Original report from Phnom Penh
29 July 2009
Post-war Cambodia has failed to produce a strong, independent judiciary, but instead has produced a system where judges move cases around according to bribes and potential earning power, a new book concludes.
The book, “Beyond Democracy in Cambodia: Political Reconstruction in a Post-Conflict,” edited by two professors from Sweden’s Gothenburg University and written by a number of Cambodian and international researchers, launched Friday.
Its authors, Cambodian and international researchers both, found weaknesses in the courts and other sectors of Cambodia’s burgeoning democracy.
Specifically, researcher Un Kheang, who wrote a section of the book on the judicial system and democratization, found a court without the confidence of the people.
“If you ask people whether or not the regime is legitimate, the general answer is, ‘yes,’” Un Kheang said at the book’s launch in Phnom Penh Friday. “But if you ask people if the court is legitimate, if the court is independent, the overwhelming is, ‘no.’”
Major donors to Cambodia, including the US, France, Australia and Japan, have provided millions of dollars in aid to help Cambodia reform its rule of law, but the courts remain heavily criticized by independent monitors and the public.
Joakim Ojendal, a professor of peace and development research at Gothenburg, who edited the book with fellow professor Mona Lilja, told VOA Khmer in an interview Friday that when a judiciary is compromised, it impedes the deepening of democracy and hurts investment.
People lose their confidence in the legal system as well as other political institutions, he said.
Government officials say the book doesn’t accurately portray a system that is under reform.
“One has the right to write a book, but before we start writing, we have to do a deep survey with balance,” said Cheam Yeap, a CPP lawmaker. “If the book mentions all bad things about our management, it will affect what were are trying to seek in foreign investment.”
“Democracy in Cambodia” highlights a number of irregularities in the court system, at a time when the judicial system is under heavy scrutiny for political bias and favoritism.
“Very often judges manipulated those who came into contact with the judiciary to ensure the maximum bribe,” Un Kheang wrote. “On some occasions judges employed delaying tactics in their rulings in order to extract more bribe money from litigants.”
Low salaries made judges and other court officials “susceptible to compromise and bribery,” Un Kheang wrote. “Corrupt and incompetent judges are able to maintain their jobs because of the extensive corruption within the judicial system and the entrenched patron-client network. Meanwhile, appointments and promotions are based on patronage and bribery.”
This “widespread corruption” hurts the poor, who don’t have the money to pursue their cases, he wrote. “It also creates injustice for the poor when they face legal battles with the rich.”
The courts are also open to interference from the executive branch and powerful officials. Judges and prosecutors who go against the status quo can lose their jobs.
“Although there was no threat involved, we judges have to follow, because we know in advance the dimension of their power,” one judge told Un Kheang.
Un Kheang also found that in political cases, judges delivered verdicts that followed the guidelines of the government, led by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
As an example of the court system at work, Kheang Un pointed to the ongoing court battle between opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, who sued the premier for allegedly derogatory remarks in the 2008 election campaign, and Prime Minister Hun Sen, who then countersued.
Mu Sochua’s case has been dropped, but a verdict in Hun Sen’s countersuit is expected Aug. 4.
“With the argument between the prime minister and Mu Sochua, you will see the role of judiciary in the country,” Un Kheang said Friday.
The researcher pointed to a shortage of resources hampering an independent court system.
“The judiciary faces a severe shortage of material resources and human resources, including judges, prosecutors and lawyers,” he wrote. “Lawyers are either fearful or inexperienced in challenging prosecutors or judges during trials. Cambodian lawyers are not competent, and they didn’t present solid evidence.”
Money from the budget was “significantly lower” than that for defense and security, the author found, “and usually arrived at the court late and irregularly.”
The findings in the book met with favorable review from Adhoc rights investigator Chan Saveth.
“This independent study is good and accurate, and I support it,” he said. “The Cambodian government has to accept it and make changes accordingly.”
The book, “Beyond Democracy in Cambodia: Political Reconstruction in a Post-Conflict,” edited by two professors from Sweden’s Gothenburg University and written by a number of Cambodian and international researchers, launched Friday.
Its authors, Cambodian and international researchers both, found weaknesses in the courts and other sectors of Cambodia’s burgeoning democracy.
Specifically, researcher Un Kheang, who wrote a section of the book on the judicial system and democratization, found a court without the confidence of the people.
