ប្រតិកម្មប​ន្ថែមរបស់អ​គ្គនាយកទស្សនាវដ្តីសា​រព័ត៌មានសេ​រីតបនឹងពាក្យកុហកភូតភរ​បស់សួន សេរីរដ្ឋា

Lem Piseth

Source: Free Press Magazine Online

លោកអ្នកនាងជាទីមេត្រី!

នៅថ្ងៃនេះ លោកឡឹម ពិសិដ្ឋ អគ្គនាយកទស្សនាវដ្តីសារព័ត៌មានសេរី បានប្រាប់វិទ្យុសម្លេងខ្មែរ ដើម្បីសេរីភាព​ អំពីសកម្មទុច្ចរិតរបស់លោកសួន សេរីរដ្ឋា និងការបោកប្រាស់ របស់មេ ដឹកនាំ ចលនា អំណាចពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ មួយនេះ ដើម្បីអោយសាធារណជនបានជ្រាប ។ សូម លោកអ្នកនាង តាមដាន ស្តាប់កិច្ចសន្ទនា នយោបាយរបស់វិទ្យុសម្លេងខ្មែរ ដើម្បីសេរីភាព ដែលបាន ចាក់ផ្សាយ កាលពីថ្ងៃទី០១ និងទី០២​ សីហា ស្តីអំពីប្រតិកម្មបន្ថែមរបស់លោក ឡឹម ពិសិដ្ឋ តបនឹង ការនិយាយ មិនពិតរបស់លោកសួន សេរីរដ្ឋា ដូចតទៅ៖​

Audio program:

Hosted by kiwi6.com file hosting. Download mp3 - Free File Hosting.

Sourn Serey Ratha's response to Lim Piseth of the Free Press Magazine

សូមជំរាបសួរ បង ឡឹម ពិសិដ្ឋ

ខ្ញុំបាទបានអានលិខិតរបស់បុគ្គលម្នាក់នោះហើយ។ សុភាសិត ខ្មែរមួយ បាន ចែងថា « ចេះឯង អោយក្រែងចេះគេ” ហើយក៏គ្មាន បុគ្គលណាម្នាក់ មកតាំងខ្លួន ធ្វើជាអាទិទេព ទៅសង្គ្រោះជាតិខ្មែរម្នាក់ឯងបានទេ ។ ដូច្នេះ បើសិន ធ្វើជាមេដឹកនាំ ក៏ត្រូវមាន សុជីវធម៌ និង សីលធម៌ ធ្វើជាគំរូដើម្បីដឹកនាំគេដែរ ។

សូមអរគុណបង!

គុជ លី

ជំរាបជូន លោក ឡឹម ពិសិដ្ឋ,

ខ្ញុំអគុណ នូវការបកស្រាយដ៏អន្លង់អន្លោចរបស់លោក និងអគុណនូវការឆ្លើយតបដែលលោកបានបញ្ជាក់ថា ពាក្យ ដែលលោកចោទប្រកាន់មកលើ ចលនា អំណាចពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ថាជា ចលនាមួយមានបំណងផ្តួលរំលំ រដ្ឋាភិបាលដោយកម្លាំងប្រដាប់អាវុធនោះ គឺលោក និយាយតាម លោក ហ៊ុន សែន ទេ ។ នេះហើយទើប សម ជាអ្នកសារព័ត៌មាន ដែលប្រើវិជ្ជាជីវៈ កុំនិយាយជាប់មាត់ អត់ប្រធាន អត់កិរិយា អត់កម្មបទ ដូចកាលពីថ្ងៃមុន ដែលចោទ មកលើ ចលនា អំណាចពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ហើយមិនបានលើកប្រាប់អ្នកស្តាប់ថា លោក និយាយតាម លោក ហ៊ុន សែន នោះ ។

