ofGay: 2009-09-27

The second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh

(L-R) Vietnam's Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung,Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Laos' Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win prepare to take a photo during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

(L-R) Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong , Laos' Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win poss for a photo during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win attends the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya speaks during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunt (Post by CAAI News Media)

Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada attends the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada (C) leads a delegation attending the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) nort-west of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009 . REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) shakes hands with Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win (L) during a private meeting at Hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 2, 2009 . REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) greets Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win (L) during a private meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 2, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodia prime minister Hun Sen (R) greets Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win (L) during a private meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 2, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (L) ,Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung (2nd L) ,cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (2nd R) and Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong attend the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

CAAI: Day in Picture

Okada vows support for Mekong

Defeating Big Brother's censoship, one Bluetooth reach at a time

A woman checks her mobile phone on a Beijing subway line, July 19, 2007. (AFP)

Bluetooth Breaches Firewall

2009-10-01
Radio Free Asia

Cell phone technology provides a new method for exchanging information in Internet-censored China.

HONG KONG — As Beijing redoubles its efforts to censor Internet content during sensitive National Day celebrations, netizens are turning to an existing form of mobile technology to exchange information, according to residents in southern China.

Many netizens are now making use of Bluetooth, an open wireless protocol for exchanging data, to create personal area networks with a range of up to 10 meters [30 feet] on their mobile devices and share information.

Xingzai, a netizen in China’s southern Guangdong province, said the technology helps him to spread news from media organizations that are otherwise censored in China.

“I just want to spread the news to others…so they won’t feel they have been left out. We download the news every day and transmit it to others,” Xingzai said.

Most modern cell phones are equipped with Bluetooth technology, and when two or more cell phone users have the feature enabled, it is easy to share data such as downloaded audio or text files between devices.

Once a user offers to share files from his or her device, other devices in the area will receive a transmission request that they can either approve or reject.

If approved, the file will transmit to the device in a format that allows it to be read or listened to.

Xingzai said he offers to share files at bus stops and subway stations, where commuters are crowded together in an area serviceable by a Bluetooth network and are often looking for information to read as they wait.

“There are streams of people at bus stops or subway stations. Some of them are curious and want to receive real information… A good mobile phone can transmit data over a distance of 50 meters,” he said.

Bluetooth is also an ideal method of sharing sensitive material anonymously, as no information about the sender is transmitted beyond what has been specified as a name for the device of origin.

Still, Xingzai said that, based on his own experience, the method is not without security concerns.

Only two out of every ten users are willing to receive the information, as the cell phone number and identity of the sender is hidden during transmission.

“When I’m doing this on a bus or a subway train, people always wonder who has sent them the information,” Xingzai said.

'The right to know'

Liu Shihui, a human rights lawyer in Guangzhou, said that transmitting news in public places through Bluetooth on mobile phones is not against the law if copyright issues are not involved.

“Every citizen has the right to know what’s going on politically, economically, or socially, and news provides them with political and social information,” Liu said.

Liu added that spreading information is in the interest of the public.

“I think it is legitimate from the legal perspective, as it is not used as a source for private gains but to spread truth to more people. Also, it is a step forward, as it directly promotes the people’s right to know,” he said.

But Li Renbing, another human rights lawyer, cautioned there could be issues of intellectual property rights violations if music is being transmitted between mobile phones via Bluetooth.

Though Chinese authorities are unable to use censorship technology to control Bluetooth, they can monitor the content being exchanged. And people are always at risk of being charged with illegally spreading news.

“People can easily produce their own videos or other multimedia, as the technology is no longer a limitation. The problem is content. The existing administrative edicts strictly ban the reproduction and publication of news or programs from overseas,” Li said.

Liu Shihui said that using Bluetooth on mobile devices to transmit news does not violate the law.

“Presumption of innocence is stipulated in the 1997 penal code. This means a person remains innocent until the court pronounces him guilty. But I can’t guarantee that using Bluetooth on mobile phones to transmit news will not be investigated,” Liu said.

“In China, many things are unpredictable. Even if one has done nothing wrong, one could be framed or persecuted,” he said.

Increase in online censorship

Many of China’s netizens are disgruntled at the increasing failure of Internet circumvention tools to get around the sophisticated set of blocks and censorship filters known as the “Great Firewall.”

Chinese netizens and overseas technology experts say the authorities are now successfully undermining key software used to get around the Great Firewall, such as U.S.-based software developer Andrew Lewman’s Tor “tunneling” software and U.S.-based Dynamic Internet Technology’s Freegate software.

