Cambo-kh

The China Alternative: Cambodia

2011-08-29T20:36:00.003-07:00

August 29, 2011
By China Briefing

The China Alternative is our series covering other manufacturing destinations in emerging Asia that may start to compete with China in terms of labor costs, infrastructure and operational capacity. In this issue we look at Cambodia.

By Kaitlin Shung

Aug. 29 – Tourists to Cambodia often take similar routes, discovering the wide and stately streets of Phnomn Penh before taking a dusty six hour bus ride to Siem Reap, home of the beautiful Angkor Wat. Among the ruins of the ancient Khmer Kingdom at Angkor Wat, local Cambodian children can often be seen calling out flattering phrases, usually in Chinese and English, looking for a crisp American dollar or a few pieces of candy.

Cambodia boasts a rich and more recently, bloody, history. An underdeveloped country of roughly 14.7 million, Cambodia was set back significantly in the 1970s under the extremist rule of the Khmer Rouge. It was estimated that nearly 20 percent of the population died under the leadership of Pol Pot due to starvation, torture, and executions, and the economy was completely dismantled.

As a result of its short time under French rule, the official languages spoken are Khmer, French and English, although French appears to be scarce except among the older generations. The majority of the population is within the 15-64 age range and the country has a respectable 73.6 percent literacy rate.

Cambodia operates as a multi-party democracy under a constitutional democracy, and the long-serving prime minister has a considerable amount of power. The head of State is King Norodom Sihamoni, who was sworn in on October 29, 2004 while the prime minister is Hun Sen.

The Cambodian currency is the riel (KHR), which traded, on average, at KHR4,145 to US$1 in 2010. In addition to the riel, U.S. dollars are also commonly accepted and according to the New York Times, almost 90 percent of deposits and credits in the banking system are denominated in U.S. dollars. With a large portion of capital and savings in the greenback, the Cambodian government ultimately has less ability to influence the economy and thus less control.

Economy

Before the global financial slowdown, Cambodia was one of the strongest economic performers in Southeast Asia, posting annual growth of around 10 percent over the previous decade. Cambodia’s economy is focused in four key industries: tourism, clothing, construction and agriculture. The lack of diversification in the economy impacted on the country hard when the Global Financial Crisis hit and since then, the government has begun efforts at initiating reforms to encourage the development of emerging industries.

Within its labor force of 8.8 million, roughly 70 percent work in agriculture which constitutes roughly one-third of Cambodia’s GDP. The country’s GDP grew 6 percent year on year in 2010 to US$11.63 billion, which is comparatively about one-fiftieth the size of China’s economy. After agriculture, services account for 45.2 percent of GDP while industry contributes 21.4 percent.

Exports totaled US$3.687 billion in 2010, with primary export partners being Hong Kong, the United States and Singapore. Comparatively, imports were US$6.005 billion and primary import partners were China, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Key exports were clothing, timber, rubber, rice and fish while key imports were petroleum, cigarettes, gold and construction materials.

FDI inflows totaled US$532.5 million in 2010, with the majority of capital coming from China. Chinese investment is often preferred because it is generally unconditional, as opposed to Western investment which is usually tied to political and economic reform. In the first half of 2011 alone, Chinese investors had already put in place plans for 360 projects worth US$8 billion in Cambodia, which is nominally the equivalent of all Chinese investment in Southeast Asia in the previous year.

As previously mentioned, Cambodia has access to a number of natural resources, but the country often does not have the infrastructure in place to take advantage of those resources. For example, nearly 70 percent of the country is covered with trees, but the lumber industry falters under illegal logging, costing vast amounts of missed revenue.

Oil and natural gas were found in Cambodia in 2005, the exact amount of which has not been released, but commercial extraction is expected to begin in 2012.

Investing in Cambodia

“We welcome investments in all sectors, including banking, insurance, and telecommunications. Investors can own 100 percent of their business here, in most countries 100 percent foreign ownership is not allowed,” Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has been quoted as saying.

Key industries for investment include agriculture (an industry which has an ample labor supply in Cambodia but lacks investment in physical infrastructure), technology to increase yields, and the country has a gaping hole where a processing and packaging industry should be. Furthermore, light industry and manufacturing are relatively underdeveloped, despite the low labor costs in the country. More information on investing in Cambodia can be found through the web site – www.investincambodia.com.

Taking the lead from China’s successful Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Cambodia has also begun to build SEZs, primarily along the country’s borders with Thailand and Vietnam. There are a total of 21 approved SEZs – of which five have already commenced operations and two are under construction. Cambodia’s SEZs offer tax and VAT benefits and strong government support has simplified importing and exporting into these areas.

Administratively, the government has set up two boards responsible for managing the country’s SEZs: the Cambodian Special Economic Zone Board and a separate trouble shooting committee. Both are headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and if managed properly, will help bring foreign investment into the country through these economic zones.

Investing in Cambodia has certainly been helped by the country’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2004 (Cambodia was the second least developed country to join the WTO through the full working party negotiation process). As a member of the WTO, Cambodia has taken steps to meet international trade and regulatory standards, including the implementation of a number of new legal reforms. Examples include: the Law on Commercial Enterprises (2005), the Law on Commercial Arbitration (2006) and the Law on Secured Transactions (2007).

In addition, Cambodia is also a member of ASEAN and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, a joint effort by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, ranked Cambodia 102 out of 179 countries or 17 out of 41 in the Asia-Pacific region. This is an improvement over the previous year’s ranking, attributed to improvements in monetary control, labor freedom and a reduction in corruption. Cambodia’s ranking suffers largely because of weak property rights and cumbersome bureaucracy.

Comparatively, the 2011 World Bank Doing Business Rankings ranked Cambodia as 147 out of 183 countries surveyed. A slight decrease from the 2010 rankings, Cambodia still has significant barriers in starting and closing a business as well as enforcing contracts.

Why invest in Cambodia?

Cambodia is an attractive investment opportunity for a few key reasons. First, the country has an income tax rate of 20 percent and because of its desire to attract foreign investment, also offers additional tax incentives. For example, eligible projects can receive tax holidays of between six and nine years from initial investment.

Unlike ownership requirements in neighboring countries like China, Cambodia allows for 100 percent foreign owned businesses. The lack of price controls on goods and services and no restrictions on repatriation of funds, free up investors in terms of downgrading investment risk.

Its status as an undeveloped country also works to the benefits of investors through tariff-free exports, which Cambodia has when trading with partners like the United States, Canada and Europe. Entrance into Cambodia is a gateway to the rest of the ASEAN market and domestically, the signs of an emerging middle class are appearing. With that comes the increased local consumption of goods and services.

Furthermore, as a part of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), Cambodia is strategically located in a hotspot for both economic and political influence. The GMS includes Yunan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China, as well as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Currently, over US$10 billion has been pledged for infrastructure projects which will build economic corridors between countries in the region.

The positives aside, Cambodia’s business environment is not without problems and areas of concern. The most prevalent problem for foreign investors is corruption, which is reinforced by weak governance and a lacking legal framework.

In 2010, Transparency International ranked Cambodia 154th out of the 178 countries surveyed. Lack of transparency and abuse of power by government officials have drawn scrutiny to this Southeast Asian country. For example, a story came out this year about government action against two NGOs who were highlighting the negative effects of a US$84 million railroad investment, funded in part by the Asia Development Bank, on displaced families. Pressure on these groups opened the government to criticism and highlighted problems related to free speech in Cambodia.

High reliance on imported goods and services also do not speak well to the sustainability and strength of Cambodia’s economy.

Poor infrastructure in the country has impeded the development of local and global linkages between Cambodia and the world economy. The government has prioritized building roads, airports, telecommunication networks and has received support from foreign sources like the Asia Development Bank and the governments of Australia and China.

In 2010, the government passed the National Strategic Development Plan which focused on the country’s development from 2009 to 2013. A highlight of the plan was an estimated US$1.1 billion in development assistance, which was expected to be spent in 2010.

On a final positive note, Cambodia opened its own stock market earlier this year. At the time of its opening, there were no companies prepared to go public and this was largely indicative of Cambodia’s weak financial sector and a lack of confidence in regulatory bodies’ ability to enact and enforce corporate governance and accounting laws. However, three state-owned companies are in the process of preparing to list later this year and hopefully the establishment of its own stock market will bring stability to the Cambodian economy.

Geopolitical concerns

Cambodia’s close ties with neighboring China have proven to be unnerving for American leaders, as China attempts to expand its dominance in the area. In 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited Cambodia and warned of an overly intense dependence on China.

“I think it is smart for Cambodia to be friends with many countries… It’s like our relationship with other countries. You look for balance. You don’t want to get too dependent on any one country,” Clinton said.

U.S. concerns aside, friendly relations between China and Cambodia are evidenced by high level meetings between government officials. Last year, powerful CCP member Wu Banguo attended the signing of a contract between Cambodia’s largest mobile phone company, CamGSM, and the Bank of China in the largest financing project to ever take place in Cambodia. Wu Banguo was quoted as referring to Cambodia as a “reliable neighbor, friend and brother.”

In 2011, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the CCP’s Standing Committee Politiburo, traveled to Cambodia to talk economic and political cooperation.

Complicated relations with neighboring Thailand have proven to be dire enough to come to arms and it is worth continuing to observe how relations improve or deteriorate in the future. The conflict stems from a border dispute which has come to repeated fighting between both sides’ armies at a contested site. Furthermore, Cambodia’s appointment of Thailand’s former prime minister (who was charged with corruption-related crimes) as an economic advisor has accelerated tensions between the two countries.

Future outlook

“In the next 20 years, I expect Cambodia will be one of the world’s best performers in terms of improved income and living standards, better infrastructure and a lifestyle on par with middle income countries,” Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has said in an optimistic forecast.

At the 4th Cambodia Economic Forum held in February of this year, Prime Minister Hun Sen highlighted key areas the government hoped would expedite the modernization of Cambodia’s economy. The government’s strategies focused on figuring out ways to diversify the economy, reforming the nation’s SEZs, increasing investment in human capital, establishing the state’s place in industrial development and establishing the industrial sector’s position in the local and global economy.

Rising costs in China are turning eyes southward for new, inexpensive manufacturing hubs and less developed countries like Cambodia are stepping up to the plate. Cambodia is a particularly interesting investment opportunity, given benefits extended to it as a result of its development status and its simultaneous membership in the WTO. If the government can continue to effectively battle corruption and diversify its economic pillars, Cambodia could potentially rise from poverty and development aid to become a powerhouse in emerging Asia.

Tuol Sleng survivor in hospital

2011-08-29T20:36:00.001-07:00

Tuol Sleng survivor Vann Nath speaks outside the Khmer Rouge tribunal in June.
One of three living survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious Toul Sleng interrogation prison, known as S-21, is receiving urgent medical attention after suffering cardiac arrest early on Saturday. (Photo by: Meng Kimlong)

Monday, 29 August 2011
Tep Nimol
The Phnom Penh Post

Painter Vann Nath, 66, who testified against former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, during the Khmer Rouge Tribunal’s first and thus far only completed trial, suffered cardiac arrest in the early hours of Saturday, family members said. He was rushed to hospital in Phnom Penh, they said.

“The doctors are closely monitoring his illness and our family has yet to decide whether to send him abroad for treatment,” his son Vann Chan Narong said yesterday.

Vann Nath, Bou Meng and Chum Mey are thought to be the sole surviving victims of Tuol Sleng and have all spoken extensively about the brutality they experienced.

In June last year Duch received a 35-year sentence commuted to 19 years because of time already served, after being found guilty of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

Khmer Rouge Tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said he could not confirm whether Vann Nath was due to testify in the tribunal’s second and most high profile cases. The four most senior living former leaders of the regime are set to stand trial early next year.

More rallies against rubber

2011-08-29T20:35:00.003-07:00

Police threaten villagers from Kampong Speu province during a protest outside the provincial court in March of 2010. Over 2,000 families were affected by a land concession granted to CPP senator Ly Yong Phat in Omlaing commune, in Kampong Speu province’s Thpong district. (Photo by: Will Baxter)

Monday, 29 August 2011
Khouth Sophakchakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

More than 300 villagers from Kampong Cham province’s Chamkar Leu, Memot, and Stung Trang districts gathered in Phnom Penh on Friday to protest against a plan to relocate them from their land in order to make way for rubber plantations.

The villagers contend they have lived on the land in question since 1979.

They urged Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene on their behalf against three companies allegedly behind the plan.

One of the companies has been identified as tycoon An Marady’s Chamkar Leu Rubber Plantation. The other two are said to be tycoon Long Sreng’s Memot and Stung Trang rubber plantations.

Friday was the second consecutive day that villagers from Chamkar Leu district’s Bos Khnor and Ta Ong communes protested against the Chamkar Leu Rubber Plantation.

One hundred and fifty villagers gathered in Freedom Park the day before to voice opposition to the palns.

Staff from Chamkar Leu Rubber Plantation had asked families in three villages in Bos Khnor and Ta Ong communes to accept new 10 by 20 metre plots and US$600 in compensation for relocating to a new site, protester Srun Touch, 52, said. However, the new sites lacked necessary infrastructure, including roads and a school.

Meanwhile, staff from Memot Rubber Plantation had asked families in Tramoung commune to accept new 4 by 11 metre plots of land and US$600 in exchange for relocating, commune chief Vinh Ny said.

While these plots were smaller than those offered by Chamkar Leu Rubber plantation, Vinh Ny said the company was nearly finished building the necessary infrastructure for the new village, including

roads, a school, and a market.

Vinh Ny said that so far, about 60 to 70 percent of the villagers had accepted the company’s offer. “Some villagers have volunteered to leave in accordance with the company’s policy,” he said.

Those that have not accepted the offer say they just want to remain on their land.

“We do not want anything from the companies. All we want is to live in our current village,” said Un Si Cheng, 52, from Memot district’s Tramoung commune.

According to documents received by the Post, in March 2008 the government gave 9,121 hectares in Memot district to Memot Rubber Plantation. However, this did not include the protesting villagers’ land. Instead, the land granted to Memot Rubber Plantation went around those villages.

A cabinet official visited Freedom Park and told the villagers to return to their homes, promising to inform them of Hun Sen’s decision.

‘Youth can enforce democracy’

2011-08-29T20:35:00.001-07:00

Koul Panha

Monday, August 29th, 2011
By Kristine Felisse Mangunay
Philippine Daily Inquirer

He was only 8 years old when his father, a clerk at Cambodia’s Supreme Court, was killed by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Thirty-five years after that murder, some of the leaders of the murderous regime are on trial for war crimes while the boy has become a fighter for democracy—one of this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, dubbed Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.

Though decades have passed since his father was killed, Koul Panha has not forgotten. He was on the verge of tears when he spoke of those dark times in his country during an interview with the Inquirer at the weekened.

Koul’s father was picked up by soldiers of the Khmer Rouge in 1976 and ordered to gather beans.

“My father knew that he would be faced with great danger. After a few days, I received information from the villagers that he was killed,” Koul said.

“The senior villagers told me that my father did not let the Khmer Rouge guards and soldiers kill him easily as he fought back.”

The image of how his father must have died has remained indelible in Koul’s mind. It taught him the value of democracy.

Fight for democracy

The Ramon Magsaysay Foundation cited Koul for his efforts at promoting fair and honest elections in Cambodia.

Five other recipients of this year’s awards for outstanding work in their respective fields come from India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The awarding ceremony will be held on Aug. 31 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The awardees will each receive a certificate, a medallion and a cash prize.

It was the death of his father that pushed Koul to decide to be at the forefront of Cambodia’s struggle for democratization.

Koul believes the brutalities and the human rights abuses that he, his family and other Cambodians experienced while living under the thumb of the communist regime could be prevented in a stable, democratic country.

For this, he said, the advancement of a free electoral system was crucial.

Courageous leadership

“In a fragile democracy like Cambodia … a sustained work to aggressively campaign and advocate free, fair and meaningful elections is necessary in order to promote democracy,” Koul said.

In its citation, the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation praised Koul for “his determined and courageous leadership of the sustained campaign to build an enlightened, organized and vigilant citizenry who will ensure fair and free elections—as well as demand accountable governance by their elected officials—in Cambodia’s nascent democracy.”

Images of how dangerous it was to live under the Khmer Rouge were still clear in Koul’s mind as he recalled a time in 1975 when his family hid in a trench amid rumors that Phnom Penh, the capital, was going to be bombed.

When the Khmer Rouge took over the city that year, his family was forced to leave their house without being given a chance to take their possessions with them.

“My mother complained and protested when the Khmer Rouge ordered us to leave our house,” he said. “My father stopped her, telling her that if she protested she could be shot.”

The following year, the Khmer Rouge took away his father and shot him.

Free elections

Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. It is said to have caused the death of 2 million people—or as much as one-fourth of country’s population—from starvation, overwork, torture or execution.

The Khmer Rouge were driven from power in January 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.

After graduating with a BS Chemical Industry Engineering degree in Phnom Penh in 1991, Koul joined the nonpartisan Task Force on Cambodian Elections. This eventually became the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (Comfrel).

In 1998, Koul became its executive director.

“A main motivation for joining (this) came from my own experience. When I was a child, Phnom Penh was bombed many times. I did not want this to happen again,” Koul said.

Comfrel network

After earning his master’s degree in Politics of Alternative Development, Koul committed himself full time to Comfrel’s mission.

Under his leadership, the organization became the country’s leading independent center on electoral matters, now with a nationwide network of partners and more than 50,000 election volunteers.

In the 2008 elections, more than 10,000 of the center’s volunteers were deployed to cover 60 percent of the electoral precincts.

Cambodia’s democratic progress has been slow and turbulent since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. It was only in 1993 when it held its first national elections. Since then, it has held five other national and local polls.

These elections were characterized by fraud, violence and factionalism.

Young democracy

“Cambodia’s democracy can be referred to as a young democracy,” Koul said. “This democracy began recently, a short period after the genocide, post-conflicts, human rights abuses and oppression.”

Owing to the country’s lack of democratic tradition, Koul had had to contend with harassment from parties who deemed political and electoral reforms acceptable only if they served their own interests.

Koul said that Comfrel began lobbying for the restoration of political stability and for a government commitment to violence-free polls.

In 2000, it took its campaign to the grassroots by conducting electoral activities calling, among others, for gender equality in electoral representation.

Long way to go

Koul is happy to see his efforts have not been in vain.

“The major political players in Cambodia have accepted that peaceful regular elections are the proper legitimate mechanism for installing or removing a government,” he said.

He said, however, that the country still had a long way to go.

“Although there are legal frameworks and procedures for electoral democracy in Cambodia, the country still lacks strong democratic institutions … and is threatened by the return of an authoritarian rule,” Koul said.

To prevent this from happening again, Koul stressed the role of the youth and of education.

“The youth have the power to enforce democracy for a better society. They have to get involved in politics so they can be trained to become leaders,” he said.

Koul said the youth was the “hope” of every nation.

If they are informed, he said, then democracy can fully develop and the human rights violations that characterized the Khmer Rouge regime can be prevented.

Koul said winning the Ramon Magsaysay Award would be a “source of energy” for him which he could use to “work harder.”

“This will further encourage the organizations that I work for,” he said.

Introducing Eric Chuk of Los Angeles

2011-08-29T20:34:00.004-07:00

Originally posted on http://bit.ly/eric-chuk

Prior to settling in Southern California, Eric Chuk didn't have many occasions to mark his family background. Aside from a few Khmer New Year celebrations in Saint Petersburg, Florida, he found that there was a disconnect between him and the Cambodian culture. Now after several years in Los Angeles, he recalls one reason he left his former home.

“I wanted to live with a larger Khmer population while continuing my studies,” said Chuk. “I've had the opportunity to meet others from the generation that has been raised as Cambodian-American, and I've become compelled by our history and potential.”

Despite Chuk’s cultural connection being relatively absent from his upbringing, he feels that people can have good role models in their lives no matter where they are.

“Most of us have someone among our family and relatives whom we admire for certain characteristics,” said Chuk, “so I think those are the most natural role models.” Furthermore, he expresses something counter-intuitive: the idea of focusing less on the ethnic aspect of role models, which many minority communities can seem to fixate on.

“While it is gratifying to see a positive example set by a Khmer person, we can be inspired by all kinds of people,” said Chuk.

In addition, Chuk acknowledges the differences between America and Cambodia, having made the trip overseas a few times. “The gap between lifestyles is huge in terms of opportunities to prosper and institutional resources,” said Chuk, “but that doesn't mean America is in all ways better than Cambodia or without its own problems.”

He also encourages those with a hybrid identity, like Khmer-Americans, to try “reconciling the two worlds that produced it by questioning but appreciating both... [to] see where the values overlap and move forward from that agreement.”

