Daily World News

PM Threatens to Tear Thai Border Map

2009-09-29T21:40:00.001-07:00

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen addresses the audience at the inauguration of the new tourism ministry headquarters on Monday.

Written by DAP NEWS -- Tuesday, 29 September

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday warned he would personally tear up a Thai border map if the Thais try to use the map again during the next session of negotiations.

The premier’s warning made following deputy supreme commander and chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces [RCAF] tore Thai party border map during their talk at Sombok Khhmoum as Thai black uniform soldiers used this map to solve with Cambodia.

“If Thai Prime Minister uses its map to talk and negotiate with Cambodia next time, we will tear this map,” said the premier at the inauguration of the new tourism ministry headquarters on Monday.

The premier said he admired Pol Saroeun for tearing a copy of the Thai map during previous talks.

Hun Sen stressed that Cambodia doesn’t want war, but will fight in self-defense against enemies.

“The illegal encroachment of last year [took place] as Cambodia was busy with election campaign, if not so, you will have blood from your head; do not push the chest more,” the premier said in an apparent threat to unspecified Thai officials.

The premier also rejected Thai deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaug- suban allegations that the road Cambodia is constructing to Khmer Preah Viheah will cross Thai territory. “Do not use Preah Vihear as your political issue,” the premier said.

Srey Doeuk, Cambodian Preah Vihear Army Chief, on Monday told DAP News Cambodia that the situation is still normal. “The situation is still normal, but we are in high ready station,” he added.

The Land Demand Pilgrim Group, apparently a different group of Thai protestors to those who recently demonstrated, on September 29 will hold a protest demanding 4.6 square kilometers of Cambodian territory near the Khmer Preah Vihear Temple be handed over to Thailand.

Srey Doeuk said that Cambodian soldiers don’t care as they protest on their own territory.

“They can do whatever they want, but do not do or protest in our territory. If they do, we cannot be patient,” Srey Doeuk warned.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has warned protesters not to complicate political issues and not to encroach on Cambodian territory.

Abhisit hits back over dispute

2009-09-29T21:39:00.002-07:00

Sep 29, 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

BANGKOK - PRIME Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva hit out at his Cambodian counterpart on Tuesday for saying that Thai trespassers would be shot near a disputed temple on their border.

Cambodian premier Hun Sen said on Monday that he had ordered his troops to shoot anyone from neighbouring Thailand who crossed onto land around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

Mr Hun Sen's comments came a little over a week after Thai protesters rallied near the ancient temple, the site of clashes that have killed seven soldiers since tensions flared last year.

'Whenever he gives interviews to the foreign media he always has this attitude where he wants to make headlines,' Mr Abhisit told reporters of his opposite number.

He said Mr Hun Sen wanted to 'retaliate' for the Thai protests on September 19. But he insisted that Thailand still wanted to find a 'peaceful' solution to the dispute over the temple through a joint border commission set up by the two countries.

Cambodia and Thailand have been at loggerheads over the land around Preah Vihear for decades, but tensions spilled over into violence last July when the temple was granted UNESCO World Heritage status. The World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia.

Mr Abhisit said he had raised the issue with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the UN General Assembly in New York last week, saying that UNESCO had worsened tensions between Thailand and Cambodia.

He also sought to reassure protesters who rallied at the temple earlier this month and who accused the government of failing to defend its claims over the disputed 4.6 square kilometres of land around Preah Vihear.

'Thai people have nothing to worry about. We will assert our rights,' Mr Abhisit said.

Soldiers from Cambodia and Thailand continue to patrol the area, with the last gunbattle near the temple area in April leaving three people dead. The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia. -- AFP

No Disputed Land’ Near Border Temple: Hun Sen

2009-09-29T21:39:00.001-07:00

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

28 September 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday said there was no disputed land near Preah Vihear temple, contrary to Thai statements.

The temple is at the center of a longstanding military standoff and saw a number of Thai protesters amassed last week.

Though leaders have sought to solve the border dispute bilaterally, Hun Sen said he would raise the issue with Asean at a summit in October if Thai leaders continued to make public statements about the temple and nearby border.

On Thursday, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said roads leading to the temple from the Thai side had been made by the previous government, claiming, "even if there are roads in the border area, it does not mean that the land belongs to Cambodia."

On Sept. 20, around 5,000 Thai demonstrators gathered on the Thai side of the border, near the temple, as leaders of the protest claimed Cambodian civilians and soldiers had settled in disputed areas near the temple.

"I would like to request that Thai leaders stop using Preah Vihear temple in their internal political conflict," he said.

Claims by the Thai prime minister and others about 4.6 kilometers of land near the temple "are not acceptable," he said. Thailand was making unilateral claims using a unilateral map, he said. "Cambodia does not recognize the overlapping or disputed area."

Cambodia uses a map from French surveys in 1904 and 1909 and argues that a 1962 decision at the International Court of the Hague and other documents provide a claim to land near the temple.

"If the Thai prime minister brings a unilateral map to me, I will tear it up in front of [him]," Hun Sen said Monday. "If Thailand militarily invades Cambodia, we will complain to the United Nations Security Council."

Preah Vihear temple was put on a Unesco World Heritage protection list, under Cambodian ownership, in July 2008, sparking demonstrations in Bangkok and an immediate military build-up. Ensuing skirmishes along the border have killed at least seven soldiers.

Thai protesters mark coup's 3rd anniversary, nationalists spark brawl near Cambodia

2009-09-20T16:43:00.001-07:00

Demonstrators and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra listen to Thaksin's speech during a rally marking the third anniversary of the coup that overthrown Thaksin from power at Royal Plaza in Bangkok, Thailand Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Thai nationalists clashed with police and villagers Saturday as they tried to march on an ancient temple on the Cambodian border, while anti-government protesters in the capital marked the third anniversary of a coup that continues to create political turmoil. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

Ousted Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is seen on a gaint screen as he addresses his supporters from an undisclosed location during a rally marking the third anniversary of the coup that overthrew him from power in Bangkok, Thailand Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Thai nationalists clashed with police and villagers Saturday as they tried to march on an ancient temple on the Cambodian border, while anti-government protesters in the capital marked the third anniversary of a coup that continues to create political turmoil. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

By GRANT PECK (AP)

BANGKOK — As thousands of demonstrators marked the anniversary of a 2006 coup in the Thai capital Saturday, a rival group of protesters clashed with police and villagers near the Cambodian border, showing the country's long-running political crisis is far from settled.

In the three years since the coup there have been multiple violent demonstrations, court rulings that have purged two prime ministers from power, and massive damage to the tourist industry after protesters shuttered the airports last year.

The country now appears locked in an endless cycle of protest and counter-protest by supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in the Sept. 19, 2006 coup on accusations of corruption, abuse of power and disrespect for the constitutional monarch. Thaksin himself remains in self-imposed exile, able to rally his followers only by phone.

"Thai politics three years after the coup has become more confused, convoluted, and the stakes have increased. There has been no progress, no headway towards reconciliation and reform," Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University said this week. "The political situation has become more combustible."

The alliance that led demonstrations culminating in the coup tried Saturday to march toward the gates of a temple on disputed land near the Cambodian border, triggering clashes that left 17 people injured, according to local hospitals. The People's Alliance for Democracy demanded that the Thai government recover the territory that is claimed by both countries.

Supporters of Thaksin and pro-democracy activists rallied in Bangkok to mark the coup's anniversary, with more than 6,000 police on hand to prevent a repeat of rioting that killed at least two and injured hundreds in the last major anti-government protests in April.

Saturday's crowd — which drew 20,000 to 30,000 people in Royal Plaza, a major public square — was addressed by Thaksin via video.

"I want to ask people who hate me and those who love me to review the past three years and answer if you have seen anything changed for the better," he said. "Is the economy better? Have people reconciled? How about the people's rights and justice? Have the past three years hurt the country enough?"

Saturday's protesters want current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down, claiming he came to power illegitimately with the help of the military and the judiciary, seen as pillars of the Thai ruling class. Abhisit took office late last year by wooing Thaksin's supporters in Parliament after the former leader's allies were forced out of office by court rulings of conflict of interest and electoral fraud.

Despite early promises, Abhisit has made little effort at effecting reconciliation, with his government frequently castigating Thaksin and his supporters. On Friday, it launched a campaign, the "United and Strong Thai Project," calling on all Thais to sing the national anthem at 6 p.m. daily to promote "unity and patriotism."

Thaksin's supporters, many from poor rural areas that benefited from his social welfare programs, say the coup was a blow to Thailand's democracy and was engineered by the country's traditional Bangkok-centered elite — dubbed the "aristocracy" — who feared losing their privileges if the people in the countryside were empowered.

"I'm here to show I'm against the coup and all undemocratic interventions, it's so backward of our country and everything's become unfair," said Pop Saenplum, a 45-year-old lawyer. "The government should come from the people. The Abhisit administration didn't and it also failed to fix social and economic problems."

Abhisit's government warned that demonstrators might try to stir up trouble, though protest leaders denied they had violent intentions. The government invoked an emergency law earlier this week that would allow the military to restore order, and police were mobilized around the site.

The crowd began to dissipate late Saturday and no major trouble was reported.

Saturday's clashes near the Thai border with Cambodia were linked to a decades-old dispute over land. Cambodia was awarded control over the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in 1962, but Thailand claims a portion of the land.

The People's Alliance for Democracy seized on the land issue last year to stir up nationalist sentiment and attract support, accusing the government of failing to defend Thailand's sovereignty.

