KI Media: “It only happens in America: A Lawyer Too Smart For His Own Good” plus 24 more |
- It only happens in America: A Lawyer Too Smart For His Own Good
- Forced marriage in focus as Khmer Rouge leaders face trial
- Activists call for probe into decision to close Khmer Rouge case
- UN Secretary General Moves To Ease Tribunal Tension
- NGOs in Final Bid to Change Controversial Draft Law
- Cambodia moves to bar Thai chicken
- No ‘Spy’ Prisoner Exchange: Hun Sen
- Suwit set for talks with Phnom Penh
- U.N. defends role in Khmer Rouge tribunal
- Trial of Former Khmer Rouge Leaders Is in Turmoil
- Theary Seng's Open Response to UN Headquarters’ Public Statement re Case 003
- Harvard University's JUSTICE with Michael Sandel - Episode 1
- Ksem Ksan Victims Association's Press Release
- Mu Sochua at Phnom Proek and Som Povloun in Battambang province
- Cambodian PM initiates reserve fund for poor patients [... Hun Xen initiates more fund swindling?]
- Thailand stands firm; Preah Vihear management plan should be deferred [... but Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia, not Thailand!!!]
- [Thai] Mine clearers wounded by land mine
- Khmer Rouge Tribunal On Trial
- Khmer Rouge tribunal: UN rebuffs Cambodia criticism
- More leaked documents highlight Khmer Rouge tribunal under fire in Cambodia
- In Cambodia, Comedians Double as Government Propagandists
- Brain Food for UNSG Ban Ki-Moon
- Pentagon Papers
- Pentagon papers finally released
- No spy exchange with Thailand: Cambodian PM
| It only happens in America: A Lawyer Too Smart For His Own Good Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:59 PM PDT BEST TRUE LAWYER STORY OF THE YEAR, DECADE, AND POSSIBLY THE CENTURY This took place in Charlotte, North Carolina. A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars and then insured them against, among other things, fire. Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.' The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued - and WON! (Stay with me.) Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires.' NOW FOR THE BEST PART... After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine. This true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers Award contest. ONLY IN AMERICA ....  | ||||||||||
| Forced marriage in focus as Khmer Rouge leaders face trial Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:38 PM PDT  By Robert Carmichael DPA Phnom Penh - When Pen Sokchan was just 16 she was ordered to marry a Khmer Rouge soldier, a man she had never met. Pen Sokchan cannot recall his face but she does remember he was cruel. She did not want to consummate the marriage, so he was ordered to rape her and did. Pen Sokchan kept the story hidden from her neighbours, her friends and her family for three decades. 'I want to cut the parts of my body my husband touched at the time,' Pen Sokchan says of those terrible few days in 1978. 'I am dishonoured.' Her words come from a new documentary screened this month in Phnom Penh, titled Red Wedding. Director Lida Chan says the issue it covers - forced marriage - remains relatively unknown among young Cambodians. A key reason for the lack of knowledge is the conservative nature of Cambodian society: People simply don't discuss it. Yet under the Khmer Rouge's rule between 1975 and 1979 the policy extended across the country. Lida Chan says around 250,000 women were forcibly married. 'So I hope this film will encourage other victims who never talk about their history to tell their children and their relatives what happened,' she says. 'I hope it gives them courage, because what happened to them is not their fault.' The timing of the documentary's release is no coincidence. On June 27 the four surviving senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge will stand trial at the UN-backed tribunal on charges of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and a string of other crimes. Among those is the crime of forced marriage. The Khmer Rouge devised the policy to boost the population, and used death threats to ensure couples consummated their union. More than 650 of the nearly 4,000 registered victims - known as civil parties - in the upcoming case are victims of forced marriage. In the documentary Pen Sokchan recalls her wedding as a joyless affair presided over by black-clad Khmer Rouge cadres, and which took place after she was summoned to a room with five other sets of men and women. It was nothing like a typical Cambodian wedding, a normally colourful affair of Buddhist prayers, family, food, music and numerous changes of clothing. Duong Savorn is the project coordinator for a legal advice nongovernmental organization called the Cambodian Defenders Project (CDP), which helped Pen Sokchan and more than 120 others file their civil party claims. Around a quarter of CDP's forced marriage civil parties are men. He says victims of forced marriage were often given just one or two hours' notice that they were to be married. 'And sometimes they were called straight from the rice fields to be married without any notice at all,' he says. After the ceremony the couples were led off to separate huts to consummate the marriage. The Khmer Rouge leadership, known as Angkar, demanded complete obedience from its people on pain of death. Khmer Rouge cadres would stand near the huts and listen to the couple. Those that refused to have sex would be taken away for 'education,' and if after the second and third night they still refused, they could be executed. 'They had to follow Angkar's orders otherwise they would be killed,' Duong Savorn said. The logic was to boost the population from 8 million to 20 million, and to create a new generation untainted by the regimes the ultra-Maoist movement had replaced. 'The Khmer Rouge wanted a pure product - the children belonged to Angkar, not to their parents,' he says. 'They strongly believed the new generation would benefit the revolution and increase the population.' Lida Chan's documentary reveals that Pen Sokchan managed to flee her brutal first husband, who died two years later. She eventually remarried and had six children. The documentary shows the wedding of one of her daughters, a stark contrast to her first marriage. But it also shows how she failed in her quest to find out from the former Khmer Rouge cadres, who still live in her area of rural western Cambodia, precisely who ordered her to get married and why. Director Lida Chan says despite that failure, the process of making the film changed Pen Sokchan. The 48-year-old was originally scared of the former cadres living in her area. But questioning them, even though they failed to provide answers, removed that fear and allowed her to show them that they no longer control her life.  | ||||||||||
| Activists call for probe into decision to close Khmer Rouge case Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:32 PM PDT
DPA Phnom Penh - An organization monitoring Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal said Tuesday the United Nations must examine the court's decision to close the investigation into its highly politicized third case. The Open Society Justice Initiative, which is funded by US billionaire George Soros, said the step was essential in order to restore public trust in the UN-backed tribunal. The group said the investigating judges had failed to examine fully the 'allegations of mass murder and other atrocities' against the suspects in Case Three - a case the Cambodian government has repeatedly said it would not permit to proceed to trial. The suspects, whom the court has not named, were senior Khmer Rouge military officers and are suspected of involvement in thousands of deaths. An investigation was needed since 'recent actions and omissions' by the investigating judges 'raise serious questions, including the possibility of gross negligence in the performance of - or that the judges knowingly acted in contravention of - their judicial duties,' the OSJI said. The UN has not yet commented. Tribunal spokeswoman Yuko Maeda said Tuesday the judges had no comment. The investigating judges - Germany's Siegfried Blunk and Cambodia's You Bunleng - announced their decision to close Case Three on April 29. In subsequent public comments international prosecutor Andrew Cayley indicated he believed the investigation was deficient. Cayley listed a number of omissions, including the investigating judges' failure to question the two suspects or to visit sites where the alleged crimes had taken place. The OSJI said the court's actions when combined with the government's opposition to Case Three and to Case Four, which involves another three ex-Khmer Rouge, 'suggest that the outcome of (each) case has been pre-determined.' On Monday the Cambodia Daily newspaper said several international staff in the investigating judges' office had quit following disagreements over the decision to close Case Three. One of them was Stephen Heder, an expert on the Khmer Rouge movement who was employed as a consultant. In his May 5 resignation email, Heder said he had quit because the judges had decided to close the case 'effectively without investigating it, which I, like others, believe was unreasonable.' In late May the UN rejected allegations it had interfered with investigations at the tribunal or put any pressure on any court officials to scupper the cases. The court's second case, against four senior surviving leaders of the movement, is scheduled to begin June 27. More than 2 million people are thought to have died during the Khmer Rouge's rule from 1975 to 1979.  | ||||||||||
