On the trail of his family's hero

01/28/08

For nearly a year Cary Turner has told the story of U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joseph Hargrove -- of how he was left behind on the small Cambodian island of Koh Tang in 1975 and of the years it took before his family began to learn the truth.

And for almost that long, Turner has been telling people that he wants to watch the members of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) team when they excavate his cousin's suspected gravesite -- just to make sure they do their job, just so the family knows every effort was made.

Now, after months of planning and fundraising, he is there, having arrived in Cambodia on Jan. 16.

Before he left, Turner admitted that he was nervous about making the trip -- nervous about the potential of camping out on the island, of not knowing the language or the culture, and of simply being taken out of his comfort zone.

"I'm getting a little bit stressed, a little anxious," he said. "I've been talking the talk and now it's time to walk the walk."

Fortunately, he said via satellite phone last week, things are going better than expected.
"We're in pretty safe here," he said. "It's a beautiful place."

Helping assuage those earlier feelings of nervousness, he explained, was the meeting he had with the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia after arriving.

"He said he was pleased with what I was trying to do for my family. He was supportive of me, and that really made me feel good," Turner said.

The next piece of good news, he continued, was when he, Ralph Wetterhahn (the author of "The Last Battle: The Mayaguez Incident and the End of the Vietnam War") and their Cambodian companions decided that rather than camp out on the island, they would just sleep on a fishing boat anchored off the coast.

But the most reassuring part of the trip has been the contact they have made with the JPAC team.

"Everything's going better than I would have hoped," Turner said. "JPAC's welcomed me with open arms."

Not only, he continued, have they allowed him to watch their excavation efforts, they have even let him get a little bit of hands-on experience with some of the more basic shovel and screening work.

"They're letting me help, so I help a little bit and then get out their way because I know they're just being nice," he said.

And while the team didn't start with the site identified as Hargrove's, he feels sure that when they get there, every care will be taken -- an especially comforting thought since it's unlikely that he will be able to stay in Cambodia long enough.

The team's deployment is expected to last into March. Turner is planning on staying until at least the end of the month.

"I have all confidence that if there are any remains to be found, they'll find them," he said. "Even if I have to leave before they excavate all the sites, I have peace of mind."

Regardless of what happens next, though, he is pleased that he at least had the opportunity to take his quest this far -- and he hopes he will be coming home with M-16 and M-60 shells from where Hargrove and Marine Pfc. Gary L. Hall and Pfc. Danny G. Marshall made their last stand.

"All the effort that's been put forth, this is what it's all about. I'm just glad I'm able to do it," he said.

Gail Hargrove, Joseph's widow, also is thankful for what Turner's been able to do.

"I was real excited to hear from him (last week)," she said. "I'm thrilled that he's over there. I'm thrilled that he made it safely. It's made me feel good how JPAC has responded to him."

By Matthew Whittle

MN Skater Comes Home To Win National Medal

Oakdale-native Michael Chau and his 11-year-old partner Tracy Tanovich ended up in second place in the Pairs Junior Nationals.
CBS

A Minnesota family is still basking in the glow of victory after 17-year-old Michal Chau skated away with a silver medal.
CBS

ST. PAUL (WCCO) ― The U.S. Figure Skating Championships wrapped up at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Sunday.

However, a Minnesota family is still basking in the glow of victory after 17-year-old Michal Chau skated away with a silver medal. And it wasn't an easy feat for his family to get him to the medal podium.

"It was unbelievable. It was great. I couldn't ask for any more, especially the way we skated and the way we ended up," said Michael.

Oakdale-native Michael and his 11-year-old partner Tracy Tanovich ended up in second place in the Pairs Junior Nationals.

"It was a great experience for us. We weren't intending to have a placement, just a nice, solid skate. And we did get the silver medal, which is great and we're excited," said Tanovich.

So is Michael's family, who saw an exhilarating performance. "I haven't seen him at the Nationals. This is the first time and in his hometown," said Thyna Chau, Michael's father.

"I'm so proud of him. He's very independent. He loves skating, he has so much passion skating. And he works hard. He has a good work ethic, and he's wonderful." Michael's family fled to Minnesota from Cambodia 27 years ago.

"I think this means a lot because they struggled when they were younger. And I think it's great to kind of see their son, who was their age when they were struggling, come up and do something for himself," said Michael.

However, that hasn't come without some life-altering changes. "I moved away when I was 12.

They had me down in Florida. And I think they did a really good job picking who I was going to be with, who was going to train me and who was really going to take care of me," said Michael.

And their sacrifice is paying off. Michael is staying in Minnesota this week to spend time with his family and friends, before he heads back to Florida to continue his training.

Cambodian PM urged to attend parliament

ABC, Radio Australia
29/01/2008

A parliamentary committee in Cambodia has requested the prime minister, Hun Sen, attend parliament to answer questions directly.

Mr Son Chhay, an opposition MP who also the chairs the 5th Committee of the parliament, has submitted the written request to the prime minister.

The letter calls for answers on issues including the implementation of the four-angle economic policies, revenue collection from Angkor Wat, land disputes, corruption and human rights.

Hun Sen hasn't been to Parliament during question time throughout the third term of government, which is due to expire soon.

The constitution and parliamentary internal regulations stipulate that the prime minister is supposed to attend question time every Thursday morning.

A senior advisor to the PM says the request is ridiculous and has queried the motives behind it.

Boom time hits Cambodia, but not all are smiling

January 29, 2008 Tuesday

PHNOM PENH - AFTER decades of war and upheaval, including the Khmer Rouge 'Killing Fields", Cambodia is enjoying an unprecedented boom, its economy expanding at around 10 per cent annually for the last five years.

But the breakneck growth, fuelled mainly by garment manufacturing, tourism and real estate development, is turning its once-sleepy capital into a building site and forcing many ordinary Khmers from their homes.

