CWCI condems the Thai back-clad soldiers' violation and incursion into Cambodia's territories

Extracted from KI Media

Translation from Khmer by Heng Soy

Cambodia Watchdog Council International (CWCI)

Kristiansand, 15 July 2008

Statement

The CWCI is strongly condemning the about 40 armed black-clad Thai soldiers who savagely trespassed into Cambodia’s Preah Vihear western region on 15 July 2008, and who closed the access to the Preah Vihear temple located in this region, as well as preventing access to Cambodians, the rightful owners of the land. The Thai military action is an unlawful violation of Cambodia’s territorial integrity, and a scorn on Cambodia’s honor. This action is inexcusable.

The 4.6-square-km area located to the west of the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia per the decision handed down by The Hague International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962, furthermore, the 2-km-long stone stair steps between the temple and the borderline (also belong to Cambodia) based on the 1904 and 1907 Franco-Siamese Convention. However, the current Cambodian government committed a grave mistake by agreeing with Thailand to redraw a new map which turned that land located to the west of the temple – including the important stair steps – into a disputed zone instead.

The Thai black-clad soldiers must immediately pull out of Cambodia near the western region of the Preah Vihear temple, and the Thai government must issue a public apology for its violation and incursion into Cambodia’s territorial integrity.

CWCI calls on the Cambodian government to cancel all treaties recently concluded with Thailand regarding the Preah Vihear temple issue, and it must maintain the decision handed down by the ICJ in 1962.

Ir Channa
CSCI Secretary-General

Sacravatoons : " A healthy-Democracy "

Courtesy of Sacravatoon at http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Some 200 Thai troops stationed at border area with Cambodia

July 16, 2008

Thailand has stationed around 200 troops at the border area with Cambodia over a land dispute around the Preah Vihear Temple, according to the provincial authority of Preah Vihear Wednesday.

The Cambodian side insisted that the Thai force entered its territory, while the Thai side denied.

Both forces were in armed situation, the provincial authority said.

Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Tuesday night that 170 troops and Thai civilians crossed into the Cambodian territory, but couldn't say how many civilians were among them.

He denied any tension, but said that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered the Cambodian troops to withhold firing unless being fired upon first. Negotiation was going on, the minister added.

Earlier Tuesday, three Thai protesters were arrested for jumping an immigration checkpoint to reach the temple. Thai troops then came to fetch them, thus triggering the face off.

"The Thai troops could leave the Cambodian territory only after they signed documents to admit their incursion," local newspapers Wednesday quoted him as saying.

The protesters trespassed the border with intention to reclaim the 11-century classic Khmer-style temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia in 1962, a decision that rankled the Thais, according to the newspapers.

The temple straddles the Thai-Cambodian border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

Source:Xinhua

Cambodia claims new Thai incursion

A Cambodian commander said troops on both sides were on high alert [EPA]

Thailand and Cambodia both claim land around the Preah Vihear temple [EPA]

Al Jazeera
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Cambodian officials say more Thai troops have crossed into their territory, raising tensions over in a disputed border region close to an historic temple.

The number of Thai troops swelled to about 200 on Wednesday, Seng Vuthy, a Cambodian border guard unit commander, said on the second day of alleged incursions.

"Both the Cambodian and Thai forces have their hands on their guns at all times," he said.
On Tuesday Cambodia's information minister said that some 170 troops and Thai civilians had crossed into Cambodian territory.

But Thai officials have denied any incursion, saying the troops have been deployed on its territory to protect their country's sovereignty and control Thai activists.

Major-General Kanok Netakawesana, a Thai army field commander in the region, said on Tuesday that his troops were on Thai soil close to the disputed area.

"We are not violating the territory of Cambodia. We have every right to deploy troops here to protect our sovereignty," he said, but declined to give the number of soldiers deployed.

A Thai foreign ministry spokesman, also denied any incursion, saying the relationship between the two countries remained normal.

The ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday that the troops were ensuring that any protests by Thai activists were being done "in an orderly manner". The confrontation comes after the United Nations' culture body Unesco declared the 1,000 year-old Preah Vihear temple a World Heritage site last week.

The temple, which shares the Hindu-influenced style of the more famous Angkor complex in northwestern Cambodia, has been at the centre of a long-standing border row between the neighbours.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded Preah Vihear and the land it occupies to Cambodia, a decision that still rankles many Thais.

Both countries claim land around the temple, and Thai anti-government activists have revived nationalist sentiment over the issue, blaming the government for ceding Thai sovereignty by backing Cambodia's application to Unesco.

The activists and some government officials fear the temple's new status will jeopardise their country's claims to land adjacent to the site.

The Thai troop movements followed the arrest by Cambodia of three Thai citizens for crossing the border earlier on Tuesday. The three were returned to Thailand later in the day.

The dispute has already left one Thai soldier injured, when a mine went off while he was patrolling in the area.

Stretches of the Thai-Cambodian border are still strewn with land mines sown by various sides during the 1970-75 Cambodian civil war and the guerrilla conflict that followed the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

OAG urged to go after Vatana

The Bangkok Post
Wednesday July 16, 2008

POST REPORTERS

It is the responsibility of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to see to it that veteran politician Vatana Asavahame, who is reportedly on the run in Cambodia, is brought back for trial, permanent secretary for justice Kittipong Kittiyarak said yesterday.

Mr Kittipong said only after the verdict in the Samut Prakan politician's case is handed down can the police work with the OAG to bring him to justice.

The court on July 9 seized Mr Vatana's 2.2-million-baht bail and issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to turn up to hear the verdict. The reading of the verdict was rescheduled for Aug 18.

He was last seen in Cambodia, where he runs two casinos in the Cambodian border town of Poi Pet, opposite Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo.

Unfortunately, Thailand has no extradition treaty with Cambodia.

In the absence of a treaty, all the OAG can do is make a request for Mr Vatana's extradition to the Cambodian authorities, said Mr Kittipong.

Police led by Maj-Gen Sok Pheap will today meet with Cambodian officials in Aranyaprathet district and seek confirmation whether the chief adviser of the Puea Pandin party is hiding across the border, said deputy national police chief Jongrak Juthanont.

Pol Gen Jongrak conceded the chances of bringing him back would be slim if he is really in the neighbouring country, citing the veteran politician's strong business ties in Cambodia.

"The man is confident of his close ties with Cambodia and that's why he has gone into hiding there.

"He built a few casinos, each worth well over 700 million baht," the police general said.

"If Mr Vatana is found guilty of corruption, he must stay on the run for 20 years, until the statute of limitation in the case expires, to avoid arrest.

"Only then can he come back to Thailand, and by then he'll be almost 100 years old," he said.

Mr Vatana, 72, was accused of conspiring in the issuing of illegal title deeds for 1,900 rai of land in Samut Prakan's Bang Bo district, later sold at an inflated price to the Pollution Control Department for the construction of the Klong Dan wastewater treatment plant, when he was the deputy interior minister.

A Tribunal Worth Paying For

By JOHN A. HALL
FROM TODAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA
July 16, 2008

For years, the United States withheld funding from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal. Before opening its wallet, Washington insisted that the court meet international standards for fairness and anticorruption measures. That stance has now paid off, contributing to international scrutiny that has led to dramatic improvements in the tribunal's operations. It's now time for the U.S. to contribute funding and preserve the gains its earlier policy has helped foster.

This matters because the tribunal represents Cambodians' last best hope of healing the wounds they suffered under decades of Khmer Rouge rule. Roughly one in three Cambodians perished under the Khmer Rouge's Maoist experiment to send the country back to what they called "Year Zero." If Cambodia is ever to find its way to economic growth and a stable, democratic political system, it's important for its former leaders to stand trial for their alleged crimes. The tribunal's failure would be a blow for the long-suffering Cambodian people themselves, but also for the credibility of the United Nations. And it would be a black mark against the U.S. to stand idly while the tribunal America helped birth 10 years ago falters.

By pouring money into the U.N. Development Program without adequate oversight, donors for too long effectively handed their money straight to the Cambodian side of the tribunal, with predictable results. Auditors have uncovered fiscal problems, serious mismanagement and bloated salaries. The Open Society Justice Initiative, a New York-based NGO, raised serious allegations of widespread corruption and kick-back schemes among Cambodian appointees. After three years of operations, only five defendants are in custody and no trials have begun. The tribunal still lacks a credible anticorruption plan.

