Cambodia warns Thailand again in border spat

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat speaks to Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh October 13, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat (L) shakes hands with Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong before meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh October 13, 2008. Sompong Amornvivat is in Cambodia for a one-day official visit and to discuss the border dispute issue. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat (L) shakes hands with Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong before meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh October 13, 2008. Sompong Amornvivat is in Cambodia for a one-day official visit and to discuss the border dispute issue. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong speaks to the media after meeting with Thailand's Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh October 13, 2008. Amornvivat is in Cambodia for a one-day official visit and to discuss the border dispute issue. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Mon Oct 13, 2008

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia accused Thailand on Monday of trying to send troops across their disputed border, warning that such a provocation could eventually lead to "large scale conflict."

Deputy Defense Minister General Neang Phat said more Cambodian troops were heading to the area after up to 500 Thai soldiers had tried to cross the border near an ancient Hindu temple claimed by both countries.

"We are building up our troops at the border in response to Thailand, but I cannot reveal the number," he told reporters.

After talks in Phnom Penh with his Thai counterpart, Sompong Amornvivat, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said further provocations could trigger another shooting incident. Three soldiers were wounded in a brief clash on October 3.

"This could lead to a large-scale conflict," he told reporters.

Sompong, who was due to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen later on Monday, did not speak to reporters and Thai officials in Bangkok denied any attempted incursion.

"Invasion? What invasion when the land is claimed by both sides?" army spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd told Reuters.

The standoff began in July and centers on 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple that sits on a jungle-clad escarpment dividing the countries.

The argument started when protest groups seeking to overthrow the Thai government criticized Bangkok's backing of Cambodia's bid to list Preah Vihear as a U.N. World Heritage site.

Both sides have claimed Preah Vihear for decades. The International Court of Justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962, a ruling that has rankled many in Thailand ever since.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Ed Cropley and David Fox)

Unemployment of Khmer Youth Presently Increasing

Posted on 13 October 2008
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 581

“Unemployment of Khmer youth in Cambodia presently increases by approximately 300,000 young people every year. I5f the Royal Government does not hurry to effectively solve this challenge how to build up human resources and how to alleviate poverty in time, it will lead to a crisis.

“The president of the Khmer Youth Association in Phnom Penh, Mr. Him Yun, said that the reason why most youth at present cannot get a job, results, according to research, from the lack of an information system that would provide employment information to young people at schools, both private and public, and from the lack of information about work experiences, because different institutions and ministers do not care, making youth to take up subjects without much clarity whether or not they do meet the requirements of the labor market nowadays.

“Mr. Him Yun said, ‘If a large number of young people are unemployed, one cannot depend on them as an important national resource, so there is no proper income to support their living. Workshops at each university should also have a job section for youth at their university, and that section should make efforts to contact employers so that the young people have a chance to contact their work.’

“Similarly, the executive secretary of the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Associations in Phnom Penh – CamFEBA – Mr. Som Chamnan, said CamFEBA, in cooperation with the International Labor Organization – ILO – had conducted research related to youth unemployment which had found that the reason is the mismatch between skills supplied and skills needed on the job market.

“Mr. Som Chamnan added that employers or the private sector needs less people with management skills, but many students study this skill, while the market for manager positions is small, and those who study management will find it difficult to find a job when they have graduated. On the other side, for some skills there is a huge demand at the job market, but there is a lack of workers, for example, experts or technicians for the garment sector - but there are not many institutions providing training, and there are not many people who study in this field.

“An official of CamFEBA stated that, after researching to find the root causes of this problem, they published a report during a workshop held late last week in Phnom Penh, in which officials of some civil society organizations, officials of the Royal Government from the Ministry of Labor, and from other related institutions participated .

“The official said also that this publication aims to publicize this information for the general public, and to ask the Royal Government to help solve the unemployment of youth as soon as possible.

“Mr. Som Chamnan continued to say, ‘Especially the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Education have to be educated, so that they know the real needs of our job market, because there is no information available about the job market in Cambodia; this is the first research that provides ideas to create an education policy for Cambodia, in order that the educational institutions know how to create training programs to respond to the needs.’

