KI Media: “Fortune Brings a Family Together, 36 Years Later” plus 24 more

KI Media: “Fortune Brings a Family Together, 36 Years Later” plus 24 more

Fortune Brings a Family Together, 36 Years Later

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 10:55 AM PDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVZlHQri_9o
The family celebrates their reunion with friends at a party in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.(Photo: by Pin Sisovann)

Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Say Mony, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

"I wept when I embraced him. I've never known my father."
Never in her life did Chhea Vat imagine she would have such an occasion: meeting her husband again after 36 years.

The 73-year-old Cambodian-Canadian had always thought her husband, Peou Nam, was killed when soldiers of the regime took him away, so many years ago.

"I never imagined this meeting before, because I thought the Khmer Rouge never left their captives alive," Chhea Vat said in a recent interview in Phnom Penh, where her family had found him at long last.

Peou Nam was a soldier in Lon Nol's government, a target for execution by the Khmer Rouge. He has seven children with Chhea Vat.


"It's like I were living with him in the old regime now," Chhea Vat said. "I'm still thinking that way."



Chhea Vat and her children escaped Cambodia in 1975 and ended up in Canada in the early 1980s. Only in recent months did she and her children decide to look for her lost husband—after a fortuneteller told them he was still alive.

Peou Phearun is one of the family's five sons. He had been trying to find his father for several months in Cambodia. Eventually, the two met by chance at a market in Banteay Meanchey province along Cambodia-Thai border.

"Some nights when I wake up, I ask myself if this is true or just a dream," Peou Phearun said. "Then I know it is true and that I have joined my father again. For the first four or five years in Canada, when I thought of my father, every night I burst into tears."

Peou Nam was taken twice for execution in a pit by the Khmer Rouge. By chance, he survived. He carried on in Cambodia without his family.

After the regime collapsed, in 1979, he tried to find his missing wife and children, but it was hopeless. They were gone. He thought them dead.

His youngest son, Peou Sambo, was five years old when he last saw his father. All these years later, he said, "I wept when I embraced him. I've never known my father."

Over all these years, Chhea Vat has kept two things: a photo of her husband and a statue of the Buddha, a gift from her beloved bestowed on her before he was taken away by the soldiers.

"He loves this Buddha statue very much, and I have kept it as a souvenir," she said. "But now that I've found him, I have to return it to him."

KI-Media is operational again!

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 09:59 AM PDT

Dear Readers,

Our main blog website http://ki-media.blogspot.com is operational again. We would like to thank all our readers and contributors for your patience while Google was solving our technical problems.

Thank you  very much, it's good to hear from you again!

KI-Media team

KI-Media Postings between 30 September 2011 and 12 October 2012 available at on Mirror Website

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 09:58 AM PDT

Dear Readers,

Due to technical difficulties on our main website, postings between 29 September 2011 and 12 October 2011 are available at our mirror website at:


or


or


Thank you!

KI-Media team

Asia's wet and wild summer explained

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:49 AM PDT

Thai mahouts ride their elephants through the flooded Ayutthaya streets on October 10, 2011.
Wed October 12, 2011
By David Challenger, CNN

(CNN) -- Is this just a normal year, or is the southwest monsoon acting more aggressively than normal?

The 2011 tropical cyclone season in the west Pacific has been about average, not significantly above or below usual events. We did have a few consecutive storms that made landfall in the Philippines and other parts of South East Asia in late September and early October, such as Haitang, Nesat, and Nalgae -- but that had more to do with a steering pattern caused by high pressure over the Pacific, not the monsoon. The remnants of these storms did make their way farther into South East Asia, which likely enhanced the monsoon trough, thus leading to higher than average rainfall in countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Rainfall in most of Thailand is running 15% to 25% above average for the year (with a vast majority of that rain coming in the monsoon months of May to October).

What exactly is the southwest monsoon? When does it start, end, and how is it generated?

The southwest monsoon occurs during the northern hemisphere summer, and is caused by the land masses of the Indian subcontinent and South East Asia heating up faster than the Indian Ocean. This creates an influx of cooler, moisture-laden air from the ocean over the land. The southwest monsoon generally begins in mid-May and ends in late October/early November, though start and end times vary based on location. India, for example, has a southwest monsoon season that begins June 1 and ends September 30.


Which countries are most affected by this monsoon?

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, and Malaysia are all affected in a significant way. India is largely considered the most "affected," since it has the most-consistent monsoon season and depends the most on the rains of the monsoon for their life-sustaining agriculture.

Some areas in Asia are recording above-average precipitation, such as in Bangkok which has so far received 58% more rainfall than usual this year. Why is the monsoon bringing more intense weather than usual in 2011?

Some monsoons are more active than others, and there can be a myriad of reasons for this. I think the monsoon rainfall was enhanced in September by numerous tropical systems interacting with the monsoon trough. But other reasons could be much more complicated. There could be interactions with other large-scale weather and climate variables, such as El Nino or La Nina (in the case of this summer, La Nina was in place, and this does normally lead to higher than average precipitation in South East Asia). Sea-surface temperatures that are slightly above or below average can also lead to a variation in monsoon rainfall. Scientists will need to look into how all of these potential ingredients came together to produce these flooding rains.

Also, the monsoon can be very active in one region, while being relatively inactive in another. It just so happens that for the last several weeks, the monsoon trough has been very active over central Thailand (in and around Bangkok), but other areas of the country have seen below average rainfall.

In general are Asian summer monsoons becoming more destructive, or is it just cyclical?

I believe it is just cyclical, and as mentioned above, depends on a wide variety of factors. The consequences, however, could be getting worse as populations and cities grow along the major rivers, which see rapid and intense rises during monsoon floods.

Is there anything that Asia can do to help alleviate higher than usual rainfall?

Better city planning and flood prevention strategies would be the biggest thing. Monsoon floods have always occurred, and these rivers naturally flood their banks occasionally (which is what makes the land in these areas so fertile). But if people continue to build more in these vulnerable areas, natural disasters like floods will continue to become more frequent.

