Cambodia's Sand for Sale

Vietnamese boats used by a local company to dredge sand from a 42 hectare area in Teuk Chhou district.

Amid villagers' protests, MP Mu Sochua's requested clarification from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy which authorized a local company to dredge sand to be sold outside of Cambodia, Kampot local authorities ordered a temporary suspension of the dredging operations. The company which used Vietnamese boats for its operations along the Kampot river, was allowed to dredge in a 42-hectare area despite the 2009 ban of exportation of sand by the Prime Minister.

The heavy dredging operations have caused visible collapse of the river bank and a threat to the villagers' live hoods and the growth of the famous chak or water palms of Kampot.

"Sam Rainsy Affair: A showcase of Hanoi's power" - Cambodia's Border Committee

Click on the statement in Khmer or French to zoom in

Feature: Exhibition at LJCC, Ivy House - “Cambodia: Reflections of the Khmer Rouge”

Feature Image (main):

28 January 2010
By KATTY PEARCE
Islington Tribune (UK)

THE brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge is being remembered at the London Jewish Cultural Centre this week. An exhibition of photographs from Cambodia portraying life under Pol Pot’s tyranny is one of a number of events the centre is hosting to raise international awareness of genocide to honour National Holocaust Memorial Day.

“Cambodia: Reflections of the Khmer Rouge” exposes graphic evidence of Pol Pot’s regime when approximately two million people were killed. Written testimony from survivors is displayed next to photographs of victims and perpetrators.

Ilana Winterstein has co-curated the exhibition. “We chose the LJCC as a venue because we wanted to link the exhibition to Holocaust Memorial Day,” she said. “At this time of remembrance it is important that we also remember the victims of other man-made atrocities in order that the diktat ‘Never again’ may one day become a reality.”

The exhibition is at Ivy House, 94-96 North End Road, Golders Green, NW11, until February 17. Mondays and Wednesdays 10am-4pm, Thursdays 3-6pm. Free admission. 020 8457 5000

Cracks appearing in Thai military?

Friday, 29 January 2010
By Martin Petty
Reuters

A grenade attack on the office of Thailand’s army chief this month is stoking fears of a worst-case scenario in Thailand’s political crisis – a possible fissure in the military along fault lines that have divided the country.

Analysts, diplomats and military sources say it is premature to talk of a split in Thailand’s powerful and politicized army but that festering ideological differences show signs of broadening in one of the most charged climates in decades.

A divide in an institution central to Thailand’s power structure would deepen uncertainty over the outlook for Thailand’s export-dependent $260 billion economy, Southeast Asia’s second-largest, and raise the prospect of instability in a country seen as a gateway to the region for foreign companies.

Large numbers of soldiers of lower ranks and some senior officers, analysts say, are sympathizers of Thailand’s rural, grassroots anti-government, red-shirted protest movement.

In contrast, many of the military’s top brass are at the other end of the political spectrum, allied with royalists, business elites and the urban middle classes, who wear yellow at protests and largely support the present government.

The red-yellow divide is growing increasingly intractable.

And Thailand’s markets remain vulnerable to a correction, after benefiting from waves of foreign money moving into the Asian emerging markets that rebounded first from the global crisis. The stock market is off its January highs but is still up around 85 percent from the lows it hit in November 2008.

“When there is chaos and the country is divided, people look to the military to be in control,” said a Bangkok-based security analyst, who asked not to be identified because discussions of the military are sensitive.

“But it’s the first time in a generation that we’ve seen military divisions like this. There’s definitely an ideological split. It’s unlikely there’s any danger just yet, but that all depends on where this crisis will go.”

The Jan. 15 attack on army chief Anupong Paochinda’s office – he was not there at the time – and the apparent attempt to cover it up, have eroded public confidence in the military, polls show. Although there were no injuries, the brazen attack was widely seen as a challenge to Anupong’s authority.

Rogue soldier

The authorities’ reluctance to arrest their prime suspect, a rogue major general openly allied with an anti-government movement, has raised questions about how the army perceives his influence among parts of the rank-and-file.

The infamous Khattiya Sawasdipol – a maverick, self-proclaimed warrior better known as “Seh Daeng” – is dismissed by his critics as a loud-mouthed attention-seeker. But he enjoys a cult-like following among some soldiers and has made bold public threats to Anupong, warning him of a “gang attack.”

Khattiya is also a close associate of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a twice-elected billionaire ousted in a 2006 coup and the assumed leader of the opposition Puea Thai party and the “red shirt” protest movement – both of which seek to topple Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s military-backed government.

“This government has survived because of the military,” added the security expert. “Without its support, it would have tanked.”

The military played a pivotal role in brokering the ruling coalition government to keep Thaksin at bay. But the six-party alliance is looking vulnerable, facing internal divisions of its own and lacking enough popular support to win an election.

