DPM: Malaysia-Cambodia bilateral cooperation a milestone in education sector Read more: DPM: Malaysia-Cambodia bilateral cooperation a milestone in education sector -

0 February 2014

PHNOM PENH: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia is looking forward to enhance collaboration in the education sector with the Cambodian government.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, conveyed the country's interest to cooperate with Cambodia during a bilateral meeting with the Cambodian Education, Youth and Sports Minister Dr Hang Chuon Naron this afternoon.

In his speech, Muhyiddin also described the Malaysia-Cambodia bilateral cooperation as a very important milestone in the education sector for both countries.

"Education has always been our (Malaysia) number one agenda.

"Through education, we believe that it could raise our standard of living.

"The Malaysian Parliament approved up to an average of 21 per cent of the country's budget, to spur the country's education from pre-school to tertiary education level," he said during the meeting.


Present were Higher Education Department deputy director-general Datin Ir Dr Siti Hamisah Tepair, International Trade and Industry Ministry ASEAN Economics senior director P. Ravindran, Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Seri Idris Haron, Malaysian Ambassador to Cambodia, Raszlan Abdul Rashid and representatives from the Cambodian government.

Muhyiddin hoped that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in higher education that was signed after the meeting would help to raise the quality and standard of education for both countries.

"I am happy to observe that there are quite a number of Cambodian students studying in Malaysia.

"I hope that the MoU that will be signed later would spell out more areas that Malaysia and Cambodia could work together in the education sector as well as increase the number of Cambodian students studying in our country."

Muhyiddin later proceeded to the MoU signing ceremony at the same event representing Malaysia.

Under the MoU, the Malaysian government will help Cambodia to develop its human capital by providing more place for Cambodian students to further their tertiary education in Malaysia.

Today, is the second day of Muhyiddin's first official visit to Cambodia.

Earlier, Muhyiddin paid a courtesy call on the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen where both leaders spent about an hour during the meeting at the latter's office.

Muhyiddin, later paid a courtesy call to one of Cambodia's five deputy prime ministers, Sok An.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in discussion with with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (right)during a courtesy call. -- Bernama photo

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By: barokah On 11:55:00 AM

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Cambodian Regime Realigns Its Foreign Relations

18 February 2014

Anti-government protestors in the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in December 2013.

After Cambodia’s political opposition voiced its support for China’s territorial claims, Beijing gradually began to withdraw its support for embattled Prime Minister Hun Sen. As Murray Hiebert and Phuong Nguyen report, that’s prompted him to strengthen Phnom Penh’s ties with Japan and other ASEAN states.

By Murray Hiebert and Phuong Nguyen for YaleGlobal Online

Cambodia’s foreign relations map has undergone dramatic shifts in the past six months. In the aftermath of Cambodia’s elections in July 2013, Beijing promptly recognized the results and congratulated Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party for their victory. However, as anti-government protests led by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party grew in the weeks that followed, with protesters condemning the elections as fraudulent and calling on Hun Sen to step down, China has since largely remained silent and kept the prime minister at arm’s length.
At the same time, the Cambodian government in the past few months has moved to consolidate its relations with Vietnam following several years of deteriorating ties between the two neighbors. Phnom Penh made this move despite the anti-Vietnamese sentiment in Cambodia fed by opposition leader Sam Rainsy that has gained traction since the elections.

An ongoing political crisis and China’s apparent hedging on Hun Sen are behind this emerging geostrategic realignment.
Hun Sen is struggling to deal with growing opposition to his rule and grievances from the public on labor rights and governance at a time when Cambodia is at a critical political and economic crossroads. The country is seeking to become more integrated with the rest of Southeast Asia and the world in the years ahead. Cambodia’s youth is increasingly more educated and exposed to democratic norms and the outside world.
Hun Sen, whose strong-arm tactics largely worked in the past, now faces what is perhaps the most serious challenge to his rule in decades and is seeking outside recognition to boost his domestic legitimacy. The truth is, even if his party manages to win the next elections, Hun Sen must continue to deal with growing demands for greater transparency, better rule of law and more democracy.
China, until recently Cambodia’s most important patron, has not been willing to offer Hun Sen much political backing. While the two governments continue to maintain high-level meetings and exchanges, there has been a shift in Beijing’s policy toward Cambodia. Shortly after Hun Sen announced he would not step down in the face of opposition-led protests, an article in China’s state-controlled Xinhua in late December quoted Khmer analysts calling for national referendum on whether to organize new elections. Chinese leaders probably will not give Hun Sen the cold shoulder anytime soon, but they seem to be charting a middle course and slowly moving away from their past policy of wholeheartedly endorsing his government.
The social and political changes taking place in Cambodia have not been lost on Beijing. Chinese leaders could be hedging their bets on Cambodia’s political future to avoid the kind of strategic blunders they made in Myanmar in recent years. Beijing long threw its support to Myanmar’s military regime and was taken unaware by the sweeping reforms President Thein Sein launched in 2011. Chinese leaders did not begin to face up to the new political reality in Myanmar until Thein Sein suspended construction of the multibillion dollar Chinese-backed Myitsone dam.
As part of its new policy, China is engaging different actors in Myanmar’s emerging political scene, from parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann and army chief Min Aung Hlaing to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Chinese leaders who have largely given Thein Sein the cold shoulder are now considering an official invitation for Aung San Suu Kyi to visit China. Neither President Xi Jinping nor Premier Li Keqiang made a stop in Myanmar during their diplomatic blitz across Southeast Asia in 2013. Interestingly, Cambodia was not included in that itinerary either, despite being a staunch ally and a popular investment destination for Chinese businesses.
Meanwhile, relations between Vietnam and Cambodia have blossomed during the past few months. Hanoi has provided Hun Sen with much needed outside recognition and a boost to his legitimacy. In late December, Hun Sen visited Vietnam ahead of the 35^th anniversary of the ouster of the Khmer Rouge by Hanoi’s troops, and Vietnamese leaders lavishly congratulated him for his role in rebuilding Cambodia.
Two weeks after Hun Sen’s trip, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung visited Cambodia, where the two leaders co-chaired a bilateral trade and investment conference – the largest since 2009 – and pledged to boost economic ties in banking, finance, agribusiness, tourism and telecommunications. At the end of 2012, Vietnamese businesses had invested around $3 billion in nearly 130 projects in Cambodia, making Vietnam one of the country’s top foreign investors. China, in comparison, invested a total of $9.17 billion in the country between 1994 and 2012.
Hanoi is closely watching the political turmoil in Cambodia, but still jumped at the chance to patch up ties with Phnom Penh following several years of irritation over border demarcation and Cambodia’s siding with China over the South China Sea disputes. In the foreseeable future, Hanoi still has an interest in sustaining regime stability in Cambodia and the ruling party’s grip on power given how overtly anti-Vietnamese Sam Rainsy has shown himself to be. For instance, Rainsy has recently declared that Vietnam is encroaching on Chinese territory in the South China Sea, in the same fashion that he alleges the nation is grabbing Cambodian territory.
Offering Hun Sen political support when he most needed it, as well as strengthening bilateral economic ties, seemed like a logical choice for Vietnamese leaders. Hanoi is also concerned about the increasingly anti-Vietnamese rhetoric among the Cambodian population. Launching the new Cho Ray Phnom Penh Hospital, a joint venture between Vietnam’s Saigon Medical Investment and Cambodia’s Sokimex, was perhaps an effort to soften anti-Vietnamese sentiment through joint cooperation in the health sector.
But realistically, Hanoi’s support alone is insufficient to assure Cambodia’s and Hun Sen’s autonomy among foreign powers. Beijing’s noncommittal stance in recent months might also have prompted Hun Sen to look for support beyond his traditional patrons. For instance, he shrewdly used Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Cambodia in November 2013 to boost his domestic legitimacy – by asking Abe for advice on electoral reforms – and his position vis-à-vis China.
Hun Sen and Abe issued an unusual statement on bilateral maritime security cooperation, underscoring the need to settle disputes peacefully and according to international law. The two countries agreed to boost military ties, with Japanese experts, including those from Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, expected to provide training to Cambodian military personnel for future United Nations peacekeeping operations. And in stark contrast to what happened at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh in 2011, Cambodia did not object to tabling a discussion on China’s Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea during the Japan-ASEAN summit in Tokyo in December 2013.
Cambodia is evolving quickly, both politically and economically, and it remains to be seen whether Hun Sen can retain power for several more election cycles. Beijing’s new strategic calculus in Cambodia has suddenly left Hun Sen feeling vulnerable, at least for the moment. This has prompted Hun Sen to work to boost his standing among other regional actors, particularly Japan, Vietnam and ASEAN, by offering them his support on issues of contention with China such as territorial disputes in the East and South China seas.