| UN Secretary General Moves To Ease Tribunal Tension Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:16 PM PDT  Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer Phnom Penh
The office UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sought to ease increasing tensions within the Khmer Rouge tribunal on Wednesday, rejecting media reports that a controversial third case will be dropped. The UN-backed court's investigating judges have come under fire in recent weeks after they made a preliminary conclusion to Case 003, for two unnamed Khmer Rouge suspects. Ban said through a spokesman on Wednesday that the conclusion had only been a procedural step and was not a signal the case—which Prime Minister Hun Sen strongly opposes—would be ignored. However, the investigating judges have already seen a staff exodus, and their office was called "toxic" by a leading consultant for investigation, especially after they failed to interview the two chief suspects in the case. "The co-investigating judges must ultimately issue a closing order in case 003 which, in relation to each suspect, either sends him or her to trial, or dismissed the case against him or her," according to Ban's statement. Claire Duffy, a court monitor for the independent Open Society Justice Initiative, said while the statement was "technically" true, it was also a defense of the UN's court operations. "If you have just kept up to date with all the developments that have been happening, it's clear that the judges intend to dismiss the case," she said. The judges "haven't even interviewed" the suspects or assigned them counsel, she said, making indictments very unlikely. Ban's statement said the jurists for the tribunal "must be allowed to function free from external interference by the royal government, by the UN, donors states and by civil society."  | ||||||||||
| NGOs in Final Bid to Change Controversial Draft Law Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:12 PM PDT Many NGOs say they are worried the law needs corrections lest it be used to crackdown on organizations deemed anti-government. Wednesday, 15 June 2011 Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer Washington, DC
International and local organizations met over a conference call on Tuesday in a final effort to push for changes to a controversial draft law to regulate the NGO sector before it moves to the next stage of approval. The groups say they want changes to a third draft of the law, which they fear will hamper their development efforts and leave them open to government interference. The law is expected to move from the draft stage at the Ministry of Interior for approval by the Council of Ministers in the near future. In a conference call organized by Washington-based Oxfam America on Tuesday, representatives from a number of organization expressed continued reservations over the law, which many said would weaken civic and social development. "A country trying to develop without a strong civil society is like trying to ride a bicycle with just one wheel," Nora O'Connell, a director of policy at Save the Children, said. "You may be able to push it along the road, but it will take a lot longer. You need both government and civil society working together to make real progress." Bill Penington, Cambodia's assistant country director for Care International, said the law would slow down development by impeding the work of organizations. Such concerns have been echoed by the US State Department officials, who say the new law could be unnecessary and restrict the work of NGOs. Interior Ministry officials have defended the law as necessary to regulate a growing sector and have dismissed concerns it could be abused. But critics say the law contains complicated requirements for registration and reporting to the Ministry of Interior, while at the same time it potentially prevents smaller grassroots organizations from forming. The law, they say, could be abused to shut down organizations or associations that are at odds with the government. Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn, a program manager for Freedom House, called the draft law "draconian" and "ambiguous." A rights group or other watchdog is "generally going to be critical of the government whether it's Cambodia or whether it's the US," she said. The law as currently drafted could lead to an organization being shut down, she said. "So this is a significant barrier, not just to the freedom of association as a fundamental principle, but also for the freedom of expression." While the organizations say they want the government to redraft the law, there are some who say it should not be necessary at all, given other laws already on the books. "Things like the civil code, the constitution and also the current laws, actually cover every aspect," said Brian Lund, East Asia director for Oxfam America. The government estimates 3,000 non-governmental organizations, either international or local, operate in Cambodia. Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the law will "protect the interests of civil society."  | ||||||||||
| Cambodia moves to bar Thai chicken Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:06 PM PDT 16/06/2011 Bangkok Post Cambodia yesterday barred imports of chicken products from Thailand after authorities raided chicken slaughterhouses in Nakhon Ratchasima for selling decomposed chicken, Xinhua news agency reported. "The Ministry of Commerce instructs all levels of authorities along the border between Cambodia and Thailand to prevent all imports of chicken products from Thailand even though the products have phyto-sanitary certificates in order to protect our people's health," Cham Prasidh, Cambodia's minister of commerce, wrote in a directive. The move came after Thai officials raided chicken slaughterhouses in Nakhon Ratchasima province on Monday and seized about eight tonnes of decomposed chicken. The slaughterhouses had soaked dead chickens in a strong-smelling formalin solution before processing them as food products for human consumption. Wachirawit Kritrittisak, deputy chief of Nakhon Ratchasima police, said police had already pressed at least 10 charges against the operators of four of the 11 slaughterhouses. The suspects allegedly said that they typically supplied chicken carcasses to fish and crocodile farms. They told police they had bought them from middlemen. The investigating team is gathering evidence against the operators of the other slaughterhouses, according to Pol Col Wachirawit. Meanwhile, Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Raphee Phongbupphakit yesterday said a committee has been set up to look into claims of negligence after learning the slaughterhouses had allegedly sold to local food processors meat from chickens that had arrived at their facilities already dead. The probe is expected to be completed in three days, Mr Raphee said. The panel yesterday invited Pak Chong livestock chief Wibul Rattanapornwong, police chief Col Pakawat Thamde and two senior officers from Pak Chong and Klang Dong police stations to testify. Earlier, the governor ordered a transfer of the provincial livestock chief, Suksawat Thongnoi, to an inactive post pending the probe into his conduct in relation to slaughterhouse operations in the district.  | ||||||||||
| No ‘Spy’ Prisoner Exchange: Hun Sen Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:02 PM PDT
Wednesday, 15 June 2011 Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer Phnom Penh
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday ruled out a prisoner exchange of three people recently arrested in Thailand on spying charges with two Thai activists already serving time in Cambodia on similar counts. In a speech rebuking media statements by Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on Saturday, Hun Sen said Thailand should go ahead with trials for the three Cambodians allegedly caught over the disputed Thai border. Thai national Suchart Muhammad, 32, Cambodian Ung Kimtai, 43, and Nguyen Tengyang, 37, a Vietnamese, were arrested last Tuesday at in Thailand's Si Sa Ket province and accused of spying on Thai paramilitary bases and bunkers there. Hun Sen said Wednesday it was "strange" for a country to employ spies from three different countries and he warned Cambodian officials to be careful traveling to Thailand. "Thai authorities will arrest him or her to exchange with the two Thai 'Yellow-Shirt' activists now detained in Cambodia on espionage charges," he said.  | ||||||||||
