Hun Sen, Cabinet Members Down With Swine Flu

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

Wednesday, 30 June 2010

via Khmer NZ News Media

Photo: AP
Chea Sim, center, president of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, Heng Samring, rear left, the party honorary president, Hun Sen, foreground, the party's vice president and the prime minister of the Cambodian government.

“After receiving the best medical treatment from expert Cambodian doctors, [Hun Sen’s] health has returned to normalcy.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen and five of his cabinet have fallen ill with the H1N1 virus, health officials said Wednesday.

Hun Sen required “urgent measures” for treatment after he showed signs of the illness, sometimes called swine flu, at a meeting on June 25, Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in a statement.

The illness prevented Hun Sen from attending a number of meetings, including the 59th anniversary of the Cambodian People’s Party on Monday.

“After receiving the best medical treatment from expert Cambodian doctors, [Hun Sen’s] health has returned to normalcy,” Mam Bunheng said.

All senior officials who attended the June 25 meeting have been tested for bird flu. Five tested positive: Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly, Senior Minister Chhay Thorn, Senior Minister Tao Seng Hour, Kim Ith and Ith Mith.

How the officials contracted the virus is unknown. Top health officials declined to comment further Wednesday.

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Thai govt disavows media tale

Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Cameron Wells and Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

THAILAND on Tuesday denied allegations levelled by Cambodian officials that it has planted false media reports about antigovernment Red Shirts crossing into Cambodia.

The Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers on Monday issued a statement denying a report in the Bangkok Post asserting that two Thais – Warisaya Boonsom and Kobchai Boonplod – had crossed the border into Cambodia on June 23, the day after the bombing of the Bhumjaithai Party headquarters in Bangkok.

Benjapol Rodsawas, identified as an immigration official in Sa Kaeo province, was quoted as confirming the crossing.

In addition to arguing that there was no evidence that the two fugitives were in Cambodia, the Council of Ministers statement called on the Thai government to end its “malicious campaign to fault Cambodia”, and accused it of “fanning acts of provocation against the Kingdom of Cambodia”.

The government issued two similar statements earlier this month after stories appeared in the Thai press alleging that Red Shirts who want to
topple Thailand’s government are hiding in Cambodia.

In response, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi on Tuesday said the Thai officials quoted in the stories had only been stating “fact”, and denied that the Thai government was attempting to link Cambodian officials to the Red Shirts.

“We have not accused Cambodia of being a safe haven or providing support for anyone. The entry of such individuals into Cambodia is simply a matter of people’s movements across [the] border,” he said.

“What the Thai authorities, including the Immigration Office, have said is only a statement of fact.”

But Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Tuesday said he did not believe the reports were true.
“The Bangkok Post quoted immigration police at the border, that the two suspects fled to Cambodia,” he said. “If the Thai immigration office knew that, why did they not make the arrests?”

He also said the names of the two fugitives cited in the report on Monday – Warisaya and Kobchai – had not appeared on registration lists at the border.

“The border always registers people when they cross the border, and the two names mentioned as suspects were not on that list,” he said. “They raise incorrect information. When Thailand has problems, they blame Cambodia.”

Tith Sothea, spokesman for the Press and Quick Reaction Unit, called on Thai officials to “make corrections”.

“If Thailand denies that they have accused Cambodia, then they should make corrections in all their media that have published such false information,” he said.

“I think this is a play from the Thai government officials, who speak out without taking responsibility for their comments.”

He added: “Cambodia once again asks Thailand and its media to stop publishing inaccurate information linked to Cambodia.”

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Border Crisis: Anti-Thai rally to mark anniversary

Invading black-clad Thai soldiers next to Cambodian soldiers (Photo: Reuters)

Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

The Cambodia Watchdog Council (CWC) plans to gather at Wat Botum on July 15 to express anger at Thailand’s “invasion” near Preah Vihear temple two years ago. On July 15, 2008, Thailand sent troops to disputed border areas close to Preah Vihear temple, a week after UNESCO accepted Cambodia’s application to have it listed as a World Heritage site. “The purpose of the ceremony is to show Thailand that the Cambodian people are dissatisfied with the invasion of Cambodian territory,” said CWC president Rong Chhun. Tith Sothea, spokesman for the Council of Ministers’ Press and Quick Reaction Unit, said organisers would need to obtain permission from the Interior Ministry. “Any gathering without permission would be nonsense,” he said.

