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.

‘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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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

 

 Philippines Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario attends the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post

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

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 45^th 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 45^th 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 45^th AMM joint Communiqué with an ultimatum for inclusion of direct reference to their bilateral disputes in the South China Sea. They essentially hijacked the 45^th 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 45^th 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

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កម្ពុជា​នៅ​មិន​ទាន់​មាន​ច្បាប់​គ្រប់គ្រង​ព័ត៌មាន​តាម​បណ្ដាញ​សង្គម

ដោយ ទេព សុរ៉ាវី

2012-08-01

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ទំព័រ​របស់​វិទ្យុ​អាស៊ីសេរី នៅ​ក្នុង​បណ្ដាញ​សង្គម ហ្វេសប៊ុក (Facebook)

ក្រុម​អ្នក​សារព័ត៌មាន មន្ត្រី​ច្បាប់ និង​អ្នក​នាំ​ពាក្យ​ទីស្ដីការ​គណៈរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ថា​ការ​ដែល​អ្នក​សារព័ត៌មាន​យក​រូបថត ពាក្យ​សន្ទនា (Comment) នៅ​លើ​បណ្ដាញ​ព័ត៌មាន​សង្គម ហ្វេសប៊ុក មក​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​នៅ​លើ​ទំព័រ​កាសែត​របស់​ខ្លួន ឬ​តាម​បណ្ដាញ​ឃោសនា​នានា រួច​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ប៉ះពាល់​ដល់​ផលប្រយោជន៍​គេ​នោះ នៅ​មិន​ទាន់​មាន​ច្បាប់​ណា​មួយ​អាច​គ្រប់គ្រង និង​ដាក់​ទោស​ទណ្ឌ​នៅ​ឡើយ​ទេ។

ប្រធាន​សមាគម​មិត្ត​អ្នក​សារព័ត៌មាន​ខ្មែរ លោក ឱម ច័ន្ទតារា ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា មនុស្ស​គ្រប់​រូប​មាន​សិទ្ធិ​គ្រប់គ្រាន់​ក្នុង​ការ​បញ្ចេញ​មតិ។ ការ​ប្រើ​ពាក្យ​ឆ្លងឆ្លើយ​តាម​សារ​អេឡិចត្រូនិក​ជា​សាធារណៈ​នៅ​លើ ហ្វេសប៊ុក គឺ​មាន​ន័យ​ថា អ្នក​សារព័ត៌មាន​អាច​មាន​សិទ្ធិ​ដក​ស្រង់​ពាក្យ ឬ​ភាសា​អង់គ្លេស​ហៅ​ថា ខ្វូត (Quote) របស់​បុគ្គល​សាធារណៈ​ទាំង​នោះ​មក​ប្រើ ឬ​ចុះផ្សាយ​នៅ​លើ​ទំព័រ​កាសែត​របស់​ខ្លួន​ដោយ​មិន​ចាំបាច់​សុំ​ការ​អនុញ្ញាត ​ជា​មុន។

លោក​បន្ត​ថា រាល់​សម្រង់​ពាក្យ​ត្រូវ​មាន​ប្រភព​ច្បាស់លាស់ ហើយ​អ្នក​សារព័ត៌មាន​ក៏​ត្រូវ​គោរព​វិជ្ជាជីវៈ​របស់​ខ្លួន​ឲ្យ​ច្បាស់ ជៀសវាង​យក​សម្រង់​ពាក្យ​ពី​ប្រភព​ណា​មួយ​ដែល​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ទៅ​មាន​លក្ខណៈ​ ញុះញង់ និង​បង្ក​មហន្តរាយ​ដល់​អ្នក​ដទៃ។

លោក ឱម ច័ន្ទតារា៖ «អ្នក​ព័ត៌មាន​គួរ​ឆ្លាតវៃ​បន្តិច។ សំដី​ណា​ដែល​ជា​សំដី​ពិត សំដី​ណា​ដែល​ជា​សំដី​ពាក្យ​ចចាមអារ៉ាម ដូច្នេះ​យើង​ត្រូវ​មាន​វិជ្ជាជីវៈ​ដើម្បី​ប្រើប្រាស់​បណ្ដាញ ប្រភព​ព័ត៌មាន​យើង។យើង​កុំ​ឲ្យ​ឃើញ​ថា កុំ​ឲ្យ​តែ​មាន​ទឹក​យើង​ចេះ​តែ​ផឹក​មិន​បាន​ទេ»។

និពន្ធ​នាយក​កាសែត​រស្មី​កម្ពុជា និង​ជា​ប្រធាន​ក្លឹប​អ្នក​កាសែត​កម្ពុជា លោក ប៉ែន សមិទ្ធិ ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា កាសែត​រស្មី​កម្ពុជា ធ្លាប់​បាន​ដក​ស្រង់ Comment (មតិ) ពី​ប្រភព​នៅ​លើ​ហ្វេសប៊ុក មក​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​លើ​ទំព័រ​កាសែត ដោយ​យល់​ឃើញ​ថា មតិ​ទាំង​នោះ​ធ្វើ​ឡើង​ជា​សាធារណៈ ដោយ​មិន​ចាំបាច់​សុំ​សិទ្ធិ​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ជា​មុន៖ «ទោះ​បី​ជា​គាត់​កំហិត​ជាមួយ Fan (អ្នក​គាំទ្រ) គាត់ ១​ពាន់ ២​ពាន់​នាក់​ក៏ដោយ តែ​វា​ជា​សាធារណៈ អ៊ីចឹង​ខ្ញុំ​យក ខ្ញុំ​ចាត់​ទុក​ថា នោះ​ជា Commentមិន​ផ្លូវ​ការ»។

តែ​ទោះ​ជា​យ៉ាង​ណា លោក ប៉ែន សមិទ្ធិ បញ្ជាក់​ថា អ្នក​សារព័ត៌មាន​នៅ​តែ​ត្រូវ​ទទួល​ខុស​ត្រូវ​អត្ថបទ​របស់​ខ្លួន​ដែល​ដក​ ស្រង់​សំដី​ប្រភព​ចេញ​ពី​ហ្វេសប៊ុក។ ប្រសិន​បើ​ការ​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ជា​ផ្លូវ​ការ​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ប្រភព​របស់​ខ្លួន​ប៉ះពាល់​ ផល​ប្រយោជន៍​ជា​ទ្រព្យ​សម្បត្តិ កិត្តិយស ឬ​ប្រឈម​នឹង​ការ​បាត់បង់​ការងារ​ជាដើម៖ «យើង​ត្រូវ​តែ​ទទួល​ខុស​ត្រូវ​ទៅ ​លើ​ផល​ប៉ះពាល់​ដែល​កើត​ឡើង​ពី​អ្វី​ដែល​យើង​ប្រើ ដូច​ដែល​យើង Interview (សម្ភាស) មនុស្ស​ផ្សេង​ទៀត​នៅ​ខាង​ក្រៅ​អ៊ីចឹង។ តែ​ច្បាប់​ទំលាប់​អំពី​រឿង​ហ្នឹង នៅ​ស្រុក​ខ្មែរ​យើង​នៅ​មិន​ទាន់​មាន​ជាក់ស្ដែង»។

