The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 710

The description of The Mirror – “About the Mirror” – has changed several times since its inception. Another version is now due – not only the latest one, but the last. The regular publications of The Mirror come to an end on 3 April 2011 – but the site will remain on the web as an archive of what has been published in the past.

But I plan to continue to write my own reports and observations: “…thinking it over… – after 21 years in Cambodia” here:

http://www.thinking21.org

More details about this follow at the end.

But first, a recapitulation of the history of The Mirror, a bit long – but these were years of many changes.

The Mirror began in May 1997 as a weekly publication available on paper and by email. It provided an overview of the Khmer language press in English translations as well as a reflective editorial on Sundays. It deliberately put articles from across the political spectrum and across the fields of interest into one publication, reflecting it all: facts, politically biased ‘analysis,’ and rumor, about corruption, courage, disaster, achievement, the ridiculous, and opportunities for improvement and social justice. Times were ripe for a publication like this. There was tremendous political tension and little dialogue across factions. (Indeed, in July 1997 there was armed conflict in the streets of Phnom Penh between the two political parties that were co-ruling the country. I vividly remember working with my wife to produce one issue of The Mirror while listening to nearby shelling. We had moved our young son downstairs to be near us, in a room where we had covered the windows with mattresses.)

But is there now, more than a decade later, real dialogue across factions in Cambodia?

The warm reception for The Mirror enabled us to add a Khmer version – Kanhchok Sangkum – A Mirror of Society – in 1998. It reflected the same breadth of articles from the Khmer press, and included the editorial in translation. In addition to regular subscriptions and copies for all members of Parliament and key government administrators, up to 2000 copies per week were delivered into the provinces, where there were hardly any Khmer language newspapers. We received thanks particularly from Cambodians who wanted to be active in shaping their country and its direction. I especially enjoy recalling handwritten letters from Cambodian readers who – based in far away provinces – reported reading Kanhchok Sangkum regularly at a local pagoda, at a school, a provincial administration, or an NGO office. And a foreign language department at an university in Kobe/Japan used The Mirror and the Kanhchok Sangkum for their Khmer language classes.

Over time both publications became well-regarded. For example, embassies in Phnom Penh called if they didn’t receive an issue at the expected time, and South East Asia departments of universities around the world had subscriptions. The weekly editorials, frequently focused on instances of injustice, corruption, inefficiency, or blind patriotism, were a challenge. I received a number of threats; they concerned us, but also let us know that we were having an impact.

We had to discontinue both publications in mid 2006, when the Board of Directors of the Open Forum of Cambodia – http://www.forum.org.kh – which had oversight at that time – withdrew financial resources that had been granted for the continuing support of The Mirror.

In January of 2007, The Mirror started again, though only on the Internet and only in English. The Open Institute – http://www.open.org.kh – provided some institutional and financial support, we got a few contributions, and my wife and I personally covered the shortfall. Again, daily translations from the Khmer press were published from Monday to Saturday, with an editorial on Sundays. Much time and energy was also spent to add background information to the texts in the form of Internet links. The regularly increasing number of readers, with up to 10,000 visits per month from a surprising number of countries around the world, were an encouragement to continue this public service.

With the beginning of September 2010 we faced reduced resources, and another phase of The Mirror started. The goal remained similar: to regularly provide an overview of major dynamics in Cambodian society, and by doing so to facilitate dialogue between different opinions and positions. The Mirror continued to reflect a wide variety of sources of information, including some from outside of the country, with links to background information – but no longer every day. And there was a fundamental change: it was no longer a publication based on translations from the Khmer press.

While I tried to continue The Mirror in this way during September and October 2010, I had to see that the tradition of a publication based on the Khmer language press had come to an end – though the logical consequence had not been taken. It was difficult to consider ending something which still enjoyed a regular interest among so many readers.

In November 2010, there seemed to be a possibility to maintain The Mirror in a way that it would continue to reflect – to mirror – major dynamics in Cambodian society based on what goes on in the world of media in Cambodia, and in addition it would provide a platform and voice for young Cambodian journalists and journalism students. A graduate of the Department of Media & Communication of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, with an excellent established record as a journalist, reporter, and blogger, became a co-editor of The Mirror. We shared here an example of her international experiences and the way in which she is relating them to Cambodian concerns. Unfortunately, this plan proved over-ambitious. While The Mirror published six contributions from Keo Kounila since November, which were widely read, and I appreciated this new cooperation, she finally decided not to take on the larger role of a co-editor of The Mirror, which would have located it in a new way in the world of Khmer media. Translations, however, had not been part of these new considerations anyway, but translations had really been the main specific character of The Mirror over the years.

In view of these facts, the issue of 3 April 2011 is the last regular publication of The Mirror.

However, I have no plan to take the site of The Mirror http://www.cambodiamirror.org down. It will stay accessible as a resource about the Cambodian history as reflected in The Mirror from May 1997 through 3 April 2011. While the site currently has only the period of January 2007 to the present on-line, I will be adding the weekly publications – both English and Khmer versions – from 1997 to 2006. Over time, I will also – depending on the technical support needed and available – install more effective search facilities for the entire archive.

Future readers of the archives should know that, while my name is always shown as the editor – and therefore all criticism did not affect anybody else – The Mirror and the Kanhchok Sangkum were the result of a tremendous amount of work from many dedicated people: translators, copy editors, people keeping track of and delivering subscriptions, people purchasing and archiving the physical newspapers, fundraisers, internet specialists, and more. They are too many to name, but I have appreciated working with them all. It has been a privilege and a great satisfaction to see our publications appear and have an impact on Cambodian society weekly, and to have a forum to call for clear and honest thinking, dialogue, and social justice.

While I “retire” from The Mirror on my 77th birthday, I plan to continue to share, from time to time, observations and reflections. The address of my new blog is:

…thinking it over – after 21 years in Cambodia

I would be happy if you visit also this address sometimes. And I would appreciate it very much if you would share your observations and reflections in its Comments and Discussions section. I think that not unilateral publications, but mutual communication, is the most important feature which the Internet makes possible for the societies in which we live.

Norbert KLEIN
Phnom Penh/CAMBODIA
nhklein@gmx.net

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.
And please recommend The Mirror also to your colleagues and friends.

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 710

A strong earthquake in Japan, which resulted in a powerful tsunami – and as a result damages also to four nuclear power plants had it effects also on politics in Germany. In the Federal Republic of Germany – a country with 16 states – elections were held on 27 March 2011 in the state of Baden-Württemberg [Baden-Wuerttemberg] – with almost 11 million people close in population size to Cambodia’s over 14 million, but with only about one fifth of Cambodia’s land size. The results of the elections bring the dominance of the party that led the government for 60 years to an end. And it is expected that – for the first time in Germany – a leader of the Green Party will become prime minister of a federal state. As the federal states form the Upper House of German Parliament, and the Upper House has the right to veto legislation, the change in Baden-Wuerttemberg will also have its repercussions for the federal government.

Two aspects make it worth while to look into these events not only as a German affair.

First: What happened in Japan brought changes on the other side of the globe – the events in Japan were not the only reason, but they strongly influenced the opinion of the electorate, strengthening the Green Party more than ever before. The pro-business Liberal Democratic party went down to 5.3%, from 10.7% during the last elections in 2006.

Second: The green parties are often considered to have idealistic goals which cannot find broad support in a modern, industrial society, as this would damage the economy. But Baden-Wuerttemberg is a country with a high density of industrialization: it is the seat of the Mercedes Benz company – Carl Benz produced the first automobile by putting a petrol engine on a horse chariot in 1885 in Stuttgart – and there is also the seat of the Porsche sports car company, and of Bosch, producing electric appliances for car engines and household goods, and thousands of medium and small scale industries are all over the country, in the midst of an agricultural and forested landscape. The capital city of Baden-Wuertemberg, Stuttgart, contains also the largest wine producing area of any German town or village. Agriculture and industry go together, making Baden-Wuerttemberg one of the richest states in Germany.

