KI Media: “Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Muderous Kleptocrats, Inc.” plus 24 more |
- Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Muderous Kleptocrats, Inc.
- Yale University - Tony Blair and Miroslav Volf: Faith and Globalization
- Brain Food for Humans
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Cambodian Classical & Folk Dance and Music Performance at Peace Arch State Park (Washington State)
- Court Upholds Prison Sentence for Licadho Staffer
- Among Students, Doubts Over Tribunal Suspects’ Defense
- Brain Food for Prime Minister Hun Sen
- ECCC Law
- Cambodian man arrested for smuggling drugs
- Cambodia's leaders are murderous kleptocrats: author
- Cambodia's new bourse: Calves and cubs
- Why splitting up Thailand wouldn't work
- [Thai] Govt urged to declare stand on convention
- The subterfuge of the CPP thief of Koh Kong and Kampong Speu
- KRT judges: ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’
- 14 July: Happy Bastille Day!
- Cambodian PM appeals to students to donate blood to save life [-Does Hun Xen's family donate blood?]
- Prof reunites with father in Cambodia after 36 years
- Among Students, Doubts Over Tribunal Suspects’ Defense
- China, US balancing act
- Opposition highs and lows
- Baingskol Ceremony for Chea Vichea in France
- Anti-Hun Xen regime leaflets distributed in Stung Meanchey and Chak Angre
- CPP Executive Committee in France
| Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Muderous Kleptocrats, Inc. Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:26 PM PDT
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| Yale University - Tony Blair and Miroslav Volf: Faith and Globalization Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:19 PM PDT YaleFaith and Globalization course description at Yale University with Tony Blair Faith FoundationThe impact of religious faith is profound in a world where political, economic, and social spheres are increasingly interconnected. Intentional and sustained reflection on the crucial issues of faith and globalization can lead to the kind of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence that life in the 21st century demands. Yale, in collaboration with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, launched the Faith and Globalization Initiative in the Fall of 2008 as a three-year effort to conduct dialogue as a way of considering these essential issues. The website will explore a variety of topics and issues －in the classroom, in formal lectures and informal conversation, and through research, speeches, conferences, and the Internet.  | ||
| Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:04 PM PDT What is most chilling when you meet a murderer is that you meet yourself. - Elizabeth Neuffer  | ||
| Convention on the Rights of the Child Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:03 PM PDT Convention on the Rights of the Child Ratified by UNGA in Nov. 1989, entered into force 1990 Cambodia ratified this Convention on October 15, 1992 PART IArticle 191. States Parties shall take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child. 2. Such protective measures should, as appropriate, include effective procedures for the establishment of social programmes to provide necessary support for the child and for those who have the care of the child, as well as for other forms of prevention and for identification, reporting, referral, investigation, treatment and follow-up of instances of child maltreatment described heretofore, and, as appropriate, for judicial involvement.  | ||
| Cambodian Classical & Folk Dance and Music Performance at Peace Arch State Park (Washington State) Posted: 14 Jul 2011 05:02 PM PDT    | ||
| Court Upholds Prison Sentence for Licadho Staffer Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:55 PM PDT  Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
The Appeals Court on Thursday said a staff member for the rights group Licadho would remain in jail on charges of distributing anti-government leaflets. Licadho, which has maintained Leang Sokchoeun's innocence, denounced the decision. Police arrested Leang Sokchouen, 28, at his home in Phnom Penh in May 2010 on charges of disinformation after he was accused of delivering leaflets against celebrations of the January 7, 1979, invasion of Vietnamese forces. The ruling Cambodian People's Party celebrates that day as the end of the Khmer Rouge rule, but opponents say it also marks the beginning of a 10-year occupation that many remain embittered over. Leang Sokchouen was given a two-year prison sentence and $500 fine in August 2010. The Appeals Court upheld that decision after a hearing Thursday. "I am very sorry for what happened in the issuing of the verdict this morning," Licadho attorney Ham Sunrith said. Am Sam Ath, lead investigator for Licadho, said the evidence in the case is unclear and that the name on a police arrest warrant did not match Leang Sokchouen. "The arrest warrant was for Leang Sokly, [alias] Chouen, of Vietnamese nationality, but police arrested Leang Sokchouen, a Licadho staff member of Cambodian nationality," he said. Police linked him to two other suspects who had studied with him in 2005, Am Sam Ath said. There is also a question regarding the charges. He was first charged for disinformation under the Untac criminal code, but that was later revised to incitement under the new penal code, in what Licadho founder Pung Chhiv Kek called a "surprise" with no legal grounding. He should have been charged under the Untac code, she said, because at the time of his arrest, the new penal code had not come into effect.  | ||
| Among Students, Doubts Over Tribunal Suspects’ Defense Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:52 PM PDT
Thursday, 14 July 2011 Say Mony, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
