Ms. Seng Theary, the president of the Center for Social Development
[established in 1995 'to promote democratic values and improve the quality of
life of the Cambodian people through training, seminars, research, publication,
broadcasting, partnership with other like-minded organizations and institutions
and dialogue with Cambodians from all walks of life'], has been told to stop to
work two times already, because she does not follow her contract responsibly as
seen by the board of directors, and still continues to work without caring
about the order to stop, issued by the board of directors that has appointed
her to this position.
“On 26 August 2008, many journalists went to the Center for Social Development,
because they had been informed by phone that the Center for Social Development
had planned to hold a press conference, but when they arrived there, they were
prevented to enter.
“Mr. Vi Houi, the president of the board of directors of the Center for Social
Development, reported to Kampuchea Thmey in the evening of 25 August 2008 that
the board of directors plans to hold a press conference about the firing of Ms.
Seng Theary from her work on 26 August 2008, but Ms. Seng Theary’s supporters
had requested to discuss the possibility to keep her as the president of the
center.
“Mr. Vy Huy added that Ms. Seng Theary has been fired already more than 60 days
ago, but she refused to leave.. He said that the board of directors has
contacted some donor countries, but they had responded asking that at this
stage, the donors requested to stay quiet temporarily. If there would be no
agreement between Ms. Seng Theary and the board of directors, there would be no
salaries for the staff, as well as no money to pay the rent for the office.
“On 26 August 2008, some staff members had distributed some documents to the
journalists and asked them to wait outside of the fence, but later there was no
one from the center to inform them what happened or to offer interviews to the
journalists, so that the journalists, both Khmers and foreigners, after waiting
until after 11:00, finally decided to leave.
“The journalists said that maybe the staff of the Center for Social Development
asked the journalists to sit and wait, to share with them the arguments between
staff and board, that is why they did not offer any interviews and did not say
anything at the beginning.
“According to some staff, the Center for Social Development started to have
internal disputes, since Ms. Seng Theary had taken full control of the center.
As soon as the board of directors had appointed Ms. Seng Theary as president
[in 2006], she started to strengthen her power, and when she was strong enough,
she did not recognize this board of directors that had assigned her as
president, and created another board of directors that supports her, causing
rift and turmoil.
Note:
A press release from the staff side is
http://www.csdcambodia.org/pdf/2008/PressRelease-30-June-08.pdf/
“Many analysts said that leading a small center, depending on foreign
donations, can bring rifts and disagreements: what laws to teach to citizens,
and therefore, how citizens can then consider them as models. At present, Khmer
citizens are not much weaker in knowledge than Seng Theary; but being the
president of the center, she refused to give up her power, but what would
happen if she ruled over the rules of the country?
“The letters announcing the press conference of the Center for Social
Development on 26 August 2008 say that Ms. Seng Theary had already once been
fired on 20 May 2008, and then she was fired a second time by the board of
directors on 24 June 2008.
“The board of directors of the Center for Social Development has intervened
with Ms. Seng Theary’s work already twice: once on 18 July 2007 and then again
on 10 September 2007.
“Ms. Seng Theary has been hired to work since March 2006. During her work at
the Center for Social Development, she had attended only four of the nine
meeting of the board of directors.
“Ms. Seng Theary does not follow the contract she had agreed to with the board
of directors of the Center for Social Development..
“Ms. Seng Theary had formed a board of directors while she was working under
the administration of the board of directors of the Center for Social
Development. There are eleven members in the new board of directors, as
published by the Phnom Penh Post on 16 May 2008.
“Ms. Seng Theary had rejected a request to reorganize the statute structures
for the Center for Social Development under the guidance by Oxfam - United
States.
“Ms. Seng Theary does not fully cooperate with two arbiters - one comes from an
important donor country, and another one is the founder of the Center for
Social Development. As a result, the Center for Social Development lost aid
from an important donor country.
“Ms. Seng Theary had requested coordination, but that request aims to ask the
board of directors to do what she wants; she offered two choices to choose from
- to ‘agree’ or to ‘disagree.’ The board of directors had responded by
requesting a face-to-face meeting to solve the requests by Ms. Seng Theary, but
she considered this response to be a ‘disagree’ answer, and she continues
activities in her own ways by publishing another new board of directors’ list
on the website of the Center for Social Development.
“It has been 63 days since the board of directors terminated Ms. Seng Theary.
To leave her position for a long period vacant would affect the prestige of the
Center for Social Development, and also its resources for the foundation. Also
other foundations may not continue with their support from about October 2008.”
