Sam Rainsy unveils border ‘proof’

Friday, 29 January 2010
By Meas Sokchea and Sebastian Strangio
Phnom Penh Post

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Sam Rainsy, who is currently in France, addresses his party at its headquarters on Sothearos Boulevard on Thursday via videoconference.

OPPOSITION leader Sam Rainsy has revealed additional evidence that he says substantiates his allegations of Vietnamese border incursions, a day after Svay Rieng provincial court handed him a two-year jail term for his involvement in the uprooting of border markers.

Speaking by live video feed from France, the Sam Rainsy Party president accused the court of convicting him at the request of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.

“We have enough evidence of the planting of border markers,” he said during the video press conference. “These posts are not border posts because they are 200 or 300 metres from the border. Such posts are counterfeit posts, illegal posts, invasion posts planted in Khmer farmers’ ricefields.”

The new evidence released by Sam Rainsy consisted of a detailed methodology for the creation of the maps released by the SRP on Sunday, which showed Vietnamese border markers 184, 185, 186 and 187 sitting well inside Cambodia’s legal territory as defined by French and American maps.

“If they planted the posts on our land without telling us, we have the right to pull them out,” Sam Rainsy added.

In October, Sam Rainsy joined villagers in uprooting six temporary demarcation posts near the border with Vietnam, an act Hanoi described as “perverse”. The villagers claimed the posts had been placed on their land by the Vietnamese authorities.

Sam Rainsy said that after he uprooted the markers in October, Vietnamese authorities hurried to remove other markers nearby, proving they were “worried” that word of the incursions would spread.

He also reiterated his offer to return to Cambodia to face arrest if the authorities release two local villagers imprisoned in connection with the uprooting of the border markers.

In Wednesday’s court hearing, Meas Srey, 39, and Prum Chea, 41, were sentenced to one year each in prison on charges of uprooting the posts. All three accused were also ordered to pay 55 million riels (around US$13,253) in compensation.

“This story is an international political issue,” Sam Rainsy said, adding that he would take the case to international bodies in Europe. “It will not be resolved by the court because two countries have problems. It must be resolved by the international community.”

Tith Sothea, a government adviser and member of the Council of Ministers’ Press Quick Reaction Unit, dismissed the lawmaker’s comments, saying Cambodia was not under the control of any outside power. He added that the court had tried his case in line with standard procedure.

“Sam Rainsy’s announcement that he will file a complaint to international courts is not surprising,” he said.

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Chhoeung Sarin, wife of defendant Prum Chea, weeps after being denied entry to his trial Wednesday in Svay Rieng. Heng Chivoan

But he said the opposition leader’s appeals had come too late, adding that he should have made formal complaints while he was in the country.

“If he has evidence, he should have used his rights as a people’s representative to inform National Assembly President [Heng Samrin] of his complaints,” Tith Sothea said.

But some observers said Sam Rainsy’s role in the border stunt had been consistent with the duties of an elected representative of the people.

“An MP in his case is doing his job as an MP. He went to see the people and went to solve their problems,” said Son Soubert, a member of the Constitutional Council.

“The National Assembly should support him instead of lifting his immunity, because he is just doing his job.”

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) said the outcome of Wednesday’s trial was an example of the “rotten” state of Cambodia’s democracy.

A familiar pattern
The current situation recalls Sam Rainsy’s yearlong period of exile during 2005 and 2006, when he left the country to avoid prosecution on defamation charges. At that time, a Royal pardon paved the way for his return in February 2006 .

Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, said that, as in 2006, the two sides would likely reach a political settlement allowing Sam Rainsy to return from Europe and avoid prison.

“This is not the first time.... There will be a resolution of the conflict later on,” he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen warned on January 5 that he would not request a pardon for the SRP leader, but Thun Saray said that such “deals” usually come prior to elections, when democratic legitimacy is more of an issue for the government.

“When the election happens without an opposition party, it doesn’t have much credibility,” he said. “I think both sides need each other.”

The next major poll – the commune council election – is set to take place in 2012.

PM points finger at corrupt army chiefs

Friday, 29 January 2010
By Vong Sokheng and Sam Rith
Phnom Penh Post

Photo by: Pha Lina

Hun Sen speaks during the closing ceremony of a conference at the Ministry of Defence on Thursday.

PRIME Minister Hun Sen on Thursday warned of harsh sanctions for soldiers and military commanders involved in illegal businesses, identifying several officials by name who he said were guilty of corruption.

Speaking at the conclusion of a conference on military reform, held at the Ministry of Defence, Hun Sen said even high-ranking officers were not immune from the government’s effort to expose unlawful activity, calling this effort essential to plans discussed at the conference for military reform over the next five years.

“It is time to stop every activity involving illegal business or the support of illegal business. [I] don’t care how many stars or moons you have – I will fire you, and nobody will keep corrupt commanders in their seats,” Hun Sen said. “In Cambodia, the prime minister directly controls the troops.”

Hun Sen identified several generals who said were guilty of corruption: Sum Samnang, director-general of logistics and finance at the Ministry of Defence; Chao Phirun, director-general of the military’s materials and technical services department; Ung Samkhan, commander of the
Cambodian Navy; and Chhoeun Chanthan, chief of Senate President Chea Sim’s bodyguards.

The premier also acknowledged that many soldiers were involved in illegal activities including logging, land grabbing, smuggling and illegal fishing. “I declare my absolute order [to stop illegal businesses] -- otherwise military reform will not move forward,” Hun Sen said.

Following the passage of the Kingdom’s long-awaited Anticorruption Law, Hun Sen said, all government officials and politicians will be required to disclose their assets to a permanent committee to fight corruption, which will be housed at the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces headquarters in the capital’s Daun Penh district. A draft of the Anticorruption Law was approved by the Council of Ministers in December, and is likely to be passed by the National Assembly in April.

Yim Sovann, spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), said he was pleased to hear the prime minister address the issue of land grabbing by the armed forces.“What I am happy about is that he acknowledged past misdeeds,” Yim Sovann said, adding that the SRP’s recommendations on these issues had been ignored for years.

Thun Saray, president of local rights group Adhoc, called for Hun Sen’s recommendations to be put swiftly into action.

“His speech is very good, but we also ask for real implementation … sometimes when we take his speech to lower levels for implementation, they do not listen,” he said.

Oil firm agrees deal on Block A

The yellow shaded-areas are Chevron's oil concessionaires.

