ki-mediakh

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Human rights violation by cops and Hochimonks in the forced arrest of Ven. Loun Sovath

The following video provides detailed account of the arrest of Ven. Loun Sovath on 24 May 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXPdKjqXdEg

Cambodia's crackdown on land grab protests

At least 400,000 people are affected by increasingly common land disputes in Cambodia.

Now the government has decided to crack down on protests against land grabs by arresting anyone who is caught organising a protest.

Already more than a dozen people have been charged.

Al Jazeera's Stephanie Scawen reports from the capital, Phnom Penh.

Note by School of Vice

Yes, it is a well oiled, rehearsed response given by CPP hierarchy to foreign reporters and media, be it to do with the plight of the thousands who live along the polluted river Sesan, the impact of gigantic hydraulic dams, the clearing of vast swathes of forested lands to make way for so-called development projects such as rubber and oil-palm plantations etc. The implication is that any material losses befallen upon such “minority” groups as a result of implementing these projects would be tolerable, necessary price to pay for the greater overall benefits to be gained by the vast majority of people. So it's quite all right if a few innocent people get shot, killed, imprisoned, beaten and so on whilst the country is being developed!

Furthermore, as this report mentions the government tries “to develop the country” by granting land concessions to private companies but it faces corruption, making it sound almost as if "the government" itself is somehow helpless bystander in all of this whereas all the indications and evidence point to direct correlations in agreements affected at the highest echelons of government and so-called investment companies who invariably set about implementing their approved projects with scant regard being paid to the possibility of local livelihoods being destroyed or to environmental concerns.

Certainly some lower level officials may be benefitting from the chain of institutional corruption, and whilst the government sees short-term merit in allowing corruption to flourish because it can hardly afford to pay the wages of its employees in all sectors and because of its manifestly bankrupt economic policies [the hundreds of "advisors" attached to the government and its ministers are often drawn from the same cesspool of self-serving sycophants and psychopaths or scoundrels who are just as adept at playing along the game that has after all served themselves and the people they are there to advise well enough so far!] the dispossession of thousands of ordinary Khmers off their arable lands can go on indefinitely. But, along with this massive land-grab, dispossession and the wholesale destruction of the environment the country now seriously faces the loss of national sovereignty on an unprecedented scale through this economic land concession madness. Most of the lands or estates once held in public ownership or in state possession are now being or have been effectively transferred into private foreign hands or controls. It's as if the leadership is being drugged into a zombie-like state and induced to sign whatever "development proposal" being presented before them, or that they are actually conscious of what is happening but knowing that it is too late to save a sinking ship instead choosing to help hasten the crisis further by breaking open the national safe, take the cash and assets for themselves and make a run for the life-boats!

Wise words from Venerable Loun Sovath

Op-Ed: Engaged Buddhism

"Monks are not arresting the monks, laymen are arresting the monk" - Ven. Loun Sovath

"Cambodian Buddhist monks are under pressure of the politicians" - Ven. Loun Sovath

"You (laymen) arrest the monk, it means you arrest Lord Buddha including all Cambodian monks and Supreme Patriarchs" - Ven. Loun Sovath

"No one can ban me from fulfilling my tasks, the tasks that are not opposing the Vinaya and the Rule of Law" - Ven. Loun Sovath

"You arrested me by force, by anger and hatred, by greed and delusion....I have no anger and revenge, and I forgive you all" - Ven. Loun Sovath

"The means of non-violence will overcome all obstacles" - Ven. Loun Sovath

"Natthi Santi Paramam Sukham = No Other Happiness is Greater Than Peace" - Ven. Loun Sovath

Remarks in Cambodia - By Kurt Campbell

Kurt Campbell

Remarks

Kurt M. Campbell

Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

May 25, 2012

First of all, let me just say that on behalf of the United States government, we are so thrilled to be here in Cambodia for the Senior Officials Meeting. I’ve had a chance yesterday to meet with the Prime Minister and now I have had a very good discussion with the Foreign Minister. I think as you all know Secretary Clinton has invited him to the United States. He will be there early next month and we have had an opportunity to review all the important things that the United States is doing in Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia.

