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Toxic death theory ‘carries little weight’

Confusion still shrouds mystery of dead tourists

* Published: 11/05/2011 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: News

Thai experts are unconvinced by an independent investigation which suggested that a 23-year-old New Zealand tourist died from excessive exposure to a lethal toxin used to kill bedbugs at a Chiang Mai hotel.

A toxic substances expert from the Public Health Ministry and the Department of Agriculture said they did not think chlorpyrifos – which is used in insecticide sprays – was the cause of the death of Sarah Carter.

Although the experts confirmed Thailand has not banned the substance, approval is needed before it is imported or exported.

The Downtown Inn hotel in Chiang Mai, where four foreign tourists died mysteriously earlier this year.

Carter died on Feb 6, and her friends Emma Langlands and Amanda Eliason became gravely ill while they were on holiday in the Downtown Inn Hotel in Chiang Mai.

Five people died from unexplained causes in Chiang Mai over a 16-day period after New Year. Four stayed at the Downtown Inn Hotel.

The mystery over Carter’s death resurfaced recently after an investigation commissioned by the New Zealand TV show 60 minutes found traces of the potentially lethal toxin in the Downtown Inn where the tourists stayed.

UN scientist Ron McDowall said there was a strong likelihood Carter died from excessive exposure to the substance.

The other four who died after staying at the hotel experienced identical symptoms to those suffered by Carter.

Chiang Mai Public Health Office deputy chief Surasing Visaruthrat told the Bangkok Post that although the authorities had not yet ruled out all possible causes of the deaths, the bedbug insecticide assumption “carries little weight”.

Thorough checks conducted by the doctors when the three tourists were admitted to the hospital found no traces of insecticides, he said.

An autopsy performed by Maharaj Hospital also found no toxic substance residue. The doctors suspected Carter died from food poisoning, according to a Chiang Mai police report.

“We can’t jump to a conclusion that toxin exposure was the cause of the death because the substance was allegedly found in the hotel room alone, not in the victim’s body,” Dr Surasing said.

Dr Surasing yesterday chaired a meeting of the investigation team. The meeting, attended by doctors and experts from various agencies, ended with no conclusion on the deaths.

Dr Surasing said the team would meet again after receiving test results of samples collected from the victims’ bodies. The samples were sent for testing at laboratories in the United States and Japan.

Meanwhile, an official from the Department of Agriculture said Thailand did not ban chlorpyrifos, which is also used as an ingredient in insecticides for use on farms.

“It is hard to believe that a bedbug spray containing chlorpyrifos would be able to kill people unless a large amount of the chemical got into the body,” said the official, who asked not to be named.

The official said chlorpyrifos is easily dissipated in the air, which means it causes no ill effects to the environment.

Industrial Work Department’s hazardous substances control bureau director Mongkol Pruekwatana said chlorpyrifos is a hazardous substance Type 3 under the hazardous substance act, which requires approval for manufacturing, importing and exporting.”The company that used the substance for pest control services might have imported it as powder, mixed it with water and used it to spray termites, resulting in leftover residue on beds,” Mr Mongkol said.

"Economic adviser" to Obama charged with forgery in Cambodia

Ray Dam (C) and Suos Saroeun (R) (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

Dec 23, 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh – Police in Cambodia arrested a man claiming to be an adviser to US President Barack Obama and head of an international finance organization that stores its assets in caves and sunken ships.

Ray Dam and associate Soush Saroeun were charged with forgery Monday after being arrested at Dam’s home in Phnom Penh. They were accused of forging documents alleging connections with HSBC Bank, the US government and the United Nations.

The pair had been operating a self-described international real-estate consultancy known as Asia Real Property out of modern offices in the Cambodian capital.

Asia Real Property’s promotional materials identified the firm as a subsidiary of a group called the Office of International Treasury Control that claimed to be ‘the largest single owner of gold and platinum bullion in the world,’ holding cash and treasure in a variety of clandestine locations.

‘Much of the treasure is buried in tunnels, bunkers and caves and in sunken ships,’ the group said in an investment presentation. ‘Further treasures are hidden all around the world.’

