Dr Kek Pung
President, LICADHO
Phnom Penh
Cambodia
27th Jan
2015
Dear Dr Pung
LICADHO, along with most other NGOs in
Cambodia, seems determined to adhere to an omerta-like pact of silence when
asked questions.
It has been suggested to me many times now
that I have no right to ask questions of any NGOs and expect answers.
Acceptance of such a state of affairs by journalists would result in their
never being able to write articles that were anything other than the official
line presented by an NGO to the world. All NGOs are in the business of
marketing themselves. This is how you raise funds for your continued
activities. It is the role of journalists to hold NGOs (along with politicians,
amongst others) accountable for their activities.
Whilst LICADHO quite rightly holds the
government of Cambodia to account for its actions, you appear not to believe
that journalists have a right to hold LICADHO accountable. Just as the lack of
transparency and accountability leaves the Cambodian government free to do as
it pleases with impunity, the same applies to LICADHO and other NGOs in
Cambodia funded by donor and sponsor dollars.
It is now more than a month (23rd
Dec 2014) since I offered you and LICADHO the opportunity to meet and speak
with someone who has some very disturbing observations to make about Action
Pour les Enfants based on personal experience. This person’s story is
explosive. So much so that s/he only wishes to tell it if s/he can be
guaranteed protection from those who do not want him/her to tell it. Of primary
concern is the possibility of being sent to prison for speaking out about
his/her complicity in one particular scam.
That LICADHO has no interest in talking
with him/her is now no longer surprising to me. Through APLE’s close
association with LICADHO, with Naly Pilorge as one of the founders of the NGO,
the activities of Action pour les Enfants will never come under the scrutiny of
LICADHO.
This is a sad reflection of LICADHO’S
commitment to human rights being available to all – including, as is
appropriate, men and women accused of Khmer Rouge genocidal crimes. Yes,
LICADHO will write interminable reports critical of the Cambodian government for its human rights abuses (and rightly so)
but never any reports criticizing NGOs that run bogus ‘orphanages’. LICADHO
never names and shames NGOs that illegally remove children from their families and forcibly indoctrinate them in a religious
faith other than the one practiced by their predominantly Buddhist families. Is
this not, in itself, a human rights abuse?
I now accept, begrudgingly, that LICADHO
has no interest at all in the human rights of men accused of sex crimes –
regardless of (in spite of!) of strong evidence of their innocence. There are
no donor dollars to be gleaned from monitoring and reporting on such cases. There are, however, lots of donor dollars to
be harvested from a proliferation of victims of alleged abuse.
What I cannot and do not accept is that
LICADHO has no interest at all in the way in which Cambodian children and their
materially poor families are exploited by NGOs (through intimidation and
promises of financial reward) into providing false testimony against men
charged with sex crimes. What I do not understand is why LICADHO stands by,
eyes averted, lips sealed, and allows these children to be removed from their
families and held in NGO captivity for months on end until they sign documents
implicating men in sex crimes against them?
These same children are then all-too-often
removed from their families and held captive for years on end by NGOs with a
religious (usually evangelically Christian) agenda and with little or no access
to their families. In the case of HAGAR, as I have informed you before, these family
visits can be limited to 2 hours per annum. Yes, that is not a typographical
error. Two hours per annum. HAGAR also offers children money if they will make
false allegations of sexual abuse against men. Again, I have offered to
introduce you to some young men and women who have experience of this. And I
have recorded interviews with some.
Again, LICADHO is not interested in looking at any evidence of human and
legal rights abuses perpetrated by NGOs.
When these children (mostly girls) are
released back into the community at the age of 18 they are provided with no
assistance at all but left to fend for themselves. I know many of these young
woman and all, with virtually no exceptions, became pregnant by the age of 19 –
in part because they have received no counseling in contraception from their
Christian NGO guardians. Nor have they been provided with ready access to
contraception when they leave their respective NGOs. Once these young women reach
the age of 18 they have ceased to be of any revenue raising value to NGOs who
must, in order to keep the dollars flowing into their accounts, find new
‘orphans’ or ‘victims’!
Virtually the only skill these young women
have acquired after years enforced NGO captivity is an ability to speak English
well - a skill that enables them for the most part to work only in restaurants
and as ‘waitresses’ in ‘girlie bars’. (Some of these ‘girlie bars’, as the
entire NGO community knows well, as LICADHO knows well, are run by NGO men
working with children!)
With few exceptions, NGOs show no duty of
care to the young men and women who were in residential care for a number of
years. They are left to fend for themselves and, if they don’t fend well, these
same NGOs provide no assistance at all. It is cute young kids that sell the
wares these NGOs have on offer – not struggling young adults.
“There is none so blind as he who will not
see.”
Only a willfully blind person could fail
to see and understand what is going on in Cambodia. A ‘stolen generation’ of
children is being created – with all the problems attendant on the ‘stolen
generation’ of Aboriginal children in Australia. The day will come when this
monstrous scam is exposed in a way that I am not able to with this blog. When
the truth does emerge (as it did eventually with Somaly Mam) the question will
be asked of LICADHO:
“Why,
Dr Pung, why Naly Pilorge, did LICADHO stand by and say nothing, do nothing,
about the scams that everyone in Cambodia was aware of?”
From time to time, articles are written
that allude to the truth about ‘Scambodia’ but, after a brief burst of
publicity, the status quo returns and LICADHO maintains its silence of the
human rights abuses perpetrated by NGOs on children and their materially poor
parents. There are sins of commission and sins of omission. LICADHO is guilty
of the latter.
