Appeal Court upholds Hang Chakra’s sentence: Travesty of justice perpetuated

Hang Chakra (R) at his arrival in court for appeal hearing (Photo: DAP news)

11 August 2009
DAP news
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

In the morning of 11 August 2009, the judge of the Phnom Penh Appeal Court handed down the decision on the lawsuit against Hang Chakra, the Editor-in-chief of the Khmer Machas Srok newspaper. In its decision, the appeal court upheld the sentence handed down to Hang Chakra, namely 1-year of prison sentence and 9 million riels ($2,250) fine.

Chuon Chou-ngy, Hang Chakra’s defense lawyer, said: “If my client wants to appeal his case to the Supreme Court, I will do as my client orders me to.”

In the hearing, Hang Chakra (allegedly) acknowledged the mistakes he has committed as he was accused.

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Hang Chakra’s appeal hearing is held this Tuesday

11 August 2009
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The appeal made by Hang Chakra, the editor-in-chief of the Khmer Machas Srok newspaper, against the 1-year jail sentence and 9 million riels ($2,250) fine handed to him by the Phnom Penh municipal court for defamation will be heard by the Appeal Court this Tuesday. Chuong Chou-ngy, Hang Chakra’s defense lawyer, said that he will go to the court to defend Hang Chakra. He said that his client’s case would improve and be fair if the court is not subjected to political pressure.

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A Vietnamese view of the Obama's administration policy in SE Asia

The mighty Mekong River & “non-traditional security operations”

11/08/2009

VietNamNet Bridge – A quiet consultation between the US and the four Mekong River ‘downstream countries’ (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam) last month has attracted considerable attention. Here Doanh Nhan Saigon Cuoi Tuan (Saigon Businessmen’s Weekend) analyzes the unusual event.

For two reasons, the meeting organized on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministerial Meeting in late July was special.

One, it was the first dialogue between the ‘downstream countries’ and the US, reportedly at the initiative of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The five countries met to discuss cooperation on common concerns, including environment, climate change, healthcare, education and infrastructure development.

Two, the meeting was connected to recent events: China is building many dams in the upper Mekong River basin, including the 292m Xiaowan Dam. The Chinese construction program has caused scientists to worry about harmful impacts on the lower reaches of the Mekong River.

According to Yale Global online magazine (US), 18 dams have been built, are being built or are planned along the river’s 4350 kilometer length.

Professor Pham Hong Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Great Dams and Water Resources Development Association, said that the big hydro-power works on the major stream are being implemented at different phases. The construction of big dams has finished. The remaining projects have their designs completed. The water volume impounded by these hydro-power reservoirs will total around 55 billion cubic meters. The total power-generating capacity of the plants will reach 24 GW.

Throughout history, the world has witnessed many conflicts over water resources, especially in the regions where many countries share the same source of water. The conflicts resulted from the clash of the interests and the way of exploitation of water resources between upstream and downstream countries.

Upstream countries always have an advantage in using shared rivers: they don’t suffer from the impacts of their activities like those downstream. For example, when hydro-power dams and irrigation systems are used, the flows in the lower river can be changed, leading to environmental impacts of various intensity to the downstream area. Moreover, industrial activities in the upstream can pollute the downstream.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Prof. Giang said, faces the twin threats of climate change and reduced flow on the Mekong; these could combine to devastate ‘Vietnam’s rice basket.’ Giang explained that because of climate change, the sea level will rise and salt water witll infiltrate the Mekong Delta. Meanwhile, the changes in the river’s flow caused by hydro-power works can enhance floods and droughts in the downstream.

“If upstream dams discharge water in the flood season, it will make floods more dangerous,” Giang analyzed. “If in the dry season, water is held in upstream reservoirs, the downstream region will face drought. More dangerously, if water from the upstream contains wastewater, the losses downstream are incalculable.”

Dr. To Van Truong, director of the Southern Region Irrigation Planning Institute, emphasized that the operation of hydro-power plants in the upstream area will surely impact the water level, power capacity, agriculture, aquaculture, water transportation and environment of all the Mekong River downstream countries.

“Hydro-power dams in China and reservoirs in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia will slow down the the natural flow of the Mekong River, change its course and sources of nutrition, which in turn will affect the growth of fish and the livelihood of the people along the river,” Truong said.

