Category Archives: Culture

The Corrupt, The Dirty, The Sanctioned

12 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by in Culture, Governance, Human Rights, International, Issue, Justice, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Do you recall our communication The Dirty Dozen + Others a year and a half ago? Well, since then a lot of things have happened with corruption getting worst and worst every passing day involving more or less the same persons in the corrupt leadership circle and their family members.

Let inventory them so that your students could have a comprehensive information on the extent of the corruption and their authors in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk.

Human Rights Watch
Cambodia’s Dirty Dozen – A Long History of Rights Abuses by Hun Sen’s Generals
នាយឧត្តមសេនីយ៍បាតដៃកខ្វក់ ១២ រូប – ប្រវត្តិរំលោភសិទ្ធិមនុស្សដ៏យូរអង្វែងរបស់នាយឧត្តមសេនីយ៍នៃលោក ហ៊ុន សែន

Global Witness
1- HOSTILE TAKEOVER – How Cambodia’s ruling family are pulling the strings on the economy and amassing vast personal fortunes with extreme consequences for the population.
2- FROM THE DEATH OF CAMBODIA’S DEMOCRACY? – As Cambodians head to the polls, Global Witness exposes an elusive club of politically exposed tycoons set to profit from the country’s sham election

Reuters
1- Special Report: Khmer Riche – How relatives and allies of Cambodia’s leader amassed wealth overseas
2- Cyprus opposition wants to know how Cambodian elite got passports
3- in-cyprus: Interior Minister to carry out additional probe into Cambodia elite passports
4- Cyprus plans to strip citizenships after uproar over passports
5- Cyprus Mail: Names of those on passports to be revoked made public

U.S. Department of Treasury
1- Treasury Sanctions Corruption and Material Support Networks
2- United States Takes Action Against Corruption and Serious Human Rights Abuse – PRESS STATEMENT by MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE
3- American Shipper: US sanctions aim to topple Cambodian timber magnate

Radio Free Asia
$5 MILLION APARTMENT A LAUNCHPAD TO LONDON HIGH SOCIETY FOR NIECE OF HUN SEN

This file will be updated with new developments as they happen in the future, bearing in mind what Ovid once said: “All things can corrupt when minds are prone to evil” to which George Bernard Shaw added: “Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.”

Dirtier-Than-Dirt Hypocrites

20 Sunday Oct 2019

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My dear Kacvey,

Hope your students have now learned where Cyprus is, its history that dated back eon years BC, its present relationship with Greece and Turkey, its difference between the Northern part under Turkey administration and the Southern part Cypriot etc …

If they don’t, this Special Report from Reuters will give them a hint how Cyprus has become a heaven for the dirtier-than-dirt hypocrites that pretend to serve the country under the weak strongman ex-KR-turned-autocrat.

In fact the Reuters Special Report complement the 2 previous reports by Global Witness and Human Rights Watch. The 3 reports are now put together for your students to have a comprehensive picture of the magnitude of corruption and deceitfulness that “those dirty guys” are destroying Cambodia and maximizing their personal interests immorally and devilishly. One can wonder are these guys openly betray the hands that feed them with corrupt wealth and power and the corrupter is so blind that he doesn’t feel that the rugs have been pulled away from under his feet? Autocracy also has big corruption problems inside its cancerous body.

Just wondering if some of your students might be related one way or another to these dirtier-than-dirt hypocrites!

1. Reuters
Special Report: Khmer Riche – How relatives and allies of Cambodia’s leader amassed wealth overseas

2. Global Witness
HOSTILE TAKEOVER – How Cambodia’s ruling family are pulling the strings on the economy and amassing vast personal fortunes with extreme consequences for the population.

3. Human Rights Watch
Cambodia’s Dirty Dozen

To paraphrase Mike Quigley, Cyprus has now a reputation as a laundromat for the corrupt group of Cambodians who are betraying and trying to escape the autocratic rule of their own corrupt leader.

Three Songs, One Of Which Is Khmer

16 Monday Sep 2019

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My dear Kacvey,

Your students might already and surely heard or known about these 3 anti-oppression songs; they were all written by young and contemporary composers to express their thirst for true democracy and freedom that they want to liberate from the yoke of autocracy, military or otherwise.

