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Chams - Viet Nam

Last modified: 2016-03-31 by randy young
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Chams

FLC - Le Front pour la Liberation de Cham
Front for the Liberation of Cham

[Cham People (Vietnam)]
image by Jaume Ollé, 30 November 1996

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