KI Media: “Prayuth's IMPOSSIBLE precondition shows that he has no intention of having Indonesian observers at the border. He's a WARMONGER!!!” plus 24 more |
- Prayuth's IMPOSSIBLE precondition shows that he has no intention of having Indonesian observers at the border. He's a WARMONGER!!!
- Neak Chhneah - "Winners": Khmer Poem by Ieng Mala
- Puzzled by a riddle?
- Stop giving Hun Sen power to rule
- Xmer official announces that KI-Media website is not shut down
- Seen in Phnom Penh...
- Thai-Cambodian clashes go on but villagers return home
- Not So Quiet on the [Thai] Eastern Front
- May 01, 2011: SRP MPs and garment workers demonstrate in front of National Assembly
- One Thai soldier killed as border clash persists
- Cambodia asks highest UN court to order Thailand to halt military action at disputed border
- Cambodia takes dispute with Thailand to UN court
- Cambodia receives 778,467 int'l tourists in Q1, up 14%
- International group calls for Rainsy return
- Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Case 003
- Cambodia did not ask for ceasefire with Thailand: Phay Siphan
- Learn Meditation and Vipassana at Wat Kirivongsa Bopharam in Massachusetts
- Press Release - Cambodia files application to the ICJ
- Sacrava's Royal Cartoon: Man Kiss Woman
- Mullapudi discusses delayed justice [in Cambodia]
- 18 dead in Thai-Cambodia border fighting
- Suthep: Hard to talk with Cambodia [-Finger pointing accusations are still the favored tactics for both sides]
- Another Thai soldier killed in latest border clash
- 2011 Freedom of the Press in Cambodia: NOT FREE, Rank 141 over 196 countries
- Cambodia construction approvals double in first quarter [... over how many FORCED EVICTIONS?]
| Posted: 03 May 2011 02:49 PM PDT Prayuth insists troops must vacate border 30 monitors to deploy after terms approved 4/05/2011 Wassana Nanuam & Nopparat Kingkaeo Bangkok Post
The Army chief yesterday reiterated the precondition set out by the army and government that Cambodia withdraw all of its troops from the 4.6 sq km disputed border area before Indonesian observers can be deployed. "If they [Cambodia] do not agree, the battle will have to continue. We can keep fighting each other or we can end the battle with dialogue," army commander in chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya earlier met with Indonesia's foreign minister Marty Natalegawa, who is the current chairman of Asean, to discuss the terms of reference (ToR) for the deployment of 30 Indonesian observers along the Thai-Cambodian border near Preah Vihear temple. The Foreign Ministry has proposed the ToR to the Cabinet, which it should consider carefully, Gen Prayuth said. "If those observers were to be deployed, there must be no soldiers on the Preah Vihear mountain. It does not matter who comes in, the government will be the one to approve their presence. But if they want to come, there must be a ToR governing their presence," Gen Prayuth said. The army chief added that the Foreign Ministry would lobby the Cabinet for approval of the ToR. He has personally gone through essential details of the proposal and insisted it states that there must be no troops present at Preah Vihear Temple in addition to nearby communities and Buddhist temples. On Monday night, border skirmishes resumed between Thai and Cambodian troops near the Ta Kwai Temple in Tambon Bak Dai in Surin province. One Thai soldier was killed and three others injured. The latest clash featured fighting with personal rifles, grenade launchers and hand grenades, according to Lt Gen Tawatchai Samutsakhon, commander of the 2nd Army. About 500 residents of Tambon Bak Dai who had recently returned home again had to flee from their communities to Nikhom Prasat evacuation centre on Monday night. Eight Thai soldiers have been killed and 120 others injured during the latest and deadliest round of Thai-Cambodian fighting, which started 11 days ago. Gen Prayuth insisted that Thai troops had never fired first. Lt Gen Tawatchai said small skirmishes had occurred on a daily basis since a ceasefire was declared last Thursday. The skirmish on Monday night broke out because Cambodian military leaders could not control some of their soldiers. The 2nd Army had tried to prevent further clashes by sending commanding officers to the frontline, so that they could talk to Cambodian military commanders and discuss plans to prevent further skirmishes between both sides.  | ||||
| Neak Chhneah - "Winners": Khmer Poem by Ieng Mala Posted: 03 May 2011 02:37 PM PDT   | ||||
| Posted: 03 May 2011 02:25 PM PDT    | ||||
| Stop giving Hun Sen power to rule Posted: 03 May 2011 01:58 PM PDT 
 May 4, 2011 A. Gaffar Peang-Meth PACIFIC DAILY NEWS
 Cambodia has a history that dates back more than 2,000 years. I was born, raised and acculturated in that land until 1961, when I spent my senior year of high school under the auspices of a student exchange program in Ohio. I returned to Cambodia after graduation, but came back to the U.S. for college and graduate school, earning my B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science.School and experience have shaped my political outlook on individual rights, freedom and the rule of law. My cousin, who graduated from a medical school in East Germany, pronounced that my political views were proof that I was "born before my time ." I dislike dictatorship in any circumstances; I hate it as a form of government. Rights and liberty English philosopher John Locke wrote that all people are born equal and have a natural right to defend their "life, health, liberty, possessions." The inadequacy of the natural right to defend led them to join in a civil society to solve their problems. Montesquieu, the French social commentator during the Enlightenment, taught: "Were the power of judging joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control, for the judge would then be the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with all the violence of an oppressor." I was enthralled that James Madison, the son of a Virginia tobacco planter, at 37 wrote in his Federalist Paper No. 47 in 1788 that "No political truth is certainly of greater intrinsic value" than the separation of powers. "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may just be pronounced the very definition of tyranny," he wrote, and "the preservation of liberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct." Checks and balances, he argued, protect individual rights and freedom from the tyranny of "elective despotism." The nemesis Hun Sen is a despot who rules with unconstrained authority and unlimited powers. He rules because he