He Who Committed Crime of Lèse Majesté…

05 Saturday Jan 2019

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

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 “ជាមួយខ្ញុំកុំនិយាយឲ្យសោះឪស្តេចម៉ែស្តេច ក៏ខ្ញុំដាក់ដែរ”. 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“

‘I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets’

17 Saturday Nov 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, International, Issue, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has given a lesson of responsibility in high politics and diplomacy that you may wish to instill in your students ethical behavior in the modern and fast age of technology and social media.

Politico has this title: Macron to Trump: ‘I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets’ and The New York Times: Macron’s Response to Trump: ‘I Do Not Do Policy or Diplomacy by Tweets’

You may ask what does that have to do with my class?
Well, good behavior and respect of high responsibility have a lot to do with your students prospective careers.

Let leave to Emmanuel Macron and Donald trump what belongs to Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump to deal with between themselves. Instead, let just recall how the weak strongman uses Facebook to rule Cambodia, to brag about his millions “like”, to disparage people he doesn’t like, and also to raise wager with his nemesis!

Your students should bear in mind that:
– the country has scales of laws and regulations (whether or not voted and implemented by the kangaroos!)
– the prime minister is the head of the government composed of ministers (sycophantic or otherwise!) to run the ministries;
– the government has ambassadors accredited to various world capitals, and
– the government has administrative procedures and mechanism to ensure that governmental decisions are passed on hierarchically for smooth implementation.

In a very simple term, if the weak strongman uses his Facebook account to dictate his wimp, why should there be ministers and all those useless officials or ministries? why should there be national assembly? why should there be courts and tribunals? why should there be ambassadors?
Why not then abolishing the whole concept of the three branches of power and just having a big screen with the weak strongman sitting in front of the screen and belting out any stupidity that crosses his mind?

In international diplomacy and official dealings, who on earth outside Cambodia cares about what the weak strongman says or writes in Khmer in his Facebook account? Do world leaders at the UN, the EU, the IPU, or the ASEAN, etc … pay any attention to what the weak strongman says or writes in Khmer about his justification of the sham election for one-party state, of the death of democracy and the abuse and violation of human rights and freedom of association? No, no, and no.

Your students are clever enough to understand that you, Kacvey, don’t care about what they think or write in their Facebook account, and that you only accept home works or term papers either in hard copy or through email from them directly submitted to you. None of your student should never argue that: “But, professor Kacvey, I wrote my dissertation on my Facebook!”

To which you laughingly respond: “I do not correct your Facebook paper!”

“Georgia on My Mind”

21 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in Institution, International, Issue, Politics

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My dear Kacvey,

The song “Georgia on My Mind” composed by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, and rendered a worldwide hit by Ray Charles, does it ring a bell?

Sure do,
“Georgia, Georgia
The whole day through
Just an old sweet song
Keeps Georgia on my mind”
but why the question? and why Georgia?

Dude, where were you during the week of 15-19 October 2018?

Brussels and Geneva.

O.K., too busy over there, that’s why you miss a social media news: Overseas CNRP leaders/representatives are planning a world conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on 1-2 December 2018.

So what?

Well, how about triangulating Brussels/Geneva/Atlanta?

Please elaborate.

Situations

The weak strongman failed miserably to convince the European Union that his sham election was free and fair.
A sham election tainted with flagrant abuse and violations of basic human rights and organized under autocratic procedure and process has no place in a democratic Europe.
In Brussels, the European Union is “launching the process for the withdrawal of their Everything But Arms preferences. Without clear and evident improvements on the ground, this will lead to the suspending of the trade preferences that they currently enjoy.“
Simultaneously, in Geneva, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, at its 139th assembly session, adopted a set of very strong decisions against the weak strongman’s regime.
The weak strongman returned to the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk not only empty-handed and lonely, but also without any assurance that, if EBA becomes effective, no other countries would come to pick up the slack.
Meanwhile, on 17 October 2018, the overseas “leaders/representatives of CNRP” were planning to organize a world conference on 1-2 December 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia.

EQUATION

How can the above situations be put into an equation for a possible or probable solution that could be beneficial to Srok Khmer and the Khmer people?