Why does LICADHO have no interest at all
in the human rights abuses suffered by these children and their families? Is it
because unscrupulous NGOs such as Citipointe church’s ‘SHE Rescue Home’ and
HAGAR (along with APLE) have developed close working relationships (co-dependent
relationships) with LICADHO? Is it
because you all receive funding from the same sources and to do wish to upset
the apple cart - if you will excuse the pun?
SHE and HAGAR (and others like them) require
a constant stream of ‘victims of human trafficking’ in order to keep their business
models operational? Given that so many of them are evangelical Christians they
can justify their breaking up of families with their fervently held belief that
they are ‘saving’ these children for Jesus Christ and hide from themselves the
fact that they are also providing themselves with a good living and a lifestyle
most would not be able to enjoy back in their home countries – replete with
brown skinned men and women attending to their every need. Colonialism is not a
thing of the past. It is alive and well in Cambodia, masquerading as Christian
benevolence.
LICADHO’s raison d’etre likewise requires,
in part, perpetuating the belief for
donors and sponsors that Cambodia is swarming with pedophiles and that all
children (girls mainly) between the ages of 3 and 15 are in danger of being
abused (potential victims’ as Steve Morrish so aptly describes them) if they
are not ‘rescued’ by the likes of the ‘SHE Rescue Home’ and HAGAR. That these
girls (in the main) are forcibly alienated from their families, their
communities, their culture and their religion – clear abuses of their human
rights - is, it seems, acceptable to LICADHO and not worthy of comment?
I should not need to make this point but
it is rendered necessary by the sheer number of times I have been accused of
supporting pedophiles as a result of my advocacy for David Fletcher’s right to
a fair trial.
I deplore any and all forms of sexual
exploitation of children and believe that the perpetrators of such abuse
deserve lengthy jail sentences in whatever country they occur. However, I also
deplore all non-sexual forms of exploitation of children – the very forms of
exploitation practiced by so many NGOs in Cambodia - running ‘orphanages’
filled with children who have parents; running ‘rescue’ centres with few if any
children who have been rescued from the sex trade but whose beds are filled
with girls who have been illegally removed from their materially poor families
or whose parents have placed their thumb prints on documents they could not
read and did not understand.
I am thinking in particular, here, of
Citipoite church’s ‘SHE Rescue Home’. As LICADHO has known since 2008, the ‘SHE
Rescue Home’ removes children from their families illegally. It does so with
the full knowledge of one of its major donors – the Australian based Global
Development Group. Has LICADHO ever stood up for the parents who have lost
their children to Pastor Leigh Ramsey’s fraudulent ‘Rescue Home’ and, in the
process, broken Cambodian law? (* See relevant law below.)
Has LICADHO ever stood up for the rights
of the children that have been illegally removed from their families, forced to
attend Christian churches, forced to abandon all aspects of Khmer culture and
tradition and denied meaningful access to their families? The answer is ‘no’. The
donor dollars are to be found in ‘rescuing’ girls deemed to be ‘at risk’; not
in rescuing kids from greedy and unscrupulous NGO predators that exploit their
poverty for their own income-generating reasons.
(For Citipoite lawyers poring over this document
online in search of evidence that I am ‘threatening to defame’ the church,
please go ahead and sue me, but please have the courage to do so in Australia
and not in a country where you can buy the verdict that suits you and which,
you hope, in vain, will silence me. And please, this time around, have the
courtesy to inform me that I am being sued and the date upon which my court
case is to be heard!)
Dr Pung, please ask Citipointe (as I have
been asking LICADHO to do for six years now) to produce the documents, the MOUs,
that Pastor Leigh Ramsey insists gave the church the right to remove girls from
their family in 2008 and hold them in custody for close to six years despite
repeated requests from the parents that the girls be returned from their
families? As the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation (see
below) makes clear, Pastor Ramsey would be doing time in a Cambodian jail if
the rule of law applied in Cambodia.
You will not ask Citipointe to produce
proof of the legality of its actions in removing girls from their homes. Why?
You will not ask Scott Neeson to produce copies of the pro-forma contract he
forces parents to sign before taking their children into residential care. Why?
You will not ask Neeson why the parents are not allowed to keep copies of the
‘contracts’ they enter into with CCF for themselves. Why? You will not ask
Neeson why CCF locks families out of their CCF owned hovels when they get
$12.50 behind in their rent? Why?
The questions that need to be asked of
Neeson, of HAGAR, of the ‘SHE Rescue Home’ are legion. You will ask none of
them. Why?
Materially poor Cambodians have human (and
legal) rights that are being regularly abused by NGOs who, with no regard at
all for Cambodian laws that do not suit their agenda, cause enormous suffering
to both children and their families.
Can you please explain to me, Dr Pung, to
the NGO community, to the donors and sponsors who put millions of dollars into
NGO coffers, why LIDAHO turns a blind eye to the illegal removal of children
from their families? Why will LICADHO not
even ask NGOs such as the ‘SHE Rescue Home’, HAGAR and the Cambodian Children’s
Fund to (a) produce documented evidence of the legality of their removal of
children and/or (b) copies of contracts that the NGO has entered into with the
parents of the children that have been removed?
Please stop turning a blind eye to this,
Dr Pung. Please act in accordance with the same precepts of transparency and
accountability that LICADHO applies to its criticisms of the Cambodian
government.
At the risk of belabouring points I have
made twice now, I reiterate my offer to:
(1) Introduce LICADHO to a person whose
account of APLE’S modus operandi needs to be made public, if s/he can be
provided with protection from those who would wish him/her harm.
