Cambodian culture displayed at art exhibit

Devin Barnas Northern Star
The NIU Anthropology Museum is currently displaying an exhibit entitled "Khmer Spirit: Arts and Culture of Cambodia" which is on Cambodian culture and arts. The exhibit, which includes various musical instruments (pictured) as well as paintings and sculptures, runs from 9 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday for the rest of the month.

Northern Star Online

By GILES BRUCE
Last updated on 04/06/2009

While Cambodia was under Khmer Rouge control from 1975 to 1979, 80 to 90 percent of Cambodian artists died. Some of what the surviving artists did to rebuild Cambodian culture is on display at the NIU Anthropology Museum in an exhibit called “Khmer Spirit: Arts and Culture of Cambodia.”

Included in it are Cambodian canvas drawings, stone carvings and musical instruments. The exhibition coincides with NIU’s celebration of Asian American heritage this month.

“Khmer Spirit” is the second of two Cambodian exhibitions shown at the Anthropology Museum, said Vadim Olshansky, museum attendant and senior anthropology major. The first one focused on the day-to-day life of Cambodians and featured instruments used for silk weaving and rice shucking.

“This is more focused on ritual and belief and the spirit, art and culture,” Olshanksy said of the current exhibition.

The artwork comes from the time period after the Khmer Rouge tried to, in essence, destroy Cambodian culture, as they burned manuscripts and killed master craftsmen. But after the Rouge’s oppressive reign ended, the surviving artists, who included painters, monks and dancers, worked to rebuild that culture. Their work is on display here.

A good part of the exhibit focuses on the story of the Reamker, which is the Cambodian version of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. According to the exhibit, it’s the most influential epic poem of India and one of the most popular narratives in human history.

“It’s like ‘The Illiad’ is for us Westerners: It forms much of our ideas about myths and legends,” said anthropology museum director Ann Wright-Parsons.

The exhibition features Cambodian musical instruments such as a Sampho (a drum), Tro Thum (a large fiddle) and Takhe (a Khmer guitar).

In a stone carving in the middle of the exhibition entitled Touphy and Pealy (Battle of the Water Buffalo and the Monkey), Pealy, a monkey who is the destroyer of evil, is stabbing Touphy, a water buffalo who represents evil, through the chest.

“Khmer Spirit” runs until May, Olshansky said. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Photo from Koh Santepheap Newspaper: Thai damaged the Preah Vihear temple and Village

The Living condition of evacuated villagers

257 Cambodian homes were burnt down to the ground from indiscriminate Thai rocket shelling

Pockmarked holes on the temple rocks resulting from Thai troops shooting (Photos by Samnang, Koh Santepheap news)

CAMBODIA: Government's stand against prosecution of more Khmer Rouge leaders shows its true colours

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-080-2009
April 7, 2009

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

In the immediate period leading to the trial of Khmer Rouge Prison Chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, on 30 March, there was a disagreement between the international and the national co-prosecutors of the Cambodian UN-assisted Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) over the prosecution of more Khmer Rouge leaders in addition to the five who have already been arrested and detained and who are awaiting trial. According to KRT, the international co-prosecutor, Robert Petit, has proceeded to "open new judicial investigations against certain additional suspects", saying that "there are reasons to believe that (1) the crimes described in those submissions were committed, (2) these crimes are within the jurisdiction of this Court, and (3) they should be investigated by the Co-Investigating Judges." KRT said that Petit "does not believe that such prosecutions would endanger Cambodia's peace and stability."

For her part, the Cambodian co-prosecutor, Chea Leang, "believes that these investigations should not proceed on account of Cambodia's past instability and the continued need for national reconciliation, (2) the spirit of the agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Cambodia ("Agreement") and the spirit of the law that established this Court ("ECCC Law"), and (3) the limited duration and budget of this Court." She "feels that this Court should instead prioritize the trials of the five suspects already detained" and "maintains that this Court's mandate can be adequately fulfilled by the prosecution of the suspects already detained."

The Cambodian government has taken side with the national co-prosecutor but has stopped short of taking any direct action to end these additional prosecutions or thwart the KRT Pre-Trial Chamber to adjudicate the disagreement between the two co-prosecutors. It has preferred to beat the bush about to achieve the same end. In February, referring to their continued recognition of the Khmer Rouge after the latter's ousting, Prime Minister Hun Sen lambasted, saying that "the UN and countries that supported (Khmer Rouge Leader) Pol Pot to occupy (Cambodia's) seat at the UN from 1979 to 1991 should be tried first... They should be sentenced more heavily than Pol Pot."

Later on, in March, the government spokesman and Minister of Information, Khieu Kanharith, amplified his Prime Minister's unhappiness and urged the KRT to deal with the five suspects it had detained, accusing KRT foreign staffs of dragging their feet so as to get more salaries. He said: "they have not even heard one case, yet they have created another. They are simply dragging their feet so as to receive more salaries. If they really want to push the process forward, when they have five cases at hand, they should hear these five cases first. When they have finished with them, then they can think of others."

However, these messages do not seem to have the desired effects and dampen pressure for more prosecutions. On 31 March, the second day of Duch's trial, in a speech at a road inauguration in a costal province, Hun Sen came to the open to forcefully oppose the prosecution of any more former Khmer Rouge leaders. He said: "they have gone about telling people that they will also prosecute all those brothers, that is, down to (Khmer Rouge) army division commanders. I'm telling them this: I will allow this tribunal to fail, but I will not allow Cambodia to have another war. This is an absolute stand. Please prosecute only those people (in detention)."

Referring to KRT's on-going financial difficulties, Hun Sen did not welcome Japan's recent aid of US0,000 to the tribunal for the payment of staff salaries, on top of its contribution to half of the tribunal's original budget of US million, saying: "I¡¦m not happy that Japan donated money to the United Nations to prosecute the Khmer Rouge because I wish for the tribunal to run out of money."

Hun Sen's "absolute stand" against any further prosecution is but a blatant interference in the tribunal's work, interference that has been most feared since 1999 when the government had changed its mind and insisted upon a Cambodian trial instead of an international one as it had originally requested the UN to create in 1997. His stand has violated the principle of separation of powers, the independence of the judiciary and the prosecutors' exclusive power to prosecute, which are all enshrined in Cambodia's Constitution. It has also violated the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure under which no one can order a prosecutor not to prosecute.

Furthermore, the same stand breached the law on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, which gives this tribunal all power to bring to trial Khmer Rouge leaders and those most responsible for crimes committed under their regime and also Article 20 of the same law on the settlement of the difference between the co-prosecutors by a pre-trial chamber.

Hun Sen¡¦s preference for the tribunal's failure and his displeasure with the donation which keeps it afloat has confirmed the doubts about his seriousness about the Khmer Rouge trial right from the beginning of his government¡¦s negotiations with the UN in 1999. These negotiations took eight years before the tribunal could see the light of day in 2007. It has also confirmed the on-going suspicion that the Cambodian government wants to control the tribunal.

When invoking the prospects of another war if there were more prosecutions, Hun Sen seemed to contradict his own ability and success, in the second half of the 1990s, in ending the war which the Khmer Rouge continued to wage and which the UN had failed to end with its huge peace-keeping force that administered Cambodia in 1992-93. In 1996, while the Khmer Rouge were still a force to be reckoned with, Hun Sen had maneuvered to split the Khmer Rouge, enticing one group under Ieng Sary, now an accused before the tribunal, to defect to the government's side.

Two years later, in 1998, he succeeded in coaxing the rest under Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, now also awaiting trial, to surrender to his government. He also succeeded in arresting the late Ta Mok, the notorious and feared one-legged Khmer Rouge army commander, next to Pol Pot, who was still rebellious. With this surrender, all the Khmer Rouge politico-military apparatus was completely dismantled.

Nowadays, after more than ten years of their defection or surrender, the bulk of Khmer Rouge cadre is living scattered in their zones bordering Thailand. All senior cadres and some rank and file, that were already fractious before the final surrender, have since been integrated in the national army and the civil service. The rest have been pursuing their separate ways of life far different from their proletarian days. Some senior army commanders have even become more like feudal lords possessing big land holdings. Many of the former cadres have grown old and weary by the prolonged struggle in the jungle.

