Cambodia plant starts up

Bangkok Post
January 19, 2008
POST REPORTERS

Siam Cement Group's joint-venture cement plant in Cambodia officially started operations yesterday to tap rapid demand growth in Thailand's neighbour.

Kampot Cement (KCC), is a 90:10 joint venture between SCG and the Khaou Chuly Group, Cambodia's leading construction and engineering firm.

The joint venture company was established with investment capital of US$100 million, or 3.2 billion baht, and can produce 900,000 tonnes of Portland cement a year, according to SCG cement president Pramote Techasupatkul.

Output from the Kampot plant mainly served domestic consumption. Demand in Cambodia has grown faster than supply.

''Our additional capacity will lower the country's dependence on imported cement, which will reduce its trade deficit,'' Mr Pramote added.

The company also aims to see its production technology transferred to local operators through its contractor training programme.

SCG hopes to become a leader in Asean with heavy investments in pulp and paper, petrochemicals and cement.

Apart from Kampot, SCG's other investments in Cambodia include Cpac Cambodia, a ready-mix cement business; Cpac concrete products; Cpac Monier roofing tile products; and engine parts and lube oil from Siam Kubota Industry.

Groups Urge Donors to Fund Victims Unit

By Sok Khemara,
VOA Khmer Original report from Washington
18 January 2008

Listen in Khmer

International donors should consider funding the failed Victims Unit of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, rights groups said Friday.

The court was supposed to have established a unit to allow victims easier participation in trials of former regime leaders, by helping them file briefs to the court or participate in suits. But the Victims Unit is not up and running, and victims have been left out of the process, two groups said.

“In order not to spend more time and money, all donors should support and fund the Victims Unit,” said Hisham Moussar, a tribunal observer for the rights group Adhoc.

The high number of potential victims of the regime mean a Victims Unit must be established, he said, adding that victims satisfied with the tribunal proceedings “will not seek justice anymore.”

Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, said the US should participate in the Victims Unit “to encourage victims to actively participate in the legal process of the Khmer Rouge tribunal.”

Officials have said the US will not contribute funding to a tribunal that doesn’t meet international standards of justice.

Lawyer: Nuon Chea Instructed Ieng Thirith

By Chiep Mony,
VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
18 January 2008

Listen in Khmer

Jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Thirith does not deserve to be held ahead of her atrocity crimes trial on the grounds that she is of lower rank than four other detainees, her lawyer has argued.

In his petition for her pre-trial release, lawyer Phat Peou Sieng said the former social affairs minister was “given instructions by Nuon Chea,” and should be considered of lower rank, potentially putting her outside the purview of the tribunal courts.

Ieng Thirith, who is the wife of jailed former foreign affairs minister Ieng Sary, also suffers an “organic mental disorder” and requires constant medical attention, her lawyer argues in the appeal, dated Jan. 8.

Nuon Chea’s lawyer, Son Arun, declined Friday to speak specifically to the appeal, but repeated his defense of Nuon Chea in general.

“He did not know about the killing that much because there were so many secrets,” Son Arun said.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said his research showed Nuon Chea as a member of the powerful standing committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea.

Ieng Thirith was not a full member of the standing committee, he said.

US Denies Seeking Advisory Role for Funding

By Chun Sakada,
VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
18 January 2008

Listen in Khmer

A US State Department official said Friday the US government has no desire to be an adviser to the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The remarks, by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Scot Marciel, were an apparent reaction to government statements Thursday that the US was seeking an advisory role in the tribunal in exchange for helping fund it.

“It’s certainly not our proposal or our recommendations, and there was no discussion about an American role,” Marciel said Friday, referring to government talks during his three-day visit to Cambodia.

The US has so far provided no monetary support for the tribunal, and officials say they are evaluating whether the tribunal will meet international standards of justice.

“As I said, fundamentally, what we are looking for is the question of whether the tribunal can meet the international standards of justice,” Marciel said. “That would make it certainly much easier for us to look at funding.”

Stage set for showdown over Darfur ceremony in Cambodia

PR Inside.com
2008-01-18

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Activists in Cambodia vowed Friday to defy a government ban and hold a mock Olympic-torch lighting ceremony featuring American actress Mia Farrow to bring attention to the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.

The Cambodian government earlier this week said it would prevent the 62-year-old actress from holding the ceremony Sunday at a former Khmer Rouge prison because agenda against China,» which is one of Sudan's key donors.

«Our resolve is still the same, which is to go forward» with the event, said Theary Seng, the director of the advocacy group Center of Social Development which is helping organize it.

«It's really difficult how anyone can be against honoring survivors of genocide, particularly as Cambodians,» Theary Seng said.

Theary Seng insisted Farrow would attend Sunday's event. Neither Farrow nor the group she is working with, the U.S.-based Dream for Darfur, could be reached for comment.

Chey Sopheara, the director of the Khmer Rouge's infamous Tuol Sleng torture center where thousands of Khmer Rouge prisoners were tortured, said he expected the government to deploy police to prevent ceremony organizers from entering the compound.

The Dream for Darfur group has called on China to use its influence to press Sudan to end abuses in Darfur.

The group has taken the torch to countries which have suffered genocide and has so far been lit at the Darfur-Chad border, Rwanda, Armenia, Germany and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Cambodia was to be the last stop before it heads to China.Dream for Darfur claims China, host of the 2008 Olympics, has protected Khartoum at the U.N. Security Council and sold weapons to the Sudanese government, while making Sudanese oil purchases that have helped fund genocide there.

China was also the biggest backer of the Khmer Rouge's communist regime in the 1970s, which led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians.

It is now a major donor to Cambodia, where the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has strongly advocated a one-China policy.

Hun Sen has frequently described China as Cambodia's «most trustworthy friend.Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the event's organizers have a political agenda against China, prompting the ban.

«We do not want to see any trouble or confrontation with them,» said Touch Naroth, the police chief for Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.

«But we simply cannot let this group breach the law either. He said Tuol Sleng genocide museum is a government property that must be protected from any unlawful activity but declined to elaborate on what measures the government was preparing ahead of Sunday's ceremony.

EVN constructs two hydropower plants

Vietnam News
18-01-2008

Electricity of Viet Nam plans to bring Cambodia power

PHNOM PENH — The Electricity of Viet Nam will build two hydropower plants on the Se San River’s segment of the Cambodia’s Ratanakiri and K’ra Tre provinces at a cost of US$600 million, local authorities announced yesterday.

According to the Cambodian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Electricity, the two plants will be designed to have a combined capacity of 500MW, generating 2 million MW of electricity annually. A feasibility study on the plants has been completed, and construction will begin soon.

Other than satisfying Cambodia’s growing thirst for power, the two plants will also sell electricity to the southern part of Viet Nam.

Some 20 industrial zones have been built so far in Cambodia, necessitating a stable supply of electricity. Two plants were also expected to provide water for agricultural production and help reduce floods in the areas.

— VNS

In Cambodia, too much aid slips under the net

The Australian
Glenda Korporaal
January 19, 2008

SITTING in a roadside cafe in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, Australian Chris Minko is grabbing the glasses and the salt and pepper shakers, moving them around the cheap laminated table top to make his point.

Minko, who has lived in Cambodia for the past 11 years, is furious about the waste, mismanagement and even corruption in the world aid dollars he sees spent in places such as Cambodia, a country struggling to get on its feet after decades of political unrest, including the genocide of almost 2 million people in the late 1970s by the Pol Pot regime.

Cigarette in hand, he uses the objects on the table to show how well-meant aid money often flows from one well-heeled organisation to another, all with different vested interests, many of them overlapping and with different agendas, all taking their cut along the aid trail, with only a fraction of the original amount flowing to the people it is meant to help.

Minko sees it all first-hand in Phnom Penh, one of the great charity and non-government organisation capitals of the world, where many hundreds of NGOs are based; a city where beggars scuttle along streets full of the latest shiny sport utility vehicles.

The Co-operation Committee for Cambodia's latest agency guide lists more than 600 local and international NGOs in a country of about 14 million people. "The amount of money being made here by Westerners is horrifying," Minko says bluntly. "And it is all so patronising and arrogant."
He argues too much Australian aid money is inefficiently used as it moves from aid agency to aid agency, each taking its administrative cut to fund its expatriate staff's houses, maids, four-wheel-drives and children's expensive education, plus its overseas head offices.

He would like nothing more than to make his point with the new Labor Government in Canberra, which has promised to boost Australian aid from its present $3.2 billion a year.