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Ponhea Krek villagers: The planting of border posts leads to the loss of Khmer territories to the benefit of Vietnam

Ponhea Krek villagers claimed that the planting of border posts led to the loss of Khmer territories to Vietnam (Photo: RFI)

29 June 2010
By Im Navin Radio France Internationale Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Click here to listen to the report in Khmer (MP3)

The Cambodia-Viet border committee planted a number of border posts in the Ponhea Krek district region, Kampong Cham province. However, a number of villagers are claiming that these border post planting led to the loss of their rice fields and homes to the benefit of Vietnam. This is what happened to Anlong Chrey village, the area where border post no. 125 is currently being planted.

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Rare 'white' elephant captured in Burma

White elephants are in fact usually more reddish-brown in colour

Tuesday, 29 June 2010
BBC News

"In English and some other languages, a white elephant also means a useless structure, and a needlessly expensive burden."

A rare "white elephant", a traditional symbol of good fortune and power in south-east Asia, has been captured in Burma, state media reports.

Reports say the 2m (6.5ft) female elephant was tracked down in Maungdaw in the west of the country.

White elephants are only nominally white - they often look reddish-brown in the sun, and light pink when wet.

Analysts say the animal is likely to be brought to the capital, Naypyidaw, for the military ruler, General Than Shwe.

With elections due this year under terms the country's opposition considers unacceptable, Burma's military rulers have been hunting for their good omen for some time now, says the BBC's Viv Marsh.

When locals sighted a white elephant earlier this year in the jungle in Rakhine state, a unit of the Ministry of Forestry was sent to scour the area and find it, the New Light of Myanmar reported.

'Great blessings'

Their prize - a female aged about 38, was captured on 26 June, said the news agency.

The Thailand-based charity Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation said it would normally object to elephants being held in captivity, but made an exception for white elephants, which are traditionally kept in pampered conditions.

"The white elephant is a sign of great blessings and fortune for the land," spokeswoman Soraida Salwala told the Associated Press news agency.

White elephants have historically been owned and revered by Burmese leaders - Gen Than Shwe has never had one of his own, although Burma's leaders travel in aircraft called White Elephants 1 and 2.

In English and some other languages, a white elephant also means a useless structure, and a needlessly expensive burden.

The generals may hope their new trophy - and their own fortunes - are not blighted by linguistic association, says our correspondent.

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Mu Sochua to visit Khut Kong Kea and others in Bangkok

Dear compatriots,

Please be informed that I will visit him this week end. I will stop in Bangkok for him and others. They must be kept in hope. I will return to Cambodia, Monday 5 July.

On behalf of SRP, I wish to thank you all for your most generous contributions.

In Solidarity,

Sochua

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Benigno Aquino III sworn in as Philippine leader

Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III takes his oath before Supreme Court Associate Conchita Carpio Morales (not pictured) as he places his other hand on a Bible during his inauguration as the 15th President of the Philippines in Manila June 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Erik de Castro)

June 30, 2010
By OLIVER TEVES
Associated Press Writer

MANILA, Philippines — Benigno Aquino III was sworn in Wednesday as the Philippines' 15th president, leading a Southeast Asian nation his late parents helped liberate from dictatorship and which he promises to deliver from poverty and pervasive corruption.

Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them clad in his yellow campaign color, applauded and yelled his nickname "Noynoy" as Aquino took his oath before a Supreme Court justice at Manila's seaside Rizal Park.

Vice President Jejomar Binay was sworn in before Aquino took his oath in the nationally televised ceremonies that resembled a music concert, with celebrity singers and an orchestra belting out nationalist and folk songs. Yellow confetti rained from two helicopters.

