KHMER INTELLIGENCE

Khmer Intelligence (KI) is a non-government organisation whose objective is to collect sensitive information from non-easily accessible sources to help Khmer and foreign observers better follow and understand the situation in Cambodia. KI finds out what is behind the latest news and news to come. For security reasons KI must preserve anonymity for its informants. Information is classified according to five levels of reliability: Official or Semi-Official (1), Very Reliable (2), Reliable (3), Insistent Rumour (4), Rumour (5).
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3rd Quarter 2002   4th Quarter 2002   1st Quarter 2003   2nd Quarter 2003   3rd Quarter 2003   4th Quarter 2003   1st Quarter 2004   2nd Quarter 2004   3rd Quarter 2004   4th Quarter 2004   1st Quarter 2005   2nd Quarter 2005   3rd Quarter 2005

29 December 2002

Government confirms plan to arrest Nhim Kim Nhol (1)
In an interview broadcast yesterday on Radio Free Asia, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak confirmed that an arrest warrant had been issued for CPP defector and SRP candidate Nhim Kim Nhol (KI, 27 December). The warrant is based on a crime allegedly committed by Nhim Kim Nhol many years ago. The government decision to arrest Nhim Kim Nhol closely follows his joining officially the Sam Rainsy Party two months ago and his beginning to work as an active opposition candidate for the constituency of Sihanoukville in the 2003 legislative election. This provides further evidence that the judiciary system in Cambodia is a political instrument for the ruling CPP to crackdown on opposition members and ensure impunity for real criminals in power.   

28 December 2002

Who actually killed the old couple in Siem Reap? (3)
The killing of an old couple in Siem Reap province on 11 December 2002 was attributed by the CPP authorities to SRP Banteay Srey district council president Yao Dara (KI, 21 December). But the latest pieces of information provided by the victims’ relatives and neighbors indicate that the prime suspect should be the couple’s son-in-law. When they were still alive, the couple had pushed their daughter to get divorced from her husband who was in bad terms with his parents-in-law. The old couple accused their son-in-law of being only interested in the inheritance he could get from them. The son-in-law was very upset and reportedly killed his parents-in-law in a region where people are inclined to quickly use violence to solve disputes. Now that Yao Dara is unjustly designated as the culprit because of a political machination, the real murderer enjoys impunity and succeeds in actually getting the inheritance from his prematurely dead parents-in-law.

27 December 2002

The King refuses to endorse border treaties with Vietnam (2)
The border issue with Vietnam was raised again this week during the visit of Nguyen Van An, Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly. Prime Minister Hun Sen has been using recent and successive visits by Vietnamese leaders to put pressure on King Norodom Sihanouk to make him endorse the border treaties he (Hun Sen) signed with Vietnam in 1979, 1982, 1983 and 1985. Those treaties signed under a controversial regime (People’s Republic of Kampuchea) that was not internationally recognized, caused the loss of large portions of Cambodian land and sea territories in favor of Vietnam. The King has stated in private on several occasions that he would never put his signature next to Hun Sen’s on those treaties because he did not want to be considered as a “traitor to the nation” in the eyes of the posterity. 

26 December 2002

No senatorial election in 2004 (3)
CPP and Funcinpec are agreeing to skip the senatorial election due to take place normally in 2004. The Senate convened for the first time in March 1999 and its five-year term will end in 2004. The present 61 Senators have been appointed by the King (2), CPP (31), Funcinpec (21) and SRP (7) in proportion to the number of seats currently detained by each political party at the National Assembly. For the next term of the Upper House, Senators should be elected.  But the CPP, supported by Prince Ranariddh’s Funcinpec, now claims that Cambodia cannot afford the cost and the hassle of another national election in 2004 following the one already scheduled for 2003. In fact the CPP is afraid of the growing opinion tide against them due to deteriorating living conditions for the majority of the population who are more and more discontent with government corruption. They now suggest that Senators are appointed in 2004 in the same way as in 1999, meaning in proportion to the number of seats won by each political party at the 2003 election. Cheating at the 2003 election of National Assembly members will be doubly beneficial to the CPP because illegitimate seats obtained in 2003 will also translate into illegitimate seats in the Senate in 2004. 

Hun Sen indirectly refers to the King as a “stupid beast” (2)
Because he is more and more concerned about his being denounced as a top leader sharing responsibility for the recent ecological disasters following unprecedented deforestation over the last nine years under his leadership, Prime Minister Hun Sen has been blasting whoever links deforestation with the successive floods and droughts Cambodia suffered from in 2000, 2001 and 2002. He called his detractors “stupid beasts”. In a message to the Cambodian people on 11 August 2002, King Norodom Sihanouk wrote: “In the present times, we clearly see the devastating results for our country, our agriculture, our farmers (…) of the continuous and unstoppable destruction of our forest. I don’t dare to elaborate further on this topic. I just want to underline that the fact that present Cambodia has lost nearly all of its once extensive and thick forest is a major cause of the catastrophic droughts and floods that destroy our country and the livelihoods of our people who find themselves plunged into misery.”
In 1997, a few months before staging his 5-6 July coup d’état, Hun Sen called Prince Norodom Ranariddh a “real dog” because the then First Prime Minister did not want to voluntarily quit the CPP-Funcinpec coalition government as he had previously hinted he would do.
In this strange “Second Kingdom”, Hun Sen who has positioned himself as kingmaker, does not seem to show much respect for the royal family, who are apparently used only to legitimise his unpopular regime.    

CPP’s electoral strategy in blocking nomination of new village chiefs (2)
Since last February’s commune council election, the decentralization process is only halfway through. Each of the country’s 1621 communes is now led by an elected commune chief working with a number of other elected commune councillors. But each commune is made up of a number of villages and democracy has not yet, even on paper, reached the village level, which is the real grassroots level where people see and feel their living conditions affected by political decisions from above. The country’s more than 13,000 villages are still run by powerful village chiefs who were appointed by the ruling CPP many years ago, under a one-party system, and are part of the network of a Party-State controlling the population in a communist style, especially in the rural areas where the population is divided into 10-family cells and kept under close surveillance.
Article 30 of the 2001 Law on the Commune Administration says: “Each commune council must nominate a village chief for each village situated in the commune. The Ministry of Interior must issue instructions concerning formalities and procedures for the appointment of village chiefs”.
But nearly a year after the February 2002 commune council election, the Ministry of Interior has not issued any instructions specifying, from an administrative point of view, how to proceed for the appointment of new village chiefs by the commune council, as if the government wants to block the decentralization process in order to preserve a status quo that operates in favor of the CPP. Controlling the population tightly in all the country’s villages provides a determining advantage to the CPP in the organization of any elections. This control puts the CPP in a privileged position when it comes to mobilizing supporters, intimidating and killing opponents, protecting murderers, channelling humanitarian aid in a selective manner as an element of a vote-buying policy funded by international donors, discriminately disseminating information about voter registration and ballot casting so as to limit voter turnout (KI, 09 December).
Realizing that taking the State apparatus out of the CPP’s hands and pushing the decentralization/democratisation process until the village level are crucial steps for establishing effective local governments, ensuring a smooth development at the grassroots level and organizing acceptably democratic elections, the opposition Sam Rainsy Party first wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen on 01 April 2002 asking when would the Interior Ministry issue the above-mentioned instructions. On 20 June, Hun Sen replied to SRP parliamentarians that the government needed more time to “carry out research on the subject” while allowing “commune council members to get trained and organized first”.
In October, three SRP-led commune councils (O Bak Rotes, Boeung Tumpun, Kilometre Six), following democratic procedures based on the spirit of the law on decentralization, decided to appoint new village chiefs in their respective communes, at least on a temporary basis while waiting for the desperately-long-to-come official instructions from the Interior Ministry (KI, 17 October). On 18 November, the Interior Ministry annulled the decision of the O Bak Rotes commune council appointing new village chiefs. The concerned SRP commune chief declared he would ignore the Interior Ministry’s decision because his commune council (composed of 3 SRP councillors and 2 CPP councillors) had only abided by the spirit of the law on decentralization whereas it was the Interior Ministry that acted illegally by dragging its feet and stalling the decentralization process. He stated that, as a SRP elected commune chief, he could not work with the previous CPP non-elected village chiefs whose agendas were different from his. On 24 December, a number of SRP parliamentarians wrote to the Constitutional Council requesting the supreme body’s opinion on the legality of the appointment of new village chiefs under the present circumstances. On 25 December, a group of SRP Members of Parliament wrote again to Hun Sen asking the government valid reasons, if any, for not issuing instructions for the appointment of new village chiefs to reflect the will of the people as expressed at the last commune council election, and therefore blocking the decentralization process.
Without pressure from the international donor community that advocates democracy, decentralization and good governance, the government will likely continue to prevent the appointment of new village chiefs in order to secure an easy and unfair victory for the CPP at the forthcoming national election set for 27 July 2003.

22 December 2002

Corruption at the World Bank (4)
The head of the World Bank office in Phnom Penh, Bonaventure Mbida-Essama, is poorly regarded by many Cambodians and foreigners alike because of his complacency about government corruption in general and his appalling position regarding demobilization and deforestation in particular. Some observers accuse him of blindly ensuring that the government gets all possible World Bank loans and grants as if he were paid a commission. Rumors say that the World Bank headquarters in Washington are aware of his taking bribes from Cambodian government officials. His main contact is Hun Sen's top financial adviser Sok An. Bribes are reportedly paid in cash and in kind (you can guess what in this land of impunity).

Mam Sonando may run for a MP seat (2)
Beehive Radio founder and Beehive Party president Mam Sonando is still pondering whether to run in the upcoming legislative election. At least a million people in and around Phnom Penh listen regularly to his radio, which is the only truly independent radio broadcasting from Cambodia. He has been approached recently by a number of politicians hostile to Hun Sen’s CPP to reactivate his dormant political party. Among his possible supporters are some disgruntled Funcinpec members but also a Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian, Sam Sun Doeun, who is considering joining another party because he was denied an important position within the SRP this year.

