deforestation

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 571

“Sihanoukville: A journalist was slapped in Stung Hav, Sihanoukville, by a military police officer who protects illegally cut wood in their fortress, and he warned the journalist not to use his camera, because he had already published a report clearly mentioning their names, together with their previous and current scandals, relating to colluding to protect illegally cut wood.

“The military police hit the journalist at 1:30 p.m. on 25 July 2008 at the Stung Hav administration post of Sihanoukville.

“It was reported that the victim, the journalist who was caught and hit by a military military police officer in their fortress, is Mr. Ruos Phina, aged 39; the offender is Mr. Nget Vutha, called Kim, a military police officer with the rank of captain of Stung Hav, Sihanoukville, and he is a former soldier who had just been included into the military police some months ago.

“Mr. Ruos Phina, the victim, reported to Kampuchea Thmey that on that day, he and another person, Vin Suon, also a reporter in Sihanoukville, were called by the military police official Nget Vutha into the Stung Hav administration post, to tell them to write a more positive report about their scandal, regarding the protection of illegally cut wood, because he had written already in a newspaper before. Mr. Ruos Phina agreed to meet them, and he went with another person, Vin Suon.

“Mr. Ruos Phina continued that after he arrived in the Stung Hav military police administration office, Nget Vutha immediately, without saying a word, hit him strongly in the face, knocking him down to the ground, where he was with serious pain. He hit him in front of many other military police, but they did not help to intervene, and let the offender Nget Vutha hit and insult him strongly in front of all of them.

“This shows clearly that violence was used to intimidate him, which seriously abuses his rights as a journalist, so he cannot stay still; he has to lodge a complaint to the law enforcement institutions so that they help to find justice for him. Especially, he will lodge a complaint to the commander of the Sihanoukville military police, Mr. Heang Rin, in order that he takes actions to solve the problem according to the law; and he hopes that Mr. Heang Rin will deal with this case fairly and not by being partisan, and if he does not solve it fairly for him, the journalist will not end it at this time.

“Regarding the bad activities mentioned above, citizens in Sihanoukville, who knew what had happened, criticized also that normally military police, who should enforce and uphold the law, collude with each other to protect illegally cut wood. Moreover, they even dared to distort the truth by calling the journalist in, to hit him at their fortress. Committing such evil activities, how can they uphold and implement the law and be respected by the people?

“The criticism continues to say that journalists are neutral publishers of information and are not partisan; if they see good activities, they write good things, and if they see evil activities, they write openly about these bad things, in order to contribute to develop society, to eliminate corruption and crimes which destroy society. Journalists are those who publicly criticize what is wrong to correct it, and to change from wrong to right. If members of the military police, like Mr. Nget Vutha, thinks that what a journalist had published is not true, he should clarify it, but he must not use violence by hitting and insulting the journalist, because this is against the law, and it is being hated by society very much.

“Mr. Heang Rin, the commander of the Sihanoukville military police, should check everything again, so that it does not disgrace other members of the military police.

“It should be remembered that previously, Mr. Ruos Phina had written about some scandals committed by Nget Vutha, like protecting illegally cut wood for a merchant who is a boss of a wood processing house behind the Phsar Leu market’s car station.” Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1704, 27-28.7.2008

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Monday, 28 July 2008

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1704, 27-28.7.2008

• Military Police Protecting Illegally Cut Wood Calls a Journalist into Their Fortress and Hit Him as a Warning
• Forest in Conservation Region in Aural Mountain Starts to Disappear and Leads to Taking of Land Illegally [Kompong Speu]

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #208, 27-28.7.2008

• Siamese [Thais] Are Training to Use Weapons in Order to Be Prepared in Case Bilateral Talk in Siem Reap [on Monday] Fail

Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6408, 28.7.2008

• Along Cambodian-Thai Border at Oddar Meanchey, [five to six] Thai Black-Clad Soldiers [of the special border protection forces] Create Border Problems at Banteay Ampil District [entering about 100 meters from the Border Marker 22B in Kok Mon village and commune, Banteay Ampil, claiming they are in Thai territory]
• 16 Terrorist Bombs Attack at the Same Time in Western India, Killing 29 People [26 July 2008]
• According to a Report from Singapore, during a period of 51 Months, the Number of Tourists Declined [the decline results from problems of the world economy, from the rising price of traveling by plane, from the increasing price of fuel, as well as from problems of the international currency market]

Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3523, 28.7.2008

• [Opposition Party Leader] Asked to Re-Vote in Offices That Made Too Many Forms 1018 Leading to Unfair Results [identity documents required to vote were: national identification card, or passport, or civil servant, police, or army identification card, family booklet with identification pictures, or documents identifying monks; if Cambodian eligible voters do not have any of these documents, they could ask their Commune Council to establish an identification form know as Form 1018]
• Order to Close Radio FM 93.5 [on 26 July 2008, from which the Sam Rainsy Party had bought air time to broadcast its campaign program for nearly one month] Strongly Affected Election Atmosphere in Phnom Penh
• Siamese [Thai] Troops Continue to Dig Trenches at Keo Sekha Kirisvarak Pagoda although there Is a Foreign Affairs Ministerial Meeting of Both Countries Planned for Today
• The Appeals Hearing of Khiev Samphan to Be Temporarily Out of Detention Might Be Conducted Soon [according to an official of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal]
• Crimes of Cutting Trees in Kuleaen National Park Still Continue

Rasmei Angkor, Vol.15, #3523, 28.7.2008

• Temporary Results of the Fourth Term Election: Cambodian People’s Party Might Win 88 to 91 Seats [of a total of 123], Sam Rainsy Party Ranks Second [with 26 seats], Human Rights Ranks Third [with 3 seats], Norodom Ranariddh Party Ranks Forth [with 2 seats] and Funcinpec Ranks Firth [with 1 seat]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4652, 27-28.7.2008

• There Was a Clash between Sam Rainsy Party and Cambodian People’s Party, Injuring a Deputy Police Chief of Battambang District [at the end of the day of the election campaign on 25 July 2008]
• Venezuela Sells Fuel at US$100 per Barrel to Spain [in total 10,000 barrels]

Samleng Yuvachun Khmer, Vol.15, #3370, 27-28.7.2008

• Supreme Court Will Open Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh’s Hearing on 30 July 2008 [regarding Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhek Bun Chhay’s lawsuit, accusing the Prince of violating trust in the sale of the Funcinpec Chroy Chongva headquarters]

Click here to have a look at the last editorial of the Mirror – where we provided detailed information about the 2003 election results, to compare them with the election results of 2008, as they become available.

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