Vietnam: la tension monte autour des expropriations de terres

Doan Van Vuon et sa famille ont blessé quatre policiers et deux soldats dans des affrontements en janvier, depuis lesquels il est détenu avec trois autres personnes. (AFP Hoang Dinh Nam)

HANOI (AFP) - Les expropriations de terres sont sources de tensions depuis des décennies au Vietnam, mais la température est brusquement montée d'un cran depuis qu'un paysan s'est barricadé dans sa maison, avec mines et arme à feu, pour tenir tête aux forces de l'ordre.

Doan Van Vuon et sa famille ont blessé quatre policiers et deux soldats dans des affrontements en janvier, depuis lesquels il est détenu avec trois autres personnes.

Mais ce rarissime acte de rébellion lui a apporté le soutien qu'il espérait le moins: l'autoritaire Premier ministre du régime communiste.

La semaine dernière, Nguyen Tan Dung a en effet promis des sanctions contre des responsables locaux corrompus, jugeant "illégale" l'éviction forcée du pisciculteur et la destruction de sa maison.

La preuve, selon les experts, que le pouvoir redoute le caractère explosif du dossier, dont on trouve des avatars dans toutes les provinces du pays et derrière lequel fleurit la corruption et l'abus de pouvoir.

Arrests sought in illegal sale of state land

Monday, 10 May 2010
Rann Ruey
The Phnom Penh Post
Siem Reap Province

SIEM Reap provincial court has ordered the arrests of five Environment Ministry officials accused of selling protected state land to villagers in Oddar Meanchey province, an investigating judge said Sunday.

Two of the five officials were arrested May 4, and authorities are searching for three others, Hok Pov said.

Ruth Rong and Nuon Hey have been charged with conspiring to destroy trees in Kulen-Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary, which has been officially designated a protected area.

“So far, two have been arrested, and officials are searching for the other three,” said Hok Pov, who declined to identify the other men, citing a fear that they would flee if their names became public.

The arrests were ordered after villagers from Anlong Veng district showed authorities documents indicating they had been sold state land by Environment Ministry officials, Hok Pov said.

In January, villager Chhoeut Chhong was arrested after he was accused of cutting down trees in the protected area – land he said he believed belonged to him.

Last month, 40 villagers staged a protest in front of Siem Reap provincial court demanding Chhoeut Chhong’s release, claiming they had purchased the land from government officials.

On Sunday, villagers involved in the dispute welcomed the arrests of the officials. But they also implored authorities to grant them permission to
continue living on the land.

“I appeal to Samdech Hun Sen to grant the land to us,” said Chhorm Chhoeun. “If we knew what the real situation was before, we would never have come to live on this land.”

Chhorm Chhoeun said that the officials convinced villagers to pay them US$1,000 each to lobby the government to award them 30-by-200-metre plots of land.

Despite the arrests of the officials, Hok Pov said he had no intention of releasing Chhoeut Chhong, the jailed villager, until the entire investigation is complete.

Disgusted with politicians' mansions

Hun Xen's mansion in Phnom Penh

Tue, Mar 30, 2010
Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network

PHILIPINES, MANILA: Disgusted by a public official's sprawling mansion or bulky SUV that you think is ill-gotten? Take a picture and send it to these guys.

Anti-corruption activists Tuesday (March 23) launched the Philippine Public Transparency Reporting Project (PPTRP) and its website, aiming to build from the grassroots "a constituency for change" to battle "endemic" graft and corruption.

The PPTRP website-www.transparencyreporting.net, subtitled "Pera Natin 'To (This is our Money)!"-will feature pictures of alleged ill-gotten wealth. Plans are underway to make the Statements of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) of government officials available online.

The first target of this "shame" drive? Politicians who put their names and pictures on signs announcing public projects.

"We want to shame people, shame politicians," said Briton Alan Davis, the director of the project which is funded by the United States Agency for International Aid (USAID).

"We would like to see an end to politicians putting their own names and photos on publicly funded projects. I think it's morally wrong for people to promote themselves on the back of public money," Davis said.

"It's wrong. Maybe it's even corrupt. You're basically using public money to advertise your own personal private gain, which is to get votes for the next election. And that is the definition of corruption," he said.

Davis said the group would write "all the politicians and all the presidential candidates" with the question, "Do you think this is morally acceptable or morally wrong?"

"And we will publish their replies," he said.

Davis also said the media should stop reporting that Philippine President Gloria Arroyo visited "her" projects somewhere in the country.

