A Brief Biography of Gen. Hok Lundy - part two

Radio Free Asia
By Chea Makara
17th November, 2008
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization

National Police Commissioner, Gen. Hok Lundy (pictured), has died in a helicopter crash on Sunday the 9th of November, 2008.

In mid August 2006, former Phnom Penh Police commissioner, Gen. Heng Pov, said in a public statement that Gen. Hok Lundy was behind the grenade attack on the headquarter of the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party of Mr. Son Sann on the 30th of September, 1995 which killed more than ten people and the grenade attacks on the Sam Rainsy Party demonstration (on 30th March, 1997) in front of the national Assembly which killed more than 20 people and wounded more than 140 people.

Gen. Heng Pov further accused Gen. Hok Lundy of involving in the execution-style killing of former Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior Ho Sok on the 7th of July, 1997, the killing of actress Pisith Pilika (1999), the killing of ex-Member of Parliament Om Rodsady on the 18th of February, 2003, the killing of union leader Chea Vichea on the 22nd of January, 2004 and the attempted murder of the editor-in-chief of Koh Santepheap newspaper, Mr. Thong Uy Pang, on the 8th of June, 1998.

In response to the accusations that Gen. Hok Lundy was involved in human trafficking, the extra-judicial killings of some officials and many cases of human right abuses, Mr. Cheam Yeap said that not all of the accusations are true and due to the prolonged investigations of those murder cases which made him prone to the accusations.

Mr. Cheam Yeap said: “But if we look at the unsolved cases and cases that have not been brought to justice, the cases that needed 10 to 15 years to solve, there are not many of them left. But in our capacity as the leader we must remind our subordinates or monitor our subordinates to complete their works as soon as can be done.”

President of the investigating team of the human right organisation Licadho, Mr. Ny Chakriya, said that Gen. Hok Lundy has left some achievements, such as the prevention of terrorist acts and maintaining public orders. However, Mr. Ny Chakriya said that Gen. Hok Lundy has not taken actions against those police officers who were involved in the trafficking of humans and human right abuses.

Mr. Ny Chakriya said: “He has left some achievements in the areas of maintaining the stability, safety, security, in the protection of both the people and foreign embassies such as the US embassy. We did not see terrorist acts being committed against foreign embassies like what we’ve seen had happened in other countries. But at the same time, we’ve seen some shortcomings such as we’ve seen some police officers are still engaged in human right abuses such as involved in the tortures and causing bodily harm to the people as well as toward the weak people and these police officers were never been punished. This is the negative aspect during his tenure as the National Police Commissioner.”

Mr. Ny Chakriya added that his human right organisation has investigated the accusations that Gen. Hok Lundy was involved in the killings of Mr. Ho Sok, actress Pisith Pilika and union leader Chea Vichea, but up until now there is no evidence to suggest that the accusations levelled against him are true.

Mr. Ny Chakriya said: “They are the cases which we have also investigated but we have yet to find any evidences linking Gen. Hok Lundy to those acts, so I cannot say that Gen. Hok Lundy was behind all those acts...”

President of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, Mr. Ou Virak, said that during the time of Gen. Hok Lundy serving as Police Commissioner, there are more than 10 cases of politically-motivated extra-judicial killings and that there are many cases of killings of actresses.

Mr. Ou Virak said that, the police knew all about those cases and the police were involved in (the killings/abuses) those cases and they have never found justice for the victims.

Mr. Ou virak said: “There are many cases (of murders) that we know are related to politics, such as Chea Vichea’s murder, the murder of a judge, the grenade attacks. All of these were politically-motivated attacks which have not been solved yet. There are many more cases such as the murder of journalist Khim Sambo and other journalists. At least the police knew something, knew who committed the crimes and they have not acted to punish those criminals or to simply just find justice for the families of the victims. I have seen there are many more new cases, such as the razor blade attacks on DJ Ano who was severely wounded and have died at such a young age and the shootings of many singers whom the police knew as having (romantically) involved with powerful people. These cases are not difficult to investigate, if the police has the will to do it. I believe that the police knew who committed those crimes. But I just ask a question: has the police, in the past, ever fulfilled their duties or not? The answers, I am sure, are that they have never fulfilled their duties and if ones knew (about the crimes) and they did not try to find justice, it means that they are complicit in those crimes as well.”

Mr Ou Virak added that the national police force, led by Gen. Hok Lundy, did not help in maintaining social orders. He said: “For many years, children of powerful people have engaged in gun-fires against each other in the middle of Phnom Penh City and there are policemen and high-ranking officials who are bringing guns with them to the clubs/pubs and the discotheques which sometimes led to shootings which have caused injuries to each other or they have caused injuries to the employees of the places. These are threats against traders and especially they are threats against the people who are doing their normal works to feed their families.”

