Who killed legendary singer Sin Sisamouth?

By Khmerization

Mr. Sin Chanchhaya, son of legendary singer Sin Sisamouth (pictured), said he knew the face and the name of the person who ordered his father killed, reports Khmer Express News.

Sin Sisamouth, legendary singer from the 1960s and 1970s, disappeared without a trace during the Khmer Rouge regime, presumed executed by orders of the Khmer Rouge leaders who ruled Cambodia from 1975-1979. But no one knew who gave the orders.

However, Mr. Sin Chanchhaya recently said that he knew the face and the name of the person who ordered the execution of his father. He said that person is living freely today.http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2009/10/who-killed-legendary-singer-sin.html

Read more!

thai news in pictures

Police officers survey the site of a bomb attack by suspected Muslim militants at a market in Yala province October 19, 2009. A bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded at a busy market in Thailand's restive deep south on Monday, wounding 28 people, the latest in a recent slew of powerful bombings in the Muslim-dominated region. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

Police officers survey the site of a bomb attack by suspected Muslim militants at a market in Thailand, October 19, 2009. A bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded at a busy market in Thailand's restive deep south on Monday, wounding 28 people, the latest in a recent slew of bombings in the Muslim-dominated region. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

FILE - In this June 9, 2006 file photo released by the Thai Royal Household, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej waves from a balcony during a ceremony celebrating his 60th anniversary in the throne in Bangkok, Thailand. As Thailand's ailing 81-year-old King Bhumibol begins the second month of a hospital stay on Monday, Oct. 19, 2009, his countrymen are wondering just how sick he really is. He checked into Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital on Sept. 19 with fever, fatigue and lack of appetite. Terse daily statements from the royal palace insist he is in no danger, and now recovering from inflammation of the lungs. (AP Photo/Thai Royal Household)

Well-wishers pray for the fast recovery of King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok October 19, 2009. Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world longest reigning monarch, has been hopitalised for nearly a month, and investors in Thai financial markets are watching closely. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

A Thai soldier, left, stands guard as police officers patrol on bicycles at the entrance to a hotel in Cha-Am, a resort town, in southern Thailand Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009. Cha-Am is the venue for the 15th ASEAN Summit scheduled for Oct. 23-25. (AP Photo/Str)

Thai soldiers patrol through a hotel using sniffer dogs, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, in Cha-Am, a resort town, in southern Thailand. Cha-Am is the venue for the 15th ASEAN Summit scheduled for Oct. 23-25. (AP Photo)

Read more!

Thai king's illness leaves countrymen anxious

BANGKOK -- As Thailand's ailing 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej begins the second month of a hospital stay Monday, his countrymen are wondering just how sick he really is.
Concern for his well-being reflects the reverence and affection the Thai public holds for the king, who ascended to the throne in 1946 and is the world's longest-serving head of state. But of equal yet generally unspoken concern to Thais - most of whom have known no other monarch - is the question of what lies ahead in the post-Bhumibol era, whenever it comes.
Thailand is still reeling from more than three years of almost constant and sometimes violent political turmoil and there is worry about what effect the loss of the king would have.

Bhumibol checked into Bangkok's Siriraj Hospital on Sept. 19 with fever, fatigue and lack of appetite. Terse daily statements from the royal palace insist he is in no danger and is now recovering from inflammation of the lungs.

But that is a symptom of pneumonia, and investors last week registered their skepticism with a short but sharp sell-off of shares on the Thai stock market. In 2007, Bhumibol was hospitalized for three weeks with symptoms of a minor stroke, and last December he was unable to make his traditional birthday speech due to what was said to be inflammation of the esophagus.

Partisans of Thaksin Shinawatra, the elected prime minister ousted by a 2006 military coup, continue a bitter battle for power with his opponents.

Last year saw protesters occupy the prime minister's offices for three months, and seize Bangkok's two airports for a week. This year, other demonstrators forced the premature termination of a summit meeting of Asian leaders, and rioting in the Thai capital had to be quashed by the army.

The government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva now routinely invokes an emergency law to allow the military to deal with protest rallies.

"I am praying for his good health. What would happen to this country, who would put an end to this division, if he doesn't?" 29-year-old nurse Nisara Lertchaiwattana said of the king.

"Thailand has been peaceful as long as he has been king. It's not perfect but we are happy. I don't know what will happen next and I don't want to think about it."

But with no end to the political turbulence in sight, the prospect of losing Bhumibol threatens a crisis of its own. He has traditionally served as the country's only trusted conciliator in times of crisis even though he is a constitutional monarch with moral authority rather than legal powers.

