KI Media: “Something to think about...” plus 24 more

Vietnamese security forces quashed a rare protest of hundreds of ethnic Hmong Christians calling for an independent state, officials said Thursday.

Giang Thi Hoa, vice president of the People's Committee in Dien Bien province, said the situation was brought under control after several days. She did not provide more details.

Another People's Committee official said the Hmong were calling for a separate state and that people living outside Vietnam were believed to be orchestrating the demonstrations. The official was identified only as Bac because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Police said no arrests were made. No information was available on whether any Hmong were hurt or killed in the clash near the northwest border with Laos.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said the Hmong from Muong Nhe district began gathering since May 1 after hearing a rumor that a supernatural force would appear to bring the people to the promised land where they would find health, happiness and wealth.

"Taking advantage of the situation, the sabotage forces stimulated people to call for an independent state, causing public disorder in the district," Nga said in a statement.

Security forces crushed similar uprisings among ethnic hilltribe members, collectively known as Montagnards, in Vietnam's restive Central Highlands in 2004 and 2001, resulting in a flood of refugees fleeing to neighboring Cambodia.

Many anti-communist Montagnard fighters allied with the United States during the Vietnam War, and a large population of Hmong refugees resettled there after the war.

​Every restaurant owner has a tale of the obstacles he overcame to become a small business owner. But Seng "Sam" Ung's story is far more harrowing than most.

Ung, owner of the tremendously popular Phnom Penh Noodle House in the International District, a few weeks ago released his memoir, I Survived the Killing Fields: The True Life Story of a Cambodian Refugee. With the help of writer Thomas McElroy, Ung shares his account of his Cambodian childhood and its upending by the relentlessly brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Ung, an average motorcycle-riding, Westerns-loving teenager, grew up working in his parents' restaurant. He was 20 years old when his hometown fell to the Khmer Rouge, igniting a horrific era of suffering and death that enveloped Ung's family. Ung fills chapters with unspeakable memories of watching his relatives starve.

"Hunger compels a person to do anything to stop the pain of it," writes Ung, who remembers trying to trap field rats and coax snakes out of their holes.

"I skinned him out, made a fire and roasted him right there," Ung writes of an encounter with a blue snake. "No salt, no seasoning, nothing. It had been a long time since I had any meat, and I remember thinking at the time that it was the best meat I had ever tasted."

Surrounded by violence, Ung fixated on his plans for the future.

"To keep myself from going crazy, I started a recipe book," he writes. "It was my thinking if and when this phase of my life ever ended, I could start a restaurant using all of the old recipes. I talked with elders in our village about their best recipes."

Later, after the Khmer Rouge's rule ended, a fellow Cambodian intercepted Ung on the road back to his hometown and offered to hire him as a cook. Ung agreed, "although there was no soy sauce in Cambodia" since fighters had destroyed the manufacturing plants.

Ung improvised a "pat lo" with water, salt, MSG, mung beans, tamarind, chili, and pork. His dish--and the cart from which he sold it--became enormously successful.

After Ung and his wife were given permission to emigrate to Seattle, Ung took a job at a downtown restaurant, cooking hamburgers, pancakes, and fried chicken. Despite a few linguistic hurdles--"I thought to myself: Hold the onion? How can I cook and hold an onion?"--Ung went on to a series of kitchen jobs at Ivar's and the Rainier Club, where he learned to sculpt fruit.

Ung opened Seattle's first Cambodian restaurant in 1987.

"On opening day, I thought back to my ESL class where my teacher asked me what I wanted to do in the future," Ung writes. "I told her my dream was to open a small café someday. And here I was, on this day with my dream coming true."

Autographed copies of Ung's book are available at the Wing Luke Museum and Phnom Penh Noodle House.

Location Info:

660 S. King St., Seattle, WA

Thai and Cambodian officials say fighting has been quiet for a full day at the border area where the two nation's troops have exchange gun- and artillery fire for almost two weeks.

Col. Prawit Hukaew, spokesman for Thailand's 2nd Army Region, told The Associated Press that there has been no fighting since Tuesday evening, marking the first quiet night since clashes began on April 22.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen also said that Tuesday night was the first in which no guns were fired.

Prawit said Thai and Cambodian field commanders met Tuesday inside Cambodia to discuss how to avoid further clashes.

The fighting over small parcels of disputed land has killed at least one Thai civilian and a total of 17 soldiers from both sides.

JAKARTA : Thai and Cambodian non-government organisations have jointly called for a ceasefire between the two countries and urged Asean to quickly deploy observers in the disputed border area.

Suntaree Saeng-ging, secretary general of the Thai NGO Coordinating Committee, and Thun Saray, president of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, announced the joint statement, which was signed by some 40 organisations from both countries. They also called on Asean to pay more attention to the plight of displaced people from both countries and to settle the conflict through negotiations.

The current border conflict has forced villagers, especially women and children, to abandon their homes and threatened to prolong the sporadic episodes of violence that started in February. Because soldiers from both sides continue exchanging artillery and small arms fire, it was crucial for Asean leaders to play a leading role in ending the conflict, the two activists said.

Thai and Cambodian NGO representatives attending the Asean Civil Society Conference and Asean People Forum, which are running parallel to the Asean summit here, met with the press to air ideas on how to end the border conflict and on ways the two countries might cooperate.

Participants at the events, organised by the People's Empowerment Foundation, noted that the media should go beyond simply regurgitating the official line of their governments and pay more attention to the suffering of the displaced border villagers.

Pa Nguon Teang, executive director of Radio Voice of Democracy, said it was important to have an independent mechanism for disseminating objective information about the conflict.

Like Thai politicians, Cambodian politicians are exploiting the border conflict for their own political gains, Mr Pa Nguon said.

It will take time for the two countries to keep their politicians from using the border conflict to stir up nationalistic sentiment and to reduce the animosity between the people of the two countries, he said.

Visit Duangkaew, a villager from Phum Srol village in Si Sa Ket's Kantaralak district who participated in a workshop on the sidelines of the Asean People Forum, said border communities did not know who was benefitting from the war.

The fighting has damaged property and made villagers fear for their lives, he said.

The villagers understand that Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia and that the Thai government was insisting that Thailand owned the 4.6-square-km of land around it.

This conflict should be settled through political means and not by force, he said.

Mr Visit said most of the villagers believed the border problem would end once Thailand has a new government.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Asia Women's Caucus on Asean has appealed to regional leaders to urgently provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced villagers along the Thai-Cambodian border.

The letter signed by female NGO representatives from Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia will be delivered to Indonesia, the Asean chair, this weekend.

Indonesian observers will be allowed if Phnom Penh troops, citizens retreat

Thailand is throwing the ball back at Indonesia and Cambodia over the plan to deploy Indonesian observers in the disputed border area by making it a precondition that Cambodia pull out its troops and civilians first.

"I don't know if Cambodia will agree to this," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday, "But Indonesia should raise and discuss this issue with Cambodia".

Earlier, Thailand was blamed for dragging its feet in the planned deployment.

Abhisit yesterday said his government would not sign any document to give the green light for the Indonesian observers to come in for as long as the Cambodia did not agree to move its troops and citizens out of the 4.6squarekilometre overlapping area along Thai - Cambodian borderline.

Abhisit said by allowing its people and soldiers to stay in the overlapping area, Cambodia had violated an important Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.

The Thai premier added that progresses from Indonesia's talks with Thailand and its talks with Cambodia would determine whether he would discuss the issue at the Asean meetings this weekend.

Abhisit is scheduled to fly to Indonesia this evening to attend the Asean Summit.

According to him, Thailand in fact has no objection against the proposed terms of reference (TOR) for the deployment of Indonesian observers.

Indonesia, the current chair of Asean, has been trying to mediate in the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said he would meet with his Thai and Cambodian counterparts in Jakarta today to discuss on the ToR on the sidelines of the Asean meetings.

Border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia erupted in the overlapping area near the Preah Vihear Temple last month with casualties reported on both sides. To the two countries, the ancient Hindu temple has been a thorny issue.

Thailand has long maintained that although the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear Temple belongs to Cambodia, the ruling does not say its sprawling complex is on the Cambodian soil too.

Thailand was apparently upset when Cambodia unilaterally asked the the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) to inscribe the Preah Vihear Temple as a world heritage on its soil a few years ago. Thailand has also strongly opposed to Cambodia's management plan of the Preah Vihear Temple and its sprawling complex.