Testing the waters with unexploded bombs (3)
According to Rasmei Kampuchea (21 and 22 December) considered as the mouthpiece of the CPP, three home-made time-bombs were discovered in two separate brothels harboring Vietnamese prostitutes in Siem Reap city on 15 December. Comments from police officers stating that the alleged plantings of the bombs were the work of a group of “terrorists” and that one of the suspects arrested was a former Funcinpec soldier now linked to the Sam Rainsy Party (The Cambodia Daily, 18 December) alarmed politicians and observers alike, who expressed concerns that the incident could be a prelude to a wider crackdown on the legal opposition ahead of the general election scheduled for July 2003.
Rasmei Kampuchea yesterday revealed the names of the 8 male suspects (with their age) arrested so far: Vann Logn (30), Vann Chamrong (22), Khan Khorn (22), Khim Khan (40), Chhoeurm Chhong (20), Ry Sareth (41), Prich Paoy (21), May Sith (?), but did not specify who was the “former Funcinpec soldier now linked to the Sam Rainsy Party”. It did specify, however, that the police were looking for three other “terrorists” who had masterminded the foiled attack: Keo Savudh, Keo Virak and a certain Ly alias Peth. The first two names are allegedly those of two former commanders of “Para” troops, meaning elements of the non-communist Resistance fighting the Vietnamese occupying army in the 1980s.
Rasmei Kampuchea specified today that two of the eight suspects arrested, Vann Logn and Vann Chamrong, had conducted or tried to conduct several bomb attacks against Vietnamese prostitutes earlier this year.
The 15 December incident and the subsequent events show that the CPP is testing the waters before launching a major crackdown on the opposition prior to next year’s crucial election. But how will the international community react if the crackdown is actually launched? The CPP is particularly afraid of the SRP becoming stronger because of defections from Funcinpec. This is why anybody with the profile of a “former Funcinpec soldier now linked to the Sam Rainsy Party” is branded as a prime suspect. This can be an effective threat to frighten political opponents following countless arrests linked to alleged plots by “terrorist” groups such as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) or the Khmer Krom Liberation Movement. General Nhek Bun Chhay and some other Funcinpec army officers are reportedly targeted. The timing also is shrewd: 15 December was just a few days from Christmas holidays, when many international observers and donor representatives temporarily leave their posts in Cambodia.

21 December 2002

The art of disguising crime (3)
Many politically motivated crimes have been presented by the authorities as results of personal disputes, acts of robbery or emotional acts in reaction to sorcery. The victims were mainly SRP members as if opposition activists had a particular inclination for violent disputes or a particular gift for attracting robbers or communicating with spirits and ghosts.
But the art of disguising crime can work also the other way round. On 19 December, the pro-CPP Khmer-language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea published a front-page article with the headline: “A member of the Sam Rainsy Party has been arrested as suspect in the murder of  [two] members of the [Cambodian] People’s Party”. An old couple, aged 71 and 70, allegedly CPP members but also money lenders, were murdered at their house in Banteay Srey district, Siem Reap Province, on 11 December. On 17 December, the police designated Yao Dara, president of SRP Banteay Srey district council, as a suspect and arrested him. It is worth noting that on 12 December, Yao Dara had been threatened and asked by CPP district officials to stop campaigning for the opposition but he refused to give up his political activities and responsibilities. Now the police, using Stalinian methods, is trying to extort a confession from Yao Dara, who is held incommunicado and is apparently being framed in an attempt to intimidate opposition party activists in the run-up to the 2003 legislative election. Since the CPP claims 4 million members, it will be easy for the authorities to attribute the responsibility for any villainous crime to a SRP activist allegedly using violence against supporters of the ruling party. 

16 December 2002

Funcinpec parliamentarian Ismael Youssof to leave his party (2)
Following the example of Keo Remy (KI, 03 December and 08 November), Funcinpec National Assembly member Ismael Youssof last week informed his party president Prince Norodom Ranariddh that he would not run as a candidate for Funcinpec at the July 2003 legislative election. 

Human organ trafficking (4)
Several Chinese clinics operating in Cambodia without any control are reportedly involved in human organ (kidney, liver) trafficking. Cambodia is well known for drug trafficking (KI, 11 December) and human trafficking, especially woman, child and baby trafficking for prostitution, pedophilia and adoption. Because of a combination of lawlessness, corruption, poverty and ignorance, all kinds of traffics and trades are developing. Poor and ill-informed patients are reportedly lured into clinics run by dubious doctors from Mainland China where they are led to undergo unnecessary surgical operations that can be fatal. Organs removed from poor Cambodian patients are adequately conditioned and shipped to be used for transplants into much richer patients in Hong Kong or Singapore.

15 December 2002

Dr Heng Tay Kry may be the future Health Minister (3)
Several officials from the CPP have indicated that, if their party wins the 2003 election, Dr Heng Tay Kry, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s personal physician and Director of the French-subsidized Calmette Hospital, will be appointed Minister of Health, replacing Dr Hong Song Huot from the Funcinpec party. At a debate on the 2003 Budget at the National Assembly on 13 December, Funcinpec parliamentarian Khim Chamroeun criticized the management of Calmette Hospital reportedly plagued with corruption and a stronghold of CPP-affiliated medical staff who get unfair personal benefits from French assistance but lack medical ethics. Dr Heng Tay Kry is accused by the family of slain actress and allegedly former Hun Sen’s mistress Piseth Pilika of being involved in her murder at the hospital on 13 July 1999 (KI, 03 and 27 November).  

13 December 2002

France and Cambodia to exchange new ambassadors (2)
Cambodian ambassador to Paris, Prak Sokhon, will leave his post soon. After serving four years in France, he last week gave a farewell party at his residence situated avenue Charles Floquet.
French ambassador to Phnom Penh, André-Jean Libourel, is also returning to the Quai d’Orsay after serving five years in Cambodia. He is now the dean of the diplomatic corps in Phnom Penh. He created an incident in 2000, when several hundreds Cambodian demonstrators were shocked by his arrogance and wanted to burn a French flag in front of the French embassy but were prevented from doing so by opposition leader Sam Rainsy.

12 December 2002

A totally inactive National Auditing Authority (2)
A legislation aimed at conducting audits of all government budgets and business enterprises was passed on 12 January 2000 with the technical and financial support of the Asian Development Bank, whose local representative Urooj Malik claims merit for the formation of the National Auditing Authority. On 27 July 2001, after months of political intrigues, the National Assembly appointed the new body’s management whose composition is modeled on that of the current coalition government (CPP + Funcinpec). As of today, nearly three years after the passing of the audit law, the auditing authority, which is supposed to help the country address a rampant corruption, has not started any investigation yet and nobody knows whether any audit of anything will ever be published. This is an example of “technical assistance” to Cambodia which costs donor countries some $200 million a year while hundreds of thousands of Cambodian farmers are starving.

Poverty line or starvation line? (2)
In a debate at the National Assembly on 11 December in preparation for the adoption of the 2003 Budget, Finance Minister Keat Chhon confirmed that the poverty threshold used for computing the poverty rate in Cambodia corresponded to an income of $0.50 per day (KI, 9 November). This threshold has been reduced from $1.00 (a commonly accepted figure in most developing countries) in order to statistically reduce the number of the poor and show a poverty rate of only 36%. With a $1.00 threshold, at least 60% of Cambodia’s 13-million population would be considered “poor” even though a portion of them are not starving yet.

A Cambodian parliamentarian in Brussels (1)
On 10 December, Tioulong Saumura, a Member of Parliament (SRP) for Phnom Penh, attended a conference at the European Parliament in Brussels supporting the international campaign “Stop FGM!” to denounce and repress female genital mutilation. The discussion panel included many MEPs from different political groups and European Commissioner Antonio Vitorino. Tioulong Saumura was the only MP representing Asia on the panel, at the invitation of MEP Emma Bonino (NI) who is known for her commitment to the defense of human rights, including those of democrats in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. 

Dismissal of Under Secretary of State Koy Kem Phan (1)
As expected, Public Works Ministry’s Under Secretary of State Koy Kem Phan was fired by Prime Minister Hun Sen at the end of December for expressing his support for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (KI, 22 October). The official reason put forward for his dismissal was his inability to work with Public Works Minister Khy Taing Lim, a member of the royalist Funcinpec party who was already a Minister under the Lon Nol republican regime in the early 1970s. Koy Kem Phan's replacement is Sam Sok, an adviser to Khy Taing Lim who has spent a long time in France.    

11 December 2002

Cambodia’s mafia state (2)
Drug trafficking has been for the last decade Cambodia’s most thriving industry. The United Nations International Drug Control Programme last year published a report according to which Cambodia is one of the largest suppliers of marijuana to the world, with business estimated to generate nearly $1 billion a year (Bangkok Post, 8 June 2001). The value of illicit exports is estimated to be on par with that of the garment industry, a leading foreign exchange earner whose real importance, however, has been exaggerated since the industry’s net export (export of finished products minus import of raw materials) does not exceed $250 million (KI, 10 October). The UN report specifies that “significant quantities of heroin and methamphetamines from the Golden Triangle of Burma, Laos and Thailand and chemicals used to produce narcotics are also being shipped through Cambodia” and that “the country has become a safe haven for criminal organizations”. The UN agency said Cambodian government officials “at all levels” were involved in the drug trade, with the military and the police playing “an important role in dealing with drug production and trafficking”.
Amphetamine production and use among school-age children has grown rapidly in just the last few years, the UN report said. While the drug used to be mostly smuggled from Thailand, it is now made in a number of Cambodian provinces, the report said. Most heroin enters Cambodia from Laos, a portion of it being produced in Burma’s Shan state. It is then sent with marijuana and amphetamines to the US, Canada, Europe and Australia through shipping containers out of Sihanoukville (KI, 5 December) or by small boats that transfer the drugs to larger ships waiting offshore near Koh Kong. The drug smuggling activities in Sihanoukville and Koh Kong province are conducted by or with the support of the navy under the command of General Tea Vinh, a brother of General Tea Banh, who is the CPP co-Defense Minister, a member of the CPP Politburo and a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Hun Sen (KI, 16 November).
In Pailin, Battambang and Banteay Meanchey provinces, especially in Poipet where seven casinos have been built and where Thai and Cambodian businessmen and government officials are feverishly involved in land confiscation and speculation, gambling, money laundering as well as drug production and trafficking, one of the most powerful and richest army commanders is General Tea Soth, another brother of General Tea Banh.
Most recent reports by US and Thai anti-drug agencies show that Cambodian and Burmese criminals are strengthening their cooperation to increase drug production and trafficking in Cambodia (Bangkok Post, 9 December 2002). From Burma, the man who oversees and helps coordinate these criminal activities is Cambodian ambassador to Rangoon, Nhim Chandara, a brother-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

10 December 2002

Sam Rainsy in France (2)
Opposition leader Sam Rainsy spent the first week of December in France to visit his eldest brother who has just undergone a liver transplant. But he seized the opportunity of his stay in France to visit SRP supporters in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Pithiviers. A fundraising dinner in Paris on 7 December brought to the party coffers more than E 10,000 (or $ 10,000). In the speech he made on that occasion, Sam Rainsy reminded his audience of a comparison made before the signing of the Paris Peace Agreements in 1991 by then Prince Norodom Sihanouk: “Khieu Samphan is an assassin but not a traitor to our nation, whereas Hun Sen is at the same time an assassin and a traitor”. Asked whether he would join a coalition government with Hun Sen in 2003, Sam Rainsy replied: “In the next government, if there is Hun Sen there will not be Sam Rainsy, and if there is Sam Rainsy there will not be Hun Sen”. He appealed to other CPP leaders to distance themselves from Hun Sen, who is in his eyes the "symbol of crime and corruption that are destroying Cambodia".
Sam Rainsy also paid visits to several advisers to President Jacques Chirac, National Assembly President Jean-Louis Debré and Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin. He had a good meeting with his old friend Senator Xavier de Villepin, former Chairman of the Senate Commission on Foreign Affairs (and father of the current Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin).
Sam Rainsy, who is former President of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats, was seen in Paris on several occasions with democrats from Vietnam, Laos and Burma, now living in exile in France.

