Combodia-Post

PHNOM PENH, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The European Union said Wednesday it will donate another new EC funding of around 900,000 euros (about 1.3 million U.S. dollars) for human rights projects in Cambodia.

In a statement released by the EU delegation to Cambodia, the EU said the new funding is made just on the day that marks the 61st International Human Rights Day.

"The rule of law is the foundation of any healthy society," said Rafael Dochao Moreno, Charg d'Affaires a.i. of the EU Delegation to Cambodia.

"The EU attaches great importance to civil society as a partner in driving the country toward the respect for human rights and functioning democracy," he said.

In support to human rights actions in Cambodia, the EU has provided in grants a total of around 10 million U.S. dollars since 2003, implemented by some 20 international and national NGOs.

Six new human rights projects selected for funding will be signed on Dec. 17, including Legal Aid of Cambodia, Cambodian Anti Trafficking Networks and Royal University of Law, etc.

Wed, 09 Dec 2009
DPA

Phnom Penh - The International Monetary Fund said Cambodia must undertake "critical actions" to strengthen its battered banking system, including better supervision by the central bank and faster implementation of measures to boost banks' minimum capital requirements. In a report released late Tuesday following a September visit by an IMF team, the fund's directors said problems inherent in Cambodia's banking sector had been exacerbated by the global economic crisis which had hit the overinflated property market.

Among those problems were inadequate supervision by the authorities, weak risk management by banks when assessing creditworthiness, and excessive credit growth.

The IMF said in its accompanying staff report that "the authorities should strictly enforce corrective actions plans and urge banks to bring forward compliance with new minimum capital requirements ahead of the end-2010 deadline."

But the fund said that its stress on rapid implementation of some banking reforms is not shared by the government.

It also said the central bank must recruit more staff to ensure it can properly monitor the country's banks.

Officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Bank of Cambodia were unavailable for comment.

Looking at the broader Cambodian economy, the IMF noted that average annual growth of 8 per cent over the past decade had helped cut the poverty rate from half of the population in the 1990s to around one third today.

The IMF maintained its previously reported estimate that the economy would shrink 2.75 per cent this year and experience modest growth of 4.25 per cent in 2010, although it made it clear that growth next year remains uncertain.

The fund again called on the government to diversify its growth base away from the four pillars of agriculture, garment manufacturing, tourism and construction. The last three, which contributed the bulk of the past decade's economic growth, have been hit hard by the global economic crisis.

Puea Thai and Thaksin asked to help jailed spy

9/12/2009
Aekarach Sattaburth, Thanida Tansubhapol and Agencies

Wed, Dec 09, 2009
The Nation/Asia News Network

The mother of jailed Thai national Sivarak Chotipong yesterday pleaded with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to use his close connection with the Cambodian government to free her son who was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for spying.

Sivarak was also fined 10 million Cambodian riels (S$3477.7) for passing on Thaksin's flight information to a Thai Embassy staff.

Sivarak's mother Simarak na Nakhon Phanom, who attended the trial in a Phnom Penh court yesterday, burst into tears when she heard the verdict. She rushed to call the opposition Pheu Thai Party's headquarters in Bangkok to seek assistance from the party's real boss Thaksin, and party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.


"I don't know where and from whom to seek help but, former prime minister Thaksin and General Chavalit, please help my son to get freedom," Simarak told reporters at Pheu Thai Party via telephone conference.

Simarak said her son would not appeal to a higher court. She pleaded with the Pheu Thai to seek a royal pardon for her son from the Cambodian king.

The mother did not want to rely on the government to help her son as she blamed the Foreign Ministry for moving slowly due to its sour relations with Cambodia.

In his Internet radio programme 'Talk around the world' yesterday, Thaksin did not mention Sivarak's case.

Ke Sakhan, presiding judge of Phnom Penh Municipal Court, convicted Sivarak, a 31-year-old employee at the Thai owned Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS), saying Thaksin's flight information was confidential and sharing it was a violation of national security.

"Thaksin is an adviser to Cambodia's government and Cambodia has the obligation to provide him security," the judge said.

During his hearing yesterday, Sivarak admitted that he had checked Thaksin's flight schedule but said it was only after the ousted Thai premier's private jet had already landed in Phnom Penh International Airport. He said he passed on the information to a Thai diplomat, Kamrob Palawatwichai, at his request after two phone calls.

"I took a look at the flight schedule and made a phone call to Kamrob about the flight schedule," Sivarak told the court. "But I didn't get a copy of the flight schedule and hand it over to anyone."