Among all of those remaining Khmer Rouge leaders and rank and file there is no leader of prominence who could replace the former leaders who have died or have been detained and mobilise their former comrades to make a war if the few senior military commanders Hun Sen has cited are arrested by the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The prospects of any other Khmer Rouge leader identified by KRT for prosecution starting another war seem very remote. Furthermore, the country is far more united behind the government, and the Cambodian security forces are much stronger and more able to quell any rebellion.

The invocation of another war was but a scare mongering tactic to stop the tribunal from doing its work to uncover the truth about the Khmer Rouge crimes and to deliver justice to the victims.

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) therefore urges the Cambodian government to refrain from interfering in the work of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, to respect its independence and to lend its full cooperation whenever this cooperation is needed.

The Cambodian government should provide it with its full share of funding and appeal to the international community to make adequate contributions for its functioning.

U.N. at peacekeeping crossroad / 2009 seen as make-or-break year for overstretched organization

The Daily Yomiuri

Yoshikazu Shirakawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

NEW YORK--As the scope of U.N. peacekeeping activities expands, so too do the number of serious problems it faces, including a shortage of personnel and equipment and an increase in dangerous missions.

U.N. Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy expressed concern about the future of the body's peacekeeping missions at a late February meeting of the U.N. Special Committee for Peacekeeping Operations. He said 2009 would be a make-or-break year for U.N. peacekeeping operations because many operations were in danger of failure.

The United Nations is engaged in peacekeeping operations in 16 regions. These operations have seen it dispatch 112,000 personnel to the areas, including 91,000 military and police personnel. The numbers sent on missions has increased over the past five years as the number of conflicts around the world, including in some African nations, has escalated.

As new conflicts flare, the U.N. Security Council has passed resolutions authorizing peacekeeping missions and increased staff numbers for the operations. As a result, the United Nations has faced a constant struggle to find personnel and equipment for its peacekeeping operations.

The problem has arisen partly because the Security Council has passed resolutions authorizing missions without first closely studying the situations on the ground. Also, in an effort to show its resolve in tackling regional conflicts and proving its effectiveness, the Security Council has tended to be too optimistic about securing human and other resources for its missions.

Personnel involved in the missions have struggled with the consequent lack of resources.

Typical of the peacekeeping operations facing problems is that in the Darfur region of Sudan, where about 35,000 residents and others are believed to have been killed in the region by Sudanese government troops.

In July 2007, the Security Council passed a resolution to launch a peacekeeping operation to be jointly run by the United Nations and the African Union, with a maximum of 26,000 personnel.

However, only 15,100 personnel, mainly from AU member countries, including Nigeria and Rwanda, were sent to the region because the organizations were unable to secure the necessary human resources.

Equipment also is in short supply: U.N. and AU units in Darfur require military helicopters when they travel to desert areas, but they currently do not have enough.

Talks on halting the violence have not progressed, meaning the peacekeepers in Darfur effectively have no peace to maintain.

Recently, the neutrality of U.N. peacekeepers has not been observed by some actors in strife-torn areas. On March 9, four peacekeeping personnel were attacked and injured by militants.

In the early 1990s, as the Cold War drew to an end and confrontation between Russia and the United States waned, the U.N. Security Council saw increased activity and U.N. peacekeeping operations rapidly expanded.

The U.N. peacekeeping operation in Cambodia in 1992 and '93, in which Self-Defense Forces personnel participated, is seen as one of the body's most successful missions.

However, in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia, heavily armed U.N. peacekeepers were deployed as part of the United Nations' ambitious efforts to enforce peace. The peacekeepers were viewed by some as a warring party, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries to the personnel.

After U.S. soldiers involved in a U.N. peacekeeping mission were brutally killed in Somalia in 1993, Washington grew reluctant to provide personnel for missions, which impacted on all U.N. peacekeeping operations.

Other problems affecting the missions also surfaced in the early 1990s, such as how much force peacekeepers should be permitted to use to achieve their missions and protect local citizens, and whether peacekeepers should be sent to nations where the United Nations has not won the cooperation of the country's government for a ceasefire.

Against the backdrop of such problems, the Security Council and the U.N. Secretariat began a review of peacekeeping operations.

Japan chairs the Security Council working group on peacekeeping operations.

The likely result will be a strengthening of ties between the U.N. Security Council, the U.N. Secretariat and countries providing military personnel for the missions, as well as a commitment to make diplomatic efforts to resolve conflicts even after peacekeepers are dispatched.

Japan is the biggest financial donor for U.N. peacekeeping operations, but only ranks 79th as a provider of personnel for such missions with just 40 officials deployed. Developing nations top the list, with Pakistan providing 10,700 personnel and Bangladesh providing 9,400.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has said the United States is eager to be involved with U.N. peacekeeping operations, noting that for every dollar it costs the United States to independently carry out a peacekeeping activity, it costs just 12 cents to carry out the same task as part of a U.N. mission.

The United States may demand Japan contribute more to the U.N. peacekeeping operations. So we must discuss how to make a more active contribution to the missions, such as providing personnel training and much-needed equipment.

(Apr. 8, 2009)

Georgia Impounds Russian-Crewed Ship In Black Sea

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

April 07, 2009

TBILISI – The Georgian coast guard has impounded a ship with a Russian crew in its coastal waters near the Black Sea port of Batumi, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Officials of Georgia's border police told RFE/RL that the ship, sailing under a Cambodian flag, was stopped on April 6 on its way from the Turkish port of Hopa to Azov in Russia.

A spokesman for Georgia's border service, Londa Tolordava, said the ship was sailing in territory where foreign vessels are not allowed.

She said the impounded ship is now anchored in Batumi, and 14 Russian crew members are barred from leaving the port until a court decision is reached.

Tolordava said that the ship’s owners might face a fine of $20,000-30,000.

KRouge torturer says victims' confessions mostly false

Former Khmer Rouge prison commander Duch, real name Kaing Guek Eav, is pictured at the Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Duch has recounted his grisly past, telling the country's UN-backed war crimes court that confessions extracted under his torture orders were rarely true.(AFP/File)

by Patrick Falby – Tue Apr 7

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – The Khmer Rouge regime's prisons chief Tuesday recounted his grisly past, telling Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court that confessions extracted under his torture orders were rarely true.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, last week apologised at trial for crimes against humanity, accepting blame for the extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the regime's notorious main prison, Tuol Sleng.

"I never believed the confessions I received told the truth. At most, they were about 40 percent true," Duch said Tuesday.

The grey-haired 66-year-old sat in the dock answering judges' and lawyers questions about M-13 prison, a secret jungle centre he ran from 1971 to 1975 during the Khmer Rouge insurgency against the then US-backed government.

Duch told the court that he only tortured two people at M-13, but regularly ordered his subordinates to beat prisoners who were destined to be "smashed" to death with a stick at the back of the neck.

When prosecutors pressed him on the figure, Duch conceded the number could be higher but he did not remember.

"In my heart I did not want anyone to face death. I tried to find ways to interrogate detainees and find ways to have them released. I tried my best," Duch said.

The Khmer Rouge were later in power from 1975 to 1979, the period when Duch is accused of supervising Tuol Sleng prison and sending thousands of people to their deaths in the so-called "Killing Fields".

The trial chamber is hearing evidence about M-13 to understand Tuol Sleng's organising structure, the personality of Duch and the relevance of his role to the Khmer Rouge leadership.

The former prison chief said Monday that he hated his role "detaining, interrogating and smashing" suspected spies at M-13 but he was afraid leaders would turn on him if he did not carry out orders.

However Duch told the court Tuesday he did not follow orders to torture French anthropologist Francois Bizot, who wrote about being detained at M-13 in his bestselling book, "The Gate".

"I could only inform to my boss Vorn Vet that these people (Bizot and two Cambodian assistants) were not CIA agents. They were really researchers," Duch said.

"My boss laughed at me... He said I was afraid of CIA agents and asked me to interrogate them. I told them it was beyond my capacity to interrogate them so I should only ask them to write down some sort of agreement," he added.

Many months later Khmer Rouge leaders decided to release Bizot, Duch said, making him one of just 10 prisoners who survived M-13. "Only the Frenchman was released. The two Cambodian people (arrested with Bizot) were kept under detention," Duch added.

Scholar Henri Locard said he doubted Duch was providing a full confession but that the former prison chief's exacting testimony was unique in a country where few accept responsibility for crimes.

"In Cambodian politics, I've never heard this," Locard told AFP at the court.

