Sunday, January 30, 2011

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Dey Krahorm Land Eviction Victim: Down with Hun Xen

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 07:51 PM PST

The result of Hun Xen's development: Extreme POVERTY

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 07:50 PM PST

[Thai] PM orders Cambodian flags to be taken down

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 03:49 PM PST

Phnom Penh labels demand 'provocative'

31/01/2011
Bangkok Post

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is insisting that any Cambodian flag flying above disputed areas must be removed, despite Phnom Penh denouncing the call as "insulting and unacceptable".

The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement criticising Mr Abhisit's demand, saying the call, in parallel with Thai military exercises last week near the border, was provocative.

Mr Abhisit called for the removal of the Cambodian flags yesterday during his weekly radio and television address.

Cambodia is flying its national flag near Wat Kaew Sikha Khiri Sawara temple in the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre area near Preah Vihear temple.

Mr Abhisit said the area did not belong to Cambodia and ordered the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry to protest against Cambodia's announcement that he had violated its sovereignty by ordering the removal of the flag.


The prime minister also reaffirmed yesterday that he would not meet the demands of the People's Alliance for Democracy, which is protesting against the government's handling of the border row.

The PAD is calling on the government to revoke the 2000 memorandum of understanding between Thailand and Cambodia that governs the countries' boundary quarrel, to withdraw from the World Heritage Committee, and to expel Cambodian people from the disputed area.

Mr Abhisit said it was a misunderstanding that the border agreement allowed Cambodia to encroach on Thai territory. He said the memorandum prohibited either country from further intruding on the other's land.

He denied the agreement put Thailand at a disadvantage or meant that Thailand accepted a 1:200,000 border map used by Cambodia. He insisted the memo was drawn up in line with international principles and could help prevent the disagreement escalating into war.

As for the membership of the World Heritage Committee, Mr Abhisit said the past government of Thailand allowed Cambodia to have the Preah Vihear temple listed as a world heritage site, while his government had resisted Cambodia's desire to manage the temple as a world heritage site alone.

Regarding the expulsion of Cambodian people from the disputed area, the prime minister said such a move could trigger retaliations.

The secretary to the foreign minister, Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, said yesterday the Foreign Ministry would issue a letter of protest against Cambodia's statement accusing Mr Abhisit of violating its sovereignty.

"We should help each other avoid conflicts and should not issue any statement that will lead to more conflicts and confusion," he said.

Cambodia welcomes aid from Japan and China, some are wary

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 03:46 PM PST

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 30 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Cambodia, one of the least developed countries in Southeast Asia, extends a welcoming hand to economic aid from Japan and China but some analysts in the country are wary of the competitive intent of the nation's two largest aid donors.
Officially, the government hails the two countries as champions of Cambodia's rehabilitation and development through their economic aid program.

Japan has provided about $130 million a year to Cambodia since the early 1990s mostly in the form of grant aid, while China channels its assistance largely through loans.

For years, however, some Cambodians and observers have been curious about the drive behind the Japanese and Chinese aid programs, as neither country imposes preconditions, a sharp contrast with economic aid from the United States and other Western powers that is often tied to human rights and democracy in the recipient countries.


Since the early 1990s, the Japanese aid program has focused on infrastructure projects in Cambodia, such as bridges, roads and irrigation networks. Japan has also been the largest donor of international funds to finance the U.N.-backed trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders.

Some Cambodians see Japan's financial assistance to fund the operation of the U.N.-backed tribunal as part of its contribution to help heal Cambodia's trauma from the brutal Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.

Cynics, however, suggest Japan is giving money to finance Khmer Rouge trials as a way to harass China, Japan's major political and economic rival in Asia. Beijing backed the Khmer Rouge regime, which is blamed for the deaths of at least 1.7 million Cambodians during its nearly four years of repressive rule.

A Japanese diplomat in Phnom Penh denies the allegation, saying Japan sees the importance of reconstruction and the rule of law in Cambodia.

"Japan has no hidden agenda behind our assistance, which has been given humanitarian and rule of law purposes," the diplomat said.

Chheang Vannarith, executive director of Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, a Phnom Penh-based research institute, said Japan has been focusing on Southeast Asia in general and Cambodia in particular to maintain its economic role and political influence in this region.

Vannarith added Japan "is interested in balancing China's rise."

The rise of China, which has replaced Japan as the world's second- largest economy, has significantly bolstered its economic and diplomatic reach in Southeast Asia.

Vannarith said China has been conducting an experiment on its aid diplomacy in Cambodia and uses Cambodia as a model for other developing countries in the region and in the world at large.

"So far, China's aid to Cambodia has been very effective in terms of winning the heart of Cambodian leaders," he said.

In the last six years, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen paid 11 visits to China, more trips than any other country, while Chinese leaders made six visits to the country.

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni made five state visits to China between 2005 and 2010.

Hun Sen has no reservation in hailing Cambodia's close diplomatic ties with China.

"Starting from the restoration of Cambodia-China diplomatic relations in 1994, the ties developed to a level of mutual trust and confidence by 2004. We are now in the state of comprehensive cooperation and partnership," he said recently.

The premier was also lavish in expressing Cambodia's gratitude to investments from China, which totaled $5.6 billion from 2008 to June last year.

