The following video provides detailed account of the arrest of Ven. Loun Sovath on 24 May 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXPdKjqXdEg
Showing posts with label Cambodia News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cambodia News. Show all posts
Sunday, May 27, 2012
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
"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
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.
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
A poem composed by Huong Sovann, read by Jendhamuni Sos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8aL5U1Nfvs
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
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
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Cambodia's crackdown on land grab protests
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!
Cambodia Opposition Leader SAM Rainsy Is Visiting In Austria .
MP Sam Rainsy met with high ranking officials of Austrian ministry of foreign affairs in Vienne on May 25th, 2012. (photo by Tepmonorom)
MP Sam Rainsy was interviewed by journalist (photo by Tepmonorom)
Trumped charges against Ven. Loun Sovath and the ridiculous promise he was forced to sign
Trumped up charges against Ven. Loun Sovath: On 14 February 2012, Ven. Loun Sovath was accused of [receiving] a call from the Lotus Revolution movement to free Cambodia and the Cambodian population in 2012. He is also accused of owning photos and CDs showing the actions of Sourn Serey Ratha. He is also accused on participating in a KPPM [led by Sourn Serey Ratha] meeting in the US on 16 May 2011.
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Trumped up charges against Ven. Loun Sovath: On 14 February 2012, Ven. Loun Sovath was accused of incitement to crime in Phnom Penh and overseas in 2011.
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Trumped up charges against Ven. Loun Sovath: On 19 March 2012, Ven. Loun Sovath was accused of incitement for crime in Phnom Penh and overseas in 2011.
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On 24 May 2012, Ven. Loun Sovath was forced to sign this ridiculous promise which violates his freedom rights.
Cambodia's Current Tragedy: a Government Led by Greed
Cambodia's Current Tragedy: a Government Led by Greed
USA must immediately suspend military aid to the government of Cambodia. Remember other dictatorships aided by USA and others. How many more lives wasted before the killing stops?
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Heng Chantha, 14-yr-old killed in Chhlong, Kratie (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)
Senseless Kratie killing reflects a bitter truth
Letter to The Phnom Penh Post
Dear Editor,
The savage killing in Kratie seven days ago of Heng Chantha, a 14-year-old girl, by soldiers and police comes three weeks after the murder of Chut Wutty, Cambodia’s most respected environmentalist.
Her killing comes less than two weeks after Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered an immediate suspension of economic land concessions.
More than two million hectares of Cambodia’s arable land and one million hectares of our national forests and parks are part of these concessions, signed by the hand of the Prime Minister.
The military-style operation in Kratie was aided by a helicopter.
The authorities’ version of the operation was justified by deputy prime minister Sar Kheng as necessary to crack down on an association for a democratic movement and for the arrest of its ringleaders.
The order from the top is clear: aim to kill.
The real reason for this military-style operation was the protection of economic concessions against villagers who had organised to defend their land, which the company had encroached on.
The Kratie operation clearly has a message for activists, community leaders, human-rights defenders and all those who dare to stand up against the government: you are risking your life.
It was meant to send a chilling message, but it shows the desperate manoeuvring of those in power as they are consumed by greed.
This greed has led them to eliminate their political opponents, to privatise the police and armed forces, to control the judiciary system, and to silence the international community.
The US State Department put out a respectable statement following the killing in Kratie.
There are high hopes that action towards the revision of US aid to Cambodia’s military will be considered. Furthermore, it is necessary for the aid community to revise its policies and strategies of aid.
Cambodia is not on the right track. When raw killings and the violent crushing of activists and human-rights defenders are allowed to occur with total impunity, our country is in immediate need of rescue – and that can happen only when free and fair elections are allowed to take place.
The 2008 European Union recommendations for free and fair elections have been endorsed by political parties and local organisations.
Further delay in reforming electoral laws and establishing a neutral electoral committee will defer the arrival of democracy and the rule of law.
The killings must stop.
Mu Sochua, MP
Sam Rainsy Party Battambang
CPP who? ... Aaah, the party of the rich and powerful ... land-grabbers?
.JPG)
More news on Hun Xen
More news on Hun Xen
I found it hard to believe
Could it be because of the U.S.'s Human Rights report?
Or because of his horrible nightmare?
Not sure if Hun Xen knows about the five precepts. He can learn two of them from me for now. I will teach him the other three when he’s getting better at these two.
Two of five Buddhist precepts
1. Do not Kill One must not deliberately kill any living creatures, either by committing the act oneself, instructing others to kill, or approving of or participating in act of killing. It is a respect to others' lives.
One should not deprive others (animals not excluded) of the right to live. If one is hurt or killed, one's family, relatives, friends will suffer. It is the cause of rebirth in Three Evil Paths. The effect of killing to the performer are brevity of life, ill health, handicapped and fear. In observing the first precept, one tries to protect life whenever possible. Furthermore, one cultivates the attitude of loving kindness to all beings by wishing that they may be happy and free from harm.