Duch said M-13 was surrounded by a bamboo fence and shackled prisoners were often held in two-metre deep pits, both to prevent escape and to protect them from US warplanes carpetbombing the area.

The former maths teacher has denied assertions by prosecutors that he played a central role in the Khmer Rouge regime's iron-fisted rule.

Duch faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder for his role in the regime. He faces life in jail at the court, which does not have the power to impose the death penalty.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died under house arrest in 1998, and many believe the UN-sponsored tribunal is the last chance to find justice for the regime which killed up to two million people.

The tribunal was formed in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the United Nations and Cambodian government, and is scheduled to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders after Duch's trial.

Cambodia, Thailand say progress made in border talks

Cambodian senior minister in charge of border affairs Var Kim Hong (R) shakes hands with Thai advisor to minister of Foreign Affairs and co-chairman of Thai Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary Vasin Teeravechayan (L) as they exchange documents during the special session of Cambodian-Thai Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary at Council of Ministers in Phnom Penh.(AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)

Tue Apr 7

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodian and Thai negotiators said Tuesday they had made progress in efforts to resolve a border stand-off near an ancient temple which last week flared into deadly gunbattles.

Three Thai troops were killed following clashes on Friday between the neighbouring countries over disputed land around the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, the deadliest fighting for six months in a long-running feud.

Border officials from Thailand and Cambodia on Monday began meetings aimed at resolving their competing territorial claims, part of a process launched after an earlier clash in October killed four soldiers.

"We have made a good success," Vasin Teeravechyan, chief Thai negotiator, told reporters at the conclusion of the two-day talks.

Negotiators said they would be able to make progress on demarcating the border near the temple when they had finished some technical work.

"We have signed on three documents which are basic documents that allow us to continue working on border demarcation," said Var Kimhong, the chairman of Cambodia's border committee.

But the two countries failed to reach agreement on the spelling of the temple in official documents.

The World Court gave ownership of the temple -- which Thailand calls Phra Viharn -- to Cambodia in 1962, but tensions flared last July when the cliff-top building was awarded United Nations World Heritage status.

The current dispute centres on five square kilometres of land around the temple which has yet to be officially demarcated. The most accessible entrance to the ruins is in Thailand.

The Cambodia-Thailand border has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of civil war in Cambodia.

Cambodian and Thai military officials have also met several times over the past few days to prevent fresh fighting.

Forest Camp a Model for Torture Prison: Duch

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 April 2009

Jailed Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch denied on Tuesday any killings by his own hand, but admitted to ordering the deaths of prisoners at a small jungle camp in the west of the country and at Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, as he continued his ground-breaking trial at the special tribunal court.

Duch’s administration of the Kampong Speu provincial detention camp, called M-13, served as a model for his role as chief at Tuol Sleng prison, known to the Khmer Rouge as S-21, where 16,000 Cambodians were tortured ahead of their execution, he told judges of the tribunal’s Trial Chamber.

“I did not kill [prisoners] by myself, I did not commit this,” he said. “But all orders [to kill prisoners] in M-13 came from me.”

He also said he had only ordered killings at S-21.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is facing charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, as director of Tuol Sleng and Prey Sar prisons, as well as the execution site of Choeung Ek.

Few lived through Tuol Sleng, which became a repository for those considered enemies of the revolution, and in earlier trial sessions Duch apologized to the families of his victims and to survivors.

On Tuesday, he directly apologized to survivor Chhum Mey, who has been an ardent follower of the trial. Duch said Tuesday he had released only 10 prisoners from S-21.

The trial proceedings of Monday and Tuesday offered a look into the earlier prison camp, M-13, where the main torture method was to beat prisoners into forced confessions. Among torture methods at M-13, he said, prisoners would be dunked into water or left outside to be chilled by the cold.

Duch became chief of M-13, in Tpong district, Kampong Speu province, in July 1971, as the Khmer Rouge were growing in power in Cambodia’s countryside. He left M-13 prior to the Khmer Rouge takeover of Phnom Penh in April 1975. He became the chief of S-21 in 1976.

April Becomes ‘Genocide Prevention Month’

By Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Washington
07 April 2009

Dozens of nonprofit organizations in Washington and hundreds of other organizations worldwide are now joining together to establish April “Genocide Prevention Month,” hoping to renew a post-World War II call of “Never Again.”

It is a remarkable coincidence that all six of the world’s worst genocides have major anniversaries in the month of April: Sudan, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Holocaust and Armenia.

Organizers met at a recent gathering of survivors, anti-genocide advocates, policy experts, and filmmakers. The panelists included a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, a Darfuri liaison officer, the head of Genocide Intervention, president of the Save Darfur movement, chief of Survivor Corps, and a senior program officer of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention.

Jill Savitt, executive director of Genocide Prevention Project, one of the organizers of the event, told VOA Khmer in a phone interview that this was the first year they had gathered for “Genocide Prevention Month.”

There are “anniversaries of six genocides in the month of April,” she said. “We want to use that tragic coincidence to rally people around genocide prevention, so that what happened to so many people so tragically over the last century really does never happen again.”

The Bosnia massacre started on an April 6; in it, nearly 200,00 died. Fifteen years ago this month, Rwanda underwent a genocide that lasted for 100 days; nearly 800,000 died. April 17 is the anniversary of the Khmer Rouge’s rise to power; up to 2 million died. April 21 is the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, now used as a remembrance date for the Holocaust; as many as 6 million died. And an April 24 saw the start of Armenian genocide, where an estimated 1 million died.

After the Holocaust of World War II, between 1938 and1945, world leaders made a pledge: “Never Again.” However, since then, genocides have still been committed.

National leaders often do not want to address these crises as they are starting, Savitt said.

“There begins to be marginalization of certain people,” she said. “Often there’s hate speech. There’s persecution because of identity, all kinds of restrictions that are put on people. So we can predict these crimes. But what happens is the international community waits and waits until the problem becomes too hard to stop immediately. Bloodshed is spilled. Then the positions have hardened.”

Savitt said courts such as the Khmer Rouge tribunal are crucial for bringing perpetrators to justice so that society is healed and reconciled.

“I know that the trials and the tribunal [in Cambodia] have seen their problems, but it is important that healing is to happen if the society is going to reconcile and be prosperous,” she said. “We cannot allow for crime to go unpunished.”

Vanthan Peou Dara, deputy director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said he was impressed with the gathering to kick off “Genocide Prevention Month.”

“The gathering among dozens of humanitarian organizations in Washington, DC, shows that we are working together to prevent genocides from happening,” he said.

Thun Saray, director of the rights group Adhoc, also acknowledged the importance of genocide prevention networks and suggested civil society organizations in Cambodia join.

Ordinary citizens also play an important role in helping prevent genocide.

Chhet Sarom, a victim of the Khmer Rouge, is now living in Phnom Penh. He has done his job to help bring the awareness of genocide to his family members and relatives, he said.

“I am just a small cell of society, so I cannot do something big, but I also have power to help prevent genocide,” he said. “I told my children and relatives that crimes of genocide were cruel in Cambodia, so that they know what happened.”

One man, who asked to be identified as Sarom, stayed mostly in Svay Rieng province under the Khmer Rouge. If he had a chance, he said, he would call for the international community to pay more attention to helping prevent genocides.

“The United Nations, which plays an important role, seems to have limitations,” he said. “When Pol Pol was killing people, the United Nations couldn’t see, could never see. When my hardship and suffering were desperate for help, no one helped. Talking about a larger scope, the United Nations should oversee every corner of the world so that these crimes can be stopped. These crimes in Cambodia have gone, but they are now committed in Sudan. The United Nations can never help in time, letting hundred thousands of people be killed.”

Sarom cried as he recalled the lack of the attention paid by the United Nations as the Khmer Rouge continued its rule. Democracy can prevent such genocide from happening, he said.

“I have experienced genocide; it is hard, suffering,” he said. “Brothers, sisters, nieces, nephew.” His voice broke as he spoke. “I lost many of them in Pol Pot’s regime, they had no guilt. They had power, they treated people terribly everywhere. My suffering is recalled whenever I hear of killings. I feel their pain because I have experienced it.”

Savitt echoed Sarom’s feelings, saying everyday people have a responsibility to stand up and speak out over what happened to them and to urge their governments to act.