"I would like to express my sincere thanks to our Chinese friends for their help so that Cambodia could get to the objectives it has planned," he said at a ground-breaking ceremony in December for one of the five Chinese-financed hydropower plants.

The growing economic ties between China and Cambodia have prompted words of caution from Washington.

Speaking to Cambodian students during a visit to Phnom Penh in November, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had this advice to Cambodian leaders: "You look for balance. You don't want to get too dependent on any one country. You want to be able to have partnerships that cut across regional geographic lines."

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Dey Krahorm Land Eviction Victim

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 03:43 PM PST

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com
and also at http://sacrava.wordpress.com)

Thailand to protest to Cambodia over disputed temple

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 10:19 AM PST

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 30 (MCOT online news) -- Thailand will issue a protest note to Cambodia after the Cambodian government issued a statement condemning Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva for his remarks asking Cambodia to remove its national flag flying at the entrance of a disputed ancient temple which sits on the border, a senior Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry official said Sunday.

Chavanont Intarakomalsut, secretary to the foreign affairs minister, told journalists that the statement issued by the Cambodian foreign ministry charging that Thailand had violated Cambodian integrity and sovereignty would not help provide a conciliatory atmosphere for talks between the two neighbouring countries aimed at resolving the border problem under the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) framework.

Phnom Penh issued the statement after Mr Abhisit asked the Cambodian government to remove its national flag erected above the entrance of Kaew Sikha Khiri Sawara temple near historic Preah Vihear.


Mr Chavanont, who is accompanying Mr Abhisit who is attending the 41st World Economic Forum now in progress in Davos, said the statement should not have been issued at all as it would "create more conflicts and confusion".

Thailand follows the watershed line as the border marking the two countries and if the Cambodian government believes its map shows the genuine watershed line then the two countries should sit down and talk, Mr Chavanont said.

Since the border is still unclear and both countries still claim ownership, neither Thailand nor Cambodia should act as if it owns the disputed land, he said.

Mr Chavanont said his ministry would definitely issue a protest note to Cambodia in order to enable Phnom Penh to better understand the whole scenario.

The yet to be issued protest is not expected to affect the two Thais now detained in Phnom Penh on charges of trespassing and espionage. The duo are scheduled to appear for trial this Tuesday.

Troops reinforced at tense border

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 10:14 AM PST


Sunday, 30 January 2011
Cheang Sokha and Thet Sambath
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia officials have sent military reinforcements to the border area near Preah Vihear temple in the midst of a public spat with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva over the removal of Cambodian flags at a nearby pagoda.On Friday, Abhisit requested that the flags be removed from Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvara, adjacent to the temple, a plea that came amid reports of a Thai plan to hold military exercises close to Preah Vihear.

Srey Doek, commander of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Military Division 3 at the border, said additional personnel, tanks and heavy artillery had been dispatched to the border on Friday in response to the exercises.

"They [Thai troops] are doing maneuvers and we are also doing them – that is why we need to send tanks and other weapons to the border," Srey Doek said. "Our armed forces are on alert."


Information minister Khieu Kanharith said today that the situation could erupt "this afternoon or tomorrow" if the Thais threatened Cambodia's construction of a road leading up to Preah Vihear.

"Our stance is that [Thai troops] should not cross the border without Cambodian agreement," he said.

Tensions in the area first broke out in 2008 following the inscription of Preah Vihear as a UNESCO World Heritage site for Cambodia.

The confrontation over the flags follows Thai demands that Cambodia remove a stone tablet placed last month at Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvara which read: "Here! is the place where Thai troops invaded Cambodian territory on July 15, 2008, and withdrew at 10:30am on December 1, 2010."

On Tuesday last week, the sign was removed and replaced with another proclaiming, "Here! Is Cambodia", a sign that was itself later destroyed at Thailand's request.

Abhisit's call for the removal of Cambodian flags from Wat Keo Sekha Kirisvara, however, has been rejected outright.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected Abhisit's request, saying the pagoda was on Cambodian territory.

The ministry claimed the demand was made "in parallel with Thailand's military exercises at the border", which were "clearly provocative and [constitute] a casus belli for future acts of aggression against Cambodia".

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation wishes to emphasise that this statement made by the prime minister of Thailand is unacceptable and that the Kingdom of Cambodia firmly rejects such an insulting demand," the statement read.

"Cambodia reserves its legitimate rights to [defend] its sovereignty and territorial integrity."

In his weekly television programme today, Abhisit reportedly pledged to work with Cambodia to have the flags near Preah Vihear removed.

"The temple is located on the disputed border area, and if the claim by the Yellow Shirt people is true, the government will coordinate with Cambodian authorities to remove the flag," Abhisit said in Davos, Switzerland, according to The Bangkok Post.

Tensions between Thailand and Cambodia intensified last month following the arrest of Thai parliamentarian Panich Vikitsreth and six other Thai nationals for trespassing on Cambodian territory.

Panich and four of the other Thais were found guilty but released earlier this month on suspended sentences.

However, two others including Yellow Shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid are being held on espionage charges and are set to be tried on Tuesday.

They have also been charged with illegal entry and unlawfully entering a military base, facing up to 11 and a half years in prison.