'I will move only when they pay me enough to find another place to live,' said 49-year-old Ngay Tun, a fisherwoman living on Boeung Kak, a 120 hectare city-centre lake about to be drained and filled in to make way for a housing project.

'I worry about it every day, that they are going to come suddenly in the night to kick us out,' she said, paddling a small wooden boat through floating banks of morning glory.

While the outlook for the garment industry and tourism appears solid - especially while the US dollar, Cambodia's de facto currency, continues to fall - the same cannot be said for real estate, where prices are spiralling to dizzy heights.

Figures from Bonna Realty, a leading estate agent, suggest the price of prime Phnom Penh land doubled last year to US$3,000 (S$4,296)/sq m - compared to less than US$500 in 2000.

By contrast, land in Bangkok's downtown Silom district is US$5,000/sq m, while Ho Chi Minh City, the hub of neighbouring Vietnam's red-hot economy, prices can be as high as US$15,000.

'There is a debate about whether there's already a bubble,' World Bank country economist Stephane Guimbert said.

'On the one hand, clearly the market was very depressed until a couple of years ago because there was little security and stability. But on the other hand, it's surprising that prices are increasing so fast,' he said. In one of the first signs of overheating, annual price inflation has spiked to more than 9 percent in the last year, almost double its level in the preceding five years, and anecdotal evidence points to big upward pressure on wages.

Missing billions come home?At the top of the market, prices are being driven by huge foreign-funded ventures such as 'Gold Tower 42", a US$300 million South Korean apartment block which, at 42 storeys, will be three times higher than Phnom Penh's current tallest building.
Even though it will not be ready until 2012, Cambodia's super-rich are already snapping up some of the 360 units on offer at US$2,150 a sq m, only a shade cheaper than Ho Chi Minh City.

But such prestige projects are the tip of the iceberg, and foreign funding accounts for only a fraction of the boom, analysts say.

The domestic financial services industry is growing fast - private sector lending by Cambodia's 20-odd banks grew 60 per cent last year - but remains too small to be funding projects to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Instead, analysts say, much of the funding is Cambodian cash stuffed into mattresses, locked up in gold, or squirreled away in anonymous offshore bank accounts for years.

'There are a lot of people in this town who are fantastically wealthy,' said Trent Eddy, director of Phnom Penh-based Emerging Markets Consulting. 'The banks are not doing mortgage lending for the sort of stuff that's driving up prices.'

The most popular theory on the streets of Phnom Penh is that a global banking clean-up after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks smoked out billions of dirty Cambodian dollars sitting quietly in bank accounts in Singapore, which encouraged its repatriation.

With few other investment options, and a steadily improving regulatory and legal framework - not to mention political stability under ex-Khmer Rouge strongman Hun Sen - real estate is the obvious choice for the prodigal loot, so the theory goes.

Hype marketEven though the economy remains one of Asia's smallest, with a GDP of around US$6.5 billion, the hype is such that international portfolio investors have been looking into setting up domestic real estate funds, mainly in the hotel sector.

US property services firm CB Richard Ellis is also hoping to get in on the action with the opening of a Phnom Penh office in the next few months.

The prospect of revenues from off-shore oil and gas by 2010 reaffirms the view of outsiders that the economy is only heading in one direction, and that rapid urbanization and demand for better housing from Cambodia's 13 million people must follow.

Chinese Dams Threaten Cambodian Eco-Systems

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--Cambodia's two largest dam projects threaten to flood huge swathes of protected forests, a conservation group has said, urging reform in the country's burgeoning hydropower sector.

International Rivers Network, in a report released late Monday, said that the Kamchay and Stung Atay dams, which seek to provide much-needed electricity to the country, will instead wreak havoc on local communities and slow development.

The US-based group targets in particular Chinese investment in the sector, which it said is powering forward through close ties between Cambodia's government and Beijing, unchecked by public scrutiny.

The projects highlight the "growing interest in large-scale hydropower dam development by Cambodian decision makers backed mainly by Chinese project developers and financiers," the group said.

"Chinese investment in Cambodia's hydropower sector is threatening some of the country's most precious eco-systems and the livelihoods of thousands of people." Funded largely by a $600 million Chinese aid package, the Kamchay Dam is located entirely inside Cambodia's Bokor National Park and will flood 2,000 hectares of protected forest, the group said.

Once completed in 2010, it will also force local residents from the area, stripping them of their livelihoods, and could threaten downstream tourist sites, International Rivers said.

Protected forests in Cambodia's Cardamom mountains will also be submerged by the Stung Atay Dam, which is expected to come online in 2012, and four others currently under consideration.

"Cambodia's free-flowing rivers and abundant natural resources are invaluable assets," said Carl Middleton, Mekong program coordinator with International Rivers.

"Poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage these resources and undermine Cambodia's sustainable development." Only an estimated 20 percent of households have access to reliable electricity in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries.

Spiraling utility prices, driven by this lack of supply, are a major obstacle to attracting foreign investment, and the government has struggled to find a way to bring down the cost of power.

International Rivers urged Cambodia to seek alternate power sources, or adopt international standards within its own utilities sectors.

"Cambodia has many choices for meeting our electricity needs, including renewable and decentralized energy options that must be explored" said Ngy San, deputy executive director with the NGO Forum on Cambodia.

CCC Judges, the opening of the third plenary session of judges in Phnom Penh January 28, 2008

Co-investigating judges of the Khmer Rouge tribunals, Robert Petit (R) of Canada and Chea Leang of Cambodia, attend the opening of the third plenary session of judges in Phnom Penh January 28, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Co-investigating judges of the Khmer Rouge tribunals, Marcel Lemonde (R) of France and You Bunleng (L, back to camera) of Cambodia, talk during the opening of the third plenary session of judges in Phnom Penh, January 28, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Hun Sen to UN: Spend Rights Money Elsewhere

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

Audio in Khmer - Listen (MP3)

Prime Minister Hun Sen continued a public campaign against the UN’s human rights office Monday, saying the international body should stop spending money in Cambodia.