“Ordinary citizens really are mandated to speak out when this crime is happening, as they are right now in Darfur, in Congo, in Burma, in Somalia, and other places,” she said. “It is up to those who have not been persecuted to stand up for those who are and demand the world leaders to act.”

Vanthan Peou Dara emphasized that people need to be aware of the cause of genocide and share their experiences with others across the globe.

“For ordinary people, it is important that they need to understand the roots of genocide, so that they can discuss and share among people within the country and across countries so that everyone around the globe is aware of the roots of genocide,” he said.

All three agree that the international community should make better efforts to prevent the genocide.

“We need our leaders, leaders of powerful countries, leaders of the United Nations, set up the way to get those early signs and act on them immediately,” Savitt said. “We could spare so much pain and bloodshed if we got in there earlier. It is less costly, more humane and more effective.”

Migrant Work Falls as Countries Close Doors

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
07 April 2009

The South Korean government has announced a sweeping reduction in the number of migrant laborers Cambodia can send there, striking a blow to an increasing trend even as Malaysia and Thailand have closed their doors to many Cambodian workers.

South Korean officials announced March 29 that a foreign labor quota would be reduced from 65,000 workers to 17,500 for 15 countries, including Cambodia.

“Due to the global economic crisis, we knew that worker demand would be cut down,” Heng Sur, chief of administration and finance for the Ministry of Labor, told VOA Khmer. “But we never expected such a large reduction. It’s four times less than last year.”

As part of the new policy, Cambodia will only be able to send 1,000 workers to South Korea, which had become a popular destination for people seeking work in factories, construction and the service sector. In 2008, the country ranked third in destinations for Cambodian labor, behind Thailand and Malaysia.

In February, Malaysia announced it would no longer accept migrant garment workers from Cambodia. Thailand, meanwhile, has banned all legal migrant workers from the country, according to Cambodian government officials.

Cambodia sent between 7,000 and 8,000 legal workers to Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea in 2008, but demand for such work has plummeted 80 percent in 2009, according to the Cambodian Migrant Labor Association.

“The global financial crisis is adversely affecting Cambodian migrant workers abroad,” Lim Sovannara, a Cambodian economist at UNDP, wrote in an e-mail. “The three main receiving countries are tightening their policies on migrant workers in an effort to free up jobs for their own people…putting greater pressure on the capacity of the agriculture sector to absorb those returnees.”

While some economists worry over the future for legal migrants, others worry the new policies will open up exploitation of migrants who seek work abroad illegally.

Meanwhile, the Cambodian government is spending $7.2 million in vocational training for workers that have lost their jobs to the global downturn.

PM again refutes UK report purporting instability of Cambodia

People's Daily Online
April 07, 2009

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has once again dismissed a UK report claiming that the kingdom is among the top five countries at high risk of political instability amid the current global economic climate, the official Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) said on Tuesday.

With its report, British think tank the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) possibly aimed to interrupt the foreign investment in Cambodia, the AKP quoted the premier as telling the 5th Asia Economic Forum here on Monday.

Fortunately, all the projects in Cambodia were now going ahead, and didn't retreat, he added.

The premier also revealed that the EIU had invited him to visit England in September and he still hesitated whether to accept it or not.

The recently issued EIU report classified the risk of social upheaval and political unrest as high or very high in 95 countries, as a result of the current global financial crisis. Cambodia was ranked fourth in terms of such threat.

In late March, Hun Sen had already rejected the report, saying that "we have political stability and live in peace now."

"We know that their assessment had other purposes inside," he added.

Source: Xinhua

Duch: the teacher who made sacrifices for the revolution, and the cadre who obeyed for fear of dying

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 06/04/2009: Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, explaining his allegiance to the Communist Party of Kampuchea during the trial at the ECCC.
©John Vink/ Magnum

Ka-set

By Stéphanie Gée
07-04-2009

On April 6th, the fourth day of the substantive trial of Duch - the former director of the S-21 detention centre where more than 15,000 prisoners died - debates were about the M-13 security centre of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), which Duch directed before his appointment to the newly-created S-21 centre in 1975. Facts linked to the centre do not come under the jurisdiction of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) since they occurred outside of the court’s mandate, before 1975. This short historical reminder aimed at shedding some light on the context in which S-21 came about, its structure and the way it worked, and also at clarifying the character of the sprightly sixty-six year-old. The hearing was seriously affected by translation issues.

The innovation of international criminal courts, where Common Law usually applies, invited itself at the ECCC: the defendant was subjected to a cross-examination before the ECCC, a process which is usually proper to the Civil Law system. Indeed, Duch was questioned by the court and for the M-13 dossier, it is French Judge Jean-Marc Lavergne who conducted the interrogation with pertinence.

Revolutionary commitment
Duch’s interest in the Marxist-Leninist revolution dates back to 1964, he explained, i.e. when he was a student at the National Institute of Pedagogy, where two of his teachers aroused his interest in politics. “My commitment was whole-hearted. I sacrifice everything”: a great part of his salary and even regular visits to his parents... Late 1967, after attending a training course provided by the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), he was made to swear allegiance to the party, in order “to serve the party and the people in the best way, all his life, and to sacrifice everything” for the revolutionary cause. A few weeks later, he was arrested by Prince Sihanouk’s judicial police for “having endangered the security of the state”, with the collaboration of a foreign power. He was sentenced to 20 years of hard labour and was released on April 3rd 1970 thanks to General Lon Nol’s coup, which resulted in the release of all political prisoners.

Among the main reasons which led Duch into revolutionary struggle, as he summed it up, there was a fierce will to defend the country and free the people, who were “then considered as oppressed”. “I was not afraid of being far away from my relatives, being incarcerated or dying and serving the revolution”, he said, and added that this spirit of sacrifice was “constantly” there with him. Yet, he later said he quickly decided to obey orders for fear of dying and claimed he was aware of the criminal nature of what was committed...

For the former S-21 supervisor, there is absolutely no doubt that “if Richard Nixon had not helped Lon Nol in his coup and if the Khmer Rouge had not cooperated with Prince Sihanouk, the Khmer Rouge would not have been able to lead their insurrection”. Thanks to Prince Sihanouk who urged Cambodians to go underground [after being toppled by Lon Nol], Khmer Rouge forces were able to grow stronger in 1970.” In an account of the Khmer Rouge movement as he knew it back then, Duch cleared the name of Khieu Samphan by saying that the latter was but a “simple outward image, and Pol Pot was the one who had been controlling the army from the very beginning”.

Choosing his revolutionary name
“We were asked [when they joined the ranks of the CPK] to change our names.” On top of that, Duch points out that his name – Kaing Guek Eav – was Chinese. But the Khmer Rouge rule was to bear a Khmer name. “I thought about Duch, the name of a very skilful sculptor whom my grandmother knew [...]. It was also the name of a student who used to hold his head high in pride and read out very clearly – he was mentioned in the first text of a primary school learning book. I liked that name, so I chose that one”.

Judge Lavergne corrects him: “The name then referred to a student who was particularly obedient and respectful, who was always ready to learn and carry out orders?” “Yes”, Duch says. But I wanted to be that well-disciplined boy who respected teachers and did good actions.”

A cadre who obeyed for fear of consequences?
Duch thought that once the revolution would be triumphant, he would be allowed to teach. “I did not expect to do what I was going to do!” The accused, who first proved his worth in the Khmer Rouge ranks as a political instructor for the army, admits he used to loathe his function at the M-13 centre. “I was not able to avoid that task. [...] It is natural that when a superior gives instructions, his subordinates obey!”

In an appendix added to his interrogation by co-Investigating Judges, Duch wrote a paragraph entitled “the influence of terror on me”. In it, he says he hated his “police work”. He cast aside the suicide option and that of facing his superiors. In order to soothe his internal conflict and find comfort, he used to recite every night a French poem and made sure he sought the truth in the confessions he got from prisoners, he says in the note. “I could not do anything else than carrying out this mission at the centre. Therefore I did not consider any other alternative than obeying orders so as to survive! [...] I was afraid of dying!” He then reported, looking ill-at-ease, that children had already started to appear at M-13 among ranks of prisoners.

