Feng Shui expert foretold Thailand faces turmoil in the "Year of Tiger"

By Khmerization

A Thai Feng Shui expert has foretold that in the Year of Tiger (2010) Thailand will face political turmoil and Prime Minister Abhisit will be toppled from powers while luck and fortunes will come on the way of fugitive ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra, reports Koh Santepheap.

A week ago, Mr. Soraccha Mulyu, another Thai famous fortune-teller, predicted that in 2010 Thailand will face misfortunes. Cambodia and Thailand will fight a bloody battle where many Thais will be killed by Cambodian soldiers.

The Feng Shui expert also foretold that Mr. Thaksin will face danger in the first three months of the Year of Tiger if he is not careful. He said Mr. Thaksin's zodiac sign is good that makes it possible for his return to Thailand or setting up his base along the Khmer-Thai borders such as in Koh Kong becaase in the Year of Tiger Cambodia will become more powerful and influential which can order Mr. Thaksin to cause choas and turmoil in Thailand like 60 years ago.

The Feng Shui expert predicted that February, June and October (2010) the political turmoil in Thailand will reach boiling point that will lead to a big change. The government will not be able to sustain the turmoil and two important persons in the government (Abhisit and Kasit?) will be toppled from powers in the middle of the year.

The expert predicted that the government can only survive the turmoil if it moves the central government administration and offices to a new place, preferably Phitsanoulok, because it has a good Feng Shui. In the past Mr. Thaksin and Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda (king's chief advisor) have used Phitsanoulok as their headquarters because the present government office building has a U-shape which, according to Chinese Feng Shui, looks like a person with their hands being handcuffed behind their back. The other two government office buildings location is a bit isolated from the main building and their isolation, according to Feng Shui, makes government's powers unsecured and untenable. As such, the government must move its headquarters and administration offices to a new place.

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Cambodia confirms takeover of air traffic company

The alleged Thai spy Siwarak and his mother.

By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press

The Cambodian government on Friday confirmed its temporary takeover of management of the country's air traffic control company after one of its Thai employees was arrested last week on a spying charge.

The move complicates a diplomatic row between Thailand and Cambodia over Phnom Penh's recent welcome to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a fugitive from Thai justice.

Tekreth Samrach, a deputy minister of the Council of Ministers, said the government took the action against Thai-owned Cambodia Traffic Air Services _ CATS _ for the sake of national security and flight safety. Nine Thai employees of the firm were also banned from the workplace, he added.

A CATS employee, Siwarak Chutipong, was arrested last week for allegedly passing secret information about Thaksin's flight schedule to the Thai Embassy. Thaksin is a fugitive on a Thai corruption charge.

Cambodia this month named Thaksin an adviser on economic affairs. The appointment, and a subsequent visit by Thaksin, set off a diplomatic imbroglio in which the two countries recalled their ambassadors. 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.

Relations were strained further when Cambodia rejected a formal request from Bangkok to extradite Thaksin. The situation worsened when Cambodia expelled a Thai diplomat and arrested Sirawak.

"We need to secure the national security of our country and our leaders' safety. This is a national security concern _ very important," Tekreth Samrach said at a press briefing, adding that the measures against CATS were only temporary.

He said the takeover was implemented about a week ago and legal experts are now studying how long it should last, or whether the government should end the concession for air traffic control held by the Thai company Samart.

The nine Thai employees have not been fired, he said, but only asked not to come into the CATS office.

Kao Sopha, a Cambodian lawyer for the detained Thai man, said separately that he would submit an application Monday to have his client released on bail.

He said that Siwarak was in good health when he went to see him Friday morning at Prey Sar prison, but that he strongly desires to be released.

It is not clear when Siwarak might face trial. Cambodian officials say he is still under investigation.

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Take due measure to deal with Sam Rainsy´s act of sabotage: Viet PM Ngyen Tan Dung

Nham Dan News

By Pang Sokheoun

Originally posted at: The Son of the Empire

Youn PM Dung´s reaction to MP Sam Rainsy:

Regarding acts and statements made by Sam Rainsy – President of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), who recently uprooted six temporary poles for Marker 185 between Vietnam’s southern province of Long An and Cambodia’s Svay Rieng province – he proposed that the Cambodian government take due measures to deal with Rainsy’s acts of sabotage and not permit similar cases to occur, as they negatively affect the fine relations between the two nations.

What do you mean by fine relation? You mean by invading Cambodia?

PM Dung, you should know that in March 1964, Cambodia established diplomatic relations with North Vietnam and it recognized Cambodian border existence, but concerning the Cambodian border with the South Vietnam, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (NFLSVN), Cambodia should negotiate a border settlement directly with it. Then NFLSVN´s Central Committee’s Declaration dated on 13 May 1967, confirmed by Letter dated on 6 June 1967 of Mr Nguyen Huu Tho, the President of the Presidium of the Central Committee, officially recognized Cambodian border which in its declaration also recognized the so-called 1939 Brevie Line as maritime border of the two states.

But why now your government refuse to accept the Brevie Line and demand for the equidistance principle? And why do you keep demanding Cambodia to accept the unequal treaties as a negotiation tool like the treaties of 1979, 1982, 1983, and 1985, which signed during your occupation in Cambodia?

In fact, the two countries don´t need those international law violated treaties because the two countries have already had enough treaties, decrees, and conventions added to the 1964 and 1967 Vietnamese declarations to solve the border disputes as long as Vietnam want to be a good neighbors, respect the law, but not a continuing invader. We have like the Boundary Decision dated on 9 July 1870, Convention dated on 15 July 1873, Decree on the Creation Can-Le District dated on 26 July 1893, the Royal Ordinance Regarding Boundary Changes between Cambodia and Vietnam dated on 12 March 1914, Decree Governing the Boundary Between Vietnam and Cambodia dated on 31 July 1914, Decree Reinstating the Province of Darlac in Annam, dated on 30 April 1929, and Decree dated 1935. All of them still have the binding effect today.

So please tell us, PM Dung the invader, is that your fine relationship with Cambodia? Or do you mean your continuing invasion on Cambodian territorial integrity without repecting for her boundary existence which your previous government as well as UN have recognized as a fine relation?