[Thai] Protest to be lodged over flag

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 10:02 AM PST

January 31, 2011
The Nation

Preah Vihear tense after influx of Cambodian troops

The government will flex its muscles for the protesting yellow shirts from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to show it will protect land in disputed border areas. It plans to issue a statement of protest against Cambodia.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has instructed the Foreign Ministry to issue a protest, because Phnom Penh has refused to remove its national flag from the disputed area adjacent to the Hindu temple at Preah Vihear, the ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said.

"Concerned officials are working on it and we could issue the statement soon," he said. Abhisit said last week that Cambodia had no right to fly its national flag at Wat Keo Sikkha Kiri Svara temple as Thailand also claimed territorial rights to the area.


Thailand managed to convince Cambodia to remove two stone tablets saying the area where Thai troops invaded in 2008 belonged to Cambodia.

However Phnom Penh refused to follow any further demand from Bangkok to remove its national flag there. It says the temple built by Cambodian people in 1998 is clearly situated in Cambodian territory.

"Therefore the national flag of Cambodia is legitimately able to fly over the pagoda," a statement by Cambodia's Foreign Ministry said last week.

The border area adjacent to Preah Vihear has been argued over ever since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 1962 that the temple was situated in Cambodian territory.

Abhisit has argued that the ICJ ruled only the stone ruins belong to Cambodia while surrounding areas belong to Thailand.

The areas have not been demarcated yet but the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in 2000 to set up a joint mechanism to try to settle the dispute.

The PAD, which has staged a rally near the Prime Minister Office, wants Abhisit to use force to remove Cambodians from the disputed area and scrap the 2000 MOU on land boundary demarcation. They have pressured the government by vowing to stay until their demands are met.

Cambodia, meanwhile, is reported to have boosted troops in the area, notably near Preah Vihear. Thai news teams have said the border areas are tense while outlets in Phnom Penh have reported that the Cambodian military is ready for war with Thailand.

Abhisit insisted he would settle the border dispute with Cambodia by peaceful means. The 2000 MOU was an effective instrument for settling the border dispute, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who oversees security matters, said the Thai military was strong enough to protect the country but would not boost forces in the area near the historic temple.

The government would continue to negotiate with Cambodia over the border issue, he said.

"Please do not provoke any news to create tension with our neighbouring country. We have to live with them peacefully," Suthep said when asked about Cambodian troops along the border.

"We don't have any problem with Cambodia and our two governments have no problem," he said.

Asked if the government in Phnom Penh criticised Thailand every day, Suthep said, "don't look only at one side. If you are in Cambodia, you would see a group of Thai people scolding Cambodia every day."

"Lathaphal Chun Pdachka" a Poem in Khmer by Nore Yutt

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 09:30 AM PST

Source of CPP secret document revealing its dirty political tricks: FAKE SRP defectors

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 09:24 AM PST

Dear Readers,

Some of you may wonder where we obtained the secret CPP document revealing its dirty strategy to infiltrate the opposition party. The answer is simple: we obtained the CPP secret report from faithful SRP agents who infiltrated the traitors' ranks. These agents falsely defected to the CPP in order to spy on them, learn about their dirty tricks and later on pass the information back to the opposition party.

Thank you,

KI-Media team

Opposition infiltration

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 09:18 AM PST

Sunday, 30 January 2011
Meas Sokchea and Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post

Prime Minister Hun Sen has apparently signed off on a strategy to recruit spies in the opposition Sam Rainsy Party in a bid to undercut its support ahead of next year's commune council elections, according to a leaked document from his cabinet.

In a letter dated December 21 and posted today on the antigovernment news blog KI-Media, Ngor Sovann, one of Hun Sen's advisers, allegedly recorded that the ruling Cambodian People's Party had successfully recruited SRP officials as double agents in Kampot and Takeo provinces.

The letter noted that 16 SRP members had been recruited as spies in Kampot, in exchange for 100,000 riels (US$24.60) and a $5 prepaid phone card per month.

"We were successful in our work in a short period, with the collection and building of 16 forces as secret agents in the commune councils," Ngor Sovann stated.

He noted, however, that since November, CPP activists had postponed their attempts to woo SRP turncoats in Kampot, saying opposition activists "seemed to suspect" the presence of secret agents.


"We will continue our work persuading [the SRP] when there is an appropriate time, and [we] hope to collect and build more secret agents to help the party's participation in the [2012] Senate election," he concluded.

The letter noted that the recruits, who are only contacted by phone, are also provided with health expenses and funds for "holding traditional ceremonies".

Ngor Sovann stated that 10 such agents had also been recruited in Takeo.

He described how he and several defectors in Samrong district had attempted to win over Prak Savon, a customs official and "former leader" of the SRP in the district, but that the attempts to persuade him were currently "in a difficult situation".

Ngor Sovann's letter bears what appears to be Hun Sen's signature, along with a date (December 22) and the annotation, "Discuss with both provinces to encourage this work to be better. Kampot province is splitting strongly, we must urge the persuasion and make the division bigger."

Appended to the letter are lists containing the names, titles and telephone numbers of the 26 alleged SRP spies.

The contents of the letter echo comments Hun Sen made in a speech on December 29, when he alleged that he had spies embedded within the SRP who were relaying "secret information" about the party's activities.

"The person [inside the SRP] who is insulting me more than the others is who is leaking more secret information," he said.

"There are many Hun Sen spies embedded in the opposition party and if the SRP wants to hide its secrets, it must destroy the entire group."