“The UN should take all this budget to victims in areas such as Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, or other countries facing crises, rather than wasting money in Cambodia,” Hun Sen said.

The latest row comes on the heels of a December visit by Yash Ghai, an envoy for the UN secretary-general, who was highly critical of the government’s rights efforts.

Hun Sen said Monday UN member states should not have to finance trips by Ghai.

“He rides in airplanes and stays at hotels; where does the money come from?” Hun Sen said.
“This money is more than a salary. This money is still the UN’s money, and we are also a member of the UN that must also pay membership dues to the UN. We have a duty to appeal for saving the budget, to be spent in other areas, rather than having Yash Ghai traveling to Cambodia.”

Ghai rankled officials in December when he said weak rule of law and ongoing theft of land from the disenfranchised could cause people to rise up against the government.

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha said Monday that Hun Sen should solve rights abuses and land grabs and solve murders for which no culprit is ever found.

“If he does not want the UN human rights envoy to come to Cambodia, and he regrets the fact that money is wasted, he should solve human rights violations in Cambodia,” Kem Sokha said.

Eng Chhay Eang, secretary-general of the Sam Rainsy Party, said Monday Hun Sen should worry more about the increasing price of goods and fuel and rising unemployment.

“The problem over the UN should not be an issue to bring a headache, whether it has enough money in protecting human rights in Cambodia,” he said.

Cambodia still needs funding for “strengthening human rights mechanisms,” said Thun Saray, director of the rights group Adhoc.

10-Year-Old Folk Singer Bridges Cultures

By Nuch Sarita,
VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
28 January 2008

Audio in Khmer - Listen (MP3)

Bosba Panh, whose repertoire includes Bob Dylan as well as traditional Khmer music, recently packed a concert hall in Phnom Penh. Chaktomuk Hall’s capacity is 570 seats, but Bosba Panh brought in 700 people.

Her music is increasingly gaining attention, as she strums a guitar and sings in cafes and halls for Westerners and Cambodians alike.

Bosba Panh, 10, whose father is Khmer and mother is Lao, put out the album “Phnom Penh” in 2006 and established her own music company, La Compagnie Bosbapanh, when she was 8 years old.

“Bosba confirms her talent as a classical singer in exploring the cultural richness of her country and in making famous international songs her own,” said Muoy You, director of Seametrey Children’s Village, a school, who attended the performance at Chaktomuk Hall. “She sang of the beauty of Cambodia, love and peace, liberty and freedom.”

Opera Singer Nurtures Cambodian Voice

By Nuch Sarita,
VOA Khmer Washington
28 January 2008

Audio in Khmer - Listen (MP3)

In a land covered with karaoke clubs, with singers in every home and videos on every television, Cambodia’s only traditionally trained opera singer stands singularly apart.

Trained in Moscow, Italy and Berkeley, Khuon Sethisak, has been back in Cambodia since 2001 and has since worked steadily to bring opera to Cambodians—and help them sing.

Khuon Sethisak, who tenor voice is rich and powerful when he sings but a little quiet when he speaks, said Cambodia’s singers need help to learn how to protect their voices, and encouragement to join international venues and events.

Past singers have not had access to international venues, he said Monday, as a guest on “Hello VOA.” “I want the world to know the voice of Khmer singers,” he said.

Cambodians need to work on the craft of singing and need to nurture the talent they have and keep training their voices, he said.

Meanwhile, he said, he hopes to make opera accessible to all.

“Opera is a world inheritance,” he said. “An opera singer can sing until he’s 70 or 80 years old.

It’s not just for the old or rich. To learn opera is to sing, act, to behave. Opera is good to instill morality in society.”

Thailand Picks New Prime Minister After 15 Months of Military-Backed Rule

By Luis Ramirez
Bankok28 January 2008

Thailand's governing coalition in parliament has chosen former Bangkok governor Samak Sundaravej as the country's new prime minister. Mr. Sundaravej is a close ally of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. VOA's Luis Ramirez reports from Bangkok.

Seventy-two-year-old Samak Sundaravej is controversial for many people in Thailand. They accuse him of running in general elections last month as a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Despite being forced from office, exiled, and banned from politics, Mr. Thaksin remains popular, especially among Thailand's poor.

Mr. Samak's People Power Party fought election fraud charges in the Thai Supreme Court this month and won, clearing the way for the party to form a coalition government with five other parties. Made up of Mr. Thaksin's allies, the PPP won the most seats in the lower house of parliament. On Monday, parliament voted to select Mr. Samak as the new Prime Minister.

Mr. Samak says that having served five times as a cabinet minister and three times as a deputy minister, he has the political credentials to lead the country. He is known for being gruff and outspoken. He tells VOA he is not Mr. Thaksin's puppet.

"Somebody would want to put that on me, but you see it's not that," Samak said. "The media asked me, 'are you a nominee of Mr. Thaksin?' I asked back the reporter, 'is the word nominee a bad word?' In this country 'nominee' is a good word."

The new prime minister says he is in regular contact with Mr. Thaksin, who has been watching events closely from Hong Kong. Mr. Samak has said he wants to bring the former Prime Minister back within the next few months.

Analysts say that for now, whether Mr. Thaksin returns is a relatively minor question to many people. Thailand's economy has stagnated since the military coup under an interim government that analysts say is widely regarded as inept. Political science professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak says many people are now looking to Mr. Samak to work quickly to jumpstart the economy before his coalition government falls apart.

