The Selling of the Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong to Hun Sen

The Venerable Tep Vong's cellphone rings with a generic tone-almost retro. He has two sleek modern mobiles stacked at his right side, next to an ornate offering urn, a bright red lighter and a pipe. When the top phone rings in mid-sentence, the Supreme Patriarch of the Mohanikay Order of Cambodia flicks it off, distractedly.

Centered deep inside the austerity of Wat Ounalom, Tep Vong's carpeted and book-shelved greeting chamber is a museum-like array of ancient artifacts, Buddhist iconography and sepia-tinged photographs of monks and monarchs past. The room is an eclectic clutter of carvings, Chinese urns and candelabras. It's an odd menagerie where wooden water buffalo heads share shelf space with an enormous stuffed sea turtle and a collection of many colored coral. A meter-high bronze statue of a seated monk and a miniature Eiffel Tower sit before a wall of seventies-era travel posters and a vintage tourist map of Australia.

Vong was born in 1932 to a farming family in Trapeang Chak village, Siem Reap district, Siem Reap province. He spent his childhood working on the family farm. When he was 10, his mother sent him to stay at Reachbo Pagoda to study and learn discipline. When his father died in 1947 he became a monk.

Between 1970 and 1979, Vong meditated on the Dharma. During the Pol Pot regime, when monasticism was outlawed, Vong was detained and tortured for 85 days.

In 1979, Heng Samrin, Chea Sim and Hun Sen, the triumvirate newly installed by the Vietnamese to rule Cambodia, asked Vong to return to the monkhood and help with the restoration of Buddhism. In the 1981 National Assembly election Vong was elected as a deputy for Siem Reap. In July 1981, he became the vice president of the National Assembly and in 1988 became a Monk Superior. Vong became Supreme Patriarch of the Mohanikay Order in 1992 and a member of the Throne Council from September 1993.

Today, Vong sits on a raised pillow. He has an orange shawl embroidered with gold thread draped over his left shoulder. A grin exposes a silver front tooth, and an translucent tattoo is barely visible on his right shoulder. Both good humored and august, he spoke to Sam Rith and Charles McDermid on December 13 about politics, religion and the past.

Why did you decide to become a monk?

Referring to the Dharma, I wanted to have serenity for myself, and to have serenity I have to stay under the shade of Buddhism. And when I have this peace, I would like other people also to have it. It's the same for all human beings, I would like myself to have peace and when I have peace I would like other people have peace all together.

What is the role of the monks in the society?

Monks play very important roles in society.

Of first importance: when I become a monk I must achieve serenity that could make other people also have serenity.

Of second importance: monks have the role to preserve the Khmer spirit and to protect Buddhism forever. When Buddhism is protected, it can help other issues - economic, cultural, educational and so on.

So I prohibited politicians from being bad people. In the regime three years, eight months and 20 days of the Khmer Rouge, 21,568 monks were killed and many other Cambodian people were killed gradually, causing a serious loss of the Khmer spirit and identity at that time.

This year, the Royal Government and the King offered me a greater role as a Sangreacheathepatey [Great Supreme Patriarch] ... that means they gave me a wider role.

Not only the Royal Government and the King offered me the priority, but also the United Nations, which observed my activities curbing the war in Cambodia and motivating people from having nothing to having food to eat, houses for shelter, the freedom to walk...

Do the monks have right to vote according to Buddhism?

According to Buddhist law and democracy, monks have right to vote. But after the chaos in 1998, all monks agreed not to vote. On November 29, 2006, it was agreed and announced that all monks can vote as citizens so that the election goes as stated in the Constitution.

What do you think about political parties today?

Political parties are always divided into two parties: the older party or host party, and the younger party or guest party. The older party or host party is the Cambodian People's Party which was supported to rule the country. So other parties are just the guest parties or younger parties.

To guarantee for the country to have peace, Buddhism in Cambodia supports having multi-parties, but not multi-regimes. So I request younger parties or guest parties to limit their opposition - do not look down, insult and make disputes that could lead to war, losing the peace, ownership and the result of 7 January [1979].

What is your understanding about creating people power?

There are two kinds of people power: One kind of people power is to protect what we already have. For example, when we have peace, we require people power to preserve it.

But the other kind of people power includes making strikes, demonstrations and terrorism that destroys existing peace. For example, Lon Nol's people power destroyed the social order of the King [Norodom Sihanouk] who had been enforcing and enlarging culture, the economy and building a lot of schools to develop the country, and having peace a hundred percent.

So religion has to check and to consider by cooperating with the Royal Government to curb people power leading to strikes, demonstrations, terrorism and coups d'etat.

Have any top government officials such as Hun Sen come to ask advice from you?

Even though they do not come here, they get my best wishes at their workplaces.

As I have seen, it is only the host party [the CPP] that brought back and protected Buddhism, such as building pagodas. But the guest and younger parties think only of destroying the national identity.

I request [guest and younger party politicians] do not make themselves become like Pol Pot and [they should] turn to helping establish the economy and culture like the host party.

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 25, December 15 - 28, 2006
© Michael Hayes, 2006. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief

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Equanimity would be supremely great in partisan Patriarch

The comments by Lao Mong Hai on Tep Wong pro Hun Sen stand

Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong's views on political parties and people power in his interview published in the Post of December 15, 2006 did not reflect well on his erudition in and practice of Buddhism.

He was too much attached to and continued to defend the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) which he belonged to and served. He named this party "the older party or host party" and the other political parties "the younger or guest parties" and "requested" the latter parties "to limit their opposition." Furthermore, Tep Vong had a dislike for "people power" as it could lead to "strikes, demonstrations, terrorism and coups d'etat," and he would use religion to cooperate with the government to curb this power.

To Tep Vong, the older party or host party, the CPP, would rule Cambodia for ever. By entertaining this idea he ignored the law of impermanence (anatta), which is one of the key tenets of Buddhism. He was very much Buddhist when he disliked terrorism and coups d'etat as these acts entail the use of violence. But his dislike of strikes and demonstrations, when they were peaceful, had no Buddhist character at all.

