Friday, January 04, 2008

While the NARLD claims that 1/3 of the land dispute cases were resolved, land protests still abound in the country

Donning CPP logos and brandishing Hun Sen and Bun Rany Hun Sen's pictures did not help these land dispute protesters (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

Only 1/3 of the land dispute cases resolved

03 January 2008
By Huy Vannak Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

On Tuesday, officials from the National Authority for the Resolution of Land Disputes (NARLD), indicated that about 1/3 of the land dispute – one of the acute problems faced by Cambodia – cases were resolved by the NARLD, among a total number of 1,500 cases received by this government agency.

Chum Bun Rong, NARLD spokesman, told RFA that: “There are still 2/3 of the cases that are in the process of a resolution, and they must be completed. If the NARLD cannot resolve these cases, we will push for a resolution for the people.”

Chum Bun Rong added that, up to now, the NARLD confiscated back about 200,000-hectare of lands which were illegally grabbed in a number of provinces, such as Kampot, Kampong Speu, Banteay Meanchey, Preah Vihear and Stung Treng, for example.

Regarding the increasing number of land dispute protests which are taking place currently, Chum Bun Rong said: “The incidents which take place once here, once there, under the form of demonstrations and banner raisings, I am saying that they are not actual land disputes, they are merely theatrical set up to cause social unrest. If they were true land disputes, nobody can sleep tight at night.”

Nevertheless, Mrs. Chuon Chamrong, an Adhoc human rights organization official, in charge of land disputes, declared that protests on land disputes are taking place one after another, both in Phnom Penh city and in various provinces. These protests stem from the lack of a resolution and the inefficiency of the justice system and the land management ministry.

Mrs. Chuon Chamrong also said that some of the cases in the current land disputes in Cambodia were caused by the authority itself: “Complicated problems still remain, there are protests nonstop because these problems are not resolved. Sometimes, we observe that these institutions which are supposed to provide a resolution to these issues, lack the power to resolve, it looks like there is a concentration of power (but not in these institutions), and the people no longer trust the institutions which are supposed to resolve all these disputes.”

Land disputes are of concern to Prof. Yash Ghai, the UN Special Envoy on Human Rights in Cambodia. He said that they seriously impede the freedom rights and the livelihood of Cambodian people, he also demanded for a strengthening of an efficient resolution mechanism, in order to avoid a land revolution.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A lot of these people still think that Hun Sen and his fatty wife can solve their problems. Forget it. In fact, they should know that the couple and other CPP crooks are part and parcel of the problem. The only way is to remove them.

If they still vote for the CPP, I'd have no sympathy for them, go on suffering and crying, my Khmer people. Time to wake up.

Anonymous said...

In the spring of 1965, he made a deal with China and North Vietnam to allow the presence of permanent North Vietnamese bases in eastern Cambodia and to allow military supplies from China to reach Vietnam by Cambodian ports. Cambodia and Cambodian individuals were compensated by Chinese purchases of the Cambodian rice crop by China at inflated prices. He also at this time made any number of speeches calling the triumph of Communism in Southeast Asia inevitable and suggesting Maoist ideas were worthy of emulation. In 1966 and 1967, Sihanouk unleashed a wave of political repression that drove many on the left out of mainstream politics. His policy of friendship with China collapsed due to the extreme attitudes in China at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. The combination of political repression and problems with China made his balancing act impossible to sustain. He had alienated the left, allowed the North Vietnamese to establish bases within Cambodia and staked everything on China's good will. On March 18, 1970, while he was travelling out of the country, Lon Nol, the prime minister, convened the National Assembly which voted to depose Sihanouk as head of state and give emergency powers to Lon Nol. Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, a royal prince who, in 1941, had been passed over by the French government in favor of his cousin Norodom Sihanouk's leadership role, retained his post as Deputy Prime Minister. Prince Sihanouk fled to Beijing and began to support the Khmer Rouge in their struggle to overthrow the Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh. When the Khmer Republic fell to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, Prince Sihanouk became the symbolic head of state of the new régime while Pol Pot remained in power. The next year, on April 4, 1976, the Khmer Rouge forced Sihanouk out of office again and into political retirement. During the Vietnamese invasion, he was sent to New York to speak against Vietnam before the United Nations. After his speech, he sought refuge in China and in North Korea.

The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in December 1978 ousted the Khmer Rouge. Although claiming to be wary of the Khmer Rouge, Prince Sihanouk was more than willing to again join forces with them in order to provide a united front against the Vietnamese. In 1982, he became president of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which consisted of his own Funcinpec party, Son Sann's KPNLF, and the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, leaving behind a pro-Vietnamese government under ex-Khmer Rouge cadre Hun Sen to run the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).


[edit] Restoration
Peace negotiations between the CGDK and the PRK commenced shortly thereafter and continued until 1991 when all sides agreed to a comprehensive settlement which they signed in Paris. Prince Sihanouk returned once more to Cambodia on November 14, 1991 after thirteen years in exile.

In 1993, Sihanouk once again became king of Cambodia. During the restoration, however, he suffered from ill health and traveled repeatedly to Beijing for medical treatment.

Sihanouk's leisure interests include music (he has composed songs in Khmer, French, and English) and film. He has become a prodigious filmmaker over the years, directing many movies and orchestrating musical compositions. He became one of the first heads of state in the region to have a personal website, which has proven a cult hit. It draws more than a thousand visitors a day, which constitutes a substantial portion of his nation's Internet users. Royal statements are posted there daily.