That raises questions over what the military and its backers would do if the government falls and if Thaksin’s allies, who they have fought hard to sideline, wrestle back power through an election win for his Puea Thai party.

Convicted of graft while in self-imposed exile, Thaksin is very much back in the picture, forming a provocative alliance with neighbouring Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, and rallying supporters from just over the border.

Thaksin’s opponents say he is disloyal to revered 82-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin says his conviction was politically motivated and insists he supports the monarchy.

Adding to the combustible political mix is the question of succession of the ageing king, who has been hospitalized since Sept. 19, and whether an eventual change of monarch would lead to a change in the balance of power in the military, which has traditionally been closely aligned with the palace.

Requiem For An Age : Far Eastern Economic Review

"This toon was published in the Far Eastern Economic Reviews Magazine in March 2000. I was the Editorial Cartoonist." - Ung Bun Heang aka Sacrava
Launched soon after World War II, the Review was a quirky magazine of record, documenting and explaining the region’s amazing transformation over the next half century

The tumultuous era that made Far Eastern Economic Review so relevant, is gone

Jan 29, 2010
By Abhishek Advani
Business.in.com

Dow Jones’ announcement last September that it was closing down the Far Eastern Economic Review didn’t exactly come as a surprise. The 64-year-old publication had been limping along since October 2004 when the entire staff was let go and the weekly news magazine was converted into a monthly (if that) contributor-based commentary on the region’s public affairs.

Several recent articles, mostly by former Review journalists, have attributed the passing of the region’s most influential current affairs magazine to the steady erosion of its independence and unique journalistic style as Dow Jones steadily tightened its grip. That’s an overstatement.

Launched soon after World War II, the Review was a quirky magazine of record, documenting and explaining the region’s amazing transformation over the next half century. The Review was driven almost entirely by the enterprise and vision of its reporters in the field. It was a grassroots magazine compiled and edited in Hong Kong from the contributions of writers who knew their subject first hand and wrote solely about what they considered relevant.

Their dedication produced ground-breaking stories, amongst the best known of which were Nate Thayer’s interview with Pol Pot, fugitive leader of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, John McBeth’s profile of an unknown Army captain named Susilo Bambang Yudhoyuno and Ahmed Rashid’s prediction that a ragtag militia of ex-seminarians called the Taliban could one day rule Afghanistan.

As all three stories suggest, the Review was at its best when capturing a region at war with itself, under martial law and ruled by authoritarian regimes of one hue or another from China and Vietnam to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Reporting politics from Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos or anywhere else in East Asia (barring Japan) then was nothing short of heroic.

But the region changed. Japan’s reconstruction and the wars in Korea and Vietnam brought huge investments into the region and sparked an economic resurgence that lasted almost 40 years. In time Asia’s autocracies, whether in South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand or Indonesia made way for democracies and, except in intractable pockets such as Mindanao, Aceh and East Timor, peace and the rule of law.

By the time Dow Jones took control of the Review in 1992, Asia was a transformed place. It was home to the Asian Tigers, the fastest growing group of economies in history, and a China that had embarked on a course that would rescue the largest ever number of people from poverty. The Asian financial crisis briefly interrupted the party but the region’s transformation into a modern, market-driven society was now a given.

It was inevitable that as Asia changed, the Review would too. It became just another news and current affairs magazine. To succeed, the magazine had to apply its ingenuity to the Asia of the day: Reporting routine political skulduggery or exposes of crony capitalism that the Asian financial crisis had revealed. The risk was no longer bullets or arrest but legal writs.

The Review tried its best, but the thrill was gone. Of course there were vast swathes of Asia still unreported and stories yet to tell. But the Review’s core markets didn’t seem interested. Dow Jones downsized the magazine, merged the Review’s editorial staff with that of the Asian Wall Street Journal and pushed it into covering uncharted territory such as technology and lifestyle.

Worse, even as traditional rival Asiaweek folded, newcomers in the region like The Economist seemed to be doing a better job of covering the region’s business and politics and, incredibly, making money out of it. That was galling. Here was an international English newsmagazine succeeding where the home-grown Asian one was floundering.

The Review was never about business journalism and the business of East Asia had become little else but business.

The author was the business editor of Far Eastern Economic Review

Chevron extends Cambodian energy exploration deal

Jan 29, 2010
DPA

Chevron is one of many extractive companies that have been criticized in recent years for their refusal to say what they are paying for the rights to tap Cambodia's natural resources. Corruption is endemic in the impoverished South-East Asian nation, and there are concerns that any windfall from oil and gas revenues will be squandered.

Phnom Penh - US energy giant Chevron Corp has extended its offshore energy exploration deal with the Cambodian government, local media reported Friday, but the company provided no other details citing 'commercial reasons.'

'Chevron welcomes the ongoing opportunity to evaluate the Block A resource,' spokesman Gareth Johnstone told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

Block A, an area off Cambodia's coast in the Gulf of Thailand, is thought to be one of the nation's most promising areas for oil and gas exploration in the coming years.