បណ្ដាញ​ព័ត៌មាន​សង្គម​ដ៏​ធំ ហ្វេសប៊ុក ត្រូវ​បាន​គេ​ប្រើប្រាស់​យ៉ាង​សេរី​នៅ​កម្ពុជា ដោយ​គ្មាន​ច្បាប់​គ្រប់គ្រង។ អ្នក​នយោបាយ និង​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​មួយ​ចំនួន​នៅ​កម្ពុជា ក៏​បាន​ប្រើប្រាស់​បណ្ដាញ​ព័ត៌មាន​នេះ សម្រាប់​ផ្សារភ្ជាប់​ទំនាក់ទំនង​សង្គម និង​មិត្តភ័ក្ដិ។ ជួន​កាល​បុគ្គល​ខ្លះ​ជ្រុល​បង្ហោះ​រូប​អាសអាភាស ខ្លះ​បន្លំ​ឈ្មោះ និង​រូបភាព​ក្នុង​ហ្វេសប៊ុក និង​ខ្លះ​ទៀត​ឆ្លងឆ្លើយ​សារ​អេឡិចត្រូនិក​ជា​លក្ខណៈ​បុគ្គល តែ​ត្រូវ​បាន​ក្រុម​អ្នក​កាសែត​មើល​ឃើញ និង​យក​មក​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ជា​ផ្លូវការ​នៅ​លើ​ទំព័រ​កាសែត​របស់​ខ្លួន។

លោក ផៃ ស៊ីផាន អ្នក​នាំ​ពាក្យ​ទីស្ដីការ​គណៈរដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ការ​ជជែក​នៅ​លើ​ហ្វេសប៊ុក មិន​ស្ថិត​ជា​លក្ខណៈ​ឯកជន​ទៀត​ទេ ព្រោះ​គេ​ដឹង​ជា​ទូទៅ​ថា បណ្ដាញ​ព័ត៌មាន​នេះ​ជា​សាធារណៈ ហើយ​អ្នក​សារព័ត៌មាន​មាន​សិទ្ធិ​ដក​ស្រង់​សំដី​របស់​មន្ត្រី​អ្នក​នយោបាយ ឬ​បុគ្គល​ណា​មួយ​មក​ប្រើប្រាស់​បាន​ជា​ផ្លូវការ។

លោក ផៃ ស៊ីផាន៖ «កាល​ណា Social Network (បណ្ដាញ​សង្គម) លើស​តែ​ពីរ​នាក់ លើស​ពី Group (ក្រុម) គេ​ពីរ​បី​នាក់ វា​លែង​ជា Privacy (ឯកជន) ល្គឹកណា​គេ​និយាយ​ថា ហ្នឹង​ជា​ព័ត៌មាន​ឯកជន​របស់​ក្រុម​គេ មិន​អាច​ប្រើប្រាស់​បាន​ទេ អា​ហ្នឹង​យើង​ប្រើប្រាស់​អត់​បាន​ទេ។ តែ​បើ​គេ​អត់​ដាក់​ហាម​នៅ​ក្នុង​ហ្នឹង អា​ហ្នឹង​យើង​អាច​ប្រើប្រាស់​បាន​ហើយ ជា​ព័ត៌មាន​សាធារណៈ​ហើយ»។

ប្រធាន​ក្រុម​អ្នក​ច្បាប់​ការពារ​សិទ្ធិ​កម្ពុជា លោក សុក សំអឿន បាន​ពន្យល់​ផ្នែក​ច្បាប់​ថា នៅ​កម្ពុជា​មិន​ទាន់​មាន​ច្បាប់​គ្រប់គ្រង​ព័ត៌មាន​តាម​អ៊ីនធឺណិត​នៅ​ឡើយ ហើយ​គេ​មិន​ច្បាស់​ដូច​គ្នា​ថា រាល់​ព័ត៌មាន​តាម​ហ្វេសប៊ុក អាច​ចាត់​ទុក​ជា​ព័ត៌មាន​សាធារណៈ ដែល​អាច​ប្រើ​ជា​ផ្លូវការ​បាន ឬ​ក៏​អត់?
លោក​បញ្ជាក់​ថា អ្នក​កាសែត​ដែល​ស្រង់​មតិ​ប្រភព​ពី​ហ្វេសប៊ុក យក​មក​ប្រើ ដោយ​គេ​មិន​មែន​ជា​សមាជិក មិត្តភ័ក្ដិ (Friend) ដោយ​គ្មាន​ការ​អនុញ្ញាត​នោះ សាមី​ខ្លួន ឬ​ប្រភព​អាច​ដាក់​ពាក្យ​ប្ដឹង​ទៅ​អ្នក​កាសែត​បាន។ តែ​អ្វី​ជា​ឧបសគ្គ គឺ​ការ​ដាក់​ពាក្យ​បណ្ដឹង​នោះ អាច​មាន​ការ​លំបាក ត្រង់​ថា​កម្ពុជា​មិន​មាន​ច្បាប់​គ្រប់គ្រង​ព័ត៌មាន​តាម​អ៊ីនធឺណិត ដែល​គេ​ពិបាក​កំណត់​ថា តើ​ការ​ដាក់​ពាក្យ​ប្ដឹង​នោះ​ស្ថិត​ក្រោម​បទ​ចោទ​អ្វី​ឲ្យ​បាន​ច្បាស់?

លោក​បន្ថែម​ថា ជន​រងគ្រោះ ឬ​ប្រភព​អាច​ដាក់​ពាក្យ​ប្ដឹង​អ្នក​កាសែត​ទៅ​តុលាការ​ពី​បទ​បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍ ប្រសិន​បើ​ការ​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​នោះ​មិន​ពិត និង​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ខូចខាត​ផល​ប្រយោជន៍​របស់​ខ្លួន៖ «បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍​ក៏​មាន​ការ ​ពិបាក​ដែរ។ ដែល​ហៅ​ថា បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍ ឬ​ញុះញង់​បាន ទាល់​តែ​យើង​ធ្វើ​ក្នុង​ទី​សាធារណៈ​ដែរ ដូច្នេះ​មតិ​នឹង​វា​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​ជា​សាធារណៈ ឬ​អត់...? មាន​ន័យ​ថា នរណា​ក៏​មើល​បាន។ កាល​ណា​មនុស្ស​លើ​ពិភពលោក​មើល​បាន ចុះ​មនុស្ស​ដែល​អត់​មាន​អ៊ីនធឺណិត និង​កុំព្យូទ័រ​មើល​មិច​បាន ដូច្នេះ​ហើយ​ទាល់តែ​មាន​ច្បាប់​បញ្ជាក់​ទើប​បាន យើង​មិន​អាច​យក​អា​ហ្នឹង​ទៅ​បកស្រាយ​ទទេៗ​ទេ»។