As more Khmer Rouge leaders are put on trial by a UN-backed tribunal, some Cambodians students say they don't believe their defense claims, that they established an ultra-Maoist regime to prevent Cambodia from falling into foreign hands. The tribunal has put the crimes of the Khmer Rouge back into the public consciousness, and many of the young generation are now learning more about the regime than they learned from parents who often withhold their own stories of atrocities. "Normally, any leader who has made a mistake never confessing to having committed a massacre," said Thoeun Novel, a freshman at the Royal University of Law and Economics, as a guest on "Hello VOA" Monday. "However, they must take full responsibility for their mistakes." Thoeun Novel attended a preliminary hearing for four Khmer Rouge leaders who will face trial for atrocity crimes later this year. Nuon Chea, the regime's chief ideologue; Khieu Samphan, its nominal head; Ieng Sary, foreign minister; and Ieng Thirith, social affairs minister all stand accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and other crimes. They have all denied responsibility for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge under their leadership. Some regime leaders have said in the past they had hoped to protect the country from Vietnamese occupation and others, as they grew a peasant revolution into a communist regime. Srun Kanann, an 18-year-old high school student, told "Hello VOA" that protecting the country from foreign invasion is a justifiable cause to lead a revolution. "But why did they kill their own people?" he asked. "They should not have committed genocide against their own race." "If those leaders had not established their own policies of starvation, or ordered killings, how could their subordinates or members have done that?" asked Thoeun Novel. Srun Kanann said the tribunal will now have to learn what happened. "The court will analyze and reveal the facts in their committing genocide, no matter how hard they try to deny it," he said.  | ||
| Brain Food for Prime Minister Hun Sen Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:51 PM PDT True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice. - Martin Luther King, Jr.  | ||
| Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:48 PM PDT Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea ("ECCC Law") the inclusion of amendments as promulgated on 27 October 2004 CHAPTER XI PENALTIES Article 38
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| Cambodian man arrested for smuggling drugs Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:47 PM PDT SA KEAO, July 14 (MCOT online news) - A Cambodian migrant worker was arrested on Thursday alleged to have attempted the smuggling of nearly 6,000 methamphetamine pills worth Bt3 million into Thailand. The Cambodian detainee was identified as Mai Siang, who claimed to work as a cleaner at Tesco Lotus hypermarket in the eastern province of Rayong. The suspect was arrested while crossing from Poi Pet, Cambodia, to the Thai side at the Aranyaprathet border crossing. On inspection Thai officers discovered two large plastic bags containing 5,960 methamphetamine pills and 99.86 grammes of crystal methamphetamine, also known as 'ice'. The seized drugs are valued at around Bt3 million (US$100,000) and were bound around his lower legs, beneath his trousers. Initial investigation said Mr Mai Siang confessed to smuggling drugs into Thailand twice previously and that this time he was hired by a compatriot for Bt10,000 to deliver them to a Thai near the Rayong Tesco Lotus. The Cambodian national was later sent to Sa Kaeo police for further investigation.  | ||
| Cambodia's leaders are murderous kleptocrats: author Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:43 PM PDT Stephen Long reported this story on Thursday, July 14, 2011 STEPHEN LONG: Cambodia is one of the world's poorest nations. At least 30 per cent of the population live on less than a dollar a day. The Australian Government gives over $64 million in aid to Cambodia every year - the world, more than a billion. But how much of that actually gets to the Cambodian people? Joel Brinkley is the author of a new book called Cambodia's Curse. He says Cambodia's leaders are murderous kleptocrats who pocket most foreign aid, while selling the nation's rice crop for the own gain, and leaving their people to starve, as the world turns a blind eye. Joel Brinkley spoke to me from his home in California. JOEL BRINKLEY: Cambodia is an oddity in that 80 per cent of people who live in the country live in the countryside with no electricity, no clean water, no radio, not television. They live more or less as they did 1,000 years ago. Occasionally somebody might have a cell phone or a motorbike and some people have televisions powered by car batteries but they live in very primitive conditions and that's 80 per cent of the population. STEPHEN LONG: One of the things that moved me in your articles was the description of the plight of the children. JOEL BRINKLEY: Well, 40 per cent of the nation's children grow up stunted. And I met some of these children as I travelled round the country; it almost brought tears to my eyes. I've been a journalist all my life and seen some horrible things but that was among the more horrible things I've seen. Children who are destined to grow up weak, short and not very smart because their parents are unable to take care of them when they're little. STEPHEN LONG: What happens then to the more than $1 billion a year in aid that the international community gives to Cambodia? JOEL BRINKLEY: Every year the government stages a donor conference at which donors pronounce how much they're going to give each year. But first ambassadors from your country and mine stand up and declare that they want the government to clean up corruption, to end land seizures and a variety of other things. The government every year promises to take care of all of it. The conference ends, the donors give them, last year $1.1 billion and then the government dips gallon buckets into the money and builds themselves mansions and expensive cars and everything goes on as it was before. Nothing changes and then the donors come back and do it all again next year. STEPHEN LONG: You describe Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister as a murderous kleptocrat, extending his personal wealth at the expense of the people. Why then is there so little attention to the plight of Cambodia today? JOEL BRINKLEY: You know, you ask anybody in