So, let create a speculative scenario: What if the Atlanta world conference would like to invite the CNRP president who is now placed under house arrest to be the key note speaker?

Kacvey, you can argue upfront that this is such a crazy, insane and far-fetched idea that the weak strongman will never ever accept or allow the leader of the opposition to leave the country, because so doing would completely destroy what he has built up so far to support and sustain his autocratic rule, and he might encounter unexpected and unhappy consequences to his rule, fortune and his sycophantic and corrupt clan.

Quite and highly possible and true: however, any idea that’s never tested on the field is crazy; please remember that many crazy ideas are mothers of great invention! Here, it’s the weak strongman that has to address the concerns and decisions by the EU and IPU, and not the other way around. The ball is in his court as it showed when he took the plane to Brussels and Geneva to face head-on the conditions set up by both European institutions.

On the one hand, IPU “urges once again all Cambodian authorities to immediately release Mr. Kem Sokha and drop the charges, to allow him to resume his duties as president of the opposition without further delay and restriction and to reinstate the CNRP.”

On the other, during the Europe-Asia Meeting (ASEM) Summit, the EU High Representative and Vice-President said “that there is a lot of concern in Europe, but not only in Europe, about the dissolution in November last year of the main opposition party and in general terms the narrowed democratic space for political opposition and civil society.” She further added: “We discussed this. I cannot say that we found solutions to any of these issues”

ONE POSSIBLE SOLUTION

The Atlanta world conference could be a possible “solution” to the deadlocked situation between the weak strongman and the EU/IPU: if the weak strongman is serious about Srok Khmer, serious about the fate and welfare of the garments workers, he could let the leader of the opposition go to Atlanta. So doing, he would show to EU/IPU his goodwill, if any, to attempt to break the stalemate.

But, Kacvey, you could argue that the leader of the opposition would not return to Cambodia like a jailed bird will never return to its cage. Again, quite highly possible, and if/when he returns he would be put back in jail. So, what’s good about all of that?
But the leader of the opposition already knows what Thbong Khmoum is, doesn’t he? If he is a leader with predestined national augury, why afraid of returning to Cambodia? Why would he, without dual nationality, be acting like his once co-president? His battlefield is in Cambodia next to and with the more than 3 millions constituents. On the contrary, his political courage and image would be multiplied 10 folds.

Again, Kacvey, you could argue that it would be such a big gamble for the weak strongman to bet against the banker, especially with massive supporters at Pochentong. Ah, if he is afraid of that visionary scene like during Mr. Kem Ley’s funerals procession, it would mean that he knows in his heart and mind that his political life is not far away to be ended.

Nothing would stop you from asking your students what would they say, or speculating what would be EU/IPU reactions? … Or fretting about unnecessary detail arrangements.

As Ben Franklin, once, said: “Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”

Meanwhile, let close the triangulation Brussels/Geneva/Atlanta with the next 2 couplets of the song:
“I said Georgia
Georgia
A song of you
Comes as sweet and clear
As moonlight through the pines.

Other arms reach out to me
Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see
The road leads back to you.“

Les Trois Grands “U”

14 Sunday Oct 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, Governance, Institution, International, Issue, Politics, Social, Stories

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Mon cher Kacvey,

Vos étudiants devraient se gratter la tête pour comprendre qu’est ce qui se passe en ce moment dans la Cité de Tonlé Buon Mouk avec les déclarations de toute sorte des 3 trois grands “U”.

Les 3 grands “U”, c’est quoi donc?

Ouais! l’ONU, l’Union européenne, et les Etats-Unis. Tous les 3 ont un “U” dans leur nom. Simplifions l’orthographie, quoi!

Ah, sanctions économiques, EBA, critique internationale mitraillée de quatres coins du monde contre le faible homme-fort même au sein de l’Asean, lui même en désarroi au sein de son propre parti et ridiculement hué à Sydney, New York, Tokyo et bientôt Bruxelles et Genève!

