SRP remembers 1997 victims

A man pays his respects to the deceased at a ceremony yesterday to remember the victims of a 1997 grenade attack on members of the Sam Rainsy Party in Phnom Penh. The attack left 16 opposition activists dead and over 100 wounded. The perpetrators have yet to be brought to justice. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Thursday, 31 March 2011
Kim Yuthana
The Phnom Penh Post

During a commemorative ceremony yesterday the opposition Sam Rainsy Party urged the Government to seek justice for victims of a brutal grenade attack in 1997.

The attack left at least 16 people dead and more than 100 injured.

More than 50 monks said prayers for the dead, while SRP members said that justice would not be served unless the Government identified and arrested the perpetrators.

About 200 SRP members had gathered outside the old National Assembly building on March 30, 1997, to protest the impunity of Cambodia’s judiciary.

Duch: It wasn’t me

Former S-21 prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, sits in the courtroom at the Khmer Rouge tribunal on the outskirts of Phnom Penh in July 2010. (Photo by: Reuters)

Thursday, 31 March 2011
James O’Toole and Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Kaing Guek Eav struck a defiant tone yesterday in his final appearance before the Khmer Rouge tribunal, denying responsibility for his leadership of S-21 prison and asking the court to release him “in order to seek justice and truth for the Cambodian people”.

Speaking at the end of three days of appeal hearings before the tribunal’s Supreme Court Chamber, the man better known as Duch offered only a token expression of apology over the course of a 25-minute address in which he asserted that he falls outside the court’s mandate to try “senior leaders” and those “most responsible” for crimes committed under Democratic Kampuchea.

The argument represents a dramatic break from the approach taken by Duch and his defence over six months of trial hearings in 2009, during which he accepted qualified responsibility and essentially pleaded guilty. All this changed when he challenged the court’s jurisdiction and asked for an acquittal during closing arguments in November of that year, a strategy the defence has carried forward in its appeal.

Local farmers must not be forgotten in global land rush

Residents of the Boeung Kak lakeside during a protest in Phnom Penh, Cambodia against eviction. A local developer and a Chinese investment company have been given a 99-year lease from the Cambodian government to develop the lake. Photograph: Mak Remissa/EPA

Vast tracts of farmland in poor nations being gobbled up by foreign investors could undermine small farmers' rights and food security in the host countries

Thursday 31 March 2011

Darryl Vhugen

guardian.co.uk

From Ethiopia's lowlands to the hilltops of Madagascar, hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland in the developing world are being gobbled up by investors creating super-sized farms.

This high-stakes global land rush, which has the potential to transform, for good or ill, developing nations, is essentially a third wave of outsourcing.

The first wave, in the 70s and 80s, sent manufacturers scrambling to lower-wage countries; the second involved white-collar service jobs primarily to India and other English-speaking, low-wage countries.

Air France's first flight to Cambodia in 37 years lands in capital

French Secretary of State for Transport Thierry Mariani (C-R), attends a launching ceremony at Phnom Penh international airport, Cambodia, 31 March 2011. Air France resumes flights to Cambodia after a 35-year interval. The thrice weekly flights between Paris and Phonm Penh via Bangkok, will utilise an Airbus A340, then in May 2011 will replace the Airbus A340 with a Boeing 777, with a greater capacity. EPA/MAK REMISSA

Mar 31, 2011
DPA

Phnom Penh - Air France's first commercial flight to Phnom Penh in nearly four decades landed in the Cambodian capital on Thursday.

The arrival of flight AF274 marked the resumption of a service that the company terminated in 1974 as the Khmer Rouge was on the cusp of taking control of Cambodia.

The chief executive of Air France KLM, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, said the reopening of the service to Phnom Penh after 37 years was 'really emotional.'

Air France becomes first European airline to offer flights to Cambodia

31 March 2011

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- After a 37 years absence, Air France is once again offering scheduled flights between Paris and Cambodia. It makes Air France the only European airline to operate flights directly to Cambodia.

The inaugural flight, flight 274, landed in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Thursday. "We are proud to be the first European airline to once again operate scheduled services between Europe and Cambodia, as part of our growth strategy on routes to Asia where we are increasing capacity," said Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France KLM.

Gourgeon said the airline will operate three weekly return flights between Paris and Cambodia, promoting economic and cultural ties with the region.

SRP’s Self-Destruction

Op-Ed by Khmerization

30th March, 2011

The turn of event in the Sam Rainsy Party’s (SRP) internal wrangling surrounding the dramatic resignation and spectacular expulsion of MP Mao Monivan has moved in phenomenal pace that even the most keen and over-zealous observers had trouble keeping up with the chain of event. His expulsion has sent shiver down the spines of other would-be vocal and outspoken critics of the party leadership. It has sent shockwave across the political spectrum in Cambodia. His only crime was to make open criticism of the party’s kingmakers: party’s spokesman Yim Sovan and the party strongman Eng Chhay Eang.

The SRP’s expulsion of Mr. Mao Monivan for publicly speaking out against the party’s kingmakers and against the politics of patronage, nepotism and cronyism goes against the principle of democracy, the spirit of openness and pluralism. It shows the SRP’s hypocrisy and its intolerance of divergent views. After attacking Hun Sen’s dictatorship and autocratic style of rule for the last 15 years, the SRP should look at itself in the mirror and ask: are we any different from Mr. Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party?

