A thin line between Cambodia and Vietnam
By Jared Ferrie
PHNOM PENH - The leader of Cambodia's main opposition party, Sam Rainsy,
skipped his court date on Wednesday, eluding an arrest warrant issued for
allegedly uprooting border markers on the frontier with Vietnam. Rainsy instead
remained in France, where he had fled in advance of the hearing because he felt
the case was politically motivated.
The Svay Rieng province court convicted villagers Meas Srey and Prum Chea to
one year in prison and ordered them each to pay 5 million riel (US$1,200) in
compensation to district authorities for moving the border posts. Rainsy was
convicted in absentia to two years in prison, handed an 8 million riel fine and
ordered to pay 5 million riels compensation to district authorities. All three
must
pay an additional 50 million riel in compensation for destroying the border
posts, according to the ruling.
The case highlights the ongoing controversy of Vietnamese influence over Prime
Minister Hun Sen's government, some 30 years after the government in Hanoi
ordered troops to invade Cambodia. The two countries are now in the process of
demarcating their 1,270-kilometer long border. They are also negotiating
investment agreements that could see Vietnam pouring billions of dollars into
Cambodia.
On December 26, during a conference in Ho Chi Minh City, officials signed a
memorandum of understanding intended to pave the way for more Vietnamese
investments in Cambodia. No deals were finalized, but the economic agreements
covered projects including electricity generation, fertilizer production and
rubber plantations, as well as a proposal to explore for bauxite mining in
Mondulkiri province. A Vietnam official in Phnom Penh told the Phnom Penh Post
that revenues from bauxite mining alone could amount to US$6 billion.
Against the backdrop of a possible $12 billion worth of new Vietnamese
investments, Rainsy implied that Cambodian officials were reluctant to
criticize their larger neighbor about alleged Vietnamese encroachment on
Cambodian lands.
"I am defending Cambodia's independence and territorial integrity regardless of
these ongoing investment projects and financial deals," he said in an e-mail
from Paris. "Maybe those in the Phnom Penh government take those material
interests into consideration in their handling of border issues with Vietnam,
but I don't."
A spokesman for the Cambodian government, Phay Siphan, said in an interview
that increasing economic ties with Vietnam had no bearing at all on the border
demarcation process. He said a commission is carefully analyzing data from maps
drawn up during the colonial period of French rule in order to determine
exactly where the border lies.
"The job of the border commission between Cambodia and Vietnam is not to lose
or gain territory from either side," said Phay. "Sam Rainsy is misrepresenting
the work of the border commission."
Rainsy, who is a fierce critic of Vietnamese influence in Cambodian affairs,
was charged with incitement of racial discrimination and destruction of
property for his role in an October 25 incident in Svay Rieng province. Rainsy
allegedly joined five villagers in uprooting the wooden poles after hearing
complaints that they had been placed in a nearby rice field. Two of those
villagers were arrested and sentenced on Wednesday.
To back up his case, Rainsy's eponymous political party (SRP) on Monday
released what it said was evidence that the uprooted border demarcation posts
were placed 300 to 500 meters inside Cambodian territory. The SRP referred to
maps drawn up by the French in 1952, which defined the border and which were
given to the United Nations by the Cambodian government in 1964. Those were
corroborated by maps produced by the United States military in 1966, according
to the SRP.
Rainsy said he enlisted the help of cartographers, historians, geographers and
computer experts who examined the maps and used satellite pictures and GPS
coordinates to determine that the uprooted border markers were indeed placed
within Cambodian territory. Rainsy refused to name the experts, but he noted
that he also received "technical assistance" from a French map engineer at the
National Center for Scientific Research in Paris.
Cambodian officials threatened to lay further charges after the release of the
information by the SRP. "The government will consider taking legal action to
prohibit any illegal publication that affects the security of the social
order," Tith Sothea, a government advisor who works at the press office of the
Council of Ministers, told the Phnom Penh Post on Monday.
In his e-mail, Rainsy said that threat sounded "rather Stalinist". He added:
"They are embarrassed and afraid because I am exposing scientific, objective
and factual evidence of what I am claiming."
Phay, the government spokesman, confirmed that the government is investigating
the information made public by Rainsy and the SRP, and that the investigation
could lead to further charges if the claims are shown to be false. "We don't
want to see any misleading information that will affect law and order and
national security," he said.
Phay also accused the SRP of releasing the information in order to distract
attention from Rainsy's case. "He has the right to freedom of expression, but
it can't cover up what has been done." He said that rather than releasing the
information to the media, the SRP should have brought it forward for debate in
parliament, or even in a separate court case.
But Rainsy alleged that the courts are "political tools" used by the ruling
Cambodian People's Party to "crack down on opposition". Many rights groups and
analysts share that view. Last year, a spate of lawsuits against opposition
parliamentarians, journalists and activists prompted a litany of criticism from
international rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International, as well as the United States Embassy in Cambodia.
"This is a public secret. Everyone knows that the court is under control of the
government," said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.
"There is an attempt by the ruling party to consolidate its power." He said the
case against Rainsy was an example of that trend. "This issue of the border
could have been downplayed. They take any chance to silence the opposition."
But Rainsy has so far refused to be silenced, taking up his cause with
governments in Europe while participating in radio call-in shows in Cambodia.
His party has also vowed to begin investigating other sections of border
between the two countries.
Jared Ferrie is a Phnom Penh-based journalist.
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