A Change of Guard

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Friday 30 November 2007

Interview With Khieu Samphan: The reasons He Joined the Khmer Rouge- part one


The following is part one of a six-part interview between Khieu Samphan, the nominal Khmer Rouge head of state, and Mr. Sam Borin of Radio Free Asia. This interview was conducted in January, 2004 and was re-broadcast in November, 2007.

Translated from Khmer by Khmerization
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Sam Borin: (Introduction): Mr. Khieu Samphan was born on the 27th of July 1931 in Prey Veng province. He received a sholarship to study in France in 1958 and was awarded a doctorate in economics in 1959. Like most of Khmer students, he was inspired by groups of people who opposed a foreign colonial rule and who leaned toward Marxism-Leninism.

Khieu Samphan was elected to the Cambodian parliament twice, in 1962 and 1966. He served as a senior minister in the Sangkum Reastr Niyum reggime under the then Prince Norodom Sihanouk in his capacity as Secretary of Commerce from 1962 to the end of 1963. During his tenure as Secretary of Commerce he was considered as a clean public servant and a clean politician.

In 1967, fearing arrest and execution, he fled to the jungle to join the Communist Party of Cambodia under the leadership of Saloth Sar, alias Pol Pot, in the aim of toppling the feudal and the reactionary regimes, old and new. Khieu Samphan, who was an intellectual and was an important official, has played a vital role in attracting and recruiting other intellectuals, former public servants and Prince Sihanouk to join in the movement of national liberation. In April 1976 Comrade Khieu Samphan was appointed as the president of the presidium in place of Prince Sihanouk who resigned from the position. In his highest role in the Democratic Kampuchea regime Comrade Khieu Samphan played a vital role in his capacity as a spokesman for the KR regime.

He was a vice-president and deputy prime minister in a tripartite coalition government which included the Khmer Rouge, Prince Sihanouk and Son Sann factions which was formed in 1982. In that tripartite coalition, Khieu Samphan was responsible for foreign affairs.

In relation to the peace talks in Paris in 1991 he was the highest representative of the Khmer Rouge delegation. After the peace talks he became the member of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia, along with Comrade Son Sen.

After the Paris agreement, the KR faction did not participate in the UN-organised general election of 1993. He continued his struggle as a guerrilla leader until 1998 when he defected to the government and was allowed to live freely as an ordinary citizen.

Mr. President, were what I have just described represented the correct descriptions of your history?

Samphan: In general they were correct but there are some points that I would like to clarify.

Borin: Please go ahead.

Samphan: You have described that I have leaned toward the Marxist groups in order to join the anti-war movement when I was in France. I would like to clarify this. In fact, those who were against the wars when I arrived in France were not Marxists. At that time, the atmosphere was an atmosphere of anti-war sentiment against the war in Vietnam and the war in Algeria, because those wars were the most important wars which killed thousands of lives of young Frenchmen. They have destroyed the French economy. And at that time, we saw that the wars will be lost, especially the war in Vietnam. And when the French defeat in Bien Dien Phu was so apparent, the anti-war movements were raging all over the country. So the anti-war movements were not related to any Marxist leaning movements. They were just the student movements. They were not communist movements or any anti-communist movements. We were all anti-war people who had our common goals of protesting against a colonial rule, especially the war in Vietnam and the war in Algeria. Those anti-war people, included the French people, black Africans, north Africans such as the Morocans and the Arab people etc. That was the atmosphere at that ime. This is the first point that I would like to clarify.

Secondly, when I fled Phnom Penh there was an arrest warrant against me in an attempt to bring me to the military court, after the peasants' uprising in Samlaut. This threat against me was not the first threat. There were a series of threats before. At that time I have realised that His Majesty (Sihanouk), who was the head of state at that time, has tried to played a role of a reconciliator. Even though he did not like those intellectuals who had just returned from France, he wanted them to have their voices and to carry out their activities. But around 1966-1967 the election was held which resulted in the right-wing parliament. Lon Nol became prime minister. That was unusual because the position of prime minister at that time was usually appointed by His Majesty (Sihanouk) but this time the prime minister was appointed by the parliament. His Majesty did not object to the appointment because he respected the results of the election. Previously His Majesty personally appointed the prime iminster from the Sangkum Reastr Niyum Party. But after he received too many criticisms about his direct appointments, he agreed to allow a parliament to choose a prime minister. So that's why there was a right-wing parliament. And all the researchers had also written like what I have just described.

Borin: Mr. President, when you said that it was a right-wing parliament, do you mean that it was the parliament formed by the Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime still?

Samphan: Yes, that was correct. At that time we were always under the Sangkum Reastr Niyum but all the researchers have called that parliament a right-wing parliament because they noticed that most of the Members of Parliament were leaning toward the policy of Gen. Lon Nol. And at that time there were groups of people in Phnom Penh who began to talk about a "Khmer Suharto-Nasution"..(referring to a coup d'etat staged by Suharto and Nasution in Indonesia in 1965). (To be continued in parts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...)
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1. Read part two click here.

Royal Family, Including King, Off to Beijing



Picture: (L-R) King Sihamoni, Queen-Mother Monique, King-father Sihanouk.
Royal Family, Including King, Off to Beijing
By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh.28 November 2007

Former king Norodom Sihanouk, wife Monineath and son King Sihamoni flew to Beijing for Wednesday, after a farewell from many high-ranking officials at Phnom Penh International Airport.
King Sihamoni was expected to return after two weeks, though Sihanouk and Monineath will stay for medical care.
The absence of the former king ahead of national elections was a minor concern for some political observers.
"The times when the king, especially former king Sihanouk, stays in the country, it seems warmer and there seem to be fewer political conflicts," said Thun Saray, director of the human rights organization Adhoc.
"When he leaves, we also feel cold, but it is not too bad a worry," said opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith attributed Cambodia's "poltical stability" to Prime Minister Hun Sen's "broad leadership," and said even without the king, "there is also political stability."

Four Arrested, Two Wounded in Strike Break-Up



Four Arrested, Two Wounded in Strike Break-Up
By VOA Khmer, Reporters Original reports from Phnom Penh & Washington.29 November 2007

Police with rifles, tear gas, shields and electric batons put down a strike of 2,000 workers from a garment factory in Kandal province Thursday, leading to two serious injuries and the arrest of four protesters, workers and rights investigators said.
"The police accused us of disturbing public order or causing a traffic jam," said Yang Sarann, vice-president of Cambodian Garment Workers Democratic Union.
When police seized a microphone from workers demonstrating with a list of demands for the Fortune Garment and Woolen Knitting Company, a group of workers fought to take the microphone back, he said.
"It was probably a dozen who were snatching around with the authorities," he said. "So, [police] came over to fight, shock and handcuff."
Saang District Police Chief Moam Pich declined comment Thursday, as did Kandal Province Police Chief Iev Chamroeun.
Chheng Sophos, a rights worker for Licadho, said the workers had conducted a "peaceful strike."
"So, we are so sorry to see the authorities use violence to quell the strike, leading to some arrests," he said.
Striking workers and other protesters often clash with riot police, who use tear gas, electrical prods and, sometimes, water cannons to disburse assemblies.
This use of force to break up demonstrations is a serious rights violation, said Chan Saveth, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc who observed the strike.
"A crackdown by authorities on workers is very cruel, and it's imbalanced, as [demonstrators] have empty hands," he said.
Police seemed to have taken the side of Fortune Garment on Thursday, he said, speaking later as a guest on "Hello VOA."
Workers had been trying to push 12 demands, five of which had been solved at the time of the crackdown, he said. Instead of a resolution, workers were met with violence and a breech of their constitutional right to peaceable assembly, he said.
One caller to "Hello VOA" Thursday urged wider censure of "those who commit brutalities and just wait for orders like an automaton."

