Thursday, 24 April 2008
Khmer Rouge Leaders Khieu Samphan on Trial
The U.N.backed "Killing Fields" genocide tribunal hearing starts today in Cambodia. It decides on the appeal made by former senior Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan
SAM RAINSY MEETS WITH U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE
SAM RAINSY MEETS WITH U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE
CHRISTOPHER HILL IN WASHINGTON
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy met this afternoon in Washington D.C.with Christopher Hill, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asianand Pacific Affairs. Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marcial also took partin the meeting at the State Department. They discussed the worrisomeenvironment and mechanics of the forthcoming national elections to be heldin Cambodia on 27 July 2008, as well as the necessity to promote goodgovernance in that country with the adoption and the effectiveimplementation of a long overdue anti-corruption law. Another topic isrelated to problems that hinder progress in the proceedings at the KhmerRouge Tribunal.
SRP Cabinet
SRP Cabinet
Hun Sen Threatens With War, If He Loses the Election?
Click here to listen to the Khmer audio“Pressurise businesspeople to help is not a good measure to ease economic problems because those businesspeople, once they have spent their fortunes, would want to recover them back through corrupt favours. A cycle of corruption would ensue, causing a vicious cycle and a catch-22 situation.”
Courtesy of Khmerization at http://khmerization.blogspot.com
Editorial by Khmerization: - War! This a message from Mr. Hun Sen, if he loses the election. Mr Hun Sen sounded a little bit desperate when he made a speech to a forum of businesspeople recently in Phnom Penh appealing for their supports. The PM seemed to invoke fears among businesspeople and voters that if he loses the election there will be war. Point blank, he is sending a message to those businesspeople, the oppositions, the voters and the international community that he will wage a war if he loses the election (read his speech here).
Facing with economic woes, wage pressures from public servants and high inflation which surely will cause voters’ back clash, Mr. Hun Sen has been cornered and pelted from every direction. As history has shown in the past, when cornered, he has never been hesitant in using force to gain the upper hand.
While I welcome his appeal for help from the businesspeople, I do sense that his appeal is invoked with vitriolic, pressures and fears, both to those businesspeople and the voters. His appeal seemed not aimed at asking the businesspeople to assist the economy in general, but it was rather aimed at helping him and his Cambodian People’s Party to win the upcoming election. Pressurise businesspeople to help is not a good measure to ease economic problems because those businesspeople, once they have spent their fortunes, would want to recover them back through corrupt favours. A cycle of corruption would ensue, causing a vicious cycle and a catch-22 situation.
Mr Hun Sen’s supporters might think that what I am writing here is full of diatribes and rhetoric. But they have to agree with me that, with the Khmer Rouge being neutralised and incapacitated, the leader of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters being jailed in a foreign land and the oppositions having no army, who will wage a war, but Mr. Hun Sen himself.
With such a fiery speech coming out of Mr. Hun Sen’s mouth, whose recalcitrance and obstinacy is well known, one would conclude that his speech is a clear indication yet that, no matter what, win or lose, he will probably employ a Mugabe-style of clinging to power. I hope my prediction is wrong.
Modesto police arrest man in connection with Cambodian New Year death
Photo of shooting victim Chanthol Ouk provided by his family on Monday, April 14, 2008. Ted Benson/The Modesto Bee
Flowers and incense sift near where Channel Ouk, a father of four, was shot while visiting Modesto over the weekend. Modesto Bee - Bart Ah YouBy BEE STAFF REPORTS
April 23, 2008
Modesto police have arrested the man they suspect killed a 43-year-old man celebrating Cambodian New Year in west Modesto two weeks ago.
Sarath Prak, 18, was apprehended following an outpouring of tips from west Modesto residents of Cambodian descent, according to a police news release.
Prak is in custody on suspicion of shooting Chanthol Ouk of Long Beach, who was visiting friends for the New Year celebration near Paradise Road and Chicago Avenue. Prak also was charged with attempted murder and participating in criminal street gang.
Ouk reportedly was a bystander caught in the middle of gunfire between rival gangs on April 13.
Police also arrested two males who allegedly helped Prak conceal evidence and avoid arrest. One was a 17-year-old boy whose name was not disclosed. The other was Sophea Sam, 26.
Michael Sedra, 21, was arrested at his home in Modesto and charged with being an accessory to murder and participation in a criminal street gang.
Police are looking for Kao Phompong, 23, of Modesto. Phompong allegedly drove the car from which Prak fired a gun.
Police also said that Dominic Souphaphone, 18, was arrested on a parole violation while they carried out search warrants in the investigation.
Sophea Sam, 26.
Sarath Prak
Kao Phompong
Michael Sedra, 21-years-old was arrested at his home in Modesto and was charged with being an accessory to murder and participation in a criminal street gang.
Rice climbs, World Bank issues warning on risks
Turkish Daily NewsThursday, April 24, 2008
SINGAPORE - Bloomberg
Rice jumped to a record as World Bank officials said they are concerned pressure is growing in Thailand, the world's largest exporter, to restrict shipments, worsening a global food crisis.
“If a key exporter like this limits foreign sales, it would be very much like Saudi Arabia reducing oil exports,” said James Adams, vice president of the bank's East Asia and Pacific department. China, Vietnam, India and Egypt have curbed overseas sales to safeguard domestic supplies and cool inflation.
Rice, the staple for half the world, gained as much as 2.3 percent in Chicago yesterday, more than doubling in the past year. Wheat, corn and soybeans advanced to records this year, spurring social unrest in countries including Haiti and Egypt.
“Any move by Thailand to limit exports would create panic in the global market,” Kenji Kobayashi, a grain analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management Co., said by phone from Tokyo yesterday.
The Southeast Asian country ships one-third of the world's exports, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Silent famine:
Soaring prices may put basic foods beyond the reach of the poorest people, raising the risk of a “silent famine” in Asia, a World Food Program official said April 21. The poor will struggle to afford higher costs even as supplies stay available in shops, according to Paul Risley, a spokesman for the United Nations agency that feeds 28 million Asians.
Thailand may follow its Asian neighbors in limiting sales, the World Bank's Adams said in an interview. The more countries impose export constraints, the “stronger the pressures become for Thailand to do the same,” he said April 21.
The nation won't impose curbs on overseas sales amid record prices, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said at a press conference Tuesday, adding there would be no measures by the government that may distort prices.
“Thailand will lose the name of kitchen of the world” should it reduce shipments, he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said April 20 rising food costs may hurt economic growth and threaten political security. The World Bank has forecast that 33 nations from Mexico to Yemen may face social unrest because of higher food and energy costs.
The price of grade-B white rice, the benchmark export variety, reached a record $854 a ton on April 9, the most recent date for which prices are available. This compares with $327.25 a ton this time last year. Thailand exports almost twice the amount of rice as India, its nearest rival.
Prices hurt sales:
Thai exporters said foreign sales are already hurt by high prices. According to Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, the country's rice exports may fall by one-third by the end of the year as high prices erode demand.
Rice futures in Chicago climbed to $24.745 per 100 pounds yesterday and traded at $24.510 at 11:30 a.m. Singapore time. Corn traded at $6.0525 a bushel, near its $6.23 record on April 17.
World Vision International, which provides food relief in 35 countries, said it can no longer provide rations to 1.5 million of the poor people it fed last year because of soaring costs and unmet donor aid commitments.
“Despite our best efforts, more than a million of our beneficiaries are no longer receiving food aid,” World Vision President Dean Hirsch said Tuesday. “Around 572,000 of these are children who urgently need enough healthy food to thrive.”
In Cambodia, 13-year-old Pin Oudam gets a free breakfast of rice, fish and yellow split peas every morning at his school in Kampong Speu, the poorest province. Next week he won't.
The World Food Program cut off rice deliveries to 1,344 Cambodian schools last month after prices doubled and suppliers defaulted on contracts. Schools will run out of food by May 1, depriving about 450,000 children of meals, the WFP estimates.
Khmer Rouge genocide trial lost in translation
edmontonsun.com
By AP
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A language spat has disrupted the pretrial hearing of a former Khmer Rouge leader facing genocide charges.
Tribunal judges in Phnom Penh abruptly adjourned the hearing after the lawyer for 76-year-old Khieu Samphan berated the court for failing to translate thousands of pages of documents into French.
Defence lawyer Jacques Verges complained that although French is an official language at the tribunal, not one page of the case file against his client has been translated.
