KH KOMPONG CHAM

Monday, January 10, 2011
2011 Writing Contest Announcement

Monday, January 10, 2011
Failed State Mirrored by the Buddha's Applied Teachings
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Originally posted at http://sophanse.blogspot.com

Dear Koun Khmer et al;
I am grateful for your knowledge sharing in this blog forum. Lord Buddha said "knowledge contribution (dana) will surpass all other contributions" or "Sabba Danam Dhamma Danam Jinati" in Pali. I have read all your articles for public discussion in here with attention and prestige.

Failed state theory has been broadly defined by scholars in the enlightenment era and this post cold-war transition. The attributions rest upon the affect of two rival ideologies: democracy and communism. This approach might be best described on the external observation of the failed states researchers. However, I totally agree with the definition of failed state that falls upon its failed leadership and people liberation.

I am fully affected by the teaching of "liberation" particularly "individual liberation" to reach "Enlightenment" by the Buddha, and this teaching has been well applied to the modern enlightening world. This is not different from failed state index 2010 posted by The Foreign Policy. In general, Cambodia is better than Burma and Lao in its 42 range, but Cambodia has been categorized by high scores in its documentation of demographic pressures, delegitimization of the state, and public service.


Demographically speaking, Cambodia is facing with youth bulk in recent statistic revelation by NGOs. More than half of Cambodian population is under age of 20 years old (pactcambodia). They are struggling to seek a better life by hunting for career opportunities; they are very different from their elders in both critical thinking and belief. They can be boon for government to heighten their strength as well as they can be the powerful agent to undermine the government. In other word, demographic pressures can define in the context of people exploitation to legitimate the power of the powerful. In this circumstance, the past genocide of Cambodia has become a main tool for politicians to legitimize their power. They have continuously gained power at the expense of their peoples past suffering and trauma. Their elders were directly affected by their traumatic experiences and their younger generations are indirectly affected by this inalienable trauma heritage. With the powerful delivery of controlled media and laid-down policy of the patron-clientele system have surely exacerbated the situation.

Delegitimization of the state is explained as to invalidate the status of a recognizable sovereign state by inclining to live under other state by either brotherliness, ideologies or economic dependency. In this matter, we cannot come up with concrete explanation of Cambodia unless we have some back up references. And I think your next topic of Elitism or Indochina would light up this story.

Third is the public service. Frankly speaking, the public service basing on patron-clientele relationship will not produce any progressive. Some paper has found that patron-clientele relationship in most developing countries are becoming a base for social and political reforming and yes it has taken longer time and sometime it has significantly failed to reform for the a betterment. Cambodia has carried out the culture of patron-clientele since the era of Angkor Wat. It was effective in that time, but it is not effective in this time. The rule of law and law enforcement can surely replace the culture of patronage, patron-clientele bureaucracy, favoritism and cronyism.

All those three high scores of failed state of Cambodia implies well to the teaching of "liberation" by Buddha. Lord Buddha said liberty and self-realization is the ultimate goal for all beings. In contrast, Cambodian people has not yet been projected to release themselves from bondage of pressure, exploitation, abusing of power by the powerful, and poor public services.

For instance, Cambodian people have been exploited by their past traumatic memory of Khmer Rouge; Cambodian people have been counterfeited by the generosity (dana) donated by the elitists and powerful people; Cambodian people have been brainwashed to pay gratitude to others without having chance to balance their gratefulness and truthfulness; and Cambodian people have been poorly treated by the public services, and they have perpetually gone through the same track of political conundrum.

Only one way to wake up our country to embrace the Enlightenment Era and update themselves to grab the current globalization is to "liberate" them from post-war trauma by handing them the space for free speech, allocating them by inventing neutral mass media, teaching the younger generations by the school of analytical thinking (not a parroting classroom), and all Buddhist monks have to learn on how to apply the Buddha's teachings with the current context of social changes and they should not memorize those teachings and parroting to the congregations only etc.

I must end my thought now and I am delightful to your articles and all comments here.