This is the context where the Green Party’s program was successful at the elections. The following is a translation from the website of Winfried Kretschmann, who may become the first prime minister, member of the Green Party, of any of the federal states in Germany. He is 62 years old, a former high school teacher, a co-founder of the regional Green Party chapter in 1979; in 1980 he was elected into the regional parliament, and was out and in repeatedly ever since. The Green Party (24.2%) together with the center-left Social Democratic Party (23.1%) plan to form a coalition government in Stuttgart, replacing the Christian Democratic Union which had led the government for 60 years. It was still the strongest single party in the present elections getting 39.0% of the votes – though 5.2% less than in the previous elections.

Electricity from the wind - click on the picture to enlarge.

A Program for a new Baden-Württemberg

The time is ripe for a change of policy. We want to make this possible together with the women and men who are our citizens: a Baden-Wuerttemberg that is ecologically sound, with social concern, fair, open, and outward looking.

Green economic power

That means resource-efficient production, promotion of technologies concerned for the climate and the environment, and strong measures for the conservation of nature. We want to modernize our economy ecologically, so that our companies will continue to be among the top players on the world market. The future of the automobile industry depends on sustainable mobility. Local crafts and small-and-medium scale industries play a central role in the transition to the use of renewable energy. Many companies started already on the way towards these growth sectors of the economy. Green politics supports them.

New jobs and decent work

Those who cast their ballots for the Greens chose new jobs for today and for tomorrow. With a Green New Deal, we create jobs in engineering, in environmental and energy technologies, in the information technology industry, in child care, health care, and nursing home services. We want to set minimum wages and lower social security fees for low wage earners.

Electricity from the sun - click on the picture to enlarge.

The best educational chances for all

To enable all children to get ahead, we want to strengthen individual attention in education, good full-day-attendance schools, and integrated community schools where people want to see them created. Educational reform starting at the local level can create a new culture of education – and the school remains concerned with its local environment. We will abolish tuition fees that work against social integration, and we will improve the conditions for the educational system.

Support for early childhood education

Kindergartens, day-care centers, and other child care facilities should be made available all over Baden-Wuerttemberg – providing good education from the beginning, and the best possible chances for all children. Fathers and mothers need to have confidence that they can find good child care close by, so that they have the opportunity to chose and be at easy when they go to work.

Moving ahead together

[Bakground: There is a high number of persons with a migrant background in Baden-Wuerttemberg. While the average percentage in Germany is 19%, in Baden-Wuerttemberg it is 25%, and 23% of them come from Turkey or have Turkish parents or grandparents. – Figures from 2007] Whether the men and women living in Württemberg were born here in our provinces in the highlands, or in Turkish Anatolia – we need the contribution of all and we want to be strong together. Everybody shall have the possibility be determine how they live. When there are problems, the society has to help: when entering into employment, when getting out of unemployment, when assisting parents who need care, and when starting as a young family. We want a develop a health care network close to everybody’s home, in cities and in the countryside, for the old and for the young.

Discussing together and deciding together

Let us dare to practice more democracy and a new style of politics! We want to make politics more transparent, facilitate to hold referendums, to involve all women and men – the citizens – directly. So that it finally becomes possible that everybody can participate in decisions about major projects, also about controversial ones.

We need mobility in the country: But we say No to “Stuttgart 21”

[Background: “Stuttgart 21” is among the largest urban development project in Europe, promoted since 1988 at a cost of originally US$3.3 billion, risen so far to an estimated US$5.5 billion, to transform the Stuttgart railway terminus station to an underground through station. A recent public opinion poll found that 58% of Baden-Wuerttemburg's residents opposed the plan, as "the citizens weren't involved in such a massive project" to change the layout of the city of Stuttgart.] The alternative “Terminus Station 21″ costs less and provides more. But the citizens should have the option to decide: by a referendum. We want to develop better bus and rail travel in the country, moving more freight to railways, away from the roads and trucks. The Rhine Valley railway has to be developed, considering the needs of the people who live there, and it has to be done in an environmentally friendly way. For this project of a wider interest we must not waste billions for one single meaningless prestige mega-project. [A 30 March 2011 press report claims that the project was suspended, in response to the election results.]

Eating what we produce

For our small-scale farms based agriculture, organic food production offers the best economic perspectives. Organic agriculture treats nature with care and maintain the culture of our landscape. A growing number of restaurants started to offer meals according to the seasons of the year, and according to local traditions – bringing agriculture, conservation of nature, and tourism together. We will create a Baden-Wuerttemberg which is 100 percent free from genetically manipulated plants.

Self-produced energy as not only motorcycles move - click on the picture to enlarge.

New energy instead of nuclear energy

[Background: The German coalition government of Social Democrats and Greens achieved a “Nuclear Consensus” in 2000 to gradually phase out the production of nuclear energy, which became law in 2002. There were detailed agreements, basically saying that no nuclear plant should stay in operation more than 32 years. After the 2009 elections, the new government entered into negotiations with the nuclear energy industry and decided in September 2010 to extend the operational period of nuclear plants up to 50 years. This agreement was reached secretly – but then the Federal Minister for the Environment stated publicly that he and other members of his ministry had been kept excluded from these new proceedings. After the accidents in Fukushima in Japan, the German government decided to re-check the security of all German nuclear reactors, and to temporarily suspend the operation of 7 reactors which had been built before 1980 for three months. These reactors were to be decomissioned according to the 2000 consensus plans, which later had been overturned suddenly in 2010. Obviously the electorate in Baden-Wuerttemberg was not impressed by this repeated back-and-forth manoevers.] To extend the operational period of nuclear power plants is the wrong way. Instead of accumulating mountains of nuclear waste, we will build on three energy principles: saving energy, increasing the efficiency of the use of energy, and renewable energy. By 2050 we want to achieve 100 percent clean energy for Baden-Württemberg, generated from hydro-power, wind, and the sun. This is good for the climate and it secures the necessary power supply. Let us make Baden-Württemberg to be a frontrunner in green technologies!

Defend our freedoms

Every person should be able to develop in a cosmopolitan and tolerant society – enjoying safety, freedom, and living without fear. We stand for strong civil rights and against developing a conservative system of surveillances nurtured by fantasies – including on the Internet. We do not accept discrimination because of one’s origin, gender, religion, age, disability, or sexual orientation.

Sound finances are necessary

We owe it to our children and grandchildren to work with sustainable budgets. Even in prosperous times the former governments led by the Christian Democratic Union operated by borrowing money which has to be paid back later. The Greens stand for a sound fiscal policy. The government of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg needs to make sure that cities and smaller communities maintain their financial viability. But also the federal government has to act: Those who are strong should again carry a fair share of the burden of taxes.

Negatiations towards forming a coalition government are scheduled for Thursday, 31 March 2011, with 8 persons from each side delegated; 7 of the 16 are women; one has a foreign father.

It will be interesting to see the developments to come: trying to start a new type of politics – for the environment and for democracy.

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.
And please recommend The Mirror also to your colleagues and friends.

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 709

The Prime Minister announced on 24 March 2011 that the government had established “a new centralized task force to keep the media informed of matters in the public interest,” as the Phnom Penh Post reported. This Inter-Ministry Media Task Force “will comprise senior officials from the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Council of Ministers.”