| Suwit set for talks with Phnom Penh Posted: 15 Jun 2011 03:57 PM PDT 16/06/2011 Bangkok Post ... Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to arrest Thai officials that encroach on its soil and charge them with spying Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti will hold an informal meeting with Cambodia tomorrow and on Saturday to try and reach an agreement on the Preah Vihear management plan. Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the parties would try to settle the dispute ahead of a 10-day World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting from Sunday in Paris that will consider the management plan for the ancient temple proposed by Cambodia. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday held a meeting of the national world heritage committee to discuss guidelines on the Preah Vihear issue, Mr Panitan said. Mr Abhisit instructed the panel to think of the national interest and keep the country from losing its sovereignty and territory. Mr Suwit yesterday said Thailand had a clear stance on the Preah Vihear issue. It wants the WHC to postpone consideration of the management plan for areas surrounding the World Heritage-listed site until border demarcation work is completed. He said he was unsure if the WHC would postpone considering Cambodia's insistence on its right to table the plan for the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area around the temple. Mr Suwit said Thailand would offer to host the next WHC meeting in Phuket. He said claims by Cambodia that Prime Minister Abhisit had asked it to withdraw Preah Vihear from the world heritage listing were untrue. He said the Foreign Ministry would send a letter explaining the matter to Cambodian authorities. The national world heritage committee will meet today to discuss prerequisites for the WHC meeting, Mr Suwit said. He said other Unesco member countries would have a better understanding about Thailand's position on the plan after Thai representatives had the opportunity to explain the matter. Mr Abhisit also said that each side should respect the laws of the other and avoid doing anything that could affect relations. He was referring to reports Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen threatened to arrest Thai officials that encroach on its soil and charge them with spying, as Thailand has done.  | ||||||||||
| U.N. defends role in Khmer Rouge tribunal Posted: 15 Jun 2011 12:11 PM PDT PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, June 15 (UPI) -- Allegations that the United Nations pressured judges at the war crimes tribunal for the Khmer Rouge are baseless, a U.N. spokesman said. Non-governmental monitoring group Open Society Justice Initiative called on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to investigate the conduct of the U.N.-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. The tribunal is investigating alleged atrocities committed by the ruling Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. OSJI asked the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs to monitor the court and "if deemed necessary," advise the United Nations to end its support for the tribunal. OSJI complained after two judges ended their investigation into a pending case thought to involve former Khmer Rouge military officials despite not visiting alleged criminal sites, questioning witnesses or interviewing the suspects. The United Nations dismissed allegations that it played a role in the dismissal of the case, dubbed Case 003. "The United Nations categorically rejects media speculation that we have instructed the co-investigating judges to dismiss Case 003," the statement read. An estimated 2 million people died under the Khmer Rouge regime, which ruled Cambodia from 1975-79. "Support for the independence of the judiciary is a fundamental principle that the United Nations upholds in Cambodia as elsewhere," the U.N. statement added.  | ||||||||||
| Trial of Former Khmer Rouge Leaders Is in Turmoil Posted: 15 Jun 2011 12:04 PM PDT June 15, 2011 By SETH MYDANS The New York Times "When Cambodians see that the prime minister can decide which cases go forward and which don't, that sends a much bigger negative message," said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. BANGKOK — As it prepares to open its most complex and significant case, a U.N.-backed Cambodian tribunal trying former Khmer Rouge leaders has been torn by conflict over what critics are calling interference by the Cambodian government and inaction by the United Nations. At least four foreign members of the legal staff have walked out in recent weeks to protest an apparent decision by top investigators not to pursue new prosecutions beyond the first two cases, which involve the conviction of a prison chief last July and the impending trial of four leaders of the movement that was responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people from 1975 to 1979. Political and legal analysts say the investigators' stance casts a shadow over a tribunal that had been intended among other things to demonstrate the workings of a legal system untainted by politics and the official impunity that has been common in Cambodia. The investigators' actions conform with the frequently and forcefully stated view of Prime Minister Hun Sen that two trials were enough and that, as he told the U.N. secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, last October, Case Three was "not allowed." The tribunal is an often contentious joint endeavor between the Cambodian government and the United Nations and includes partnerships of Cambodian and foreign co-prosecutors and co-judges. It uses a civil law system in which investigating judges pursue possible indictments forwarded to them after a preliminary investigation by prosecutors. In what is known as Case Three, the co-investigating judges conducted only perfunctory interviews of witnesses and visits to alleged crime sites and did not inform the potential defendants, both accused of being senior Khmer Rouge military commanders, according to a detailed report released Tuesday by the Open Society Justice Initiative, an independent legal and human rights advocacy group. About 20 months after the files were forwarded to them by the prosecutors, the co-investigating judges — Siegfried Blunk of Germany and You Bunleng of Cambodia — announced in April that their investigations were complete. The case is still technically open until the judges issue a "closing order" that can amount to an indictment. "The court's actions suggest that the outcome of a case has been predetermined, and that judges have refused to gather evidence or investigate facts, possibly in response to repeated and publicly expressed demands of senior political leadership," said the Justice Initiative, which has been closely monitoring the trial. "The United Nations and international donors have done nothing more than repeat general statements affirming the importance of judicial independence while taking no concrete action to defend the principle," it said. The judges strongly asserted in a statement last month that they have acted independently, without outside interference. On Tuesday, Mr. Ban issued a statement denying critics' accusations that the United Nations was not pushing for more prosecutions in a tribunal that has already lasted nearly five years and cost more than $100 million. The United Nations estimates that the cost will reach $149.8 million by the end of next year. "The United Nations categorically rejects media speculation that we have instructed the co-investigating judges to dismiss Case Three," the statement reads. So far, the tribunal has produced one conviction, after an eight-month trial, of Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, the commandant of Tuol Sleng prison. He was sentenced to 35 years, which was reduced to 19 years. An appeal is pending. The second case, due to begin on June 27, is expected to be more complex and to last longer, with more defendants, more tenuous charges of command responsibility and more aggressive defense lawyers who have already filed a flurry of pretrial motions. The defendants, who are in custody on the grounds of the tribunal, are aging and mostly in poor health, and there are concerns that some may not live to hear verdicts on their cases. The Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998. The defendants are Khieu Samphan, 79, the nominal head of state; Nuon Chea, 84, described as the movement's ideologue; Ieng Sary, 85, the foreign minister; and his wife, Ieng Thirith, 79, who was minister of social affairs. The trial is the centerpiece of a tribunal in which the number of prosecutions is in any case symbolic, given the scope of the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge. It is not the number of defendants or convictions that are important, analysts say, but the quality of justice. "When Cambodians see that the prime minister can decide which cases go forward and which don't, that sends a much bigger negative message," said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch. As for Case Three, although the defendants have not been publicly named, leaked documents show that they are Sou Met and Meas Mut, both of whom are now believed to be generals in the Cambodian armed forces following an amnesty when the last guerrilla remnants surrendered in the late 1990s. The prosecutor's submission accuses them of responsibility for "forced labor, inhumane living conditions, unlawful arrest and detention, physical and mental abuse, torture and killing" and of taking part in purges "which resulted in at least thousands and quite probably tens of thousands of deaths." There is also a Case Four, with two other