"There are a lot of expectations right now in Thailand," Thitinan said. "People are fed up with the military, with the coup. People want answers. They want their expectations to be met. Some people want to go back to the policies under Thaksin. But overall, we want some performance."
Thitinan notes that Thailand has never had a coalition government that lived out its full term.
He says the biggest danger now for the Samak-led coalition is to move the economy forward in ways that will not lead to another coup.

Thailand has had 18 military coups since it transitioned from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

The latest, in September 2006, came after months of protests against Thaksin Shinawatra's government, which critics accused of corruption and abuse of power. His populist policies, however, drew the support of Thailand's urban and rural poor who now want to see that agenda resumed.

Ensuring history's right on both sides is key to better ties

Bangkok Post
Tuesday January 29, 2008

THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL

One of the keys to closer ties between Thailand and Cambodia lies with the Thai-Cambodian Association that was set up a year after the 2003 riots.

And for the association, a way to prevent violence recurring is to create a proper understanding of Thai-Cambodian history. Trying to correct history textbooks is a good way to start.

But five years on, there hasn't been much progress on this front even though academics from the two countries have met frequently to discuss the textbooks.

''What is different in the textbooks [about Thai-Cambodian history] is that the two countries write history differently,'' Dhonburi Rajabhat University vice-president Prayoon Songsilp said.
Ms Prayoon said it might be wise if the two countries studied each other's history more and softened the words used in textbooks.

The future is also encouraging as Thailand is helping Cambodia design a curriculum for the Thai language at the bachelor's degree level at the University of Cambodia in a task expected to be completed next year, she said.

Allowing Cambodian students to learn Thai in universities also shows that the Cambodian government is more open about education these days, she said. In the past the Phnom Penh government feared Thai influence, she added.

The Thai-Cambodian Association has also launched more than 30 projects _ mostly in arts and culture, literature and student exchanges, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.

''We believe that Cambodian people have a better attitude towards these projects,'' he said, citing the good response from Cambodian university students who know the Thai language who have been invited to visit Thailand. ''They know Thailand better,'' he added.

Bangkok has taken Thai movies and songs to Cambodia to show to Cambodians and the two countries also have cooperated to produce dictionaries as well as projects on reading and writing the Thai language for students at the secondary to university level

Curing the Dengue Fever

In an advanced and highly communicative age like ours where music of all geographical origins can be easily obtained, it would be unconventional to call any form of music a lost art. After all, throughout the centuries, music has had the ability to be documented in a variety of forms. Even before audio recording, artists have been able to record their works on paper through the use of theoretical notation. Without it, all the Beethovens and Mozarts of the world would be vastly under-appreciated. However, with some historians holding the belief that the legality of music in a country holds little importance, there may be some relevant events that your school’s required history books may have neglected to tell you. The events of Pol Pot’s short-lived but highly effecting political party, the Khmer Rouge, have been documented in-depth, yet an important event that occurred on April 17th, 1975, often goes overlooked. After the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia), they banned and removed all artists (including musicians) from the city. Legendary songwriters such as Ros Sereysothea and Sinn Sisamouth were lost; the only reasons their names may not ring a bell is because of the Khmer Rouge’s order of banishment. Otherwise, both would likely have been acknowledged as prolific influences. The same can be said for numerous other Cambodian musicians, most artists whose works have unfortunately been lost due to the regime’s overpowering incentives.

It takes a lot of courage for an artist of American descent to revive a type of foreign music lost in the lingering effects of a sensitive political event. For brothers Zac and Ethan Holtzman though, they found Cambodian pop music to be an art too rousing to be forgotten. After a visit to the country in the late ’90s, both of them fell in love with the music they were exposed to there. Expecting something entirely exotic, they were treated to a sound that actually remained rooted in several influences of Western descent. Cambodian pop music, as it turned out, was just as accessible as its American counterpart, with sentiments of surf-rock, alternative folk, and psychedelia being prevalent. With that in mind, the Holtzman brothers returned to Los Angeles with a plan to form a band that would echo their love for Cambodian music. Searching Long Beach’s Cambodian music scene for musicians with similar intentions, they found Nimol Chhom, a vocalist who was practically aready a superstar in Cambodia. Her soaring vocals allowed her to play for the king and queen before joining the Holtzman brothers. After enlisting bassist Senon Williams (also in Radar Bros), brass player David Ralicke, and drummer Paul Smith, it marked the beginning of Dengue Fever.

There are several reasons why I consider Dengue Fever to be one of the most eclectic and original sounding acts on the indie scene today. The most glaring explanation arguably comes in the vocals of Chhom; they are constantly invigorating in being that, even when the lyrical content is strictly in Khmer, her ability to express authentic human emotion is a talent that is universally recognizable. Her vocals can simultaneously give off the impression of being both frailly intimate and ardently empowering. The other reason is the form of exotically stimulating instrumentation that the six-piece conveys, with various forms of guitars, brass, keys, and rhythm being impeccable representations of quality Cambodian music. Being that Cambodians were listening to American radio stations during the Vietnam war, the influences spanning from surf music and psychedelic rock to Motown and soul are not surprising. All are represented well on the group’s third full-length album, Venus on Earth. Released this past Tuesday, all 11 tracks represent the group’s most successful release yet, even ahead of the extremely impressive Escape from Dragon House. We can only hope that, if all historical works represent similarly great quality , the album can help ignite a Cambodian music revival.