"There are excellent AusAID initiatives for landmine survivors in Cambodia, you can't deny that,' he says. "But I have watched the abuse of Australian taxpayers' funds and other aid funding here in Cambodia," he says. "We need to draw attention to this middle-man structure, to the fact that a lot of Australian funds go to funding other foreign NGOs when they should be going directly to Cambodian NGOs.

"Often by the time the money goes through the different tiers of NGOs there isn't much left when it hits the local level."

Minko knows that his outspokenness has probably cost him some financial support for his own project in Cambodia. Since arriving here with Australian Volunteers International, he has been a driving force in setting up the Cambodian National Volleyball League for the Disabled, for Cambodians who have lost limbs as a result of landmine accidents.

The volleyball league, which operates on a tiny budget, provides a small but supportive sports outlet for a fraction of the country's 40,000 landmine victims.

Started in 2002 with eight teams, the CNVLD now has 16 teams involving some 350 athletes in a competition which runs from May to October, and which also organises wheelchair racing for the disabled.

The league's latest success was hosting the sport's World Cup in the Cambodian capital in December (the first ever World Cup staged in the country) where the home team came in a very creditable third after Germany and Slovakia.

Minko is particularly proud to be involved in a low-budget organisation audited by KPMG (with no cars or villas) which has won a UN best practice award for its operation. Unlike many other organisations, it relies heavily on local staff and works in co-operation with the government while avoiding, he insists, the usual corruption traps.

His program is backed by the ANZ Bank in Cambodia which provided support for the organisation of the World Cup last month.

Minko aims to leverage the success of the volleyball league to set up an Association of Southeast Asian Nations' centre for disabled sports in Phnom Penh and to get his Cambodian team (which can beat the country's able-bodied athletes at volleyball) to the world No 1 ranking.

He has the support of the Cambodian government, including offers of land for a new multisport centre in Phnom Penh, which he believes can be built for about $5 million. He argues corporate sponsorship will be one of the ways of the future for his organisation.

But as the new government in Canberra looks at stepping up the national aid budget, having criticised the Howard government for being too stingy, there is a need to make sure overseas aid is spent efficiently and effectively.

Minko says the corporate sector can play its part by ensuring the charities and NGOs it supports are well run and professionally audited with a focus on controlling administrative costs and delivering services and outcomes.

He has already ruffled feathers in the aid industry which he argues is a closed shop to people like himself who are interested in providing practical help to people in places such as Cambodia but who are not players in the international game.

As Australia looks to boost its aid budget, paying attention to some critical comments from well-informed outsiders could have far more practical impact than listening to the do-gooding rants of another grandstanding rock star.

US mulls funding Khmer Rouge tribunal

The Manila times
January 19, 2008

WASHINGTON: The United States confirmed Thursday that it would consider contributing funds to Cambodia’s cash-strapped tribunal established to try former Khmer Rouge leaders.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack did not say, however, whether Washington had requested an advisory role in the court as a condition for giving financial help.

“The US strongly supports bringing to justice senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime,” McCormack told reporters.

“The department is currently reviewing all the facts about the tribunal and its operations, including whether or not it is capable of meeting international standards of justice prior to making a decision regarding funding,” he said.

The spokesman noted that President George W. Bush’s administration has not made specific funding request to the US Congress for Cambodia’s UN-backed tribunal, which was established in July 2006 with a $56-million budget.

A Cambodian official said earlier that Washington wants an advisory role in Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge tribunal and would consider helping fund the cash-strapped court if given the post.

“This is a condition if Cambodia wants the US to provide funds for the tribunal. Cambodia is considering the request,” said Kao Kim Huorn, a secretary of state with the foreign ministry.

The United States is a key Cambodian donor but has not pledged funding for the tribunal, which has come under fire amid allegations of political interference, corruption and fiscal mismanagement.

Already burdened by a multi­million-dollar shortfall when it opened in 2006, the tribunal is set to run out of funds by March without another cash injection from the international community.

Court officials have said they would embark on a major fund-raising drive early this year as the prosecution of former regime leaders looks set to go forward.

Five top cadre have been arrested so far, with the first trials expected to begin in mid-2008.

Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and over­work, or were executed under the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, which emptied Cambodia’s cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia.

-- AFP

Vietnam-Cambodia trade set to increase 27%

Nhan Dan News
January 19, 2008

Vietnam and Cambodia have set a target of increasing their two-way trade by 27% to US $2.3 billion by 2010 and to US $6.5 billion five years later.

These targets were released at a Vietnam-Cambodia border trade conference in the Mekong delta province of An Giang on January 16, which was attended by representatives from central and local governments of the two countries.

Addressing the conference, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Nguyen Cam Tu said much remains to be done by the two governments, localities and businesses to achieve the target.

He also mentioned a number of difficulties in cross-border trade between the two countries, including poor transport systems, equipment and facilities.

Participants at the conference proposed that the two governments create a more convenient legal foundation for the development of cross-border trade and transport, loan provision for developing transport systems and facilities at border markets and economic zones.

They also called for the exemption of visas for people in border provinces, the simplification of import-export and investment procedures, and cooperation to build border markets and economic zones and transport systems.

Vietnam exported US $1.2 billion worth of commodities to Cambodia last year, a 6.5-fold increase of 2001. Cambodia is now Vietnam’s 16th largest importer, buying mostly home alliance, vegetables and fruits, confectionaries, plastics, cigarettes and detergent.

Vietnam is Cambodia’s third largest export market, importing chiefly home electric appliance, interior decorations, garment accessories and auto parts.

(VNA)

Stage set for showdown over Darfur ceremony in Cambodia

The Associated Press
January 18, 2008

Activists in Cambodia vowed Friday to defy a government ban and hold a mock Olympic-torch lighting ceremony featuring American actress Mia Farrow to bring attention to the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.

The Cambodian government earlier this week said it would prevent the 62-year-old actress from holding the ceremony Sunday at a former Khmer Rouge prison because the group had "a political agenda against China," which is one of Sudan's key donors.

"Our resolve is still the same, which is to go forward" with the event, said Theary Seng, the director of the advocacy group Center of Social Development which is helping organize it.
"It's really difficult how anyone can be against honoring survivors of genocide, particularly as Cambodians," Theary Seng said.

Theary Seng insisted Farrow would attend Sunday's event.

Neither Farrow nor the group she is working with, the U.S.-based Dream for Darfur, could be reached for comment.

Chey Sopheara, the director of the Khmer Rouge's infamous Tuol Sleng torture center where thousands of Khmer Rouge prisoners were tortured, said he expected the government to deploy police to prevent ceremony organizers from entering the compound.

The Dream for Darfur group has called on China to use its influence to press Sudan to end abuses in Darfur.

The group has taken the torch to countries which have suffered genocide and has so far been lit at the Darfur-Chad border, Rwanda, Armenia, Germany and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Cambodia was to be the last stop before it heads to China.

Dream for Darfur claims China, host of the 2008 Olympics, has protected Khartoum at the U.N. Security Council and sold weapons to the Sudanese government, while making Sudanese oil purchases that have helped fund genocide there.

China was also the biggest backer of the Khmer Rouge's communist regime in the 1970s, which led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians.

It is now a major donor to Cambodia, where the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has strongly advocated a one-China policy. Hun Sen has frequently described China as Cambodia's "most trustworthy friend."

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the event's organizers have a political agenda against China, prompting the ban.

"We do not want to see any trouble or confrontation with them," said Touch Naroth, the police chief for Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh. "But we simply cannot let this group breach the law either."

He said Tuol Sleng genocide museum is a government property that must be protected from any unlawful activity but declined to elaborate on what measures the government was preparing ahead of Sunday's ceremony.

Trial Of Khmer Rogue Officials Got Strong Support From The U.S.

January 18, 2008

Annie Simoy - AHN News Writer

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The trial of Cambodia's Khmer Rogue regime leaders responsible for the atrocities committed got strong support from the United StatesThursday, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

"The U.S. strongly supports bringing to justice senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime," McCormack said.

"The department is currently reviewing all the facts about the tribunal and its operations, including whether or not it is capable of meeting international standards of justice prior to making a decision regarding funding," he said.

According to reports, five top officials of Cambodia's Khmer Rogue regime were so far arrested. The first trials are expected to start in mid-2008.