Smart phones with headsets are good devices for your students to listen again to these songs at their time and leisure, regardless whether they are banned by the authorities. The songs are from three different countries but the music can travel beyond the controlled borders the same way the idea and value of democracy and freedom do.

Let play the music of freedom and democracy through the links below:

The Guardian
‘Gun at your throat’: viral rap song tests freedom of speech in Thailand
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/30/gun-at-your-throat-viral-rap-song-tests-freedom-of-speech-in-thailand

Voice of America
In Cambodia, Politics Push Musicians Into Self-Censorship
https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/cambodia-politics-push-musicians-self-censorship

The Guardian
‘Glory to Hong Kong’: pro-democracy anthem embraced by protesters
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/12/glory-to-hong-kong-pro-democracy-anthem-embraced-by-protesters

“愿荣光归香港”

何以  土这地  泪再流
何以  令众人  亦憤恨
昂首  拒默沈  吶喊声  响透
盼自由   归于  这里

何以  这恐惧  抹不走
何以　为信念　从没退后
何解  血在流  但迈进声 响透
建自由  光辉  香港

在晚星  坠落 彷徨午夜
迷雾里  最远处吹来  号角声
捍自由  来齐集这里  来全力抗对
勇气  智慧  也永不灭

黎明来到  要光复  这香港
同行儿女  为正义  時代革命
祈求  民主与自由  万世都不朽
我愿荣光归香港

We pledge: No more tears on this land.
In wrath, doubts dispelled, we make our stand.
Arise! ye who will not be slaves again;
For Hong Kong, may freedom reign!

Though deep is the dread that lies ahead,
Yet still, with our faith, on we tread.
Let blood rage afield! Our voice grows ever more:
For Hong Kong, may glory reign!

Stars may fade, as darkness fills the air;
Through the mist, a solitary trumpet flares:
Now to arms! For freedom we fight! With all might we strike!
With valor and wisdom both, we stride!

Break now the dawn, liberate our Hong Kong,
In common breath: “Revolution of our time!”
May people reign, proud and free, now and ever more;
Glory be to thee, Hong Kong!

As Plato, once, said: “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.”

36 Stratagems

28 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by in Culture, History, Politics

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My dear Kacvey,

As Cambodia has already started to be dominated, vassalized or colonized by China, it would be important that your students should be aware of the unsaid, unexplained or unrevealed Chinese thinking that could help them when coming face to face with the invaders or colonizers. To learn to understand the Chinese is the only way that would enable them to deal vigorously and intelligently with the Chinese that had studied and understood Khmer attitude and thinking long, long time ago.

The Chinese are using the tricks that their ancestors had taught them since time memorial, and every Chinese from high school up knows them by heart, thinks, reasons and behaves accordingly, both in planning and negotiating, and in critical moments.

The present era is that the Chinese have put in actual application what they have learnt all along; they do it to the world, and by extension to Cambodia with the help of US trade deficit and US largess on sciences and technology since the historical Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972.

The fundamental ideas are contained in a very ancient and classic text called “The Thirty-Six Stratagems” (三十六计) that illustrated a series of stratagems used in politics, war, and in civil interaction.

Kacvey, you can argue that since the essay is available in every book store, why making such a big deal? You have indeed a very valid point, but the issue is not about availability of the material, but the knowledge that the material is important and should be studied. A book that is open but unread doe not make the person holding it knowledgeable.

Below is the list of stratagems contained in the 6 Chapters of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, and the basis of that, your students could begin to study further and deeper their meaning under different forms, situations or circumstances, bearing in mind that the value is not in the literal meaning of each Chinese character or their combination into phrase or idiom, it rather is in the figurative meaning that is hidden in the pictograph of the Chinese language.

