លោកហេង ប៊ុនលាប
Showing posts with label khmer good. Show all posts
Showing posts with label khmer good. Show all posts
Chivit Phloeu Khnong Lithik Pracheathiptay - "Bright life under democracy" - Khmer Poem by Khlem Chan
Hamas To Meet German Mediator over Prisoner Swap
Thursday, 24 December 2009 04:34 DAP-NEWS
(CAAI News Media)
GAZA CITY- A German mediator was on Wednesday to present Israel's proposal for the swap of Palestinian prisoners for a captured soldier to the Islamist Hamas movement, an official from the group said.
"The German mediator will meet a Hamas delegation in Gaza today to discuss the Shalit affair," the official told AFP, asking not to be named.
The German was expected to present Israel's latest offer for the proposed prisoner swap involving hundreds of Palesti- nian prisoners. The mediator has led indirect negotiations for the release of Staff Sergeant Gilad Shalit, 23, who was captured by Hamas and other gunmen in a deadly cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip in June 2006.
Both sides have been tight-lipped about the discussions, but the Hamas-run government in Gaza said after a weekly meeting that freeing prisoners remained "at the top of its priorities."
"The government affirms that it will stand by the demands of the resistance factions until it can bring about the release of all prisoners from the occupation prisons," it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Israeli security cabinet was to convene for its weekly meeting, with ministers set to discuss the latest developments in the Shalit affair, public radio said.
On Tuesday, Hamas blamed Israel for stalling efforts to swap hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for Shalit after the Jewish state reportedly expressed reservations over the Islamists' latest offer.
The two sides had appeared to be close to reaching a deal, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holding five meetings in less than 48 hours with his top ministers before delivering an offer to the mediator.
"I am torn between the desire to free a hostage and the desire to protect Israeli citizens against future attacks," Netanyahu told family members of Israelis killed in deadly attacks concerned by the proposed prisoner exchange, which could include the release of several top Palestinian militants. Local media said that in its reply, Israel baulked at allowing some of the released Palestinians to return to their homes in the occupied West Bank, insisting that they instead go to Gaza or third countries. "Israel reported favourably to the general outline presented by the German mediator," the Ynet news website said. "Part of the reservations are the names of the heavyweight prisoners that Israel demands be deported."
According to Israeli and Palestinian officials, Israel would free 450 militants, including many involved in deadly attacks, in exchange for Shalit. An additional 500 prisoners would be released at a later stage. There are currently some 8,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Germany, which has a history of mediating successful prisoner exchanges between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia, dispatched its mediator to join the talks earlier this year after months of unsuccessful Egyptian mediation.
Female Alcoholism UP: CICP
Thursday, 24 December 2009 04:32 DAP-NEWS
(CAAI News Media)
The Cambodian Institute for Coop-eration and Peace has found that alcoholism among Cambodian women is about 58 percent
CICP Director Yang Kimeng said at a workshop said on Wednesday at the Cambodian National Children Hospital (NCH) on National Supporting Policy Alcohol in Cambodia that “Both Cambodian women and youths are similarly addicted to the alcohol.”
Insomnia, stress, cancer and other health problems can be caused by alcohol, Kimeng added.
Dr. Yil Daravuth from an anti-tobacco organization said that 76.3 million people have been diagnosed as alcoholics, according to the WHO.
Cambodians use alcohol after giving birth, he added.
Wine companies promote products among drinkers but do little to educate on the consequences, Kimeng said.
Faith, Not Revenge Compels Search for Former Captor
OAKLAND, CA (December 2, 2010) – Chamron Phal speaks gently as he recounts searching Cambodia to meet and offer forgiveness to the former Khmer Rouge prison guard who held him captive and tortured him during the time of the horrific Killing Fields.
Phal, associate pastor at First Covenant Church in Oakland, ministers to Cambodians who are members of the congregation, many of whom suffered under the violent regime of Pol Pot, one-time leader of the Cambodian communist movement. Phal also led the church’s work in planting up to more than 40 churches so far in his native country.
