Thailand, Cambodia to solve border dispute through GBC: Thai defence minister

PHNOM PENH, Sept 24 (MCOT) - Thai Defence Minister Gen Yutthasak Sasiprapa said Thailand and Cambodia agreed to solve its prolonged border dispute through the existing framework and that the Thai government is prepared to seek the release of two Thai activists now detained in Cambodian jail on charges of espionage.

The Thai defence minister made his remarks as he returned from the visit to the neighbouring country on Friday and met with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodian counterpart Gen Tea Banh to boost bilateral ties between the two kingdoms.

Gen Yutthasak said both countries will plan to hold talks on the arrangements for the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee (GBC) upcoming meeting.

The Committee from both sides will lay out the agenda and the framework of the meeting which would include the disputed border area near Preah Vihear temple, the withdrawal of troops and other considerations.

Gen Yutthasak, inquired with the Cambodian premier regarding the case of Mr Veera Somkwamkid, Thai Patriots Network coordinator and his secretary Ms Ratree Piattanapaiboon, and revealed that Mr Hun Sen agreed that he is ready to support the Thai requests which may be in form of the exchange of prisoners, the royal pardon or the reduction of jail term.

Mr Hun Sen said he will discuss the matter with concerned agencies first and that the help should not focus only on the two activists but cover all 37 Thai nationals currently detained in Cambodian prisons, according to Gen Yutthasak.

A Cambodian court on Feb 1 ruled Mr Veera guilty of espionage, illegal entry, and trespassing in a military zone, and sentenced him to an eight-year jail term, while Ms Ratree was handed a six-year jail term. Both have sought a royal pardon but their requests were rejected.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Surapong Towichakchaikul on Saturday defended the cabinet move to change of chair of the Thai-Cambodian Joint Border Commission (JBC), saying the new government has the right to select a new chairman.

Mr Surapong, now attending the 66th United Nations' General Assembly 2011 in New York, made comments following criticism over the change of JBC chairman from Asda Jayanama to Bandhit Sotipalalit, a former Thai ambassador to several countries.

Mr Surapong said he had already consulted the matter with senior foreign officials and found that, although Mr Asda was well qualified, if he could solve the border disputes, it should have been sort out since two years ago.

"Personally, I believe Mr Bandhit is eligible and he has close relations with Cambodia, which should be advantages for the work, explained the foreign minister," he said.

"I want to ask the public to give a chance to the new person to work." stated Mr Surapong. "When the government changes, the new government also wants to do something new and not to repeat the previous one."

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China boasting lack of ASEAN concensus to confront China?

ASEAN's united front against China does not exist

September 26, 2011
Global Times (China)

The Philippines convened a regional meeting Thursday in Manila, pushing ASEAN countries to form a united front against China over the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

The Philippines has lost its cool over the territorial disputes. It clamors for a united ASEAN front to blunt China, which appears to be a diplomatic illusion. On significant issues concerning territory and sovereignty, China will not scale back its claims and submit to external pressure.

During the meeting, maritime legal experts neither endorsed the plan for joint South China Sea development, nor confirmed the legal basis for the Philippine proposal. Two ASEAN members, Cambodia and Laos, did not even send delegates to the meeting. Such facts demonstrate the lack of consensus within ASEAN. There is no collective will to unite and confront China, especially among those who have no part in the South China Sea dispute.

Before Philippine President Benigno Aquino III's current visit to Japan, diplomats from both countries had engaged in talks over the South China Sea dispute. Backed by the US, the Philippines now tries to involve more regional players like Japan to collectively check China. But such efforts will be fruitless.

Some regional countries may want to use the Philippines to balance China. But generally, the strategic significance of their relationship with China will overwhelm their need to play up to the Philippines. However, they will understand the potential risks if they become involved in the dispute.

Seeking a united regional stance to isolate China and, by doing so, win concessions will only prove futile. The Philippines has to return to bilateral negotiations over the disputed waters. The Philippines plays the regional meeting as a card. Nevertheless, if the Philippines really wants a showdown over the South China Sea issue, China has many more cards to play.

