• Noteworthy News
  • KhmerPAC
  • What is KhmerPAC?
  • What does KhmerPAC do?
  • Value
    • Philosophy
    • Basic Value
    • Propriety
  • Letters to Kacvey
    • Welcome to the new way of corresponding!
  • Who is Kacvey?
  • Other Opinionators
    • Friends
    • Contributors
  • Futurism

Khmer Politics Alternatives Circle

~ Thinking outside the box about Cambodia

Khmer Politics Alternatives Circle

Category Archives: Justice

There was 9 November 2019. Now, it’s 4 January 2021

19 Saturday Dec 2020

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

≈ Leave a comment

My dear Kacvey,

You’re certainly aware of the planned return from the US of the vice-president of the opposition party to the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk on 4 January 2021. If you are, local media comments, analysis, opinions can’t escape your attention. That being said, you must now be waiting for the reaction of the weak strongman: Would he behave the same way as he did on 8-9 November 2019 when the oppo No. 1 was returning from Paris via Bangkok and then changed to Malaysia, such as: threatening to arrest him as soon as he stepped his feet on Khmer land, threatening international airlines, pressuring neighboring ASEAN governments not to let him in their country, mobilizing thousands of bodyguards, soldiers and policemen, deployment of tanks, missiles, heavy artillery and machine guns near the borders and at airports?

Nobody is surprised anymore if that would happen again! Fear of losing power is the food that the weak strongman feeds himself every time he breathes.

But thing is different this time around: the vice-president of the opposition volunteered to return at her own “known and expected” risk and peril in direct response to the subpoena issued to her to appear at the court on criminal charges. The first questions are: Will the weak strongman allow his sycophantic embassy if Washington DC to issue entry visa to Cambodia to her on her US passport? Would he have political courage to allow that to happen and be enough of a man to be face-to-face with the opposition of the opposite sex?

Meanwhile, your attention is drawn to these two articles where the position of the US ambassador to Cambodia is very clear and unambiguous:
VOA, 18 December 2020
សហរដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក ប្រាប់​កម្ពុជា​ឱ្យ​គោរព​និង​ទទួល​សំឡេង​ប្រឆាំង
U.S. Ambassador Questions Cambodia’s Single-Party Parliament, Attacks on Dissent

Time will tell what will happen on that 4 January 2021 at Pochentong airport in front of world television cameras and thousands smart phones. History tells that the Pol Pot KR and his brain-washed subalterns were not afraid of inflicting fatality or injury to innocent Khmer, as testified by the torture instruments and photos left in S-21 and the skulls in Choeung Ek. Will the weak strongman issue order to his thousands bodyguards, soldiers and policemen to arrest the single unarmed lady after her deplaning?

What other alternatives would the weak strongman have? One ploy that he has been recently using and quite often is to let the judges who are under his power grip to find any excuse, lame or otherwise, to postpone the hearing again and again. So doing, postponement saves his cowardliness and spinelessness.

Kacvey, this letter will be updated with any development that will occur between now and 4 January 2021.

=====
Update:

– RFA, 2 January 2021
ថ្នាក់ដឹកនាំ​គណបក្ស​សង្គ្រោះ​ជាតិ​លើក​ពេល​វិល​ចូល​ស្រុក​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ទី៤ ទៅ​ថ្ងៃ​ទី​១៥ មករា​វិញ
– Phnom Penh Post, 4 January 2021
Former senior CNRP lawmaker’s return postponed
– VOA, 4 January 2021
មាតុភូមិ​និវត្តន៍​របស់​លោក​ស្រី មូរ សុខហួរ ​ត្រូវ​ជួប​ឧបសគ្គ​ដោយ​ពុំ​ទាន់​បាន​ទិដ្ឋាការ​ប្រភេទ ​K

Chickens Under State of Emergency

15 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, Justice, Politics, Social

≈ Leave a comment

My dear Kacvey,

Do you still love chicken for your meal?
If so, watch out for the price increase in the market as one of poultry farm owner was arrested because the weak strongman, who seems to be in total delusion, associated himself with chickens that are being domestically raised.