western nations about Cambodia and all they know is the Khmer Rouge. That's a curse for the country today because if the world's standard for Cambodia is the horrors of the Khmer Rouge then starving a few hundred people to death every year, failing to provide health care, that's nothing compared to killing a quarter of the nation's population in three-and-a-half years. You know we in the west focus our attentions on North Korea and Iran and in Asia and China and a little bit on Vietnam. Cambodia's a little place and the kleptocrats who run Cambodia like that they are forgotten because then they can get away with the thievery and murder and nobody notices. And the ambassadors who represent western countries in Cambodia, they plainly told me, and I spoke to several, Washington, London, the other capitals don't listen to us. They don't really care. STEPHEN LONG: What do you think that the governments and the NGOs, providing more than a billion dollars in aid a year to Cambodia, should do? JOEL BRINKLEY: Well I have a couple of prescriptions. One, Cambodia generates about half a billion dollars a year as its budget, the donors give them more than double that, which gives them plenty of money to steal. If the donors and the western governments that support them want to see change in Cambodia then they need to stand up at the next donor conference and tell Hun Sen and his minions we are not going to give you anything but humanitarian aid direct to the people until you stop abusing your people and stealing their land. STEPHEN LONG: Some NGOs and government officials would respond that there's a trickle down and at least some of that money gets to the people in need, despite the corruption. JOEL BRINKLEY: Well that's true but at the same time that some of the money gets to the people, they are the facilitators for the corruption that is endemic across the country because they provide the money. So as long as they're continuing to give money that they know will be stolen, there's no incentive for the government to do anything. STEPHEN LONG: Why the reluctance to change? Why the reluctance to withhold donor money? JOEL BRINKLEY: Well you have to remember that in every country donors have all these employees who live there and work there and living in Cambodia's pretty nice - you can rent a big house and have servants for almost no money. If they suddenly stood and said we're not going to give you money this year then they'd have to move away. STEPHEN LONG: It's a very pessimistic portrait; is there any hope of change that will benefit the lives of the Cambodian people that you can see? JOEL BRINKLEY: for the first time in the last few years Cambodia has young people who have graduated from college and realise that things are not right, that their country needs to change. The problem for now is if they stand up and try to become an opposition leader, Hun Sen will arrange to have them killed. Change will come but I think it's going to be a while. I think we're not going to see much change until Hun Sen retires or dies. STEPHEN LONG: Joel Brinkley, the author of Cambodia's Curse.  | ||
| Cambodia's new bourse: Calves and cubs Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:39 PM PDT  Jul 14th 2011 | HONG KONG The Economist IF STOCKMARKETS are like casinos, as John Maynard Keynes argued, then the new exchange that opened this week in Cambodia has dealers but no cards, croupiers but no roulette wheels. The Cambodia Stock Exchange has no stocks to exchange, making it arguably the smallest bourse in the world (see table). It opens six months after an exchange in neighbouring Laos. Both were set up with the help of Korea Exchange (KRX), which runs the third-largest bourse in Asia. It is animated by a vision of creating "one board" on which investors can trade securities listed on exchanges all over the world. The firm is now helping to modernise the Uzbekistan exchange and has even approached Myanmar. The Cambodians hope three state-owned companies will list by the end of the year. If so, the exchange will vault over its Lao rival, which has only two stocks. (That has not stopped it compiling its own market index, the LSX Composite.) Even then, the Lao Securities Exchange would be bigger, measured by market capitalisation, than Mozambique's exchange, the Bolsa de Valores Moçambique, set up in 1999 with the help of the Lisbon Stock Exchange and the World Bank. The BVM's premises boast "lovely glasswork and a posh reception desk", says Bruce Hearn of the University of Leicester. But they open only three mornings a week. Bids can be placed over the internet but it can take three months or more to find a seller. Even Pat Shin of KRX believes some economies are too small to warrant an exchange of their own. In his view the thresholds are a population of 5m (Laos has over 6m) and an income per person of $300-500 (Cambodia's exceeds $800). South Korea, he points out, opened its first exchange in 1956, only three years after the Korean war. It took ten years for the exchange to contribute much to development, he says. It is not unknown for a stock exchange to open without any stocks. The Douala Stock Exchange in Cameroon had to wait three years for a debut offering, and no company could initially meet the Bulgaria Stock Exchange's requirements. At least the Cambodia Stock Exchange has impressive premises in the country's tallest building. Some mighty exchanges had much humbler beginnings. One even began under a Buttonwood tree.  | ||
| Why splitting up Thailand wouldn't work Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:22 PM PDT July 15, 2011 Letter to The Nation Re: How about a two-state solution for Thailand? Letters, July 14. Horst Bullinger says Thailand should be divided into two nations: the North and Northeast on one side (for Thaksin Shinawatra to rule); and the rest as a second country. I don't think Mr Bullinger knows enough of Thailand's geopolitics to suggest that. Bangkok is a seaport city. It has been a major source of income for Thailand for more than 300 years. It is said that about three-fourths of tax money in Thailand comes from Bangkok and the surrounding provinces. The North and Northeast are a landlocked country. If separated from Bangkok, the new country will be reduced in terms of economic development on the same line with Laos and Cambodia. More importantly, it will be the most populous country with the least source of income to feed itself, let alone prosper. I don't think Thaksin would be interested in ruling this "Isaan" country. Chavalit Van Chiang Mai  | ||