As a PhD student in library and information science at UCLA, Chuk believes the abstractions of higher education can be made relevant beyond school, to improve the world. Echoing one of Mahatma Gandhi’s most well-known adages, Chuk said, “If we want to productively affect our community, we have to become the success stories we've always wanted to hear. Independently developing true concern and motivation is the key to positive change, since those two things are almost impossible to implant.”

While working with THE KHMERICAN, Chuk hopes the web-based media outlet can expose people to issues they might choose to care about and then be motivated to take real action for. He also wants the Khmer community to gain recognition for its talent and reach, not just its tragic past.

Eric Chuk joins THE KHMERICAN team as a content manager and editor.

Gearing up to Register Youth to Vote

2011-08-29T20:34:00.003-07:00

The Sam Rainsy Party machinery throughout the country is ready for the 45-day registration period.

SRP Battambang team conducted a 2-hour training of youth and women leaders from Mong Russey, Rokakiri and Koh Kralor on how to deliver the party message door-to-door.

Where do we find rural youth? Playing volley ball, in the rain, in the mud. Do we mobilize them? Yes!!! Every single vote counts.

Our teams throughout the country will be ready to assist new voters and those who did not have their names on last elections' lists. More than 2 million potential voters missed their chance to exercise their right to vote in 2008.

We will go after women and youth votes.

Do they want to register to vote? Yes!

UN-backed Cambodia genocide tribunal begins fitness hearing for accused

2011-08-29T20:34:00.001-07:00

Ieng Thirith during her preliminary hearing on 29 August 2011

Source: UN News Centre

Under their alleged leadership, at least 1.7 million people are believed to have died from torture, starvation and execution.

29 August 2011 – The United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia dealing with mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge three decades ago began its fitness hearing today into the health of two of the ageing defendants currently on trial.

Nuon Chea, 84, and Ieng Thirith, 79, are among four most senior surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge facing charges before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), sitting in Phnom Penh.

They are accused of genocide, murder, torture, religious persecution and other war crimes and crimes against humanity over their alleged actions when the Khmer Rouge was in power between April 1975 and January 1979.

Professor John Campbell, a specialist geriatrician from New Zealand, was in court today at the start of the three-day hearing aimed at determining whether the accused will be well enough to stand trial.

In his assessment, Mr. Campbell found Ieng Thirith, a former social affairs minister under the Khmer Rouge, “cognitively impaired” which compromised her rights to a fair trial. He also explained that Nuon Chea was unable to sit for long periods, but that he was otherwise fit to stand trial and did not suffer from cognitive or memory problems.

Mr. Nuon, known as “Brother Number Two” under the Khmer Rouge, acted as chief policy architect of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, controlled the country’s internal security apparatus and rendered support for the regime’s policies of forcible relocation, enslavement and other inhumane acts.

They are on trial along with Ieng Thirith’s husband, Ieng Sary, an 84-year-old former history professor who served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister under the Khmer Rouge, and Khieu Samphan, 79, who served as head of State of Democratic Kampuchea. He took over from Pol Pot when he retired as the official head of the Khmer Rouge in 1987.

Under their alleged leadership, at least 1.7 million people are believed to have died from torture, starvation and execution, the ECCC said in a news release.

The Trial Chamber held an initial hearing of the trial in late June and is expected to begin substantial hearing to examine evidence and witnesses by early next year.

More than 800 people came to the Court to observe the fitness hearings today, many of them high school and college students.

The ECCC was set up in 2006 and the UN provides assistance through the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT) and participates in the operations of the tribunal.

Expert: Khmer Rouge Defendant May Have Alzheimer's

2011-08-29T20:33:00.004-07:00

Ieng Thirith

August 29, 2011
VOA News

"The accused are old... the court should put them on trial soon, so the younger generation can understand the cause of the killing." Cambodia teacher, Chhek Dom

A medical expert told Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal Monday that one of its four defendants is suffering from memory loss and may have Alzheimer's disease.

The report from geriatric expert John Campbell means that Ieng Thirith, the Khmer Rouge's former social affairs minister, may be found unfit to stand trial for her role in the brutal regime blamed for up to 2 million deaths in the late 1970s.

At minimum, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith will have to undergo additional testing, likely pushing back the beginning of testimony in the landmark trial well into next year.

That is frustrating for ordinary Cambodians like teacher Chhek Dom, who attended Monday's proceedings: "I think that the accused are old, so the court should put them on trial soon, so the younger generation can understand the cause of the killing then.''

The tribunal began hearing preliminary motions in the case against the four top Khmer Rouge leaders a month ago, but defense motions and technical issues have already pushed back the likely start of the actual trial.

The others on trial are 79-year-old Khieu Samphan, the nominal Khmer Rouge head of state; 84-year-old Nuon Chea, described as the regime's chief ideologue; and Ieng Thirith's 85-year-old husband, Ieng Sary, the Khmer Rouge foreign minister.

The charges against the defendants include religious persecution, torture and genocide linked to the deaths of as many as 2 million people between 1975 and 1979.

The trial is the showcase event for the U.N.-backed tribunal, which was created to demonstrate impartial justice and foster national healing.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

You know the election is near when ... Hun Xen orders a slow down on land-grabbings and forced evictions

2011-08-29T20:33:00.003-07:00

(Photo: PPP)

(All remaining photos: DAP-news)

Hun Xen threatens land concession owners with concession cancellation if they don’t resolve land problems with affected villagers

29 August 2011

By Silapol

Free Press Magazine

Translated from Khmer by Soch

Click here to read the original article in Khmer

Once again, Hun Xen issued a warning to all companies that receive land concession rights from the government for development, telling them that they have to resolve all incidents with affected villagers in regards to their concessions, otherwise, these companies will see their concessions rescinded.

Hun Xen’s statement which was adopted during the meeting of the Council of Ministers last Friday claimed that: “Samdach Hun Xen advises the ministry of Agriculture, the ministry of Environment and the ministry of Land Management, Unban Planning and Construction to visit and resolve problems along the various economic concessions where disputes are taking place, and they must set up agreements between the people and the investors who provide income to agriculture.” It added that Hun Xen threatened to cancel economic land concessions to investors who do not resolve problems for the villagers who have settled in these regions for a long time already.

This is an immediate reply that was issued in regards to the land-grabbing of villagers by the Hun Xen regime. Such land-grabbing led the villagers to stop supporting the regime and caused uprise to protest against such action, just like the case in Uddong district, Kampong Speu province at the end of June 2011. In that protest, villagers used knives, axes and slingshots to chase the authority agents who came to evict them from their lands for the sake of the companies. Furthermore, donor countries and the World Bank have also issued strong criticisms [on this case], and the election is also fast approaching.

Mom Thol Choun employees use weapons to warn against strike at Shimano factory

2011-08-29T20:33:00.001-07:00

Dear All

Please find below pictures of Mom Thol Choun's employees using weapon to warn against strike at Shimano factory.
--

Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC)
Social Justice is the Foundation of Peace

Address: House No.16A, Street 360, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 3,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh

Tel/Fax: +855 0 23 216 870
Mobile: +855 0 12 941 308 / +855 0 12 846 408
--
Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC)
Social Justice is the Foundation of Peace
Address: House No.16A, Street 360, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 3,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro's Cambodia's Khmer Arts Ensemble will be performing at Cal Performances in Berkeley

2011-08-10T17:06:00.004-07:00

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro's

Cambodia's Khmer Arts Ensemble

will be performing at Cal Performances in Berkeley

on Sunday, October 2nd (3 pm).

Ticket prices range from $20 - $52 and

tickets are 1/2 price for youth under the age of 16. I am asking for

your assistance with information on how to inform the Cambodian

community in Northern California about this event.

Here is a link to our event web page:

http://www.calperfs.berkeley.edu/performances/2011-12/world-stage/cambodias-khmer-arts-ensemble.php

Please feel free to email or call using the contact information listed below.

Thank you,
Susan

-- Susan Pfeifer
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Cal Performances
UC Berkeley
101 Zellerbach Hall #4800
Berkeley, CA 94720-4800
Ph: 510.642.3499
Fax: 510.643.6715
Email: susanp@calperfs.berkeley.edu
Visit us on the web at: www.calperformances.net

Mu Sochua to attend press conference on "Increased Abuse and Exploitation Reflecting Slavery like Practices of Cambodian Domestic Workers in Malaysia"

2011-08-10T17:06:00.003-07:00

Email message from SRP MP Mu Sochua:

SRP MP Mu Sochua (Left)

Dear all

I will be attending the press conference. As additional information, my 2 letters to the Malaysian ambassador in Cambodia have not been addressed and my attempts to get an official meeting with the embassy have failed so far.

I have written an official letter to the Ministry of Labor, cc'd to the Ministries of Women's Afffairs and Foreign Affairs, last week. No replies, so far.

-----

PRESS CONFERENCE.

Dear Editor/Chief Reporter,

You are invited to a Press Conference at Tenaganita’s office.

Increased Abuse and Exploitation Reflecting Slavery like Practices of Cambodian Domestic Workers in Malaysia.

More than 400,000, foreign domestic workers mainly from Cambodia, Indonesia ,Philippines, Sri Lanka and India work with Malaysian families under inhumane conditions where their rights as workers are not recognized.

In the past one month, an underage Cambodian domestic worker was found dead in Penang. Then a few days ago, another Cambodian domestic worker from Segambut, Kuala Lumpur was found to be severely abused including shaving her bald, by her employer and his two adult children.

The rise in abuse and high or even extreme exploitation of Cambodian domestic workers is a major concern now.

Tenaganita together with MP Mu Sochua,a leading member of the opposition party Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and former Minister of Women’s Affairs of will hold a joint Press Conference. MP Mu Sochua is here to find out more the conditions and experiences of Cambodian domestic workers.

Date: August 11, 2011

Time: 4.30pm.

Venue: Tenaganita

38, Jalan Gasing, 46000 Petaling Jaya.

Telephone Contact: 77703671/91

Please call Glorene Dass /Liva Sreedharan for further clarifications and thanks for your support.

Yours sincerely,

Irene Fernandez

Executive Director.

TENAGANITA SDN BHD

38, Jalan Gasing, 46000, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Tel: +603 7770 3691 / 7770 3671

Fax: +603 7770 3681

Email: general@tenaganita.net

General Enquiries: enquiry@tenaganita.net

Website: under construction

Interview between Soy Sopheap and De-Chor

2011-08-10T17:06:00.001-07:00

Hun Xen's banana kingdoom: The Viets enjoy full freedom and Cambodian citizenship in Cambodia ... while Khmer Krom are oppressed in South Vietnam

2011-08-07T03:50:00.001-07:00

Mistreatment and violence against Khmer Krom monks by Hun Xen's Xmer cops

Vietnamese Cambodians convene first congress

07/08/2011
VOV News

The Association of Vietnamese Cambodians in Kongpong Chhnang province held its first congress for the 2011-2014 tenure on August 6 with the participation of 90 delegates.

Charge d’Affaires of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia Ha Quang Tuan and President of the General Association of Vietnamese Cambodians Chau Van Chi also attended the congress.

The congress elected the association’s executive board for the 2011-2014 term led by Bui Van Be. According to Be, Kongpong Chhnang is now home to 3,000 overseas Vietnamese households with 15,000 heads.

The association has so far organized three Vietnamese and Khmer teaching schools with a total of nearly 600 students.

SRP MPs discuss healthcare issues with Kratie and Stung Treng commune councilors

2011-08-07T03:49:00.002-07:00

SRP MPs Long Ry (left), Son Chhay (center) and Men Sothaverin (right) discuss health care issues with commune councilors from Kratie and Stung Treng provinces on August 7 in Kratie. Around 100 councilors took part in the discussions where many abuses in public hospitals and health center were uncovered.

A policy on free health care will be drawn up by the SRP before coming elections.

A SRP commune councilor spoke during the workshop

SRP MP Son Chhay and SRP team visiting Mondulkiri

2011-08-07T03:49:00.001-07:00

SRP MP Son Chhay (front row) and SRP activist Keo Phirum (standing in the back) took a picture with SRP councilors in Mondulkiri. The photo was taken on August 6 during a workshop on public health conducted by SRP team led by Son Chhay with assistance of Keo Phirum and Seng Mardi in Keo Sema district Mondulkiti province. The workshop is being conducted in 4 northeast provinces to study the health and land-grabbing problems faced by indigenous people such as Punong and Jarai etc.

The team is also working on a video documentary on the loss of indigenous ancestry land to the foreign companies. The video will be shared online sometime soon.

Son Chhay with 81 years old Owv at Punong village outskirt of Sen Monorom town of Mondulkiri province.

Die for the country and your widow will receive … $1.88 per 3 months from the government, when she can at all

2011-08-07T03:48:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Et Khamta is showing the meager benefit she receives from the government.

Thursday 04 August 2011
[Pro-CPP] Koh Santepheap Daily
Translated from Khmer by Botum Soriya

Stung Treng – On 02 August, a woman who was leaving the provincial office of the welfare and veteran affairs department was complaining that the office paid her only a meager 7,500 riels ($1.88) per 3 months for the loss her husband, a soldier who was killed on duty by the KR in the 80s.

63-year-old Et Khamta was the elderly woman above. She lives in Phluk village, Phluk commune, Sesan district. She said that Nou Orn, her husband, joined the militia in Phluk village during the People’s Republic of Kampuchea era (Heng Samrin’s puppet regime). During his patrol in Sesan district, Nou Orn was killed a KR sniper. His name was registered in the welfare and veteran affairs department, but she did not how much the benefit she can obtain, only that every three months, the department of welfare sends her the money through other villagers.

She added that on 02 August, she went to cash out the benefit money directly from the welfare department. She received 7,500 riels ($1.88) after paying the association due. She complained that with 7,500 riels, she couldn’t even pay the bus fare back home because they charged her 15,000 riels ($3.75). Furthermore, in order to come and cash the benefit, she had to sell one of her chickens which earned her an income of 25,000 riels ($6.25) for the trip expense. She said that for 7,500 riels in benefit, she cannot afford to come and cash it anymore because, at the end, she has nothing left.

Regarding this issue, Sea Kim Ser, the director of the welfare and veteran department, indicated that the benefit for each soldier killed on duty amounts to 6,000 riels ($1.50) only per month, but the department orders that the family of the deceased veterans must produce a death certificate issued by the local authority, with that these families must become a member of the veteran association which is chaired by no other than Hun Xen himself.

Sea Kim Ser added that, out of the 6,000 riels paid in monthly benefit, a due of 3,500 riels must be paid to the veteran association, so that only 2,500 riels ($0.63) is left each month for the family of the soldier killed on duty. Therefore, his department can only pay to the soldiers’ families once each trimester, i.e. each family that filled in all the paperwork requirements only received 7,500 riels ($1.88). Sea Kim Ser said the contribution by family of the soldiers killed in duty to the association is used to pay a planned amount of 4,000,000 riels ($1,000) per family.

Inauguration Ceremony and Celebration of the 12 July 2011 Property Entitlement of Wat Khemara Rangsey, San Jose, California

2011-08-06T16:05:00.001-07:00

On behalf of Buddhist monks and the committee members of Wat Khemara Rangsey, we would like to invite you, your families and friends to come and attend the Inauguration Ceremony of the remodeling of Wat Khemara Rangsey’s Worship Place. During this event, members of Wat Khemera Rangsey will also celebrate the 12 July 2011 Property Entitlement on the pagoda as well.

Please see the attached accouncement below...

Pou Uk's Story - Chapey Dorng Veng

2011-08-06T16:04:00.002-07:00

Dear Readers,

The following story about Pou Uk (Uncle UK) was posted by Ker Samphoas on Facebook. Although the name of the Chapey Dorng Veng artist was not provided, judging from the ease and the eloquence of the artist, we are willing to bet that it was interpreted by Lok Ta Prach Chhuon.

Click the control below to listen to the story

Click here to download the Chapey story in MP3

God speed Yingluck Shinawatra

2011-08-06T16:04:00.001-07:00

August 6, 2011
by Special Correspondent
Weekly Blitz

The third threat relates to the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia. Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's elder brother, is known to have good relations with Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen who said the election outcome marked the start of "a new era of cooperation" and that differences between the countries would be resolved peacefully.

The People's Alliance for Democracy [PAD] has accused Thaksin Shinawatra of a conflict of interest over his relationship with Cambodia. As a result, any move by the Yingluck government on the border dispute will be under surveillance and criticism of the political opponents. In the other hand, neutral analysts are seeing a beginning of new era of better understanding with the neighboring nations under the leadership of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. They believe, Thailand believes in friendship while the political opponents of Shinwataras are willing to push this peaceful nation towards hostility and confrontation with the neighboring countries.

Yingluck Shinawatra is the first female Prime Minister of Thailand after a Royal command is issued for her to take up this responsibility. Of the 496 MPs who cast their votes in the 500-seat House, 197 abstained while three voted against the Yingluck bid.

The new Cabinet is shaping up, with Thirachai Puvanart-naranuban, the outgoing secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission, likely to replace Dr Vichit Suraphongchai as the new finance minister.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is the younger sister of former Thai Prime Minister and business tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra.

As Yingluck government assumed office already, according to Thai news commentators, her government will be forced to reckon with problems that need to be solved immediately, including the rising cost of living, and inflation.

In July inflation rose 4% from a year earlier, driven by climbing food and energy costs. It was the fourth month in a row with inflation at 4% or more.

Rising pork prices, which have reached 170-180 baht a kilogramme in some areas of the country, have prompted butchers in Songkhla's Hat Yai district and Betong in Yala to stop working in protest.

This could affect the government's popularity, just as the Democrat party experienced when it failed to rein in cooking oil prices amid a shortage early this year.

The second threat concerns implementation of the policies which Pheu Thai promised during its campaign.

Although Prime Minister Yingluck has confirmed her party will carry out its promises, the question is how, and to what extent.

Two of the most controversial policies - raising the daily minimum wage to 300 baht and paying new university graduates 15,000 a month will be difficult to implement. It will also have to deal with its promise to develop a new city by reclaiming land from the sea.

The third threat relates to the border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia. Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's elder brother, is known to have good relations with Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen who said the election outcome marked the start of "a new era of cooperation" and that differences between the countries would be resolved peacefully.

The People's Alliance for Democracy [PAD] has accused Thaksin Shinawatra of a conflict of interest over his relationship with Cambodia. As a result, any move by the Yingluck government on the border dispute will be under surveillance and criticism of the political opponents. In the other hand, neutral analysts are seeing a beginning of new era of better understanding with the neighboring nations under the leadership of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. They believe, Thailand believes in friendship while the political opponents of Shinwataras are willing to push this peaceful nation towards hostility and confrontation with the neighboring countries.

Harsh critic of Yingluck Shinawatra government, Thailand's influential daily newspaper, The Bangkok Post is trying to give opinion quoting "political observers" saying, Yingluck government will last 3-6 months in power. Bangkok Post commented "Feminists and women's rights advocates have asked whether the 44-year-old sister of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra can do anything apart from enhancing her looks and being mother to a nine-year-old boy."

On the other hand, political analysts on Asian affairs believe that, any early collapse of the Yingluck Shinawatra government will certainly push the fate of democracy of Thailand towards severe uncertainty. Thai democracy is already under the heavy influence of the shadow ghost of military as well as some other elements.

Female leaders always come by accident. Corazon Aquino, Benazir Bhutto, Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Chandrika Kumaratunga or even Aung San Suu Kyi - you name it. Female leaders rise to power rarely in normal circumstances. Something bad needs to happen to their loved ones to act as an unlikely but effective catapult. Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is no difference. She is young, pretty, fashionable and a bit shy. She virtually cat-walked her way through the election campaign, perhaps talking less than her big brother did from exile over the past two months. But that's probably the point. Yingluck's biggest political asset, at least for now, is that she seems non-confrontational by almost all accounts.

Whether her family name - the only thing confrontational about her - will destabilise her government and cut short a fairy-tale political journey remains to be seen. But her "Shinawatra" surname is a big deal, something so controversial it has all but overshadowed her being a woman, young and virtually clueless about politics.

We have heard different stories concerning her business profession. Admirers talked about a decisive boardroom executive who was "soft on the outside but tough within", who listened to various thoughts before making her own decisions. Given the Shin Corp Empire's standing before the political hurricane blew it away, it would be hard to argue against Yingluck's pre-politics record.

Detractors quipped that it was harder to fail than to succeed at Shin Corp when it was at the peak of its business and political dominance. Yingluck, they claimed, could practically sleepwalk through management and still grab top executive awards.

