KI Media: “Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News” plus 24 more |
- Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News
- For your information...
- Hun Xen closes the door to beat the dog or should we close the door to beat the dog earters? - Op-Ed by Uon Sim
- Chance favors the connected (educated, curious) mind
- Prey Lang villagers speak out
- Tributes and Appreciations: Harnessing the Power and Creativity of the Young
- "...it looks like it is back to the business of repression under the guise of the legitimacy of judicial order in the courts of Cambodia": Ou Virak
- Expats, firms asked to use riel
- East Timor applies to SE Asian regional group
- Korean firm defies norms in Cambodia airport building [-The Koreans are delusional?]
- Cambodia traffic accident kills 19: Police
- Reconnecting with Compassion
- A Ripple of Hope
- ; ) TGIF
- Message from former members of the KPNLF
- Celebrating Women Month
- My Rights, My Responsibility (ICCPR) Series
- ; ) TGIF
- My Rights, My Responsibility (Constitution) Series
- Celebrating Women Month
- Welcome to New KI-Media Office at Ratanakiri province
- 10,000 people to be evicted from Boeung Kak Lake by CPP land-thief Lao Meng Khin, a crony of Hun Xen
- Cambodian shot and killed by Lao soldiers
- At least 20 dead as Cambodian tour bus headed to the beach crashes with speeding truck
- Universal political values and aspirations - LIBERTY!
| Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News Posted: 04 Mar 2011 02:15 PM PST | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 12:37 PM PST Questions from our "anonymous" readers: Why does KI Media allows itself to be used as Theary Seng's personal photo diary? The answer is simple, if you have something interesting to share with others, please send them over to us and we will gladly post them for you. But, please no nude pictures. It show that one of KI members is Theary Seng. Cambodian Government should put her on a black list and get rid of her for good. We wouldn't mind having Ms. Theary Seng as part of our team, however, we have never approached her to do so, as far as we know. On the other hand, this reader's tactic of using the government to repress (blacklisting, eliminating) others is quite scary. Did this reader forget that the Pol Pot regime is already over? ------------- PS: Please send us your contribution to kiletters@gmail.com  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 12:19 PM PST | ||
| Chance favors the connected (educated, curious) mind Posted: 04 Mar 2011 08:17 AM PST By Khmer Democrat, Phnom Penh Expanding our Mind Series SCORE! for openness! SCORE for creativity and curiosity! Ideas flow from YES!, not this NO! of our society and culture. This is why we need to encourage our children to explore and to be curious, to not fear of new things and new experiences. Let the world be the classroom for the children, for the adults, for the Cambodians. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION for they create ideas. STEVEN JOHNSON People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web. Why you should listen to him:A dynamic writer and speaker, Johnson crafts captivating theories that draw on a dizzying array of disciplines, without ever leaving his audience behind. Author Kurt Anderson described Johnson's book Emergence as "thoughtful and lucid and charming and staggeringly smart." The same could be said for Johnson himself. His big-brained, multi-disciplinary theories make him one of his generation's more intriguing thinkers. His books take the reader on a journey -- following the twists and turns his own mind makes as he connects seemingly disparate ideas: ants and cities, interface design and Victorian novels. Johnson's breakout 2005 title, Everything Bad Is Good for You , took the provocative stance that our fear and loathing of popular culture is misplaced; video games and TV shows, he argues, are actually making us smarter. His appearances on The Daily Show and Charlie Rose cemented his reputation as a cogent thinker who could also pull more than his share of laughs. His most recent work, The Ghost Map, goes in another direction entirely: It tells the story of a cholera outbreak in 1854 London, from the perspective of the city residents, the doctors chasing the disease, and the pathogen itself. The book shows how the epidemic brought about profound changes in science, cities and modern society. His upcoming work, Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, tells the fascinating stories of great ideas and great thinkers across disciplines.  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 08:13 AM PST