“Regarding this issue, an undersecretary of state of the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training, Mr. Oum Mean, said that the Royal Government, particularly his ministry, has gradually helped to solve youth unemployment through different provisions of professionalism, but as for precise data, he does not know them, as he was not in the office at that time.

“The acting director of the Khmer Youth Association in Phnom Penh, Mr. Him Yun, added that nowadays, the Khmer Youth Association has made efforts to find ways to help young people to obtain jobs at different organizations and communities, specifically also helping to exchange work experiences with some countries like Sweden and Korea.

“He said also that after gaining experience, most of those youth are competent to get a job, however, the number of people that the association has helped is small; so they do not expect that this will help solve youth unemployment, but it is a burden for the Royal Government to solve.

“Mr. Him Yun continued that if the government does not carefully consider how to provide better information openly, like through volunteer services at different ministries, departments, or institutions, and by providing them experience at state institutions, also with the help from civil society organizations, it seems like wasting resources, since the youth is an important resource for national development.

“A Social Sector Officer of the Asian Development Bank – ADB – Mr. Ma Sophea, had reported to Radio Free Asia that the ADB is implementing an aid project with an amount of US$45 million – a big part of this is to help the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sport.

“The same official said that the other US$27 million from the ADB for the period 2008 to 2014 aim to strengthen the quality of general education to increase the access for youth to education, so that they can get jobs more easily, as well as to build up the human resources in Cambodia for a better future.” Khmer Sthapana, Vol.1, #114, 11.10.2008
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Thai, Cambodian ministers fail to solve border row

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers on Monday failed to solve a border dispute that recently erupted into a brief military clash.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Cambodia called for more talks to prevent further escalation after the Oct. 3 cross-border gunfight that wounded one Cambodian and two Thai soldiers.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met for two hours with Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat in the first high-level encounter since the gunfight.

The shooting occurred in a disputed border area several miles (kilometers) west of Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Both sides claimed the other fired first and blamed each other for being on the wrong side of the border.

In the statement, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry proposed more talks to settle the border issues peacefully "to avoid further unwarranted hostilities."

But if the bilateral process fails, the two countries should "refer to the legal process of international institutions" to resolve the problem, the statement said without elaborating.

The Thai foreign minister did not speak to reporters after the meeting.

The one-day visit was a courtesy call by Sompong as new Thai foreign minister, said Tharit Charungvat, the ministry's spokesman.

Both countries have long claimed Preah Vihear, but the World Court awarded it to Cambodia in 1962. Sovereignty over some of the land around the temple, however, has not been clearly resolved.

Tensions flared July 15 after UNESCO, the U.N. agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have the Preah Vihear temple named a World Heritage Site. Both sides deployed troops to the border.

There has been a limited troop withdrawal from the area since, and talks have been held several times to resolve the conflicting claims, but without much progress.

Cambodia, Thailand set time frame to resolve border disputes

www.chinaview.cn

2008-10-13

PHNOM PENH, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Thailand decided to resume their border talks between Oct. 21 and Oct. 24 in Siem Reap province, after both foreign ministers met briefly here Monday morning.

Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornviwat arrived in Phnom Penh earlier Monday and held a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong in order to restart negotiations to resolve the months-long military spat at the border area.

The two sides will hold meeting in the Cambodian province to discuss redeployment of the remaining troops at the border area, said a press release from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

In addition, the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) of the two countries will conduct meeting between Nov. 3 and Nov. 7 in Cambodia, in order to speed up the survey and demarcation work in accordance with bilaterally recognized documents and MoU, it said.

Both foreign ministers will meet again between Nov. 19 and Nov.20 in Thailand, in order to push for final settlement of the overall border problems, it said.

This time frame aims to avoid further hostility at the border area and settle the border issues between the two countries peacefully and amicably as soon as possible, it said.

Meanwhile, Hor Namhong told reporters at a press conference held after the two-hour ministerial meeting that both countries should agree to refer the issue to international institutions, if the scheduled talks fail to resolve the problems definitely, peacefully and amicably.

