Dear Lok M. Preuk:
    Tyrants and communists are fearful of knowledgeable citizens and of  
citizens who are richer and better than them. Therefore, they are trying to keep  
the people in the dark and fed them with mushrooms. When people are poor and  
uneducated, they can manipulate them well. A can of beer and or a small pack
of  BEECHENG will make a person to thank them throughout their life  time.

    I guess the "Maslow's hierarchy of needs" is right, when the people are  
hungry, nothing seems to matter. Democracy and Human Rights are somewhere in  
heaven. The communists and dictators practice such a theory-- Keep the people  
poor and feed them just a little to earn some love and  votes.

       Thanks for the  article.

     Virak
===========

Detention of Kem Sokha Draws  Criticism

BY KUCH NAREN
AND ETHAN  PLAUT
THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Some spoke passionately, others in  hushed tones with dejected resignation,
but people from various walks of life around Phnom  Penh and several provinces
had  something to say about the detention of Cambodian Center for  Human
Rights President Kem Sokha on  Sunday.

"I think that many Cambodian people  are upset about the arrest, but they
dare not protest against the authorities  because there are a lot of  pressures,"
said Chan Sok, a 29-year-old soft drink factory  worker in Phnom  Penh.

Chan Sok added that she and fellow  villagers from her native Prey Veng  
province learned about democracy and human rights from CCHR's "Voice of  
Democracy" radio broadcasts on Beehive  Radio.

Pursat province forestry activist  Kuch Veng also said that the broadcasts
were crucial because they help present  diverse perspectives on Cambodia’s  
situation.

"The arrest of Kem Sokha is  a warning to Cambodians to stop speaking  out,"
he said by telephone. "A lot of people call into his  show to give
constructive criticism ... Unless we have a  lot of voices from different sources,
including both the opposition and the  establishment, we will never find perfection."

A motorbike taxi driver at Wat Phnom  who declined to give his name worried
that the arrest may be intended to  deprive people of knowledge about the
electoral  process.

"The arrest probably has to do with  the coming commune and national
elections, because the public won’t understand as much about it without  him," he
said. "The arrest aims to keep information from the  people."

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith  said on Sunday that he was too busy to
comment.

A 41-year-old civil servant who also  declined to give his name appealed for
help from abroad. Arrests of public  figures like Kem Sokha, Cambodian
Independent Teachers' Association President  Rong Chhun and Mam Sonando, owner of
Beehive Radio station, strike fear into ordinary people who lack a  platform for
their grievances, he said.

"The UN and powerful countries  around the world should intervene on this
matter in order to help those  activists," he said. "Then Cambodian people can
take the second step in  protesting to release Kem Sokha and others."

But not everyone felt that worrying  about his arrest was a priority.

"I am a beggar, so I do not case who  has been arrested or released, because
I need to take care of my stomach first,"  32-year-old ex-soldier Huon Saroeun
said at Wat Phnom. "Even if he was not in  jail, my living condition would
still be bad."

---------------------------------------
Note: I suppose the comment by the  beggar-ex-soldier reflects well the 3
"kh" (Khlach-Khlean-Khlao). Well, I guess  whoever claims that the public did not
learn any democracy from CCHR's program  is dead wrong according to people
from various  walks of life in Srok  Khmer.