Between friendship and politics

Good friends: Hun Sen (right) talking Thaksin in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in this file picture. — AP

http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2009/10/between-friendship-and-politics.html
Thai Takes

Saturday October 24, 2009
By PHILIP GOLINGAI
The Star Online (Malaysia)

On the eve of an Asean summit, Cambodian premier Hun Sen extends an invitation to his friend Thaksin Shinawatra to stay in Cambodia, then his government denies it.

WHAT can an eternal friend, who happens to be the Cambodian Prime Minister, do to help his self-exiled billionaire politician buddy?

If you were Hun Sen, you would offer to build a beautiful home in Cambodia for Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister who was ousted in a 2006 coup.

In Phnom Penh on Wednesday the Cambodian premier told Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the puu yai (Thai for “senior elder”) of the pro-Thaksin Pheu Thai Party, that he was prepared to host Thaksin, who fled Thailand in August 2008 to avoid a two-year jail term on charges of corruption and abuse of power.

“I consider Thaksin as my eternal friend. Cambodia will welcome him to stay here for anytime.

“I make the house available for him at any time if he decides to visit Cambodia,” Hun Sen told reporters after meeting Chavalit.

“Though I’m not Thai, I’m hurt by what has happened to him. My wife even cried on knowing about it and has the idea of building a home for Thaksin to come and stay honourably,” he said.

“We have been great friends since Thaksin was a businessman, and the relationship has remained the same since he entered politics,” Hun Sen said.

In Thaksinlive, Thaksin tweeted in Thai: “I have to express deepest thanks to Prime Minister Hun Sen for saying in public that I am his friend.

“I also would like to thank him for arranging me a house.”

However, Thaksin — who is currently staying in Dubai — did not say whether he would accept Hun Sen’s offer.

In an article yesterday, The Nation reported that relations between Hun Sen and Thaksin go back nearly two decades when the Thai was “an up-and-coming businessman trying to align himself with important people.”

“It started with lucrative business contracts in the area of telecommunications, with the Vietnamese-installed government in Phnom Penh. At the time Hun Sen was top man on the hill,” wrote Don Pathan, The Nation’s foreign editor.

Hun Sen’s invitation to Thaksin came two days before the Asean summit, where Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will be hosting him and other Asian leaders in Hua Hin, Thailand.

A Bangkok Post editorial cartoon yesterday succinctly illustrated the consequence of the undiplomatic invitation: Hun Sen’s right arm warmly welcoming a delighted Thaksin, while his left hand was rudely slapping a flustered Abhisit.

On Thursday, Veera Prateepchaikul, a former Bangkok Post editor, wrote:

“A shrewd politician, the Cambodian prime minister should have realised that his receiving of Chavalit at this juncture and his remark about Thaksin would embarrass if not offend the Thai government, Prime Minister Abhisit in particular.”

“But he didn’t seem bothered and appeared willingly to play into Chavalit’s political game,” he opined in the Bangkok Post.

Ever the statesman, Abhisit on Thursday told journalists he had no hard feelings towards Hun Sen.

The Thai premier said he believed his Cambodian counterpart was mature enough to differentiate matters and had no intention of interfering in Thailand’s internal affairs. He added that he would not raise the matter with Hun Sen during the Asean summit.

However, Abhisit said his government would seek Thaksin’s extradition if he ever set foot in Cambodia.

“Once Thaksin enters Cambodia the extradition process will begin. If Cambodia fails to comply with (the) treaty, that would be another story,” he said.

Don’t bet on that happening.

“If Thaksin decides to come and stay closer to home, he can rest assured it won’t be a walk into a trap,” The Nation opined yesterday.

“First and foremost, the one who invites him and who would be his host is the most powerful man in Cambodia, thus the chance of Thaksin being stabbed in the back and extradited is virtually zero.”

The article continued: “Combine the apparently heartfelt message with Hun Sen’s stormy relations with the current Bangkok leaders, an extradition request should either bounce back to the senders or head straight to diplomatic oblivion.”

Yesterday, Hun Sen’s invitation took a twist.

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith claimed that it was untrue the Cambodian premier would allow Thaksin to have a permanent home in Cambodia. He added that Hun Sen was misquoted by the media.

Perhaps Thaksin can shed some light on this latest twist in his next tweet.