The ASEAN countries, who sent delegates to discuss the Philippine proposal, have their own anxieties and problems with China. They will not step into the conflict and conform to the Philippine requirements. Even the Philippines itself does not want its dispute to escalate. Just three weeks ago during his visit to China, Aquino stressed his desire for peaceful dialogue over territorial disputes.

The Philippines does not have the willpower to sacrifice its relationship with China and become involved in an armed standoff. Seeking ASEAN help to isolate China is pure nationalist fantasy.

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Director Sees Potential in Wide Range of Cambodian Art

Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer | Washington

Suon Bunrith, country director for Amrita Performing Arts, visits VOA Khmer. He is in his second year of a three-summer fellowship at the John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts in Washington.

“We perform onstage to show the real stories of people who survived the Khmer Rouge regime in

Cambodia [...]. We do not want to see these stories continue to evolve today, and you are invited to imagine the future of the people in these stories.”

Suon Bunrith is the country director for Amrita Performing Arts and is now in his second year of a three-summer fellowship at the John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts in Washington.

The program gives attendees from 24 countries skills that help them improve the development of the arts at home, he told “Hello VOA” recently.

Funded by major US donors and local businesses, Amrita was established in 2003 as an independent production company, which collaborates with the government and independent artists in the research and performance of traditional Cambodian performances.

It also encourages artists to explore contemporary theater, dance and music through workshops, regional exchange programs and international tours.

One of its latest initiatives is a traveling theater production called “Breaking the Silence,” which encourages victims and perpetrators of Khmer Rouge atrocities to speak out about their experiences as a move toward national reconciliation.

Suon Bunrith said the performance was a play about regaining hope and healing.

“We perform onstage to show the real stories of people who survived the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, a time when people were divided by ruined lives, betrayals, guilt, abuse, illness, grief or stress,” he said. “We do not want to see these stories continue to evolve today, and you are invited to imagine the future of the people in these stories.”

In November, the performance is expected to move to Rwanda, where an estimated 800,000 people were massacred in a 1994 genocide.

Cambodia has wide range of performance art, he said, which Amrita tries to perpetuate.

Shadow theater has seen a decline in popularity thanks to the advent of modern entertainment, he said.

“We want to bring shadow theater, or ‘nang sbek,’ to show abroad,” he said. “Nang sbek is an art that involves mime, song, music and having to dance, as well as narration to the accompaniment of the ‘pinpeat’ orchestra, and it is now a dying art form.”

Suon Bunrith graduated from the Royal University of Phnom Penh in 1995 and was a cultural specialist at Unesco. He has undertaken internships at New York’s Dance Theater Workshop, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art and Boston’s Leveraging Investments in Creativity.

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Trouble Brewing in Thailand?

By Tim LaRocco

With news breaking this week that a Cambodian solider was killed on the border with Thailand, the site of a dispute that was recently adjudicated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), it’s worth looking at how serious this development could turn out to be.

The Phnom Penh Post reported that Cambodian military officials claimed that Thai soldiers initiated the hostilities from their side of the border:

‘Pok Sophal, a Royal Cambodian Armed Forces commander for Oddar Meanchey’s Trapaing Prasat district, about 100 kilometres from the Preah Vihear temple, claimed that Thai soldiers had opened fire on the soldiers.

‘”We had an appointment for the meeting (between Cambodian and Thai soldiers), and when we were walking, they opened fire at our soldiers,” he said. “They were already prepared to intentionally open fire at us in advance.”’

However, the article then goes on to note that the Cambodian government had a different account of what they believed to have transpired:

‘Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, yesterday said government officials were still investigating the issue, but that reports of an armed clash were “not accurate”.

‘“Officially, (there was) no confrontation between Cambodian soldiers and Thai soldiers. The casualty that happened was not involved with an armed clash at all,” he said. “The situation on the border is calm, and both sides, they build confidence.”’

If one is to believe the account given by Sophal, the significance of this incident sadly transcends the loss of life of one Cambodian soldier. Instead, the focus would have to be on the aggressive behaviour of the Thai military. This isn’t just because of the recent legal decision by the ICJ – which called for the removal of military personnel on both sides from the site of the Preah Vihear temple and the establishment of an independently monitored demilitarized zone – but because it could foreshadow a potential conflict between the Thai military establishment and the new Pheu Thai government.

