Cambodia Report

News and views on Cambodia


Compiled by Farib Sos

Vol 2, No 1 January 2000

In this issue-
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Thai border conflicts could hamper growing border trade
.c Kyodo News Service

BANGKOK, Jan. 27 (Kyodo) - Frequent conflicts along Thailand's borders, especially its ethnically volatile border with Myanmar, could threaten the country's growing border trade, a leading Thai research organization warned Thursday.

The Thai Farmer Research Center said in a report that possible tightening of security along the borders could boost the confidence of people living in the area.

The report was alluding to frequent fighting between Myanmar's central government and the country's restive ethnic minority groups along the Thai border, as well as to sporadic unrest in the southern part of Thailand involving Muslim insurgents.

The center said Thailand recorded satisfactory growth in trade last year with its four neighbors -- Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. Exports surpassed 100 million baht for the first time to total 107.4 million baht, while imports stood at 32.7 million baht, resulting in the highest ever trade surplus of 74.7 billion baht.

Malaysia ranked as the number one trader, accounting for up to 70% of total border trade in volume.


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Cambodian farmers stage rally outside Japanese Embassy

.c Kyodo News Service

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 27 (Kyodo) - About 60 Cambodian farmers rallied Thursday outside the Japanese Embassy in Phnom Penh, demanding Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi use his influence to ease their suffering from land-grabbing by local authorities.

''We, Cambodian farmers who are victims of land-grabbing, ask the Japanese government to urge the Cambodian government to urgently implement a significant land reform in order to ensure social justice and genuine and sustainable development for Cambodia,'' the protesters said in a letter handed in at the embassy.

Sam Rainsy, an opposition leader who called last week for a special session of parliament to be convened to take up the land reform issue, also joined the rally.

The farmers, however, also expressed their ''deepest gratitude'' to the Japanese people and Japanese government for their continued support to Cambodia.

But they urged Obuchi, who recently visited Cambodia, to use his influence to alleviate the sufferings of Cambodian farmers.

''Donor countries, especially Japan, which is the largest donor, can do a lot to foster the well-being of the Cambodian people,'' they said.

Land disputes have dramatically increased in the country as stability returned and land prices escalated.

Japan has played an important role in rehabilitating and promoting Cambodia's infrastructure since 1992. The rally ended peacefully.


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Dispossessed Cambodians seek Japanese help on land

PHNOM PENH, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Cambodian villagers allegedly disposessed by the army on Thursday marched to the embassy of Japan -- Cambodia's biggest aid donor -- to call for pressure for land reform.

The group of about 50 villagers and opposition leader Sam Rainsy said they wanted Japan to press the government to introduce land reform and ensure justice and development.

``Please help Cambodian farmers,'' the group shouted outside the embassy. Japan is Cambodia's biggest aid donor.

There was no trouble nor any arrests.

Sen Virak, a 28-year-old farmer from Kompong Speu province west of Phnom Penh, said his was one of 175 families forced off their land by a local military unit.

He and some of his neighbours have been camped outside the National Assembly for several days, hoping to push their demand for justice.

Social workers and legal experts say there have been a rash of land grabs, often by military men or their powerful business cronies, in various parts of the country over the last year.

Land disputes, often in or near old conflict zones, have led to several violent clashes between soldiers and farmers.

Former finance minister and outspoken government critic Sam Rainsy has been calling for introduction of a proper land law.

Government officials say the absence of a land law deters investment, particularly in the plantation and agro-industrial sectors.


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European Leaders Urge More Action to Stop Genocide

By Belinda Goldsmith

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - European leaders marked the 55th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp on Thursday with calls for efforts to prevent future genocide.

Many of the 20 presidents and prime ministers at a conference on the Holocaust said the lessons of Nazi Germany's systematic murder of Jews must never be forgotten.

Some pointed out that mass killings were continuing today.

``We did not prevent the genocide in Cambodia...in Rwanda, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia,'' Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen told the conference late on Wednesday.