Sincere Regards,
Monday, January 10, 2011
Poor Viets in Cambodia get free check-ups ... Poor Khmer Krom in Vietnam get free oppression
Poor Vietnamese in Cambodia get free check-ups

01/10/2011
VOV News (Hanoi)
Doctors from the Ho Chi Minh City-based Hoa Tam charity and the Reasmey Kompong Som Clinic on January 8 provided free check-ups and medicines for 200 poor Vietnamese people in Cambodia’s Preah Siahnouk province.

On the occasion, Hoa Tam presented gifts, each worth VND200,000 to 150 poor patients.

In August 2010, it examined and presented gifts to 150 Vietnamese patients in the Tonle Sap region.
Monday, January 10, 2011
N.Korean Restaurants Abroad Feel the Pinch


The Restaurant Pyongyang in Siem Reap, Cambodia
January 10, 2011
The Chosun Ilbo (South Korea)
Siem Reap, Cambodia's second largest city near the sprawling ruins of the Angkor Wat, has two North Korean restaurants, down from three since North Korea recalled all their expat staff after Kim Jong-il's stroke in 2008 and returned only the employees of two of them. The restaurants rely on South Korean tourists for business since the town is a popular destination for them.

One of them, called Restaurant Pyongyang, sells the famous cold noodles or naengmyeon for US$7 a dish, while North Korean dancers perform and pour drinks for customers. It used to be a regular stopover for South Korean tourists, with tour agencies charging $30 for a visit and a meal. One tour guide said, "In Cambodia $7 a dish is already pretty expensive, but many tourists go to the restaurant because of its attractions."


After North Korea's sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in March last year, the South Korean Embassy in Cambodia asked tour agencies and South Korean residents' association there to avoid sending visitors from the South there, but local sources say the plea fell largely on deaf ears. But the North's artillery attack on Yeonpyong Island in November last year finally did the trick. The South Korean residents' association in Siem Reap voluntarily boycotted the North Korean restaurants, and tour agencies also voluntarily took them off their itinerary.

The restaurants are apparently suffering. A member of the South Korean residents' association said, "Almost all of the customers were South Korean tourists, but it seems that even the performances have stopped now there are no customers."

Around 120,000 South Koreans a year reportedly visited the two restaurants, contributing to an estimated W200-300 million (US$1=W1,126) in monthly sales. North Korea runs over 100 restaurants in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Russia, which serve as a source of much-needed hard currency for the regime by sending home $100,000-300,000 a year.

The mood in Siem Reap is now desperate. Last month, a placard outside a South Korean restaurant criticizing North Korea's attacks were torn down by seven people who appeared to be North Korean agents, in what expats there believe was another small-scale North Korean provocation. Tour agencies are also losing revenues after taking the restaurants off their itineraries. "We used to charge $30 per visit and took 30 percent of the profits, but not any more," a tour guide said.

South Korean residents' associations abroad rarely voluntarily boycott North Korean restaurants. The Okryugwan chain of North Korean restaurants in Beijing's Wangjing district is still accessible to South Koreans. A South Korean Embassy official there said, "We asked residents to avoid the restaurant in November but did not force them."

Meanwhile, a North Korean restaurant in Kathmandu, Nepal closed down in November after its North Korean manager defected to South Korea.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Cambodian man shot dead after allegedly killing brother, 3 children
Mon, 10 Jan 2011
DPA
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man allegedly murdered three children and his brother in the country's remote north-east before police shot and killed him, local media reported Monday.

The incident began early Sunday when Kheng Kry, 32, allegedly stabbed his brother to death at a village in Ratanakkiri province, which borders Laos.

He then fled to a nearby village where he was accused of murdering the three children, ages 3 to 8, and stabbing three other people who tried to prevent the attacks.

District Governor Sak Srun said that after the first murder, police had requested permission to use force against the suspect but the request was refused.


"They tried to arrest the murderer, but they couldn't because it was too dark, which allowed him to run away and kill three more people," Sak Srun told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

The authorities later gave permission for lethal force.