It is interesting that this new instrument will be “headed by Neang Phat, secretary of state from the Ministry of Defense, with Phay Siphan acting as deputy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokseman Koy Kuong and Defense Ministry Spokesman Chhum Socheat will act as spokespersons for their respective ministries.”

Several implications of this decision are not yet clear – especially whether or how the spokespersons of other ministries, not mentioned here, will be functioning in future. It should be remembered that the government had taken specific actions to strengthen the flow of information from the government to the public in the past – like through the training of spokespersons for the military and for the national police in 2009 by the Ministry of Information, followed by another course for 26 officials from the Ministry of Rural Development; the Council of Ministers; the Ministry of Commerce; the Ministry of Tourism; the Ministry of Land Management, Urbanization, and Construction; the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy; the Ministry of Agriculture; the Ministry of Information; the Ministry of Economy and Finance; the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports, and from the provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Kompong Cham, Ratanakiri, Pailin, Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Battambang, and Mondolkiri.

“The Minister of Information, Mr. Khieu Kanharith, said during the opening ceremony on 13 July 2009 of the course for spokespersons, that to communicate with journalists and with people in general is really important – so that they can understand the policies and the positions that their respective institutions, ministries, and province administrations area taking, or have achieved.

“The Minister added, ‘What a spokesperson handles in public communication cannot do without an ethical attitude, as the task of a spokesperson is not easy, but we are persons in leading positions who can change the faces of our ministries or institutions, after something wrong has been done, as we can intervene to lessen controversies through the use of words.’

“Mr. Khieu Kanharith went on to say, ‘The spokespersons must tell the truth, but just some truth cannot be completely told – but there must be no lie. This is the principle that must be remembered, it is the golden principle that all spokespersons must remember.’ The Minister said that a lie by a spokespersons will initiate a loss of trust that will last forever. The task of a spokespersons is not just to communicate with journalists, but also to directly communicate with the public, and moreover with the public opinions expressed through the media, because a democratic society must have three elements: a multi-party system, an active civil society, and a strong and independent press. [Source: Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #1995, 14.7.2009]

And in 2010, it was reported – even by the Chinese news agency Xinhua – that a “professional training course on ‘Media, Public Relations and Spokesperson’ was given here to 44 trainees from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.” The report does not spell out why staff from this ministry were selected – maybe because of the frequent necessities to communicate policy to groups of people facing to loose the possibility to stay on the land where they used to stay before but are facing eviction. Information Minister Khieu Kanharith is reported to have given “recommendations to the trainees on what they gained from the course, saying that the spokesperson should have media skills and know how to keep files,” because to provide correct information is important. “He said the spokesperson should know what happened in the institution and should respond to the reporters on the ministry leaders’ behalf.”

But in spite of these efforts, we often read in the press about situations where requested information to the public is not available – like the following examples randomly selected over recent weeks:

• “Social Affairs Minister Ith Sam Heng declined to comment yesterday, and other ministry officials referred questions to a spokesman who could not be reached.”
• “Deputy commune chief In Saphorn said compensation for any property within 10 meters of the railway tracks was Toll’s responsibility – Toll CEO David Kerr denied the claim, saying relocations were not his firm’s responsibility.”
• [Under the draft law, foreign NGOs will be forced to enter into an 'aid project or program' with leaders from the appropriate government ministry before they apply to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Foreign Ministry] “Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak declined to talk at length about the draft law. ‘The draft aims to control the civil society, making the civil society under the law,’ he said, before hanging up on a reporter.” – “Foreign Ministry spokesperson Koy Kuong said he had not seen a copy of the draft law” (on obliging foreign NGOs to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
• [The Emaxx company, bringing totally new 4G telecommunication technology, has already invested US$75 million from unknown Cambodian investors in the country, and has a license for these developments since 2007. This became public only during the current week.] “Minister of Post and Telecommunications So Khun declined to comment yesterday. The ministry’s director general, Mao Chakrya, said he was unaware of Emaxx, though the company produced a copy of its license from the ministry.”

So there is a lot to be done by the new task force “to keep the media informed of matters in the public interest.” It is obvious that this is not only a question of better coordination, but it is a question of the information policy to be implemented.

And all this happens at a time when the spread of the use of the Internet makes new patters of communication possible, diminishing and even partly replacing the role of traditional print media. A lot more information compared to earlier times is now available much quicker than before.

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States (1801 – 1809), has influenced the debate about the role of the press, and this not only in the USA, with his famous statement: “If I had to choose between government without newspapers, and newspapers without government, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter.” This was not an idealistic statement from a person who was not aware of the role of the press. It is said that “with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, no president prior to the twentieth century has been more vilified by the US news media than Thomas Jefferson.” Four fifths of the 235 newspapers at his time were on the opposing side in the internal conflicts between the southern and northern states, where Jefferson had played important roles: he was the main drafter of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America (in 1776) from England, from 1789 – 1793 he was the first Secretary of State of the USA, then he became the second Vice President (1797–1801), and in 1801 the third President of the country.

In his commitment to the freedom of the press he had written in 1800 in a personal letter: “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”

Towards this concern, he took also some quite practical steps: he had designed a portable printing device, and when he learned in 1783 that somebody had invented such a machine in London, he tried to get one: “Being desirous of getting from England as soon as possible one of those copying Machines invented there not long since… I take the Liberty of asking the favor of you to write thither for one for me, with half a dozen Reams of Paper proper for it…” And two years later, after he had received his portable instrument to produce printed sheets which could be distributed, he wrote to a friend: “Have you a copying press? If yo have not, yo should get one. Mine has cost me about 14 guineas. I would give ten times that sum that I had had it from the date of the stamp act.” This refers to the year 1765, when activities had started to reject regulations considered to be oppressive. At that time, Jefferson was 22 years old – a young activist, to use a modern word.

His later reflection, how important it is to have a simple printing device to spread ideas working for social change, finds, in a way, its continuation in the present day posters written at protest and demonstrations, when ideas shared over the Internet are printed out and lead to wide social movements of liberation in the news all over the world: It is reported that about one million Egyptians signed up as members on the Internet on the social network Facebook during January. The portable copy machine has been replaced by the computer and the mobile phone on the Internet.

The President of the Club of Cambodian Journalists Pen Samitthi welcomed the Cambodian government’s new efforts to provide better information: “It’s better than the press not being able to access official information from the government.” This is definitely to be welcomed. This is in the context and environment of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia. As the Minister of Information said in 2009 when government spokespersons were trained: “a democratic society must have three elements: a multi-party system, an active civil society, and a strong and independent press.“

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.
And please recommend The Mirror also to your colleagues and friends.

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 709

The Internet – specially the two Social Networks of Facebook (more here) and Twitter (more here) – brought hundreds of millions of people world-wide in new ways into special relations of – mostly public group – communication. Both networks have also thousand of active participants in Cambodia.

Recently, there was also a discussion started about the fact that many people in Cambodia use Romanized Khmer on these networks – “Urgent!!! We have to promote the usage of Khmer Unicode, or else the Khmer language will disappear and Romanized Khmer will replace our language in the cyberworld.”

Some random examples:

• Tov na bong? Som tov pong?
• mech miss me tech mes!
• mean reurng ey bong srey?
• monus tov leang chrern nas
• Eng jass jeang mun chhreun nas
• doch chea teur cheang mun

Not only the Khmer script is not used, but in the absence of an established transliteration system different people spell the same word differently – like in chrern/chhreun and in jeang/cheang. That some English slips into Khmer sentences – miss me – is not a big problem, this is practiced in many countries, especially in informal, personal speech.

Interestingly enough: I have friends in China, Japan, Korea, and Thailand, who also use these Social Networks – I have never seen that anybody in China, Japan, Korea, or Thailand is using Romanized texts to write in their own languages; and their writing systems are all more complicated than Roman/Latin letters.