Hundreds of Thai villagers who opposed Saturday's protest and hundreds of marchers clashed, both sides armed with sticks, slingshots and other homemade weapons. Police, who were ordered to show restraint, only carried riot shields making it difficult for them to fend off attacks by the alliance's marchers.

Abhisit told the army and police to negotiate with the protesters, who agreed to send a small group near the temple to make their statement on Sunday. The protesters began withdrawing Saturday night under police escort.

MediaWATCH: HM The King in Hospital, says Palace

2009-09-20T16:42:00.001-07:00

By Phuketwan Reporters
Sunday, September 20, 2009

Associated Press
Eighty-one-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-serving monarch, has been hospitalised after suffering from a fever and fatigue, the palace announced Sunday. A statement from the Royal Household Bureau, read on the evening television news, said the king was taken to Siriraj Hospital on Saturday night on the advice of his doctors. It had been rumored since late last week that the king had visited the hospital, but the Thai press only reported the matter widely Sunday.

Agencies Australia's Michael Katsidis, who reportedly trained at Tiger Muay Thai camp in the ''jungle'' at Chalong on Phuket, has won his interim lightweight boxing world title bout at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas. Katsidis scored a split points decision over American Vicente Escobedo. Katsidis is now the mandatory challenger to fight World Boxing Organisation lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez.

Phuketwan MediaWATCH
TWIN protests damaged Thailand's image internationally on Saturday as red shirts and yellow shirts continued to show that Thailand remains a nation where unity is not a priority.

PHUKET'S red shirt leader, Suntorn Tomas, told Phuketwan yesterday that three mini-bus vans of supporters from the island had gone to Bangkok for the protests there. ''If the protest concludes tonight, there will be no reason for more of us to go,'' he said. No live television coverage of the event is being permitted by the government, he said.

Phuket's yellow shirt Peoples' Alliance for Democracy leader Aparat Chartchutikumjorn, one of the 21-member board charting the directions of the New Politics Party (Karn Muang Mai), said two min-bus loads of Phuket supporters had headed for the temple protest on the Cambodia border. Southern provinces had each sent about 20 protesters, she said. That protest was violent.

bbc.co.uk Headline: 'Thailand rocked by rival protests' Thousands of troops were deployed in Thailand as rival political groups held separate protests, one of which turned violent. Crowds of demonstrators turned out in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of the coup which ousted controversial Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. On the Cambodian border an anti-Thaksin group clashed with police as it tried to enter a disputed border temple.

aljazeera.net Headline 'Thaksin: Thailand risks failure' Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's former prime minister, has urged his supporters to bring him back to power, saying the country risks becoming a ''failed state''. His comments on Saturday came in a live video link to about 26,000 Red Shirts rallying in Bangkok to demand the resignation of Abhisit Vejjajiva, the current prime minister. Three years after he was ousted in a bloodless coup, Thaksin told the crowds: ''Our country has deteriorated and risks being a failed state. There is no justice in society.''

cnn.com Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Bangkok on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of a military coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. About 30,000 protesters, who wore red shirts in support of Thaksin, gathered in the country's capital near the Government House, said police Lt. Gen. Tritote Ronnarithvichai. The crowd was calm and there was no sign of violence, he said.

Straits Times Tensions soared from the Cambodian border to the Thai capital on Saturday as protesters from rival political groups rallied at separate locations. On the border, Thai nationalists bent on stopping Cambodians from building on alleged Thai territory overwhelmed police and clashed with local villagers near the Preah Vihear temple. In Bangkok, a rally by the red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to mark the third anniversary of the September 2006 coup attracted up to 20,000 people, despite a prolonged downpour in the afternoon.

scmp.com Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra last night pleaded for national reconciliation in a live video speech to thousands of his supporters, who amassed in the capital to mark the third anniversary of the billionaire's ousting by the military. Thousands of protesting ''red shirts'' defied the presence of several thousand riot police and soldiers, and rallied in front of the main government offices to demand elections and the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

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Sister of Khmer Rouge murder victim John Dewhirst hopes for UN trial

2009-09-20T16:41:00.002-07:00

http://www.sundaysun.co.uk

Sep 20 2009
by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

KHMER Rouge murder victim John Dewhirst’s sister has revealed how she hopes good can come from his killer’s trial.

John was the only Briton among 17,000 to die after being captured during the communist Khmer Rouge’s rule over Cambodia in the 1970s.

Now, 31 years after his death, his murderer, Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, is being tried by a UN-backed tribunal on genocide charges.

He has already confessed to John’s murder and invited victims of the regime to visit him.

But John’s sister Hilary Holland, 53, a solicitor from Brampton, Cumbria, has refused to attend and says she has not even been able to bring herself to utter John’s name in more than 30 years.

An aspiring novelist, John left home after finishing his A-levels to explore and bought a one-way ticket to Tokyo, where he got a teaching post and a part-time job on a newspaper.

He quit in 1978, aged 26, after deciding to join pals on travels around the Gulf of Thailand in their boat The Foxy Lady.

But when they drifted into Cambodian waters, a Khmer Rouge military launch swooped.

Stuart Glass was shot dead instantly and the other two were taken to the S21 torture centre – a former school – where, after enduring a catalogue of horrors, they were forced to sign confessions they were CIA agents.

John’s note even said his father, who died before his capture, was a CIA agent whose cover was as head of Benton Road Secondary in Newcastle.

Hilary said: “I have experienced death and grief. This is different. It’s everlasting.

“I can accept death completely. It’s what happened to my brother that I can’t accept.

“The fact that torture was so extreme, lasting not half a day, but months, makes it an inhuman act. It takes the humanity of the person.

“The person my brother had been was taken away during that torture. For a human being to do that to another human being, that’s not a human act.

“What happened in Cambodia isn’t generally known to today’s generations. It should be a part of history lessons. People should remember what happened there.

“I don’t know how my brother died. I have heard reports of people bleeding to death and having their heads smashed from behind beside mass graves. I don’t know if knowing what really happened can make me feel any worse. If I feel like this after 31years, a whole country must feel the same.”

Protesters read statements; PM expresses regret over clashes near temple

2009-09-20T16:41:00.001-07:00

September 20, 2009

BANGKOK, Sept. 20 — Representatives of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) read out two statements at Pha Mor E-Dang, close to the disputed area, claiming Thai sovereignty in the matter while Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday he is saddened over clashes between protesters and local residents near the disputed Thai-Cambodian border zone in Si Sa Ket.

Thirty protesters of the PAD Sunday read out two statements at Pha Mor E-Dang, close to the disputed area, asserting the demand that the disputed area around Preah Vihear temple belongs to Thailand.

Veera Somkwamkid, a leader of the PAD protesters, told a news conference that Thai Army chief Gen Anupong Paochinda should use martial law as a tool to push back the Cambodians to return to their homeland.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Sunday he is saddened over clashes between protesters and local residents, and police who tried to end the discord near the disputed Thai-Cambodian border zone adjacent to the ancient temple of Preah Vihear which left many persons injured on Saturday.

In his weekly television and radio address, Abhisit said his government is not sitting idly over the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre area and that negotiations continue with the Cambodian government which will lead to an eventual troop withdrawal from the area.

Several dozen PAD protesters and villagers living in Si Sa Ket province and police were injured in Saturday’s clash.

Emphasizing that Thailand has not lost its sovereignty in the area, Abhisit said the border problem is being solved through negotiations and that Thailand would be impacted if clashes occurred and it would also affect relations with its neighbour as well as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Both Thailand and Cambodia are ASEAN members. Security officials permitted the demonstrators to read statement so that the situation could return to normal, said Abhisit, adding that the protesters should end their activities after reading them.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia. Tensions along the Thai-Cambodian border, especially at the disputed area, have been seen after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) granted Cambodia’s application for Preah Vihear temple to be designated a World Heritage Site in July 2008. (PNA/TNA)

PAD vows to uphold Thai sovereignty over disputed aera

2009-09-20T16:40:00.001-07:00

By The Nation
Published on September 21, 2009

Yellow-shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid yesterday vowed to uphold Thai sovereignty over 4.6 square kilometres of terrain near Preah Vihear Temple claimed by Cambodia. Veera also threatened to take legal action against officials condoning the encroachment.

Veera also threatened to take legal action against officials condoning the encroachment.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said his government was trying to resolve border problems via the legal process and not force.

Former premier Thaksin Shinawatra said on Twitter that Preah Vihear actually does belong to Cambodia by a decision of the International Court of Justice.

He accused the government of favouritism for letting the yellow shirts, who clashed with local villagers in Si Sa Ket on Saturday, read out a statement reaffirming Thailand's dominion over the temple area.

Local villagers had tried to block access to the area by the yellow shirts.

To pacify the rival groups, authorities allowed Veera and about 30 yellow shirts to climb up to Pha Mor-I-Daeng, a cliff inside the Phra Wiharn National Park located in Kantharalak district opposite the temple, to read the declaration.

"We Thai patriots want to declare our intent to form a people's network to restore Thai sovereignty to the surrounding areas of Prasat Phra Wiharn," Veera said.

He pledged to pursue every legal means to reclaim Thai territory. He also warned officials that they would be penalised if they were caught involved in the territorial violations.

He went on to complain against the Cambodian government for allowing Cambodian villagers and soldiers to settle and build a road on Thai soil.

He called for an immediate withdrawal by Cambodia from Thai property. He urged the Thai military to take action under martial law to repel the transgression.

The five co-leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy have remained in close contact with Veera and the people's network over the temple issue, PAD spokesman Suriyasai Katasila said.

The PAD fully backed the attempts to protect Thai territorial integrity and was not back-pedalling from Veera as alleged, he said.