The motive for the rampage was not known, but a human rights investigator in the province said one theory was that Kheng Kry had suffered an adverse reaction to malaria medication.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Grassroots baseball gives Cambodian youngsters big dreams


Rustic ballfield (Terry McCoy | For the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)



Shoeless batter (Terry McCoy | For the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Monday, January 10, 2011
By Terry McCoy
FOR THE PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
KAMPONG THOM, Cambodia -- Out in the flat plains of central Cambodia, an unmistakable sound rises above a din of screaming motorcycles and grunting water buffaloes.

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

To Chun Heng, 16, the sound carries something exotic and addicting. It's hard to explain, he says underneath his stilted wooden hut, firing another fastball at a brick retaining wall and gloving the ricochet. Thwack! That's what makes baseball, at its purest, beautiful to Chun. No thinking required: throw, catch, hit, run. In these moments he can forget that he's bad at school, that he sleeps on a wooden floor, that he has no real prospects for success.

Baseball is baseball, even in rural Cambodia -- where despite little American influence, crushing heat and a cultural apathy toward most things new or foreign, America's pastime has forged into the countryside. Since 2005, four baseball fields have sprouted in places that once were rice paddies, sparking a smattering of grassroots baseball programs across the provinces.


Indeed, if you build it, they will come.

So it went on a recent Saturday at a rural high school in Kampong Thom province miles from Cambodia's newest professional-sized park. More than 30 seventh-grade students gathered to make sense of this strange game of bats, balls, rubber plate things and ... batter's helmets? About 10 Khmer die each day in motorcycle accidents -- frequently without helmets -- but the danger posed by rubber balls at this practice had every black-haired head under a helmet.

The students played until dusk, spilling English baseball vernacular into strings of Khmer.

Far removed from the simple joy at this practice, however, complications abound.

With the exception of some Latin American countries, baseball doesn't fit the developing world. That's because the game necessitates loads of stuff -- "So much equipment! So much equipment!" gasped one Khmer coach -- and baseball's American vibe doesn't exactly groove with places such as Cambodia. Hot dogs would be an unusual side to a bowl of rice.

The best gauge of a grassroots baseball program is whether it produces professional talent, said Jim Small, vice president of Major League Baseball Asia. Results, in that case, aren't great. The league invested in 31 developing countries since 2005, but of them only Panama and Colombia sent a player to a recent big league roster, MLB records show.

"What's the end game? Are we going to get a Major League player from Cambodia? No, probably not," Small said, adding that $100,000 in resources went to Cambodia. "But I've seen the difference this game makes for these kids, and we're going to keep doing it. I don't know if baseball's going to catch on or be wildly popular ... but it's the right thing to do."

There's one more hitch. Few care or know about the sport here, according to interviews with players, coaches, villagers and baseball park developers.

Televisions broadcast soccer or boxing, but baseball? "Oh," one man said, "you must mean cricket."

"In Cambodia, no one pays attention to baseball," said So Pisot, who teaches Khmer literature at a high school near Kampong Thom's baseball field. "People don't give any value to it here. We don't have the resources for baseball."

Judging from the scoreboard, the Cambodia national baseball effort needs more than just additional resources. At its first international showing in the Southeast Asian Games three years ago in Thailand, teams from Burma and Indonesia drubbed the Khmer squad in five games by a combined score of 88-8. Results have improved little since.

So if Cambodia is too poor for baseball, there's little interest, and the entire concept of winning at the sport is as foreign as New York City, how is it that baseball is growing in such a country?

Reports of the traction might be inflated, said Elaine Negroponte, who initiated a grassroots baseball program in 2005 in a remote northern province. The game was imported: returned refugees brought it in, or Negroponte and other Americans bolstered interest in rural areas.

Baseball succeeded in other Asian countries, notably Japan and Taiwan, because the sport grew organically, later "reflecting" the national identity, according to research published by the United States Sports Academy. The sport achieved this through global exposure, government support and private-sector financing.

Although Cambodia isn't in the same ballpark, the sport has opportunity here, some baseball activists maintain.They say only one thing needs to happen.

"The Dominican Republic has all these people who've made a fortune at baseball, and if there was just one Khmer who got on a team and made a fortune, everyone would want to do it," Negroponte said. "They'd be ripping them out of school and sending them to baseball camp."

