Cambodians inside as well as outside the country are encouraged and delighted upon hearing the good news about the decision unanimously taken by Foreign Ministers of the seven countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during a Special ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Kuala Lumpur on May 31 admitting Cambodia, together with Laos and Myanmar, into the group at the 30th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting to be held in Kuala Lumpur on July 23.
The decision is regarded as an encouragement for all Cambodians to continue on the road to further development. It is likely to play a very significant role in strengthening the country's stability because not only the two ruling parties but the Cambodian community as a whole wishes to join ASEAN.
ASEAN, which is an organization of sovereign and independent states in South-East Asia, is a zone of peace, freedom and neutrality. It is a grouping of countries with an enviable record of economic, social, and political achievements. It is also a very dynamic forum for cooperation in the region, as well as with the major pacific powers-U.S.A., China, Russia, and Japan, and a powerful mechanism for the country's economic growth, development and social welfare. Therefore, admission to ASEAN is beneficial to Cambodia. Though there will be some inevitable pain in the beginning, it is believed that Cambodia will reap long-term economic rewards by joining the group.
The entry into ASEAN will enable Cambodia, through the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), to maximize its economies of scale through increased access to regional and international markets. More foreign investors will come and invest in Cambodia, thus helping the country to create job opportunities and to acquire new technology. The free exchange of goods and services will allow Cambodia to specialize and create competition to stimulate productivity and improve the quality of domestic goods and services, in order to assure its competitiveness in the international arena.
But before seeing any benefits from its membership in ASEAN and AFTA, Cambodia has to reduce its customs tariffs. Although the move is expected to put a strain on Cambodia's national budget in the short term as it tries to adjust to the loss of revenue, we must comply because we have to abide by the terms and conditions of the Agreement on Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) which is the core body of AFTA in providing the mechanism on how tariff on goods are to be reduced. Furthermore, we need to change our tariff rate to survive in the region. When our neighbors reduce their tariffs, goods will flow to their countries. But if the tariff is too high in Cambodia, the goods will be smuggled in.
As for the tax system adjustment, Cambodia has passed and introduced a new tax law earlier this year and additional steps are under way. We have so far reduced customs duties gradually and we don't have to adjust all our tax system this year when we join ASEAN. AFTA/CEPT provides us enough time to carry out our tax system adjustment program step by step and Cambodia has set up a program to do it over a period of 10 years, so it's not a serious problem for the Cambodian people.
The entry of Cambodia into ASEAN is a gain for the Cambodian people. It will provide many advantages to the process of peace, stability, and development in our beloved motherland. We remain optimistic that we are able to overcome every difficulty during the beginning years to enjoy economic rewards.
ASEAN Secretary-General Ajit Singh and Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi visited Cambodia on June 9 to formally notify the Royal Government of Cambodia of the Association's May 31 decision to admit the country into the group on July 23 this year.
While in Cambodia, the two top ASEAN representatives met with Acting Head of State Chea Sim, First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen, and Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Ung Huot.
Before returning to Kuala Lumpur, the two representatives told reporters that Cambodia was fully ready to join ASEAN on July 23 despite recent political difficulties.
Malaysian Foreign Minister expressed hope that the Cambodian leaders will be able to resolve whatever problems they may be having.
After the meetings with both envoys, spokesmen for First Prime Minister and Second Prime Minister called the meetings a success and said the two leaders would do everything necessary to ensure peace in the country and its smooth entry into ASEAN.
The Cambodian two Prime Ministers formally asked for the assistance of the United Nations and the international community in bringing to justice those persons responsible for the genocide and crimes against humanity during the rule of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979.
The April 1997 resolution on Cambodia of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights requests the Secretary-General through his Special Representative, in collaboration with the Center for Human Rights, to examine any request by Cambodia for assistance in responding to past serious violations of Cambodian and international laws as a means of bringing about national reconciliation, strengthening democracy, and addressing the issue of individual accountability, said First Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh and Second Prime Minister Hun Sen in a joint letter of June 21 to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"Cambodia does not have the resources or expertise to conduct this very important procedure. Thus, we believe it is necessary to ask for the assistance of the UN."
"We hope that the UN and international community can assist the Cambodian people in establishing the truth about this period and bringing those responsible to justice. Only in this way can this tragedy be brought to a full and final conclusion," concluded the letter.
Fred Eckhard, spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, told reporters in a June 24 press briefing that the Secretary-General had met on June 23 with the Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Hans Corell and others. The Secretary-General had been assured that both the Security Council and the General Assembly had the competence to create a tribunal to bring to justice those responsible for the genocide and crimes against humanity in Cambodia between 1975 to 1979. He then decided to send copies of the letter to the Presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council inviting them to take any action they might wish.