Floods Destroy 180,000 Hectares of Rice Paddies in Cambodia

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:42 AM PDT

2011-10-12
Xinhua

At least 180,000 hectares of rice paddies in Cambodia have been destroyed by the Mekong River floods since early August, Minister of Agriculture Chan Sarun said on Wednesday.

"So far, 180,000 hectares out of the 2.4 million hectares of grown rice paddies this year have been destroyed by the floods," he told reporters after a meeting. "However, it will not affect our food security and rice export policy as we will distribute rice seeds to affected farmers as soon as possible after the floods."

Chan Sarun said that the ministry has reserved about 3,450 tons of rice seeds to give out to affected farmers to replant rice crop soon after the floods.


Cambodia has been hard-hit by the flood since Aug. 13, inundating 19 cities and provinces.

Keo Vy, spokesman for the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM), said Wednesday at least 207 people were killed, excluding 6 people killed on Wednesday morning as a boat capsized in Siem Reap province.

The floods have also affected some 1.2 million people, he said.

About 600 houses were swept away by floods and other 196,600 houses, 1,132 schools and 400 Buddhist pagodas are submerged.

In addition, approximately 180 kilometers of national roads and around 1,800 kilometers of gravel roads have been blocked.

Thai Rice Damage May Push Up Global Prices, Mohanty Says

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:36 AM PDT

Oct 12, 2011
By Pratik Parija and Supunnabul Suwannakij
Bloomberg

Damage to rice crops from Thailand to Philippines may "push up" prices this year as global production of milled rice may be less than previously forecast, according to the International Rice Research Institute.

Flooding in Thailand, the biggest exporter, may have damaged as much as 5 million metric tons of paddy, while a typhoon in Philippines and flooding in Cambodia and Laos will trim rice output, Samarendu Mohanty, a senior economist at the institute, said in New Delhi today. Global production of milled rice may be as low as 455 million tons in the year that began on Sept. 1, less than the 460 million forecast last month, he said.

Reduced rice supplies, the staple for half the world, may fuel a 21 percent rally in prices in the past year in Chicago and boost global food costs that the United Nations predicts will remain high and fluctuating as demand rises because of economic growth. Damage to crops may boost import demand for rice, Robert Zeigler, director-general of the institute, said in a separate interview.


"There will be supply-demand imbalances by the end of this year and early 2012," he said. "There may be price volatility in rice because of weather problems."

Prices of Thai white rice may climb 21 percent to $750 a ton from $619 a ton today because of crop damage and Thailand's plan to buy rice from farmers above market rates, said Sumeth Laomoraphorn, chief executive officer of C.P. Trading Co., Thailand's fourth-largest exporter. Rough-rice futures for November in Chicago climbed as much 1.6 percent to $16.23 per 100 pounds today.

Thai Stockpiles

Thailand last week started a government-purchase program, at prices as much as 44 percent above market rates, to boost crop prices and rural incomes. Global rice prices will depend on what Thailand does with the rice it buys from growers, rice institute's Mohanty said.

"The damage to the crop in Thailand might put upward pressure on prices," Mohanty said in an interview. "Thai export policy is not very clear. Global prices will depend on the rice export policy in Thailand."

Flooding devastated crops mostly in Chao Phraya basin in central Thailand and paralyzed shipments, C.P. Trading's Sumeth said by phone today. The nation's exports may halve to about 500,000 tons a month from October to December, he said.

"Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are facing the same destiny but supplies from India will make up for the decline in production, limiting a chance of rice price rally," Sumeth said.

Indian Exports

India, the world's second-largest producer, allowed private companies to export non-basmati rice for the first time in more than three years in July after state-run stockpiles reached a record. Shipments from the South Asian nation may total 4 million tons in the year from April 1, according to the All India Rice Exporters Association.

Indian shipments will account for 11 percent of global trade this calendar year, overtaking the U.S. and Pakistan to become the third-largest shipper, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, in a Sept. 12 report.

"India should export more to benefit at a time when Thai rice is not very competitive," Mohanty said.

Resignation Raises Doubts Over Khmer Rouge Tribunal

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:30 AM PDT

"The UN must demand that the Cambodian government absolutely butts out of all judicial and prosecutorial decision-making in the court and let it perform independently, but not just through empty statements about the importance of independence. There need to be substantive guarantees by the government." 
By Irwin Loy

PHNOM PENH, Oct 12, 2011 (IPS) - The United Nations must address a "crisis of confidence" at the beleaguered Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal in Cambodia following the resignation of a controversial judge, critics say.

News this week that Siegfried Blunk, one of two investigating judges at the UN-backed tribunal, resigned citing political interference is raising questions about the legacy of the court itself.

Critics say the high-profile departure shows significant moves must be taken to ensure the integrity of the tribunal, known officially as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, or ECCC.

"This should not be a case of business as usual," James Goldston, executive director of the New York- based Open Society Justice Initiative, said in a statement.


Goldston and other critics say the UN must secure public guarantees from senior Cambodian officials that they will fully cooperate with the four cases currently before the ECCC.

"If those guarantees are not forthcoming," Goldston said, "the UN should reassess its commitment to the court."

Since last December, Blunk has been one of two investigating judges at the hybrid tribunal, which pairs international legal officers with their Cambodian counterparts.

But he became the target of critics this year when he and Cambodian Judge You Bunleng announced they had shut down their investigations into a file known here as Case 003 even though they had not interviewed either of the two former mid-level Khmer Rouge commanders who were suspects in the case. Critics accused the judges of incompetence, and of bowing to political pressure from a Cambodian government that has been vocally opposed to future prosecutions against any Khmer Rouge figures beyond four former leaders currently indicted.

In announcing his resignation this week, Blunk himself cited repeated public statements by senior Cambodian officials. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned the country would slide back into civil war if the court pursues further charges. Last October, he told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the current prosecution of the four former leaders would be the tribunal's last.

While Blunk maintained he hasn't let such statements influence him, he said his "ability to withstand pressure by government officials and to perform his duties independently could always be called in doubt, and this would also call in doubt the integrity of the whole proceedings" in future cases.