Last month, Cambodia went to ICJ asking it to clarify its 1962 ruling. The move prompted the Thai government to quickly form a legal team to handle the issue.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya went to Europe earlier this week to consult foreign legal experts in preparations for the case.

Cambodian troops and villagers must leave the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed border area before Indonesian observers can be deployed, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insists.

He was speaking the day before his planned trip today to attend the Asean Summit in Jakarta in which his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen is also participating. But Mr Abhisit has already said there were no plans to meet Hun Sen.

The bloody border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia looks set to be among the issues dominating the Asean Summit this weekend.

Mr Abhisit said the documents for the deployment of Indonesian observers pose no problem but the presence of Cambodian troops and citizens is a breach of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both countries in 2000.

At the last meeting on May 3, the cabinet agreed to the planned deployment of Indonesian observers along the Thai-Cambodian border near the Preah Vihear temple - but on the condition Cambodia adheres to the MoU by withdrawing its troops from the area.

Mr Abhisit said he had no idea if Phnom Penh would agree to this but it was the duty of Indonesia to coordinate with the Cambodian government about the matter.

In the wake of the sporadic border clashes, Indonesia, in its capacity as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), offered to broker talks between the two countries and deploy observers.

Mr Abhisit said it would depend on the progress of talks between Thailand and Indonesia and between Cambodia and Indonesia if the issue would be brought up at the Asean Summit.

According to Mr Abhisit, the Thai foreign minister will reaffirm that Thailand has not initiated any violence and will give its full cooperation to efforts to resolve the border row amicably.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya will meet his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa, who serves as Asean chair, on the sidelines of the Asean Summit, and then see his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong separately.

Mr Abhisit also played down speculation that Cambodia's latest move to involve the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the conflict would put Thailand at a disadvantage.

Cambodia has asked the ICJ for an interpretation of its 1962 ruling on the Preah Vihear temple.

Mr Abhisit said he would rather not discuss the issue due to its sensitivity. He added there are legal aspects Thailand can contest in court against the Cambodian move.

He also said the ICJ's hearing of the Cambodian complaint presented a chance for Thailand to show that each of the clashes had been planned by Cambodia and it was a calculated move to internationalise the border conflict.

The premier, however, urged people to refrain from speculating on the outcome of the case at the ICJ as this could backfire.

"Given the situation, I want everyone to stay undivided. I have said it before we shouldn't say things that will harm us later. We should stay united to protect the national interest," he said.

Meanwhile, 2nd Army spokesman Prawit Hookaew said the border tensions have eased and there have been no clashes over the past two days.

He said the fighting has stopped because field commanders on both sides have communicated with each other. Thai and Cambodian troops have maintained their positions but they are less tense.

Col Prawit said the reopening of Chong Jom border pass in Surin's Kap Choeng district was a result of discussions between 2nd Army commander Lt Gen Thawatchai Samutsakhon and the Surin governor.

Trade at the Chong Jom border pass was light the second day after the border reopened with only a fifth of stores open for business.

Please find below a broadcast by Sourn Serey Ratha on the Yellow Shirt ASTV channel. In our opinion, while his message against the Hun Xen's regime sounds reasonable, his use of the Yellow Shirt's platform, a group that maintains hatred against Cambodians in general, is unreasonable and a poor decision. In the long and arduous road to democracy, the enemy of one's enemy is not necessarily one's friend.

Nevertheless, we leave it up to you to judge Mr. Sourn Serey Ratha's decision.

Is this Oeun mentioned by Khmer expert and Yale professor Ben Kiernan who established the Documentation Center of Cambodia in his book The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79 (1996) the same as Ta An mentioned by Ms. Theary C. Seng as one of the three in Case 004?

SEPANG, May 5 (Bernama) -- Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia Sok Ann arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport here at 2pm Thursday to attend the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) forum.

He was received upon arrival by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek and deputy Foreign minister Datuk Richard Riot.

Apart from Sok Ann who will be in the country until Sunday, about 150 delegates from 21 countries are expected to attend the ICAPP which starts at the Putra World Trade Centre Friday.

ICAPP is a forum of political parties of Asia-Oceania countries, which was launched in Manila Philippines in September 2000.

The objectives of the conference are to promote exchanges and cooperation between political parties from different countries in the area and with various ideologies, to enhance mutual understanding and trust among Asian countries, to promote Asia's regional cooperation through the unique role and channel of political parties, and to create an environment for sustained peace and shared prosperity in the region.

This year Kuala Lumpur is hosting the forum while Cambodia were host last year.

The Malaysian delegation will be headed by UMNO Supreme Council member and former Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim.

The forum is expected to see a number of delegates presenting working papers on Natural Disasters and Environmental Protection, especially disasters caused by tsunami, earthquake, volcano eruption and land slide.

Thai and Cambodian civil society organizations have jointly called for a ceasefire between the two countries and encouraged Asean to quickly deploy their observers to maintain the permanent ceasefire to end the suffering of the people along the border.

Suntaree Saeng--ging, secretary general of the Thai NGO Coordinating Committee, together with Thun Saray, president of the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, jointly announced that the current border conflicts have caused internal displaced people, especially women and children, and a continuation of violence has been worried about the prolonged armed conflicts.

The two NGO leaders took the opportunity at the Asean People Forum here to issue a joint statement to express their sorrow for those affected, injured and killed in the border disputes which have been aggravated since early February.

"As soldiers from both sides have been exchanging shells and bullets, human rights of the villagers from border communities remained violated—the rights to food, security, and education are not guaranteed," said Mr Thun.

As bilateral talks have proven ineffective, it was crucial for Asean leaders to play a leading role in ending the conflicts, said Ms Suntaree.

Somsri Hananuntasuk, board member of the Campaign Committee on Human Rights, said the civil society organizations should not embrace the emotions and tones of the military and the government, but to call for reconciliation for the two sides so that fraternal relationship could return to the fore.

The joint statement which was signed by some 40 organisations from both countries also stipulated that Asean should pay more attention to the worse situation of the displaced persons of both countries.

"Asean should make the ceasefire happen immediately and should deploy observers along the Cambodian-Thai border disputed area as soon as possible and promote Asean's role to maintain the permanent ceasefire along those areas," the statement said

Meanwhile another group of Thai and Cambodian civil society organizations, which were mostly media, had also held a frank and candid discussions about the anatomy of the conflicts and the way forward for people-to-people cooperation.

Organised by the People's Empowerment Foundation, participants noted that the media should go beyond simply taking the official line of their own governments and cared more about the plight of the displaced people across the border.

Pa Nguon Teang, executive director of the Radio Voice of Democracy, said in time of mutual distrust, independent mechanism to spread objective information was very important.

Like Thai politicians who benefited from the surge of nationalism, Cambodian politicians were also advantageous from the simmering tension, said Mr Pa Nguon.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen's administration popularity is higher, according to the recent survey. Certainly, in each countries the dissent voices are not so strong and the government usually still able to portray the situation in their own benefit," said the Cambodian media.

He conceded that changing the animosity against each other and politicking of the border conflicts might take the next generation or next government to restore some border stability.

Visit Duangkaew, a villager from Phum Srol village in Si Sa Ket's Kantaralak district, who participated in the workshop held on the 4th May night at the sideline of the Asean People Forum, said border communities did not know who benefit from the war, but villagers were traumatically affected while assets and their livelihood were also insecure.

"Villagers realise that fact that the Preah Vihear Temple belongs to Cambodia but also understand the Thai government's argument over the 4.6 square-kilometres overlapping claims. However, villagers believe if the dispute could be settled politically, peace will return to their lives," said Mr Visit.

Most of the people believed the border problem would end if Thailand got a new government, he said.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa was asked last week whether he would try to arrange for the Thai and Cambodian premiers to meet at the Asean Summit to be held here later this week. His prompt response was: "No, I don't want to wait that long. The sooner the better."

The bilateral, top-level meeting between Abhisit Vejjajiva and Hun Sen has yet to materialise after a series of military skirmishes. Whether they will sit down and hold serious talks here later this week remains to be seen.

On the eve of the Asean Summit, the Thai-Cambodian armed conflict threatens to seriously undermine the regional grouping's credibility. The "Asean Option" to resolve conflicts between member countries may prove to be ineffective. The lack of an effective dispute settlement mechanism, despite the existence of the much-heralded Asean Charter, will continue to weaken the regional grouping.

Foreign Minister Natalegawa told a group of Asian editors from the Asia News Network (ANN) here last week: "As the host, we don't want the summit to be a single-issue gathering about the Thai-Cambodian confrontation. That's why I am pursuing peace aggressively for both countries. We have several other issues to consider at the summit, including those of Burma and the South China Sea."