Netizens have also reported problems using Chinese versions of the micro-blogging service, Twitter.

Twitter equivalents Fanfou, Jiwai, and Digu were recently shut down, forcing many Internet users to migrate to Twitter, bloggers said.

And when leading Chinese Internet portal Sina.com launched its own Twitter-like service, Sina Micro Bo, users complained of too many controls.

To sign up to the service, users must receive a registration invitation containing a password.

The operators further limit users’ freedom by strictly monitoring comment boards and through the use of automatic filters.

The controls on Sina Micro Bo are consistent with attempts by Beijing to impose real-name user registration on all of China’s netizens, making anonymous Web surfing much more difficult.

Original reporting by He Shan for RFA’s Cantonese service. Cantonese service director: Shiny Li. Written for the Web in English by Joshua Lipes. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

Comrades Sar Kheng, Hor 5 Hong and Hun Xen were KR cadres, they were no victims of the KR regime: Le Monde

Comrade Im Chem (L) is a small KR fish when compared the other big KR fish such as: Comrade Hor 5 Hong, Comrade Sar Kheng and Comrade Hun Xen. Yet, she is investigated by the KR Tribunal while the others are living the high life of government officials.

An ex-KR claims the right to be forgotten

29 September 2009
By Jacques Follorou
Special Report
Le Monde (France)
Translated from French by Luc Sâr
Click here to read the article in French

"Numerous former KR cadres currently occupy powerful positions. They defected prior to the fall of the [KR] regime to escape the internal purges. It was the cases of Sar Kheng, the minister of Interior, and of Hor Nam Hong, the minister of Foreign Affairs. Hun Sen, the prime minister, was also one of Pol Pot’s faithful followers, he defected to the enemy, the Vietnamese."

Trapaing Tav (Cambodia) – At first glance, it is difficult to picture that Im Chem, a slender-looking grandmother with high cheek bones, is among the five new people accused by the KR Tribunal in mid-September. The tribunal is in charge of judging crimes perpetrated by the KR between 1975 and 1979.

Not far from Anlong Veng (northern Cambodia), the historical KR stronghold, Im Chem received us at a wooden table while being surrounded by a group of her family, inside her house built on stilt. Dressed in a brown blouse with large buttons, her piercing eyes with blue reflections are changing from smiling to cold looking. She said that she was not informed about the investigation against her: “I am not scared of anything, I did nothing wrong.”

Up to now, only the former leaders of this terror regime, which led to the death of at least 1.7 million people between 1975 and 1979, were legally pursued. Im Chem was only a small part of the KR system. During the time when the actions in which she was accused of took place – a direct involvement in the mass crimes perpetrated between 1978 and 1979 – she was the district chief of Preah Net Preah [Buddha’s eye] located in Banteay Meanchey province along Cambodia’s northwest, at the border with Thailand. Thirty years later, she is still occupying an official position. Considered as an official, she is the deputy-chief of the Trapaing Tav commune, about half an hour away from Anglong Veng. She symbolizes a Cambodia that is torn between the right to be forgotten and the sanction against unpunished crimes.

“Nothing to regret about”

In 1998, the Cambodian government initiated the national reconciliation process. Ex-soldiers of the Pol Pot regime were drafted into the regular army. The administration of the north and west regions, the traditional KR stronghold, was given to them in exchange for their disarmament. Numerous former KR cadres currently occupy powerful positions. They defected prior to the fall of the [KR] regime to escape the internal purges. It was the cases of Sar Kheng, the minister of Interior, and of Hor Nam Hong, the minister of Foreign Affairs. Hun Sen, the prime minister, was also one of Pol Pot’s faithful followers, he defected to the enemy, the Vietnamese.

When reminiscing about the past, Im Chem sometimes closes her eyes, as if she is enthralled by her souvenirs. “I have nothing to regret about what I did under the KR era. We felt that we were at war, we could not act against the events. Throughout history, there were always errors being made.” According to testimonies collected in the charges leveled against her, as district chief, Im Chem would have ordered the arrest of dozens of people and sent them to a local “security center.” Cambodia then counted several hundreds of such prison camps. The most famous of them all was S-21 [Tuol Sleng] in Phnom Penh where 12,380 people found their death.

“When I became the Preah Net Preah district chief,” she claimed without batting her eyes, “the rules were already in place; we pushed people to produce as much as possible; if you do not abide by the law, you must pay for it and that could mean death. We never killed people for nothing.”

