Cambodia Home Heart & Soul |
| Sacravatoons no 2100 : " Boeung Lohit " Posted: 17 Sep 2011 02:47 PM PDT   |
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KI Media: “Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Boeung Lohit - "The Lake of Blood"” plus 21 more |
| Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Boeung Lohit - "The Lake of Blood" Posted: 18 Sep 2011 07:03 PM PDT
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| Boeung Kak Lake Activist Savagely Beaten by Mob of Police Officers during Forced Eviction Posted: 18 Sep 2011 07:02 PM PDT Sam Rainsy Party to send a letter to World Bank to hold all future funding to Cambodia till solutions are found. Solutions that are acceptable to all residents of the Boeung kak Lake and not fake ones as recently proposed by the government that keeps exposing hundreds of residents to violence and forced evictions. Mu Sochua ----------- The following was originally posted at: http://www.licadho-cambodia.org/video.php?perm=25 Video: Boeung Kak Lake Activist Savagely Beaten by Mob of Police Officers during Forced Eviction  September 17, 2011 - Yesterday witnessed the most violent forced eviction of Boeung Kak lake residents to date. Early in the afternoon, a hundred "anti-riot" intervention police officers and Daun Penh district security guards positioned themselves nearby homes of lake residents. Two excavators, protected by the armed group, proceeded in destroying homes of families arbitrarily disqualified from the 12.44 hectares of land given to the remaining lake families. Later in the afternoon, as the excavators were on the move to destroy more houses, lake resident and activist Suong Sophorn was savagely assaulted by a mob of intervention police officers who left him for dead after kicking and beating him with bricks and batons. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBnuFyeeu7c  | ||||||||||||
| An act of cruelty and a savage beating Posted: 18 Sep 2011 07:00 PM PDT Posted on September 17, 2011 by chris Originally posted at http://blog.thecauseofprogress.com/2011/09/17/an-act-of-cruelty-and-a-savage-beating/ Yesterday was undoubtedly the cruelest day so far for the people at Boeung Kak. Shukaku Inc. excavators tore down at least eight homes, without warning, while peoples belongings were still inside. The impunity is appalling, these homes have been arbitrarily excluded from the 12.44 hectare concession, and it appears that both the company and the municipality are going to do everything within their power to wipe out the excluded homes, as quickly as possible. Perhaps they think that by destroying their homes, the families will no longer have any grounds on which to complain. It is almost certain that the company will try to do the same to the remaining homes in the coming days and weeks. At one point, a Sam Rainsy Party member arrived and encouraged the crowd to try to push back the excavators and stop them destroying the remaining homes, and he paid a heavy price for his bravery. More than ten riot police beat him with their batons, shields and other weapons, leaving him bloody and unconscious on the ground. The beating spelled the end of the evictions, as rain began to soak what belongings the families could save from their homes. Shukaku destroy homes at Boeung Kak Lake from Little Ease Films on Vimeo. ----
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| Posted: 18 Sep 2011 06:59 PM PDT Scenes of another police brutality on Soung Sophoan, the head of the Sam Rainsy Party youth. He was seriously injured when he attempted to bring a petition to the UN Secretary-general during his last visit to Cambodia. Yesterday Sophaon was hit with a massive piece of rock, beaten with electric baton, fell unconscious in a pool of blood. He was attempting to stop police violence against the villagers whose homes were being bulldozed by the company that received a long-term concessions from prime minister Hun Sen for development. After the beating and the spread of terror on the villagers, the police mob left. State violence against human rights defenders, members of the opposition, women, landowners is part of the government to bring silence, to spread fear and to preserve power. Say "No" to state violence. Be part of non-violence and Donate.     | ||||||||||||
| Hun Sen Government Survives on Blood and Brutality Posted: 18 Sep 2011 06:58 PM PDT  Saturday, September 17, 2011 By Mu Sochua The spirit of Sourn Sophaon will never die. His gentle smile from the hospital bed shows determination for justice. Be part of this spirit and Donate to the cause. Walk the campaign trail with us. Make the change with us. Donate by visiting: http://sochua.wordpress.com Donate to Mu Sochua's Justice Fund  | ||||||||||||
| Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Boeung Kak Posted: 18 Sep 2011 06:57 PM PDT
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| Silencing Cambodia's Honest Brokers (in Khmer by Angkor Borei News) Posted: 17 Sep 2011 05:17 PM PDT | ||||||||||||