Additionally, there’s a question over the role of the outgoing Abhisit administration and what function Thailand’s Democrat Party may have played if it’s determined that Thai soldiers instigated an attack.

As I reported earlier this month, relations between Thailand and Cambodia could be expected to improve considerably when Yingluck Shinawatra assumes the role of prime minister. The Thai military, the fiercely nationalist People’s Alliance for Democracy (Yellow Shirts), and other segments of the Bangkok elite were the biggest losers of Thailand’s elections this month, which swept the Pheu Thai party into power on a swell of support from the country’s poor, rural constituencies. The possibility for dissidence between the various actors within Thailand’s domestic political system is very real, highlighted by myriad coups orchestrated by the military in the past. However, the army did announce that it would accept the latest results in the aftermath of Pheu Thai's landslide victory.

It may, of course, turn out that this is much ado about nothing, and it’s possible that certain Cambodian military leaders are attempting to extract some sort of personal or professional benefit by fabricating a story. We need more details about exactly what happened, but it’s a story worth keeping an eye on in the coming days and weeks.

Tim LaRocco is a graduate student of international relations at The City College of New York. He has travelled throughout the developing world, including stints as a volunteer worker in the Public Parks Department in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and as a researcher for the South African Human Rights Commission in Cape Town. He currently lives in Long Island, New York.

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Police identify brokers

Monday, 15 August 2011 15:02

Sen David

Photo by: Meng Kimlong

Migrant worker Nouv Vuthy (left), 21, holds hands with his mother on returning to Cambodia from Malaysia last month after escaping from a fishing vessel.

Police say they have discovered the identities of all the brokers responsible for the trafficking of seven Cambod-ian men, who were forced into slave labour aboard Thai fishing boats.



Last week, police revealed they had made one arrest and were tracking three more suspects following the return of the fishermen to the Kingdom on July 29.



The victims were rescued in May and early June during raids carried out on a plywood factory in Malaysia after they swam to shore to escape the boats. They described being forced into back-breaking labour and witnessing shootings and beatings.



Yesterday, officials revealed additional information had been sourced.



“We know there are a total of seven brokers involved. One has already been arrested, one has died and others have fled,” Chiv Phally, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking and juvenile protect-ion department, said.



Although he could not reveal all the wanted men and women’s identities because “it might spoil the investigation”, Chiv Phally did confirm that one suspect was already dead.



One of the alleged brokers, 40-year-old Sean Han, died at some point this year in Malaysia. He is thought to have fallen from a boat and drowned.



Police are now hunting for the remaining suspects. “Pol-ice believe they are in Siem Reap and Banteay Meanchey,” Chiv Phally said.



Trafficking victim Nouv Vuthy is supportive of the ongoing investigation.



“I hope it will be successful,” he said yesterday.

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Yingluck: No plan to get Thaksin a new passport

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday that giving a diplomatic passport back to her brother, fugitive ex-premier Thaksin, was not one of her government's plans.

Yingluck said that she would not get involved in the process and the matter would depend on Foreign Ministry regulations and procedures.

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul yesterday dismissed media reports that the government planned to reissue a diplomatic passport to Thaksin, because he was a former prime minister.

The new foreign minister said he had not investigated the feasibility of reinstating a "red passport" or diplomatic passport to the former premier, as he had not officially startedwork at the ministry.

"I'm not prepared to return the red passport to Thaksin but I will consider the case based on principles and fairness," Surapong said.

The foreign minister denied he had initiated a process to re-issue a passport, saying he would start work on Wednesday. He said if the Foreign Ministry wanted to bring the issue up, he would look at it and adhere to righteousness.

"What the previous government did by politicising the issue, we should not follow suit. The Foreign Ministry always acts in line with good protocol," he said.

Democrat Party spokesman Chavanont Intarakomalsut said, however, the Foreign Ministry did not have authority to re-issue a passport to Thaksin, who was sentenced to two years jail in late 2008 over a scandal involving a deal to buy a prime plot of land on Ratchadapisek. The ministry could not issue a new passport. Only the court, police or prosecutors could make a new decision on the matter.

