien Giang and An Giang. They are
indigenous people and have been present for a
long time in this land with rich customs, practices,
festivals and highly appreciated, spiritual value of
life. The khmer livelihood is closely associated

with wet-rice cultivation and many handicrafts.
Most of the Khmer people follow Therawada
Buddism, a unique heritage of their culture. This
culture has its own nuances that cannot be mixed
with any other ethnic group. In their development
process, the Khmer are influenced by the spirit of
Buddhism and study Buddha's teachings and
culture at pagodas before entering adult life. The

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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

In recent years, the Party and State have paid
much attention to investing and supporting the
southern region in many aspects, especially
developing policies for the Khmer people. The
Party, local authorities and Khmer ethnic groups
in the region have also made efforts to mobilize
many resources for socio-economic development.
As a result, the poverty rate has significantly
decreased, and the material and spiritual life has
been gradually improved. However, due to both
subjective and objective factors, the long-term
effectiveness of the support programs has been
reduced: the number of poor households and
diseases remains high, education for raising
qualifications and the rate of trained employment
is still limited and the shortage of residential and

productive land still exists. These are the
limitations and weaknesses that greatly affect the
socio-economic sustainable development of the
Khmer ethnic group in the south in particular and
the whole southern region in general. Therefore,
in order to contribute to the sustainable socioeconomic development of the Khmer ethnic group
in the south, it is necessary to research and
discover the limited causes so that there can be
practical basis to propose radical solutions. In
particular, the concern for improving the material
life must go hand in hand with the spiritual life; it
is necessary to study specific factors of each
locality in order to promulgate policies suitable to
reality; unify the mechanism of funding
allocation, policies for training human resources,
policies for supporting the residential land and
productive land, policies for attracting investment
enterprises to create jobs, and policies for
preserving traditional culture.

and human issues. In the process of innovation,
people are placed at the center, both a goal and a
driving force of socio-economic development.
This is reflected in the fact that Vietnam's human
development index is constantly improving.
Vietnam is a country with many ethnic groups, the
ethnic groups in Vietnam are all citizens of a
country, children in a house, their fortunes are
closely intertwined in matters of natural
subjugation as well as fighting foreign invaders.

Thoroughly grasping the Vietnamese view of
Marxism-Leninism on the nation, President Ho
Chi Minh initially set out the strategic orientation
for ethnic policy in Vietnam which are solidarity,
equality and support. Ho Chi Minh said: “Our
country is a unified nation with many ethnic
groups. All ethnic groups living in Vietnam are
equal in rights and obligations” (Hồ Chí Minh,
2000). Inheriting and developing Ho Chi Minh's
thoughts on ethnic issues and solidarity among
ethnic groups, from the very beginning, the
Communist Party of Vietnam has determined that
ethnic work has a strategic significance in the
revolutionary cause, promoting national unity is
one of the important tasks in the process of
national development. And documents of the
Party Congress before and after the renovation
period all identify important positions of ethnic
issues.
Due to the characteristics of the living area along
with the characteristics of culture and customs, so
the Party and State have issued and implemented
many policies to support socio-economic
development as well as preserve traditional
culture to contribute to eliminating development
gaps and living standards among ethnic groups,
implementing social equality, implementing social
security, raising people's intellectual standards,
eradicating hunger and reducing poverty, and
developing rural areas in a sustainable manner.

Currently, there are about 100 policies and
documents on ethnic groups that have been
implemented in the South. Some typical programs
such as: Program 134 and 135, preferential loans,

2.
THE
ACHIEVEMENTS IN SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
OF
THE
KHMER COMMUNITY IN SOUTHERN
VIETNAM
The highlight of Vietnam is that economic
development achievements are always closely
linked to human development achievements,
economic growth is directed at addressing social
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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

sedentarization, support for productive land and
houses; National target programs on building new
rural areas, eradicating hunger and reducing
poverty. Along with national target programs for
ethnic minorities, the Secretariat, the Party
Central Committee and the Government have also
issued many Directives, Resolutions and
Decisions such as:

