Land tax collection up over '07

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chun Sophal and Hor Hab
Monday, 22 December 2008

But a falling property market could cut revenues in 2009

THE government collected a record US$28 million in land taxes in the first nine months of 2008, compared with $21.2 million received in all of 2007, a senior minister said last week.

The government collects a four percent tax on land sales.

Im Chhun Lim, minister of land management, urban planning and construction, told the Post that the gains were mostly from a strong construction sector in the first half of the year.

He warned, however, that the global economic crisis and a falling property market in the second half could bring down next year's revenues.

"We earned more income from land duties this year because of booming construction in the first half of 2008," Im Chhun Lim said.

From 2004 to 2007, Cambodia earned a total of about $40 million from land taxes, and officials say the increased collection shows progress over corruption.

Non-transparent

But Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay said that the reported figures are much lower than the actual amount collected by the ministry.

"I think that we could earn $100 million per year if the ministry managed the revenues properly," he said.

" We earned more income ... this year because of booming construction. "

He added that only about 35 percent of taxes are collected by the government, and that corruption and mismanagement is robbing the state of much-needed funds.

"The ministry should not use the global financial crisis as an excuse to explain any revenue shortfalls," Son Chhay said.

"I think that the income from land duties will not drop to below current income, although the construction sector has dropped 30 percent due to the global financial crisis," he said.

He added that better tax collection could help offset the government's 30 percent budget increase for 2009.

Cheng Kheng, managing director of Cambodia Properties Ltd, said the government's figures are high because land prices went up for the first three months of 2008. He expected a drop next year.

"I think the income will decrease next year if the current situation lasts long," Cheng Kheng said.

ACLEDA to build training centre with German grant

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

ACLEDA President In Channy pictured in this file photo. The bank received funds to build a centre to train microfinance

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Nguon Sovan and Chun Sophal
Monday, 22 December 2008

The bank hopes facility will make Cambodia a hub for MFI training

ACLEDA Bank has received an US$850,000 grant from the German Development Bank to fund its new Asean Regional Microfinance Training Center.

Bank President In Channy said the centre will be managed by ACLEDA - Cambodia's largest commercial bank - which will finance equipment, fellowships, international consultants and capacity-building programs for faculty and staff.

"The funds will be used for three objectives: equipment, operational costs and short-term scholarships for a three-year period," he told the Post.

"After that, we will charge a fee of $500 per day for groups of between three and 10 people. Each course will last five days," he said.

He added that in five years' time, he expects the centre expects to have trained 1,300 foreign students and experts.

Say Sony, manager of the Prassac Microfinance Institution, said Sunday the establishment of the centre shows the progress of MFIs in Cambodia, but added that he had no plans to send his staff of nearly 1,000 credit officers.

"We have enough internal training units covering all essential skills involved in microfinance," he said.

"I think the centre will be focusing primarily on overseas students. The fees are likely to be too expensive for local people," he said.

Cambodia currently has 17 MFI institutions, with each employing an average of 500 workers.

Defending Duch's obedience

Photo by: AFP

Francois Roux, the lawyer defending former S-21 head Duch.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Anne-Laure Porée
Monday, 22 December 2008

Lawyer Francois Roux on why Duch must not be a ‘scapegoat' and his interest in the fact obedience is not always a virtue

When will Duch's trial take place?

I do not have the answer. In principle, there is a trial management meeting in January, an initial hearing in February, then we hope that the trial will begin in March.

Jacques Verges recently told German news magazine Der Spiegel that the case of Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith "will not even come to trial because the tribunal in Phnom Penh has already gambled away its credibility and legitimacy". Will Duch be the only one to carry the can?

It is out of the question for Duch to become the scapegoat for the Cambodian tragedy. He has to be judged for what he has done, not for the whole tragedy. When his trial opens, nobody will be able to say that there will be no other trials.

You campaigned for the setting up of international criminal tribunals. Experiencing the ECCC in Phnom Penh, do you still believe in international justice?

There are problems here due to the Cambodian situation and the specificity of the mixed tribunal, but it is a boon, too, for international justice. If we take up these specific challenges, they will be a precious contribution to knowledge about international justice. I think that international justice improves despite its difficulties. Who would have believed that many former heads of state would have been put in detention? And for instance, who would have believed that the former prime minister of Rwanda, who played an important part in the former government, would be put on trial? To the cynic who would say that international justice is powerless and incapable, I would answer: Look at the results.

But the pace of justice here seems slow to the public.

I would be the first one to denounce the prosecutors' appeal on Duch's case! But we can note that Duch has been in the ECCC's jail for one year and four months. When his trial will begin, it will be one year and eight months. Compare it to the so-called "Butare's trial" at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which lasted eight years - after the accused had been remanded in custody for four years. However, and of course, we continue to challenge the fact that Duch has been kept in pretrial detention for almost ten years.

For more than 35 years, you have defended people who acted in the name of civil disobedience. Why do you defend Duch, who personifies, in your expression, "servile obedience"?

I have been interested for a long time in the idea that obedience is not always a virtue. And about authority, too, about Milgram's experiment, for instance. The French author Georges Bernanos wrote that "a free people is a people undisciplined". Civil disobedience is written in the law. Therefore, it does not concern only activists. I was led to go from one extreme to the other. This is not a coincidence. And this is a unique human experience. We attain the notion of humanity.

Do you really think that Duch was just obedient ?

The one who obeys a criminal order - here starts his responsibility. We, the defenders of Duch, are trying to understand how it happened, how it worked, of what he is guilty and if he has any mitigating circumstances. The usual work of lawyers in such extreme cases is to find how to bring a man accused of the most serious crimes back into the human community.

Who are your guides in this case?

Kar Savuth, Duch's Cambodian lawyer, who was prisoner of the Khmer Rouge and who put on his lawyer's robe saying that a lawyer should defend everybody in the same way that a doctor cures everybody. I think also of the former president of the bar of Montpellier in France, Jacques Lafont, who was a former prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp and defended French collaborationists against the death sentence.

There is no doubt that Duch, who pleads guilty, will be condemned. So what will be the interest of his trial for the Cambodian people?

The great novelty, the major thing, will be to hear Duch's voice. There will be no scoop but rectifications, details, new lights cast. Today, what do you know about what Duch says? Nothing. What do you know about what he has become 30 years later?

Nothing. What do you know about what the victims will tell to Duch?

What do you know about what he will say to them?Do you want this trial to act as a form of education ?The questions of the victims are legitimate. A trial has to bring the beginning of answers. Our educational work began during the investigation with the reconstruction at S-21 and Choeung Ek. It was a major judicial act which honours the judges. It has been very badly reported because of the communications problems of the tribunal, but it was very important for the case and for its symbolism: The time of justice is characterised by bringing back Duch to S-21. He has come back with the judges. That is the catharsis of justice: to understand what happened. You will know during the trial what happened during this reconstruction and what was said. The main thing is that after the trial we can all say: ‘Justice has been done'.

Interview by Anne-Laure Porée

From Russia with lights: Film festival to boost cultural ties

Photo by: Georgia Wilkins
A Russian actress at the opening of the Russian film festival in Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Georgia Wilkins and Khoun Leakhana
Monday, 22 December 2008

After a low point in the early '90s, Russian cinema is undergoing a revival and a delegation is in town to showcase their newest films

AS the domestic film industry threatens to sink into non-existence, Cambodian cinephiles this week will be able to get a taste of what's possible when finances eventually turn their favour.