Changing teams

Ngor Sovann, a former SRP parliamentarian, was one of several high-profile party officials who defected to the CPP in February 2008, and was awarded with a post as an adviser to Hun Sen. Following the CPP's landslide victory in the national elections in July, he was given the post of secretary of state in the Ministry of Justice.

When contacted today, Ngor Sovann denied that the letter was authentic, accusing the opposition of fabricating it for political gain.

"I understand that this story is a political tactic of the Sam Rainsy Party. I used to live with that party, and I knew a lot about that party's ways," he said.

"There is nothing strange about politicians creating an event and especially having the skill to create the event. It is the skill of the Sam Rainsy Party, especially the individual Mr President Sam Rainsy. I used to live with him for 10 years, and I know clearly."

Nou Chem, a member of the Samrong district council in Takeo province whose name was listed in the letter to the premier, denied CPP officials had ever tried to persuade him to become a double agent.

Nou Chhun, another district councillor in Samrong listed as a spy for the ruling party, also denied he had taken money from the CPP, professing his loyalty to the opposition.

"I am absolutely with the Sam Rainsy Party," said Nou Chhun, who said he has been an SRP member since 1998.

"If Sam Rainsy is still alive, I will not defect. If I sold this job I would be insulted."

However, one SRP deputy commune chief in Kampot province, whose name was listed in the letter, admitted that he had been given a monthly stipend of 100,000 riels in order to inform on his party.

"I have defected to the CPP since October through [an official from] the SRP. He appointed me, he invited me and I followed him. They have helped me with 100 thousand riels per month," said the official, who declined to be named.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said he would not be surprised if the CPP was attempting to sway members of his party with financial incentives.

"Since the SRP was established 15 years ago, the CPP has tried to destroy our party," he said.
"Some defect to the ruling party because of the money or because of political pressure, but at the end justice will prevail. I think more and more the people understand about democracy. Our popularity is increasing."

Yim Sovann said the apparent attempt to bribe SRP members showed how much contempt the ruling party had for the principle of democracy.

"If you want society to change to a better way, or if you want society to be clean … we need different ideas and opinions from opposition parties. If you do this, it means you do not want democracy," he said.

SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said he was unaware of any reports of spies inside the party, but dismissed claims the party had fabricated the document.

"We never have any kind of stupid way of creating such problems. Who wants to tell everyone that someone is spying and creating division among us?" Son Chhay said.

"Maybe it's somebody we don't know about."

Son Soubert, a political analyst and former member of the Constitutional Council, said that if true, the CPP's apparent attempt to buy off its political opponents amounted to a "travesty of democracy".

He also said it was a tactic that the party used to great effect during the political unrest of 1997-98, when most of the lawmakers from the royalist Funcinpec party were given money to vote against the party's president, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

"To weaken the opposition political parties, or even the partner political parties like Funcinpec, they buy them with money and appointments," Son Soubert said.

He added that the giving and taking of bribes by politicians does little to help the Cambodian people.

"What does it lead to?" he said of the allegations.

"It doesn't solve all the problems of Cambodia."

PRAYER for our children

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 07:54 AM PST


So let me just end with a prayer that I say a lot this year, to reaffirm what each of you knows, that we can remake this world, we must remake this world for our children. And I'm so grateful for all of your presence, because so many people are waiting for Gandhi to come back, or Dr. King to come back. They're not. We're it! And we have the capacity and the power to build a different world in a new era. Your presence here is a very important witness of that fact.

But I feel inadequate most hours and days, and say:


Lord, I can't preach like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. or Jesse Jackson or turn a poetic phrase like Maya Angelou, but I care, and I'm willing to serve, and to use what talents I have to build a world of peace. I don't have Fred Shuttlesworth's and Harriet Tubman's courage or Andy Young's political skills, but I care, and I'm willing to serve. I can't sing like Fannie Lou Hamer or organize like Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, or John Dear, but I care, and I'm willing to serve. I'm not holy like Archbishop Tutu, forgiving like Mandela, or disciplined like Gandhi, but I care and I'm willing to serve and to fight in a nonviolent manner. I'm not brilliant like Dr. Du Bois or Elizabeth Cady Stanton or as eloquent as Sojourner Truth and Booker T. Washington, but I care, and I'm willing to serve. I don't have Mother Teresa's saintliness, Dorothy Day's love or Cesar Chavez's gentle, taught spirit, but I care and I'm willing to serve. God it's not as easy as the Sixties to frame an issue and forge a solution, but I care, and I'm willing to serve. My mind and body are not as swift as in youth, and my energy comes in spurts but I care, and I'm willing to serve. I'm so young nobody will listen, I'm not sure what to say or do, but I care and am willing to serve. I can't see or hear well, speak good English, stutter sometimes, and get real scared, and I really hate risking criticism, but I care, and I'm willing to serve. Use me as Thou wilt to save Thy children today and tomorrow, and to build a nation and a world where no child is left behind, and every child is loved, and every child is safe.


- Marian Wright Edelman (founder of Children's Defense Fund), "Caring Enough to Build a World of Peace," Fellowship. Jan-Feb. 2001: 4-5.

CPP secret document bearing Hun Xen's annotation: The CPP resorts to buying SRP activists for $30/month a piece

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 07:21 AM PST

Dear Readers,

Please find below a secret CPP document penned by Ngo Sovann, a former SRP defector to the CPP, detailing the CPP secret activities to buy SRP activists in various provinces. The cost of the buyout? About $30/month each (100,000 riels in cash, ~$25, and $5 in phone call card).