The SRP has preached and campaigned for democracy and free speech for the last 15 years, since its inception and foundation. To show its principles and democratic values and that it is a genuine democratic party, the SRP must practice what it had preached for the last 15 years. To expel someone from the party for their outspokenness against the party’s nepotism, cronyism and autocratic style of rule has shown the true colours of the SRP that it is dictatorial, intolerant and has never practiced what it had preached all along. Mao Monivan’s expulsion has also shown that the SRP is suppressing internal and self-criticism. Mao Monivan’s outspokenness and his criticism of the party’s nepotism, cronyism and autocratic style of rule is part of his democratic rights under the SRP’s statute which aimed at bringing and holding the party leadership to account for their actions and shortcomings. The SRP’s action in expelling Mao Monivan will undoubtedly be seen as dictatorial in nature and puts its credibility and status as a democratic party and champion of democracy on the line. The SRP’s ongoing squabbling and internal wrangling shows that the party is not working to advance democracy in Cambodia, not working for the interests of the Khmer nation or its people, but indulging in personal interests over national interests and the interests of democracy in Cambodia.

It is basic rights to be vocal in a democratic and open society, and Mao Monivan has used his basic rights to right the wrongs of the party leadership. If politicians, who are public figures, and to a certain extent, public property, can’t handle the truth and that basic rights, then they do not deserve to be politicians and public figures.

In a true democratic party, Mao Monivan’s action in speaking out against the two kingmakers, Yim Sovan and Eng Chhay Eang, do not warrant his sacking and expulsion. The first actions would be to try to address his concerns and the first measures against him are warnings followed by disciplinary actions if he continues with his outspokenness. A swift expulsion that has been seen taken against him can only be described as draconian in nature and dictatorial in style.

The Chain of Event

Mao Monivan’s dramatic resignation as an MP and his spectacular expulsion stemmed from a disagreement over his reshuffling as the SRP president of the populous Kampong Cham provincial branch to a smaller province of Kampot. But it is largely from the disagreement over the MP mid-term rotation and the replacement of current MPs with candidates next on the 2008 candidate list that trigger a war of attrition. This formula of MP mid-term rotation has been agreed and approved by the party’s Steering Committee before the 2008 election. According to Mao Monivan, he resigned as an MP on his own volition because he wanted to keep his promise and to honour the agreement as well as to set an example in order to make way for the MPs in waiting to be sworn in. According to him, other MPs had broken their promises and dishonoured the agreements and refused to vacate the seats for the MPs in waiting. This disagreement had led him to launch a scathing public attack on the two kingmakers, who in turn took a swift action by expelling him in dramatic fashion.

Reshuffling is democratic and a good idea provided that it is done fairly and democratically. According to leaked reports, it was not done democratically and fairly at all. Not all MPs will be replaced with new candidates, only some MPs will. Party spokesman Yim Sovan, his wife Ke Sovannaroth who is the party secretary general, Eng Chhay Eang and his brother-in-law Kuoy Bunroeun, do not have to vacate their seats for the new candidates. To add insults to injury, Mao Monivan was kicked out as president of the party's Kampong Cham branch to make way for Eng Chhay Eang’s brother-in-law, Kuoy Bunroeun, to take over. This is clear nepotism and cronyism.

However, MP rotation is a bad idea from the start. It is a recipe for internal division and internal power struggle. Mao Monivan’s expulsion from the SRP and his subsequent defection to the Human Rights Party (HRP) will not be the last. The MPs in waiting, who had petitioned the party and its president Sam Rainsy in 2010 to ask them to honour the agreement and who had been snubbed by the current MPs’ backflip, will surely rise up in revolt to show their discontent of the postponement of the MP rotation agreement. More internal wrangling and bickering are forthcoming and more defections to other parties, either to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) or the HRP, are highly anticipated.

Mao Monivan: A traitor or a man of principle?

There have been smear campaigns to demonise him as the SRP traitor and a spy for the ruling CPP during and after his expulsion from the SRP. In one of his so-called attacks on the SRP leadership, Mao Monivan had called for a stoppage and cessation of a culture of labelling, smearing and vilification of the party members who dare to speak out as being traitors and spies.

I personally have some suspicions and reservations about Mao Monivan’s democratic principles when he bitterly complained about the SRP’s dictatorial style of rule right after the 2008 election. I have anticipated that he is on the brink of defecting to the ruling CPP, but true to his principles he has maintained his loyalty to the SRP and vowed not to defect to any parties unless he is expelled from the SRP. And true to his words of not betraying his democratic principles, he did not defect to the ruling CPP where he would be given a plum job, but chose to defect to a poor HRP where he would only give but not get any personal interests whatsoever.

The Conduct of the HRP

The conduct of the HRP in effecting Mao Monivan’s defection and on the process of orchestrating other defections from the SRP have not and will not help the ongoing SRP-HRP merger and the unification talks. It will, to a lager or lesser extent, cause further mistrusts to the already mistrustful and too factionalised dealings during the unification talks. Under no circumstances should the HRP effect or orchestrate the defections from the SRP to the HRP or vice versa as both parties are working with the same goals to dislodge Mr. Hun Sen and his CPP from power. To orchestrate defections from each other is a political suicide because they are killing each other off before they do it to their nemesis, the CPP. If they are to have any chances of defeating the CPP in the elections at all, they must work as one and cannot afford to fight among themselves. The HRP’s conduct in effecting and orchestrating defections from the SRP will cause a chain reaction from the SRP who would seek to retaliate by effecting and orchestrating defections from the HRP. A tit for tat will follow and this will lead to a tuck of war between these two so-called democratic parties that can only lead to the complete destruction and annihilation of both. If this scenario is to have occurred and fathomed, and if the defection of Mao Moinvan is a premonition of that scenario, it will cause irreparable electoral damages in the eyes of the Cambodian voters and, to a certain extent, also in the eyes of their financial backers.

