Friday, 30 October 2009
By Richard S. Ehrlich
Scoop (New Zealand)
Thai and Cambodian politicians have been fleeing to each other's country for the past 50 years, seeking sanctuary from coups, arrest warrants, and other threats.
In 1957, when Thai dictator Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat unleashed a military coup against Prime Minister Phibun Songkram, the toppled leader fled Thailand for Cambodia in his Ford Thunderbird car.
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand and Cambodia have descended into a loud political feud about Bangkok's 2006 coup, and Thailand's current threat to demand the extradition of its fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The rift between the two Buddhist-majority nations in the heart of Southeast Asia was expected to worsen if Mr. Thaksin accepts Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's surprise offer of a temporary house.
"There is an extradition process," warned Thailand's powerful Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Tuesday (October 27).
"The turmoil following Cambodian leader Hun Sen's remarks, about ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra being welcome in his country, has thrown the government into a spin," the Bangkok Post newspaper, which opposes Mr. Thaksin, reported on Tuesday (October 27).
Ratcheting up his rhetoric, Mr. Hun Sen compared Mr. Thaksin to Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has languished under house arrest in Rangoon for 14 years.
"Many people are talking about Mrs. Suu Kyi of Burma. Why can't I talk about the victim, Thaksin?" Mr. Hun Sen said on October 23.
"That cannot be regarded as interference by Cambodia into Thai internal affairs. Without the coup d'etat in 2006, such a thing would not have happened," Hun Sen said.
Soft-spoken Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva lashed out Mr. Hun Sen's remarks.
"There are few people in the world who believe Thaksin is similar to that of Mr. Suu Kyi," Mr. Abhisit said later that day.
"I hope Prime Minister Hun Sen will receive the right information and change his mind on the matter."
Cambodia's government spokesman Phay Siphan said on October 23: "Cambodia has a right to offer Thaksin to visit Cambodia, and we have no obligation to send him back to Thailand."
If "former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra wishes to travel to Cambodia anytime...the Cambodian prime minister is ready to prepare a residence for [his] stay in Cambodia," reported Cambodia's government-run TVK television on October 22, according to Agence-France Presse.
Mr. Thaksin has been an international fugitive, based mostly in Dubai, dodging a two-year prison sentence for a conflict of interest.
That conviction involved a Bangkok real estate deal -- for his now divorced wife -- which was arranged when he was prime minister.
Mr. Thaksin became prime minister in 2001 when most voters elected the billionaire telecommunications tycoon, hoping he would boost the economy and modernize Thailand.
Mr. Thaksin was removed in September 2006 by Thailand's U.S.-trained military in a bloodless coup when they used tanks, armored personnel carriers, Humvees and other weapons to seize power.
He has unsuccessfully tried to return to power with the help of allied politicians, and get back his two billion U.S. dollars worth of assets which the coup leaders froze.
International human rights groups, however, want Mr. Thaksin investigated for his role in the alleged extrajudicial murder of more than 2,000 people during his government's "war on drugs."
Mr. Thaksin remains politically active in self-exile.
He helps lead a mass movement of so-called "Red Shirts" who claim to represent Thailand's majority lower classes, especially in the countryside.
Together they demand an immediate election, expecting Mr. Thaksin's allies to win.
They are opposed by the "Yellow Shirts" who claim to support Thailand's urban middle class and constitutional monarchy.
Led by Sondhi Limthongkul, the Yellow Shirts blockaded Bangkok's international and domestic airports in November 2008 for eight days, stranding more than 300,000 people worldwide.
Their blockade helped weaken a government allied to Mr. Thaksin, and paved the way for Parliament to elect Mr. Abhisit.
Mr. Abhisit's fragile coalition government enjoys the military's support, and much of his personal security is handled by the military.
Thailand's wealthy elite have mostly thrown their weight behind Mr. Abhisit as well, and appear nervous about Mr. Thaksin and the Red Shirts plotting to destabilize Bangkok.
Cambodia's prime minister has thrown a wild card into this dangerous mix, apparently hoping to attract big investments by Mr. Thaksin and weaken Bangkok's strategy over a smoldering border dispute, according to some analysts.
"It is true that I would invite former Prime Minister Thaksin to visit Cambodia anytime, and to be my economic advisor," Mr. Hun Sen said on October 22.
Thailand and Cambodia are former war-time enemies -- and current investment partners -- so the stakes are high for all sides to quell their public sniping.