Cambodia: Burma Should be Given Incentives, Not Sanctions


Picture: Ibrahim Gambari leaving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after talks with Hor Namhong.
Friday, November 30, 2007AP
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Myanmar's ruling military junta should be given incentives to find a democratic solution to its political crisis, Cambodia's foreign minister said Thursday after meeting a U.N. special envoy to the country."We should not talk about sanctions but we'd better talk about how to take the momentum forward and prevent the situation from sliding backward," Hor Namhong told reporters after his meeting with Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. secretary general's envoy to Myanmar.Hor Namhong said Cambodia supports Gambari, who has been allowed to visit Myanmar twice since the military's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in September.The international community should encourage Myanmar's rulers to continue holding talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Hor Namhong said.Gambari said he had a frank and useful discussion with the foreign minister, but did not elaborate.Gambari's visit is part of his tour through Southeast Asia to encourage Myanmar's neighbors to promote reconciliation between the junta and the pro-democracy movement.After Myanmar's September crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, Cambodia joined countries around the world in calling for the junta to halt its violence and embrace democracy. Prime Minister Hun Sen also called for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations - which includes Myanmar and Cambodia - to play a more active role in resolving the crisis.Gambari was scheduled to leave Cambodia on Friday.On the same day, Myanmar Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Sein is to arrive to hold talks with Hun Sen and leaders of Cambodia's parliament.Hor Namhong said the timing of the two visits to Cambodia was coincidental.Myanmar, also known as Burma, sparked global outrage in September when the country's ruling military junta crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks, killing at least 15 people. Nearly 3,000 were arrested, most of whom have been released, according to the junta.During Gambari's visit to Myanmar, the junta assured him that political arrests would stop, but more were reported after he left.Amnesty International said the junta has arrested a dozen activists and Buddhist monks this month.The U.N. envoy visited Vietnam earlier this week and is scheduled to travel to Laos after leaving Cambodia.

US Essex Marines Visited Kampong Cham


US marines distributing gifts.









US marines with students.




US marines distributing aid.













US marines flew over Kampong Cham









Khmer Rouge Leaders Charged By Tribunal: Profiles

Khmer Rouge Leaders Charged by Tribunal: Profiles (Update1)
By Ed Johnson
Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Five former leaders of the Khmer Rouge face trial by a United Nations-backed genocide tribunal for crimes committed when the movement ruled Cambodia in the 1970s. The communist movement is blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people through starvation, disease or execution as it tried to set up an agrarian state. The trials, which are due to begin next year, are central to a process of reconciliation in the Southeast Asian nation where one in five of the population died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
Nuon Chea, 81:
Known as ``Brother Number 2,'' Nuon Chea is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including murder, torture, imprisonment, enslavement and persecution. He served as deputy secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and was second-in-command to leader Pol Pot. Prosecutors allege he controlled the Khmer Rouge's internal security apparatus and directed, implemented and enforced its policy of forced labor.
The former Buddhist monk, who was born July 7, 1926, said when he was charged in September that he would be ashamed to have committed such crimes. He said he was in the regime's legislative branch and ``never adopted any law allowing citizens to be killed.'' The father-of-three told prosecutors that about 40 members of his own family died during the Khmer Rouge's rule. He lived close to the border with Thailand following his surrender to the government in 1998.
Ieng Sary, 82:
The movement's foreign minister was arrested with his wife, Ieng Thirith, in November and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors say he directed, encouraged, enforced and supported the regime's policies of murder, political persecution, extermination and forcible transfer of the population. He disputes the charges and said after his arrest he would like to ``know the truth about a dark period in our history.''
Ieng Sary, who was born Oct. 24, 1925, was sentenced to death in 1979 while still on the run in northern Cambodia. He was pardoned by King Norodom Sihanouk after defecting to the Cambodian government with the forces under his command in 1996.
Khieu Samphan, 76:
The former head of state, born July 27, 1931, was arrested in November and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors allege that he ``facilitated and legitimated'' the regime's crimes by conducting political training and denying the atrocities in speeches to international forums. Khieu Samphan, who was educated in Paris, told the court he was regarded as a ``patriotic intellectual'' and he was never a ``revolutionary leader'' of the regime. He lived freely in the town of Pailin on the border with Thailand after his surrender to the Cambodian government in 1998.
Ieng Thirith, 75:
The Khmer Rouge's social action minister was arrested in November and charged with crimes against humanity. The tribunal alleges she supported the regime's widespread and systematic attacks on Cambodia's civilian population.
Ieng Thirith, who was born March 10, 1932, said following her arrest the charges are ``100 percent false.'' She told the court she helped Cambodia's population during the regime's rule, by organizing repairs to damaged hospitals and ensuring the supply of medicines.
Kang Kek Ieu, 65:
The former prisons chief known as Duch was charged in July with crimes against humanity. Prosecutors allege he ran the regime's S-21 prison between 1975 and 1979 where abuses, including torture and mass executions, were carried out under his authority. Prisoners were suspended from ropes and stabbed, had their fingernails removed or were kept in pits that filled with rainwater until they drowned. Duch's lawyers argue he wasn't a senior leader of the regime, and was among more than 2,000 people who ran jails.
Born Nov. 17, 1942, Duch was a teacher before joining the Khmer Rouge. He has been in custody since 1999 and, according to his defense team, is ready to reveal crimes committed by the movement. He is appealing his detention.
Footnote:
Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's prime minister, known as ``Brother Number 1,'' was born into a prosperous land-owning family in 1925. He won a scholarship in 1949 to study in Paris, where he joined the Communist Party.
Pol Pot, who was born Saloth Sar, died of heart failure in April 1998, 19 years after the Khmer Rouge was ousted by Vietnamese forces. He was being held under house arrest in a jungle hut on the Thai border by former followers, who had tried him for treason months earlier. At the time of his death, Khmer Rouge guerrillas were defecting in their thousands to the Cambodian government.
Ta Mok, the group's military chief, nicknamed ``The Butcher,'' died in a military hospital in July 2006, aged 80. He had been in detention since his capture by government forces in 1999, pending trial on charges of crimes against humanity. After the regime's overthrow in 1979, he headed its forces in northern Cambodia.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net . Last Updated: November 28, 2007 19:32 EST

UN Envoy to Burma to Discuss Burma's Political Crisis with Cambodian Foreign Minister

Picture: Gambari and Hor Namhong


PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar and the Cambodian foreign minister were scheduled to meet Thursday (29 Nov) to discuss Myanmar's political crisis, officials said.
Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. Secretary General's envoy, and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong planned to talk "about the situation in Myanmar," U.N. diplomat Hua Jiang, who was traveling with Gambari, said without elaborating.
Gambari's visit is part of his tour through Southeast Asia to coax Myanmar's neighbors to promote reconciliation between the junta and a suppressed pro-democracy movement.
After Myanmar's September crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, Cambodia joined countries around the world in calling for the junta to halt its violence and embrace democracy. Prime Minister Hun Sen also called for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to play a more active role in resolving the crisis.
Gambari was scheduled to leave Cambodia Friday (30 Nov).
On the same day, Myanmar's Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Sein will arrive for a visit to Cambodia.
He will hold talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen and the leaders of Cambodia's parliament.
Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith Wednesday (28 Nov) declined to comment on whether the timing of the two visits was coincidental, but said that Cambodia is not playing any intermediary role in the Myanmar crisis.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, sparked global outrage in September when the country's ruling military junta crushed pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks, killing at least 15 people. Nearly 3,000 were arrested, most of whom have been released, according to the junta.
During Gambari's visit to Myanmar, the junta assured him that political arrests would stop, but more were reported after he left.
Amnesty International said the junta has arrested a dozen activists and Buddhist monks this month.
The U.N.'s envoy visited Vietnam earlier this week and is scheduled to travel to Laos after leaving Cambodia. (AP)

Hun Sen Declared Sons and Daugnters of CPP Officials Will Enter Politics











Picture: (L-R) Hun Sen, Hun Manet (Hun Sen's son) and Sam Rainsy.

