- Monday, 06 August 2012
- Sen David and David Boyle
- Four brokers accused of duping 19 victims out of thousands of dollars
for non-existent jobs in South Korea were arrested at Phnom Penh
International Airport on Saturday.
Keo Thea, chief of Phnom Penh’s anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection department, said Por Sen Chey district police arrested Lok Sido, 32, Kuch Sopha, 35, Puth Sophal, 26, and Meng Savun, 28, after one of the victims filed a complaint at a nearby police station when the promised flight to South Korea never arrived.
“According to victims, some of them spent from US$1,000 up to $2,000 on brokers seeking jobs and preparing documents,” he said.
One of the 19 victims said yesterday they arrived at the airport on time to board a flight as instructed by brokers.
“But we waited for a long time – no flight. We called the brokers but they said the flight maybe had been postponed. We stopped believing them and decided to file a complaint to the police on the same day,” he said.
Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Center, said brokers regularly exploiting Cambodians seeking jobs in South Korea are assisted by false promises plastered on billboards advertising training centres.
“The worker needs to go to the Ministry of Labour but the billboard of the South Korean training schools really confuse people – that you just pay $50 and then you can go to work in Korea,” he said.
Tola said the ministries of labour and education should review the licensing of such facilities. Neither ministry could be reached for comment yesterday.
The arrests came three days after South Korea implemented controversial new legislation aimed at curtailing migrant worker exploitation that rights groups say may have the opposite effect.
On August 1, South Korea enacted a new Measure for Improvement in Foreign Workers’ Change of Workplaces and Prevention of Broker Intervention policy aimed at reducing the frequency of migrant employees changing jobs.
Rights groups including Amnesty International, the Asia Pacific Mission For Migrants and the International Forum for Democracy and Cooperation have said the policy leaves migrants with nowhere to go if they find themselves in exploitative working conditions.
Where in the past migrant workers seeking to change jobs were provided a list of labour-seeking businesses, businesses will be provided a list of job-seeking workers.
Amnesty International said in a statement late last month that if the migrant workers did not find a new job within three months, “they will lose their work visa, thus risking arrest, imprisonment and deportation”.
Questions have also been raised over how the policy’s aim of curtailing exploitation by providing lists of workers rather than businesses will actually help, given that brokers could find the new list just as, if not more, useful.
To contact the reporters on this story: Sen David at david.sen@phnompenhpost.com
David Boyle at david.boyle@phnompenhpost.com
I am proud of being a Khmer. Sharing knowledge is a significant way to develop our country toward the rule of law and peace.
Monday 6 August 2012
Scam brokers nabbed at Phnom Penh airport
South Korea: New regulation will increase risk of exploitation for migrant workers
Amnesty International calls on South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labour to
withdraw a new regulation under the Employment Permit System (EPS) that would
dramatically reduce migrant workers’ ability to change jobs.
Under the “Measure for Improvement in Foreign Workers’ Change of Workplaces and
Prevention of Broker Intervention”, due to come into effect on 1 August, migrant
workers in search of new employment will no longer have access to a list of
prospective employers. Instead the Ministry of Employment and Labour will provide a
list of job-seeking migrants to employers only. If migrants are not recruited for a new
job within three months, they will lose their work visa, thus risking arrest,
imprisonment and deportation.
Under the new measure, migrant workers face further difficulties in changing jobs, as
any refusal of a job offer “without rational reason” will result in being struck off the
job-seekers list for two weeks. Amnesty International is concerned that these changes
will discourage migrant workers from leaving exploitative working conditions and force
many to accept jobs in order to avoid the penalties.
“South Korea’s new policy tips the balance even further in favour of exploitative
employers by unfairly penalising migrant workers who wish to change jobs,” said
Norma Kang Muico, Amnesty International’s Researcher for Asia-Pacific Migrants’
Rights. “In order to ensure continued employment, migrants are more likely than
South Korean workers to put up with poor working conditions, abuse and
exploitation.”
This new measure follows a previous amendment to the EPS, implemented earlier this
month, whereby migrant workers were allowed to renew their visas for another four
year and 10 month term, provided that they had no previous record of changing
workplaces. Migrant groups in South Korea have expressed concern that this, along
with the new measure, will put extreme pressure on migrant workers to stay with their
original employers, even in the face of exploitative working conditions.
Amnesty International’s research has found that restrictions on changing jobs severely
hinder migrant workers from raising abuses at work, such as late or non-payment of
wages or benefits, inadequate safety measures, and physical or sexual violence.
Amnesty International is concerned that the Ministry of Employment and Labour’s
policies affecting migrant workers increasingly undermine their human rights.
Similarly, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has repeatedly raised concerns
that EPS workers are vulnerable to discrimination and abuse, particularly if there are
insufficient safeguards to protect them in cases of infringements of their rights by
employers.
“The Government has a duty to protect the rights of EPS workers, but instead it has
introduced draconian policies which risk creating a pliant migrant workforce willing to
put up with abuse and exploitation,” said Norma Kang Muico. “The equality of labour
rights between migrants and Korean nationals, enshrined in the Constitution, simply
does not apply in practice.”
Amnesty International urges the Ministry of Employment and Labour to withdraw
plans to introduce the “Measure for Improvement in Foreign Workers’ Change of
Workplaces and Prevention of Broker Intervention” and to amend the EPS Act to allow
greater flexibility for migrant workers to leave their jobs and find new employment,
including removing restrictions and deterrents which are designed to stop migrant
workers changing jobs; the requirement for employer’s permission to change jobs; and
the time limit for finding a new job.
withdraw a new regulation under the Employment Permit System (EPS) that would
dramatically reduce migrant workers’ ability to change jobs.
Under the “Measure for Improvement in Foreign Workers’ Change of Workplaces and
Prevention of Broker Intervention”, due to come into effect on 1 August, migrant
workers in search of new employment will no longer have access to a list of
prospective employers. Instead the Ministry of Employment and Labour will provide a
list of job-seeking migrants to employers only. If migrants are not recruited for a new
job within three months, they will lose their work visa, thus risking arrest,
imprisonment and deportation.
Under the new measure, migrant workers face further difficulties in changing jobs, as
any refusal of a job offer “without rational reason” will result in being struck off the
job-seekers list for two weeks. Amnesty International is concerned that these changes
will discourage migrant workers from leaving exploitative working conditions and force
many to accept jobs in order to avoid the penalties.
“South Korea’s new policy tips the balance even further in favour of exploitative
employers by unfairly penalising migrant workers who wish to change jobs,” said
Norma Kang Muico, Amnesty International’s Researcher for Asia-Pacific Migrants’
Rights. “In order to ensure continued employment, migrants are more likely than
South Korean workers to put up with poor working conditions, abuse and
exploitation.”
This new measure follows a previous amendment to the EPS, implemented earlier this
month, whereby migrant workers were allowed to renew their visas for another four
year and 10 month term, provided that they had no previous record of changing
workplaces. Migrant groups in South Korea have expressed concern that this, along
with the new measure, will put extreme pressure on migrant workers to stay with their
original employers, even in the face of exploitative working conditions.
Amnesty International’s research has found that restrictions on changing jobs severely
hinder migrant workers from raising abuses at work, such as late or non-payment of
wages or benefits, inadequate safety measures, and physical or sexual violence.
Amnesty International is concerned that the Ministry of Employment and Labour’s
policies affecting migrant workers increasingly undermine their human rights.
Similarly, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has repeatedly raised concerns
that EPS workers are vulnerable to discrimination and abuse, particularly if there are
insufficient safeguards to protect them in cases of infringements of their rights by
employers.
“The Government has a duty to protect the rights of EPS workers, but instead it has
introduced draconian policies which risk creating a pliant migrant workforce willing to
put up with abuse and exploitation,” said Norma Kang Muico. “The equality of labour
rights between migrants and Korean nationals, enshrined in the Constitution, simply
does not apply in practice.”
Amnesty International urges the Ministry of Employment and Labour to withdraw
plans to introduce the “Measure for Improvement in Foreign Workers’ Change of
Workplaces and Prevention of Broker Intervention” and to amend the EPS Act to allow
greater flexibility for migrant workers to leave their jobs and find new employment,
including removing restrictions and deterrents which are designed to stop migrant
workers changing jobs; the requirement for employer’s permission to change jobs; and
the time limit for finding a new job.
Saturday 4 August 2012
Soldiers Help Register Land
(Radio Free Asia)
2012-08-03
Cambodia sends soldiers to help provide land titles to villagers lacking the documents.
Cambodian authorities have dispatched soldiers to villages to help
people register their land in a bid to ameliorate widespread land
disputes in the country, but rights groups say the move does not go far
enough.
The Ministry of Land Management, and the National Committee for Land
Dispute Resolutions this week sent 700 soldiers to work as volunteers to
register the land for the villagers and help them obtain land titles.
The project is effectively aimed at helping survey and demarcate the
land for villagers who are the actual owners of the land but have no
documents to back their claims.
The soldiers were the second batch in the project after authorities
sent 1,100 soldiers to measure land and provide land titles to 35,000
families in 20 provinces.
The project is funded personally by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has
called it a “historic” mission to “eliminate land disputes” in the
country.
Hun Sen’s son Hun Manit, deputy secretary general of the National
Committee for Land Dispute Resolution, addressed the soldiers on
Thursday, warning them not to take bribes while registering the land.
“Your tasks are not to resolve land disputes or play the role of
judge. You are assigned to measure the land according to the people’s
legal ownership,” Hun Manit said.
“We should not be a headache for the villagers; we must remain innocent,” he said.
Land disputes are an everyday occurrence in Cambodia, where rights
groups say some 300,000 people have been forced off their land over the
past decade.
The government has granted millions of hectares of land in
concessions to private developers, in some cases pitting residents
against developers and sparking protests.
Hun Sen said the project will help ease land disputes, warning
critics on Wednesday not to accuse the soldiers of taking sides in the
disputes.
“The soldiers will measure land that has [clear] legal ownership, and
land that remains under dispute is not part of their work,” he said.
Long-term solution needed
But NGO and opposition party members were wary that the project,
which is funded with Hun Sen’s personal money, was part of a ploy to
gain political support for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
Sia Phearum, director of the Housing Rights Task Force, an NGO
coalition that works to prevent forced evictions and housing rights
violations in Cambodia, said sending soldiers to register land would not
be enough to solve the issue of land disputes in the long run.
“From what I have observed, the prime minister’s effort is not sustainable,” he said.
“This is just for showing that the prime minister wants to put an end to land disputes.”