អ្នក​គ្រប់គ្រង​បច្ចេកទេស​ឃ្លាំមើល​ការ​រំលោភ​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​នៃ​អង្គការ​ លីកាដូ (Licadho) លោក អំ សំអាត ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ការ​ដក​ស្រង់​សំដី​ប្រភព​ពី​ហ្វេសប៊ុក ដោយ​គ្មាន​ការ​អនុញ្ញាត ជា​ការ​រំលោភ​សិទ្ធិ​ឯកជន ដែល​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ប៉ះពាល់​កិត្តិយស កេរ្តិ៍​ឈ្មោះ និង​អាច​ប៉ះពាល់​ដល់​ការងារ​របស់​គេ៖ «ខ្ញុំ​គិត​ថា វា​ជា​ការ​រំលោភ​ទៅ​លើ​សិទ្ធិ​របស់​គេ​មួយ​ដែរ គិត​ថា វា​មិន​ទាន់​មាន​បទល្មើស​ណា​មួយ​ដែល​អាច​ចោទ​ប្រកាន់​បាន ប៉ុន្តែ​សាមី​ខ្លួន​គេ​អាច​ប្តឹង​បាន»។

ទោះ​ជា​មាន​ការ​ពិបាក​ក្នុង​ការ​គ្រប់គ្រង​ព័ត៌មាន​តាម​ប្រព័ន្ធ​ អ៊ីនធឺណិត​ក៏ដោយ ក៏​ប្រធាន​ក្លឹប​អ្នក​កាសែត​កម្ពុជា លោក ប៉ែន សមិទ្ធិ មិន​ចង់​ឲ្យ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​បង្កើត​ច្បាប់​នេះ​នោះ​ទេ ដោយ​បាន​លើក​ឡើង​ថា គួរ​តែ​ឲ្យ​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ខ្មែរ​មាន​សេរីភាព​អាច​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​ព័ត៌មាន​តាម​ បច្ចេកវិទ្យា​ទំនើប​ឲ្យ​បាន​ពេញលេញ ខណៈ​ដែល​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កម្ពុជា កំពុង​ធ្វើ​សេចក្ដី​ព្រាង​នៃ​ច្បាប់​គ្រប់គ្រង​អ៊ីនធឺណិត​នោះ។

សម្រាប់​លោក អំ សំអាត ក៏​បាន​ស្នើ​សុំ​ឲ្យ​អ្នក​លេង​ហ្វេសប៊ុក គួរ​មាន​ការ​ប្រុង​ប្រយ័ត្ន​ខ្ពស់ និង​កុំ​ភ្លេច​ខ្លួន​រាល់​ការ​បង្ហោះ​រូបភាព និង​ការ​បញ្ចេញ​មតិ​នៅ​លើ​ហ្វេសប៊ុក ដើម្បី​កាត់​បន្ថយ​ការ​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ដោយ​គ្មាន​ការ​អនុញ្ញាត។ ម្យ៉ាង​វិញ​ទៀត​គួរ​តែ​សរសេរ​កំណត់​សំគាល់​មួយ​នៅ​ខាង​ក្រោម រាល់​ការ​បញ្ចេញ​មតិ ដោយ​បញ្ជាក់​ថា ការ​បញ្ចេញ​មតិ​នោះ​វា​អាច​ប្រើប្រាស់​តែ​ក្នុង​មិត្តភ័ក្ដិ​របស់​ខ្លួន​ ប៉ុណ្ណោះ មិន​អាច​យក​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ជា​សាធារណៈ​បាន​ទេ៕

យុវជនខ្មែរចាប់អារម្មណ៍អាជីពជាអ្នកស្រាវជ្រាវកាន់តែច្រើន

http://www.khmer.rfi.fr/report-01-08-12

ក្នុង​រយៈពេល​​ប៉ុន្មាន​ឆ្នាំ​ចុងក្រោយនេះ​ យុវជន​​ខ្មែរ​ចាប់​អារម្មណ៍​លើ​អាជីព​ជាអ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​​កាន់​តែ​ច្រើន​ឡើង។ យុវជន​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​​ឯករាជ្យមួយក្រុម​ដែល​មាន​គ្នា​​ប្រមាណជា​​២០​​នាក់​ ​ដឹកនាំ​​ដោយ​​លោក កែម ឡី​ បាន​​និង​​កំពុង​​ធ្វើការ​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​លើប្រធាន​បទ​មួយចំនួន​​ក្នុង​នោះ​ ក៏មានផងដែរ ​គម្រោង​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​​ពីភាព​មិន​ប្រក្រតី​លើការ​ប្រឡង​​បាក់ឌុប​​ក្នុង​​ពេល​ ​ប៉ុន្មាន​ថ្ងៃ​ខាង​មុខ​ទៀត​នេះ។

ក្រុមស្រាវជ្រាវ​ឯករាជ​ត្រៀមស៊ើប​អង្កេត​បញ្ហា​ពុករលួយ​ពេល​ប្រឡង​បាក់ឌុប​

ដោយ លាង ដឺលុច

ក្រុម​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ឯករាជ​មួយ​ក្រុម​ បាន​ប្រកាស​ថា ពួកគេ​នឹង​បើក​យុទ្ធនាការ​ស៊ើប​អង្កេត​រក​អំពើ​ពុករលួយ​ក្នុង​ពេល​ប្រឡង​ សញ្ញាបត្រ​មធ្យម​សិក្សា​ទុតិយភូមិ​នៅ​សប្តាហ៍​ក្រោយ​នេះ។ ​សំណូក និង​ភាព​មិន​ប្រក្រតី​នៅ​ក្នុង​ពេល​ប្រឡង​បាក់ឌុប​ត្រូវ​បាន​រិះគន់​ យ៉ាងខ្លាំង​ជា​រៀងរាល់​ឆ្នាំ​ដោយ​អង្គការ​ក្រៅ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល និង​គណបក្ស​ប្រឆាំង។ នៅ​ឆ្នាំ​នេះ មាន​សិស្ស​១១ម៉ឺន​នាក់​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ចូលរួម​ប្រលង​សញ្ញាបត្រ​ទុតិយភូមិ​នេះ។

ការ​ស៊ើប​អង្កេត​រក​អំពើ​ពុក​រលួយ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ការ​ប្រឡង​សញ្ញាបត្រ​ ទុតិយភូមិ ដែល​គេ​ហៅ​ថា​ការ​ប្រឡង​បាក់ឌុប​នោះ នឹង​ត្រូវ​ធ្វើ​ឡើង​ដោយ​ក្រុម​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ឯករាជ​មួយ​ក្រុម​ដែល​ដឹកនាំ​ ដោយ​លោក​កែម ឡី។​ ជា​ការ​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ក្នុង​ក្របខណ្ឌ​រាជធានី​ភ្នំពេញ​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ។ ក្រុម​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​យ៉ាងហោច ២០​នាក់ នឹង​ឈ​ជើង​នៅ​ក្នុង​មណ្ឌល​ប្រលង​ចំនួន​១០​ក្នុង​រាជធានី​ភ្នំពេញ ហើយ​នឹង​ជួប​សម្ភាសន៍​បេក្ខជន​ប្រលង​ដើម្បី​បំពេញ​សំណួរ​ប្រមាណ​២០​សំណួរ។

