CNRP plans election rallies

 

After weeks abroad in Europe and the United States, respectively, Cambodia National Rescue Party leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha are returning this week ahead of the council election campaign, which kicks off on Friday.Though the election is not a universal vote and instead sees sitting commune councillors cast ballots – typically along party lines – for municipal, district and provincial councillors, a two-week campaign will run May 2-16 before the May 18 poll. 

Meach Sovannara, director of the information department at the CNRP, said yesterday that Sokha would be arriving today, after a short stop in South Korea, while Rainsy will arrive on Tuesday.

He said the CNRP was planning on holding large election rallies in the streets of Phnom Penh during the two-week campaign period and that political negotiations with the Cambodian People’s Party could not resume until after the campaign.

“We are thinking of the election campaign and demanding an early election. How can we negotiate?” Sovannara said, adding that his party planned to attract huge crowds for a march on May 2.

“Our political message is related to the current political situation,” he said.

Senior CPP official Ork Kim Han, who is in charge of the election campaign, criticised the CNRP’s plan to marchas “illegal”.“I know that the Cambodian People’s Party will not march. But in case it changes and the supporters march, I cannot stop it. But whatever we do will be according to the Election Law,” he said.“Election rallies are different from protest marches. At election rallies we propagandise about the political platform of the party. But if we hold demonstrations, it means we demand something. So itis illegal.”At a meeting last week hosted by the National Election Committee, political parties were told they were not banned from marching during the campaign, but that their election rallies could not turn into demonstrations, must not insult other candidates and could not permanently occupy public places.

His passion still stands tall

 

Raising their voices in unison, friends, relatives and former colleagues of slain environmental activist Chut Wutty chanted his name as they approached the place along the road where his life ended two years ago to the day.On April 26, 2012, Wutty, the director of the National Resource Protection Group and tireless advocate for Cambodia’s forests, was gunned down in bizarre circumstances during an investigation into illegal logging in Koh Kong province’s Mondul Seima district.

The shooting, by a military police officer, was the most high-profile killing of an activist since unionist Chea Vichea was shot dead outside a newsstand in Phnom Penh in 2004, and it sent shockwaves throughout the country’s activist community.Two years later, during the first ceremony at the site to mark the anniversary of Wutty’s death, emotions were still running high.“He told us that losing our forest is like losing our life force,” said 58-year-old Tun Lam, an activist from Stung Treng province who met Wutty in 2008. “Even though we were afraid after he was killed, we can’t stop our activities, or it will all be for nothing.”

The event on Saturday, which occurred alongside a stretch of road in Mondul Seima district called Veal Bei point, attracted about 100 people who travelled in vans and the same truck that Wutty was driving when he was shot. The group gathered around an effigy of the activist fashioned out of tree branches, as the Venerable Luon Savath, an activist monk, led a Buddhist ceremony to commemorate Wutty’s spirit.His son Chheuy Oddom Rasmey, 21, remembered the last time he heard his father’s voice, in a phone conversation about an hour before he was killed.

“He wanted me to become a lawyer, but I don’t want this job, because the court system in Cambodia is neither independent nor just,” he said, adding that he was committed to ending illegal logging on a grassroots level.

Three monitors sporting the powder blue vests of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) placed a wreath alongside Wutty’s shrine, paid for by staff members of the OHCHR Cambodia office.The crime scene is typically guarded by at least two men, according to Neang Boratino, provincial coordinator for Adhoc, which worked closely with Wutty.“They made an exception for this day, because they know how large we are in number,” he said.Provincial Forestry Administration director Oum Makary said yesterday, however, that the site was near a public road, and access was never blocked.

People attach a photo of environmental activist Chut Wutty to an effigy on Saturday at the site where he was fatally shot in Koh Kong. Scott Howes“No one is allowed to log that area, because [environmental NGO] Wildlife Alliance and military police officers patrol the area on foot and with a helicopter,” Makary said.Rights monitors say the circumstances leading to Wutty’s death haven’t been properly investigated. What’s known is a standoff turned ugly, ending with Wutty and a military police officer both dead.