Verges says he told yesterday's closed-door session that failure to translate the case file renders the proceedings "invalid." The lawyer then stormed out of the hearing after the judges had asked his client to find a new lawyer.
Samphan has been detained by the tribunal since Nov. 19 and is one of five former senior Khmer Rouge leaders in custody.
Samphan is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule in which an estimated 1.7 million people died from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. Samphan has denied responsibility for any atrocities.
After yesterday's disruption, the judges said they would issue a warning to Verges for his courtroom conduct.
By AP
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A language spat has disrupted the pretrial hearing of a former Khmer Rouge leader facing genocide charges.
Tribunal judges in Phnom Penh abruptly adjourned the hearing after the lawyer for 76-year-old Khieu Samphan berated the court for failing to translate thousands of pages of documents into French.
Defence lawyer Jacques Verges complained that although French is an official language at the tribunal, not one page of the case file against his client has been translated.
Verges says he told yesterday's closed-door session that failure to translate the case file renders the proceedings "invalid." The lawyer then stormed out of the hearing after the judges had asked his client to find a new lawyer.
Samphan has been detained by the tribunal since Nov. 19 and is one of five former senior Khmer Rouge leaders in custody.
Samphan is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule in which an estimated 1.7 million people died from starvation, disease, overwork and execution. Samphan has denied responsibility for any atrocities.
After yesterday's disruption, the judges said they would issue a warning to Verges for his courtroom conduct.
STOCKTON: Cambodian students protest
Rally meant to spotlight Southeast Asian immigrants' plight
By Jennifer Torres
Record Staff Writer
April 24, 2008
STOCKTON - A group of Cambodian students and their allies rallied at University of the Pacific on Wednesday to protest what they believe are unjust U.S. deportation policies and to call attention to the overall status of Southeast Asian immigrants.
The efforts, participants said, demonstrate that while groups such as Pacific's Cambodian Student Association work to preserve Southeast Asian culture, they also are participants in American civic life.
Wednesday's lunchtime rally was one of six held at campuses throughout California to protest the deportation of some Southeast Asian immigrants.
In 1996, the U.S. government expanded its list of deportable offenses to include crimes such as domestic violence and drunken driving. The change was retroactive so that noncitizens who had been convicted of those crimes in the past - even if they had since reformed - still could be deported.
In the case of many Cambodians, immigrants face deportation to a country where they might have little memory and to which they have no connection, said Caly Chhin, who leads the Cambodian Student Association.
"They were born in a different country, but they have lived here their whole lives," the 22-year-old history student said.
Chhin and other students at the rally said they want immigration judges to consider such deportations on a case-by-case basis.
Other organizations, meanwhile, have argued that immigrants who break laws give up their right to stay in the United States and shouldn't receive special consideration.
From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 1.7 million people - 21 percent of Cambodia's population - were killed when Khmer Rouge forces took over the country.
Thousands fled. Many of them came to the United States as refugees.
Over the past decade, San Joaquin County has received far more refugees from Southeast Asia than from any other region of the world. From 1995 to 2007, 1,203 refugees came to the county from Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia.
The next highest number, 27, came from Afghanistan.
More than 10,000 county residents claim Cambodian ancestry.
Chhin said she hoped Wednesday's rally and future events would underscore challenges the community has faced. For example, education remains a struggle for many Cambodians, she said.
According to data from the California Department of Education, Cambodian children have earned lower standardized test scores than San Joaquin County's average, as well as Asian students overall.
"This is a way to highlight needs here," said Savong Lam of the organization United Cambodian Families, which advises the student group.
Sondra Roeuny, president of United Cambodian Families, said, "It's encouraging to see our young leaders ... exercising their voice. It's not just about cultural heritage. We're Americans, too."
By Jennifer Torres
Record Staff Writer
April 24, 2008
STOCKTON - A group of Cambodian students and their allies rallied at University of the Pacific on Wednesday to protest what they believe are unjust U.S. deportation policies and to call attention to the overall status of Southeast Asian immigrants.
The efforts, participants said, demonstrate that while groups such as Pacific's Cambodian Student Association work to preserve Southeast Asian culture, they also are participants in American civic life.
Wednesday's lunchtime rally was one of six held at campuses throughout California to protest the deportation of some Southeast Asian immigrants.
In 1996, the U.S. government expanded its list of deportable offenses to include crimes such as domestic violence and drunken driving. The change was retroactive so that noncitizens who had been convicted of those crimes in the past - even if they had since reformed - still could be deported.
In the case of many Cambodians, immigrants face deportation to a country where they might have little memory and to which they have no connection, said Caly Chhin, who leads the Cambodian Student Association.
"They were born in a different country, but they have lived here their whole lives," the 22-year-old history student said.
Chhin and other students at the rally said they want immigration judges to consider such deportations on a case-by-case basis.
Other organizations, meanwhile, have argued that immigrants who break laws give up their right to stay in the United States and shouldn't receive special consideration.
From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 1.7 million people - 21 percent of Cambodia's population - were killed when Khmer Rouge forces took over the country.
Thousands fled. Many of them came to the United States as refugees.
Over the past decade, San Joaquin County has received far more refugees from Southeast Asia than from any other region of the world. From 1995 to 2007, 1,203 refugees came to the county from Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia.
The next highest number, 27, came from Afghanistan.
More than 10,000 county residents claim Cambodian ancestry.
Chhin said she hoped Wednesday's rally and future events would underscore challenges the community has faced. For example, education remains a struggle for many Cambodians, she said.
According to data from the California Department of Education, Cambodian children have earned lower standardized test scores than San Joaquin County's average, as well as Asian students overall.
"This is a way to highlight needs here," said Savong Lam of the organization United Cambodian Families, which advises the student group.
Sondra Roeuny, president of United Cambodian Families, said, "It's encouraging to see our young leaders ... exercising their voice. It's not just about cultural heritage. We're Americans, too."
Cambodia's tonle sap in distress
Global warming and economic exploitation destabilise key lake's ecosystem
Published on April 24, 2008
Nantiya Tangwisutijit
The Nation
The Great Lake of Tonle Sap has always been Cambodia's spring of life. Abundant fish stock and seasonal flooding to fertilise rice fields have blessed the region long before the builders of Angkor Wat arrived 900 years ago.
But economic development policies are having the reverse effect. Locals are finding it more difficult to survive, a trend that may only worsen as climate change continues to take hold.
Tonle Sap is Southeast Asia's largest lake, and the source of protein-rich food for Cambodia's 14 million people. As such, the government has sought assistance to aggressively exploit its fisheries under the banner of poverty reduction. But Cambodian sociologist Mak Sithirith of the Fisheries Action Coalition Team said it is not the poor who are benefiting.
Under the scheme, the Cambodian government built infrastructure and introduced market economy to Tonle Sap communities. This has resulted in the end of interdependence between fishing and farming communities, Mak said. The traditional barter system between those growing rice and those catching fish disappeared after an industry of middlemen evolved to wander from village to village, exchanging rice and fish for cash.
"Neighbouring communities who used to rely on one another now compete for material consumption and accumulation obtained by cash and loans," Mak said.
The traditional small-scale fishermen are losing out entirely. The Cambodian government sold fishing concessions to large fishing businesses, banning villagers from the waters that ensured their livelihoods.
Scientists also suspect that changes of water flows caused by dam construction on the lower Mekong River and tributaries may affect the delicate relationship between the Mekong and Tonle Sap. During the rainy season, water flows from the Mekong to fill the lake, with the reverse occurring as the dry season settles in.
Climate change is adding a new level of anxiety. A coalition of Thai and Finnish scientists will soon begin a project to examine the potential climate-change impacts that those around Tonle Sap might experience in the next 50 years.
"Tonle Sap's topography makes the lake very sensitive to changes," Suppakorn Chinvanno of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asia Start Regional Centre said. "A water-level rise of just 0.3 metres can mean a kilometre more flooding on land because of the flat landscape."
This article is based in part on a presentation by Mak Sithirith at the third International Conference of the Asian Rural Sociology Association in Beijing.
Published on April 24, 2008
Nantiya Tangwisutijit
The Nation
The Great Lake of Tonle Sap has always been Cambodia's spring of life. Abundant fish stock and seasonal flooding to fertilise rice fields have blessed the region long before the builders of Angkor Wat arrived 900 years ago.