Cambodia's Khmer Rogue rule in 1975-79 resulted to death of millions of people due to starvation, disease and overwork, or being executed.

An argument is currently under fire as to whether the death was genocide or not.

"There is a very strong legal argument to say that genocide is when you kill people because of their ethnicity, whereas the vast majority of the [Khmer Rouge] purges were not for ethnic reasons, but were for political reasons. So genocide may not be possible," U.N. Principal Defender Rupert Skilbeck said

Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia border column unveiled

Friday, January 18, 2008
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Kon Tum People's Committee unveiled the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia T-junction border column Thursday.

The two-meter high granite border column, which weighs nearly one ton, has been placed at border station 677 in Bo Y Commune, Ngoc Hoi District, Kon Tum Province in the Central Highlands.

The opening ceremony of Bo Y international border gate (Vietnam) which connects with Attapu international border gate (Laos) also took place Thursday.

Sacravatoons: No Room

Courtesy of Sacravatoon : http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Sacravatoons: US Funding

Courtesy of Sacravatoon : http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

U.S. voices support for trial of Khmer Rouge officials

January 18, 2008

The United States supports for the trial of people who are responsible for the atrocities committed under Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.

"The U.S. strongly supports bringing to justice senior leaders responsible for the atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime," McCormack told reporters.

"The department is currently reviewing all the facts about the tribunal and its operations, including whether or not it is capable of meeting international standards of justice prior to making a decision regarding funding," the spokesman said.

It was reported that five top officials of Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge regime have been arrested so far, with the first trials expected to begin in mid-2008. Millions of people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Source: Xinhua

American Movie Star Attempts to Campaign Pushing China to Help to End Violence in Darfur, but Cambodian Authorities Are Likely to Reject the Attempt

18 January 2008.

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 543

“Phnom Penh: The 63-year-old American movie star Mia Farrow, now a UNICEF good-will ambassador wants to come to Cambodia at the end of the campaign, urging the Chinese government to help to end abuses in Darfur in the western part of Sudan, but Cambodia is likely not to allow the event.

“According to a report of Reuters, the American movie star had started a campaign with an Olympic-style torch relay, in order to push China, which has good relations with the government of Sudan, to help to end abuses in this area of conflict, ending the campaign in Cambodia, after she had already carried on the campaign which had started in Chad, near to Darfur.

“The same source said that Cambodia is the sixth country through which the American actress Mia Farrow carried the torch, after starting in Chad, and moving through Rwanda, Armenia, Germany, and Bosnia.

“Mr. Khieu Kanharith, the Minister of Information and the government’s spokesperson, did not answer his telephone; as for Mr. Khieu Sopheak, the Ministry of Interior spokesperson, he did not answer his telephone either on the afternoon of 16 January, but he told the Herald Sun [Australia] that Cambodia does not welcome such a campaign, and Cambodia will also not allow any gathering for such an Olympic-style torch relay.

“He told the same source that whoever conducts the event would face a trial.

“So far, the crisis in Darfur is still the hottest in the world. Violence has killed approximately 200,000 people during five years of war, starvation, and diseases.

“Mia Farrow was born on Monday 9 February 1945. She started making movies in 1964 until now. She is also playing a role as a UNICEF good-will ambassador.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4491, 17.1.2008

A tiny pagoda is a huge reminder of what happened in this "killing field"

Haley Edwards
Seattle Times staff reporter

Editor's note: Seattle Times reporter Haley Edwards is traveling to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Syria and filing dispatches as she goes. For the jaunt around Asia, her 23-year-old friend, Stevie, is her sidekick. ("Or I will be hers; we're still working out the details," Edwards says..) In the Middle East, she'll be meeting three of her friends from college, two of whom are living in Damascus, Syria. See her dispatches below (most recent on top).

CAMBODIA — For those who are, as I was, a bit hazy on recent Cambodian history, here's the quick and dirty: During the Vietnam War, parts of Cambodia were heavily bombed by American forces. Between 1975 and 1979, a genocidal dictator named Pol Pot and his party, the Khmer Rouge, murdered between two million and three million people. In 1980, there was a massive, nationwide famine.

The first day we were in Siem Reap (the first major town you encounter on the aforementioned Dancing Road), Stevie and I visited one of the "killing fields" where Khmer Rouge soldiers murdered and buried civilians.

You think "killing fields" and you think it's going to look like Gettysburg. It doesn't. The killing fields here aren't really fields at all. They're just a few patches of dirt, interspersed with trees, about the size of a soccer field. Houses — three-walled structures made of corrugated metal and cardboard — lean into each other around the outside. Kids play in the trash heaps out in front.

One of the reasons why historians know that Khmer Rouge used this place to torture and murder people was because in 1980, they found 75 maimed and decapitated bodies that had been shoved down a well. When we arrived, there were two boys playing along the rim of that same well, balancing and goofing around. Life goes on, I guess.

The only indication that this ground was once wet with blood is a tiny pagoda, maybe 20-feet tall. It has four little stair cases on each side leading up to a plate-glass window, stretching floor to ceiling. Inside, it's full of skulls. Victims' skulls.

Our guide, Chea Bunat, told us that his father's skull is in there somewhere. He doesn't know which one. All he remembers is that one day, when he was eight years old, a bunch of men with machine guns rolled into his tiny village (Kleang Village, it's called) outside Siem Reap, and started going door to door, hauling anyone who was educated out into the street. They took Bunat's dad, who was a math teacher, but left his mom, who was a housewife. He remembers that the soldiers interrogated his mom about their neighbors. What did they do for a living? Did that guy go to school?

"And you couldn't lie, they knew everything. It was test to see if lying," Bunat says. "If lie? Then, bam." He mimes holding a machine gun, then hits himself in the forehead. "Right there on the street."

Six hours on the Dancing Road: "Terrifying and incredibly fun!"

CAMBODIA — The best way to get from Thailand to Cambodia is to take the Dancing Road, a deeply-cratered one-lane dirt road, stretching from the Thai border into the dusty expanse of northwest Cambodia.

It's named the Dancing Road for the way that people jitterbug around their cars while hurtling at top speed over potholes large enough to hide an entire cow.

It takes roughly six hours to negotiate 150 kilometers, from the border to the next biggest city, Siem Reap. But the potholes, craters, dirt moguls and ATV-style jumps (really, our bus got at least two feet of air over some of these) are hardly the biggest obstacle. Every kilometer or two, the road just ends.

There's a little orange "Detour" sign, written in the elegant Cambodian script, behind which is a 20-foot cliff. Cement drums are piled up on either side of the road at these junctures, indicating that the man-made gorges will, at some point, be filled in as drainage ditches. But, for now, they're just another reason for the bus driver to pull the e-brake, crank into a four-wheel drift and skid around a hairpin turn, all the while narrowly missing the herds of cows, auto-rickshaws ("tuk tuks"), motorcycles ("motos"), stray dogs and throngs of children in impossibly white school uniforms who crowd the sides of the road.

It's part terrifying, part incredibly fun.

Stevie and I first experienced the Dancing Road on a public bus, and, while none of the other passengers really spoke most of the time (it was nearly impossibly to hear over the deafening creaking of our 70s-era school bus), everyone on the bus leaned into the aisle and peered out the front window, just to watch the show. To scream. To pray. Sometimes, the whole bus would break into hysterical laughter after narrowly avoiding broadsiding a cow, or swerving to avoid a man on a bicycle carrying over 400 mangos in a fishing net on his back, or after the driver slammed on the brakes and all of us smushed up against the seat in front of us, our luggage skittering down the center aisles like skipping stones.

But for anyone who's ever ridden in a developing nation — or on the streets of Rome, for that matter — the Dancing Road would be old hat. It's chaotic and death-defying, sure, but it's what's on either side of the road that makes it unique to Cambodia:

Thatch houses balance on stilts (not because of floods, but to keep the home cool) as its occupants sleep in hammocks underneath.

Impossibly green rice paddies unfurl in every direction, the water flashing silver in the bright sunlight, and then end, abruptly, and the landscape turns into the dusty yellow-red of desert. Palm tree forests dot the landscape, looking like something out of Dr. Suess. Kids wear blue surgical masks with their blue-and-white school uniforms, to avoid the dust. Billboards remind children not to touch landmines. Craters from American bombs still pockmark the fields. Men with no arms, no legs and no faces beg at rest stops, their livelihoods stolen by the landmines that, 30 years later, still lie in wait in these rice fields.