For years, Phal says, he prayed God would give him the “privilege and honor” of meeting the guard. Each time he returned to the country, he would ask villagers if they knew how he might find his former captor. “Not for revenge, not for harm or hurt, but for sharing the good news of Jesus to that former Khmer Rouge communist.
“I want him to know the past can be forgiven and healed if he gives his life to Jesus,” Phal adds. “He can start a new life with Jesus."
Phal finally found the man in December 2006. “He did not recognize me, but I remember him so well,” Phal says. The guard later recognized Phal when he recounted his time as a prisoner.
That was all Phal shared of their history, however. “I don’t mention the past, I only tell him, ‘I miss you brother. I’m looking for you for a long time, but I am so glad I found you.’”
Phal’s offering of love and friendship is obviously genuine, coming from his heart and not out of a sense of obligation. He smiles as he tells of meeting his former guard.
Phal invited the guard to visit him at his hotel. The two met together, and Phal gave him gifts, money, and food. When Phal visited the country again in summer of 2007, he invited the guard to stay with him at the hotel. There, Phal again shared that Jesus could give the guard a new life.
The former guard replied, "Chamron, you know I appreciate your friendship, your love for me, your kindness, your generosity. But, I cannot accept your Jesus.” The man explained it was because he was one of the leaders in the Buddhist temple.
Phal replied, “Even though you can’t accept Jesus, it’s alright. But you and I still friends. Jesus still loves you and I still love you.”
Click here to learn more about Chamron’s encounter with the former guard.
Paul Wilson, First Covenant’s senior pastor, says he is humbled and educated by the associate pastor. “Chamron is filled with love and wonder and he tells the guard over and over I love you, because Chamron believes we get to love everybody and Jesus told him he never has to hate anyone.”
Hate would be an understandable emotion. Phal lived through hell.
From 1975 to 1978, the Khmer Rouge committed genocide in Cambodia, killing an estimated 1.5 million people – roughly one-fifth of the population. The Vietnamese finally overthrew Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader and his communist regime.
Phal grew up in an “extreme Catholic” home, was an altar boy and sang in the choir, but says he never was serious about his faith. Though he lived as he pleased as a young man, he recalls, “Fear gripped my heart. I fear death. I fear darkness. I fear people. I fear strange sounds. I fear cemeteries."
He says now, “I thank God he prepared me to face the Killing Fields.”
Shortly after the Khmer Rouge came to power, Phal was arrested when he was wrongfully accused of stealing grain from a field. He would spend six months in the prison where scores of Phal’s countrymen died.
While imprisoned, he was severely beaten with rods. The scripture he learned as a child strengthened him. “I remembered Matthew 10:28: ‘Do not be afraid of man, who can kill only your body but cannot kill your soul. But fear God, who can destroy both your body and soul into hell.’ ”
He also found spiritual strength in Psalm 23, which his father had sung every day. Phal recites it quietly, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”
The final evil the soldiers inflicted on Phal came six months after he first was taken captive. They tried to drown him in water that had flooded the area. “They forced me to walk a kilometer and I lost hope when I reached that place,” he says. “They beat me until I was black and blue and bleeding, and then threw me into the floodwaters.”
Click here to learn more of his capture and near-death experience.
The soldiers then left. Phal swam back to the place where they had thrown him into the water because it was the only dry land - and he escaped from the area the next day.
He was nearly caught several times, but Phal says God answered his simple prayer - “Save me Jesus.”
After the Vietnamese defeated the Khmer Rouge, the United Nations opened its largest Cambodian refugee camp across the border in Thailand. Churches had sprung up throughout the camp. “God opened my heart to be transformed by the power of the good news I heard,” he says.
“One afternoon, while I was swinging in a hammock, whistling, a group of children started singing 'At Calvary.' It was the first time I had heard that song,” Phal says. “The words hit me: 'Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified; knowing it was for me he died at Calvary.' I jumped out of my hammock to my knees, confessed all my sins to the Lord, and opened my heart to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.’ Since that time my life has never been the same.”