Friday, 29 January 2010
By Steve Finch
Phnom Penh Post

US energy multinational Chevron has extended an agreement to explore in Offshore Block A, said a company spokesman, following months of negotiations after the previous deal expired in April.

The concession, located in the Gulf of Thailand, is widely considered to be Cambodia’s best chance of producing energy within the next few years, although production dates have frequently been pushed back – most recently to some time after 2013.

“Chevron welcomes the ongoing opportunity to evaluate the Block A resources,” Singapore-based spokesman Gareth Johnstone said late Wednesday by email.

He declined to provide further details on the new agreement, including its duration, citing “commercial reasons”.

Johnstone also declined to say when the new deal was signed. Government energy officials, including Te Duong Tara, director general of the Cambodia National Petroleum Authority, were unavailable for comment Thursday.

The new deal ends speculation that Chevron may pull out of Cambodia after both sides took close to a year to iron out details of the new deal.

Neither Chevron nor the government have revealed details about the negotiations and, in the longer term, the process required to bring the “complex Block A reservoir” online, although Johnstone told the Post in July: “Key requirements include having legal, fiscal, and regulatory frameworks in place, and were “inbuilding technical capability.”

During the talks, both sides were “in the process of evaluating several development options”, Johnstone said at the time.

Chevron says it has thus far spent US$125 million on seismic data in Block A, drilling at least 15 exploratory wells, according to company promotional material, since operations first began in 2002.

Following reports last week on Chevron’s downstream operations, which are scheduled to undergo restructuring this year, Johnstone refused to speculate on Chevron’s presence in Cambodia. Chevron subsidiary Caltex runs service stations in the Kingdom.

“It is important to understand that Chevron conducts a continual assessment of its asset portfolio to determine the optimal mix of assets and markets,” Johnstone said in Wednesday’s email. “No decisions on assets or markets have been made.”

The US energy firm is planning to shed retail outlets to concentrate on upstream activities, Bloomberg reported on January 19, without saying which markets would be affected.

Johnstone told the Post an announcement would be made in March and that “the new organisation will be in place by the third quarter of this year”, without elaborating further.

Cambodian opposition leader's trial 'a farce': rights group

PHNOM PENH, Jan 29 (AFP) - A human rights group accused Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen Friday of trying to reverse political pluralism after the nation's main opposition leader was sentenced to jail this week.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy (pictured), who is now in France, was convicted and sentenced in absentia on Wednesday to two years in prison for uprooting border markings with neighbouring Vietnam and for inciting racial discrimination.

Two villagers were also found guilty of intentionally damaging temporary border posts during the incident in October and each were jailed for a year.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said the court's closed-door trial was "a farce" that took Hun Sen's campaign of "persecution of critics to a new extreme and highlights government control over the judiciary".

"The Cambodian government's relentless crackdown on critics continues apace in 2010," said Brad Adams, HRW Asia director, in a statement.

"Hun Sen seems intent on reversing the political pluralism that has been created over the past two decades," he added.

The Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, a local rights group, said this week that Sam Rainsy's conviction "reflects Cambodia’s rotten democracy".

Cambodia and Vietnam officially began demarcating their contentious border in September 2006 in a bid to end decades of territorial disputes.

That has led to a row that has sparked virulent anti-Vietnamese sentiment in Cambodia, fuelled by resentment of Vietnam's expansion over the centuries and the feeling that Cambodia is losing some of its territory.

The 1,270-kilometre (787-mile) border has remained essentially unmarked and vague since French colonial times.

French-educated former finance minister Sam Rainsy is the main rival to Hun Sen. He has promised to promote liberal democracy and human rights, raise wages and fight corruption if elected, but is often criticised for inciting populist anti-Vietnamese sentiment.

Cambodia: Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy's Trial a Farce

29 Jan 2010

Source: Human Rights Watch

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

(New York) - A Cambodian court's closed-door conviction and sentencing of the opposition leader Sam Rainsy (pictured) and two others takes Prime Minister Hun Sen's campaign of persecution of critics to a new extreme and highlights government control over the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said today.
On January 27, 2010, the Svay Rieng provincial court convicted Rainsy and two villagers, Meas Srey and Prom Chea, on charges of racial incitement and destroying demarcation posts on Cambodia's border with Vietnam. Rainsy, who was in Paris, was tried in absentia and sentenced to two years in prison and fined 8 million riels (approximately US$2,000). Meas Srey and Prom Chea were each sentenced to one year in prison for destroying public property. The court also ordered the three to pay 55 million riels (approximately US$13,000) in compensation for the removal of border markers with Vietnam.
"The Cambodian government's relentless crackdown on critics continues apace in 2010," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Hun Sen seems intent on reversing the political pluralism that has been created over the past two decades."
The cases were brought after Rainsy and local villagers pulled six temporary border markers from the ground in Chantrea district of Svay Rieng. Local villagers alleged that the border markers represented an attempt by Vietnam to encroach on Cambodian land, a longstanding claim of Rainsy and his party.
The trial did not meet international standards for a fair trial, Human Rights Watch said. The lawyer for Meas Srey and Prom Chea said the court refused to consider defense evidence. By trying Rainsy in absentia, the court denied him his rights to defend himself and to examine the evidence against him. The trial was closed to journalists, human rights organizations, and the general public.
The court was surrounded by a heavy police presence, which observers say was intended to intimidate defense counsel and influence the court's ruling - a common feature of political trials in Cambodia. Svay Rieng provincial court has a long history of politically motivated rulings.
On January 6, Hun Sen, who has long exercised an iron grip over the courts, made the outcome of the trial clear. He announced that he would not request a pardon for Rainsy if he was found guilty. "This time I would like to declare ... there is no [pardon]; after the court convicts, let it be," Hun Sen said during an inauguration ceremony for a stretch of National Road 1 in Kandal province.
"Any hopes of slowing Hun Sen's assault on the political opposition now depends on the donor community, which props up the government financially," Adams said. "This political trial should make donors recognize the gravity of the situation."
Senior government officials have repeatedly brought politically motivated cases against Rainsy in recent years. His immunity as a member of parliament was lifted in February 2009 after Hun Sen filed a criminal defamation complaint against him for accusing Hun Sen of corruption. Rainsy's immunity was restored after his party paid a US$2,500 fine. On November 19, his immunity was lifted again for the border markers case.
Rainsy still faces a defamation complaint filed in 2009 by the Phnom Penh municipal governor, Kep Chuktema, after Rainsy allegedly said in a speech in May that Kep Chuktema was involved in vote-buying.
The most recent attempt to jail Sam Rainsy came in December 2005, when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison on transparently political charges. Rainsy was out of the country at the time. Under international pressure, Hun Sen agreed to a royal pardon in February 2006.
From the time he created his political party in 1995, Rainsy has been subject to assassination attempts, threats, intimidation, criminal cases, and civil court cases. On March 30, 1997, a grenade attack on a political rally he was addressing killed at least 16 people and wounded 150. Rainsy's life was saved when the full force of the blast hit one of his bodyguards. Hun Sen's bodyguard unit has been implicated in the attack.
At least 10 government critics were prosecuted for criminal defamation and disinformation based on complaints by government and military officials during 2009. Criminal defamation, disinformation, and incitement lawsuits were also filed against two members of Parliament from the opposition Rainsy Party, Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, and a youth activist, Soung Sophorn.

