Tag: Sombath’s Family

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Kidnapping In Laos Affects Civil Society

The Eugene Weekly: 17 April 2014

By Camilla Mortensen

Sombath Somphone is “one of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic’s most respected civil society figures,” according  to a December 2013 press statement from Secretary of State John Kerry on the one year anniversary of Sombath’s disappearance. Sombath was kidnapped from a police checkpoint in Laos and has not been heard from since. Sombath’s wife, Ng Shui-Meng, will be speaking about her husband’s disappearance and the challenges to free speech and human rights in Laos and in the rest of Southeast Asia while in Eugene on Monday, April 21.

“Laos has taken steps in recent years to become a responsible partner in the community of nations,” Kerry writes. “Sombath’s abduction threatens to undermine those efforts.”

Ng Shui-Meng says that while some have called Sombath the “Nelson Mandela of Laos,” her husband was never involved in politics. He worked in nonviolence and consensus building, she says, and always worked with the approval of government officials. Sombath established the Participatory Development Training Center in Laos, which works to train young people and local government officials in community-based development. Continue reading “Kidnapping In Laos Affects Civil Society”

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"Where is Sombath Somphone?" asks his wife prior to Oregon visit

The Oregonian: 16 April 2014

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In this Sept. 16, 2005 photo given to Associated Press by Sombath Somphone family, Lao leading civil rights activist Sombath Somphone, right, with his wife Shui-Meng poses for a photograph during their holiday trip in Bali, Indonesia. (Courtesy of the family of Sombath Somphone)

By Mike Francis

It’s been 16 months, and Ng Shui-Meng wants to make sure the world remembers that her husband was taken off a public street in Laos and hasn’t been seen since.

Sombath Somphone was a lifelong activist for the poor and disenfranchised of Laos. He worked throughout his adult life on their behalf, advocating for their education, empowerment and happiness. (See his part in the “Happy Laos” video below.)

He was, his wife says, resolutely apolitical. He sought to build consensus, acting as a bridge between the governed of Laos and their governors. On his last major project before he was the victim of what Amnesty International calls an “enforced disappearance,” he co-chaired a key committee for the Asia-Europe Peoples’ Forum with Laos’ minister of foreign affairs.

Yet he evidently troubled some people. Continue reading “"Where is Sombath Somphone?" asks his wife prior to Oregon visit”

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Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (2)

My dearest Sombath,

Over the past week, the nights have been very clear and the light of the moon shines right into our bedroom turning it almost as bright as day. In the past, every time that happened, you would wake me up and ask me to see how beautiful the moonlight is, and see how the moon is reflected in the Mekong which our bedroom overlooks. We would sit and watch the beautiful moon and its silvery light. I would say to you that we are truly blessed to live just by the Mekong.  You would smile and say, “Yes, mother nature is so wonderful. Let’s be grateful.” Then you would snuggle back under the covers and go back to sleep leaving me wide-awake to enjoy the moonlight and watch the shimmering reflection of the moon on the silent Mekong.

Now whenever the full moon shines into our bedroom and its golden orb reflects on the waters of the Mekong, my tears stream down uncontrollably. Where are you? Can you see the moon wherever you are? Continue reading “Dear Sombath…from Shui Meng (2)”

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Vanished: Laotian development worker still missing after more than a year

The Guardian: 11 March 2014

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Watch the interview with Sombath’s wife at the Guardian website

Sombath Somphone, a Laotian development worker, was last seen on 15 December, 2012, being bundled into a car at a police checkpoint in Vientiane. He has not been heard from since.

Global campaigns, family pleas and government investigations have found no hint of why Somphone disappeared. Advocacy groups believe he was the victim of an enforced disappearance – that he was detained by the government or government agents, who then deny the action and keep the detainee hidden.

Somphone’s position as a civil society leader working in the field of agricultural development has been raised as a possible factor in his disappearance, but his wife, Singaporean national and former Unicef worker Shui Meng Ng, dismisses any suggestion he worked against the government.

Shui Meng has recently completed a speaking tour of Australian universities trying to dispel inaccuracies which she told Guardian Australia may be endangering Somphone – if he is still being held somewhere.