But economic development policies are having the reverse effect. Locals are finding it more difficult to survive, a trend that may only worsen as climate change continues to take hold.
Tonle Sap is Southeast Asia's largest lake, and the source of protein-rich food for Cambodia's 14 million people. As such, the government has sought assistance to aggressively exploit its fisheries under the banner of poverty reduction. But Cambodian sociologist Mak Sithirith of the Fisheries Action Coalition Team said it is not the poor who are benefiting.
Under the scheme, the Cambodian government built infrastructure and introduced market economy to Tonle Sap communities. This has resulted in the end of interdependence between fishing and farming communities, Mak said. The traditional barter system between those growing rice and those catching fish disappeared after an industry of middlemen evolved to wander from village to village, exchanging rice and fish for cash.
"Neighbouring communities who used to rely on one another now compete for material consumption and accumulation obtained by cash and loans," Mak said.
The traditional small-scale fishermen are losing out entirely. The Cambodian government sold fishing concessions to large fishing businesses, banning villagers from the waters that ensured their livelihoods.
Scientists also suspect that changes of water flows caused by dam construction on the lower Mekong River and tributaries may affect the delicate relationship between the Mekong and Tonle Sap. During the rainy season, water flows from the Mekong to fill the lake, with the reverse occurring as the dry season settles in.
Climate change is adding a new level of anxiety. A coalition of Thai and Finnish scientists will soon begin a project to examine the potential climate-change impacts that those around Tonle Sap might experience in the next 50 years.
"Tonle Sap's topography makes the lake very sensitive to changes," Suppakorn Chinvanno of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asia Start Regional Centre said. "A water-level rise of just 0.3 metres can mean a kilometre more flooding on land because of the flat landscape."
This article is based in part on a presentation by Mak Sithirith at the third International Conference of the Asian Rural Sociology Association in Beijing.
Cambodia genocide court will not go bust: officials
Cambodian skulls from the Choeng Ek memorial killing fields
A Cambodian girl looks at skulls on diplay at the Choeung Ek killing fields memorial in Phnom Penh
UN-backed genocide tribunal officials in Phnom PenhPHNOM PENH (AFP) — Officials at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal said they were confident the cash-strapped court would be able to gather the funds needed to stay on schedule and try surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.
Court officials last month warned that without a cash infusion, those tribunal operations under Cambodian control could face bankruptcy by May, while concerns were raised that staff might not get paid after April.
Money troubles also threatened to further delay the UN-managed operations, which face a budget shortfall later this year, prompting officials to head to the United Nations in New York last month to petition for more funds.
Helen Jarvis, spokeswoman for the Cambodian side, said Wednesday that a pledge this month of 450,000 dollars from Australia and earnings on the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar would keep the Cambodian half of the tribunal afloat for the time being.
"The final picture now is that we expect to have enough funds to the end of July for the Cambodian side," Jarvis told AFP.
Originally budgeted at 56.3 million dollars over three years, the tribunal, which opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the UN and Cambodia, raised its cost estimates to 170 million dollars in January.
International backers appear hesitant to pledge more money to the process amid allegations of mismanagement and political interference.
So far, Australia has been the only country to publicly announce more funds, but Jarvis said court officials were discussing details of the finances with the donors, and were expecting a finalised budget next month.
Other key donors to the tribunal are Japan, France, Britain and Germany.
"We know that the people of Cambodia, the people of the world, and donor countries all have recognised the importance of the court, and have expressed strong political support for the court," she said.
"Now that political support could be translated into financial terms," Jarvis added.
Peter Foster, the UN's tribunal spokesman, said officials had no concern about the future of the court, and the UN side had enough funds until the end of 2008.
"I am extremely confident that we will get all the funding that we will require," he said.
Five former regime leaders have been detained by the tribunal for their alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities, and public trials are expected to begin later this year.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979 rule.
Court officials last month warned that without a cash infusion, those tribunal operations under Cambodian control could face bankruptcy by May, while concerns were raised that staff might not get paid after April.
Money troubles also threatened to further delay the UN-managed operations, which face a budget shortfall later this year, prompting officials to head to the United Nations in New York last month to petition for more funds.
Helen Jarvis, spokeswoman for the Cambodian side, said Wednesday that a pledge this month of 450,000 dollars from Australia and earnings on the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar would keep the Cambodian half of the tribunal afloat for the time being.
"The final picture now is that we expect to have enough funds to the end of July for the Cambodian side," Jarvis told AFP.
Originally budgeted at 56.3 million dollars over three years, the tribunal, which opened in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the UN and Cambodia, raised its cost estimates to 170 million dollars in January.
International backers appear hesitant to pledge more money to the process amid allegations of mismanagement and political interference.
So far, Australia has been the only country to publicly announce more funds, but Jarvis said court officials were discussing details of the finances with the donors, and were expecting a finalised budget next month.
Other key donors to the tribunal are Japan, France, Britain and Germany.
"We know that the people of Cambodia, the people of the world, and donor countries all have recognised the importance of the court, and have expressed strong political support for the court," she said.
"Now that political support could be translated into financial terms," Jarvis added.
Peter Foster, the UN's tribunal spokesman, said officials had no concern about the future of the court, and the UN side had enough funds until the end of 2008.
"I am extremely confident that we will get all the funding that we will require," he said.
Five former regime leaders have been detained by the tribunal for their alleged role in one of the 20th century's worst atrocities, and public trials are expected to begin later this year.
Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed as the communist Khmer Rouge dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during its 1975-1979 rule.
THAI-CAMBODIAN TIES: Still wary the empire might strike
Bangkok PostThursday April 24, 2008
ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT
Five years have elapsed since the burning of the Thai embassy in Cambodia in 2003, but the animosity still lingers on the ground between Thailand and Cambodia, especially in one of the nation's poorest provinces, Siem Reap. The ongoing dispute over Preah Vihear temple has only added rancour to the sentiment. At the mention of the word ''Syam Kuk'' _ a well-known bass relief at Angkor Wat believed to depict Thai fighters marching in the Khmer army either as its alliance or subjects _ a Cambodian tour guide immediately gave a testy response: ''Are you from Thailand? Thailand was our last enemy and they remain the only present enemy until now.''
This small incident shows that despite tireless efforts by both governments to heal the wounds, things might not necessarily be improving in the minds of the people. Siem Reap has just hit the record of receiving over two million tourists, mainly from China and South Korea. The history of the Khmer empire is being kept vivid for the Cambodians who are cashing in on their heritage.
Not all Cambodian guides hold a grudge over the Thai-Cambodian historical conflict, however.
Tarth Nu, regarded as Khru (master) by other tour guides, carefully explained the history of the Khmer and the Khmer heritage without naming specific invading nations that drove the Khmer from their ancient capitals of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, to the present Phnom Penh.
Tarin Prom, a 34-year-old taxi driver in Phnom Penh, claimed that half of the Cambodians remained angry with Thai people and continued to hate them after the infamous torching of the Thai embassy. But he himself did not want any further trouble.
''I want peace and I don't want neighbours to quarrel any more. With the riots, not only did Thais stop coming here, other foreigners from the region are also fearful of this easily-provoked nation and are scared to return.''
Time has passed and the physical debris has been cleaned up. Hotels, restaurants and guesthouses that used to bear Thai names such as Chao Phraya, Thai or Siam, have gradually been changed to Khmer words such as Jayavaraman, or Angkor.
The Thai embassy has been beautifully rebuilt and is now secured with two high-tech gates. The private Thai companies have been fully compensated, mostly in kind and through tax breaks.
Yet, deep inside, the hurt is still there in the hearts of both Thais and Cambodians.
Thibodi Buakamsri, a history lecturer at Kasetsart University, said among other efforts that could heal the ill feeling, a rewriting of the history textbooks might help, as many of them were filled with prejudice towards neighbouring countries.
Intellectuals from both sides believe they should set things right for the future by making the contents of textbooks used in both countries' formal curriculum ''decent and with a proper attitude'' towards neighbours. It may sound simple but any revision would be an arduous task as it must change the core concept of each country's national history.
''We might need to pay more attention and resources in shaping other approaches to viewing our neighbours, aside from the historical perspective. This should not be the burden of Thai people alone. Both sides should do something,'' the academic said.