British conservationist given prestigious award from the Royal Government of Cambodia

British conservationist given prestigious award from the Royal Government of Cambodia British conservationist Dr Jenny Daltry was today given a Royal award by the Cambodian Government. She has worked for UK-based Fauna & Flora International for 15 years and during that time made a huge impact on Cambodia's wildlife.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Log (Press Release) – Jan 29, 2010 – Phnom Penh, 29 January 2010 – The Royal Government of Cambodia has awarded British conservationist, Dr Jenny Daltry, the title of Officer of the Order of Sahemetrei, given to foreigners for their “distinguished services to the King and to the Nation.”

Dr Daltry was honoured with the award for wildlife conservation activities within the Kingdom of Cambodia. She has worked as Senior Conservation Biologist for British-based international conservation organization Fauna & Flora International (FFI) for 15 years.

Much of her time has been spent in Cambodia, where she led a number of field expeditions that resulted in the increased protection of forested areas covering more than 1,000,000 hectares in the Cardamom Mountains. In 2000, Dr Daltry re-discovered the Siamese crocodile (which was previously thought to be extinct in the wild) and subsequently spearheaded a pioneering community-based programme to conserve this critically endangered reptile.

Impressively, Dr Daltry also led a ground-breaking initiative to establish a new generation of Cambodian scientists. This country has an incredible diversity of wildlife and contains many of the richest habitats remaining in the Mekong Basin. Yet because the Pol Pot regime largely wiped out the educated classes, Cambodia lacks enough qualified practitioners to manage its wildlife and help it to develop sustainably.

Under FFI Cambodia’s University Capacity Building Programme, Dr Daltry created the first permanent Masters of Science programme at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. 147 Cambodians have enrolled on the course so far. She is also the founder and chief editor of the country’s first peer-reviewed scientific journal - the Cambodian Journal of Natural History – to encourage Cambodians to publish and share their knowledge of Cambodian’s wildlife and natural resources. The second issue of the journal has just recently been published.

“I am overwhelmed and grateful.” Dr Daltry said. “For a conservationist to receive this rare honour does, I think, signify the importance that Cambodia places on its wildlife, forests, and protected areas. Cambodia is changing fast, but economic development does not have to mean the loss of its wildlife or priceless environmental services. The achievement I feel most proud of is helping talented Cambodians, from the government ministries to villages, to become leaders in biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. I also thank my colleagues and co-workers for their tireless commitment and support for more than a decade. “

The Order was be presented to Dr Daltry by H.E. Ty Sokhun, Head of Forestry Administration during a formal ceremony on January 29th 2010. It was attended by senior Government Officials, international dignitaries such as His Excellency Rafael Dochao Moreno, Head of the EU Delegation, and His Excellency Andrew Mace, British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, and representatives of conservation NGOs including FFI CEO, Mark Rose.

# # #

About Fauna & Flora International (FFI) (www.fauna-flora.org)
FFI protects threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take account of human needs. Operating in more than 40 countries worldwide – mainly in the developing world – FFI saves species from extinction and habitats from destruction, while improving the livelihoods of local people. Founded in 1903, FFI is the world’s longest established international conservation body and a registered charity. FFI has been working in Cambodia since 1996.

Martial arts club raising funds for Cambodian ministry

The Winkler Ironfist Tae Kwon Do Club continues its mandate of giving back with a special fundraising event next week.

On Friday, Feb. 5, the club hits the P.W. Enns Centennial Concert Hall stage for an evening of skills demonstrations and worship music to raise funds for its Christian outreach mission in Cambodia.

In addition to showing off some of the skills of the club's members, the evening will also feature music by the Waverly Worship Band and local singing talent Jayme Giesbrecht.

Club instructor Wolfgang Schaefer said the money raised at the by-donation event will help pay for the programming and services of the Cambodian ministry, which tends to over 200 children and their families in the poverty-stricken South East Asian country.

With help from the Ironfist club members and the community at large, packages of toys, blankets, clothing, and other supplies are regularly sent to Cambodia, and distributed amongst the people who make their homes in the country's slums, Schaefer said.

The ministry also provides Bible lessons and church services, supplies food to the children who attend its events, and often helps pay for their school uniforms, so they can be allowed to attend school.

"All the kids in the club are aware that they're a part of that," Schaefer said, noting it gives the students a great sense of pride to be able to help those in need while, at the same time, honing their martial arts skills.

"The club is so much more than just a sport," he added.

Next week's show gets underway at 7 p.m., with the doors opening at 6:30 p.m.

Admission is free, though donations are more than welcome.

CBC Satement on Sam Rainsy´s Conviction

Please click HERE to read the statement.

The statement is very reflected released by Cambodian Border Committee World Wide as response to the trial of MP Sam Rainsy.

Hun Sen strongly warned four 3-star generals

By Khmerization
Source: DAP News

Prime Minister Hun Sen (pictured) has on Thursday 28th January strongly warned four 3-star generals for involving in corruption in the management of military equipments and for the illegal sale of military property, reports Deum Ampil.

In a public speech at the military seminar on Thursday, Mr. Hun Sen warned that they face the sacks and prosecution. The four named generals are Lt-Gen. Chhoeun Chanthorn , alias Mao, who is commander of Mr. Chea Sims' Bodyguard Unit, Lt-Gen. Soum Samnang, Director of Finance at Ministry of Defence. Lt-Gen. Chao Phirun, Director of Technical Department at Defence Ministry and Lt-Gen. Oung Samkhan, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

He chastised Gen. Chhoeun Chanthorn for asking to be promoted to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Hun Sen warned him that he is asking too much because he has been promoted beyond his capacity already. "Ah (the contemptible) Mao cannot even read the map, how can he become Deputy Commander-in-Chief. You have already been promoted beyond your capacity already, so I said clearly now that you will not be promoted", Hun Sen warned.