Chapter 1: Winning Stratagems 胜战计

  1. Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean 瞒天过海
  2. Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao 围魏救赵
  3. Kill with a borrowed sword 借刀杀人
  4. Wait at leisure while the enemy labors 以逸待劳
  5. Loot a burning house 趁火打劫
  6. Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west 声东击西

Chapter 2: Enemy Dealing Stratagems 敌战计

  1. Create something from nothing 无中生有
  2. Openly repair the gallery roads, but sneak through the passage of Chencang 明修栈道,暗度陈仓
  3. Watch the fires burning across the river 隔岸观火
  4. Hide a knife behind a smile 笑里藏刀
  5. Sacrifice the plum tree to preserve the peach tree 李代桃僵
  6. Take the opportunity to pilfer a goat 顺手牵羊

Chapter 3: Attacking Stratagems 攻战计

  1. Stomp the grass to scare the snake 打草惊蛇
  2. Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul 借尸还魂
  3. Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair 调虎离山
  4. In order to capture, one must let loose 欲擒故纵
  5. Tossing out a brick to get a jade gem 抛砖引玉
  6. Defeat the enemy by capturing their chief 擒贼擒王

Chapter 4: Chaos Stratagems 混战计

  1. Remove the firewood from under the pot 釜底抽薪
  2. Disturb the water and catch a fish 浑水摸鱼
  3. Slough off the cicada’s golden shell 金蝉脱壳
  4. Shut the door to catch the thief 关门捉贼
  5. Befriend a distant state while attacking a neighbor 远交近攻
  6. Obtain safe passage to conquer the State of Guo 假道伐虢

Chapter 5: Proximate Stratagems 並战计

  1. Replace the beams with rotten timbers 偷梁换柱
  2. Point at the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree 指桑骂槐
  3. Feign madness but keep your balance 假痴不癫
  4. Remove the ladder when the enemy has ascended to the roof 上屋抽梯
  5. Deck the tree with false blossoms 树上开花
  6. Make the host and the guest exchange roles 反客为主

Chapter 6: Desperate Stratagems 败战计

  1. The beauty trap (Honeypot) 美人计
  2. The empty fort strategy 空城计
  3. Let the enemy’s own spy sow discord in the enemy camp 反间计
  4. Inflict injury on oneself to win the enemy’s trust 苦肉计
  5. Chain stratagems 连环计
  6. If all else fails, retreat 走为上计

Your students should also be knowledgeable about the Chinese concept of “Tianxia” 天下  (or “All Under the Heaven”) that could be found comprehensively explained in the book “RENEWAL – The Chinese State and the New Global History” by Wang Gungwu 王賡武, a historian and professor.

Kacvey, please also warn your students that learning the above essay is like scooping up a bucket of water from the ocean of Chinese history and thinking, but like Laozi said in Chapter 64 of Dao De Jing 道德经: “A journey of a thousand leagues starts from where your feet stand”, 千里之行，始於足下.

Start the journey!

“Straight from the Horse’s Mouth”

24 Sunday Feb 2019

Posted by in Culture, Issue, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Hope you had dinner with enough rice in your plate.

Why “enough rice”?

Ah, you must then have not read this Phnom Penh Post’s article by journalist Niem Chheng.

No, didn’t read it. Too much nonsense lately out there. What’s about?

Well, the weak strongman admitted that has chosen “to eat the grass with the Cambodian people.”

Yeah, “Khmer si smauv.” The students had been talking non-stop about it, and related jokes were even heard in the corridor.

What jokes?

Can’t tell. Too crude. Will tell when meet in person. But it’s awkwardly strange that the weak strongman changed his diet to include grass.

Like a cow or a horse!

But an omnivorous man is also herbivorous, naturally.

It’s more than that. Since the weak strongman unequivocally said it, it looks like it is coming straight from the horse’s mouth. What would that mean? Let surmise to get some sense out of it:
– By eating grass the weak strongman brags that he “won’t die soon” and “no one (in his family) has had any serious illnesses since the ancestors.” Eating grass renders immortality, doesn’t it?!
– By eating “grass with the Cambodian people”, did he imply that Cambodian people “si smauv” not rice? True, there are quite a number of vegetables, herbs and spices that look like “grass” and are delicious, but to “eat grass” does not necessarily suggest the same culinary or gastronomic connotation as to eat vegetables.
– By eating grass, does he insinuate that he grazes?
– By eating grass, does he imply that he also “smokes” it?
– When eating grass, does he chew it?
– By eating grass, does he have a stomach with 4 pockets?
– By eating “grass with the Cambodian people”, who eats the rice from the Khmer rice fields, or who “si bai”?
– By insinuating that Khmer eat grass, does he continue to insult them by reviving the Pol Pot era’s tragic nightmares when he was a devoted subaltern?
– By eating grass, does he acknowledge that he reserves rice for his 2 lords who feed him with power and wealth?
– If he ate grass, would his relatives share the same menu or table?
– While on golf course and if hungry, would he grab a handful of bentgrass or bluegrass for snack?
– If he eats grass, why did he hint that Cambodian people eat grass? Is he imposing dictatorial measures upon Cambodian people for grass consumption?
– When self-serving grass, would he part the sprigs or the blades first?

