Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Cambodia: Demolition of Dey Krahorm Community




Global Voices
Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh was demolished last Saturday. An estimated 800 to 1,400 residents lived in Dey Krahorm in 2005. The city estimated that only 90 families have remained in the community.

Aside from the violence which accompanied the action, the demolition attracted media attention because it was “one of the biggest urban redevelopment stories in the capital over the last decade.” But city officials denied the action was an eviction:

Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun said the action was not an eviction. “The activities of tearing down the homes at Dey Krahorm is not an eviction but just an effort to clear the area for development.”
Jivy was able to witness the demolition last weekend:

“Loud pounding noises woke me up this morning. Startled where the noise is coming from I looked out of my window and saw hundreds of men wearing green shirt, hammering the small houses in front of the building where my whole family live. It’s my first time to encounter scenes like this and it sent goosebumps all over me. There were lots of police men guarding the site and hundreds of spectators from their homes watched how their fellow Cambodians ruined other people’s houses in a small span of time

“One by one the houses are torn down, I have seen smoke from afar but dunno if it’s teargas or fire extinguisher. I have seen residents standing with their houses shouting angrily to the demolition team, some residents were even hurt because they don’t want to move out and forced to fight with the uniformed men.

“I don’t know the whole story behind this horrifying scene, I don’t know if the land is under the government or under a private individual. All i know is that there are people out in the street this morning asking for some more time to discuss this matter before proceeding with the demolition. But people with no hearts didn’t listen.”
KI-Media was able to interview residents from the Dey Krahorm community:

The woman then screamed at intervention police officers, “You are Cambodian, but want to kill Cambodians. You destroyed my house. You're like gangsters.”

A Dey Krahorm resident sits on the remains of her home as she waits for a truck to transport her to a new location. “I have no money,” she said. “What can I do? I don't know where I will sleep. I can't do anything because they destroyed everything.”

RED EARTH SCHOOL OR SUNSHINE CENTRE



RED EARTH VILLAGE OR DEI KROHOM AS ITS LOCAL NAME IS A POOR AREA INHABITED BY SQUATTERS FLEEING THE CIVIL WAR OF THE 8O'S. THIS IS THE ONLY FREE SCHOOL FOR THE KIDS IN THE AREA/ TEACHERS AND VOLUNTEERS HELP LOCAL ORPHANAGE KIDS BY TREATING THEM FOR HEAD LICE NITSSITE

RED EARTH VILLAGE ; DEY KRAHOM

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Part 4



Red Earth Village - Dey Krahom is a small community living in the heart of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Recently the residents of Dey Krahom were forced to leave their homes to make way for new building developments. Some residents were provided with a compensation payment or relocation outside the city, while the remaining residence were left homeless.

Vietnam Ferry Accident Kills 40



AssociatedPress

A small ferry overloaded with holiday shoppers sank in central Vietnam on Sunday, killing at least 40 people ahead of the traditional Lunar New Year. Most of the dead were women and children.

Cambodian kids capture Clare’s heart

Clare Holman presents Cambodian children with T-shirts.

Wellington Times

CLARE HOLMAN
26/01/2009

I have been in Siem Reap, Cambodia for just over two weeks now.

I am having the most amazing time and have fallen in love with the Khmer (Cambodian) people.

Everyone here has looked after me and has been so hospitable. The Khmer people have nothing yet they are so happy and friendly.

I go out to the Chres orphanage every morning at 7am on the back of a motorbike, which takes 30 minutes to teach the children English.

My morning class goes from at 8am until 11am and my afternoon class goes from 2pm until 5pm, so I am out there all day with the children and loving it.

They have decided they are going to teach me Khmer while I am here.

There are 49 orphans ranging in age from eight years to 19 years old.

Chres orphanage is also used as a local school for the less fortunate village children.

Altogether there are 365 students who attend the school.

The orphanage is very basic but clean. There are two inside classrooms and two outdoor classrooms. This is a problem during the wet season as there is not enough shelter for all the children.

They also have to use the classrooms as sleeping areas for the orphans who sleep on the floor on a woven mat.

