Judges dismiss call to probe new KRouge case

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodia’s UN-backed war crimes
tribunal on Tuesday rejected demands to pursue a politically-sensitive
new Khmer Rouge case that has divided the court.

The investigating judges said the prosecution failed to follow procedure
when filing a request for unnamed suspects to be interviewed for their
alleged crimes as members of the brutal 1975-79 regime to be prosecuted.

In a written statement, the judges said international co-prosecutor
Andrew Cayley’s request was invalid because he hadn’t done the necessary
paperwork to file the requests without the backing of his national
counterpart.

Cayley and his Cambodian colleague Chea Leang are openly at odds over
how to proceed with the case, with Leang saying the suspects, thought to
be two ex-Khmer Rouge commanders, are outside the court’s jurisdiction.

Cayley can appeal the judges’ decision not to pursue an investigation
but the announcement appears to signal their willingness to close the
tribunal’s controversial third case, prompting fears the court is caving
to government pressure.

“The judges are using questionable legal technicalities to try to avoid
the very important substantive issues raised by Cayley,” said Anne
Heindel, a legal adviser at the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which
researches Khmer Rouge atrocities.

“It’s the continuation of their attempts to kill case three.”

In its landmark first trial, the tribunal sentenced former prison chief
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, to 30 years in jail in July for
overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people.

That case is now under appeal, while a second trial involving four of
the regime’s most senior surviving leaders is due to start later this
month.

A survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime Hem
Sakou, 79, stands in front of portraits of victims at the Tuol Sleng
(S-21) genocide museum in Phnom Penh May
31, 2011. She was part of the more than 300 villagers brought to the
Khmer Rouge notorious security prison S-21, now museum, by the court on a
regular tour basis. Sakou said that she found the photos of her son who
was killed at S-21, appealing to the U.N. backed tribunal to sentence
the former regime leaders in detention to life in prison for crimes they
committed.

The court is still investigating a fourth case against three more
suspects, believed to be mid-level cadres. But it too is shrouded in
secrecy and faces stiff government opposition.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has repeatedly voiced his objection to further
trials, saying they could plunge the country into civil war, and
observers widely expect the third and fourth cases to be dropped.

Led by “Brother Number One” Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Marxist Khmer
Rouge regime emptied cities in the late 1970s in a bid to create an
agrarian utopia, executing and killing through starvation and overwork
up to two million.

Survey Finds Increased Confidence in Tribunal

An increasing number of Cambodians in an ongoing survey say they have
more faith in the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, according to new data
released Thursday.

According to the authors of a survey by the Human Rights Center of
the University of California Berkeley, respondents showed a “positive
trend” in their belief in the tribunal.

The UN-backed tribunal, which is heading toward its second trial, of
four Khmer Rouge leaders, was designed in part to bring national healing
to the trauma of the regime.

But the court has come under increased criticism of political interference and a lack of funding.

However, the Human Rights Center survey, conducted in December 2010
across 125 communes nationwide, found that an increasing number of
Cambodians have confidence in the court.

The authors noted that in 2008, in its first survey, only about 2
percent of respondents said they believed the court would provide any
justice to Khmer Rouge leaders. After the court’s first successful
trial, of torture chief Duch, that number rose to 37 percent.

About 25 percent said the process will help relieve the pain and suffering of victims, compared to 9 percent who disagreed.

“Trust seems to be increasing,” although with some caveats, said
Patrick Vinck, a researcher for the Human Rights Center, said Wednesday.

“It’s still, kind of, ‘Well, I trust them, but I do think they take
bribes,’” he added, summarizing the findings of the survey. “But the
trend is a positive trend.”

Outgoing consultant blasts tribunal judges

A consultant to the investigating judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal

spoke of the “toxic atmosphere” within the “professionally

dysfunctional” office in resigning in protest last month over the

handling of the court’s controversial third case. The news

follows a public statement issued by the investigating judges on Sunday

acknowledging that multiple staffers from their office had left amid

disagreements over the Case 003 investigation, which was closed in April

and appears to have been scuttled amid opposition from the Cambodian

government. In a resignation letter dated May 5 and addressed to German

co-investigating judge Siegfried Blunk, Stephen Heder, a noted historian

of the Khmer Rouge period, said he and others in the office had become

increasingly disillusioned with the judges’ action in the case.

“In

view of the judges’ decision to close the investigation into Case File

003 effectively without investigating it, which I, like others, believe

was unreasonable; in view of the UN staff’s evidently growing lack of

confidence in your leadership, which I share; and in view of the toxic

atmosphere of mutual mistrust generated by your management of what is

now a professionally dysfunctional office, I have concluded that no good

use can or will be made of my consultancy services,” Heder wrote. He

declined to comment yesterday beyond the resignation letter.

In

response to the resignations of Heder and at least three foreign staff

members from the office, Blunk and his Cambodian counterpart, You

Bunleng, said on Sunday that they “welcome the departure of all staff

members who ignore the sole responsibility of the [co-investigating

judges]” over Case 003.

The suspects in this case remain

officially confidential, though court documents reveal them as former KR

navy commander Meas Mut and air force commander Sou Met, men thought to

be responsible for thousands of deaths.

Blunk and You Bunleng

have evinced a siege mentality in their public statements in recent

weeks, lashing out at those who have questioned their professional

behaviour.

Last month, the judges ordered international

co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley to retract a statement he had made outlining

further investigative steps he planned to request in Case 003, as he is

permitted to do under court rules.

The judges accused Cayley of

breaching the court’s confidentiality rules in an order that Cayley has

appealed. They have since rejected his investigative requests.

Yesterday,

the tribunal’s Pre-Trial Chamber ruled in a unanimous decision that

this retraction order, which Blunk and You Bunleng had stipulated be

carried out within three days, be suspended pending a final decision on

Cayley’s appeal.

In their decision, the Pre-Trial Chamber judges

noted that “the information the Co-Investigating Judges ask the

International Co-Prosecutor to retract is quoted in the Order issued by

the Co-Investigating Judges”.

“As such, the information will

remain in the public domain even if it is ‘retracted’ by the

Co-Prosecutors,” the Pre-Trial Chamber said.