Phal says God has redeemed his suffering. “Even though I have gone through hardship, suffering and death, it has been very good for my soul. If I had not gone through suffering, my life would have continued in wretchedness.”
He adds, “I now experience complete healing and wholeness by the power and precious blood of Jesus. This is the grace of Jesus.”
Phal eventually was able to make his way to the United States on March 9, 1982. He began his ministry to Cambodian people in Boston, Massachusetts, during his first days in the country and subsequently ministered in Connecticut for 12 years. He made his first trip back to Cambodia in 1991.
Phal felt called to start a church in Oakland, which is where he met Wilson. He was introduced through a mutual friend who had met Phal in the refugee camp. “We really believe God has called us to be partners,” says Wilson.
Phal had been ministering to a Cambodian congregation of 100 people. He led the congregation to become part of First Covenant in 2005. Each Sunday, Phal speaks to the Cambodian members in their native language. He also helps the Cambodians connect to the rest of the multi-ethnic congregation.
Additionally, Phal has led the congregation to connect with people in his homeland. He returns to Cambodia twice a year with mission teams from the Oakland church and other churches to assist the growing number of congregations he has helped plant, including one pastored by a former member of the Khmer Rouge.
Editor’s note: The accompanying photo shows Phal with his family. This is the first in a two-part series. Tomorrow: the growth of the churches in Cambodia.
Read more...
Disaster Demands Response Evaluation: Rights Advocate
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| (Photo: AP) |
Washington, DC Tuesday, 30 November 2010
“I just want to ask you [authorities] whether you're at peace when this happens within your area of responsibility and your carelessness.”
A leading rights activist says last week's deadly bridge stampede and the authorities' response to it reflect a poor safety and security system that needs addressed for large events.
In order to avoid a future disaster, Cambodia must now focus on safety measures, including building structures, training of security teams and safety exits, said Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”
The Diamond Bridge stampede left 351 dead and 395 injured at last count, one of the worst disasters in decades, and authorities, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, have said no one will be held directly accountable.
A government investigating committee said the stampede was caused when thousands of people panicked on a swaying suspension bridge, leaving victims trampled and asphyxiated.
“We don't want to say who is right or wrong,” Thun Saray said. “But this is an experience for which we have to examine our preparedness so as not to have such an event in the future.”
Callers to Monday's program demanded to see more responsibility for the fatal disaster.
“As a Cambodian, I want to make sure that the lives of my countrymen lost in the incident do not go in vain,” said caller Sok Pheary, from Phnom Penh. “I just want to ask you [authorities] whether you're at peace when this happens within your area of responsibility and your carelessness.”
Thun Saray said Cambodia was not ready to push officials to resign over the incident.
“Our country does not have a culture of accountability as in civilized countries,” he said.
Read more...
Another PhD from a seminary to Father(?) Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Samdach H.E. Comrade Chea Xim
Gasp! Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Samdach H.E. Comrade Chea Xim received a PhD from a Thai University (File photo)Tuesday 14 Sept 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Chea Xim, the president of the Senate, received another PhD for his leadership in the Senate work from The Open Seminary University in California on 13 Sept 2010 at the Senate building. Mrs. Pheng Kantheaborey, Chea Xim’s protocol chief, quoted Dr. Alfonso Cleto of the Open Seminary as saying that the university awarded the PhD to Chea Xim because it found out that Chea Xim’s biography clearly showed his talent and experience in leadership in the past. Alfonso Cleto indicated that The Open Seminary only grants PhD through a selection among high-ranking VIPs in each country, therefore Chea Xim was granted this PhD because he is a special VIP of Cambodia among other high-ranking VIPs in Asia and other regions in the world. Read more...