Thursday, November 29, 2007


By Savery Sralanh Khmer .Translated from Khmer by Socheata


Source: http://ki-media.blogspot.com/





Prime minister Hun Sen declared that the sons and daughters of the CPP officials will enter politics in the near future. A HRP official said that the CPP uses the same strategy to cling on to power just like the Khmer Rouge leaders also, meanwhile, opposition leader Sam Rainsy claimed that in Cambodia, the sons and daughters of the killers and those who destroyed the nation can also enter politics as well. Sam Rainsy added that these offspring have studied and are even more knowledgeable than their own parents.Hun Sen declared one more time that he will remain as prime minister until his death, as long as the people vote for him. He is also angry at Sam Rainsy for proposing a draft law to the National Assembly (NA) to limit the term of the prime minister to only one mandate, in order to provide the opportunity to future generations of Cambodian youth to participate in leading the country.The prime minister was also angry at those who criticized him for preventing his son, Hun Manet, from entering politics. Hun Sen said that this prevention was against the constitution, but various opinions indicated that this is Hun Sen’s grooming of his son so he can take over power, and be able to protect him from being prosecuted once he gets out of power, just like what his jailed Big Brother Khmer Rouge have been doing.During a speech given at a students’ certificate distribution ceremony at the Education Institute on Tuesday, Hun Sen declared that there is nothing to worry about, his son and the sons of CPP officials will enter politics in group, but that there is no set time table yet for these youngsters to be involved in politics.Hun Sen said: “In Siem Reap, my goal was to reject the story (about Hun Manet presenting his MP candidacy) as untrue. But, I couldn’t predict that some younger or older brothers would say that ‘Mr. Hun Sen, you shouldn’t prevent political freedom which is stipulated in the Constitution, and this goes to your own son also.’ How sad, but I tell them back: ‘You just wait, they (CPP sons) are not going to enter politics one at a time, if they enter politics, they will enter as a team, all the sons of the CPP officials, if they want to enter politics, I let them enter as a big team.”The popular and brave opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, welcomed this declaration by Hun Sen, he said: “I welcome this because even the sons of the killers, the sons of those who destroyed the nation, the sons of the dictators, if these sons are educated then they will be more progressive than their fathers. At that time, our country will be much better than now.”It should be noted that Ieng Sary, the former vice-prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs of the KR regime, and his wife, the minister of social affairs of the KR regime also, have a son by the name of Ieng Vuth, the current deputy provincial governor of Pailin city. However, Ieng Vuth could not protect his parents from being incarcerated by the KR Tribunal at all.Therefore, it is expected that Hun Manet and the sons of the CPP officials will not be able to protect their parents when the latter lose their power, and if the law will find that Hun Sen and his gang would be involved in criminal activities.Keat Sokun, HRP Vice-president, said that the strategy to cling to power was prepared since long ago through intermarriage between major high-ranking officials in order to form a solid base to lead the country. However, Keat Sokun compared the method adopted by the CPP to be similar to the rule instituted by the former KR leaders in the past.Keat Sokun declared: “First, they form family unions by marrying off children from one family to those of another one … But, at the same time, we can see already that all government officials have made arrangements … to see who would join the CPP or not. Therefore, those who join the CPP will see a lot of fame and fortune, that is why more people will join the CPP. On the other hand, they have installed the parents as group leaders. From then on, the children (of these group leaders) can continue to hold on to power. We saw this (phenomenon) during the Pol Pot era also: if the husband is the group leader for the men, his wife would be the group leader for women, and their children becomes the group leaders for children. The same is happening now.”Families of the CPP officials have set solid alliances through intermarriages, and this is a method to cling on to power by Cambodian politicians.In the past, Hun Sen declared that he will continue to hold on to power for 10 more years only if the people will continue to vote for him. However, when the KR Tribunal started to arrest his Big (KR) Brothers and Sister, and send them to jail, just like Kaing Kek Iev aka Comrade Duch, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, and Khieu Samphan, Hun Sen had a change of mind, he now wants to become PM for life, if people keep on voting for him.Nevertheless, opposition leader Sam Rainsy welcomed Hun Sen’s declaration saying that new generations of Cambodians, in particular CPP officials’ offspring, should participate in politics, because these offspring have learnt more than their fathers who are merely killers and destroyers of the nation.It should be noted that Hun Sen was a former pagoda boy, and he used to confess that when he was a pagoda boy, he used to give a hard time to monks, he used to collect chewed tobacco spat out by nuns to make cigarettes to smoke, and he had very little education. His first position in life was as a Khmer Rouge spy, and at the time, these spies were directly involved in the killing of people. Later on, following the Vietnamese soldiers transfer of power from the Chinese-leaning Khmer Rouge leaders (including Pol Pot, Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea) to the Vietnamese-leaning KR leaders (Hun Sen, Chea Sim, Heng Samrin) on 17 January 1979, the Vietnamese installed Hun Sen as the Foreign Affairs minister.Because he was a good follower of the Vietnamese orders – such as ordering the drafting and sending several tens of thousands of people to their death to fulfill the K-5 plan, and his participation in the arrest and jailing of Pen Sovann (Hun Sen’s former boss) in Vietnam, his help to the Vietnamese to kill Chan Sy – he was pushed by the Vietnamese to become the prime minister in 1985. Since then, Hun Sen allowed the Vietnamese to come and live in Cambodia any way they want. In particular, he ordered local officials to issue official documents stating that all these Vietnamese people living in Cambodia are in fact Cambodian citizens.The reason the Vietnamese praised and elevated Hun Sen to the prime minister position was because he lacks education, and therefore easily pliable by the Vietnamese, such as drafting Cambodian youths to fight with other Cambodian people, thereby creating several tens of thousands deaths among those who survived the KR regime.This is the reason why Sam Rainsy claimed that the fact that the CPP offspring jump into the political fray is a good thing, even though their fathers were killers, because the new generations have studied and they are more knowledgeable than their fathers.

Thursday 29 November 2007

UN Envoy, Burmese PM to Make Overlapping Cambodia Visits

Picture: Ibrahim Gambari








UN Envoy, Burmese PM to Make Overlapping Cambodia Visits
By VOA Khmer Stringers Original reports from Phnom Penh and Siem Reap28 November 2007

The UN special envoy to Burma arrived in Siem Reap Wednesday on a three-day trip that will coincide with the visit Burma's prime minister, but officials said the two were unlikely to meet and denied Cambodia was playing an intermediary role.
UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari is on a regional trip to gauge the political position of Burma's neighbors following violent crackdowns on pro-democracy demonstrators in recent weeks, Agence France-Presse reported.
He was scheduled to visit Angkor Wat.
Lt. Gen. Thein Sien was scheduled to arrive Friday for bilateral talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen, the same day Gambari is scheduled to leave.
At the height of the pro-democracy crisis in September, Prime Minister Hun Sen called on Burma to avoid force in bringing order to protesters.
A spokesman said the government would not censure the leader on this visit.
"Normally, Cambodian culture never looks down on guests," spokesman Khieu Kanharith said.
Thein Sein, who was appointed prime minister in October, is to meet Hun Sen, Senate President Chea Sim and National Assembly President Heng Samrin.
Critics said the government risked losing democratic credibility in hosting Thein Sein.
"It means Cambodia is just like Burma, which affects Cambodia's dignity," opposition leader Sam Rainsy said.
Keo Remy, Vice President of Human Rights Party, said Cambodia should push harder to promote democracy.
"Burma should not be welcome in Cambodia, because the Burmese government has been internationally condemned," said Thun Saray, director of the rights group Adhoc. "This country has dramatically lost face."
"I would like to call on the government to reconsider this issue," said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development. "I think by justice, morality and diplomacy, we're going lose more than we gain."
Khieu Kanharith said critics were not familiar with Asean doctrine, which is traditionally one of non-interference.
"Asean protocol does not arrogantly say, 'I'm gonna teach this or that,'" he said.

Cambodia Tribunal Monitor Webe Site Posts Video of Duch's Trial

Press Release
Source: Cambodia Tribunal Monitor

Cambodia Tribunal Monitor Web Site Posts Video of First Pre-Trial Public Hearing on Cambodia .