"Gas stations" — old 2-liter bottles of Pepsi, filled with petrol — simmer in the sun. Ranch-style gates, the kind you might see in Texas, line the side of the road, leading to temples ("wats"), too far down the dusty paths to see.

Don’t Back US Against ICC, Group Warns

By Mean Veasna,
VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
17 January 2008

Listen in Khmer

The government should cancel an agreement with the US that prevents prosecution of US citizens at the International Criminal Court, a rights group said Thursday.

The head of the group Adhoc said at an ICC seminar in Phnom Penh that Cambodian support for the US—which is not a signatory to the court—could create national or regional instability.

“We think that if there is any charge with offence or crime against humanity, war crime or genocide, it is a policy that we have to send the criminals to the international criminal court,” said Adhoc President Thun Saray. “But if we have a bilateral agreement, we won’t be able to send the criminals to the ICC.”

The court, established in 2002, prosecutes war crimes, crimes of aggression, genocide and crimes against humanity. US officials have cited a number of deficiencies in the court as reasons it will not join. Cambodia is one of the few court signatories in Southeast Asia.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Cambodia “cannot walk backwards” and will follow its current policy.

Nuon Chea Ready for Pre-Trial 'Struggle'

By Sok Khemara,
VOA Khmer Original report from Washington
17 January 2008

Listen in Khmer

The lawyer for jailed Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea said Thursday he is ready to present his client’s case for pre-trial release at a tribunal hearing next month.

The lawyer, Son Arun, said he will present a strong case on Feb. 4 for Nuon Chea’s release, despite a finding against similar arguments for the jailed prison chief Duch in November.

“As to guaranteeing Nuon Chea getting out of detention, there will be a struggle,” Son Arun told VOA Khmer. “The lawyer’s struggle must be to try. Whether he succeeds or doesn’t succeed, it’s the privilege of the judge and lawyers to find laws, forms, arguments, evidence to release the client. That’s our effort.”

Experts said Thursday Nuon Chea will have to demonstrate he is not a threat to public security, evidence or witnesses and will have to show guarantees he will appear before the courts when called.

“I believe both lawyers of Nuon Chea will raise some of these points in the pre-trial chamber,” said Hisham Moussar, a tribunal monitor for the rights group Adhoc.

Taiwan 'Regrets' Denial of Liaison Office

By Heng Reaksmey,
VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
17 January 2008

Listen in Khmer

The Taiwanese government said this week it regretted Cambodia’s decision to bar a business liaison office from opening in Phnom Penh, the China Post reported.

Cambodia strictly follows a one-China policy, which categorizes Taiwan as a rogue province, and last week Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong rejected a request by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council to open an office in Phnom Penh.

“We regret Cambodia Foreign Ministry’s stance to make politics take precedence over all other matters,” Phoebe Yeh, a spokeswoman for the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was quoted saying.

Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Thursday such business offices acted as “unofficial” embassies for Taiwan.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Thursday neighboring countries like Vietnam and Thailand managed to have Chinese embassies along with Taiwanese trade offices, “but that does not affect their one-China policy.”

“They recognize that even if it is just for business purposes, there should be one office to coordinate and settle technical issues,” he said.

Doctor Urges Cambodian Smokers to Quit

By Nuch Sarita,
VOA Khmer Washington
17 January 2008

Listen in Khmer

As many as 60 percent of urban Cambodians and more than 80 percent of rural villagers smoke, putting them at high risk of lung cancer, a doctor said Thursday.

Though the numbers may be decreasing in recent years thanks to anti-smoking campaigns, many people continue to smoke.

The best way to reduce health risks is to quit smoking, said Dr. Taing Tek Hong, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

“Smoking cigarettes can cause bronchitis, heart disease, cancer of the mouth,” he said.

Cambodians can find help quitting smoking by using nicotine gum or patches, or through the use of bupropion, available in the brand-name medication Zyban, Taing Tek Hong said.

Bupropion is a commonly used anti-depressant and should be available in Cambodia, he said.

Cambodians should also consider the healthcare costs of smoking, the doctor said.

For example, a non-smoker and smoker who enter the hospital with similar lung problems will undergo different tests—to greater cost for the smoker.

“The symptoms of tuberculosis and lung cancer are very similar,” Taing Tek Hong said. “But if the smoker ends up in the hospital…his treatment will cost more money, because [the hospital] will do a CAT scan, which is expensive.”

Sam Rainsy meets with victims of land grabbing in Kompong Chhnang

Villagers in Kampong Chhnang province (Ta Ches commune, Kampong Tralach district) met with MP Sam Rainsy to express their sufferings following violent evictions from their lands and the destruction of their homes on 9 January 2008.

Japan, Mekong FMs meet to strengthen ties

(17-01-2008)

TOKYO — Japan began a series of foreign ministerial talks yesterday in Tokyo with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam to strengthen Japan’s co-operation with the Mekong River region.

Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura is expected to pledge a total of 6 billion yen (US$ 56.6 million) in aid to the nations, excluding Myanmar, to fund various projects such as completing the construction of two east-west highways traversing the Indochinese Peninsula to facilitate business activity, government sources have said.

Ahead of the six-way Japan-Mekong foreign ministerial meeting in the evening, Komura held bilateral talks respectively with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, and Laotian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

The Mekong ministers also paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in the afternoon. Fukuda said at the outset, "Japan has always attached great importance to the Mekong region and we would like to work with you to develop the Mekong region’s potentials and make it a basin of hope and development."

In his meeting with Viet Nam’s Khiem, Komura urged more efforts to eradicate corruption to ensure execution of Japan’s official development assistance to Viet Nam. The two also agreed to work toward the early conclusion of a comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement, the Japanese ministry said.

Separately, Komura welcomed the arrest of five former Khmer Rouge leaders for court trials and expressed hope to Hor Namhong that the Cambodian government will exercise its leadership amid financial concerns over prolonged trials. Komura also said Japan will dispatch observers to Cambodia’s National Assembly election in July.

Both the Vietnamese and Cambodian ministers reaffirmed their nations’ support for Japan’s bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the ministry said.

At the Japan-Mekong meeting, the first such talks, the six ministers are expected to discuss topics in various fields including economic co-operation and cultural exchanges.

As part of its support for integration and narrowing the economic gaps among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan has been especially active in assisting the Mekong region, such as with public works projects.

Japan will also provide 2.2 billion yen to help Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam build schools and power generation facilities for the poor, the sources said.

In addition, 1.7 billion yen will be allocated to support Cambodia’s poverty-reduction efforts, they said.

Komura will hold bilateral talks with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win and Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram separately today.

— KYODO/VNS

Cambodia to double luxury golf courses by 2010: official

A golf pro playing at the Phokeethra Country Club in Siem Reap

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia doubled its number of luxury golf courses last year to four and hopes to have eight by 2010 in a bid to lure more high-end tourism from the fast-growing sport in Asia, officials said Thursday.

Cambodia in 2007 opened its only two PGA-rated courses in the popular tourist town on Siem Reap, in northwest Cambodia near the famed Angkor temples which remain the country's biggest draw for foreign visitors.

A third course backed by South Korean investors is expected to open in Siem Reap in 2009, said Suos Yara, secretary general of Cambodia Golf Association.

Three other multi-million-dollar golf projects are also under construction near the capital Phnom Penh and along the border with Vietnam, with another planned near the seaside resort of Sihanoukville, he told AFP.

"Golf can attract more high-yield tourists. Beside touring our heritage sites, tourists also need entertainment," he said.

"They have different hobbies, but most adults like playing golf as part of their tour package," he added.

Cambodia's profile as a golfing destination got a major boost when the Phokeethra Country Club in Siem Reap hosted the country's first international golfing event in November.

Suos Yara said the golfing industry has also contributed jobs to the local community, adding that the government wanted to eventually see at least seven courses in Siem Reap and about 10 near Sihanoukville.

"We want more golf courses ... When we have more golf course, we have more tourists and prospective investments," Suos Yara added.

Tourist arrivals to impoverished Cambodia topped two million in 2007, bringing in much-needed revenue.

But while most foreigners still flock to the Angkor temples, tourism officials are seeking to create more visitor destinations.

'Celebrating Cambodia': Five-artist exhibit depicts history, landscape of Southeast Asian country

By Rosemary Ford ,
Daily News of Newburyport

There's no special date or anniversary, no timely topic or other reason to host an exhibit about Cambodia at the moment.