Dam is identified on the group’s website as the ‘sole arbiter … of the Tripartite Gold Commission,’ which was a post-World War II organization that searched for gold stolen by Nazi Germany and was dissolved in 1998. The website also said Dam was an adviser to Obama and his predecessor George W Bush.

Police said Dam and Saroeun had been advertising financial services to foreign joint venture partners in company documents claiming a connection to HSBC Bank. If convicted, they face a maximum of 16 years in prison.

According to an investigation report from police, Dam was born in Cambodia, fleeing the country for the US in the 1970s before returning in the early ’90s. US embassy officials said they had been unable to confirm whether he holds US citizenship.

Officials from Cambodia’s Ministry of Finance lodged a complaint against Dam and Saroeun after learning that the pair were operating without a real-estate licence. A government spokesman said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered an investigation after learning that Dam had been posing as an adviser to the president of Cambodia’s Senate

The view from outside the city

Thursday, 23 December 2010
Neang Sokchea & Kounila Keo
The Phnom Penh Post

Ever since urban centres were formed in Cambodia, usually around centres of trade and industrythere has been an understanding gap between people living in the rural areas and people who became accustomed to life in the city.

Ethnic groups tended to stay in the rural areas, and because they have been separated from places like Phnom Penh, they are seen, and often see themselves as foreigners in their own country when they come to the capital city.

In order to facilitate a greater sense of understanding and community between rural and urban populations, Khmer Community Development, officially established in 2005, invited 750 youth from 7 minority groups in Cambodia to join each other for a weekend of dialogue, activities and developing relationships.

Ngach Pheaktra, a tenth grader from Mondulkiri province, took part in the camping activity and said that, because this was his first trip to Phnom Penh, he sometimes felt like an outsider.

“I feel strange walking along the buildings and houses here. They are all made of brick, while our houses back in our villages are made of wood,” he said, adding that his home doesn’t have too many mosquitoes and he rarely goes on difficult journeys, but his homeland does have mountains, trees and wild animals.

Ngach Pheaktra says Phnom Penh seems much more dangerous, with all of the vehicles moving around the city. “I do not feel secure at all when I am in Phnom Penh. I heard of robbery and rape,” he said. “Compared to Phnom Penh, my village is much better off and safer,” he added.

For Kham Sopheap, a 17-year-old and twelfth grader from Rattanakiri province who is part of one of the ethic minorities in the area, told Lift that she can hardly breathe in Phnom Penh, unlike here village where there are plenty of trees and therefore lots of fresh ait. As a child, she faced a discrimination from students who asked her why she even came to school when she could not speak any Khmer. By the time she was eight, however, she was able to speak Khmer well enough to converse with her classmates.

“There are some things I like about Phnom Penh and other things I don’t like,” she said. “I like it for its amusement parks and the Royal Palace, but I certainly do not like when Phnom Penh is too crowded.”

Lat Bunart, an eleventh grader from Ratanakiri, said that she feels like Phnom Penh is a place only for wealthy people, whereas her village doesn’t require people to be rich. “People in my village are so friendly and welcome the poor and the rich, but people here seem so busy with their businesses and work,” she said. “In our village we spend the day farming and have much more free time to enjoy life.”

Lakeside deadline looms [-How would Kep Chuktema like to be offered 5 million riels ($1,250) to be evicted from his house?]

Residents of Village 23 on the edge of Boeung Kak lake dismantle their homes yesterday to make way for a controversial lakeside development. (Photo by: Pha Lina)

Thursday, 23 December 2010
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Tuol Kork district authorities have given 18 families living in Boeung Kak lake’s Village 23 one week to dismantle their houses, accept compensation and relocate to Dangkor district.

Affected residents say their homes, which lie in the path of a planned access road to the controversial Boeung Kak lake development, will be bulldozed if they fail to meet the deadline.

Resident Ou Norleak, 38, said on Thursday that in a Wednesday meeting between deputy district governor Pich Keo Mony and the families, authorities said they will take drastic measures against those who resist.

