PM looks to US to justify use of force

[geovalin]

Meas Sokchea

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday compared Cambodia’s deadly government crackdowns favourably with attempts in the United States to quell days of unrest following the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the National Institute of Education, Hun Sen said the crackdown on demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri – where police officer Darren Wilson shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown on August 9 – has not been met with the same criticism levelled at his forces when they move in to contain protests.

In Ferguson, “demonstrators just throw bottles of water [on the authorities] and they are arrested immediately, but America says nothing”, he said. Whereas “in our country, [demonstrators] burned cars, threw stones and shot with slingshots when we tried to control the situation, and they said that we abused human rights”.

Multiple clashes between demonstrators in Ferguson and police from local and state law enforcement occurred in the aftermath of the shooting earlier this month. Responding to the protests and instances of live gunfire, looting and rioting, a curfew was put in place, and the governor called in the National Guard. Dozens of people, including journalists, have been arrested since the shooting.

Contrary to the premier’s claim of imbalance, the heavy-handed actions have drawn international rebuke and comparisons with abuses committed during the civil rights movement in the US.

Hun Sen yesterday went on to compare the eight-month lockdown of Freedom Park, Phnom Penh’s designated protest space, with the curfew imposed on Ferguson after the governor declared a state of emergency.

The premier reasoned that Freedom Park is just a small area that was closed temporarily because of unrest, while in Ferguson an entire town was put into lockdown between midnight and 5am.

While government investigations into the fatal violence of early January – when government forces opened fire at striking garment workers, killing at least five – and other clashes had been cited repeatedly as the reason for the park’s closure, results of any probe have remained elusive since the razor wire came down.

Meach Sovannara, a Cambodia National Rescue Party member and Cambodian-American citizen, told the Post that Hun Sen was lying to the country and making unfair comparisons.

“He told [his] citizens a lie. Speaking of the law, in America, people are given rights to hold demonstrations.” Sovannara said.

Ou Virak, chairman of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said he agreed that the US government is “no angel”, but said this does not justify the actions of Hun Sen’s forces.

“The US needs to clean up its act too, [but] that doesn’t mean that the crackdowns here were OK,” he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY ALICE CUDDY

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-looks-us-justify-use-force

[geovalin]

PM fuming at ‘rude’ NGOs

Fri, 22 August 2014

May Titthara

After a stern public reprimand of his underlings on Monday for failing to resolve the country’s myriad land disputes, Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out at NGO monitors yesterday for questioning his professed lack of knowledge about certain disputes.

Hun Sen said on Monday that he had only learned about a recent highly publicised land dispute after seeing protesters clutching his portrait in a newspaper, and blamed provincial officials for often leaving him in the dark about events and failing to send information to Phnom Penh.

But yesterday the premier slammed “rude” NGO workers who had commented on his apparent lack of knowledge and questioned whether they had “heads made of iron”.

“Why did you say I didn’t know anything at all?… You are damn rude, saying the premier does not know anything at all,” an angry Hun Sen said during a speech at the National Institute for Education.

“I was talking about the last stage [of people coming to the capital], which no one had reported to me,” he continued. “It’s simply a matter of a lack of documents.… That’s all.”

Demonstrating his devotion to the land issue, the PM referenced numerous past disputes that he had solved “overnight”.

“You have happiness because of the premier. The war ended and you can walk around the country. NGOs have been created. But you say such stupid things. Don’t be so rude, boys.”

He also fired a warning shot at civil society, using a Khmer saying about the importance of thinking before speaking. “Before speaking out, you need to move your tongues around your mouths 5,000 times.”

Ny Chakyra, head of human rights at watchdog Adhoc, who made comments to VOA following the PM’s speech, said that his criticisms of Hun Sen were within his rights.

“What I said in the past is just freedom of expression and our staff have always offered analysis [on issues]. But the analysis cannot be 100 per cent accepted [by listeners] or considered as 100 per cent correct.”

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-fuming-%E2%80%98rude%E2%80%99-ngos

[lust]

dude, not to be rude but there is 1 reply to like the 20 threads that you started.

this is thaivisa not cambodiavisa. we dont need every news story posted about people fainting

[LivinginKata]

dude, not to be rude but there is 1 reply to like the 20 threads that you started.

this is thaivisa not cambodiavisa. we dont need every news story posted about people fainting

Please note that this is Thai Visa's Cambodia News forum. If you don't appreciate these official news stories being posted, then just skip over them.

[geovalin]

dude, not to be rude but there is 1 reply to like the 20 threads that you started.

this is thaivisa not cambodiavisa. we dont need every news story posted about people fainting

I'm not clever enough to have an opinion.

I do my job.That's it.

The day M George Thaivisa will tell me to stop, I'll stop.

Or maybe I could reduce the number of posts.

[INV]

geovalin you doing a great job and so do all on TV so keep them coming, I for one want to read about whats going on in Cambodia.

This after all the Cambodia section.

[Huk]

dude, not to be rude but there is 1 reply to like the 20 threads that you started.

this is thaivisa not cambodiavisa. we dont need every news story posted about people fainting

I'm not clever enough to have an opinion.

I do my job.That's it.

The day M George Thaivisa will tell me to stop, I'll stop.

Or maybe I could reduce the number of posts.

Dude, like, not to be rude but why on earth would you post Cambodian news articles on, like, a Cambodian news page? This is, like, really strange to me, where are your articles about the bars on Suk and how to pick up Issan girls. I suppose the fact that this news doesn't always need 5,000 armchair experts giving their opinion indicates it isn't real news.

Dude, I'm like not sure where you are coming from but ... I guess I'll just keep reading these and appreciate your efforts, regardless of how, like, misguided they are.

[khwaibah]

geovalin you doing a great job and so do all on TV so keep them coming, I for one want to read about whats going on in Cambodia.

This after all the Cambodia section.

Totally agree. Keep up the excellent work.

[geovalin]

Thank you