With the CPP boasting its popularity in the entire country, one has to wonder why does it need to buy these SRP activists? Strange isn't it? What is most amazing is the fact that these activities are fully known by Hun Xen, the boast-in-chief himself.

There's always something new to wonder in this Kingdom of Wonderfully corrupt CPP politicians ...

KI-Media team

Click on each page to zoom in

Sar Kheng Party Welcome

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 12:50 AM PST

Sam Rainsy's letter sent to Kem Sokha on unification of democrats

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 12:44 AM PST

On January 24, 2011, Sam Rainsy, President of the Sam Rainsy Party sent a letter to Kem Sokha, President of the Human Rights Party on unification of democrats.

SRP Cabinet

Click on the letter to zoom in

Viets in Cambodia to celebrate Viet New Year, whereas ... Khmer Krom in South VN are not allowed to celebrate Pchum Ben

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 12:09 AM PST

Comrade Mem Sam An
OV in Cambodia celebrate Lunar New Year

30/01/2011
VOVNews/VNA

The Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia held a meeting to celebrate the Lunar New Year (Tet) holidays on Jan. 28 in the capital city of Phnom Penh.

Attending the meeting were Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An, heads of ministries and state agencies and overseas Vietnamese.

Speaking at the meeting, the Cambodian Deputy PM congratulated Vietnam on its successful 11th National Congress Party. She hailed the economic achievements the country had recorded during the last year as well as its investment activities in Cambodia, which, she said, have helped generate jobs for local residents.


On the occasion, she also sent her New Year greetings to Vietnam leaders and people and expressed her wish for the two countries' traditional friendship to be strengthened.

During the meeting, Ambassador Ngo Anh Dung briefed the attendants on Vietnam 's socio-economic achievements as well as the fine outcomes of Vietnam-Cambodia friendship in the past year. He spoke highly of overseas Vietnamese's endeavour to integrate into the Cambodian society and wished them a happy and prosperous new year.

Attendants had chance to enjoy various Vietnamese traditional foods and diversified music performances.

The US agents tracking down sex tourists in Cambodia

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 12:02 AM PST

US agents rely on locals to provide information about suspect Americans
Agent Vansak Suos was once a conscripted boy soldier in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army
29 January 2011
By David Henshaw
BBC News

As part of an initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas, special US agents operating in South East Asia have brought more than 80 alleged child sex tourists back to America to face justice.

Sihanoukville looks like paradise, or at least a decent, low-rent version. Golden beaches, swaying palm trees, cheap alcohol and shimmering sea.

Retired American pharmacist Ronald Adams had come here for the good life - setting up a beachside cafe. But one morning last February Adams' personal vision of paradise was shattered, when officers from the Cambodian National Police raided his apartment.

They found a collection of sex aids, child pornography on DVDs and a variety of illegal drugs. Adams was accused of drugging and raping a 12-year-old girl.


Under the radar

For Westerners arrested on child sex charges in South East Asia, things do not always turn out too badly. Gary Glitter got a two-and-a-half-year sentence in Vietnam for obscene acts with girls aged 10 and 12.

These are poor countries, where $100 can buy your freedom. But Ronald Adams had more to reckon with than the local police. An agent from America's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) was part of the group carrying out the raid.
"If Americans are coming here to do this against the Cambodians... it's our responsibility to bring that person to justice" - Special agent Chris Materelli
If a US citizen is caught abusing children abroad, American agents are now on hand with the specific aim of getting the suspect on a plane to stand trial back in the US.

ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, based in Washington, with a severe, Brooks Brothers-suited lawyer, John Morton, as its director.

"Don't think that simply by buying a plane ticket to leave the United States and going to a country with less robust investigative and prosecutorial capacities that you are going to be able to get away with it again," Morton said.

"Perfect example - the three gentlemen we brought back from Cambodia."

The "three gentlemen" were given the moniker Twisted Travellers by ICE in a heavily publicised and deliberately humiliating extradition from Cambodia 18 months ago.

All three had previous convictions for abusing small children in the US. The oldest, 75-year-old former marine Jack Sporich, now faces a sentence of 15 years for sexually abusing a number of young boys.

Cambodia's jails are full of foreign paedophiles, but for most of them a short sentence is all they have to worry about. But even that can be avoided if you have the money to pay off the police and the judge.

America was the first country to be positively pro-active about arresting and returning their child abusers to face justice. It has been joined in the past 12 months by Australia and Canada.

For US special agent Chris Materelli, it is as much about moral responsibility as law enforcement.

"If Americans are coming here to do this against the Cambodians, it's our job to try to help the Cambodians clean it up," he says. "They're our citizens, it's our responsibility to bring that person to justice."

In the seven years since the Protect Act was passed, America has brought back 85 child sex tourists to face justice in the US.

But none of this would work without a ground-breaking change in the way US agents work - not just with local police, but NGOs run by ordinary citizens.

In the tourist hot-spots of Cambodia, Action Pour Les Enfants (Action For Children, APLE) acts as the eyes and the ears of ICE in keeping surveillance on suspect Americans.
"That's a common defence - that these kids are older than what they appear to be because they're Asian" - Gary Philips, ICE agent
Young men on motorbikes patrol the streets with video cameras supplied by the Americans. It was an APLE undercover team that came across Ronald Adams openly asking for sex with underage girls, "the younger the better".

