On a mission

Contributed photo
Carol Buhrman, left, takes a traditional cyclo ride with her friend, Amy, in Prey Veng.

By Gracie Hart
Review Staff Writer
Published: February 12, 2009

The quest to find one’s self is nothing new but few travel halfway around the world and find themselves like Carol Buhrman has. Buhrman, who works in the provincial town of Prey Veng, Cambodia and is in her final year of a three-year mission with the Mennonite Central Committee, credits her mission with changing her life and helping her to find out who she is.

Burhman first heard about the MCC program, which is the relief and development branch of the Mennonite church, through her church. The MCC’s main goal is to relieve and help people around the world. Burhman, having already graduated from college, was ready to get involved.

“I picked where I wanted to go,“ she said. “I knew that I didn’t want to go to Africa and I didn’t know Spanish so South America wasn’t a choice. I saw the job [for Cambodia] online and it looked like the most interesting.“

She arrived in Cambodia in November 2006 as a girl who had logged very little travel time in her life. Now, her travel time is extensive with a very long and very expensive trip from Orange County to Prey Veng, Cambodia.

“It’s mentally tiring in that you say goodbye but then you don’t arrive until about a day and a half later,“ she said. “That’s a long time to think and imagine and process things.“

Buhrman has a lot to think about during the long trip including the family and friends that she left behind at home and also the people she has met during her time in Cambodia. After living with a host family in Prey Veng for two years, she has become accustomed to life there. But it hasn’t always been easy.

“Leaving my family was one of the hardest parts and it was hard to leave in general because Prey Veng is so far away; it’s literally halfway around the world,“ she said. “I miss having good people to connect to; it took a while for me to build a group in Cambodia and it wasn’t easy with my support system halfway around the world.“

Having moved to Orange County when she was just three years-old, making the switch from rural town to a whole new place proved interesting.

“There are actually lots of similarities,“ she said. “[You’re] going from one rural town to another and everyone knows what you’re doing so they follow you around. But there’s no comfort food, very little internet access and dirt roads without many cars.“

Buhrman also admits that she misses the little things like the convenience of running to a store and buying yogurt. However, she enjoys the works she’s doing as a rural health advisor and an advisor to Women’s Peace Makers. Burman writes proposals for grants, edits reports and talks to donors out of her office in the provincial capital of Prey Veng town.

“Cambodia is a developing country,“ she said. “Half of them live on less than a $1 a day. We’re trying to get them to diversify farming.“

Buhrman lights up when she talks about the people that she’s met there.

“They are some of the most generous people I’ve ever met,“ she said. “It also helps when you’re trying to learn the language and you practice with them. They have a strong sense of community [and] they want to know everything about you if you’re riding with them in a taxi.“

Buhrman, who recently came home for a friend’s wedding, was thankful to come home but she’s ready for her last year in Cambodia.

“I was ready for a break and it was good to come back but now I’m ready to go back,“ she said. “I’m not ready to end that period of my life yet. I did this for me and I knew this was something I wanted to do; other people are blessed through that.“

Next up for Buhrman, after her year of service, is applying to graduate school to study dietetics and possibly another extended trip.

“I will probably go back to visit Cambodia once my mission is over,“ she said. “I would like to do another overseas appointment somewhere. Asia is a good fit for my personality.“

For people interested in signing up for a mission overseas, Buhrman suggests taking the risk and doing it.

“I would defiantly say do it,“ she said. “It’s a great experience. It’s good to experience other things and cultures. You figure out what you want and how to live your life. Know that if you do something like this you’ll be changed. You won’t come back the same.“

For more information on the MCC and Buhrman’s time in Cambodia, visit her blog at

http://carolincambodia.blogspot.com/.

Former U.N. ambassador recalls journey

By Chris Cobb
The Herald-Zeitung
Published February 12, 2009

It has been more than three decades since Sichan Siv escaped the horrors and hardships of the Killing Fields of Cambodia and arrived in the United States with $2 to his name.

And after picking apples, selling ice cream and driving a cab around New York City, he eventually worked in the White House and served as an ambassador in the United Nations.

Members of the New Braunfels Rotary Club had a chance Wednesday to hear him recount his remarkable ascendancy from near death under Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime to international diplomat.

“We were very lucky to have someone not only of his stature come here, but also someone who can remind us how lucky we all truly are,” Rotary Club President-elect Sharon Staats said.

Siv, who now lives in San Antonio, stopped by the Seekatz Opera House not only to tell his story but also promote his book, “Golden Bones” — an in-depth description of his flight from bloodshed in Cambodia and eventual rise to international prominence.

The former teacher fled a labor camp in Cambodia in 1976 shortly after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had taken power.

“They turned Cambodia into a land of blood and tears,” he told Rotarians Wednesday.

During its four-year regime beginning in 1975, the communist Khmer Rouge party killed around 2 million people, including Siv’s mother and 15 brothers and sisters.

Siv persevered in a labor camp for a year before hopping on a logging truck and then making a three-day trek across the border into Thailand.

“I was sick, tired, exhausted, but my heart was full of hope,” he told the crowd Wednesday.

He eventually would make a flight to Wallingford, Conn., where an American family had agreed to sponsor his citizenship. After arriving almost penniless, he worked on an apple farm and scooped ice cream for a living before moving to New York and becoming a cab driver.

In 1988, he volunteered for George Bush’s campaign for the presidency.

Because of both his work ethic and incredible background, he was tapped by Bush to serve as deputy assistant to the president for public liaison and to serve as deputy assistant secretary for South Asian affairs, which he did from 1989 to 1993.

In 2001, he was appointed by George W. Bush to serve as ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

“His journey is just incredible,” Rotarian John Dierksen said.

Siv’s stop in New Braunfels was one of many speaking engagements around the country he currently has planned on his calendar to promote his memoir.

Despite being somewhat reluctant to write what at times can be very painful memories, he said the response from readers has been “heartwarming.”

“People thank me because sometimes they truly don’t realize that America can be such a benefactor and such an inspiration for someone like me,” he said.

Brother Duch in the dock

International Herald Tribune
By Peter Maguire
Published: February 12, 2009

Last week, the controversy-plagued UN-Cambodian war crimes court announced that the trial of Khmer Rouge prison camp commandant Kaing Guek Eav, better known as "Brother Duch," would begin in March.

Almost as an afterthought, the court added that proceedings against the regime's political leaders, Ieng Sary, Noun Chea, and Khieu Samphan - the cases that will make or break these proceedings - would be delayed for yet another year.

While it is heartening to see Cambodia's war-crimes tribunal do something other than field pre-trial motions, Duch is a garden variety war criminal who could be quickly and easily convicted by a basic military tribunal for his well documented violations of basic human rights norms.

If Cambodia's unwieldy mixed tribunal cannot speedily convict this bloodstained butcher, it stands no chance in the cases against the well-defended and unrepentant Khmer Rouge leaders, whose legal guilt is far more difficult to prove.

Duch, although a key functionary, was not a policy maker. The former teacher lorded over a prison, Tuol Sleng, that 16,000-20,000 entered and less than 20 survived. Before prisoners were killed, most were photographed, tortured and interrogated. When the Vietnamese liberated the prison in 1979, a large portion of these meticulous photographic and documentary records were recovered. Even guards at Tuol Sleng feared for their lives - according to prison records, over 500 guards and staff members were killed for such seditious acts as breaking a shovel, screaming in their sleep or destroying a hornet's nest.

Duch told his staff at one meeting in 1976, "Kindness is misplaced. You must beat him to get at the deep things." A former Tuol Sleng guard and alleged "killing fields" executioner, Him Huy, told me in 1998 that if Duch ordered the killings of high ranking prisoners, he "also went with us to check."

Once the paperwork was complete and the executioners had "gathered their strength," Huy told me, the victims were "ordered to knee on the edge of the hole. Their hands cuffed behind them, then they were beaten on their nape with an oxcart axle - an iron tube."

When I asked Tuol Sleng survivor Bou Meng in 2003 what he would say to Duch if given the chance, he began to fish through his pocket and pulled out a photograph of a young woman. It was his wife, who had been killed at the prison. Bou Meng had found her photograph in the prison archive the day before.

