By Avudh Panananda
The Nation
After their best-laid plan went awry, two cunning schemers now find themselves left high and dry. Thaksin Shinawatra and Chavalit Yongchaiyudh have fallen off the political stage.
Until the two can come up with a new ploy to reclaim pole position, the role of playmaker has now been taken up by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
In the next couple of months, Abhisit has a rare opportunity to rectify ailing politics. If he succeeds in his mission, then there is a glimmer of hope for overcoming Thaksin's gravitational pull.
Just a few short months ago, Thaksin and Chavalit acted and talked like they already had the world in the palms of their hands.
Chavalit stepped out of retirement to accept the Pheu Thai Party chairmanship. He confidently outlined his game plan designed to boost Thaksin's political standing.
He believed that he could overcome political polarisation if the pro-Thaksin camp could outshine the Democrat-led coalition.
Thaksin pulled strings with the red shirts and opposition lawmakers in order to orchestrate a showdown to dislodge the coalition.
It so happened that Thaksin and Chavalit found Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen with a receptive ear to get involved in Thai politics and risk the good neighbourly ties.
Under the plan, the involvement of Hun Sen in the Thai political equation was supposed to be proof of Thaksin's superiority over Abhisit. But the plan backfired.
Friends and foes alike saw Thaksin and Chavalit as traitors, serving as Cambodian lapdogs instead of protecting Thai interests.
The very plan designed to destroy the prime minister yielded the opposite result. Abhisit received an all-time-high popularity rating.
Regardless of his experience as the longest-serving prime minister in Southeast Asia, Hun Sen picked two wrong horses to stage an entrance into the Thai political scene.
The Cambodian government had to switch on damage-control mode by dispatching Defence Minister Tea Banh, seen as Hun Sen's closest ally, to Bangkok on a fence-mending mission last week.
The pro-Thaksin camp fell into disarray. Chalerm Yoobamrung, the leader of the Pheu Thai MPs, became "conveniently" ill so he could sit on the fence and watch how the game played out.
Although some 30 Pheu Thai MPs and hardcore supporters went to meet Thaksin in Siem Reap, much greater numbers of opposition lawmakers followed Chalerm's lead to keep their cards close to their chest.
Even Chavalit tried to salvage his image by back-pedalling from Thaksin's Cambodian card. He turned down Thaksin's offer for him to fly to Phnom Penh to pick up the Thai engineer who is expected to be released from the legal wrangling for spying.
As if adding insult to his own injury, Thaksin made controversial and offensive remarks against the monarchy when he tried to apportion the blame for his predicament.
It came as no surprise that the red shirts were forced to postpone their mass rally, billed as a final showdown with the government. Thaksin is doing everything he can to win back trust in his loyalty.
As Thaksin and Chavalit will likely spend months trying to pick up the pieces of their own undoing, the limelight has shifted to Abhisit.
With the lull in street protests, Abhisit now has a fighting chance to steer mainstream politics to overcome the turmoil.
The key is how to accommodate and appease opposition lawmakers in order to stop them from gravitating toward Thaksin.
Three key events may be the decisive factors in reshaping Thai politics. The anticipated Cabinet reshuffle. The upcoming censure debate. And the twisting and turning of the process to amend the charter.
If Abhisit plays his cards right, then voters will likely go to the polls next year. The polarisation may not end completely with one round of voting, but at least the animosity is likely to dissipate.
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Thaksin and Chavalit's Cambodia plan badly misfired
Mother wants Pheu Thai to help free her son
It came as a big slap on the government's face when Simarak Na Nakhon Phanom, mother of Siwarak Chutipong - a Thai national being detained in Cambodia - asked the opposition Pheu Thai Party for assistance yesterday.
She complained that the Foreign Ministry was being too slow in getting her son out of prison.
She went to the party headquarters yesterday to ask former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama to help free Siwarak, who is being held on charges of spying on former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's flight schedule.
"The Foreign Ministry is too slow and my son and I can't wait. I will do anything to get him out," Simarak told a press conference.
Noppadon said he had used his connections in Phnom Penh to help Simarak visit her son again in a couple of days.
Simarak also thanked Thaksin for offering to help her son even though he had done something bad against the former PM.
Siwarak admitted that he had passed Thaksin's flight information on to a Thai diplomat who later was expelled from Cambodia, but Simarak said her son did not know that Thaksin was on the plane.
Siwarak was arrested on November 12 while Thaksin was in Phnom Penh to deliver a speech on economy. His visit intensified tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, especially since Bangkok was already angry with Cambodian PM Hun Sen for appointing Thaksin as his economic adviser. Simarak also called on Pheu Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, asking for help yesterday.
Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign minister, said he understood that Simarak is a mother and would do anything for her son.
"But the Foreign Ministry is doing what it can to help her, too," he said.
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Hun Sen rules out normal ties with Abhisit government
By Rasmei Kampuchea
Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attacked Thailand again yesterday, saying the Thai government was derisive about his country and that Abhisit Vejjajiva was the most difficult Thai PM he had ever worked with.
Hun Sen told reporters in Phnom Penh that bilateral relations, which have been sour for months now, would only be normalised if Thailand had a new government. He added that his country would "have no happiness" while Abhisit and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya were still in power.
"I'm not an enemy of the Thai people ... But, these two people look down on Cambodia," Hun Sen said.
"Cambodia will have no happiness as long as this group is in power."
Hun Sen claimed that Abhisit called him over the weekend after Phnom Penh sent a note last week telling Bangkok that it was cancelling its request for a Bt1.4-billion loan to construct a road from the Thai border to Siem Reap.