This kind of co-operation with ordinary locals represents a massive change of attitude, almost unthinkable 30 years ago in the wake of America's bombing of Cambodia.

Cambodians are welcome within the ranks of ICE agents. Vansak Suos, once a conscripted boy soldier in Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge army, now occupies an office in the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, with a photo of himself and Bill Clinton on his desk.

Vansak's story is bleak, his brother, two sisters, and grandfather were all killed in the time of Pol Pot. He, himself, barely survived, but having done so was determined to use his life to protect other children.

Big catch

Forty-five-year-old millionaire from Florida, Kent Frank, is probably ICE's biggest catch so far. He is a serial global child sex tourist, who was caught abusing four underage girls in his hotel room in Phnom Penh.

Vansak describes how Frank tried to bribe the local police chief.

"Kent Frank just stood up and put his hand in his pocket. Then, shaking the hand with the boss. And the boss just found $100 in his hand," he says.

Frank admitted to having sex and taking photos of the girls he had been with, saying that he believed they were all over 18.

"That's a common defence, that these kids are older than what they appear to be because they're Asian," says ICE agent Gary Philips. "And if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that, I'd probably be a millionaire."

Frank tried to delete the incriminating photos on his digital camera, but at ICE's state-of-the-art cyber forensics lab back in the US, 1,600 deleted pictures were recovered. Frank is currently serving a 40-year sentence in a federal jail.

But it doesn't always end that way. After seven months on remand in a Cambodian prison, Ronald Adams was released without charge. The court decided that because his alleged victim says she was drugged, her evidence could not be relied on. He has since disappeared.

Vansak shrugs and moves on. He is, he says, proud of what he has done. Every sex offender convicted means that many more children are now safe.

This World: The Paedophile Hunters will be broadcast on BBC Two at 2200 GMT on Sunday 30 January, or catch up on BBC iPlayer.

'Yellows' return to Thai street politics

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 11:17 PM PST

Sunday, January 30, 2011
By Amelie Bottollier-Depois (AFP)

BANGKOK — With neatly spaced tents, massages, free vegetarian meals and a heavy dose of nationalist rhetoric, Thailand's powerful royalist "Yellow Shirts" are back on the streets of Bangkok.

More than a thousand people have camped out around the government's compound since Tuesday, demonstrating against its handling of a border dispute with neighbouring Cambodia.

Despite relatively small numbers compared to their arch enemies -- the anti-government "Red Shirts" whose most recent rally attracted nearly 30,000 people -- the group has managed to choke off streets around Government House.

Yellow Shirts are a force to be reckoned with in Thailand's colour-coded politics and have helped to claim the scalps of three governments in under five years, including that of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.


The group, officially the People's Alliance for Democracy, want the government to take a tougher stance on the thorny issue of the Thai-Cambodian border.

Tensions centre on 4.6 square kilometres (1.8 square miles) of land around the ancient Preah Vihear temple, which the World Court ruled in 1962 belonged to Cambodia, although the main entrance lies in Thailand.

"I came here to help my country. We have to fight to protect our land," said protester Chutikarn Rattanasupa, 42, a grocery shop owner from Nakhon si Thammarat in southern Thailand.

The Yellows, who boast support from Bangkok elites and elements in the military, used to be linked to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, but the relationship has soured.

Abhisit came to power in 2008 after Yellow rallies which helped to eject two pro-Thaksin governments. The protests culminated in the seizure of two Bangkok airports, stranding over 300,000 travellers.

Two years earlier the Yellows had flexed their muscles with demonstrations that destabilised Thaksin's own government, paving the way for the military coup that unseated him.

Paul Chambers of Heidelberg University in Germany said Abhisit may be able to keep his "Teflon prime minister" reputation if he does not bend to the Yellows' demands.

But at the same time, "if he does not give in, I think the protests will continue building," he added.

The border issue heated up when seven Thais were arrested in Cambodia in December for illegal entry and trespassing in the disputed zone, including a Yellow activist who remains in jail facing spying charges.

But Pavin Chachavalpongpun, of the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore, said the territory dispute with Phnom Penh is just an excuse for the Yellows to "return into the limelight".

"They just want to regain political credibility and the only thing they can do is to attack the current government, whatever the government is," he said.

Thailand's street groups, with an eye on elections looming before February 2012, are likely to become ever more prominent, said Chambers.

And the stakes are high. Last year's April and May protest by the mainly rural and working class Red Shirts left more than 90 people dead in clashes between troops and civilians.

"The shirts -- of all colours -- are getting out and about to make themselves heard loud and clear," he said.

At the Yellows' rally site, there is almost a festival atmosphere.

Facilities provided for the comfort of protesters include toilets, showers and recycling bins, while stalls sell everything from watches to amulets and a caricaturist is on hand to sketch souvenirs.

A sign proclaiming "Free vegetarian food", next to an assortment of dishes and a mountain of cabbage, signals the work of a group of blue-clad radical Buddhists who are busily providing nourishment at the gathering.

But coils of barbed wire between the camp and the locked gates of the government compound are a reminder that the Yellows have been here before.

