Khmer Intelligence News - 29 October 2009

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS

29 October 2009

Government reduces soldiers and policemen’ bonuses (1)

Because of a fall in state revenue due to the economic recession the government is reducing bonuses usually paid to some 200,000 soldiers and policemen. The government normally pays the armed forces “basic salaries” and “bonuses for function fulfillment” on a monthly basis. Bonuses, which had been markedly increased in 2008, can be much higher than salaries. They are now being reduced by 30 percent to 50 percent.

Government withholds councilors’ salaries (1)

Over 3,000 district, provincial and municipal councilors elected last May have yet to receive their salaries. The government has been withholding their salaries for five months allegedly because of “administrative problems” and “budget constraints”. But in fact, the government also wants to slow down the decentralization process whereby the ruling CPP would have to share some power at the local level with the opposition SRP which controls approximately 20 percent of the commune, district, provincial and municipal councilors.

Canadia Bank now controlled by Hun Sen’s family (2)

Partly as a result of bad loans linked to the collapsing property sector, Canadia Bank, Cambodia’s largest commercial bank, has recently come under the control of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s family (wife and children). The information is not made public because of concerns about corruption probe and Canadia Bank is involved in several cases of land grabbing.

The Hun Sen family has also taken control of several large development projects abandoned by South Korean firms, such as the 42-storey Gold Tower.

Hun Sen’s brother Hun Neng to be appointed Phnom Penh governor (2)

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s elder brother Hun Neng, currently Kampong Cham province governor, will soon be appointed Phnom Penh governor, replacing Mr. Kep Chuptema.

Foreclosures expected by the end of the year (2)

The government finds it more and more difficult to prevent several nearly bankrupt commercial banks ridden with property-linked bad loans (Canadia Bank, Foreign Trade Bank) from conducting foreclosures. A large number of properties will be seized by the end of the year from the banks’ defaulting clients and sold at auction. Observers expect a further drop in property prices in the next few months.

Sam Rainsy in Cairo (1)

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is currently in Cairo to attend the 56th Congress of Liberal International (LI). The SRP is a member of the center-oriented LI, the world’s third largest international political grouping behind those formed by the Conservative and the Socialist. Sam Rainsy who had received the prestigious LI Freedom Award in 2006 in Marrakech (Morocco), will be the main speaker in a ceremony to present a book covering 25 consecutive LI Prizes for Freedom whose recipients included Corazon Aquino (Philippines, 1987), Vaclav Havel (Czekoslovakia, 1990), Mary Robinson (Ireland, 1993), Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma, 1995) and Martin Lee (Hong Kong, 1996).

CPP rejected by Socialist International (2)

The CPP candidacy to be a member of Socialist International (SI) has been continuously rejected in spite of Mr. Hun Sen’s repeated demand to join the powerful left-wing international political grouping. The reason for the rejection is related to the CPP’s poor human rights records including the Cambodian government’s repressive policy against trade unions. Both the CPP and its partner Funcinpec are currently members of the right-wing Christian/Centrist Democrat International (CDI).

King informed about seriousness and complexity of land issues (1)

Since his accession to the throne in 2004, King Norodom Sihamoni has been officially informed about the country’s situation only by Prime Minister Hun Sen. For the first time, a group of opposition National Assembly members on October 27 shared with the Monarch the people’s concerns as perceived at the grassroots level. The most serious concerns are related to land issues with citizens increasingly and unfairly losing their lands all over the country because of rampant corruption undermining the whole government including the judicial system. The King was also informed about Cambodian farmers continuously losing their rice fields along the border with Vietnam. In a recent past, King-Father Norodom Sihanouk had expressed very strong reservations about the way the Hun Sen government “works” on border delineation with neighboring countries.

[End]

Sam Rainsy Could Face Immunity Battle [-More travesty of justice in the work by Hun Sen Inc.]

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (Photo: Eurasie)

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
20 February 2009

Cambodian justice officials have proposed the suspension of parliamentary immunity for opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has refused to pay a fine levied by the National Election Committee over allegedly disparaging remarks toward ruling party leaders.

Sam Rainsy has said he will not pay the 10 million riel, or $2,500, fine, but will appeal to the Supreme Court to have charges dropped against him. The NEC and the Constitutional Council both found Sam Rainsy in violation of election laws for remarks he made during the 2008 campaign.