"She was tortured and killed," he said as tears began to well in his eyes, "I would demand the return of my wife and child."

Unlike the Khmer Rouge political leaders who continue to deny knowledge of atrocities and even of Tuol Sleng Prison, Duch is now an evangelical Christian who has stoically accepted his fate, admitted his guilt, and taken responsibility for his actions.

"I am sorry," Duch told Nic Dunlop, the journalist who found him in 1999, "The people who died were good people."

Today, the former Tuol Sleng Prison chief freely admits that many of the prisoners were innocent. But he adds, "whoever was arrested had to die. It was the rule of the party."

However salacious the gory details of the Duch case might be, it is legally and politically simple. Some speculate that the Cambodian government is serving up this easily convicted thug as a sacrificial lamb in the hopes that the other over-80 defendants won't live long enough to see the inside of the courtroom. If nothing else, we might finally learn whether or not there were "Chinese advisors" inside Tuol Sleng.

The announcement of the start of the Duch trial was quickly overshadowed by UN prosecutor Robert Petit's decision to open new criminal investigations and possibly issue more indictments.
Given that Cambodia's mixed tribunal has already burned through its original budget and taken longer to erect a court than it took the United States, Britain and France to try more than 6,000 suspected war criminals in Europe and Asia after World War II, Petit's announcement was oddly presumptuous.

It did not take the Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang (niece of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An) long to reject the move on both practical and political grounds. If nothing else, the UN's attempt to broaden this criminal inquiry will serve both as a test of the mixed tribunal's legitimacy and its ability to function as a court.

For many years, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was firmly in control of these proceedings, but by opening further criminal investigations, the UN has challenged his control. What remains to be seen is whether or not the Cambodian prime minister has the political will to try the Khmer Rouge political leaders.

If nothing else, the Cambodian strongman and his minions at the mixed tribunal are quickly learning a point best made by German political theorist Otto Kircheimer in his classic 1961 study, "Political Justice": "Justice in political matters is more tenuous than in any other field of jurisprudence, because it can so easily become a mere farce."

Peter Maguire, author of "Law and War: An American Story" and "Facing Death in Cambodia," has taught the law and theory of war at Columbia University and Bard College.

Khmer Rouge Tribunal's Credibility Jeopardized by Corruption and Political Interference on Eve of First Trial

The Earth Times

Thu, 12 Feb 2009
Author : Open Society Justice Initiative

NEW YORK, Feb. 12 Khmer-Rouge-trial

NEW YORK, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ahead of its first trial, the Cambodian government and international actors must immediately address grave flaws in the tribunal set up to try senior members of the Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity, warns a report released by the Open Society Justice Initiative today.

The long-awaited trial of Kaing Guek Eav (a.k.a. Duch), the commander of the infamous Toul Sleng S-21 Prison where thousands of Cambodians were tortured and killed, is scheduled to begin next Tuesday in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. The tribunal has charged four other suspects in the murder of almost two million people between 1975 and 1979. Recent reports, however, suggest the Cambodian government is attempting to block further indictments.

"The court must demonstrate that it is not a tool of the Cambodian government and ensure a fair and transparent judicial process," said James A. Goldston, executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative. "The court must show it is relying on law and facts, not politics, in deciding how many suspects will be investigated."

The court has also been plagued by unresolved allegations of corrupt employment practices. A confidential United Nations report in August 2008 detailed complaints of the court's staff paying kickbacks to political overseers. To date, the United Nations and the Cambodian government have yet to put in place a plan to address the problem.

"The court should take aggressive action to respond to the allegations of corruption and provide protection for whistleblowers," said Goldston. "Donor governments supporting the court--including Japan, France, and the United States--should continue to do so as long as the tribunal operates as a court of law."

Recent Developments at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia: February 2009 is the latest in a series of regular Justice Initiative publications offering news, analysis, and recommendations on the ECCC. Previous reports and other background information on the court are available here:
http://www.justiceinitiative.org/activities/ij/krt.

Click here to read or download the full February report:

http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2/fs/?file_id=20443

The URL for this page is:

http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=104202

The Open Society Justice Initiative, an operational program of Open Society Institute, pursues law reform activities grounded in the protection of human rights, and contributes to the development of legal capacity for open societies worldwide. The Justice Initiative combines litigation, legal advocacy, technical assistance, and the dissemination of knowledge to secure advances in the following priority areas: anticorruption, equality and citizenship, freedom of information and expression, international justice, and national criminal justice. Its offices are in Abuja, Budapest, London, New York, and Washington DC. www.justiceinitiative.org.

SOURCE Open Society Justice Initiative

Fear of Flu Keeps Bird Business Down

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Battambang province
12 February 2009

Lim Tri, a 26-year-old university student, waited for a fruit shake on a recent evening along a stream in Battambang town. The frozen dessert usually calls for the addition of a raw egg, which gives the shake texture and, some believe, provides a power boost. Lim Tri, however, didn’t dare put a raw egg in his shake. He’s afraid of bird flu.

“I watch TV every day,” he said. “They publicize information about the H5N1 virus. So I don’t eat raw eggs, because they can affect us.”

Preparing a fruit shake nearby, proprietess Chhan Mom said now most of her customers follow Lim Tri’s habits.

“Some nights I don’t sell even a single egg,” Chhan Mom said.

The H5N1 virus has killed seven Cambodians since outbreaks began in 2003. One man fell ill and recovered from the disease, which is typically carried in birds, in Kandal province in November, renewing fears of the disease.

Even though bird flu has never broken out in Battambang province, people here fear the disease, avoiding eggs and poultry, in large part due to an informational campaign by local health officials. Health experts worry the disease could mutate to be spread from human to human, leading to a pandemic.

Fear of the disease has meant businesses here have been forced to cut back their operations, or even stop production.

Herding his ducks along a rice field in Or Mal commune, Battambang district, egg farmer Or Rith, 49, complained about a drop in demand in his business: he now only raises 2,000 ducks, compared to 3,000 last year.

“I lost $4,000 last year, but I still raise eggs, based on my fortunes,” Or Rith said.

About 5 kilometers down the road, chicken farmer Hem Seak, 52, sat near a recently emptied hen house. He said he decided to stop chicken farming because he was losing too much money.

“I raised eggs for a long time, but this is the first time that I lost,” he said. “Seeing that the market situation is not good, I stopped this business. People nearby doing the same thing as me have gone bankrupt and sold their cars to pay debt.”

According to the local Ministry of Agriculture veterinary office, the number of large-scale poultry farms decreased from 152 in the province in 2007 to 136 last year.

However, the director of the provincial agriculture department, Cheam Chan Sophoan, said the quantity of the poultry produced in the region was in surplus, despite some exports from the province to Phnom Penh.

He said that even though in the past people have avoided eating poultry because of the bird flu virus, some were beginning to feel less afraid.

“We have measures to prevent an outbreak of the disease,” he said.

Ouk Vithia, head of the provincial office of communicable disease control for the Ministry of Health, said his team has been sending out H5N1 educational messages through television and radio and by placards on motorcycle carriage taxis.

The messages encourage people to wear masks and gloves when they touch dead or sick birds. When they eat, they should order eggs and birds to be cooked well.

However, he said he wasn’t sure how many people remain afraid of eating poultry for fear of the disease.

Child of Khmer Rouge Prison Emerges

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 February 2009

Sitting at a small table in the office of the Documentation Center of Cambodia Wednesday, Nang Chan Sophal, 39, waited to watch a film of Tuol Sleng prison shot by Vietnamese soldiers in January 1979.

He is one of four children depicted in the film.

“They brought my father, but I don’t know when,” he said. “And three or six months later, Khmer Rouge soldiers came in two jeeps with five or six persons and arrested my mother in Phnom Sruoth district, Kampong Speu province.”

He gazed at the floor.

He is the first former child prisoner of Tuol Sleng to be publicly announced, just ahead of the trial of the man who once ran Tuol Sleng prison, Kaing Kek Iev. An initial hearing in his tribunal trial opens Feb. 17. More than 12,000 Cambodians were tortured at the site, to be later executed and dumped into mass graves.