Your students and you should be wondering what would Juvenal, Horace, Persius or Seneca the Younger think if they lived to read these 2 articles:

1) VOD, 14 December 2020
Covid-19 ‘Chicken’ Commentary Lands Phnom Penh Man in Prison
https://vodenglish.news/covid-19-chicken-commentary-lands-phnom-penh-man-in-prison/, and

2) VOA, 14 December 2020
Agribusiness Owner Jailed After Poultry Commentary on Hun Sen’s Speech
https://www.voacambodia.com/a/agribusiness-owner-jailed-after-poultry-commentary-on-hun-sen-speech-/5698670.html

Such behavior by the weak strongman is a sign common to all dictators who fear the specter of the end of their reign. Donning the plumage of the chicken, the weak strongman fears the fox that is lurching behind the wall of the coop.

Like Yuval Noah Harari said: “The domesticated chicken is probably the most widespread bird in the annals of planet Earth. If you measure success in terms of numbers, chickens, cows and pigs are the most successful animals ever”, it’s very easy to conclude that chicken, imaginary or real, will ultimately end up in the pot of “sngaur moan” or in the fox jaws.

Could his crystal eyeball see himself, soon, in one of those two places?

Delusion is human sickness, ex-KR or otherwise.

Prisonnier de l’Ancien Khmer Rouge

31 Saturday Oct 2020

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

≈ Comments Off on Prisonnier de l’Ancien Khmer Rouge

My dear Kacvey,

You certainly recall this French book by Sihanouk: “Prisonnier des Khmers rouges” (ISBN:978-2010121845) published in 1986.

Hope your students remember and make connection between:
1) Sihanouk’s birthday and Halloween: 31 October, and
2) the following two reporting by Radio Free Asia and Sihanouk’s book title:
– ឧត្ដមទីប្រឹក្សាផ្ទាល់នៃព្រះមហាក្សត្រ ថ្លែងថា ព្រះរាជាបច្ចុប្បន្ន ដូចជាប់ឃុំក្នុងវាំង ព្រោះស្ថាប័នរដ្ឋាភិបាល
https://www.rfa.org/khmer/news/politics/a-king-advisor-blames-the-government-for-weakening-the-monarchy-10212020041531.html
– រដ្ឋាភិបាលមិនបានគាំទ្រព្រះមហាក្សត្របំពេញព្រះរាជ តួនាទីពេញលេញតាមរដ្ឋធម្មនុញ្ញ
https://www.rfa.org/khmer/news/politics/watchdogs-criticize-Hunsen-govt-for-abusing-King-roles-and-responsibilities-10302020050748.html

There currently are so many innocent people who get arrested and jailed by the police and justice that are in the autocratic hands of the weak strongman. They are arrested and jailed for the peaceful and non-violent exercise of their freedom of political expression. Isn’t then there a commonality between the suzerain and the people: suzerain and subjects being prisoners of the same and one regime?

If the quote attributed to Jayavarman VII: “The suffering of my people is my suffering” is true, shouldn’t the suzerain and the people join hands to free themselves from the prison? How and what would and could the suzerain do to elevate the above quote to be: “The suffering of the suzerain is the people’s suffering”?

Or would Desiderius Erasmus have foreseen the fate of Cambodia when he said: “In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”?

Kacvey, can this passage from Exodus 3:7 “And the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows” help your students to ponder on this miserable matter in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk?

=====
P.S.
1. A glimpse at the Sultan of Malaysia (pour mémoire)
Bloomberg: Malaysia’s Once-Peripheral King Emerges as Major Political Force

2. South China Morning Post, 29 November 2020
Why Cambodia’s royals need close China ties that are separate from Hun Sen’s government

3. SEA GLOBE, 5 January 2021
‘Be a leader’: Sochua calls on king to intervene to ensure her return

4. Asia Times, 11 January 2021
Does Cambodia have a ‘puppet king’?

5. RFA, 12 January 2021
Cambodian Court Charges Acting Opposition Chief Sam Rainsy Under Lèse-majesté Law

Trial on 15 January 2020

11 Saturday Jan 2020

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

≈ Comments Off on Trial on 15 January 2020

My dear Kacvey,

You might recall our communication on 23 October 2017 titled “A Plausible Case – 莫须有冤狱”

On the 1st month of the new decade, the ex-KR-turned-autocrat has decided to show the ECCC (that has been trying his comrades-in-arms of the Pol Pot era) that his own justice machinery also works for him. He then instructed his kangaroos to try Oppo Nr.1 on 15 January 2020 on charge of treason. But whereas the ECCC proceeded with massive evidence, the ex-KR-turned-autocrat’s kangaroos will try with trumped charges and fictitious evidence.