But there are also understandable reasons for the situation in Cambodia – understandable, but not justifying the disregard of the Khmer script. Cambodia is suffering in this respect until today, probably as a result of a tendency of “going it alone” and not seeking discussion towards cooperation even with opposing opinions.

In 1994, I had started the first Internet system in Cambodia – of course based on the generally available computers with English (and a few French) keyboards, and restricted to the use of e-mail only. But when we considered the use of the Khmer language for electronic communication, we found that there were eight different Khmer font families in use – all of them not mutually compatible. By the time a font conversion program had been developed, so that it became possible to read mails and other texts which had been written in one font system could also be read using this conversion program and a different font system – we had discovered 23 different Khmer font systems in actual use.

Even the introduction of the international UNICODE system – What is Unicode? Unicode provides a unique number for every character, no matter what the platform, no matter what the program, no matter what the language – met with reluctance from some Khmer font providers and their supporters, as it was not upholding their economic interests of providing a unified Khmer writing basis in the country and also from abroad.

But then, in 2001, the leadership of the country gave clear guidelines and pointed to a direction defined by public, not by private interests. Foremost is here the speech of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An at the closing of a three days conference on Information Technology Awareness on 13.9.2001, where he said:

“All laws, regulations and policies in the IT sector will reflect the following guiding spirit and philosophy:

• “to uphold the interests of the consumers and general public
• “to guarantee security of information, while facilitating the broadest possible access to public information
• “to respect individual rights, and
• “to avoid dependency on proprietary systems, instead promoting open systems and interoperability.”

Especially the latest point – “to avoid dependency on proprietary systems, instead promoting open systems and interoperability” – has been challenged and violated again and again, even from within institutions of the government – where people give preference to proprietary, commercial systems over available alternatives in the Open Source world: software legally free of any obligations to pay royalties or license fees to a foreign company.

It is estimated that close to 90% of the computers in use in the country use illegally copied and not licensed software. As a member of the World Trade Organization, Cambodia is under the obligation to enforce compliance with copyrights, at the latest by 2013 (please correct this, if my information is wrong). If all proprietary and commercial software in use would be registered and paid for, Cambodia would have to provide several tens of thousands of US Dollars per year.

But Open Source software is not only free from such legal obligations with heave financial burdens – Open Source software is also a widely used basis for local software developments, and this will also be of advantage to the growing number of Cambodian computer professionals.

NiDA Standard Khmer UNICODE Keyboard - click on the picture to enlarge

This keyboard – its production in China for NiDA had been organized by KhmerOS – is an early proof of the good cooperation.

The NGO based Khmer Software Initiative – KhmerOS – was working on the guidelines given by Senior Minister Sok An and shared all results of their efforts to create UNICODE based Khmer Open Source software with the National Information Communication Technology Development Authority – NiDA (in Khmer here) – and cooperated with NiDA in promoting this software in the whole country. At a certain time, NiDA and KhmerOS had even assigned half of the province of Cambodia to NiDA and the other half to KhmerOS to organize and implement training events in all provinces.

Signing of Memorandum of Understanding by Senior Minister and Minister of Education Kol Pheng, and Executive Director of the Open Institute Chim Manavy, in the presence of the UNESCO Representative in Cambodia Jinnai Teruo

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, in line with the government policy pronounced by Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2007 with the Open Institute, where the KhmerOS Initiative is housed, in order to use this OpenSource software package as the main and unified software for the whole educational system of Cambodia – for the Ministry of Eduction, for the Teachers Training Colleges, for the Provincial Offices of Education, and for the schools under the Ministry that have computers.

Ministry of Education Teaching manual with more than 350 pages - click on the picture to enlarge

In the meantime, hundreds of companies, NGOs, government departments, many individuals, and the Ministry of Information, have used the training material developed by the Ministry of Education to join those who, following the guidance by the Deputy Prime Minister from 2001, have already been trained to join this common stream of applications which make it easy to communicate in the national language.

But, as I said before, there is also some irritation against following the direction given in 2001. There have been effort made to replace the “NiDA Standard Khmer UNICODE Keyboard” by a different one, claiming that such a change in a keyboard standard is the same as the change of software applications, were there is development from one version to the next. But the new keyboard is not “backward compatible” and requires more, and more complicated keystrokes than the original one.

But rumors and information that there are plans to create and promote programs against the intended unity in 2001 work also against a full fledged movement towards the acceptance of the UNICODE based KhmerOS system. It is difficult to understand and to accept that there is – unconfirmed – information that the next version of Microsoft Windows – Microsoft 8 – might use a Windows UNICODE System with a different keyboard layout, and some different input typing sequences from what is already widely in use Cambodia, disregarding what Cambodian government personalities and agencies have not only announced, but what is being practiced all over the country in the educational system and in many other places.

Master Plan for Information and Communication Technology in Education

Preface by Minister of Education Im Sethy - click on the picture to enlarge

One can only hope the the economic interests of one big foreign company will not motivate it to use its economic power against the actual practice of the authorities of Cambodia. The Master Plan for Information and Communication Technology in Education, made public at the end of 2010 by the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, base on several years of experience with the KhmerOS Open Source software, is clear, when it says:

“As advanced software in Khmer language – well adapted to Cambodian culture – is already available, and there are also training materials approved by the Ministry for this software, the Ministry will ensure that:

• “Only software that is 100% in Khmer language, and well adapted to Khmer culture and to the requirements of the Ministry, may be approved by the Ministry and used at schools and universities to teach ICT literacy.’
• “Only software for which textbooks approved by the Ministry are available can be taught. Textbooks must follow the existing curricula to ensure that students acquire professional competencies and not only technical skills.
• “The Ministry will have full ownership and copyright of all training materials and software that it develops in the context of this Master Plan. It will license all these materials under an appropriate sharing license that will allow others to use them, modify them, and distribute them, allowing improvement, personalization or development of better or different materials by third parties; this will help improve the materials that are finally used by teachers and students.’

…

“The advantages of Khmer language software apply also to the administration of the Ministry. The same rules used for procurement of end-user software for schools will be applied to Ministry offices making it easy for all MoEYS employees to use basic computer software. The Ministry will tend to use Open Source Software whenever possible for its own databases and back-office.

“The use of standards is the key to scaling the use of ICT. National and international standards will be used in the deployment of this Master Plan. These include the Unicode character encoding standard (ISO 10646). The NiDA Standard Unicode Keyboard V.1 defined by the National ICT Development Authority in 2005, or later standards, but only if they are fully compatible with the prior one. The Open Document international (ODF) standard (ISO 26300:2006) will be used for office documents.

…

“All software distributed must be able to do spell-checking in Khmer, order words according to Cambodian standard character order, and format numbers and dates in Cambodian traditional formats (in agreement with the formats that are taught in Mathematics classes in schools). The applications taught must be able to use correctly Unicode, as well as produce all formats considered standard by the Ministry (ODF, PDF). Only applications that have been legally procured will be taught in the education system, and manufacturers must show that their software cannot be easily attacked by viruses or malware. Software must run at a reasonable speed in low-power-consumption computers defined in this plan. When choosing among competing pieces of software that comply with these requirements, lowest standard retail price of software will be the most important decision factor for choosing the one that will be used in schools. Specifically for software, students will learn to recognize which software they can use freely and share (as in the case of Free and Open Source Software), and which software is proprietary, requires payment for the use of a license, and cannot be shared with others, sold to others, or transferred to another computer. Students will he discouraged from using proprietary applications in computers for which licenses have not been paid.

