Cambodia IT: AngkorOne launches phone app

via Khmer NZ

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullins

ANGKOR One has launched a mobile-phone application that will allow mobile users with internet connections to access its website on their phones.

The IT company’s new application is free, but will be supported by advertisement revenue, spokeswoman Athana Nou said yesterday.

Founded less than two years ago, the firm is presently operating at a loss, she said, though she declined to comment on the size of its deficit.

The mobile-phone application was designed “from the ground up”, said Angkor One CEO Steven Path in a press release. “AngkorOne Mobile offers valuable content for Khmers … who have limited or no access to an internet computer.”

Discussions are under way with Smart Mobile to send the application to its subscribers, Athana Nou said.

The application does not require a 3rd Generation (3G) phone and is available to any mobile phone user in Cambodia regardless of service provider.

The application, which can be downloaded from the company website, is available in English or Khmer. It gives users access to the firm’s mobile-specific web page, which provides a news page and a social networking site.

Outh Phouthang outpointed

Photo by: Robert Starkweather
Outh Phouthang (right), among the most experienced fighters in the game, had no answers for Bheut Kam’s speed Sunday at TV5 boxing arena in Takhmao.

via Khmer NZ

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 Robert Starkweather

With all the effortless grace for which he is both famous and feared, Bheut Kam soundly outclassed Koh Kong fighting legend Outh Phouthang Sunday at the TV5 boxing arena in Takhmao.

Working behind a sneaky left hand, 23-year-old Battambang southpaw Bheut Kam began scoring with clean, hard low kicks early in the second round and was landing elbows at will by the end of the third.

Judges do not make their scorecards public, but their sums could not have tallied anything less than a shutout.

Photo by: Robert Starkweather
Long dominant in the lighter divisions, Bheut Kam (right) has grown in recent years, and he now threatens to reorder the ranks of the sport’s heavier weight classes.

“He killed me,” said Outh Phouthang, who blamed fighting at 69 kilograms for his lackluster performance. “I am too slow at this weight,” he said. “I would have preferred to fight him at 67.”

The difference in speed and strength became evident early.

In the second round, Bheut Kam landed several head-snapping straight left hands and clean jab-low kick combinations, once kicking Outh Phouthang off his feet.

By the third, Bheut Kam was in complete control. He opened the round punching hard to the body, picking his shots and showboating with flying elbows.

The crowd, overwhelmingly behind the Battambang boy in the blue corner, roared with applause and waved their hands in the air.

By the end of round three, with a Bheut Kam victory all but assured, the only question that remained concerned the durability of 30-year-old Outh Phouthang. And test it Bheut Kam did.

He pounded away at the body with hard punches and low kicks throughout the later rounds. He landed half a dozen or more elbows in the fourth, and he cut Outh Phouthang on the head with an elbow in the fifth.

With the fight coming to a close, Bheut Kam capped the bout with a final flurry of combinations, and for a fleeting moment, a bloodied and beaten Outh Phouthang looked in danger of going down.

But when the final bell rang, Outh Phouthang smiled humbly in defeat and put his arm around the winner.

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

via Khmer NZ

FIFA panel meet FFC

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 H S Manjunath

A four-strong panel from the world governing body FIFA’s Member Association Professionalisation programme paid a three-day visit over the weekend for a series of coordination meetings with the Football Federation of Cambodia. As part of a FIFA drive to empower associations by promoting good governance, the panel members underlined the importance of an IT-savvy administrative set up. Three of the panel also visited the FFC’s new multi-million-dollar football complex under construction in Tonle Bati, Takeo province.

Kenny makes exit in Bangkok Futures event

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 H S Manjunath

Cambodia’s No 2 tennis player Bun Kenny went down fighting against Australia’s Yuri Bezekou 7-6, 6-3 in the second round of the Men’s Asian Circuit futures event qualifiers in Bangkok Sunday. In a first set marked by long rallies and hard-earned points, Kenny had the Australian in spots of bother before losing out in a tight tie-break. Kenny held his own in the second, but the Australian assumed absolute control midway through the set to polish off the match. Earlier in the first round, Bun Kenny overcame stiff resistance from another Australian, Andrew Thomas, winning an absorbing baseline contest 7-6, 7-5.

Capital port freight rises

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 Chun Sophal

FREIGHT shipments through the Phnom Penh Autonomous Port rose 57 percent in July compared to the same month last year, and 13.65 percent on June’s statistics, according to official figures. A total of 6,584 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, of freight were shipped in July through the PPAP to and from the Vietnamese deep water port Cai Mep, compared to only 4,191 TEUs in July last year and 5,793 TEUs last month.

TNT Express profit falls

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullins

PROFIT at transport and logistics firm TNT Express Worldwide fell 8.5 percent in the year’s first half to US$196 million, compared with the same period last year, according to results released yesterday. Meanwhile, revenue climbed 9.6 percent to US$3.621 billion for the period, compared with the same period of 2009. The Amsterdam-listed firm first extended its road shipping network into Cambodia during May last year.

Southern Gold unearths veins in Kratie province

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullines

AUSTRALIAN mining company Southern Gold has found gold veins of more than 1 kilometre in length at its Snoul site in Kratie province, according to the firm’s June quarter update. Southern Gold owns four Cambodian exploration licences outright and another three with JOGMEC, an organisation charged with securing a stable supply of oil and natural gas to Japan. Its share price closed down A$0.01 to $0.69 on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Three lessons for development

via Khmer NZ

Tuesday, 03 August 2010 15:00 Hal Hill, Jayant Menon and Chun Sophal

Analysis

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

Hal Hill, Jayant Menon and Chun Sophal

Phnom Penh’s changing physical landscape, perhaps best embodied by the 42-storey Gold Tower skyscraper now nearing completion and the flourishing of university and bank complexes, reflects much broader developments in Cambodia, which has been experiencing rapid economic growth – the sixth-fastest in the world in the decade to 2007 – for the first time.

More than 2 million tourists now visit this country of 14 million citizens, a 20-fold increase over figures from the early 1990s. Cambodians have better nutrition and access to education and health services than ever before. Since the cessation of hostilities almost two decades ago, life expectancy has risen by almost a decade, and infant mortality has fallen significantly.

The macroeconomy is stable, with inflation under control, underpinned by high levels of dollarisation, currently about 90 percent. Debt service is almost negligible, and public debt has fallen sharply, to about one-quarter of GDP.