អ្វីដែលខ្ញុំ ចង់បាន គឺបានរួចហើយ នោះគឺ លោបាននិយាយថា លោកនិយាយចោទមកលើ ចលនា អំណាចពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ថា ជា ចលនា មានបំណងចង់ផ្តួលរំលំរដ្ឋាភិបាល ដោយកម្លាំងប្រដាប់អាវុធនោះ គឺលោក និយាយតាមលោក ហ៊ុន សែន ទេ គ្រាន់តែកាលពីថ្ងៃទី ២១ ខែកក្កដា ប្រហែលជាលោកមិនចង់ប្រាប់អ្នកស្តាប់ ថា លោក និយាយ ចោទប្រកាន់ ចលនា អំណាចពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ តាមពាក្យ លោក ហ៊ុន សែន ។

ចំពោះខ្ញុំនិងលោក បើលោក ចង់បូបាច់បំប៉ោង វែងអន្លាយដល់ណាក៏ទៅតាមចិត្តលោកចុះ ខ្ញុំមិនខ្វល់នឹងលោក ទេ ព្រោះលោកមិនមែនជាមនុស្ស ដែលត្រូវខ្ញុំត្រូវយកចិត្តទុកដាក់នោះទេ ។ អ្វីដែលខ្ញុំយកចិត្តទុកដាក់ គឺ ចលនា អំណាចពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ និងសមាជិក របស់​ ចលនា គឺមិនអោយអ្នកសារព័ត៌មាន «អ្នកក្រសែត» ណាម្នាក់ មកលាបពណ៌ ចោទប្រកាន់ ឬដាក់ឈ្មោះតាមតែអំពើរចិត្ត របៀបដូចលោក ហ៊ុន សែន ចង់បាន​ ដែលត្រូវ ទាញ យក​ ចលនា អំណាចពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរ ថាជា ចលនា ប្រដាប់អាវុធ នោះទេ ព្រោះយើងមានច្បាប់ ធ្វើតាមច្បាប់ និងប្រឆាំងនូវរាល់រូបភាព ហឹង្សាប្រដាប់អាវុធ ។

ចំពោះក្រុមមនុស្សមួយចំនួន ដែលលោក លើកឡើង ដែលដែលត្រៀមខ្លួនទៅរួមចំណែកជាមួយលោក ដើម្បី ជួយធ្វើសង្រ្គាមជាមួយនឹងខ្ញុំនោះ សូមលោកសហការជាមួយដោយរីករាយចុះ ។​

បទ​សម្ភាសន៍​ជាមួយ​ម្ចាស់​បទ​ពាក់​អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ ឬ​នាង​ពាក់​តែ​អាវ​យួន

Interview with the author of the song "Peak Av Min Del Kheunh Doss" (Never saw you taking off that shirt) or "Neang Peak Ter Av Yuon" (Girl, you only wear that Yuon shirt)

សុក្រ 05 សីហា 2011
Free Press Magazine Online

 

នៅ​ពេល​យុទ្ធនាការ​ឃោសនា​បោះ​ឆ្នោត​ម្តងៗ​នៅ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ គេ​តែង​តែ​ស្តាប់​លឺ​បទ​ពាក់អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ ដែល​ចាក់​ផ្សាយ​តាមរយៈ​ប្រព័ន្ធ​ឧឃ្ឃោសនស័ព្ទ​របស់​ខ្លួន តែ​គេមិន​ដែល​ស្គាល់​អ្នក​ចម្រៀង​ដែល​ច្រៀង​រៀបរាប់​ពីការ​ដឹកនាំ​ប្រទេស​តាម​របៀប​ផ្តាច់ការ និង​រណប​យូន​នោះ​ទេ។ នៅ​ពេល​នេះ លោក ឡឹម ពិសិដ្ឋ អគ្គនាយក នៃ​ទស្សនាវដ្តី​សារព័ត៌មាន​សេរី និង​វិទ្យុសម្លេង​ខ្មែរ​ដើម្បី​សេរីភាព បាន​ជួប​សម្ភាសន៍​ជាមួយ​នឹង​ម្ចាស់​សំនៀង នៃ​បទ​ពាក់អាវ​មិន​ដែល​ឃើញ​ដោះ ឬ​បទ​នាង​ពាក់​តែ​អាវ​យួន​នេះ ដែល​មាន​ខ្លឹមសារ​ដូច​តទៅ ៖