Aquino, wearing a native formal shirt and speaking in Tagalog, promised to fight corruption, particularly in the notoriously graft-ridden bureaus of customs and internal revenues. He pledged to bring a new era of good governance, reforms and a bureaucracy that will be sensitive to the plight of the common folk.

"Today our dreams start to become a reality," Aquino said. "It's the end of a leadership that has long been insensitive to the suffering of the people."

In a widely-applauded portion of his speech, Aquino said he also suffered in the past like ordinary Filipinos when he got stuck in heavy traffic as convoys with loud sirens and carrying powerful people breezed by. "No more wang-wang," he said, referring to the local word for blaring sirens.

Addressing his new justice secretary, Leila de Lima, Aquino ordered her to deliver "true and complete justice to all."

The rise of Aquino, a low-key legislator and son of democracy icons, reflects the Filipinos' longing for moral and political renewal. Outgoing leader President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's stormy nine-year rule saw four failed power grabs and opposition impeachment bids against her over allegations of vote-rigging, corruption and rights abuses.

The Cabinet he unveiled Tuesday has mostly allies and defectors from Arroyo's government. Aquino said he would immediately form an independent commission to investigate corruption allegations against Arroyo and other scandals under her term after taking power.

"They will as necessary prepare and prosecute the cases to make sure those who committed crimes against the people will be made to pay," Aquino said, adding the commission will be headed by a respected retired chief justice, Hilarion Davide.

Arroyo has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing. Aquino's campaign promise to investigate Arroyo has been seen as a potential political flashpoint early in his six-year term.

The new president and his mother, the late former President Corazon Aquino, had called on Arroyo to resign. Arroyo, Aquino's former economics professor, still enjoys considerable support and won a seat in the House of Representatives in the May 10 election.

Aquino's late parents are revered for their opposition to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted by a 1986 "people power" revolt. Considered a political lightweight, the 50-year-old bachelor's landslide elections victory has been attributed by analysts to his family name and anti-corruption platform.

Aquino has also anchored his campaign on restoring the credibility of the judiciary and Congress, which he says have been seriously eroded under Arroyo's rule.

The Philippines has been grappling with poverty, corruption, armed conflicts and deep divisions for decades. On the eve of his rise to the presidency, Aquino said he felt anxious but confident the millions who voted him will back him to confront those problems.

A third of the population lives on a dollar a day, and about 3,000 Filipinos leave daily for jobs abroad. Aquino has also expressed alarm at the ballooning national budget deficit, which he said could surpass $8.7 billion (400 billion pesos) this year.
___
Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.

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Honor for sale: Would you like to give 500 riels to buy Hun Xen's honor?

Chea Mony collect money from workers to pay Mu Sochua's fine

Wednesday, 30 June 2010
By Khmerization
Source: CEN

Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, has appealed to all workers to help raise the money to pay a 16.5 million riels ($4,500) fine on behalf of MP Mu Sochua who was ordered by the Supreme Court to pay the fine after finding her guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen, reports Cambodian Express News.

Mu Sochua sued Mr. Hun Sen for defamation after he called her a "cheung klang" - strong leg, which sometimes means a "hustler", but her suit was dismissed and she was found guilty of defamation when Mr. Hun sen countersued. She steadfastly said she rather go to jail than pay the fine, by maintaining her innocence.

Earlier in the week, there are reports that her party, the Sam Rainsy Party, will pay the fine on her behalf but she strongly objected. It is not sure if she will agree to Mr. Chea Mony paying the fine on her behalf.

Mr. Chea Mony said he had circulated the appeal to all workers to help raise the mony to pay Mu Sochua's fine. He said dispute between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Mu Sochua is a small issue, but if both sides want to be the winner it could degenerate into a big dispute.