The economy is highly open, with exports plus imports equivalent to more than 120 percent of GDP. The investment climate is welcoming, with generous tax incentives and low tariffs. Aid flows are large, almost $1.1 billion in a $10 billion economy.

So much for the good news. Cambodia also faces many daunting problems. The country ranks 166th and 135th respectively out of 181 countries surveyed in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index and the World Bank’s Doing Business indicators. Deforestation and what is referred to locally as land-grabbing have been rampant. The local dailies abound with reports of land being awarded to the politically powerful for nominal amounts, and a startling but detailed account is presented in the 2008 study by Global Witness titled Country for Sale. In an ironic but bitter twist, the land-price boom has often made some of the most vulnerable worse off, as they have been evicted or forced off their land. Rather than sharing in the apparent emerging affluence, they have instead become victims of it. Household expenditure surveys report a significant increase in inequality. The country will also miss some of its Millennium Development Goal targets.

These problems are illustrative of the challenges faced by poor transitional economies in the process of opening up, without the institutions to manage the complex process of globalization. In this environment, the recent discovery of oil and gas could complicate things, as articulated in the well-known “natural resource curse” thesis. Hence, the lessons to be learned from Cambodia are of general interest, apart from ensuring that history does not repeat itself.

The central challenge is to achieve growth that is durable, equitable and environmentally sustainable. This in turn requires the development of institutions which, if rudimentary, are effective, trusted and clean. Where to start?

Cambodia has no shortage of laws, especially after its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2004. But businesses view the courts as the most expensive last resort.

Civil service salaries are meagre. A mid-level senior employee with a foreign masters degree receives $70 per month, compared to a private sector alternative of about 20 times this amount. Ministers receive about $500 per month. Official salaries and actual lifestyles may not always bear a close resemblance, however.

The country’s tax effort (its tax revenue as a percentage of GDP) is a paltry 11 percent, despite the introduction of a broad-based VAT. Thus, the country’s infrastructure remains inadequate, despite large aid flows, and notwithstanding recent improvements.

The number of banks has been increasing rapidly due to unfettered entry. The lax prudential supervision carries the possibility of future meltdown.

Shipping a container from factory to port costs about double the regional average owing to facilitation costs.

Five general lessons stand out from the Cambodian experience. Heeding these lessons will be important not only to ensure a brighter future for Cambodia, but also for other late reformers.

First, liberal and open economies cannot function without due respect for property rights, as exemplified by the widespread land grabs. Second, these liberal regimes need adequate regulatory capacity to manage a modernising market economy, as illustrated by the banking example above.

Third, large inflows of foreign aid and natural resource revenues ought to be viewed as transitory, and invested wisely for broad-based development. Fourth, donors need to better coordinate their work, and avoid imposing excessively on a weak bureaucracy. Fifth, civil service reform has to be undertaken early, with clear incentives and disciplines.

Unless these conditions are met, the danger is that in Cambodia, and many similar states, the achievements of the past decade in particular could be undone by economic crises, or civil unrest driven by outrage at political and bureaucratic excesses. Although there are many reasons to be optimistic about Cambodia’s future, meeting these conditions will require changes, and soon.

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

Hal Hill is professor of economics at Australia National University; Jayant Menon is principal economist at the Asia Development Bank; Chun Sophal is president of the Cambodia Economic Association.

A painful but necessary reminder

via Khmer NZ

By Jim Eagles
Tuesday Aug 3, 2010

A schoolgirl looks at the faces of victims at the Tuol Leng Genocide Museum in Cambodia. Photo / Jim Eagles

Five years on I still get a lump in my throat when I think about visiting the Khmer Rouge's main torture centre in Phnom Penh and the associated execution site where an estimated 17,000 victims were buried.

Evil on that scale is hard to comprehend, especially when set in such painfully ordinary surroundings as the cluster of high school buildings where so many innocent people were tortured, and the tranquil farmland where they had their heads smashed with bamboo poles before being dumped into mass graves.

I wandered round the genocide museums the Cambodian Government has created at both sites, gazing blankly at the small cells with their iron beds and crude torture implements, and the rough grassy mounds with bits of bone and clothing protruding from the soil, not really taking it in.

What brought the horror home was not the displays but the reaction of a couple of the Cambodians who were also there.

One was a girl, about the same age as my oldest granddaughter, part of a school group visiting the torture centre and making notes. As I watched her progress down the display of victims' photos, her face first grew perplexed, then shocked, as she realised how many there were, that the rows of photos went on and on and on, and that some were younger than herself.

Before long she stopped making notes and just stood there, staring, perhaps realising that if she had been born 30 years earlier her photo might have been in the display.

The other was a young woman, probably in her 20s, who suddenly burst into tears, fled outside and sat sobbing on a bench, shoulders heaving. Perhaps she was the daughter of one of those whose tragic faces stare accusingly from the display boards inside. Or perhaps, of course, her father was one of the torturers.

At that point I left too, having trouble swallowing, and with watery eyes spent some time looking at the rough flower garden someone had started to create on what were once the school's playing fields.

I was reminded of that experience by the sentencing last week of the man who presided over that high school torture centre, former headmaster Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch.

The finding of the special court that he was guilty of murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts and crimes against humanity, and the sentence of 35 years' imprisonment, seemed unreal, otherworldly, far removed from our comfortable lives.

And yet this horror happened, not far off in Europe or Africa, but in our part of the world, in my lifetime, at the hands of a regime which had its origins in a war in which our country was a participant, and the victims included New Zealanders and Australians.

The genocide museums that are the legacy of Comrade Duch and his fellow fanatics are not comfortable places to visit. But tourists should steel themselves and go anyway, because they provide an important reminder of how seemingly ordinary people, apparently with the best of intentions, are capable of inflicting unspeakable cruelty on their fellow humans.

By Jim Eagles | Email Jim

Petrolimex Seeks To Expand Oil Product Sales In Cambodia

http://www.automatedtrader.net/

via Khmer NZ

Published Tuesday, 3 August 2010

HANOI -(Dow Jones)- State-run Vietnam National Petroleum Corp., or Petrolimex, said Tuesday that it is seeking to expand its oil-product sales in Cambodia, where it already holds a 50% stake in the country's retail oil product market.

