Throughout our history, the cultural enmity between our people and the modern world has taken a heavy toll. But nothing has hurt us more brutally than the war of the last 50 years, brought to our homeland by outsiders who saw the highlands as little more than an invaluable resource of hidden supply lines and almost impregnable shrines on the battlefield. It was after these wars that the Vietnamese invaders began extensive forced assimilation policies and genocidal methods against our people.
Historically, our world has revolved around small villages where resources are shared and kinship is important. Our leadership is well defined and moral order is expressed in systems of education and justice that respect individual rights and dignity. Throughout our existence we have been animists, although missionaries have converted many of us to Christianity over the past two centuries. Yet a common animistic thread still unites all our peoples, and we try to maintain harmony with our physical surroundings and the ancient gods. We cultivate the plateaus, slopes and valleys with old mountains and rivers. We fish the streams and hunt the forests. Over the centuries, each tribal group has developed its own distinct and recognizable forms of art, architecture, music and dance. Our traditions have preserved a way of life that was rewarding and satisfying in the spirit of the indigenous peoples and their love for the country.