New Vietnam-Cambodia border landmarks inaugurated [-Soon you will find these border posts in front of Hun Sen's fortress in Tuol Krasaing!]

12/26/2009
VOV News (Hanoi)

A new pair of national landmarks on the common borderline of Vietnam and Cambodia were inaugurated at the Dinh Ba international border gate in Tan Hong district of the southern province of Dong Thap on December 25.

The new landmarks, No. 232, are the first of 10 pairs to be planted along the borderline between Dong Thap province and its Cambodian neighbouring province of Pray Veng.

The landmark planting is conducted in line with the Vietnam-Cambodia 2005 Treaty.

Son Chhay’s interview on border issues

SRP MP Son Chhay

24 December 2009
By Kim Pov
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

On 24 December, government officials provided clarifications on the installation of border posts, as requested by SRP MP Son Chhay.

In regards to these clarification, MP Son Chhay sent numerous questions to his invitation in order to avoid indirect answers from the government and also to prevent concerns that there is not enough time to answer.

Son Chhay also asked government officials to watch a testimonial video and look at numerous other proofs that he sent along with his invitation, that are related to the planting of border posts. Son Chhay asked the government to clearly show the locations where it claimed that Cambodia gains territories over Vietnam.

Click on the link below to listen to Mrs. Kim Pov’s interview with SRP MP Son Chhay.

Click here to listen to Part 1 of the Interview
Click here to listen to Part 2 of the Interview

Yuon puppet regime order to investigate and detain Sam Rainsy; Charges against Sam Rainsy

Click on the order in Khmer to zoom in

Sam Rainsy's message to the Cambodian People in Khmer (Updated)

Click here to read the message in a better resolution

Click on the message to zoom in

Viet gov’t condemns Sam Rainsy about border posts

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (Photo: Ayuthyea, RFA)

01 November 2009
By Mao Sotheany
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The Vietnamese government condemned opposition leader Sam Rainsy for pulling out wooden posts along the border on Sunday of last week.

The AFP reported on 31 October that, in the evening of 30 October 2009, the Viet ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on its website a condemnation of the action taken by Sam Rainsy as being “a perverse action, damaging common property, violating both countries’ laws, and bilateral treaties and agreements.”

The Viet statement criticized Sam Rainsy of slandering Vietnam by accusing the latter of planting posts and violating Cambodian territories.

On Sunday 25 October 2009, the SRP led a Kathen procession to a pagoda located in Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province. Mr. Sam Rainsy and about 10 SRP MPs, as well as about 100 local villagers were present during the ceremony.

RFA could not obtain Mr. Sam Rainsy’s reaction regarding the Viet government accusation leveled against him above as Mr. Sam Rainsy is currently participating in a conference in Egypt.

RFA was able to contact SRP MP Yont Tharo and asked him to clarify this situation as he was also present in the Kathen ceremony.

Yony Tharo said: “The villagers complained to the MPs, including myself, about the planting of border posts. Vietnam planted them on their lands, in the past, the border was located away from their lands, but now it includes their lands. Some villagers lost 1.5 hectares, some more than 2 hectares, that’s what they complained. At that time, after Mr. Sam Rainsy led the Kathen procession to the pagoda and he turned over the Kathen to the monks, about 100 villagers traveled with Mr. Sam Rainsy, among these people there were also border police officers who protected the pagoda. I am not sure if these police officers at the Kathen ceremony were protecting the border or they were protecting local order, I did not know, [but] there were 7-8 of them. When we went there, we saw the villagers’ rice fields measuring about 200-meter wide … one side of the field is on the other side of the Vietnamese border just like what they told us earlier, so now they took 2-hectare of their lands, that I witnessed it. On the scene, the border post was planted right in the middle of the rice field, it’s about 1-meter-square, the center is poured in concrete, but the concrete is poured into the soil… around the concrete border footing, there were 6 wooden posts. Mr. Sam Rainsy said that he will pull out these border posts, it was his idea, and he will take responsibility for them. He was just saying it but he did not pull them out yet when the villagers started to pull them out, all 6 of them.”

Mao Sotheany: What I wanted to ask your Excellency is regarding the declaration issued by the Vietnamese ministry of Foreign Affairs that was published last Friday evening. They condemned Mr. Sam Rainsy of disrupting the relationship between the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments and such, in this case, what do you think?