 

Rattana had allegedly tried to confiscate the memory card of a camera Wutty, who was in the company of two journalists, had been using to document stockpiles of yellow vine.

As the official narrative goes, after arguing, Rattana shot and killed Wutty before being shot dead by Ran Borath, a security guard for a logging firm. The two journalists were unharmed in the incident.

When the case finally came to trial, the provincial court focused on the unintentional murder of Rattana, the man supposedly responsible for Wutty’s death. Key witnesses were never called to testify, and Borath, the security guard who was accused of the “accidental killing” of Rattana, only served six months of his two-year sentence.

“Two years on, Chut Wutty’s family and friends are still demanding justice for Cambodia’s premier defender of the forest. But those pleas are falling on deaf ears in the government,” Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said on Sunday.In a press release issued on Saturday, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights characterised the official version of what happened as “ludicrous”.But violence and intimidation of environmental activists will continue, along with the depletion of Cambodian forests, if Wutty’s work is abandoned, said Chhim Savuth, the current executive director of the National Resource Protection Group.Sitting in a small clearing during the ceremony as a means of escaping the crowd, Savuth said logging had only accelerated since July’s national elections.

“The only way for this to change is if the government stops issuing licences to export timber abroad and reinforces the forest law,” Savuth said, adding that as each year passed, the forest’s supply of rosewood was coming dangerously close to the brink of extinction.As the burning incense began to wane and the light dimmed, the crowd slowly returned to nearby vans, ending an event that was sombre but far from hopeless.Wutty’s effigy was left leaning along a shrine constructed in his honour, surrounded by sticks of incense.“In Cambodia, justice is like salt in the water or a pin at the bottom of the ocean that is nearly impossible to find,” said monk Luon Sovath to the kneeling participants. “But if you kill one Chut Wutty - 10,000 more Chut Wutty’s will stand up and continue his work.”

Hanoi’s lakes from flying cameras

From a height of over 200m, Hoan Kiem Lake and West Lake look clean, green and peaceful in the bustling city.

Hoan Kiem Lake viewed from Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square. On the left are Dinh Tien Hoang Street and Le Thai To streets and the Thuy Ta Restaurant in the right corner. Ngoc Khanh Lake in Ngoc Khanh Ward, Ba Dinh District, surrounded by the two streets of Nguyen Chi Thanh and Pham Huy Thong. There are many coffee shops and restaurants that have attracted young people for a dozen years. Inside the park of Nghia Do in Nghia Tan Ward, Cau Giay District is the lake of the same name. Nghia Do Lake is opposite the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. Along with Hoan Kiem Lake, West Lake is Hanoi's most famous lake, having been described in many poems and songs. It is the largest natural lake in the city, covering an area of over 500 hectares, 18km in perimeter. On the lake emerges the beautiful Tran Quoc Pagoda. In the northwest of the West Lake is the West Lake Water Park and amusement sites along the lake. This is the place for the young and couples. Hoang Cau Lake in Dong Da District is surrounded by the streets of Hoang Cau and Mai Anh Tuan. On the lake are the abutments of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong elevated urban railway. Bay Mau Lake in Thong Nhat Park. The lake occupies about 28 hectares, with the two islands of Thong Nhat and Hoa Binh in the middle. The lake is surrounded by the roads of Dai Co Viet and Le Duan. Thien Quang Lake is surrounded by the four streets of Nguyen Du, Tran Trong Binh, and Quang Trung and Tran Nhan Tong. This area is famous for milky flowers in the autumn. Giang Vo Lake in Ba Dinh District. This is a densely populated area. Around the lake are cafes, big restaurants and hotels. Xa Dan Lake is surrounded by Hanoi's old apartment blocks such as Trung Tu and Nam Dong on the roads of Ho Dac Di, Tran Huu Tuoc and Dang Van Ngu. Van Lake on Quoc Tu Giam Street, Dong Da District, is in front of the Temple of Literature. Amid the lake is Kim Chau Hill with the Phan Thuy house. This was the site where scholars declaimed poems in the past. This is part of the Temple of Literature – Vietnam’s first university.