Piseth Pilika’s diary circulates on the sly (2)
Most Cambodians in Cambodia do not have computers and the internet and therefore cannot read the thrilling diary Piseth Pilika wrote before her tragic death in 1999 (KI, 3 November). But some of the many former actress’ admirers who have access to the internet, especially students and traders living in the cities, have printed her diary and some related documents from the website dedicated to Piseth Pilika (http://pisethpilika.free.fr/) and distributed them clandestinely, for fear of the police, to their relatives, friends, colleagues and neighbors. They have published a small book which includes a second-class poem written by prime minister Hun Sen -- who has recognized his handwriting but denied he has written the poem for Piseth Pilika -- and other writings by Piseth Pilika intended for Hun Sen. The book entitled “The Story of Piseth Pilika with Prime Minister Hun Sen” is in great demand but is available at only a few secret places. The book is apparently causing embarrassment for Hun Sen, whose involvement in the murder of Piseth Pilika, with the complicity of his wife Bun Rany (KI, 27 November), appears to be a serious hindrance to the advancement of his political career. 

09 December 2002

Restrictions on voter registration to ensure victory for the CPP (2)
A key element in the CPP’s strategy to win at any cost the forthcoming July 2003 legislative election is to prevent suspected eligible voters from being registered (KI, 5 November). The voter registration period has been reduced to less than a month, finally from 17 January to 15 February 2003. By combining voter intimidation, vote buying and ballot tampering, the CPP secured 2.5 million votes out of 4.1 million ballots cast at the February 2002 commune council election. But from 2002 to 2003 it seems very difficult for the CPP to increase the number of its legitimate voters above 2.5 million since this historic level was reached largely thanks to an unprecedented vote buying with money, rice, small gifts but also lots of promises that have left many voters disenchanted. With voter intimidation and ballot tampering more and more under international scrutiny, the easiest way for the CPP to win a majority of votes is to put restrictions on the voter registration process so that those citizens who are perceived as non-CPP supporters (landless farmers, factory workers, vendors, fishermen, itinerant workers, students) are deprived of their rights to vote, thus leading to a low voter turnout. The lower the voter turnout the better for the CPP. As two working hypotheses for the 2003 election, a low (L) and a high (H) voter turnout are shown below with the corresponding results for the CPP.

                                                1993          1998         2002       2003 (L)    2003 (H)  

Votes for CPP (in million)           1.5            2.0           2.5           2.5               2.5

Votes cast (in million)                 4.1            5.0           4.1            4.0              6.0

Eligible voters (in million)            4.5            5.5           6.2            6.5              6.5

Voter turnout                             92%          92%         66%         62%           92% 

Votes for CPP/Votes cast          38%          40%         61%         62%           42%

Votes for CPP/Eligible voters     34%          36%         40%         38%           38%

The number of eligible voters (citizens over 18 year-old) increases by about one million every five years, from 4.5 million in 1993 to 5.5 million in 1998, and 6.5 million in 2003, when the total population will exceed 13 million .

05 December 2002

Management of Sihanoukville port requires an audit (2)
The port of Sihanoukville, the country’s only seaport, which is managed as an autonomous public entity, should be an important source of revenues for the State while helping ensure competitiveness for Cambodian exports and strengthen Cambodia’s trade balance. None of these objectives has been met since 1993. The port’s management lacks transparency and there are indications that it helps finance a parallel budget (along the national budget) placed under the control and serving the interests of the CPP, while leaving room for widespread corruption. The port director, Lou Kim Chhun, a staunch CPP apparatchik, has been holding his position for nearly fifteen years, an excessively long tenure that runs counter sound management principles, increases opacity and secrecy, and helps ensure impunity for all sorts of crimes.
The Sihanoukville port authorities strongly contribute to every CPP election campaign. Before each election or between two elections, they help the CPP buy votes by distributing “Donations from the Port” in the form of food and money to villagers in the 3 districts and 22 communes of Sihanoukville municipality. The question one should ask is where they derive their money from, and how transparent is the way they allocate this money.
Donations and other forms of demagogy or political cheating cannot hide the fact that the present Sihanoukville port authorities contribute to ruin the country through corruption. Even though the port is very profitable, with a 50% pre-tax profit margin (compared to 10% for Ho Chi Minh City and 20% for Bangkok), it does not meaningfully contribute to the national budget, with the bulk of the profit being diverted to support the CPP and increase corruption. The port’s profit is actually the result of irregularities and abuses which strangle the economy. For instance, for the garment industry’s imports and exports, the Sihanoukville port and other authorities officially and unofficially charge a total of US$ 0.09 to process a piece of garment, while in Singapore or Bangkok the same processing cost amounts to US$ 0.02 only. In Cambodia, labor cost in the garment industry amounts to US$ 0.11 a piece, which means that workers’ salaries can increase by US$ 0.07 a piece (to US$ 0.18 a piece) or more than 60% without jeopardizing the industry’s profitability if corruption is wiped out and a more effective management put in place. This could be a strong argument for workers unions to ask for an increase in the minimum monthly salary from US$ 45 presently to US$ 70 in 2003 (for 48 working hours per week).
In any case, an independent audit (by a competent international auditing firm) is badly needed to assess the murky situation at the Sihanoukville port and take adequate measures to stop corruption and promote good governance as recommended by the World Bank which consistently aims at poverty reduction.   

03 December 2002

Vitamins versus MSG (2)
According to the Human Development Report 2001 published by the UNDP, poverty has dreadful consequences on people’s lives. Cambodia, which is one of Asia’s poorest countries, presents the lowest life expectancy and the highest death rate in Asia, just behind Afghanistan. 56% of Cambodian children suffer from stunted growth, meaning they are underweight and/or underheight. Because they are undernourished and live in poor hygiene conditions, they are more subject to diseases and death. If they survive, their future is often jeopardized. Many physicians working in Cambodia wonder why the government and health organizations generously financed by international assistance have not conceived and implemented food or nutrient distribution programs to cope with malnutrition and its appalling consequences.
In the USA, where many people cannot afford costly medical care, vitamins, minerals and essential amino-acids are sold in supermarkets and widely used by a health-conscious population as a way to prevent deficiencies, dysfunctions and diseases. In developing countries with far-sighted governments like Thailand, school children in poor areas are given free milk every day; or vitamins and other micro-nutriments are distributed to the poor on a large scale. In some African countries, research has identified vital nutriments lacking in children’s diets, such as vitamin A, iron and iodine. Their distribution to the children by international aid organizations has saved countless lives and prevented handicaps such as blindness, rickets, goiter or mental deficiency.
In Cambodia, the only organization that has distributed vitamins on a large scale is the Sam Rainsy Party. Over the last 12 months, the opposition party has reportedly distributed 300,000 small bags of vitamins in rural areas, with the objective to serve 1 million people over the next 12 months. Impressive results have been reported. People who had been paralyzed with beriberi, were able to walk again after taking pills containing vitamin B1 for only a week. People whose vision had been impaired by a deficiency in vitamin A, could see clearly again. Most of the undernourished people who have absorbed vitamins for up to two weeks, find themselves in better heath.  Along with vitamins distribution, the SRP strives to fulfill a pedagogic mission by explaining in written instructions accompanying the pills that these pills can be replaced with an adequate diet. For instance, people with beriberi are advised to eat brown, red or whole rice (with bran) that naturally contains vitamin B1.
In the mind of people who are also eligible voters, vitamins distributed by the SRP with the opposition party logo are politically, intellectually and ethically opposed to monosodium glutamate (a taste enhancer for cooking currently called MSG) massively distributed by the ruling CPP with its logo in the run-up to the last legislative election in 1998.
The SRP cost-effective vitamins distribution program could inspire some donor countries to help Cambodia more effectively in the social field. Japan, for instance, concentrates her assistance on highly visible public works such as roads and bridges, while human development programs based on health and education are much less visible and receive much less funds. The Japanese government prefers to finance physical infrastructure because of the lobby in Tokyo represented by construction companies (Maeda, Obayashi Gumi, Kumagai Gumi), which are important financial supporters of the ruling LDP: In return for their support, these companies expect to derive activities and profits from overseas development projects financed by the Japanese government.

Keo Remy will keep his parliamentary seat (2)
Finally, thanks to strong international pressure, National Assembly member Keo Remy, whose case has been thoroughly examined by Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh (KI, 8  November), will not be expelled from his party and will keep his parliamentary seat until the end of the current term. This conciliatory decision will encourage several other Funcinpec parliamentarians to be increasingly critical of Ranariddh's poor and weak leadership and to proclaim their intention to leave Funcinpec before the July 2003 election. Some of those independent-minded parliamentarians are expected to join the Sam Rainsy Party.    

Khmer Intelligence expands its audience (1)
KI’s website was launched on 01 August 2002.
Number of visits:
-         August:                139
-         September:          443
-         October:           4,526
-     November:       4,985
Total:                   10,093
Source: Seanic. Net Web Hosting Control Panel. Web Statistics.  

