Showing posts with label Hun Sen is a Vietnamese stooge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hun Sen is a Vietnamese stooge. Show all posts
Friday, May 25, 2012
Thursday, January 07, 2010
Cracking down on Cambodians to serve Hanoi's interest: Hun Xen's true nature?
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen at Phnom Penh international airport November 8, 2009. Cambodia marked the 31st anniversary of the fall of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime on Thursday in celebrations clouded by the threat of a crackdown on opponents of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen. (REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea/Files)Cambodia marks liberation under cloud of crackdown
Thu Jan 7, 2010
By Prak Chan Thul
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia marked the 31st anniversary of the fall of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime on Thursday in celebrations clouded by the threat of a crackdown on opponents of long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Before the festivities, attended by thousands of people in the capital Phnom Penh, the premier vowed to arrest anyone seen handing out leaflets opposing his rule, the latest in what rights groups say is a growing campaign to silence dissent.
Hun Sen's warning to his critics, who say the government is abusing its power to crush all forms of political opposition, came five days after a court issued an arrest warrant for main opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
The crackdown coincides with trouble in one of Southeast Asia's most impoverished economies after an unprecedented boom which saw economic production expand 10 percent annually in the five years up to 2008. Since then, foreign investment has collapsed, tourist arrivals have plummeted and construction has stalled.
Data this week showed about 30,000 workers in the garment industry, a mainstay of the economy, lost their jobs last year as exports to the United States shrank.
Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, sued by Hun Sen in July after she accused him of defamation, on Thursday called on the public to resist what she said were intimidation tactics by authorities. "We must still continue to express opinions, not back down because of threats," she said. "We must give a clear message that we can't accept the closure of free expression."
ARREST THREAT
Hun Sen on Tuesday announced the threat to arrest anyone handing out leaflets that express opposition to him or his policies. He said he had seen some such leaflets that were printed in neighbouring Thailand for distribution in Cambodia.
"Leaflet distributors be careful, I will arrest," he said.
He also rejected claims he had been using the courts to intimidate his opponents and warned Rainsy to "be prepared" to go to prison, adding that his long-time political rival, who is now in exile in Europe, would not be pardoned.
The threat appeared effective. No opposition leaflets appeared during Thursday's celebrations marking an invasion by Vietnamese forces in 1979 that toppled the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
The National Assembly, dominated by the ruling Cambodia People's Party, passed legislation last year outlawing protests of more than 200 people and tightening existing defamation laws in what opponents said were measures to prevent criticism and keep rival politicians in check.
Risk analysts say despite corruption and concerns over human rights and judicial interference, Cambodia's political and economic stability should remain intact in the foreseeable future, with little threat to the government's grip on power.
South Korea and China, the country's biggest sources of investment, signed agreements late last year to pour more money into Cambodia, which will open its first stock exchange later this year as part of a $2 billion project to build a new financial centre.
Rainsy, who heads a party named after him, is accused of causing criminal damage after uprooting several border demarcation posts to appease farmers.
(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Jason Szep)
Before the festivities, attended by thousands of people in the capital Phnom Penh, the premier vowed to arrest anyone seen handing out leaflets opposing his rule, the latest in what rights groups say is a growing campaign to silence dissent.
Hun Sen's warning to his critics, who say the government is abusing its power to crush all forms of political opposition, came five days after a court issued an arrest warrant for main opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
The crackdown coincides with trouble in one of Southeast Asia's most impoverished economies after an unprecedented boom which saw economic production expand 10 percent annually in the five years up to 2008. Since then, foreign investment has collapsed, tourist arrivals have plummeted and construction has stalled.
Data this week showed about 30,000 workers in the garment industry, a mainstay of the economy, lost their jobs last year as exports to the United States shrank.
Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, sued by Hun Sen in July after she accused him of defamation, on Thursday called on the public to resist what she said were intimidation tactics by authorities. "We must still continue to express opinions, not back down because of threats," she said. "We must give a clear message that we can't accept the closure of free expression."
ARREST THREAT
Hun Sen on Tuesday announced the threat to arrest anyone handing out leaflets that express opposition to him or his policies. He said he had seen some such leaflets that were printed in neighbouring Thailand for distribution in Cambodia.
"Leaflet distributors be careful, I will arrest," he said.
He also rejected claims he had been using the courts to intimidate his opponents and warned Rainsy to "be prepared" to go to prison, adding that his long-time political rival, who is now in exile in Europe, would not be pardoned.