The Cambodia Tribunal Monitor Web site today posted complete videotaped coverage of the first pre-trial public hearing of appeal by Person Under Detention Kaing Guek Eav in the long-awaited special war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The November 20 public hearing, held by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), concerned the appeal of Kiang Guek Eav, also known as "Comrade Duch," against the Order for Provisional Detention. Duch has been charged with carrying out executions and torture at the Tuol Sleng prison, where 17,000 people were incarcerated in Phnom Penh during the Khmer Rouge regime.
The Web site will offer complete videotaped footage throughout the court proceedings and serve as the leading independent source of news and information on the upcoming trials of senior officials of the Khmer Rouge regime for atrocity crimes. The formal trials are expected to begin early 2008.
The Web site currently posts news updates and guest commentaries by leading international experts on the recent history of Cambodia, politics, human rights and international law. It also provides background information on the history of the Khmer Rouge and ECCC and important resources such as court documents and bibliographies of scholarly articles and books. Eventually, it will also include video interviews with Cambodian citizens documenting their reaction to events.
From April 1975 to January 1979, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodian citizens died under the Khmer Rouge regime. After nearly 10 years of negotiations, this special war crimes tribunal has commenced. The ECCC, as the special Cambodian court is formally known, will oversee the proceedings and is a joint partnership of the United Nations and the Royal Government of Cambodia.
Background on the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor Web site:
The Cambodia Tribunal Monitor was developed by a consortium of academic, philanthropic and non-profit organizations committed to providing public access to the tribunal and open discussion throughout the judicial process. The academic manager and sponsor of the site is Northwestern University School of Law's Center for International Human Rights, joined by co-sponsors Documentation Center of Cambodia and the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. The prime sponsor of the site is the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation.
The Web site concept was conceived by Illinois State Senator Jeff Schoenberg, a Chicago-area legislator who also advises the Pritzker family on its philanthropy. In January 2007, Schoenberg participated in a trip sponsored by Build Cambodia, a U.S. based not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping Cambodians build their lives and society. As a result of the experience, Schoenberg enlisted the support of the aforementioned sponsors, and with their assistance the Cambodia Tribunal Monitor was created.
Source: Cambodia Tribunal Monitor

Australian Mining Firm Begins Drilling in Cambodia

Australian mining firm begins drilling in Cambodia(DPA).28 November 2007
PHNOM PENH - Australia’s Southern Gold Ltd has commenced mining for gold in north-eastern Cambodia, the company said Wednesday.
In a statement also released to the Australian Stock Exchange, Southern Gold said it had started ‘its first drilling campaign in Cambodia’ at its 80-per-cent-owned Snoul Prospect in the south-eastern province of Kratie.
Southern Gold and another Australian mining giant, Oxiana Ltd, have taken out adjoining lots in the remote area with both reporting promising pre-drilling exploration findings on gold and base metals. Oxiana already operates the massive Sepon gold mine in neighbouring Laos.
Southern Gold - which like Oxiana also mines for base metals, including lead and zinc - said it expected first assay results in early 2008.
Environmentalists have expressed concern as mining companies flock to newly opened Cambodia, concerns the Cambodian government has said are unfounded.
Chinese mining companies are exploring for iron ore in the country’s north, and Australia’s BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, has reported promising finds in initial explorations for bauxite in the eastern province of Mondulkiri and also has interests in as yet untapped anticipated off-shore oil reserves.

American NGO to Train Cambodian Women to Participate in the Election

PHNOM PENH, Nov 28 (Bernama) -- The U.S.-based National Democratic Institute (NDI) here on Wednesday started to train 30 women from Cambodia's main political parties to help them participate in the July 2008 national election, China's Xinhua news agency reported.Stephanie Lynn, NDI's resident programme director for Indonesia, oversees the training of 10 female members each from the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the co-ruling Funcinpec Party and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), said a press release from the non-governmental organisation.The three-day training course aims to help the female candidates of the contending political parties improve their candidacy and campaigning skills, it said.After receiving the training course, the trainees will then train their own party's female members.In the 2007 commune council election, 21 percent of all candidates and nearly 15 percent of the elected councilors were women, an increase of 9 percent from the 2003 national election.Funcinpec has recently appointed Princess Norodom Arunrasmy as its premiership candidate for the upcoming election, unprecedented in Cambodia's political history.-- BERNAMA

Wednesday 28 November 2007

Khieu Samphan: I was forced to join the Khmer Rouge

Khieu Samphan, in an interview with Radio Free Asia, claimed that he did not join the Khmer rouge on his own volition. He was forced to flee to the jungle in 1967 along with Hou Youn and Hu Nim because the secret police were out to arrest him. The arrest warrant were issued to arrest him, Hou Youn and Hu Nim becuase they accused them of inciting the Samlaut Uprising in the same year. Please come back to read Samphan's interviews which will be posted in this site soon.

Burmese PM to Visit Cambodia

Myanmar PM to visit Cambodia: government
PHNOM PENH, Nov 27, 2007 (AFP) - Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein will
arrive Friday in Cambodia for an official visit, the foreign ministry said
Tuesday.
The lieutenant general is expected to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who
earlier this month rejected the imposition of sanctions against Myanmar's
military rulers over their crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
Thein Sein is also expected to hold talks with other Cambodian ruling party
leaders during his three-day stay, which could coincide with a visit to
Cambodia by United Nations special envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari.
Gambari is expected in Cambodia later in the week, according to a UN
Development Programme official, who said his original Wednesday arrival date
had been scrapped but that no new dates had been fixed.
"It will probably be delayed," the official said.
Gambari, on a regional trip to assess the position of ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) countries towards Myanmar, was in Vietnam on Monday,
where he called on leaders to engage the isolated regime.
ASEAN has come under increasing pressure to push Myanmar towards democracy
since its rulers cracked down on anti-government protests in September, when
troops killed at least 15 people and arrested about 3,000, drawing
international condemnation.
Hun Sen also called in October for the junta to stop using violence to
stifle dissent, but said later that sanctions would only hurt the Myanmar
people, not the ruling generals.
Cambodia maintains close diplomatic ties with Myanmar, which has been under
military rule since 1962 and is one of the most isolated nations in the world.
Hun Sen travelled last visited there in May for trade and tourism talks.
sdm-bur/gs/mtp
Cambodia-Myanmar-UN-diplomacy
AFP 270440 GMT NOV 07

Southern Gold Commences Drilling in Cambodia

Southern Gold Commences First Drilling Program in Cambodia Wednesday November 28, 2007, 9:12 am
Original Announcement: First Drilling program commences in Cambodia Southern Gold announced that it has commenced its first drilling campaign on its 80% owned Snoul Prospect, in the Kratie Province, South Eastern Cambodia. The diamond drilling program at Snoul Prospect is focused on a series of artisanal gold workings and new significant gold-in-soil anomalies. Drilling will continue over the next few weeks with first assay results expected in early 2008.
More information about SAU.AX

Cambodia: Corruption at the Highest Level, After Forgery was Discovered


Pictures: Sok An, left and Hun Sen, right.

leaderships signatures for fraud [-Forgery shows that Cambodia is corruption-ridden to the highest level]
November 27, 2007
Two men have been arrested by Cambodian military police in Phnom Penh for allegedly leading a private company into believing it had been granted a huge land concession by using fake signatures of the government's leadership, local press reported Tuesday.The pair, identified as Hai Cheng, 39, and Mao Bun Theng, 51, reportedly falsified the signatures, official stamps and handwriting of Prime Minister Hun Sen, National Assembly President Heng Samrin, Minister of the Council of Ministers Sok An and Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun, the Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper reported. The forgeries were made in order to deceive Ing Em development firm into believing it had been granted a 17,000 hectare land concession in Siem Reap province to build an airport and Special Economic Zone, it said.Posing as middlemen, the pair allegedly prepared the false documents with border markings realistic enough to fool the company into paying them 120,000 U.S. dollars for the service, the Kampuchea Thmey newspaper reported.However, when the men avoided signing a contract with the company, it grew suspicious and ordered a review of the documentation which revealed the documents were forgeries, the KohSantepheap newspaper reported.In the false Council of Ministers notification, Sok An was identified as "Senior Minister, Minister in charge of the Council of Ministers" rather than Deputy Prime Minister, the Rasmei Kampuchea report said.Hai Cheng and Mao Bun Theng were charged Monday and detained byPhnom Penh Municipal Court awaiting further investigation and trial, it said.Police also found a gun, a two-way radio, three mobile phones, three false identify cards and a number of fake documents during asearch of Hai Cheng's house in Meanchey district on Nov. 24, the Koh Santepheap said.
Source: Xinhua

Hornets Kill a Cambodian Mother and Her Two Children

Hornets kill Cambodia mother, 2 children
The Associated Press


PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—A woman and her two young children died after they were stung by a swarm of hornets whose nest they had disturbed while cutting firewood, a police chief said Tuesday.
The woman, her 1-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son died Monday shortly after they were attacked by hornets in a forest near their village in Siem Reap province, said a local police chief, Eng Kea.
Loy Sophea, 24, had taken her children into the forest while she cut firewood for cooking, he said. She accidentally disturbed the hornets' nest, triggering the attack, the police officer said.
The woman used her body to cover her children, but all three were repeatedly stung by the hornets, he said.
Villagers took them to a hospital, but the boy died en route, the officer said, adding that the mother and daughter died after reaching the hospital.
Siem Reap province is about 145 miles northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.

Cambodia Asks China, India, Japan to Help Improve Rural Projects

Picture: Hun Sen in military uniform.

