Vietnam – Senior military officers visit Cambodia

Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh (L) shook hand with PM Hun Sen.

A high-ranking delegation from the Ministry of NationalDefence, led by Deputy Minister Lieutenant General Nguyen Chi Vinh, paid a visit to Cambodia over September 12-13.

The officers held talks with Secretary of Stateof the Cambodian Ministry of NationalDefence General Neang Phat, who commended Vietnam for its role as Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Phat stated that Cambodia would work more closely with Vietnam to successfully organise the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+), scheduled to take place in Hanoi on October 12.

71 advisers needed to help a brainless CPP NatAss vice-president

Lawmaker employs 71 advisers: SRP

Monday, 30 August 2010
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Nguon Nhel (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

THE opposition Sam Rainsy Party has accused Nguon Nhel, the first deputy president of the National Assembly, of employing 71 advisers, and urged National Assembly President Heng Samrin to investigate this “irregularity”.

In a letter dated Friday, 13 SRP lawmakers alleged thatNguon Nhel’s army of advisers was costing the government 112 million riels (US$26,730) per month, roughly $320,760 annually.

“The Royal Government always discusses the lack of budget for the salaries of civil servants and the armed forces, so we would like Samdech Assembly President to explain the large expenses of His Excellency the deputy president,” the letter said.

Nguon Nhel could not be reached for comment yesterday. However, Cheam Yeap, chief of the National Assembly’s Finance and Banking Committee, defended Nguon Nhel’s need for an armada of aides.

“This serves the interest of the nation and helps [Nguon Nhel] lead the legislature,” Cheam Yeap said. “It allows our leaders to get intelligent and expert advice.”

The allegations come as the government pushes forward with a campaign of self-described public administration reform. According to a September circular from the Council of Ministers, government promotions and salary raises have been suspended for this year on orders from Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The premier also called for the number of contracted and temporary staffers in the government to be halved, though he granted exceptions for the health and education sectors.

In September of last year, an International Monetary Fund mission to Cambodia warned that increased spending and “very large increases in the civil service and military wage bill” were running up the Kingdom’s deficit to unsustainable levels.

“The mission cautioned against allowing significant increases in the wage bill to become entrenched, as this could risk crowding out spending on priority sectors such as health, education, and operations and maintenance,” the IMF said at the time.

Koh Kong villagers attempt to block road

MONDAY, 30 AUGUST 2010 15:02
MAY TITTHARA
PHNOMPENHPOST

Photo by: Photo Supplied Villagers involved in a land dispute plead with police in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district during a protest on Friday.

VILLAGERS involved in a long-simmering land dispute in Koh Kong province say they will send a new petition to authorities, after four protesters suffered injuries this past weekend while attempting to block a national road.

Ouch Leng, a programme officer for rights group Adhoc, said villagers blocked National Road 48 in Sre Ambel district Friday as part of a demonstration aimed at drawing attention to a dispute that could see 34 families evicted.

But a motorist who was angry with the traffic jam caused by the protest clashed with villagers, resulting in injuries to four of them, Ouch Leng said.
“The car owner tried to crash into the bed that villagers used to block the road,” said Ouch Leng, who described the injuries as “not serious”.

The villagers say they could be on the verge of eviction after a company owned by Koh Kong businessman Heng Huy set today as a deadline for the clearance of roughly 100 hectares of disputed land. The Supreme Court last year ruled that the land belonged to Heng Huy and another businessman.

Pher Nherng, a representative of the villagers, called the protest a “last choice” after Heng Huy began clearing parts of the disputed farmland last week. He said villagers yesterday began preparing a complaint to send to provincial, district and commune officials urging them to stop allowing military police to support Heng Huy. Last week, military police stood by as workers hired by Heng Huy cleared parts of the farmland. Pher Nherng said villagers also want authorities to issue land titles.

Heng Huy yesterday questioned how villagers could be issued land titles.

“How can they issue another land title to villagers if the land is already owned?”

Sre Ambel district governor Tuon Seila said that he would forward the complaint to provincial officials.