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Embarrassing trio

24/10/2009
Post Bag (Letter to the Bangkok Post)
Bankok Post

Re: ''Chavalit's trip raises tension,'' Bangkok Post editorial, Oct 23, 2009. The news about Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh claiming that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is happy to provide his country as a haven for the fugitive from Thai justice, Thaksin Shinawatra, should not embarrass the two countries more than those three individuals themselves. Why?

First, it is an open secret that Thaksin and Hun Sen have been closely linked ever since Thaksin was not yet Thailand's prime minister. Both Thaksin and Hun Sen have been rumoured to have had vested interests while serving their countries. The only difference is that Thaksin was ousted by a coup in 2006 while Hun Sen's hold on power remains intact.

Second, Gen Chavalit's claim that Hun Sen's wife cried for Thaksin's disgrace was misconstrued and inaccurate because, during her visit to Bangkok while Thaksin was in power, she was received lavishly, beyond her expectations. This is a personal feeling and has nothing to do with Thaksin being right or wrong, good or bad.

Third, if Hun Sen has said what Chavalit claims he has said (that Cambodia is prepared to shelter Thaksin), then Hun Sen has confessed for the first time that he and Thaksin have been putting their heads together for something very fishy - something that could be bad for Cambodia and Thailand's longstanding relations - but good for the two only.

Thaksin Shinawatra may have thought he made the wisest decision in choosing Gen Chavalit as his right-hand man in Thailand. He should think again. Even I am embarrassed every time people hear my name and ask: ''Not that Chavalit, are you?

CHAVALIT VAN
Chiang Mai

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Indonesia to raise problem of press freedom at AICHR meetings

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Om Yentieng is a member of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)

Hua Hin (ANTARA News) - Indonesia`s representative in the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), Rafendi Djamin, said he would bring up the question of press freedom at the commission`s meetings.

"The problem of press freedom poses a great challenge in ASEAN despite it being one of the three pillars of democracy," Djamin said on the sidelines of the 15th ASEAN Summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, on Friday.

He said there was need for tangible steps to prevent the suppression of press freedom in ASEAN member countries and therefore Indonesia would try to bring up the matter at AICHR meetings.

The problem of press freedom must receive the same portion of attention in AICHR as other human rights issues in ASEAN member countries, he said.

The first meeting among the AICHR members would take place on Saturday (Oct 24) on the sidelines of the 15th ASEAN summit where they would introduce themselves to each other.

AICHR is an inter-governmental consultative group and an integral part of ASEAN`s organizational structure.

The commission`s task is to formulate efforts to promote and protect human rights in the region through education, monitoring, and dissemination of international human rights values and standards as laid down in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the Vienna Declaration and other human rights instruments.

It is responsible for the advancement and protection of human rights in ASEAN and would cooperate with other ASEAN organs dealing with human rights for proper coordination and synergy in the field of human rights.

AICHR has 10 members, each representing one of ASEAN`s 10 member countries, with Dr Sriprapha Petcharamasree of Thailand as chairman.

The nine other commission members are Om Yentieng (Cambodia), Rafendi Djamin (Indonesia), Bounkeut Sangsomsak (Laos), Awang Abdul Hamid Bakal (Malaysia), Kyaw Tint Swe (Myanmar), Rosario G. Manalo (Philippines), Richard Magnus (Singapore) and Do Ngoc Son (Viet Nam).

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Chavalit's intrigues only add fuel to fire

24/10/2009
Bangkok Post

Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's recent political comeback as chairman of the opposition Puea Thai Party is being seen as an attempt to throw more fuel on the political fire in the country.

Gen Chavalit insisted that his return to politics had nothing to do with a bid to help deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra back to power, but sceptics are not convinced.

Thaksin is in self-exile after being sentenced to two years in jail for abusing his power when he was prime minister to help his former wife Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra to buy land in the Ratchadapisek area.

Gen Chavalit made a comeback only a year after he announced his retirement from politics in 2008 when he resigned as deputy prime minister in the Somchai Wongsawat government.

Gen Chavalit earlier said that he had decided to join the Thaksin-backed party because he wanted to help it secure "a landslide victory" in the next general election. He also called for the government's coalition partners to join him in setting up a national government to bring peace and reconciliation to the country.

But it is now difficult to believe what Gen Chavalit says after he travelled to Cambodia to meet Hun Sen and told the Thai public that the Cambodian prime minister had built a luxury house in Phnom Penh for Thaksin to stay in.