He said land disputes should be resolved through the court system and
that the government should focus on making existing state resources
more efficient in dealing with them.
Cambodia’s land issues date from the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime,
which forced large-scale evacuations and relocations throughout the
country, leaving who owned what land under question.
This was followed by mass confusion over land rights and the
formation of squatter communities when the refugees returned in the
1990’s after a decade of civil war.
Hun Sen has publicly spoken out against an increasing number of land
seizures. But rights groups questioned his commitment to protecting the
Cambodian people from illegal land grabs and forced evictions since he
authorized land concessions to three private companies in May, just
after announcing a moratorium on further grants.
Reported by Sok Serey for RFA's Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Foreign Minister Blasts Tribunal Defense Over Witness Testimony
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
04 August 2012
PHNOM PENH -
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong has accused defense lawyers for stirring up
controversy in their questioning of a witness at the UN-backed Khmer
Rouge tribunal, who claimed the minister had been a member of the
regime.
The witness, Rochem Tun, said in court that Hor Namhong had run Phnom Penh’s Boeung Trabek prison camp for the regime.
Hor Namhong said in a statement on his ministry’s website Thursday he was a prisoner there, “where I lost two sisters, their husbands, children and a niece as well as countless colleagues.” He accused the defense team of Nuon Chea, who is on trial for atrocity crimes, of politicizing the court and “stirring up controversy” for questioning Rochem Tun about his role there.
In 2008, Hor Namhong sued opposition leader Sam Rainsy in French and Cambodian courts for making similar claims about his role at the camp. But Rochem Tun told the court this week that Hor Namhong was in charge of the camp for the regime.
Noun Chea’s attorneys have in the past week pushed Rochem Tun, who was a messenger for top officials and a top administration official for the regime’s foreign ministry, to describe the roles of Hor Namhong and Keat Chhon, the Cambodian current Finance Minister. Keat Chhon has not commented on his role in the regime.
Both men and four other top government officials ignored summonses from the court to appear as witnesses in the current case against Nuon Chea, the regime’s ideologue, Ieng Sary, its foreign minister, and Khieu Samphan, its head of state.
Defense attorneys have said they cannot get a fair trial, given the opposition of top officials to the work of the court.
“It is unfortunate that those who continue to defend the legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime seek, in the interest of their defense, to deflect attention from themselves and their cases, by way of stirring up controversy around public figures like myself,” Hor Namhong said in a statement.
The witness, Rochem Tun, said in court that Hor Namhong had run Phnom Penh’s Boeung Trabek prison camp for the regime.
Hor Namhong said in a statement on his ministry’s website Thursday he was a prisoner there, “where I lost two sisters, their husbands, children and a niece as well as countless colleagues.” He accused the defense team of Nuon Chea, who is on trial for atrocity crimes, of politicizing the court and “stirring up controversy” for questioning Rochem Tun about his role there.
In 2008, Hor Namhong sued opposition leader Sam Rainsy in French and Cambodian courts for making similar claims about his role at the camp. But Rochem Tun told the court this week that Hor Namhong was in charge of the camp for the regime.
Noun Chea’s attorneys have in the past week pushed Rochem Tun, who was a messenger for top officials and a top administration official for the regime’s foreign ministry, to describe the roles of Hor Namhong and Keat Chhon, the Cambodian current Finance Minister. Keat Chhon has not commented on his role in the regime.
Both men and four other top government officials ignored summonses from the court to appear as witnesses in the current case against Nuon Chea, the regime’s ideologue, Ieng Sary, its foreign minister, and Khieu Samphan, its head of state.
Defense attorneys have said they cannot get a fair trial, given the opposition of top officials to the work of the court.
“It is unfortunate that those who continue to defend the legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime seek, in the interest of their defense, to deflect attention from themselves and their cases, by way of stirring up controversy around public figures like myself,” Hor Namhong said in a statement.
‘Secessionist’ Accusations Continue To Worry Rights Advocates
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
04 August 2012
WASHINGTON DC -
Prime Minister Hun Sen has said he wants more suspects questioned in an
alleged secessionist plot against the government, sparking concern among
rights workers they will be stopped from doing their jobs.
A number of suspects have been rounded up for allegedly leading a plot in Kratie province, a government charge widely considered exaggerated. Among them is Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando, who remains in prison awaiting trial.
Amnesty International said this week they considered him a “prisoner of conscience” and urged his release. But the premier’s continued pursuit of the so-called secessionist plot will create a chilling effect on rights workers, said Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
“There will be self-censorship,” he said. “When there is self-censorship, that means this fear will affect the effectiveness of NGO work.”
Mam Sonando’s arrest and the subsequent secessionist crackdown are bad precedents, he said, which could lead to less and less oversight of the government by civil society, whose advocates fear being charged in similar plots.
Mam Sonando is charged with leading the Kratie plot through the Association of Democrats, following a violent government crackdown on villagers there.
Amnesty said in a statement, however, the real reason behind his arrest seemed to be the popularity of his association and his radio broadcasts, including news of an US-based group that has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court over the government’s displacement of thousands of families in land disputes.
Four out of five men who were arrested in connection with the alleged secessionist plot have put the blame on Mam Sonando, according to Cambodian justice officials. Another man accused of leading the Kratie plot is Bun Rotha, believed to be hiding in Thailand.
Hun Sen said Wednesday he wanted an NGO official brought to court to answer for Bun Rotha’s escape from the country.
In interviews with VOA Khmer, Bun Rotha has denied there was a secessionist plot in Kratie, where villagers violently opposed a land grab, and said Mam Sonando had nothing to do with the demonstrations there.
Independent political analyst Lao Monghay said this week Hun Sen should leave the issue to law enforcement experts, rather than calling for more court action. His involvement makes the issue political, not legal, he said.
A number of suspects have been rounded up for allegedly leading a plot in Kratie province, a government charge widely considered exaggerated. Among them is Beehive Radio owner Mam Sonando, who remains in prison awaiting trial.
Amnesty International said this week they considered him a “prisoner of conscience” and urged his release. But the premier’s continued pursuit of the so-called secessionist plot will create a chilling effect on rights workers, said Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
“There will be self-censorship,” he said. “When there is self-censorship, that means this fear will affect the effectiveness of NGO work.”
Mam Sonando’s arrest and the subsequent secessionist crackdown are bad precedents, he said, which could lead to less and less oversight of the government by civil society, whose advocates fear being charged in similar plots.
Mam Sonando is charged with leading the Kratie plot through the Association of Democrats, following a violent government crackdown on villagers there.
Amnesty said in a statement, however, the real reason behind his arrest seemed to be the popularity of his association and his radio broadcasts, including news of an US-based group that has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court over the government’s displacement of thousands of families in land disputes.
Four out of five men who were arrested in connection with the alleged secessionist plot have put the blame on Mam Sonando, according to Cambodian justice officials. Another man accused of leading the Kratie plot is Bun Rotha, believed to be hiding in Thailand.
Hun Sen said Wednesday he wanted an NGO official brought to court to answer for Bun Rotha’s escape from the country.
In interviews with VOA Khmer, Bun Rotha has denied there was a secessionist plot in Kratie, where villagers violently opposed a land grab, and said Mam Sonando had nothing to do with the demonstrations there.
Independent political analyst Lao Monghay said this week Hun Sen should leave the issue to law enforcement experts, rather than calling for more court action. His involvement makes the issue political, not legal, he said.
New Judge Has Chance to Improve Tribunal’s Legacy, Monitor Says
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
04 August 2012
WASHINGTON DC -
Observers of the Khmer Rouge tribunal say they fear the UN-backed court
is not going to be able to complete its work, leaving a failed legacy in
the face of government opposition to two more cases.
Latt Ky, a monitor for the rights group Adhoc, said he is concerned with the slow pace of progress in cases 003 and 004, which would require five more arrests and indictments, but the recent UN nomination of an investigating judge could signal continued interest in their pursuit.
“I hope the UN will not leave these cases half way, because if they leave them half way, it’s a failed model for other criminal courts,” he said.
The tribunal, which stood up in 2006, has weathered continued funding woes, allegations of corruption and mismanagement and controversy over government interference.
It is now facing donor fatigue, with international funding dwindling, as well as disillusionment among those victims who have sought to participate in the process, Latt Ky said.
With the UN announcement this week of the appointment of Mark Harmon, an American judge, to replace a resigned investigating judge, the court has a chance to continue its work, he said. “But how much further it can go, I don’t know,” he said.
At stake in cases 003 and 004 are the potential indictments of five more Khmer Rouge cadre, whom prosecutors say were most responsible for mass killings at prison camps, in purges and in labor cooperatives.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has said these cases must not go forward, lest they unsettle former Khmer Rouge. Victims say they want the court to try as many responsible as possible.
Three investigating judges have resigned from their position since the tribunal’s inception. The most recent two were over the two cases, with the last judge, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, claiming he had faced opposition from his Cambodian counterpart. The office has also seen walkouts of international staff over its handling of the cases.
Latt Ky said he wanted to see the two cases pursued to their conclusion, even if that means only officially naming the five suspects—something the court has refused to do, despite name leaks to local and international media.
Tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said he believed the judges will be able to overcome any problems or differences through internal court procedures. “We don’t believe there is anything we can’t solve when there are obstacles in the future,” he said.
Latt Ky, a monitor for the rights group Adhoc, said he is concerned with the slow pace of progress in cases 003 and 004, which would require five more arrests and indictments, but the recent UN nomination of an investigating judge could signal continued interest in their pursuit.
“I hope the UN will not leave these cases half way, because if they leave them half way, it’s a failed model for other criminal courts,” he said.
The tribunal, which stood up in 2006, has weathered continued funding woes, allegations of corruption and mismanagement and controversy over government interference.
It is now facing donor fatigue, with international funding dwindling, as well as disillusionment among those victims who have sought to participate in the process, Latt Ky said.
With the UN announcement this week of the appointment of Mark Harmon, an American judge, to replace a resigned investigating judge, the court has a chance to continue its work, he said. “But how much further it can go, I don’t know,” he said.
At stake in cases 003 and 004 are the potential indictments of five more Khmer Rouge cadre, whom prosecutors say were most responsible for mass killings at prison camps, in purges and in labor cooperatives.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has said these cases must not go forward, lest they unsettle former Khmer Rouge. Victims say they want the court to try as many responsible as possible.
Three investigating judges have resigned from their position since the tribunal’s inception. The most recent two were over the two cases, with the last judge, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, claiming he had faced opposition from his Cambodian counterpart. The office has also seen walkouts of international staff over its handling of the cases.
