Son Kuy
Son Kuy or Chavay Kuy, also known as Oknha Son Kuy, was the governor of the Khmer province of Trapeang. He was beheaded by Emperor Thiệu Trị of the Nguyễn dynasty in 1841, in exchange for preserving the cultural tradition for the Khmer Krom. Nowadays, the figure of Chavay Kuy has become a rallying call and a symbol of the separatist intent of the current Khmer Krom.
Life
Birth and early life
Chavay Kuy joined the army at age 20. He married a Cambodian woman named Phoeun in Chap Phleung village, Preah Trapeang province, in the modern-day province of Trà Vinh in Vietnam. He worked as a governor of that province which was still under the Cambodian king.Battle for Kampuchea Krom
During the reign of the emperor of Vietnam, Thiệu Trị, The Vietnamese came and oppressed the Khmers in what is now Southern Vietnam, forcing the Khmer Krom to abandon their Buddhist religion, custom, tradition, and language. The Vietnamese garrisons were commanded by Thy Ché. The latter ordered Ong Lov, an army commander, to attack the old Khmer province of Preah Trapeang. Five hundred Khmer pagodas resisted the Vietnamese oppression and Okhnya Kuy was their leader. Oknha Son Kuy had 5 close associates in arms: Phuchhuoy Kong, Mr.Meun Ek, Mr. Ta Mong, Mr. Tesa Saom and Mr. Ta Mono Ros. They courageously fought to deter the invading Vietnamese army alongside Oknha Son Kuy. Oknha Son Kuy was married in Preah Trapeang Provincial City to Miss Phoeun, daughter of Khmer farmers.Death
Chavay Kuy was defeated and ordered by the Court of Huế to be beheaded by the Vietnamese soldiers in 1841. His remains are in Preah Trapeang. In a modernist reinterpretation, others say that as a pacifist leader, Chauvay Son Kuy as leader of the Khmer Krom leader gave up his life in exchange for preservation of the Khmer Krom's religion, rights and freedoms.Following his decapitation, an uprising of Khmer Krom peasants suffered from the retaliation of the Vietnamese authorities without any supports from King Ang Duong.
Legacy
Last words
Son Kuy's last word are famous in Cambodia, as the last words of Louis XVI in France before being guillotined. Whether they are original or apocrypha remains to be determined, but they remain as a legacy of Khmer pride and heritage:“I am deeply moved to be seeing compatriots and Buddhist monks before I depart this life. I beg for your forgiveness from compatriots and their Venerable Buddhist monks for I did not possess sufficient ability to serve our Motherland any better. Therefore I must end my life so that our Nation lives on without an inch of remorse. Now our custom, tradition, culture and Khmer Buddhism have been defended. Therefore, may the Venerable Buddhist Monks and all compatriots preserve, defend, protect and guard them religiously from perishing. May the Venerable Buddhist Monks and compatriots remember and understand clearly that our Khmer race used to be superior and widely known throughout the world. Therefore we must be firm and united always, let us not believe the snares of the enemy, let us not sell ourselves to any enemy so that they can kill our own nation and compatriots for personal interests. In the end, I believe clearly that I, as an individual, I die, but there will be millions of future Khmer children and compatriots, highly patriotic and bravely willing to sacrifice, die, defend, protect, guard and preserve the national sovereignty, liberty, Buddhism and Khmer race so they can live on.”Along with other mythical heroes of Cambodia such as Khleang Moeung, "Oknha Son Kuy" was chosen as the name of one of the non-communist resistance group in the 1970s. He has become a constant reference for the Khmer Krom, as the forerunner of this cultural struggle, as most recently illustrated in the report by the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation submitted on June 10, 2016 to the United Nations [Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran|United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of Cultural Rights] concerning the intentional destruction of cultural heritage.