Occasional killings on both sides have continued in and around the ancient stone ruins of Preah Vihear, a Hindu temple on the Thai-Cambodian border.
That dispute dates back to the 1950s, and continued even after the International Court in the Hague, Netherlands, confirmed Cambodia's ownership in 1962.
The conflict flared again after the ruins were declared a World Heritage Site in July 2008 by the World Heritage Committee, based on Cambodia's proposal to cash in on its tourism potential.
Thailand and Cambodia have suffered much worse relations in the past.
After Richard Nixon became president of the United States in 1969, he used Thailand as one of several military staging areas for heavy aerial bombing raids against communists in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, until America's wars ended in 1975 -- one year after Nixon's presidency -- with the U.S. defeated in all three countries.
Washington and Bangkok later indirectly backed Cambodia's communist Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, when his jungle-based guerrillas were in a loose alliance with other Cambodian rebels fighting against Vietnam's 1979-1989 occupation of Cambodia.
Thai and Cambodian politicians have been fleeing to each other's country for the past 50 years, seeking sanctuary from coups, arrest warrants, and other threats.
In 1957, when Thai dictator Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat unleashed a military coup against Prime Minister Phibun Songkram, the toppled leader fled Thailand for Cambodia in his Ford Thunderbird car.
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Richard S Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based journalist who has reported news from Asia since 1978. He is co-author of "Hello My Big Big Honey!", a non-fiction book of investigative journalism. His web page is http://www.asia-correspondent.110mb.com
Thailand and Cambodia Argue About Thaksin & the Coup
Friday, October 30, 2009Abhisit's tit-for-tat against his Cambodian counterpart was uncalled for, as Thailand was the host of the meeting
Thai Rath columnist Mae Lookjan
30/10/2009
Bangkok Post
Despite gushing official statements, the Abhisit government's performance at the recent Asean Summit was disappointing.
The so-called achievements in Hua Hin and Cha-am were too little compared with the huge budget spent in organising the three-day event.
The 15th summit got off on an inauspicious start, as four heads of state and government failed to show up at the official opening.
The Thai-Cambodian spat over deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra did not contribute in any way to the grouping's quest for unity, friendship and cooperation.
Prime Minister Abhisit's tit-for-tat against his Cambodian counterpart was uncalled for, as Thailand was the host of the meeting. He should have reserved his criticism for some other occasion.
Many issues have been left unsolved after the meeting, including the lifting of import tax among the 10 member countries, the Thai-Philippine rice tariff, free investment regulations, and the fate of Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi.
Asean's dream of becoming a unified community remains just that - a distant dream. If Thailand and Cambodia are still at each other's throats, how can the group become unified?
'Jungle woman' hospitalised
Rochom P'ngieng
October 30, 2009
From correspondents in Cambodia
Agence France-Presse
CAMBODIA'S "jungle woman", whose case gripped the country after she apparently spent 18 years living in a forest, has been hospitalised after refusing food, her father and a doctor said today.
Rochom P'ngieng, now 28, went missing as a little girl in 1989 while herding water buffalo in Ratanakkiri province around 600km northeast of the capital Phnom Penh.
The woman was brought from the jungle, naked and dirty, in early 2007 after being caught trying to steal food from a farmer.
She was hunched over like a monkey, scavenging the ground for pieces of dried rice in the forest.
She could not utter a word of any intelligible language, instead making what Sal Lou, the man who says he is her father, calls "animal noises".
Cambodians described her as "jungle woman" and "half-animal girl".
Sal Lou said Rochom P'ngieng was admitted to the provincial hospital on Monday and had not adjusted to village life.
"She has refused to eat rice for about one month. She is skinny now.... She still cannot speak. She acts totally like a monkey. Last night, she took off her clothes, and went to hide in the bathroom," Sal Lou said.
"Her condition looks worse than the time we brought her from the jungle. She always wants to take off her clothes and crawl back to the jungle," he added.
Doctor Hing Phan Sokunthea, director of Ratanakkiri provincial hospital, said the woman was "in a state of nerves".
"Doctors have injected her with medicine twice a day to treat nervous illness but she still cannot control herself," he said.
Sal Lou said his family found it difficult to house the woman and he would appeal to charities to take over her care.
The jungles of Ratanakkiri - some of the most isolated and wild in Cambodia - are known to have held hidden groups of hill tribes in the recent past.