He accused Gen. Soum Samnang of siphoning off soldiers salary by 2,500 riels ($.45) from each soldiers. He said he almost sack him, but Gen. Tea Banh, Minister of Defence, implored him many times for him not to sack Gen. Oum Samnang. "On that day, if Gen. Tea Banh did not implore me too much, I have already sacked you", he said.

Hun Sen warned Gen. Chao Phirum of corruption involving the expenditures on procurement and repairs of military equipments.

Gen. Oung Samkhan was strongly chastised for negotiating to sell army estates, including some army barracks, but the sale was thwarted when he refused to sign the sale.

Sam Rainsy plans to take border issues to international court

By Khmerization
Sources: DAP and RFA

Opposition leader, Mr. Sam Rainsy (pictured), said he will take Cambodia's border issues with its neighbours to international court after he was convicted on 27th January and sentenced to two years for sabotage and destruction of public property when he led 100 villagers to uproot border markers from Khmer-Vietnamese borders on 25th October 2009, reports Deum Ampil and Radio free Asia.

In an interview with RFA via telephone after he was convicted, Mr. Rainsy said he will continue his border campaign from abroad to make Cambodia's neighbours respect her borders. "We must continue our demands to the international community, demand that our neighbours to the east and west respect the territorial integrity of Cambodia", he said.

He added that he will he will file a complaint in the international court to find justice for Cambodia and her people because he has no confidence in the Cambodian judicial system. "we will continue our demands in the International Court because only international court is a real independent court that can provide justice because it based its judgement on the laws and based on the wisdom of natural justice," he continued.

He suggested that all Khmer parties, political parties and historians and border experts should meet under the auspices of Father King Sihanouk to try to resolve Cambodia's border issues with neighbouring countries. He added that he will return to let the Cambodian do whatever it wanted if the court agree to release all farmers jailed for uprooting the border markers. "I demand that the court must release those farmers immediately, permanently and unconditionally and give them back their lands and then I will return back to Cambodia and let the court to try and to sentence me and do whatever they like with me", he said.

Mr. Var Kimhong, chairman of Cambodian Border Commission, said he is not worried about Mr. Rainsy's plan to complain to international court. He added he is waiting to see how far Mr. Rainsy will go in trying to proof Vietnam's encroachments on Cambodian borders.

Yuon-Hanoi's slaves for life

Cartoons by Sacravatoons at: www.sacrava.blogspot.com

The bottom cartoon's depictions: left hand side is Thailand and the right hand side is Vietnam tearing Cambodia apart. The caption reads: Red Khmers+ Blue Khmers+Royalist Khmers= Khmer survival.

Open letters on border issues to Khmer and international commuinty

After opposition Sam rainsy was convicted by the Cambodian court for uprooting border markers allegedly planted inside Khmer territory, several individual have written their open letters to Khmer and international community on the issues of Cambodia's encroaching on Cambodian borders. Here they are:
1. Saro Sivutha's open letter.
2. Letters from Mr. Chandara Kin as follow:

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Cambodian PM advises military to focus on human resource development

January 28, 2010
People's Daily Online

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (pictured) Thursday urged his military men at all levels, especially the leaders and commanders of the army, to focus on human resource development.

"We are aware that in early 21st century, technology has promoted infrastructure development at all sectors for humanity. However, compared to regional countries, Cambodia still has a big gap of human resource shortage that needs to be addressed," he said at the closing of the stocktaking workshop on the 5-Year Military Reform (2005-2009) and 5-Year Direction Setting (2010- 2014).

"Therefore, the Ministry of Defense and Commander-in-chief should continue to carry out 5-year armed forces reform by focusing on human resource development and promoting their capacity, so that our armed forces could stand equally with others in the region and in other developed countries," he said.

He said Cambodia has experienced many difficulties and enormous sacrifice, but has also successfully implemented "win-win policy" that brings to people and country peace, national conciliation, certain and full national unity.

While urging a continued strengthening on real human resources within the armed forces leadership, he also called for research studies to enhance the defense knowledge and other skills such as information technology as well as strengthening the international cooperation on military sector in both regional and global framework, aiming to develop and modernize the defense sector of Cambodia to be more competent and consistent with evolving situation and development of the nation and the world.

In his speech, Hun Sen also warned his military men to perform good deeds for the sake of the nation and the people.

Source: Xinhua

Hun Sen praises China's aid in infrastructure development

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (pictured) praised China on Wednesday for continued aid that helps Cambodia's infrastructure development.

Giving speech at the ground breaking ceremony of National Road No. 62 renovation, donated by China, in Cambodia's central province of Kampong Thom, Hun Sen said China has helped Cambodia touching on four major priority sectors' development in his country.

He said the four priority sectors are road, water, power and human resource.

"As always, the government and people of China have supported Cambodia in development of all fields, the move to push for economic and social development that will help reduce the poverty of the Cambodian people," he said at the event.

He said China, today, is the largest donor to Cambodia.

The 128-kilometer long National Road No. 62 is linking Kompong Thom province to Preah Vihear province.

Cambodian culture?

Hey guys.
I’m doing research for a story that I’m currently writing in which one of the characters is from Cambodia. I’d just like to know some basic facts, such as what type of currency they use, their main religion, what language they speak, their literacy rate, what percentage of the country speaks English, and whatnot. I’d also like to know how much Cambodia is like America so I can know if the character would experience culture shock, which I imagine they would anyway despite their background. Any interesting facts about Cambodia would be greatly appreciated. I will be doing independent research as well but you can never be too accurate when it comes to first-hand knowledge.
Thanks so much,
Lex

Visit here to give answers to Alex's question.

---------------------------

Answer from Jessica:

Jessica January 28th, 2010 at 9:19 am

Go find the CIA Factbook and it’ll list all the basic info on Cambodia that you’ll need. Currency is riel. Language is Khmer. Most people are illiterate.

And Cambodia is waaaaaaaay different from America. I’m a Cambodian-American and my first time visiting Cambodia was just a couple of months ago. I knew it was different but it was crazy being able to see the country with my own eyes. It’s kinda scary at night unless you have a couple of Cambodians with you. The streets are crazy. When you cross the street, you just cross and hope that all them motorcycles and cars will slow down for you. I was sweating all the time and got 20 different mosquito bites. The people are nice and friendly and the food is good. You’ll get swarmed by children/beggars. I do not know if they harass people who are obviously foreigners for money though but if you’re Cambodian and seem to have money you’ll get harassed non-stop!

