October, 2016
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Most beneficial merits of Pchum Ben Khmer
Political Paradigm of Pragmatism from the Khmer Youth part 80
This part (80), Mr. Sophan is recalling the importance of Bon Pchum Ben during this festival sessional 
period. As a reminding, Cambodian Buddhists who are offering foods to Bhikkhu monks aiming to dedicate merits to those passed away ancestors, should reflect on themselves on how they are living with those blessing such as “may they be happy, and end of suffering”. By such self-reflection, the Cambodian people will see their own livelihood and uncontested sufferings in present society.
Pragmatically, we could not endorse happiness to those deads if we have not accumulated happiness in the present livelihood.
Also, the offering of food signifies wealth and material, while the offering of knowledge (Dhamma) shall yield more fruitful results to all Cambodian people.
- Bhikkhu monks should preach in short and interact more (answering the questions and doubts) with audience in details and long.
- Dhamma attendants especially those seniors must play role model by listing to deepen knowledge and increase wisdom rather than such shallow believing in gaining merits from listening.
- All Bhikkhu monk preachers should pass training of “preaching courses” at the minimum.
- The dedication of merits to the death is important paralleling with the living.
- The most meritorious deeds are the respect of human rights and freedom of expression in society.
Public Services Deficiency of Incumbent Cambodia Government
Op-Ed: The Phnom Penh Post
The CPP loyalist’s guide to success
Seang Kosal was “sleeping” on the job, Interior Minister Sar Kheng thundered in April last year after a crime wave involving robberies, stabbings and shootings swept through Sihanoukville.
A little over nine months after his appointment as police chief of the coastal province, Kosal was ousted, “transferred to the ministry”, and appointed as deputy director of the tourism police department.
His fate is far from unique.
Government insiders and observers alike say that the Cambodian People’s Party, which built and maintains an iron grip on the state apparatus, has its own system for dealing with mistakes, be they real, perceived or political.
Public officials are rarely formally disciplined or fired, sometimes despite serious allegations of misconduct, incompetence or corruption.
Those who displease their superiors publicly, or who fall out of favour privately, instead find themselves transferred to bureaucratic backwaters where, out of the limelight, they stay loyal and wait for redemption.
“The party always allows people to make mistakes, but the leadership, they take the opportunity to see how you respond,” said one long-time observer.
“They move you to an inactive post, and you learn how to watch and wait . . . as long as you don’t go to another party, go out and talk badly, or take revenge, you can be sure that at the right time, with the right envelopes to the right people, you will come back.”
Efforts by the Post to track down Kosal in recent weeks and establish the responsibilities of his new job, or whether he still held the job, proved difficult. His boss, head of the tourism police Som Siyan, said the former police chief was still employed as a deputy and “responsible for several provinces”.
Reached by phone yesterday, Kosal, however, said he was “retired” and hung up.
Kicking the wind, reading the newspaper
Two expressions are used to describe an official on the outs, a Ministry of Defence official recently told the Post. A person relegated to the blacklist is said to be “kicking the wind”, or “kicking the air” – both which mean unemployed – or he is said to be “reading the newspaper”.
“Working at the ministry [for them] is just like going to read the newspaper,” the source, who requested anonymity, explained. “You go to work but don’t do any work.”
Ministries have long been haunted by “ghost workers” – bureaucrats on the books but not at their desks. Within his department, the source estimated that just 20 percent of employees could be considered “active workers”.
He said that to rise in the Ministry of Defence, loyalty to the commander must be absolute. Visible shows of support and, in particular, raising funds for the boss to contribute to the party are the best way to secure a promotion.
Those who don’t show loyalty or who upset their superior are “blacklisted” – excluded from tasks and unable to rise.
Professional stagnation is not necessarily a bad thing, though, and can be particularly suitable for those with businesses or jobs on the side, he saidBut for those who have a genuine desire to work honestly, any spirit of public service is quickly crushed.
“There are only two options: be loyal to your commander and be promoted, or don’t and get frustrated,” he said. “A person who is hardworking and honest, the system changes them.”
Behind closed doors, said a consultant who works with the government and who has extensive knowledge of the party, three factors regulate an official’s conduct: their ability to do their job, contributions to the party and the influence of their patron. The latter he called “the most important”.
“You might not contribute a lot to the party, but you really make your boss rich,” the consultant said. “When you put these together, you can see why some incompetent people keep their jobs and others are kicked out easily.”
A Justice Ministry official told the Post simply being suspected of making a mistake – perhaps of supporting the opposition party – might see you ostracised, though not necessarily transferred.
“Sometimes they transfer you from one position to another, but sometimes he or she will be isolated from their area of responsibility,” said the anonymous official.
“They will be pushed out, and someone will replace them. They still have the position, but someone else does it for them. And then eventually he’s outside. It’s sort of like mental torture.”
The system
Sebastian Strangio, author of Hun Sen’s Cambodia, says exiling officials to “patronage Siberia” is a way for the CPP to balance its obligations as a state and its stability as a party. It provides “effective discipline” but keeps officials “in the fold”, leaving the underlying patronage system intact.
“The entire party-state apparatus is made up of a complex mesh of personal dependencies, which gives Cambodian politics something of the quality of a game of Snakes and Ladders,” Strangio said.