Strikes and demonstrations are but assemblies of people to voice their opinions and concerns on issues affecting their groups or their nation as a whole. They are very much part of people's participation in the national affairs, participation that is the first two of Buddha's seven teachings in governance for the country's prosperity: "First, people should assemble often to discuss political affairs, and to provide for national defense. Second, the people of all social classes should meet together in unity to discuss their national affairs." (See Society for the Promotion of Buddhism, The Teaching of Buddha, Tokyo, 1966, page 456.) The Khmer version of this book is available at the Buddhist Institute's library and at Hun Sen Library, Phnom Penh).

Furthermore, people power already existed in Buddha's days and Buddha himself accepted it with grace when it affected him personally. As told in the book Moha Vesandor Cheadok, Book II: Kann Hemapean, Buddha, then King Preah Bat Srey Vesandor of Srey Pireast country gave as charity his elephant to the people of Kaloeung Reastr country. But his own people held the elephant to be their country's sacred animal of blessing that he should not have given away at all. They were very angry with him. They exercised their people power and went to protest en masse to King Father Preah Bat Srey Sanchey against Buddha's gift of the elephant to the people of Kaloeung Reastr country. They held that the gift was a crime and at first demanded death for Srey Vesandor for this crime. But after negotiations with Srey Sanchey they settled for Srey Vesandor's exile. Srey Vesandor, Buddha, willingly accepted his people's verdict and went into exile with all his family in the Hemapean Forests.

Considering his position and status, Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong could and should provide spiritual leadership and a leading source of morality in Cambodian society. Unfortunately, his leadership and authority are ineffective and are not much felt. Morality is very low in Cambodian society. This society has many political and social problems. It is consumed in materialism. Immoral and unethical means, including abuse of power and corruption, are used to acquire material gains. Tension between political parties, killing of political activists, strikes, demonstrations and protests, and violent crackdowns on these expressions of people power continue to occur.

It is highly probable that his closeness and attachment to and protection of his favorite political party, and his prejudice and bias against the younger or "guest" parties and people power is a major obstacle. He could and should, however, overcome this handicap.

To start with, he should show in words and deeds more of the four sublime states of minds or the four immeasurables or Prum Vihearth (in Khmer) or Brahma -vihãra (in Pali), that is, lovingkindness (mettã), compassion (karunã), sympathetic joy (muditã) and equanimity (upekkhã), as taught by Buddha and as Cambodia's greatest king, Jayavarman VII, a Buddhist, symbolized in the form of the four faces at the top of the many towers of his Bayon temple in Siem Reap.

At this particular juncture of Cambodian society, which is characterized by pluralism and conflicting demands, what would be most required from our Great Supreme Patriarch is his practice of equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger, if he wishes, as he did in his interview, to use Buddhism to contribute to consolidating peace and stability in Cambodia.

Lao Mong Hay - Senior Researcher, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 26, December 29, 2006 - January 11, 2007
© Michael Hayes, 2006. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief

Vietnam’s entry into WTO is threat to Cambodia

ASEAN Business # 8, December 10, 2006

Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) November 7 in an election held at the headquarters of the world body in Geneva, the entry makes Vietnam become a threatening opponent for Cambodia in the textile sector.

The agreement will be approved by the Vietnamese assembly on November 28 and they will officially join in December. Vietnam is a powerful nation in the textile sector, before its entry as into the WTO, it ranked second in importance only to kerosene with an income of approximately US$5 billion in 2005 whilst the Cambodian textile sector only reached a figure of US$2.1 billion.

Recently Vietnam has been enduring the effects of the end of the Worldwide Multi Fibre Agreement, which placed the country in direct competition with Chinese textile mills and garment factories, while Cambodia’s quota to export textile products has been protected by the WTO since late 2004.

Despite the obstacle, Vietnam still ranked twelfth among countries exporting garments in 2005. Vietnam’s entry as a member of the WTO means that it will not be restricted by any exports quota mechanism, and will protect the nation from any actions by other countries to block Vietnamese imports regarded as threatening to domestic producers. The future is worrying for people in the Cambodian textile sector.

Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (Gmac) Deputy President Pour Kong Sang said that Cambodia is unable to compete with the neighboring nation due to the high cost of transportation and utilities. He added that Vietnamese workers are more capable than Cambodian ones - 90 percent of Vietnamese can read whilst 63 of Cambodians are illiterate -– he also expressed regret regarding the growth of strikes in Cambodia as in Vietnam the labor force remains placid.

“We have to wait and see if America will shift tax exemption on the import of Vietnamese products before making an evaluation about the consequences of Vietnam’s entry as the member of the WTO,” said Former Technical Councilor of the

Ministry of Commerce David Van.

However, he has also voiced concern over the lack of competition between Cambodia and the neighboring country and over bad relations between garment factory owners and unions. “Cambodia focuses mainly on respecting the rights of workers. It is just a sweet word, but buyers care about price….strikes are happening often - the International Labor Organization (ILO) has provided a great deal of education regarding the rights of workers, but rarely provides education concerning clients’ demands.”

Economic expert Kong Chandararoth said that Cambodia has a strong new opponent and will find it very hard. “The entry of Vietnam as a member of the WTO will allow foreign investors to choose between the two nations,” he said, adding that perhaps they will prefer Vietnam.

Sok Hach, president of the Economic Institute of Cambodia (EIC), holds a less pessimistic view. “It is not definite that Cambodia will be the victim. The issue depends on whether we are in the same market segment as they are or not. Vietnam may concentrate its efforts on sectors that have received more additional value than the textile sector and then it is Thailand, which will be the victim of the competition,” he said.

(Cambodge Soir, November 8)

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 South Korean company to open ethanol factory 

South Korean firm Muhak Alcohol declared on November 28 that it had established MH Bio Energy Group as a subsidiary in Cambodia last month in order to build a US$25 million ethanol factory in Kandal province, newspapers reported the following day.

MH Managing Director Choi Eun-jun said during a groundbreaking ceremony at the planned facility that the company will produce ethanol from cassava plantderived tapioca, wrote The Cambodia Daily.

People can use ethanol as an alternative to gasoline, and it is gaining global popularity as crude oil prices continue to rise, according to the newspaper.

According to Muhak Alcohol’s statistics, 2 billion tons of ethanol are used to blend with fuel worldwide, and that figure could increase by four times in 2012 due to a growing demand in the US, reported Cambodge Soir. Ethanol also reduces fossil fuel dependence and environmental pollution.