| [Thai] Govt urged to declare stand on convention Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:20 PM PDT 15/07/2011 Lamphai Intathep Bangkok Post An archaeologist has called on the next government to express its position on the country's member status of the 1972 World Heritage Convention (WHC). He made the demand during a seminar titled "World Heritage Management," organised by Thammasat University's College of Innovation's Cultural Management yesterday in the wake of the government's announcement last month that it would withdraw Thailand as a member country of the WHC. Suwit Khunkitti, head of the Thai delegation to the World Heritage Committee, said Thailand resigned as a member country due to the committee's planned consideration of a Cambodian management plan for Preah Vihear temple at the 35th session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco)'s World Heritage Committee in Paris. Tharapong Srisuchart, the Fine Arts Department's Archaeology Office director, said Mr Suwit's announcement had not yet come into effect. This meant Thai representative Somsuda Leyavanija, deputy permanent secretary for culture, is still one of the WHC's 21 members, he said. WHC regulations state that if any member country wanted to resign from the WHC, its government must submit an official letter to Unesco director-general Irina Bokova. The withdrawal takes effect 12 months after the letter is received. "Now it depends on the next government to decide whether to send the letter confirming the withdrawal or do nothing to retain membership," he said. However, he said Mr Suwit's move resulted in the good news that the management plan on Preah Vihear temple was not considered at the latest World Heritage Committee meeting, he said. Mr Tharapong said the withdrawal would have no effect on the country's five registered World Heritage sites, and the three other sites on tentative lists which had yet to be nominated as World Heritage sites. The five World Heritage Sites were Ban Chiang Archaeological Site in Udon Thani, the Historic City of Ayutthaya in Ayutthaya, Historic Town of Sukhothai and Associated Historic Towns in Sukhothai, Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex in Nakhon Ratchasima and Thungyai-Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries in Uthai Thani. The three sites in Unesco's tentative list were Phimai and its Cultural Route and Associated Temple in Nakhon Ratchasima, Phuphrabat Historical Park in Udon Thani and Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex in Phetchaburi and Prachuap Khiri Khan. Pisit Charoenwong, another archaeologist, said if the country was at risk of losing its territory and sovereignty, withdrawing from the WHC might be the best way out. Mr Pisit said, however, that he still saw the convention as an important tool for member countries as it would help them protect the world's ancient sites. Mr Pisit suggested Thailand build understanding among other member countries to ease impressions that Thailand bullied its neighbouring country of Cambodia.  | ||
| The subterfuge of the CPP thief of Koh Kong and Kampong Speu Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:14 PM PDT
The 'King of Koh Kong' speaks out Thursday, 14 July 2011 May Titthara The Phnom Penh Post
Cambodian People's Party senator Ly Yong Phat is the owner of Phnom Penh Palm Sugar and Kampong Speu Palm Sugar companies and has received controversial government land concessions spanning more than 18,000 hectares in Kampong Speu province. Recently, he came under fire for his firm's sand dredging operations in Koh Kong province. Earlier this week, WikiLeaks released a 2007 US Embassy cable which described him as "The King of Koh Kong" for his prominence in the province. Post reporter May Titthara spoke to Ly Yong Phat on Tuesday about his developments. Why do you want to develop sugar cane plantations in Kampong Speu province? I want to help the villagers living in Oral and Thpong districts because nowadays they don't have jobs besides hunting wild animals and cutting forest to produce charcoal. I am very pleased to make a small contribution to develop the area to help the villagers have jobs. In the near future, I will have technicians to train them to grow sugar cane and to collect those products to sell to us. It is favourable for the villagers who nowadays work because they don't have any techniques in cultivating sugar cane. Over two or three years, they can grow [sugar cane] on their land so that they will not be worried that they have no jobs. What is your response to villagers who have rallied and blocked national roads in protest against your company's sugar cane plantation in Kampong Speu province's Thpong district? Some political parties are behind the demonstrations and road blocks held by villagers. We all are Khmer: what is the use of harassing each other? What the villagers did was backed by someone. If no one was behind it, the villagers could not do it. The company received the land through an economic land concession from the government, but because the Ministry [of Land Management, Urban Planning, and Construction] does not pay much attention, the villagers grabbed the land. The land does not belong to the company, it is the state's land. When the company received the concession, it had to use it and doing this can affect the villagers. Provincial and district committees went directly to see how the concession affected villagers and settled it. It is not true that the company grabbed the villagers' land because the company rented the state's land. When some villagers point fingers ... the company settles this with cash in order to ease difficulties for the villagers and the state. Some NGOs and opposition parties have called on the European Union to cease trade preferences for Cambodian companies exporting