However, government officials speaking on conditions of anonymity say a proposal to lift the opposition lawmaker’s immunity has been forwarded to the Ministry of Justice, which is planning to forward it to the National Assembly in coming days.

The ruling Cambodian People’s Party won a vast majority of National Assembly seats in the July 2008 election, which would allow voting along party lines to lift the immunity.

Sok Roeun, a deputy prosecutor for Phnom Penh Municipal Court, would not discuss Sam Rainsy’s immunity Thursday, but said if the opposition leader doesn’t pay his fines, the courts will take legal action. Asked what that action would be, he declined further comment and hung up the phone.

Corrupt elite threaten Cambodia's development

Gavin Hayman, director of Global Witness

February 6, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

The anti-corruption ngo Global Witness says "a corrupt elite" in Cambodia is taking over the nation's emerging oil and mineral sectors, while international donors turn a blind eye.

In a report titled 'Country for Sale', Global Witness says Cambodia's future is being jeopardised by high-level corruption, nepotism and patronage in the management of public assets. This, it says, threatens Cambodia's potential to wean itself of foreign development aid.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Gavin Hayman, director of Global Witness

Click here to listen to the audio program in English (Windows Media)

HAYMAN: We've been working in Cambodia for the last 15 years looking at how illegal logging was being operating in the country and were able to show that it directly benefitted the ruling military and political elite. And our new report has showed that the self same people whose names are in our previous report as being involved in illegal logging have now effectively taken over the mining and also have oversight over the emerging oil industry in the country. And that's disastrous news for Cambodia because the money from oil and mining, which could actually really help Cambodia's development and lift Cambodia's citizens out of poverty, appears to instead be in severe danger of being wasted.

LAM: But you also say that international donors are turning a blind eye. What would you like donor countries to do?

HAYMAN: Well donor countries need to really get the Cambodian government to behave itself. They need to effectively declare a moratorium until there's basic governance and transparency framework in place to actually have oversight over what's going on. At the moment we've discovered that effectively the government doesn't have any way of giving out concessions, apart from patronage. So a particular kind of senators for example in the ruling party appear to have a beneficial possession of the mines, and they also needs to do a proper audit as to exactly how all those concessions be given out and whether they're equal and whether in fact the money is in the national budget. And there's about 60 or 70 different companies operating now, and we've written to all of them, also to ask about their behaviour, and we haven't had many responses back. What we did get was from BHP Billiton, the huge Australian mining company, and they actually told us they paid about a million dollar signature bonus to the government to explore for bauxite near the Vietnamese border. Now we congratulate BHP on being transparent about that. We're worried about the 79 companies that haven't been transparent, but also disturbingly we can't find information about that million dollars in the Cambodian budget. And that's very worrying, so where is this money in Cambodia's financial system? That's very concerning.

LAM: Indeed, it must be quite hard though, to extricate the ruling elite from these lucrative contracts. So what do you think can be done to change this culture, this culture of corruption?

HAYMAN: Well I think at the moment Cambodia's depends on foreign aid for about half its budget, and the donors have a very limited window of opportunity to use that influence on the Cambodian government to get a moratorium in place and a proper audit and future management provisions in place. To actually assure transparency, and that the money actually flows into the national budget and is properly spent. So they've got to use their leverage now and effectively really they shouldn't be lending into corruption and actually compensating a corrupt government that's stealing money that should be spent on development by actually putting taxpayer's money into development projects. So effectively they've got to play hard ball with the Cambodian government and get it to actually be fully transparent.

LAM: And just very briefly, can the Cambodian government itself do more or is the government itself the problem?

HAYMAN: The government itself as currently constituted by the ruling elite is the problem. So, as I said the military and political figures in Cambodia are direct beneficiaries and owners of some of these mines. And they may not actually own it on paper but if you turn up at the gate, which is one of the things we've done, the people guarding the mine they all know who's in power and they'll tell you who's actually in charge and who's the owner. Effectively, the donors have been very soft, some might even say spineless about addressing corruption in Cambodia for the last sort of 14 or 15 years. And to give you an example, Cambodia still hasn't passed an anti-corruption law despite the donors pushing for that for the last 14, 15 years.

