Positive Suggestions for The Opposition

For the OPPOSITION!

Here are some positive suggestions:

On the election:
If you join the election, join it!
Threatening to boycott the election is a rusty, old and dull chisel. Declaring the election process as unfair, not free and yet participating in it anyway is another weakness that makes the world getting whacked. The CPP knows this well and use it to its benefit. If you join the election, join it. Ask the world to come in and help monitor the election. Don’t stop them. Why the fear? When you find that the election is rigged and unacceptable, prove it and show it to the world and help correct it with positive attitude. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.

On your Opponent:
Learn from your Opponent!
The Opposition needs to learn from the CPP. Many CPP ‘s Opponents are blinded by their hatred, anger, revenge and are biased to the point that they do not want to learn from what the CPP has been doing to keep on winning. They resort to personal attacks. When they watch Hun Sen’s speeches, they only see the bad remarks that he makes and don’t bother to realize that Hun Sen does not speak to “the world” but to those who speak the same language as he does—the average Cambodians. They should realize that the world don’t and can’t vote, but the average Cambodians do and can.

On your image: 
Arrogance is destructive!
The Opposition leaders need to stop being arrogant. One of the behaviors that the Opposition needs to change is to stop looking down on the CPP leaders as monkeys, an ignorant bunch, animals, criminals, traitors and all other negative adjectives that if people of the world really know what they mean they will view the Opposition as extremists. Such destructive expressions and behaviors will repel not only voters at the grassroots levels mostly controlled by the CPP, but they will make the “International Community” think twice. Remember, birds of a feather flock together.

On the Vietnamese issue:
Work with the Vietnamese, not for them or against them!
Show the world that you can work with the Vietnamese, not against them. The Opposition needs to stop instilling fears into Khmer people’s mind about the Vietnamese issue. Fears feed more fears. Racial connotations should be tuned down and toned down. Teaching the people to understand our history and to help stop illegal immigration does not have to include racial attacks and or painting people with the same brush. Bigger nations like the United States and other democratic nations that deal directly with Vietnam won’t be able to help you much. Remember, it’s the economy stupid. The world now is different.

On your organizational structure:
Help close all leaks in your organization, morally, financially and materially! 

Organize your mind first and close all leaks of your good morality if you have it. If you need help, get help to gain or regain your good moral conducts. There are plenty of institutions that can teach you and some of them are for free---good Buddhist temples. However paying someone to help you and your organization is better, because you will value it more. But, the best person who can help you most effectively is YOU. 

Don’t trade your integrity with the immoralities found in the current society that you want to change. Keep your ethical conducts checked if you want to give your life to the public and if you want to make a living from serving the people. Your mind is the ground for all things. Therefore your outside organization is only as good as your inside one. 

If you fail to clean your mind then you won’t be able to have a clean and uncorrupted organization. If your organization is corrupted, your political life or public life will also end sooner or later. In addition, you will not be able to challenge others about their weaknesses because you also have your own. Two wrongs can’t be right. Two rights can’t be wrong. So, be on the right side. You are in the business to save our country, don’t mess up our country with your immoral activities. 

Good morality is the most important. Once you apply it, others will follow. It begins with your admission that your own past is imperfect but don’t use this “no one is perfect” reason as an alibi to continue doing the same things. 

Tell everyone in your organization that you and everyone will start it freshly and get him or her involved in special training for political and professional ethics and moral principles. Once your members at all levels improve their morality, you will see less corruption inside your own organization. You will save money, time and effort. This can be translated into more votes. And even if your opponents wrongly attack you, the whole world will know, especially your own little world will judge you appropriately. 

For now, as I can see it, your organization is like a Swiss cheese with holes, close them holes. Begin it now with the correction of your morality. 

You may tell us the “it’s easy said that done” jingle and use it as an alibi not to correct your mental attitude, but remember this: You are in the business to do the hardest thing for our country. If it were easy, someone else would have done it long before you. 

Just do it.

Timothy Chhim
June 24, 2013

A lesson from the past: Homeland’s call lures candidates

A lesson from the past

http://phnompenhpost.com/2013053165989/National/homeland-s-call-lures-candidates.html

Five years ago, In 2008 Campaign for a change, some of my close friends from inside and outside of Cambodia told and teased me I was a piece of the "Three-layer Pork Meet" or "sach chrouk bei choan" for the local politicians. :-)

I din't know what they meant and didn't believe what they said until some $70,000 later. A great lesson to learn.