“Software will be licensed either through the GNU General Public License (GPL) or the GNU Lesser Public License (LGPL). Content will be licensed through a Creative Common Attribution License, allowing commercial use of the materials (to encourage private development of better materials, and competitive printing prices) and their modification, but requiring that the original work be attributed to the Ministry.”

ICT in Education Committee of the Ministry of Education - click on the picture to enlarge

With these decisions, Cambodia is in line with other countries making similarly progressive and economically wise decisions. One can only hope that private considerations, publicly linked or not linked to economic interests, will not prevail and not be successful, to derail this clear vision and the way laid out into the future of Cambodia as a member of the world wide information society.

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 709

The situation of considerably large groups of people in Thailand and Vietnam, who identify themselves a Khmer – the Khmer Surin and the Khmer Krom – make it often into the media, often with reference to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1992, when their rights are in danger. The rights mentioned in the UN declaration includes a list of rights to which persons belonging to minorities are entitled, including the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, and to use their own language.

People from ethnic minorities in Vietnam, who fled to Cambodia hoping to be accepted as asylum seekers in some countries, often claim similar religious and cultural oppression like some Khmer Krom people do.

There is, of course, also awareness of the presence of people of Chinese and Vietnamese ethnic backgrounds, some of whose ancestors came to Cambodia a long time ago, while others came recently. And there is an awareness of the the Cham population – mainly Muslim.

Actually, there are more than 20 ethnic minority groups in Cambodia, but many are often not specifically identified by their ethnic group when they make it into the press, but they are just called “minority people” who often claim to suffer from land grabbing.

That they have a wide variety of different identities, related to their languages and cultural practices, is hardly taken up in detail. We reproduce here a list of their different ethnicities:

*- Khmer Loeu – a general term use to designate all hilltribes in Cambodia, though they have different identities in two major groups:

Mon-Khmer Speakers:
• Kachok
• Krung (divided into three different dialect groups: Krung, Brao, and Kavet)
• Kraol (with the subgroup of the Mel)
• Kuy
• Phnong
• Tampuan
• Stieng
• Mnong
• Samre (with the sub-groups of Chong, Sa’och, Somray, and Suoy)

Austronesian Speakers:
• Jarai
• Rhade

*- Tai

• Thai (not including modern Thai expatriates)
• Lao
• Shan
• Kula

*- Hmong-Mien

• Miao
• Hmong
• Yao

They are all to be considered – they, their identities, their rights – according to the following UN document. But in the press, they show mostly up only when there are conflicts with Cambodian or foreign land concession holders.

PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS BELONGING TO NATIONAL, ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS AND LINGUISTIC MINORITIES

The main point of reference for the international community regarding the rights of minorities is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted by the General Assembly in 1992. It includes a list of rights to which persons belonging to minorities are entitled, including the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion and to use their own language. It also contains measures which States could implement to create an environment conducive to the enjoyment of such rights, for example, through encouraging public knowledge of the history, traditions, language and culture of minorities existing within their territories and enabling persons belonging to minorities to participate fully in the economic progress and development of their country. States are also asked to implement national policies and programs with due regard for minority interests. The cornerstones of the Declaration are the principles of non-discrimination, effective participation and protection and promotion of identity.

The Declaration was inspired by Article 271 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is the most widely accepted legally binding provision on minorities. In terms of monitoring, human rights treaty bodies (in particular the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and Human Rights Committee) as well as special procedures have been paying increasing attention to situations and rights of persons belonging to minorities.

Since 2005, the focal point at the United Nations is the Independent Expert on minority issues whose mandate is to promote the implementation of the 1992 Declaration. In 2007, the Forum on Minority Issues was established to provide a platform for promoting dialogue and cooperation in that field as well as thematic contributions to the work of the Independent Expert.

Consistent with the provisions of the 1992 Minorities Declaration, the 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action urged Governments to create favorable conditions and take measures that would enable persons belonging to minorities within their jurisdiction to express their characteristics freely and to participate on a non-discriminatory and equitable basis in the cultural, social, economic and political life of the country in which they live. The Durban Program of Action specifically calls for the creation and implementation of policies that promote a high-quality and diverse police force free from racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. One of the Program’s recommendations is that in recruiting for public employment, including the police force, States ensure the participation and representation of all groups including minorities. States are also urged to design, implement and enforce effective measures to eliminate the phenomenon of “racial profiling.”

What kind of attention did the minorities in Cambodia get on this 21 March 2011 – the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination?

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 708

Another problem is on the way to be solved. Not a completely new problem actually – the Prime Minister had warned a big trucking company towards the end of January 2011 that it could be shut down if it did not improve its performance, “There will be only one reason to shut the company down, if they do not straighten out the transportation situation. – I said this because I want to wake up the company … as I have woken them up two times already.”

There was no report then that anything happened in response. Until, on 16 March 2011, the Prime Minister appealed to authorities to take strict action against overloaded vehicles to prevent damage to municipal roads. This appeal to the police to do what they have to do anyway triggered action. “They have damaged roads and created many problems as well as traffic jams in the city,” said Heng Chantheary, the chief of Phnom Penh traffic police: now 25 trucks had been detained. Also the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation got involved.

It seems that only the Prime Minister’s special appeal to the police, military police, and the courts, to take drastic action against transportation companies that violate traffic laws, made them act – not the traffic laws they know, and not their normal duty to enforce them.

Another challenge, to consider the state of law in the country.

National and international media reported during the week about a new initiative by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to put up new barriers against international marriages.

Male foreigners who earn less than $2,500 per month and are over 50 years old will not get the permission to marry a Cambodian women in Cambodia. These new rules are to crack down on sham marriages and human trafficking. If the wedding takes place outside of the country, these rules do not apply, said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Koy Kuong. The foreign man must have this salary to make sure that “Cambodian women can live a decent life” – and if a foreign man of over 50 years of age would marry a young woman this would be “inappropriate” (but where are the limits and who decides according to which criteria what is appropriate and what is not appropriate?).

“We are preventing fake marriages and human trafficking,” he said, adding that the government was aware of cases, documented by rights groups, where Cambodian women were sent into prostitution or “used as slaves” in their husband’s home country.

The Cambodian foreign ministry has sent a diplomatic note to all the embassies and consulates in the country informing them of the new regulations, which came into effect on 1 March 2011.

Kek Galabru, president of local human rights group LICADHO, praised the government’s intention to protect Cambodian brides. But she said the new guidelines “go against Cambodian marriage law and international law” – specifically the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

“This is discrimination against women because they will not be allowed to marry men who are over 50 … while Cambodian men can marry any foreign woman they choose,” she said.

Another challenge to consider the state of law in the country – though this rule by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, sent to all embassies in the country, is not a law passed by the National Assembly, the Senate, and signed by the King.

This rule is formulated in a way that gives rise to a series of questions, where fairness and practicality have to be questioned – in addition to the serious legal questions mentioned already above:

• What about when the man is 51 and the woman 49 – and he earns a lot more than $2500 per months?
• What about when the man is under 50, but earns only $2400 per months?
• Foreign men from which countries will be eligible at all if they are to have a monthly salary of more than $2500 and are to be under 50 years old? It would be interesting to know what kind of economic data from which countries were used, and how it was established what “living a decent life” means – in Japan, or in India – in a big city, or in the countryside?

“We are preventing fake marriages and human trafficking” is given as the reason for this new regulation without legal basis.

• How will this help to protect Cambodian women from later being abused abroad, as the “50 years and $2500 rules” – imposed only for marriages in country – may lead to arranged marriage business brokers organizing marriages outside of the country?
• How will this help to protect Cambodian women from being forced into prostitution or used as slaves in their husband’s home country? – Are only men older than 50 prone to commit such criminal acts? Are there any data that mainly men of this age group over 50 are involved in fake marriage schemes misleading and misusing Cambodian women abroad? Should all men over 50 be considered with suspicion?