By: barokah On 3:30:00 PM

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China provides military trucks and uniforms to Cambodia

 13:26, February 07, 2014

China-donated military trucks are delivered to the Cambodian army in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Feb. 7, 2014. China on Friday delivered 26 military trucks and 30,000 military uniforms to Cambodia. (Xinhua/Sovannara)

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 7 -- China on Friday delivered 26 military trucks and 30,000 sets of military uniforms to Cambodia in order to help relieve the difficulties of the Cambodian army.

At a handover ceremony held at the Trucking Battalion No. 99 on the outskirts of the capital Phnom Penh, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Bu Jianguo said the trucks and uniforms were the aid from the Chinese People's Liberation Army to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

"China hopes that the aid will help ease the difficulties of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, and will further promote ties and cooperation between the armies and peoples of the two countries," she said.

Moeung Samphan, Secretary of State at the Cambodian Ministry of Defense, extended gratitude to the Chinese government and the Chinese People's Liberation Army for continuous supports to Cambodia.

"The aid is timely as Cambodia is facing shortage of military materials," he said. "This truly reflects China's attention to assist Cambodia and it will create closer friendship relations and solidarity between the armies of the two countries."

By: barokah On 12:49:00 PM

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Hun Sen Promotes 29 to Four-Star General [Cambodia has about 1,500 more generals than the entire U.S. military]

Thursday, 6 February 2014

 

ស្រុកប៉ុនកូនដៃ គ្រាន់តែផ្កាយបួនចិតសិបក្បាល

BY SAING SOENTHRITH | the cambodia daily, FEBRUARy 5, 2014

Prime Minister Hun Sen approved a request from Defense Minister Tea Banh last week to promote 29 lieutenant generals to the rank of four-star general, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense.

The promotions, which follow repeated calls from General Banh last month for the armed forces to defend Mr. Hun Sen’s government against anyone looking to replace him, would more than double the ranks of four-star generals in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF).

“We request that those named below are promoted to the rank of General of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces,” reads the statement, dated January 30 and signed by Gen. Banh and Mr. Hun Sen. The statement lists one secretary of state at the Ministry of Defense, 10 under-secretaries of state, and 18 RCAF deputy commanders-in-chief.

Gen. Banh’s brother, Tea Vinh, currently a three-star general in the navy, has been recommended for a fourth star. Lt. Gen. El Vansarath, a member of the CPP’s central committee, is the one secretary of state on the list.

Also listed for an elevation are Keo Pong and Sok Pheap, former senior military commanders in the Khmer Rouge who defected to join government forces in the 1990s.

Lt. Gen. Dom Hak, who was arrested in 2003 on charges of producing and trafficking illegal drugs, has also been endorsed to become a top-ranking general. Lt. Gen. Hak was eventually released in the drug-trafficking case due to a lack of evidence.

Khieng Savuth, former National Military Police commander, and Chhin Chanpor, former Phnom Penh municipal police commander, also appear on the list.

Lt. Gen. Savuth was the chief of military police in 1997, when former U.N. human rights envoy to Cambodia Thomas Hammarberg said that one of its branches, the Gendarmerie, should be disbanded for becoming “an agent of human rights abuses.”

Lt. Gen. Nem Sowath, director-general of the Defense Ministry’s Department of Policy and Foreign Affairs, who is among the 29 generals recommended for promotion, said that he had “heard about [promotion] from my colleagues.”

Gen. Banh said he was busy at a meeting and could not comment on the promotions. Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat, also up for promotion, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In November 2011, Gen. Banh announced that the promotion of generals would be halted, as the hierarchy of the armed forces was becoming bloated.

“I announce that we now are stopping to promote generals,” Mr. Banh said at the time. “There are too many generals, and we now stop promoting generals for a while.”

In 2010, RCAF reported having more than 2,200 generals of all ranks, about 1,500 more generals than the entire U.S. military.

Experts have questioned the number of RCAF promotions and the exceptional speed at which the sons of high-ranking officials receive them when compared to countries with armies that vastly outsize Cambodia’s.

In the months before last year’s national election, hundreds of RCAF officers were promoted, including Mr. Hun Sen’s two eldest sons, Hun Manet and Hun Manith, who were promoted to lieutenant general and brigadier general respectively.

Posted by Khmericanat Thursday, February 06, 2014

By: barokah On 12:21:00 PM

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Thai Political Tension Has Effects in Cambodia, Analysts Say

Anti-government protesters chant slogans during a rally outside the office of the permanent secretary for defense where Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was reportedly working inside, Monday, Feb. 3, 2014.

04 February 2014

WASHINGTON DC — Political tensions that remain unresolved in both Cambodia and Thailand could lead to more violence in both countries, analysts warn.

Thailand is going through another spate of democratic reform, following demonstrations that forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and call for new elections.

Those elections were disrupted Sunday by the main Thai opposition, who stopped people from voting and prevented the deliveries of ballot boxes in a number of electoral districts.

Hang Puthea, head of the Cambodian election-monitoring group Nicfec, said Thai violence could lead to more political tensions, and those could create spillover in Cambodia.

The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has continued to demand a recall vote, despite violent crackdowns on demonstrations, while the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has moved forward with basic governance without the opposition’s participation, he said.

“If the demands of each party remain apart, even if there is a recall election, there will surely be violence,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thailand continues to face challenges to its democratic system.

Responding to Sunday’s violence, Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, told reporters that the US will not “take sides.” “But we continue to urge all sides to commit to sincere dialogue.”

Speaking to reporters in Bangkok on Monday, Yingluck Shinawatra said people still want to see an election carried out.

Peter Tan Keo, a political analyst in Boston, Mass., told VOA Khmer that continued unrest in both countries is disrupting investor confidence, which could mean they take their money elsewhere.

“We are likely to see more protests in Cambodia and Thailand, as opposition leaders take extreme measures in resolving the political crises, while government on both sides will continue to ignore such extremities in negotiating with the opposition,” he said. “Mr. Hun Sen will not step down. Mr. Sam Rainsy/Mr. Kem Sokha will continue to press for a change in government. Those are extremities.”

Josh Kurlantzick, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, in Washington, told VOA Khmer that Thailand’s political situation is more complex than Cambodia’s, but that political problems in each country could affect the other. “It’s another drag on Asean,” he said.