So every night at 5 o'clock, Chun Heng rockets pitch after pitch at a crumbling brick wall amid chickens, dreaming of what boys in the United States dream of: a chance at the bigs.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Aussie shot dead in Cambodia
January 10, 2011
AAP
An Australian man has been shot dead after visiting his Cambodian fiancee at a guesthouse in the capital of Phnom Penh, consular officials say.

The victim was named by local police as Eric Liu, the Phnom Penh Post reported on its website on Sunday.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Monday confirmed the 43-year-old Victorian died in hospital as a result of gunshot wounds to the chest.

Cambodian police said he arrived in Cambodia on Saturday and was gunned down about 9.30pm local time in the guesthouse's reception area. He died at Calmette hospital later that night.


"He has a Cambodian fiancee. After he landed, he met with his fiancee and they went to a guesthouse where he was shot by two suspects," national police spokesman Kirt Chantharith told AFP.

The Post reported that a police officer from Phnom Penh's Meanchey district said Mr Liu was shot twice, in the chest and right hand, by two unknown men on a motorbike.

Australian officials based at the embassy are working closely with the local authorities, while employees in Australia are providing assistance to the man's family.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Suthep denies report Thai soldiers killed Cambodians at border; awaiting court verdict on seven Thais
BANGKOK, Jan 10 (MCOT online news) -- Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Monday denied a report that Thai soldiers killed 20 Cambodians at the border in the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket, awaiting a Cambodian court's verdict on seven Thais detained in Phnom Penh since last month.

Mr Suthep said the government was trying its best to help the seven Thai nationals detained on Dec 29 as they inspected the Thai-Cambodian border in Sa Kaeo province adjacent to Cambodian province of Banteay Meanchey.

The deputy premier said Thailand is pulling out all the stops through all legal means to secure the release of all those seven.

He said he would not comment on the issue as it might not help the case.


As far as he knew, Mr Suthep said, no bail request has been submitted as it depends on the team of lawyers and the Cambodian Court's procedures.

The seven, including Democrat MP for Bangkok Panich Vikitsreth and Thai Patriots Network leader Veera Somkwamkid, were arrested by Cambodian soldiers as they inspected the border area.

The Cambodian court finished the first hearing on Thursday. The detainees face two charges -- one of illegal entry into the Cambodian kingdom, with assigned punishment of three to six months of imprisonment and deportation, and a second charge involving trespass into a Cambodian military area without permission, punishable by a three to six months jail term and Bt7,500-15,000 in fines.

Mr Suthep denied the report that Thai troops killed 20 Cambodians at the border in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province, saying it was groundless. He questioned the motives of those who spread the unfounded rumour.

He said that in the past, Thai military had clashed with armed illegal logging groups which were later identified as Cambodians, but it was long ago and took place long before the seven Thais were detained by the Cambodian troops.

The deputy prime minister also denied using a prisoner swap as a measure to help the seven. He said Thailand and Cambodia had discussed the matter in the past and Cambodian authorities handed over prisoners to Thailand, but Thailand has yet sent any prisoner to Cambodia due to legal technicalities.

Meanwhile, Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the Thai Foreign Minister, said families of the seven detained Thais arrived in Cambodia on Sunday and have visited their relatives at Phnom Penh's Prey Sor Prison this morning.

The Thai Patriots Network lawyers have been waiting to meet Cambodian lawyers for detained Thais but have already talked to the families and Thai embassy officials at Phnom Penh, he said.

Mr Chavanond said the lawyer team and the embassy officials were waiting for the court action before submitting the bail bids to temporary free the Thais.

The Cambodian lawyer for the seven was at court this morning and abruptly left without giving interview to reporters waiting in front of the court
Monday, January 10, 2011
Chinese Dams Challenge Western Development Monopoly
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, Jan 10, 2011 (IPS) - A steady rise of new dams in Cambodia is becoming a platform for the country’s prime minister to showcase where the Southeast Asian kingdom’s ties with China - a late arrival among Cambodia’s foreign aid and development partners - is headed.

"The hydropower dam is just one of the numerous achievements under the cooperation between Cambodia and China," Premier Hun Sen said in December at a ceremony in a remote South-western province of the country where the 338 megawatt Russei Chrum Krom hydropower dam is being built.

