Hun Sen Sets Up Special Committee to Investigate Murders of Trade Unionists

Cambodians honor labor leader Chea Vichea in Phnom Penh on the anniversary of his death, Jan. 22, 2008.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Pic: AP.

2015-06-25

Prime Minister Hun Sen has set up a special inter-ministerial committee to investigate the murders of three prominent leaders of one of Cambodia’s largest trade unions, which was aligned with members of the political opposition.

The special investigative committee was established on June 10 to resolve criminal case file 2318 regarding the murders of Chea Vichea, former president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), and factory union leaders Ros Sovannareth and Hy Vuthy, according to a copy of the document obtained Thursday by RFA.

The committee’s role is to “cooperate with relevant authorities and partners to collect information and evidence, investigate the causes of and reasons for the murders, [and] produce and respond to inquiries by labor nongovernmental organizations regarding the murders.”

A secretary of state from the Ministry of Interior will chair the committee. Its members will include a secretary of state from the labor and justice ministries and the Council of Ministers, the national commissioner of the National Police, the military police commander-in-chief and other relevant authorities, according to the document.

Chea Mony, current FTUWKC president and brother of Chea Vichea, told RFA’s Khmer Service that he has no faith that the new investigation will resolve the murders, and said that no government committee ever produced any results.

“I don’t think the committee will be effective,” he said. “I have observed many committees were established but can’t offer any justice to victims,” he said.

Chea Mony also urged city police in the capital Phnom Penh to protect the two-meter (seven-foot) statue of his brother that stands in a public garden there because unknown individuals have defaced property at the site.

“Those who defaced the property around the statue are extremists and uneducated people,” he said. “The local authorities have allowed them to destroy the statues.”

The city government erected the statue of the slain popular labor union leader in May 2013, nearly a decade after his assassination, in a rare show of recognition of a government critic.

Killed by men on a motorbike

Chea Vichea, an outspoken critic of Hun Sen’s government, founded the FTU with San Rainsy, president of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP).

He was shot dead on Jan. 22, 2004, by two men on a motorbike while he was reading a newspaper at a kiosk in Phnom Penh in a case seen as a symbol of the country’s culture of impunity.

Rights groups say his real killers remain at large although two people had been convicted of the murder but later released after they had spent nearly five years in jail for the crime.
Chea Mony has suggested that the government may have been involved in the killings of both union leaders.

Four months after Chea Vichea was killed, Ros Sovannareth, FTUWKC president of the Trinunggal Komara factory, was gunned down in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district while he was riding his motorbike.

Two men had been convicted of murdering him, but the Supreme Court ordered their release and a retrial in 2008, citing contradictory evidence. The Appeal Court in Phnom Penh called for a new investigation of the case, setting both men free until a verdict was handed down.

In February 2007, Hy Vuthy, FTUWKC president at the Suntex garment factory, was shot dead while riding his motorbike home after finishing his night shift at the factory, located in Phnom Penh's Dangkao district. The murder was reportedly carried out by two men on a motorbike.  In January 2014, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court began a retrial of the murder.

Rights groups have said that such murders highlight a culture of impunity in Cambodia, where a number of killings, including those of journalists and rights campaigners, have not been thoroughly investigated or their perpetrators brought to justice.

Reported by Samean Yun of RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Markets Weekahead: Greek tremors could be felt in India

(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of Thomson Reuters)

By Ambareesh Baliga-June 28, 2015
The Nifty ended the derivatives expiry week on a strong note at 8,381, up 1.89 percent. At one point, it looked like the index would consolidate above 8,400, but uncertainty over the Greek debt crisis and the Chinese market crash held it below the crucial psychological level.

Banking stocks remained in the limelight, gaining 2.8 percent for the week due to speculation of a surprise rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India. The central bank’s financial stability report stressed that the asset quality of banks are likely to deteriorate further, which will increase their provisioning. With credit growth falling to near multi-year lows of below 10 percent and structural issues on asset quality persisting, PSU banks will be pressured going ahead.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s latest comments suggest a global depression similar to 1930s. If we read between the lines, the possibility of a rate cut in India seems remote for now.