The Mekong Times : In Khmer and English Languages
The Mekong Times #53.pdf
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Lawyer they call the Devil's Advocate in court tirade
24 April 2008By Susan Bell
THE controversial French lawyer defending the former president of the Khmer Rouge stormed out of Cambodia's genocide tribunal yesterday – because thousands of pages of documents had not been translated into French.
Jacques Vergès is defending Khieu Samphan, 76, in his appeal against pre-trial detention on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.Mr Vergès, who earned the nickname "the Devil's Advocate" for the notoriety of his client list, which has included the Nazi Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie, the Venezuelan terrorist.
Carlos the Jackal and the former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, declared: "French is an official language of the tribunal. There is not one page of the case file against Mr Khieu Samphan translated into French. I should be capable of knowing what my client is blamed for."
He told journalists that judges at the Phnom Penh hearing had asked Khieu Samphan to find a new lawyer. "This is a scandal," he said. "This never happens, except in dictatorships."
The Khmer Rouge leader, who has been held by the tribunal since 19 November, is charged in connection with the period his movement held power, from 1975 to 1979. About 1.7 million people died from starvation, disease, overwork and execution as a result of the Khmer Rouge's radical policies in trying to build a classless society.
The flamboyant 83-year-old lawyer is a natural choice to defend Khieu Samphan, whom he has known since both were active in left-wing student activities in Paris in the 1950s.
Biographies have documented Mr Vergès' links to the Khmer Rouge, including his meeting with Pol Pot, whom he befriended in 1949 when the lawyer was president of the Association for Colonial Students.
But there is mystery over his "missing years" – an eight-year period from 1970 to 1978 when he disappeared from public view, cutting all professional and family ties and leaving many to assume he was dead. Most of his associates now believe he had been in Cambodia during this period, a rumour that Pol Pot denied.
Born in Thailand in 1925 to a French diplomat father and a Vietnamese mother, Mr Vergès was brought up in the then French colony of Réunion. He joined the Communist Party there and in 1942 sailed to Liverpool to join the Free French Forces under Charles de Gaulle and participate in the anti-Nazi Resistance.
After the war, he did his legal training in Paris before embarking on a highly controversial career which has been shaped by his anti-colonialist communist beliefs. During the Algerian civil war, he defended many accused of terrorism by the French government, likening their independence struggle to French armed resistance to the Nazi German occupation in the 1940s.
Later, he worked on primarily political cases and has defended some of the most notorious figures of the past 50 years, including both left- and right-wing terrorists, war criminals and militants. When asked if he would have defended Hitler, he once replied: "I'd even defend Bush, but only if he agrees to plead guilty."
Recycled Weapons Calls For Peace After Long War
April 23rd, 2008by Gloria Campos
After more than 30 years of civil war, ending in 1998, the Cambodian government has collected and destroyed more than 160,000 weapons across the country.
In the name of peace some of those weapons were donated to the PAPC. The PAPC (Peace Art Project Cambodia) is a project that was created in November of 2003 by British artist Sasha Constable and Neil Wilford, small weapons specialist with the European Union.
In the name of peace the weapons were recycled (sculpted, forged or welded) into amazing works of art such as: chairs, tables, bikes, animals and various other sculptures by student artists from the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.
Isn't there something twisted about sitting on furniture made of guns? Or making art out of AK-47's? What do you think?
Personally I'd like to add the rocking chair made of guns to my list of favorite recycled chairs . It speaks volumes to me. Its dark cold metal eco-frame calls out to me, "Sit and relax!"
Is it comfortable? Maybe not, but I don't plan on sitting in it forever. I just want to get the feel of sitting on a piece of furniture made of parts once composed of a negative past now recycled into hope for a safer more peaceful future.
To find out more about the PAPC visit Sasha Constable's website .
Via Haute Nature
Gloria Campos-Hensley
Green Blogger
InventorSpot.com
Rainsy in the clink
Courtesy of Cambodia: Details are Sketchy
April 24, 2008
Rasmei Kampuchea says that Sam Rainsy faces a stint in prison for his wisecracks about Hor Namhong.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Nam Hong said on Tuesday that he was forced to sue Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader in Cambodia, for disinformation.
The opposition leader could face imprisonment or a fine if he is found guilty in the disinformation lawsuit, according to the Cambodian law.
[...]
However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that if Sam Rainsy admits that he was wrong and apologised for his mistake, he would not have to bring the lawsuits to the court to keep the political environment calm before the national election, schedule for 27 July 2008.
Anyone that has followed Sam Rainsy’s career will know very well that Sam Rainsy does not do prison. Expect an apology posthaste.
April 24, 2008
Rasmei Kampuchea says that Sam Rainsy faces a stint in prison for his wisecracks about Hor Namhong.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Nam Hong said on Tuesday that he was forced to sue Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader in Cambodia, for disinformation.
The opposition leader could face imprisonment or a fine if he is found guilty in the disinformation lawsuit, according to the Cambodian law.
[...]
However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that if Sam Rainsy admits that he was wrong and apologised for his mistake, he would not have to bring the lawsuits to the court to keep the political environment calm before the national election, schedule for 27 July 2008.
Anyone that has followed Sam Rainsy’s career will know very well that Sam Rainsy does not do prison. Expect an apology posthaste.
Cambodia's children calling `Sophy' home
charlotte.com
Thu, Apr. 24, 2008
KARA LOPP
klopp@charlotteobserver.com
MINT HILL --When Mory Om returned to her native Cambodia in 2001 after a 10-year absence, she didn't like what she saw.
"There were children walking around the streets naked with nothing to eat," she said. "When I was walking down the street, I was wondering `What was I to do?' "
Now after two more trips to Cambodia -- this time with Christian missionary groups -- she's figured out how she can help.
Om, called "Sophy" by her American friends, will leave her Mint Hill home next month to open an orphanage in Cambodia.
The store where she works, Home-Styles Gallery, which houses 50 vendors selling ladies accessories and housewares, is helping the effort by collecting money and children's over-the-counter medicines.
She's partnering with Warm Blankets Orphan Care International, a nonprofit Christian mission, to build the orphanage. But she still needs money for furniture, classroom supplies, food and more.
Cambodia is an Asian country bordered by Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. It was a happy place to grow up, said Om, 49.
But civil war in the 1970s ravaged the country -- and her family. One of 11 siblings, Om became separated from all but one brother, one sister and her mother. The four moved to the Charlotte area in 1991. She doesn't know what became of her other siblings.
Her younger siblings were sent to work in other parts of Cambodia, she said. Her father died in 1972.
During the war, Om was forced to farm and given meager food rations. Sometimes one scoop of rice was given for 20 people, she said.
After the war, she moved to the United States in 1981.
`Give them a good life'
Many of Om's co-workers at HomeStyles didn't know the passion she had for Cambodian orphans until recently, said vendor Susie Shoemaker, who sells makeup at the store.A former clinical nurse specialist, Om has had an alterations booth at HomeStyles for two years.
Om was nervous but she recently spoke to the store's 49 other vendors about her dream, explaining why she was leaving. When she did, the usually chatty, flamboyant women were stiff and silent, and many were crying, Shoemaker said.
"She has a heart, oh my goodness," Shoemaker said of Om, placing her hand over her heart. "If you hear her tell you about it, then you know what you're backing."
Shoemaker said she admires Om for leaving the frills of the U.S. behind.
"She's been here for so long and she's lived the good life," she said.
Describing herself as an independent woman, Om said she doesn't care about material comforts -- just her country's children. She will leave behind her boyfriend, brother and sister when she goes to Cambodia. Her mother died in 1999. She doesn't have any children.
"It's to save the children's hope and future," she said.
She already has the land where she can build her orphanage.
On her third trip to Cambodia in 2004, she bought one partially wooded acre, in the Kaoh Kong Province southwest of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. The land is across from an established orphanage that teaches sports skills, she said. She paid $2,300, she said.
The established orphanage is run by Buddhists and its staff didn't want Om's help because she is a Christian, she said.
There's a small house on the property, complete with an outhouse. Her cousin is looking after the property now.
Om wants her center to focus on teaching children English. If Cambodians know English, they can make a good living as translators for missionaries or tourists, she said. Now many orphans live in landfills, where Om said she once saw a fight over one can of soda.
"If you give them English it's just like you give them a good life," she said.
Om admits her own English isn't perfect. She gets words confused --such as kitchen and chicken -- but she has the training, and passion, to help. She has been taking classes at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College toward an education degree.