In conclusion, the resignation of Mao Monivan as an MP and his spectacular expulsion from the SRP is a premonition of the forthcoming self-destruction of the SRP. More internal discontent and wrangling are anticipated as the MPs in waiting will show their anger and dissatisfaction over the indefinite postponement of the MP mid-term rotation. And with the absence of the party president, Mr. Sam Rainsy, the wranglers cannot look to someone for mediation and conciliation. A protracted internal wrangling and bickering will cause the SRP to weakness or even to self-destruction. And if the SRP is to earn the trust and the respect of the Cambodian voters, it must be seen as democratic in nature and more tolerant of divergent views and dissenting voices. It must also practises what it had preached: democracy and openness. The SRP must bear in mind the words of the UN Envoy on Human Rights in Cambodia, Prof. Surya Subedi, that “criticism is not a crime”.

Resentment over NGO law spreads

Thursday, 31 March 2011
Thomas Miller and Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

Organisation representing hundreds of NGOs and associations yesterday came out strongly against the second draft of the government’s controversial NGO law, some threatening political fallout, while the government defended the law.

Three umbrella groups, which have represented hundreds of organisations in closed-door negotiations with the government in recent weeks, said they saw “no progress” in the second draft.

“The [majority] of the changes are minor and fail to address the fundamental concerns raised by [civil society organisations],” Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said in a statement released by the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, NGO Forum and the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee.

“The most significant problem remains at the heart of the law: Registration is still mandatory,” the groups said.

Radioactive cloud [from Japan] to disperse over Southeast Asia

31/03/2011
VOVNews/VNA

The Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology said on March 31 that a radioactive cloud from the quake-damaged Fukushima reactor explosions in Japan is forecast to disperse over Southeast Asian region.

The ministry said that the main part of the cloud is forecast to be divided into small parts, dispersed and fly sparsely over the Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

In the next few days, small clouds are forecast to arrive in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. However, as the radioactive trace level is small it is difficult to discover their impacts on the radioactive background in Vietnam.

The ministry, citing discoveries from observation stations of the Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology and the Da Lat Nuclear Institute, affirmed that radioactive iodine-131 trace level found in Vietnam’s air is low and does not pose a threat to the environment and human health.

Boeung Kak residents deceived by city’s rejection

31 March 2011
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch

Boeung Kak residents have expressed their deception after their discussion with Kep Chuktema, the Phnom Penh city governor, on Wednesday afternoon to resolve the 15-hectare land dispute was unsuccessful. Mrs. Mey Sina, a 52-year-old resident of village 24, was extremely deceived when she heard the news from Mrs. Ly Mom, her representative, telling her that Kep Chuktema rejected the request of 15-hectare of land by the residents to develop onsite. Kep Chuktema indicated that there will be no more discussion on this 15-hectare land plot.

SRP commemorates the 14th Anniversary of 30 March Grenade Attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak0HGJbuHNc&feature=player_embedded

[Thailand's] Krabi mudslides kill 3 villagers

A man looks at what is left of his village after landslides struck tambon Na Khao in Krabi’s Khao Phanom district. At least 3 people were killed in the landslides which were triggered by flooding.

Death toll from southern storms and floods hits 15

31/03/2011
Bangkok Post

At least 3 people have been killed and six others are reported missing as mudslides swept away villages and heightened the southern flooding crisis. The overall death toll has risen to at least 15.

Mountain run-off and landslides hit villages in tambon Na Khao in Krabi's Khao Phanom district yesterday and washed away up to 50 homes, provincial governor Prasit Osathanont said.

Hours after the landslides struck, rescue workers were still sifting through the mud in a desperate search for other victims.

Earlier it was reported that as many as 200 villagers were missing, but Mr Prasit said rescue workers who struggled to reach the devastated villages had confirmed that so far only three bodies had been found. About 300-400 people lived in the areas hit by the landslides.

Echoes from the Killing Fields

Thursday, March 31, 2011
By SIMON ROUGHNEEN
The Irrawaddy News (Burma)

PHNOM PENH—Clad in a blue shirt under a cream jacket, Kaing Guak Eav sat back, seemingly relaxed to the point of boredom. The judge, prosecution and defense debated the finer points of the relationship between Cambodia's penal code and the tribunal set up to examine crimes committed under Khmer Rouge rule from 1975 to 1978. Meanwhile, the man known as Comrade Duch, sitting alone two rows behind his legal team, punctuated an impassive stillness with the occasional bout of fidgety restlessness.

As head of the S-21 torture camp, Duch—pronounced “Doik”—oversaw the torture of around 16,000 prisoners at the former school, now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Most of the detainees were later murdered at Choeung Ek, one of the country's thousands of mass graves or “Killing Fields,” around 15 miles from Phnom Penh's city centre. S-21 was only one of over 190 similar detention, torture and murder camps set up all over Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge era.