L&T saw buying interest on reports of the company listing its Infotech arm this year and raising 18 billion rupees. The de-merger will help the management focus on its core business and also help in unlocking the value of other businesses which have grown in size and require a focused attention for the next stage of expansion.

We should also see interest in the quick service restaurant (QSR) sector with Cafe Coffee Dayfiling a draft prospectus with regulators for an initial public offering (IPO) of around 11.5 billion rupees. It would be interesting to see how the management justifies the expensive valuation when other listed profitable entities in the space such as Speciality Restaurants, Tata Global and Jubilant Foodworks are available at better valuation. The IPO market will be rejuvenated in the next few months with large offerings from Indigo and RBL Bank.

Volatility is likely to gain pace in the week ahead as the Greek drama plays out. The country has time till June 30 to pay 1.5 billion euros to the IMF, failing which Greece seems doomed to exit the euro zone. Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has announced a referendum on July 5 to decide on the “humiliating” austerity measures of creditors, thus shutting the door on any negotiation. U.S. jobs data and the euro zone economic confidence data for June 2015 could get eclipsed by Greece.

On the domestic front, India’s HSBC Manufacturing PMI index for June 2015 will be unveiled in the coming week. The political heat has been continuously rising with various controversies threatening to put the central government on the back foot. There is a possibility of the monsoon session of parliament being derailed, thus delaying the reform process.

Though markets have been rejoicing due to excess rainfall in June, the official weather forecaster is still sticking to its estimate of 88 percent of normal rainfall, which could mean deficient rains in July and August.

Automobile stocks would be in focus as companies start reporting June 2015 sales volume data. Auto stocks have seen a sharp rally of late on the back of good rains, thus improving the fate of the companies, especially those who manufacture two-wheelers and farm equipment.

I remain skeptical of this extended bounce-back and believe that the ground reality has not changed much in the recent past, except better than expected rainfall till date.

The Nifty is slightly overbought at the current levels. Disappointment from Greece and domestic politics would cap the upside. Results for the first quarter of FY16 are just a couple of weeks away and they will give no reason for investors to rejoice. The crash in the Chinese markets does not necessarily mean that funds would come rushing to India.

FIIs may take a cautious view on emerging markets overall, though they were net buyers in India last week after a long time. It’s time to exit long trading positions and investors should wait on the sidelines for events in Greece to play out.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket explodes

SpaceX’s unmanned Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sunday but exploded a few minutes after liftoff. It was on a mission to resupply the International Space Station. (NASA)

By Christian Davenport-June 28
An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bound for the International Space Station exploded a couple of minutes after liftoff Sunday morning. It was the third cargo mission to the space station to be lost in recent months.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Rocket Explodes by Thavam Ratna

Climate Change Will Kill All Of Us

By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera –June 27, 2015

Asanga Abeygoonasekera

“Actually, the forest is complete life, and it is the forest that gives strength to human beings to fight for the welfare of humanity.” Chief Almir Narayamoga Surui tribe leader

A father carries his three year old dead child from the heat wave in Karachi, Pakistan. More than 700 lives have been taken due to the highest recorded temperature in fifteen years 44.8 degrees celsius in Pakistan and more than 2000 dead in the neighboring India. Karachi a city of 20 million people who lives with limited access to electricity, limited for only few hours a day, the rich has got the generators and most of them would survive while poor has no option but to die as they cant switch on any cooling device. The demand of the 20m people in Karachi cannot be met by the electricity grids, unable to keep up with the demand. The technologically sophisticated globalized world we live still unable to protect these innocent victims affected from the heat wave. It is a sad plight to see people being killed for heat. We have global leaders and top corporate sector who earn billions who talk of the values of human life but unable to do anything.

According to a prominent scientist David Auerbach “Humans will be extinct in 100 years due to overcrowding, declining resources and climate change”. The goal for the century is to keep the temperature below 2°C will be difficult with the current trends. A 5°C increase, as predicted to occur by 2100 at the moment, would cause widespread flooding, famine, drought and mass extinction according to Auerbach.

