Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen waves to wellwishers in Phnom Penh, May 2007. A report released by London based watchdog Global Witness, a damning indictment of corruption in Cambodia, alleged that the country's most powerful illegal logging syndicate, the Seng Keang Company, is controlled by people related to Hun Sen.(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)Environment group slams Cambodia ban on logging report
"Is the government sincere in its pledges to strengthen governance and the rule of law, or is it simply paying lip service to these ideals to secure aid and international respectability?" - Simon Taylor. Global Witness DirectorPHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's ban on a report accusing the country's political elite of illegally plundering the kingdom's forests was denounced as "senseless censorship" Wednesday by the study's authors.
The London-based watchdog Global Witness, which released the report June 1, also condemned threats of violence against its staff that were made by Prime Minister Hun Sen's brother.
The report, a damning indictment of corruption in Cambodia, alleged that the country's most powerful illegal logging syndicate, the Seng Keang Company, is controlled by people related to Hun Sen.
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun and Forest Administration director Ty Sokhun were also fingered for their alleged role in robbing the country of tens of millions of dollars in natural resources.
The report enraged government officials, who called it "fiction," and prompted the information ministry to ban it from the country Sunday.
"This is senseless censorship," said Global Witness Director Simon Taylor in a statement.
"Attempts to suppress this report will not make the facts that it presents disappear. We would very much like to know the legal basis for this decision," he added.
While the government has ordered its own forest monitoring unit to investigate the Global Witness allegations, some officials continue to react angrily.
The premier's brother, provincial governor Hun Neng, is reportedly annoyed by allegations against his wife and son and was quoted in local press Tuesday as saying: "If they (Global Witness staff) come to Cambodia, I will hit them until their heads are broken."
Taylor called the threat against his staff "entirely unacceptable."
"Such crude intimidation by a senior public official says little for the government's commitment to upholding human rights and freedom of expression," he said.
The row comes just days before the June 19-20 annual meeting of Cambodia's foreign donors, whose pledges make up at least half of the impoverished country's national budget.
Donors have repeatedly said they are frustrated over Cambodia's lack of reform, particularly the government's apparent unwillingness to tackle rampant corruption.
Global Witness has urged more action from the international community to force Cambodia's government towards accountability.
"The reaction to this report raises a serious question for Cambodia's international donors," Taylor said.
"Is the government sincere in its pledges to strengthen governance and the rule of law, or is it simply paying lip service to these ideals to secure aid and international respectability?" he added.
27 comments:
don't worry Taylor, Hun Sen is countrysideman with no education, he doesn't know that in this world there is one thing called internet, he thought if he collect the paper that come through the copier machine, then he can hide the report.
Is the government sincere in its pledges to strengthen governance and the rule of law, OR is it simply paying lip service to these ideals to secure aid and international respectability?
Is Hun Sen's word worth anything at all OR is it worth as much as the toilet paper his mail-order doctorates are printed on?
Violent crude virulent uncouth thuggish one-eyed Hun Sen and his relatives are excessively tough with only helpless Cambodians. However, with Westerners, the crude dawg and his human vulture relatives will be reminded to behave. Finally there are people who can stand up to this dawg.
Lip service? That is a Sam Nazi
department, not government.
In Cambodia, corruption has been
steadily reduced as we continue
to grow year after year. There is
no lip service but plain fact, and
the more money we have, the better
the position we will be to fight
corruption. It is not free. We must
do both, help people make end meat
and fighting corruption at the
same time. There is no other way.
Luckily, internet age manages to live beyond their ability to control.
Their bad words are to let others know that they were among street children who have never been aware of what a morality is.
Cambodia is very unfortunate to have such devils!!
Yes, and we must get rid of Ah Sam
Nazi and its clan if Cambodia is
to be successful.
It's not a surprise hearing the threat from this infamous Family. Intimidation,killing,Gift giving,and other form of demagogy are their business.
Folks, it seems to me that time is running out for the "Pagoda Boy" to fool, dupe and mock the whole world. His name is going to be written in the Guinness Book of Record for being the most stupid, arrogant, ruthless and tyrannical prime minister the world has ever known. And yet there are still people daring to show unconditional support to him on this KI Media forum.
No wonder because the old French adage says "Qui se ressemblent s'assemblent" which means "people who look alike unite". In other words, Hun Sen and his supporters are all the same. They don't give a damn about Cambodia and Khmer people. They only serve Hanoi's interests. They bring down the Khmers and bring up the Vietnamese. In brief, they are all traitors to the Khmer race.
Folks, please spread the words about People Power. Only People Power can finish them up before they take us down. FOR OUR OWN DIGNITY AND SURVIVAL, WE HAVE TO DO IT AND DO IT NOW!!!
First and foremost,I must congratulate Prime Minister Hun Sen and the (Cambodian) government for its strenuous and concerted efforts in curtailing the poverty level and corruption in the Kingdom of Cambodia, although it is insurmountably infeasible to completely eradicate corruption and poverty; by the same token, the government creates jobs.
kounkhmerchheamkhmer@yahoo.com
Dear 7:52pm,
Are you out of your mind?
Remember the phrase, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"
Quit your spineless pandering, and get a life.
kounkhmerchheamkhmer@yahoo.com AMOK that all i can say
To 7:52PM from 6:28PM,
You must be Kaun Khmer Chheam Yuon or at least related to the notorious Cambodia's Family Trees. Otherwise you won't support, congratulate and praise Hun Sen government. Now I have 3 questions for you:
1- In Cambodia's history since time immemorial, which government was so corrupt as Hun Sen government is?