Nang Chan Sophal was taken with his mother to the prison with his two younger brothers and sister, sometime in the middle of 1978. He was 7 or 8 years old.

For nearly one year, Nang Chan Sophal and his siblings stayed in Tuol Sleng with four or five other children. They were separated from the adults. They were not tortured or forced into labor, he said.

Every day, however, he would hear the tortured cries of prisoners as they begged their jailers to tell them what they had done wrong.

On Jan. 7, 1979, the day the Vietnamese ousted the Khmer Rouge from Phnom Penh, cadre of the regime tried to carry children with them in flight. He and his siblings hid in a pile of prisoners’ clothes, behind a building in Tuol Sleng. One soldier in particular came looking for them, passing the pile of clothes two or three times.

“I was waiting for my mother,” he said Wednesday. “I pictured her watching us through the window of the building as we hid. And then as the liberation came, all the gates of the prison were opened. Khmer Rouge soldiers went out, and then I was trying to find my mother everywhere in the prison. I couldn’t find her. I saw many bodies of those who had died very recently, on the beds, covered in documents, near typewriters. I sifted through the papers to see the bodies.”

He never found his mother. He was taken along with his siblings to a state orphanage. One brother, as well as his sister, were adopted by “foreigners” during the State of Cambodia. He has lost touch with them. Now a resident of Phnom Penh, Nang Chan Sophal drives a bulldozer for a living. His younger brother drives a tractor.

Earlier this month, he prepared a complaint against Kaing Kek Iev, better known as Duch, who faces a number of atrocity crimes charges for his role as Tuol Sleng chief.

“I heard that Duch would be tried soon, and it interested me to prepare the complaint for justice of the death of my parents, and for the nation, for other victims,” Nang Chan Sophal said.

A Cardamom Commune Looks to Tourism

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Koh Kong province
12 February 2009

Home to rare wildlife species, including the endangered Siamese crocodile, the Cardamom mountains are also the habitat of about 25,000 people. Most of the people live in complete poverty and depend on the sale of illegal timber for their survival. Consequently, one can hardly see big trees in the region these days.

“If we talk about forest, there has been almost no trees until now because of lawless deforestation in the region during the 1980s and the 1990s,” said Uy Ai, chief of Chi Phat commune in Thmor Bang district, Koh Kong province.

In order to prevent the people from cutting down trees, an eco-tourism community was set up in his commune in early 2007 with the support of Wildlife Alliance, an NGO working on conservation in the area.

Touch Nimith, Wildlife Alliance’s head of the Community-Based Eco-Tourism project, said it is vital to change the commune into a tourism site so that the people will stop their dependence on trees and wild animals. Villagers are being encouraged to switch from their forest-dependent jobs to tourism-service careers.

“With eco-tourism, we can protect our existing natural resources,” he said. “So we need a mechanism, where tourists are needed in our preservation and protection efforts.”

“Community-Based Eco-Tourism in Chi Phat commune enables people to have extra work. We use guides, boats, moto-taxis, forest cooks, and ox carts for tourist services,” said Chi Phat CBET committee head Chhang Sok.

Chi Phat takes about five hours to reach from Phnom Penh. It is a commune composed of four small villages with 506 families, or 2,280, people, according to commune chief Uy Ai.

The villagers live by working on rice fields, picking up tree rubber in the forest and selling groceries on the roads in the villages. However, this work cannot guarantee their sustainability, so they have to go back to their traditional careers: cutting down trees.

However, after the Chi Phat CBET project came into existence, most of the people turned their attention from cutting down trees to serving tourists for profit.

Phiev Channy, who has run a guesthouse since the beginning of the CBET project here, said after the community opened its door for tourists, she could earn on average $100 per month from her guesthouse.

“I am happy because this job is not difficult,” she said. “We just clean the house and welcome guests.”

Most of the tourists coming and staying in the commune are Americans, British, Australians and Israelis, Phiev Channy said.

Rising from a hammock in the middle of the forest and sitting beside a pile of burning wood, an American tourist from California, Adam Waught, said he was amazed by his trip in the southern Cardamoms.

“It’s been good,” he said. “I mean everything I had expected, sleeping out here last night, listening to the sound of the jungle. It is amazing for someone like myself. I am from a city in America. We don't have a lot of opportunities to spend the night in a place like this, to see the sky full of stars and to spend the night in the middle of nowhere.”

Chi Phat had so far done a good job, but the community would do well to control the number of tourists coming in, he said. “Too rapid an increase in the number of tourists can spoil the untouched nature in the region.”

Textbook on Khmer Rouge

Asiaone News

Thu, Feb 12, 2009
Reuters

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA unveiled its first textbook on the 'Killing Fields' genocide on Thursday to raise awareness among those too young to remember the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge era in which 1.7 million people died.

Thirty years after the fall of Pol Pot's ultra-Maoist regime, many young Cambodians know little about one of the darkest chapters in the 20th century, education officials say.

'When we tell students about the Khmer Rouge genocide, they don't believe it and think it's fiction,' Deputy Education Minister Ton Sa Im told Reuters.

'But now when they see the United Nations help Cambodia put Khmer Rouge on trial, they start believing,' she said of the first trial of a top Pol Pot cadre due to start on Feb 17.

More than 500,000 copies of the text book will be distributed in the impoverished Southeast Asian country, where more than half of its 14 million people were born after the Khmer Rouge were ousted in a 1979 Vietnamese invasion.

'For the first time in Cambodia's history, the genocide will be taught in high school,' said Youk Chhang, director of the US-funded Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam), which has documented Khmer Rouge atrocities.

The centre played a key role in bringing out the textbook, which includes chapters on other genocides such as the 800,000 people killed in the central African country of Rwanda in 1994.

Seng Nary, an 18-year-old student who only heard about the Khmer Rouge from her parents, said she knew little about the joint Cambodian-United Nations court set up in 2006 to investigate and prosecute Pol Pot's surviving henchmen.

'I saw something on television about the Khmer Rouge tribunal, but that's it,' she told Reuters.
A recent survey by the Human Rights Center of the University of California, Berkeley, found 85 per cent of respondents 'had little or no knowledge' of the tribunal.

'On the eve of the first trial, more Cambodians should be aware of the court's work, especially as there is a strong desire for justice,' director of research Phuong Pham said in the report, entitled 'So We Will Never Forget'.

It recommended that educational material combining historical texts and visual material from the forthcoming trials be created for use in primary and secondary schools.

Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, head of the S-21 torture centre under the Khmer Rouge, will go on trial on Tuesday for his role in the deaths of an estimated 16,000 people.

Another four senior Pol Pot cadres have been charged with crimes against humanity but their trial dates have not been set. -- REUTERS

Patience Wears Thin on Corruption Law

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
12 February 2009

More than ten years have passed since officials and the donor community recommended that an anti-corruption law be put in place, and despite the recognition of its importance, the long-awaited law is still not out.

The draft anti-corruption law is still moving back and forth between the administration and the National Assembly, without a definite finish date.

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha recalls the process of making a law that was started in 1994 to look at different aspects of fighting corruption.

The drafting originally looked at two aspects of the law, he said, one focusing on curbing corruption and the other on revealing personal assets. He said it is time the law is passed.

“Starting from 1994 till now it seems too long,” he said.

Tired of waiting, some officials point to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s administration and his Cambodian People’s Party for unwillingness to pass the law.

Yim Sovann, a National Assembly lawmaker from the Sam Rainsy Party and former chairman of the Assembly’s anti-corruption committee, expressed little expectation the law would be passed in the near future.

“The anti-corruption law that Cambodia and the international community have been waiting on for a long time is still in the hands of the Cambodian People’s Party and the government, and I don’t expect the law will be out too soon,” he said. “The government leadership, dominated by the CPP, has not enough political will and commitment to release the law.”

The anti-corruption law has been an effective promise touted by the government to secure assistance at every annual donor meeting in the past, even though it has failed to materialize.

“From one year to another the promise was the same,” said Chea Vannath, an independent analyst and former head of the Center for Social Development. “It was only later that the government said Cambodia needs to finish the penal code first, before working on the anti-corruption law.”