TTg dated 01 February 2008, Decision no.
18/2011/QD-TTg dated 18 March 2011, Decision
no. 56/2013/QD-TTg dated 07 October 2013 of
the Prime Minister;
- Regarding reduction of land use fees for ethnic
minorities in the Government's Decree no.
45/2014/ND-CP dated 15 May 2014.
Thoroughly grasping and implementing the
guidelines and policies of the Party and the State
in recent years has brought remarkable results:

- Residential land and productive land support,
jobs creation, borrowing capital to create jobs,
develop production and daily-life water for poor
ethnic minority households in Decision no.
134/2004/QD- TTg dated 20 July 2004, Decision
no. 74/2008/QD-TTg dated 09 June 2008,
Decision no. 167/2008/QD-TTg dated 12
December 2008, Decision no. 755/2013/QD -TTg
dated 20 May 2013, Decision no. 29/2013/QDTTg dated 20 May 2013 of the Prime Minister.
Resolution no. 26-NQ-TW 2008 on Agriculture,
farmers and rural areas; Resolution no.
30a/2008/NQ-CP on supporting programs for
quick and sustainable settlement of 61 poor
districts of 20 provinces in the country;

Firstly, regarding poverty reduction: The general
living standard of the Khmer is improving as
reflected by the rate of poor households
decreasing from 40% in 2000 (Sơn Minh Thắng,

2017) to about 23% in 2017(Nguyễn Hữu Dũng,
2018).
Secondly, vocational training, job creation,
productive land support and capital investment,
science and technology which have always been
seen as the key solution for sustainable poverty
reduction and also achieved certain results: Tens
of thousands of unskilled labor are employed; a
part of agricultural labor is converted to nonagricultural labor in factories, enterprises; many
young workers are chosen to work abroad (Lê Thị
Hằng, 2017); it has supported productive and
residential land for 30,025 households (Nguyễn
Hữu Dũng, 2018).

- Regarding strengthening and developing the
boarding school system for ethnic minorities in
the 2011-2015 period in Decision no. 1640/QD in
2011;
- Regarding education, training and vocational
development in Decision no. 20/2006/QD-TTg
dated 20 January 2006; the Prime Minister’s
Decision no. 1033/QD-TTg dated 30 June 2011;

Thirdly, education - training: The school facilities
and equipment in ethnic minority areas have been
invested, created favorable conditions for teaching
and learning. The south currently has 31 boarding
schools for ethnic minorities (9 provincial
schools, 22 district schools, of which 9 schools
meet national standards) with more than 9,000

pupils attending;

- Regarding the medical examination and
treatment support for the poor at the Prime
Minister's Decision no. 139/2002/QD-TTg of
dated 15 October 2002.;
- Regarding the teaching and learning of voice
and written languages of ethnic minorities in high
schools and continuing education centers in
Decision no. 26/2008/QD-TTg dated 05 February
2008; Decree no. 82/2010/ND-CP dated 15 July
2010 of the Government;

The planning, training and retraining to develop a
contingent of educational managers and teachers,
especially Vietnamese - Khmer bilingual teachers
are interested. The contingent of educational
managers and teachers who are Khmer is
increasing (Hà Thị Khiết, 2018) (currently over

- Promoting the role of prestigious people among
ethnic minorities under Directive no. 06/2008/CT70


AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

17,000 civil servants, about 19,235 party members
are ethnic).

on a large scale, became an official festival in Tra

Vinh, Soc Trang and Kien Giang provinces and
Ngo boat races has been upgraded to a national
sport.

Implementing Program no. 135, phase 2, from
2006-2017 sent 21,493 students (Quang Minh,
2018) to higher education institutions, colleges, of
which Khmer students accounted for 12.46%
(Nguyệt Hà, 2013) and about 1,000 Khmer
students take pre-university classes every year
(Trịnh Xuân Thắng, 2014).

