Two Months To Go

09 Monday Sep 2019

Posted by KhmerPAC in Event, Issue, Politics, Social, Stories

My dear Kacvey,

In Old Man Khmao Town, two swallows sitting on an electrical cable over the Old Péth Chkuort building, were chatting quietly while the monsoon rain was threatening from Paris:
Chheu Smaa: Are you ready for the 9 November reception?
Phkaï Mphéy: Yes, I am.
Chheu Smaa: And your guys?
Phkaï Mphéy: Can’t ascertain for sure.
Chheu Smaa: What do you mean?
Phkaï Mphéy: Two things not clear to them: 1) What are they going to do with thousands and thousands of people in motion? and 2) how are they going to be split between the parade at the Monument of Independence and the reception?
Chheu Smaa: What are Duck-and-White’s plans?
Phkaï Mphéy: None. Same. None of them know what to do. They talk and threaten like you do on FB.
Chheu Smaa: Don’t they understand my mind and decision?
Phkaï Mphéy: That, they do. But there is an ocean between understanding and setting up execution plan.
Chheu Smaa: And the borders?
Phkaï Mphéy: They are on full alert and manned as usual.
Chheu Smaa: Thailand,Laos, Vietnam, sea coasts?
Phkaï Mphéy: All official checkpoints are fully equipped, but there are more than 500 miles of frontiers and we can’t post one soldier or policeman on every yard?
Chheu Smaa: And the airports?
Phkaï Mphéy: Airports? Why do you think he’ll fly in like a fly attracted by the bonfire?
Chheu Smaa: He doesn’t have the guerrilla disposition like I did with Pol Pot or the Vietnamese.
Phkaï Mphéy: Your past disposition is not the same as your present one. And no sign of full cooperation has been received from the 3 neighbors.
Chheu Smaa: You mean all 3?
Phkaï Mphéy: Yes, all 3.
Chheu Smaa: Why?
Phkaï Mphéy: Inner River is silent like midnight winter at South Pole. Have you received anything that you don’t want to share or be implemented?
Chheu Smaa: That’s why Silver is in Laos.
Phkaï Mphéy: Is Silver in the game, or is he like White or Duck? Could he answer the key questions about the reception?
Chheu Smaa: What key questions?
Phkaï Mphéy: 1) What if you can’t catch him? 2) If you caught him, what will you do the next hour?
Chheu Smaa: I’ll catch him and lock him up in the same cell as oppo No. 1 in Thbum Khmaung?
Phkaï Mphéy: OK, for question No. 2, but what would you do with him the next day or month? Don’t repeat the error you made with oppo No.1. How about my question No. 1?
Chheu Smaa: He has to come in, because otherwise he’ll loose all credibility with his people?
Phkaï Mphéy: His credibility with his people is not your problem for the moment. It’s his problem and he’ll own it. The question to you still is: if he’s in and you can’t catch him, what will be your order for us to execute?
Chheu Smaa: Now my question to you is: if he’s in, why can’t you catch him?
Phkaï Mphéy: We don’t know his whereabouts. Have you heard about Schindler’s List?
Chheu Smaa: My son, the Intelligence man, should know?
Phkaï Mphéy: That kid, your presumed dauphin, if only he knows where his underwear or shoes are?
Chheu Smaa: Easy on him, he’s learning.
Phkaï Mphéy: Bad teacher doesn’t make good teaching to unwilling kid!
Chheu Smaa: The circle doesn’t seem to close.
Phkaï Mphéy: No. You already made the first mistake by arresting oppo No.1, and now trying to arrest oppo No.2?
Chheu Smaa: I have to double down, otherwise I’ll lose face.
Phkaï Mphéy: Losing face should not be in such a big political and national equation.
Chheu Smaa: I can’t turn back the clock. I’ll make the clock going forward for me.
Phkaï Mphéy: You’re playing Mugabe’s game.
Chheu Smaa: What choice do I have, with hundred and hundred millions $ under my bed and the deal I’ve made with Northern Capital.
Phkaï Mphéy: I can’t address that. You threw the dice, and the number came out to haunt you.
Chheu Smaa: You’re not helpful.
Phkaï Mphéy: The idea and strategies are yours. I execute it. Unclear strategies create high risks in execution, because it will involve people lives.
Chheu Smaa: You talk differently now.
Phkaï Mphéy: Since 1975, we run a lot around on how to dominate, but the domination has turned out to be different from the original idea.
Chheu Smaa: What do you mean?
Phkaï Mphéy: Come on, “what do you mean?” Tonlé Sap, Bokor, casinos, dams, Kg Som, Dara Sakor, Ream, Hostile Takeover … that what I mean!