Arguably, the same could be said about her dreamlike election campaign. But again, there are two ways to look at it. Either she was helped by big forces already in great momentum and all she had to do was wave and smile, or her non-provocative waves and smiles helped put Pheu Thai back in power today. Would it have been this smooth with Pracha Promnok or Mingkwan Saengsuwan? It's a question worth pondering, but they are men, to begin with.

The good news is, Yingluck obviously has strong political assets. A humble, female character in the spotlight against the backdrop of cut-throat politics threw enemies and rivals off guard. Pracha or Mingkwan would have been left nearly dead by the "amnesty" issue, whether Pheu Thai had won the election or not.

Prime Minister Yingluck's first challenge is to prove her independence, and this is not a feminist phrase. Too much shadow of her big brother and her dream political journey can easily turn into a nightmare. As Thailand's first woman leader, she will come under close watch, whether that's fair or not. But as Thailand's first woman leader who is Thaksin Shinawatra's sister, scrutiny will duly come. In Asia, female leaders in particular, who step into politics due to any extra-ordinary reason or circumstance become quickly unpopular, when they try to apply their emotions too much in politics instead of brains and logics. In Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto precisely realized one fact that, too much quoting of her father and his "greatness" was no blessing for her to be in popularity anymore. In Bangladesh, two of the female leaders, who also basically are in politics as heirs as yet to realize this reality and are pushing the very democracy of the country into total uncertainty. We want to believe that Yingluck Shinawatra will be an exception. She will stand-up much as the leader of the Thai people instead of being a sister of someone.

Bangladesh and Thailand has extremely cordial friendly relations for decades. And very naturally, we always hope a stable democracy in that friendly nation. While greeting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra with garland of flowers, we also wish her all the best. Congratulations Prime Minister Yingluck and people of Bangladesh wish your grand success in your new position. We also believe, under your dynamic leadership, relations between Dhaka and Bangkok will witness newer and wider cooperation. God speed Yingluck Shinawatra!

West greets East

2011-08-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sokvannara Sar in company class with Pacific Northwest Ballet at the 2010 Vail International Dance Festival. (Erin Baiano | Special to the Daily)

Sokvannara Sar imbues ‘Solo for Sy' with his Cambodian childhood and American education

Friday, August 5, 2011

Wren Wertin

wren@vaildaily.com

Vail Daily (Vail, Colorado, USA)

An American woman. A Cambodian teenager. A sense of movement. An artistic obligation. These are the elements that set the stage for Sokvannara Sar's leap of faith across oceans, across cultures, across disciplines. Known as Sy (pronounced See) by most of the world, the dancer on Saturday performs a work by Jill Johnson that draws on his memories of Cambodia while ensconced in an American reality. Created in conjuction with the Fire Island Dance Festival, “A Solo for Sy” (a title the dancer doesn't approve of, instead preferring “Duality”) was premiered at the New York festival last month before making its Vail debut today.

Sar is the recent subject of a documentary, “Dancing Across Borders,” which chronicles his journey as a young folk dancer in Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia, to a ballet student — and star — in New York City. The idea of a 16-year-old boarding a plane for a new life in a strange land is at once romantic and intriguing. But Sar has a different perspective.

“It's just another story,” he said. “It's not more interesting than anybody else's story. It's just that mine's been recorded.”

Sar frequently danced traditional folk dances in his village with a group of his peers. It was a way to have fun with his friends, as well as earn some money for school supplies. Dance patron Anne Bass saw him at one such performance in a temple in 2000. He and his dancing abilities made a strong impression on her, but she returned to New York City without meeting him. But her mind wouldn't let go of the enormous potential she recognized within him.

“Sy's dancing was alive with joy and with perfect proportions while he was entertaining the crowd at Angkor Wat,” Bass told Fox News in 2010.

“She felt, in a way, obligated to give me an opportunity,” Sar said. “She thought it would be a waste if I didn't study ballet, because the world would never see me. I had never heard of ballet, but America seemed like a dream. I never thought I would be here.”

Bass spoke with Sar's parents, getting their permission for him to leave his home and go to America. He raced off into his dream, but was a little dismayed at what he found. Because he'd never studied ballet, he had a lot of catching up to do. Most dancers start by age 8 at the very latest. He was 16, and so he had a lot of catching up to do. For months he worked with ballet mistress Olga Kostritzky, and then he was accepted into the School of American Ballet.

“I didn't like it,” Sar said about his early time in the U.S. “My body didn't like it. I didn't speak the language. I didn't like the food. I kept going to the ballet, and I fell asleep at every performance.”

He struggled through his English-speaking high school, and eventually learned the language. He began to like ballet more, and he cultivated friends and peers. (He still hasn't made peace with American cuisine.) After studying at the School of American Ballet for five years, he joined Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. From there he became a freelance artist. He recently joined Carolina Ballet in North Carolina as a soloist.

Choices

Last year, Sar decided to retire from the world of dance.

“I had a breaking point,” he said. “It wasn't that my body was hurting, and it wasn't emotional. But I felt like there was so much more I could in my life. And I felt like I'd never had a chance to choose this for myself. Plus, I'm the only Cambodian ballet dancer, and that's a lot of pressure.”

So he decided to quit. But it just didn't take.

“I spent so many years studying ballet already, and now I'm at the beginning of my career,” he explained. “I felt like I betrayed myself. I spent so much time, and then I dropped it. I betrayed myself and I betrayed the people who supported me. So I returned.”

But he returned with a feisty dedication to not simply study ballet, but all movement. A devotee of the martial arts, he also intends to study every type of dance available to him.

“In general, dance teaches you to know your body better,” he explained. “You don't know what your body can do until it's moving.”

And by coming back to dance, he was able to work with Johnson. The work she created for him was inspired by his own memories of home. At their first session she put on “ Passacaglia,” the violin music by Heinrich Biber used in the piece. She asked him to remember his village, and — amazingly — he did.

“I started to remember stories about being home, and it was touching,” he said. “A tear came out at the memories.”

And those memories were incorporated into the dance. Some of the movement is based in Cambodian dances, like the Monkey Dance. The second title, “Duality,” stems from the dual nature of Sar's life. When he's in Cambodia, he misses the U.S. But when he's in the U.S., he longs for Cambodia. It's almost like a flashback.

“I hear the music, it calls to me, and then I remember,” Sar said. “I'm between two things. I walk one direction, but that means walking away from the other side. It's hard to decide.”

Cambodia versus America. Dance versus any number of things. Sar has choices. And luckily for Vail audiences, one of the things he's chosen to do for the past four years is dance at the Vail International Dance Festival.

For more information about Sokvannara “Sy” Sar, visit www.dancingacrossborders.net.

Under the Radar

2011-08-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Paul Carson / Embikei Images

August 5, 2011
By Samantha Chu
World Policy Blog

With the Dow Jones Industrial’s 512-point plunge yesterday, the largest since the 2008 financial crisis, billions of dollars vanished. European stock exchanges did not escape the carnage. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 3.4 percent, representing the fifth consecutive day of losses, Germany’s DAX 3.9 percent, and France’s CAC 3.4 percent.

The movements of those major exchanges kept anxious traders riveted to their monitors. But in places as varied as Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Peru, small players are joining the global financial rollercoaster with their own stock markets. The ride, as everyone knows (or will soon learn), is incredibly risky—the rewards, however, can trickle down to more than just the shareholders, as a stock exchange could lay the groundwork for business transparency and, in the longer term, financial literacy.

On July 11, 2011, Cambodia opened its stock exchange with hopes of enticing investors to its small, developing economy. The Cambodia Securities Exchange, of which the Korea Exchange has a 45 percent stake, earned little international fanfare and had no companies listed upon opening, although the state-owned enterprises Telecom Cambodia, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port are preparing IPOs.

A lack of shares, however, is only one limitation that Cambodia must navigate to maintain its stock market. In addition to a population unfamiliar with capital markets and familiar to poverty, the Southeast Asian nation is hardly a shining model of transparency. In Transparency International’s 2010 Corruptions Perception Index, the country ranked 154 out of 178 countries with a meager score of 2.1 on a corruption scale of 0 to 10, where 10 indicates “highly clean.” (The United States ranked 22, with a score of 7.1; Denmark, New Zealand, and Singapore tied for first with scores of 9.6.)

Cambodia’s challenges—and tall ambitions—are not unique. Stock exchanges have blossomed all over the developing world, though the combined market capitalization of the smallest ten exchanges amount to less than 1 percent of the NYSE’s.

The benefits of a stock exchange are alluring.Most obviously, they can draw foreign investors interested in the unique advantages of smaller markets. Leopard Capital, a private equity fund with offices in Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Haiti, invests funds in “frontier markets where the reality has moved ahead of perceptions,” wrote Douglas Clayton, founder, in an email. “Many pre-emerging markets have low debt levels, powerful demographics, and produce relatively inelastic items like food and cheap clothes. They don’t burden businessmen with mountains of regulations.”

Lack of information and liquidity in the market make it a risky place to invest, but if the goods (such as natural resources) are relatively inelastic, businesses—and their shares—have a good chance doing well so long as the likes of China and India remain hungry for basic goods and resources.

Of course, creating a successful exchange comes with its fair share of hurdles. Firstly, simply getting the attention of foreign investors can be difficult. “These countries do not really know how to market themselves overseas and always have difficulty attracting foreign investors,” Clayton said. “Also most institutional investors favor larger, more liquid exchanges, but a few frontier investors show up early and usually do pretty well.”

Secondly, developing markets come with their own unique set of challenges that can leave them at the mercy of external economic powers. In Cambodia’s case, a potential influx of foreign investment, couched in dollars, would further erode the country’s monetary policy influence. Cambodia’s reliance on the American dollar, rather than the local riel, for a majority of its economic transactions means that Cambodia’s central bank cannot use internal tools to control the value of the most-used currency, which is tied instead to global markets and the decisions of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Acknowledging this concern, Cambodia has announced an unprecedented dual currency listing where stocks can be bought in either riel or U.S. dollars, with some hoping that the stock exchange could encourage the “de-dollarization” of the economy.

Another proposed benefit of a healthy stock exchange is that ordinary citizens can cash in on national wealth. Despite drawing hungry gazes from international investors for its rich natural resources, Mongolia is reserving 10 percent of the shares from a planned IPO of a hotly contested Mongolian coal mine exclusively for Mongolian citizens, with another 10 percent for Mongolian companies. Each individual share of the coalmine is thought to be valued at $300, a windfall for citizens living in a country with a GDP per capita of approximately $1,573.

Issues of education and financial literacy, however, remain. How will citizens know what a stock exchange is and how to invest, especially if the population is not accustomed to capital markets? (Mongolia’s stock exchange is preparing a huge investor education effort.) In January 2011, the Dhaka Stock Exchange plummeted 587 points. Angry investors, some violent, took to the streets not only in Dhaka but other towns in Bangladesh, furious that their savings had vanished and demanding measures to moderate the market.

Many experts believe low levels of financial literacy drove the stock market volatility. “You had this situation in which an average Bangladeshi person would make some money on the stock exchange, tell his friends, and they would invest. And this was driving the exchange for a long time. It was obviously increasing demand and the level of investment,” says Stephen Finch, former business editor of the Phnom Penh Post and expert in the stock exchanges of the developing world.

Many Bangladeshis were simply unaware of the risk that they could lose money—a lot of money. “People thought they could put money in, and what came out the other end was a larger amount. What Bangladesh is a good example of is an exchange that has suffered because of a very low level of financial literacy," Finch continues.

Finally, stock exchanges may encourage the financial sophistication and transparency that are vital for a thriving business climate. Many companies in developing economies are cold to the idea of having stockholders, especially as many are run informally or as family ventures, which prevents capital from reaching a wider population. But having a market for stocks and securities may persuade them to join in as they could benefit from fresh cash investments.

As for transparency—with the introduction of a stock exchange, international accounting and auditing firms have the incentive to move in for a piece of the action. “PricewaterhouseCoopers has been in Cambodia for a very long time, but it just opened a brand new office in the center of Phnom Penh,” Finch says. “Now they have a shiny glass building that goes up a certain number of stories…The fact that [the stock exchange] has come, they’ve had to build all this financial infrastructure around this new stock exchange—so that definitely has a knock-on effect. Your average company in Cambodia barely keeps accounts but I think the knock-on effect will happen.”

Companies may clean up their books for the sake of auditors and, subsequently, more valuable IPOs. “A securities exchange provides a fundamental incentive for companies that list to become transparent and tax compliant in order to achieve a higher market valuation,” Clayton wrote. “The market rewards positive behavior.” So, though a stock exchange doesn’t indicate a country’s spotless corruption track record, it may herald a new era, with large businesses maintaining transparent operations to attract and keep international shareholders.

The presence of a stock exchange, therefore, is not so much an indicator of a country’s current business environment. For example, Cameroon, Maldives, Tanzania, and Syria all have small exchanges. On Corruption Perceptions Index, they rank 146, 143, 116, and 127 respectively. In World Bank’s “ease of doing business” rankings as of 2010, Cameroon was ranked at 168 out of 183 countries.

But like Cambodia, betting on their stock exchanges can be an investment in their future. Transparency and corruption must be, and are, addressed not only to get stock exchanges off the ground but to sustain and grow them. With government regulation and policies to encourage financial literacy and sophistication, installing a stock market can help attract wealth and investment to a developing economy.

The world’s smallest stock exchanges are often just under the radar, written off as capricious and insignificant. But with time and hard work, these new nodes in the global financial network can help countries earn an ample pay-off—not just in dividends, but by improving business transparency and, hopefully, financial literacy in some of the world’s most corrupt and impoverished places.

****

Samantha Chu is an editorial assistant at World Policy Journal.

Report from Yale Human Rights Team Finds Cambodian Garment Factories Use Short-Term Employment Contracts to Exploit Workers

2011-08-04T18:18:00.001-07:00

August 3, 2011
Source: Yale Law School
http://www.law.yale.edu/news/13490.htm

Yale Law School’s Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic has released a report on the widespread use of short-term employment contracts in the Cambodian garment industry to deny workers statutory benefits and to restrict their exercise of rights under international and Cambodian law. The report details how the spread of short-term labor contracts threatens to roll back the historic progress Cambodia’s garment industry has made in promoting labor rights over the past decade. The report suggests that the country’s reputation as a role model for other developing countries in protecting workers in export-apparel manufacturing may be at risk. The release of the report comes at an opportune time. Following last September’s nationwide strike over wages in the Cambodian garment sector, key players in that industry signed a memorandum of understanding recognizing the need to study the use of short-term employment contracts in Cambodia.

The Yale team’s report, Tearing Apart at the Seams: How Widespread Use of Fixed-Duration Contracts Threatens Cambodian Workers and the Cambodian Garment Industry, describes the way Cambodian garment manufacturers have adopted the practice of employing their regular, full-time workforce almost exclusively on temporary, fixed-duration contracts (FDCs) that are repeatedly renewed. The report examines both the human rights consequences of factories categorizing permanent workers as temporary and the potential impact of this practice on the Cambodian garment industry, which, in the last decade, has aggressively competed with other developing countries by promoting its reputation for implementing international labor standards.

According to Professor James Silk, the director of the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School: “The Cambodian government has been considering amending the Labor Law to ease restrictions on fixed-duration contracts. The country’s apparel industry is already facing heightened international scrutiny because of the mass firings of workers who participated in a strike last year over low wages. One of the main competitive advantages of the Cambodian garment industry is its reputation for progress on protecting workers’ rights, so it is important to understand the human rights consequences of using FDCs and the impact that permitting their expansion could have on Cambodia’s competitiveness.” Nearly half of all Cambodians working in the manufacturing sector are employed by the garment industry—an industry that accounts for more than 80% of Cambodia’s total exports.

The Yale team interviewed more than 70 stakeholders in Cambodia, including government officials, factory management, labor union officials, local human rights organizations, and garment workers. Based on these interviews and an analysis of both international and Cambodian law, the Yale team concluded: “The shift toward FDCs: (1) results in increased worker insecurity; (2) threatens the enforcement of workers’ rights under domestic and international law; (3) presents obstacles to increased labor productivity; (4) jeopardizes Cambodia’s reputation as a country committed to improving conditions for workers; and (5) introduces the threat of a major breakdown of industrial relations, including the potential for massive strikes.”

The report details how FDCs afford workers less protection from exploitation than permanent contracts would afford. It also shows how using FDCs reduces the set of benefits that workers might enjoy if they were properly categorized as permanent employees. The Yale team found evidence that factories use FDCs to: suppress freedom of association and retaliate against union leaders; deny workers benefits to which they are legally entitled, including maternity leave; coerce workers into forced overtime; and deny workers the full salary and bonuses to which Cambodian law entitles them.

The report also concludes that the widespread use of FDCs could damage the competitiveness of the Cambodian garment industry. The industry could sustain reputational harm if it is thought by international buyers to be backsliding in the area of workers’ rights, and the widespread use of FDCs raises the risk of strikes in the future. A number of international brands, including Gap, Nike, and Wal-Mart, have already expressed concern over the use of FDCs. The Yale team concluded: “The widespread shift . . . to FDCs has resulted in tremendous worker insecurity, heightened antagonism between unions and factory management, and a threat to peaceful industrial relations.”

The Lowenstein Clinic’s report urges the Cambodian government not to amend the Labor Law to ease restrictions on the use of FDCs and recommends that multinational apparel buyers require their suppliers to avoid using FDCs for their regular workforce. The report calls upon the Cambodian government, garment manufacturers, factory workers, labor unions, and major multinational corporations to work together toward the common goals of strengthening workers’ rights and protecting the health of the Cambodian garment industry.

The full text of the report is available here.

For more information, contact:

Clark Gard (in South Africa), +27-82-361-1869 or clark.gard@gmail.com

Arthur Plews (in United States), +01 317-752-6580 or arthur.plews@gmail.com

James Silk (in United States), +01-203-432-1729 or james.silk@yale.edu

The Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic is a Yale Law School course that gives students practical experience in the range of human rights advocacy activities in which lawyers can engage to promote respect for human rights. The Lowenstein Clinic contributes directly to efforts to protect human rights by providing assistance to appropriate organizations and individual clients. The Clinic undertakes many litigation and research projects. It has provided briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court and many other U.S., foreign and international courts. It has also produced reports and papers on a wide variety of human rights issues.

US Navy Admiral Visits Cambodia [-US operation to woo a dictatorial regime?]

2011-08-04T18:17:00.004-07:00

Vice Admiral Scott Van Buskirk

Thursday, August 4th, 2011
Voice of America

A top U.S. naval officer is holding talks with high-ranking Cambodian military officials aimed at improving naval cooperation between the two nations.

Vice Admiral Scott Van Buskirk, the commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, arrived in Phnom Penh Wednesday for a two-day visit. A Cambodian military spokesman says Van Buskirk met with deputy naval commander Vice Admiral Soa Sarin and Lieutenant General Noun Samnang to discuss bilateral and regional issues. Samnang is deputy for the ministry's foreign affairs office.

The U.S. military says the two sides discussed Phnom Penh's participation in readiness training later this year. They also discussed training in maritime security, search and rescue, and humanitarian and disaster relief.

Vice Admiral Van Buskirk will also visit a naval base to observe Cambodian naval training exercises.

The U.S. and Cambodian held their first joint naval exercise earlier this year.

AKP's Ouk Kimseng on kowtow visit to Hoi An

2011-08-04T18:17:00.003-07:00

Cambodian news agency delegation visits Hoi An

04/08/2011
VNA

A high-ranking delegation of the Cambodia news agency (AKP), led by its Deputy General Director Ouk Kimseng, paid a working visit to Hoi An city in the central province of Quang Nam on August 3.

At the session with the delegation, Vice Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee Truong Van Bay introduced the history, culture, tradition and socio-economic situation.

Hoi An, a locality recognised as a world cultural heritage site, is actively engaged in promoting its traditional values to successfully build a model cultural-tourism-ecological city by 2030.

The city is willing to share its experience and cooperate with domestic and foreign partners in preserving, maintaining and upholding these values, Bay said.

Ouk Kimseng praised the efforts of the city in developing the fields of trade and tourism, saying that AKP would make further efforts in promoting Hoi An’s image to Cambodian people.

The kingdom of wonders [... You wonder what you can't see?]

2011-08-04T18:17:00.001-07:00

A tour group explores the many angles of Angkor Wat, Cambodia. (Amanda Keenan, The West Australian)

The Cambodian Government touts its country as the Kingdom of Wonder, a slogan that is more appropriate than perhaps it intended. You wonder what to expect on a visit to Cambodia and when you leave, you wonder exactly what you've experienced.