The Southeast Asian country is so rich with artistic tradition and beauty, however, that it's always prime time for such an exhibit, says the organizer of "Celebrating Cambodia" at Brooks School.

"The dance, the pottery, the painting, it's very impressive," Marie Costello, head of the Robert Lehman Art Center at the North Andover school, said.

"Celebrating Cambodia," a show of 50 pieces, includes work by five artists with roots in the Southeast Asian country, including two Cambodians living here, two living in Cambodia, and one non-Cambodian who visits the country frequently.

Artwork in the show ranges from paintings to pottery to modern photographs of Cambodia. The exhibit depicts events from Cambodian history, as well as everyday pastoral life.

While Costello didn't have a peg for the show, she did have her reasons for bringing it here.

This area boasts a significant Cambodian immigrant community, many of whom arrived after the Khmer Rouge (which literally means Red Khmer, used to describe a succession of Communist parties) took over the country from 1975 to 1979. Nearly 2 million Cambodians died during this violent period, which aimed its assault at intellectuals, artists and urban dwellers.

In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge imposed a radical form of communism in which the whole population had to work on collective farms or forced labor projects.

"There was an attempt to destroy the culture during the Khmer Rouge," she said. "The refugees are here because of that."

"Celebrating Cambodia" is especially significant, Costello said, in that it demonstrates how Cambodians here and overseas are working to preserve the country's heritage.

She invited two painters from Cambodia to contribute their work - watercolorist Duong Saree and oil painter Chhim Sothy.

Two of the remaining three artists are Cambodian immigrants living in Lowell: Chantha Khem is a watercolor painter who shows history through art; and Yary Livan, a ceramicist and painter, incorporates influences from ancient sites and traditional Cambodian imagery, relief carving and designs into artwork.

Costello rounded out the show with Eleanor Briggs of West Newbury, an environmentalist who has been shooting images of Cambodia for the last decade.

Livan submitted more than a dozen pieces to the show, ranging from flower pots to faces of Cambodian heroes. Through his wife, Nary, the 54-year-old who immigrated here in 2001 said he was very excited about the opportunity to show at Brooks.

"It is rare for Cambodians to have the opportunity to show or exhibit like this," he said.

Livan, who started studying pottery making in 1971, said it is rare to see so many styles of Cambodian art together in one exhibit.

"We're trying to give an opportunity for the public to see some Cambodian art and a lot of it is produced locally in Lowell," Costello said. "I don't think people have a chance to see it that often."

Mission will give teen peek at ancestors' land

Medical aid - Sidney Tan will visit Cambodia with a dental team to provide care to orphans

Thursday, January 17, 2008
MAYA BLACKMUN
The Oregonian Staff

TIGARD -- Sidney Tan, a Tigard High School sophomore, wants to help orphans in need of dental care, see his ancestral land of Cambodia and visit its world renowned Angkor Wat temple.
He will get that chance when he leaves today for Cambodia as part of a dental service mission with Tigard-based Medical Teams International.

"I've heard so much about it from my parents," said Tan, 15, who speaks Khmer. "You can't get the experience until you see it for yourself."

He will join about one dozen other team members from Oregon and Washington on the two-week trip. Dr. Dale Canfield of Lake Oswego started the almost annual missions in 2002 and has delivered dental supplies that he and other dentists, along with local companies, donated. The nonprofit international relief and development agency, originally called Northwest Medical Teams, started in 1979 with its first medical mission to assist Cambodian refugees escaping the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge.

Donations from members of the Cambodian-American Community of Oregon are covering the costs of the trip for Tan and Davin Mao, a junior at Sunset High School in the Beaverton School District.

R.S. Tang, president of the Cambodian group whose members paid for a student to go on the trip last year, said the organization wants Cambodian American youths to maintain a sense of their heritage, culture and identity. He said the teens will get a chance to help others and get a glimpse into a profession they might pursue.

The teens will clean dental utensils, help escort patients and otherwise assist the team of dental professionals in providing care to more than 500 orphans in the region near Pursat.

Tan looks forward to going to the area, where a maternal aunt was held in a camp by the Khmer Rouge: "Maybe to see, 'Here was where my aunt was standing 30 years ago.' "

The trip includes time for sightseeing. Tan hopes to get to know the country on his first visit. He wants to see its rural areas, with the many miles of rice fields. He wants a fuller understanding of its people and the struggles of the poor.

His mother, Koann, was sent at his age to a Khmer Rouge labor camp and later witnessed five executions. She came to the United States after the genocide.

His father, Simsundareth, a colonel in the Oregon Army National Guard who served as a combat adviser in Afghanistan, immigrated to the United States as a teenager with his family. Even today in Cambodia, he advises his son to be careful with minefields.

The teenager said he feels lucky, like other generations who benefit from the suffering and sacrifices of immigrants. He can navigate his world to get involved in school and the community, serving as secretary of Tigard High's sophomore class and also the Tigard Youth Advisory Council. He can pursue interests such as Tien Tae Jitsu, a combination of martial arts.
"But still, I have ties to Cambodia," Tan said.

He is secretary of the Cambodian American organization's youth group and a member of its dance team.

And yet there is still so much to learn. His parents and brother, Andy, 11, hope someday to go to Cambodia as a family.

Understanding Cambodia cannot come in a single trip, Tan said: "It will definitely take more than once."

US seeks role in Cambodian K.Rouge trials: official

Jan 17, 2008

PHNOM PENH - THE United States wants an advisory role in Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal and would consider helping fund the cash-strapped court if given the post, a Cambodian official said on Thursday.

The offer was made during talks with the US State Department's Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, said Kao Kim Huorn, a secretary of state with the foreign ministry.

'The US requested that Cambodia create another post - a special advisor to help the Khmer Rouge tribunal,' Kao Kim Huorn said after meeting with top US officials.

'This is a condition if Cambodia wants the US to provide funds for the tribunal. Cambodia is considering the request,' he added, saying the advisor's role was under discussion.

The United States is a key Cambodian donor but has not pledged funding for the 56.3 million-dollar tribunal established to try senior Khmer Rouge leaders.

'The US is worried about the independence and standards of the court,' Kao Kim Huorn said.
US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle could not be reached for comment on the offer. Marciel is in Cambodia through Friday to meet top government officials.

The UN-backed tribunal has come under fire amid allegations of political interference, corruption and fiscal mismanagement.

Sean Visoth, Cambodia's top administrator to the tribunal, declined to comment on the offer, which comes at a crucial time for the court.

Already burdened by a multimillion-dollar shortfall when it opened in 2006, the tribunal is set to run out of funds by March without another cash injection from the international community.

Court officials have said they would embark on a major fund-raising drive early this year as the prosecution of former regime leaders looks set to go forward.

Five top cadre have been arrested so far, with the first trials expected to begin in mid-2008.

Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the 1975-79 rule of the Khmer Rouge, which emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia.

Schools, religion and currency were outlawed and the educated classes targeted for extermination by the communists. -- AFP

Poignant visit for husband of teacher

17 January 2008
Location: Scarborough
Evening News

THE husband of a muchloved teacher has visited a playground dedicated in her honour.
Former policeman David "Dai" Davies, whose wife Kay was a nursery teacher at Malton Community Primary School for the last 16 years of her career, toured the Foundation Stage playground during a brief Christmas holiday with his daughters.

In retirement Mrs Davies pursued her lifelong dream and moved to live in Cambodia alongside her husband, helping set up a nursery at the Hope International School. She passed away last year, with Mr Davies deciding to remain in the South-East Asian country and carry on her good work.

Governors at Malton CP School decided to dedicate the playground, which was opened in September, in her memory and for all the children she taught throughout her career. Headteacher Paul Scrimshaw said: "Kay was such a wonderful person and has been sadly missed by many parents and children. "We wanted to remember her for all the wonderful years she gave to children at Malton Community Primary School."

Tay Ninh to help Cambodia with roads

TAY NINH — Authorities in Tay Ninh Province on Tuesday signed an agreement to support Cambodian province Kampong Cham with US$450,000 for road construction projects.

The road, which will be 9km long and 5m wide, will be named Kampong Cham - Tay Ninh Friendship Road.

The money for the project will be transferred from the Viet Nam Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development to the ACLEDA Bank of Cambodia.

Can Tho - Cambodia road planned

17-01-2008

CAN THO — Authorities in Can Tho City and Long An Province have unveiled plans to build a highway to the Cambodian border.