“We can’t accept this because we have lived here for years,” Ou Norleak said. “Please Samdech Hun Sen, help your children. We will not be able to build a new house with this compensation.”

Huy Sokhon, another resident from Village 23, described the authorities’ actions as “dictatorship”.

In October, district governor Seng Ratanak told the families to remove their homes and accept a land plot in Dangkor district and 1 million riels (US$250), to make way for the widening of the access road R8 by developer Shukaku Inc.

Ek Yoeun, an official at the Tuol Kork district office, said Thursday that he did not join the meeting, but claimed the authorities had increased the compensation payout to 5 million riels ($1,250), up from the previous offer of 1 million.

“I heard some people asked for $50,000. The government’s policy is only to give a land plot in Kork Ksach village [in Dangkor district] and a small amount of money,” he said.

Duch appeal hearings set for March

(Photo: Reuters)

Thursday, 23 December 2010
James O’Toole and Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

The Khmer Rouge tribunal’s Supreme Court Chamber will hear the appeal of former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav in March of next year, the court said in a statement Thursday.

The notorious jailer, better known as Duch, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in July by the court’s Trial Chamber after being found guilty of crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The court said his appeal hearings will take place “during the last week of March 2011”, adding that the exact dates and times of the hearings will be announced “in due course”.

“We expect that [the hearings] will be public,” court spokesman Reach Sambath said. “I think the court will always be full of people.”

Duch’s lawyers filed an appeal against the judgment last month, charging that their client falls outside the court’s mandate to investigate “senior leaders” and those “most responsible” for crimes committed under the regime of Democratic Kampuchea.

The appeal followed the shocking turnabout last year during closing arguments when, after accepting limited responsibility and essentially pleading guilty through months of hearings, Duch asked to be acquitted and released.

The court’s prosecutors have also appealed against the July verdict, claiming that judges had given “insufficient weight to the gravity of Duch’s crimes and his role and his willing participation in those crimes”.

They have called on the Supreme Court Chamber to sentence the defendant to 45 years in prison, reduced from a life sentence due to Duch’s unlawful pre-trial detention.

“There comes a point where the crimes committed are sufficiently grave and the offender sufficiently notorious, or in such a position of authority, that the highest sentence must be imposed,” the prosecutors wrote in their appeal. “That point was reached and passed here.”

41 civil parties have also appealed, requesting either that the court declare their claims admissible or amend their reparations award.

Cambodia: New Penal Code Undercuts Free Speech

Seng Kunnaka, a Cambodian employee of the World Food Programme in Phnom Penh, was imprisoned for incitement under article 495 of the penal code after he shared articles with two co-workers that he had printed from the internet. (Source: KI-Media)

Man Jailed for Sharing Web Articles With Co-Workers

December 23, 2010
Source: Human Rights Watch

“Charging someone with incitement for sharing web articles is a profound setback for free expression in Cambodia.” – Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

(New York) – The Cambodian government’s use of its new penal code against a man who shared web articles with his co-workers is a huge step backward for free expression in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said today. The man was quickly convicted on incitement charges and sentenced to prison.

Human Rights Watch called on the Cambodian government to amend the penal code, which went into effect on December 10, 2010, to remove provisions that limit the peaceful expression of political views so that the law fully complies with international standards.

“Charging someone with incitement for sharing web articles is a profound setback for free expression in Cambodia,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Cambodia’s new penal code should have put an end to abusive practices, not encouraged new ones.”

On December 18, Seng Kunnaka, a Cambodian employee with the United Nations World Food Program in Phnom Penh, was arrested on charges of incitement under article 495 of the new penal code after he shared an article with two co-workers. While the contents of the article are unclear, it was printed from KI-Media, a website that publishes news, commentaries, poetry, and cartoons that are sharply critical of the government, including a recent series of opinion pieces lambasting senior officials regarding a border dispute with Vietnam.

On December 19, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court hastily tried and convicted Kunnaka, sentencing him to six months in prison and fining him 1 million riels (US$250). December 19 was a Sunday, when the courts are normally closed.