Announcement of the deal after almost a year of negotiations with the Cambodian government puts an end to speculation that Chevron might quit the country.

The newspaper noted that Chevron has spent 125 million dollars and drilled 15 exploratory wells in Block A since 2002. The latest date for production, which has been pushed back several times, is 2013.

Chevron is one of many extractive companies that have been criticized in recent years for their refusal to say what they are paying for the rights to tap Cambodia's natural resources. Corruption is endemic in the impoverished South-East Asian nation, and there are concerns that any windfall from oil and gas revenues will be squandered.

Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy’s Trial a Farce: Human Rights Watch

Conviction Demonstrates Continuing Persecution of Critics, Political Control of Judiciary

January 28, 2010
Source: Human Rigths Watch

"The Cambodian government’s relentless crackdown on critics continues apace in 2010. Hun Sen seems intent on reversing the political pluralism that has been created over the past two decades" - Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

(New York) - A Cambodian court's closed-door conviction and sentencing of the opposition leader Sam Rainsy and two others takes Prime Minister Hun Sen's campaign of persecution of critics to a new extreme and highlights government control over the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said today.

On January 27, 2010, the Svay Rieng provincial court convicted Rainsy and two villagers, Meas Srey and Prom Chea, on charges of racial incitement and destroying demarcation posts on Cambodia's border with Vietnam. Rainsy, who was in Paris, was tried in absentia and sentenced to two years in prison and fined 8 million riels (approximately US$2,000). Meas Srey and Prom Chea were each sentenced to one year in prison for destroying public property. The court also ordered the three to pay 55 million riels (approximately US$13,000) in compensation for the removal of border markers with Vietnam.

"The Cambodian government's relentless crackdown on critics continues apace in 2010," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Hun Sen seems intent on reversing the political pluralism that has been created over the past two decades."

The cases were brought after Rainsy and local villagers pulled six temporary border markers from the ground in Chantrea district of Svay Rieng. Local villagers alleged that the border markers represented an attempt by Vietnam to encroach on Cambodian land, a longstanding claim of Rainsy and his party.

The trial did not meet international standards for a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said. The lawyer for Meas Srey and Prom Chea said the court refused to consider defense evidence. By trying Rainsy in absentia, the court denied him his rights to defend himself and to examine the evidence against him. The trial was closed to journalists, human rights organizations, and the general public.

The court was surrounded by a heavy police presence, which observers say was intended to intimidate defense counsel and influence the court's ruling - a common feature of political trials in Cambodia. Svay Rieng provincial court has a long history of politically motivated rulings.

On January 6, Hun Sen, who has long exercised an iron grip over the courts, made the outcome of the trial clear. He announced that he would not request a pardon for Rainsy if he was found guilty. "This time I would like to declare ... there is no [pardon]; after the court convicts, let it be," Hun Sen said during an inauguration ceremony for a stretch of National Road 1 in Kandal province.

"Any hopes of slowing Hun Sen's assault on the political opposition now depends on the donor community, which props up the government financially," Adams said. "This political trial should make donors recognize the gravity of the situation."

Senior government officials have repeatedly brought politically motivated cases against Rainsy in recent years. His immunity as a member of parliament was lifted in February 2009 after Hun Sen filed a criminal defamation complaint against him for accusing Hun Sen of corruption. Rainsy's immunity was restored after his party paid a US$2,500 fine. On November 19, his immunity was lifted again for the border markers case.

Rainsy still faces a defamation complaint filed in 2009 by the Phnom Penh municipal governor, Kep Chuktema, after Rainsy allegedly said in a speech in May that Kep Chuktema was involved in vote-buying.

The most recent attempt to jail Sam Rainsy came in December 2005, when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison on transparently political charges. Rainsy was out of the country at the time. Under international pressure, Hun Sen agreed to a royal pardon in February 2006.

From the time he created his political party in 1995, Rainsy has been subject to assassination attempts, threats, intimidation, criminal cases, and civil court cases. On March 30, 1997, a grenade attack on a political rally he was addressing killed at least 16 people and wounded 150. Rainsy's life was saved when the full force of the blast hit one of his bodyguards. Hun Sen's bodyguard unit has been implicated in the attack.

At least 10 government critics were prosecuted for criminal defamation and disinformation based on complaints by government and military officials during 2009. Criminal defamation, disinformation, and incitement lawsuits were also filed against two members of Parliament from the opposition Rainsy Party, Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, and a youth activist, Soung Sophorn.

The upcoming language used in our universities: Op-Ed by Khemara Jati

La langue future de nos universités

La langue future de nos universités scientifiques ne sera, ni anglaise, ni française, mais vietnamienne. Les ingénieurs et autres formés au Vietnam ne seront pas différents de ceux formés en URSS (à l'exception de ceux qui ont appris les langues anciennes comme Long Siem et ceux qui ont appris la musique occidentale).