They have play equipment that was donated and built by students from Singapore and a small library donated by the Philippines.

The orphanage survives on donations - this month the director told me that there were no donations, so they had to sell a pig from their breeding program to buy food for the month and maybe next month as well.

At the moment we are teaching the orphans about personal hygiene, but again they don’t have enough money left over to buy the children toiletries.

While I am here I am hoping to raise enough money to buy the orphans a much-needed blanket ($15 each), toiletries and school supplies.

Any donations will be greatly appreciated.

I will be purchasing the goods myself so I can guarantee that 100 per cent of the money will be spent on the children.

To make donations please contact Di Holman on 6845 2092 or you can drop them into the Little Fish Gallery.

Thai FM: Hun Sen has no 'hard feelings' over past remarks


PHNOM PENH, Jan 26 (TNA) - Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya on Monday quoted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen as saying Hun Sen did not have any ‘hard feelings’ over his past comments on the Cambodian leader regarding the disputed Preah Vihear border area.

Mr. Kasit, who had close ties to the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), occasionally joined the group and criticised Hun Sen during the six-month long protests in 2008.

The Thai foreign minister said it was a thing of the past, quoting Hun Sen as saying they had worked together and were on good terms when working in Paris twenty years ago.

Mr. Kasit also urged Thai media and the Thai people to focus on a positive approach, to push for peace between the two countries.

On Monday the second day of Mr. Kasit’s official visit to Cambodia, he tried to seek a royal pardon through Cambodia's Foreign Ministry for two Thai prisoners serving the life imprisonment on grounds of involvement in a 2003 terrorism act.

Mr. Kasit, along with relatives of the prisoners were visiting the Thai inmates at Phnom Penh prison. Both men were religious teachers from the southern province of Yala. (TNA)

Waiting for justice in Cambodia

After years of political sabotage and judicial quarrelling, trial of former Khmer Rouge leaders scheduled to begin next month

The Standard

Posted By DENIS D. GRAY, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Im Savoeun remembers how they clung to each other for the last time, sobbing, as life drained from her husband after a savage beating by the Khmer Rouge. The starving man's crime was stealing a potato.

"I could not help him. There was no medicine. The only thing I could give him were my tears," says the 64-year-old woman, who, like countless Cambodians, has spent half a lifetime grieving and waiting for justice.

In 2009, after years of political sabotage, judicial bickering, corruption allegations and funding shortages, the Khmer Rouge is likely to begin facing retribution for the crimes of its 1970s reign of terror.

A UN-backed tribunal announced recently it would put the first of five former Khmer Rouge leaders before a panel of Cambodian and international judges Feb. 17 on charges of crimes against humanity. The trials of the other four, all old and ailing, are unlikely to begin until 2010.

Stepping first into the 504-seat courtroom will be 65-year-old Kaing Guek Eav, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture centre. The others are Khieu Samphan, the group's former head of state; Ieng Sary, its foreign minister; his wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs; and Nuon Chea, the movement's chief ideologue. They face a maximum of life imprisonment.

The trials will place Cambodia among a half-dozen countries that have been caught up in international criminal trials for crimes against humanity in the past 15 years. But the Cambodian process has had a particularly stormy history, and it faces skepticism about its fairness and scope, and suspicions that some pretext or other will halt it altogether.

"Even if we condemn five or 10 at the tribunal, there will be no balance because they killed millions," says Im Savoeun, who lost four other family members. "My husband and son can never come back to me, but at least they will have received some justice."

Inflamed by an ultra-communist vision, the Khmer Rouge sought to eradicate traditional Cambodian society and begin again from "year zero." They turned the country into a vast slave labour camp, abolishing all freedoms. At least 1.7 million, some say more than two million, died of starvation, disease and executions during this primitive experiment in human engineering.

Despite the scale of atrocities, the Cambodian side at the tribunal, called the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, has sought to strictly limit the court's reach. It recently refused a proposal by Robert Petit, the Canadian international co-prosecutor, to cast the net wider and try up to five more former Khmer Rouge figures.