"Abhisit called me, for the first time, asking me to withdraw the note. He said Thailand is still willing to give the loan," Hun Sen said.
However, Abhisit was told that Cambodia needed an official letter from him, but though the Thai premier agreed he failed to send the letter at the time it was promised.
"Abhisit is the most difficult person to work with when compared to other Thai PMs," Hun Sen said, adding that from now on Cambodia would not accept any aid from Thailand.
"We have decided to stop receiving any assistance from Thailand. Cambodia cannot allow itself to be humiliated," he added. "I told Abhisit that my people and I were hurt when we heard you talk about halting aid and loans. Now stop talking like this - it is cheap and childish."
The Cambodian leader also hit back about Thailand's threat to close the border between the two countries, saying: "If you are [an] idiot, if you want losses, please go ahead."
Bilateral relations between the two countries soured when Hun Sen appointed fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser and refused to extradite him to Thailand.
Read more!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Thai FM: no plan of talks with Cambodia to end diplomatic dispute
[The Nation report: "Mother meets detained son in P Penh jail"]
Takes soil from house as symbolic link to his motherland
Detained Thai employee Siwarak Chotipong met his mother for the first time yesterday since being arrested on a charge of spying.
Siwarak has been accused of passing on fugitive former prime minister Shinawatra's flight information to an official of the Thai Embassy two weeks ago.
Simarak Ra Khon Phanom flew to see her son in Prey Sor prison on the outskirts of Phnom Penh for an hour and a half yesterday afternoon. She took along soil from her house in Nakhon Ratchasima for her son as a symbolic connection with the motherland.
Siwarak has lost some weight but is still in good health and Cambodian authorities are taking good care of her son, she told reporters in Phnom Penh after a visit.
"He wants to get out of jail as soon as possible and is waiting for the court ruling on December 8," she said.
He is not a political victim, but there might have been some misunderstanding and bad luck for him, she said.
Siwarak was arrested on November 12 on the day Thaksin was in Phnom Penh to give a lecture on economic development after being appointed an economic adviser to Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Siwarak, an employee of Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS), was accused of passing Thaksin's flight information to Thai diplomat Kamrob Palawatwichai, who was later expelled from Cambodia.
If found guilty, he would be sentenced to a 7-15-year jail term or fined 5-25 million Cambodian rials (about Bt50,000-Bt250,000) in accordance with article 19 of the Archive law.
Visiting Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh said his country would handle the Siwarak case in accordance with law and international practice.
Tea Banh was in Thailand for a meeting of General Border Committee with his Thai counterpart Prawit Wongsuwan. They agreed to maintain good ties despite the conflict between the two governments.
Siwarak's case is seen as an extension of the diplomatic row between Thailand and Cambodia. Angered by the appointment of Thaksin as Hun Sen's adviser, Thailand downgraded relations with Cambodia and reviewed cooperation projects including a maritime deal.
Meanwhile Cambodia informed Thailand yesterday it was cancelling an agreement to receive a Bt1.4-billion loan to upgrade a highway from the Thai border, Associated Press reported.
Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said his country will not accept the loan because it could afford to build the road on its own.
Read more!
World Vision Goes Around the World to Find the True Spirit of Christmas Next stop: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Team began quest in U.S. two weeks ago, will travel to three more countries in next three weeks
$25 million fundraising effort aims to fight poverty and help 625,000 people around the world
Contact: Laura Blank, World Vision, 646-245-2496, lblank@worldvision.org
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Nov. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Since November 19, World Vision and thousands of people around the world have been traveling the globe in search of the Christmas spirit as part of the Christian humanitarian agency's "Spirit of Christmas" tour. The month-long tour features interviews and stories with children and families in the United States, Ecuador, Cambodia, Zambia and Ethiopia. In the past two weeks, World Vision's team has been highlighting both the heartbreaking circumstances of the poor and the inspiring impact even small donations of a few dollars can make in helping families provide for their children.
"So far, we've traveled from the neighborhoods of New York City to the mountains of Ecuador to see if we can find the 'true spirit of Christmas' around the world," said Devin Hermanson, campaign manager for World Vision's "Spirit of Christmas" tour. "In a year full of financial scandals, war, natural disasters, and a global recession, we all need a little encouragement. What we've found so far is that people around the world are still helping their neighbor in need."
The team has traveled to New York City and Quito, Ecuador. The team left Ecuador on Saturday, November 28 and traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. There the team will learn first-hand about the sex trafficking industry and meet several young children who have been rescued from sexual slavery and are rebuilding their lives. About 2 million children -- most of them girls -- are enslaved in the global sex trade today.
Fast facts about the "Spirit of Christmas" tour in Phnom Penh, Cambodia:
The team has traveled more than 14, 456 miles since November 19.
So far, more than $4.2 million -- or nearly 20% of the goal -- has been raised toward this year's $25 million goal.
More than 14 million people live in Cambodia.
More than one-third of Cambodians live below the poverty line, and nearly 78% live on less than $2 a day.
Between 50,000 -- 100,000 women and children are involved in the global sex trade.
It is estimated that nearly 30% of children involved in the sex trade are under 18.
The life expectancy for the average person is 61 years old.
World Vision has worked in Cambodia since 1970.
As part of the "Spirit of Christmas" tour, the organization seeks to raise a record-breaking $25 million through the World Vision Gift Catalog to help provide these communities with much-needed resources like water, livestock, medicine, and agriculture -- assistance that could change the lives of nearly 625,000 people. World Vision's cash donations are currently down 4 percent -- or $33 million -- a deficit that could ultimately affect the poorest families around the world. If World Vision meets the Gift Catalog's financial goal this year, it would be far more than the aid agency has ever raised during the holiday period, making it a truly extraordinary response in extraordinary times.