In relevance to their past two full-length releases, Venus on Earth is a continuation of Dengue Fever’s enjoyable blend of surf-rock, alternative folk, and psychedelia. The only aspect that appears slightly differing in comparison is Chhom’s increased use of English, though it neither detracts or increases the amount of enjoyment or exotic flair the band conveys. The suavely seductive “Woman in the Shoes” shows off Chhom’s use of English and Khmer, with English being exclusively used during the chorus. “Close to me, holding hands at the bottom of sea,” she sings over a swanky bass line and several sets of brass, “Close to me, I hold you tight until you can’t breathe.” Though it is not the most ambitious or instrumentally complex song on the album, “Woman in the Shoes” is easily my favorite simply due to its enthralling melodic capacity and slick use of brass and guitar. Chhom’s vocals don’t hurt either, as she gives one of the best vocal performances I have heard all year on Venus on Earth. “Tiger Phone Card” is one of the band’s more accessible tracks, sung entirely in English by Chhom and Zac Holtzman as a duet. In simplest terms, it makes its mark as a worldly love song with superbly executed guitar solos and vocal harmonies being wildly impressive. “Seeing Hands” and “Clipped Wings” are more demonstrative of the band’s instrumental prowesses, though it appears to trade overall infectiousness for structural ambitiousness. It provides for superb variation on Venus on Earth, an album that is most certainly one of the most impressive of the year so far.

Dengue Fever - Woman in the Shoes

Dengue Fever - Tiger Phone Card

Dengue Fever - Clipped Wings

No justice, no peace

Details are Sketchy

January 28, 2008

Prompted by the recent assault of a CPP lawmaker by his security guard, IPS resurveys the country’s eviction problem and notes the growing frustration of those newly landless.

At the beginning of January, Ros Sovann was just another private security guard one sees standing outside fancy restaurants and the homes of the rich in Phnom Penh. By month end, the 28-year-old had catapulted from obscurity to become the symbol of rage spreading through Cambodia over land grabbing.

Ros’ transformation took place shortly before midnight on Jan. 13 in front of a house in the Cambodian capital, owned by Chin Kim Sreng, a 70-year-old parliamentarian from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Sometime close to 11:30 p.m., Ros brutally attacked Chin with a steel pipe as the latter had got out of his luxury car to open the gate of his house, say reports in the local press.

But Ros was not finished, despite his beatings leaving Chin bleeding and with open head wounds, added an account in the Khmer language ‘Rasmei Kampuchea’ newspaper. He had then got into Chin’s car and crashed it into the gate.

This wasn’t a crime of opportunity. After his arrest, Ros Sovann admitted to police that he took a job as a security guard with the sole intention of getting next to rich and powerful parliamentarians in order to exact his revenge. Nor is it likely that Ros Sovann is an isolated case. Over the last few years, the government has evicted tens of thousands of urban and rural poor. Ros Sovann is simply the first who unleashed his anger on the leaders of the country. He is unlikely to be the last.

The truly sad part is that Ros Sovann probably could have been placated with what the average law maker spends on karaoke in a month, if not less.

Cambodian Photos Shed Light on Poverty

This photo, part of an exhibit by Trevor Wright, shows a young child chewing on a stalk of sugar cane. Wright's photo exhibit "Life at the Cambodian Garbage Dump," is located on the 4th floor of the HFAC.

By Jenica Stimpson - 28 Jan 2008

Trevor Wright, a BYU student and media arts major, served his mission in Cambodia and was intrigued with its people. He decided to go back last summer with the Cambodian Children's Fund (CCF) to serve the people he had grown to love. For three months he taught English to impoverished children and helped make their lives a little easier through the aid that the Children's Fund provides.

While serving in Cambodia he took documentary-like pictures of children at the dump. Families are driven to the dump in poverty and struggle through life as garbage pickers who find and sell whatever they can in hopes of earning enough money to survive. Children must help support their families by rummaging through the garbage each day.

"Through my photos, I like to capture the moments, situations and feelings of the individuals so that we can develop a greater understanding of human beings," Wright said. "Because of this experience in Cambodia, I have decided to minor in international development."

Wright's photos are currently displayed in the 4th floor west hall of the Harris Fine Arts Center.

Wright first became interested in photography while in high school and was influenced by his dad. As he grew older he became especially interested in documentary-type photos. He is planning on making a documentary film on the founder of CCF, Scott Neeson, in the near future.

Hollywood film executive Scott Neeson founded the CCF when he traveled to Cambodia in 2003 and witnessed the desperate needs of young children. After working in the film business for 26 years, he now resides in Phnom Penh, Cambodia year-round.

According to the CCF Web site, the organization has three separate facilities where 300 children receive nutrition and housing, medical treatment, dental services and vaccinations. The children are also involved in an educational program that includes local language reading and writing, classes in English, social sciences and math. They also attend evening classes where they learn traditional Khmer music, dance and drama.

"Through these photos I hope that other people will fall in love with Cambodia like I have," Wright said. "I hope that these photos will give an insight that these people are individuals just like you and me."

An Internet Lesson in a Rural Cambodian Village: And Then You Wait ...

I launched a bloggers campaign and Twitter Wall of Fame as part of the Sharing Foundation's America's Giving Challenge. (To learn more about the Sharing Foundation, see this article) I've been reaching out to my network, and Vicky Davis is one of the people I turned to for to ask for help with the from her network of wired educators.

Yes, I hope they will contribute the $10 so we can win the $50,000 (which will certainly help us make improvements to our computer school and the Sharing Foundation's many other programs), but I am also want feedback about how to improve a computer program in a rural village in a developing country with really slow Internet. I know it is difficult without being there ..

The Sharing Foundation's Computer School was opened in 2006. Computer classes are held every morning utilizing donated laptops and desktops (that are hand-carried over by Dr. Hendrie on her quarterly trips) Students, picked by lottery, come daily for six weeks to learn word processing, spread sheets, and Internet use, on our one, slow connection, acquiring a useful skill for future employment. Computer education groups repeat on a rotating basis.