suspects, that has not yet been publicly addressed by investigating judges. Disputes within the office of the investigating judges have led to the resignation of at least four legal officers, according to sources within the tribunal. One of those who resigned, Stephen R. Heder, an expert on the Khmer Rouge who was serving as a consultant, sent a letter to Judge Blunk in which he described a "toxic atmosphere of mutual mistrust generated by your management of what is now a professionally dysfunctional office." Last week the co-investigating judges issued a short retort saying they "welcome" the resignations. They said they would hire short-term contractors if necessary to replace the departing staff members. Alone in pushing Case Three forward is the international co-prosecutor, Andrew Cayley, who has filed motions asking the judges to reopen their investigations. His Cambodian counterpart, co-prosecutor Chea Leang, declined to join him, arguing that the case does not fall under the jurisdiction of the court and that the prosecutions already under way were sufficient, a position that conforms with that of the Hun Sen government. "I have very great concerns about what is taking place in Cases Three and Four," Mr. Cayley said in a telephone interview. "I will use every legal instrument at my disposal under the rules and the law to ensure that these cases are addressed and determined." "If I don't do that, I will be failing in my duty here," he added. "That is a very serious matter for all United Nations officials in the court." In any case, he said, Case Two would be the court's main legacy. "The second case that is about to commence is extremely important," he said. "The four most senior living members of the Khmer Rouge regime. It will probably be the largest and most complicated prosecution since Nuremberg in 1945."  | ||||||||||
| Theary Seng's Open Response to UN Headquarters’ Public Statement re Case 003 Posted: 15 Jun 2011 10:13 AM PDT Open Response to UN Headquarters' Public Statement re Case 003 Published in The Phnom Penh Post on June 16, 2011 Dear Editor of The Phnom Penh Post: I read the public statement of 14 June 2011 by the spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon entitled "United Nations Rejects 'Media Speculation' that Judges Received Instructions to Dismiss Case before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia" with several appalling thoughts: 1. Lack of Wherewithal (or Concern) of the Gravity of Public and Victims' Sentiments. Rather than being re-assured that the United Nations at the Extraordinary Chambers (ECCC) is pursuing truth and justice and adhering to its own international standards, I am left fuming at its unconvincing, self-interested denial and meaningless recitations of fundamental legal principles divorced from its actions on the ground as perceived not only by "media speculation" but by the majority victims and larger international public. It should be noted that it was the victims (and the victims' larger voice of civil society) who first sounded the alarm bell that troubling irregularities are afoot in the ECCC Office of Co-Investigating Judges, later covered by the "speculating media". A US$200,000,000 UN-paid process is being hijacked by a few UN officials led by Judge Siegfried Blunk and all the United Nations headquarters can issue is a belated, knee-jerk reactionary public statement of denial and reinforcement of the misconduct of its personnel. Also, the public statement completely ignores the rights and participation of victims in the criminal proceedings, ironically coming from the same UN who had heralded, when convenient, the unprecedented involvement of victims in the Extraordinary Chambers. Note to UNHQ: We may be a 14,000,000 illiterate majority, not versed in sophisticated legal matters, but we are not stupid; please stop treating us as such. Our sense for justice, for basic right and wrong is stronger than your legalistic cover-up. 2. "International Standard with a Wink" for the Cambodians. The public statement dribbles with this pathetic, underlying hypocrisy of a two-tiered international standard: the one espousing basic universal principles for the developed world and another tattered, synthetic version for the poor of the world—an "international standard with a wink" for the Cambodians, if you will. 3. Blatantly, Misleadingly Wrong in Characterizing the Accused in Case 002. "The accused in Case 002 are the four remaining leaders of the Khmer Rouge" is a completely wrong, completely misleading statement. It is either a careless mistake or an intentionally misleading phrasing to condition the public to think that Meas Mut, Sou Met, Im Chaem, Ta Yim Tith, Ta An of Cases 003 and 004 are not also "remaining leaders of the Khmer Rouge". If we can only ask the tens of thousands of victims perished at their hands and the millions of surviving victims still traumatized by their mass crimes. Theary C. SENG Representative of Civil Parties of Orphans Class Association of Khmer Rouge Victims in Cambodia  | ||||||||||
| Harvard University's JUSTICE with Michael Sandel - Episode 1 Posted: 15 Jun 2011 09:56 AM PDT Episode 01 Part 1 – The Moral Side of Murder If you had to choose between (1) killing one person to save the lives of five others and (2) doing nothing, even though you knew that five people would die right before your eyes if you did nothing—what would you do? What would be the right thing to do? That's the hypothetical scenario Professor Michael Sandel uses to launch his course on moral reasoning. Part 2 – The Case for Cannibalism Sandel introduces the principles of utilitarian philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, with a famous nineteenth century law case involving a shipwrecked crew of four. After nineteen days lost at sea, the captain decides to kill the cabin boy, the weakest amongst them, so they can feed on his blood and body to survive.  | ||||||||||
| Ksem Ksan Victims Association's Press Release Posted: 15 Jun 2011 08:26 AM PDT    | ||||||||||
| Mu Sochua at Phnom Proek and Som Povloun in Battambang province Posted: 15 Jun 2011 08:10 AM PDT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuSmQvhL83A  | ||||||||||
| Cambodian PM initiates reserve fund for poor patients [... Hun Xen initiates more fund swindling?] Posted: 15 Jun 2011 08:08 AM PDT PHNOM PENH, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday instructed the ministry of health to consider the establishment of a health reserve fund for poor patients. "The would-be fund should be supervised by the ministry of health and allocated to all hospitals for reservations in case that the poor patients cannot afford to pay medical services, the hospitals can withdraw money from the fund to cover them," he said during a graduation ceremony at the Technical School of Medicine. "I believe that if such fund is established, it will help reduce the carelessness of health officials on poor patients." Cambodia's health sector has been criticized for years for money-minded health officials and medical practitioners. The premier said that some hospitals, especially private clinics, always do not provide medical treatment to the patients that they supposed they do not have money to pay the medical fees. He also appealed to all health officials and medical practitioners to think about the "treatment first", not to think about "money first".  | ||||||||||
| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 08:05 AM PDT BANGKOK, June 15 (MCOT online news) - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Wednesday reasserted Thailand's stance that consideration of Cambodia's proposed management plan of the area surrounding the ancient Hindu temple of Preah Vihear should be deferred by the upcoming UNESCO World Heritage Committee (WHC) meeting in Paris. The Thai prime minister stood firm as the Thai delegation, scheduled to depart Bangkok for the World Heritage Committee meeting in the French capital this weekend, reported the Thai position over the matter to a special meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Abhisit said Thailand's position is that consideration of Cambodia's management plan of the area surrounding Preah Vihear temple should be deferred, but Thailand stands ready to jointly consider it with Cambodia on the condition that Cambodia must withdraw its troops from the contested land first. Following reported remarks by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen that any Thai official intruding Cambodian territory will be arrested, Mr Abhisit said that law of each country must be respected and refrain from doing thing that will adversely affect bilateral relations. Thai Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Suwit Khunkitti, as head of the Thai delegation in the 35th session from June 19-29, and his team is set to leave Bangkok for Paris on Friday. Discussion of the Cambodian plan was deferred last year at the WHC meeting in Brazil after Thailand strongly opposed it, citing the unresolved border dispute. In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia. The site of the historic structure on the disputed Thai-Cambodian border has long been a point of contention between the two Asian neighbours. On July 7, 2008, Preah Vihear temple was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Under the terms of the listing, Cambodia is required to submit a management plan for WHC approval.  | ||||||||||
