ថត​កាល​ពីរ​ាត្រី​ម្សិល​មិញ​នៅ​វិមាន​ឯករាជ្យ។ គេ​តុប​តែង​ស្អាត​ទេ បង​ប្អូន? សូម​ជូន​ពរ​ឆ្នាំ​ថ្មី​សិរី​​បវរ​គ្រប់​ទិវា​រាត្រី​ជូន​បងប្អូន​គ្រប់​គ្ន​ា!

A friend of mine arrived from the States via Pochentong tonight, and something unbelievably ridiculous welcomed her at this very port of entry!! What a SHAME!

It all began as she was leaving the arrival hall. As you could imagine, she was walking out with her baggage in one hand and a case of personal laptop in the other. For no clear reasons, a group of our proud, hardworking dumbass customs officials quickly approached her and requested to inspect her laptop. Innocent, my poor friend let them look at it, thinking it was simply a part of their protocol. To her dismay, the officials ordered that she paid an import duty of US$150. In an aggressive manner, one of them claimed the Cambodian customs rules dictate a payment for all imports - be it for commercial or personal consumption. <I seriously doubt such a rule exists! It would be excellent if it were practiced well - by all means, Cambodia would benefit millions of dollars from tax. Sigh!>

Instinctively we responded by questioning the origin of the rule. For a fact, we are no novice air travelers. We’ve been to too many countries to know too well about such tricks. Even the world’s strictest nations - the US, UK, Australia, you name it - do not have such a restriction in use.

Despite our polite reasoning and explanation, these leeches wouldn’t care. They proudly said we were under their authority and that we must follow whatever they said; otherwise, the laptop would be confiscated!!! <Ah! Isn’t Cambodia a democratic nation? Is this how democracy works? With authority in hand, does it mean one may create shitty rules and abuse innocent people any times? Holy Molly! Probably the new year fever is raking up their corrupt mind - time to earn extra dirty bucks! That’s why they don’t have even a tiny bit of shame for themselves.>

A friend of us, who was also there, later said she knew a senior customs official who she believed could intervene on the matter. After several phone calls from our side and the other (I meant the intervener), they finally agreed to let us go. I meant going without pay even a single cent. <They must have realized that after all, we were not someone easily messed up with!

Oh my beloved Cambodia! I wonder when such shameless craps end. It’s a same-old matter. Corruption hurts not only our economy but also our people’s lives!!! It’s high time we ended it. I’m so tired of all this!

Photos courtesy of The Long Beach Press Telegraph

ជារៀងរាល់ឆ្នាំ​ ឲ្យ​តែចូលដល់​រដូវកាល​ឆេងម៉េង​ពេលណា គ្រូួសារ និង បង​ប្អូន​ខ្ញុំ​ តែងតែរៀបចំពិធី​ប្រក់​ផ្នូរ​ និង សែន​ជូនអាកុង​អាម៉ា​ជានិច្ច។ ឆ្នាំនេះ ក៏មិនខុស​ពី​ឆ្នាំ​ណាៗដែរ ម៉ាក់​បាន​ទិញ​នូវ​គ្រឿង​ដង្វាយ​ជាច្រើន​ហូរហែរ​​។ និយាយ​ឲ្យចំទៅ គឺមានស្ទើរគ្រប់មុខ។ មានតាំងពី​ជ្រូកខ្វៃ នំនែក ផ្លែឈើ ក្រដាសសែន ទៀនធូប និង ផ្កាភ្ញី​​ជាដើម​។ល​។

ប៉ុន្តែ អ្វី​ដែលខ្ញុំ​ចាប់អារម្មណ័បំផុត​សម្រាប់ឆ្នាំនេះ គឺរឿងក្រដាសសែន។ ដូច​ឃើញ​ក្នុង​រូបនេះ​ស្រាប់ សំណែន​ដែលយើង​ដុតមានមិនត្រឹម​តែ​​ក្រដាស​មាស ក្រដាស​ប្រាក់ ប្រាក់​ដុល្លារ​ ប្រាក់​កាក់​ មាស​សន្លឹក គ្រឿង​អលង្គារ​ សម្លៀក​បំពាក់​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ​ទេ ថែមទាំងមានទូរស័ព្ទដៃ និង សំបុត្រ​យន្តហោះ​ទៅកាន់​ស្ថានសួគ៌​ថែមទៀត។ មិនណយដែរហ្នឹង! និយាយ​ពី​ទូរស័ព្ទ​វិញ​ សំបូរ​សុទ្ធតែ N Series តែ​ម្តង។​ មានតាំង​ពី N74, N75, 3310 ទៀតហ្ន៎! នេះបាន​ថា​ ទំនើបទាន់សម័យកាល​មែនរបស់​គេមែន! មិន​មែន​​មាន​តែ​មនុស្ស​​ឯណា ដែល​ប្រើ​ទូរស័ព្ទ​ដៃ​កាលីបៗ សូម្បី​តែ​ខ្មោច​ក៏​ប្រើ​ដែរ។

ពូកែរកនឹកគ្រាន់បើ​របស់គេ អ្នករកស៊ីខាងនេះ! សូមកោតសរសើរ!

This is very sad indeed. I had heard about his cancer and hospitalization but didn’t expected it to happen this soon. May Om rest in peace. My heart goes to your family.

