No one knows for sure how many Vietnamese there are in Cambodia -- estimates range from 100,000 to a million. But it's obvious that Vietnamese and Chinese dominate in commerce. Thien Tran, once a soldier, is now a successful 32-year-old businessman with a Cambodian wife and children. He is also one of hundreds of millions of migrants whose search for a better life are melting borders around the world. He is part of the human engine fueling the global economy just as much as the growth of multinations and the spread of communications technology. This piece is culled from an extensive interview with PNS associate editor Andrew Lam. Lam can be reached at psilobin@hotmail.com.

PHNOM PENH -- My name is Thien Tran but my Cambodian name is Prum Chhaum. I came here about one year after the Vietnamese army liberated the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge, around 1980. I was a soldier but I married a Cambodian girl, so I stayed.

Cambodia was nothing then -- there was not even a shop -- and the Vietnamese helped set up everything. They had no noodles, for instance and Vietnamese and Chinese came in and started noodle factory. The same with bread.

The Cambodians were happy when we first came in. So many were skinny and scared, and they saw us as liberators. Very submissive.

Look around. The houses are built or rebuilt by Vietnamese workers. The furniture made by Vietnamese hands, even the bread is by a Vietnamese baker.

We came in and we set things up and now they grow resentful. After three years in the army, I just quit and we rebuilt some houses here. My father was a furniture maker so I helped bring in some artisans, architects and carpenters and bricklayers. We taught some Cambodians because many skilled people were killed under the Khmer Rouge.

But I tell you the truth -- even if my children are half Cambodians, I have to say it -- Cambodians are lazy. They are slow to learn and are only interested in power and status. Give them a gun and a few bodyguards and they think they're a general or a commander. They learn a few English phrases and they're intellectuals.

Few bother to think long term or to start businesses of their own. They leave that to the Chinese and the Vietnamese and turn around complaining that we are stealing them blind.

About a decade after we came in, they started to see Vietnamese as below them. They see us as migrant workers, they call us names especially when the politicians use us as scapegoats.

It's true that Vietnamese are much more aggressive than the Cambodians -- given half a chance, we would take it and make it work. But the Cambodians oversimplify -- they don't see that we are helping rebuild this country from the point where they had nothing and now the city is functional and even wealthy.

I tell you something else. It's not the best or the brightest of Vietnamese who are here. Many Vietnamese who come here, not counting those who have been here for generations as fishermen or farmers, are those who couldn't make it back home because competition is too fierce.

Even the prostitutes are not from Saigon but simple girls lured straight from the rice fields by promises of money.

But in Cambodia, most of us make something of ourselves. It's because there is little competition here. Cambodia is half the size of Vietnam and has 12 million people, most of them living in the countryside. Vietnam has 78 million. We basically see Cambodia as uncultivated land.

Back home, I am considered the laziest of my family. Now I own two businesses and a jewelry store. It's good money and easy living. I wouldn't want to go back to Vietnam and have to start over. I go visit sometime but if the peace holds here, it's a very good life.

I am afraid of violence against Vietnamese, of course. Last year they killed two Vietnamese -- there was a rumor they had poisoned the water and they were beaten to death. It's complete nonsense. Why would Vietnamese draw attention to themselves? Most of us try to blend in.

If things go well, there's no problem but the moment there's instability the Vietnamese get the blame. That's why everybody tries to pretend they're Cambodians and paying off some army officers or policeman for protection. Simple farming people or fishermen usually get killed -- they are not here as migrant workers, they've been here so long they lost the drive, but they are still seen as Vietnamese.

And it's the Vietnamese prostitutes that get raped by angry soldiers. They just go to the brothels and take the girls out and rape them. No one dares ask them to pay.

It's true some Vietnamese who are thugs come here. The way they deal with thieves here is they just beat them to death. The police just watch. So who would want to rob if they can do something else?

Right now, Prime Minister Hun Sen is still the boss and the Vietnamese here feel safe when he's in power. He was supported by the Vietnamese when he came into power.

But if he's dethroned I would start to worry. Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, hates Vietnamese. He's campaigning on the promise he will get rid of us. He's supposed to be pro-democracy but he's so racist that if he's in power, Vietnamese will die by the thousands. If Hun Sen is gone, I would start thinking about selling my business and going back home for good. It's not that far from Saigon, you know. You get on the bus in the morning and by night time you are in Saigon.