But Cambodia is suffering now. The price of rice and basic supplies is at least double what it was since Om's trip to Cambodia last year, she said.
If she were anyone else, she wouldn't go to Cambodia now, Om said.
"If you were me you might cancel. I should've cancelled, it's a bad situation. But what I would like to say is trust in the Lord and obey his will.
"It's been my goal and my dream," she said.
Want to help?
HomeStyles Gallery, 11237 Lawyers Road, is collecting children's over-the-counter medicines and money for Mory "Sophy" Om to open an orphanage in Cambodia. To donate, stop by the store, open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Donations also can be mailed to: Cambodian Mission Church c/o St. John's United Methodist Church, 4305 Monroe Road, Charlotte, NC 28205
On the Web
Visit Om's blog at: www.theorphanageproject2007.blogspot.com/
Thu, Apr. 24, 2008
KARA LOPP
klopp@charlotteobserver.com
MINT HILL --When Mory Om returned to her native Cambodia in 2001 after a 10-year absence, she didn't like what she saw.
"There were children walking around the streets naked with nothing to eat," she said. "When I was walking down the street, I was wondering `What was I to do?' "
Now after two more trips to Cambodia -- this time with Christian missionary groups -- she's figured out how she can help.
Om, called "Sophy" by her American friends, will leave her Mint Hill home next month to open an orphanage in Cambodia.
The store where she works, Home-Styles Gallery, which houses 50 vendors selling ladies accessories and housewares, is helping the effort by collecting money and children's over-the-counter medicines.
She's partnering with Warm Blankets Orphan Care International, a nonprofit Christian mission, to build the orphanage. But she still needs money for furniture, classroom supplies, food and more.
Cambodia is an Asian country bordered by Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. It was a happy place to grow up, said Om, 49.
But civil war in the 1970s ravaged the country -- and her family. One of 11 siblings, Om became separated from all but one brother, one sister and her mother. The four moved to the Charlotte area in 1991. She doesn't know what became of her other siblings.
Her younger siblings were sent to work in other parts of Cambodia, she said. Her father died in 1972.
During the war, Om was forced to farm and given meager food rations. Sometimes one scoop of rice was given for 20 people, she said.
After the war, she moved to the United States in 1981.
`Give them a good life'
Many of Om's co-workers at HomeStyles didn't know the passion she had for Cambodian orphans until recently, said vendor Susie Shoemaker, who sells makeup at the store.A former clinical nurse specialist, Om has had an alterations booth at HomeStyles for two years.
Om was nervous but she recently spoke to the store's 49 other vendors about her dream, explaining why she was leaving. When she did, the usually chatty, flamboyant women were stiff and silent, and many were crying, Shoemaker said.
"She has a heart, oh my goodness," Shoemaker said of Om, placing her hand over her heart. "If you hear her tell you about it, then you know what you're backing."
Shoemaker said she admires Om for leaving the frills of the U.S. behind.
"She's been here for so long and she's lived the good life," she said.
Describing herself as an independent woman, Om said she doesn't care about material comforts -- just her country's children. She will leave behind her boyfriend, brother and sister when she goes to Cambodia. Her mother died in 1999. She doesn't have any children.
"It's to save the children's hope and future," she said.
She already has the land where she can build her orphanage.
On her third trip to Cambodia in 2004, she bought one partially wooded acre, in the Kaoh Kong Province southwest of Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. The land is across from an established orphanage that teaches sports skills, she said. She paid $2,300, she said.
The established orphanage is run by Buddhists and its staff didn't want Om's help because she is a Christian, she said.
There's a small house on the property, complete with an outhouse. Her cousin is looking after the property now.
Om wants her center to focus on teaching children English. If Cambodians know English, they can make a good living as translators for missionaries or tourists, she said. Now many orphans live in landfills, where Om said she once saw a fight over one can of soda.
"If you give them English it's just like you give them a good life," she said.
Om admits her own English isn't perfect. She gets words confused --such as kitchen and chicken -- but she has the training, and passion, to help. She has been taking classes at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College toward an education degree.
But Cambodia is suffering now. The price of rice and basic supplies is at least double what it was since Om's trip to Cambodia last year, she said.
If she were anyone else, she wouldn't go to Cambodia now, Om said.
"If you were me you might cancel. I should've cancelled, it's a bad situation. But what I would like to say is trust in the Lord and obey his will.
"It's been my goal and my dream," she said.
Want to help?
HomeStyles Gallery, 11237 Lawyers Road, is collecting children's over-the-counter medicines and money for Mory "Sophy" Om to open an orphanage in Cambodia. To donate, stop by the store, open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday. Donations also can be mailed to: Cambodian Mission Church c/o St. John's United Methodist Church, 4305 Monroe Road, Charlotte, NC 28205
On the Web
Visit Om's blog at: www.theorphanageproject2007.blogspot.com/
Cambodian son slays "sorcerer" father
M&G Asia-Pacific News
Apr 24, 2008
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man has been charged with murdering his own father after becoming 'embarrassed' by village gossip that the man was a sorcerer, police said Thursday.
Apr 24, 2008
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man has been charged with murdering his own father after becoming 'embarrassed' by village gossip that the man was a sorcerer, police said Thursday.
Penal police chief in the central province of Kampong Chhnang, Chim Bunthueon, said Tong Syleina, 20, attacked his father, Khat Tongly, 56, on Monday, hacking him to death with a machete.
He was charged late Tuesday evening.
'He admitted that he did the murder because he felt ashamed and embarrassed about village gossip that his father was a sorcerer. The villagers insulted his family with this talk and called him son of sorcerer and witch boy,' Bunthueon said.
Executions of accused sorcerers remain common in rural Cambodia, where people are often deeply superstitious and many lack even basic education.
If convicted, Syleina faces up to 20 years in prison.
Lawyer slams detention of former Khmer Rouge leader
The China PostThursday, April 24, 2008
By Suy Se, AF
PPHNOM PENH -- Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan went before Cambodia's genocide tribunal for a pre-trial hearing Wednesday, where famed French lawyer Jacques Verges branded his detention "illegal."
The judges adjourned the hearing and warned Verges over his behaviour after he said he was unable to act for his client because court documents had not been translated.
The controversial Verges, who has defended some of the world's most infamous figures, told reporters he was "indignant" to discover 16,000 pages of court documents had not been translated into French, one of the court's three official languages, for Khieu Samphan's appeal against his detention without bail.
"His detention is illegal because it has been ordered from a file to which his lawyers did not have access," the lawyer, whose notorious clients have included Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Venezuelan terrorist "Carlos the Jackal," said after Khieu Samphan made his first public appearance before the U.N.-backed tribunal.
The judges said Verges and his Cambodian co-lawyer had given no indication of any such difficulties since filing their appeal on December 21, 2007, adding that all the relevant documents had been translated.
"As a consequence of the behavior of the international co-lawyer advising with effectively no notice that he will not continue to act in this appeal within the circumstances mentioned above, a warning is given to him," they said in a statement on their decision to adjourn the proceedings to a date to be decided.
A fierce anti-colonialist, Verges, who was born in Thailand, reportedly befriended Khieu Samphan and other future Khmer Rouge leaders while at university in Paris in the 1950s.
Khieu Samphan, who was detained by the court in November on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, earlier listened stony-faced as head judge Prak Kimsan read out the background of the case against him.
He then told the court, which was set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity during their brutal 1975-1979 rule, that he had lived in poverty for the past 10 years.
"I have had no job since leaving the jungle. (I have) only my wife, who struggles to feed me and my family," Khieu Samphan said in Khmer, referring to his 1998 defection from the then-dying Khmer Rouge guerrilla movement based in the remote northwest.
Khieu Samphan, who court documents say is 76, was dressed in a light-grey shirt and trousers and spoke in a quiet, hoarse voice as he addressed the three Cambodian and two foreign judges, an AFP reporter at the court said.
ECCC delays hearing for ex-Khmer Rouge chief after lawyer refuses to participate
Wednesday, April 23, 2008[JURIST] The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday adjourned a hearing to consider an appeal by former Cambodian head of state Khieu Samphan [JURIST news archive] against his detention after Samphan's French lawyer Jacques Verges [BBC profile] refused to participate, saying that documents necessary for Samphan's defense had not been translated into French.