| [Thai] Mine clearers wounded by land mine Posted: 15 Jun 2011 08:02 AM PDT 15/06/2011 Bangkok Post Six members of navy humanitarian team involved in deactivating land mines were wounded by an explosion in Chanthaburi's Pong Nam Ron district, near Cambodia, on Wednesday. The six were part of a 10-member team scouring a former mine field in a tapioca plantation near Marum village in tambon Khlong Yai on the border with Cambodia. One of them stepped on a mine. Of the six, three were seriously wounded. The wounded were admitted to Krungthep Chanthaburi Hospital. The team was on a mine clearing operation after being informed by planters whose tractor working in the field ran over a mine on June 11. The explosion damaged the tractor and slightly wounded the driver.  | ||||||||||
| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 07:53 AM PDT The court comes under fire after a recent dismissal of a new case. 2011-06-15 By Parameswaran Ponnudurai Radio Free Asia When an international court launched a trial in 2009 for senior members of the Khmer Rouge for atrocities committed in Cambodia three decades ago, many felt justice has been delayed. Today, as the U.N.-backed war crimes court confronts troubling questions over its ability to independently prosecute members of the brutal communist regime, there are fears that justice will also be denied. At least five key staff members working for the investigating judges in the court have quit amid concerns that they are bowing to Cambodian government demands to dismiss new court cases over the murderous reign of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. The Khmer Rouge tribunal faces "a worsening crisis of public confidence," says the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative, an independent group monitoring the court since its inception. The group has called for the U.N. to examine issues of "judicial independence, misconduct, and competency," saying the court has failed to ensure the fullest possible examination of allegations of mass murder and other atrocities against the ex-Khmer Rouge officials. Case dropped The attacks against investigating judges German Siegfried Blunk and Cambodian You Bunleng of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), as the tribunal is formally known, came after they dropped a third case against several Khmer Rouge officials in April without questioning the suspects or visiting sites where the alleged crimes had taken place. Subsequently, on June 7, the duo rejected a request from Andrew Cayley, the British international co-prosecutor, for further investigative work on the case, known as case number 003, citing procedural grounds which the Justice Initiative argues are "erroneous." There are concerns that the investigating judges are preparing to do the same with a fourth case. "This tribunal was established to provide a measure of accountability for Khmer Rouge crimes and an example of the rule of law for Cambodia," said James Goldston, executive director of Justice Initiative. "In apparently bowing to political pressure, the court undermines both goals," he charged. Cambodian government objection Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself a former Khmer Rouge commander, has repeatedly voiced his objection to further Khmer Rouge trials, saying they could plunge the country into civil war. Stephen Heder, a Cambodia expert who quit last month as adviser to the court, said in his resignation letter that he left because the investigating judges had decided to close the third Khmer Rouge case "effectively without investigating it, which I, like others, believe was unreasonable." Heder, who teaches at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies, said he and others had lost confidence in the leadership of the investigating judges, who had created a "toxic atmosphere of mutual distrust" in "what is now a professionally dysfunctional office." The tribunal has previously been shaken by allegations of a kickback scheme where its Cambodian employees were forced to pay back a part of their salaries to the government officials who gave them their jobs. The court was also in the news over a fiasco dubbed Waterlilygate in which one of the international lawyers claimed documents found in a moat filled with lilies had been stolen from his office. But an often cited allegation is Cambodian government meddling with the tribunal. 'Unprecedented' Still, the president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, Ou Virak, said the current turmoil surrounding the court is "unprecedented." It demonstrates a need for a full and proper investigation into the merits of the third and fourth cases, he said. "Should the ECCC's door shut without a full investigation into the (two cases), the U.N. will have failed the victims of the Khmer Rouge," Ou Virak said. The U.N. meanwhile has stressed that the court should be independent and free from any interference. "Support for the independence of the judiciary is a fundamental principle that the United Nations upholds in Cambodia as elsewhere," said Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Judges and prosecutors "must be allowed to function free from external interference by the royal government of Cambodia, the United Nations, donor states, and civil society," he said on Tuesday. Procedural step Nesirky also emphasized that the decision by the investigating judges to conclude their investigation in the third case was only "an interim procedural step". They must ultimately issue a "closing order," including reasons, which will be available for public scrutiny, he said. The third case is widely reported to involves two former senior military officers of the Khmer Rouge with each believed responsible for many thousands of deaths. "Speculating on the content of the closing order at this stage does not assist the independent judicial process," Nesirky said.  | ||||||||||
| Khmer Rouge tribunal: UN rebuffs Cambodia criticism Posted: 15 Jun 2011 07:44 AM PDT Activists said the tribunal covered up its lack of proper investigations 15 June 2011 BBC News The UN has defended its Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia, amid claims that a case against genocide suspects has been dropped without proper inquiries. The UN promised that reasons for dropping cases would be made public in the future, and insisted the judges were acting independently. On Tuesday, activists accused the tribunal of bowing to pressure from the Cambodian government. Judges dropped a case against several Khmer Rouge officials in April. That case was the third of four separate investigations undertaken by the UN tribunal. So far only one former Khmer Rouge member has been convicted of crimes against humanity - Comrade Duch, the former head of a notorious prison where thousands were tortured. A second case against the four remaining national leaders of the movement is due to begin later this month. The Maoist Khmer Rouge regime, under the leadership of Pol Pot, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians from 1975 to 1979. Basic errors The current Cambodian government has repeatedly opposed efforts to widen the tribunal's inquiries, and insisted that there should be no further trials after that of the four leaders. In a report released on Tuesday, the US-based Open Society Justice Initiative strongly criticised the work of the judges on the case that was dropped in April - known as case number 003. "The co-investigating judges failed to carry out such basic investigative acts as interviewing suspects and other witnesses, or conducting basic field investigations," the report said. The report claimed that tribunal workers then stuffed the case files with documents from other cases in a bid to cover up the lack of a proper investigation. The group said that the Cambodian government had forced the tribunal to stall the case for 20 months. There were strong indications that the investigation "failed to comply with international standards of effectiveness, independence, promptness and public scrutiny", the report said. The BBC's Guy De Launey, in Phnom Penh, says international staff at the court have also complained of a lack of backing from the UN. The UN said in a statement that it could not comment on the specifics of the investigation because it remained "the subject of judicial consideration". But the statement added: "The order [closing case number 003] must include reasons, which will appropriately be available for public scrutiny. "The United Nations, working closely with donor states, will continue to strongly support the work of the ECCC [Khmer Rouge tribunal]."  | ||||||||||
| More leaked documents highlight Khmer Rouge tribunal under fire in Cambodia Posted: 15 Jun 2011 07:37 AM PDT
It is the latest scandal to rock the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, as it prepares to begin the trial of the four most senior surviving leaders of the regime that killed some 2 million Cambodians in the 1970s. June 15, 2011 By Jared Ferrie, Correspondent The Christian Science Monitor Chiang Mai, Thailand