Daughter of poor farmers, she only spent three years in a school run by monks before returning back to her parents’ rice fields. According to her, people did not join the KR by force, but rather “to defend the country” against the enemies both internal and external. “The responsibility of the death of the Cambodians does not lie on the Khmer Rouge alone. Why nobody recall fact that soldiers of the pro-US Lon Nol military regime [1970-1975], as well as the US bombings between 1974 and 1974, led to numerous civilian victims?” she wondered. At the fall of the KR, she escaped to the Dangrek Mountains along the northern border with Thailand, then a refuge for thousands of the Pol Pot followers up to 1998. “They would have killed me if I stayed behind.”

Currently, she is living in an area that is 100% inhabited by former KR followers. She confides that she is living in peace, surrounded by five children and ten grandchildren. “We must know how to turn the page. If they continue to investigate me and others, this will lead to hatred by our children and it will bring in a new civil war.”

Myanmar minister promises 'free and fair' elections (sic!)

More destruction expected for typhoon-hit Cambodia: Oxfam

PHNOM PENH, Oct 03, 2009 (Xinhua) -- Oxfam predicts more widespread destruction caused by Typhoon Ketsana and a higher demand for immediate humanitarian assistance in Cambodia, press release from the Oxfam international said here Saturday.

An initial assessment shows that at least 17 people died and 47 others injured in Kampong Thom alone due to the effects of the Typhoon, which brought unusually high volume of rainfall to the Southeast Asian country, it said.

It added Kompong Thom is not the only affected province. At least eight more provinces were affected with Preah Vihear, Steung Treng and Kratie being severely affected. Therefore, the worst has yet to come as the rising water levels continue to ravage these provinces, and a larger destruction is underway.

"The floods are affecting more people and wider areas of the country than we initially estimated," said Francis Perez, Country Lead of Oxfam International in Cambodia.

"Greater cooperation and immediate action on the part of humanitarian agencies in the country is increasingly important to ensure that groups with different kinds of emergency needs and vulnerabilities such as women, children, elderly, and people with disabilities and HIV/AIDS are prioritized," said the release.

There is a high risk that more lives will be lost, more families and livestock will be displaced, houses collapsed, roads, bridges, hospital and school buildings damaged. Public health concerns are making their way to some evacuation areas due to lack of sanitation.

An early damage estimate of more than 30,000 hectares of rice paddy and crops could be doubled or even tripled as flood waters continue to rise. This could cause a severe crop failure for Cambodia's largely farming population, according to the release.

Oxfam's staff reported that water levels increased half a meter in Preah Vihear Friday night, causing the already evacuated population to struggle even harder. Up to 4,000 families or 20,000 people were affected in Preah Vihear compared to just 100 families a week ago.

3 Dead as Typhoon Parma Hits Philippines

Mu Sochua still maintains that Hun Xen defamed her

Saturday, October 03, 2009
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Kampot SRP MP Mu Sochua showed up at the Appeal Court to clarify her lawsuit case in which she accuses Hun Xen of defaming her.

At the court, she still maintains that Hun Xen defamed her in a speech he gave in Kampot on 04 April 2009.

The new claim made by Mrs. Mu Sochua was made in front of Appeal Court Judge Uk Savuth in the afternoon of 02 October 2009, when Mrs. Mu Sochua was summoned by the court in relation to her lawsuit against PM Hun Xen.

Her original lawsuit was dismissed by the Phnom Penh municipal court in May and the court claimed that her lawsuit did not have the proper legal weight.

However, Mrs. Mu Sochua was not satisfied with the ruling of Phnom Penh municipal court and she also asked that the court review the case of the defamation lawsuit brought up by Hun Xen against her recently.

Following a 1-hour clarification at the Appeal Court, Mrs. Mu Sochua, a MP who lost her parliamentary immunity, told reporters that she maintains her claim about Hun Xen’s speech as aiming at her and it affected her honor as a Khmer woman.

Mrs. Mu Sochua also demanded that the Appeal Court hold a hearing to decide her case in conformance to Article 63 of the UNTAC criminal law regarding the defamation made against her that affects her honor and her good standing.

In the morning of 04 April 2009, during a speech made in Kampot province, Hun Xen said, without naming her, that a woman in Kampot who is a “Cheung Khlang” (thug) in the fight against land disputes, ran to hug someone, then she turns around and accuses that person of unbuttoning her blouse… Mrs. Mu Sochua claimed that Hun Xen’s speech was aimed at her and that it affected her honor as a representative of Cambodian women, as well as a MP.