Les Cambodgiens qui vont faire leurs études au Vietnam, reviendront avec des doctorats ronflants. Ils occuperont des postes importants. Mais pour travailler et pour faire quoique ce soit, ils auront besoin d'être conseillés par des experts Vietnamiens.

Les meilleurs élèves sortis de l'École des Ingénieurs, gérée par la France, obtiendront des bourses pour continuer leurs études à l'étranger ne reviendront pas au Cambodge, car il n'existe aucune entreprise pour les accueillir et leur donner un salaire convenable. Employés dans des services de l'État, ils gagneront au plus 100 US$ par mois.

Les travaux sur notre histoire et notre culture ne trouvent aucun financement. Le "Dictionnaire du Khmer Ancien" de Long Siem a été publié par la Fondation Toyota.

Le premier Opéra moderne, ou "Comédie Musicale" en français, composé par un Cambodgien Him Sophy, ayant fait des études à Moscou, inspiré pourtant de notre célèbre "Toum Teav" et une musique moderne, inspirée de notre patrimoine musicale, jouée avec nos instruments de musique, traditionnels, qui a fait grand bruit sur la scène internationale, fut interdit par le pouvoir actuel et le compositeur Him Sophy a perdu son espoir de célébrité et la fortune espérée. Un autre ancien étudiant de Moscou a pu gagner sa vie en étant connu comme violoncelliste et compositeur de musique occidentale.

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, une danseuse classique Cambodgienne qui a obtenu un PHD aux Etats-Unis, a interprété l’Opéra de Mozart « La Flute Enchantée » au Palais de Schönbrunn à Vienne (Autriche) lors du 200è anniversaire de la mort de Mozart, est maintenant laissée dans les oubliettes.

Récemment un Prix Nobel d'économie, lors d'un séjour au Cambodge, a décelé un très grand nombre de talents cambodgiens, malheureusement non utilisés.

Une entreprise, même à capitaux cambodgiens, est-elle cambodgienne, si les dirigeants, les ingénieurs et techniciens sont des étrangers ? N'est-elle pas la raison que fait que les ingénieurs qualifiés Cambodgiens ne trouvent pas de travail au Cambodge ? Une compagnie d'aviation est-elle cambodgienne, si son directeur, les aviateurs et les ingénieurs et techniciens de maintenance sont des Etrangers ?

Voilà comment le Vietnam est en train d'essayer de transformer notre pays en une province vietnamienne.

Qui a tué Hok Lundy ? Si l'assassin n'est pas vietnamien, il y aurait des enquêtes sérieuses pour le retrouver. L'hélicoptère qui le transportait était vietnamien.

Alors pourquoi tuer Hok Lundy ? Hun Sen a pleuré, à genoux devant le corps de Hok Lundy ?
Cet assassinat, n'est-il pas un avertissement à Hun Sen et autres hauts dignitaires du PPC que c'est le sort qui les attendrait s'ils n'obéissaient pas aveuglément aux ordres de Hanoi ?

Depuis c'est l'accélération de la vietnamisation du Cambodge avant 2015, date de l'ouverture totale de nos frontières au commerce de l'ensemble de l'Asie de l'Est et du Sud-Est Asiatique.

Khemara Jati
Montréal, Québec
Le 28 janvier 2010

From Cambodia’s Killing Fields to $125,000 win in Las Vegas

Kimbo Ung celebrates his victory in the Heartland Poker Tour at Red Rock Resort. (Photo: Red Rock Resort)

Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010
By Robin Leach
Las Vegas Sun (Nevada, USA)

It was a long and difficult journey from “The Killing Fields” of Cambodia for refugee Kimbo Ung, who has now settled in Las Vegas and become a full-time poker player. Kimbo recently defeated World Series of Poker bracelet winners and a Hollywood actor in the Heartland Poker Tour at Red Rock Casino to win the $125,000 pot.

Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari was there. Layne Flack was there. Lou Diamond Phillips and yours truly were there when 300 players from the Midwest invaded Las Vegas for the celebrity event. But the biggest star was a 42-year-old unknown who spent the past three years on the bubble.

Kimbo, the winner of $125,901, nearly busted out multiple times. He sat at the Final Table as the short stack, and at one point had 80,000 chips when his opponents had millions. But Kimbo is no stranger to starting over, having spent a lifetime overcoming horrifying and unbelievable odds as The Comeback Kid.

Kimbo relates his childhood to the Oscar-winning film The Killing Fields. He explained: “The movie didn’t even do justice to the horror we faced before we reached the United States as refugees.”

One of seven children, he learned English and graduated from high school on the East Coast. Without a college degree, Kimbo worked as a graphic designer in New York City. The daily grind of 14-hour days and traveling by train from Connecticut became too much, so he and his wife, Sokhim, moved to Texas to start over.

