Disaster-prone Southeast Asia comes up with landmark pact

Disaster-prone Southeast Asia comes up with landmark pact

A villager walks past houses damaged by Typhoon Ketsana in Cambodia's Kampong Thom province 168km (104 miles) north of the capital, Phnom Penh in this photo taken September 30, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

via CAAI News Med

22 Jan 2010

Written by: Thin Lei Win

BANGKOK (AlertNet) - Name a natural disaster, any disaster. Be it a typhoon, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide or tsunami -- all 10 countries that make up Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN have experienced them all.

The region suffered 152 natural disasters in 2008 according to ASEAN, with the biggest being Cyclone Nargis which tore through Myanmar killing nearly 140,000 people.

More recently, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia in October, around the same time successive typhoons battered Philippines and flooded Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The region is so vulnerable to the force of nature that many in the aid community call it 'the supermarket for disasters'.

It's this constant exposure that has spurred ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to agree a legally binding pact to establish national and regional structures to deal with disasters -- the first of its kind.

"This is the Kyoto Protocol of disaster management. It's a watershed for all of us," Jerry Velasquez, senior regional coordinator for U.N. disaster agency UNISDR told AlertNet.

ASEAN hopes the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) will improve the region's ability to coordinate a response and boost its resilience to future disasters by making sure that early warning and preparedness are in place.

Experts have welcomed the pact as an encouraging move in the disaster-prone region, but enforcing it will be a big challenge for the bloc which is often criticised as a toothless organisation.

CHALLENGES

Under the agreement, which came into force on Dec. 24, 2009, governments of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are required to draw up national plans on managing disasters -- ranging from early warning and preparedness to rehabilitation and scientific research.

"AADMER will help the countries look at the same picture because they will actually have to do things step-by-step," Velasquez said. "In the past, some did the strategic national plans, some didn't. It's the same for standard operating procedures. But now because of the binding nature, all (member countries) will have to do this."

Importantly, the agreement has provisions for simplifying customs and immigration procedures in times of disasters, to avoid the kind of confusion and delays aid workers experienced in the aftermath of Nargis.

However, there is no system of sanction for countries that fail to live up to their obligations which means there is no stick to shake at member states that refuse to request aid in the aftermath of a major disaster or share scientific research.

Other concerns include the lack of sufficient numbers of staff in the ASEAN secretariat to coordinate the implementation of such a wide-ranging agreement; and funding.

Although the pact has been ratified by ASEAN, it could take years for member countries to pass the necessary changes in legislation to reflect the new agreement.

For ASEAN though, the agreement itself is a major achievement.

"Disasters occur every year and they have affected millions of people in the region," Dhannan Sunoto, head of ASEAN's disaster management & humanitarian assistance division, said. "So disaster management is something ASEAN needs to have in order to reduce the number of victims."

For a Q+A on the agreement, please click here

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

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Hôtel De La Paix voted best in Cambodia

Hôtel De La Paix voted best in Cambodia

Travel

via CAAI News Media

Readers of influential US travel magazine Travel + Leisure have voted stylish Siem Reap boutique property Hôtel de la Paix the best in Cambodia in the latest ‘T+L 500’ annual list of the world’s top hotels.

Based on based on readers’ ratings across a range of criteria, Hôtel de la Paix achieved an overall score of 88.68 – comfortably the best in Cambodia and 33rd in the entire Asia region, ahead of countless competitors from prominent international luxury brands.

The new T+L 500 list, published in the January 2010 issue of Travel + Leisure, is based on the results of the magazine’s 2009 readers’ survey, in which readers rate hotels in several categories including rooms/facilities; location; service; restaurants/food; and value.

In the 2010 T+L 500 guide Travel + Leisure editors noted Hôtel de la Paix’s marriage of traditional Khmer and Art Deco design influences and its innovative Arts Lounge gallery and restaurant. T+L editors also recommend that readers book into a Courtyard Garden suite - complete with outdoor tub - and reserve a swinging dining bed at the hotel’s signature Meric restaurant.

The full T+L 500 list can be found in the January 2010 issue of Travel + Leisure, or online at travelandleisure.com/tl500.

For further information on Hôtel de la Paix, visit hoteldelapaixangkor.com

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Thai Army Rangers clash with Cambodian troops near Preah Vihear temple

Thai Army Rangers clash with Cambodian troops near Preah Vihear temple

SI SA KET, Jan 24 (TNA) -- Thai Army Rangers clashed early Sunday with a unit of Cambodian soldiers near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, a senior Thai army officer said. No casualties were reported.

Lt-Col Nut Sri-in, commander of Suranaree Task Force Unit 163, said the fighting took place while a group of Thai rangers were patrolling and confronted Cambodian soldiers who were felling trees in Kantharalak district bordering Cambodia.

As the Rangers shouted at the Cambodian soldiers asking their purpose in crossing over to the area, the Cambodian soldiers fired M79 grenades and automatic rifles at them, Col Nut said.

The troops exchanged gunfire for over 20 minutes before the Cambodian soldiers withdrew into Cambodia, he said, adding that senior Thai and Cambodian officers would hold talks to prevent similar clashes from occurring in future.

The Associated Press news agency, meanwhile, quoted Lt-Gen Chea Tara, deputy armed forces commander and field commander for the area, as saying that Cambodia suffered no casualties in the fighting which took place about 12 miles (20 km) east of Preah Vihear temple.

He said fighting began when Thai troops intruded into Cambodian territory. AP quoted Cambodian Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-Gen Chhum Socheach as saying that two firefights lasted five minutes each beginning shortly after 9am.

The International Court of Justice awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962. Fighting between both sides occur sporadically, centring on a 1.8 square mile (4.6 sq.km.) parcel of scrub near the temple after Cambodia applied to register the ancient temple as a UNESCO World Heritage site in mid-2008.

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Cambodia reports clash with Thai troops on border

Cambodia reports clash with Thai troops on border

Sunday, January 24, 2010
Sopheng Cheang
Associated Press

Cambodian troops clashed Sunday with Thai soldiers near a temple that lies along a disputed part of their border and has been the scene of several deadly skirmishes in recent years, Cambodian military officials said.

Lt. Gen. Chea Tara, deputy armed forces commander and field commander for the area, said Cambodia suffered no casualties in the fighting in northern Cambodia, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) east of Preah Vihear temple. He said the fighting began when Thai troops intruded into Cambodian territory.

Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat said there were two firefights lasting about five minutes each. He could not say if Thai forces suffered any casualties.

Thai military authorities could not immediately be reached for confirmation of the fighting in an area.

The Cambodian officers said the area was calm after the fighting, but that both countries were on alert.

The area has been a flashpoint since 2008, when Thai nationalists protested Cambodian efforts to have the 11th century Preah Vihear temple named a U.N. World Heritage site. They claimed the move could invalidate Thai claims to small parcels of nearby jungle area.

In 1962, the World Court awarded the temple and the land it is on to Cambodia, but sovereignty over adjacent areas has never been clearly resolved.