The scuffle between the villagers and yellow shirts was instigated by the authorities, he said, adding that the yellow shirts were not going on the warpath to recover land lost to neighbouring countries.

"We agree with the option for a negotiated settlement of the border dispute and do not want war, but the government must be clear about the timetable and guidelines for negotiations," he said.

Abhisit said police were trying to mediate between the rival groups but the running battle broke out because the barricades were inadequate.

He insisted that Thailand has not surrendered sovereignty over the disputed areas and that the two countries have already agreed to forge a peaceful settlement.

He said his government had no hidden agenda but just the desire to safeguard Thai territory.

He admitted, however, that several border issues were too sensitive to bring up in public, so interested parties should hold discreet discussions with the government in order to update themselves on the status.

Democrat MP Boonyod Sukthinthai said Veera and the PAD should soften their stance on the temple issue in order to avoid inflaming the stand-off.

"It looks like Thais are fighting Thais and becoming the laughing stock for Cambodians," he said.

Thai Authorities Allow Rally a Day After Violent Protests

2009-09-20T16:39:00.001-07:00

Thai authorities allowed protesters to rally peacefully at a disputed temple site on the border with Cambodia, a day after violent clashes that injured about 20 people. Analysts say the threat of violence may have eased as more people focus on economic recovery.

Olabiyi Babalola Joseph Yai, center, president of executive council of UNESCO, views Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple (File Photo - 13 Mar 2009)

A tense standoff on the Thai-Cambodian border ended peacefully after authorities cleared the way for Thai nationalists to gather near an 11th century Khmer temple that has been at the center of raised tensions between the two countries during the past year.

The demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy, who are known for wearing distinctive "yellow shirts", read a statement calling for the Thai government to ensure Thai sovereignty over the area.

The event stood in contrast to Saturday when about 5,000 yellow-shirt supporters clashed with local residents and soldiers, injuring several people.

Thailand and Cambodia have sought to ease tensions after Cambodia unilaterally sought U.N. World Heritage status for the Preah Vihar temple. Thailand had sought a joint application over the site that is easily accessible only from Thai territory.

The yellow shirts were at the center of demonstrations leading up to a 2006 coup that ousted then prime minister Thaksin Shinatwatra, who is in exile.

The group occupied the Bangkok international airport in November, calling for the resignation of a pro-Thaksin government. Thousands of tourists were stranded, costing the country millions of dollars in lost revenue.

An author and commentator on Thai politics and business, Chris Baker, says the People's Alliance for Democracy protests on the Cambodia border appear to be aimed at defining the group as an ultra-nationalist party before general elections expected next year.

"The temptation is to see it that they are really playing a very crude nationalist game that a lot of issues that the PAD has been representing over the last couple of years rather have fallen off the agenda," said Baker. "There is really nothing substantial at stake there at all, but groups are trying to build it up and use it to make political capital. In the end both countries are suffering."

Ousted Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra talks to his supporters in front of the Anan throne at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok, 19 Sep 2009

During his weekly television broadcast, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva expressed regret over the violence and said the government is working to ensure there is no loss of sovereignty or territory.

On Saturday, more than 20,000 Thaksin supporters rallied peacefully in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of the coup that ousted him from power. But initial fears of violence during the anti-government demonstration were put to rest after Thaksin addressed the crowd by video conference link.

Analysts and government officials say the passing of the weekend without further violence indicates an improving political climate.

In April, pro-Thaksin "red shirt" supporters forced the cancellation of an ASEAN summit and street protests in Bangkok led the government to declare a state of emergency.

A Thai government spokesman told VOA he is not expecting a repeat of the trouble earlier this year because people want political stability and economic recovery.

Thaksin supporters vow new protests in Thailand

2009-09-20T16:38:00.002-07:00

A supporter of the exiled Thai former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra holds up a placard during a rally in Bangkok on September 19. Supporters of the ousted Thai premier have vowed to hold further protests, a day after rallying in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of a coup that toppled their leader.

September 20, 2009

BANGKOK (AFP) - Supporters of fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra vowed Sunday to hold further protests, a day after rallying in Bangkok on the third anniversary of the coup that toppled their leader.

The troubled kingdom was rocked by two separate demonstrations on Saturday, with hardline anti-Thaksin protesters also clashing with police near an ancient temple on the disputed border with Cambodia.

In the capital, around 26,000 so-called "Red Shirts" dispersed early Sunday after gathering outside the main government offices the previous day to hear a speech by exiled billionaire Thaksin.

"We will continue to stage our rallies. The fight will not end until democracy is restored in Thailand," Nattawut Saikuar, one of the main leaders of the Red Shirts, told AFP as the protesters went home.

He said the movement, which draws its support from Thailand's rural north where people benefited from Thaksin's populist policies, would now open schools to "educate people about democracy."

In his videolink speech on Saturday night, Thaksin urged current prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call fresh elections to foster reconciliation, warning that Thailand was becoming a "failed state".

The charismatic Thaksin is living in an unknown foreign location to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption but he remains a vastly influential figure in Thai politics.

The Red Shirts say Abhisit came to power unfairly after protesters from the rival "Yellow Shirt" movement blockaded Bangkok's airports and effectively forced the previous, pro-Thaksin government from power in December.

The Yellow Shirts were back in action on Saturday, clashing with police and villagers at the 11th century Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodian border. Dozens of people were injured including a villager who was shot in the neck.

Authorities were to allow them near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple on Sunday to read a statement urging Thailand to push Cambodian troops from the area, where there have been several cross-border battles in the past year.

"We will reaffirm Thailand's sovereignty in the five square kilometres (two square miles) around the temple and ask Cambodia to leave our territory," said Veera Somkwamkid, one of the Yellow Shirt leaders.

Ownership of the temple was awarded by the World Court in 1962 to Cambodia, but a dispute over the surrounding land was reignited after the crumbling ruins were awarded UNESCO world heritage status last year.

Oxford-educated Abhisit apologised for the temple incident.

"I am sorry that there was a clash and injuries to people," Abhisit said in his weekly television programme, adding that his government was not conceding territory to Cambodia.

"The government is not ignoring this problem, we are working on it. What we are doing is not causing the country to lose territory or sovereignty," he said.

Thailand remains deeply divided three years after the September 19, 2006 coup, which ousted Thaksin while he was out of the country attending the United Nations general assembly in New York.

Abhisit was due to leave Thailand on Sunday to fly to the same event, but the chief of the kingdom's powerful army scotched rumours that there would be another putsch in his absence.

Abhisit is largely backed by the Bangkok-based elites in the palace, military and bureaucracy -- the same groups that loathe Thaksin and want to keep him and his allies out of government.

Thai 'Yellow Shirts' allowed near Cambodia temple

2009-09-20T16:38:00.001-07:00

A view of the disputed Preah Vihear temple on the Cambodia-Thai border. Authorities in Thailand have allowed "Yellow Shirt" protesters to gather near the religious site, a day after clashes between police and villagers left dozens injured.
(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)

Sun Sep 20

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thai authorities allowed "Yellow Shirt" protesters to gather near a disputed temple on the Cambodian border Sunday, a day after clashes with police and villagers left dozens injured.

Around 30 members of the movement which blockaded Bangkok's airports last year were granted access to the entrance of ancient Preah Vihear temple and read a statement urging the government to ensure Thai sovereignty in the area.

"The government and army should do everything under the law to regain the area around the temple for Thailand," protest leader Veera Somkwamkid said, reading from the statement in footage shown on local television.

Veera also attacked Cambodia for allowing its residents and soldiers to stay on the disputed five square kilometres (two square miles) around the 11th-century temple.

Around 5,000 Yellow Shirts fought with Thai residents and police on Saturday after trying to reach the temple.

The ruins were granted to Cambodia by the World Court in 1962 but tensions resumed when they gained UN world heritage status last year. At least seven people have died in skirmishes between Thai and Cambodian forces since then.

Saturday's violence took place as 26,000 rival "Red Shirts" rallied peacefully in Bangkok on the third anniversary of the coup that toppled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The royalist Yellow Shirts led street campaigns that helped oust Thaksin in 2006 and also pushed out a government of his allies in December last year, but have now grown angry with the current government.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who came to power on the back of the airport blockade, apologised for the temple incident.

"I am sorry that there was a clash and injuries to people," Abhisit said in his weekly television programme.

"The government is not ignoring this problem, we are working on it. What we are doing is not causing the country to lose territory or sovereignty."

Cambodian foreign affairs ministry spokesman Kuoy Kong said police from his country had been deployed at the temple.

"But we're not worried at all because the Thai government said they would handle it and prevent the protesters from entering the temple," Kuoy Kong said.

PAD calls off Preah Vihear temple protest

2009-09-20T16:36:00.001-07:00

Veera: Accusations against Cambodia

Hard-liners vow to 'maintain the rage'

Writer: KING-OUA LAOHONG and PRADIT RUANGDIT
Published: 21/09/2009

The People's Alliance for Democracy has called off its protest to force Cambodians out of a disputed area near Preah Vihear temple, but is vowing to return should the government fail to ensure Thai sovereignty in the area.

Veera Somkwamkid, who led the protest in Si Sa Ket near the border with Cambodia, was allowed yesterday to read a protest statement at Pha Mor E Daeng inside Khao Phra Viharn National Park, which is close to the 4.6 square kilometres of disputed territory and stairway leading to the ruins of the ancient Hindu temple of Preah Vihear.

The permission followed Saturday's clash between PAD supporters and Si Sa Ket residents which left many injured. The movement demanded in its statement that Cambodian soldiers and villagers leave the disputed zone.