Mr. Tith Sothea, spokesman for the Quick and Press Reaction Unit, said by laws, either the person who was fined or their lawyer must pay the fine. He added that the law does not allow anyone to pay the fine on their behalf. However, he did not say whether the court will allow Chea Mony to pay the fine on Mu Sochua's behalf.

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"Tuk Sva Doll Na?" a Poem in Khmer by Sék Serei

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Cambodia Is Hard Sell for Investment Companies

Cambodia's corruptor-in-chief and his clan

June 29, 2010
By SIMON MARKS The New York Times

PHNOM PENH — Douglas Clayton arrived in Phnom Penh in 2007 to start a private equity fund, looking to get $100 million in funds under management. His firm, Leopard Capital, started in 2008, is one of four private equity funds here backed by overseas investors, and the first to have completed an investment.

“Anyone can announce they want to start a fund, but getting investors to back you is a challenge,” Mr. Clayton, Leopard’s chief executive and managing partner, said in an interview. “All the groups that started here had no track record, including us. It’s a doubly hard story to sell.”

Mr. Clayton was drawn to Cambodia after experiencing years of double-digit growth in Thailand, where he worked for a hedge fund during the 1990s.

Now ranked at 145 out of 183 countries in the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report, Cambodia is going through its own period of rapid growth. Before the global economic crisis hit in 2008, gross domestic product grew about 9 percent a year for almost a decade. After shrinking by 2.5 percent in 2009, growth is forecast to reach about 5 percent this year.

With $34 million collected so far from an array of international investors, Leopard has completed six investments, including a $2 million, 55 percent stake in Kingdom Breweries, a new microbrewery, and a 31.5 percent share in a recently built shrimp-processing factory. It has loaned about $1 million to an electricity supplier in Kompong Cham Province, in eastern Cambodia.

The traditional private equity strategy of buying out and investing in profitable, pre-existing businesses is rarely an option here, Mr. Clayton said. “The biggest range of opportunities are the businesses that have not started yet.”

Still, in a country where everything is still to be done, “for people who are willing to come in and work very hard and be very entrepreneurial and blaze their own trails, Cambodia is a paradise.”

After decades of civil war and a deadly communist regime that between 1975 and 1979 killed 1.7 million people, Cambodia remains deeply underdeveloped, with four million of its 14 million people living below the poverty threshold, according to the United Nations.

Leopard raised its first $10 million before the financial crisis struck. Cambodia Emerald, a would-be rival, also started in 2008, was not so lucky.

As the crisis bit, “we sort of basically put the fund on hold,” Peter Brimble, founding partner of Cambodia Emerald, said recently. Still, U.S. investors are starting to show interest again, and “we have plans to bring it back,” he said.

Beyond the problems of attracting foreign capital, businesses here say they are confronted with numerous local barriers, the most frequently cited being the extremely limited access to domestic capital, and high transportation and electricity costs.

In 2008, Cambodian bank lending was worth about 25 percent of gross domestic product, compared with more than 90 percent in Vietnam and Thailand.

“Capital is one of the main constraints here,” said Joshua Morris, managing director of Emerging Markets Investments, a private development fund backed by the International Finance Corp. — the World Bank’s private arm — and the Norwegian and Finnish governments. Small and medium-size enterprises “struggle to raise the money they need for expansion,” he said.

Lending is limited by low confidence in the judicial system and a lack of credit information, investment managers say. Mr. Morris, whose $10 million fund operates in both Cambodia and Laos, says he has been “incredibly careful” in identifying prospective business partners and has so far found just two in which he hopes to complete investments this summer.

Apart from their lack of access to cash, Mr. Morris said, Cambodian businesses rarely build proper corporate governance into strategies and fall short on accounting and auditing standards.

“While many businesses excel in generating revenue, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of the internal processes of the company,” he said. Skilled labor is also limited, although “a pretty solid set of business managers” is starting to emerge from the country’s universities, he added.

Yet, for all the shortcomings, Cambodia is at the heart of developing Asia, surrounded by dynamic economies in Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. Its currency, the riel, is pegged by the central bank at a stable rate of about 4,100 to the U.S. dollar, and inflation is low, at about 4 percent a year.