Kampuchea They, Vol.7, #1730, 27.8.2008
Note:
Ms. Seng Theary, who earned her degree in law in the USA, became
internationally known through her book Daughter Of The Killing Fields - Asrei’s
Story, where she describes her early childhood and life under the Khmer Rouge
regime, then the flight of her family to Thailand and the resettlement in the
USA – the description of her history is regularly accompanied by her own
reflections.
As executive director of the Center for Social Development, the activities of
the Center and she herself were often in the public limelight because of the
controversial nature of these engagements, symbolized in the concern for “Four
Freedoms”
“The Voice of Justice Program, at every opportunity, reminds the readers of the
Voice of Justice columns or the Voice of Justice Research Bulletins and the
radio listeners of the Four Freedoms – i.e., Freedom of Expression, Freedom of
Belief, Freedom from Fear, and Freedom from Want – which build the foundation
for democracy, human rights, and social and economic development.
We continually lobby for a Freedom of Information Act, for a freer press, for a
freer right to assembly, for a freer and open society… for we believe every
Cambodian is born to be, and desires to breathe freely.”
These concerns are publicly expressed in the “Voice of Justice Column,”
published twice a month in Khmer in Koh Santepheap and in English in The Phnom
Penh Post.
Ms. Seng Theary took also an active role in some events which attracted public
attention:
* When the “G8” meeting took place in Germany in 2007 – the leaders of
7 Great industrialized countries plus Russia - an alternative meeting was also
organized, as usual, with a critical appraisal of the interests of the powerful
as over against the rest of the world, as even such large countries like China
and India are not represented, and there are no African or Latin American
members in the group. - Ms. Seng Theary was invited to speak to the “P8”
meeting as one of the persons from “People” from 8 poor countries, to raise
public consciousness of poverty in the world, urging the G8 to take action to
end the plight of the poor.
* The gathering of the “Dream for Darfur,” after having organized
similar symbolic actions in different countries’ genocide memorials, planned to
light a candle of commemoration at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Memorial in January
2008, led by Hollywood actress Mia Farrow and one of the few Tuol Sleng
survivors, the painter Mr. Van Nath, coordinated by the Center for Social
Development – but this was prevented by armed authorities.
* More recently, Ms. Seng Theary’s requested to speak as a “civil
party” participating in the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia –
the Khmer Rouge Trial – where there is also a role foreseen for the
participation of victims. But the majority of judges ruled that only lawyers of
civil parties could speak in pre-trial hearings, not victims themselves; so
far, no victims’ voice could be heard in this court.
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #83, 27.8-2.9.2008
* Mr. Hun Chea [Prime Minister Hun Sen’s nephew] Seeks a Lawyer to Sue
an American Newspaper, Accusing it of Defamation [he asks for evidence for the
accusation that he drove a car and fatally hit someone in a traffic accident in
Phnom Penh]
* [US Ambassador] Joseph [Mussomeli]: Preah Vihear Temple Dispute Can
Be Solved by ASEAN
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1730, 27.8.2008
* Seng Theary Is Ordered to Stop Working, but There Are Persons to
Defend Her
* [Thai Prime Minister] Samak Says Demonstrations Cannot Force Him from
His Position; Siamese [Thai] Police Prepare to Resist 35,000 Demonstrators
* Rumor in Pursat that the Spirit of Military Chief Khleang Moeung
[heroic leader against invading Thai troops around 1482] Tells People Who Were
Born in the Year of the Tiger and in the Year of the Monkey to Get Washed with
Magic Water, or They Will Meet Danger
Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #230, 27.8.2008
* [Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian] Son Chhay Says that the American
Newspaper [The Modesto Bee about a fatal traffic accident and about impunity,
saying “The world leader in corruption is – Cambodia”] Reflects the Facts in
Cambodia
* Sam Rainsy Says Hun Sen Government Is Afraid of Paris Peace Accord,
Fearing to Lose Power [over border issue]
Khmer Sthapana, Vol.1, #83, 27.8.2008
* Constitutional Council Refuses to Recount Votes [in Svay Rieng] at
Sam Rainsy Party’s Request
Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6434, 27.8.2008
* Miracle before Siam’s [Thailand’s] Invasion: A Piece of Rock from the
Phnom Tbaeng Mountain Broke Loose and Rolled Down, and There Was a Pair of
Flying Lights in January 2008 [People in Preah Vihear provincial town claim now
to remember that back, in the evening of 27 January 2008, they saw two lights
flying down from the mountain. One light disappeared at the Preah Vihear
Provincial Office and the other light flew to the West]
Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol.15, #3549, 27.8.2008.
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