"They're not her projects. They don't belong to her. They belong to the people. The media will have to stop calling programmes as somebody's projects. That's what we don't like - the personification of public money," he said.

The PPTRP is a two-year anti-corruption and transparency reporting project that will work closely with journalists, civil servants and activists, the academe, and citizens nationwide to improve "understanding, engagement and action on public accountability and governance".

Davis said the PPTRP website would post the SALNs of government officials to spur ordinary citizens to conduct their own "lifestyle checks".

"We will put all SALNs online so that they would be accessible to all. We promise not to comment on them. We simply want to put them online so that people can use (the information) themselves and do lifestyle checks," he said, adding:

"We don't use the website as a tool to accuse people because that's not fair. We will look at everything on its merits. The key thing is to get people to understand that they're being watched and being monitored."

Davis, who is married to a Filipino, is the chief for Asia of the international non-government organisation Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

He joined the NGO in 1994 after working as a journalist and news editor, reporting from Cambodia, Viet Nam, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar).

He has also worked for the United Kingdom's Department for International Development.

Public involvement

According to Davis, ordinary citizens may go to the car park of a public office "and actually take pictures of cars they think" are beyond the financial reach of civil servants.

"If there's a Mercedes and Toyota Land Cruisers, send us the pictures. We will go to the (Land Transportation Office) and find out who owns those cars," Davis said.

"We want to get the public involved in the monitoring, in the naming and in the shaming," he said.

With USAID support, the PPTRP website will provide information and education to the public to promote a deeper understanding and better monitoring of public finances.

Too technical

"In terms of budget transparency in the Philippines, we always hear about corruption in tax administration, unaccountable expenditures, lump-sum appropriations, and often, these problems are seen as too technical for civil society or ordinary citizens to be involved with," said Maria Rendon, acting chief of USAID's Office of Economic Development and Governance.

"The project intends to spread awareness of the present issues in public finance and other facets of government so that people will understand and participate in the constituency for change," she said.

Rendon said budget issues were "often ignored, probably because the consequences seem to be intangible and detached from day-to-day lives. "

"But as our good colleague, Emily Boncodin, would say, public finances reflect the bottom line of government priorities," Rendon said, referring to the recently deceased and much admired former budget secretary.

"They determine the number of school buildings to be constructed, the quality of rural roads, the quality of health care and even the efficiency of elections," she said.

Twilight zone

Also present at the project launch held at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City, was Solita Monsod, a former director of the National Economic and Development Authority who warned that the country was losing the war against corruption.

"The Philippines is in the twilight zone where laws, rules and regulations are ignored or broken, where lack of transparency is the rule rather than the exception," Monsod said.

"On the macro level, we have been losing the battle on corruption or, at the least, we are not winning the battle as shown by indicators like the Global Corruption Barometer," she said.

Monsod said it was "utter hogwash" that "corruption is endemic in the Philippines because we are a morally and culturally flawed people."

"My counter-assertion is the plain and simple fact that the reason corruption is practiced so widely in this country is not because we are flawed but because we are rational. We engage in corrupt practice because it pays. The extra benefits far outweigh the extra costs to the practitioner," she said.

Court of public opinion

Even the justices of the Supreme Court should make their SALNs public to improve transparency in government, Davis said.

If not, he said, the PPTRP would use "the court of public opinion" to "shame in a respectful way" the tribunal into agreeing to release the SALNs of its members.

"We can write to them. We're going to publish our letter and...their reply. We're going to say, 'Why do you have that policy' Who decided that?" Davis said.

Meul Chos Neak Ches - "The knowledgeables?": A Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'Em

Click on the poem to zoom in

Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'Em

The telecoms tycoon : Dealings over two decades

Thaksin and Hun Sen (file photo : epa)

October 23, 2009
By Don Pathan
The Nation

Bilateral ties at a new low, thanks to 'ruthless' PM and the 'trusty' Chavalit

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva hit back yesterday at controversial remarks by Cambodian PM Hun Sen. His comments - see the story below - are just the latest blip in years of rocky ties, in which ousted Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra has been a key player.

Relations between Thaksin and Hun Sen go back nearly two decades when the former was an up-and-coming businessman trying to align himself with important people.

It started with lucrative business contracts in the area of telecommunication with the Vietnamese-installed government in Phnom Penh at the time Hun Sen was top man on the hill.

And when it was time to lay a new foundation for the war-torn country through the UN-sponsored election in 1993, Thaksin was a supporter of Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Hun Sen lost to Prince Norodom Ranariddh's Funcinpec Party but was able to muscle his way in to become a "co-prime minister".