Clearly the border post installation in Chantrea district uprooted by MP Sam Rainsy were completely imposed by Vietnam basing on the illegal 1985 treaty.

With this regard, MP Sam Rainsy doesn’t sabotage the fine relation of the two countries, insteadd his action if you and Hun Sen take it into consideration will be admirably able to stop the already broken fine relations of the two countries that you and Hun Sen have already sabotaged which will continue to affect for the long term until the nex next generation that we the peace lovers reciprocally, reasonably and respectfully don´t want to see it happen.

Now we would like to warn you that such a fine relation that you have claimed and imposed on Cambodia will not be sustainable for a long run, because Hun Sen´s government, your puppet, will not last forever, and we the new generation of Cambodia will surely nullify all those illegal treaties and then we will propose the co-President of the 1991 Paris Conference – France and Indonesia, to create the ad hoc committee in charge of the control and application of the provision of the article 5, subparagraph 1,2,3 and 4 of the Paris Agreement on the protecting the land and the marinetime integrity of Cambodia and as the last resort the UN Security Council.

Reminder: PM Dung as a neighbor and in this 21th century you should honour this slogan raised against the war in your country, “Make love not war.”

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Thai PM: Thai-Cambodian relationship now stable

BANGKOK, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Thai-Cambodian relationship is currently stable and is not expected to deteriorate, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (pictured) said Friday.

Thailand and Cambodia have downgraded their diplomatic relations due to conflict over an appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic advisor to Cambodia's government and Prime Minister Hun Sen on Nov.4.

A day after the appointment of the ousted former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, the Cambodian government announced recall of its ambassador to Thailand in a move to respond to the Thai government's recall of its ambassador to Cambodia.

"The Thai-Cambodian relationship is now stable," Thai News Agency quoted Abhisit as saying.

Also, both sides are ready to discuss as there will be a meeting of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Boundary Commission (JBC), said Abhisit.

The JBC meeting will be co-chaired by Thai Defense Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan and Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh, he said.

Thaksin was ousted by the military coup in September 2006, in accusation of corruption, and has been kept in exile since then.

He returned to Thailand in February 2008 to face corruption charges, but he later fled into exile again and was convicted in absentia.
Editor: Xiong Tong

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Thai businesses fear closure of border

• Published: 21/11/2009
• Bangkok Post
  

As the Thai-Cambodian media skirmish continues, Thai executives are starting to fear their operations will suffer.

Gamblers are staying away from casinos in Koh Kong and Poipet, while tourist numbers are on the slide. Kasikorn Research Center said the escalating tensions could affect businesses and populations on both sides of the border.

The conflict between the Thai and Cambodian governments recently reached a new and alarming level when both countries withdrew their ambassadors after Cambodia named fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser and refused to extradite him when he visited the country.

But the Thai-Cambodian border remains open so the border trade, which accounts for as much as 80% of bilateral trade, continues as usual.

If the conflict is quickly resolved without either side resorting to force, trade will not be disrupted, said K-Research.

Even a temporary border closure, similar to that caused by the earlier Preah Vihear temple dispute, would only have a limited impact, the researchers said. But a prolonged closure would inevitably damage trade, causing Thai exporters to lose their share in Cambodia's market.

Thai exports to Cambodia last year were worth 67 billion baht, while imports from Cambodia were only 3 billion baht.

Thailand's trade surplus reflects Cambodia's inability to supply its market's demand, while Cambodian consumers are accustomed to imported Thai products such as sugar, beverages, cosmetics, soaps and related products. The Cambodian business sector also relies on imported processed oil and cement.

Thailand is currently the largest exporter to Cambodia, supplying 23% of its imports, followed by Vietnam with 17% and China with 15%.

Like Thailand, Vietnam benefits from close proximity with Cambodia, with significant border trade. Vietnam's exports to Cambodia have soared from US$178 million in 2002 to $1.43 billion last year. The country is now competing directly with Thailand in oil, sugar and cement.

Chinese goods, currently in third place, also have good opportunities for growth due to the strength of the Chinese economy and the development of the logistics system linking China and Asean.

But Cambodia would also face losses from this scenario. Materials and intermediate goods from other countries for its production sector would likely have higher prices due to the logistics costs. Similarly, Cambodian consumers would likely have higher living costs.

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Smith surges ahead at Cambodian Open

AFP 20 November 2009,
Times of India

* Welshman Craig Smith

SIEM REAP: Welshman Craig Smith put himself in prime position for his maiden Asian Tour win when he grabbed the second-round lead at the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open on Friday.

Smith opened up a two-stroke halfway advantage after firing a sizzling six-under-par 66 for a two-day total of nine-under-par 135 at the $300,000 full field Asian Tour event.

India's Shiv Kapur, Filipino Artemio Murakami and Thailand's Annop Tangkamolprasert are two strokes behind on 137 at the Phokeethra Country Club.

Overnight leader David Gleeson of Australia, Malaysia's Shaaban Hussin, Will Yanagisawa of the United States and Pariya Junhasavasdikul of Thailand are among the players in tied fifth position, three behind the leader.

Smith brilliantly birdied his final two holes on the eighth and ninth to set him apart from the pack.

"I knew I was tied for the lead coming down those two holes and I managed to hit some good shots to give myself a chance. I only had one bogey on each day so things seem to be falling in quite easily for me. I hope it continues," said Smith.

Kapur, currently in 69th position on the Asian Tour order of merit, hugely boosted his chances of retaining his Tour card when he charged into contention with a superb 67.

Starting from the back nine, Murakami managed only one birdie on his front nine but a 10-foot chip-in for birdie on the third hole sparked further birdies on five and six en route to a 69.

Like Kapur, the bubbly Filipino, ranked 77th on the merit list, is also fighting for his Tour card with two events remaining this season.

A total of 74 players made the cut which was set at two-over-par 146.

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Ecstasy factories destroyed in Cambodian rainforests

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 20, 2009 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Ten ecstasy laboratories operated by local drug cartels were destroyed Wednesday in one of Cambodia's most impenetrable and remote jungle areas in the country's southwest Cardamom Mountains, according to a statement released Friday by Wildlife Alliance.