(2) Provide copies of all the court
documents relating to David Fletcher – in not one of which is there evidence of
his guilt of rape that would stand up in a trial that took place in accordance
with the Cambodian Code of Criminal Procedure. These documents could be
couriered to you from Australia if you and LICADHO’S lawyers are interested in
looking at them. To date it seems that LICADHO is not interested in
representing, advocating for, any man charged with a sex crime – regardless of
the weight of evidence in support of his innocence.
LICADHO could make a significant
contribution to resolving key problems that arise in cases of alleged sexual
abuse by playing a proactive role in formulating procedures and protocols in
relation to the videotaping of the testimony of children involved in cases of
alleged sexual abuse. I have written about this on my blog entry #85:
http://cambodia440.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/85-canadian-national-pierre-deslauriers.html
The content of blog entry #86 could
function as a starting point for a discussion that LICADHO sets in motion if
there is a will, a desire, on your part, on LICADHO’S part, to safeguard the
human and legal rights both of children and those accused of sex crimes against
them:
http://cambodia440.blogspot.com.au/2015/01/86-interviewing-methods-in-suspected.html
best wishes
James Ricketson
Law on
Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation
Article
8:Definition of Unlawful Removal
The act
of unlawful removal removal in this act shall mean to:
1) Remove a person from
his/her current place of residence to a place under the actor’s or a third
persons control by means of force, threat, deception, abuse of power, or
enticement, or
2) Without legal
authority or any other legal justification to do so to take a minor person
under general custody or curatoship or legal custody away from the legal
custody of the parents, care taker or guardian.
Article
9: Unlawful removal, inter alia, of Minor
A person
who unlawfully removes a minor or a person under general custody or curatorship
or legal custody shall be punished with imprisonment for 2 to 5 years.
If you are so perfect and an expert in investigation Ricketson - why dont you start your own organisation or do some work yourself, instead of shit canning everyone all the time.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 5:52, I never realized that there was supposed to be such a strong correlation between investigation and running an NGO. A much closer association might be made for running a CPU and committing a drug theft with intent to sell while working for the Australian Police.
DeleteCould you at least be so kind as to let us know which NGO you are running or work for?
I am a journalist and a filmmaker with neither the desire nor the skills to start an NGO. At times, such as this, my journalism has an investigative element to it but the asking of questions is not, as you so eloquently express it, 'shit canning'. The use of this expression, along with the references to my being a 'fuckwit' suggest that there are at least three Australians 'shit canning' me on this blog or perhaps one Austrlian doing so three times.
DeleteIgnore him. Ricktson is an attention seeking fuckwit who just wants to tear down the good work done by people he knows are his superiors
ReplyDeleteYes, just ignore him and hope he stops confronting people with painful facts and difficult questions. Good idea!
DeleteMr. Ricketson makes a very resolute and determined impression. His blog gets more visitors by the day. The legion of people supporting his work is already larger that you think.
"...good work done by people he knows are his superiors" you say?
- Unlawful removal of children from their parents. Good work? Superior work?
- Manipulating families and pressuring children into making false accusations. Good work? Superior work?
- Manipulating facts en figures in the media only to gain financial benefit. Good work? Superior?
Oh so now Licadho is part of the conspiracy to keep kiddie fidler Fletcher in jail. Your a joke Ricketson, I wish someone would sue you and stop you spreading defamation left right and centre
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous 6.06
DeleteYou are entitled to your opinions but, as the saying goes, you are not entitled to your own facts. There is no evidence that David Fletcher is a 'kiddie fiddler' - unless, that is, you believe that if you read it on Khmer440 or in an Andrew Drummond article it must be true.
It is tiresome to keep asking this question but please do point out to me where I have defamed anyone?
Oh, and whilst you are at it, let me know, anonymous though you are clearly determined to remain, do you believe that David Fletcher is entitled to a fair trial? And do you believe that Liam Miller is entitled to an apology from the Phnom Penh Post for the factually incorrect article about him that has had a disastrous impact on his life?
And I ask you to imagine yourself in David Fletcher's or Liam Miller's position. How does it feel?
Mr. Fletcher was convicted without a fair trial, while all evidence proves the contrary.
DeleteMr. Ricketson is advocating the right to a fair. Who could possibly feel offended, attacked or defamed by a journalist defending this right?
The main question addressed to LICADHO is whether LICADHO agrees or not, that Mr. Fletcher is entitled to a fair trial.
The only possible reason for certain people to feel offended, attacked or defamed by this simple question is that those people either oppose the right to fair trial, or have played their role in obstructing David Fletcher from his right to a fair trial.
The fact that there seems to be a whole army of NGO crowd attacking the Mr. Ricketson's work, proves that either all these "good people doing good work for Cambodian people" oppose the right to a fair trial, or are complicit in sending an innocent man to jail.
Now it's time for accountability.
You have become the laughing stick of Cambodia Mr James Fucking Ricketson. Its time you saw a psychatrist and got help for your problem tho I dont think theres a cure for being a fuckwit
ReplyDeletePlenty of people are obviously pissed James because you have brought their greedy shifty lives in the public like no other. If they had nothing to hide the would simply take you on. If I was them l would l come out with all guns firing and l would also invite you to come on a vip all access tour of their ngo and see how wrong you are. But they have to much to lose and for them its easier to just say your nuts and a fuckwit. Fuckwits an Aussie word so looks like you’ve really pissed off some Aussies. I wonder who?
DeleteWhere did you learn your Australian? Your country must be proud! Clearly, you have so much to offer.