Friday, 04 March 2011 May Titthara The Phnom Penh Post Representations for villagers embroiled in a land dispute with Vietnamese-owned CRCK Rubber Development Company in Kampong Thom province said officials have used intimidation to halt protests over the company's development of an area in Prey Lang forest. The claims were made at a press conference held by the NGO Forum, an umbrella group of organisations operating in Cambodia, during which representatives said local police have compiled a list of villagers they say are inciting others to protest. Last month hundreds of residents from four provinces surrounding the 200,000 hectare forest defied police and local officials to protest the clearing of sections of the forest by CRCK. Sandan district Governor Sim Vanna said at the time that CRCK had been granted a 6,044 hectare land concession by the government last year to plant rubber. Kampong Thom deputy Governor Uth Sam An said on Monday that the land being developed by KRCK was not communal land, as alleged by local villagers, but part of a concession made to a previous company, and therefore villagers had no right to the land. During yesterday's workshop, villager representatives claimed that police from three communes in Sandan district had visited five villagers to record their names for a complaint to be filed by CRCK in provincial court, claiming they were illegally inciting residents to protest. "[Police] have tried to find many ways to threaten us, but we were protesting to save Prey Lang forest," said Chheang Vuthy, a villager representative, at the workshop. Am Sam Ath, a senior investigator for local rights group Licadho, said the villagers were fully within their rights to conduct peaceful protests and urged that CRCK show evidence that they have a right to the land they are clearing. "As in previous cases when villagers protest, the authorities threaten villagers by filing complaints to the court. This is not a good way to reach a solution," he said. Sandan district Governor Sim Vanna said yesterday that the villagers had largely stopped their protest and denied that police were gathering names for a legal complaint. "I don't know about the police going to the village to take down names," he said. Vong Phan, a village representative, said she would like the government to recognize Prey Lang land as community land because it is a "rice pot" for people in four provinces, referring to residents' reliance on the forest for their livelihoods. She said about 20,000 families in Preah Vihear, Kratie, Steung Treng and Kampong Thom provinces rely on the forest.  | ||
| Tributes and Appreciations: Harnessing the Power and Creativity of the Young Posted: 04 Mar 2011 08:07 AM PST TRIBUTES and APPRECIATIONS Harnessing the Power and Creativity of the Young I am deeply grateful to the dedicated staff of CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education, here with a particular appreciation for the International Fellows, International and National Youth Ambassadors for their outstanding contribution. Here's to the power, beauty, openness, teachable spirit, creativity of the young everywhere, especially here in Cambodia!   International Youth Ambassador Alissa Rosskopf of Germany and Switzerland with the talented Panh family, here, mom Lili, Panhlauv, Bosba at a dinner at my apartment (Phnom Penh, 3 Sept. 2011).  The elegant young ladies of CIVICUS Cambodia: Executive Assistant EAM Sivnin and National Youth Ambassador Amy Thangdy Kim – Prime Ministers-to-be, here at the first day launching events of RFK Center's Speak Truth To Power (Phnom Penh, 23 Feb. 2011).    Theary Seng with International Fellow Kenisha Marks, human rights lawyer-to-be from Washington, D.C. here at The Living Room, 28 Feb. 2011.   A poster of Robert F. Kennedy, signed by his daughter Kerry Kennedy with one of the best compliments someone can possibly give me: "For Theary, Who loves her country as Robert Kennedy loved his. With all my love, Kerry Kennedy". Before leaving Cambodia, Kerry signed about 50 posters, many personalized ones to CIVICUS Cambodia staff and the individuals who contributed so generously to the launching events of RFK Center's Speak Truth To Power during Kerry's inaugural visit to Cambodia, 22-26 Feb. 2011. "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." Robert F. Kennedy Capetown, June 6th 1966  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:56 AM PST
Thursday, 03 March 2011 May Titthara The Phnom Penh Post The Appeal Court handed down three-year sentences today to nine people from Siem Reap province's Chi Kraeng commune for stealing property, while other charges and separate cases remain in connection with an ongoing land dispute. Taking into account time served since their arrest on March 22, 2009, the court ordered eight villagers to serve an additional eight months and the ninth, Chheng Saroeun, to serve one more year, according to Sam Chetra, a lawyer provided to the villagers by the rights group Licadho. The Siem Reap provincial court convicted two villagers in October 2009 and sentenced them to one year in jail and fined the other seven. All remained in prison however while the prosecutor