Another PhD from a seminary to Father(?) Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Samdach H.E. Comrade Chea Xim
Gasp! Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Samdach H.E. Comrade Chea Xim received a PhD from a Thai University (File photo)Tuesday 14 Sept 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Chea Xim, the president of the Senate, received another PhD for his leadership in the Senate work from The Open Seminary University in California on 13 Sept 2010 at the Senate building. Mrs. Pheng Kantheaborey, Chea Xim’s protocol chief, quoted Dr. Alfonso Cleto of the Open Seminary as saying that the university awarded the PhD to Chea Xim because it found out that Chea Xim’s biography clearly showed his talent and experience in leadership in the past. Alfonso Cleto indicated that The Open Seminary only grants PhD through a selection among high-ranking VIPs in each country, therefore Chea Xim was granted this PhD because he is a special VIP of Cambodia among other high-ranking VIPs in Asia and other regions in the world. Read more...
CPP can’t stomach criticisms: CPP MP Cheam Yeap in denial
CPP comrade Cheam Yeap (Photo: RFA)
15 Sept 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Yesterday, CPP MP Cheam Yeap declared while NOT HAVING SEEN YET the report critical of the government on freedom of expression issued by the civil society that this report lacks balance and it opposes the government. Cheam Yeap told The Phnom Penh Post: “I think that the NGOs use their rights and freedom of expression with this report, but the CPP cannot accept the wrong criticisms leveled in this report. This is not fair for the government.” He also rejected the criticism claiming that Cambodia is moving toward a single-party state because the CPP is already planning to win 120 seats out of the total of 123 seats at the National Assembly during the upcoming election. He added that if there is only party, then it would be “contrary to Cambodia’s Constitution.” He confirmed that “democracy and freedom of expression must respect the law which pays close attention to democracy, just like a person taking good care of his own eyes. We respect the UN bill of rights stipulation on democracy and human rights.” (sic!)
Read more...
CPP can’t stomach criticisms: CPP MP Cheam Yeap in denial
CPP comrade Cheam Yeap (Photo: RFA)
15 Sept 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch
Yesterday, CPP MP Cheam Yeap declared while NOT HAVING SEEN YET the report critical of the government on freedom of expression issued by the civil society that this report lacks balance and it opposes the government. Cheam Yeap told The Phnom Penh Post: “I think that the NGOs use their rights and freedom of expression with this report, but the CPP cannot accept the wrong criticisms leveled in this report. This is not fair for the government.” He also rejected the criticism claiming that Cambodia is moving toward a single-party state because the CPP is already planning to win 120 seats out of the total of 123 seats at the National Assembly during the upcoming election. He added that if there is only party, then it would be “contrary to Cambodia’s Constitution.” He confirmed that “democracy and freedom of expression must respect the law which pays close attention to democracy, just like a person taking good care of his own eyes. We respect the UN bill of rights stipulation on democracy and human rights.” (sic!)
Read more...
Cambodian-American Sam Meas lost his bid in the Massachusetts Republican primary
Cambodian-American candidate to the Republican primary Sam MeasNiki Tsongas, Jon Golnick to battle for 5th
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
By Hillary Chabot Boston Herald (Massachusetts, USA)
Golnik beat out Sam M. Meas of Haverhill; Robert L. Shapiro of Andover; and Thomas J.M. Weaver of Westford in the primaryA feisty U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell), who vowed yesterday she won’t fall to the kind of GOP political tsunami that swept U.S. Sen. Scott Brown into office, prepared last night for a race against primary victor Jon A. Golnik.
“Voters will have a clear choice between my record of results and stale Republican ideas like privatizing Social Security, and tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans,” Tsongas said.
Golnik - who beat out three other candidates in a tight race - said he’s ready to take on Tsongas. Read more...
Cambodian-American Sam Meas lost his bid in the Massachusetts Republican primary
Cambodian-American candidate to the Republican primary Sam MeasNiki Tsongas, Jon Golnick to battle for 5th
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
By Hillary Chabot Boston Herald (Massachusetts, USA)
Golnik beat out Sam M. Meas of Haverhill; Robert L. Shapiro of Andover; and Thomas J.M. Weaver of Westford in the primaryA feisty U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Lowell), who vowed yesterday she won’t fall to the kind of GOP political tsunami that swept U.S. Sen. Scott Brown into office, prepared last night for a race against primary victor Jon A. Golnik.