The Pre-Trial

Chamber judges have historically split in ruling on matters related to

cases 003 and 004, with the Cambodian judges opposing the cases and the

international judges in favour. Clair Duffy, a trial monitor with the

Open Society Justice Initiative, said “reason has prevailed” with

yesterday’s decision, though she cautioned that it was still too early

to say whether the chamber will reverse Blunk and You Bunleng’s

rejection of the requests for additional investigation in Case 003.

As Killing Fields Photographer Dies, War Trial Set to Begin

Cambodia, 1974, photo by Dith Pran. Dith Pran/New York Times.

If you haven’t see the film “The Killing Fields” since it came out in the eighties, perhaps now would be an appropriate time. Dith Pran, the photojournalist and war prisoner who’s story is told by the film has passed away March 31st from cancer just as the Cambodian War Crime Tribunal gears up for a heart wrenching search for truth and justice. 5 top war criminals are being tried in the Khmer Rouge “Year Zero” genocide were an estimated 1.7 million people were killed.

After watching the DVD with bonus material I learned about the rather ironic death of Haing S. Ngor, the actor who played Dith Pran in “The Killing Fields”. Haing S. Ngor, who was a prisoner of war himself and found it difficult to reenact some of the scenes, eventually made a new life for himself in the US but in 1996 was shot to death in an attempted robbery. He escaped the grasp of the Khamer Rouge only to die in a country who still believes that we should be allowed to bear arms.

Sydney H. Schanberg, his partner is still alive.

New York Times article has many more photos of and by Dith Pran and a very recent interview at his bedside. “Dith Pran, Photojournalist and Survivor of the Killing Fields, Dies at 65″ by Douglas Martin, March 21, 2008

- – - – - – - -

Upsetting fact of living in the U.S.A.: If you attend a college in Utah you can now carry a concealed weapon, with the proper license of course. In 2006 Utah Supreme court allowed guns on college campuses. The opinion is guns in the hands of law abiding citizens can save lives. The CNN report 

Right to Bear Arms on Campus

Ban Ki-Moon hits back at tribunal criticism

The office of United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has defended
the embattled investigating judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal in a
statement that drew criticism from local observers and lawyers at the
court.

The judges have come under fire in recent weeks from
victims, civil society groups and even their own staff for their
apparent failure to investigate the tribunal’s third case properly. The
likely dismissal of the case reflects the viewpoint of the Cambodian
government, which opposes prosecutions beyond the upcoming Case 002,
leading many to charge that Case 003 has been sabotaged for political
expediency.

In a statement released in New York on Tuesday, Ban’s
office rejected “media speculation” that the UN had directed the judges
to shutter Case 003 and denied that any political interference had
occurred in the case. A “closing order” – indictments or dismissals in
the case – will be available to public scrutiny at a later date, the
statement added.

“The judges and prosecutors at the Extraordinary
Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) must be allowed to function
free from external interference by the Royal Government of Cambodia, the
United Nations, donor States and civil society,” the statement read,
adding: “Speculating on the content of the Closing Order at this stage
does not assist the independent judicial process.”

However, local
observers said the statement was in fact cause for greater concern
about the tribunal, as the UN refused to acknowledge the abundance of
evidence that the Case 003 investigation has been mismanaged.

Co-investigating
judges Siegfried Blunk of Germany and You Bunleng of Cambodia announced
the conclusion of their Case 003 investigation in April, though without
taking a number of seemingly basic steps including the questioning of
the suspects involved and the examination of a number of alleged crime
sites.

Staff from the judges’ office have since begun resigning
in protest; in a resignation letter to Blunk last month, noted Khmer
Rouge-era historian Stephen Heder, formerly a consultant to the
investigating judges, spoke of the “toxic atmosphere” within their
office, saying it had become “professionally dysfunctional”. He added
that the judges had closed Case 003 “effectively without investigating
it”.

The judges last week rejected a series of requests from
international co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley calling for them to
investigate the case further, a decision Cayley has appealed.

In
the statement Tuesday, Ban’s office cited the confidentiality of the
investigation and said the investigating judges “are not under an
obligation to provide reasons for their actions at this stage of the
investigation in Case 003”.

But Anne Heindel, a legal adviser at
the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, called this an erroneous reading
of court rules and said the UN was “hiding behind a cloak of
confidentiality”.

“As an institution, the UN is trying to protect
the integrity of the court by denying that there are any problems, and
it’s too late for that,” she said. “They need to acknowledge that action
needs to be taken to save this investigation or it could undermine the
entire work of the court.”

Clair Duffy, a trial monitor with the
Open Society Justice Initiative, said UN officials were “ignoring all of
the evidence they now have before them, including from people inside
the court with knowledge of what’s going on”.

“To pretend that
this is a matter of speculation at this point ignores the wealth of
available evidence that no serious investigative action was ever
undertaken in relation to the 003 suspects,” she said.

The
suspects in Case 003 remain officially confidential, though court
documents reveal them as former KR navy commander Meas Mut and air force
commander Sou Met.

Lawyers for former Khmer Rouge Brother No 2
Nuon Chea, set to stand trial later this month in the court’s second
case, also took issue with the UN statement, which referred to their
client as one of “the four remaining leaders of the Khmer Rouge”.

This
statement, the defence team said, presupposes both Nuon Chea’s guilt
and the fact that he and the other Case 002 suspects “are the only
‘leaders’ of the Khmer Rouge still alive”.

Whether the Case 003
suspects also fall into this category “is a matter which is currently
the subject of litigation before the ECCC”, the defence team said.

THE KILLING FIELDS, ONCE SEEN, NEVER FORGOTTEN

'This is a story of war and friendship, of the anguish of a ruined country and of one man's will to live.' - Sydney H Schanberg

One film, more than any other, made such an impact on me that I can vividly recall scenes from it without any difficulty at all. That film, which I first saw in 1985, is The Killing Fields, a story of friendship that endured against appalling odds in war-torn Cambodia. Filmed in Thailand on a budget of $15 million, it recounts the true story of Dith Pran, a Cambodian assistant to American journalist Sydney Schanberg of The New York Times. After the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge, Schanberg was allowed to leave while Pran, forced to work long, hard hours in primitive conditions and under the constant threat of death, remained behind. Enduring four and a half years of privation and fear, Pran dramatically escaped across the border with Thailand and was reunited with his friend and mentor Schanberg in a Thai border camp on 9 October 1979, uttering the immortal words, "you came Sydney, you came."

