BAJARAKA

BAJARAKA (stand for Bahnar, Jarai, Rade, and Kaho) is a separatist movement that protested the discriminatory policies of the Montagnards in the Central Highlands under the Republic of Vietnam government.

After the Geneva Conference in 1954,[1] Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm abolished the status of Domain of the Crown, that is, ending the privileges of Head of State by Bảo Đại over the Central Highlands region and incorporated this land into the common territory of the Republic of Vietnam.

Economically, there was an expansion of cultivated land and the establishment of plantations, settling hundreds of thousands of people from the north migrated to the south.

[4] The movement's leadership group included Y Bhăm Êñuôl (Rade ethnic; founder), Siu Síp (Jarai ethnic), Y Dhơn Adrong (principal of Lac Thien Primary School), Y Nuin Hmok (Kram high school teacher), Y Nam Êban (military officer), Paul Nưr (Bahnar intellectual), and many scholars of Cham, Ma, Stieng origins, Y Bhăm Êñuôl established the Central Autonomous Committee, headquartered in Pleiku, to command the movement.

The protests were suppressed and movement leaders such as Y Bhăm Êñuôl, Y Dhơn Adrong, Y Dhê Adrong, Y Nuin Hmok, Y Wick Buôn Ya, Y Het Kpor, Y Tluốp Kpor, Y Sênh Niê, Y Bun Sor, Y Yu Êban, Y Thih Êban, Touneh Yoh, Siu Síp, Paul Nưr, and Nay Luet is arrested.

From 1956 to 1962, believing that the Montagnards were very good fighters in the jungles, American military advisers entered the villages, equipping individuals with weapons, establishing Civilian Indigenous Defense Groups (CIDG) and Special Forces to fight the communists.

The rebels controlled Highway 14, attacked Srépok post, then advanced to Buôn Ma Thuột, occupied the VTVN radio station, and called on the Montagnards to rise up against the Kinh to build an independent nation.

On 20 September 1964, General Nguyễn Phước Vĩnh Lộc, commander of Tactical Zone II, declared martial law in Buôn Ma Thuột, the 23rd Division, along with several commando and armored battalions, were mobilized to retake the radio station and other rebel-occupied outposts.