appealed. A total of 12 villagers remain in prison on various charges in connection with the dispute, which sparked in 2005 and involves 92 hectares of land, 175 families from four villages in Chi Kraeng commune and 44 families in Anlong Samnor commune. Both communes are in Chi Kraeng district. Local authorities decided in favour of Anlong Samnor commune and filed assault and incitement charges against several Chi Kraeng villagers, sparking protests. On March 22, 2009, police fired on about 80 protesting Chi Kraeng villagers, who demanded that they be allowed to harvest rice in the disputed area, injuring four. More than 40 locals – including the nine in this case – were detained for questioning and required to sign agreements to abandon the dispute. No charges were brought against the officers. Luon Savath, a Buddhist monk and village representative, said the villagers were innocent. "They are not guilty. I never hear those who harvest rice fields on their land face charges of robbery," Luon Savath said. Rights groups denounced the ruling. Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor for Licadho, called on the court to drop the charges. Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the court's decision was "clearly an attempt to offer some degree of legitimacy to the ongoing detention of these men". "A day after the release of Thach Saveth was ordered by the Supreme Court, it looks like it is back to the business of repression under the guise of the legitimacy of judicial order in the courts of Cambodia," Ou Virak said.  | ||
| Expats, firms asked to use riel Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:43 AM PST
Friday, 04 March 2011 Jeremy Mullins The Phnom Penh Post DOMESTIC businesses and expatriates ought to make increased use of the riel according to National Bank of Cambodia Deputy Governor Neav Chanthana, who joined economists and students at a currency conference in Phnom Penh yesterday. While Cambodians predominantly use the riel in daily transactions, according to the NBC, statistics show that over 90 percent of the value of domestic transactions is conducted in dollars. "What we need from the private sector is to move to the local currency," said Neav Chanthana at the Royal University of Law and Economics yesterday, reiterating the call to the expat community. "People are confident in the local currency." She stated that the high level of dollarisation in the Kingdom restricted some of the policy options open to the NBC. "The economy is dollarised, so our role as lender of last resort is limited," she said. ACLEDA Bank Vice Chairman John Brinsden said that increased use of the riel would allow the central bank to have greater control over its monetary policy, such as the ability to control money supply and set interest rates. According to officials, NBC has implemented measures – often behind the scenes – aimed at boosting confidence in the riel. Government wages and taxes must be paid in local currency, said Neav Chanthana, while highlighting the role the NBC plays exchanging money for microfinance institutions who receive funding in dollars and make loans in riel. John Brinsden said the NBC appeared to be pursuing a gradual change to the riel, which he said he supported. "Over the long term, dedollarise and use our own currency – but let's not rush into it," he said, adding that support of businesses for using the local currency varied on a case by case basis. The riel was prevalent in rural areas, meaning it made sense for businesses operating in such areas to use the local currency. However, he said business with overseas, dollar-denominated contracts would likely support continued use of the greenback, as it removed any exchange risk that came with using multiple currencies. "Dollars remain dominant for income of private employees and bank account savings," added Jean-Jacques Paul, project manager of French Cooperation to the Royal University of Law and Economics. NBC Deputy Director of Research Khou Vouty said a survey conducted late last year indicated 37 percent of Cambodians receive income in riel, 27.5 percent in dollars, and 33 percent in multiple currencies. Some 2.2 percent of Cambodians received baht, while 0.3 percent received the Vietnamese dong. "Cambodia has had monetary plurality for a long time, but we're not a unique country in this case," he said.  | ||
| East Timor applies to SE Asian regional group Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:38 AM PST 2011-03-04 Associated Press East Timor has applied for a membership in the Association of Southeast Asia Nations. Its application was submitted Friday by East Timor's foreign minister. Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa accepted the application on behalf of the association. He said he will soon convene a meeting to study the application, since Indonesia is the group's current chairman. He added that "East Timor's future will be very much linked to the future of the Southeast Asia region." The group includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999.  | ||