The issue is closely linked to Thailand's domestic politics because the 2008 protests about the temple were led by the People's Alliance for Democracy, a group which was seeking to unseat the Thai government then in power because of its links to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin was ousted by a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and disrespecting constitutional monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The alliance raised the issue to stir up nationalist sentiment and attract support.

The furor caused both Thailand and Cambodia to reinforce their military positions in the area, and tensions have broken out into fighting on several occasions, leading to several deaths.

Relations between the two countries plunged further in November last year, when Cambodia named Thaksin an adviser on economic affairs. The appointment, and subsequent visits by Thaksin, set off a diplomatic row in which the two countries recalled their ambassadors. A Thai court in 2008 sentenced Thaksin in absentia to two years in prison on a corruption charge.

Cambodia has refused to extradite Thaksin.

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Nothing changes with the authoritarian regimes in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma

Nothing changes with the authoritarian regimes in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma

Saturday, January 23, 2010
By Scott Johnson
Canada Free Press

Nothing changes in Vietnam. Nor in Laos, Cambodia or Burma. These authoritarian regimes continues to do anything to repress its people in order in maintain a corrupt and brutal regime.

And can you beleive that hundreds of Montagnards remain in Vietnam’s prisons and the US State Department doesn't want to include these people as prisoners of concern?? (ie: not enough evidence of religious persecution)

Just an appalling act of abandonment.

Regards
Scott
Human Rights Watch
-------------

Vietnam: Repression Intensifies Prior to Party Congress

"With its treatment of peaceful critics, the Vietnamese government seems determined to stand out as one of the most repressive countries in Asia. We’d be thrilled if the Vietnamese government proved us wrong, but there are no signs that it will reverse its increasingly harsh crackdown on dissent." - Brad Adams, Asia director

Rights Defenders, Democracy Activists Targeted

January 21, 2010
Source: Human Rights Watch

(New York) - This week’s convictions and heavy sentences for four Vietnamese democracy activists, including the prominent human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh, highlighted the climate of increasingly harsh political repression in Vietnam, Human Rights Watch said today after the release of its World Report 2010.

The 612-page World Report 2010, the organization’s 20th annual review of human rights practices around the globe, summarizes major human rights trends in more than 90 nations and territories worldwide. In Vietnam, the report says, the government arrested and imprisoned dozens of democracy activists linked to opposition parties, independent bloggers, land rights protesters, and members of unsanctioned religious organizations during 2009.

“With its treatment of peaceful critics, the Vietnamese government seems determined to stand out as one of the most repressive countries in Asia,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “We’d be thrilled if the Vietnamese government proved us wrong, but there are no signs that it will reverse its increasingly harsh crackdown on dissent.”

In the lead-up to a key Vietnamese Communist Party congress in 2011, Human Rights Watch is concerned that the Vietnamese government will intensify its campaign to silence government critics and curb social unrest in an effort to quell any potential challenges to its one-party rule.
Away from the public spotlight, in 2009, the police cracked down on farmers protesting land grabs in the Mekong Delta, on Catholic parishioners in central and northern Vietnam opposing government confiscation of church properties, and on Montagnard activists in the Central Highlands resisting government control of their churches.

The four activists just sentenced to prison - Le Cong Dinh, Nguyen Tien Trung, Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, and Le Thang Long - were tried in Ho Chi Minh City on January 20 and 21 and received prison sentences ranging from five to 16 years. They were arrested during May and July for alleged links with the banned Democratic Party of Vietnam. They were accused of “colluding” with Vietnamese activists based abroad to create anti-government websites, post critical articles on the Internet, and incite social instability, and charged with attempting to overthrow the government under article 79 of Vietnam’s penal code. A fifth defendant, Tran Anh Kim, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison under article 79 on December 28.

On January 14 and 15, the Gia Lai provincial court sentenced two Montagnard Christians to prison, for nine and 12 years respectively, allegedly for organizing a “reactionary underground” network in violation of the country’s unity policy.

“Rights-respecting governments should speak up to protect peaceful activists and rights defenders in Vietnam and insist that the government abide by its international commitments,” Adams said. “Donors have been far too quiet about rights in recent years, but Vietnamese activists say that they will never succeed without consistent support from influential governments.”


Vietnamese courts sentenced at least 20 government critics and independent church activists to prison during 2009 on vaguely worded national security charges, according to the World Report. These include nine dissidents from Hanoi and Haiphong convicted in October for disseminating anti-government propaganda under penal code article 88. Their sentences are expected to be upheld in hearings before Vietnam’s Supreme Court this week even though the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined last year that five of the defendants had been detained arbitrarily.

Hundreds of other peaceful political and religious activists are serving long prison sentences in Vietnam. Religious freedom deteriorated during 2009, Human Rights Watch said. The government targeted religious leaders and their followers who advocated civil rights, religious freedom, and equitable resolution of land disputes.

There were also clashes between police and thousands of Catholic parishioners in Quang Binh protesting government confiscation of church properties, and government-orchestrated mobs violently dispersed followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, a renowned Buddhist monk who has advocated more religious freedom.

In the Central Highlands, authorities continued to arrest Montagnard Christians suspected of belonging to unregistered house churches considered subversive by the government, or of planning land rights protests or conveying information about rights abuses to activists abroad. On several occasions the police beat and shocked Montagnards with electric batons when they refused to sign pledges to join government-sanctioned churches.

During the review of Vietnam’s rights record by the UN Human Rights Commission in May, Vietnam defiantly rejected recommendations by UN member states to allow groups and individuals to promote human rights, express their opinions, and express public dissent. The government also refused to issue invitations to visit Vietnam to UN rights experts covering freedom of religion, expression, torture, and violence against women.

Vietnam’s antipathy toward free expression and other fundamental rights does not bode well for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Vietnam now chairs, Human Rights Watch said. Vietnam has signed the ASEAN Charter, a legally binding agreement that commits member states to “strengthen democracy, enhance good governance, and protect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

“By locking up peaceful rights defenders, democracy activists, and cyber-dissidents, the Vietnamese government is clearly flouting its promises to ASEAN and the international community,” Adams said.

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General Chea Dara reviewing troops in the border area. DAP-news quoted the general as saying: "We told them already not to trespass. Cambodia does not want land from anybody, but if they tresppass, that's how it is." (Photo: DAP)

Jan 24, 2010
AP

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA'S military says its troops have clashed briefly with Thai soldiers along a disputed border area.

Lieutenant General Chea Tara, deputy armed forces commander and field commander for the area, said Cambodia suffered no casualties in the fighting on Sunday, about 12 miles (20 kilometres) east of Preah Vihear temple. He said fighting began when Thai troops intruded into Cambodian territory.

Defence Ministry spokesman Lieutenant General Chhum Socheach said there had been two firefights lasting about five minutes each beginning shortly after 9am (0200 GMT, 10am Singapore time).

Thai military authorities could not immediately be contacted for confirmation of the fighting in an area which has seen several deadly clashes in the past couple of years.