In its project statement, Muhak Alcohol said it has decided to engage in the ethanol business in Cambodia because the country competes strongly in production of the product worldwide, continued the French-language daily. It claimed cassava plants here will be more beneficial than sugar cane – another crop used to extract ethanol - grown in Brazil.

Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said during the ceremony that Cambodian farmers are already processing cassava into various products such as glue to stick boxes of garments for export, reports the newspaper. The plant is easy to be farmed, even on less fertile land.

He expressed his optimism to the South Korean company, saying “more cassava will be cultivated because from now on, business-people will wait to make a purchase,” according to Cambodge Soir.

Muhak Alcohol Chairman Choi Weesung agreed his factory will help develop Cambodia’s agriculture sector.

“I strongly believe that our ethanol factory in Cambodia will spread the plantation of cassava,” he told The Cambodia Daily.

The factory also plans to make carbon dioxide as a bi-product that will be sold to local soda and beer refineries, added the newspaper. It has a production capacity of 40 million liters of ethanol and 26,400 tons of carbon dioxide, and could hire 40 Cambodian university graduates, some of whom will be trained in South Korea for six months.

MH Bio Energy has arranged to purchase 300,000 tons of tapioca chips over three years, wrote The Cambodia Daily.

It has signed contracts to buy 50,000 tons per year from the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) headquarters and 30,000 tons per year from the local SBM corporation.

The firm will also buy cassava chips from local farms, whose output it says can be 10 to 14 times higher than that of rice cultivation, reported the newspaper. It already holds shares in CJ Cambodia, which plants tapioca on 8,000 hectares of land in Kompong Speu province. The company is currently seeking 2,000 hectares of farmland Pursat, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces.

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• Transparency International: Corruption ranking for Asia: Cambodia is at the bottom of both in the world and in Asia ranking

CPI 2006 regional results: Asia-Pacific

Despite ranking among the ten cleanest in terms of perceptions of corruption, the recent Australian Wheat Board Scandal and questions over the financing of election campaigns in New Zealand, underscore the importance of continuing to address the risk of corruption.

Singapore, an important international financial centre, maintains a high score in the CPI should further demonstrate its international commitment to fighting corruption by ratifying the UN Convention against Corruption without delay.

Although India and Japan show small improvements in their score, the average score for the 25 Asian countries in the CPI 2006 (4.6 out of a clean 10) remains alarmingly low.

Macau and Bhutan, featured in the CPI for the first time this year, score better than a majority of countries. In Macau, this may be attributable to continuing efforts in recent years to enhance public administration effectiveness and to the creation of a strong independent anticorruption commission.

Against a backdrop of a vigorous anti-bribery campaign in 2006, which attracted extensive media coverage, the perceived level of corruption in China, which shares its score with India,remains very high.

Timor Leste’s first inclusion in the CPI regrettably increases to 12 the number of Asian countries scoring below 3.0, indicating that corruption in these countries is perceived as endemic.

Laos continues to see high levels of perceived corruption and this year registers a significant drop in score, in spite the implementation of new anti-corruption legislation.

Although Pakistan has made tangible efforts towards the strengthening of public procurement,the perception of corruption remains very high – a situation particularly worrying given the amount of humanitarian aid pledged for reconstruction following the October 2005 earthquake.

In countries with the highest perception of corruption, such as Myanmar, Bangladesh and Cambodia, the lack of political will to strengthen anti-corruption institutions perpetuates rampant corruption, undermining improvements in quality of life for the poorest citizens.

The fact that Bangladesh no longer occupies last place in the table is attributable more to the poor performance of several other countries, including Myanmar in Asia, than to a drop in corruption levels per se.

Taiwan’s score remains the same although recent scandals have rocked the country, suggesting that grand corruption may be on the rise.

Australia, China, Indonesia, Mongolia and Sri Lanka are the only 5 countries in Asia Pacific to have ratified the UN Convention against Corruption to date, suggesting a lack of government determination in the region to tackle corruption.

   Overall Rank  Regional Rank      Country / territory   Score   Confidence range  

1             1                                  New Zealand        9.6      9.4 - 9.6              

5             2                               Singapore               9.4         9.2 -         

9             3                               Australia                 8.7         8.3 -               

15           4                               Hong Kong              8.3         7.7 - 8.8             

17           5                               Japan                      7.6          7.0 - 8.1            

26           6                               Macao                     6.6          5.4 - 7.1             

32           7                               Bhutan                    6.0          4.1 - 7.3             

34           8                               Taiwan                    5.9          5.6 - 6.2             

42           9                              South Korea             5.1          4.7 - 5.5            

44           10                            Malaysia                 5.0         5.0 - 5.5              

63           11                            Thailand                  3.6         3.2 - 3.9                

70           12                            China                      3.3         3.0 - 3.6                

72              12                                      India                               3.3             3.1 - 3.6                

84           14                            Sri Lanka                3.1          2.7 - 3.5                

111            15                                      Laos                              2.6             3.0 -  3.1                

111            15                                      Timor-Leste                 2.6             23 - 3.0                

111         15                           Vietnam                   2.6          2.4  - 2.9                

121         18                           Nepal                       2.5         2.3 - 2.9            

121            18                                    Philippines                     2.5            2.3 -  2.8            

130         20                            Indonesia                 2.4        2.2  - 2.6           

130           20                               Papua N. Guinea                2.4           2.3  - 2.6            

142         22                            Pakistan                 2.2       2.0  - 2.4               

151         23                            Cambodia               2.1       1.9  - 2.4                

156         24                            Bangladesh            2.0        1.7 - 2.2                

160         25                            Myanmar                1.9        1.8 - 2.3                

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Media Contacts:

Gypsy Guillén Kaiser, ggkaiser@transparency.org

Tel:+49 30 343820662 / Fax: +49 30 34703912

Jesse Garcia, jgarcia@transparency.org

Tel.: (+49-30) 3438 20 667 / Fax: (+49-30) 3470 3912

Transparency International

Alt Moabit 96

10559 Berlin, Germany

www.transparency.org

Tel: +49 30 3438 20 0

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• Human rights protest in Melbourne, Australia

Herald Sun; October 13, 2006 12:00am

SENIOR federal Labor MP Simon Crean has joined Cambodian community members to question the human rights record of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Cambodians in Melbourne yesterday staged a peaceful protest against Mr Hun Sen to highlight allegations of serious abuses under his regime.