This author at the foothills of Davos in January was fortunate to interact and listen to Al Gore former US Vice President who spoke to the young global leaders, explaining what CO2 does to the climate and what we all need to do to protect and create a world for the present and the next generation. One hundred and ten million tons of CO2 every 24 hours is released to our atmosphere every day which seriously needs a change in our individual way of life, specially to reduce man made pollution around the world. The affect of climate change to Island nations will be drastic and its time we all take serious measures to curb environment pollution. Not further going towards projects such s Norochcholai coal power, since the entire world is moving away from coal and transitioning towards renewable energy the area we should concentrate when making future decisions. Private sector a key contributor to our economy should make protecting the environment a top priority including to their corporate social responsibility.                                          Read More

Fasting For Three Days Can Regenerate Stem Cells And Reverse Immune System-Suppression

June 19

Even though to many people fasting may sound as depriving your body from certain foods and therefore allowing your body lack nutrients, in reality it is quite the opposite. In fact, there are only benefits from fasting. Any type of fast- water fast, juice fast, excluding certain types of food from your diet, or giving your digestive system a rest for three days will improve your general health, regenerate your cells and improve your immune system.

In order to keep your immune system healthy, it is advisable to fast for several days, three to four times in a year. According to the University of South California in L.A., it will keep you healthy, protect your body and also promote regeneration. If you have an immunocompromised immune system fasting is the only alternative which will fight disease and protect you of any upcoming ones.

To show that the theory works in practice, a professor of Gerontology and the Biological Sciences at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, Valter Longo, made an experiment with people and mice, by putting them on a fast. He realized that when mammals fast, the white blood cells in their blood decreases. This meant that with fasting the body has the opportunity only to recycle old immune cells, which automatically triggers the production of new immune cells, so they can replace the old ones.

We have to realize that no matter our diet, exercise etc. immune cells become worn out and stop functioning properly after a certain period of time. However, fasting can solve this problem by flipping a regenerative switch in our body and therefore filter all the waste material from our blood and immunity. By fasting you detox your body and rest your whole digestive system, by giving your body a chance to turn to the other parts of your body which need to be repaired.

“We could not predict that prolonged fasting would have such a remarkable effect in promoting stem cell-based regeneration of the hematopoietic system. When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged. What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”

This study mainly focused on chemo patients, but it also extended to other conditions like autoimmune disorders. The triggering of the new production of new, undamaged immune cells, fasting could help people who suffer from what the system has been claimed of incurable medical conditions. Prolonged Fasting forces the body the use stores of glucose, fat, and ketones as well as a portion of existing white blood cells. So, fasting acts as a detoxification that clears out the old so it can bring in the new.

Prolonged fasting reduces levels of an enzyme known as PKA, or protein kinase A. Earlier research has found bolsters the regulation of stem cell self-renewal and pluripotency along with extending longevity. Taking part in prolonged fasting helps decrease levels of IGF-1, which is a growth factor hormone that’s been linked to aging, tumor progression and cancer risk.

“PKA is the key gene that needs to shut down for these stem cells to switch into regenerative mode,” says Longo. “It gives the OK for stem cells to go ahead and begin proliferating and rebuild the entire system. And the good news is that the body got rid of the parts of the system that might be damaged or old, the inefficient parts, during the fasting. Now, if you start with a system heavily damaged by chemotherapy or aging, fasting cycles can generate, a new immune system.”

Sri Lanka’s memory wars thwart reconciliation

Past leaders: Former Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksa meets with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo in 2013. | AFP-JIJI

BY JEFF KINGSTON-JUN 27, 2015

Six years after the end of the civil war that claimed at least 70,000 lives between 1983 and 2009, Sri Lanka appears to have made little progress on reconciliation between its ethnic Tamils and Sinhalese majority.