Click here to listen to the interview in Khmer:

Click here to listen to the SRP's song Doss Av Pdach Kar

(Take off that dictatorship shirt!):

Click here to download the song in MP3

Click here to download other SRP songs

Peter Foster: Everything written in the story about ECCC by FPM online connected to my name was a complete fiction

KI-Media Note: On 22 June 2011, KI-Media translated an article in Khmer  published by the Free Press Magazine Online. Following the translation of that article, Peter Foster, who was quoted in the article, reacted by stating that the published story was a "complete fiction." In view of Peter Foster's reaction, we are publishing below the reactions by Peter Foster, Pech Bandol of the FPM and Lem Piseth, the FPM editor. We would like to apologize to Peter Foster if mistakes were made in our translation of the FPM article from Khmer to English. Our apologies go to the Free Press Magazine also.

សុក្រ 24 មិថុនា 2011 2:51 PM

Source: http://www.fpmonline.net/archives/7409

Peter W. Foster, former UNAKRT Pubilc Affairs Officer at Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), reacts to a news story which is written by Pich Bandol of The Free Press Magazine online and published on 22 June titled ‘Political pressure at the KRT pushes UN legal officials to walk out.’

Peter Foster mentioned a day after the publication that everything written in the story connected to his name was a complete fiction.

The article which referred to Foster’s comment in 2008 before he ended his contract with ECCC was written that his resignation was because of his unsatisfactory with the KR tribunal.

In his email sent to The Free Press Magazine yesterday, Peter Foster wrote, ‘I did not resign from UNAKRT due to any unhappiness or concern with my role or the work of the court. My contract came up and I didn’t renew primarily due to family obligations in 2008.’

‘I do not know Pech Bandol. I have never spoken to him about the current situation in the ECCC, and to the best of my knowledge, I have never spoken to him at all,’ wrote Peter Foster by adding that, ‘I have never at any time made the comments which have been attributed to me in this story.’

Independen​t Media in Exile - report 2011 [-Cambodia's case: The Free Press Magazine]

CIMA is pleased to release a new report, Independent Media in Exile, by Bill Ristow, a veteran journalist and international journalism trainer. The report explores the challenges faced by journalists living in exile from countries with repressive regimes and examines the impact that their courageous reporting makes in their home countries. Drawing on the results of a survey of 36 individuals representing 33 exile media organizations from 18 countries, the report calls for increased coordination among journalists and organizations operating in exile and encourages donors and trainers to actively assist exile media.

Source: http://cima.ned.org/publications/independent-media-exile

Cambodia: The Free Press Magazine Online is an independent media in exile

CIMA- Independent Media in Exile - 06-15-11
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/58007603?access_key=key-27lcfzzhrn3afpeknfpp

CAMBODIA: When actions convergence, change can't be stopped

Pro-democracy Cambodians are united in their hatred for Vietnam's expansionism into Cambodia, and in their opposition to the autocracy of Premier Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party, backed by the King Father and his son, the current king. All four have allowed illegal Vietnamese settlements in Cambodia while the country's underprivileged are evicted from their land, their homes bulldozed, and they are beaten by the police.

FOR PUBLICATION
AHRC-ETC-009-2011
April 15, 2011

An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission

CAMBODIA: When actions convergence, change can't be stopped

April 15, 2011

Happy Khmer New Year of the Rabbit to all my Cambodian and non-Cambodian Buddhist readers! May you be blessed in this New Year with new thoughts and a new soul as you face the challenges of the 21st century!

In my first article for the Asian Human Rights Commission in the Year 2555 of the Buddhist era, I'd like to begin with Buddha's "To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent."

I believe problems, personal or communal, can be solved through sustained creative and innovative efforts, and predicaments can be addressed as one develops a capacity to cope. Don't stay idle; do something, do many things, to respond to the inevitable pain of personal loss(es). Quality thinking and positive thinking can catalyze personal and social change.

