SENATE President Chea Sim has called on Cambodia’s supreme patriarchs to reel in wayward monks following a spate of violent incidents this year involving religious figures.

“The role of monks is very important to educate the social morality of the people,” Chea Sim said in a speech before 800 monks and nuns at the 18th annual National Monk Congress, which opened Tuesday at Chaktomuk Theatre.

“But monks themselves must have a Buddhist’s morality to encourage the national religion.”

Chea Sim urged officials at the Ministry of Cults and Religions to “reinforce the good governance” of Buddhism to ensure peace in the Kingdom.

“The teachings of the Buddha are the light that will educate the people about morality and allow our country to develop peacefully,” Chea Sim said.

“The discrimination, jealousy and violations in social society are caused from indifference to religious belief and are seriously damaging.”

In recent months, however, several monks appear to have strayed from the path, with allegations of murder, sexual relationships, alcohol consumption and rape directed at a handful of monks.

Min Khin, the cults and religions minister, acknowledged that authorities were concerned about the allegations. He blamed incidences of bad monastic behaviour on “globalisation”, which he said causes some people – including monks – to make mistakes.

“We know that some monks have committed sins such as killing, rape and violence,” Min Khin said. “But hopefully, the three days of this National Monk Congress will improve monks and encourage them to reinforce the good governance of Buddhism.”

Min Khin said monks must play an integral role in building Cambodia’s developing society.

“The monk’s role is not only to pray or spread the teachings of the Buddha, but also to build roads, schools, hospitals and to protect our … national culture.”

Cambodia’s Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong sidestepped questions over incidences of bad behaviour among individual monks, except to say that all Cambodians should follow the law.

“I think that Buddhists and all people who live in Cambodia must respect the law and other national and international laws,” Tep Vong said. “The monks must respect all laws … to eliminate suffering, jealousy, violence and social discrimination.”

In October, 11 monks in Siem Reap province were defrocked following an all-night alcohol-fuelled bender after shocked villagers demanded that the monks be punished. Later that month, two monks in Phnom Penh were arrested after allegedly beating a medical student to death after the victim chastised them for drinking.

According to Min Khin, the country currently has 4,392 pagodas, 1,370 Buddhist schools and 54,764 ordained monks.

SEVERAL thousand villagers living along the Sesan and Srepok rivers in Stung Treng province are facing a severe shortage of rice and clean water as a result of polluted runoff from hydropower dam developments and mine explorations, local representatives and environmental activists warned Tuesday.

“We think there are about 50,000 residents in the area, and many of them have already complained about the water becoming muddy, with red,
white and blue colours,” said Tek Vannara, programme manager for the Culture and Environment Preservation Association.

A report released by the Sesan-Srepok-Sekong (3S) Rivers Protection Network on Sunday attributed the water’s pollution to hydropower dams located on the upper reaches of the Sesan, both on the Vietnamese and Cambodian sides, and added that mining activities could also be responsible for the recent spike in pollution.

“The closing and opening of the existing hydro-dams in Vietnam, the ongoing construction of other dams, together with gold-mining explorations and other mining activities of companies upstream, both in Vietnam and Cambodia, have caused the current pollutions of the Sesan and Srepok rivers,” the report stated.

Bai Thong Nhuth, a representative of communities living along the two rivers, said the Sesan has been muddy since October, whereas the Srepok’s waters started getting dirty last November. He said he has already submitted an appeal for intervention to local authorities.

“There could be serious consequences for communities along the rivers because they use the water for drinking and cooking. We are worried that epidemic diseases may spread,” he said, and added that at least three communes in the area face imminent relocation because they cannot access clean water.

Nou Savath, a 48-year-old villager from Bangbong village along the Sesan River, said that residents and environmental groups have noticed negative effects downstream from the Yali Falls dam, on the Vietnamese side of the border, since at least 2002.