A slew of resignations at Cambodia's war crimes tribunal have prompted calls for the United Nations to intervene. The mass resignation of UN-employed staff at an international tribunal is unprecedented, say observers, and highlights internal concerns about the court's independence – including whether some of its judges have bowed to political pressure from the Cambodian government. If steps are not taken to save the reputation of the UN-backed court, it could undermine not only the tribunal's credibility but faith in the international justice system itself. It is the latest in a series of scandals to rock the UN-backed court in recent weeks as it prepares to bring to trial the four most senior surviving leaders of the regime that presided over the deaths of some 2 million Cambodians between 1975 and 1979. The embattled Office of the Co-investigating Judges has reportedly lost four of six members of its legal team. Some resigned in protest of what they say was a purposefully flawed investigation into a politically sensitive war crimes case. In his resignation letter, noted Khmer Rouge historian Stephen Heder characterized the working environment as a "toxic atmosphere of mutual distrust," according to the Cambodia Daily newspaper. He accused judges of ending the investigation into the case "effectively without investigating it." Observers say that trial, referred to as Case 002, could be compromised if the court fails to carry out thorough investigations two more cases, which involve another five suspects named in a confidential document obtained by The Christian Science Monitor. The failure of the court to carry out proper investigations could have implications that reach even further than Case 002, according to Theary Seng, a Khmer Rouge victim who wrote "Daughter of the Killing Fields." "It'd be devastating to the confidence and trust of Cambodians, and a blow to international criminal justice," she says, adding that such a failure could lead to the "embedding of an irreversible cynicism among a people and a society already mired in distrust and paranoia." Observers say the controversy surrounding the flawed investigation into Case 003 has seriously undermined the court's credibility. Responding to the resignations, the co-investigating judges, You Bunleng and Siegfried Blunk, issued a statement saying they "welcome the departure" of employees who questioned their decision to end the investigation into Case 003. This doesn't sit well with observer groups, who have pleaded with the UN to step in. "The UN needs to take immediate steps to inquire into this situation," says the Open Society Justice Initiative's Clair Duffy. She called for a probe into alleged political interference as well as "inquiries into whether the judges have breached their legal and ethical obligations." The UN has so far refused to take such action. On Tuesday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a statement saying the court "must be allowed to function free from external interference by the Royal Government of Cambodia, the United Nations, donor States, and civil society." Did investigating judges cave to government pressure? But close observers of the court have accused the investigating judges of bowing to pressure by the Cambodian government, which does not want Cases 003 and 004 to proceed. The judges have strongly denied claims that they failed to properly investigate Case 003 because they did not want to turn up evidence that would require bringing the case to trial. Case 003 involves Khmer Rouge Air Force Commander Sou Met and Navy Commander Meas Mut, who both also held influential political positions within the regime. Despite a detailed case against them prepared by prosecutors, judges failed to summon the suspects for questioning, or even order employees to visit alleged crime sites that may contain mass graves. Observers fear that judges may also preemptively close the investigation into Case 004, which involves three suspects of a lower rank, but whom International Prosecutor Andrew Cayley argues may still fall under the court's jurisdiction. Document names suspects According to a confidential court document, the suspects are Ta Tith and Ta An, both deputy secretaries, or second in command, to Khmer Rouge officers who controlled geographical "zones" where massacres took place. Ta An's commanding officer, Ta Mok, nicknamed "The Butcher," died in 2006 while awaiting trial. Ta Tith's superior, Ke Pauk, was never arrested and died in 2002. The third suspect is Im Chaem, a former district chief who allegedly oversaw construction of the Trapeang Thma Dam, which was the regime's biggest irrigation project and was built by thousands of people forced into labor. The suspects are named in a 2009 document filed by Cambodian Co-prosecutor Chea Leang. In it, she records her disagreement with her international counterpart and fellow co-prosecutor who was pushing to bring charges against the suspects. Ms. Chea argues that the three Khmer Rouge officials do not fall under the court's jurisdiction. The court is mandated to charge only those who can be considered "senior leaders" of the regime, or "those most responsible" for atrocities. "[A]ll decisions made by Ta Tith, Ta An and Im Chaem were the responsibilities of zone secretaries or their superiors," Ms. Chea says in the document. She also echoes claims made by Cambodian government officials that expanding the scope of prosecution to include suspects named in Cases 003 and 004 could lead to political instability. She writes that doing so could spark fear among other former Khmer Rouge members that they could be charged as well, inciting them to rebel against the government. Cambodian officials have repeatedly stated that they will not allow Cases 003 and 004 to go forward, warning that further prosecutions could lead to political violence and even civil war. Analysts, human rights groups, and historians have dismissed those claims as unrealistic. They say the tribunal, officially named the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), must be allowed to function independent of political pressure. "It would be hugely significant if the investigation into Cases 003 and 004 was not full and thorough as that will mean that the ECCC will have failed the victims of the Khmer Rouge," says Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.  | ||||||||||
| In Cambodia, Comedians Double as Government Propagandists Posted: 15 Jun 2011 07:15 AM PDT
Jun 15 2011 By Julia Wallace The Atlantic "We work for the prime minister, so why should we perform for Sam Rainsy? ... If we eat a person's food, we have to work for that one." - Krem, aka Colonel Ou Bunnarith In the state-aligned media that dominates the country's airwaves, enormously popular comedians, often bearing the rank of colonel in the prime minister's personal bodyguard unit, inject the party line into Cambodian popular culture PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- One recent Sunday afternoon, television audiences across Cambodia watched a middle-aged man named Krem as he was introduced to the mother of his young girlfriend. The mother, Oeurn, looked dubiously at her daughter's poorly dressed, extravagantly mustachioed suitor. "How did you spend the Cambodian New Year?" Oeurn asked him. "I went to Preah Vihear," Krem replied, referring to a contested 11th century temple on the Thai border that has sparked several skirmishes between Cambodian and Thai forces over the past few years. "We performed comedy for the soldiers who protect us from Thai invasion. I would like to ask the New Year's angel to protect our soldiers and let them defeat the enemy." A bit later, Krem abruptly announced to Oeurn, "Phnom Penh municipality now has less garbage and is cleaner. Do you know who did that?" "Who?" "It is because of Excellency Kep Chuktema, the governor. He has educated people and broadcast it on television not to litter, so now there is less garbage and no more bad smell." It might not be precisely how every Cambodian villager addresses his prospective mother-in-law, but the exchange was par for the course on Bayon TV, where Krem's wildly popular comedy troupe performs a similar sketch every week, with goofy domestic scenarios routinely breaking into extravagant praise for government policy or officials aligned with the ruling Cambodian People's Party. The propaganda became even more pointed in late April, during 13 days of deadly border clashes with Thai forces. Bayon, owned by the daughter of Cambodia's strongman prime minister, Hun Sen, is not alone: this kind of politicized comedy is shown on all of the country's eight television stations -- performed by comedians who, frequently, are also paid members of Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit. Many of the comedians bear the rank of colonel or lieutenant colonel. The country's dozens of "colonel comedians" underscore the extent to which Hun Sen and his CPP have consolidated power over the past two decades, successfully marginalizing not just rival politicians but also dissenting artistic and cultural voices. "It is further evidence of the deep reach of Hun Sen's personal networks of loyalties, and the growing difficulty of doing opposition politics in Cambodia," said Duncan McCargo, a professor of Southeast Asian politics at the University of