The 76-year-old former prime minister acted as if he was Hun Sen's mouthpiece by boasting about the friendship between the Cambodian premier and Thaksin. He seemed to be provoking the Thai government with the implication that if Thaksin is on Cambodian soil, then it would be unable to extradite him.

Gen Chavalit's visit to Cambodia on Wednesday could also be seen as a well-planned strategy to steal the limelight from the 15th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit and related summits in Cha-am.

Gen Chavalit should make it clear to the public why he had to rush to meet Hun Sen only two days before the summit began. His explanations so far will only fuel suspicions about the real motive behind his political comeback.

Cambodia is not the only stop along the way on Gen Chavalit's mission to help regain confidence people's in the Puea Thai Party and Thaksin. He also plans to meet other Asean leaders, including those of Burma and Malaysia.

The tour could be seen as Puea Thai trying to call for support from the international community if the party wins the next election. Gen Chavalit could also use this opportunity to seek sympathy and forgiveness from Asean leaders for Thaksin, and try to convince them that Thaksin is a victim of his political opponents and the coup makers.

Shortly after Gen Chavalit joined Puea Thai, a group of former Class 10 classmates of Thaksin at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School flocked to join the opposition. Gen Chavalit could have been behind this move.

These former soldiers were very close to Gen Chavalit and Thaksin, and they were believed to be among those who became outraged by the annual transfers in the past by the coup makers led by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin.

Gen Chavalit and other Puea Thai members will now surely step up activities to discredit the government until it can no longer stay in power.

The opposition wants to see a House dissolution and a general election as quickly as possible. If the Abhisit Vejjajiva government want to prolong its time in office, it will have to work harder for the people, who will then look at the government in a more favourable light.

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Cambodia's Youngest Writer

CAMBODIA’S YOUNGEST WRITER

by Buth Reaksmey Kongkea, The Cambodia Weekly

15-21 February 2009 (Phnom Penh) - Noun Pichsoudeny, 18, is one of the University of Cambodia’s Samdech Techo Hun Sen “Vision 100”scholarship students and has spent time to provide an interview to the Cambodia Weekly on February 11.

The youngest novel writer in Cambodia was born in 1989 in Pailin and has one sister and one brother. She is now studying Economics at the University of Cambodia (UC).

Pichsoudeny is well-known as the youngest student writer in the Kingdom of Cambodia after her four novels were published and bought by many readers. The books continue to be sold at book shops throughout the country.

“I have read Khmer novels, short stories and magazines since I was 7 years old. I have probably read over three 300 books so far,” she said.

Pichsoudeny continued that from 2006 until 2008, she had written a total of six novels four of which have been published and a further two novels awaiting publication.

“I was able to write novels and other short stories since grade six at Primary School in Pailin because I learned my basic skills from veteran Khmer writers,” she said, her smiles indicative of happy reading memories.

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Cambodia’s First Public Interest Law Firm Launches Operations

Samreth Law Group senior lawyer Sao Kagna displays the firm’s registration with the Cambodian Bar Association and its newly-created logo.

In April, Cambodia’s first public interest law firm, a major innovation in the Cambodian legal profession, opened its doors. The firm is an outgrowth of the Public Interest Legal Advocacy Project (PILAP), which, supported by the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), brings together a dedicated group of Cambodian attorneys to file high-profile public interest litigation in cases primarily involving land issues.

The firm, Samreth Law Group (SLG), aims to establish public interest legal advocacy as a viable and sustainable undertaking in Cambodia by building support among stakeholders and by demonstrating legal advocacy’s benefit to society.

“It’s exciting to be a part of this firm,” said Sao Kagna, one of the SLG founders. “Nothing like it has ever been attempted in Cambodia. There is very little understanding or collaboration between government and non-governmental organizations in Cambodia. Our firm is going to try to bridge that gap while showing that respect for the law benefits all stakeholders.”

Given Cambodia’s human rights and natural resource abuses, and the longstanding culture of high-level corruption and impunity, SLG’s work will focus on high-profile issues affecting marginalized groups. Large scale land grabbing in both rural and urban settings is at crisis proportions, leaving thousands homeless and destitute, and tens of thousands of others at risk. Land alienation in ethnic minority areas is particularly ruinous, leading to the destruction of these indigenous cultures. The firm will also promote public interest advocacy across the justice sector, including among private lawyers, judges, prosecutors and the Cambodian Bar Association.