To schedule an interview with the team as they travel, please contact Laura Blank at lblank@worldvision.org or +1.646.245.2496. To follow the team online, log onto Facebook, visit us on Twitter, or check out the "Spirit of Christmas" campaign site at http://www.worldvisiongifts.org/.
Note: The "Spirit of Christmas" World Tour Schedule
Bronx, New York November 17 - 22, 2009
Quito, Ecuador November 22 - 27, 2009
Phnom Penh, Cambodia November 28 - December 5, 2009
Lusaka, Zambia December 6 - 13, 2009
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia December 13 - 17, 2009
Bronx, New York December 18 – 23, 2009
About World Vision
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. We serve all people regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org/press. Read more!
Militaries could heal battered bilateral ties
By The Nation
The positive tone of the Thai and Cambodian defence ministers hold hopes for normalisation
The General Border Committee meeting ended on Friday on a positive note as the Thai and Cambodian defence ministers agreed to work for peace. Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan and his Cambodian counterpart, Tea Banh, said they would use their good offices and the armed forces to create the political space needed to bring about the comfort level for the two sides to move on.
The two governments are currently engaged in one of their bitterest diplomatic disputes in decades after Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra as his economic adviser. The move was nothing less than a slap on Bangkok's face. Hun Sen, naturally, said it was his and his country's business as to who he should appoint. He went on to cut Thailand's judicial system to pieces for charging his good friend with corruption, and taunted the Abhisit Vejjajiva government of being immature and lacking credibility and suggested that it seek legitimacy.
Nevertheless, the two defence ministers spent Friday mapping out guidelines for future cooperation between the armed forces and identified specific programmes to serve as a platform for such cooperation. The soccer game between soldiers from the two countries might well be back on schedule.
It has been pointed out that the Thai Army and their Cambodian counterparts, in spite of experiencing hiccups every now and then, have effectively turned the page and moved on from the turbulent years of the previous decades when Vietnam and Thailand turned Cambodia into a high-stakes game. Everybody had blood on their hands and no one is in the mood to dig up the past, hence the desire to leave the political baggage behind.
But let's not let the cosy feelings in Pattaya blur reality. Tea Banh may be the defence minister but we all know that the buck stops with Hun Sen. If Hun Sen does not want Tea Banh to get cuddly with the Thais, he won't.
Hun Sen may think he is smart by adopting this two-pronged strategy - a diplomatic spitting contest between the two capitals, but hugs and kisses between the two soldiers. But the problem strongmen with inflated egos have is that they invariably shoot themselves in the foot. And by that time it could be too late, as the damage could be too severe and the situation out of control.
No one can deny that there is a high degree of pretentiousness in diplomacy, as the outcome of the Pattaya General Border Committee meeting has shown. Maybe that is what is needed. Bangkok may have to pretend that its feelings were not bruised as badly as it seemed, while Cambodia could reap the benefits of the political capital sowed by Tea Banh and its armed forces. Who knows? The two countries could be hugging and kissing each other one day.
Read more!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Cambodia cancels $41.2 million loan from Thailand
By SOPHENG CHEANG,Associated Press Writer
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Cambodia informed Thailand on Friday it was canceling a US$41.2 million loan from Bangkok meant to finance the upgrade of a highway from the Thai border.
Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said his country didn't need the loan and could afford to build the road on its own.
The decision comes during a period of bad relations between the two countries over Cambodia's recent welcome to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a fugitive from Thai justice.
Thai-Cambodian relations took a turn for the worse when Cambodia recently named Thaksin an adviser on economic affairs. The subsequent visit by Thaksin, and Cambodia's rejection of a formal request from Bangkok to extradite him, drew a negative reaction from Bangkok.
Each country has recalled its ambassador and Bangkok has canceled an agreement to negotiate on joint development of offshore territory claimed by both countries. It also said it would review all other assistance agreements and projects with its neighbor.
Cambodia is holding a Thai man on a spying charge for allegedly sending a copy of Thaksin's flight schedule to the Thai Embassy during the former leader's visit earlier this month.
The secretary to Thailand's foreign minister, Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, downplayed the importance of Phnom Penh's cancellation of the loan to upgrade the 73-mile (117-kilometer) road stretching from Cambodia's northwestern border with Thailand to the province of Siem Reap.
He called it a normal procedure, as Friday marked three months after the agreement was signed, and Cambodia was supposed to give notice on whether it agreed to its terms.
The road would in large part serve trade between the two countries, which is heavily in Thailand's favor.
He said Thailand had reviewed the agreement, as part of its earlier threat to cancel all assistance agreements, but took no action on it.
A Thai court last year sentenced Thaksin in absentia to two years in prison for violating a conflict of interest law, but he fled into exile before the verdict. He was prime minister from 2001 until ousted by a military coup in 2006.
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Khmer Rouge prison chief asks Cambodia genocide tribunal to release him, citing time served
By SOPHENG CHEANG and LUKE HUNT , Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - After claiming to feel great remorse for his part in Khmer Rouge atrocities, the defendant in Cambodia's first genocide trial on Friday surprised the court with a last-minute plea for his freedom, saying he should not have been prosecuted and has already spent ten years in jail.
Kaing Guek Eav, who headed a torture center from which about 16,000 men, women and children were sent to their deaths, seemingly stepped back from previous assertions of responsibility for his actions and expressions of sorrow to his victims, as well as willingness to accept severe punishment.
His Cambodian lawyer, Kar Savuth, went a step further and stunned the tribunal by issuing the trial's first clear call for an acquittal of his client, even after his French lawyer, Francois Roux, denied seeking such a verdict.