One of the movie's best reviews I've read comes from Peter Reiher, which I've re-produced here to provide a flavour of the film: The Killing Fields is an extraordinarily powerful film, the best new film I've seen this year. It's a strong indictment of modern war in general and the American conduct of the war in Cambodia in particular, but its great strength derives from its secondary themes of the power of friendship and the importance of a will to survive, as well as general comments on accepting responsibility for one's actions. This rich combination of themes is what lifts The Killing Fields above most other films.

The Killing Fields is based on a true story. Sydney Schanberg was the New York Times correspondent to Cambodia during the 70s. He worked closely with his interpreter, Dith Pran, a Cambodian journalist. Together, they exposed many of the US atrocities in Cambodia which resulted from our secret war there, a spillover from the Vietnam War. Sydney and Pran also became good friends, but when Lon Nol's government fell and Pol Pot took over, Schanberg was able to escape and Pran could not. As Schanberg heard more and more of the horrors of the Pol Pot regime, Communism gone mad, he castigated himself more and more for persuading Pran to remain even when it was no longer safe. Meanwhile, Pran struggled to survive in a nation in which 3 million people, out of a population of 7 million, were killed in the course of a few years.

Above: Dith Pran and Sydney Schanberg

The Killing Fields is composed of three separate segments. First, we see Sydney and Pran at work in war-torn Cambodia. Then, as things fall apart, the journalists seek refuge in the French embassy in Phnom Penh. Finally, Pran tries to stay alive and escape from a hell on earth while Sydney guiltily receives the rewards for their work in the safety of America. The filmmakers deserve much credit for seamlessly binding together three separate stories. The Killing Fields is very much a cohesive entity, yet, running through the individual scenes in one's mind, it is easy to see how even slight carelessness could have made the film into a string of marginally related incidents. Bruce Robinson's script and Roland Joffe's direction combine to form thematic lines which run throughout the film, holding it firmly together. The major weakness of the film, Schanberg's disappearance from the latter third of the film as an effective character, is a limitation of the true story. The filmmakers are to be commended for working within this difficult restriction rather than coming up with a cheap Hollywood rescue mission ending.

Joffe, a BBC director, makes a fine debut. The Killing Fields is very well directed, albeit in a somewhat impersonal style. The shots are well selected, with an emphasis on naturalism. There are few of the flourishes which might expected from a more strong willed director. As might be expected, most of Joffe's most impressive sequences concern atrocities, but these are not presented with the bloodthirsty glee so common in films nowadays. Blood is spilled, people are killed, people are tortured, but Joffe does not show it to us as entertainment. Rather, he makes us see that it an integral part of the story, something we cannot just turn away from, for it explains the tragedy of Cambodia.

Joffe is just the sort of director that appeals to producer David Puttnam. Puttnam, who previously produced Chariots of Fire and several other fine films, is a producer from the old school. His films are really his. Puttnam is the major creative force behind The Killing Fields. The success of the film is due less to individual excellences than inspired balancing of all of its elements. Each creative position has been filled by a fine craftsman who shares the common vision. Puttnam's genius is less for choosing perfect material for films than his ability to see what he wants and find people who can make his vision come to the screen. It may not sound like a very impressive talent, but Puttnam is the only working producer who consistently displays it.

Above: David Puttnam, Roland Joffe & Bruce Robinson

While all elements of The Killing Fields are laudable, some deserve special attention. The performances of Sam Waterston and Dr. Haing S. Ngor in the leading roles are vital to the film's success. Waterston is a fine actor who combines the rare traits of decency and intelligence. He's been performing in supporting roles in American pictures (The Great Gatsby and Heaven's Gate) and leading roles in British films (Sweet William and Eagle's Wing) for some years, but has never broken through with a major role in a major American picture. He reminds me of James Stewart, with a bit less naivete. I have always liked his work, particularly his role as the narrator of The Great Gatsby. He gives another fine performance in The Killing Fields, delicately balancing ambition and conscience. Dr. Ngor is not a professional actor. Dith Pran is his first role. However, he survived through experiences in Cambodia remarkably similar to Pran's. As a result, the truth of his performance shines through any technical inexperiences. We believe his sufferings and sacrifices, perhaps because he can pull them, direct and horrid, from his own memory.

The supporting cast is also sturdy. John Malkovich, last seen as the blind boarder in Places in the Heart, plays a hot tempered photographer. Such a different role, so convincingly portrayed, is bound to do his career good. Our gain, too, for we can always use more good actors. Craig T. Nelson demonstrates that he has the lock on middle level military authority figures, playing yet another Air Force officer. Fans of Call to Glory can get some cheap kicks figuring out if the character is the same in TV show and movie. It would certainly add some interesting dimensions to the TV show if he were. Athol Fugard and Bill Paterson have fairly small supporting roles as other journalists.

The photography is excellent. Yet again I find myself without the name of a key figure, in this case the cinematographer (ed. it was Chris Menges). He blends the beauty of the Cambodian countryside (actually neighboring Thailand) with the horrors of war. The battle footage is convincingly like documentary footage from Vietnam in style, though better in technical quality. The cinematographer and Joffe deserve credit for not showing us Cambodia as an exotic, foreign place full of incomprehensible things. Rather, they present the similarities amid the differences. We cannot merely dismiss The Killing Fields as more mysterious Asians mistreating each other, and Westerners, for their own inscrutable reasons. We must face their actions as the natural consequences of modern war and fanatical ideology anywhere.