Cambodia's Elite Suspected of Pocketing Millions from Oil, Mineral Deals

Hun Sen Inc. (Photo: Global Witness)

By Daniel Schearf
Voice of America
Bangkok
05 February 2009

An organization that investigates corrupt use of natural resources says a small number of officials and well-connected businessmen in Cambodia appear to have pocketed millions of dollars from oil and mineral deals. The organization, Global Witness, says the small elite group could siphon off millions more from the impoverished country's fast-growing oil and mining sectors.

In a report called "Country for Sale," Global Witness says a corrupt elite are profiting from Cambodia's emerging oil and mining sectors.

The anti-corruption organization says a core group including Prime Minister Hun Sen, military commanders, businessmen, and even the chairman of the human rights commission control Cambodia's mining, oil, and gas concessions.

A 1998 law allows the government to bypass lawmaker and public scrutiny to sign deals behind closed doors with little accountability.

"We know certainly of millions of dollars, which have been paid in the form of up-front bonuses to the government by private companies," said Eleanor Nichols, a Global Witness campaigner. "That money is not showing up in the national accounts. So, we are asking the question, 'Where has that money gone?"

Cambodia's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for official comment on the report and calls to the ministry were not answered.

The Cambodian Embassy in London, where Global Witness is headquartered, in November posted comments on its website saying the organization's reports are part of a malicious and villainous campaign.

The statement said Global Witness was seeking to discredit the image of Cambodia and to damage its economic development.

Cambodia's oil and mineral revenue is only a small part of government coffers, but oil revenue alone is expected to grow by hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years.

About half of the government's budget comes from international donors.

The director of Global Witness's campaigns Gavin Hayman, says those donors have been weak in addressing corruption.

"To give you a simple example of that, there has been talk about getting anti-corruption law in Cambodia for about 14 years now and it still has not happened," he said. "Every year the donors ask the Cambodian government to make progress on this issue. Every year, there is failure to make progress."

Hayman says donors recently backed off from pressuring Cambodia to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. It requires full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas, and mining.

Global Witness was once selected to monitor the country's logging operations. But, after issuing a report in 2007 that accused top government officials of illegal logging operations, the organization had its license revoked in Cambodia and claims its staff received death threats.

NGO: Cambodian leaders have squandered rich natural resources

Feb 5, 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's political elites have put the country's economic future at risk by squandering its rich natural resources, an international environmental and anti-corruption group said Thursday.

A report released by London-based Global Witness said international donors had turned a blind eye to the widespread corruption, mismanagement and nepotism that has positioned political elites as the only beneficiaries of Cambodia's oil, gas and coal reserves.

The report accused Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party of allocating contracts 'behind closed doors' to members of the political elite and their families.

'The Cambodian government does not have a process for allocating resources outside of patronage,' Global Witness campaigns director Gavin Hayman said in a statement.

'The same political elite that pillaged the country's timber resources has now gained control of its mineral and petroleum wealth,' Hayman said. 'Unless this is changed, there is a real risk that the opportunity to lift a whole generation out of poverty will be squandered.'

The report called on the government to enforce a moratorium on further mineral and petroleum contracts and launch a review into the environmental, financial and technical credentials of existing contractors.

More than 75 companies, including multinationals Chevron Corp and BHP Billiton PLC, are currently working in Cambodia's resources sector, and according to the report, some have already made undisclosed, upfront payments to the government.

'Companies need to come clean on what they have paid to the government to secure access to these natural resources or risk becoming complicit in a corrupt system,' Hayman said.

The report also called on international donors - which in December last year pledged a combined 1 billion US dollars of aid - to use their funding as leverage to 'demand new governance measures for the industries.'

It argued Cambodia's mineral reserves could be the key to the country's economic future and help end its reliance on foreign aid.

The group said its findings were based on fieldwork and interviews with industry insiders.

Global Witness representatives were expelled from Cambodia in 2005, and in 2007, the government banned the publication of one of its reports that accused a 'kleptocratic elite' of illegal logging and corruption.

Government spokesmen were unavailable for comment Thursday, but Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem was quoted in The Cambodia Daily newspaper as saying that mineral-exploration licenses were subject to competitive bidding and open to all companies.

'There is no principle to charge any companies money before exploitation,' he said. 'The company won't pay before they find minerals.'