I’d just like to underscore that in addition to all the important bilateral work that we are undertaking and our multilateral engagement in terms of the Lower Mekong Initiative and the like, we are also bringing Secretary Clinton in July the largest ever business group to Cambodia as part of our multi-faceted engagement to suggest our deep desire to have a strong and deeper ties between our business communities in the United States and ASEAN. We are thrilled at the support that we have received from the Cambodian government. Daisy Liu [of ConocoPhillips] and Steve Glick [of Chevron] have made very generous contributions in terms of hard drives and also flash drives to enable the ASEAN Secretariat to be fully prepared and capable to deal with the enormous number of people that will be coming to Cambodia to celebrate not only the ASEAN Regional Forum, but [also] the East Asia Summit. This is a critical year – it’s the tenth anniversary since the statement of conduct with regard to the South China Sea. We’re at a critical period. We’re counting on the leadership of Cambodia to ensure the future of peace and prosperity.

I have been joined here today with my wonderful colleague from ASEAN, Ambassador Carden in Jakarta, to make a very strong commitment on the part of the United States to an enduring commitment to the Asia-Pacific region and to ASEAN as a whole, and I want to personally thank Daisy and Steve for their commitment to this process and to thank you, Foreign Minister, for all that you have done to build stronger relations between the United States and Cambodia. So thank you all.

In Cambodia, Sentencing of Women Activists Sparks Outcry

A protester from Boeung Kak lake clashes with police officers in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. (Heng Sinith/Associated Press)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkUDHMENOSI

May 26, 2012

By DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW

International Herald Tribune (Paris, France)

Many around the world have died protecting it: land. The issue is highly charged in Cambodia where it flared again last week after 13 women, including a 72-year-old, were jailed for illegal occupation of land and “aggravated rebellion” after demonstrating on the site of their former homes in Phnom Penh, knocked down to make way for a commercial development, The Associated Press reported.

The sentences, after a lawyer-less, three-hour trial, have prompted an outcry from local and international human rights groups and Cambodian opposition politicians, the Phnom Penh Post reported.

An opposition lawmaker, Mu Sochua, called on the international community to suspend aid to the Cambodian government, saying financial contributions from overseas should be given to NGOs, instead.

“I call on women’s networks across the world to take action. I call on (Secretary of State) Hillary Clinton to take action,” she said, singling out the United States.

Perhaps that was because Kurt M. Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the U.S. State Department, was in Cambodia on Friday, where he made plain one of his goals in talks with officials was to secure Cambodia’s support for the peaceful resolution of another, major ownership issue flaring in Southeast Asia – over the South China Sea.

“We’re at a critical period. We’re counting on the leadership of Cambodia to ensure the future of peace and prosperity,” Mr. Campbell said in a statement released by the State Department.

The latest bout of trouble began last Tuesday, when the women were arrested as they sat on sand, singing, at Boueng Kak, Phnom Penh’s biggest lake, where their homes had once been. Here is footage of the arrest. Or you can view it below above from the time it turned violent

The roots of the dispute reach back to 2007 when the government awarded the land to the Shukaku company, owned by Lao Meng Khin, a senator of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

As The Associated Press has reported, a Chinese company also is involved in the development deal, with plans to build a hotel, office buildings and luxury housing.

Last year, the prime minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, appeared to offer an olive branch, granting some land to families holding out at the lake. But they say the boundaries of their land were never made clear, according to the Save the Boeung Kak Campaign. Pung Chhic Kek, president of the group, said lawyers from her organization were barred from talking with the defendants and introducing witnesses.

Some of the women, including 72-year-old Nget Khun, had part of their sentence suspended. Nget Khun will only serve a year.

A government spokesman, Phay Siphan of the Council of Ministers, told the Phnom Penh Post the trial had nothing to do with the government. Neither the Ministry of Justice nor Phnom Penh municipal authorities could be reached for comment, the newspaper said.

Land, both urban and rural land, its ownership, management and use is an explosive topic in Cambodia. As my colleague Mark McDonald reported earlier in May, Chut Wutty, a prominent anti-logging activist who helped expose the secretive process of “concessions” by which land is being granted to Cambodian and foreign developers, was shot dead last month near a Chinese-built hydroelectric dam.

The report “Carving up Cambodia: One Concession at a Time” shows the concessions process.

Also earlier this month, facing growing protests by villagers and warnings about disappearing wilderness, the government suspended the granting of land to domestic and foreign companies in a move to curb forced evictions and illegal logging, Reuters reported.