The Killing Fields is not a tutorial on American atrocities in Cambodia. Little time is spent moaning about how we have destroyed the country in our typically heartless American way. None the less, the subtext definitely presents American thoughtlessness and callousness as a primary cause of Cambodia's suffering, and the specific destruction of Cambodia through saturation bombing is far from overlooked. Joffe and Puttnam do not settle for the cheap and popular solution of saying that it's all the fault of the rotten 'ol USA, though. Cambodia owes part of its problems to Vietnam, and part to itself, and The Killing Fields, in the same low key way it points the finger at the US, indicts these other forces.

The human, more than the political, is the core of The Killng Fields. Fundamentally, this is not a film about one war in one place, but about the ravages of war in general. The specific villains are of less concern to the filmmakers than the motives behind the villainy, motives all too common in the world. The success of the film is due to the skillful, but unmanipulative, counterposing of the power of friendship. The Killing Fields is not an easy movie, but it is a very fine one. (Review by Peter Reiher, 1985).

It's a movie that brought the tragedy of the Cambodian holocaust to the attention of the public at large. The star of the film in my opinion was undoubtedly Haing Ngor. A physician by profession, Ngor was imprisoned and tortured by the Khmer Rouge before escaping to Thailand, mirroring almost exactly his portrayal of Dith Pran in the movie (picture below). With no formal acting experience, his masterful performance won him an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, the first non-actor to do so since 1946. He went onto combine his acting career in films like In Love & War, Iron Triangle, The Dragon Gate and Heaven & Earth with refugee and human rights work before his untimely death in February 1996, murdered by members of a Los Angeles street gang. His powerful autobiography, 'Surviving the Killing Fields', written with Roger Warner in 1988, tells his incredible life story.

The film proved to be a breakthrough for many of the members of the cast and crew. It was director Roland Joffé's first film (up to that time he'd directed only television series in the UK) before he went onto direct The Mission in 1986 and later, City of Joy and Vatel. Sam Waterston (who played Schanberg) and John Malkovich also saw their careers take off. In the film, Malkovich played the legendary photographer Al Rockoff, who can regularly be found in the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh (although he was never happy with his portrayal in the film). Julian Sands, who played the part of Jon Swain, later starred in Boxing Helena and Vatel. Swain, a London-based journalist for the Sunday Times, is the author of 'River of Time,' one of my favourite books on Indochina. Of the film, he said, "I owe my life to Dith Pran. How he saved us from certain execution is scrupulously and flawlessly told in this film."

Based on a New York Times Magazine article written by Schanberg, entitled 'The Death and Life of Dith Pran,' the movie was nominated for seven Oscars, winning three (Best Supporting Actor - Haing Ngor; Best Cinematography - Chris Menges; Best Film Editing - Jim Clark), as well as collecting nine British Academy Awards. It's particularly memorable for images of the piercing scream of a child in the midst of battle, a hospital filled with dead and dying children or the evacuation of the entire population of the city of Phnom Penh into the countryside. There's Pran's desperate pleas to their Khmer Rouge captors to save his journalist friends, the soul-destroying failure of a passport photo that could've saved him or his stumbling through a field that has become a mass grave for his countrymen. All of them, vivid and emotional images from a film that helped trigger my own passion in Cambodia.

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal turned into a public dispute

Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda

Maha Ghosananda, (full title Samdech Preah Maha Ghosananda - សម្ដចព្រះមហាឃោសានន្ទ) (1929 - March 12, 2007), was a highly revered Cambodian Buddhist monk in the Theravada tradition, who served as the Patriarch (Sangharaja) of Cambodian Buddhism during the Khmer Rouge period and post-communist transition period of Cambodian history. His Pali monastic name, 'Maha Ghosananda', means "great joyful proclaimer".
Contents


• 1 Early life


• 2 Education


• 3 Khmer Rouge Era


• 4 Restoration


• 5 Dhamma Yatra

Early life
He was born in Takéo Province, Cambodia in 1929, to a farming family in the Mekong Delta plains. From an early age he showed great interest in religion, and began to serve as a temple boy at age eight. He greatly impressed the monks with whom he served, and at age fourteen received novice ordination. He studied Pali scriptures in the local temple high school, then went on to complete his higher education at the monastic universities in Phnom Penh and Battambang, before going to India to pursue a doctorate in Pali at Nalanda University in Bihar.
Education
Maha Ghosananda trained under some of the most highly influential Buddhist masters of his time, including the Japanese monk Nichidatsu Fujii, and the Cambodian Patriarch Samdech Preah Sangharaja Chuon Nath.
In 1965, Maha Ghosananda left India to study meditation under Ajahn Dhammadaro, of Wat Chai Na forest temple near Nakorn Sri Dhammaraj in Southern Thailand, a famous meditation master of the Thai Forest Tradition. Four years later, while he was still studying at Dhammadaro's forest monastery, the United States began bombing Cambodia as part of their attempt to shut down the Ho Chi Minh Trail and end the Vietnam War. Cambodia became engulfed in civil war and social disintegration.
Khmer Rouge Era
As the Khmer Rouge seized control of the country, the prospects of Buddhism became increasingly doubtful. Pol Pot, who had once served in a Buddhist monastery, denounced Buddhist monks as useless pariah, and part of the feudalistic power structures of the past. Monks were viewed with suspicion and disdain as part of the intellectual class, and targeted for especially brutal treatment and "reeducation".
As part of the Khmer Rouge horrific Year Zero campaign, monks were systematically turned out of monasteries and forced to disrobe and become farming peasants, or were tortured and murdered outright. Some monks were forced to violate their vows at gunpoint. By the time the Khmer Rouge reign of terror ended, there were no monks alive in Cambodia, and most temples were in rubble.
Meanwhile, refugees began to filter out of Cambodia and congregate in refugee camps along the Thai border, bringing with them tales of unbelievable, apocalyptic horrors.
In 1978, Maha Ghosananda left his forest hermitage in Thailand, and went down to the refugee camps near the Thai-Cambodia border to begin ministering to the first refugees who filtered across the border.
Maha Ghosananda was one of the few Cambodian monks to survive the brutal purge instigated by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
Maha Ghosananda's appearance in the refugee camps raised a stir among the refugees who had not seen a monk for years. The Cambodian refugees openly wept as Maha Ghosananda chanted the ancient and familiar sutras that had been the bedrock of traditional Cambodian culture before Year Zero. He distributed photocopied Buddhist scriptures among the refugees, as protection and inspiration for the battered people.
His entire family, and countless friends and disciples, were massacred by the Khmer Rouge.
Restoration
Maha Ghosananda served as a key figure in post-Communist Cambodia, helping to restore the nation state and to revive Cambodian Buddhism. In 1980, he served as a representative of the Cambodian nation-in-exile to the United Nations
When the Pol Pot regime collapsed in 1979, Maha Ghosananda was one of only 3,000 Cambodian Buddhist monks alive, out of more than 60,000 at the start of the reign of terror in 1976.
In 1988, Maha Ghosananda was elected as sanghreach (sangharaja) by a small gathering of exiled monks in Paris.[1] He agreed to accept the position provisionally, until a complete, independent monastic hierarchy could be established in Cambodia.[2] At the time, Venerable Tep Vong was the titular head of a unified Cambodian sangha, having been appointed to the position in 1981 by the Vietnamese-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea.[3]
Dhamma Yatra
In 1992, during the first year of the United Nations sponsored peace agreement, Maha Ghosananda led the first nationwide Dhammayietra, a peace march or pilgrimage, across Cambodia in an effort to begin restoring the hope and spirit of the Cambodian people.
The 16-day, 125-mile peace walk passed through territory still controlled by the Khmer Rouge. The Dhammayietra became an annual walk which Maha Ghosananda led a number of times, despite the danger during the Khmer Rouge years. In 1995, the Dhammayietra consisted of almost 500 Cambodian Buddhist monks, nuns and precept-taking lay people. They were joined by The Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace and Life. Together the two groups crossed Cambodia from the Thai border all the way to Vietnam, spending several days walking through Khmer Rouge controlled territory along the way.
He had been called "the Gandhi of Cambodia."[1] Maha Ghosananda was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Claiborne Pell. He was again nominated in 1995, 1996, and 1997 for his work in bringing peace to Cambodia. He also acted as an advisor to the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and resided part time in the Palalai Temple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