Even this would not satisfy many critics and victims.

"You can't have two million people dead, try five or 10 cases and call it a day. That may be all they do, but we are not going to say that justice was done no matter how well that process goes," says Brad Adams of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"The reason we want more than 10 is because there are dozens of people with thousands of deaths on their hands running around out there still. They deserve their day in court."

But Prime Minister Hun Sen's government is full of former Khmer Rouge higher-ups, himself included, and has little to gain from the trials. Already in 1998, he declared that Cambodians "should dig a hole and bury the past."

"There is fear among the Cambodian government. The former Khmer Rouge are asking: 'Who is next?' " says Youk Chhang, who heads The Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has collected some one million documents related to the Khmer Rouge terror.

Adams, an American who has monitored the court's progress since it was proposed 13 years ago, said, "There has been political interference that intentionally slowed the whole process down just to basically play out the clock on the possibility that some defendants would die."

He and others allege that Cambodian judges have received instructions from the Ministry of Interior on how to act. One judge, Ney Thol, has been particularly singled out. An army general and senior member of Hun Sen's party, he has drawn criticism from human rights groups for his rulings against Hun Sen's chief political rivals.

In an open admission that the trial has more to do with internal politics than standards of international justice, Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang recently argued that putting more than five figures on trial could endanger national stability.

While Japan's contribution this month of $21 million has at least temporarily allayed fears the court might run out of funding, an investigation into alleged corruption -- including the buying of positions on the court -- has still to be concluded.

Lawyers for Nuon Chea, the ideologue, say the alleged corruption "could undermine the fundamental right to a fair trial."

Petit isn't giving up. "There is still a fair chance that the tribunal will realize a limited measure of justice. It will help set the historical record once and for all and will help people understand and believe what happened here," he said in an interview.

But he added that "anything can always happen: money can run out, the government can ask us to go home or the internationals may decide to leave."

Despite their long wait and the death of many victims and their tormentors, nationwide surveys show that more than 80 per cent of Cambodians back the trials.

Those victims who had tried to put the horror behind them began reliving it when the prospect of trials arose, and to abort the process would cause huge frustration, says Pung Chhiv Kek, a human rights campaigner.

ANZ Banking Group launches mobile payments service in Cambodia

The Paypers
Monday 26 January 2009

Financial services provider Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group has launched Wing, a startup offering SMS-based mobile payments services in Cambodia.

Aimed mainly at the un-banked, the service enables users to make various transactions using an ANZ Royal (or other banks) transaction account (electronic wallet). Wing services include cash in, cash out, person-to-person (P2P) money transfers to Wing and non Wing customers, payroll disbursements and mobile top-ups, all in the local currency KHR directly. ANZ also plans to expand the service in other countries across South East Asia.

The service is based on the company’s commission based agents who do ‘know your customer’ (KYC) checks and acquisition. Wing runs on lower-end phones as well as on more expensive models and requires the installation of the Wing electronic wallet software. Customers deposit and withdraw cash through a merchant network or using ANZ Royal ATMs. Users can access their electronic wallet accounts from any mobile phone, including public phones. Via the electronic wallet, users can purchase mobile air time, make purchases or pay bills.

Customer information is stored on the phone and is protected by a PIN number and customer registration code. ANZ is working with Vision Fund, a micro-finance institution owned by World Vision, to use their extensive branch network to provide cash in and cash out services for Wing customers. ANZ’s branchless service is supported at launch by a concerted education and marketing program which aims to familiarise rural customers with the technology.

ANZ is currently working closely with the National Bank of Cambodia to support the development of a regulatory framework. At present, there are an estimated 7 to 8 million un-banked people in Cambodia.

Obama Showed Peaceful Change: Opposition

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
26 January 2009

Opposition party leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, who earlier this month joined in a political alliance, said Thursday the recent inauguration of US President Barrack Obama was a good example of how democracy can bring peaceful changes.