This 500-million-U.S.-dollar dam - being built by the Huadian Corp., one of China’s biggest state-owned power companies - is the largest of five Chinese dams under construction in energy-poor Cambodia, where only a fifth of the population of nearly 14.5 million have access to electricity.

Chinese companies are already carrying out feasibility studies for four more dams to be built, say environmentalists and grassroots activists worried about what such future hydropower projects portend.

"China plays a very important role in investment and development in Cambodia. But it should take account of the importance of EIAs [environmental impact assessments] and SIAs [social impact assessments]," Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said during a telephone interview from Phnom Penh, where his grassroots network for local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is based. "At times the EIA process is not open to the public and there is little time to comment," Ath told IPS.


Global environmental lobbies, such as the U.S.-based International Rivers (IR), confirmed to IPS that a full EIA for the Kamchay Dam has still not been completed four years after construction began. "Within the EIA process, the Chinese companies have not pursued best practices," says Ame Trandem, a Southeast Asia campaigner for IR. "Public participation is limited or there is no participation. And the developer has not looked at alternatives."

The Kamchay Dam is located "within Bokor National Park and will flood two thousand hectares of protected forest," notes IR in a study, titled ‘Cambodia’s hydropower development and China’s involvement’.

But Hun Sen leaves little room for such criticism levelled by environmentalists toward China. "Is there any development that happens without an impact on the environment and natural resources? Please give us a proper answer," the region’s longest-serving leader said in a broadside fired at green groups during the December ceremony for the Russei Chrum Krom Dam.

For their part, some Chinese funders of development projects in Cambodia have begun to engage with local activists - worried at the price a country still recovering from two decades of civil war and the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime has to pay now that China’s footprint is expanding.

"I told a delegation of Chinese at a meeting last month that there were few EIA being done for Chinese projects," Meas Nee, a Cambodian social development researcher, told IPS in a telephone interview. "And even when done and it looks good on paper, there are flaws because they have not been done properly."

"The prime minister always praises Chinese support and the government prefers economic assistance from China because it comes with no conditions, unlike aid from the western donors," Nee says.

In fact, Hun Sen’s ability to play his newfound economic support from China against the country’s long-standing development partners from the west has highlighted their contrasting aid and development practices.

Till 2006, when China stepped in to help Cambodia, the aid and development agenda had been dominated by the countries that were part of a pro-free market, pro-western Washington Consensus. They entered a war-ravaged country after the 1991 peace accord to help rebuild the country.

In mid-2010, western donors assured Cambodia 1.1 billion U.S. dollars in aid - up from the previous year’s 950 million dollars.

Such largess has come despite the Cambodian government falling short of standards the western governments were pushing for - ranging from "good governance", better laws and reducing corruption to strengthening fundamental rights.

But China - which has gone from having only 45 million U.S. dollars in investments in Cambodia in 2003 to signing 14 deals worth 850 million dollars in Dec. 2009 - challenged the western donors’ monopoly in the country by "dealing directly with the political decision makers only," says Shalmali Guttal, senior researcher at Focus on the Global South, a Bangkok- based regional think tank.

China is enjoy an edge over the west through its ‘no-policy-conditions’ approach, said Guttal, noting also that China did not follow the western donors route of pushing for Cambodian NGOs to monitor the aid process.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Rong Chhun: Cambodia lost more and 4 km of land to Vietnam

10 Jan 2011
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Rong Chhun, representative of the Cambodia Watchdog Council (CWC), led a group of 25 people to visit border stakes between Cambodia and Vietnam on Sunday. The visit took place in Prey Veng and Kampong Cham provinces. He claimed that information he received from villagers who lost their lands to Vietnam from the border planting was true because when he went to visit border post no. 125 in Ponhea Krek district, Kampong Cham province, he saw that this border was planted inside Cambodian territories by about 4 km, and it also placed a Cambodian pagoda inside Vietnam territories. Rong Chhun indicated also that the CWC group also visited the border stakes for border post no. 131 in Krobao commune, Komchay Mea district, Prey Veng province, and these stakes are planted inside Cambodian territories by about 500-600 meters also.

sVar Kim Hong refused to comment

On Sunday, when sVar Kim Hong, the senior minister in charge of border, was asked to clarify on the accusations made by Rong Chhun, he refused to provide detailed comment on this issue. He said that he is waiting to see Rong Chhun’s report first. sVar Kim Hong told The Phnom Penh Post: “Look at the report first to see how much was lost, then I will speak later. Now, I am not commenting.”
Monday, January 10, 2011
Cambodian PM: China, India play major roles in world economy [-Hun Xen butter up China?]
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that China and India have played major roles in global economy.