| Korean firm defies norms in Cambodia airport building [-The Koreans are delusional?] Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:35 AM PST
By Oh Young-jin The Korea Times First, he mentioned the efficiency and professionalism of the Cambodian public servants. "We deal with Ph.D. holders who studied in the U.S., Russia and European countries," Lee said. Building an international airport in a third-world country is a challenging task. It requires dealing with a mercurial government, acquiring enough land and raising financial support. There is too much uncertainty for any firm to take on without hesitation. In this sense, the NSRIA or New Siem Reap International Airport Co, led by two Korean firms ― Lees A&A and its financial partner Cambodia Airport Co. ― is engaged in what others might call a mission impossible. But when one listens to its CEO Lee Tae-hwan talk about the project, one can appreciate how the difficult feat could be translated into reality. As with any business, however, there is no 100 percent guarantee. The project is constructing a new international airport 40 kilometers east of Angkor Wat, the UNESCO-designated world cultural heritage site, at the cost of $500 million. It is composed of one runway and a terminal on the site as large as 5 square kilometers, with the capability to handle 3 million passengers a year. According to Lee, the new airport is expected to go into operation in late 2015 with the old adjacent airport to be closed, so there will be no competition from it. The airport currently serving the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh is not big enough. The runway of the new airport will be the only one in Cambodia to accommodate Boeing 747 Jumbo jets, making the airport the country's first and only gateway to the world. "We have just been notified that the Cambodian government is launching a government-wide steering committee," Lee told The Korea Times during an interview at his office in southern Seoul Thursday, explaining that it will serve as an additional commitment from the government to the new Angkor International Airport. Lee heads to Cambodia next week. An interesting element is Lee's approach to the project ― charting a reverse course. Usually for projects of this scale one finds investors and uses their money to gain the government's permission and buy the land. Instead Lee, a former executive of big Korean construction firms, first tackled the network he established through his years of experience in Indochina to first get government approval and obtain the site. About one fifth of the projected costs, or $20 million, has been self-financed in the process. "If we had raised investment first without permission and land, it could have caused delays and related cost overruns," Lee said. "Now, we have cleared much of the uncertainty and are set to go." He said that at this stage his firm is attracting investors, both domestically and overseas, for construction to begin late this year. "We are talking with multiple potential investors including investment banks," Lee said, adding that ongoing negotiations prevent him from mentioning who they are. When asked about the business viability of the airport, he was reassuring. "Already, as soon as we open, we will absorb about 2 million passengers from the existing airport that will be closed," Lee said. "About 18 international airlines including European ones, that can't gain direct access to Cambodia due to the lack of a big airport, have already applied for use of the new airport." He was also positive about the build-operate-transfer (BOT) of the project that is usually a length process to retrieve initial investments and gain profits. "The period we can be in control is set at 65 years but can be extended," he said, believing that, when considering that the new airport will serve as Cambodia's only major international airport for a significant period of time, profitable years will follow shortly thereafter. He also pointed out three additional things that are working in their favor. First, he mentioned the efficiency and professionalism of the Cambodian public servants. "We deal with Ph.D. holders who studied in the U.S., Russia and European countries," Lee said. Secondly, Cambodia proves to be neither a banana republic nor led by a tinpot dictator. "It is a country that has a strong tradition of adhering to a contract perhaps resulting from the influence of the French," the CEO said. Thirdly, the location of the airport is close enough to easily access Angkor Wat but is at a sufficient distance away from it so as to protect its historical integrity. "UNESCO has cleared the site," he said with a smile that should be expected on a man who has an unbeatable hand.  | ||