During the last two years, more than 10 critics of the government, including journalists and opposition party activists, have been prosecuted for criminal defamation and disinformation based on complaints by government and military officials under the former penal code.

The new penal code places greater restrictions on free expression, Human Rights Watch said. Responding to media inquiries about the case, Cambodia’s information minister, Khieu Kanharith, said: “Before, using the argument of ‘freedom of expression’ and opposition party status, some people could insult anybody or any institution. This is not the case now.”

“A dubious arrest so soon after the new penal code came into effect shows that the Cambodian government is ready to use its new legal powers to criminalize peaceful expression and political dissent,” Robertson said. “And Cambodia’s pliant courts seem all too willing to throw any perceived government critic in prison after a rushed trial.”

Under the new penal code, incitement is vaguely defined in article 495 as directly provoking the commission of a crime or an act that creates “serious turmoil in society” through public speech, writings or drawings, or audio-visual telecommunication that are shared with, exposed to, or intended for the public. It does not require the alleged incitement to be effective for penalties to be imposed, which include prison terms of six months to five years and fines.

The new penal code also allows criminal prosecutions for defamation and contempt for peaceful expression of views “affecting the dignity” of individuals and public officials, as well as of government institutions. It makes it a crime to “disturb public order” by questioning court decisions.

“The new penal code makes it more risky for civil society activists to criticize corrupt officials, police, and military officers who commit abuses or question court decisions,” Robertson said. “This is particularly troubling in Cambodia, where the judicial system is weak and far from independent, with court decisions often influenced by corruption or political pressure.”

KI-Media is a controversial website that describes itself as “dedicated to publishing sensitive information about Cambodia.” The website’s editors, who have never publicly identified themselves, compile information from a variety of sources, including leaked and public government documents, Cambodian-language newspaper articles, and Chinese, Cambodian, and Western wire service reports. It also posts hard-hitting commentaries, blog articles, cartoons, and poetry from its readers – most of whom are sharply critical of the government.

The Viet ambassador meets Viet businesses in Phnom Penh, would the Xmer ambassador dare to meet Khmer Krom in Prey Nokor?

Meeting with Vietnamese businesses in Cambodia held

12/23/2010
VOV News (Hanoi)

A meeting with Vietnamese businesses took place in Cambodia on December 23.

Addressing the event, Ngo Anh Dung, Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia, reviewed the achievements and advantages in multifaceted cooperation between the two countries in 2010.

Two-way trade turnover in the first 11 months of 2010 reached over US$1.5 billion. Vietnam’s exports turnover to Cambodia gained US$1.3 billion, up 36 percent compared to the same period last year.

Currently, Vietnamese investments in Cambodia are worth nearly US$570 million, mainly in such fields as rubber planting, industrial crops, aviation, banking, services and tourism.

At the meeting, Vietnamese businesses expressed their hope that in 2011, the two governments will continue to simplify the trade and investment procedures to increase the value of trade exchange to reach US$2 billion.

Phnom Penh groovers

Street dancers show their moves at Phnom Penh’s Sisowat Quay. JOHN CLEWLEY

Purveyors of classic Khmer rock’n’roll, The Cambodian Space Project plan to take on the world

24/12/2010
John Clewley
Bangkok Post

It’s been eight years since I last made a trip to Cambodia and had the chance to stock upon some Khmer sounds. Last week I was in Phnom Penh for a few days, and I must say, the capital is buzzing; it’s a veritable hive of activity and commerce.

I went for a walk down Sisowat Quay on the banks of the Mekong at dusk one evening, always a good time to take photographs, and I thought for a moment that I had been transported back to Harajuku in Tokyo on a Sunday, when all the wannabe bands and poseurs play and strut to groups of dancing fans. Down on Sisowat the scene was bustling with groups of dancers, some doing aerobics to dance grooves, while other more exclusive groups focused on the latest K-Pop moves. People of all ages joined in the public groups or chatted while they watched the K-poppers.