“In first-world superpowers and developed countries like the US, people still need change,” said Sam Rainsy, whose eponymous party holds 26 seats in the National Assembly. “Americans wanted change, so I believe that Cambodians, who are facing 1,000 times more hardship, suffering, and poverty than Americans, really want change.”

Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party, which has three seats in the Assembly, said the democratic model of the US demonstrated “peaceful power transfers” among “sportsmen.”
Both men appeared on “Hello VOA” Thursday following the joining of their parties in the Political Democratic Movement for Change.

“The alliance is to gather together nationalists, those who love the nation and justice, to stand up and help save the country,” Sam Rainsy said. “Cambodia does not belong to any individual, but to all people.”

Cambodia has become increasingly poor, lacks freedoms and rights, and faces illegal immigration as an ongoing problem, he said, and needed a new leader.

Kem Sokha urged the disadvantaged to “join hands” and vote for the alliance in upcoming elections, repeating allegations that July’s national elections had been sullied by vote-buying, threats and intimidation from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, a charge the CPP has repeatedly denied.

US-Cambodians Watch as Obama Takes Office

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
26 January 2009

Americans watched Barrack Obama become the 44th president of the United States last week, and some of them said they had new hopes for the US economy, as well as national and global security.

Jeffrey Sdoeung, a Cambodian-American from the state of Rhode Island, said he traveled for 10 hours in the bitter cold to watch the Jan. 20 inauguration.

"Our country is facing difficulty now, including money and jobs," he said. "It is all very difficult, but after I heard Obama's speech, I have a lot of hope, because now we have one wonderful president, who can help people and other countries around the world."

Sdoeung said he was attending his first inauguration and was surprised to find millions of people from across America gathered on the National Mall in front of the US Capitol building.

"I have never seen as many people as this," he said. "On the morning of Inauguration Day, I traveled from my friend's house in DC by Metro train to the National Mall…and I saw so many people filling the train, it was amazing."

Grant Quinn, another Cambodian-American, from Washington, had not traveled as far as Sdoeung, but he said he too had more confidence in the US economy after hearing Obama's speech.

"Now the American people have lost a lot of jobs, but I think that Obama has his own program to provide more jobs to people," he said.

He had not attended the inaugurations of former president George W. Bush, he said.

"When I was young, I went to see the inaugurations of Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Sr., and Bill Clinton," he said. "But I did not go to see George W. Bush's inauguration, because I didn't like him."

Vutha Chinn, who lives in Philadelphia, said he felt happy on behalf of Khmer refugees who had come to a land of opportunity and were now able to participate in events such as the inauguration.

"I am very grateful to be able to participate in and applaud Obama's inauguration and support his success in becoming American's president," he said.

Investigation of Tribunal Officers Underway

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
26 January 2009

Phnom Penh Municipal Court has begun investigating alleged corruption by administrators of the Khmer Rouge tribunal, officials confirmed Monday.

“We’ve started investigating,” deputy prosecutor Sok Kallyan said. “One person has been summoned for questioning. We will summon more persons soon.”

The investigation comes at the behest of tribunal defense lawyers for Nuon Chea, who filed a complaint earlier this month alleging Sean Visoth, the top administrator of the tribunal, and Keo Thyvuth, its former chief of personnel, had engaged in or abetted institutional corruption.

Sean Visoth, who has been on medical leave since November, declined to comment Monday and did not say when he would return to his duties.

Keo Thyvuth was removed from his position at the tribunal in August 2008 and is now on staff at the Council of Ministers.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal, which is preparing for its first trial of five jailed leaders of the regime, for prison chief Duch, has been plagued by reports from Cambodian employees and independent monitors who claim staff members paid kickbacks in order to work at the courts.

Stade Khmer take tourists siem reap club for a ride

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by LARRY MALEY
Monday, 26 January 2009

STADE Khmer easily saw off this year's rugby debutants Siem Reap Club yesterday afternoon in a 46-0 win at Phnom Penh's Old Stadium.

Siem Reap started the brighter of the two sides in a gutsy start but were unable to put points on the board during a 10-minute opening spell camped in their opponent's half.