Dith Pran, a photojournalist for The New York Times whose gruesome ordeal in the killing fields of Cambodia was re-created in a 1984 movie that gave him an eminence he tenaciously used to press for his people’s rights, died in New Brunswick, N.J., on Sunday. He was 65 and lived in Woodbridge, N.J.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, which had spread, said his friend Sydney H. Schanberg.

Mr. Dith saw his country descend into a living hell as he scraped and scrambled to survive the barbarous revolutionary regime of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979, when as many as two million Cambodians — a third of the population — were killed, experts estimate. Mr. Dith survived through nimbleness, guile and sheer desperation.

He had been a journalistic partner of Mr. Schanberg, a Times correspondent assigned to Southeast Asia. He translated, took notes and pictures, and helped Mr. Schanberg maneuver in a fast-changing milieu. With the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, Mr. Schanberg was forced from the country, and Mr. Dith became a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian Communists.

Mr. Schanberg wrote about Mr. Dith in newspaper articles and in The New York Times Magazine, in a 1980 cover article titled “The Death and Life of Dith Pran.” (A book by the same title appeared in 1985.) The story became the basis of the movie “The Killing Fields.”The film, directed by Roland Joffé, portrayed Mr. Schanberg, played by Sam Waterston, arranging for Mr. Dith’s wife and children to be evacuated from Phnom Penh as danger mounted. Mr. Dith, portrayed by Dr. Haing S. Ngor (who won an Academy Award as best supporting actor), insisted on staying in Cambodia with Mr. Schanberg to keep reporting the news.

A dramatic moment, both in reality and cinematically, came when Mr. Dith saved Mr. Schanberg and other Western journalists from certain execution by talking fast and persuasively to the trigger-happy soldiers who had captured them.

But despite frantic effort, Mr. Schanberg could not keep Mr. Dith from being sent to the countryside to join millions working as virtual slaves.

Mr. Schanberg returned to the United States and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Cambodia. He accepted it on behalf of Mr. Dith as well.

For years there was no news of Mr. Dith, except for a false rumor that he had been fed to alligators. His brother had been. After more than four years of beatings, backbreaking labor and a diet of a tablespoon of rice a day, Mr. Dith, on Oct. 3, 1979, escaped over the Thai border. Mr. Schanberg flew to greet him.

Mr. Dith moved to New York and in 1980 became a photographer for The Times, where he was noted for his imaginative pictures of city scenes and news events. In one, he turned the camera on mourners rather than the coffin to snatch an evocative moment at the funeral of Rabbi Chaskel Werzberger, a rabbi murdered in 1990.

Outside The Times, Mr. Dith spoke out about the Cambodian genocide, appearing before students, senior citizens and other groups. “I’m a one-person crusade,” he said.

Dith Pran was born on Sept. 23, 1942, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, a provincial town near the ancient temples at Angkor Wat. His father was a public-works official.

Having learned French at school and taught himself English, Mr. Dith was hired as a translator for the United States Military Assistance Command. When Cambodia severed ties with the United States in 1965, he worked with a British film crew, then as a hotel receptionist.

In the early 1970s, as unrest in neighboring Vietnam spread and Cambodia slipped into civil war, the Khmer Rouge grew more formidable. Tourism ended. Mr. Dith interpreted for foreign journalists. When working for Mr. Schanberg, he taught himself to take pictures.

When the Khmer Rouge won control in 1975, Mr. Dith became part of a monstrous social experiment: the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people from the cities and the suppression of the educated classes with the goal of recreating Cambodia as an agricultural nation.

To avoid summary execution, Mr. Dith hid that he was educated or that he knew Americans. He passed himself off as a taxi driver. He even threw away his money and dressed as a peasant.

Over the next 4 ½ years, he worked in the fields and at menial jobs. For sustenance, people ate insects and rats and even the exhumed corpses of the recently executed, he said.

In November 1978, Vietnam, by then a unified Communist nation after the end of the Vietnam War, invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge. Mr. Dith went home to Siem Reap, where he learned that 50 members of his family had been killed; wells were filled with skulls and bones.

The Vietnamese made him village chief. But he fled when he feared that they had learned of his American ties. His 60-mile trek to the Thai border was fraught with danger. Two companions were killed by a land mine.

He had an emotional reunion with his wife, Ser Moeun Dith, and four children in San Francisco. Though he and his wife later divorced, she was by his bedside in his last weeks, bringing him rice noodles.

Mr. Dith was either separated or divorced from his second wife, Kim DePaul, Mr. Schanberg said.

Mr. Dith is survived by his companion, Bette Parslow; his daughter, Hemkarey; his sons, Titony, Titonath and Titonel; a sister, Samproeuth; six grandchildren; and two stepgrandchildren.

Ms. DePaul now runs the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, which spreads word about the Cambodian genocide. At his death, Mr. Dith was working to establish another, still-unnamed organization to help Cambodia. In 1997, he published a book of essays by Cambodians who had witnessed the years of terror as children.

Dr. Ngor, the physician turned actor who had himself survived the killing fields, had joined with Mr. Dith in their fight for justice. He was shot to death in 1996 in Los Angeles by a teenage gang member.

“It seems like I lost one hand,” Mr. Dith said of Dr. Ngor’s death.

Mr. Dith nonetheless pushed ahead in his campaign against genocide everywhere.

“One time is too many,” he said in an interview in his last weeks, expressing hope that others would continue his work. “If they can do that for me,” he said, “my spirit will be happy.”

Source: The NY Times