PQRU Defended Hun Sen

The Son Of the Khmer Empire

Tit Sothea (Dap)

After Thai media has released many articles about Hun Sen’s order to release the trio Thais arrested and my strong critics below, on Tuesday 24 August 2010, the Press and Quick Reaction Unit of Hun Sen, mouthpieced by Ti Sothea claimedthat the Thai media was disseminating the wrong information. He said that Hun Sen had no rights to order the release of those trio thais becuase he had no right to interfere court’s decision.

Personally, I think it may be true because everyone knows that in Cambodia, most of CPP’s officials are just like a post and they must listen to Hun Sen or they are removed. Everything must be in the name of Hun Xen, i.e. personality cult of Hun Xen. He is above the law and he is with everything from national conciliation to building bridge, house, and toilet. We can see his name with these things everywhere through the country. Most importantly, such a thing has already happened last year when Hun Sen ordered to released Siwark, a thai spy,  after he was arrested by Cambodian authoriry accusing him of sending Thaksin’s persoanal flight for Thai govt. See it here.

However,  whether he ordered to release the trio Thais or not as long as they are released, we still condemn Hun Xen as a useless person for his failure to protect and save his people from the similar arrested reasons who are now jailed and abused in Thailand.

PS: It’s amazing to hear Tit Sothea weekly defending Hun Sen nowadays while in the past during his time working for VOA he was the one that criticized Hun Sen and esp. he liked to interview someone included me who is a critics of Cambodian govt.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Cambodia PM says Thai border conflict “not a war”
• Media treads fine line in border row

PM takes firm stand on disease

THURSDAY, 05 AUGUST 2010 15:02
By: TEP NIMOL AND DAVID BOYLE
Phnompenhpost

Photo by: Heng Chivoan Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at a graduation ceremony at Koh Pich Centre in Phnom Penh yesterday.

PRIME Minister Hun Sen yesterday ordered provincial authorities to suspend the importation of pigs from Vietnam and Thailand in response to an outbreak of diseases that experts said was on the verge of destroying the Cambodian swine industry.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh, the premier said an outbreak in Thailand and Vietnam of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, also known as blue-ear, had spread to Cambodia in May, and posed a threat to public health.

“I would like to appeal to provincial authorities, especially provinces near the borders of Vietnam and Thailand, to suspend pig imports,” he said.
However, Hun Sen conceded that it would be impossible to completely stop the illegal importation of pigs from neighbouring countries.

“This order is not a violation of the World Trade Organisation, but it is a measurement to protect the animals’ lives and prevent infectious disease,” he said.

He also urged pig vendors not to take advantage of any resulting supply shortfall by raising prices.

Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said at a press conference yesterday that hundreds of pigs had died recently, but that not all had been afflicted with blue-ear. He attributed the outbreak to a recent decision by the Vietnamese government to order pig farmers to slaughter animals affected by the disease.

Instead of complying with that order, Vietnamese pig farmers “evacuated their pigs to Cambodia, the nearest place”, and a lack of regulations on imports fuelled the domestic spread of blue-ear, Chan Sarun said.

He said the government would not compensate farmers affected by the outbreak. Neither he nor Hun Sen said when the import ban would be lifted.

Curtis Hundley, chief of party at USAID’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise agency, said blue-ear had the potential to bring the pig industry to its knees, costing investors and farmers tens of millions of dollars.

“We’re talking somewhere between 1 or 2 million pigs, and each pig is worth about US$100 at market, so it’s a huge industry here,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said he welcomed the ban, and urged the government to retain it long enough for the industry to recover and draw investment.

“When the industry is destroyed like it is now, it’s going to take at least five months just to get the pigs ready for the market, and it’s going to take at least a year for this industry to recover,” he said.

During a similar outbreak in 2007, the government banned the importation of pigs from Thailand and Vietnam for eight months.

According to Global Trade Atlas, Thai swine exports to Cambodia rose from 2,273 pigs in 2007 to 866,199 in 2009, and were worth $45 million that year.

“Ka Pit, Sen Leak Min Chit Te!” a Poem in Khmer by Hin Sithan

KI Media

May 06,2010 at 6:59 Pm

សែនអើយសែនការពិតនោតែជាការពិតអ្នកណាប្រព្រឹត្តអ្នកហ្នឹងនឹងទទួល។

Film screening blocked

KI Media

Monday, 03 May 2010
Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

Workers march along Sisowath Quay on Saturday as part of Labour Day demonstrations. More than 7,000 people marched in the capital, union leaders said. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)

Police stop Labour Day showing of documentary on slain unionist Chea Vichea

POLICE and municipal officials stepped in to ban a screening of a documentary about slain labour leader Chea Vichea on Saturday, forcibly removing projector screens set up by organisers outside Wat Lanka in central Phnom Penh.