Latt Ky said he wanted to see the two cases pursued to their conclusion, even if that means only officially naming the five suspects—something the court has refused to do, despite name leaks to local and international media.
Tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said he believed the judges will be able to overcome any problems or differences through internal court procedures. “We don’t believe there is anything we can’t solve when there are obstacles in the future,” he said.
Asean Meeting Failures Continue to Ripple
Nash Jenkins, VOA Khmer
04 August 2012
When the Asean
Regional Forum came to a discordant end in Phnom Penh last month,
analysts say the aftermath has exposed two brands of failure.
There were the more blatant shortcomings, like the inability to draft legitimate plans for resolving territorial conflict in the South China Sea, and then there were the consequences of these failings: a neglect of timely issues that have now found a place on Asean’s backburner.
Plans for economic integration in Southeast Asia were among the topics to hear little constructive discourse, as has been the case since Southeast Asian foreign ministers first drafted the outline for a “stronger, more united, cohesive Asean” in 2008.
The plans call for the establishment of the Asean Economic Community: a multilateral economic entity that will blanket Southeast Asian countries with a single-market system with the open flow of goods, services, capital, and investment. It is a comprehensive goal, fundamentally economic in theory but inevitably political and sociocultural in consequence, and an ambitious one, Asean officials and representatives have come to realize.
The Roadmap for an Asean Community, published in 2009 as a manual of sorts for the cohesion process, holds 2015 as the point at which the world will see clear results of the efforts in economic integration. The Community’s six-year construction period is now half over, with little marked improvement in terms of economic unification.
The plans themselves are broad-reaching and written with the trademark ambiguity of most Asean initiatives, touting the envisioned body as a “rules-based community of values and norms.”
The most substantive step towards unification since 2009 has been the implementation of the Asean Single Window – a loosening of customs standards, thus far only in certain member states – a process that “took years, step by step by step,” Gregory Poling, a research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said.
Baby-step progress, Poling said, is par for the course in Asean legislation, and that further steps in the creation of the Asean Economic Community will follow the same tempo. In other words, the 2015 benchmark is an empty one.
“You’re going to see it in every single effort,” Poling said. “Asean will set a timetable and say, ‘we’ll have currency markets linked by X date.’ When X date comes along, they’ll be at step one of five, and then they’ll all agree through consensus that they’ll go through step two, step three, and so on, until it’s finally finished.”
At present, what defines the network of Asean’s constituent countries as a whole is precisely that which does not. The 10 states that belong to the body are politically, financially, and culturally disparate, falling along a spectrum capped on one end by Singapore, with one of the world’s most developed capitalist economies, and on the other by nations like Laos, which appears without fail on the United Nations’ annual list of the world’s least developed countries.
Poling argues that this development gap is fundamentally prohibitive to integration: countries like Cambodia and Laos simply lack the capacity to keep up.
Accommodating the limitations of these countries often proves to be a matter of hindsight, resulting in a regular reevaluation of goals and schedules that ultimately leaves the underdog states – those on the mainland, generally – in the dust.
“Asean is notoriously bad at setting realistic timetables for things, and notoriously bad at changing those timetables when it becomes apparent that they’re not realistic,” Poling said. “[This] is why they make vague pronouncements like ‘the less developed countries will be exempted from these requirements until such a time where they are able to fulfill them.’ This essentially means ‘we’re going to move ahead minus mainland southeast Asia until they decide they’re ready to join.’”
Progress also falls short in the face of the region’s ideological clashes, exemplified by the disorder over the South China Sea issue at the Asean Regional Forum in Phnom Penh. The inability of Asean leaders to draft a clear plan for resolving the issue was amplified by heated disagreements and allegations of corruption, suggesting to many a fundamental lack of concord in Southeast Asia.
In short, Poling said, any real plans for Asean as an integrated, unified economic entity within the designated timeframe are “aspirational.” Progress will be seen most clearly on the upper end of the demographic spectrum, with middle-level countries like Malaysia and Thailand gaining the most traction. Ostensibly, the blueprints depict something similar in both fashion and function to the European Union, a parallel that has drawn concern in the wake of the Eurozone financial crisis.
Poling dismisses this similarity, expounding the words of Asean leaders.
“The EU is an entirely different model of integration than Asean,” reads a fact sheet distributed by Asean officials in 2008 to clarify concerns written in the blueprint for the Asean Economic Community.
Poling elaborates, citing crucial differences between Europe and Southeast Asia. Europe’s history is one of perennial conflict across the borders within it, contrasted with the relative isolationism of each of the individual nations in Southeast Asia. Above all, though, it remains an issue of disparity: the gaps in capacity between certain Asean member states are perhaps too wide to bridge.
“Look at the Eurozone,” Poling said. “Look at a place like Germany compared to Greece. That is one tiny, tiny fraction of the gap between a Singapore and a Laos.”
In the wake of Europe’s financial crisis, Asean leaders have further reevaluated their plans for cohesion. Asean has no plans for the creation of a common currency or political identity – defining hallmarks of the European Union – and if they did, recent history would question their potential efficacy.
For now, Poling said, Asean will continue to pursue the “low-hanging fruit” of integration opportunities: logistically tenable developments that, if nothing else, will tether the weakest countries in the region with stronger bodies.
There were the more blatant shortcomings, like the inability to draft legitimate plans for resolving territorial conflict in the South China Sea, and then there were the consequences of these failings: a neglect of timely issues that have now found a place on Asean’s backburner.
Plans for economic integration in Southeast Asia were among the topics to hear little constructive discourse, as has been the case since Southeast Asian foreign ministers first drafted the outline for a “stronger, more united, cohesive Asean” in 2008.
The plans call for the establishment of the Asean Economic Community: a multilateral economic entity that will blanket Southeast Asian countries with a single-market system with the open flow of goods, services, capital, and investment. It is a comprehensive goal, fundamentally economic in theory but inevitably political and sociocultural in consequence, and an ambitious one, Asean officials and representatives have come to realize.
The Roadmap for an Asean Community, published in 2009 as a manual of sorts for the cohesion process, holds 2015 as the point at which the world will see clear results of the efforts in economic integration. The Community’s six-year construction period is now half over, with little marked improvement in terms of economic unification.
The plans themselves are broad-reaching and written with the trademark ambiguity of most Asean initiatives, touting the envisioned body as a “rules-based community of values and norms.”
The most substantive step towards unification since 2009 has been the implementation of the Asean Single Window – a loosening of customs standards, thus far only in certain member states – a process that “took years, step by step by step,” Gregory Poling, a research associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said.
Baby-step progress, Poling said, is par for the course in Asean legislation, and that further steps in the creation of the Asean Economic Community will follow the same tempo. In other words, the 2015 benchmark is an empty one.
“You’re going to see it in every single effort,” Poling said. “Asean will set a timetable and say, ‘we’ll have currency markets linked by X date.’ When X date comes along, they’ll be at step one of five, and then they’ll all agree through consensus that they’ll go through step two, step three, and so on, until it’s finally finished.”
At present, what defines the network of Asean’s constituent countries as a whole is precisely that which does not. The 10 states that belong to the body are politically, financially, and culturally disparate, falling along a spectrum capped on one end by Singapore, with one of the world’s most developed capitalist economies, and on the other by nations like Laos, which appears without fail on the United Nations’ annual list of the world’s least developed countries.
Poling argues that this development gap is fundamentally prohibitive to integration: countries like Cambodia and Laos simply lack the capacity to keep up.
Accommodating the limitations of these countries often proves to be a matter of hindsight, resulting in a regular reevaluation of goals and schedules that ultimately leaves the underdog states – those on the mainland, generally – in the dust.
“Asean is notoriously bad at setting realistic timetables for things, and notoriously bad at changing those timetables when it becomes apparent that they’re not realistic,” Poling said. “[This] is why they make vague pronouncements like ‘the less developed countries will be exempted from these requirements until such a time where they are able to fulfill them.’ This essentially means ‘we’re going to move ahead minus mainland southeast Asia until they decide they’re ready to join.’”
Progress also falls short in the face of the region’s ideological clashes, exemplified by the disorder over the South China Sea issue at the Asean Regional Forum in Phnom Penh. The inability of Asean leaders to draft a clear plan for resolving the issue was amplified by heated disagreements and allegations of corruption, suggesting to many a fundamental lack of concord in Southeast Asia.
In short, Poling said, any real plans for Asean as an integrated, unified economic entity within the designated timeframe are “aspirational.” Progress will be seen most clearly on the upper end of the demographic spectrum, with middle-level countries like Malaysia and Thailand gaining the most traction. Ostensibly, the blueprints depict something similar in both fashion and function to the European Union, a parallel that has drawn concern in the wake of the Eurozone financial crisis.
Poling dismisses this similarity, expounding the words of Asean leaders.
“The EU is an entirely different model of integration than Asean,” reads a fact sheet distributed by Asean officials in 2008 to clarify concerns written in the blueprint for the Asean Economic Community.
Poling elaborates, citing crucial differences between Europe and Southeast Asia. Europe’s history is one of perennial conflict across the borders within it, contrasted with the relative isolationism of each of the individual nations in Southeast Asia. Above all, though, it remains an issue of disparity: the gaps in capacity between certain Asean member states are perhaps too wide to bridge.
“Look at the Eurozone,” Poling said. “Look at a place like Germany compared to Greece. That is one tiny, tiny fraction of the gap between a Singapore and a Laos.”
In the wake of Europe’s financial crisis, Asean leaders have further reevaluated their plans for cohesion. Asean has no plans for the creation of a common currency or political identity – defining hallmarks of the European Union – and if they did, recent history would question their potential efficacy.
For now, Poling said, Asean will continue to pursue the “low-hanging fruit” of integration opportunities: logistically tenable developments that, if nothing else, will tether the weakest countries in the region with stronger bodies.
Cambodia Spring' Unlikely, Political Observers Say
Nash Jenkins, VOA Khmer
01 August 2012
WASHINGTON,
D.C. - In the year and a half of turmoil that has followed the Arab
Spring of early 2011, policymakers and analysts have turned to the
geopolitical map to assess whether or not the domino-effect
revolutionary patterns in the Middle East will catch on in other corners
of the developing world.
Southeast Asia, a region with political instability and economic underdevelopment on par with that of pre-revolutionary Syria, has proven prone to this scrutiny.
However, there is little support for the notion of a “Cambodian Spring,” observers say.
The Cambodian government has long held the same characteristics that spurred upheaval after upheaval across the Middle East last year: corrupt processes of lawmaking with roots in patronage, a leader whose power seems to approach permanence in spite of “fair” and “regular” election, and a habit of persecution against those who speak out against it.