The raid was carried out by an anti-drug task force led by Wildlife Alliance and in close cooperation with forest rangers from Cambodia's armed services and Ministry of Environment.

"At least 35 tons of safrole oil, a main ingredient used in the methamphetamine production of ecstasy, could have been used to make over five million ecstasy pills with a street value of over 100 million U.S. dollars," according to local officials.

Wildlife Alliance-sponsored ranger team from Cambodia's Ministry of Environment and managed by Fauna and Flora International, came across the ecstasy labs several months ago during a routine foot patrol through Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary, 200 miles northwest of Phnom Penh.

Wildlife Alliance Technical Advisor and former French Legionnaire, Eduard Lefter, who planned the complex and dangerous raid with Cambodian Forest Rangers, commented on the operation, saying "The mission was very difficult to organize and the conditions extremely tough. The mountain terrain and dense forest made a helicopter insertion virtually impossible, so we went in by foot."

According to Lefter, the team spent 12 days in the jungle battling leeches and the resulting wound infections, as well as skirting landmines which made forward progress extremely difficult. By the end of the mission much of Lefter's ranger teams were suffering from dehydration from dwindling water supplies.

The teams also carried explosive ordnance in the form of landmines, provided by the Cambodian Military, to destroy the ecstasy labs and safrole distillation equipment.

(Source: iStockAnalyst )

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Coming in off the streets

Poverty and the legacy of civil war has had a corrosive effect on family life in Cambodia, leaving many children homeless and vulnerable. But children's support projects offer hope of a better future

• Cynara Vetch
• The Guardian

Cambodian children study in a classroom at one of the M’Lop Tapang organisation’s schools in Sihanoukville. Photography by: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP

Srey Mom recalls: "My father burnt the house down one evening, and after that me and my brother slept in the forest. I was so scared I couldn't sleep and he would cry all night because he was hungry." Srey Mom's father was a violent alcoholic, unable to pay the rent, and her mother, who was addicted to gambling, attempted suicide many times. With her family left homeless and hungry, Srey Mom joined almost 2,000 working children who spend their days and nights on the streets and beaches of Sihanoukville, Cambodia's growing resort town.

Over 36% of Cambodians live below the poverty line and families have been drawn to Sihanoukville by the economic promise of a growing tourist trade and work in the country's only deep-water port. In reality, the average income of a family of four living in the town's slums is $2 a day. With families who are unable or unwilling to support them, children work on the town's streets, beaches and slums both day and night, and are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse, and discrimination.

It was cases such as Srey Mom's that persuaded the director and co-founder of M'Lop Tapang, Eve Sao Sarin, to help set up the organisation with his partner Maggie Eno back in 2004. M'Lop Tapang is one of six small organisations in Asia partnered by the NGO International Childcare Trust.

"We believed we had to commit to these children, find them a safe place and learn their needs. We also wanted to resolve issues within their families. There are many problems in their homes due to poverty, domestic violence and drug abuse," Sarin explains.

M'Lop Tapang offers a chance for street children to get an education and to change behaviour such as drug abuse and crime, but without the support of their families this is very difficult. As a result the organisation collaborates with the children to deal with their issues at home, setting up services such as alcoholics' counselling and vocational training for their relatives.

Srey Mom has managed to rebuild her home and family with the help of M'Lop Tapang. Srey Mom's father is surprisingly candid. "I drank rice wine so I could forget," he says. "When I was drunk no one else mattered, that is why I could beat my wife and burn my home." He was introduced to an alcoholics' counselling course and is now a skilled builder, earning a stable wage. Similar efforts to build up communities through dedicated social work have been very successful, with every street-living or working child in the town using M'Lop Tapang's services, albeit to varying degrees.

Many of Sihanoukville's social problems can be attributed to Cambodia's recent history. From 1970 to 1975 Cambodia was immersed in a costly civil war, which displaced nearly half the population and killed more than 1 million people. In 1975 the communist movement, the Khmer Rouge, seized power and set about creating a peasant revolution. The majority of the population was forcibly moved to the countryside; healthcare and money were banned and those with an education were executed. In 1979 the regime was toppled, but the war continued and much of the population was displaced. Finally, democratic elections took place in 1993.

For Sarin, the community is "like the basket that breaks. No one trusts each other any more." Children under the age of 18 make up more than 50% of the country's population and Sarin believes that many are still affected by the past.

"Children suffer indirectly from the war, most of their parents lost beloveds, they are depressed and frightened, and Cambodian culture doesn't encourage any show of weakness. They deal with these problems with gambling, drinking and violence."

Vannthy is a social worker with M'Lop Tapang, co-ordinating a network of former street children, who now work in their communities. He is adamant that "young people are the ones that change things. They come up with solutions I would never have thought of." This network has built homes for evicted families, cleared the slums of rubbish and set up awareness programmes on issues such as drug abuse. Its members have also painted and repaired beds at the town hospital and volunteered to teach the English they have learnt at M'Lop Tapang. The Youth Volunteering Network also includes middle-class youth who attend community college and university. These youths volunteer their time at M'Lop Tapang, educate their families and peers on issues such as environment, poverty and social work and encourage social responsibility. The most dedicated volunteers are provided with the opportunity of employment at M'Lop Tapang.

While decades of violence and conflict have affected communities in Cambodia, they have also had an impact on the country's institutions and infrastructure. Andrew Mace is the British ambassador to Cambodia and he has seen weaknesses in the police force and other parts of the public sector. "It is a historical problem," he explains. "The whole of government was essentially destroyed. For example they lost the whole of the judiciary in that period and having lost them it takes a long time to get back that capacity." As a result a new structure of law enforcement was hurriedly created and in some cases recruits were given inadequate training.

Another problem is lack of funding. Social issues receive less attention from international donors than topical concerns such as health and education. Vou Savin, a welfare officer for the Ministry of Social Affairs, is the only government social worker responsible for over 130,000 people living in Sihanoukville and the surrounding countryside. He admits that there is a limit to what he can achieve "Our job is to help vulnerable people, but we have so little money in our department that we need to partner with other organisations."