លោក​កែម ឡី ប្រធាន​ក្រុម​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ឯករាជ​ដែល​មាន​គំនិត​ផ្តួចផ្តើម​បើក​ការ​ ស្រាវជ្រាវ​នេះ បាន​ពន្យល់​ថា ការ​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​នេះ​មាន​គោល​បំណង​ដើម្បី​បង្ហាញ​អោយ​បាន​ច្បាស់​ ថា​តើ​វា​ពិត​ជា​មាន​អំពើ​ពុករលួយ​មែន​ក្នុង​ពេល​កន្លង​មក ឬ​យ៉ាងណា​ ខណៈ​ដែល​មាន​អង្គការ និង​គណបក្ស​ប្រឆាំង​បាន​រិះគន់​បញ្ហា​នេះ ហើយ​ក្រសួង​អប់រំ​បាន​ច្រានចោល​ និង​បដិសេធ​ការ​រិះគន់​ទាំង​នេះ​នោះ។
លោក​កែម ឡី ​អះអាង​ថា ២​សប្តាហ៍ ក្រោយ​ការ​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​នេះ លោក​នឹង​ផ្សព្វផ្សាយ​លទ្ធផល ​ជាមួយ​នឹង​អនុសាសន៍​ផ្ញើ​ទៅ​ក្រសួង​អប់រំ។

សម្រាប់​ប្រធាន​ក្រុម​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ដដែល ការ​លើក​ឡើង និង​ការ​រិះគន់​អំពី​ភាព​មិនប្រក្រតី​ក្នុង​ពេល​ប្រលង​បាក់ឌុប​ក្នុង​ពេល​ កន្លង​មក បាន​បង្ហាញ​អំពី​ភាព​ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ​នៃ​ស្ថានភាព​អប់រំ ហើយ​ប្រសិន​បើ​វា​ជា​ការ​ពិត​នោះ គឺ​ក្រសួង​អប់រំ​ត្រូវ​មាន​វិធានការ​ច្បាស់លាស់។
គួរ​បញ្ជាក់​ថា ស្រប​ពេល​ដែល​វិស័យ​បច្ចេកវិទ្យា​កំពុង​រីក​ចំរើន ទូរស័ព្ទ​ទំនើប​ត្រូវ​បាន​គេ​ប្រើប្រាស់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ពេល​ប្រឡង​នេះ ដើម្បី​ស្វែងរក​ចំលើយ​ពី​ខាង​ក្រៅ។ នេះ​មិន​ទាន់​រាប់​អំពី​ការ​ផ្តល់​លុយ​អោយ​មេប្រយោគ​ដែល​នៅ​តែ​កើត​មាន។

នៅ​ក្នុង​ពេល​ប្រឡង​សញ្ញាបត្រ​ទុតិយភូមិ​ឆ្នាំ​នេះ មាន​បេក្ខជន​១១ម៉ឺន​នាក់​ដែល​ត្រូវ​ប្រលង​ក្នុង​២៥៤​មណ្ឌលនៅ​ទូទាំង​ប្រទេស។ ការ​ប្រឡង​នឹង​ប្រព្រឹត្ត​ទៅ​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ទី៦ ដល់​ថ្ងៃ​ទី៨​សីហា៕

 

 

Payments illegal, says ACU chief

Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Stuart Alan Becker

 

Om Yentieng, president of the government’s Anti-Corruption Unit, speaks to a packed house last night at Sunway Hotel in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

 

People who make illegal facilitation payments to get government services will now face harsh penalties under Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Law, just as the government officials who receive the money face charges, according to the President of Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit.

Speaking to a packed house last night at Sunway Hotel, the President of Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit Orm Yentieng said the law was on the ACU’s side and that corruption in Cambodia was going to be reduced over time.

“If you think your government salary is too low, you can get out of the position,” Orm Yentieng said, earning a round of applause.

During his speech and question-and-answer session at the CAMFEBA event, attended by many of Phnom Penh’s business leaders, the ACU chief reviewed one of the cases he had been working on, involving a US$200 payment to an official working for the Ministry of the Interior.

“If you agree to give $200, you are both going to be the victim, and you will be caught as well. The law is strict. If you do it wrong, you should be caught.”

The ACU president said that as part of the unit’s recent work, information had been disseminated to 1,700 communes around Cambodia assuring local government officials that they face punishment for corruption activities.

“Only a few ask for money. The rest cooperate with us,” he said.

“We tell them: do not take any more money, and if you take it you are facing consequences. The taker and giver of the money, both of you, will be punished,” he said. “If we are not strict, we won’t be able to deal with it.”

“If you are a government official and ask for money and they don’t it to give you, you will be caught, and this is printed out in big words in front of the commune offices. We did that on 1,700 communes. If we catch you doing that, we will send you to court. We are spreading, we can hear you, we can see you, and we’ve got more force coming up.”

Orm Yentieng said the ACU had been given special powers to record conversations and take photographs.

“It is not heartless on the part of the private sector not to pay facilitation payments. They have to do this. We’re not wasting time. We will push it, the faster the better. If the Ministry of Interior asks you for money, come and talk to me. He promised us in writing he will not take any money. Now is the time to enforce it. We will be waiting for you at ACU and we won’t step back.”

Orm Yentieng mentioned the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) a few times during his speech.

“The CDC is not poor; everyone has a car and there’s hardly any space for parking. We spend an hour to find a parking space. We have much more parking at the Anti-Corruption Unit,” he said, getting another round of applause.

The ACU president said Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon had agreed with the ACU that a list of formal facilitation fees would be prepared so that receipts of facilitation payments could be kept on record.

Comparing institutionalised corruption in Cambodia to a disease, the ACU president said people should take the medicine. “If you are sick, do you want to take the medicine or not? Do you want to die? We do not have a choice.”

He acknowledged that government salaries are low, but that they would rise slowly during the coming years.

“Tighten your seat belt,” he said.

One of the things business people in Cambodia should not have to pay for is a change of business address, which is a common occurrence when businesses expand.

“We should be thanking the private sector for providing us with the information. We should not be asking for money for these changes,” he said.

The ACU president appealed to the audience to “come quietly” to talk about cases.

“We can help you in any case. Come quietly and talk to us,” he said, adding that citizens with permission from the ACU could make recordings of conversations and take photographs that could later be used in court.

“If people from the private sector ask permission from the ACU, you can take pictures and make recordings. The ACU alone cannot find proof, but needs the cooperation from private sector and the cooperation is easier than doing it alone. The ACU needs to find new proof and evidence to present in court.” He added that sources would be protected.

AMCHAM and IBC Chairman Brett Sciaroni said he had known Orm Yentieng for 20 years and his job was the second most difficult in Cambodia, following that of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“He is seriously committed to changing the mentality,” Sciaroni said.

Why Professional Development for Teachers is Critical

By Simon Quattlebaum | Substitute Teacher, New Jersey Public Schools

Educators must understand the concepts in processing professional development and what it means to education. The National Staff Development Council (2007) created a set of nine standards that all professional development should follow. They include content knowledge and quality teaching, research-basis, collaboration, diverse learning needs, student learning environments, family involvement, evaluation, data-driven design, and teacher learning.
However, it does not determine whether accountable measures are being gathered to determine if this information has benefited the education system as a whole.