According to the press release, Sompong Amornviwat will later meet Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen.

In July, tensions ran high after the ancient Preah Vihear Temple was awarded world heritage status by UNESCO, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the site.

The tension immediately turned into a military confrontation, in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for six weeks. In mid-August, most troops evacuated and just a few dozen soldiers stationed near the temple.

However, bilateral talks to discuss withdrawing troops from around the temple were postponed late August amid political turmoil in Thailand.

In October at the border area, at least one Cambodian soldier and two Thai troops were wounded during an exchange of gunfire, and two other Thai soldiers were seriously injured after stepping on a landmine.

Editor: An

Thai FM to arrive for talks

THE PHNOM PENH POST

Written by Vong Sokheng and Sebastian Strangio
Monday, 13 October 2008

But cancelled PM visit will stall border negotiations

THE cancellation of Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's visit to Cambodia has dealt a new blow to negotiations to resolve the military standoff at Preah Vihear, but analysts say continued political upheaval in Bangkok risks taking a match to the combustible situation at the 11th-century Hindu temple.

The Thai premier cancelled his scheduled visit to Cambodia Friday in response to the growing turmoil in the Thai capital, a week after Thai and Cambodian troops were injured in a brief firefight near Preah Vihear.

Koy Kuong, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat is expected to arrive in Phnom Penh today for the scheduled talks with his counterpart Hor Namhong. However, analysts see the cancellation of Somchai's visit as a symptom of a deeper malaise in Thai politics and expect tensions to remain high on the border while the Thai troubles continue.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst based at Bangkok's Chulalangkorn University, told the Post that the situation in Thailand, which has seen activists of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) take to the streets in an attempt to force Somchai's resignation, will only undermine the border negotiations.

"The turmoil and confrontation in Bangkok are going to adversely affect Prime Minister Somchai's bargaining position," he said. "He is essentially being overthrown by the PAD, and he will not have the domestic support needed to negotiate the issue."

Local officials, however, have denied the cancellation will have an effect on the military negotiations, saying they are ready to talk.

"Negotiations at the military level will depend on the Thais," said Neang Phat, secretary of state at the Ministry of Defence.

But as accusations fly as to whose troops were responsible for the shootout earlier this month, Thitinan said the situation is primed for a fresh flare-up of violence.

"The situation is tense. It is very much touch and go now, and the stakes are so high something has to give," he said.

EXTRA: Cambodia says Thai troops turned back from mine blast site

The Earth Times

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Monday that Thai troops had been turned back during an apparent attempted foray to view the area where two Thai soldiers were severely wounded by landmines just days earlier. Hor Namhong said he had received word of the brief standoff during his several-hour-long meeting with his Thai counterpart Sompong Amornviwat in the capital which focused on resolving a simmering border dispute.

The area where the two Thai soldiers were wounded last week was Cambodian, Hor Namhong told reporters in a press conference after the meeting, and Cambodian troops had denied Thai troops access.

The blast site lies around 2 kilometres east of the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Hor Namhong said he had warned a general accompanying Sompong during the meeting that such advances into territory Cambodia maintains is sovereign and Thailand says is disputed placed additional strain on an already tense situation.

After the soldiers were injured, Thai media reports sourced to the Thai military accused Cambodia of planting new landmines to fortify its border since the beginning of the border dispute in July.

Cambodia has angrily denied the claims, saying Thai troops were warned the area was still only partially demined after its 30-year civil war, which ended barely a decade ago.

Khmer cartoons go commercial

Photo by: VANDY RATTANA; An animator at Cambodia’s first animation studio works on a commercial project – a public awareness short for a local NGO.

THE PHNOM PENH POST

Written by A
Monday, 13 October 2008

Anne-Laure PoréeBattambang ProvinceWith the country's first independent animated film now in production, a local studio is blazing a new trail for a domestic film industry crippled by illegal DVD sales

ANIMATORS in Battambang have begun work on Cambodia's first independently-funded animated film, scheduled for completion next year.

Since it opened in January 2007, the small animation studio at the Phare Ponleu Selpak Association (PPSA) - a few minutes from the centre of Battambang town - has built a commercial reputation by producing animated public service announcements for NGOs and other organisations. Their success has inspired the studio to start work on its first independently-funded short film.

