A Phnom Penh beer garden - proprietors say that armed bodyguards pose a risk to staff and customers alike. (Eleanor Ainge Roy)Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Written by Chrann Chamroeun and Eleanor Ainge Roy
The Phnom Penh Post
The fatal shooting of a 21-year-old woman in a Kandal beer garden throws new light on the impunity of bodyguards
THE once-bustling Floating Beer Garden and Restaurant in Kandal province's Kien Svay district is now a quiet, dejected place. The road leading to the small establishment is muddy after the recent rains, and water drips from the low, over-hanging trees making the air rank and cloying.
Two weeks ago, the Floating Beer Garden was the site of a brutal shooting that left 21-year-old Sor Samphoa dead.
The alleged killer, an intoxicated Royal Cambodian Armed Forces major moonlighting as a bodyguard, has not faced any criminal charges.
"Sor Samphoa worked at a factory near Pochentong Airport, and she had never been to my restaurant before," said Leang Davy, owner of the Floating Beer Garden and Restaurant, talking about the night of the shooting.
"It was a fun night, lots of joking. It had just began to rain and Sor Samphoa said, ‘We need some plants to dispel the rain'," she said.
"The RCAF major was drunk, and he took out his gun and said, ‘No! You just need to shoot into the sky'," Leang Davy added.
"Everyone was laughing and playing around. He put his gun down on the table and it went off - shooting Sor Samphos. I was panic-struck and very, very scared."
Sor Samphos died that night, and her body was taken to a nearby pagoda.
The major was briefly arrested, but after paying the dead woman's family US$2,700 in compensation, he was released.
Leang Davy said she will now attempt to keep bodyguards out of her restaurant because she is wary of trouble.
Continuing impunity?
Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, is not surprised at the light treatment received by the major.
"There are many instances I can recall when bodyguards have used their guns while drinking in groups at beer gardens or karaoke bars," he said.
"They are never held responsible before the law. They pay compensation, and then they are released as free men. As a result, the perpetrators are not afraid of the consequences of such a crime."
But Hin Bunheang, Prime Minister Hun Sen's chief of bodyguards, told the Post that he does "not excuse any bodyguards who use their guns in the wrong way to kill or injure people".
He added these people should be arrested and dealt with by the court system.
Ministry of Interior Under Secretary of State Srun Vong Vannak said that while he knows of bodyguards who use their guns recklessly, none of them are present in the ministry's forces, which are rigorously trained and disciplined.
None are allowed to keep their weapons after their missions.
"Our government and Hun Sen pay attention to protect the safety of the people by not allowing bodyguards to use their guns whenever they want," Srun Vong Vannak said. "If they do, they will be arrested and punished by law."
Troublesome clients
Despite such assurances, multiple Phnom Penh beer garden owners interviewed by the Post last week said that dealing with bodyguards is a delicate business because they have the potential to cause many problems for bar owners and are often aggressive or demanding.
"We have four security personnel who work here, and they check every person that comes in the door. But sometimes [the bodyguards] hide their guns, and we cannot demand to search every inch of them," said one beer garden owner who declined to be named.
"When a man like this comes in, we all know he is a risky customer, and we must treat him like a king. The staff here are like my family, and I am scared for them when someone like that is around," the owner added.
Cheng Solyda, 35, a local NGO worker who often goes to beer gardens with his co-workers and friends, said that when a bodyguard is present at a bar everyone becomes uncomfortable and scared. "The government must make more of an effort to crack down on illegal gun users and firmly punish those who do wrong. They are a serious threat to society."
Another beer garden owner said the worst violence tends to occur once customers have left the beer garden and are wandering the streets armed and drunk.
"It is a risk once my employees leave the beer garden," said the owner.
"But I can only try to protect them at work."
Am Sam Ath, a monitor at the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said cases of bodyguard impunity cannot continue to go unpunished.
"Civil compensation is good, but the persecutor must also stand before the courts, whether the murder was intentional or not," he said.
THE once-bustling Floating Beer Garden and Restaurant in Kandal province's Kien Svay district is now a quiet, dejected place. The road leading to the small establishment is muddy after the recent rains, and water drips from the low, over-hanging trees making the air rank and cloying.
Two weeks ago, the Floating Beer Garden was the site of a brutal shooting that left 21-year-old Sor Samphoa dead.