The threat appeared effective. No opposition leaflets appeared during Thursday's celebrations marking an invasion by Vietnamese forces in 1979 that toppled the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
The National Assembly, dominated by the ruling Cambodia People's Party, passed legislation last year outlawing protests of more than 200 people and tightening existing defamation laws in what opponents said were measures to prevent criticism and keep rival politicians in check.
Risk analysts say despite corruption and concerns over human rights and judicial interference, Cambodia's political and economic stability should remain intact in the foreseeable future, with little threat to the government's grip on power.
South Korea and China, the country's biggest sources of investment, signed agreements late last year to pour more money into Cambodia, which will open its first stock exchange later this year as part of a $2 billion project to build a new financial centre.
Rainsy, who heads a party named after him, is accused of causing criminal damage after uprooting several border demarcation posts to appease farmers.
(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Jason Szep)
The Stooges praised his master's border posts that encroached into Cambodia?
Yuon stooges at the service of Hanoi? (Photo: Khem Sovannara)Cambodia praises border landmark planting with Vietnam
01/07/2010
VOV News (Hanoi)
The Chairman of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), Chea Sim, has praised the planting of border landmarks between Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 31st anniversary of Cambodia’s Victory Day on January 7, the CPP party leader voiced his support for the completion of border landmark planting for the sake of peace and stability in the three nations.
He also criticised antagonist forces for interfering with the planting of border landmarks to serve their own ends without caring about national interests.
Chea Sim said that he backed the CPP party and Cambodian Government’s efforts to deal with the dispute over territory with Thailand through peaceful solutions in order to build a common border line for the sake of friendship, peace, stability and development of both countries.
Regarding the court proceedings against leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, Chea Sim said the CPP and Cambodian Government strongly criticize the self-serving elements’ intention of using the court to undermine peace, national reconciliation and development in Cambodia.
Earlier on January 6, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that there would be no tolerance of those forces seeking to disrupt the ceremony to mark Cambodia’s Victory Day (January 7, 1979-January 7, 2010). He asked security forces to arrest those distributing leaflets aimed at undermining the celebration.
PM Hun Sen also reaffirmed the historical significance of Victory Day on January 7 when the Cambodian people successfully overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the 31st anniversary of Cambodia’s Victory Day on January 7, the CPP party leader voiced his support for the completion of border landmark planting for the sake of peace and stability in the three nations.
He also criticised antagonist forces for interfering with the planting of border landmarks to serve their own ends without caring about national interests.
Chea Sim said that he backed the CPP party and Cambodian Government’s efforts to deal with the dispute over territory with Thailand through peaceful solutions in order to build a common border line for the sake of friendship, peace, stability and development of both countries.
Regarding the court proceedings against leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, Chea Sim said the CPP and Cambodian Government strongly criticize the self-serving elements’ intention of using the court to undermine peace, national reconciliation and development in Cambodia.
Earlier on January 6, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that there would be no tolerance of those forces seeking to disrupt the ceremony to mark Cambodia’s Victory Day (January 7, 1979-January 7, 2010). He asked security forces to arrest those distributing leaflets aimed at undermining the celebration.
PM Hun Sen also reaffirmed the historical significance of Victory Day on January 7 when the Cambodian people successfully overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Cambodians mark 30 years since fall of Pol Pot
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
By Ek Madra
By Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Thousands of Cambodian survivors of the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" marked 30 years on Wednesday since the fall of Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime, blamed for the deaths of 1.7 million people.
Up to 80,000 people packed into the capital's Olympic stadium for a rally organized by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), descendant of the puppet government installed by Hanoi after its troops ousted Beijing-backed Pol Pot on January 7, 1979.
"We have always remembered those who sacrificed their lives to save us from genocide," aging CPP President and former guerrilla Chea Sim told the cheering crowd.
Despite international and domestic repugnance at the Khmer Rouge and their disastrous attempt to create an agrarian utopia, a significant minority of Cambodians mourn January 7 as the start of a 10-year occupation by their hated Vietnamese neighbors.
Political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-eyed former Khmer Rouge commander who has been in charge for the last 23 years, frequently label him a Vietnamese stooge, a charge he rebutted in typically blunt style this week.
"Whoever is against the day of victory is either Pol Pot or an animal," he told a crowd on Tuesday at the inauguration of a bridge south of Phnom Penh, a derelict ghost town in 1979 after four years under the Khmer Rouge.