Chheu Smaa: You have a piece of it to, haven’t you?
Phkaï Mphéy: Yes I do, but nowadays and around my dinner table, the discussions are very tough with my kids who don’t know anybody beside you as the leader, whereas they perfectly know that the world is moving around with different ideas and people all the time. They might show up at the reception and they have already dared me to arrest or shoot them.
Chheu Smaa: You look soft!
Phkaï Mphéy: Age changes people. You still don’t answer my question No.1.
Chheu Smaa: I will be at the spot where he’ll be found and direct the operations myself.
Phkaï Mphéy: That’s not the answer. If we know where he will be, we’ll do it for you. And stay where you are to nurse your shoulder pain. Until I get the answer, I can’t justify the order to the troops to arrest him. Only exactly 2 months left to set up the stratagems.
Chheu Smaa: True, the pain in the shoulder affects my overall mobility that conditions my relationship with my surroundings. If you were me, what would be your answer to your own question No. 1.
Phkaï Mphéy: Pledge incompetence because if I were you I would have let the 2018 elections go on normally. And que sera, sera! I would have listened to people’s voice and heartbeats and respect their ballots.
Chheu Smaa: You didn’t say that to me at that time.
Phkaï Mphéy: I did, but my suggestion was drowned by those closer and closest to you.
Chheu Smaa: You should have insisted.
Phkaï Mphéy: Very difficult to penetrate the many rings of brutal bulldogs.
Chheu Smaa: You still don’t answer my hypothetical question?
Phkaï Mphéy: OK, if you insisted: Be honest with yourself and go and tell the party directly that you have had enough with politics, you don’t have the physical ability to lead anymore, you resign from your position as party leader and LET THE PARTY DECIDE ON HOW TO PROCEED on your replacement. Take the next plane either to Northern Capital for medical treatment like Sihanouk did or to Singapore like Mugabe did.
Chheu Smaa: Won’t be that easy.
Phkaï Mphéy: What makes you thing that this whole stuff is easy to handle?
Chheu Smaa: The party won’t be able to decide.
Phkaï Mphéy: Why?
Chheu Smaa: There is no dominant person and there could be too many “suitors?”
Phkaï Mphéy: You never wanted White or the senator to be your replacement, in case… Instead you play around with the idea of junior. Unintended compounded problems! If you resigned, the party will find a solution the next hour. Same if you dropped dead.
Chheu Smaa: Give me one more good reason why I should resign?
Phkaï Mphéy: Ready: You will avoid or suffer the consequences of all the voluntary troubles you have created with oppo, the Vietnamese and the Chinese. The mess that you have created will be handled one way or another by your party or successor. Remember the thread David Cameron-Theresa May-Boris Johnson in the Conservative Party of UK politics on Brexit: Theresa May inherited David Cameron’s mess, Boris Johnson inherited Theresa May’s mess, and who knows who will inherit Boris Johnson’s mess?!The good thing is that Cameron and May enjoy their vacations while Boris Johnson is now having a s… of a time.
Chheu Smaa: It makes sense, bu I can’t do that.
Phkaï Mphéy: Why?
Chheu Smaa: History will wipe me out of its book.
Phkaï Mphéy: You’ve have made your history since your youth, but future history of the country will be the consequences of your own history. Why would you care about history?
Chheu Smaa: My family will live in shame.
Phkaï Mphéy: Have you talked to Pol Pot’s children?
Chheu Smaa: Do you really think that he will be in the country on 9 November?
Phkaï Mphéy: My opinion is worth nothing. It’s your perspective that I need to know.
Chheu Smaa: Would the soldiers or policemen drop their guns and shackles like Lon Nol troops did upon our arrival in Phnom Penh in April 1975 or like Pol Pot’s troops did upon our arrival in Phnom Penh in January 1979? That’s history.
Phkaï Mphéy: Either history repeats itself or rather like Mr. Kem Ley’s funerals procession in July 2017. My kids were in that procession too.
Chheu Smaa: Thanks for the chat. Time to take medicine and write few lines on FB to keep my fans in “like”.
Phkaï Mphéy You don’t look good, do you?
Chheu Smaa: The shoulder pain’s episode.
Phkaï Mphéy: I’ll be waiting for the 9 November plan, if you come up with any.