29 November 2002

Behind the Sok Yoeun’s case (2)
On 28 November, the Thai Criminal Court ordered the extradition of Cambodian opposition activist Sok Yoeun presently detained in Thailand, following the Hun Sen government’s request to have the fugitive back in Cambodia in order to mount and justify a crackdown on the Sam Rainsy Party and anti-Hun Sen elements within Funcinpec (KI, 22 and 24 September, and 5 October).
From a Cambodian point of view, the repatriation of Sok Yoeun to support a plot to undermine the opposition to the Hun Sen regime is very timely with the approach of a crucial election scheduled for July 2003.
But from a Thai point of view also, one cannot ignore the political aspects of the Sok Yoeun’s case. In December 1999, then opposition leader General Chaowalit Yongchaiyudh known for his business connections with the Hun Sen regime, launched an attack at the Thai parliament against the Chuan Lekpai government, accusing foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan and other top Thai Democrat officials of harbouring a Cambodian “terrorist” (Sok Yoeun) who had illegally entered Thailand. In October 1999, Sok Yoeun, who had just fled from Cambodia and escaped arrest there, was forced by a special agent named Suwan Puti (a Thai citizen of Cambodian descent) to make a false confession in Bangkok about the alleged assassination attempt on Hun Sen in Siem Reap in September 1998. On Christmas Eve of 1999, Sok Yoeun was arrested by the Thai police at a house known as the Sam Rainsy Party’s office in Bangkok. Shortly after Sok Yoeun’s arrest, his “confession” was broadcast on the Thai TV channel run by the military close to Chaowalit. Sok Yoeun’s lawyers have presented to the Court a photo showing Chaowalit standing next to Suwan Puti and General Mol Roeup, a henchman of Hun Sen in charge of military intelligence. Chaowalit, a former prime minister and defense minister, is presently deputy prime minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra government, after his party (the New Aspiration Party) had merged with Thaksin's ruling Thai Rak Thai party. If Sok Yoeun is recognized innocent, Chaowalit would definitely lose face and some unpleasant aspects of Thai politics would be exposed.
An unusual deal between Thaksin Shinawatra and Hun Sen might have also played a role in the Sok Yoeun’s case. Earlier this year, a kind of conciliatory meeting between the two prime ministers took place in Bangkok during which the Thai premier reportedly recognized his involvement in the July 1994 coup d’etat against his Cambodian counterpart. Thaksin was then only a businessman frustrated by the situation in Cambodia where his business did not thrive the way he wanted. He reportedly showed his intention to put things right with Hun Sen for the 1994 incident and promised the latter a friendly cooperation from now on. The cooperation may have expanded to include the repatriation of Sok Yoeun, which is badly needed by Hun Sen to weaken his political opponents before the 2003 parliamentary election. Hun Sen can also count on the support of many Thai businessmen involved in dubious activities (gambling and money laundering, land confiscation and speculation along the border) and the plunder of Cambodia’s riches (deforestation and abusive mining and fishing).       

27 November 2002

Continuous irregularities in the implementation of the State budget (1)
As already pointed out (KI, 10 October), the State budget for 2002 has not been properly implemented and this becomes more and more obvious as we approach the end of the fiscal year. According to a most recent document from the Finance Ministry (State Budget Implementation, January-September 2002), public expenditures in sectors that are crucial for any improvement in the people’s living conditions, continue to lag behind forecasts. Whereas expenditures for the first nine months of the year should have reached 75% of the amounts budgeted for the whole year, they have actually reached only 38%, 56%, 54% and 50% for Health, Education, Rural Development and Public Works respectively. On the contrary, for Defense, Security, the Council of Ministers and the Finance Ministry, the corresponding figures are 67%, 65%,106% and 100% respectively. The reasons given previously to explain these discrepancies remain valid: Corruption, non-respect for legal procurement procedures, embezzlement or diversion of public funds by the Council of Ministers and the Finance Ministry which help finance the CPP's campaign for the upcoming election.

Ranariddh, Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy exceptionally attending a same meeting (1)
On 23 November, Funcinpec president Prince Norodom Ranariddh, CPP prime minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy were seen together in Bangkok attending the 2^nd International Conference of Asian Political Parties, at the invitation of Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Each participant had to present his political party. Speaking in Khmer (to the surprise of the English-speaking audience) to describe the situation in Cambodia, Hun Sen said certain elements had abused the right to freedom of speech to promote propaganda inciting people to terrorist acts. Therefore, according to Hun Sen, the government needed to protect the security of the population at large, which justified the crackdown on the Cambodian Freedom Fighters or any political opponents labeled by the government’s police as terrorists.
After describing SRP as the first and only opposition party in Cambodia, Sam Rainsy said: “There can be no democracy without opposition. But the price to pay can be very heavy. Since my party was founded in 1995, 50 of our activists have been killed, including 19 at a grenade attack in 1997. Last Tuesday (19 November), I attended the funeral of an activist assassinated in Kompong Speu province. In my constituency alone (Kompong Cham province), three of our activists have been assassinated since the beginning of this year. I have attended too many funerals. We must not take freedom for granted. I have been given freedom awards by the European Parliament and the American Congress. But I can tell you, I prefer not to receive freedom awards and attend less funerals.”

Bun Rany as decisive as her husband (3)
Little has been written about Mrs. Bun Rany (real name given at birth: Bun Sam Heang), the wife of CPP prime minister Hun Sen (real name: Hun Nal). She is reportedly a very decisive lady, having her own bodyguards and henchmen. In May 1996, she reportedly ordered the murder of journalist Thun Bun Ly, editor of opposition newspaper Oddomkatek Khmer, which had continued to publish caustic articles about her and cartoons depicting her as “Piggy” in spite of warnings Thun Bun Ly had received from Bun Rany’s bodyguards (who called themselves her “nephews”) until the eve of his death.
Bun Rany reportedly ordered the attack on her husband’s mistress Piseth Pilika on 6 July 1999 (KI, 6 November). According to Piseth Pilika’s sister Ouk Divina who now lives in France, Bun Rany ensured the effective death of Piseth Pilika on 13 July 1999 with the complicity of crooked doctors at the CPP-controlled Calmette Hospital. While being only wounded and still conscious, Pilika asked Divina to take her out of Calmette Hospital because she feared, as elaborated in her diary, that Bun Rany would pursue her until her death and she knew that Calmette Hospital was not a safe place for her to stay in. The police denied Divina’s request made on behalf of Pilika by putting forward “security reasons”.
A few months after Piseth Pilika’s death, by the end of 1999, Bun Rany reportedly tried to kill Keo Vimean Rattana, a young lady with whom Hun Sen had allegedly started to entertain an affair. A car accident was organized in Phnom Penh, slightly missing to kill the alleged mistress who escaped with only a broken pelvis.
Lately, Bun Rany has reportedly tried to kill Ok Borei, an actress and alleged Hun Sen’s mistress who, out of fear, went to deliver a baby girl in Long Beach (USA) in 2001.

Vietnamese troops in Cambodia (1)
Over the last few days, through a series of reports and interviews, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia have confirmed the news according to which Vietnamese soldiers have recently moved into Cambodia to purportedly collect the remains of their comrades killed in our country in the 70's and 80’s (KI, 22 November). Today, pro-CPP newspaper Koh Santepheap published a font-page article giving information about Vietnamese soldiers stationed in Prey Nub district (Sihanoukville), which was published by Khmer Intelligence five days ago. 

22 November 2002

4,000 Vietnamese soldiers move into Cambodia (3)
Over the last few days, Vietnamese soldiers in uniform have been seen by villagers in several provinces. They arrived in military trucks but did not carry weapons, which might be hidden in their trucks. Some 100 soldiers in three trucks were seen this week in Prey Nub district, and some other 100 soldiers reportedly arrived in Ream (Sihanoukville). They had crossed the border in Kampot province and traveled on the road along the coast. Including those soldiers seen in other parts of the country, some 4,000 Vietnamese soldiers might have recently moved into Cambodia. They pretend to come to search for the remains of their comrades killed in our country during the 80’s. But they contribute to create an atmosphere of fear, especially as the July 2003 legislative election is approaching. Before and during the February 2002 commune council election, Vietnamese soldiers also moved into Cambodia and frightened villagers so as to make them vote for the CPP.  

16 November 2002

A majority of CPP Politburo opposes Hun Sen's candidacy for the premiership (2)
When a vote takes place at the next meeting of the CPP Politburo (or Permanent Committee) to designate the party’s candidate for the position of prime minister if the CPP wins the July 2003 legislative election, a majority will most likely oppose Hun Sen and support Chea Sophara (KI, 4 November). Among the current 21 members of the Politburo, there are only 6 Hun Sen’s supporters, versus 10 opponents and 5 undecided. 
1- Chea Sim (opponent)
2- Heng Samrin (opponent)
3-  Hun Sen (supporter)
4-  Sar Kheng (opponent)
5-  Say Chhum (opponent)
6-  Men Sam Orn (undecided)
7-  Mat Ly (opponent)
8-  Chea Soth (opponent)
9-  Bou Thang (opponent)
10- Ney Pena (opponent)
11- Nguon Nhel (supporter)
12- Tea Banh (supporter)
13- Ker Kim Yan (opponent)
14- Pol Saroeun (supporter)
15- Im Chhun Lim (undecided)
16- Sok An (supporter)
17- Hok Lundy (supporter)
18- Kong Sam Ol (undecided)
19- Sim Ka (opponent)
20- Dith Munty (undecided)
21- Say Phou Thang (undecided, old and sick)
22- Chea Sophara (opponent, if admitted to the Politburo next March). 

King’s decision to make Prince Sihamoni his representative at the 9 November’s ceremony upsets the CPP and Prince Ranariddh (2)
King Norodom Sihanouk decided only in the afternoon of 8 November that he would not personally preside the 9 November’s ceremony in Phnom Penh commemorating the 49th anniversary of Cambodia’s accession to independence and would instead send Prince Norodom Sihamoni to represent him. This decision upset the CPP, which would have expected Chea Sim to replace the King, as the CPP president normally fulfills the role of acting Head of State each time the King travels abroad or does not want to do anything himself (like presiding the Supreme Council of Magistracy). To show its discontent, the CPP forbade all its ministers from attending the ceremony.
But the King’s decision upset also Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who would have liked to represent the King, since he is not only a King’s elder son but also the National Assembly President, meaning the country's third highest-ranking dignitary. In the eyes of many observers, the king’s decision shows his preference regarding a possible successor to the throne. In order to avoid another possible slap on the face on the occasion of the 3-day Water Festivals starting 18 November, when the King could again ask Prince Sihamoni to represent him, Prince Ranariddh prefers not to stay in Cambodia and will spend five days in the Philippines starting 17 November.
After the leakage of confidential information according to which the King had prepared an abdication letter, at least as a means to force Prime Minister Hun Sen to raise the royal succession issue in order to ensure a smooth transition after his demise (KI, 01 October), the King last week denied he has ever considered abdicating. Upon his return from Beijing on 9 October, the King met with Hun Sen who was panicked by the possibility of an abdication and who probably gave the King assurances that he would favor the accession of Prince Sihamoni to the throne in exchange for the withdrawal of the abdication threat.        