can. He's in control of Cambodia's material resources (natural and financial), its economic system, its communication and transportation means. He's in command of the state's sanctions, security forces and the military. We can blame the world community for failing to implement the 1991 Paris Peace Accords that commit the signatories (18 participating governments and the United Nations) "to promote and encourage respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia." But the four warring Cambodian factions were also signatories. They didn't make good use of the rare international accords to build their future. Hun Sen rules because, unfortunately, the most important source of power, the populace, generally thinks Hun Sen and his CPP have the right to rule. Their commands are obeyed. Election after election, the populace gives its votes to Hun Sen and the CPP, thereby legitimizing them -- just as opposition parties legitimize them through their participation in elections that they can't win. Ironically, the state institutions that fuel Hun Sen's dictatorship are filled with people who have sufficient skills and know-how to keep Hun Sen in power. His minions employ divide-and-rule tactics against the opposition, individuals and groups; opposition groups fight and compete among themselves. When submission, obedience, and cooperation are withdrawn, Hun Sen and the CPP will fall. Only Cambodians can accomplish this. Crushing a protest Cambodians are not as passive and docile as some may think. Weak and helpless, perhaps, but no person accepts tyranny indefinitely. Weakness and helplessness are able to be modified, but a change in attitudes and values needs to come first. Log on to see YouTube videos on forced evictions in Cambodia. Police beat up residents of Boeung Kak Lake in Phnom Penh as their houses were bulldozed while a fumigator sprayed them with a white substance. Other videos affirm Cambodians have organized civil protests. On April 21, as Hun Sen's military battled Thai "aggressors" at the Preah Vihear temple area. His riot police beat three women unconscious with sticks and electric prods, beat an elderly woman about the head and dragged other women protesters into a police van. The attack was launched against perhaps 100 Boeung Kak Lake residents who gathered in front of Phnom Penh city hall to protest the planned eviction of 1,500 families from their land for the development of a luxury resident complex by the Shukaku firm, reportedly owned by CPP senator Lao Meng Khim. The Sam Rainsy Party's April 25 letter to Phnom Penh authorities concerning a demonstration by 200 people on April 30 in support of the protesters was a breath of fresh air. The SRP has abandoned civil demonstrations for some time. Also notable was the April 28 broadcast by Voice of America about the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union's announcement of its plan to gather 3,000 workers in Phnom Penh to march in the International Labor Day parade on May 1, despite Hun Sen's ban. In the face of Hun Sen's dictatorship, which is a source of many societal ills, it's crucial that Cambodians of all political persuasions remain vigilant. Recall Buddha's words: "To be idle is a short road to death." A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.  | ||||
| Xmer official announces that KI-Media website is not shut down Posted: 03 May 2011 09:05 AM PDT  Click on the control below to listen to the audio program in Khmer 03 May 2011 By Sok Serey Radio Free Asia Translated from Khmer by Soy Click here to read the original article in Khmer Even Hun Xen NEEDS to READ KI-MEDIA: Once again, the Cambodian government is accused in recent weeks of shutting down KI-Media because it published an article claiming that Hun Xen suffers from lung cancer because he smokes cigarettes, however, Hun Xen reacted by saying sternly that he does not have lung cancer and that he continues to puff cigarettes. Hun Xen added that those who will die first is not him, but it is the KI-Media group which looked down on him. Because a number of Internet users cannot access the KI-Media website in the past, some believe that this website is shut down by the government. A high-ranking government official claimed that the government has no plan to shut down the KI-Media website because this site criticizes and attacks the Cambodian government leaders and high-ranking government officials. The official indicated that the government needs to read and follow up on various critical information and that it is important to preserve the freedom to receive information, freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Cambodia (sic!). The claim was made by Khieu Kanharith, the Xmer minister of Information, during the World Press Freedom Day on 03 May 2011 in Phnom Penh which was attended by the president of the journalist association, UNESCO representatives and about 200 information students. Khieu Kanharith, who is also the government mouthpiece, said that KI-Media is useful for the public and the government as well: "Accusing the government, we did not shut down KI-Media, but if it is blocked, it is another story, but when it comes to shutting it down, we don't shut it down. Don't ask us anymore, the government's goal is not to shut it down and I need to read it also, so I may know what they are doing, their activities." SRP MP Mu Sochua said in reaction to Khieu Kanharith's claim that KI-Media website is still inaccessible during the past few weeks: "We know clearly that a government official sent an email ordering Internet Service Provider to block this website." Pen Samithi, the president of the Cambodian Club of Journalists, said that he welcomes the government's standing: "The comment made by His Excellency [Khieu Kanharith] regarding KI-Media in the past and in the present shows that there is a clear opening for our entire society." (sic!) KI-Media is a website that supports the SRP, the largest opposition party in Cambodia. It always criticizes and attacks the government leaders and top government officials. In December 2010, the Cambodian government was accused of shutting down KI-Media once already because it accused directly Hun Xen, Chea Xim, Heng Xamrin and Var Kim Hong of being traitors who sold Cambodian land to the Viets. Once again, the Cambodian government is accused in recent weeks of shutting down KI-Media because it published an article claiming that Hun Xen suffers from lung cancer because he smokes cigarettes, however, Hun Xen reacted by saying sternly that he does not have lung cancer and that he continues to puff cigarettes. Hun Xen added that those who will die first is not him, but it is the KI-Media group which looked down on him.  | ||||