I observed Mam Sari, our head English teacher (and computer geek) teach a Google search lesson and captured video above. Mam Sary gets on the Internet via his cell phone connection which costs the Foundation roughly $28 per month. It's slow, but he is able to teach a lesson to the students about how to find supplementary materials for their school assignments. One of the students asked if Google was the best search engine. Mam Sary said, 'Yes, Google is the best." This is amazing because during my last trip in 2004 when I taught ESL, these students gave me a blank stare when I mentioned the words computer and Internet.

As I mentioned, the cell phone connection is really slow. I loved how Mam Sari introduced this to his students. He said, "type in your search term, click on search, and then you wait." Since we only have one Internet connection, all 15 students were huddled around the computer. Mam Sari did not waste this time, he engaged them in a discussion about the content they were searching. (The bad health effects of smoking)

Mam Sary also received several of the video cameras Jay Dedman and Ryanne Hodson brought over to Cambodia last July donated by Doug from the video blogging community. (Jay and Ryan not only created this fantastic video about the Sharing Foundation's projects, but have also donated and asked other video bloggers to support the cause.) Jay and Ryanne taught him how to use the camera and I helped him again a month later when I was there.

That is Mam Sari. He attended the Cambodian Bloggers Summit with me. We participated in a small group role play exercise. Our group was assigned to "Social Media." First we discussed the definition of the term. It became clear that social media in Cambodia means "any media that can solve social issues."

Mam Sari was thrilled to learn about the Web2.0 and is very interested incorporating some of the ideas into his instruction, but unfortunately our very slow Internet connection doesn't make it easy. He has set up a blog and has a Facebook profile, but to update them he has to ride his motorbike an hour into Phnom Penh. The connection is to slow for blogger or Facebook to load.

If we had a better Internet connection (very expensive to get high speed Internet in our rural village), we could do more. For example, English lessons on Skype with students in US, post some of the videos created with the cameras on Youtube, use his digital tape recorder to create podcasts, student blogs, etc.

So, my question to Vicky's network is:

What advice would you offer to Mam Sary about incorporating computer instruction on a REALLY slow connection and with one computer connected to the Internet?

Are there any web resources or books that you think I should send over to him to read?

Dream a little dream with me, if we had a fast Internet connection, what are the possibilities?

There has already been over $19,000 for the Sharing Foundation's America's Giving Challenge raised through the unselfish giving of over 650 people like Jay Dedman, Ryanne Hodson, and Coffee with Doug. If you have not yet donated $10 (or more) to this important cause, there is only a few days left to donate and change a Cambodian child's life and maybe help us get a faster Internet connection!

Thailand backtracks on Preah Vihear claims

Details are Sketchy

January 28, 2008

Thailand’s top brass today began trying to salvage the diplomatic snafu that erupted last week over Preah Vihear.

The Defence Ministry yesterday rushed to retract statements made by a spokesman that Cambodia had “made up” history in a bid to claim the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear for Phnom Penh’s unilateral benefit.

Top brass were urgently calling counterparts across the border yesterday to clarify statements made on Thursday by ministry spokesman Lt-General Pichsanu Puchakarn.

The military statement on Thursday was a surprise. Pichsanu said Cambodia had created a new boundary in order to claim sovereignty of the entire area and was campaigning for international support for this.

He condemned Cambodia and demanded diplomats lodge an official protest with Phnom Penh.
Yesterday the ministry changed its tune. Supreme Command civil-affairs chief Lt-General Plangkul Klahan and Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said the previous day’s statement was incorrect.

Tribunal Judges Prepare for Trials

By Mean Veasna,

VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

28 January 2008

Audio in Khmer - Listen (MP3)

Khmer Rouge tribunal judges said Monday they were preparing for upcoming trials, seeking ways to improve on internal rules governing the operation of the courts.

“Our court is getting close to the trial stage. Therefore this plenary session has a clear and urgent agenda, such as observations on ways to improve internal rules related to the management of procedures in the court,” said judge Kom Srim, chief of the tribunal Supreme Court Chamber and head of the session.

Twenty-four of 25 judges were prepared to adopt several key amendments to the internal rules of the tribunal, he said.

Some changes are necessary now that the trials are progressing, especially with the arrests now of five Khmer Rouge leaders, said trial chamber judge Sylvia Cartwright.

“There remain many different legal, judicial, administrative and financial issues to be resolved,” she said.
The internal rules were the sticking point for the formation of the tribunal, and even though they have now been adopted, critics worry the tribunal will run out of money.

Pol Pot artist links past to present with "Art of Survival"

Mon Jan 28, 2008

PHNOM PENH Jan 28 (Reuters Life!) -- Cambodian artist Van Nath's talents saved his life in the 1970s, when he was forcibly put to work painting pictures of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

Now the artist, one of a handful of remaining survivors of the regime's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, hopes his latest works will expose the reality of Pol Pot's rule to a new generation.

On show at Phnom Penh gallery Meta House as part of the "Art of Survival" exhibition, his paintings of prison life are aimed at helping visitors deal with the trauma of the Khmer Rouge's 1974-1979 rule, when an estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of starvation, torture or disease.

But they also hold a mirror up to the present, said Van Nath, throwing the treatment of Khmer Rouge officials currently on trial for crimes during Pol Pot's rule, including "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, who has been linked to Tuol Sleng, into sharp relief.

"If I compare the prison where I was to Nuon Chea prison, it is very different. The prison at the Khmer Rouge court is very good. It has televisions, electricity, mattresses and they have enough food to eat," he told Reuters."

At the prison where I was, I was in handcuffs 24 hours a day with no food and no medicine. Now even with today's good prisons, prisoners can still ask to be released on bail. They complain that they cannot stay there. But what about me and the nearly 20,000 people who were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng?" Van Nath said.