Alluvial soil from the upstream (China) accounts for around 40 percent of the total alluvial volume of the Mekong River. The people in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta welcome annual floods because floods deposit silt on their fields, creates good conditions for aquaculture, and flush salt from the soil. Provinces in the border of Vietnam and Cambodia earn around 4.5 trillion dong (US$250 million) from the annual flooding of the Mekong River.

Multinational management mechanism for Mekong River

To protect the interests of all sides, a multilateral management mechanism for the Mekong River is an urgent need. However, it won’t be easy to build such a mechanism. History shows that the countries with respect to river system management because of their different viewpoints about sovereignty and responsibility for common assets.

Upstream countries can assert the principle of “absolutely respecting national sovereignty” to support their right to use water resources without interference. Meanwhile, downstream countries can question how each nation can cut up the river into pieces as their own asset while the river is a common asset? Based on the latter argument, joint responsibility among related countries must become the principle of behavior.

In international law, the “Helsinki Rules,” which specify equality among countries in having access to water resources and require information exchange among countries about their projects on rivers, are highly appreciated but only hortatory, not compulsory.

In our region, the influence of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) is limited because its members are only the downstream countries. The two upstream nations, Myanmar and China, have only agreed to be ‘observers’ at MRC meetings.

In this context, a mechanism for cooperation between the US and downstream countries is important. Such cooperation benefits all sides.

For the US, it expresses the new diplomatic policy of the Obama administration, in which three priorities have significantly changed. Geographically, the US has shifted its priority from Europe to Asia, with the return of the US in the Asia-Pacific region. Second, there is a change of leadership style from unilateralism to multilateralism, from de-emphasizing ‘hard power’ and strengthening ‘soft power.’ Third, the substance of policy has evolved – from emphasis on traditional security areas like military threats and anti-terrorism to non-traditional security areas like economic development, social issues, healthcare and climate change.

For the four Mekong River countries, the participation of the US will be very helpful because Mekong River cooperation will not be restricted to water resource management or seeking solutions for climate change impacts, but also focus on economic growth and the improvement of education and healthcare for over 65 million people along the Mekong River.

This multilateral forum is also an opportunity to attract world attention to the Mekong River, especially when the topics like sustainable development, environmental protection and climate change have become world-class issues.

However, for the downstream countries as they seek to merge principal and practice, the engagement of the US or any other country can only play a supporting role. It cannot be not a decisive factor. The key is the internal strength of Mekong River downstream countries themselves.

It requires skillful deplomacy and a resolute attitude. It must be clear that the Mekong River is a common asset that must protected according to the win-win principle. All matters related to the river ought to be solved through multilateral cooperation, with respect for general rules and the support of the international community. These are the pillars for building peace and mutual development for the Mekong River Delta community in the future. Read more!

Thai national arrested for drawing Angkor Wat on bathroom floor

Tue, 11 Aug 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Thai man was arrested for living illegally in Cambodia for more than ten years and for drawing an image of Angkor Wat on his bathroom floor, national media reported. Police arrested Salavout Khamsan, 35, in Poipet in western Cambodia after neighbours saw the drawing of Cambodia's famous temple and told the authorities.

Poipet police chief Nuth Ly said the man had "desecrated the precious temple which is a World Heritage site."

The provincial police chief, Hun Hean, said the explanation given by the man - that he drew the image out of affection for the temple, and not to demean it - was not good enough.

"It is just an excuse, because he could have drawn it on paper and posted it on a wall," he said. "Or he could buy a painting or a postcard with an image of Angkor, not draw it in front of a toilet and step on it."

Salavout Khamsan, a construction worker who entered Cambodia in 1998 through the Poipet checkpoint, faces up to six months in jail for visa violations.

Hun Hean said it is not clear which law will be used for punishing the alleged crime of drawing Angkor Wat on the bathroom floor.

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Hundreds expected in Phnom Penh to protest land grabs

Aug 11, 2009
DPA

"We are getting poorer and poorer, and the rich are getting richer" - Pol Choeun, a villager from Battambang

Phnom Penh - Hundreds of people were expected in Phnom Penh Tuesday to deliver to the government a petition protesting land grabs and forced evictions.

Organizers said representatives from 19 of the kingdom's 24 provinces and municipalities would hand the petition to the office of Prime Minister Hun Sen, the cabinet and three government ministries.