Sixthly, about policies to support infrastructure
investment, support housing, productive land for
poor Khmer people: Implementing Decision no.
167/2008/QD-TTg and Decision no. 74/2008/QDTTg, supporting residential land under Decision
no. 134/2004/QD-TTg; In addition, it also
provides clean water, electricity and kerosene to
poor people. Implementation of Program no. 135,
Phase II has achieved many remarkable results
(Trịnh Xuân Thắng, 2014).

Rate of literate people reached 73% (Phùng Đức
Tùng, Nguyễn Việt Cường, Nguyễn Cao Thịnh,
Nguyễn Thị Nhung & Tạ Thị Khánh Vân, 2017),
the universalization of secondary education is
always promoted, maintained well the primary
education universalization. The teaching and
learning of ethnic languages is always maintained
and developed, currently, the Ministry of

Education and Training has implemented the
program and textbook of Khmer literature under
the new program.

In summary: Through the guidelines and policies
of the Party and the State for the Khmer
population, authorities and functional branches of
the southern region are interested in deploying
and implementing it in the right time and right
subjects. As a result, the face is increasingly
innovative, material and spiritual life is
significantly improved.

Fourthly, about health: There have been great
developments in repelling many diseases.
Consequently, the quality of life has been
improved. The grassroots health network has been
constantly strengthened and improved, all
communes and wards with the majority of Khmer
people have medical stations, 100% of medical
stations have nurses, many of them have doctors.
Poor households are granted insurance books with
a total budget of more than 833.4 billion VND
under Decision no. 139/2002/QD-TTg, the regime
of free medical examination and treatment for
children under 6 years of age is strictly
implemented. Maternal and child health care is
being increasingly strengthened (Lê Thị Hằng,
2017).

3. THE LIMITATIONS IN SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF KHMER
COMMUNITY IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM
The
achievements
in
socio-economic
development of the Khmer ethnic group in recent
years are worthy of recognition, but these
achievements are still not commensurate with the
State's investment and the striving of the Khmer
people themselves, that result is not sustainable.
And it still reveals many following limitations:
Firstly, although the poverty rate has decreased, it
is still very high (23% in 2017 (Nguyễn Hữu
Dũng, 2018), and it is also worth noting that the
status of escaping from poverty is still
unsustainable, currently 10.3% of near-poor
households (Phùng Đức Tùng và cs, 2017),
because for the Khmer people in the south,
agriculture is the main income source and they
mainly cultivate wet-rice. currently more than
70% of the population participate in (Nguyễn
Minh Sang, 2016). However, this agricultural

Fifly, about preserving the traditional culture:
Regional and provincial radio, television,
newspapers have their own sections in Khmer
language; many types of arts and traditional
festivals are honored and promoted. Particularly,
OK Om Bok Festival, including Ngo boat race,

folk games activities organized by the provinces
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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

technique is still fragmented and small scale with
the linkage between people, between people and
business and academia scientists are still weak.
Consequently, production status is spontaneous
and fluent. Raising and growing crops is an extra
job, it is not a commodity production. In addition,
the qualifications are till limited and the
application
of
scientific
and
technical
achievements to production is still difficult; lack
of advanced equipment, machines and techniques
to develop production, improve labor productivity
and agricultural production, which is exposed to
both weather and market risks; the number of
people living on agriculture but having little or no
productive land is still quite large; limitation in
common language is also one of the causes
creating difficulties in acquiring science and
technology, capturing the market; there are not
many popular programs in the Khmer language,
especially in the transfer of agricultural science

and technology and market information. At the
same time, the Khmer people have a very rich and
unique festive system, but these festivals last for
days and have interrupted production. Moreover,
they are more in favor of the spiritual life than the
physical life, this has positive aspects, but because
considering real life is temporary and always
looking to the future is Nirvana, it has partly
influenced the will and efforts to get rich.

and international integration (currently only 3% of
workers have been trained). Report at the
conference "Publication of research reports and
consultation of vocational training guidance
framework for rural workers" organized by
Oxfam in cooperation with the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development on 29
November 2016 in Hanoi). Along with that is the
economic growth rate, agriculture, forestry and
fishery production in recent years has encountered
difficulties; investment activities of enterprises in
ethnic minority areas are not active;
The implementation of policy contents among
managing units is not yet synchronized: For
example, supporting the production land under
Decision no. 74/2008/QD-TTg and Decision no.
29/2013/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, the state
budget is granted, but loans from the social policy
banks were slowly and sparsely disbursed, so
people cannot concentrate capital to buy land.

