The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Deceive history” plus 9 more

Certain political forces and ill-willed circles have made constant attempts to deceive history.

Twenty families from Ratanakkiri's Kon Mom district are seeking intervention after a private company allegedly encroached on 10 hectares of their land.

The unnamed company produces furniture from wood acquired from embattled Vietnamese concessionaire Hoang Anh Andong Meas, and over the course of the last two months has built fences surrounding more than 10 hectares of farm and public land, said village representative You Sam Noeurn.

"After surrounding it, the company built five small homes on it for about 100 workers and banned villagers and animals from entering," she said. "I brought wood to build a house there, but the company chased me out."

According to Sam Noeurn, villagers have been farming the land since 1993.

The company is owned by Sam Sarun, who could not be reached for comment, but local authorities confirmed that the land appeared to have been illegally grabbed.

"It's not acceptable that the company surrounded the land, but I am not sure if the company got permission from another authority," said Sre Angkrang commune police chief Keo Sophak.

Commune chief Chhem Sokhoem said authorities had tried to intervene after hearing of the case, but the company owner has simply ignored them.

"A solution could not be found, because the company owner is stubborn and would not meet with us," he said, adding that he had forwarded the case to higher-level officials.

After a month of silence, however, villagers this week turned to local rights group Adhoc, filing a complaint with them on Monday.

Provincial coordinator Chhay Thy said the group would investigate the case today.

Hundreds of families in Banteay Meanchey province's Thma Puok district filed a complaint yesterday to rights group Adhoc, claiming their community farmland is being bulldozed by a company under the protection of soldiers.

The land – a 1,300-hectare area of Thma Puok district's Banteay Chhmar commune – was given to the residents by the state in five-hectare allotments, 50-year-old villager Pen Sophon said.

"They cleared our land of more than 10 hectares, and they plan to clear the whole 1,300-hectares, which will affect 425 families. The local authority must inform the residents first why they took bulldozers to clear our land," he said.

He added that the villagers had not received prior notification of the Leang Bou company's plans to clear the site, which he said were carried out with the help of about 50 soldiers.

Another resident, Than Pov, 42, said that while the land had not been properly measured, this did not give the company the right to bring in the bulldozers.

"Even though the residents did not have their land measured to get a license, companies should not take bulldozers to break our land," he said.

Deab Chhun, a Thma Pouk district deputy governor, said that authorities were examining the case and would investigate the company when they had an official complaint.

Two foreign nationals accused of smuggling 2.9 kilograms of cocaine into the Kingdom for an international drug-trafficking ring were convicted in the capital on Monday.

Corro Zuzunaga Enrique Bruno, 54, a Peruvian citizen, and Promkhot Phattarawadee, 31, a Thai national, were each sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined 25 million riel [about $6,250], for violating Article 40 of Cambodia's Anti-Drug Law, said Kor Vandy, presiding judge at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Bruno was arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport on May 7, carrying 10 metal tubes filled with cocaine, smuggled from Venezuela.

Promkhot was arrested two days later at Lucky Guesthouse in Tuol Kork district after anti-drug police had Bruno call his employer in Thailand to arrange delivery of the drugs.

Promkhot and Bruno could not be reached for comment. However, a security officer employed at Prey Sar prison, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Post that both suspects have filed appeals.

A whopping two million Cambodians are regularly lighting up, catalysing the already-weighty health burden plaguing the Kingdom, according to the authors of a comprehensive study on smoking published today.

Smoking is the nation's third-highest risk factor leading to shortened life expectancy and disability and responsible for contributing to the death of thousands every year, according to the study.

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the report looks at smoking habits in 187 countries over the past 32 years.

The study found that 42.1 per cent of men in Cambodia were daily smokers in 2012, earning the Kingdom the fifth-highest ranking in Asia beneath Indonesia at 57 per cent, Laos at 51.3 per cent and China at 45.1 per cent.

However, the tobacco habit isn't plaguing everyone.