Vous saisissez tous, Kacvey! Alors, vous vous débrouillez pour expliquer à vos étudiants les raisons, causes et effets de tous ces machins-là. Mais voici, en supplément, un téléphone arabe tout récemment intercepté par la déesse de l’année du chien (Tévoda Chnam Chôr) quand, au hazard, elle se promenait dans son chariot dans le ciel au-dessus de nos têtes:

Phnuoy Mék: Allô, mon Seigneur. C’est Phnuoy Mék à l’appareil. Je me prosterne à vos pieds pour vous présenter mes respects.
On Ze: Allô oui. Je vous entends. J’ai seulement 3 minutes avec vous. Washington est sur mes talons. Je vous écoute.
Phnuoy Mék: Les 3 grands “U” sont aussi sur mes talons et je ne sais pas quoi faire. J’attends un geste ou un mot de vous pour réagir contre eux.
On Ze: Je sais, mais vous êtes assez grand pour vous débrouiller, non?! Je ne peux pas mélanger votre histoire avec la guerre commerciale qui me menace en ce moment de Washington. Chaque chose a ses priorités.
Phnuoy Mék: Je vous ai attendu à New York pour montrer à ces 3 “U” que vous êtes le Seigneur en qui j’ai le plus absolu dévouement et qu’ils cessent de m’enquiquiner. Mais vous m’avez posé un lapin.
On Ze: Je ne voulais pas me mettre les pieds au pays des Yankees, mais il y avait pas mal de mes sujets déguisés en supporteurs pour vous encourager.
Phnuoy Mék: Vos “supporteurs” étaient dans les rues et en inferiorité numérique, mais il n’y avait personne de taille dans le grand hall de l’ONU pour me soutenir.
On Ze: Allez, arrêtez de vous plaindre. Quoi d’autre?
Phnuoy Mék: Si EBA passait dans quelques mois, j’aurai une grande crise dans mes bras.
On Ze: Ne comptez-pas sur moi pour acheter ou importer chez moi vos vêtements et chaussures fabriqués chez vous. S’il y a crise sociale, utilisez les millions de dollars qui sont dans vos chaussettes et matelas. Je peux exporter d’autres dollars pour vous, mais je N’IMPORTE ni vos vêtements ni vos chaussures. J’en ai déjà trop de tout ce bazard chez moi.
Phnuoy Mék: Mais, Seigneur, j’ai plus d’un million de travailleuses et leurs familles qui dépendent de la production et de l’exportation de ces vêtements et chaussures.
On Ze: Moi, j’ai plus d’un milliard et demi de bouches à nourrir. Savez-vous faire le math? D’ailleurs, pourquoi depuis tout ce temps-là n’avez-vous jamais réfléchi ou compris que vos usines fonctionnent et vos travailleuses vivent au dépens des dépenses de consommation des gens des 2 grands “U”?
Phnuoy Mék: Mais, c’est les entrepreneurs de chez vous, de Hong Kong, de l’Asean qui décident toujours pour moi.
On Ze: Ces entrepreneurs n’étaient pas chez vous ni avant ni après que vous arriviez de chez Ngouy en 1979. N’oubliez pas que c’est vous qui les invitiez à venir s’installer chez vous depuis 1995, et vous et votre famille en tirez énormement de profits personnels depuis lors. Pourquoi vous n’investissez JAMAIS vos énormes ressources accumulées au fur du temps dans ces usines-là, au lieu de dépendre éternellement et à 100% des facteurs extérieurs?
Phnuoy Mék: Soit. Je vous entends, Seigneur. Que ferai-je de vos entrepreneurs qui dirigent les usines de vêtements et de chaussures?
On Ze: Ils n’ont absolument pas besoin de vous parce qu’ils savent que vous ne pouvez rien faire pour eux. S’ils ferment leurs usines et rentrent chez eux, ce n’est plus leur problèmes de gérer les travailleuses qui n’ont pas de travail. C’est VOUS. Quant à moi, je ne leur dirai rien parce qu’ils savent déjà quoi faire. Sachez que les portes d’investissement sont ouvertes au Bengladesh, en Turquie ou même chez Ngouy!
Phnuoy Mék: Qu’est ce que je devrais faire pour qu’ils ne délocalisent pas leurs usines de chez moi?
On Ze: Si vous êtes communiste comme moi, soyez de vrai communiste avec la dictature du prolétariat. Le communisme et la démocracie sont deux ennemis idéologiques et politiques. Si vous êtes communiste par le biais des élections, même truquées, vous êtes un faux communiste. Regardez moi; regardez Ngouy.
Phnuoy Mék: Au sujet de Ngouy, que diriez-vous de son nouveau président?
On Ze: Au moins, il y a du changement chez Ngouy, comme chez moi. Il n’y a que chez vous que les dirigeants ont des racines comme les banians de Ta Prohm. C’est en changeant qu’on améliore. Même le communisme change les communistes qui changent la face du communisme.
Phnuoy Mék: Alors, Seigneur, vous n’êtes pas d’accord avec le choix de mon fils aîné comme mon successeur?
On Ze: Je ne répète pas ce que je vous ai déjà dit la dernière fois sur ce sujet.
Phnuoy Mék: Etes-vous fâché contre moi, Seigneur?
On Ze: L’émotion et les sentiments n’ont pas de place dans ma politique et la gestion du monde n’est pas un roman d’amour. Dernier point?
Phnuoy Mék: Oui, Seigneur. Si EBA, les sanctions imposées par Washington sur mes “sales 17” (Dirty Seventeen) et les résolutions de UNHRC contre mon autorité domestique deviennent réalité, que deviendraient vos sujets qui s’établissent à Kg Som et ailleurs, et leurs casinos?
On Ze: Je compte sur vous non seulement pour les PROTEGER mais aussi pour tenir vos obligations envers moi car vous avez déjà perçu d’énormes redevances en contrepartie.
Phnuoy Mék: Mais, Seigneur, si, pour une raison ou une autre, la crise sociale déborde et si les amis de Ngouy dans les maisons flottantes et les gros sampans de Tonlé Sap se croisent les bras?
On Ze: Alors, personne n’est indispensable. Je pourrais vous trouver une résidence luxueuse dotée de meilleure médecine traditionelle – comme jadis reservée pour le prince – pour vous dans la province natale de vos ancêtres, le “Nan Min” ou le “Bei Min.” Comme ça, vous pourrez goûter la douceur de la vie dans le communisme étranger avec plus d’un milliard et demi de gens comme voisins. Et soyez rassuré que vous ne manqueriez pas de “tréy ngiét” pour vos repas du soir.