When Judge Lavergne asked him to make a list of the particular qualities which the Party appreciated in him to the point of entrusting him with the direction of security centres, Duch mentioned “sincerity towards the party”, and the “meticulous” side of him regarding work. “For all my life, when I did something, I did it well!” Just like on that fourth day of trial: without the shadow of a doubt, he collaborates with the court. Most of the time, his eyes are in line with the camera and he suits the action to the word whenever he needs to. He modulates the intonations of his voice to make his account livelier. His head nods and he frowns. He answers everything and enumerates dates, places and names with the same strictness a teacher would show.

M-13, a prelude to S-21
After public apologies to S-21 victims the week before, Duch reiterated his request, but this time before M-13 victims. Were detainees subjected to ill-treatment? “They said that torture was inevitable” during interrogations, he says. The security centre was originally created to fight spies and protect the zone “liberated” by the Khmer Rouge. Duch admits that conditions of detention were “inhuman”. Medication was non-existent, food shares became scarcer in 1974 and prisoners were only given “rice dust” – “We kept them alive for interrogations”- and detainees were permanently chained to iron bars. Parallels with S-21 grip anyone who listens to descriptions. Judge Lavergne tried to emphasise this through his questions to the defendant.

As a background to the hearing, Duch’s answers reveal that right before they seized power, the Khmer Rouge were shaken in their ranks by internal conflicts and that obviously, all members did not necessarily approve of their policy.

Duch’s interrogation will continue on Tuesday April 7, after which Civil Parties, witnesses and experts will be heard before the Trial Chamber regarding the M-13 issue.

Khmer ethnic people celebrate new year

07/04/2009

VietNamNet Bridge – More than 300,000 Khmer ethnic people in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh will welcome their new year festival – Chol Chnam Thmay – which will last from April 14-16.

In recent years, the lives of Khmer people have significantly improved. More than 3,330 Khmer have moved into new houses.

Tra Vinh is the Mekong province boasting the second highest concentration of Khmer people.

Since May 1992, Tra Vinh has built more than 500 infrastructure projects funded through Government programmes. Tra Vinh has also spent 76 billion VND from the state budget to build 13,182 houses for poor Khmer households. Additionally, the province used the funding to provide 5,500 families with two cows each.

The State has also poured 43 billion VND into Tra Vinh to help build 88 water supply stations and 2,380 water tanks, as well as install more than 8.140 water metres. As a result, more than 87 percent of all Khmer families now have access to safe water.

Furthermore, nearly 140 billion VND has been earmarked to help more than 20,000 Khmer people get access to power.

The province has also invested more than 4 billion VND in building the Khmer ethnic cultural museum and upgrading historical and cultural sites.

Presently, Tra Vinh has six boarding schools that boast more than 1,200 Khmer students, with an additional 1,000 university, college and vocational training students.

VietNamNet/VNA

Ousted Thai PM Thaksin not in Cambodia: Official

www.chinaview.cn

2009-04-07

PHNOM PENH, April 7 (Xinhua) -- A government spokesman here on Tuesday dismissed the rumor that ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra once stayed in Cambodia to carry out his political agenda.

"The Thai side heard some wrong information about Thaksin. They got the rumor about the presence of Thaksin in Cambodia. Thaksin actually didn't have any presence in our country," said Phay Siphan, secretary of state and spokesman of the Council of Ministers.

For anything that he did, Thaksin could observe his own country's law and the international law, he said.

In addition, Thailand could not order Cambodia to do this or that, because Cambodia was independent, had its sovereignty and could make any decision by itself, he added.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya once told reporters that the bilateral ties between Thailand and Cambodia could be affected adversely, if the ousted premier was allowed to launch political attacks from Cambodia.

Editor: Yan

Cambodian trade fair highlights Vietnamese goods

thanhniennews.com

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

A trade fair kicked off Wednesday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia showcasing high-quality Vietnamese goods and export products.

Nguyen Thanh Bien, deputy minister of Industry and Trade, said the annual five-day fair attracted 180 Vietnamese businesses displaying textile products, food, building materials, cosmetics, handicrafts and pharmaceuticals at 350 booths, a 17 percent increase year-on-year.

Bien said the increase showed local businesses were interested in Cambodia and that Cambodian consumers were confident with Vietnamese goods. Export products to Cambodia grew by 40 percent last year.

He also said the fair, supported by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, would enhance Vietnamese-Cambodian bilateral trade, which last year stood at US$1.64 billion.

Vietnamese businesses will also conduct a survey on export demand in the Cambodia-Thailand border area during the fair, said event organizers including the HCMC Investment and Trade Promotion Center, Sai Gon Tiep Thi magazine and the Vietnamese High Quality Goods Club.

Reported by Vinh Son

Cambodian, Thai PMs to meet on border disputes

www.chinaview.cn

2009-04-07

PHNOM PENH, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Senwill meet with his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva in order to solve both sides' border disputes and avoid further armed clash, a Cambodian spokesman said here on Tuesday.

"They will meet for bilateral talks during the ASEAN summits from April 10 to 12 in Thailand," said Phay Siphan, secretary of state and spokesman of the Council of Ministers.

Cambodia welcomes talks anywhere and anytime to avoid further armed clash between Thai and Cambodia troops in the areas near the Preah Vihear temple, he said.

Two rounds of armed confrontations took place last Friday after Thai troops with weapons intruded on Cambodian land near the 900-year-old temple, and resulted in death and casualty on the Thai side, according to a statement issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Since July 2008, troops from both sides have stationed near the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and two armed confrontations last year sparked brief concerns of war.

The two neighboring countries have never fully demarcated their disputed border, mainly due to different interpretations of historical maps, as well as the landmines left over from decades of civil war in Cambodia.

Editor: Yan

Cambodia, Thailand agree to plant border posts near Preah Vihear temple

www.chinaview.cn

2009-04-07

PHNOM PENH, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Thailand here on Tuesday agreed to plant border posts in July within the disputed areas near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, said senior officials.

Technicians from both sides will jointly survey the land near the temple with the priority of planting border posts there and therefore helping contain armed clashes, according to Var Kim Hong, chairman of the Cambodian side within the Joint Border Committee of Cambodia and Thailand (JBC), and his Thai counterpart Vasin Teeravechyan.

"We will help stop accidents of armed clashes," said Var Kim Hong.

The two chairmen made these remarks to reporters after JBC conducted a two-day meeting on demarcation issues in Phnom Penh.

Two rounds of armed confrontations took place last Friday after Thai troops with weapons intruded on Cambodian land near the temple, and led to death and casualty on the Thai side, according to a statement issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Since July 2008, troops from both sides have stationed near the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and two armed confrontations last year sparked brief concerns of war.

The two neighboring countries have never fully demarcated their disputed border, mainly due to different interpretations of historical maps, as well as the landmines left over from decades of civil war in Cambodia.

Editor: Yan

Thai PM's car attacked as tension grows

Mr Abhisit's car was attacked by around 50 people when it stopped at traffic lights in Pattaya Photo: AFP/GETTY

Telegraph.co.uk
By Thomas Bell in Phnom Penh
07 Apr 2009

The window of a car carrying the Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was smashed by protesters as tensions built ahead of an opposition rally.

Mr Abhisit's car was attacked by around 50 people when it stopped at traffic lights in Pattaya, 90 miles from Bangkok. After returning to the capital the 44-year-old British born leader assured reporters: "It's OK.

It did not scare me. I can still perform my work."

The Thai opposition will hold a demonstration on Wednesday claiming the government was brought to power by a conspiracy of powerful conservatives in the military, the judiciary and the royal privy council.

It has billed the protest as a "people's revolution" and claim 300,000 redshirted supporters will march.

In an attempt to appear in control, Mr Abhisit gave a 15 minute television address saying: "We cannot allow a civil war or a people's revolution. If the situation leads to a riot, the government cannot stand still."

It came as neighbouring Cambodia claimed the Thai military was attempting to distract attention from domestic problems by escalating a border dispute.

It said the Thai army had brought new artillery and tanks to the edge of a disputed area near the ancient temple of Preah Vihear.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, said: "They should not take us hostage to solve a political problem back home. It's a show of muscle to confuse Thai people."

"We picked up a radio communication that they are prepared to launch an attack."

In response, Thailand accused Cambodia of secretly supporting opposition leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

The Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya warned that if Mr Thaksin was in Cambodia, relations between the countries would suffer.

Ex-Khmer Rouge tells how he put prisoners in pits, AS

oregonlive.com

4/7/2009

SUSAN POSTLEWAITE
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) ? A former Khmer Rouge prison chief told a court Tuesday that he experimented with many torture methods including tying prisoners to posts, beating them with tree branches and tossing them into communal pits before they were executed.

