Official Denies Statements at US Rights Hearing

Ouch Borith: A master of "truth spinning"?

By Chun Sakada and Men Kimseng
Original reports from Phnom Penh and Washington
16 September 2009

A Foreign Affairs official dismissed as false statements made to US Congress by Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua, in a human rights hearing last week.

Mu Sochua’s description of a country where democracy was a “façade” was meant “only for cheating the Cambodian people,” said Uch Borith, a secretary of state for the ministry, told reporters at a press conference after meeting with US Ambassador Carol Rodley.

He also denied reports on a Web site called Khmer Intelligence KI-Media that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would send a delegation to investigate rights issues.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission invited three prominent Cambodians to testify on Thursday, after noting a worrying trend in the erosion of rights and freedoms in the media.

Mu Sochua and another opposition lawmaker had their parliamentary immunity revoked earlier this, as the courts pursued lawsuits against them by senior officials; and at least one opposition journalist is in jail after accusing senior officials of corruption.

Meanwhile, a US congressman said Cambodian government representatives should have been invited to the hearing last week should the US wish to see changes in Cambodia’s human rights record.

“I do not believe that holding a hearing that gives voice to the opposition party and excludes the ruling party is the way for us to proceed in affecting change in Cambodia,” Eni Faleomavaega, a Democrat from Samoa, said in a statement issued on the day of a hearing conducted by Tom Lantos Human Rights commission. “I also do not believe that any Commission should usurp the role of the US Department of State or the diplomatic relations we have established between our two countries.”

KI-Media’s Open Letter to Mrs. Carol Rodley, US Ambassador to Cambodia

The public needs to know the truth!

16 September 2009

Mrs. Carol A. Rodley
US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia

Dear Mrs. Rodley,

On 16 September 2009, several Cambodian news media, including the US-funded Radio Free Asia, quoted Mr. Ouch Borith, the Cambodian secretary of state of the ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying: “…Therefore, what the [US] ambassador told me yesterday when I met her, it was a clear confirmation that the internet publication by KI[-Media] does not reflect the truth, it is an exaggeration and a lie.” (Click here to read the RFA article in Khmer).

What we would like to confirm with you is whether you indicated to Mr. Ouch Borith that the article in which KI-Media translated in English from an original article posted by Radio Free Asia, a station funded by the US, was “an exaggeration and a lie” – as Mr. Ouch Borith seems to attribute this claim to you – or that it was merely Mr. Ouch Borith’s personal malicious interpretation.

Your reply is of utmost importance for the parties involved, including the following:

1. For Mrs. Mu Sochua, whom according to Mr. Ouch Borith, the Phnom Penh regime representative, would be the source of this “exaggeration and lie”.
2. For Radio Free Asia, an institution funded with US taxpayer dollars to “provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press,” who would be the source for spreading this “exaggeration and lie”.
3. For KI-Media, which translated the RFA report from Khmer to English in order to provide information to the general public on the actual situation in Cambodia that would otherwise be censored by the Phnom Penh regime, who would also be a secondary source for spreading this “exaggeration and lie”.

As a representative of a country that champions freedom of expression in the world, we urge you to clarify this issue and confirm or deny the claims attributed to you by the Phnom Penh regime representative. If Mrs. Mu Sochua did not tell the truth about her meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, you, as the representative of the US government, or Mrs. Clinton should demand an apology from Mrs. Mu Sochua.

If RFA’s report was indeed an “exaggeration and a lie”, you, as the representative of the US government, should petition the US Congress to stop funding this institution which seems not to “provide accurate and timely news and information to Asian countries whose governments prohibit access to a free press”.

If KI-Media indeed helped spread “exaggeration and lie” as Mr. Ouch Borith claimed, please do let us know so that we may bring a correction or an apology, or even retract our publication, if necessary.

On the other hand, if what Mr. Ouch Borith attributed to you was merely a spinning of the truth by the Phnom Penh regime, we would also like to obtain your clarification in this matter, in order to show to the world, and more specifically the Cambodian public, how low this regime has to stoop to protect its authoritarian image.

We would greatly appreciate the honor of your reply. Please email it to us at kiletters@gmail.com

Sincerely,

KI-Media team

KI-Media is the target of CPP Ouch Borith’s wrath for reporting an article from Radio Free Asia on Mu Sochua-Clinton meeting

Ouch Borith's press conference ... to spin the truth or to control the damages? (Photo: Khmer Sthabna)

Ouch Borith: Mrs. Hillary Clinton did not reply to the request made by Mrs. Mu Sochua

16 Sept 2009
By Sopheap
Khmer Sthabna
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

"Ouch Borith claimed that, according to Carol Rodley, she clearly indicated KI-Media’s publication does not reflect the truth, it was an exaggeration and a lie."

Click here to read the RFA report about the meeting between Mu Sochua and Hillary Clinton

The Cambodian ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAIC) held a press conference in the afternoon of 16 September to discuss about the meeting between Ouch Borith, the CPP secretary of state of the MFAIC, and US Ambassador Carol Rodley on 15 September 2009.

Ouch Borith declared that he usually meets with the US ambassador in Cambodia for exchange of opinions in the development of the bilateral cooperation between Cambodia and the US. In his most recent meeting, Ouch Borith told Carol rodley about an article published by KI-Media regarding what Mrs. Mu Sochua spoke in Washington DC. In its publication, KI-Media indicated that Mrs. Mu Sochua met with Mrs. Hillary Clinton, and according to Mrs. Mu Sochua also, she said that: “I asked Mrs. Hillary Clinton to send a delegation led by the US ambassador at large [Melane Verveer], and in response [to this request], Mrs. Clinton gave a positive answer to the request.”

Ouch Borith indicated that, regarding this issue, Carol Rodley clearly indicated that indeed Mrs. Clinton met with Mrs. Mu Sochua, but that meeting was done outside of the office [unofficial?]. The pair shook hands without planning in advance [by chance?], it was not a bilateral [meeting] or anything else. Regarding the request made by Mrs. Mu Sochua to Mrs. Clinton to send a high level delegation of check the human rights violations in Cambodia, Carol Rodley said that it was true that Mrs. Mu Sochua raised this issue. However, Mrs. Clicnton did not provide any answer to any request, there was none.

Ouch Borith claimed that, according to Carol Rodley, she clearly indicated KI-Media’s publication does not reflect the truth, it was an exaggeration and a lie.