| Posted: 03 May 2011 08:32 AM PDT
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| Thai-Cambodian clashes go on but villagers return home Posted: 03 May 2011 08:28 AM PDT Tue May 3, 2011 BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand Cambodian forces are exchanging intermittent fire on their disputed border and the death toll from nearly two weeks of violence has risen to 18 but villagers were trickling home on Tuesday as the intensity of the clashes eased. The latest exchanges follow a four-day confrontation in February making this year's violence the bloodiest on the poorly demarcated border for years. A cease-fire agreed at the end of last week by regional army commanders was quickly breached and daily skirmishes have since been reported, each side blaming the other for firing first. Clashes with guns and grenades broke out on Monday night, Thai army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Tuesday, adding that one Thai soldier was killed and three were wounded. There was no report of casualties in Cambodia. "Even though clashes continued, it has become less intense and the use of heavy weapons has stopped. Army representatives on both sides will meet twice a day to reduce tension and restore goodwill on the ground," Sansern said. Civilians on both sides started to return home over the weekend when the use of the long-range weapons stopped. At least 65,000 people had been evacuated from villages along the border since April 22 when the latest round of skirmishes began. The cease-fire agreed last Thursday was supposed to end the fighting that has fanned nationalist passions in both countries, threatening to overshadow elections due in Thailand and reinforcing doubts about Southeast Asia's ambitions to form a European Union-style community by 2015. But tension remains high, with troops stationed in close proximity around two ancient temples in the poorly demarcated Dongrak Mountain Range. ELUSIVE PEACE Adding to the combustible mix, Cambodia went back to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday to ask for clarification of its 1962 ruling to award a separate temple, the 11th century Preah Vihear, to Cambodia. The Preah Vihear temple, or Khao Phra Viharn as it is known in Thailand, is the focus of border hostility and is about 150 km (90 miles) to the east of the site of most of the latest clashes. The original ruling over the 900-year-old ruins was never accepted by many Thais and there have been frequent clashes at the site since mid-2008, including during the past two weeks. The court never ruled on disputed land surrounding the temple. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his government would do everything in its power to protect "Thai sovereignty" to make sure Thailand was not at a disadvantage if the ICJ accepted Cambodia's request for it to interpret the ruling. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the situation at the border had improved but acknowledged long-lasting peace might prove elusive. "We have to keep a watch on the situation because it's difficult. Negotiation for a permanent cease-fire is hard and we have to be careful," Suthep told Reuters. Under the April 28 cease-fire, the two sides had agreed to keep troops in the area but hold regular meetings between field commanders, leaving territorial disputes to a joint demarcation commission. The latest round of fighting has killed nine Cambodians and nine Thais. Thailand insists the stone-walled ruins of the 12th century Ta Moan and Ta Krabey temples lie in its Surin province, based on a 1947 map. Cambodia says they are in its Oddar Meanchey province. Sovereignty has been in dispute since the withdrawal of the French from Cambodia in the 1950s. Some analysts are sceptical the conflict is really about sovereignty and say it appears politically driven on both sides. Some say generals in Thailand are colluding with nationalists to foment a crisis and force the cancellation of upcoming elections to preserve the royalist establishment's hold on power. (Reporting by Chalathip Thirasoonthrakul and Panarat Thepgumpanat; Writing by Ambika Ahuja; Editing by Alan Raybould and Robert Birsel)  | ||||
| Not So Quiet on the [Thai] Eastern Front Posted: 03 May 2011 08:21 AM PDT
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 By ALEX ELLGEE The Irrawaddy SURIN, Thailand—While relations between Thailand and its western neighbor, Burma, have seemingly been improving with regard to issues at the Thai-Burmese border, things have taking a turn for the worse on Thailand's eastern front. Sitting in a crowded hall at Koke Klang temporary refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border, La Aui Mutumachanan, an 80-year-old woman, recalled the moment that fighting broke out near her village. "I was sleeping in my bed when it started. It was deafening," she told The Irrawaddy while folding up the straw mat she has been sleeping on with the rest of her family for the past week. "My family helped me to take cover and the next day we came to this refugee camp." Entering its ninth day, the fighting is the worst that the previously sleepy Surin province has ever seen. The recent clashes stem from a demarcation carried out in the 1950s, which awarded the land around 12th-century Ta Moan and Ta Krabey temples to Cambodia. Thailand continues to dispute this. Tens of thousands of Thai and Cambodian villagers returned on Monday to homes they fled after fierce military clashes flared on the border more than a week ago. According to Associated Press (AP), Serm Chainarong, the governor of Thailand's northeastern province of Surin, where most of the recent clashes took place, told reporters he has allowed 44,000 villagers evacuated from the combat zone to return home from 35 makeshift shelters. Pech Sokhen, the governor of Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province opposite Surin, said 90 percent of the 43,000 refugees on his side of the border had returned to their homes from 33 temporary camps, leaving behind just 250-300 families whose houses were in the immediate area of the fighting, AP reported. In the meantime, surviving on donations handed out by volunteers, La Aui and her family said they are okay for the moment but worried about their home. "Some people's homes have been destroyed by the fighting, We are worried about ours." Lying in a ward bed at Prasat local hospital, a 15-year-old girl, Jeeranan, grimaced in pain. Accompanied by a teddy bear, and hair tied up in ponytails, she looks younger than her age. "The doctor says