An estimated 17,000 to 20,000 Cambodians were crammed into Tuol Sleng, also called "Security Prison 21" or "S-21" under the Khmer Rouge, a black-shirted communist guerrilla movement who declared war on modernity after overrunning Phnom Penh in 1975.

They were ousted four years later by a Vietnamese invasion.

Of the tens of thousands accused of betraying the regime at Tuol Sleng, only a dozen are known to have made it out.

The plain three-storied high school building, in a quiet quarter of the capital, is now a public memorial site and museum.

It draws thousands of visitors every year, as do the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) out of the capital, where the remains of many of Tuol Sleng's victims are buried in mass graves.

But some worry the country has not yet processed the trauma of the Pol Pot years, even as high-profile trials of former officials, including Tuol Sleng's former governor, Khang Khekh Ieu, or "Duch", make their way through a United Nations tribunal.

This is where artists such as Van Nath can contribute, said Metahouse gallery owner Nicolas Mesterharm.

"The young generation we work with knows a little bit, so we try to educate them and we try to bring young and older artists together," German-born Mesterharm told Reuters.

"We try to address that issue of genocide and the Khmer Rouge atrocities through art within the society that has not learnt yet to speak openly about what happened 25 years ago," he said.

A number of international documentaries and films, such as the 1984 Oscar-winning "Killing Fields", have brought the country's violent past to international audiences.

And several memoirs written by survivors of the regime sell at tourist sites such as Angkor Wat in the country's north, and Phnom Penh. But book sellers often say they have not read the English-language stories themselves.

For many young Cambodians, like student Sar Sayana, exhibitions such as the Art of Survival give a more accessible window to the past.

"It is important that these artist know what happened and that they made this exhibition so that others can know all about it too," she said, walking through the gallery.

(Reporting by Chantha Lach, Editing by Gillian Murdoch)

Cambodia's biggest hydropower dams serious threats to people

Mon, January 28, 2008

The construction of Cambodia's first and second biggest hydropower dams pose serious threats to eco-systems and the livelihood of thousands people in southwest of the country, an environmental conservationist report said Monday.

Under an aid package of $600 million(Bt18.6 billion) from China, Cambodia is constructing the Kamchay Dam with an installed capacity of 180 Megawatts (MW) the biggest in Cambodia in the southwestern Kampot Province and the 120 MW Stung Atay Dam in Pursat Province.

The Kamchay Dam developed by China's largest hydropower developer, Sinohydro Corporation, is located wholly within the Bokor National Park and will flood 2,000 hectares of protected forest, according to a research report by the US-based conservationist International Rivers.

The project, to be completed by 2010, denied access to nontimber forest products to local residents, for whom many is an important source of income, and potentially a negative impact on a local tourist resort downstream of the dam, it said.

The Stung Atay, constructed by Yunnan Corporation for International Techno Economic cooperation, will be completed by 2012. The dam will flood a substantial area of the Central Cardamom Protect Forest, the report said.

"Cambodia's free flowing rivers and abundant natural resources are invaluable assets, the health of which are vital to the wellbeing of Cambodia's rural population," said Carl Middleton, Mekong Program Coordinator with International Rivers.

"Poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage these resources and undermine Cambodia's sustainable development."

At present, only 20 percent of households in Cambodia have access to electricity. It is expected that the soaring demand for electricity will increase to more than 900 from the 212 MW in 2002.

The government has many hydropower projects under feasibility study, including the Sambor Dam to be built in the mainstream of the Mekong River in Kratie Province with a capacity of 465 or 3500 MW depending on the design and size of the reservoir.

The Sambor Dam, if built, would block major fish migrations and could decimate the income of tens of thousands of subsistence and commercial fishers. The dam also threatens the habitat for the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin, around which a thriving local tourism industry has grown.

The Ministry of Industry, Mine and Energy estimated the country has the potential to generate approximately 10,000 M, of which more than 50 percent will come from the Mekong mainstream.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told an investment conference in Tokyo recently that his country has a great potential to generate electricity supplies for the region. Apart from Laos, Cambodia could be the "battery of Asia", he said.

The report recommends that Cambodia adopts international best practices in electricity planning, including the findings of the World Commission on Dams, which is widely recognised to be the international standard for energy and water planning.

"Cambodia has many choices for meeting our electricity needs including renewable and decentralised energy options that must be explored," said Ngy San, Deputy Executive Director with the NGO Forum on Cambodia.

by Supalak G Khundee

The Nation

Cambodia plans to buy more electricity from Vietnam

www.chinaview.cn

2008-01-28

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that his country was planning to purchase more electricity from Vietnam to meet its ever rising demand.

"I requested the Vietnamese side to supply Cambodia with more electricity," he told a school opening ceremony in Svay Rieng province neighboring Vietnam.

The proposal was made during his visit with Vietnamese official, he said, without elaborating the detail.

"I told our minister of industry, mine, and energy to hold talk with the Vietnamese side to buy 200 megawatts of electricity per year in the new plan. We used to buy only 80 megawatts a year from Vietnam, but this was far from enough," he said.

Power price remains high in Cambodia. The demand in capital city Phnom Penh annually increased by 25 percent, according to official source.

Dispute roils Temple vote

Members of Wat Vipassanaram wait to vote for a new board of directors during an election held at the Long Beach Buddhist temple Sunday. The action, which may not result in the seating of a new board, is in response to a debate between a group of temple members and leadership over what dissidents say is mistreatment of monks. (Stephen Carr/Staff Photographer )

RELIGION: Following complaints by monks, members of the Cambodian community vote in a new board.

By Greg Mellen
Staff Writer
01/27/2008

LONG BEACH - About 400-500 members of the local Cambodian community braved the wind and rain Sunday to participate in an election that may not even count.