By: barokah On 12:36:00 PM

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Cambodia: Echoes of Fascism

February 3, 2014

Those who had hoped that Prime Minister Hun Sen's surprise near-loss in the flawed elections last July would lead to a more accommodating stance have been sadly disappointed. The man who has dominated Cambodia and her people for almost three decades still holds an iron grip. The United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC)’s mandate to conduct “free and fair general elections” in 1993 has proved largely irrelevant over time to the politics on the ground. Cambodian human rights bloggers have even recently raised the specter of a sinister “Third Hand” formed to maintain that iron grip.

Last year’s midsummer night’s dream of a possible political evolution was finally buried for good on January 2–3, when the grounds outside of the Canadia Industrial Park were turned into Cambodia's latest killing field. There, a combination of security forces and plainclothes thugs reportedly harassed and beat demonstrating garment workers before opening fire on the crowd. They left a scene of bloody carnage, with five dead and over thirty injured. In addition, twenty-three labor activists and workers were taken into police custody and have been held since, without access to families, lawyers or adequate medical treatment. A January 31 opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) press release indicated that a delegation of CNRP MPs-elect and family members will be able to visit these detainees at the maximum-security prison where they are being held on February 4. However, the decision by the Hun Sen regime to largely ignore the international outcry following this bloodshed and to continue its policy of cracking down on the political opposition and on workers still bodes ill for a peaceful conclusion to the present impasse.
An estimated ninety percent of Cambodia's seven hundred thousand garment workers, who help provide trendy clothing for such big brand names as the Gap, Nike, Adidas and Levi Strauss, as well as for discount giant Walmart, are young women from the countryside. They toil long hours making clothing and footwear for a monthly minimum wage of less than one hundred dollars. Some fifty thousand of them had begun striking to raise that wage to $160.
(Representatives of some of these brand name companies signed a letter dated January 17 from the international garment industry to Prime Minister Hun Sen expressing concern over the January 2-3 killings, the rights of the detainees, and the need to uphold trade union law, including ILO Conventions 87 and 98.)
A particularly ominous development in the current battle in the streets for the soul of Cambodia is the appearance of young males without any official designation who reportedly join in using violence to quell dissent. Hun Sen himself, according to Voice of America, was quoted in December as warning of the emergence of this shadowy “Third Hand” if demonstrations continued.
The presence of these “Third Hand” forces has been cited by CNRP official Eng Chhay Eang as the reason for the cancellation of a recent rally in Kandal. The young toughs in civilian clothes were said to be wearing matching red wristbands after being enlisted “to threaten and intimidate opposition supporters.” The Cambodia Daily on January 22 described the young men as “sporting tight-cropped, military-style haircuts.” Some have even put forward the claim that this "Third Hand" could be used in future attempts to assassinate opposition CNRP leaders.

By: barokah On 12:41:00 AM

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What is a CNRP's New Strategy?

Monday, February 3, 2014

Peaceful rally at Freedom Park

By ខែ្មរវឌ្ឍនកម្ម:
www.khmerwathanak.blogspot.com

Since the brutal crackdown by Hun Sen's regime on garment worker protest that caused at least five deaths, scored a number of severe injured protesters, and violently dispersed the peaceful protesters from Freedom Park, the opposition seemed a bit in disarray.  Since then, the CNRP has lost chance to organize any big rally and protest against the adamant regime.  Hun Sen, who is covertly bolstered by Hanoi, has raised his chutzpah to smash all kinds of protester--garment workers, CNRP supporters, Mom Sonando's supporters, and even civil society organizations--on his free will.  Now he even brazenly organized and hired his supporters to threat and disrupt all peaceful NCRP's rallies while he has been holding a position as the prime minister of the country.  There is no sign that Hun Sen is willing to make any concession or compromise with the opposition but to entrench himself for another five- year term.  In such a harsh political condition, what should the opposition do?

Hun Sen security forces beat up peaceful monks

The incident at Veng Sreng Road has cost the opposition a big political and physical blow, for an uncontrolled situation and unorganized protests had completely pushed the CNRP and its supporters into Hun Sen's political trap.  Road blocking and violent confrontation with security forces just gave Hun Sen enough ground to unleash his brutal response.  The opposition grossly miscalculated the situation and did not well coordinate with all union representatives.  It inspired them to rise up and demand for better wage, but it did not provide them the guideline how to execute the plan successfully.  The CNRP should meet with all union presidents discussing the plan what they should do and what not to.  Those young enthusiastic youths needed a clear rule and objective that the CNRP supporters had been taught repeatedly.

As the aftermath, everything and momentum that the CNRP had built over five months were extirpated in less than 24 hours.  Hun Sen had used Veng Sreng incident as pretext to ban all kinds of protest, fearing of national and social security deterioration.  Then, even peaceful demonstrations were violently dispersed by Hun Sen's security and his mercenary forces.  In rural areas, Hun Sen even hired and organized his supporters to threat and disrupt most CNRP's rallies.  The whole situation seemed fall into the post-bloody coup 1997 when opposition leaders were summoned to court and some activists were threatened and went on hideout.

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By: barokah On 12:45:00 PM

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New Cambodian Land Disputes Despite Moratorium on Key Concessions

2014-01-30

Land protesters clash with riot police at a demonstration in Phnom Penh, Oct. 17, 2013.

AFP

At least 41 new land disputes were reported in Cambodia last year despite a government moratorium on the widespread grant of so-called economic land concessions, a rights group said Thursday.

The new cases in 17 locations—including the capital Phnom Penh—added to the 223 land conflicts previously documented around the country since 2007, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) said in a report.

CCHR land program coordinator Van Sophat told RFA’s Khmer Service “the main factor contributing to land disputes” stem from social land concessions (SLCs) and reclassification land concessions (RLCs).

SLCs can be used to distribute vacant state lands to poor households or for the general purpose of development, while RLCs allow state public land to be designated for private use.

CCHR said most of the land conflicts it has documented so far have been linked to land grabs, ownership problems, and evictions.

“Regardless of whether they are social or economic concessions, all affect land that people are relying on,” Van Sophat said, adding that his group’s findings were based on reports by the media, nongovernmental organizations, affected communities, and its own field research.

Van Sophat said that CCHR’s findings are not intended to be conclusive and that he believes “there are many more additional cases of land conflicts … which are not being reported.”

“The government’s current solution for preventing land disputes is not effective,” he said.

“If the government truly wants to resolve land disputes, it must reduce the number of land concessions it grants and focus on the existing conflicts. The government should also conduct thorough studies before granting future concessions.”

New concessions

CCHR said that it had also monitored and compiled all data regarding land concessions as announced during 2013.

While it did not document any ELCs—which are granted to domestic and foreign companies for development—last year, in line with a government suspension on the practice, CCHR found that the government granted 420 SLCs totaling 502,500 hectares (1.24 million acres) and four RLCs totaling 16 hectares (40 acres).

The number of SLCs granted in 2013 was more than five times greater than that granted in 2012, it said.

In May 2012, Prime Minister Hun Sen temporarily suspended the granting of ELCs to domestic and foreign companies in a move to curb forced evictions in the face of growing protests by villagers, adding that the government would confiscate any concessions that involved land grabs.

Rights groups have said that the temporary measure did not go far enough and that a permanent ban is needed.

Van Sophat said that the freeze on ELCs has done little to curb land disputes.

“Despite the current moratorium on ELCs, we have already been receiving information about new cases of land conflicts since the July 2013 National Assembly elections. In addition, thanks to the data collected related to land concessions, we can clearly see that, while the number of ELCs has diminished, the number of SLCs has kept increasing,” he said.

