Tag: Cambodia

But rather than see the day as a liberation, the ruling party's detractors, including Sam Rainsy, the exiled acting leader of the dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), have branded January 7 as the start of an occupation by an historic enemy. "Even today, Cambodian politicians, from Prime Minister Hun Sen and opposition leader Sam Rainsy on down, spend much of their energy fighting an old civil war which has little relevance to the problems facing most of Cambodia's 15 million people." "Without Vietnam, I was about to get killed right away because I was in jail already. Siphan said Sam Rainsy, who has long taunted Hun Sen with accusations of being a Vietnamese puppet, had no understanding of the importance of January 7 due to not living under the Pol Pot regime. "Sam Rainsy was living abroad; they never came across the suffering from the killings of the Khmer Rouge. Nee and his family followed the Vietnamese for around 15km as forces poured across the border, sending the Khmer Rouge scarpering west. He later joined the CNRP in 2012 before passing away four years later. "January 7 was a victory day but also a sad day [because] Vietnam violated Cambodian autonomy," Sovann told The Phnom Penh Post in 2001. "After January 7, from year to year Vietnamese have put pressure on all kinds of freedom of expression in Cambodia and the fate of Cambodia was decided by Vietnamese." But Hun Sen's efforts to paint himself as a national saviour did not make sense for young people who had never known war, genocide or the origins of the ruling party, he added.

Travel to a hidden gem, the Banteay Chhmar temple, in 360° and discover the history of the Khmer Empire that was lost for more than 800 years.

Last month, the daughter of a jailed Cambodian opposition party leader received an email from a well-seeming activist at a reputed Cambodian non-profit. But a monthslong investigation by California security-research firm FireEye revealed that Kem was among several Cambodians likely targeted by a far more formidable actor: China. FireEye said Wednesday it found evidence that a Chinese hacking team it believes is linked to Beijing has penetrated computer systems belonging to Cambodia's election commission, opposition leaders and media in the months leading up to Cambodia's July 29 election. The Foreign Ministry in China has rejected these allegations. After the European Union and the United States withdrew their support for the election, China stepped in to donate $20 million to Cambodia's National Election Committee, said Hang Puthea, a spokesman for the body. Monovithya Kem, the daughter of Kem Sokha and an official in his now-disbanded Cambodia National Rescue Party, said she has frequently been targeted by Cambodian hackers in the past, but the revelation of potential Chinese involvement shocked her. On the hackers' server, FireEye researchers found records showing that the group had compromised Cambodia's election commission and several Cambodian ministries. FireEye says the group appears state-linked because it seems to be seeking information that would benefit the Chinese government. In January, Taiwan prosecutors said they found evidence that China's Taiwan Affairs Office promised to pay a Taiwanese politician $500,000 to run a website publishing articles promoting unification. The website of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party was defaced by hackers believed to be from China earlier this month.