“If you ask people whether or not the regime is legitimate, the general answer is, ‘yes,’” Un Kheang said at the book’s launch in Phnom Penh Friday. “But if you ask people if the court is legitimate, if the court is independent, the overwhelming is, ‘no.’”
Major donors to Cambodia, including the US, France, Australia and Japan, have provided millions of dollars in aid to help Cambodia reform its rule of law, but the courts remain heavily criticized by independent monitors and the public.
Joakim Ojendal, a professor of peace and development research at Gothenburg, who edited the book with fellow professor Mona Lilja, told VOA Khmer in an interview Friday that when a judiciary is compromised, it impedes the deepening of democracy and hurts investment.
People lose their confidence in the legal system as well as other political institutions, he said.
Government officials say the book doesn’t accurately portray a system that is under reform.
“One has the right to write a book, but before we start writing, we have to do a deep survey with balance,” said Cheam Yeap, a CPP lawmaker. “If the book mentions all bad things about our management, it will affect what were are trying to seek in foreign investment.”
“Democracy in Cambodia” highlights a number of irregularities in the court system, at a time when the judicial system is under heavy scrutiny for political bias and favoritism.
“Very often judges manipulated those who came into contact with the judiciary to ensure the maximum bribe,” Un Kheang wrote. “On some occasions judges employed delaying tactics in their rulings in order to extract more bribe money from litigants.”
Low salaries made judges and other court officials “susceptible to compromise and bribery,” Un Kheang wrote. “Corrupt and incompetent judges are able to maintain their jobs because of the extensive corruption within the judicial system and the entrenched patron-client network. Meanwhile, appointments and promotions are based on patronage and bribery.”
This “widespread corruption” hurts the poor, who don’t have the money to pursue their cases, he wrote. “It also creates injustice for the poor when they face legal battles with the rich.”
The courts are also open to interference from the executive branch and powerful officials. Judges and prosecutors who go against the status quo can lose their jobs.
“Although there was no threat involved, we judges have to follow, because we know in advance the dimension of their power,” one judge told Un Kheang.
Un Kheang also found that in political cases, judges delivered verdicts that followed the guidelines of the government, led by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
As an example of the court system at work, Kheang Un pointed to the ongoing court battle between opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, who sued the premier for allegedly derogatory remarks in the 2008 election campaign, and Prime Minister Hun Sen, who then countersued.
Mu Sochua’s case has been dropped, but a verdict in Hun Sen’s countersuit is expected Aug. 4.
“With the argument between the prime minister and Mu Sochua, you will see the role of judiciary in the country,” Un Kheang said Friday.
The researcher pointed to a shortage of resources hampering an independent court system.
“The judiciary faces a severe shortage of material resources and human resources, including judges, prosecutors and lawyers,” he wrote. “Lawyers are either fearful or inexperienced in challenging prosecutors or judges during trials. Cambodian lawyers are not competent, and they didn’t present solid evidence.”
Money from the budget was “significantly lower” than that for defense and security, the author found, “and usually arrived at the court late and irregularly.”
The findings in the book met with favorable review from Adhoc rights investigator Chan Saveth.
“This independent study is good and accurate, and I support it,” he said. “The Cambodian government has to accept it and make changes accordingly.”
12 comments:
i think it is good to written book like this to criticize gov't for their failure or perhaps slow start to judicuary reform in cambodia. yes, more work is needed in this department of gov't. cambodia and khmer people deserve better after been suffering for so long already! god bless cambodia.
it's a different strategy of evicting or killing khmer people. Instead of using force to evict people out of their property or homeland like the khmer rouge did, the Hun Sen's government, ex-khmer rouge, using the court system to evict people this time, same shit different era.
The book is in need for reading and academic searching.
I do hope the book will not be banned in Cambodia and Hor Nambora would not be sensitive to write his another barking letters for this book publishing.
I also do hope the government will not sue of defamation for the all authors contributed to this book, especially the publisher.
I also do hope the government will low down their injustice to shed light by giving justice to Mu Sochua. Doing so, Hun Sen will become the hero and the Cambodian law's role model for next generations to come.
Gentleman
Thank you for considerable effort and issues highlighted about inefficiency and corrupt practices in judicial system in cambodia.
True that these practices manifested by low salary, but fear for loosing position, in any case whether high or low, threatened by unjustified power by those who are in the government,is so real.