Facing repeated questions from a genocide tribunal judge, Kaing Guek Eav (pronounced Gang Geck EE-UU), 66, spent much of the day detailing the tools he used to force confessions from the prisoners at the M13 prison he ran in the early days of the ultra-communist regime. He is more commonly known as Duch (pronounced Doik).

The prison was the predecessor to the notorious Tuol Sleng, where 16,000 Cambodians were imprisoned, tortured and executed.

"The torture at that time was monitored by me closely," Duch said, detailing how he routinely ordered prisoners to be placed in communal pits until the monsoon flooded the pits then forced them to stand out in the cold air while soaking wet.

"In general the detainees were beaten with tree branches or detainees were tied to a pole apart from one another so they could not communicate with each other," he added.

Duch spoke during the second week of the U.N.-assisted tribunal for crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as homicide and torture.

Duch is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial, and the only one to apologize for his actions. Four more are in custody and are scheduled to be tried sometime over the next year.

An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died under the Khmer Rouge from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions.

As he detailed his torture techniques, Duch noticed that one of the surviving victims, Chum Mey, was in the courtroom listening. Accused of being a spy for either the CIA or KGB, Chum Mey had his toenails ripped out at Tuol Sleng, was beaten and given electric shocks.

"I saw Chum Mey inside the courtroom. I didn't beat up Chum Mey," Duch said. "The other man beat him. But I ordered the beating. I apologize Mr. Chum Mey. I am fully responsible."

Chum Mey told reporters earlier in the week that he was not ready to forgive Duch. His wife and child were killed while he was in prison.

Pain of Khmer Rouge Era Lost on Cambodian Youth

Seth Mydans/The International Herald Tribune
Yeoun Chany, 38, who lives near a former killing field, said her children "only know there are skulls and bones here; they don't know what they are."

THE NEW YORK TIMES

By SETH MYDANS
Published: April 7, 2009

TRAPAENG SVA, CAMBODIA — Thirty years after the killing stopped, Cambodia suffers from a particularly painful generation gap — between those who survived the brutal rule of the Communist Khmer Rouge and their children, who know very little about it.

Seth Mydans/The International Herald Tribune

Visitors looked at skulls displayed in a memorial at Choeung Ek, one of Cambodia's killing fields during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979, during which 1.7 million people were killed.

Seth Mydans/The International Herald Tribune

A painting at a temple in Trapaeng Sva, Cambodia depicts an execution at a nearby killing field during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s

“I used to tell my children the stories, but they only believed a tiny bit, like nothing,” said Ty Leap, 52, who sells noodles and fruit drinks from a roadside stall. “I don’t like it, but what can you do? It really is unbelievable that those things happened.”

For nearly four years, from 1975 to 1979, the Communist Khmer Rouge caused the deaths of 1.7 million people from overwork, starvation and disease as well as torture and execution as they attempted to construct a peasant utopia.

Almost everyone here of a certain age has stories to tell of terror, abuse, hunger and the loss of family members.

“Some older people get so upset at their children for not believing that they say ‘I wish the Khmer Rouge time would happen again; then you’d believe it,”’ Mr. Ty Leap said.

As much as 70 percent of Cambodia’s population is under the age of 30, and four out of five members of this young generation know little or nothing about the Khmer Rouge years, according to a survey last fall by the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley.

That ignorance — among both young and old — seems also to embrace the trials of five major Khmer Rouge figures that began last month, a process that is meant, in part, to begin a process of healing and closure.

Parts of the trial sessions are being broadcast and newspapers are carrying reports, but even in this village at the edge of a former killing field 40 kilometers, or 25 miles, south of the capital, Phnom Penh, many people said they were not aware that the hearings were under way.

“I miss some programs so I don’t know about that,” said Khieu Hong, 36, who was listening to a small transistor radio. “If you want to know about the trials you should ask the police or the old people.”

Hun Ret, 36, a cattle trader who lives nearby, said he strongly supported a trial in order to punish Khmer Rouge perpetrators. But he was surprised when he was told that the trials had already started.

Again the Berkeley study seemed to support the perception of widespread ignorance. Only 15 percent of the people it surveyed said they knew much at all about the trials, although that number is likely to have risen since the hearings began. The study was based on personal interviews with 1,000 people during the last three weeks of September.

Beyond the question of age, ignorance about the past appears to be a combination of culture and policy and perhaps also the passivity of a people too exhausted by history to confront its traumas.

The trials are being held under pressure from the United Nations and Western governments in a nation that might have preferred the approach of its prime minister, Hun Sen, who once proposed that Cambodia “dig a hole and bury the past.”

Hun Sen was a mid-level Khmer Rouge commander, though there is apparently no evidence that he committed major crimes. Several ranking members of his governing Cambodian People’s Party and of the military are also former Khmer Rouge.

Because of these cross-currents in recent Cambodian history, the Khmer Rouge period has not been taught in school, causing some teachers who are survivors to feel orphaned by their students.

A new high school textbook has been prepared but will reach only a portion of the country’s students.

“I talk to them but they don’t always believe what I tell them,“ said Kann Sunthara, 57, a chemistry teacher. “My father and husband and brother and sisters and many others died. Sometimes when I’m telling about them I have to turn my back and cry.”

Another teacher, Eam Mary, 41, who was severely tortured as a boy under the Khmer Rouge, said he can only catch the attention of his class when he tells weird stories, like the times he was forced by hunger to eat baby mice or lizards or worse.

“They say ‘Eew, disgusting!”’ he said. “And at the same time some of the kids in the back of the class are playing and not paying attention.”

The generation gap seems evident here at the former killing field, where dozens of skulls and bones have been preserved in a makeshift memorial — one of hundreds around the country — as evidence that the massacres really did happen.

Some older people say they still hear the cries of wandering ghosts whose bodies have not been properly laid to rest. “They come out at night and frighten people,” said Mr. Khieu Hong, the man with the radio. “They cry ‘Whoo, whoo!’ It sounds like somebody is being tortured and crying out.” But the children who graze cattle nearby seem deaf to the moans of ghosts.

For some of them, the bones are playthings. Sometimes they stick their fingers into the eyes of the skulls, like bowling balls. Sometimes they put them on their heads like scary caps, the children say. Sometimes they kick them.

But they seemed confused when they were asked whose skulls these were.

“They are the skulls of ghosts!” said Prok Poeuv, 11, standing near the small stupa that houses the bones. But he added that he did not know whose ghosts these were, and he said he had never heard of the Khmer Rouge.

Sok Dane, 12, said she knew a little more. “My grandmother tells me that in the Khmer Rouge time some people hit other people,” she said.

But that was all she knows, and the meaning of “Khmer Rouge time” was unclear to her.

Chhun Sam Ath 42, a mother of six who lives in a shanty beside the collection of skulls, is one of the better informed villagers. She has a glossy handout about the tribunal although she does not read very well.

She said some children here, deep in their souls, may know more about the past than they seem to.

“I think some of my children are reborn from the victims in the killing field,” she said. “When people come and leave offerings for the skulls, my daughter always runs to get the food, as if they were bringing it for her.”

Hun Sen: report released by “The Economist” aims at repelling investors

Ka-set

By Ros Dina
07-04-2009

Cambodian prime Minister Hun Sen once again reacted strongly to the alarmist conclusions released in a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) , a branch of the British group The Economist, according to which Cambodia is amongst countries at high risk of political instability due to the global economic crisis.

Released at the end of March, the report ranks Cambodia fourth among countries where risks of social insurrection and political instability are at their highest after Zimbabwe, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the same level as Sudan but before Iraq, Haiti, Pakistan and Afghanistan.


The government already denounced the “political orientation” of the report, and Hun Sen quoted that very argument in his opening speech for the Fifth Asia Economic Forum (AEF) on Monday April 6th in Phnom Penh. “[This report] is a political attempt to stop flows on investments [in Cambodia], since here, we still manage to attract foreign investors”, he denounced.

According to the prime Minister, “no project” was withdrawn by investors. And he gave as evidence the “current” building of hydroelectric power plants which is “gaining pace” with the cooperation of China. Hun Sen also said he recently met a delegation of American investors working in countries which are part of the ASEAN, who allegedly said they were “ready to come and do business in Cambodia”.