Many households use capital for improper
purposes. As a result, poor households have not
escaped from poverty. On the other hand, the
price of land support is much lower than the
market price, in many localities, the location of
the production land for people are unfavorable,
poor infrastructure conditions such as lack of
electricity, water, poor fertility.
Thirdly, About education - training: At present,
only 73% of the population are literate, the
number of illiterate people aged 15 and over
accounts for 8.1% (nationwide is 6%), especially
for the Khmer people aged 15 and older, the
illiterate rate accounts for 25.6% (the rate of
ethnic minorities aged 15 and older who are
illiterate in the whole country accounts for
21.5%). The network of schools, classes, and
equipment for teaching and learning in some
ethnic minority areas is still inadequate, and the
percentage of schools meeting national standards
is only 19% (Lê Thị Hằng, 2017). Up to 90% of
Khmer people live in rural, remote and isolated
areas, especially difficult areas, with only a small
part living in urban areas, among about 500

Secondly, vocational training, job creation,
productive land support and capital investment,
science and technology have always been seen as
a key task for sustainable poverty reduction
despite achieving certain results, but: Due to the

low starting point, life is still very hard, so the
implementation of some policies is also difficult
such as low educational level and language barrier
(other barriers make it difficult for training to
meet the employment needs of both domestic and
foreign employers), the birth rate in some
localities is still high, backward customs and
practices make it difficult to absorb modern
science and technology, and they do not meet the
requirements of industrialization, modernization
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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

communes and wards with a large number of
people living there, there are 321 difficult
communes and 163 extremely difficult
communes. Due to the difficult life, for many
families, sending children to school is not a
priority. Therefore, many children do not go to
school or go to school late. Besides, the
implementation of policies on exemption and
reduction of tuition fees and support of study
costs for ethnic minority students in some
localities is not consistent; language barrier also
makes it difficult to implement education and
training policies. In addition to being active in
education at pagodas, but due to the lack of
updated curriculum, especially pedagogical skills,

the teaching methods of many monks are limited,
the shortage of Khmer and vocational teachers for
many years has not been overcome, so the training
and vocational training are still ineffective. The
input quality of the nominated students is still
low, the training majors are not suitable to the
local needs, the job creation for graduates after
graduation is still inadequate, some nominated
students did not return to the locality to serve.

have been narrowed, making room for new
cultural elements of modern society, along with
the invading foreign cultural elements that have
greatly influenced the traditional culture. The
activities of Khmer Theravada Buddhism and the
Solidary Association of Patriotic Monks have
made much progress, but there are still some
difficulties and shortcomings that need to be
attended to, especially in Buddhism and teaching,
learning work under the educational and training
system of Khmer Theravada Buddhism; Cultural
publications in the Khmer language are not with
high quality, the form is still poor. The amount of
radio time and television broadcast in Khmer
language has not met the requirements of
propaganda and the need for cultural enjoyment of
the people. The situation of constructing and
repairing
worshiping
facilities

without
government permission or carrying out wrong
licenses still occurs in some localities.
Sixth, regarding policies to support investment in
infrastructure and housing support: the south in
general and the Khmer ethnic group region in
particular still has difficulties and challenges that
need to be solved. Socio-economic infrastructure,
especially transport works, irrigation works, antisaline intrusion and anti-landslides have not yet
met the development requirements. Many
localities lack land fund allocated for people to
settle down.