International road links are developing quickly, and last year Toll Group of Australia signed a contract to operate the long-neglected rail network, which is being rehabilitated. Toll says the first line, between Phnom Penh and the port city of Sihanoukville, will be open to freight by October.

“It’s a very pro-business government here,” Mr. Morris said. “They have placed very few restrictions with regards to where you can invest.”

“The private sector is our engine of economic growth,” Sun Chanthol, vice chairman for the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the government’s investment board, told a business seminar in Phnom Penh this month. “We want to be the facilitator of the private sector.”

Bretton G. Sciaroni, an adviser to the government and a partner at the law firm Sciaroni & Associates in Phnom Penh, said Cambodia had advantages that did not exist elsewhere in the region.

Foreign investors are allowed to own a company outright, without a local partner. There are no restrictions on fund transfers, no exchange controls, and Cambodia is one of the few least-developed countries to have joined the World Trade Organization.

The government is also hoping to establish a stock exchange this year.

“Senior government officials are focused on attracting investment and creating jobs,” Mr. Sciaroni said. “In addition, because Cambodia is a relatively new country with a new economy, there are business opportunities that do not exist in more developed economies. Much needs to be done in Cambodia, and opportunity abounds.” Still, the cost of doing business is higher there than in many other countries in the region. Electricity costs are high because much of the energy is imported, while transportation is costly and slow because of poor infrastructure. Moreover, “the courts do not provide an adequate venue for commercial disputes,” Mr. Sciaroni said. “Dispute resolution remains an important issue for the business community.”Corruption is another problem. “Corruption exists at many levels and is sometimes only the manifestation of a former economy based on informal processes,” said Christophe Forsinetti, vice president of the venture capital fund Devenco.Yet, the fact that Cambodia’s development lags behind that of its neighbors means there is a higher growth potential as the country catches up, Mr. Forsinetti said.Devenco has invested in Gaea, a waste collection company in the main tourist hub — Siem Reap — and in Pharm@link, a Phnom Penh pharmacy chain. “Many sectors are underdeveloped and companies with a specific knowledge can become a leader on their market with small investment amounts,” he said. “We therefore work on a smaller pie. But it is a growing one

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OK, who on KI-Media placed the swine flu curse on Hun Xen? Come on, fess up!

CPP ministers cursed blessed with Swine flu: Hun Xen, Tao Xeng Huor, Chhay Than

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen infected with A/H1N1

June 30, 2010
Xinhua

Cambodian government announced Tuesday that Prime Minister Hun Sen was found infected with A/H1N1 virus last Friday.

In a statement released Tuesday, Mam Bunheng, minister of health said the prime minister was found infected with A/H1N1 after the weekly Cabinet meeting that took place last Friday.

But he said the prime minister's health condition returns to normal after he was well treated by Cambodian eminent doctors.

According to the statement, other three senior government officials and two civil servants were found infected with the same disease including Yim Chhay Ly, deputy prime minister, and senior ministers Tao Seng Hour and Chhay Than.

The other two are civil servants.

According to ministry of health, to date, there have been 591 cases of A/H1N1, and six people have died since the outbreak of the virus last year.

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In ‘Red Light,’ a Portrait of the Sex Trade

Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
New York Tuesday, 29 June 2010

“The drunk chief of police who raped my daughter came to my home.”

A sex trade documentary that was four years in the making and took the collaboration of a politician and a former sex slave turned advocate premiered in New York last week, highlighting an ongoing problem fed in part by collaboration of society, officials and police.

“Red Light” shows how parents sell daughters, government officials use secret brothels to procure sex and the extent to which the trade exposes children to abuse.

The film, which took more than four years to make, was produced in part by actress Lucy Liu and features activist Mam Somaly, who escaped the brothels as a girl, and opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, who was once a minister for women’s affairs.