I can go on and on about Cambodia! If you need more specific info, just ask, and I’ll try my best to answer them.

And you should really visit Cambodia yourself – you won’t regret it! Except for the cost of the flight, you won’t have to spend too much money.

Hope this helps

Cambodia destroys tonnes of oil used to make ecstasy

PHNOM PENH, Jan 28 (AFP) - Cambodian authorities and Australian police on Thursday began destroying tonnes of a raw ingredient used to make the party drug ecstasy, an anti-narcotics official said.

They started burning 14.6 tonnes of confiscated sassafras oil, which is extracted from a rare tree found deep in Cambodia's jungles, said Moek Dara, secretary-general of Cambodia's national authority for combating drugs.

"If we don't crack down on the oil, a lot of people, not only those in Cambodia, will suffer," he told AFP, adding that it would take at least 10 days to destroy the sassafras.

Sassafras is an ingredient for cosmetics but also a precursor chemical to make ecstasy. Five litres of the oil would produce 10,000 pills of the club drug, officials said.

The oil comes from the rare M'rea Prov Phnom tree, Moek Dara said.

The stocks of sassafras, which were confiscated in anti-drug raids last year, were being destroyed in the northwestern province of Battambang along with nearly six tonnes of other chemical substances, he added.

Cambodia destroyed 35 tonnes of sassafras in 2007 when authorities made the oil illegal.

Impoverished Cambodia has become a popular trafficking point for narcotics, particularly methamphetamines and heroin, after neighbouring Thailand toughened its stance on illegal drugs in 2002.

Somali pirates seize Cambodian cargo ship

Somali pirates have hijacked a Cambodian cargo ship early Wednesday off Somalia's Berbera port with unknown crew members from six countries, a regional maritime official confirmed on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program said the MV Layla-S was seized after it unloaded at the port in the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland.

----------------------------------------------------

Somali Pirates Hijack Cambodian Cargo Ship

By REUTERS
Published: January 28, 2010
The New York Times

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali gunmen hijacked a Cambodian cargo ship, the MV Layla-S, off Berbera after it unloaded at the port in the breakaway northern enclave of Somaliland, a regional maritime official said Thursday. "Crew members on board the ill-fated vessel are ... Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan, Somali and Syrian nationals," Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa, Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program said in a statement.

"It is said that the vessel has a link with Syrian and UAE businessmen. We are informed that she was taken by gunmen after discharging her cargo." The hijacking appeared to have happened Wednesday, but few other details were immediately available. The seizure came a week after Somali pirates freed a Greek-flagged tanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil for a record ransom.

Somaliland, which declared itself independent in 1991, is proud of its relative stability compared with the south of Somalia, where hardline Islamist rebels control large amounts of territory and are battling a weak Western-backed government.

Worldwide, piracy attacks rose by nearly 40 percent last year, with Somali gangs accounting for more than half the 406 reported incidents, the International Maritime Bureau says.

Typically, pirates from the failed Horn of Africa state hold the captured ships and crews hostage until ransoms are paid.

The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents 75 percent of the global seaborne industry, said this month that it felt deepening frustration at the international community's "impotence" in combating growing piracy in the Indian Ocean.

(Reporting by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Giles Elgood)

How to Manually Position Border Posts on a Map

Source: SRP

Click on each page to zoom in

Cambodian judiciary’s double standard

CAMBODIAN JUDICIARY’S DOUBLE STANDARD

After the first set of documents (15 sheets) presented at http://tinyurl.com/y9d7qho the following is a second set of maps and data (6 sheets) http://tinyurl.com/ycmw48z giving additional evidence of land grabbing associated with border encroachment in Svay Rieng province.

Whichever map is used (French 1952 1/100,000 map, US Army 1966 1/50,000 map or most recent Google Earth satellite picture) the conclusion is the same: The so-called border post (#185) opposition leader Sam Rainsy pulled out last October was well inside Cambodia and was not a real and legal border demarcation marker. All the so-called border posts in the area (from #184 to #187) are located in fact between 300 meters and 500 meters from the international border as defined on the maps.

The only legally binding map is the French 1952 1/100,000 map which was deposited at the United Nations by the Royal Cambodian Government under then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk in 1964. But this map says the same thing as the other maps.

Therefore, Sam Rainsy did not commit any crime last October because he did not pull out any “border post” or destroy any “public property” as the Hun Sen government claims. He just pulled out a few commercially worthless wooden poles on a private land at the request of the local land’s owner fearing land grab associated with border encroachment.

Those who have actually destroyed public property are Hun Sen government officials who are involved in the destruction, through illegal but lucrative logging, of hundreds of thousands of hectares of Cambodia’s invaluable forest. But those powerful and wealthy people walk free while powerless and poor farmers protesting land grabbing are put in jail..

The above story is another illustration of the Cambodian judiciary’s double standard.

SRP Members of Parliament

PRESS RELEASE - Sam Rainsy Conviction Reflects Cambodia’s Rotten Democracy

Dear all,

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights today, 28 January 2010, issues a
press release titled Sam Rainsy Conviction Relfects Cambodia's Rotten
Democracy. Please find attached a copy of this release in PDF format here.

Thank you and kind regards

CCHR

Sam Rainsy Jailed 'In Absentia'

Cambodia’s best-known opposition leader gets a two-year term in absentia.

RFA

Sam Rainsy at Radio Free Asia in Washington, Feb. 11, 2005.

PHNOM PENH—A Cambodian court sentenced the country’s best-known opposition leader in absentia on Wednesday to two years in jail for allegedly uprooting border markings, Sam Rainsy and his party said.

Sam Rainsy, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s main rival, was stripped of parliamentary immunity in November and charged with inciting racial discrimination and intentionally damaging wooden posts demarcating the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

Cambodia and Vietnam began demarcating their border in September 2006 in an effort to end many years of hostility over disputed territory—but that has escalated anti-Vietnamese sentiment in Cambodia. The 1,270-km (787-mile) border has remained essentially unmarked since French colonial times.

Two villagers, who were present in court, were also convicted for intentionally damaging the border markings during the incident in October and each was jailed for a year, Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann said.