Cambodia asks China, India, Japan to help improve rural projects

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that he had asked China, India and Japan to help with the rural infrastructure development of the country.
Hun Sen said that he had asked China to provide a grant aid of 55 million U.S. dollars to build a 128 km road linking O'pong Man area of Stung Treng province to provincial town of Ratanakiri province.
"We discussed it with the Chinese side in a meeting in Singapore," Hun Sen said at a graduation ceremony for about 580 students at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh.
"In the near future, I will go to India and sign with the Indian side to get 35.5 million dollars in aid to build an electricity network from Kratie province to the Lao border, and the finance will also spend for restoring irrigation system of the Stung Ta Sal river and buying water pumps," he said.
In addition, Hun Sen said he had also asked Japan to build and monitor the roads 76A and 78A which lead to the heritage triangle area bordering Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Editor: Lin Li

Police Blockade Village to Prevent Rights Meeting, Witnesses Say

Photo: Ethnic villagers.

Police Blockade Village to Prevent Rights Meeting, Witnesses Say
By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh27 November 2007

Armed police prevented a public forum in Ratanakkiri province Tuesday that was intended to address land theft and local government malfeasance, witnesses said.
Police used vehicles and motorcycles to block the road to a village where a group of ethnic minorities were to meet officials from the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said Chhim Savuth, a rights worker with the agency.
About 200 people who came out to meet the rights workers 2 kilometers from the site where they originally planned to hold the meeting, he said.
Some of the crowd offered to "remove the police vehicles from the road," Chhim Savuth said. "But we told them not to do anything that could lead to violence."
No forum was held and a minority tribe chief called the blockade "a violation of human rights."
Authorities could not be reached for comment.

No Term Limit for Prime Minister, Hun Sen Says


Photos: Hun Sen, left and Sam Rainsy, right.


No Term Limit for Prime Minister, Hun Sen Says
By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh27 November 2007

The prime minister position does not need a term limit, but should preclude dual citizenship, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday.
His remarks were apparently a reference to calls from the opposition, whose leader, Sam Rainsy, has a French passport, for term limits.
If the prime minister candidate doesn't "dare" to relinquish a second nationality "how can people trust him?" Hun Sen asked, during a speech. "When there is a problem, he runs overseas."
"I'm a Khmer," Sam Rainsy said after the remarks. "I love my country. I want to serve the Khmer people as someone who has education from a developed country, has knowledge and experience from developed countries, and has come back to serve the Khmer interest. It's better than some of those who are serving foreign interests because they owe them."

For Jailed Khmer Rouge Leaders, a Catalogue of Ailments

For Jailed Khmer Rouge Leaders, a Catalogue of Ailments
By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh.
27 November 2007

None of the former Khmer Rogue leaders awaiting trial at a tribunal jail is perfectly healthy.
Former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith is possibly mentally ill; her husband, Ieng Sary, former foreign affairs minister, has back and heart problems. Prison chief Duch and ideologue Nuon Chea complain of high blood pressure. And the former nominal head of the regime, Khieu Samphan, just recovered from an apparent stroke, though his lawyer says he has recovered.
Observers worry that old age will claim the defendants before they are able to stand trial.
"We all want them to live longer, so that they have the opportunity to defend themselves in front of the court," said Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development.
Phath Touvesang, Ieng Thirith's lawyer, said her client has begun talking to herself, repeating words over and over many times, "losing her mind." "I think her mental illness has relapsed," Phath Touvesang said. Ieng Thirith is the sister of Khieu Ponnary, the deceased first wife of Pol Pot, who died in 2003 after suffering mental illness as well.

Tuesday 27 November 2007

Cambodia Launched Historic Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open

THE inaugural Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open is poised for a historic launch when the event tees off at the Phokeethra Country Club on Thursday.
The US$300,000 ($432,000) Asian Tour event, which has the full backing of the Cambodian government, will be the first professional golf tournament in the emerging nation, where the aspiration is for a Cambodian golfer to some day lift the national Open.
A strong line-up of Asian Tour stars, led by Thai Thaworn Wiratchant, a former Asian No. 1 and holder of a record nine wins in the region, will compete at the Phokeethra Course, reported asiantour.com.

Other top names who will vie for the title include Thailand's Chapchai Nirat and Scotland's Simon Yates, both ranked in the top 10 of the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit.
The Phokeethra Country Club is steeped in the history of the region. Within its grounds stands the magnificent ancient 'Roluh' Bridge dating back to a Khmer empire in the 11th century and is older than the famous Angkor Wat, which is also located in Siem Reap.
Johnnie Walker's general manager (Indochina), Sam Fischer, said: 'We are very honoured to have this opportunity to work with the Phokeethra Country Club and Asian Tour on the Cambodian Open, and we look forward to watching some truly inspirational golf in Cambodia.
'Most of all, the tournament is a platform to promote the philosophy that lies at the heart of the Johnnie Walker brand: Keep Walking.
'This philosophy is about inspiring people to take the next step on their journey towards their goals.'
Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said he was looking forward to the first Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open, which is one of six new events scheduled this season.

US Naval Warship Arrives In Cambodia

Photos: USS Essex Docked at Sihanoukville Bay.



US Naval Warship Arrives In Cambodia - AFP .
SIHANOUKVILLE (AFP)--The U.S. navy's USS Essex arrived Monday in Cambodia, the second U.S. warship this year to make a port call to this former communist country in a sign of growing military relations.
During their week-long visit the crew of the Essex, which includes both sailors and marines, will conduct medical and dental clinics as well as training exercises with the Cambodian military, the embassy said.
"This represents only the second time that a U.S. naval vessel has visited Cambodia in the past 30 years," said Piper Campbell, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy.
The USS Gary was the first, docking in the port town of Sihanoukville in February in what at the time was hailed as the first step in closer military ties.
"These visits are a dramatic representation of the strengthening and the broadening of the relationship between the United States and Cambodia," Campbell said.
The USS Essex visit, also to Sihanoukville, comes amid growing concern over China's military buildup and influence in the region.
Beijing, a long-time ally of successive Cambodian governments, including the genocidal 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime, has significantly boosted its aid to the impoverished country, including military hardware.
Earlier this month China delivered nine navy patrol craft, bringing to 15 the number of military vessels it has given since 2005 in a bid to bolster Cambodia's aging fleet.
U.S. officials have previously downplayed Washington's growing military involvement with Cambodia, saying it wasn't an attempt to block China's inroads into the region.
Since Washington lifted a ban on military aid to Cambodia in 2005 it has conducted a number of training programs to combat bird flu and prepare Cambodian soldiers for UN peacekeeping missions.

US Ship Docks in Sihanoukville



US Ship Docks in Sihanoukville
By VOA Khmer, Reporters Original report from Washington & Phnom Penh.
26 November 2007

The USS Essex, a 2,000-crew, 250-meter ship, docked in Sihanoukville Monday, the largest US ship to land at the port city in 30 years.
The ship will deploy its crew for "community relations events, medical and dental events and professional military exchanges," the US Embassy in Phnom Penh said in a statement.
Crew "will also have the chance to meet local citizens and experience local customs and traditions," the embassy said.
The ship's visit is the second US naval appearance this year, following decades of cooler relations between Cambodia and the US. Relations have improved, including the resumption of direct foreign aid and military aid to Cambodia this year.