But rights groups say the temporary measure does not go far enough and a permanent ban is needed.

ត្រូវតែបោះដូរ

Poem: Place of Religion - សាសនានៅត្រង់ឯណា?

Poem: Place of Religion

A poem composed by Huong Sovann, read by Jendhamuni Sos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8aL5U1Nfvs

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: US Aid

Meeting with His Excellency Deepak Ohbrai, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Op-Ed: Engaged Buddhism

Joint Statement

Most Respect Venerable Vipassana, the Abbot of Wat Khmer
The Honorable Deepak Ohbrai, MP Calgary East Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Distinguished Guests and Participants;

Today, it is very honored for our Khmer-Canadian community to welcome His Honorable Deepak Ohbrai, the Member of Parliament of Calgary East and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Representatives of our community members had a chance to meeting MP Deepak at his office during March this year, and the visiting of MP Deepak today is meaningful for us. Of course, we are confirmed and confident that meeting with MP Deepak means we are meeting with the Canadian Government. And our community members will have chance to learn the unlearned things and our government will hear the unheard things from us as well.

Today, we have three important issues to discuss with MP Deepak:
1. Our Khmer-Canadian Buddhist Cultural Center in here, its achievements and future plans
2. Latest development and ongoing issues at our mother land, Cambodia
3. Recent forcible arrest of Venerable Loun Sovath who is the Buddhist monk and human rights activist in Cambodia.

Khmer-Canadian Buddhist Cultural Center
Khmer-Canadian community is very proud to have this place for its multi-functional purposes. It is a temple, a shelter for monks and a center for practicing and preserving Khmer culture.

This place was initially purchased in 2002 and completed its renovation in 2003 after the relocating from a residential area in South East of Calgary. Actually, our association was created since the 80s when many Khmer members resettled in Calgary and vicinity. From that time, our senior members put much of their effort and dedication to looking for a place in which we can worship, conduct rituals and serve the youths, the children, the seniors as well as the women.

The center is also opening to the public for meditation classes in every weekend. Those participants have hugely learned on how to have self-management, mental and spiritual development.

At the moment, our community members and leaders have discussed on the plan to solve the current problems such as: expansion plan of the Ogden road in the front of the center by the city, narrow parking lot, old building, no space for playground of our children, not so healthy shelter for the monks and other necessaries. If time arrives, and we have sufficient fund, we will relocate to the larger place to help solve all those problems as well as to serve our growing members in our community.

The Khmer-Canadian Buddhist Cultural Center here is very important for all of us. It has served us physical development, mental development and spiritual development. It has served both original Khmers and mainstream local people. More than this, it has helped develop our second home country of Canada on social, cultural, political and economic development.

Latest development and ongoing issues at our mother land, Cambodia
Although we all have resettled a new life in Canada and have enjoyed the provision of Canada on its State of Welfare, Rule of Law, Democracy, Human Rights and Equality; our community members are still regarding and missing the Cambodia as the unforgettable motherland. Each year, the members go back to visit family members, relatives and home villages in Cambodia.

More than this, our members are following closely the latest development of political, social and economic in Cambodia.

After the Paris Peace Agreement, we do hope things are getting better and changes we have expected are not generally satisfying us. According to recent report on human rights index by the government of America, this recent year, Cambodian government has not undertaken and taken its serious implementation on the respect of human rights. Cambodian citizens who are waking up from the past trauma have sometime been worsened by the recent policies of the government such as: land grabbing, land concession, partial judiciary system and authoritative leadership of the Prime Minister.

As the matter of fact, and as Cambodia is the chair of ASEAN this year; Cambodia must play its role model on bettering its administration, ensuring the respect of human rights, enforcing the respect of the rule of law, and developing the country which could serve the bottom line citizens, not just for the riches, the powerful and the elites at the present.
We would like to call for your attention, the Government of Canada in few below aspects:
- Paris Peace Agreement and its key goals must be achieved in some acceptable level in Cambodia during these passing 30 years.
- Khmer Rouge Tribunal must be impartial, independent and no interference from the government.
- The actual perpetrators and justice for the death of Mr. Chut Wutty, the green forest activist and environmentalist of Cambodia, shot to dead by the police official on April 26, 2012, must be convicted and properly investigated.
- Forced eviction and land grabbing in capital Phnom Penh and throughout the countryside of Cambodia must be stopped and justly solved.
- Venerable Loun Sovath who is a Buddhist monk, human rights defender and non-violence preacher must not be harassed and disturbed by the authority of Cambodian government for his works to preaching peace, compassion and non-violence to all Cambodian people.