DeleteNo, people are pissed because he keeps defaming good people who are helping the Cambodian people while he just complains and does nothing to help. Hes a pathetic looser and he knows it
DeleteOh dear, the 'D' word again. Evidence please of my 'defaming good people'.
DeleteThere is a cure for fuckwits! If your reading this Mr james Fucking Ricketson which I am sure you are because you lovw the sound of your own writing be careful if you ever come back to Cambodia again becaude it can be a very dangerous place. Accidents happen all the time. Ooops...
DeleteAnd when shouting and screaming doesn't work, they start threatening people.
DeleteThis is the language and attitude of NGO crowd, working for those good NGOs that only do good things for Cambodian people. Yeah, right!
It's shocking to learn that such criminal mafiosi are smearing Cambodian society with their existence.
And when shouting and screaming doesn't work, they start threatening people.
DeleteThis is the language and attitude of NGO crowd, working for those good NGOs that only do good things for Cambodian people. Yeah, right!
It's shocking to learn that such criminal mafiosi are smearing Cambodian society with their existence.
If it was'nt so serious a subject one could perhaps laugh at these poor NGO Defenders from Khmer440. The language they use points directly at the problem which got David Fletcher in Jail in the first place. What surprises me is that Cambodia's NGO members that always claim a high moral ground use these people not only to victimize people but also as their frontline defense against facts.
ReplyDeleteWe now learn that "shit canning" and "fuckwit" is acceptable in the NGO Volunteer Vocabulary. How much lower can one sink ?
Hi Charles, good that you're joining this 'cheerful' conversation!
DeleteIndeed, there's nothing to laugh about, when one is aware of the entire list of facts.
An ex-convict running a Child 'Protection' Unit and a suicidal alcoholic that was once arrested for abusing a child in his orphanage in Calcutta, running Child 'Protection' NGO Action pour les Enfants in Cambodia.
And when a journalist asks a couple of very legitimate questions, they hire an army of mafiosi to intimidate.
Welcome to Cambodia, Kingdom of Wonder!
Google 'James Mc Cabe drug offences' to find out who Scott Neeson has hired to run the Cambodian Children's Fund Child Protection Unit.
DeleteKingdom of Wonder indeed!
And google 'NGO Pedophilia controversy heats up in Cambodia - WoWasis' to find out about the man who heads up Licadho's partner Action Pour les Enfants
DeleteA story from today’s Cambodia Daily gives rise to a couple of questions:
ReplyDeleteIs it legal for the charges against a man charged with rape to be dropped simply because he pays the girl’s family compensation?
If not, will APLE and/or LICADHO provide support for the family to actively pursue this case through the courts, in accordance with Cambodian law, or merely write a report about it?
Khieu Sereysothea, from the Ministry for Women’s Affairs can hardly be surprised if rape is on the rise is all that is required is money to pay of the family of the victim for the case to be dropped!
"A 21-year-old man was arrested in Banteay Meanchey province on Monday while raping a 12-year-old girl he had grabbed off her bicycle as she rode home from school, and later admitted to raping a 9-year-old girl earlier this month, police said Tuesday.
Deputy provincial police chief Seth Los said local police had arrested Moeun Set, a construction worker, in Mongkol Borei district’s Chamnoam commune after a resident reported the crime to authorities.
“While one girl was riding her bicycle on the road, he came to grab her from behind and raped her,” Mr. Los said. “This man is a suspect in the rape of two girls in the commune this month.”
Commune police chief In Sam Ath said Mr. Set had been hiding in the forest along the road and grabbed the 12-year-old when she fell behind a group of girls she had been cycling home with.
“Yesterday, after waiting for about three hours, he saw one girl riding a bicycle, and ran after her for about 70 meters before raping her,” he said. “At that time, a female farmer who was nearby called the police to go and arrest him.”
Mr. Sam Ath said police at first had trouble locating Mr. Set, but then caught him in the act of raping the girl.
“At the moment just after his arrest, the suspect denied having committed rape, but after three hours, he confessed to everything that he did,” he said.
The police chief said Mr. Set admitted to the earlier rape of a 9-year-old schoolgirl on January 6, which he committed under similar circumstances, telling police that he raped her after tricking a group of students that had been cycling home to follow him into the forest.
“He stopped nine children, including six girls, by lying to them, saying there was a robber on the way,” he said.
“The suspect then ordered four girls to take their clothes off and lay on the ground. The suspect then raped one girl, and was preparing to rape the others, but then the other children shouted for help.”
Mr. Los, the deputy provincial police chief, said Mr. Set made various excuses for why he raped the girls.
“He confessed to having raped for three reasons: The first was that he…is a drug addict. The second was that he felt drunk when he committed the crimes. The last is that his wife is a pregnant woman who cannot have sex with him,” he said.
“The suspect is still being detained at the provincial police station for further questioning,” Mr. Los said, adding: “We will send him to the court tomorrow to face charges.”
According to figures provided by rights group Adhoc on Tuesday, there were 201 reported cases of child rape in 2014. In 2013, Adhoc figures show, there were 177 cases of child rape.
Women’s Affairs Ministry director-general Khieu Sereysothea said she was not sure why the number of reported child rapes had increased but said the government was working on the issue.
“We are already working with Unicef to study that issue,” Ms. Sereysothea said, adding that the police were ultimately more responsible for crimes such as child rape than her ministry.
Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor at rights group Licadho, said reports of child rape are on the rise mainly due to lax enforcement of punishments for the crime.
“There is a bad habit where suspects in rape cases are released without conviction,” Mr. Sam Ath said.