Duch was not part of the Khmer Rouge leadership and is the only one of the five accused to have expressed remorse for his crimes, offering at one point to face a public stoning and to allow victims to visit him in jail. But he made a u-turn on the final day of his trial in November 2009, asking to be acquitted and freed, which left many wondering if his contrition was sincere.

Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa defects to Britain

Libya's foreign minister defected from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's government last night in a significant blow to the dictator.

31 Mar 2011

By Thomas Harding, and Robert Winnett

The Telegraph (UK)

Moussa Koussa flew into Britain and told Foreign Office staff he was "no longer willing" to serve the regime.

The move was welcomed in Whitehall where fears have been growing that poorly organised Libyan rebels cannot defeat Gaddafi without being given arms or training on the ground.

"We encourage those around Gaddafi to abandon him and embrace a better future for Libya that allows political transition and real reform that meets the aspirations of the Libyan people," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

David Cameron had earlier admitted that the Government was considering arming the rebels following talks in London with Libyan opposition leaders.

April Fool’s wealth declaration by Hoon Xhen

(Photo: Reuters)

31 March 2011
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch

According to a communiqué from the press office of the Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), Hun Xen will come the ACU office at 04 PM on 01 April to declare his wealth as stipulated by the anti-corruption law. Keo Remy, ACU spokesman, said that Hun Xen’s trip sets an example for all government officials whose obligation is to declare their wealth. The ACU sets 07 April as the cutoff date for wealth declaration.

Rainsy or Viet? - Poem in Khmer by B. Boy

Originally posted at http://bboy-everythingkhmer.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post_5302.html

Observers See Role for Former King on Border Issue [-Good luck!?!?]

Former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk are greeted by students along a Phnom Penh road during during the marking of the country's 50th Independence Day in 2003. (Photo: AP)

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington Wednesday, 30 March 2011

“Before he is gone, we should make a request to him asking his opinion.”

Former king Norodom Sihanouk could be a valuable asset in the Thai-Cambodian border dispute, a Cambodian historian says.

As monarch, Norodom Sihanouk led Cambodia’s bid to regain Preah Vihear temple from Thai occupation in 1962 through the International Court of Justice.

The court determined the temple belonged to Cambodia, but Thailand continues to dispute the ownership of land nearby, an issue that has led to a prolonged, deadly military standoff.

Michel Tranet, a history professor in Cambodia, told VOA Khmer in an interview that Norodom Sihanouk is a living witness to those events and could shed light on the court’s decision and the border standoff.

Lake Residents Vow To Continue Protests

Cambodian villagers from the Boeung Kak Lake area react during a protest in front of the City Hall in Phnom Penh March 25, 2011. The villagers gathered to protest against what they said was a broken promise by a government official to set up a meeting with the capital city's governor regarding a real estate development project that might cost them their homes. Activists say around 2,000 families have already been evicted and forced to accept minimal compensation after the government leased the land around the lake to a private developer. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Cambodian villagers from the Boeung Kak Lake area cry during a protest in front of the City Hall in Phnom Penh March 25, 2011. The villagers gathered to protest against what they said was a broken promise by a government official to let them meet the capital city's governor regarding a real estate development project that might cost them their homes. Activists say around 2,000 families have already been evicted and forced to accept minimal compensation after the government leased the land around the lake to a private developer. REUTERS/Samrang Pring

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington Wednesday, 30 March 2011

“We legally hold the ownership, and we have voted for them for three terms.”

Residents of the Boeung Kak lake area say they are still angry at the city government’s policy, which they say favors development over the needs of people in the capital.

Up to 1,500 families have had to leave the lake area to make way for a massive commercial and residential development undertaken by a company linked to a ruling party senator.

“Their development is a development for a company, not for the people,” said Tep Vanny, a lakeside community representative, as a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday.

Residents have requested 15 hectares of land from the 133-hectare development, a request Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema denied in a meeting with residents on Wednesday.

Doubts linger on NGO law

Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Thomas Miller
The Phnom Penh Post

Representatives from NGOs again requested that officials at the ministries of interior and foreign affairs accept changes to a second draft of the government’s contentious draft NGO law during a closed-door meeting yesterday, but found limited success.

Officials said it would be “the last consultation” with them on the law, following a large public meeting in January and several smaller private meetings since, said Chith Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum.

Lun Borithy, executive director of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, said relations between the government and NGOs were “very tense”.

[Boeung Kak] Residents warn of protest

Residents threatened with eviction from the Boeung Kak lake area protest outside City Hall in Phnom Penh last Friday. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

Resident of the Boeung Kak lakeside said yesterday that they would organise protests if a meeting scheduled for today with Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Kep Chuktema did not achieve a resolution to their alternative development plan for families threatened with eviction.

City Hall on Monday issued a letter confirming the meeting between Kep Chuktema and five villager representatives to discuss a request for the allocation of 15 hectares of land for villagers at the site of a commercial and residential development project on the Boeung Kak lakeside.

Huot Muth Dy, a resident of Village 20 in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune, said that she hopes the meeting will end in a victory for potentially displaced villagers.

Soy Sopheap begs for forgiveness

Media personality Soy Sopheap adjusts a poster at the re-opening of Deum Ampil Newspaper in December 2010. Soy Sopheap attended court yesterday to clarify defamation allegations. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post

Prominent television personality Soy Sopheap was summoned to Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday to clarify defamation accusations alleged by Son Soubert, a political analyst and former member of the Constitutional Council.