"All Cambodian people know that the court in Cambodia is not a just and fair court. It is the court that carries out the order from higher authority—the powerful and the rich," Sam Rainsy said in an interview from France.

Asked if he would appeal, he replied, "It is not important. We have no respect for and belief in the Cambodian court [system] at all."

"But we will continue to protest foreign encroachment and the Cambodian government, which not only has not taken action to stop the encroachment ... but has put landowners in jail."

Fines imposed

The Svay Rieng provincial court began its closed-door trial of Sam Rainsy and the villagers under tight security.

It ordered them to jointly pay fines equivalent to U.S. $12,500 in compensation for the markings, the spokesman said. Sam Rainsy was fined an additional $2,000 dollars.

Sam Rainsy, who was educated in France, has refused to return to Cambodia until some territory is returned to Cambodian farmers and the two jailed villagers are freed.

Court officials could not be reached to confirm the verdict, while Rainsy's lawyer refused to comment.

The English-language Phnom Penh Post meanwhile reported that Sam Rainsy could face new criminal charges after his party released what it said was concrete proof of Vietnamese border encroachments.

Government adviser Tith Sothea said the government is considering whether to take legal action against the Sam Rainsy Party president for publishing documents denigrating the government’s border-demarcation efforts.

The wife of one of the villagers, Prum Chea, said her husband would appeal.

"I will have him appeal this judgment because it is very unjust. My husband had only appealed to the government and civil society to seek a solution to the problem of our farmland," she said.

Sam Sokong, who represented the defendants, also rejected the verdict. "The court’s decision is based on a hearing that produced no evidence or facts," he said.

Intimidation, harassment alleged

According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, at least 10 government critics were prosecuted for criminal defamation and disinformation based on complaints by government and military officials during 2009.

Criminal defamation, disinformation, and incitement lawsuits were also filed against opposition Sam Rainsy Party members, including party leader Sam Rainsy, parliamentarians Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, and youth activist Soung Sophorn, it said.

"The ruling Cambodian People's Party of Prime Minister Hun Sen continued to use an array of repressive tactics, including harassment, threats, violence, and arbitrary arrest, to suppress political rivals, opposition journalists, land rights activists, and trade unionists," the report said.

Original reporting by Sok Serey and Kim Peou for RFA’s Khmer service. Additional reporting by news agencies. Khmer service director: Sos Kem. Executive producer: Susan Lavery. Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Written for the Web in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.

Sam Rainsy sentenced in absentia

Thursday, 28 January 2010
By Meas Sokchea and Sebastian Strangio
Phnom Penh Post

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Police and military police officials block Chhoeung Sarin, the wife of jailed villager Prom Chea, from attending his trial at Svay Rieng provincial court on Wednesday.

SVAY RIENG PROVINCE
SVAY RIENG provincial court has convicted opposition leader Sam Rainsy of racial incitement and destroying demarcation posts on the border with Vietnam, a verdict rights activists have labelled “ridiculous”.

In a closed-door session on Wednesday, Judge Koam Chhean sentenced the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) president to two years prison and fined him 8 million riels (around US$1,927) in absentia, said Sam Sokong, the defense attorney of two villagers convicted on similar charges.

“I cannot accept the trial today, because it did not take evidence and proof into consideration to find justice,” Sam Sokong said. “The court did not base its decision on the evidence.”

His clients – villagers Meas Srey, 39, and Prom Chea, 41 – were sentenced to one year each on the charge of destroying public property. The three accused were also ordered to collectively pay 55 million riels ($13,253) in compensation for the removal of the border markers.

After the hearing, Long Ry, an SRP lawmaker who attended the trial, scorned the verdict, saying the proceedings were a farce. “The decision was prepared beforehand and everything was decided in advance. The court ‘acted’ very well,” he said afterwards.

Wednesday’s proceedings were closed to members of the public, and the gate to the provincial courthouse was guarded by a phalanx of police and military police officers.

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers Long Ry (left), Chiv Kata (centre) and Kong Bora at the court in Svay Rieng on Wednesday.

IN DATES Sam Rainsy’s border struggle

---

October 25, 2009
Sam Rainsy travels to Svay Rieng province’s Chantrea district and joins villagers in uprooting wooden border markers along the Vietnamese frontier to protest alleged encroachments.

November 16, 2009
Sam Rainsy is stripped of his parliamentary immunity by the National Assembly, paving the way for his prosecution in connection with the October incident.

November 24, 2009
Svay Rieng provincial court Prosecutor Keo Sothear charges Sam Rainsy with incitement of racial discrimination and destruction of property under Articles 52 and 61 of the UNTAC criminal code.

December 23, 2009
Two Svay Rieng villagers – Meas Srey, 39, and Prum Chea, 41 – are arrested by provincial authorities for allegedly taking part in the October protest with Sam Rainsy. Three other villagers go into hiding.

January 5, 2010
Prime Minister Hun Sen announces that there will be no pardon for Sam Rainsy in the event that he is convicted by Svay Rieng provincial court.

January 24, 2010
The SRP releases what it says is “unprecedented evidence” of Vietnamese border incursions. The evidence includes maps showing border markers 300 to 500 metres inside Cambodian territory.

January 27, 2010
Sam Rainsy is convicted and sentenced to two years in prison. Meas Srey and Prum Chea both receive one-year terms, and the three are ordered to pay a total of 63 million riels (US$15,180) in damages.

Nget Nara, a coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, described the reception of the police as “hostile”, saying they not only prevented journalists and civil society activists from attending, but also the relatives of the accused.

“The authorities seemed prepared to have a fight,” he said. “This is not democracy.”

Sam Rainsy’s attorney, Choung Choungy, said the heavy police presence was clearly being used to intimidate the defence teams and influence the ruling of the court.

“The court is independent, but while in session, the court was surrounded by the government’s armed forces,” he said. “Do [the judges] dare release my client when police surround the court like this?”

When the verdict was read, Sim Keuy, 63, the mother of Prum Chea, broke down outside the court’s gates.

“I take pity on my daughter,” she said. “I would like Samdech Hun Sen to release my daughter today. I am old now, and I don’t have anyone to feed the family.”

Rights groups also slammed the severity of the rulings, describing them as a “blatant political persecution” of the three accused. “This is yet another setback in democracy after a number of SRP members, activists, council members and members of parliament have been threatened or jailed for raising public issues

and challenging government policies in the past few years,” said Naly Pilorge, director of the rights group Licadho.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the brevity of the trial indicated that the judges had made no attempt to determine the status of the land in Samrong commune that was at the centre of the villagers’ concerns.

