We are the new generation of former Khmer Empire
May 27, 2010 Leave a comment
THURSDAY, 27 MAY 2010 15:04
By: SOVAN PHILONG
A boy
A boy peers out from behind a gate on Wednesday near a road that is scheduled to be cleared to make way for a flyover connecting the controversial Boeung Kak lake development with Street 169. The flyover could displace more than 50 families who said they believed they would be unaffected by the massive real estate project.
May 5, 2010 Leave a comment
April 05,2010 at 6:55 pm
Photo by: Sovan Philong A student sings karaoke in a rented room last year. Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema on Tuesday said he planned to seek the removal of Chamkarmon district Governor Lo Yuy for failing to crack down on two “illegal” karaoke clubs.
PHNOM Penh Governor Kep Chuktema on Tuesday announced that he would seek the replacement of Chamkarmon district Governor Lo Yuy, whom he accused of accepting bribes from two “illegal” karaoke clubs that were recently raided.
The proposed move would mark the first time a government official has faced dismissal as part of continued vice crackdowns sparked earlier this year by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has publicly accused officials of intentionally obstructing efforts to stamp out prostitution and human trafficking.
During a meeting at City Hall, Kep Chuktema said Lo Yuy’s failure to crack down on one of the raided clubs had been particularly egregious because it is located close to the Phnom Penh governor’s home.
“I would like to announce that I will request that the Ministry of Interior replace you,” Kep Chuktema said at the meeting, addressing Lo Yuy. “I have a report that you take money every month from the clubs. This case is a serious case, and I say it is time to change the district governor. I cannot receive blame because of you. I know it is difficult for you to crack down because you take bribes from them.”
He added: “This is an area for the district officials to control. Do not depend on the municipal police force or Military Police to lead you.”
On April 25, municipal Anti-Human Trafficking Police raided the Nam Trea Karaoke Club, where they found drugs on the premises and arrested 39 people, said Keo Thea, head of the municipal Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Bureau. Seven people were sent to prison, Keo Thea said. The Nam Trea Karaoke Club is located in Phsar Deumthkov commune.
More than 100 people were rounded up in a weekend raid of the Mega Karaoke Club in Boeung Keng Kong I commune, where Kep Chuktema’s home is also located.
The Saturday night raid netted “one package containing marijuana, a parcel with ecstacy, 300 grams of methamphetamine, as well as other instruments for using drugs,” Men Ra, head of the Anti-Drug Research Bureau of the Military Police, told the Post on Monday.
“We are now still interrogating them for further information against the five people on suspicion of drug-dealing … before deciding whether to send them to Phnom Penh Municipal Court for further investigation,” he said Tuesday.
Kep Chuktema did not say during the meeting whether he had a replacement Chamkarmon district governor in mind. Neither he nor Lo Yuy could be reached for comment after the meeting. Interior Ministry officials could also not be reached for comment.
The most recent raids appeared to be a continuation of vice crackdowns nationwide, which observers believe were prompted by orders from the premier.
In March, Hun Sen called out senior officials who he said were guilty of “misconduct” for intentionally thwarting efforts to reduce human trafficking.
“I am regretful of the misconduct of some leaders who have interfered with the court and law enforcement officials,” said Hun Sen, who did not name specific officials. “The culture of impunity is not acceptable.”
Those who advocate on behalf of sex workers say the crackdowns – which have targeted drugs and prostitution in places where sex workers routinely operate, such as karaoke clubs – could have potentially dangerous consequences for an already marginalised group, and that they could thwart key HIV-prevention efforts.
The Post previously reported that in the two weeks following Hun Sen’s admonishment, at least 280 sex workers lost their jobs as part of police raids on brothels as well as informal establishments such as karaoke clubs and massage parlours, according to figures provided by sources who work with or advocate for sex workers.
Ly Pisey, a technical assistant with the Women’s Network for Unity, a collective of sex workers in Phnom Penh, said she did not have statistics on the number of people in the sex industry who have been affected by crackdowns since Hun Sen’s orders. But arrests are still frequent, she said.
“The crackdowns are still going on,” said Ly Pisey, who attributed the raids to the premier’s speech.
And with the continued raids, many sex workers are being put at greater risk as they are pushed further underground, she said.
“If they are out in the open and accepted, it is easy for them to be protected,” Ly Pisey said. “But now it is like they are working as thieves. They’re trying to hide themselves in order to maintain their work.”
Many sex workers are refusing to accept condoms, fearing they will be arrested if they are caught with them, Ly Pisey added.
May 4, 2010 Leave a comment
May 04, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Photo by: Sovan Philong Ex-police chief Heng Pov arrives at the Appeal Court on Friday.
THE lawyer for disgraced former municipal police chief Heng Pov is calling on the government to arrest an Interior Ministry official he blames for kidnapping a Korean man in 2005.
Kao Soupha, Heng Pov’s lawyer, wrote a letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sar Kheng in April, urging him to investigate the former head of the ministry’s anti-human trafficking bureau.
Yon Ye, the lawyer said, was involved in extorting US$11,000 from a Korean man, but instead accused Heng Pov of committing the crime.
“I want the ministry to arrest the perpetrator because I am Heng Pov’s lawyer and I have seen many unjust cases brought against him,” Kao Soupha said.
Heng Pov was originally charged with kidnapping Korean Lee Kyong Ho in February 2006, one of a slew of charges that eventually saw the former police chief sentenced to more than 90 years in prison.
However, he was not convicted on the kidnapping charge, his lawyer said, after Lee Kyong Ho testified that Heng Pov never extorted money from him.
Instead, Lee Kyong Ho implicated Yon Ye, Kao Soupha said.
According to documents filed at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Lee Kyong Ho testified last year that he withdrew US$11,000 from a bank in Phnom Penh, then handed the cash over to Yon Ye, after police raided his house and accused him of human trafficking.
Three years earlier, however, Yon Ye told court prosecutors investigating the case that Heng Pov was responsible.
Khieu Sopheak, the Interior Ministry’s spokesman, said Monday that he had received the letter from Heng Pov’s lawyer, but declined to comment on the issue at length.
“I am now forwarding it to the National Police to take action,” said Khieu Sopheak, who confirmed that Yon Ye was no longer the head of the anti-human trafficking police bureau, but remained employed within the ministry as a police officer.
While awaiting an appeal hearing for an unrelated attempted murder conviction on Friday, Heng Pov said he had witnessed guards at Prey Sar prison, where he is currently incarcerated, beating and torturing other inmates.
May 3, 2010 Leave a comment
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.
កម្ពុជាមាតុភូមិរបស់ខ្ងុំ
ធម្មជាតិនៃកម្ពុជា
ខ្មែរបង្រួបបង្រួម UnitedKhmer 
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