King Norodom sihanouk

King Norodom Sihanouk regular script (born October 31, 1922) was the King of Cambodia until his abdication on October 7, 2004. He is now "King-Father (Khmer: Preahmâhaviraksat) of Cambodia," a position in which he retains many of his former responsibilities as constitutional King.
The son of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Sisowath Kossamak, Sihanouk has held so many positions since 1941 that the Guinness Book of World Records identifies him as the politician who has served the world's greatest variety of political offices. These included two terms as King, two as sovereign prince, one as president, two as prime minister, and one as Cambodia's non-titled head of state, as well as numerous positions as leader of various governments-in-exile.
Most of these positions were only honorific, including the last position as constitutional King of Cambodia. Norodom Sihanouk's actual period of effective rule over Cambodia was from November 9, 1953 (full independence granted to Cambodia) to March 18, 1970 (Lon Nol and the

King Norodom Sihanouk received his primary education in a Phnom Penh primary school. He pursued his secondary education in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam at "Lycée Chasseloup Laubat" until his coronation and then later attended Cavalry military school in Saumur, France. When his maternal grandfather, King Sisowath Monivong, died on April 23, 1941, the Crown Council selected Prince Sihanouk as King of Cambodia. At that time, Cambodia was part of French Indochina. His coronation took place on September 1941.

Prime Minister : Main articles: Cambodia under Sihanouk (1954–1970) and Cambodian Civil WarAfter World War II and into the early 1950s, King Sihanouk's aspirations became much more nationalistic and he began demanding independence from the French colonists and their complete departure from Indochina. This echoed the sentiments of the other fledgling nations of French Indochina: the State of Vietnam, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and the Kingdom of Laos. He went into exile in Thailand in May 1953 because of threats on his life by the French and only returned when independence was granted on November 9, 1953. On March 2, 1955, Sihanouk abdicated in favor of his father, taking the post of Prime Minister a few months later. Following his father's death in 1960, he won general election as head of state, but received the title of prince rather than King. In 1963, he made a change in the constitution that made him head of state for life. While he was not officially crowned as King, he had created a constitutional office for himself that was exactly equal to that of the former kingship.
Meeting in Beijing: from left Mao Zedong, Peng Zhen, Sihanouk, Liu ShaoqiWhen the Vietnam War raged, Sihanouk promoted policies that he claimed to preserve Cambodia's neutrality and most importantly security. While he in many cases sided with his neighbors, pressures upon his government from all sides in the conflict were immense, and his overriding concern was to prevent Cambodia from being drawn into a wider regional war. In so doing he made difficult choices of alliances in pursuit of the least dangerous course of action, within a political environment where genuine neutrality was likely impossible at the time. In the spring of 1965, he made a pact with the People's Republic of China (China) and North Vietnam to allow the presence of permanent North Vietnamese bases in eastern Cambodia and to allow military supplies from China to reach Vietnam by Cambodian ports. Cambodia and Cambodian individuals were compensated by Chinese purchases of the Cambodian rice crop by China at inflated prices. He also at this time made many speeches calling the triumph of Communism in Southeast Asia inevitable and suggesting Maoist ideas were worthy of emulation. In 1966 and 1967, Sihanouk unleashed a wave of political repression that drove many on the left out of mainstream politics. His policy of friendship with China collapsed due to the extreme attitudes in China at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. The combination of political repression and problems with China made his balancing act impossible to sustain. He had alienated the left, allowed the North Vietnamese to establish bases within Cambodia and staked everything on China's good will. On 11 March 1967, a revolt in Battambang Province led to the Cambodian Civil War.