Professional development refers to the development of a person in his or her professional role. According to Glattenhorn (1987), by gaining increased experience in one’s teaching role they systematically gain increased experience in their professional growth through examination of their teaching ability. Professional workshops and other formally related meetings are a part of the professional development experience (Ganzer, 2000). Much broader in scope than career development, professional development is defined as a growth that occurs through the professional cycle of a teacher (Glattenhorn, 1987). Moreover, professional development and other organized in-service programs are deigned to foster the growth of teachers that can be used for their further development (Crowther et al, 2000). One must examine the content of those experiences through which the process will occur and how it will take place (Ganzer, 2000; Guskey, 2000).
This perspective, in a way, is new to teaching in that professional development and in-service training simply consisted of workshops or short term courses that offered teachers new information on specific aspects of their work (Brookfield, 2005). Champion (2003) posited that regular opportunities and experiences for professional development over the past few years had yielded systematic growth and development in the teaching profession.

Many have referred to this dramatic shift as a new image or a new module of teacher education for professional development (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2001: Walling & Lewis, 2000). In the past 15 years there have been standards-based movements for reform (Consortium for Policy Research in Education, 1993; Hord, 2004; Kedzior & Fifield, 2004: Sparks, 2002). The key component of this reform effort has been that effective professional development has created a knowledge base that has helped to transform and restructure quality schools (Guskey, 1995; Willis, 2000).

Much of the available research on professional development involves its relationship to student achievement. Researchers differ on the degree of this relationship. Variables are the school, teacher, student level related to the level of learning within the classroom, parent and community involvement, instructional strategies, classroom management, curriculum design, student background knowledge, and student motivation (Marzano, 2003). Based upon a review of several studies, Marzano (2003) concluded that the professional development activities experienced by teachers have a similar impact on student achievement to those of the aforementioned variables.

Opportunities for active learning, content knowledge, and the overall coherence of staff development are the top three characteristics of professional development. Opportunities for active learning and content specific strategies for staff development refer to a focus on teacher application of learned material. Overall coherence refers to the staff development program perceived as an integrated whole and development activities building upon each other in a consecutive fashion. Marzano (2003) warned, however, that standardized staff development activities which do not allow for effective application would be ineffective in changing teacher behavior.

Richardson, (2003) published a list of characteristics associated with effective professional development, stating that such programs would optimally be:
“statewide, long term with follow-up; encourage collegiality; foster agreement among participants on goals and visions; have a supportive administration; have access to adequate funds for materials, outside speakers, substitute teachers, and so on; encourage and develop agreement among participants; acknowledge participants existing beliefs and practices; and make use of outside facilitator/staff developers.” (p. 402)

Kedzior and Fifield (2004) described effective professional development as a prolonged facet of classroom instruction that is integrated, logical and on-going and incorporates experiences that are consistent with teachers’ goals; aligned with standards, assessments, other reform initiatives, and beset by the best research evidence. Elmore (2002) described professional development as sustained focus over time that is consistent with best practice.

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References
Brookfield, S. (2005). Power of critical theory for adult learning and teaching. Berkdire, Great Britain: McGraw-Hill Education.
Champion, R. (2003). Taking measure: The real measure of professional development program’s effectiveness lies in what participants learned. Journal of Staff Development, 24(1), 1–5.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S. L. (2001). Beyond certainty: Taking an inquiry stance on practice. In A. Lieberman & L. Miller (Eds.), Teachers caught in the action: Professional development that matters (pp. 45–61). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Elmore, R. (2002). Bridging the gap between standards and achievement: The imperative for professional development education [Brochure]. Washington, DC: Albert Shanker Institute.
Ganzer, T. (Ed.) (2000). Ambitious visions of professional development for teachers [Special Issue]. National Association for Secondary School Principals, (84)618
Glattenhorn, A. (1987). Cooperative professional development: Peer centered options for teacher growth. Educational Leadership, (3)45, 31-35.
Guskey, T. R. (1995). Professional development in action: New paradigms and practices. (T. R. Guskey & M. Huberman, Eds.) New York: Teachers College Press.
Guskey, T. R. (2000). Evaluating professional development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Hord, S. M. (Ed.). (2004). Learning together leading together: Changing schools through professional learning communities. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Kedzior, M., & Fifield, S. (2004). Teacher professional development. Education Policy Brief, 15(21), 76–97.
Marzano, R. J. (2003). What works in school: Translating research into action. Alexandria,, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Miles, K. H., Olden, A., Fermanich, M., & Archibald, S. (2004). Inside the blackbox of school spending on professional development: Lessons from comparing five urban districts. Journal of Education and Finance 30(1) 1-26.
Richardson, V. (2003). The dilemmas of professional development. Phi Delta Kappan, 84(5), 401–406.
National Staff Development Council (2001). NSDC’s Standards for Staff Development. Oxford, OH. Author.
National Staff Development Council (2007). Professional development. Retrieved
March 15, 2009, from http://www.NSDC.org/connect/about/index.cfm.
Walling, B., & Lewis, M. (2000). Development of professional development pre-service teachers: Longitudinal and comparative analysis. Action Teacher Education, 22(2a), 63-67

News from Europe: Continuing Higher Education as a Core Mission

By Robert S. Lapiner | Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Continuing Education, New York University

Until the expansion of the European Union in the late 1980’s, it would have been difficult to generalize about the place of post-tertiary education in European countries. Although each nation had its own expression of forms of adult learning—going back to diverse 19th-century models for worker education—many social, cultural and economic factors contributed to the absence of a developed continuing higher education infrastructure comparable to the U.S. and Canadian experience.
These included the historically small percentage of adults who completed university study; the large government sector comprising a higher percentage of the workforce than in North America, and traditions of employment continuity everywhere. As for those long-serving employees (including those in executive roles) needing to update their knowledge, in-service training delivered in-house had been normative. Perhaps most relevant, until the past three decades, voluntary job mobility was universally regarded as a somewhat alien, American concept. Thus there was not much demand from individuals seeking to access university-validated study opportunities that could help them position themselves for career change.

Moreover, the operational and academic structures that have existed for some time for adults seeking to earn their first degree were—outside of Britain and Soviet-dominated Europe—rarely found within traditional universities. As for non-degree learning opportunities, schools of commerce or of engineering and applied science have long organized programs for the benefit of their alumni (or for in-service training purposes for employees of their official quasi-governmental “industry sponsors”) but each operated generally in specific disciplinary niches and for narrowly defined institutionally affiliated communities.

Conditions have changed in the two short decades since the unification of Germany and the nearly doubling in size of the EU. European governments—singly and together under the EU banner—have marched sometimes fitfully and sometimes in remarkable concord toward greater convergence in many areas, most notably in matters of education, cross-border training and professional certification, within the broad framework of European social policy. Paralleling the earlier successful initiatives to encourage more traditional-age student mobility and facilitate credit-transfer within Europe (manifest in pioneering programs like ERASMUS and TEMPUS), the European Commission of Education and Culture and the Directorate for Education and Training have spearheaded a number of efforts modeling a fundamental commitment to the expansion of continuing education capabilities, by establishing coordinating bodies and funding incentives to facilitate relationships between higher education and industry (it is uplifting to see the leitmotif that Continuing Education is a key instrumentality for nurturing those vital relationships).