Kacvey, if you went out to cut the grass for your dinner as decreed by the weak strongman, please bear in mind these few words from Virgil: “There’s a snake lurking in the grass.”

The weak strongman, being so sure of his endless longevity declared that: “I am not going to die any time soon”. Let his words be witness of his life, against the background painted by Mother Angelica: “God knows Himself and every created thing perfectly. Not a blade of grass or the tiniest insect escapes His eye.”

And if he is “not going to die any time soon”, Frank Richard Stockton would have this wish for him: “May you live to see the green grass growing over your grave.”

He Who Committed Crime of Lèse Majesté…

05 Saturday Jan 2019

Posted by in Culture, History, Human Rights, Institution, Issue, Justice, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Please tell us how glorious were the fireworks at the VI..N..-VI..N.. Monument on the eve of the New Year, if there were any? A usual monologue speech filled with indignant and incongruous verbiage was however delivered by the weak strongman to a scattered applause from his sycophants.

Do you have a chance to pass by that useless and grotesque piece of white cement days after its inauguration to see how it stands in shame and distaste in the middle of a dictatorial socio-political landscape designed for the weak strongman’s vanity and arrogance?

Please update when you have a chance. Thanks.

The subject of today’s letter for you and your students to discuss and analyze is about what the weak strongman had lately and publicly expressed with slight, disdain and disrespect against of royal family and that could be characterized as a possible crime of lèse majesté.

As far as Khmer history is concerned, and for whatever reason one wished to formulate, the kingdom of the Khmer never had any law against lèse majesté. The worst that happened was the abolition of the monarchy by the Lon Nol regime and that abolition was maintained not only under the genocidal Khmer Rouge Pol Pot regime but also under the Vietnamese-supported regime of the current weak strongman when he returned to Cambodia from Vietnam on 7 January 19179 until the UNTAC election in May 1993. The monarchy was restored after the completion of the election with the coronation of Sihanouk.

Since then until 2018, for 25 years, neither Sihanouk nor his son who succeeded him never bother by lèse majesté concept or feel threatened by the population-at-large. But all of sudden the weak strongman and his sycophants have become “more royalist than the king” and orchestrated all kind of legislative and executive schemes to draft and adopt a law against lèse majesté in February 2018.

Kacvey, there is plenty of literature for your students to research on the discussions about that law at the time of its drafting and adoption, but it is worth to remind them that that law was not promulgated by the king himself but by the president of the senate acting on the king’s behalf.

After the law went into effect, the autocratic regime of the weak strongman has arrested 2 persons accused of committing crime of lèse majesté:
1. a 50-year-old school principal for a post in his Facebook account; he was facing 1-5 years in prison, and a large fine, and
2. a 70-year-old barber also for a post in his Facebook account; he was convicted and sentenced to seven months in prison and a 5-month suspended sentence.

Against that background, and let now see the foreground.

In its Khmer language article dated 21 December 2018, Radio Free Asia reported about staff management issue in the CNC television and the pressure that the weak strongman exercised upon the CNC leadership to revert a decision involving the firing of a staff member believed to be one of his relatives; the weak strongman made it clear that “ជាមួយ​ខ្ញុំ​កុំ​និយាយ​ឲ្យ​សោះ​ឪ​ស្តេច​ម៉ែ​ស្តេច ក៏​ខ្ញុំ​ដាក់​ដែរ”. In its English version, Radio Free Asia reported that: “well I’m not even afraid of the queen and the king’s father!”

Kacvey, you and your students would certainly be of the opinion that the English translated of the weak strongman’s words from Khmer are much more mild, polite and uncompromising, but the Khmer words are plain insolence, disrespect and contempt towards the king’s father and mother. On 30 December 2018, Radio Free Asia followed it up with a Khmer language article with opinions from different commentators that you and your students can fully appraise and appreciate.