Two employees of CATS testified in the court that Sivarak had asked them about the flight schedule.

The Thai diplomat, Kamrob, was later expelled from Cambodia. Sivarak was arrested on November 12 when Thaksin was in Phnom Penh to lecture on economic matters.

In her telephone conference from Phnom Penh, an emotional Simarak pinned the responsibility for her son's plight on Kamrob. "I want to ask Kamrob, where are you? If you had not called my son, he would not have been in this condition," she said.

"He is innocent. Why should he take responsibility on your behalf. So please come out to take responsibility for your actions. My son has been in jail for nearly 30 days and I cannot tolerate anymore seeing him handcuffed," she said.

Thailand and Cambodia have been at loggerheads after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as his adviser. The two countries have downgraded their diplomatic relations since late October.

Chronology

Nov 10: Thaksin lands in Phnom Penh. Sivarak passes Thaksin's flight information to diplomat Kamrob.

Nov 11: Cambodia expels Kamrob.

Nov 12: Sivarak is arrested.

Nov 13: News of his arrest is broken by local media.

Nov 14: Thaksin leaves Cambodia.

Nov 16: Thai charge d'affairs visits Sivarak at Prey Sor prison. Sivarak's mother Simarak phones him for the first time.

Nov 27: Simarak visits her son for the first time.

Nov 30: Simarak seeks help from the opposition Pheu Thai Party, which arranges another meeting for her.

Dec 2: Simarak visits her son for the second time.

Dec 4: Simarak changes her son's attorney and withdraws his bail request.

Dec 7: Simarak arrives in Phnom Penh to hear the verdict for her son.

Dec 8: Sivarak is sentenced to seven years in jail and fined 10 million riel.

9/12/2009
Bangkok Post

The Foreign Ministry is ready to file an appeal or seek a royal pardon for convicted Thai spy Sivarak Chutipong, but it is up to his family to decide, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said on Wednesday.

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Tuesday sentenced Mr Sivarak to seven years in prison and a fine of 10 million riel, about 82,000 baht, on a charge of spying.

Sivarak, 31, an employee of Thai-owned Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS), was arrested on Nov 12 on charges of stealing state secrets, the flight information of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra when he visited Phnom Pehn, and giving the information to a Thai diplomat.

Mr Kasit said before visiting the three southern border provinces with visiting Malaysian cabinet ministers in the morning that Sivarak's mother and other family members will decide whether they want the government's assistance.

"We have Thai diplomats in Phnom Penh who are ready to help Mr Sivarak," he said.

However, Sivarak's mother Simarak na Nakhon Phanom blamed Khamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary to the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, as being the cause of her son's trouble. She called on him to show responsibility for her son.

Sivarak said in court that Mr Khamrob asked him about Thaksin's flight information, and admitted that he confirmed the flight's arrival to the diplomat.

Foreign Minister Kasit's secretary Chavanond Intarakomalyasut insisted Mr Khamrob had not done anything illegal and had not requested Mr Sivarak to steal anything.

"I believe Mr Khamrob does not have to explain anything to the press," Mr Chavanond said.

However, the Foreign Ministry was always ready to aid Sivarak but his mother would decide if she wanted help from the government or the opposition Puea Thai Party.

"We're all Thais, and helping each other is a good thing," he said.

Reports said Mrs Sivarak had faxed the court's verdict to the Puea Thai Party in the morning, asking former prime ministers Thaksin Shinawatra and Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who are close associates with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, to help her jailed son.

December 9 2009
By Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
Financial Times (UK)

A Cambodian court yesterday sentenced a Thai engineer to seven years in jail for spying, in a decision likely to inflame the country's feud with Thailand.

The Phnom Penh court found Siwarak Chothipong guilty of passing the flight plan for Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's fugitive former prime minister, to a diplomat in the Thai embassy.

Mr Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile after a Thai court sentenced him to two years in jail for abuse of power , flew to Cambodia on a five-day visit last month. He was given VIP treatment by Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, who had named him as a special economic adviser.

The appointment outraged Thailand and led to a diplomatic spat that saw both countries recall their ambassadors.

Mr Siwarak, an employee of the Cambodian Air Traffic Service, was accused of stealing information that the court said could have harmed national security.

He was arrested two days into Mr Thaksin's visit and accused of stealing the flight schedule and passing it to Kamrob Palawatwichai, the first secretary at the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh. Mr Kamrob was later expelled from the country.