It confronts and confounds, disturbs and excites. A thinking tourist will surely experience every colour of the emotional rainbow. In many places, like the floating villages, there's barely a pot of food and in others, such as the Royal Palace, much more than a pot of gold.

The buzzing capital city, Phnom Penh, is an immediate assault on the senses. The roads are semi-organised chaos (we saw a motorbike accident within our first few hundred metres of travel) and the streets are teeming with people.

Shops and stalls are right on the roadside and they're sectioned into quirky little enclaves - motorcycle tyres on one block, denim jeans on another; for hats you can cross the Chruoy Changvar Bridge. Otherwise you can go to the striking "yellow market" in an enormous domed Art Deco building frequented by the locals.

The food market here is a fascinating highlight and the selection of jewellery as well as clothes, homewares, electronics - even an unreleased iPhone 5 - is mind-boggling.

Phnom Penh is a curious combination of traditional architecture (like the ornate Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda) and French, with a bit of Art Deco thrown in, reflecting its past. And you can't get away from Cambodia's past. From the early ninth century, the Khmer Empire was a South-East Asian superpower.

In the 19th century it was colonised by the French. It became independent in the 1950s but the Vietnam War crossed its borders, giving rise to the notorious Pol Pot's Mao-inspired Khmer Rouge.

The legacy of Pot's vision for an agrarian utopia is that about 80 per cent of people live in the countryside without power or running water under long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been recently criticised for allegedly squandering international aid.

In Phnom Penh, the National Museum's collection of Khmer art is stunning, but being a tourist draw has made it a magnet for beggars. Outside there's a vivid example of the poverty in Cambodia as a young mother begs while she and her tiny baby share sips from a raw egg. Nearby is Mith Samlanh, or Friends, a restaurant helping keep kids off the street. The food in Cambodia is full of fresh flavours, fish and fruit with only mild chilli and plenty of lime.

The muddy Mekong River remains the heart of Phnom Penh. People flock to its banks to dine, drink, socialise, dance, play sport, fish and bathe. Boatloads of tourists cruise to the intersection of four rivers known as Chattomukh (four faces).

The faces, though, that a visitor will recall long after a visit to Phnom Penh are those of the hundreds of victims on display at Pol Pot's secret prison Tuol Sleng.

What was once a school full of happy children became a classroom of unspeakable terror. The manner in which the brutal torture and murder of its victims is displayed could almost be described as gratuitous if it weren't such a deliberately confronting reminder of a shameful period of history many young Cambodians refuse to believe even happened.

Likewise with the Killing Fields, a 20km journey out of the city where hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered and tossed into pits. The stupa full of skulls arranged in age order - "female Kampuchean from 15-20 years old" - is not nearly as confronting as what at first glance appears to be a pretty grassed area but is actually full of deep depressions that are mass graves.

Even now, clothing pokes up through the dirt, so too pieces of bone; the chilling result of recent rain. Inside the museum are photographs of victims, including those of Australian David Lloyd Scott.

The 300km drive north to the country's other main centre of Siem Reap (literally Siamese Defeat) is a white-knuckle ride but gives a look at everyday Cambodian life.

The countryside is dotted with rice paddies and stilted homes, skinny white cows and mud-stained water buffalo. Along the way, the town of Skun is famous for deep-fried spiders (I flatly refused to eat one but apparently they actually do taste like chicken).

The ornate stone 12th century Kampong Kdei bridge, too, is worth visiting. Like many places popular with tourists, you face an onslaught of wily, persistent young salespeople and desperate beggars.

Just outside Siem Reap is a floating village, where hundreds of poor families, often Vietnamese refugees, live on the banks of the Tonle Sap Lake. Travellers can pay to go on one of the clunky boats and ogle this reluctant tourist attraction.

I thought it felt like "peasant porn" and was uncomfortable, though undeniably fascinating. At a stop along the way, women plead for money and children wearing docile serpents around their necks pose for photos with gawping foreigners who often refuse to hand over a few thousand riel (50 cents) for their time.

But the real attractions of Siem Reap, known as the gateway to Angkor, the seat of the Khmer Empire, are the temples. Spread across 300sqkm, there are hundreds, from Ta Prohm, where Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider was filmed among the webs of silk cotton tree roots, to the 12th century Preah Khan and the splendour of Angkor Wat.

It truly has to be seen to be believed, though I have to concede that the only downside of these magnificent structures is that the sheer number of tourists leaves you longing to experience them alone, in quiet meditation.

Cambodia is exhilarating and devastating, beautiful and challenging, poor yet thriving. It's a country that honours its history but is still coming to terms with its past, and which is still realising the extent of its tourism potential. Don't be left wondering how incredible it is.

FACT FILE

Air Asia flies from Perth to Kuala Lumpur daily (fares starting from $194) and then from Kuala Lumpur to Phnom Penh twice daily and from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap once daily (around $45). Go to airasia.com.

Amanda Keenan travelled as a guest of Air Asia.

Carlsberg Beer Promoters On Strike in Cambodia

2011-08-04T18:16:00.001-07:00

04 August 2011
ScandAsia.com

More than 30 beer promoters have been striking since Monday July 25, accusing Angkor brewer Cambrew of refusing to pay overtime despite a July 7 ruling by the Arbitration Council that it was legally required to do so, according to The Phnom Penh Post

Carlsberg has said it is investigating a strike by Angkor beer promoters, who yesterday vowed to continue in their bid for fair treatment.

“We’ve had no response from the company so the strike will continue,” Ou Tep Phally, vice-president of Cambodian Food and Service Workers’ Federation, said to newspaper on July 31.

The women, who usually promote the brand in restaurants and nightspots, have been handing out leaflets calling for the public to boycott it instead. Beer promoter Sim Phan said strikers planned to burn tyres in front of the company’s headquarters on Norodom Boulevard today.

Cambrew has repeatedly declined to comment, but Carlsberg, which owns half of Cambrew, said it was investigating. “The current situation is under investigation by the local management team and Carlsberg Indochina,” Carlsberg’s vice-president for communications in Asia, David Fang, said in an email last week.

The Hong Kong-based executive referred further questions to staff at the company’s Hanoi office, but they were on vacation.

Ian Lubek, a Canadian academic who has researched “beer girls” in Cambodia for 12 years, said: “Company directors are often oblivious to what is going on in the field.

“Headquarters set quotas for how much beer should be sold in the region and rarely consider employees’ issues.”

He also said companies paid low wages to beer promoters because their resulting vulnerability made them more attractive to customers.

“They knowingly create an economically coercive situation because they know that male customers will be more likely to drink their brand if it is served by women who are perceived as economically vulnerable targets,” he said.

Ou Tep Phally said she was looking forward to the opportunity to tell Carlsberg about the working conditions of its female beer promoters in Cambodia.

She said she also wanted to tell the company that its partner here has cheated its employees out of overtime wages for 14 years.

Carlsberg’s investigation has yet to include interviews with the women who promote its brands here, she said.

Khmer Super Model Fashion Show again in Sdyney 6 August 2011 (?)

2011-07-31T19:41:00.003-07:00

Due to a strong urge of Khmer community in Sydney, the Khmer Community of NSW State Inc., is again organizing the Khmer traditional fashion show on 5 August 2011. Attached is the information Poster.

Cambodia: Human rights on a slippery slope

2011-07-31T19:41:00.001-07:00

30 July 2011
By Arnaud Dubus
Liberation (France)
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

"Cambodia is slowly sinking into a predatory authoritarian regime like those established by Zine Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and Muammar Qaddafi of Libya."

In the early 90s, there was an illusion that the massive operation undertaken by the United Nations to rehabilitate Cambodia after decades of war had "rooted" democracy there. A new constitution was drafted. The election, judged reasonably free and fair, took place in 1993 with a turnout of almost 90%. A civil society sprouted on the wasteland of a rejuvenated country. Cambodia was an exception in the region, leaping from an autocratic post-Khmer Rouge regime to a liberal government, a kind of "Cambodian miracle" that defies the lessons of history.

Since then, this dream has eroded steadily, especially since the Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has marginalized the political opposition following the 2008 election. The majority of local human rights representatives no longer wanted to be cited personally. The risk of being thrown in jail for criticizing the mighty Hun Sen and Bun Rany, his wife who bears the title "Honorable Wise Doctor," is just too much to bear. Christophe Peschoux, the director of the Phnom Penh office of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR), had to leave the country in May after Hun Sen asked all government agencies to stop cooperating with him.

Nothing illustrates better the deterioration of fundamental freedoms than the issue of farmers who face forced eviction from their lands to make way for rubber plantation or sugar cane companies whose owners are closely linked to the government. "When the victims complain against the powerful people, judges do not pay attention them. But when private companies complain about the victims, the judges and prosecutors rush in [to meet the companies’ demands]," a Cambodian activist said.

The mixing of political and business interests is quite dizzy at times: for example, a senator who is a close friend of the Prime Minister grabs for himself a plot of land with the support of the military, next, he benefits from the passing of a law by the National Assembly that provides financial guarantee to the project on the plot of land. Cambodia is slowly sinking into a predatory authoritarian regime like those established by Zine Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia and Muammar Qaddafi of Libya.

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Au Cambodge, les droits de l’homme sur une mauvaise pente

30/07/11

Par Arnaud Dubus

Libération

Il y avait au début des années 90 une illusion selon laquelle l’opération massive des Nations unies pour réhabiliter le Cambodge après des décennies de guerre avait «enraciné» la démocratie. Une nouvelle constitution avait été rédigée. Des élections, jugées raisonnablement justes et libres, avaient eu lieu en 1993, avec un taux de participation de près de 90%. Une société civile vivace bourgeonnait sur les friches d’un pays rajeuni. Le Cambodge faisait figure d’exception dans la région, passant d’un bond du régime autocratique post-Khmers rouges à un gouvernement libéral, une sorte de «miracle cambodgien» qui défiait les leçons de l’histoire.

Ce rêve s’est effrité progressivement, particulièrement depuis que le Premier ministre, Hun Sen, a marginalisé l’opposition politique après les élections de 2008. La plupart des représentants des organisations locales de défense de droits de l’homme ne veulent plus, désormais, être cités nommément. Le risque de se faire jeter en prison pour avoir critiqué le tout puissant Hun Sen ou son épouse, Bun Rany, laquelle porte le titre d’«honorable docteure pleine de sagesse», est tout simplement trop important. Le directeur du bureau de Phnom Penh de la commission des Nations unies pour les droits de l’homme, Christophe Peschoux, a dû quitter le pays en mai, après que Hun Sen a demandé à toutes les agences gouvernementales de cesser de coopérer avec lui.

Rien n’illustre mieux la dégradation du respect des libertés fondamentales que la question des paysans expropriés manu militari de leurs terres pour faire place à des sociétés de plantations d’hévéas ou de cannes à sucre, dont les directeurs sont étroitement liés aux gouvernants. «Quand les victimes portent plainte contre un puissant, les juges n’y prêtent pas attention. Mais quand des firmes privées le font, les juges et les procureurs se précipitent», explique un militant cambodgien.

La confusion des intérêts est parfois confondante : tel sénateur, ami proche du Premier ministre, s’octroie un terrain grâce à l’appui des militaires, puis bénéficie du vote d’une loi par l’Assemblée nationale qui accorde une garantie financière au projet. Le Cambodge s’enfonce lentement dans un autoritarisme prédateur qui n’est pas sans rappeler l’édification des régimes de Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali en Tunisie ou de Muammar al-Kadhafi en Libye.

Kingdom of Wonder No More: A deceiving placid Phnom Penh on a Sunday - rest for the wealthy minority, violence and dire poverty for the mass

2011-07-31T19:40:00.001-07:00

New children play place inaugurated last month

Quay Sisowath after sunset

Outdoor exercise group

Congratulations to Comfrel's Koul Panha, a recipient of the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards

2011-07-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

Koul Panha (2nd from Left) during a Voice of Civil Society boradcast (Photo: Koul Panha)

Winners of Asia’s Version of Nobel Prize Revealed

Thursday, July 28th, 2011
Voice of America

Two Indian philanthropists and a Philippine non-profit development organization are among the winners of the Philippines prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Awards.

The annual awards, named after a popular Philippine president who was killed in a plane crash in 1957, are widely seen as Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prizes.

Harish Hande, a U.S. trained engineer and entrepreneur, was cited by the foundation that administers the awards for his passionate and pragmatic efforts” to provide affordable solar power to over one million poor and rural Indians.

Nileema Mishra has established a center that provides small loans to farmers, plus self-help projects for small villages.

The Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, based in the central Philippine province of Negros Occidental, was also cited for its work in combating rural poverty. The organization has introduced an environmentally-friendly pumping system that provides villages easy access to clean water.

Other winners of the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Awards include Cambodian Koul Panha, the founder of a group that advocates for free and fair elections in his country's nascent democracy; Indonesian entrepreneur Tri Mumpuni, who has built community-run hydropower plants in rural communities; and her compatriot Hasanain Juaini, who has established an Islamic boarding school for girls.

The winners will receive a medallion and cash prize at an awards ceremony in the Philippines on August 31.

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CITATION for Koul Panha

Ramon Magsaysay Award Presentation Ceremonies
31 August 2011, Manila, Philippines

In many places in the world today, citizens are engaged in a historic struggle to democratize their societies, often under conditions of extreme difficulty and danger. One such place is Cambodia. The country was traumatized by decades of war and the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge, which left 1.7 million Cambodians dead. Cambodia took its first step to establishing a "multi-party liberal democracy" when it proclaimed a new constitution and embarked on its first democratic elections in 1993. Cambodians have gone through five national and local elections since then. But democracy's progress has been slow and turbulent, and elections have been undermined by factionalism, fraud, violence, and the threat of a return to authoritarian rule. Many know that the central challenge is for Cambodians to claim the electoral process as their own, by protecting it as an instrument for building a democracy. One of those who has bravely stepped up to this challenge is a Cambodian engineer named Koul Panha.

Panha knew firsthand what brutalities are possible in the absence of a true democracy. He was eight years old when his father and relatives were killed by the Khmer Rouge. The indescribable trauma impelled him to dedicate himself to changing his society. He finished his university degree, taught in Phnom Penh, and was already involved in the human rights movement even in the time of the dictatorship. When Cambodia embarked on its first free elections in 1993, he joined the non-partisan "Task Force on Cambodian Elections," and was one of the organizers when this task force became the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (COMFREL) in 1997. Panha assumed the role of COMFREL executive director in 1998; returning home after earning a master's degree in the Politics of Alternative Development, he threw himself fulltime into COMFREL's mission of assuring that Cambodian elections are free and fair.

Under his leadership, COMFREL has become the country's leading independent organization on electoral issues. It aggressively campaigns for responsible voting and electoral reforms, using all available media. In protecting the 2008 electoral process, COMFREL and its partners trained and deployed over 10,000 volunteers, covering 95% of the country's polling stations. For the first time in Cambodia, a citizens' parallel "quick count" initiated by COMFREL helped forestall the manipulation of results by establishing voting trends three days after the elections. They have also proactively campaigned for the wider political participation of women, who constitute half of Cambodia's population, a campaign that has seen an increase of women in public office.

Based in Phnom Penh, COMFREL maintains a nationwide network of partners and has mobilized, since its inception, over 50,000 election volunteers; more than 150,000 Cambodians have participated in COMFREL's training programs, workshops and other activities. This is an impressive show of civic participation in a democracy still so young. Even more significant is how COMFREL has gone beyond elections--into post-election issues of governance. It actively lobbies for reforms in matters like election campaign finance and the national budget. In 2003 it initiated "Parliamentary Watch," which monitors the performance of legislators and officials using benchmarks and concrete indicators in grading government performance at both local and national levels. COMFTREL's monitoring reports are publicly disseminated.

Democracy in Cambodia remains fragile, and the situation complex and dangerous. Panha has experienced harassment, and he knows he has to walk a tightrope for COMFREL to continue doing its work. But despite the fears of friends and family, he remains committed to using every inch of democratic space to empower his people in building a homeland that is democratic and free. Recalling the tragic experience of Cambodians and his own family, the soft-spoken Panha says: "I think Cambodia has suffered enough. This pushes me to do something as a citizen of Cambodia, to make sure the suffering does not happen again."

In electing Koul Panha to receive the 2011 Ramon Magsaysay Award, the board of trustees recognizes his determined and courageous leadership of the sustained campaign to build an enlightened, organized and vigilant citizenry who will ensure fair and free elections--as well as demand accountable governance by their elected officials--in Cambodia's nascent democracy.

Introducing Dahnie Tran of Boston

2011-07-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

Dahnie Tran was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts. Growing up, she was exposed to the vibrant Khmer culture — from Sinn Sisamouth’s golden voice being heard in restaurants to the fragrant incense that wafted out of Buddhist temples nearby. It was a positive experience for her to be surrounded by many other Cambodians who shared the same passion as her, and she desired to extend what she experienced to other Khmer communities throughout America.

By the time Tran began Wellesley College in 2007, she made it her lifelong mission to unify and strengthen Khmer communities throughout America. “While most of my friends at school decided on studying abroad in developed nations such as France or Singapore, my heart was set on Cambodia where I knew I could never escape from even if I tried. That’s how strongly I felt about Srok Khmer,” said Tran.

She spent an entire summer in Cambodia, learning about the rich culture and riveting history of the developing country. Every day, she ventured out on her own to conduct interviews and informally talk to Cambodia’s locals—from the street “tuk tuk” driver to the rural rice paddy farmer.

“I asked them about the state of their country and most important, how they felt about it all,” said Tran.

After learning about their stories, Tran was so moved and inspired by them that she dedicated the rest of her college career focusing on Cambodian-related topics so as to expose as much of her country’s culture and history to those around her. Tran stands firmly behind Khmerican’s vision on connecting Khmer communities throughout the United States and beyond. “People will start talking then engaging in discussions with one another. Eventually, we will all be tighter, more cohesive Khmer community in America and even beyond!” said Tran.

Tran joins Khmerican as a staff reporter focusing on social issues and culture.

Student Finds New Systems of Study Abroad

2011-07-29T09:13:00.003-07:00

Mao Chansoknea is a student at St. Lawrence University, in New York. (Photo: Courtesy of Mao Chansoknea)

Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Huy Samphors, VOA Khmer | Washington, D.C

“If the student doesn’t study hard, in Cambodia he or she can bribe to pass. However, in Hong Kong and the US, if the student does not study, he or she will definitely fail..."

Mao Chansoknea is a 21-year-old graduate of Sonthor Mok high school in Phnom Penh. After graduation, she received a scholarship to the United World College in Hong Kong, which offers a pre-university program to help students prepare for further studies.

She went on to study at St. Lawrence University, in New York, majoring in economics and global studies.

She told VOA Khmer recently that the systems of study in Cambodia, Hong Kong and the US “are totally different.”

“If the student doesn’t study hard, in Cambodia he or she can bribe to pass,” she said. “However, in Hong Kong and the US, if the student does not study, he or she will definitely fail. There is no way to help them pass besides to study hard by themselves.”

In the US, she said, students must read and research. “This work makes them gain knowledge gradually,” she said, “while in Cambodia, students usually sit still, listening to teachers and lecturers, taking notes and not doing much research.”

Mao Chansoknea said she hopes to continue in economics, where she said Cambodia is lacking. More students of economics would be a great benefit to the country, she said.

She encouraged Cambodian students to study hard and commit to broad research.

“If we don’t develop ourselves,” she said, “how can we develop the country?”

Tribunal Judge Sees At Least Two Years of Trials Ahead [-Judge Blunk's revision of Dante's "Inferno" comedy?]

2011-07-29T09:13:00.001-07:00

The newly appointed judge of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), Mr. Siegfried Blunk (R) from Germany, attends the official sworn-in ceremony at a hotel in Phnom Penh September 5, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Wednesday, 27 July 2011
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“Blunk, whose office has come under criticism for its handling of cases 003 and 004, said neither case has been dismissed. (sic!)”

As the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal moves toward its most complicated trial to date, the international investigative judge for the court told VOA Khmer he anticipates at least two years of proceedings.

The judge, Siegfried Blunk, also said there are court mechanisms in place to ensure health leaders are tried even “in the unlikely event” other defendants fall too ill to stand trial.

“You are right to be concerned about this,” Blunk said in an exclusive interview. “Because some of the accused are within an advanced age.”

The defendants—Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith—are nearly all above 80 years old, and there were widespread concerns at the outset of the tribunal that they would not live to see a day in court.

That day is drawing closer, however, with a preliminary hearing conducted earlier this month and a full trial slated to start later this year.

The suspects of most concern are Nuon Chea, 85, who has high blood pressure and eye problems; Ieng Sary, 86, who has heart and back problems; and Ieng Thirith, 79, who complains of insomnia and vision impairment.

