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Chams - Viet Nam

Last modified: 2018-08-17 by randy young
Keywords: viet nam | vietnam | cham | sun | star | crescent |
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FLC - Le Front pour la Liberation de Cham
Front for the Liberation of Cham

[Cham People (Viet Nam)]
image by Jaume Ollé and Tomislav Todorovic, 30 December 2016

Descendents of the people of the old kingdom of Champa, that live in South Vietnam.
Jaume Ollé, 30 November 1996

Variant from Flags of Aspirant Peoples chart

[Cham People (Viet Nam)]
image by Tomislav Todorovic, 30 December 2016

The Flags of Aspirant Peoples chart shows this as: 165. "Champa Independent Republic, 1965 (Chams) - Central Vietnam."

The image is similar to above but with larger blue stripe, lighter blue and star not pointing upwards.
Ivan Sache, 16 September 1999

Front de Liberation des Hauts Plateaux
Front for the Liberation of the Highlands

[Flag of the Chams people]
image by Tomislav Todorovic, 2 January 2017, based on the original graphic by Chrystian Kretowicz

Thomas A. Cseh & John Sylvester Jr show another, unusual flag of the Cham Liberation Movement which, they state "cooperated with FULRO but also had its own flag which it hoped some day to have flying over an independent Champa (as they call their land). The flag was divided vertically - green at the hoist with white crescent and star, red at the fly, and the center divided into horizontal bars of blue and white." The Chams are Muslims, who once ruled over most of Central and Southern Vietnam as a powerful kingdom. Before conversion to Islam they used to be mostly Hindu. Again, the Socialist Republic remembers on which side they fought in the war and punishes them accordingly. The dream of a new Champa will remain just a dream for the time being.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 6 February 2003

This flag is the flag of the Front de Liberation des Hauts Plateaux. The flag was adopted in March 1946 when four highlanders tribes united in the fight for independence. The hoist band must be red (the report of green published in Flaggenmitteilung 105, was later corrected in 109) and the crescent and star is for the Cham tribes Zyaray and Edeh. The green band is for Montagnard tribes Banar and Koho and mean the nature that they pledge. The four blue stripes (blue above and below) mean the unity and the three white stripes mean the freedom. The first name of the organization was "Front des Petits Peuples" (1946-1960). In 1960 the name was changed to Front de Liberation des Hauts Plateaux, and still later in 1960 joined the FULRO, together with the Front of Liberation of Champa.
Jaume Ollé, 16 February 2003

[Flag of the Chams people]
image by Tomislav Todorovic, 14 August 2014

A different flag, with five blue and four white stripes, is presented at http://www.tinparis.net/thoisu09/2009_02_09_CoFulRoNgaoNghetaiCalifornia_PhanCaoSon.html.
(Image: http://www.tinparis.net/thoisu09/2009_02_09_CoFulroNamCali.jpg).

A photo of an open book, showing the page with a photo of the FLHP fighters with a flag, can be found at the Forum Vietnam - topic about the FULRO: http://www.forumvietnam.fr/forum-vietnam/le-vietnam-son-passe-son-histoire-12/f-u-l-r-o-9247/#post121765.
(Image: http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/6972/fulroalaintaieb3195.jpg)

[Flag of the Chams people]
image by Tomislav Todorovic, 14 August 2014

Note that the stripes are symmetrically arranged relative to the star so, with regard to the flag parts not visible in the photo, there must be five blue and four white stripes. The star is shown with the nine-o'clock orientation and is unusually large there, so its position and size might have been not fixed on various copies of the flag.

Not only that the star size and orientation differ there, but also the size of crescent and the relative width of blue and white stripes (white ones are visibly wider than blue).
Tomislav Todorovic, 14 August 2014

Flags of the Cham diaspora

International Office of Champa

[International Office of Champa]
image by Tomislav Todorovic, 21 October 2017

A flag similar to that of the Front for the Liberation of the Highlands, but with black stripes instead of blue, is used by the Cham diaspora. It is especially promoted by the International Office of Champa, a USA-based NGO, and the Champaka magazine and Web portal. A photo of the flag, hoisted together with that of the Unified Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races (FULRO) can be seen here. (image: http://4vietnam.org/vne/ChanTroiViet/HarakChampaka/03052009/HarakChampaka35_files/image014.gif).

Another photo, which displays cropped and enlarged detail of the first one, can be found here. They reveal not only that blue is replaced with black, but also that shades of green and red are darker than on the flag of FULRO. The flag is also seen throughout the video available here here, where it can be seen from different angles, which reveal the design details.
Tomislav Todorovic, 21 October 2017

Council for the Socio-Cultural Development of Champa

[Council for the Socio-Cultural Development of Champa]
image by Tomislav Todorovic, 21 October 2017

Another flag used by the Cham diaspora is promoted by the Council for the Socio-Cultural Development of Champa, another USA-based NGO. It is a blue-green-red vertical tricolor, with the depiction of a yellowish-white flower with five petals in center of green field The flag was presented in San Jose, California, on 15 July 2017, at the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the organization. The video from the event, which is available here shows the flag introduction scene, where two copies of it were brought to the stage and unfurled. Prior to the scene, a large image (computer graphics) of the flag was shown @0:23-0:30, with the flower looking as if copied from a photo. However, the flower looks the same on the real flags, as visible throughout the interval @1:59-2:24 and @2:30-6:21, with the graphics repeated @2:24-2:30.
Tomislav Todorovic, 21 October 2017