``Near these borders of Sweden we have a catastrophe in Chechnya. We have an obligation to insist on some political solution, a humanitarian solution to those poor people there.''

Rasmussen echoed calls at the three-day conference to learn from the Nazi extermination of six million Jews, to inform future generations and to ensure it never happened again.

More than one million people, mostly Jews, were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps built by the Nazis in occupied Poland. The camps were liberated by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945.

The conference, which has attracted 700 delegates from 46 countries, grew out of a 1997 Swedish education campaign after a survey found 10 percent of Swedish schoolchildren did not know about the Holocaust.

Spreading knowledge about the Holocaust has become a personal crusade for Prime Minister Goran Persson as Sweden battles an upsurge in neo-Nazi and racist violence.

Sweden has been criticized for not doing enough to save Jews during World War Two when it was neutral, but Persson has won praise from Jewish leaders for setting up the conference and for his openness about Sweden's ambiguous stance in the war.

He has promised to look at changing laws barring prosecutions of crimes after more than 25 years, following revelations that at least 260 Swedes joined the Waffen SS which played a key role in the extermination of the Jews.

War crimes were also likely to figure on Thursday in the speech of Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga whose country is under pressure to seek the extradition of suspected Nazi war criminal Konrad Kalejs who is in Australia.

Countries attending the conference were urged to set up days of remembrance of the Holocaust. Britain responded by announcing an annual Holocaust Day to honor the memory of victims of genocide, promote racial tolerance and boost awareness.


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Cambodians eye Khmer Rouge justice but wary of war

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Cambodia's first public forum on whether members of the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime should be put on trial has revealed both a thirst for justice and fear the quest could threaten new-found peace.

About 100 people including former mid-ranking Khmer Rouge officials attended the debate organised on Thursday by the non-governmental group the Centre for Social Development in the northwestern town of Battambang.

The question of bringing the surviving architects of the ``killing fields'' to court has occupied the country since the last Khmer Rouge fighters and surviving leaders surrendered a year ago.

Some of the attendees, like 30-year-old Lim Sengthay, argued that Cambodia could never establish a proper civil society unless the leaders seen as responsible for some 1.7 million deaths faced court.

``The Khmer Rouge trial is the key to Cambodia's social justice,'' Lim Sengthay told the meeting.

A woman from one of Battambang's strife-torn districts said she, like most Cambodians, lost relatives during Khmer Rouge rule but it was only the rural poor who would suffer if efforts to bring old leaders to trial fanned fresh strife.

``We have to be careful about the Khmer Rouge trial. We can not allow war to return,'' the woman, Hom Sophon, told the meeting. ``It's only the poor people in the countryside who will suffer if there's war again.''

WHO ARE THE CRIMINALS?

A former Khmer Rouge official said leaders who had surrendered to the government should not now be prosecuted.

``If we sentence the people who have already integrated (into society) it's a bad lesson for the next generation,'' Long Norin told the meeting.

The surrender of his boss, Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary, in 1996 was the first major step towards the group's final demise in late 1998. Khmer Rouge chief Pol Pot died in 1998 but most of his old comrades are alive and free after surrendering.

Forum organiser Chea Vannath said there appeared to be consensus that criminals should face justice but questions remained over how one defined a criminal.

Cambodia and the United Nations are discussing how a tribunal for the Khmer Rouge might be set up, but there are doubts that a credible hearing will ever be organised.

Prime Minister Hun Sen rejected a U.N. proposal for an ad hoc international tribunal outside Cambodia to try some 20-30 former Khmer Rouge for crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.

Hun Sen insists Cambodia will organise its own tribunal though he has offered the United Nations a supporting role.

The United Nations says Cambodia's judicial system is too weak and prone to political interference to hold a credible trial and the United Nations can not take part in a trial which risks being dubbed a ``sham.''


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UN urged to tighten screening

THE National Security Council yesterday asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to toughen the conditions it used to grant person-of-concern (POC) status to asylum seekers on Thai soil, said the council's secretary-general Kachadpai Burutsapatana.