A five-day film festival celebrating the recent resurgence of Russian cinema to near-Hollywood stature kicked off Thursday, showcasing the latest that the now-US$100 million industry has to offer.

"We want to broaden our ties and exchange our views to help our cultures understand each other," a Russian embassy official told the Post Thursday.

A cultural delegation, including filmmakers, actors and actresses, arrived in Phnom Penh last week to launch the festival - the first delegation of its kind to travel to the Kingdom since 1986, when ties between the former communist allies were stronger.

" This is the first step towards a new friendship in the movie sector. "

All five films, one of which is a full-length animated feature, reflect the big-budget stylings that Russia's newly moneyed cinema is capable of producing. But as speakers were aware, things had not been like this for a long time.

"Nowadays, Russian cinema is on the rise," said Galina Strochkova, director of the General Directorate of National Film and Theatre Promotion, adding that the transition to a market economy and the dismantling of the Soviet Union led to a financial crisis that crippled the Russian film industry in the 1990s. Theatres were turned into restaurants and shoe shops, something Cambodians today would be familiar with.

The turnaround offered a hopeful lesson for Cambodia, Som Sokun, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said on Thursday. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the festival, he said he hoped the screening of such films would encourage Cambodian performers and technicians to "absorb the valuable experience towards the development of their specialties, so as to contribute to the development of the Cambodian film sector".

He then reflected on the 1980s, when the Soviet Union provided film projectors and mobile theatre vehicles, as well as an annual 100 films, to entertain Cambodian audiences.

"This is the first step towards a new friendship in the movie sector between the two countries," said Ly Dany, an official from the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

Disease claims B'bang oranges

Photo by: Eleanor Ainge Roy
A farmer points to the beginnings of silver leaf disease in his orange tree in Banan district.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Titthara and Eleanor Ainge Roy
Monday, 22 December 2008

Banan district
Battambang province

Farmers in Banan district in Battambang have been unable to grow oranges for two years due to a rare, highly infectious tree disease that causes their leaves to mould rapidly

JUST three years ago, the farmland in Banan district in Battambang was flushed with the lush green colours of the orange trees whose fruits have made the district and the province famous throughout the country. In 2005, the area was registered as an "agricultural tourism site" by the Battambang provincial governor.

But now there are hardly any orange trees left on the 30,000 hectares of farmland in the district, and the leaves of the few orange trees still left are no longer green but grey. Farmers have turned to other crops such as beans, mangoes, chilli or guava after a rare disease - known as "silver leaf disease" - started killing their orange trees two years ago after a season of particularly heavy flooding.

Sun Tek from Chhoeuteal commune has grown oranges for as long as he can remember and is one of the few orange farmers still trying to grow the popular fruit.

"We have had a problem with the land since it was seriously flooded [two years ago]. Now, my orange trees always die.... but I have not changed to grow other fruits yet because I want to find a solution."

He fears that Battambang will lose its reputation as the province with the best oranges if the problem continues and calls on NGOs or the government for help.

"The farmers in this district are dependent on growing fruit, but since they have had this problem, and have had no NGOs or government officials come to help, it leads them to change to growing other fruit," he said.

Nothing to be done

According to Sath Sokhom, deputy of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Department in Battambang, there is nothing to be done about the problem, and he said he urges farmers to change to other crops.

"The land in Banan district is infected with silver leaf disease, and it causes mould in the orange trees and also infects the land. So when they grow new orange trees, they get infected with disease," he said.

"We do not have the solution to help the farmers, so they cannot grow oranges any more - we suggest they should switch to grow other crops," he said.

Toch Soun Nara, governor of Banan district, said that most farmers in the area have already changed crops.

"It is very hard for farmers to grow oranges, but they can change to growing other crops," he said, adding that most farmers in the district have already switched to other crops. He doesn't fear for the province's reputation in the future.

"In my district farmers cannot grow oranges, but in other districts of Battambang farmers can still grow them.... So, we can keep our famous oranges in this province," he added.

Monitoring group to boycott 'predictable' local elections

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Neth Pheaktra and Georgia Wilkins
Monday, 22 December 2008

Election monitors Comfrel have said they will no longer monitor the local administrative elections in May, as they are based on ‘indirect' voting

ELECTION monitors Comfrel have announced plans to boycott upcoming local administrative elections, which will be held in May 2009, claiming the use of indirect voting means the outcome of the elections is already fixed.

In a statement released last week, the group claimed that the elections of district, provincial and municipal councils rely on "indirect suffrage". Only commune officials - over 97 percent of whom are affiliated to the ruling party - can vote.

"We knew already that these [voting] members are representatives of their political party at commune level and they will vote for their own party. It's not a free choice," the statement said.

"We know with 100 percent certainty the result of this election without even organising a vote," it added.

Mar Sophal, head of Comfrel's Monitoring Unit, confirmed to the Post that the group would boycott.

Tep Nytha, NEC secretary general, said it made no difference whether Comfrel stays or goes.

"Retire or join the observation of the elections, it is the right of Comfrel."

SRP to still participate

Son Chhay, lawmaker and spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party, told the Post Sunday that he was happy with the boycott but that his party would still participate in the superficial elections.

"We will still participate [in the elections], but we will continue to fight to change this unfair law."

But Cheam Yeap, lawmaker for the Cambodian People's Party, said legality was not an issue in the indirect election process. "The election ... does not affect the legality of the elections because the commune council member represents the people and is elected by people," he said.

"If we organise direct suffrage, we will spend more money and time, and we don't want to spend money for nothing."

Partisan politics continues to clog commune councils

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Boeung Keng Kang III's Commune Council building in Phnom Penh.

PLAYING POLITICS
Mann Choeun, deputy governor of Phnom Penh, urged commune councilors to abandon partisan politics in the name of development. "If you want to improve your people and your commune, you must stop thinking in a partisan way," he said.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Monday, 22 December 2008

Commune officials have expressed renewed concern that widespread political discrimination is corroding local politics

RAMPANT political discrimination within the Kingdom's commune councils is derailing development and causing corruption, commune officials say.

"The commune chief told me there were not enough seats in the office for me to attend important meetings," said Heng Sochhada, second deputy commune chief of Prek Pra commune in Phnom Penh's Meanchey district, describing how she was excluded from key decision-making meetings due to her being a Sam Rainsy Party member.

According to Heng Sochhada, since she was elected during the first commune elections in 2002, the commune chief, who has been in the position since 2002 and is a member of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, has consistently refused to cooperate with her for no reason she can discern other than partisan politics.

"I was not allowed to attend meetings on the commune development plan, on budgeting for development projects, and if I attended they would cut the meetings off early," she said.

"It is unfair, as I was elected so that I could serve and improve the lives of people living in Prek Pra commune," she said.

Airing grievances

At a conference Wednesday at City Hall to assess the achievements over 2008 of all commune councils within the Phnom Penh municipality, some 700 councilors from 76 communes aired their grievances over the operation of commune councils.

According to Sem Chan, a member of the Boeung Trabek commune council in Phnom Penh's Chamkarmon district, political discrimination is eroding responsibility for local development.

He cited the example of the renovation of Road 123 in his area, when he and his constituents asked the commune chief if they could have an open meeting with the contractor before renovation began.

As the road was to be paid for with 70 percent government funds and with 30 percent provided by residents, locals felt they should be involved in the process, he said. But the commune chief refused to have a public meeting.

"Now, this road that cost more than US$300,000 for 160 metres is completely damaged after the people used it for just four-and-a-half years," said Sem Chan, adding that the lack of oversight caused by partisan politics had allowed corruption into the road renovation process.

Another disgruntled commune council member from Phnom Penh's Stung Meanchey commune said that political discrimination had prevented over 200 known opposition supporters in his commune from having proper identification documents - which then prevented them from voting in the July National Assembly elections.

"The people in my commune told me that the police and commune assistants conspired to demand about $20 from each non-CPP-voting person and if they did not pay they would not get identification documents," said Deouk Chhang.

SRP taken to court over NEC fines

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Neth Pheaktra and Georgia Wilkins
Monday, 22 December 2008

THE National Election Committee has filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court against opposition Sam Rainsy Party President Sam Rainsy for failing to pay the court a 10 million riel (US$2,500) fine, officials told the Post Sunday.

The electoral committee fined the party president for making derogatory remarks towards members of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) during the election earlier this year.

"The NEC sent the complaint against opposition president Sam Rainsy to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday," Tep Nytha, NEC secretary general, told the Post Sunday.

"It's a last resort for NEC to lodge a lawsuit.... NEC sent a letter directly to President Sam Rainsy and requested intervention from the National Assembly to cut his salary, but these two processes failed," he said.

SRP 'not worried'

Son Chhay, lawmaker and spokesman for the SRP, said that the popular opposition leader had no qualms in taking his argument to court.

"Sam Rainsy does not worry at all about this recent decision. He has not done anything wrong. He would like the opportunity to explain to the court why this judgement was not fairly done," he told the Post Sunday.

Keng Vannsak dies, leaving profound intellectual legacy

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith
Monday, 22 December 2008

Scholars praise deceased colleague whose contributions to education, they say, continue to shape young Cambodian minds

A RENOWNED professor of Cambodian literature credited with creating the first Khmer typewriter died of lung failure on Thursday at the Montmorency hospital in Paris. He was 84 years old.

The death of Keng Vannsak, who was formerly a professor at Phnom Penh's Lycee Sisowath, was mourned by many of his erstwhile colleagues, who said it was a great loss for the nation.

"He was a true scholar, and he helped to establish modern Khmer literature, culture and civilization," reflected Miech Ponn, a scholar at the Buddhism Institute in Phnom Penh.

"We respect him because he was a real patriot, and he offered a basic education for the young generation," said Cambodian historian Michel Tranet.

Keng Vannsak had an unparalleled depth and breadth of knowledge, and was a truly original thinker, said Ros Chantraboth, vice president of the Royal Academy of Cambodia.

He had written many books on Cambodian culture, theatre, poetry and was also a creative author - penning a series of short stories and establishing the first centre for higher education focused entirely on Khmer literature. He also created a writing system to guide the creation of Khmer words.

Keng Vannsak left Cambodia for France in 1974 when he was appointed the Cambodian ambassador to that country. After the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, he decided not to return. He has never been back to Cambodia.

"We're sorry he never returned to Cambodia, [as he could have] instructed the young generation who still learn from his achievements," Ros Chantraboth said.

UN pledges continued support for Cambodia

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Some of the 192 monks - representing the 192 countries in the United Nations - walk through Hun Sen Park on Sunday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith
Monday, 22 December 2008

At an event marking 53 years of UN membership, officials and NGOs alike celebrate UN achievements in Cambodia

DESPITE having, at times, a highly problematic relationship with the government, the United Nations has played a key role in the Kingdom's development and will continue to support Cambodia in the future, UN officials say.

"In partnership with the Cambodian government and Cambodian people, the United Nations ... will work to ensure that all Cambodian women, children and men can live in peace, prosperity and justice," Teruo Jinnai, the acting UN resident coordinator to Cambodia, said Sunday at an event celebrating the 53rd anniversary of Cambodia's accession to the UN.

The event noted the UN's accomplishments in Cambodia over the last three decades. Jinnai reminded the audience that in 1979, after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the UN provided US$700 million in emergency relief, and that during the 1990s, the United Nations Transitional Authority of Cambodia helped restore peace and security by organising democratic elections.

The celebration did not just focus on the past. With 23 specialised UN groups currently working to provide development and technical assistance to the Cambodian people, the UN is here for years to come.

Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, was hopeful that with the UN's help, Cambodia would one day fully respect human rights.

"Even though today we do not have complete freedoms ... we have seen the development process lead to a gain in freedom."

One of the high points of the event was when 192 monks - representing the 192 UN member countries - participated in a peace ceremony.

Moeung Sonn, president of the Khmer Civilisation Foundation that organized the event, said Cambodians should celebrate the anniversary to express their gratitude to the UN for their contribution to peace and prosperity in Cambodia.

"These member countries have undertaken to find solutions for Cambodian crises, paving the way for peace, national development, social equity and justice."

Opposition joins forces

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

SRP Deputy Secretary General Mu Sochua speaks at the HRP-SRP press conference last week.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Meas Sokchea
Monday, 22 December 2008

The Kingdom's two main opposition parties have again announced serious plans to merge and contest the next election in 2012 under one banner

THE long-awaited union of Cambodia's opposition Human Rights Party and Sam Rainsy Party, announced formally in a joint press conference on Thursday, confirms a political relationship that had already begun to coalesce over the two parties' legal efforts to challenge the results of July's national polls.

"On behalf of the HRP, and as president, I would like to declare publicly that we have accepted the request of local Cambodian citizens and nationals living overseas to combine as one political alliance between the HRP and the SRP for future elections," Kem Sokha said in a statement Thursday.

He said the alliance has been struck at an opportune moment for rallying the growing number of people who reject the Cambodian People's Party mandate as a threat to democracy and who seek political representatives devoted to the public good rather than to individual gain. However, he cautioned that the merger would be neither immediate nor comprehensive.

"We are individual parties, and we have individual identities and seats in Parliament. But we have a deeper alliance that can be established now or in the future," he said.

The alliance will not eliminate each party's representation in Parliament, he said, referring to a clause in the Assembly's rules that obliges parties that merge mid-mandate to sacrifice seats. Rather, it would strengthen their present position by uniting them in spirit until the two parties can formally contest elections under one name.

"The opposition parties' positions have been effectively eliminated in Parliament, while the ruling party has the pretext of a mandate. This is contrary to democracy," Kem Sokha said.

Details unclear, SRP cautious

SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua did not mention specifics about the alliance but told reporters following the joint press conference that she accepted the proposal and would present it to party President Sam Rainsy and the SRP's members.

"Our stance is that we wish to unite with other democrats who are impartial. An alliance with the HRP would give us a combined 29 seats [in Parliament]," she said.

Despite having similar platforms and a shared history of cooperation with the workers and union movements, the two parties - possibly because of the personalities involved - have always had a tumultuous relationship. Soon after Kem Sokha founded his party in 2007, Sam Rainsy told the Post: "I am not interested and I am not concerned" about the new contender.

As Kem Sokha's HRP proved itself to be a viable candidate in the run-up to the July polls, many observers expected a last-minute merger so as not to split the opposition vote. Such a merger failed to materialise.

For some, such as Puthea Hang, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia, the new alliance may be too little, too late.

"They cannot win against the CPP because they would be starting all over as a new party," he said.

Govt stays silent

Despite the announcement of a future merger, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith refused to be drawn on the proposed union, telling the Post the opposition parties were free to do what they wanted.

"It is their right. They can combine however they see fit," he said.

Some civil society groups have responded with scepticism, saying that any coalition was doomed to fail in future elections because the parties lack the ability to lead.

Heang Rithy, president of the Cambodian National Research Organisation, said the opposition will never depose the ruling CPP because it has failed to understand the law.

"Leaders of the SRP and HRP have never demanded that the National Election Committee maintain free and fair elections. Instead, they simply complain when they don't win," he said.

Police raid ends suspected kidnapping

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Vong Sokheng
Monday, 22 December 2008

A CHINESE national has been arrested in Phnom Penh on charges of kidnapping and terrorism after a police raid on his house ended violently on Sunday.

Hour Ming, 33, was suspected of kidnapping Seang Yuohour, a 34-year-old Chinese woman, who was believed to be held hostage for 13 hours in his house in Tuol Kork district before police broke into the property, Mork Hong, chief of the Tuol Kork District Police, told the Post Sunday.

After a standoff with police in which Hour Ming threatened to set off fake explosives, the kidnapper slashed the victim's right cheek and stabbed himself in the chest.

"We don't have all the information yet because the case is still under investigation," Mork Hong said, adding that both the suspect and the victim were currently being treated for wounds in Kosmak Hospital.

Mork Hong said that the Phnom Penh Municipal Police and Anti-Terrorist police of the Ministry of Interior now had control over the case, but Khieu Sopheak, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, told the Post that he had not received any information about the case as of Sunday.

According to local officials, police had surrounded the house since 6pm Saturday night and arrested the kidnapper early Sunday morning, enabling them to rescue the victim.

Mork Hong said the kidnapper had told police he would set off a bomb with his mobile phone if police tried to break into the house, but it was revealed later that the explosives were really milk cans.

An official at the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh told the Post Sunday that he had no information about the incident.

Gambling centres to be closed

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda
Monday, 22 December 2008

Hun Sen targets 15 unlicensed slots halls, underscoring ban

PRIME Minister Hun Sen ordered the closure of 15 unlicensed slot machine centres during a Council of Ministers' meeting on Friday, underscoring the fact that many gambling operators ignored his December 5 directive.

According to a statement from the Council of Ministers' meeting, the prime minister asked the National Police chief and the National Military Police commander to close 12 slot machine centres in Phnom Penh, two in Sihanoukville and one in Kandal province.

Sao Sokha, National Military Police commander, said Sunday that all the slot machine venues on Hun Sen's list were closed "immediately" after the order.

"Those slot machine parlours were operating without licenses, violating the December 5 government directive," he said.

Hun Sen also asked the Ministry of Economy and Finance to search for hotels with registered slot machines that allow local Cambodians to gamble. These, too, would be shut down.

"We are still monitoring the licensed slot machine parlours. If they allow Khmers to play, we will shut them down, too," Sao Sokha said.

Son Chhay, a Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker, said that in Cambodia, there are 50 licensed casinos and more than 200 gambling centres.

But, he said, the government ban of local, Cambodian gambling has been ineffective and revealing.

"I still see luxury cars carrying government number plates parked outside [slot machine] clubs. The cars clearly belong to senior officials," Son Chhay said.

Chea Vannath, an independent analyst, said that she welcomed the government crackdown but questioned whether it would be successful.

The difficulties manifest in enforcing Hun Sen's recent order, she said, showed a surprising "weakness in his authority".

In 2008, according to Son Chhay, the government collected about US$10 million from casinos.

Thank you for the blue berets

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by HENG CHIVOAN
Monday, 22 December 2008

A woman prays at a ceremony on Sunday to mark the 53rd anniversary of Cambodia joining the United Nations. UN officials and civil society leaders at the event drew attention to the help the UN has given Cambodia over the decades, and 192 monks - representing the 192 member organisations of the UN - walked through Phnom Penh's Hun Sen park in a peace parade.

Language wars at the KRT

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Elena Lesley
Sunday, 21 December 2008

Former New York Times journalist Barbara Crossette was in Phnom Penh recently leading a seminar for Cambodian journalists covering the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. I stopped by one of the sessions and chatted with Crossette and several students; I will post more about this initiative soon.

But in the meantime, read this article Crossette wrote after her trip about the French-English language wars at the ECCC. It is an issue I have thought a good deal about given Jacques Verges' repeated demands for French translations, and Crossette does a great job of explaining some of the debate's broader implications.

* Pictured: Crossette instructs journalists during a recent seminar in Phnom Penh.

Chinese man arrested in Cambodia on terrorism charges

M&C
Asia-Pacific News
Dec 22, 2008

Phnom Penh - A Chinese national was arrested and charged with kidnapping and terrorism offences in Cambodia, national media reported Monday.

Police on Sunday arrested Hour Ming, 33, after he allegedly held hostage Seang Youhour, 34, for 13 hours in his house in the capital Phnom Penh and threatened to set off a bomb if officers tried to raid the building, The Phnom Penh Post reported.

The man slashed the victim's face with a knife and stabbed himself in the chest as police raided the house early Sunday morning, officials said.

Police said the suspect and the victim were being treated in a Phnom Penh hospital.

Thailand’s new government endorsed by king

More than 10,000 Thai Buddhist monks gather near Lopburi, Thailand, Saturday, Dec. 20, to pray for peace. Thailand is still experiencing violence in the south while political tensions have eased with the formation of a new government. (AP)

The China Post
Sunday, December 21, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's new prime minister unveiled his Cabinet Saturday, with top jobs going to unseasoned politicians and a diplomat who supported the blockade of Bangkok's airports last month, undermining hopes that two years of political strife were coming to an end.

The announcement came after King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the country's revered monarch, endorsed Abhisit Vejjajiva, whom lawmakers voted in as prime minister on Dec. 15. The Cabinet was announced on national television and will be sworn in Monday.

Abhisit is Thailand's third leader in four months -- and the first opponent of ex-Premier Thaksin Shinawatra to lead a civilian government in seven years. His selection raised hopes that he would stop the revolving door of prime ministers, many of whom were forced from office by months of demonstrations aimed at ridding the government of Thaksin's allies.

But his 35-member Cabinet includes picks that critics have already said will make it harder to unite the deeply divided nation -- largely split between the middle class that is his base and the rural poor who backed Thaksin.

Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup but was at the center of a country's political crisis, which was led by protesters determined to rid Thai government of his political allies. Thaksin fled into exile to avoid corruption charges.

The selection that drew the most criticism was Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, 64, a career diplomat who was a prominent supporter of the protesters who occupied the prime minister's office compound for three months and then blockaded Bangkok's two airports in late November.

Kasit appeared several times as a guest speaker at the protests led by the People's Alliance for Democracy movement and hailed the Nov 29- Dec. 3 airport blockade as a "new innovation for public protests."

Kasit comes with solid professional credentials: He is a Georgetown University graduate and former ambassador to the U.S., Japan, Germany, Indonesia and the former Soviet Union.

But pundits and critics say Abhisit's selection of Kasit as foreign minister is unlikely to heal the political rifts between Thaksin's supporters and opponents that have divided the country.

The political turmoil has further dogged Thailand's economy -- heavily dependent on tourism -- in the midst of a global slowdown. Abhisit who holds a degree in economics will lead the government's economic team with his Oxford classmate, Korn Chatikavanij, as finance minister.

The 44-year-old Korn is a respected economist and former investment banker who headed Thailand's office of JP Morgan Chase & Co. from 1999-2004. He is also known for his good looks, which have earned him a nickname from the Thai media that translates as "Tall, Handsome."

Another pick has been linked to corruption. The Democrat Party's secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban, 59, was appointed deputy prime minister to oversee security matters.

Suthep was accused in 1995 of distributing plots of land allotted for agricultural use by the poor to his cronies. The scandal brought down the administration of then Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, a Democrat.

Meanwhile, Chavarat Charnvirakul, 72, a former Thaksin supporter who jumped fence to the Democrats, was rewarded with the Interior Minister's portfolio. Chavarat was a deputy prime minister in the previous administration led by Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat.

Chavarat is a former businessman who founded one of Thailand's biggest construction companies, Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc, which was commissioned to build several government projects, including Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport.

Women held with forged passports

The Statesman

KOLKATA, Dec. 21: They spent Rs 18.5 lakh with a hope to get a better life in the UK but but ended up being arrested in the NSC Bose Airport early today. Ms T Kaur (31), Ms H Kaur (29) and Ms B Kaur (28), residents of Punjab paid Rs 18.5 lakh to an agent in Delhi who promised to get them sales job in the UK.

Mr Basab Talukdar, DC (security control) said that they left Delhi on 24 October and went to Cambodia via Bangkok. After reaching Cambodia the agent took away their Indian passports and gave them the UK passports which were forged.

Just when they were about to leave for the UK, the forgery was detected and they were detained at the airport. They contacted Indian Embassy in Cambodia and were able to collect emergency landing certificates with the help of which they could return to India. They came to Kolkata by a Thai International flight early this morning and were again detained by immigration officials at NSC Bose Airport.

n SNS

Insecurity drives farm purchases abroad

Wealthy countries seek land in Cambodia, Madagascar, and Brazil.

By David Montero

Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the December 22, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The farm fields of this country once fed the legendary civilization of Angkor, the world's largest empire in the 9th century. Tomorrow they may feed the megacities of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar.

Reeling from food prices that have doubled on average from a year ago, several Gulf countries are pursuing land deals worth billions of dollars in Cambodia, according to recent statements by Cambodia's government. Those countries would lease land, grow rice and corn, and then ship it home – potentially saving millions by bypassing world markets.

The race for farmland in Cambodia underscores how countries desperate to boost farming amid an ongoing food crisis are turning to global outsourcing, hoping to grow their own food on land abroad. Japan has bought up plots in Brazil, South Korea large tracts in Madagascar, in a trend poised to change global land ownership and agricultural production.

While it may bring succor to countries squeezed by high prices, it may also incite conflict and poverty, some experts warn. In August, Jacques Diouf, director-general of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, warned against creating a kind of food "neocolonialism," with rich countries securing food supplies at the expense of poor farmers.

From his office in Dubai, Mohammed Raouf can see the global food crisis closing in on the Gulf states. Growing food at home is not viable – in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Raouf points out, farmers have tried for 15 years, unsuccessfully, to grow wheat in the desert.

As a result, Gulf nations must import about 80 percent of staple foods. And the price of those imports has ballooned from $16 billion in 2006 to $20 billion in 2007, according to the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development.

Land acquisitions abroad are the only viable response, Raouf and others say. "For the Gulf countries ... under current technology, it is impossible to guarantee their food security internally, because they lack water resources and arable lands," Raouf, program manager of environment research at the Gulf Research Center, a Dubai think tank, writes in an e-mail. "So this [is] the best policy option now to follow…"

In recent months, Cambodia has positioned itself as a solution: of 6 million hectares (about 15 million acres) available for cultivation, only 2.5 million are currently used, the government says. It's been wooing the Gulf, hosting delegations of Arab leaders, and hopes to finalize concessions worth up to $3 billion with Kuwait and Qatar. As Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a recent radio address, "Those countries have oil but no rice. I think the Gulf can become our rice market."

The marriage of rich countries seeking land and poor countries seeking cash has accelerated since 2007, goaded by troubling statistics: as populations rise globally by 1 to 2 percent, agricultural production is not keeping pace. Investment has slumped, and farmland is disappearing as nations transform countrysides into urban centers.

The result has been a quiet but dramatic redrawing of the world's land ownership. China may have a lot of land mass, but much of the arable land it has is rapidly being turned over to industrial use, and tens of millions of its former farmers have moved to the cities for work. So it now is negotiating deals to buy more than 2 million hectares of land in countries as far flung as Mexico, Tanzania, and Australia. The United Arab Emirates is seeking some 800,000 hectares in Pakistan alone, while Saudi Arabia is negotiating for 1.6 million hectares in Indonesia, according to statistics compiled by Grain, an environmental organization based in Spain.

Such deals may look good on paper, bringing cash and possibly technology transfers. But many in Cambodia – as elsewhere – are concerned. They worry that poor countries could undercut their ability to feed themselves by selling land, especially in times of food crisis.

"We still need to develop our agricultural technology on our own land,," says Meas Nee, country director of Village Focus International, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on farmers' livelihoods. "If this kind of investment is not carefully planned, all the investment will be done at the expense of the rural poor and farmers."

Another concern is that land may be unfairly taken away from farmers. Cambodia is already reeling from extensive land disputes, and local newspapers daily report on cases of poor farmers being kicked off their land. In many cases, local police and government officials are said to be responsible, making way for private businesses to set up agricultural projects.

No one knows for certain how many people have been dispossessed in recent years, but it is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, according to several local and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International.

In Laos, farmers are accusing Chinese of kicking them off their land. When it was announced that Egypt hoped to buy 840,000 acres of land in Uganda, a public uproar ensued, resulting in the Ugandan government denying the transaction. It remains unclear if that deal will go through.

"The land deal could trigger a conflict over land and also raise other political issues. We could see a reversal of our socioeconomic progress," says Arthur Bainomugisha, director of research at ACODE, a think tank headquartered in Kampala, Uganda.

Here in Cambodia, critics worry that land deals could be made without local consultation and could result in more people being kicked off their land.

Cambodian farmers would still be able to work on the land that foreign countries buy, but critics worry that companies would not be able to provide as many jobs as they might potentially take away. "The companies can make jobs, but in our observation, they cannot make the jobs enough," says Thun Saray, the executive direction of Adhoc, a local human rights organization.

"If the government permits land sales to foreign countries, where will Cambodians who need land go? How can they survive?"

Australian prefers Thai jail to home

The Sydney Morning Herald

Lindsay Murdoch and Jim Pollard
December 22, 2008

A MELBOURNE man who has been living in shocking conditions in a crowded Bangkok immigration jail cell for more than four years is refusing to accept Australian Government help to return home.

Colin Hansch, 61, has told Thai authorities he would rather stay in jail than return to Australia, even though he has only a mat to sleep on and receives a small daily serve of rice and soup.

"I've not been back to Australia for 30 years. I don't want to go back, I've got nothing to go back to," he said.

Mr Hansch, a computer engineer who left Melbourne in 1967, is worried he will not be able to obtain a passport to travel overseas again if he accepts the offer. It is believed he wants to be able to visit Malaysia or Cambodia.

"I think they [Australia] don't want to give me a passport … they don't want to set a precedent giving a passport to somebody while they are in custody," he said.

#A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra said Mr Hansch had repeatedly rejected an offer from the embassy in Bangkok to issue a limited-validity document to let him return home immediately.

Mr Hansch has been held at the immigration centre in Bangkok, just around the corner from the Australian embassy, since September 2004. He was transferred there, supposedly pending deportation, after serving two years in a Bangkok jail for assault causing serious bodily harm, which related to a dispute with a bar girl in the beach resort of Pattaya.

He shares a large cell on the immigration centre's second floor with up to 100 illegal immigrants.

Fights often erupt. He spends much of his time listening to FM radio and reading books.

The department spokesman said Australian consular officers have provided assistance to Mr Hansch while he was in jail and now at the immigration centre.

For 12 years Mr Hansch worked as a computer engineer for a US firm in Thailand. He has also worked as a computer engineer in the US and at the former Woomera defence site in South Australia.

"Thai authorities have informed the embassy that Mr Hansch is subject to deportation following completion of his criminal sentence and must travel directly to Australia," the foreign affairs spokesman said.

"The embassy is not able to issue Mr Hansch with a full-validity passport as he has been unable to satisfy documentation requirements to enable the issue of a full-validity passport."

There are about two dozen Australians among thousands of foreigners in Thai jails, most of them for drug-related offences.

There is an agreement with Thailand under which prisoners can transfer to Australian jails, but the process is very bureaucratic.

A Melbourne man, Harry Nicolaides, 41, has been in prison in Bangkok since August 31 on charges of lese majeste, which can carry up to 15 years' jail. He is scheduled to appear in court on January 19.

Refugee parties after deportation scare

DEAN KOZANIC/The Press
HAPPY RETURN: friends welcome Cambodian Sokhom Pich back home after his last-minute reprieve from deportation.

Stuff.co.nz

By REBECCA TODD - The Press
Monday, 22 December 2008

A Cambodian refugee has escaped deportation after an 11th-hour government reprieve.

Friends of Sokhom Pich celebrated his return to Christchurch with a party on Saturday night.

Former associate immigration minister Shane Jones decided to release Pich and allow him to apply for permanent residency just one hour before he was to be deported on November 4.
Members of Christchurch's Cambodian community had appealed to the then Labour government to allow Pich to stay in the country after he was arrested as an overstayer in September.

After living in New Zealand for 11 years, the 47-year-old had exhausted every legal avenue in his bid to remain in the country as a political refugee despite fears he would be imprisoned and possibly killed if he was sent back to Cambodia.

Just an hour before boarding a plane in Auckland, he received the news that he could stay.

"I was really, really, really happy. I was just jumping and it was just amazing," he said.

"I was surprised because in Auckland I was feeling everything was over. For 20 seconds I couldn't say anything."

Pich said he was a member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party in his home country which criticised the government for corruption and cracking down on political dissent.

"If the government is not good, people live without houses and food and that's not good for the people," he said.

Pich said a number of his fellow party members had disappeared or been killed and he feared a similar fate. "I felt scared and quite nervous about being sent home, but after it came closer and closer I wasn't scared, I wasn't anything."

Cambodian community adviser Bill Noordanus said Cambodian law meant Pich would have been imprisoned for more than three years if he was sent home as he had left the country illegally.

"He's a very fine man. He's an idealist and like all idealists they sometimes clash with the authorities."

International Organization Condemns Hun Sen’s Government for Serious Human Rights Abuses - Saturday, 20.12.2008

Posted on 21 December 2008.
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 591

“An international human rights organization, the Asian Human Rights Commission, condemned Hun Sen’s government for seriously violating human rights in Cambodia, and it considered that 2008 is a year of serious human rights abuses; the Kingdom of Cambodia is now falling into a worse human rights situation than during the years after the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia – UNTAC – had left Cambodia in 1993.

“According to The State of Human Rights in Eleven Asian Countries [here is a brief overview over the whole report; a reference to the full report - 314 pages, PDF 4.5 MB - is given in the overview], published by the Asian Human Rights Commission, an organization which assessed the human rights situation in eleven countries in Asia for 2008, considered that the human rights situation in Cambodia is returning to a worse level than before, after the Cambodian People’s Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen accumulated more power.

“The report added, ‘Hun Sen’s ruling party is a former communist party and has control over the institutions for parliamentary democracy and for the rule of law and the media since the communist days.’ The ruling Cambodian People’s Party has been able to squeeze out opposition parties, which challenge it, and it tries to destroys the rest the opposition that has remained.

“The report about the human rights in Cambodia which is published on the Internet by the Asian Human Rights Commission, pointed out that the human rights situation in Cambodia is not different from that in Burma [and the other countries: 'In all the countries mentioned above, there were serious human rights abuses'] and serious threats to the human security of inhabitants]. The executive director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, is Mr. Basil Fernando. Their report asks, ‘Human Rights in Cambodia: A Turning Point for the Worse?’ - that Cambodia is a country with the worst history of human rights in Asia, because this country does not proceed has made little progress in its human rights protecting systemsl.

“The report continued to criticize Hun Sen’s government, saying that the court system is corrupt, it is not just and neutral, while the police is staffed by trusted members of the party of the current government. Therefore, there is no way for normal people to make complaints to courts; the result of the complaints is that they loose against the rich and the powerful. Citizens have, in general, no power to protect their rights; in Cambodia at present, the ways to control the society by the executive worsens the human situation, because the control is concentrated in the hands of one person.

“The report pointed out that the planned creation of a new law by the Hun Sen government to monitor non-government organizations in Cambodia, the reduced the role of the United Nations in Cambodia, and the failure to reform the legal systems are major factors which conditioned the Cambodian human rights situation towards getting worse. The human rights situation in Cambodia might go down the road from where the elections organized by the Untied Nations in 1993 had helped to be pulled out. The hope of Khmer citizens is totally lost in 2008, because there is no place countrywide where human rights institution becomes better. It is added that the reduction of the role of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Cambodia after the resignation of Mr. Yash Ghai as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Human Rights in Cambodia, [to be replaced only by a 'Special Rapporteur'] makes Cambodia more isolated from international monitoring of human rights in Cambodia.

“A parliamentarian of the Sam Rainsy Party from Kampot, Ms. Mu Sochua, said that the plan to draft a law in 2009 to control non-government organizations is a concern that it might lead to more serious human rights abuses. She added that space for democracy is now getting tougher, and it is very bad that the government wants to control this narrow space further by creating a law to control non-government organizations.

“She continued to say, ‘Things will become worse in 2009, if a law to control non-government organizations, initiated by the government, is adopted.’

“Human rights observers in Cambodia acknowledged that the assessment of the Asian Human Rights Commission, which said that the human rights situation in Cambodia may be at a turning point to become, is right, because during recent years, the government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the vice-president of the Cambodian People’s Party, has not taken actions to improve the respect for human rights according to the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the nation. On the contrary, Hun Sen’s government lets human rights abuses move towards a more serious situation, particularity by using of court system to jail citizens over land disputes.”

Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3644, 20-21.12.2008
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:

Saturday, 20 December 2008

Fighting for international justice

Kaing Guek Eav - alias Duch – is one of the main accused in the Khmer Rouge trials (Keystone)

swissinfo.ch
December 21, 2008

Swiss lawyer Alain Werner, an expert of international justice, is set to join other legal experts defending victims of Khmer Rouge dictatorship in Cambodia.

Geneva-born Werner's taste for international affairs was last tested as he served this year as assistant prosecutor at the trial of the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, in The Hague.

In January, the Swiss lawyer will go to Cambodia where the United Nations and the government have set up a special court in the capital Phnom Penh to judge the remaining Khmer Rouge leaders.

And for the first time, victims can counterattack in a UN-backed court. Werner will be representing some of these plaintiffs on a pro-bono basis, because, he says, "I owe the victims."

His clients are former detainees of the Tuol Seng camp, run by the man known as Duch who is on trial in the Cambodian capital. The camp held up to 12,000 prisoners, many of whom were tortured.

Experience

Aged 36, Werner has already had plenty of experience for this latest trial. His work for the Taylor case, a trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone has certainly steeled him.

Since last January, 84 witnesses – including many of his former associates - have given their account of events in west Africa. These insiders have left little doubt about Taylor's responsibility.

Around 150,000 people died, thousands of others suffer from amputations and Sierra Leone is still struggling to overcome the damage that was inflicted on it.

"The insiders are former ministers, revolutionaries, people who went to Cuba to train as revolutionaries," Werner told swissinfo. "They aren't all killers, but sometimes amazing characters."

The Swiss lawyer has been dealing with the case since 2002. He joined the prosecutor's team at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Freetown.

Alain Werner (private collection)

Another direction

After four years, he decided to take another direction and went to Cairo University to learn Arabic. But Taylor's arrest in Nigeria upset his plans, with Werner again joining forces with the special prosecutor for the trial.

The case was heard in The Hague at the demand of the Liberian government, which feared further unrest in the region if the trial was heard there.

Although the case began in January, the prosecutor has not yet finished his work and the defence lawyers have yet to begin theirs. Sentencing is not expected before the end of 2009.

But for Werner, his work is over. "We have almost finished presenting all the proof, and even if the trial isn't over, it's a different situation," he said.

"It's like when you are in love. It's time to move on when cracks appear in a relationship so you can keep something intact."

His next task, Phnom Penh, will help repay what he calls his "debt."

No defence

"The witnesses for the Sierra Leone trials were asked to come to tell of the horror, the amputations, the massacres. But they weren't defended by anyone," said Werner.

"If I can go to Phnom Penh, hold a victim's hand and go with that person to the trial, I think I will be able find out why we are going through this process."

Werner is certainly a restless character. During breaks in the Taylor trial, he travelled to Chad to work as an expert in the case being built up against the former dictator Hissen Habré, accused of crimes against humanity.

The lawyer doesn't want to stop at dictators. He wants to target those he says are higher up, those who work "in the background, pay for wars, the weapons dealers."

Werner is not planning to return to Switzerland to work anytime soon.

"What I am looking for is idealism and adventure," he added. "I could have worked in Geneva, but today I prefer judicial warfare."

swissinfo, Stéphanie Maupas in The Hague

New Foreign Minister readies for ASEAN Summit, Cambodia disputes

BANGKOK, Dec 21 (TNA) - Newly appointed Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said he is ready to work on two urgent priorities, preparation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leader meeting (ASEAN Summit) that Thailand will host early next year and the talks to provide a sustainable settlement of the border disputes with Cambodia.

During the ASEAN Foreign Minister's Meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, last Monday, the ministers tentatively agreed that the Summit would be held in Thailand by the end of February.

The meeting fixed the new dates of the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits on February 24-26, 2008.

However, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo reportedly said the delayed summit may need to be rescheduled as some leaders are unable to make it. He did not mention which leaders would be unable to attend, but said alternative dates being considered include late January and early February.

Thailand, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member bloc, was forced to delay the ASEAN summit from mid-December to March because of political circumstances, including the blockade of Bangkok's main airports -- Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang -- by anti-government protesters, which left hundreds of thousands of travellers stranded.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Mr. Kasit said apart from the ASEAN Summit preparation, the highest priority issue was the talks to solve the border disputes with Cambodia.

He said he believed the issue was likely to be solved as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was the first leader who sent congratulation message to Abhisit Vejjajeva after His Majesty the King had given his royal endorsement to the new Thai prime minister, which could be considered a good sign of the warm friendship between the two neighbouring countries.

As for the extradition of fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra, Mr. Kasit said he would ask for more details from the ministry's officials when he starts working at the ministry on December 23.

As far as he knew, Mr. Kasit said, Mr. Thaksin's diplomatic passport had already been revoked and the procedure to revoke his normal passport was underway.

Mr. Thaksin jumped bail and fled into exile in August as corruption cases piled up against him, and he was sentenced on October 21 to two years in jail for breaching graft laws by helping his wife, Khunying Pojaman to buy state-owned land.

Mr. Kasit said he would like to see the details first and would decide how to bring ex-premier Thaksin back to be prosecuted in Thailand. (TNA)

Rediscovering life through art

The Times Of India

21 Dec 2008,

CHENNAI: Sophiline Cheam Shapiro (41) vividly remembers the day her father died of starvation under the Khmer Rouge regime. "My father was very hungry. He asked my mother for some food but before she could finish cooking, he passed away," Shapiro recalls.

She was only eight when she saw two Khmer Rouge men wrap the frail body of her father in a sheet and carry him away at night. "It was the saddest moment of my life," she says.

The Khmer Rouge party, under its leader Pol Pot, ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 after which it was forced out of power by the invading Vietnamese Army. The regime was infamous for its killing fields' where it forced Cambodian people to work in collective agrarian farms.

One of the foremost classical dancers of Cambodia, Shapiro is visiting Chennai for the first time to take part in the annual Natya Kala Conference that takes place during the Margazhi festival. She is here to demonstrate the role of the epic Ramayana' (or Reamker' as its known in Cambodia) in performing arts.

It is this love for art that helped Shapiro regain her identity and gave her a sense of purpose after her experiences as a child survivor of the regime. "Since the officials banned any culture other than theirs, I used to sing the Khmer Rouge songs, though I did not know the meaning. I was hungry all the time but I needed art to get me through," she adds.

And it was a tough journey. "We were forced to leave our homes in the city. We had to settle where they told us to and start working on the fields," says Shapiro, who also lost her two brothers and grandmother. "Everyone, including children, worked from dawn to dusk. As a child, I was asked to collect cow dung and plants to make fertilizers," she says, adding that they were served only two meals a day.

Shapiro and the other children had no chance to go to school. Instead, she was separated from her mother and six sisters to be sent to a youth organisation where they had to work under the hardest circumstances.

After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, 12-year-old Shapiro was reunited with her family and began rebuilding her life. She started learning Cambodia's classical dance form Robam Boran at the age of 14 when she enrolled in the Royal University of Fine Arts (RUFA) in 1981 at Phnom Penh. "My uncle, then minister of cultural affairs, suggested I learn dance," she says.

Shapiro was inspired by her teachers who were rebuilding Cambodian culture. It is estimated that 90% artistes had died during the regime. "Dance gave me a sense of purpose, pride and brought beauty and hope back into my life," she says. "And it helped me connect with my heritage and who I am," she adds.

Though Shapiro gradually brought her life back to normalcy she married John Shapiro in 1991 and is now a mother of twin sons she confesses she was tormented by the experience for years. "My ordeal lasted three years, eight months and 20 days but the nightmares continued. I dreamt that I was still working in a field, hungry and shivering or a soldier was chasing and shooting me. I would wake up screaming," she says.

Shapiro is still trying to understand what she faced as a child, and that often takes shape in her works. "I am very angry that none of the leaders ever took responsibility for their actions. I try to convey through my works what Khmer Rouge meant to me, because it is a past that no Cambodian can erase," she says. Now, with the Khmer Arts Academy that she and her husband oversee, she hopes to preserve the dance form. "I love my country and to continue our rich legacy is my calling," Shapiro adds.