Yont Tharo: To me, what the Vietnamese government raised depends on the reality, so we want to see the fact, let’s all go visit together: the border committee and the villagers. If I did not see the place, I wouldn’t know, but the villagers are witnesses, they pointed to us the rice fields they are planting crops on … it’s 200 meter, but now they took 2-3 meters wide and 100 meter long, it’s equivalent to 2 hectares of their lands. This is what I saw, there was indeed encroachment of Khmer lands, that I saw.”

Mao Sotheany: When you and Mr. Sam Rainys went to the border, along with about 100 villagers, did you confirm with the local authorities, such as the commune and district authorities, that they recognize the fact that Vietnam planted border posts inside Cambodian territories or not?

Yont Tharo: I did not ask the local authority, because we are not involved in the border demarcation, during that time we went there for the Kathen ceremony. The villagers complained, they yelled and cried about the loss of their rice fields, that was why Mr. Sam Rainsy went to see the actual situation, just like what I told you earlier. The villagers were victimized. Older villages are located far from the border, so we have difficulties asking the authority, furthermore, these are only wooden stakes, but the real post, it is still there. We saw that Cambodians are not happy about the border post being planted by encroaching on Khmer territories. The actual border post with a [concrete] footing is still in the ground, it did not disappear.

Cambodia and Vietnam started to officially plant border posts along their 1,270-km common border in September 2006. The demarcation was done to end the several decade-long border dispute between the two countries.

The land thieves [Vietnam] are angry because they are caught by Sam Rainsy

Anger over Vietnam/Cambodia border action

Sat, 31 Oct 2009
ABC Australia Network News

Vietnam has condemned Cambodia's opposition leader for uprooting posts marking the border between the two countries, asking Phnom Penh to protect the nations' sensitive demarcation process.

Sam Rainsy has reportedly removed six markers at the Vietnam border in Cambodia's southeastern Svay Rieng province, alleging they'd been illegally placed by Vietnamese authorities.

Vietnam's foreign ministry has called the opposition leader's act perverse - undermining common assets, violating laws of Cambodia and Vietnam, treaties, agreements and deals between the two countries.

Cambodia and Vietnam officially began demarcating their contentious border in September 2006, in a bid to end decades of territorial disputes.

Sam Rainsy led villagers to pull out border posts … Hun Xen’s gov’t accused him of violating and destroying public property

Sam Rainsy and the villagers are pulling out the border markes planted on their rice fields

27 October 2009
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

On 25 October 2009, Sam Rainsy led several dozens of villagers to the border with Vietnam in Svay Rieng province, and the group pulled out wooden border post markers that were installed there.

The location where the villagers informed Sam Rainsy that Vietnam planted border posts in violation of rice land fields belonging to Cambodian villagers, and the location where these border posts were pulled out are in Koh Kban Kandal village, Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province. Sam Rainsy also led a Kathen procession to Wat Ang Romdenh Pagoda located in this village on that same day.

On 26 October, during his meeting with a group of reporters at the SRP party headquarters, Sam Rainsy indicated that, during his meeting with border villagers, the issue of the expropriation of Cambodian-owned rice field lands by the Yuon (Viet) authority was raised. A few months earlier, the Yuon and Khmer authorities came to take measurements and survey the land, then they planted the border posts in the rice fields belonging to Cambodian farmers. Some of the villagers indicated that the border markers were set between 100 and 300-meter into their fields. Furthermore, 2-hectare of lands were set aside as a “white zone” [No man’s land] and rice plantation is not allowed anymore.

Sam Rainsy added that these wooden border posts were installed there to test the feelings of the Cambodian people to see if they are willing to protest or not. “Therefore, we protest and we pulled them out,” Sam Rainsy said. He also indicated that he wanted to see these Viets to be mindful so that they do not come into Cambodian territories so easily.

Regarding the loss of rice field lands to Vietnam, Sam Rainsy added that some of the villagers lost large chunks of their rice fields as Vietnam continue to move the borders into the Cambodian territories. Furthermore, several Cambodian villages and pagodas were absorbed into the Vietnamese territories, and even Samdach Heng Samrin, the CPP honorary president and president of the National Assembly, told the NA that in Kak commune, Ponhea Krek district, Kampong Cham province, the Vietnamese border has been pushed all the way to the staircase of his home there.

However, Svar Kim Hong, the chairman of the government border committee, indicated that Sam Rainsy’s action is a violation of the government’s work in the border delimitation with Vietnam, and he also accused Sam Rainsy of destroying public property.

Svar Kim Hong indicated that Sam Rainsy led a force to violate the work accomplished by the border committee to install border post No. 185 located in Samrong commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province. He said that this is a violation of public property consisting of the border post between Cambodia and Vietnam.