"Smoking prevalence – the portion of the population that smokes – varies greatly between Cambodian men and women, a common trend in many East and Southeast Asian countries," the study notes.

Among Cambodian women, only 4 per cent were found to smoke daily, less than half those in Laos, at 11.4 per cent .

But for men, living in a country where cigarettes are cheap and smoking in public places – indoors or out – is rarely discouraged, change is needed according to report author Dr Alan Lopez, laureate professor at the University of Melbourne.

"The takeaway for the Cambodian government is to view this country's tobacco addiction seriously. It's a major hazard that is not coming to Cambodia, but is already here and killing more than 9,000 Cambodians every year," Lopez said in an interview on Monday.

"The takeaway for the Cambodian public is very simple: Smoking shortens your life expectancy by up to 10-15 years on average," Lopez said, and if the average person picks up a cigarette between the peak age range of 15-20, they will have a one in two chance of being killed by tobacco, Lopez warned.

But the news isn't all bad, said Dr Yel Daravuth, head of the World Health Organization in Cambodia's Tobacco Free Initiative and Health Promotion.

Changes to the nation's smoking prevalence, the portion of the population that smokes, has actually decreased by an annual rate of 0.5 per cent between 1980 and 2012, Daravuth said.

Dr Sok Touch, director of the Ministry of Health's communicable disease control department, could not be reached for comment. While the government has passed several initiatives such as a 2011 sub-decree banning tobacco companies from promoting their brands in the city via advertising, and a 2009 sub-decree requiring warnings on cigarette packets, enforcement has been spotty.

And for most smokers, the effect has been negligible.

Chanty, a 19-year-old construction worker in Phnom Penh who declined to give his surname, has been smoking since he was 15 and often whips through a pack a day.

"My friends taught me how to smoke. Now I can't stop."

As teachers in several provinces continue to strike over low wages, the Ministry of Education declined to say yesterday whether it would follow through on threats to enact harsh punishment on those who have walked.

In a statement issued on Friday and obtained yesterday, Pin Chamnarn, acting Minister of Education, warned any teacher or education official who violates the code of ethics and education law by striking would "be fined and ordered to pay from one to five millions riel".

In the announcement, which was issued shortly after Cambodian Independent Teachers Association head Rong Chhun called for the wage strike, Chamnarn writes that teachers who "do things that disturb the education quality, completing tasks" will face serious punishment.

In addition to fines, they could face demotion, forced early retirement, year-long suspension or even firings.

Asked yesterday whether the ministry would enact the punishments, Chamnarn declined to comment, referring questions to the cabinet, which could not be reached.

Demonstrations set for Sunday by teachers calling for a minimum wage of one million riel ($250) a month were called off in light of last week's violence and government ban on protests, but Chhun said a number of teachers had quietly gone ahead with the strikes.

Instead of gathering, he said, teachers – primarily in the capital, Kandal and Siem Reap – went to school but refused to teach.

In response, he said, "many police were sent to some schools, and some teachers were warned against striking".

He said he did not have figures on how many were striking, but said that strikers included teachers not aligned with his association.

The current average minimum wage for teachers is $80 a month, a figure set to be increased to $100 this month, according to the Teachers Association of Cambodia. That salary puts them on par with garment workers, who have been striking for a doubling of their current $80 a month minimum wage.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal's new international co-prosecutor, Nicholas Koumjian, has worked at a host of international courts in his 30-odd years in law – so many, in fact, that it would be easier for him to answer the question of which tribunals he hasn't worked at.

"I've been at most of them, actually," he said in an interview yesterday. "I was at the [International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]," he said.

"I was at East Timor. Then I went to Sarajevo, the State Court in Bosnia-Herzegovina.… Then I went to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, working on the Charles Taylor case. Then the last two years, I've also worked at the [International Criminal Court]."

Now, with only a few courtroom days under his belt at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Koumjian will have the opportunity to bring his past to bear on the tribunal's future as it pivots away from the just-wrapped Case 002/01, and into Case 002/02, whose scope and schedule is still very much up for debate.

