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

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.

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

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

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

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

socio-economic 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

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

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,

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:

- 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/QD-TTg 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;

- 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;

- 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;

- Promoting the role of prestigious people among

ethnic minorities under Directive no

06/2008/CT-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:

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 non-agricultural 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)

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;

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

17,000 civil servants, about 19,235 party members

are ethnic)

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)

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

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)

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

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

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/QD-TTg, 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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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, anti-saline intrusion and anti-landslides have not yet met the development requirements Many localities lack land fund allocated for people to settle down

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

overlapping and slow to deploy so localities are

still confused in mobilizing resources

4 PROPOSING FOR THE SOLUTIONS

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

socio-economic 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:

Firstly, hunger eradication and poverty reduction

for Khmer ethnic group must be in a sustainable

manner:

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 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

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

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

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

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 socio-economic 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 socio-economic 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

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

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

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

funding for protection, restoration and embellishment

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

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

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

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

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