For our part, let just ask the questions:

  • Why the weak strongman needed to refer to “the queen and the king’s father” in his argument in such a withering and disparaging manner?
  • What’s behind his motive?
  • Is there a dark scheme brewing or germinating inside his mind and future plan? Fujian versus or to replace Corsica?
  • Has he forgotten that there is a law of “his” on lèse majesté?
  • As the whole world knows that he rules Srok Khmer and all Khmer laws are nothing else but his toilet papers, would he infer that the law on lèse majesté is not different from other laws as far as he is concerned?
  • Is he testing the strength of the monarchic institution?
  • Is he measuring the tape between “sdach” and “samdach”?
  • What would the king himself think about the whole enchilada?
  • Does he truly feel offended or insulted by his subjects in question?
  • Has he ever been invited to testify at the court proceedings?
  • Qui tacet consentire videtur?

The weak strongman must surely have read and learned a lot about Chinese history, especially during the period of The Warring States, how Chinese dynasties were created, and how Chinese and foreigners became emperors.

Well, all first emperors of all Chinese dynasties were all common people, and warriors.

=====
Update:
– On 9 January 2019, Reuters reported: Cambodian jailed for three years for insulting king on Facebook
– On 15 January 2019, Asia Times published an article: “Cambodia’s ‘quiet king’ must find his political voice“

VI..N.. – VI..N.. Monument

30 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by in Culture, Event, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Have you received an invite to the 29 December inauguration of that useless and horrendous monument?

What monument?

The VI..N..-VI..N.. Monument?

It’s the Win-Win Monument, as they call it!

They can call whatever they want, but it’s the VI..N..-VI..N.. Monument?

Please explain.

Easy: “Win-Win Monument” and “VI..N..-VI..N.. Monument”, same phonetics, right?!

Right. But why “VI..N..-VI..N.. Monument”?

Oh, fill up the dots with these letters: E, T and A, M, and you see how the weak strongman pays his debt to Vietnam for his return to Cambodia on 7 January 1979.

Get it! Even the top of the spike has the shape of the letter V.

Kacvey, please tell your students to focus their camera on the tip of the spire when photographing it.

Why then the weak strongman doesn’t dedicate the monument to himself?

Here could be a few possibilities:

  • He must have learned that many Lenin statues in the world were torn down when communism was over, or Saddam Hussein’s when his regime collapsed at beginning of Iraq war;
  • He wouldn’t dare glorify himself so much in the face of his Vietnamese backer, because without Vietnamese troops he would never be where he is now;
  • He would not dare affront the spirit and soul of Sihanouk and his statue near the Monument of Independence;
  • He has some complex vis-à-vis 2 guys with whom he was painted on billboards throughout the country; there were 3 guys then, but now only two after, the death of one them on 8 June 2015;
  • He wants the Khmer people to forget his genocidal Pol Pot-Khmer Rouge background and see him through a different prism;
  • Last but not least, he knows that not only his popularity has been dwindled downwards like the level of the Tonlé Buon Mouk in the dry season, but he also has started to feel uneasy of himself in the leadership role of his party and his clan of regroupees who left for Vietnam in 1977.

Therefore, before it’s too late, he seems to decide to concretize the end of his journey in block of concrete, as a symbol of his senseless vanity and egoism.

What and how that so-called monument will be or look like after the inauguration is over?

Dogs will roam around and lift their hind against the walls, homeless will use as shelter against rains, graffiti artists may love to express their natural talent, loiterers hanging out in illegal or illicit nocturnal trades, garbage uncollected etc…

The “VI..N.. – VI..N.. Monument”, a monument to his vanity, will also be for Vietnam like the Chinese casinos in Kg Som and the Chinese resort in Koh Kong will be for China, the masterpieces that the weak strongman has so far designed for and dedicated to his 2 lords.

Would the strongman come back on daily basis to meditate? Doubt it. How would that mute and inert concrete interact with the Khmer people whose life is like a “Lose-Loose Monolith” that they carry on their shoulder and back?

With this “VI..N.. – VI..N.. Monument”, the weak strongman seems definitely outgunning Chéy Chetha II, with not only a historical legacy of Cambodia eternally indebted to Vietnam but also a monument to the glory of his master.