Recent forcible arrest of Venerable Loun Sovath who is the Buddhist monk and human rights activist in Cambodia

Kamnap:"ទុច្ចរិតដូចគ្នា ទាំងស្ដេចរដ្ឋ ទាំងស្ដេចសង្ឃ" by NhiekKiri

Commune council election debates

Challenges for women in community

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Kamnap:"Teuk Pnek Reas Keu Teuk Pnek Preah Sang" by Ung Thavary

Cambodia's crackdown on land grab protests

At least 400,000 people are affected by increasingly common land disputes in Cambodia.

Now the government has decided to crack down on protests against land grabs by arresting anyone who is caught organising a protest.

Already more than a dozen people have been charged.

Al Jazeera's Stephanie Scawen reports from the capital, Phnom Penh.

Note by School of Vice

Khmer Rouge justice a race against time

With defendants before the Extraordinary Chambers for the Courts well into old age and failing in health, efforts are being made to speed up the trial process amid shocking testimony of relatives sacrificed to prove party loyalty

Bangkok Post, May 27, 2012

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal has been dogged by controversy since the first public hearings were held in November 2007, including allegations of corruption, funding issues and disputes over the scope of the tribunals.

But the biggest risk to finding justice for the two million people who perished under Pol Pot is the age and health of the surviving leaders. This was borne out over the past two weeks, with Ieng Sary, 86, hospitalised for bronchitis and grinding the entire trial to a halt.

The former foreign minister is considered the frailest of the three currently in the dock for genocide and crimes against humanity. His 80-year-old wife, Ieng Thirith, has already been ruled medically unfit for trial and remains in detention while undergoing further psychiatric evaluation.

Doctors say Ieng Sary has stabilised but warned he also suffers from chronic health conditions, including heart and back problems, and this can only deteriorate. This has prompted the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is monitoring the trial, to suggest Ieng Sary might have to be severed from the process.

His lawyer, Michael Karnavas, said his client did not want to hold up proceedings and had no objection to missing testimony from witnesses deemed less relevant. However, he added that Ieng Sary would not waive his right to be present during the hearings that touched on him either directly or indirectly.

Tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen told Spectrum that Ieng Sary's condition was a major concern.

"Ieng Sary is recovering in the detention centre after having been discharged from hospital on Tuesday. We expect that he will be participating in the hearings starting from [tomorrow]," he said.

Also before the Extraordinary Chambers for the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC) are Nuon Chea, the 85-year-old chief ideologue and No2 to Pol Pot, and Khieu Samphan, 80, a former head of state whose economic theories came into play after April 1975, when the ultra-Maoists won absolute control of what would become Democratic Kampuchea.

All three deny charges of crimes against humanity and genocide.

"We are of course mindful of the advanced age and health conditions of the accused persons, and the trial chamber is constantly working to ensure that the process can be as swift as possible," Mr Olsen said.

Ta Mok, a senior Khmer Rouge military figure, died aged 80 in 2006 while awaiting trial, and all remaining members of the Standing Committee which wrote and deployed Khmer Rouge government policy have died through age and illness or been killed in brutal factional brawling within their own ranks.

Pol Pot died in 1998 while under house arrest imposed by Ta Mok.

Significant changes have been made to speed up the trial process. Case 002 was split into several mini-trials, designed to make the proceedings more manageable, with the first trial to form some of the basis of subsequent trials.

Mr Olsen added that two-way audio and video links in the holding cells in the basement of the courtroom had also helped, allowing the accused to participate remotely when ill health prevents them from sitting in the main courtroom.

TEMPORARY REPRIEVE: The hospitalisation of former Khmer Rouge foreign affairs minister Ieng Sary has halted his trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Ieng Sary's medical exit followed another marathon session of sensational revelations of atrocities allegedly committed by Pol Pot and his henchmen between 1975 and 1979. Critical for the prosecution was how the regime had turned on itself.

Among the most startling evidence was testimony that Nuon Chea had sent two nieces _ Lach Vary and Lach Dara, both Chinese-trained doctors who worked for the regime's health ministry _ along with their husbands and another two nephews to the dreaded S-21 torture and extermination camp.