Mr Hun Sen was given a state reception in Melbourne last night attended by Deputy Premier John Thwaites and Labor backbencher Hong Lim, who is Cambodian by birth.

But Melbourne's Cambodian community is not happy the litany of alleged violations have been overlooked during Mr Hun Sen's visit to Australia.

Many of them live in Mr Crean's electorate and the Labor MP put their concerns to the Cambodian Prime Minister during a meeting in Canberra this week.

Mr Crean said he raised issues of human rights abuses, denial of rights to opposition parties and principles of good governance with Mr Hun Sen.

He also asked Mr Hun Sen to respond to a United Nations report last month that found human rights were being violated on a systemic scale in Cambodia.

"We essentially said, 'They're the principles we're concerned about. Here's the UN envoy's report. What have you got to say?' "

But Mr Crean said he could not report Mr Hun Sen's response because it was a private meeting.

In Melbourne, a protest organiser, who wished to remain anonymous, said members of the Australian Cambodian community condemned the alleged abuses but were also afraid to speak out.

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Comments: This is how Hun Sen has gained Australian John Howard's favor by promissing to send Cambodian troops to help Australian forces in East Timor. This is exactly what Bush had asked Hun Sen to send Cambodian troops to be part of the so-called Coalition of the Willing under American occupation forces in Iraq.

• Cambodia to send troops to E Timor
  October 11, 2006 05:10pm

CAMBODIA will send troops to East Timor following talks between Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen and Prime Minister John Howard today.

Mr Hun Sen told a lunch in his honour in the Great Hall of Parliament House that Cambodia would join its second peacekeeping mission since its own civil
war.

"Cambodia has sent its troops to Sudan in Africa and this morning Cambodia also proposed to send troops to East Timor in the near future," Mr Hun Sen said.

Mr Hun Sen met with Mr Howard, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Justice Minister Chris Ellison during his visit to Parliament House.

With the Cambodian courts preparing to try former Khmer Rouge members over the country's genocide, Mr Howard announced that Australia would commit $30 million over five years to strengthen Cambodia's criminal justice system.

A further $45 million will go to agricultural projects in the Asian country.

Senator Ellison and Mr Hun Sen also signed a prisoner transfer agreement between the two countries.

But Senator Ellison said Australians jailed in Cambodia should not expect their sentences to be reduced because of the signing.

He said the treaty would benefit both countries but was not designed to cut the sentences of Australians serving jail terms in Cambodia, or vice versa.

"Some people misunderstand the nature of it," he told Parliament.

"It is not a means of reducing a sentence. It's a means of returning a person to their home country to serve out a sentence and also come under
community supervision of their home country."

Five Australians are serving prison terms in Cambodia, while there were 13 Cambodian inmates in Australian jails as of May this year.

© Herald and Weekly Times. All times

______________________________________________________________________ (GMT + 10).

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• Comments: Once again, Sam Rainsy is siding with Hun Sen to curb freedom of expression and the press. We should not forget that Sam Rainsy did have the courage to go jail. But, instead he let his colleagues to do so. Cowardly, he preferred to ask Hun Sen for pardon. Although, from a recent confession by a former Hun Sen police chief, Heng Poa, it is clear that Hun Sen was behind the grenade incidence against the Sam Rainsy party in 1997 in which an American citizen, Ron Abney, was injured. Mr. Abney had recently asked the FBI to reopen the file for that incident, that Sam Rainsy now says that Hun Sen was not behind it.  

          Again, SRP Succeeds at Disappointing

          OPINION- Letter to the Editor, The cambodian Daily

It seems more obvious than ever that Cambodians ought to look beyond the Sam Rainsy Party for their savior, (“SRP Admits 10 Approved Controversial Law,” Tuesday, page 13).

The vote for the law - which curbs lawmakers’ right to free speech - by 10 of 24 SRP parliamentarians is a blunder with significant implications. It is incomprehensible that opposition lawmakers voted for a bill that effectively legitimizes the illegal arrest last year of one of their MPs, who also happened inconceivably, to support the bill.

It seems retirement security was in their minds when they voted. It is disappointing to see such a young, energetic party already contemplating a comfortable lifestyle after politics.

One SRP parliamentarian argued that the devastating Article 5 of the bill could be amended later. He is absolutely right, unless the opposition would want to keep it if they were in power. This is another sad episode reinforcing a negative perception of the SRP. Bun Buno, Australia.

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Comments: Hun Sen playing politics with the number of Vietnamese in Cambodia. Hun Sen claims that there are only less than 100,000 Vietnamese (Does this include the illigal ones?) in Cambodia. The CIA estimates that number to be more than 600,00, while Ambassador Bindra estimates to be more than 4 millions (Illigal and legal). Which one is the real number? Only an open and non-political census can solve this crucial problem. Other important point is the fact that there is no comments from fromer king Sihanouk.

• Eastern census prelude to expelling illegal immigrants
  By Vong Sokheng
  
  

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has issued instructions to provincial governors and police chiefs to conduct a census of all immigrants living in Cambodia and expel those who entered the country after 1975 and have no documents to prove they are here legally.

Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng told police and provincial governors at a meeting on September 7 that the census must be conducted thoroughly because illegal immigration is a sensitive issue that politicians have traditionally harnessed to further their own interests.

This is the government's first attempt to count illegal immigrants since 2002.

Em Sam An, Secretary of State at the MoI and head of the ministry's Census Committee and Control of Foreign Immigrants, said the registration process is scheduled to begin its first phase on October 2 and will count all immigrants who can provide legal documents that show they have lived in Cambodia since 1975 and before. These individuals will then be eligible for Cambodian citizenship.

The second phase will examine all immigrants who entered Cambodia after 1975. If the necessary documentation is missing, the immigrants will be subject to fines, jail and deportation.

The census will be conducted in Phnom Penh and nine provinces in the east and southeast of Cambodia. After the census, local authorities will have 20 days to send a report to the MoI.

"The law and mechanism and the measures: we have everything now, and I would like to request that work be done thoroughly and perfectly within the nine provinces," Sar Kheng said. "And at the same time we have to take measures to restrict new illegal immigrants entering Cambodia."