The king's 57-year-old son and heir apparent, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, does not yet have that moral authority or the popularity of his father, known for his hard work and diligence.

"The market's skittishness is traceable to the possibility of a destabilizing power vacuum if the monarchy's power diminishes" after Bhumibol dies, the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in an analysis of last week's stock slide.

"A mishandled succession and the rise of a less-respected monarch could lead to an intense round of political jostling as key players try to increase their power relative to the monarchy," it warned, suggesting that a worst-case scenario could split the ruling class and trigger popular unrest.

Thai media, discreet in discussing the state of the king's health, have been virtually silent on the issue of succession. The throne is sacrosanct by tradition as well as law - lese majeste carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment for insulting the monarchy.

Following the market's dive, Abhisit ordered an investigation into the source of the rumors driving prices down, though no official was actually willing to go on record as saying the rumors concerned a possible deterioration in the king's health.

"I think that the prime minister's order for an investigation misses the point," said Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "It's going to be a recurrent issue, the king's health. ... The issue is what is going to happen to Thailand, not who spreads the rumor."

It was telling, Thitinan added, that the market calmed down only after television showed the king's youngest daughter, Princess Chulabhorn, saying that the king was recovering well and remained hospitalized mainly for physical therapy.

The turmoil of the past few years has brought a nearly unprecedented questioning of authority to Thai politics and society.

Thaksin's opponents frequently identify themselves with the monarchy and claim the former prime minister disrespected the throne, which has badly polarized the nation.

On one side are Thaksin's opponents: assorted royalist groups, big business, middle-class Bangkokians and elements of the military, many of whom felt their privileges under threat from Thaksin's populist brand of politics as well as his massive business empire.

The other side includes anti-coup activists who resent the military's meddling in politics, and Thaksin's followers, especially among the poor who benefited from his policies.

Millions of mostly poor and rural Thaksin supporters helped him to two romping election victories and remain grateful for the social welfare policies initiated under his government.

While they, like virtually all Thais, are steadfastly loyal to Bhumibol, they have started to question why what they term the "aristocracy" cannot seem to accept a democratically elected leader of their choice.

"For a country with a semi-democracy, semi-feudal political system, the end of the present reign puts everything in uncertainty," said Thongchai Winichakul, a Thai studies scholar at the University of Wisconsin. "As democratic institutions are undermined and all political powers are dependent on the monarchy, the future of the whole country sadly hinges on this transition."from; http://thmarpuok.blogspot.com/2009/10/thai-kings-illness-leaves-countrymen.html

Read more!

Cambodia balances East and West

Oct 20, 2009
PHNOM PENH - At a ceremony last month marking the construction of the US$128 million Cambodia-China Prek Kdam Friendship Bridge in Kandal province, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the growth in aid and investment from China was boosting economic development and strengthening his country's "political independence".
"China respects the political decisions of Cambodia," he told his audience. "They are quiet, but at the same time they build bridges and roads and there are no complicated conditions." It was a thinly veiled reference to the strings attached to Western aid, including calls for progress on anti-corruption reforms, and underscored China's growing role in Cambodia's developing economy.

With a still booming economy amid the global economic downturn, China has maintained the momentum behind its strong
commercial diplomacy towards Southeast Asia. Cambodia - a small but important corner of Beijing's emerging regional economic sphere of influence - has been one of the key beneficiaries of the loans, aid and investment largesse.

Official "friendship" delegations between the Chinese Communist Party and Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party have proceeded apace throughout the crisis. During a three-day visit to China's Sichuan province that concluded over the weekend, Hun Sen and Chinese officials announced $853 million worth of new Chinese loans and grants for various infrastructure projects in Cambodia.

The funds will be dedicated to hydropower projects, two bridges and the rehabilitation of the highway linking the country's Kratie and Mondulkiri provinces. The announcement comes on top of the $880 million in loans and grants Cambodia has received from Beijing since 2006, including finance for the $280 million Kamchay hydropower dam in Kampot province and the recently completed $30 million Council of Ministers building in the capital Phnom Penh - presented as a gift from the government in Beijing.

Chinese Embassy spokesman Qian Hai said Chinese investments in Cambodia as of 2009 totalled $4.5 billion, a commercial success he credits in part to a policy of respecting Cambodia's sovereignty. "We do not interfere in the internal affairs of Cambodia," he said. Phnom Penh has traditionally reciprocated by recognizing Beijing's One-China policy, advocating "peaceful reunification" between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, Qian Hai added.

China's global sales pitch to developing countries, essentially aid and investment decoupled from prickly issues of human rights or democratic reforms, has in recent years scored diplomatic points in Phnom Penh. But like most Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia has had a complicated and sometimes stormy historical relationship with Beijing.