“This is a worrying trend, as we know that many people have been evicted to make way to SLCs. Civil society, donors, and the Cambodian population must stay on alert, as it is increasingly clear that the moratorium does not mean the end of the land conflict in Cambodia.”

In response to CCHR’s report, Council of Ministers Spokesman Phay Siphan said that the government’s ability to resolve land disputes is limited.

The government can only intervene in disputes between companies and residents, while it is up to the courts to resolve land disputes between private individuals, he said.

UN review

CCHR’s new findings follow a meeting between the United Nations Human Rights Council and Cambodian officials Tuesday in Geneva to review Cambodia’s progress in implementing a set of 91 U.N. recommendations focusing on land and other rights during the last Universal Periodic Review of the country’s rights record in 2009.

During the review, Mak Sambath, the vice-chair of the National Human Rights Committee of Cambodia, a government body, submitted that Hun Sen’s administration had continued to register various types of land in an effort to strengthen ownership and ensure the effectiveness of land use.

To date, the government has registered over 2.8 million land title deeds for 500,000 families, he said.

Mak Sambath said that in some cases, evictions were unavoidable when the majority of the population supported a development plan that would benefit the nation, and that the government has recognized illegal land ownership on a provisional basis for people waiting to find a legal location to resettle.

He said the government had also implemented steps to protect and recognize the land rights of the country’s indigenous community.

The U.N. council’s 47 member states recommended that Cambodia adopt legislative measures to “strengthen land management mechanisms and to prioritize the settlements of land disputes with full respect for the rule of law,” according to a media brief.

Last month, the CCHR said vague policies and weak implementation of the law were fueling a rapid rise in land disputes in Cambodia as the government grants land concessions through a system which benefits the political elite.

The group called for sweeping land reform, including a moratorium on evictions until an ongoing land titling process is complete, and demanded greater transparency on the implementation of the moratorium on land concessions

By: barokah On 12:41:00 PM

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Cambodian military and demonstrators clash during violent protest

Activists were protesting the government refusing to allow a government critic launch a television channel. Police used smoke grenades and batons to beat back attendees. Eight injured during violent clash.

January 28, 2014, 9:36 AM

TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images

A Cambodian activist runs as military police disperse a protest in Phnom Penh. The violent clash left eight people injured.

Cambodian military police used smoke grenades and batons on Monday to quell a protest by demonstrators demanding that a new television channel be allowed to broadcast, wounding at least eight people, witnesses said.

The demonstration was in breach of a ban on public gatherings imposed by the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is enduring one of the biggest challenges to his 28-year rule and mounting criticism of bloody crackdowns on dissent.
Military police and guards working for Phnom Penh city authorities chased down opposition-aligned protesters near the Information Ministry, with police wielding batons and electric prods. Journalists were among the wounded, according to Reuters witnesses.
RELATED: CAMBODIAN PM SAYS HE'S OPEN TO COMPROMISE WITH OPPOSITION

Heng Sinith/AP

Cambodian riot police officers are engulfed in smoke after they fired smoke canisters at protesters led by Cambodia's most prominent human rights defender Mam Sonando demanding the government to allow him to open a new television channel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The protest was against the ministry's refusal to grant a broadcast license to a new television channel run by a staunch government critic in a country where the broadcast media is accused of lacking political independence.
The violence was the latest episode in a months-long political crisis in Cambodia, which was for years racked by conflict but which recently saw more than a decade of unprecedented growth and stability.
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) has held some of the biggest rallies the country has ever seen as part of its campaign for a re-run of a July election it says it was rigged in favor of Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP).

RELATED: CAMBODIA REJECTS ELECTION INQUIRY

TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images

Mam Sonando (C), owner of the independent Beehive radio station and prominent government critic, and other activists run as military police officers disperse the crowd during a protest in Phnom Penh.

CNRP has been joined by unions representing 350,000 garment factory workers who held strikes last year over the government's refusal to meet its demands for higher pay.
Five workers were killed on January 3 when security forces fired live ammunition to quell a protest.
Military police spokesman Kheng Tito said the ongoing crackdown was necessary to ensure public order. The ban on gatherings, he said, would only be lifted when CNRP lawmakers ended their boycott of parliament and worked with the ruling party to resolve the conflict.
RELATED: WOMAN SHOT DEAD IN POLICE CRACKDOWN ON CAMBODIAN LABOR PROTEST

TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images

Cambodian military police officers walk in formation during a protest in Phnom Penh.

"SCARY AND WORRYING"
Police clashed on Sunday with anti-government protesters and garment workers who were demanding the release of 23 people jailed for their involvement in the recent strikes.
"These instances of violence happened one after another and it has now become a very scary and worrying trend," said Chan Soveth, a worker with the Adhoc human right group.
RELATED: SAMANTHA POWER VISITS CENTRAL AFRICA AMID VIOLENCE

Heng Sinith/AP

Police in Cambodia fired several round of smoke canisters to hundreds of anti-government protesters in the capita on Monday, leaving at least eight people injured.

"Without talks between the CPP and CNRP, we're worried violent crackdown will occur in the whole country," Chan Soveth said, adding that some CNRP activities had been disrupted by CPP supporters in several provinces.
The violence comes ahead of a U.N. human rights hearing on Cambodia in Geneva, where CNRP leader Sam Rainsy and human rights groups will seek support from member states to end the deadlock. Hun Sen has refused to resign, allow an independent investigation into the election, or hold another ballot.
"Since the beginning of 2014, respect for human rights in Cambodia - including the treatment of human rights defenders - has worsened significantly to the point of crisis," the Licadho and Amnesty International rights groups said on Sunday.
Yim Sovann, CNRP spokesman, said the party would stick to its demands for a fresh election and electoral reforms.
"The situation has become worse, with crackdowns everywhere," he said. "We don't know how the CPP wants to end this crisis."

By: barokah On 1:47:00 PM

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Cambodian Forces Break Up Phnom Penh Protest

At Least 10 Injured During Protests Outside Information Ministry 

 Jan. 27, 2014 3:59 a.m

Mam Sonando, center, and other activists run as military police disperse the protest in Phnom Penh, Monday. tang chhin sothy/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia—At least 10 people were injured in the Cambodian capital on Monday when military police broke up a demonstration in front of the Information Ministry, as the government continues trying to enforce a citywide ban on protests.

Rights activists said about 1,000 people were at the demonstration, which was led by independent radio journalist Mam Sonando, who said he was protesting the government's decision to turn down his request for more bandwidth for his radio station, Beehive Radio. Mr. Sonando often discusses political and social issues on his network.

Phnom Penh had been relatively calm in the past two weeks following a government crackdown on protests on Jan. 2-4. But unrest flared Sunday, when security forces tried to stop protesters from entering Freedom Park, which has become a rallying point for opposition supporters and labor unions seeking for better wages for garment workers.

Outside the Information Ministry on Monday, military police, equipped with batons and shields, fired smoke canisters and charged at protesters, according to rights activists who said they observed the events. Several protesters were arrested, they said.

Photos: Protest Crackdown

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AP

Military police spokesman Brig. Gen. Kheng Tito confirmed that there were clashes Monday. He said several hundred officers were involved. "We have informed [the protesters] not to do the demonstrations. But they still did it, [so] we took the action against them," he said.

The spokesman said he didn't immediately have information on the number of people arrested or injured during Monday's latest clashes. Moeun Tola, a labor-rights advocate at the Community Legal Education Center, said he was at the protest and that roughly 10 people were hurt.