It was also heard that Pol Pot had dispatched a sister-in-law to a security centre where she perished. It was a macabre game of one-upmanship, proving their loyalty by sending those closest to them to a horrible death in order to purify the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) of unwanted influences.

Much of the evidence was produced by the prosecution's star witness, Kang Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who was jailed for life in Case 001 after being found guilty of crimes against humanity and the deaths of at least 12,000 people at S-21, which he ran.

The actual S-21 death toll has been estimated to be much higher, probably 24,000 people. Duch testified he had met regularly with Nuon Chea or Son Sen for updates on confessions and camp operations, a charge Nuon Chea has denied.

"I reported to him about the confessions, and he instructed and advised," Duch said, adding that a typical meeting lasted 10 minutes and was held every three to five days. "The power was concentrated in the hands of the secretariat of the Communist Party, Pol Pot and Nuon Chea."

Duch's evidence was damning. He said in 1977 Nuon Chea had replaced Son Sen as head of Santebal _ the Khmer Rouge secret police. Son Sen survived the reshuffle of posts but was killed along with his family 20 years later amid a violent factional split.

Favouritism was strictly forbidden and Nuon Chea had sought to prove his purity among the CPK by dispatching his own kin to the "killing fields". His ruthlessness was corroborated by evidence from Saloth Ban, 67, who worked for Ieng Sary as secretary-general of the foreign ministry and was also Pol Pot's nephew. He told the court that he was always terrified for his life and his immediate family, adding: "I had such fear, and I think others had bigger fear than me."

He said Pol Pot's oldest sister-in-law, Khieu Thirath _ who is also the sister of Ieng Thirith _ was killed in a Khmer Rouge security centre.

Khieu Thirath's other sister, Khieu Ponnary, was the first Cambodian woman to receive a baccalaureate degree and had married Pol Pot in 1956 but she suffered chronic schizophrenia as the regime began to assert itself over the country.

Others to perish as the regime turned on itself were members of the royal family headed by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the current king father, who initially supported the regime with China's encouragement.

Members of the Standing Committee like Vorn Vet, the deputy prime minister in charge of economy, and his entire family were also sent to S-21 where they were tortured and killed in the second half of 1978, just as the Vietnamese and Cambodian defectors were plotting their invasion.

Further questioning of Duch by deputy co-prosecutor William Smith revealed Nuon Chea had ordered the executions of all remaining prisoners of S-21 in January 1979, as Pol Pot was hastily arranging a retreat into the countryside before the invading Vietnamese arrived in the capital.

"There were more than 100 prisoners, even over 500, I feel," the former mathematics teacher and born-again Christian said, adding the job was completed inside three days.

He also added to previous testimony he gave in Case 001 incriminating Khmer Rouge superiors in the executions of Westerners _ an American, a New Zealander, an Australian and a Briton _ captured off Cambodia's southern coast in 1977.

"After the interrogations, there would be a decision to smash. The smashing was to be conducted in a form of burning to ash," Duch said. "I was following the order from Nuon Chea, and I implemented the order." The court had earlier heard how one of the Westerners was burned alive.

"The decision to arrest was made by the Standing Committee in a broad sense, but in a more practical sense it was brother Pol who made the decision and in some cases brother Nuon was the one who made such decisions," he said.

The Vietnamese-backed invasion forced the leadership into the remote countryside, where Duch informed Nuon Chea that the hasty retreat had meant he had left damning S-21 documents behind. This included hundreds of forced confessions and photographs of tortured prisoners that would eventually be used to secure the convictions against him in Case 001.

Brother No2 was unimpressed.

"On my side, we destroyed them all. You were very bad that you could not manage this," Duch quoted Nuon Chea as saying. They are still not on good terms and more recently Nuon Chea described Duch as "rotten wood".

The evidence has put the defence firmly on the back foot.

Assuming Ieng Sary does overcome his health issues, the hearings at the ECCC will resume this week and a concerted counter-attack by counsel for the accused can be expected over the coming months.

According to Mr Olsen this could continue into next year.

"It is important however to be aware that the chamber cannot cut corners," he added. "Just because the accused persons are of advanced age they are still entitled to enjoy the same fair trial rights as any other defendant."