her arm bone is completely smashed," her mother said, looking over her, clearly distressed by the news. "We don't want to go back to our village while bombs are flying overhead like this." When fighting started, she said, a stray BM-21 missile landed in their house, completely destroying the building and injuring their youngest daughter. A worker who was sitting down for dinner outside was not so lucky. He was seriously injured and later died in hospital. Hope for an end to the conflict faded early on Friday morning when more fighting broke out killing a Thai soldier and bringing the official death toll to 16. The latest clash occurred after a supposed ceasefire had been agreed between the two nations on Thursday morning. High-level commanders from both nations were reported to have agreed to stop all military activity and open borders to allow displaced people to travel home. Both side's commanders have blamed their counterpart's local units for not following orders. Fighting is reported to have started again early on Saturday morning. "Even though there is a recent ceasefire agreement … Thailand still breached it," Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters in Phnom Penh on Saturday. "There was an exchange of fire last night and this morning," he said. "It shows that we cannot trust our counterpart." Adding to concerns that the conflict will escalate even further, Prawit Wongsuwon, Thailand's defense minister, canceled a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, Tea Banh, on Wednesday. With no international observers on the front line, the conflict is slowly turning into a war of words, with a raging blame game being tossed from one side to the other. "They want to take over our land. There are no Cambodian soldiers in Thailand, but they keep coming onto our land. Plain and simple," Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan told The Irrawaddy on Friday. "Our soldiers are inside Cambodian land. If they [Thai soldiers] fire into our land, only then will we fire back." While overseeing his unit detonate an unexploded stray mortar, Thai military spokesman Col. Prawit Hookaew blamed Cambodia for the recent fighting. "It is surprising that Cambodian troops say they never start fighting and never want to have clashes, but their action has shown that they want to escalate the fighting," he said. "The Cambodian troops slowly mobilize to Thai territory and try to attack us all the time, but so far they cannot dissolve any of our military bases yet." At a surprise visit to Koke Klang temporary refugee camp—home to more than 3,000 of the 50,000 villagers who have fled their homes to escape the fighting—Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told refugees and reporters that it was Cambodia's fault that the fighting continues. He said Thailand was ready to talk with Cambodia but if they continue to attack Thailand it will be impossible to make any progress. "Thailand will not invade Cambodia, but if they attack us then we are prepared to fight back in order to save the country," he told refugees as they sat around on straw mats in a school building. Making some of his first comments on the conflict, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a speech to a women's group on Wednesday that Abhisit was to blame. "The current Thai leader likes war, provokes war," he said. "Cambodia is a small, poor country and has fewer forces, but don't you forget that an ant can make an elephant not get any sleep," he said. "Cambodia's weaponry is not just slingshots." Relations first frosted over the border demarcation in 2008 when a temple—150 kilometers [90 miles] east of the current conflict—was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thailand said that although the land was awarded to Cambodia by the international court, the temples never were properly discussed. Conflict erupted at Preah Vihear temple on February 4-7 this year, killing 11 people. While it could appear to be a simple conflict over sovereignty, experts and civilians on both sides of the border are increasingly blaming domestic politics for the ongoing conflict. In Cambodia, some believe Hun Sen is attempting to wield nationalist sentiment to gain support for his son, whom he is grooming to eventually takeover control of the country. It is also believed that he could be attempting to discredit Abhisit and therefore boost support for Thai opposition parties in the forthcoming elections. Hun Sen has often publicly voiced his support for the Puea Thai party and the "Redshirts." According to Michael Montesano of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, the temple dispute all came about as a result of "cheap politics" in 2008 by the People's Alliance for Democracy—otherwise known as the "Yellowshirts"—to reduce support for then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. "This whole episode, in a sense, is the tail that the dog of Thailand is wagging, and the dog of Thai domestic politics is not going to calm down any time soon, so that is the problem here," said Montesano. In a move, which is likely to irk Bangkok even more, Cambodia announced on Friday it would be seeking clarification from the International Court of Justice over the demarcation of Preah Vihear temple. Cambodia said a clarification by the court was of "the utmost necessity ... in order to peacefully and definitely settle the boundary problem between the two countries in the area." Previously the Cambodians had turned to the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and asked for international mediation to deal with issue. It is rumored that Abhisit has been leaning toward accepting Cambodia's proposal, but Thai military leaders had been reluctant to accept it, adding to speculation they are prolonging the war in order to establish their legitimacy. "Its very clear that the army and its backers are nervous about the overall political situation in Thailand—nervous about mounting criticism of the monarchy, nervous about Thaksin's return to political activity, nervous about the outcome of the upcoming election," said Montesano. "This is one more way that the army and its backers are asserting themselves," he said. Taking no chances both sides' armies are digging in on the border. Cambodia has reportedly sent new rocket launchers and Thailand continues to deploy fresh tanks and soldiers. Village defense units are being trained up and both sides look ready for the fight. In the meantime, families like La Aui's and nearly 100,000 refugees continue to suffer. Civilian houses are being destroyed every day and villagers are quickly growing tired of the temporary camps. "We don't want to stay here forever," La Aui's son told The Irrawaddy while minding his young child. "We really hope the two counties can work it out so we can return to our homes and normal lives."  | ||||