“I don’t think the court can determine the issue of ownership in such a hurry… This is a political case,” he said.

Judge Koam Chhean could not be reached for comment following the hearing. But one official said the criticisms were misplaced, since all Cambodian judges were obliged to follow due process and adhere to the law.

“Everyone has different ideas, but we have one law,” said Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan. “We have to accept the judge’s decision.”
He added: “If someone doesn’t like [a court ruling] they can go to the next level, to the Supreme Court. If they don’t like the law, they can go to the Constitutional Council.”

A ‘blessing in disguise’
The charges against the three stemmed from an October 25 incident in which Sam Rainsy helped villagers uproot six temporary border posts in Svay Rieng’s Chantrea district, which locals claimed were placed in their ricefields by Vietnamese authorities.

Last week, the SRP released what it described as “unprecedented evidence” that four Vietnamese border markers in the area sit well inside Cambodia’s legal territory as defined by French and American maps.

When contacted on Wednesday, Sam Rainsy said the swift, secret nature of the trial was an indication that the government was increasingly nervous about his claims.

“I think they are afraid – afraid of the evidence that I am exposing, afraid of the publicity surrounding this case,” he said by phone from Paris, pledging to reveal further evidence of Vietnamese incursions at a video press conference today.

“For me [the verdict] is a blessing in disguise, because it will give me the opportunity to continue to expose evidence of what I have been saying when defending Cambodian farmers,” he said. “All my claims and allegations are serious evidence based on facts.”

Sam Rainsy added that he had made an offer to the Cambodian government to turn himself over in exchange for the release of the two villagers and binding guarantees that they will regain their lost rice fields in Svay Rieng.

“I will catch the first plane tomorrow if I hear news tonight that they have satisfied my demands,” he said, adding that the government appeared to be “considering” the offer.

The Svay Rieng trial recalls Sam Rainsy’s flight from the country in February 2005, after he had his parliamentary immunity suspended pending a defamation case, an act that initiated a yearlong exile for the SRP president. In December 2005, he was convicted of the charge and sentenced to 18 months in jail, but a Royal pardon in February 2006 smoothed the way for his return to Cambodia.

Ou Virak said that, as in 2006, escalating international pressure might force the government into brokering a political settlement with Sam Rainsy. But with less tension in the government than existed in 2005 and 2006, he said, it could be a while before the opposition leader again sets foot on Cambodian soil.

Sam Rainsy said that even if he is forced to remain overseas, he will not “remain idle” and will continue to force the border issue onto the agenda.
“I am not going to remain silent. I will continue to expose evidence to the Cambodian people, to world opinion, and I imagine the Hun Sen government will find themselves in an untenable position,” he said.

“Sam Rainsy is going to provoke a change in the situation.”

RCAF swelled its ranks by 7,000 over five years, says govt report

Thursday, 28 January 2010
By Vong Sokheng
Phnom Penh Post

Photo by: Tracey Shelton

RCAF soldiers return from a demining mission in Sudan last month.

THE Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) has recruited 7,000 new soldiers in the past five years and successfully fortified the Kingdom’s borders, according to a report released by the Ministry of Defence on Wednesday.

The report was unveiled at a two-day workshop at the ministry in Phnom Penh, where roughly 300 military officers gathered to discuss human resources and planning in the military from 2010 to 2014.

RCAF Commander in Chief Pol Saroeun said that, in light of recent clashes along the border with Thailand, the government must focus in the next five years on both diplomatic efforts and protection of Cambodia’s sovereignty.

“We need young soldiers and young commanders to replace the old soldiers. All of us here are old and will only be able to work for a few more years,” Pol Saroeun said.

Minister of Defence Tea Banh pointed to RCAF’s work abroad as a sign of its improvement in technical areas.

“A strong point of our military now is that we have integrated our soldiers into international humanitarian operations,” Tea Banh said, referring to UN peacekeeping missions in Africa in which RCAF troops have served as deminers.

Cheam Yeap, a senior lawmaker in the Cambodian People’s Party and head of the National Assembly’s finance commission, said Monday that 2009’s US$500 million in military spending accounted for roughly a quarter of the Kingdom’s total budget.

In September, the International Monetary Fund said Cambodia’s budget deficit, which it said would amount to about 7 percent of GDP for 2009, had been driven by an increased wage bill for the civil service and military. It warned the government to avoid any further wage bill expansion and instead direct spending to priority sectors such as health and education.

US man gets three more years for Cambodian child sex

PHNOM PENH, Jan 28 (AFP) - A Cambodian court Thursday extended the jail sentence of a US man by three years after he was convicted for a second time of child sex abuse.

Michael James Dodd, 60, already serving a 10-year sentence for soliciting sex with an underaged Vietnamese girl, was jailed for three more years for having sex with a 15-year-old Cambodian girl.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Chhay Kong also ordered Dodd, from Washington DC, to be deported after he completes his prison term.

Dodd was arrested in October 2008 for child sex abuse, then convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison in August last year for soliciting sex with a 14-year-old Vietnamese girl.

Dodd's lawyer Meng Sotheary told AFP that there was not enough evidence to prove the charges against her client, and she would appeal Thursday's ruling.

"I cannot accept the verdict because he did not commit the crimes he is charged with," she said.

Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia push in 2003, to try to shake off its reputation as a haven for sex predators.

Khmer Rouge killing machine explored at Sundance

"Enemies of the People" co-directors Rob Lemkin, Thet Sambath and producer Sandra Whipham.

By Romain Raynaldy

PARK CITY, Utah (AFP) — Ten years in the making, a documentary showing at the Sundance Festival explores the inner workings of the Cambodian regime through hundreds of hours of interviews with the Khmer Rouge regime's number two.

"Enemies of the People," in competition at the independent film festival held in Park City in the mountains of Utah, is the product of a collaboration between Cambodian journalist Thet Sambath and Briton Rob Lemkin.

Up to two million people -- a quarter of Cambodia's population -- were executed or died of torture, starvation and overwork under the 1975-1979 regime led by the notorious Pol Pot.

Thet Sambath paid a heavy price, losing his father, mother and his older brother to the hardline movement's catastrophic attempts to abolish money, empty cities and set up an agrarian utopia.

In an attempt to understand the tragedy, he spent the last ten years researching those responsible.

Before long he came across Pol Pot's second-in-command and chief ideologue, Nuon Chea, who at the time was living on the Thai border.