Fourthly, health care has made progress:
However, there is still a portion of the Khmer
people who are in phum and commune facing
economic difficulties, having backward living
habits, and lack of access to modern health
services. Since then, the issue of health care for
themselves, especially children, has not been a
focus of the ethnic minorities. Most children in
disadvantaged areas are still suffering from
diseases such as motor malformation, heart
disease, rickets and developmental delays (Hữu
Thọ, 2017). The crude death rate was 6.69%, the
under-1 mortality rate was 15.94%, the under-5
mortality rate was 23.97%, the rate of using health
insurance was only 47.8 % (Phùng Đức Tùng et
al, 2017).

In addition to the above difficulties, in recent
years, the great challenges of climate change, sea
level rise, and severe drought have made Khmer
people's lives difficult and there are still
complicated developments of land disputes in
rural areas. Migration is quite strong among
Khmer people today, making the labor shortage,
difficult and has complicated life in the places
they‘ve migrated to. Along with that, the
perception of some party committees and
authorities on ethnic affairs is limited so the
interest in directing the implementation of
guidelines and policies is not adequate; guiding
documents of ministries and central agencies are

Fifthly, on preserving the traditional culture: The
traditional Khmer culture of the south is facing
the challenge of a new development period
because the previous socio-economic facilities
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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

overlapping and slow to deploy so localities are
still confused in mobilizing resources.

Poverty reduction policies should limit the current
direct subsidy and pay attention to promoting
internal resources to combat poverty of the

people, which are sustainable and must be placed
in the systematic manner such as: improve
people's intellectual standards, labor training and
job creation, the ability to apply science and
technology in production, on land relations.
Especially, the State needs to have mechanisms
and policies to support the development of
traditional occupations (capital, vocational
training, application of technological advances to
improve traditional technologies) such as brocade
weaving and carpentry (sculpture , carving,
building boats, making traditional musical
instruments), mat weaving, pottery making,
knitting, making jaggery, making green rice flakes
to help create jobs, increasing incomes for a part
of the poor, at the same time preserving the
unique cultural values of ethnic minorities.

4. PROPOSING FOR THE SOLUTIONS
SUSTAINABLE
SOCIO-ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
ON
KHMER
COMMUNITY IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM
Over the years of renovation, there have been
many specific policies and programs to help
people escape poverty, deep attention of local
governments; the Khmer people themselves are
gentle, industrious and hard-working. However,

the socio-economy of the people still faces many
difficulties: the rate of poor households is high,
the gap between rich and poor still increases, and
in particular, the rate of falling back into poverty
is very high. This situation greatly affects the goal
of sustainable socio-economic development, not
only for ethnic groups, but also for the South. This
is not only a socio-economic issue but also a
political issue in the Party's ethnic policy, if it is
not solved in a radical way, the consequences will
also affect the great unity bloc of the nation,
leading to the ethnic conflict in the area where the
Khmer people live, which is the basis for foreign
reactionary political organizations, Khmer Krom
groups and opposition political parties in
Cambodia to take advantage of and distort and
involve Khmer people in the provinces to
participate, destabilizing political security,
national security and defense in the South,
domestic and foreign policies of Vietnam in the
current international context. Therefore, the socioeconomic sustainable development of the Khmer
ethnic group in the South is an important task,
which is also the basis associated with the region's
long-term development strategy, an urgent
requirement in the Vietnam's socio-economic
context with many complicated changes.
Therefore, the author needs to focus more on the
following synchronization solutions:

Poverty reduction policies for Khmer people must

be compatible with psychological, cultural and
customs characteristics. The Khmer people are
mostly in agricultural production so policies
support the production of commodity agriculture,
with comprehensive productivity and quality from
capital, technology and consumption markets.
Partly due to backward customs and practices,
local authorities need to coordinate closely with
the mobilization effectively to raise their
awareness to become rich, consciously raise the
level, eliminate backward production practices,
actively study the application of production
science and technology.
Secondly, the solution of developing vocational
training to create jobs for Khmer ethnic people:
The Party, the State, the Committee for Ethnic
Minorities and the authorities of the provinces and
cities inhabited by the Khmer people need to
focus on addressing hot spots of land and poverty.
Develop and replicate models of poverty
reduction and individuals with economic success;
develop industrial plants in accordance with local