Only when directly pressed by a frustrated Judge Dame Silvia Cartwright of New Zealand did Kar Savuth say that in calling for Duch's release he was seeking his acquittal.
After consultations, the judges at the U.N.-assisted tribunal accepted the plea for acquittal, even though the legal basis for it was unclear.
Acquittal in legal terms normally means a finding that the defendant is not guilty of the crimes he is charged with, while the defense case hinged generally on claims that Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, ought to have any punishment lightened in view of his cooperation with the court and expressions of remorse.
Cambodian-American human rights lawyer Theary Seng said the call for an acquittal was difficult to understand.
"What he did totally undermines his efforts up until now in terms of remorse and it undermines his request for forgiveness, which I thought was genuine," she said. "It's inexplicable and calls into question his previous efforts of remorse. This is really disturbing."
Friday's dramatic turn of events came as the trial was in its next to last stage, with prosecution and defense making rebuttals to the other's closing arguments. Judges are expected to issue their verdict early next year.
Duch is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture.
The prosecution earlier this week asked the court to sentence Duch to 40 years in jail, taking into account his cooperation and time served while waiting for trial. The maximum sentence he could receive is life imprisonment. Cambodia has no death penalty.
Some 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, execution, disease and starvation due to the radical communist policies of the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime. Four senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge are also in the tribunal's custody, and they are expected to be tried next year or later.
Even Friday, Duch spoke of acknowledging and apologizing for "the more than one million souls who perished" due to the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge.
But he went on to claim that the tribunal's mandate was to prosecute senior Khmer Rouge leaders, and didn't apply to him, an argument that had already been rejected by the court.
Also pointing out the time he had already spent in custody, Duch said to the judges, "I ask the chamber to release me."
The tribunal earlier this year ruled that Duch had been held illegally for five of the eight years he was in the custody of Cambodia's military court before being transferred to the tribunal, and that if found guilty, he could get credit not only for time already served but also to compensate for the earlier violation of his rights.
The positions of Duch's two lawyers seemed to diverge in their closing arguments earlier this week, with Kar Savuth seeking an acquittal, and Roux pleading for a lenient prison sentence due to his client's contrition and cooperation with the court.
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Thailand, Cambodia say row won't lead to conflict
BANGKOK — Thailand and Cambodia's diplomatic row over fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra will not cause further clashes between their armed forces, their defense ministers said after meeting Friday.
Relations between the countries, which have fought a string of deadly gunbattles on their border since last year, plunged earlier this month when Thaksin visited Phnom Penh as an advisor to the Cambodian government.
After a two-day meeting in the Thai resort town of Pattaya which ended Friday, the Thai and Cambodian defense ministers said they had agreed to reach peaceful solutions to solve new misunderstandings.
"Thai and Cambodian forces will support every mechanism to strengthen relations between the two countries," Thai defense minister Prawit Wongsuwan told reporters.
Prawit said the meeting focused on issues around the poorly defined, heavily armed border and how to make people who live there live peacefully.
Prawit added that military and diplomatic rows were different, saying: "We have to divide them from each other".
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as an economic adviser earlier this month and the Thai tycoon then visited Phnom Penh for four days from November 10.
Thailand was infuriated when Cambodia refused to extradite Thaksin, who was sentenced to two years in jail in absentia in September 2008 on corruption charges and is currently living in exile.
The two countries withdrew their ambassadors, and the row was further inflamed when Cambodian police arrested a Thai man on charges of spying on Thaksin and expelled the first secretary to Thailand's embassy.
Thailand reciprocated soon after.
But Cambodia allowed the mother of the detained man, Siwarak Chothipong, 31, an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, to visit him in prison on Friday in a bid to ease tensions.
"They met for one hour and a half at a meeting room in the prison," said Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, a secretary to the Thai foreign minister.
Siwarak's mother, Simarak Na Nokhon Phanom, told reporters at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh that she thanked Hun Sen for allowing her to see her son, but added that he was "unlucky" to be arrested.
Siwarak an employee at the Cambodia Air Traffic Service, was arrested early this month on charges of spying on Thaksin's flight schedule.
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Feature: Mekong Arts Festival: catalyst for social changes
As some 200 artists and media practitioners converge here for the week-long Mekong Festival beginning on Monday, their attention has gone far beyond "arts for arts' sake". What they are advocating is how to promote arts as catalyst for social transformation.
Through workshops, performances, forum, conference, film shows and visual arts, artists from the Mekong sub-region which is composed of Cambodia, China, Laos , Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, showcased their understanding of life in the era of globalization and economic integration.
Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), one of the organizers of the Festival from the host country, has demonstrated the vigor and power of youth art throughout the festival with the omni-present performers, some 100 in total, disseminating the message of arts as a life-transforming force.
PPS, meaning "the brightness of art" in Khmer, was originated in 1989 from a refugee camp on the Thai border, when child refugees were encouraged to use artistic expression to overcome the trauma of war. After the refugees returned to their homeland, the idea of creative workshops persisted as a group of former children from the camp founded PPS IN 1994.
Today, PPS, a Cambodian non-governmental organization (NGO) which aims to support community development through providing social, educative and cultural services to children and their families, has not only hosted poor, disabled, abused and trafficked children in the Child Care Center, but opens wide its door to children and youth who want to pursue their artistic instincts and interests by enlisting them to its Visual Arts School, Performing Arts School and Music School.
Its iconic circus groups are the most renowned among its schools, touring and performing in Cambodia and Europe, nurturing an independent generation who are capable of supporting themselves while exemplifying their strength.