| Cambodia traffic accident kills 19: Police Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:26 AM PST  Zee News (India) Phnom Penh: Nineteen people were killed and at least seven others seriously injured on Friday in one of Cambodia's worst-ever traffic accidents, police said. The head-on crash happened when a truck slammed into a van packed with passengers in the popular southern beach town of Sihanoukville. "There are 19 dead at the scene," Sihanoukville traffic police chief Prum Pov said. He said the truck veered onto the other side of the road before hitting the other vehicle. "We don't know why the truck went that way. The truck was going down a slope," Prum Pov said. "We are investigating the cause of the incident now." Traffic accidents are a leading cause of death in Cambodia, killing more than 1,600 people in 2010. Better roads -- allowing people to go faster -- and more vehicles contribute heavily to this bloody toll, but bad driving is the main cause behind most accidents, police say.  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:03 AM PST The term "compassion" -- typically reserved for the saintly or the sappy -- has fallen out of touch with reality. At a special TEDPrize@UN, journalist Krista Tippett deconstructs the meaning of compassion through several moving stories, and proposes a new, more attainable definition for the word. Krista Tippett Why you should listen to her: Krista Tippett grew up in Oklahoma, the granddaughter of a Southern Baptist preacher. She studied history at Brown University and went to Bonn, West Germany in 1983 on a Fulbright Scholarship to study politics in Cold War Europe. In her 20s, she ended up in divided Berlin for most of the 1980s, first as The New York Times stringer and a freelance correspondent for Newsweek, The International Herald Tribune, the BBC, and Die Zeit. She later became a special assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. When Tippett graduated with a M.Div. from Yale, she saw a black hole where intelligent coverage of religion should be. As she conducted a far-flung oral history project for the Benedictines of St. John's Abbey, she began to imagine radio conversations about the spiritual and intellectual content of faith that could open minds and enrich public life. These imagined conversations became reality when she created "Speaking of Faith" (now "On Being"), which is broadcast on over 200 US pubic radio stations and globally by NPR. From ecology to autism to torture, Tippett and her guests reach beyond the headlines to explore meaning, faith and ethics amidst the political, economic, cultural and technological shifts that define 21st century life. Tippett is the author of "Speaking of Faith" and "Einstein's God." "In a day where religion — or, rather arguments over religion — divide us into ever more entrenched and frustrated camps, Krista Tippett is exactly the measured, balanced commentator we need. Her intelligence is like a salve for all thinking people who have felt wounded or marginalized by The God Wars." Elizabeth Gilbert  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:03 AM PST http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz1lr0fHVp0  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:00 AM PST Women should be obscene and not heard.
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| Message from former members of the KPNLF Posted: 04 Mar 2011 07:00 AM PST Mes Cher(e)s Compatriotes et Ami(e)s, A l'occasion de la date de création (5 Mars 1979) des Forces Armées de Libération du Peuple Khmer (FALPK), nous, membres actifs du Front National de Libération du Peuple Khmer (FNLPK), adressons notre profonde gratitude à la mémoire de tous nos combattants, morts pour la Patrie, la Liberté, l'Intégrité territoriale et la Souveraineté Nationale. En même temps, nous lançons un appel pressant à l'UNION NATIONALE de tous les Khmers pour défendre notre pays sous la menace des Yuon (Vietnamiens) et Siamois (Thaïlandais) et sauvegarder notre identité nationale et enfin pour aider nos frères et soeurs de trouver la PAIX, la LIBERTÉ et le BONHEUR. -------------- My Dear Fellow Countrymen and Friends, On the occasion the anniversary ( March 5, 1979) of the formation of the Khmer People Liberation's Armed Forced (KPLAF), we, the active members of the Khmer People National Liberation Front ( KPNLF), send our profound gratitude to the memory of all our fighters who died for our Homeland, our Freedom, our territorial Integrity and our National Sovereignty. At the same time, we also issue a pressing appeal for the NATIONAL UNION of all Khmers to defend our country which is threatened by the Yuons (Vietnamese) and Siamese (Thai), and to protect our national identity, as well as to help our brothers and sisters find PEACE, FREEDOM and HAPPINESS.   | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 06:58 AM PST All the reasonings of men are not worth one sentiment of women.