Ek Chheng Huot, deputy prosecutor at the Municipal Court, said yesterday that Soy Sopheap, director of Deum Ampil News and a presenter for Bayon TV, faced a complaint by Son Soubert on February 4 over accusations of defamation stemming from comments suggesting that Son Sann – Son Soubert’s father and former prime minister – sold land located near Preah Vihear temple to Thailand in the 1980s.

“Soy Sopheap was accused with defamation of Samdech Son Sann who is the father of His Excellency Son Soubert. He has already appeared in court and clarified about his accusations yesterday and I have not decided whether he will be charged or not yet,” Ek Chheng Hout said yesterday.

Soy Sopheap said in court that he was confused and had made a mistake in his political commentary regarding Son Sann and had pleaded for a pardon from Son Soubert with regard to the comments. He said he had also made a correction publicly on Bayon TV shortly after the incident.

UN-backed tribunal concludes appeal hearing for convicted Khmer Rouge figure

Source: UN News Centre

30 March 2011 – The United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia dealing with mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge three decades ago today concluded the appeal hearing for the former head of a notorious detention camp who was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity last year.

Kaing Guek Eav, whose alias is Duch, was sentenced last July to 35 years in prison by the trial chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), with a five-year reduction to remedy his illegal detention at a Cambodian military court.

The court found that Mr. Kaing not only implemented, but also actively contributed to the development of the policies of the Communist Party of Kampuchea at the S-21 camp, where numerous Cambodians were unlawfully detained, subjected to inhumane conditions and forced labour, tortured and executed in the late 1970s.

During the three-day appeal hearing held by the ECCC’s Supreme Court Chamber, Mr. Kaing and his defence team reiterated that he was neither a senior leader nor one of those most responsible for heinous crimes being prosecuted at the court, and therefore should not have been tried at the court.

Vietnam: Montagnards Harshly Persecuted

Forced Renunciation of Faith, Harassment, Violence, and Arrests

March 30, 2011

Source: Human Rights Watch

"Freedom of religion does not mean freedom for state-sanctioned religions only. Vietnam should immediately recognize independent religious groups and let them practice their beliefs." - Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director.

(Bangkok) - The Vietnamese government has intensified repression of indigenous minority Christians from the country's Central Highland provinces who are pressing for religious freedom and land rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 46-page report, "Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious Repression," details the latest government crackdowns on these indigenous peoples, known collectively as Montagnards. The report documents police sweeps to root out Montagnards in hiding. It details how the authorities have dissolved house church gatherings, orchestrated coerced renunciations of faith, and sealed off the border to prevent asylum seekers from fleeing to Cambodia.

Human Rights Watch found that special "political security" (PA43) units conduct operations with provincial police to capture, detain, and interrogate people they identify as political activists or leaders of unregistered house churches. More than 70 Montagnards have been detained or arrested in 2010 alone, and more than 250 are known to be imprisoned on national security charges.

Khmer Rouge Official’s Sentence Opposed

March 30, 2011
By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times

BANGKOK — Prosecutors and defense lawyers asked for drastic changes this week in the sentence given to the former commandant of the Khmer Rouge’s main prison.

In a three-day hearing outside Phnom Penh, prosecutors asked for a maximum sentence of life in prison. The defense asked for an acquittal that could allow release of the defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch.

He is the first Khmer Rouge official to stand trial for atrocities committed when the radical Communist regime held power in Cambodia, causing the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979. Four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders are expected to stand trial this summer.

3-year-old to get life-saving repair at Miller Children's in Long Beach

Bunlak Song (Photo: Long Beach Press Telegram)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWmv15KPQzA

03/30/2011
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

Please help Bunlak Song by donating at:
http://heartswithoutboundaries.org/

LONG BEACH - When Peter Chhun returned from Cambodia to the U.S. in early March, he knew only that he wanted to save a boy's life. The devil was in the details. As it turned out, Chhun had an angel on his shoulders.

While Chhun was talking to doctors abroad to find someone to perform life-saving heart surgery on a young impoverished Cambodian boy, Dr. David Michalik was quietly helping forge a deal much closer to home.

Barring unforeseen complications, it appears 3-year-old Bunlak Song, who suffers from a substantial ventricular septal defect, or hole in his heart, will be operated on at Miller Children's Hospital/Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.

Thoracic surgeon Daniel Bethencourt of the Bethencourt Group has agreed to perform the surgery.

Soak-nead-kam - "Tragedy": Poem in Khmer by Khmer Sachak

Akphivoat Dombang Chhok - "Electric baton development": A Poem in Khmer by Khmer Sachak

Assad Does a Mubarak Share

March 30, 2011
Dominic Waghorn
Sky News

‘Announce something, announce something’, pleaded one tweet half way through Bashar al Assad’s rambling anti climax of a speech to parliament.

This was another succinct précis: ‘Short version Bashar speech: reforms maybe. Foreign conspiracies definitely. Satellite channels are bad.’

Bashar al Assad has done a Mubarak. Instead of offering concessions to pro-democracy protestors, as was widely expected, he bottled it.

And just like the now fallen Egyptian regime he blamed recent unrest on foreign conspirators, even if he did concede that not all the protestors could be plotters.