| May 01, 2011: SRP MPs and garment workers demonstrate in front of National Assembly Posted: 03 May 2011 07:22 AM PDT May 01, 2011: 125th Anniversary Labor Day - SRP MPs and garment workers demonstrated in front of National Assembly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_24d9QGz23Q&feature=player_embedded  | ||||
| One Thai soldier killed as border clash persists Posted: 03 May 2011 07:18 AM PDT May 03, 2011 Xinhua One Thai soldier was killed and three others injured in overnight clash with Cambodian troops near Ta Kwai temple on disputed border between Thailand's northeastern Surin province and Cambodia. According to Army Region 2, the cross-border clash began at 8 p. m. Monday night after mortars were fired at a Thai military base, triggering proportionate retaliation from Thai side. Small arms, mortars and hand grenades were used by both sides in the conflict but no heavy weapons were used. Sporadic gunfire exchanges continued till 2.30 a.m. on Tuesday. The deadly border conflict since April 22 has brought the death toll to 18 including nine Cambodian soldiers, eight Thai soldiers and one Thai civilian. Villagers who had just returned to their homes on Monday ran for their lives to shelter. The clash occurred despite a ceasefire agreement reached between field commanders of both countries. Over 100,000 residents in the two countries were displaced following the latest round of border clash.  | ||||
| Cambodia asks highest UN court to order Thailand to halt military action at disputed border Posted: 03 May 2011 07:17 AM PDT Tuesday, May 03, 2011 By Mike Corder, The Associated Press THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Cambodia has asked the United Nations' highest court to order Thailand to withdraw troops and halt military activity around a temple at the centre of a decades-old border dispute that has flared into deadly military clashes. Fighting in recent weeks along the disputed border region in northeastern Thailand that surrounds the Preah Vihear temple has left 16 soldiers and one Thai civilian dead. In a request filed April 28 and made available Tuesday on the court's website, Cambodia asked International Court of Justice judges to urgently deal with its request "because of the gravity of the situation." Cambodia claims that according to a 1962 ruling by the court the temple is on its territory and warns that if the intervention request is rejected and clashes continue, "the damage to the Temple of Preah Vihear, as well as irremediable losses of life and human suffering ... would become worse." The border dispute has stirred nationalist sentiment on both sides. But analysts say domestic politics may also be fueling the conflict, especially in Thailand, where the military that staged a coup in 2006 could be flexing its muscles ahead of elections due in June or July. The conflict involves small swaths of land along the border that have been disputed for more than half a century. Including the latest fighting, clashes have broken out six times since 2008, when Cambodia's 11th-century Preah Vihear temple was given U.N. World Heritage status over Thailand's objections. Analysts say the fighting is primarily being driven by domestic tensions within each country rather than tensions between them. Neither side appears to be trying to capture territory, and few believe the conflict will evolve into full-scale war. The fighting forced tens of thousands of villagers on both sides of the border to flee their homes. Many of them returned this week from makeshift refugee camps as the latest skirmishes eased from artillery barrages to small arms exchanges. Rulings by the court are supposed to be final and binding on parties. Cambodia has formally applied for an "interpretation" — a written explanation — by the court of its 1962 judgment, and argued in its written application that the court's opinion "could then serve as a basis for a final resolution of this dispute through negotiation or any other peaceful means."  | ||||
| Cambodia takes dispute with Thailand to UN court Posted: 03 May 2011 07:14 AM PDT May 03, 2011 THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- Cambodia has asked the United Nations' highest court to order Thailand to withdraw troops and halt military activity around a temple at the center of a decades-old border dispute that has flared into deadly military clashes. Fighting in recent weeks along the disputed border region surrounding the Preah Vihear temple has left at least 16 people dead. In a request filed April 28 and made available Tuesday on the court's website, Cambodia asks International Court of Justice judges to urgently deal with its request "because of the gravity of the situation." Cambodia claims that according to a 1962 ruling by the court the temple on its territory.  | ||||
| Cambodia receives 778,467 int'l tourists in Q1, up 14% Posted: 03 May 2011 07:08 AM PDT PHNOM PENH, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Foreign visitors to Cambodia increased by an on-year 14 percent to 778,467 in the first quarter of this year, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday. Of the figure, 55 percent traveled to Cambodia by air and the rest by land and water. Among the top 10 tourist sources, Vietnamese rated first with 130,831, up 19 percent, South Korea second with 107,489, up 28 percent, and China third with 66,836, up 36 percent. However, the report also showed that Thai tourists to Cambodia had declined up to 34 percent to 26,824 due to the border dispute between the two countries. Tourism industry is one of the main four pillars supporting Cambodian economy. In 2010, the sector received 2.5 million foreign tourists generating a total revenue of 1.75 billion US dollars.  | ||||