The firm’s outreach goals are also crucial. Ly Ping, senior attorney and another SLG founder said, “Private lawyers in Cambodia really have no understanding about public interest law. Our work, including not only case work but also trainings and collaboration with the bar association and government, aims to show public interest law is an important and necessary component of the legal profession.”

ABA ROLI has, since 2003, supported high-profile public interest legal advocacy. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development-funded Program on Rights and Justice, implemented in partnership with the East-West Management Institute, ABA ROLI has trained and encouraged young non-governmental organization (NGO) lawyers to use sophisticated advocacy techniques to promote the rights of the poor through PILAP. In one instance, PILAP attorneys defended an urban community against an eviction at the hands of a bank with strong connections to senior officials. After threats, offers of bribes and other intimidating tactics, PILAP obtained a $3 million settlement for the community prior to its removal.

Currently, the PILAP team is suing the sister of the minister of economics and finance regarding her illegal acquisition of an indigenous community’s land. The case is proceeding despite death threats, criminal incitement charges and an investigation by the bar association.

The firm’s creation resulted from PILAP lawyers’ aspirations to strengthen their public interest advocacy work, which was conducted out of the offices of a local NGO. With its unique structure as a private law firm pursuing the public interest, SLG will dedicate approximately 10 percent of its workload to private clients who will pay market rate for services, while utilizing a sliding scale fee structure for its public interest clients. All income generated will help support the firm’s public interest work.

Initially, the firm will take cases that help demonstrate its capabilities and value to the government and private sector, as well as to NGOs and local communities. SLG is currently assisting a rural community to register its land to secure land tenure. It is also helping a rural development NGO revise its land ownership documents. In the future, the firm plans to assist local communities and provincial officials in implementing “social land concessions,” which will provide land to poor rural Cambodians and aid indigenous community villages in incorporating and registering their land.
Right now in Cambodia still lack of workers, stuff, experiences, specialist, scientist,
so if you can speak English well and certificate of your experience you will be easy to find job in Cambodia.
there are many kind of works in many company in Cambodia...

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Cambodian premier compares Thaksin to Aung San Suu Kyi (Roundup)

Cha-am, Thailand - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday reiterated his support for Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, comparing the ousted politician with jailed Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
'If millions of Thais support Thaksin, why can't I?' asked Hun Sen upon his arrival at Cha-am, Thailand, to attend a summit of the Assocation of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which both Thailand and Cambodia are members.
'If people can talk about Aung San Suu Kyi, why can't I talk about Thaksin?' Hun Sen said, comparing the Thai leader sentenced to two years in prison on corruption charges with Myanmar's democracy icon and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house detention and was recently sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest. Thaksin was sentenced last year for abuse of power for allowing his wife to bid on a plot of land at a public auction when he was still prime minister in 2003.

Cambodia and Thailand have sunk into a diplomatic spat over Thaksin - who was ousted in a 2006 coup and now lives in self-imposed exile - on the eve of the ASEAN summit intended to demonstrate the region's growing cooperation and connectivity.

Cambodia ratcheted up the war of words Friday with a statement that it would not permit Thaksin's extradition if he comes to Cambodia.

The Cambodian Council of Ministers said in a statement that it would not extradite Thaksin even if the Thai government requested it.

It said Cambodia would invoke an article in the 1991 extradition agreement between the two nations that permits one side to refuse an extradition request if it deems the offence on which the request is based to be politically motivated.

'Allowing H.E. Thaksin to stay in Cambodia is reflecting the virtuous behaviour of Prime Minister Hun Sen, [who is] Thaksin's longtime friend,' it said, adding that this 'virtuous attitude' did not constitute interference in Thailand's internal politics.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said in Phnom Penh that Thaksin was welcome to come to Cambodia.

'We stipulate that Cambodia has a right to offer Thaksin to visit Cambodia, and we have no obligation to send him back to Thailand,' he said Friday.

The words marked the latest round in an ongoing verbal joust between Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva. Thailand was incensed earlier this week when Hun Sen reportedly offered a home in Cambodia to Thaksin.

Late on Thursday, Cambodia said Hun Sen had been misquoted in reports in Cambodian and Thai media, but by that time, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban had warned that Thaksin risked being extradited back to Thailand if he took up Hun Sen's offer.

About 18,000 soldiers and police have been deployed to protect the 16 leaders attending the ASEAN summit, 130 kilometres south-west of Bangkok, from protestors loyal to the populist Thaksin. A summit in April had to be cancelled when pro-Thaksin demonstrators broke into the venue.