"I stayed 193 days in 2008 and this time I'm prepared to stay too," said Nittaya Kurakan, 40, the owner of an accountancy firm.

Abishit's ultimatum on Cambodia to remove Khmer flag?

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 11:01 PM PST

[Thai] PM: Cambodian flag must be removed

30/01/2011
Bangkok Post

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his "Confidence in Thailand with PM Abhisit" weekly programme on NBT on Sunday morning that if a national flag of Cambodia is really placed at Wat Kaew Sikkha Khiri Savara, it must be removed.

"The temple is located on the disputed border area and if the claim by yellow-shirt people group is true, the government will coordinate with Cambodian authorities to remove the flag", Mr Abhisit said in Davos, Switzerland.

The yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on Friday showed photos showing that a Cambodia's national flag was place on the entrance gate of the border temple.

On the demand by the PAD that the 2000 Memorandum of Understanding signed with Cambodia be revoked, the prime minister said that the MoU was made in order to prevent the possible use of military force in settling border dispute and that it is in line with international principle.


He insisted that the MoU will not lead to a loss in the country's territory as claimed.

Mr Abhisit said the demand for pushing Cambodians out of disputed area by the yellow-shirts is risky. The move could lead to a war between the two countries, he added.

The prime minister pledged to do his best for the benefit of the country and was ready to meet PAD leaders to clear air over the Thai-Cambodian border dispute issues.

Ethnic markets bring the world’s flavors to the Mohawk Valley

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 10:53 PM PST

Jan 30, 2011
By CASSAUNDRA BABER
Observer-Dispatch (Utica, New York, USA)

UTICA — There are a few things Cambodian-born Kenneth Sar misses about his native country.

The warm weather is one, said the 40-year-old Utica resident as he smiles and shrugs down into his puffy winter jacket.

The food is another, he said while shopping in Lucky Mey's, a market on Oneida Street dedicated solely to Asian foods.

Lucky Mey's is one of several ethnic markets popping up around Utica in recent years. The store opened in 2010 when owner Socheatar Mey, a refugee from Cambodia, realized a need among her peers.

"I think a lot of Asian people, refugee people from Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, this is good for them to have Asian food that is hard to find in this area," said Mey.


As the city becomes more diverse, due in large part to the influx of refugee groups from Bosnia, Burma, Somalia and other countries, it makes sense that storefronts will display that growth, said Peter Vogelaar, executive director of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees.

"You have markets popping up because the emerging ethnic communities are looking for sources of foods they are familiar with," Vogelaar said. "It's the old New York City style — the corner store where you're looking for what you're comfortable and familiar with."

Their emergence is, furthermore, evidence that these groups are committed to the area's viability and economic success, Vogelaar said.

"They want Utica to succeed just as much as you and I want Utica to succeed, and then they bring with them the drive and desire," Vogelaar said. "They're committed to the future of this community While newer markets are evidence of the new groups making Utica their home, specialty food markets aren't new to the area. Markets specializing in Polish and Italian foods have long been staples in Utica's neighborhoods – and still are.

Take for example Pulaski Meat Market, a corner market on Lenox Avenue that's made West Utica home for nearly 40 years.

Christine Guzda was 16 years old when her parents, John and Irene Bulawa, opened the market. John Bulawa learned the trade in Poland before immigrating to Buffalo and then to Utica. After working at local butcher shops for years, he saved enough money to open his own shop, Guzda said.

Made up mostly of Polish immigrants, neighbors became their customers. The family of six lived above the market; Guzda's mother learned English by dealing with the shop's customers.

"It's a relationship," Guzda said of the owners and their customers. "It's that kind of special market."

Many of the people Guzda knew as a teenager have since left the neighborhood, but the market still thrives, she said.

"Now there are more Russian, Ukrainian, Bosnian – that's how things have changed," Guzda said, pointing to the clientele that ranges from refugees to neighbors to suburban shoppers who make special trips for the family's well-known handmade sausages, kielbasa, hand-rolled peirogis and stuffed cabbage. "We still have people we've known for the whole time who shop here. They're like family."

The newer markets have a similar feel and business style as the longstanding markets, such as Pulaski's, said Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce President Frank Elias.

"They do it often with their families, often in locations that are very close to their homes," Elias said. "And they're clustered in neighborhoods within walking distance of their homes."

The markets – old and new – provide an account of Utica's diverse history when it comes to immigrants and ethnic groups making the small city home. But their presence – and popularity – today speaks to the area's progressiveness in being a city that will attract people of all groups, Vogelaar said.

"This is who we are as Utica, NY," he said. "It's an opportunity to draw people from all over the place."

For Jessica Mulet-Retamar, mother of three, the area's diversity – whether food or people – makes it incredibly attractive for raising her children.

"I try honestly to embrace as many cultures as I can just because the city is so diverse, and I try to get my kids to be open to different people, which is so crucial with us being Hispanic," said Mulet-Retamar, who shops at various ethnic markets at least once a week. "We have Bosnian friends, Vietnamese friends, and I want (my kids) to understand what is behind their culture."
The quality of food, likewise, is attractive, she said.

"The amount of full-fledged 100-percent organic material is amazing," she said, talking about how she asks the store workers to translate the ingredients on the packages for her. "It's amazing the difference in the quality. We have so many more preservatives in our stuff."
That level of quality, plus lower prices and diverse products, has kept 24-year-old Alyssa Stock returning to Lucky Mey's for two years.