Luckily, as Koumjian tells it, some things hold true across all tribunals, like the difficulty in tying senior leaders to ground-level crimes.

"We're talking about individual killings of people in villages, where the accused person, the top leader, doesn't know the victim, never met them, doesn't know the killer, never met them. So how do you hold them responsible?" he said.

To that end, the prosecution is arguing that all of the evidence from Case 002/01 – which dealt directly with leaders' responsibility for the regime's crimes – forms the basis for Case 002/02.

What's more, Koumjian argues, waiting for a verdict in the previous case isn't necessary if Case 002/02 simply lifts the evidence from Case 002/01 without stipulating it as fact, and lets it – once again – be judged on its own merits at the end of the trial.

The defence for Khieu Samphan, however, staunchly opposes that plan, and has also argued that potential cuts to defence funding would threaten its "equality of arms" with the prosecution – accusations of bias being another universal constant in courts of law, Koumjian said.

"You talk to every public defender in Los Angeles, and they'll tell you that juries and judges are biased in favour of the prosecution," he said, noting that the ECCC deals with "very infamous crimes".

"The fact that the prosecution may have a very strong case … doesn't mean that there should be no trial because of the danger of bias against the accused."

But even more so than accusations of bias, there is one other constant Koumjian is likely to encounter in spades at the Khmer Rouge tribunal – criticism. "At every tribunal there are some critics and some criticisms, and that's nothing new," Koumjian said, noting that, nonetheless, the ECCC was unique in that regard.

"One thing I've noticed here, more than the other courts, is that there seems to be too much, in my view, negativity and pessimism about it, even by those who are proponents of the court … and I think sometimes that can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy."

The whereabouts of 23 people arrested last week during a crackdown on demonstrations in Por Sen Chey district remained unknown yesterday, with prison officials and police refusing to divulge the information to family members and rights groups.

After contacting 18 prisons, the staff at all of which said the prisoners were not in their facilities, rights group Licadho has narrowed down their current location to three prisons, Naly Pilorge, the NGO's director, said.

Citing "credible information", Pilorge said the defendants are likely in Correctional Centre 1 in Phnom Penh, Correctional Centre 3 in Kampong Cham or Correctional Centre 4 in Pursat.

Moeun Tola, head of the Community Legal Education Center's labour program, said on Monday that the director of CC3 confirmed to an associate that the 23 prisoners were there.

But when asked about the prisoners' whereabouts yesterday, CC3 chief Chea Vanna would only refer a Post reporter to Kouy Bunson, director of the General Department of Prisons.

Bunson could not be reached.

The Global Fund has backed down on its threat to cut or reduce health grants to Cambodia worth more than $100 million, saying they considered the fraction of misused funds that have been returned thus far a sign of sufficient good will.

In a letter sent to Health Minister Mam Bun Heng on December 9, the Global Fund threatened to cut or reduce grants worth $106 million if $427,841 was not refunded within a month by the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs (NCHADS), NGO umbrella group Medicam and the Ministry of Health.

Although the fund has yet to receive a dime of the $410,712 from the Health Ministry that makes up the bulk of requested funds – a sum related to improper commissions received by senior officials at the National Malaria Center (CNM) – it said yesterday it no longer planned to cut grants.

"We have received a payment from NCHADS, and we commend NCHADS for acting promptly on a Global Fund request. We have also received a partial payment from Medicam. We look forward to similar cooperation from CNM," Seth Faison, communications manager for the Geneva-based fund, said.

"We expect all parties to be fully accountable for their grant management practices. In our discussions, we have received constructive responses to our requests, so we do not currently plan to cut or reduce funding in the immediate future.… Yet we will evaluate current and future grants on a continuing basis, and will adjust our plans as appropriate," he added.

NCHADS was asked to return $41,404 related to the alleged manipulation of procurements by a senior official, while Medicam was asked to return $20,725 for allegedly charging the fund for two staff positions that were never filled.