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Opinion: The long road to justice in Cambodia

Opinion: The long road to justice in Cambodia

A Cambodian Buddhist monk draws a picture depicting the arrest of a Cambodian civilian by Khmer Rouge soldiers, during an art workshop in Kampot province about 90 miles west of the capital, Phnom Penh, July 25, 2009. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

13 years of working to ensure that the Khmer Rouge trials belong to Cambodians

January 23, 2010
By Youk Chhang
Special to GlobalPost

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — During the Khmer Rouge period from April 17, 1975, to Jan. 7, 1979, Cambodians walked constantly. They walked from the cities to the countryside, from their villages to distant provinces, and from the rice fields to the battlefields. After Jan. 7, 1979, the survivors of our country's genocide walked again; this time back to their homes.

In 1997, Cambodians began another journey: the journey to seek justice for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge. And today, 31 years after the Khmer Rouge regime fell, we are taking a giant step along the road to justice.

On Feb. 6, 2006, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) — commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) — officially began setting up offices at the military barracks outside of Phnom Penh. The first trial, Case 001, began on March 30, 2009, two years behind schedule. The case opened with the defendant, former head of S-21 prison Duch (Kaing Geuk Eav), apologizing to victims and accepting responsibility, but ended shockingly however on Nov. 27, 2009, with Duch rejecting responsibility on jurisdictional grounds because he was not a "senior Khmer Rouge leader or those most responsible" as stated in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Law. The judgment of Duch will be delivered this March.

In late 2010 or early 2011, the most important Khmer Rouge trial will begin. Case 002 will try the highest level Khmer Rouge leaders still alive today: Noun Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith. This trial will be a crucial moment in Cambodia's road to justice because the evidences and analyses brought forth will provide answers to many fundamental questions about the Khmer Rouge regime that survivors had wondered for more than three decades.

The United Nations, Cambodia and several other countries have worked for many years to help us see justice delivered. The United Nations and national governments raised much of the initial $56 million budget for the KRT and stepped in during budgetary shortfalls in late 2008.

These governments have also generously funded many Cambodian human rights and international NGOs that support and monitor the trial process by helping victims file complaints of Khmer Rouge atrocities to the court, observing and reporting on the activities of the Cambodian government and United Nations, providing counseling to those who suffered during Democratic Kampuchea and other activities.

Perhaps the most important way that NGOs can help is to work with the Extraordinary Chambers and each other to ensure that the public is informed about the trials and involved in them.

These trials are about seeking justice for victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. These are your trials, Cambodians, and without your participation in them, we will not be able to judge whether the trials are fair, of high standards, and accessible to all.

But how can the people of Cambodia participate in the trials? They are far away and it is expensive to travel to Phnom Penh. Many NGOs in Cambodia are working to make certain that people can read about the trials through magazines and other written materials that are delivered to sub-district and district offices across the country. Others will broadcast news on the radio, and the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) is working with TVK and other stations to produce television programs that will help educate people about the Extraordinary Chambers.

In the past few years, DC-Cam has also implemented a project, called the Living Documents Project, which brought up to 500 villagers every month from across Cambodia to Phnom Penh to visit genocide memorial sites and meet with officials at the KRT courtroom. Phase two of the Living Documents Project began in early 2009, and allowed victims to directly attend Duch's trial hearing, participate in KRT educational workshops and view Khmer Rouge-related videos.

Villagers returned home afterward to share their experiences with community members during village forums, so that Cambodians have the opportunity to learn about the trials from people like themselves, in addition to tribunal officials and NGO staff. All of these activities have helped villagers understand how the trials work and to become familiar with the tribunal process. For Case 002, DC-Cam will increase its activities and outreach efforts given the significance of this trial.

All of us want to see trials that are fair and just, and for the Cambodian people to participate in them without fear of intimidation or uncertainty. Learning about the tribunal from the written word, radio and television, and from family, friends and neighbors will help you see that justice can work in Cambodia and that building a more just future for our children can become a reality.

Youk Chhang is the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the publishing of DC-Cam Genocide Magazine: "Searching for the Truth." With the ministries of Interior and Information, DC-Cam has distributed 1.5 million copies of the magazine to the villagers within Cambodia. DC-Cam is 13 years old.

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Sundance Film Review: Enemies of the People

Sundance Film Review: Enemies of the People

Nuon Chea (R) talking to Thet Sambath

01/23/10
By Dan Nailen
Salt Lake Magazine (Utah, USA)

Thet Sambath (pictured left) is a Cambodian newspaper journalist whose father was murdered by the Khmer Rouge in 1974, and whose mother was forced to marry a Khmer Rouge militiaman two years later.

For a decade, Sambath spent his free time journeying into the notorious "killing fields" of his home country to try and understand why so many of Cambodia's people were murdered. The result of that work is Enemies of the People, which Sambeth co-directed and produced with Rob Lemkin.

The film revolves around the relationship Sambath established with Nuon Chea, aka "Brother Number Two" (pictured below with Sambeth) and dictator Pol Pot's right-hand man. It took Sambeth years of gaining Chea's trust before he opened up and admitted that he and Pol Pot had plotted the killings as a means of defending their communist vision from "enemies of the people." Chea doesn't ever express remorse for the program he calls the "solution," but he does to Sambeth directly when the reporter tells the old man about his own family's relationship with the Khmer Rouge.

Sambath also tracks down several of the Khmer Rouge's foot soldiers, mostly peasants and farmers who were simply "following orders" when they slit the throats of their neighbors and buried them in mass graves. It's chilling to watch one of the men graphically illustrate how he would kill his victims, and it's intriguing to see how each of these murderers deals with what they've done all these years later.

Enemies of the People could prove to be an important historical document for decades to come. Sambeth kept his recorded conversations with Nuon Chea under lock and key for years, in fear they'd be confiscated and used as evidence in a trial. Indeed, the film ends with Nuon Chea's arrest by a joint force of the United Nations and Cambodia. He's charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as genocide, and his trial is slated, for now, for 2011.

Considering Sambeth has the first admittance by Brother Number Two of what he and Pol Pot instigated, it could be a quick trial.

Enemies of the People will screen:
Sunday, Jan. 24, at 9 p.m. at Park City's Holiday Village IV
Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 11:30 p.m. at Park City's Library Center Theatre
Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 9:45 p.m. at Salt Lake City's Broadway Cinemas
Friday, Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. at Park City's Egyptian Theatre

Visit the Sundance Film Festival Web site for a complete schedule and ticket information.

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Cambodian Cooking volunteer team received Community Service Award from the Long Beach Red Cross

Cambodian Cooking volunteer team received Community Service Award from the Long Beach Red Cross

The Cambodian Cooking team received a Community Service Award because the Cambodian Senior Nutrition Program and the United Cambodian Community Center are working closely with the Long Beach Chapter of the American Red Cross to better prepare the Cambodian community for disasters. As part of the Great California ShakeOut on October 13, 2009, Board of Directors members Charles Song and Danny Vong, along with Disaster Volunteer Mike Farrar, designed a mobile feeding and preparedness exercise to teach disaster preparedness skills to the Cambodian community and to offer paid and volunteer staffs a greater understanding of the local Cambodian community. (Long Beach Chapter ARC)

Long Beach Red Cross honors its volunteers

Community service, spirit lauded

01/23/2010
By Sarah Peters, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Neil Allgood was at the right place, at the right time. It could have happened to anyone, but for some reason it happened to him, he said.