Svar Kim Hong, who leads the border marker installation work, accused Sam Rainsy of using political propaganda without knowing the technique to delimitate the border. Svar Kim Hong said that, prior to the installation of the permanent border marker, these [temporary] posts are installed all over the place to test the region where there are disputes.

The Cambodian and Vietnamese governments agreed to install 370 border markers made out of granitic rock [produced by Vietnam] along their 1,270-km common border. Among these border markers, seven are located at border crossing gates.

On 27 September 2007, the border marker located at the Bavet-Moc Bai international crossing gate in Svay Rieng province was inaugurated by Hun Xen and his Viet counterpart. That was the initiation of the border demarcation between the two countries, using markers made out of granitic rock costing $15 million and paid for by Vietnam.

Cambodian villager from Svay Rieng seriously injured by Vietnamese beating [-Viet troops trespass into Cambodia?]

10 October 2009
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

A Cambodian villager from Daung village, Daung commune, Romeas Hek district, Svay Rieng province, was seriously injured after he was beaten up and stabbed with a harpoon by Viets who were under the protection of a group of 7 Vietnamese soldiers on Thursday 08 October. The incident stemmed from a dispute in the village.

44-year-old Phan Chhean, who is a neighbor of the victim, told RFA over the phone that Prum Teung, a Cambodian citizen sustained serious injuries from beatings on the head with sticks and stabbing on his leg because he prevented several Viets from chasing and beating up a 12-year-old Cambodian kid. The Viets accused the child of stealing sugar canes from a Vietnamese family in the village.

Phan Chhean added that during the beating and stabbing of the Cambodian citizen, 7 armed Viet soldiers came to protect the Viet family that beat up Prum Teung, the Cambodian villager.

Phan Chhean said: “Right now, [Prum Teung] is still under care at his home. They beat him with a stick. The Viets beat him up, they are farmers, but the [Viet] soldiers were armed, it’s like they were joining force together. [Prum Teung] was seriously injured, he was stabbed with a steel harpoon that is about half-meter long. His lower leg was pierced from side to side. The villagers went to report the incident to the police. He would have been dead if we didn’t come to his rescue on time. The victim asked that the authorities involved help him find justice and resolve this issue for him according to the law, because in the past, several incidents took place along the border here.”

Nea Sam Mean, the Daung commune chief, indicated that he is resolving this case. He said: “I did not go [to the incident spot]. This morning, I sent over a commune councilor along with a border post officer. I did not meet with my commune councilor yet, I did not receive the information yet.”

Sok Serey: Are you taking care of this case?

Nea Sam Mean: Yes, they went to resolve this issue at the An Gioi (?) commune office.

Regarding the various disputes between Cambodian citizens and the Viets along the Cambodian-Viet border in Svay Rieng province, Nget Nara, a facilitator for the Adhoc human rights group for the province of Svay Rieng, said that Cambodian citizens are usually victimized by the aggressions.

Nget Nara said: “Along the border, the [Cambodian] villager usually tends his buffaloes and such. When the [Viets] gave him a hard time, and they even stabbed him and injured him, and the uniform [Viet] soldiers who were protecting their countries [Vietnam], instead they came to point their guns and threatened [the Cambodian villager], I believe that this is a serious violation of human rights, and I call on all the authorities to find the culprits and bring them to face justice.”

The Viet authority could not be reached and neither does the Viet embassy on Cambodia to clarify about the use of violence against a Cambodian citizen.

In the past, Cambodian people living a long the border with Vietnam have leveled accusations against land disputes, grazing field for cattle, as well as the buying at cheap price of Cambodian produce.

Hun Sen's Diversion tactics

02 October 2009
Op-Ed by Ly Diep
Angkor Borey –Khmer voice overseas
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Recently, Hun Sen and his government are playing a game to divert the national and international opinion away from problems that he and his government are facing. These major problems are: (1) the KR Tribunal wants to bring charges on additional KR leaders for their crimes against humanity, and (2) the border issue with Yuon (Vietnam), in particular the conclusion of the “Supplemental border treaty” in order to avoid the annulment of former illegal treaties concluded by the Heng Samrin-Hun Sen regime when Cambodia was still under the colonial boots of the Yuon (these include the 1979, 1982, 1983 and 1985 treaties concluded with Vietnam). In fact, the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia gave the ability to Cambodia to annul all the past illegal treaties that led to the loss of Cambodia’s independence, sovereignty and national integrity.