There is a general feeling here that this week's summit of the 40-year-old regional grouping will be held under a dark cloud of cynicism over its future as a cohesive organisation.

Rizal Sukma, the executive director of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, wrote in the Jakarta Post last week: "Asean would be hard-pressed to gain international respect if it cannot even gain respect from its own members. It is, therefore, absolutely imperative for both Cambodia and Thailand, and also Indonesia as the 'facilitator', to immediately implement the Jakarta agreement. Not doing so would bring about greater risk - not only to the conflicting parties, but also to Asean as a whole.

"Even without territorial disputes and border conflicts, it has already been difficult for Asean to realise its plan to become a regional community. If the conflict and the loss of life continues, the ideal "we-feeling" among Asean states and the absence of the use of force as the main characteristic of a security community would be harder to create. Consequently, the international community would look at the ideal of an Asean Community as just imagination.

"If the conflicting parties cannot seize the opportunity to settle the problem using the 'Asean option' there is the possibility that the United Nations Security Council (or some of its members) would come to the conclusion that regional arrangements had failed to address the problem. It doesn't serve anyone's interests if the UNSC concludes that the skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia would pose an international peace and security threat and therefore require the involvement of the UNSC."

While insisting that his task would be a "relentless pursuit of a diplomatic solution" to the Thai-Cambodian problem, Foreign Minister Natalegawa said it's not a question of Cambodia trying to bring the issue back to the UNSC. "It's already on the UNSC's agenda. Cambodia doesn't have to refer the matter back to the UN. The genie is out of the bottle."

He said despite the difficulties caused by the military skirmishes on the Thai-Cambodian border, "I hope both sides can be encouraged to return to the negotiating table … to have the ceasefire re-established and stabilised to enable the deployment of the observer teams and the resumption of diplomatic negotiations."

If Indonesia fails to convince both members to go back to the negotiating table, Asean's standing in the international arena will take a severe beating. The Indonesian foreign minister didn't really say that in so many words but he did hint at that scenario when he told me:

"What if Cambodia takes the issue back to the UN Security Council? Well, we will have to see. It really depends on our capacity to solve the problem regionally. But then again, I don't want to suggest that there is a clear difference between what is regional and global, because they are mutually reinforcing to create conditions conducive to bilateral solutions. So, what is bilateral, regional and global - they are actually supporting one another."

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya told reporters here last week: "We have to respect and honour the role and involvement of Indonesia. Thailand is not in a position to embarrass the Indonesian government."

That's all the more reason why Kasit and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Nam Hong will have to convince their respective leaders to hold serious talks here on the side of the Asean Summit, not only to avoid "embarrassing" Asean's current chair, but, more importantly, to refrain from further weakening Asean as a whole.

BANGKOK, May 5 (Bernama) -- The Chong Sa-ngam border pass in Thailand's northeastern Si Sa Ket Province along the Thai-Cambodian frontier has now re-opened for normal exchanges of trade and tourists, according to Thai News Agency on Thursday.

The local authorities reopened the Chong Sa-ngam permanent checkpoint in Phu Singh District on Thursday following its 12-day temporary closure, one day after the Chong Jom-Osamed permanent checkpoint in Surin was reopened.

The tension along the common border in nearby Surin Province eases with the observation of a ceasefire from troops on both sides.

However, Thai News Agency said that the border trade, mostly for farm and consumer products, initially remained inactive, with only 200 people from neighbouring Cambodia crossing the border for their businesses and travelling, from normally about 500-600.

The government's draft law on procurement is set to go to the Council of Ministers next week, despite concern from civil society groups about whether the legislation will effectively promote transparency in bidding for public contracts.

Ou Bon Long, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said yesterday that his ministry "is preparing to send the draft law to the Council of Ministers next week", adding that the law would support the government's efforts in public financial reform. "We made this law with the aim to ensure transparency in the public bidding process," he said.

The legislation addresses a process that has long been fertile ground for corruption, plagued by "cronyism" and a lack of transparency, said Chheng Kimlong, a lecturer in business and economics at the University of Cambodia. But some NGO officials fear that the draft law does not go far enough in promoting an open bidding process and needs to provide for greater oversight.

The draft law calls for public contracts to be awarded through "public, competitive bidding" with oversight from the Finance Ministry, though it is not clear how such transparency will be compelled and information from the bidding process made available.

A provision for independent groups to access to this information and monitor the procurement process could help address this issue, said San Chey, local fellow for the Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific.

"If there is a lack of participation by watchdogs within the bidding process, it will create opportunities for corruption … that will affect public services and create losses from the national budget," he said.

The law does not apply to procurements deemed "politically sensitive" or otherwise exempted by order of the Council of Ministers or the Prime Minister, according to an unofficial translation of the draft. It also does not apply to the concession process and the sale of state properties, nor to procurement projects funded by donors that are subject to their own financing regulations.

The current guidelines for public procurement are set out in a government guidebook on project implementation, and by the respective regulations of ministries involved in such projects.

Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said local authorities should be given more of a role in procurement under the new legislation in order to reduce the bureaucracy involved and make the process easier for bidders.

"We demand that the government deliver power to local authorities, with the participation of NGO watchdogs, in order to ensure transparency when there is an opportunity for procurement," he said.

Another worry for some observers is the fact that there has been little public consultation on the draft law. In addition to the criticisms from NGOs, Chheng Kimlong said there were "lots of concerns" from the private sector that could be addressed through a more inclusive drafting process.

Ou Bon Long said the Finance Ministry was willing to make changes to the law "when civil society groups are able to provide appropriate recommendations".

United States embassy spokesman Mark Wenig said in an email yesterday the US was "encouraged" by the draft law, and that a more transparent procurement process "will benefit both bidders and procuring agencies, and increase Cambodia's attractiveness as a destination for foreign investment".

Bangkok/Phnom Penh - The gathering of South-East Asian leaders in Jakarta this weekend promises more drama than past summits, which are not usually known for their diplomatic fireworks.

The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit will bring together Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose armies last month clashed on their common border leaving eight soldiers dead on each side, and around 70 wounded.

Fighting at the Thai-Cambodian border has flared on and off for the past three years since UNESCO named the Cambodian border temple of Preah Vihear a World Heritage Site, due to an ongoing dispute over a 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land adjacent to the 11th-century Hindu monument.

Indonesia, this year's ASEAN chair, has taken an unusually proactive role in trying to resolve the border spat, but few observers expect a breakthrough this weekend.

Indonesia's offer last February to post observers in the disputed border zone in a bid to mitigate fighting has run into obstacles.

The Thai cabinet on Tuesday agreed to the Indonesian observers, but on the condition that Cambodian troops withdraw from the Preah Vihear temple complex.

That condition was 'not acceptable,' Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said. 'Cambodian soldiers cannot be removed from Cambodian territory. As Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeated again and again: both sides can stay where they are.'

It is unlikely that Hun Sen and Abhisit will hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the summit. Abhisit said Wednesday he would not meet separately with Hun Sen, insisting that the recent border clash was far from coincidental.

'This was an intentional effort to internationalize the issue,' Abhisit said. Thailand has insisted the issue is strictly a bilateral one.

'There will be thousands of media (at the summit). It's always a good place to present your case to the public,' said one senior Thai government official, who requested anonymity.

Hun Sen has a history of spicing up ASEAN summits. At the 2009 summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, he announced his appointment of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser.

Thaksin, who lives abroad to escape a two-year jail term, is also the political nemesis of Abhisit's government.

Relations between Thailand and Cambodia have been poor since.

'I think, politically speaking, it is clear that the Cambodian government have pretty much written off relationships with this government,' the Thai official said.

Hun Sen has little to lose in antagonizing Abhisit, leader of the ruling Democrat Party. Thailand is heading for an election in June or July, and it is possible that the opposition Puea Thai party, which Thaksin still leads de facto, could win.

Between now and the Thai election, Cambodia is likely to be pushing for an international solution to the border issue.

Besides any plans it may have for the ASEAN summit, Cambodia on April 28 appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to revisit its 1962 ruling over Preah Vihear.

The court ruled the temple to be under Cambodian sovereignty, but at the time turned down a Cambodian request to rule on where the common border lay in the temple's vicinity, leaving that up to the two countries to decide.

Five decades later the two neighbours are still fighting over the 4.6-square-kilometre plot of land.