On March 18, 1970, while Sihanouk was traveling out of the country, Lon Nol, the Prime Minister, convened the National Assembly which voted to depose Sihanouk as head of state. Emergency powers were given to Lon Nol and with the support from the Americans, the Khmer Republic was created. Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak retained his post as Deputy Prime Minister. In 1941, the Prince had been passed over by the French government in favor of his cousin Norodom Sihanouk's leadership role.
After he was deposed, Sihanouk fled to Beijing, formed the National United Front of Kampuchea (Front Uni National du Kampuchéa - FUNK) and began to support the Khmer Rouge in their struggle to overthrow the Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh. He initiated the Gouvernement Royal d'Union Nationale du Kampuchéa (Royal Kampuchean National union Government), which included Khmer Rouge leaders. After Sihanouk showed his support for the Khmer Rouge by visiting them in the field, their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters. Many of the new recruits for the Khmer Rouge were apolitical peasants who fought in support of the King, not for communism, of which they had little understanding. King Sihanouk believed they were doing a good deed for him, he had no idea they were going to betray him. He would later argue (1979) that the monarchy being abolished, he was only fighting for his country's independence, 'even if [his] country had to be Communist.'During Lon Nol's regime, Sihanouk mostly lived in exile in North Korea, where a 60-room palatial residence which even had an indoor movie theater, was built for him. He would later return to his Pyongyang palace after 1979 Vietnamese invasion.

When the Khmer Republic fell to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, Prince Sihanouk became the symbolic head of state of the new régime while Pol Pot remained in power. Sihanouk, who had imagined living like a retired country gentleman and perhaps being 'a public relations man for [his] country and have [...] jazz parties and do some filming' was to spend the next few years virtually as a hostage of the Khmer Rouge. The next year, on April 4, 1976, the Khmer Rouge forced Sihanouk out of office again and into political retirement. During the Vietnamese invasion, he was sent to New York to speak against Vietnam before the United Nations. After his speech, he sought refuge in China and in North Korea.
The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in December 1978 ousted the Khmer Rouge. While welcoming the ousting of the Khmer Rouge genocidal regime, he remained firmly opposed to the Vietnamese-installed Heng Samrin government of People's Republic of Kampuchea. Hence, Sihanouk demanded Cambodia's seat in the UN be left vacant, since neither Pol Pot regime nor Heng Samrin represented the Khmer people. Although claiming to be wary of the Khmer Rouge and demanding that the Khmer Rouge representatives that still held Cambodia's UN seat be expelled, Sihanouk again joined forces with them in order to provide a united front against the Vietnamese occupation. It has been argued that one of the reasons was the US pressure to work with the Khmer Rouge. In 1982, he moved completely into opposition of the Vietnam-supported government, becoming president of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which consisted of his own Funcinpec party, Son Sann's KPNLF, and the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, leaving behind a pro-Vietnamese government under ex-Khmer Rouge cadre Hun Sen to run the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sihanouk's opposition forces drew limited military and financial support from the United States, which sought to assist his movement as part of the Reagan Doctrine effort to counter Soviet and Vietnamese involvement in Cambodia. One of the Reagan Doctrine's principal architects, the Heritage Foundation's Michael Johns, visited with Sihanouk's forces in Cambodia in 1987, and returned to Washington urging expanded U.S. support for the KPLNF and Sihanouk's resistance forces as a third alternative to both the Vietnamese-installed and supported Cambodian government and the Khmer Rouge, which also was resisting the government.

Peace negotiations between the CGDK and the PRK commenced shortly thereafter and continued until 1991 when all sides agreed to a comprehensive settlement which they signed in Paris. Prince Sihanouk returned once more to Cambodia on November 14, 1991 after thirteen years in exile.
In 1993, Sihanouk once again became King of Cambodia. During the restoration, however, he suffered from ill health and traveled repeatedly to Beijing for medical treatment.
Sihanouk's leisure interests include music (he has composed songs in Khmer, French, and English) and film. He has become a prodigious filmmaker over the years, directing many movies and orchestrating musical compositions. He became one of the first heads of state in the region to have a personal website, which has proven a cult hit. It draws more than a thousand visitors a day, which constitutes a substantial portion of his nation's Internet users. Royal statements are posted there daily.

Sihanouk went into self-imposed exile in January 2004, taking up residence in Pyongyang, North Korea and later in Beijing, China. Citing reasons of ill health, he announced his abdication of the throne on October 7, 2004. Sihanouk was diagnosed with B-Cell Lymphoma in his prostate in 1993; the disease recurred in his stomach in 2005, and a new cancer was found in December 2008. Sihanouk also suffers from diabetes and hypertension.
The constitution of Cambodia has no provision for an abdication. Chea Sim, the President of the Senate, assumed the title of acting Head of State (a title he has held many times before), until the throne council met on October 14 and appointed Norodom Sihamoni, one of Sihanouk's sons, as the new King.