Still, that has not been enough to overcome the comforts Cambodians have enjoyed since decades of conflicted ended.
“Cambodians are becoming comfortable for the first time in quite a long time,” journalist and blogger Faine Greenwood told VOA Khmer. “They’re making more money, and they don’t want to mess things up… relatively speaking, things are OK.
Greenwood, who lived in Phnom Penh while reporting for the Cambodia Daily, maintains a blog in which she presents her take on the cultural and political affairs of Cambodia and the surrounding region. In a June 5 post, she responded at length to concerns that the flimsy democracy of longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen would prompt a widespread rebellion by the country’s people.
“As depressing as this may sound to outsiders, things will likely have to get much, much worse in Cambodia before the average citizen becomes even vaguely interested in jeopardizing the nation’s relative peace and stability in the name of revolution,” she wrote.
Greenwood said she was prompted to write her post by an article in Foreign Policy by former Phnom Penh Post reporter Thomas Mann Miller, who argues that a legitimate political shift is not on Cambodia’s horizon. To support this claim, Miller relies on the general inefficiency of the opposition Sam
Rainsy Party.
“Rainsy's strategy is premised on a shaky gamble: That the Cambodian people will risk the stability gained in recent years to confront a powerful and entrenched elite with control over all arms of the state,” he writes. “Analysts describe such a scenario as farfetched.
Greenwood, however, takes a broader approach to her disdain.
“[Miller] focused primarily on Sam Rainsy, but I thought there were some other real cultural issues and historic issues that have precluded any ‘Cambodian Spring,’” Greenwood told VOA Khmer in an e-mail.
In her essay, she highlights the wide disparity between the people of Cambodia and the revolutionary masses in the Middle East. The general lack of technological connectivity in Cambodia prohibits access from the media that largely sustained the Arab Spring, especially social media websites, which were so imperative for discussions and planning in Egypt and Libya that one Egyptian man named his newborn daughter “Facebook.”
“I think as more and more Cambodians get online, which is going to happen, it’ll be much more likely for something like this to happen,” Greenwood said. “It would be very hard to organize a revolution over Facebook or Twitter in Cambodia. Give it 10 or 15 years.”
Some hurdles, however, appear more difficult to break down. She points out the fact that in spite of countless government acts of repression against his people and its sizeable blip on the international human rights radar, Hun Sen ultimately isn’t widely unpopular in Cambodia.
“He does a good job of being a populist,” Greenwood said. “He’ll go out in the rice paddies. He’ll visit people in the provinces. He’ll be at every school opening, he’ll be at graduations, he’ll be at groundbreakings – he’s visible. People view him as a man…who’s been wounded in battle, as someone who understands them better than, say, Sam Rainsy.”
Greenwood concurs with Miller on the weakness of the Sam Rainsy Party as a viable alternative to Hun Sen’s regime, citing the opposition’s struggle to maintain popularity in recent elections. Sam Rainsy has seen a considerable decrease of support in the country’s larger cities, once a bastion for support of the party’s contrarian views.
Beyond the variable factors, however, she points out one crucial deficiency among the Cambodian people: the lack of any sort of revolutionary spirit. The mindset of many Cambodians, she says, is largely a passive one, a response to years under a leadership for whom free expression was a capital
offense.
“Some of the young Cambodians I’ve spoken with have said that their parents have told them all their lives that they shouldn’t fight or speak out – they need to be quiet and keep things as they are,” she said. “So many of these young people are thinking that things are OK right now. That might change.”
Southeast Asia, a region with political instability and economic underdevelopment on par with that of pre-revolutionary Syria, has proven prone to this scrutiny.
However, there is little support for the notion of a “Cambodian Spring,” observers say.
The Cambodian government has long held the same characteristics that spurred upheaval after upheaval across the Middle East last year: corrupt processes of lawmaking with roots in patronage, a leader whose power seems to approach permanence in spite of “fair” and “regular” election, and a habit of persecution against those who speak out against it.
Still, that has not been enough to overcome the comforts Cambodians have enjoyed since decades of conflicted ended.
Ultimately, the Cambodian people must decide for themselves when it
will be will be worth jeopardizing their hard-won relative security in
pursuit of a modern democracy.
Faine Greenwood, Author, "Is a Cambodian Spring Approaching? Not Any Time Soon."
“Cambodians are becoming comfortable for the first time in quite a long time,” journalist and blogger Faine Greenwood told VOA Khmer. “They’re making more money, and they don’t want to mess things up… relatively speaking, things are OK.
Greenwood, who lived in Phnom Penh while reporting for the Cambodia Daily, maintains a blog in which she presents her take on the cultural and political affairs of Cambodia and the surrounding region. In a June 5 post, she responded at length to concerns that the flimsy democracy of longtime Prime Minister Hun Sen would prompt a widespread rebellion by the country’s people.
“As depressing as this may sound to outsiders, things will likely have to get much, much worse in Cambodia before the average citizen becomes even vaguely interested in jeopardizing the nation’s relative peace and stability in the name of revolution,” she wrote.
Greenwood said she was prompted to write her post by an article in Foreign Policy by former Phnom Penh Post reporter Thomas Mann Miller, who argues that a legitimate political shift is not on Cambodia’s horizon. To support this claim, Miller relies on the general inefficiency of the opposition Sam
Rainsy Party.
“Rainsy's strategy is premised on a shaky gamble: That the Cambodian people will risk the stability gained in recent years to confront a powerful and entrenched elite with control over all arms of the state,” he writes. “Analysts describe such a scenario as farfetched.
Greenwood, however, takes a broader approach to her disdain.
“[Miller] focused primarily on Sam Rainsy, but I thought there were some other real cultural issues and historic issues that have precluded any ‘Cambodian Spring,’” Greenwood told VOA Khmer in an e-mail.
In her essay, she highlights the wide disparity between the people of Cambodia and the revolutionary masses in the Middle East. The general lack of technological connectivity in Cambodia prohibits access from the media that largely sustained the Arab Spring, especially social media websites, which were so imperative for discussions and planning in Egypt and Libya that one Egyptian man named his newborn daughter “Facebook.”
“I think as more and more Cambodians get online, which is going to happen, it’ll be much more likely for something like this to happen,” Greenwood said. “It would be very hard to organize a revolution over Facebook or Twitter in Cambodia. Give it 10 or 15 years.”
Some hurdles, however, appear more difficult to break down. She points out the fact that in spite of countless government acts of repression against his people and its sizeable blip on the international human rights radar, Hun Sen ultimately isn’t widely unpopular in Cambodia.
“He does a good job of being a populist,” Greenwood said. “He’ll go out in the rice paddies. He’ll visit people in the provinces. He’ll be at every school opening, he’ll be at graduations, he’ll be at groundbreakings – he’s visible. People view him as a man…who’s been wounded in battle, as someone who understands them better than, say, Sam Rainsy.”
Greenwood concurs with Miller on the weakness of the Sam Rainsy Party as a viable alternative to Hun Sen’s regime, citing the opposition’s struggle to maintain popularity in recent elections. Sam Rainsy has seen a considerable decrease of support in the country’s larger cities, once a bastion for support of the party’s contrarian views.
Beyond the variable factors, however, she points out one crucial deficiency among the Cambodian people: the lack of any sort of revolutionary spirit. The mindset of many Cambodians, she says, is largely a passive one, a response to years under a leadership for whom free expression was a capital
offense.
“Some of the young Cambodians I’ve spoken with have said that their parents have told them all their lives that they shouldn’t fight or speak out – they need to be quiet and keep things as they are,” she said. “So many of these young people are thinking that things are OK right now. That might change.”
Friday 3 August 2012
Cambodia’s political merger: maximising the potential
- Wednesday, 01 August 2012
- Ou Virak
- The announcement last week from Manila that Cambodia’s two largest
opposition parties – the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and the Human Rights
Party (HRP) – are to merge under the banner of the Democratic Movement
for National Rescue (DMNR) represents a great sign of hope for
Cambodia’s beleaguered democracy.
For the first time in two decades, the Cambodian electorate may be given the option of a genuine and viable alternative to the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP).
However, to attract Cambodia’s disenchanted electorate back to the polling booth – turnout for this year’s commune elections was just 60 per cent compared to 87 per cent ten years ago – and to maximise its chances of winning next year’s general elections, the DMNR should take the following steps:
Put party policy before personalities: Political parties in Cambodia have traditionally been projections of party leaders – not only Hun Sen’s CPP but also Kem Sokha’s HRP and Sam Rainsy’s eponymous party. Policy issues are relegated, with voters encouraged to vote for individual personalities rather than the parties that offer them the most.
The merger announcement indicates that Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha – president and vice president of the DMNR respectively – are willing to let their personalities take a back seat to the profile of the new party. It is essential, however, that the DMNR can fulfil this profile.
It must ensure that its members take central stage and are allowed to help determine strategy and policy.
Move to the middle: In order to present itself as a viable alternative to the incumbent CPP, the DMNR must reach out to a broader section of society than the SRP’s and HRP’s current support base. While the DMNR should maintain the social goals of those parties, including reform of the country’s land sector, it should also expand its horizons and promote policies that will attract the business vote.
One way of doing this is to propose policies that appeal to small and medium-sized businesses: a pro-business approach which counters the CPP’s elitist policies that favour a small number of well-connected tycoons.
De-radicalise: The marginalisation of the opposition over the past 20 years has given rise to a tendency to promote radical causes to attract voters’ attention and score cheap political points. The most obvious example is the tendency of some opposition members – most famously Sam Rainsy – to chastise the CPP’s links to Vietnam and condemn the loss of Cambodian land to Vietnam.
While such reactions may have some validity, they have not generally been constructive or discerning. If the DMNR is to be truly democratic, it must steer clear of anti-Vietnamese sentiments.
Engage Cambodia’s youth: The CPP has ruled Cambodia for more than 30 years. The party leadership should be congratulated for its role in defeating the Khmer Rouge and for bringing peace and stability to this country. Rather than dwelling on these points, however, it is time for Cambodian politics – and the DMNR – to move on, reach out to the youth, so many of whom were born after the terrors of the 1970s and to whom the CPP’s achievements hold less resonance, and offer a vision whereby all sectors of society have a role to play and dreams to realise.
Promote gender equality: The CPP is now significantly outperforming the SRP and HRP in the area of female representation in politics. In the recent commune elections, 21 per cent of the CPP’s elected candidates were women, while only 11 per cent of the SRP’s elected candidates were women.