1- Diversion from charges on additional KR leaders

To divert the attention from this issue, Hun Sen, who was himself the biggest former KR leader governing the eastern shores of the Mekong River – a region that also suffered the most savage killings under the KR regime – (based on Hun Sen’s personal boasting when he was deriding Pen Sovann, the former PM of the State of Kampuchea, broadcasted by RFA on 23 December 2008, stating that there were no KR army leaders that was more senior than him along the eastern shores of the Mekong River in 1977), and his government, which is filled with numerous KR killing leaders, are using the political influence of the ruling party, i.e. the CPP, to put pressure on the hybrid (Cambodian and UN) tribunal in order to prevent that additional KR leaders be brought in beyond the five leaders who are currently being detained. If the tribunal would actually charge additional KR leaders, this could affect him personally, as well as his former comrades (such as Heng Samrin, Chea Sim, Keat Chhon, Hor Nam Hong etc…) and also King Sihanouk.

First, Hun Sen chased away from the tribunal the International co-prosecutor (Mr. Robert Petit), who was the first instigator to bring charges on additional KR leaders (we would like to stress that the majority of the Cambodian employees at the KR Tribunal were hand-picked by Sok An or they are Sok An’s relatives). Later on, Hun Sen silenced the opposition, including a group of opposition leaders and anti-government newspapers, by accusing them of defamation and disinformation.

Furthermore, Hun Sen issued his intimidation, claiming that if the tribunal dares to charge more than five KR leaders, Cambodia will face war and that up to 200,000 to 300,000 Cambodians could lose their life. We are asking: How could Hun Sen know about this war issue before hand? If he knows about it before hand, why didn’t he take the appropriate measures to destroy these [rebellious] KR leaders in order to prevent them to re-ignite the war again? If this is a major issue, why didn’t Hun Sen and his government present this issue to the UN, which is the partner for the tribunal, to help resolve this issue? We believe that they (UN) could find out how many KR followers still remain … where do they live and what is the strength of their force? We also believe that our Cambodian compatriots, who are also all victims of the KR regime, will surely cooperate with the UN force in this search, as well as preventing all these things from happening, they will do all they can so that this tribunal if truly just and fair. Therefore, is this a diversion tactics used by Hun Sen and his government or not?

Regarding [Hun Sen’s] prayer to see the defeat of the tribunal: isn’t it because of Hun Sen’s concerns about facing his past crimes? Only the criminals and the suspects can panic like this, and even seeing the shadow of a crow flying over the puss on top of their back is a cause of alarm (!!)

In order to avoid being taken “hostage” by Hun Sen and his government, and in particular, in order to avoid having Hun Sen and his government being concerned about the lack of money to provide to the court, we propose that this tribunal be moved out of Cambodia and that it will be completely placed under the sole responsibility of the UN.

2- Diversion from the Cambodian-Yuon border problems

The Preah Vihear border dispute with Thailand is a small issue only. Actually, Hun Sen and his government are making a big fuss out of the Preah Vihear dispute to divert the attention away from the Cambodian-Yuon border problems. If the Preah Vihear dispute grows, the eastern border problem would also shrink or it could even disappear completely.

Let’s take a look … when Hun Sen and his government stir up noises about problems along the western side of the country, the eastern borders are being quietly moved further into [Cambodian territories] and illegal Vietnamese immigrants are flowing into Cambodia nonstop day and night. At the same time, we also observe a number of Cambodian-Yuon cooperation is quickly taking place, in particular in the economic developments in which the Yuons have the largest shares. Other cooperation is merely a subterfuge to hide deeper Yuon’s involvements in Cambodia internal affairs. We can see the Yuons flattering the Cambodian and the army leaders by providing them with huge theatrical diplomas that are valueless. We can also see the Yuons sending in delegations to Cambodia to express their tens of thousands years old friendship. In turn, Hun Sen is also sending his delegations to Vietnam also, and Hun Sen’s delegation even show up their face to the Khmer Kampuchea Krom people to soothe them to abandon the idea of demanding secession from Vietnam (we note that KKF leaders are falling into this political trap. Why would the KKF leaders laud Khieu Kanharith for joining the Pchum Ben festival celebration once at a Kampuchea Krom pagoda? Do they hope that Hun Sen’s government – a puppet government of the Yuon that relies on the Yuon feces – can help them with the Yuon human rights violations in Kampuchea Krom?). Furthermore, the Yuon threw in some minor humanitarian aids to Cambodia, such as a drug rehabilitation center, etc… just to show that they are paying somewhat attention to the Cambodians also.