Il y eut un click, et le téléphone arabe coupé. La déesse de l’année du chien jeta un coup d’oeil vers la terre et vit Phnuoy Mék titubant tout seul vers le Tonlé Buon Mouk, une main sur sa poitrine comme pour supplier son coeur de ne pas le lâcher.

The XXIst Century’s Chéy Chétha

30 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in International, Issue, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

You and your students certainly have friends of Khmer Krom origin and whose historical memory is still vivid and painful about how Chéy Chétha II, in 1623, gave away about 34,300 square miles of Khmer land to Vietnam that later, in the 18th century, incorporated into its own territory.

The 21st century is witnessing and living through the same experience and reality that Cambodia is transforming itself into a vassal state or a colony territory, the chef d’oeuvre of the weak strongman. How ironic future history of Cambodia is revealing: the ex-Khmer Rouge who proclaimed to be the strongman who oppressed and repressed Cambodia and Cambodians is progressively handing over Cambodia to the power of money from the Northern Capital. When the weak strongman dies – no man lives forever – his soul wold be doubly judged: one by Hades for being part of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, and two by history for being the Chéy Chéetha XI for letting the people from the Middle Kingdom to come and take over the land of the Khmer Leu.

Somewhere, under a banyan tree on the sidewalk of the silk road, two men share their secrets:

