Khmer Krom fear reprisal from Vietnam

KHMER Krom asylum seekers who were deported by Thai authorities earlier this month say they will face arrest and likely reprisal if they are forcibly returned to Vietnam.

The 24 Khmer Krom, as members of Vietnam’s Khmer minority are known, were deported to Cambodia on December 5 and are being sheltered by NGOs in Banteay Meanchey province’s Poipet town.

“I have submitted an application for residency, but there is still no answer from the local authorities,” said 49-year-old asylum seeker Thach Soong.

Originally from Vietnam’s Soc Trang province, Thach Soong said Vietnamese authorities first suspected him after he took part in protests for freedom of...

religion and land rights during the 1980s. He fled Vietnam in 2003 following threats of arrest, but said he faced a hostile reception from Cambodian authorities, who detained him for 64 days.

After his asylum application was rejected by UNHCR in Bangkok in 2006, Thach Soong said he lived in Thailand illegally before his arrest and deportation this month. “I am afraid now that I will end up in jail if the authorities deport me back to Vietnam,” he said.

Choa Sokha, 34, said he fled from Vietnam’s An Giang province to Cambodia in 2007 after he was arrested and tortured by police for leading protests for freedom of religion and expression.

“I was guilty in Vietnam, and I am afraid of deportation to Vietnam,” he added.

The recent Khmer Krom arrivals follow the similar deportation of 54 Khmer Krom by Thai police in June.

Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, said the 54 were subsequently smuggled back into Thailand to make another bid for asylum. He said “more than 10” of the current deportees were also deported in June.

Kitty McKinsey, UNHCR spokeswoman in Bangkok, said the deportees were all at various stages of their asylum applications at the time of their deportation. She said the UNHCR regarded their deportation as a “serious matter” and had taken up the issue with the government in Bangkok.

“Our position is that no asylum seekers should be deported from Thailand unless their appeals have been processed and it has been properly established that they do not require international protection,” she said, adding that there are “orderly procedures” for returning unsuccessful applicants to their countries of origin.

Try Narin, the governor of Poipet town, said he had not received any information about the Khmer Krom group. “We have nowhere to resettle them, and they will return to where they came from,” he said. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post Site)

Wednesday, 16 December 2009 15:04 Vong Sokheng and Sebastian Strangio

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Teen starlet victim of acid attack in capital

TWO assailants on a motorcycle doused a 16-year-old talent-show winner with half a litre of acid on Tuesday morning – the second such incident in Phnom Penh in less than a week – leading to a fresh call to regulate the its sale in Cambodia.

Hang Srey Leak, 16, was at a hairdresser’s salon on Street 84 in Daun Penh district when two people pulled up on a motorcycle and poured acid over her body, district police said.

She is being treated at Calmette Hospital for burns on her face, back and leg, police said, although her condition is not thought to be serious.

Ziad Samman, of the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity, said 10 acid attacks had been reported to the organisation so far this year... He called on the government to prevent further attacks by introducing strict guidelines for the sale of acid.

“One possible way to prevent attacks is to stop them before they start,” he said. “One of the reasons that help contribute to acid attacks is because it’s so readily accessible. One of the things worth looking into is a regulation of acid, so it would make people selling acid more accountable.”

But Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said the authorities found it “too difficult” to control the use of acid in the Kingdom. “It is impossible to ask sellers to tell their customers to get a prescription to buy acid,” he said. “What we must do is arrest the perpetrators.”

Pin Kong, deputy police chief of Srah Chak commune, said investigating officers believed they had identified the suspects in Tuesday’s attack, although no arrests had yet been made.

“The perpetrators are relatives of the victim,” he said. “They helped the victim become a star, and they are seeking revenge because she does not do as she’s told.”

Hang Srey Leak was crowned one of the winners of TV9’s weekly talent show High Star in November 2008.

Chev Virak, a TV9 producer and director of the High Star production company, said the teenager – whom he described as a “good performer” – had received several threats in the past.

Tougher punishment
The attack on Hang Srey Leak comes just days after masked motorcyclists threw acid at two teenage sisters who were on their way to meet their mother at a market in Phnom Penh.

Kim Sodine, 18, and her 17-year-old sister Kim Sonita – both hairdressers – suffered severe burns in the assault last Thursday and are being treated in Vietnam.

Police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the attack and are struggling to establish a motive.

Last week’s incident prompted human rights groups to demand tougher punishment for the perpetrators of acid attacks. Speaking at the time, Ou Virak, executive director of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said: “Lack of outrage from government officials and no condemnation from the public is a concern and unacceptable. We’re desensitised to this violence, and it needs to change. The government needs to put more effort into prosecution when lives are damaged.” Acid attacks, while decreasing in recent years, are still a common form of revenge in Cambodia, often committed by jilted lovers. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post Site)

Wednesday, 16 December 2009 15:04 Chhay Channyda, Tep Nimol and Zela Chin

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Public transport on the way: city

PHNOM Penh Governor Kep Chuktema has pledged to create a public transport service within five years in a bid to ease traffic congestion in the capital.

“In five more years, if we do not have public transportation, the capital’s land traffic will become increasingly congested,” Kep Chuktema said Thursday at a City Hall meeting.

Between 300 and 400 new motorbikes hit the capital’s streets every month, the governor estimated.

“Now, we are thinking that if we create a bus system, people will travel by bus,” Kep Chuktema said, adding, however, that “Cambodian people do not like to walk, and they like to use their own vehicles to travel quickly to their destinations. This is an obstacle to creating a public bus system”.

In 2001, the Phnom Penh Municipality and Ho Wah Genting Transport firm signed a contract allowing the company to provide bus service within the city. After a month-long trial period, however, the project was shut down due to lack of funding.

Initially, bus fares were set at 500 riels (US$0.12) per trip, though they later were raised to 800 riels. The service proved popular, attracting more than 5,000 passengers per day before ridership tapered off to between 2,500 and 3,000 passengers.

Chan Sophana, general manager at Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation, formerly Ho Wah Genting Transport, said he welcomed the idea of resurrecting the bus system.

He cautioned, however, that the municipality would need to take a different approach to the project than it did in 2001.

In other countries that contract public transport to private companies, Chan Sophana explained, the government helps to defray losses sustained by the companies as a result of keeping fares low. This was not the case in Phnom Penh, however.

“We could not make any profits running that service here. We had to charge such low fees that we could not even pay for gasoline,” he said.

Twenty-eight-year-old Tith Theakun, who works at a local travel agency and drives her car to work every day, said Thursday that she would welcome a renewal of the public bus system, as traffic congestion in the capital has become an onerous aspect of her daily commute.

“I’ve been waiting for a bus service so that I do not have to take my car to work. I’ll save money and I will arrive on time,” she said. (Sourced by Phnom Penh Post)

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