Thaksin to receive $425 per month in salary from the Cambodian government

KHMER INTELLIGENCE NEWS

25 November 2009

First challenge to Hun Sen's foreign policy (1)

In a November 19 "message to the Cambodian people" opposition leader Sam Rainsy blasted Prime Minister Hun Sen for "playing a dangerous game" in his recent dealings with Thailand. The message reads, "Mr. Hun Sen is using a classical tactic to divert the Khmer people's attention" from other more serious problems such as "government corruption and incompetence" in the face of the economic crisis, by "exacerbating tensions" with Thailand. At the same time, he "forgets" to say that Cambodia has been losing large portions of her territories to Vietnam. The message concludes, "Cambodia should remain neutral in any internal dispute in any other country. Any spillover from the current tension or unrest in Thailand could be very detrimental to Cambodia, [which could be] set ablaze as past experiences have shown when we unnecessarily and unwisely took side in our neighbours' internal disputes."

Full text in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/ybh45eo

Official translation in English at http://tinyurl.com/y8ls6k8

CPP Trinity dispute Sam Rainsy's border allegations (1)

The CPP Trinity made up of CPP and Senate President Chea Sim, Prime Minister Hun Sen and National Assembly President Heng Samrin wrote on November 16 to King Father Norodom Sihanouk in order to respond to Sam Rainsy's allegations that Vietnamese authorities have been grabbing Cambodian farmers' land in Svay Rieng province.

The country's top three leaders claim, "Up to now, not a single Cambodian farmer [living near the border with Vietnam] has lost their rice field [because of alleged border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities]." Read their letter in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/ylexj9s

But countless villagers who live in the border area and have lost their rice fields because of effective border encroachments by the Vietnamese authorities, confirm what Sam Rainsy said in his November 7 letter in French to the King Father http://tinyurl.com/y8p79td

Villagers' grievances can be heard by clicking at http://tinyurl.com/ybj39re (SRP video tape), at http://tinyurl.com/yaordzv (RFA video tape) and at http://tinyurl.com/yjeerop (RFA audio tape).

Army report confirms border encroachments by Vietnam (1)

A 1999 report by then Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) Commander-in-Chief General Ke Kim Yan to Prime Minister Hun Sen indicates that Vietnam has been surreptitiously and illegally annexing stretches of Cambodia's territories in several provinces along our eastern border since 1979. The newly leaked report details several cases where Vietnamese civilians protected by armed soldiers or militiamen grabbed land belonging to Cambodian farmers and moved border markers well inside Cambodian territory. Read the original 8-page report in Khmer at http://tinyurl.com/yjypg2s

Land grabbing due to both internal and external reasons (2)

An increasing number of Cambodian farmers are falling victim to land grabbing that is due to both internal and external reasons. Only a few opposition Members of Parliament led by Sam Rainsy have stood up against those human rights violations and held protests on the spot.

To watch protests against land grabbing in inner Cambodia (Kampong Chhnang province and Phnom Penh) please click at http://tinyurl.com/yz88hsc and at http://tinyurl.com/ylhkuap

To watch a protest against land grabbing on Cambodia's border (Svay Rieng province) please click at http://tinyurl.com/yk7w9tq

Cambodia's Border Committee raises its voice (1)

The independent Paris-based Cambodia's Border Committee (CBC), which has been denouncing the Phnom Penh government policy with regard to border delineation process, issued on November 23 a statement giving its point of view on the current judicial proceedings against Sam Rainsy whom the government accuses of incitement, destruction of public property and threatening national security. The CBC argues that the wooden poles which Sam Rainsy symbolically pulled out, were not public property because they were planted on a private property without the consent of its legal owner. There had been no expropriation proceedings and no compensation paid to the land owner. Therefore the owner had the right to dispose of the wooden poles in question. Read full statement in French at http://tinyurl.com/ycqyz5t

Thaksin to receive $425 per month from the Cambodian government (3)

Following his appointment earlier this month as the 117^th official adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will receive a monthly salary of US$425 from the Cambodian government. Strangely enough, among the legion of Hun Sen's advisers, Thaksin has been given no special status such as "Senior Adviser" or "President of the Prime Minister's Advisory Council." He just seems to be "primus inter pares."

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