Phnuoy Mék: May I greet you my lord, and long live your reign!
On Ze: Not too loud, banyan branches have ears.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, I thank you for having made me who I am since 2012.
On Ze: You’ve been a good boy for us, and you’ve served us well.
Phnuoy Mék: For your desire, nothing cannot be impossible in srè khmok so long you let me know.
On Ze: Listen carefully. So far, it’s only the beginning. I have a big belly, so my belt is long, and the road I’m travelling is much longer than the historical silk road.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, I’m all ears.
On Ze: I want to make your country and its sea a 1st outpost of my objective to control the whole region: the economy will serve the military.
Phnuoy Mék: Yes, my lord. Money first and army later.
On Ze: Not only that, but also millions of my subjects. I need my people to execute my plan. Your guys are not up to the level of my plan.
Phnuoy Mék: I close my eye for their arrival by air, sea or land.
On Ze: Yes, that’s why the casinos are an indispensable instrument: my subjects use entertainment to disguise their true identity.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, the more the casinos, the fuller my coffer.
On Ze: We supply you with more than yo wish, even if you would wish to use it as a pyre.
Phnuoy Mék: Your desire is my obligation, my lord.
On Ze: Don’t do anything behind my back to upset Ngouy.
Phnuoy Mék: Please count on me, my lord. Ngouy is sulking and pouting, but I told him that I am very thankful to him for what he’d done to me since the time I left the khmèr krâhârm to join him in 1977, facilitated my return in early 1979 and until I started to embrace your feet.
On Ze: I deal with him on my own term and time, but just make sure that Ngouy’s people around you do not do foolish thing.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, I hear your voice.
On Ze: You’ve done a great job in shutting up your people’s mouth against you. The same thing must apply towards me and my gamblers.
Phnuoy Mék: In my previous association with the khmèr krâhârm, I’ve learned how to make them “bak sbaat.” They are still under that spell, and my lord should not worry.
On Ze: I have to leave now; anything else you wish?
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, have you thought about “after me”?
On Ze: Oh yes, I have. You seem to forget that Ngouy had groomed you and you have neglected not to groom anybody for “after you.”
Phnuoy Mék: I do, my lord; any of my 3 sons can be my dauphin.
On Ze: But none of them has had training in my hometown like you had in Ngouy’s hometown. By the way, is there unity among your 3 sons?
Phnuoy Mék: The 2nd and 3rd are not measured up to their brother.
On Ze: Then, send them back to boot camp.
Phnuoy Mék: Please absolve my sin, my lord.
On Ze: You shouldn’t worry about your “after me.” Since the end of the cultural revolution, I am the secretary general number 5. So, change makes changes. You have done enough for me that, “after you”, the spot will not be empty.
Phnuoy Mék: My lord, are my days numbered?
On Ze: I don’t read cards, but my plan includes the ephemerality of the person; nobody lives forever nor is absolutely indispensable in the future. After you go, your land remains … for our use.
Phnuoy Mék: What will happen to my three sons?
On Ze: They can still enjoy the remnant of your wealth … elsewhere.
Phnuoy Mék: Oh no, are you making me the Chéy Chétha of the XXIst century?
On Ze: I don’t make you Chéy Chétha. You make yourself like Chéy Chétha … without knowing it.
Phnuoy Mék: Why didn’t I see it?
On Ze: Your Chéy Chétha was about woman. You are about power and money. All things you have done have consequences that your eye can’t see. Good Bye.

The Complete Loss of Order

26 Sunday Aug 2018

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

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My dear Kacvey,

After the sham election, it looks like the weak strongman is changing the cards deck and sticking his finger out to feel which direction the wind is blowing in order for him to save his dictatorship from a possible and probable shipwreck.

This is how he has been shuffling the new deck of cards: releasing prisoners that his administration and its sycophantic henchmen in the police and judiciary system had arrested, condemned and incarcerated through trumped and bogus charges, and for purely political motives as to silence any critics against his corrupt and repressive policy.

The pregnant vixen named August has been so prolific in delivering cubs, all named Pardon, one after another:
– on 17 August 2018: Kim Sok, a political commentator was released after 18 months in jail;
– on 20 August 2018, Tep Vanny, along with 3 other land rights defenders were released after 2 years in jail;
– on 21 August 2018, Uon Chhin and Yeang Sothearin, two journalists were released on bail;
– on 23 August 2018, Sourn Serey Ratha, the former leader of Khmer Power Party was released after spending more than a year in jail; (N.B. Suorn Serey Ratha was first pardoned in July 2015)
– on 25 August 2018, Um Sam An, an opposition parliamentarian, was released after spending more than 2 years in jail.
– on 27 August 2018, past midnight, Meach Sovannara and 13 other prisoners belonging to the opposition party were released after spending more than 3 years in jail.
(The list will be updated as soon as news on new delivery is provided by the animals hospital.)

Kacvey, this set of successive news on releases and pardons must blow the brain of your students as well as yours as to what has been behind all of these? What is the weak strongman’s next move and what will be future consequences on the overall political landscape of Cambodia?