Activists said 10 people were also hurt in Sunday's clashes, when protesters marched to demand higher wages for garment workers and the release of 23 people detained during the Jan. 2-4 crackdown.

Mr. Sonando said he plans to continue his protest, adding that his demands are legal and in accordance with Cambodia's Constitution. "We regret that the authorities used imbalanced force on people," he said.

Officials from the Information Ministry weren't immediately available for comment Monday. They have previously said there wasn't any more bandwidth to offer Mr. Sonando.

Government and police officials have said they are trying to preserve public order.

Before the crackdown in early January, tens of thousands of garment workers walked off their jobs and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party staged a series of protests, alleging that voting fraud had robbed it of victory in elections last July. The party is demanding that Prime Minister Hun Sen either calls a new vote or resigns, ending his 28-year rule. Mr. Hun Sen has rejected the demands and his ruling Cambodian People's Party has denied rigging the elections.

Security forces started arresting labor protesters on Jan. 2. Clashes turned deadly the next day, when police shot and killed at least four people. Authorities then cleared opposition supporters from Freedom Park and banned protests in the capital indefinitely.

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By: barokah On 1:36:00 PM

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Hun Sen Calls On CPP Voters To Defend His Government

January 20, 2014

Speaking two weeks after crushing opposition party demonstrations demanding his resignation, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday called on supporters of his ruling CPP to prepare to stand up against any group aiming to overthrow his government.
“All of you who voted for the CPP, be ready to oppose all acts that lack responsibility and have the characteristics of a coup,” Mr. Hun Sen said during a ceremony marking the opening of an orphanage in Kratie province.
“Having the intention to overthrow [my government] cannot be accepted,” he said, adding that anybody who wished to challenge his rule would not be “spared.”
Mr. Hun Sen also said that if his CPP supporters did decide to come onto the street, they should turn out in force.

“Previously, the CPP didn’t use the force of its supporters and members [to counter opposition demonstrations], and some people said that if the CPP comes out, there will not be so many people—like a handful of monkeys,” he said.
“Do you want to know or try a taste?” the prime minister asked.
“If Hun Sen comes out to do something, it’s not going to be small,” he said. “Action will be taken when it’s time to do it, so be clear about that. That’s not a threat, it’s the implementation of the law.”
On January 4, Mr. Hun Sen’s government sent civilian thugs —-armed with metal bars, axes and batons—-into Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park to clear away supporters of the opposition CNRP, including monks, who had been camped out there for two weeks to demand an investigation of July’s contested national election.
The opposition’s marches and demonstrations grew in size after merging with protests by garment factory workers striking for a higher minimum wage, and their joint calls shifted to demanding that Mr. Hun Sen resign.
Military police, deployed to suppress stone-throwing strikers on Pur Senchey district’s Veng Sreng Street on January 3, shot dead five garment workers and injured more than 40 others.
Despite his government suspending the constitutional right to freedom of assembly and demonstration two weeks ago, Mr. Hun Sen on Saturday insisted that a resolution to the ongoing political crisis between the CPP and CNRP must strictly adhere to the very Constitution he has suspended.
“Any demand that is contradictory to the Constitution is unacceptable,” Mr. Hun Sen said, adding that the CNRP should end their boycott of the National Assembly, which has lasted for nearly four months, in order to resolve the post-election deadlock.
“It has been so long, it should be enough,” Mr. Hun Sen said of the opposition boycott of parliament and concurrent demonstrations.
“Either you enter the National Assembly or it’s not your business,” he said, in what appeared to be a veiled threat that the opposition could lose its 55 seats in parliament, which Mr. Hun Sen has long threatened.
“Solving the problem must be done in the National Assembly. It can’t be done on the sidewalks,” Mr. Hun Sen added.
CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said his party had only ever held peaceful protests.
“What we have done so far is peaceful demonstrations to demand a peaceful solution to the political deadlock,” Mr. Sovann said. “It is not a coup d’etat, it is the freedom of expression, it is the way to open the way for a re-election.”
CNRP Vice President Kem Sokha said that the party would not be cowed by Mr. Hun Sen’s intimidation, and peaceful protests would continue if his ruling party did not agree to hold a re-vote. And without concessions from the CPP, CNRP lawmakers would not legitimize Mr. Hun Sen’s government by taking their seats in the National Assembly, he added.
“In the country, we are waiting for a political solution,” he said. “If it can’t be resolved and the CPP doesn’t agree to organize a re-election and launch an investigation into election irregularities, we will continue to hold demonstrations.”

By: barokah On 11:59:00 AM

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Governor Pledges to Help Evicted Families

January 20, 2014

Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatvong on Friday visited evicted residents of the Borei Keila community, now living in a slum atop piles of garbage near their former homes, and promised, yet again, to build proper housing for the 150 families who refuse to move from the site of their former homes.
City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche said that although the exact plans still needed to be worked out, the municipality would clean up the garbage-filled area where the 150 families are now living and construct at least 150 4-by-6 meter houses nearby.
The 150 families were evicted from their original homes in 2012 and were not given alternative housing or compensation that they had been promised by the property developer who took their land.

“They are living without sanitation…. We cannot let those people go on living…like today because it will affect their health,” Mr. Dimanche said.
Mr. Dimanche said that City Hall would discuss the evictees with the property developer Pheapimex, which reneged on its promise to build apartment buildings for the evicted families after being granted the Borei Keila land by the government.
Shortly after becoming governor in May 2013, Mr. Socheatvong met with protesting residents of the former Boeng Kak lake community, who also face eviction, and promised to resolve their long-running dispute with Shukaku Inc., a property firm owned by CPP senator Lao Meng Khin, which was also given the residents’ land by the government.
With Mr. Socheatvong having made little progress in resolving the Boeng Kak dispute, Borei Keila resident Pich Limkhoun said Sunday he was concerned that the governor would fail to fulfill his promise to the Borei Keila families as well.
“We hope that the governor would not lie to us,” Mr. Limkhoun said.

By: barokah On 11:56:00 AM

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Thai government sticking to election date

Two anti-government protesters wounded in gun attack in Bangkok as rallies against Prime Minister Yingluck continue. AJ: 15 Jan 2014

Gunshots rang out in the heart of Thailand's capital overnight in an apparent attack on anti-government protesters that wounded at least two people and ratcheted up tensions in Thailand's deepening political crisis.

The city's emergency services office said one man was hit in the ankle and a woman was hit in the arm in the shooting early Wednesday, which occurred on a street in downtown Bangkok that has been occupied by camping demonstrators trying to bring down Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government since Monday.

It was the latest in a string of violent incidents this month that have kept the city on edge and fueled fears the nation's deadlock could spiral out of control.

In another incident overnight, a small explosive device was hurled into a residential compound owned by former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, shattering windows and slightly damaging a roof, according to Police Colonel Chumpol Phumphuang and Abhisit's opposition Democrat Party.

No injuries were reported, and Abhisit - who resigned from Parliament last month to join protesters - was not home at the time.

Despite the incidents, Bangkok was calm on Wednesday and most of the vast city of 12 million people has been unaffected by peaceful demonstrations.

Elections called

The Southeast Asian nation's latest bout of unrest began late last year and Yingluck has tried to ease it by dissolving Parliament and calling for elections on February 2.

There are growing doubts that the vote will take place, however, and both protesters and the main opposition Democrat Party are calling for a boycott.

Yingluck's opponents are demanding she step aside so an interim, non-elected government can take over and implement reforms before any new poll is held.