But major strides have been made over the past six months. The U.N. has brought in David Tolbert, a former prosecutor with the Yugoslavia tribunal, as its "special expert" to act as a much-needed coordinator between the tribunal, donors and the U.N. It boasts a new management team led by Norwegian lawyer Knut Rosandhaug, a veteran of the U.N.'s mission in the Balkans. Day-to-day judicial operations like filings and hearings increasingly adhere to basic standards of transparency and fairness. And a revised budget features more prudent expenditures, and better controls over where and how donor money is spent.

The biggest threat to consolidation of this progress now is lack of funds moving forward. The tribunal is currently seeking almost $100 million to allow it to complete its mandate. Without additional donor support, the tribunal could close its doors in a matter of weeks. And even if the tribunal did manage to secure adequate funding, the U.S. would have lost its prime leverage to push for improvements.

So far, the desire to address serious U.S. concerns and win its support has been a prime driver of improvements to the tribunal process. More than any other country, the U.S. has consistently expressed skepticism about the Cambodian government's purported efforts to cooperate with the tribunal and has championed transparency and effective anticorruption measures. Mr. Tolbert's appointment was a direct result of U.S. pressure.

That U.S. leverage only works, however, so long as people have reason to believe American money might be forthcoming if participants can satisfy the U.S. concerns. If the U.S. holds back now, despite the progress of the past few months, it will lose this advantage.

In contrast, donating now as the tribunal moves into a new, improved phase of management, would allow the U.S. to bring enormous diplomatic weight to the table. The U.S. then could exert pressure on the Cambodian government and the U.N. to ensure that the tribunal continues to focus on anticorruption policies and meeting international standards.

For example, Mr. Tolbert is crafting such a plan right now, and it would be to America's advantage to maximize its say over the proposal. As a donor the U.S. could offer powerful support to Mr. Tolbert's push to include mechanisms for participants to report suspected corruption (including whistleblower protections), greater anticorruption investigative capacity on the part of the tribunal's management, and changes to the code of conduct for judges that would spell out explicitly what constitutes corrupt activity.

Some of the fiercest opposition to funding the tribunal originates in the U.S. Congress, which is understandable, given the tribunal's troubled history. It's also healthy. The "blank check" approach adopted by the UNDP and other donors created the tribunal's problems in the first place. It is vital that the U.S. not be that naïve, let alone willfully deaf, blind and dumb in its own funding.

Instead, the type of scrutiny and attention that the U.S. could and should bring to the court as a donor will be one of the critical safeguards for progress. Particularly if America becomes a member of the tribunal's steering committee by committing $2 million or more, it will be in a position to play a powerful role in the tribunal's future.

Meanwhile, the U.S. could target its donations to specific budget items, such as victims' rights and witness protection or even the operating budget for the international side of the tribunal, and make payments over time rather than as one lump sum. Washington could use its new leverage to force the tribunal to process cases more efficiently, ensuring proceedings don't drag on for years until already-elderly defendants simply die. The U.S. would also be in a position to mandate independent and transparent accounting procedures that would not only track American dollars but aid in improving the tribunal's operations overall.

The U.S. was instrumental in negotiating the creation of this tribunal 10 years ago, and has all along affirmed its commitment to helping the Cambodian people seek justice. Up to now, the most effective way to do that has been to withhold U.S. money pending reform. But as the tribunal moves into a new phase, and with its management improving, donating will become the more effective tool for the U.S. to follow through on its promise to Cambodia.

Mr. Hall is an associate professor at Chapman University School of Law, in Orange, Calif., and a research fellow at the Center for Global Trade & Development.

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Cambodia bicycle taxis angered by security guards

Radio Australia

Drivers of Cambodia's cyclos, or bicycle taxis, say security guards around city's markets are chasing them away, making it difficult for them to earn a living.

The drivers have also accused the guards of seeking protection money.

An industry survey shows there are more than 1,200 cyclo drivers in the capital Phnom Pehn who earn around 8,000 riel or $US2 a day.

Most say they cant afford to give the guards money and are powerless against them.

They've called on the Cambodian government to intervene.

History kept at a distance

The Bangkok Post
Wednesday July 16, 2008

Closing the Thai entrance to Preah Vihear has proven unpopularAnchalee Kongrut in Si Sa Ket

The scenic Pha Mo E-Daeng, a cliff opposite the Dongrek mountains where the Preah Vihear ruins sit, was noisy on Sunday.

That is unusual. Normally the drawcard is atop the temple hill, from where visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of Cambodia.

But since the Preah Vihear sovereignty dispute flared up, and the Cambodian government closed access from Thailand, Pha Mo E-Daeng has been a favourite place for temple spotters.

Visitors can only see the controversial temple from a distance. Some rent binoculars to watch Cambodian soldiers guarding the complex.

A hot topic among visitors last weekend was why the temple did not belong to Thailand, given its location.

"If the whole site belongs to Cambodia, how can they walk up to the temple when the most accessible entrance is from Thailand?" said Ruen Tiachai, 71, a farmer from Sukhothai.

"The Cambodians must have to climb a rope to enter their temple."

Scratching his head, Mr Ruen said he cannot understand why the International Court of Justice ruled in favour of Cambodia in 1962.

"Common sense tells me the temple belongs to us. The owner of the house enters the house through the front door. He doesn't climb in," he said.

Other visitors were concerned about the overlapping area of 4.6 sq km which has not been settled by the two governments. Despite the dispute, 500 Cambodians managed to erect a village and temple there a decade ago. The village is far from makeshift. Most of the 200 homes there have electricity and television antennas.

"Overlapping area means overlapping business interests," said Thananchai Sained, 46, a villager from Ubon Ratchathani.

But no matter what patriotic Thai visitors think, the ancient stone temple is now inscribed as Cambodia's second World Heritage site. The first is the breathtaking Angkor Wat in Siem Reap.

As nationalistic Thais grow enraged that Cambodia walked away with the prize from the World Heritage Committee, local people, particularly those with tourism businesses worry what will happen now.

Most affected are vendors who sell souvenirs and food to tourists in Thailand's Preah Vihear national park. Each of the 60 shops there typically earned at least 5,000 baht a day on weekends and 2,000 baht on weekdays.

Vasana Limthongsood, 28, a food vendor, said the market has been closed for more than three weeks.

There is no sign the Cambodian government will reopen the gate. "I don't know what to do," she said.

Local people are thinking a few years ahead, when Cambodia is expected to finish a 118km road to bring in tourists from their side.

The Cambodian government wants to make Preah Vihear a tourist magnet, with better access from Cambodia. A cable car will be built to take visitors up the 522-metre-high cliff where the temple stands.

"I bet Cambodia will close the gate on the Thailand side eventually, or start charging high prices for entry tickets," said Sawai Chaowarak, 52, a Si Sa Ket native.

"Then we will lose our business opportunity. After the close relationship between Cambodians and Thais on the border, the Cambodian government will shut the door in our face," she said.

For decades, and regardless of the world court's verdict, the Preah Vihear area has been an international zone where citizens of both countries freely crossed the border.

Many Kantharalak district natives speak Khmer and people from both countries have cross-married.

Thai villagers even do merit-making at temples in Cambodia, while Cambodians often go to the hospital in Si Sa Ket and do shopping in the province. That, too, could change as Cambodians develop the area, said Vichin Prasarnjit, 53, of Si Sa Ket.

If anyone approaches the Cambodian village, they will hear loud voices from the lively community. On Thai soil, the atmosphere is different. Since the area was declared a national park almost a decade ago, the area fell quiet after local villagers were removed.

Soldiers complain about poaching and Cambodians trying to populate land in the disputed area.
For Mr Vichin, the authorities, after missteps and non-transparency, still have a final chance to serve the country.

"The government must clear up the dispute over border demarcation and overlapping land rights. The sooner, the better," he said.

Thai troops accused of entering Cambodia in dispute over temple

THE INDEPENDENT
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Wednesday, 16 July 2008

The controversy surrounding an 11th-century temple on the Cambodian border with Thailand has taken a new twist after the authorities in Phnom Penh alleged that up to 170 armed troops and civilians from Thailand had illegally entered its territory.

Cambodia's Information Minister, Khieu Kanharith, made the allegation yesterday, a week after the country celebrated the temple's designation by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site.

He said the troops and civilians had crossed the border close to the Preah Vihear temple and refused to pull back. The Thai authorities denied they had crossed into Cambodian territory and claimed that troops had gathered close to the border simply to protect the nation's "sovereign territory". They said at least one soldier was injured after accidentally triggering one of the landmines that litter the border between the two countries.

The incident is the latest flash-point in a long-running controversy between the two countries over the Hindu temple, which was built by the Khmer empire. As far back as 1962, an international court ruled that the temple belonged to Cambodia but the two countries havequarrelled over the land surrounding the temple.