Several dozen police officers arrived at around 5pm at the Chamkarmon district site – just metres from where Chea Vichea was shot and killed in 2004 – to meet representatives of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), members of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and others who had gathered for the screening. On two occasions, organisers attempted to raise projector screens before police pulled them down and confiscated them after brief struggles.

Amid a crush of journalists and onlookers, Chamkarmon deputy governor Chor Kimsor told CCU president Rong Chhun that the event could not go forward without permission from municipal authorities.

“If you have permission to show the film, I would allow the film to be shown. If you are barehanded, I will not allow,” Chor Kimsor said. “If you respect law enforcement and democracy, you must consider the law above all else.”

Rong Chhun met with officials at City Hall on Thursday in an attempt to secure permission for the screening. The municipality’s deputy chief of cabinet, Koeut Chhe, told him he could not show the film without securing the approval of “relevant” government ministries.

The CCU president said following the meeting, however, that he did not have time to consult with officials at the ministerial level prior to the scheduled screening, organised to mark the Kingdom’s Labour Day holiday.

Rong Chhun told reporters on Saturday that with the murder of Chea Vichea still unresolved, it was the government – not the CCU – that had demonstrated a lack of respect for the rule of law.

“We have seen murders continuously, but we have not seen the real killers arrested and punished. That’s why we wanted to do this on May 1, at the spot where Chea Vichea was shot and killed,” Rong Chhun said. He condemned the decision to break up the event.

“We regret and condemn the authorities’ action. If the authorities acted like this, it means that some officials could have been involved in Chea Vichea’s murder.”

The film that was scheduled to be shown was Who Killed Chea Vichea?, a documentary directed by American Bradley Cox that investigates the union leader’s killing and the controversial prosecution of two men accused of the crime.

Those two men – Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun – were found guilty of Chea Vichea’s murder in 2005 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. They are widely believed to have been framed, however, and the Supreme Court ordered their release from prison last year pending a new trial.

Cox wrote in an email that given the film’s criticisms of Cambodian law enforcement, he was “not surprised” that its screening had not been approved.

“I would encourage Cambodian government officials to practice what they preach,” he said.

“They speak loftily about democracy and freedom of speech when courting foreign nations for millions in economic aid. But when that same government is criticized, they resort to edicts, proclamations and instant arbitrary rulings, the very stuff of dictatorships.”

The confrontation with police came after thousands of workers marched through the streets of the capital on Saturday morning to commemorate the Labour Day holiday. Organisers said around 7,000 people joined a march led by the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC), while Rong Chhun and Chea Mony, who succeeded his brother as president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, led a separate march of around 300 people.

CLC president Ath Thun said that although the marches were organised separately, “the aims are the same”. The CLC delivered a petition to the National Assembly on Saturday, asking parliamentarians to increase the minimum wage for workers in a number of sectors.

The CCU march was briefly obstructed by police before Chea Mony played a tape recording of a speech made last week by Prime Minister Hun Sen in which the premier said he had no objection to legal demonstrations.

Although the CCU’s efforts to screen the Chea Vichea documentary were ultimately thwarted, SRP parliamentarian Mu Sochua said her party planned to host a public screening of the film at its headquarters this week.

Tith Sothea, spokesman for the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, said that if the opposition and civil society organisations really want to help solve the Chea Vichea case, they should cooperate with the government and send a copy of the film to the Ministry of Interior.

“We must not violate the law and blame the government,” he said.

CBC Satement: Sam Rainsy´s Conviction showed the Power of Viet over Hun Xen ការកាត់ទោសសមរង្ស៊ីជាការបង្ហាញសាច់ដុំយួនមកលើហ៊ុន​សែន

Written by The Son Of the Khmer Empire

January 29, 2010 at 8:00am

This is the very reflected statement released by Cambodian Border Committee World Wide as response to the trial of MP Sam Rainsy. Please click Here to read statement.