He said some politicians have exaggerated the number of Vietnamese immigrants to be between two to four million. He said the MoI found only 70,000 Vietnamese immigrants living in Cambodia in the most recent census held in 1998.

Sam An said some political parties have accused the government of allowing Vietnamese to enter Cambodia and take jobs from Cambodians.

Son Chhay, lawmaker from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), said it is not only Vietnamese but also other immigrants, such as Chinese, who live and work in Cambodia.

"We believe that there are many Vietnamese working in fields such as construction building, beauty shops and a huge amount in fishing, but there are no statistics from those people," Chhay said. "If we look into Khmer immigrants entering Vietnam, they are beggars and are arrested and sent back to the country like animals."

Chhay said that every country has laws against illegal immigrants, and such laws must be implemented with respect to human rights.

"We don't want the government to implement the law based on racism, but on the principle of respecting human rights and the existing laws in the country," Chhay said.

He said the MoI has never released the census results about foreign immigrants to the National Assembly or others.

"I think if the MoI is not able to release detailed results of the census to the stakeholders or members of the parliament it is a meaningless census," Chhay said. "Until now the government has no clear measures against the illegal immigrants in Cambodia."

He said Vietnamese immigration in Cambodia is a sensitive political issue and the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has conspired to hide the statistics.

"If we looked into the reality of figures on ethnic Vietnamese in Cambodia, the census conducted by the MoI is not acceptable," Chhay said.

SRP parliamentarian Chan Cheng from Kandal province told the Post on September 14 that the government must enforce the Law on Nationality and Immigration.

Cheng said the government never released the 1998 census results on native language or birth place.

He said in Preak Chrey commune, in the Koh Thom district of Kandal province, there have been 7,000 Vietnamese immigrants registered to vote since 1998, while there are only 1,200 Cambodians in the commune.

"On the voter list issued by the National Election Committee (NEC), each name was spelled in the mother tongue of Vietnam," Cheng said.

"I dare not to say how many Vietnamese immigrants there are in Cambodia, but in Preak Chrey commune alone there were 7,000 Vietnamese and in Sampov Puon commune about 1,000 Vietnamese, and these are just two communes in Kandal province."

Cheng said that by law only King Sihamoni can approve citizenship for foreigners, and so far the King has approved fewer than one hundred.

He said Cambodia and Vietnam have a long history of disputes over territory, and many Cambodian people remain concerned about loss of sovereignty.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook says there are roughly 680,000 ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia, or about 5 percent of the 13.6 million population. Estimates by local observers very widely.

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 19, September 21 - October 5, 2006
© Michael Hayes, 2006. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief
http://www.PhnomPenhPost.com - Any comments on the website to Webmaster

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    Comments: One more reason why the Bush Administration is supporting Hun Sen and not democratic advocates. That reason is black gold and the US business commnunity without moral principles.                

                    Cambodia's black gold

http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061010/OPINION02/610100307

 Article published Tuesday, October 10, 2006

                              U.S. RELATIONS with Cambodia, distorted for decades by the Vietnam war and its aftermath, seem on the verge of a startling improvement. Oil will do that.

                              The Southeast Asian country of 14 million, formerly part of French Indochina, has discovered that it has initial reserves of 700 million barrels of offshore oil. The American giant Chevron-Texaco has the concession for the main bloc in the Gulf of Thailand, where the company has already drilled exploratory wells. More may be found.

                              One astonishing aspect of the development is that Chevron-Texaco appears to have stolen the initiative from the oil-hungry Chinese, the strongest economic power in the region. The corporation's mastery of the complex technology needed for this sort of field three to five years ago gave it a leg up on competitors.

                              Cambodia may also have onshore oil. Some other offshore deposits it claims near its 265-mile coast are disputed by Thailand.

                              U.S. relations with Cambodia almost fell apart in 1973, when the North Vietnamese use of Cambodia as a transit route for military supplies to the Viet Cong in South Vietnam led the United States to drop more than 100,000 tons of bombs on the country. It took Congress to call a halt to the assault.

                              The chaos and political disorder that ensued in Cambodia led directly to a takeover in 1975 by the murderous Khmer Rouge. That group's brutal rule resulted in the death of some 2 million Cambodians, which many Americans became aware of through the film, The Killing Fields.

                              Most Cambodians, 95 percent of whom are Buddhist, never held America's bombing or its support of the Khmer Rouge against the United States. America, China, and Thailand continued to tolerate the Khmer Rouge because the Vietnamese opposed them, a truly appalling U.S. policy example of "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

                              In recent years, the United States has bought 90 percent of Cambodia's principal export, clothing, which represents 85 percent of its export revenue, although that relationship risks being torpedoed in 2008 when U.S. quotas on competing Chinese apparel exports are scheduled to end.

                              Oil should save Cambodia's economy however, supplementing its earnings from clothing exports and from growing tourism. Cambodia offers Angkor Wat, a spectacular 12th century temple, and other charms. If its oil turns out to be as considerable as it appears, Cambodia's gross domestic product of $4.8 billion should grow by another $1 billion within three to four years.

                              The new oil wealth will create problems of its own, but they will be the kind of problems Cambodians need and deserve after nearly four decades of extreme hardship.

               © 2006 The Blade.

• Cambodia Braces for Oil Boom, China May Profit From It 

by  Sherry Su     

Dow Jones Newswires

Friday, October 27, 2006   

SINGAPORE, Oct 27, 2006 (Dow Jones Newswires) Sitting on billions of dollars worth of black gold, Cambodia is on the way to lifting itself from abject poverty, but getting the money into the bank seems fraught with difficulty.

The government anticipates oil will be being pumped out of rich offshore deposits from 2009 but just who will be doing it, how much will be produced then and in the years ahead and what will happen to the profits is still a matter of conjecture.

Two factors may have a decisive impact on this - ownership of some offshore areas are contested by Thailand, and China's very long game with the Cambodians puts it in a good position when political decisions on oil extraction and concessions are made.

A consortium led by US oil giant Chevron Corp. (CVX) announced significant offshore finds last year, and companies from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and France, among others, are already prospecting or vying for exploration rights.

Cambodia has seven designated offshore blocks in undisputed Cambodian waters in the Gulf of Thailand, covering about 37,000 square kilometers.