What has to happen so that the compliance with laws – relating to road traffic in country, but also laws in general – will be monitored and enforced also without a special appeal by the Prime Minister?

What can be expected related to the new regulations on international marriages, so that they will be brought into line with existing laws and re-formulated so that they does not lead to strange situations of perceived unfairness, or produce counter-productive results, as mentioned above?

And finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned: “The foreign man must have this salary to make sure that ‘Cambodian women can live a decent life’.” Which other Ministry is concerned and makes rules so that Cambodian men and Cambodian women, married to each other, in Cambodia, will live in an environment where all can have a decent life?

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 708

On 6 March 2011, The Mirror had tried stock taking in view of a variety of different events where the free flow of information via the Internet into Cambodia and within Cambodia seems to have been compromised. At that time I had written: Technical Policy Ministry Staff Challenges Higher Authorities”:

Clarity on the background – not on all facts and their legal aspects – surfaced finally when the Phnom Penh Post received access to and published information that the deputy director of the Directorate of Telecommunications Policy Regulation of the MPTC, Mr. Sieng Sithy, had sent a request to ten ISPs, to block the access to a number of web sites critical to the government, and he even sent a follow-up mail: “I am writing to extend my appreciation to you all for your cooperation with MPTC. Again and again, In case of not well cooperation is your own responsibility. Hightly appreciate for your cooperation,” mentioning also some ISPs that had not complied with his request: “We found that you are not yet taken an action, so please kindly take immediate action.”

The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications clearly stated “that the Royal Government did not have a principle of blocking some websites. The actions of that Deputy Director of the Directorate of Telecommunications Policy Regulation of the MPTC, Mr. Sient Sithy, were therefore clearly in contravention of government policy, when he wrote to ISPs, urging them to cooperate with an alleged policy of the MPTC to block some websites.

I considered these actions to be a challenge and violation of orders from higher authorities, committed by a middle level official of a ministry, using the name of the ministry.

A big surprise came on 18 March 2011 with reports in The Cambodia Daily, quoting that “the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications had said that the ministry had not investigated the matter and could not do so.” And he continued: “I did not order any official or Sieng Sithy to e-mail Internet companies. – I don’t know that Sieng Sithy e-mailed to any Internet company. It is an individual right.”

Does every officer in any ministry have the right to send out mail, in the name of the ministry, announcing and insisting on something which he claims to be the ministry’s policy – though it contravenes official policy – and get away with it, and even be justified for such acts, declaring that it is within an individual’s right?

This is extremely unusual in any organization, private or public – which is based on laws, when exercising public policy. If such activity is allowed, how can the public know what is right and what is wrong, what is lawful, and what is just based on the personal inclination of an official?

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 707

The lake as it was before

The longstanding confrontations about the future solutions for the people who left or are under pressure to leave where about 4000 families used to live – most of them five or ten years or more – got again into the media. The Mirror had reported on related developments repeatedly – see for example The Lake is Going to Be Lost Forever – 13.11.2010. The following information is collected from a variety of sources. There are two main reasons why the problem is again in the media:

• On 2 March 2011, the local District Governor warned the almost 2000 remaining families that the authorities could not be held responsible if the people would not accept the compensation offers by the private company that holds the 99 years lease for the Boeng Kak area – 133 ha (including the lake and its surrounding land) by 9 March 2011 (on 7 March 2011, this deadline was withdrawn by verbal statements of city officials – but without any written confirmation, so the affected residents are left in limbo). A press release by the Phnom Penh City Hall on 21 December 2010 (admitting that there is still no final approved Master Plan) had explained: “The compensation policy takes 3 approaches for each house: 1st Option: Providing 8,000 USD and 2 Million Riels, 2nd Option: Providing a (4m x 12m) flat in Khan Dangkor [Note: far away] with 2 Million Riels and 3rd Option: On-site development—people are requested to temporary stay in a designated places prepared by the Capital Hall and wait for the construction work to be finished, using similar style buildings at Bory Keila. As a result, about 2,000 households have voluntarily accepted compensation policy of the Royal Government. However, for people, living in the surrounding areas outside Lake Surface, there will be discussions after the Master Plan of Shukaku Inc. Company gets approval from the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC).”
• On 8 March 2011, the board of directors of the World Bank admitted that mistakes had been made in the administration of a US$24.3 million grant to Cambodia’s Land Management and Administration Project [LMAP], which had been established and funded aimed at fighting poverty, by clarifying land rights and issuing about one million land titles, in the present situation after the lack of clarity left by the Khmer Rouge regime 1975/79 which had abolished all private ownership of land. – A statement from Robert Zoellik, the president of the World Bank, says: “We have repeatedly called on the government to end the evictions. We are seeking a positive government response.”

What is the procedural and legal background for the present conflict and human tragedy, and how is it working out? The problem is that there are different, contradicting, interpretations.

• 2001 – The Land Law says that people who can prove that they lived on the same plot of land have the right to apply for a land title.
• 2002 – The Land Management and Administration Project was created to handle such claims.
• 2002 – The government and the World Bank signed an agreement saying that people living on state land are protected from eviction unless fair compensation has been agreed.
• 2003 – The government “authorized Shukaku Inc. company to develop this area to be a commercial, cultural, tourism, housing, and resort hub, along with infrastructure development such as roads, drainage system, green space and amusement parks deserving to be a Pearl City as it has been known before.”
• 2007 – Phnom Penh City granted a 99 years lease to the private company “Shukaku Inc.” – but the identity of the company was not known to the public. Because there were several construction ventures proceeding with South Korean background, concerned residents of the lake area demonstrated in front of the Korean Embassy – but they were told that they are at the wrong place. Later it was disclosed that Shukaku is owned by the Senator Lao Meng Khin of the Cambodian People’s Party.


Pumping sand from the Mekong into the lake

• 2008 – National Assembly President Heng Samrin is reported in a Khmer newspaper to have signed an appeal to stop pumping soil from the Mekong River to fill the Boeung Kak lake.
• 2010 – The Expropriation Law is understood to say clearly that legal possessors have the same right to market price compensation than title holders.
• 2010 (8 September) After representatives of the Chinese Inner Mongolia Erdos Hung Jun Investment Company had met with the Prime Minister, it was said that they have contracts with two Cambodian companies – it was later understood that one is Shukaku. But this information became only wider known more recently. (See The Mirror: All Equal Under the Law? – 9.1.2011)
• 2010 – (29 December) When ninety-nine monks, were invited by lake side residents, to represent the 99 years of the lease, the authorities prevented them from holding a religious blessing ceremony at the lake side.
• 2011 – (31 January) Governor Kep Chuktema attended a ground breaking event for a bridge construction including the religious Krong Pali ceremony, which requests the permission from the spirits of the land for the construction to begin.

All these developments have – apart from their human and legal side – also an economic background which is not often analyzed in detail.

A press release by Phnom Penh City Hall in December 2010 had warned the desperately demonstrating affected residents not to follow “a handful of opportunists” but to chose “among the three options in order to facilitate the next step development process to be more successfully complying with the development policies of the Royal Government.”

What these development policies for the Boeng Kak region are has been spelled out in more detail in an interview with the Phnom Penh Governor by Channel NewsAsia from Singapore on 27 January 2011, describing that “Phnom Penh is the Capital of peace, security and social orders and its people are living harmoniously with good living standard.” The following selected sections relate to the present subject:

“Land policy for Phnom Penh development has also been an important subject in the interview which targets the development by turning anarchical areas into commercial and industrial zones.