“Voters will have a clear choice between my record of results and stale Republican ideas like privatizing Social Security, and tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans,” Tsongas said.
Golnik - who beat out three other candidates in a tight race - said he’s ready to take on Tsongas. Read more...
We, too, are living in an exciting era, on the cusp of change. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delineated sweepingly the long arc of freedom history, and with searing, soaring details, articulated Black American freedom struggle of the 1960s. Re-reading this through Cambodian lenses this September 2010, parallels and resonances abound for us - the echoes of excuses (private or public), of oppression, of violent tactics, of deceit but also the resounding triumphant parallels of determined spirits, enduring principles of freedom, justice, peace, unity and hope in the knowledge that the long arc of moral history bends toward justice.
I hope every Cambodian will read this, particularly the Cambodian officials, the arm-chair critics, the naysayers and the anti-change stalwarts. May all of us be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
(For those of you who are not so strong in English but more fluent in another language, you can read a translated version among 60 languages of this speech at www.thearyseng.com by clicking on the flag at the bottom right-hand corner.) -- Theary Seng, Phnom Penh, 15 Sept. 2010
Delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee
Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.
Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.
I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there. Read more...
We, too, are living in an exciting era, on the cusp of change. The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delineated sweepingly the long arc of freedom history, and with searing, soaring details, articulated Black American freedom struggle of the 1960s. Re-reading this through Cambodian lenses this September 2010, parallels and resonances abound for us - the echoes of excuses (private or public), of oppression, of violent tactics, of deceit but also the resounding triumphant parallels of determined spirits, enduring principles of freedom, justice, peace, unity and hope in the knowledge that the long arc of moral history bends toward justice.
I hope every Cambodian will read this, particularly the Cambodian officials, the arm-chair critics, the naysayers and the anti-change stalwarts. May all of us be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
(For those of you who are not so strong in English but more fluent in another language, you can read a translated version among 60 languages of this speech at www.thearyseng.com by clicking on the flag at the bottom right-hand corner.) -- Theary Seng, Phnom Penh, 15 Sept. 2010
Delivered 3 April 1968, Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters), Memphis, Tennessee
Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world. I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow.
Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God's children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there.
I would move on by Greece and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn't stop there. Read more...
CAMBODIA: "What Cambodians need most urgently in the kind of world they live"
Cambodians are generally worried Cambodia may disappear from world map: Sen is Hanoi's puppet – throughout history Vietnam has usurped neighboring lands, and Ho Chi Minh's grand design of a federation of former French Indochinese states of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos under Hanoi's leadership is documented; King Father Sihanouk, Sen's adopted father who legitimized the Pol Pot regime in the past, is currently Sen's legitimizer. Additionally the world community seems more concerned with a semblance of stability under Sen than with his violations of free expression and human rights.
Cambodians' fear is real.
FOR PUBLICATION AHRC-ETC-024-2010
September 15, 2010
An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission
September 15, 2010
Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth
The East-West Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union on Dec. 25, 1991: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev resigned from his post, which was abolished, and the red Soviet flag over the Kremlin came down for the last time. Foreign policy expert Francis Fukuyama, a proponent of liberal democracy, called it "The triumph of the West, of the Western idea," and "The end of history."
Two months earlier, the international community and the four warring Cambodian factions adopted the Oct. 23, 1991 Final Act of the Paris Peace Accords, to "restore peace" to Cambodia, ravaged by "tragic conflict and continuing bloodshed." The Soviet-backed Vietnamese troops had withdrawn from Cambodia in 1989 after having installed a puppet Cambodian regime that replaced the Chinese-backed Pol Pot regime, defeated militarily in 1979.
International and Cambodian signatories declared to "commit themselves to promote and encourage respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia..."
Today, almost 19 years after the Cold War ended, the world's nation-states -- great powers, middle powers, small powers -- continue their competition for power and influence. Robert Kagan, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote a book on this world, titled, "The Return of History and the End of Dreams." Read more...
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