In 2001 Cambodia began seeking special status for the temple in the hope that such a designation would boost the number of tourists visiting the site. Thailand had long opposed the designation because it feared the ruling would also say that thedisputed territory along the border belonged to Cambodia.

But in May, Thailand's Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej, announced that he was supporting the Cambodian application. His decision – taken without parliamentary approval – was seized on by his political opponents who have sought to drum up a nationalist outcry over his decision. Last month, Mr Samak survived a confidence vote brought by his opponents, who have accused him of acting as a proxy for the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Yesterday, Major-General Kanok Netakawesana, a Thai army field commander in the region, told reporters that his troops were on Thai soil close to the disputed area but they had not crossed into Cambodia. "We are not violating the territory of Cambodia," he told the Associated Press. "We have every right to deploy troops here to protect our sovereignty."

The deployment of the Thai troops followed the arrest by Cambodia of three Thai citizens for allegedly crossing the border earlier in the day. A Cambodian government official said all three were later released.

While the Khmer empire constructed many temple complexes – the most famous being that located at Angkor Wat – the buildings at Preah Vihear are said to enjoy perhaps the most stunning location, high on a cliff top. The temple has long been favoured as a defensive outpost; in 1975 government troops based there held off Khmer Rouge fighters for more than a month after the rest of the country fell. In 1998, when the last sizeable group of Khmer Rouge fighters agreed to surrender to the Cambodian government, Preah Vihear was the location of negotiations.

Boonsrang urges border calm

The Bangkok Post
Wednesday July 16, 2008

Three Thais seized after crossing into Cambodia

BANGKOK POST AND AGENCIES

Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit has urged people protesting in Si Sa Ket over the Preah Vihear temple controversy not to escalate the tensions with Cambodia after three Thais crossed into the disputed border area.

The crossing of senior monk Phra Khampheng, Vicharn Tabsorn and Chanikarn Kengnok, members of the ultra-nationalist Dharmayatra group, into the overlapping zone around 7am yesterday, prompted Gen Boonsrang to call Cambodian Defence Minister Teah Banh to secure their release.

Suranaree Task Force commander Maj-Gen Kanok Nettarakawaysana and Si Sa Ket governor Seni Jittakasem also went to Preah Vihear to hold talks with Cambodian authorities on the issue.
The three Thais were freed after four hours of negotiations, they said.

The Dharmayatra group has camped out on the Thai border in Kantharalak district of the northeastern province since June 22 to protest against Thai support for Phnom Penh's listing of the temple as a World Heritage site.

They are also demanding the return of the Preah Vihear temple to Thailand although the kingdom lost a legal battle with Cambodia over it in the International Court of Justice in 1962.

The World Heritage Committee has now listed the Preah Vihear temple.

Yesterday's events turned tragic for ranger Vilai Arom, who stepped on a landmine during a border patrol of the area. His leg was blown off in the blast.

Cambodian government spokesman Khiew Kanharith and director-general of the national authority of Preah Vihear temple Hang Soth, said that Thai troops had crossed over into Cambodian territory to help the three protesters.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat and the Si Sa Ket governor denied that Thai troops had intruded on Cambodian soil.

Lt-Gen Nipat Thonglek, head of the Border Affairs Department under the Supreme Command, said the protesters posed no harm to Cambodia as they protested peacefully by meditating.

Khieu Kanharith was quoted as saying in Phnom Penh that 170 Thai troops and civilians had crossed into Cambodian territory. He said a group of Thai soldiers were being detained inside Cambodia and would be there overnight. Still, he was confident the situation was under control and would not flare up.

But a reliable Thai source dismissed his account, saying there were no Thai troops under detention in Cambodia.

Worried about the tensions, Gen Boonsrang called on nationalists to pay heed to warnings by the military not to let the situation get out of control and stressed that the overlapping area of 4.6 sq km would be handled by the authorities and legal experts.

Those who did not know the problem and were ultra-nationalist but had taken their own steps without paying heed to any warnings would cause confusion, Gen Boonsrang warned.

The supreme commander called on ultra-nationalists staging protests over the Preah Vihear issue to stay calm. Patriotism was good, but it must be based on reason and fairness, he said.

Meanwhile, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) yesterday called on the Senate to impeach Prime Minster Samak Sundaravej over the temple row.

PAD leaders Pibhop Dhongchai, Suriyasai Katasila and Sirichai Mai-ngarm submitted 46,530 signatures to Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondej demanding the impeachment of Mr Samak for violating Article 270 of the charter.

His cabinet had endorsed the joint communique without parliamentary approval, the PAD said.

Treaties and Legal Affairs Department director-general Krit Kraichitti yesterday told the House panel on border affairs that the listing of the temple ruins did not include the 4.6-sq-km overlapping area with Cambodia.

Mr Krit insisted that Cambodia had proposed the listing of the temple only. He and Lt-Gen Dan Meechu-at, head of the Survey Department under the Supreme Command, were yesterday invited by the panel chaired by Samphan Lertnuwat, a list-MP of the People Power party, to testify over the listing of the Preah Vihear temple.

Jongrak seeks Vatana return on Klong Dan case

(BangkokPost.com) - Deputy national police chief Jongrak Juthanont said he will talk with counterparts in Cambodia on Wednesday on how to bring back veteran politician Vatana Asavahame for trial involving Klong Dan wastewater treatment plant.

The talk will be held at Indo-China hotel in Sa Kaeo province, Thailand.

Mr Vatana was last seen in Cambodia, where he runs two casinos in the Cambodian border town of Poi Pet, opposite Aranyaprathet district in Sa Kaeo.

The court on July 9 seized Mr Vatana's 2.2-million-baht bail and issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to turn up to hear the verdict. The reading of the verdict was rescheduled for Aug 18.

Pol Gen Jongrak said Mr Vatana would be brought to Thailand before Aug 18.

Troops, mine blast, protests shake temple

By The Nation
SI SA KET
Published on July 16, 2008

Allegations are that Thai troops crossed over into Cambodia

Tension between Thailand and Cambodia over a territorial dispute flared up again yesterday, with allegations by Cambodia that Thai troops crossed illegally into Cambodian territory.

Meanwhile, a paratrooper from the Ranger Unit 2301 assigned to oversee areas leading to the 10th-century-AD Preah Vihear Temple stepped on a landmine, resulting in the loss of his right leg.

It was not clear who placed the explosive in the disputed area or whether it was a remnant of decades of civil war among Cambodian factions that often spilled over onto the Thai side of the border.

Security officials declined to speculate as to who might be behind the placing of the device along the border area that has yet to be demarcated.

Regarding the troop crossing, Agence France-Presse quoted Hang Soth, the Cambodian official who manages a border crossing, as saying that at Preah Vihear Temple, about 40 Thai troops entered Cambodia early yesterday morning.

It was not clear if the crossing was related to the three Thai protesters who had been detained by Cambodian authorities for jumping an immigration checkpoint in a bid to reach the ruins.

Preah Vihear has been the focus of an decades-long dispute between the two countries.

Local authorities said the three had crossed into the Preah Vihear temple ground "to meditate" at the ancient temple as a way to display their objection to the temple becoming a World Heritage site.

"At first about 20 troops entered a pagoda in Cambodian territory. Later they increased their numbers to about 40," Hang Soth was quoted as saying.

"We don't yet understand why they came."

None of the Thai authorities was aware of the alleged crossing by the troops.

Cambodia says more Thai soldiers cross border

The Srandard
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Cambodian officials said more Thai troops crossed into their country's territory today in the second day of alleged incursions amid tensions over disputed border land near a historic temple.

Thai officials have denied any incursion, saying the troops are deploying on what was clearly Thai territory to protect their country's sovereignty.

However, a senior Thai military source said about 200 Thai troops were inside what he called "disputed border territory.''

The latest confrontation came after UNESCO declared Preah Vihear - which is at the center of a long-standing border quarrel between the neighbors - a World Heritage site last week.

Cambodia: Thai troops still in country

A chicken roams near the locked gate from Thai side to Preah Vihear temple, Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, on July 13, 2008. Three Thai protesters managed to quietly sneak across the border in an attempt to enter Cambodia's 11th century temple, which has become the center of a dispute between the neighboring countries, , an official said Tuesday, July 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

By KER MUNTHIT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian officials said more Thai troops crossed into their country's territory Wednesday in the second day of alleged incursions amid tensions over disputed border land near a historic temple.

Thai officials have denied any incursion, saying the troops are deploying on Thai territory to protect their country's sovereignty.

"Their troops have increased in number. They have not pulled back yet," said Hang Soth, director-general of the national authority for the Preah Vihear temple. Both sides were due to resume negotiations Wednesday morning, he said, but did not elaborate.

Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Tuesday night that 170 troops and Thai civilians had crossed into Cambodian territory. He could not say how many civilians were among the group.

The number of Thai troops swelled to about 200 on Wednesday, Cambodian border guard unit commander Seng Vuthy said by telephone from Preah Vihear.

"Both the Cambodian and Thai forces have their hands on their guns at all times," Seng Vuthy said.

The latest confrontation came after UNESCO declared Preah Vihear — which is at the center of a long-standing border quarrel between the neighbors — a World Heritage site last week.

Both countries claim land around the temple, and Thai anti-government activists have revived nationalist sentiment over the issue. The activists and some government officials fear the temple's new status will jeopardize their country's claims to land adjacent to the site.

The incident has claimed at least one casualty. A land mine explosion sheared the right leg off a Thai soldier patrolling in the area, said Thai army Col. Sirichan Ngathong.

Stretches of the Thai-Cambodian border are still strewn with land mines sown by various sides during the 1970-75 Cambodian civil war and the guerrilla conflict that followed the fall of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.

Maj. Gen. Kanok Netakawesana, a Thai army field commander in the region, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that his troops were on Thai soil close to the disputed area. He declined to give the number of soldiers deployed.

"We are not violating the territory of Cambodia. We have every right to deploy troops here to protect our sovereignty," Kanok said.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat denied any incursion, saying the relationship between the two countries remained normal.

The ministry said in a statement late Tuesday that the troops were ensuring that any protests by Thai activists were being done "in an orderly manner."

The Thai troop movements followed the arrest by Cambodia of three Thai citizens for crossing the border earlier Tuesday. The three were returned to Thailand later Tuesday.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded Preah Vihear and the land it occupies to Cambodia, a decision that still rankles many Thais even though the temple is culturally Cambodian, sharing the Hindu-influenced style of the more famous Angkor complex in northwestern Cambodia.

Cambodian secretary of state recovering well after acid attack

www.chinaview.cn

2008-07-16

PHNOM PENH, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Ngor Srun, secretary of state at the Cambodian Council of Ministers and top aid for Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, was recovering well in Thailand after the acid attack Sunday in Phnom Penh, national media said Wednesday.

Although the acid hit Srun's face, his wounds were superficial and he should be able to return soon to Cambodia following medical treatment in Thailand, English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily quoted his sister-in-law Chea Sam Ath as saying.

"I saw him Sunday before he left for Thailand. He is just a little burned and it didn't affect his eyes. He can be normal after treatment," said the elder sister of Srun's wife Chea Sam Eng, who is the second daughter to Cambodian Senate President CheaSim.

The attack occurred in downtown Phnom Penh, as Srun ended his participation in a major general election campaign for the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and prepared to bring his vehicle to a nearby workshop for mechanical check.

Srun was hospitalized at the Calmette Hospital around 11:00 a.m. local time Sunday and transferred to Thailand later in the afternoon.

Hospital sources said that Srun was burnt on the left side of his face, ear and chest. His wounds were cleaned, treated and bandaged in the emergency room over the course of two hours.

This has been the second high-profile crime so far during Cambodia's general election month, which started in June and will end on July 27.

Friday, veteran reporter Khim Sambo and his son were shot dead on street. Sambo used to work as part-time contributor for the Khmer Conscience News, a Cambodian-language newspaper closely affiliated with the major opposition party.

Editor: Du Guodong

Cambodia: Murder of Journalist Jolts Run-Up to Election

16 Jul 2008

Source: Human Rights Watch

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

(New York, July 16, 2008) With less than two weeks before Cambodia's National Assembly elections on July 27, the political climate has sharply deteriorated, highlighted by the killing of opposition journalist Khim Sambo and his son in a drive-by shooting on July 11 in Phnom Penh, Human Rights Watch said today. At 6:30 p.m. on July 11, Sambo, 47, and his son, Khat Sarinpheata, 21, were fired upon numerous times by a man riding on the back of a motorcycle near Olympic Stadium in central Phnom Penh, where Sambo and his son had been exercising. Sambo died at the scene. His son died the following day in hospital.

"As in previous pre-election periods, this killing appears to be intended to send a message not to engage in opposition politics," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Sambo had been a reporter for more than 10 years for Moneaksekar Khmer (Khmer Conscience), a newspaper affiliated with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP). It is one of the few newspapers in Cambodia that is not dominated by the government or the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen, which also controls most television and radio stations. Sambo was known for his hard-hitting articles about government corruption, political affairs, and land grabbing.

"The Cambodian authorities should surprise everyone for once and hold accountable those responsible for Khim Sambo's murder, no matter their political allegiance," said Adams. "Sadly, there is every reason to fear that Khim Sambo will be yet another opposition journalist whose killing will not be solved."

Just a month before his murder, military police arrested Moneaksekar Khmer editor, Dam Sith, who is also running as a SRP candidate in the elections, after the paper reported on allegations about the current foreign minister's role during the Khmer Rouge regime. Although Sith was released after several days in detention and the foreign minister dropped his lawsuit against the editor, criminal charges of defamation and disinformation are still pending against Sith under articles 62 and 63 of Cambodia's penal code.

The buildup to the July elections has been marked by intense and systematic efforts by the CPP to pressure opposition party members, particularly those from the SRP, to defect to the CPP. Lucrative offers of high-paying government positions or threats and reprisals against those who refuse have resulted in hundreds of opposition party members defecting to the CPP during this campaign.

One of those suffering reprisals as a result of the defection campaign is Tuot Saron , a local SRP leader in Kampong Thom province, who remains in detention almost four months after her arrest.

In violation of election rules, the 11 political parties competing in the election do not have equal access to the media, especially radio and television. Most of the electronic media outlets in Cambodia have focused their election coverage almost exclusively on positive portrayals of the CPP or one-sided attacks on the opposition. On July 10, the National Election Commission (NEC) issued a warning to 13 television and radio stations for broadcasting biased coverage of the elections. Ten of those stations are dominated by pro-CPP coverage, according to the NEC.

Human Rights Watch called on the Cambodia authorities to promptly implement other critically needed reforms in advance of the elections. These include to:

-Remove pending criminal charges against Dam Sith;
-Reissue the license and reopen Angkor Ratha (FM 105.25) radio in Kratie province, which was shut down by the government in May 2008 after it sold air time to opposition parties;
-Release SRP member Tuot Saron in Kompong Thom;
-Stop the unprecedented pressure by the CPP to coerce opposition party officials to defect to the CPP before the elections; and
-Ensure fair and equal access to electronic media.

"Elections in Cambodia are always fraught with violence and intimidation," said Adams. "While political violence is considerably less than in past elections, the fact that an opposition journalist has been gunned down on a busy city street has sent shock waves through the community of media workers, opposition party supporters, and the voting population in general."

HRW news

Tokyo U. geologist to assist temple restoration

Nobuhiko Harada / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Bayon, a key temple of Cambodia's Angkor ruins, "is like a dam that is just about to break," geologist Tomochika Tokunaga says.

The intensely weathered temple is on the brink of collapse, according to Tokunaga, an associate professor of geology at Tokyo University. He has been working with the Japanese Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor (JSA) since last year.

Tokunaga specializes in groundwater fluctuations and has researched the Sahara Desert and various other locations worldwide. He has used cutting-edge geologic technology on the Angkor project. One such device, a type of ground-penetrating radar, is being used to "see through" the temple.

Last spring, Tokunaga, 41, was assisted by the JSA while conducting research on the water in a lake near Angkor. The government team subsequently asked him to lend his expertise for the restoration project.

According to Tokunaga, his Ehime Prefecture roots and his ability to assist the Angkor project made him feel that it was his duty to accept the request.

Last year, he found that the stone inside the Bayon temple was more brittle than he had expected. He also concluded penetrating water would further erode the temple.

Tokunaga was surprised to discover that geology could help preserve relics.

Tokunaga returns to Cambodia next month. Although the project requires working under the hot sun, Tokunaga is looking forward to seeing the inquisitive local Cambodians again.

(Jul. 16, 2008)

Violence and terror in Cambodia electoral campaign

AsiaNews.it
07/15/2008

Over the weekend, two episodes ignited the political atmosphere: on Friday, it was the assassination of a well-known journalist of the opposition, while on Sunday two thugs splashed acid in the face of a majority representative. On July 27, the country will be summoned to the ballot box to elect its new government.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Just under two weeks from the vote, the violence is increasing in Cambodia and hopes for a peaceful electoral campaign are dwindling. Last weekend, the country was shaken by two bloody events: on Friday, July 11, a well-known local journalist and his son were killed in the heart of the city centre by two assassins who came up beside their vehicle and opened fire; on Sunday, a government leader was the victim of an acid attack.