So guys, I mean professional politicians, if you want to change Cambodia, you need to change your ways of thinking and your ways of doing things to help her. Change your morality.

If you are thinking or doing the same things---like what you have done previously-- you will get the same result. Worst of all, you will destroy the future of Cambodian oppositions of the next generations.

Khmer people from abroad are naive and mostly honest. They use their heart to think and not their head. A few are greedy, many are hopeful of course, but they don't know much about your tricks or treats.

They trust you wholeheartedly with their life and hard-earned money. Not every Cambodian here in the US earns $10,000 dollars a month. Many get less than that per year...but with the excitements, incitements and mostly fears about the future of our beloved country, they sacrifice their time, money and life.



So have your morality checked! Wear your honesty hat. Be truthful to them. Give innocent people like Mr. Pin a chance to serve Cambodia. And, yes, you can do it. He is not your piece of the "Three-layer Pork Meet."

Timothy Chhim

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Silent Killer: Do Cambodians commit massive suicide everyday?

Silent Killer: 

Do Cambodians commit massive suicide everyday?

You would think that drinking is the only bad habit that destroys people’s life including the life of the individual drinker. 

But, smoking is another destructive addiction that once it gets to you, it will lead you to try out other bad habits, such as doing drugs, drinking, gambling and buying sex, etc.

I have seen many young Cambodians smoke and they do smoke a lot of cigarettes. Thousands more are addicted to drugs.

According the statistic that was done in 2006, some 48 percent of Cambodian males over age 15 smoke and about 4 percent of Cambodian women light up.

Smoking destroys Khmer society in many ways. 

First, it costs Cambodians more money to treat diseases affected by smoking and second handed smoking. 

Secondly it costs Cambodians a big chunk of their annual income to burn cigarettes.  Some people sell their land little by little to smoke (and to drink.)

Next, smoking destroys Cambodian mental capacity to think clearly. 

Cigarettes break down the power of persistence; destroy the power of endurance; destroy the ability to concentrate, reduce the imaginative faculty in the mind.

All of the above factors definitely keep Cambodians from using their mind effectively.  

It should be a good reason for Cambodians to do something to help stop cigarette smoking and or to slow it down to help save Cambodian lives. 

Sometimes Cambodians are busy fighting over things that are less important. 

 We forget that there are silent killers in our society that kill our people en mass.  Some of the killers are our loved ones, including our friends, relatives and family members.

So next time before you light up, THINK if you CAN.

These articles below should at least raise your eyebrows, if they do not choke you up:

http://toh.adracambodia.org/statistics/statistics.htm

http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/12/08-058917/en/index.html

http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/5/1/66.full.pdf

All pictures are from Google.com

Timothy Chhim

New York

March 25, 2013

Science of Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement

Science of Success: The 17 Principles of Personal Achievement

Learning Science of Success with the 17 Principles of Success (Dr. Napoleon Hill)--a discussion comparing Western principles and Khmer Principles. By Timothy S. Chhim and Chakra (Chanthou) Oeur 03/11/13.

Cambodian Leaders: Leading the same nation but dying with different dignity...

Cambodian Leaders: Leading the same nation but dying with different dignity...

Where will they be in their next life?

***

They all said they loved Cambodia and Khmer people. They lived and fought against the same enemy. They held or had held he same title: Cambodian top leader.

Combined results:  Cambodia was almost completely destroyed, nearly half of Cambodia's population perished, maimed and displaced.

Much to learn from their mistakes... adversities, setbacks and failures...to find the seed of success for the bright future of every Cambodian.

  

-----------------------------------

President Lon Nol of Khmer Republic

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7288655

Lon Nol

Marshal Lon Nol was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice, as well as serving repeatedly as Defense Minister and the President of Khmer Republic.

Born: November 13, 1913, Prey Veng Province

Died: November 17, 1985, Fullerton

Siblings: Lon Non

-----------------------------------------------

Pol Pot

Pol Pot, born Saloth Sar, was a Cambodian Communist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1963 to 1981, he served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. WikipediaBorn: May 19, 1925, Kampong Thom Province..


Died: April 15, 1998, Cambodia

_________________________________

King, Prince Sihanouk

+++++++++++++++++

Shoppers Delight: Nanuet Mall Getting New Life

Shoppers Delight: Nanuet Mall Getting New Life

http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012312100091&nclick_check=1



Risa Hoag, a Nanuet Chamber of Commerce board member, left, and Timothy S. Chhim, president of Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, are photographed as construction continues on the Shops at Nanuet on the site of the former Nanuet Mall on Dec. 10, 2012. ( Matthew Brown/ The Journal News )

NANUET — Rockland’s oldest mall will reopen Oct. 1 in its new incarnation, The Shops at Nanuet, several weeks ahead of its widely anticipated opening.
Thomas Schneider, Simon Property Group’s executive vice president for development, said construction was progressing at the site of the old Nanuet Mall and would continue through the winter.