For the head of government, Cambodia is not at risk of suffering a political crisis because of famine, as feared by economists at the EIU. If those experts mean this, it is because they “were wearing glasses with a prescription too strong for their eyes”, he said ironically. The risk of scarcity is small, the prime Minister added, since , on the contrary, the country is faced with crisis in rice exports as important stocks have not been sold abroad yet.

Hun Sen then urged the Cambodian population to rally and evade pessimistic predictions made by the economists. The head of Government prided himself on the fact that “In 2005, we forecast a growth rate for the economy situated between 1.6% and 2.4% in Cambodia. But we managed to climb all the way up to 13.3% and for five consecutive years, the country’s rate for economic growth reached an average of 10.4%”.

Predictions released by the main regional and international institutions for 2009 were recently revised downwards; especially those published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which now fears recession might befall Cambodia. The IMF bet on a -0.5% negative growth rate. At the Asian Development Bank (ADB), experts reckon for their part that the growth rate of the Cambodian GDP will be around 2.5%.

Besides, the Prime Minister also stressed that the Council of Ministers adopted on Friday April 3 a bill for the rectification of the 2009 Budget Law, intended for the support of agriculture along three lines: short-term loans to buy producers some rice at a reasonable price and ensure food security and the stability of prices; medium-term loans for companies in charge of transforming rice, in order to reinforce capacity for storage and drying; finally, medium and long-term loans with a view to support investments relating to the transformation of agricultural produce, to fulfil local needs and exports.

In a mission conclusion released in early March, the IMF advised the Cambodian government to allow budget deficit to rise around 4.75% and inject some 500 million US dollars in support of national economy. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy also put forward the idea of a stimulus plan, as several dozens of garment manufacturing factories closed down in the country and more than 50,000 workers were left jobless.

Army won't send more troops to temple area

Forces will be rotated, tensions ease after talks

Bangkok Post
Published: 7/04/2009

Newspaper section: NewsThe army will not be deploying more troops in the disputed border area in and around the Preah Vihear temple despite the clashes last week with Cambodia, Second Army commander Wiboonsak Neepal says.

Lt Gen Wiboonsak yesterday said instead of pouring in reinforcements, the army would rotate its forces to bring in fresh legs.

The rotation is necessary if morale and confidence is to be boosted in the area which was the scene of last week's clashes.

Tensions look to have eased after talks on Sunday between Suranaree Task Force commander Kanok Netrakawesan and Maj Gen Srey Doek, head of Cambodia's military division 3.

The two generals arm wrestled after their talks to ease tensions between the two armies.

Maj Gen Kanok said the two countries had no plan to withdraw their troops from the area, so the possibility of future confrontation could never be ruled out.

Nothing could be taken for granted no matter how disciplined the soldiers, he said.

Two Thai troops and two Cambodians were killed in the fighting on Friday. Another 10 Thai troops were injured, one seriously. The clashes took place in a 4.6 sq km area claimed by the two sides.

Thailand claims the area is in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket, while Cambodia insists it is in Preah Vihear province.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon will hold talks with his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh aimed at preventing more clashes at the general border committee meeting in Siem Reap on April 27-28, an army source said.

The two neighbours have also started joint boundary commission talks in Phnom Penh aimed at resolving competing claims surrounding the Preah Vihear temple.

"The incidents that have happened show that the border issue needs to be resolved very quickly in order to avoid more incidents," Var Kim Hong told reporters before the talks.

Var Kim Hong co-chairs the committee with Thailand's Vasin Teravechyan.

The last meeting of the JBC ended in February with the two sides failing to reach an agreement on any of the key points, including the spelling of Preah Vihear in official documents.

Cambodia insists on using Preah Vihear while Thailand wants to refer to it as both Preah Vihear and Phra Viharn.

The World Court in 1962 gave ownership of the ruins of the Hindu temple to Cambodia, but tensions flared last July when the cliff-top structure was awarded United Nations World Heritage status. BANGKOK POST AND AFP

Vietnamese doctors receive Cambodian decoration

VOV News

Nine Vietnamese military doctors and a businessman were awarded the Friendship Order by the Cambodian Royal Government for their help to poor patients in Cambodia.

The Cambodian government conferred the Friendship Order, Senna class, to Nguyen Phuc Quoc, Nguyen Van Binh and Nguyen Van Hoang Dao from the Military Hospital 175 and Tran Thi Phuong Thu from Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital, at a ceremony in Phnom Penh on April 5.

It also presented six Friendship Orders, Assarat class, to other doctors from the two hospitals and Le Hong Lam, Director of the Vietnam Development Co. Ltd, which was a major donor for humanitarian healthcare activities in Cambodia.

Since 2007, the Military Hospital 175 and Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital of Vietnam have sent several doctor groups to Cambodia to provide healthcare checks-up and treatment to Cambodian poor patients, under their cooperation with the Preah Kat Mealea Military Hospital of Cambodia.

The programme has so far brought light to over 700 eye patients and provided medicine and treatment to almost 1,000 others.

On April 3 and 4, doctors from the two Vietnamese hospitals provided health checks-up and medicine to 300 local people and eye surgeries to 134 others.

VNA/VOVNews

The Waters Of Life: On The Road In Cambodia

Monday April 6, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff

There are a lot of differences between a place like Canada and Cambodia. But one thing both countries have in common is the need for clean drinking water. We're lucky enough to have that precious commodity. They don't always have that luxury.

CityNews anchor Gord Martineau is on the road with southern Ontario's Global Medic, helping to bring that liquid asset to a place that might otherwise never have it. See his report below.

Beyond Angkor Wat: Cambodia's Hidden Beaches

Serendipity Beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Anders Blomqvist / Getty

TIME

By Jeninne Lee-St. John

Most visits to Cambodia begin with the ancient temples of Angkor Wat or the Khmer Rouge's infamous killing fields just outside Phnom Penh. I'm not saying they're not worth seeing, but on our recent 10-day journey through Cambodia, we visited neither. My husband had already hiked Angkor Wat a couple of months back and, frankly, it just felt too depressing to center an entire vacation around mass murder. So we headed instead to southwestern Cambodia, to the developing coastline, in search of waterfalls and beaches. And we found the people there were just as welcoming as the landscape.

We flew into Phnom Penh International Airport and took a tuk-tuk (a motorized rickshaw) into town. It was a $5, 45-minute, open-air trip on the highway, which probably did bad things to our lungs but helped ease my motion-sickness from our wobbly descent into the airport. It also gave us a nice visual primer of the capital, which we were using only as a way station. Looking back, I would have liked at least another day in Phnom Penh to take in the culture — the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, for example — and the laid-back, late-going bar scene. As it was, we had time only for dinner at the Foreign Correspondents' Club (363 Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh; +855-23-210-142), where we also stayed the night, and to hit up a couple of bars, including Love Orange — a disco packed with teenagers cheering on the drag-queen-lip-synching show.

The next day, it was on to Koh Kong, a coastal frontier town on the Thai border, which until a couple of years ago was best accessed by boat. It is separated from the rest of Cambodia by the Cardamom Mountain range, a dense forest that houses endangered species like the Indochinese tiger and the Malayan sun bear, and used to be a Khmer Rouge stronghold. But a national highway, built with help from the Thais, including four bridges spanning rivers once crossable only by ferry, has cut the drive to Koh Kong from the capital in half — to four hours.

Koh Kong has one paved road, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it dock and an inordinate number of Germans. The main activity for travelers in this beach town is meeting other travelers. Most of the guesthouses and hostels in Koh Kong are run by Europeans and Australians (the proprietor and family usually live on-site) and are good for getting a drink, sitting in a hammock and chatting up your neighbor. They're also good for a cheap ($7 per night) room, if you can endure using a shared toilet. If not, I suggest you stay at the $35-per-night Koh Kong City Hotel (Street 1, Koh Kong; +855-35-936-777) on the waterfront, which is sparse and basic, but has decadent, memory-foam-style mattresses and private, Western-style bathrooms. The front-desk service here is lacking, but you'll sleep the sleep of the dead.

The tour outfits in Koh Kong aren't well advertised, but you can get yourself a seat on an organized excursion if you know whom to ask and don't mind surprises. We stumbled randomly on Otto, owner of a guesthouse called Otto's, on our first night in town. We went to his place for dinner (fantastic fried potatoes) and when we asked for advice on local tours, he pulled out his cell phone, dialed his friend Thomas and booked us instantly on a boat excursion for the following morning. His method was efficient, if mysterious. Even as we boarded the boat the next morning, we had no idea where we were going or what we would see.