Cambodia ranks 166 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2008 corruption perceptions index, one place above Burma in Southeast Asia. The country’s trend in fighting corruption has worsened in the past few years; it ranked 151 in 2006.

A senior CPP lawmaker, Cheam Yiep, admitted that the process has taken a long time, but he cited other factors outside the CPP or government.

“There is also some reluctance among other organizations…involved in drafting the law,” he said, citing the UNDP, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and other organizations.

Cheam Yiep said he hoped the law would pass within this mandate of the government, which ends in elections in 2013. The law requires a review of the penal code, he said, which is being looked at by the Council of Ministers.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan, however, said the council’s legal team has finished reviewing the penal law and is awaiting government approval before sending it to the National Assembly.

A draft of the anti-corruption law did reach the floor of the National Assembly, in 2003, but it was soon sent back to the executive branch, controlled by Hun Sen, for further review. The administration has since said the law must clarify the term “corruption.”

Detonating a land-mine in the outskirts of Cambodia's western city Battambang

A man surveys an area after detonating a land-mine in the outskirts of Cambodia's western city Battambang on February 12, 2009. Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

Personnel prepare to detonate a land-mine in a field in the outskirts of Cambodia's western city Battambang on February 12, 2009. Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

A woman holding a metal-detector is silhouetted in a land-mine field in the outskirts of Cambodia's western city Battambang on February 12, 2009. Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

A woman carries a metal detector in an area being de-mined in the outskirts of Cambodia's western city Battambang on February 12, 2009. Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

A red sign warning of mines rests in a land-mine field in the outskirts of Cambodia's western city Battambang on February 12, 2009. Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

A man prepares to trim grass in an area to be de-mined in the outskirts of Cambodia's western city Battambang on February 12, 2009. Cambodia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.REUTERS/Adrees Latif (CAMBODIA)

Three Dey Krohom residents in court following a complaint by 7NG company

Phnom Penh (Cambodia), 11/02/2009. Former Dey Krohom residents insisted on entering the court room in the Municipal Court of Phnom Penh to attend the trial of three of them.
© John Vink / Magnum

Ka-set

By Ros Dina
11-02-2009

On Wednesday February 11th, three residents of the Dey Krohom community – which last homes were destroyed on January 24th by the 7NG company – appeared before the Municipal Court of Phnom Penh to answer charges of destruction of private property and assault. Chan Vichet, Khieu Bunthoeun and Ms Ly Youleng are accused by the company of torching an excavator and throwing rocks and bottles filled with gasoline at three 7NG employees, in the night of December 3rd 2007. Back then, the tension was high between the two parties, with groups of youth hired by 7NG striving to provoke and intimidate the families refusing to leave.

Curiously identical statements...

On one side, seven witnesses for the defence – residents of Dey Krohom – who swear that the three defendants have never committed any act of violence and on the contrary, when he heard cries and discovered residents were throwing projectiles at 7NG employees, Chan Vichet had hurriedly found a microphone to urge them to be peaceful and not resort to violence. On the other side, the statements of 17 employees of 7NG, including the three victims, who accuse the same three defendants of provoking the violence. These statements were read successively, until the clerk interrupted her reading at the 7th one because they repeated each other so much. One defence lawyer even counted the – significant – number of sentences which exact wording was found in one statement after another... “Look, they have so little evidence against my clients that they have duplicated the statements!”, the lawyer remarked.

In the complaint filed by the lawyer for 7NG, the latter demands that the three defendants be condemned and pay 10,000 dollars in compensation. Also, the report of the quarter [sangkat] chief, which was presented to the Chamkarmon district authorities, mentions a truck transporting an excavator which reportedly got lost and stopped near the Russian Embassy, close to Dey Krohom, and was said to have been targeted by residents. Neither the company lawyer, the victims or the prosecution witnesses came to the hearing.

For the Prosecutor, who credited the version of events given by the 7NG employees, the three defendants were indeed present at the place and time of the incidents. He considered the defence witnesses unreliable because it was dark and they were all standing far away from the scene. Yet, all claim they have heard Chan Vichet's voice on the microphone trying to appease the angry residents. But that seems irrelevant – for him, the three have participated to the wrongdoing and the charges against them must therefore be upheld.

Defence denounces evidence as too inconsistent

On the defence side, Attorney Hom Bunrith, delivered a series of arguments. He acknowledged that trouble had happened on that night, but he explained that his clients were at their homes and only came out after hearing cries outside. He then asked to be shown the evidence of their participation to the violence. “If so, why have so many people heard Chan Vichet's voice trying to calm people down?”, he argued. He also deplored the lack of any precise assessment of the damage caused. “In today's hearing, each and every one is recreating the events in their minds in their own way! The versions of the victims and Dey Krohom residents contradict one another on every single point!”

During a previous hearing, the lawyer had seized the opportunity to interrogate the victims and point out some irregularities. For example, one said he had recognised Chan Vichet's face thanks to the lit headlights of the excavator – a power break had plunged the neighbourhood into darkness – while another, the excavator's driver, claimed that the headlights of his machine were turned off... Another swore he had identified Chan Vichet although he could not remember what clothes he was wearing... “It can be concluded that the 17 statements of 7NG employees were completely fabricated, all the more so as they bear too much similarity to be credible,” Attorney Hom Bunrith commented.

He also found the requests for compensation doubtful. “One of the victims is asking for 5,000 dollars, but the hospital bill only shows 30,000 riels [7.5 dollars]?!” The lawyer concluded that the documents produced by the prosecution included too many grey areas to ascribe them any real credibility.

Following him, Attorney Ke Chamnan wondered with false candour how out of all the rocks thrown by some 200 residents, only one hit the 7NG guard, although he claimed he was standing near the excavator being targeted, “How is that possible?” The third defence lawyer, Attorney San Sokunthea, stressed that it was natural for the victims to take their employer's side. All three attorneys called for the charges against their clients to be lifted.

The three defendants, made emotional by appearing before the judicial system, calmly left the court room, which was packed with human rights observers and activists. Outside, Ms Ly Youleng lit incense sticks and prayed in front of an altar.

The Court will issue its verdict on Monday February 16th.

Justice in Cambodia: will an exact copy of the Chea Vichea case end with the same outcome?

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 11/02/2009:
Chan Sopheak, also known as Thach Saveth, changing back to prison uniform, in the van that will take him back to prison.
© John Vink / Magnum

Ka-set

By Duong Sokha
11-02-2009

On December 31st 2008, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were released – on bail for now – after spending almost five years behind bars for the murder of Chea Vichea, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), at the end of a process marred by irregularities. The case of Thach Saveth, who was arrested for the killing of another member of the FTUWKC steering committee, Ros Sovannareth, presents striking similarities with that of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun. He appeared on Wednesday February 11th before the Court of Appeal, who will only issue its verdict on February 18th. Once again, civil society calls for the case to be dismissed and denounces the inconsistency of the evidence against the 27-year-old paratrooper.

A long and dubious process

Some trade unionists and activists from human rights organisations are present in the courtroom to support Chan Sopheak, better known under his military name, Thach Saveth. Arrested on July 24th 2004, he was sentenced on February 15th 2005 to 15 years of prison for “premeditated murder” and has since been locked in a jail in the province of Kampong Cham. The victim, Ros Sovannareth, had been shot with four bullets by two unidentified men on a motorbike on May 7th 2004, in Phnom Penh.

In his confessions to the police, the former member of the 911 unit of the paratrooper brigade claimed that on May 7th, he was leaving Anlong Veng to travel to the province of Kampong Speu, where he was to attend the wedding of one of his relatives. On the evening of the crime, he was making a stop in Siem Reap, according to his statement. Before the judge of the Court of Appeal, Thach Saveth's memory was now blurry. “This all goes back a long time ago. He has forgotten,” his lawyers argued.