Petrolimex has opened a representative office in Cambodia, paving the way for the company to open a wholly owned unit there, it said in a statement.

The Vietnamese company's revenue from oil product exports to Cambodia total $700 million a year, it said.

Last November, Petrolimex opened a wholly owned company in Singapore, its first overseas unit.

-By Vu Trong Khanh, Dow Jones Newswires; +84 4 35123042; trong-khanh.vu@dowjones.com

\via Khmer NZ

Posted 2 August 2010

Written by Sopheap Chak

More than 30 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia, the first guilty verdict was handed out last 26 July 2010 by the Trial Chamber of The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)-popularly known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. It was the conviction of Kaing Guek Eav aka Duch, one of four people including Nuon Chea aka Brother Number Two, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith (aka Khmer Rouge First Lady) and Khieu Samphan who have been brought to court for genocide, crime against humanity and other war crimes.

Duch, Tuol Sleng prison chief, was sentenced to 35 years in prison; however, it was reduced to 19 years since he has been in detention in the past 16 years including the illegal detention for five years ordered by the military court in 1999. This verdict sparked mixed reactions from various institutions and individuals particularly those who suffered during the Khmer Rouge period. These reactions can be categorized into three groups.

First, a group of people who are looking forward to the outcome of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal welcomes this verdict by highlighting the event as a historical moment for Cambodia especially to human rights victims. Sovachana Pou, a volunteer teacher and blogger who attended the trial session, immediately wrote a post sharing his feelings:

In the court chamber, I personally witnessed the hybrid justice proceeding live with more than 500 people, most of them are victims. It was a moving experience and historic event for all the victims to wait more than 30 years to finally having some sort of justice.

On one hand, Sophal Ear, a survivor of the genocide and who once gave a remarkable talk for TED on ‘escaping the Khmer Rouge,‘ in February 2009 in Long Beach, California, remembered the words of his mother when the Duch Verdict was announced:

On this momentous occasion, I'd like to step back by reflecting upon and give voice to one victim of the Khmer Rouge: my late mother, Cam Youk Lim […] She didn't live to see this day, but no matter, for her justice would inevitably be rendered the Buddhist way. She decided long ago the Khmer Rouge were Karmic pestilence who would pay the price for their crimes, if not in this lifetime, then in their next life.

Another group of reaction refers to those who are disappointed with the verdict claiming that the sentence is too light for a criminal who supervised the execution of more than 14,000 people. In a letter titled “ECCC brought no fairness to the people of Cambodia” to editor of Phnom Penh Post, Jeffrey Serey Hola highlighted the a press statement of Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR). While CCHR welcomes the reduction of Duch's prison sentence as a good model for domestic courts whose detention practices remain a serious concern, Jeffrey questioned the “light” sentence if the intent is to provide justice to victims. The demand is at least a life sentence for Duch while the death penalty is not legalized in Cambodia.

It is understandable that many wanted him to face the death penalty, even though capital punishment is illegal in Cambodia. The reduced sentence of 19 years for Duch is too lenient for such a vicious mass murder. Duch should at least serve a life sentence […] For those who have lived and experienced such horrors, how could this sentence ever be considered justice? For them, it is just a slap on the wrist. Justice was not served for the people of Cambodia.

This sentiment is similarly shared by Bernard Krisher, chairman of American Assistance for Cambodia and publisher of a local foreign newspaper named Cambodia Daily. Writing from Tokyo, he said that the tribunal sentence is too light and demanded that Duch should be hanged.

As a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish people in the 1930s where many of my relatives, including a number of my father's siblings, perished in Hitler's gas chambers, I followed the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunals and was disappointed at the relatively light sentence given to the German and Japanese war criminals at their war crime trials, I feel that Duch should have been hanged[…]

On the other hand, there is another group which neither supports the Khmer Rouge Tribunal nor the Duch verdict. In an interview with BBC, two Cambodian survivors pointed out the credibility problem of the UN-backed tribunal given the fact that it was established only to make good impression in the international community.

Both want to see the top leaders sentenced, they don't care much about punishment for minions like Duch, who would have been killed himself had he not followed orders from above.

Interestingly, even government ministers shared contrasting views on the Duch verdict. While Cambodia's Information Minister Khieu Kanharith is pleased with the verdict, the Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong is disappointed with the light sentence on Duch.

Khieu Kanharith, in an interview by Radio VOA Khmer Service, said:

«វា​បាន​បង្ហាញ​ថា​ ទីមួយ​គឺការ​ប្តេជ្ញា​ចិត្ត​របស់​រាជ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កម្ពុជា ក្នុង​ការ​ស្វែងរក​យុត្តិធម៌​ជូន​ប្រជា​ពលរដ្ឋ​ខ្មែរ ​និង​ទីពីរ​ ​វាបាន​បង្ហាញ​អំពី​កម្រិត​ផ្នែក​វិជ្ជាជីវៈ​របស់​អង្គ​ចៅក្រម​របស់​យើង​ ក្នុងការ​ស្វែងរក​យុត្តិធម៌​ជូន​ប្រជាពល​រដ្ឋខ្មែរ»។

Firstly it indicate the government commitment in searching for justice for Cambodians and secondly this show the professionalism of the chambers.

On the other hand, Hor Nam Hong interviewed by Radio Free Asia, expressed his personal statement:

«ដោយសារ​នេះ​ជា​ភារកិច្ច​របស់​តុលាការ​ខ្មែរ​ក្រហម រាជ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​មិន​មាន​ជំហរ​អី​ទេ។ យោបល់​ផ្ទាល់​របស់​ខ្ញុំ ខ្ញុំ​ឃើញ​ថា វា​មិន​សមរម្យ បើ​ប្រៀបធៀប​ទៅ​នឹង​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា​ស្លាប់​ជិត ៣​លាន​នាក់។ ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា​ដែល​គេ​យក​ទៅ​ធ្វើ​ទារុណកម្ម​នៅ​ទួលស្លែង ហើយ​សម្លាប់​នៅ​ជើងឯក​រាប់​សែន​នាក់​នេះ។ កាត់​ទោស​នេះ​ហាក់​ដូច​ជា​ស្រាល មិន​សម​នឹង​ចំនួន​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា​ដែល​បាន​ស្លាប់»

Because this is the work of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, the government has no position (on this matter). My personal position is that it is not appropriate, especially if we compare it to the nearly 3 million Cambodians who had died. Hundreds of thousands of Khmer people have been tortured at Tuol Sleng and then executed at Cheung Ek (Killing Fields). This sentence seems a bit light, not comparable to the number of people who have been killed. translated by Khmerization.