Buddha on Responsibility 

"I do believe in a fate that falls on [men] unless they act," preached Gautama Buddha 2,500 years ago. We act to change, to improve situations from what they are to what we would like them to be. Passive behavior assures that our destiny becomes our fate. Man is responsible for what he is. As Buddha said, "Work out your own salvation … No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path."

Khmer Krom’s refugee status bid overturned once again

29 Dec 2009
By Pech Bandol
Free Press Magazine
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

For up-to-date news in Khmer, please read the Free Press Magazine Online

Under yesterday’s scorching heat, 24 Khmer Krom people who recently saw their refugee status bid rejected by the UNHCR in Bangkok, made another attempt to request the refugee status from the UNHCR office in Cambodia. However, they did not succeed in this attempt.

The Khmer Krom group which consists of 8 children, 8 men and 8 women spent one year and a half in Bangkok, but, at the end, they were deported back to Cambodia. Yesterday, Chau Hen, the representative of the group, said that Khmer Krom are considered as Khmer, and this issue is the stalling point in their bid to gain the refugee status so that they can be accepted into a third country.

Currently, these Khmer Krom people are living in various secret places after they made an attempt to request Khmer citizenship, as well as housing and lands for cultivation, from the Cambodian government. However, their request did not receive any response from the government.

Nong Duc Manh to meet Viet association in Cambodia today

Click to Read More...

Samleng Sereypheap - "Voice of Freedom": The Free Press Magazine to expand its coverage

Dear respectful readers,

The Free Press Mangazine will launch a cooperative project named Samleng Sereypheap from January 2010 and it will broadcast daily news and news analysises 5 days a week from Monday-Friday. The Free Press Magazine will also cooperate with a Khmer language newspaper named The Sereipheap Thmey and this newspaper will be posted daily on fpmponline (in PDF).

Read message from our team in Cambodia via: http://www.fpmonline.net/

We are right here to provide you better news and other services.

Best regards,
Piseth Lem

The Free Press Magazine Online Vol. 1, Issue #12 is now available

Click here to read the Free Press Magazine online

The Free Press Magazine Online Vol. 1, #10 is now available

Click here to read the Free Press Magazine Online

"In this day and age, we use the law, if you don’t know, don’t jump!": A tale from the "borderless" kingdoom

Click here to read the cartoon story on the
Free Press Magazine Online website

01 September 2009
Story by Author Without Border
Cartoons by Cartoonist Without Border (aka Sacrava)
Translation from Khmer by Translator Wihout Border (aka Heng Soy)
Originally posted by The Free Press Magazine Online

Cartoon 1:
Reports about the successful repressions of the opposition and government critics through the judicial system came to be known by the chief of a faraway village.

The village chief, who is not too happy with his constituents who tend to protest against his orders, started to put to work the strategy of legal threatening against the villagers, just like what the country leader is doing. One day, the village chief summoned all the villagers for a meeting.

Cartoon 2:
Village Chief (vCPP): Sanh, you must stop talking about the tree logging I am conducting in the forest north of the village from now on, otherwise, I will sue you for defamation… Don’t you know that in this day and age, we use the law? If you don’t know, don’t jump!

Sanh: Yes, older brother village chief, I do not dare talk about it. My wife and kids will not have anything to eat if I am jailed.

Cartoon 3:
vCPP: Good that you understand like this. Sao! It’s the same for you also. If you dare talk to anybody about me raping Ah Phes’ wife last year again, I will sue you and send you to jail for violating the rights of a private individual. Don’t you know that in this day and age, we use the law? If you don’t know, don’t jump!

Cartoon 4:
Sao: Yes, older brother village chief, I do not dare talk about it anymore. If I am jailed, it would be very miserable.

Cartoon 5:
vCPP: Sok! You shouldn’t allow Sam to raise another political party’s sign in front of your house. If you don’t listen to me, and you allow him to raise the sign again, I will sue you and send you to jail for abetting party traitors. Don’t you know that in this day and age, we use the law? If you don’t know, don’t jump!