People coming in from the outside exploit these vulnerabilities to prey on children. Paedophiles see the country as a "safe destination." However, the government is alert to these unwelcome visitors and has forged strong relationships with the NGO community. One such example is Action Pour Les Enfants, an investigation agency working against sex offenders in Cambodia, which has trained up the local police force in areas such as interrogation techniques and forensic evidence. Efforts have also been made to educate law enforcement officials on children's rights and protection against child abuse.

M'Lop Tapang is teaching the children themselves to be aware of the dangers on the streets and to protect one another. They have already trained 40 street children in how to recognise suspicious behaviour and what to do if they see cases of abuse or discrimination. This network then filters the information back to other children. They also act as a safety net for children who are new to the streets. M'Lop Tapang has established a ChildSafe network in Sihanoukville, training local restaurants, bars, hotels and taxi owners to recognise signs and cases of child abuse and report them to its 24-hour ChildSafe hotline.

For Srey Mom, street living is now a thing of the past. She sits calmly surrounded by her family in their small stilted house and although the torrential monsoon rain beats against the tin roof, they remain leak free. She has a stable income working as a manager at the local M'Lop Tapang shop and is a testament to what a street child in Cambodia can achieve.

*Some names have been changed.

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Ticket to a new tomorrow

• Cynara Vetch
• The Guardian

The floodlights click on and light up the stage. A man is shouting names and handing out tickets to boys and girls, who run to collect them. The actor represents fate and these tickets are the children's futures. Some are given parents who work hard and love and support them, others receive a harsher fate, parents who neglect and beat them.

The performance has been organised by M'Lop Tapang and the actors are all former street children and staff. Tonight it is held in M'Lop Tapang's own theatre but it will be staged in slums and beaches across the town. It is part of an effort to educate parents and the wider community about the need to protect vulnerable young people and to consider the forces that have driven them to live and work on the streets.

The show also features traditional Cambodian dancing, acrobatics and a pair of Charlie Chaplinesque clowns. It receives thunderous applause and the parents in the audience are lavish in their praise.

Maggie Eno hopes that this play and other arts shows will encourage both tourists and Cambodians "to think about the stories behind the children when they see them working and begging."

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Lights, camera, genocide

Sek O, 42, cries as she prays at her father's portrait during a visit to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Aug. 31, 2009. The museum is at the site of the most notorious prison in Democratic Kampuchea, code-named S-21. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

Extending the reach of the Khmer Rouge war crimes court to Cambodian households.

By Brendan Brady — Special to GlobalPost

Published: November 20, 2009

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — When the former Khmer Rouge prison chief, Kaing Ghek Eav, first took the stand eight months ago, most Cambodians had scarce knowledge of the tribunal that was trying him.

The notorious man — known best by his revolutionary name, Duch — stands accused of crimes against humanity for the medieval torture of 14,000 people at a secret prison code-named S-21 during the Khmer Rouge's reign from 1975 to 1979.

At first, 85 percent of Cambodians “had little or no knowledge” of the U.N.-backed trial that was 30 years in the making, according to a University of California at Berkeley’s Human Rights Center survey.

Outreach has stepped up considerably since the opening of testimony, though. Perhaps no development has been more effective in disseminating the often-baffling work of the tribunal than a new weekly television program. In a country of 14 million, where 85 percent of people live in rural areas, some 2 million Cambodians are tuning in to “Duch on Trial.”

Every Monday afternoon, along with fellow Cambodian journalist, Ung Chan Sophea, host Neth Pheaktra provides a sober summary and analysis of court testimony and the legal framework in which it is heard. Local analysts weigh in on the use of legal strategies by the lawyers and Duch.

“My relatives tell me, ‘You look so serious on TV,'” said Neth, whose program launched in April with British and U.S. funding. “We’re discussing the death of millions of compatriots, including many of my relatives, so it’s not a time to smile.”

The show plays clips of court testimony, including ghastly stories of men and women being bludgeoned, water-boarded and electrocuted before their execution, and of their babies being smashed against trees.

In total, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died from overwork, starvation and murder under the Khmer Rouge’s maniacal vision to transform the country into an agrarian utopia. For the some 5 million Cambodians who survived Khmer Rouge rule, the regime’s brutality remains deeply entrenched in their psyche.

Today, not even half the country's more than 14 million people are over 20 years old, which means they never lived under the regime. Their ignorance of firsthand atrocities has been compounded by the fact that, until this year, Khmer Rouge history wasn’t taught in schools. Many current government officials are former Khmer Rouge cadres and the subject matter remains highly controversial.

Unlike some other international war crimes courts, the Khmer Rouge tribunal hasn't had community-based truth and reconciliation committees to extend its reach to the population.

The hosts of "Duch on Trial" explain how the court is run by Cambodian and international judges, lawyers and staff. How subordinates and prisoners who were under Duch’s control and are still alive today provided testimony, and how the maximum penalty for the five elderly former leaders in detention is to live out their few remaining years in prison.

For many viewers, such plain talk concentrated into engaging 24-minute episodes lets them grasp the court’s work for the first time.

“Part of the reason for the show’s popularity is that before there was a big lack of communication about the tribunal,” said Neth. “So we’re trying to help fix that.”

The challenge, said Matthew Robinson, the show’s British producer and head of Khmer Mekong Films, “is how to cram into less than half an hour the highlights of a week’s worth of the trial that a group of not legally-sophisticated people can relate to.”

Previously, the bulk of outreach for the tribunal had been shouldered by a handful of NGOs, such as the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), the leading custodian of primary documents on the Khmer Rouge.

Through this non-profit group, 10,000 rural Cambodians have been bussed into Phnom Penh to attend the tribunal and 300,000 textbooks about the Khmer Rouge have been distributed to high school classrooms across the country.

The group also makes regular trips to the countryside, assisting people in filling out paperwork to file evidence to the tribunal of crimes they witnessed under the regime’s rule and, perhaps more importantly, helping people simply gain closure by gathering details on the fate of loved ones.

For a man whose sister was tortured and executed at S-21, where Duch presided, DC-Cam recently tracked down the order of execution signed by Duch. The man’s reason for filing with the court: “So that she is remembered,” he wrote.