| Cambodia eyes Chinese investment to boost economy Posted: 17 Sep 2011 05:11 PM PDT BEIJING, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Relations between China and Cambodia have grown closer in recent years, with China investing billions of dollars in the southeast Asian nation to help boost its economy, an official said Friday. China has become Cambodia's biggest source of foreign direct investment, said Mao Tianyu, division chief of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce. Chinese companies invested 395 million U.S. dollars in non-financial sectors in Cambodia last year, an increase of 83 percent year-on-year. By the end of July 2011, China's outbound direct investment in non-financial sectors in Cambodia amounted to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, Mao said. Cambodia's economy has been growing rapidly but is still weak compared with other countries in the region. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 5.9 percent year-on-year to reach 11.44 billion U.S. dollars in 2010, a growth rate slower than Thailand's 7.8-percent increase and also below the 6.8-percent rise seen in Vietnam, said Xu Ningning, executive vice secretary-general of the China-ASEAN Business Council. Cambodia's per capita GDP stood at 792 U.S. dollars last year with an annual inflation rate of 3.1 percent. Most rural households in Cambodia depend on agriculture and related sub-sectors. Agriculture, apparel, real estate and tourism are the country's four pillar industries. As a country endeavoring to integrate itself into the global economy, Cambodia has shown great enthusiasm for foreign investment. The country approved 5.5 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment during the first seven months of this year, up 301 percent from last year, Xu said. The Asian Development Bank on Wednesday raised Cambodia's growth forecast to 6.8 percent for the year, up from its April projection of 6.5 percent, due to rising agricultural production. Khek Caimealy Sysoda, Cambodia's ambassador to China, said she hopes to see more Chinese investment in her home country. "Cambodia enjoys political and macro-economic stability as well as a transparent legal framework. It has a lot of potential for investment," she said. For many Chinese entrepreneurs, Cambodia is attractive due to low labor costs and its status as a least-developed country (LDC). Cambodia's LDC status entitles it to preferential trade policies. For example, Japan has reduced its tariffs on imports of 4,800 items from Cambodia, including apparel and footwear. Cambodia has also signed free-trade agreements (FTAs) with other Asian countries, including India and the Republic of Korea (ROK), under which export duties on many of its manufactured goods are cut. China has not signed FTAs with India or the ROK. "Cambodia provides Chinese investors with access to key international markets through preferential trade policies," said Khek Caimealy Sysoda. Cambodia's natural resources are still relatively untouched, offering numerous investment opportunities. The country has two billion barrels of offshore oil ready to be tapped; however, a lack of funds and technology has prevented the country from exploring its own oil resources. The country imports virtually all of its oil-derived products. Cambodia has ambitions to become one of the world's major rice suppliers, aiming to export 1 million metric tons of rice in 2015. However, its rice exports hit just 45,000 metric tons last year due to low processing capacity. "This gap presents opportunities for Chinese companies," Xu said. Cambodia will continue to give equal treatment to both local and foreign investors, improve its methods of governance and reduce the cost of doing business in order to attract more investment, Khek Caimealy Sysoda noted.  | ||||||||||||
| Maritime MoU with Cambodia back on agenda Posted: 17 Sep 2011 08:57 AM PDT September 17, 2011 The Nation Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday that her government would continue its negotiations with Cambodia on maritime issues in accordance with a 2001 memorandum of understanding even though the opposition insists that the pact is flawed. "We will follow the guidelines set by the 2001 MoU, and the foreign minister will ask the Cabinet to set up a committee to handle the matter soon," Yingluck told reporters. The prime minister discussed the issue of both sides claiming an overlapping area in the Gulf of Thailand with her Cambodian counterpart when she visited Phnom Penh on Thursday and both agreed to continue negotiations to settle the conflict. A dispute over whom this overlapping area in the Gulf belongs to has been an issue since the countries signed the MoU in June 2001. It became controversial when the opposition Democrat Party, backed by its yellow-shirt ally the People's Alliance for Democracy, accused former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra of having personal interests related to petroleum-resource concessions in the deal. The previous government, headed by Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, decided to denounce the MoU after Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as an adviser to the Cambodian government in November 2009. Though Abhisit denounced the MoU, he failed to go one step further to scrap the deal, which means the memorandum is still effective. Abhisit said yesterday that he had been unable to go ahead with the MoU issue because there were too many complicated technicalities. "We disagreed with the delimitation, but had no time to make changes to the MoU," he said. "Unlike this government, we don't have any hidden interests. But there is some information indicating that Thaksin might have a personal business interest." He was replying to allegations made by Hun Sen earlier that Abhisit had dispatched his then-deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban to make a behind-the-scenes deal on maritime resources. Yingluck said she would handle the negotiations openly and transparently, before a committee is set up to complete the job. The prime minister added that she was not aware of her brother Thaksin visiting the neighbouring country, saying that she had performed her duty as a representative of the Thai government for the benefit of the country and had no personal interests. Yingluck was also in Laos yesterday as part of a mission to introduce herself to leaders in neighbouring countries after taking office. During the day-long visit, she discussed the energy cooperation deal with her Lao counterpart PM Thongsing Thammavong. Under the deal, Thailand will purchase electricity from Laos in accordance with earlier pacts, the Lao News Agency reported.  | ||||||||||||
| Do You Know...? series - By Anonymous Posted: 17 Sep 2011 08:50 AM PDT Inspire .............Aspire to Greatness ............................Before You Expire!  | ||||||||||||
| Posted: 17 Sep 2011 08:46 AM PDT    | ||||||||||||
| The corrupt mendacity of the leaders of the Buddhist Sangha in Cambodia Posted: 17 Sep 2011 06:50 AM PDT A Busy Week Excerpt from Post on September 15, 2011 by chris Originally posted at: http://blog.thecauseofprogress.com/ On Sunday, the Venerable Loun Sovath was evicted from his pagoda at Wat Onaloum. He removed the last of his materials from his room and walked away from the pagoda that has been his home for more than twenty years. A letter issued in April from the head monk in Phnom Penh, the Supreme Patriarch Non Nget, Tep Vong's right hand man, had banned him from staying in any pagoda in Phnom Penh. A second letter released shortly afterwards, banned him from staying in any pagodas in his home province of Siem Reap, effectively forcing him into exile. The decision to evict him is a politically motivated one, which is ironic and contradictory in itself given that one of the reasons for his eviction was that he is engaged in political activities that can harm the image of Buddhism in Cambodia. (A claim that the Venerable Loun Sovath has repeatedly denied.) So then what harm can this politically motivated eviction order do to the image of Buddhism? He is being forcibly evicted because he helps communities that face forced evictions, and in particular his own Chi Kreng community (whom he has advocated on behalf of for more than two years) and the Boeung Kak lake community, whom he has offered spiritual guidance and support on several occasions. His outspoken activities have angered the senior monk ministers, who want no dissension amoung their ranks, and who seem to want only to be seen to reflect the rhetoric of the CPP. However, while the Venerable Loun Sovath's activities may not be appreciated by his superiors, he does have support from his fellow students and other monks that know of him. And it may even be this support that motivated Non Nget to have Sovath leave his pagoda for good. He has threatened to not only evict any monks that associate with Sovath, but also to evict all of the monks staying in the same house as him if he did not remove all of his belongings by Sunday. It is depressing to see a monk evicted in this way, and it simply reflects the corrupt mendacity of the leaders of the Buddhist Sangha in Cambodia, but it is encouraging to know that his peers support his advocacy, and while few other monks will speak out publicly and support him, for fear of the retributions they would face, it is clear that the threats from the senior monks and monk ministers come from fear, a fear that they cannot maintain control forever. Why such a desire for control in the first place? In a touching show of compassion, many of the women from Boeung Kak lake came to help Sovath remove his belongings. Venerable Loun Sovath is Evicted from Wat Onaloum from Little Ease Films on Vimeo. The next day, he flew to Ireland to attend a Human Rights Defender conference held by Frontline Defenders.