“I have faced difficulties and uncertainties for almost seven years now. Floods of muddy water kill pigs, cows and damage rice fields every day. No one is taking responsibility for this,” Nou Savath said, adding that this year he could harvest only 30 percent of what used to be an average rice yield on his 2 hectares of land.

Hak Vimean, deputy director of the Stung Treng provincial Department of Environment, said that he has submitted a report on the matter to higher authorities.

“The muddy waters are not caused by development projects in our provincial territory. The pollution may be coming from projects upstream. We are conducting an investigation on the issue, but there is no result yet,” he said.

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THE number of land disputes involving ethnic minorities in the Kingdom doubled between 2008 and 2009, the Indigenous Rights Active Members (IRAM) rights group said this week, urging the government to protect minority communities from being taken advantage of in the land-concession process.

Oum Meang, deputy director of IRAM, said his organisation had recorded 14 land disputes involving minority groups this year, up from seven in 2008.

“Ethnic minority organisations want the government to register ethnic lands collectively in order to reduce land-grabbing,” he said Monday.
Oum Meang also said that the government has failed to monitor the effects of land concessions once they have been granted.

Ros Han, the IRAM representative in Kratie province, said the government must do a better job of registering the land of indigenous people and consulting them before economic land concessions are granted.

But Ty Sokun, director general of the Forestry Administration at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said that although “opportunistic people” had occasionally taken advantage of minority groups in land cases, the government has been transparent in dealings with them.

“There is no way that we don’t hold discussions with people. We have never taken people’s land for an economic land concession without prior consultations with them,” he said. “Forested land is state land.... The land we give in economic land concessions is unused or eroded land.”

Although IRAM recorded a rise in land disputes involving minority groups, Ny Chakrya, head of monitoring for the local rights group Adhoc, said the overall number of land disputes in Cambodia declined from 2008 to 2009. Adhoc recorded 306 such cases nationwide last year, and although figures for this year have not yet been finalised, Ny Chakrya said there had been about 200 cases.

Yeng Virak, executive director of the Community Legal Education Centre, explained that ethnic minority groups are especially vulnerable to land-grabbing because they often lack knowledge about their land rights and the legal system, and because the communal land-titling process has been slow.

Although the Kingdom’s 2001 Land Law states that “no authority outside the community may acquire any rights to immovable properties belonging to an indigenous community”, Yeng Virak said that many such communities had yet to register their land, and that enforcement of land protections has been scattershot.

“On one hand, the law recognises their way of living – that means nobody can touch their area, their land. However at the same time, we also see that there have been business interests or powerful interests encroaching on their land, and they don’t have any way to protect themselves,” he said.

“They don’t have communal land titles … like normal citizens.”

Members of minority communities, particularly those who are illiterate, have often been bribed and tricked into signing away rights for their land without realising it, said Pen Bonnar, an Adhoc official experienced in land disputes involving ethnic minority communities.

This is particularly problematic, he added, as many ethnic minority groups have a tradition of communal land use, meaning that the effects of a deal signed by one individual can ripple out to the whole community.

To date, the government has given away more than 1 million hectares in land concessions, Ty Sokun said.

ONGOING conservation efforts at the dilapidated Banteay Chhmar temple complex in northwestern Banteay Meanchey province have received a substantial boost in the form of a site-preservation grant from the Archeological Institute of America (AIA), the organisation announced.

Heritage Watch, the grant recipient, is a partner of the Global Heritage Fund, which launched restoration efforts in 2008 in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and several other NGOs.

In a press release, the AIA said: “With new road improvements, the site is expected to become a major tourist attraction for those travelling from Thailand to Cambodia’s major archaeological attraction, Angkor Wat,” making it essential to advance conservation efforts quickly, as well as to establish community-based enterprises that “protect the site, rather than destroy it”.

Conservationists also fear that the road improvements, particularly National Highway 6 linking Siem Reap with Poipet, will accelerate the looting of Banteay Chhmar. The temple’s proximity to Thailand means that antiquities can disappear undetected into the jungles across the border.