“The Khmer Rouge left the entire country shattered,” said DC-Cam director Youk Chhang. “We’re trying to help people connect the broken pieces, and without people’s involvement the court is meaningless.”

The court’s own outreach has also been reinvigorated. Since June, hearings that were previously attended by scant crowds of a couple dozen people began to see audiences numbering in the hundreds.

Reach Sambath, whose takeover of public affairs at the court coincided with this boom, attributed some part of the rising numbers to the nature of dialogue in the courtroom. The stories of real witnesses caught the attention of lay people, who found the early procedural hearings hard to follow.

“The testimony was very emotional,” said Reach. “Duch cried. Then the witnesses cried. Then the audience cried. And then I cried. Seeing this is part of the healing process.”

Reach also initiated announcements about the court on local radio stations — a move that had his office inundated with phone calls asking how to attend.

“Before it was difficult for people to have trust in the court,” he says. “But if seeing is believing, then coming to the court in person has people feeling that justice is being provided.”

While such emotionally charged moments provided the catharsis the tribunal wanted to stage, in a country where some 90 percent of the population regularly views television — despite enormous poverty — the tube has proven the most efficient channel for engaging people in the war crimes court.

“It’s easy and interesting to learn about the tribunal this way,” said 51-year-old No Min, who lives in a remote village in the province of Kampong Cham where road access is limited and newspapers are scarce. “I’ve learned more about the [court’s] process and it seems fair.”

“I tell the younger kids in the village to come watch the show with me so they can learn about an important part of history that is easy to want to forget.”

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Khmer killed after quarrel with Thai

Published: 21/11/2009
Bangkok Post

CHON BURI : A Thai rubber tapper allegedly killed his Cambodian co-worker with an axe after a drinking session in which they had a heated argument over the two countries' diplomatic spat.

The Cambodian worker was identified as Diang, aged about 40. Police found his body lying on the floor in a room of an apartment run by Sri Maha Racha Co, the men's employer.

Blood covered the floor of room No.2, where he lived. A cut about five centimetres deep was found on his left cheek and another on his left shoulder, which was almost severed. Several empty liquor bottles were found in the room along with a bloodstained axe.

Kraisorn Namnont, a rubber tapper who lived next to the Cambodian worker, alerted Si Racha police about the killing about half past midnight on Friday.

He said the murderer was Sinchai Namnont, 44, his younger brother. They were from the northeastern province of Maha Sarakham.

He said Mr Sinchai, who lived with him in room No.1, had been drinking with Diang in Diang's room. They started arguing about the Cambodian authorities' arrest of a Thai engineer for alleged spying. Earlier, Cambodia named convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as its economic adviser.

Mr Kraisorn said he remembered hearing Mr Sinchai say it was not right for Cambodia to act in the way it had and Diang replying, "So, what can you do with my government?"

Shortly after that, Mr Sinchai rushed back to room No.1 to grab some of his clothes, then hurried out without saying anything about what had happened next door, said Mr Kraisorn.

After hearing Diang crying for help in pain, Mr Kraisorn decided to go to check on him but found him dead.

Police, however, said they were not convinced by Mr Kraisorn's testimony and suspected him of being involved in the murder of Diang in some way.

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Cambodia pulls out of military sports meet

By The Nation
Published on November 21, 2009

LtGeneral Kanit Saphithak, commander of Thailand’s First Army Area, left, wearing a beret, and General Sok Phiab, a deputy chief of Cambodia’s joint supreme command, right, wearing a cap, shake hands during a goodwill ceremony on the ThaiCambodia Friendsh

A sporting event between Thai and Cambodian military personnel scheduled over the weekend has been postponed indefinitely due to the growing tensions between the two countries.

The postponement was initiated by Cambodian authorities, without stating any reasons, said Prawat Ratthairom, a deputy provincial governor of Si Sa Ket, the venue of the event.

He said the provincial authorities were just informed of the postponement by the Thai military.

A series of sports competitions between Thailand's Second Army Area and Cambodia's Fourth Military Precinct, both of which are responsible for duties along each country's borders, were scheduled to be held today and tomorrow at Phumi Srol School in Cambodia's Kanthararak district.

Meanwhile, a Cambodian immigrant worker was axed to death by a Thai worker in a drunken brawl in Chon Buri's Sri Racha district over the detention of a Thai national by Cambodian authorities for alleged spying.

The victim, known only as Tiang, was allegedly attacked by Silchai Namnont, local police said, citing Kraisorn Namnont, the suspect's brother. The three men, all helpers in a local rubber plantation, were drinking late on Thursday and started quarrelling over the detention of the Thai in Cambodia and other diplomatic strains in ties between the two countries.

Nong Kham police said a hunt was on for Silchai but his brother, Kraisorn, was in custody. Police were still questioning him, as they were suspicious that he also took part in the murder.

In Sa Kaew, a goodwill cerฌemony was held by Thai and Cambodian military personnel in Aranyaprathet district yesterday. Highranking commanders of both sides met in the middle of the ThaiCambodia Friendship Bridge and exchanged souvenirs and handshakes in a photo opportunity.

LtGeneral Kanit Saphithak, commander of Thailand's First Army Area, and General Sok Phiab, a deputy chief of Cambodia's joint supreme command, were the highestranking officers from both sides participating in the ceremony. They met without prior appointment while making inspection visits at their local Army units, after local forces on both sides managed to get them to meet each other.

Aranyaprathet border checkpoint and Khlong Luek border town are still open to visits by Cambodians while Thai nationals still visit casinos across the border and Cambodian vendors still enter Thailand and do their businesses at Rong Klue market despite a drop in the number of Thai shoppers.