In November 2004, 34 people from four hill tribe families emerged from the dense forest where they had fled in 1979 after the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, which they supported.
Helping out in Cambodia
Thursday, October 29, 2009By MICHELLE LOTTER - North Shore Times
30/10/2009
A Takapuna resident is volunteering her skills in language for a three- month Cambodia trip.
Fiona Whyte, a foreign exchange specialist, is looking forward to working with young Cambodian students through the Global Volunteer Network from November.
"To live and work in Cambodia, to be able to offer my knowledge and skills, that’s the really exciting
aspect of this opportunity."
She is paying for her own food and accommodation as she works with nine teachers from throughout the world as a language teacher in Phnom Penh on a project that provides affordable classes.
The aim is to raise money for the local non- government organisation Cambodian Rural Development Trust who works to improve livelihoods in rural Cambodian communities,
Ms Whyte says.
"Students pay a small fee to attend the classes and funds raised are used to improve the community in areas such as water, sanitation, livestock and agriculture production, and environmental awareness.
"Essentially I’ll be helping students improve their English skills while also assisting in the development of the community."
She travelled to Cambodia last year on a World Vision Cycle Charity Challenge that raised $63,000 and assisted 17,000 people in accessing clean water through the charity’s Cambodian projects.
"It was a wonderful experience made particularly special when World Vision was able to arrange for me to meet the two girls I sponsor.
"Even though we didn’t share the same language, we were able to connect. These people are warm, friendly and amazingly resilient."
She says she is looking forward to seeing the education, health and housing rights projects supported by the trust.
She will help facilitate fair trade with World Vision’s microfinance schemes to distribute goods which are sold in New Zealand.
Thailand to strip Thaksin of awards, police rank
Wednesday, October 28, 20092009-10-28
BANGKOK, Oct 28 (AFP) - Thailand said Wednesday that it would strip fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra of his royal awards and his police rank as the government presses on with a campaign against its arch-foe.
The announcement came amid tensions over an offer of shelter from neighbouring Cambodia for Thaksin, who was toppled in a coup in 2006 and is living in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail term for corruption.
The billionaire remains an influential figure on Thailand's turbulent political scene, stirring up mass protests from abroad against the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Abhisit said the government's legal advisory body, the Council of State, had recommended that the National Police Office should revoke Thaksin's rank of lieutenant colonel from his days in the police force from 1973 to 1987.
It should also confiscate the two highest royal awards given to Thaksin -- the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant and the Most Illustrious Order of King Chula Chonklao, Abhisit said.
"The National Police Office had sought the recommendation from the Council of State and the recommendation has come out, so it must act to comply with the ruling," he told reporters.
Abhisit denied that the government was trying to tarnish Thaksin's image after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen angered the Thai government last week by offering Thaksin refuge in Cambodia and a job as his economic advisor.
Thai and Cambodian forces have fought several deadly battles in the past year and a half in a row over disputed land around an ancient temple on their border.
Twice-elected Thaksin fled Thailand last year before he was sentenced to two years in jail in a corruption case. His allies were driven from government in December after anti-Thaksin protesters occupied Bangkok's airports.
Abhisit has said Thaksin, who has several passports and divides his time between a number of countries, must return to Thailand to face justice. (AFP)
MySinchew 2009.10.28
Cambodia, UN mark 64th anniversary of UN Day
http://www.chinaview.cn/
2009-10-28
PHNOM PENH, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian government and the United Nations country team on Tuesday jointly marked the 64th anniversary of UN Day, focusing on reviewing common priorities, said a press released from UN Resident Coordinator in Cambodia on Wednesday.
The discussion with Prime Minister Hun Sen and 11 UN Representatives focused on the excellent working relationship between Cambodia and the UN.
"The United Nations brings around 100 million U.S. dollars of development assistance to Cambodia each year but our support stretches beyond the dollar value of this contribution. We have a long-standing history of promoting peace and human development in Cambodia and we are extremely proud to serve the Cambodian people" expressed UN Resident Coordinator to Cambodia, Douglas Broderick.
Topics raised during the meeting included climate change, the global economic crisis, drug awareness, disaster management and Cambodia's support to international peacekeeping.
Among the highest priorities for the UN Country Team is helping Cambodia to achieve its Millennium Development Goals including improving maternal health, the goal currently requiring the most attention.