Sok: Yes, older brother village chief, I will tell him to take down the sign right away. Why would I want to go to jail?

Cartoon 6:
vCPP: Soy, it is the same for you also. If you dare investigate the 5-hectare of community land that I sold last dry season, and if you dare write this story for news publication, I will sue you and send you to jail for disinformation. Just look at Ta Hang Chakra and you will know! He was sent to jail for one year and he must pay 9 million riels in fine also. Don’t you know that in this day and age, we use the law? If you don’t know, don’t jump!

Cartoon 7:
Soy: Yes, I will quit being a reporter from now on so that you don’t have to jot down the lawsuit.

Cartoon 8:
The village chief looks very pleased, he couldn’t stop smiling when he saw that all the villagers fear him and his power.

vCPP: This is what I call people who learn without wasting the rice they eat!

Cartoon 9:
Suddenly, Say, who was setting down to sit, inadvertently let out a loud farting noise. All the villagers could not hold and burst out in laughter: Ha! Ha! Ha!

Cartoon 10:
The village chief became very angry and he shouted: “Say, how dare you fart during a meeting? I will sue you and send you to jail for looking down on the meeting and for polluting the environment. Don’t you know that in this day and age, we use the law? If you don’t know, don’t jump!

Cartoon 11:
Say became all pale because she fears the village chief’s lawsuit power. But the villagers continue to laugh even louder because they couldn’t believe that the village chief would issue an order to end farting and he also could sue and send someone to jail just for that.

Carton 12:
The village chief’s face turns all red.

vCPP: How do you dare laugh and mock me? I will sue you all for looking down on a public figure. Don’t you know that in this day and age, we use the law? If you don’t know, don’t jump! I will call the cops to come arrest you and send you to jail so the mosquitoes can bite you one whole night long, then you’ll see how it is!

Cartoon 13:
Just then, a group of cops and a judge arrived at the scene.

Cops: There’s no need to call us! We are already here to arrest you, the village chief

Cartoon 14:
Villagers: Sathuk! Sathuk! (Pray Buddha!) In this day and age, we use the law. If you don’t know, don’t jump!

Judge: The laws that you used, they were all taken by Pol Pot to his grave since long ago!

The Free Press Magazine Online Vol. 1, No. 9 now available

Click here to read The Free Press Magazine Online:
http://fpmonline.net

Free Press Magazine Online Vol 1 No. 08 is now available

Click here to read the Free Press Magazine online

Issue #6 of The Free Press Magazine Online now available

The Free Press Magazine Online (FPM online),
Vol. 1, Issue #6, Monday 20th July 2009
http://www.fpmonline.net

Content

1. Article 1- Commentary: Corruption & Political Will
2. Article 2-Visit by Cambodian Strong Man to France Welcome by Rock Rather Than Carrot
3. Article 3- Daughter of Jailed Publisher & Editor of Khmer Mchas Srok (KMS) Newspaper Receive Donation of 1,100 USD from Khmers in Norway
4. Article 4- KMS Jailed Publisher Demanding The Appeals Court Applying Press Law on His Case
5. Article 5- Opinion and Fact: KR S21 & M13 Interrogator Morm Nai and His Work between 1975-1979
6. Article 6- Hun Sen Leading and Turning Cambodia to Autocratic Regime, FPM Analyses.

To read the articles on FPM Online, please click the picture of each article and you will be taken to the corresponding PDF file.

The Free Press Magazine Online is established to bring the fact about the level of human right respect, freedom of expression and the press in Cambodia for Cambodians and all in the international community to read.

Regards,

Lem Piseth, FPM Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Open Letter from Lem Piseth, Free Press Magazine Editor-in-Chief

Click on the letter in Khmer to zoom in

Unofficial translation from Khmer by Socheata

Open letter from the Editor-in-chief
of the Free Press Magazine
to the Readers

Respected and beloved Readers!