Those granted POC status should first have a guarantee from a third country that it would accept them to ensure that the refugees stay in Thailand for only a limited period, Kachadpai said.

''The UNHCR should be more careful when considering an application for POC status. And an asylum-seeker who is granted the status should have a third country certify that he would be welcomed to the country,'' he said.

''This would ensure that they would stay in our country only a period of time, instead of staying an unlimited time as in the present situation,'' Kachadpai said.

He was speaking after meeting with UNHCR's regional representative, Jahanshah Assadi, and the US Embassy's official in charge of refugees, Jeffery Rock.

His proposals focused mainly on Burmese exiles with POC status who have engaged in criminal or terrorist acts in Thailand. Some of the Burmese students who took siege of the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok last October were under UN protection.

Some of the Burmese insurgents who raided the Ratchaburi Hospital on Monday had connections with Burmese students at the UN-run Maneeloy Holding Centre.

Kachadpai asked the US and UN representatives what was delaying the relocation of the Burmese students to third countries. Only 150 students have been moved since last October, he said.

He was informed that delays in screening and moving the Burmese students were caused by the strict security regulations Thailand imposed on the holding centre after the siege of the Burmese Embassy.

''We will try to relax some measures to speed up the sending,'' he said.

There are about 1,700 Burmese students under UN protection in Thailand, according to the UNHCR. Only 500 of them are in the Maneeloy centre and the others are believed to be in Bangkok, it said.

''The US confirmed that it would be able to accept about 2,000 Burmese students this year. Other Western countries, including Australia and Canada, have pledged to accept a total of 2,500 to 3,000 Burmese students,'' Kachadpai said.

Thailand will close down the holding centre by the end of this year, he said.

Meanwhile, Preecha Ruengchan, Ratchaburi's deputy governor, said that about 30 Burmese students in the centre are on a blacklist. He did not reveal their names.

Yesterday's meeting also touched on the unilateral granting of POC status, Kachadpai said.

Earlier, the Thai government was caught off guard when an opposition leader revealed in parliament that a Cambodian fugitive, Sok Yoeun, wanted in Cambodia on a charge of attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Hun Sen, was in Thailand under UN protection.

Following Sok Yoeun's case, Thai authorities demanded that the refugee agency inform them who was on the list of the POCs.

''The UNHCR informed me that there are about 1,800 to 2,000 POCs in Thailand. Most of them sneaked into the country and asked for the status. We are much concerned about this,'' he said.

''The UNHCR will cooperate by informing us who is on the list of POCs,'' he said.

The chance to be granted POC status is a main factor attracting Burmese and other foreigners to sneak into Thailand, he said. The Nation


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Khmer Rouge, rights groups gather for verbal battle on genocide trial

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia, Jan 27 (AFP) -

Scores of former Khmer Rouge and Cambodian human rights workers battled it out here Thursday in the first ever public forum on what to do with surviving leaders of the "Killing Fields" regime.

In an unprecedented debate entitled "National reconciliation and the Khmer Rouge," former members of the shadowy rebel group emerged to blast calls for a genocide trial and called on the country to resist foreign pressure on the issue.

"We should not seek to make the foreigners happy and lead Khmers into conflict," argued Long Norin, who is a personal representative to Pol Pot's former number-three Ieng Sary.

"If we try those who integrated into the government, it is a bad lesson to our children," he asserted. "Now we have a new year and new century, so let's forget the old one."

The trial debate is particularly timely in this bustling northwestern town, which is surrounded by former Khmer Rouge strongholds populated by some of the most notorious figures of the 20th century and heads of a brutal regime that left up to two million dead through torture, starvation, execution and overwork.

These include Ieng Sary, ex-rebel "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea and public face Khieu Samphan, who live in peaceful retirement around Pailin, a dusty gem-mining town between here and the jungle border with Thailand.