That's not the way the Red Cross sees it.

Five years ago the retired 82-year-old Army brigadier general had an award named after him in recognition of his volunteer work and years of service -- 48 years now and still going, he said.

Almost 200 Red Cross volunteers and staff gathered Saturday at the Long Beach airport Holiday Inn for the annual Long Beach Chapter awards and volunteer recognition breakfast.

Awards were given in areas of community service and outstanding volunteer work.

The Neil Allgood Outstanding Disaster Volunteer of the Year Award was presented by Allgood himself.

"They had to pick somebody to do it," he said with humor to the crowd.

The recipients were Willie Mussman and Lisa Harris, co-chairs of the Long Beach chapter Community Disaster Education program and members of the disaster action team.

Through the program Mussman, Harris and a team of volunteers educate individuals and companies on how to prepare for an emergency and how to survive without aid for at least three days.

"That kind of knowledge is empowering," Harris said.

The goal of the program is to ensure that people are ready to act and confident in their ability to protect themselves and others around them, she explained.

"The volunteers could run this organization without us," said Nancy Kindelan, chapter CEO. "When you walk into our office, you know who the real workers are."

There are more than 850 volunteers in the Long Beach area and only 19 paid staff members.

Also recognized were Frankie Wong, Jennifer Tith and Kristin Tith as Betty Seal Outstanding Youth Volunteers of the year.

"There's a satisfaction in helping other people and we learn from opportunities that other students don't get," Jennifer Tith said, "(my sister and I) have grown in a lot of ways."

Other awards presented were the Hal Ball Good Neighbor Award to the city of Paramount and the Dorothy Wise Outstanding Volunteer of the Year presented to Sharmon Voltmer, who was not present.

sarah.peters@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1337

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Evidence of Border Encroachment to be Exposed on SRP Web Site and During Radio Call-in Show

Evidence of Border Encroachment to be Exposed on SRP Web Site and During Radio Call-in Show

January 23, 2010
Source: SRP

EVIDENCE OF BORDER ENCROACHMENT TO BE EXPOSED ON SRP WEB SITE AND DURING RADIO CALL-IN SHOW

On Monday, January 25, two days before his sham trial in Svay Rieng province, opposition leader Sam Rainsy will expose in detail evidence of border encroachments during a radio call-in show (Candle Light program on FM 93.5 MHz, from 18:00 to 19:00).

The evidence consisting of official French-drawn (1952 1/100,000) and American-drawn (1966 1/50,000) maps and most recent satellite pictures with precise geographic coordinates and GPS data, definitely proves that the alleged border stake Sam Rainsy uprooted on October 25 in Svay Rieng province was irrefutably in Cambodia’s territory.

Moreover, using the same scientific techniques, Sam Rainsy – who has been assisted by map engineers, historians and geographers from several countries over the last three months – will prove from Paris that all the “border markers” nearby the one (# 185) he uprooted, are well within Cambodia’s legal borders.

This might explain why, following the October 25 incident, Vietnamese authorities have removed and taken back to Vietnam those alleged border markers (# 184, 186 and 187).

All the evidence, including satellite pictures, GPS data, detailed maps and most recent photos of the alleged border markers or what remains of them, will be posted on SRP Web site www.samrainsyparty.org

On behalf of the Cambodian people the SRP will call on all friendly countries and relevant international organizations to examine the above evidence and to see the bad faith and/or incompetence of the current Phnom Penh government.

On January 27, will people be watching Sam Rainsy’s “trial” or that of border encroachers caught red handed along with their weak and complacent Cambodian accomplices?

Does the “trial” concern Sam Rainsy alone or does it actually concern the whole Cambodian people since Cambodia’s territory belongs to all Cambodians. Aren’t we talking about, and dealing with, a national issue, which is Cambodia’s territorial integrity?

Since it involves a border issue between two countries, the “trial” will logically be an international one. Is the Svay Rieng provincial court competent to adjudicate on an international issue?

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Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Chea Vichea

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Chea Vichea

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Bonds with Cambodia lifted

Bonds with Cambodia lifted

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Bonds with Cambodia lifted

Bonds with Cambodia lifted

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/

via CAAI News Media

23-01-2010

PHNOM PENH— Viet Nam wanted to expand its co-operation with Cambodia to the fields of education and training, culture, music and sports, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan said in Phnom Penh yesterday.

Nhan said at the end of his two-day visit that the new fields would be in addition to the existing co-operation in air services, banking and telecommunications.

During the visit, he paid a courtesy call on Cambodian Prime Minister Hunsen.

The two leaders discussed measure to accelerate co-operation between the two countries, particularly the establishment of an architecture faculty affiliated to the Ho Chi Minh Architecture University in Phnom Penh.

Nhan offered to train Cambodians in circus, dancing, culture and arts.

In his meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Im Sathy, Nhan pledged Viet Nam would grant 120 scholarships annually to Cambodians over the next five years.

He also proposed the nations’ respective ministries of education should organise rotating meetings between their youths to further consolidate the friendship between the two nations.

In addition, the education services between HCM City and Phnom Penh and neighbouring provinces should help each other advance.

Nhan announced Viet Nam’s decision to build a high-quality primary school and high school for Phnom Penh in recognition of their traditional friendship.

Im Sathy thanked Viet Nam for helping his country, in particular the building of many boarding schools in its northeastern provinces.

"Cambodia wants to learn more about Viet Nam’s educational policies so that it can achieve the target ‘education for all’", Im Sathy said.

He said he wanted to see diverse forms of educational co-operation, including scholarships for private students in tertiary education.

Nhan said an education agreement between Viet Nam and Cambodia was expected to be signed before February 15.

There are 553 Cambodians studying in Viet Nam and 84 Vietnamese studying in Cambodia. — VNS

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Opinion: The long road to justice in Cambodia

Opinion: The long road to justice in Cambodia

A Cambodian Buddhist monk draws a picture depicting the arrest of a Cambodian civilian by Khmer Rouge soldiers, during an art workshop in Kampot province about 90 miles west of the capital, Phnom Penh, July 25, 2009. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

13 years of working to ensure that the Khmer Rouge trials belong to Cambodians

By Youk Chhang — Special to GlobalPost

Published: January 23, 2010

via CAAI News Media

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — During the Khmer Rouge period from April 17, 1975, to Jan. 7, 1979, Cambodians walked constantly. They walked from the cities to the countryside, from their villages to distant provinces, and from the rice fields to the battlefields. After Jan. 7, 1979, the survivors of our country's genocide walked again; this time back to their homes.