According to some human rights activists, the assassination of Khim Sambo, a central figure at Moneaksela Khmer (editor's note: Khmer Conscience), a newspaper aligned with the main opposition leader Sam Rainsy, was connected to a strategy aimed at creating a widespread climate of tension and terror in view of the vote. In the past, the journalist had written about cases of corruption involving top level political leaders, while the director of the newspaper for which he worked was denounced recently by foreign minister Hor Namhong, for "defamation".

Sunday morning, the violence touched a representative of the governing party, headed by the former Khmer Rouge member Hun Sen. At the end of a campaign event, Ngor Srun, the secretary of the Cambodian People's Party and a close collaborator of deputy prime minister Sok An, had acid thrown into his face, causing serious wounds. He is now under medical care in Thailand, but it seems that his life is not in danger; according to the doctors he has severe wounds on the left side of his face. Some witnesses say that the political leader was approached by two people on a motorcycle, who threw the acid on him and then fled, without pursuit, through the streets of the capital. The reason for the attack is not yet known: no one has claimed responsibility, but an anonymous source affirms that there was no political motivation, but it was instead caused by a "family problem".

The one thing that is certain is that these two episodes in the past few days have ignited the political climate in the country: political analysts recall that criminal episodes generally strike "members of the opposition", and although they emphasise that the climate is "changing and uncertain", they are betting that the governing party will win the upcoming elections, as before in 1998 and 2003.

Continued support needed by Team Cambodia

By Jeff Shaffer
KEEPING THE SUPPORT GOING — From left, Pastor Pat Pittsnogle and Roger Watts, an endowment committee member at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Milton, donate $2,500 on behalf of the church to Team Cambodia, represented by Milton Area High School history teacher Mike Conn. While Team Cambodia raised the funds it needed to build a school in Cambodia, more support will be required to help maintain the school.

By Jeff Shaffer
Standard-Journal
Tue Jul 15, 2008

Milton, Pa. -
Anyone who owns a home or car knows you never seem to stop putting money into those purchases.The Milton School, under construction in the Kampong Cham province in the Mean District of Cambodia, is no different.

The school is about 32 percent complete at this time.

Standard Journal readers should be very familiar with the efforts of Team Cambodia, a student group at the Milton Area High School that led efforts, with the support of history teacher Mike Conn, to raise $30,000 to build the school for needy children in the southeast Asian country.

Through seemingly countless activities, and with the generous support from within and outside of the school, they were able to raise the lofty amount of money in less than a complete school year — about six months.

While the money is in place and construction is underway, there will be a need to help keep the school running, including teacher salaries and renewing supplies.

Some organizations have already answered the call to see that the school continues to stay up and running.

“We knew there was money to complete the school but we want to see it keep running,” said Roger Watts, an endowment committee member for Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Milton.

The church recently donated $2,500 following the request of a member and a presentation by Conn. Watts said the church has been blessed by large bequests and feels this is a good way to put the funds to use.

Conn and Team Cambodia are truly grateful — from the smallest donation to the largest, every amount has and will lead to the success of The Milton School.To date about $36,000 has been raised, according to Conn. On Sunday, the Center for Nonviolent Living in Lewisburg turned over $200 in donations from members to Team Cambodia and CNL member David Young.There is another need, and that is to see that students, who played important roles in the fundraising, are able to dedicate the school this December during the cool, dry season in Cambodia. Eight students and four adults, paying their own way, will be traveling there.

The student travel company ACIS (American Council for International Studies), which Conn has stood by time and time again to provide memorable travel experiences to his pupils, will send the students to Cambodia at-cost — $3,300 each.

“Any money that comes in to support the kids is appreciated,” Conn said. “Whatever is raised will be split among them.”

To help send the students to Cambodia, write a check to: Team Cambodia, c/o Mike Conn, 700 Mahoning St., Milton, Pa. 17847.

The students will try to do some fundraising on their own.

Conn has experienced Cambodia firsthand, and that experience changed him. When he relayed the impactful journey to his students, they rallied to do something to support the people of Cambodia, who among the poorest in the world.

Conn noted the travel company ACIS is even building a school there because of Milton’s efforts.

To follow the completion of The Milton School online, visit www.cambodiaschools.com and click on the Rural School Project link.

Next, click on the Rural School Project Map and scroll down to number 404.
Jeff Shaffer: 570-742-9671jeff@standard-journal.com

Cambodia turns Killing Fields into agricultural success

M&G Business Features
Jul 15, 2008

Phnom Penh - Images of a country desolated by the Khmer Rouge, an entire population put to work in the rice fields and yet dying by the hundreds of thousands of starvation, still haunts Cambodia.

But since the ultra-Maoist's disastrous drive from 1975 to 1979 to turn the country into an agrarian utopia bereft of markets, money and technology, Cambodia has quietly picked itself up and is poised to become one of the major rice exporters in the region, experts said.

From the dismal postwar years, Cambodia has steadily rebuilt its irrigation systems, developed its technology and slowly but surely reclaimed thousands of hectares of rice fields from land mines.

'Cambodia will become a major rice exporter,' Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said. 'We achieved food security in 1995, and last year, as well as self-sufficiency, we had 2 million tons left over for exports.

'We currently have 2.5 million hectares under rice cultivation, but we expect to increase that to 3 million.

Cambodia's rice producers and millers are optimistic about their future, and this year, Cambodia even sold subsidized rice to African countries, including Guinea, as a humanitarian gesture.

So confident is Cambodia of being able to hold its own with the big regional rice players in the future that Prime Minister Hun Sen has been a key proponent of a proposed regional rice cartel similar to that of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Thailand's brainchild, the proposed Organization of Rice Exporting Countries, was aimed at protecting the region's major rice producers but has deeply concerned major importers, such as the Philippines, which said it would only benefit major producers.

Phou Puy, president of the Cambodian National Rice Millers Association, said new growing techniques, rice strains and irrigation projects could potentially double the country's rice crop by 2015.

'With these changes, Cambodia's traditional one-time-per-year harvest can increase to two, even three times a year,' Phou Puy said. 'By 2015, that could provide exports of 10 million tons.

'Currently, we stand at between 2 [million] to 5 million tons, depending on weather conditions,' he said.

The 2015 projection would have Cambodia matching neighbouring Thailand's export predictions for 2008. Thailand is currently the world's largest rice exporter.

Cambodia is increasingly also becoming a player in biofuel production, but Phou Puy denied that that development would put to use land that could be planted for rice.

Vast industrial farms have sprung up on the north-western border with Thailand, producing corn and soybeans, and jatropha, which is endemic to Cambodia and a prime source of biodiesel, now takes up hundreds of hectares.

'But these crops grow where rice doesn't, so they do not impact on our rice yield,' Phou Puy said. 'I have no doubt Cambodia has the potential to match or surpass our rice-producing neighbours.

Such a development would be a major achievement not only for the country but also for donors who have poured billions of dollars into Cambodia's agricultural sector.

While China has been a key donor for irrigation development, alongside others including the Asian Development Bank, Australia has led the way in Cambodia's technological and scientific advances, funding research and development projects.

The Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute has benefited from millions of dollars in Australian aid and in return has been integral in developing new strains of rice, more resistant to the whims of climate change and the ravages of insects.

The institute's mission is to educate individual growers in a country where the bulk of people involved in agriculture work on mostly small family plots.

These sorts of measures have been so successful that Chan Sarun envisages a second lucrative niche market in organic rice, which demands a higher price but costs farmers less to produce because they don't use expensive fertilizers and pesticides.

'Organic rice is very popular,' the minister said. 'We aim to reduce chemical fertilizer use step by step. The world prefers natural food, so we are moving in that direction.

Mechanization will not come overnight, and experts agreed the days of Cambodia's rice farmers plodding patiently behind a plough pulled by cows or buffalo were not numbered.

But they said simple techniques with the right cropping, strains and a guaranteed water supply might one day take Cambodia to the top of the region in producing one of the world's most precious staples.

Taxpayers fund Cambodia's corruption

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth

Pacific Daily News
July 16, 2008

Cambodia's July 27 general election, the fourth since the 1991 United Nations "Comprehensive Political Settlement of the Cambodia Conflict," is, again, a lopsided political competition for power among eleven political parties -- reduced from more than 50 earlier -- for 123 parliamentarian seats.

The non-partisan Committee for Free and Fair Election in Cambodia observed on July 2, "at least 16 cases" of "disturbance, intimidation and threat against political parties" in the first week of the election campaign, and charged, "civil servants, authorities and armed forces have not only taken part in supporting the ruling party but have also conducted activities against other political parties."