Monday 26 November 2007

Cambodian Migrant Workers in Thailand Faced With Rapes, Abuses, Discriminations and Deportations

Cambodian migrant workers in Thailand faced with rapes, abuses, discriminations, and deportations
Foreign workers needed but alienatedNovember 26, 2007Subhatra BhumiprabhasThe Nation (Thailand)

Immigrant workers from neighbouring nations, especially Burma, are seen as troublemakers, unlike those from the West.Looking over some 1,000 stories dating back to 2004 in 13 local newspapers, researcher Kulachada Chaipipat found the news media too often portrayed migrant workers as statistics, victims, criminals and vectors of disease, rather than human beings with lives and hopes and dreams.Kulachada cited headlines such as "Fear aliens will take over flat building in Mahachai", "Ten thousand migrants raid police sports stadium", "Unlawful Burmese workers intercepted and arrested", "Foreign workers found dangerous", "Number one among diarrhoea cases", "Hunt for killer of six Burmese workers: Chumphon deputy police commissioner confirms murderer is not Thai", "Tsunami effects cause rise in crime", "Aliens losing jobs turn to thievery" and "Point to illegal migrants as a cause for people's panic".Kulachada last week revealed the findings of a three-year project between 2004 and 2006 on local news-media coverage of migrants and mobile-population issues.The forum was hosted by the Thai Journalists Association, the Migrant Working Group and the Canada South East Asia Regional HIV/Aids Program-me.Most editors and reporters she interviewed, however, dismissed claims the news media itself played a role in creating and stereotyping negative images of foreign workers from Burma, she said."They said negative attitudes [towards migrant workers and neighbouring countries] already existed in society. It wasn't the media that placed such attitudes in society," Kulachada said. She spoke with 11 editors and reporters of eight newspapers.However, she found many negative words were unnecessarily used in coverage to "separate" migrant workers from others. "For example, words like "unlawful", "dangerous" and also the word "migrant" had been repeatedly used to describe workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia," she said.Though agreeing that there are both positive and negative sides of migrant workers, editors saw them as more negative than positive.Editors believe readers paid little attention to migrant workers; some of them said news media attention of their plight would upset readers, Kulachada said.Editors said migrants should not be given equal space in newspapers. Most reports about migrants over the past three years were about government policy toward them in terms of national security and crackdowns on undocumented migrants.Human rights are not considered in local reporting about migrants, Kulachada said, citing only 50 cases of human rights violations against migrant workers out of 1,189 stories she researched.Publishing comments from those with negative attitudes towards immigrants was another issue that made reports unbalanced, she added.Editors conceded, but defended reporters for, limited sources, saying they could not communicate in migrants' languages.Speaking in Thai, a Cambodian worker Sia, spoke at the forum. She said her employer had raped a colleague."When learning she was pregnant, the employer called police to arrest her. The woman filed a petition to the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok but failed," Sia said.The woman was eventually paid two months' salary as compensation and was deported.Sa, a Mon worker in Bangkok, said she was forced to flee her male employer. "I worked as a nanny for his child and he called me to take care of the baby in his bedroom," said Sa, who has been working in Thailand for 12 years.Most editors, however, believed human rights of migrant workers had improved, compared with a decade ago and before the government introduced registration, Kulachada said.Some editors said the image of migrants had changed from abused to potential abusers of the system, she added.The media sees reports as two sides of a coin that depends on readers' views, Kulachada said.

Sam Rainsy Annouces the Launch of the SRP Youth Movement

Photo: Sam Rainsy with garland posed for a photo with the youth.
Monday, November 26, 2007

Sam Rainsy announces the launch of the SRP Youth Movement
Sam Rainsy with Youth group (students and workers) in Phnom Penh in 2007 (Photo: SRP)
TO ALL SRP MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERSI have the honor and the pleasure to inform you that the new SRP Youth Movement has been launched with the holding of elections in every commune to democratically choose SRP Youth leaders starting from the grassroots level up to the national level.Following my appeal, the response from our Youth has been very enthusiastic nationwide. In many communes, more than a hundred (the minimum required is thirty) young Cambodians, between 16 and 30 years old, registered as SRP Youth Movement members and took part in elections in their respective communes. Nearly half of the elected leaders (Presidents and Vice-Presidents) so far, are female, which is very encouraging with regard to gender parity for Cambodia's future leadership.Above all, we are very proud of the quality of the newly elected Youth leaders in terms of level of education and dedication for the common good.We plan to hold meetings, discussions and elections in practically all Cambodia's 1,621 communes.I call on the Cambodian Youth abroad to get democratically organized in all countries where there are large Cambodian communities and to closely work with the Cambodian Youth in Cambodia within our great SRP family.Warmest greetings,Sam Rainsy
o O oA TOUS LES MEMBRES ET SYMPATHISANTS DU PSRJ'ai l'honneur et le plaisir de vous informer que le nouveau Mouvement de Jeunesse du PSR vient d'être lancé avec l'organisation d'élections dans chaque commune pour choisir démocratiquement les dirigeants des Jeunes PSR du niveau local au niveau national.Suite à mon appel, la réponse de nos Jeunes a été enthousiaste dans l'ensemble du pays. Dans de nombreuses communes, plus de cent (le minimum requis est de trente) jeunes Cambodgiens âgés de 16 à 30 ans, se sont inscrits comme membres du Mouvement de Jeunesse du PSR et ont pris part aux élections dans leurs communes respectives. Presque la moitié des dirigeants (Présidents et Vice-Présidents) qui viennent d'être élus, sont de sexe féminin, ce qui est encourageant pour ce qui est de la parité homme-femme au sein des futures équipes dirigeantes du Cambodge.Mais surtout, nous sommes fiers de la qualité des nouveaux élus en termes de niveau d'éducation et de dévouement au bien public.Nous comptons organiser des réunions, discussions et élections dans pratiquement chacune des 1.621 communes du Cambodge.J'appelle la Jeunesse cambodgienne résidant à l'étranger à s'organiser d'une manière démocratique dans tous les pays où existent de grosses communautés khmères et à travailler étroitement avec la Jeunesse cambodgienne au Cambodge au sein de notre grande famille PSR.Cordiales salutations,Sam Rainsy

Sunday 25 November 2007

Mill Family Helps Provide Clean Water to Cambodian Village


Photo: From left, Annie, Tim, Taylor and Beth Emanuels, at their Mill Valley home, were inspired to help the people of Cambodia after visiting the country.
(Special to the IJ/Thomas K. Sorensen)
11/24/2007Jim StaatsMarin Independent Journal (Marin County, California, USA)
AS THE HOLIDAY season of giving revs up, a Mill Valley family remains dedicated to a philanthropic effort a world away.Tim Emanuels said a vacation to view the temples of Cambodia resulted in a united family front helping build wells of safe drinking water for people of the kingdom's rural regions."It started when my wife and I and my daughter went to Cambodia two years ago," said Emanuels, an executive with Morgan Stanley. "Our tour guide was facilitating the building of wells with Western dollars. We started it out on a small scale."The family now serves as international conduit for a humanitarian program that has built more than 100 wells set to serve several hundred villagers for years to come.
Villagers use a completed well (center) north of Siem Reap City. (Provided by the Emanuels family)Emanuels said a single well purchase grew to include Christmas presents for friends and family in the form of funding for other Cambodian wells."We bought several more for Christmas presents and started to scale it from there," he said, noting the involvement of daughter Annie, 14, and son Taylor, 18, after a follow-up visit this year helped jump-start the project."My daughter built a Web site to formalize the process, then Taylor got involved helping her design and build it," he said. "Since then, Taylor has really taken and run with it."Taylor, a senior at University High School in San Francisco, does project marketing and publicity while Annie handles administration."We really just sort of made an attachment to the country, saw the level of poverty and wanted to do something to help," said Taylor Emanuels.The Southeast Asian kingdom is one of the world's least developed countries, with residents of rural regions surviving on subsistence farming. Access to clean, bacteria-free water for these families is often unattainable; water-borne illnesses including typhoid, cholera and diarrhea are responsible for more than half of the deaths in the country.
Workers lay bricks for the well s foundation after the pump has been put in place. (Provided by the Emanuels family)Taylor said it was pure happenstance that the family's hotel referred them to tour guide Nhean Samban (referred to by his tourist clients as "Sam Brothers") on their initial visit to Siem Reap, the second-largest city in Cambodia."The family asked Sam what to do to help, and he said there is a thing he started to build wells for $250," said Taylor, noting the family was skeptical but purchased a well.
A well provides water for 15 monks living in a Buddhist temple in Peak Sneng Chas Village. (Provided by the Emanuels family)"When we got home, we paid for it, then got a picture of the well and the family it was helping," he said. "We just loved the idea of what we were doing."A $250 outlay finances the building of a well by a local construction company and short-term observation of the site in case problems arise. Wells, dug 30 feet deep to prevent water-borne diseases, are built either one per family or several per village; each well provides water for 10 to 15 people for 15 to 20 years, according to Emanuels.To date, about 110 wells have been built or are in the process of being built through the project, with orders for about 40 more.
Well construction is shown in the early stages. (Provided by the Emanuels family)"We became (Sam's) official contact within the U.S.," Taylor said. "When people come over there, he tells them about us and gives our family as reference. We've had people calling us from all over the world who visited Sam as a tour guide."Tim Emanuels added: "What we're finding is (Sam) will speak to somebody in Cambodia who wants to talk to somebody who has done due diligence."He said a visit back to the region by all family members last June, which included a tour of some of the 40 wells built at that time and visits with families, satisfied concerns."In addition to doing our own fundraising in the states, it's definitely a trusting thing," Tim Emanuels said. "There is not an organization like the Red Cross to monitor this. That's why we're keeping it small-scale right now."Though small in scale, the Emanuels are not alone."There are a lot of private situations like that," said Nay Meang, deputy chief of mission at the Cambodian Embassy in Washington, D.C."People that went to Cambodia as tourists and learn about the needs for people in rural areas come back to their country and they have sympathy to help the Cambodian people," Meang said, noting rural drinking water is a nationwide problem that is a priority for the government.He said the problem is being addressed through multiple channels including nongovernment organizations, different charities and private efforts of people living abroad like the Emanuels."The nature of this is so boot-strap," said Tim Emanuels. "The simplicity of it is the beauty of it."THE WELL PROJECT

For more information about the Cambodian Well Project, visit web.mac.com/aemanuels
source: Ki-Media

Five Singaporeans Found Dead After Cambodian Boat Accident

Photo: Dragon boats belonging to the Singaporean team.