This is the second time that this case has come before the Court of Appeal. The first time, on December 27th 2007, the Court had confirmed the ruling of the Municipal Court of Phnom Penh. However, Thach Saveth had then been sentenced in absentia – the Court had claimed that he was detained too far from Phnom Penh for him to attend – which he had challenged by requesting the Court of Appeal to review his case again. Before that, the Municipal Court had held a summary trial – nearly one hour only, which is slightly less than Wednesday's hearing before the Court of Appeal. The United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for human rights in Cambodia had then described the trial as “characterized by breaches of procedural rules and the absence of the most basic standards of fair trial” “Continuing patterns of impunity in Cambodia ”. “The trial judge placed the burden on the accused to prove that he was not in Phnom Penh at the time of the incident and dismissed the testimony of the three witnesses that supported his alibi.”

Common points with the Chea Vichea case

In a soft voice, the defendant repeated to the judge on Wednesday what he has been saying since he was arrested, “I have never committed any offence. I did not even know the victim! And as a paratrooper, I did not have the right to carry a weapon.” Thach Saveth talked about his arrest, which hardly followed the rules as it was carried out “without any arrest warrant”, as reminded by the local human rights NGO Licadho. “The police detained me without explaining why to me. They threatened to kill me to force me to acknowledge I was guilty, but I did not give in. Afterwards, at the Municipal Court, I was shown the pictures of four men and asked if I knew them. I recognised my own portrait of course – they had taken that photograph during my arrest. But the other faces, I had never seen them in my life!” He was reportedly arrested for being a drug addict, by the same Tuol Kork district police who arrested Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun. Officers who have since been removed...

Next, the defence called a witness. Some confusion then followed. As soon as he approached, Thach Saveth exclaimed, “But I do not know him?!” while his mother, who was in the audience, shouted, “Yes, you know him!” The judge then asked the man to introduce himself. “My name is Cheth!” “Good. What is your family name?” “Cheth!” The judge persisted, “But when you work, how do you introduce yourself?” “Well, Cheth!” Laughters were heard in the audience while the court decided to dismiss the witness without hearing him. “In the future, follow the rules when you make a request for a witness to be heard,” the judge commented in a remark to the lawyers.

Prosecution witnesses at serious issue

The defence for Thach Saveth then requested that the Court re-examines the minutes of the statements of the witnesses for the prosecution. Witnesses who were heard only by the police and never appeared in a hearing, in breach of the adversarial principle. Witnesses whose testimonies do not match, some describing Thach Saveth as the killer, others as his accomplice, the motorbike driver. The judge of the Court of Appeal rejected the request and explained that the Court's only prerogatives were to review the cases transmitted by the Municipal Court and the police, not to interrogate the witnesses...

The Prosecutor called for the sentence to be held up on the basis of the statements of the four prosecution witnesses, while the defence had brought no exonerating evidence. As for the lawyers, they called for the case to be dismissed: their client was not in Phnom Penh on the day of the murder, he did not carry any weapon – for that matter, the weapon of the crime was never found – and the prosecution witnesses contradicted one another while they had never taken an oath as required by the procedure. “In a word, there is no evidence. This is a completely fabricated case!” Finally, the defendant spoke imploringly to request that the Court provides him with justice and claim his innocence.

A leader of another trade union suspected but never investigated

Contacted by telephone after the hearing, Chea Mony, president of the FTUWKC, stated that he did not believe the person arrested was the real killer, as in the case of the murder of his brother Chea Vichea. “In the complaint filed by the wife of Ros Sovannareth [now a refugee abroad] against the killers of her husband, she accused a leader of the Cambodian Union Federation (CUF), a pro-government union, that was in conflict with the FTUWKC within the [Trinuggal Komara] factory where Sovannareth used to work. But shortly after his murder, that person who was suspected stopped all of his union activities...” Sovannareth and other FTUWKC members had complained about receiving threats from the CUF leader. Not long after Sovannareth's murder, the chief of the criminal police of Phnom Penh had declared that the killing was to be connected with the conflict between the two unions within the factory. A hypothesis that has always been discarded by the judicial system.

Call to follow the example of the Supreme Court

On January 2nd 2009, while it welcomed the decision by the Supreme Court to release Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) also encouraged in the same statement the government “to continue in the direction set by the Supreme Court” by revitalizing the investigation into the murder of Ros Sovannareth in particular.

Kek Galabru, president of Licadho, declared on Wednesday February 11th, that “[T]he Appeal Court [had] an opportunity to show that Cambodia's judiciary is not taking one step forward, two steps backwards” and called the Court to “issue a verdict which is based on an objective and impartial review of all the evidence in this case.” In a statement published on the same day, her organisation expressed concern over the attitude of the judges and prosecutor and considered they had failed to respect the presumption of innocence that the defendant must be entitled to before the verdict.

Court hears appeal in labor chief's death

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

Thach Saveth leaves the Court of Appeal in prison uniform and handcuffs on Wednesday following a hearing in which he pleaded his innocence over the killing of unionist Ros Sovannareth. Thach Saveth is currently serving a 15-year sentence following his conviction in 2005.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Thach Saveth, found guilty in 2005 and given 15 years, pleaded for his freedom at an appeal; rights groups say he was framed

IMF predicts hard landing

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by George Mcleod
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Growth will slow and foreign reserves decline as crisis deepens

CAMBODIA'S economy will come under intense pressure in 2009 as tourism, garments and construction take a hit from the global slowdown, said the International Monetary Fund in a report this week.

"Cambodia's exceptional growth performance ... is coming under increasing strain from the global economic crisis and weakening external demand," said the annual report.

Foreign direct investment will decline and foreign reserves could fall to about US$1.9 billion, it said.

"Cambodia could experience a pronounced liquidity contraction and possible large reserve loss," the report says.

It predicts 4.8 percent growth in 2009, but IMF Resident Representative John Nelmes warns that the projection will be downgraded. "We are taking a close look at the growth projection.... Since November, when the projection was made, the global crisis has intensified," he told the Post Wednesday.

A UK-based emerging markets expert said that the IMF assessment is late coming. "The problems were apparent in autumn when there were large withdrawals of capital from the developing world because of worries over the credit risks." said Vanessa Rossi, senior research fellow at Chatham House. She said that the crisis is only beginning for countries like Cambodia. "[Analysts] haven't allowed for the fact that countries like Cambodia are dependent on foreign capital inflows.... If things don't improve soon, they will need an IMF bailout."

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said that the findings are no surprise. "The IMF seems to share my concerns and the views I have expressed.... We cannot afford to do nothing as the Cambodian government is doing right now," he said.

Union killer pleads for release

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

Licadho president Kek Galabru hands Thach Saveth malaria

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Thursday, 12 February 2009

The Court of Appeal will decide next week whether to overturn the conviction of Thach Saveth, who was found guilty in 2005 for killing a union leader.

THE Court of Appeal will rule February 18 on whether to uphold the conviction of Thach Saveth for the 2004 murder of union leader Ros Sovannareth, said presiding Judge Um Sarith at the end of a two-hour hearing Wednesday.

The conviction has been widely condemned by rights groups who attended the hearing in force. Three judges heard the prosecution and defence restate their respective cases, which largely resembled those offered during the original trial in 2005.

At that trial, the prosecution successfully argued that Thach Saveth was one of two assailants who gunned down Ros Sovannareth, the union president at the Trinunggal Komara garment factory, on Kampuchea Krom Boulevard on May 7, 2004. Thach Saveth was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutor Pan Kimleang said during the hearing Wednesday that he still believed Thach Saveth was one of the killers, arguing that accounts provided by the Tuol Kork district police officers who originally detained him proved his guilt.

But Sam Sokong, a lawyer for the Cambodian Defenders Project working as part of Thach Saveth's defence team, said his client was in Siem Reap on the night of the killing, adding that relatives traveling with him could corroborate the alibi.

In a statement released after the hearing Wednesday, the rights group Licadho argued that the 2005 conviction was "based on prosecution witnesses who did not appear in court and therefore could not be cross-examined". Defence witnesses who offered an alibi on behalf of Thach Saveth, the statement claims, "were ignored".

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

[the case] has no credible evidence, no gun and no reliable witnesses.

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

Prosecutor Pan Kimleang said at Wednesday's hearing that the alibi would be more credible if it did not rely exclusively on the testimony of Thach Saveth's relatives.

For his part, Thach Saveth maintained his innocence and pleaded for the court to "give justice to me because I really didn't kill Ros Savannareth".