Delivering a speech to students in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said while the global economic crisis has occurred since 2008 and continued to date, China and India have helped in recovery.

"At this present, Euro currency is in trouble, however, it is fortunate that the economic growth in China and India have helped the world economy," he said.

The premier added that the two giant populated countries which combine about 2.5 billion populations are working hard on their economic growth.


China, he said, was not only playing important role in the current crisis, but also during the 1997 economic crisis.

And while in the past, Asian economy was relying on the United States and Europe, the situation is now changed, he said.

"In the past, there were much dependence, but now the world is inter-complimentary" Hun Sen said, citing the three world's blocs as Asia, the United States, and Europe.

While admiring China and India on their economic growth and their contribution to the global economic recovery, Hun Sen told his government members to step up efforts in reform to catch the world markets.

"Cambodia is also needed to reform in marketing. We were in the past targeting the outside world by eying the United States and Europe, but now we have to maintain and widen these old markets while at the same time to seek new markets in Asia or even to Africa," he said.

Hun Sen has repeatedly admired China for helping Cambodia in both soft and hard assistance, especially, in infrastructure that includes roads, bridges and power supplies as well as in mass investments.
Monday, January 10, 2011
No one can intervene in case of 7 detained Thais: Cambodian PM
January 10, 2011
Xinhua
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that no one can intervene in the case of the seven Thais arrested on Dec. 29 last year for illegal entry.

Hun Sen made the remarks following a rumour that ousted Thai former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra or Puea Thai Party wanted to mediate to release the seven detained Thais, including a Democrat Member of Parliament for Bangkok, Panich Wikitsate and Veera Somkwamkid, secretary general of People Network Against Corruption and Thailand Patriot Network core member.

"There are many comments these days, and also a publication said yesterday that Thaksin or Puea Thai Party want to intervene into the case of the seven arrested Thais, I just confirm that no one can intervene into judicial system, neither the government, nor foreigners, or Cambodians," said Hun Sen during a graduation ceremony at the National Institute of Education on Monday.


"I tell them that it is impossible, no matter which path you enter from, even from the United Nations because the case is now under the full authority of the Cambodian court, which must be respected."

After the trial, they can sue to appeal and then to the Supreme Court if they do not agree with the verdict, the premier said.

The seven detained Thais, including a Democrat Member of Parliament for Bangkok Panich Wikitsate and Veera Somkwamkid, secretary general of People Network Against Corruption and Thailand Patriot Network core member, were arrested on Dec. 29, 2010 by Cambodian border protection army for illegal entry into Cambodian territory in Banteay Meanchey province and are now being detained in Phnom Penh's Prey Sar prison.

On Dec. 30, the deputy prosecutor of Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Sok Roeun, charged them for illegal entry and illegally entering a military base along the border, crimes which in Cambodia carry penalties of up to six months and one year, respectively and fine from 1 million to 2 million Cambodian riels (250 U.S. dollars to 500 U.S. dollars).

On Jan. 6, the investigating judge of Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Chaing Sinat had conducted a nearly 12-hour additional inquest on them, but the final decision has not been disclosed so far.

The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated. And the two sides have had border conflict just one week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple was registered as World Heritage Site in July 2008.

Since the conflict started, military standoff has been on and off along the two countries' border and several military clashes have already happened with recorded small causalities from both sides.