The alleged killer, an intoxicated Royal Cambodian Armed Forces major moonlighting as a bodyguard, has not faced any criminal charges.
"Sor Samphoa worked at a factory near Pochentong Airport, and she had never been to my restaurant before," said Leang Davy, owner of the Floating Beer Garden and Restaurant, talking about the night of the shooting.
"It was a fun night, lots of joking. It had just began to rain and Sor Samphoa said, ‘We need some plants to dispel the rain'," she said.
"The RCAF major was drunk, and he took out his gun and said, ‘No! You just need to shoot into the sky'," Leang Davy added.
"Everyone was laughing and playing around. He put his gun down on the table and it went off - shooting Sor Samphos. I was panic-struck and very, very scared."
Sor Samphos died that night, and her body was taken to a nearby pagoda.
The major was briefly arrested, but after paying the dead woman's family US$2,700 in compensation, he was released.
Leang Davy said she will now attempt to keep bodyguards out of her restaurant because she is wary of trouble.
"There are many instances ... when bodyguards have used their guns while drinking in groups in beer gardens and karaoke bars.""All the businesses around here have suffered because of the shooting. I try to keep the bodyguards out, but sometimes they conceal their guns in their pockets. From now on I think I will just tell them that the bar is full," she said.
Continuing impunity?
Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, is not surprised at the light treatment received by the major.
"There are many instances I can recall when bodyguards have used their guns while drinking in groups at beer gardens or karaoke bars," he said.
"They are never held responsible before the law. They pay compensation, and then they are released as free men. As a result, the perpetrators are not afraid of the consequences of such a crime."
But Hin Bunheang, Prime Minister Hun Sen's chief of bodyguards, told the Post that he does "not excuse any bodyguards who use their guns in the wrong way to kill or injure people".
He added these people should be arrested and dealt with by the court system.
Ministry of Interior Under Secretary of State Srun Vong Vannak said that while he knows of bodyguards who use their guns recklessly, none of them are present in the ministry's forces, which are rigorously trained and disciplined.
None are allowed to keep their weapons after their missions.
"Our government and Hun Sen pay attention to protect the safety of the people by not allowing bodyguards to use their guns whenever they want," Srun Vong Vannak said. "If they do, they will be arrested and punished by law."
Troublesome clients
Despite such assurances, multiple Phnom Penh beer garden owners interviewed by the Post last week said that dealing with bodyguards is a delicate business because they have the potential to cause many problems for bar owners and are often aggressive or demanding.
"We have four security personnel who work here, and they check every person that comes in the door. But sometimes [the bodyguards] hide their guns, and we cannot demand to search every inch of them," said one beer garden owner who declined to be named.
"When a man like this comes in, we all know he is a risky customer, and we must treat him like a king. The staff here are like my family, and I am scared for them when someone like that is around," the owner added.
Cheng Solyda, 35, a local NGO worker who often goes to beer gardens with his co-workers and friends, said that when a bodyguard is present at a bar everyone becomes uncomfortable and scared. "The government must make more of an effort to crack down on illegal gun users and firmly punish those who do wrong. They are a serious threat to society."
Another beer garden owner said the worst violence tends to occur once customers have left the beer garden and are wandering the streets armed and drunk.
"It is a risk once my employees leave the beer garden," said the owner.
"But I can only try to protect them at work."
Am Sam Ath, a monitor at the Cambodian rights group Licadho, said cases of bodyguard impunity cannot continue to go unpunished.
"Civil compensation is good, but the persecutor must also stand before the courts, whether the murder was intentional or not," he said.
14 comments:
Messy every where. It is just an example but there are more and more in the country. Once you go abroad, first thing that you will interest about is trafic. If everything is smooth on travelling accoding to the trafic rules,that country's rules/laws will be strickly followed. Cambodia trafic is very messy-no body care at all. This is broofing that our country's rules and laws are not really followed at all. Everybody can do whatever they want to do as far as they have enough $$$ to pay.
The issue here is about gun and alcohol! I can't believe that AH HUN SEN would allow his government bodyguards to go drinking in public during working hour?
Let make it clear to the government bodyguards about off-duty and on-duty! For any government bodyguards to be off-duty and they shouldn’t be allowed to carry gun into public place at all and leave the fucking gun at home or at work!