Crude Man, Crude Language

02 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by in Culture, Governance, Human Rights, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Hope that your students, in their dealing with their family, friends and colleagues possess higher standard of character, courtesy, respect, consideration and vocabulary towards their interlocutor than the lowly educated ex-KR and weak strongman.

This passage extracted from an article published by Radio Free Asia shows how crude and rude the weak strongman is in his public speech: «ហ្អែង​ចង់​ដឹង​ពេល​ហ្នឹង​ហា បើ​មិន​ហ្អែង​មិន​គេច​ទាន់​ទេ ពេលនេះ គឺ​ធ្វើបុណ្យ​ខ្មោច​ហ្អែង​បាត់​ទៅ​ហើយ តែឯង​ពូកែ​រត់ ពូកែ​ស្រែក ហើយ​រត់​ក៏​លឿន តែ​គ្រាន់តែ​គេ​មិន​ដេញ​តាមតែ​ប៉ុណ្ណឹង​ទេ​ឲ្យ​ឯង​រត់​សិន អញ​ក៏​មិនទាន់​ចង់​សម្លាប់​ហ្អែង​ដែរ ព្រោះ​រដ្ឋាភិបាល​មួយ​មិន​ឲ្យ​មាន​ការ​ចង់​ផ្ដួល​រំលំ​តាម​ចិញ្ចើម​ផ្លូវ​នោះ​ទេ»

How could a man who considers himself a statesman use such a foul and repugnant words such as ហ្អែង​, បុណ្យ​ខ្មោច​ហ្អែង​, អញ​, អញ​ក៏​មិនទាន់​ចង់​សម្លាប់​ហ្អែង​?! The only and possible explanation would be that he is by nature rude, rough, crude, raw and lacking in social refinement; it could also suggests ignorance of or indifference to good form and plain and intentional discourtesy.

On the contrary, Radio Free Asia, in its English program, provided a better and polite version to cover him in front of the international public: “I want to let you know that if you hadn’t fled Cambodia, you would already have had your funeral,” and “We didn’t pursue you because we didn’t want to kill you at the time”.

With such character and outside his realm of corrupt sycophants, who can give him respect? Mark Twain had the answer when he said: “A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.”

Kacvey, you have good students who “learn”!

History in Lexicon

02 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by in Culture, Event, History, International, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

Your students must certainly have read this online information from both VODhotnews and The Cambodia Daily. Since the relationship between the Khmer communists and the Vietnamese communists went as far back as 1946 – quite possibly your students’ great-grandparents or grandparents generations – and still continue to influence the current conduct of the Khmer Rouge and ex-Khmer Rouge that rule the land of the Khmer since 1975, the visit should not be without controversy and your students’ attention and focus should be armed with some background awareness:

  • Ho Chi Minh (original name: Nguyen Sinh Cung) was the founder and a revolutionary leader of the League for the Independence of Vietnam or the Viet Minh, who led the Viet Minh Independence movement in 1941, and was president of Vietnam democratic republic in 1945.
  • Since the end of the Vietnam War and the reunification of Vietnam, between 1976 and today, Vietnam has had 7 presidents and 2 Chairmen of the Council of State.
  • Meanwhile, in 1975 Cambodia was led by Khmer Rouge and genocidal Pol Pot.
  • In 1977, the weak strongman (original name: Bunal or Nal) left his Khmer Rouge group and fled to Vietnam for protection and reorganization similar to the mold of the Khmer Viet Minh in 1954.
  • In 1979, he returned to Cambodia with the support of Vietnamese troops and became Cambodia solo prime minister since 1985 until today.
  • Would the trip to Vietnam under its 9th president who took office in October 2018 look like to pay homage and to recognize the eternal debt the weak strongman has contracted for his power as a subordinate ruler in Cambodia?
  • Would future history confirm its past?