"We do not accept the World Heritage Committee's decision to grant Cambodia the right to list the Preah Vihear temple as well as land around it as a World Heritage site," the statement said.

The statement was read out in the presence of 2nd Army Corps commander Wiwalit Chornsamrit.

Mr Veera accused the Cambodian government of allowing its people to build houses, roads and temples in the disputed area, and said the protesters were only exercising their constitutional right in their struggle to protect Thai sovereignty.

He also accused Thai authorities of mobilising villagers to confront the PAD protesters in a clash which left scores injured on both sides.

Mr Veera later said army chief Anupong Paojinda should use martial law as a tool to push back the Cambodians into their own territory. He said protesters would return if the government failed to do what had been demanded.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday said the government was not turning a blind eye to the dispute and was using every possible channel to resolve the problem.

It had sought to nullify the joint statement a former government signed with Cambodia to back Phnom Penh's bid to have the temple listed as a World Heritage site, he said.

The prime minister said peaceful negotiations were being undertaken to achieve the ultimate goal of seeing Thailand and Cambodia withdraw their troops from the area.

He said Thailand had not lost an inch of territory to Cambodia.

Boonrerm Khobut, a village headman in tambon Phupha Mok in Kantharalak district, said villagers had warned the PAD not to return to renew its protest and stir up trouble between Thailand and Cambodia.

PAD coordinator Suriyasai Katasila said Chamlong Srimuang, a joint PAD leader, was misquoted in media reports as saying PAD leaders would distance themselves from Mr Veera after Saturday's protest turned nasty.

Although none of the PAD leaders sanctioned the Si Sa Ket protest, all five leaders backed calls to reclaim Thai sovereignty over the disputed area, Mr Suriyasai said.

If state officials had not coerced the villagers to turn against the PAD and mobilised them to confront the protesters, violence would not have broken out, he said.

The government should set a clear time frame for negotiations to settle the border dispute with Cambodia and the army needed to force Cambodians occupying the disputed area to move out, he said.

The PAD leaders will hold a meeting soon to discuss a plan to renew their struggle to reclaim Thai sovereignty over the area, Mr Suriyasai said.

PAD makes demands on Preah Vihear

2009-09-20T16:29:00.002-07:00

Writer: BangkokPost.com
Published: 20/09/2009

The yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) called on the Cambodian government to quickly move its villagers and troops out of the disputed border area around Preah Vihear temple.

About 300 Thai soldiers at Preah Vihear national park in Si Sa Ket province allowed 33 PAD protesters led by Veera Somkwamkid to enter the site on Sunday.

After arriving at Mo I Daeng cliff in the national park, PAD core member Veera announced that the ancient temple and the areas around it are within Thailand's territory in reference to the border demarcation in 1904.

"Now, the Cambodian people have encroached on our country. The PAD would like the Cambodian government to quickly move its people and soldiers out of this area, or else Thai people will have to do their duty in protecting the country's sovereignty," Mr Veera said.

The Suranaree Task Force commander, Maj Gen Chavalit Choonhasarn, and a group of army officials were present when Mr Veera read the PAD's statement.

The PAD members later left the national park.

PAD makes demands on Preah Vihear

2009-09-20T16:29:00.001-07:00

KRouge trial can heal wounds

2009-09-20T16:28:00.003-07:00

The trial has heard Duch (left) repeatedly accept responsibility and beg forgiveness for his role overseeing the torture and killing of over 15,000 as chief of Tuol Sleng prison. -- PHOTO: AFP

Sep 20, 2009

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA'S first war crimes trial has unearthed painful ghosts from the brutal Khmer Rouge era, but as testimony ends in the case there is growing hope that it will put past traumas to rest.

Moeurn Sarath, whose father and husband were among the two million people who died under the 1975-1979 communist regime, said it was too painful for her to watch the trial of Duch, the movement's main jailer.

Yet while she said that the proceedings made 'all those feelings come back to me again,' she believes that the UN-backed tribunal is good for victims and their families. 'It is good to try those leaders because they have killed a lot of people,' she said. 'I pray that those people who died are at rest because now justice is being found for them.'

The six-month evidence phase of the trial at the UN-backed court ended on Thursday, with the prosecution and defence due to present their final arguments to the judges on November 23. A verdict is not expected until early 2010.

The trial has heard Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, repeatedly accept responsibility and beg forgiveness for his role overseeing the torture and killing of over 15,000 as chief of Tuol Sleng prison. Proceedings have been shown on a weekly television show in Cambodia and the court said that an average of around 300 people a day came to the tribunal to watch from behind bullet-proof glass.

Few Cambodians told AFP they regularly watched proceedings, but all held some hope it would heal the mental wounds in a country that remains strewn with mass graves and bone-filled memorials.

'Every day I have to work and spend less time with the news on TV or newspaper,' said motorcycle taxi driver Sok Rorn, 45, whose mother was killed under the Khmer Rouge. 'But of course, I am aware of the trial. For certain, those people responsible for the death of my parent and many other Cambodians must be held accountable,' he added, with tears in his eyes.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia.

This year the Cambodian government has agreed for the first time to include a text on the Khmer Rouge in its high school curriculum, a key move in a country where more than 70 percent of the population was born after 1979.

'I have heard and learnt very little about the regime and all those stories. Maybe because I've not experienced it, I am not interested to find out more about it,' said Dav Sam Ath, an 18-year-old high school student. 'I'm sure the trial will help heal (victims') pain because if nobody can give them the answers of the past, how can they go on?' -- AFP

Genocide survivors seek justice

2009-09-20T16:28:00.001-07:00

Audrey K. Redmond, legal adviser, documents Rosan Ang's life. The Santa Ana resident shares her story to preserve history during a two-day workshop held by the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia in Santa Ana.CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Anthony Kim, of Long Beach, attends a two-day workshop held by the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia. Survivors tell their stories for the legal system in their native country and New York University archives at The Cambodian Family in Santa Ana.CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Rosan Ang of Santa Ana, left, bursts into tears when recalling the death of her husband and four children during the Khmer Rouge regime. She shares her story to help preserve history during a two-day workshop held by the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia in Santa Ana. Kieng Seng is the interpreter.CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MORE PHOTOS

Cambodian survivors of the Khmer Rouge submit testimony for court.

BY COURTNEY PERKES
The Orange County Register

SANTA ANA Rosan Ang never saw her husband or four oldest children again after the Khmer Rouge seized them more than 30 years ago. But on Saturday she finally caught a glimpse of justice.

Ang, 67, wiped tears as she recounted the horror of losing her family at The Cambodian Family, part of a national effort to collect information from survivors for the upcoming international justice tribunal trial of four Khmer Rouge leaders.

Audrey Redmond, a Washington, D.C., attorney, gently asked Ang what happened after the Khmer Rouge took control of Cambodia in 1975. Under dictator Pol Pot, roughly 2 million Cambodians were starved, murdered or worked to death.

"They sent us to live in the forest," said Ang, who lives in Santa Ana. "They separated my children. Only my youngest daughter survived because she was too young (to work) and she stayed with me."

Her husband went back and forth from a work camp. One day, he was tied up and taken away. She never saw him again.

As Ang spoke, Redmond patted her arm and took notes for the court's victim information form. She said the Cambodia-based tribunal is not obligated to use the information in the trial, but may choose to. The tribunal, which is currently trying one leader, is comprised of Cambodian legal officials as well as an international group from the United Nations.

More than a dozen survivors of the Khmer Rouge's brutal four-year reign attended the first day of a two-day workshop put on by the nonprofit Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia. They came to tell their stories for the legal system in their native country and also for the archives at New York University.

"They've been silent for 34 years," said Leakhena Nou, founder of the research institute and a sociology professor at Cal State Long Beach. "Now is the time to break the silence."

Volunteer Kenneth Long, a 30-year-old chemical engineer from Long Beach, thanked the group for having the courage to share their experience so that his generation would not forget. During a lunch break, he described hearing his father recount the pain he lived through for submission to the tribunal.

"It was the first time I'd ever seen him break down," Long said. "All his friends were wiped out. He was studying to be a lawyer. They killed his professors, his classmates."

Collecting the stories and filling out the official paperwork for submission to the court can take anywhere from two to eight hours.

"I had an interview with a woman the day before yesterday and she was systematically gang raped by three Khmer Rouge soldiers from morning to nightfall while she was six-and-a-half months pregnant," Nou said. "She was left to die at the rice paddy."

Nou also gave the survivors a presentation on post traumatic stress disorder. She showed photos of victims who were put to death and asked the group how they felt seeing them.

"My name was on the list of people targeted for execution but I escaped," responded 72-year-old Samien Thong of Arizona.

The testimonies will continue at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at The Cambodian Family in Santa Ana.

Contact the writer: 714-796-3686 or cperkes@ocregister.com

Country weathers protests

2009-09-19T18:41:00.004-07:00

Sun, September 20, 2009
By THE NATION ON SUNDAY, AGENCIES
Published on September 20, 2009

Red shirts defy heavy rains to mark third anniversary of coup with peaceful rally; Violence mars yellow shirts' bid to march to disputed area on border with Cambodia

The country was hit by two mass protests yesterday when about 20,000 anti-government red shirts held a rally in Bangkok and thousands of the rival yellow shirts marched towards a disputed border area near Si Sa Ket.

The Bangkok protest was generally peaceful although it was disrupted by a heavy downpour. However, the march by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to a cliff next to the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple led to a clash between the yellow shirts and local villagers, who said they feared the protest would further sour ties with Cambodia.

The red shirts gathered at the Royal Plaza to mark the third anniversary of the military coup that ousted the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, who is now a fugitive overseas.