At a meeting held in Can Tho on Tuesday, they unveiled two routes for the Can Tho-An Giang border road.

The first, to branch off from National Highway No.1A in Can Tho, runs parallel to Highway No. 91 until Chau Doc in An Giang Province, before reaching Tinh Bien District on the border. It will be 110km long.

The second follows a similar route until Chau Doc, before turning north-west to the Khanh Binh border area in An Phu District. This route is 140km long.

Whichever route is chosen, it will be a six-lane, 35-metre wide highway.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung has signalled the Government’s approval for the project to be undertaken in Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) mode.

The meeting on Tuesday was attended by Dorothy John and Richard Murray, representatives of US firms Global Venture Inc and Pacific Development Group Llc.

— VNS

Y Chhean, Ieng Vuth Evaded the Forum

Y Chhean (Photo: Rasmei Kampuchea)

The Co-Investigating Judges representing the Khmer Rouge tribunal have traveled to Pailin in order to explain the former officials and people of the Khmer Rouge in this former Khmer Rouge stronghold to understand the former Khmer Rouge trial and to calm their fears.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal's representatives, visiting the former Khmer Rouge soldiers and people, included co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde.

Yesterday (on Tuesday) in Pailin's Municipal Hall, there was a meeting with more than 100 former Khmer Rouge officials. However, Y Chhean, Pailin governor, and his deputy Ieng Vuth shirked from attending the forum. Ieng Vuth is an important "character" in the forum since his parents are being detained at the Khmer Rouge tribunal. But, he did not appear in meeting in which he could ask the tribunal's representatives whatever he wanted to.

According to legal observers, before and after the arrest of Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, who are Ieng Vuth's parents, Ieng Vuth dared to talk to foreign and local journalists. In contrast, now as the representatives of the Khmer Rouge tribunal visited Pailin to hold the public forum, Ieng Vuth evaded it.

Another Pailin's deputy governor Koeut Sothea, who is also a former Khmer Rouge official, was seen in the forum yesterday, which was attended only by former Khmer Rouge officials, whilst Y Chhean and Ieng Vuth disappeared. In the forum held in Pailin's Municipal Hall, journalists were only allowed to take pictures, but could not listen to the question and answer session. However, the journalists and observers will be permitted to listen freely in the forum on Wednesday.

According to Khmer Rouge tribunal officials, the today’s forum (on Wednesday) which will be held in Koang Kang Pagoda, is expected approximately 200 participants, including former Khmer Rouge officials soldiers and people to attend.

According to the former Khmer Rouge officials who attended the yesterday’s forum in Pailin's Municipal Hall, although it was an open forum, Cambodian and international co-Investigating Judges who are the representatives from the Khmer Rouge tribunal could not answer their questions.

"They come to Pailin to hold the public forum on the Khmer Rouge trial, but when former Khmer Rouge officials asked them, they could not answer," said the former Khmer Rouge officials, adding that they asked questions relating to the rumour of the further arrest of the former Khmer Rouge officials. "It is said that only former top Khmer Rouge leaders will be tried, but we want to know which is the highest or the lowest level of the Khmer Rouge officials that will be tried," they said.

At present, top leaders such as Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith have been arrested. Duch was not a top leader of the Khmer Rouge, but was the former chief of Tuol Sleng prison, involving deeply with the regime.

Former Khmer Rouge officials said that at the present time some former Khmer Rouge leaders in the Central Committee of the Communist party were still at large and that there was a rumour circulating around that about 10 more Khmer Rouge leaders would be arrested. That is why some former Khmer Rouge officials wanted to know how high rank a Khmer Rouge official is considered a “top leader” and how low rank they are, in order to avoid confusion.

However, You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde told the former Khmer Rouge officials that the decision [to consider someone as a top Khmer Rouge leader] did not depend on them but on the investigation and voices of the Trial Chamber’s co-Judges with at least 4 out of 5 as well as voices of Supreme Court Chamber’s co-Judges with at least 6 out of 9. Therefore, if the investigation could place burdens on any former Khmer Rouge leader, the Co-Judges are the ones who decide whether the arrest of that former Khmer Rouge leader is possible. If they could find the [supporting] voices as mentioned above, the arrest would be made immediately.

According to a source close to the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, some former Khmer Rouge military commanders might also be arrested. And this is the reason why the rumour of the arrest of around 10 more former Khmer Rouge commanders and officials caused unrest. The representatives of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, visiting the former Khmer Rouge base, are going to hold another public forum on Wednesday in which journalists and observers will be allowed to listen until the end.

Unofficial Translation-Extracted from Moneaksekar Khmer, Vol. 15, #3365, Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Soccer goods finally reach Cambodian orphans

Radio Australia
17/01/2008

A shipment of donated soccer goods from a New York school has reached a group of Cambodian orphans after being held up for 16 months by allegedly corrupt port officials.

The delivery brings to an end a frustrating 18 months for the students of Public School 261, who gathered the used goods and shipped them off in August 2006.

The equipment arrived in Phnom Penh just two months later - but the mission stalled when Cambodian port officials demanded "fees" from $650 to $1,560 to release the goods to the Palm Tree Institute orphanage.

Members of the group, Brooklyn Bridge to Cambodia, wrote to Cambodian and U.S. government officials and enlisted the help of Senators Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, who pressured government officials in both countries to intervene.

Woman charged over internet scam

January 17, 2008

POLICE have issued a warning against online scams after charging a 54-year-old Brisbane woman with receiving and forwarding stolen property.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay, from the Queensland Police Service Computer Crimes Investigation Unit, said the woman allegedly asked to have stolen goods delivered to her home at Sunnybank, in Brisbane's south, before forwarding them to Cambodia.

The woman was believed to have become involved in an internet relationship with a man in Cambodia whom she met on a dating website.

Det Supt Hay said overseas-based criminals could spend months engaging people online to cultivate their trust before asking them to send money or goods.

People who receive stolen or illegally obtained property and send it overseas would be prosecuted and internet users should be alert to possible scammers, he said.

"Requests to send money or property overseas should be treated with extreme caution,'' Det Supt Hay said.

"If you suspect you or someone you know may be undertaking similar acts, seek independent advice and contact the fraud and corporate crime group.''

The woman has been charged with two counts of receiving stolen property and is due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on February 12.

US actress Farrow could face arrest in Cambodia

Thu, 17 Jan 2008
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - American movie star Mia Farrow and her supporters could face arrest if they proceed with a banned anti-China protest at a former Khmer Rouge torture centre, local media Thursday reported a senior official as saying. Khmer-language daily Rasmei Kampuchea quoted Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak as saying that anyone who defied the law "must face the court," no matter who they are.

General Sopheak was not available for further comment Thursday.

The plan by Farrow's Dream for Darfur organization to light an Olympic-style torch at the Toul Sleng genocide museum to raise awareness of China's role in Sudan and the war in Darfur ahead of the August Olympics in Beijing has enraged Cambodian officials.

On Wednesday, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith accused Farrow, 62, and her supporters of reducing Toul Sleng, where up to 16,000 people were brutally tortured or perished, to a promotional fundraising vehicle for their own political ends.

Up to 2 million people died under the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime.

Dream for Darfur organizers have disagreed with the official line, calling the ban a "misunderstanding" on the government's part and have said the rally will go ahead.

Radio Australia : Wednesday 16/01/2008

Wednesday 16/01/2008

National Assembly Adopts Amendment of Constitution to Facilitate Preparation of Provincial and District Elections

Posted on 17 January 2008.
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 543

“Phnom Penh: On 15 January, the National Assembly discussed and adopted draft amendments for the new Articles 145 and 146 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia with 88 of 107 votes, in order to open the way for the arrangement of a law on the organization of elections of the district, provincial, and town councils.

“Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Sar Kheng, the Minister of Interior, read the purpose of the proposed draft amendments of the new Articles 145 and 146 of the Constitution. He said that, based on the strategy of decentralization and deconcentration reforms, and the National Development Strategic Plan 2006-2010, the Royal Government of Cambodia has been organizing the management for the administration of low level national structures in order to guarantee the democratic development at those levels. He continued that to achieve those goals, the Royal Government of Cambodia has been organizing a draft law for this, as stated in the new Article 146 of the Constitution.

“The draft law impacts the regulations of the new Article 145 so that it is necessary to have an appropriate amendment reflecting the progress in politics, social administration, and national economy, both at present and in the future.