The HRP brought up the rear with a shameful 1.5 per cent. If the DMNR is to take office, it will do so riding the crest of a wave of hope and excitement. No such hope and excitement can exist if the new party is just another old boys’ club with the same backward patriarchal attitudes that are manifested in the SRP and HRP.
The DMNR must overcome these shortcomings and look to further gender balance in politics. It must listen to female perspectives from around the country and empower women to run as candidates in next year’s general elections.
Decreases in voter turnout in recent years have been testament to the growing conviction among the electorate that election results are a foregone conclusion and that real change can never really come from the ballot box.
For too long, the opposition has offered little more than a stamp of legitimacy for elections that they never really stood any chance of winning. After years of talks, the merger of the opposition parties represents the most exciting event in Cambodian politics for a long time.
These two erstwhile opponents must now seize their opportunity and offer the Cambodian voter – and the youth in particular – a viable alternative to the entrenched CPP for the first time in 20 years.
Teachers protest relocation
- Teachers-in-training sit in a lecture hall at the National Institute of Education yesterday in Phnom Penh. Photograph: William Kelly/Phnom Penh Post
- Friday, 03 August 2012
- Chhay Channyda and Stuart White
- Rong Chhun, head of the Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association,
sent a letter to the Ministry of Education on Wednesday asking Minister
Im Sethy to rethink a policy that would strip teachers of the ability to
choose where they would be posted at the end of further education.
According to a letter by Chhun obtained by the Post, working teachers who returned to the National Institute of Education to receive their “A” certification – which allows them to teach secondary school – could choose to return to their old posts, unlike teachers with no prior experience.
However, new rules introduced on July 12 place experienced teachers on equal footing with their newly minted colleagues, leaving some to face reassignment to far away posts.
“This point makes new teachers want to show their dissatisfaction to the Education Ministry’s directive, because it causes difficulty for them to be far from home, leaving family, children and old parents with no one to look after them,” wrote Chhun.
An anonymous letter, sent to Chhun earlier in the week, which purports to represent the views of 400 teachers and ministry officials enrolled at the NIE, motivated Chhun to take action.
“If there was post selection [like under the new policy], we wouldn’t have spent money to study for a bachelor’s degree and to apply to the National Institute for Education,” the letter states.
Some “A” certification seekers at the NIE said that while they disagreed with the new rule, they would have preferred to issue complaints through the proper channels.
“I feel disappointed with the letter sent to Rong Chhun,” said one such teacher who declined to be named.
“This kind of letter is not our will.”
Chan Kunthear, another enrollee, said that the policy wasn’t inherently bad, but that its timing – just one month before the new teachers were slated to take their posts – was problematic.
“They should have issued it one year ago, and then we could have seen if we agreed [before we started the program],” she said.
Push for new traffic law
- Friday, 03 August 2012
- Khoun Leakhana
- A draft traffic law that has been as gridlocked in parliament as a
traffic jam on Monivong Boulevard during peak hour could be closer to
being green-lighted.
The National Road Safety Committee yesterday urged officials from multiple ministries to hasten approval of the new traffic law, which has been with the Council of Ministers for about two years.
Public Works and Transport Minister Tram Iv Tek, who also chairs the NRSC, told attendees at a workshop at the Sunway Hotel that the previous traffic law, which came into force in 2007, was overly complex, adding that a new law would both streamline the code and improve safety on Cambodia’s roads after the traffic death toll nearly reached 2,000 in 2011.
“The draft of the new traffic law came to existence after it was amended due to the complexity of the content of the old one,” he said, adding that the new traffic law also aims to make enforcement easier.
The new law will be sent to the National Assembly soon, Iv Tek added. According to a preliminary report from Road Crash and Victim Information System, accidents caused by driver error accounted for 95 per cent of collisions, with almost half resulting from speeding. Motorbike riders accounted for two thirds of casualties.
Khan Savoeun, secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior, said the ministry had done its best to revise the law many times to avert traffic problems.
“The majority of traffic accidents are caused by buses, vehicles carrying workers and carts which are always overloaded,” he said.
“Also, most of the passengers sit on the vehicle’s roof or don’t even fasten their seatbelt. The national police will equip all provinces with speed-controlling devices.”
Almost 70 per cent of all road fatalities resulted from head injuries, prompting Prime Minister Hun Sen himself to issue a video clip airing at the workshop and on a number of TV channels appealing to people to wear their helmets.
Immunity verdict today
- Friday, 03 August 2012
- David Boyle
- The fight for SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua’s parliamentary immunity is set to
end this morning when the Court of Appeal hands down a final ruling more
than three years after she was stripped of it.
In June 2009 Sochua unsuccessfully tried to sue Prime Minister Hun Sen for allegedly making derogatory comments about her during a speech in Kampot province.
Soon afterward the National Assembly stripped Sochua’s immunity, paving the way for Hun Sen to counter-sue for defamation, a case the premier won.
Sochua has long fought to have her name cleared completely in parliament and has continued to fight the case through the courts for three years.
At the time, rights groups criticised the government’s actions, calling it an abuse of power.
ASEAN diplomacy all at sea
- Friday, 03 August 2012
- David Boyle
The headaches at number 3, Samdech Hun Sen Street, have just been getting worse since the ASEAN summit at Phnom Penh’s Peace Palace in June descended into an ungainly squabble.
Cambodian diplomats and politicians at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have found themselves nose diving into a protracted bilateral dogfight with the Philippines – that has many commentators crowing is unbefitting of the ASEAN chair.
How Cambodia ended up trading barbs for weeks after the summit with a country separated from it by Vietnam and more than 1,000 kilometres of ocean has left many scratching their heads.
For the third time this week a Cambodian ambassador yesterday publicly bought into the dispute, which has raged over who was responsible for the failure of ASEAN to issue a foreign ministers joint communiqué during the summit for the first time in its 45-year history.
In The Japan Times Online yesterday, Cambodia’s ambassador in Tokyo, Hor Monirath, rehashed well-worn accusations that the Philippines and Vietnam had “hijacked” the communiqué by insisting it specifically mentioned their bilateral disputes with China over the South China Sea.
Cambodia’s assertion that bilateral disputes were an inappropriate topic for the communiqué has infuriated Manila, which counters that the hosts obstinately thwarted any attempt to even negotiate over the contentious sea.
The Philippines, Vietnam and a handful of other ASEAN countries all make claims to the immensely valuable waters through which about half the world’s shipping passes and which China argues belongs almost entirely to them.
Officials at the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Philippines Embassy in Phnom Penh were not available for comment yesterday.
Some cheeky commentators and one anonymous diplomat quoted in The New York Times, have suggested Cambodia was a little too close to cash-riddled China rather than its ASEAN brothers during the talks.
Monirath, the son of Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, suggested in his article yesterday that “some media have gone as far as to try to paint a bleak picture of Cambodia’s Chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations”, and defended the ASEAN chair’s actions during the summit.
“Cambodia tried to prevent the dispute from further flaring up and to avoid adding fuel to the fire,” he said in the “clarification” published by the Japanese news outlet.
But this latest retort came just two days after Phnom Penh’s ambassador to Manila was publicly summonsed by the Philippines to explain what they deemed was an inflammatory letter to the editor published in the Philippines Star and is, if anything, only likely to exacerbate increasingly heated diplomatic relations.
Both the Cambodian Foreign Ministry and the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs have engaged in public finger pointing, far away from the private corridors of civil diplomatic banter, variously accusing each other of “dirty politics”, “souring the mood” and “sabotage” at the summit.
Political analyst Lao Mong Hay said he was disappointed by the language and the fact that after Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa flew around the region to negotiate a face-saving ASEAN statement of principles on the South China Sea, the feud has continued.
“It seems at the foreign affairs level, Indonesia has done something positive already but it has not been able to unite or reunite and reconcile the two sides,” he said.
“I think we have talked enough about it [and] we should move on after this ASEAN statement; otherwise, you are playing into the Chinese hands.”
An undersecretary at the Indonesia Embassy in Phnom Penh who declined to be named, said the country “was always ready to step in whenever they need us to step in, but we still need for both sides to agree”.
ASEAN prides itself on a special relationship between members, dubbed the “ASEAN way” but one might wonder if the post-summit events have been an example of diplomacy the normal way or the ASEAN way.
Hor Namhong’s Comment over Controversy of Boeung Trabek Claims
AKP Phnom Penh, August 03, 2012
Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Hor Namhong has issued a short statement in response to a recent claim that he was in charge of Boeung Trabek prison camp during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979).
“It is unfortunate that those who continue to defend the legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime seek, in the interest of their defense, to deflect attention from themselves and their cases, by way of stirring up controversy around public figures like myself,” said H.E. Hor Namhong, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in his statement dated Aug. 2.
“The Khmer Rouge regime is an epic tragedy that continues to haunt Cambodia’s people today. As a prisoner at Boeung Trabek reeducation camp where I lost two sisters, their husbands, children and a niece as well as countless colleagues, I have nothing but sorrow and empathy for the victims and their families,” he said.
“Cambodians continue to suffer from the crimes of the Khmer Rouge even today. The Khmer Rouge not only destroyed a generation of Cambodian people but also, in many ways, a civilization. We are still rebuilding this civilization today,” he said.
“The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia is a court of law, and not a political forum, and I believe attempts to politicize the court or stir up controversy are inappropriate,” said H.E. Hor Namhong, hoping that on day justice is done and the legacy of the Khmer Rouge is given its proper place in the dustbin of history-without defense or controversy.
By SOKMOM Nimul
Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Hor Namhong has issued a short statement in response to a recent claim that he was in charge of Boeung Trabek prison camp during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979).
“It is unfortunate that those who continue to defend the legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime seek, in the interest of their defense, to deflect attention from themselves and their cases, by way of stirring up controversy around public figures like myself,” said H.E. Hor Namhong, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in his statement dated Aug. 2.
“The Khmer Rouge regime is an epic tragedy that continues to haunt Cambodia’s people today. As a prisoner at Boeung Trabek reeducation camp where I lost two sisters, their husbands, children and a niece as well as countless colleagues, I have nothing but sorrow and empathy for the victims and their families,” he said.
“Cambodians continue to suffer from the crimes of the Khmer Rouge even today. The Khmer Rouge not only destroyed a generation of Cambodian people but also, in many ways, a civilization. We are still rebuilding this civilization today,” he said.
“The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia is a court of law, and not a political forum, and I believe attempts to politicize the court or stir up controversy are inappropriate,” said H.E. Hor Namhong, hoping that on day justice is done and the legacy of the Khmer Rouge is given its proper place in the dustbin of history-without defense or controversy.