For now, from the bench of the campus auditorium, let formulate some conjectures or postulates and put them forward to your students for discussions:

Intra-Party pressure
The crooked victory has been the least celebrated in the history of the ruling party: no ovation, no fanfare, no firecrackers, no music, no parade, no joy, no nothing that resembled a pride and well-earned victory. It’s rather like a funerals or dismal and lugubrious mourning, without procession, upon the coffin of the dead body of democracy. They won all the 125 seats, and why are they not happy and elated?

It doesn’t need an Einstein to see through: they won through manipulation, deceit and intimidation, and they OVERDID it. They never feared of losing but they expected massive and public and explosive popular expression of discontentment and rejection. They overplayed their hand, and the people responded with a peaceful, internal, silent and zen-like discontentment and rejection.They felt the atmosphere of public resentment.

Within the close-knit circle of the weak strongman, that public resentment touched sensitive nerves of a few sycophants that still have brain and heart. The relatives of the Dirty Seventeen may ask a very simple question: with such a public resentment, how is the weak strongman going to govern? More repression on “what”, the opposition party being already out of the picture? Well, if the weak strongman has no more “official opposition” to kick around, he will kick those around him around.

Sometimes, sycophants can’t be that stupid all the times.

Kacvey, would you think that this new forum called “Supreme Council of Consultations“(SCC) would make the members of his party happy or be welcomed by them? Who are these 16 scums to check on the power of the ruling party that not only occupies all the 125 seats at the national assembly but also the executive and judiciary branches? The weak strongman by wanting so much to be praised for his corrupt and unpraisable deeds has just ridiculed himself inexorably.

International Pressure
Kacvey, you have already read tons of literature on the reactions of the international community to the sham election, and what they had done and expect to do in the future. We continue to document and update ourselves ceaselessly from Washington, Brussels and Canberra, Northern Capital and Eastern Capital falling off the radar.

What makes the weak strongman so frustrated with the international pressure that dominates the news during the electoral campaign, the sham election and afterward? His entire government runs out of arguments and ideas to counter Washington or Brussels, and there is NOBODY to carry the torch to challenge both capitals; (Oh, there is one, the head of the bodyguard unit who is ready to make war against the US!) he himself, having no personal ability nor skill to sit at the table and articulate and negotiate in person and viva voce.

Moreover, there is one disconnect between the weak strongman and the Dirty Seventeen that surround him in supporting his autocratic power: The international pressure is more strongly felt by the Dirty Seventeen than by the weak strongman himself. The weak strongman keeps on quacking to whom who wants to listen to that he has no fortune stacked in overseas accounts, but things are not the same with the Dirty Seventeen with regards to Australia and the US. If these Dirty Seventeen truly believe in the perennity of the weak strongman, why don’t they leave their fortune in Cambodia along with the weak strongman’s wealth? Why do they stash their fortune in Australia or the US or anywhere else outside Cambodia?

The Dirty Seventeen may ask a simple question: if their name are black listed, what can the weak strongman do to make it “white”? Weak Strongman, you have the floor, like you routinely do in front of the garment workers, before or after the sham election! Dirty Seventeen are waiting!

Oh Kacvey, one more thing. The weak strongman is also planning to sell his crooked victory through sham election to some European governments and the United Nations in New York in September and October (and also Japan, but well, don’t waste our time with Tokyo!) But there seems to be no enthusiasm and heat in preparing these so-called official trips: the feedback from those capitals is that the weak strongman would not to be welcome as a national liberator like Gandhi or Mandela, but would rather be met with snubs and massive demonstrations. [Remember the burning of ទីងមោង in Australia in March 2018!]

World leaders – except those notorious one-party state dictators – know the difference between a democratically elected head of government and a banana state autocrat. What ever speech he will deliver would never be believed, the burden of the sham election being so heavy and already undeniable. Poor speech writer(s), you’ll have such an impossible task, especially when your heart is only 50% with what and whom you work with!

By the same token, would the Dirty Seventeen dare showing their face with the autocratic delegation to visit their relatives attending colleges or to check on their properties in those places?