Dear Readers,

May we all offer our condolences to the bereaved families of those 5 Singaporeans who were tragically drowned in our Water Festival boat race accident. It is an accident that were prone to happen and all the blames were on the Cambodian authority who were not well prepared to deal with such accident. It was a simple accident which can be rescued but I believe that the rescue teams were not on standby and were not quick enough to come to their rescue when their boat sank. In the Western countries such a simple accident will never result in death. They will be rescued in no time.
The Cambodian authority must take all the responsibility. This accident will serve as a lesson for future event. While our Water Festival has become more popular every year and has, increasingly over the years, been able to attract foreign participants, this accident may also damage the reputation of our Water Festival and might scare off future potential participants. The Cambodian authority must assure those foreign governments that such an accident will never occur again. If not they will not come back. That's what I believe.

Singaporeans found dead after Cambodia boat accident: police
2 hours ago
PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of five Singaporean men who were killed in a dragon boat accident during Cambodia's annual water festival, police said Sunday.
The boat carrying 22 men capsized late Friday as it tried to dock on Phnom Penh's Tonle Sap river after competing in a race during the festival.
More than 200 Cambodian navy sailors and fishermen, joined by seven divers and a medic from Singapore, scoured the river over the weekend searching for the five.
"All the missing Singaporeans were found, and now the mission has ended," police chief Touch Naruth told reporters on Sunday.
Seventeen Singaporeans were also injured in the accident, which happened on the first day of races. Millions of spectators, holiday-makers and participants flock to the capital Phnom Penh to watch the event.
Nhim Vanda, from Cambodia's National Committee for Disaster Management, said the tragedy occurred because of currents in the river.
"There was a very strong whirlpool around the port area they were returning to, and it hit the boat," he said, adding that the men were not wearing life jackets.
Singapore's foreign ministry said in a statement that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had written to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to convey his "shock and sadness."
Relatives of the dead visited the site of the accident late Saturday, with most unable to hold the tears back as they silently surveyed the river where their loved ones had been swept away.
More than 440 boats, including a number of foreign crews, entered this year's races, which end Sunday evening. Ten nations in Southeast Asia have boats competing in the colourful event.
Accidents are common during the boat races, which involve long, thin "dragon boats" crewed by as many as 70 rowers, which compete against each other in the sometimes choppy waters in front of Phnom Penh's royal palace.

Interview with Duch's sister (Mrs Hong Kim Hong)

Photo: Duch the Executioner.


Radio Free Asia, 22nd November 2007. By Huy Vannak.


Translated from Khmer by Khmerization


-----------------------------------------




Duch, real name Kaing Guek Eav, was chief of Tuol Sleng Torture Centre from 1975-1979. In just over three years between 16,000-20,000 prisoners were brought there, tortured and executed in the most cruel and inhuman ways. Amongst the 20,000 people imprisoned there only 7 have survived.


In an interview with Mr. Huy Vannak of Radio Free Asia, after the second day of Duch's trial on 21st November 2007, Duch's youngest sister, Mrs. Hong Kim Hong, has described Duch as a gentle man and not as a cruel person portrayed by the public and the media.


But in just over three years some 20,000 people were totured and executed in the most brutal ways in a "gentle man's" act of brutality. Read the interview below:




Huy Vannak (HV): When you arrived at the Tribunal, how did you feel when you saw your brother?


Hong Kim Hong (HKH): I felt that if the Tribunal conducted his case according to what his lawyers told me, I am very happy and felt that there will be justice. The Trial was conducted in order to protect any violations of human rights. All the top ex-Khmer Rouge leaders have never been detained as long as him. Only him who was detained longer than any other leaders.


HV: Since he was arrested and detained eight years ago, have you ever visited him?


HKH: I met him at the military tribunal once. My family is very poor. We don't have the means to travel to visit him all the time. Each time we came to visit him we have to spend $100 or so on food and accomodation.


HV: There were claims that Duch was a very cruel person, what do you want to tell the tribunal about Duch's character as a person??


HKH: My brother is a gentle man. Even people who worked with him in many aid organisations really loved him. People whom he worked with in UNHCR and COERR knew that he was a gentle person. My brother is not a cruel person. But at that time he worked under someone's orders. If he did not do it he will lose his life too.


HV: Who was that person?


HKH: Those are the top leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime. I did not know who they were because I was still very young. But I knew it was the orders from the top leaders. So if they continue to detain him it would be very unjust and unfair to him because other leaders have not been detained yet. And those were the ones who were higher than him. And as for my brother who worked under them was detained and will continue to be detained for a long period of time.


HV: How did you know that he took orders from someone?


HKH: During that time I lived under the Khmer Rouge too. I have lived under the KR regime since I was 12 years old.


HV: Did he help you with anything?


HKH: No. All my siblings had never seen each other. We never dare to ask permission to visit each other, even permission to visit my mother. I separated from her to work in a child mobile group since I was 12 years old. I had to work very hard in oder to carry heavy loads. I have never seen any nice clothes. All my clothes were torn like rags. At that time they considered my family to be a capitalist one because all my family members were teachers and tailors. We were not of farming origin. So they required us to work very hard and very heavy. So I worked very, very hard.


HV: Did you know that he was a director of Tuol Sleng Prison during the KR regime?


HKH: During the KR regime I never knew where he was or what job he did because at that time I lived in Neak Luong and I had not made any contact with him. Even my birth place and my mother I never had a chance to visit until the Vietnamese invasion in 1979. So when the Vietnamese invaded I run and run until I reached the Khmer-Thai border, without even having any chance to go to see my home and my mother. I only had a chance to see my mother in 1998.


HV: Did Duch ever discussed about his past or ever admitted his past mistakes to the family or the people living in the same village?


HKH: All the villagers knew everything about him.


HV: What did they know?


HKH: They knew that he was a director of S-21 (Tuol Sleng Prison). And they knew that his name was Duch. My brother had never hidden his real name and real identity. All the people in my village knew everything. But nobody hate or detest or even hold grudges against him because he never done anything bad toward them. Never.


HV: Did he ever tell them that what he had done at Tuol Sleng Prison were wrong?


HKH: I don't know about that because that issue he committed during the past regime and during that regime I have never lived with him because I was still young and because I lived separate from him. I and him never saw each other. Even my mother, whom I lived not too far from, I never had a chance to go and see her. I only saw her in 1998. I separated from her since 1972. I never saw her because I dared not ask for a permission to go and see her. At that time wherever you live, must stay there. There was no permission given for anyone to visit home. Some has said that why in 1979, after the Vietnamese invasion, why didn't he go home to his birth place? I can tell you that all the ex-KR cadres, after 1979, some of them have never seen their homes until now.


HV: why did Duch convert to Christianity?


HKH: That's what he believes in.


HV: What sort of belief?


HKH: That's his decision because he believes that by becoming a Christian will give him a good, peaceful life. So he had chosen to be a Christian. Even I myself is also a Christian.


HV: How will that make your life better?


HKH: Whatever gives hopes to my life I will believe in.


HV: Do you think that God will help Duch have peace in his mind?


HKH: In spiritual way I believe that God can help us have peace in our mind because whatever we had done we must believe in ourselves. So in short a Christian is he who is calm and peaceful in their mind. Who has a gentle character and has compassion toward other people.


HV: Even if the Tribunal continue to detain him, do you still believe that he will have a peace of mind?