By SOKMOM Nimul
Cambodian spokesperson's clarification on the issue of the South China Sea
Tuesday, 24 July 2012 18:48
Mr.
Koy Kuong, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
International Cooperation of Cambodia, has clarified as below the
Cambodian position on the issues of the South China Sea in response to
the Editor-in-Chiefs of the Cambodia Daily and the Phnom Penh Post,
respectively, following the publication of the latter’s controversial
articles entitled “ASEAN Founders in South China Sea Storm” and “ASEAN
Struggle for Unity”:
KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA
Nation Religion King
*******
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Cooperation
July 19, 2012
Mr. Kevin Doyle, Editor-in-Chief
The Cambodia Daily
Dear Mr. Kevin Doyle,
After having read the article entitled “ASEAN Founders in South China Sea Storm” published in your newspaper on 18 July 2012, based on stories from Reuters in Manila, I wish to clarify the following:
First,
the brief malfunctioning of the microphone of the Philippine Secretary
of Foreign Affairs was purely a technical hiccup which can happen
anywhere around the world. In fact technical snags with microphones
occurred several times during the series of meetings between 8-13 July.
This little shortcoming should not have been blown out of proportion.
Second,
on the comment that “ASEAN Chairmanship this year is the worst”, I wish
to refute such a hasty and insulting conclusion based on non-consensus
on the South China Sea issue, one out of more than 130 points which were
discussed and agreed on. It is quite normal in a multilateral setting
for a meeting to turn into a heated exchange and failing to achieve a
common ground on issues that involve high stake of interests. It is also
normal and has always been the ASEAN Way to drop the disagreed points
for further deliberation and moved on with the many agreed areas. It was
unprecedented and very disappointing that some ASEAN member states
appeared bent on taking ship-scuttling position by imposing an ultimatum
that their demand must be fulfilled. As Chair of ASEAN, Cambodia would
like to keep the door open, thus giving a chance for further discussions
and amicable settlement of the conflicts by the parties concerned.
Third,
the assertion that Cambodia’s loyalty has been “bought” by China in
relation to the South China issue is completely ludicrous. If the
position taken by Cambodia is seen as having been “bought” by a larger
nation, then could it not be said the same for the position taken by
other sovereign states if it appears to be in line with that of a more
powerful nation? Like other sovereign country, Cambodia must have its
own position of principle to operate as an independent state, and would
not want the AMM to be hijacked by a bilateral dispute.
Forth,
since the report is filed by Reuters in Manila, it is not at all
surprising that the based source for the story has nothing positive to
say other than to paint a bleak picture of Cambodia’s Chairmanship of
ASEAN. Cambodia does not wish to be a polemic, keeping in mind and
aged-old Cambodian adage which says “If the dog bites you, do not bite
the dog”.
Yours sincerely,
Koy Kuong
Spokesperson
KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA
Nation Religion King
*******
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and International Cooperation
July 24, 2012
Mr. Alan Parkhouse
Editor-in-Chief
The Phnom Penh Post
Mr. Editor-in-Chief,
I
find the article entitled: "ASEAN Struggle for Unity" by Mr. Roger
Mitton, published in your newspaper, on 23 July 2012, full of wild and
ill conjectures and deliberately insulting for Cambodia.
First,
by referring to Cambodia as a “junior” member of ASEAN, Mr. Roger
Mitton has not only insulted Cambodia, but also ASEAN, in suggesting
that within ASEAN members are accorded and treated with higher or lower
status. As stipulated in the ASEAN Charter, all ASEAN members act on the
principle of equality and no member is considered lesser than others,
regardless of their wealth and physical size.
Second,
it is a fact the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' statement on ASEAN’s
Six-point Principles on the South China Sea was issued on 20 July 2012,
following Dr. Marty’s consultation with Cambodia, the Chair of ASEAN.
But one should not ignore the fact that in several restricted meetings
during the 45th AMM, Cambodia proposed to adopt a position
which is exactly the same as the ASEAN’s Six-point Principles, but it
was flatly rejected by two ASEAN Members having bilateral disputes in
the South China Sea. This makes one wonders whether there was a plan to
sabotage the 45th AMM that the same position put forth by the
ASEAN Chair was not accepted then by the two countries. In fact the
ASEAN’s Six-point Principles are even more fundamental and profound in
significance for ASEAN to apply in dealing with the South China Sea
issue, than the content of the rejected draft Joint Communiqué.
It is very regretful that, for the first time in 45 years, two ASEAN Members chose to block the 45th
AMM joint Communiqué with an ultimatum for inclusion of direct
reference to their bilateral disputes in the South China Sea. They
essentially hijacked the 45th AMM and make the Joint
Communiqué a hostage of their unyielding demand, a move completely
contrary to the ASEAN way which has always been to put aside for further
discussion any issue that members cannot achieve a consensus on.
Third,
the assertion of Roger Mitton that "Cambodia took Beijing's side”
ignoring its earlier promise to be a neutral mediator in regional
disputes such as the South China Sea, is itself a very biased and unfair
view. Cambodia's position of principle is that ASEAN should not take
side and the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting is not a Court to rule
against or in favour of any party in the disputes. As the ASEAN Chair
and as it is the role of the Chair of any meeting, Cambodia had to
prevent the already tensed situation from getting worse and to leave the
door open for future talks by countries concerned. By not adding fuel
to the fire, Cambodia has tried its best to fulfill its pledge to be a
neutral mediator.
Forth,
the reference to Cambodia as China's “proxy”, “paid” and “hired” by
China in the form of large investment to sideline the South China Sea