| International group calls for Rainsy return Posted: 03 May 2011 02:29 AM PDT  David Boyle and Meas Sockchea The Phnom Penh Post An international union of parliamentarians has urged the government to restore opposition leader Sam Rainsy's status as a member of parliament, arguing that the criminal convictions that led to his flight from Cambodia were legally unjustified. A resolution obtained by The Post yesterday, submitted on April 20 by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, argued: "It is becoming ever more urgent to review Mr Sam Rainsy's case and to rehabilitate him ... to stand in the next parliamentary elections." The IPU resolution claimed that Rainsy's removal of a demarcation post in Svay Rieng province on the Vietnamese border in late 2009 was a political gesture rather than a criminal act. It also stated that Sam Rainsy's subsequent publication of a map alleging Vietnamese encroachments into Cambodian territory also did not constitute a criminal act because no recognised map of the border's demarcation existed. In Cambodia, however, Sam Rainsy received a two-year prison sentence in January 2010 for destroying public property and racial incitement in relation to the removal of the border demarcation posts. Last September, he was found guilty of disinformation and falsifying public documents regarding the publication of the maps and sentenced to an additional 10 years in prison. In March, his parliamentary status was revoked by the National Assembly because his criminal convictions had rendered him ineligible to serve as a lawmaker. With a recent defamation conviction in a case brought by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, he now faces a 14-year jail term should be return to the Kingdom. Senior Cambodian People's Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap yesterday rejected the IPU resolution, though he conceded that it was technically possible for the opposition leader to return to politics if pardoned by the King or the National Assembly. "I would like to inform Mr Sam Rainsy that it is too late for resolving other problems in order to return home," he said. "I completely reject [the resolution]. The IPU is not a Cambodian court, it does not understand anything." He added that if Sam Rainsy really wanted to return to Cambodia from France, where he is living in self-imposed exile, he should be prepared to go to jail. "Mr Sam Rainsy is like the Khmer Rouge saying: 'If we keep him, there's no profit; if we throw him away, there's no loss,'" Cheam Yeap said. Sam Rainsy argued yesterday that the government had no choice but to respect such resolutions made by the international community if it expected it to help resolve Cambodia's violent border dispute with Thailand, which has seen more deadly clashes take place in recent weeks after fighting broke out on April 22. "The Cambodian government needs the support of the international community with our border conflict with Thailand, so we have to show a good face to the international community," he said. His exclusion as the leader of the largest opposition party from upcoming elections in 2012 and 2013 would expose Cambodia's "democratic façade", he added, leaving any elected government illegitimate in the eyes of the international community.  | ||||
| Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Case 003 Posted: 03 May 2011 02:24 AM PDT
A hybrid court, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, has spent over $200 million since it was set up in 2003 with both international and local judges and prosecutors. It has tried only one person: Kang Kech Eav, or Duch, the head of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison complex, who is appealing his conviction for crimes against humanity, murder and torture. Now Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has taken an axe to further proceedings. In power for over 25 years, Hun Sen has repeatedly and publicly declared that the court should try only one more case (case "002" in court parlance), against four detained senior ex-Khmer Rouge leaders, all of whom are in their late 70s or 80s. As for five additional unnamed suspects, whom the court's pre-trial chamber approved for investigation, Hun Sen bluntly informed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon late last year that they would not be "allowed" to go forward.  | ||||
| Cambodia did not ask for ceasefire with Thailand: Phay Siphan Posted: 03 May 2011 02:20 AM PDT
By Phorn Rina Radio Free Asia Translated from Khmer by Soch Click here to read the original article in Khmer Following the ceasefire agreement between Cambodian and Thai troops, a report indicated that this ceasefire was requested by Cambodia because (1) it needs to collect the remains of its dead soldiers, (2) Cambodia lacks weapons and (3) Cambodia lacks food. On 02 May, The Bangkok Post quoted Thai military claiming that the ceasefire in Ta Moan Thom temple was done upon Cambodia's request. The same Thai military source added that Colonel Neak Vong, the commander of RCAF brigade 420, was the direct negotiator with Thailand and he allegedly told his Thai counterpart that Cambodia needs a ceasefire so that it may collect the remains of dead soldiers whose body are rotten. He also allegedly said that Cambodian soldiers lack weapons, as well as food, following the 10-day border clash. In reaction to the claim above, Phay Siphan, spokesman of the Cambodian government and secretary of state at the Cambodian Council of Ministers, told RFA in the evening of 02 May that the Thai military quote by The Bangkok Post is exaggeration of the truth with the aim of encouraging Thai soldiers and population only. He said that the ceasefire was initiated by Thailand's request because Thailand is under a lot of international pressure, in particular from the US. Furthermore, the ceasefire comes at t a time when Thailand was defeated on multiple occasions, therefore, it took the opportunity to facilitate the life of its troops. Phay Siphan said: "What you see on the Thai newspaper, that publication is entirely false, it is baseless and we reject them altogether. First, the photo of the meeting between commander Neak Vong and a Thai [soldier] by the name of Boonthamcharoen was done at Ta Moan temple, and in that meeting Neak Vong did not ask to collect any body either… The meeting that took place at Ta Moan temple was an excuse by Thailand to take picture for political reason, and what the Thai said are lies, I reject them all, I was the witness there…" The Bangkok Post quoted Thai general Tawatchai as saying that during the one-week fight, 7 Thai soldiers died and several were injured. According to the government, the number of the Cambodian soldiers killed was 8.  | ||||
| Learn Meditation and Vipassana at Wat Kirivongsa Bopharam in Massachusetts Posted: 03 May 2011 12:51 AM PDT  Wat Kirivongsa Bopharam will hold an annual 10-day Meditation and Vipassana classes between June 17-28, 2011. -Welcome Buddhist monks and everyone to enroll -Vipassana master Ven. Dejapanno Phorn Pheap, abbot of Wat Kirivongsa Bopharam and former Vipassana student of the late and renowned Vipassana Master in the Kingdom of Cambodia Ven. Ketodhammo Som Bunthoeun - English translation will be provided for any students who do not understand Khmer. To enroll, call: 413.367.9526, 413.367.0280, 978.758.0286, or 978.935.3287.  | ||||