Communist Vietnam also marked the anniversary, with official papers running a series of articles portraying the invasion as a mercy mission and the 10-year occupation as necessary to prevent a resurgence of the Khmer Rouge.
"Wherever our army went, it was welcomed by cheering and helpful Cambodian people," the Tin Tuc daily said.
With Cold War 'domino theory' occupying the minds of Western policy-makers, many in Washington took a very different view at the time, fearing Vietnam's march on Phnom Penh was a precursor to a wider assault on U.S. ally Thailand.
GUERRILLAS ON TRIAL
After fleeing into the jungle along the Thai border, the remnants of Pol Pot's black-shirted guerrilla army resisted the Vietnamese and Hun Sen until their final surrender in 1998, the same year the movement's 'Brother Number One' died.
Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen, all of them aging and infirm, are only now being brought to justice, although ordinary Cambodians are growing increasingly frustrated at the interminable delays to a joint Cambodian-United Nations tribunal.
"The spirits of my relatives will not be calm without prosecuting those killers," said Thay Srey Khon, who lost eight relatives under the regime.
The court admitted this week that Cambodia's prosecutor was blocking a bid by her international counterpart to go after more than the five top cadres now in custody on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Human rights groups said the admission confirmed long-held suspicions Hun Sen was manipulating the court to ensure it did not dig too deep, for fear it unearthed dark secrets about some of the senior Khmer Rouge figures inside his administration.
The government has denied any such attempt.
Those in custody are 'Brother Number Two' Nuon Chea, former President Khieu Samphan, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, his wife, Ieng Thirith, and Duch, head of Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng, or the "S-21" interrogation and torture center.
They all face life in jail if convicted.
(Editing by Ed Cropley and Dean Yates)
Up to 80,000 people packed into the capital's Olympic stadium for a rally organized by the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), descendant of the puppet government installed by Hanoi after its troops ousted Beijing-backed Pol Pot on January 7, 1979.
"We have always remembered those who sacrificed their lives to save us from genocide," aging CPP President and former guerrilla Chea Sim told the cheering crowd.
Despite international and domestic repugnance at the Khmer Rouge and their disastrous attempt to create an agrarian utopia, a significant minority of Cambodians mourn January 7 as the start of a 10-year occupation by their hated Vietnamese neighbors.
Political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-eyed former Khmer Rouge commander who has been in charge for the last 23 years, frequently label him a Vietnamese stooge, a charge he rebutted in typically blunt style this week.
"Whoever is against the day of victory is either Pol Pot or an animal," he told a crowd on Tuesday at the inauguration of a bridge south of Phnom Penh, a derelict ghost town in 1979 after four years under the Khmer Rouge.
Communist Vietnam also marked the anniversary, with official papers running a series of articles portraying the invasion as a mercy mission and the 10-year occupation as necessary to prevent a resurgence of the Khmer Rouge.
"Wherever our army went, it was welcomed by cheering and helpful Cambodian people," the Tin Tuc daily said.
With Cold War 'domino theory' occupying the minds of Western policy-makers, many in Washington took a very different view at the time, fearing Vietnam's march on Phnom Penh was a precursor to a wider assault on U.S. ally Thailand.
GUERRILLAS ON TRIAL
After fleeing into the jungle along the Thai border, the remnants of Pol Pot's black-shirted guerrilla army resisted the Vietnamese and Hun Sen until their final surrender in 1998, the same year the movement's 'Brother Number One' died.
Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen, all of them aging and infirm, are only now being brought to justice, although ordinary Cambodians are growing increasingly frustrated at the interminable delays to a joint Cambodian-United Nations tribunal.
"The spirits of my relatives will not be calm without prosecuting those killers," said Thay Srey Khon, who lost eight relatives under the regime.
The court admitted this week that Cambodia's prosecutor was blocking a bid by her international counterpart to go after more than the five top cadres now in custody on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Human rights groups said the admission confirmed long-held suspicions Hun Sen was manipulating the court to ensure it did not dig too deep, for fear it unearthed dark secrets about some of the senior Khmer Rouge figures inside his administration.
The government has denied any such attempt.
Those in custody are 'Brother Number Two' Nuon Chea, former President Khieu Samphan, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, his wife, Ieng Thirith, and Duch, head of Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng, or the "S-21" interrogation and torture center.
They all face life in jail if convicted.
(Editing by Ed Cropley and Dean Yates)
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