Samdech Sangha RajaChuon Nat

Samdech Sangha Raja Jhotañano Chuon Nath (March 11, 1883 – September 25, 1969) is the late Supreme Patriarch Kana Mahanikaya of Cambodia. Amongst his achievements is his effort in conservation of the Khmer language in the form of the Khmer dictionary. His protection of Khmer identity and history in the form of the national anthem, Nokor Reach and Savada Khmer are also amongst his contribution to the country.
Conserving the Khmer language
Nath was the head of a reformist movement in the Khmer Buddhist  Sangha which developed a rationalist-scholastic model of Buddhism, rooted in linguistic studies of the Pali Canon. This new movement, known as Dhammayuttika Nikaya, influenced young Khmer monks in the early 20th century. The new movmenet also cultivated Khmer-language identity and culture, giving rise to the notion of Cambodian nationalism.
Nath pushed for a series of innovations in the Khmer Sangha beginning in the early twentieth century: the use of print for sacred texts (rather than traditional methods of hand-inscribing palm-leaf manuscripts); a higher degree of expertise in Pali and Sanskrit studies among monks; a vision of orthodoxy based on teaching of Vinaya texts for both monks and lay-people; and modernization of teaching methods for Buddhist studies.
He also oversaw the translation of the entire Buddhist Pali cannon into Khmer language; and the creation of the Khmer language dictionary.
The French set up its protectorate over Cambodia and intended to replace the Khmer language with its own through the so-called "pseudo-French intellectuals." This intention rallied many Cambodian scholars to the course of conserving the Khmer language; one such scholar was Nath. A son of farmers who later became a monk, Nath dedicated his life to upholding Buddhism and the conservation of Khmer language in the country that was highly influenced by French colonialism. He had an extensive knowledge of the Khmer language. He was probably the most famous and most knowledgeable monk Cambodia had ever had. A master in Buddha’s teaching, he was very well known around the Buddhism circle as well as very adept at languages. Throughout his life he encouraged the use of "Khmerization" in both public education and religions. What Nath meant by "Khmerization" was he wanted to derive new Khmer words from its ancestral roots, the Pali and Sanskrit languages. For example, when the train arrived first in Cambodia, there was no Khmer word for the train. Nath thus derived the word for train from Sanskrit and Pali word of Ayomoyo which means something that is made of metal. Together with the word Yana which means vehicle, came the Khmer word for train which we know today as Ayaksmeyana, pronounced Ayak-smey-yean.
However, Nath’s Khmerization was not overall accepted by all Khmers. ther scholars such as Keng Vannsak who were pro-French did not find the kind of Khmer words derived from Pali and Sanskrit to be convenient. They revolutionized another kind of derivation which they want to adopt normalized French word into Khmer vocabulary. The only major change was to use Khmer alphabet to write the word rather than using the Roman alphabets used by the French. But despite opposition, Nath’s Khmerization succeeded. He was a member of the original committee granted royal order to compile a Khmer dictionary in 1915 and was credited as the founder of the dictionary as he pushed for and finally succeeded in printing the first edition of the current Khmer dictionary in 1967.
Nath’s other contribution to Cambodia include the current national anthem, Nokoreach. Nokoreach was written to correspond to the motto of the nation, "Nation, Religion, King" as well as demonstrate the grandeur and the mighty past of the Khmer nation.
Verification of the national khmer song:
Pong Savada Khmer
A ballad Savada Khmer to call for all Khmer to unite, to remember and to uphold the great history of the Khmer people was written by Mr Nuon Kan on 12/09/1958. It was not written by Samdach Chuon Nath though our Samdach Chuon Nath was giving a lot of support and encouragement to publicize khmer nationalistic nature of this song.
English Translation
 All khmer , please remember the root and history of our great countryOur boundary was wide and well knownOthers always thought highly of our raceAnd always placed our race as the elders.
We have great heritage and cultureWhich has spread far and wide in the Far East.Religion, arts and education,Music, philosophy and strategies are all that we have spread.
All Khmers, please remember our roots and historyWhich speaks of the grandeur of our great raceMake up your mind and body and try hard to rebuildIn order to lift the value of our nationTo once again rise to the greatness that we once had.

Cambodia, Thai argue over diplomatic notes on pagoda and flag

DAP News. Breaking News by Soy Sopheap

Tuesday, 01 February 2011 08:15 dap-news

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Thailand throw arguments over diplomatic notes concerning the pagoda and flag that have been existing near Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple since 1998.

On Monday, the Thai Foreign Ministry issued a statement demanding Cambodia to remove the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda and Cambodian national flag flying over the pagoda from the disputed area adjacent to the Temple of Preah Vihear.

The statement said the pagoda "is situated on Thai territory."

But, Cambodia, through the Foreign Ministry denied Tuesday with a diplomatic note saying "It is well acknowledged in Thailand that the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda was built by the people of Cambodia in 1998 with the flag of the Kingdom of Cambodia flying over this pagoda since then."

"The question is why only now that Thailand demanded for the removal of Cambodia's flag. Until now, Cambodia has never received any official demand from Thailand," it said.

"The Keo Sikha Kiri Svara Pagoda is legally well situated in Cambodian territory; and by no means will Cambodia relocate this pagoda elsewhere and Cambodia will continue to fly its flags there, " the statement added.

The argument is exchanged amid two Thai nationals being tried in Phnom Penh on Tuesday for their illegal entry, illegal trespass into a military zone and collecting information which is harmful to Cambodia's national affairs.

They were arrested in Banteay Meanchey Province by the Cambodian authorities on Dec. 29 for the above acts.

The two are known as Veera Somkwamkid, one of the leaders of the People's Network Against Corruption and an activist in the Thailand Patriot Network, and his secretary known as Ratree Pipatanapaiboon. Enditem ..

______

THAILAND MUST BE SENSITIVE TO ICAPP VOICES AND TO THE WISDOM OF WORLD OPINION

Tuesday, 01 February 2011 04:54 DAP-NEWS .- The International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) reaffirmed the ICJ Decision 15 June 1962;

- The International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) reaffirmed the World Heritage Committee to inscribe the Temple of Preah Vihear on the World Heritage List;

- The Cambodian flag flies over territory under Cambodian sovereignty only.

There is no Cambodian flag flying over "the disputed area". Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva should not be alarmed and wrongly demand that the Cambodian flag be removed. It flies certainly over territory under Cambodian sovereignty only, in the area of the Temple of Preah Vihear.

It is Cambodia's longstanding official position that there is "no overlapping area," and "no disputed area" near the Temple of Preah Vihear, based on the Dangrek Map, known in legal and international circles as the ANNEX I map, accepted and used by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962 in order to make the historical, legal and international judgments of 15 June 1962, (Cambodia vs Thailand), case: The Temple of Preah Vihear. The ICJ found that Thailand had accepted the ANNEX I map, which confers the binding character of the ANNEX I map on the parties to the 13 February 1904 Convention.

The site of the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda is situated 300 meters west of the Temple of Preah Vihear and 700 meters south of the frontier on the ANNEX I map, as delimited by the Mixed Commission composed of French and Siamese officers prescribed in the provisions of Articles 1 and 3 of the 13 February 1904 Convention.

Legitimately and legally speaking, this is an area under Cambodian sovereignty, and as such Cambodia is free to fly her flag or develop infrastructure aimed at improving the living conditions of the people in communities which had been established under Cambodian administrative supervision and control. Having said that, as long as (i) it is not a Thai provocation by actions and words, (ii) not a cause to cloud the relations and mutual understandings between Cambodia and Thailand, (iii) not hidden or open violations of Cambodia sovereignty by Thailand, how Thailand sees the frontier line on the ANNEX I map would not be a concern for Cambodia. The ANNEX I map exists legally. An international, final and stable frontier line exists legally as delimited by the Mixed Commission and as shown on the map.