In 1997, Cambodians began another journey: the journey to seek justice for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge. And today, 31 years after the Khmer Rouge regime fell, we are taking a giant step along the road to justice.

On Feb. 6, 2006, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) — commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) — officially began setting up offices at the military barracks outside of Phnom Penh. The first trial, Case 001, began on March 30, 2009, two years behind schedule. The case opened with the defendant, former head of S-21 prison Duch (Kaing Geuk Eav), apologizing to victims and accepting responsibility, but ended shockingly however on Nov. 27, 2009, with Duch rejecting responsibility on jurisdictional grounds because he was not a "senior Khmer Rouge leader or those most responsible" as stated in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal Law. The judgment of Duch will be delivered this March.

In late 2010 or early 2011, the most important Khmer Rouge trial will begin. Case 002 will try the highest level Khmer Rouge leaders still alive today: Noun Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith. This trial will be a crucial moment in Cambodia's road to justice because the evidences and analyses brought forth will provide answers to many fundamental questions about the Khmer Rouge regime that survivors had wondered for more than three decades.

The United Nations, Cambodia and several other countries have worked for many years to help us see justice delivered. The United Nations and national governments raised much of the initial $56 million budget for the KRT and stepped in during budgetary shortfalls in late 2008.

These governments have also generously funded many Cambodian human rights and international NGOs that support and monitor the trial process by helping victims file complaints of Khmer Rouge atrocities to the court, observing and reporting on the activities of the Cambodian government and United Nations, providing counseling to those who suffered during Democratic Kampuchea and other activities.

Perhaps the most important way that NGOs can help is to work with the Extraordinary Chambers and each other to ensure that the public is informed about the trials and involved in them.

These trials are about seeking justice for victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. These are your trials, Cambodians, and without your participation in them, we will not be able to judge whether the trials are fair, of high standards, and accessible to all.

But how can the people of Cambodia participate in the trials? They are far away and it is expensive to travel to Phnom Penh. Many NGOs in Cambodia are working to make certain that people can read about the trials through magazines and other written materials that are delivered to sub-district and district offices across the country. Others will broadcast news on the radio, and the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) is working with TVK and other stations to produce television programs that will help educate people about the Extraordinary Chambers.

In the past few years, DC-Cam has also implemented a project, called the Living Documents Project, which brought up to 500 villagers every month from across Cambodia to Phnom Penh to visit genocide memorial sites and meet with officials at the KRT courtroom. Phase two of the Living Documents Project began in early 2009, and allowed victims to directly attend Duch's trial hearing, participate in KRT educational workshops and view Khmer Rouge-related videos.

Villagers returned home afterward to share their experiences with community members during village forums, so that Cambodians have the opportunity to learn about the trials from people like themselves, in addition to tribunal officials and NGO staff. All of these activities have helped villagers understand how the trials work and to become familiar with the tribunal process. For Case 002, DC-Cam will increase its activities and outreach efforts given the significance of this trial.

All of us want to see trials that are fair and just, and for the Cambodian people to participate in them without fear of intimidation or uncertainty. Learning about the tribunal from the written word, radio and television, and from family, friends and neighbors will help you see that justice can work in Cambodia and that building a more just future for our children can become a reality.

Youk Chhang is the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the publishing of DC-Cam Genocide Magazine: "Searching for the Truth." With the ministries of Interior and Information, DC-Cam has distributed 1.5 million copies of the magazine to the villagers within Cambodia. DC-Cam is 13 years old.

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Why We Travel

Why We Travel

COOLING OFF AT THE CHAA ONG WATERFALL IN BAN LUNG, CAMBODIA, DEC. 21, 2009 Richard Pearshouse, 35, a public health researcher living in Phnom Penh. “Cambodia has a very clearly defined tourist path that involves some time in Phnom Penh, and then the Angkor Wat temples. But because I’m living there it was possible to try and see a different facet of Cambodia, to explore some unusual and unique places that are a little bit off the beaten path. This photo was taken in the province of Ratanakiri, in the northeast corner of Cambodia. It’s quite remote; it takes two days or a little bit longer to get up there by a series of local buses. There are still some forested areas left in that part of Cambodia: it hasn’t all yet been logged and converted over to plantations or rice paddies. But there’s a lot of development. To get to the waterfall I had been cycling through kilometer after kilometer of plantations with rubber trees planted all in rows. I was thinking about the way in which development is happening and the landscape is changing and just how special that waterfall is, how important it is. It was sort of a small oasis. I guess I shouldn’t use the word ‘oasis’ to describe a waterfall. But it was an oasis.”

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Beijing in denial over its role in the KR regime?

Beijing in denial over its role in the KR regime?

China Played No Role in Khmer Rouge Politics: Ambassador

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 January 2010

China’s ambassador to Cambodia told a group Friday that the Chinese had not aided the Khmer Rouge but had sought to keep Cambodians from suffering under the regime.

“The Chinese government never took part in or intervened into the politics of Democratic Kampuchea,” the ambassador, Zhang Jin Feng, told the opening class at Khong Cheu Institute.

The Chinese did not support the wrongful policies of the regime, but instead tried to provide assistance through food, hoes and scythes, Zhang said.

“If there were no food [assistance], the Cambodian people would have suffered more famine,” she said.

The comments come as the Khmer Rouge tribunal prepares for its second trial, of five high-ranking members of the regime.

However, a leading documentarian of the regime said the Chinese may want to revise that statement, given all the evidence that points to their involvement with the Khmer Rouge.

“According to documents, China intervened in all domains from the top to lower level: security, including the export of natural resources from Cambodia, like rice, bile of tigers, bears and animal skins to exchange for agriculture instruments,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

“In the domain of security, Chinese advisers trained units to catch the enemy, and some of the trainers went to inspect the outcome of the training at the local level,” he said.

China maintained close diplomatic ties with the Khmer Rouge after they came to power. It was one of only nine communist countries to keep an embassy in the country after April 1975.

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Rights Violations Worsened in 2009: Group

Rights Violations Worsened in 2009: Group

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
22 January 2010

The human rights situation in Cambodia has deteriorated in the past year, Human Rights Watch said on Friday, citing numerous examples of apparent government failure to protect basic freedoms.

“Cambodia’s respect for basic rights dramatically deteriorated in 2009 as the government misused the judiciary to silence government critics, attacked human rights defenders, tightened restrictions on press freedom and abandoned its international obligations to protect refugees,” the group said in a statement, issued in the midst of a two-week visit by the UN’s special envoy for rights.

The statement coincided with the release of Human Rights Watch’s 2010 world report.

Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yiep said the statement was not a fair representation of Cambodia’s rights situation. Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers called it baseless and lacking in integrity.

Human Rights Watch also cited ongoing evictions, land thefts and the arrests of community protesters and activists, along with silenced expression in the National Assembly and court trials against opposition members as evidence of the slide.

The group noted more than 60 community activists arrested or awaiting trial and at least 10 government critics, including four journalists and several opposition party members, who were sued for criminal defamation or disinformation.