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Cambodian troops bolster UN force in Chad, CAR PDF Print E-mail

Written by UN news Centre

Friday, 20 November 2009

The United Nations mission set up to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid in Chad and Central African Republic (CAR) received a boost this week with the arrival of troops from Cambodia. The 42 Cambodian soldiers will be assisting in the movement of UN personnel and logistic assets in eastern Chad, where humanitarian agencies are providing aid to some 250 000 refugees from neighbouring Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, as well as 160 000 displaced Chadians. Northern CAR has also been affected by a spill-over from Darfur as well as by displacement from other armed groups. In 2007, the Security Council established the mission, known as MINURCAT, which currently stands at only 53% of its authorized strength, or 2750 troops, due to difficulties faced by some contributing countries in acquiring and transporting equipment. Last month Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmund Mulet told the Council that the UN is doing everything possible to expedite the deployment of all pledged contingents.

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DNA Results Give New Hope for 'Extinct' Siamese Crocodiles

A proposed breeding program for the critically endangered Siamese crocodile received a significant boost this month with the news that 35 crocodiles at a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia are purebred Siamese.

Robert Carmichael

Phnom Penh

20 November 2009

Photo: VOA - R. Carmichael

A close-up of a Siamese crocodile hatchling at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, Cambodia, 19 Nov 2009.

A proposed breeding program for the critically endangered Siamese crocodile received a significant boost this month with the news that 35 crocodiles at a wildlife rescue center in Cambodia are purebred Siamese.

Siamese crocodiles have had a tough time. Twenty years ago they were declared extinct in the wild.

The crocodiles once ranged widely across Southeast Asia. But, coveted for their soft skin, Siamese crocodiles were poached to the very edge of existence.

However, in 2001 researchers discovered small populations of Siamese crocodiles in the wild in Cambodia. That meant the species went from being listed as extinct to critically endangered.

This month there was more good news. DNA tests on 69 crocodiles at a wildlife rescue center outside Phnom Penh found that 35 of them are purebred Siamese crocodiles.

Photo: VOA - R. Carmichael

Adam Scott, head of the crocodile project at Fauna and Flora International, holding a hatchling Siamese crocodile at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Adam Starr heads the crocodile conservation program at Fauna and Flora International, a conservation organization that works with the Cambodian government to protect Siamese crocodiles.

He says just 250 Siamese crocodiles exist in the wild in the world, most of them in Cambodia.

"How important is Cambodia? Very important. Siamese crocodiles used to exist throughout Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, everywhere. Now they are reduced from about 99 percent of their original population range area. We can say Cambodia hosts between 95 and 99 percent of the remaining wild crocodiles which is about 250," he said.

The tests proved invaluable in allowing researchers to distinguish between purebred Siamese crocodiles and hybrid crocodiles - something that can not be done just by looking at them.

Knowing which animals are hybrid is essential because conservationists do not want hybrids colonizing the country's rivers.

Nhek Ratanapech is the director of the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center, where the purebred crocodiles live. He also heads the country's Crocodile Conservation Program.

He says the discovery of the purebreds could provide a critical lifeline for the preservation of Siamese crocodiles.

"Previously we have so many crocodiles but we didn't know which ones are pure Siamese crocodiles and which one is the hybrid one," he said. "Now we know exactly which one is pure and which is hybrid. We do hope that some potential donor help to support the activity to conserve or to stop this species being extinct from the world."

The problem of hybrids stems from crocodile farms, which bred Siamese crocodiles with other, faster-growing, larger, more aggressive crocodiles. The leather from the hybrid crocodile is still soft, and the hybrids provide more of it faster.

Nhek Ratanapech says the next step is to create a breeding program using the six mature purebreds at his center. The tests also showed that they are not related, which is vital for genetic diversity.

Their offspring will be kept for two years before being released into the wild, to maximize their chances of survival.

Nhek Ratanapech says the goal is to get Siamese crocodiles taken off the critically endangered list, which means reaching a target of 500 mature adults in the wild. As it takes 15 years for a Siamese crocodile to reach maturity, this is a long-term project.

But Cambodia is the Siamese crocodile's last chance. "So this population is on the verge of extinction and now Cambodia is the stronghold of this species," he said.

Adam Starr says many challenges remain. Human encroachment on the crocodile habitat is one problem; another is Cambodia's plans to build huge hydroelectric dams, which block rivers.

But those challenges are hardly new. And the DNA tests, which were carried out by a university in Thailand, have helped to move the project forward.

"What we're able to do now is work with a captive population that is of pure genetic stock and be able to start a breeding program and be able to reintroduce animals to areas where Siamese crocodiles once existed but have been eradicated due to poaching. So it's a very exciting phase we're about to embark upon," said Starr.

That sound is the call of a Siamese crocodile hatchling. It is a sound that Nhek Ratanapech and his colleagues hope will be heard across at least some of Cambodia's rivers in the coming years - as it was not long ago.

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CAMBODIA: Once ‘Extinct’ Crocodile Claws Its Way Back to Survival

By Robert Carmichael

FFI's Adam Scott (left) and Nhek Ratanapech of Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre inspect a Siamese crocodile hatchling at Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre. Credit:Robert Carmichael/IPS

PHNOM PENH, Nov 20 (IPS) - Siamese crocodiles once ranged far and wide across South-east Asia, from Indonesia to Vietnam, Laos to Thailand. But habitat loss and poaching virtually wiped out the three-metre long animals. Twenty years ago they were classified as effectively extinct in the wild.

That seemingly terminal news was partially offset in 2000 when researchers discovered several dozen of them living in the wild in south-west Cambodia. Experts now believe there are 250 Siamese crocodiles living in the wild in the region, and almost all of those are in Cambodia.

Today the Siamese crocodile is listed as critically endangered on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its precarious position explains why DNA test results announced this month from a Cambodian wildlife centre were greeted with such relief.

The tests, which were carried out by Thailand’s Kasetsart University, found that 35 of 69 crocodiles at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre outside Phnom Penh are purebred Siamese crocodiles, not hybrid animals as experts had feared.

It means the species has a much better chance to claw its way back from the brink, says Adam Starr, who heads the crocodile programme at Fauna & Flora International, a conservation organisation.

Describing the test results as "really encouraging," Starr says a proposed breeding and release programme now stands a far greater chance of success.

"Siamese crocodiles used to exist throughout South-east Asia … but now they are reduced from about 99 percent of their original population range area," Starr says. "We can say Cambodia hosts between 95 and 99 percent of the remaining wild crocodiles."