| Press Release - Cambodia files application to the ICJ Posted: 03 May 2011 12:25 AM PDT | ||||
| Sacrava's Royal Cartoon: Man Kiss Woman Posted: 03 May 2011 12:17 AM PDT
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| Mullapudi discusses delayed justice [in Cambodia] Posted: 03 May 2011 12:14 AM PDT
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 By Felicia Schwartz, The Dartmouth Staff In the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge genocide, the pursuit of justice has been hindered by various political and social concerns — including a desire to achieve national unity — among Cambodian and United Nations leaders, according to Uma Mullapudi '10, winner of the 2010 Chase Peace Prize. Mullapudi spoke about her thesis, "Thirty Years Later: Delayed Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, 1991-2004," with Rutgers University professor Alex Hinton and Dartmouth history and Native American studies professor Benjamin Madley in a panel honoring Mullapudi's prize-winning submission on Monday. Mullapudi's research questioned why justice was continuously delayed for victims of the Cambodian genocide, she said. "Why did people who suffered so much have to wait approximately 30 years for justice to begin?" Mullapudi asked. Cambodian and UN leaders found it necessary to balance pursuing justice with achieving national reconciliation, which they believed would ensure human rights, maintain national sovereignty and create peace and stability, according to Mullapudi. "At different times, the domestic political climate caused Cambodian and UN leaders to prioritize these other factors over justice," she said. Mullapudi began her presentation with a quote from Chum Mey, one of only 12 survivors of the Tuol Sleng prison, where the Khmer Rouge imprisoned approximately 14,000 people. Mey wanted to stay alive to give evidence of the atrocities, and he believed there was no reason to survive if he could not help punish the Khmer Rouge perpetrators, Mullapudi said. Mullapudi's research examined domestic political factors including interactions between two political parties — the socialist Cambodia People's Party and the royalist National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia. She also examined the interplay between Cambodian and UN leadership and how those interactions contributed to the delay of justice. The Khmer Rouge was a Maoist faction whose main goal was to create an agrarian society and re-educate all people who were "tainted" by capitalism and western ideologies, Mullapudi said in a "mini Cambodia lesson" to give audience members background of the country's conflict. To achieve the political goals of the Khmer Rouge, some citizens were evacuated from cities and sent to the countryside to work on communes, while others were sent to jails like Tuol Sleng, Mullapudi said. In both the communes and prisons, living conditions were terrible and torture was common, she said. Mullapudi also discussed how the Khmer Rouge influenced Cambodia's 1994-1998 coalition government although it was no longer a legitimate political party. Disagreements between the UN and Cambodian government officials regarding corruption and who should be tried delayed the creation of a tribunal to prosecute senior Khmer Rouge party members, Mullapudi said. After Mullupudi's presentation, the two other panelists discussed broader issues related to the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Hinton, the Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution and Human Rights at Rutgers and a specialist on Cambodia and the larger theoretical issues of genocide, showed pages from a guidebook distributed in the Cambodian countryside. The book taught Cambodians about the Khmer Rouge tribunal and encouraged them to become civil parties, or complainants in the trial, in order to seek closure, Hinton said. The guidebook illustrates that the tribunal seeks to expose Cambodian citizens to Western ideas of justice, Hinton said. Madley posed a number of questions regarding the ramifications of the compromise in creating a hybrid tribunal that consists of both Cambodian legal advocates and International Criminal Court judges. Madley praised Mullapudi's thesis for contributing to the current scholarship regarding genocide in Cambodia and the limitations of the Khmer Rouge tribunal. "Uma's thesis now helps us to understand their origins as a series of long, hard-fought negotiations between the Cambodian government and the United Nations," Madley said. Doug Haynes, Mullapudi's thesis adviser and a history professor at the College, moderated the panel, which took place in the Haldeman Center. The Chase Peace Prize is awarded annually by the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding to the best senior thesis relating to war and peace. The $1,500 prize also allows the winner to return to campus to present on a panel along with experts in the topic's appropriate field of study.  | ||||
| 18 dead in Thai-Cambodia border fighting Posted: 03 May 2011 12:07 AM PDT
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 Australia Network News A Thai soldier has been killed in fresh border fighting with Cambodian troops. The death toll from the worst border clashes between the two countries in decades now stands at 18. A Thai army spokesman in the northeast border region has told the AFP newsagency three other soldiers were injured in the skirmishes that involved assault rifles and mortars. Cambodia says one of its soldiers was also injured. The latest conflict started on April the 22nd around two ancient disputed Hindu temples on the Thai-Cambodia border. More than 80,000 people have fled the area, with both sides under increasing international pressure to end the violence. A truce announced last Thursday was short lived, but the fighting has become less intense and appears to be confined to a smaller area away from civilians. Cambodia has urged the International Court of Justice to clarify ownership of Preah Vihear and the surrounding area. Analysts say the Thai-Cambodia border has never been fully demarcated due to large numbers of unexploded landmines.  | ||||