The devil in a saint cloak
The Sichuan Opera 川剧 is also known as the faces changing art 变脸. In this genre of opera, generally male actors or performers change from one face or mask to another almost instantaneously with the swipe of a fan, a movement of the head, or wave of the hand. With such a frequent visit to China, the weak strongman must certainly have attended that opera.

Kacvey, you may ask what has to do with the weak strongman and his sham election aftermath? Well, it has to do with how he’s managing that aftermath. He’s trying to change the mask of an evil dictator to a saint with a halo! He’s promoting himself as a saint showing mercy, compassion and clemency to the same prisoners that months or years earlier his bodyguards or judiciary goons, on his direct orders, arrested them and threw them in jail for no constitutional or legal rhyme or reason? Now that the sham election is over, and the democratic threat to his regime has already been crushed, he dons a saint cloak and mask to bless his autocratic sins.

A wicked man is capable of everything: one day he’s Satan, the next day a saint, and on and on. A wicked man can fool Tom, Dick or Harry some of the time but he cannot fool them all the time. It’s a fashion now for murderous ex-KR to hide behind religion conversion and to be reborn to cleanse their guilty conscience from the genocidal blood, but the weak strongman needs to attend theology classes if he wants his saint cloak to be believed.

“To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss.”
These two phrases were used by Pol Pot and his ideologues to inflict accusation on the New People that the Khmer Rouge were about to do away with.

As soon as Tep Vanny and three other human rights defenders were released from jail, the kangaroo court of the weak strongman found her and other five members of the community guilty of OTHER crime. It’s not a secret to anybody that the weak strongman has in his sleeves a plethora of accusations against anybody that criticizes him or his repressive and corrupt authority. Cases in point are those of the self-exiled and ex-leader of the opposition and the current opposition leader who has been put in jail since September 2017 without investigations, charges or evidence of any wrongdoing.

The weak strongman exercises his repressive authority like an octopus: one tentacle release one prisoner at a time, others catch others; and once a prisoner is caught, the octopus spews its black ink on him/her that can’t be erased; it tells the prisoner she/he is “marked” for ever. The message from the weak strongman is clear: once a prisoner of him, there is no escape. Any release, through pardon or otherwise, is just a temporary relief. For now, “to keep you [in jail] is no benefit.”

Kacvey, your students might also ask what do these releases and pardons have to do with the crimes that those recently-released have been wrongly and fictitiously accused of? Why have they been subject to double punishment? Beware, the devil in a saint cloak remains a devil till end of its time.

The weak strongman, having put Cambodia during the last 34 years in a state of complete loss of order, has not had a good night sleep since the end of the sham election.

=====
Update:
– on 4 September 2018, UCA News reported: Political analyst flees Cambodia after threats to daughter – Recently released Kim Sok warned by caller to stop criticizing Hun Sen’s government
– on 8 September 2018, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported: Long Beach resident held political prisoner for years in Cambodia safely returns to U.S.

On 15 August 2018

16 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in Governance, Institution, International, Issue, Politics

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My dear Kacvey,

Did you have time to breathe a little bit with a glass of iced tea after those announcements from both the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk and Washington?

With allowance given for the difference of time zone, the sycophant nec (like in “pain in the …”) announced, as reported by AFP, that Cambodia ruling party sweeps parliament after vote with no opposition.

The weak strongman had just the time to brag in his Facebook account about the horrid and crooked victory on the sham election, Reuters reported from Washington that the U.S. says it is expanding visa bans over ‘flawed’ Cambodia poll.

And oh boy, what a slap under the eye of the weak strongman! And the Dirty Dozen, or Dirty Seventeen, must have been working hard on the phone to their relatives or handlers in the US. Meanwhile, their ambassador in Washington is nowhere to be seen or heard of. He’s just too small to face such a big political summer hurricane! And their new permanent representative to the UN hasn’t even known what is the difference between the UN and the US.

Meanwhile the lord of the Northern Capital has congratulated the weak strongman for being a docile vassal by keeping the Chinese overseas possession a fertile terrain for Chinese casinos and thugs and settlers from the Mainland.

Kacvey, more update will be forthcoming.

The Old Fox and the Nineteen Cockerels

29 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in Event, Governance, Institution, Issue, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

You and your students will face a difficult choice on 29 July 2018:
– to vote or not to vote?
– to vote by casting a void ballot or to vote for which party?
– how could conscience dictate?