Siamese crocodiles were pushed to the brink of extinction—and some thought over it—by two factors: habitat loss and poaching. The reason they were hunted almost to extinction in the wild is that their skin is much softer than that of other crocodiles.

Nhek Ratanapech, the director of the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Centre, which is home to the 35 purebred Siamese crocodiles, describes the population as "on the verge of extinction".

"This could provide a critical lifeline for the long-term preservation of this critically endangered species," he says of the DNA results.

Nhek Ratanapech, who also heads the country’s crocodile conservation programme, says six of the 35 purebred Siamese crocodiles are mature adults which are unrelated to each other—vital for ensuring genetic diversity. The 29 remaining animals are hatchlings, which will be released into the wild once they are two years old.

The six adults will form the core of a breeding programme, and their offspring will be released into the wild once they reach two.

The aim of the proposed breeding programme is to increase the number of mature animals in the wild to 500. If and when they can achieve that, he says, the animal will be taken off the IUCN’s critically endangered list.

Nhek Ratanapech says that prior to the DNA tests, the centre had no way of knowing for certain which of the dozens of crocodiles in its keeping were purebred and which were hybrid.

Starr says that meant researchers could not risk releasing the animals into the wild because hybrids would pollute the gene pool. He explains that hybrids are the product of crocodile farms crossbreeding Siamese crocodiles with more aggressive species such as saltwater crocodiles. The result is a larger, faster-growing animal that still gives soft leather.

"The fact that we actually have 29 young animals is like jumpstarting the programme," Starr says. "Initially, I didn’t think any of the young crocodiles would be [pure-bred] Siamese. But we can now begin planning for introductions we make in the future."

"[We will] be able to reintroduce animals to areas where Siamese crocodiles once existed but have been eradicated due to poaching," he says. "So it’s a very exciting phase we’re about to embark upon."

Given that Siamese crocodiles take 15 years to reach maturity, this is a long-term project. And although poaching has declined since the 1980s and 1990s, the animals will still face challenges in the wild. Starr lists habitat encroachment and Cambodia’s plan to build numerous hydroelectric dams on its rivers as key issues.

Despite that, the experts remain optimistic. Starr says that over the next 12 months the programme will locate five areas with habitats suitable for the release of wild hatchlings. Varying the release zones cuts the risk of disease wiping out the entire population in the wild.

They will also work with the local communities in those areas to explain the programme.

Success for the Siamese crocodiles means more than revitalizing the country’s biodiversity. The animals are prominent in Cambodia’s culture and religion, and are even portrayed in carvings on the walls of Angkor Wat temple in the country’s west.

Starr says that cultural value adds to the importance of the breeding programme. And although he is optimistic that this crocodile—among the rarest in the world—can make a comeback, he is still cautions against complacency.

"This is the first step of about 1,000 steps we have to take right now. It’s encouraging, but we should not be jumping for joy too quickly," Starr says.

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Exhibits of Conscience

By Kari Lyderse

In These Times

Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich. (Photo courtesy of the Immigration Sites of Conscience Project)

A nationwide initiative pulls museums into one of today’s most highly charged issues: immigration.

Some people think of museums as refuges of the past, full of brittle documents and mothballed artifacts. However, the new Immigration Sites of Conscience project draws on the historical authority of museums while pulling them into one of the most highly charged issues of the present: immigration.

As part of the initiative, which launched this fall and continues indefinitely, museums across the country are hosting exhibits and events while reaching out to local communities to address the many faces and facets of immigration. The project is a spin-off of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, a global network of historic sites—like the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and the Gulag Museum in Russia—that seek to commemorate the past and provoke dialogue about the present.

The Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, N.C., deals with the city’s rapid shift from “black and white” to “technicolor,” as the exhibit there describes it. Long a primarily African-American and white city, Charlotte is now home to large Latino, African, Eastern-European and Asian immigrant populations who moved there in recent decades.

“Immigration is a challenging issue, it makes us think about what kind of South we want to shape going forward,” said Emily Zimmern, director of the museum. “Will it be welcoming, or hostile?”

The museum has two dialogue programs: one for business leaders, journalists, law enforcement officers and others; another for teens. The idea is to offer people a space to open up about their own lives and feelings.

“We’ve found people often will say, ‘I’ve worked with you for 10 years and I had no idea that was your story,’” Zimmern said.

The county government has enrolled hundreds of people in the adult program, called Speaking of Change, as part of its diversity training. The teen program, Turning the Tables, forces participants to walk through a jungle of plastic strips emblazoned with hurtful stereotypical words—literally pushing through stereotypes.

At the Wing Luke Asian Museum in Seattle, visitors learn about an often overlooked segment of the American immigrant community – Cambodians – and the deportation of legal residents because of criminal convictions. Since 1975, more than 187,000 Cambodian refugees have settled in Seattle, making it the nation’s third largest Cambodian community after Long Beach and Lowell, Mass. Many were born in refugee camps and emigrated as young children, obtaining legal U.S. resident status without ever knowing Cambodia.

Many young Cambodian men are in gangs, often a result of their search for belonging or struggling, fractured families, local leaders say. Many end up with criminal convictions for gang-related crimes. Under existing immigration law, legal residents are ordered deported for criminal offenses, including many misdemeanors.

The exhibit, curated by a Cambodian American community activist facing deportation, puts Asian immigration in a historical context. “People might think we’ve always been the welcoming nation, but if you go back and look at laws they reflect something really different,” said Cassie Chin, Wing Luke’s acting director.

The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Mich., features the experiences of four immigrant groups from three cities: Arabs, Latinos, Eastern Europeans and South Asians from Detroit, Dearborn and Hamtramck. Exhibits ask questions like, “Why are they here?” and “What keeps them here?” and dispel myths about immigrants, including the common refrain that they “steal jobs.”

“These stereotypes are so far-fetched,” said Museum Director Dr. Anan Ameri. “The immigrant community provides its own institutions…They’re not taking jobs. If anything, they are creating jobs.” She noted that in the Detroit metropolitan area, a national poster child for economic ruin, immigrant enclaves are doing relatively well because of how immigrants support each other and develop micro-economies.