Most recently, on 5 December 2010, after concluding successfully the 6th General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) represented by 89 Asian ruling and opposition political parties, ICAPP Standing Committee members visited the Temple of Preah Vihear. They stood on the grounds of the Temple, turning their eyes north, looking at Thailand, and:

- Reaffirmed the great international significance and outstanding universal value -very pure, significant and exceptional- of this Temple in accordance with the cultural standard of UNESCO, which was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2008, and expressed their appreciation of the Decision made by the World Heritage Committee to inscribe the Temple on the World Heritage List in Quebec, Canada;

- Expressed their entire satisfaction with the decision of the International Court of Justice in June 1962, which ruled the Temple of Preah Vihear is indisputably situated in territory under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Cambodia;

- Appealed to the international community for their immediate assistance in restoring, preserving and protecting the Temple, following the example of ICC-Angkor, which should be applied as a model for the sacred site of the Temple of Preah Vihear.

As it is known universally among civilized nations in case of contention, there exist international standards, rules and procedures to resolve the differences peacefully, and in this instance between Cambodia and Thailand. Rolling tanks, sending troops to the border areas, beefed up troops with heavy weapons by Thailand are acts of provocation and the threat of using forces is imminent not to be ignored by the Cambodian people and government.

Thailand, since the days of the ICJ proceedings has shown its true color to be driven by insatiable territorial ambition over Cambodia and has resorted to innuendo, speculation and suggestion in a variety of ways intended to intoxicate international public opinion with the scheme of swaying it to the side of Thailand and to believe that Thailand is a victim of Cambodian territorial encroachment and that Cambodia has remained badly mean and aggressive and yet unpunished by the international public opinion. Sure enough, Thai people, for nationalist reasons have fallen for that. But the international public opinion, despite relentless campaigns by Thai powerful media in many different foreign languages, has instead given to Thailand a slap in the face by:

- Being skeptical from the start, knowing that Thailand is relatively much, much more economically and military powerful than Cambodia to allow the latter to bully Thailand; that is unthinkable.

- Believing that Thailand as a whole from top to bottom would not have tolerated any neighbors had they encroach Thai territory, or occupy a square inch of Thai territory, and asking why Thailand has not acted if it was true.

- Seeing Thailand's indecisiveness and hesitation pertinent to the alleged loss of Thai "disputed territory" as the admission of Thailand's scare of the unknown resulting from its lie and deception if it pursues military, diplomatic or international legal action.

- Getting tired of the same broken song about "overlapping area" and "disputed area," while insisting to resolve the "problems" bi-laterally and resisting the alternative approach of finishing up the Thai unproductive and annoying saga full of innuendo, suggestion and speculation, by using the good auspices of ASEAN and the UNITED NATIONS.

- Concluding that Thailand is a crying baby, and that is the end of it.

The Cambodian people have reasons to be thankful to the international public opinion for its fairness in listening to their voices telling the fact and the truth and referring only to the binding international convention treaty and legality.

Often times Thailand's provocations and threats of using forces are real and therefore, they demand vigilance from Cambodians at all times. Well over two years now, since 15 July 2008, Thailand has learnt some sad lessons that it should not have messed around with Cambodia, under the wise leadership of Prime Minister, Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen who has the dream and the wisdom of building peaceful and developing areas along the border of Cambodia with Thailand and other neighbors, but is determined to lead a united Cambodia to defend her sovereignty and safeguard her territorial integrity.

Waddhana P

Senior Analyst and Researcher on Cambodian-Thai Relations Institute for International Affairs, Cambodia

id for maids at hand

Tuesday October 4, 2011

By DARA SAOYUTH and NOY KIMHONG

metro@thestar.com.my

The Star Online (Malaysia)

There are more than 20,000 Cambodian maids in Malaysia now and the number is growing after the Indonesian government banned their domestic workers from working here in 2009.

Cambodian ambassador to Malaysia Princess Norodom Arunrasmy said some maids were not ready to work in certain conditions while the expectation from the employers was too high.

“Most of the maids who come here are from rural areas and do not have enough education.

“Some maid agencies in Cambodia do not provide enough training skills.

“However, we are always ready to help any Cambodian who needs our assistance,” said Arunrasmy.

She said the embassy used to even approach the employers directly upon receiving complaints from Cambodian maids.

The Cambodia embassy’s second secretary, Ung Vantha, said he had to deal with many problems related to Cambodian maids.

“Every day, there is an average of four maids seeking help for various problems.

“Some of them need to renew their passports or extend the visas while some have problems with their employers,” he said.

He added that for problems between employers and maids, he had to interview both sides to seek a mutual agreement.

Vantha said there was a case of a maid who refused to go back to her homeland.

“Her parents talked to the local media and organisation saying that their daughter was being abused and asked to send her back.

“When I asked the maid she told me that nobody abused her and she did not want to go home because her parents were always drunk and the domestic violence affected her,” Vantha added.

A 27-year-old Cambodian maid, recounting her feelings before leaving her hometown, said she did know anyone outside the country and was scared when she heard about many cases of Cambodian maids being overworked, abused and not given enough food.

Basic lessons: Maids learning cooking skills at Sri Nadin Sdn Bhd’s training centre in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, Kuala Lumpur.

Aiy Sreyra, who is working as a maid for a Chinese family, was at the Cambodian embassy to extend her visa.

“My employer never abused me and people in the house also provide me with enough food. They are kind and friendly and pay my salary regularly,” said Sreyra.

She added that after working in Malaysia for two years she had earned some money to send to the family in Cambodia.

Now she has decided continue working for another year.

“It was difficult for me at first because of language and I don’t know how to use some modern household equipment.

“My work is to look after my employer’s children, help them to sell fruits, clean the house and do other house work.

“Now, I am getting used to the work and I want to stay here to earn some more money” she added.

Arunasmy said besides earning some money, most of them could speak more than their own language when they went back home.

She said the embassy was also tightening protection mechanisms for its domestic workers by requiring employers to bring the maids along when renewing their passports.

“By doing so the embassy could make sure that the maids were faring well in the country,” she said.