Ranariddh being PM meant the end of Thaksin's telecom and cable TV deal in the country, which he obtained through the help of the prime minister's half brother Prince Jakrapong before the 1993 election.

The cancellation was a set-back but it wasn't everything. Thaksin waited for his turn to reap whatever he could in Cambodia.

In mid-1994, bickering between Hun Sen and Jakrapong brought Thaksin back in the spotlight. There were allegations that Thaksin had financed a coup against Hun Sen. Jakrapong fled to Malaysia. A couple of Thai nationals working for Thaksin in Cambodia were detained but later released.

Thaksin denied meddling in Cambodia's internal affairs. No one knows if Hun Sen actually believed him. Perhaps for the sake of continuity, Hun Sen permitted the issue to pass by without really getting to the bottom of the allegation.

Noted Cambodia scholar Stephen Heder once described Hun Sen in stark terms: "He is both a competent political administrator and a ruthless political criminal."

Indeed, this former Khmer Rogue cadre has never been afraid of using force. In late 1995 he sent armed men in tanks to arrest Prince Sirivudh, King Sihanouk's half-brother, after hearing a rumour that the then secretary-general of Funcinpec had whispered that it may be easier to hire thugs to kill Hun Sen than put up with him.

No one ever believed the CPP-Funcinpec coalition would last. Four years after the UN-sponsored election that was supposed to end bloodshed, Hun Sen launched a bloody coup against Ranariddh.

The prince's men were forced to flee as his military faction, led by General Nek Bunchhay, retreated to the border while Khmer Rouge cadre in Anlong Veng came to their aid.

In early 2001, Thaksin came to power in Thailand at a time Cambodia was trying to pick itself up after decades of war and look for ways to benefit from being part of Asean. But all this time, Hun Sen never forgot the people who helped his step to power in Phnom Penh - namely, Vietnam.

When Funcinpec was still around - in or out of power - Vietnam, because of its historical support for CPP, was always at the butt of Ranariddh's jokes and sarcasm. Thailand's escaping the talkative prince's verbal assault partly because Funcinpec heads tended to take refuge at Soi Suan Phlu whenever there was trouble in Phnom Penh.

Today, Thailand is effectively the butt of Hun Sen's sarcasm.

In 2003 Hun Sen gave legitimacy to an unconfirmed remark by a Thai celebrity about Angkor Wat and the end result was the torching of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh and the looting of Thai businesses.

But the strongman managed to come out of this ahead. Hun Sen used the riot as a pretext to remove then Phnom Penh governor Chea Sophara from his post and install a CPP man from his faction.

Relations between Thailand and Cambodia took a nosedive but for a businessman like Thaksin, money could heal all wounds. Thaksin's investments in the country were taken care of, and it was eventually the same for other Thai-owned businesses. Things were back in sync until the border dispute over Preah Vihear.

The recent pronouncement by Hun Sen that the fugitive Thaksin was welcome to reside in Cambodia not only adds salt to the Thailand's wounds but has brought bilateral ties to a new low. And of all people, it was a veteran Thai politician, a man known for his lack of trustworthiness, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who handed Hun Sen the ammunition.

Court Drops Judicial Academy Bribery Case [-What else is new under Hun Sen's corrupt regime?]

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
22 May 2009

As a fifth class of judiciary students were preparing to begin classes at a government academy this year, Phnom Penh Municipal Court documents show that a $55,000 bribery suit between a prospective student and one near-graduate was nearly fought.

According to the official complaint, obtained by VOA Khmer on the condition that names not be used, the plaintiff, whose “younger sibling” hoped to enter the Royal Academy for Judicial Professions, paid $35,000 to a Class Three student, having been promised the money would earn the sibling a seat in the prestigious school.

The case was settled out of court this month, according to a Phnom Penh court source, with the academy student agreeing to return $35,000 to the plaintiff.

The filing of such a complaint underscores at least a perceived understanding that it takes money to get a seat at the donor-supported school. The complaint also adds weight to complaints by students who are already in the school and who say they must pay bribes in order to get judge’s seats across the judicial system.

The defendant who allegedly took the money was a student in Class 3 of the academy who has finished school and is awaiting professional assignment in Cambodia’s court system, the court source said. Two students at the academy contacted by VOA Khmer also said the defendant was a Class 3 student.

“Before the exam, the school called [the defendant] to meet all the students and asked whether they should allow him to take his exams or not, as he was implicated in a court case on taking someone’s money to ‘run business’ for a judicial student seat,” the court source told VOA Khmer, on condition of anonymity. “At that time, students agreed then that he could take the exam; otherwise, he would have already lost his career.”

