Khieu Kanharith blasts Joel Brinkley’s article on corruption in Cambodia

An indignant Khieu Kanharith blasted Joel Brinkley's article on corruption in Cambodia (Photo: Chantha, Koh Santepheap)

Click here to read Joel Brinkley's excellent article
which hits the CPP where it hurts them the most

24 August 2008
By L.D. and A.L.G.
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the original article in French

Khieu Kanharith, the government spokesman, called for a press conference in the morning of Sunday 24 August to protest against an article on corruption in Cambodia written by a US reporter.

Khieu Kanharith, the minister of Information and government spokesman, accused Joel Brinkley, a Pulitzer prize author, of being “biased” in his article titled: “The world leader in corruption is – Cambodia” published by the “Modesto Bee” in California on 21 August.

“Joel Brinkley came to visit me on 14 August to tell me that he wished to write articles on education, the economy, land dispute problems, and the government political vision,” Khieu Kanharith said. “I proposed to him to put him in contact with Say Chhum, the CPP secretary-general, with Im Chhunlim, the minister of Land Management, with Im Sothy, the state secretary of Education, with Chum Bunrong, the spokesman for the National Authority for Resolution of Land Disputes, and with Phay Siphan, the spokesman of the Council of Ministers.”

“Joel Brinkley told me that he was Pulitzer prize winner, and that he wished to meet high-ranking VIPs,” Khieu Kanharith claimed. “He considered me as an assistant (level official).”

The article – which was posted on KI-Media, a website close to the SRP [KI-Media note: KI-Media is not affiliated with the SRP]– cited the “Phnom Penh Post” article about the accident involving Hun Chea, Hun Sen’s nephew, in which a motorcycle driver was killed.

According to the “Phnom Penh Post,” the victim’s family would have received $4,000 in exchange for their silence, and the military police supported Hun Chea’s version.

Joel Brinkley’s article also cited Joseph Mussomeli, the US Ambassador to Cambodia, as saying "This goes to the whole culture of impunity here. Who you are, who you know, is more important than following the law.”

Joel Brinkley, who received the Pulitzer prize for reporting overseas in 1980 and publishing several articles on Cambodia, wrote “I have worked in many corrupt states - Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, among others. But in none of them is the corruption so pervasive, even pandemic.”

During the press conference, Khieu Kanharith rejected the information published by the Phnom Penh Post and he indicated that the accident involving Hun Sen’s nephew was “a private affair.”

When asked whether he would ask for an entry ban to Cambodia for Joel Brinkley, Khieu Kanharith answered: “the journalist could return to Cambodia whenever he wishes.”

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Hun's Law

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

JOEL BRINKLEY: The world leader in corruption is - Cambodia

The Cambodian godfather (center) and his family

August 21, 2008
Joel Brinkley
Modesto Bee (California USA)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Hun Chea, a nephew of Cambodia's prime minster, was speeding along a busy downtown street a few days ago when he ran down a man on a motorbike.

Phnom Penh's streets are teeming with motorbikes, hundreds of them, criss-crossing busy traffic without seeming to look or care where they are going. Collisions are inevitable. But that's not the point of this story.

Hun was tearing down the street at high speed when he hit the biker, witnesses reported, and his car ripped off an arm and a leg. The biker, Sam Sabo, was killed. Hun began to drive off, but running over the motorbike had shredded a tire. He had to pull over, so there he sat in his big black Cadillac Escalade SUV.

Now, listen to how the Phnom Penh Post newspaper described the events that followed.

"Numerous traffic police were seen avoiding the accident scene, but armed military police arrived. They removed the SUV's license plates and comforted Hun Chea" while Sam Sabo lay bleeding to death in the street. A military policeman was overheard telling Hun: "'Don't worry. It wasn't your mistake. It was the motorbike driver's mistake.'" A few days later, Hun gave the dead man's family $4,000 in hush money, the paper reported. Case closed.

It's no secret that Cambodia is thoroughly corrupt. As an indirect result, the rich and the powerful can commit, well, murder and face few if any repercussions.

A primary rule of foreign correspondence is to avoid applying the values of your own country on the nation you are covering. But then, some events appear so outrageous that the rule does not apply. Police actually removed the car's license plates, to conceal the driver's identity? So I asked Khieu Kanarith, Cambodia's information minister, about the case. He fumbled about for a moment and then explained, "I understand he had his wife in the car, and I don't think he was paying attention to what he was doing." OK, but the police removed the license plates? Khieu had to think about that for a moment but finally managed to say, "You try to cover the plates because it's harder to sell a car if it's been in an accident." As a reporter, sometimes it's hard to keep a straight face. But then, being Cambodia's information minister is a tough job.

Later I asked Joseph Mussomeli, the U.S. ambassador, about this, and he shook his head.

"This goes to the whole culture of impunity here. Who you are, who you know, is more important than following the law. And the police are too intimidated, too deferential, to the wealthy and powerful." Why else would the traffic police assertively avoid the scene of the accident, even with a dying man lying in the street? They knew full well that the owner of a Cadillac Escalade SUV in this exceedingly poor country is quite likely to be well connected.

Impunity is a word that comes up over and over in Cambodia. Last month, two men speeding by on a motorbike shot and killed Khim Sambor and his 21-year-old son as they walked down the street. Khim was a reporter for Khmer Conscience, an opposition newspaper, and not surprisingly the paper had been writing critically about the government.

No one has been arrested. That is true for dozens of apparent contract killings in recent years just like that one. No one has proved that government officials are behind them. But then, why else would the police make no effort to solve any of these crimes? Cambodia has come a long way in the last several years. Phnom Penh is teeming with tourists. The economy is growing. The nation has been stable for more than a decade now, which is no small accomplishment.

Over the years, I have worked in many corrupt states - Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, among others. But in none of them is the corruption so pervasive, even pandemic. Prime Minister Hun Sen just won re-election to a new five-year term. For a decade, the United States and many other countries have been pressing him to pass a comprehensive anti-corruption law. Hun continually promises but never delivers.

Cambodians deserve better. If Cambodia hopes to join the ranks of the world's prosperous and respected nations, it must enact - and enforce - an anti-corruption law. With that, in time, the shiny mantle of impunity resting softly on the shoulders of the rich and well-connected will begin to fall away.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Joel Brinkley is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now a professor of journalism at Stanford University. Readers may send him e-mail at: brinkley@foreign-matters.com