Organised by the Center for Social Development, a prominent Cambodian NGO and thinktank, the event drew a crowd of 120 Cambodians eager to make their feelings known on the thorny and highly divisive issue.

"If we give amnesty to people who kill millions, where is there justice? If there is no trial, the next leader can kill 50,000 people and not be charged," argued a delegate representing the local rights group ADHOC.

"And why should you worry about a trial if you are not guilty?" he said.

But the former Khmer Rouge delegates appeared to revel in a rare public outing for their opinions, warning Cambodia's fragile national reconciliation was at stake if the government goes ahead with a trial likely to drag in ex-rebel defectors.

"A trial is discrimination aganst the Khmer Rouge, and it will divide our society into two or three parts and we will never have national reconciliation," reasoned In Sopheap, another Pailin-based aide to Ieng Sary.

By the end of the morning's emotional debate -- also attended by several monks urging "Buddhists should not take revenge on each other" and tearful civilian victims of the war -- speakers against a trial outnumbered those in favour by 15 to 11.

Those calling for a trial were divided on how it should be set up.

"This is an indication of how divided opinions are," explained Lao Mong Hay, director of the prominant Phnom Penh-based thinktank The Khmer Institute for Democracy -- which is firmly backing a UN-proposed internationl tribunal.

"There is still so much confusion," he said at the end of the forum, which was held in a "neutral" agricultural department building.

The Cambodian government is in the midst of hammering out plans for what it says will be an "international-style" Khmer Rouge trial, and is waiting to see if the United Nations will sign up to the plan.

However critics have accused the government of seeking to control a trial and protect former rebels -- like Ieng Sary -- who are now in government ranks.

Prime Minister Hun Sen argues a badly-handled trial could reignite Cambodia's civil war, which only ground to a halt last year following a flurry of defections and arrests.


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Cambodian authorities reassure Khmer Rouge defectors after arrest
PHNOM VOUR, Cambodia, Jan 26 (AFP) -

As a former Khmer Rouge commander blamed for the 1994 kidnapping and murder of three Western backpackers sits behind bars in the capital Phnom Penh, authorities are working hard to reassure his stunned ex-rebel community.

Officials here in southern Cambodia area admit that last week's arrest of Chhouk Rin has provided the country with a test of will, especially as the government moves to again bend to international pressure and deliver a long-awaited "Killing Fields" genocide tribunal.

"There are fears that people will take action to secure the release of Chhouk Rin. There could be incitement to anything -- roadblocks for example," explained An He, deputy governor of the southern province of Kampot.

"I told them 'Please stay calm,' that Chhouk Rinn is fine. This whole arrest business is a great concern, and I have to explain to the villagers everyday what is going on," he told AFP.

Chhouk Rin is accused of leading a train ambush on July 26, 1994, which threw Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, Briton Mark Slater, 26, and 29-year-old Australian David Wilson into the international headlines and then shallow graves.

One trial in the case has seen fellow ex-rebel Nuon Paet already handed a life sentence. Chhouk Rin could follow.

Demonised in diplomatic circles, Chhouk Rin nevertheless won government praise and a military job following his timely defection from the Khmer Rouge -- seen as crucial in sparking further rebel splits.

As an accomplished guerrilla fighter, despite having only one leg, in his Phnom Vour (Vine Mountain) base he is also something of a local hero.

But given his defection and assumption of an amnesty, his arrest has led to some confusion in former rebel ranks.

"He is our father and our hero. He gave us land, life and hope. But now he is in jail," argued a 34-year-old woman farmer, who declined to be named.

Locals at Phnom Vour, situated roughly halfway between the capital Phnom Penh and the southern coast, also complain Chhouk Rin was "tricked" when he accepted a dinner invitation in the provincial capital and instead found arrest.

"We rebuilt this place with our empty hands and with his help," insisted another Phnom Vour farmer. "What has he done wrong to be treated like this?"

Kampot's local authorities have come up with a simple explanation, which so far appears to be keeping the discontent from bubbling over.