It has been a long time that all sort of abuses taken place despite of international efforts from donors. Basically, cambodians and international communities have been cheated.
Mr Chiem Yieap has a role to clarify if that so many resources from national and international organisations reports are NOT correct. To say a reform taken place is simply a plain denial of responsibility and accountability.
It is somewhat 18 years to implement agreement in 1991.
He does not speak from his conciense but for the CPP party.
Not just judicial system corrupted, many others are also misconducted such as NEC, police, custom...etc. Those, either individual or organisations includinding international communities, wish to see a REAL reform are often treated as enemies.
There are monopolising tactics enforced to occupy and control has reached a significant level.
However,with support from national and international communities, people power can vote these neglect and abuses of power OUT.
King has to fullfils roles abided by national constitution for peace in cambodia.
Neang SA
New phally, what happened to your official title?
"New Phally
Secretary of state for Ministry of Interior and Adviser for First Vice President National Assembly"
did your paymaster Nguon Ngel tell you to drop it. Even your corrupted illegal logger is embarassed by you.
I do like the reflection in this book.It helps the readers to see the fact and fake of judicial system in cambodia.
Good work! More, the authors should have used stronger wording: A court of rampant corruption which justice can be bought and sold. And the ultimate decision is at the top!!! You sure have seen the poor spend time and hard-earned income marching to the compound of the leadership for help with the loss of land, which should dealt with local courts. Judiciary corruption should be a reflection of Kampuchea in the old world, RATHER THAN Kampuchea of THIS MODERN WORLD.KhmerSake
Democratic Kampuchea Pol Pot Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Tortures
Executions
Massacres
Atrocities
Crimes Against Humanity
Starvations
Overwork to Death
Slavery
Rapes
Human Abuses
Assault and Battery
Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime had committed:
Assassinations
Assassinate Journalists
Assassinate Political Opponents
Murders
Killings
Extrajudicial Execution
Grenade Attack
Terrorism
Drive by Shooting
Tortures
Intimidations
Death Threats
Threatening
Human Abductions
Human Rights Abuses
Human Trafficking
Drugs Trafficking
Under Age Child Sex
Corruptions
Bribery
Illegal Mass Evictions
Illegal Land Grabbing
Illegal Firearms
Illegal Logging
Illegal Deforestation
Illegally use of remote detonation on Sokha Helicopter, while Hok Lundy and others military official on board.
Illegally Sold State Properties
Illegally Remove Parliamentary Immunity of Parliament Members
Plunder National Resources
Acid Attacks
Turn Cambodia into a Lawless Country
Oppression
Injustice
Steal Votes
Bring Foreigners from Veitnam to vote in Cambodia for Cambodian People's Party.
Abuse the Court as a tools for CPP to send political opponents and journalists to jail.
Abuse of Power
Abuse the Laws
Abuse the National Election Committee
Abuse the National Assembly
Violate the Laws
Violate the Constitution
Violate the Paris Accords
Impunity
Under Cambodian People's Party Hun Sen Khmer Rouge Regime, no criminals that has been committed all of these crimes above within Hun Sen Khmer Rouge government have ever been brought to justice.
i think the problem with elderly officials in cambodia is they are not open minded or open to criticism maybe it was due to culture differences or something because they get sensitive all the time when somebody is try give them constructive criticism and so forth. why's that? i think they need to let good people criticize them in their work so cambodia can benefit from it. othewise, we might have to wait until they all pass away of old age or something which is not too far in the future, given their ages now. remember, nobody on the planet can live forever, that is so true! we can reforms and changes in our mentality and politics in cambodia, especially if it will serve our country and khmer people well. god bless cambodia.
i think it is good to have fresh concept in gov't, please don't look down on young generation because you were young once. plus, young people are the real future of the country, whether you like to believe that or not, it's the reality or the truth, you know. thank you. please stop being selfish, be open minded, intead. a good sense of humour goes a long way. god bless cambodia.
To supporters of
(Cambodian People's Party
Hun Sen Death Squad
Khmer Rouge Regime).
Please do me a favor, don't ever tell anyone that you are Khmer, because you make Khmer peoples look bad.
Does anyone know where I can buy this book in Cambodia? If anyone knows, please inform me through my e-mail: harrypotterkhmer@gmail.com. I'm looking forward to reading it! Thanks.
Post a Comment