| Posted: 03 May 2011 12:01 AM PDT 3/05/2011 Bangkok Post Negotiations could ease the continuing border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia but holding immediate talks with Cambodia is not easy, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of security affairs Suthep Thaugsuban said on Tuesday. Speaking after a Thai soldier was killed, and three wounded, in a clash with Cambodian troops at the border overnight, Mr Suthep said it would be difficult to arrange ceasefire talks at this time. The government must be cautious and monitor the border situation continuously, he said. Authorities would allow villagers at evacuation centres to return home when there is no gunfire at the border. The people were worried about their homes and possessions and they hope the situation would improve soon, he said. "At the Asean Summit to be held in Indonesia from May 6 to 8, I think the Cambodian leader [Hun Sen] will meet and talk with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and it should produce positive results," Mr Suthep said.  | ||||
| Another Thai soldier killed in latest border clash Posted: 02 May 2011 11:57 PM PDT SURIN, May 3 (MCOT online news) - Fighting erupted Monday night on the Thai-Cambodian border in Thailand's northeastern Surin province killing another Thai soldier and wounding three others, according to 2nd Army Region Spokesman Col Prawit Hukaew. Col Prawit said the fighting started at around 9pm as Cambodian soldiers using M-16 and AK-47 rifles, mortars and hand grenades to attack Thailand. The sound of gunfire died down at about 11pm. The slain soldier was identified as Pte Tawatchai Boonmung. The latest death brought the death toll among Thai soldiers to eight since the border clashes began last month. Villagers in the area fled their homes to temporary bunkers, while some returned to the evacuation centres arranged by the Surin provincial authorities The latest fighting came just hours after Surin and Buri Ram, two Thai provinces bordering Cambodia, closed their evacuation centres for local villagers centres as the residents were returning home as the border situation has eased, with no heavy weapons clashes taking place between Thai and Cambodian troops. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had earlier ordered the army to be on high alert at the Thai-Cambodian border as Cambodia is still using tactics to incite [incidents] and making sporadic attacks with small arms. He added that the sniping and inciting by Cambodian troops could eventually lead to intensified clashes anytime so that the army must closely monitor situation. Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Tuesday admitted that there were difficulties in talking with Cambodia to end attack. Mr Suthep however said he believed Cambodian troops would stop cross-border shooting and that the tense situation could ease after Thai and Cambodian leaders meet. Thai premier and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen are scheduled to meet at the 18th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit May 7-8 in Jakarta, Indonesia.  | ||||
| 2011 Freedom of the Press in Cambodia: NOT FREE, Rank 141 over 196 countries Posted: 02 May 2011 11:19 PM PDT Source: Freedom House Cambodia's score also deteriorated due to an aggressive use of disinformation and defamation legislation against journalists, as well as a reduction in media diversity following the closure of an opposition newspaper.   | ||||
| Cambodia construction approvals double in first quarter [... over how many FORCED EVICTIONS?] Posted: 02 May 2011 10:13 PM PDT
May 03, 2011 Property-report.com Construction projects approved by the Cambodia government more than doubled in the first quarter of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning, and Construction. Projects worth US$324 million were greenlit in the first three months of the year, The Phnom Penh Post reported, compared to US$159 of projects in Q1 2010. The increase in approvales was due to the ministry's efforts to make the property industry run smoother, Department of Construction Director Lao Tip Seiha said. "In three months of this year, we saw an increase in construction investors coming to ask for licenses," he said, adding the same period last year had been "so quiet". Lao Tip Seiha said a number of large developments were approved, including a Koh Kong province hydropower plant, garment and textile factories, hotels and gas stations. He also pointed to large several housing developments receiving approval during the period, including a New World project consisting of 1,440 houses in Sen Sok district, a 320-house Camko City project in Russey Keo district, and another phase of development on Diamond Island. "We are very happy to see value construction increase and we hope that it will continue increasing for the first half of this year," Lao Tip Seiha said. "We had fewer projects than last year, but we received a lot of requests for large-size construction developments. "
Industry insiders said their businesses had also seen large growth in the beginning of the year, though some claimed the size of the increase had been unexpected. Cambodia Properties Limited Managing Director Cheng Kheng said that foreign investors were returning to invest in Cambodia. "Transactions of large property developments are improving in the outskirt areas [of Phnom Penh]," he said, calling the increase a "surprise". "My business is running much better. It has increased 100 percent in the first three months of the year compared to the same period last year," he said. CPL claims to have closed deals with investors from Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and in particular, South Korea. CB Richard Ellis Cambodia Country Manager Daniel Parkes said that 2010 probably represented the property market's bottom, adding the large increase in the first quarter was partly attributable to the drop in the previous year. "Certainly, as an indication of general market activity, we have seen an up-tick and despite challenges to the global economy Cambodia has potential for sustained growth," he wrote. "We have seen more investment in public sector projects, and the private sector will follow where the government leads in terms of intelligent investment in infrastructure and public works projects." Some experts expressed caution against placing too much stock in approval figures.
Leopard Capital Managing Director Douglas Clayton said yesterday that planning permissions were only a crude indication of property trends, and not as convincing as construction activity, unit sales or occupancy rates.
"I think the property market remains fairly subdued in Phnom Penh," he said. Previous figures from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction showed that 2,149 construction projects worth a combined US$840 million were approved during 2010. That compared to 2,230 projects worth US$1.988 billion approved back in 2009.  |
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