CPP organizes anti-Christian protest in an attempt to discredit SRP (2)
As the July 2003 election approaches, the CPP is devising new methods to discredit the Sam Rainsy Party, which is perceived as its most serious challenger. CPP propagandists want to make foreign observers believe that SRP is an extremist party by western standard. Last month, they tried to present SRP as a party of fundamentalist Buddhists (comparable to fundamentalist Muslims), who would not hesitate to attack Christian believers and Western interests. No Cambodian citizen who understands Khmer culture and mentality would believe such a story.
Nevertheless, on 26 October, at Prey Krang village, Prey Paun commune, Kompong Trabek district, Prey Veng province, the CPP authorities pushed a group of about 30 people to distribute anti-Christian leaflets in a peaceful demonstration escorted and filmed by the police. A Christian church was erected at Prey Krang village about three years ago. Yin Sophea, a male nurse known as a SRP supporter who passed by on his motorbike on his way to visit patients, was accused of being the organizer of the demonstration. On 31 October, he was summoned to the commune police station where he was forced by police chief Chhim Saron, in the presence of Prey Paun commune chief Mao Orn (CPP), to confess that he had organized the demonstration under the instructions of Prey Paun deputy commune chief Heng Sam Oeun (SRP). Villagers know that the commune chief and his deputy don't get along. But as soon as he was released from the police station, Yin Sophea denied the confession he signed under duress and denounced a certain Pich Sarou as a CPP agent who gave a fake testimony used by the CPP authorities for making groundless accusations against SRP supporters. Pich Sarou is reportedly a former Khmer Rouge killer whom villagers used to fear under the Pol Pot regime. Meanwhile, Eng Muny, another Christian villager whom the CPP tried to manipulate, has recanted a testimony he gave that was used by the authorities to accuse SRP of being behind the demonstration. Most of the demonstrators actually came from the nearby Chrey commune where SRP has no elected representatives. Leaflets they distributed show that there was some grievance against the newly converted Christians (about 10% of Prey Krang village's population) who desecrated Buddha's statues "like the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot". 

10 November 2002

Hun Sen achieves political objective with Asean summit (1)
The 4-5 November Asean summit in Phnom Penh, which did not result in any significant economic gain for Cambodia, brought a considerable political benefit to the Hun Sen government. As a public relations exercise, the summit helped strengthen the Phnom Penh government’s international legitimacy and will allow it to use the Asean shield known as “non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign member State”, as well as the pretext of world terrorist threat, to crackdown on the democratic opposition before, during and after the July 2003 election, without too much international criticism. Besides, any crackdown on political refugees (Montagnards from Vietnam) or any territorial concession by the Hun Sen government to neighboring countries will be presented as regional settlements between Asean member States, outside the realm of any other State or the United Nations.

9 November 2002

Falsified statistics (2)
It has been pointed out that statistics are often inaccurate in Cambodia (KI, 25 October). Dr Beat Richner, a highly respected Swiss physician who runs several children’s hospitals in Cambodia, accuses the Ministry of Public Health of publishing “falsified statistics” (Phnom Penh Post, 8 November). About a year ago, the same Dr Richner denied a statement by the same Ministry of Public Health asserting that poliomyelitis had been eradicated, since children with poliomyelitis had not stopped coming to seek treatment at his hospitals.
According to an American health expert who has worked with Cambodian government health officials, statistics about infant mortality rate have been manipulated so as to minimize the seriousness of the situation. For instance, the under-five mortality rate (or the probability of dying between birth and exactly five years of age expressed per 1,000 live births) is not 122 as stated in the Human Development Report 2001 published by the UNDP, but over 180 (compared to 4 for Singapore or 111 for Laos), putting Cambodia in the group of most destitute countries with the world’s highest infant mortality rates.
Concerning poverty rate, the figure of 36% put forward by government officials and endorsed by foreign aid experts (KI, 25 October) is totally misleading if one is not told that the poverty threshold associated with that figure is arbitrarily reduced from $1.00 to $0.50 (of revenue per day for a person to live on). This is like tampering with the thermometer so that it indicates the temperature that one wants to see. Instead of addressing poverty, which leads to a higher death rate at the end of the story, the Cambodian government, with the complicity of some foreign aid experts, is trying to hide or minimize poverty, which in fact continues to worsen for a large portion of the Cambodian population. But official statistics must make the World Bank happy, whose motto is “A World Free of Poverty”.

8 November 2002

Hun Sen’s CPP upset by US election results (2)
Immediately after it was announced that the Republican Party won a majority at the US Senate and kept the control of the House of Representatives, thus assuring President Bush of a full support from the Congress, high-ranking CPP officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, expressed their concern about the possible repercussions of the Republican victory on the US policy regarding Cambodia. Particularly worrying in the minds of CPP leaders is the 13 September statement by Republican Senator Mitch McConnel denouncing “Hun Sen’s terror” and calling for a “regime change” in Cambodia. Following the 5 November midterm elections, which gave President Bush’s party at least 51 seats at the 100-member Senate, plus US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s tie-breaking vote, the Republicans will regain the chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which scrutinizes and authorizes all the Administration’s expenditures, and Senator McConnel himself will chair the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations.
Another important institution for Cambodia is the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations with its Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. The Committee will be presided over again by Senator Jesse Helms, who has also been critical of the Hun Sen regime. Senator Helms will retire soon but another Republican will replace him.  

Ranariddh pondering on expulsion of Keo Remy (2)
National Assembly member Keo Remy will very likely be expelled from Funcinpec next week (KI, 5 November). But Prince Norodom Ranariddh is still weighing the pros and cons before expelling him also from Parliament. Both Ranariddh and Hun Sen fear that Keo Remy, if not expelled from Parliament, would set a precedent that would encourage other parliamentarians from Funcinpec and the CPP to speak their minds and become more and more critical of their party leaderships. But they are also aware of possible international condemnations of such an anti-democratic measure, especially Ranariddh who needs external support to prevent the disintegration of Funcinpec.

6 November 2002

Cambodia’s bloody Red Cross (1)
Following the launching of http://pisethpilika.free.fr/ (KI, 3 November), which reminds the public of the direct involvement of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s wife Bun Rany in the assassination of actress Piseth Pilika in 1999, a group of Members of Parliament from the Sam Rainsy Party yesterday wrote to Hun Sen to ask him purportedly embarrassing questions including this one: “Is it decent to have the Cambodian Red Cross presided over by Mrs. Bun Rany Hun Sen [in her capacity as Cambodia’s First Lady] given the fact that the Red Cross is supposed to save people, not to kill people?”
The corruption-ridden Cambodian Red Cross suffered another scandal in 1997: some $450,000 from generous donations disappeared without anybody being investigated.  

5 November 2002

CPP’s first steps to rig the forthcoming legislative election (2)
Even before the National Assembly appointed the new National Election Committee (NEC) on 25 October, the previous NEC had already established rules and regulations for the organization of the 27 July 2003 legislative election, which will allow the ruling CPP (represented by NEC President and former Secretary General Im Sousdey) to distort the will of the people.
Questionable decisions by the previous NEC were made a few months ago without publicity, which is leading to a discriminatory voter registration process:
1-     Invoking the excuse of time constraint, the NEC postponed and reduced voter registration period from 3 months (1^st October to 31^st December 2002) to 1 month (2^nd  to 31^st January 2003). This decision will favor the CPP because this party can rapidly mobilize its supporters to register in time thanks to its control of the State apparatus, whereas supporters of other parties need more time to get informed about where, when and how to register. At the commune council election last February, more than one million eligible voters (or 20% of the electorate), mainly non-CPP supporters (landless farmers, factory workers, vendors, fishermen, itinerant workers) failed to register in time and were deprived of their rights to vote.
2-     Those not perceived as being CPP supporters will face more administrative difficulties in obtaining required identification papers from the CPP-controlled police and commune authorities, which will prevent a number of these people from getting registered.
3-     In spite of commitments made to donor countries to issue a computerized and standardized “Cambodian Citizen Identification Card” for each of the 6 million eligible voters before Election Day, only 2 million of these new ID cards have been issued so far and the Ministry of Interior has not taken adequate measures to ensure that the stated goal will be met. By issuing ID cards in a non-transparent manner, on a case-by-case basis, and at a varying and arbitrary cost for citizens (from Riel 5,000 to 30,000 or $1.25 to 7.50), the CPP-controlled authorities can select citizens who will be allowed to vote and, at the same time, indulge in corruption. At least 36 % of Cambodians live on less than Riel 2,000 or $0.50 per day and therefore cannot afford to pay bribes to get their ID cards.
Does the international donor community, which wants to ensure free and fair (or at least acceptable) elections, realize that the voter registration process is a fundamental part of the election process and requires close monitoring long before Election Day if elections are meant to reflect the will of the people?        

Another Funcinpec Under Secretary of State joins SRP (1)
After the defection of Ministry of Public Works’ Under Secretary of State Koy Kem Phan (KI, 22 October), another Funcinpec Under Secretary of State has decided to join the Sam Rainsy Party: Mok Sophy from the Ministry of Rural Development. Mok Sophy was seen last October taking part in public meetings with Sam Rainsy in Takeo province. Like Koy Kem Phan, he adamantly resists calls from Funcinpec leaders to deny his support for the opposition and, therefore, can be fired any time from now.
Prince Norodom Ranariddh is also considering firing from Funcinpec and expelling from the National Assembly outspoken parliamentarian Keo Remy, who stated last week that he would not run as a candidate for Funcinpec at the July 2003 legislative election. 