Hun Sen and his government have no intention of resolving the border dispute with the Siems in Preah Vihear. If they really want to resolve this issue, because Cambodia and Thailand are both members of the UN, Hun Sen and his government should have raised the Preah vihear issue with the UN and ask for a resolution there. To the contrary, Hun Sen turned to use a “thuggish language” as a puppet that he is, while hiding behind his Yuon masters, just like a dog that struts around because of its master.

We are asking: If Cambodia has the advantage in the Preah Vihear issue already, based on the decision handed over by The Hague International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, why Cambodia does not bring up this issue to the ICJ again?

Hun Sen and his government did not choose this legal path because his Yuon masters do not allow him: if he were to take this path for the western borders, this issue will also affect the eastern borders as well, in particular at a time when the Yuons are successfully expanding their territories into Cambodia under the pretext of the Development Triangle and the flow of Yuon immigrants to live in Cambodia.

The demand for a review of the 1962 ICJ decision will surely lead to a review of the 1991 Paris Peace Agreements on Cambodia also.

The 1991 Paris Peace Agreements provided the respect of Cambodia’s independence, sovereignty and national integrity. The signatory countries of these agreements also included both the Siem and the Yuon. In particular, these agreements gave Cambodia the ability to annul all past illegal treaties concluded with her neighbors that affected Cambodia’s independence, sovereignty and national integrity. Hun Sen and his government did not use these agreements as stepping stones to protect Cambodia’s interests, quite to the contrary, Hun Sen went on to conclude a “Supplemental border treaty” to protect the Yuon interests. He does not dare oppose the Yuon interest because that could affect his personal interest, the interest of his gang, as well as the interest of the king. Simply put, the Yuons have the ability to remove any of the above out just like they pull weeds out of the ground.

This is the tragedy that Cambodians have to face with due to such inept leaders and king.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Bonn Kathen SRP

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

Yuon prevent Khmer pagoda from building a fence, why is Hun Sen quiet about his master's encroachment on Cambodia?

Vietnam bans Cambodians from building a pagoda fence next to the border in Memot

22 Oct 2008
By Zakaria
Radio Free Asia
Translated by Socheata
Click here to read the original article in Khmer

The Yuon border authority prevented the construction of a fence for a Cambodian pagoda located next to the Khmer-Yuon border, in Boeng Chrong pass, Choam commune, Memot District, Kampong Cham. The Yuon claimed that this area is a white zone (disputed zone, i.e. no man’s land).

Pim Khen, a member of the pagoda committee, told RFA on Wednesday 22 October that Wat Kirichey pagoda was built since very long ago, and the pagoda is located next the Cambodian-Vietnamese border. The pagoda occupies a more than one-hectare land with a fence in the front and the two sides, only the back of the pagoda is not fenced yet, so the pagoda committee decided to build this 100-meter long fence. However, the Yuon authority prevented it from happening.

Pim Khen said: “We planned to build the fence. This is not for building a border, we only want to build a fence to protect the vegetables grown by the monks, but now the Yuon told us to stop and not to do anything.”

He added that the Yuon prevention took place on 07 October when Sun, the Yuon deputy director of the border post, came to Cambodia and prevented the pagoda committee from continuing to build the fence.

Sim Ravy, the director of the Cambodian border post, said that after the Yuon border authority prevented the construction of the pagoda fence, he went to meet the Yuon side and he was told by the Yuon that the pagoda is located on the white zone, therefore both sides cannot build anything there, and the pagoda has to wait until the border committee install border markers first.

Sim Ravy: “This area, when we look at it, it looks like out lands, but the two governments (Hun Sen’s and the Yuon’s governments) concluded a convention that impose a wait until 2008 when the border makers will be installed.”

Prak Vanny, Choam commune chief, said that the construction of the fence was done according to the old pagoda fence which was made out of wood, and it was destroyed. He said that the Yuon authority should not prevent this construction: “Since I was born, the pagoda was always there, my father said the same thing (during his time), and these are Khmer territories since ever.”

The fund for building the pagoda fence came from contributions from the villagers. The construction of the fence has been delayed until the border markers between the two countries can be agreed upon along this border zone. However, Cambodian villagers still want to build this fence, they claimed that the land belonged to the pagoda since ever.

Cambodia shares a 1,228-km-long border with Srok Yuon. The dispute along the border have taken place one location after another, however, the two countries plan to finish the installation of border markers before December 2008.