2- In whose government in Khmer history have we learnt that Khmer women were so dirt poor and subsequently forced to sell their own children like in Hun Sen government?
3- If Hun Sen government deported 7 million illegal migrants (4.5 million Vietnamese plus 2.5 million Chinese, Malaysians, Thais, Koreans, Arabs so on and so forth) to where they came from, how many hundreds of thousands if not millions of jobs would be left for Khmer people to take up?
Please be man enough to answer to these three questions of mine and I will be very grateful to you.
Read and download Global witness in khmer :
http://hunsenmafia.blog.com
http://hunsenmafia.alkablog.com
http://corruptionfamily.wordpress.com/2007/06/06/3
Folks, the truth of the matter is that every country shares a pyramid of corruption or scanal; however, you people (critics) have completely and egregiously ignored the fact that the Western (includes the United States of America) countries (in the past and present)share the similarity of pyramid of corruption,though, you people would prefer to label it as"Scandal." Therefore, it is critically paramount that these critics of my government (Cambodia)should tell your government to clean up its (their) complicity its egregious and ignominius disservice to your country in lieu of berating and vilifying us.
Again, please stop your incessancy of ponificating us on how we run our government. Moreover, for your information, we should have well-oiled political aparatus to keep our government running without any foreigner intervention.
kounkhmerchheamkhmer
You guy must Shut Up, Shut up, Samdach Hun Sen is my Best PA PA....
Hey 10:34pm you are such another idiot dude by calling Ah Hun your best Pa Pa, are you his Shit-in-law or what? Have you been in school or just the same uneducated as your stupid animal Pa Pa.
To Kaun Khmer Chheam Yuon from 6:28PM,
The fact that you avoid giving answers to my 3 simple questions draws the following interpretations:
1- You are not an honest person. Your mentality is totally different from the Khmer mentality. Therefore, it's pretty safe to say that the blood running in your vein is not Khmer blood.
When your neighbours whisper to your ears that your wife/husband is not faithful to you, the first thing you should do is to thank them for bringing to your attention the last thing you wish to know about. You should avoid displaying your emotions, then you start to observe and find out where the truth lies. You should not discard the information given to you by your neighbours by simply saying that there must be millions of husbands or wives out there in the world who have been betrayed by their partners and they have to tackle their problems first before paying attention to yours. By saying so, you display a clear intention to hide what is going on within your family.
2- I happen to have a geologist friend. He's majored in petroleum. He's a Cambodian guy like me. He is one of the world's most sought after petroleum experts. He's been working at most of the oil reserves on this planet earth. Referring specifically to oil reserve in Cambodia, he said to me this: "Don't hold too much hope on it; there are some oil deposits here and there of course, but there is not much prospect of a grand scale oil production at all".
Last but certainly not least, please stop defending the crook if you are not a crook yourself.
You idiot (11:29), do you know how
much it cost to clear trees and
bushes to make lands for
development?
You pretend ignoring the consequences of illegal deforestration committed by the Junk Stars, crook Tycoons and CPP corrupt officials. How much do the forests have remained in Cambodia? Who have profited from this criminal business? You? Hun Sen Family and those criminals? and whio are the victims?
You idiot, we need more lands to
keep its price down and attract
more businesses to create jobs.
When will you fucking ever going
to think of the millions jobless
who waited for jobs for decades
now?
Folks, the 95-page report by your godsend GW (whatever you people prefer to call)was frivolous and baseless and insubtatial. These reporters are deplorably and egregiously unacceptable. Moreover, all the GW supporters (in Cambodia) deserve to be evicted from the kingdom, and ban for life from making the entry into the kingdom of Cambodia.
Kounkhmerchheamkhmer (CPP hardliner)
Folks, the 95-page report by your godsend GW (whatever you people prefer to call)was frivolous and baseless and insubstantial. These reporters are deplorably and egregiously unacceptable. Moreover, all the GW supporters (in Cambodia) deserve to be evicted from the kingdom, and ban for life from making the entry into the kingdom of Cambodia.
Kounkhmerchheamkhmer (CPP hardliner)
Additional Reminder:
Folks, the truth of the matter is that every country shares a pyramid of corruption or scandal; however, you people (critics) have completely and egregiously ignored the fact that the Western (includes the United States of America) countries (in the past and present) share the similarity of pyramid of corruption, though; you people would prefer to label it as” Scandal." Therefore, it is critically paramount that these critics of my government (Cambodia) should tell your government to clean up its (their) complicity its egregious and ignominious disservice to your country in lieu of berating and vilifying us.
Again, please stop your incessancy of pontificating us on how we run our government. Moreover, for your information, we should have well-oiled political apparatus to keep our government running without any foreigner intervention.
Kounkhmerchheamkhmer
Additional Reminder:
First and foremost, I must congratulate Prime Minister Hun Sen and the (Cambodian) government for its strenuous and concerted efforts in curtailing the poverty level and corruption in the Kingdom of Cambodia, although it is insurmountably infeasible to completely eradicate corruption and poverty; by the same token, the government creates jobs.
kounkhmerchheamkhmer@yahoo.com
To Kaun Khmer Chheam Yuon from 6:28PM,
It's a great pity to see you repeat yourself again and again. It's crystal clear that you are not a Khmer person, nor are you a CPP hardliner as you have claimed. You are a caged parrot. Now repeat after me: "Hun Sen is a traitor! Hun Sen is a traitor! Hun Sen is a traitor!"
Perhaps that was too much for you to handle.
Kounkhmerchheamkhmer
To Kaun Khmer Chheam Yuon from 6:28PM,
Too hard for me to handle a caged parrot? You must be joking. Only a small cat can easily deal with a caged parrot.
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