Detainee escapes during bowling trip

http://news.smh.com.au/

via Khmer NZ

August 3, 2010

AAP

An immigration detainee is on the run from authorities after giving supervising officers the slip during a bowling excursion.

A man, originally from Cambodia, had overstayed his visitor visa and was being held at Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre in Melbourne's west.

He escaped from two supervising officers during an excursion to a bowling alley with another detainee on Saturday, a Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesman said on Tuesday.

Victoria Police and the department were still searching for the man.

"The man is not deemed dangerous to the community," a police spokeswoman said.

REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea: Cambodian farmer works on rice field,

Cambodian farmer works on the rice field in Kampong Speu province, west of Phnom Penh August 2, 2010. Cambodia's rice exports in the first six months this year has surpassed the whole of last year to 15,000 tonnes, a senior commercial official said on Monday, as the country steps up its efforts to become a leading shipper of the grain. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodian farmers work on the rice field in Kampong Speu province, west of Phnom Penh August 2, 2010. Cambodia's rice exports in the first six months this year has surpassed the whole of last year to 15,000 tonnes, a senior commercial official said on Monday, as the country steps up its efforts to become a leading shipper of the grain. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Thy Channa, 13, who earns 5,000 riel ($1.20) per day, smiles as he works on the rice field after his school vacation, in Kampong Speu province, west of Phnom Penh August 2, 2010. Cambodia's rice exports in the first six months this year has surpassed the whole of last year to 15,000 tonnes, a senior commercial official said on Monday, as the country steps up its efforts to become a leading shipper of the grain. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

A seller prepares rice to be sold at a market in Kampong Speu province, west of Phnom Penh August 2, 2010. Cambodia's rice exports in the first six months this year has surpassed the whole of last year to 15,000 tonnes, a senior commercial official said on Monday, as the country steps up its efforts to become a leading shipper of the grain. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Indonesia and Thailand: A Natural Alliance Regional Perspective

via Khmer NZ

August 2, 2010

By Kavi Chongkittavorn

The Nation/ANN

When the dispute over a Hindu Temple, known as Praviharn/Preahvihear, along Thai-Cambodian border nearly reached the point of no-return at the end of last year, the Thai government asked the Indonesia government for help. If there was a temporary closure of Thai Embassy and evacuation of its staffers due to the extreme conflict situation, the Indonesian Embassy in Phnom Penh would look after Thai interest inside Cambodia. This little known request shows the emerging mutual trust and new friendship between the two countries with a historical link dated back to the Majapahit Empire in 1350.

Last November, at the sideline of Singapore’s APEC meeting, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva briefed Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the Thai-Cambodian conflict. At that meeting, Thailand also placed the full confidence on Indonesia to serve as a facilitator to find ways to reduce tension. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa was recently in Thailand to brief his counterpart Kasit Piromya on the progress on this task.

When the Thai political crisis during April-May 2010 was impacting on the solidarity and cooperation of Asean, Yudhoyono discreetly suggested that the Asean leaders should meet and discuss the turmoil in Thailand. After close consultations in Kuala Lumpur with Yudhoyono, Prime Minister Najib Razak, senior officials from Brunei and Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Secretary General of Asean, they agreed that the Asean Chair, Vietnam, should issue a joint statement reflected the concern of Asean and expressed support of peaceful solution of political conflict in Thailand.

Such cooperation would be unimaginable prior to the democratization in the world’s fourth largest country in 1998. After 12 years of efforts, Indonesia has further consolidated its nascent democracy and has reached out to the region and beyond. With similar democratic values and shared international outlooks, Kasit told The Nation on the eve of 60th anniversary of their relations that Thailand looks to Indonesia as a natural alliance.

One of the newest cooperation between the two countries is in the area of global diplomacy and efforts. This may sound like deeds of superpowers but it is not. Thailand and Indonesia share a similar aspiration to be a good member of international community. For example, Indonesia, along with Thailand, has cited the principle of responsibility to protect as one of its diplomatic norms. They have also urged Asean to take up this challenge. Former Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda was succinct when he told the Asean ministerial meeting in Singapore in May 2008 that Burma must be more responsible in protecting its citizens suffering from Cyclone Nargis and allowing Asean and international humanitarian organizations to help.

International peace keeping is another area that Indonesia and Thailand see eye to eye. Both want to promote and highlight the Asean cooperation at the UN level. Each Asean member has contributed—one way or another—to the UN peace keeping operations during the past six decades. However, the Asean members have never cooperated with one another to form common positions and plans. Exchange of information and merging programs and cooperation among Asean countries on this issue would help to boost cooperation with the UN. Another Asean-UN summit has been scheduled at the end of October in Hanoi.

When Indonesia proposed the drafting of Asean Charter and security community, Thailand was among the first to back such endeavor. During the drafting period, the two countries held common positions on human rights, civil society organizations, media freedom and collective responsibility. They wanted to see the Asean human rights body, Asean Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights, to protect human rights abuse as a top priority—not just to promote. In addition, they have encouraged the civil society organizations to take part in the decision-making inside Asean.

These were the crux of new Asean norms and values after the Asean leaders signed the Bali Concord II in 2003 that would propel the grouping up to the next level. Unfortunately, their common stand was not able to trump the more consolidated conservative position of other Asean members. Obviously, in the past under former president Suharto such cooperation and common view would be extremely difficult. However, as Indonesian democracy grows from strength to strength, its role within Asean would augment, especially those related to openness, democracy and governance. It was a far cry from the past when Jakarta was regularly ridiculed as the lowest denominator—nothing proceeds in Asean without its consent. Indonesia’s regional and international profile will expand further when it assumes the chair of Asean next year.

On the human rights issue, both countries would serve as the pillar of Asean in promoting broader public participation and scrutiny. Both official and representatives in their countries are working hand in hand to ensure that the implement of the Asean Charter and compliance with all agreements and protocols would be carried out in full. This is encouraging sign as it would encourage other Asean countries to follow suited.