The Free Press Magazine (FPM) is restarting its publication again on the Internet, starting from 06 July 2009, through the following website: http://www.fpmonline.net

The restart of our publication takes place after the magazine suspended its publication for more than one year because our workgroup in Cambodia is concerned about their security and personal safety following the launch of our first number in November 2007, and the subsequent confiscation of our magazine from the various newspaper kiosks selling them in Phnom Penh and a number of other provinces. Furthermore, it was reported that spies from the Cambodian ministry of Interior copied the personal biography of the FPM personnel from the information center in order to investigate on them.

Mr. Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman, accused the FPM of violating the constitution for publishing an article about the role of King Norodom Sihanouk, the former king of Cambodia, during the Khmer Rouge regime and the trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders at the KR Tribunal. The article was written by Dr. Lao Mong Hay and it was titled: “There is no immunity for Samdech Norodom Sihanouk.”

In his interview with The Cambodia Daily in its 03 November 2007 edition, Mr. Khieu Kanharith also accused the FPM editor of being a Khmer Republican group that wants to topple the monarchy.

However, regarding the confiscation of the FPM, political observers in Cambodia are of a different opinion: the magazine was confiscated because it published an article on the murder of Mrs. Piseth Pilika, a famous Cambodian actress. The publication of this article earned the ire of Mr. Hok Lundy, then-national police commissioner, as well as those of Mr. Hun Sen and Bun Rany Hun Sen, because of their involvement in this murder.

The author of the article, which was titled “The identity of Mrs. Pilika’s assassin is known, but the authority wouldn’t dare arrest him,” showed numerous proofs left behind by Mrs. Pilika, as well as a poem personally penned by Prime minister Hun Sen sent to her, and the results of the investigation provided by the former chief of investigation on this murder.

Since the confiscation of the magazine, all FPM personnel resigned from their position because they were concerned about their security and personal safety.

Furthermore, FPM had a hard time finding a print shop in Cambodia that dares print its copies. When the FPM’s Editor-in-chief returned back to Cambodia following a short flight overseas, the print shop which used to print the magazine refused to continue its printing and the print shop owner raised the fact that he was concerned the government may shut him down. Other print shops also said the same thing, therefore, the second number of the FPM, which would have been published on 02 January 2008, had to be suspended and all that the editor-in-chief could do was to send out the articles to readers through emails.

In order to share editorials and comments with our readers, the FPM plans to restart its publication again under my responsibility. We have decided to publish the number 5 issue of the FPM online on 13 July 2009, through the following website: http://www.fpmonline.net

I am also stressing that the current publication is not under the responsibility of the former reporters and editors of the FPM in Cambodia. Therefore, I am calling on the Cambodian government and authorities not to harass these former employees.

Quite to the contrary, I am encouraging the government of Cambodia to continue its application of the [1991] Paris Peace Accords [on Cambodia], the [Cambodian] Constitution, and the [Cambodian] information law to resolve the lawsuits it brought against Cambodian journalists.

Done in Norway, 13 July 2009

Lem Piseth
Editor-in-Chief

Lem Piseth's Free Press Magazine is now available online

Link to the Free Press Magazine online: http://www.fpmonline.net

The tales of two freedom fighters

Piseth Lem (L) and Sourn Serey Ratha (R)

July 1, 2009
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

"As adults, Sourn believes the power of the pen will bring forth a people power that will defeat the power of the guns, and Lem believes in the power of free press to promote democracy and human rights.

By running such men out of the country, Sen and his party only enhance the fervor of those who are committed to the struggle against dictators."

A man becomes what he is as he accumulates knowledge, encounters personal and communal experiences, embraces the values and the beliefs passed down by his elders.

This process of political socialization is the foundation of one's culture and shapes one's perceptions, thoughts, and actions. A fluid process, this continual learning causes us to be different at 30 than we were at 20, and changed again and again as we age.

I have written in this space about two Cambodian men whom I have never met but whose past and present activities have compelled me to tell their stories as I know them.

One is 38-year-old Serey Ratha Sourn, who earned political asylum in the United States in 2006. The other is 40-year-old Piseth Lem who earned political asylum in Norway in 2008. Both men's personal freedom and physical well-being were threatened in their home country.