Cemetery for aircraft, military vehicles in Vietnam

Aircraft, tank chains, specialized military vehicles and other iron equipment are piled around the village of Quan Do, in Van Mon Commune, Yen Phong District, Bac Ninh Province.

For nearly 10 years, Quan Do village has become the center of metal waste. Right at the entrance to the village are aircraft bodies. Local people used to buy more than 20 military aircraft from MiG 19 to MiG 21 and IL18 at the same time. They also buy old military vehicles as scrap. A specialized military vehicles is about to be “processed" to collect metals. There are thousands of old motorbikes in the village. Locals buy them at the price of VND500,000 to VND700,000 ($25-30).   Military communication equipment and computer screens.   Electronics boards. These things will be dismantled to collect metals. The switches split from electrical equipment will be sold to sellers of used electronic items at the flea market in Hanoi. Every day, villagers buy tons of scrap. They have to hire workers from other villages to dismantle and classify waste. Across the villager roads are piles of scrap, ranging from cables to copper wires, electrical transformers, motors etc. A pile of tank chains. After being classified, scraps become best-selling items. In the photo, a truck carries plastic covers of electric wires and plastic materials to recycling facilities.

Connecticut school slaying suspect under emergency commitment

A 16-year-old Connecticut high school student suspected in the slashing death of a classmate was under emergency commitment at a medical facility, his lawyer said Saturday.

The classmate, Maren Sanchez, 16, who was described by her family as "a bright light full of hopes and dreams," died Friday after being slashed in a school stairwell, authorities said. She was cut in her neck, chest and face.Though the motive is under investigation, police were looking into rumors the boy was angry because Sanchez had declined to go to the prom with him.The alleged assailant was removed by staff members at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, local police said.He was being held at a local medical facility and a murder charge is pending, officials said.Attorney Richard Meehan said Saturday via e-mail that the suspect was under a 15-day emergency commitment and would not appear at an arraignment scheduled for Monday. Meehan would not elaborate.He'll be arraigned in a juvenile court in New Haven, though police note that courts will decide later whether he will be tried as an adult.The incident began around 7 a.m. in a stairwell at the school, and was witnessed in part by at least one school staff member.

Sanchez, a junior, suffered "multiple lacerations" and investigators "recovered a knife at the crime scene," police said. Morgan obtained the followingThe Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Connecticut concluded Saturday that 16-year-old Maren Sanchez died from "stab wounds to the trunk and neck" and ruled the death as a homicide.School staff members and emergency technicians attempted "life-saving measures," according to Milford Police Chief Keith Mello, but Sanchez was pronounced dead at Bridgeport Hospital at 7:43 a.m.

Addressing reporters on Friday, the police chief didn't provide a motive but said investigators are looking into rumors that the boy was angry because Sanchez had declined to go to the prom with him.

The prom, scheduled for Friday night, was postponed. All students were sent home, and Milford Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Feser said counseling services will be available to them throughout the weekend.

On Friday, friends and classmates of Sanchez gathered around her prom dress and released balloons into the air. The balloons were violet, her favorite color.On Instagram, classmates in prom attire posted images of themselves holding her green gown.The slain girl's cousin, Edward Kovac, read a statement from her family lamenting what they called an "unprovoked attack" that ended the life of a young woman who had "her future at her fingertips.""Maren should be celebrating at her prom this evening, with her friends and classmates," the family said, via Kovac. "Instead, we are mourning her death, and we are trying as a community to understand this senseless loss of life." 

The family statement recalled other cases of school violence, saying "we can never forget the lessons ... from this" and other incidents. One of those incidents happened about 22 miles away, in December 2012 in Newtown, when a lone gunman shot his mother to death, then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and killed 26 people, including 20 children, before taking his own life.

"We need to ensure that more young children are protected from violent attacks at school," the family said.