There were eight other travelers aboard our long-tail motor boat, seven of whom were German and most of whom were staying at Thomas' guesthouse, Neptune. Thomas, also German, did the entertaining, while our Khmer captain steered with his foot and drank an Angkor brand beer. The first two hours took us south past islands dotted with stilted fishing villages painted in blues and greens and oranges, then through a mangrove forest, into the Gulf of Thailand. There we hit the jackpot: a school of dolphins jumping in the waves.

We stopped for lunch in a fishing village where Thomas had once stayed a night after being stranded at sea. He made friends with the villagers, and now returns often to introduce his tour groups. In general, as tourists, we try not to gawk at the poverty around us, but this was impossible at such close range. About 15 people lined up on the "dock" (really, a front porch) and helped us clamber from our boat over theirs and into their one-room home. There wasn't much dialogue between the groups, given that none of the tourists spoke Khmer and our hosts didn't know English, but there was much smiling and cooing at the babies, one of whom was cooling off in a pot of water. We ate stir-fried veggies and tofu with a cabbage salad cross-legged on the floor. Through the slats, you could see the water a few feet below. The hospitality was free: Thomas brought our lunch, and gave our hosts a case of beer as a token of friendship.

Another sail took us to Koh Kong Island, a dense national forest that is forbidden to recreational exploration. We dropped anchor off a deserted white-sand beach and hopped overboard into the clear, warm sea. The water was probably 70 degrees and not more than five feet deep, with gentle waves that glimmered in the late-afternoon sun. Then, sated and relaxed, we motored home.

The next day, my husband and I decided to find our own adventure. We rented a motorbike for $4 and borrowed a couple of sturdy helmets from Bob, the Australian restaurateur who runs Bob's, in town. Then we headed east about a dozen miles out of town, to check out the Tatai waterfall with two friends we had met on the boat the day before — a twentysomething German woman who was traveling solo in Asia for six months and a dreadlocked guy we called The Wanderer because when asked where he was from he said, "My last address was Berlin, but I am now a man with no address," and when we asked for his name, replied, "I don't believe in names. They are so superficial."

Tatai gushes rapids during the rainy season (May to October), but during the dry time of year the river is low and dotted with warm, fresh-water pools. Families picnicked and swam. And barefoot kids climbed up and hurled themselves off the cliffs in ways that would give most parents I know a seizure.

But the real adventure of the day was the motorbikes. The last time my husband, Keirn, had driven one was 10 years ago in the Philippines. Now that we live in Vietnam, where everyone gets around on scooters or motorbikes, we were keen to practice our driving skills and happy to do so outside of Saigon's swirling, incessant traffic.

We rode the highway, over hills, across a bridge and back. It was exhilarating. But on the dirt access road from Tatai to the highway, we hit a patch of sand and lost control of our bike. Next thing we knew, Keirn and I were lying on our sides, covered in red soil, wondering if we were still in one piece. We were. We had been traveling slowly, luckily on a dirt road not asphalt, and there were lots of people around to help us.

Everyone came running. A group of five women — our saviors — pulled their truck over just past our crash. A few of them hoisted our bike into the bed of their truck, tied it down and piled in after it. My husband and I climbed into the cab with the driver, who turned out to be the proprietress of one of the nicer guesthouses in town, Koh Kong Guest House (Street 1, Koh Kong; +855-16-654-171), and took us to a pharmacy before dropping us off at our hotel.

The Wanderer, it turned out, had trained as a nurse sometime in his mysterious past. It was another stroke of luck for us. I had gouged some holes in my hand in the accident and Keirn had a deep gash on his elbow that probably should have gotten a stitch. But we felt wary of our chances at a neighborhood clinic, so The Wanderer cleaned our wounds, patched us up, and sent us back to our comfy bed to relax.

Which is what we did for the rest of our trip. From Koh Kong, we moved on to Sihanoukville, a three-hour drive southwest. Sihanoukville, named after a former king, is billed as Vietnam's up-and-coming high-end resort town, but, for now, it is more accurately described as a beach-town-for-backpackers. Hostels are abundant here and there are a couple of nice hotels, where you can get rooms for $5 to $400, depending on your budget. We got the last room, a private bungalow, at the one real resort in town, the Sokha Beach Resort (Street 2 Thnou, Sihanoukville; +855-34-935-999; reservations@sokhahotels.com), which was nice enough, but not worth the $200-plus per night.

Sihanoukville's main public beaches, Occheuteal and Serendipity, are lined with cafes that offer lounge chairs by day and become bars night. This shoreline and the roads behind it constitute the town's most popular restaurant and nightlife area, and there's enough litter piled about to prove it. We had excellent Mexican food at the new Reef Resort (Road to Serendipity, Sihanoukville; +855-012-315-338; bookings@reefresort.com.kh), a boutique hotel, and practically fell asleep afterward on the huge pillows spread out on the sand at Purple Lounge (at about the midpoint of Serendipity Beach). The town's former main drag, which is a 10-minute ride northwest of that area, is called Victory Hill. The crowd there comprises mostly older Western men and their young Cambodian companions, which is a little creepy, but we had a nice French dinner at XXL (+855-92-738-641).

We pried ourselves off the beach for one day, paying a tuk-tuk driver $30 (probably too much) for a six-hour tour of town. If you like animals, ask someone to take you to the Buddhist monastery, where the legions of wild monkeys will eat out of your hand. And definitely set aside an hour to visit Boom Boom Room (Serendipity Beach Road; +855-12-219-657), where you can load up your iPod or MP3 player with supercheap music.

Recently, Russian developers have taken an interest in Sihanoukville, helming many new projects, including Snake House (a guest house, restaurant and zoo on Mittapheap Kampuchea-Soviet Street; +855-12-673-805) and the town's most impressive bar, Airport (Krong Street; +855-34-934-470): it's an open hangar housing a real Antonov-24 turboprop plane, which makes up the club's VIP section. Airport opens onto Victory Beach, which during the day offers a small, calm, shallow shoreline without the hectic scene found on Serendipity.

Sihanoukville is Cambodia's main shipping port, so there's local wealth here as well. In five years, a handful of new resorts and several middle-class housing developments will have likely sprung up. So, if you like your beach towns simple, cheap and dirty — The Wanderer, for one, thought Sihanoukville was already too bustling — you might want to go there now.

Meanwhile, if anyone wants to visit Angkor Wat, let me know.

Khmer Rouge jailer tells of torture

THE Khmer Rouge regime's prisons chief today recounted his grisly past, telling Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court that confessions extracted under his torture orders were rarely true.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, last week apologised at trial for crimes against humanity, accepting blame for the extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the regime's notorious main prison, Tuol Sleng.

"I never believed the confessions I received told the truth. At most, they were about 40 per cent true,'' Duch said today.

The grey-haired 66-year-old sat in the dock answering judges' questions about M-13 prison, a secret jungle centre he ran from 1971 to 1975 during the Khmer Rouge insurgency against the then US-backed Government.

Duch told the court that he personally tortured two people, but regularly ordered his subordinates to beat prisoners who were destined to be "smashed'' to death with a stick at the back of the neck.

"The burden is still on me - it's my responsibility. I would like to apologise to the souls of those who died,'' Duch said.

The Khmer Rouge were later in power from 1975 to 1979, the period when Duch is accused of supervising Tuol Sleng prison and sending thousands of people to their deaths in the so-called "Killing Fields''.

The court is hearing about M-13 to better understand Tuol Sleng's organising structure.

Duch said M-13 was surrounded by a bamboo fence and shackled prisoners were often held in 2m deep pits, both to prevent escape and to protect them from US warplanes carpetbombing the area.

The former maths teacher has denied assertions by prosecutors that he played a central role in the Khmer Rouge regime's iron-fisted rule.

Duch faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder for his role in the Khmer Rouge regime.

He faces life in jail at the court, which does not have the power to impose the death penalty.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died under house arrest in 1998, and many believe the UN-sponsored tribunal is the last chance to find justice for the regime which killed up to two million people.

The tribunal was formed in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the UN and Cambodian Government, and is scheduled to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders after Duch's trial.