They paid dearly moments later. On 12 minutes, Stade Khmer opened the scoring from a well worked set play in the Siem Reap half that ended with winger Chea Chamroeun touching down in the corner. From there it was one-way traffic, Stade Khmer running in four more tries in the first half - with one more to Chea Chamroeun, two to centre Khoeun Sangsa and one to left-winger Man Salida - although only one try was converted by flanker Doul Khemarin. By half-time, it was 27-0 Stade Khmer.

In the second half, Siem Reap produced more resilience in defence as they made Stade Khmer work hard for the points. One notable passage of play saw Siem Reap pressuring the Stade Khmer try line for a prolonged period, a try agonisingly close.

The more experienced Stade Khmer backline, led by fly-half Francois Bleriot, captilised on a series of Siem Reap handling errors to produce three more tries in the second half - one each to Doul Khemarin, substitute winger Em Khompeak, and Khoeun Sangsa - who completed his hat-trick. Flanker Kong Vandy succeeded in converting two of the tries to complete the rout.

Pre-Angkor stone-carving remains very modern affair

Photo by: Stephanie Mee
Veteran stone-carver Touey puts the finishing touches on a statue in Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by STEPHANIE MEE
Monday, 26 January 2009

Nearly lost amid the violence and cultural nihilism of the Khmer Rouge, stone carvers continue to find markets for their ancient tradecraft

THE ancient art of Khmer stone-carving has its roots in the pre-Angkorian period and has been passed down from generation to generation of artisans for centuries.

Common themes in ancient Khmer sculpture include deities from the Ramayana (in Khmer, the Ream Ker), such as Vishnu, Brahma and Hanuman, as well as varying images of the Buddha reclining, standing with one palm facing outwards to signify protection from fear, or sitting in meditation in front of a giant naga (or snake) with multiple heads.

Not uncommon was the representation of the Khmer royalty or aristocracy in the form of various stone deities, a clear example of which can be seen in the massive stone heads at the Bayon temple at the Angkor Wat complex, which combine the image of King Jayavarman VII and Buddha.

During the Khmer Rouge regime, many skilled artists were either forced to work in the rice fields or perished in the horrors that marked the Democratic Kampuchea period and the civil war that followed. Those who survived had little means to begin carving again.

Cultural revival

Fortunately, the 1990s were a period of reconstruction, rehabilitation and revival in Cambodia, and numerous NGOs began helping disadvantaged Cambodian people to reintegrate themselves into the workforce. In particular, Chantiers-Ecoles de Formation Professionelle, and its offshoot Artisans d'Angkor, were established to help train underprivileged youth in the country's many almost-extinct Khmer artistic traditions and techniques, including stone-carving.

Today, large stone-carving production centres can be found mainly in the municipalities and provinces of Pursat, Preah Vihear, Kampong Thom, Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, though smaller centres exist throughout the Kingdom. In Phnom Penh, the bulk of stone-carving workshops can be found on Street 178, across the road from Wat Sarawan.

" I learned from my uncle and other family members in our village. "

Det Ourn, 16, works out of his uncle's workshop, Kon Khmer Sculpture on Street 178. "I learned from my uncle and other family members in our village," Det Ourn said. "First, I just watched others carving and I followed what they did. Then, I began to practise on my own, and today I can make any kind of statue."

Patience is key

One medium-sized Buddha statue can take up to one month to complete and involves considerable patience, Det Ourn said. "First, you paint an outline of the shape on the block of stone and begin to carve carefully with a chisel. When the rough shape has been chiselled out, you can begin to sand and polish the stone into the smooth, finished image. For extra details like eyes, mouths, creases in cloth and things like flowers, you can use a fine, small chisel or an electric sander," he said.One veteran artisan says a variety of markets exist for today's carvers.

"The Angkorian, or traditional styles from the Ream Ker, are mostly bought for private homes, restaurants or businesses, while the traditional Buddhas and the modern, life-sized Buddhas and monks with alms bowls are generally bought for temples," said a veteran stone-carver from the Ta Phrom shop who goes by the name Touey.