"I want the new Foreign Minister or the PM to think of her acceptance statement - that she would not work for any particular person or group," Chavanont said.

Asked if a move by Japan to allow Thaksin to enter their country would be a slap on the face of the government or not, Chavanont said the Democrat government never banned Japan from allowing Thaksin to enter the country.

Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn said any Foreign Ministry move to return a Thai passport to Thaksin would cut the Yingluck administration short, because the new government was being closely watched on whether it worked for a particular group or person.

He also believed that the Pheu Thai led-government would be able to amend the Constitution - and remove appointed Senators - because it had a majority of votes in Parliament.

Pheu Thai Nonthaburi MP Chalong Riewraeng said Thaksin could get his Thai passport back because the Court has already nullified the purchase of the Ratchadapisek land and refunded Thaksin and ex-wife Pojaman Damapong the money with interest.

"The Ratchadapisek case was not corruption but political case. Thaksin delivered great achievements during his administration, he deserved to get it back," he said.

Yesterday, Surapong said he had met with the Japanese ambassador to Thailand, Seiji Kojima. He said Japan wanted to know about the Pheu Thai policy on travel restrictions that Thaksin faced. Surapong said he told the ambassador the country had no restriction and that Thaksin had travelled to many countries. He said it depend entirely on Japan whether to grant Thaksin a visa.

Thaksin is said to be planning a visit to Japan from August 22 to 28 to look at areas in Miyagi prefecture in the north, which were devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's immigration law forbids any foreigner convicted of breaking a law and sentenced to a jail term of one year or more from entering the country. But, the law also makes an exception for people who may have been convicted for political reasons. The justice minister has the final say in each individual case.

Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said yesterday that the ex-premier had received an invitation from a Japanese academic institution to give a lecture and visit an area affected by the tsunami.

Meanwhile, Surapong said he expected relations with Cambodia to improve because Phnom Penh was the first to send a congratulatory note when the Yingluck Cabinet was sworn in. He said he would look into details if there was a chance to co-register historical sites near Preah Vihear Temple as World Heritage sites. He insisted that there was no conflict of interest in this move, despite the fact there has been grave concerns about demarcation of the border, both on land and sea.

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Children step in to cover for Indian priest shortage

By Zubair Ahmed BBC News, Mumbai

Some 700 children are training to be priests

In a crowded neighbourhood building in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), 30-odd teenagers are chanting Hindu scriptures and singing religious songs.

These children, along with several hundred others, are training in batches to become priests for the city's biggest religious festival.

The 10-day Ganesh Utsav - when the elephant god is worshipped - begins this month and there are not enough priests available to handle the rush of ceremonies: More than 12,000 in different neighbourhoods, and several thousand private ceremonies in homes.

According to one estimate, there are barely 3,500 priests in the city when it needs at least eight times the number.

So the festival organisers have decided to train 700 young boys and girls this year so that more priests can be made available.

'Crash course'

Interestingly, many of the children taking the "crash course" in priesthood are girls.

"I know there will be some hesitation [to hire us] in the beginning because we are so young and then we are girls. But once [the clients] know that we are as good as traditional priests, they will hire us," says a visibly excited 15-year-old Neha.

And Manohar, also 15, says he has "stopped lying" ever since he began attending the classes.

"I am learning to be pious which would help me being accepted by those who need the services of a priest."

Pandit Vishwanath, one of the trainers, is confident that his young charges will be ready to become priests.

"They have been in training for over a month. They will have learnt all the scriptures in time to preside over the ceremonies," he says.

The Ganesh Utsav is Mumbai's biggest festival

But will the people accept the teenage priests?

The organisers are confident they will.

"If the children learn the scriptures which are available in a condensed form and take their job seriously they will be accepted," says Ganesh Pandey, a veteran priest.

The organisers plan to train more children every year to meet the rising demand for priests.

It is not clear why there is such a severe shortage of priests, but one of the organisers says children of priests are not taking up their father's vocations.

The upshot: the city's biggest festival simply doesn't have enough priests to carry out the ceremonies.

"They get so busy," says Naresh Dahibhavkar, one of the organisers, "that they don't even spend more than five minutes at one place for the ceremonies."

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