Judicial students contacted by VOA Khmer said the case had been discussed at the academy.

The plaintiff, a 30-year-old woman from Phnom Penh, claims in the complaint she paid the former student to secure a position for her “younger sibling” to enter Class Five of the academy.

After her family member did not gain admittance, the plaintiff filed suit to have the $35,000 returned and for $20,000 in further compensation, according to the court document, registered as No. 566.

The defendant, the woman wrote the court prosecutor, “has used tricks to cheat and took money from me, $35,000…by lying that he took it to use in the liaison work so that my younger sibling [redacted] be admitted as a Class Five student judge. But when the examination day arrived, surprisingly, [redacted] was not on the list of the examination, and [defendant] just disappeared.”

The court source told VOA Khmer the defendant had apparently taken the money but instead of bribing officials to secure admittance to the academy had spent it on personal expenses.

“When he spent all of it out of pocket, that money did not ‘run business,’” the source said. “The [plaintiff] was angry and filed a lawsuit to the court, as he did not even pay back the money taken.”

The two sides reconciled out of court, the source said.

The defendant and plaintiff could not be reached for comment Wednesday as phone numbers were not available to VOA Khmer.

Koet Sekano, secretary-general of the Royal Academy for Judicial Professions, reached by phone Wednesday, said he had no time to speak with a VOA Khmer reporter.

Chea Meth, leader of Class Three, which recently graduated, told VOA Khmer on Wednesday that the court case was a “personal” matter of another student.

“For me, I do not know if there have been any implications with money or whatever,” he said.

Chea Meth, and fellow Class Three graduates Yet Molin and Hok Pov, also reached by phone Wednesday, denied paying money ensure spots in the academy and said they had no knowledge of the bribery case.

Class Five began May 4.

The court complaint is further evidence of a perception of corruption and bribery within the ranks of those who wish to join Cambodia’s judicial profession, which has come under fire by academy students in recent weeks, even as the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal struggles with allegations that some Cambodian staff members pay kickbacks for their positions.

Some at the academy expect to pay at least $20,000 to be seated as judges or other court officials in the judicial system, according to VOA Khmer interviews over the past three months with three current students and one graduate of the Royal Academy for Judicial Professions, a Phnom Penh court official, a Ministry of Justice official and others.

“It’s shameful for me to do this, but there is no choice,” said one student, who explained how he paid thousands of dollars to ensure he’d pass his entrance exam and gain a seat in the academy. “I joined this career because I saw that the salary of the judge was better than the government, and in the process of [national] reform, this is a better paying job than others.”

Another current student at the academy said to become a judge was to have a chance to reform the country, even if money was paid to secure the opportunity.

“We go not to do a bad thing, but to help promote good action in the court,” this student said.

Former and current students described having to pay older classmates money to use as brokerage for judge’s positions in the court system after graduation, including as much as $150,000 to be a judge in Phnom Penh. Money is paid cash up front, before admittance into the elite academy, they said.

The government has denied the allegations, and a leading government lawyer, Heng Vong Bunchat, on Wednesday refused to comment further to VOA Khmer.

“I’m not a person clarifying things for you,” said Heng Vong Bunchat when reached by phone. “You are [working for] a radio that… has no responsibility. You’re so mighty. You [are working for] a radio of a superpower. You must seriously think [of the consequences]. Once one is influential, he has to seriously think [of the consequences]. You just flip here and there [referring to broadcasting] and then make a phone call. I [derogative] never see your face and now come here to show your face.”

For a full transcript of the phone interview with Heng Vong Bunchat, read the following post

100 RCAF soldiers guarding mining concession owned by Vietnamese company Geosimco: Global Witness

General Ouk Kosa’s business card. General Ouk Kosa is head of Cambodia’s military development zones. He is also reported to be the CEO of the Southern Mining project in Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary
A worker at the Southern Mining site wearing a Geosimco logo jacket. Geosimco is a branch of Vietnam’s Coal and Mineral Industries Group, which reportedly bought 70 percent of the Southern Mining Company in 2008

Cambodian soldiers, Vietnamese owners?

Excerpt from "Country for Sale"
Global Witness

Global Witness investigators attempted to visit the Southern Mining concession in mid-2008, but their access was blocked by guards, some of whom were wearing the RCAF military uniform. The guards had radios which they said were capable of communicating with the head office in Phnom Penh. When asked why they needed to talk with Phnom Penh, the Global Witness team were told by the guards that the company bosses were furious that environmentalists were previously able to access the site and blamed them. Thereafter, the guards have been told to carry radios and to contact headquarters if anyone tried to access the site again.