sugar to Europe over allegations that some companies, including yours, are involved in rights abuses such as land grabbing. What do you think about such statements? I am very disappointed because what Mu Sochua – a [Sam Rainsy Party] lawmaker from Kampot province – said is contrary to my objective. I come to invest. I give jobs to the villagers. According to her, it is "blood sugar". I don't know what she meant. As a lawmaker representing people, she should help the people find jobs in their villages. She should not urge the European Union not to buy sugar from us, whether her action brings advantages to society or not. I don't say that it provides advantages to society: she does. What effect does it have when political parties push the EU to refuse to buy sugar from your company? What are the main markets that your company focuses on? If we are talking about white sugar, my current objective is to focus on supplying local markets because Cambodia is yet to have a white sugar factory. White sugar is imported from foreign countries so I have an idea to build a factory in the country to meet the country's demand for white sugar. We should not import sugar from overseas: what we can do, we should do. I can sell white sugar locally and I can export it to neighbouring countries, but I cannot say that I will not export to Europe because I am a businessman. If they buy our sugar at a proper price, I can sell it. Right now, we are afraid that we do not have enough sugar to support our local market because annually the local market needs about 300,000 to 400,000 tonnes and we only have the ability to produce 100,000 tonnes. How do you respond to complaints from local residents that your company's sand dredging operations in Koh Kong province have adversely affected the environment? It is by chance that I started to dredge sand in [Koh Kong] province, because Singapore needed to buy sand, and as we know Tatai, Ta Paingrong and Sre Ambil rivers flood every year. One year, they flooded about three or four times which affected villagers' crops and homes. When the rivers flooded people could not travel from Phnom Penh to Koh Kong. When we heard the news that Singapore wanted to buy sand, we took the opportunity to ask the government if we could drain the sand out of the river to make it deeper. The government approved after their officers come to conduct research. In fact, my idea was just to drain the sand out of the river to make it deeper, not to sell sand. If villagers have a problem, they should write a letter to my company. We have found a resolution for villagers who were affected by dredging already.  | ||
| KRT judges: ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’ Posted: 14 Jul 2011 04:05 PM PDT
Thursday, 14 July 2011 Thomas Miller The Phnom Penh Post FURTHER evidence that the Cambodian government tried to limit the number of prosecutions at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, along with concerns over the independence of several appointed judges, surfaced in United States diplomatic cables made public on Tuesday. One cable from January 2007, marked "confidential" and signed by then-Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli, reported that a limited scope for prosecutions at the court was a "make or break" issue for the Cambodian government. Following a meeting at Deputy Prime Minister Sok An's ranch on January 20, former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes David Scheffer said that the "most important issue" for the government was "fear that international prosecutor Robert Petit and his staff may become too overzealous in their investigative work, expanding the number of potential indictees to an unacceptable degree", Mussomeli noted. The only other person at the meeting was then-court administrator Sean Visoth, who reportedly "reiterated" that the issue "must be handled correctly to put at ease the minds of the CPP Central Committee". Mussomeli said it was "noteworthy that Visoth referred to the CPP Central Committee" and not the government as a whole. "In a country whose judiciary does nothing with respect to any politically related case without instructions, it is little surprise that the RGC is reticent about a legal process that they may not be able to control," Mussomeli concluded. In a 2006 cable, Mark Storella, deputy chief of mission at the time, dispatched observations on the just-announced judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal. Storella titled his cable "KRT Judges Named: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and expressed concern about the independence of several judges. Judge Ney Thol of the court's Pre-Trial Chamber was awarded an assessment of "ugly" for presiding over the 2005 trial of Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Cheam Channy, which Storella called a "show trial" that was "legally flawed and roundly criticized by the international community". Storella said Appeals Court Judge Thou Mony and Banteay Meanchey provincial Judge Ya Sokhan, both judges at the Trial Chamber, were "considered politically biased". All three judges have survived efforts by defense attorneys at the court to unseat them for allegations of political bias. Court spokesman Neth Pheaktra said yesterday that the court "has no comment on the substance of the cables posted on WikiLeaks website".  | ||
| Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:15 AM PDT    | ||