"Arts is a powerful tool for children to develop their confidence," said Khun Det, founder of PPS. He believes that visual arts and culture is more effective than speeches. He regarded PPS circus as "social circus" which combines elements of theater and music in addition to tradition.
During the Festival, audiences are amazed PPS performers whose vigor, humor and skills are great inspirations to children and youth in the community.
Chinese artists also shared their experiences at the Festival.
Zhang Jinzhong, an ethnic Jingpo dancer from Nengguan Performing Arts and Training Center in Ruili, southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been doing health education through dance for four years, helping ethnic youths learn folk dance, rap, or modern dance while staying away from drugs and HIV/AIDS.
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Lawyers say Khmer Rouge prison chief a scapegoat
By SOPHENG CHEANG and LUKE HUNT (AP)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Closing arguments were expected to conclude Friday in the genocide trial of a Khmer Rouge prison chief, with the two sides sparing over how much the former Cambodian school teacher should be held accountable for the regime's brutality.
Prosecutors earlier in the week demanded a 40-year jail sentence for Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, but the defense insisted he was not a senior Khmer Rouge leader and therefore should not be prosecuted at all.
That prompted an angry rebuttal Friday from Australian co-prosecutor William Smith, who said such defense assertions showed that Duch (pronounced DOIK) was "not facing up to who he was back in 1975 to 1979."
Duch commanded the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh where those accused of disloyalty to the xenophobic communist regime were held. He oversaw the torture and execution of about 16,000 men, women and children during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.
Some 1.7 million Cambodians died of torture, execution, disease and starvation under the Khmer Rouge, whose Maoist ideologues led by Pol Pot emptied cities and forced virtually the entire population to work on farm collectives.
Judges in the U.N.-backed tribunal are expected to decide the verdict and sentence by early next year.
French defense attorney Francois Roux told the court Thursday that his client was being made a "scapegoat" for all the wrongs committed by the Khmer Rouge.
"As long as the prosecution's submissions make this man a scapegoat, you will not advance the development of humankind one millimeter," Roux told the packed court. "No, Duch does not have to bear the whole horror of the tragedy of Cambodia on his head."
Roux also criticized prosecutors for portraying Duch as a key member of the regime responsible for the network of terror.
"How dare you!" he declared, telling the court that a mere 1 percent of the Khmer Rouge victims died at S-21.
Duch, 67, is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
He has denied personally killing or torturing the S-21 prisoners, and testified that he only reluctantly carried out the orders from his superiors, because he feared for his life and his family's safety.
Addressing the court Wednesday, Duch apologized to the dead, their families, survivors of the regime and to all Cambodians — something he has done repeatedly since the trial began in March.
He said he was "deeply remorseful and profoundly affected by the destruction on such a mind-boggling scale."
But he emphasized that he was not alone in carrying out torture and killings, which also took place at 196 other prisons across the country, and insisted there was little he could do to prevent the horror at S-21.
"I could do nothing to help," he said. "Pol Pot regarded these people as thorns in his eyes."
Smith, the co-prosecutor, earlier acknowledged Duch's admissions of guilt and the fact that he has given evidence against other Khmer Rouge leaders, but said he still must be held accountable.
"The crimes committed by the accused at S-21 are rarely matched in modern history in terms of their combined barbarity, scope, duration, premeditation and their callousness," he said. "Not just the victims and their families but the whole of humanity demand a just and proportionate response to these crimes and this court must speak on behalf of that humanity."
Some survivors and other victims of the Khmer Rouge attending the U.N.-backed trial said a 40-year prison term, which would likely lock up Duch for life, would not be harsh enough. They want a life sentence handed down.
Read more!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Khmer Defence Minister Tea Banh visits Thailand
By The Nation
Cambodia's Defence Minister Gen Tea Banh arrived in Thailand on Thursday to co-chair a meeting of Thai-Cambodia General Border Committee.
The meeting which will be held in Chon Buri's Banglamung district will be held in tight security as Thai-Cambodia relations have been on the line following visit of ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra to Phnom Penh earlier this month.
The senior officers of both countries then enjoyed golf games at a golf courses in Chon Buri.
Dozens of police and soldiers in full gear are deployed at Dusit Thani Hotel in Chon Buri where the group was staying.
The mutual relations have been strained following Thaksin's visit with Thailand and Cambodia recalling their ambassadors and first secretaries. Thailand has reviewed mutual cooperations to protest the visit.
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Khmer Rouge torturer had to "kill or be killed"
By Ek MadraPHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The Khmer Rouge's chief torturer and jailer had to "kill or be killed" and operate like an "obedient machine," his lawyer said on Thursday in defending the first member of Cambodia's murderous regime to face justice.
In the final two days of testimony in the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, a lawyer for the commander of the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison said his client's life was at stake when he ordered the murder of more than 14,000 people in the 1970s.
Speaking a day after prosecutors asked the court to sentence Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, to 40 years in prison, the lawyer said the tribunal should show leniency because the 67-year-old former maths teacher had fully cooperated.
"Without Duch, the trial could not have unfolded if he, like others, had decided to remain in silence," Francois Roux, Duch's lawyer, told a courtroom packed with more than 600 people, including many survivors of the ultra-communist regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths in 1975-79.
"The accused was absolutely, himself, in the hands of the party. And in fact, he had to operate like a machine, an obedient machine," said Roux. "He himself was in a situation where he had to choose to kill or be killed."
"We do not wish our client to be the scapegoat," he added.
Duch is scheduled to take the stand again on Friday on the final day of the trial. A verdict is expected by March.
He is accused of "crimes against humanity, enslavement, torture, sexual abuses and other inhumane acts" as commander of Tuol Sleng prison, a converted high school also known as S-21, during one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.