Firstly, hunger eradication and poverty reduction
for Khmer ethnic group must be in a sustainable
manner:

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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

practices to solve local jobs and restrict migration;
there should be a suitable policy on loans and land
support; have vocational training suitable to the
social and specific needs of Khmer people so that
young people can have a career and development,
equip scientific and technical knowledge to apply
in production and spread information so that
Khmer people in remote areas can access to.
Besides, it is necessary to have a career guidance
that meets the social needs so that Khmer students
in colleges and universities do not fall into
unemployment after graduation.

vocational training for rural laborers up to 2020
under the Decision No.1956/QD-TTg of the Prime
Minister dated 27 November 2009.
Encourage Khmer laborers to participate in
vocational training through effective economic
models, point production models; guide them to
follow, focus on quick-income-generating models
to help solve the living needs so that they can be
comfortable to learn.
Propose the State for training institutions to
participate in prequalification, consultancy and
orientation of professional personnel in order to
select high-quality recruitment sources for the
election system to meet the requirements of socioeconomic development in the locality and the
region; It is necessary to raise the prescribed level

to be eligible to be sent for enrollment to the
school compared to the current regulations; The
localities, when sending students to school, should
pay attention to the fields and branches with
particular nature of locality to serve the socioeconomic development of the locality or the fields
which are in need of people; serious consideration
should be given to the registration of fields which
are too difficult or currently saturated (such as
pedagogy and economics); It is necessary to
attach the responsibility of the locality in sending
people to go to school and receiving students
returning to the locality after graduation.

Thirdly, the solution of education and training
development for Khmer people:
It is necessary to train and improve the
management qualifications and knowledge for
officials of the Khmer ethnic group areas in the
Southern provinces. Associated with social
sustainable development are the fields of study:
Anthropology, Sociology, Social Work, Public
Health, Community Development, to be able to
easily grasp the needs and practical life of
citizens, advise and develop specific measures for
local authorities.
Promote solidification of schools and classes;
build boarding ethnic group schools in districts
with a large number of Khmer people; implement
quality curricula and textbooks of ethnic group
languages at primary and secondary schools;

continue to support textbooks and notebooks for
ethnic children of poor households in extremely
difficult communes; exempt and reduce school
fees for ethnic children currently studying at
vocational schools, high schools, colleges and
universities; well implement high school
education universalization program among Khmer
people.

Fourthly, solutions for development and health
care for Khmer people:
Continue to strengthen and complete the
grassroots health network according to Directive
No.06 CT-TW of the Central Secretariat
Committee, upgrade the hospital system to serve
the needs of medical examination and treatment of
the people, support money for social subjects, for
the poor and near-poor. It is necessary to
strengthen training and development of health
human resources for the region, which is a key
step to improve the quality of health services. It
includes both quantity and quality in all areas:
Both universal and intensive health (high-tech

Promote the socialization of education, mobilize
organizations and unions to support poor
households' children to go to school in various
forms: Support with scholarships, learning tools,
books, notebooks and transport vehicles. Continue
effectively implementing the Scheme on

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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

health), both preventive and curative, professional
and managerial. Thus, step by step, the South will
ensure sufficient quantity and quality of officials
serving the people. And training health workers
who are ethnic people should also be focused on.

funding for
embellishment.

protection,

restoration

and

Sixthly, on policies to support investment in
infrastructure in areas of Khmer ethnic group:
Although the Party, the State and all levels of
authority have paid attention to the development
of the South in general and the areas with large
number of Khmer ethnic group in particular, it is
fair to say that the investment in this area is small
and not commensurate with its potential
(including both state and private investment).
Therefore, it is necessary to seriously implement

infrastructure development policies such as: For
transport according to the Prime Minister's
Decision No.638/QD-TTg dated 28 April 2011 of
the Prime Minister, in which especially paying
attention to building a regional infrastructure
system with a high concentration of Khmer
people. Deploy and implement well the irrigation
development policy for the period of 2012-2020
and orientations to 2050 in the context of climate
change and sea level rise under Decision
No.1397/QD-TTg dated 25 September 2012 of
Prime Minister. Particularly focus on developing
the network of irrigation systems in service of
agricultural production of Khmer people.