Clair Duffy, an OSJI court monitor based in Phnom Penh, said Blunk's resignation must force the UN to confront the problem of political interference.

"They can't just appoint another judge and expect that person will suddenly have the power to investigate massive atrocities without Cambodian cooperation," Duffy said. "The UN must demand that the Cambodian government absolutely butts out of all judicial and prosecutorial decision-making in the court and let it perform independently, but not just through empty statements about the importance of independence. There need to be substantive guarantees by the government."

But the UN response in the wake of Blunk's departure has done little to assuage its critics. A spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters this week the priority is to push ahead with replacing Blunk.

"The United Nations has noted the reason stated by Judge Blunk for his resignation," the spokesperson said. "As we have consistently emphasised, the ECCC must be permitted to proceed with its work without interference from any entity, including the Royal Government of Cambodia, donor states or civil society. We will continue to monitor the situation at the ECCC closely, including in consultation with the Royal Government."

But the court is tainted by "widespread perceptions of corruption" within Blunk's office, critics say. "The court is already seen as compromised," said Youk Chhang, the executive director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which has provided thousands of documents used as evidence in court investigations.

He's calling for a full investigation into the entire office of the investigating judges. "The public is losing hope," Chhang said. "Without a proper investigation, the UN undermines the public support and shows disrespect to those who have died and those who survived the Khmer Rouge. The UN must fix this immediately."

The questions raised by this week's news comes at an inopportune time for the tribunal, which has been besieged by lengthy delays to what is meant to be its centrepiece case.

The prosecution of four former senior Khmer Rouge leaders - chief ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign affairs minister Ieng Sary and social affairs minister Ieng Thirith was supposed to be under way this year. But it's still mired in legal arguments and some observers question whether the elderly defendants will live long enough to hear a verdict.

"Unfortunately, by letting this situation fester, I do think it's worsened the situation for all branches of the court," Duffy, the OSJI monitor, told IPS.

Already, Blunk's resignation has provided fodder for defence lawyers in the case, who have repeatedly raised questions over judicial independence throughout the tribunal. This week, lawyers for Nuon Chea appealed to the tribunal's highest chamber. They cited Blunk's resignation in urging an investigation into "all outstanding allegations of … interference".

"That so much of the (government) meddling has taken place in plain view suggests the significant probability of far more insidious interference behind the scenes," the lawyers wrote in their submission, noting that while the Cambodian government has opposed future cases, it has been publicly supportive of the case against their client.

Leading Researcher Calls on UN to Investigate Tribunal Judges’ Office

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:20 AM PDT

CIJs: You Bunleng (L) and Siegfried Blunk (R)
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
"Judge Blunk's resignation has only added fuel to conspiracy theories and conjecture regarding corruption within the [Office of the Co-Investigating Judges]."
The head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia on Wednesday called for the UN to take "decisive action" to investigate the office of investigating judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, following the abrupt resignation of its international judge on Monday.

The Documentation Center is a major researcher of Khmer Rouge atrocities, providing thousands of documents that have made the tribunal possible.

Chhang Youk, director of the center, said the resignation of German judge Siegfried Blunk—who cited government statements against further indictments as his reason for quitting—required the UN to "restore the reputation" of the court.


"Judge Blunk's resignation has only added fuel to conspiracy theories and conjecture regarding corruption within the [Office of the Co-Investigating Judges]," Chhang Youk said in a statement.

He added in a later interview that the UN should not allow the resignation to go uninvestigated.

The UN-backed court, which has spent $150 million so far, has been dogged by allegations of corruption, mismanagement and political interference since its 2006 inception. In 2007, Cambodian staff at the court said they were obliged to pay kickbacks in order to keep their jobs, though an audit later found only "small irregularities" at the court.

The tribunal went on to try one leader, Duch, for atrocity crimes at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, and it is in the process of preparing for its second case, to try senior leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith. All four are growing old and infirm, and observers have worried the court will fail to try them before they die.

Blunk and his Cambodian counterpart, judge You Bunleng, meanwhile, have been under intense scrutiny since April, when they hastily concluded their work in a third case, which is staunchly opposed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior government leaders.

You Bunleng said in a statement late Wednesday that he has worked "closely" with Blunk on cases 003 and 004—which would require five more indictments by the court—"without any objection and against any attempt of interference."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Wednesday government officials, including Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, "have never and will never interfere" in the court's work.

Chhang Youk said Wednesday that no action from the UN make the tribunal and the international body seem "complicit" with the Cambodian government position and will have compromised justice for the victims of the regime.

Press Release: The first general assembly of Irrigation Service Center

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:15 AM PDT

Dear All,

The Irrigation Service Center (ISC) is going toorganize its first general assembly on 13-14 Oct 2011 in Kampong Thom province.

For more detail, please refer to attached press release.

Thanks and regards,

Him Khortieth
.....................
Communication Officer


Centre d'Etude et de Développement
Agricole Cambodgien (CEDAC)
No. 119,Street 257, Sangkat Toek Laak 1,
Khan ToulKork
B.P. 1118Phnom Penh
H/P:855-16-57-57-13
Tel : 855- 23-880-916
Fax :855-23-885-146
E-mail:himkhortieth@cedac.org.kh
www.cedac.org.kh

The "entire" OCIJ must be investigated: Youk Chhang

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 08:06 AM PDT

The entire OCIJ must be investigated

Youk Chhang
Documentation Center of Cambodia

As an institution which promotes justice and memory for victims of the Khmer Rouge, the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) has a strong interest in ensuring the legitimacy and success of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). While DC-Cam is not affiliated with the ECCC in any formal way, the Center was integral to the creation of the Court and has provided it with over 500,000 pages of documents along with various films, maps, photographs and interviews as a recognized "in-kind" donor. DC-Cam also continues to assist the ECCC through the provision of its research and expertise.