Asked about reports that the US was making arrangements to have the Khmer Rouge leader, Pol Pot, tried in Canada, Mr. Eckhard said Mr. Corell had spoken to both the Canadians and the Americans yesterday. But the Secretary-General's response was in relation to the letter from Cambodia specifically asking for the UN help in administering justice. A decision on the best option would have to be made by governments.
Asked whether the Security Council could set up a tribunal only if there was a threat to international peace and security, Mr. Eckhard said the Security Council had set up the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda under that formula. But, apart from action under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council, like the General Assembly, has the capacity to create a subsidiary body. The UN Charter did not specify for what purpose or what kind of body.
Asked whether Cambodia is on the Security Council's agenda, Mr. Eckhard replied the Cambodian Prime Ministers' letter would reach the Council the afternoon of June 24. "We will then see whether it is the Security Council or the General Assembly which chooses to act," he added.
H.R.H. Samdech Krom Preah Norodom Ranariddh and H.E. Samdech Hun Sen, respectively First and Second Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia have agreed in principal in fixing May 1998 as the date for holding national elections to choose the new National Assembly.
The Electoral Commission of the Cambodian Ministry of Interior and National Security has finished on June 25 its work in drafting electoral law for national elections and law on establishing political parties. The two laws are now reviewed by the Ministry of Interior and are expected to be submitted to the Cabinet in July this year.
Private investment in Cambodia totaled $360.3 million in the first four months of this year, more than double compared to $175 million for the same period in 1996, according to a report released on June 10 by the Cambodian Investment Board (CIB) which is the investment arm of the Royal Government and is charged with approving all major private sector applications.
The growth was mainly due to US Most Favored Nation (MFN) trade status granted last year to Cambodia. MFN, which lowered duties on Cambodian exports to the level of most US trading partners, have consequently attracted many garment manufactures to Cambodia.
Half of all investments approved between January and April were garment manufacturing projects which totaled 32 garment factories worth nearly $30 million.
South Korea was the leading investor and had the largest single approved project, a $200 million cement factory to be built by Korean firm Tong Yang Corp.
Other major projects included a $50 million planned industrial park to be developed by Sun Wah Ltd of Hong Kong and a $38 million wireless phone system to be developed by Portacom Wireless Communication Inc. of the United States.
A dozen agro-industrial projects, including bean, corn, sesame, cassava, and banana growing and processing were also approved.
Telstra, an Australian telecommunications and information services company, has launched a comprehensive internet service in Cambodia in conjunction with the Cambodian Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, reported Business Wire on June 9.
The service, to be known as Big Pond, will take advantage of Telstra's considerable experience gained in establishing Australia's largest wholesale and retail Internet networks.
With the establishment of Big Pond, the boundless information resources of the Internet are now made available to the people of Cambodia. This gives Cambodians a voice in the world's largest forum and will allow local businesses to take part in the newly emerging arena of electronic commerce.
Big Pond is offering a full service Internet network based in Phnom Penh. Services include e-mail as well as the world wide web.
It is hoped that the availability of the Internet news service in Cambodia will promote the establishment of Khmer-specific discussion groups.
On June 3, H.E. Keat Chhon, Minister of Economy and Finance, H.E. Suy Sem, Secretary of State of Social Affairs, Labor and Veterans Affairs, and H.E. Keat Sokun, Secretary of State of Women's Affairs signed with Representatives of Asian Development Bank (ADB), South Korea, and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) a Memorandum on providing US$42 million budget aid for the formation of career and technical skill to women, poor people, and demobilized and disabled soldiers. The project will be carried out from October this year until 2003.
President Clinton notified the US Congress of his decision to grant Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) to Cambodia after observing the measures taken by the country to improve worker rights and intellectual property rights.
"I have determined that Cambodia should be designated as a least developed beneficiary developing country under the GSP program because it has taken steps to improve worker rights and the protection of intellectual property," said President Clinton in his message of May 30, 1997 to the Congress of the United States.
This notice was submitted to the Congress in accordance with the requirements of the US Trade Act of 1974.
This decision will come into effect 60 days after this notice with an announcement by the Congress.
The GSP program offers duty-free treatment to specified products that are imported from designated developing countries.
The US State Department has approved a $1 million grant to help finance the Cambodian Genocide Program's work at Yale and in Cambodia for the next five years.