The IPU decides to close Sam Rainsy’s case (1)
The Inter-Parliamentary Union, which had continuously tried to redress the illegal expulsion of Sam Rainsy from the National Assembly in 1995 and to help seek justice for the victims of the 1997 grenade attack during a demonstration led by Sam Rainsy, has decided to close this case by strongly condemning the Cambodian government for “failing to dispense justice”. In its last resolution adopted on 27 September in Geneva, the IPU “deeply regrets that the Cambodian Parliament has not availed itself of its oversight function to ensure that justice is done in this case, in order both to safeguard the rights of one of its members and preserve thereby the rights of all citizens it represents.” This is definitely not a compliment to National Assembly Speaker Prince Norodom Ranariddh. This year, will Ranariddh do to Keo Remy what he did to Sam Rainsy seven years ago?

04 November 2002 

Chea Sophara will challenge Hun Sen as CPP candidate for premiership (2)
Hun Sen’s recent statement asserting that there is no other CPP candidate than him for the position of Prime Minister was at best a wishful thinking, and at worst a threat to his rivals in the CPP, which could lead to a serious confrontation in the next few months.
Those top CPP leaders such as Chea Sim, Heng Samrin, Sar Kheng and Say Chhum who don’t want to see Hun Sen remaining Prime Minister after July 2003 elections (KI, 29 September), but who cannot boast a political stature comparable to Hun Sen’s, have unofficially agreed to launch Phnom Penh Governor Chea Sophara as the challenger to the current Prime Minister within the ruling CPP. The first step will be to get Chea Sophara elected as a member of the Permament Committee (formally Politburo) at the next meeting of the Central Committee, which Chea Sophara is already a member of. The meeting is scheduled for March 2003 and is expected to be exceptionally heated, with a possible military confrontation breaking out. Chea Sophara has recently approached the American Embassy in Phnom Penh in order to send his wife and children to the USA before the end of the year. Many other CPP officials, who have not done so, are also considering sending their relatives abroad. Newly-elected and CPP-affiliated NEC President Im Sousdey has recently sent his children to study in Texas.

3 November 2002

Website to keep alive the memory of Piseth Pilika (1)
Well-known actress Piseth Pilika, 33, was assassinated in broad daylight in Phnom Penh in 1999. She was reportedly Prime Minister Hun Sen’s mistress, and the French magazine L’Express claims to have collected enough evidence to accuse Hun Sen’s wife Bun Rany of being behind the murder.
Piseth Pilika’s relatives who now live in France as political refugees, are launching a website in order to keep alive the memory of the slain actress and the hope that justice will be one day rendered to the victim.
Among documents posted on the website are a handwritten poem by Hun Sen to Piseth Pilika with a reference to 18 August 1998 as the day of their first encounter, and Piseth Pilika’s last words dated 10 May 1999 from her handwritten diary: ”I met with Hok Lundy [Director General of the Police, who happened to be a common friend] at Kien Svay, at a restaurant situated in a quiet place. He told me to go and hide somewhere for a while because Mrs. Bun Rany Hun Sen was very angry against me and was plotting to kill me.”
Piseth Pilika was gunned down on 6 July 1999.
http://pisethpilika.free.fr/   

27 October 2002

15 Funcinpec parliamentarians confront Ranariddh openly (1)
On 25 October, 15 Funcinpec parliamentarians (out of 43) defied Prince Norodom Ranariddh by boycotting the National Assembly extraordinary session called to approve the composition of the new National Election Committee (KI, 17 October). They formed a de facto alliance with the 15 Assembly members from the Sam Rainsy Party, which nearly stalled the Assembly and gave both Ranariddh and Hun Sen a nasty fright. Because 3 Assembly members from the CPP (out of 64) were also absent for non-political reasons, only 89 parliamentarians (out of 122) attended the session. The quorum (86) was reached with only a slim margin. The attendance at the Assembly had never been so reduced on such a solemn occasion in the presence of both the Assembly Speaker and the Prime Minister. The press was not allowed into the conference hall because nobody knew whether the quorum would be met and the government apparently didn’t want private cameras to film possible confusing and embarrassing scenes.

26 October 2002

Will the guests at the Asean Summit take the bread out of the mouth of the hungry? (1)
The Asean Summit in Phnom Penh from 3^rd to 5^th November 2002 draws criticism from the opposition which protests the lavish expense (more than $10 million) the government pours into the meeting preparations at a time when Cambodian farmers face food shortages after recent floods and devastating drought. Sam Rainsy writes in a message sent today to Asean leaders: “On behalf of the poor and the hungry in Cambodia, I humbly request all delegates to the Asean meeting to bring food aid with them when they come to our destitute country, or to send food relief to the Cambodian people before their respective delegations arrive. In order to encourage the delegates to think of the hungry, I will hold a hunger strike in Phnom Penh during the whole Asean meeting. Welcome to starving Cambodia.”

25 October 2002

Khmer Intelligence expands its audience (1)
KI’s website was launched on 01 August 2002.
Number of visits:
-         August: 139
-         September: 443
-         October: 3,455 (as of 25 October at 22:31 GMT)
Source: Seanic. Net Web Hosting Control Panel. Web Statistics. 

Statistics are inaccurate in Cambodia (1)
Government officials and aid experts claim that the percentage of Cambodia’s population who live under poverty line (meaning with a revenue of less than $1 per day) declined from 39% in 1996 to 36% in 1999.
The poverty threshold of $1 per day represents a revenue of $360 per year. A statistician has drawn our attention to the fact that the above poverty rate of 36 % obtained from surveys carried out among the population is not consistent with the pattern of revenue distribution derived from macro-economic statistics. In 1999, GDP per capita -- which is close to revenue per capita -- amounted to $270. With an average revenue of $270 per year or $0.75 per day, and given the specific income distribution pattern in Cambodia, it is virtually impossible that ONLY 36% of the population live on $1 or less per day. But this figure of 36% has been taken for granted and has been unchallenged over the last three years, especially at all the recent donor meetings.
A statistical approach based on the normal distribution illustrated by the Gaussian curve, would show 50% of the population earning less than the average revenue of $270 per year.
The normal distribution would apply fairly well to revenue distribution in more developed countries with a predominant middle class. But for a poor country like Cambodia with pronounced income differences between a large majority of poor and a small minority of rich,  income distribution would be better illustrated by a curve that is skewed to the right, meaning that over 50% of the population earn less than the average revenue. Therefore, we can infer that more than 50% of Cambodians make less than $270 per year or $0.75 per day. If we raise the limit to $360 per year or $1 per day, the poor who fall below this threshold will represent an even higher proportion of the population, possibly 60%, far from the 36% put forward by government officials and aid experts.
In the Philippines, according to much more reliable statistics, 36 % of the population (77 million inhabitants) effectively live on $1 or less per day. But the GDP per head is $1,000 in that country, meaning nearly four times as high as in Cambodia. Therefore, with some similarity in the income distribution patterns in the two countries, it is just impossible that Cambodia has the same poverty rate (36%) as the Philippines. At least one third of Cambodia’s population chronically suffer from hunger or malnutrition, which is not the case in the Philippines.
Another example of inaccurate statistics in Cambodia is related to unemployment rate. According to a 21 August 2002 statement by Prime Minister Hun Sen that no foreign expert is willing to challenge, unemployment rate in 2001 amounted to only 0.5%, while in fact joblessness probably exceeds 50% all the times, taking into account landless farmers, beggars, prostitutes, scavengers, unpaid family workers, and people doing petty and occasional jobs because they have no alternative for survival.
Poverty has been worsening in Cambodia since 1996, in spite of concerted attempts to hide or distort facts on the part of government officials and some aid experts.    

Sam Rainsy meets with top adviser to French President (1)
During his last visit to France, opposition leader Sam Rainsy met with Jérôme Monod, a top adviser to French President Jacques Chirac, on 10 September 2002, at the Elysées Palace. He went also to the Quai d’Orsay where he was received by Thierry Dana, Head of the Asia-Pacific Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

22 October 2002

Funcinpec Under Secretary of State joins SRP (1)
Last week, Ministry of Public Works Under Secretary of State Koy Kem Phan joined the opposition Sam Rainsy Party. Yesterday, he was summoned by Funcinpec Deputy Secretary General Chhim Seak Leng, who advised him to give up his support for the opposition and to ask for forgiveness from Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh if he wants to keep his government position. He declined to do so, saying that as an architect who had worked under a communist regime until 1993, he has lost faith in Funcinpec which has become subservient to the CPP and cannot promote democracy. He is expected to be fired any time from now. Koy Kem Phan is the first high-ranking Funcinpec official to defect to SRP in 2002. 

20 October 2002

Who is a candidate to be the next King? (2)
Prince Norodom Sirivudh, King Norodom Sihanouk’s half brother, has not publicly denied what The Lowell Sun asserted in its edition of 27 September 2002 coinciding with his last visit to the city of Lowell in the US State of Massachusetts. The Lowell Sun referred to Prince Sirivudh as “A Cambodian prince who lived in exile from his country for more than 20 years and is a candidate to be the next king of the nascent democracy”.
King Sihanouk has confided his thoughts to his entourage: “Whoever pretends that he doesn’t want to be king, is a liar”.

19 October 2002

Funcinpec and CPP parliamentarians ask protection from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2)
During and following the 171^st session of the Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva on 22 to 28 September 2002, several National Assembly members and Senators from Funcinpec and the CPP have asked for protection from the IPU in order to prevent their expulsion from Parliament because of disagreement with and/or retaliation from the leadership of their respective political parties. KI has already exposed the case of Funcinpec parliamentarians who fear expulsion from Parliament because of their critical attitude towards  their party’s President Prince Norodom Ranariddh whom they reproach for being too subservient to CPP Prime Minister Hun Sen (KI, 14 and 17 October). Four or five Funcinpec parliamentarians have already written to the IPU to seek protection and some others are expected to follow suit. But CPP parliamentarians also have turned to the IPU for assistance and protection or are considering doing so. Mrs. Poum Sichan, a CPP Senator and member of the Cambodian parliamentary delegation to last month’s meeting in Geneva, felt bad because she was unable to prevent the IPU from issuing a strong condemnation of CPP President and Senate Speaker Chea Sim for the expulsion from Parliament of CPP Senators Chhang Song, Phay Siphan, Peuv Savath and Keo Sann in December 2001. She expressed fear of being blamed for incompetence by her party leadership and of being herself expelled from Parliament.
Over the last two years, Funcinpec President and National Assembly Speaker Prince Norodom Ranariddh has not attended any IPU meeting because he is aware of the bad image of Cambodia’s Parliament and the poor welcome he would receive.
Former CPP Senators Phay Siphan and Peuv Savath have recently joined the Sam Rainsy Party. 