"The United Nations believes that no Cambodian woman should die giving life. We are committed to assisting the government to scale-up the quantity and quality of midwives and to improve access to emergency obstetrics care and reproductive health services as part of our joint effort to advance maternal health" Broderick assured the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister shared UN concern that the Millennium Development Goals could be endangered by the combined impacts of the global economic crisis and climate change but was grateful to the UN system for its assistance in helping compile information on the goals' progress at sub-national level.
Regarding the global economic crisis and its impact on the local economy, both sides recognized the importance of coordinating closely to maintain focus on the most vulnerable groups.
"We have been pleased by Cambodia's active response to the global economic crisis especially the attention given to social protection and the progress made towards an integrated Social Safety Net strategy. The UN will work with the government to maintain efforts in this area of social protection to ensure that as the world moves out of this crisis, the poorest people are protected from current and future economic shocks"
In closing the meeting, the Prime Minister congratulated the UN on its 64th anniversary and vowed to continue the UN Day meeting tradition.
United Nations Day (October 24) marks the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945. Cambodia joined the United Nations on 14 December 1955.
The United Nations Country Team in Cambodia consists of 23 agencies, fund and programmes operating in the country.
Editor: Lin Zhi
Cambodian court upholds politician's sentence for defaming premier
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/
Asia-Pacific News
Oct 28, 2009
(Posted by CAAI News Media)
Phnom Penh - Cambodia's Appeal Court on Wednesday upheld the fine levied by a lower court on opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua in her legal wrangle with Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Mu Sochua, a prominent member of the Sam Rainsy Party and a former minister of women's affairs, lost a defamation case brought by Hun Sun earlier this year.
She had originally sued Hun Sen for defamation after comments made by him in 2008 that she said referred to her. The courts threw out her case but allowed the prime minister to countersue on the basis that her lawsuit had defamed him.
Hun Sen won his case in early August with the lower court fining Mu Sochua around 4,100 US dollars.
Mu Sochua told the German Press Agency dpa that she was disappointed by Wednesday's verdict.
'The Appeal Court did not take this opportunity to prove to the people of Cambodia as well as to the world that they had the chance, but did not take the chance, to fix the irregular and bad image that the judicial system has in the eyes of the public,' she said.
Mu Sochua, who was present in court, said proper procedure was followed, but insisted that she was disadvantaged because she could not find a lawyer to represent her.
Her attorney in the original case quit and joined Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party after he came under intense political pressure and was threatened with disbarment for representing her.
'I will file to the Supreme Court to have today's decision rejected,' she said. 'I am not guilty of any crime. I will not pay the fine and no one else will pay the fine.'
The case against the opposition legislator was one of several brought this year by the Cambodian government as it moved controversially against its perceived critics in politics, media and civil society.
Appeal Court Ruling [in Mu Sochua's case] a Mockery of Justice: SRP MPs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: 012 788 999
October 28, 2009
“[The IPU] observes with deep concern that the decisions such as those in question may have a dampening effect on the ability of members of parliament and, even more so, of citizens to criticize the conduct of government officials and hence may detract from democratic debate…” - Resolution adopted by consensus by the IPU Governing Council at its 185th session (Geneva, 21 October 2009)
We, Members of Parliament of the Sam Rainsy Party strongly denounce the ruling of the Appeal Court today, which upheld the defamation conviction of MP, Mu Sochua. The Court’s decision confirms that there is no rule of law in Cambodia when a person dares to challenge the government.
The Appeal Court, ignoring principles of fair trial, blindly affirmed the decision of the municipal court: the accused was denied her rights to be represented by a lawyer of her choice, and to be judged by an independent and impartial tribunal.
Last week, the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) adopted a resolution on this case, finding that “the threat of disbarment of [Mu Sochua’s] lawyer, which forced him to withdraw from the case, violated her right to counsel of her choice…whatever may have been the reasons for [his] withdrawal….” The IPU further concluded that “it is difficult to accept the argument of the authorities that no link exists between the risk of his being disbarred from the Bar Association and his having taken on Mu Sochua’s defence…”
The lack of reforms of the judiciary in Cambodia and the direct manipulation of the justice system by the executive branch must be condemned and immediate steps must be taken to allow judges and lawyers to exercise their roles and functions according to the rule of law and the principle of independence of judges and lawyers.
We acknowledge and highly value the presence of all local and international human rights organizations during the hearing today, and we call on civil society and the international community to continue their vigilance of the current surge of defamation cases against dissenting voices, and partisan political pressure on the judiciary.