Here are some historical lexicons that your students might wish to have in their notebooks:

  • COOC: Central Office of Cambodia
  • Lao Dong: Vietnamese Workers’s Party (founded by Ho Chi Minh)
  • Nam Bo: Southern Department
  • COSVN: Central Office of South Vietnam
  • CCP: Cambodia Communist Party
  • Ban Can Su: Cadre Affairs Committee
  • KC: Khmer Communist
  • KCP: Khmer Communist Party
  • Son Ngoc Minh: Khmer Communist leader during pre-and-post-Independence
  • KCPC: Khmer Communist Party Committee
  • Region 203: Southeast region of Cambodia
  • Muoi Cuc (Ten chrysanthemums?): (Possibly a.k.a Nguyen Van Cuc or Nguyen Van Linh) Head of COSVN in 1954 and Chief advisor of Khmer Communists
  • CLA: Cambodia Liberation Army, formally known as Cambodia National People’s Liberation Armed Forces
  • CCKL: Central Committee for the Khmer Liberation
  • Nguyen Thanh Son: Chief of Nam Bo’s Foreign Affairs Section
  • Training Camps and Ethnic Minority Training Camps: in Hanoi area for training regroupees of Khmer Communists
  • Regroupees: Khmer Communists who were relocated to Vietnam after Independence
  • Son Thay Military Academy: where best KC were trained
  • Nguyen Ai Quoc School: Where KC senior cadres were trained
  • Khmer Viet Minh: Khmer Communists indoctrinated and trained in Vietnam
  • GVN: Government of (South) Vietnam
  • NLF: Vietcong’s National Liberation Front
  • CCFAF: Central Committee to Fight Against Fraud (the group chaired by Lon Nol to oversee shipments of rice to Vietcong
  • CCC: Cambodian Communist Central Committee
  • Red Khmer or Red K: Khmer Krâhârm, Khmer Rouge (coined circa 1962)
  • Khmerization: (1) use of Khmer language (instead of French); (2) conversion of Khmer Leu (Northeastern Khmer) into Khmer
  • B3 Front: Vietcong military command based in Rattanakiri
  • CPK: Communist Party of Kampuchea
  • Don’t spill the tea: Warning that the tea being boiled for the master is more important than the life of the oppressed.

Last but not least, let keep this definition in the back of the mind if the weak strongman doesn’t realize his bounded vassalage because of blindness or ignorance:
“The definition of a vassal was someone in feudal times who received protection and land from a lord in return for allegiance and performing military and other duties, or someone who is subordinate.
“An example of a vassal is a person who was given part of a lord’s land and who pledged himself to that lord.
“An example of a vassal is a subordinate or servant.”

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Update:
On 5 December 2018, The Cambodia Daily online published this piece: មេដឹកនាំ​ខ្មែរ​នឹង​ទៅ​ទស្សន​កិច្ច​ក្នុង​ប្រទេស​វៀតណាម​អម​ដោយ​មន្រ្តី​ កំពូលៗ​ជាច្រើន​មិន​ធ្លាប់​មាន​ពី​មុន​មក​

A Menu for the Madman

22 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by in Culture, Social, Stories

≈ Comments Off on A Menu for the Madman

My dear Kacvey,

It’s Thanksgiving Day in the United States and for all Americans living around the globe. And Happy Thanksgiving to you!

You might recall a letter sent to you on Thursday 27 November 2014 on the subject of Thanksgiving. But today, let fantasize the imagination differently.

Imagine the weak strongman is invited to a Thanksgiving dinner by one of his American friend who happened to be a fake international zombie observer during the last sham election, and also imagine what would be served at the dinner table. But, Kacvey, the issue here is not about the type, nature, exotics or diet of the dishes, it’s rather about whether the weak strongman has the ability to chew when he has a lot on his plate and to stomach them without having heartburn, indigestion or colic afterwards.

With his recent trips to Singapore and Port Moresby, although he was only seen waving his right hand like a puppet in various photo-ops, he must have been attending endless banquets served by the host countries. So, for a change, the chef has been instructed to only use “local ingredients” that the weak strongman has been promoting.

Here is the imagined menu:
Appetizer: Sham election with 125 roasted frogs.
First entrée: European EBA with ingredients from Thbong Khmoum.
Second entrée: Chinese military base with ingredients from Koh Kong garnished with Kampong Som casinos chips.
Dessert: Wager on house arrest à la sauce parisienne.
Beverage: Water from Tonlé Buon Mouk.

The chef has tasted and if he didn’t find them delicious, they wouldn’t go on the menu for the madman.

Meantime, Bon appétit!

Oh by the way, the chef has also whispered that there are no “bai kôk” and “tréy ngiét” as substitutes!