“We are planning on opening Oct. 1,” said Schneider. “We’re all hoping for decent weather this winter ... We are doing everything we can to move things along.”
In the past the company had given no clear opening date but had indicated the shopping center would open ahead of the 2013 holiday season.

Motorists can now see the skeleton of the new structure coming up at the site of the old mall, most of which was razed to the ground earlier this year. Construction is taking place daily and the new mall is beginning to take shape. Clarkstown building department officials are monitoring construction daily at the site, the town said.

“You can see something is coming up finally,” Sheila Morahan-Gick, a Nanuet mother of three. “We have been waiting a long time for this. Now to finally see a structure, it’s exciting. It will be a good shot in the arm for Nanuet.”

Morahan-Gick said she and others in the hamlet were looking forward to good quality stores coming to the area and giving shoppers an option other than the Palisades Center in West Nyack.
The town and Simon had been in discussions for years about the Nanuet Mall, which opened in 1969 and began to lose customers and tenants when the larger Palisades Center debuted in 1998.
The slow demise of the Nanuet Mall led to a drop in revenue for Simon, and lower property and sales tax revenue for the town and the Nanuet school district.

All parties hope a refurbished mall with high-end stores will bring customers back and improve the economy of the area.

“It’s an exciting process,” said Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack. “Every few weeks you’ll see something more being built.”

In meetings with Clarkstown and the local community, Simon has said it will build a 790,654-square-foot, L-shaped, open-air mall with a boulevard flanked by single-story stores with upscale fashion retailers and restaurants, next to a two-story cinema and fitness center.
"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Pedestrian walkways and landscaping would flank the stores and some parking would be available on the boulevard.

So far Simon has announced a 66,000-square foot Fairway Market will open at the mall — a first for Rockland. Regal Theaters and a large fitness center would also open.
Schneider declined to name any additional stores because, he said, lease negotiations had not been finalized.

But he said announcements would be coming in the new year.
The planned opening has also reinvigorated the business community in Nanuet, which is hoping that shoppers who flock to The Shops at Nanuet will stop by downtown Nanuet on their way to and from the mall.

To that end, businesses have come together to form the Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, a rejuvenated version of a chamber of commerce that had struggled for years and finally became defunct a decade ago.



Timothy S. Chhim, president of Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, left, and Risa Hoag, a Nanuet Chamber of Commerce board member, survey the construction for the Shops at Nanuet on the site of the former Nanuet Mall on Dec. 10, 2012. ( Matthew Brown/ The Journal News )




Risa Hoag, a Nanuet Chamber of Commerce board member, left, and Timothy S. Chhim, president of Greater Nanuet Chamber of Commerce, are photographed as construction continues on the New Nanuet Mall in Nanuet Dec. 10, 2012. ( Matthew Brown/ The Journal News )

“We are excited about the mall being revitalized,” said Risa Hoag, a board member of the chamber who led the effort. “The mall will be a magnet for people to shop ... We are looking at it as an opportunity to improve Nanuet as a whole.”

In a show that all businesses in the area are connected, said Hoag, Simon signed up with the chamber.
“Everybody is excited about it,” said Hoag. “It’s always nice to have a place to shop and feel proud of.”

A Great Opportunity to Reconcile: Make that phone call now.

A Great Opportunity to Reconcile: Make that phone call now.

When the father is gone, the children should reconcile.

Every adversity, defeat, loss, disappointment carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit, said Dr. Napoleon Hill the author of “Think and Grow Rich” which had sold nearly a billion of copies worldwide.

Regardless of how each of us thinks or feels about King Sihanouk, the majority of Khmer people and the people of the world recognize him as the Father of ALL Cambodians and a god King of Cambodia.

Perhaps Khmers can find the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit from the loss of King Father. 

The very least I can think of now is that the death of King Sihanouk can definitely help bring unity for all Cambodians regardless of their political or religious beliefs. That means it is time for ALL Cambodians to reconcile.

Sam Rainsy should pick up the phone and call Hun Sen to let him know that as one of King Sihanouks’ sons and a son of Cambodia Sam Rainsy will be in Phnom Penh to join Hun Sen in the mourning ceremony of Cambodians “God King” or King Father. 