Faison declined to say how much of the money was returned.

NCHADS director Mean Chhivun, CNM director Char Meng Chuor and health minister Mam Bun Heng – each of whom the Post has attempted to reach numerous times since the initial Global Fund investigation emerged – remained unavailable for comment yesterday.

Medicam executive director Sin Somuny hung up on a Post reporter.

The Anti-Corruption Unit has said it is investigating the Global Fund allegations but is yet to release any findings or make any arrests.

In its first public remarks following last week's flurry of government-sanctioned violence, officials from the ruling Cambodian People's Party yesterday slammed the opposition for derailing democracy and flouting rule of law in the Kingdom. The CPP said the CNRP's actions would achieve nothing but "dishonour" for Cambodia, and it vowed to stop at nothing to defend the National Assembly and the government.

"Certain political forces and ill-willed circles have made constant attempts to deceive history from white to black.… They continue to consider themselves enemies of the 7 January victory, to make slandering propaganda, to deceive the public, to disrespect the constitution and existing laws, while colluding to seek all means to deny achievements scored by the Cambodian People's Party," National Assembly president and CPP honorary president Heng Samrin told those in attendance at January 7 celebrations on Koh Pich yesterday morning.

The words are the first major outlining of the ruling party's position since a brutal crackdown on demonstrators last week that left at least four dead, 23 imprisoned and the constitutional right to freedom of assembly under question.

Speaking to what Information Minister Khieu Kanharith claimed were 35,000 party members and supporters, and flanked by wheelchair-bound Senate and CPP president Chea Sim and Prime Minister Hun Sen, Samrin highlighted the apparent differences between the CPP, which has allowed Cambodians to live "under the light of peace and progress" after the Khmer Rouge's defeat, and the opposition.

"Cambodia risks derailing from its correct path were these circles to succeed with their actions," Samrin siad.

Following the election, the opposition upset the public by encouraging demonstrations, making "baseless" demands and blocking "the functioning of democratic institutions" as well as further violating the will of the people and democratic principles by asking for Hun Sen to step down, Samrin said.

"No matter how hard they try, these actions would provide them with nothing but people's frustration, disordering security, public order and dishonoring [their] own nation."

Samrin added what appeared to be a veiled threat that the crackdown on demonstrations would continue: "The [CPP], as the ruling party legally [elected by] the people, emphasises that it will do everything possible for the sake of defending the elected National Assembly and the Royal Government, the constitution and democracy."

Despite that, Samrin said the CPP was willing to negotiate at every level with the CNRP to solve remaining issues and was committed to electoral and other reforms.

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Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap expanded on the prospect of negotiations yesterday.

"The opposition party cannot use mass demonstrations to resolve political disputes. Only negotiations are the international standard for resolving political disputes," he said, adding that as the CNRP lost the election, it was up to them to set the negotiating agenda.

Following the speeches, traditional dances and the release of doves and colourful balloons yesterday to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge, a coterie of foreign diplomats from countries including Vietnam, Myanmar, Cuba, North Korea, China and Russia presented wreaths to the CPP leaders.

The January 7 celebration is always divisive, as it not only marks Cambodia's liberation from the Democratic Kampuchea regime but also the start of the Vietnamese occupation, but this year it came at a politically explosive time. Despite a ban placed by authorities on public assembly, some observers feared possible protests yesterday and a military presence controlled roads leading to Koh Pich.

But the public holiday appears to have proceeded without incident.

Yim Sovann, spokesman for the CNRP, yesterday said the ruling party was simply trying to defend an "illegal" National Assembly and government by blaming the opposition. "The CPP is the one that leads the country [in an] authoritarian style and uses [its] armed forces to kill its own people, to crack down on the opposition and organise an unfree and unfair election," he said.

"The CNRP are the ones who respect the will of the people and are aware of their duty toward the country."

The opposition would only negotiate if a re-election and serious electoral reform were up for discussion, he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KEVIN PONNIAH