The July 9 Cambodia Daily's Kuch Naren wrote about electoral "campaign complaints from political parties who have reported alleged vote buying, bias, threats and violence." Chhorn Chansy reported 10 of 11 parties (absent was the Cambodian People's Party) competing for election "pledged publicly ... to enact an anti-corruption law within the first six months of being elected."

Earlier, the June 23 Inter Press Service reported that 40 Cambodian civil society groups jointly expressed concern over increased political violence in the first half of the year; and that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused the ruling party of political intimidation and manipulation of the judicial system leading up to the election.

The leading opposition Sam Rainsy Party charged that the party's deputy secretary-general, former Minister of Women's Affairs, and nominee for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize, Mu Sochua, an SRP candidate, was physically assaulted by a CPP "army general," that left her blouse "undone, leaving her half-naked" before a crowd of men.

There's nothing "free" and "fair" about such an election. Neither does it take a sage to predict the winner. Some say it's better to have a less than free and fair election than to have no election at all. But when political parties are obliged to participate in grossly flawed elections do they not "legitimize" the victors who can claim a mandate through polls?

IPS says Sen "has already vowed that CPP would govern alone" after its victory, and Agence France Presse said he has vowed publicly to remain in power until he's 90 -- he's only 55 today.
An Asia Times Online statistic shows Cambodia's rate of poverty at 35 percent -- defined as those who live on less than one dollar per day -- out of a total population of 13.3 million.

Yet donor countries are pumping in financial aid worth nearly half of Cambodia's national budget to enable the current regime to hang on to power.

If you Google "Global Witness Cambodia's Family Trees," you can read a 95-page report by the London-based non-governmental organization Global Witness, released in June 2007, titled, "Cambodia's Family Trees: Illegal logging and the stripping of public assets by Cambodia's elite," complete with names and photos of political and military personalities, and their kin, alleged to be involved in dismantling the country's wealth.

The report, banned in Cambodia, alleged "evidence of entrenched criminality with the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces," and accused China and the United States of "providing direct military assistance" to the CPP's RCAF.

The report charges, donor countries "have refused to acknowledge the fact that the (Cambodian) government is thoroughly corrupt ... billions of dollars worth of aid funded by western taxpayers have done relatively little to improve the lives of ordinary Cambodians," and that the regime "is successfully exploiting international aid as a source of political legitimacy."

I confess that certain shocking parts of the report took my breath away.

In the Aug. 8, 2007 Asia Times Online, Marawaan Marcan-Makar's "If a tree falls, does the World Bank hear it?" mocked World Bank president Robert Zoellick, a former U.S. deputy secretary of state, for his "mild tone against corruption in Cambodia," and for choosing "words carefully when reprimanding errant states in which (the Bank) has big stakes."

Marcan-Makar reported that in a 2006 survey of corruption in the Asia-Pacific region, the Berlin-based global anti-graft watchdog, Transparency International, listed Cambodia among countries with "the highest ... corruption," perpetuating "rampant corruption" and "undermining improvements in quality of life for the poorest citizens." Transparency International ranked Cambodia 151 among the 163 countries, with the least corrupt nations ranked with lower numbers.

Sadly, Cambodia's Mekong Times reported that King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who has paid "close attention to reports of injustices and irregularities in Cambodian society" and who is "vigilantly watching all such issues," has said he has "no power to deal with deficiencies and injustices ... at present."

We speak of justice and equity as a basis for peace, but donor countries' financial assistance to Cambodia's ruling party, an organization chastised by non-governmental organizations and rights groups, is not a source of comfort. It raises questions about donor countries who would appear to pursue their interests at the expense of the welfare of the people who are suffering under the rule of a corrupt regime.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years.

Cambodia claims 170 Thais crossed border in dispute

AP Photo: Heng Sinith
A Cambodian flag flutters over a famed Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodia-Thai border in Cambodia, Preah Vihear province, about 245 kilometers 152 miles) north of Phnom Penh,June 21, 2008. Cambodia's retired king has taken a nationalistic swipe at Thailand in the controversy over a recent world heritage tag for an 11th century temple, which has sparked political tensions in the neighboring country and celebrations at home.

7/15/2008

Cambodia claims 170 Thais crossed into country's territory in dispute over land near temple

By KER MUNTHIT Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia on Tuesday claimed that 170 Thai troops and civilians crossed into the country's territory amid rising tensions in a dispute over land near an ancient border temple.

Thai military officials denied any incursion, insisting its troops had simply deployed near a disputed border area "to protect our sovereignty."

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, who is also the chief government spokesman, said 170 troops and Thai civilians had crossed into Cambodian territory. He could not say how many civilians were among the group.

The dispute has been stoked by Thai anti-government activists and escalated when UNESCO declared the temple a World Heritage Site earlier this month.

Khieu Kanharith's estimate was far higher than one provided earlier by Hang Soth, director-general of the national authority for Preah Vihear temple, who claimed that 40 Thai troops crossed the disputed border near Preah Vihear temple, center of a long-standing quarrel between the neighbors.

Hang Soth later confirmed the 170 figure, adding that the troops were all armed and refused to pull back because "they said they are waiting for order from their superior."

"Confrontation is occurring between Thai troops and our Cambodian troops, but there is no shooting yet," Hang Soth said, adding the two sides were in the midst of negotiations. "Our troops have been ordered to be on alert but not to fire first.

"At least one Thai soldier was injured, losing his leg in a land mine explosion while patrolling the area, said Thai Army Deputy Spokesman Col. Sirichan Ngathong.

Stretches of the Thai-Cambodian border still seethe with land mines sown by various sides during the 1970-75 Cambodian civil war and the guerrilla conflict that followed the fall of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in 1979.

Maj. Gen. Kanok Netakawesana, a Thai army field commander in the region, said earlier in a telephone interview that his troops were on Thai soil close to the disputed area. He declined to give the number of soldiers deployed. He could not be reached for further comment Tuesday evening.

"We are not violating the territory of Cambodia. We have every right to deploy troops here to protect our sovereignty," Kanok said.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat denied any incursion, saying the relationship between the two countries remained normal.

The Thai troop movements followed the arrest by Cambodia of three Thai citizens for allegedly crossing the border earlier in the day. Hang Soth said the three were released to Thai authorities in the afternoon.

Last week, UNESCO declared Preah Vihear temple a World Heritage site despite objection from Thai groups. The two countries both claim the land that surrounds the temple, and Thai activists have recently revived nationalist sentiment over the issue.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded Preah Vihear and the land it occupies to Cambodia, a decision that still rankles many Thais even though the temple is culturally Cambodian, sharing the Hindu-influenced style of the more famous Angkor complex in northwestern Cambodia.

Cambodia's move to secure landmark status for the temple has angered political leaders in Thailand and sparked small protests by some Thais who feared it would jeopardize their country's claims to land adjacent to the site.

Domestic opponents of Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej also have seized on the issue in attempts to bring down his government.

Soldiers face off on Thai-Cambodian border

Telegraph.co.uk
By Thomas Bell in Bangkok
15/07/2008

A border dispute over a 900-year-old temple is threatening to boil over when Thai troops allegedly mounted an incursion into Cambodian territory.

The incident was sparked when three Thai protesters crossed barbed wire to enter the disputed site and were arrested by Cambodian border guards. A Cambodian official said that around 40 Thai soldiers later crossed the border.

"Confrontation is occurring between Thai troops and our Cambodian troops, but there is no shooting yet," said Hang Soth, the Cambodian official in charge of the temple area. "Our troops have been ordered to be on alert but not to fire first."

Thailand denied that its soldiers had entered Cambodia. "We are not violating the territory of Cambodia. We have every right to deploy troops here to protect our sovereignty," said Maj Gen Kanok Netakawesana, a field commander in the region.

Teachers’ Livelihood in Cambodia

Posted on 16 July 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 5689

“Mr. Thong Boran, director of the Department of Personnel of the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport, said that since 2002, the government has said to create a new salary system for civil servants, by stating that the salary of civil servants must be increased 15% every year. In 2007, all civil servants received 15% more, and in July of the same year an additional 8% was added.

In 2008, the government increased the salary of civil servants again – all of them get a 20% increase to their salaries. Separately, since 1 April 2008, the government has increased the salaries for teachers and for school administrators by an additional 10%, and the family allowance for wives and children of those teachers and civil servants was raised 100%.