Although still in its infancy, Cambodia's resources sector has flourished since 2003 when investors from Australia, Thailand, China, South Korea and the United States were lured by the country's rich mineral, oil and natural gas reserves.

Sen increases Cambodia's military budget

November 5, 2008
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

It takes two to make a quarrel and two to find a solution. As we see and do things differently, conflict cannot be avoided, but "we are able to manage and solve it by using necessary skills," asserts Cambodia's Youth Resource Development Program, a non-governmental organization. Maybe one of its cost-free courses, Conflict Resolution, should be mandatory in Cambodia's educational system!

It has been said that heaven ordained Cambodians, Thais and Vietnamese to live side by side until the end of time. They cannot move their respective countries elsewhere, but they have a choice: live harmoniously as neighbors or hurt one another as enemies.

Sadly, they have fought over land ownership throughout history. Nationalists from the three lands have displayed incredible eagerness to make "supreme sacrifices" to fight the transgressors -- the "bad" guys on the other side of the border. It's the "we, us, ours" versus "they, them, theirs" problem in human nature. Nationalist leaders have seized opportunities to incite the ready, able and willing in the name of the flag against their neighbors, and it has taken little provocation for the sentiment to be returned.

But beware, today's heroism may be tomorrow's foolishness, as memories fade, human thinking evolves, events are rewritten and brave heroes' names lost in a pile.

Some readers in Cambodia enlightened me after my column, "Soldiers' deaths could've been prevented." Oh, no, war deaths could not have been prevented. Premier Hun Sen, who threatened a "life-and-death battle" and a "death zone," was "right" to play hard ball with the Thais. Would the loved ones of the three Cambodian soldiers, and one Thai, who were killed on Oct. 15 agree?

If, from the cradle to the grave, man lives in the midst of politics, and if war remains an instrument political leaders will use for a political end, there are worries for the future of the three peoples condemned by destiny to be neighbors.

Who would find disagreement with the July 7 decision by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to inscribe the 9th century Preah Vihear ruins as a World Heritage site?

The Temple, built by Khmer kings, is viewed by both Thais and Cambodians to hold "outstanding universal value." It was awarded in 1962 to Cambodia by a 9 to 3 verdict of the International Court of Justice, which also voted 7 to 5 for Thailand to return to Cambodia antiquities it had removed.

UNESCO's decision brought military tensions that broke out in armed fighting. On the one hand, there is Thailand's five-month-old street protest by the People's Alliance for Democracy that seeks to bring down the Somchai Wongsawat government, elected by the rural and urban poor but opposed by Bangkok's powerful elites. PAD accused Wongsawat of surrendering Thai sovereignty to Cambodia. To show it wasn't so, Wongsawat beefed up Thai forces at the border.

On the other hand, the Thai troop buildup was opportune for Cambodian Premier Sen, who wanted votes in the July 27 national elections. His "death zone" talk showed an uncompromising strongman fighting to protect the Khmer heritage. Cambodians rushed to the colors and gave Sen their votes to rule as well.

The Khmer Empire once encompassed current Thailand to the west, the whole of Laos to the north, the former South Vietnam to the east, and a portion of Malaysia to the south. Today, the 181,035 square kilometers called Cambodia is all that's left of the Empire.

So, up to 1,000 armed men dug in and eyeballed one another. The first armed clash of Oct. 3 resulted in injured soldiers. On Oct. 15, the fighting broke out in different locations. Yet, both Sen and Wongsawat are aware that a war between their forces is a no-win for them. Except Sen knows and executes his game plan better than Wongsawat.

Sen's twist-and-turn maneuver saw Sen first wanting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Singapore involved. Then he made noises about taking the matter to the United Nations Security Council. On Oct. 17, Sen changed tactics, dubbed the fighting "a minor armed clash," and assured, "People should understand that there won't be any large-scale war."

On Oct. 24, Sen met with Wongsawat in Beijing. They agreed to avoid future conflict and maintain peace. At the border, their generals met for the 11th time and vowed "utmost restraint" to avoid future fighting. Continued bilateral talks are planned for Nov. 10.

Meanwhile, Sen's military recruitment process has added some 3,000 "volunteers" to troops at the border. And, despite foreign donors' concerns over Cambodia's increasing military expenditure, the Sen administration seeks legislative approval for a 2009 budget of $2 billion, an increase of 28 percent from last year, with an increase of almost 70 percent in a military budget that totals $500 million.