2. Do not Steal It is a respect to other's properties and the right to own property. If something is not given, one may not take it away by stealing, by force or by fraud. Besides these, one should avoid misusing money or property belonging to the public or other persons.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Hun Sen on Election Footing
The Diplomat, Luke Hunt, May 25, 2012
Commune elections next month are set to offer an interesting test of the Cambodian People’s Party's popularity.
Image credit: World Economic Forum
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) have been on election footing since the second half of 2011. The big test is still a year out, when national elections will mark 20 years since U.N. troops oversaw the first ballot that began this country’s transition to democracy.
However, commune elections will be held on June 3, and will provide an important test for the CPP, which has trounced virtually all opposition ranks in recent years. There are about 1,620 communes across the country. Each represents a cluster of villages and the elections, held every five years, aren’t unlike council or local district polls in the West.
The CPP will head into the poll as overwhelming favorite, but how the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), whose namesake leader lives in self-imposed exile following a conviction, fares will provide valuable insights into Hun Sen’s broader popularity.
His government has been beset by angry protests over alleged land grabs, a yawning wealth gap coupled with rising prices for everyday goods and high handedness and corruption among government officials.
This could translate into a loss of votes, particularly in Phnom Penh and provincial cities where Sam Rainsy has traditionally polled well. Further complicating the issues this year are the royalists, who have been a spent force at recent polls.
Funcinpec had for years played a political game of cat and mouse with Hun Sen until its leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of the King Father and half-brother of King Norodom Sihamoni, was banished by his own members for gross corruption and Funcinpec effectively split and fell apart.
His banishment came after a court jailed him for 18 months in absentia after he quietly sold off Funcinpec party headquarters as if it was personal asset and then re-directed the fund to acquire a private property.
Now, a deal has been struck aimed at ending the animosity between the two main royalist parties. This means the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) will merge with Funcinpec to form a single party under the Funcinpec name. However, Funcinpec has a long and difficult road ahead if it’s to make any kind of return from the political oblivion. At the 2008 national poll, the NRP and Funcinpec won just two seats each in the National Assembly, while the SRP improved its standing to 26; the CPP holds 90 seats.
Any gains could come at the expense of the SRP, but in Cambodia’s remote villages, which have remained loyal to Hun Sen ever since he ended the years of bloody conflict in 1998, Funcinpec are unlikely to score much success.
As a result, Norodom Ranariddh should expect to remain where he has been for the last four years, in the political wilderness. The SRP will maintain its current standing while for the CPP it will be business as usual once the commune elections are done
Commune elections next month are set to offer an interesting test of the Cambodian People’s Party's popularity.
Image credit: World Economic Forum
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) have been on election footing since the second half of 2011. The big test is still a year out, when national elections will mark 20 years since U.N. troops oversaw the first ballot that began this country’s transition to democracy.
However, commune elections will be held on June 3, and will provide an important test for the CPP, which has trounced virtually all opposition ranks in recent years. There are about 1,620 communes across the country. Each represents a cluster of villages and the elections, held every five years, aren’t unlike council or local district polls in the West.
The CPP will head into the poll as overwhelming favorite, but how the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), whose namesake leader lives in self-imposed exile following a conviction, fares will provide valuable insights into Hun Sen’s broader popularity.
His government has been beset by angry protests over alleged land grabs, a yawning wealth gap coupled with rising prices for everyday goods and high handedness and corruption among government officials.
This could translate into a loss of votes, particularly in Phnom Penh and provincial cities where Sam Rainsy has traditionally polled well. Further complicating the issues this year are the royalists, who have been a spent force at recent polls.
Funcinpec had for years played a political game of cat and mouse with Hun Sen until its leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of the King Father and half-brother of King Norodom Sihamoni, was banished by his own members for gross corruption and Funcinpec effectively split and fell apart.
His banishment came after a court jailed him for 18 months in absentia after he quietly sold off Funcinpec party headquarters as if it was personal asset and then re-directed the fund to acquire a private property.
Now, a deal has been struck aimed at ending the animosity between the two main royalist parties. This means the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) will merge with Funcinpec to form a single party under the Funcinpec name. However, Funcinpec has a long and difficult road ahead if it’s to make any kind of return from the political oblivion. At the 2008 national poll, the NRP and Funcinpec won just two seats each in the National Assembly, while the SRP improved its standing to 26; the CPP holds 90 seats.
Any gains could come at the expense of the SRP, but in Cambodia’s remote villages, which have remained loyal to Hun Sen ever since he ended the years of bloody conflict in 1998, Funcinpec are unlikely to score much success.