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| My Rights, My Responsibility (ICCPR) Series Posted: 04 Mar 2011 06:55 AM PST International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Ratified, acceded by UN General Assembly in December 1966, entry into force March 1976. Cambodia ratified the ICCPR (thus, a part of Cambodia's body of laws) and is obligated to submit regular reports to the United Nations.
Article 45 The [Human Rights] Committee shall submit to the General Assembly of the United Nations, through the Economic and Social Council, an annual report on its activities.  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 06:52 AM PST When women go wrong, men go right after them.
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| My Rights, My Responsibility (Constitution) Series Posted: 04 Mar 2011 06:45 AM PST Constitution of Cambodia (Sept. 1993) CHAPTER VI: EDUCATION, CULTURE, SOCIAL AFFAIRS Article 70 Any offense affecting cultural artistic heritage shall carry a severe punishment.  | ||
| Posted: 04 Mar 2011 06:41 AM PST What would men be without women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce.
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| Welcome to New KI-Media Office at Ratanakiri province Posted: 04 Mar 2011 03:59 AM PST   | ||
| 10,000 people to be evicted from Boeung Kak Lake by CPP land-thief Lao Meng Khin, a crony of Hun Xen Posted: 04 Mar 2011 01:48 AM PST Lakeside eviction deadline set Thursday, 03 March 2011 Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Khouth Sophak Chakrya The Phnom Penh Post Some 10,000 people living at the Boeung Kak lakeside have been given a deadline of next week to leave their homes or be forcibly removed, raising the prospect of what could be the largest single forced eviction in the Kingdom's recent history. In a letter dated March 2, Daun Penh district governor Sok Sambath said the villagers would be forcibly evicted if they do not leave their homes voluntarily by next Tuesday. "In case you fail to heed this announcement, the authorities will take strict measures and actions to push the villagers to leave the Boeung Kak area," the letter states. "The authorities will not be responsible for the loss of your property in case your homes are removed." Local developer Shukaku Inc, owned by ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin, received a 99-year lease in 2007 to develop the lake and has since partnered with China's Inner Mongolia Erdos Hung Jun Investment Co on the project in a joint venture. Rights groups estimate that the 133-hectare development has affected more than 4,000 families, roughly 2,000 of whom have already accepted meagre compensation offers and left the site. Protests by Boeung Kak villagers have become a weekly occurrence in Phnom Penh, as villagers have denounced as insufficient the proposed compensation options: US$8,500 cash, housing in Dangkor district and two million riel ($495), or on-site relocation, the plans for which have yet to materialise. Individual villages and families in the area have been evicted in piecemeal fashion over the past few years, with some having their homes swallowed entirely as Shukaku pumps in sand to fill the lake. Srah Chak deputy commune chief In Sophorn said today that the remaining families had little choice but to accept the proposed compensation. "It is not important whether their homes are big or small because the government has set the payments at $8,500 or two million riels," she said. The lakeside residents, she added, "can receive more than this if they come to discuss the issue directly with our committee and Shukaku's representative". Tep Vanny, a community representative, said about 500 villagers planned to protest tomorrow in front of Shukaku headquarters in Phnom Penh to agitate for appropriate on-site housing. Villagers have requested that 15 hectares at the lakeside be set aside for this purpose. "If they do not accept this, we will not stop our protests and we will continue until there is an appropriate solution for us, although we are facing danger," she said. Sia Phearum, secretariat director of local NGO Housing Rights Task Force, said that in previous evictions at the lakeside, local authorities had usually pushed back the relocation. Villagers in Stung Treng's Nhean village in Sesan district say they are awaiting a response from the provincial governor over demands that he discharge the current village chief from his position, after villagers filed a complaint to provincial hall today. Kim Heng, village representative of Nhean village, said that 33 villagers