"We came here today to mark the third anniversary of the coup, which has caused huge damage to the country," red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan told the crowd as a thunderstorm drenched the protest site.

"This will be a peaceful protest and will end by midnight if the government does not use violence," said Jatuporn, who is also an MP from the opposition Pheu Thai Party.

Thaksin was due to address the crowd later by video-link.

Authorities deployed more than 6,500 soldiers and police and imposed the Internal Security Act in the protest area, amid fears of a repeat of riots by the same group in April, which left two people dead.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said there were reports unidentified groups of trouble-makers could set off bombs in the capital to create unrest. "I am worried about the situation tonight and have warned intelligence agencies," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of security, warned yesterday that four to five groups of trouble-makers might try to incite violence during the red-shirt protest.

The red shirts continued their protest despite hours of heavy rain that flooded the protest site around the Royal Plaza.

Heavy rain started at 2.20pm and the downpour didn't stop till more than two hours later. Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship leaders Veera Musigapong, Nattawut Saikua and Chatuporn Prompan took turns to address protesters on the stage, urging them to stand their ground and not to leave the protest site.

Some protesters who came by their personal vehicles left the scene and some waded through knee-length water at certain spots and found shelter at roofed bus stops.

When the rain stopped, they converged again at the Royal Plaza. They held hands vowing not to give up even if it rained heavier. The back of their main rally stage read: "Three years against bureaucratic polity to found a new Thai state".

More than 100 pieces of plywood were kept behind the stage, ready to be installed if the authorities turned on a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) to disrupt their protest.

Sanchai Chadapet, a leader of the red shirts, took to the make-shift stage on a pickup truck loaded with loud speakers after moving on Si Ayutthaya Road to the Si Sao Residence of Privy Council president General Prem Tinsulanonda. He slammed the elder statesman for 30 minutes before an audience of 50 red shirts before dispersing to join the main stage. They carried a 500-metre long cloth with a message "Give us back the 1997 Constitution".

Police threw a security blanket around Prem's residence.

The red shirts accuse Prem of masterminding the 2006 coup.

Earlier yesterday, some 4,000 red-shirt supporters of Thaksin showed up outside Prem's country home in Nakhon Ratchasima but called off their protest when confronted by an Army guard and informed that the chief royal adviser was not there.

Thai protesters mark coup's 3rd anniversary, nationalists spark brawl near Cambodia

2009-09-19T18:41:00.003-07:00

Clashes over Thai-Cambodia border

2009-09-19T18:41:00.001-07:00

Preah Vihear has been scene of deadly clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops [EPA]

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Thai "Yellow Shirt" protesters have clashed with police and villagers at an ancient temple in territory at the centre of a dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.

At least 15 people were injured in northeastern Sisaket province after members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) tried to march to the gates of the temple near land claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia, demanding the Thai government seize the disputed territory.

Protesters broke through barricades in attempts to reach the 11th century Preah Vihear temple near the border with Cambodia on Saturday.

Thai riot police used their shields to push back protesters armed with sticks who were trying to beat local villagers.

'Splinter group' blamed

Wayne Hay, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the region, said about 4,000 protesters had descended on the disputed border with Cambodia "to try to force some Cambodian villagers out of the area and back into Cambodia proper".

"There is a Thai police blockade that the PAD broke through with a bit of violence and also about four or five hundred villagers came out to try to stop the PAD from progressing," Hay said.

"There are also some skirmishes. We are hearing that there were several injuries as [protesters] went through that police blockade."

The PAD's leaders in Bangkok had distanced themselves from the protest, saying that a "splinter group" was behind it, Hay said.

Tear gas deployed

Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister, said security forces were trying to persuade the protesters to back down, amid fears that their actions could spark further conflict with Cambodia.

"I am asking the police and soldiers to negotiate with the PAD," he told reporters in Bangkok.

The temple, granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008, has been the scene of several deadly battles between Thai and Cambodian troops over the past year.

Cambodia said on Thursday it had deployed riot police with dogs, batons and tear gas at the temple.

Deaths in gunbattle

The Yellow Shirts have demanded that the government push Cambodian forces out of the disputed area around it.

The two countries have been at loggerheads for decades over Preah Vihear.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia.

But Thailand retains rights to enter the ancient Khmer temple, which has crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings.

A gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while four people died in clashes in 2008.

RED SHIRTS

2009-09-19T07:20:00.002-07:00

Supporters of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gather in the rain at the royal plaza in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Thai nationalists clashed with police and villagers Saturday as they tried to march on an ancient temple on the Cambodian border, while anti-government protesters in the capital marked the third anniversary of a coup that continues to create political turmoil.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A supporter of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra holds up a poster with his portrait during a rally at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok September 19, 2009. Thailand's government enacted a tough security law on Tuesday September 15, giving the military broad powers to control the planned rally on the third anniversary of the coup that led to Thaksin's ouster REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

A supporter of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra holds up a poster during a rally at the Royal Plaza in Bangkok September 19, 2009. Thailand's government enacted a tough security law on Tuesday giving the military broad powers to control a rally this weekend by supporters of Thaksin on the third anniversary of the coup that led to Thaksin's ouster. REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

Supportters of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gather in the rain at royal plaza in Bangkok on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. More than 6,000 police were out in force Saturday in Thailand's capital as anti-government protesters marked the third anniversary of a military coup they say was a major setback for the democratic system. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Supportters of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gather at royal plaza in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. More than 6,000 police were out in force Saturday in Thailand's capital as anti-government protesters marked the third anniversary of a military coup they say was a major setback for the democratic system. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Supporters of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup three years ago, gather under umbrellas in Royal Plaza Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Demonstrators were gather to mark the anniversary they claimed stalled democracy in Thailand.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Soldiers take part in a drill outside Government House in Bangkok September 19, 2009. Thailand's government enacted a tough security law on Tuesday giving the military broad powers to control a planned rally this weekend by supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra on the third anniversary of the coup that led to Thaksin's ouster. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Soldiers take part in a drill outside Government House in Bangkok September 19, 2009. Thailand's government enacted a tough security law on Tuesday giving the military broad powers to control a planned rally this weekend by supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra on the third anniversary of the coup that led to Thaksin's ouster. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Soldiers walk into Government House in Bangkok September 19, 2009. Thailand's government enacted a tough security law on Tuesday giving the military broad powers to control a planned rally this weekend by supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra on the third anniversary of the coup that led to Thaksin's ouster. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Soldiers walk inside Government House in Bangkok September 19, 2009. Thailand's government enacted a tough security law on Tuesday giving the military broad powers to control a planned rally this weekend by supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra on the third anniversary of the coup that led to Thaksin's ouster. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Thai protesters mark Thaksin coup anniversary

2009-09-19T07:19:00.001-07:00

More than 9,000 soldiers and police have been deployed throughout the city

The Red Shirts want current prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign and hold elections

The putsch of September 19 plunged the kingdom into three years of political turmoil

By Thanaporn Promyamyai (AFP)

BANGKOK — Thousands of red-shirted protesters rallied in Thailand's capital amid tight security on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of a coup against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The putsch of September 19, 2006 plunged the kingdom into three years of political turmoil which shows little sign of ending, with supporters of the exiled Thaksin leading the latest round of protests.

Tensions rose further on Saturday when rival anti-Thaksin "Yellow Shirt" demonstrators clashed with police near an ancient temple on the disputed northeastern border with Cambodia.

In Bangkok, the government imposed a draconian internal security law for the latest "Red Shirt" demonstrations and deployed more than 9,000 soldiers and police to guard key locations.

"We came here today to mark the third anniversary of the coup, which has caused huge damage to the country," Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan told the crowd, as a thunderstorm drenched the protest site.

The Red Shirts want current prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign and hold elections. Massive anti-government riots in April left two people dead and derailed a major Asian summit.

Police estimated that around 5,000 people had arrived at the protest site by the middle of the afternoon and that more would come for a video or telephone speech by Thaksin scheduled for the evening.

"This will be a peaceful protest and will end by midnight if the government does not use violence," Jatuporn said.

On the Cambodian border, around 5,000 demonstrators broke through barricades and were moving towards the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, the scene of several deadly battles between Thai and Cambodian troops over the past year.

Television footage showed yellow-clad protesters armed with sticks beating local villagers and Thai riot police, who pushed back with shields.

The staunchly royalist Yellow Shirts want the government to push out Cambodian forces from an area around the temple.

The Yellow Shirts helped bring down Thaksin in 2006 and effectively toppled the previous pro-Thaksin government in December when they blockaded Bangkok's airports, but have started to turn their fire on the current administration.

In Bangkok, Abhisit said he had ordered authorities to keep the peace at both protests and said there were reports that unidentified groups of troublemakers could set off bombs in the capital to create unrest.

"I have instructed officials to be aware of inciting incidents and to closely monitor the movements of those groups. I am worried about the situation tonight and have warned intelligence agencies," Abhisit told reporters.

Thailand remains deeply divided between supporters of the twice-elected Thaksin, who are concentrated in rural areas, and his foes in the Bangkok-based power cliques of the palace, military and bureaucracy.

Powerful army chief Anupong Paojinda on Friday denied rumours the military was about to stage a coup against Abhisit, who has been weakened by a recent battle with coalition partners over the new national police chief.

Abhisit is heading to New York at the weekend for the UN General Assembly -- and it was while billionaire Thaksin was out of the country to attend the same event that the military overthrew him in 2006.

The ongoing political chaos has damaged Thailand's image as a tourist-friendly destination and affected foreign investment in an already struggling, export-dependent economy.