Blunk said preparations for the trial have included interviews with 700 witnesses and the gathering of some 10,000 documents, for what he called “one of the largest, most complex” trials in international justice. The investigating judges admitted 2,000 civil party applicants, and a Pre-Trial Chamber decision added 1,700 more.

Blunk said victims would participate in the trial on a “grand scale,” in a process that could last up to two years, or more, depending on defense strategies, the health of the accused, cooperation from witnesses and other factors.

Blunk, whose office has come under criticism for its handling of cases 003 and 004, said neither case has been dismissed. (sic!)

Meanwhile, he said, joint groups of Cambodian and international investigators are working to “great success,” he said, while his work with Cambodian investigating judge You Bunleng has been done “in the spirit of cooperation.”

The investigating judges have to deal with many steps before finishing either case, he said.

“In Case 003, in which the names of the suspects are still confidential, the co-investigating judges also focused on the question of whether the suspects are among those most responsible for Khmer Rouge’s crimes,” he said.

The tribunal is mandated to try those most responsible, he said. His office has concluded the investigation “for the time being,” he said.

The international prosecutor for the tribunal has submitted an appeal requesting further investigation, including questioning of the two prime suspects. Meanwhile, civil party victims say they have had difficulty filing for that case, because the names of the suspects remain confidential.

However, that does not mean the case is dismissed, Blunk said. “Not at all.”

His office was now “vigorously investigating” Case 004, which contains three more confidential suspects, he said, including determining whether they too were among those “most responsible” for Khmer Rouge atrocities.

“I myself have traveled to Takeo and Pursat provinces, and as far away as Battambang and Kratie provinces, to interview key witnesses,” he said. “Among them, by the way, were members of the National Assembly, who expressed thanks for the great work the tribunal is doing.” (sic!)

A number of steps are still required before the investigating judges make their closing orders for both cases, he said. “This could end either in indictment or dismissal.”

Siegfried Blunk said his office is “vigorously investigating” Case 4 ... can judges be prosecuted for lying?

2011-07-29T09:12:00.001-07:00

Herr Doktor Siegfried Blunk said his office is “vigorously investigating” Case 4

Khmer Rouge Trial Judge Defends Tribunal

July 27, 2011
Lou Lorscheider | Washington
Voice of America

An international investigative judge overseeing the prosecution of war crimes suspects in Cambodia is defending the tribunal from critics who claim the court has failed to pursue a politically sensitive case against two former senior Khmer Rouge military officers. Judge Siegfried Blunk spoke to VOA’s Khmer Service in an exclusive interview Wednesday ahead of the expected start of the trial of the four most-senior survivors of the hard-line communist movement of the 1970s.

Blunk and fellow judge You Bunleng were criticized last month by international tribunal prosecutors and court monitors who allege that the two jurists closed a case against the military officers after a 20-month probe, without interviewing the suspects or visiting sites where atrocities were alleged to have taken place.

Blunk told VOA that the case, known as “Case 3,” has not been dismissed.

“The co-investigating judges also focused on the question of whether the suspects are among those most responsible for Khmer Rouge crimes. Because only for the most responsible, does the tribunal have jurisdiction,” Blunk said.

Blunk acknowledged that the investigating judges have preliminarily wrapped up their probe of Case 3, but said no final decision on whether to go forward has been reached. The chief prosecutor has submitted an appeal asking for further investigation, including the direct questioning of the suspects, but no ruling has been issued.

"According to the tribunal’s rules, there are many steps that must be taken before the investigating judges can make their final decision, which is called a closing order. Now, in Case 3, only the first of those many steps was taken," he said.

Blunk spoke just weeks before the expected trial of 79-year-old Khieu Samphan, the nominal head of state for Cambodia during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge rule; 84-year-old Nuon Chea, who is described as the Khmer Rouge's chief ideologue; and former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith. Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.

Historians say that as many as 2 million Cambodians died from execution, starvation or other abuses under the Khmer Rouge.

Blunk said the trial of Khieu Samphan and his colleagues, known as Case 2, could take two years.

“This trial will be one of the largest and most complex in the history of international justice, if not the largest and the most complex. The investigating judges have admitted more than 2,000 civil parties to Case 2. A further 1,700 were recently added by the pre-trial chamber. So there is victim participation on a grand scale,” he said.

The judge also said his office is “vigorously investigating” Case 4, which centers on three more confidential suspects. He said the status of that case will also be determined in large part by whether the suspects are found to be among the most responsible for Khmer Rouge crimes.

Critics say their quest for justice is further complicated by the fact that the suspects in Cases 3 and 4 are unidentified, preventing civil plaintiffs from filing pleadings in the case.

The trial of the four principal defendants is the major event for the United Nations-backed tribunal, which was created to demonstrate impartial justice and foster national healing in the Southeast Asian nation.

June Textile agrees to pay severance compensation

2011-07-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

Injured June textile workers during protest (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)

July 28, 2011

Fibre2fashion (India)

June Textile Factory, located in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district, has agreed to make severance payment to around 4,000 employees in keeping with a ruling of the Arbitration Council. This has been announced by Administration Director of the company, Albert Teoh.

The decision of the company comes following months of agitation by workers demanding severance compensation after the factory got gutted due to fire during March this year.

The Arbitration Council, in a decision issued last month, directed June Textile to pay up to three months salary to its employees as a pre-notice period compensation prior to their termination.

The factory was also directed to pay outstanding amount of remaining annual leave and indemnity payments calculated as 15 days salary multiplied by the number of years worked, with a ceiling at six years, to the workers.

Mr. Teoh said that over 2,000 workers, who had already accepted the payments of US$ 20 per year worked initially offered by the company as compensation, would also be paid additional compensation in accordance with the ruling, in August.

Maid’s death: Cambodian MP wants answers

2011-07-28T19:41:00.003-07:00

Mu Sochua pledges to hound Malaysian authorities to get to the bottom of allegations that a Cambodian maid was beaten to death.

July 28, 2011
Stephanie Sta Maria
Free Malaysia Today

PETALING JAYA: Cambodian opposition MP, Mu Sochua (pix), has promised to badger Malaysian authorities to explain the recent death of a teenage Cambodian maid in Penang.

Choy Phich, 19, was found dead outside the back door of her employer’s house in Butterworth on the morning of July 17.

Police attributed her death to pneumonia but new allegations surfaced earlier this week of Choy Phich being beaten to death by her employer.

In an e-mail to over 400 people – including the Malaysian Embassy, the police and the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia – a neighbour of Choy Phich claimed that many residents had witnessed Choy Phich being mentally and physically abused.

“She had many times sought help from other maids in the neighbourhood,” said Yip Soon Yew.

“Just a day before her death, she passed a note asking that her uncle in Cambodia be informed if she passed away without a valid reason.

“Rumours have been circulating that the local police officer was bribed to cover up the case as the employer is a wealthy and well-known local businessman,” said Yip.

Choy Phich was brought into Malaysia by recruiting agency, AP TSE & C Cambodian Resources Co.

The agency’s director, Seng Sithichey, however, has insisted that she was 21-years-old and that he had received a medical certificate indicating that she had died from pneumonia.

‘Not an isolated case’

Mu Sochua has promised to find answers to Choy Phich’s death and said that local NGOs have also taken up the case.

“I will take the matter up with Malaysian Embassy in Cambodia and also on the issue of the safety and security of Cambodian workers in Malaysia,” she told Cambodian news blog, Khmerization, yesterday.

Khmerization also noted that the Malaysian police had responded positively to its e-mail alert by promising to take “further action as soon as possible”.

The Human Rights Watch (HRW), meanwhile, pointed out that Choy Phich’s death while unfortunate is not an isolated case in Malaysia.

“On June 5, a 26-year old Indonesian domestic worker died allegedly due to abuse by her employer,” said Jyotsna Poudyal of HRW in an e-mail to FMT.

“Ironically, this case came to light just a few weeks after Malaysia signed a new agreement with Indonesia to increase protection for Indonesian domestic workers.”

While HRW will be following the case closely with its partners in Cambodia and Malaysia, Poudyal called on both governments to go beyond a mere investigation into Choy Phich’s death.

“They should also undertake more systemic changes to prevent similar incidents from taking place in the future,” she said.

“Given the Cambodian government’s increasing emphasis on “exporting” its labour abroad, the government and politicians should be concerned about any potential abuses they are facing.”

Police warn beer protesters

2011-07-28T19:41:00.001-07:00

Police stand guard while Angkor beer promoters protest for payment of overtime outside the Cambrew headquarters in Phnom Penh yesterday. (Photo by: Meng Kimlong)

Thursday, 28 July 2011
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

After police ordered them to quiet down on the third day of their strike, the “beer girls” protesting in front of the head office of Cambrew Ltd took aim at the slogan of one of the Kingdom’s most popular brands, Angkor beer.

While about 25 police observed them from the other side of Norodom Boulevard yesterday morning, the women began singing “My country, my beer. My beer does not love Khmer”. The brand’s slogan is “My country, my beer”.

As they had on the previous two days, the women arrived at about 7am. The police arrived about three-and-a-half hours later. They ordered the more than 30 protesters to stop using drums and loudspeakers, telling them they were disturbing the neighbourhood. The women obliged, but soon after the police crossed to the other side of the street the women picked up their drums and started beating them again. They said they were becoming more determined each day of the strike.

“If the company does not resolve the dispute we will lay in the driveway and the trucks will have to run over us to get in,” said protester Kong Nuon. “We are always patient and calm with customers. We work so hard for the company, but it will not even talk to us. This is not fair,” she said.

The women say they are protesting against the company’s refusal to pay them overtime for working on Sunday, despite a ruling by the Arbitration Council earlier this month that sided with the beer-sellers.

An employee contract from the company obtained by The Post does not include overtime for working on Sundays, which is required by law. Sin Chan Thoeun, 32, said that although the police ordered them to stop drumming and shouting into loudspeakers they decided to continue doing so because their protest was non-violent. “We beat drums so that people can hear our sorrow. The actions of the police were a threat to the right to protest peacefully,” she said.

Company officials declined to comment yesterday.

Introducing Vanndy Pan of Providence

2011-07-28T19:40:00.004-07:00

Thu, Jul 28, 2011
Originally posted at http://blog.khmerican.com/

For Vanndy Pan joining Khmerican offers her an opportunity to take her interest in community building and advocacy to a larger stage. Growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, she realized how disconnected her peers were with their culture and history. It wasn’t until her sophomore year in high school that she took action to break the cycle.

That year she began teaching herself how to read and write Khmer. But this was only her first step. She realized that if she wanted to get involved and help people, she needed to take the initiative to put herself out there and educate herself more.

“However, I felt it shouldn’t just be in the academics but also working within the community itself.” said Pan. “Therefore, during my college years at Brown, I took some time off to travel to Cambodia alone in December 2008—with no parents, no friends, just me—where I got my first real experience with the Khmer community outside of the US working as an English teacher at a local school in Phnom Penh.”

“My experiences both professionally and personally were rewarding because when I returned back to the US, I didn’t feel the same anymore and I felt compelled to do much more as I move forward with my life.” said Pan.

She believes Khmerican can help foster healthy dialogues and engage people to productive actions in communities, big and small, in regards to Cambodian-related issues. Khmerican is only a symbolic representation to one part of the Khmer diaspora. In the end, she hopes Khmerican can reach out not only nationally but globally as well.

She joins Khmerican as a staff writer focusing on youth, culture and politics.

Tycoon lands surprise [-Is Mong Reththy sincere or it's just another CPP trick?]

2011-07-28T19:40:00.003-07:00

Mong Reththy in Preah Sihanouk province on Sunday. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Thursday, 28 July 2011
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Daniel Sherrell
The Phnom Penh Post

One of the country’s best known tycoons yesterday delivered an impromptu speech to senators and parliamentarians that was as surprising in its content as it was in context.

Speaking at the end of a four-hour workshop on climate change adaptation at the National Assembly building, Mong Reththy spoke out at investors who evict people from areas covered by economic land concessions.

“Some investors claim that they need to evict people to develop their concessions, but I disagree with this tactic,” he said. “These people have been living on their land for generations. Where will they go when they’re kicked out?”

The businessman, senator and advisor to Prime Minister Hun Sen also urged investors to employ local residents on their concessions rather than hiring outsiders.

Economic land concessions, especially those granted to people and companies closely tied to the ruling party, have drawn intense criticism from opposition MPs, environmentalists and rights groups.

Mong Reththy’s portfolio spans transport, agro-industry and construction. He was dubbed “Hun Sen’s Money Man” in a cable from the US embassy in Phnom Penh published online by WikiLeaks earlier this month. The cable, written in 2007, claimed that his concession in Stung Treng province exceeded the legal size limit by 10 times.

After the cable was published, Mong Reththy told The Post that all of his business activities were legitimate. He said that his donations to infrastructure and education were intended “to help the people and the nation”, not to enable him to skirt the law.

Speaking at yesterday’s workshop he also called on the government to create a panel to verify that companies granted ELCs abided by their conditions. “We need to ensure that [the companies] are not using violence against women and children, that they are giving jobs to local people and complying with relevant labour laws,” he said.

The panel would function better if it was “supported by the private sector”, he said.

President of rights group Licadho, Pung Chhiv Kek, yesterday urged Mong Reththy to push for the reforms he outlined.

“Coming from him the statement has, if sincere, the potential for setting new standards in the way land concessions are attributed to big companies, and control the way the companies implement their contracts and comply with national labour law,” she wrote in an e-mail.

“If independent, the committee would not do miracles to solve the vast question of land resources and conflicts in Cambodia, but it certainly would be a way for better dialogue and fewer tensions in society.”

An official from the Ministry of Agriculture, who asked not to be named, said: “I do not agree with Mong Reththy’s proposal to form the committee. The government already has a national inspection process and each relevant ministry has an inspection department.”

Cambodia-North Korea: Phnom Penh and Pyongyang seek "a solid trade relationship"

2011-07-28T19:40:00.001-07:00

Kim Il Sung (L) and Sihanouk (R)

The objective is to strengthen cooperation in agriculture. For years, the North has suffered from chronic food crises, caused by the disastrous economic policies of the regime of Kim Jong-il. Ties between Pyongyang and Phnom Penh since the days of King Sihanouk and Kim Il-sung. Conflicting opinions ...

Thursday, July 28, 2011

By Asia News

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The establishment of a "solid business relationship" with particular attention in the "agricultural sector" is the objective of the delegation of senior North Korean officials visiting Phnom Penh this week. The group, led by Deputy Trade Minister Ri Myong San, met Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, to discuss "new possibilities of cooperation" for the development of both countries. The attention to the agricultural sector - Cambodia is one of the major rice producers - seems to be related to chronic food shortages that affect citizens of North Korea, because of the disastrous socio-economic policies promoted by the regime of Kim Jong-il.

Re-proposing an initial agreement between the two countries signed in 1993, the parties aim to develop long-dormant trade ties, reports The Phnom Penh Post. Cambodian officials point out that "there are zero economic and trade exchanges between Cambodia and North Korea at the moment". However, the two nations have a long history of friendship and cooperation, so that the former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk - a beloved and controversial figure, who dominated second half of the 1900 - maintained close personal relationships with the "Eternal President "Kim Il-sung, father of the" Dear Leader "now in power.

Analysts and observers express mixed reactions to a possible strengthening of ties between Phnom Penh and Pyongyang. Chantrabot Ros, a professor at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that on the one hand it promoted the export of agricultural products, but also remembers that visits by senior officials of ASEAN countries (Association that brings together 10 nations of South-East Asia) to North Korea are "very rare".

Other observers note, however, that the North Korean regime is in urgent need of food and agricultural products and this represents "an opportunity" for Cambodia. Phnom Penh offers rice, wheat and potatoes. For years the government has initiated policies to boost exports of food, so much so that Prime Minister Hun Sen has set as a target to market one million tons of rice by 2015 aboard.

Cambodia Struggling to Meet Asean Integration

2011-07-28T19:39:00.003-07:00

Foreign ministers and government officials attend the US - Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in Nusa Dua on Indonesia's resort island of Bali, July 23, 2011 (Photo: AP)

Thursday, 28 July 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“All kinds of consumer goods are imported. All these things slow down economic growth and the progress of our economy.”

Cambodia’s economy is lagging behind other Asean countries, making it hard to meet the level of other Asean countries, finance officials said Wednesday.

Cambodian and Asean economic officials were meeting in Phnom Penh to push for economic integration for 2015.

Hang Chhuon Narong, secretary of state for the Ministry of Finance, said Cambodia was facing inflation of 6.5 percent, which was curbing economic growth.

Cambodia’s per capita GDP of $830 is less than all other Asean countries except Burma’s $400, he said. By comparison, Singapore’s is $35,000; Thailand’s is $4,000; and Vietnam’s is $1,200.

Yem Ponharith, secretary-general of the Human Rights Party, said during the meeting that Cambodia lacked local markets for production and consumption.

“All kinds of consumer goods are imported,” he said. “All these things slow down economic growth and the progress of our economy.”

Chan Sophal, president of the Cambodian Economic Association, said Asean countries had done well to narrow development gaps, but years of war and strife put Cambodia well behind its neighbors.

“We have to work hard to push our economy toward a higher rate, not just growth of 5 percent, 6 percent or 7 percent, but growth up to 9 percent or 10 percent,” he said. “Then Cambodia can move close to some countries around us.”

The World Bank is projecting a 6.7 percent economic growth rate for Cambodia this year. That figure is lower than the Cambodian Economic Institute’s estimate of an 8.7 percent rate.

Champion Rower Seeks Justice in Brother's Khmer Rouge Killing

2011-07-28T19:39:00.001-07:00

Kerry Hamill, sailing with his then-girlfriend, Gail Colley, in the 1970s. (Photo: Rob Hammil)

Rob Hamill, testifying in 2009 at the trial of the Khmer Rouge's "Duch." (Annie Goldson)

July 28, 2011
Sarah Williams | Washington, D.C.
Voice of America

Olympic rower Rob Hamill is on a quest. Not for gold, but for justice. Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge captured and killed his brother, Kerry, in 1978. And now, Hamill is fighting to bring the murderers to justice. That quest is the subject of a new documentary, “Brother Number One,” which premiered this week at the New Zealand International Film Festival.

The cameras followed Hamill as he retraced his brother’s path through Cambodia and testified at the first U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal of former Khmer Rouge leaders. The New Zealander said he realized he needed to pursue the case while competing in the first trans-Atlantic rowing race 1997.

Feeling the pain

“Whether it was the ocean, being on the sea, or whether it was just the exhaustion and on the edge sort of, I ended up grieving for Kerry at sea.” Hamill told VOA in an interview. “I realized at that time I was going to have to do something, at some point. I didn’t know when that would be or how that would look, but it was certainly going to be at least a trip to Cambodia, along the path that Kerry took.”

He went on to testify at the 2009 trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Comrade Duch, who controlled the Tuol Sleng prison where Kerry was held in Phnom Penh. Hamill was accompanied by documentary filmmaker Annie Goldson and researcher James Bellamy.

Hamill said sitting in the Phnom Penh courtroom was wrenching.

“I wrote my testimony, which in itself is hard, dragging up all those painful memories. Then having to deliver it, all the pain and the sequence of events, and talking about my brother’s suicide, as a result of Kerry’s loss.”

Hamill was the only Westerner in the court, and he said Duch tried to stare him down from across the room. He said they locked eyes for a good 10 seconds in a standoff he called “chilling.”

“And I thought for a man who’s seeking forgiveness - he had converted to Christianity and said he was remorseful, and he was saying all the right things in the courtroom - that first interaction completely belied his words,” Hamill remembered. “Culturally, to stare at someone like that in a normal situation is rude, let alone in this courtroom where you are seeking forgiveness from your victims. He was completely the opposite. So he got off to a very bad start with me.”

The nightmare begins

Hamill’s brother, Kerry, may have stared at the same Khmer Rouge cadre three decades before. In 1978, the Hamill family’s world was forever changed. Twenty-six year-old Kerry had embarked on a sailing journey beginning in Darwin, Australia to his intended destination of Bangkok, Thailand.

But the boat veered off course to a small island in Cambodian waters. It came under fire and was seized by the Khmer Rouge. The Hamills eventually learned of Kerry’s fate through a newspaper article published months later.

“The article said that Kerry had been captured by the Khmer Rouge, had been incarcerated at Tuol Sleng prison, had been tortured and had been forced to sign a confession that he was a CIA agent and then had been executed,” Hamill said.