"I have to explain that because of this kidnapping and murder of the tourists, there are difficulties with foreign aid to Cambodia," An He explained.

"When it is foreigners involved there is not much I can do to help. We don't want to see Phnom Vour back fighting again, so we have make sure they get development."

With the first peace in nearly 30 years, as well as new roads, telephone lines and a flourishing farming economy, authorities are counting on the trade-off working for this hill-top community, who have long since ditched their AK-47's and Maoist fatigues.

But amid the fragile behind-the-scenes negotiations surrounding the arrest of one middle-ranking ex-rebel, Prime Minister Hun Sen's policy of "national reconciliation" and building a new Cambodia based on defections is facing a crucial test.

The government is eager to satisfy foreign friends calling for justice and a "Killing Fields" tribunal to punish those responsible for the genocide in the late 1970s that left an estimated two million dead.

But it is equally determined not to unravel the close links it has built with former Khmer Rouge rebels whose defections helped bring one of the most notorious movements of the 20th century to an end.

With a precedent set of even defectors facing trial, scores of former rebels could be unnerved that their immunity deals may not be all that was initially promised.

"Cambodians are tired of fighting so I do not believe these areas will go back to war if there is a (genocide) trial," explained a former Khmer Rouge cadre now based in the capital Phnom Penh.

"But why run the risk of trying to prove that I am right? The stakes are far too high."

OPINION
Victims of the Khmer Rouge should be authorised to participate in upcoming trials The main thrust of international involvement in the attempt to prosecute former Khmer Rouge leaders, led by the United Nations, has been the insistence on sufficient guarantees that international standards of justice will be met. The UN preferred position (a third ad hoc international tribunal created by the Security Council), having been rejected by the Cambodian Government, talks have turned to an acceptable compromise for a trial by Cambodian Courts with international participation. Little attention has been paid, however, to the ways in which popular involvement in the trials might reinforce the international objective of fair and impartial hearings. This is somewhat surprising given the principle justification cited for this belated international interest in such trials: the need to provide justice for the victims of the Khmer Rouge. The cathartic benefits of such involvement have been witnessed in places as far afield as France, Israel, South Africa and Ethiopia. Direct popular participation in trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders should help many victims come to terms with the past, and contribute to a process of national reconciliation without which the future stability of Cambodia remains in question. At the same time, it would be strong evidence of the Cambodian Government's determination to provide guarantees of equitable trials for the Khmer Rouge, without requiring further concessions to UN insistence on outside scrutiny of the proceedings. Little time remains to ensure that Cambodians are not denied the right to help bring the Khmer Rouge to justice.
The full text of an Article examining the legal aspects of this question is accessible at: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/boyle/victims.htm (English version)

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Japanese jurists welcome on Pol Pot tribunal


The Daily Yomiuri Online, Thursday, January 27, 2000


By Michiharu Honda Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

PHNOM PENH -- Cambodia would welcome Japanese prosecutors and judges on an international tribunal on the massacres conducted by the notorious Pol Pot regime in the late 1970s, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told The Yomiuri Shimbun on Tuesday.

Hun Sen had been reluctant to see Japan's participation in an
international tribunal covering Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge atrocities.

High-ranking Cambodian officials have recommended Japan Institute of
International Affairs Director Hisashi Owada, a former envoy to the
United Nations, who is also the father of Crown Princess Masako, for the post of a judge.

Hun Sen, however, was not enthusiastic about Owada's possible
appointment, saying that although Owada is sufficiently qualified, the position should be filled by someone who is not related to the Imperial family.


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Leaders wary of succession debate
South China Morning Post, Thursday, January 27, 2000

By Kay Johnson

Phnom Penh -- Cambodians do not like to think of life after King Norodom Sihanouk, but a raging political debate is forcing them to consider the prospect.

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday angrily rejected opposition calls for discussion of succession, saying it would be "like putting a curse on our king to die soon".

The furore is seen as a forerunner to the impending political battle
over who will replace the revered and ailing King Sihanouk, 77, who is seen as a unifying figure bringing the country together after decades of civil war and political turmoil.