A CE leadership community has of course also emerged in Europe over the past few decades. Opportunities for professional development, promulgation of best practices, and inter-institutional and cross-border collaboration are fostered in relatively young organizations like the EUCON (European Union Continuing Education Association), the global ICDE (International Continuing and Distance Education Association), along with interest groups found within EAIE (the European Association of International Education) and the EUA (the European University Association). Brussels has been particularly assiduous in promoting inter-European cooperation among research institutes to study and measure the worlds of lifelong learning and continuing professional development, with the necessary goal of fostering a data framework for research, evaluation and assessment, as well to identify emerging best practices. A multitude of studies often aligned with OECD- and UNESCO-generated research reports, attest to these efforts (some are referenced below).
This blossoming of activity reflects the changing needs of society, of course, but it has not emerged only as a response to market opportunity. It has been accelerated by political initiatives: across the European Union, the education ministries of its 27 member governments (and those in the applicant queue, like Turkey) have all affirmed EU resolutions that lifelong learning and adult continuing higher education are among the fundamental responsibilities of higher education institutions (HEI’s). Because national governments establish educational policy and remain (for the time being) the principal funding sources of higher education across Europe, where private institutions are relatively few outside of self-standing professional schools, these widely shared affirmations come with formal expectations both of state investment and institutions providing evidence of demonstrated outcomes. The overarching commitment is legally enshrined in principles in the Lisbon Treaty (the governing set of laws for members of the European Union). Further, the EU has set specific goals as evidence of compliance: 12.5% of adults aged 25-64 shall be enrolled annually in forms of higher education-based continuing education or vocational training.

There is little doubt that the multi-national endorsements from EU member countries of these policy objectives are shaping the general direction of higher education across the Continent. They are not just well-intentioned pronouncements from government advisory panels or commissions of educational professionals and industry champions of higher education à la U.S. practice. They have the force of law.

Despite the diversity of needs and conditions across a broad landscape, it should be especially heartening for our professional community to note that insisting upon strengthened continuing education and lifelong learning capabilities have consistently emerged as critical elements of the anticipated role of HEI’s for the health of the “Europe of Knowledge” and in the promotion of social harmony—key issues of the Lisbon Treaty. In particular, the governments have articulated a clear correlation between the role CE programs can and should have at the macro level, in disseminating the products of university research labs to fuel the capacity of European industry and commerce to be at the forefront of innovation for high quality manufacturing and services in the global knowledge economy. And at the micro level, in keeping members of the demographically ageing European workforce of professionals informed about new methodologies, technologies, and other changing conditions, to help them stay up-to-date and productive—especially as Europeans are increasingly facing the need to remain actively employed far longer than recent generations.[1]
For these many reasons, it is not hard to understand the ways continuing education is seen as representing a structured higher educational expression of the “social dimension” of universities, as articulated in the Bologna Process. [2]
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References
[1] See Draft 2008 joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the ‘Education & Training 2010’ work programmer, “Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation.” Council of the European Union. No. Cion prop.: 15292/07 EDUC 211 SOC 460 + ADD 1. See also the conclusions of The Council of the European Union of 12 May 2009, regarding a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (‘ET 2020’), in Official Journal of the European Union, “Notices from European Institutions and Bodies,” May 28, 2009, pp. C 119/2-119/10.
[2] Cf. Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency. Modernisation of Higher Education in Europe: Funding and the Social Dimension. European Commission, 2011. Available at eacea.ec.europa.eu/education,eurydice

ការ​រិះគន់​ពី​គុណភាព​នៃ​ការ​បំពេញ​ការងារ​របស់​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ

ដោយ ទីន ហ្សាការីយ៉ា

 ក្រុម​អ្នក​តាម​ដាន​សង្គម រិះគន់​ការ​បំពេញ​ការងារ​របស់​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​មួយ​ចំនួន ថា​ធ្វើ​ការ​បែប​ការិយាធិបតេយ្យ និង​អសមត្ថភាព​នៅ​ក្នុង​ការ​គ្រប់គ្រង​ស្ថាប័ន​នីមួយៗ។

ក្រុម​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ផ្នែក​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​សង្គម បាន​លើក​ឡើង​ថា មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​បម្រើ​ការងារ​នៅ​តាម​ស្ថាប័ន​រដ្ឋ ធ្វើ​ការ​បាត់បង់​នូវ​ក្រម​សីលធម៌ វិជ្ជាជីវៈ និង​គ្មាន​វិន័យ ពីព្រោះ​ថា នៅ​តាម​ស្ថាប័ន​ទាំង​នោះ បុគ្គលិក​នីមួយៗ​ធ្វើ​ការ​មិន​បង្ក​ភាព​ងាយ​ស្រួល​ដល់​អ្នក​ទៅ​ទទួល​សេវា​ នោះ​ឡើយ។
អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​បាន​ពន្យល់​ថា មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​ទាំង​អស់ ទោះ​បី​ជា​បំពេញ​ការងារ​ប្រចាំ​ថ្ងៃ​មិន​សកម្ម មិន​យក​ចិត្ត​ទុក​ដាក់​នឹង​ការងារ​យ៉ាង​ណា​ក៏ដោយ ក៏​ពួក​គេ​មិន​ប្រឈម​នឹង​ការ​ទទួល​ទោស​កំហុស​អ្វី​ដែរ ពិសេស​មិន​ប្រឈម​នឹង​ការ​ដក​ចេញ​ពី​ការងារ​ដូច​បុគ្គលិក​បម្រើ​ការងារ​នៅ​ ក្រុមហ៊ុន​ឯកជន​នោះ​ទេ ដែល​បញ្ហា​ទាំង​នេះ​វា​រាំង​ស្ទះ​ដល់​ការ​អនុវត្ត​ការងារ​ឲ្យ​មាន​ ប្រសិទ្ធភាព។

អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ផ្នែក​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​សង្គម លោក កែម ឡី មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា អស់​រយៈពេល​ជាង ៣០​ឆ្នាំ​កន្លង​មក​នេះ ទាំង​រដ្ឋាភិបាល ទាំង​ប្រទេស​ជា​ម្ចាស់​ជំនួយ បាន​មើល​រំលង​អំពី​ការ​បំពេញ​ការងារ​របស់​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​ដែល​បម្រើ​ការងារ​ នៅ​ស្ថាប័ន​រដ្ឋ ពីព្រោះ​ថា រដ្ឋាភិបាល ឬ​ក្រសួង​នីមួយៗ មិន​មាន​តារាង​វិភាគ​ទៅ​លើ​តួនាទី និង​ភារកិច្ច​របស់​មន្ត្រី​នីមួយៗ​ឲ្យ​បាន​ច្បាស់លាស់។

លោក កែម ឡី៖ «រដ្ឋាភិបាល​មិន​ហ៊ាន​ធ្វើ​ការ​វិភាគ​មុខងារ និង​ភារកិច្ច​ស៊ី​ជម្រៅ ទោះ​បី​ជា​មាន​ការ​ជួយ​ប្រាក់​ឧបត្ថម្ភ​ពី​ភ្នាក់ងារ​ពិសេស PAC មានPOC មាន​ជួយ​ច្រើន​ក្ដី ហើយ​ភ្នាក់ងារ​ជា​ដៃគូ​ជួយ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​ក៏​ទទួល​ស្គាល់​ថា មិន​មាន​ប្រសិទ្ធភាព​ដែរ»។