The scripted judicial farce has been subject to multiple projections, one of which is that the kangaroos will find Oppo Nr.1 guilty of whatever the prosecution said. Kangaroo court executes its master’s order and has no surprise.

But that will not stop your students from reflecting and pondering on future consequences of such a shameless theatrical show of Khmer politics. Autocracy is afraid of challenge against its intellectual power that has none and uses raw forces to oppress any idea and thinking that defy its cruelty, antipathy, callousness and inhumanness.

If your students wish to witness the trial of the decade with a sense of social and political justice and fairness, let them arm their knowledge and awareness with three academic spears: The story of Yue Fei, “J’accuse” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial“.

Let hope the fire in Australia would scare the kangaroos to run away from their court  master.

The Corrupt, The Dirty, The Sanctioned

12 Thursday Dec 2019

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

≈ 2 Comments

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.

But it is very important for your students to remember, at the outset, what Norodom Sihanouk had said as reported in an article penned by Maurice Eisenbruch in The International Journal of Human Rights titled: “The cloak of impunity in Cambodia I: cultural foundations” in which Sihanouk was quoted as follows: “In today’s Cambodia, the God of Impunity reigns side by side with the King of Corruption.”

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
1. Cambodia’s Dirty Dozen – A Long History of Rights Abuses by Hun Sen’s Generals
2. នាយឧត្តមសេនីយ៍បាតដៃកខ្វក់ ១២ រូប – ប្រវត្តិរំលោភសិទ្ធិមនុស្សដ៏យូរអង្វែងរបស់នាយឧត្តមសេនីយ៍នៃលោក ហ៊ុន សែន
3. Cambodia: Hun Sen and His Abusive Generals
Video Shows Unexplained Wealth of “Dirty Dozen” as Number of Political Prisoners Mounts

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
4. PRESS RELEASES – Treasury Sanctions Chinese Entity in Cambodia Under Global Magnitsky Authority
5. Presse Releases: Treasury Sanctions Corrupt Actors in Africa and Asia

Radio Free Asia
1. How Did Cambodia’s First Family Afford Their Long Island Home?
2. $5 MILLION APARTMENT A LAUNCHPAD TO LONDON HIGH SOCIETY FOR NIECE OF HUN SEN
3. Foreign Homes of Cambodia’s Top Officials and Family Reflect Tenuous Grip at Home
4. CAMBODIA ENERGY CHIEFS TIED TO U.S. PROPERTY WORTH $5 MILLION
5. OVERSEAS PROPERTY OF CAMBODIA’S ELITE
6. អចលនទ្រព្យ​នៅ​ក្រៅ​ប្រទេស​របស់​ក្រុម​អភិជន​ខ្មែរ
7. មុខមាត់បុគ្គលដែលជួយអ្នកមានអំណាចខ្មែរឲ្យលួចលុយជាតិ
8. The ‘Respectable’ Faces that Help Cambodia’s Elite Loot the Country
9. In London, Cambodian elites tread in the Kremlin’s footsteps.
10. Cypriot Passport Bought by Shadowy Ally of Cambodian Interior Minister
11a. គ្រួសារនាយឧត្ដមសេនីយ៍ខ្មែរកំពូលម្នាក់ជាប់ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងឧក្រិដ្ឋកម្មបោកបន្លំប្រាក់ ១០០លានដុល្លារនៅប្រទេសអូស្ត្រាលី
11b. Top Cambodian General’s Family Tied to $100 Million Australian Fraud
12. Cambodian PM Hun Sen’s Niece Buys Cypriot Villas For €2.5 Million

Transparency International
1. Corruption and Cambodia’s – Governance System – The Need for Reform – National Integrity System Assessment 2014
2. For 2018, Transparency International ranked Cambodia the 161st out of 180 countries worldwide.
3. For 2019, Transparency International ranked Cambodia the 162nd out of 183 countries worldwide.

SEA GLOBE
Cambodia once again ranked Southeast Asia’s most corrupt country

The Cambodia Daily
តើក្រុមគ្រួសារត្រកូលហ៊ុន និងបក្សពួករបស់លោកមានទុនរកស៊ី ម្នាក់ៗចំនួនប៉ុន្មានដែរ?

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.”