In that area there are music stores but they don’t sell Khmer music, so on Saturday morning I headed for the so-called Russian market, where among the tourist stalls and DVD shops, you can find vendors who have a good selection of different kinds of Khmer music. I stocked up on some Sin Sisamouth collections (the top musical icon of popular music), along with a compilation featuring his duets with top female singers from the ’60s and ’70s, Ros Sereysothea and Pan Ron. I found a tasty phleng kar (wedding song) collection, as well as songs by Meng Pichanda, who sings a local moody style, not unlike Thai luk thung music, called ramkbach, and some interesting Khmer rap.

Later I found myself in the back of a cyclo with one of Pan Ron’s biggest fans, Srey Thy, singer with the new band The Cambodian Space Project and the band’s founder and leader, Australian guitarist Julien Poulson. Srey, upon finding out that my son’s relatives are from Buri Ram in Thailand’s lower Northeast, launched into several stirring renditions of kantrum hits, which Cambodians call “Khmer Surin” music.

We were on our way to a birthday party for the band’s Breton accordionist, during which I met the revolving personnel of this unusual music collective. The band plays covers of Khmer rock’n’roll from the late ’60s to early ’70, when Phnom Penh was a regional entertainment centre, but with a multinational twist. Many of the great Khmer musicians of the period perished during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime but interest was revived with the Cambodian Rocks compilations of the ’90s, and then by the US-based Khmer/US band, Dengue Fever. Unlike Dengue, though, The Cambodian Space Project is actually based in Phnom Penh.

Julien said that he originally went to Cambodia to make some music documentaries but was so taken with the singing ability of Srey after he saw her sing in a karaoke bar, that he decided to set up a band. Cambodian, French-Cambodian and French members make up the rest of the band. Interest was generated immediately, not only among the expat population but also among local Cambodian music fans. In the just a year, the band has played over 200 gigs in Cambodia, as well gigs in France and Hong Kong. In the new year, the band will jet off for its first major tour that will encompass Australia, Europe and the US. Total world domination can’t be far way.

The band’s first recording has just been released, a 7″ vinyl maxi-single that features, on the A-side, a killer version of Pan Ron’s hit, I’m Unsatisfied. The B-side features a catchy song written by Srey called If You Go, I Come Too. Julien says that he noticed that Srey is a natural songwriter, so the band usually plays a mix of covers and self-penned songs. He says that the single is the first vinyl to be released in Cambodia since the early ’70s.

Here’s how he describes the global process: “The single was recorded in Cambodian at Cambodian Living Arts – a small studio which boasts a collection of mics donated by Peter Gabriel. It was mixed by Lindsay Gravina of Birdland Studios in Australia. The mixes were sent to London, then the masters sent via Rough Trade to the Czech Republic. We picked up our ‘band copies’ from a little record store in Bretagne, France called Rockin’ Bones. A round-about kinda production but very rewarding to launch this vinyl in Cambodia… not too many turntables here but the vinyl’s thick enough to mash chilli and chop vegetables in the village kitchen.”

I’ve just heard an advance copy of the band’s debut album, the title of which, in translation from the original Khmer goes something like The Moon’s Apsara Rides The Cosmic Golden Swan-Goose. Groovy.

The album’s standouts are a distinctive cover of Pan Ron’s I’m Sixteen, which features some great blues harp and the two Srey penned songs, Kangaroo Boy (great for pogo-ing to and I predict will go down a storm in Australia) and Have Visa, No Rice. It’s a fun album that is likely to raise the band’s international profile.

The Cambodian Space Project is not the first band to rediscover and play ’60s/’70s Khmer rock’n’roll but it is the first one based in Cambodia. If you liked all those great Cambodian Rock compilations and Dengue Fever, you’ll certainly enjoy The Cambodian Space Project, several members of whom are stretching their wings to fly into Bangkok to play on Christmas Day.

The Cambodian Space Project play at the WTF Bar on Sukhumvit Soi 51 on Dec 25 at 9pm. For more information, call 02-662-6246.