YELLOW SHIRTS

2009-09-19T07:10:00.001-07:00

An injured demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy is lead away following a clash with local villagers near Sisaket, Thailand, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Thai nationalists clashed with police and villagers Saturday as they tried to march on an ancient temple on the Cambodian border, while anti-government protesters in the capital marked the third anniversary of a coup that continues to create political turmoil.(AP Photo)

Supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) scuffle with riot police during a march along a highway leading to the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, along the Cambodian border September 19, 2009. Hundreds of protesters marched to the disputed Thai-Cambodia area of Preah Vihear to demand for the return of the 11th century temple area to Thailand.REUTERS/Stringer

Demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy clash with local villagers near Sisaket, Thailand, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Thai nationalists clashed with police and villagers Saturday as they tried to march on a temple on the Cambodian border, while anti-government protesters in the capital marked the third anniversary of a coup that continues to create political turmoil.(AP Photo)

Demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy clash with Police and local villagers near Sisaket, Thailand, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Thai nationalists clashed with police and villagers Saturday as they tried to march on a temple on the Cambodian border, while anti-government protesters in the capital marked the third anniversary of a coup that continues to create political turmoil.(AP Photo)

Demonstrators from the People's Alliance for Democracy clash with Thai Police and local villagers near Sisaket, Thailand, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Thai nationalists clashed with police and villagers Saturday as they tried to march on a temple on the Cambodian border, while anti-government protesters in the capital marked the third anniversary of a coup that continues to create political turmoil.(AP Photo)

Thai villagers fall on the ground after clashing with protesters, left, as riot police officers try to safe him during a protest against the occupation of land by Cambodian people in Sisaket province, northern Thailand Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Violence broke out as a political group broke through police lines to march to a temple on the Cambodian border and demand the Thai government recover disputed territory.(AP Photo)

Thai riot police officers, foreground, and soldiers, background, block the road leading to a disputed area near the Thai-Cambodian border as protesters, not seen, marching through during a protest against the occupation of land by Cambodian people Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009 in Sisaket province, northeastern Thailand. Hospitals said 15 people were slightly injured.(AP Photo)

A Thai villager fights his way with a knife during clash with protesters, not seen, as riot police officers look on during a protest against the occupation of land by Cambodian people in Sisaket province, northern Thailand, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Violence broke out as a political group broke through police lines to march to a temple on the Cambodian border and demand the Thai government recover disputed territory. Hospitals said 15 people were slightly injured.(AP Photo)

PCHUM BEN

2009-09-19T06:43:00.000-07:00

Cambodians ride on their water buffalos toward the racing field in Preah Vihear Sour village, Kandal province, northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Residents of the village held the annual water buffalo racing to mark the end of the traditional celebration widely known in the country as Festival of the Dead.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodians ride their water buffalos past onlookers toward the racing field in Preah Vihear Sour village, Kandal province, northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Residents of the village held the annual water buffalo racing to mark the end of the traditional celebration widely known in the country as Festival of the Dead.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodians riding on water buffalos arrive at the racing field in Preah Vihear Sour village, Kandal province, northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Residents of the village held the annual water buffalo racing to mark the end of the traditional celebration widely known in the country as Festival of the Dead.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodians riding on their water buffalos get ready for their racing in Preah Vihear Sour village, Kandal province, northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Residents of the village held the annual water buffalo racing to mark the end of the traditional celebration widely known in the country as Festival of the Dead.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian man riding on his water buffalo attends the water buffalo racing in Preah Vihear Sour village, Kandal province, northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. Residents of the village held the annual water buffalo racing to mark the end of the traditional celebration widely known in the country as Festival of the Dead.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Thai protesters clash with police near Cambodia temple

2009-09-19T06:42:00.001-07:00

The view of the Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province in April.

Thai policemen stand guard at Government House in Bangkok as thousands of red-shirted opposition protesters rally.

Asia Pacific News
19 September 2009

BANGKOK - Thai "Yellow Shirt" protesters clashed with police and villagers Saturday near an ancient temple on the Cambodian border at the centre of a dispute between the two countries, television showed.

Demonstrators broke through barricades and were moving towards the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, the scene of several deadly battles between Thai and Cambodian troops over the past year, the footage showed.

The protest by the royalist movement, known as the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), came as rival "Red Shirts" massed in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of a coup that toppled then-premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Television channels showed yellow-clad protesters armed with sticks trying to beat local villagers and Thai riot police, who pushed back with shields.

Current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said security forces were trying to persuade the protesters to back down, amid fears that their actions could spark further conflict with Cambodia.

"I am asking the police and soldiers to negotiate with the PAD," Abhisit told reporters in Bangkok.

The Yellow Shirts have demanded that the government push Cambodian forces out of the disputed area around the temple, where tensions have been high since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.

Cambodia said on Thursday it had deployed riot police with dogs, batons and tear gas at the temple.

The two countries have been at loggerheads for decades over Preah Vihear.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, but the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.

The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people.

The Yellow Shirts helped topple Thaksin in 2006 and then blockaded Bangkok's airports in December to bring down the previous, pro-Thaksin government, but have recently turned their fire on Abhisit's administration.

Protesters clash with villagers, police near Preah Vihear temple

2009-09-19T06:41:00.001-07:00

http://enews.mcot.net/

SI SA KET, Sept 19 (TNA) - People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demonstrators clashed with police and residents in the northeastern province of Si Sa Ket near the disputed Preah Vihear border area with Cambodia.

The scuffle lasted 10 minutes as villagers protested the presence of the yellow shirt PAD members there to oppose Cambodian building new structures in the area contested by Thailand and Cambodia near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Both sides used catapults and sticks to hurt each other before Thai police on security in the area separated them. A number of villagers were reported injured in the clash.

Villagers living near the disputed border area opposed the protest by the ‘Yellow Shirt’ protesters as they believed it could impact Thailand’s cross-border trade economy and relations with Cambodia.

By 2 pm the PAD demonstrators broke through barricades and marched towards the 11th century temple at the centre of several clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers after it was awarded World Heritage Site status in July last year by the United Nations cultural body UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who continue to claim ownership of the site.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told journalists in Bangkok that he had received reports on the clash between the PAD demonstrators and the villagers and that he had ordered officials in the area to negotiate with the PAD in order to end the rally as soon as possible.

An international news agency reported that the Cambodian government announced on Thursday that it had deployed riot police with dogs, batons and tear gas at the temple. (TNA)

Traditional annual buffalo-racing ceremony held in Cambodia

2009-09-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

www.chinaview.cn

2009-09-19

A Cambodian boy rides his buffalo during an annual buffalo-racing ceremony at Virhear Sour village in Kandal province, 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Phnom Penh September 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Cambodian men ride buffaloes during an annual buffalo-racing ceremony at Virhear Sour village in Kandal province, 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Phnom Penh September 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Cambodian men ride buffaloes during an annual buffalo-racing ceremony at Virhear Sour village in Kandal province, 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Phnom Penh September 19, 2009. The ceremony, which started more than 70 years ago, is held to honour the Neakta Preah Srok pagoda spirit. After the ceremony, the buffaloes are auctioned off to the highest bidder.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Tight security for rally in Bangkok

2009-09-19T06:38:00.002-07:00

Three years after a bloodless coup, Thailand is as divided and volatile as ever [AFP]

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Security is tight in Bangkok as Thaksin Shinawatra's supporters plan to hold a mass rally to mark the third anniversary of the coup that ousted their leader as Thailand's prime minister.

The government has imposed the Internal Security Act around the rally venue.

From early morning on Saturday, military checkpoints had been set up as well as barricades to contain any potential violence.

Thousands of police and military personnel in anti-riot gear secured the area.

The government has invoked the Internal Security Act until September 22, allowing the military to close roads and make arrests.

Violent protests

Members of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, who wear red shirts to distinguish themselves, plan to gather at the Royal Plaza before marching to the residence of the king's adviser, Prem Tinsulanonda, in the afternoon.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 81, has reigned for more than six decades, serving as head of state through 15 successful or attempted coups and 16 constitutions.

Interview: Thaksin speaks

Background: Who's who
Economy: Vital tourist trade threatened
Focus : Scarred by 'Mad Monday'
Interview: What the Red Shirts want
Timeline: Thai crisis Pictures: Red Shirts retreat
Profile: Thaksin Shinawatra
Video: Thai protesters retreat
Video: Red Shirt leader speaks
Video: Thaksin discusses Thailand's troubles

Thai police deployed about 600 police to protect Prem's house in the country's northeast, where he planned to stay during the pro-Thaksin rally, the Bangkok Post reported on Friday, without citing where it got the information.

Panitan Wattanayagorn, a spokesman for the Thai government, told Al Jazeera: "Demonstrations in a democratic society is normal as long as there is order, are held under the law and there is no violence."

Violent street protests by Thaksin's supporters and opponents have blocked roads, airports and government buildings, bringing Bangkok to a halt twice in the past year.

Thaksin won landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005 but was overthrown in the coup.

But he was convicted last year by the supreme court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions on conflict of interest charges in relation to a land purchase scandal.

Earlier in the year, hundreds of Red Shirt protesters stormed an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting in the beach resort Pattaya.

The protest spread to Bangkok where troops were called in to bring Thaksin supporters under control and to remove them from Government House which they had been occupying for months.

Royal pardon plea

In August, Thaksin supporters submitted a petition, requesting a royal pardon for the fugitive politicians including Thaksin and his former party members, but a pardon has not been granted.

Thaksin remains popular among Thailand's rural poor for the populist policies he introduced.