The government was sharply criticized for allowing the deportation of 22 Muslim Uighurs back to China in December after they had reached Cambodia in search of refuge.

“Cambodia’s deportation of the Uighurs was a glaring example of the government’s failure to respect human rights,” Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said. “The Cambodian government showed its profound disregard for minimum standards of due process, refugee protection and international cooperation.”

Meanwhile, Khmer Kampuchea Krom seeking refuge from Vietnam or simply migrating faced obstacles in Cambodia finding places to live or getting citizenship, “despite pronouncements by the Cambodian government that it considers Khmer Krom who move to Cambodia to be Cambodian citizens,” the report said.

The rights report came as Surya Prasad Subedi, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, is in Cambodia to evaluate the rights situation.

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UN rights envoy to meet with opposition parties next week

UN rights envoy to meet with opposition parties next week

Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Ho Vann stands near a barricade that was erected to prevent some opposition MPs from visiting villagers awaiting trial in connection with an October border protest on Tuesday. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Friday, 22 January 2010
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA’S opposition parties will meet with the UN’s human rights envoy, Surya Subedi, in the coming week to raise concerns about perceived injustices in the Kingdom, party members said on Thursday amid warnings from officials that these discussions should not be used to insult the government.

Human Rights Party spokesman Yem Ponarith said Subedi is scheduled to meet the Sam Rainsy Party on Saturday and then hold talks with the HRP on Monday.

“We want to talk about issues of injustice in society, including corruption, violation of land rights, human rights and freedom of expression,” he said.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said his party had not yet decided what issues to raise with Subedi and would have to meet first to discuss it.

Subedi, who arrived in the Kingdom on Monday, “intends to use the visit to examine the functioning of the National Assembly and judiciary, including the Supreme Council of Magistracy and the Constitutional Council”, according to a statement issued by the UN on January 15.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the opposition parties, while having the right to raise any issues they want, should not use their meetings with Subedi as an opportunity to attack the government.

“The UN human rights envoy comes to help compromise; he does not have a trend of ordering governments how to work,” he said.

“The opposition parties have to prepare themselves to be in a partnership,” Phay Siphan added.

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UN Agency To Prioritise Development Areas In Cambodia

UN Agency To Prioritise Development Areas In Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- The Cambodian government has said that its development partner, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is planning to prioritise five areas for development projects in the country from 2011 to 2015, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

A statement released by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) on Friday, said government officials from various institutions had held a meeting with their development partner UNDP to review the implementation of projects assisted by the UNDP in 2009 and the ongoing projects for years ahead.

The statement said the meeting was chaired by Keat Chhon, deputy prime minister and minister of the economy and finance, and also the first vice chairman of the CDC.

From 2006 through 2010, the UNDP were focusing on governance; promotion of human rights protection, agriculture and poverty in rural area; capacity building and human resource development; and national development plan.

UNDP has assisted Cambodia between 80 million and US$120 million a year.

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Phnom Penh on human rights report: Deny! Deny! Deny!

Phnom Penh on human rights report: Deny! Deny! Deny!

Phnom Penh rejects human rights report as "insulting"

Jan 22, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - The Cambodian government Friday rejected the annual report of a prominent human rights organization that warned respect for rights in the country had 'dramatically deteriorated' last year.

In its assessment, also released Friday, Human Rights Watch called on donors to exert pressure on the government to reverse the trend.

But government spokesman Phay Siphan hit back, saying the report was unprofessional, lacked balance and was insulting. He said HRW had ignored the role of Cambodian institutions, and stressed that reform had to come 'little by little.'

'We understand that any government has its flaws - so we are not sleeping on the problem,' Phay Siphan said. 'Criticism is information, and we would have to consider that, but insulting is not [useful] information.'

The report by the US-based organization singled out Phnom Penh's forced return to China in December of 20 asylum seekers belonging to the Uighur ethnic minority as a particular low point.

'Cambodia's deportation of the Uighurs was a glaring example of the government's failure to respect human rights,' said Brad Adams, HRW's Asia director.

The HRW report was released while the UN's special rapporteur on human rights, Surya Subedi, was visiting Cambodia. Subedi is in-country for two weeks to assess national institutions and how well they serve ordinary Cambodians.

Among the institutions Subedi will examine is the judiciary, a body Human Rights Watch said was being misused by the government to silence its critics in politics, the media and civil society.

'As the political space shrinks for human rights and advocacy groups to defend themselves, there are valid concerns that a pending law to increase restrictions on non-governmental organizations will be used to shut down groups critical of the government,' Adams said.

Human Rights Watch complained that Cambodians who tried to defend their homes, jobs and human rights faced 'threats, jail and physical attacks.'

It called on donors, who last year contributed about 1 billion US dollars to the impoverished South-East Asian nation, to pressure the government to respect human rights.

Other subjects covered in the report were the ongoing problem of forced evictions and the use of armed police and soldiers to evict people, as well as poor prison conditions and allegations of torture by police.

Human Rights Watch also condemned new legislation that limits freedom of assembly to fewer than 200 people, for which permission must be gained in advance, and said freedom of association remained under pressure.

The expulsion from Phnom Penh of the 20 Uighurs, who fled China after deadly unrest in the far-western province of Xinjiang in July, preceded a visit to Phnom Penh by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, during which China signed economic assistance deals worth 1.2 billion dollars.

A torrent of international criticism saw Cambodia hit back at its critics with one government minister deriding the UN refugee agency in Phnom Penh as 'the laziest office' in the country for failing for weeks to begin processing the Uighurs' claims.

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China is wise to put brakes on its economic growth

China is wise to put brakes on its economic growth

January 23, 2010
The Nation

CHINA, which is expected to overtake Japan this year as the world's second largest economy, is putting the brakes on its turbo-charged growth.

The world's most populous nation of 1.3 billion reported a breakneck year-on-year growth of 10.7 per cent for the fourth quarter of last year.

Its December 2009 inflation also jumped to 1.9 per cent from a negative inflation last July, while bank lending rose sharply last year.

Bubbles are brewing in its vast property sector and China's central bank has signalled that it is on the way to tightening the country's monetary policy.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China's GDP growth had slowed down from 10 per cent in the third quarter to 8.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a DBS Group report.

The slowdown appears to have followed China's winding down of its massive economic stimulus package worth US$600 billion (Bt19.8 trillion) launched early last year.

According to the report, fixed-asset investment has gone nowhere since April/May 2009. Secondly, loan growth dropped by half last June to about 16 per cent from 34 per cent in mid-2008.

Third, the government's budget deficit, which provided a lot of stimulus between June 2008 and June 2009, started to disappear.

The report also argues that China, in fact, started its exit strategy seven months before anybody became aware of it, while the recent interest rate and bank reserve-requirement hikes are just continuations of this trend.

China's monetary policy will further be tightened as inflation has risen from 1.9 per cent year on year in December from 0.6 per cent in November.

Given this, interest rates will likely go up in the third quarter, dampening the domestic demand as China further withdraws its fiscal stimulus programme.