Kimbo and Sokhim, also from Cambodia, invested in the dream of owning their own business. Two years after opening a seafood restaurant, the couple realized the hard truths of the service industry and decided, having run out of money, to start over yet again. They packed their belongings in their truck and made the trek to Las Vegas.

During their drive three years ago, they had to stop to fill jugs of water for their overheating truck. Pulling up at Palace Station, the truck died for good. Kimbo and Sokhim started over a third time just as the economic recession began.

Unable to find a job, Kimbo made a living playing poker. “I never considered myself a pro, but I supported myself through poker,” he said. After 18 months of bad beats and missing the money, Kimbo gave up tournaments and played only two to five no-limit games.

On a day off from her job at a Strip casino, Sokhim and her husband were at the movies at Red Rock when she noticed a qualifier round of the Heartland Poker Tour about to start. She urged Kimbo to invest $250 of their last savings in the qualifier. Sokhim had no way of getting home 20 miles away while Kimbo played, and he didn’t want her hovering over the table. So she watched three more movies while he looked for the winning hands.

Kimbo played the qualifier and won his way into the sellout Main Event, returning to battle accomplished poker players such as Theo Tran, Mary Jo Belcore-Zogman and David Singer. Low on chips throughout, a turning point came when he beat Theo. “I reminded myself to never give up,” said Kimbo, who made it to the Final Table.

Heartland Poker Tour producers weren’t surprised when they learned of Kimbo’s honesty shortly after the set was dismantled and shipped back to the Midwest.

“Our players are good people,” HPT President Todd Anderson said. “If a stereotype exists of today’s poker players, Kimbo seems to fit it at first glance. With dark glasses and an Ed Hardy hoodie, he appears emotionless, focused, confident and aggressive.

“At one point he was dangerously low on chips and had to ask another player to make change. Kimbo was given too much and really needed the chips, but said he’d never feel good about stealing from an older man. So he returned the overpay chips, and his luck turned, and he went on to win.”

After the shock of his win started to wear off, Kimbo revealed that he doesn’t normally wear glasses or conceal his face when he plays.

“I didn’t want to embarrass myself by becoming the first player to cry at the Final Table,” he said, crying as he hugged his wife, becoming the first champion of the televised Heartland Poker Tour’s Season 6.

Interview with Sam Rainsy after he was sentenced to two years jail

Interviewed by Sok Serey
Readio Free Asia
Translated into English by Khmerization
To listen to audio, click here.

Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy has been convicted of sabotage and destruction of public property for uprooting 6 wooden border markers on 25th October 2009 and was sentenced to two years jail on 27th January, 20201. The following is a translation of Mr. Sam Rainsy's interview. My Media Player did not play properly, so some questions and answers have been shortened/abbreviated. Khmerization


Sok Serey: Hello, Mr. Sam Rainsy!

Sam Rainsy: Hello, Mr. Sok Serey.

SS: What is your reaction to the court sentencing you to two years jail?

SR: All the people know that the Cambodian courts are not just and are biased courts. It is a court that take orders from the top- the top means those who hold powers, those who have the money who can do whatever they want. They oppress the poor whenever they wanted. They silence the people, they allow Khmer territories to be lost to our neighbours, they allow our neighbours to encroach on our borders. So, the court should not sentence the patriots, the Khmer people who are the victims. The court should instead sentence the traitors, because they are the ones who cut Khmer territory and give it to foreigners. They are the ones who are guilty, the guilty ones are those who give Khmer lands to foreigners.

SS: Do you have any plans to appeal the court's verdict?

SR: It is not important because the Cambodian courts are not trustworthy and respectful and we don't have any respect for this institution. But, we must continue our demands to the international community, demand that our neighbours to the east and west respect the territorial integrity of Cambodia. I will expose more evidences that confirm that our neighbours are encroaching deeper into our lands and our Cambodian authority have never taken concrete measures to stop these foreign encroachments and they allow the foreigners to encroach our territories, taking our farmers rice fields and many Khmer farmers have lost their lands. They came in to take our lands and put also put us in jail.

SS: Wha is your next plan?

SR: I will continue to reveal more evidences, more documents to show that the guilty ones are the foreigners who invade our territories and those who are guilty are those who allowed foreigners to swallow Khmer lands at will. Those are the ones who are guilty- not he Khmer patriots and victims and farmers. So, I don't need to appeal to the Cambodian courts because we don't have any confidence in these Cambodian courts. But we will continue our demands in the International Court because only international court is a real independent court that can provide justice because it based its judgement on the laws and based on the wisdom of natural justice. So, we will gather our strength and forces to lodge our complaint to the international court in order to obtain justice for our Cambodia, for our Khmer people.

SS: The Svay Rieng has filed suit against 5 villagers. Two were sentenced to one year jail each, but three have been acquitted. Do you have any comments regarding this case?