In the decision [PDF text] issued Wednesday to adjourn the proceedings, the court said that French copies of all relevant documents were available and issued a warning to Verges for not indicating sooner that language difficulties existed. Also Wednesday, Verges told reporters that Samphan's detention was "illegal," as it was based on untranslated documents. AFP has more. AP has additional coverage.
Khieu Samphan was the fifth senior Khmer Rouge [JURIST news archive] leader to be detained by the ECCC when he was arrested last year.The Khmer Rouge is generally held responsible for the genocide of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians [PPU backgrounder] who died between 1975 and 1979. The ECCC was established by a 2001 law [text as amended 2005, PDF] to investigate and try surviving Khmer Rouge officials, but to date, no top officials have faced trials. Verges has previously said that his client would not speak with court officials [JURIST report] until court documents and pages of evidence against his client were translated into French.
Wife struggles to feed me, pleads Khmer accused
Khieu Samphan, a former president during the Khmer Rouge regime, sits in the dock before Cambodia's genocide tribunal ruled on an appeal against his pre-trial detention, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh April 23, 2008. Khieu Samphan is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.REUTERS/Pring Samrang/Pool (CAMBODIA) The Star
April 23, 2008
Edition 4
Phnom Penh - The former Khmer Rouge head of state appeared before Cambodia's genocide tribunal for his first hearing today, where famed French lawyer Jacques Verges was expected to argue against his detention.
Khieu Samphan, who was detained by the UN-backed court in November on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, stood before head judge Prak Kimsan as he was asked to confirm his name, age, home town and job to the court, which was set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity during their brutal 1975-1979 rule.
"I have had no job since leaving the jungle. (I have) only my wife, who struggles to feed me and my family," Samphan said in Khmer, referring to his 1998 defection from the then-dying Khmer Rouge guerrilla movement based in the remote northwest.
Samphan, whom court documents say is 76, was dressed in a light-grey shirt and trousers and spoke in a quiet, hoarse voice as he addressed the three Cambodian and two foreign judges, said a reporter.
The court then went into a closed-door session.
Verges, who has defended some of the world's most notorious figures including Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Venezuelan terrorist "Carlos the Jackal," is expected to argue that his client should be freed on bail while awaiting trial.
In documents submitted to the court during Samphan's detention, the prosecution said releasing him on bail could put the elderly defendant at risk of revenge attacks. and there's "a danger that he will flee".
Samphan, the last of five top regime leaders to be arrested and detained by the tribunal, has repeatedly denied his involvement in the atrocities. - Sapa-AFP
Hun Sen Calls for Political Support From Business
By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmer audio aired April 23 (866KB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 23 (866KB) - Listen (MP3)
Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to foreign and local businesses to support him in the upcoming election period, as his ruling party faces ongoing criticism for inflation.
His appeal, during a forum between the government and the private sector in Phnom Penh, comes as the ruling Cambodian People’s Party is experiencing pressure from economic forces, such as inflation, the high cost of food and a recent rice crisis.
“I would like to inform you all that whatever Hun Sen does for winning, it’s not only winning for Hun Sen and the CPP, but the whole nation wins,” the prime minister said.
“I would like clearly to inform you all that I have made everything for the Cambodian nation, but I also need the election won,” Hun Sen added. “If the private sector wants me to participate in continually leading you all, you all support me, because if you all let me lose, you also lose.”
Political observers say that many of the high-profile businesses in Cambodia run mutli-million-dollar enterprises with the support of the ruling party.
“If people vote for me, there is no war, and you don’t have to run into the trenches,” Hun Sen also said.
Human Rights Party Vice President Keo Remy said Hun Sen’s speech was a sign of pressure on the businessmen.
“If HRP wins the election, there is no war and fear for people, because HRP doesn’t take anyone as an enemy and doesn’t take revenge against anyone,” he said.
Cambodia was unlikely to experience war no matter who wins the election, he said.
Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Yim Sovann said Hun Sen and the ruling party had failed to progress the economy and were now turning to businesses for help.
Ly Sothea Rayuth, a program officer for the National Democratic Institute, said Hun Sen’s speech in a public venue “threatened the spirit of voters.”
Tribunal Delays Verdict on Khieu Samphan Appeal
By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.30MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.30MB) - Listen (MP3)
The Khmer Rouge tribunal delayed a decision on the pre-trial release of jailed leader Khieu Samphan Wednesday, after warning controversial lawyer Jacques Verges about his behavior, an official said.
Verges is a French lawyer known for his defense of notorious figures, support of anti-colonialist groups and friendship with Pol Pot.
Khieu Samphan, 76, was the nominal head of the Khmer Rouge and faces charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He stood as he faced questions from Pre-Trial Chamber judges.
“I have had no job since leaving the jungle,” he said, an apparent reference to his life in Pailin following the collapse of the regime. “I have only my wife, who has struggled to feed me and my family.”
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.30MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.30MB) - Listen (MP3)
The Khmer Rouge tribunal delayed a decision on the pre-trial release of jailed leader Khieu Samphan Wednesday, after warning controversial lawyer Jacques Verges about his behavior, an official said.
Verges is a French lawyer known for his defense of notorious figures, support of anti-colonialist groups and friendship with Pol Pot.
Khieu Samphan, 76, was the nominal head of the Khmer Rouge and faces charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He stood as he faced questions from Pre-Trial Chamber judges.
“I have had no job since leaving the jungle,” he said, an apparent reference to his life in Pailin following the collapse of the regime. “I have only my wife, who has struggled to feed me and my family.”
Inflation Could Affect Voter Turnout, Experts Worry
By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmer audio aired April 22 (1.75MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 22 (1.75MB) - Listen (MP3)
[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining inflation.]
As the cost of goods across the country continues to rise, election experts worry that voters will be less likely to make a trip to the polls in July, while voters themselves say they are so worried about the cost of living they can’t focus on the elections.
Sok Vannak, who left her hometown in Svay Reing province to work at a garment factory more than 10 years ago, said her $50 dollar monthly salary won’t allow her to go vote back home. This is because of high inflation, especially an increas in traveling costs.
“Now you have to spend 30,000 riel for one-way travel, but before only 6,000 riel,” she said, joined by a group of workers and university students near a wooden house in the capital. “This high increase means I will not go to vote because I have no money for traveling.”
Voting is the last thing on the minds of many Cambodians, especially the poor, who have daily concerns and are feeling the bite of rising costs.
“How can we think about the election if we are so poor?” asked Ty Sokhak, a resident in Battambang province, raising her voice. “At the moment eating is more important.”
Competing parties in July’s elections recognize the difficulty in getting people to vote when they are worried about daily living, experts said. The parties also have to contend with people’s skeptical attitudes toward politicians.
Ly Sothea Rayuth, senior program officer at the National Democratic Institute, said inflation not only made Cambodians uncaring about the election but also could prevent many from leaving their jobs in the capital on Election Day.
“In a country facing high inflation, it not only affects people’s livings, but it also affects the election process,” he said.
Ly Sothea Rayuth warned that a worst-case scenario could see a reduced number of voters, especially if the government can’t find a way to reduce the costs of living or travel.
Government spokesman Kheiu Kanharith said inflation was a product of the free market, and the government was unable to stop it.
More than 8 million people are registered to vote this year, but the number of people coming to the polls has decreased in recent elections.
The National Election Committee counted 90 percent of voters casting ballots in 1993, but only 68 percent voting in last year’s commune elections.
Koul Panha, director of the independent Committee for Free and Fair Elections, urged people to overcome the costs of travel and vote.
A vote was a way of standing up and speaking to a problem, he said.
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmer audio aired April 22 (1.75MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 22 (1.75MB) - Listen (MP3)
[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the first in a two-part series examining inflation.]
As the cost of goods across the country continues to rise, election experts worry that voters will be less likely to make a trip to the polls in July, while voters themselves say they are so worried about the cost of living they can’t focus on the elections.
Sok Vannak, who left her hometown in Svay Reing province to work at a garment factory more than 10 years ago, said her $50 dollar monthly salary won’t allow her to go vote back home. This is because of high inflation, especially an increas in traveling costs.
“Now you have to spend 30,000 riel for one-way travel, but before only 6,000 riel,” she said, joined by a group of workers and university students near a wooden house in the capital. “This high increase means I will not go to vote because I have no money for traveling.”
Voting is the last thing on the minds of many Cambodians, especially the poor, who have daily concerns and are feeling the bite of rising costs.