“Another issue is that child-rape cases are not sent to court because the families of the suspects will pay compensation outside of the court.”
If APLE gets involved, for sure they'll not invest a lot of time, money and effort in it.
DeleteFirstly, because they don't have pictures and video footage of the guy. They didn't catch him, nor did they 'rescue' the girls, so they're not the hero's.
Secondly, the guy is Khmer and not a UK, US or Australian national, so not a lot of exposure in the media.
Thirdly, there was already reporting of the case in the media, so APLE cannot add their own version of the 'facts'.
There's another rape case where APLE came in later and did nothing. A few years ago a 16 year old Khmer girl was raped by a 25 year old Khmer guy in a Karaoke in Poipet. APLE posted a press-release on their website about this 14 year old victim. Later they also posted an entry on their Facebook about this 13 year old girl. (Please note the change of ages)
In their press release they added that APLE doesn't only target foreigners, but also has a focus on Khmer, as if APLE damn well knows that they're being accused of targeting foreigners only.
Two months later the rapist was already released from jail. The victim saw him in the village. Her parents were furious. APLE did nothing! And the family didn't receive any compensation too, so where did the money go?
If it would've been a foreigner, APLE for sure would've appealed, send out more press releases, push the embassies and ministries to pressure the court.
But investing time, money and effort for this case gives not enough return on investment.
That's Child 'Protection' NGO Action pour les Enfants
You are a cunt ricketon and you should crawl into a hole and die
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's very common practice for people to start screaming and shouting when they cannot join the debate with valid argumentation.
DeleteIt's a typical way to avoid having to answer painful questions about painful subjects.
Your comments are useless and not a contribution to anything or anyone.
Any retraction, apology, explanation from the Phnom penh Post to Liam Miller?
ReplyDeletePS The image of a cunt crawling into a hole make me smile!
Hes a cunt because he reckons all NGos are full of shit and their not. Their good people doing good things for the cambodian people. Ok some might be a bit corrupt but not many
DeleteDear Anonymous 2.07
DeleteI wonder how many beers you had to drink before you wrote your most recent comments? Again, by the vernacular, clearly an Australian. I hope that you are not a school teacher!
The Cambodian political system is corrupt. This does not mean that there are not people working in the system who are not corrupt. Or people working in this system who wish it were not corrupt but who, working in a corrupt system, have little choice but to play by the rules.
In the same way, I think that the 'international donor system' (for want of a better phrase) is corrupt. This does not mean that there are not people working within the system that are not corrupt. There are lots of good people working within a corrupt system either hoping it might change or doing whatever they can to make it change.
Corruption is not peculiar to Cambodia or 3rd world countries. In my own country, Australia, corruption at very hight levels of government is exposed regularly. And this is despite our having, in Australia, regulatory bodies whose job it is to identify corruption and prosecute offenders,
All too often, indeed most often, it is journalists who expose the corruption that regulatory bodies then pay close attention to. This is one of the roles of the 4th estate - of which i am a member.
Of course corruption exists within all sectors of Cambodian society, including the international donor community. The job of the media is to identify it and not allow, through the perpetrators refusal to be transparent and accountable, for NGOs to breach the legal and human rights of others with impunity - whether these others be Khmer or non-Khmer.
Dear Anonymous 1.36
DeleteAm not aware of any retraction/apology from the Post so far.
James,
Delete"Hes a cunt because he reckons all NGos are full of shit and their not. Their good people doing good things for the cambodian people. Ok some might be a bit corrupt but not many"
Australian? This reply was written by a Cambodian national. 100%.
The first 'official' response from LICADHO?
Who are we foreigners to decide what's good and not good in Cambodia?
Their should be more Cambodians joining the debate here!
APLE will not survive 2015 in Cambodia, believe me. When Thierry Darnaudet and Samleang Seila are comprehensively exposed I wonder if Licadho will continue to sing their praises? And if the British Embassy will come to the rescue of one of its 'clients'? I think you'll see the rats deserting the good ship APLE quick smart.
ReplyDeleteTo Mr Chris Dawe CEO , The Phnom Penh Post
ReplyDeleteI have not received any replies to the three messages I have sent you on your contact page regarding the false and maliciously damaging article regarding myself William Mathieson Miller.
You would be aware also that I mentioned in my messages to you Court Documents proving I was never charged with rape and sexual assault.
Have you ever taken a moment to consider the effects that your Newspaper, your Editor and now you, having been informed of the truth, has had and is still having on my life?
You and your Editor now know the facts; the hard cold evidence of a Court Judgment exonerating me of any charge. And in that document NO I REPEAT NO mention is made of rape or sexual assault.
Why do you refuse to retract Mr Chris Dawe? Why?
I you were in my position you would I am sure be screaming for answers.
Why the silence?
I am forced first to look at and ask a question.
Who are your Masters?
The Board of the PPP? Yes . The Chairman? Maybe.
Let me be the Devils Advocate. APLE and Mr Samleang Siela?
What else can I conclude? If I am wrong please correct me .
Let me use two quotes one I have used before.
'Evil prospers when good men do nothing'
John Phllpot Curran
'Ethics is knowing the difference between knowing what you have the right to do and what is right to do.'
Potter Stewart
I know you have walked and dined with several Heads of State including our former Prime Minister Bob Hawke .
Please ask yourself if you would pass the test in Rudyard Kipling/s poem.
Again I await a reply
As the saying goes, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Some NGOs have so much money they can buy politicians, judges and journalists. The latter can be bought to either write laudatory stories about NGOs or refrain from writing truthful ones. Welcome to Scambodia ☺
DeleteAny response,Chad Williams? Chris Dawe?
