Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/c ... isis-videoPPP wrote:Cambodian jihadists among us: ISIS video
Mon, 23 June 2014
Alice Cuddy
Muslim leaders yesterday dismissed claims that Cambodians are fighting alongside the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) after fighters affiliated with the group bragged about support from the Kingdom.
The claims were aired in an unverified 13-minute-long jihadist recruitment video that shows a group of English-speaking fighters sitting in a wooded area in front of the trademark black flag of ISIS.
In the video, "There Is No Life Without Jihad", a man identified as “Brother Muthanna al Yemeni from Britain†says the force includes fighters from Cambodia.
“We have brothers from Bangladesh, from Iraq, from Cambodia, Australia, UK,†he says.
The fighters call on Muslims to join them in their jihad, or holy struggle, which they say will take them to Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. But Cambodians are unlikely to come along for the jihadist journey, according to Muslim leaders and experts.
“There is no relationship between Cambodian Muslims and those in the Middle East,†said Sos Kamry, the grand mufti of Cambodia. “In Cambodia, we don’t have extremists.â€
Sem Kallyan, director of the Islamic Local Development Organisation in Battambang province, agreed.
“We are living under the law, we are here as Khmer people and Khmer Muslims, so we cannot join another country’s fight,†she said.
Ang Chanrith, director of the Minority Rights Organization, said that while a lot of Cham – an indigenous group that mostly practise Islam – do send their children to study in the Middle East, they do so to help them “learn the right practice of religionâ€, not to “learn about suicide bombsâ€.
In 2004, a Cambodian court convicted Jemaah Islamiyah operative Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, and three others with planning to bomb the US and British embassies in Phnom Penh. Before his arrest, Hambali, the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombings, was known to have travelled freely in Cambodia.
But Ahmad Yahya, president of the Cambodian Muslim Community Development Organisation, said there was no evidence of Chams being involved in extremist movements and said ISIS’s claims “may
be propagandaâ€.
“This is strange information for me. In the past, our people were never involved with any fighting,†he said. “We know ourselves; we don’t do that,†he said.
Dr Kok-Thay Eng, deputy director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, agreed that Chams had “not shown any interest in engaging with radicalismâ€.
But he said that if there was engagement with ISIS, it was more likely to have come from Cambodians in southern Thailand.
“Maybe some students were recruited from there, but there is no evidence at the moment,†he said, adding that extremist groups had “learned to be more secretive†in recent years.
Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in 2011 showed that the US government had long been concerned with the potential for Muslim extremism in Cambodia.
One cable, dated January 5, 2010, called the Kingdom’s Cham “vulnerableâ€.
A “culture of corruption and limited ability to maintain law and order make [Cambodia] susceptible to external influences that are using NGOs and massive donations as the vessel to disseminate their message to the Cham,†the cable says.
In 2010, the Post reported that National Assembly President Heng Samrin had met with representatives of the Kuwait-Cambodia Islamic Cultural Training Centre, a Kuwait-based Islamic charity that appeared on a US government watch list for providing “financial and material support†to terrorist groups.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that the government’s “principle is not to interfere with anyoneâ€.
“It’s against our constitution to interfere with someone else’s business … [and] how do we take action when we don’t know who they are?â€
Siphan said that while there is no known extremist movement among Cambodia’s Muslims, if some had joined ISIS, it would merely represent the “private activities of some individualsâ€.
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
Not unrealistic that they'd recruit from pretty much any muslim country, even though they're different strains of muslim one could likely be "converted" over with enough encouragement and promises.
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
You know its funny that you mention this.
My girlfriend is from the sticks...a countryside chinakhmer girl. Shes 1 of 9 siblings who gr
ew up on a farm near the Vietnam border.
She told me a story about her eldest brother falling in love with a cham. He wanted to marry her. His father asked a simple question.. she will convert to Buddha yes? The son goes....No I convert to islam. The father then says...this is why you cannot marry. And all my children are to stay away from Chams.
My girlfriend is from the sticks...a countryside chinakhmer girl. Shes 1 of 9 siblings who gr
ew up on a farm near the Vietnam border.
She told me a story about her eldest brother falling in love with a cham. He wanted to marry her. His father asked a simple question.. she will convert to Buddha yes? The son goes....No I convert to islam. The father then says...this is why you cannot marry. And all my children are to stay away from Chams.
You're a nobody in the gutter with a Smartphone in your a hand.
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Ordinem ad Imperium
- vladimir
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
There's no way Khmers are fighting with them, they don't do 30 public holidays a year.
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
Maybe they were offered permanent holydays along with the 72 virgins if they undertook certain missions!vladimir wrote:There's no way Khmers are fighting with them, they don't do 30 public holidays a year.
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
What, and no prahok allowance? Cannot!Kuroneko wrote:Maybe they were offered permanent holydays along with the 72 virgins if they undertook certain missions!vladimir wrote:There's no way Khmers are fighting with them, they don't do 30 public holidays a year.
Jesus loves you...Mexico is great, right?
- Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
I highly doubt it's true, but it also wouldn't surprise me entirely. Champ are getting more "extreme" thanks to visiting Indonesians and all that... I've seen several women in niqabs both towards kilo 6 and around Kampot. Dress codes are changing, and you can be sure that other stuff is "being taught".
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
Not heavily, but I have always wondered how the Asian Muslim ideals and overall lifestyle compares to that of their Middle Eastern brothers and sisters of Islam?OrangeDragon wrote:Not unrealistic that they'd recruit from pretty much any muslim country, even though they're different strains of muslim one could likely be "converted" over with enough encouragement and promises.
I know that in southern Thailand, they can get extreme. Car bombings and whatnot.
I'll give ya 500 Riel for it...
Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
Not sure how much of that violence is related to faith, and how much is related to some harsh treatment by the government and the hundred year old "stolen land" disputes. My guess is 95% the later.Sir_Quality_U_Feel wrote:Not heavily, but I have always wondered how the Asian Muslim ideals and overall lifestyle compares to that of their Middle Eastern brothers and sisters of Islam?OrangeDragon wrote:Not unrealistic that they'd recruit from pretty much any muslim country, even though they're different strains of muslim one could likely be "converted" over with enough encouragement and promises.
I know that in southern Thailand, they can get extreme. Car bombings and whatnot.
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Re: Cambodians fighting with ISIS?
True, but the religion gives them ways to justify it and the actions it leads them to take. That's the danger of violence in the name of ANY religion... no feelings of guilt/conscience. It allows you to place the opponent human beings as objects instead of people and subtract empathy from the equation. Essentially turning non sociopaths (as in the actual clinical term) into temporary ones.Soi Dog wrote:Not sure how much of that violence is related to faith, and how much is related to some harsh treatment by the government and the hundred year old "stolen land" disputes. My guess is 95% the later.Sir_Quality_U_Feel wrote:Not heavily, but I have always wondered how the Asian Muslim ideals and overall lifestyle compares to that of their Middle Eastern brothers and sisters of Islam?OrangeDragon wrote:Not unrealistic that they'd recruit from pretty much any muslim country, even though they're different strains of muslim one could likely be "converted" over with enough encouragement and promises.
I know that in southern Thailand, they can get extreme. Car bombings and whatnot.
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