On Tuesday, however, Yingluck insisted she wouldn't quit while the protesters reiterated vows not to negotiate, leaving the country's political crisis firmly deadlocked.

"I've stressed many times I have a duty to act according to my responsibility after the dissolution of Parliament," Yingluck told reporters.

"I'd like to say right now I am not holding on (to my position) but I have to keep political stability. I'm doing my duty to preserve democracy."

Yingluck proposed to meet Wednesday with various groups - including her opponents - to discuss a proposal from the Election Commission to postpone the February vote.

But protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, the Democrats and even the Election Commission has refused to take part.

Yingluck said all sides need to discuss reform because "the country is in pain and the people are suffering".

Protesters accuse her government of corruption and misrule, and for being the puppet of her older brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

He was toppled by the army in a peaceful coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile to avoid jail time for a corruption conviction.

The poor majority in Thailand's countryside, however, broadly support Thaksin and his family because of the populist policies he implemented, including virtually free health care.

Ever since Thaksin's overthrow, the two sides have been dueling for power, sometimes violently. At least eight people have been killed and hundreds injured since the latest unrest began late last year.

Yingluck's opponents know she would win another election, and have called for an unelected "people's council" to amend laws to fight corruption in politics and institute other reforms, while an appointed prime minister would help administer the country for up to two years.

By: barokah On 2:16:00 PM

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Cambodia's Rainsy Attends Court Hearings on Protest Unrest

Sam Rainsy (R), leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), arrives at the Municipal Court in central Phnom Penh, Jan. 14, 2014.

VOA News

January 14, 2014

Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy appeared before a Phnom Penh court Tuesday to answer claims of "inciting civil unrest" during a recent labor protest.

Five people were killed during a police crackdown on the early January protest, which was calling for higher wages for workers at a garment factory near the capital.

Sam Rainsy's Cambodia National Rescue Party has (CNRP) supported the protests, but denies inciting the violence, saying the charges are politically motivated.

“It’s not justice for me.  It’s justice for the Cambodian people.  Please always remain calm and always struggle peacefully," said Rainsy.

Sam Rainsy and his deputy, Kem Sokha, were greeted by thousands of supporters as they arrived at the Phnom Penh court for questioning.

Mu Sochua, an opposition member of parliament, said the government has no evidence to support its claims that the CNRP incited the violence.

"This is the mockery of justice.  We are the people fighting for justice, fighting with non-violence, non-violent means.  We seek democracy, non-violence means true peace for Cambodia," said Sochua.

In the January 3 incident, five people were killed and 40 injured by an elite military unit that fired into a crowd protesting outside Phnom Penh.

The protesters were demanding a doubling of the minimum wage to $160 per month.

Following the clashes, the government announced an indefinite, general ban on protests, although small, unauthorized protests have continued.

The government has not charged Sam Rainsy with a crime regarding the clashes.

The CNRP has been demanding that longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen step down and call a new election because of alleged fraud in a July pol

By: barokah On 12:07:00 PM

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Cambodian-Americans Consider Boycott of Goods Sourced from Cambodia

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

14 January 2014

WASHINGTON DC — While Cambodia continues to hold garment factory workers arrested in this month’s violent crackdowns, some Cambodian-Americans say they will boycott goods purchased from factories in the country.

Major international labels source goods from Cambodia. At least seven such companies have issued an open letter condemning this month’s attacks on workers and urging a fair minimum wage. But no company has said it will stop sourcing from Cambodia if those conditions aren’t met.

Workers are striking for a minimum wage of $160 per month to keep up with the rising cost of living in Cambodia. Factories say they cannot pay that amount and will consider moving to other countries if the strike continues.

“I’ve stopped buying from Gap, H&M, Adidas, Puma, and others that import from Cambodia, and I’ll tell my American friends as well,” said Many Sokkh, an engineer from Seattle, Wash. “Anyone who buys those clothes seems to take the pure blood of the workers, who are only demanding higher wages for a better standard of living.”

The government has been unable to control inflation, but it has used violent force against workers who are asking for a raise from $80 a month, he said.

Five people were killed and 40 injured when police fired on striking workers earlier this month, and 23 people remain in detention after a crackdown on demonstrations. Garment exports are a major economic driver for Cambodia, employing up to 400,000 people and bringing in $5 billion in revenue.

Saran Sam, a taxi driver who lives in Virginia, told VOA Khmer that such action meant he won’t buy goods from Cambodian factories.

“When I buy these products, I recall the suffering, and I feel remorse that workers lost their lives,” he said. “When I see those things, I don’t feel like I can use [the products] anymore.”

Suon In, who lives in Oakland, Calif., said a boycott was a good way to express opposition to worker abuses and put pressure on companies and the Cambodian government to solve the problem.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said negotiations are under way between relevant government agencies, factories and unions. He said strikes were not a “real solution,” but represent “political ambition” among demonstrators.

But those who would boycott Cambodian-sourced products say they believe workers’ demands are fair.

“Cambodian workers are getting very little salary,” said Sam Meas, an economic analyst with a private company in Lowell, Mass. “In my observation, 29 cents per hour; while food, utility bills, and gasoline are expensive in Cambodia. So the workers need a salary on which they can survive.”

He also said the violence against workers by “Prime Minister Hun Sen’s military and police” is not acceptable. “The military and police are abusing human rights,” he said.

By: barokah On 12:18:00 PM

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Cambodia: An Interview with Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy

Monday, 13 January 2014

 “Hun Sen is an anachronism. He’s finished. It’s only a matter of time.”

REUTERS/Samrang Pring

The Diplomat, January 10, 2014

These are troubled times in Cambodia. A disputed election last year prompted ongoing protests and opposition boycotts. Emboldened by a surprisingly strong performance in the July 28 polls, the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) has been insistent on calling for an investigation into election irregularities. Strongman ruler Hun Sen has been equally stubborn in resisting them.

Entering 2014, and the protests have spread, with tens of thousands taking to the streets to demand Hun Sen’s resignation. Joining the CNRP were unions, notably from the country’s crucial garment industry, demanding a hike in their minimum wage.

Those protests prompted a government crackdown last week, resulting in a number of deaths and throwing the protests into disarray. Court summons were issued for opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, and Cambodia is on the verge of returning to a police state.

The Diplomat met with Rainsy in the weeks prior to these latest developments. Despite the demands of a grueling schedule, the 64-year-old former finance minister remained indefatigable. Undeterred by Germany’s recent pledge of a substantial increase to the aid budget of Cambodia, Rainsy maintained his faith in the “discrete type of diplomacy”: “this [Germany’s aid pledge] is what was announced officially, what was made public. But I’m sure there is strong advice behind [the announcements],” Rainsy said, adding that “we have many friends, many people who understand the situation in Cambodia. And I think they are at least putting the brake on bureaucrats who want to resume business as usual with the Cambodian government.”

Whatever is taking place behind the scenes, publically the international community remains broadly quiet. The escalation of the party’s sporadic protests of recent months marks a redoubling of domestic efforts to oust the government and a whole-hearted commitment to widespread mobilization as the leverage required to do so. Rainsy explained that “the pressure from the grassroots is to remain strong, not to negotiate or bargain for any position,” and the sheer scale of events since have largely vindicated Rainsy’s wager that a latent appetite for sustained direct action was ripe to be capitalized.

