THIS BOOK : " GIAI PHONG " by T Terzani. It describes a Vietnamese as THIEF, A
LIAR, A KILLER, A DECEIVER , a sleeper ......
> Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:44:09 -0800
> Subject: Re: "KHMER RICHE"
> From: [email protected]
> To: [email protected]
>
>
>
> On Jan 11, 4:18 am, "Sam Rainsy Party of North America"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> > http://www.camnews.org/2009/12/31/khmer-riche/
> >
> > "KHMER RICHE"
> > Written by Andrew Marshall
> > Good Weekend Magazine for the Sydney Morning Herald
> > Sunday 12/12/09
> >
> > They live in one of the poorest countries on earth, yet they drive flash
> > cars, dwell in mansions and scorn their impoverished brethren. Andrew
> > Marshall meets the rich sons and daughters of Cambodia elite.
> >
>
> That's right. That's the way they do it in Cambodia. Do you know how
> you get rich ?
> Ofcourse, you have to have the power or affiliated with power first.
> Then you use your preveledge to suppress others for money to get rich
> yourself. IT IS THE TRADITION OF CAMBODIA. Sam Rainsy is doing the
> same thing. How can he afford to do what he has been doing with his
> small salary? Please tell us. Do you want us tobelieve that Sam Rainsy
> is so rich and is spending all of his money for his causes?
> Paleeeeeezzzzzzzzzz
>
>
>
> > The huge Phnom Penh mansion owned by Victor's parents, General Meas Sophea.
> > (Good Weekend Magazine)
> >
>
> I think he enherited from his encient friends called stealing.
>
>
> > "I'm going to drive a little fast now. Is that Okay?" There is one place in
> > Cambodia where you can hold a cold beer in one hand and a warm Kalashnikov
> > in the other, and Victor is driving me there. We're powering along Phnom
> > Penh's airport road with Oasis on his Merc's sound system and enough guns
> > in the boot to sink a Somali pirate boat. Victor is rich and life is sweet.
> > His father is commander of the Cambodian infantry. He has a place reserved
> > for him at L'Ecole Speciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, France's answer to
> > Duntroon. And, in his passenger seat, there is a thin, silent man with a
> > Chinese handgun: his bodyguard.
> >
> > "His name is Klar," says Victor. "It means tiger."
> >
>
> There was a story of a son of the Cambodian paratrooper commander. He
> used to eat any foods at any restaurants for free. Who dare to do
> anything to him?
> Do you know whom I am talking about?
> That's right. I am talking about him.
>
>
> > Victor is only 21, but when reach our destination-a firing range run by the
> > Cambodian special forces-the soldier at the gate salutes.
> >
> > Devastated by decades of civil war, Cambodia remains one of the world's
> > poorest nations. A third of its 13 million people live on less than a
> > dollar a day and about 8 out of every 100 children die before the age of
> > five. But Victor-real name Meas Sophearith-was raised in a different
> > Cambodia, where power and billions of dollars in wealth are concentrated in
> > the hands of a tiny elite. This elite prefers to conceal the size and
> > sources of their money-illegal logging, smuggling, land-grabbing-but their
> > children just like to spend it. The Khmer Rouge are dead; the Khmer Riche
> > now rule Cambodia.
> >
>
> Rich always rule Cambodia.
>
>
> > I first met Victor at a fancy Phnom Penh restaurant called Café Metro.
> > Outside, Porsches, Bentleys and Humvees fight for parking spaces. The son
> > of a powerful general, Victor has his future mapped out for him. He went to
> > school in Versailles, speaks French and English, and now studies politics
> > at the University of Oklahoma. "My mother wanted us to get a foreign
> > education so we could come back and control the country," he says. The
> > shooting range is where Victor and his friends go to relax. "I've grown up
> > with guns and soldiers all around me," he says, laying out a private
> > arsenal on a table: two automatic assault rifles, two Glock pistols, one
> > sniper's rifle, one iPhone.
> >
>
> Cambodians in general love to kill each other.
>
>
> > "My mother wanted us to get a foreign education so we could come back and
> > control the country". Meas Victor Sophearith (above) is one of Cambodian's
> > privileged elite.