For months, various commentators and civil society institutions have alleged corruption and political interference at the ECCC. These allegations have been focused on the ECCC Office of the Co-Investigating Judges (OCIJ). Recently, International Co-Investigating Judge Siegfried Blunk resigned, citing the appearance of political interference by the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) as his motivation. Judge Blunk's resignation has only added fuel to conspiracy theories and conjecture regarding corruption within the OCIJ. The time for speculation and debate however, has now long passed and there is a pressing need for the United Nations (UN) to act decisively.

The legitimacy of the entire ECCC has already been compromised by widespread perceptions of corruption within the OCIJ. Simply replacing Judge Blunk will do nothing to restore confidence in the ECCC. The only way to salvage the reputation of the Court and demonstrate that the international community is serious about combating corruption, impunity and injustice is through an immediate, impartial, transparent and thorough investigation of the entire OCIJ, followed by appropriate remedial action.

If no investigation takes place, every entity connected to the ECCC, including the UN itself, will be complicit with the RGC in compromising the last opportunity to provide some measure of justice for victims of the Khmer Rouge, whose suffering has already been either ignored or politically manipulated for over 30 years.

End.

Independently Searching for the Truth since 1997.
MEMORY & JUSTICE

"...a society cannot know itself if it does not have an accurate memory of its own history."

Youk Chhang, Director
Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam)
66 Sihanouk Blvd.,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
t: +855 23 21 18 75
f: +855 23 21 03 58
h: +855 12 90 55 95
e: dccam@online.com.kh

Statement of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs andInternational Cooperation [Deny! Deny! Deny!]

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:57 AM PDT

Statement ofthe National Co-Investigating Judge [Denial! Denial! Denial!]

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:52 AM PDT

Phnom Penh, October 12th, 2011

Statement of the National Co-Investigating Judge

(Unofficial translation)

Earlier this week the International Co-Investigating Judge announced his resignation. His resignation was very surprising to me. In fact, the work relationship between the International Co-Investigating Judge and myself as National Co-Investigating Judge has so far developed in a smooth and responsible manner based on legal principles and the ECCC Internal Rules, although there have been some allegations through media speculations made by some outsiders of the Court.

As regularly communicated in the monthly ECCC Court Reports and in the Statements of the Co-Investigating Judges, we have been taking judicial investigation acts in the Cases 003 and 004, particularly performing the witness interviews and conducting some crime-site identifications. Theses judicial investigation acts have been conducted by the Office of the Co-Investigation judges independently without any obstacle. Theses judicial investigation acts are parts of common approach of both judges, that is to focus investigation on the personal jurisdiction, as stated in the joint Press Release dated 08 August 2011 regarding Civil Parties in Case 004 and in the ECCC monthly Court Report of September 2011.

Although speculations have been made in various media reports with regard tothe procedural measures and decisions of the Co-Investigating Judges, the National Co-Investigating Judge still affirms that he will continue to fulfill the works of the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges independently and in compliance with the principles stipulated in the Law and the ECCC Internal Rules, and he is resolved to resist any attempt to interfere into his works from any source.

For further information, please contact:
Mr. Neth Pheaktra
Press Officer
Mobile phone: +855 (0) 12 483 283

Relief effort falls short in worst-hit province

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 01:26 AM PDT

A Cambodian Red Cross worker stands next to 30 tonnes of donated rice for flood victims in Kampong Thom province yesterday. (Photo by: Nikki Majewski)
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Mom Kunthear and Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

Kampong Thom province - In a province where there are few paved roads besides the highway that cuts through it, efforts to get aid to those affected by the worst flooding to hit the Kingdom in more than a decade continue to be hampered by high-water levels and perilous dirt roads, many of which run along sinking riverbanks.

"We have to be careful where we send our field staff to deliver aid," Oxfam's Kampong Thom program manager Sau Sisamuth said yesterday. "Many of the roads are [still] flooded and quite dangerous. Sometimes we can only get there by boat."

Chea Vanny, provincial program manager for relief agency Caritas, said that even the aid getting through was insufficient. "The amount of suffering they face is hugely different [from what they receive]," she said.


Im Sareoun, director of the provincial committee for disaster management, estimated that almost half of all families affected by the flooding were still waiting to receive aid.

According to the Cambodian Red Cross about 15,000 families in the province had received help and 10,000 were still waiting.

To ensure aid reaches those it is intended for, Im Sareoun said his agency was delivering it through its staff. "We don't send the aid to, or keep the aid with, commune or village officials because we are afraid the aid won't reach the victims," he said.

Meanwhile, relief from foreign governments has begun to trickle in.

On Monday, Singapore pledged US$100,000 for Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. Yesterday, the United States pledged $50,000 for Kampong Cham province. Late Monday night, an unconfirmed report from Chinese news agency Xinhua said Beijing had pledged $7.87 million for Cambodia. The Asian Development Bank also said that Cambodia might be eligible to apply to its Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund. The fund disburses grants of up to $3 million.

The government, however, has continued to resist pleas from relief agencies that it call for international assistance. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that the situation was "under control" and that the government could "handle it". It was "too early" to request foreign assistance, but once the floods had passed and the total damage had been assessed, the government would make an informed appeal for help, he said.

Relief workers in Kampong Thom said the need there would be long lasting. The farmers who have borne the brunt of the floods also lost this year's rice crop, Caritas' Chea Vanny explained.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KRISTIN LYNCH

Fears mount in Bangkok as Thailand flood waters rise

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 01:17 AM PDT


Wed October 12, 2011
By Kevin Voigt, CNN

(CNN) -- Thailand's capital was braced for unprecedented flooding Wednesday, amid the monsoon rains that have overwhelmed much of the country as well as Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines in recent weeks.

"It's going to be clearer over the next couple days" whether Bangkok can be spared the brunt of the flooding said Matthew Cochrane, spokesperson for the International Red Cross in Bangkok.

So far, 281 people have been killed and four people are missing in Thailand, according to the country's Flood Relief Operations Command. Some 60 of the country's 76 provinces have so far been affected, impacting some eight million people.

"It's really quite serious, these are the worst floods in Thailand since 1949," Cochrane said.

"These floods started in June really and started to move south and have really caused huge damage the whole way down," Cochrane said. "They've affected hundreds and hundreds of villages and towns, they've wiped out 2.5 million acres of farmland. This is a very, very serious disaster."