HKH: For me personally, I try to have a peace of mind, but in my capacity as his sister, I feel very confused because I was always thinking and always worry, especially worry about his personal health. It is true that the Tribunal and the government have looked after his health but he is an old man now. So he will not live long enough. I am afraid that my family members, and especially my mother who is very old now, will never be able to see his face for the last time before he died. My mother is now over eighty years old.


HV: Where is your mother living now?


HKH: My mother lives in Siem Reap. She is now over eighty years old.


HV: Does she know about Duch's trial?


HKH:Yes, I've told her. And she wanted to come as well. Duch asked why I did not bring our mother here. In fact I cannot bring her here because she might get the shock. She is too old. We have to help her move around.//

Duch's Biography: The Lost Executioner

Vorn Vet, Duch's boss, along with Ke Kim Hourt, Duch's professor, was tortured and executed at Tuol Sleng Prison.
Photos: Duch as the chief executioner in the 1970s (below) and Duch as the prisoner in Feb. 2003 (left).




Radio Free Asia by Chea Vita



20th November 2007

Translated from Khmer by Khmerization
-----------------------------------------

Duch was a director of the Tuol Sleng Torture Centre from 1975 to 1979. In just over 3 years between 16,000 to 20,000 prisoners were brought there. By the time the Vietnamese invading forces arrived in Phnom Penh in 1979 just 7 people survived. The rest have been tortured and executed in the most primitive and brutal ways under the supervision of Duch. Yet those who knew Duch as a young man described him as a gentle, kind and caring person. Below is his brief biography:(And please come back to read interview with Duch's sister in which she described about Duch's past).


Duch was born in Kampong Thom province in a poor family on 17th November 1942. He was of Sino-Khmer origin and has five brothers and sisters. Duch was born in a period during which the Cambodian economy was in recession. Many peasant families in Duch's village have become slaves to the bourgeouisie and the capitalists. Even he was poor, young Duch, alias Kaing Guek Eav, was a brilliant student. Duch was also a kind teacher to his students. So, what made the kind teacher to become one of the worst killers this world has ever seen?

When he was 14 years old Duch passed the exam to matriculate to a junior high school. Ke Kim Hourt, Duch's teacher, and who was later ordered arrested by Nuon Chea and imprisoned at Tuol Sleng prison and was tortured and brutally executed under Duch's supervision, has taught his students that in order to eliminate poverty and social injustice one must eliminate corruption. And in order to eliminate corruption one must eliminate the then corrupt feudal system of government in Cambodia.

In 1962 Duch passed the exam to matriculate to the elite Sisowath College in Phnom Penh. It was there that Duch had seen clearly the widest gap between the rich and the poor, between the rural and the city people.

According to the book, The Lost Executioner: A Story of the Khmer Rouge by Nic Dunlop, who had personally interviewed Duch, described that in 1964 Duch went to a Teacher's Training College. It was there that Duch met a teacher named Son Sen, a French-educated intellectual, who was later to become Khmer Rouge Minister of Defence and Security and effectively Duch's boss. In that same year Son Sen, whom Duch called "teacher", fled to the jungle and met up with Pol Pot to form a resistance movement. It was that Teacher's Training College that has become a breeding ground for the future Cambodian revolutionaries who later became dissidents to the government.

In 1965 Duch had become a very famous mathematics teacher at a high school at Skoun town in Kampong Cham province. Even though he hold a teaching diploma from Phnom Penh Duch was humble and never show off. The book, The Lost Executioner quoted one of Duch's students named Moeun who said that:"Duch was a different teacher. In Cambodia those who'd just been in employment always hide about their poor background in order to show off to other people that they are well off. Duch was a highly qualified teacher who was patient and very gentle. He worked tirelessly and never punished his students. He always provided food and accomodation for his poor students like what his teachers had done to him".

This ex-student of Duch added that Duch liked to read books about the biography of revolutionary communist leaders such as Mao Tse-tung and Karl Marx etc.

Duch always taught his students about Mao's communist theory. He had always encouraged his students to always help the poor and the weak. And he taught them to hate feudalism, capitalism and the monarchy.

In 1967 three of Duch students were arrested by the secret police of the Sihanouk government. It was then that Duch fled to the jungle of Chamkar Leu district. Chamka Leu was where Duch had become a full member of the Communist Party of Cambodia. But his escape to the jungle can be from another reason. The book, The Lost Executioner quoted Somaly, another of Duch's female classmate, who said that:" I just knew that he had played tontine (money game) in order to raise the money to support his revolutionary cause. When it was time to pay he didn't have the money to pay so he fled to the jungle in Chamkar Leu district".

Whatever the reasons for his escape to the jungle in Chamka Leu, shortly after his escape to the jungle Duch was arrested by the authority and was sent to Preysor Prison. Duch was imprisoned there for two years without trial. It was there that Duch seen hundreds of other prisoners who were also imprisoned without any trials. One of the prisoners whom Duch met in that prison was a man named Morm Nay, alias Chan. Chan was later to become deputy director of the prisons code-named M13, M99 and S-21 (Tuol Sleng Prison) of the Khmer Rouge regime.

After taking power through a coup d'etat against the then Prince Sihanouk in 1970 Marshall Lon Nol's government pardoned all political prisoners. After his release from Preysor Prison in 1970 and probably due to his anger and hatred angainst the injustice Duch again fled to the Khmer Rouge zone in the Cardamon Mountains region. There Duch was appointed as a commander of security by a high-ranking Khmer Rouge official named Vorn Vet, who was later tortured and executed in Tuol Sleng Prison in around 1977. Duch was tasked by the Party to set up the prison system where he opened two centres code-named M13 or Monty Dop Bei in Orm Laing region of Kampong Speu province and a second prison code-named M99 or Monty Kao Sep Pram Bourn at the foot of the Oral Mountain.

Based on the book: The Lost Executioner, during the resistance against the Lon Nol regime there were approximately 20,000 prisoners who were tortured and executed in those two prisons. Victims included Lon Nol's soldiers, Khmer Rouge (KR)military personnel whom the KR considered to be their enemies. Vorn Vet who was Duch's boss and was later tortured and executed under Duch's supervision at Tuol Sleng Prison, had never gave clear instructions to Duch on the precise methods of how to torture in order to extract confessions from prisoners so Duch has to experiment to find the effective ways and methods.

Due to the methods and the brutal nature of prisoners' torture there, there was an assumption that those two prisons were the places where Duch first experimented his most effective ways and cruellest forms of torturing the prisoners. May be due to his experiences from those two prisons that Duch was appointed director of S-21 or Tuol Sleng Torture Centre after the KR took power in 1975.

In an interview with Mr. Nic Dunlop on page 76 of the book, an ex-KR soldier named Horm In, who had survived prison M13, has recalled like this:" Days and nights, we always heard voices of cries and screams all the time. There were many prisoners who were tortured in different forms, including the using of an ax to smash prisoners' knee-cap, their sheen, their back and their chest. Sometimes they burned prisoners with hot oil from a burning torch. And to deny the charges will make the interrogators become very, very angry so they will torture the prisoners until they become unconscious. There was another effective method of torture called the Victory Post which four prisoners were tied up together around a single post. After that the executioner would fire a single shot into one prisoner's head causing the blood and the smashed brains to splash over other perisoners' faces".

Mr. Horm In, who until now never knew what he had done wrong, said that he was personally interrogated by Duch and after knowing that he was born on the Year of the Horse, Duch sarcastically joked that the persons who were born in the Year of the Horse are destined to be imprisoned. Duch had told Horm In that if he agreed to work for the Party by spying on other prisoners he would be freed. Horm In, at that time, agreed to Duch's proposal. After serving three months prison term Horm In was released to work outside of the prison which gave him a chance to see all the killings and executions of the prisoners. One night, he saw young prison guards had executed two hundred prisoners.

Mr. Henry Locard?(spelling), a French expert on Cambodian history, has said that the KR has committed atrocities since before they took power. On the other hand, soldiers of the Lon Nol regime have also committed atrocities at almost the same level as the KR.

The KR Tribunal was set up, and has the jurisdiction, to try crimes committed under the KR regime from 1975 t0 1979 which between 1.7 million to 2 million Cambodians had died of starvation, overwork and by executions. Between 14,000 to 20,000 people were brought to Tuol Sleng Prison, tortured and executed, under the supervision of Duch.//

1.Read an interview with Duch's sister who claimed that Duch is a gentleman:http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2007/11/interview-with-duchs-sister-mrs-hong.html