With the CNRP’s attention fixed on the streets though, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) have pushed ahead regardless of the opposition’s refusal to take up their seats in the National Assembly. Despite facing no discernible international or domestic security threat, in November the Cambodian government approved a 17 percent boost in military spending, up to $468 million for 2014. This was roughly double the amount allocated to health expenditure or education. The announcement was greeted by silence from the CNRP. Rainsy explained the reticence by arguing that “budgets in Cambodia are just paper. They are very theoretical. Budgets in Cambodia have never been implemented. There are parallel budgets, there are ways of fooling the public so we are not going to play that game.”

In other quarters, some suggested this was a missed opportunity to perform an important democratic function, a function not necessarily mutually exclusive to the CNRP’s continuing boycott of the National Assembly. Speaking to The Diplomat, Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (who is rumored to have political ambitions of his own), said that the opposition has “missed so many opportunities.” Virak added: “If they structure it properly they can still criticize and [conduct] a proper analysis and come up with proper policy [proposals] through the media. You don’t have to do it through the National Assembly.”

But Rainsy stressed that his is a party of protest, not of opposition in the parliamentary sense, instead laying bare his radical ambitions to provoke civil unrest by punishing the government’s growth figures: “We will continue the boycott [of the National Assembly] to deny legitimacy to the current government and because of [resulting] economic confidence problems, the economic situation will become problematic. And economic problems will lead to social problems and social problems will lead to political problems.” Establishing an independent investigative committee remains indefinitely the CNRP’s singular focus, and in the meantime, Rainsy insists, it is not his party’s role to offer concrete legislative alternatives to those of the government. Rainsy dismissed the idea of forming an extra-parliamentary shadow cabinet to scrutinize government policy, explaining “that is not a real issue,” and that “we stand on very high moral ground. We just want the truth to be exposed.”

Rainsy is buoyed by recent events across the Kingdom’s northwestern border, following Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s call for snap elections in February. After a controversial amnesty bill was passed by Thailand’s lower house in November, mounting anti-government pressure has led to an early poll to decide Thailand’s political future. Rainsy said: “now we have the same ideas, because the Cambodian people have even more compelling reasons [to protest] than the Thai demonstrators…we feel much anchorage from these events in Thailand.”

Rainsy described the situation in Cambodia as equally “unforeseeable, unpredictable” as those in Thailand, suggesting that “if a female, a young prime minister was dignified and courageous enough to resign because she is facing a protest, a contest, a legitimacy problem” then CNRP supporters should expect Prime Minister Hun Sen “to follow Yingluck’s example.”

Despite this optimism, John Ciorciari, a Southeast Asia expert at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy explains that although the Cambodian protestors do indeed have stronger arguments that the current government suffers from a legitimacy deficit, the Thai protestors have more friends and in higher places: “in Thailand, yellow-shirt protestors are identified with the urban elite and have powerful allies in the armed forces, Democrat Party, judiciary and Royal Palace” Ciorciari said via email. Given Hun Sen’s stranglehold on the military, the judiciary and the press, the CNRP are rank outsiders: “that makes it much less likely Cambodian protestors will win the types of concessions Thai yellow-shirts have won,” Ciorciari added.

During the interview Rainsy again repeated the slur that had landed him in hot water earlier in the day: “Hun Sen cannot do less than a Thai female prime minister otherwise he will appear as a coward, someone who is very cheap,” he said, having urged Hun Sen not to be “weaker than a female” at Freedom Park that morning. This year’s elections saw the first drop in the number of female MPs for 20 years, and the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) issued an open letter two days later expressing “grave concerns” over the CNRP’s use of “derogatory comments” at a “crucial time for encouraging gender equality, in politics and in all other areas of society.”

In response to pressure over Rainsy’s heated anti-Vietnamese campaign rhetoric, the CNRP issued their own statement back in late August proclaiming that the party “opposes violence, racism, xenophobia and discrimination.” This seems to have been long since forgotten and “Yuon,” (the racially-charged Khmer word for Vietnamese that was briefly dropped from CNRP speeches) is back as a firm and prominent part of the party’s lexicon. Rainsy took his team of staff to the deforested areas of Pray Lang in Kampong Thom province the morning of December 11 to voice concerns over a 6,155-hectare land concession granted in 2010, which has enabled Vietnamese firm CRCK to raze forests for rubber plantations and allegedly ship stockpiles of luxury timber across the border.  Given that a pioneering study recently conducted by the University of Maryland found that Cambodia has one of the world’s highest rates of forest loss and that widespread land disputes continue to be a “major issue” according to Surya Subedi, the Cambodian Human Rights U.N Special Rapporteur, these are serious and legitimate complaints.

The complaints were re-appropriated for the purpose of the CNRP’s nationalist discourse when, after marching across felled trees brandishing the Cambodian national flag, Rainsy stopped at a small rally at Sandan commune, Kampong Thom to declare that: “the Yuon are taking the Khmer hand to kill the Khmer people.” Speaking to an audience of about 200, he continued: “In Yuon companies, they only employ Yuon managers, but the Cambodians are only workers. So the Yuon come to Cambodia to spread their relatives, to form their families and then spread out. There will be so many Yuon in Cambodia that the Khmers will be the ethnic minority. The Yuon are like thieves stealing from the Cambodian people.”

Kem Sokha, Sam Rainy’s second-in-command, explained in an interview in August that this nationalist rhetoric is a strategy of unapologetic populism: “It’s the supporters that want to hear it from the politicians,” he said, adding that “Cambodians are very sensitive about the issue and if any politician doesn’t respond to that frustration you will be framed as unpatriotic or unaware of the truth.”

As the CNRP continues to unrepentantly put forward a fierce anti-Vietnamese position, Phoak Kung, a Harvard-Yenching Doctoral scholar, argues that the CNRP may be neglecting the importance of convincing the wider voting public of the party’s suitability for office. Writing in The Diplomat, Kung suggests that the CNRP’s substantial gains at the national elections (seizing 55 of 123 seats) “don’t necessarily mean that voters fully trust the CNRP’s leaders to run the country.”

In response to criticism that the CNRP are yet to demonstrate their ability to govern should they gain the opportunity to do so, Rainsy points to his 18-month experience as finance minister nearly a decade ago when he was still a member of the royalist Funcinpec Party. In office he gained the reputation of a maverick crusader, ultimately being expelled from the party and stripped of his portfolio in 1995 (going on to form the Sam Rainsy Party, which in turn merged with the Human Rights Party in 2012 to form the CNRP). Rainsy explained that before taking office “people were very skeptical: ‘Do you have any human resources, competence or experience to take over the Ministry of Finance?’ I was alone.” During this time, despite presiding over 3,600 civil servants recruited by and officially affiliated to the CPP, “I just gave them different direction, different challenges, different instruction.” Rainsy is in little doubt that his leadership will sweep aside the “anachronistic forces” of a deeply entrenched network of patronage: “It is just the new political impulsion to put things right, to put the country back on track. You don’t have to dismiss every civil servant, the whole bureaucracy… we have to keep the same personnel, but the important thing is the spirit, the orientation.”

Rainsy makes clear that should he take office, he will be banking on an underlying anti-CPP sentiment that already exists within the corridors of state bureaucracy to engender the change his party promised on the campaign trail: “The point is many people are afraid to [voice] their support for the CNRP because they are civil servants or businessman. But once the CNRP is in power, there will no longer be a risk.”