Filmmakers used hidden cameras and took risks in brothels to bring back footage from the sex trade to increase awareness of the dangers of exploitation.

“When I saw the movie, I remembered every word those children said,” Mu Sochua told VOA Khmer after the screening. “I can still smell the mud at the brothels I passed on my way to Poipet. I can never forget the tears and emotion of these girls, who described to me their hardships and their experiences, [such as] losing their virginity for the first time, after they were sold to brothels, and being forced to serve more than 10 clients a day. We, as parents and as responsible people, cannot stand for that.”

“Red Light” examines betrayal by neighbors and friends who lure children into the sex trade. A 14-year-old girl describes her rape and subsequent sale by a neighbor to a brothel. She is then sold from one brothel to another. Two girls are sold by their own parents into brothels.

Another girl, Ani, 13, was forced to sleep with high-ranking government officials in a brothel disguised as a noodle shop.

“The drunk chief of police who raped my daughter came to my home,” Ani’s father says in the film. “He told me I should let him sleep with my daughter again. “I would never sell my daughter. You would have to kill me.”

“Red Light” is also a reminder of the loopholes in Cambodia’s legal frameworks that allow perpetrators to buy their way out of trouble.

“We need to ask ourselves, mostly men, why do men have this urge to exploit a little child, whether it’s a boy or a girl,” Adi Ezroni, one of three directors, said at the screening. “And that’s really the issue that we have to speak about.”


Film production team took risks from those who benefit from the business. They had to use hidden cameras to film in the lucrative karaokay parlors and brothels. Film makers hope their film will help raise more awareness of the danger of sexual exploitation children face.

“With enough of this education and exposure we are able to change both people’s mindset, law...and to decrease demand because as far as I am concerned kids should never ever be raped and touched by anybody,” film maker Guy Jacobson told journalists. “I don’t care who the kid is and I don’t care who the adult is, there is absolutely no scenario in which it is okay for an adult to have sex with a kid; period.”

However, victims get discriminated when they try to integrate back into society.

“I would like to make a new appeal to please have a pity on those people both the children and women. It was not their choice to fall into this trap of prostitution,” said Mu Sochua. “Once the society discriminates against them, they will lose their future.”
The premiere drew a wide range of audience including celebrities and rights activists.

“I just feel that we need to take some actions and that a lot of countries need to get involved than being involved now,” Cynthia Kirchner, an actress and model, told VOA Khmer. “The girls are so strong to have gone through what they’ve gone through and to tell their story and they are just so brave and I think that everyone that has involved has done such a good job in getting their story told.”

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Buddhist monk charged with filming naked women

Phnom Penh, Jun 29 (AFP) A Cambodian court charged a Buddhist monk today for secretly filming hundreds of women as they bathed naked with holy water at a temple and then sharing the clips, officials said.

Net Khai, 37, faces up to a year in jail after being charged with "producing and distributing pornographic images" by Phnom Penh Municipal Court, prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot told AFP.

He was arrested at his pagoda in the Cambodian capital on Saturday over allegations that he secretly taped the women pouring sacred water over themselves in a pagoda bathroom, said police chief Touch Naruth.

Net Khai was arrested after a victim approached police and said that video clips showing the naked women had been shared among people via their mobile phones in recent weeks.

He was subsequently stripped of his religious status.

"He has filmed hundreds of women since 2008.

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CPP’s insistence to preserve the same stale face PM candidate earns criticisms

How much longer can Cambodia afford to see the same stale face premier?

29 June 2010
By S. Botum
Free Press Magazine Online
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The CPP’s decision to preserve the same 30-year-old premiership candidacy starts to generate major criticisms from both political and civil society communities, as well as from the public living in the countryside. By now, the public can expect that the same premier, who holds the same capacity, will lead Cambodia to the same imbroglio with the same problems, such as corruption, huge amount of foreign loans, major illegal flow of Yuon immigrants, border problems, etc…, etc…

Rong Chhun, President of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association, who attacked nonstop the Hun Xen’s regime, indicated that the preservation of Hun Xen’s candidacy to the premiership will not bring any change to Cambodia besides preserving the current shameful status quo situation.