Politiktoons No. 157: Bashar Al-Assad

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Politiktoons No. 158 - The Sildent Death

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

 

"Sangkream Ngor-ngit" a Poem in Khmer by Ung Thavary

Celebrating the Dignity, Rights, Contribution of Women

CEDAW

signed by Cambodia in 17 Oct. 1980, acceded to on 15 Oct. 1992

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination.

PART IV

Article 16

1. States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women:

(a) The same right to enter into marriage;

(b) The same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent;

(c) The same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution;

(d) The same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of their marital status, in matters relating to their children; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount;

(e) The same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights;

(f) The same rights and responsibilities with regard to guardianship, wardship, trusteeship and adoption of children, or similar institutions where these concepts exist in national legislation; in all cases the interests of the children shall be paramount;

(g) The same personal rights as husband and wife, including the right to choose a family name, a profession and an occupation;

(h) The same rights for both spouses in respect of the ownership, acquisition, management, administration, enjoyment and disposition of property, whether free of charge or for a valuable consideration.

2. The betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.

My Rights, My Responsibility (Constitution) Series

Constitution of Cambodia (Sept. 1993)

CHAPTER VII: THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Article 89

Upon the request by at least 1/10 of its members the National Assembly shall invite a high-ranking official to clarify important special issues.

Photo: new vipers discovered in Asia's rainforests

Hard to miss the bright red ruby eyes of the world's newest pitviper: Cryptelytrops rubeus. Photo: Peter Paul van Dijk.

March 30, 2011
Jeremy Hance
mongabay.com

Researchers have discovered two new species of pitviper in Southeast Asia. After collecting snakes throughout the Asian tropics—Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia—researchers were able to parse out a more complex set of species than had been recognized. One of the new vipers has been dubbed Cryptelytrops rubeus for its ruby-colored eyes.

Over 12 years of work researchers conducted genetic tests, looked at physical differences, and then geographical separations of various viper populations that were all considered big-eyed pitviper (Cryptelytrops macrops). Out of the various population two new distinct species have been described: Cryptelytrops rubeus and Cryptelytrops cardamomensis.

"They are genetically distinct at mitochondrial and multiple nuclear genetic markers, and are geographically separated, occupying different mountainous areas […] There are some superficial differences involving the color of the eye, the presence and width of lateral stripes on the head and body and so on, but they are quite subtle," co-author Anita Malhotra, a molecular ecologist at Bangor University, explained to mongabay.com.

... meanwhile in the deep jungle of Tuol Krasaing, an old one-eye viper is re-discovered. It's venom: cursing its enemies!

[Thai] Govt caught in JBC tangle

ANALYSIS: There's no light at the end of the tunnel.

31/03/2011
Nattaya Chetchotiros
Bangkok Post

It will be a long bumpy road for the government in dealing with issues surrounding the minutes of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission.

A major hurdle came yesterday when the Constitution Court threw out a petition seeking the court's ruling as to the status of the JBC minutes.

The court reasoned the petition submission was not in line with the regulations of petitioning the court to give a final ruling on a particular dispute under Sections 190 and 154 of the constitution.

The court also said more steps would have to be completed in parliament before a request for the court to give a final ruling on whether the JBC minutes could be lodged properly.

Tea Banh: Prawit will attend GBC

Tea Banh: ‘Thailand cannot be stubborn’

31/03/2011
Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post

Phnom Penh: Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh is optimistic that his Thai counterpart Prawit Wongsuwon will attend the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee meeting on April 7-8 in Bogor, Indonesia.

Gen Tea Banh yesterday quoted Gen Prawit as saying he had agreed to attend the meeting in Indonesia after they spoke over the phone recently.

Gen Tea Banh said he would leave Cambodia for Indonesia on April 6 to attend the meeting.

Dispute Over Sentence of Khmer Rouge Prison Chief

March 30, 2011
By SETH MYDANS
The New York Times

BANGKOK — Prosecutors and defense attorneys both asked for drastic changes this week in the sentence given to the former commandant of the Khmer Rouge’s main prison and torture center.

In a three-day appeal hearing outside Phnom Penh prosecutors asked for a maximum sentence of life in prison. The defense asked for an acquittal that could allow the immediate release of the defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch.

He is the first Khmer Rouge official to stand trial for atrocities committed when the radical Communist regime held power in Cambodia, causing the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979. Four senior Khmer Rouge leaders are in custody in what is known as Case Two, which court officers say is expected to start this summer.

Last July Duch was sentenced to 35 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity after an emotional and sometimes lurid trial describing the torture and killing of inmates at the Tuol Sleng prison.

SRP commemorates the 14th Anniversary of the 30 March 1997 Grenade Attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq_TdT5c0XI&feature=player_embedded

Khmer Rouge torture victims seek justice in appeal

30 March 2011
AFP

PHNOM PENH : Survivors and relatives of some of the 15,000 people who died in a Khmer Rouge prison listened as its torture chief Duch pleaded for absolution on the last day of his appeal on Wednesday.

"I still maintain my position to ask for forgiveness for the souls of the victims... and for the families of those victims to accept my apology," he told the hearing, which also saw a last attempt by those affected to win increased reparations.

Cambodia's UN-backed court sentenced Duch in July to 30 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing mass murder at the notorious prison Tuol Sleng - or S-21 - in the late 1970s.