The 1950s and 1960s were marked by close relations, cemented by the close personal friendship between Cambodia's mercurial Prince Norodom Sihanouk and Chinese leaders Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, who offered the beleaguered Sihanouk asylum - including a residence and official stipend - after he was overthrown by the US-backed General Lon Nol in 1970.

China's support from 1975-79 for the radical Khmer Rouge regime - as a counterweight to the assertiveness of the recently reunited socialist Vietnam - led Hun Sen to refer to China as "the root of everything that was evil" in Cambodia in a 1988 essay. As memories of Cambodia's long civil war have faded and Hun Sen has consolidated his power, historical grievances have yielded to more practical concerns. (After Hun Sen ousted then-first prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh in a bloody factional coup in 1997, it is notable that China was the first country to recognize his rule.)

China's commercial growing economic ties to Cambodia are only one aspect of its re-engagement with Southeast Asia. Joshua Kurlantzick, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and the author of Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World, said that around the time of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, China began to assert itself in the region through greater aid disbursements, new trade arrangements, cultural diplomacy and military ties.

"China ... saw broader China-ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] relations as a way of reassuring countries in the region that China would be a peaceful and non-interfering type of power - that China could work well with ASEAN and thus demonstrate it could play the game of soft, multilateral diplomacy," he told Asia Times Online.

Countervailing aid
Chinese aid is in some measure weaning Cambodia off its dependence on the West, which still contributes nearly half of the country's annual budget.

On October 16, the National Assembly debated a new trade treaty with China with lawmakers from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) arguing that Chinese-funded projects have had adverse effects on the environment and local people. SRP parliamentarian Mu Sochua singled out a 199,000-hectare agricultural concession granted to Chinese firm Wuzhishan in the country's northeast Mondulkiri province, which she said has illegally stripped large tracts of land from ethnic minority Phnong villagers.

Carlyle Thayer, a professor of political science based at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Sydney, said China's strategy of "non-interference", enshrined also in the ASEAN Charter, has been a major selling point for Beijing in Southeast Asia, where in some countries it is viewed as a shield against pressure from the United States and other Western countries. "Chinese aid offers an escape hatch for countries under pressure from the West [that] promote human rights and democratic reform," Thayer said.

Kurlantzick said that Chinese aid was likely to have a "corrosive" effect on good governance and human rights in Asia. "Hun Sen knows how to play China off of the Western donor groups and China's aid - even if not necessarily linked to any downgrading of human rights - could have the effect of a kind of race to the bottom on human rights," he said.

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at the US-based Human Rights Watch, agreed that unconditional Chinese aid to Cambodia could act as a "financial lifeline" that might otherwise be cut by Western donors. She said, however, that since Western nations often failed to work together effectively to set and enforce aid conditions in Cambodia, China's growing presence may end up having little distinct impact on human rights.

"The most important point - and key problem - is that the government in Phnom Penh ... seems determined to be extraordinarily abusive, regardless of whoever's money is on offer," she said.

Despite the recent influx of Chinese capital, there is no indication Hun Sen's government is ready to abandon ties to the West. Chea Vannath, an independent political analyst based in Phnom Penh, said that growing Chinese influence would likely be used to counterbalance the influence of Western countries - a vital strategy for a country of Cambodia's small size and redolent of Prince Sihanouk's balancing act during the periods of the Cold War that he ruled the country as prime minister, from 1955 to 1970.

"I think that what the government is trying to do is to diversify its aid ... It is eager to strike a balance," she said. "As a sovereign government, Cambodia needs aid from both sources."

Thayer agreed that rumors of a drop in Western - particularly American - influence were exaggerated. In 2007 US-Cambodia relations warmed when Washington lifted restrictions on the provision of aid to the central government, imposed following the coup of 1997. The US was already the top destination for Cambodia-made garments and textiles, one of the country's top exports.

In June, US President Barack Obama signalled his intention to boost trade further by removing Cambodia and Laos from a Cold War-era US trade blacklist, opening the way for American businesses to access US government-backed loans and credit guarantees for trade and investment between the two countries.

"All the countries of Southeast Asia, to varying extent, have long adjusted to China's rise and political influence," said Thayer. "They do not want to be put in a position of having to choose between China and the United States."

Read more!

A new battle begins in Pakistan

Oct 20, 2009
SLAMABAD - Despite serious reservations, Pakistan's military at the weekend began an all-out offensive against the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda in the tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan.
The deployment of about 30,000 troops in South Waziristan, backed by the air force, shifts the main theater of the South Asian battlefield from Afghanistan to Pakistan.
That Pakistan has become a focal point was undercored on Sunday when six Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commanders were killed, as well as 37 other people, in an attack in Iran's restive Sistan-Balochistan province.