But the situation is very murky, as Cambodia and Thailand have unresolved overlapping claims in the Gulf of Thailand covering 27,000 square kilometers.

The dispute between the two countries over the maritime boundary has dragged on since the early 1970s.

In 2001, the two signed a Memorandum of Understanding on joint development of oil and gas in the disputed areas, but no significant moves have been made since then.

Asia is no stranger to this type of problem. Exploration in some waters claimed by both Malaysia and Brunei has been stymied, and in the case of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea overlapping claims by five countries has prevented prospecting.

Just How Much Is There?

In Cambodia's undisputed waters, nine wells were drilled in the 1990s and oil traces were found in three.

But by the end of 1997, all holders of production-sharing contracts had relinquished their blocks, partly due to weak global oil prices. Things then stalled until 2002 when Cambodia awarded offshore Block A to Chevron.

"The government of Cambodia hopes to sign up PSCs as soon as possible with international companies to explore Cambodia's available acreage," Ho Vichit, vice chairman of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority said recently.

The government has yet to release official data on its oil reserves. But according to a study by the United Nations Development Program and Harvard University, the recoverable reserves in Cambodian offshore blocks are estimated at a very substantial 2 billion barrels of oil and 10 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

As far as is known, much of Cambodia's onshore oil and gas reserves are located in its Tonle Sap Basin, but to date no serious exploration has been done.

Japan National Oil Corp. conducted some airborne gravity and magnetic surveys in the areas in 1990s.

China May Get Lion's Share

Cambodia's rich hydrocarbon deposits have stoked strong interest from its oil-deficient Asian neighbors, as well as U.S. and European companies.

Singapore Petroleum Co. (S99.SG), Dallas-based X-Change Corp., South Korea's GS Caltex Oil Co., Japan's Mitsui Oil Exploration Co., and several other companies are exploring oil and gas in Cambodia.

However, among them, Chinese oil companies may well grab the biggest share, mainly because of the historically- close relationship between the two countries.

China has been supporting the Cambodian government since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1958. It is also Cambodia's biggest aid donor, and a major trading partner.

In 2002, China agreed to exempt all of Cambodia's mature debts to it.

French oil giant Total SA (TOT) is competing with a Chinese oil company for exploration rights to offshore Block B, according to Cambodia Daily newspaper recently.

It didn't say which Chinese firm was involved but noted that officials from Chinese National Offshore Oil Co., or CNOOC, had met Cambodia's prime minister in July and expressed interest in the block.

"Chinese companies are in a more favorable position (compared with other countries)," said Sheng Lijun, senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

China, eager to secure more stable oil and gas supplies to meet its robust energy demand, has already demonstrated its interest in the Cambodian oil sector.

Currently, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC.YY), CNOOC, and Zhuhai Zhenrong Co. are all planning to, or already participating in oil and gas exploration.

China National Chemical Engineering Group Corp. will help build a 40,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery at the southern town of Sihanoukville, the country's largest port.

The refinery, with planned total investment of $420 million, is expected to come on line by 2009. Cambodia now needs to import all the oil products it uses.

Challenges Ahead

For the 13 million Cambodians, one third of whom live below the poverty line, oil revenues could be a bonanza.

But as the inhabitants of East Timor - another potentially wealthy, oil-and-gas-rich but socially and politically unstable country - know only too well, the wait can be long and hard.

Cambodia has fragile manufacturing sectors. Agriculture, tourism and textile contributing the most to gross domestic product and it is still heavily reliant on foreign aid.

Added to that, Cambodia struggles with stifling bureaucracy, widespread corruption and a lack of skilled workers, and its infrastructure is badly decayed after decades of war.

According to the Global Competitiveness Index 2006 compiled by the World Economic Forum, Cambodia ranked the 103rd among 125 countries, below Bangladesh.

Oil and gas revenues "could promote significant socioeconomic development (in Cambodia) if they are used prudently," the Asian Development Bank said recently.

But a sudden inflow of money, as happened in many poor countries where oil was found, has often led to high-level corruption and political battles for access to this wealth.

"In the absence of mechanism to improve their use and broaden their impact, oil receipts could lead to a further concentration of wealth and greater social tension. They may also lead donors to curtail their aid," the ADB's 2006 Asia Development Report said.

Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Comments: Once more, Sihanouk had legitimized the shammed trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders in 1979 by the tribunal organized by the Vietnamese occupiers, by his pardon of Ieng Sary in 1996, as he recently legitimized the supplements to the unequal treaties (1983-5), when he allowed his son Sihamoni to sign these treaties supplements imposed by the Vietnamese government.

This raises the important issue as to whether Ieng Sary can be brought to be tried again in this UN sponsored Khmer Rouge Trial. Naranhkiri Tith, Ph. D. 

• 27 Years On, Another Khmer Rouge Tribunal
  

Luke Hunt | 30 Aug 2006
World Politics Watch Exclusive

http://worldpoliticswatch.com/article.aspx?id=149

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Shortly after Vietnamese tanks rumbled across Cambodia's border in late 1978 the Khmer Rouge elite fled the capital and a new regime first attempted what the United Nations is poised to try again more than a quarter of a century later -- account for the grisly deaths of
up to two million people.

Pol Pot and perhaps his closest friend from their university days in France, Ieng Sary, were long ago sentenced to death in absentia for genocide, in a trial widely regarded as a legal farce. It was so badly handled and wrapped-up in Cold War politics that it escaped the attention of the outside world and for only a handful of people it remains a distant and inconvenient memory.

In the wake of the Vietnam War, the West and Washington in particular preferred to recognize Pol Pot as head of state, and despite the atrocities committed by the hard line cadre that surrounded Brother Number One, Hanoi's occupation of Cambodia was deemed illegal and their Soviet-backed effort to
deliver justice for the dead was damned as a rigged show trial.

Twenty-seven years later, however, that two-day tribunal is on the verge of re-emerging onto the final stage of the Khmer Rouge era with legal ramifications that prosecutors would like the defense to forget, but with evidence so compelling and gut-wrenching that lawyers and the West can no longer ignore it.

The original trial began on Aug.15, 1979, with testimonies from 54 people.

Hundreds in the audience wept openly as Sim Phia told the court: "Hidden from behind a coconut tree, I saw the soldiers take nine children from 10 to 13 years of age out of trucks.