Situated on the campus of PPSA, better known for producing local artists and acrobats, the animation studio is growing in stature on the reputation of director Poy Chhunly, 27, who won a number of awards last year for his short public awareness film Little Boy Drinking Bad Water.

The new film, a pre-colonial tale of two children travelling the country to seek a cure for their mother's illness, has no official completion date, but PPSA coordinator Jean-Christophe Sidoit expects the 10-minute feature to be completed in around 18 months, with the storyboard to be finalised in late March 2009.

A message that matters

Poy Chhunly is training a team of seven to complete the film, the script of which he co-wrote with the school's head drawing instructor, renowned artist Srey Bandol. The story's setting, which will alternate between the 13th and 17th centuries, necessitated that the authors approach local experts for advice in order to make the animation as true to life as possible.

"We want this animated film to be accurate in terms of culture and history," Sidoit said.

" We want this animated film to be accurate in terms of culture and history. "

The Royal Academy of Fine Arts sent historian Ros Chantrabot to the studio to answer questions pertaining to the period's culture and society. But for Ros Chantrabot, the commercial success of the film will depend on the message, not just the historical details.

"I believe that we share the same ideas on the main messages we have to pass to children - for example, to convince them to be persevering and courageous," Ros Chantrabot said.

Earning their keep

At PPSA animators are required to undertake at least five years' study with the school's drawing instructors before joining the commercial animation team.

Chim Li, 24, who has been at PPSA for six years, watched as a four-second fragment of animation played repeatedly on his computer screen. The studio pays its way with its NGO work - currently, they are working on four animation shorts commissioned by Oxfam, focusing on the theme of human rights in Cambodia.

Last week, the studio was hard at work on a three-minute film about four ek chay - children who survive by collecting and selling garbage in the city.

On Chim Li's computer, cartoon children walked in from the right of screen, while a little boy ran across from left to right. In the background a woman gave a package to her husband, and three birds alighted from a nearby tree. The scene seems simple, but Chim Li's role is to put colours inside line drawings and to check each movement again and again for any errors - a painstaking process.

Before the drawings are transferred to computer, the scenarios are sketched out on paper. The characters are drawn so as to be immediately identifiable to the public.

"Without a clear expression, there is no life in the characters nor in the film," Poy Chhunly said.After the drawings are digitised and the colour and movement added, the animators then have to edit the film and record voiceovers, sound effects and music.

"We have to put ourselves in the public's shoes to make sure they will understand everything," Poy Chhunly said.

It is a labourious way to produce a short cartoon, but the animators have succeeded in injecting a real Cambodian style into their films.

For Poy Chhunly, who cites the animation of the Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki as well as state-of-the-art American features like Shrek as inspiration, PPSA's work is managing to achieve about half of what Disney can with just a fraction of the resources.

Although he anticipates having to continue producing public awareness shorts to pay the bills, he believes that with an ambitious young team on side and a steady flow of work to keep them in business, Cambodian animation can achieve both creative and commercial success.

Border boundary dispute unresolved after Thai, Cambodian foreign ministers' talks

Thailand's Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat, left, talks during a meeting at Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affair in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008. Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers resumed talks Monday on lingering military tension along their border that recently erupted into a clash between the troops. (AP)

The China Post

APMonday, October 13, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia –– Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers failed to agree Monday in talks on their territorial dispute that recently erupted into a brief military clash.

In a statement issued after the meeting, Cambodia called for more talks to prevent further escalation after the Oct. 3 cross-border gunfight that wounded one Cambodian and two Thai soldiers.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met for two hours with Thai Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat in the first high-level encounter since the gunfight.

The shooting occurred in a disputed border area several miles (kilometers) west of Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple.

Both sides claimed the other fired first and blamed each other for being on the wrong side of the border.

In the statement, Cambodia's Foreign Ministry proposed more talks to settle the border issues peacefully "to avoid further unwarranted hostilities."