Only seven of 14,000 people who passed through S-21 survived.
Prosecutors have urged the tribunal's five-judge panel to reject Duch's assertion he had little choice but to carry out orders, saying Duch was "ideologically of the same mind" as the Khmer Rouge leaders and did nothing to stop prison guards from inflicting rampant torture.
QUARTER OF POPULATION DIED
Lead prosecutor William Smith told the court this week "the accused was neither a prisoner, nor a hostage, nor a victim. He was an idealist, a revolutionary, a crusader - prepared to torture and kill willingly for the good of the revolution."
The tribunal seeks justice for nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population who perished from execution, overwork or torture during the Khmer Rouge's agrarian revolution, which ended with the 1979 invasion by Vietnam.
Duch faces up to life in prison if convicted. Smith said on Wednesday he should get 40 years. Cambodia does not have capital punishment.
Now a born-again Christian, Duch expressed "excruciating remorse" on Wednesday for the S-21 victims, most of them tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned to death at the "Killing Fields" execution sites.
Witnesses in 72 days of hearings spoke of beatings with metal pipes, electrocution, near-starvation, violent rape and prisoners forced to eat their own excrement.
Duch has asked if he could apologise in person to his victims' families, and has said he was convinced he was fighting to free Cambodia from U.S. imperialism during the Vietnam War.
Four other senior Khmer Rouge cadres are in custody awaiting trial. They are ex-president Khieu Samphan, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, his wife Khieu Thirith and "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea. Unlike Duch, they have not publicly apologised.
Pol Pot, architect of the Khmer Rouge's "Year Zero" peasant revolution, was captured in 1997 and died in April 1998.
The chamber of three Cambodian and two foreign judges -- known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia -- requires four to agree on a verdict.
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Thai Foreign Minister stresses Thai-Cambodian problem is bilateral issue
BANGKOK, Nov 26 (TNA) – Thailand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya stressed when meeting with visiting Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr RM Marty M Natalegawa that the diplomatic standoff between Thailand and Cambodia was a bilateral issue and could be settled between the two governments, according to a ministry senior official.
Information Department deputy director general Thani Thongphakdi told reporters after the Thai and Indonesian foreign ministers met that Mr Kasit explained the current situation between Thailand and Cambodia to his Indonesian counterpart.
Mr Kasit added that Thailand and Cambodia are trying to resolve their problem and that both consider the rift is a bilateral issue, not wider, and should be settled by the two governments, according to Mr Thani.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono earlier expressed concerns over the continuing Thai and Cambodian rift and offered to serve as a mediator in the matter.
Mr Thani said Mr Natalegawa had listened to the Thai minister’s explanation and expressed hope that the diplomatic rift can be mended peacefully.
The Indonesian official was in Thailand on an introductory trip after being appointed foreign minister on October 22.
He is a career diplomat with more than 20 years of solid experience in diplomacy and international relations. He served as Indonesia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York before being appointed as foreign minister.
The diplomatic falling out between the Thai and Cambodian governments flared up after the Cambodian government appointed fugitive ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as its economic adviser. The two kingdoms recalled their respective ambassadors in retaliatory actions.
The Cambodian government also invited Mr Thaksin to Phnom Penh to lecture Cambodian business leaders and economists as his first assignment, at the same time rejecting Thailand's request to extradite the fugitive former premier.
As the diplomatic row continues, Mr Thaksin's interview with Britain’s Timesonline website continued to rankle Thais.
In the article, Mr Thaksin commented about the Thai monarch and his successor, with remarks considered offensive to the monarchy. The ousted premier, however, reportedly defended himself by saying his interview was ‘distorted’ by the reporter.
Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) board decided to investigate TimeOnline, an arm of Britain’s Times of London as a special case due to its exclusive interview with Mr Thaksin deemed offensive to the monarch. (TNA)
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VIP Falls Behind Expectations
Nov 26, 2009 (Zacks.com via COMTEX) -- VimpelCom (VIP) reported third-quarter 2009 earnings of 42 cents per ADS (based on an average exchange rate of 31.26 RUR/US$) that narrowly missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents. However, the result beat the year-ago earnings per ADS of 27 cents.
The second-largest Russian telecom carrier reported quarterly net income of RUR13.5 billion (US$432 million), more than double the net income of RUR6.5 billion (US$208 million) reported in the year-ago quarter. This significant year-over-year growth is largely attributable to foreign exchange gains from a strong Russian ruble versus the US dollar.
Operating revenue increased 3.5% year over year to RUR71.3 billion (US$2.3 billion) as growth across Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan was partly offset by declines in Ukraine and Armenia. Revenue from the wireless operation was RUR60.7 billion (US$1.9 billion) while the fixed-line business generated revenue of RUR15.1 billion (US$483 million).
Reported OIBDA of RUR36 billion (US$1.2 billion) reflects a year-over-year growth of 7%, yielding an OIBDA margin of 50.4%. The annualized growth reflects the company's ability to reduce costs amid the volatile economic environment. VimpelCom is pursuing various strategies to maximize cash flow through several cost-control measures.
The company's total active cellular subscriber base grew by roughly 7.6 million year over year and by 1.7 million sequentially to 65.4 million. Its broadband subscriber base increased 11% sequentially to approximately 1.9 million.
On a geographic basis, revenue from Russia increased 4.1% year over year to RUR61.2 billion (US$1.9 billion), representing roughly 86% of the company's total sales. Mobile subscriber base in Russia grew 13.2% year over year to 51 million. VimpelCom added 174,000 broadband subscribers during the quarter, bringing the total customer base to 1.83 million. The results were supported by a resurgent Russian economy.