DeleteBoo Hoo Mr Miller if you actually exist and are not just a figment of Mr James Fucking Ricketsons twisted imagination. Maybe the reason why the PPP printed the article is thst they knew you raped that girl and paid the judges to let yuou off. You cant beliee a word you read on this blog.It should be shut down for defaning people left right and center
ReplyDeleteI hope that none of these angry commentators are teaching Cambodian children how to speak English! Their command of the language (spelling, in particular) is limited.
DeleteMore of the usual insane ramblings from Ricketson and his tiny team of equally retarded cohorts. All you bored, under-employed shit-heads expecting good NGO's, such as Neeson's, Licadho, SISHA, APLE etc, to respond to every dumb-fuck question that Ricketson thinks of when he wakes from his stupor?? Go get lives.
ReplyDelete"good NGO's, such as Neeson's, Licadho, SISHA, APLE" ? ? ?
DeleteAnd these NGOs are all good, because?
Is it because they themselves say that they're good?
Is it because they themselves say that they're only doing good things for Cambodian people?
Or is it because you work for one of those NGOs and you're good people too, because NGOs are good by default and only employ good people, such as yourself?
For many years donors have believed that NGOs are good, just because they're NGO's and have noble cause. This naive attitude has created an environment of extreme corruption and impunity within the Cambodian NGO community.
When asked questions, NGOs could just say "How dare they ask such questions! Ridiculous accusations! Just look at our website, look at our statistics and read the beautiful reports we write about the good work we do!"
Well, these days are over! Today it's no longer sufficient to present statistics that nobody can verify, put pictures of smiling kids on your website and make up stories about how you rescued them.
APLE claims to be protecting children, which is a good cause. But APLE's practices are not so good:
- It's a fact that APLE always lets the crime occur before taking action.
- It's a fact that APLE removes children from their families and detains them at Hagar International, where they get pressured into making false accusations.
- It's a fact that APLE pressures and bribes families to complain foreigners.
- It's a fact that APLE lies about the ages of 'children'.
- It's a fact that APLE lies about 'evidence' in a case.
These are all facts with sufficient proof. Everyone in Cambodia knows that these facts are true, but seems to silently accept this as part of Cambodian society.
The Scott Neesons of this world know these facts about APLE too and use APLE as a handy tool to eliminate people that limit the growth of his $10M Orphanage Business.
Of course Licadho knows about these facts too, but they keep silent.
Aple team - have you actually helped any children or women who have been abused? Have you trained local police? Have you sacrificed your life to help others? I doubt it. What is probably true in your case, is that you are a loser who has come to Cambodia in the hope that you will become a King amongst other losers. A good guess you work as a school teacher, with minimal qualifications and there is every chance you are one of those low life blow flies that hangs around the bars in Cambodia, masking yourself in glory at shagging young girls who have little choices in life due to their economic status.
DeleteWhat a quality citizen you must be and I am sure your mother is proud of you.
Germ!
Dear Anonymous 7.06
DeleteI wonder if you are familiar with the concept of the 'straw man'? If not, here's the Wikipedia definition:
"A straw man is a common type of argument and is an informal fallacy based on the misrepresentation of an opponent's argument.[1] To be successful, a straw man argument requires that the audience be ignorant or uninformed of the original argument.
The so-called typical "attacking a straw man" argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent's proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e., "stand up a straw man") and then to refute or defeat that false argument ("knock down a straw man") instead of the original proposition."
What you have engage din here is a very crude form of 'straw man' argument. You have created, in your imagination, a school teacher with minimal qualifications who hangs around bars and shags young girls and then called them a 'germ'.
You might also want to google the word 'logic' and think about whether or not you are someone who thinks logically or someone who just lets your mind wander free of all logical restraint as you lash out at anyone who asks questions you don't like or makes observations you disagree with.
Reading between the lines my guess is that you are someone who has helped children and women who have been abused. And good on you for doing so. And I would guess that you have trained local police. Again, good on you - particularly if you have also encouraged the local police to conduct their investigations with no reference to who might pay them to arrive at a particular conclusion.
Given your apparent experience in law enforcement would you agree that David Fletcher is entitled to a fair trial? WOuld you also agree that it is wrong for an innocent man (such as Liam Miller) to be accused, in print, of having raped someone when there is no evidence at all that he did so.
Please answer these questions without feeling the need to turn me into a 'straw man'.
cheers
Here’s a ‘straw man’ argument for you.
Delete“What is probably true in your case, Anonymous 7.06, is that you are a former policeman who has come to Cambodia in the hope that you will become a King amongst NGOs hunting pedophiles. A good guess is you work for Sisha or the Cambodian Children’s Fung Child Protection Unit, with minimal qualifications and there is every chance you are one of those low life blow flies that hangs around the bars in Cambodia, masking yourself in glory at shagging young girls who have little choices in life due to their economic status. What a quality citizen you must be and I am sure your mother is proud of you.
Germ!”
We are a group of local Cambodians and foreigners living in- and outside of Cambodia, investigating and monitoring the ongoing allegations of corruption, entrapment and violation of child rights, committed by 'Child Protection' NGO Action pour les Enfants.
DeleteWe fully support organizations that genuinely protect and defend the rights of children. Child abusers should be punished to the maximum extend of the law!
However, we despise organizations that make 'Child Protection' into a business, just to look good and make money to further expand their business, their status and their impunity!
The concept of following foreigners and wait until the abuse actually takes place is ethically wrong. It proves that child protection (preventing the abuse from happening in the first place) is NOT first priority for APLE.