But if the bilateral process fails, the two countries should "refer to the legal process of international institutions" to resolve the problem, the statement said without elaborating.
The Thai foreign minister did not speak to reporters after the meeting.

The one-day visit was a courtesy call by Sompong as new Thai foreign minister, said Tharit Charungvat, the ministry's spokesman.

Both countries have long claimed Preah Vihear, but the World Court awarded it to Cambodia in 1962. Sovereignty over some of the land around the temple, however, has not been clearly resolved.

Tensions flared July 15 after UNESCO, the U.N. agency, approved Cambodia's bid to have the Preah Vihear temple named a World Heritage Site. Both sides deployed troops to the border.

There has been a limited troop withdrawal from the area since, and talks have been held several times to resolve the conflicting claims, but without much progress.

Cambodia warns over border spat

The Straits Times
Oct 13, 2008

PHNOM PENH - CAMBODIA accused Thailand on Monday of trying to send troops across their disputed border, warning that such a provocation could eventually lead to 'large scale conflict'.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said up to 500 Thai troops had tried to cross the border near an area where two Thai soldiers stepped on landmines earlier this month.

'Our troops at the border have asked the Thais not to encroach on our border,' he told reporters after talks with his Thai counterpart, Mr Sompong Amornvivat, in Phnom Penh.

'If so, there will be an armed clash. This could lead to a large-scale conflict,' he said.

Mr Sompong did not speak to reporters, but Thai officials in Bangkok denied there was any attempted incursion.

'Invasion? What invasion when the land is claimed by both sides?' Thai army spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said.

Bangkok and Phnom Penh have accused each other of unprovoked aggression since a border shooting incident on Oct 3 in which three soldiers were wounded.

After that clash, Cambodia warned Thailand that such 'armed provocation' could lead to conflict.
The standoff began in July and centres on 1.8 square miles (4.6 sq km) of scrub near an ancient Hindu temple that sits on a jungle-clad escarpment dividing the countries.

The two countries have swapped accusations of violating each other's territory in the dispute over land near at least three ancient temples along their border.

At least one Cambodian soldier and two Thai troops were wounded when units exchanged gunfire during a brief clash on October 3 near Preah Vihear temple.

Two other Thai soldiers were also seriously injured last week after stepping on a landmine near the ruins.

Talks to discuss withdrawing troops from around Preah Vihear were postponed late August amid political turmoil in Thailand.

Tensions flared in July after ancient Khmer temple Preah Vihear was awarded world heritage status by the United Nations cultural body Unesco, angering nationalists in Thailand who still claim ownership of the site.

Those tensions turned into a military confrontation in which up to 1,000 Cambodian and Thai troops faced off for six weeks.

Both sides agreed to pull back in mid-August, leaving just a few dozen soldiers stationed near the temple. However, much of the Cambodian-Thai border remains in dispute, and the slow pace of mine clearance has delayed demarcation.

Both sides have claimed Preah Vihear for decades. The International Court of Justice awarded it to Cambodia in 1962, a ruling that has rankled many in Thailand ever since. -- REUTERS, AFP

US navy repairing Cambodian relations, one villager at a time

The Earth Times

Mon, 13 Oct 2008
Author : DPA

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Hundreds of Cambodians have flocked to visit a free US military clinic set up during the visit of the destroyer USS Mustin, officials said Wednesday. The 155-metre-long USS Mustin (DDG-89), an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, arrived with its crew of nearly 300 to embark on a six-day goodwill mission Saturday and its medical crew is expected to have treated nearly 1,000 people by Wednesday, the US navy said.

The clinic includes free dental treatment and general medicine and has set up in a Buddhist pagoda in a poor fishing area called Prey Nop, which also has a high number of ethnic Muslim Cham.

"It's been very rewarding and diverse," said US naval doctor Mike Banforth, who said most patients were presenting with conditions easily treated with medication that they were just too poor to afford.

The goodwill visit - the third since war stopped US naval visits in 1975 - will also feature training programmes with Cambodian naval personnel and demonstration operations, including disaster rescue.

US-Cambodian relations are at a high not seen for decades, and the US has pledged continued humanitarian aid as well as non-lethal military assistance to the country's armed forces.