“The new Article 145 is amended to say: ‘The land of the Kingdom of Cambodia is divided into the capital city, provinces, towns, districts, communes, and subdistricts.’

“The new Article 146 is amended to say ‘The Capital city, provinces, towns, districts, communes, and subdistricts must be managed according to the conditions stated in the law on the arrangement of organizations.’

“The Royal Government hopes that the amendment will facilitate the arrangement of the administrative reforms of the capital city, provinces, towns, districts, communes, and subdistricts, according to the decentralization policy, in order to promote the democratic development at national administration low levels, in order to promote the provision of services and development effectively and regularly.

“Mr. Sam Rainsy, the president of the opposition party, showed support for the draft amendments of the constitution for the new Articles 145 and 145 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia. However, he wanted a wider discussion about this issue.

“Samdech Akak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen said as Prime Minister, concerning the amendment of the Constitution on national low-level institutions, that what is proposed here to be amended refers just to the wording to be appropriate to the situation of the progress in the country. As for the content of the law to be made for the arrangement of the management of administrative systems at the national low levels, this will be discussed in detail when that law reaches the National Assembly next time.

“Samdech Dekchor said that this can be considered to be an important stage of structural reform, as it transfers higher power to the localities – what is intended with decentralization and deconcentration. Samdech continued that through that we hope democracy will increase through elections anyway, elections on the levels of the councils of provinces, towns, and districts all show the progress of democracy, decentralization, and deconcentration.

“As for the Norodom Ranariddh Party, it definitely opposed the amendment of the Constitution on the new Articles 145 and 146, in order to adopt a law on the organization of elections of the councils of districts and provinces, but not in general, providing such rights limited only to the commune and subdistrict councils to vote.

“In a statement on 15 January, the Norodom Ranariddh Party said that they find that the commune and subdistrict council members to elect the councils of districts and the councils of provinces and towns is not fair at all, and it is not appropriate as administrative policy. They would like to ask that, if the commune and subdistrict council members elect the councils of districts and the councils of provinces and towns, how will the leadership ranks of the local administration be implemented? Because normally provincial and town administrations govern district administration, and the district administration governs commune and subdistrict administration?

“The Norodom Ranariddh Party supports the elections of the councils of districts and the councils of provinces and towns, but the elections must be conducted as general elections with the participation of citizens in general. They would like to ask the Imperial Government of Japan and other development partners that provided technical assistance preparing the law on elections of the councils of districts and the councils of provinces and towns through a seminar in Sihanoukville in December 2007, that they consider the impact of the implementation of democracy in the Kingdom of Cambodia, because these elections are not to be general elections, but they provide only limited rights to the commune and subdistrict council members to elect the councils of districts and the councils of provinces and towns, which is violating democratic rules. Such elections are considered to be a democracy where one level is only benefiting from another level in the line.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4490, 16.1.2008

Cambodia tribunal seeks witnesses

The Khmer Rouge tribunal is expected to begin proceedings later this year [AFP]

THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008
ALJAZEERA.net

team of judges has headed into Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge heartland in an effort to find witnesses to testify in the forthcoming trials of members of the former regime.

The judges and tribunal officials have been holding meetings in the western town of Pailin, hoping to enlist participation from former low-ranking Khmer Rouge members still living in the area.

The town, close to the Thai border, was home to four of the five former Khmer Rouge leaders currently awaiting trial.

But finding witnesses to take part in the United Nations-backed trials has not been easy, with many former Khmer Rouge members worried they may also be punished.

People's help needed

The tribunal has been delayed for many years and is jointly overseen by Cambodian and international judges.

But officials say without the help of the people, it will struggle to fulfil its mandate.

"We were trying to explain to these people that the court can proceed fairly as long as it has the support of the Cambodian people," Marcel Lemonde, a French co-investigating judge told one of the meetings in Pailin.

"If the Cambodian people do not understand that this trial is in their interests, this court will not be able to proceed fairly."

Up to two million people died during the Khmer Rouge's four years in power between 1975 and 1979.

Pol Pot, the group's former "Brother Number One" died in 1998, but five senior figures of his regime are being held awaiting trial, including his deputy, Nuon Chea, or "Brother Number Two".

Few Cambodian families were untouched by the slaughter, but in Pailin - home to many former Khmer Rouge foot soldiers – the tribunal has been met with scepticism.

Late last year the tribunal held its first hearing in an appeal by the former commander of the Khmer Rouge's S-21 detention and interrogation centre against his continued detention.

Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, claimed that his human rights had been violated by being held for more than eight years in jail without trial.

But the tribunal rejected his appeal, saying he might try to flee the country or threaten potential witnesses if he were released on bail.

Aside from Duch and Nuon Chea the other former Khmer Rouge officials awaiting trial include the regime's former foreign minister, Ieng Sary, his wife and former social affairs minister, Ieng Thirith, and the former president of the Khmer Rouge, Khieu Samphan.

The first formal trials are expected to begin later this year.

Golf industry grows in Cambodia

The number of golf courses in Cambodia went from two to four in 2007 and should double again to eight by 2010 with four more courses in various stages of planning, English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodian Daily said on Thursday.

The two to open most recently in Siem Reap province are the country's only PGA-rated courses, and they are playing off each other to bolster the kingdom's golf industry, said the paper.

"We are a growing destination, and golf is the fastest growing sport in all of Asia," said Maximilian Kaendler, clubhouse manager at the Phokeethra Country Club in Siem Reap.

About 500 golfers visited the club each month since it opened in April and it hosted the country's first major international golfing event in November.

Meanwhile for the Angkor Golf Resort which opened in November in the province, 1,000 visitors were received in its first month.

"The more we see businesspeople come, the more we see golfers come as well," Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh told the newspaper.

However, said the paper, the Cambodia's golf industry still faces hurdles, as current customers are usually local businessmen and government officials, and few travelers wander onto the courses while visiting the region.

Cham Prasidh said that a demand for golf will arise as long as foreign entrepreneurs continue to invest in Cambodia.

"It is a sport where you develop friendship very fast, which is good for business as well," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2008)

Cambodia bars actress from holding Darfur ceremony: official

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Actress Mia Farrow has been barred from holding a ceremony at a notorious Khmer Rouge prison as part of a campaign to pressure China to end abuses in Darfur, a Cambodian official said Wednesday.

The American actress has started an Olympic-style torch relay through countries that have suffered genocide to draw attention to China's close ties with Sudan, as Beijing prepares to host the Games in August.

The campaign aims to push Beijing to pressure Sudan into ending the violence in Darfur, where the United Nations estimates that at least 200,000 people have died in five years of war, famine and disease.

Her group, Dream for Darfur, had planned to hold a ceremony Sunday outside the Khmer Rouge's former prison, Tuol Sleng, which is now a genocide museum.

But interior ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the event would not be allowed.
"The Olympic Games are not a political issue. Therefore, we won't allow any rally to light a torch," he told AFP.

"We will not support the activity. We will not allow them to politicise the Olympic Games," he said, warning the group could face prosecution if they try to go ahead.

Farrow's group said the ceremony aimed to call attention to the constructive role that China could play in the Darfur crisis.

"The symbolic Olympic torch relay is urging the Chinese government, as both Olympic host and Sudan's strongest political and economic partner, to use its special influence with the Sudanese government," the group said in a statement.

A Chinese diplomat in Phnom Penh issued a statement opposing efforts "to link the Darfur issue with the Beijing Olympic Games, as these two matters are irrelevant."

He said that Farrow's group "claims that they just want to boost international concern about the Darfur issue, but from what they have done, they have a very obvious political purpose as they linked the Darfur issue with (the) Beijing Olympic Games."

In the run-up to the Olympics, China -- which is by far the largest foreign investor in Sudan and absorbs almost two-thirds of its oil output -- has been under mounting pressure to use its clout on Khartoum.

Cambodia would be the sixth stop for the group's relay, which began in Chad near the Sudanese border and continued to Rwanda, Armenia, Germany and Bosnia.

Boy Finds Life-Long Friend: a Snake

A 14.85 meter-long (49 feet) reticulated python in Central Java, Indonesia. (AP Photo)

By VOA Khmer Washington
16 January 2008

To watch the video in Khmer, click here

A seven-year old boy in Kandal province of Cambodia has a rather unusual best friend. Kuon Samnang has been spending time with his 4.8 metre long pet reptile since he was born. They are the same age and have hardly been separated in their whole lives.

Koun Samol, father: "My boy and the snake have been living very happiliy since he was born seven years ago". "They are the same age".