Please have a look at this video:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/sickening-moment-suspected-british-paedophile-4349558
Michael Jones had been followed by APLE for a long time. APLE takes pictures of how he touches little girls inappropriately, but does nothing about, except for hiding in the bush to take pictures.
APLE makes video footage while Jones is taking underage girls to his apartment and rapes her. APLE does nothing, except filming it!
And a recent documentary that proves how 'good' APLE is:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/tv/tvshows/undercover-asia-s2/cambodia-s-child/1575012.html
Michael Leach had been followed by APLE for many years, but still APLE comes in just a few minutes too late, when Leach had already raped the two girls. Isn't that strange?
And an even more recent case:
http://cambodia440.blogspot.com/2015/01/85-canadian-national-pierre-deslauriers.html
In all the above cases APLE could've prevented the crimes from occurring in the first place, but they didn't! They just sat and waited, while in all the above cases they should've walked up to the these perverts and ask them "Where the f*ck do you think you're going with these kids?". They should've walked up to these kids a say "Hi kid, where are you going with this man? Do you know this man? Does your mother know you're with this man? How about we'll take you home, okay?", but that would've blown their case; no heroic arrest, no press-releases, no court hearings, no conviction, no new donors and no glory!
There are many NGOs that are doing a wonderful job in Cambodia. Take Friends International, for example.
Friends and their ChildSafe program have a way more genuine approach. The ChildSafe logo is on many tuk-tuks, many hotels and many guesthouses and it's giving those with pervert ideas the message "We're protecting our children. Don't touch them!"
Friends staff is clearly and visibly present in the streets with their white shirts and blue logo and blue shirts with white logo. They are visible and accessible by the children in the street. They are literally Friends with the children! Again, this also works preventive. No pervert will walk up to a group of children when Friends is sitting with them. That's REAL prevention. That's GENUINE child protection.
Friends staff teaches children about Child Rights, including the right to integrity of your own body. They have fantastic cartoon books to explain the children about the potential dangers in a child's life. Absolutely fabulous!
APLE, on the other hand, teaches villagers that every white male entering their village is a potential child abuser. The villagers should immediately call the APLE hot line.
In short, not every NGO is bad and there are many that do important work, but APLE is not one of them. APLE is a criminal organisation!
Well said APLE Team
DeleteI concur with everything you write here.
I have known Sebastien Marot and Friends for 20 years now and can attest to the integrity all Friends employees bring to their work. ANs Friends is to be congratulated for the effors the NGO has gone to to stop children being treated as tourist attractions for travellers and tourists wanting to have a fulfilling Cambodian experience and leave the country with the warm inner glow that comes from having spent a day or a week 'working with' disadvantaged children.
A personal anecdote:
Over the years I have helped many people in Cambodia and also shot a few films with and about people who live on the street. In the process I have been followed and photographed on several occasions by people who never bothered to ask me why it was I was spending so much time with kids on the street. No doubt there is a portfolio of photos of me somewhere!
On one occasion, down by the Bassac River with my camera, filming with some young kids, a woman tourist walked up to me, very politely introduced herself and asked me what I was doing with these children. I explained that I was making a film and that these kids were in the film. The kids confirmed this and the woman sat down to talk with us. She explained to me later that she had walked up and spoken to me and the kids just in case my intentions were less than noble. She did the right thing. There was nothing aggressive in her manner. She simply had the best interests of the kids at heart and wanted to be sure everything was OK. If she had had any doubts about my intentions she would ave reported me. She did the right thing and she and I subsequently became friends.
She was 'just a tourist' but she was, in fact, for those few minutes, working in 'child protection'.
I would like to se as many tourists as possible encouraged to adopt this approach in those situations in which it is likely (or very easy) for men with doubtful motives to come into contact with poor and vulnerable children.
@ Anonymous 7.06 you are either Steve Morrish or James Mc Cabe. Which? Is it true that you are both employed by Scott Neeson now and that Gina Rinehart is paying the bills?
DeleteFletcher also states in the Drummond story - and he has bragged to me personally about the same - is that all his family have disowned him and "it's their loss". Sorry Mary - I think you are a phoney and one of Ricketson's handjob boys.
ReplyDeleteWho is Mary?
DeleteOK, so let's just say Fletcher did 'brag to you personally' that his family had disowned him, what does this have to do with his guilt or innocence?
Or are you suggesting that a negative comment about his family is proof that he must be guilty of rape?
Let me ask this in a way that requires only a yes or no answer and is not an invitation for more schoolboy personal abuse:
"Do you think Fletcher is entitled to a fair trial even if your report of what he said to you is accurate?"
And why don't you have the balls to identify yourself since you are a friend, a former friend or an acquaintance of Fletcher's?
For the record, Fletcher denies having said most of what has been attributed to him in Drummond's June 2010 article. Drummond has been invited to provide a copy of the tape on which he recorded his interview. He has also declined to answer any questions. He has also had to leave Thailand as a result of his tendency to write stories that are untrue.
Still, what Fletcher may or may not have said about his family is irrelevant to his having been charged with, found guilty of and jailed for rape without a trial.
You, as with so many others who attack me, Fletcher, Liam Miller and others, don't bother to deal with facts, with evidence, but believe that you can win an argument with abuse of the kind that most bullies grew out of in their adolescence.
yours sincerely
James ('bored, under-employed. fuckwit, shit-head, dumb-fuck, phony) Ricketson
Dear Andrew Drummond,
DeleteI have re-read the article you published on 20th June 2010 and realize that the anonymous comment above (Anonymous 2.06) was written by you. (see below for a quote from your article that provides evidence of this)
(1) I am pleased to know (as I suspected all along) that you are reading my blog.