“How can we think about the election if we are so poor?” asked Ty Sokhak, a resident in Battambang province, raising her voice. “At the moment eating is more important.”
Competing parties in July’s elections recognize the difficulty in getting people to vote when they are worried about daily living, experts said. The parties also have to contend with people’s skeptical attitudes toward politicians.
Ly Sothea Rayuth, senior program officer at the National Democratic Institute, said inflation not only made Cambodians uncaring about the election but also could prevent many from leaving their jobs in the capital on Election Day.
“In a country facing high inflation, it not only affects people’s livings, but it also affects the election process,” he said.
Ly Sothea Rayuth warned that a worst-case scenario could see a reduced number of voters, especially if the government can’t find a way to reduce the costs of living or travel.
Government spokesman Kheiu Kanharith said inflation was a product of the free market, and the government was unable to stop it.
More than 8 million people are registered to vote this year, but the number of people coming to the polls has decreased in recent elections.
The National Election Committee counted 90 percent of voters casting ballots in 1993, but only 68 percent voting in last year’s commune elections.
Koul Panha, director of the independent Committee for Free and Fair Elections, urged people to overcome the costs of travel and vote.
A vote was a way of standing up and speaking to a problem, he said.
Inflation Emerges as Campaign Issue
By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.45MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.45MB) - Listen (MP3)
[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the second in a two-part series examining inflation.]
The soaring price of food and other essentials has by now affected most Cambodians, especially those living under a dollar a day. The country’s inflation has people vexed, making them reluctant to vote because the cost of travel is too high.
But fighting inflation has emerged as one of the first real platforms carried by political parties. Elections past have seen such issues as border demarcation or illegal immigration—vague problems that are emotional touchstones with the populace.
Political parties vying for parliamentary seats in July’s general polls see this as a time to act and are making inflation a main point of attack, with the electoral campaign period set for June 26 to July 26.
“The soaring food price is one of my main political platforms,” said Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay. “With this strategy, I believe we will receive a lot of support.”
To fight inflation, he said, Funcinpec will create a true free market to open competition between companies to import fuel at lower costs.
Keo Remy, vice president of the Human Rights Party, called the curbing of inflation his party’s top priority.
“We will control riel currency, reduce taxes on essential imported products and encourage farmers to produce domestic products,” he said.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said his party’s strategy would mainly focus on fighting corruption, to prevent food prices from climbing.
Khieu Kanharith, a government spokesman and member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said the rising cost of food and other commodities was a product of the free market, and not something the government can reduce.
The CPP hopes to promote salary increases for workers and civil servants as a way to temper the impact of inflation, he said.
Food prices have increased dramatically in recent months, jumping 24 percent last month. Now, many people are looking to political parties for answers.
Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, a monitoring group, said political parties must remember the promises they make on the campaign trail, and keep them once they’ve won.
Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.45MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired April 23 (1.45MB) - Listen (MP3)
[Editor's note: In the weeks leading into national polls, VOA Khmer will explore a wide number of election issues. The "Election Issues 2008" series will air stories on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a related "Hello VOA" guest on Thursday. This is the second in a two-part series examining inflation.]
The soaring price of food and other essentials has by now affected most Cambodians, especially those living under a dollar a day. The country’s inflation has people vexed, making them reluctant to vote because the cost of travel is too high.
But fighting inflation has emerged as one of the first real platforms carried by political parties. Elections past have seen such issues as border demarcation or illegal immigration—vague problems that are emotional touchstones with the populace.
Political parties vying for parliamentary seats in July’s general polls see this as a time to act and are making inflation a main point of attack, with the electoral campaign period set for June 26 to July 26.
“The soaring food price is one of my main political platforms,” said Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay. “With this strategy, I believe we will receive a lot of support.”
To fight inflation, he said, Funcinpec will create a true free market to open competition between companies to import fuel at lower costs.
Keo Remy, vice president of the Human Rights Party, called the curbing of inflation his party’s top priority.
“We will control riel currency, reduce taxes on essential imported products and encourage farmers to produce domestic products,” he said.
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said his party’s strategy would mainly focus on fighting corruption, to prevent food prices from climbing.
Khieu Kanharith, a government spokesman and member of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said the rising cost of food and other commodities was a product of the free market, and not something the government can reduce.
The CPP hopes to promote salary increases for workers and civil servants as a way to temper the impact of inflation, he said.
Food prices have increased dramatically in recent months, jumping 24 percent last month. Now, many people are looking to political parties for answers.
Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, a monitoring group, said political parties must remember the promises they make on the campaign trail, and keep them once they’ve won.
Hun Sen Orders Land Sale Investigation
By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
23 April 2008
Khmre audio aired April 23 (921KB) - Download (MP3)
Khmre audio aired April 23 (921KB) - Listen (MP3)
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday ordered the Council for Development of Cambodia to conduct an investigation into alleged deception of residents in land deals with private companies.
Speaking at a government and private sector forum, the prime minister warned that some investments in the country had worried Cambodians, and said companies who had forced people to sell land for them would lose their development licenses.
“You forced people to sell the land, so [the licenses] must be terminated,” he said. “This measure is to protect people from losing their land due to coercion by the private sector, which has used its name as an investor and forced people to sell the land.”
Hun Sen pointedly ordered the CDC to investigate a land sale in Kandal province’s Vihear Sour commune.
Mu Sochua, Sam Rainsy Party deputy secretary-general, said Wednesday she was skeptical such a measure would lead to any action against the companies.
Many private companies had tricked people into selling their land, or forced them from their land, but they did so with official backing, she said.
“Many senior government officials and local authorities are behind some of those companies,” she said.
The rights group Adhoc reported in 2007 a worrying trend of private companies forcing the sale of land at low prices or taking land after delivering a small deposit for its sale.
Samdech Dekchor Wants to Stop the Use of Royal Language in the Top National Institutions
Posted on 24 April 2008.The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 557
Samdech Hun Sen Asks Samdech Euv and Samdech Mae to Advise a Son
Reaction of Mr. Mut Chantha…
“Samdech Akkak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen said on 22 April 2008 that he wants to stop the use of royal language in the top national institutions in order to provide justice to all dignitaries in the use of the language for communication.
“Samdech Prime Minister said during the inauguration ceremony of the library at Queen Kossomak High School in Kratie, ‘I also want to have the words “Preah Angk Mchas [“prince” or “princess” not used in the National Assembly, the Senate and the Royal Government, and also not “Toul Bangkum Chea Khnhom [“I” used in communication with members of the royal family], because the use of special royal language in the parliament makes its members already to be not equal.’ Samdech stated that we protect the monarchy, but those who enter politics should not have a different immunity from other people who also entered politics.
“Samdech Prime Minister said with democracy in Cambodia, the politicians, when entering politics, cannot rely on themselves as the prince or princesses can…it should not be necessary to think whether you are a prince or princess.
“Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen is a dignitary who brought back the constitutional monarchy in 1993 - after Field Marshal Mr. Lon Nol had dissolved it through the military coup in 1970 - and he always declares to protect the monarchy by claiming that the monarchy is for all Cambodian citizens, and it does not belong specifically more to some and not to others.
“Samdech Dekchor said that some princes are respectable without entering politics, but some princes who enter politics must have the same rights as other politicians; when a prince hits us once, we must hit back twice to knock them down in order that they will never dare to do it again. Samdech said he used to give orders to princes who were members of the Royal Government, because they have to obey the Prime Minister’s orders.
“While not mentioning the name, Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen called the accusation by Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who said that he cannot return to the country because of Samdech Hun Sen, an absolutely wrong accusation, and Samdech also called on Samdech Euv [the former King, the 'Father King'] and on the King, to advise Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
“Samdech Prime Minister said that the King and Preah Karuna - the father and a brother [of Prince Ranariddh] - to ‘help advise the son.’ This is not Hun Sen’s problem, but it is a problem of Prince Ranariddh himself [the latter is probably a direct quote – but not marked as such – from the Prime Minister's speech].
“Norodom Ranariddh Party president Prince Norodom Ranariddh was sentenced by the Municipal Court in absentia to 18 months imprisonment, and he was fined in addition to pay US$150,000, accused of a break of confidence in the case of selling the Funcinpec headquarters in Phnom Penh, when he was the president of Funcinpec.
“According to some sources, Prince Norodom Ranariddh said during the Khmer New Year, that Samdech Hun Sen had set three conditions for his return to the motherland – first, to write an apology to Samdech Hun Sen, second, to stop entering politics, and third, to return not to be the president of Funcinpec.