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| State Violence to Force Eviction Posted: 17 Sep 2011 12:42 AM PDT Saturday, September 17, 2011 By Mu Sochua Just came back from the site of demolition and the hospital, with MP colleagues and youth. The message from youth to youth: We want part of this development but not destruction of of future. Sophoan continues to smile and is ready to get up and go again. We discuss long term strategy for justice with Sophaon while he continues to receive care. He has been moved out of the emergency unit. The Cause of Progress - Boeung Kak Lake Teaser Trailer from Little Ease Films on Vimeo.  | ||||||||||||
| Brain Food for the VIOLENT, CRUEL CPP Posted: 16 Sep 2011 11:44 PM PDT The more cruel you are, the more you will hate; and the more you hate, the more cruel you will become--and so on in a vicious circle for ever. Good and evil both increase at compound interest. - C. S. Lewis  | ||||||||||||
| Posted: 16 Sep 2011 11:25 PM PDT  YOU B L O O D - S U C K I N G greedy V E R M I N S !!!!!!!!  | ||||||||||||
| "កោតស្ដេចស្ងប់ព្រះទ័យ ផ្ទំលក់កើត!?" a Poem in Khmer by Yim Guechsè & Sam Vichea Posted: 16 Sep 2011 11:20 PM PDT   | ||||||||||||
| Posted: 16 Sep 2011 11:18 PM PDT Wisdom's Call Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? At the highest point along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gate leading into the city, at the entrance, she cries aloud: "To you, O people, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, set your hearts on it. Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning all of them are right; they are upright to those who have found knowledge. Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
"I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence;
"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works,
"Now then, my children, listen to me; - Book of Proverbs (Chapter 9, the Hebrew Bible)  | ||||||||||||
| Soung Sophoan at Calmette Hospital Posted: 16 Sep 2011 10:21 PM PDT  MP Son Chhay and councilor Hing Sokhom visited Mr. Soung Sophoan at Calmette hospital. Sophoan was injured in his head and finger yesterday from violent act committed by Hun Sen regime while trying to stop the illegal destruction of people houses in Boeung Kak. SRP MPs demand the government to immediately stop this criminal act against it's own people and those involved in the crime must be brought for justice. Son Chhay  | ||||||||||||
| "រដូវប្រេតស្វែងរកញាតិ" a Poem in Khmer by NhiekKiri Posted: 16 Sep 2011 08:51 PM PDT   | ||||||||||||
| Ross Sneh Bat Bang [... Heng Soy?] Posted: 16 Sep 2011 08:50 PM PDT Song selected by an anonymous reader from Down Under ... for Heng (tech) Soy (chreun)? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W7GCyGLjiY  | ||||||||||||
| "អាសូរឈាមខ្មែរ" a Poem in Khmer by Sék Serei Posted: 16 Sep 2011 07:45 PM PDT   | ||||||||||||
| Posted: 16 Sep 2011 06:41 PM PDT
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times Reporting from Beijing— At a glance, it is clear this is no run-of-the-mill farm: A 6-foot spiked fence hems the meticulously planted vegetables and security guards control a cantilevered gate that glides open only to select cars. "It is for officials only. They produce organic vegetables, peppers, onions, beans, cauliflowers, but they don't sell to the public," said Li Xiuqin, 68, a lifelong Shunyi village resident who lives directly across the street from the farm but has never been inside. "Ordinary people can't go in there." Until May, a sign inside the gate identified the property as the Beijing Customs Administration Vegetable Base and Country Club. The placard was removed after a Chinese reporter sneaked inside and published a story about the farm producing organic food so clean the cucumbers could be eaten directly from the vine. Elsewhere in the world, this might be something to boast about. Not in China. Organic gardening here is a hush-hush affair in which the cleanest, safest products are largely channeled to the rich and politically connected. Many of the nation's best food companies don't promote or advertise. They don't want the public to know that their limited supply is sent to Communist Party officials, dining halls reserved for top athletes, foreign diplomats, and others in the elite classes. The general public, meanwhile, dines on foods that are increasingly tainted or less than healthful — meats laced with steroids, fish from ponds spiked with hormones to increase growth, milk containing dangerous additives such as melamine, which allows watered-down milk to pass protein-content tests. "The officials don't really care what the common people eat because they and their family are getting a special supply of food," said Gao Zhiyong, who worked for a state-run food company and wrote a book on the subject. In China, the tegong, or special supply, is a holdover from the early years of Communist rule, when danwei, work units of state-owned enterprises, raised their own food and allocated it based on rank. "The leaders wanted to make sure they had enough to eat and that nobody poisoned their food," said Gao. In the 1950s, Soviet advisors helped the Chinese set up a food procurement department under the security apparatus to supply and inspect food for the leadership, according to a biography of Mao Tse-tung written by his personal physician. Lower levels of officialdom were divided into 25 gradations of rank that determined the quantity and quality of rations. In modern-day China, it