The news was devastating. Kerry was the oldest of five children and his siblings looked up to him. The second eldest brother John, just 14 months younger than Kerry, killed himself eight months after the family learned of Kerry’s passing.

Hamill’s parents mourned the sudden loss of their children and his mother, Esther Hamill, developed a debilitating illness.

“My poor parents, you know? What they went through. I feel more now an understanding of that pain and grief that they went through, as a parent myself now,” said Hamill.

Overcoming the odds

Despite the grief, Rob Hamill, the youngest sibling, grew up to become a champion rower, and represented New Zealand in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

He says he redirected his energies to make sure his brother and other Khmer Rouge victims were not forgotten. “I thought yes, this has to be told. And I realized people didn’t know much about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge,” he said.

The Khmer Rouge seized control of Cambodia in 1975. They killed an estimated 1.7 million people, a quarter of the country’s population, before being pushed from power by Vietnamese forces in 1979. The ultra-Maoist leader of the group, Pol Pot, died in 1998.

The U.N.-backed tribunal is set to open its second case, focusing on the four senior surviving members of the Khmer Rouge. It has accepted Hamill as a civil party in that case as well.

Unfinished business

But there is a third case involving two former military commanders, including a naval commander whom Hamill believes could have released Kerry when he was first captured.

“He could’ve decided, look, this guy’s not coming to blow up our country or attack our country in any way, and let them go. And he chose not to.” he said.

The tribunal rejected Hamill's application to testify, calling his testimony inadmissible on what he called “the most flimsy of grounds.”

“To me, it indicates that there is political pressure, outside pressure into their court, that now could be in continuing cases to be brought forward. I find that very, very frustrating,” he said.

Hamill is not alone. Critics of the tribunal have accused two of the judges of closing Case 3, without interviewing the suspects or visiting where alleged atrocities may have been committed.

Cambodia's government denies involvement in the court hearings. Siegfried Blunk, one of the court's international jurists, told VOA Khmer this week that the co-investigating judges have to determine whether the suspects are among those most responsible for Khmer Rouge crimes. He said no final decision has been made whether to pursue Case 3.

Hamill is watching closely. He says he holds the suspects in that case as responsible as Duch for his brother's death.

Malaysia, Cambodia Looking At Cooperating In Producing Military Assets- Zahid

2011-07-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (R) with Tea Banh (Photo: DAP-news)

From Rhoma Ahmad Razali

PHNOM PENH, July 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Cambodia plan to forge cooperation in producing military assets, said Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the details would be worked out by the top brass of the militaries of the two countries.

"As Cambodia has a peacekeeping force, several military equipment can be produced together initially. For example, when Malaysia makes the change to replace the M16 assault rifle to the M4 version, Malaysia is also given permission to share the intellectual rights for the assembly of the M4 with several other countries.

"Cambodia welcomes Malaysia's proposal to cooperate in joint production of military assets and maybe also with some other countries towards realising regional collaboration in the defence industry," he told Malaysian journalists after calling on Cambodia's deputy prime minister and defence minister Tea Banh at the latter's office here Thursday.

He said stressed that the cooperation was merely to advance the defence industry regionally and was not aimed at forming any military blocs.

Ahmad Zahid, who arrived here Wednesday for a three-day visit, paid a courtesy call on Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen following the meeting with Tea Banh.

Marseille win Super Cup classic

2011-07-28T03:50:00.001-07:00

Marseille edged out Lille 5-4 in a controversial French Super Cup clash at Stade de Tanger, Morocco, on Wednesday.

Florent Balmont scored the only goal of the first half, netting in the ninth minute for Lille following an Eden Hazard free-kick, but the second stanza turned into a goal frenzy late on.

Belgian midfielder Hazard doubled Lille’s lead on 57 minutes, before Andre Ayew scored the first of his hat-trick in the 71st minute to put Marseille on the board.

Moussa Sow replied one minute later, getting on the end of a Ludovic Obraniak pass, to reinstall Lille’s two-goal buffer, which looked to have sealed more silverware for last season’s Ligue 1 champions.

But Marseille – who finished runner-up last season, eight points in arrears of Rudi Garcia’s men – fought back in memorable fashion, scoring twice in two minutes via Jeremy Morel’s low strike and Loic Remy’s header.

Didier Deschamps’ side then took the lead when Ayew scored his second goal on 90 minutes from the penalty spot, with Lille’s Aurelien Chedjou was sent off for a second yellow for conceding the spot kick.

But there was another twist in the tale as Lille squared proceedings after a final thrust forward, with Montenegro defender Marko Basa’s scoring with a header in the second minute of injury time to make it 4-4.

But Ayew stole the limelight once more, stepping up to seal his hat-trick with another penalty, this time in the fifth minute of injury time to win it for Marseille.

The final goal was clouded in controversy, as it seemed Jordan Ayew – brother of hat-trick hero Andre – dived to earn the spot-kick.

Champions League qualifying wrap: Dinamo, Benfica take control

2011-07-28T03:49:00.003-07:00

Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb came from behind to beat Finnish side HJK 2-1 in their opening third-round Champions League qualifying leg.

HJK took the lead at Sonera Stadium on 14 minutes through midfielder Alexander Ring, but the hosts’ advantage was cancelled out by an own goal from Brazilian midfielder Rafinha five minutes later.

The deadlock ensued until midway through the second half, when another Brazilian –midfielder Sammir – scored to put Dinamo in control of the tie ahead of their second leg in Zagreb.

Benfica took the upper hand in their tie with Turkish side Trabzonspor after a 2-0 victory in Portugal.

Spanish substitute Nolito and Argentine midfielder Nicolas Gaitan were the goalscorers for the victors.

Copenhagen took the spoils after a 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers in Denmark came courtesy of Solvi Ottesen’s fourth-minute goal.

Maccabi Haifa fought off Slovenian outfit Maribor 2-1, with Nigerian midfielder Dele Yampolsky providing the winner for the Israeli champions.

Czech side Viktoria Plzen recorded a valuable 1-0 away victory over Norway’s Rosenborg, the win coming via the goal of new signing Vaclav Pilar.

Danish club Odense BK scored a 90th-minute equaliser to draw 1-1 at home with Greek side Panathinaikos.

Standard Liege and Zurich traded late goals to draw 1-1 in their first-leg clash in Belgium.

FIFA: Goal-line technology possible next year

2011-07-28T03:49:00.001-07:00

Goal-line technology could be introduced in national leagues as early as next July, according to FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

FIFA have thus far resisted calls for the introduction of the technology but several high-profile incidents, including Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal in England’s defeat against Germany at the 2010 World Cup, have seemingly swayed football’s governing body.

Blatter has revealed that a decision will be made at the meeting of the International Football Association Board next March, with technology potentially in place by July.

“We will have on the next international board at the beginning of March next year a final decision on the goal-line technology,” Blatter told reporters in Rio de Janeiro.

“If it will prove to be accurate and to be affordable, then it is possible the international board will decide goal-line technology shall be introduced for the World Cup 2014.”

Nine companies are reportedly in talks with FIFA over supplying the equipment, with the governing body insisting that the technology should relay a final decision to the controlling referee within a second of a line-ball decision.

Five-year Senegal ban for Diouf

2011-07-28T03:48:00.003-07:00

The Senegal FA have hit Blackburn Rovers forward El Hadji Diouf with a five-year international ban.

The former national captain was suspended for discrediting Senegalese officials and ignoring a summons to appear at a disciplinary hearing.

The 30-year-old was unlikely to represent his country again – regardless of the ban – as he announced his retirement from international football in 2007 and again in 2009.

He is, however, allowed to appeal the decision.

A Senegal FA statement read: “The Disciplinary Committee, after deliberation, inflicted on professional footballer El Hadj Diouf Ousseynou a five-year suspension from all football activities with effect from the date of notification of this decision.”

Diouf had described Senegalese football officials as ‘corrupt people and destroyers of the country’s football.’

Controversy is no stranger to the former Liverpool and Bolton striker. Diouf has been disciplined on multiple occasions for spitting at fans and players during games, and was also condemned for taunting Queens Park Rangers player Jamie Mackie as he lay with a broken his leg in an FA Cup clash earlier this year.

Diouf did not join his Blackburn team-mates on a pre-season tour of Austria, with manager Steve Kean later saying the controversial player is likely to leave the club.

Diouf is a two-time winner of the African Footballer of the Year award.

Brazilian Serie A wrap: Epic wins for Flamengo, Sao Paulo

2011-07-28T03:48:00.001-07:00

A Ronaldinho hat-trick has steered Flamengo to a remarkable 5-4 victory over Santos in the Brazilian Serie A on Wednesday.

Santos stunned the visitors to lead 3-0 after just 26 minutes at the Estadio Urbano Caldeira, with Borges netting a brace in the opening 16 minutes, before Neymar nabbed his first.

Former AC Milan star Ronaldinho led the charge back for his club, pegging back the first goal in the 28th minute, before Thiago Neves made it 2-3 four minutes later.

Deivid capped up a stunning first half by netting the equaliser on 44 minutes to set up a tantalising second stanza, which lived up to expectations.

Neymar produced a moment of individual brilliance six minutes after the break to restore the hosts’ lead, but that only set the stage for a Ronaldinho masterclass that would ultimately win the game for Flamengo.

The former FIFA World Player of the Year levelled proceedings at 4-4 in the 68th minute, before completing his treble with an 81st minute strike.

The win moved Flamengo into third spot, just four points from the league leading Corinthians, while Santos are level with relegation-placed Bahia, but have two games in hand.

Coritiba could not mirror Flamengo’s mercurial fighting efforts, but they would have lost no supporters in their 4-3 home loss to Sao Paulo.

The visitors at Estadio Major Antonio Couto Pereira led 4-0 after 54 minutes, courtesy of goals to Carlinhos Paraiba, Juan, Dagoberto and Lucas Silva.

They also had the numerical advantage, as Coritiba’s Davi had been shown a red card when his side were trailing 3-0.

But the hosts were not to be denied that easily, as a brace from Bill as well as a Rafinha goal gave Sao Paulo some nervous final moments.

But the visiting side held on, despite also finishing with 10 men after Denilson received a straight red on 90 minutes.

The win helped Sao Paulo stay one point ahead of Flamengo in second place.

Botafogo came from a goal down to beat Avai at home 2-1, a result which keeps the losers second last on the league table.

A Felipe brace helped Atletico GO beat Cruzeiro 2-0 at home, with the victors leaping one point clear of the drop zone accordingly.

Palmeiras and Atletico Mineiro racked up 1-0 wins over Figueirense and Fluminense respectively, while Gremio were kept to a 1-1 home draw by Atletico Mineiro.

SPL preview: Motherwell eye top spot, Rangers seek redemption

2011-07-28T03:47:00.003-07:00

Motherwell have an ideal chance to extend their lead on top of the Scottish Premier League table when they travel to Kilmarnock on Saturday.

After the opening round of fixtures last weekend, Stuart McCall’s Motherwell share first place with Celtic, who have been forced to postpone their league encounter against Dunfermline on Saturday due to a pre-arranged tournament – the Dublin Super Cup.

Motherwell can exploit this to jump clear of the pack, and follow on from their 3-0 defeat of Inverness in their opening game at home.

Rangers, who drew 1-1 with Hearts in the opening round, will be keen to send a strong message to the competition on the weekend when they travel to St Johnstone.

The reigning champions also suffered an embarrassing home defeat to Swedish club Malmo in the Champions League qualifying stage in midweek.

Ally McCoist’s men are still alive in the European competition with a second leg to come in Sweden, and the Glasgow giants can help rebuild their confidence with the three points at McDiarmid Park.

Inverness can start afresh for their first home game of the campaign when they take on Hibernian at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium.

St Mirren and Aberdeen go head to head at St Mirren Park, with both sides coming off 0-0 draws to open the season.

Hearts and Dundee will do battle in the lone Sunday fixture, with the former looking to repeat their heroics that saw them take a point away from Ibrox on the opening day.

Hernandez sidelined with concussion

2011-07-28T03:47:00.001-07:00

Manchester United forward Javier Hernandez will be sidelined for 'a couple of weeks' after spending a night in hospital due to concussion.

The Mexico international was injured during training prior to United's 4-0 win over the Major League Soccer (MLS) All-Stars in their friendly clash on Wednesday.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the 23-year-old, who scored 13 goals in his debut English Premier League season last campaign, had spent the night before the game in hospital.

"He got concussion in training and we dealt with that," he said.

"We took him to hospital, he had a scan. It was all clear. He is back in the hotel. He is in his room and will be out for a couple of weeks."

The setback rules Hernandez out of United's friendly against Barcelona on Saturday, but Ferguson said he would not have taken part anyway due to a heavy schedule that saw him help Mexico to the CONCACAF Gold Cup title in June.

"He would never have been available for Barcelona anyway because he has just come back from his break after the Gold Cup," Ferguson said.

"He will travel with us though. He is okay for that."

Ferguson's team hammered the MLS All-Stars 4-0 thanks to goals from Anderson, Park Ji-Sung, Dimitar Berbatov and Danny Welbeck.

United finish their tour of the US with a re-match of the UEFA Champions League final, which Barcelona won 3-1.

Kop คิด Kop ทอล์ค : [ ระลึกถึง"ค่ำคืนที่อิสตันบูล" ]

2011-07-28T03:43:00.001-07:00

7 ปีกว่า ที่ผ่านมา เหมือนเวลาเพิ่งผ่านเอง และ ในคืนวันนี้ ลิเวอร์พูล จะลงทำเกมอุ่นเครื่องกับทีม กาลาตาซาลาย ทีมดังจากตุรกี และ นี่จะเป็นการย้อนเวลากลับมาอีกครั้ง ไปในยังค่ำคืน อิสตันบูล ยังจำกันได้หรือเปล่าในปี 2005

25 May 2005 คุณทำอะไรอยู่

เป็นวันที่ผมเฝ้ารอคอยนัดชิงชนะเลิศระหว่าง เอซี มิลาน กับ ลิเวอร์พูล นี่คงเป็นครั้งแรกที่เห็นทีมทีเชียร์ มานานแสนนานได้เข้าชิงในยูฟ่า แชมเปี้ยนลีค ในวันนั้นนั่นเอง ท่ามกลางกองเชียร์ที่โดดเดี่ยวไร้ผู้คน ผมต้องดูร้านที่ทำงานอยู่คนเดียว เพื่อนๆก็ชวนกันออกไปดูตามผับบ้าง ตามร้านอาหารบ้าง ปล่อยผมคนนี้อยู่หน้าจอทีวีคนเดียว

และแล้วเวลาที่รอคอยก็เริ่มต้นขึ้น อย่างที่ตั้งใจจดใจจ่อมาตลอดทั้งวัน แต่ทว่าเกมการแข่งขันไม่เป็นใจอย่างที่คิด ตอนแรกคิดว่าจะสู้ได้สูสีกว่านี้ กลับต้องมาเห็นทีมลิเวอร์พูล โดนนำครั้งแล้วครั้งเล่า ถึง 3-0 เสียงนกหวีดจบครึ่งแรกสิ้นสุดลง และเป็นไปไม่ได้เลยว่าคนรักฟุตบอลและรักทีมลิเวอร์พูลอย่างผม จะไม่บ่นพึมพัมกับตัวเองว่า "แมร่งเล่นเชี่ยอะไรว่ะ" เข้ารอบมาได้ขนาดนี้เล่นได้แค่นี้เองหรอ....เครียดมากเลยในตอนนั้น

ความเศร้าเสียใจของแฟนบอลเดอะค็อปที่เห็นทีมโดนนำถึง 3-0 บ้างก็ก้มหน้าเสียใจ บ้างก็ร้องไห้ฟูมฟายแถบไม่อยากเชื่อสายตาตัวเอง

จบครึ่งแรก คุณทำอะไรกันอยู่

ตอนแรกคิดว่าไม่มีทางไล่ทันแน่นอน ระดับทีมอย่างเอซี มิลาน ที่ขึ้นนำ 3-0 จะพลาดท่าอะไรให้ง่าย นักเตะเอซี มิลาน ตอนนั้นก็ถือว่าอยู่ในช่วงพีคเลยก็ว่าได้ ไม่ว่าจะเป็น ดีด้า เนสต้า สตัม คาฟู มัลดินี่ จัดว่าเป็นชุดป้องกันที่แข่งแกร่งเลยก็ว่าได้ กองกลางที่มีอยู่ไม่ว่าจะเป็น เปียร์โล่ กัตตูโซ่ เซดรอฟ กาก้า และกองหน้าสุดฮอต เชฟเชนโก้ และ เครสโป นั่นเอง

ด้วยนักเตะที่กล่าวมานี้นั้นทำให้ผมคิดไว้ว่า ยากนักหรือไม่มีทางเป็นไปได้เลยว่าลิเวอร์พูล จะพลิกหรือมีโอกาสชนะในคืนนั้นเลย อยากจะลุกขึ้นไปปิดทีวี และ ไม่อยากรับรู้เรื่องราวที่อยากให้ฝันร้ายนั้นผ่านไปโดยไว

แต่แล้วก็คิดว่า ไหนๆก็มาถึงขนาดนี้ล่ะเชียร์ให้มันจบไปเลยละกันว่ะ ได้คืนมาสักลูกสองลูกก็ยังดี อย่าโดนเพิ่มเละให้อายเขาละกัน..พอเริ่มครึ่งหลังผมเลยมานั่งหน้าจอทีวีต่อ หวังดูให้มันจบภายใน 90 นาที

มันเป็นอะไรที่สุดยอดมากเมื่อได้เห็นเดอะค็อปที่ตามเข้าไปเชียร์ต่างลุกขึ้น และร้องเพลง You 'll Never Walk Alone ก็ยังจะตะโกนร้องเชียร์ต่อไปเพื่อเป็นแรงผลักดันให้ทีมลุกขึ้นสู้ ยามที่นักเตะหมดแรงและเหนื่อยล้า มันเป็นภาพที่เราเห็นบ่อยๆในยามที่ทีมไล่ตาม หรือ ได้รับชัยชนะ นี่คงเป็นเสียงเพลงเหมือนราวปาฎิหาิร์ยในค่ำคืนนั้น

แต่แล้วด้วยอะไรดลใจทำให้ลิเวอร์พูลและผมมีความหวัง เมื่อกัปตันเจอราร์ดผู้เป็นทุกอย่างของทีม ในยามที่ผู้เล่นต้องการ ได้ขึ้นโหม่งพังประตู พร้อมกับวิ่งกระตุ้นเพื่อนร่วมทีมและเดอะค๊อปในสนามที่ อิสตันบูลในคืนนั้น เสียงตะโกนแหกปากดังเอาลั่นร้านของผมเหมือนคนบ้าที่แหกปากอยู่คนเดียว เล่นเอาคนในร้านถึงกับสะดุ้ง

และภาพที่สองมือของเจอราร์ดที่กระตุ้นเพื่อนร่วมทีมยังจำติดตาอยู่จนถึงทุก วันนี้ และผมยังใช้เป็น 1ใน2ท่าดีใจ ในการเล่น PES ไม่แพ้ท่าจูบแหวนของราอูล เลยทีเดียว

และทำให้ผมนึกถึงลูกปาฎิหาริย์ที่ เจอราร์ดเคยทำไว้ในการยิง โอลิมเปียกอส ทำให้ผ่านเข้ารอบมาได้อย่างเหลือเชื่อ

และมาได้ลูกที่สองอย่างรวดเร็ว จากการยิงไกลของซมิเซอร์ เมื่อนั้นผมคิดว่าโอกาสมันยังไม่ปิดลง เริ่มเห็นแสงสว่างที่ทีมมีโอกาสจะไล่ตีเสมอแล้วในตอนนั้นนั่นเอง

และใครมันจะไปคิดล่ะครับว่าลิเวอร์พูลจะสามารถไล่มิลาน 3 ลูก ภายในเวลาไม่ถึง 10 นาที จากซมิเซอร์ และ มาได้จุดโทษ...แต่แ้ล้ว อลอนโซ่ เกือบจะเป็นฝันร้ายของเค้าเลยก็ว่าได้ ก่อนที่เค้าจะเตะนั้นภาพของ โีรแบร์โต้ บาจโจ้ มักลอยมาเข้าหัวผมอยู่เสมอ เมื่อได้เห็น เทพบุตรลูกหนังอิตาลี พลาดจุดโทษฟุตบอลโลก 94 เพราะวินาทีนั้นเป็นลูกสำคํญที่พลาดมานั้นอาจจะหมายถึงจุดเปลี่ยนหรือแพ้เลย ก็ได้

อลอนโซ่เล่นเอาเดอะค็อปทั้งโลกน่้าจะใจหายเมื่อยิงไปติดผู้รักษาประตูแต่แล้วก็ตามไปซ้ำได้อย่างเด็ดขาดที่ชนิดแถบจะเสยคานเลย

และปฎิหาร์ยจะไม่เกิดขึ้นถ้าทีมไม่ได้รับชัยชนะหลังจากต่อเวลามา เอซี มิลาน บุกอย่างอุตลุด ดูเด็ค ฮีโี้ร่ ในคืนนั้น เหมือนวิญญาณเข้าสิงสามารถปัดปกป้อง ลูกอันตรายไว้ได้หลายต่อหลายครั้ง แม้กระทั่งลูกโทษที่เซฟทำให้ทีมได้รับรู้ถึงความรู้สึกว่าปาฎิหาร์ยมันมี จริง

7 ปีเศษ ที่ผ่านมา ความรู้สึกเหมือนเพิ่งผ่านมาเอง..อดีตที่ไม่สวยงามคงไม่มีใครอยากจะจดจำแต่ สำหรับผมในคืนนั้นคงเป็นอดีตที่ต้องจดจำไปอีกนานแสนนานสำหรับการดูบอลที่ เป็นเรื่องราวเหมือนละครชีวิตที่มีความดราม่า ความเศร้าเสียใจ..แต่สุดท้ายจบแบบแฮปปี้นั่นเอง

Liverpool Team UCL 2005 ณ ปัจุบัน พวกเค้าทำอะไรกันอยู่

11 คนแรก

GK 1 Jerzy Dudek หลังจากย้ายออกจาก ลิเวอร์พูลไปอยู่กับ รีลมาดริดเป็นสำรองได้ 4 ปี ก็ประกาศแขวนถุงมืออย่างเป็นทางการ....แต่มีข่าวแว่วๆว่า ลีดส์ ยูไนเต็ด สนใจที่จะคว้าตัวไปร่วมทีมอยู่เ
หมือนกัน

RB 3 Steve Finnan หลังจากย้ายออกจาก ทีมปอร์ทสมัธ ตอนนี้น่าจะยังว่างงานอยู่....