Sri Lanka’s Memory Wars Thwart Reconciliation by Thavam Ratna

20A Shall Be Rejuvenated Through Local Government Elections

By Sujata Gamage –June 27, 2015

Dr. Sujata Gamage

Amendment 20 sought to introduce a mixed member method of electing parliamentarians. Few people seem to be aware that we already have a mixed member electoral system in place for local government.

An Act to amend the local government elections using a mixed member method was passed in 2012, largely away from the eyes of media and civil society. The January 2016 election may give Sri Lankans their first taste of a mixed member election, since, as we just found out, the upcoming Parliamentary election is to be held under the present PR system with preferential voting.

It is just as well, because if the present 20th Amendment was approved in a hurry, it is very likely we would have ended up with more MPs than we need.

225-to-237-to-255 and beyond – the numbers game

During a public meeting held on March 2nd to discuss various options in electoral reform, we learned that the original 140+70+15=225 formula with a limit of 225 seats proposed in 200t interim report of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms would be difficult to implement in the short time frame envisaged at that time. As reverend Sobitha Thero very eloquently put, we had to cook the reform roti while the 100-day pan was hot.

However, once the seat limits were relaxed, it became this floating number with no limit. The Cabinet may have compromised at 237, but, the behind the scene negotiations to implement 20A at any cost seem to be heading towards 255 or beyond.                 Read More  

Ghosts Of War Give Way to Development in Sri Lanka

This bullet-pocked building, located in the Pallai area some 35 km south of Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna town, stands in contrast to the newly paved road, freshly laid rail tracks and modern buildings cropping up around it. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS

By Amantha Perera-Friday, June 26, 2015

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Jun 26 2015 (IPS) - It is an oasis from the scorching heat outside. The three-storey, centrally air-conditioned Cargills Square, a major mall in Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna town, is the latest hangout spot in the former warzone, where everyone from teenagers to families to off-duty military officers converge.

Ghosts of War Give Way to Development in Sri Lanka by Thavam Ratna

An onerous task

Editorial-June 26, 2015

Civic-minded people are coming forward, as never before, to help cleanse politics. Among them are civil society activists, captains of industry, trade unionists, university dons and priests. Their active participation in this kind of social movement has been possible because both the government and the Opposition are in crisis and too weak to hold their own. But, the problem with such ad hoc campaigns is that after functioning as pressure groups in times of crisis they disintegrate and politicians consolidate their positions. Therefore, proper leadership is a prerequisite for maintaining the momentum of the ongoing pro-people campaign which needs to be transformed into a national movement without a partisan political agenda. Sadly, most of those who have the capacity to lead it failed to remain independent at the last presidential election. They plunged into politics and compromised their credibility.

The biggest challenge before the social movement that has taken upon itself the onerous task of ridding politics of criminal elements is to survive the next Parliamentary election and continue its struggle. Nonetheless, its tireless efforts to crank up pressure on political leaders to refrain from nominating bad eggs to contest elections are to be highly appreciated.

Preventing unsavoury elements from securing nominations from recognised political parties is, no doubt, half the battle in making the next Parliament less bad. But, there are other measures which the campaigners for clean politics should not lose sight of.

A cap has to be placed on campaign expenditure. At present, the sky is the limit and some politicians even give away money, mobile phones, alcohol and dry rations in return for votes, mostly in the poor quarters of the city of Colombo, where more than one half of the people live in slums and shanties. Similarly, politicians must be made to account for their campaign funds which amount to billions of rupees.

Besides clean track records, educational qualifications must also be made a criterion for contesting elections. A candidate need not necessarily have universities degrees or post graduate qualifications to enter Parliament or any other political institution. But, he or she should have a decent education if he or she is to carry out his or her legislative duties properly. An MP who has failed GCE O/L mathematics cannot be expected to understand the national budget and the accounts of public institutions he or she is required to scrutinise as part of his or her fiduciary duties. The late Finance Minister Dr. N. M. Perera once refused to talk to a hectoring journalist about his budget as the latter failed to explain how national income was calculated!