Now Cambodia wants the court to clarify its earlier ruling in relation to that land. Thailand has set up a legal team to make its case.

The two governments are likely also to lock horns over the temple at UNESCO's annual World Heritage committee meeting in June.

Observers have expressed concern that by getting the ICJ involved at this stage, Cambodia may be undermining ASEAN's efforts to mediate in the crisis.

'There is a danger of forum shopping (by Cambodia) which could distract attention from the ASEAN role,' said one Phnom Penh-based western diplomat, adding that the proposal to station border monitors might well prevent fighting but would not solve the issue.

'If you don't find a political way to resolve it then there is a risk of freezing, and right now the prospect of serious discussions ahead of Thailand's election seems quite small,' he added.

Military commanders Meas Muth and Sou Met are named senior KR leaders to be tried in Seven Candidates for Prosecution: Accountability for the Crimes of the Khmer Rouge (2001) by historian Stephen Heder and international lawyer Brian Tittemore.

Who are Meas Muth and Sou Met?

We will now turn to another Khmer expert and Yale professor Ben Kiernan who established the Documentation Center of Cambodia in his book The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79 (1996) to learn more about the five Charged Persons in Cases 003 and 004.

The Southwest Zone initially comprised the provinces of Takeo, Kampot, Kompong Chhnang, Koh Kong and Kompong Speu. ["Ta"] Mok was the Zone secretary. Mok, a tall, thin, light-skinned, grey-haired, balding man, had been a guerilla leader near his home in western Tram Kak district, Takeo province, during the anti-French war [...]

Mok carefully placed a network of family members in various important positions in his Zone. These included two brothers-in-law, four sons, two daughters, and five sons-in-law. They were all promoted through the ranks, most after serving time in Mok's home district, Tram Kak, known as District 105 of Region 13. As we saw in Chapter 1, Mok's son-in-law Khe Muth [Meas Muth], had begun his career as CPK secretary of Tram Kak and had also become deputy-secretary of Region 13. In 1973 [Meas/Khe] Muth rose to become secretary of the 3rd Southwest Division. Mok's daughter Khom, replaced her husband [Meas/Khe] Muth as CPK secretary of Tram Kak District. In 1975 another daughter, Ho, became director of the Region 13 hospital. Two sons, Cham and Chay, also served on the Tram Kak CPK district committee, and a brother-in-law, San, a former schoolteacher, was a leading CPK official. A second brother-in-law, [Ta] Tith, was CPK secretary of Kirivong (District 109). A third son, Chong, was CPK secretary of District 55 (Prey Kabas). A fourth son, Kol, was a leading official in Kampot province, or Region 35 of the Southwest Zone. A second son-in-law, Boran, begun his career as a courier for the CPK Center and then in 1975 took charge of a new factory in Tram Kak. A third son-in-law, Soeun, commander of Region 13's 120th Regiment, was promoted to division commander in 1975. A fourth, Ren, was a brigade commander in 1975.

Tram Kak was the most "ideologically advanced" district in Cambodia. [Meas/Khe] Muth and Khom introduced communal eating there as early as May 1973, bringing up the district official CPK praise as the pioneer of collective mess halls... Region 13 cadres announced plans to build "a new capita," adding that the "old" one, Phnom Penh, would be destroyed.

Mok also managed to get his family members promoted to positions outside the Zone, through his connections with the Center. In 1975, Ho's husband Vin, Mok's fifth son-in-law, became a commander at Pochentong Airport outside Phnom Penh. Son-in-law [Meas] Khe Muth retained command of the 3rd Southwest Division and also became CPK secretary of Kompong Som city and commander of the DK navy.


Source: Excerpts from Chapter 3 (p. 87-88)

BANGKOK, May 5 (MCOT online news) - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Thursday asserted he will not endorse the documents endorsing the presence of Indonesian observers at the disputed border of Thailand and Cambodia until its neighbour withdraws its troops and citizens from the contested area.

The Thai premier reaffirmed his stance again as Indonesia, as current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), proposed to send observers to the Thai-Cambodian borders following sporadic clashes of troops of the two neighbours, with both accusing the other of causing the clashes.

Mr Abhisit said there are written documents on the manning of Indonesian observers and the Thai foreign ministry has discussed with Indonesia that the observers will be allowed only if Cambodia first withdraws its troops and residents from the 4.6 square kilometre tract contested by the two countries.

The presence of the Cambodians in the disputed area breaches the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by both countries in 2000 and it is the duty of Indonesia to seek cooperation from Phnom Penh on the matter, Mr Abhisit said.

"I won't endorse any document allowing the Indonesian observers if Thailand's request is not responded to," Mr Abhisit reasserted.

The content of the agreement is not the problem, Mr Abhisit emphasised. "Progress depends on the talks between Thailand and Indonesia, and also between Indonesia and Cambodia. Our ultimate goal is to avoid any clash at the border," said the Thai premier.

As Cambodia is now seeking an International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s interpretation of its 1962 ruling on Preah Vihear and accuses Thailand of attempting to claim Cambodian territory, Mr Abhisit said Thailand expects to give facts to the world over the series of clashes which he says indicate Phnom Penh's intention to internationalise the conflict.

The court, based in The Hague, ruled in 1962 that the ancient temple belonged to Cambodia, but did not rule on the surrounding area and both Phnom Penh and Bangkok claim ownership of the 4.6-square-kilometre tract.

When asked whether Thailand is at disadvantage in contending the case, Mr Abhisit reaffirmed there are several aspects that Thailand can contest in the court, but refused to give further detail, citing concerns over the affect on the case.

PHNOM PENH, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia agreed to accept the finalized arrangements for the deployment of Indonesian observers to the disputed border areas near Preah Vihear temple after Thailand has removed a disputed station point, Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong said on Thursday.

"Cambodia replied to Indonesia, current ASEAN chair, on May 4 about the acceptance of the 7th terms of reference (TOR) for the deployment of Indonesian observers to the border with Thailand," he said at Phnom Penh International Airport before leaving for ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting on May 6 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

"This is the finalized TOR," he said.

Hor Namhong said that Cambodia has got unofficial information that Thai cabinet ministers' meeting on May 3 also agreed to accept Indonesian observers to Cambodian-Thai border.

"So, I hope the TOR for observers will be signed in the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting on May 6 between Cambodian, Thai and Indonesian foreign ministers," he said.

"After that, Cambodia would urge Indonesia to send observers as soon as possible to ensure a permanent ceasefire," he said.

Cambodia and Thailand invited Indonesian observers to their respective border near Preah Vihear temple on Feb. 22 in the ASEAN informal foreign ministers' meeting after the deadly clashes on Feb. 4-7.

At that time, Indonesia agreed to send 15 observers to each border side of Cambodia and Thailand in order to monitor a ceasefire, but since then the sending has not happened as both sides have not agreed on TOR.

The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated.

Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. But Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers (1.8 square miles) of scrub next to the temple.

Just a week after the enlistment, Cambodia and Thailand had a border conflict, triggering a military build-up along the border, and periodic clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.

ASEAN (The Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Cambodia should stop selling its sand and everything else to Singapore. After more than a decade later, Singapore's oldest dictator Lee Kuan Yew talked down on Cambodia affiliation with the ASEAN. At his old age the man showed no wisdom. This may be why in 2008, Singapore's foreign minister George Yeo arrogantly ignored Cambodia complaint against the truculent Siam in its encroachment on Cambodia sovereignty that triggered the deadly fire fights at the ASEAN Summit.

While Cambodia struggles to catch up with the world economic development and world community, the oldest dictator has the audacity to insult Cambodia people in the worst way. It's understood that he has had bad blood with former King Sihanouk then. Both never saw each other eyes to eyes in bloc's politics. But it's absurd that he forgot during the war against Viet occupation, it was Singapore that made a bundle of profits out of arms conduits and money laundering on Cambodia's back. Until now, Singapore uses sand from Cambodia to build its mega-structures.

What an ingrate hand biter!

Lee said: "Cambodia should not have been accepted into ASEAN due to its lack of shared values with the bloc's founding members", according to a secret diplomatic cable released last year by the website WikiLeaks.

"The older members of ASEAN shared common values and an antipathy to communism," the cable states, describing Lee's views. "Those values had been `muddied' by the new members, and their economic and social problems made it doubtful they would ever behave like the older ASEAN members."

It's understood in 1967, dictatorial leaders from Siam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and renegade Singapore struck a deal to create ASEAN backed by US. Of course they shared the same values and master. Then Cambodia was a lightning rod to the US hegemony and imperialistic view on Asian nations.