issue and to do “China's bidding” is really insane. Cambodia is only
trying to be neutral in the bilateral disputes. If Cambodia is seen as a
“paid proxy” for receiving large investment from a foreign country,
then the same could be said to other countries that receive large
investment from foreign countries.
Fifth,
those who said the Peace Palace was funded by China are simply ignorant
people. The building's construction was fully funded with the national
budget of Cambodia. China provided assistance for construction of the
adjacent building and not the Peace Palace where the Ministerial
Meetings were held. The Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia has
all the documents on the expenditure for the Peace Palace's
construction.
Sixth, the allegation that Cambodia “showed the draft communiqué of the 45th
AMM to China in breach of ASEAN protocol” is extremely disparaging and
slanderous. Those who made such a scathing attack against Cambodia, has
no other intention than to defame Cambodia's credibly. When and where
did Roger Mitton or the person who paid him to blurt out such a
malicious accusation see Cambodia “show” the draft joint Communiqué to
China? Cambodia is also aware who have been hired to launch this
smearing and insulting campaign against it.
I
wish to request you to kindly publish my letter in full, as soon as
possible, in your newspaper for the readers' information, or face a
lawsuit, according to the Cambodia Penal Code, for inciting insults
against Cambodia.
Yours sincerely,
Koy Kuong
Spokesperson
Thursday 2 August 2012
Wednesday 1 August 2012
កម្ពុជានៅមិនទាន់មានច្បាប់គ្រប់គ្រងព័ត៌មានតាមបណ្ដាញសង្គម
ដោយ ទេព សុរ៉ាវី
2012-08-01
បណ្ដាញព័ត៌មានសង្គម ហ្វេសប៊ុក (Facebook) ដែលអាចប្រើប្រាស់ទាំងភាសាខ្មែរ និងបរទេស កំពុងតែក្លាយជាចំណាប់អារម្មណ៍ចំពោះពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរជាទូទៅ អ្នកនយោបាយ មន្ត្រីរាជការ ក្រុមអង្គការសង្គមស៊ីវិល ក្រុមយុវជន និងអ្នកសារព័ត៌មានជាដើម។
RFA Screenshot
ក្រុមអ្នកសារព័ត៌មាន មន្ត្រីច្បាប់ និងអ្នកនាំពាក្យទីស្ដីការគណៈរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ថាការដែលអ្នកសារព័ត៌មានយករូបថត ពាក្យសន្ទនា (Comment) នៅលើបណ្ដាញព័ត៌មានសង្គម ហ្វេសប៊ុក មកចុះផ្សាយនៅលើទំព័រកាសែតរបស់ខ្លួន ឬតាមបណ្ដាញឃោសនានានា រួចធ្វើឲ្យប៉ះពាល់ដល់ផលប្រយោជន៍គេនោះ នៅមិនទាន់មានច្បាប់ណាមួយអាចគ្រប់គ្រង និងដាក់ទោសទណ្ឌនៅឡើយទេ។
ប្រធានសមាគមមិត្តអ្នកសារព័ត៌មានខ្មែរ លោក ឱម ច័ន្ទតារា ឲ្យដឹងថា មនុស្សគ្រប់រូបមានសិទ្ធិគ្រប់គ្រាន់ក្នុងការបញ្ចេញមតិ។ ការប្រើពាក្យឆ្លងឆ្លើយតាមសារអេឡិចត្រូនិកជាសាធារណៈនៅលើ ហ្វេសប៊ុក គឺមានន័យថា អ្នកសារព័ត៌មានអាចមានសិទ្ធិដកស្រង់ពាក្យ ឬភាសាអង់គ្លេសហៅថា ខ្វូត (Quote) របស់បុគ្គលសាធារណៈទាំងនោះមកប្រើ ឬចុះផ្សាយនៅលើទំព័រកាសែតរបស់ខ្លួនដោយមិនចាំបាច់សុំការអនុញ្ញាត ជាមុន។
លោកបន្តថា រាល់សម្រង់ពាក្យត្រូវមានប្រភពច្បាស់លាស់ ហើយអ្នកសារព័ត៌មានក៏ត្រូវគោរពវិជ្ជាជីវៈរបស់ខ្លួនឲ្យច្បាស់ ជៀសវាងយកសម្រង់ពាក្យពីប្រភពណាមួយដែលចុះផ្សាយទៅមានលក្ខណៈ ញុះញង់ និងបង្កមហន្តរាយដល់អ្នកដទៃ។
លោក ឱម ច័ន្ទតារា៖ «អ្នកព័ត៌មានគួរឆ្លាតវៃបន្តិច។ សំដីណាដែលជាសំដីពិត សំដីណាដែលជាសំដីពាក្យចចាមអារ៉ាម ដូច្នេះយើងត្រូវមានវិជ្ជាជីវៈដើម្បីប្រើប្រាស់បណ្ដាញ ប្រភពព័ត៌មានយើង។យើងកុំឲ្យឃើញថា កុំឲ្យតែមានទឹកយើងចេះតែផឹកមិនបានទេ»។
និពន្ធនាយកកាសែតរស្មីកម្ពុជា និងជាប្រធានក្លឹបអ្នកកាសែតកម្ពុជា លោក ប៉ែន សមិទ្ធិ ឲ្យដឹងថា កាសែតរស្មីកម្ពុជា ធ្លាប់បានដកស្រង់ Comment (មតិ) ពីប្រភពនៅលើហ្វេសប៊ុក មកចុះផ្សាយលើទំព័រកាសែត ដោយយល់ឃើញថា មតិទាំងនោះធ្វើឡើងជាសាធារណៈ ដោយមិនចាំបាច់សុំសិទ្ធិចុះផ្សាយជាមុន៖ «ទោះបីជាគាត់កំហិតជាមួយ Fan (អ្នកគាំទ្រ) គាត់ ១ពាន់ ២ពាន់នាក់ក៏ដោយ តែវាជាសាធារណៈ អ៊ីចឹងខ្ញុំយក ខ្ញុំចាត់ទុកថា នោះជា Commentមិនផ្លូវការ»។
តែទោះជាយ៉ាងណា លោក ប៉ែន សមិទ្ធិ បញ្ជាក់ថា អ្នកសារព័ត៌មាននៅតែត្រូវទទួលខុសត្រូវអត្ថបទរបស់ខ្លួនដែលដក ស្រង់សំដីប្រភពចេញពីហ្វេសប៊ុក។ ប្រសិនបើការចុះផ្សាយជាផ្លូវការធ្វើឲ្យប្រភពរបស់ខ្លួនប៉ះពាល់ ផលប្រយោជន៍ជាទ្រព្យសម្បត្តិ កិត្តិយស ឬប្រឈមនឹងការបាត់បង់ការងារជាដើម៖ «យើងត្រូវតែទទួលខុសត្រូវទៅ លើផលប៉ះពាល់ដែលកើតឡើងពីអ្វីដែលយើងប្រើ ដូចដែលយើង Interview (សម្ភាស) មនុស្សផ្សេងទៀតនៅខាងក្រៅអ៊ីចឹង។ តែច្បាប់ទំលាប់អំពីរឿងហ្នឹង នៅស្រុកខ្មែរយើងនៅមិនទាន់មានជាក់ស្ដែង»។
បណ្ដាញព័ត៌មានសង្គមដ៏ធំ ហ្វេសប៊ុក ត្រូវបានគេប្រើប្រាស់យ៉ាងសេរីនៅកម្ពុជា ដោយគ្មានច្បាប់គ្រប់គ្រង។ អ្នកនយោបាយ និងមន្ត្រីរាជការមួយចំនួននៅកម្ពុជា ក៏បានប្រើប្រាស់បណ្ដាញព័ត៌មាននេះ សម្រាប់ផ្សារភ្ជាប់ទំនាក់ទំនងសង្គម និងមិត្តភ័ក្ដិ។ ជួនកាលបុគ្គលខ្លះជ្រុលបង្ហោះរូបអាសអាភាស ខ្លះបន្លំឈ្មោះ និងរូបភាពក្នុងហ្វេសប៊ុក និងខ្លះទៀតឆ្លងឆ្លើយសារអេឡិចត្រូនិកជាលក្ខណៈបុគ្គល តែត្រូវបានក្រុមអ្នកកាសែតមើលឃើញ និងយកមកចុះផ្សាយជាផ្លូវការនៅលើទំព័រកាសែតរបស់ខ្លួន។
លោក ផៃ ស៊ីផាន អ្នកនាំពាក្យទីស្ដីការគណៈរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ឲ្យដឹងថា ការជជែកនៅលើហ្វេសប៊ុក មិនស្ថិតជាលក្ខណៈឯកជនទៀតទេ ព្រោះគេដឹងជាទូទៅថា បណ្ដាញព័ត៌មាននេះជាសាធារណៈ ហើយអ្នកសារព័ត៌មានមានសិទ្ធិដកស្រង់សំដីរបស់មន្ត្រីអ្នកនយោបាយ ឬបុគ្គលណាមួយមកប្រើប្រាស់បានជាផ្លូវការ។
លោក ផៃ ស៊ីផាន៖ «កាលណា Social Network (បណ្ដាញសង្គម) លើសតែពីរនាក់ លើសពី Group (ក្រុម) គេពីរបីនាក់ វាលែងជា Privacy (ឯកជន) ល្គឹកណាគេនិយាយថា ហ្នឹងជាព័ត៌មានឯកជនរបស់ក្រុមគេ មិនអាចប្រើប្រាស់បានទេ អាហ្នឹងយើងប្រើប្រាស់អត់បានទេ។ តែបើគេអត់ដាក់ហាមនៅក្នុងហ្នឹង អាហ្នឹងយើងអាចប្រើប្រាស់បានហើយ ជាព័ត៌មានសាធារណៈហើយ»។
ប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកច្បាប់ការពារសិទ្ធិកម្ពុជា លោក សុក សំអឿន បានពន្យល់ផ្នែកច្បាប់ថា នៅកម្ពុជាមិនទាន់មានច្បាប់គ្រប់គ្រងព័ត៌មានតាមអ៊ីនធឺណិតនៅឡើយ ហើយគេមិនច្បាស់ដូចគ្នាថា រាល់ព័ត៌មានតាមហ្វេសប៊ុក អាចចាត់ទុកជាព័ត៌មានសាធារណៈ ដែលអាចប្រើជាផ្លូវការបាន ឬក៏អត់?
លោកបញ្ជាក់ថា អ្នកកាសែតដែលស្រង់មតិប្រភពពីហ្វេសប៊ុក យកមកប្រើ ដោយគេមិនមែនជាសមាជិក មិត្តភ័ក្ដិ (Friend) ដោយគ្មានការអនុញ្ញាតនោះ សាមីខ្លួន ឬប្រភពអាចដាក់ពាក្យប្ដឹងទៅអ្នកកាសែតបាន។ តែអ្វីជាឧបសគ្គ គឺការដាក់ពាក្យបណ្ដឹងនោះ អាចមានការលំបាក ត្រង់ថាកម្ពុជាមិនមានច្បាប់គ្រប់គ្រងព័ត៌មានតាមអ៊ីនធឺណិត ដែលគេពិបាកកំណត់ថា តើការដាក់ពាក្យប្ដឹងនោះស្ថិតក្រោមបទចោទអ្វីឲ្យបានច្បាស់?
លោកបន្ថែមថា ជនរងគ្រោះ ឬប្រភពអាចដាក់ពាក្យប្ដឹងអ្នកកាសែតទៅតុលាការពីបទបរិហារកេរ្តិ៍ ប្រសិនបើការចុះផ្សាយនោះមិនពិត និងធ្វើឲ្យខូចខាតផលប្រយោជន៍របស់ខ្លួន៖ «បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍ក៏មានការ ពិបាកដែរ។ ដែលហៅថា បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍ ឬញុះញង់បាន ទាល់តែយើងធ្វើក្នុងទីសាធារណៈដែរ ដូច្នេះមតិនឹងវាផ្សព្វផ្សាយជាសាធារណៈ ឬអត់...? មានន័យថា នរណាក៏មើលបាន។ កាលណាមនុស្សលើពិភពលោកមើលបាន ចុះមនុស្សដែលអត់មានអ៊ីនធឺណិត និងកុំព្យូទ័រមើលមិចបាន ដូច្នេះហើយទាល់តែមានច្បាប់បញ្ជាក់ទើបបាន យើងមិនអាចយកអាហ្នឹងទៅបកស្រាយទទេៗទេ»។
អ្នកគ្រប់គ្រងបច្ចេកទេសឃ្លាំមើលការរំលោភសិទ្ធិមនុស្សនៃអង្គការ លីកាដូ (Licadho) លោក អំ សំអាត ឲ្យដឹងថា ការដកស្រង់សំដីប្រភពពីហ្វេសប៊ុក ដោយគ្មានការអនុញ្ញាត ជាការរំលោភសិទ្ធិឯកជន ដែលធ្វើឲ្យប៉ះពាល់កិត្តិយស កេរ្តិ៍ឈ្មោះ និងអាចប៉ះពាល់ដល់ការងាររបស់គេ៖ «ខ្ញុំគិតថា វាជាការរំលោភទៅលើសិទ្ធិរបស់គេមួយដែរ គិតថា វាមិនទាន់មានបទល្មើសណាមួយដែលអាចចោទប្រកាន់បាន ប៉ុន្តែសាមីខ្លួនគេអាចប្តឹងបាន»។