Sourn is chief of mission of the U.S.-based Cambodian Action Committee for Justice & Equity, which promotes popular participation in political action from grassroots to the national level, to build the ideals of republicanism. Sourn also is a poet and a historian.

Lem has set up a weekly Free Press Magazine Online, to be launched officially in January 2010, in cooperation, he says, with other Cambodian freedom fighters in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, Thailand and Cambodia.

The FPM is dedicated to freedom of expression, free press and equality for all Cambodians. The FPM Online in English is now available. It will publish in the Khmer language in six months.

Sourn and Lem are two freedom fighters among many who say they love and miss their native land, its culture and traditions, their families and friends, and the people -- but they can't rest and freeload in their fight against dictators.

What makes them do what they do so resolutely?

Sourn, born to a poor farm family eight months after Cambodia underwent the 1970 historic regime change that brought down the once untouchable Khmer devaraja, grew up with Buddhist monks in a pagoda. He again lived with monks when he did his higher studies in Phnom Penh.

His father and two uncles joined the Kansaeng Sar (White Scarf) fighting force to face communist Vietnamese forces that, in pre-1970, occupied 3,500 square kilometers of Khmer soil, and then emerged from their sanctuaries and moved westward into Cambodia's interior. Both uncles died during the war.

The Sourns are fiercely nationalistic. Their perception of the Khmer monarchy and of Vietnam has been colored by the two countries' historical relationship: Vietnamization and the colonization of Cambodia's Prey Nokor, later named Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City.

The elder Sourns encouraged in the young Sourn a duty to continue the values and beliefs of the Kansaeng Sar, created in Cambodia by Khmers who fled Kampuchea Krom (southern Vietnam), and who believed in republican ideals.

Piseth Lem was born to a well-educated family eight months before the country's regime change. His father was a professor of Khmer literature, his mother was a teacher. According to Lem, his father's friends were Khmer progressives who, upon Prince Sihanouk's ouster from power, prodded his father to join the maquis to fight Lon Nol. His father declined, still holding to the ideals of republicanism.

Young Lem grew up living with Buddhist monks at Wat Tronum Chroeung in Kandal, and again with monks at Wat Sansam Kosal when he did his higher studies in Phnom Penh.

According to Lem, after Pol Pot took power in Cambodia in 1975, there were Cambodians in Kompong Speu, Pursat and Koh Kong who joined an underground movement. By 1976, Lem, contacted by those based in Kompong Speu, was deeply involved. In 1977, he used his son, Piseth, as a conduit to close friends to join the movement.

That year, the professor left his family behind. He and another professor friend walked from Kompong Speu to Koh Kong to meet some underground members, and moved on foot to the Khmer-Thai border where a base of the anti-Pol Pot "Khmer Sar" (White Khmer) was to be established.

Lem's mother said her husband and his friend never made it to the border. En route they were captured and killed by Pol Pot's soldiers.

In 1978, young Lem, then 9, barely escaped death by Pol Pot's youth corps, whose members lured him to come outside the house one night, jumped him, bound his hands behind his back, walked him to a ricefield and accused him of being an enemy of the regime. There was agitation to torture Lem, but a mysterious blow suddenly fell on the youth leader's head and someone whispered to Lem that he should run away and leave the village. He did.

As adults, Sourn believes the power of the pen will bring forth a people power that will defeat the power of the guns, and Lem believes in the power of free press to promote democracy and human rights.

By running such men out of the country, Sen and his party only enhance the fervor of those who are committed to the struggle against dictators.

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.

The Free Press Magazine - No. 2, January 2008

Right click here to to download the magazine in PDF format
(Left click to read the magazine online)

Table of Content

• Koh Tral: Owners of the island are turned into slaves, while the aggressors become the owners
• Research on Koh Tral Island and the explanations given by the Cambodian PM
• Meeting with the Cambodian border fighters from Norway who oppose Hun Sen
• Why is the price of gasoline in Cambodia higher than that in neighboring countries?
• Meeting with expert on price of gasoline in Cambodia
• 07 January meaning

-----------

KI-Media Note: To the Editor of The Free Press Magazine, we found out that this magazine was distributed on Cambodian bulleting boards. Should you object to the re-distribution of this magazine by KI-Media, please let us know by sending us an email to: killetters@gmail.com. Thank you!