Chea Sim and Heng Samrin might be prosecuted by a Khmer Rouge tribunal (3)
On the basis of files compiled by the Documentation Center of Cambodia and other research organizations, there is enough evidence to indict CPP President and Senate Speaker Chea Sim and CPP Honorary President and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Heng Samrin for crimes against humanity and/or war crimes. As a district chief in Prey Veng province under the Pol Pot regime, Chea Sim could be accused of mass killings. As an army commander during the same period, Heng Samrin, whose unit was engaged in fierce battles against the Vietnamese along the border, could be held responsible for gruesome massacres of civilians. There is no similar evidence against CPP Vice-President and Prime Minister Hun Sen. But CPP Finance Minister Keat Chhon and CPP Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Nam Hong would be subject to investigation as respectively special adviser to Pol Pot and director of the Boeung Trabek special prison.
Given the destabilizing effects on the CPP of the exposure of facts related to the involvement of top CPP leaders in crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime, the Cambodian government has no real intention to allow the creation of an independent tribunal to prosecute former Khmer Rouge leaders. 

King singing joyfully at a private party at the Royal Palace (2)
Yesterday, from 6 pm to 11 pm, King Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Monyneath presided over a private party at the Royal Palace attended by some 80 guests, all close relatives and special friends to the Monarch. The King, who will quietly celebrate his 80^th birthday on October 31, appeared in good health and good mood. As in previous parties he organized in Phnom Penh in the early 90’s, the King sang most of the time, mainly French songs of the 50’s and 60’s. A female singer sang songs composed by the King in Khmer, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian and Vietnamese. Prince Norodom Sirivudh, the King’s half brother and also a talented musician, was part of the band. All the audience danced joyfully.

17 October 2002

SRP and Funcinpec join forces to defeat CPP in a commune of Phnom Penh (1)
This morning, for the first time in Cambodian politics, elected representatives from the Sam Rainsy Party and from Funcinpec joined forces and succeeded in defeating the CPP. This happened in the commune council of Boeung Tumpun, in the southern part of Phnom Penh, when five SRP councilors and two Funcinpec councilors gathered the required majority (out of a total of 11 councilors) to appoint new chiefs for all the commune’s villages. The previous village chiefs were appointed by the CPP in an arbitrary manner, many years ago, when the words “multiparty democracy” and “decentralization” did not exist yet in the local political vocabulary.
At the grassroots level, SRP and Funcinpec activists seem to get along very well, unlike their respective leaders Sam Rainsy and Norodom Ranariddh. In a statement issued today, the Boeung Tumpun commune council vowed to “dismantle the communist network set up by the CPP since 1979” and considered this morning’s vote as “a model of cooperation” to achieve “victory for the democratic opposition at the 2003 legislative election”.
In many provinces, there are increasing signs of SRP and Funcinpec grassroots supporters joining hands. This shows the influence of the Funcinpec faction represented by the “Resistants” (KI, 30 September).

Lack of quorum may prevent National Assembly from convening on October 25 (2)
The National Assembly is scheduled to reconvene for an extraordinary session on October 25 in order to appoint the five new members of the National Election Committee (NEC) proposed by the Ministry of Interior. The selection formula adopted by the government seems to meet strong opposition not only from the Sam Rainsy Party, but also from many Funcinpec parliamentarians.
Last month, a number of Funcinpec Assembly members and other officials wrote to Prince Norodom Ranariddh to disapprove the selection of the two NEC members supposedly from Funcinpec but actually rather close to the CPP (KI, 30 September). This month, another group of Funcinpec Assembly members and their 15 colleagues from the SRP appealed to the international donor community to put pressure on the CPP-dominated Phnom Penh government to revise the proposed composition of the NEC. While the SRP has declared it would boycott the October 25 session and would instead hold a public demonstration in front of the National Assembly on the same day, a number of Funcinpec parliamentarians have also expressed their intention not to attend the October 25 session. The question is: how many Funcinpec parliamentarians will actually dare to disobey instructions from Prince Ranariddh, given their fear of being expelled from Parliament (KI, 14 October). If 22 Funcinpec Assembly members (out of 43) voluntarily abstain from attending the October 25 session, there will be a lack of quorum (minimum 86 out of 122) and the new NEC will not be appointed on that day. The subsequent question then will be: how long this Funcinpec internal resistance can hold? But, at the heart of the problem, the real question is: how long can Funcinpec survive its internal and apparently insurmountable contradictions?

A senior CPP official joins SRP (1)
Last Monday (October 14), CPP co-Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng called a special meeting with top police officers at the Ministry of Interior in order to take retaliatory measures against CPP Economic Police Department Deputy Director Nhim Kim Nhol, who joined the SRP earlier this month and was seen last weekend in public meetings with Sam Rainsy in Sihanoukville.  

16 October 2002

Revelations about the $800 million corruption money increase tensions within the CPP (3)
Information that has been circulating about the $800 million corruption money from Cambodia hidden in Singapore bank accounts (KI, 13 and 15 October), has increased tensions within the ruling CPP. The fact that the revelation was a scoop for the notoriously pro-CPP Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper is rather intriguing since such a revelation about government corruption can only be embarrassing for the current CPP-led government.
A CPP source which requests anonymity, indicates that elements from the Chea Sim – Sar Kheng – Say Chhum faction (KI, 29 September) have encouraged Rasmei Kampuchea to expose the scale of government corruption because the revelation would mainly hurt the Hun Sen faction, which presently controls virtually all key government positions associated with large scale corruption. The Chea Sim faction would appear as the “clean faction” that would take over (and actually save) the CPP if any scandal with uncontrollable repercussions was to force the CPP to be accountable to the international community led by the USA regarding the colossal and apparently ill-gotten fortune of some of its leaders. Most of the CPP top officials whose names would be associated with the scandal are from the Hun Sen faction: Hun Sen himself, Sok An, Hok Lundy, Cham Prasith, Moeng Samphan, etc.    

15 October 2002

Details about the $800 million corruption money transferred from Cambodia to Singapore (1)
The information about the $800 million corruption money from Cambodia that is now in Singaporean banks (KI, 13 October) was released by the Coalition for Transparency in Cambodia (CTC) that is the Cambodian chapter of Transparency International. CTC President is Mr. Nhem Vanthan who has spent six years in Singapore where he has kept connections. The information according to which 26 Cambodian high-ranking government officials possess $800 million detained in Singaporean banks has come from the Singaporean authorities (Subordinate Court, Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau) working closely with an American anti-terrorist unit tracing the origin of funds that may be linked to world terrorism responsible for the September 11, 2001 attack on America. It has been confirmed that 26 Cambodians citizens possess altogether $800 million in Singapore in the form of bank accounts. The smallest account exceeds $10 million and four accounts exceed $100 million.  

14 October 2002

Sam Rainsy Party’s internal problems (2)
In spite of threats and intimidation against its activists, its chronic financial problems and other weaknesses, the SRP seems to hold relatively well in the run-up to the July 2003 legislative election. Being the only serious challenger to the ruling CPP, the SRP has recently thwarted several attempts by its powerful rival to break, split or weaken it (KI, 22 August and 21 September).
The SRP suffers from several weaknesses and faces as many challenges:
- The party’s original image as a one-man show. At the same time, since its inception in 1995, the party has benefited from a personalization of politics in Cambodia, and over the past three years, it has built a machinery and a nationwide network that proved effective at the February 2002 commune council election.
- Diversity of backgrounds. This can lead to cultural clashes or foster a type of unity based on new ideas and ideals rarely seen in Cambodia. The party gathers old and new generations of supporters coming from Funcinpec, CPP, Son Sann Party or without any previous political affiliation, with profiles ranging from illiterate farmers to overseas-trained doctors and engineers.
- Lack of money. Poverty sets limits to corruption and forces activists to be clear on their motivations.
- Lack of government experience for many of the party’s young leaders. In the case of Cambodia, which has been under authoritarian regimes for three decades, newcomers can play a key role in developing a new type of leadership that is more open-minded and more inclined to change, with a political vision more in tune with modernity.
The most serious internal tensions faced by the SRP are related to the selection of candidates for the forthcoming parliamentary election, with some present SRP National Assembly members feeling insecure about their future, while in several provinces there are different groups of activists supporting different possible nominees, who are lobbying for the most prominent positions on the final lists of candidates. Tensions will grow in the next few months if the SRP top leadership is unable to reach a series of compromises, which includes making room for a number of Funcinpec figures who are expected to join the SRP early next year.
The SRP has proclaimed that it would not ask for the expulsion from Parliament of any of its parliamentarians who would quit the party’s ranks. By contrast, the CPP expelled from Parliament four of its Senators in December 2001, and there are presently a number of Funcinpec National Assembly members who want to leave their party but are afraid of being expelled from Parliament (like Sam Rainsy, who was a Funcinpec MP until 1995). So far, none of the SRP 15 National Assembly members and 7 Senators has expressed any desire to leave their party.        

13 October 2002

$800 million of Cambodia’s corruption money discovered in Singapore (3)
In its today’s edition, Rasmei Kampuchea, the most widely read Khmer-language newspaper known as a mouthpiece for the ruling CPP, announced on its front page: “$800 million suspected of originating from corruption and belonging to Cambodian government officials have been found in Singapore”. The information has reportedly come from an American anti-terrorist unit which has been tracing funds linked to terrorism, drug trafficking and corruption since September 11, 2001. According to the conclusion of a preliminary audit reached last June and revealed to a Cambodian anti-corruption organization by a US Embassy official, the funds are detained by 26 high-ranking Phnom Penh government officials in bank accounts opened with three different Singaporean banks. The source specifies that “the bulk of this money comes from corruption, a portion of it can be linked to terrorism, and only a small amount can be considered as money from honest origin”. Representatives from the US anti-terrorist and auditing unit are expected to come to Cambodia next week to further investigate the case. The 26 Cambodian officials detain positions “not lower than Secretary of State”, and most of them have used the names of their wives to open their bank accounts. A few weeks ago, a first piece of information not  inconsistent with today’s news, was released by an unofficial source according to which there are four Cambodian citizens who possess $100 million or more in the form of deposits in bank accounts in Singapore.
According to another unofficial source, the richest persons living in Cambodia are in decreasing order: Sok An (Minister at the Council of Ministers, top financial adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and initiator of the most important public contracts), Moeng Samphan (Head of the Army Procurement Department, a relative to Hun Sen), Hun Sen, Cham Prasith (Minister of Commerce), Hok Lundy (Head of the Police, a relative to Hun Sen), Chan Sarun (Minister of Agriculture, former Head of the Forest Department), Chea Sophara (Governor of Phnom Penh), Norodom Ranariddh (President of the National Assembly, former First Prime Minister).     