is the degradation of the environment and a limited supply of healthful food that is fueling the parallel food system for the elite. "We flash forward 50 years and we see the only elements of China society getting food that is reliable, safe and free of contaminants are those cadres who have access to the special food supply," said Phelim Kine of the Hong Kong office of Human Rights Watch. In the capital, special supply farms are located near the airport, home to wealthier expatriates and many international schools, and to the northwest, beyond the miasma of pollution emanating from the overcrowded, traffic-choked central city. In the western foothills, the exclusive Jushan farm first developed to supply Mao's private kitchen still operates under the auspices of the state-run Capital Agribusiness Group, providing food for national meetings. A state-owned company, the Beijing 2nd Commercial Bureau, says on its website that it "supplies national banquets and meetings, which have become the cradle of safe food in Beijing." The State Council, China's highest administrative body, has its own supplier of delicacies, down to salted duck eggs. "We have supplied them for almost 20 years," said a spokesman at the offices of Weishanhu Lotus Foods, in Shandong province. "Our product cannot be bought in an ordinary supermarket as our volume of production is very little." Organic farmers say they face pressure to sell their limited output to official channels. "The local government would like us to give more products to officials and work units, but we think it is important that individuals can enjoy our product," said Wang Zhanli, whose organic dairy in Yanqing, just beyond the most frequented tourist sections of the Great Wall, received certification in 2006. At his Green Yard dairy, the technology is imported from Holland. The cows graze on grass free of pesticides and are milked in a sterile barn by women in white caps who look more like laboratory aides than milkmaids. On their organic diet, the cows produce about half the volume of conventional dairy cows, meaning that the supply is never enough, especially since the 2008 scandal in which tainted milk left six Chinese babies dead and sickened 300,000 people. Managers at the dairy say about two-thirds of their product goes to officials, state-owned enterprises, embassies and international schools. A limited quantity is sold at diplomatic compunds and a few select health food stores at prices nearly triple that for regular milk. "We're not Switzerland. Our population is way too big for everybody to eat organic food," said Hou Xuejun, general manager of the Green Yard dairy. The continued existence of the tegong, or special supply, is treated with secrecy because of public resentment over the privileges of the elite. After the Southern Weekly, a hard-hitting Guangzhou-based newspaper, published the story about the customs farm, the Central Propaganda Department banned further reporting on the subject and the article was removed from the newspaper's website. The customs department said it did not own the farm but had signed a 10-year lease to buy vegetables. "Because of this deal we were able to have a stable supply of vegetables for the past years and we can pay for these items at much lower costs even when the price of food is rising so much nowadays," customs spokeswoman Feng Lijing said. The last year has seen dozens of stomach-churning scandals about tainted food. Last month, 11 people in western China died after consuming vinegar contaminated with antifreeze. Each new scandal redoubles the demand for safe food. Although organic produce stores are cropping up in Shanghai and Beijing, prices are high. Desperate for clean food at affordable prices, some Chinese families have formed cooperatives to buy directly from farmers — their own version of special supply. "There is not enough supply of organic food, there aren't so many farmers who really know how to produce organically, and if you found a farm, it is too expensive for ordinary people," said Liu Yujing, a Beijing homemaker who founded a 100-family cooperative last year. The mother of a 4-year-old girl, Liu was motivated by the revelations of melamine-tainted milk. "I know you can buy some organic food in shops, but I don't trust that either. We've heard a lot of them are fake." China's sports teams have enacted strict bans on athletes eating pork because of the fear that clenbuterol, a common but illegal steroid fed to pigs, can cause false positives on drug tests. Female judo champion Tong Wen was banned from competing internationally last year after a test showed traces of the drug, but the ban by the International Judo Federation was overturned in February after she said she had never knowingly ingested clenbuterol. "Now we have a special team that takes care of procuring food. We are more cautious than ever before. We buy pork only from organic farms through a channel that the government has approved," said judo coach Wu Weifeng. Much of the pork for the elite is procured through the 2nd Commercial Bureau, which has a subsidiary that slaughters 50,000 pigs a year at a farm in Sanhe, Hebei province, according to Caixin, a business magazine. The magazine said most of the pork went to the special supply and quoted a manager as saying, "Sometimes raising pigs is about politics too." barbara.demick@latimes.com Nicole Liu of The Times' Beijing bureau contributed to this report.  |
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