The gang of dictators called themselves the ASEAN old dogs. Indeed, for old dog is either too blind or no good to new trick. Lee lamented his old days in glory as the anti- Communist agent for US. Now China is too powerful and probably too rich to buy the entire Singapore isle out. He fears China long arms in economic monopoly. So Lee played Viet to keep his own game against China.

Lee meant that only dictators can understand one another. Based on WikiLeaks, Cambodia younger dictator Hun Sen did not earn Lee approval. Though, Hun Sen is Hanoi apprentice in dictatorship and shun by China then. Yet Lee contradicts himself that Hun Sen was not a fast learner and was not a communist.

Regardless, Singapore's long-serving dictator went on to say that he was most optimistic about the Viet, also a new member, describing them as "bright, fast learners" who would contribute to ASEAN's development. He also said Hanoi did not wish to see China's influence in the region become too great.

Well, it's given.

Not only Hanoi but Bangkok and particularly Singapore would not want China to take away its loan sharking profits from poor countries like Cambodia, Laos or Burma. Old Lee profanely feared his ancestral country, China. But to opportune his unscrupulous nature, he is to snake dance to Viet Nam that is already seen as an archenemy of China economic expansion. Also he seems forgetting that China is one of the plus 3 states sit with ASEAN, yet why would he accused Cambodia in reporting everything that ASEAN discussed in meetings to China?

It makes no sense, old man.

The website WikiLeaks has released the first document relating to Cambodia in its cache of American diplomatic cables, in which eminent Singaporean dictator Lee Kuan Yew discusses the Kingdom's close relations with China.

In a diplomatic cable labelled "secret" and sent in May last year by the American embassy in Singapore, Lee comments on China's increasing global economic and diplomatic reach, briefly mentioning Cambodia. He called Cambodia a snitch, "Within hours, everything that is discussed in ASEAN meetings is known in Beijing, given China's close ties with Laos, Cambodia and Burma."

In light of Preah Vihear and border row with Siam, Singapore has already lobbied other state members in Siam behalf that Cambodia complaint needed not to be discussed during this week end Summit. Singapore did it before and will do it again to hinder Cambodia goodwill and rights of sovereignty.

Birds of the same feather flock together as Singapore spilled beans for Bangkok advantage.

To date the press in Bangkok started speculating that Bangkok will have the upper hand in ASEAN Summit if Hun Sen insisting on raising matters involved Siam aggression against Cambodia. PM Abhisit already said there was no meeting scheduled with Hun Sen at the Summit. Meanwhile not many people are aware of young dictators Lee and Vejjajiva share the same ethnic identity, the Hakka of China. They both grew up in the wealthy profiteer families and did what it took to become top leaders in the host countries.

In traditional culture, among ethnics from China no matter where they were from, business as usual and profiteering from the hosts were their birthmarks. A nationality is a matter of market convenience for them as not important as the politic of ethnicity. Abhisit and Lee Hsien Loong speak the same mother tongue and bears Britain citizenry privilege. There it is not a so surprise that Bangkok principal elitist Abhisit Vejjajiva intended not to talk to Hun Sen of Cambodia at the Summit. It is about old members take side with one another.

History shows Indonesia has been one of the co-chairs backed by UN resolution in efforts to end Cambodia war with Viet Nam and ensure peaceful transition in 1991 Paris Peace Accord.

Again, UN has asked Indonesia to intervene and arbitre the border row that started by Siam in 2008 in protest over the UNSECO recognition and registration Cambodia's Preah Vihear as one of the world heritage sites. In spite of UN Court known as International Court of Justice decision in 1962, Siam bullied and fought Cambodia over its temple, Preah Vihear. Next week end it's Indonesia turn as Chairman of the ASEAN plus 6 to hold the summit,yet Siam still plays Indonesia, as one of the original founders, like a violin.

The world knows that Cambodia has suffered for decades in facing own internal issues. Yet the ASEAN is still insincere to find petit excuse not to resolving the problems. With the support of Singapore and US, Siam continuously bullies and threatens Cambodia with full scale war.

The secret deal was made among old dogs to down play Cambodia justice. The alliance with new member states like Laos, Burma, and possibly a potential member, East Timor, seems fitting Cambodia needs in voting. As for China, Cambodia remains its partner and possibly its most loyal friend in SE Asia.

By now Cambodia has to stop thinking that Singapore is the only market in the world. And especially Singapore is not the ASEAN.

Remember Singapore needs Cambodia soils, literally, to build its infrastructures. It is Cambodia duty to remind Singapore own mannerism which does not sit well with the human rights watch group.The goose should not criticize the gander,not too long ago beside the WikiLeaks release,ASEAN Old Dog was flown in to Washington DC to cry on President Obama and asked US to spread its wing over ASEAN like before. Then he was given a Congressional medal of honor by the current US President as an old(snitch)who used to reap benefit from US foreign policy back in the 70's.

Also because of being the father of Singapore current prime minister that does not give the oldest dictator Lee rights and be allowed to use his personal grudges to insult Cambodia, as a country.

That's just not the way, ASEAN old dog!

The International Court of Justice is likely to hold a hearing on the Preah Vihear temple issue in a matter of weeks, an official there told VOA Khmer Tuesday.

Cambodia has petitioned the court to re-interpret a 1962 decision that gave Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia but left both Thailand and Cambodia claiming adjacent land.

Cambodia hopes a hearing will clarify the decision, which officials here say should include the land. Both sides claim a 4.6-kilometer stretch of land near the temple.

The disputed land has been at the center of a military standoff since 2008 that has killed dozens of people in a series of skirmishes over the years, including the deadliest clashes over the last week and a half. At least 18 have died in fighting that began April 22.

On April 28, Cambodia filed a request to the international court to clarify its 1962 decision, requesting "urgent" action to protect Preah Vihear temple, as Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged rocket and artillery fire along the border.

Biris Heim, a spokesman for the International Court of Justice, said the court will now "fix a date with all parties" so that they can appear before the court with arguments.

"It will be an oral hearing, and it can be between a few days and a few weeks," he said.

Both Cambodia and Thailand have been notified of the case, he said, but the court will not send investigators to the field.

"Parties will provide evidence," he said. "The court can only make an interpretation by hearing from both sides."

Thailand, meanwhile, has begun preparing a group of experts to respond to the court, according to Thai media.

Osama Bin Laden is dead but regional threats remain from al-Qaeda affiliates, Cambodian officials said Tuesday, as they reaffirmed a hard stance against terrorism.

"The royal government's stance has not changed," said Koy Kuong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "We have always maintained a clear position, which is to absolutely fight against terrorism, because terrorism is a deed which the international community, as well and the world, punishes and condemns."

Cambodia has anti-terrorism laws and an counter-terrorism unit. It has also seen a number of local plots disrupted over the past decade, after officials learned the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist group, had found haven here in 2003.

Lao Monghay, a former researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission, said Tuesday angered Bin Laden loyalists could now pose a threat to Western nations or their representatives.

However, police officials said Tuesday they had bolstered security in case of retaliatory attacks against the US or other nations, following the shooting of Osama Bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan Monday.

"Crushing their terrorist leader is an issue," Keat Chantharith, a spokesman for the national police, said. "But safety for Cambodian people is the most important."

Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are gathering this week in Jakarta (May 5-8) to discuss regional economic development and mutual security issues.

Indonesia's Foreign Ministry's spokesman Michael Tene says ASEAN's role in trying to end an ongoing border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia will almost certainly be addressed when the heads of state meet May 7.

"Of course the development in Thailand, on the border of Thailand and Cambodia is one of major issues developing in our region. So it will be very natural I believe that such issues will be taken up in the summit," he said.

Indonesia took over the chairmanship of the group of 10 Southeast Asian nations this year and made it a stated goal to transform the organization from a loose association to an active participant in global economic and security matters.

But in February clashes erupted between two ASEAN members, Thailand and Cambodia. The two armies have been fighting sporadically over an area surrounding a Hindu Khmer temple, a historical landmark that both countries claim as part of their heritage.

As head of ASEAN, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa saw this conflict as a test case for what the organization leadership could achieve and he has actively tried to negotiate an end to the conflict. So far his efforts have been unsuccessful, but ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan says Natalegawa should get credit for his unprecedented diplomatic efforts.

"There has never been one single special meeting of the foreign ministers on an issue between states before, ever. We have made history under Indonesia. There has never been an attempt by the chair to go to the two capitals and holding hands and talking and try to convince that this is something that we will have to work out together," said Pitsuwan.