It is about time that AH HUN XEN government needs to uphold the professionalism of Cambodian government bodyguard as profession and let be more professional about the when the government bodyguard can carry the fucking gun and when not to carry the fucking gun in public place such as in restaurant, beer gardens, and karaoke bars!
Otherwise the Cambodian government must pass the law for Cambodian people to have the right to conceal their weapons too!
The (recent) incident is a perfect illustration of the grotesque nature of human garbage in the Hun Sen's administration, which is governed and reigned by the leader who is a human garbage himself (Prime Minister Hun Sen), given his horrifyingly grotesque record of human rights abuses.
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. I was taught to learn how to love my enemies (it was the most difficult thing to do), because if I despise my enemies, it will affect my judgment.
CPP member & a traitor of the party for the people.
What a bunch of fucked heads in Ah Sen's administration.
This son-of-bitch cannot control his fucking misbehaving bastard bodyguards
Fuck you Ah Sen!
4:36 PM
Hun Sen can control this bodyguards but he allows them to do this to make fear of people and some CPP members
Like father like son. Anyone comprehend this saying? And like leaders like its followers. More or less it's true proven by social science and scholars. That why the respected leaders and high-ranking officers are taught to behave well in the public to role model its followers. And also coz their behaviour will reflect their policies practically, so such beast animals behavior should not be showned in public. But is Cambodia led by the rules of law? The leaders educated enough about all of these-role modelling, and abide by the laws themselves? Fuck them all for even without basic education and holding too animal-instinct!
5:26 PM
In short, these son-of-bitches need to set an example for their followers (also, for the younger generation and their children's children).
Again, these leaders who exhibit their irrational behaviors through their stupidity and ignrance are the norm of the ruling party (CPP).
here are the lessons you folks have apparently learnd:
1. You folks might be taught to hate COMMUNISM SINCE THE SYSTEM ABUSE THE BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOM, SAY FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF PROTESTS. That's proven to be ultimately correct since there is extreme range of diversity preferrable for peopel AND PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE UNDER INTIMIDATION OR SUPPRESSION TO JUST FOLLOW THROUGH THE DESIGNED AND ASSIGNED ONE.
2. Democracy proven to serve the people's interest-the national interest SINCE THEORIETICALLY THE GOV.T IS FORMED BY PEOPLE AND FOR PEOPLE.AND THE SYSTEM MUST SECURE AT ALL COST THE BASIC RIGHTS AND FREEDOM NOT TO MENTION THAT PEOPLE CAN PROTEST WHEN THEY DISGUST SOMETHING.
-My important message is: until now the gov.t is far from named itself as a RULE OF DEMOCRACY-NO EFFICIENT RULE OF LAW YET JUST MEMORANDUMS OR WORDS OF LAWS FROM THE SOLE MOUTH, the so-called hun sen. And basic human rights or freedom still facing extreme abuse-not secure by independent, neutral bodies of law and authories are all about immplementing party's orders.
My second important message is: Khmers were not fooled and exploited once but for hundred times already-read the history pro-cpp. KHMERS CAN PRAISE CHINA OR RUSSIA OR OTHER DIE-HARD COMMUNIST LEADERS, BUT THE FACT FROM THE HISTORY THAT"PROTECTING JUST THE SYSTEM THAT BENEFITS INDIVIDUALS OR FAMILY" WILL BRING DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE COUTRY. Take kings'past history internal fighting for the crown and resulted in ceding more and more land to neighboring countries... and SIHANOUK to determined to retain the MONARCHY AND DISPLAYED HIS BOASTFUL PRIDE (still true until now-bowing to the regime as long as his monarchy still exist) invited pol pot-the massacre of own-blood people. And pol pot the PURE INSANE COMMUNIST PULLED THE STRING,AND SUPPORTED BY CHINA ignorantly yet consciously led the coutry to total devastation. AGAIN THE PROTECTION OF OWN REGIME REGARDLESS WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES HAS BROUGHT ABOUT. And current leaders any major shifting from repeating the history? CHINA OR RUSSIA CANNOT BE TRUSTED AND ANY IMMPLEMENTATION AIMING TO PROTECT INDIVIDUAL OR PARTY INTERESTS WILL RESULT IN REPEATING THE HISTORY AND CHINA OR RUSSIA WILL EXPLOIT AND FOOL THIS FOOL COUNTRY UNTIL NOT A MILLI INCH OF LAND REMAIN!