Damn you vote, damn you don’t.
Damn you vote, damn the autocrat wins (by predetermination).
Damn you don’t vote, damn the autocrat still wins (by predetermination).
It’s a lose-lose situation, for the voters and/or non-voters.
When citizen’s sovereign rights and freedom of choice are trampled by autocracy that disguises itself as a democracy, crass as it is!

What a difference since the communal elections on 4 June 2017! Polyphemus, being rejected by the people spit fire and burned democracy to death. And he’s trying to disguise his gullible acts by promoting his autocratic democracy through multiplication of new parties that have never ever proven that they have done anything to Cambodia and its people: 11 parties at the 4 June 2017 communal elections, and now 19 parties for the legislative on 29 July 2018. Numbers are phony in their democratic meaning.

The scenario designed and orchestrated by the autocrat resembles a field controlled for more than 30 years by an old fox with 19 newly hatched chicks. Since all parties-chicks seem to be male, let call them cockerels. This reminds of a Latin phrase ‘Ovem lupo commitere’ that could be interpreted as “foxes sneak in chicken coops and eat the chickens.”

To push the pretense to an absurdity level, through the politicization of Buddhism, they set up a drawing ceremony on 29 May 2018 to attribute number to the 20 parties. Calculated fortune is that autocracy gets number 20 so that the autocrat’s sycophants could bark that democracy is well served. What does that type of number serve anyway, since victory for the ruling party has been already schemed, designed and planned since September 2017!

Boo! Boo!

Kacvey, your students might ask:
– what if the predetermined victory would not turn out to be glorious or glorified, under the heavy pressure of international opinion, the autocrat decided at the last-minute to open the gate of Thbong Khmoum jail and release the falsely-charged prisoner?
– would he postpone the election so as to allow the opposition to organize the campaign or would he not postpone it and argue on the 5-year ban?
– in June 2017, there were 7,107,395 voters, out of which 3,540,056 went to the ruling party, and 3,056,824 to the opposition. You do the math, Kacvey. What if 4 or 5 millions of combined ruling or opposition voters did not show up on 29 July 2018?! A tsunami of non-voters! Khmer electorate understands better and better the power of their voices and secret ballots since UNTAC elections in May 1993, and it continues to learn and appreciate it as times go forward;
– what if millions of voters show up at and flood the polling stations 15 minutes before the poll closing time or sunset?
– what if those millions voted for the party numbered “21”, like playing golf’s “19th hole”?
– would the autocrat be happy or satisfied with a victory with 99.99% ballots in his favor, or would he play false modesty by allowing some parties (such as for example the scum party that sits in the opposition seats in the national assembly and the senate after the opposition was annihilated) to get 10 to 15 seats out of the total of 123?
– what if the autocrat politics through Facebook that he feeds many, many hours per day has a negative return despite his (authentic or otherwise) millions and millions “likes”?
– in the mean time, what if Hypnos could re-play the trick against Zeus on the esplanade of Angkor Wat?

A lot of stuff to think about, Kacvey!

The Phnom Penh “G”host

07 Monday May 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in Event, International, Issue

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My dear Kacvey,

So, on 6 May 2018, the Phnom Penh Post which was owned by an Australian company was sold to a Malaysian company for an undisclosed price. A foreign press in Cambodia changed hand between foreigners. And all of this in the name of press freedom in Cambodia! Any bigger BS?

With the above sale, the last bastion of independent journalism in Cambodia is buried in the same grave as the victims of the KR genocidal regime, the opposition party and The Cambodia Daily; from such grave rises the specter of The Phnom Penh “G”host. Genocidal KR killed Khmer, ex-KR-turned-tyrant continues to kill what is the essence of Khmerness.

Kacvey, please tell your students to read and learn about the history and activities of the new owner with regards to their relationship with the corrupt and dictatorial ex-KR in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk. Please also cancel the subscription as there is no place in our library for a sycophantic press serving autocracy to the destruction of Cambodia, present and future. There still are plenty of materials of different and opposing views to read in the world of web.

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“Georgia on My Mind”

On 15 August 2018

The Phnom Penh “G”host