The need for a recall mechanism cannot be overemphasised. At present there is no way electors can deal with sitting MPs in case of wrongdoing. A recall system will serve as a sword of Damocles for misfits who enter Parliament by pulling the wool over the eyes of the voting public. Now that it has been decided to adopt the German electoral system, there is no reason why we should not emulate other countries which allow electors to recall their errant representatives. The campaigners for a clean Parliament ought to study the British Recall of MPs Act 2015 with a view to introducing something similar here. After all, we are great fans of the Westminster system, aren’t we?

For the first time a serious effort has been made to implement an election manifesto. The new government was left with no alternative but to strive to make good its promises with a general election staring it in the face. It has sought to use its 100-day programme as a stepping stone, but the fact remains that some benefits, albeit temporary, have accrued to the public. There is a pressing need for making election manifestoes legally binding so that political parties will be cautious in making promises and action can be taken against their failure to implement their election pledges.

Fall-Out From The Navaly Bombing: The Mulder Affair

By Rajan Hoole –June 27, 2015 

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Law Enforcement and the Security Services: Politicisation and Demoralisation – 19

In the foregoing sections we have dealt with administrative practices and political pressures that have contributed to the degeneration of the Police Service in the next 5 years after showing fresh signs of hope in mid-1995. We will now concentrate largely on the responsibility of civil society. A series of events beginning with a military operation in Jaffna on 9th July 1995 created a mood in the South that was more chauvinistic, xenophobic and gullible, and hence more tolerant of abuses and falsehood by the Government, the security services and the Police. The Press too surrendered its initiative and succumbed to the same kind of forces whose articulation led to the Southern unrest in 1987.

It began with deception. The Air Force bombed the refugee concentration around the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Navaly, on 9th July killing about 120 civilians. This was on the first day of an offensive in Jaffna. The ICRC in publicising the incident referred to damage to the church. It is the kind of inaccuracy that creeps in when there is an urgent need to publicise a real human tragedy. The President promised an inquiry. Subsequent reports made it clear that 6 to 8 bombs had fallen in the area missing the church, but a large number of people had been killed and several buildings in the vicinity destroyed.

The Military however maintained (Reuters, CDN 29.7.95) that it still was, after more than two weeks, trying to determine if the Air Force bombed the area. It added that it could not tell who was responsible because of a lack of access!

Then at a press conference (CDN 5.8.95), the President harped on the fact that the church building was intact. She said that a bomb had exploded in the compound and some had died, but the cause was not known. As if to suggest a cause, she said that the LTTE had been camped close by and firing mortar shells at the advancing army, but that the latter were firing artillery shells elsewhere. She dismissed reports confirming the aerial bombing. Such reports came from the ICRC and Mr. K. Ponnambalam, Government Agent, Jaffna. The latter she said was a hostage in the hands of the LTTE. This was the beginning of Mr. Ponnambalam’s troubles, a man who was an honest and respected senior administrative officer. Earlier the Foreign Minister had pulled up the ICRC in a rather ungainly manner.

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Sri Lanka civil servants warned of jail if election laws violated

The head of Sri Lanka's independent elections commission, Mahinda Deshapriya, said he has been given wide p

June 26, 2015

Sri Lanka's election chief Saturday warned civil servants they will face fines and three years in prison for failing to ensure a free and fair parliamentary election announced for August.

"I have powers now to jail public servants for a period of three years and also fine them up to 100,000 rupees ($770)," Deshapriya told reporters a day after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked parliament and cleared the way for an election 10 months ahead of schedule.The head of the independent elections commission, Mahinda Deshapriya, said he has been given wide powers under a recent statute to deal with civil servants who violated elections laws and favoured candidates.

Almost all previous elections have been marred by allegations that state officials colluded with the party in power to give them an undue advantage at the polls.

Independent poll monitors have also reported large scale abuse of state vehicles and other resources to boost the campaign of the party in power.

At the previous national vote, the presidential poll in January, Deshapriya had ordered police to" shoot in the head" and kill anyone trying to disrupt elections.

The January 8 election was relatively peaceful with only one drive-by shooting which killed a supporter of Sirisena.