travelled to the provincial hall to file a complaint letter containing 101 thumbprints and seeking the removal of Nhean village chief Se Darakham in Sdao commune. "The village chief committed corruption, threatened to withdraw land documents and looked down on villagers many times since he was appointed as the chief, so the villagers want to have a new chief," Kim Heng said. She added that provincial authorities prevented 33 villagers from protesting in front of the provincial hall today and deployed armed police to break up the protest. They did, she added, allow four village representatives to meet with provincial officials to discuss the complaint. "We met for two hours with them, but they did not decide a thing because the governor was absent, so we were asked to go back to the village and wait for the results," Kim Heng said. Se Darakhamcould not be reached for comment yesterday. Loy Sophat, provincial governor, said he had asked his officials to investigate the allegations. However, he said it would be "difficult to remove him from village chief" as Nhean village is not an official village recognised by the Ministry of Interior. He added that the area was designated for the use of military families to plant rice and that his officials would investigate the matter further and report back to him.  | ||
| Cambodian shot and killed by Lao soldiers Posted: 04 Mar 2011 01:41 AM PST Friday, 04 March 2011 Tep Nimol The Phnom Penh Post A Cambodian military official said yesterday that Lao soldiers shot and killed a Cambodian national who was suspected of crossing the border illegally from Stung Treng province to cut timber in Laos. Sun Ban, commander of Battalion 701 stationed on the Cambodian-Lao border, identified the deceased as Tep Sokha, 30, from Kampot province and said Lao officials yesterday had requested Cambodian officials come to retrieve the body. The shooting occurred after a group of villagers with 12 ox carts crossed the border on Tuesday at border posts 61 and 62 in Stung Treng's Siem Pang district adjacent to Cham Pasak district in Laos, Sun Ban said. Lao soldiers patrolling in the area fired shots at the villagers, whom they thought were illegal loggers, and the villagers fled back across the border, he said. "They went deep into Laos territory about 3 kilometres, and Lao soldiers accused them of illegally entering their country for logging. Siem Pang district Governor Shi Suon said he had reported the incident to provincial officials but that no diplomatic note had yet been submitted to the Lao government, urging them not to fire on Cambodian citizens. "We do not know yet whether any other Cambodian citizens were injured, but the information I have received is that only one man was killed," he said. The shooting comes days before a planned visit by the new Lao premier, Thongsing Thammavong, who is to arrive in Cambodia on March 7 for meetings with King Norodom Sihamoni and high-ranking government officials to discuss improving bilateral relations between the two countries. Three Cambodians have been killed and another injured by Lao soldiers since 2010, Shi Suon said.  | ||
| At least 20 dead as Cambodian tour bus headed to the beach crashes with speeding truck Posted: 04 Mar 2011 01:39 AM PST Friday, March 04, 2011 The Associated Press PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Police say a speeding truck has crashed into a tour bus in southwestern Cambodia, leaving at least 20 dead and eight seriously injured. Police official Prum Pao says the truck was carrying iron construction beams as it sped downhill in the rain and hit the bus head-on Friday. All the victims were Cambodian. He says the bus was headed to Sihanoukville, the country's most popular beach resort. It is 115 miles (185 kilometres) southwest of the capital, Phnom Penh. Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly urged Cambodians to respect traffic laws and drive slower to reduce road accidents. Some 1,700 Cambodians died in traffic accidents last year.  | ||
| Universal political values and aspirations - LIBERTY! Posted: 04 Mar 2011 12:05 AM PST Huntington's Clash Revisited By David Brooks, Op-Ed Columnist The New York Times, March 3, 2011