Please not that Gen. Hok Lundy’s body was taken out of his house in a funeral procession at 7am on the 15th of November, 2008 and was buried at 3pm afternoon on the same day in Bavet village, Bavet commune, Chantrea district, Svay Rieng province.// End/Return to part one click here.

A Brief Biography of Gen. Hok Lundy - part one

Radio Free Asia
By Chea Makara
17th November, 2008
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization

National Police Commissioner, Gen. Hok Lundy, (pictured) has died in a helicopter crash on the night of the 9th of November, 2008 at the age of 51.

Gen. Hok Lundy was married to Mrs. Men Pheakdei and he has 5 children, among them there are 3 sons and 2 daughters.

According to the dictionary of the history of Cambodia, written by Mr. Justin Corfield and Mrs. Laura Summers and according to the broadcast of state-owned TVK, Gen. Hok Lundy was born in the Year of the Pig, on the 3rd of February, 1957 in the provincial town of Svay Rieng. He is of Vietnamese descent, born into a family with a military tradition. His father’s name is Hok Nam and his mother’s name is Mom Aun.

Gen. Hok Lundy has 3 siblings and he is the second child. During the Khmer Rouge regime, Gen. Hok Lundy lived in Ta Pov village, Bavet commune, Chantrea district in Svay Rieng province. On the 7th of July, 1977, Gen. Hok Lundy fled to Vietnam and on the 2nd of March, 1978, he joined a Spy Unit of the Army of the United National Salvation Front of Kampuchea. After the 7th of January, 1979, after when the Vietnamese army had toppled the Khmer Rouge regime, Gen. Hok Lundy has received numerous promotions, one after another.

Hok Lundy was appointed as the executive president of the party for Svay Rieng province and became the president of the People’s Revolutionary Committee of Svay Rieng in 1987. In 1990, Hok Lundy was appointed deputy secretary of the party and became the president of the People’s Committee for Phnom Penh City.

In January 1994, Hok Lundy was appointed Governor of Svay Rieng province and in September, 1994 he was appointed National Police Commissioner which he had served until his death.

In January, 1997, Hok Lundy was selected by the Extraordinary Plenum of the Cambodian People’s Party to become the member of the Party Central Committee and he has become a full member of the Central Committee of the Cambodian People’s Party in 2001.

In 2006, the United States has refused Gen. Hok Lundy’s a visa to attend a conference in America due to allegations that he has been linked to human trafficking activities. But in the same year, Gen. Hok Lundy was awarded a medal by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for his efforts in the fight against terrorism. In 2007, Gen. Hok Lundy was issued with a visa to attend an anti-terrorism conference in Washington DC. Gen. Hok Lundy served as National Police Commissioner for the duration of 14 years and he is the 20th high-ranking official in the Cambodian People’s Party and he has a very close tie with Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In 2002, Hok Lundy’s daughter, Miss Hok Chindavy, was married to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son, Mr. Hun Manet, which has further strengthened the alliance between Gen. Hok Lundy and Prime Minister.

In relation to the allegations that Gen. Hok Lundy has Vietnamese lineage, a member of the Cambodian People’s Party Central Committee, Mr. Cheam Yeap, said that Gen. Hok Lundy is not a full-blooded Vietnamese. He added that the allegations have been levelled against him because Gen. Hok Lundy was born on the border with Vietnam and because he can speak Vietnamese as well. He added that Gen. Hok Lundy used to study at Suriyowong College in Svay Rieng province.

Mr. Cheam Yeap said: “His Excellency Hok Lundy is not a full-blooded Vietnamese. I did not know his full biography because he was born in Svay Rieng and I was born in Prey Veng. Because Gen. Hok Lundy was born and lived in Bavet near the border since he was young, so it is easy for someone to accuse him of being a Vietnamese in everything. But in actual fact, we’ve seen that he attended Suriyowong College in Svay Rieng and because he had lived in Bavet, he can speak Vietnamese and can also write Vietnamese as Bavet is located right on the border with Vietnam, so even the Vietnamese who live there can speak Khmer as well.”

Mr. Cheam Yeap regrets the death of Gen. Hok Lundy and said that Gen. Hok Lundy has left many achievements for the nation, including providing security, keep order and providing stability for the Cambodian society.

