I've just read a piece of article in somebody's xanga. He said Hong Kong needs a newspaper like the Apple Daily because it has a "constructive" and "accurate" reporting.
There is no genuine complete independence in media. Media is always influenced by various parties - publishers, investors, advertisers, pressure from the government and the mass audience. Then probably no report is "accurate" or "objective" enough to tell everything happen in an incident.
Maybe we all tell the truth, but what makes different is the way we interpret it. Nobody is really wrong, otherwise we are blamed or said to commit defamation. If we want to see the truth, perhaps we have to see ourselves. Find the truth ourselves, look at all the things with our eyes; otherwise you have to consider very much the articles you are reading.
Certainly journalists get the first-hand information, yet when the audience read/watch/hear the report, it is SECOND-HAND.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Friday, July 21, 2006
Another piece of news about KRT
Here is another piece of news about Khmer Rouge Tribunal
Khmer Rouge 'butcher' Ta Mok dies
| | |
Nicknamed "The Butcher", he was the regime's military commander and linked to many atrocities of the 1970s.
About 1.7 million people died under the Khmer Rouge, through a combination of starvation, disease and execution.
Ta Mok was expected to be one of the first people tried for genocide and crimes against humanity at UN-backed hearings due to start next year.
He was one of only two surviving Khmer Rouge commanders in detention, and with most of the remaining figures from the regime in poor health, some analysts question whether the trials have been left too late to see justice served.
Brutal legacy
"Ta Mok passed away this morning," military doctor Tuoth Nara told reporters. "He was an old man and died of natural causes, given his poor health and respiratory problems."
| | We are saddened by his death Morm Mol, Ta Mok's nephew |
Ta Mok, who was in his 80s, had been unwell since last month, suffering from high blood pressure and tuberculosis, and slipped into a coma last week.
"We are saddened by his death," said his nephew, 33-year-old Morm Mol, as he announced the news to reporters outside the Phnom Penh hospital.
Of all the Khmer Rouge leaders, Ta Mok was regarded by many as the most brutal, the BBC's Guy Delauney reports from Phnom Penh.
He played a key role in a series of massacres and purges, which started even before the Khmer Rouge took power.
Ta Mok was in charge of the forces which destroyed the former royal capital Oudong in 1974, expelling civilians and killing officials and government soldiers.
Later he instigated purges as the Khmer Rouge went to war with itself.
He eventually became the overall leader of the organisation in 1997, but he was captured two years later and spent the rest of his life in jail.
Evading trial
Ta Mok's death leaves a Khmer Rouge prison boss, Kaing Khek Iev, more commonly known as Duch, as the group's only surviving leader in detention.
| | |
Pol Pot died in his jungle hide-out in April 1998 from an apparent heart attack.
Many Cambodians fear they will never get a chance to see justice, because ageing Khmer Rouge defendants are dying before they face trial.
Earlier this month, judges and prosecutors from both Cambodia and other nations were sworn in for the UN-backed tribunal, which is due to start in 2007.
A spokesman for the tribunal, Reach Sambath, said on Friday that a "key resource of information" had passed away.
When he heard of Ta Mok's death, Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group researching the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, said: "It's sad news - it's outrageous."
"Some people may be happy with this, but not the victims who have been waiting for justice for a long time," he told the Associated Press.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/5201770.stm
Published: 2006/07/21 04:56:25 GMT
© BBC MMVI
-----
On one hand the retired king questioned the necessity of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT); on the other hand one of the most important criminal, I would say, Ta Mok passed away this morning.
I was told in this morning by my former colleague, and I was not happy with his death because he just passed away naturally. In my mind he should be put in judge finally and get his punishment before he's gone. Now he just rests in peace and I am not satisfied at all.
I know the KRT in fact is not going to heal people's pain, but at least the people who suffered deserve justice. Everybody deserves so why do they have to wait for this long time and can only look at all the important Khmer Rouge people died peacefull?
There only remains Duch now, and I really wish he would not have gone so soon before he faces the trial. It is hard to accept that if he would have gone like Ta Mok.
I am still loving this country, notwithstanding all of these frustrating facts.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Little thought over a piece of news
First, read this piece of news.
Cambodia's former king questions necessity of Khmer Rouge tribunal
The Associated Press (apwire)
Cambodia's former king said a U.N.-backed tribunal for former Khmer Rouge leaders will cost too much money and questioned whether it was worth it since the aging officials could die before a verdict.
Former King Norodom Sihanouk said some consider the tribunal to be ''necessary, indispensable and beneficial'' because it will bring the surviving leaders to justice and help victims find peace.
But Sihanouk, 83, said he believes the cost of the ''super luxurious life of the judges'' of the tribunal could easily exceed the US$56 million (euro45 million) budgeted for the trials.
Also, by the time a verdict is reached, ''there will probably be only one or two ... living Khmer Rouge leaders,'' he said in a letter dated July 15 posted on his Web site.
The former monarch said last week that he opposed the tribunal because it will target too few of those responsible for the group's extremist policies, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people during its 1975-79 rule.
Earlier this month, judges and prosecutors from Cambodia and abroad were sworn in for the long-awaited U.N.-backed trials of the former Khmer Rouge leaders on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors have begun gathering evidence for the trials, expected to begin in 2007.
Sihanouk stepped down as king and was replaced by his son, Norodom Sihamoni, in 2004. He is widely respected, but his opinion is unlikely to affect trial preparations.
The Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979 by invading Vietnamese forces. In 1982, Sihanouk became president of a Western-backed coalition government in exile that included the Khmer Rouge and fought the Vietnamese-installed government until a 1991 U.N.-sponsored peace agreement.
Sihanouk also said in his letter that he doesn't think the tribunal would ease the suffering of the regime's victims.
He said he objected to genocide memorials that display victims' skulls and bones, an apparent reference to a site often called the ''Killing Fields'' just outside the capital, Phnom Penh.
At least 14,000 Khmer Rouge victims were buried at the site, which is frequented by foreign tourists.
Sihanouk said that exhibiting the skulls and bones was done ''for the pleasure of tourists,'' and did nothing for the ''wandering souls'' of those killed, and that their bones should be cremated in accordance with Buddhist custom.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
2006-07-19 18:01 (KST) ©2006 OhmyNews
For me it revealed the stupidity and the lack of wisdom of the high-ranking people in Cambodia.
At least I do not understand why he could say ''super luxurious life of the judges''. Based on what he could make this statement? I really doubt that. Trial always takes a long time and a complicated procedure and consideration, so it is almost no doubt that it would cost a huge sum of money. As a retired king I suspect his motive to speak about the tribunal. He should have known his influence over the kingdom's politics.
Then, I cannot agree with the point he questioned the necessity of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. If there was no trial against the wrongdoers, where would have been the justice? People are punished when they commit even only a comparatively small crime like theft, so how could he question when the Khmer Rouge leaders ordered to kill over ten thousands of people? Certainly I agree that the tribunal might not be able to heal the pain as it was too huge and deep inside, but to show the justice and to show Cambodia is facing the history it is obviously needed to have this fair, transparent trial.
I have been to the killing fields, and I think it is there because it is always reminding people the terrifying history that should not be repeated again. I wonder how the retired king in this country know the feeling of the tourists when they are wandering. At least I do feel very sad and sorry to the people during the Khmer Rouge period, particularly when this kingdom had once been a very great and intelligent one.
This is not the first time I feel sick with the politician or the high-ranking people in this country, and this time I think this retired king is ridiculous. God bless his intelligence.
Cambodia's former king questions necessity of Khmer Rouge tribunal
The Associated Press (apwire)
Cambodia's former king said a U.N.-backed tribunal for former Khmer Rouge leaders will cost too much money and questioned whether it was worth it since the aging officials could die before a verdict.
Former King Norodom Sihanouk said some consider the tribunal to be ''necessary, indispensable and beneficial'' because it will bring the surviving leaders to justice and help victims find peace.
But Sihanouk, 83, said he believes the cost of the ''super luxurious life of the judges'' of the tribunal could easily exceed the US$56 million (euro45 million) budgeted for the trials.
Also, by the time a verdict is reached, ''there will probably be only one or two ... living Khmer Rouge leaders,'' he said in a letter dated July 15 posted on his Web site.
The former monarch said last week that he opposed the tribunal because it will target too few of those responsible for the group's extremist policies, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people during its 1975-79 rule.
Earlier this month, judges and prosecutors from Cambodia and abroad were sworn in for the long-awaited U.N.-backed trials of the former Khmer Rouge leaders on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors have begun gathering evidence for the trials, expected to begin in 2007.
Sihanouk stepped down as king and was replaced by his son, Norodom Sihamoni, in 2004. He is widely respected, but his opinion is unlikely to affect trial preparations.
The Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979 by invading Vietnamese forces. In 1982, Sihanouk became president of a Western-backed coalition government in exile that included the Khmer Rouge and fought the Vietnamese-installed government until a 1991 U.N.-sponsored peace agreement.
Sihanouk also said in his letter that he doesn't think the tribunal would ease the suffering of the regime's victims.
He said he objected to genocide memorials that display victims' skulls and bones, an apparent reference to a site often called the ''Killing Fields'' just outside the capital, Phnom Penh.
At least 14,000 Khmer Rouge victims were buried at the site, which is frequented by foreign tourists.
Sihanouk said that exhibiting the skulls and bones was done ''for the pleasure of tourists,'' and did nothing for the ''wandering souls'' of those killed, and that their bones should be cremated in accordance with Buddhist custom.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
2006-07-19 18:01 (KST) ©2006 OhmyNews
For me it revealed the stupidity and the lack of wisdom of the high-ranking people in Cambodia.
At least I do not understand why he could say ''super luxurious life of the judges''. Based on what he could make this statement? I really doubt that. Trial always takes a long time and a complicated procedure and consideration, so it is almost no doubt that it would cost a huge sum of money. As a retired king I suspect his motive to speak about the tribunal. He should have known his influence over the kingdom's politics.
Then, I cannot agree with the point he questioned the necessity of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. If there was no trial against the wrongdoers, where would have been the justice? People are punished when they commit even only a comparatively small crime like theft, so how could he question when the Khmer Rouge leaders ordered to kill over ten thousands of people? Certainly I agree that the tribunal might not be able to heal the pain as it was too huge and deep inside, but to show the justice and to show Cambodia is facing the history it is obviously needed to have this fair, transparent trial.
I have been to the killing fields, and I think it is there because it is always reminding people the terrifying history that should not be repeated again. I wonder how the retired king in this country know the feeling of the tourists when they are wandering. At least I do feel very sad and sorry to the people during the Khmer Rouge period, particularly when this kingdom had once been a very great and intelligent one.
This is not the first time I feel sick with the politician or the high-ranking people in this country, and this time I think this retired king is ridiculous. God bless his intelligence.
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