CB 23 Jamie Carragher 1 ใน 2 ผู้เล่นที่ยังหลงเหลืออยู่ จากอคาเดมี่ของลิเวอร์พูล ผู้ที่รับใช้สโมสรมาอย่างยาวนานกว่า 10 ปี

CB 4 Sami Hyypi ไปค้าแข้งอยู่กับเลเวอร์คูเซ่น และได้อันดับที่ 2 ในลีคบุนเดสลีก้า คว้าตั๋วไปเล่นแชมเปี้ยนลีค ในฤดูกาลที่กำลังจะถึงนี้นั่นเอง

LB 21 Djimi Traore คนนี้ลูกสกัดม้วนตัวเข้าประตูตัวเองของเค้ายังทำให้ผมติดตาอยู่จนถึงทุก วันนี้ ... ตอนนี้น่าจะยังค้าแข้งอยู่กับโมนาโก ที่ตกชั้นไปอยู่ ลีคเดอ ไม่แน่ใจว่าโดนยกเลิกสัญญาไปแล้วหรือยัง

DM 14 Xabi Alonso ย้ายออกจากลิเวอร์พูลไปซบชุดขาว รีลมาดริด ยอดทีมแห่งสเปน และเคยมีข่าวเปรยออกมาเหมือนกันว่าถ้าเป็นไปได้อยากกลับมาเล่นทีมลิเวอร์พู ลอีกสักครั้ง

RM 10 Luis Garcia ตอนนี้ไปค้าแข้งต่างแดนที่กรีซ กับทีมพานาธิไนกอส ทีมชั้นนำของลีคนั่นเอง เป็นผู้เล่นที่มีสีสัน และลูกยิงสวยๆอยู่เสมอคนนี้

CM 8 Steven Gerrard คงไม่ต้องเอ่ยถึงสรรพคุณสำหรับผู้เล่นคนนี้ ... ที่สาวกเดอะค็อปแค่เอ่ยชื่อขึ้นมาก็รู้ว่าความสามารถของเค้านั้นสุดยอดจริง ผู้เป็นทุกสิ่งของทีมลิเวอร์พูลกับตันเจอราร์ด

LM 6 John Arne Riise ตอนนี้ได้เซ็นสัญญา 3 ปีย้ายมาที่กรุงลอนดอนเล่นให้กับ ฟูแล่มด้วยค่าตัว 2.4 ลป. คาดว่าจะได้เห็นแข้งผีตีนระเบิดคนนี้ในเวทีพรีเมียร์ลีคกันอีกครั้ง

SS 7 Harry Kewell คนนี้ยังเจ็บไม่เลิกเหมือนกันครับ ย้ายไปเล่นให้กับกาลาตาซาลาย และฤดูกาลหน้าไม่ได้รับการต่อสัญญาใหม่ ข่าวว่า จะกลับไปเล่นที่ A League บ้านเกิดของเค้าที่ ออสเตรเลีย นั่นเอง สโมสรไทยสนใจกันบ้างเปล่า?

CF 5 Milan Baros ตอนนี้ยังไปค้าแข้งอยู่ที่แดนไก่งวง กาลาตาซาลาย

สำรอง

GK 20 Scott Carson ในช่วงต้นกรกฎาคม 2011 สก็อตได้ย้ายไปเล่นให้กับ สโมสร Bursaspor ใน ตุรกี นั่นเอง

DF 17 Josemi โฆเซมี่ ได้เซ็นสัญญาให้กับสโมสร Iraklis Thessaloniki ในกรีซ ช่วงเดือนสิงหาคม 2010 และย้ายกลับมาเล่นที่สเปนให้กับ FC Cartagena ลาลีก้า 2 ในช่วงซัมเมอร์ที่จะถึงนี้

MF 16 Dietmar Hamann จะเริ่มต้นเป็นผู้จัดการให้ สต็อคพอร์ท เค้าตี้ ในเดือน ก.ค. ที่จะถึงนี้ ซึ่งสต็อคพอร์ท เค้าตี้ มีผลงานในลีคทูที่แย่เอามากๆ ชนะ 9 นัดจาก 46 นัด ทำให้ทีมตกไปอยู่นอกลีค ...และเป็นความกดดันของฮามัน ที่ต้องทำให้ทีมขึ้นมาอยู่ ลีค 2 อย่างเร็วไวภายในเวลา1ปี

MF 18 Antonio Nunez จำกันได้หรือเปล่า ? ได้ไปค้าแข้งให้กับ ลีคไซปรัส ตั้งแต่เดือน ส.ค.2009 ให้กับทีม Apollon Limassol นั่นเอง

MF 25 Igor Biscan ย้ายกลับไปเล่นให้กับ Dinamo Zagreb และในวัย 32 ปีของเค้า มีอาการบาดเจ็บที่จะต้องผ่าตัดและหากการวินิจฉัยออกมาไม่ดีนั้นนี่อาจจะเป็น สิ้นสุดชีวิตการค้าแข้งของเค้าที่ต้องแขวนสตั๊ดนั่นเอง

FW 9 Djibril Cisse น่าจะเป็นการกลับไปเจอเพื่อนเก่าของเค้าสำหรับซิสเซ่ ในการไปเล่นให้พานาธิไนกอสนั่นเอง สำหรับเจ้าของทรงผมผู้นำแฟชั่น ไม่น่าเชื่อนะครับว่าจะเล่นได้นานขนาดนี้หลังจากได้อาการบาดเจ็บขาหักทั้ง สองข้าง ใจสู้จริงๆเพื่อฟุตบอลที่รัก และ ล่าสุดได้ย้ายไปเล่นให้กับ ลาซิโอ ครับ

FW 11 Vladim micer ตอนนี้ซมิเซอร์ได้เปลี่ยนบทบาทจากผู้ช่วยโค้ช เป็นผู้จัดการฝ่ายกีฬาของทีมฟุตบอลแห่งชาติสาธารณรัฐเช็ก ทำงานร่วมกับ โค้ช ไมเคิล ไบเร็ก ซมิเซอร์ยังให้ความสนใจเมื่อครั้งที่ลิเวอร์พูลมาแข่งยูโรป้าลีคกลางเดือน กุมภาพันธ์

Manager : Rafael Benitez ผู้ทำความฝันให้เดอะค็อปเป็นจริง......และทำให้เข้าใกล้กับคำว่าลุ้นแชมป์พรีเมียลีค ตอนนี้กำลังว่างงานอยู่..หลังจากออกอินเตอร์

ชุดนี้ล่ะครับ ยูฟ่าแชมเปี้ยนลีค 2005 ของ ทีมลิเวอร์พูล ที่สร้างปาฎิหาร์ย ในค่ำคืนที่อิสตันบูล..........เรื่องราวของผมก็มีเพียงเท่านี้ล่ะครับ

A last stand

2011-07-27T07:55:00.002-07:00

Local patriarch: Meas Mut during an interview at his home in Samlot, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold close to the Thai border

"I am not interested with the Khmer Rouge court, because everything is already over" - Khieu Moeun, former Khmer Rouge soldier

As Cambodia's war crimes tribunal battles accusations of political interference in its inner workings, a suspect in a politically sensitive future case pleads his innocence

Monday, July 04, 2011
by Sebastian Strangio
Southeast Asia Globe (Cambodia)

At the height of the monsoon season, Ta Sanh Cheung village, like thousands across Cambodia, blazes with emerald green. Its main road – really more of a rutted track – coils through walls of lush foliage framing a line of square wooden homes and the occasional field of maize, scraped away to reveal patches of pitch-black earth.

The village lies in Samlot district in Cambodia's west, a former stronghold of the communist Khmer Rouge and flashpoint of the country's decades-long civil war. Today, it remains one of the most heavily mined regions on the planet: an estimated 3% of its residents are amputees.

At a quiet end of Ta Sanh Cheung village stands a three-storey wooden home, topped with satellite dishes and blue ceramic tiles – a lavish residence by local standards. The home's owner is Meas Mut, the former commander of the Khmer Rouge navy.

The 72-year-old, with thinning, ash-grey hair and a permanently furrowed brow, was one of the last Khmer Rouge commanders to defect to the government in 1999 in return for amnesty and a symbolic post in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces – the evident source of his current wealth.

Hundreds of kilometres away in the capital Phnom Penh, Meas Mut's name has appeared on documents leaked from the country’s war crimes tribunal, set up to try surviving members of the Khmer Rouge regime. Along with Sou Met, the ex-commander of the Khmer Rouge air force, Meas Mut is accused of the torture, killing and forced labour of tens of thousands of people during the regime's 1975-79 rule.

Historians say the two men played a direct role in the arrest and transfer of purged local Khmer Rouge cadres to Phnom Penh's notorious S-21 prison, where many were subsequently tortured and killed. A 2001 paper by Stephen Heder and Brian Tittemore said the pair attended regular meetings of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea, indicating their "close involvement and knowledge of the Party's arrest, interrogation and execution policies".

When I first came across him, Meas Mut was asleep in a hammock strung up over a wooden platform outside his home, one leg dangling listlessly. A book of Buddhist parables lay on a nearby chair, a slip of paper marking the page. The wooden planks below were littered with discarded rambutan skins. As he stirred and propped himself up, an assistant brought him a pair of dark green trousers, draping them over the back of a chair.

If looks are any indication, there is little about Meas Mut to indicate complicity in mass atrocities. The one echo of his time as a Khmer Rouge military commander is his voice. In response to questions about the allegations being made against him, Meas Mut answered in a slow, measured tone, almost inaudible: the manner of one unused to being interrupted.

Like many former Khmer Rouge, Meas Mut said ultimate responsibility for the upheavals of the day should be borne by the United States for its bombing of the country in the late 1960s, and by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who threw his support behind the Khmer Rouge insurgents after his overthrow by General Lon Nol in 1970.

"I did not create the war. I was a victim that was forced to join in with the war," he said, fashioning home-grown tobacco into a stubby facsimile of a cigarette. "If the court does not sentence those from the beginning and only starts to sentence at the end and in the middle, how can it be fair?"

As head of the navy, Meas Mut said he was tasked with protecting the country's coast and islands from invasion, but flatly denied any suggestion he was involved in mass atrocities. "I was a lower officer who was willing to protect Cambodia's independence and neutrality, and prevent Cambodia from being controlled by foreigners. I was not a Khmer Rouge leader," he said, drawing on his cigarette. "If I did bad, I couldn't sleep here in a hammock. Somebody might throw a stone at me or sometime might take a knife and kill me, but I am living in safety."

Meas Mut was born in Kampot, in the south of Cambodia, in 1939. During the civil war of the 1970s, he rose through the military ranks in the Khmer Rouge's Southwest Zone, then under the control of his father-in-law Ta Mok – nicknamed 'the butcher' for his brutal purges of the area.

Since his defection to the government in 1999, Meas Mut has reinvented himself as something of a local Buddhist patriarch, bankrolling the construction of a new pagoda in the village and showering the local villagers with sagely aphorisms ("If we have happiness, we should not affect others' happiness," he told me. "If you give someone happiness, other people will give you happiness back"). It is a strange turn for a senior member of a regime that banned religion and press-ganged tens of thousands of Buddhist monks into forced labour camps.

Indeed, many villagers described Meas Mut as a 'good Buddhist' and a patriot, who offered them advice about everything from farming and business to spiritual matters. "Since we have lived here, we have never seen him do a bad deed," said Suo Chok, a 54-year-old former Khmer Rouge soldier wearing a tattered t-shirt printed with the words 'Let's Build A Clean Society'. "If he sees us do something bad, he calls us to his home and gives us advice."

Suo Chok said the talk of indicting Meas Mut at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, known officially as the Extraordinary Courts in the Chambers of Cambodia (ECCC), had prompted alarm in the village. "I was so angry when I heard the news on the radio that his name is listed in Case 003 and they want to send him to prison. As a soldier he never killed people – they just sent him to the frontline to protect the border. It is the ECCC's fault. They just accused him without evidence."

Court disorder

Whatever his culpability, Meas Mut will probably never see the inside of a courtroom. In recent months, the tribunal has been plagued by suspicions, internal rifts and a flurry of resignations over the issue of whether to pursue Meas Mut and Sou Met, the subjects of the court's potential third case, known as Case 003.

On June 27, the ECCC lifted the curtain on its second trial, in which four senior Khmer Rouge leaders – 'Brother No 2' Nuon Chea, foreign minister Ieng Sary, head of state Khieu Samphan and minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith – face charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in the regime. The first trial – that of former S-21 jailer Kaing Guek Iev, also known by his nom de guerre Duch – ended in a conviction in July of last year.

But the start of the second trial and, with it, the promise of justice long delayed has been overshadowed by apparent moves to quash the case against Meas Mut and Sou Met, which has long been opposed by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Last year, Hun Sen told visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon that any indictments beyond Case 002 were "not allowed". Cambodian judges on the hybrid court have parroted the premier's line and critics have taken aim at the UN's apparent inaction over the issue.

The controversy came to a head in late April when the ECCC's two co-investigating judges, You Bunleng of Cambodia and Siegfried Blunk of Germany, announced the completion of their investigation into Case 003. The problem, according to critics, is that the judges had failed to interview the suspects or any witnesses in the sensitive case; they also conducted few investigations at mass grave sites linked to the alleged crimes. The swiftness of the investigation was seen as evidence that the court was gearing up to bury the case, with the alleged collusion of international staff.

"It was transparently deceitful," Theary Seng, a human rights activist and victims advocate, said of the closure of the Case 003 investigation. "The judges have a duty – it's not an option – to investigate. They have failed in their duty to investigate and they have failed to inform the public." The co-investigating judges have also remained silent about Case 004, involving three mid-ranking Khmer Rouge officials.

The turmoil has since deepened. At least four Western legal staff from the investigating judges' office have reportedly resigned over the handing of Case 003. One of the four, Khmer Rouge expert Stephen Heder, wrote to Blunk complaining of the "toxic atmosphere of mutual mistrust generated by your management of what is now a professionally dysfunctional office".

Recent events have pushed the Open Society Justice Initiative, an organisation funded by the US billionaire George Soros, to call for a UN investigation at the court, focusing on 'questions of judicial independence, misconduct, and competency'. A spokesman for Ban Ki-Moon has rejected the call.

The longstanding conflict between the Cambodian and international sides of the tribunal reflects the political compromise that gave birth to the hybrid court, which awkwardly pairs foreign and Cambodian judges. But court observers say the fate of Cases 003 and 004 will be a test of the tribunal's credibility and its ultimate legacy.

"It could be incredibly significant," Anne Heindel, a legal adviser for the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which researches Khmer Rouge history, said of the current controversy. "If the court is seen as not fulfilling its procedure, as not adhering to the rules, then it will taint the entire process, including Case 001 and Case 002. There's no way you can separate Case 003 out from what's come before."

Elusive justice

In addition to eating into the ECCC's credibility, the controversy over Case 003 also raises questions about the meaning of justice for rural Cambodians, and how many people need to be indicted to account for the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. Theary Seng said there was no "magic number" of how many should be prosecuted and indicted, but that Meas Mut, who she claims was responsible for the death of her own parents under the regime, should be among them.

"It's not surprising he should deny his role, but he can't deny the weight of evidence. He can't deny the testimonies that run into the tens of thousands," she said, adding the five current indictees were clearly not enough. "The current five are not sufficient for the crimes that took the lives of 1.7 million Cambodians."

Where to draw the line, however, is a complicated question. Back in Samlot, residents said the ECCC has gone far enough with its second case and warned of local unrest should Meas Mut be detained. Another former cadre in Ta Sanh Cheung, 65-year-old Soeun Bich said locals were on the alert for any attempt to put Meas Mut on trial. "I will not allow the ECCC to arrest him and bring him to Phnom Penh. We will protest because he is too old. Please let him to live here and respect the Buddha," she said.

Khieu Moeun, 61, a haggard former soldier wearing a cast-off police uniform, echoed the views of many when he said he was willing to bury the past: "I am not interested with the Khmer Rouge court, because everything is already over. I don't want to be reminded."

Cambodia’s ‘orphan tourism’ sparks concern

2011-07-27T07:55:00.001-07:00

Short-term volunteers may have good intentions, but childcare experts say they are putting some of the most vulnerable children at risk. — Photo by AFP

Wednesday, July 27, 2011
AFP

SIEM REAP: Pictures of hundreds of former volunteers line the walls of a muddy courtyard in Cambodia’s tourist hub of Siem Reap, their faces once familiar to the orphans playing there but now long gone.

The colourful gallery at the Acodo orphanage illustrates a growing trend of holidaymakers donating their time and skills to children in the impoverished country — but experts fear they could be doing more harm than good.

Marissa Soroudi, a student in her 20s from New York, is one of the many volunteers teaching English at Acodo, near the famed temples of Angkor and home to more than 60 orphans between the ages of three and 18.

The young American, who pays $50 a week to work at the orphanage, plans to stay for a few days before travelling on but she knows it is tough on the children to watch volunteers like her come and go.

“There are so many people volunteering that it’s kind of like, one leaves and another swoops in,” she said.

“They say better not to talk about it with them. Don’t say ‘I’m leaving in a week’, don’t do any of that because then they get upset. Better to just not come.”

Short-term volunteers may have good intentions, but childcare experts say they are putting some of the most vulnerable children at risk.

“Constant change of caregivers gives emotional loss to children, constant emotional loss to already traumatised children,” Jolanda van Westering, a child protection specialist at the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) told AFP.

“And the constant exposure to strangers poses risks of harm, of violence and abuse, because we know that oftentimes volunteers come to an orphanage without having their backgrounds checked.”

As the gateway to the ancient temples of Angkor — which attract more than a million visitors a year — a steady stream of tourists passes through the sleepy riverside town.

And many want to do more than just sightsee in one of the region’s poorest nations.

On notice boards in hotels, cafes and souvenir shops, wide-eyed children stare from posters for schools and orphanages, encouraging travellers to donate time and money for their particular cause.

“Visitors see some poverty and they feel bad about it,” said Ashlee Chapman, a project manager with Globalteer, an organisation that matches volunteers with local organisations.

“They want to do something,” she adds, saying they might visit a children’s project for a few hours, donate money and toys, “take a holiday snap and feel that they’ve contributed.”

As the so-called volunteer tourism sector flourishes, so too does the number of institutions housing children.

In the past six years, the number of orphanages in Cambodia has almost doubled to 269, housing some 12,000 children, according to Unicef.

Friends International, a local organisation that works with marginalised urban children and youths, says tourism has contributed to the increase.

Visiting orphanages has become a tourist “attraction” in big cities like Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, said Marie Courcel, alternative care project manager at Friends International.