Thai and Indonesian media are a closely knitted community. They enjoy freedom of information and expression. Indonesia has become the second country in Asean after Thailand to enact the public information law, which allows the public to have access to government-held information and data. Thailand, which came out with the same law in 1997, was able to exchange views and experience with the Indonesian lawmakers as well as representatives of nongovernmental organizations. Thai journalists also help train Indonesian colleagues in investigative journalism and ethics. Vice versa, they also shared their experience in covering conflict situation in Aceh and East Timor.

Journalists from both countries have reported regularly on each country’s developments. Of late, the Indonesian media has paid lots of attention to the political crisis in Thailand. They were able to give a comparative perspective more than other countries because their countries have also gone through such turbulence back in 1998. What has made the reports and analysis in the Indonesian media different from the rest of the world was quite simply—they did not patronize the Thai democracy. While they agreed that Thai democracy has problems, they also expressed confidence that in the end Thai peoples will overcome these fundamental problems and become a matured democracy.

Indonesian journalist associations also have good relations with the Thai counterparts. Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and the Institute for Studies on Free Flow of Information (ISAI) are active partners of Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), a regional press freedom advocacy group and Thai Journalists Association. Together they help to promote media freedom and building capacity for journalists from other Asean countries.

Enemies of the People – Movie Review

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/

via Khmer NZ

By Ron Wilkinson

Aug 2, 2010

One of the most amazing investigative documentary films of all time. The interviews are few but of the highest quality.

Rob Lemkin wrote, directed and filmed this scary documentary about the political mass killings in Cambodia between 1976 and the fall of the Pol Pot regime in 1979. The film won a Special Jury prize at Sundance in 2010.

The film is co-directed, written and filmed by journalist Thet Sambath whose father was murdered in the Killing Fields and whose brother disappeared 1977, never to return. His mother was forced to marry a Khmer Rouge militiaman and died in childbirth in 1976.

Sambeth escaped Cambodia at the age of ten years when the regime fell in 1979. The late ‘90s found him back in Phnom Penn working as a reporter. While covering the city, he worked to get to know the children of former Khmer soldiers and commanders who were directly involved in the political killings of the 1970s.

The Khmer Rouge were country people who had little compunction about killing the city people they perceived as being rich, overfed and domineering. Sambeth’s father was a peasant and he survived in a country refugee camp and with missionaries, so he had exposure to country life.

Slowly he gained the confidence of his peers and was introduced to their fathers. From those friendships came unparalleled access to some of the most amazing interviews one could imagine.

These interviews include Pol Pot's second-in-command, Nuon Chea who is presently awaiting trial before the UN-backed Cambodian genocide tribunal. By coincidence, the first trial ended, as this review was being written, with the conviction of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, the head of the infamous S-1 torture prison.

Eav was sentenced to 35 years in prison for charges that included crimes against humanity. Chea and Pol Pot together planned the overall strategy for killing the hundreds of thousands of political dissidents, or average educated professionals, which would fill the Killing Fields.

This film has a parallel to the incredible documentary of the Rwandan Hutu genocide of the Tutsi people “My neighbor My Killer” written and directed by Anne Aghion in 2009. The film has had almost no exposure or distribution, only being shown in film festivals. The crux of the film is confession and forgiveness for what is impossible to forgive.

Impossible, yet perpetrators of this horrendous slaughter stand in front of country courts and confess their crime. There is little punishment, for what can a person do to atone for such a thing? Certainly, there is nothing that can bring back the dead.

The chilling interview with Nuon Chea has a similar feeling about it. He appears only somewhat cognizant of the pain and suffering he caused and depths of his moral failure. As one listens to his story it is impossible to discern whether he is confessing or simply recounting a mission he accomplished, under orders, as a citizen of the country.

Indeed, the people killed were deemed “enemies of the state” by the country’s rulers. The first duty of a ruler is to maintain order in the country and, of course, that means staying on the throne.

This drives home the troubling question of the absolute nature of their crimes. If the USA executes a person for killing another person is it so far afield when a country kills those who act as traitors to the regime? In America’s Civil War neighbors killed neighbors.

Does it make a huge difference if the persons killed were killed by a cannon ball as opposed to having their throats slit by a patriotic neighbor?

By the end of the film, there is a feeling that those concerned regret what they did. However, they only regret it in the context of not having alternatives. They do not regret the fact that they accomplished what they were ordered to do, or what was very probably required to prop up the shaky regime.

In this way this film urges us to examine ourselves and ask how different we are, and how far we would have to be pushed to do what the soldiers under Pol Pot did. How far would we have to be pushed to do what the Hutus did to the Tutsis?

The trial of Nuon Chea and three other high-ranking officers who conducted the mass murders is expected to start in mid 2010. Many doubt that the frail Nuon Chea will live that long.

Visit the movie database for more information.

Documentary
Directed by: Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath
Written by: Rob Lemkin
Release: July 30, 2010
MPAA: Not Rated
Runtime: 93 minutes
Country: UK / Cambodia
Language: English / Khmer
Color: Color

Lower Mekong Initiative

U.S. partners with Southeast Asia for an initiative that will strengthen cooperation and build on common interests.

VOA, 08-01-2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: AP
A boat on the Mekong River, Khmer. (file)

The LMI was created in July 2009 as a means to enhance cooperation in the areas of environment, health, education, and infrastructure development.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently met with the Foreign Ministers of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam in Hanoi. All 5 countries met in the context of the Lower Mekong Initiative, or LMI. The LMI was created in July 2009 as a means to enhance cooperation in the areas of environment, health, education, and infrastructure development. Since then, the 5 countries have sought to strengthen cooperation in these areas and build on their common interests.

Cooperation is growing in the environmental area. This month saw the formal inauguration of a "sister-river" partnership between the Mekong River Commission and the Mississippi River Commissions, which aims to improve the management of trans-boundary water resources in the lower Mekong.

The United States will also launch a 3-year program to assist the 4 Lower Mekong countries to develop strategies to cope with the impact of climate change on water sources and food security.

In the area of health, U.S. assistance to the Mekong countries under the LMI will total over $147 million in 2010 and focus on targeting pandemic threats. This Emerging Pandemic Threats program will improve early identification of and response to new public health threats that originate in animals. The program will support training for health professionals and veterinarians to detect, track, and contain outbreaks. Additional LMI funding will help monitor and track substandard and counterfeit medicines and establish a regional network to detect drug resistant malaria.