For Vong Bok, 45, part of a community where 40 per cent of the 5,000-strong population live under the poverty line, free medical care has won him over to the US, which many Cambodians still resent for its secret bombing raids of the 1970s and the subsequent rise of the Khmer Rouge, under which up to 2 million Cambodians died.

"I could never afford this. I welcome the US ship back anytime," said Bok after receiving medicine for a chest infection.

Prey Nop, a district of the southern seaport of Sihanoukville, is 240 kilometres from the capital Phnom Penh.

Cambodia’s higher education dreams confront stark reality

Gulf Times
Monday, 13 October, 2008

PHNOM PENH: She has two years to go until graduation, but already Cambodian student Chhum Savorn is filled with a sense of dread. The 21-year-old decided to major in finance, hoping she would acquire skills to help develop her country, which is one of the poorest in the world.

Instead, she thinks her education is nearly worthless —classes are mostly packed with indifferent, cheating students and led by under-qualified professors.

“The low quality of my studies means that I can’t help the country, and I’ll even have a hard time getting a job that pays enough to help my family,” she says. A growing number of eager young Cambodians are finding themselves duped into a higher education system that suffers from weak management and teaching because it is geared more towards profit than learning.

As a result only one in 10 recent graduates are finding work, a worrying figure in a country trying to rebuild after decades of civil war.

Cambodia’s schools were obliterated under Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s when the regime killed nearly 2mn people - including most of the country’s intellectuals - as it emptied cities in its bid to forge a Communist utopia.

But as the country rebuilds and the economy grows, it is inundated with institutions peddling low-quality education. In 2000, there were 10 post-secondary institutions in Cambodia.

Now there are 70 private and state-run universities.

Most programmes offered by those institutions are dismal, says Mak Ngoy, deputy director general of higher education at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.

“We are not yet satisfied with the current quality of our education,” Mak Ngoy says.

“I think increasing the number of higher education institutions is a positive sign, but we are struggling with the hard task of strengthening quality,” he adds.

Qualified university professors complain that many students rarely do their work and cheating is rampant.

A number of students are content to pay for a degree and do not realise the benefit of a good education, says Lav Chhiv Eav, rector of Royal University of Phnom Penh, the oldest and largest state-owned college.

“Some students are scared of studying hard and think what they need is any degree, not quality. The final result will be joblessness,” he says.

Most of Cambodia’s universities are small-scale institutions with limited capital, poor facilities and little discipline.

So far, the education ministry has ordered the closure of four institutions that called themselves universities, but gave little education to students.

Five years ago there was an attempt to fix Cambodia’s higher education sector, with the formation of a national university accreditation committee.

The committee was formed to force institutions to adhere to strict education requirements, but the World Bank pulled its funding for the scheme when it became clear the body would not be independent from government control.

With little official oversight, the quality of many Cambodian universities has worsened, while the number of Cambodians seeking diplomas has shot up.

More than 135,000 Cambodians are currently enrolled in some form of higher education, says the education ministry, compared to just 25,000 eight years ago.

The country remains mired in poverty despite double-digit economic growth, and Ma Sopheap, officer at the Asian Development Bank, says Cambodia will have trouble luring foreign investment if it does not start producing more qualified graduates.

“If the low quality of higher education continues, it will affect Cambodia’s economic development,” he says. “Then there is no way to reduce poverty.” – AFP

Land push behind ethnic conflict

Fairfax Media.
ANDREW WEST
13/10/2008 1:00:01 AM

IT HAS become almost a ritual in itself. A religious community proposes building a place of worship or learning, and encounters the wrath of thousands of residents.

There are furious mass meetings, petitions, legal challenges and sometimes even violence. On the face of it, Sydney looks like a city riven by ethnic and cultural hostility.

But the protests may be a sign of something much more basic - a competition between recent immigrants and Anglo-Celtic Australians for the dwindling amounts of cheap land. A report from the economic forecaster BIS Schrapnel, compiled late last week, found that "high land costs and affordability remain a challenge for the new housing market", especially in Sydney.