Over half a million square kilometers -- an area the size of Spain -- are affected by the floods in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, according to CNN meteorologist Jenny Harrison.

In Bangkok officials beefed up flood prevention measures as waterways, including the main Chao Phraya River, became bloated by rising water.

"There are walls still being built in the north of the city," Cochrane said Wednesday. "One of the challenges is the areas where flood waters are typically diverted to protect the capital and protect the economic center of the country, those areas are already flooded, so there's potentially not much room for those waters to go."

"For Bangkok we are still confident that the inner part of the city will be safe from (flooding)," said Thitima Chaisaeng, Thailand government spokesperson, but the eastern and western parts of Bangkok face flooding.

On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ordered canal dredging and reinforcement of flood-prevention embankments to protect the city, state-run news agency MCOT reported. In addition, three new flood-prevention walls were being built at two locations in Rangsit, in northern Bangkok, and in Taling Chan, in the western part of the city.

Tourists warned as floods continue to wreak havoc in Thailand

The government needs another 1.5 million sandbags, MCOT reported. The prime minister called on the private sector to supply them, but said the government will buy all the needed sandbags by Wednesday, the news agency said.

Meanwhile, around 1,200 people have taken shelter in a gymnasium at Bangkok's Thammasat University. Most of them are from neighboring Ayutthaya province and other flood-affected areas around the capital, said Thanawat Srisuwan, a volunteer at the makeshift shelter.

The authorities have set up almost 200 other temporary shelters around the city to receive flood victims. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said plans were in place to evacuate people from nine areas, mainly in eastern Bangkok, if needed.

Elsewhere, patients in two hospitals in Thailand's Ayutthaya and Nakhon Sawan provinces had to be evacuated after water reached the first floor, the flood operations command said.

Multiple tropical weather systems have moved over the region in recent weeks, enhancing monsoon rains and leading to the flooding. Heavy rains are expected in Southeast Asia through the end of October.

According to the government website Thaiflood.com, water from northern Thailand has finally reached lower parts of central Thailand, penetrating dykes in Pathumthani and Nonthaburi provinces and flooding outer areas of Bangkok, including the market in Nonthaburi and Chiang Rang road.

The giant Rojana Industrial Park has halted operations for the time being, director Amara Charoengitwattanagun told MCOT, and the facility may be further damaged if the flooding worsens. One plant in the park, Single Point Parts, evacuated all workers from the premises and built flood prevention embankments around its building.

Honda also confirmed operations at its Rojana plant have been halted. The Japanese automaker says the closure of the plant has already affected the manufacture of 4,500 vehicles.

Meanwhile the UNESCO-listed Ayutthaya historical park, which includes the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, has been submerged since last week, according to local authorities.

"This is the worst flood in our historical site in 16 years," said Somsuda Leeyawanich, from the Thai Fine Arts Department. She said the water level in the park is almost three meters, compared to levels of around 80-90 centimeters during the floods of 1995.

"We are very concerned that if the site is under water more 30 days it may cause serious damage," she added. "The temples are over 400 years old."

CNN's Kocha Olarn contributed to this report

Boat capsizes, killing 6 in Cambodia

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 01:00 AM PDT

Funeral for one of the victim
October 12, 2011

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) -- Two adults and four children were killed in a boat sinking on Wednesday morning in Siem Reap town of Siem Reap province in northwestern Cambodia, police chief said.

Tep Bunchhay, police chief of Siem Reap town, said that the machine boat carried about 15 people to attend a Buddhism ceremony in a pagoda and when the boat arrived in the middle of the way to the pagoda, there was torrential rain and wind that made the boat capsized.

"The accident occurred at around 9:00 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday at a tributary, killing six people -- three male and three female, and the rest was rescued," he told Xinhua by phone. "Besides the rain, overload also played a part in the sinking."


The victims included 61-year-old woman Sao Yab, 7-year-old girl Khoy Chea, 7-year-old girl Pet Te, 37-year-old man Nhol Sophat, 10- year-old boy Phat Pov, and 3-year-old boy Yoeut Yeth.

Cambodia has been hard-hit by the Mekong River and flash floods since Aug. 13. At least 207 people were killed and other 1.2 million people have been affected.

The floods also affected more than 300,000 hectares of rice paddies and completely destroyed other 100,000 hectares of rice paddies.

Some 180 kilometers of national roads and around 1,800 kilometers of gravel roads have been affected, according to the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Thailand Needs Cambodia Deal to Avoid Gas Shortages, Pichai Says [-Does Thailand deserve Cambodian oil and gas?]

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:53 AM PDT

By Daniel Ten Kate and Supunnabul Suwannakij

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand's petrochemical industry may lose billions of dollars if the government fails to strike an agreement with neighboring Cambodia on overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand, Energy Minister Pichai Naripthaphan said.

"Thailand is running out of gas in 15 years," he said in an interview in Bangkok today. "Petrochemical companies rely on components of wet gas from the Gulf of Thailand. Billions of dollars every year will be gone if we can't get more supply."

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's two-month-old government has sought to mend ties with Cambodia after gun battles in disputed border areas killed more than 20 people since 2008. Waters claimed by both countries contain enough gas to secure Thailand's supply for 50 years, Pichai said.


Development in the 26,000 square kilometers, more than twice the size of Qatar, has stalled for more than three decades. It will take at least 10 years to pump gas out of the ground after a political agreement is reached, a process that is now underway, Pichai said.

"At this moment it looks very positive," said Pichai, 49. "We want to get it done and Cambodia wants to get it done. We just need to make sure internal politics won't be an obstacle."

--Editors: Patrick Harrington, Tony Jordan

Memories keep vanished Cambodian films alive

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:51 AM PDT

Davy Chou's documentary "Golden Slumbers" had its world premiere this week at BIFF (AFP/File, Kim Jae-Hwan)
Former director Ly Bun Yim in an undated multiple-exposure image (AFP/Ly Bun Yim/File, Kim Jae-Hwan)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011
By Mathew Scott (AFP)

BUSAN — When filmmaker Davy Chou began to research the history of Cambodian cinema he found the films themselves had almost vanished amidst the devastation of war but that memories were keeping them alive.