On-going U.S. assistance in the field of HIV/AIDS has provided prevention, care and treatment to over 2 million people across the Mekong region, contributing to a 50 percent reduction in HIV/AIDS infection rate in Cambodia; providing life-saving antiretroviral treatments and other interventions worth $90 million in Vietnam; and in Thailand, supporting the largest clinical trial to date, which demonstrated that a vaccine regimen could be both safe and effective at preventing HIV infection.

Under the Lower Mekong Initiative, the U.S. provides 18 million $ worth of assistance in the area of education. This includes programs to increase access to the Internet in poor, rural areas. Under the International Visitors Leadership Program, regional professionals can travel to the U.S. to learn from their American counterparts. Moreover, professionals in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam can win scholarships to study and improve their English-language skills.

As Secretary Clinton said, "The United States is back in Southeast Asia... and we are fully engaged with our... partners on the wide range of challenges confronting us."

A New Petition to Protect Children

via Khmer NZ

By HILARY HOWARD

August 2, 2010

Doing your part to end the sex trafficking of children can be as easy as strolling into the nearest Body Shop.

Bennett Raglin

Last Friday, Somaly Mam, one of Nick’s heroes, and actress Susan Sarandon, along with representatives from ECPAT USA (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) and The Body Shop, held a press conference to announce the second phase of The Body Shop-led campaign, “Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People.”

Whereas the first part of the campaign, which began about a year ago, focused on raising awareness and funds, the second phase concerns actual legislative change: making Safe Harbor laws, which protect those under 18 from being charged, prosecuted or imprisoned for prostitution, a reality in all 50 states (the law only exists so far in New York, Connecticut and Washington State). Starting today, The Body Shop is making available a petition to sign in all of its stores and online in the hopes of amassing enough signatures to influence other states to take action.

Those interested in doing more than signing a petition may choose to indulge in a little retail therapy: a portion of the funds from The Body Shop’s $7 tube of “Soft Hands Kind Heart” hand cream will go to ECPAT, while funds from similarly themed $5 tote bags will go to the Somaly Mam Foundation, which Ms. Sarandon described as a results-oriented organization where you “really get a bang for your buck.”

Susan Sarandon Teams With The Body Shop to End Sex Trafficking

via Khmer NZ

by Grace Gold (Subscribe to Grace Gold's posts)
Posted Aug 2nd 2010

Susan Sarandon and Somaly Mam. Photo: Getty Images

Susan Sarandon is adding star power to The Body Shop's latest installment of its Stop Sex Trafficking Campaign.

The retailer will launch a petition drive in the United States today to spread awareness and support for legislation that would help end the sex trafficking of children and young people worldwide. Stores will urge visitors to sign the petition, and a Web site link will allow anyone to sign electronically.

Uma Thurman, Yoko Ono, and Sienna Miller have also signed the petition and created self-drawn hand traces for colorful signage that will go up in stores.

In addition, The Body Shop will continue to donate proceeds from their popular Soft Hands, Kind Heart Hand Cream and Bag for Life products to ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) and the Somaly Mam Foundation, for both of which they've already raised over $1.5 million.

Sarandon sung words of praise for her favorite beauty destination.

"It would be wonderful if more corporate entities understood how eager people are to see their money go toward a donation. The Body Shop was one of the first to get that and do that," Sarandon told a packed penthouse atop New York's Morgans Hotel.

And Sarandon thinks informing the public that trafficking is still something that happens every day -- even right here in the USA -- will open many people's eyes and instigate change.

"When people see what is going on," said Sarandon, "they will no longer allow this kind of sexual tourism to exist."

Sold into sexual slavery at the age of 12 by her grandfather, Cambodian Somaly Mam has come to be seen as emblematic of the movement to rescue and rehabilitate girls caught in the trade. Holding hands with Sarandon at the launch event, Mam talked about the most difficult part of her job: playing nurturing mother to all the girls her centers accept.

"It's easy to walk in and save a girl from a brothel in five minutes, but it takes five, ten years to recover them from the experience. They need to be given skills so they can continue on in life," said Mam, who was flanked by one of her Cambodian rescues -- a shy, quiet girl who looked no older than 15, yet had lost a right eye when her captor took a knife to it as a punishment.

"It's not just about the money with The Body Shop, it's about their love and support. They are so brave to support a cause that can make people very uncomfortable," said Mam.

Mam referred to Sarandon several times as her "mentor," though the Oscar-winning actress responded by saying their close friendship is a constant perspective-changer for her.

"I'll be freaking out over something, and then Somaly will call me to talk about problems she is going through. And I instantly forget about whatever stupid thing it was that was bothering me. Let me tell you, Somaly works with real problems," said Sarandon.

Katrina Bowden of 30 Rock fame also attended the event, as did Mam's oldest daughter, Ning. The 18 year-old's eyes lit up when we asked if she had spent time with Sarandon before.

"She came to our center last year and taught us how to play ping-pong! She is such a good person, but we didn't know she was so famous," the soft-spoken teenager told StyleList.

Ning spends most of her time at her mother's center in Cambodia, where she hopes to start business school soon so she can one day help run the center -- which she said was a serious departure from the American city she had flown into for The Body Shop event.

"I'm so surprised that New York is so big! It is the biggest city I have ever seen in my life. It's definitely not Cambodia."

Pope expresses profound satisfaction with the avoidence of Cluster Munitions

via Khmer NZ

August 02, 2010

Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his profound satisfaction with the entering into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. He's called on all countries to support the agreement.

Cambodia in clasp of cluster bombs

via Khmer NZ

Monday, August 02, 2010

At least 26 million cluster bombs were dropped on Cambodia by the United States during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 70s.

And decades after the bombs stopped falling, millions of undetonated bombs lying in fields across the country continue to maim thousands of people who are unfortunate enough to step on them.

However, the Cambodian government has yet to agree to a global treaty on cluster munitions, which came into force on Monday.

The convention mandates signatory countries to find and clear their land of all the bomblets.

Al Jazeera Stephanie Scawen reports from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, on why the government has not signed the treaty to clear their land of the mines.

Government Looks To Build Reserve Military Force

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Monday, 02 August 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: AP
The broadening of the military comes at a time of increasing countrywide nationalism that has been spurred by on ongoing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand.