Touey learned the art of stone-carving from his brother, who had learned it from their grandfather. Touey and his family were forced to work in the rice fields under the Khmer rouge. "Fortunately, my family remembered the traditional ways and we began carving again in the late 1980's," Touey said.

Most statues are made from sandstone from Preah Vihear or Kampong Thom provinces, while high-quality marble is sourced mainly from Pursat province, where stone-carving has become a major industry.

Statues range from grainy pink and grey sandstone pieces to smoothly polished marble, shining in colours from jade green to crimson to pale yellow.

Thanks to the perseverance of artisans and NGOs, stone-carving is on the rise again, and talented artists like Det Ourn and Touey can make a living doing what their ancestors have done for centuries before.

Bank reserves slashed; real estate limits axed

Photo by: Vandy Rattana
National Bank of Cambodia Governor Chea Chanto in this file photo. The NBC hopes looser monetary rules will boost growth.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Nguon Sovan
Monday, 26 January 2009

The National Bank of Cambodia has cut reserve requirements and stopped loan limits for property, effectively ending its long fight against inflation

THE National Bank of Cambodia has cut the bank reserve requirement from 16 percent to 12 percent and eliminated restrictions on real estate lending effective February 1, in a bid to boost sagging property prices and stimulate lending.

The industry applauded the move, which constitutes a reversal of its monetary tightening measures brought in last year to cut inflation and rein in soaring property values.

Officials say they hope the looser rules will stimulate lending amid a worsening economic crisis. "We increased the reserve rate [in June] because we were vigilant over the crisis and to prevent inflation. Now inflation is falling, so we lowered it to give banks easy cash to provide more loans to their customers," National Bank of Cambodia Director General Tal Nay Im told the Post Sunday.

New problems

Inflation rocketed to 25.1 percent in the first half of 2008 and dropped to 13.46 percent in December 2008, according to the Planning Ministry's National Institute of Statistics. Stricter lending rules were in part to reduce liquidity and stem inflation. But lower commodity prices and a stagnating economy have taken inflation out of the limelight. Experts in Cambodia and abroad now say the priority is to boost growth.

Stephen Higgins, chief executive officer of ANZ Royal Bank, said the new policy shows that times have changed.

"Inflation will cease to be an issue very soon and [the reduction] will help combat an economic slowdown, so I think it is a sensible policy measure from the central bank of lowering the reserve rate," he said.

"However, we will continue to do what we have been doing, which is lending to good-quality customers. For us, we don't expect a big change [more loans] to customers through the lowering," Higgins said.

Malaysian-owned Maybank said that the new rules would allow them to increase lending."Definitely, that will help us to provide more loans to customers," said Jubely Pa, general manager of Maybank Group.

The real estate industry welcomed the bank's move to scrap the limit on real estate lending imposed in May last year.

Real estate recovery?

Kong Vansophy, general manager of the US$1 million Dream Town development in Dangkor district's Choam Chao area, said the reform could provide a much-needed boost to the sector.

"We are having difficulty borrowing money from banks because they are required to restrict lending on real estate to less than 15 percent of the total loan portfolio," he said.

"We hope that lowering the reserve rate will allow real estate buyers and developers to access more loans."

Cambodia conference with Thai counterpart at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (R) shakes hands with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a meeting in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. Piromya is in Cambodia to discuss the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong speaks during a news conference with his Thai counterpart Kasit Piromya after their meeting at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. Kasit Piromya was in Cambodia to discuss the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong attends a meeting with Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. Kasit Piromya is in Cambodia to discuss the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (L) meets with Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. Kasit Piromya is in Cambodia to discuss the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (L) shakes hands with Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. Kasit Piromya is in Cambodia to discuss the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya speaks during a meeting with Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. Kasit Piromya is in Cambodia to discuss the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

A view of a meeting between Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong (5th L) at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. Kasit Piromya is in Cambodia to discuss the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya (L) and Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong hold a news conference after their meeting at the ministry of foreign affairs in Phnom Penh January 26, 2009. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea