Photos from the Anti-Hun Xen demonstration in New York

Messages on the posters held by the protesters sum up very well the current situation in Cambodia under Mr. Hun Xen's regime (All Photos: Michael Duong)

(Photos: Visal R.)

An inhuman education

via CAAI

MAYA JAYAPAL

A visit to the Genocide Museum in Pnom Penh is a ghastly reminder of Pol Pot's tyrannical rule.

Genocide museum: Tales of hopelessness

When we reached Pnom Penh, our guide welcomed us with gifts of checkered cloth which he called krama. It has multiple uses for the Khmer- to keep off the sun when working in the rice fields, to carry food such as vegetables or corn, to give to one's love as a token. And finally the Khmers used it to hang themselves in the ultimate act of desperation when they saw no other option to escape from the brutal regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Somehow it seemed an apt, albeit grisly reminder, of the reason I was here — to visit the Genocide Museum.

Pol Pot's prison

It looked like any other average school in Southeast Asia — long three- storeyed buildings whose whitewash has yellowed with the harsh heat and overuse. It was indeed an education for our little group of eight, one that will remain with us a longer time than the education given us by our blue- eyed Irish nuns in the convent schools we went to in South India.

The Genocide Museum was once the Tuol Svay Prey High School in Phnom Penh, and the five buildings in the complex were utilised to house prisoners who were being interrogated by the Pol Pot regime. It was then renamed Security prison 21 (S-21) in 1975 and the unspeakable horrors that went on here have been meticulously documented in the form of hundreds of photos taken by the prison authorities, instruments of torture and row upon row of grinning skulls.

I stopped cold in my tracks when my guide, himself a poignant casualty of that infamous regime, was detailing the events that led to the war in Cambodia.Our guide, a young man in his early forties, was one of six children who were parted from each other. It was only recently that he discovered one sister and brother in Canada. Of the rest he had no idea. What is like to have no past to hang on to?

The compound is surrounded by the original barbed wire. Building A, which was used for detaining cadres who were accused of leading the uprising against Pol Pot, had cage-like cells each with a bed, blanket, cushion, mat and an iron bucket for holding human waste. There were glass doors to minimise the screams of prisoners during interrogation. In Buildings C and D, the ground floor was divided into small cells by brick walls. In front of the first building were the graves of the seven people who had been discovered- barely alive; the last of the victims. Frangipani trees shaded them, and the white starred flowers lay softly like a benediction on their graves.

Tyrannical regime

There was a gibbet-like structure in the yard, which was once a wooden pole for exercise. The hands of the prisoner were tied to his back and he was lifted in an upside down position again and again until he lost consciousness, then his head was dipped into a barrel of water. The moment he regained consciousness the process was repeated. It was not surprising that confessions were extracted very quickly, even to crimes not committed.

Rooms after rooms are full of photographs of people interrogated, impersonally documented by the interrogators. Most had their arms tied behind their backs. But their eyes tell a different story — of anguish and hopelessness, of sometimes a grim defiance. It is an unremittingly cruel glimpse of the estimated 20,000 prisoners — men, women and fresh-faced children — who passed through these walls. The photographs were mostly of Cambodians, although there were some foreigners too. Pol Pot's twisted ideology meant that anyone with an education was suspect, even one who wore glasses.

Pol Pot's dream was concentrated on the growing of rice. To that end he saw no need for urban cities, trade or markets, money or medicine. He wanted to eliminate all these; and educationists such as teachers, doctors and dissidents. Every one had to work for 18 hours a day under the pitiless Cambodian sun on pitiful rations of rice gruel, supervised by pitiless “cadres”.

In another prison (Tuol Sleng), according to an article in a National Geographic issue, there was a notice translated into English with a list of 10 regulations. The tenth read: “If you disobey any point of my regulations, you will get either 10 lashes or five shocks by electrification.” The fifth regulation reads: “While getting lashes or electrification, you must not cry at all.”

The skulls in the Tuol Svay Museum are in a cupboard, ghastly reminders of cruelty. Apparently the most grisly attraction was a map of Cambodia using skulls; fortunately it was dismantled in 2002. And it's said that the Vietnamese found this prison by following the stench of decay.

Help Cambodia's disadvantaged with Food4Everyone

via CAAI

26 Sep 10

by Omar Hamwi

PENRITH psychologist Margarita Parrish says a lack of fresh food and water has made Cambodia one of the most socio-economically depressed countries in the world.

Margarita Parrish on a trip to Cambodia where Food4Everyone assists in building huts and wells.

For four years Mrs Parrish has operated Food4Everyone, a charity that raises money in Australia to build huts and wells there.

She travels to Cambodia twice a year to work with a team to help desperate families.

“Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world,” she said.

“Malnutrition is about 50 per cent and lack of water is a huge problem. We do work in Cambodia to help people have their basic right to food.”

Food4Everyone assists in building huts and wells in Cambodia.

Mrs Parrish said since she launched Food4Everyone the organisation had built 110 wells in the country. She added that global deaths due to lack of water equated to 20 jumbo jets falling out of the sky every day.

Homelessness is also a serious problem in Penrith and Mrs Parrish said it needed a solution - but Food4Everyone would not provide assistance here until local problems “remotely resembled” Cambodia’s.

“We have Aboriginal problems and homelessness,” she said.

“If we had (the same problems as Cambodia) here I’d be doing something here.”

The organisation needs 47 house sponsors at $100 each, 19 wall and roof sponsors at $50 each, seven well sponsors at $30 each and 72 mosquito net sponsors at $5 each.

Money raised would ease the suffering of 72 desperate families.

“We have huge plans. We will continue to build basic shelter for people,” Mrs Parrish said.

To donate call 4737 3400, email food4everyone@hotmail.com  or go to food4everyone.net

In 1975 incident, officials considered US prestige

FILE - In this May 1975 file photo, the destroyer escort USS Harold E. Holt prepares to tow the United States owned cargo vessel SS Mayaguez on May 1975. When the merchant ship Mayaguez and its American crew were seized by communist forces off the coast of Cambodia in 1975, the Ford administration was determined to craft a muscular response in hope of limiting damage to U.S. prestige, according to newly declassified documents published by the State Department. (AP Photo/ U.S. Navy, File)

via CAAI

WASHINGTON — When the merchant ship Mayaguez and its American crew were seized by communist forces off the coast of Cambodia in 1975, the Ford administration was determined to craft a muscular response in hope of limiting damage to U.S. prestige, according to newly declassified documents published by the State Department.

U.S. Marines regained control of the ship three days after its seizure, and the 40 civilian members of the crew were safely returned. But three helicopters ferrying Marines to a nearby island defended by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge forces were lost to hostile fire, and 18 U.S. servicemen died. Decades later the U.S. was still recovering their remains.

Washington's initial response illustrated how, just weeks after the fall of Saigon, U.S. leaders were eager to put the Vietnam debacle behind them, erase the U.S. image as a helpless giant, and dissuade provocative action by other U.S. adversaries. A non-military response, such as freezing Cambodian assets, was raised and quickly rejected as ineffectual.

When Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was informed of the ship's seizure May 12, he was flabbergasted.

"How can that be?" he asked an aide.

"Now, goddam it: We are not going to sit here and let an American merchant ship be captured at sea and let it go into the harbor without doing a bloody thing about it," Kissinger said. "We are going to protest."

Judging by their remarks, Kissinger and other senior administration officials seemed chiefly concerned that the United States, whose prestige had taken a beating in failing to stop a communist takeover of Vietnam, not allow the Cambodia incident to further undermine U.S. standing.

"I know you damned well cannot let Cambodia capture a ship a hundred miles at sea and do nothing," Kissinger said, according to declassified minutes of a May 12 meeting of his senior staff.

A few hours later, after informing President Gerald R. Ford, Kissinger suggested at a National Security Council meeting headed by Ford that the U.S. could seize a Cambodian ship on the high seas to demonstrate U.S. resolve.

"Can we find out where Cambodian ships are around the world?" he asked. Answer: the Pentagon wasn't sure there were any.

Vice President Nelson Rockefeller joined Kissinger in advocating a strong response to avoid the impression of U.S. weakness.

"I think this will be seen as a test case," Rockefeller said. "I think a violent response is in order. The world should know that we will act and that we will act quickly."

Later the vice president added: "We have to show that we will not tolerate this kind of thing. It is a pattern. If we do not respond violently, we will get nibbled to death."

The White House meeting transcripts show that Washington was unsure what motive lay behind the ship's seizure.

William Clements, the deputy secretary of defense, said at the May 12 National Security Council meeting that the incident might not be intended as a challenge to the U.S. but rather a misstep linked to a dispute over oil resources in the region.

"We should not forget that there is a real chance that this is an in-house spat," Clements said.

"That is interesting, but it does not solve our problem," Ford responded. He called for a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to head toward the scene and for plans to be drawn up for laying mines in the waters around the seized ship.

In the early hours of the crisis, top U.S. officials debated the tone and content of an initial public statement.

Donald H. Rumsfeld, the White House chief of staff who later that year became Ford's secretary of defense, suggested a public statement declaring the ship's seizure an act of piracy and saying the U.S. expects the crew's release. He argued against demanding their release — because, he said, that would "activate the Congress" and "seems weaker."

Robert T. Hartmann, counsellor to the president, told Ford at a National Security Council meeting on May 13: "This crisis, like the Cuban missile crisis, is the first real test of your leadership. What you decide is not as important as what the public perceives."

The documents portraying the Ford administration's response to the Mayaguez seizure are among thousands of pages of documents published Friday in a new State Department volume of "Foreign Relations of the United States," covering the period January 1973 to July 1975. It focuses on U.S. policy toward Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

West Seattle survivors relive terror, struggle to understand

via CAAI

Sixteen-year-old Kevin Harm had just returned home with his father, Choeun Harm, after mowing lawns for the family's landscaping business...

By Lynn Thompson and Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporters

Statement from the Phan, Harm and Sok families released by Harborview Medical Center

Yesterday afternoon's horrible event cost us four family members. They will surely be missed by all of us. We ask that the media please correct the currently published report. Saroeun Phan has been struggling with schizophrenia and depression for several years and has sought medical attention numerous times. She has been taking medication prescribed to her by physicians. It is not certain whether she has been properly taking her medication these past couple of months.

It is tough enough to grieve with the loss of family members, it's even harder dealing with false reports. No arguments or fights took place the night before and no ill-will existed in the household. This has truly been an unforeseen, tragic event.

Our family would like to request solitude as we mourn the loved ones we lost. Thank you to all who have sent and continue to send their love, care & prayers. We will certainly need our friends in the coming weeks & months.

If you wish to contribute monetarily to costs of funeral & medical expenses, we have set up a benevolent account at BECU. That information is below. Deposits can be made at any BECU accepting deposits, by mail or electronically (for BECU Members only).

'Phan/Harm Memorial Fund'

Acct # 3586082948

BECU

PO BOX 34044

SEATTLE, WA 98124-1044

BECU Members can call: (800) 233-2328

Thankfully,

Phan, Harm & Sok Family

Kevin Harm, 16, who was shot at by his grandmother but was not hit, was able to save one of his sisters. Two of his sisters, Jennifer Harm, 17, and Melina Harm, 14, and his father were killed.

Sixteen-year-old Kevin Harm had just returned home with his father, Choeun Harm, after mowing lawns for the family's landscaping business. A friend called his father with an invitation: The salmon were running.

Choeun was in the living room of the family's West Seattle home preparing to go fishing when his mother-in-law, Saroeun Phan, 60, came downstairs dressed completely in white. Phan spoke briefly with Choeun about taking some checks to the bank as Kevin's 7-year-old sister, Nevaeh — Heaven spelled backward — was cuddled beneath a blanket on a couch nearby, watching television.

Chouen, 43, bent over to tie his shoes when Phan pulled a small handgun from her jacket and shot him in the back of the head.

In the photo: Saroeun Phan in the middle; Choeun Harm, lower left. Next to Choeun is his son, Kevin Harm. To the right of Kevin is Thyda Luellen Phan. Next to her lower in the picture is her daughter Angel sitting with a family friend at far right. Above Angel is her sister Nevaeh Harm. In the upper right is Chip Sok, brother of Thyda. To Chip Sok's right is Chhoey Sok.

Kevin said there were no raised voices, nothing out of the ordinary in the moments before. It was just a seemingly normal Thursday afternoon fractured by the loud report of a handgun.

Phan next shot at Nevaeh, who hid under the blankets, and then at Kevin. Somehow, the bullets missed both.

After her gun jammed, Phan went back upstairs and retrieved another one. She then returned and resumed firing.

She finally ended it by turning the gun on herself. By then, Kevin's father, sisters Jennifer Harm, 17, and Melina Harm, 14, were dead and his mother, Thyda Luellen Phan, 42, was wounded.

"She was trying to take everybody out in that house," said Kevin.

On Friday, Seattle police said they were still without a motive behind the city's deadliest shooting spree in four years. And the family of Phan — a woman known to those in the crowded household as "Grandma" — was struggling to find answers.

Thyda Luellen Phan, at center, wounded Thursday at her West Seattle home, is surrounded by supporters after a religious ceremony at the Khemarak Pothiram Temple on Friday.

The surviving family members, in a statement, said Phan had been suffering from schizophrenia and depression for several years and had sought medical attention numerous times. She had been taking medication prescribed to her by physicians, they said, but it was not clear whether she has been properly taking it over the past couple of months.

Still, many said there was nothing that could explain why she would arm herself with two handguns and methodically gun down her family.

Family friends said Phan had fled the Khmer Rouge in her native Cambodia, walking through the jungle for days and crossing the border into Thailand. She and family members came to the U.S. in 1985, said family friend Sean Phuong, 47, who was 14 when he, Phan and thousands of others escaped the brutal regime.

In Cambodia, and later in Seattle, Phan was known for dressing young women and their bridesmaids for weddings. She spent whole days fitting them into gowns, arranging their hair and makeup. She made many friends in the community, Phuong said.

Several relatives said that Phan could be playful and funny, engaging in games of tag and hide-and-seek with young family members.

But she was also plagued by voices.

"She had too much in her head. She wanted quiet in her head," said Phuong.

In Cambodia, Phan once became enraged and stabbed her sister, said Itaily Sun, 26, another relative.

When Phan became agitated or fearful, she would be given her medication that would make her sleep, Phuong said.

Kevin recalled that one time his grandmother heard gunfire on a teenager's video game and thought someone was trying to kill her.

There were other pressures in her life over the past two years, said Koy Srouch, 39, another family friend.

Phan and her husband, Chhoey Sok, 62, paid rent for a house on Beacon Hill, but the landlord apparently didn't pay the mortgage. The couple was evicted.

Recently Phan had been mugged walking home from the grocery store on Beacon Hill, and feared going out alone. After the attack, she took a self-defense class and learned to fire a gun, Sok said.

Three generations of the extended family, including two cousins, moved together into the West Seattle home about a month and a half ago. Eleven people lived in the house with three stories, including a daylight basement.

Phan's daughter, Thyda Luellen Phan, worked at Magic Lanes Bowling & Casino in White Center. That job and the family landscaping business, which struggled in the recession, were the families' sole means of support.

Sok said his wife had been suicidal.

Sok said the guns used by Phan — a 9-mm Taurus and a .25-caliber Baretta — were his and had been purchased 10 years ago. Family members said they had been carefully hidden from her because of her mental-health problems.

"Nobody knows how she found them," said relative Tony Sun.

Gunfire and desperation

On Thursday, after shooting her son-in-law, then retrieving the second gun, Phan next shot her 17-year-old granddaughter, Jennifer Harm, who had run to her father's aid. She then shot her daughter, Thyda Luellen Phan, 42, who had also come to comfort her husband, Kevin said.

All were shot in the home's main living area on the ground floor.

Thyda (pronounced Tee-da) fled outside, only to return almost immediately in a desperate effort to save her children, said Lisa Sun, 31, a cousin of Thyda's who ran to a back bedroom when the gunfire erupted.

Thyda was shot two more times before she made it outside a second time, Lisa Sun said.

The others fled downstairs to the daylight basement, followed by Phan, who positioned herself in front of a rear sliding-glass door.

"She was blocking us in so she could shoot us all," said Lisa Sun. "She just wanted to kill her whole family."

Five people were cowering in a tiny bedroom that was plastered with green posters of the Buddha and lined with boxes from the family's recent move: Kevin, Lisa, Nevaeh, Melina, and Jennifer's boyfriend, Allen Green, 18.

Phan shot through the door, the bullet just missing Kevin's head. Kevin said he punched out the small window. Lisa Sun climbed out behind him and they ran to a nearby drugstore to call police. Green also made it out.

Kevin returned to the home and pulled Nevaeh out through the window.

By this time a wounded Jennifer had crawled into the bedroom where she sprawled on the floor. Unable to make it out the window, she pleaded with the others not to leave her, Kevin and Lisa Sun said.

Kevin begged Melina to come out, but she wouldn't leave Jennifer. That's when Phan, now outside, came around the corner of the house and shot at Kevin. Again she missed, and he ran off. She then fired through the window, striking Melina.

"The image keeps playing back: Lina crying at the window," Kevin said, burying his head in his hands.

"I don't see how she missed me five times," he said.

Police on the scene

By this time police had responded to 911 calls and were outside the home, according to Seattle's Assistant Police Chief Jim Pugel. Officers heard gunshots coming from the home.

Sok, Phan's husband, arrived at the home, rushed past police and ran inside the home. He saw his wife put the gun to her head and kill herself, police said.

He walked back outside and told police it was over.

"I was too late to help her," a weeping Sok said Friday through a translator. "I was too late."

On Friday, after police completed their investigation at the crime scene, surviving family members were allowed inside the home to retrieve some of their belongings.

As he walked through the house where blood stains marked where his uncle and cousins were killed, Tony Sun, 17, was overcome.

"Oh my God. Oh my God," he said.

Friday evening, the large extended family gathered at the Khemarak Pothiram Temple for a memorial service. Sitting shoeless on rugs under a white tent, they prayed that the souls of the deceased would make their way to the next life.

Pink-wrapped packages had been prepared, filled with pencils, books, drinks and other things that the spirits would need for their journey. Monks clad in orange chanted prayers, and incense hung in the air.

Thyda was there, just out of the hospital. But she could do little more than whisper, her voice weakened after her ordeal.

Sok, Phan's husband, came outside toward the end of the ceremony, looking weary. Faced by numerous reporters, he clasped his hands in front of his face and looking pained. Speaking Cambodian, he repeatedly thanked those who had helped him.

Several family members had their arms around him. And then he walked away.

Lynn Thompson: 206-464-8305 or lthompson@seattletimes.com

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times staff reporters Maureen O'Hagan, Nancy Bartley and Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this report. Ranny Kang provided translation.

Cambodia Spends 6 Mln USD in 2010 for HIV/AIDS Treatment

via CAAI

2010-09-25

Xinhua

Web Editor: Gongming

Cambodia spends approximately six million U.S. dollars for HIV/AIDS treatment through providing of anti-retroviral drugs, a senior official of HIV/AIDS authority said Saturday.

Mean Chhiv Vun, director of National Center for HIV/AIDS Dermatology and STI said the government has approved a total amount of 6 million U.S. dollars for buying anti-retroviral drugs to help people with HIV/AIDS.

He said, as of June this year, there were 40,039 people living with HIV/AIDS who received the drugs, among them 3,881 were children.

Females stand at 52.5 percent of all people living with HIV/ AIDS.

The anti-retroviral drugs are provided to the victims, the adults, by the disease at 49 health clinics, while children can access such drugs at other 32 separate health clinics across the country, Mean Chhiv Vun said.

Cambodia began providing such drugs in 2001 during which there were only 71 people living with HIV/AIDS received ARV.

Cambodia has been recognized in the region as a success story for having significantly reduced its HIV prevalence rate. New estimates show that HIV prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 has decreased to an estimated 0.7 percent in 2009 from 2 percent in 1998.

According to the government report, in 2002, there were 250 Cambodians received ARV, 1,700 people in 2003 and 8,500 in 2005.

Nearly everyone who is HIV positive is receiving the AIDS treatment they need due the efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia and its development partners.

Thai, Cambodian PMs agree to improve bilateral relations

http://www.mcot.net/

via CAAI

NEW YORK, Sept 25 -- Despite a diplomatic standoff which resulted in part from Cambodia’s unilateral management plan for the environs of the ancient Preah Vihear temple that sits on contested land claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia, the prime ministers of the two countries have agreed to improve relations for the benefit of their peoples.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen talked for half an hour on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly agreeing that warm relations between the two neighbouring countries are vital for the benefit of their peoples.

Although conflicts remain, bilateral trade has increased, Mr Abhisit told a TNA journalist.

Mr Abhisit quoted Mr Hun Sen as telling him that a warm welcome was seen at a recent Thai trade fair in Cambodia and that both countries should refrain from confrontations or violence.

Frequent visits at the ministerial level and more joint activities should be organised, Mr Hun Sen was quoted as saying.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Commission agreed in July to consider a plan for managing Preah Vihear temple proposed by the Khmer government, but deferred the action until it meets next year. Both countries claim land adjacent to the temple.

In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled the 10th-century border temple belongs to Cambodia, rejecting Thai claims. UNESCO named Preah Vihear a World Heritage site in 2008, after Cambodia applied for the status.

Armed clashes resulting casualties on both sides have occurred occasionally in the area since then.

Mr Abhisit said the temple row was not raised during his meeting with Mr Hun Sen as the issue is now being dealt with by concerned agencies while rhe premier and his Khmer counterpart could discuss details in several other upcoming international forums.

“The atmosphere for resolving the problem should improve,” Mr Abhisit said. (MCOT online news)

ពិធី​បុណ្យ​ដាក់​បណ្ដាសា​អ្នក​ដណ្ដើម​ដីធ្លី​នៅ​ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល

ដោយ អ៊ុក សាវបូរី

2010-09-24

ប្រជា​ជន​មាន​ជម្លោះ​ដី​ចំនួន​៧​ឃុំ នៅ​ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល ក្នុង​ថ្ងៃ​កាន់​បិណ្ឌ​ទី​១ នាំ​គ្នា​ធ្វើ​បុណ្យ​ដាក់​បណ្ដាសា​ឲ្យ​ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ហេង​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍ ចាញ់​ក្តី​ក្នុង​រឿង​បំពាន​ដី​ស្រែ​ចម្ការ និង​ដី​ភូមិ រួម​ទាំង​ចាប់​ប្រជា​ជន​ដាក់​គុក និង​បាញ់​ដណ្ដើម​ដី​ប្រជា​ជន​ឲ្យ​របួស​ច្រើន​នាក់ កាល​ពី​ឆ្នាំ​២០០៩។

Photos by RFA (Radio Free Asia)

Blessing ceremony at Wat Monkul Serey Kien Kleing, Kandal province on the first day of the 'Pchum Ben' festival, or Festival of the Dead

Pictures by RFA (Radio Free Asia)

Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs Release of Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume X, Vietnam, January 1973-July 1975

http://www.state.gov/

via CAAI

Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC

September 24, 2010

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Department of State released today Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume X, Vietnam, January 1973–July 1975. This specific volume covers U.S. policy towards Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from the signing of the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973, to the fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon in April 1975. The final chapter covers the May 1975 SS Mayaguez incident.

This volume addresses the ending of the Vietnam war; a story central to the U.S. experience in the 20th century. Similar to other Foreign Relations volumes, this collection of documents emphasizes the formation of policy over day-to-day diplomacy. Several themes dominated U.S. policy and policy objectives in Indochina during this period: the relationship between force and diplomacy, the struggle between the President and Congress in the formation and implementation of U.S. policy, U.S. credibility in the world, and the limits of American power. These themes dictated the selection of documents in this volume. Soon after the fall of Saigon in April 1975, American officials in several agencies began looking back at U.S. policy toward, and political and military actions, in Vietnam in an effort to understand and learn from the American experience in Indochina beginning in the early 1960s. This volume places those analyses within the broader documentary context.

This volume concludes with documentation covering the May 1975 seizure by Cambodia of the SS Mayaguez and the successful recovery by U.S. forces of the ship and its crew. The documents cover the crisis deliberations in Washington among civilian and military officials that led to President Ford’s decision to use military force to recover the ship.

This volume was compiled and edited by Bradley Lynn Coleman. The volume and this press release are available on the Office of the Historian website at http://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v10. Copies of the volume will be available for purchase from the U.S. Government Printing Office online at http://bookstore.gpo.gov (GPO S/N 044–000–02643–1; ISBN 978–0–16–085824–6), or by calling toll-free 1–866–512–1800 (D.C. area 202–512–1800). For further information, contact Susan Weetman, General Editor of the Foreign Relations series, at (202) 663–1276 or by e-mail to history@state.gov.

Demonstrators at York County Prison want detained Cambodian-Americans released

Demonstrators at York County Prison want detained Cambodian-Americans released

The men are leading productive lives and have been caught up in a federal effort targeting 'criminal aliens,' protest organizers say.

By EMILY OPILO
Daily Record/Sunday News
Updated: 09/24/2010

Chally Dang Jr., 3, stands next to his pregnant mother, Ana Cruz, in front of York County Prison on Friday. Dang's father, Chally Dang Sr., is in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention area of the prison. Dang has been told he will be deported because of his criminal record. (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)

Ana Cruz is nine months pregnant, but her husband, Chally Dang, probably won't be there for the birth.

Dang and several other members of their Philadelphia Cambodian community are being detained at York County Prison for possible deportation as part of a roundup of immigrants with criminal records.

Although Dang, now 28, came legally to the United States from Cambodia as a permanent resident, he was convicted of aggravated assault at age 15 and served time in prison. Under U.S. law, that conviction can affect his immigration status.

Nancy Iv, 19, and her sister Melinda Iv, 16, stand outside York County Prison to show support for their uncle, Mout Iv, who is currently being held there. Iv was one of several Philadelphia residents who may be deported. (DAILY RECORD/SUNDAY NEWS--JASON PLOTKIN)

But since then he's become a father, a husband and a productive member of society, Cruz said. That's what brought a group of at least 30 members of Dang's community to York County Prison on Friday to protest his detention.

"I'm afraid," Cruz said, one hand resting on her pregnant belly. "Right now, it's just a waiting game. No one tells you how long it's going to take."

Dang and the others detained this week were summoned to the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office for what they believed was a routine visit, said Raymond Ros, one of the protest's organizers. They were shocked to hear that they would be deported, he said.

All of them have served time in prison, Ros said, but those charges were in their youth. With permanent resident status, they all have jobs, take care of families and pay taxes like a citizen, he said. Dang has worked as a truck driver since he was released.

"Basically we're just trying to send a message that this is unlawful and inhumane," Ros said. "We want to ask them to look at the cases individually and look at what these people have been doing."

Mark Medvesky, an ICE spokesman, said the men were detained because either they were seen as "a threat to public safety or they would not leave the country as ordered." Medvesky would not comment on when the men were scheduled to be deported.

Members of the crowd outside the prison drove two hours from Philadelphia to express their support for the detained. Many carried young children, several belonging to the men inside the prison.

Savon Youk of Philadelphia brought his two teenage daughters wearing T-shirts that read "Free My Uncles." Youk's brother-in-law Mout Iv was one of the men facing deportation.

Iv was convicted of a crime when he was young, but he owns a barbershop now, Youk said. If he's deported, he will have to leave his 3-month-old child, he said.

"I heard about the United States of America as a place of freedom, democracy, free speech, human rights," he said. "But when they did this to them, it is not democracy. It's not human rights."

Daily Record/Sunday News staff reporter Rebecca LeFever contributed to this report.

Lao dam plan challenges Mekong River Commission, WWF says

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

via CAAI

Sep 24, 2010

Bangkok - Laos' plan to build a hydropower dam on the Mekong River challenges the credibility of the Mekong River Commission, which was set up to assure five nations it flows through of benefits from river development, environmentalists warned Friday.

On Wednesday the Lao government notified the Mekong River Commission (MRC) of its proposal to build a hydropower dam on the river in Sayobouly province, northern Laos.

The commission's secretariat has warned that with current technologies it would be impossible to build a dam on the lower Mekong without disrupting fish migration in the river.

The Mekong is the longest river in South-East Asia and passes through southern China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The commission, whose membership includes the five lower-Mekong countries, but not China, is responsible for vetting projects to determine whether they might negatively impact the other counties.

'This dam is the greatest challenge the MRC has faced since it was formed,' said Marc Goichot of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 'It is the most serious test of its usefulness and relevance.'

WWF International has warned that the Sayobouly dam would block sediments and nutrients that flow to Vietnam's delta, and alter habitats downstream in Laos and Cambodia 'potentially having devastating impacts on wild fisheries and causing the likely extinction of critically endangered Mekong giant catfish.'

The Sayabouly dam is the first of the 11 proposed lower Mekong River dams to be vetted by member countries of the commission.

China has already built four hydropower dams on the upper Mekong in Yunnan province and plans another four, despite the unknown impact on downstream nations Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Stimson Centre, a think tank, last month warned that if China's cascade of dams were completed, they could halt up to 70 per cent of the silt that is normally carried by the river to the lower Mekong countries, depriving them of nutrients.

The Mekong, which flows from the Tibetan plateau to southern Vietnam, feeds and employs up to 60 million people in the region.

Obama meets with Southeast Asian leaders

http://www.thetandd.com/

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Associated Press

Posted: Friday, September 24, 2010
 

Susan Walsh

President Barack Obama poses with ASEAN leaders before a luncheon in New York, Friday, Sept. 24, 2010. From left are, Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen, Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Lao President Choummaly Sayasone, Vietnam Priesident Nguyen Minh Triet, the president, Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Susan Walsh

President Barack Obama is joined for a photo with ASEAN leaders, Friday, Sept. 24, 2010, in New York. From left are, Lao President Choummaly Sayasone, Vietnam Priesident Nguyen Minh Triet, the president, and Philippines President Benigno Aquino III. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

U.S. President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders met Friday to discuss territorial disputes with China and a fast-growing trade relationship, with Obama pledging to take a strong role in regional affairs.

The meeting took place at a time of friction between China, the other superpower in the region, and its neighbors. They are bickering over territory in surrounding seas. Obama and leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations were expected to call for the peaceful settlement of such disputes and to urge claimants not to resort to force.

In the East China Sea, tensions between China and Japan were eased after Japan released a Chinese fishing boat captain involved in a collision near disputed islands.

Southeast Asian leaders have welcomed Washington's presence in the region.

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet said ahead of the leaders' meeting that U.S.-ASEAN ties are crucial "to the security, peace and development in the region."

Obama spoke of strengthening ties and of "unprecedented cooperation between ASEAN and the United States."

"As a Pacific nation, the United States has an enormous stake in the people and the future of Asia," Obama said. "We need partnerships with Asian nations to meet the challenges of growing our economy, preventing proliferation and addressing climate change."

"The United States intends to play a leadership role in Asia," Obama said.

That could cause friction with China, the region's traditional heavyweight.

Beijing was furious after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a regional security forum in Vietnam in July that the peaceful resolution of disputes over the Spratly and Paracel island groups was an American national interest. Beijing said Washington was interfering in an Asian regional issue.

The United States worries the disputes could hurt access to one of the world's busiest commercial sea lanes.

China claims all the South China Sea, but Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines have also laid territorial claims. Aside from rich fishing areas, the region is believed to have huge oil and natural gas deposits. The contested islands straddle busy sea lanes that are a crucial conduit for oil and other resources fueling China's fast-expanding economy.

On Thursday, the president of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, welcomed a strong U.S. role in the region. He said ASEAN would be unified should China use its weight as regional superpower in territorial disputes.

In a reference to China, Aquino said: "Hopefully we don't hear the phrase 'South China Sea' with reference to it being their sea."

Obama also spoke Friday of growing U.S.-ASEAN trade.

"The region is home to some of our largest trading partners and buys many of our exports, supporting millions of American jobs," Obama said. "American exports to ASEAN countries are growing twice as fast as they are to other regions, so Southeast Asia will be important to reaching my goal of doubling American exports."

Cambodia trying to silence me, says opposition leader

Cambodia opposition party leader Sam Rainsy. [Reuters]

via CAAI

Zulfikar Abbany

Last Updated: Thu, 23 Sep 2010

The Cambodian opposition leader in exile, Sam Rainsy, says the government has used a subservient court to try to silence him.

He was sentenced to a further 10 years in prison in absentia over a border dispute that involves Vietnam.

Sam Rainsy says he has maps - internationally verified - to prove that Vietnam has been moving border posts further and further into Cambodia.

He says Cambodian farmers are losing valuable land.

Crack down

It is not the first time that he has been sentenced in absentia.

Sam Rainsy, in self-imposed exile in France, told Radio Australia: "The current government is using a politically subservient court to crack down on critics of the government."

He accuses Vietnam of using its influence over Cambodian in the case.

He has been fined for spreading disinformation and received a two-year sentence in January.

New Zealand man goes on trial in Cambodia over sex with underage girls

http://en.wikinews.org/

via CAAI

Lines was arrested in the province of Preah Sihanouk

Friday, September 24, 2010

A man from New Zealand has gone on trial in Cambodia over alleged sex with two young girls. 53-year-old Michael John Lines was arrested at a hotel in the province of Preah Sihanouk in March. Lines holds dual citizenship from New Zealand and Australia.

The trial took place behind closed doors and lasted a day. Lines was tried for charges of procuring a child for prostitution. Judge Duch Kimsan said that he announce his decision in the short future.

In the past few years Cambodian police and courts have began to crack down on foriegn pedophiles. Many travel to Cambodia seeking sex with young girls in poor areas.

Cambodia: Rainsy Sentence Shatters Pretense of Democracy

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Conviction of Opposition Leader Showcases Political Control of Judiciary

September 24, 2010

Sam Rainsy, leader of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party, speaks during a campaign rally in Kandal province.
© 2008 Reuters

(New York) - The latest conviction of the Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy on politicized charges makes it clear that the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen is no longer interested in even the pretense of democracy, Human Rights Watch said today. Rainsy was sentenced to 10 years in prison on September 23, 2010, on charges of spreading disinformation and falsifying maps.

Human Rights Watch urged President Barack Obama to tell Hun Sen when they meet today that this incident will threaten international assistance and relations with Cambodia, especially if the government fails to take urgent action to reverse measures that undermine freedom of expression, assembly, and association. Obama is scheduled to meet with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders in New York on the fringes of the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting.

"President Obama and other world leaders need to let Hun Sen and his government know that the free ride is over," said Sophie Richardson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Cambodia cannot sentence the leader of the opposition to 10 years in prison for peaceful expression without expecting serious consequences."

The court sentenced Rainsy, leader of the opposition since 1995, for disseminating a map that purports to show that Cambodia's border with Vietnam had been moved. The trial was closed to the public, though the verdict was read out by Judge Ke Sakhan, who said, ''The acts committed by the offender seriously affected the honor of the government." Rainsy, who has been in self-imposed exile abroad all of this year, faces prison if he returns to Cambodia.

The case is part of a concerted and longstanding campaign against Rainsy. On January 27, the Svay Rieng provincial court convicted Rainsy and two villagers, Meas Srey and Prom Chea, on charges of inciting racial discrimination and destroying demarcation posts on Cambodia's border with Vietnam. That conviction was based on an incident in October 2009, when Rainsy helped villagers in Svay Rieng remove border markers that they contended had been moved onto Cambodian territory.

"The sentencing of Rainsy takes Hun Sen's campaign of persecution of critics to a new extreme and highlights government control over the judiciary," Richardson said. "Somehow the Cambodian authorities routinely find the time to use the police and courts to attack critics, but never are able to arrest or convict those who attack, often murderously, those very same critics."

Human Rights Watch urged the United States, the European Union, Japan, and other key donors to take strong diplomatic action in response to the sentence against Rainsy, including recalling their ambassadors to demonstrate their outrage. Donors contribute approximately 50 percent of the Cambodian government's budget.

From the time he created his political party in 1995, Rainsy has been subject to assassination attempts, threats, intimidation, criminal cases, and civil court cases. On March 30, 1997, a grenade attack on a political rally he was addressing killed at least 16 people and wounded 150. Rainsy's life was saved when the full force of the blast hit one of his bodyguards.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation, which became involved because an American citizen was harmed in the attack, found that Hun Sen's bodyguard unit was implicated, but the Cambodian government has failed to investigate or prosecute those responsible.

Senior government officials have repeatedly brought politically motivated cases against Rainsy in recent years. His immunity as a member of parliament was lifted in February 2009 after Hun Sen filed a criminal defamation complaint against him for accusing Hun Sen of corruption. Rainsy's immunity was restored after his party paid a US$2,500 fine. On November 19, 2009, his immunity was lifted again for the border markers case.

Another attempt to jail Rainsy came in December 2005 when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison on transparently political defamation charges. Rainsy was out of the country at the time. Under international pressure, Hun Sen agreed to a royal pardon in February 2006.

"For too long donors have ignored the alarming downward spiral of rights and democracy in Cambodia," Richardson said. "If they continue not to react, they will wake up some day and find that Cambodia closely resembles Burma. It is time for diplomats to stand up and be counted."

Correction

This September 24, 2010 news release incorrectly noted that the Rainsy Party was launched in 1998, whereas it was actually launched in 1995. The launch date of the Party has been corrected accordingly.