Mr Hun Sen said yesterday it was better for the country to be unprepared for King Sihanouk's death than to stir up the emotional prospect of life without him.

But opposition leader Sam Rainsy accused the country's leaders of
burying their heads in the sand on the issue.

He said the Government must at least outline the rules for a Council of the Throne - if not actually choose an heir - to avoid plunging Cambodia into chaos in the event of the king's sudden death.

Cambodia's constitution bans the king from naming his heir, but there
are as yet no operating rules for the nine-member throne council, which must choose a new monarch from among dozens of princes within seven days of the king's death.

The council is believed to be split five-four between the Cambodian
People's Party of Mr Hun Sen and its junior partner and occasional
rival, the royalist Funcinpec.

Choosing the king by simple majority would effectively allow Mr Hun Sen, who is himself on the throne council, to hand-pick the new king, while a two-thirds majority would require agreement with Funcinpec.

To further complicate matters, two members of the throne council, Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Prince Sisowath Chivan Monirak, are themselves eligible to be king, and it has not been determined whether they can vote for themselves.

There have been rumours that Prince Ranariddh has already struck a deal with Mr Hun Sen that he will replace his father as a reward for agreeing in 1998 to form a coalition government with his long-time political rival, ending nearly 18 months of political crisis.

But other royal watchers speculate that the powerful prime minister
would prefer a non-political monarch, perhaps choreographer and Unesco ambassador Prince Norodom Sihamoni, the son of King Sihanouk and Queen Norodom Monineath.

The king has four surviving sons by three women. But the constitution
allows princes from two other branches of the royal family to be named king.

Most observers say King Sihanouk is irreplaceable. Though a
constitutional monarch with little real power, he is seen as the father of modern Cambodia. The governments he led in the 1950s and 1960s are seen by many as having ruled during a golden age of peace and prosperity.


- King Sihanouk has called on the Government not to pursue complaints of treason against Mr Sam Rainsy. In an open letter to a local think-tank, the king, in a rare plunge into politics, wrote he had "no problem with his excellency Sam Rainsy".

The Nation
Bangkok
Thursday, January 27 2000

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ASEAN freezes expansion
BY SA-NGUAN KHUMRUNGROJ and VORAPUN SRIVORANART

HIGH ranking officials of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
have agreed to further extend the moratorium on acceptance of new dialogue partners, citing the grouping's limited resources, a senior diplomatic source has revealed.

The director-generals of Asean affairs from the 10 member nations recently met in the ancient city of Pagan, in Burma, to discuss whether to accept more dialogue partners after the moratorium expired this July.

They agreed to rather focus on present resources and deepening relations between the present members, the source said.

Asean consists of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Burma and Cambodia. So far, new members like Burma, Laos and Cambodia are still inexperienced and not ready for the role of interlocutor, he said.

Moreover, some of them do not have good ties with other dialogue partners from the West.

At present, Pakistan, Mexico and countries from the Andean group in Latin America have applied for full dialogue partner status while Egypt, Iran and Taiwan are bidding for a sectorial one.

After accepting China, India and Russia into the fold in 1996, Asean froze all plans to expand the grouping. Any decision to accept new partners would be discussed again when Asean foreign ministers gather in Bangkok for their annual meeting in July.

In Chiang Mai last week, senior Asean officials further emphasised their pledge to make the most out of the existing resources.
The Cambodia Report is compiled by Asia Pacific Research Institute
.
Unless otherwise noted, information is extracted from media reports.
Materials included in the Report do not necessarily reflect policies or opinions of the Board of Trustees or its members.

Compiler: Farib Sos, Asia Pacific Institute of New Zealand, PO Box 2152, Wellington New Zealand
Mobile phone: 021 660 947; e-mail: farib.sos@apri.ac.nz
Tel: +64 4 934 5133; fax: +64 4 934 5134
Cambodia Report URL: http://www.apri.ac.nz/camnews

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