Khmer Washington
From Ah Sen to 4:36 PM, fuck your mother too, your mother fucker!!!
See how the guy got so drunk and lean back with his head in the sky.
That is really rediculous for HUN SEN's bodyguards to act very wise and ashame in the public.
Normally with this duty he should be acting more respect to the public. Instead, he is very low life and making people scold at HUN SEN and Hing Bunheang.
Khmer Phnom Penh,
A set up photo dude!
To all Cambodians over sea,
I went to visited Cambodia many times and I found out
Cambodia is no the safe place to visit, I can not trust any
Government employee.
Cambodia is the lawless country.
Gun's and alcohol don't mix. But when you factor out gun + alcohol + drunk + stupidity = A dead innocent bystander.
The restaurant/ vendor owner's have a sole responsibilities to protect their employees and their clientele. They should post a sign "No weapons of any kind allowed on this premises." We must also hold the owner's accountable for allowing a known/high profile regulars to enter their premises with weapons. They are as guilty as the person's packing a pistol.
Solutions: Avoid a restaurant's that cater's to these low life scum and pretty soon the owner will realize that their business is no good without you. If there's no "you".... there's no death and hopefully the next time the gun discharged.... It'll be one of their own.
this type of story is, sadly, repeated time and time again. And the pathetic denials by the relevant RGC spokesperson are as brazen and arrogant as they are deliberately myopic, lacking in any sense of compassion, of taking responsibility, or of doing anything to improve the situation for the better. They are many hard working, cleaver people working for the RGC but they are hamstrung by the same all pervasive fear that the majority of their fellow countrymen endure and suffer from. In equal measure, in just about every sphere, the RGC is either complicit or complacent in a relentless abuse of power. And this is embodied fully in the actions of their bodyguards.
Several years back, in full view of hundreds of Cambodians and foreigners there was gun battle at a packed New Year's Eve party at the old casion on top of Bokor mountain. That year, the orgainsers were specifically told to have Military Police at the foot of the mountain to search EVERY car and person going up to the party. Only, as usual, this wasn't applied to the " big people" and their bodyguards. In their usual way, Cambodians, not being able to get any sense of proportion, resulted in shooting each other. Why ? Because one of them hadn't turned the high beam off on his car as he entered the parking area and the light was shining in a new year reveller's eyes. Both sides believing they were " strong" men and well-connected had assumed the other was a " nobody" . The Prime Minister shortly after organised a " Committee" to investigate the events. And, of course, that was the last anyone heard about it again. And of course no court appearance for anyone.
A few months ago, in a beer garden a drunk senior soldier shot a beer girl for being " too slow" in bringing the ice for his beer. Any sign of " moral outrage" from any section of the RGC ?
Just take a look at the phone video footage for the killing of prisoners at Battambang jail a couple of years ago. Again no trial. Blanket denial.
And just a few weeks ago there was the was the ridiculous spectacle of the Minister for Information stating categorically that Cambodian Law was not like in other countries and that when someone drives their big intimidating vehicle over a motorcyle driver accidently removing his arm & leg (and the motodriver subsequently dyeing) that the car driver only has to pay compensation. When it was pointed out that under Cambodian Law the Minister of Information was incorrect - that even in unintentional road deaths there MUST be a trial, and if guilty there MUST be a prison sentence and/or fine .... was there ever a clarification or retraction of the Minister's comments. Of course not. The driver of the car was allegedly one of the PM's nephew. Difficult to prove because the car's number plates were quickly removed by a conveniently arriving group of Military Police. This same Minister of Information tried to explain this was standard practice because leaving the plates on made selling the car very difficult. Quite why this was such a priority at 11pm is unclear. And not quite as difficult as re-attaching someone's arm and leg, and restoring their life and ability to provide for, and love, their family.
They just don't care.
The stories go on day in day out.
Much that those that suffer at the bottom have my sympathy, those at the top responsible and/or indifferent have my pity: can you imagine being in the head and the heart of these people - it must be a deeply unpleasant world view.
They are diseased.
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