Cambodian survives H5N1 bird flu virus: official

Seng Sopheak, infected by H5N1, rests at Calmet hospital in Phnom Penh December 13, 2008. The 19-year-old Cambodian who ate dead poultry has been confirmed with H5N1 bird flu, the country's first human case in more than 18 months, the World Health Organization (WHO) and government said on Friday.REUTERS/Stringer (CAMBODIA) BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE

Sun Dec 21, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - A 19-year old Cambodian man has survived the H5N1 bird flu virus which has killed seven other people in the poor Southeast Asian nation since 2005, a health ministry official said on Sunday.

The youth, who became infected after eating dead poultry, was discharged from a Phnom Penh hospital on Saturday after being treated for 10 days, Ly Sovann, deputy director of communicable disease control department, said.

"He left safe and sound," Ly Sovann told Reuters.

Cambodia began culling poultry near its capital last week, and ordered a three-month ban on poultry being moved from the province of Kandal, 50 km (30 miles) south of Phnom Penh, after tests confirmed it was hit by the deadly virus.

The young man, the eighth person in Cambodia to have contracted bird flu since its first case in 2005, fell ill on November 28 but was only confirmed as having bird flu on Dec 11.

All seven of Cambodia's previous human cases have died.

Since H5N1 resurfaced in Asia in 2003 it has killed more than 200 people in a dozen countries, according to the WHO.

Experts fear the constantly mutating H5N1 virus could change into a form easily transmitted from person to person and potentially kill millions worldwide.

Rice harvesting season : Farmer harvests rice in paddy field

A farmer harvests rice in a paddy field in Takeo province, 80 km (50 miles) south of Phnom Penh, during the rice harvesting season December 21, 2008. About 85 percent of the population of around 14 million people are farmers.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A farmer harvests rice in a paddy field in Takeo province, 80 km (50 miles) south of Phnom Penh, during the rice harvesting season December 21, 2008. About 85 percent of the population of around 14 million people are farmers.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian farmer cuts rice stalks in a paddy field in Takeo province, 80 km (50 miles) south of Phnom Penh during the rice harvesting season December 21, 2008. About 85 percent of the population of around 14 million people are farmers.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A Cambodian farmer cuts rice stalks in a paddy field in Takeo province, 80 km (50 miles) south of Phnom Penh during the rice harvesting season 21 December, 2008. About 85 percent of the population of around 14 million people are farmers.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

ASEAN summit in late February may be rescheduled: report

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2nd right), Secretary-General of the ASEAN Surin Pitsuwan (2nd left), Mun Patanotai (right), Minister of Information and Communication Technology of Thailand representing the ASEAN Chair and Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Brigadier General George Yeo (left), seen here in Jakarta, on December 15.(AFP/File/Bay Ismoyo)

Sun Dec 21

SINGAPORE (AFP) – The delayed summit of Southeast Asian nations due late February in Thailand may be rescheduled as some leaders are unable to make it, Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo said in remarks published on Sunday.

"I thought we had settled it in Jakarta a few days ago, but now I'm told that there are some leaders who can't make it," Yeo was quoted as saying in Singapore weekly The Sunday Times.

He did not mention the leaders who are not able to attend the February 24-26 summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok but said alternative dates being considered include late January or early February.

Thailand, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member bloc, said last week it will host the summit from February 24-26 at Government House.

The ASEAN meeting was delayed from mid-December amid political turmoil in Thailand, where crowds occupied the capital's airports in a protest against the ruling party loyal to ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The protests ended when a court stripped Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat of his position and disbanded the pro-Thaksin People Power Party in a vote fraud case.

Thailand was forced to delay the ASEAN meeting until March because of the blockade of Bangkok's airports which left 350,000 travellers stranded.

The ASEAN summit will also involve the group's dialogue partners, including China, South Korea, Japan and India, as well as the United Nations secretary general and chiefs of other international organisations.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Justice interrupted

THE SUNDAY TIMES

Sunday, December 21, 2008
By James A. Goldston

No court can be considered legitimate if its judges and prosecutors submit to political diktat. Tragically, the United Nations-backed court in Phnom Penh investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the Khmer Rouge’s crimes in Cambodia is at risk of doing just that.

The Court, called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, has indicted a mere five people for the murder of close to two million between 1975 and 1979. Last week, the court’s international co-prosecutor, Robert Petit, proposed that an undisclosed number of additional suspects be formally investigated—a prelude to indictment. According to a December 8 press release from Mr. Petit’s office, his local counterpart, co-prosecutor Chea Lang, opposed the move. Because the process for resolving disputes between prosecutors is confidential, Ms. Lang’s reasons for opposing additional investigations are unknown.

Mr. Petit has filed a formal “statement of disagreement” indicating his commitment to press ahead with additional charges. Under the Court’s complicated structure, he can do this if authorized by the pre-trial chamber, an organ of the Court responsible for overseeing proceedings prior to trial and resolving disputes between co-prosecutors and co-judges. Prime Minister Hun Sen has in the past suggested that trying “four or five” people would be enough. Although most Cambodian officials today say that the government would not limit the number of people charged, the attitude persists that trying more people might be detrimental or destabilizing. Absent agreement between the two co-prosecutors, the Court’s judges will be asked to resolve the dispute.

If ever there was a moment to show that the Court is not a tool of the Cambodian government, this is it. Unfortunately, court rules provide that this issue must be addressed out of public view. All should understand, however, that the court’s very legitimacy to Cambodians and the international community is at stake. The Court must operate as transparently as possible in the coming days.

That will be difficult, given that the Court is the product of 10 years of negotiation between the UN and the Cambodian government. As a hybrid court, it has an awkward structure. The international and domestic co-prosecutors and co-investigating judges must agree before proceeding on major decisions. Where consensus cannot be achieved, a “super-majority” composed of at least one international judge is required for most significant action. This fragile arrangement has given rise to much skepticism about the Court’s capacity to reverse a long Cambodian history of improper interference in judicial operations.

In the past year, too, serious allegations of corrupt employment practices on the Cambodian side of the court have emerged. The UN investigated the matter in September, but did not release its findings. A pervasive lack of openness at the Court has not helped. This is an especially serious situation as any forthcoming judgments will be potentially vulnerable to crippling legal challenges.

Yet the Court’s greatest challenge by far is the new roadblock preventing further prosecutions. It has long been suggested that the limitation of charges to the five accused—all former Khmer Rouge members, unconnected to any current senior government figures—was a central part of the “unwritten bargain” that led the government to accept the Court. A number of senior figures in the current government apparently fear the potential consequences of establishing a model of transparency and accountability that might be applied more generally. Given the scale of the crimes and the breadth of criminal responsibility, any judicial process that arbitrarily narrows its focus to only those individuals would be a sham.

It is time for the donor governments that support the Court—including Japan, France and the US, which recently pledged its first contribution—to insist that the Court operate as a court of law. Anything less would be a betrayal of the memory of two million dead and numerous others who endured physical and psychological wounds. Both the victims of the Khmer Rouge and the next generation of Cambodians deserve an honest, judicial accounting of one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.

Mr. Goldston is the executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which provided advice and technical assistance during some early stages of the tribunal. [Published by courtesy of Wall Street Journal Asia.]

Sacravatoons : " Dr Preacher "

Courtesy of Sacravatoon