Reading from a handwritten note, the bespectacled 68-year-old, who is seeking acquittal, told the court he only survived the brutal regime "because I respectfully and strictly followed the orders", even if at times he felt "very depressed".

Khmer Rouge jailer Duch seeks acquittal & forgiveness

30 March 2011
AFP

PHNOM PENH : Ex-Khmer Rouge cadre Duch asked for forgiveness for running a feared jail where thousands died, but maintained he was only following orders as he took the stand for a final time on Wednesday.

Cambodia's UN-backed court sentenced Duch, 68, in July to 30 years' jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people at the notorious prison Tuol Sleng - or S-21 - in the late 1970s.

Reading from a handwritten note, Duch said he only survived the brutal regime "because I respectfully and strictly followed the orders", even if at times he felt "very depressed".

Website carrying ancient Cambodian manuscripts launched

30 March 2011
By Monica Kotwani
Channel News Asia (Singapore)

Click here for www.khmermanuscripts.org

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Embassy in Cambodia, together with UNESCO, has launched a website, carrying contents of ancient Cambodian manuscripts.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Embassy has been supporting UNESCO, through a fund, for the last two years in its work to digitise the manuscripts.

The manuscripts, written on latania leaves, faced extinction in the 1990s.

They are Cambodia's only written heritage available, apart from stone inscriptions, and an information source for researchers on the country's religious and cultural practices and customs.

The website was launched on Wednesday evening at the French Cultural Centre in Phnom Penh.

Tea Banh: Prawit agrees to Indonesia GBC meeting

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon (left) and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh (Photo by Thiti Wannamontha)

30/03/2011
Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has agreed to attend the General Border Committee (GBC) meeting in Indonesia, according to Cambodia's Defence Minister Tea Banh.

Gen Tea Banh announced the agreement in an interview with the Bangkok Post in Phnom Penh on Wednesday.

Gen Prawit has repeatedly said he would not go to the GBC meeting, scheduled to be held in Bogor, Indonesia, on April 7-8. He has said the GBC should be purely bilateral and the meeting held in either Cambodia or Thailand, not in Indonesia or any other third country.

Gen Tea Banh claimed he had talked over this matter with Gen Prawit and that the Thai minister had agreed to go to the meeting in Indonesia.

[Thai] Constitution Court refuses to rule on JBC minutes

30 March 2011
The Nation

The Constitution Court Wednesday rejected a request by lawmakers to rule whether the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC)'s minutes of meeting saying it was not the stage for the court to have any injunctions on this matter.

By the consequence of the court's decision, the parliament needed to resume its consideration of the JBC's documents, according to the Parliament President Chai Chidchob. The parliament was scheduled to discuss the issue on April 5.

Cambodia's riel survives alongside the dollar

People use the Cambodian currency for anything less than a dollar

30 March 2011
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

In Cambodia, money talks as loudly as it does anywhere else in the world - but at least it never burns a hole in your pocket.

That's because there aren't any coins. You can't talk about coppers or nickels in Cambodian riel. The national bank gave up striking anything metallic more than a decade ago.

Instead there's a lot of paper. Right down to the seldom-seen 50 riel note. That's worth all of a cent and a quarter - and it's regarded with about as much affection as the pitifully lightweight one yen coin in Japan.

So wallets, billfolds and purses bulge with dozens of notes - ranging from the crisply-minted to the well-used and filthy. But to many people, the riel is simply small change.

Distressed maid set to return

Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Mom Kunthear and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

A woman who reportedly said she was being tortured and forcibly detained by her employer in Kuala Lumpur during a phone call has been located and will be sent back to Cambodia next week, officials from the Malaysian embassy said yesterday.

Kampuchea Thmey newspaper reported on March 18 that the woman had made a random call to a university student in Phnom Penh pleading her to ask the Cambodian government to help her escape from her employer.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Malaysian embassy said they had taken swift action to locate the woman and had sent officials in Malaysia to her residence to provide essential assistance.

“The embassy contacted the woman through the phone number posted in the paper and talked to a woman who expressed that [she was] abused and suffered,” the statement said.

Thai investors 'welcome in Cambodia' [-The smell of money is irresistible to the CPP?]

30/03/2011
Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post

Despite the long-standing border conflict between the two countries, the Phnom Penh government insists Thai investors are welcome in Cambodia.

Thai investors, too, are confident the tense border conflict will not affect their investment plans.

Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said Thai investors are eligible for tax privileges and Thai products imported by them are exempted from taxation for a period of three to eight years.

Mr Thong Khon was full of praise for such Thai businessman as Supachai Verapuchong, managing director of the Sofitel Phnom Penh Pookeerhra Hotel, for his continued investment in Cambodia even though the hotel, formerly known as the Royal Phnom Penh, was severely damaged in an anti-Thai rioting in Phnom Penh in December 2006.

Tea Banh: Prawit agrees on Indo GBC

30/03/2011
Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has agreed to attend the General Border Committee (GBC) meeting in Indonesia on April 7-8, Gen Tea Banh said.

The Cambodian defence minister said this in Phnom Penh in an interview with Bangkok Post on Tuesday.

Gen Prawit had repeatedly said he would not go to the GBC meeting, scheduled to be held in Bogor, Indonesia, on April 7-8. He said the GBC should be held in either Cambodia or Thailand, not in Indonesia or any other third countries.

Gen Tea Banh claimed he had talked over this matter with Gen Prawit and that the Thai counterpart agreed to go to the Indonesia meeting.