Deshapriya said the formal election period will begin from July 6 and warned that the government cannot make any politically-motivated transfers of civil servants until after the vote on August 17.

Sirisena dissolved the legislature at midnight Friday and said he would summon the new parliament on September 1 in line with pledges he had given to Sri Lanka’s international backers.

During the May visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry, President Sirisena had assured that there would be a new government in Colombo by September.

Pro-Western Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had pressed for early elections to increase the majority of his United National Party (UNP), which sat in opposition until Sirisena's victory in January's polls.

Wickremesinghe's party has welcomed the election as an opportunity to increase their strength in the legislature and ensure stability.

President Sirisena had inherited the sacked parliament from his autocratic predecessor, who controlled a loyal band of lawmakers who repeatedly blocked reforms, including fiscal policy moves.

However, Sirisena managed to restore the two-term limit on the presidency which Rajapakse had removed in 2010 and also reduce the presidential term and the life of a parliament to five years, down from six.

Sirisena had also given more powers to the elections commission.

Sri Lanka to invite foreign observers for parliamentary polls

 BY AGENCIES-June 28, 2015

Sri Lanka will invite foreign observers for the parliamentary elections due to take place on August 17, election monitors said on Saturday.

The People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said they are going to invite at least 50 foreign observers to monitor the elections which will produce a new Sri Lankan parliament.

“The upcoming elections will be competitive as we will be seeing some major political parties contesting. With foreign observers, there will be a certain level of control on election day,” PAFFREL executive director Rohana Hettiarachchi told Xinhua.

Election observers from the Asian Network for Free Elections in Thailand and observers from the European Union and Commonwealth will be invited to monitor the polls, Hettiarachchi said.

Well informed sources said that discussions are also likely to be held with the National Democratic Institute and other US organisations to invite US observers.

During presidential elections held in the island nation in January, both local monitors and the election department invited foreign monitors including those from the Commonwealth and the European Union to observe the process.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved parliament on Friday, months after taking office in January this year.

Political parties including the ruling United National Party ( UNP) had been calling on Sirisena in recent weeks to dissolve parliament, stating that the government’s 100-day mandate which began on January 8 has expired.

Who Will Be Our Next President?

By Hilmy Ahamed –June 27, 2015

Hilmy Ahamed

With the announcement that parliament would be dissolved effective midnight, June 26th 2015, the political debate will move on to the next stage of building coalitions. The rebel group from the UPFA who have stood by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa may end up as political orphans, unless Mahinda Rajapaksa comes forward to provide leadership to their election campaign. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) which probably will go it alone and is likely to emerge as the bigger winner at the next general election, may not succeed in getting the magic 113 number as a single party. So, they have to look for wheeler-dealers to form the next government. Will it be the minority parties or will it be Sirisena’s lot from the SLFP/UPFA? Sri Lanka needs a stable government and we pray that President Sirisena would be able to steer the next elected parliamentarians to work together with the national government concept.

The passage of the watered down 19A is a landmark achievement, yet it falls short of the many promises made by the common opposition in the run up to the January 2015 elections. The dilution of it is seen as a strategic move by vested interests to climb to the presidential seat after Maithripala Sirisena relinquishes office after his first term. Would president Sirisena quit after his first term or would he want the second term? He has renegaded on many of his election promises, and this may not be an exception.

The much talked about 20th Amendment will be put in to cold storage with parliament being dissolved without its passage. The minority parties strongly believe that Champika Ranawaka and some groups of Buddhist extremists are behind the attempt to deprive the minor and minority parties, the political influence they have had with successive governments. They believe that with the possible exit of Maithripala Sirisena after his first presidential term, Champika Ranawaka could stake a claim to the throne as the UPFA presidential candidate, and if minorities have no major say, it would be easier to convince the majority community that they need a nationalistic leader. His desperate ambition to lead the country is no secret and the fact that Champika and his lot opposed the total abolition of the executive presidential system gives credibility to this theory. Is President Maithripala aware of this possible conspiracy or has he become a victim of his own self-confidence.

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