Samnang spends his days playing with Chomran, hugging the snake and trying to teach it tricks.
Koun Samol, father: "The snake eats ten kilos of duck and chicken in one week".

Unlike most snakes in the area, Chomran does not eat rats or frogs, as its diet is similar to that of Samnang. The whole Koun clans believe the snake has brought them good luck and they treat it like a member of the family.

Information for this report was provided by AP.

16 January 2008: Sam Rainsy gave his support to factory work

16 January 2008: Sam Rainsy gave his support to factory workers on strike at Cambodia Apparel Industry Ltd, Kampong Speu province (50 km Southwest of Phnom Penh)

Japan offers aid, [gentle] rights reminder to Mekong nations

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura(3rdR) delivers a statement after the Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers meeting in Tokyo as Mekong River nations' foreign ministers (L-R) U Nyan Win of Myanmar, Nitya Pibulsonggram of Thailand, Pham Gia Khiem of Vietnam, Hor Namhong of Cambodia and Thongloun Sisoulit of Laos listen. Japan offered fresh aid to Mekong River nations while issuing a gentle reminder on human rights.(AFP/Toshifumi Kitamura)

by Kyoko Hasegawa

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan on Wednesday offered fresh aid to Mekong River nations while issuing a gentle reminder on human rights as it sought to counter China's growing influence in the region.

The foreign minister of Myanmar, which faced heavy international criticism for its crackdown on pro-democracy protests last year, joined his counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam for their first joint talks with Japan.

"Japan has been attaching great importance to the Mekong region, and will make further efforts to realise latent growth potential in the region," Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told the foreign ministers in a meeting.

"At the same time, we would like to encourage each country to use its wisdom in terms of human rights and democratisation," Fukuda said, to which Nyan Win, the foreign minister of Myanmar, nodded, taking notes.

The ministers signed a series of deals late Wednesday, including one worth 20 million dollars aimed at encouraging investment and developing infrastructure in the poorest parts of the region.

The aid deals include funding for infrastructure such as highways stretching across the region, officials said. Japan also signed a deal with Laos to encourage investment in the country.

Tokyo, which has had uneasy ties with China and South Korea dating back to Japan's past invasions, has long treated Southeast Asia as a key region of influence by lavishing development aid and trade deals.

But more recently "the presence of China -- and also South Korea -- in this region is very big," said a Japanese official who handles Southeast Asian matters.

"China has borders with all these countries except for Cambodia, and excluding Thailand, the trade volumes with China are bigger than the trade volumes with Japan for these countries," he said on condition of anonymity.

Complicating the meeting is the issue of Myanmar, which counts on China as its main ally.
Japan has refused Western calls to end aid to military-ruled Myanmar, and this week pledged 1.79 million dollars to improve public health there.

In October, Japan cancelled nearly five million dollars in aid in protest at the military's bloody crackdown on rallies, in which a Japanese journalist was killed.

Scot Marciel, the US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asia, called Tuesday on a visit to Tokyo for all nations, including Japan and China, to send a united message to Myanmar's junta leaders that they are heading in the "wrong direction."

Human Rights Watch also wrote to Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura urging Japan to address human rights concerns in Southeast Asian countries, saying Tokyo's concerns should extend beyond Myanmar.

"Governments chronically restrict freedom of expression, widely discriminate against ethnic minorities, pillage natural resources at the expense of local populations and provide impunity for those responsible for abuses," said Brad Adams, executive director of the rights group's Asia division.

"Given your government's relationship with each of the Mekong countries, and as a leading democratic power, we believe Japan can and should bring about significant improvements by speaking out clearly and publicly on human rights abuses," Adams said.

Sacravatoons : Cambodia Inc.

Courtesy of Sacravatoon : http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Sacravatoons: The Top Khmer Rouge

Courtesy of Sacravatoon : http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Japanese aid snub to Burma

Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam get assistance

Published on January 17, 2008

Sanction-hit Burma got nothing yesterday as Japan pledged approximately US$20 million (Bt662 million) for development projects in the Mekong basin.

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win together with his counterparts from the Mekong region - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam - were in Tokyo for the first Mekong-Japan foreign ministers' meeting.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura signed a memorandum of understanding with his Laotian counterpart, Thongloun Sisoulith, Cambodia's Hor Namhong and Vietnam's Pham Gia Khiem. It provides financial assistance through the Japan-Asean Integration Fund to those countries.

Japan cancelled nearly $5 million in development assistance to junta-ruled Burma in October last year in response to the military crackdown on street protests in late September. At least 31 were killed, including Japanese news photographer Kenji Nagai.

Some 40 Burmese activists in Japan staged a protest yesterday in front of the meeting venue, and the hotel where Nyan Win is staying.

They are demanding an end to international assistance for the military-ruled country.
They displayed portraits of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and posters reading "stop killing in Burma".

The $20-million fund will be spent improving transport and freight along the East-West Economic Corridor, the link from Thailand, via Laos, to Vietnam as well as the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle.

Japan and the three countries decided on a list of projects, which included a feasibility study of road improvements in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Thailand is not a recipient, but joined the meeting as a partner with Japan.

Koumura praised Thailand's role in the Mekong-basin development.

The region's countries appreciate Japan and Thailand's continued support for the development of the region, he said.

Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram said Thailand had contributed some $55 million to neighbours in the region between 1995 and 2006, plus some $200 million for 16 infrastructure projects.

Nitya linked Thailand's brainchild project the Ayeyawady-Chao Phya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) with Japan's role in developing the region. ACMECS consists of Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. That was the reason Burma's minister was in Tokyo.

In ACMECS, Thailand is ready to play a role with Japan in undertaking study of development of Laos's Savanakhet Airport, he said.

"Thailand looks forward to working with Japan and cooperation with Mekong countries to identify other projects and areas where trilateral cooperation can be applied," Nitya said.

Supalak G Khundee
The Nation

Judges Call on Rebels for Evidence, ‘Justice’

By Mean Veasna,
VOA Khmer Original report from Pailin
16 January 2008

Listen Mean Veasna reports in Khmer

Khmer Rouge tribunal judges ended three days of talks in the former rebel stronghold of Pailin Wednesday, calling on past cadre for further evidence against their old leaders.

The judges held meetings with local officials and former rebels to explain the scope of the tribunal, which is to try senior leaders of the regime only. Court officials issued a handbook to residents to help them understand the tribunal process.

Investigating judge You Bunleng addressed a gathering of Pailin residents, many of them former Khmer Rouge rebels, imploring those who “love justice” to cooperate with the courts and provide evidence for the trials of former leaders.

“The court’s verdict won’t be impartial unless there is participation and help from those who knew or saw anything happen during that period of time,” he said.

Not all in attendance were satisfied with the official explanations of the courts.

“The answer was too brief to clear up what I was wondering,” said Lach Lina, a former Khmer Rouge supporter. “Their answers were in fact just to one question.”

The former leaders so far charged by the tribunal “are respectable aunts and uncles,” he said.
Arrested and charged with atrocity crimes are prison chief Duch, ideologue Nuon Chea, former president Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith.

Another former Khmer Rouge soldier, Ouch Sam An, said he expected justice from the courts.
“I want to suggest that in order for the court to succeed, they have to find out who were the masterminds of the killing,” he said.

Government to Ban Darfur Torch Relay

By Sok Khemara,
VOA Khmer Original report from Washington
16 January 2008

Listen Sok Khemara reports in Khmer

Government officials said Wednesday they would ban a US-based advocacy group from holding a ceremonial torch relay to raise awareness of rights abuses in Sudan’s Darfur region.

The group, Dream for Darfur, has held similar relays in other countries and is urging the Chinese government—host of the 2008 summer Olympics and friend of the Sudanese government—to stop the abuses in Darfur.

Cambodia enjoys a close relationship with China.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said Wednesday the government would not allow the Olympics to be politicized.

If rights groups want to help Cambodian athletes go to the Olympics, he said, “we wish to very much welcome that.”

Seng Theary, executive director of the Center for Social Development, which was helping organize the relay, declined to comment on the ban.

Vann Nath, a survivor of the Tuol Sleng torture center under the Khmer Rouge, who was supposed to take part in the relay, said he hoped to use the event as a way to raise awareness of the suffering that takes place under genocidal regimes.

The US supports events that memorialize those killed during the Khmer Rouge regime and focuses attention on genocide, US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said.