“The government considers the Ministry of Education as a priority ministry among four ministries – the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries; the Ministry of Rural Development; and the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport has taken teachers from some areas which have an over-supply of teachers to re-assign them to work in areas where there are not enough teachers, by giving them one-time financial encouragements. If they were re-assigned from one village to another, they get Riel 300,000 [approx. US$75]; for a change from one commune to another, they get Riel 500,000 [approx. US$125]; for a change from one district to another, they get Riel 800,000 [approx. US$200]; for a change from one low level land province to another, they get Riel 1,000,000 [approx. US$250]; and if they are re-assigned from one province to another remote province, they get Riel 1,500,000 [approx. US$375]. The Ministry has added another Riel 40,000 [approx. US$10] to the total salary of teachers in difficult areas (areas with difficulties with communication, with a low population density of less than 10 persons per square kilometer, frequently flooded areas, or areas which often suffer from natural calamities, and border regions).

“Teachers who teach in towns of remote provinces such as Ratanakiri, Mondolkiri, Stung Treng, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, Koh Kong, and Pailin received an additional Riel 50,000 [approx. US$12.50 per month, and in other remote areas besides those towns, Riel 60,000 [approx. US$15] was added monthly.

“Moreover, each teacher gets a monthly health care allowance of Riel 1,500 [approx. US$0.38]. For teachers who do their work well and are ranked first, they will get Riel 120,000 [approx. US$30], those who rank second will get Riel 100,000 [approx. US$25] and those who rank third will get Riel 80,000 [approx. US$20]. The Ministry also sponsors teachers who teach on Thursdays [primary schools in Cambodia do not have classes on Thursday] giving them Riel 20,000 [approx. US$5] when they teach on a Thursday. For primary school teachers who teach mixed classes – teachers that teach students from different grades in the same room and in the same session – if two levels are combined they get 60% of their salary added, and if three levels are combined, they get 80% of their salary added. Teachers who teach two turns [normally each teacher teaches only morning classes or afternoon classes, but some teachers teach two turns, teaching both morning and evening classes], they will receive an additional 100% of their base salary. In total, nowadays each teacher gets a salary between Riel 100,000 [approx. US$25] and Riel 560,000 [approx. US$140] per month.

“However, although the government has continually increased the salaries for teachers, the increase is not balanced with the dramatic increase of the price of goods in the markets.
“The prices of fuel and of food have increased everywhere in Cambodia as well as in some other countries of the world. These increases have strongly affected civil servants, especially those who live with salaries like teachers have them.

“A male teacher said that his salary can buy only 50 kg of rice. So he has to do also something else to support his family to have enough income each month. Therefore he does not have time to prepare his teaching or to do research to develop good lessons for his students.

“A female teacher asked the Ministry to provide the salary on time - even as the salary is small; but the payment should not being too late, extending the pay day from one month to another month or to another one-month-and-a-half, because teachers face difficulties since they do not have an income besides their salary.

“A male teacher, who has worked as a teacher for nearly 30 years, said that his salary could be spent for him alone for breakfast, but he must spend it carefully so that it can be enough for one whole month; and if he buys cigarettes or other food, this salary is not enough. Although he has a difficult life, he still teaches, because his conscious makes him feel responsible to teach students.
“A male teacher would like the government to help to take action so that the prices of good could decrease - it would not be necessary to increase the salaries, if the prices of goods could be decreased.

“A female teacher, who has worked as a teacher for five years, said that she lives alone, renting a house for Riel 40,000 per month [approx. US$10], and she gets a salary of only Riel 160,000 [approx. US$40] per month; it is difficult to cover expenses when she is sometimes ill.

“A male teacher said that his house is more than 20 km away from his school, and his motorbike consumes one liter of fuel per day for traveling to teach the students. Because now the price of fuel increased, his salary is not even enough to buy fuel. He uses his time in the afternoon to seek more income by teaching English at a private school, making it impossible for him to have time to think about new good methods to teach his students to be better qualified.

“A male teacher, who has been relocated from Prey Veng to teach at a school at a Phnom Penh suburb, said that he has to rent a house for Riel 80,000 Riel [approx. US$20] per month, and the price of water and of electricity in Phnom Penh is also expensive. His salary, even with the allowance of 10% from the Ministry, is spent in only half of a month on meals. He said that he really does not want to take money from the students, because most of his school’s students are poor like himself, but to have enough for his livelihood, he has to take money from the students. He asks the government to intervene to decrease the price of goods, so that his salary can match with the expenses for a longer period of days.”

Extracted from Tumpeang Snong Russey Magazine by Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6393, 15.7.2008

Sole Monk Observer Touts 'Same Rights'

By Win Thida, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
15 July 2008

More than 20,000 Cambodians will observe the July 27 elections, along with 300 international observers. Among them will be at least one monk.

His name is Huy Man Kheang. Sixty-one-years old, the venerable monk is the chief of the Tonle Neam pagoda, in Angkor Chey district, Kampot province.

He is also president of the Organization of Buddhism Support and Human Resource Development.

"Even if I'm a monk, I have the same rights as a civilian citizen," Huy Man Kheang told VOA Khmer in a recent interview. "The monks have the right to create organizations also."

"We have monks who go to vote also, like the ordinary citizens," he said. "Observation is only to monitor if there is violence from one party to others and to monitor in order to have a smooth election process."

As far as he knows, he is the only monk from his organization to volunteer as a monitor.

Disabled Trained to Encourage Voting

By Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
15 July 2008

The UNDP is supporting the disabled in the election, fearing that in polls past they have not been encouraged to choose their representatives.

Through cooperation with the Cambodian Disabled People's Organization, the UNDP provided training Tuesday to 50 disabled people from 10 provinces, who are then expected to return home and educate other disabled about the importance of voting.

Aimee Brown, a spokeswoman for the UNDP, said Tuesday the training not only urged the disabled to vote, but also provided them awareness of democracy and their role in society.

This is the first such training under support of the UNDP.

Ngin Saorath, executive director of the Cambodian Disabled People's Organization, said Tuesday that many disabled have forgotten their value in society. There is little encouragement, and they are prone to silence as the election approaches, he said.

Leng Sokhorn, a 23-year-old from Prey Veng province who was born without fingers, said most of the disabled in her province would not go to vote, especially women, who tend toward despondency and believe they have no value.

Landmines, war injuries, disease and accidents have produced in Cambodia more than 600,000 disabled, between 4 percent and 5 percent of the population.

The National Election Committee will provide assistants at polling stations to help disabled voters caste their ballots. The NEC has also created a special ballot for the blind.

Parties Remain Divided in Final Weeks

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
15 July 2008

Political leaders competing against the Cambodian People's Party have remained divided, competing with each other instead of unifying its voice, a leading human rights official said.

The competing parties need a strong alliance in order to compete with the CPP, said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

"The Cambodian People's Party is trying to break the opposition party's voice," Adams said.

"They are trying to persuade the opposition party members or activists by promising to provide positions as government advisers and things like that."

The competing parties "made plenty of mistakes over the years by competing instead of uniting," he said.

With less than two weeks remaining in the campaign, leaders of the three main opponents, the Sam Rainsy, Norodom Ranariddh and Human Rights parties, have been unable to come together.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said there were "points of weakness" in other party leaders, such as accusations leveled against Prince Norodom Ranariddh of the sale of Funcinpec's party headquarters before he assembled his own party, and lawsuits of former employees of Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha.

"We are afraid and unconfident to join with any political parties that have not cleared [such allegations] and don’t have transparency," Sam Rainsy said.

Kem Sokha denied involvement in corruption and said he already testified at court in cases brought by his former employees.

Sam Rainsy regularly rejected the idea of unification, Kem Sokha said, and neither the opposition nor Norodom Ranariddh's party have shown an ability to unite.

"If they knew how to unite, then the new party would not have been created," he said, adding that his party "always welcomed unity."

Prince Ranariddh is running his self-named party from exile in Kuala Lumpur and faces a prison sentence and fine for breach of trust if he returns. He said by phone recently he had already requested unification with Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, to no avail.

"I've been suggesting to Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha since October 2007 the demolition of the Sam Rainsy Party, the Human Rights Party and the Norodom Ranariddh Party, in order to create a large nationalist party," he said. "I am strongly disappointed, and regret that Kem Sokha and Sam Rainsy have ignored my suggestion."

CPP lawmaker Chiem Yeap, who is a candidate for Prey Veng province, told VOA Khmer recently that all the parties facing the CPP were welcome to unite.

"All the political parties in Cambodia have full rights to join their political parties together," he said.

"But the Cambodian People's Party is still trying to work, because our people won the election.

That is what made Kem Sokha's party, Norodom Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy to try to pull our credit our honor and our party reputation down."