The number of residential plots released annually has fallen sharply, from 9000 in 2000 to fewer than 3000 plots each year since 2004. "This has resulted in new dwelling construction in Sydney falling to levels not seen since the 1950s," the report's author, Angie Zigomanis, said.

South-western Sydney and the Central Coast are particularly affected by the squeeze. But the land shortage and the persistent complaints from residents of south-west Sydney about poor government planning and land use decisions explain only part of the tension.

Research by Gabrielle Gwyther, a western Sydney academic, to trace the movement of immigrant communities over generations, helps to explain many of the social tensions in Sydney in the past decade.

Since 2001 there has been a rising consciousness - but not understanding - of Islam in Sydney. Several attempts to establish Muslim institutions have provoked a backlash from residents.

Dr Gwyther said: "It's often unclear whether people are talking about religion or terrorism when they raise objections."

The most recent outcry was when the residents of Austral campaigned to block a 600-place school for Muslim children.

Other faiths have encountered similar resistance. Hindus faced opposition to their plan for a temple at Rouse Hill, and the Hillsong Assemblies of God Church has battled with Rosebery residents over a proposal to build a 2700-seat auditorium.

But mostly it is Muslims who have felt the brunt of protest. The deputy chairman of the Islamic Council of NSW, Ali Roude, said: "This has historically been the trend and it appears that very little has changed over the past three to four decades.

"Based on recent responses from local residents to the proposed Camden school and other development applications … throughout south-western Sydney it would appear the real concerns and opposition from locals have little to do with the merit of the project but more to do with general anti-Muslim sentiments."

Dr Gwyther, a researcher at the Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney, refers to a "cultural protectionism" in south-western municipalities, which have tried to maintain their Anglo-Celtic character in the face of the movement of non-English-speakers from Sydney's inner and middle-ring suburbs.

She tracked a generational shift from neighbourhoods such as Alexandria, Leichhardt, Mar-rickville, Newtown and Enmore - where Greeks, Italians, Maltese, Yugoslavs, Poles and Christian Lebanese settled after World War II - to suburbs such as Bankstown, Parramatta, Kingsgrove, Black-town and Fairfield. In the 1970s migrants came from Vietnam and Cambodia to Fairfield, Cabra-matta and Liverpool.

Despite 46 per cent of its population being born overseas, Dr Gwyther said Liverpool was "a very assimilationist" municipality. "It has not allowed the same sorts of developments that you find in neighbouring areas," she said. In Fairfield, for example, the NSW Heritage Office had registered five non-Anglo-Celtic constructions of local significance, including a Laotian temple, a Buddhist monastery, an Assyrian cathedral, a Turkish mosque and a Buddhist temple.

Second- and third-generation immigrants are joining the rush for bigger homes and more green space, pushing out the boundaries of the neighbourhoods in which they grew up. And when cultures rub up against one another, tensions are unleashed.

Dr Gwyther said that in response to the multicultural challenge some Anglo-Celtic Aust-ralians had tried to re-create their own ethnic roots, especially in master-planned estates. With a park named Kensington Green streets lined with deciduous trees and even a cricket pitch, it is its own little England.

She found 85 per cent of residents were Australian-born and the rest mostly British- or New Zealand-born.

"There is a direct correlation between these planned communities and the so-called new towns and garden suburbs created in England after World War II."

But she also found a conditional openness to other ethnicities. "You can be any colour or background so long as you are Anglophile in culture," she said. Elsewhere in south-western Sydney, Dr Gwyther found people fleeing multi-culturalism. "One couple, before they bought their house, "sat in a coffee shop in Narellan for two hours counting the number of Muslims they saw."

But the passing years suggests hostilities can soften. Six years ago in Annangrove, north-western Sydney, a Muslim businessman, Abbas Aly, faced down almost 8000 residents opposing his plan to build an Islamic prayer hall. The council rejected his application but the Land and Environment Court overturned the decision.

The furore was nasty. But now, some say, harmony prevails.

"After about the first year there was a real change in sentiment," said Rohan Baker, a cafe owner.

"This is a pretty white Anglo community but now no one really notices any difference."