"It is the wrong allegation against me," he said.

On to the Supreme Court?

In an interview with the Post after the hearing, Licadho President Kek Galabru called the prosecution's case weak and said the conviction should be overturned.

The case, she said, "has no credible evidence, no gun and no reliable witnesses to prove that he is the killer".

She said she would push for an appeal to be lodged with the Supreme Court if the Court of Appeal upholds the original conviction in its ruling next week.

She drew comparisons between Thach Saveth's case and that of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, which went to the Supreme Court late last year. That hearing resulted in the provisional release of the two suspects, who had served nearly five years for the killing of Chea Vichea, a union leader who was shot and killed in 2004 near Wat Lanka. Rights groups, including Licadho, challenged the credibility of the charges in that case as well.

Court hears developer complaint

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Former Dey Krahorm residents wait outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda and May Titthara
Thursday, 12 February 2009

7NG accuses Dey Krahorm representatives of inciting violence among residents in 2007 incident that it says led to destruction of its equipment and injury of a vehicle operator.

PHNOM Penh's Municipal Court on Monday is to rule on charges of inciting destruction of property filed by private developer 7NG against representatives of the Dey Krahorm shanty community it evicted last month, presiding judge Chey Sovann said Wednesday after a three-hour hearing.

7NG and the municipality late last month launched a blitz eviction of the scores of families remaining in the 3.6-hectare community who had declined compensation ranging from a relocation home to US$20,000 offered to them by 7NG. The company says it will develop the site into luxury office buildings.

The charges stem from an incident in December 2007, in which residents allegedly destroyed a 7NG excavator and injured its driver after the vehicle was brought into the area late at night.

Chan Vichet, Ly Yuleng and Bun Thoeun were accused of inciting violence by residents, who after the incident said they had feared a rapid, unnacounced eviction.

Ly Yuleng denied the machine was damaged or that she or the other accused had encouraged residents to use violence.

"People were just protecting their homes," she said.

Chan Vichet said that during the incident he appealed to residents over a loudspeaker to keep their calm but that the implications of the late-night arrival of the large machine were too strong for residents to dismiss.

After the hearing Wednesday, Sann Sokunthea, one of three lawyers provided to the defendants by the rights group Licadho, said the charges were baseless.

She said court officials received the police report before the incident even took place.

Plong Sophal, a lawyer for 7NG, told the court the charges were supported by eyewitness testimony from 17 people, although he did not produce any witnesses in court.

The court read testimony from the 7NG worker, Ing Va, who said as many as 300 residents threw stones at him and attacked the excavator he was driving.

Wednesday’s hearing was the third, and apparently last, time the court would convene for the case.

Sam Rainsy to petition Supreme Court, King in election lawsuit

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Former Dey Krahorm residents wait outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Wednesday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Meas Sokchea
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Sam Rainsy vows to appeal a 10 million riel fine imposed by the NEC for ‘insulting’ ruling party members during last year’s election.

OPPOSITION leader Sam Rainsy refused to pay a fine of 10 million riels (US$2,391) during a meeting with Phnom Penh Municipal Court officials Wednesday, saying he will only pay up once he is given the right to appeal the penalty at the Supreme Court.

The National Election Committee fined the SRP president for making derogatory remarks about the leaders of the ruling Cambodian People's Party during national elections in July last year.

While he agreed to pay the money if the law forced him to, Sam Rainsy remained defiant, saying that he had the right to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.

"I respect the law. I just ask to use the law of the court first. I have rights to lodge a complaint to the Supreme Court," Sam Rainsy told reporters after the hearing.

"If the Supreme Court decides it disagrees with me, I will ask the King to issue a royal amnesty for me. Then, if I have no other way to walk, I will pay."

Sam Rainsy added that he had also asked the court about opposition complaints relating to the fraudulent use of 1018 voter registration forms and fake voting documents, but said that the prosecutor had been unable to provide any information since he was not in charge of the complaint.

"I asked about my complaint against commune chiefs who faked documents because this penal offense is bigger than the NEC's complaint," he said.

No recourse

When contacted Wednesday, Municipal Court Prosecutor Sok Roeun did not comment in detail on the case. But he said that Sam Rainsy's bid to appeal the court's decision at the Supreme Court was not legal, since the Constitutional Council had closed off the option of advancing his appeal and confirmed the NEC's decision, forcing Sam Rainsy to pay the fine.

NEC Secretary General Tep Nytha said that the case was now out of his hands, but confirmed that Sam Rainsy had no option left but to pay the fine. "He has no rights to protest under the law," he said.

Surprise traffic crackdown nets hybrid moto-trailers

Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
Irate motorbike-towed trailer drivers at the Russei Keo district police station on Wednesday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Thet Sambath and Mom Kunthear
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Police move to enforce law banning motorbikes towing improvised trailers, calling the vehicles ‘disorderly'.

AN impromptu crackdown on motorbikes pulling overloaded trailers into the capital netted more than 20 vehicles Wednesday, as traffic police moved to enforce a long-dormant City Hall directive, officials say.

"We do not allow big motorbikes to tow trailers into the city because it causes traffic jams and makes the city look messy and disorderly," said Chav Hak, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Traffic Police.

"[On Wednesday] the Municipality ordered me ... to stop all big motorbikes towing trailers into the city. They can stop in the suburbs, but they cannot come into the city. If they still come, we will stop them."

He said the offending trailer-motorbikes had been impounded and held at the traffic police headquarters in Russei Keo district, where their owners can return in seven days to collect them.

Prum Non, 24, the owner of one of the impounded vehicles, told the Post that he makes a living selling charcoal from Kampong Speu province, and criticised the police for cracking down without giving road users advance warning.


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

We have no money. that's why we use these motorbike-towed trailers.

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

"I am not happy with the police's actions. They did not announce to us first about these new measures. They should inform all people first and then take action afterwards," he said, adding that police told the drivers to "buy a truck" instead of using motorbike-towed trailers.

"The police should give us a loan of about US$10,000 to buy a truck," he added. "We have no money. That's why we use these motorbike-towed trailers."

Tell us how much

Pen Malin, 35, from Kampong Speu province, said that most of the people who drive the hybrid vehicles hail from Kampong Speu, where there is little other work to do.

"If they want to fine us, then they should tell us how much it is. We will pay the fine and take our motorbike-towed trailers and wood charcoal back home," he said.

"We need it to go back home to make other business to feed our families."

But Heang Channa, 24, said the police had offered no explanation for the confiscation of his vehicle.

"They didn't tell me what the problem was. They just told me to come to the police station for a short time to make a report," he said.

He added that the sudden application of the law seemed inconsistent considering the shakedowns orchestrated by traffic officials along the Kingdom's highways.

"We have spent more than 30,000 riels ($7.27) at police checkpoints along the national road from Kampong Speu to Phnom Penh," he said.
"Look at the police. They are not skinny. We work hard, but we are still very skinny."

Officials lower their hopes for return of artefacts from Thais

FIRST A CHARM
In November 1999, the Thai government returned more than 100 carved stones blocks that had been smuggled into the country earlier in the year after being hacked from the wall of the temple of Banteay Chhmar in northwestern Cambodia.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Having aimed to get all 43 confiscated Khmer antiquties returned, government officials now say they expect just seven to come home.

CAMBODIAN officials say they are expecting the return of only seven of the 43 smuggled Khmer antiquities intercepted by Thai authorities that have been the subject of a series of recent high-level talks between the two countries.

Khim Sarith, a secretary of state at Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts who has been involved in meetings with Thai authorities over the return of the artefacts, said that, pending approval by the Thai Cabinet, Cambodia would send a delegation to retrieve the pieces.

But the acquisition would be bittersweet.

In 1999, Thai customs agents seized 43 antique Khmer sculptures weighting more than eight tonnes at a port owned by a Thai shipping company.

Thailand has recognised 18 of the 43 artefacts as belonging to Cambodia. But following a meeting between Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya at the end of last month in which the visiting top diplomat pledged to push the Thai Cabinet to approve the repatriation of the artifacts, without specifying how many, local officials were hopeful they would see the return of all 43 pieces.