"I am pleased to inform you that we have decided to award Yale a grant in the amount of $1 million for continued funding of the Cambodian Genocide Program," said the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the State Department in its announcement." We view the project as highly successful thus far, and believe it is important that the program be able to complete its task of investigating, documenting, and analyzing the Cambodian genocide".
It is a particularly timely and important grant, in view of a recent formal request from the Cambodian government for the establishment of an international criminal tribunal to pass judgement on the crimes of the Khmer Rouge.
The Cambodian Genocide Program (CGP), which is based at the Yale Center for International and Area Studies, is an ongoing research project that has documented and released information on the Internet detailing atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, 1975-79.
In 1995, the CGP established the Documentation Center of Cambodia in Phnom Penh to facilitate field operations and train Cambodians in research and documentation techniques. Now, after two years, the Documentation Center has become an independent research institute for the study of the Khmer Rouge genocide, with a large archive of original documents.
The splendid "Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory" opened to viewers at the National Gallery of Art, East building, on June 29. This first major exhibition of Cambodian sculpture in the United States will last through September 28, 1997, before moving to Tokyo and Osaka, Japan.
The inauguration of the exhibition was marked by a Press Breakfast and a gala buffet organized by the National Gallery of Art.
His Excellency Mr. Vann Molyvann, Minister of State in charge of Culture, Fine Arts, and Urbanization and His Highness Sisowath Panara, Secretary of State for Culture and Fine Arts flew from Cambodia to attend the ceremony as representatives of His Majesty the King and the Royal Government of Cambodia.
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Royal Government of Cambodia, and the Réunion des musées nationaux/Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet, Paris, with the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the Marjorie Kovler Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the US Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The sculptures in the exhibition range from monumental works in sandstone representing gods, mythical guardians, female dancers Apsara, and legendary creatures to refined bronzes used for religious rituals and ceremonies. The exhibition also includes sculpted architectural elements from Khmer temples. Photomurals, explanatory texts, and a short video on the temples of Angkor show the architectural and historical context of the sculptures on view.
Most of the objects in the exhibition are from the two greatest collections of Khmer art in the world: the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh and the Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet in Paris.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millenium of Glory, with color and black and white illustrations of every object in the show. The catalogue offers a comprehensive account of Cambodian history, religion, and architecture with essays from a wide range of international experts along with individual entries on the works exhibited.
On June 24, Cambodian Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Ung Huot signed with U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Kenneth Quinn an agreement on $35 million assistance provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The grant will be used for democracy and human rights promoting program, holding of communal and national elections, rural economic development program, elementary educational program, and technical assistance program.
In response to the Washington Post's June 29 article "FBI Points Finger in Cambodian Attack," Cambodia's Secretary of State of Information Khieu Kanharith wrote on June 30 to the Editor of the newspaper a letter that reads as follows:
Sir,
In its June 29 edition, the Washington Post published a story which blamed the bodyguards of the Second Prime Minister for the grenade attack at the KNP rally on 30 March. Citing unnamed sources, the Washington Post reporter stated that an FBI investigation placed the responsibility for the attack on Samdech Hun Sen's bodyguards, who were stationed in the park adjacent to the meeting.
The article is highly unprofessional, and the Washington Post should publish a retraction. First, the reporter goes far beyond any previously published news story about the incident. Never before had any credible report placed responsibility for the attack on the bodyguards. The article clearly states that the Second Prime Minister's bodyguards were responsible for the attack meaning that they planned and executed it. Furthermore, no evidence is presented in the story to justify the accusation. Instead, there were the same stories, which have been previously published, which state that the bodyguards interfered after the attack. But not one bit of information presented in the story supports the allegation that the bodyguards were responsible for the attack itself.
In addition, while the Washington Post reporter was able to cite "four U.S. government sources" as the basis for his allegation that the FBI report blamed Samdech Hun Sen's bodyguard, the Phnom Penh based Cambodia Daily was able to find Royal Cambodian Government officials who have seen the FBI report and deny that the report assigns such responsibility. Included among these is the FUNCINPEC co-Minister of the Interior. This casts considerable doubt on the truthfulness of the Washington Post's story.
Assuming that the Washington Post reporter does have U.S. government sources upon which the story is based, it is highly unprofessional for the U.S. officials to leak such allegations to the press. This is particularly true since the investigation is not yet complete.
Unfortunately, it also is highly injurious to the reputation of the Washington Post to publish such unfounded report. Given the ease with which the Cambodia Daily--literally overnight--could find officials with access to the FBI report who discount the assignment of blame, serious question arise about the bias of the story. As a matter of fairness, a retraction on the part of the Washington Post would be in order.
Yours sincerely,
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