(2) Now that you have ‘outed’ yourself it would be much appreciated by myself, by David Fletcher and by others reading this blog, if you were to use your own name from here on in and not hide behind an ‘anonymous’ tag.
(3) Let me ask you again to produce the tape on which you claim to have recorded David Fletcher saying all the things that you quoted him as saying in your article.
(4) Do you still believe, in Jan 2015, that David Fletcher was ‘grooming young girls’ as you quoted Scott Neeson as saying in June 2010? If so, would you care to provide me, David Fletcher and other interested parties with evidence of his guilt?
If, on the other hand, you were merely relying on Scott Neeson to have told you the truth (along with Peter Hogan) would you now care to apologize to David Fletcher for having published defamatory comments about him? You need not fear being sued by Mr Fletcher. This would be an exercise in futility in Cambodia anyway, even if he could afford to take you to court – which he can’t. All that Mr Fletcher wants, all that he asks for, all that he has ever asked for, is to be given a fair trial. And you may be in a position to help him achieve this goal.
To date there is not one NGO, no human rights organization, no embassy and no newspaper that has been prepared to put their hand up and say:
“I/we believe that Mr Fletcher is entitled to a fair trial.”
You could set the ball rolling, Andrew, by being the first to go public and defend Fletcher’s right to a fair trial. Richard Shears could then apologize for having published an article in which he was reliant on information he had gleaned from your article and other unreliable sources. Steve Morrish from SISHA would then have little choice but to apologize for having issued a defamatory press release based on what he had read in the press. And perhaps the British Embassy would feel inclined, after all these years, to ask Scott Neeson if he had (and presumably still has) evidence that Mr Fletcher was ‘grooming young girls’.
If you wish to go down this path, Andrew, I will give you access to all the court documents you need to publish an accurate and truthful story about the miscarriage of justice that has occurred in the case of Mr Fletcher, along with the documents provided by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office that proved Mr Fletcher has been lied to about the fate of his passport.
You could travel to Cambodia and meet with Mr Fletcher in person. I would be happy to fly to Cambodia also to give you copes of all the documents I have. Whilst in Cambodia you could request an interview with Naly Pilorge and ask her how it is that she seems so certain of Mr Flether’s guilt. You could interview Samleang Seila and ask him why the APLE lawyer specifically requested that David Fletcher be denied a ‘re-trial’. You could also ask Seila about the circumstances surrounding Yang Dany’s departure for China and request of him information regarding the whereabouts of Yang Dany’s mother, Kheang Sekun, so that you can interview her.
Quite apart form the questions of justice that swirl around Mr Fletcher’s case, it is a great story and it is one that you are ideally suited to write. Clearly, this would necessitate some mea culpas from yourself but a factually true story about this case would be of enormous benefit not just to David Fletcher but to the precepts of transparency and accountability to which NGOs pay lip service but do not adhere in reality.
Best wishes
You've got a treasure trove of information for him James. Could be the most important work of his career. I hope you takes you up on your offer, but I doubt he will.
ReplyDeleteIn so much that Drummond's article is what set off a process resulting in a man being incarcerated without a trial AND for most, looking at the evidence, would lead one to believe that he is an innocent man.
ReplyDeleteSeems an interesting legacy for Drummond to leave behind for his children, when he can so easily correct this. It does however require some conscience. We will see.
I hope Mr. Drummond will be a man of honor and take action to correct his contribution to this travesty of justice which has resulted in Mr. Fletcher's incarceration for the past 4 1/2 years. If he reads the court records, he should be able to write a very entertaining article regarding a man convicted of two brutal rapes of a young woman, who was later determined by a doctor to be a virgin with her hymen intact. The judges determination that her hymen must have grown back is so ridiculous that it would create a lot of conversation and laughs in civilized society.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a conscience, Mr. Drummond, please listen to it and do the right thing.
Looks like Chad Williams and Chris Dawe have made it clear how much value they place in accurate reporting and how little they care about the damage their inaccurate reporting does to the victims of their shoddy journalism. Will now read the PPP with a degree of scepticism, realising as I do now, that what I read may not be true. A shame, really, for an 'award-winning' newspaper.
ReplyDeleteThe silence is deafening. Chad Williams should resign. He is not a fit and proper person to be the editor of a newspaper
DeleteAnything from Chad Williams? Anything from Dr Kek Pung?
DeleteNo, nothing from Chad. The fact that the Post has defamed Liam Miller and done serious damage to his life - both personally and professionally - is not a matter of concern to Chad.
DeleteSilence from Dr Kek Pung. David Fletcher is clearly not, in her view, entitled to a fair trial. Or to be more precise, LICADHO is not going to advocate on behalf of David Fletcher's right to a fair trial - denied to him for close to five years now.
Where is the character of any of these people? I think the lot of them are devoid of character and they are in positions where it should be a primary attribute. Shame on the lot of them, hiding their heads in the sand after ruining an innocent man's life. Your children WILL find out!!
ReplyDeleteSome well meaning and good people working in a system that requires, of they are to keep their jobs, turning a blind eye. Moral cowards. Cambodian is ful lof them.
ReplyDeleteYes, not one person in a position of authority or power, not one NGO, not one Cambodian newspaper, prepared to advocate on behalf of David Fletcher's right to a fair trial. If you are a man accused of a sex crime you are guilty by default - even if the huge weight of evidence suggests that you are not guilty.
Delete