“H.E Governor described step by step progress from the deliberation day 7th January [Note: The liberation day from the Khmer Rouge regime, on 7 January 1979] until gaining full peace through win-win policy of Samdech Techo [Prime Minister Hun Sen], Head of the Government, and rapid progress of double digits economic advancement leading to unavoidable population bust and self-development. Therefore, Phnom Penh Capital Hall has prepared Development Master Plan for 2020, dividing into residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural and green space areas…

“In response to questions concerning compensation to land owners affected by development projects, H.E Governor stressed that there are two types of development taking public and private investment approach.

“Development basing on public investment related to the construction of roads, bridges and other public infrastructures which unavoidably impact land owners, and we have to pay compensation in accordance with Cambodia’s new land tax law and market price. But in case people illegally occupied state land, we put our decisions on circulation No.03 on temporary buildings on state land in which we will use charitable policy but not a compensation.

“Whereas development basing on private companies, it comes to buying-selling between private companies and land owners which affect development projects under free market price. Therefore, compensation can be appropriately justified. Although a handful of people disagree with free market compensation policy, majorities view it as reasonable and acceptable because Phnom Penh Capital Hall executes development projects envisaging long future, that is to say long-term visions for majorities as in other democratic countries…”

David Pred, the Executive Director of Bridges Across Cambodia – “We envision a just society in which human rights are respected, protected and fulfilled for everybody equally, and where people live in harmony with our environment” – has analyzed the implications of the granting of a 99 year lease – there is no information available that this was done in a process of public bidding – to Shukaku, under the heading Inclusive Development Is Still Possible in Cambodia. The following sections mirror mainly his analysis of the financial gains and losses involved.

In an interview that aired last week on Channel News Asia, Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema said it was inevitable that some people would suffer because of development but that this should not deter authorities from developing the city. The rest of world, he said, is moving on and Phnom Penh cannot lag behind. Many people hold this utilitarian view of development – that is, until they themselves become the ones who are harmed.

The test of whether the governor’s logic holds up to the principles of justice is simple: Is he prepared to give up his land and home for a small fraction of the market price in order to develop Phnom Penh? That is, after all, what he is demanding of urban poor and middle class homeowners who have the misfortune of being situated in the path of progress and development…

It is instructive to apply Mr. Chuktema’s explanation to the current land dispute between City Hall, private developer Shukaku Erdos Hung Jun Property Development and families living around Boeung Kak lake.

This project appears to entail a combination of public and private developments. A private company has been granted a 99-year lease over the 129-hectare area and has been granted the right to develop it for private profit.

The city and the developer have set monetary compensation policy at $8,500 per household, regardless of the size or type of house or whether they are living on the lake, which is state public property, or the land around the lake, which is legally possessed by the lakeside residents…

Eviction and demolition orders have also been given to homeowners living outside of the leased area to make way for public access roads into the development zone. In most cases, these households, like those living on the land in the lease area, are legal possessors who were unlawfully excluded from the systematic land registration process that took place in the area in 2006 to 2007.

Nevertheless, the 2010 Expropriation Law is clear that legal possessors have the same right to market-based compensation as titled owners. Despite these guarantees, the cash compensation being offered to Boeung Kak families is a tiny fraction of what their homes are worth…

I have met families who paid up to $200,000 for their property and were forced to accept $8,500 as compensation as they watched their homes disappear under a deluge of mud from Shukaku’s sand pumping machine.

A market survey of the land values of privately held plots around the lake suggests property prices before development range from $1,500 to $3,000 per square meter. This is interesting since Shukaku paid a mere $79 million for that land and the 90-hectare lake that is now being filled.

Altogether, once the lake is filled, the entire lease area will be worth a minimum of $1.941 billion. Shukaku was thus awarded the property at about 4 percent of its market value, while the residents, who are being compensated out of the $79 million rental fee, are forced to accept between 5 and 10 percent of their property values in compensation.

If compensation was paid to the legal possessors based on the lowest range of the market price, the developer should be paying out at least $450 million to the residents just for their land. Yet, the compensation payments amount to little more than $36 million in total for both land and structures.

You may have gotten lost in the math but the bottom line of this equation is the theft of about a half billion dollars in private property…

The disappearing lake

So there is the assertion, on the one side, that – according to the Land Law – those people living around the lake for more than five years, have a claim on receiving land titles for land worth all together over US$500 million. On the other hand Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Pa Socheatvong rejected this whole concept: “How can they have the right to request land titles when they stole the land? They stole the land, and we take it back without punishing them.”

But there is the Land Law, and the Land Management and Administration Project supported by the World Bank.

When the residents around the lake became eligible to file applications for titles in 2006, the administrators of this project refused to accept their papers – indicating that this would happen later, because their area was contested land. But the Phnom Penh City, instead, contracted the lake and the surrounding area to Shukaku – only one year later, in 2007.

When the World Bank reminded the government of the original intention of the Land Management and Administration Project – to stabilize and pacify a situation inherited from Khmer Rouge times, to provide land titles to those who live on the land – the government canceled the agreement for the support of the Land Management and Administration Project with the World Bank.

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 707

The Mirror had the following reports in the past, all concerned with access to information and freedom of expression:

• Censorship: Thousands of Crude Porn Sites Accessible on Internet – One Khmer Artist Blocked – Sunday, 1.2.2009
• Internet Governance, Censorship, and the UN Multistakeholder Approach – Sunday, 28.2.2010
• Freedom Park Inaugurated, but Not Found Useful – Wednesday, 17.11.2010
• The Freedom of Expression, Granted and Regulated – Sunday, 21.11.2010
• Details – Sunday, 2.1.2011
• Why Should We Care about Interfering with the Freedom of Information? – Sunday, 23.1.2011
• Free and Open Source Software Avoids Dependencies – Sunday, 30.1.2011
• Social Media Upsetting Traditional Lines of Communication and Culture – Sunday, 6.2.2011
• Technical Policy Ministry Staff Challenges Higher Authorities – Sunday, 6.3.2011

Now we place these reports into a wider international context with the following declaration of Reporters Without Borders:

World Day Against Cyber-Censorship

Launched by Reporters Without Borders in 2008, the World Day Against Cyber-Censorship (on 12 March 2011) is intended to rally everyone in support of a single Internet without restrictions and accessible to all.

The fight for online freedom of expression is more essential than ever. By creating new spaces for exchanging ideas and information, the Internet is a force for freedom. In countries where the traditional media are controlled by the government, the only independent news and information are to be found on the Internet, which has become a forum for discussion and a refuge for those who want to express their views freely.

However, more and more governments have realized this and are reacting by trying to control the Internet. Never have so many countries been affected by some form of online censorship, whether arrests or harassment of netizens, online surveillance, website blocking or the adoption of repressive Internet laws. Netizens are being targeted by government reprisals. Around 117 of them are currently detained for expressing their views freely online, mainly in China, Iran and Vietnam.

World Day Against Cyber-Censorship pays tribute to them and their fight for Internet freedom. Reporters Without Borders will mark the occasion by issuing its latest list of “Enemies of the Internet.”

On this site are also further links, many of the data related to 2010, like

• The Map of Cyber-Censorship
• The Enemies of the Internet
• Netizen Prize
• Get Informed

Worth to visit and to keep in mind.