Consolidated revenue from the CIS markets grew 3.9% year over year to RUR11.1 billion (US$355 million). Revenue from Kazakhstan (the largest CIS market) registered RUR5.4 billion (US$173 million), up 11.9% year over year. However, sales declined year over year in other key markets such as Ukraine (down 22.3%) and Armenia (down 3.4%).
During the quarter, VimpelCom spent RUR3.8 billion (US$122 million) in capital expenditures (CAPEX). The company has revised its CAPEX guidance reflecting a stronger ruble versus the dollar. VimpelCom expects CAPEX to be in the range of 10%-12% of its 2009 annual sales. The company plans to lift capital spending by at least 50% in 2010 to support 3G network expansion. VimpelCom's 3G services currently cover all regions of Russia.
VimpelCom repaid debt worth US$690 million during the third quarter. The company successfully reduced its net debt to US$5.5 billion at the end of the quarter from $6.3 billion registered in the previous quarter.
In October 2009, the company's two major shareholders Telenor and Altimo announced plans to merge their holdings in VimpelCom and Ukranian mobile operator Kyivstar to create a jointly owned telecom operator.
VimpelCom remains the second-largest wireless operator in Russia with over a 25% market share. Nevertheless, the company has a higher projected growth rate than its Russian peer Mobile Telesystems (MBT) as it continues to demonstrate the ability to succeed in emerging markets on the strength of sustained subscriber growth.
Besides maintaining its strong market position in the rapidly maturing Moscow metropolitan area, VimpleCom has successfully expanded into incipient Asian markets such as Vietnam and Cambodia. The company completed the commercial launch of its cellular operation in Cambodia in May 2009 under the Beeline brand. This was followed by the launch of wireless operation in Vietnam in July 2009. Moreover, VimpleCom recently signed an agreement to enter the Laos mobile market.
VimpelCom plans to cover more than two-third of Cambodia's population by the end of 2009 and reach over 40 provinces and 41 million people in Vietnam by the end of January 2010. The relatively lower mobile penetration in these new Asian markets offers attractive growth opportunities for the company.
Get real-time market insights and profitable stock recommendations from the team of analysts at Zacks Investment Research.See all today's Analyst Blog entries.
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Cambodia to develop solar power to meet domestic need
PHNOM PENH: Ten companies from eight countries have sought permission to invest in solar energy projects in Cambodia, after the removal of a 15% duty on imports of the materials needed to build solar plants in August, China’s Xinhua news agency cited a local media as saying.
“We have received many proposals for our approval, and we are now instructing them to study the domestic electricity market,” the ministry Secretary of State Sat Samy was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.
“Two companies, from Japan and Malaysia, are close to beginning development on solar investment projects.” The other companies are from the United States, China, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Singapore, he said.
They were planning developments capable of generating between 10 and 50 megawatts of electricity.
The Cambodian government plans to supply electricity throughout the entire country by 2020 by developing renewable energy resources, specifically looking at solar, hydro and biomass fueled power, Sat Samy said.
Energy demand in Cambodia is expected to grow 3.7% per year from 2005 to 2030 as manufacturing industries are established and more households are connected to the electricity grid, according to a report released this month by the Asian Development Bank.
Just 20% of households are currently connected to the national grid, which is fragmented into isolated power systems centred on provincial towns and cities.
Sat Samy said the unserviced households present an opportunity for environmentally friendly electricity investment, adding that the solar industry had greater potential than in more developed countries such as Thailand and Vietnam.
Sat Samy said he anticipated electricity generated from solar panels would range from US$0.12 cents to US$0.15 cents a kilowatt-hour, higher than the expected price of the power to be generated from hydroelectric dams under construction along the Kingdom’s rivers. -- Bernama
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Death toll of A/H1N1 flu in Cambodia increases to 5
PHNOM PENH, Nov 25, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The death toll of A/H1N1 flu in Cambodia has increased to five and the virus infected rate topped 28 cases for one week, official of the Health Ministry said on Thursday.
"The fifth person who died of the flu late last week is a 20 year-old Khmer man," Ly Sovan, deputy director of the communicable control department of Health Ministry told Xinhua by phone.
He could not elaborate in detail for fatality case. But he said that the cumulative number of confirmed cases in Cambodia are 472, up from 444 cases last week. It spreads in 13 provinces and city in the country including Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kandal, Takeo, Kampong Speu, Battambang, Kampong Chhnang, Svay Rieng, Kampong Cham, Mondul Kiri, Kampot, Prey Veng and Banteay Mean Chey provinces.
According to a report from the Cambodian Heath Ministry, the ministry will receive 300,000 doses of A/H1N1 flu vaccine by the end of November from the World Health Organization.
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Prosectors seek 40 years for Khmer Rouge jail chief
CNN) -- Prosecutors in the trial of a former Khmer Rouge prison chief asked a U.N.-backed Cambodian court Wednesday to sentence the man to 40 years in prison for his role in the torture and deaths of thousands.
Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, is being tried on charges that include war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture during the communist regime's rule from 1975 to 1979.
Soon after the prosecution spoke Wednesday, Duch got up and apologized to the victims' families and asked for their forgiveness -- something he has repeatedly done since he became a born-again Christian.
Duch said he was just an instrument, with no choice but to follow orders from a regime that was determined to destroy all of its enemies, said Lars Olsen, spokesman for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Duch, 67, asked the court to consider his actions in the context of the time, saying the torture and killings were inevitable, Olsen said.
Duch's trial began in February just outside the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Lawyers are making closing arguments this week. A verdict is expected sometime early next year.