Little Progress in Democracy: Rights Groups

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
15 July 2008

Cambodia's political system has not moved closer to true democracy, international human rights leaders and political candidates say.

The Cambodian People's Party has strict control over state media, the courts, the bar association and the National Election Committee, said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

The July 27 election "is not competitive," Adams said. "Of course the CPP is going to win, and I think there is quite a lot of dissolution among Cambodian voters…. A lot of young people in particular think that there is no point to be involved in politics."

Om Yentieng, a permanent member of the CPP's central committee and a senior adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, objected.

"He doesn't love the Cambodian people more than the Cambodian people, and what he said is not for Cambodia’s benefit," Om Yentieng said of Adams. "He only speaks from abroad. He has white skin, [and] his democracy is older than Cambodia's, so he should not do what we call bad pretending on this issue.

"When millions of voters listen to his speech, they can judge whether it is true or not true, so that he should not destroy a wonderful democratic legacy," Om Yentieng said. "Democracy in Cambodia is getting better."

Not everyone believe Cambodia's democracy has shown progress, including political leaders competing in the upcoming election.

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha said Cambodia's democratic process was weak and slow.

"Ten days into the election campaign, we have seen so many problems happening to us, such as the pulling down of many non-ruling party political signs," he said. "One of our activists was killed in Kampong Cham province, and there has also been physical abuse of our activists."

Katie Redford, co-founder of the Washington-based Earth Rights International, told VOA Khmer the election process in Cambodia was not yet moving toward democracy.

Cambodia's political system had not moved in the direction of democracy and transparency, she said, "but really in the direction of corruption and one-party rule."

"I think that the upcoming election is going to reflect that trend," she said.

Cambodian Information Minister: No tension at border with Thailand

www.chinaview.cn

2008-07-15

PHNOM PENH, July 15 (Xinhua) -- There is no tension currently at the border between Cambodia and Thailand, although both sides stationed more troops there over a territorial dispute around the Preah Vihear Temple, said Information Minister and government spokesman Khieu Kanharith here Tuesday.

Three Thai protesters were arrested earlier in the day for jumping an immigration checkpoint to reach the temple. Thai troops then came to fetch them and the number of soldiers gradually built up to around 100.

Kanharith confirmed the increase of Thai troops and said that negotiation is going on to quiet the situation.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered troops to withhold firing unless being fired upon first, he said.

Cambodia needs to find out more and let Thailand know how they got the border wrong, he said.

"If they had intended to invade, we would have used our weapons," he said.

Meanwhile, a Thai army ranger was released for treatment after he stepped on a landmine and made his leg ripped off, he added.

Provincial authority of Preah Vihear earlier told reporters that the Thai troops entered the Cambodian territory.

However, the Thai side said that a delegation was sent into Cambodia to secure the release of the three protesters, insisting the soldiers had remained nearby but on Thai territory.

The protesters trespassed the border with intention to reclaim the 11-century classic Khmer-style temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded, together with the land it occupies, to Cambodia in 1962, a decision that rankled the Thais.

The temple straddles the Thai-Cambodian border atop the Dangrek Mountain and was listed as a World Heritage Site on July 7 by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee.

Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama resigned last Thursday after the Constitutional Court ruled that he had overstepped his authority in supporting Cambodia's application to have the temple classified as a World Heritage Site.

Editor: An lu

Cambodia releases 3 Thai protestors

MCOT English News

BANGKOK, July 15 (TNA) - The Thai Army Chief had confirmed Cambodia released three Thai protestors detained on Tuesday for illegally entering the disputed area adjacent to Preah Vihear temple. Thai Army Chief Gen. Anupong Paojinda said Cambodian authorities released them unconditionally and the trio, including a Buddhist monk, crossed the border onto the Thai side.

Gen. Anupong also confirmed about a troop reinforcement near the disputed area. It was the first cross-border protest since Cambodia blocked access to Preah Vihear temple to visitors from Thailand last month, after some Thai protestors attempted to march on the temple ruins.

Thai protestors snuck into disputed area adjacent to temple. The protestors made their way secretly through a barbed wire fence from the Thai side into the disputed zone at the entrance to Preah Vihear temple.

Thai Supreme Commander Gen. Boonsang Niampradit said he believed the dispute would not escalate because Thai and Cambodian authorites had a good understanding.

In a related development, a Thai army ranger lost his leg after stepping on a landmine near the disputed temple on the Cambodian border. He was patrolling the area when the accident occurred.

The Associated Press quoted Hang Soth, director-general of the national authority for Preah Vihear temple, as saying about 40 Thai troops entered Cambodia near Preah Vihear temple.

However, Thai military officials denied any incursion, saying troops had simply deployed near the disputed area to protect national sovereignty.(TNA)

Police Briefly Hold Thai Temple Protesters

Cambodian soldiers have been ordered not to fire on Thai troops near Preah Vihear temple, an official said Tuesday.

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
15 July 2008

Cambodian border police briefly detained three Thai demonstrators at Preah Vihear temple Tuesday, a move that was followed by a crossing of Thai border police into Cambodian territory, a top Cambodian spokesman and a border authority official said Tuesday.

Thai officials denied their patrols had crossed into Cambodian territory.

Cambodian police detained three protesters, who were members of the opposition Thai Democrat Party, after they entered Preah Vihear temple Tuesday morning, said Hang Soth, chairman of the Preah Vihear National Authority.

The three were released after three hours, Hang Soth said.

More than 40 Thai border police entered Cambodian territory around 11:30 am, occupying a pagoda about 200 meters from Preah Vihear temple, Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said Tuesday.

Hang Soth confirmed Thai authorities occupied the pagoda. He could not confirm whether the Thai patrol remained there.

Thai Maj. Gen. Kanok Netakawesana, the regional army commander, told the Associated Press Tuesday the soldiers remained on Thai soil, close to a disputed area.

Thai Embassy spokesman Chaturont Chaiyakam said late Tuesday reports of the border-crossing were a "rumor."

Cambodian soldiers on the border have been ordered not to shoot at Thai troops, Hang Soth said.

Tuesday's incident came at a time of increased tension between the two countries over the temple, which was last week added to a Unesco World Heritage list under Cambodia's request.

Outside Parties Report Campaign Obstacles

All of the parties outside the ruling coalition have reported irregularities and obstacles.

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
15 July 2008

[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 the difficulties faced by each of the 11 competing parties.]

Less than two weeks away from Election Day, only the ruling Cambodian People's Party and its coalition partner Funcinpec say they face zero obstacles to their campaigns. Nine other parties, large and small, have complained of irregularities and other constraints plaguing their efforts.
Norodom Ranariddh Party spokesman Muth Chantha said the party has faced difficulties in the distribution of leaflets and knock-downs of political signs, from the capital to the provinces.

His activists have not been able to distribute platform information in Phnom Penh markets, Muth Chantha said, a complaint shared by other parties, especially the Human Rights, Sam Rainsy and the Khmer Democratic parties.

The greatest challenge, though, has been the absence of the party's leader, he said.

"The first challenge for us is the absence of Prince Norodom Ranariddh," Muth Chantha said. "It means we aren't equally armed in the campaign."

Human Rights Party Vice President Keo Remy said the main challenges to his party were "threats."

Activists have been threatened in Kampong Cham, Prey Veng and Kampong Speu provinces, as well as in the capital, Keo Remy said, including threats from village chiefs.

Violence, injuries and verbal threats have all been reported by his activists, he said.

SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said that in the face of such irregularities, the party has minimum liberties.

"We don't expect the election will be free and fair," he said. "And we don't have confidence in the National Election Committee."

Ny Chakrya, chief investigator for the rights group Adhoc, noted that the pressure of campaign irregularities has mostly come against parties outside of the government.

"Even though we have not noted many irregularities compared to previous elections, the ruling party has tried to disturb the opposition, like knocking down political signs, and this requires efficient action by the NEC."

NEC Secretary-General Tep Nith said that there are irregularities, but they are the same reported in previous elections: sign knock-downs, threats, vote-buying.

"But there aren't any political threats, and now we are investigating some cases for which we've received complaints," he said.

CPP lawmaker Chiem Yeap said the ruling party faced no challenges in the campaign. It had facilities to conduct a campaign across the country, presenting its political platform for voters and holding meetings.

One challenge was that Funcinpec had attacked the CPP "like the opposition," he said.

Prince Sisowath Sereyroth, second deputy of Funcinpec, said the party had no problems in the first weeks of the campaign, "because we do not attack any parties."

"Of course, technical problems are unavoidable," he said. Funcinpec instead faced budget problems, he said.

Small parties too face budget constraints as they campaign.