However, the border issue has been eased as the top leaders of Cambodia and Thailand have held four meetings since September last year.
Monday, January 10, 2011
[Thai] Army denies killing Cambodians [-Thai soldiers are not only at good at shooting Cambodians, they are also good at denying as well!]
10/01/2011
Bangkok Post
Second Army chief Thawatchai Samutsakhon denied a report that Thai soldiers killed innocent Cambodians on Sunday, saying the troops were only protecting a wildlife refuge in Si Sa Ket which has been encroached upon by illegal loggers.

He said on Monday the soldiers retaliated after an unidentified group of trespassers ignored their warnings and fired shots at them.

The clash erupted when the soldiers spotted and challenged the strangers while patrolling Phanom Dongrak Wildlife Sanctuary in Khun Han district in Si Sa Ket, which borders Cambodia.

Lt-Gen Thawatchai was reacting to a report that Cambodian authorities intend to send a photo of Cambodians killed by Thai soldiers to the Thai government.

Thai soldiers returned to the scene of the clash in the forest this morning and found chainsaws and evidence of trees being cut. They did not see any injured or dead people, the lieutenant-general said.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Two Thais arrested in Cambodia face additional charge


Veera Somkwamkid (L)
January 10, 2011
Xinhua
Two of the seven Thai nationals arrested in Cambodia late last month have faced additional charge, court officials said Monday.

Veera Somkwamkid, who led a People's Alliance of Democrats group called the Thailand Patriot Network, and Ratree Taiputana Taiboon, known as Veera's secretary, face additional charge, Phnom Penh Municipal Court officials, who preferred not to be named, said on Monday.

The charge was mentioned as their attempt in "collecting information which might damage Cambodia's national security," according to the court.

According to Cambodia's laws, they may face five to ten years imprisonment if found guilty.


The two, along with five other Thai nationals, including Thai Democratic Party lawmaker Panich Vikitsreth, were charged on Dec. 30 last year for illegal entry into Cambodia and unlawful entry into military zone. They may face up to 18 months in prison if found guilty.

Cambodian troops detained them following their entry into Cambodian territory in Banteay Meanchey Province on Dec. 29 last year.

Panich claimed that he had traveled to the area to investigate residents' complaints that Cambodian troops were intruding into Thailand.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that the seven Thais had no intention to cause any harm to Cambodia and is seeking their release on bail.

However, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Monday that no one deserved to make any intervention into the case which is now under the full authority of the Cambodian court.
Monday, January 10, 2011
PM calls meeting to help 7 Thais
10/01/2011
Bangkok Post
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called an urgent meeting late Monday afternoon to discuss ways to expedite the release of the seven Thai border-crossers now being held at Prey Sar prison in Phnom Penh.

Mr Abhisit said he will meet with Deputy Prime Minister overseeing security Suthep Thaugsuban, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.

Foreign minister's secretary Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said the ministry hoped the seven Thais would not face extra charges.

The ministry would weigh up the situation before reporting to Prime Minister Abhisit about whether he should to make a direct phone call to Prime Minister Hun Sen.


The secretary said all seven detainees were allowed meetings this morning with relatives who travelled to Phnom Penh last night.

The seven were arrested by Cambodian soldiers on Dec 29 while on an "inspection trip" near a disputed border area in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district adjacent to Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province.

The Cambodian court charged them with illegal entry and illegal trespass on a military zone. The two charges carry a combined maximum penalty of 18 months in jail.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Legal team meets Thai detainees in Phnom Penh
BANGKOK, Monday 10 January 2011 (Bernama) -- A legal team met seven Thai detainees in Phnom Penh Monday morning to find out more information -- as part of Thailand's attempts to seek for their freedom, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

The Thai legal team, who arrived in the Cambodian capital on Sunday, earlier met Cambodian defence lawyers and the Thai ambassador in Phnom Penh for the same purpose.

A Cambodian court spent almost 12 hours last Thursday to question each of the seven Thai detainees, including a Bangkok MP of the ruling Democrat Party, Panich Vikitsreth, and a leading activist aligned with the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy or PAD, Veera Somkwamkid, who were arrested by Cambodian soldiers in a border area on December 29 and have been all detained since then on charges of illegally entering into the Cambodian territory.

The Phnom Penh court has not yet set the date for its next hearing on the case and Thailand's attempts to seek for the release on bail of the seven Thai nationals have not yet been fulfilled.