During the celebration of its 59th anniversary, the CPP which was originally known as the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea (PRPK), decided to preserve Hun Xen as its candidate for the premiership in the upcoming 2013 general election. Some political VIPs commented that this decision was made by the CPP to preserve the party’s internal cohesion and to avoid any internal dissensions, at a time when rumors are circulating that Hun Xen issued threats to others, telling them to accept to preserve his candidacy to the party premiership.

Nevertheless, Hun Xen’s insistence to pursue several political mandates leads to a violation of democracy, as by now, several democratic countries in the world abide by the two-term limit rule.

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Is it His Karma?

CPP Tycoon-Senator-cum-Land-grabber Lao Meng Khin
Filling of Boeng Kak Lake by Lao Meng Khin's company, Shukaku Inc.
Residents protesting the forced eviction from Boeng Kak Lake
Residents, adults and children alike, protest the forced eviction from Boeng Kak Lake

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
True story by Khmer Borann

I have a friend who lived in Beong Kak Lake community before he and his family was evicted by the Hun Sen’s authority to make way for a CPP tycoon to develop the area for the latter's own profit. My friend finished university with me and he is a diehard supporter of the CPP.

When the residents of Koh Pich were evicted from their land and their home, many NGOs had advocated the government to respect the land law and the human rights. The same as for the residents of Dey Kraham communtity when they were evicted from their land, NGOs have done the same thing to advocate for the rights of those people. My friend who is a diehard supporter of CPP has criticized NGOs for helping the victims of land grabbing. He said the NGOs were against the development and the government. He said the government brought investment and development but NGOs as well as the opposition political parties did nothing but to destroy the country.

I had tried many times to explain to him that NGOs have never wanted to oppose the development and the government; NGOs just wanted to help the people who have been evicted unjustly. Nevertheless, my friend had never listened to what I have explained to him nor took it into consideration. Instead, he accused me of being the opposition and that I just wanted to destroy the development and the country.

In early 2007, there was a rumor circulating that Boeng Kak Lake and the area surrounding it would be granted to a local company known as Shukaku Inc., owned by the CPP senator Lao Meng Khim, and that the people in the area would be evicted. My friend had approached me and asked if NGOs could do anything to help him. I introduced him to my boss who is a head of local NGOs working on land dispute. My boss told him that, if the rumor was true, the NGOs would help him and all people affected by the land concession.

Even with the effort by NGOs to help the people around Boeng Kak Lake, the Hun Sen government never listened to the NGOs nor the people living in Boeng Kak Lake area, most of whom voted for the CPP during the 2007 commune election and the 2008 parliament election. Eventually, all residents in Boeng Kak Lake area were evicted and the lake was filled. My friend, who lived in Boeng Kak community before, and his family were evicted by the Hun Sen’s authority to make way for the CPP tycoon to develop the area for the latter's personal profit. This happened to my friend who finished university with me and who was diehard CPP supporter. My friend and his family, who owned a large plot of land worth hundred of thousands of dollar, only received US$8,000 and 2 million riels (2 million riel = $500) in compensation, the same amount offered to other families who owned smaller plot of land than his.

Now, I have never seen my friend and do not know where he lives; I also tried to contact him by phone but he changed the telephone number. I just would like to tell the readers of KI-Media that when he learned that the eviction information was true, his face turned pale like that of a corpse. He cried every time he came to meet NGOs workers.

I have met a monk in Phnom Penh and told him about this story. The monk felt so sorry about what had happened to my friend. I asked the monk whether it is my friend’s karma and he replied that it is. The monk explained to me that my friend had committed sin and that’s why he was punished by his deed. He said my friend has supported the evils and has been happy at other people’s suffering (the evicted families of Koh Pich, Dey Kraham) and that’s why he deserves his karma. Is it my friend’s karma?

Khmer Borann
Phnom Penh

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