Shinawatra remains popular among Thailand's rural poor despite his self-imposed exile [EPA]

Despite being in self-imposed exile, Thaksin remains an influential force and has sent almost daily video and audio messages to Red Shirt rallies, supporting their call for the current prime minister to resign and hold fresh elections.

The Red Shirts took their cue from protests last year by rival Yellow Shirts, who took to the streets in huge demonstrations against successive pro-Thaksin governments.

Those protests culminated in the shutdown of Bangkok's two airports and court rulings ordering the dissolution of the government, paving the way for Abhisit Vejjajiva to become prime minister in December.

The Red Shirts took to the streets again last month, accusing Abhisit of taking power illegally.

They say the Thai elite - the military, judiciary and other unelected officials - are interfering in politics, and are seeking Thaksin's rehabilitation.

Thai protesters mark anniversary of 2006 coup

2009-09-19T06:38:00.001-07:00

Anti-government demonstrators gather at Royal Plaza Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Demonstrators were gathering to mark the third anniversary of a coup that ousted former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Supportters of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gather in the rain at royal plaza in Bangkok on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. More than 6,000 police were out in force Saturday in Thailand's capital as anti-government protesters marked the third anniversary of a military coup they say was a major setback for the democratic system. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A supporter of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup three years ago, dance to music in Royal Plaza Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Demonstrators were gather to mark the anniversary they claimed stalled democracy in Thailand. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Anti-government demonstrators gather at Royal Plaza Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Demonstrators were gathering to mark the third anniversary of a coup that ousted former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Bangkok police avoid the sun as they watch an anti-government demonstration at Royal Plaza Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Anti-government demonstrators were gathering to mark the third anniversary of a bloodless coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Supportters of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gather at royal plaza in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009. More than 6,000 police were out in force Saturday in Thailand's capital as anti-government protesters marked the third anniversary of a military coup they say was a major setback for the democratic system. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

By GRANT PECK (AP)

BANGKOK — More than 6,000 police were out in force Saturday in Thailand's capital as anti-government protesters marked the third anniversary of a military coup they say was a major setback for the democratic system.

In a separate protest Saturday in northeastern Thailand, violence broke out as a different political group broke through police lines to march to a temple on the Cambodian border and demand the Thai government recover disputed territory.

Many of the protesters in Bangkok are supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister who was ousted Sept. 19, 2006, after being accused of abuse of power and disrespect to the country's constitutional monarch, 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The demonstrators, who gathered in a large public square, want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thaksin's rival, to step down. They claim he came to power illegitimately with the help of the military and the judiciary, two pillars of the Thai ruling class.

Thaksin is popular among the country's rural majority, for whom he instituted generous social welfare programs.

"We are here to show that we want democracy. This government didn't come from democracy. They're a dictatorship in disguise," said 62-year-old Jiraporn Litmontri from northeastern Loei province.

The rally was expected to reach its height Saturday evening. Several thousand people turned out early, but a heavy rain swept through the city at mid afternoon, possibly discouraging attendance. Police had said 20,000-30,000 people were expected.

An election after the coup returned Thaksin's allies to power, but anti-Thaksin protesters caused chaos by occupying the prime minister's office for three months, and the capital's two airports for a week. Court rulings purged two pro-Thaksin prime ministers and led to Abhisit's taking power.

Thaksin's supporters say the Thai establishment — royalists, the military and Bangkok's business-oriented middle and upper class — is unwilling to yield the privileges it has long held at the countryside's expense.

Much of the area near the rally, which is home to government and military offices, was garrisoned to keep the protesters from causing disruption. Abhisit's government earlier this week invoked an emergency law to allow the military to restore order in case of violence.

During the last major unrest in April, the government declared a state of emergency after anti-Abhisit demonstrators overran a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders at the resort town of Pattaya and held a protest in Bangkok that spiraled into rioting, leaving at least two dead and hundreds injured.

In the northeastern province of Sisaket, the group that led anti-Thaksin protests last year — the People's Alliance for Democracy — clashed with local residents and brushed through police lines as they marched toward a temple on the Cambodia border to publicize their demand that Thailand seek the return of disputed border territory.

The alliance last year seized on the issue of land around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple to stir up nationalist sentiment and attract political support. They accuse current and past governments of failing to protect Thai land and national sovereignty.

Villagers who opposed the protest clashed with the marchers. Both sides numbered in the hundreds, and many were armed with sticks and slingshots or other homemade weapons.

The Thai army had warned the protesters against marching to the border, and about 50 Cambodian riot police and a special canine unit were deployed in the area.

Cambodian soldiers were ordered to prevent the protesters from crossing the border, said Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat, a spokesman for the country's Defense Ministry.

"Once they enter Cambodian territory, our forces will quickly crack down," he said.

Thai protesters mark Thaksin coup anniversary

2009-09-19T06:37:00.001-07:00

YELLOW SHIRTS

2009-09-19T06:36:00.000-07:00

The Khmer Rouge Tribunal: the start of a very long reconciliation process?

2009-08-27T04:18:00.000-07:00

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 25/08/2009: Sotheara Chhim, psychiatrist, during his testimony on a screen in the press room on Day 64 in Duch’s trial at the ECCC  
© John Vink/ Magnum

Ka-set
http://cambodia.ka-set.info/

By Stéphanie Gée
25-08-2009

Sotheara Chhim, Cambodian psychiatrist and director of the Phnom Penh based organisation TPO (Transcultural Psychosocial Organization), was heard as an expert on Tuesday August 25th. A testimony that was necessary to assess the trauma of the victims of the Khmer Rouge in the Cambodian society and its impact, both individual and collective. Unfortunately, the interpretation struggled, as some of the doctor’s answers were cut and the technical vocabulary was confused. The expert explained how the Khmer Rouge Tribunal could represent a starting point for healing and reconciliation and believed this process must be completed by another – later – mechanism on reparation.

The Khmer Rouge’s work of destruction
Dr Sotheara Chhim started by painting a very dark picture of the social situation under the Khmer Rouge, marked by a climate of distrust and fear resulting from a people categorisation in particular, the destruction of Khmer culture and its religious foundations, the ban on the freedom to worship decided by the new rulers of the country, keen to erase the past. “Cambodians thus suffered a massive psychological impact. People used their beliefs as a basis to solve their problems and confer a meaning and logical explanation to what happened around them. But the destruction of these beliefs resulted in a psychological deficit. So, when they encountered a problem, people could no longer find any solution. The Khmer Rouge did not allow them to pay tribute as they were taught by tradition or to practice their religion. The Khmer Rouge also forced families to separate.  Children were taken away from their parents. While at a young age, they need their parents’ love, they were deprived of it. In addition, people were tortured, deprived of food, and this also contributed to the trauma. […] [Children] were also forced to spy on their own parents and some of them even killed them. This experience left a more than bitter taste in the mouth of these children, because the Khmer Rouge destroyed the health of each of these beings by forcing them to work excessively and not giving them decent enough accommodation. Also, there was the state of constant fear in which people used to live, over a long period of time.”

Many people traumatised, few psychiatrists
The practitioner claimed 40% of Cambodians over 18 had suffered and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A recent study under the direction of U.S. scholar Jeffrey Sonis stated a PTSD prevalence of 11.2% in the whole Cambodian population. Dr Sotheara Chhim stressed it was an important proportion compared to the small number of psychiatrists in the Kingdom – they were 32 – while they were barely 10 in 1994, for a population of 14 million.

A trauma that is present or ready to reappear
He explained that the patients treated by his NGO, TPO, constantly relived past events. One would feel the tears coming when the rain started to fall, reminding him that under the Khmer Rouge, they were exposed to the weather all the time. Another would have the same nightmare over and over again, in which he was chased by Pol Pot’s men trying to kill him. “Some victims who experienced these events suffer from depression and struggle to hang on to life. They lose the sense of effort needed to be parents for their children. […] Due to these traumatic events, many people have sunk into alcohol. Some have developed hypertension problems or chronic illnesses.”

The lack of psychological and psychiatric services in the country after the Khmer Rouge period only amplified the victims’ trauma, the doctor acknowledged. So did the concern, for many, to provide for their families’ immediate needs, in a logic of survival. “This does not mean that people are not traumatised, but that they did not have the opportunity to be treated. And one day, this trauma will reappear or has reappeared. […] However, following the creation of this tribunal, people may remember the past and put aside their daily survival and now focus on their mental problems because this trauma has reappeared. The tribunal can help them face their trauma and focus on its treatment.”

A whole society marked by the Khmer Rouge tragedy
Dr Sotheara Chhim argued the impact of this tragedy was inevitably felt in the generations who did not experience the Khmer Rouge regime directly, even though no relevant study has been carried out. He gave as an example the impact that a survivor racked by alcoholism may have on his or her entire family. He reminded that countries that went through important conflicts often faced rising violence, domestic in particular, and Cambodia was no exception.

By dismantling the family unit, the Khmer Rouge threw children into an “identity crisis.” “They no longer knew if they were the children of their parents or the Angkar,” which also indoctrinated them so they would execute any order, including the most barbaric ones. “Now, they are the parents and they reproduce what they experienced younger with their own children,” the psychiatrist insisted.

Truth and justice, a source of healing
In response to judge Lavergne who interrogated him on the impact of a trial like Duch’s on victims with psychological disorders, Dr Sotheara Chhim replied it may help them to overcome their trauma to see justice be given and it may allow them to get the answers to their questions through the trial proceedings. But he warned: if the judicial process may allow them to heal their wounds, it was still a long road to overcoming their trauma, as many survivors continued to function as if nothing had happened.