SR: The court should release all of them, all the 5 people and give them back the lands- the lands lost by the border encroachments. Some people have already lost their lands. They must give them back their lands. Those Khmer farmers have farmed in their lands since the time of their ancestors for many, many years already. And I demand that the court must release those farmers immediately, permanently and unconditionally and give them back their lands and then I will return back to Cambodia and let the court to try and to sentence me and do whatever they like with me.

SS: Do you have any plans to request King Father Sihanouk to intervene on your behalf?

SR: King Father Sihanouk is a real patriot who love the nation and who pays special attention about the issue of foreign encroachments on our borders. And in 2005, he summoned the representatives of the governments, representatives of Khmer border experts from around the world and representatives of the Sam Rainsy Party to see him and at that time he offered his suggestions that the border issues must be resolved in the most patriotic way. But the representatives of the government didn't listen to his advice and made unfounded claims by saying whatever they can think of. And they made claims for the interests and benefits of their party, but they didn't think about the Khmer interests as a whole. So I believe that King Father Sihanouk has the ability to bring representatives from all sides, even from the government, border technical experts, to go to a meeting under the auspices of King Father Sihanouk for us to resolve the border issues properly. This issue is an issue for all Khmer people, it is not a personal issue for Sam Rainsy. Sam Rainsy did not try to defend Sam Rainsy's interests, but I, Sam Rainsy, tried to defend Cambodia's national interests.

SS: Excellency, thanks for giving interview to Radio Free Asia. Goodbye!

SS: Thank you. Goodbye!

Tolakar Khmer - "Justice Khmer-style": A Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'em

Click on the poem in Khmer to zoom in

The Prey Nokor News is now available on sale in Cambodia

Click on the announcement in Khmer to zoom in

Meet Cambodian-American candidate for Congress in Fresno, California

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Sam Rainsy Conviction Reflects Cambodia’s Rotten Democracy: CCHR

Cambodian Center for Human Rights

PRESS RELEASE - Phnom Penh, 28 January 2010
For immediate release

Sam Rainsy Conviction Reflects Cambodia’s Rotten Democracy

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (“CCHR”) condemns the political-ruling by Svay Rieng Provincial Court on 27 January 2010 that found Cambodian Opposition leader Sam Rainsy guilty of racial incitement and destruction of property, and villagers Meas Srey and Prom Chea guilty of destruction of property. The charges arose from an October 2009 incident in which Mr. Rainsy joined villagers from Svay Rieng’s Chantrea district in symbolically uprooting temporary Cambodia-Vietnam border markers, which villagers claimed had been placed illegally in their rice fields by Vietnamese authorities. Mr. Rainsy’s conviction reflects the state of Cambodia’s democracy, as three of its cornerstones- parliamentary immunity, freedom of expression and judicial independence - continue to be uprooted by the Royal Government of Cambodia (the “RGC”).

Parliamentary Immunity

Mr. Rainsy’s conviction follows the stripping of his parliamentary immunity in November 2009 in a closed session of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party-dominated National Assembly. It continues an alarming trend that saw opposition lawmakers stripped of their immunity on four occasions in 2009. Parliamentary immunity is guaranteed in Article 80 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia (the “Constitution”) and is intended partly to ensure that the legislature can oversee the executive, with parliamentarians free to express opinions without fear of reprisal. Parliamentarians must be able to question the RGC’s policy and activities without being stripped of their immunity and faced with criminal charges. The CCHR condemns the frequent disregard of parliamentary immunity and urges the RGC to work with legal experts, representatives of all political parties, and civil society to develop a clearer, de-politicised legal framework governing parliamentary immunity.

Freedom of Expression

The issue of Cambodia’s border with Vietnam evokes much passion amongst the Cambodian people, and is clearly a sensitive topic for the RGC. Rainsy’s conviction is reminiscent of the 2005-2006 crackdown that resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of civil society leaders – including former CCHR president Kem Sokha – for displaying a banner on which a member of the public had scrawled an anti-Vietnam message. Article 41 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of expression to all citizens. Freedom of expression is important for individual dignity and for all Cambodians to participate in decision-making, accountability and democracy as we work to rebuild the country. Opposition figures, civil society, and the Cambodian public must be free to discuss issues of national importance such as the finalisation of contentious national borders. In this regard, the CCHR urges the RGC to: decriminalize defamation – as promised by Prime Minister Hun Sen - and disinformation; publicly endorse the Johannesburg Principles, and work with NGOs to formulate a freedom of expression and assembly strategy as part of a wider human rights action plan; refrain from instigating law suits against opposition parliamentarians over differences of opinion– the RGC includes talented individuals who are quite capable of engaging in free debate (including a transparent discussion of the Cambodia-Vietnam border) rather than resorting to state power to settle disputes.