Overall, this could affect China-bound exports from other Asian economies, including Thailand, which has seen its shipments to the Middle Kingdom rise at a rapid pace in the past years.

For this year, the Bank of Thailand's GDP projection is a positive growth of 3.3 to 5.3 per cent as the Thai economy contracted 2.7 per cent in 2009.

Given a slowing Chinese economy and relatively weak recoveries of the US, the euro zone and Japan, Thailand's 2010 GDP growth may not be as strong as previously thought, largely because exports still account for more than 60 per cent of it.

However, the government's Bt1.43-billion Thai Khemkhaeng economic stimulus package remains intact for 2010-2011.

In addition, the tourism sector appears to have recovered since December.

As a result, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva expressed confidence that growth could still be in the range of 3 to 3.5 per cent despite increased external uncertainties.

Another positive development is that on January 1, China and the six original members of Asean - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Brunei - started to enforce the zero import tariff scheme, covering more than 90 per cent of products, to further promote intra-regional trade.

The scheme will only cover the initial six countries for the first five years, after which it will be joined by Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma, creating the world's largest free-trade area with nearly 1.9 billion people.

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Rogue general gives Bangkok the jitters

Rogue general gives Bangkok the jitters

Thai “red shirt” supporters cheer during a rally at Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. — Reuters pic

The Straits Times

BANGKOK, Jan 23 — Thai police have found caches of weapons in the houses of rogue army Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol and some associates in a raid, bringing the underlying volatility of the country’s political conflict into sharp focus.

The major-general is now under investigation over a grenade attack last week on a building in the Thai army’s headquarters in Bangkok, which houses the office of army chief Anupong Paochinda.

Nobody was injured in the attack, which appears to have been meant as a warning, analysts said.

Days before, Khattiya had been suspended for insubordination over his continued high-profile support of anti-government “red shirts”, as well as an unauthorised visit to Cambodia to meet ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The grenade attack spooked the government, and also pointed to the possibility of fissures in the army.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday called a meeting of the National Security Council, telling reporters afterwards that the government had acted according to the law, so the red shirts had no reason to resent the raids.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya also briefed diplomats on security measures in the event of protests in Bangkok — especially at the airport — in coming weeks.

He spent much of the time explaining the Thai government’s achievements and objectives, while police and army officers were on hand to brief the diplomats about security and contingency plans for ensuring that Suvarnabhumi International Airport stays open.

The focus on the airport was sparked by a plan announced this week by the red shirts of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to stage protests on the road to the terminal.

The stock market dipped on news of the plan, as traders recalled the closure of the airport by the right-wing People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in 2008.

The red shirts, however, have since dropped the idea of the airport protests.

Last week’s grenade attack compounded the jittery atmosphere in the capital.

Khattiya, a maverick combat veteran better known by his colourful nickname Seh Daeng, has openly defied the army’s top brass.

After his suspension, he reportedly said that only the Thai king could fire him, and that he could make it difficult for General Anupong to walk the streets if the army chief persisted in targeting him.

In 2008, he gave dozens of young men daily combat training in full public view, saying he was grooming them to protect red shirts from the PAD, which was then campaigning to oust the Thaksin-loyalist People Power Party government.

Khattiya relishes the maverick, folk-hero image attributed to him, and is often scornful of “golf soldiers” — indicating a vein of resentment present in some quarters of the army, of officers who are promoted to privileged posts because they are close to some of the capital’s elites.

But while he supports the red shirts and has occasionally turned up at red-shirt rallies, he is not a regular member — but “just an ally”, one red-shirt leader told The Straits Times. —

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Khmer bastards

Khmer bastards

Dear Readers,

Below are comments made by Thai debaters in the Pattaya Daily News Forum about their experiences on a visit to Cambodia. Khmerization wish to publish the comments in their entirety, without attempting to edit the posts, including grammatical errors. Please enjoy!- Khmerization
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Khmer bastards

Postby handyandy » 22 Jan 2010, 00:26
Just been on my three monthly border run to Cambodia and am fucked off with these robbing bastards, i drive my car there and twice get pulled over by the brown uniform brigade, the first time he said i was speeding which was bullshit, i was doing a steady 100kmh, anyway i reluctantly agreed to supliment his paycheck to the tune of 200b, the second time, again 200b, he said i should have been in the inside lane even though i was overtaking a truck doing 40kmp, absolute bullshit! anyway i get to the border, and we all know a cambodian visa should be 20usd or at todays rate about 670b, but no, i have to again suppliment a corrupt fucker and give him 1000b, and a further200b to leave, because "you not stay cambodia" utter fucking bullshit again, what is or can be done about this daylight robbery? they are all taking the piss, can you imagine the outcry if america, the uk ect started targeting Thais and Cambodians as easy targets for extortion!
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Re: Khmer bastards

Postby tong » 22 Jan 2010, 03:49
I thought you could only get a 15 day visa by land from cambodia? i made a couple of runs in my POV to the border and the same thing the shake down ,200bht here 200bht there.
Finally,I started using visa co. and that was the ticket no hassles and slept on the way.
Loa, was the best place to go and let a visa man do the waiting ,he bought back my passport to my hotel room! And all for 500bht plus visa cost.
Its big business!The visa vans,hotels,resturants,the police,imagration,the stores that sell ink pens....
Dr K. they would have fit here (usa)if they had go thru that.They get a six month tourist visa for a few bucks! Double standards but thats the price you pay to live in the LOS!!!
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Re: Khmer bastards

Postby aussiebkk » 22 Jan 2010, 14:22
Laos and Cambodia have been scamming tourists for years on the US rate. You can bet if the dollar rose again you would pay the exact equivalent!!! If you leave cambodia by land there is NO departure tax no 100 baht no health declaration-thats a joke!!! fee 20 baht nothing dont give those 10th world backward crooks anymore than necessary.Cambodia is run by the lowest scum on earth.I hate the place. Could be wonderful there if it were run by humans.

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Cambodia's largest labour union demands 'real killers' be arrested in leader's 2004 murder

Cambodia's largest labour union demands 'real killers' be arrested in leader's 2004 murder

Friday, January 22, 2010
ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Cambodians who speak out to defend their homes, their jobs, and their rights face threats, jail, and physical attacks" - Brad Adams, Human Rights Watch Asia Division Director

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Cambodia's largest labour union warned Friday that it would launch a nationwide strike unless authorities arrest those responsible for the killing of their prominent leader six-years ago.

Chea Vichea, 36, founder and president of Free Trade Union of Workers, was fatally shot in front of a newsstand in the capital Phnom Penh on Jan. 22, 2004. He was known for his outspoken efforts to organize garment workers and improve working conditions in Cambodia.

Two men were convicted in the deaths and sentenced to 20-year prison terms, but many people believed they were framed for the crime and the country's Supreme Court has ordered a retrial.