King Sihanouk went into self-imposed exile in January 2004, taking up residence in Pyongyang, North Korea and later in Beijing, China. Citing reasons of ill health, he announced his abdication of the throne on October 7, 2004. The constitution of Cambodia made no provision for such a move. Chea Sim, the President of the Senate assumed the title of acting Head of State (a title he has held many times before), until the throne council met on October 14 and appointed Norodom Sihamoni, one of Sihanouk's sons, as the new king.


[edit] Family
In his lifetime, King Norodom Sihanouk reportedly has had several wives and concubines, producing at least fourteen children in a period of eleven years. According to Time magazine (30 June 1956), however, his only legal wives have been Princess Samdech Norleak (married 1955, "not married but legalized") and Paule Monique Izzi (married 1955, not married but legalized), who is a granddaughter of HRH Prince Norodom Duongchak of Cambodia and the younger daughter of Pomme Peang and her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a banker. A profile of Sihanouk in The New York Times (4 June 1993, page A8) stated that the king met Monique Izzi in 1951, when he awarded her a prize in a beauty pageant.

According to Royal Ark's genealogy of the Cambodian royal family, however, Sihanouk has been married (False) seven times.

---------

Hisconsorts being:[1]

(1) Neak Moneang Phat Kanhol (1920-1969, a member of the Royal Cambodian Ballet; married 1942, later divorced)

HRH Samdech Preah Ream Bupha Devi (1943-)
HRH Samdech Preah Krom Norodom Ranariddh (1944-)
(2) HRH Princess Sisowath Pongsanmoni (1929-1974; married 1942, divorced 1951)

HRH Samdech Borom Reamea Norodom Yuvaneath (1943-)
HRH Samdech Norodom Racvivong Sihanouk (1944-1973)
Samdech Preah Mohesarra Norodom Chakrapong (1945-)
HRH Samdech Princess Norodom Sorya Roeungsay (1947-1976)
HRH Princess Norodom Kantha Bopha (1948-1952)
HRH Samdech Norodom Khemanourak Sihanouk (1949-1975)
HRH Samdech Princess Norodom Botum Bopha (1951-1976)
(3) Anak Munang Thach (married 1943)

(4) HRH Princess Sisowath Monikessan (née HRH Princess Sisowath Naralaksha Munikesara, 1929-1946; married 1944)

HRH Samdech Norodom Naradipo (1946-1976)
(5) HRH Princess Samdech Preah Reach Kanitha Norodom Norleak (née Princess Devisa Naralakshmi, born 1927; married 1946 and "more formally" on 4 March 1955)

(6) Mam Manivan Phanivong (née Mam Munivarni Barni Varman, 1934-1975; married 1949)

HRH Princess Norodom Socheatha Sujata (1953-1975)
HRH Samdech Preah Anoch Norodom Arunrasmy (1955-)
(7) HM Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk (née Paule Monique Izzi, born 18 June 1936; married 12 April 1952 and "more formally" on 5 March 1955)

HM King Norodom Sihamoni (1953-)

HRH Samdech Norodom Narindrapong (1954-2003)
------------

"" until now, SIHANOUK never has had the royal wedding. when a women was attractive and beautiful, he asked his lackey to bring her to the royal palace.
If the relation lasted for a while and his concubines got children, he gave her a title as a royal concubine such as: MAM, NEAK MONEANG, KHUN etc...

- NEAK MONEANG Phat Kanhol, a member of the Royal Ballet (from 1942...).

- the princess SISOWATH Pongsanmoni (his AUNT) who was the daughter of HIS GRAND FATHER king SISOWATH Monivong, and the HALF SISTER of his MOTHER queen SISOWATH KOSSOMAK.( he was incestuous!)(from 1942...).

- Anak Munang Thach (from 1943...)

- The princess SISOWATH Monikessan ( his AUNT too) who was the DAUGHTER of the HIS GRAND FATHER King SISOWATH Monivong, and the HALF SISTER of his MOTHER Queen SISOWATH Kossomak. (he was again incestuous, isn't he? ( from 1944..

- Princess NORODOM NORLEAK, his cousin who is the niece of his mother QUEEN KOSSOMAK. When her and her husband had been introduced to SIHANOUK after their marriage; for him it was a love at first sight and the end justifies the means!
*In 1946 He stated relation with her .
*In 1955 he legalized her
as the first spouse ( Monique Izzi as the second wife in 1955 too.)

- MAM Manivan Phanivong (a Laotian)
that it was a love at first sight for him again, when he made a visit to Lao country in 1949.

- The last one, Monique Izzi became his last concubine in 1952 and legalized as a second wife at the same time than princess Norodom Norleak."

Holoywood must make a movie about him to show the world so that he and his royal family can be proud of him: laquey yuon, traitor, communist king, bloodthirsty, incestuous, lecher, selfish, .

9:54 AM

Anonymous said...

I would highly doubted the Hollywood would make such movie; however, it could start with our brave and patriotic local Cambodian movie producer (s) who are not afraid of reprisal or repercussion.

Again, my heart goes to ALL Khmer people.

I always tenaciously and firmly believe in a catalyst of change, or an agent of change for better for all Cambodian people.


Khmer forever! Yuon out of Cambodia!

Anonymous said...

Can Sihanouk be Khmer's last resort solution to Khmer's problem?

Khmer people, please think:

The Viet uses Sihanouk, the Chinese uses Sihanouk, Hun Sen uses Sihanouk, why can't Khmer make good use of Sihanouk before he dies?

Don't let Sihanouk go to waste Khmer people! Enough said?