"The children's arms were tied. The soldiers pulled them up to the bridge over the pool. No matter how much they cried or shouted for help, they were thrown in as prey for the crocodiles."

Vang Pheap, a guard at the notorious S-21 torture and execution camp delivered unfettered insights into how 16,000 people would meet their ultimate fate. Pits were dug ahead of time and the prisoners were struck with an iron bar: "After that, Pol Pot's men cut the victims' throats or ripped their bellies to pluck the liver."

Denise Alfonso, a former secretary at the French embassy, witnessed cannibalism.

"The condemned man was tied to a tree, his chest bare and a blindfold over his eyes. Ta Sok the executioner, using a large knife, made a long cut in the stomach of the poor man."

Ms Alfonoso then testified the man screamed like a wild beast: "His insides were all laid bare, and Ta Sok cut out the liver and cooked it on a little stove. . . . They divided the liver among them and ate it hungrily."

Mass killings were well documented and Bun Sath, a political officer, told the court of the steady precision required to carry out the leadership's commands. Evenings were preferred because the streets were deserted. The prisoners were bound in pairs and bashed on the napes of their necks.

Up to 300 were killed in a session: "We began at 6pm and continued until 9pm or 10pm," the court heard.

Evidence of genocide committed against ethnic Muslim Chams, Vietnamese, Chinese and intellectuals was overwhelming, and on Aug. 19 Pol Pot and Ieng Sary were sentenced to death in absentia while they were holed-up in the jungles of the remote countryside.

While the testimony was honest, the tribunal was not.

Hope Stevens, an African American, landed the job of efending Pol Pot and Ieng Sarry. Because of her own background, she described herself as an expert on "genocide, murder, rape, torture, mutilation, lynching and deprivation of human rights."

She then labeled her own clients as "criminally insane monsters."

Few would take the verdict seriously, including the Khmer Rouge, which would continue to wage its wars for another two decades. But that changed in 1996 when serious efforts were finally made to end the conflict and Ieng Sary, along with the troops he personally commanded, defected.

His defection was assured only after negotiating a pardon of the verdict from then-king Norodom Sihanouk. Thus from a legal standpoint the 1979 tribunal was legitimized, posing serious questions for the current trial, which is expected to get underway in earnest by early next year, and whether or not Ieng Sary can be tried for genocide.

In his own mind, Ieng Sary believed he had immunity from any future prosecution. However, advisors to the trial will argue that while a royal pardon may exempt Ieng Sary from being put in the dock again on charges of genocide, the ageing former foreign minister and Khmer Rouge power broker could still be charged with murder or crimes against humanity.

Pol Pot, like many others in his circle who may have faced justice, has since died. Of those who remain, Ieng Sary's wife Ieng Tirith, Brother Number Two Nuon Chea and former prime minister Khieu Samphan are chief candidates for prosecution at the tribunal.

If justice is to be delivered, a fair trial of Ieng Sary is crucial, but this will only become possible once the legalities of the long forgotten 1979 tribunal have been dealt with.

And this time around it will be those same original detractors -- the United States, Australia, France and Japan -- who as chief backers of the current tribunal will be forced to pay attention.

Luke Hunt is a Hong Kong-based journalist who has covered Cambodia for many years. He was the Phnom Penh bureau chief for Agence France-Presse from 2001 to 2004. 

© 2006, World Politcs Watch LLC. All rights reserved. Terms of Use : About World Politics Watch

• US Envoy Defends Expensive Cambodian Genocide Trials
• For the full text of Ambaasador Mussomeli of his remark, please see the article posted just below this one.

Tuesday July 25th, 2006 / 13h22  

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)--The U.S. ambassador to Cambodia on Tuesday defended holding genocide trials for the former Khmer Rouge, saying the multimillion dollar tribunal would help to heal the country's psychological and spiritual wounds.

His comment followed recent remarks by retired King Norodom Sihanouk, who questioned the value of spending $56.3 million on a U.N.-backed tribunal to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes against humanity during their 1975-1979 rule.

Sihanouk said the money would be better spent alleviating poverty because the tribunal targets too few of those responsible for the Khmer Rouge's extremist policies that led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said he agreed that people's basic needs have to be met, but added that "man does not live by bread alone."

"Cambodians deserve to have their hunger for justice satisfied," he said during a meeting with some 500 Khmer Rouge survivors on Tuesday.

Nearly 30 years after the Khmer Rouge reign of terror, Cambodia "is still lost and broken," he said. This "brokenness is more than just political and economic," he said. "It is also psychological and spiritual."

He said the brokenness fosters a culture of impunity "rooted in the belief ... that no crime is so great that it must be punished, and that whatever any Cambodian does is fine because it cannot possibly be worse than what the Khmer Rouge did - and got away with doing."

Prosecutors are now gathering evidence for the Khmer Rouge trials, expected to begin in 2007.

Washington has not given any money to the tribunal, although it has provided some $7 million over the last decade to the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group researching Khmer Rouge atrocities, according to an embassy statement.

Mussomeli urged the tribunal's investigators to move "as quickly as possible," noting the death last week of Ta Mok, the group's former military chief.

He said he is concerned that other Khmer Rouge leaders could die "within the next decade, perhaps in the next year or two."

"If these criminals all die peaceful deaths, then there'll be a loss for Cambodia that they will never be able to clarify what really happened. That would be a great frustration, I think," he said. 

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• Cash-strapped Cambodia eyes black gold

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Comments: it is not often for Cambodians to see a well written and balanced view on the Cambodia and especially on the Khmer Rouge trial. The article posted is one of the rare and fair assessment of the status the possible outcome to be expected from the well-publicized Extraodinary Chambers for the Khmer Rouge trial under the co-sponsorship by the United Nations and the Hun Sen regime. It clearly showed that Hun Sen and his Party the CPP has been rewriting the Cambodian history on the Khmer Rouge in their favor, and to gain internaitonal acceptance for his regime.

Naranhkiri Tith, Ph.D.

Washington DC. August 2, 2006

The Worth of Cambodia's War Crimes Trials

With the death of Ta Mok, also known as 'The Butcher', some wonder if reopening the wounds of Cambodia's 'killing fields' during a war crimes tribunal is worth the cost.