“There were allegations about him taking a very prominent opposition position to the development agenda of the Laos government,” she told Guardian Australia.

“There were also some allegations that Sombath is not even Laotian, that he’s actually carrying an American passport. I felt it was important to make public and correct many of those misinformations about Sombath, who he is, as well as the type of work he’s doing and his vision for Laos.” Continue reading “Vanished: Laotian development worker still missing after more than a year”

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Missing Lao activist's wife speaks out, appeals for information

Radio Australia: (07 March 2014)

The wife of abducted Lao rights advocate Sombath Somphone has called on Australia to help maintain the pressure on Laos to do more to resolve the case.

Since Mr Sombath disappeared 15 months ago, Ng Shui Meng has campaigned tirelessly to find out what happened.

Her husband’s disappearance from a police post in central Vientiane generated an international outcry by donor governments, rights groups and NGOs for his safe return.

The Lao government says it is continujng to pursue the case, but little progress has been reported.

Ng Shui Meng has also appealed for anyone in Laos with information to come forward.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Ng Shui Meng, wife of Sombath Somphone, retired academic and former UNICEF representative to East Timor

NG: The reason why I’ve accepted to speak on Sombath is that over the last 15 months, there were a lot of reports on Sombath, some of them were not very accurate in depicting the kind of person he is or the kind of work he has done. So I want to put right what Sombath’s work is and the kind of person he is basically to clarify things to the public out there. As to going back to Laos, I have not done anything wrong and assume the government would understand that my speaking about Sombath’s disappearance is basically about a fact. He has disappeared, the government has acknowledged that he has disappeared and the government has also promised to conduct an investigation around his disappearance and to try and find him. Continue reading “Missing Lao activist's wife speaks out, appeals for information”

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Disappeared Lao Civil Society Leader’s Mother ‘Still Waiting for Him to Return'

Radio Free Asia: 27 February 2014

Ng Shui Meng at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok, Dec. 11, 2023. RFA
Ng Shui Meng at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok, Dec. 11, 2023. RFA

A year and two months since prominent Lao civil society leader Sombath Somphone went missing in Vientiane, his family is still puzzled over why he disappeared and his ailing mother is still waiting for him to come home, his wife said Thursday.

“His mother is now 86 years old and ill,” Sombath’s wife Ng Shui Meng told RFA’s Lao Service Wednesday in Australia, where she spoke to students at the University of Sydney about his case.

“She is crying and waiting for her son return,” she said.

“I am asking Lao government and whoever is merciful to bring him home safely; that is my hope.”

The 61-year-old NGO leader has been missing since Dec. 15, 2012, when he was stopped in his vehicle at a police checkpoint in Vientiane. He was then transferred into another vehicle, according to police surveillance video, and no one has seen him since.

Lao officials say they are investigating the case but have offered little information on his whereabouts, prompting human rights groups to suspect that he may have been abducted by government-linked groups. Continue reading “Disappeared Lao Civil Society Leader’s Mother ‘Still Waiting for Him to Return'”

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Silence over missing activist in Laos

Asia Times: 12 February 2014

By Shui Meng Ng

Thirteen months after the forced disappearance of civil society activist Sombath Somphone, the European Parliament issued a second resolution calling on the Lao government to “clarify the state of the investigation”, “to answer the many outstanding questions around [his] disappearance”, and “to seek and accept assistance from foreign forensic and law enforcement experts”.

The European Parliament reiterated its concern that ”the lack of reaction by the Lao government raises suspicions that the authorities could be involved in his abduction”. This second resolution was preceded by countless other private and public appeals from governments and their representatives around world.

Statements from international organizations, development agencies, civil society groups, and academics have also urged Lao authorities to find Sombath and return him safely to his family. Scores of reports and editorials by major international and regional news networks have added to the global chorus calling for accountability.

These myriad efforts, however, have so far failed to yield results. There is still no information of Sombath’s whereabouts, or any substantive details on the progress of the official investigation into his disappearance. Continue reading “Silence over missing activist in Laos”