In Democratic Kampuchea, the supreme Angkar, the abstract ruling body which concealed the Communist Party of Kampuchea, was constantly invoked in all the decisions implemented. Yet, the expert noted, “during the trial, we heard former Khmer Rouge shift the blame on the Angkar themselves. Some used the Angkar as a shelter to deny their responsibilities under the Khmer Rouge. This can create even more suffering for the victims, as they come up against this denial of responsibility. Consequently, the healing process depends on the good will of the accused in particular, in terms of telling the truth, showing who was behind the crimes perpetrated by this regime. If that does not happen, the psychological wounds inflicted upon the population will not heal. We have seen it. Some civil parties do not accept the apologies made to them because they deem them inappropriate and insincere. There can be no complete process there. That being said, they may find some kind of relief in expressing what they have to say.”

The importance of victims’ participation to the trial
International co-Prosecutor Vincent de Wilde then listed a series of sagacious questions. “For the victims who joined as civil parties and for Cambodian society at large, what is the importance of their active participation to the trial, in public, before the nation? Can the other victims identify with these civil parties’ action and can that play a cathartic role for Cambodian society, without being a miracle solution?” Dr Sotheara Chhim concurred. “By coming to testify, these victims somehow made this trial their forum, where they can express publicly emotions buried for all these years and show that what happened under the Khmer Rouge did really happen.” He added that to this day, this chapter of Cambodian history had not featured in school curriculum and was not talked about either. “There was like a silence conspiracy. People avoided talking about it.” The psychiatrist hoped the testimonies made before this Chamber would contribute to breaking that silence.

A healing difficult to accomplish outside the country
The sadness felt by survivors over the loss of relatives under the Khmer Rouge as well as their anger seemed to increase with time. “We have observed that it was the case in particular of people who were outside the country during the time of Democratic Kampuchea and lost relatives here, although they had access to psychological care,” the co-Prosecutor pursued. “Do you think there was a transfer onto the civil party of the fear and suffering the civil party imagines their deceased to have experienced?” For victims living abroad, the expert specified, it was no less difficult for them to overcome their trauma, as they were far from their homes, in countries that did not share the same traditions or beliefs, not to mention the same language or past. So, although they experienced better living conditions there, “they still lost something.” To illustrate his words, he evoked a Cambodian patient based in Australia, for whom the treatment he received did nothing to alleviate his suffering. “In fact, it was difficult for him to practice his religion. He came back to Cambodia and was thus able to pray for the soul of his parents. It provided him a lot of psychological relief. When he returned to Australia, he was feeling much better.”

Why the lack of forgiveness to the accused?
Vincent de Wilde continued. “How can you explain the lack of pity […] of the civil parties – apart from one exception – towards the accused as well as the total lack of forgiveness towards an accused who has cooperated and expressed regret, at least to some extent? Must justice be done first to break the lock of impunity, before other steps may be envisaged towards the acceptance of apologies or, at an even later stage, forgiveness and reconciliation? In other words, are we only at the start of a very long process towards reconciliation?” In Dr Sotheara Chhim’s view, it was important to first understand the needs of the victims, the causes of their post-traumatic stress and their wishes. Then, “if justice is given, the civil parties will be able to draw the consequences and they may forgive. This forgiveness is a fundamental key to open the door to psychological healing. In the absence of forgiveness, it is very difficult for this psychological healing to take place, which impacts on national reconciliation. So, here, there is a willingness both from the accused and the victims to try and work together for the truth to emerge, a truth that can be accepted by the victims.”

Both torturer and victim?
The Belgian co-Prosecutor then interrogated him on the meeting between civil parties and the accused that took place in a trial. “If an accused, any accused, tries, through his repeated words, to also place himself on the side of the victims and thus share their suffering, in what psychological state may the victims or civil parties end up, faced with this confusion of roles that may lead them to believe that the torturer is also a victim or that victims may have also been torturers? What is the impact of that kind of speech on civil parties?” The expert recognised the crucial importance of such a question. He did not want to venture on the case of former Khmer Rouge leaders and even less so those indicted by the tribunal. So, he discussed the situation of children who were taken away from their parents by the Angkar, forcibly recruited and sent to the frontline or ended up posted at S-21. “At first glance, they are both victims and authors of crimes. […] It is a complex circle.”

The balance between the justice of men and that of Buddha
“One civil party told us about the clash between his personal suffering and the concept of karma, while also stressing some degree of clash between the justice of men and the justice of Buddha,” Vincent de Wilde recalled. “In light of the main religion in this country, can karma play a role in the fact that a number of victims do not dare to participate in a legal process before the justice of men and prefer to refer only to the justice of God and not fight as much as they might do in a different culture?” Dr Sotheara Chhim highlighted the fact that the majority of Cambodians believed in Buddhism and therefore in the principle of karma and considered that “vengeance is not a solution to problems.” In his view, “there must be a balance reached between the concept of karma and that of the justice of men so that justice may be given.” However, he deemed, that pertained to each person’s individual action and choice.

Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 25/08/2009: Visitors from Stung, the district of the accused, who left their homes at 3am to attend the hearing on Day 64 in Duch’s trial at the ECCC
© John Vink/ Magnum

The victims’ fear about testifying in public
The expert later repeated that the psychological healing of the victims of the Khmer Rouge regime depended on the honesty of the accused and the former Democratic Kampuchea leaders. “We know who those responsible are, but the lack of acknowledgement of responsibility is a further burden on the victims’ shoulders […]. Cambodians are angry with that failure to recognise their responsibilities.” They were also reluctant to come and testify before the Chamber. As civil party co-lawyer Alain Werner observed, some of their clients had felt “too fragile” at the last minute to come and speak and face the accused. “There are several causes,” Dr Sotheara Chhim explained. “First, there is the psychological aspect and the fact that the victims were not treated. I admire the civil parties who found the courage to testify. […] Some say that by watching the trial and seeing the accused, they had flash-backs, they remembered, and the pain was therefore revived. […] They also lack self-confidence and do not feel safe enough to be able to speak in public and they continue to live in fear today. The Khmer Rouge taught people to distrust one another. They made them spy on one another. […] The victims often told us they didn’t trust anyone.”

Justice must be given “in several steps”
For his part, Kar Savuth, Duch’s national co-lawyer, questioned a potential healing for survivors, given that those responsible for the other 200 prisons that existed under the Khmer Rouge, as well as other known torturers, were not prosecuted today. The psychiatrist stressed it was important that justice be given in several steps. “There are the ECCC [Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia], which constitute a somewhat symbolic justice because those most responsible for the Khmer Rouge crimes are being judged here. For the psychological healing of all the victims at the community level, another reconciliation mechanism must be established.” He did not know what form it should take, but expressed his conviction that NGOs, local authorities and the government must join their efforts to set up “a joint reconciliation forum.” He suggested the creation of local courts as an option.

Too soon to talk about forgiveness?
As for his international colleague, François Roux, he returned to the issue of forgiveness – “a slow process,” as the witness described it – “which certainly goes beyond this hearing.” “I do not quite understand that one may ask here a victim who came to express their suffering: are you ready to forgive? That is not today’s debate. You recalled that it is only from the moment that justice is done that, possibly, something may happen between the victims and the accused. But am I right to say that it is too soon today to suddenly ask a victim: are you ready to forgive?” I am not an expert in forgiveness,” Dr Sotheara Chhim said. However, he agreed it was “too soon” to talk about forgiveness “because nothing has been clearly shown yet.” “This process may happen once the trial is over? Forgiveness is both an individual and collective process. […] But some will remain locked in their anger until the end of their life.” He added that this issue of forgiveness was a recent one in people’s minds. For the time being, he hammered, “the most important thing is to reveal the truth.”

Preparing the victims to see some of their expectations disappointed
Then, François Roux claimed it was important to take “a few illusions” away from the victims, by warning them they would not necessarily have all the answers to their questions, “though legitimate,” and that “in spite of that, they will have to seek healing.” “Who can understand Pol Pot? That we seek to establish the reality of the facts, yes. But why the Khmer Rouge regime? Will someone be able some day to explain the ‘why the Khmer Rouge regime’?” The expert considered it was important “to know the truth and that justice be done. That is what the victims wish. Those are the conditions that may lead to the healing of psychological wounds. I think it is difficult to attain this objective. In my view, everybody can project a version of truth according to their understanding. That depends on the degree of acceptability of the truth for the victims. In a word, it is difficult to disclose the truth and those who know the truth are the executioners and God.” No civil party lawyer returned to the issue of forgiveness and its acceptance, which was so skilfully reclaimed by the defence to their advantage.

Duch, ready to hear the victims discuss their trauma
It was the turn of the accused to speak on the contents of the expert’s testimony. From the outset, Duch specified he “did not have any knowledge on psychology,” but considered what had been said to be “positive” because it had no bias.” He recognised that the “immense” consequences of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge “will still be felt for a long time.” He then again said he accepted the responsibility of the crimes committed at S-21 and deserved “the sentence that will be deemed fair by the Cambodian people.” “When I find myself faced with the victims, the widowers, the orphans, I understand that they condemn me and I bow to these victims. […] I regret that not all had a chance to speak.” Such was the case of Mr Chau Seng’s widower (a former minister under the Sangkum Reastr Niyum who was interned at Boeung Trabek and eliminated at S-21), who chose not to join as civil party, he noted, to “cast a stone at him.” However, he said he was ready to believe she experienced “something that had a long-term psychological impact” and bowed to her “from a distance.” Duch ended his declaration by expressing his “respect” to the public crowding the gallery and including… people from his native village in the province of Kampong Thom.