Through the market, she said she's been able to expand her palate and daily eating options.
"The Internet has opened up that you can cook anything you want at any time," said Stock, who added that she appreciates the healthier alternative of Asian cooking. "It allows people I think to bring a lot of new tastes to the every day cooking."

Through the market, Stock has been introduced to ingredients such lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal (like ginger) – flavorings that have become the base of many of the recipes she creates. Being able to find uncommon vegetables, such as lotus root and Thai eggplant is equally as attractive for Stock.

"For me, this creates a way for me to cook more healthfully using more vegetables and fewer flavorings," she said.

Saving Cambodian child from prostitution [-It's a TRAGEDY!]

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 10:45 PM PST

Click here to watch this video preview
28 January 2011
BBC News

As part of an initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas, special US agents operating in Cambodia work with national police to track suspected paedophiles and pimps.

In a case in Phnom Penh police arrested a gang suspected of pimping children to foreigners. They interviewed one of the victims, a 10-year-old.

This World: The Paedophile Hunters will be broadcast on BBC Two at 2200 GMT on Sunday 30 January, or catch up on BBC iPlayer.

Cambodia 'tears up freedom to muffle dissent'

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 10:32 PM PST

DICTATOR Hun Xen and his henchmen
Sunday, January 30, 2011
By Michelle Fitzpatrick (AFP)

PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian government is choking freedoms and locking up detractors in an increasingly bold effort to silence critics as elections loom, observers say.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, 59, who has vowed to remain in power until he is 90, recently said on national radio that his aim was "not just to weaken the opposition, but to make it die".

The comment was the latest in a string of outbursts against critics, prompting fears that freedoms are under threat as the government looks ahead to local polls next year and a general election in 2013.

"The space for dissent has shrunk to the point where people are gasping for air," said Mathieu Pellerin of local rights group Licadho.

"Vast areas of political debate have been effectively declared off-limits. The most minor venture into these fenced-off topics can bring the authorities' wrath, whether you are a prominent politician or an anonymous village farmer."

Outspoken opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile, has been sentenced in absentia to 12 years in jail over two cases related to border issues with Vietnam.

If the sentences are upheld, he will be unable to challenge Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) in the 2013 poll.

"The CPP is preparing for the next election, that much is clear," said a Cambodia-based Western expert, on the condition of anonymity.


"To do that, they want to reduce as much as possible any public criticism that would cost them ballots."

Dismissing concerns about a crackdown on freedoms, government spokesman Tith Sothea said the government was "working to protect human rights and carry out reforms in order to ensure political stability".

Mark Turner, a Cambodia expert at the University of Canberra, said the legacy of the country's recent bloody history has allowed the ruling party to tighten its grip on power.

"One of the leading themes of post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia has been the search for stability," he said. "If incomes are rising, education improving, health facilities more accessible, then people may accept a certain curtailment of freedoms."

Cambodia remains haunted by its past, after decades of civil war and the brutal 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime that left up to two million dead in its bid to forge a communist utopia.

Cambodian independent analyst Chea Vannath said it was important to recognise how far the nation had come considering its "terrible past".

Hun Sen, who has ruled since 1985, has been credited with the country's long spell of peace and stability, while also improving infrastructure and opening up the country's markets.

But he also has a history of riding roughshod over his rivals, and analysts say the CPP -- bolstered by a 2008 election landslide -- has exerted executive power without limits.

It is now a crime to criticise judges or public officials under a new penal code that activists say could be used as a government tool to muzzle freedom of expression.

"Impunity is deepening for government power-holders and their cronies to abuse rights," said Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson.

"At the core of all of this is the continued lack of independence of the Cambodian judiciary, which suffers endemic political interference from the CPP and other governing elites."

One of the first to be arrested under the new code was a World Food Programme worker, sentenced to six months in prison for incitement after he printed an article from an anti-government website.

The government has mounted what Robertson terms a "campaign of intimidation" against the UN in Cambodia, threatening to expel the organisation's resident coordinator Douglas Broderick after he called for more transparency in the debate about a new anti-corruption law.

The government also used a high-profile visit by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to demand the removal of local human rights director Christophe Peschoux.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Peschoux had acted as "the spokesman for the opposition", after the Frenchman spoke out on issues such as land-grabbing and crackdowns on government critics.

Despite steady economic growth Cambodia remains one of the region's poorest nations, presenting foreign donors with an opportunity to defend those that have come under attack, activists said.

Outside aid contributed around one billion dollars, or about nine percent of Cambodia's economic output in 2010.

"Donors need to wake up and recognise the human rights situation in Cambodia is rapidly deteriorating," said Robertson.

Politiktoons No. 134: Hosni Mubarak

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 10:16 PM PST

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com
and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com
as well as http://sacrava.wordpress.com)

Politiktoons No. 135: IT Power

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 10:12 PM PST

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://politiktoons.blogspot.com/
and also at http://sacrava.blogspot.com/
as well as http://sacrava.wordpress.com/)

FACING GENOCIDE screening at Oslo International Film Festival "Human Rights, Human Wrongs"

Posted: 29 Jan 2011 10:03 PM PST

Theary Seng to attend and speak at the "Human Rights, Human Wrongs" International Film Festival in Norway this February 3.  See Full Program here.

 

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