Judicial Independence

The CCHR is alarmed by the RGC’s continued use of the Cambodian courts to intimidate and harass Opposition politicians, NGO leaders, journalists and lawyers to silence legitimate debate. The RGC’s influence over the Cambodian courts is clearly as strong as ever. The Svay Rieng Provincial Court provided no clear legal basis for Wednesday’s decision – vis-à-vis the true ownership of the land on which the border-markers were damaged for example –and the severity of the sentence is out of all proportion to the nature of the incident. The trial was closed to the public and Mr. Rainsy was tried in absentia. The independence of the judiciary is guaranteed by Article 128 of the Constitution - Cambodian courts exist to protect the rights of citizens, not to serve as a tool of state-sponsored intimidation. The RGC should pass long overdue legislation to implement judicial reform such as the Law on the Status of Judges and Prosecutors, the Law on the Organization of the Courts and an act amending the Law on the Supreme Council of Magistracy.

The CCHR notes that concerns in relation to the fragility of Cambodia’s democracy and its human rights record were raised in the recent ‘DRAFT REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW –Cambodia’ (1), and urges the RGC to heed recommendations in this review, including Vietnam’s recommendation to “Further strengthen the law reforms and policy aimed at protecting the people’s rights” (2). Based on the known facts of Mr. Rainsy’s and the villagers’ case, the CCHR holds that the villagers should be released, the case reviewed and the charges against all thrown out.

For more information, please contact:
Mr. Ou Virak, President, CCHR
Tel: +855 12 404051
Email: ouvirak@cchrcambodia.org

-------
(1) HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review Sixth session Geneva, 30 November -11 December 2009, DRAFT REPORT OF THE WORKING GROUP ON THE UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW - Cambodia, (A/HRC/WG.6/6/L.3)
(2) Ibid., p 22.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Hanoi's Slaves

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

Cambodian Judiciary's Double Standard

January 28, 2010

CAMBODIAN JUDICIARY'S DOUBLE STANDARD

After the first set of documents (15 sheets) presented at http://tinyurl.com/y9d7qho the following is a second set of maps and data (6 sheets) http://tinyurl.com/ycmw48z giving additional evidence of land grabbing associated with border encroachment in Svay Rieng province.

Whichever map is used (French 1952 1/100,000 map, US Army 1966 1/50,000 map or most recent Google Earth satellite picture) the conclusion is the same : The so-called border post (#185) opposition leader Sam Rainsy pulled out last October was well inside Cambodia and was not a real and legal border demarcation marker. All the so-called border posts in the area (from #184 to #187) are located in fact between 300 meters and 500 meters from the international border as defined on the maps.

The only legally binding map is the French 1952 1/100,000 map which was deposited at the United Nations by the Royal Cambodian Government under then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1964. But this map says the same thing as the other maps.

Therefore, Sam Rainsy did not commit any crime last October because he did not pull out any “border post” or destroy any “public property” as the Hun Sen government claims. He just pulled out a few commercially worthless wooden poles on a private land at the request of the local land's owner fearing land grab associated with border encroachment.

Those who have actually destroyed public property are Hun Sen government officials who are involved in the destruction, through illegal but lucrative logging, of hundreds of thousands of hectares of Cambodia 's invaluable forest. But those powerful and wealthy people walk free while powerless and poor farmers protesting land grabbing are put in jail.

The above story is another illustration of the Cambodian judiciary's double standard.

SRP Members of Parliament

Khmer Rouge killing machine explored at Sundance

Film director and journalist Thet Sambath

Thursday, January 28, 2010
By Romain Raynaldy
AFP

PARK CITY, Utah — Ten years in the making, a documentary showing at the Sundance Festival explores the inner workings of the Cambodian regime through hundreds of hours of interviews with the Khmer Rouge regime's number two.

"Enemies of the People," in competition at the independent film festival held in Park City in the mountains of Utah, is the product of a collaboration between Cambodian journalist Thet Sambath and Briton Rob Lemkin.

Up to two million people -- a quarter of Cambodia's population -- were executed or died of torture, starvation and overwork under the 1975-1979 regime led by the notorious Pol Pot.

Thet Sambath paid a heavy price, losing his father, mother and his older brother to the hardline movement's catastrophic attempts to abolish money, empty cities and set up an agrarian utopia.

In an attempt to understand the tragedy, he spent the last ten years researching those responsible.

Before long he came across Pol Pot's second-in-command and chief ideologue, Nuon Chea, who at the time was living on the Thai border.

"At the beginning he told me that he wouldn't tell anything about the Khmer Rouges. He had not said anything, even to his children or his wife. But after I met him for many years, talking friendly, he finally talked to me," Thet Sambath told AFP.

Thet Sambath recorded everything, first on audio cassettes and then, afraid that no one would believe him, on video. Then he decided, with Lemkin's help, to make a documentary.

Nuon Chea talked about everything, from his rise to power to his relations with Pol Pot, and recounted the killings which wiped out all those considered "enemies of the people."