Both swallows parted after leaving few droppings on the roof of the Old Péth Chkuort building.

9/11/2019 is Written 11/9/2019 in U.S. Calendar Format

19 Monday Aug 2019

Posted by KhmerPAC in Event, Issue, Politics, Social

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My dear Kacvey,

So, the world is now aware that on 9 November 2019, a big event would take place in Srè Khmok as announced by VOA and RFI on 16 August 2019:
– លោក សម រង្ស៊ី កំណត់យកថ្ងៃឯករាជ្យជាតិ ៩ វិច្ឆិកា ត្រឡប់ទៅកម្ពុជាវិញ
https://khmer.voanews.com/a/sam-rainsy-set-a-date-to-return-to-cambodia/5044869.html
– លោកសមរង្ស៊ីនឹងធ្វើមាតុភូមិនិវត្តន៍នៅថ្ងៃទី០៩វិច្ឆិកាខណៈអាជ្ញាធរកម្ពុជាប្រកាសត្រៀមចាប់ខ្លួន http://km.rfi.fr/cambodia/sam-rainsy-is-coming-back-soon-16-08-2019

The exiled will return to Cambodia on 9 November 2019. So, have stated the press statements from his party, unequivocally, precise and direct.

The return of the prodigal son!

When politicians speak, either one believes them or doesn’t. Also, some politicians keep their promise, some don’t. It’s the politics of the politicians. When promises are kept and honored, the constituents would later reward them handsomely, but if they are not kept, the constituents would feel that they are cheated. Constituents can be cheated once, twice but not thrice. Political suicide doesn’t need to jump off the cliff to the abyss.

You may recall that, during the past 4 years, letters with titles “On the 62nd Anniversary of Independence of Cambodia“, 63rd, 64th and 65th were sent to you. So, according to the above news pieces, unless “force majeure” or “act of God” [could a philosopher ask: Why would God interfere with mortals’ businesses!?] would interfere, the exiled would return to Srè Khmok on the day that coincides with the official day when Srè Khmok had successfully wrestled and obtained its independence from France. There is nothing wrong to choose that date, strategically speaking, but to associate the date and its national and historical connotation with the return is a risky business if the return turned out to be a “delayed-or-postponed return”. A shorter order, sometimes is better than a tall one when so many parameters are factored in the unknown equation. Incidentally, the Bonn Om Touk or Water Festival would traditionally commence the following morning, 10 November, if the water level on the Tonlé Sap is not affected by the drought. With millions of people are on holidays and in festive mood, you may wonder what the full moon will bring to Cambodia after 34 years under the corrupt yoke of an ex-KR.

Oh, Kacvey, have you noticed that the English version of the press statement, unlike the Khmer language version, did not mention anything related to the independence?