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Cambodian garment workers threaten week-long strike

Cambodian garment workers threaten week-long strike

Police officers watch over a march held to mark the anniversary of the death of Chea Vichea, former president of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of Cambodia, in Phnom Penh, yesterday. The union, Cambodia's largest, said yesterday it would launch a nationwide strike unless authorities arrest those responsible for shooting dead Vichea at a news stand in the capital in January 2004. Two men were convicted of the deaths and sentenced to 20-year prison terms, but many people believed they were framed and the Supreme Court has ordered a retrial.

PHNOM PENH, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Two of Cambodia's biggest workers' unions on Friday threatened to hold a nationwide garmet-industry strike to protest over low pay and the unsolved murder of the country's most respected union leader.

Two unions said thousands of garment factory workers would halt production for a week to press the government to arrest the killers of top unionist Chea Vichea, as hundreds marched in Phnom Penh to mark the sixth anniversary of his killing.

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Government Forcibly Evicts 60 Disabled Veterans ... to make way for the despised Yuon rubber plantation

Government Forcibly Evicts 60 Disabled Veterans ... to make way for the despised Yuon rubber plantation

01/22/2010
ShortNews.com
Source: www.phnompenhpost.com

60 disabled veterans and their families were among the hundreds of people forcibly evicted from the Kraya commune, in Cambodia, in December. The government claimed that all the families were given land to move to, but the families claim otherwise.

The 60 disabled veterans recently moved back to the Kraya commune and are harvesting their cassava fields and hiding from the government officials, knowing that if they are caught, they will be sent back to the relocation site.

The evicted vets claim the land at the relocation site is of poor quality and no land was marked off for them. The veterans and hundreds of people were evicted from Kraya so that a Vietnamese rubber plantation could use the land.

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If Tuol Sleng Documents are fake

If Tuol Sleng Documents are fake

Friday, January 22, 2010
Op-Ed By Baphuon

If Tuol Sleng Documents are fake, manipulated, falsified, doctored, and fabricated by Hanoi, it would be an earthquake of tremendous Richter scale which hits Cambodia recent History.

It would change forever the History of Cambodia as we usually knew until these days. Because Cambodia History as we knew until now was written generally by scholars and academic researches that were based on these documents which were provided by Hanoi, and supposed to be Khmer Rouge documents which were collected at Tuol Sleng Prison by the Vietnamese invasion army as the Khmer Rouge fled to save their skin under the hot pursuit of Vietnamese forces.

If the quoted premise is true, that is if Tuol Sleng Documents are fake, manipulated, falsified, doctored, and fabricated by Hanoi, then all the books and scholar researches would be wrong because based on wrong and manipulated facts. In Cambodia History as we usually knew, white would be in reality black, and black would be white, day would be night and vice versa. Vietnamese invasion forces instead of saving Cambodian people, they were coming in reality to destroy Cambodia; Cambodia attacked Vietnam turned out in reality, Vietnam attacked Cambodia in 1978 to swallow Cambodia. And Vietnam became responsible of Cambodia genocide.

Vietnam cannot hide anymore behind a smiling face telling the world that they invaded Cambodia to save Cambodian people from the extermination by Pol Pot armed forces.

If Vietnam invaded Cambodia in order to really save Cambodia people why did Vietnam manipulate, falsify, fabricate, and doctorate Tuol Sleng documents?

Tuol Sleng Documents were deposited at Document Center of Cambodia (DCCam) and Yale University.

The ECCC (Khmer Rouge Tribunal) cannot make verdict of Khmer Rouge leaders without assuring first the authenticity of any document she used for the verdict. So the ECCC must prove the authenticity/falsity of all Khmer Rouge documents provided by Hanoi.

The ECCC cannot trust on expert opinion either because if the expert opinion was based on Khmer Rouge documents provided by Hanoi inevitably, irrefutably the expert conclusion would be wrong because the staple documents provided by Hanoi were manipulated.

A dozen of Cambodian who worked for the Vietnamese invasion Army in 1979 still alive, living around the world, in the USA, Europe and Cambodia, had worked for the Vietnamese invasion Army at that time and under Vietnamese officer order had fabricated, manipulated, falsify Tuol Sleng documents which were later became Khmer Rouge document at Tuol Sleng left by the Khmer Rouge leaders who fled for their life as the Vietnamese invasion army chased them.

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Annual human rights report condemns Cambodia, says donors must act

Annual human rights report condemns Cambodia, says donors must act

Jan 22, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - A prominent human rights organization warned Friday that respect for human rights in Cambodia 'dramatically deteriorated' last year and called on donors to exert pressure on the government to reverse the trend.

The report by the US-based Human Rights Watch singled out Phnom Penh's forced return to China in December of 20 asylum seekers belonging to the Uighur ethnic minority as a particular low point.

'Cambodia's deportation of the Uighurs was a glaring example of the government's failure to respect human rights,' said Brad Adams, the Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The report was released while the UN's special rapporteur on human rights, Surya Subedi, was visiting Cambodia. Subedi is in-country for two weeks to assess the country's institutions and how well they serve ordinary Cambodians.

Among the institutions Subedi was examining is the judiciary, a body Human Rights Watch said was being misused by the government to silence its critics in politics, the media and civil society.

'As the political space shrinks for human rights and advocacy groups to defend themselves, there are valid concerns that a pending law to increase restrictions on non-governmental organizations will be used to shut down groups critical of the government,' Adams said.

Spokesmen for the Cambodian government were not immediately available to comment on the report.

Human Rights Watch complained that Cambodians who tried to defend their homes, jobs and human rights faced 'threats, jail and physical attacks.'

It called on donors, who last year contributed about 1 billion US dollars to the impoverished South-East Asian nation, to pressure the government to respect human rights.

Other subjects covered in the report were the ongoing problem of forced evictions and the use of armed police and soldiers to evict people as well as poor prison conditions and allegations of torture by police.

Human Rights Watch also condemned new legislation that limits freedom of assembly to fewer than 200 people, for which permission must be gained in advance, and said freedom of association remained under pressure.

The expulsion from Phnom Penh of the 20 Uighurs, who fled China after deadly unrest in the far-western province on Xinjiang in July, preceded a visit to Phnom Penh by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, during which China signed economic assistance deals worth 1.2 billion dollars.

A torrent of international criticism saw the government hit back at its critics with one government minister deriding the UN refugee agency in Phnom Penh as 'the laziest office' in the country for failing for weeks to begin processing the Uighurs' claims.

Read More

Cambodia labor union marks killing of leader

Cambodia labor union marks killing of leader

January 21, 2010

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's largest labor union warned Friday that it would launch a nationwide strike unless authorities arrests those responsible for the slaying of their prominent leader six years ago.

Chea Vichea, 36, founder and president of Free Trade Union of Workers, was fatally shot in front of a newsstand in Phnom Penh on Jan. 22, 2004. He was known for his outspoken efforts to organize garment workers and improve working conditions in Cambodia.

Two men were convicted in the deaths and sentenced to 20-year prison terms, but many people believed they were framed for the crime and the country's Supreme Court has ordered a retrial.

Read More