"When I interviewed him, I said it's for history, not for the newspaper, and I respected that. For many years, I didn't write anything. He said: 'If you come with another people, I will not say the truth,'" Sambath said.

Nuon Chea, now aged 83, has finally been brought to justice. Arrested in 2007 under the authority of a UN-backed tribunal, he is awaiting trial for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"The film is going to be used by the court and given to the court. We are very proud of it," said Lemkin.

But he said that they "hope the film can be part of the process of reconciliation" in Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge era and subsequent two decades of civil strife.

The Khmer Rouge remains a sensitive subject in Cambodia, with former members now living at all levels of society.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen -- a former Khmer Rouge cadre who defected -- has strongly opposed the pursuit of more suspects by the UN court, warning that it could start another civil war.

"Many people were killed, but many people did the killings. The number of killers who are still alive, who actually have blood on their hands or ordered the killings is around the thousands," Lemkin said.

The filmmakers say that the often difficult task of dealing with killers and confronting them with their crimes is a necessary one.

"This has got to be cleared up before these people die because otherwise the next generation in Cambodia will be growing up with this feeling of history as a black hole. And that's not healthy," Lemkin said.

But throughout the making of the film Teth Sambath was careful to leave his own family history to one side.

"If I use only my family members for this work, this is not good. Because not only my family but many people were killed," he said. "You have to think about... what is the most useful for all the people."

Lemkin said during the making of the film it was clear that Teth Sambath was not out for revenge.

"But actually the whole process of this investigation that he carried out was his own personal kind of non-violent revenge, in a kind of way. Because the truth is the revenge," he said.

Somali Pirates Hijack Cambodian Cargo Ship

January 28, 2010

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali gunmen hijacked a Cambodian cargo ship, the MV Layla-S, off Berbera after it unloaded at the port in the breakaway northern enclave of Somaliland, a regional maritime official said Thursday. "Crew members on board the ill-fated vessel are ... Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan, Somali and Syrian nationals," Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa, Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program said in a statement.

"It is said that the vessel has a link with Syrian and UAE businessmen. We are informed that she was taken by gunmen after discharging her cargo." The hijacking appeared to have happened Wednesday, but few other details were immediately available. The seizure came a week after Somali pirates freed a Greek-flagged tanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil for a record ransom.

Somaliland, which declared itself independent in 1991, is proud of its relative stability compared with the south of Somalia, where hardline Islamist rebels control large amounts of territory and are battling a weak Western-backed government.

Worldwide, piracy attacks rose by nearly 40 percent last year, with Somali gangs accounting for more than half the 406 reported incidents, the International Maritime Bureau says.

Typically, pirates from the failed Horn of Africa state hold the captured ships and crews hostage until ransoms are paid.

The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents 75 percent of the global seaborne industry, said this month that it felt deepening frustration at the international community's "impotence" in combating growing piracy in the Indian Ocean.

(Reporting by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Hun Sen also warned his military men to perform good deeds for the sake of the nation and the people: Are the military men that bad?

Cambodian PM advises military to focus on human resource development

January 28, 2010
Xinhua

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Thursday urged his military men at all levels, especially the leaders and commanders of the army, to focus on human resource development.

"We are aware that in early 21st century, technology has promoted infrastructure development at all sectors for humanity. However, compared to regional countries, Cambodia still has a big gap of human resource shortage that needs to be addressed," he said at the closing of the stocktaking workshop on the 5-Year Military Reform (2005-2009) and 5-Year Direction Setting (2010- 2014).

"Therefore, the Ministry of Defense and Commander-in-chief should continue to carry out 5-year armed forces reform by focusing on human resource development and promoting their capacity, so that our armed forces could stand equally with others in the region and in other developed countries," he said.

He said Cambodia has experienced many difficulties and enormous sacrifice, but has also successfully implemented "win-win policy" that brings to people and country peace, national conciliation, certain and full national unity.

While urging a continued strengthening on real human resources within the armed forces leadership, he also called for research studies to enhance the defense knowledge and other skills such as information technology as well as strengthening the international cooperation on military sector in both regional and global framework, aiming to develop and modernize the defense sector of Cambodia to be more competent and consistent with evolving situation and development of the nation and the world.

In his speech, Hun Sen also warned his military men to perform good deeds for the sake of the nation and the people.

Cambodian court convicts US sex offender again

January 28, 2010

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - An American man already serving a 10-year prison term for sexually abusing a teenage girl has been sentenced to three more years for a second offense.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Chhay Kong on Thursday found Michael James Dodd of Washington, D.C. guilty of soliciting sex from a 15-year-old girl and handed him the new sentence.

Last August, the same court sentenced Dodd to 10 years in jail and ordered him to pay 20 million riel (US$4,878) in compensation to a 14-year-old girl after finding him guilty of soliciting sex with her.

Meng Sotheary, Dodd's lawyer, said the court's latest decision was not legally sound but based solely on police reports and the girl's testimony.