Fifthly, the solution to preserve traditional Khmer
ethnic culture:
It is proposed that the State continues issuing
policies and undertakings related to the cultural,
material and spiritual life of the Khmer people in
the South such as: Establishing a College
specializing in training Khmer art and culture (in
the region, there is only Soc Trang Intermediate
School of Culture and Arts, faculty of Khmer
Language - Culture - Arts of the South of Tra
Vinh University) aims to train professional
officials to ensure the maintenance of the culture
and art of Khmer people; increase the amount of
radio, program content, and television time in the
Khmer language, contributing to ensuring the

cultural and spiritual needs of the Khmer people,
ensuring propaganda of the Party and State's
guidelines and policies quickly, timely, accurately
and effectively.
Local authorities and mass organizations need to
strengthen propaganda and mobilize people to
uphold cultural, historical and traditional values of
ethnic minorities to create consensus, support and
increase the belief of the people for the Party and
the State, promoting the great unity of ethnic
groups. In particular, the party committees and
authorities must always listen to and receive the
comments of officials, intellectuals and
prestigious people of ethnic minorities in order to
have timely information to serve leadership direction work for good implementation of
policies for ethnic group people. Localities need
to pay attention to promote cultural-based
economic models (typically tourism combined
with the handicrafts of ethnic group people). For
Khmer Theravada Buddhist Pagodas, which are
national and provincial cultural and historical
relics, it is necessary to have policies to support

The central government needs to pay attention to
timely allocation of capital to implement Decision
No.755/QD-TTg to support living water for poor
Khmer households in many localities; For
Program 135, it is proposed that the Committee
for Ethnic Affairs, the ministries and central
branches have specific mechanisms for each

locality and shorten procedures in the
implementation of infrastructure development
projects; issue manual specific instructions for the
implementation of the phases.
Climate change is threatening the sustainable
development of the South, so the State needs
adjustments to re-plan the regions and sub-regions
and, based on that plan, design a comprehensive
project to make economic change, livelihood
transformation for people in the region. Gladly, in
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AGU International Journal of Sciences – 2019, Vol. 7 (2), 68 – 78

2017, the Government issued Resolution
No.120/NQ-CP on sustainable development of the
Mekong Delta to adapt to climate change. This is
the basis for implementing many programs and
activities of the Government to promote
sustainable development in the Mekong Delta.
However, in order to carry out, the Party and the
State need to pay attention and direct resolutely
with the efforts of the Party committees and the
local people.

/>Nguyet Ha. (2013), Difficulties on the way of
university admission without entrance exam.
Online Newspaper of the Government of the
Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Retrieved

from />
5. CONCLUSION
Development
of
ethnic
minorities
and
mountainous areas in general and for Khmer
people in the South in particular is one of the
tasks that are always prioritized by the Party and
State. And, with the efforts of the people, the
socio-economic situation has made significant
progress. However, due to the objective and
subjective factors, sustainable development faces
many difficulties. Therefore, for the sustainable
socio-economic development of the Khmer people
in the South, besides timely guidance of all levels
and branches, it is also necessary to create
conditions to focus on promoting community
internal resources, focusing on solving
educational issues, land issues, improving the
quality of life, creating jobs, developing rural
agriculture.

Le Thi Hang. (2017) Traditional culture of Khmer
people in the Southwest region. Journal of
Political
Theory.
Retrieved
from

/>Ha Thi Khiet. (2018), Strengthen the development
of education in ethnic minority areas - an
important basis for equality among ethnic
groups. Communist magazine. Retrieved from
/>Bui Thi Ngoc Lan. (2014). Education and
training, raising the intellectual level for the
Khmer people in the Southwest region. Journal
of the Party History, Vol 10, 29-34.

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