Now, they have had to lower their sights to acquiring just seven artefacts, all of which are the decapitated heads of statues, officials said.

"The artefacts are in their hands so they have the right to decide on how many pieces they will return to us," Khim Sarith said.

Still hope for complete return

The antiquities were being smuggled from Cambodia to Singapore via Thailand and were destined for markets in Europe and the United States. The sculptures are believed to have been stripped from ancient Khmer temples and monuments inside Cambodia.

Negotiations with Thailand on the return of the artefacts began a few years ago, but political instablility in Thailand has delayed the approval of any agreement. The most recent agreement is still awaiting approval from the Thai government, Khim Sarith said.

Koy Kuong, an undersecretary of state at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said his office welcomed the artefacts' return but said he hoped that eventually all of the confiscated items would be back in Cambodia.

Hab Touch, director of the National Museum in Phnom Penh, said the seven heads would be a significant contribution to the museum's collection, but lamented that the majority of the intercepted cargo would remain in the hands of Thai authorities.

"The delay of this return is because of Thai internal political problems, but Cambodia will continue to negotiate to acquire the remaining pieces," he said.

Van Tay joins hunt for S-21 children

Photo by: LONG DANY/DOCUMENTATION CENTRE OF CAMBODIA
Vietnamese photographer Ho Van Tay will come to Phnom Penh on Saturday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Neth Pheaktra
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Vietnamese photographer says he will help DC-Cam find the four children, believed to be alive.

FORMER Vietnamese soldier and photographer Van Tay is to travel Saturday to Phnom Penh to help researchers look for four former child prisoners of Tuol Sleng prison thought to be alive and living in Cambodia.

"We have received contact from [people believed to be the child victims], but we have not yet concluded that they are the real victims or not. Some of them are in Battambang and Kampong Thom provinces," Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam), told the Post Wednesday.

"We will work with Vietnamese photographer Van Tay to find these children because he has had contact with one of the five children," he added.

The children were identified by DC-Cam in recently obtained archival footage donated by the Vietnamese government in late December. The footage will be used as key evidence in the upcoming trial of Kaing Guek Eav, the former prison's head, despite being obtained a week after prosecutors had already submitted the list of exhibits they planned to use during the trial.

Youk Chhang said that he had been "informed" that four of the five children from the video footage had escaped from S-21 and were still alive. One of them, the youngest, had died, he added.

"Van Tay has some documents and has had contact with one of the boys, and we hope that we can accelerate our work to identify these child victims," Youk Chhang said.

"We invite Van Tay to come to Cambodia to participate in the research of S-21 history," he said, adding that Van Tay would attend next week's hearing of the prison chief, known as Duch.

As the first person to enter the prison with a camera after the Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Van Tay's photographs, which capture the bodies of prisoners still chained to iron beds, will also be pivotal evidence in Duch's trial.

Live by the sword

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Heng Chivoan
Thursday, 12 February 2009

A participant in the Heir Nak Ta ceremony in Phnom Penh prepares to cut his tongue with a knife. After blood is drawn, he will lick the yellow piece of paper, or Yantra (at left), which will then become a good luck charm.

The mysterious women of Angkor

Photo Supplied
Kent Davis has spent years researching and photographing what he calls the devatas, or carved female images, that appear throughout the Angkor Wat temple complex. His theory is that the ancient religious site was actually conceived and wrought to glorify women and the "feminine principles they represent".

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Jessie Beard
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Researcher Kent Davis theorises that the many carved images of women found throughout the temple complex hold the key to the origins and purpose of the ancient monuments

SIEM REAP

A TEAM of researchers, led by US educational program and marketing executive Kent Davis, is analysing 7,000 digital photos taken in November 2008 for a database that will attempt to unveil a mystery that's been bugging Davis since he first visited Angkor Wat in November 2005.

He wants to determine why there are so many images of women in the temples, and he's postulating a theory that Angkor wasn't built to honour kings or gods, but to glorify women.

When Davis first came to Angkor, he immediately became fascinated by the carvings of women and instinctively felt they had been historically trivialised as decorations.

"I wasn't prepared for the temple's human side as realistic carvings of women greeted me. Quite clearly, the images of these women were a major part of the monument's design and purpose," he said.

"These women who are so extraordinary and so filled with significance have remained unstudied and unappreciated in modern times. The fact that they have been hidden in plain sight during 150 years of intense Khmer scholarship is truly amazing.

"But a quantitative analysis could unlock the secrets these complex women have guarded for so long."
Using a computer database, the project involves recording the diverse features of the women, enabling detailed analysis of them for the first time since they were carved.

Davis also departs from convention by referring to the women shown in temple carvings as devatas, not Apsaras.

"No one knows what the ancient Khmers called the women at Angkor Wat. I generally choose to use devata for historical and semantic reasons. About a hundred years ago, some scholars began using the Hindu term apsara, and that became more common over time."

Davis's use of the term devata and his quest to comprehensively analyse the collection of female carvings was also inspired by the work of a young French woman, Sappho Marchal, who began classifying the women by their attributes in her own personal drawings.

Marchal lived at Angkor Wat and was the daughter of the second curator of the Angkor Wat conservation program. She published a book, Costumes et parures Khmers d'apres les davata d'Angkor-Wat, in 1927, and when Davis discovered her writings, he became even more determined to finish what Marchal had started all those years ago.

Davis has already evaluated 1,780 carvings of women and expects to include over 1,800 carvings in his study. He said that once he amassed about 25,000 digital photos of the carvings he was studying, the sheer complexity required that a computer database be used.

But on April 17 last year, Davis's project received a major setback - fire gutted his house and studio, destroying a collection of more than 2,000 books on the history of Southeast Asia and material he had prepared to republish the book Angkor the Magnificent, originally written in 1924 by American socialite and Titanic survivor Helen Churchill Candee.

The book is credited with introducing the concept of Cambodian tourism to Americans, and Davis's revised version was scheduled to go to the publisher the day after the fire.

But the biggest setback was the destruction of Davis's original notes and manuscripts on female statues at Angkor Wat, including a hard drive containing about 25,000 photos of the female carvings.

Not to be deterred, Davis returned to Angkor Wat last November to redo some photography.

"I had logistical help from three Cambodians and three European scientists in Cambodia. But due to the independent nature of the study, their contributions are unofficial.

"Now, the only limitations to progress are time and money. I have most of the photo data again and have built the database program. The process of preparing the images and inputting the data will be quite time-consuming.

"The first paper published will be a technical study I just completed with Michigan State University researchers using computer technology to analyse the faces of the 259 devata on the West Gopura.

"Beyond the database, I have an enormous amount of research data about the images in relation to Cambodian, Southeast Asian and South Asian culture. The introduction to this body of work will be published in the anthology to be called Daughters of Angkor Wat, through my publishing company DatAsia.

"Ultimately, my goal is to work with Cambodian researchers and the Apsara Authority.

"But the onus is on me to prepare substantial evidence before approaching them with my paradigm, which is that the primary reason Angkor Wat was built was to protect, honour and glorify these women, as well as the feminine principles that they represent.

"My view is that Angkor Wat is there because of the women."

Water shortage raises questions

Why is service disrupted? When will it be resolved? More importantly, who or what is to blame?

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kyle Sherer
Thursday, 12 February 2009

"Water?" cries Josh, a barman at the Warehouse. "What the f*** is that?"

SIEM REAP

Siem Reap is entering week four of a mysterious water supply disruption, and the only thing flowing is the rumour mill. The town's watering holes, as well as other businesses and homes, have been parched dry, stretched to the breaking point with as little as one hour of water a day, with no explanation from authorities and no end in sight.

Officials are alternately blaming overpopulation, Lunar New Year festivities and burst water pipes - but no concrete answers are forthcoming in Siem Reap's own Watergate.

The water troubles began in the last week of January but reached an intolerable level in the first week of February. Unable to clean dishes or flush toilets, many bar owners were forced to improvise or close.

Dean Williams, owner of Miss Wong, told the Post: "We've basically had water problems for three weeks. This week, it only comes on after midnight. I stay up until it comes on, then fill 300 litres in plastic bins. It gets me through the night. I could buy a tank, but we have no information on how long it's going to last."