Thaksin is loathed by much of the Thai elite and middle class, but his populist economic policies have given him a big following among the poor. His critics have accused him of seeking to become an authoritarian leader, a label often also applied to Hun Sen.

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Asean Inaugurates Human Rights Commission

CHA-AM, Thailand — Southeast Asian governments inaugurated their first human rights commission on Friday in what they hailed as a milestone for a region ruled by governments as diverse as the thriving democracy in Indonesia, the hermetic communist regime in.. Laos and the repressive military dictatorship in Myanmar.
But human rights activists called the body toothless and walked out of a meeting here Friday when “civil society” representatives from five countries were rejected by their governments.
“The commission has not been designed to be effective and impartial,” said Debbie Stothard, a human rights activist from Malaysia.
Establishing credibility for the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, as the body is formally named, was one of several challenges for leaders gathering at this seaside resort south of Bangkok for a three-day summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean.
Poor attendance marred the start of the meeting, when leaders from some of the largest Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, did not show up for the opening ceremony Friday, citing reasons ranging from weather disturbances to domestic obligations. They were scheduled to arrive later during the weekend.

The meeting, which follows one in April that was canceled when Thai anti-government protesters stormed the summit venue, will address preparedness for natural disasters, the response to future economic crises and free-trade agreements, among other issues.

The leaders of several non-Asean members — Australia, China, India, New Zealand and South Korea — were scheduled to join the meeting later during the weekend.

In his opening address on Friday, Thailand’s prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, emphasized the achievements of Asean, which was initially set up more than four decades ago partly as a bulwark against communism. In recent years, Asean has adopted a charter for the grouping, signed free trade agreements with other countries in the region and reduced tariff levels to negligible levels — although numerous other barriers to trade still exist between member countries.

“What remains is the onus that lies on Asean to prove that it can implement whatever has been agreed, declared, or envisioned,” Mr. Abhisit said, in an apparent response to criticism that the grouping is more talk than substance.

The human rights body inaugurated Friday appeared to reinforce that criticism. The job of the commission will be to promote human rights, but it will have no power to investigate governments or impose sanctions.

A statement distributed by the Thai government here said the commission would “promote and protect human rights by promoting public awareness and education.”

Mr. Abhisit acknowledged concerns that the commission’s scope was too limited but said it was part of an “evolutionary” process.

“The issue of human rights is not about condemnation, but about awareness, empowerment and improvement,” Mr. Abhisit said. “We shall not only demonstrate to the world that human rights is a priority but also show them realistic and constructive ways to deal with it.”

Yuyun Wahyuningrum, an Indonesian human rights delegate who walked out of the meeting with government representatives Friday, said human rights groups supported the creation of the commission, but were concerned that it was not independent enough. Commissioners were chosen by governments without outside consultation, she said.

“The process was very secretive,” she said.

Southeast Asia’s human rights record is blemished at best. Myanmar’s military government, which is a member of Asean, is currently detaining more than 2,000 political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy leader whose party won a landslide election victory in 1990 that the ruling generals ignored. Cambodia’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that bars demonstrations of more than 200 people. Malaysia’s government detains people it deems threats to domestic security without trial and maintains tight controls on television stations and newspapers.

Asean has ambitions to create a single market by 2015 among its 10 member nations, which have a combined population of nearly 600 million people, twice the population of the United States.

But its main challenge in recent months has been to tamp down long-running conflicts and disagreements. Relations between Thailand and Cambodia have worsened over a border dispute near an ancient hilltop temple, Preah Vihear. Over the past year, troops in the border area have skirmished several times, leaving seven people dead.

Cambodia’s nationalistic and authoritarian prime minister, Hun Sen, regularly delivers diatribes against Thailand and has pointedly offered asylum to Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai prime minister who is sought by the Thai authorities on outstanding arrest warrants.

Soon after arriving at the meeting Friday afternoon Mr. Hun Sen said Mr. Thaksin would be allowed to stay in Cambodia and serve as his economic adviser.

“People talk about Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar. Why can’t we talk about Thaksin?” he asked.

The Cambodian government said Friday it would reject any extradition request from Thailand if Mr. Thaksin moved to Cambodia.

The host of the meeting, Thailand, deployed more than 30,000 security personnel for the summit to deter supporters of Mr. Thaksin from disrupting the event. Mr. Thaksin was removed from power in a 2006 military coup.