On December 4, the official news agency of the Chinese Communist Party ran an article urging Hun Sen to address Cambodia’s “cronyism, rampant corruption, forced evictions, illegal immigration and lack of an independent judicial system” to “restore his popularity.” Should Hun Sen press ahead with a legislative agenda whilst the CNRP sit firmly beyond the walls of the National Assembly, are there concerns that the CNRP will appear marginalized and unable to claim any of the credit? Mr. Rainsy dismisses the prospect on the grounds that the prime minister’s promises of a reformist government are a “charm offensive” engineered “just for show, a lip service.” “Of course [the government] aren’t stupid. They must use the right language and push for reform” but “implementing reforms would undermine the very foundation of Hun Sen’s regime. The regime is based on clientelism…you have to belong to the clan to thrive,” he continued. “Hun Sen is an anachronism. He’s finished. It’s only a matter of time.”

By: barokah On 11:28:00 AM

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Cambodia defends crackdown on street protests

Cambodia on Wednesday defended its bloody crackdown on street protests in the face of growing international alarm, denouncing the rallies against strongman premier Hun Sen as violent and illegal.

 08 Jan 2014

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia on Wednesday defended its bloody crackdown on street protests in the face of growing international alarm, denouncing the rallies against strongman premier Hun Sen as violent and illegal.
Anti-government demonstrations have been banned indefinitely after several striking workers were shot dead by police last week while dozens of others were injured.
On Monday, five land activists were detained temporarily as they tried to hold a rally.
"The demonstrations abused the law," Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters, insisting that the government had exercised restraint for months.
"The public generally applauds the decision by the government to halt the violent demonstrations," he said.

But the United Nations' human rights office said on Tuesday it was alarmed by Cambodia's crackdown and urged authorities to show restraint.
Hun Sen has faced an increasing challenge to his nearly three-decade rule from garment workers seeking a pay rise, as well as from opposition supporters demanding that he call a new election due to alleged vote fraud in a July poll.
Cambodia National Rescue Party leader Sam Rainsy and his deputy Kem Sokha have been summoned to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on January 14 for questioning in connection with the recent unrest.
The opposition party has boycotted parliament since last year's election, alleging that Hun Sen was returned to power because of widespread vote-rigging.
The 61-year-old prime minister has ruled for 28 years and vowed to continue until he is 74.
He has faced mounting criticism over his rights record as well as accusations of excessive force against demonstrators.
Last Friday, police opened fire on striking garment factory employees demanding a minimum wage of US$160 per month for their work in an industry which supplies brands like Gap, Nike and H&M.
Rights activists said at least four civilians were shot dead in what they described as the country's worst state violence against its citizens in 15 years.
The strike has since been called off and most of the garment workers have returned to work, while some fled back to their villages in fear.
On Saturday, dozens of security personnel armed with shields and batons chased hundreds of opposition protesters - including monks, women and children - from their rally base in a park in the capital, according to activists.

By: barokah On 1:43:00 PM

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 JAN. 8, 2014

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — On Dec. 29, more than 100,000 Cambodians — garment workers, teachers, farmers and students from all over the country — marched through the streets of the capital calling for Hun Sen, our long-serving prime minister-dictator, to step down or allow an independent investigation into the flawed national elections that took place in July.

The massive demonstration was the culmination of months of nonviolent rallies and marches led by the Cambodia National Rescue Party (C.N.R.P.). It was also the most significant challenge to Hun Sen’s 28-year reign of exploitation and corruption.

And he could not tolerate it. He would sooner draw blood than enact real reform.

For almost three decades, Hun Sen — a Khmer Rouge defector who was put in power after Vietnam toppled Pol Pot’s regime in 1979 — has convinced foreign governments to pour aid into the country, even while the ruling Cambodian People’s Party has rigged elections, sold off our natural resources, imprisoned journalists, union leaders, opposition politicians and human rights activists. Some 250,000 people have been evicted because of land concessions that favor the rich and well-connected.

On July 28, vast swaths of the country — civil servants, indebted farmers, educated youth from both the cities and the countryside — tried to vote for change. But the election was neither free nor fair. A recent report by the Electoral Reform Alliance, a group of independent local and international nongovernmental organizations, describes massive irregularities, including fraudulent voter registries, which may have disenfranchised 1.25 million eligible voters. So the peaceful protests began.

Factory workers joined the movement a few weeks ago. About 500,000 Cambodians are garment workers; most are employed by factories owned by foreigners with the backing of high-ranking Cambodian officials or the military and produce clothes for international brands like H&M, Nike, Gap and Adidas. After the government refused to raise the minimum wage to $160 per month, some unions called for a general strike and workers started staging nonviolent sit-ins in front of the Labor Ministry and the Council of Ministers.

Then, last Friday, in an industrial area on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, hundreds of military policemen and municipal police forces opened fire with AK-47’s and handguns on a crowd of protesters. At least four people were killed and over 29 were injured, most garment workers. The human rights group Licadho called the shootings “the worst state violence against civilians to hit Cambodia in 15 years.”

The next day, police forces, municipal security guards and thugs wearing motorcycle helmets and red armbands stormed Democracy Square, a park the government had designated as a haven for peaceful protest. They evicted its occupants, wielding axes, hammers, metal pipes and wooden sticks. They then destroyed what had become, for the country’s myriad marginalized citizens, a rare zone for free speech, a meeting place, a sanctuary. They tore down the stage and leveled a Buddhist altar. They smashed loudspeakers, metal donation boxes and first-aid tents.

Fear, and memories of past crackdowns, rapidly spread beyond Democracy Square that afternoon as thousands of security forces patrolled Phnom Penh to break up public gatherings and threaten bystanders, while military helicopters, newly purchased from China, buzzed overhead.

That same day the Interior Ministry revoked freedom of assembly. And the municipal court issued a summons for the C.N.R.P.’s president, Sam Rainsy, the C.N.R.P.’s vice president, Kem Sokha, and the head of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association, Rong Chhun, to appear next Tuesday for questioning about incitement of criminal acts and social disturbance.

Yet blame for the chaos and the violence lies with the government.

On Dec. 20, after the C.N.R.P. announced that it would call for sit-ins on main thoroughfares if the stalemate continued, Hun Sen issued this warning: “Blocking roads is blocking one’s own blood vein.” The government, he added, “would not allow action that would jeopardize national security, and I would urge precaution of the third hand,” a euphemism for government repression. It wouldn’t be the first time if, last Friday, the authorities had sent in agents provocateurs among the protesters in order to cause disturbances that could then justify the government’s intervention.

Despite the government’s attempt to scare them into silence, the Cambodian people remain strong and united in their desire to see their country move out of the shadow of the Khmer Rouge and into the light that is genuine democracy.

In this, they deserve more support than they have received. The international community, long content to take Cambodia’s apparent economic and social stability at face value, must now recognize the brutality of this government’s methods and help put an end to them and their underlying causes.

Foreign governments could provide technical and financial support for electoral reforms, including reform of the voter-registration system, so that a new election could be held within two years. An investigation must be conducted into the government’s use of lethal force against protesters, perhaps by the International Criminal Court itself.

Foreign companies also have a role to play, by easing the despair of underpaid factory workers: If they reduced their profit margins just slightly, the workers could be paid a living wage without jeopardizing Cambodia’s long-term competitiveness in the garment sector. Gap, Adidas and other companies took a welcome step on Tuesday by condemning the use of force in an open letter to the government and calling for “a robust minimum wage review mechanism based on international good practices.”

Democracy Square now stands empty, save for the military police who watch over it. Must it become a symbol of another dark day in Cambodia’s history, made darker by those who watched and did nothing?

Mu Sochua, a former minister of women’s affairs, is a member-elect of the National Assembly for the Cambodia National Rescue Party.

By: barokah On 1:35:00 PM

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