The Angkor-period temples have already lost a number of significant features, including six of the eight massive bas-reliefs depicting Buddhist divinity Avalokitesvara.

Ok Sophon, director general of heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and head of the ministry’s efforts at Banteay Chhmar,
acknowledged that the looting issue was grounded in the relationship of the temple and its surrounding communities.

Despite increased security, Ok Sophon said, his team found 100 holes around the site dug by hopeful antiquities hunters. On one occasion, police tracked down five men seen taking material from the site.

“We went around to the villages in the area and people knew who they were. When we found them, we explained that this was wrong and told them that if they were caught again it would be jail,” he said.

The exact figure for the AIA grant was unavailable on Tuesday, but the maximum award offered under the institute’s Site Preservation Grant is US$25,000 over the course of one to three years.

Even though there is no public announcement for the arrest warrant, an official of the Svay Rieng provincial court indicated that the court had issued an arrest warrant on 29 December against those who were involved in the uprooting of stakes along the Khmer-Yuon border on 25 October. The warrant ordered the arrest of opposition leader Sam Rainsy and 3 other villagers as they are accused of willfully destroying public properties and inciting racial discrimination.

The arrest warrant against Cambodia’s opposition leader is taking place only one day after the court rejected Sam Rainsy’s request to delay his court appearance on 28 December because he is currently busy with his overseas mission. Choung Chou Ngy, Sam Rainsy’s defense lawyer, indicated that the uprooting of border stakes is not a criminal case, but it is in fact truly a political case.

Sam Rainsy indicated that the recent arrest of two Cambodian farmers, Mrs. Meas Srey and Mr. Prum Chea, was an intimidation so that these farmers lose their courage to protect their rice fields encroached by Vietnam. Sam Rainsy said that the real court is not the Svay Rieng court, nor a court in Cambodia, but rather it is in the Hanoi court that he wants to see his case put on trial.

30 December 2009
By Botum Roth
Free Press Magazine
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

An opposition MP indicated that, lately, following the National Assembly (NA) debate on the expropriation law yesterday, Japan decided to freeze its $74 million grant for the construction of a bridge crossing the Mekong river in Neak Loeung, along National Road No. 1.

The reason MP Ly Srey Vina raised this issue was because Cambodia declined to pay compensations to the families who live in the area where the bridge will be built.

Ms. Ly Srey Vina claimed during the NA debate that: “We went all the way to Japan, but Japan refused to release this grant, they told us to resolve the eviction by providing appropriate compensation, then Japan will provide the grant.”

Nevertheless, CPP MP Chheang Vun rejected this claim. He said that the Cambodian delegation to Japan did include SRP MP Ly Srey Vina, “they (the Cambodian delegation) met with the Japanese opposition committee in charge of Foreign Affairs, and the Japanese opposition committee surely does not support the Japanese government [decision].”

However, MP Ly Srey Vina said that the chairman of the Japanese Foreign Affairs committee [from the ruling party] “indicated that Japan will not support the development [project] as long as people are being affected. The Cambodian delegation requested [aid] for the construction on this bridge because it will be very useful, but Japan said that it will not provide any aid that will hurt people in any country.”

The term development should be viewed as progress, however, for the Cambodian people, this term is turned into concerns as developments bring on destruction of their houses, and they cannot receive proper market value compensation for their losses. This issue is a long and contentious case between the victimized people and the government,

However, following the ratification of the controversial expropriation law on 29 December, this law is providing the right to the government to confiscate houses and other properties from the people under the pretense of development and it will also likely cut down the number of future confrontations against the government. On the other hand, the suffering and pain inflicted on the people will likely be increased with the adoption of this law.