As a matter of political curiosity, your students might ask why telling the whole world about such a particularly precise date of return? How about leaving that question to reporters or journalists to extract the worms out of his nose, bearing in mind that the strategists or planners who surrounded him know what they were doing. For our part, a poem by James W. Foley: “Drop a Pebble in the Water” could be metaphorically referred to:
“Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone;
But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,
Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea.
And there is no way of telling where the end is going to be.

Drop a pebble in the water: in a minute you forget,
But there’s little waves a-flowing, and there’s ripples circling yet,
And those little waves a-flowing to a great big wave have grown;
You’ve disturbed a mighty river just by dropping in a stone.”

Las Vegas bookies, what are the odds?

Enough taking about the return, how about the “welcoming party”?

It has now been many months that the weak strongman’s war apparatus has been put on alert or war path at every inch on the country land borders or seashores, every port, kampong or airport, every train or bus stations, every embassy or consulate, every river, lake pond, mountain and forest, every នំបញ្ចុក stand that exists on the planet, every bar, karaoke or drug den, every pagoda or hospital, every market, mall or school, every radio or TV station, every stadium, park or playground, etc … The Northern Capital has also supplied additional war materials and equipment to reinforce the existing war machines against the Khmer. The net seems so tight that even water would have difficulty to seep in. So how the exiled is going to get into Cambodia without being detected?

History told that in 1976 the weak strongman sneaked into Vietnam without his leader Pol Pot knew about it. His master in the Northern Capital knew a lot about how the outlaws operated in the classic “Water Margin 水浒传” or how the warriors assaulted the fortresses in “Three Kingdoms 三国”. And how about parachuting in the night? or flying with Hoverboard like Franky Zapata very recently did over the Channel? or dressed up in a swimsuit as a shark and landed in Kg Som and changed into a Chine$e gambler or a dumpling street vendor? Inspiration could be had from Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne or Ian Fleming’s James Bond, couldn’t it? Enough of fantasizing!

By the way, 9 November 2019 is also written as 9/11/2019 in Gregorian calendar format or 11/9/2018 in the U.S. Calendar format.

Let start the count down: 83 …
Comptons à rebours: 83 …

“Straight from the Horse’s Mouth”

24 Sunday Feb 2019

Posted by KhmerPAC 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 KhmerPAC 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 “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“

VI..N.. – VI..N.. Monument

30 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by KhmerPAC 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 KhmerPAC 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: «ហ្អែងចង់ដឹងពេលហ្នឹងហា បើមិនហ្អែងមិនគេចទាន់ទេ ពេលនេះ គឺធ្វើបុណ្យខ្មោចហ្អែងបាត់ទៅហើយ តែឯងពូកែរត់ ពូកែស្រែក ហើយរត់ក៏លឿន តែគ្រាន់តែគេមិនដេញតាមតែប៉ុណ្ណឹងទេឲ្យឯងរត់សិន អញក៏មិនទាន់ចង់សម្លាប់ហ្អែងដែរ ព្រោះរដ្ឋាភិបាលមួយមិនឲ្យមានការចង់ផ្ដួលរំលំតាមចិញ្ចើមផ្លូវនោះទេ»

How could a man who considers himself a statesman use such a foul and repugnant words such as ហ្អែង, បុណ្យខ្មោចហ្អែង, អញ, អញក៏មិនទាន់ចង់សម្លាប់ហ្អែង?! 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 KhmerPAC 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.”

=====

Update:
On 5 December 2018, The Cambodia Daily online published this piece: មេដឹកនាំខ្មែរនឹងទៅទស្សនកិច្ចក្នុងប្រទេសវៀតណាមអមដោយមន្រ្តី កំពូលៗជាច្រើនមិនធ្លាប់មានពីមុនមក

‘I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets’

17 Saturday Nov 2018

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

≈ Comments Off on ‘I do not do policy or diplomacy by tweets’

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!”

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