Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Leader lost, but activists fight on
Chut Wutty, who was gunned down last month while investigating illegal logging, walks on a dirt road in Botum Sakor National Park in Koh Kong province in February. Photograph: Reuters
An estimated 600 people will travel to parts of the Cardamom Mountains in Koh Kong province to investigate illegal logging and commemorate the death of slain environment activist Chut Wutty tomorrow.
Communities from eight provinces that have been affected by deforestation will travel to Koh Kong province from May 10 to 13, a statement released yesterday by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said.
They will first travel to Thma Bang district before moving on the next day to Veal Bei Point in Mondul Seima district’s Bak Khlang commune where Chut Wutty was shot, the statement said.
CCHR president Ou Virak said yesterday that the purpose of the trip was to show the government that those fighting deforestation would continue to stand up despite the loss of a leader.
“The very reason Chut Wutty was killed was because they tried to confiscate his camera and delete his memory card, and it was pretty obvious that a lot of illegal activities were going on that he was investigating,” he said.
A five-member joint investigative committee found that Chut Wutty was shot on April 26 by military police officer In Rattana, who had attempted to confiscate his camera and was in turn accidentally killed when security guard Ran Boroth tried to disarm him.
Ran Boroth was charged on Friday with unintentional murder.
“I think it is very important that we continue to be defiant of the illegal loggers,” Ou Virak said, adding he hoped the government would support them rather than create obstacles during their trip.
The Post has previously photographed large hauls of luxury rosewood being trucked out the Cardamom Mountains at night in Koh Kong province and conservationists say the trade in illegal timber in the area is rampant.
Svay Phoeun, a village representative from Preah Vihear province, said Chut Wutty’s shooting did not intimidate him, and he was determined to find evidence of illegal logging, regardless of any threat to his life.
“I don’t care. What I want to do is just get evidence of illegal logging in that area to pass to the government because Mr Wutty could not pass his evidence to the government,” he said.
Bun Leut, Governor of Koh Kong province, said he had not yet been informed about the planned trip.
“I am not sure if I will allow them to do that or not because I did not see their request yet,” he said.
Independent environmental activist Marcus Hardtke said large-scale illegal logging had taken place for too long in the Cardamom Mountains and someone needed to take action on the issue.
“In principle, this is a very nice and symbolic gesture, and in the absence of any government action this is very useful,” he said.
Russian Sukhoi Superjet-100 Plane disappears from radar during Promotion...
Published on May 9, 2012 by leakitrightnow
MOSCOW — A demonstration model of Russian passenger jet vanished from radar screens and lost contact with ground controllers Wednesday during a flight in Indonesia for airline representatives and journalists that was meant to promote sales of the aircraft.
Russian and Indonesian authorities confirmed the loss of contact with the crew of the airplane, the Superjet 100 manufactured by Sukhoi, Russia's major aircraft company, during a flight that departed from Halim airport in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, and was to return to the same location 50 minutes later.
The Russia Today news Web site said that 50 people were aboard the plane, including eight Russians and 36 citizens from other countries, mostly airline representatives interested in buying it. The Superjet 100 is the first newly designed passenger jet made in Russia since the Soviet collapse.
Russian and Indonesian authorities confirmed the loss of contact with the crew of the airplane, the Superjet 100 manufactured by Sukhoi, Russia's major aircraft company, during a flight that departed from Halim airport in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, and was to return to the same location 50 minutes later.
The Russia Today news Web site said that 50 people were aboard the plane, including eight Russians and 36 citizens from other countries, mostly airline representatives interested in buying it. The Superjet 100 is the first newly designed passenger jet made in Russia since the Soviet collapse.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Media of Cambodia
Cambodia has several state and private broadcasters
Many Cambodian newspapers and private broadcasters depend on support from political parties. Prime Minister Hun Sen and his allies control several outlets.
In early 2010, Reporters Without Borders said several journalists were in prison or facing criminal charges over their work, despite an earlier pledge from the prime minister that journalists would not be jailed because of their output.
Imprisonment can be imposed for "spreading false information or insulting public officials", Freedom House reports.
There are no restrictions on satellite receivers and radio stations from neighbouring countries can be heard.
BBC World Service broadcasts via BBC 100 FM in Phnom Penh and BBC 99.25 FM in Siem Reap. Radio France Internationale and Radio Australia are available in the capital.
By June 2011 there were just under 330,000 internet users (InternetWorldStats). Access is largely limited to the main towns and cities.
There are no reports of widespread filtering of content. "Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the internet," the US State Department noted in 2010.
Leaders of Cambodia
The king's role is largely ceremonial
The son of former king Norodom Sihanouk, King Sihamoni was sworn in as monarch on 29 October 2004. The former king had abdicated because of poor health.
Born in 1953, he studied in Czechoslovakia. He left Cambodia for France after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. He is a trained classical ballet dancer.
Cambodia's kings once enjoyed a semi-divine status; today, the monarch's role is mainly ceremonial.
Cambodia's veteran premier Hun Sen
Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving prime ministers, has been in power in various coalitions since 1985.
He was re-elected by parliament in July 2004 after nearly a year of political stalemate. His Cambodian People's Party (CPP) won general elections in 2003, but without enough seats for it to rule alone.
It finally struck a deal with the royalist Funcinpec party, which at the time was led by Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in June 2004.
Hun Sen is no stranger to controversy. He seized power from his then co-prime minister, Prince Ranariddh, in 1997. More recently, some Western countries have said his rule has become increasingly authoritarian.
Born in 1952, Hun Sen joined the Communist Party in the late 1960s and, for a time, was a member of the Khmer Rouge. He has denied accusations that he was once a top official within the movement, saying he was only an ordinary soldier.
During the Pol Pot regime in the late 1970s he joined anti-Khmer Rouge forces based in Vietnam.
Facts about Cambodia
The Choeung Ek memorial marks the 'killing fields' where the Khmer Rouge executed thousands.
- Full name: Kingdom of Cambodia
- Population: 15 million (UN, 2010)
- Capital and largest city: Phnom Penh
- Area: 181,035 sq km (69,898 sq miles)
- Major language: Khmer
- Major religion: Buddhism
- Life expectancy: 62 years (men), 65 years (women) (UN)
- Monetary unit: 1 riel = 100 sen
- Main exports: Clothing, timber, rubber
- GNI per capita: US $760 (World Bank, 2010)
- Internet domain: .kh
- International dialling code: +855
Cambodia profile
The fate of Cambodia shocked the world when the radical communist Khmer Rouge under their leader Pol Pot seized power in 1975 after years of guerrilla warfare.
An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died during the next three years, many from exhaustion or starvation. Others were tortured and executed.
Today, Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world and relies heavily on aid. Foreign donors have urged the government to clamp down on pervasive corruption.
Cambodia is burdened with the legacy of decades of conflict; unexploded munitions - thought to number in the millions - continue to kill and maim civilians, despite an ongoing de-mining drive.
Only now is the country beginning to put the mechanism in place to bring those responsible for the "killing fields" to justice. Cambodia and the UN have agreed to set up a tribunal to try the surviving leaders of the genocide years.
The tribunal held its first public hearing - a bail request by one of the defendants - in November 2007.
The first trial - of former prison warder Kaing Guek Eav, or Comrade Duch - started in 2009 and reached a guilty verdict in July 2010. The trial of three most senior suriving Khmer Rouge, including that of Pol Pot's right-hand man, Nuon Chea, or "Brother Number Two", started in November 2011.
Angkor Wat's 12th Century temples show Hindu-Buddhist influence in Khmer Empire-era Cambodia
In pursuit of a rural utopia, the Khmer Rouge abolished money and private property and ordered city dwellers into the countryside to cultivate the fields.
The effects can still be seen today, with around 70% of Cambodia's workforce employed in subsistence farming.
The Mekong River provides fertile, irrigated fields for rice production.
Exports of clothing generate most of Cambodia's foreign exchange and tourism is also important.
The imposing temple complex at Angkor, built between the ninth and 13th centuries by Khmer kings, is a UN heritage site and a big draw for visitors.
Well over half of Cambodia is forested, but illegal logging is robbing the country of millions of dollars of badly-needed revenue.
International watchdog Global Witness claims top officials are involved in the trade. The environment is also suffering, with topsoil erosion and flooding becoming prevalent.
The spread of HIV/Aids is another threat; however, public health campaigns have reduced the rate of infection.
Has Cambodia become a country for sale?
Buddhist monk Lun Sovath has taken up the villagers' cause
In a remote part of northern Cambodia, a Buddhist monk in flowing orange robes is reciting a poem. The words are anything but traditional.
"There was a day when the hostile traders conspired with the corrupted authority," chants the Venerable Lun Sovath, using measured rhyming couplets in the Khmer language.
"Wake up all Khmers and unite," he continues. "Bring back our rice fields."
He has brought me to this scrap of scrubland, where 20 villagers now eke out a living picking mushrooms, to show me the ugly side of Cambodia's system of what he describes as "economic land concessions".
Behind a fence, we can see the ruins of a village and a brilliantly green expanse of fields.
The local people say they were forced off this land, without compensation, when a sugar plantation was established here by a Thai investor.
Private companiesThe country's new system of land concessions is aimed at developing the economy and capitalising on its location in rising Asia.
Hoi Mai had to give birth to her baby in prison, after protesting against "her" land being taken by "force"
Cambodia is one of the region's poorest countries, and is still recovering from the devastating civil war that followed the tyrannical rule of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.
Since 2005, around 15% of Cambodian land has been signed over to private companies, a third of them foreign, using leases under which they promise to develop the plots and provide jobs. One of the biggest growth areas is agriculture, because of rising world food prices and scarce global supplies.
But reports of unfair and sometimes violent "land grabs" have overshadowed the process.
"They lit the houses first, and then they shot to scare people so they would run from the houses," recounts Ho Mai, who says she lost her house.
She says the residents were literally forced out a year ago by military units acting on behalf of the plantation owner.
The Thai investors who have acquired the lease on this sugar plantation did not return my calls.
Khmer Rouge legacyHo Mai tried to appeal to the authorities, but she was arrested for her trouble, despite being heavily pregnant. They accused her of farming the land illegally. Her baby was born in prison.
“Start Quote
Cambodian government officialSometimes we need to use force because we cannot talk to people who don't understand the law and are trying to take advantage”
Ho Mai is adamant that this plot is hers but she admits she has no legal documents to prove it.
This is not unusual in Cambodia. The ancient Khmer empire had few records and Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s banned all private property. Most land titles were burned, and many people moved around during the brutal civil war that raged afterwards.
So are foreign and local investors taking advantage of the chaos to take land for themselves?
"Without sounding callous, wouldn't it be nice if it was that easy?" asks Matt Rendall.
He is the land lawyer, in a sharp suit, who advised the government so closely that it is often said that he "wrote" Cambodia's investor-friendly 2001 Land Law.
He does not accept that the law encourages situations like that in O'Batman village. Instead, he says, foreign investors get caught up in a situation that is not of their making.
"For our investors, our investor clients, it's a problem they don't want," he says. "It's just going to cause them so much grievance and heartache on the ground here that it's just not worth it."
Government programmeRendall and other international business people say they support the government's programme to issue land documents to the poor.
They would rather deal with people who have documents, because that would give them more certainty - which is better for business.
LISTEN TO THE PROGRAMME
- Mukul Devichand's Crossing Continents is on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 13 January at 11:00 and on Monday 17 January at 20:30
- It will also air on BBC World Service on Thursday 13 January
The land titling programme was initially funded by the World Bank, and other foreign donors. But they and the government have been criticised for being slow and ineffective.
The government points out that despite the problems, around two million land documents have now been issued to ordinary Cambodians.
"We as a government are making every effort possible to speed up the process of land registration," I was told by senior minister Im Chun Lim.
But one evening in Phnom Penh, I uncovered evidence of less savoury officials and business dealings.
I met a government official who explained to me anonymously how some investors get around the system.
Matt Rendall, a key adviser on the investor-friendly land law, denies it encourages land grabs
"Normally you don't need to even go via the ministry," He explained. "You can talk to the local officials, and you can just pay them to protect your land."
He told me the deals can be worth tens of thousands of dollars in bribes and payments for officials like him, whose normal earnings are the equivalent of US$200 a month.
He explained how in some cases, the officials use police or military units to make sure villagers leave the land.
"Sometimes we need to use force because we cannot talk to people who don't understand the law and are trying to take advantage," he says.
"We have to ask them to leave," he adds. "By law or by force."
Cambodia suspends new land grants for companies
By: BBC News
The killing of environmental campaigner Chut Wutty prompted worldwide condemnation
The Cambodian government has suspended the granting of land for development by private companies in a bid to curb evictions and illegal logging.
The government also said it would revoke land grants from companies that failed to honour agreements by engaging in such activities.
Evictions have displaced tens of thousands of people and rights groups say land grants should be banned.
A prominent activist was killed last month investigating illegal logging.
Chut Wutty was shot dead by military police while travelling in a threatened forest region in the south-west.
Details of that incident are unclear but police say an officer was also killed in the exchange.
Environmental activists say Cambodia's national parks and wildlife are under threat from development by foreign companies.
Monday's directive from Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said the government would "temporarily suspend granting economic land concessions" to "ensure equity and to strengthen the effectiveness" of leased land management.
The order comes as the UN envoy on human rights, Surya Subedi, visits to examine the impact of such land concessions on local communities.
Typically land "concessions", as they are known in Cambodia, are large tracts of forested or rural land granted to companies who have permission for clearing the territory to form plantations for cash crops such as rubber, oil palm and sugar cane.