Translated from Khmer by Tola Ek

To Samdach Akkak Moha Thomok Pothisal Chea Sim, Senate President/ Samdach Akkak Moha Ponhea Chakrey Heng Samrin, National Assembly President/Samdach Akkak Moha Sena Bat Dey Dek Cho Hun Sen, leader of the Royal Government of Cambodia

Highly regarded and beloved Samdach Akkak Moha Thomok Pothisal/Samdach Akkak Moha Ponhea Chakrey Heng Samrin/ Samdach Akkak Moha Sena Bat Dey Dek Cho

I and Queen-Mother are very pleased to learn about the promotion of Samdach Akkak Moha Thomok Pothisal/ Samdach Akkak Moha Ponhea Chakrey/ Samdach Akkak Moha Sena Bat Dey Dek Cho to the topmost rank of 5-star RCAF general from King Norodom Sihamoni.

I and Queen-Mother are warmly praising this promotion which is befitting your renown as you are a supreme nationalist, and an extremely good, clever and able leader who received major successes in every field for your participation in the edification of numerous buildings all over the kingdom of Cambodia, for the supreme interest of the population, the nation and the Cambodian people, as all as for raising the international prestige of our nation on the international level.

I am wishing with all the blessings, may you receive additional major successes forever, and may you be blessed with the four Buddhist blessings.

Please accept, Samdach Akkak Moha Thomok Pothisal/ Samdach Akkak Moha Ponhea Chakrey and the Chumteav Thom/ Samdach Akkak Moha Sena Bat Dey Dek Cho and the Chunteav Thom, my highest regards and my deepest love, as well as those from Queen-Mother.

(Signed) Norodom Sihanouk
Beijing 23 December 2009

Translated from French by Tola Ek

Recently, I received a letter from the US (the author of which does not bear an Anglo-Saxon name) criticizing me very violently about my Internet website (which includes daily: (a) vocabulary, (b) cooking (c) music and song, (d) the national edification of Cambodia under the Sangkum Reastr Niyum between 1955 and 1969).

I am telling all “concerned” individuals that nobody is obliged to learn about my daily Internet website. If they don’t like it, they should just stop reading it.

By virtue of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541(XV) of 15 December 1960, the Indigenous Khmer Krom Peoples have three options to choose for their right of self-determination or self-government as follows:

1. Free association with Viet Nam, the administering Power that means to self-govern in free association with Viet Nam and thus to become Vietnamese citizens;
2. Integration with Viet Nam, the administering Power that means to integrate into Viet Nam and thus to become also Vietnamese citizens; and
3. Independence that means want to become fully sovereign and fully independent people from Viet Nam.

And by virtue of article 3 of the United Nations General Assembly Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 13 September 2007, the Indigenous Khmer Krom Peoples have the right to freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

Now, Therefore the Indigenous Khmer Krom Peoples who are the legitimate and rightful owners of their ancestral homeland, Kampuchea Krom territory or southern Vietnam, formerly French Cochin China, have their full and legitimate right to freely choose one of the above forms or models of self-determination for their self-government in accordance with the international laws.

This petition will serve as taking a survey of all Khmer Krom people’s political status or models of self-determination or forms of self-government where all Khmer Krom people inside Kampuchea Krom territory, all overseas Khmer Krom people, all Khmer Krom people in Cambodia and everywhere around the world, and all Khmer people in general can vote for either option number 1, option number 2 or option number 3(independence) for their self-government in strict conformity with the above UN GA Resolution of 15 December 1960 and UN GA Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 13 September 2007. This petition-survey will be sent to the United Nations to urge them to honor the will of the Indigenous Khmer Krom Peoples regarding their free choice for their self-government option in accordance with the international laws.

We urge all Khmer Krom people everywhere in the world to sign this petition-survey with their full name accompanied by either option number 1, option number 2 or option number 3 at their own freewill without external compulsion.

Made in Saint Paul, the Capital of the State of Minnesota this 28th day of October in the year of our Lord, two thousand nine.

Sincerely,