Leeds. In 1997, Hun Sen -- who then served as co-prime minister in a coalition government with a royalist political party, Funcinpec -- staged a bloody coup, ousting his counterpart, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Although Ranariddh was eventually allowed to return, Funcinpec suffered heavy losses in subsequent elections and never recovered. More recently, in 2009 and 2010, the government filed two separate lawsuits against Sam Rainsy, a liberal politician popular among urbanites and expatriate Cambodians. Rainsy, who had emerged as the new leader of the opposition, was ultimately sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison, leaving him in de facto exile in France. And over the past few years, the government has systematically sued activists, journalists, and critics of every ilk, levying steep fines or jail terms (one man was sentenced to two years for suggesting that a new lighting system at Angkor Wat could harm the 12th-century temple). Although most of the colonel comedians' skits and sketches are only sporadically political, they sometimes venture into deeper ideological waters. In 2009, after U.S. Ambassador Carol Rodley infuriated the government with a speech on corruption, both Krem and his equally famous counterpart Koy launched a series of comedy routines that bitingly mocked international NGOs for their own corruption problems. In 2005, Krem created a routine called "Be Careful Not to Overuse Your Rights" that cast aspersions on human rights workers who teach Cambodian villagers about equality. And, during every election season, the comedians barnstorm around the countryside on the CPP's behalf. General Hing Bunheang, commander of the Prime Minister Bodyguard Unit, an autonomous section within the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, confirmed that the unit had a bureau called the "Propaganda and Education Commission." It comprised 152 performers and artists, including the bulk of the country's comedians. "Most of them are men, and they have the same rank as colonels. They have their own weapons," he said. As soldiers, the comedians "can go to battle with Thailand if there is a need," he added. They can also misuse their weapons: In April, the popular comedian San Mao, also known as Colonel Thu Chamrong, was detained in Phnom Penh after firing his military-issue handgun in the air during a brawl. Police quickly released him, suggesting that the bodyguard unit discipline him. According to General Bunheang, artists receive personal invitations from Hun Sen to join the unit and sometimes perform for audiences free of charge at the premier's request. He insisted that the members of the Propaganda and Education Commission are not engaged in propaganda. "The bodyguard group is not for political propaganda but for entertaining people," he said. Mu Sochua, a prominent opposition lawmaker, laughed at Bunheang's claim. Sochua had herself narrowly avoided a jail term after she was stripped of her parliamentary immunity and convicted of defaming the prime minister in 2009. "It's a form of propaganda," she said. "It's not art, it's not promoting freedom of expression in the arts. ... The language that is used by the comedians, and sometimes even the gestures and the movements, convey a lot of power and authority and violence. And the message is all about good and evil." Krem, the stage name of Colonel Ou Bunnarith, is a case in point. Perhaps the most passionately partisan of all the comedians, he displays an almost missionary zeal for winning converts to the CPP. "Convincing people via artistic performances is very successful, and it is easy to take people out from their misbehavior or participation with the wrong political parties," he said in an interview. Krem has been a household name in Cambodia since the 1980s, when the nation was only a few years removed from the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge regime and in the thick of a civil war with the movement's militant remnants. That is also when Krem first joined the Hun Sen bodyguards, which dispatched him to perform shows in Khmer Rouge-controlled areas to encourage defections. "We were there to perform for the Khmer Rouge soldiers and propagandize for those soldiers to return to their motherland," he said. "We did political propaganda in our performances, and our words made them pleased." Now that the Khmer Rouge have been eliminated, with the regime's four surviving senior leaders soon to be tried in Phnom Penh for war crimes, Krem applies his comedic talents toward ridiculing the country's rapidly shrinking political opposition. During the 2003 national election campaign, he produced and acted in a two-hour film called Mistletoe that lampooned both Prince Ranariddh and Sam Rainsy, portraying the former as a pleasure-seeking sycophant and the latter as an out-of-control meddler. In the lead-up to local elections in 2002, he created a short film that made fun of garment workers who protested in the streets for better wages. "When the election campaign comes, we have to do a hundred percent propagandizing for ... the CPP," he said. Koy, the stage name of Colonel Chuong Chy, a doughy, thick-featured man, is also active on behalf of the government. Of the four men in the comedy troupe that Koy leads, three of them -- including Kren, a popular comedian with dwarfism -- belong to the Prime Minister Bodyguard Unit. The fourth is an officer in the 70th Infantry Brigade of the Cambodian army, which is also closely linked to the premier and has been accused of human rights abuses. Like Krem, Koy joined the bodyguards in the 1980s, starting out as a captain and rising to colonel two years ago in a mass promotion of entertainers. In person, he is terse and severe, rarely cracking a smile. Although he openly describes the work he does as propaganda, he insists his troupe writes all its own skits with no government input. "We just tell people how good [Hun Sen] is, how he constructed the country, how many buildings he builds," Koy told me backstage after one of his performances, fiddling irritably with the keys to his Lexus. "Nobody tells us what to say. We just describe what we have seen- -- roads, schools, irrigation -- and make it a little bit funny." Standing nearby was Koy's longtime friend, Colonel Chhum Bunchhoeurn of the 70th Infantry, still sporting painted-on white whiskers and eyebrows. Colonel Bunchhoeurn, best known by the stage name Banana, agreed that any political overtones to the group's comedy were totally coincidental. "We don't have time to talk about [politics] because we're just concerned about striving to make people laugh," he said. "If we pretend to be a father, we're just concerned with being a father." Still, in one of the troupe's recent shows, entitled "No Luck," a comedian known as Klouk (real name Lieutenant Colonel Tum Saruth), who was playing an elderly father, began talking politics almost as soon as he walked onstage. "We just want to stay in peace, but [Thailand] does not want us to stay in peace -- they caused trouble, so now I have to go participate in the army and protect our territory from invasion," Klouk told a rapt studio audience, using exaggerated martial gestures to elicit gales of laughter. Koul Panha, director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, a local NGO, said comedians such as Koy and Krem are immensely popular with Cambodian viewers, who don't always have many other entertainment options. "It's very strange that many comedians, I mean famous comedians, become bodyguards with a military rank," he said. "People know it -- the prime minister gives public information about the comedians being bodyguards -- but they control the TV and ordinary people have no choice but to watch them." Panha pointed out that all of Cambodia's eight TV stations are linked to the CPP in some way, creating a "very limited playing field" for opposition parties. A decade ago, when Funcinpec was a more serious contender for power, it had its own comedian-affiliates. But as the party has dwindled over the past few years, its comedians have all defected to the CPP. The best known of them, Lorcy, struggled for years to find work after campaigning for Funcinpec during the 2003 election season. He claimed he had been blacklisted from the airwaves and feared for his life. In 2009, he defected from Funcinpec and published an open letter of apology to Hun Sen through General Bunheang. His career immediately picked up. Krem invited him to join his troupe for a guest appearance, and now Lorcy regularly performs on two government-affiliated stations. On April 1, he became a lieutenant colonel in the bodyguard unit. "I was really regretful of my mistake, which was why I apologized for forgiveness to be given to Samdech [Hun Sen]'s child, me," said Lorcy, using a Cambodian honorific that roughly translates as "Lord." "Samdech is a great leader. He forgave me for my mistake, which was done by accident, and I made a commitment to sacrifice my life to serve the party and Samdech." Lorcy said he planned to devote the next stage of his career to "make and spread propaganda and send messages to people over the party's and Samdech's accomplishments." Panha and Sochua said cases like Lorcy's showed that there was little freedom of expression for those whose views stray from the party line. "It's a form of political discrimination," said Sochua, who noted that the comedians draw their military salaries from the national budget. "Every element that is painted as opposition is faced with this discrimination. It is a very sad state for democracy." But Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, dismissed this criticism, saying that comedians and entertainers merely held a strong preference for the ruling party. "Comedians can be CPP members and they do whatever they feel like doing to support the party. That's their own choice." He said the government never dictated the content of comedy routines: "We are too busy to tell them to do this, to do that." By all accounts, they don't need to. "We work for the prime minister, so why should we perform for Sam Rainsy?" asked Krem. "If we eat a person's food, we have to work for that one." Neou Vannarin and Kuch Naren contributed reporting from Phnom Penh  | ||||||||||