"The Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh in 1975 and the film industry just simply vanished," says Chou.

"But the wonderful thing to me was that everywhere I went, people would remember the movies. They had passed these stories down from generation to generation."

The 28-year-old French-Cambodian was drawn into the story through a family connection. His grandfather Van Chann was a film producer in the 1960s and 70s, a time when the Cambodian film industry thrived.


When Chou decided to become a filmmaker in his early 20s he also began digging into the past.

The fruits of his labours can be found in the documentary "Golden Slumbers", which had its world premiere this week at the 16th Busan International Film Festival, where it is competing for the main documentary prize.

Chou made his first trip back to Cambodia in 2008. His family had escaped the Khmer Rouge regime, which wiped out up to two million people through starvation, overwork and execution, by moving to France. His grandfather never made another film after 1975.

But through family connections and the help of the Internet, Chou was able to piece together what remained of the industry in Cambodia.

From the shadows came directors, actors and film fans, and in "Golden Slumbers" they walk Chou -- and his audience -- back through time.

"Most of the people had lost contact with each other completely," says Chou. "Filmmaking was outlawed under the Khmer (Rouge) regime and the directors, producers, actors -- they all were either killed or left the country or moved on to other things. Films were totally forbidden."

Chou's film, through testimony of the likes of charismatic former director Ly Bun Yim, shows that in the early 1970s the Cambodian film industry was thriving.

By the time the Khmer Rouge forces took Phnom Penh in 1975 the industry was producing more than 20 films a year -- romances, the re-telling of old legends, all with the unique sounds of Cambodian pop music pulsing away in the background.

Chou interviews ordinary people who describe how the population gathered in cinemas to watch the latest movies -- even as the fighting raged.

Chou finds that one ancient, dilapidated movie theatre in Phnom Penh has become home to hundreds of impoverished squatter families and that the old people there still tell children stories plucked from memories of what they saw on the silver screen.

"For so many of these people the movies are very much alive, even though they had not seen them for decades," says Chou. "They knew the plots, the actors and the complete story lines."

It remains unknown whether the Khmer Rouge actively set about destroying the prints of the estimated 400 Cambodian films that existed until 1975.

"We think that maybe the prints were just left to rot or were thrown away," Chou says. "People were fearing for their lives so they just didn't want anything to do with them."

While Cambodia?s former ruler King Norodom Sihanouk had famously shot short films of his family and even produced a few features, most Cambodian filmmakers of the time were inspired by foreign movies or by helping French director Marcel Camus when he shot the romance "Bird of Paradise" (1962) in Cambodia.

Now, only around 30 scratchy versions of their work remain, copied over the years from video to VCD and sold in the Cambodian communities which spread out across the world as people escaped the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.

But, with the help of the Cambodian government, the country?s film industry is once again finding its feet thanks to a new film commission and funding for young filmmakers.

Chou has played his part too. Inspired by the history he found, he staged the Golden Reawakening festival and exhibition in 2009 and has helped set up the Kon Khmer Koun Khmer, a collective of young Cambodian artists.

"I think -- and I hope -- that in the end what this film shows is the power of cinema," says Chou. "Even though these people had everything taken away, they still remember and they can still share those memories.

"To me that is truly inspirational."

China and Vietnam sign agreement to cool sea dispute

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:43 AM PDT

Oct 12 (Reuters) - China and Vietnam signed an agreement seeking to contain a dispute over the South China Sea that has stoked tensions between the two Communist-ruled neighbours divided by a history of distrust, China's official news agency said on Wednesday.

Diplomats signed the six-point agreement on Tuesday, while the General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, held conciliatory talks with Hu Jintao, who is China's Communist Party chief and president.

Vietnam and China -- as well as the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan -- stake conflicting claims of sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea, a potentially oil and gas rich body of water spanned by key shipping lanes.


Under the deal that builds on Beijing's efforts to cool tensions over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea, the two sides agreed to open a hotline to deal with potential maritime flare-ups and hold border negotiation talks twice a year.

"The two countries should remain committed to friendly consultations in order to properly handle maritime issues and make the South China Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation," said the agreement, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

"Both sides should solve maritime disputes through negotiations and friendly consultations."

The bridge-building effort could dispel some of the rancour that has built up in the region, setting Beijing against Southeast Asian nations that have turned to the United States to counter growing Chinese military and political influence.

Last month, China's top official newspaper warned that a joint energy project between India and Vietnam in the sea infringed China's territorial claims.

In May and June, Vietnam accused Chinese vessels of harassing Vietnamese ships within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone. China denied its ships had done anything wrong.

Businessmen and diplomats say China has pressured foreign firms in deals with Vietnam not to develop oil blocks in the sea.

China helped Vietnamese Communist forces to victory in their decades-long fight against U.S. backed forces, but the two Asian nations have a history of mutual distrust reflecting Vietnam's anxieties about its much bigger neighbour. In 1979, they fought a short but bitter border war.

On the day that the agreement was signed, China's President Hu told Vietnam's party chief Trong their two countries should try to get along.

"Stick to using dialogue and consultations to handle properly problems in bilateral relations," said Hu, according to a Xinhua report.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

World Food Day: call for support of small-scal​e food producers

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:39 AM PDT

Dear all,

This week is the World Food Week, and tomorrow there will be an exhibition to call for greater investment in small-scale food producers. For more information, please find the files attached.