Because of her daring to sue Hun Xen, Mrs. Mu Sochua was in turn sued back by Hun Xen who accused her of defamation against him.

On 04 August 2009, the Phnom Penh municipal court handed down its verdict and imposed a fine of 16.5 million riels ($4,100) on Mrs. Mu Sochua and decided that she lost her case against Hun Xen. This case has now reached the Appeal Court.

New Japanese government pledges to continue aid Cambodia: Hor 5 Hong

Myanmar says nuclear ambitions are peaceful: Japan

Katsuya Okada (L) and U Nyan Win (R) (Photo: Xinhua)

Sat Oct 3, 2009
By Ek Madra

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (Reuters) - Japan said on Saturday it had been assured by military-ruled Myanmar that it was not developing nuclear weapons even though it was working with Russia on a nuclear energy program.

Myanmar has remained tight-lipped about its nuclear plans, despite speculation it has been receiving help from North Korea to build nuclear facilities near its remote capital with the intent of developing a weapon.

Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win told his Japanese counterpart Katsuya Okada that his country was seeking Russia's expertise, but only in developing a peaceful energy program for its people.

"(Nyan Win) told Japan's foreign minister that Myanmar has no intention to have a nuclear weapon," Japan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama told reporters on the sidelines of a Mekong-Japan ministerial meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

"Myanmar has conducted a consultation to have assistance from Russia for a peaceful use of nuclear energy."

Kazuo did not say if the issue of any nuclear links with North Korea was discussed.

Academic researchers said in August Myanmar was building a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium facility in caves tunneled into a mountain, citing intelligence from two defectors.

The defectors also said Myanmar, which has known reserves of uranium ore, had provided refined "yellowcake" processed uranium that can be used as nuclear fuel to Iran and North Korea.

The isolated country has been under Western sanctions for two decades and analysts say a nuclearized Myanmar could trigger an arms race in the region.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a security forum in Thailand in July that she was concerned about the possible transfer of nuclear technology to Myanmar from North Korea.

In reference to ties between North Korea and Myanmar, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, the top U.S. diplomat for Asia, said there were "some signs that that cooperation has extended into areas that would be prohibited.

However, many analysts have said evidence of attempts to develop nuclear weapons is scant and have questioned the reliability of the defectors' information.

(Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Alison Williams)

Mekong, Japan's foreign ministers pledge for more cooperation

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Vietnam's Deputy Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong , Laos' Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win pose for a photo during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) nort-west of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The second foreign ministerial meeting among five Mekong countries and Japan ended Saturday afternoon with pledges for more cooperation in the region.

In a chair's statement released after the meeting, "the ministers reaffirmed their determination to closely cooperation on regional and global issues of common concern, and to deepen and broaden the existing Mekong-Japan cooperation and cooperation under other frameworks, such as the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue Relations, the ASEAN+3, the East Asia Summit as well as the ASEAN Regional Forum to ensure peace, stability and prosperity in the region."

"The ministers also reaffirmed the importance of improving, through closer consultation of all its stakeholders, the business environment of each country and of the region as a whole to accelerate trade and investment," it said.

The statement, however, said the ministers recognized that the Mekong region, despite its recent development, still confronts challenges that need to be overcome as soon as possible.

(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

In a join press conference after the end of the meeting, Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hor Namhong said Japan's had pledged to provide and increase assistance to ASEAN nations, especially, the Mekong sub-region.

He said the assistance from Japan to the region will focus on "infrastructure, investment, human resource development, cultural exchange and youth exchange."

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen (R) shakes hand with Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada during the Japan Mekong Foreign Minister's meeting in Siem Reap October 3, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

For youth exchange, Japan pledged to accept 10,000 youth from Mekong countries for five years, starting from 2007, said Hor Namhong.

At the start of the meeting earlier in the day, Hor Namhong said "Our gathering here today constitutes a step further in the realization of our partnership for the development of the Mekong basin, which would certainly yield great benefit for the peoples living along the Mekong River and Japan as well."

The second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting has reviewed progress made since the first meeting in Tokyo, Japan in January 2008.

Mekong-Japan Partnership Program was launched in 2007 for the sake of peace, development and prosperity in the Mekong sub-region.

Vietnam's Foreign Minister Dao Viet Trung,Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Japan's Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, Laos' Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and Myanmar's Foreign Minister U Nyan Win prepare to take a photo during the second Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting at a hotel in Siem Reap province, 230km (143 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, October 3 , 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)