Liz Sevcenko, founding director of the International Coalition, sees the program as a direct response to the polarized immigration reform debate. Although there are plenty of marches and protests related to immigrants and their communities, she thinks museums have a unique role to play.

“[T]hese places of memory have incredible power and potential, and therefore an obligation to…address what’s happening currently,” Sevcenko said. “Whether walking into the Great Hall at Ellis Island or stepping into a cell at Angel Island (in California) where immigrants were detained…you’re feeling the individual human impact of these big policies.”

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Thai-Cambodia JBC meeting next week

Prawit Wongsuwan (L) and Cambodian Defence Minister Gen. Tea Banh held talks in Phnom Penh on 29th April, 2009

20th November, 2009
Bangkok Post

The Thai-Cambodia Joint Border Committee (JBC) will meet on Nov 27 at 28 at the Dusit Thani hotel in Pattaya, defence ministry spokesman Col Thanathip Saengsawang said on Friday.

“It will be a ministerial level defence meeting to discuss border security and military cooperation,” Col Thanathip said.

Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon would use his ties with Cambodian military leaders to help ease the current tension between the two countries.

The spokesman said that military relations between the two countries remain intact despite the diplomatic row between Bangkok and Phnom Penh.

The Defence Ministry hopes to help settle the dispute between the two governments and at the same time to strengthen ties and trust on both sides, Col Thanathip said.

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Sam Rainsy's message to the Cambodian people in Khmer

Please click on text to read.

To read message in English click here.

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Sam Rainsy slams VN incursions

Friday, 20 November 2009
By Uong Ratana
Phnom Penh Post

PRIME Minister Hun Sen is currently playing a “dangerous game” with the Cambodian nation by understating the threat posed by Vietnamese territorial encroachments, opposition leader Sam Rainsy (pictured) said.

In a self-styled “message to the Cambodian people” released on Thursday, the Sam Rainsy Party president said the government is playing up the threat posed by Thailand but ignoring problems on its eastern border.

Sam Rainsy said the potential loss of 5 square kilometres of land in disputes with Thailand was dwarfed by the loss of “thousands” of square kilometres to Vietnamese incursions.

“This is an ongoing painful process that Mr Hun Sen does not want us to look at,” he said.

The message came just days after the National Assembly stripped Sam Rainsy of his parliamentary immunity over an October 25 incident in which he helped uproot six wooden posts marking the border with Vietnam in Svay Rieng province.

Phay Siphan, spokesman of the Council of Ministers, dismissed the allegations, saying Sam Rainsy was speaking from emotion rather than fact.

“To the east, we do not have any problems,” he said.

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Govt seizes Thai airport firm

Alleged Thai spy Siwarak Chotipong.

Friday, 20 November 2009
By Cheang Sokha and James O’toole
Phnom Penh Post

THE government took control of the Thai-owned aviation firm Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS) on Thursday and banned its Thai employees from the offices after the arrest of one of their co-workers on suspicion of stealing the flight schedule of fugitive Thai former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra during his visit to Cambodia last week.

The move, which is likely to further damage diplomatic relations between the two countries, comes amid accusations by a Thai opposition leader that Thailand’s foreign minister ordered the theft.

CATS is a fully owned subsidiary of Bangkok-based Samart corporation, which has a 32-year air traffic control concession and employs nine Thai nationals in Cambodia.

It has been placed under the caretakership of a Cambodian government official, though representatives from the Civil Aviation Authority declined to comment on the official’s identity or the duration of the caretakership.

“The caretaker has prohibited the Thai expatriates from performing their duties,” Samart vice chairman Sirichai Rasameechan said in a letter to Thailand’s stock exchange, where the company is listed.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said Cambodia’s takeover of CATS was “temporary” but necessary “to ensure national security and public safety.” The financial operations of the company, he added, would not be affected.

The move follows last week’s arrest of CATS employee Siwarak Chotipong, a 31-year-old Thai accused of spying, who is currently being held in pretrial detention at Prey Sar prison.

Thaksin is not the prime minister of cambodia – he is a convicted man....

Cambodian officials say that Siwarak was ordered to steal the flight schedule by Kamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary of the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. Kamrob was expelled last week, and Thailand responded by expelling the first secretary of the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok.

Both countries had already withdrawn their respective ambassadors in the row over Thaksin’s appointment as government economics adviser.

Siwarak is being charged under Article 19 of the 2005 Law on Archives, which covers offences related to matters of national defence, security or public order. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Kav Soupha, Siwarak’s defence attorney, said Thursday that he did not believe that the leaking of Thaksin’s flight schedule constituted a threat to Cambodia’s national security.

“Thaksin is not the prime minister of Cambodia – he is a convicted man who is being hunted by Thai authorities,” Kav Soupha said. “Even if [Siwarak] had reported to the Thai embassy, that would be according to his right and obligation as a Thai citizen to alert authorities about a fugitive.”

Kav Soupha added that he planned to request that Siwarak be released on bail.

Jatuporn Prompan, a parliamentarian from the opposition Puea Thai party, said Wednesday that he had an audio tape of Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya ordering the flight schedule theft of which Siwarak is accused, the Bangkok Post reported.

Thai Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi, however, said officials in his ministry “do not believe in the existence of such a tape”.

Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said he had no knowledge of such evidence.

Kasit said Thailand would have to gather further information about the CATS takeover before formulating a response.

“The ministry is waiting for reports from the Thai embassy and we will also have to get clarification from the Cambodian government. If it violates bilateral agreements, then we will find ways to proceed from there,” the Bangkok Post quoted Kasit as saying.

Secrecy ordered
As tensions between Thailand and Cambodia simmered, the government released a directive on Wednesday in which the Ministry of Interior called on all government officials to encrypt their communications to “protect information related to national security”.

The statement, signed by Interior Minister Sar Kheng on October 15, touted, without specifically describing, newly acquired encryption technology that will “guarantee secrecy, so that government information will not be leaked”.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said such measures were necessary in Cambodia’s present diplomatic circumstances.

“If Thaksin would have been arrested because of [Siwarak] leaking information about him, that would prove we could not keep sensitive information a secret.”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VONG SOKHENG AND AFP

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