The site is guarded by approximately 100 RCAF soldiers from Battalion 501. A senior guard on site claimed to represent the interests of General Meas Sophea, the commander of the RCAF infantry forces.

Workers at the mine also claimed that General Ouk Kosa – the head of Cambodia’s military development zones – is the president and CEO of the mine. Global Witness investigators were given his phone number to obtain permission to visit the site and that of his deputy, Colonel Aoch Chany. When Global Witness contacted General Ouk Kosa, he said that the mine had been sold to the Vietnamese, but would not give a name or contact number for the new owners.

According to the soldiers guarding the site, the Southern Mining concession had been previously owned by a Chinese company, and had only been taken over by the Vietnamese owners around April 2008. The guards were pleased with the new arrangements, claiming that the former owners had not paid their salaries on time, while the Vietnamese company regularly paid them US$150 a month, including medical insurance.

On site visits Global Witness investigators noted that one of the mine employees was wearing a jacket with the Geosimco logo and Vietnamese writing. Geosimco is a branch of the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries group, otherwise known as Vinacomin.

In August 2008, the The Cambodia Daily reported that Vinacomin had bought a 70 per cent share of the Southern Mining Company. The beneficial owners of the remaining 30 per cent are still unclear.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: High-Ranking Pigs

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

Oh, Sila-thor Khmer...? "Where is the Khmer Moral Conduct...?" - Poem by Serey Ratha Sourn

Click on the poem to zoom in

Opulence and ubiquitous poverty in Cambodia: A study in stark contrast

Entrance gate to the opulent villa belonging to a government official (Photo: Posted online by P. Virak)
Ubiquitous lifestyle of the majority of Cambodians (Photo: Posted online by P. Virak)

Forestry protection activist shot and killed in Stung Treng

05 July 2007
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

45-year-old Seng Saran, the leader of a community group to protect local forestry and fisheries in Sre Kor commune, Sesan district, Stung Treng province, died after he was shot by an unknown assailant at 7:30 PM on Wednesday 04 July 2007.

Som Cha, Seng Saran’s Lao wife, confirmed that he was shot by a bullet fired from the bottom of their house, while he was sitting upstairs eating with his family. The bullet pierced his buttock and he passed away half an hour later.

The wife of the victim said that she does not know the cause of the assassination, but her husband led the villagers in natural resources protection activities. Seng Saran’s wife called for a search of her husband’s assassin to be brought to face justice: “Please help me find justice, if he can be found, let him die like my husband.”

Ting Sing, the No. 1 Sre Kor commune councilor, said the Seng Saran was recently nominated as the leader of the community group to protect local forestry and fisheries, following the increase in the number of illegal local logging and fishing activities.

Ting Sing said that the assassination is not political, but that it was done because of revenge instead. “If he had disputes (with others), I don’t know about them, but as far as (the assassination) being political, there is no way.”

At the location where the incident took place, the police found one bullet shell – similar to that of an AK-47 machine gun – underneath the victim’s house. However, they did not find any other evidence on the identity of the assassin.

Kang Mao, Sre Kor police chief, said the police cannot evaluate the nature of assassination because experts are still conducting their assessment, and they are looking into the bullet lodged in the victim’s body. “They are reviewing the bullet which is still stuck inside his body.”

Chhay Ret, an official of Adhoc human rights organization who visited the incident spot on 05 July 2007, said that Adhoc officials are conducting their investigation into this case, but that so far, no evidence can be found and no witnesses have come forward to talk about the cause of this savage assassination.

Chhay Ret said: “He was shot from the bottom of his house, and there is no sign of the assassin. However, be fore he died, he called the commune chief by phone, asking him for help. When the commune chief arrived, he already died. I cannot make any assumption, we are looking into the cause and we are performing preliminary investigations.”

Sre Kor commune councilors said that in the past anarchy took place in the commune with the illegal logging of precious woods, and the destruction of fisheries. These incidents were perpetrated by a number of armed local government officials.

Seng Saran is himself an Adhoc activist in Stung treng province, and he is also the leader of the community group to protect local forestry and fisheries which was organized by the Sipa organization in Strung Treng province.

According to an Adhoc official, a few days earlier, Seng Saran led the villagers in a protest to protect the lands which were grabbed by a land concession company.