Visiting a Floating Muslim Village on the Mekong River in Cambodia
Yes, a whole village is floating on the river. Mekong river, one side of the river nice and beautiful palaces of Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital city, and on the other side a small village that whole is floating on the river; compromising with weather and needed food they disappear for some period of times and move to other places to earn food, then come back again in Phnom Penh peninsula.
Tuk-tuk driver Mr. Kim and my tour guide informed me that the Muslim community in Phnom Penh is very minor and they are comparatively very poor. Also, the number of Muslims in Cambodia is around 1% or less.
Tukituk is a cheap and popular ride in Cambodia for city tours. You may get tuk-tuk everywhere in Phnom Penh city. Those more accustomed to Cambodia can get away with paying at the end, with most tuk-tuk drivers responding with, “Up to you,” when you ask the price. This is because they are more familiar with fares and less likely to stand being ripped off.
Tukituk is a cheap and popular ride in Cambodia for city tours. You may get tuk-tuk everywhere in Phnom Penh city. Those more accustomed to Cambodia can get away with paying at the end, with most tuk-tuk drivers responding with, “Up to you,” when you ask the price. This is because they are more familiar with fares and less likely to stand being ripped off.
Islam is the main religion of the majority of Malay and Cham minorities in Cambodia while most Muslims are Sunnis. There are approximately 300,000 Muslims in Cambodia, with about 1% identified as Christian.
Buddhism is the official religion of Cambodia. Approximately 97% of Cambodia's population follows Theravada Buddhism, with Islam, Christianity, and tribal animism making up the bulk of the small remainder.
Just like many Cambodians, the Muslim community is generally poor and many live in Poverty. The Muslim Chia village I went to was by the river, and some earn a livelihood by fishing. However, there are many elderly as well who live in poverty. Some of the elderly have children but their children are also too poor to help them. Some are alone as had lost their family during the Pol Pot regime rule (where millions died).
The country has come a long way since, with Cambodia reclassified in 2016 as a “lower-middle income” territory by the World Bank, up a rung from the “lower income” bracket. But for many in the Cambodian Muslim community, often referred to as Khmer Islam, that socio-economic development has not quite applied to them.
Buddhist is the main religion in Cambodia.
ReplyDeleteHowever there are other religion being practiced as well.
One of the communities are Muslim.
There are 2 types of Muslim communities.
The larger community is known as Muslim Cham.
They are community from previously Cham Kingdom few hundred years ago.
One of the region/state in Cambodia is known as Kampung Cham.
There are also many Muslim Cham communities at other part of Cambodia, including Phnom Penh.
For Muslim, finding halal food in Phnom Penh is easy as there are halal restaurants mainly operated by the Cambodian Muslim.
There are also the lesser known Muslim community, known as Muslim Chia.
They also live in parts of Cambodia. One of the community live about 30km outside of Phnom Penh.
Muslim Chia originated when few hundred years ago, some people from Jawa (Indonesia), migrated and started a community in areas of Cambodia.
The Muslim village of Siem Reap is in Phum Steung May, west of the Siem Reap River and the town’s main tourist market, Psar Chas.
ReplyDeleteThe community is centered around the newly built mosque, next to which is a religious school and the village cemetery.
The Muslim homes here are indistinguishable from their Buddhist neighbors, both communities live side by side.