“People can rise on a whim and fall on a suspicion. How far an individual falls is of course dependent on an ever-shifting equation of power among and between the top brass. No individual is ever entirely safe.”
Such was the lesson learned by Ty Sokhun when he was ousted as Forestry Administration director-general in 2010 amid criticism from Hun Sen for failing to stop illegal logging.
“Consider this a life lesson to try to work harder,” the premier at the time told the official, who has since been promoted to a secretary of state and yesterday hung up on a reporter.
Unsurprisingly, no mention was made of the 2007 Global Witness report that implicated the FA and members of Hun Sen’s family in a timber smuggling racket and accused Sokhun and then-minister for Agriculture Chan Sarun of selling more than 500 jobs within the body.
Sokhun’s fall, recalled veteran Cambodia-based environmental activist Marcus Hardtke, also bore a striking resemblance to Sarun’s own ousting from chief of the FA more than decade before, after which he climbed back up to become minister.
Problems of unfair election procedures in Cambodia are rendering
Political Paradigm of Pragmatism from the Khmer Youth part 79
Op-Ed: The CEROC
This part (79), Mr. Sophan commented on tricks in details that are possible to happen during this voters registration that means too much for the controlling party.
First, the notice of computer system has been fabricated as many expertise have asked the same questions on why voters must be regulated to register in place where they vote? What astonishing is the regulation that people can register whatever place they want but they must vote in that place. Prime Minister Hun Sen did appeal people to register their names at place they like or they can easily access to.
Secondly, voters registration in each commune or sangkat could be easily pre-counted by such easy hashtag code solely owned by the president of NEC. Feasible pre-screening of voter lists leaking to third party shall enable such party to predict the result of this commune or sangkat election, and such powerful party can play around with the number. So, it might be common to see a trucking policemen or military to dispatching to different communes or sangkat to register for voting during this 3 months voters registration.
Thirdly, Tep Nitha has got great privilege to oversea the security unit of the NEC. Cambodian voters were historically frightened by the presence of arm-forces especially the pineapple eyes of village chiefs and their subordinates during ballot casting.
In inclusion, above preliminary finding shall shed some light on how the controlling party can freely trick around with the election procedures and distract them to their benefit. Millions of overseas Cambodians have already been marginalized from this unequal level playing field of election procedures, and the CEROC is very appreciate to all Cambodians overseas who have made great volunteering to fly to Cambodia to register to vote and to vote for a positive change of Cambodia.
NO LIBERAL GOVERNMENT AS LONG AS HUN SEN LIVES
NO LIBERAL GOVERNMENT AS LONG AS HUN SEN LIVES
October 4, 2016
By Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D.
Am I witnessing an encore of Khmers resuming political circle dancing, the Ramvong, moving hands and feet, going around and around in a circle, setting aside their recent posture of traditional Chul Trei Krem, or Siamese (Beta) fish fighting game described in my last article?
Premier Hun Sen warned against CNRP demonstrations. He stepped up intimidation, draconian judicial ruling, arrests. Nineteen 19 opposition figures, several rights workers and women activists are in jail; starting Aug. 31, masked armed soldiers cruised the area around the CNRP headquarters, navy boats with machineguns docked in the Bassac River, and helicopters hovered above.
Politically, he tossed aside the Sep. 12 bipartisan H. Res. 728 resolution of the U.S. House of Representatives that condemns political repressions and rights abuses by his government, and calls for free and fair elections in Cambodia. Regarding the Sep. 13 Geneva statement by 39 governments urging him to respect human rights, “including the freedoms of expression, association and assembly,” Hun Sen told his Ambassador to the UN to respond bluntly: “[W]e do not welcome interference in our political situation.”
On the other hand, CNRP Sam Rainsy spoke via Skype from Paris on Sep. 12, asking Khmer youth activists gathering at the CNRP headquarters in Phnom Penh if they were ready to join mass demonstrations of 2013-2014 types. The youth gave him a resounding response “Yes!” Although holed up in the building for more than four months since May to avoid arrest, CNRP Kem Sokha’s speech left no room for misunderstanding: “We cannot lie down, let them tie our hands and legs, close our nose and mouth until we die. Even animals would fight!”
The scene was that of agitated Beta fighting fishes that turned bright and dashing colors, flared their gills, showed their long fins, twisted their bodies, tightened their abdomen, each ready to rip out the other’s gills in a fight? Khmer political opponents huffed and puffed to show their respective real or perceived power. The stage was set for Chul Trei Krem.
And Prime Minister Hun Sen upped the ante. He declared in a speech on Sep. 19 that he was set to unleash armed military violence to “eliminate” those joining mass demonstrations: “Let me challenge all of you to come out and demonstrate now, the sooner the better.” He advised CNRP figures to return to the National Assembly, “the only place to talk,” and added, “I would be a dog if I were to negotiate” with the CNRP (on dropping court cases against Kem Sokha and political prisoners). Recall that Hun Sen swore earlier that he would cut off his own hand if he were to use it to sign a new pardon for Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia. On Sep. 26, Rainsy told BBC-TV he is considering returning, amnesty from arrest notwithstanding. Hun Sen welcomed him to jail.