Iranian state television said the Foreign Ministry summoned a senior Pakistani diplomat in Tehran, saying there was evidence
"the perpetrators of this attack came to Iran from Pakistan". The Pakistani government was asked not to delay "in the apprehension of the main elements in this terrorist attack".

The attack has been blamed on the group Jundallah, which is believed to operate from Pakistan's Balochistan province and which recently established a link with al-Qaeda. (See Al-Qaeda seeks a new alliance Asia Times Online, May 21, 2009.)

On Monday, clashes between the Pakistan military and the militants continued for the third day in South Waziristan. Islamabad says that 60 militants have been killed, with 11 soldiers dead.

The army had serious reservations about sending ground troops into South Waziristan, firstly for fear of a strong militant backlash in other parts of the country and secondly because there is no guarantee of success. However, under pressure from the United States, and with the carrot of US$1.5 billion a year for the next fives years in additional non-military aid, Pakistan's political government has bitten the bullet. The timing might have been influenced by a string of militant attacks in the country over the past few days.

The offensive is concentrated in the areas of the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan, which is also the headquarters of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

In preparation for the assault, the army made ceasefire deals with several influential Taliban warlords who run large networks against coalition troops in Afghanistan. They include Mullah Nazir, the chief of the Taliban in Wana, South Waziristan, who operates the largest Taliban network in the Afghan province of Paktika. Mullah Nazir is neutral in this Pakistani conflict and agreed to allow passage to the army to enter Mehsud territory.

In North Waziristan, two top Taliban commanders, Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Moulvi Sadiq Noor, also agreed to remain neutral. They are members of the Shura of the Mujahideen and a main component of the Taliban's insurgency in the Afghan province of Khost.

This leaves a few thousand Mehsud tribal fighters along with their Uzbek and Punjabi militant allies to fight against the military. Thousands of civilians have fled the area.

However, Hakimullah Mehsud of the TTP, according to Asia Times Online contacts, has apparently adopted a strategy that will not expend too many resources on protecting the Mehsud area. Instead, he aims to spread chaos by attacking security personnel in the cities. Hakimullah was the architect of successful attacks on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's supply lines in the Khyber Agency, which began in 2007.

The same contacts say that when thousands of people left South Waziristan last week under the military's directives, a majority of the militants melted away to the Shawal region, situated at the crossroads of South Waziristan, Afghanistan and North Waziristan, besides going to Pakistani cities.

A very limited force is entrenched in the Mehsud tribal area, and by all accounts it is putting up fierce resistance.

In the cities, the TTP will be assisted by Punjabis, who will aim to replicate the audacious and well-planned attack on the Pakistani military headquarters in Rawalpindi on October 10.

This attack and subsequent siege in which a number of hostages were held exposed loopholes in the security mechanisms of the armed forces as well as the deep penetration of militants in the security forces.

A transcript of the militants' calls, intercepted by the security forces and read by Asia Times Online, shows that the militants had noticed a damaged wall at General Headquarters Rawalpindi. They therefore engaged security personnel at the main gate, while at the same time sending about 10 men through the breach in the wall. These militants were given support by insiders.

The attackers made directly for the barracks of Military Intelligence and took several senior officials hostage, including the director general of Military Intelligence. They then presented a list of demands. According to some reports which have not been authenticated by independent sources, six prisoners were released on the militants' demands before the hostages were released after a commando operation on October 11.

The heat is on Pakistan
Washington has been keen to extend the war into Pakistan since early 2008. To reflect this, this year it coined "AfPak", and even appointed a special representative, Richard Holbrooke, to handle this portfolio. The focus in Pakistan was to be the militant bases in the tribal areas which feed directly into the insurgency across the border.

The aim was to create breathing space for coalition troops in Afghanistan and eventually pave the way for an honorable exit strategy after initiating talks with sections of the Taliban.

This year, the US also stepped up its presence in Pakistan by acquiring new bases and the Americans developed a joint intelligence mechanism with Pakistan to hit al-Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan with Predator drones. These missile attacks have proved particularly successful in taking out key targets, including Baitullah Mehsud, the TTP leader.

The US also coordinated ground military operations such as Lion Heart, which saw coalition troops on the Afghan side working with Pakistani troops on the other side to squeeze militants. (Asia Times Online documented this last year - see US forces the terror issue with Pakistan September 16, 2008.)

There are parallels in what the US is doing with Pakistan to what happened during the Vietnam War, when that war was extended into Laos and Cambodia.