By J Eli Margolis for IDSS

http://www.isn.ethz.ch/news/sw/details.cfm?ID=16456

28/07/06

Almost two decades after the December 1978 Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia which ended the brutal four-year rule of the Khmer Rouge, the Phnom Penh government is putting some of the former leaders on trial. The dark days of the “Killing Fields” by the Khmer Rouge had been a blot on Cambodian history. Some 20 percent of the country’s people had died from exhaustion, starvation or murder.

Today, the United Nations and the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen are preparing to put the surviving Khmer Rouge figures through a recently-established war crimes tribunal. The trials of the ageing former leaders are expected to begin in mid 2007. On 16 July, however, one of the most notorious Khmer Rouge leaders, Ta Mok, known as “The Butcher,” slipped into a coma. The age of the handful of likely defendants like Ta Mok and the US$56.3 million price tag, however, have many asking: Are the trials worth it?

Indeed, the questions are really two. First, will the tribunal bring the guilty to justice? And second, will it bring closure to a nation still nursing severe psychological wounds? In answering these questions, one should not assume that convictions alone will bring closure. Just the opposite, the state of memory in Cambodia suggests they will not. If the trials are to help heal Cambodia, they will need an added element - the stories of the victims.

The past in Cambodia’s present

The story of memory in Cambodia exhibits two trends - the construction of a politicized official history and the use of that history to repress individual memories.

The Cambodian past changed when Vietnam invaded. Soon after forming, the new Hanoi backed government began to propagate an official version of the Khmer Rouge years. To a large extent, this history still frames Cambodian understanding of that period.

Correspondent Margaret Scott describes this orthodoxy as “Pol Pot time.” Pitting the few against the many - a familiar theme of the Cambodian past - this account maintains that Pol Pot and a coterie of senior staff tricked and oppressed the Cambodian people, creating a second Holocaust. “Pol Pot time” is about as nuanced as a primary-school history text.

Why push a history that ignores international influences, latent Cambodian enmity towards Vietnamese, the role of ideology and the body of Khmer Rouge supporters among other things? Simply, the “Pol Pot clique” thesis gave needed legitimacy to the new communist government. It demonized Pol Pot and his deputies, who remained threats even in hiding. It gave a communist-friendly, exploitation-based reading of events. Importantly, it implicitly discredited Khmer Rouge ideology, which, in its later years, had become virulently anti-Vietnamese. Reports from journalists reinforced the new government’s preferred image as liberator, thus increasing international legitimacy.

That history provides legitimacy, however, is an old lesson. What is important is that, in Cambodia, officials kept the official history in the public sphere, where it would not have to contend with private memories. The new government made a museum out of the S-21 prison camp in Phnom Penh; tried Pol Pot and his deputy Ieng Sary in absentia; exhumed mass graves; erected monuments at several “killing fields”; and created a holiday called the Day of Anger, when people were to stew in resentment at what had been done to them (not, notably, what they had done to one another). Until 2001, schools did not teach anything about the period. Many schools still don’t.

Why go so far to keep history in a public realm of spectacle and rhetoric? The new government did this to limit the power of individual memories. A great number of former Khmer Rouge officials continued on in government. Blaming them instead of Pol Pot - as memories would - could have undermined social order and possibly the government itself.

This repression of private memories continues to take a terrible psychological toll. USAID estimates that two out of five Cambodians suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (shocking when one considers that over half of the current population was not yet born when the Khmer Rouge ruled).

The trials

Many hope that the tribunal will ease such psychological burdens. This understanding seems to be founded on the assumption that the trials will function as what the French historian and memory theorist Pierre Nora terms a "lieu de mémoire," or site of memory. Sites of memory, Nora theorizes, are objects, places, or events to which people attach a memory, removing that memory’s immediacy, and aiding it in its journey toward resolution and a detached history. Funerals and gravesites are an everyday example.

Assuming that the trials will automatically bring a mystical “healing,” however, is wrong. The tribunal is distant; it provides no way for individuals to attach or share their memories. Indeed, far from being a lieu de mémoire that helps release memories, the tribunal may actually support the official history and further repress them. By prosecuting just a few leaders, the tribunal implies that just a few were guilty. While prosecuting many more is impractical, charging these few is not much better. It looks like “Pol Pot time” all over again.

Moreover, the tribunal will further the official history’s legitimization project. Blaming a few implicitly clears the many former Khmer Rouge officials still in government - no doubt a concern near the heart of Prime Minister Hun Sen, himself an old Khmer Rouge official. Similarly, cooperation with the UN lends the government international legitimacy. which is not to say the tribunal is bad. These criminals oversaw despicable acts and must be brought to justice. But, if undertaken alone, the trials will be counterproductive. Without some added element, they will not only legitimize a questionable regime, but they will further strangle private memories with politicized public history.

New element?

But what should this “added element” be? The experience of other post-conflict societies such as Rwanda and South Africa suggests that it might be something as simple as sharing. A recognized, legitimate forum in which survivors can share their memories would be a true lieu de mémoire. Individual memories would re-enter - and re-define - the public space.

Thankfully, some groups have already taken steps in this direction. The Documentation Center of Cambodia has spent most of the past decade collecting oral histories, individual stories and Khmer Rouge paperwork. It publishes these accounts in a journal, Searching for the Truth. Yale University’s Cambodia Genocide Project, with a large presence in-country, operates in much the same way. Together with other non-governmental organizations, these two groups could become the forum Cambodia needs. Through the sharing of individual memories, a new history could be built, a more open and democratic public space created, and survivors slowly freed from the burdens of strangled memory.

As they pursue a war crimes tribunal, Cambodia and the UN should also organize these groups, give them the authority of a government or UN name, and encourage them to expand their work. Certainly, it would cost a fraction of the US$56.3 million already secured. After having devoted so much attention to the question of justice, Cambodia and the UN should not neglect that of memory. Is the tribunal worth it? With an added element, it will be.

Reprinted with permission from IDSS. Copyright (c) 2006 Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Blk S4, Level B4, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798.

This information list was set up by the Open Society Justice Initiative for information exchange about the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and its effects on Cambodian society. For more information, to subscribe, or unsubscribe, please contact cji@online.com.kh. For more information on the Justice Initiative, please visit: www.justiceinitiative.org