> >
> > Victor and his generation are Cambodia's future. Will they use their
> > education and wealth to lift their less fortunate compatriots out of
> > poverty? Or will they simply continue their parents' fevered pursuit of
> > money and power? Britain's Department for International Development (DFID),
> > which gave almost $US30 million of its taxpayers' money to the country in
> > the last fiscal year, offered one answer in June, when it announced the
> > closure of its Cambodia office by 2011. The official reason? "It was felt
> > UK aid could have a larger impact . where there are greater numbers of poor
> > people and fewer international donors," said a DFID statement. But the
> > development agency might also have tired of throwing money at a nation
> > where so much poverty can be blamed on a grasping political elite-and their
> > luxury-loving children. (Australia clearly has not: it has allocated $61.4
> > million in development assistance to Cambodia for 2009-10.)
> >
> > Depressingly, the Khmer Riche Kids sometimes seem indistinguishable from
> > the old colonial ruling class. They were educated overseas-partly because
> > their families' wealth made them targets for kidnapping gangs-and often
> > speak better English than Khmer. They carry US dollars - only poor people
> > pay with Cambodian riel - and live in newly built neoclassical mansions so
> > large that the city's old French architecture looks like Lego by
> > comparison. And their connection to the Cambodian masses is almost
> > non-existent.
> >
> > The "Paris Hilton of Cambodia", Sophy, daughter of a Deputy PM. Sophy's
> > extravagantly decorated car. (Good Weekend Magazine)
> >
> > Sophy, 22, is the daughter of a Deputy Prime Minister. Rich, doll-like and
> > self-obsessed, she could be the Paris Hilton of Cambodia. She imports party
> > shoes from Singapore, brands them "Sophy & Sina" (Sina is her
> > sister-in-law), hen displays them in her own multistory boutique. It has
> > six staff, no customers and a slogan: "It's all aboutme." Sophy's name is
> > spelled out in sparkling stones on the back of her car, a Merc so pimped up
> > that I have to ask her what make it is. "It's a Sophy!" she replies.
> >
> > We meet at her hair salon, where she is prepping a model for a fashion
> > shoot for a magazine she is starting up with her brother Sopheary, 28, and
> > their cousin Noh Sar, 26,. All three were educated abroad and prefer to
> > speak English together. Sopheary, who studied in New York state, seems both
> > amused and slightly embarrassed by his wealth and privilege. "What can you
> > do?" he asks. "Your parents give you all these things. You can't say no. If
> > someone gives you cake, you eat it."
> >
> > Talk to Sopheary and his friends, and Cambodia's tragic history seems very
> > far away. The genocidal Khmer Rouge blew up banks and outlawed money before
> > being driven from power in 1979. Later came the 1991 Paris Accords, and the
> > plunder of Cambodia's rich natural resources-forests, fisheries, land
> > -began in earnest. Cambodia's official economy largely depend on garment,
> > exports, but there is a much larger shadow economy in which only the
> > ruthless and the well-connected survived and prosper. "If you're doing
> > business, you have to know someone high up, so he has your back," says
> > Victor.
> >
> > The closer you get to Hun Sen, Cambodia's autocratic Prime Minister, the
> > better connected you are. Hun Sen staged a bloody coup d'etat in 1997 and
> > has kept an iron grip on power ever since. Opponents have been silenced
> > while loyalists have grown rich. This includes ministers, a handful of
> > tycoons and generals. Cambodians are often driven from their land by
> > soldiers or military police. Formerly a French possession, Cambodia has
> > been colonized all over again, this time by its own greedy elite.
> >
> > But the Khmer Riche have a problem. "None of them can answer a simple
> > question: where does all your money come from?" says a Western journalist
> > in Phnom Penh. Ask Cambodian ministers how they got so rich on a meager
> > government salary, and they will reply, "My wife is good at business."
> >
> > When I ask Noh Sar, whose father is a senior customs official, why he is so
> > wealthy, he gives me a slight variation: "My mother works a lot."