They said 200,000 hectares of land are at risk. The petitions contain more than 15,000 thumbprints, a standard way of signing in Cambodia, where literacy rates are low.

The land seizures are carried out by companies with government connections, politicians and the military. Development is the standard reason the government gives for granting these mining or land concessions.

In a statement, the organizers said forced evictions, displacement and landlessness are reaching 'crisis proportions.'

'Evictions and land confiscation continue in Cambodia, despite calls by the World Bank, the ADB [the Asian Development Bank], the UN and Cambodia's donors for the government to enact a moratorium on forced evictions and land confiscation until it establishes effective conflict resolution mechanisms and relocation procedures meeting international standards,' they wrote.

Organizers said communities are being driven into poverty by land grabs, and their efforts to find peaceful solutions are met with intimidation, court action and even violence from the police and military.

'When we try to protect our legal rights, we receive intimidation,' villager Pol Cheoun from Battambang province in western Cambodia said in the statement. 'We want the government and the donors to know what is happening. We are losing our land, forest and fisheries we depend on. We are getting poorer and poorer, and the rich are getting richer.'

A community activist from the northern province of Oddar Meanchey told the Cambodia Daily newspaper that he is in favour of development, 'but I don't want to see development lead people to tears,' he said.

Amnesty International wrote last year that 150,000 Cambodians are at risk of losing their land.

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Bayon Information Center opens in Siem Reap, Cambodia

August 11, 2009
Xinhua

Based in Siem Reap provincial town, Bayon Information Center, serving as a showcasing center that reflects 15-year attainment of JSA/JASA (Japanese organization) in rehabilitating Bayon temple, was officially opened for the public on Aug. 6, the official news agency AKP reported on Monday.

Siem Reap provincial governor Sou Phirin, APSARA Authority General Director Bun Narith and representatives from Japanese Embassy and UNESCO partook in the opening ceremony organized by JASA organization.

The center provides not only information on history and temples in Angkor area but also other researches as well as international cooperation projects. Photographic and video presentations and verbal explanation are means for showcasing the resources available in the center.

As part of its effort to restore current Angkorean temples, the Japanese government has picked Bayon as key focus given its priceless and unique natures. National conciliation effort represented one of Bayon's most valuable natures. Read more!

Japan's bad-boy Kameda to challenge the world again

Writer: AFP

Published: 11/08/2009 at 05:00 AM

Japanese boxer Daiki Kameda, back from a one-year ban for fighting dirty in a world title match two years ago, said Monday he would challenge a world champion again in October.

A referee signals to the judges two penalty points for Japanese challenger Daiki Kameda (R) after throwing Daisuke Naito to the canvas on the 12th round of their World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title bout in Tokyo, in 2007. Kameda, back from a one-year ban for fighting dirty in a world title match two years ago, said Monday he would challenge a world champion again in October.

The 20-year-old Kameda, ranked 11th in the World Boxing Association flyweight division, said he would fight title-holder Denkaosan Kaowichit of Thailand in his hometown of Osaka on October 6.

"I have worked hard and come a long way to make another challenge," Kameda told a news conference here. "Now it is me who will make it happen."

In his failed crack at a world title, he kicked, choked and repeatedly tackled World Boxing Council flyweight champion Daisuke Naito in Tokyo on October 11, 2007. The incident led promoters to be flooded with complaints from fans.

The Japan Boxing Commission suspended Kameda from prize fighting for a year and indefinitely barred his father Shiro Kameda from being a cornerman. The senior Kameda groomed all three of his sons to be brash boxers.

The eldest of the three sons is Koki Kameda, 22, who was World Boxing Association light flyweight champion from August 2006 to January 2007 when he gave up the title and stepped up to flyweight. Koki is now the top WBA contender.

Koki was also reprimanded by the commission for urging the boxer to fight dirty. The youngest son, Tomoki, is an 18-year-old bantamweight.

"It's been just two years since that time. I tried to learn about society as a human being in the first year. I have worked hard and produced results in the past year," Daiki said.

Denkaosan, who turns 33 this month, won the title from Japan's Takefumi Sakata in December last year. He retained it on a split decision against another Japanese Hiroyuki Hisataka in Uttaradit, Thailand, last May.

Kameda has a record of 14 wins, 10 of them by knockout, against one loss.

The Thai champion has 47 wins, 20 of them inside the distance, to his name against one draw and one loss.

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