Simply branding people as "republicans" is not admissible evidence to prove that those people are republicans

OpEd by Lao Mong Hay

Simply branding people as "republicans" is not admissible evidence to prove that those people are republicans. Historical evidence has shown that royalists had started to abolish the monarchy in 1960 when King Suramarith died. We no longer had any king or queen until 24 Septembver 1993. Surprise?

For the record for posterity, when our King Suramarith died there was no election of a new king or queen to assume the function of head of state. Queen Kossamak, King Suramarith's wife and mother of our August, Great and Valorous King Sihanouk, was Queen only in name. She was not Head of State. She was made queen to symbolise the "throne" -preah reach palang- (or monarchy).

The likely candidate was our present August, Great and Valourous King Sihanouk, but had already vowed not to be ever king again when he abdicated in 1955 in favour of his father, King Suramarith. I heard him repeating that vow from time to time in public speeches broadcasted on radio in the 1950s and 1960s when I was a peasant boy attending a high school and later at a university. (I'm now an old man-63) He said the crown (makot) was too heavy and with a crown on his head he could not directly serve his people. He was right, wasn't he? And he was powerful (or a strong man), as "Father of the Nation" and head of Sangkum Reatr Nyum.

What to do then to break the "deadlock" (we faced a very similar one after the 2003 election)? In 1960 we simply amended our counstitution, as we enacted an additional constitutional law in 2004, to create the post of head of state and appointed our present August, Great and Valorous King as Head of State in 1960. He was not a constitutional, cemonial, figurehead monarch because he was not crowned king. He became effectively a president, but not a ceremonial, figurehead president, but a president with executive power. Cambodia became a republic with an executive president but name. In his own writings our August, Great and Valorous King, has also alluded ro the presidential nature of his regime from the time he had been made Head of State.

When UNTAC came to run our country and organise the election of a new government in 1992-1993, there was an attempt to get that UN body to also organise a presidential election aimed at getting our August, Great and Valorous King elected President of Cambdia. Apparently, he was willing to stand for that presidential election, and he would indeed have been elected when he was so popular that he was confined to the royal palace almost all the time after his return from Beijing 1n November 1992.

I, for one, objected to that rumoured presidential election and wrote an article for Phnom Penh Post to voice this objection. (I'm sending this article to KI-media.blogspot.com to kindly reproduce in its column). I talked to Samdech Son Sann, whom I served and from whom I have learned a lot, and also a few Son Sannist colleagues, I wanted to stand in that presidential election as well with only two-point political platform: (1) I wanted Cambodia to be a Kingdom; (2) If I was elected president, I would invite our present August, Great and Valorous King, to assume the thone, and after that I'd resign to be become just an ordinary "citizen Lao" (as a royalist called me from time to time-he was later made ambassador and since then has not returned to Cambodia). Samdech Son Sann and those colleagues were dismayed.

Back to the confication of the Free Press Magazine, the reason for it is not so much the "republican" issue as the issue of the murder of our famous actress Piseth Pilika. Some years ago, probably in 2003, a small book of the murder with the photo of our beautiful actress on its cover was published and sold in Phnom Penh. The copies of that small book were all confisticated.

An authoritiative French magazine, L'Express, published a story of her murder, citing our Prime Minister's affair with her and implicating his wife in the matter. Our Prime Minister's people vowed to sue L'Express magazine for defamation, but hey have never done so ever since.

The whole thing probably boils down to our memories (or ghosts) of our parents, relatives, teachers, friends and other fellow Cambodians who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and the memory (or ghost) of our famous actress Piseth Pilika, haunting respecively those who had associated with the Khmer Rouge and those who were behind the murder of Piseth Pilika or who might know who might be her assassin yet have not acted to find justice for her.

LAO Mong Hay