He says in addition to continuing to resolve the Thai-Cambodia border conflict, leaders at the summit will also likely discuss how to build on Indonesia's efforts to make ASEAN an integrated economic and political community in the future.

Officials in Thailand and Cambodia reached a tentative truce, according to reports, after artillery battles between the two countries' security forces erupted several days ago. The fighting is not over, though it has been reduced. More than a dozen people, including at least one civilian, have reportedly been killed in the clashes over which nation can claim a pair of ancient temples that are popular with tourists along their ill-defined border. The thousands of people displaced from their homes by the fighting last week are starting to return to their villages.

It remains unclear which side started the fighting, as each country blames the other. The dispute has been the source of several violent conflicts over the past two years, after Cambodia received U.N. World Heritage Site status for a temple near the border, prompting Thailand to contest ownership. The current skirmish, which comes as Thailand prepares to hold elections as early as June, is the second since February, when military forces fought over ownership of the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Long Beach accountant Yasith Chhun stood before Judge Dean D. Pregerson in a Los Angeles courtroom on June 22, 2010. The judge noted that the bespectacled Cambodian-American wasn't a "bad man," just someone who had the misfortune to be born in a place where terrible things were happening.

Still, Pregerson chose to sentence Chhun to life in prison for his pitiful attempt to overthrow the despotic government of Cambodia.

How does a judge condemn someone who isn't a bad guy to life behind bars? As Chhun's defense attorney Richard C. Callahan said, comparing Chhun's punishment with that given to criminals who committed far more serious crimes, "None of this makes any sense."

Indeed, many exiles living in the United States are being celebrated for trying to foment revolutions in their home countries of Libya, Iran, Iraq and elsewhere. But unlike those Americans, Chhun fell into one of those eddies of U.S. foreign policy that swirls with contradictions.

While his sentence might not make sense, the trajectory of Chhun's life does. Its logic was crafted in war zones and under autocrats in Cambodia. It is infused with a survivor's frustrated anger at mass killers who avoid justice, and a survivor's guilt over having escaped the authoritarian shadow that endures in his homeland.

It is the story of an American dreamer and scarred immigrant who bought into our country's creation myth about militiamen who rose up against tyranny to claim freedom.

All of this gets at why, amid the tax forms in his strip-mall accountancy office, a man inspired by a Disney movie plotted to become his homeland's George Washington.

Only in California could the seeds of Yasith Chhun's idealistic crimes take root on the Queen Mary. The ship's art deco staterooms may harken back to an era of pre–World War II Hollywood celebrities, but Chhun felt a different sort of nostalgia, one for family, friends and a country that he'd lost. In 1999 and 2000, his California- registered nonprofit group, the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, hosted a pair of fundraisers on the ship to help liberate their homeland — by any means necessary.

Prosecutors believe they raised a total of about $300,000, some of which was used to support the overthrow of Hun Sen, Cambodia's longtime leader.

To many Cambodian exiles, Hun Sen's name is roughly equivalent to Fidel Castro's for Cuban-Americans in Miami, or Augusto Pinochet's for Chilean-Americans. Chhun called the revolutionary plan that he assembled with an associate "Operation Volcano," a military assault on pillars of Hun Sen's power in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital.

After the extended deadline for income tax filing passed in June 2000, Chhun and other Cambodian-American "freedom fighters," including co-plotter Richard Kiri Kim, traveled to the Thai-Cambodian border. They met with Cambodian army commanders to instigate a mutiny that would lead to the arrest of Hun Sen and other leaders. Chhun tasked insurgent commanders with recruiting soldiers — which in Cambodia usually means hiring poor farmers — and with bringing together weapons. Chhun gave them money for supplies, including food, clothing and communications equipment. Then he returned home to his family and his accountancy.

Months later, on Oct. 10, 2000, Chhun and approximately two dozen other men traveled on tourist visas back to their "base" (otherwise known as a rental home) and made final preparations. From there, on Nov. 23, 2000, Chhun called Kiri Kim, in Cambodia, and gave the order: Operation Volcano should blow.

In the predawn darkness on Nov. 24, 2000, about 70 well-armed men emerged from the colonial yellow railway station in the center of the Cambodian capital. Most of the insurgents advanced down the dusty Boulevard de Russie. A much smaller group of men moved on a military barracks about 10 miles away, on the edge of town.

With red armbands and headbands, and carrying AK-47s, grenades and launchers, those men might have made for an imposing urban gang if some weren't wearing flip-flops. As a revolutionary force, they didn't exactly compare to Hun Sen's spectacularly well-armed personal bodyguards, who numbered in the thousands. And as commander in chief, Hun Sen could call in tens of thousands of fighters from Cambodia's armed forces, if necessary.

The dozens of aspiring revolutionaries threw a grenade at a gas station and shot its guard, also wounding an officer named Ngy Sarath, who was passing by on a motorcycle. They shot divots into the facades of a number of government buildings and, when a military police vehicle carrying eight armed men drove directly toward them, opened fire, sparking a prolonged gun battle against government troops. Among the many explosions and errant shots, 49 bullets struck the front of the truck, which may have been the high point of the coup attempt. The firefight came to an end when government tanks arrived and insurgent commander Mow An gave the order to retreat. It was over before dawn.

News reports at the time claimed that eight insurgents had died and 14 people (passersby and military police) had been wounded. But the court in Los Angeles was told that just three insurgents died, and it received tragic testimony that a bullet came through a wall and felled one bystander in his home. The man collapsed into the arms of his wife, the mother of their newborn, and died.

If the attack was destined to fail, it isn't just that the rebels were poorly trained, insufficiently armed and far too few, or even that the plan was absurd. (News reports indicated that some insurgents got high on rice wine and perhaps even opium to screw up their courage. That couldn't have helped.)

The real problem was that Operation Volcano blew into a trap. The government obtained the ragtag bunch's attack plan well before they arrived; Kiri Kim made the mistake of sharing copies of the plan with some of his men in a country where selling such information to authorities is lucrative.

Hun Sen wasn't just ready to defeat them; he was ready to use them. A day after the attack, authorities had rounded up at least 58 people, some of whom Chhun referred to as his heroic colleagues. Cambodia's strongman quickly raised the specter of terrorism emanating from U.S. soil, warning his enemies in both countries that they would be put on trial. "Do not think that you can escape," he warned. "The United States is cooperating with us."

Officials at the American Embassy in Phnom Penh, however, were circumspect. One official there told The Cambodia Daily that the rebels were "the gang that couldn't shoot straight." Many of the supposed insurgents testified in court that they had been physically intimidated into making false confessions.

American skepticism only increased in September 2001, after the 9/11 attacks, when Hun Sen promised to collaborate with Washington in the antiterror fight — and then he arrested another 64 "terrorists," including a host of peaceful political opponents who supposedly were linked to Operation Volcano. (Chhun didn't know who they were.) At least five members of the political opposition remain in prison more than a decade later. Chhun's attack was, as democratic opposition leader Sam Rainsy tells the Weekly, "the greatest gift to Hun Sen."

I contacted Yasith Chhun soon after Operation Volcano. Speaking via cellphone from a "secret location" near the Cambodian border, he told me he was "very regretful" about the deaths in Phnom Penh, but he didn't see any other way to change Cambodia.

A zealous anti-communist, Chhun was convinced that Hun Sen — who had already morphed into a nouveau riche, postcommunist, Mafia-style kingpin — remained a Maoist ideologue. "We will never change the nature of the Communist dictatorship with rallies," Chhun said. "Communists are like cows. The cow never respects what we say. We sing a song, the cow never listens, never understands, so we have to use force or guns."

His peculiar bovine theme likely made more sense to rural Cambodians. But the odd mix of Chhun's Cambodian and Angeleno lives became even clearer when I asked him what triggered a Long Beach accountant to launch the overthrow effort. It was, he said, "God's mission" for him to free his people. God communicated to Chhun, a Buddhist-born convert to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, via the animated 1998 Disney film The Prince of Egypt. Chhun interpreted the film's message as he saw it: "Moses tried to liberate the slaves of Egypt. Like him, I am not afraid of anything."

If necessary, Chhun could handle punishment for his efforts, he said, but he doubted it would be necessary. He was fighting against tyranny, and what could be more American than that?