> >
> > Victor's mother is also good at business, according to "Country for Sale,"
> > an investigation into the elite published by the London-based corruption
> > watchdog Global Witness in February 2009. "She is a key player in RCAF
> > [Royal Cambodian Armed Forces] patronage politics, holding a fearsome
> > reputation among her husband's subordinates on account of her frequent
> > demands for money," says the report. "RCAF sources have told Global Witness
> > that military officers sometimes bribe [her] in order to increase the
> > chances of her "close connections" to a major timber smuggler.
> >
> > It is only in the past few years that the children of Cambodian's elite
> > have grown confident enough to show off their family's wealth. "If you want
> > people to respect you in Cambodia, you must have a good car, good diamonds,
> > a good cell phone," explains Ouch Vichet, 28, better known as Richard.
> > "It's an I'm-richer-than-you competition." Richard is quite a competitor:
> > he drives a $US150,000 Cadillac Escalade and wears a $US2,500 Hermes watch
> > and a $US13,000 2.5-carat diamond ring. He doesn't have a bodyguard,
> > although some friends keep them as status symbols.
> >
> > "Crazy money": (above) Ouch "Richard" Vichet is surprisingly candid about
> > his wealth. (Good Weekend Magazine)
> >
> > Richard was sent to New Zealand to be educated after a gang tired to abduct
> > his brother. He is a short, affable man with an impish grin. In a city
> > where the elite have a tribal suspicion of outsiders, he is refreshingly
> > candid about his wealth. "My money is from my parents," he says, and then
> > breaks it down. They gave him a villa, half a million US dollars, and a
> > 400-hectar rubber plantation that will generate income for the rest of
> > Richard's life. His parents-in-law gave him $US100,000 in cash and another
> > villa, worth $200,000, which he sold and invested in real estate. Richard
> > also runs a busy Phnom Penh nightclub called Emerald - his parents made
> > their first fortune in gems - which provides him with "pocket money". A
> > party of rich kids can spend $US2,000 on drinks in a single night, more
> > than an average Cambodian earns in 3 years.
> >
> > His parents' second, much larger, fortune comes from real estate. A few
> > years ago they bought about five hectares of land just outside Phnom Penh
> > for $US14 a square metre, then sold it for $US120 a square metre two years
> > later, making more than $US5 million in profit. "Where else can you make
> > profits like that?" grins Richard. "It's crazy money." He has a daughter
> > called Emerald and a son called Benz. (His other Benz is a GL450.) They all
> > live with his parents in a newly built mansion.
> >
> > Yet Richard's house is modest by the operatic standards of Phnom Penh's
> > Tuol Kuok precinct, part of which was once a notorious red-light district.
> > A taxi driver shows me the neighborhood - it's like a "homes of the stars"
> > tour in Beverly Hills, except that Tuol Kuok's backstreets are piled with
> > rubbish. My driver points out giant mansion after mansion, and tells me who
> > lives there. Hun Sen's son, Hun Sen's daughter, Secretary of State at the
> > Ministry of Labour. A Deputy PM-Sophy and Sopheary's dad. A four-mansion
> > compound with lots of razor wire, and a gate guarded by special forces
> > soldiers - Victor's family.
> >
> > Tuol Kuok's houses are well-guarded for a reason: until there was real
> > estate to invest in, many wealthy Cambodians kept their money at home in
> > bricks of cash. "We don't trust banks," says Richard. "The old generation
> > kept their money under the bed. The new generation keep it in safes in
> > their houses." Victor says his family also stays away from banks, but for a
> > slightly different reason. "If you put your money in a bank, everyone will
> > know how much you have," he explains.
> >
> > I had also heard that rich Cambodians had repatriated hundreds of millions
> > of dirty dollars from Singapore banks after a post-September 11 shake up of
> > global banking, and that his money had helped fuel the land speculation.
> >
> > For the children, the wealth comes with one big condition: they must do
> > what Mum and Dad tell them. "I wanted to go to art school but my parents
> > wouldn't let me," says Sopheary. Most kids dutifully join the family
> > business-Richard translated for his father during overseas gem-buying
> > trips. For some, that business is politics. Concept like nepotism and
> > conflict of interest don't count for much in Cambodia. Commerce Minister
> > Cham Prasidh-whose giant house resembles an airport departure hall, one
> > with its own jet-ski lake - gave a ministry position to his wife and made
> > his daughter his chief of cabinet. Cambodia's ambassadors to Britain and
> > Japan are brothers, and their boss is also their father: Foreign Minister
> > Hor Namhong. He says he hired his sons on merit. "It's not nepotism," he
> > insists.