ទោះជាមានការពិបាកក្នុងការគ្រប់គ្រងព័ត៌មានតាមប្រព័ន្ធ អ៊ីនធឺណិតក៏ដោយ ក៏ប្រធានក្លឹបអ្នកកាសែតកម្ពុជា លោក ប៉ែន សមិទ្ធិ មិនចង់ឲ្យរដ្ឋាភិបាលបង្កើតច្បាប់នេះនោះទេ ដោយបានលើកឡើងថា គួរតែឲ្យប្រជាពលរដ្ឋខ្មែរមានសេរីភាពអាចផ្សព្វផ្សាយព័ត៌មានតាម បច្ចេកវិទ្យាទំនើបឲ្យបានពេញលេញ ខណៈដែលរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា កំពុងធ្វើសេចក្ដីព្រាងនៃច្បាប់គ្រប់គ្រងអ៊ីនធឺណិតនោះ។
សម្រាប់លោក អំ សំអាត ក៏បានស្នើសុំឲ្យអ្នកលេងហ្វេសប៊ុក គួរមានការប្រុងប្រយ័ត្នខ្ពស់ និងកុំភ្លេចខ្លួនរាល់ការបង្ហោះរូបភាព និងការបញ្ចេញមតិនៅលើហ្វេសប៊ុក ដើម្បីកាត់បន្ថយការចុះផ្សាយដោយគ្មានការអនុញ្ញាត។ ម្យ៉ាងវិញទៀតគួរតែសរសេរកំណត់សំគាល់មួយនៅខាងក្រោម រាល់ការបញ្ចេញមតិ ដោយបញ្ជាក់ថា ការបញ្ចេញមតិនោះវាអាចប្រើប្រាស់តែក្នុងមិត្តភ័ក្ដិរបស់ខ្លួន ប៉ុណ្ណោះ មិនអាចយកចុះផ្សាយជាសាធារណៈបានទេ៕
យុវជនខ្មែរចាប់អារម្មណ៍អាជីពជាអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវកាន់តែច្រើន
http://www.khmer.rfi.fr/report-01-08-12
ក្នុងរយៈពេលប៉ុន្មានឆ្នាំចុងក្រោយនេះ យុវជនខ្មែរចាប់អារម្មណ៍លើអាជីពជាអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវកាន់តែច្រើនឡើង។ យុវជនអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវឯករាជ្យមួយក្រុមដែលមានគ្នាប្រមាណជា២០នាក់ ដឹកនាំដោយលោក កែម ឡី បាននិងកំពុងធ្វើការស្រាវជ្រាវលើប្រធានបទមួយចំនួនក្នុងនោះ ក៏មានផងដែរ គម្រោងស្រាវជ្រាវពីភាពមិនប្រក្រតីលើការប្រឡងបាក់ឌុបក្នុងពេល ប៉ុន្មានថ្ងៃខាងមុខទៀតនេះ។
ក្នុងរយៈពេលប៉ុន្មានឆ្នាំចុងក្រោយនេះ យុវជនខ្មែរចាប់អារម្មណ៍លើអាជីពជាអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវកាន់តែច្រើនឡើង។ យុវជនអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវឯករាជ្យមួយក្រុមដែលមានគ្នាប្រមាណជា២០នាក់ ដឹកនាំដោយលោក កែម ឡី បាននិងកំពុងធ្វើការស្រាវជ្រាវលើប្រធានបទមួយចំនួនក្នុងនោះ ក៏មានផងដែរ គម្រោងស្រាវជ្រាវពីភាពមិនប្រក្រតីលើការប្រឡងបាក់ឌុបក្នុងពេល ប៉ុន្មានថ្ងៃខាងមុខទៀតនេះ។
ក្រុមស្រាវជ្រាវឯករាជត្រៀមស៊ើបអង្កេតបញ្ហាពុករលួយពេលប្រឡងបាក់ឌុប
ដោយ លាង ដឺលុច
ក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវឯករាជមួយក្រុម បានប្រកាសថា ពួកគេនឹងបើកយុទ្ធនាការស៊ើបអង្កេតរកអំពើពុករលួយក្នុងពេលប្រឡង សញ្ញាបត្រមធ្យមសិក្សាទុតិយភូមិនៅសប្តាហ៍ក្រោយនេះ។ សំណូក និងភាពមិនប្រក្រតីនៅក្នុងពេលប្រឡងបាក់ឌុបត្រូវបានរិះគន់ យ៉ាងខ្លាំងជារៀងរាល់ឆ្នាំដោយអង្គការក្រៅរដ្ឋាភិបាល និងគណបក្សប្រឆាំង។ នៅឆ្នាំនេះ មានសិស្ស១១ម៉ឺននាក់ដែលត្រូវចូលរួមប្រលងសញ្ញាបត្រទុតិយភូមិនេះ។
ការស៊ើបអង្កេតរកអំពើពុករលួយនៅក្នុងការប្រឡងសញ្ញាបត្រ
ទុតិយភូមិ ដែលគេហៅថាការប្រឡងបាក់ឌុបនោះ
នឹងត្រូវធ្វើឡើងដោយក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវឯករាជមួយក្រុមដែលដឹកនាំ
ដោយលោកកែម ឡី។
ជាការស្រាវជ្រាវក្នុងក្របខណ្ឌរាជធានីភ្នំពេញប៉ុណ្ណោះ។
ក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវយ៉ាងហោច ២០នាក់
នឹងឈជើងនៅក្នុងមណ្ឌលប្រលងចំនួន១០ក្នុងរាជធានីភ្នំពេញ
ហើយនឹងជួបសម្ភាសន៍បេក្ខជនប្រលងដើម្បីបំពេញសំណួរប្រមាណ២០សំណួរ។
លោកកែម ឡី ប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវឯករាជដែលមានគំនិតផ្តួចផ្តើមបើកការ ស្រាវជ្រាវនេះ បានពន្យល់ថា ការស្រាវជ្រាវនេះមានគោលបំណងដើម្បីបង្ហាញអោយបានច្បាស់ ថាតើវាពិតជាមានអំពើពុករលួយមែនក្នុងពេលកន្លងមក ឬយ៉ាងណា ខណៈដែលមានអង្គការ និងគណបក្សប្រឆាំងបានរិះគន់បញ្ហានេះ ហើយក្រសួងអប់រំបានច្រានចោល និងបដិសេធការរិះគន់ទាំងនេះនោះ។
លោកកែម ឡី អះអាងថា ២សប្តាហ៍ ក្រោយការស្រាវជ្រាវនេះ លោកនឹងផ្សព្វផ្សាយលទ្ធផល ជាមួយនឹងអនុសាសន៍ផ្ញើទៅក្រសួងអប់រំ។
សម្រាប់ប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវដដែល ការលើកឡើង និងការរិះគន់អំពីភាពមិនប្រក្រតីក្នុងពេលប្រលងបាក់ឌុបក្នុងពេល កន្លងមក បានបង្ហាញអំពីភាពធ្ងន់ធ្ងរនៃស្ថានភាពអប់រំ ហើយប្រសិនបើវាជាការពិតនោះ គឺក្រសួងអប់រំត្រូវមានវិធានការច្បាស់លាស់។
គួរបញ្ជាក់ថា ស្របពេលដែលវិស័យបច្ចេកវិទ្យាកំពុងរីកចំរើន ទូរស័ព្ទទំនើបត្រូវបានគេប្រើប្រាស់នៅក្នុងពេលប្រឡងនេះ ដើម្បីស្វែងរកចំលើយពីខាងក្រៅ។ នេះមិនទាន់រាប់អំពីការផ្តល់លុយអោយមេប្រយោគដែលនៅតែកើតមាន។
នៅក្នុងពេលប្រឡងសញ្ញាបត្រទុតិយភូមិឆ្នាំនេះ មានបេក្ខជន១១ម៉ឺននាក់ដែលត្រូវប្រលងក្នុង២៥៤មណ្ឌលនៅទូទាំងប្រទេស។ ការប្រឡងនឹងប្រព្រឹត្តទៅពីថ្ងៃទី៦ ដល់ថ្ងៃទី៨សីហា៕
លោកកែម ឡី ប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវឯករាជដែលមានគំនិតផ្តួចផ្តើមបើកការ ស្រាវជ្រាវនេះ បានពន្យល់ថា ការស្រាវជ្រាវនេះមានគោលបំណងដើម្បីបង្ហាញអោយបានច្បាស់ ថាតើវាពិតជាមានអំពើពុករលួយមែនក្នុងពេលកន្លងមក ឬយ៉ាងណា ខណៈដែលមានអង្គការ និងគណបក្សប្រឆាំងបានរិះគន់បញ្ហានេះ ហើយក្រសួងអប់រំបានច្រានចោល និងបដិសេធការរិះគន់ទាំងនេះនោះ។
លោកកែម ឡី អះអាងថា ២សប្តាហ៍ ក្រោយការស្រាវជ្រាវនេះ លោកនឹងផ្សព្វផ្សាយលទ្ធផល ជាមួយនឹងអនុសាសន៍ផ្ញើទៅក្រសួងអប់រំ។
សម្រាប់ប្រធានក្រុមអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវដដែល ការលើកឡើង និងការរិះគន់អំពីភាពមិនប្រក្រតីក្នុងពេលប្រលងបាក់ឌុបក្នុងពេល កន្លងមក បានបង្ហាញអំពីភាពធ្ងន់ធ្ងរនៃស្ថានភាពអប់រំ ហើយប្រសិនបើវាជាការពិតនោះ គឺក្រសួងអប់រំត្រូវមានវិធានការច្បាស់លាស់។
គួរបញ្ជាក់ថា ស្របពេលដែលវិស័យបច្ចេកវិទ្យាកំពុងរីកចំរើន ទូរស័ព្ទទំនើបត្រូវបានគេប្រើប្រាស់នៅក្នុងពេលប្រឡងនេះ ដើម្បីស្វែងរកចំលើយពីខាងក្រៅ។ នេះមិនទាន់រាប់អំពីការផ្តល់លុយអោយមេប្រយោគដែលនៅតែកើតមាន។
នៅក្នុងពេលប្រឡងសញ្ញាបត្រទុតិយភូមិឆ្នាំនេះ មានបេក្ខជន១១ម៉ឺននាក់ដែលត្រូវប្រលងក្នុង២៥៤មណ្ឌលនៅទូទាំងប្រទេស។ ការប្រឡងនឹងប្រព្រឹត្តទៅពីថ្ងៃទី៦ ដល់ថ្ងៃទី៨សីហា៕
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
China's Confucius Institutes flourish in ASEAN after West's freeze-out (西方冷落后中国孔子学院在东盟蓬勃发展)
Geopolitical baggage less of a factor, while learning Chinese is seen as a smart move 地缘政治包袱影响较小,学习中文被视为明智之举 https://asia.nikkei.com/P...
-
លោកនិពន្ធនាយកជាទីគោរពរាប់អាន! តាម ការពិនិត្យសង្កេតរបស់ខ្ញុំ មានប្រព័ន្ធផ្សព្វផ្សាយជាតិ និងអន្តរជាតិជាច្រើន បានច...
-
Wachira Kigotho 09 May 2014 Issue No:319 Unequal access to university education is likely to persist in most countries globally ...
-
ការពិនិត្យមើលផលអាក្រក់កើតចេញពីវប្បធម៌ប៉ែងជើង ឬក្ដិចត្រួយគ្នា ដោយ កែវពេជ្រ មេត្តា 2011-11-03 ទម្លាប់នៃការប...
-
Chambers and Partners - Home 1 Bun & Associates THE FIRM Sources single out this firm as a market leader, highlighting its inc...
-
Combat Journalism: CQR Is reporting on global conflict worth the risk? By Frank Greve Introduction Chr...
-
By Sam Rany 1. There is a jump in higher education in Cambodia, what do you see from this development? Actually, I o...
-
ព្រះករុណាព្រះបាទសម្តេចព្រះនរោត្តម សីហនុ « ព្រះបរមរតនកោដ្ឋ » បានស្ថាបនាសាកលវិទ្យាល័យភូមិន្ទបាត់ដំបងតាមរយៈ ព្រះរាជក្រឹត្យលេខ ៣៤/៦៨.ប.រ ចុះថ្...
-
https://www.box.com/files/0/f/0/1/f_2876428255#/files/0/f/0/1/f_2876428255 International Journal of Higher Education ISSN 1927-...
-
Academic Adjustment Issues in a Malaysian Research University: The Case of Cambodian, Laotian, Burmese, and Vietnamese Postgraduat...
-
https://www.box.com/profile#/profile/183918435/page/1/1/2876421805 International Journal of Learning & Development ISSN 216...