In California, Chhun ate to his stomach's content, drove an air-conditioned car, raised his children and tallied the incomes of American taxpayers, but he was haunted by Cambodia. "I have a business in Long Beach with 3,000 clients," Chhun told me. "I earn almost a million dollars a year. I have kids, a wife and a family to take care of. So why am I coming here to suffer? Because I cannot ignore the bloodshed of my people."

Perhaps more than anything, the fate of Chhun's father, Yem Kong, defined such bloodshed for him. Upon seizing power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia ordered the executions of nearly every person linked to the previous U.S.-backed military regime. Yem Kong was particularly vulnerable. He hadn't merely been an active supporter of that government: He had reported on the Khmer Rouge revolutionaries' rural activities.

Chhun's family were evicted from their home in a town in Banteay Meanchey province in the northwest, and his siblings were sent off to work camps. Chhun was a sickly child, so he was permitted to stay with his parents. They moved to a collectivized farm and labored there until one day, while Chhun was bathing in a nearby river, a dozen armed Khmer Rouge soldiers arrived. "They pulled my father out of the hut," Chhun wrote in a letter to the judge, "and beheaded him."

It wasn't a clean beheading, Chhun told Dr. William H. Sacks, who provided a psychiatric report to the court. The head was "almost severed but still partially connected by skin." Chhun's mother collapsed onto her husband's corpse in grief, but the Khmer Rouge warned her not to cry for a man who deserved such a fate. They told her that she would be executed, too, if she acted as an enemy spy.

Then a soldier turned, ominously, toward the young Chhun. "Are you his son?" the soldier asked.

"No," Chhun responded. "I'm a visitor."

Chhun and his mother later carried Yem Kong's body, with his head, to the nearby forest, where they wrapped it in a cloth and buried it near a mango tree. As Chhun recounted the saga to Dr. Sacks three decades later, he wept profusely.

After the execution of his father, Chhun was sent to a work camp, where he toiled day and night in rice fields as one of the millions of slaves of the Khmer Rouge's "people's revolution." Chhun supplemented his rice gruel by eating grasshoppers, termites, snakes and even rats. Still, he lost so much weight that he came to look like a skeleton wrapped in taut skin.

"I cried every night, getting only a few hours' sleep, and I kept asking myself why I had to be born in Cambodia, and not in the United States," he wrote to the judge. "I couldn't understand why I had to be punished and tortured as an innocent young man who was just growing up."

Later, the Khmer Rouge used him on suicide missions. They shackled him to a rocket launcher and forced him to crawl toward enemy lines to fire at Vietnamese enemies; strapped his body to a machine gun and tripod to hold it steady; and forced him to search murky forest soil for landmines. One time, Chhun told Dr. Sacks, he stepped on a mine. It blew him into the air. Somehow he was only slightly injured, but it killed a man who was with him.

As the Khmer Rouge regime weakened under the weight of its self-destructive nationalist paranoia, Chhun rediscovered his mother, alive. In memory of his father, they went to place a ceremonial rice cake at a Buddhist temple, but Chhun was so famished that he "stole" the offering, scraped the ants off and ate it, he told the psychiatrist.

By the start of 1979, as the Khmer Rouge crumbled in the face of a fast-moving assault by its former Communist patrons in Vietnam, Chhun fled like hundreds of thousands of others toward the Thai border region. He began to understand the true scale of the Khmer Rouge's terror. There were too many corpses to count. He witnessed executions by clubbing, suffocation in plastic bags and stabbing with bamboo sticks — none of which required the squandering of bullets better used to fend off the Vietnamese.

But it was only later that Chhun discovered the full impact of the Khmer Rouge's Talibanesque interpretation of Maoism. The regime's mismanagement, incompetence and cruelty — which included torturing improbable confessions out of "enemies of the people" and then doing the same to the people accused in those confessions — caused the deaths of more than one Cambodian in five, nearly 2 million people. During the nearly four-year Khmer Rouge reign of terror, two of Chhun's aunts and seven of his immediate cousins starved to death. Besides his father, his uncle and other close family members were executed.

While the Khmer Rouge was responsible for its many crimes — and Vietnam and the United States certainly prepared the terrain as they sucked neighboring Cambodia into their war — no one was held responsible in any credible courtroom. To Chhun, Cambodians were victims of the worst crimes imaginable, but decades passed with no sign of justice.

The Communist Vietnamese forces that ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979 were seen initially as liberators, at least until they installed a pliant regime and remained a highly visible foreign presence, when they graduated to "occupiers" whose ceremonious withdrawal only came in 1988.

The most enduring figure in the Vietnamese-friendly government was a former low-level Khmer Rouge commander who fled to Vietnam to avoid internal purges. The Vietnamese chose the young man, Hun Sen, as Cambodia's "foreign minister" and then promoted him in the mid-1980s to prime minister. He has retained that title for more than a quarter-century.

The result, for many middle-aged Cambodians, is that Hun Sen embodies the unresolved horrors of the Khmer Rouge, the national humiliation of the Vietnamese occupation and the stunningly corrupt political system that he oversees today.

After the Khmer Rouge fell, Chhun reached a desperate, overcrowded Kao I Dang refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border, where he spent a year and a half. After a seven-month stint in a refugee center in the Philippines, he was granted refugee status by the United States. In 1982, he arrived in Georgia and eventually migrated to California, became an American citizen and went to college. But like so many of his exiled compatriots, he couldn't leave behind the instability and horrors that defined his adolescence and early adulthood.

Chhun became an accountant, dealing with the arithmetic of clients' incomes and calculating their civil responsibility to their government in the form of tax payments. The firm logic of numbers likely provided solidity to a young man who had little. He didn't just move to a world of strip malls and traffic jams; it was more basic than that. There was electricity and running water, private property and a government that tried to work for the people rather than enslaving them.

Like many exiles in America, Chhun became a Republican supporter, drawn by the party's anticommunist rhetoric.

Long Beach was in the process of becoming the world's largest Cambodian city outside of Southeast Asia, now with more than 50,000 Khmers. Many are former "boat people" or refugee-camp survivors who lost everything and, in some cases, everyone. Even though they were Angelenos, many remained obsessed with the fate of their homeland and the relatives who didn't get out.

In the mid-1990s, Chhun began to engage in activism on behalf of a rising reformist party in Cambodia. His newfound political engagement might have been empowering if it hadn't coincided with a wave of political violence, as Hun Sen further consolidated his grip on power at the expense of democracy.

On March 30, 1997, grenade throwers working in cahoots with Hun Sen's bodyguard troops nearly assassinated an opponent, Sam Rainsy, when they threw four grenades into a crowd of peaceful protesters he was leading against the nation's corrupt courts. The attack killed 16 people, while hit men fled into one of Hun Sen's bases across the street; his bodyguards, armed to the teeth, protected their flight.

Several months later, Hun Sen drove his co–prime minister, Norodom Ranariddh, who had won the U.N.-sponsored elections, from Cambodia after several days of pitched battles on the streets of Phnom Penh. Soon after, dozens of corpses of tortured prisoners — Hun Sen's political and military enemies — surfaced in shallow pits.

For Chhun, Cambodia's democratic experiment was over. He created the Cambodian Freedom Fighters and started to prepare Operation Volcano.

That last step — regardless of its ineptitude — helped him to recover a portion of his dignity, according to the psychiatric report. "I heard the voice of my father saying, 'I'm proud of you. You can stand up and be a man again,' " Chhun told the psychiatrist. That restored man, Dr. Sacks summarized, "had fantasies of being a new General Washington."

Operation Volcano became a tool of Hun Sen soon after its failure. Less than two months later, he accused the United States — "the master of the fight against international terrorism" — of ignoring a terrorist attack on Cambodian soil that was planned in America. "What is the real value of the U.S. suggestion to Cambodia to offer cooperation against international terrorism?" the prime minister asked.

Hun Sen even cited past U.S. bombing campaigns against Libya in the 1980s and Afghanistan in the '90s that were intended to punish them for sheltering terrorists. The strongman insisted the United States must hand Chhun over to Phnom Penh. Despite the rhetoric, Hun Sen's uneasy relations with Washington meant there was little hope of retrieving one of his opponents from U.S. soil.

At the time of Hun Sen's comments, Chhun was settling back into life in Long Beach. After all, the 2001 tax season was approaching. Agents from the FBI's Los Angeles bureau dropped in on Chhun, who openly admitted that he was the CFF leader — no surprise, given that he had issued a press release immediately after Operation Volcano sputtered. He didn't merely explain the details and goals of Operation Volcano; he told them he hoped to continue his efforts.