11 October 2002

How Hun Sen works (1)
Documents leaked from the Council of Ministers and related to government decisions in the telecommunications sector show the manner Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Ministers work and make decisions. The documents include a letter dated 23 August 2002 from Mr. M. A. Zaman, Senior Executive Vice President of Millicom International Cellular (a Luxemburg-based company with dominant Swedish shareholders), a translation of the full letter from English into Khmer, and hand written annotations by Hun Sen at the bottom of the translation. The substance of the letter and the related issue are exposed in the Cambodia Daily dated 8 October 2002. Here are just some additional comments:
1-     Hun Sen does not understand current English.
2-     As shown by his annotations, Hun Sen does not understand the technical aspects of the issue (“international gateways”, “Voice Operated Internet Protocol” or Internet-based telephone versus the traditional telephone) when he asks: “How do the two systems overlap and how can we solve the problem?”.
3-     The fact that Hun Sen does not understand the basics of telecommunications did not prevent him from granting a VOIP license without first consulting his first concerned Minister (in this case Posts and Telecommunications Minister So Khun).
4-     When granting a license to an operator (in this case AZ) Hun Sen did not go through bidding procedures as required by the law. He accepted that AZ, a small and inexperienced company, paid only 30% of its revenues to the State whereas other better known companies were prepared to pay 50%.
5-     Minister So Khun also – who has publicly acknowledged that he received a salary from Millicom – has showed a suspicious attitude toward Millicom as evidenced by this sentence in Mr. Zaman’s letter: “Samdech (Hun Sen) will recall that the original license for RTI (Millicom Group) included a revenue share (for the Cambodian government) of 25% for the first 5 years and 30% thereafter. Subsequently His Excellency So Khun was kind enough to change the revenue share to 10% for the first 5 years and 12% for the next 5 years (…)”.

10 0ctober 2002

Serious and recurrent irregularities in the implementation of the State budget (1)
As for 2001 and the previous years, the implementation of the State budget adopted by the National Assembly for 2002 shows serious irregularities. A document issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (“State Budget Implementation, January-August 2002”) shows that for the first eight months of the current fiscal year, expenditures for health and education lagged far behind what has been scheduled. As of 31 August 2002, health expenditures reached only 33% of the amount budgeted for the whole year, whereas pro rata temporis they should have reached 67%. Education expenditures also were behind schedule with 49 %. On the other hand, expenditures by the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which allow the government to allocate resources in a loose manner, reached respectively 86% and 98 %. This is reminiscent of what happened in 2001, when for the first eleven months of the year (11/12 = 92 %), health and education reached only 35% and 63% respectively, whereas the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Economy and Finance spent respectively 117% and 1350% of their annual budgets. These figures were partially straightened out during the last days of the year through window dressing techniques. According to officials of the National Treasury, the overspending by the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Economy and Finance was related to the CPP campaign prior to the February 3, 2002 commune council election. For 2002, a similar spending pattern seems to be shaping up in preparation for the 2003 legislative election.
Regarding forest revenues (timber royalties), the amount collected as of 31 August 2002 reached only 3% of the amount budgeted for the whole year ($ 0.3 million versus $ 11.5 million). The reason put forward by the government for this drop in forest revenues is a ban on logging, which has never taken place.

Public opinion misled about the garment industry (1)
The garment industry has been presented by economists, foreign aid officials and the press as Cambodia’s first industry generating exports amounting to $ 1 billion a year (Cambodia’s GDP is about $ 3 billion), being therefore the determining growth engine for our country’s economy. But some businessmen who speak on condition of anonymity have informed KI that the real importance of the garment industry has been overestimated. We must know that in order to export finished products for $ 1 billion, Cambodia’s garment industry has to import raw materials (fabrics and accessories) for $ 750 million. The value added for the country is thus only $ 250 million. Out of that amount, salaries paid to 160, 000 Cambodian unskilled workers do not exceed $ 80 million (8% of sales), the rest being mainly made up of salaries paid to foreign managers and foremen (whose salaries are 20 to 200 times higher than those of Cambodian workers), bribes paid to high-ranking Cambodian government officials, and profit. A large portion of the expatriates’ salaries, corruption money and corporate profit is transferred abroad and does not contribute to the country’s development or survival. Therefore, with a net contribution not exceeding $ 100 million per year, the garment industry is much less vital for present Cambodia’s economy than four other thriving industries: logging, drug trafficking, gambling, and prostitution.

09 October 2002

Hun Sen wants to be Head of State (2)
Sources from the Royal Palace and the CPP indicate that Prime Minister Hun Sen is making maneuvers to become Head of State immediately after the demise of current King Norodom Sihanouk. This explains his reluctance to talk and his order to high-ranking government officials not to talk about the royal succession issue. For many years Hun Sen has been fooling many royals who dream to become King one day (KI, 27 September 2002: "King’s possible abdication"). But while cleverly manipulating others, Hun Sen is pursuing his own dream to become Head of State, a position that would represent the crowning stage of his now 17-year long political career as Prime Minister. His plan, which would require an amendment to the Constitution, is modeled on the institutional scheme implemented in Cambodia from 1960 to 1970, when then Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who had been Prime Minister from 1955 (abdication) to 1960 (death of King Norodom Suramarit), became Head of State while Queen Mother Sisowath Kossomak Nirireath was designated Symbol of the Monarchy, a kind of Regent but without the prerogatives of a Head of State.
In his plan for the future, Hun Sen would choose a docile and cooperative person to act as a “Symbol of the Monarchy”.
King Norodom Sihanouk is scheduled to arrive in Phnom Penh this afternoon, back from China. His recent abdication threat (KI, 25 and 27 September 2002) may be a means to counter Hun Sen’s plan to become Head of State, which many observers perceive as the last step before the abolition of the Monarchy.      

06 October 2002

Senator Kem Sokha wounded in a suspicious car accident last night (1)
Senate Human Rights Commission President Kem Sokha was seriously wounded on 5 October 2002 in a car accident that looks like an assassination attempt. After a meeting with General Nhek Bun Chhay, Kem Sokha drove himself back home. When on the point of entering his house at around 9.00 pm, his car was violently hit by another car, painted in black color and bearing no license plate, moving at a very high speed. Kem Sokha was hurt by the shock, being slightly wounded at the head, but the airbag probably saved his life . The shock caused his car to rotate several times. But the black car responsible for the accident was also damaged and could not move further, so that its driver could be seen in detail by many witnesses, including Nhek Bun Chhay who rapidly came to the scene of the incident. But the faulty driver seemed to be known by the police who let him go without revealing his identity.
A former Son Sann’s supporter and a former President of the National Assembly Human Rights Commission, Kem Sokha has been on the black list of the Hun Sen regime since the 1997 coup d’etat. More recently, Hun Sen’s secret agents are aware of Kem Sokha’s intention to join the Sam Rainsy Party (KI, 26 August 2002). Last night’s incident is reminiscent of another suspicious car accident in January this year, in which SRP Member of Parliament Yim Sokha lost his life. 

05 October 2002

Hun Sen pushes Ranariddh to be tougher with Funcinpec dissidents (2)
Following Thursday night‘s Funcinpec meeting and the subsequent dinner (KI, 03 and 04 October 2002), CPP Prime Minister Hun Sen called Funcinpec President Prince Norodom Ranariddh to deplore the Prince’s leniency towards Funcinpec dissidents and pressed him to be tougher with the so-called Resistants led by Nhek Bun Chhay, Khan Savoeun and Kieng Vang (KI, 30 September 2002).
Directly or through You Hockry, Hun Sen has been providing Ranariddh with evidence (photos, audio and video tapes) showing that Funcinpec Resistants and opposition leader Sam Rainsy are in regular contact (KI, 26 August 2002). It had been agreed between Hun Sen and Ranariddh before last Thursday’s Funcinpec special meeting that the Prince would take drastic measures against the Resistants. But during the meeting Ranariddh was taken aback by Nhek Bun Chhay’s strong arguments in the defense of the Resistants:
1-     Without the Resistants, Ranariddh would not have been able to return to Cambodia in March 1998 (following Hun Sen’s coup in July 1997) and to take part in the July 1998 elections, which gave him his present position.
2-     Funcinpec had fought the Vietnamese occupying forces and the Vietnamese-backed Hun Sen regime for more than ten years but was eventually led to make peace with the Vietnamese and work with Hun Sen to achieve national reconciliation. Why is it a crime to shake hands with Sam Rainsy who is a Khmer compatriot?
Because Nhek Bun Chhay threw on all his weight around the defense of the Resistants, Ranariddh, who at the beginning was decided to crack down on the Funcinpec faction represented by the Resistants, felt finally compelled to back off.
But Hun Sen has made Ranariddh clearly understand that he would not tolerate any Funcinpec Resistants joining forces with the Sam Rainsy Party. Such a grouping of anti-Hun Sen forces would be too serious a threat to the present CPP-dominated regime. Hun Sen will use violence, if need be, to prevent such an alliance, which is reminiscent of the National United Front (NUF) formed on 27 February 1997 between Funcinpec, the Khmer Nation Party (former name of Sam Rainsy Party) and the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party (former name of Son Sann Party). Hun Sen reacted in a very violent manner to break up the NUF: Deadly grenade attack on 30 March 1997 in front of the National Assembly coupled with other assassination attempts on Sam Rainsy, murderous coup d’etat on 5-6 July 1997 followed by the summary execution of hundreds of Funcinpec officers and soldiers, assassination of countless Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party supporters before and in the wake of the July 1998 elections.
If any notorious Funcinpec Resistant dares to defect to the SRP, Hun Sen will immediately prompt the tribunal under the CPP control to levy politically motivated charges on the defector. The charges could be linked to a plot by the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF), the Kampuchea Krom Liberation Movement, or any Hun Sen-created group labeled as “terrorist”, or to the Hun Sen-fabricated 1998 assassination attempt on the Prime Minister in Siem Reap (KI, 22 and 24 September 2002). The situation is even more alarming because Hun Sen is tempted to make a preemptive move against the Resistants.
Prince Ranariddh is caught between Hun Sen’s preemptive de