That in turn encourages the institutionalisation of youngsters, many of whom are very poor but actually have at least one living parent, she said.

Only one in 10 of the orphanages are funded by the state, the rest rely on charitable contributions to survive.

At Siem Reap’s Acodo, huddled with the children in the shade of the only tree, Soroudi organises the afternoon activity.

Following her lead, the orphans make headpieces out of grass and add licks of paint to green and yellow conical hats, costumes they will wear in that evening’s traditional Khmer dance show.

The daily half-hour event attracts a tourist crowd who thank the young performers with donations of money.

Van Westering said she worried about the dangers for children who are expected to raise funds for their care by begging or putting on shows for tourists.

“They have to do their best and they hear that also if they don’t there isn’t enough money for their care,” said Van Westering. “You can just imagine what that does to children to live in that kind of insecure environment.”

Her advice to tourists pondering a brief working stint at an orphanage is simple: “Don’t go. Give blood, support a community-based organisation that provides day activities for a child but where the children go home at night.”

Betsy Brittenham, an interior designer in her 50s from Arizona, and her 15-year-old daughter Alex are spending three weeks as volunteer teachers at one such place, the Grace House Community Centre, where the children return to their families each evening.

The mother and daughter team, who planned their trip months in advance, say volunteering at a reputable centre is a chance to make a difference in a country with fewer resources and opportunities than their own.

Like the volunteers at Acodo, Betsy pays for the privilege of working on her holiday but she sees no downsides to the experience.

“When you volunteer like this you’re bringing your money and you’re making tremendous strides and teaching their children,” she said. “It’s something you can’t put a price on.”

Is Daran Kravanh a New Hope for Cambodia and the Khmer People or a Misleading Demagogue?

2011-07-27T07:54:00.003-07:00

Daran Kravanh (Center)

Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Opinion by Kravan Issara

The 1997 coup d’état by forces loyal to Hun Sen and the CPP that overthrew Prime Minister Ranariddh of the Funcinpec Party made Hun Sen the Prime Minister and the CPP the sole political party in Cambodia.

Since then, there has been no political party able to bring hope to the Khmer people of unseating Hun Sen and the CPP. During the dictatorship of the last 30 years, Cambodia has seen more and more Vietnamese settlers in Cambodia, from Bavet (on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border) to Poipet (on the Cambodian-Thai border).

Where are the other political parties – the Funcinpec party, the NRP, and the Sam Rainsy party? They are dying out due to internal problems.

Recently, a new political party was born, the “Khmer Anti-Poverty Party” (with the acronyme KAPP). Daran Kravanh is the President and Sophin Ourn is the Vice-President of the KAPP.

Who is Daran Kravanh? He is a young, energetic nationalist. He has dedicated his life to making Cambodia a free country and to bringing democracy and justice to Cambodia in less than two years. He is a candidate for Prime Minister and hopes to replace Hun Sen in 2013, or before the election. He has been campaigning and holding fundraisers in many cities such as Long Beach, San Diego, Boston, and Fresno. His campaign strategy is a strong one: showing that his political party stands out from other parties because his party has several American consultants who are advising him and the other leaders of the KAPP.

Daran Kravanh has promised his supporters and the Khmer communities that, “We will replace Hun Sen without an election before 2013.” He always mentions Cathy Allen (CEO of the Connection Group in Seattle), Barbara Shotwell, Dr. Stanley Tsao, Bree (Daran’s wife?), and about other countries such as Japan, Canada, Germany etc.that are supporting him to be the next Cambodian Prime Minister without an election. In addition, in May 2011, in Portland, Oregon, during a small group meeting, Daran has stated with certainty that the United States is going to remove Hun Sen and replace him and his ruling party in Cambodia. He has gone so far as to inform a few of his leadership team that he has had several meetings with the US secret team (under the code name “Black Glasses”) to discuss plans to remove Hun Sen from power (as Gaddafi is being removed in Libya), and to replace him with Daran as the future Cambodian Prime Minister without an election. He has drawn up a plan for the structure of his future government, members of Parliament (MPs), and members of the Senate. He has stated that his future government will abolish the “Royal Kingdom” and make important changes to the “République.”

In reality, what Daran is telling his group and the Khmer communities is not true. If we listened carefully to the speech made by Cathy Allen at the fundraising in Long Beach, California in 2010, we are aware that Cathy Allen NEVER confirmed what Daran has been claiming. In her speech, Cathy Allen said, “I have the best job in the whole world. My job is to find new world leaders and get them ELECTED.” As this statement implies, the so-called “American consultants” are helping Daran and his group by training them in strategies that will be effective in the election campaign heading to the 2013 elections. They have organized leadership training classes for his group, so they can learn how to run successful campaigns for the elections in the hope that the KAPP will win.

The reality is that Daran has misquoted Cathy Allen, and this could cause big trouble for her. On several occasions, Daran has told his supporters that Cathy Allen is Hillary Clinton’s Advisor, and that she can arrange for Daran to meet with Mrs. Clinton in March 2011 to discuss plans. But it never happend about the meeting. We are sure that Mrs Clinton never heard about Daran Kravanh whatsoever. Daran has stated that Cathy Allen has repeatedly told the KAPP group, “You do your job and we’ll do our job – no questions asked.” All along, he has maintained that this is a top secret plan.

Few times, Daran has even told us that a US secret team has taken him to an unidentified place and shown him the secret plans of the covered operations to remove Hun Sen.

Why has he made up this kind of misinformation? We know that he has wanted to attract more Khmer people to his party. Now, every individual in his leadership group is under the false impression that the KAPP has the backing of the US to remove Hun Sen without holding an election. This brings up the following questions:

Does Daran know what the consequences are of misleading and misinforming the public?
Does Daran know the relevant international law regarding what he has said to misinform the public? The bombing operations in Libya that were carried out by NATO forces were backed by a resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council. Without any international resolutions, the US cannot remove Hun Sen by force. This would be a violation of the international law.
Libyan affairs are different from Cambodian problems. Cambodia is not an independent country. Hun Sen takes orders from the Vietnamese (Dey khmer thaoke YOUN)

Therefore, it is incumbent upon Daran to stop making these false statements to the Khmer people inside and outside of Cambodia immediately. In reality, there has been no such promise from Cathy Allen or from the US that they are going to remove Hun Sen and replace him with Daran without having elections.

It is because of Daran’s false statements that we see so many Cambodian people coming to his fundraisings. They believe that the US will remove Hun Sen and will make Daran the next Cambodian Prime Minister. I am very sorry that our compatriots have been misled into believing in this dream. All of the top leaders in Daran’s party are dreaming about obtaining positions in a future Cambodian government led by Prime Minister Daran Kravanh.

Mr. Daran Kravanh, please be honest with your people, and especially with yourself. You can lie to others, but you cannot lie to yourself.

Kravan Issara

(Former UDT/SEAL team class of 74

Coronado Amphibious Base, San Diego, CA)

China’s Sun TV to Document Life of Hun Sen

2011-07-27T07:54:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
Voice of America

Cambodia says representatives of a Chinese television network have arrived in the capital, Phnom Penh, to open talks on a documentary about the life of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The official AKP news agency reported Tuesday that Chen Ping, chairman of China's Sun TV, discussed the plan this week with the minister of information, Khieu Kanharith. It said the network plans to make a documentary that will outline the activities and personal history of Hun Sen.

AKP said the minister welcomed the idea and promised to assist the network, providing coordination and all relevant documents.

Sun TV is based in Hong Kong and broadcasts in Mandarin to the Asia Pacific region.

In Pasadena Museum, a Trove of Khmer Treasure

2011-07-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

Dr. Melody Rod-ari stands near Khmer statues at the "Where Art Meets Science" exhibition at Norton Simom Museum in Pasadena, California on July 1, 2011. Where Art Meets Science exhibition displays ancient sculptures from the Hindu-Buddhist World. (Photo: Cheang Sophinarath, VOA Khmer)

Dr.Melody Rod-ari, an assistant curator of Asian art, stands next to the god Harihara at the permanent collection of Khmer Arts at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California on July 1, 2011. (Cheang Sophinarath, VOA Khmer)

Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Sophinarath Cheang, VOA Khmer | California

"I think today it is easy to forget that Hinduism was a very important religion in Cambodia and all of Southeast Asia, because today everyone practices Theravada Buddhism.”

Here in Pasadena, California, the Norton Simon Museum is well known for extraordinary collections of art from around the world. The exterior is designed in a modern style, with a curvilinear face. It’s not the kind of place you would expect to find one of the best collections of Khmer art in the US. But it’s here.

Giant Khmer statues greet the museum visitor, but the real trove is downstairs, where the museum’s Khmer collection shines bright.

Melody Rod-ari is the curator of the collection. She walked me through her favorite works.

“This is a sculpture of Harihara,” she explained. “He is half Vishnu and half Shiva. Harihara became very important to the Khmer kings. These types of sculpture were made all the way up to the 13th Century, but they were very popular from 7th to 9th. I think today it is easy to forget that Hinduism was a very important religion in Cambodia and all of Southeast Asia, because today everyone practices Theravada Buddhism. But Hinduism was very important, so we have a lot of these earlier Hindu images.”

She beckoned me closer. On the rights side was Vishnu, holding a conch shell, a chakra wheel and a mound of earth specific to Cambodian art. “In Indian art, he does not hold the mound of earth,” Rod-ari said. “He holds the lotus flower and the club.”

Harihara’s face had just half of Shiva’s third eye, with matted hair. “It is believed that Shiva does not like to take showers, so that’s why he has the dreadlocks,” she said. “This is not a very large sculpture, just about 26 inches, but in terms of quality it is very fine.”

Her favorite, she said, was a giant image of Vishnu.

“He is larger than life and bigger and taller than any person that you would meet,” she said as we stood before the statue. “Something this large would have been inside of the temple. The surface of this sculpture is shiny; this is typical of what you would have seen during the Angkor period. This is because the artist wanted to make sure that the object was beautiful.

“This is not just the image of the god,” she said. “It’s supposed to represent the real gods themselves, so Vishnu is supposed to be embodied in this image.”

Vishnu held a ball of earth, “absolutely a Cambodian invention,” she said. “You don’t see this in any other place.”

The 10th-Century statue had holes in his earlobes, a testament to his importance, Rod-ari said.

“He probably wore real gold earrings and bracelets, rings, and necklaces and real clothes,” she said. “So these are the star pieces at the Norton Simon Museum.”

Rod-ari is currently cooperating with the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where a visiting collection of bronze sculptures from the National Museum of Cambodia is on display.

She held the first half of an appreciation workshop at the Norton Simon over the weekend, to help demonstrate Hinduism and Buddhism, how they came to Cambodia, “and how objects were used, that they were not just objects, they were actually gods and goddesses,” she said. “People actually love and took care of them.”

This Saturday, she’ll move to the Getty, where she’ll use the “Gods of Angkor” bronze exhibit to help students learn about Angkor Wat and its history.

The Norton Simon also has an exhibit that ends Aug. 1 called “Where Art Meets Science,” designed to show how difficult finding the origin of an art object can be. This exhibit also focuses on the Khmer art collection at the museum.

Between that exhibit and “Gods of Angkor,” now is the best time to see premier collections of ancient Khmer art.

“The Norton Simon Museum has a good collection of the art,” Rod-ari said, “but to have the bronzes from the National Museum in Phnom Penh was a real treasure for all of us who live in Los Angeles.”

Court Calls Three Demonstrators for Assault on Police

2011-07-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last year, the rights group Adhoc counted some 200 ongoing land disputes, with more than 300 protesters subsequently arrested. (Photo: by Heng Reaksmey)

Sun Bun Chhuon telling the cops to shoot him during the demonstration in Kampong Speu

Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“The powerful and rich win in their complaints to the court, the poor wait only to suffer.”

Kampong Speu provincial court has sent a summons to three villagers to answer allegations of violence in a 2010 clash with police in a land demonstration.

The three men, who deny assaulting the police, say they are afraid the summonses will mean their arrest.

“The powerful and rich win in their complaints to the court,” said Sun Bun Chhoun, who is among those summoned. “The poor wait only to suffer.”

The charges against the three stem from a protest in Udong district in 2010, where villagers say they were being pushed off 65 hectares of land by a private company.

When police attempted to break up the demonstration, officials say 14 villagers and 10 police were injured. In a similar second clash in June, seven villagers and three police were reportedly injured.

The Kampong Speu investigating judge, Iv Borin, summoned Sun Bun Chhoun, 40; his brother, Sun Bun Chhin, 48; and his nephew, Chhaya Chetha, 24, to answer for the clashes. They are expected to appear in court Aug. 9. They face five years in jail under the Untac penal code if found guilty.

Sun Bun Chhoun said he will answer the summons, but he told VOA Khmer that police, who were armed with weapons, shields and batons, were to blame for the violence.

They fired into the air and threatened the demonstrators, he said. “We did not tolerate this, and began to take up clubs to fight back in self-defense. This was a fair thing, and it didn’t injure any police at all.”

Twelve police in all filed complaints against the three men.

Sun Bun Chhoun said he had done nothing wrong, and if the court arrests him next month, “it will be a surprise to the villagers.”

Am Sam Ath, head of investigation for the rights group Licadho, urged the court to consider no detention and to look more closely at the land dispute at the root of the problem.

“We can solve the land dispute to avoid penal charges against those who have suffered in the land dispute, in fear of losing their land,” he said.

Last year, the rights group Adhoc counted some 200 ongoing land disputes, with more than 300 protesters subsequently arrested.

Life as seen through the lenses of the Kingdom of Wonder

2011-07-27T07:50:00.001-07:00

The character on the front porch in various positions

Holy story retold by Lucky Unlucky

Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this tale may or may not be fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental ... sometimes.

On the first day, God created the dog and said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said, "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?"

And God saw it was good.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?"

And God, again saw it was good.

On the third day, God created the cow and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?"

And God agreed it was good.

On the fourth day, God created a one-eye human and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But the one-eye human said, "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?"

"Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why for his first twenty years, he ate, slept, played and enjoyed himself as a KR commander. For the next forty years, he slaved in the sun to support his Viet boss family. For the next ten years, he do monkey tricks, such as land-grabbing etc…, to entertain the grandchildren of his cronies. And for the last ten years, he sits on the front porch and bark at everyone on TVK and almost every other TV and radio stations in Cambodia.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service. If you are looking for me I will be on the front porch.

Now, folks, you have learned Cambodia's modern history. Amen!

Kingdom of Wonder No More: Tiger's lair on Norodom Blvd.

2011-07-27T07:49:00.002-07:00

Mansion on Norodom Blvd. under construction for at least 4 years, allegedly belonging to a lady who owns the majority share of Tiger beer. Thus, the Tiger's lair.

Kigdom of Wonder No More: We proudly feature Vietnamese companies and stores

2011-07-27T07:49:00.001-07:00

Some countries, such as China, proudly feature US stores. No Sir, not in the Kingdom of Wonder, we proudly feature Vietnamese owned stores and buildings.

Metfone Co. building. Metfone belongs the Vietnamese army

Metfone building and a partial view of Cambodia's largest supermarket

Cambodia's largest supermarket ... the Viet Nam supermarket

Don't mess with my 70-year-old Grandma!

2011-07-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Grandma Sao Run shows her Bokator skills (Photo: Koh Santepheap)

http://www.box.net/shared/z4u3xftomi8s9a1ya9qm

Abhisit demands Cambodia pullout [-Abhisit's last bravado?]

2011-07-26T19:31:00.001-07:00

Changing of the guard: National police chief Pol Gen Wichean Potephosree visits border patrol officers in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province yesterday. He plans to deploy the units in the disputed area with Cambodia in place of soldiers following the International Court of Justice’s order for a demilitarised zone to be set up on the common border. (TAWATCHAIKEMGUMNERD)

22/07/2011
Bangkok Post

Outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is demanding Cambodia withdraw its soldiers from the disputed area near Preah Vihear temple before Indonesian observers enter the zone.

In response to a report that Cambodia wants Indonesian observers to enter the disputed area before its military pulls out, Mr Abhisit said yesterday Thailand was standing firm on its original demand that Cambodia withdraw its troops first.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Monday that Thailand and Cambodia should withdraw their soldiers from the disputed area and let observers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) deploy pending its consideration of a Cambodian petition concerning ownership of the area.

"If Cambodia wants to cite the court order to bring observers there right away, Cambodia must withdraw its troops first," Mr Abhisit said.

"Cambodia is the party that filed the petition with the court and the court told Cambodia to withdraw its troops right away."

Mr Abhisit demanded that Cambodia enter talks with Thailand as the two countries' stances on troop withdrawals were still different.

He said Cambodia had not yet contacted Thailand about talks.

Mr Abhisit said the Foreign Ministry would take three to four months to prepare Thailand's opinion on Cambodia's request for the ICJ to interpret Cambodia's ownership of the area near Preah Vihear temple.

The Thai opinion will reach the international court in time so that the ICJ judges can give their ruling before five of the 15 justices are replaced by next February, he said.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya yesterday called for a fair withdrawal of troops by both sides and urged Cambodia to discuss the issue with Thailand.

He also said the effects of the ICJ's order were too extensive for the Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee (GBC) to handle.

Meanwhile, army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha said his troops remained in the disputed area pending negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia.

National police chief Pol Gen Wichean Potephosree visited border areas in Si Sa Ket province yesterday to prepare for the future deployment of border patrol units in place of soldiers in compliance with the ICJ's demilitarised zone order.

He said police had withdrawn from border areas with Cambodia in 1978 to make way for soldiers and they would have to review their database on border areas and revive relations with their Cambodian counterparts.

People living near the Thai-Cambodian border in Si Sa Ket and Surin provinces conducted evacuation drills yesterday.

The drills were aimed at ensuring that people in the area can be evacuated effectively in the event of any further border clashes.

Untold Story Of Kiwi Kerry Hamill's Murder

2011-07-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

Kerry Hamill

Untold Story of the Murder of New Zealander Kerry Hamill New Book Reveals Details

Imagine your handsome son, venturing off on the yachting voyage of a lifetime, dashing off postcards from exotic spots across Southeast Asia, and then vanishing. In response to frantic queries, the New Zealand government investigates, discovers the young man was tortured and killed by soldiers of a genocidal regime, and then drops the case. News outlets briefly report, and then abandon the story. History forgets.

This is the story of Whakatane native Kerry Hamill, seized in August 1978 while sailing a 28-foot, Malaysian bedar named Foxy Lady off the coast of Democratic Kampuchea, as Cambodia was called under the murderous Khmer Rouge. On the eve of the New Zealand release of a film about Kerry’s awful fate, a new book uncovers fresh details.

Foxy Lady – Truth, Memory and the Death of Western Yachtsmen in Democratic Kampuchea is an investigative journalist’s account of one of history’s most intriguing footnotes: the murder of four Americans, two Australians, an Englishman, a Canadian, and New Zealander Kerry Hamill by Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge.

Foxy Lady chronicles the life and times of Kerry Hamill’s friend and crew mate, Canadian Stuart Robert Glass – his restless youth in British Columbia; his travels across Europe, North Africa and Asia; his forays into drug smuggling; his brutal 1978 death on board Foxy Lady. Stu’s friends, Kerry Hamill and Englishman John Dewhirst, suffer a worse fate – dragged off to the Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng death house in Phnom Penh, charged with being CIA spies, tortured for a few months and then killed.

As Stuart’s life unfolds, Foxy Lady charts the course of a parallel universe – Pol Pot and his gang boring their way to power. It focuses on the career of the Khmer Rouge’s chief executioner, Kaing Guek Eav, alias ‘Duch’. It was Duch who conveyed the orders that Kerry Hamill and the other yachtsmen be killed and their bodies burned to ashes. Duch was the first Khmer Rouge leader to be tried for his crimes, by an international tribunal in Phnom Penh, in July 2010. The trial of Democratic Kampuchea’s most senior leaders (Case 002) began on June 27, 2011. Full testimony starts this fall.

The tireless quest for justice by Kerry Hamill’s brother – champion New Zealand rower Rob Hamill – is the subject of a documentary film entitled “Brother Number One,” directed by filmmaker Annie Goldson, scheduled for debut on July 24 in Auckland. For New Zealanders who see the film – and those who don’t – Foxy Lady is a must-read.

About the Author:

Dave Kattenburg was born on Long Island in 1953. He holds bachelor and Ph.D. degrees in biology and health sciences, teaches university science courses and produces radio stories on global environment, development and social justice issues. Documentaries arising from his travels have appeared on CBC Radio, Radio Netherlands, Free Speech Radio and his own site www.greenplanetmonitor.net. David currently resides at the epicenter of North America, Winnipeg. http://www.foxyladyachtsmen.com