Yet the areas of health care, education, rural development, agriculture, women's affairs and social affairs are budgeted for an increase of about 5 percent.

What's wrong with this picture of Hun Sen's Cambodia?

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years.

Break up the concentration of powers

October 29, 2008
Comment by A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

"... Lord Buddha says everything changes, then Hun Sen Inc.'s permanency will end"

Last week, I wrote about the rise of totalitarianism in Cambodia in the form of Hun Sen Inc. It has silenced opposition, crushed those perceived as threats, and made itself Cambodia's sole source of employment and sole center for resource distribution. It dictates who gets what, when, where and how.

A Western political philosophy brands any such concentration of powers in the hands of a closed group as tyranny -- rule by an oppressive government. In Cambodia, genocidal Pol Pot's successor, Premier Sen, leads the ruling party by firmly holding power in all institutions.

Either he -- the omnipotent chairman -- or his privileged trusted associates represent all powers, legislative, executive, and judicial, defying democratic political philosophy and practice.

Yet, Hun Sen, Inc. is given $600 million annually by an international community that hopes to assist the country's poor and desolate, many of whom rely on rat meat to survive. The world's nations chose recently to appease Hun Sen when he demanded removal of Yash Ghai as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia, a role created by the 1991 Paris Peace Accords signed by 19 countries and the U.N., because, in Ghai's words, he stood against Hun Sen's "systematic violations of political, economic, social rights" in Cambodia.

Disconnect, hypocrisy

The disconnect between what the community of nations preaches and its actions is a modern political hypocrisy and appeasement of a dictator at the expense of citizens' rights as contained in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

That declaration, to which Cambodia is a party, reaffirmed the basic civil and human rights deemed most fundamental by the civilized community of nations. Unfortunately, many countries' interests in having a foothold in strategically located and resource-rich (forest resources may have been depleted but the six potential oil fields remain something to envy) Cambodia are served better through accommodating Hun Sen Inc. As such, their interests in the rather elusive concepts of freedom and human rights do not carry weight.

This approach conveys a mirage of political and economic stability. But it's shortsighted. The trouble with dictators is that their desire for power is insatiable. They want more and they want to extend their power anywhere and everywhere.

As it is human nature to want to breathe the air of liberty and to live with dignity, a land governed by oppression cannot expect stability and peace in society. Those who hunger for their basic rights will, over time, foment revolt.

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy and civil societies in Cambodia fear and oppose Hun Sen's concentration of power. They speak tirelessly of the need for a limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, though many repeat the terms without understanding them. At the risk of sounding like a classroom lecture, maybe what is written below will help.

Theoretically, a power concentration is broken up by dividing and giving specific power to separate government organs. These organs (national assembly, government, the court) function independently of one another: legislators make laws, they do not interpret laws; the prime minister executes laws and does not make them or interpret them; the court interprets what the law is and does not act as a lawmaker or a policeman carrying out the laws). In Cambodia, Sen is a lawmaker, a policeman and a judge.

Separating these functions avoids an abuse of power.

In Cambodia the omnipotent premier has been accused of widespread use of fear and intimidation to achieve his goals. Human rights and integrity in Cambodia are for parroting.

It's bleak for Cambodians who seek change and want instant gratification. They set themselves up for disappointment: Hun Sen Inc. does not care what others think about its rule; and Cambodians' long-held culture of blind reverence to established rulers (political winners walk on water) and contempt for those out of power (losers can be worse than dirt) does not help. Internationally, many foreign governments do not seem to care about the July national election fraud that gave Sen power to rule the country for another four years. It's business as usual.

Hope

Yet, there is hope and Cambodians need to learn to believe in hope.

They would do well to review who and what they are, learn to minimize limitation and maximize potential, and conclude if the only constant in life is change, and Lord Buddha says everything changes, then Hun Sen Inc.'s permanency will end. The Cambodian saying, "bent wood can make a wheel, straight wood can make a spoke, twisted and crooked wood can make fire," can be put into practice.

I wrote about water that boils at 212 degrees, and if the heat is increased to 213 then steam is produced to run a locomotive. That's one way hope is turned into reality -- through action.