Kind regards,


Soleak Seang
Regional Communications Officer
Oxfam America East Asia Regional Office
4th Floor, #64, Street 108, Wat Phnom, Daun Penh
Phnom Penh UTC/GMT +7 hours
H/P: +855 23 210 357 (ext-123)
Skype: Soleak_Oxfamamerica


http://www.box.net/shared/7i4br98x3c2clnp4etak


http://www.box.net/shared/4m4k3icgyc0lvlot7364


http://www.box.net/shared/53vm7iati3tr4z7k0xaq


http://www.box.net/shared/gbh9qbh40yznpsx54izo

Robb Hamill's interview on the KR Tribunal

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:31 AM PDT

Rob Hamill (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Click the control below to listen to the audio program:

KRT has 'right' to investigate [: Comrade H5H]

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:12 AM PDT

Comrade Hor 5 Hong (aka H5H)
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Vong Sokheng and Mary Kozlovski
The Phnom Penh Post

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said yesterday that the Khmer Rouge tribunal had the right to conduct investigations into the court's third and fourth cases, following the resignation of international Co-Investigating Judge Siegfried Blunk in response to perceived political interference at the tribunal.

"[The government] clearly knows that the investigations into cases 003 and 004 are the right of the tribunal," Hor Namhong told reporters at a press conference, following a meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.

He emphasised, however, that the government had to take responsibility for any outcome stemming from the court that caused "instability".

"If this UN-backed KR tribunal does something that leads to instability of peace or war happens again in Cambodia, who will take responsibility? The government is taking responsibility for the national fate," he added.


According to Judge Blunk's press release issued by the court on Monday, his decision to quit was sparked by statements from government officials regarding cases 003 and 004.

However, Hor Namhong yesterday denied that he had made comments in a media report, cited in Judge Blunk's statement, which quoted him as saying that Cambodia must decide whether to arrest further former Khmer Rouge leaders.

Last year, Hor Namhong told reporters that Prime Minister Hun Sen had told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that he would not allow prosecutions beyond the court's second case.

The United Nations confirmed yesterday that it had "noted" Judge Blunk's stated reason for his resignation.

Martin Nesirky, spokesman for the UN Office of the Secretary General, said via email: "We will continue to monitor the situation at the ECCC closely, including in consultation with the Royal Government [of Cambodia]."

Rights groups yesterday pressed the UN to address concerns about the tribunal's independence. In a statement, Amnesty International urged the UN to emphasise that any attempts to influence the court's work "will force the UN to review its involvement".

"Any attempt by the Cambodian government to influence the work of the ECCC undermines the entire tribunal," Amnesty International Asia-Pacific director Sam Zarifi said.

New York-based independent monitoring group Open Society Justice Initiative welcomed Judge Blunk's resignation and reiterated its request for the UN to open an inquiry into "allegations of judicial misconduct and incompetence during his 10 months in the position".

"The UN needs to seek public guarantees from Prime Minister Hun Sen and his government of full cooperation in all four of the open cases before the court," OSJI executive director James A Goldston said in a statement. "If those guarantees are not forthcoming, the UN should reassess its commitment to the court."

Killing fields trials beset by farce and interference

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 12:08 AM PDT

Former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, and former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, will still be tried. Photo: Reuters

October 12, 2011
Lindsay Murdoch
The Sydney Morning Herald

BANGKOK: Prosecutions against five high-ranking Khmer Rouge cadres are set to be dropped as United Nations trials in Phnom Penh collapse amid farce and acrimony.

Charges are expected to be dropped against the alleged killing field death squad commanders Sou Met and Meas Muth, who have been accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The German co-investigating judge Siegfried Blunk quit the trials on Monday, citing interference by the Cambodian Prime Minister, Hen Sen, and other government officials.

A man sweeps near skulls of Khmer Rouge victims at Phnom Batheay village during Pchum Ben, the country's festival to remember the dead. Photo: Reuters


Mr Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge cadre, has declared further trials are ''not allowed'' and the Information Minister, Khieu Kanharith, said in May that if investigating judges want to pursue new cases ''they should pack their bags and leave''.

The trials, officially called the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, are in chaos following bitter internal disagreements and resignations of staff, including the investigating judges' entire UN legal team. The trials have cost more than $100 million since being established in 2006.

The Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people when it ruled impoverished Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

The only conviction handed down in five years is that of Kaing Guek Eav, a former prison chief known as Duch, sentenced to 19 years' jail last year for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison.

The courts that were supposed to bring justice to the Cambodian people after some of the worst atrocities committed last century will now see only four other Khmer Rouge cadres face trial. They are the former Khmer Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan; the organisation's chief ideologist, Nuon Chea; the former foreign minister Ieng Sary; and his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs.

Their trials could drag on for years, prompting speculation the accused, in their 70s and 80s, may not be alive to hear the verdicts.

The UN-funded court has attempted to keep secret the identities of Sou Met, the Khmer Rouge's former air force commander, and Meas Muth, the navy commander, referring in public only to case file 003.

After an international co-prosecutor declared in 2009 there was sufficient evidence to submit the cases to trial, Cambodian judges and prosecutors opposed the cases proceeding, claiming the suspects did not meet the definition of ''most responsible'' under court rules.

Judges offered no explanation when in April they announced case file 003 was closed. Days later Andrew Cayley, another co-prosecutor, attempted to reopen the cases but the judges refused.

The court is also set to drop prosecutions against three other high-level cadres in case file 004, including a Khmer Rouge official called Aom An, alias Tho An, who has been accused of crimes against humanity and genocide.

Among other mass crimes, Aom An, a former Buddhist monk, was the head of Kang Meas district in 1977 where genocide was committed against ethnic Cham people, which spread nationwide the following year, according to case summaries published by Human Rights Watch.

Another accused commander in case 004 is Yim Tith, a high-level official of a north-western zone where ethnic Vietnamese were targeted. The third official accused in case file 004 is Im Chem, alias Srei Chem, who presided over forced labour camps where many people died.

The resignation of Judge Blunk, who also worked as a judge in East Timor, has intensified pressure on the UN to exert its authority at the trials.

Mr Hun Sen, who has ruled for more than 20 years, is believed to have had a tense meeting with the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, in October last year during which he reportedly insisted no further cases would be allowed.

But Human Rights Watch said in a report last week Mr Hun Sen has no legal right to make such a decision for the court, which is supposed to be independent of the government.

Human Rights Watch has been particularly critical of the proceedings, last week calling on Judge Blunk as well as his Cambodian counterpart to resign after what the group called a failure to ''conduct genuine, impartial and effective investigations''.