| Cambodian PM appeals to students to donate blood to save life [-Does Hun Xen's family donate blood?] Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:11 AM PDT July 14, 2011 PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to students on Thursday to donate blood for saving human life, saying that the current blood donation is not enough. Speaking to graduate students here, Hun Sen said only three out of 1,000 people have donated blood; and therefore, a new movement or a campaign among students shall be made available in donating blood. "Donating blood is very important to save the life," he said. Hun Sen said, at present, the number of casualties caused by traffic accidents is too high, and that he said, many drivers are neglectful to the traffic rule or driving while they are drunk. He complained that, quite often, the country's Independence Monument located just near his residence in central Phnom Penh has been hit and damaged by drunken drivers. The premier said there are many students in the country and if half of them donate blood then it's significant to save lives. According to figure released by Ministry of Public Work and Transport, it showed that a total of 941 people were killed and 4, 331 others injured in road accidents in the first half of this year. The figure showed that the death toll increased by 1 percent from 931 deaths in the first six months of last year, while the number of the injured declined 20 percent from 5,418 injuries in the same period of last year. According to Ministry of Health, every year about 30,000 blood stocks are necessarily needed to save human life in any hospital around Cambodia. Blood donation is a precious humanitarian activity for saving the life, and it is necessary that unless two or three among 100 volunteers, it cannot sufficiently response to the requirement. The report made available by National Blood Donor Center showed that even though the number of blood donation is still limited, it has been increased over the past two years, saying the center received 40,245 blood bags in 2010, while only 35,895 blood bags received in 2009.  | ||
| Prof reunites with father in Cambodia after 36 years Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:07 AM PDT
Thu Jul. 14 2011 08:47:13 CTV News.ca Staff A Canadian professor born in Cambodia who had long assumed his father had been murdered by the Khmer Rouge says it was a recurring dream and the visions of a psychic that helped him find his father alive, after 36 years apart. For decades, the last memory Prof. Sorpong Peou's had of his father, Nam, was from 1975, when Peou was 17. He had watched his dad being thrown into the back of a truck by the Khmer Rouge, assuming he would return in a few days. But as the stories emerged of the Khmer Rouge's killing fields, Peou realized something terrible must have happened. "Day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year, we concluded he must have been executed," Peou told CTV's Canada AM Thursday from Winnipeg, where he now lives. Peou and his family were taken away as well and forced into labour. For three-and-a-half years, they toiled in the camps. And while most of Peou's days were filled with despair, he still dreamt of the gentle, loving father he remembered. Even after Peou, his mother and his six siblings were able to escape to Canada in 1982 as refugees, the dreams continued. Peou began a quiet life in Canada, excelled at school and eventually became the head of the politics department at the University of Winnipeg. But all the while, the thoughts of his father never left him. Then in January, 2010, the dreams became more insistent. "I had the most vivid dream of my father, chitchatting with him, walking with him. And he kept saying, 'I'm still alive,'" Peou remembers. "Then, my youngest brother reported to my mother that someone, a psychic, told him that my father was still alive," he says. The brother hadn't gone to the psychic to talk about his family; he had a business problem he wanted help with. But the psychic kept asking, 'Where is your father? Do you see your father?' The brother, who had been only five years old when his dad disappeared barely remembered him. He told the psychic his father had been taken away and killed. But she kept saying, "No, no, no, something is telling me now that your father is alive." Then a sister went to visit the same psychic without telling her she was related to the brother. The psychic said the same things to her. Even though Peou says he doesn't believe much in psychics, the woman's visions along with his own dreams persuaded the family it was time to send one of them to Cambodia to look for their father. Another of Peou's brothers went out. The first trip yielded nothing, but the psychic told him to return. So on the next visit, the brother visited another village and asked around, showing a picture of their father as a young man. The villagers directed him to an old, weakened man begging for money. At first, the man insisted there must be a mistake; his family was all dead. But eventually, the man and the brother realized they were father and son. After 36 years, the family was reunited again. Last month, Peou went to Cambodia himself to visit the father he had missed so badly for more than three decades. "It was a very emotional moment," Peou remembers. "My father and I embraced each other. My father wept uncontrollably, saying to me that now he can die in peace." Peou learned his father had never forgotten about them either. "For all those years, he had kept thinking about us. He had assumed we were all dead, so all those years were a torment for him, having lost seven children and his wife. He was a broken man… I cannot describe the kind of suffering that he went through. So it was a very emotional moment, but very joyful as well. There's a lot of pain but a lot of joy." Peou learned that his father had eventually remarried and had six more children. But his father, who had once been a government official before the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia, had lived in poverty ever since. "It was heartbreaking for me to see where he lived and how he lived," Peou says. "It was very painful to know the kind of poverty he lived through all those years. At the same time, we are now so thankful that we have him back."  | ||
| Among Students, Doubts Over Tribunal Suspects’ Defense Posted: 14 Jul 2011 11:01 AM PDT Thursday, 14 July 2011 Say Mony, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