The government must be held accountable to deliver clear results in the reforms of the judiciary and its commitment to democratic principles. Such manipulation of the judiciary to silence critics is a serious attack of people’s rights under the Constitution and international law, and can not be tolerated in a free society.
The full version of the IPU Resolution can be found at http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2009/10/ipu-resolution-regarding-mrs-mu-sochuas.html.
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Mu Sochua and her supporters lighted candles in front of Appeal Court to call for Justice
SRP Mu Sochua and supporters light candles today in front of Appeal Court to call for Justice before the Appeal Court announced verdict today.
(All Photos: SRP)
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Asia's intra-regional marriage migration on rise
Wed, 28 Oct 2009
DPA
Bangkok/Phnom Penh - When it comes to attracting a potential spouse, South Korean soap operas seem to be the best way to a South-East Asian bride's heart. Over the last decade, thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodian women have left their homes to marry South Korean husbands, lured into dubious unions by dreams of financial security and glitzy, city lifestyles in a modern Asian nation.
Cambodia, alarmed by a report that 1,760 Cambodian women had left the country in 2007 for brokered marriages in South Korea, slapped a ban on all marriages to foreigners in April 2008, lifting it only in December after putting in place restrictions on the nuptials trade.
"Korean men have demographic problems in their own country, particularly in finding wives for rural men who are mainly from the lower-income groups," said John McGeoghan, a human-trafficking expert for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Cambodia.
"In the marketing of this exercise, the Cambodian women are looking at Korean soap operas and thinking they are going to a glamorous life."
It was an IOM report on the exodus of Cambodian brides that sparked Phnom Penh's eight-month foreign marriage ban.
There might be nothing wrong in principle with impoverished women from rural Cambodia or Vietnam choosing to migrate through marriage to South Korea, an industrialized, high-tech country with a rapidly greying population and a lack of womenfolk on the farms.
But the Asian foreign brides business has been a source of disillusionment and outright abuses.
"Part of the reason this is an issue is because it's broker arranged, so they come in and two guys might see 100 Vietnamese girls, and they chose the one they like and are encouraged to sleep with the woman that night," said Andrew Bruce, IOM's Bangkok-based regional representative for South-East Asia.
IOM estimates that some 100,000 Vietnamese women have been brokered to Taiwanese husbands over the last decade. There are some 170,000 brides from mainland China in Taiwan, according to government figures, though the real figure may be closer to 270,000, according to non-government estimates.
South Korea, where brokers formerly recruited wives from rural north-east China, has switched to Vietnamese brides, with about 12,000 arriving every year.
It is big business. A broker charges each would-be husband 5,000- 20,000 dollars for a foreign bride, arranging the introductions, marriages, and processing the visa and passport for the newlywed.
"There was a Vietnamese woman who wanted to get out of it, once the husband had left, and she was told she had to pay all the fees, amounting to 6,000 dollars, and of course she had no money," IOM's Bruce said.
In Taiwan, there are stories of Vietnamese "brides" being used as maids by their new mothers-in-law or shared among several brothers as common chattel.
Alarmed by the horror stories, the Taiwan government has tightened up on immigration controls on Vietnamese women, making it more difficult for them to acquire citizenship.
In South Korea, where four in every 10 marriages in rural areas are cross-cultural, the government has commissioned the Women Migrants Human Rights Centre to run 24-hour emergency help lines for foreign brides in six languages.
Divorces among cross-cultural couples in South Korea have increased from 4,171 in 2003 to 11,225 in 2008, one indication that the soap operas might not be painting an accurate picture of rural lifestyles.
In Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh, the IOM has set up orientation programmes for foreign brides awaiting their visas, informing them of their legal rights and providing them with a smattering of cultural and linguistic preparation for their future marriages.
"These women need information about Korea," IOM's McGeoghan said. "They need to know they are not going to be leading glamorous lives, that sometimes in Korean culture they won't be allowed out of the home or get pocket money."
But IOM regional representative Bruce acknowledged that the programme is more damage control than a solution for the abuses inherit in the marriage trade, which is likely to continue as long as poverty is rampant in the countrysides of Cambodia and Vietnam.
As in all marriages, there is both good and bad.
"On the one hand, these women are open to abuse, and they are almost being bought and sold," Bruce said. "But, on the other hand, the women also earn power, because they have an opportunity then to send money home and become far more important in their own families."