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The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 707

Since a number of years, The Mirror highlighted the International Women’s Day by collecting special information, also trying to put this day in Cambodia into an international or historical context – among others linking some early women’s textile workers industrial action in 1836 in the USA, in Lowell, Massachusetts – with one of the largest Cambodian-American communities nowadays – to the fact that Cambodian women textile workers are now the most important section of society earning foreign exchange for the country. As some of the former text had received quite some interest, we repeat “clickable” reference here:

• International Women’s Day 2007 In Cambodia – 11.3.2007
• Looking Further Beyond What Is in Front of Us Immediately – 9.3.2008
• Interview between Koh Santepheap and the Director of the Open Institute, Ms. Chim Manavy, Regarding the International Women’s Day 8 March – 5.3.2009
• International Women’s Day 2010 – a Lot to Think About – 8.3.2010

I recently found a text looking at the situation of women during the time of the People’s Republic of Cambodia – after 1979, after the Khmer Rouge regime – and the changes setting in since the UNTAC time 1992/93 in the Kingdom of Cambodia. I quote from Cambodia: A Political Survey, by Michael Vickery (published by Editions Funan, Phnom Penh 2007), pages 149-155. Much of the descriptions and documented evidences are dated and written in 1996 and before [these sections are marked here with “quote marks”] allow an interesting view at the changes which set it since the 22 months of UNTAC time 1992/1993.

And obviously, some of these changes have their negative influence until today.

Effects of the UN-Intervention

(Only the section related to the situation of women and children is quoted here – shortened, [annotations added])

“Another of the latest mantras (1996) of a certain vocal section of the NGO and international organization community in the last few years is the situation of women and children, which they tend to see as the effect of a malevolent government, rather than proceeding from objective economic and political changes of recent years.

“Because of the demographic changes of the DK years [DK = officially called "Democratic Kampuchea" = the Khmer Rouge regime, 1975 - 1979], that is the heavy death toll, above normal, particularly among men, Cambodia was left in 1979 when the PRK was formed [PRK = "People's Republic of Kampuchea" established 10 January 1979 after toppling the Khmer Rouge regime; - "State of Cambodia" = SOC, established 1 May 1989; - Kingdom of Cambodia established 24 September 1993] with an excess of women. This has been variously estimated from a high of 60% to a more accurate figure of 52.2% in the latest statistical study (Royal Government of Cambodia, Ministry of Planning, National Institute of Statistics, “Report on the Socio-Economic Survey of Cambodia 1993/94″, Phnom Penh, 1995). Whatever the statistical truth, many more households have been headed by women than was usual in pre-war Cambodia. This was not entirely the result of the disappearance of males during DK, but also of the weakening of the old rural society. It has been found that among the squatter communities in Phnom Penh, women are often the actual heads of households, even when living with a husband; and it is likely that many rural households are headed by women because husbands spend long periods elsewhere, usually in urban areas, earning extra income. Probably many military households are also headed, in fact, by the wives.

“Regardless of ideology, which being socialist instead of gender equality, the PRK was forced to give more attention to women because of need for their labor. There were more kindergartens and day care centers, including at factories, than before 1975 or since 1991; and the number of preschoolers declined from 689 in 1985/86 to 203 in 1993/94 (Edward B. Fiske, “Using Both Hands, Women and Education in Cambodia, Manila, Asian Development Bank, 1995, page 32). In rural areas the agricultural ‘Solidarity Groups’ working on state owned land gave some protection to poor and widowed women, whose situation has declined since the introduction of free-market policies and land privatization after 1989.

“Besides this, the PRK offered more women opportunities to assume more responsible positions in political, administrative, and economic affairs than had been possible in pre-war Cambodia. There were a number of women in ministerial positions, and as province and district chiefs, where there had been none before, and at lower levels far more women than had been customary, over one third of the lower-level civil service positions. In industry, where there had already been many women workers in the 1960s, they were moving into management positions under the PRK. Now, in the formation of new village level organizations foreign NGO workers have noted that women who were formed in PRK Women’s Associations, or who were KR cadre in 1975 – 1979, are the most articulate, confident and active.”

One statistic, which enemies of the Cambodian government used to allegedly prove that women are marginalized, is the number of women members of Parliament, only seven out of one hundred twenty, under 6% after 1993. This may not look good compared to Scandinavia, but it was not out of line with Thailand (24/393, or 6.1% women) or Malaysia (15/190 for 7.8%). What the critics should be looking at is the comparison with pre-UNTAC PRK Cambodia, where 21 of 117 members of Parliament, 17.9%, were women, and where all aspects of health and education, in particular affecting women and children, were superior to what resulted in 1993 from the façade of democracy introduced at the price of 2 billion dollars by UNTAC.

Compared with the prominence of women in prestigious positions under the PRK/SOC, it was notable that there was no female minister in the new Royal Government formed in 1993 after the election. It was not relevant, as some commented, that under the PRK there had not been a ministry of women’s affairs. There had been a powerful women’s organization with functioned as a ministry. Even the State Secretariat for Women’s Affairs, one of the positions given to FUNCINPEC, was headed by one of the men returned from long exile in the West.

That anomaly was rectified in 1996 when Ms. Mu Sochua, a Khmer American, who had returned to Cambodia before the 1993 election after six years working in the refugee camps on the Thai border, joined FUNCINPEC, and became an advisor on women’s affairs to Ranariddh, who appointed her as minister of women’s affairs. Ms. Sochua, who had left Cambodia as a teenager before 1975, and had grown up in the US, began to work in the refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodia border in 1980 where she learned Cambodia politics in the anti-Phnom Penh milieus predominant there…

Most sources agree that domestic violence has increased with the leap into a free market economy and the destruction of the PRK social safety net after 1989. In the 150 pages of Judy Ledgerwood’s “Analysis of the Situation of Women in Cambodia” in 1992 (Judy Ledgerwood, Analysis of the Situation of Women in Cambodia. Research of Women in Khmer Society. UNICEF; Phnom Penh [mimeo], 1992) there is no evocation of domestic violence as a particular problem, but in late 1995 concerned foreign NGO workers were incensed that after six months of research in Phnom Penh (population of over half of a million) and three provinces (another million or so), one group of investigators had managed to discover 50 cases of battered wives. Unfortunately, rather than seeing this in relation to Cambodia’s post-socialist economic and social collapse, they preferred to relate it to the allegedly inherent male chauvinism of Cambodian society.

Little has changed since the above was written in 1996. It would seem that the very real problems of Cambodia in the areas of welfare, human rights, corruption, and a precarious democracy are directly related to the way in which Cambodia was forced too rapidly into political and economic change for which the country and its leaders were not prepared, and instead of sympathetic help from an international community pretending horror at the DK debacle from which Cambodia had emerged in 1979, most foreign inputs were to punish Cambodia for not immediately becoming a Sweden of Southeast Asia.

The alleviation of all of the specific Cambodian problems requires not more neo-liberalism, but state intervention in the interest of social justice and to maintain basic living standards. There was a good beginning under the PRK, when the state controlled the major economic sectors. Foreign institutions genuinely concerned with Cambodian development, rather than just carping about corruption, lack of political pluralism, and free market virtues, should be helping Cambodia strengthen state institutions to enforce mobilization of domestic resources and foreign aid into channels of benefit to the entire society. Instead of focusing only on those articles of the constitution which define democratic formalism, they might pay attention to the other articles of the constitution which require the state to maintain education, culture and social welfare.

For the Cambodian government to undertake the reforms demanded by their critics, and which are really needed, tough progressive taxation is required, but this is something no Cambodian government is strong enough to carry out, at least not peacefully. Suppose the requisite laws were passed, but that the rich businesses simply refused to pay their taxes. Then, as happens in well-run Western countries, those owing taxes could be arrested, and even imprisoned, but in the climate which has developed since 1991 that would no doubt require harsh police measures, and then we would see the do-gooders of the NGOs, ‘human rights lawyers’, and international organizations raving about violations of human rights.

As always – Comments from our readers are welcome, especially also when they lead to a debate among some of our readers.

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