As more Khmer Rouge leaders are put on trial by a UN-backed tribunal, some Cambodians students say they don't believe their defense claims, that they established an ultra-Maoist regime to prevent Cambodia from falling into foreign hands. The tribunal has put the crimes of the Khmer Rouge back into the public consciousness, and many of the young generation are now learning more about the regime than they learned from parents who often withhold their own stories of atrocities. "Normally, any leader who has made a mistake never confessing to having committed a massacre," said Thoeun Novel, a freshman at the Royal University of Law and Economics, as a guest on "Hello VOA" Monday. "However, they must take full responsibility for their mistakes." Thoeun Novel attended a preliminary hearing for four Khmer Rouge leaders who will face trial for atrocity crimes later this year. Nuon Chea, the regime's chief ideologue; Khieu Samphan, its nominal head; Ieng Sary, foreign minister; and Ieng Thirith, social affairs minister all stand accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and other crimes. They have all denied responsibility for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge under their leadership. Some regime leaders have said in the past they had hoped to protect the country from Vietnamese occupation and others, as they grew a peasant revolution into a communist regime. Srun Kanann, an 18-year-old high school student, told "Hello VOA" that protecting the country from foreign invasion is a justifiable cause to lead a revolution. "But why did they kill their own people?" he asked. "They should not have committed genocide against their own race." "If those leaders had not established their own policies of starvation, or ordered killings, how could their subordinates or members have done that?" asked Thoeun Novel. Srun Kanann said the tribunal will now have to learn what happened. "The court will analyze and reveal the facts in their committing genocide, no matter how hard they try to deny it," he said.  | ||
| Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:58 AM PDT Thursday, 14 July 2011 Thomas Miller The Phnom Penh Post During her first meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen in January, 2009, after becoming the US ambassador to Cambodia, Carol Rodley recounted the premier "gushingly stating that he spends more of his time with the American ambassador than with any other members of the diplomatic community". But just weeks earlier, Rodley signed off on a confidential diplomatic cable that labelled 2008 Cambodia's "Year of China", which she said "looks to become its 'Century of China'". Cables from the US embassy in Phnom Penh made public on Tuesday by anti-secrecy organisation WikiLeaks provide an inside view into US concerns that China's growing influence in the Kingdom would fuel corruption, inhibit progress on human rights and challenge the ability of other donors to sway the government on difficult issues. "China has spared no effort this year in celebrating the 50th anniversary of bilateral relations with Cambodia," Rodley wrote in the cable. "The list of Chinese visitors is so long that the Chinese embassy's political and economic officers have complained to [embassy officials] that they never get any rest." Rodley noted that China's pledge of US$256 million in bilateral assistance for 2009 was "the highest single donor-country contribution to Cambodia ever", cementing China's position as Cambodia's largest source of foreign aid. Chinese money has come almost entirely in the form of loans to fund infrastructure projects – such as roads, bridges, hydropower dams and natural resource exploration – often invested in, or built by, Chinese companies. "Prime Minister Hun Sen repeatedly praises Chinese aid to Cambodia's other donors, citing its 'no strings attached' feature, although many point to the Chinese access to mineral and resource wealth as one among a number of non-transparent quid pro quos," Rodley said. She noted in the cable, however, that Hun Sen "does not forget" the role played by China and the US in supporting the Khmer Rouge-led alliance that represented Cambodia at the United Nations during the 1980s. "The RGC inherently does not trust its big friends, China included," she said. "We expect, therefore, that Cambodia will continue to play its balancing act among great powers as it charts its own course in the future." China's influence in the Kingdom also features prominently in a December, 2008 cable written in Rodley's name analysing Cambodia's quest for hydropower development. She expresses concern that donors appear able to wield limited influence on the issue. Cambodian officials reportedly told diplomats that the processes for assistance from donors such as the Japanese International Co-operation Agency and the World Bank were too slow, as they began prioritising projects based on prospective investors. Rodley noted that Chinese firms were involved in six of the nine projects prioritised and that some of the projects, "such as the Kamchay Dam in Bokor National Park, are in areas other donors explored, then dismissed, citing envir-onmental and economic concerns". "The lure of Chinese and other investment overrides serious consideration of the cumulative environmental and social impacts of many dams throughout the country," Rodley stated. Perceived tension between US and Chinese influence came to a head in December, 2009 when the Cambodian government deported 20 ethnic Uighur asylum-seekers, a move observers said was due to Chinese pressure. Just 48 hours later, China awarded the Kingdom $1.2 billion in grants and soft loans. Theodore Allegra, chargé d'affairs at the US embassy, said in a December 22 cable that Chinese assistance "provides a strong incentive for Cambodia to support Beijing's policy objectives". Allegra said the "coincidence" of the deportation and the economic assistance "raise questions about the non-transparent quid pro quos often attached to China's 'no strings attached' assistance". "Nevertheless, China's conditions on assistance appear more palpable to the RGC than other international development partners' 'strings', and could erode donor efforts to use assistance to promote improved governance and respect for human rights," he said. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, yesterday dismissed concerns about Chinese funding and influence, and said the Kingdom had "very good co-operation" with both countries. A Chinese embassy spokesman could not be reached.  | ||
| Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:48 AM PDT