Beyond the South Waziristan operation
Washington is watching developments in Waziristan with keen interest. Both General Stanley A McChrystal, the top US general in Afghanistan, and US Central Command chief, General David Petraeus, are currently in Pakistan.

They will be pleased that Pakistan has committed its biggest-ever force for such an operation - 30,000 troops with another 30,000 in reserve. Yet the chances of a decisive military victory remain remote.

Given the nature of the opposition and the tough territory, there is a high probability of extensive casualties in the army, with resultant desertions and dissent. There is also no guarantee that if the conflict drags on, the warlords with whom ceasefires have been agreed will not go back on their deals.

At the same time, there are signals that the Taliban in the Swat area in North-West Frontier Province are regrouping after being pushed back by the army this year. It is likely that by the time the snow chokes major supply routes, the Taliban will have seized all lost ground in the Swat Valley.

By marching into South Waziristan, the military has taken something of a gamble as it is highly unlikely to eliminate the militant threat. Indeed, the past seven or so years have shown that after any operation against militants, the militants have always gained from the situation. By the same token, the militants don't have the capacity to permanently control ground beyond their areas in South Waziristan and North Waziristan.

In this situation, in which the militants and the military can't defeat one another, and if the fighting continues, a political crisis could be provoked. This would weaken the state of Pakistan and its institutions.

Alternatively, the authorities could accept the fact that Pakistan is a tribal society which always operates through bargains and deals, and move quickly to contain this conflict.

Read more!

Rice sprouts from garbage field

The garbage fields of Cambodia motivated Abbotsford resident Lorri Sawatsky to join the fight against global hunger.

October 19, 2009
By Vikki Hopes
Abbotsford News (British Columbia, Canada)

Lorri Sawatsky had never seen anything so devastating.

She and her husband stood on the hill in Cambodia and gazed dumbstruck at the massive field of garbage that stretched out before them. The stench was unbearable, but what was even harder to take was the sight of hundreds of people – many of them young children – picking through the filth.

They were rummaging for things to sell, so they would be able to buy food.

Lorri sat for awhile, thinking about how horrible the world could be.

“No human being should ever have to live like this,” she said to her husband, Randy.

Before they returned home to Abbotsford, Lorri told the director of the kindergarten they had come to visit that she couldn’t leave the impoverished nation without doing something to help.

“What do you want to do?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Buy food. Buy rice,” Lorri replied.

“Yes, rice! Buy rice!” the director said.

Lorri and Randy had about $100 on them, and this was used to purchase several sacks of rice. Each sack was enough to feed a family for a few days.

The impact of this resonated with Lorri, who was working for a non-profit organization, after the 2004 trip. She began reading about global hunger and how rice is the most consumed food in the world.

She came up with an idea for a pilot project that would involve school kids collecting bags of rice for local needs while raising funds for global needs.

One school – Mennonite Educational Institute – participated in 2005, raising enough money to provide food for one week for 3,000 people in developing countries. More than 800 kilograms of rice were collected to feed those in need within Abbotsford.

By 2006, Lorri had formed Hunger Response International, and the Rice Raiser became its main program. Since then, school participation has grown significantly. There were 35 schools – 10 in Abbotsford – involved across Canada in the 2009 campaign.

Each school organizes and holds its own activities to collect money and rice.

Lorri said there is an educational aspect to students’ involvement, as they learn about global hunger and the conditions specific to the country they are supporting.

“It’s about planting those seeds of compassion in their hearts while they’re young.”

Lorri often shares the story of the garbage fields in Cambodia when speaking to schools about Rice Raiser.

She also talks about the impact of the global food crisis and the importance of developed nations sharing their wealth.

“It has to be taken seriously. How are our kids ever going to manage the world if they don’t know what’s going on?”

Each year, Rice Raiser supports four food projects in the world. The 2010 campaign involves buying goats and cows for Burundi, Africa; supporting an agriculture business for women in Guatemala; providing food for two children’s group homes in Uganda; and supporting a “work for food” project in India.

For more information, visit riceraiser.org or hungerresponse.org or call 604-308-1391.

New campaign

Have a Rice Day is a new campaign started by Hunger Response International to support its Rice Raiser program.

The campaign involves purchasing a $5 button and wearing it on one of the six designated days over the next year. Also on that day, people are encouraged to substitute one of their meals with a bowl of rice to identify with people in the world who are hungry.

The next Have a Rice Day event is on Nov. 20. Other dates are Dec. 10, March 22, April 7, May 15 and Aug. 19. The buttons are available at Prospera Credit Union branches in Abbotsford, House of James, Abbotsford Printing, Numbers Unlimited and Menno Travel.

Read more!