Mr. Cheam Yeap said: “He has left a lot of achievements. One has to achieve something before they can be promoted. His leadership in the police force, in term of providing security and social order throughout the country, has been excellent and admirable. At the same time, he has established excellent relations with foreign and international police force who acted as a good model for our national police force in order for the next generations to continue his good work.”

However, the British newspaper, the Guardian, has written that, during the street fighting in the power struggle between the Cambodian people’s Party and the Funcinpec Party in 1997, Gen. Hok Lundy had played a very important role in the extra-judicial killings of Funcinpec’s officials, including the detention of Mr. Ho Sok in the Ministry of Interior’s building and he was later executed by the policemen stationed there.

Former Commissioner of Phnom Penh Police, Gen. Heng Pov, has revealed about the killings of many people after he had a fallout with Gen. Hok Lundy.//
To be continued in part two…

Neth Savoeun: It doesn’t matter if he is a nephew-in-law of the prime minister, what matters is he is simply…. the best

Reaksmei Kampuchea Newspaper
14th November, 2008
Translated from Khmer by Khmerization

Lt-Gen. Neth Savoeun (pictured), Deputy Police Commissioner, has been appointed Police Commissioner in a decree signed by King Sihamoni to replace Gen. Hok Lundy, who was killed in a helicopter crash (on the 9th of November). The news of his appointment thrilled many police officers, despite there are concerns from civil societies of the independence of the police force.

Gen. Mok Chito, Chief of the Directorate of Penal Police of the Ministry of Interior, said that the appointment of Gen. Neth Savoeun as the National Police Commissioner is simply the best because Gen. Neth Savoeun have been a police officer for a long time and he knew the police force very well. He cares about the welfare of his police officers and he has helped to modernise the police force. And so, all the police officers are happy to see him appointed as Police Commissioner.

Gen. Mok Chito said that Gen. Neth Savoeun have been a police officer since 1979 when he was appointed as the director of the office of penal police of Phnom Penh City. Other than supports from police officers, the appointment of Gen. Neth Savoeun has received supports from many public servants as well.

One public servant, who wish to remain anonymous, said that Gen. Neth Savoeun’s new position is not his first position. Before this, he was already a Deputy Commissioner of the National Police. What the public has never heard about Gen. Neth Savoeun was that he never had any scandals nor has he done anything wrong against the people in his capacity as a police officer. This public servant added that he hopes Gen. Neth Savoeun will continue to lead the police force toward a better force that can provide security and safety for the people.

Dr. Pung Chiv Kek, president of the human right organisation Licadho, said that she wish to see the Police Force and Military Police Force perform their duties independent from political interferences. Mrs. Pung Chiv Kek said that, it doesn’t matter whether Gen. Neth Savoeun is the nephew-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen, what is important is for him to respect human rights, find justice for the people, make Cambodia a law-abiding and a democratic society. If all of these can be achieved, it will lead to more foreign investments which will make the country more prosperous.

However, Mrs Pung Chiv Kek said that, to avoid criticism, the person appointed to the position of the National Police Commissioner should be a neutral person. She added that the best person for the job is a person who is not related to the prime minister of the country and not affiliated with any political parties.

Mrs. Pung Chiv Kek added that she wish to see the standard of the police force improved so that the force is fully competent to perform its own duties independently in order to avoid criticism of corruption that plagued the current police force.
Gen. Neth Savoeun was married to Mrs. Hun Kimleng, who is the daughter of Governor Hun Neng and a niece of Prime Minister Hun Sen, in 1990 when he was Commissioner of Phnom Penh Police. Gen. Neth Savoeun has three daughters. He rose through the ranks of police force until he reached his current top job. He has been a director of the office of penal police of Phnom Penh City, a deputy commissioner and commissioner of Phnom Penh Police, director of penal police and head of economic police of Ministry of Interior, re-appointed a Commissioner of Phnom Penh Police before becoming chief of Central Directorate of Justice Police in 2000. Gen. Neth Savoeun was appointed as Deputy Commissioner of National Police in charge of Justice Affairs until 2008.//

Hok Lundy: The Death of a Murderer

Opinion by Khmerization
11th November, 2008

“Hok Lundy’s death is a gain for the humanity because his death means that Cambodian has rid one of the worst human right abusers Cambodia has ever had.”

In Buddhism, karma has been described as a fate or destiny which was determined by one’s own actions. In the Buddhist philosophy, karma is the quality of somebody's current and future lives as determined by that person's behaviour in this and in previous lives. In short, if you do good things, good things will happen to you. But if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you.