Prosecutors contended that Duch, a former school teacher, ran S-21 -- a prison that had been converted from a school.
Here, men, women and children were shackled to iron beds and tortured -- before they were beaten to death, prosecutors said.
Duch not just oversaw the torture and killing of more than 15,000 people -- but actively took part in some of them, prosecutors said.
Many of the victims were military officials or members of the Communist Party who were targeted for not going along with the philosophy of the ultra-Maoist Khmer Rouge movement.
The movement swept to power in 1975. Three years, eight months and 20 days later, at least 1.7 million people -- nearly one-quarter of Cambodia's population -- were dead from execution, disease, starvation and overwork, according to the Documentation Center of Cambodia.
The non-profit organization has been at the forefront of recording the atrocities committed during the regime.
S-21 was one of 189 similar institutions across Cambodia. And Duch is the first former Khmer Rouge leader to stand trial.
Spectators, many of them survivors of the abuse, watched the proceedings from an auditorium separated from the courtroom by a large glass window to prevent revenge attacks.
Four other former leaders await trial before the tribunal, also accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The tribunal, which is made up of Cambodian and international judges, does not have the power to impose the death penalty.
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S. Korea to airlift supplies to storm-hit Cambodia
SEOUL, Nov. 25 — South Korea said Wednesday it will airlift about seven tons of supplies this week to Cambodia as part of its pledge to help the Southeast Asian country bounce back from recent storm damage.
A C-130 transport aircraft carrying tuna cans, powdered milk, soap and other supplies will depart Thursday after the leaders of the two countries agreed last month on joint recovery efforts, the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul said in a statement.
South Korea will contribute US$ 200,000 worth of supplies, half of which will be carried on the aircraft while the other half will be delivered by local suppliers in Cambodia, the ministry said.
Typhoon Ketsana killed at least 18 people in central Cambodia in September, injuring 100 others and destroying scores of homes, according to news reports. (PNA/Yonhap)
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Khmer Rouge jailer expresses 'excruciating remorse'
By Ek Madra
PHNOM PENH, The Khmer Rouge's chief torturer and jailer expressed "excruciating remorse" on Wednesday for more than 14,000 people killed under his watch at a notorious prison during Cambodia's ultra-Maoist revolution of the 1970s.
In the final week of testimony for the first senior Khmer Rouge cadre to face the U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" tribunal, Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, said he was solely liable for the killings but that he served a mafia-type group.
"I found I had ended up serving a criminal organisation which destroyed its own people in outrageous fashion. I could not withdraw from it," said the 67-year-old former maths teacher.
"I was like a screw in the machinery of a car that could not be removed."
Duch is accused of "crimes against humanity, enslavement, torture, sexual abuses and other inhumane acts" as commander of S-21 prison during one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century, when the Khmer Rouge ruled from 1975-79 under Pol Pot.
He said he was convinced he was fighting to free Cambodia from U.S. imperialism during the Vietnam War. He has denied personally killing or torturing prisoners and has repeatedly said he was following orders out of fear for his own life.
Karim Khan, a civil party lawyer, urged the tribunal's five-judge panel this week to reject Duch's assertion he had little choice but to carry out orders, saying Duch was "ideologically of the same mind" as the Khmer Rouge leaders.
The tribunal seeks justice for 1.7 million people, nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population, who perished from execution, overwork or torture during the Khmer Rouge's agrarian revolution, which ended in the 1979 invasion by Vietnam.
"I am deeply remorseful of and profoundly affected by this destruction," he said. "I am solely and individually liable for the loss of at least 12,380 lives."
Researchers say more than 14,000 were killed after passing through S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng. Only seven survived.
"PSYCHOLOGICALLY ACCOUNTABLE"
Duch faces up to life in prison if convicted. A prosecutor said on Thursday Duch should get 40 years in prison for his role. Cambodia does not have capital punishment.
Now a born-again Christian, Duch has in the past expressed remorse for the S-21 victims, most of them tortured and forced to confess to spying and other crimes before they were bludgeoned to death at the "Killing Fields" execution sites.
But he appeared to take this further on Wednesday, speaking of his wish to apologise "forever" and telling a court packed with about 600 people, including some survivors of the regime, he would seek help to be recognised again as "part of humankind".
"I am psychologically accountable to the entire Cambodian population for the souls of those who perished," he said.
"May I plead with you to allow me to share with you my immense and enduring sorrow ... in order to express my most excruciating remorse."
Prosecution lawyers say Duch had broad autonomy and did nothing to stop prison guards from inflicting rampant torture.
Witnesses in 72 days of hearings spoke of beatings with metal pipes, electrocution, near-starvation, violent rape and forcing some prisoners to eat their own excrement.
A verdict is expected by March.
"I want him to face up to 80 years or life in jail," said 79-year-old Chum Mey, a rare S-21 survivor.
Mey was accused by the Khmer Rouge of working for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency before he was shackled, confined to a cell and tortured. He testified earlier in the year his toenails were torn off and he nearly starved to death.
A defence lawyer said Duch was unfairly singled out while nearly 200 other Khmer Rouge prison chiefs were never arrested or brought before a judge, including some who oversaw prisons and camps where as many as 150,000 people were killed.
"They have to be brought before the court," he said. "Only then will justice be done."
Four other senior Khmer Rouge cadres are in custody awaiting trial. They are ex-president Khieu Samphan, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, his wife Khieu Thirith and "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea. Unlike Duch, they have not publicly apologised.
Pol Pot, architect of the Khmer Rouge's "Year Zero" peasant revolution, was captured in 1997 and died in April 1998.
The chamber of three Cambodian and two foreign judges -- known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia -- requires four to agree on a verdict.
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