Post scriptum: Maurice Eisenbruch’s “The cloak of impunity in Cambodia II: justice“

Dirtier-Than-Dirt Hypocrites

20 Sunday Oct 2019

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

≈ Comments Off on Dirtier-Than-Dirt Hypocrites

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

Posted by KhmerPAC in Culture, Justice, Politics, Social

≈ Comments Off on Three Songs, One Of Which Is Khmer

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.”

He Who Committed Crime of Lèse Majesté…

05 Saturday Jan 2019

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

≈ Comments Off on He Who Committed Crime of Lèse Majesté…

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“

Is Thbong Khmoum Jail Door Now Open?

09 Sunday Sep 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC in Event, Governance, Human Rights, Justice, Politics

≈ Comments Off on Is Thbong Khmoum Jail Door Now Open?

My dear Kacvey,

Please keep us posted on the rumor that the Thbong Khmoum jail door has been open, and the weak strongman is caught in his own spinning quagmire.

That’s fast, Kacvey! Thanks, Bro!

The weak strongman is losing direction on his compass and mixing up bishops, knights and rooks on his chess board. 34 years of absolute power are eroding the cells from the monkey mind.

While the released-on-bail of the opposition leader flashed in social media and newspapers throughout the world, the weak strongman secretly flew to his lord’s lair in the Northern Capital, and from there publicly announced the release. Why there, and not in the City of Tonlé Buon Mouk?  Possibly or probably because:
– the lord is not happy of the way the weak strongman handle the sham election;
– the lord has not received any credit from the entire world for helping the weak strongman winning the sham election;
– the lord might have a special message for the future;
or
– the weak strongman wants to avoid the Singapore hospital (A side question to you, Kacvey: do your students remember where did Sihanouk pass away?)
– the weak strongman executes the ritual pilgrimage to pay respect and re-pledge allegiance to the lord for the grace and fortune dispensed upon him and his tribesmen by the lord;
– the weak strongman wants to assure the lord that the territory is wide open to receive any number of the lord subjects to come and settle.

Updates:

    • Reuters reported Cambodian opposition leader released but put under house of arrest
    • CNN reported Cambodia opposition leader Kem Sokha released from prison
    • LICADHO reported Khem Sokha Transferred to House Arrest
    • SEA GLOBE reported Cambodia’s opposition leader Kem Sokha released to home detention
    • The New York Times reported Kem Sokha, Cambodia’s Jailed Opposition Leader, Is Released
    • The Japan Times, reproducing AFP, reported Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha released from jail as Hun Sen eases crackdown on foes
    • The Washington Post reported Cambodian opposition leader released as strongman Hun Sen secures grip on power
    • Les Echos rapportent: Cette nuit en Asie : après des législatives déloyales, l’homme fort du Cambodge libère son principal opposant
    • DPA International reported Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha released from prison
    • Al Jazeera reported Cambodia opposition figure Kem Sokha under house arrest
    • BBC News reported Cambodia releases opposition leader Kem Sokha on bail
    • The Guardian reported Cambodia: opposition leader Kem Sokha released from prison
    • The Independent reported Cambodia opposition leader Kem Sokha released on bail following ruling party’s landslide election victory
    • Khmer Times reported Kem Sokha released in early morning today
    • TIME reported Cambodia’s Opposition Leader Has Been Released on Bail After a Year Behind Bars
    • Amnesty International reported Cambodia: Release of Kem Sokha must be made permanent
    • RFA reported Release of Cambodian Opposition Chief Fails to Satisfy Hun Sen Critics
    • On 11 September 2018, Reuters reported U.S. urges Cambodia to remove restrictions against opposition leader

The Complete Loss of Order

26 Sunday Aug 2018

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

≈ Comments Off on The Complete Loss of Order

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.

← Older posts

Recent Posts

  • “Delay Is Preferable To Error”
  • There was 9 November 2019. Now, it’s 4 January 2021
  • The Three Kingdoms
  • Chickens Under State of Emergency
  • Summit for Democracy

Recent Comments

KhmerPAC on The Corrupt, The Dirty, The…
Chum Sirath on The Corrupt, The Dirty, The…
KhmerPAC on The Big Mess in the City of To…
Sod Sad (សុទ្ធ សាធ) on The Big Mess in the City of To…
Sod Sad (សុទ្ធ សាធ) on A Horrid and Crooked Vict…

Categories

  • Book
  • Culture
  • Event
  • Governance
  • History
  • Human Rights
  • Institution
  • International
  • Issue
  • Justice
  • Politics
  • Social
  • Stories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014

Blog at WordPress.com.