The engineer conceded during the one-day hearing that he saw the details of the flight plan and passed them to Mr Kamrob but denied stealing the document. "I took a look at the flight schedule and made a phone call to Mr Kamrob," Mr Siwarak said. "But I didn't get a copy of the flight schedule and hand it over to anyone."

Two other staff from the Cambodia Air Traffic Service gave evidence saying Mr Siwarak had asked them about the schedule of Mr Thaksin's flight.

Ke Sakhan, the municipal court judge, ordered Mr Siwarak to pay a fine of $2,500 (€1,700, £1,500) in addition to the seven-year jail sentence - the minimum for spying.

Bangkok has portrayed the former prime minister as a traitor for accepting the appointment by the Cambodian government. Phnom Penh has also been taken to task for hosting a fugitive from Thai justice.

December 9, 2009
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

"The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

Last week, I presented Tim Hurson's philosophy that our future depends less on what we know and more on what we think: How we think determines the quality of what we do, the life we lead.

As we're now only two weeks away from Christmas, a season to be joyful and reflective, it is worthwhile to continue examining his ideas. Maybe it would help inspire some readers' New Year's resolutions.

Lest we miss the point, it's not that what we know is unimportant. To the contrary, knowledge is an essential element of quality thinking. But unless we apply it and think critically, we cannot get to the root of any problem. So crucial is it to think critically that the Foundation for Critical Thinking dubs it not only a "core value," but also a "requirement for economic and social survival" in the 21st century.

French Enlightenment thinker Voltaire said, "No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking."

I've previously observed in this space the analogy that water is hot at 211 degrees, and boils at 212. That extra degree makes all the difference. The steam produced by boiling water can power an engine. A crucial bit of knowledge can be the difference between success or frustration in a science laboratory.

British Dr. Alec Bourne's well quoted, "It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated," and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Homes Jr.'s, "The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts but learning how to make facts alive," spearheaded Hurson's "think better to do better."

Man, a creature of habit, thinks what he has always thought and does what he has always done. He repeats past thoughts and actions, which have become patterned -- "fossilized," says Hurson, who also called the process, "reproductive thinking" -- as opposed to "productive" thinking. The outcome is predictable.

In his book "Think Better," Hurson advises: Don't repeat past thoughts and actions. That kills creativity. Start "thinking new thoughts" -- think outside the box.

World-famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw wrote, "Imagination is the beginning of creation: you imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last you create what you will." Physicist Albert Einstein said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

Hurson asserts, "To create the future, you have to be able to imagine." In my column last week, I quoted Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Friedman, who said he is not ready to cede the 21st century to China "just yet," because he thinks although China may have a lot going for her, America still has "important things" that cannot be commoditized. One is "imagination." Americans still have the ability to "imagine and spin off new ideas" to thrive -- "What your citizens imagine now matters more than ever because they can act on their own imaginations farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before -- as individuals," Friedman wrote. The other "thing" that is not a commodity is "good governance, which can harness creativity."

Good governance includes, among other things, accountability, transparency, equity, inclusiveness and rule of law. There is no creativity where free thoughts are curtailed as in an autocratic regime and imagination is just a word.

As we connect these dots, we should use this holiday season to reflect on what we want for our own future. Imagine it, as Shaw and Hurson would say. Friedman would say, imagine and "spin off new ideas." For Friedman, people who have new ideas, who imagine and innovate, are the one who prosper.

If you have 3 minutes and 36 seconds to spare, you would find it worthwhile to Google "212" and watch a very inspiring video about how your life can change by turning up the heat one extra degree, from 211 to 212 degrees. As the video caption says, "It's your life."

The video advises: "Having a simple, clearly defined goal can capture the imagination and inspire passion." And it assures: "The only thing that stands between a person and what they want in life is the will to try it and the faith to believe it possible."

It tells you on the screen: "To get what we've never had, we must do what we've never done." In other words, stop repeating the old.

Obviously, nothing is going to change until a first step is taken to head toward a desired goal. And you don't need to see the end of the road before you make your journey. English essayist Dr. Samuel Johnson, who published his Dictionary of the English Language in 1755, said it well: "Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome."

So use this holiday season to begin your journey. The 19th-century Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh produced more than 2,000 artworks, though he died at 37. He's known today as one of the world's great painters. In his words, "Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together."

So, let's begin our first small things today. If we do something wonderful, other people may imitate us. Today, show a smile, say hello, wish someone a good day, say thank you, demonstrate compassion and humility. And we will see still water ripple in wider and wider circles when the surface is disturbed.

A proverb goes, "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

A Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.