CCHR calls for clarificat​ion of legal basis for government refusal to restore Mu Sochua’s parliament​ary immunity (in Khmer)

Click on the statement in Khmer to zoom in

"Peal neung Pandit" a Poem in Khmer by NhiekKiri

Victims of KRouge torture prison seek justice in appeal

PHNOM PENH, March 30, 2011 (AFP) - Survivors and relatives of some of the 15,000 people who died in a Khmer Rouge prison run by torture chief Duch made a final call for more reparations as his appeal case drew to a close Wednesday.

Cambodia's UN-backed court sentenced Duch, 68, in July to 30 years in jail for war crimes and crimes against humanity for overseeing mass murder at the notorious prison Tuol Sleng -- or S-21 -- in the late 1970s.

The only reparations the court awarded the victims, known as the civil parties, was to include their names in the judgment and agree to publish Duch's apologies.

Financial compensation for victims is not an option but their lawyers on Wednesday called for other forms of collective and moral redress, such as memorials or free psychological support.

Risks, Rewards as Economic Corridor Develops

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Kampong Thom, Cambodia Tuesday, 29 March 2011

“The people here want a good road because it can bring in more tourists.”

Cambodia is building up its rural infrastructure in an effort to link itself to its neighbors, under an “economic corridor” project aided by the Asian Development Bank.

Proponents of the southern economic corridor, part of the Greater Mekong Subregion project, say it will bring benefits to villagers like those in Kampong Thom district’s Sambo Prey Kuk temple, in Prasat Sambo district.

Here, a bumpy dirty road connecting the temple to the main provincial town was recently improved.

“When the road was rough, not many people came,” said Kong Sophy, who owns a restaurant near the ancient temple, where buses of tourists now visit. “But now that the road is good, more visitors are coming. So I do well in sales.”

North Korean Military Makes Rare Visit

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Tuesday, 29 March 2011

"Pak Jae-gyong, vice minister of North Korea’s armed forces, led nine other senior officials in meetings with defense officials, the prime minister, the king and others."

A North Korean delegation of military officials are meeting with their Cambodian counterparts in Phnom Penh this week, officials said Tuesday.

Pak Jae-gyong, vice minister of North Korea’s armed forces, led nine other senior officials in meetings with defense officials, the prime minister, the king and others, said Chhum Socheath, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

This is only the second such high military delegation from North Korea since 1995, he said.

Monk flees pagoda over fears of arrest

The venerable monk Loun Souvath sits with residents of the Boeung Kak lake area during a demonstration outside City Hall earlier this month in Phnom Penh. Loun Souvath has been forced into hiding. (Photo by: Will Baxter)

Tuesday, 29 March 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

A monk at Wat Ounalom in Phnom Penh on Monday fled the pagoda out of fear of arrest by authorities for his participation in protests held by Boeung Kak lakeside residents and villagers embroiled in a land dispute in Chi Kraeng commune.

The venerable Luon Savath, ordained in 1990, went into hiding after returning from a protest in front of City Hall at the weekend, he said yesterday, adding that police have threatened him with arrest on four previous occasions over his involvement in protests.

“The authorities have not only warned me that they would arrest me, but have tried to get me defrocked by calling me a fake monk who violates Buddhist rules of conduct,” he said.

CCHR calls for clarificat​ion of legal basis for government refusal to restore Mu Sochua’s parliament​ary immunity

CCHR PRESS RELEASE, Phnom Penh - 30 March 2011

CCHR calls for clarification of legal basis for government refusal to restore Mu Sochua’s parliamentary immunity

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) calls on the government to clarify the legal basis for its refusal to restore Mu Sochua’s parliamentary immunity. In the opinion of CCHR, there is no legal justification for the government’s position with regard to the parliamentary immunity of Mu Sochua. In the absence of clear provisions expressly allowing for the refusal to restore parliamentary immunity to a member of the National Assembly who has been convicted of a crime but not sentenced to a term of imprisonment, CCHR calls on the government to restore Mu Sochua’s immunity with immediate effect.

Mu Sochua was stripped of her parliamentary immunity on 22 June 2009 thus clearing the way for defamation charges to be leveled against her by Prime Minister Hun Sen. She was convicted of defamation by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 4 August 2009 and sentenced to pay a fine and compensation of 16.5 million riel ($4,4084US), a verdict that was upheld by the Appeal Court on 28 October 2009 and the Supreme Court on 2 June 2010. The fine and compensation was docked from Mu Sochua’s National Assembly wages and paid in full by November 2010. Cheam Yeap, a senior lawmaker for the Cambodian People’s Party, has stated that Mu Sochua’ s immunity would be restored in November 2011, a year after completion of her punishment.

Article 14 of the Law on the Status of Members of the National Assembly provides that a National Assembly member who is convicted of a crime and sentenced to a jail term loses his/her membership of the National Assembly and the rights and privileges that go with membership, while Article 16 provides for the automatic restoration of immunity and privileges to a National Assembly member who is acquitted. Article 15 provides that a convicted person has his/her parliamentary immunity restored upon pardon by His Majesty the King. The case of Mu Sochua therefore falls into a lacuna as the law is silent on cases where the National Assembly member is neither acquitted nor convicted to serve a jail term but is convicted and sentenced to pay a fine and not pardoned by His Majesty the King.