“Samdech Dekchor stated, ‘If you are disturbed, please be disturbed alone and don’t make others to be disturbed with you… if it is Hun Sen’s problem, Hun Sen will solve it, and if it is not, don’t put blame on Hun Sen… don’t lift a stone and drop it on Hun Sen’s feet… I would like to say that this dropped stone missed Hun Sen’ feet, and it hit the feet of the one who dropped it; such a strategy is always defeated – it never wins.’
“Samdech Prime Minister said that Samdech Euv and Samdech Mae [the former Queen] should tell Prince Norodom Ranariddh not to bother Samdech Prime Minister, so that Samdech Prime Minister has time to deal with economic issues, and with national security… and in case [Prince Ranariddh] needs anything in the future, he can depend on Samdech Prime Minister for it.
“Separately, the Norodom Ranariddh Party spokesperson Mr. Mut Chantha told Kampuchea Thmey that what Samdech Krom Preah had said is all true and cannot be denied.
“Mr. Mut Chantha also accused Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen that he is the person who ordered Mr. Nhek Bun Chhay to plan to overthrow Samdech Krom Preah [as president of Funcinpec], and then he ordered the court to try Samdech Krom Preah ahead of the [commune] elections. He went on to say that the preparation of formula for Krom Preah first to enter the country through the Funcinpec entrance, but to stop entering politics, is also Samdech Hun Sen’s plan. A witness who knows the plan is a senior official.”
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1622, 23.4.2008
Widow Rescues Cambodian Orphans
At 73 years of age, a former pastor’s wife wants her life to continue to count. She launched a mission in Phnom Penh to help widows and orphans.Christianity.ca
by Emily Wierenga
Many of us dream of retirement as a time when we’ll no longer need to lift a finger. Not Saskatchewan native Marie Ens. When asked to retire from The Christian and Missionary Alliance in 2000, the widow decided to start an organization in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, called Rescue, which would allow her to keep on working.
“I didn’t want my life to consist of just sitting there, waiting to die,” says the 73-year-old author who spoke at MissionFest 2008 in Toronto. “I still wanted my life to count. Even after my husband passed away in ’91, I felt God say my missionary career wasn’t over.”
The former pastor’s wife and mother of four joined the Alliance in 1961. Along with her husband and children, she worked in Cambodia on and off until the country’s collapse in 1975, when they returned to Canada for a short while to plant a church, then headed to France where they worked with Cambodian refugees.
Whereas before she trained pastors and started churches, Rescue allows Ens to work with hundreds of orphans and AIDS victims at an orphanage called Place of Rescue.
“The work I’m doing now is more natural,” she says. “Now that I’m an older woman I want to be a grandmother.” With 12 grandbabies of her own and 140 at Place of Rescue, her desire has been more than realized.
When asked about her vision for the children, Ens replies: “That they soar like a kite. We [she works with a Cambodian director and houseparents] want them to reach their full potential. Whatever God has in mind for them we want to see fulfilled.”
Only four years old, the organization already consists of an orphanage, two large homes called “granny houses” for elderly women, another building for young pregnant factory workers and a transition house that assists the orphans with obtaining life skills and a job.
Following MissionFest Toronto, where Ens taught seminars on Third World countries and AIDS, she is returning to the land and people she has fallen in love with. “I hope to keep doing this for the rest of my life,” she says.
Emily Wierenga is a writer and artist based in Blyth, Ontario.
Cambodian Opposition Leader could face prison
The Nation (Bangkok)Wed, April 23, 2008
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Nam Hong said on Tuesday that he was forced to sue Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader in Cambodia, for disinformation.
The opposition leader could face imprisonment or a fine if he is found guilty in the disinformation lawsuit, according to the Cambodian law.
"I filed disinformation and defamation lawsuits at the court today against Sam Rainsy," Hor Namhong told Rasmmei Kampuchea newspaper and Radio Free Asia in an interview on Tuesday.
He was forced to sue the opposition leader because Sam Rainsy falsified information in order to insult me in front of hundreds of people, he added.
However, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that if Sam Rainsy admits that he was wrong and apologised for his mistake, he would not have to bring the lawsuits to the court to keep the political environment calm before the national election, schedule for 27 July 2008.
Sam Rainsy was reported to have accused Hor Namhong as being the chief of Boeng Trabek Prison of the Khmer Rouge Regime in his comments on April 17 to mark the 33rd anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, in which millions of Cambodian people were killed.
However, in the interview, Hor Namhong explained in detail that he was one of the Khmer Rouge victims, saying that at least 30 of his relatives and his wife's were killed by the Khmer Rouge.
Sam Rainsy could not be reached for comment as he was outside of the country.
Eng Chhay Ieng, the secretarygeneral of the Sam Rainsy Party, said that Sam Rainsy has definitely informed that he was being sued by Hor Namhong, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"This case is involved with the Khmer Rouge regime. Therefore, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal is the only competent body which can solve the case," Eng Chhay Ieng said.
"If the Phnom Penh court is used to deal with the case, it is politically motivated," he added.
Sam Rainsy is now in the United States where he is expected to give a lecture about the Cambodian situation at Yale University. He is scheduled to arrive back in Cambodia on April 29.
by Rasmei Kampuchea/Asia News Network
Lawyer slams 'illegal' detention of Khmer Rouge leader
Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan appears in court at the Extraodinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) in Phnom Penh. Khieu Samphan went before Cambodia's genocide tribunal for a pre-trial hearing, where his lawyer said the detention was "illegal." (AFP/Pool)Turkish Press
04-23-2008
04-23-2008
PHNOM PENH (AFP)
Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan went before Cambodia's genocide tribunal for a pre-trial hearing Wednesday, where famed French lawyer Jacques Verges branded his detention "illegal."
The judges adjourned the hearing and warned Verges over his behaviour after he said he was unable to act for his client because court documents had not been translated.
The controversial Verges, who has defended some of the world's most infamous figures, told reporters he was "indignant" to discover 16,000 pages of court documents had not been translated into French, one of the court's three official languages, for Khieu Samphan's appeal against his detention without bail.
"His detention is illegal because it has been ordered from a file to which his lawyers did not have access," the lawyer, whose notorious clients have included Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Venezuelan terrorist "Carlos the Jackal," said after Khieu Samphan made his first public appearance before the UN-backed tribunal.
The judges said Verges and his Cambodian co-lawyer had given no indication of any such difficulties since filing their appeal on December 21, 2007, adding that all the relevant documents had been translated.
"As a consequence of the behaviour of the international co-lawyer advising with effectively no notice that he will not continue to act in this appeal within the circumstances mentioned above, a warning is given to him," they said in a statement on their decision to adjourn the proceedings to a date to be decided.
A fierce anti-colonialist, Verges, who was born in Thailand, reportedly befriended Khieu Samphan and other future Khmer Rouge leaders while at university in Paris in the 1950s.
Khieu Samphan, who was detained by the court in November on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, earlier listened stony-faced as head judge Prak Kimsan read out the background of the case against him.
He then told the court, which was set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for genocide and crimes against humanity during their brutal 1975-1979 rule, that he had lived in poverty for the past 10 years.
"I have had no job since leaving the jungle. (I have) only my wife, who struggles to feed me and my family," Khieu Samphan said in Khmer, referring to his 1998 defection from the then-dying Khmer Rouge guerrilla movement based in the remote northwest.
Khieu Samphan, who court documents say is 76, was dressed in a light-grey shirt and trousers and spoke in a quiet, hoarse voice as he addressed the three Cambodian and two foreign judges, an AFP reporter at the court said.
According to the prosecution charges, Khieu Samphan aided and abetted the Khmer Rouge regime in policies which were "characterised by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhumane acts."
Defence lawyers argue that Khieu Samphan had no real power under the regime and in appeal documents lodged in December they petitioned for a dismissal of the detention order "because Mr Khieu Samphan is not guilty."
"He was simply a head of state in name only," they said in the documents.
Khieu Samphan, the last of five top regime leaders to be arrested and detained by the tribunal, has never denied the bloodletting under the Khmer Rouge but has repeatedly denied his involvement in the atrocities.
Up to two million people are believed to have been executed or died of starvation and overwork as the communist regime emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia.
Cambodia's genocide tribunal convened in 2006 after nearly a decade of haggling between the government and the United Nations.
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