For many bar owners, the lack of communication is just as devastating as the lack of water - fuelling uncertainty and limiting their ability to adapt. Carlo Tarabini, owner of X-bar, said: "It's really poor planning. Someone should know what's happening and people should be told. But we only hear rumours. If it continues, more places will close."

Two weeks ago, the minister of tourism was in town, "saying we had to stick together and that the government was going to help us through the global financial crisis. They said they're building a new road to Angkor Wat. But what's the use of a new road if tourists can't flush the toilet? I feel like there's been no support, and no one knows what's going on", Williams said.

Charlie, manager of Angkor What? bar, said: "The bills keep coming but the water doesn't. I'm not going to pay my bill this time. What are they going to do? Cut my water off?"

Chan Sengla, assistant director of the Siem Reap Water Supply Authority, originally told the Post that the water supply has been short because "we cannot produce enough to meet demand", blaming the additional load caused by Lunar New Year celebrations. But Cheav Channy, deputy director of the Technical Department at the authority, blamed a burst pipe at the wastewater pipe excavation site on Sivutha Boulevard, near Hotel de la Paix - a claim denied by Ken Cook, team leader of the Siem Reap Wastewater Management Project, which is responsible for the excavation.

Entrepreneur finds local answer to hotels' import produce needs

Photo by: Kyle Sherer
Sim Rasy in front of 1st Modern Bucher Shop.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kyle Sherer
Thursday, 12 February 2009

SIM Rasy, founder of Siem Reap's "1st Modern Butcher Shop", is trying to break down a frustrating catch 22 that has kept the province's farmers on the brink of destitution despite a soaring demand for produce.

"When I arrived in Siem Reap, most of the NGOs assisting rural workers said they didn't have a market for their farmers," he said.

Despite living in near poverty, he explained, most farmers only grow for three months a year - enough to feed their families, but not enough to make any kind of meaningful profit by trade.

"But the rich hotels import 10 tonnes of produce a day from Vietnam. So I knew for a fact that the market was there."

The farmers have the time, land and ability to grow what the hotels have a pressing need to purchase - but the supposedly universal forces of supply and demand are not bridging the gap. In 2004, Rasy began a quest to find out why.

Sim Rasy's investigation was hardly an academic one. "The Department of Agriculture rented me land to farm on because I knew I had to experience it for myself," he said.

And the first lesson he learned was that there was no agricultural reason to limit production so severely. "I found that it is possible to grow for 365 days a year, not just three months."

He then discovered that farmers are dependant on cash-in-hand transactions to survive, while hotels buy goods on credit. In the absence of a brokering body between the parties, hotels continue to import their produce and farmers simply grow for themselves.

To solve the problem, Sim Rasy opened the 1st Modern Butcher Shop last year and now buys from 10 Siem Reap farmers, paying them with cash and selling the produce to Siem Reap hotels, restaurants and supermarkets.

He hopes that this year he can expand the wholesale operation. But he needs to solve the cash flow problem.

Sim Rasy needs to find a fund with less than 10 percent interest per year, and this will allow him to buy from more farmers with cash and sell to more hotels for credit. Rasy projects that if the fund were secured, Siem Reap farmers could provide hotels with up to 30 percent of their produce within two years.

"We cannot supply 100 percent of produce, but we can reduce the import rate," Rasy said.

In Brief: Khieu samphan to appeal detention

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Georgia Wilkins
Thursday, 12 February 2009

A public hearing has been scheduled for February 27 for detained former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan to appeal his continued detention. Co-prosecutors requested the appeal be done on the basis of written submissions only, but the pretrial chamber deemed it necessary to hold a hearing, as it related to "the liberty of the Charged Person".

In Brief: Officials deny sale of dolphin meat

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Kunmakara
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Governmental officials have denied recent accusations from Thai environmental authorities that Cambodians are involved in the illegal trafficking of dolphins to Thailand, where they are allegedly sold as meat. "I guarantee that my province's people did not do it," said Yuth Phouthang, governor of Koh Kong province. "I ban my people from catching dolphins for business, and ... they draw a lot of tourists to visit my province every year."

Touch Seang Tana, director of the Dolphin Protection Committee, said that the government had committed itself to preserving local dolphin populations. "We have put strict pressure on dolphin-catching since early 2006," he said.

In Brief: Japanese drainage funds for R'Kiri

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sarah Whyte
Thursday, 12 February 2009

The government of Japan has pledged US$79,500 to the Department of Public Works and Transport in Ratanakkiri province, according to a statement by the Japanese embassy, to construct a 1,087-metre drainage system in Banlung district. The project is expected to improve the livelihoods of 25,000 people and substantially upgrade sanitary and environmental conditions for those working in the Banlung Market, it said.

Kingdom's banks at risk: IMF

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

More oversight is needed if Cambodian banks are to weather the storm, says an IMF report.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by George McLeod
Thursday, 12 February 2009

Nonperforming loans could soar to 13 percent and reserves fall below limits if deposits and foreign capital continue to shrink, says new report

Cambodia's banks are under threat from rising nonperforming loans, slow deposit growth and low liquidity, according to an International Monetary Fund report released this week.

If the situation deteriorates, some banks could be unable to meet the government's minimum capital requirements, the report says.

"The global financial crisis has exposed vulnerabilities among Cambodia's banks and is beginning to affect their financial soundness," it says.

The annual economic review adds that poor compliance with reporting rules could mean Cambodian banks are even worse off than thought.

The IMF assessment adds to warnings that the global financial crisis is spreading to Cambodia's banking industry - a sector that until recently was seen as a pillar of stability amidst falling garment exports and dwindling tourist arrivals.

It follows last week's annual World Bank report that also raised concerns about the Cambodian financial sector.

More supervision needed

The IMF's resident representative for Cambodia said the report highlighted the risks that Cambodian banks face in 2009 but did not serve as a negative forecast for the sector.

But John Nelmes told the Post Wednesday the report was a warning the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) needed to watch closely the sector in 2009.

"There is a real need for the NBC to supervise these banks," he said.

"[The NBC] has got to be the first line of defence. ... In that sense, that's where we really need to see careful work. The NBC has to increase surveillance of the banking sector," he said. He added that the IMF noted improvements in NBC monitoring last year.

Nelmes stressed that although liquidity was a growing concern and local banks faced the double hit of falling deposits and declining foreign capital, the IMF did not "expect [Cambodian] banks to run into trouble [in 2009]".


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

There is a real need for the national bank ... to supervise these banks.

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

The report says liquidity shortages have arisen at some banks. "In response, banks have been raising deposit rates, drawing excess reserves and, in a few cases, borrowing from abroad," it says.

An extreme scenario illustrated by the IMF shows non-performing loans rising to a startling 13 percent, with six banks falling short of the government's risk-weighted capital ratio of 15 percent.

Falling property prices have also put pressure on the sector, the report says. "Large withdrawals have reportedly been made by firms concentrated in the property sector, notably Korean-owned banks."

John Brinsden, vice chairman of ACLEDA Bank, said his bank's deposits have been stable.

"I think that liquidity is very tight [in the banking sector as a whole], and deposits have fallen by about one-sixth ... ACLEDA's deposits have remained steady." ACLEDA is one of the few banks that has expanded recently by increasing its ATM coverage and launching new branches in Laos.

Both the IMF and World Bank warned that a number of banks were especially at risk.

The IMF report says "several large [banks] could face a large deterioration in credit quality and a need for recapitalisation, depending on the magnitude of the current slowdown".

The World Bank report mentions "two large banks" being at risk from nonperforming loans.

Spokesmen for the IMF and the World Bank would not name the banks in question, but industry sources have identified Canadia and Vattanac Bank as of particular concern.

"These banks are believed to be overexposed to the property sector," one anonymous source said. "We are also watching a couple of others."

But Charles Vann, deputy general manager of Canadia Bank, said finances remained solid. "These are just rumours. As far as I know, Canadia's finances remain strong."

He said that the bank's liquidity and deposits been steady over the past three months.
Vattanac Bank would not respond to requests for comment.