“The Ministry of Defense will train the reservists on fighting tactics and defense tactics as a base.”

The Council of Ministers passed a decree Friday that would begin to create a reserve force, despite previous government policy to reduce military spending.

Friday's decree would draw a reservist force from early resignations, soldiers who have completed their enlistments or even “experts” who have ben involved in military tasks.

The broadening of the military comes at a time of increasing countrywide nationalism that has been spurred by on ongoing border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. The decree also follows a 2006 law that provides for military conscription.

“The Ministry of Defense will train the reservists on fighting tactics and defense tactics as a base,” Thum Sotheat, a three-star general and a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, told VOA Khmer.

The training could also include specialties, such as engineering, construction or medical work, he said.

Mystery Pig Deaths Spread Through Three Provinces

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Monday, 02 August 2010

via Khmer NZ

Photo: AP
Animal health authorities are trying to learn what has killed nearly 200 pigs in three separate provinces.

“On Saturday, we started the blood tests on seven pigs.”

Animal health authorities are trying to learn what has killed nearly 200 pigs in three separate provinces.

An unknown number of pigs have died in the provinces of Battambang and Kampong Cham, while nearly 150 have perished in the southern province of Kampot.

Health officials said the disease appears to be bacterial, making an outbreak of H1N1, sometimes called swine flu, unlikely.

On Monday, officials began blood tests of pigs in Kampot, where the latest and most severe outbreak has occurred.

“On Saturday, we started the blood tests on seven pigs,” Kao Phal, director of the animal health department of the Ministry of Agriculture, said Monday. “But unitl now we do not know exactly the disease that happened to the pigs is.”

The animal health department is also appealing to farmers not to transport any pigs from their farms to market for the rest of the month of August, he said.

No Cluster Munition Ban for Cambodia

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

Monday, 02 August 2010

via khmer NZ

Photo: AP
Americans dropped about 285 million cluster bombs on Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, according to the Pentagon.

“As a heavily cluster-bombed country, we are willing to become a party to the convention.”

Cambodia has not yet signed a cluster munition ban that went into effect Sunday. Thirty-seven countries have ratified the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.

“As a heavily cluster-bombed country, we are willing to become a party to the convention,” Prak Sokun, a secretary of state for the Council of Minister, told VOA Khmer last week. “But we have to consider thoroughly any impact to our national security.”

The cluster munition convention bans the production, use, transport or stockpiling of cluster munitions.

It was opened to states for signatures in 2008 in Oslo, Norway.

“Countries like Thailand and Vietnam have not signed it either,” said Prak Sokun, who is an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen on landmine issues.

DAP News. Breaking News by Soy Sopheap

via Khmer NZ

Thailand spends 10 million Bahts for Opposing Management Plan of Preah Vihear Temple

Monday, 02 August 2010 14:11 DAP-NEWS/ Vibol

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, AUGUST 2, 2010-The council of ministers of Cambodia on Monday said that Thailand spent 10 million Bahts in a campaign to oppose management plan of 11th Khmer Phreah Vihear temple of Cambodia.

Thai intoxication campaign’s spending of B10 million with the dispatch of 50 delegates in order to oppose the management plan at the site of Cambodian temple of Preah Vihear, was a total debacle because Thailand has not substantive arguments against the world heritage center report or the two documents submitted by Cambodia, the statement from the press and quick reaction unit of the council of ministers of Cambodia said today.

It added that moreover, Thailand has failed in its effort to derail the management plan, has failed in its efforts to have the temple inscribed the two countries, and has failed in its effort to have joint management plan of the temple.

It is obvious that intoxication campaign by the Thai government to lure the local and international public opinion has adversely damaged its own image and credit as an old saying which goes “ if you fan the flame, you blow up the fire or as you sow, so shall you reap,” the statement noted.

“To underline further the failure of Thai government, it must be stressed for the benefits of the public and international opinion that it is not like what the Thai government claimed that it had succeeded to postpone the management plan to next year. In fact, thee WHC final decision did not mention either about the term postpone –defer or delay but choose to use the wording consider which means that the documents submitted by Cambodian, namely, the progress report on the state of conservation and development of Preah Vihear and its management plan, were officially received by WHC and will consider it at the next session,” the statement added.

Thailand is a country that bears in minds of invading other neighboring countries to expand their land. Thailand lost the case with Cambodia on issue Preah Vihear in 1962, and in July 15, 2008, Thai troops invaded area near Preah Vihear temple and later it called “ buffer zone” by using own map which drawn secretly in 1976 by military group.

Cambodia said no buffer zone of 4.6 square km near Preah Vihear but it is Cambodian territory. Thai used all means to block Cambodia on development of Preah Vihear temple since listing as a site of world heritage site but Thailand failed all battles both diplomatic and political deals. Thai government used the temple and land near Preah Vihear temple as hostage to topple legal administration of former PM Thaksin.

Cambodian-Thai Military Commanders Met for Talks

Monday, 02 August 2010 12:44 Edited by Mr. Rasmey (Mr.Go for It)

CAMBODIA,PHNOM PENH, August 02, 2010- “Cambodian military commander Srey Dek on Monday morning of August 02, 2010 met for two-hour talks with Thai military commander Sovannchai,” a source received from the Cambodian soldiers standing at the Preah Vihear temple areas said.

“A meeting for talks with Thai military commander was held with the purpose of increasing a military cooperation between the armies of the two countries along the Cambodia-Thailand borders, and especially in the Preah Vihear temple areas,” a source confirmed.

Cambodian Major General Srey Dek, Military Commander of Armed Forces Division 3 standing at the Preah Vihear Temple areas, also participated in having lunch with Thai military commander Savannchai after the two commanders had concluded a meeting for talks. A meeting for talks occurred after the two countries´ high-ranking officials had participated in the UNESCO´s world Heritage Committee Meeting regarding Cambodia´s Development, Conservation, and Management Plan for Preah Vihear Temple, which was held in Brazil on Friday of July 30, 2010.

“The military situation along the Cambodia-Thailand borders and especially around the Preah Vihear Temple areas now is calm,” a source said.

“The military situation along the Cambodia-Thailand borders now looks better than before and the two factions are in a very good cooperation,” Mr. Prawitvong Suwut, Thai National Defense Minister, confirmed.