| Brain Food for UNSG Ban Ki-Moon Posted: 15 Jun 2011 04:28 AM PDT I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of 'Admin.' The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid 'dens of crime' that Dickens loved to paint. It is not done even in concentration camps and labour camps. In those we see its final result. But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern [003]. - C. S. Lewis  | ||||||||||
| Posted: 15 Jun 2011 12:23 AM PDT Source: http://www.archives.gov/research/pentagon-papers/ The Pentagon Papers, officially titled "Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force", was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967. In June of 1971, small portions of the report were leaked to the press and widely distributed. However, the publications of the report that resulted from these leaks were incomplete and suffered from many quality issues. On the 40th anniversary of the leak to the press, the National Archives, along with the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon Presidential Libraries, has released the complete report. There are 48 boxes and approximately 7,000 declassified pages. Approximately 34% of the report is available for the first time. What is unique about this, compared to other versions, is that:
Files All files in the "Title" column are in PDF format. Due to the large file sizes, we recommend that you save them rather than try to open them directly.  | ||||||||||
| Pentagon papers finally released Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:25 PM PDT
Wednesday, 15 June 2011 Thomas Miller The Phnom Penh Post THE United States government has released the full version of the Pentagon Papers, a once top-secret report that details US actions in countries including Cambodia as the Vietnam conflict escalated and was leaked in partial form 40 years ago. The US National Archives declassified the report on Monday, 40 years after the New York Times published selections leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, who worked on part of the study with the Defence Department. Ellsberg had tried to leak the documents to the Senate in the hope that it would convene hearings on the war. Some 2,384 pages, or about 34 percent of the original 7,000-page report, have been released publicly for the first time, the National Archives said in a statement. The report was commissioned by US defence secretary Robert McNamara and catalogues US policy-making in Indochina from 1945 to 1967. The leak showed that four successive American presidents had misled their citizens about US policy in Southeast Asia, as they spoke publicly of restraint while simultaneously expanding US commitments in the region. The report also exposed the involvement of the Kennedy Administration in the 1963 coup d'etat that led to the assassination of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, President Lyndon Johnson's approval to bomb North Vietnam and decisions to expand military operations from Southern Vietnam into Cambodia and Laos. Among other topics, officials raised concern over the stationing of North Vietnamese troops in the Kingdom and debated how to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail, which was used as a supply route between North Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos and South Vietnam. Historian David Chandler, an expert on Cambodia who served as a US diplomat in Phnom Penh in the early 1960s, said it was "very exciting" when the papers came out. "It was a good move. I approved of what Ellsberg was doing," he recalled. Chandler said the information contained in the report wasn't "wildly surprising" at the time for those closely studying the region, though its leak may have been the most significant breach of US government secrecy in American history, igniting a battle at the Supreme Court and an eventual victory for press freedom. The National Archives said that the newspaper and magazine releases from Ellsberg's leak contained "only a very small portion" of the complete papers, and Monday's release marks the first time they have been available in full. "The fact of the matter is that no one, outside the people properly cleared to view Top Secret, has seen the real Pentagon Papers," the agency said in a statement. About two-thirds have been made available previously, as US Senator Mike Gravel published portions in 1971 and US the State Department declassified an additional section in 2002. Chandler said he had not yet trawled through the final version of the documents that was released on Monday, but did not expect any "surprises" for Cambodia, noting that the most controversial US actions toward the Kingdom came under President Richard Nixon, who approved the infamous bombing campaign that released at least half a million tons of bombs in Cambodia from 1969 to 1973. Though Cambodia is less of a concern in the papers, the documents do show that trying to eliminate Northern Vietnam's use of both Cambodia and Laos for supply routes and military operations was a persistent challenge for US policymakers. One internal document from the Kennedy Administration contained in the papers shows that officials had raised alarm over the issue at least as early as December 1962. A US State Department official says in the document that Northern Vietnamese forces had been using Eastern Cambodia as a base from which to stage hit-and-run attacks in Southern Vietnam since 1960. On numerous occasions, military officials called for "hot pursuit" of Northern Vietnamese forces into Cambodian territory. A 1967 document reveals pressure within the US government for Johnson to expand the Vietnam War into neighbouring countries, presaging the devastating consequences Cambodia would endure as it was dragged further into the conflict. "The military had once again confronted the Johnson Administration with a difficult question on whether to escalate or level-off the US effort. What they proposed was the mobilization of the Reserves, a major new troop commitment in the South, an extension of the war into the VC/NVA [Viet Cong/North Vietnam] sanctuaries (Laos, Cambodia, and possibly North Vietnam) the mining of North Vietnamese ports and a solid commitment in manpower and resources to a military victory," the US document states. "The recommendation [from the military] not surprisingly touched off a searching reappraisal of the course of US strategy in the war." ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KRISTIN LYNCH  | ||||||||||
| No spy exchange with Thailand: Cambodian PM Posted: 14 Jun 2011 11:17 PM PDT June 15, 2011 Xinhua Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that there will be impossible to exchange the two Thai "Yellow Shirt" activists being jailed in Cambodia with a recently arrested Cambodian by Thailand. "It's absolutely no way to exchange the two Thai activists with the arrested Cambodian," he told a graduation ceremony at the Technical School of Medicine. "Thailand can proceed the case of the arrested Cambodian man according to Thai legal system." The premier's remarks came after Thai foreign minister Kasit Piromya said on Saturday that the Thai government is willing to exchange the arrested Cambodian and the Vietnamese with two Thai " Yellow Shirt" activists now detained in Cambodia on espionage charges. Cambodian court, on Feb. 1, convicted Veera Somkwamkid, a high-profile activist in the Thailand Patriot Network, and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon of illegal entry, unlawful entry into military base and espionage and sentenced them to 8 years and 6 years in jail respectively. On Tuesday last week, Thai police and paramilitary soldiers arrested three men: a Thai national Suchart Muhammad, 32, Ung Kimtai, 43 from Cambodia, and Wiang Tengyang, 37 from Vietnam for "spying" along the Thai-Cambodian border in Si Sa Ket province. Hun Sen reiterated that the "spy" arrest was "fabricated". Cambodia and Thailand has border conflict just a week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008. Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers of scrub next to the temple. Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulted in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.  |
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