A caretaker goes caretaking (2006-Feb-01)          By Chris Costello : Who knows five languages, travels the world advocating for human rights and can most often be found as a caretaker in Weldon Library? That would be 17-year Physical Plant employee Thach Thach (pronounced "Tatch"). Thach's work with the international organization Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) will take him off-campus and around the world over the next six months in an effort to improve the lives of Cambodians in South Vietnam. Kampuchea-Krom was the southernmost territory of the Khmer Empire and means "Cambodia Below". He will participate in several international conferences involving the International Court, United Nations' organizations, international governments and the Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva. The conference is so in-depth it takes place over six weeks.          Thach, 50, immigrated to Canada in 1988. He says he can now celebrate his human rights and Cambodian culture in a way not previously possible while living in an oppressed area of South Vietnam - home to more than seven million Khmer Krom, the indigenous people of Southern Vietnam.

         "When I came to Canada, I saw how people were treated different [than in Cambodia]," explains Thach. "It made me want to do something for human rights back home". "In South Vietnam, Cambodians represent the minority population and oppression by the Vietnamese is prevalent" he says. Thach and the KKF will visit New York to oversee editing of a UN documentary film that explores the situation. There will also be visits to British Columbia, various U.S. states, Australia and Holland. Thach will return to Geneva in July to participate in a UN sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on Indigenous Populations. Thach has been involved in many volunteer positions including the RCMP, City Hall, London Police and the OPP. He says he knew nothing about the groups before volunteering. "I just went down to see if they needed help," says Thach. "You can't sit at home complaining you don't know English enough or what to do - just go."
         Thach left Cambodia with a bachelor of literature degree but in Canada he had to start over. He completed high school, then graduated three years ago from Western's Administrative and Commercial Studies Program. "You may start with a job you don't like but you can do more by getting involved and volunteering," says Thach. "This is my fun." Thach feels people like him must get involved and make a difference for those who need help. "If you don't say anything, you get nothing. It's about freedom." "I want to send a message to people inside the country [Cambodia]. They have to educate themselves. We hope people demand the government in a peaceful way, don't use violence... we seek the international community to put pressure on government to end oppression".
         The Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation represents over eight million people worldwide. Thach is president of Khmer Krom Network which is a technology and Internet working group. For more information visit http://www.khmerkrom.org/

Sihanouk, un neutraliste sanguinaire (2006-Jan-21)
           Vithia Kim in Camdisc : We need to educate the world communities (based on facts) to make them aware of the problems and ask them to help us. We need to do more research and compile the informations to database/website, to be used. Here is an excerpt from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/cambodia2.htm :

Tentative de rapprochement (trop tard) avec les États-Unis en recevant Jacqueline Kennedy

Cambodia Civil War, 1970s By the mid-1960s, Sihanouk's delicate balancing act was beginning to go awry. Regionally, the presence of large-scale North Vietnamese and Viet Cong logistical bases on Cambodian territory and the use of Kampong Saom (then Sihanoukville) as a port of disembarkation for supplies being sent to communist troops, as well as the covert intelligence-gathering, sabotage missions, and overflights by South Vietnamese and United States teams had made a sham of Cambodian neutrality.

Grand Ami de Zhou Enlai

         Domestically, Sihanouk's sporadic harassment of the leftists and the withdrawal of his endorsement from all candidates in the 1966 elections cost the radicals their chance for victory and alienated them from the prince as well. Sihanouk also lost the support of the rightists by his failure to come to grips with the deteriorating economic situation in the country and with the growing North Vietnamese and Viet Cong military presence in Cambodia. In addition to these regional developments and the clash of interests among Phnom Penh's politicized elite, social tensions also were creating a favorable environment for the growth of a domestic communist insurgency in the rural areas.
         In early 1967, an insurrection broke out in the area around Samlot in Batdambang, a province long noted for the presence of large landowners and great disparities of wealth. Local resentment focused on tax collections and on the decision of the revenuestarved government to expropriate land to build a sugar refinery near Samlot. In January 1967, irate villagers attacked a tax collection brigade --an incident that recalled the 1925 murder of the French resident in the area. With the probable encouragement of local communist cadres, the insurrection quickly spread through the whole region. Sihanouk was on one of his frequent sojourns in France, and Lon Nol, the prime minister, responded harshly. After returning home in March 1967, Sihanouk personally supervised counterinsurgency measures. He later mentioned, in an offhand way, that the effectiveness of the royal armed forces had restored the peace but that approximately 10,000 people had died.
         The insurgency was not suppressed completely. It spread rapidly from Batdambang to the southern and to the southwestern provinces of Pouthisat (Pursat), Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Spoe (Kompong Speu), Kampot, and the central province of Kampong Thum. By the end of 1968, unrest was reported in eleven of the country's eighteen provinces. The Khmer Loeu regions of Mondol Kiri Province and Rotanakiri Province fell almost entirely under KCP control by the end of the decade.
         In January 1968, the communists established the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea (RAK). During Sihanouk's last two years in power, the RAK obtained minimal assistance from the North Vietnamese, the Viet Cong, and the Chinese. Although North Vietnam had established a special unit in 1966 to train the Cambodian communists, it was extremely reluctant to alienate Sihanouk at a time when vital supplies were passing through the port of Kampong Saom and along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Viet Cong bases along the Cambodia-Vietnam border. Beijing and Moscow also were providing Sihanouk with arms, many of which were being used against the insurgents. The indifference of the world communist movement to the Cambodian struggle from 1967 to 1969 made a permanent impression on Pol Pot and other Khmer Rouge leaders.