Elsewhere in the region, Indonesia and Malaysia have failed to resolve disputes over territory on Borneo island. Emotionally charged disagreements over the origins of songs, traditional dances and batik cloth-printing techniques have flared in recent months.

Territorial disputes also strain relations between the Philippines and Malaysia and Singapore and Malaysia. In the South China Sea, Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam all have claims to areas rich in natural gas deposits.

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Asean could host World Cup

HUA HIN (Thailand) - SOUTH-EAST Asian nations could jointly bid to host the Fifa World Cup, the Thai finance minister proposed on Friday at a summit of the region's leaders.
Mr Korn Chatikavanij said he had discussed the idea of hosting the football tournament with business forums as a means of boosting the economies of the 10-member Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).
While the proposal is not on the official agenda at the summit, Mr Korn told reporters it could still be discussed by leaders here in the Thai resort of Hua Hin.
'It must be an informal discussion but I think Asean has the potential to host the World Cup,' he said.
Asean groups Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and
Singapore, which together have a population of nearly 600 million people.

Mr Korn pointed to the 2002 Fifa World Cup, which was held by South Korea and Japan - the first edition in the tournament's history to be hosted by two countries

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Cambodia PM riles hosts

HUA HIN (Thailand) - CAMBODIA and Thailand traded barbs at an Asian summit on Friday after Cambodia's prime minister offered fugitive former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra a safe haven and job as an adviser.
Mr Hun Sen, the outspoken Cambodian premier, further riled the hosts of the annual meeting by comparing the plight of the ousted Thaksin to that of detained Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva hit back by accusing Mr Hun Sen of being a 'pawn' and urging him to work for unity between the two countries, which have had a series of deadly border skirmishes in the past year.
'Thaksin can stay in Cambodia as a guest of Cambodia. He can also be my adviser on the economy,' Mr Hun Sen said as he arrived in the beach resort of Hua Hin for the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) summit.
The Cambodian leader repeated an earlier invitation to Thaksin to stay in Cambodia and rejected Thai claims that Phnom Penh would have to extradite the tycoon. Thaksin was toppled in a 2006 coup and fled Thailand last year to avoid a jail term for corruption.

Ties between Cambodia and Thailand have been difficult since June 2008 amid an ongoing border conflict over land surrounding an 11th century temple. But relations have cooled further since Mr Hun Sen made his first invitation to Thaksin earlier this week.

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SA man faces delay in Cambodia proceedings

The South African man who was arrested after the death of his best friend in Cambodia, may have to wait up to six months to learn his fate.
Andre Bester was arrested after his friend, Paul Hutchins from Cape Town, died in a jetski accident last month.
Bester's father, Jan, told the Cape Argus that they could not speak to the media at this stage. But, on the wall of a Facebook page created after his arrest, Bester wrote that his legal troubles seemed to be far from over.
Bester, 27, left his last message on the wall of the Help Fight for Andre Bester page on October 8.
"My problems have only started now. I have a lot of issues to resolve this side. My court case can take anything up to six months. In the meantime I am looking at different options to keep myself busy."
More than 1 000 people have joined the group, sending messages of support to Bester.
Hutchins was celebrating his 46th birthday a few hours away from the town where they both lived when the accident occurred.

It is alleged the pair were riding jetskis when Hutchins turned in front of Bester, and his jetski hit Hutchins on the head.

Bester was arrested a day after the tragedy and spent more than three weeks in an overcrowded prison cell in the Sihanoukville prison in Cambodia.

On the same page, Jan Bester wrote that his son was looking into the woodwork industry and had managed to build up contacts in the Asian country.

Meanwhile, Hutchins's mother Marion, and his sisters Judy Saggers and Beverly Tronk, visited Cambodia to collect his body.

Tronk said the funeral was held last week in Fish Hoek. She said the four-day trip had helped bring some closure.

"It did us the world of good. We met people who knew him and saw where he lived. We knew he was very happy there. It was great for us to see that. The company he worked with was also very helpful."

Hutchins had started working on a contract at a forestry company in Cambodia about nine months ago. He had last seen his family in April.

"We feel that everything is finished now," said Tronk.

She added that they had met Bester during their visit and had maintained contact with him since then. The family has expressed their sadness over Bester's arrest.

Bester, on the social networking site, in turn said he regretted the incident and thanked the Hutchins family for their support.

"Thank you for everything the Hutchins family has done for me in Cambodia. My thoughts are with you. Sadly, I can't make the funeral. The court still has my passport."

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