As a result, Norodom Ranariddh should expect to remain where he has been for the last four years, in the political wilderness. The SRP will maintain its current standing while for the CPP it will be business as usual once the commune elections are done
Remarks in Cambodia
Remarks in Cambodia
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.
Cambodia land activists' convictions called unjust Associated Press, May 25, 2012
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Human rights groups in Cambodia expressed outrage Friday over prison sentences imposed on 13 women who were protesting being evicted from their land without adequate compensation.
The women were sentenced Thursday by a Phnom Penh court after being found guilty of aggravated rebellion and illegal occupation of land in a three-hour trial.
Their trial came amid heightened concern in Cambodia about land grabbing, which is sometimes linked to corruption and the use of deadly force to carry out evictions.
This month, a visiting U.N. human rights envoy warned that the issue was a volatile social problem, and a teenage girl was shot dead by security forces carrying out an eviction.
"Sentencing to jail 13 people who have been victimized by land grabbing is a complete injustice," said Ou Virak, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. "There was no fair trial."
Those sentenced, who included a 72-year-old woman, had been residents of Phnom Penh's Boueng Kak lake area, which the government awarded to a Chinese company for commercial development, including a hotel, office buildings and luxury housing.
They were arrested Tuesday when they tried to rebuild their homes on the land where their old houses were demolished by the developers in 2010.
The group has protested several times in the last few years to demand land titles they said had been promised by Prime Minister Hun Sen's government. They claimed that the city government resettled some families, but did not include them.
Ou Virak said the issue of the rich and powerful grabbing land from the poor — who then are arrested if they resist or complain — was becoming more serious.
Pung Chhic Kek, president of the local human rights group Licadho, said the case against the women was groundless and described the legal proceedings as "a show trial and ridiculous."
She said that lawyers from her organization were barred from talking with the defendants and introducing witnesses
Ranariddh and Nhiek Bun Chhay set to become Hun Xen's sycophants
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Prince Norodom Ranariddh (left), head of the Norodom Ranariddh Party, shares a toast with Funcinpec party President Nhek Bun Chhay (right) after signing an agreement to merge the two parties yesterday. Photograph: Stringer/Phnom Penh Post
Funcinpec, NRP set to merge
Friday, 25 May 2012
Vong Sokheng and Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post
The on-again, off-again dance between Funcinpec and the Norodom Ranariddh Party finally concluded yesterday, with the two opposition royalist parties agreeing to merge following the June 3 commune elections.
Prime Minister Hun Sen of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party met with the leaders of the parties yesterday morning to encourage them to agree to the merger, officials said.
Shortly after the meeting, Funcinpec secretary-general Nhek Bun Chhay and Prince Norodom Ranariddh signed an agreement to join forces under the auspices of the Funcinpec party to run in the national elections in July next year.
The agreement was signed at the cabinet of the premier in the Peace Palace, and the parties said it marked the end to a six-year rift between the royalist groups sparked when Prince Norodom Ranariddh was ousted as president of Funcinpec.
In late 2010, the parties began discussing the possibility of a merger, but it failed to materialise amid disagreements on a number of issues, including the name.
Norodom Ranariddh will assume presidency of the united Funcinpec party, and current Funcinpec president Bun Chhay will be appointed vice president.
“The merger is to mobilise royalists, Sihanoukists and to be a real national force to work with the national force [of the ruling CPP and Prime Minister Hun Sen] in order to serve the nation,” Norodom Ranariddh told reporters after the signing.
“Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen has strongly expressed his concern over the split of the monarchy political parties, and this shows that the premier is also the monarchy,” the prince said.
“I have expressed my gratefulness and loyalty to the premier, and from the moment of this merging today, we will stop discussing who was wrong and who was right – our destination is for reconciliation,” he said.
Factional infighting over power and money within and between the two royalist groups has plagued the parties. Norodom Ranariddh’s 2006 ouster was accompanied by allegations that he embezzled funds from the sale of the party’s headquarters.
The two parties won two seats each of the total 123 seats in the National Assembly in the national election in 2008.
Asian Human Rights Commission senior researcher Lao Mong Hay said it was unusual that the parties met with the premier before their merger.
“It will be very difficult for the parties here to show credibility vis-à-vis the electorate. Both have had experience working with the CPP, and we have seen that association with the CPP has not been doing any good to them,” Lao Mong Hay said.
Infighting over the past few years has also caused serious damage to the parties, Lao Mong Hay said.
“It might be a bit difficult to mend that lack of reputation or bad reputation,” he said, pointing out that both sides had been marginalised by defeats.
Still, the new Funcinpec’s allegiance to Prime Minister Hun Sen shouldn’t come as a shock, Lao Mong Hay said.
“It’s not surprising at all. Perhaps both sides [NRP and Funcinpec] have departed from each other before for many years, and now that they have realised there is no future in that, they must be allied,” he said.
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