         The 1970 coup d'état that toppled Sihanouk dragged Cambodia into the vortex of a wider war. The escalating conflict pitted government troops, now renamed the Khmer National Armed Forces (Forces Armées Nationales Khmères-FANK), initially against the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong, and subsequently against the old RAK, now revitalized and renamed the Cambodian People's National Liberation Armed Forces (CPNLAF).
         As combat operations quickly disclosed, the two sides were mismatched. The inequality lay not so much in sheer numbers. Thousands of young urban Cambodians flocked to join FANK in the months following the coup and, throughout its five-year life, the republican government forces held a numerical edge over their opponents, the padded payrolls and the phantom units reported in the press notwithstanding. Instead, FANK was outclassed in training and leadership. With the surge of recruits, the government forces expanded beyond their capacity to absorb the new inductees. Later, given the press of tactical operations and the need to replace combat casualties, there was insufficient time to impart needed skills to individuals or to units, and lack of training remained the bane of FANK's existence until its collapse. While individual soldiers and some government units fought bravely, their leaders -with notable exceptions- were both corrupt and incompetent. Arrayed against an armed force of such limited capability was arguably the best light infantry in the world at the time -the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. And when there forces were supplanted, it was by the tough, rigidly indoctrinated peasant army of the CPNLAF with its core of Khmer Rouge leaders.
         With the fall of Sihanouk, the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong became alarmed at the prospect of a pro-Western regime that might allow the United States to establish a military presence on their western flank. To prevent this from happening, they began transferring their military installations away from the border area to locations deeper within Cambodian territory. A new command center was established at the city of Kracheh (Kratié). On April 29, 1970, South Vietnamese and United States units unleashed a multi-pronged offensive into Cambodia to destroy the Central Office for South Vietnam (COSVN), the headquarters for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong combat operations in South Vietnam. Extensive logistical installations and large amounts of supplies were found and destroyed, but as reporting from the United States MACV subsequently disclosed, still larger amounts of material already had been moved deeper into Cambodia.
         The North Vietnamese army turned on the republican government forces, and by June 1970, three months after the coup, they and the CPNLAF had swept FANK from the entire northeastern third of the country. After defeating the government forces, they turned newly won territories over to the local insurgents. The Khmer Rouge also established "liberated areas" in the south and the southwestern parts of the country, where they operated independently of the Vietnamese. The KCP's debt to the North Vietnamese after March 1970 was one that Pol Pot was loath to acknowledge; however, it is clear that without North Vietnamese and Viet Cong assistance, the revolutionary struggle would have dragged on much longer than it did.

Buddhist Candlelight Vigil for Human Rights and Democracy in Cambodia (2006-Jan-14)
         Lowell Sun : Over 75 Cambodian Americans from the east coast and Minnesota and their friends and supporters gathered January 13th, 2006 in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. for a Buddhist candlelight vigil for human rights and democracy in Cambodia. While the main focus was on the plight of illegally detained human rights and democracy advocate, Kem Sokha, the ultimate goal was to highlight the absence of freedom and democracy in Cambodia.

Featured speakers included Kem Sokha's eldest daughter, Monovithya Kem, who updated the audience on her father's condition in prison, her younger sister Samathida and the United Cambodian International Council (UCIC) co-chairs, Suykry Path from Minnesota and the Venerable Monk Rithipol of Massachusetts. The UCIC is an umbrella organization made up of many Cambodian diaspora groups. "We are here to speak on behalf of the people of Cambodia who are being intimidated by the Cambodian government to suffer voiceless in their own land," stated Venerable Monk Rithipol. "Kem Sokha's illegal imprisonment represents what the Hun Sen government thinks of its people and their inalienable right to democracy. One year ago President Bush stated that America would stand with those who stood for democracy.

         President Bush, Kem Sokha and the Cambodian people stand with you for democracy! Please continue standing with and supporting us!" urged the Venerable Monk. Suykry Path stated, "It was an honor to watch President Bush become President at his Inauguration one year ago. It was moving to hear him stand so strongly for democracy for all the people of the world. We Cambodians thank President Bush for this strong support of democracy, and ask that he continue to stand strong for democracy in Cambodia."
         Other featured guests included important representatives from Amnesty International and the International Republican Institute, two NGO's who have supported Kem Sokha and his work for human rights and democracy in Cambodia. They vowed to work to help free Kem Sokha and to help the people of Cambodia to attain their right to freedom and self-determination in Cambodian political affairs. The Candlelight vigil included Buddhist chants recited by Cambodian Monks from three different Temples in attendance.
         Below is a link to photographs from the event.
         http://share.dell.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AYsWLlyzctmPy

Cambodia arrests rights activist (2005-Dec-31) By Guy De Launey, BBC, Phnom Penh - One of Cambodia's most prominent human rights activists has been arrested and charged with criminal defamation. Kem Sokha, as leader of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, has been a prominent critic of the government. A number of opposition figures have been charged with defamation - which can be a criminal offence under Cambodian law - in recent weeks. Foreign diplomats have expressed concern that charges are being used to silence and intimidate the opposition.

The defamation charge stems from a banner displayed at a rally to mark International Human Rights Day earlier this month. One of the organisers of the rally [Yen Vireak, director of the Community Legal Education Centre] also faces charges. It means that four critics of the government are now in jail awaiting trial. Five more have left the country rather than face imprisonment. Last week, the opposition leader, Sam Rainsy, was sentenced in absentia to 18 months in prison for defaming the leaders of the governing coalition.

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