In Chhun's recollection, the FBI warned him against traveling to Cambodia, for his own safety. (He chuckled about their advice and noted that he was more concerned about Hun Sen sending an assassin to kill him in California.) At the end of the friendly meeting, Chhun saluted the FBI's Don Shannon and told the agent that he was always welcome.

Chhun's office was located north of downtown Long Beach in an area known as Little Phnom Penh, featuring a temple and an array of shops and restaurants. When I stopped in shortly after the FBI did, the accountant wore a crisp white business shirt and eyeglasses. More cheerful than any revolutionary I had ever met, Chhun still believed he might one day succeed in ousting Hun Sen.

"Even though I am in Long Beach, I can do it by remote," he said, gesturing to a cellphone. Chhun argued that all Cambodian people crave a society like the one he lived in here in Los Angeles. "There is a good chance that we can start building a freeway of freedom, so that the Cambodian people can walk on that freedom."

The FBI visited Chhun again in 2003, for another chat, even though there was no indication that Chhun — never a discreet man — had been involved in any new revolutionary activities. The statute of limitations on an array of possible charges was ticking away. But clouds were gathering.

In the months and years that followed the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration oversaw a massive overhaul of security, intelligence and foreign policy. Washington's emboldened "war on terror," to the exclusion of many other American interests and values, included an emphasis on preventing Southeast Asia from becoming a "second front."

In short order, cooperation between Washington and Phnom Penh surged. President George W. Bush removed Cambodia from the list of major illegal drug–producing countries despite little substantive progress. In 2002, with the United States, Cambodia joined a regional antiterrorism agreement that involved sharing information and intelligence, destroyed three dozen SA-3 air defense missiles (so that they wouldn't end up in the hands of terrorists) and brought its border stations into the computer age. Phnom Penh also arrested a handful of alleged members of Jemaah Islamiyah, a group that Washington had linked to al-Qaida and that the Bush administration hardly wanted to see develop a foothold in the region.

In that context, federal agents showed up at Chhun's home on a June day in 2005 and arrested a man whom they had left free to fill out tax forms for four and a half years after Operation Volcano.

A federal grand jury indicted Chhun on four conspiracy charges on May 31, 2005 — a day before the statute of limitations ran out on several charges. The accusation involved the Neutrality Act, a 200-year-old law that prohibits working from American soil to overthrow a foreign leader or government that the United States is at peace with. It could lead to a maximum prison sentence of three years. (Chhun had suggested to me that, since he wasn't involved in securing weaponry and because his significant actions were conducted in Thailand, there was no violation.)

But the indictment included more menacing charges: conspiring to kill and damage property in a foreign country, and the use of weapons of mass destruction outside of the United States. ("Weapon of mass destruction," it turns out, can refer to any explosive or incendiary device, bomb or even a grenade.)

A new U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, Charles Ray, communicated his gratitude, via the FBI legal attaché in Bangkok, to staff in the Los Angeles division of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Beyond issues of justice, Ray's note says, "This case is a very important achievement for U.S. relations in Southeast Asia, and is key to building regional cooperation in counterterrorism."

Soon after Chhun's arrest, Deputy Director of the FBI John Pistole visited Phnom Penh, where he told senior Cambodian officials that the FBI would train local police on counterterrorism matters, and he gave a number of awards for "important contributions" to the prosecution of Cambodian Freedom Fighters.

Defense attorney Callahan argues that pre-9/11, American officials saw Hun Sen as a "murderous despot" and Chhun's efforts to oust him were tacitly accepted, until Washington pivoted and Chhun became "an expendable pawn" in U.S. efforts to gain an antiterror ally in the region. "Hun Sen didn't change," Callahan summarizes, "the world did."

In 2008, Chhun was found guilty on all four charges.

The following year, the prosecution prepared a court brief that called for a harsh sentence: "The United States cannot allow her citizens and residents to plan and execute violent attacks against foreign citizens or governments. U.S. foreign policy must speak with one voice and unauthorized violent attacks against foreign entities, no matter how well intentioned, subject the United States to broad international and political ramifications, including possible retaliation."

The defense argued for a five-year sentence, which would amount to time served, citing Chhun's tragic history, his exemplary time in jail and his law-abiding years between his return from Cambodia and his arrest.

But, like the prosecution, the judge wanted to send a message — not to potential émigré revolutionaries from repressive countries, ranging from Algeria to Zimbabwe, but to foreign governments themselves. "We, as a great nation, cannot send the message to other countries that it's OK to be lenient when people attempt to kill Americans," the judge concluded, noting that the United States must therefore reciprocate by treating homeland-focused revolutionaries on American soil "very, very harshly." So last June, Judge Pregerson sentenced Chhun to a lifetime behind bars.

A lifetime. That's what made no sense to Callahan.

The irony that the judge was calibrating the scales of justice to induce foreign leaders to cooperate with Washington was particularly salient in a case in which Chhun was convicted for getting in the way of the United States' evolving foreign policy

But there was a far more cruel irony in Chhun's life sentence. Just one month later, a mixed Cambodian and international tribunal focusing on crimes against humanity in Phnom Penh finally sentenced the first Khmer Rouge figure for horrific crimes committed more than three decades earlier.

Kaing Guek Eav, known as "Duch," was the meticulous overseer of an elementary school turned torture center, the notorious Toul Sleng, where 12,273 prisoners died. Most were executed — including with shovels, to spare bullets. Some were pulled apart on medieval-style racks. If the sadistic prison boss lives 19 years beyond the moment when he was sentenced, he will be free.

Yasith Chhun, meanwhile, isn't known to have ever fired a bullet to overthrow Hun Sen, a man who has thrived thanks in part to well-documented coercion, torture and the assassinations of his enemies.

I wrote to Chhun after his sentencing. I wanted to know whether the contrast between his sentence and the one given to Kaing Guek Eav shook his faith in American justice.

"It breaks my heart to say it, but yes," Chhun wrote from the jail cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown. "I continue to believe in the American system of justice with all my heart."

But, he added, "In my case, it failed."

A decade after 9/11, Washington is in the midst of another epochal sea-change in regard to its interactions with autocrats. The Obama administration is offering various levels of support for popular movements seeking to topple repressive regimes across much of North Africa, the Middle East and countries farther afield.

It is difficult to imagine the former Yasith Chhuns of prerevolutionary Tunisia and Egypt or the active ones of Syria or Iran, who work from American soil, being prosecuted for efforts to overthrow the corrupt and brutal regimes back home.

The question is: How long will it take for Washington's still-evolving response to the "Arab Spring" to trickle down into the interpretations of judges the way that 9/11 did?

Chhun recently sent me a repentant response. Imagine it being written by a revolutionary Libyan or Iranian in exile: "I feel very strongly that our efforts to save Cambodia were justified, since years of protests and peaceful demonstrations had failed," Chhun wrote after six years in detention. "During my incarceration, I have come to realize that while my intentions were honorable, I was not properly equipped to carry out the mission and should not have attempted it.

"I do feel remorse for those who suffered in battle, and I also feel great sadness for the people of Cambodia who continue to struggle under the Hun Sen regime," he wrote.

Chhun doesn't regret trying to overthrow Hun Sen; he only regrets being incapable of succeeding.

While it is up to the appellate court to decide whether Chhun's punishment is suitable, one thing is clear: A decade after Operation Volcano, many others have suffered. Some of their suffering was triggered by Chhun's actions, but the greatest victimizer of Cambodians today remains Hun Sen, with whom the United States continues to have productive relations driven by realpolitik.

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy says that he normally makes annual visits to the five activists from his political party, who remain in Cambodia's Prey Sar prison for trumped-up charges related to Chhun's Operation Volcano.

But Rainsy can no longer visit them. He was convicted in absentia on politically motivated charges and sentenced to 14 years in prison by a Cambodian court. That is why he lives in exile in Paris. In other words, Hun Sen no longer needs Operation Volcano to undermine his peaceful opponents.

"Yasith Chhun was a boon to Hun Sen, and [Chhun] ended up in prison because Hun Sen really exploited this case," says Rainsy, who believes that emissaries of Hun Sen easily gained Chhun's confidence and then manipulated him. The Cambodian Freedom Fighters "weren't truly professional terrorists. [Chhun] is more of a clown. He didn't really threaten Hun Sen at all, and his actions allowed the regime to neutralize people that they didn't like for purely political reasons."

Ultimately, the case has also allowed Cambodia's leader to demonstrate — with an assist from a federal court in Los Angeles — that his reach now extends all the way to Long Beach.