If one believes in the Buddhist philosophy of karma, then the recently death of Gen. Hok Lundy, Cambodia’s notorious police commissioner, has been attributed to his own bad karmic practices. And judging from the reactions of my fellow bloggers to the death of Gen. Hok Lundy, I wonder if his death has anything to do with his karma.

Gen. Hok Lundy, during his 14 years tenure as Cambodia’s police commissioner, has committed numerous gross human right violations. His ruthless approaches to his critics and opponents have seen many of them brutally killed and tortured.

He has ordered or personally carried out many politically-motivated and extra-judicial killings against his opponents. As recently as last July, he has been reportedly named by the respected South China Morning Post as having some, either directly or indirectly, involvements with the murders of journalist Khim Sambo and his son because Khim Sambo has written an article critical of his gambling addiction at Bavet Casino, the place where his helicopter crashed that killed him last Sunday. In 1997, a few days after the July’s coup d’etat, Gen. Ho Sok, a secretary of state of the Ministry of Interior from the Funcinpec Party, who was supposedly Hok Lundy’s boss, was personally executed by Hok Lundy himself inside the Ministry of Interior’s building.

Gen. Hok Lundy has been linked to many other high profile murders as well. The murder of Piseth Pilika, an actress who had a secret love affairs with Prime Minister Hun Sen and the attempted murder on Touch Sounnik, a famous singer who was rumoured to be romantically linked with a high-ranking government official, were somewhat linked to Gen. Hok Lundy. Other politically-motivated murders include the grenade attacks in front of the National Assembly on 30th March, 1997 in which 19 peaceful protesters were killed and 190 others were wounded, the murders in 2003 of Chea Vichea, a union leader and the murder in 2003 of Om Radsady, a prominent politician, are all linked to Gen. Hok Lundy.

But the recent attempted murder on Miss Suon Pheadkei, called DJ Ano, a TV presenter and an actress who was rumoured to have had a love affair with Gen. Hok Lundy, should shock everyone. Miss Suon Pheakdei had disappeared a few weeks ago and according to witnesses, she was last seen bundled into a car by 3-4 men. She was later found with head shaved and her body, breast and private parts riddled with 80 razor blade cuts. She was treated in a Vietnamese hospital and is not expected to live.

The person who ordered the kidnapping and mutilations of Miss Suon Pheakdei’s body is rumoured to be Gen. Hok Lundy’s wife. After the news of Gen. Hok Lundy’s death, I received an email from a respected lawyer and in reactions to Lundy’s death he said: “Justice may be slow in catching up on this criminal, but karma isn't. We hope his wife, who is holding DJ Anoy’s hostage in a Vietnamese hospital, will face justice.”

When asked to confirm how credible his information is, he said: “I can't confirm; the info was relayed to me by a friend who works in the film/karaoke industry in phnompnh.”

The death of someone should not be celebrated. Instead, it should be mourned. But, when it comes to the death of Gen. Hok Lundy, one of the ruthless killers of Cambodia, the news of his death, if not celebrated, should be enthusiastically welcomed. Personally, his death means the passing of one of Cambodia’s worst human right abusers. But in respect to the spirit of the death, I offer my sympathy to the bereaved family, his wife being the exception considering what she had done to Miss Suon Pheakdei.

And from the point of view of the human right advocates, Hok Lundy’s death is a gain for the humanity because his death means that Cambodia has rid one of the worst human right abusers Cambodia has ever had.

After reading different reports and claims from different sources, one wonders if Gen. Hok Lundy’s death was accidental or it was an assassination. Some people claimed that some witnesses told them that there is a group of people who shot down the helicopter with a rocket launcher before it landed at a helipad at Bavet town. Other witnesses claimed that they saw a fire at the tail of the helicopter before it went down. Other said that the tail of the helicopter appeared to have been hit by something.

So, was the helicopter crash an accident or was it hit by a rocket launcher? If it was hit by a rocket launcher, could it be the work of someone who wanted to get rid of Hok Lundy? Here is what I have received in my email from the same respected lawyer in which he said: “hun Sen also happy to see him dead as he is a thorn in HS's good eye. Lundi also held HS (Hun Sen) hostage for a lot of awful things.”

In summing up this editorial, Hok Lundy’s death is a loss, not a loss to the humanity but a loss of one of Cambodia’s murderous top cop. His passing should be a cause for celebration. But one should be worried about his replacement, Lt-Gen. Neth Savoeun. Gen. Neth Savoeun, a nephew-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen, is no angel either. He has a reputation of being a ruthless and another serious human right abuser, if not on par with Gen. Hok Lundy, his notoriety is no better either. This is another case of one murderer being replaced by another murderer.//