Hun Sen should reconsider and help facilitate one of his Khmer brothers to join him in such a rarest ceremony. Let King Sihanouk’s spirit leaves this planet in peace. By doing this Sam Rainsy and Hun Sen will both win, hence the Cambodian people will also win.

As a great gesture the Current Cambodian King Sihamoni should use this opportunity to help free all political prisoners including Mam Sonando and others. He should also request Premier Hun Sen to intercede with the Cambodian court to help remove all charges against Sam Rainsy. By doing this King Sihamoni will be remembered as the next great King of Cambodia after King Sihanouk.

Yes, there are more seeds or opportunities than we need to find good things to help Cambodia after her greatest loss in modern time: the death of the God King. 

But, someone needs to take his personal initiative: Make that phone call, now.

Timothy Chhim

October 15, 2012

Good-Bye God King....

Good-Bye God King

Picture: Author's record

For those who dislike the former King, the most joyful day is here. Their wishes are fulfilled and yet their hatred will continue from here to eternity. 

Nothing in this world that anyone can do to heal their injuries and hate—for all they see is what the former King has done wrong. They will consume much energy to talk about “evil” things that they think the King had committed.

For those who look for the King’s positive side, they are mourning the passing away of their revered King. Regardless of what the King had done wrong, they will forgive and willing to forget. Their mind will be at peace and there is no hatred left. Perhaps they will be happier than those who possess hatred...

One chapter of Cambodian history is closed. The talk of the town will continue for a while and then Cambodia will move on without the former King.

The future of Cambodia will depend on whether Cambodians can learn how to build a better Cambodia together. Khmer people need to think right. With accurate thinking Cambodians will be able to see things clearly and in order to think accurately Cambodians must not possess negative emotions for such emotions will lead to more confusion. No one in this world can do things right when they are confused.

Universal law permits no one to become successful when he or she possesses negative emotions such as hatred, revenge, jealousy, anger, fear, greed and superstition, etc…For these reasons the best thing that we all can do is to stop the cycle and the recycling of the above emotions.

For me I would say farewell to the former head of State, the former Prince, and the former King…the history will judge you and the law of cause and effect or Karma which rules the Universe will determine your fate.

Yes, I used to love you when I was once a young high school boy who was diving from the crowd to grab your hand under the hot sun; 

...then I used to hate you when I learned that you allowed the Vietcong and North Vietnamese to use Cambodia to fight the Americans; then I despised you when the Khmer Rouge sent me to be executed.  

Then my heart melted when you decided to turn against the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in 1979…and the world knows the rest of the story.

Picture: Author's record

…and then the one other thing that we had in common was music. Music has no color and you were a real good musician… And for whatever will happen to Cambodia next, I will always like your music… and I will remember the times when we used to play together…

For yours and my own sake: We are at peace.

R.I.P

Good bye God King!  

Timothy Chhim
October 14, 2012

Cambodian Politics: Same Action, Same Result!

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Save Khmer Youth to Save Cambodia

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Viets Control Cambodia's Economy

VN big investor in Cambodia

HA NOI — Viet Nam led other ASEAN nations in investments in Cambodia last year, contributing US$631 million out of the total $880 million invested by nations in the bloc, the Council for Development of Cambodia (CDC) reported on Thursday.

Malaysia came second with $235 million and Singapore third with $14 million, according to the CDC.

Viet Nam had 17 projects in the neighbouring country last year, focusing on rubber plantations and mining, while Malaysia mainly invested in real estate investment, garment-making and rice milling.

According to the Viet Nam-Laos-Cambodia Economic Co-operation Development Association, Viet Nam has so far invested in more than 90 projects in Cambodia with a combined worth of over $2 billion. However, the association's vice chairman, Bui Tuong Lan, said the figure still fell below the potential for investments in Cambodia.

Cambodian encouraged overseas investment in agriculture, including cash crops like rubber and tea, as well as in banking, urban development, energy, and mining, all sectors in which Viet Nam had ample experience, said Lan, expressing hopes that Viet Nam's investment in the country could reach $6 billion by 2015.

Viet Nam also has an opportunity to boost trade with the neighbouring kingdom. According to the Vietnamese Trade Office in Cambodia, bilateral trade totalled about $2.8 billion last year, up 54.7 per cent over the previous year. Of the total, Viet Nam exported about $2.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 55.6 per cent.