As the Chinese say, one generation plants trees, the next generation gets the shade.
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Soldiers' deaths could've been prevented [-The rise and authoritarian rule of "Hun Sen, Inc."]

October 22, 2008
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

In Cambodia, known as the land of the gentle smile and big heart, the rise of totalitarianism in the form of Hun Sen, Inc. is threatening the people and the country. Sen's power grabs are ignored by the international community and sanctions are absent.

While looking backward to historical events does not move us forward, history tells us why we are where we are. Its lessons can guide our future.

Ironically, Hun Sen, Inc. was created as a result of the failure to implement the 1991 United Nations-sponsored Paris Peace Accords. In brief, the non-implementation left the Hanoi-backed runaway Khmer Rouge faction in complete control of Cambodia's institutions after Pol Pot was knocked out of power.

The Accords stipulated that a neutral interim government would be put in place until the "free and fair general elections" of 1993, and the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General was to promote and protect human rights in Cambodia.

The neutral interim authority was never established.

I am reminded of a column in the New York Times two decades earlier by former Khmer diplomat Pheach Srey, who asked if replacing the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge by the Vietnam-installed regime, in which current Premier Sen was then a Khmer Rouge regional commander, was not the same as asking Cambodians to choose between "the plague and cholera."

Despite Cambodia's declining rate of economic growth from 10.1 percent in 2007 to 7.2 percent in 2008, and a crippling rate of inflation, which rose from 18.7 percent in January to a record high of 22 percent in July, and reported famine around the Tonle Sap Great Lake, Sen's Cambodia has ended forced labor camps and built roads. The newly rich populate the cities and resorts with large villas, and in this environment, many Cambodians report in recent polls that they feel the country is headed in "the right direction."

But Hun Sen, Inc. has grown so powerful that it has sidelined competitors, eliminated potential threats, and has established itself as the only source of employment. Without shame and at a cost to the struggle for freedom and human integrity, some members and leaders of the opposition parties have left those ranks for jobs in Hun Sen, Inc., which has become the only center for allocation of resources in the country.

Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge gang crushed the soul, killed and mutilated the bodies of Cambodians to stay in power and to transform society. Hun Sen, Inc. may not be using the same brutal methods as his predecessors, but Hun Sen and his associates maintain unrelenting control of the land and the people. It can provide anything, for a price. It sells islands and beaches. It helps evict people from their homes and their land.

On Oct. 17, the Asian Human Rights Commission reported Hun Sen, Inc., which has leased out Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak Lake to a private company for development for 99 years for $79 million, has flooded homes and turned off the area's fresh water supply, forcing thousands of families to leave the area.

Hun Sen, Inc. had made life so impossible for former Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General Yash Ghai to do his job effectively that Ghai was obliged to resign his post. ABC Radio Australia reported Ghai's words on Oct. 3, "My deep conviction is that the (Cambodian) government has absolutely no interest in the promotion of human rights; the whole state exists on systematic violations of political, economic, social rights ... And I really can't see that there is going to be any change of heart just because there is a new representative."

When dictators rule, they don't act responsibly. So irresponsible was Hun Sen, Inc. that it chose to put the nation in danger when Sen vowed on Oct. 3 to turn 1.8 square miles of disputed land surrounding Preah Vihear Temple into a "death zone" if the 84 Thai soldiers "camping" some 30 meters from Sen's troops in Veal Entry did not leave the area in 24 hours.

Nationalism was whipped to a frenzy on both sides of the border. Nationalists from Thailand and Cambodia vowed to die to keep the Temple theirs. Yet the Temple Preah Vihear was already Khmer by history, and legally, with the 1962 verdict of the International Court of Justice. There are recourses other than a "death zone."

On Oct. 15 a firefight broke out between the two forces. After three Cambodian soldiers were killed and several soldiers from both sides were wounded, Thai Premier Wongsawat declared it his policy "to resolve this conflict through negotiations." The author of the "death zone" maintained silence, but Sen's foreign minister's statement says the fighting incident was actually "not an invasion by Thailand." In the field, Cambodian and Thai commanders held a five-hour talk that left troops from both sides where they are. Back to square one.

Nationalist Cambodians, quick at professing undying love to protect the Motherland, need to put a brake on Hun Sen, Inc. The deaths at Preah Vihear could have been prevented.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.