ការ​បម្រើ​ការងារ​របស់​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​នៅ​តាម​ស្ថាប័ន​រដ្ឋ​នីមួយៗ បាន​បង្ក​ការ​លំបាក​ដល់​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​នៅ​ពេល​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ត្រូវ​ការ​ទៅ​ រត់ការ​ឯកសារ​នានា ដូចជា​ការ​ទៅ​បង់​ពន្ធ​ដីធ្លី ការ​រត់ការ​ស្នើ​សុំ​បើក​អាជីវកម្ម​ផ្សេងៗ ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ត្រូវ​ការ​រង់ចាំ​ពេល​វេលា​ច្រើន​ថ្ងៃ ពេល​ខ្លះ​ត្រូវ​បង់​លុយ​ក្រោម​តុ​ជូន ឬ​សូក​ប៉ាន់ ជា​ថ្នូរ​នឹង​ការ​រត់​ការ​លឿន ឬ ដើម្បី​ឲ្យ​គេ​យក​រៀបចំ​ឯកសារ​ជូន​ឲ្យ​បាន​ឆាប់​រហ័ស​ជាដើម។

ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​នៅ​ទីក្រុង​ភ្នំពេញ ឈ្មោះ មុន្នី បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា កាល​ពី​សប្ដាហ៍​មុន​លោក​បាន​ទៅ​បង់​ពន្ធ​រថយន្ត​នៅ​ខណ្ឌ​ទួលគោក ត្រូវ​ចំណាយ​ពេល​ចំនួន​បី​ថ្ងៃ​ទើប​បង់​ពន្ធ​បាន។ លោក មុន្នី អះអាង​ថា ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ភាគ​ច្រើន​ដែល​មិន​ដឹង​រឿង​អំពី​ការ​សូក​ប៉ាន់ ត្រូវ​ឈរ​រង់ចាំ​មន្ត្រី​ពន្ធដារ​ទទួល​យក​ឯកសារ​របស់​ខ្លួន ដែល​ចំណាយ​ពេល​ទៅ​បង់​ពន្ធ​ជា​ច្រើន​ដង ប៉ុន្តែ​បើ​ដឹង​អំពី​របៀប​បង់​លុយ​ក្រោម​តុ​ជូន​គេ ទើប​គេ​សម្រួល​ឯកសារ​បាន​លឿន។

លោក មុន្នី៖ «ដល់​ពេល​យើង​ដាក់​ឯកសារ យើង​ដាក់​ខាង​មុខ​ហ្នឹង យើង​អត់​ដឹង​រឿង​ចេះ​តែ​ចាំ​គេ ពីរ​បី​ថ្ងៃ ជួនកាល​មន្ត្រី​ពន្ធដារ​ប្រាប់​ថា អស់​ហើយ​ក្រដាស​ពន្ធ​តំលៃ ២៥​ម៉ឺន​រៀល ១២​ម៉ឺន​នោះ ខ្ញុំ​ស្ដាប់​ទៅ​វង្វេង។ ដល់​ពេល​ចាំ​យូរ​ពេក ខ្ញុំ​ចុះ​មក​កន្លែង​ផ្ញើ​ម៉ូតូ សួរ​គេ​ទៅ គេ​ប្រាប់​ឲ្យ​ទៅ​បង់​ខាង​ក្រោយ គេ​រត់ការ​ឲ្យ ឲ្យ​គេ ២​ម៉ឺន​៥​ពាន់​ទៅ»។

ឆ្លើយ​តប​ទៅ​នឹង​បញ្ហា​នេះ មន្ត្រី​ជាន់​ខ្ពស់​នៃ​គណបក្ស​ប្រជាជន​កម្ពុជា និង​ជា​ប្រធាន​គណៈកម្មការ​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច និង​សវនកម្ម​នៃ​រដ្ឋ​សភា លោក​បណ្ឌិត ជាម យៀប បាន​ទទួល​ស្គាល់​ថា កន្លង​មក​ការ​អនុវត្ត​ការងារ​របស់​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​ខ្លះ ធ្វើ​ការងារ​ព្រងើយ​កន្តើយ​នឹង​ការងារ​របស់​ខ្លួន​មែន។
លោក​បណ្ឌិត ជាម យៀប បាន​បំភ្លឺ​ថា បច្ចុប្បន្ន​នេះ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​មាន​វិធានការ​តឹងតែង​ចំពោះ​មន្ត្រី​ប្រព្រឹត្ត​ អំពើ​ពុករលួយ​ទាំង​ឡាយ ដោយ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​បាន​បង្កើត​អង្គភាព​ប្រឆាំង​អំពើ​ពុករលួយ​ជាដើម៖ «ឥឡូវ​ មន្ត្រី​មួយ​ចំនួន​កំពុង​ដាក់​នៅ​ក្នុង​ការ​ពិនិត្យ​របស់​រដ្ឋ អង្គភាព​ប្រឆាំង​អំពើ​ពុករលួយ ដែល​គេ​ចង់​បាន អ៊ីចឹង​យើង​កំពុង​រឹតត្បិត យើង​មិន​អាច​ព្រួញ​មួយ​បាញ់​បាន​សត្វ​បាន​ទាំង​បី​ម្ដង​បាន​ទេ»។

ទោះ​បី​ជា​យ៉ាង​ណា​ក៏ដោយ ក្រុម​អ្នក​វិភាគ​បាន​ពន្យល់​ថា ប្រព័ន្ធ​ការងារ​របស់​មន្រ្តី​រាជការ​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​នេះ បុគ្គលិក​រដ្ឋ​ធ្វើ​ការ​លឿន និង​យក​ចិត្ត​ទុក​ដាក់​នោះ លុះ​ត្រា​ណា​បុគ្គលិក​ទាំង​នោះ​ធ្វើ​ការ​នៅ​ចំ​កន្លែង​ដែល​មាន​លុយ។ មាន​ន័យ​ថា គេ​មាន​ឱកាស​ដើម្បី​ទទួល​សំណូក​បាន ទោះ​បី​ជា​កម្ពុជា មាន​ស្ថាប័ន​ប្រឆាំង​អំពើ​ពុករលួយ​ក្ដី។ ក្រុម​អ្នក​វិភាគ​បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ការ​អនុវត្ត​ការងារ​នៅ​ស្ថាប័ន​រដ្ឋ ជា​ការ​បង្កើត​ការិយាធិបតេយ្យ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ស្ថាប័ន​រដ្ឋ។