Viet Nam's exports included garments and textiles, cables, home appliances, food products and electrical parts, while its main imports were rubber, wood and wood products, and raw materials for the garment and tobacco industries.

Chan Nora, secretary for foreign affairs of the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, said Vietnamese goods were popular in Cambodian market due to their good quality and reasonable prices. — VNS

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Save Khmer Forests, land and environments

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

TTY, Ltd: The Evil Oknha and the Vietnamese-- Who are they?

Why many Oknhas are evil?
How to become an Oknha...in Khmer

"Silence is not necessarily golden

Hun Sen to Pen Sovan: He hates Vietnam but married to a Vietnamese!

Hun Sen to Pen Sovan: He hates Vietnam but married to a Vietnamese!

Please click the above headline to hear what Hun Sen had to say about one of his old comrades.

02-02-2012: From TVK-a part of Hun Sen's Speech at Graduation Ceremony of the Police Academy of Cambodia..

:

Pen Sovan: This story appeared on page 25 of Asiaweek 3/6/92

Timothy Chhim's Collection

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Khmer Will Survive...

Khmer Will Survive and be victorious

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Hun Sen Challenges Khmer to Rise?

Hun Sen Challenges Khmer people to rise up against Vietnam!

http://www.box.com/shared/934yiiq9s3

By oppressing Khmer people, Hun Sen indeed challenges Khmer people to rise up against Vietnam-a country which helped put Hun Sen and the CPP team in power. Oppression and unfair treatment of Cambodian poor people may lead to countrywide people's unrest. Maybe this is what Hun Sen wants-- for Cambodians to rise up.


Hun Sen has signaled and hinted many times that the Vietnamese presence in Cambodia is real and dangerous. He mentioned one time that he would armed anyone who dare to fight the Vietnamese but he would also provide him/her with a coffin. The warnings have been misunderstood as threats, but they could also mean that Hun Sen was telling the people to look into the other approach to fight the Vietnamese.

He has continuously warned the oppositions to unite and challenge him. However, the oppositions are not strong enough to even oppose Hun Sen and the CPP-- the Vietnamese puppet.

It's up to all Khmers to liberate ourselves from the Vietnamese claws.


"Silence is not necessarily golden"

http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/user/timothychhim/hun_sen_dares_khmers_to_rise

Tonle Sap is Cambodia's heart, clear it up!

Clear Tonle Sap UP!

Thousands of floating homes in many so-called floating villages of Vietnamese have been built on Tonle Sap River, the heart of Cambodia. 

Hundreds of thousands of boat people, who live anarchically on this once beautiful lake, dump all kinds of wastes—human wastes and trashes—onto and into the water. 

They have polluted Tonle Sap and make it become a gigantic open sewer.  It needs to be cleared and become free of pollution.


"Silence is not necessarily golden"

No place for leaders without good morality

"Silence is not necessarily golden"

7 Makkara? We got it!

http://www.spreaker.com/show/about_khmer





"Silence is not necessarily golden"

Cambodian Politics: The enemy of my enemy is my friend

"The enemy of their enemy is their friend"

Perhaps Kem Sokha is taking Soy Sopheap's advice.

Please see: http://youtu.be/6J60RKfpAUo for Soy Sopheap's comment.

Soy Sopheap urged SRP members to follow Mao Monyvan wherever he goes.

If we read between the lines, it appears that Soy Sopheap is siding with HRP and Mao Monyvan in their efforts to chop down SRP.

Knowing that Soy Sopheap has better relationship with the CPP than with any other parties, his advice to Kem Sokha brings HRP closer to the CPP not to SRP. This makes Sam Rainsy’s statement relevant when he questioned Kem Sokha’s motives behind all activities done by Kem Sokha.

The lingering and dubious questions behind such motives started even before HRP was created. It will linger indefinitely until the issues of HRP’s relationship with the ruling party are clarified. I doubt that all questions can be explained satisfactorily given the nature of HRP’s business activities and Kem Sokha’s family and personal connection with the CPP. However, most SRP members know Kem Sokha and his HRP’s operation better than many of us do.

Realistically speaking, (if the politic is real) in the tightly controlled political arena where it is tough for HRP to compete, HRP has nowhere to go besides trying to take some advantages over SRP’s problems. Hence, Mao Monyvan’s case was boasted to drum up for monitory support. The excitement will not last when those defectors learn more that there is no different between the two parties.

Undoubtedly, only the CPP will benefit from all of this—with or without the political UNITY between SRP and HRP.

Leaders of the CPP know this quite well; hence the enemy of their enemy is their friend.