Samuel Huntington was one of America's greatest political scientists. In 1993, he published a sensational essay in Foreign Affairs called "The Clash of Civilizations?" The essay, which became a book, argued that the post-cold war would be marked by civilizational conflict. Human beings, Huntington wrote, are divided along cultural lines — Western, Islamic, Hindu and so on. There is no universal civilization. Instead, there are these cultural blocks, each within its own distinct set of values. The Islamic civilization, he wrote, is the most troublesome. People in the Arab world do not share the general suppositions of the Western world. Their primary attachment is to their religion, not to their nation-state. Their culture is inhospitable to certain liberal ideals, like pluralism, individualism and democracy. Huntington correctly foresaw that the Arab strongman regimes were fragile and were threatened by the masses of unemployed young men. He thought these regimes could fall, but he did not believe that the nations would modernize in a Western direction. Amid the tumult of regime change, the rebels would selectively borrow tools from the West, but their borrowing would be refracted through their own beliefs. They would follow their own trajectory and not become more Western. The Muslim world has bloody borders, he continued. There are wars and tensions where the Muslim world comes into conflict with other civilizations. Even if decrepit regimes fell, he suggested, there would still be a fundamental clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. The Western nations would do well to keep their distance from Muslim affairs. The more the two civilizations intermingle, the worse the tensions will be. Huntington's thesis set off a furious debate. But with the historic changes sweeping through the Arab world, it's illuminating to go back and read his argument today. In retrospect, I'd say that Huntington committed the Fundamental Attribution Error. That is, he ascribed to traits qualities that are actually determined by context. He argued that people in Arab lands are intrinsically not nationalistic. He argued that they do not hunger for pluralism and democracy in the way these things are understood in the West. But it now appears as though they were simply living in circumstances that did not allow that patriotism or those spiritual hungers to come to the surface. It now appears that people in these nations, like people in all nations, have multiple authentic selves. In some circumstances, one set of identities manifests itself, but when those circumstances change, other equally authentic identities and desires get activated. For most of the past few decades, people in Arab nations were living under regimes that rule by fear. In these circumstances, most people shared the conspiracy mongering and the political passivity that these regimes encouraged. But when the fear lessened, and the opportunity for change arose, different aspirations were energized. Over the past weeks, we've seen Arab people ferociously attached to their national identities. We've seen them willing to risk their lives for pluralism, openness and democracy. I'd say Huntington was also wrong in the way he defined culture. In some ways, each of us is like every person on earth; in some ways, each of us is like the members of our culture and group; and, in some ways, each of us is unique. Huntington minimized the power of universal political values and exaggerated the influence of distinct cultural values. It's easy to see why he did this. He was arguing against global elites who sometimes refuse to acknowledge the power of culture at all. But it seems clear that many people in Arab nations do share a universal hunger for liberty. They feel the presence of universal human rights and feel insulted when they are not accorded them. Culture is important, but underneath cultural differences there are these universal aspirations for dignity, for political systems that listen to, respond to and respect the will of the people. Finally, I'd say Huntington misunderstood the nature of historical change. In his book, he describes transformations that move along linear, projectable trajectories. But that's not how things work in times of tumult. Instead, one person moves a step. Then the next person moves a step. Pretty soon, millions are caught up in a contagion, activating passions they had but dimly perceived just weeks before. They get swept up in momentums that have no central authority and that, nonetheless, exercise a sweeping influence on those caught up in their tides. I write all this not to denigrate the great Huntington. He may still be proved right. The Arab world may modernize on its own separate path. But his mistakes illuminate useful truths: that all people share certain aspirations and that history is wide open. The tumult of events can transform the traits and qualities that seemed, even to great experts, etched in stone.  |
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