''The investigating judges concluded their investigation into case 003 without notifying the suspects, interviewing key witnesses or conducting crime scene investigations,'' the Asia director at Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, said.

After Mr Ban accepted Judge Blunk's resignation, a UN deputy spokesman, Eduardo Del Buey, called for an end to interference in the work of the court.

''As we have consistently emphasised, the [court] must be permitted to proceed with its work without interference from any entity including the royal government of Cambodia, donor states or civil society,'' Mr Del Buey said.

He said a reserve judge, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet of Switzerland, would be put in place quickly so the court's work is not interrupted.

After Judge Blunk's resignation, Mr Kanharith, the Cambodian Information Minister, denied the government was influencing the court.

Cambodia’s Classical Culture Comes to Campbell Hall

Posted: 11 Oct 2011 11:56 PM PDT

11 Oct 2011
Oxana Ermolova
Staff Writer
The Bottom Line (UC Santa Barbara, California, USA)

Cambodia's Khmer Arts Ensemble performed at UC Santa Barbara's Campbell Hall on October 6, enchanting local audiences with its presentation of the classical Cambodian dance and music tradition.

The Khmer Arts Ensemble's production, The Lives of Giants, is an original creation based upon an ancient Hindu epic, but its theme of violence breeding violence is poignantly relevant in light of Cambodia's war-ravaged recent past.

In the 1970s the Khmer Rouge Communist regime ruthlessly persecuted the Cambodian population, resulting in genocide and famine. The regime also attempted to eradicate the historical and cultural heritage of Cambodia.

Only after the fall of the Khmer Rouge was the study of classical Cambodian dance and music revived. "I dedicate my work to the preservation of classic work but at the same time keeping classic work relevant," said Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, choreographer of the production and artistic director of the Khmer Arts Ensemble.


Shapiro has founded a separate Khmer Arts Academy in Long Beach that provides free classical dance classes to Cambodian-American children in the area and periodically sends its students to train in Cambodia. The Khmer Arts Ensemble itself is stationed in Cambodia but tours extensively all over the world. Cambodian classical dance, which is over a thousand years old, evolved from temple dancing and was performed as part of prayer to bring peace and prosperity to the land. As most other classical dance traditions, it has strictly codified roles and stylized movements that help those familiar with the culture interpret the meaning of the dance. The gestures of the hands and the feet are particularly expressive. But for those who are not familiar with this cultural art form, following the story and appreciating the finer points of the dancers' technique may be a challenge.

Similarly, Cambodian classical music has been developing for centuries, so it may sound unusual to those hearing it for the first time.

"Music is culture specific," said UCSB professor in the department of music and ethnomusicologist Scott Marcus. "If you live in the culture then you understand a lot of the things that create levels of meaning in the music. By definition we are outsiders looking in."

And although the term classical music is commonly associated with Western classical music, Marcus emphasized that "Western classical music is only one of the classical musical traditions of the world."

The ensemble visited several UCSB music, dance and design classes to help the students better appreciate classical Cambodian culture.

"The performance was hard to understand, but when they came to our class, I learned so much," said first-year mathematics major Ellen Wirth-Foster after the musicians of the ensemble came to speak to her world music class. "I think that a very important part of their appearance here was coming and talking to our class so that we could understand what they were doing a little more."

The ensemble thus helped UCSB students appreciate the rich variety of musical and dance traditions of the world. In addition to the fascinating technicality and skill of the performers, what stood out during the performance was the poignancy of the message being conveyed. By depicting the futility and destructiveness of reacting to disagreement with violence, The Lives of Giants production demonstrated that compassion and humanity is the only true path to ending a cycle of violence.

"Cambodian death, is it genocide or not?" - Op-Ed by Uon Sim

Posted: 11 Oct 2011 11:45 PM PDT

Comrade H5H (aka KR flu) changes his tune on the KRT

Posted: 11 Oct 2011 11:37 PM PDT

Comrade H5H during the press conference on 11 Oct 2011 (Photo: CEN)
Hor 5 Hong: Charging or not charging additional KR leaders is the tribunal's rights, but the government has the rights to express its opinion

11 October 2011
By Sok Pheakdey
Cambodia Express News
Translated from Khmer by Soy

Phnom Penh – In the morning of 11 October 2011, Vice-PM Hor 5 Hong, the minister of Foreign of Affairs, said that research in Case 003/004 involving charges and trials of additional KR leaders is the rights of the hybrid court, but the government has the rights to express its opinion in the trial progress of the KR leaders.

During a press conference held in the morning of 11 October 2011 at the ministry of Foreign Affairs following his meeting with the Serbian ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hor 5 Hong indicated that quotes of his words by the news media were not right: "I said that the hybrid KRT lacks funds from one month to the next, from year to year. It spent several hundreds of millions of dollars to try Duch alone. How many more months will it take to complete the trial of the other 4 suspects? What will happen to its funding in the future? That was what I told representatives of the French ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Hor 5 Hong indicated that: "Secondly, we clearly know that research into Case 003/004 is the tribunal's rights. We know this clearly without any doubt. Therefore, I said that, in the name of the government which is responsible for the destiny of the nation, peace, national unity, reconciliation or whether war will take place, or whether unrest will start all over again, the government has the right to express its opinion. If the hybrid court does something that brings in renewed unrest and war in Cambodia, who will be responsible for it? It is the government which is responsible for the destiny of the nation."


Hor 5 Hong indicated that:"If unrest is renewed, can we build the country like what we are doing now or not? If we build a bridge and someone bombs it, can we build infrastructures or not?"

In summary, Hor 5 Hong indicated that it is the tribunal's rights, but as leaders of the country and as responsible parties to the destiny of the nation and the people, the government has its opinion. Therefore, everything depends on the tribunal.

Hor 5 Hong's reaction above was in response the statement issued by the International investigating judge on his resignation letter dated 08 October 2011. In a statement published on 10 October 2011, Siegfried Blunk, the German International investigating judge, quoted Hor 5 Hong's words published in the news media, saying that the government does not want to see the continuation of the investigation and the trial of Case 003/004 anymore.

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