Cambodian-Thai Military Commanders Meet at Border for Good Relation

Monday, 02 August 2010 12:35 DAP NEWS / Vibol

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, AUGUST 2, 2010-Cambodian and Thailand military commanders on Monday met for about two hours at area near 11th Khmer Preah Vihear temple for strengthening the good relation among the troops which stationed at the border of two neighboring countries.

Chea Dara, deputy commander in –chief of royal Cambodian armed forces told by phone that commanders at the ground met about two hours for good understandings for both sides. The meeting was held at Cambodian pagoda Keo Sikhakirirsvara near Preah Vihear, led by Cambodian military region commander 3 Gen Dry Doek and Thai commander Sovanchay at the places with joining by the other senior military officials. Both side also shared lunch together. Thai troops deployed in their sovereignty. “We have right of self-defense for our sovereignty if irregular activities occurred, Gen. Chea said,

Thai troop invaded Cambodian soil in July 15, 2008 after Cambodia successfully listed Preah Vihear temple as world heritage site. Thai troops invaded Cambodia through sending three people including monk, layman, and nun to pray at Preah Vihear temple and then through that excuse, Thai troops occupied area near Preah Vihear with saying that they came here to save three Thai people and claimed disputed zone and later called “Thai territory”.

Cambodia and Thailand started tension on management plan of Preah Vihear temple at a meeting in Barzil. Cambodian government claimed a big victory for summiting the management plan with world heritage committee of UNESCO.

Cambodia-Vietnam Strengthen Border Security Cooperation

Monday, 02 August 2010 11:19 DAP-NEWS/ Vibol

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, AUGUST 2, 2010-Cambodian and Vietnamese senior officials on Monday talked on the bilateral cooperation on border security and border demarcation between the two countries.

We has discussed about strengthening border security and border gate checkpoint and facilitated the travelers, trade and tourists between the peoples,” Khieu Sopheak , spokesman for interior ministry of Cambodia said by phone.

Today, senior officials met and talks under bilateral cooperation for border security, monitor crimes crossing border, and general views for the countries,” Khieu added.

Tomorrow morning, deputy prime minister and interior minister Sar Kheng and visiting Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem will meet on talks of bilateral cooperation, Khieu said. Khiem also will pay the courtesy call on PM Hun Sen in tomorrow afternoon.

Cambodia and Vietnam plan to end the border demarcation in 2012 and the local authorities from neighboring provincials need to cooperate to peaceful border and security for the two peoples. Each year about 20,000 Cambodians went to Vietnam for medical check-up and treatment.

Both sides also have expressed to commit the health cooperation. In the past few years, Vietnamese investors have started investing Cambodia wit billion of dollars on rubber plantation, mines, bank, and airline, agriculture and fertilizer factory. Cambodia-Vietnam also is trying to boost trade partners to 2 billion US dollars as soon as possible.

Justice Denied for Cambodians

via Khmer NZ

By KUONG LY

Published: August 2, 2010

I.H.T. Op-Ed Contributor

I.H.T. Op-Ed Contributor

Justice Denied for Cambodians

By KUONG LY

Published: August 2, 2010

Last week, a U.N.-backed tribunal convicted Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, for war crimes in what was the first trial of a major Khmer Rouge figure. Many media reports portrayed the verdict in a positive light, but for survivors, victims and their families, there was nothing positive in this outcome.

An editorial in the International Herald Tribune (“Forgotten victims?” July 29) stated that while the sentence handed down by the tribunal may be disappointing, at least Duch was held to account for his war crimes. Unfortunately, “at least” isn’t good enough for me and for those who suffered from the murderous actions of the Khmer Rouge, especially after waiting 30 years for this verdict.

My mother and my late father both endured what are known as the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia. They lost their siblings, parents and home when Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge in April, 1975.

Somewhere between 1.7 and 2 million people — nearly a quarter of Cambodia’s population — were executed or died from disease, starvation and overwork. My family was forced to flee Cambodia and suffered in the poverty of refugee camps for almost a decade before making it to the United States, where we overcame tremendous obstacles in trying to rebuild our lives.

As I followed the trial of Duch and heard him take responsibility for directing the notorious prison, S-21, where more than 12,273 people were tortured and killed, I was confident the court would place him behind bars for life. But last week, he was given a 35-year sentence. Because Duch had served several years in prison while awaiting trial, and the Cambodian government infringed upon his rights while he was detained, his sentence was significantly reduced.

In the end, Duch was sentenced to no more than 19 years behind bars. That translates to one year for every 646 Cambodians he tortured and killed at S-21. This does not include the millions of Cambodians like my parents who suffered under the Khmer Rouge policies he helped implement. The feeling of injustice for me and many others stems from knowing that Duch may walk free at age 86.

Survivors, victims and their families have been asked to see the silver lining in Duch’s verdict. Impunity has finally been broken, many observers reason. A perpetrator of the Khmer Rouge regime was brought to justice by legal proceedings for the world to watch, they say. And in reducing Duch’s sentence by 16 years, some will argue, the tribunal was attempting demonstrate the rule of law and lead by example — in a country where thousands of citizens are illegally detained.

From the beginning, I harbored grave doubts about these legal proceedings. The U.N.-backed tribunal resulted from the lack of judicial independence in Cambodia. I was willing to look past the criticism and cynicism in hopes that a guilty verdict and a heavy punishment in Duch’s case would set a precedent for future international criminal cases. The international community, I reasoned, had an opportunity to deter other ruthless, oppressive regimes from committing genocide, war crimes and other crimes against humanity. But the tribunal failed to deliver a satisfactory verdict.

If the Duch verdict foreshadows the tribunal’s next case — the trial of the senior Khmer Rouge leaders Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan — there will be a decline in support from the Cambodian people — and perhaps the world community.

I will never forget how my late father was used like an ox to plow and till the land. Nor will I forget that my maternal grandfather, aunts, uncles and cousins were either starved to death, beaten to death, or disappeared.

No verdict will heal the pain. But for survivors, victims and their families, this verdict was simply not good enough. We may have to accept that the international community denied us — and those we lost — a sense of closure.

More than 12,273 people entered Duch’s S-21 prison and were tortured and killed. While Duch will be in prison for 19 years, the possibility remains that he may one day walk free. Is that justice?

Kuong Ly is an L.L.M. candidate in International Human Rights Law at the University of Essex, where he is a British Marshall Scholar.