អ្នក​វិភាគ​ឯករាជ្យ លោក​បណ្ឌិត សុខ ទូច មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​បម្រើ​ការងារ​នៅ​ស្ថាប័ន​រដ្ឋ​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​មាន​បញ្ហា​ជា​ ច្រើន ដែល​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ត្រូវ​តែ​ពង្រឹង​វិន័យ​ឡើង​វិញ ពីព្រោះ​ថា មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​មិន​គោរព​ពេល​វេលា វា​ខុស​ពី​បុគ្គលិក​ធ្វើ​ការ​នៅ​ស្ថាប័ន​ឯកជន រាល់​ពេល​បំពេញ​តួនាទី ឬ​ផ្ដល់​សេវា​ជូន​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ​ទាល់​តែ​មាន​លុយ​សូក​ពី​ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋ ទើប​គេ​រហ័សរហួន​ធ្វើ​ការ។
លោក​បណ្ឌិត សុខ ទូច៖ «ការិយាធិបតេយ្យ​បង្កើត​អន្ទាក់​កាន់​តែ​ច្រើន ដើម្បី​ទទួល​ផល លាភ​ពី​ភាព​យឺត​យ៉ាវ​ហ្នឹង។ ទី​២ នីតិវិធី​នៃ​ការ​បង្ក​ភាព​សាំញ៉ាំ​ហ្នឹង​កាន់​តែ​ច្រើន។ ឧទាហរណ៍​ដូច​ជា​បង់​ពន្ធ​ដី នីតិ​វិធី​ស្មុគស្មាញ ដែល​ប្រជាជន​ខ្មែរ​យើង​មិន​សូវ​ចេះ ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​មាន​ការ​លំបាក»។
អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ផ្នែក​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​សង្គម បាន​ពន្យល់​ទៀត​ថា មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​គេ​កម្រ​ឃើញ​ត្រូវ​ថ្នាក់​លើ​របស់​ខ្លួន​ដាក់​ពិន័យ ឬ​ដក​ចេញ​ពី​តួនាទី​នោះ ដោយសារ​វា​ជាប់​ពាក់ព័ន្ធ​នឹង​រឿង​នយោបាយ។ មាន​ន័យ​ថា មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​ភាគ​ច្រើន​ជា​សមាជិក​គណបក្ស​កាន់​អំណាច និង​ជាប់​សែស្រឡាយ​របស់​មន្ត្រី​ធំ​នៅ​ក្នុង​ក្រសួង ឬ​ស្ថាប័ន​ទាំង​នោះ។

ម្យ៉ាង​វិញ​ទៀត លោក កែម ឡី ជា​អ្នក​ស្រាវជ្រាវ​ផ្នែក​អភិវឌ្ឍន៍​សង្គម បាន​អះអាង​ថា មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​ថ្នាក់​ក្រោម​ធ្វើ​ការ​មិន​មាន​ប្រសិទ្ធភាព​នោះ ក៏​វា​ទាក់ទង​ទៅ​នឹង​ប្រាក់​បៀវត្ស​នៅ​មាន​កម្រិត​ទាប​ដែរ។ លោក​បញ្ជាក់​ថា ទោះ​បី​ជា​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​មាន​គោលនយោបាយ​ដំឡើង​ប្រាក់​បៀវត្ស​ជូន​មន្ត្រី​ រាជការ​ក្នុង ១​ឆ្នាំ ចំនួន ១៥% ក្ដី ប៉ុន្តែ​បើ​ប្រៀបធៀប​ចំណូល​ថវិកា​ជាតិ​ក្នុង​ឆ្នាំ​១៩៩៣ មាន​ប្រមាណ ៧០ ទៅ ៨០​លាន​ដុល្លារ​ក្នុង​មួយ​ឆ្នាំ រី​ឯ​ចំណូល​ថវិកា​ជាតិ​ក្នុង​ឆ្នាំ​២០១០ និង​ឆ្នាំ​២០១១ មាន​ជាង ១.៧០០​លាន​ដុល្លារ ដូច្នេះ​ការ​ដំឡើង​ប្រាក់​ខែ ១៥% នេះ នៅ​មាន​កម្រិត​ទាប​នៅ​ឡើយ។
លោក កែម ឡី៖ «តែ​ប្រាក់​បៀវត្ស កាល​ពី​ឆ្នាំ​១៩៩៣ មាន​តិច​បំផុត​ពី ២០​ដុល្លារ និង ៣០​ដុល្លារ ប៉ុន្តែ​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​កំណើន​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច​ឡើង​ច្រើន​ហើយ ប្រាក់​បៀវត្ស​មាន​ត្រឹម ៣០​ដុល្លារ ឬ ៤០​ដុល្លារ​ទេ ដូច្នេះ​កំណើត​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​ឡើង​លើស​ពី​មុន​ប្រហែល ២០​ដង ដូច្នេះ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​គួរ​តែ​ពិចារណា​ឡើង​វិញ​ចំពោះ​បញ្ហា​នេះ»។

ដោយ​ឡែក​ចំពោះ​អ្នក​វិភាគ​ឯករាជ្យ លោក​បណ្ឌិត សុខ ទូច វិញ មាន​ទស្សនៈ​ថា ការ​អនុវត្ត​ការងារ​មិន​ល្អ​របស់​បុគ្គលិក​រដ្ឋ​នោះ វា​មិន​ជាប់​ពាក់ព័ន្ធ​នឹង​កម្រិត​ប្រាក់​ខែ​ទាប​ទាំង​ស្រុង​នោះ​ទេ សំខាន់​បំផុត​គឺ​ស្ថិត​នៅ​លើ​ក្រម​សីលធម៌ វិជ្ជាជីវៈ​របស់​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ និង​វិន័យ។

ក្រុម​អ្នក​វិភាគ​បាន​ផ្ដល់​អនុសាសន៍​ថា ដើម្បី​កែប្រែ​ឲ្យ​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​អនុវត្ត​ការងារ​មាន​ប្រសិទ្ធភាព រដ្ឋាភិបាល​ត្រូវ​កំណត់​ឲ្យ​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​មាន​ក្រម​សីលធម៌ វិជ្ជាជីវៈ និង​គោរព​វិន័យ រើស​មនុស្ស​ដាក់​ធ្វើ​ការ​ឲ្យ​ត្រូវ​ជំនាញ និង​មាន​សមត្ថភាព កុំ​ជ្រើស​រើស​យក​មនុស្ស​តែ​ក្រុម​បក្ស​ខ្លួន​ឯង។
ឆ្លើយ​តប​ទៅ​នឹង​បញ្ហា​នេះ លោក​បណ្ឌិត ជាម យៀប បាន​ពន្យល់​ថា ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា​បាន​ឆ្លង​កាត់​របប​កម្ពុជា​ប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ។ អ្នក​ចេះ​ដឹង​ភាគ​ច្រើន​ត្រូវ​គេ​កាប់​សម្លាប់​នៅ​ក្នុង​របប​ខ្មែរ​ក្រហម ដូច្នេះ​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​មួយ​ចំនួន​បម្រើ​ការ​នៅ​ស្ថាប័ន​រដ្ឋ​ខ្វះ​ សមត្ថភាព។ ប៉ុន្តែ​លោក​អះអាង​ថា បច្ចុប្បន្ន​នេះ រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កំពុង​កែ​ទម្រង់​បន្តិច​ម្ដងៗ និង​មាន​វិធានការ​តឹងរ៉ឹង​ចំពោះ​មន្ត្រី​រាជការ​ដែល​ប្រព្រឹត្ត​អំពើ​ ពុករលួយ​នោះ៕