> >
> > Their parents also expect them to marry young-men in their 20's, women in
> > their teens-and strategically, meaning to someone from a rich and
> > influential family. These marriages are often arranged. "It's like medieval
> > times in France," complains Victor, still a bachelor. This means that many
> > high-society Cambodians soon find themselves trapped in loveless unions;
> > affairs are common. Sophy was married off at 17 to the son of the rich and
> > powerful Interior Minister.
> >
> > The web of marriages binds together Cambodia's political and business elite
> > and ensures the ruling Cambodian People's Party's stranglehold on power. At
> > the centre of the web sits Prime Minister Hun Sen. His three sons and two
> > daughters are all married to the children of senior ruling party
> > politicians or, in the case of his son Hun Manit, to the daughter of the
> > late national police chief. Now in his 30's, Hun Manit is being groomed to
> > succeed his father. He graduated from West Point, the US military academy,
> > in 1999, amid protests by members of the US Congress over his father's
> > human rights record. In July, Global Witness urged the British Government
> > to revoke the visa of the Cambodian Prime Minister, who visited Bristol
> > University to watch Hun Manit receive a doctorate in economics.
> >
> > Senior Khmer Rouge figures such as Comrade Duch, the mass-murdering
> > commandant of Tuol Sleng prison, are currently on trial at a United
> > Nations-based tribunal in Phnom Penh. The Khmer Riche, on the other hand,
> > remain above the law. Victor displays a military VIP sticker on the front
> > dash of his Mercedes. "It means the police cannot touch me," he says.
> > Richard is an advisor to a military police commander, which also
> > effectively grants him legal immunity.
> >
> > Many of his generations abuse such privileges. Last August Hun Chea, a
> > nephew of the Prime Minister, hit a motorcyclist with his Cadillac, ripping
> > off the man's leg and arm. Hun Chea tried to drive off but couldn't because
> > the accident had shredded a tyre. Military police arrived, removed the
> > car's license plates and, according to "The Phnom Penh Post", told Hun
> > Chea: "Don't worry. It wasn't your mistake." Hun Chea walked away. The
> > motorcyclist bled to death on the road.
> >
> > Hun Sen has yet another bad-boy nephew, the widely feared and mega-wealthy
> > Hun To ("Little Hun"). In 2006 a newspaper editor filed a lawsuit against
> > Hun To for alleged death threats, then fled overseas to seek asylum with
> > the United Nations' help. Hun To was also once spotted sitting in his
> > luxury speedboat, its sound system cranked up high, being towed around
> > Phnom Penh by a Humvee. A few weeks before, Victor had been in Los Angeles,
> > where he test-drove Hun To's latest acquisition before it was put in a
> > Cambodia-bound shipping container: a $US500,000 Mercedes McLaren SLR
> > supercar." He has already built a special garage for it," says Victor.
> >
> > Victor will not - dare not-criticize Hun To. But he is critical of
> > Cambodian society. "From top to bottom, everyone is corrupt," he says. He
> > hopes to one day set up a foundation to help poor Cambodians send their
> > children to study overseas. "We want to change things, but we'll have to
> > wait until our parents retire," he says.
> >
> > But older generation shows no sign of retiring - not when there's so much
> > cake left to eat. In January, foreign donors pledged $US1 billion to
> > Cambodia, its biggest aid package yet. The Government relies on foreign aid
> > for almost half its budget. It could break this reliance by exploiting its
> > reserves of oil, gas and minerals: the International Monetary Fund
> > estimates Cambodia's annual oil revenues alone could reach $US1.7 billion
> > by 2021. Could, but probably won't. Why? Because the same elite who cut
> > down the trees and sold off the land are now poised to extract the oil and
> > minerals, with the help of their children.
> >
> > Some Hun Sen loyalists have already been allocated exploratory mining
> > licences. One of them is General Meas Sophea, the army chief. He recently
> > hired a temp to act as his foreign liaison officer. The temp is his son.
> > His son's name is Victor
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