Thursday, 14 July 2011 James O'Toole and Thomas Miller The Phnom Penh Post As one-time Funcinpec leader and National Assembly President Norodom Ranariddh was forced from the parliamentary leadership in 2006, US embassy officials cast a worried eye over the state of political pluralism in the Kingdom, according to newly released diplomatic cables. "What is disturbing is that the [Sam Rainsy Party] is on the sidelines, cheering on FUNCINPEC's problems, just as FUNCINPEC did nothing to assist the SRP when Hun Sen was attacking the opposition during 2005," a March 2006 cable states. "Both parties believe they would be beneficiaries of the other's demise; unfortunately, neither party leader trusts the other enough to overcome past differences and work together to achieve the reforms needed within the Cambodian government." The American diplomatic cables released on Tuesday detail the struggles of the Royalist movement through the middle of the past decade, from the perceived frustrations of Ranariddh in being passed over for the kingship to the corruption allegations that dogged the party as Hun Sen sought to oust them from the coalition government. At the same time, the halting reform efforts of the SRP are depicted in the on-again, off-again relations between Sam Rainsy and Hun Sen. With the 2004 coronation of King Norodom Sihamoni, who drew praise in the cables from American diplomats for his graceful and unassuming style, Ranariddh is said to have displayed "petulance" and alienated fellow Funcinpec members in his apparent frustration at being passed over. Eating dinner with US diplomats in October 2004, three senior Funcinpec officials reportedly "expressed grave doubt in Ranariddh's leadership ability, suggesting that, rather than raising his stature, he is increasingly making himself a laughing stock". As years pass, American diplomats see the once-powerful party undone. "Because of corruption and nepotism, the party is losing support from the people and talented officials, such as the SRP's Mu Sochua, have left the party," a Funcinpec party member tells American diplomats, later saying most of the royalist party's officials were "weak and interested only in womanizing and money". Cambodian People's Party official Prum Sokha, meanwhile, reportedly complained that Funcinpec officials "have bloated the staffing of ministries with relatives and party members without consideration of qualifications or interest in the jobs". A former Funcinpec secretary general reportedly complains in a May 2006 cable that party leader Nhek Bun Chhay and the rest of the party have been almost totally co-opted by the ruling party; Sirivudh thus terms the party "HUNSENPEC". Deputy Prime Minister Nhek Bun Chhay said yesterday that allegations that he had sold out the party to the CPP were "for political interest", and defended cooperation with the ruling CPP since 1993. Norodom Ranariddh party spokesman Pen Sangha could not be reached. As Ranariddh's star fell, Sam Rainsy reportedly enjoyed a period of rapprochement with Hun Sen upon returning to the Kingdom in 2006, having fled in relation to a defamation case the previous year. A cable signed by Ambassador Mussomeli from February 2006 recounts a meeting in which Sam Rainsy outlined his strategy for "reconciliation" with Hun Sen. Sam Rainsy was allowed to return to the Kingdom that month following his pardon for a defamation conviction. "Hun Sen decides everything in Cambodia, and the government institutions, e.g., the courts, the parliament, are just a 'facade,' complained Rainsy," Mussomeli stated. "If Cambodia is ruled by one man, then in order to get anything done, one must begin by talking to that man, said the opposition leader, who added it had been a difficult choice." An SRP source even told American diplomats in March 2006 that Hun Sen had "recently offered to take opposition leader Sam Rainsy into the government as a deputy prime minister, possibly with broad authority over various ministries". "Rainsy reportedly declined, telling the PM that such a move would be 'political suicide' for an opposition leader," according to the source. But the July 2008 elections, in which the SRP won a disappointing 26 seats, spoiled any chance of his desired "political reconciliation" with Hun Sen and the CPP. During a meeting in August 2008 with Ambassador Mussomeli, "an animated Sam Rainsy" "continued his single-minded crusade to taint CPP's election victory" with allegations of "massive electoral fraud", which the US viewed sceptically. In later years, American diplomats speak of an apparent rivalry between Sam Rainsy and current Human Rights Party leader Kem Sokha, one that has been borne out in recent months as merger talks between the two groups have suffered a bitter collapse. The difficulties for the opposition continued in 2009, as prominent SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua was locked in a legal battle with Prime Minister Hun Sen. Fellow opposition lawmaker Tioulong Saumura, the wife of Sam Rainsy, reportedly criticised Mu Sochua for picking a fight with the government. "It's crazy to be fighting this battle," Saumura reportedly said. The problems culminated later that year, when charges were filed against Sam Rainsy in relation to a protest he staged in October against alleged Vietnamese encroachment in Svay Rieng province. US ambassador Carol Rodley noted in a November cable: "The Sam Rainsy Party has taken a disruptive approach to a major problem and added toxic elements of racism and anti-Vietnamese sentiment to make it worse." SRP lawmakers Son Chhay and Yim Sovann could not be reached for comment yesterday.  | ||
| Baingskol Ceremony for Chea Vichea in France Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:35 AM PDT  What: Baingskol (Buddhist memorial) for Chea Vichea When: 24 July 2011 at 9AM Where: Wat Buddharaingsey 124 Route Nationale 69330 Pusignan France Contacts: Ly Poeung 06-68441333 Thay Makara 06-32581287 Peng Chhean Kunhour 06-20888450  | ||
| Anti-Hun Xen regime leaflets distributed in Stung Meanchey and Chak Angre Posted: 14 Jul 2011 10:28 AM PDT   | ||
| CPP Executive Committee in France Posted: 14 Jul 2011 09:55 AM PDT    |
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