"At the beginning he told me that he wouldn't tell anything about the Khmer Rouges. He had not said anything, even to his children or his wife. But after I met him for many years, talking friendly, he finally talked to me," Thet Sambath told AFP.

Thet Sambath recorded everything, first on audio cassettes and then, afraid that no one would believe him, on video. Then he decided, with Lemkin's help, to make a documentary.

Nuon Chea talked about everything, from his rise to power to his relations with Pol Pot, and recounted the killings which wiped out all those considered "enemies of the people."

"When I interviewed him, I said it's for history, not for the newspaper, and I respected that. For many years, I didn't write anything. He said: 'If you come with another people, I will not say the truth,'" Sambath said.

Nuon Chea, now aged 83, has finally been brought to justice. Arrested in 2007 under the authority of a UN-backed tribunal, he is awaiting trial for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"The film is going to be used by the court and given to the court. We are very proud of it," said Lemkin.

But he said that they "hope the film can be part of the process of reconciliation" in Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge era and subsequent two decades of civil strife.

The Khmer Rouge remains a sensitive subject in Cambodia, with former members now living at all levels of society.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen -- a former Khmer Rouge cadre who defected -- has strongly opposed the pursuit of more suspects by the UN court, warning that it could start another civil war.

"Many people were killed, but many people did the killings. The number of killers who are still alive, who actually have blood on their hands or ordered the killings is around the thousands," Lemkin said.

The filmmakers say that the often difficult task of dealing with killers and confronting them with their crimes is a necessary one.

"This has got to be cleared up before these people die because otherwise the next generation in Cambodia will be growing up with this feeling of history as a black hole. And that's not healthy," Lemkin said.

But throughout the making of the film Teth Sambath was careful to leave his own family history to one side.

"If I use only my family members for this work, this is not good. Because not only my family but many people were killed," he said. "You have to think about... what is the most useful for all the people."

Lemkin said during the making of the film it was clear that Teth Sambath was not out for revenge.

"But actually the whole process of this investigation that he carried out was his own personal kind of non-violent revenge, in a kind of way. Because the truth is the revenge," he said.

Additional Evidence of Border Encroachment

Please click: Additional Evidence of Border Encroachment

This is the additional evidence on border encroachment released by MP Sam Rainsy today after he was sentenced to 2-year jail term by the kangaroo court of the puppet government yesterday.

Interview with Sam Rainsy after he was sentenced to two years jail

Interviewed by Sok Serey
Readio Free Asia
Translated into English by Khmerization
To listen to audio, click here.

Opposition leaders Sam Rainsy has been convicted of sabotage and destruction of public property for uprooting 6 wooden border markers on 25th October 2009 and was sentenced to two years jail on 27th January, 20201. The following is a translation of Mr. Sam Rainsy's interview. My Media Player did not play properly, so some questions and answers have been shortened/abbreviated. Khmerization


Sok Serey: Hello, Mr. Sam Rainsy!

Sam Rainsy: Hello, Mr. Sok Serey.

SS: What is your reaction to the court sentencing you to two years jail?

SR: All the people know that the Cambodian courts are not just and are biased courts. It is a court that take orders from the top- the top means those who hold powers, those who have the money who can do whatever they want. They oppress the poor whenever they wanted. They silence the people, they allow Khmer territories to be lost to our neighbours, they allow our neighbours to encroach on our borders. So, the court should not sentence the patriots, the Khmer people who are the victims. The court should instead sentence the traitors, because they are the ones who cut Khmer territory and give it to foreigners. They are the ones who are guilty, the guilty ones are those who give Khmer lands to foreigners.

SS: Do you have any plans to appeal the court's verdict?

SR: It is not important because the Cambodian courts are not trustworthy and respectful and we don't have any respect for this institution. But, we must continue our demands to the international community, demand that our neighbours to the east and west respect the territorial integrity of Cambodia. I will expose more evidences that confirm that our neighbours are encroaching deeper into our lands and our Cambodian authority have never taken concrete measures to stop these foreign encroachments and they allow the foreigners to encroach our territories, taking our farmers rice fields and many Khmer farmers have lost their lands. They came in to take our lands and put also put us in jail.

SS: Wha is your next plan?

SR: I will continue to reveal more evidences, more documents to show that the guilty ones are the foreigners who invade our territories and those who are guilty are those who allowed foreigners to swallow Khmer lands at will. Those are the ones who are guilty- not he Khmer patriots and victims and farmers. So, I don't need to appeal to the Cambodian courts because we don't have any confidence in these Cambodian courts. But we will continue our demands in the International Court because only international court is a real independent court that can provide justice because it based its judgement on the laws and based on the wisdom of natural justice. So, we will gather our strength and forces to lodge our complaint to the international court in order to obtain justice for our Cambodia, for our Khmer people.

SS: The Svay Rieng has filed suit against 5 villagers. Two were sentenced to one year jail each, but three have been acquitted. Do you have any comments regarding this case?

SR: The court should release all of them, all the 5 people and give them back the lands- the lands lost by the border encroachments. Some people have already lost their lands. They must give them back their lands. Those Khmer farmers have farmed in their lands since the time of their ancestors for many, many years already. And I demand that the court must release those farmers immediately, permanently and unconditionally and give them back their lands and then I will return back to Cambodia and let the court to try and to sentence me and do whatever they like with me.

SS: Do you have any plans to request King Father Sihanouk to intervene on your behalf?

SR: King Father Sihanouk is a real patriot who love the nation and who pays special attention about the issue of foreign encroachments on our borders. And in 2005, he summoned the representatives of the governments, representatives of Khmer border experts from around the world and representatives of the Sam Rainsy Party to see him and at that time he offered his suggestions that the border issues must be resolved in the most patriotic way. But the representatives of the government didn't listen to his advice and made unfounded claims by saying whatever they can think of. And they made claims for the interests and benefits of their party, but they didn't think about the Khmer interests as a whole. So I believe that King Father Sihanouk has the ability to bring representatives from all sides, even from the government, border technical experts, to go to a meeting under the auspices of King Father Sihanouk for us to resolve the border issues properly. This issue is an issue for all Khmer people, it is not a personal issue for Sam Rainsy. Sam Rainsy did not try to defend Sam Rainsy's interests, but I, Sam Rainsy, tried to defend Cambodia's national interests.

SS: Excellency, thanks for giving interview to Radio Free Asia. Goodbye!

SS: Thank you. Goodbye!