Templegoers at Wat Vipassanaram in Central Long Beach, showed up en masse after a group opposed to the existing nine-member board of directors of the Khmer Buddhist Association announced it would stage the election for new leadership at the temple.

The association's bylaws call for elections on the fourth Sunday of January annually. But members of the existing board, noting that no elections had been staged in more than a decade, asked for the election to be postponed until March to allow the bylaws to be updated and to provide a fair and legitimate election.

The existing board members, who were not listed as candidates in Sunday's elections, said they would not recognize the results of Sunday's vote.

Initially, the board of directors had hoped to clear the grounds of the wat at 1239 E. 20th St. 30 minutes before the scheduled 1 p.m. election.

But with more than 100 congregants already in the temple and an adjoining patio area, officials worried forcing people off the property would cause strife.

"Hopefully everything will go smoothly, I pray for that," said Siphann Tith, the executive president of the board.

Although Long Beach police were on hand, they said the dispute was a civil matter and maintained a hands-off approach.

Opponents of the existing board said they pushed for the election due to charges of mistreatment of the monks at the wat. Through a translator, the monks said they had been threatened with expulsion, mail had been illegally opened, that they are denied access to electronic devices and that the board limits their ability to leave the premises.

Board members say the charges are false, and that their opponents are trying to wrest control over the wat, which has net assets of more than $1.5 million and clout in the Cambodian community.

Eventually, with attorneys Evan Braude, representing the board, and Bill Shibley, for the dissidents, on hand, it was decided to let the templegoers decide whether they wanted to proceed with the vote.

The roar of approval when the question was put to membership was nearly unanimous.

Speaking in Khmer to the temple crowd, Sithan "Larry" Sar, a candidate for the new board, said "this is the will of the monks and the people, that's why it has to happen today." An interpreter translated his remarks to the Press-Telegram.

Paline Soth, another opponent of the existing board, said the vote had to go forward.

"We interpret the monks as the ultimate authority and we have their blessing," Soth said.

Tith said the monks did not have the authority to call for a vote, but he did not attempt to stop the vote.

Braude tried to convince the crowd to be patient and allow the two sides to convene and come up with a mutually agreeable election procedure.

"I think the board understands how you feel," Braude told the crowd. "But today would be premature to have an election that would be fair, legitimate or even (lawful)."

Shibley urged only that the community be collaborative rather than divisive in its search for answers.

"It's important to solve problems as friends," Shibley said.

A total of 294 votes were cast for 13 candidates for the nine board positions.

Chha Kry Un was the leading vote getter with 266. Him Kea, one of two women elected, was second, followed by Darin Sun, Sar, Sophan Oum, Praseur Ban, Kosal Chum, Serey Keo and Alex Lim.

Opponents of the board of directors took to the streets to sign up temple members in large numbers, picking up 525 members. The board of directors estimated the wat only had about 300 regulars.

Shibley said he hopes representatives from the new and existing boards can meet in the next couple of weeks and hash out an agreement.

Top Cambodian foreign minister pays tribute to Suharto

Asia-Pacific News
Jan 28, 2008

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong made an official visit to the Indonesian embassy in the capital Monday to lay a wreath and sign a condolence book in honour of former Indonesian president Suharto.

Hor Namhong did not speak to reporters but spent several minutes with Indonesian embassy staff. The elderly Cambodian statesman appeared visibly moved.

Suharto, a former five-star general, died of multiple organ failure Sunday at Jakarta's Pertamina Hospital, where he had been treated for 23 days. He was 86.

Cambodia is a fellow member of the 10-nation Association of South-east Asian Nations bloc and enjoys warm diplomatic ties with Indonesia.

Suharto was Indonesia's Pol Pot: Sukarno widow

Ratna Sari Dewi Sukarno (Photo: Japan Today)

January 28, 2008
Source: ABC

The Japanese widow of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno says she will never forgive his successor Suharto for his repression, and has likened him to Pol Pot.

Suharto seized power from Sukarno in 1965-66 and ruled with an iron fist for another three decades.

"I don't want to lash out at a dead man but I cannot forgive Suharto," Ratna Sari Dewi Sukarno, Sukarno's third wife said.

"He was Indonesia's Pol Pot," she said, referring to the late leader of Cambodia's genocidal Khmer Rouge.

Dewi, a former bar hostess born as Naoko Nemoto, married Sukarno at age 19 in 1962 after he was charmed by her on a state visit to Tokyo.

After Sukarno died under house arrest in 1970, she returned to Japan where she has become a television personality and runs a jewellery and cosmetics business.

Despite Indonesia's economic progress under Suharto, his tenure was marked by repression, from the killings of at least 500,000 communists and their sympathisers from 1966, to invading East Timor and quelling separatist movements in Aceh and Papua.

Dewi blamed Suharto both for the death of her husband, "the man who declared independence and became Indonesia's first president," and for the mass killings around the country.

"Although he had a soft face, he could be cruel and heartless at the same time," she said.

"You could not tell what he was like on the inside.

"What he said and what he did were two different things."

She scolded Suharto for not making court appearances late in his life to answer corruption charges, citing illness.

"Even today, many Indonesians suffer from that legacy and the income gap continues to widen," Dewi said.

"He ended his life living among friends," she said.

"I think he was a very lucky man."

Suharto was buried today in a state funeral in central Java after a long illness.

- AFP

Women in Cambodia Lead the Way for Change

Photo by (Laura McKay/CARE 2007)

Clearing for the future

Cambodia's Pailin province is one of the most land mine and unexploded ordinance affected areas in the country. Poverty rates are high with many people trying to make a living on land filled with mines.

Han, a mother of four, has worked with CARE's Australia-Cambodia Integrated Mine Action program for over a year. She de-mines with a team of other women who work with metal detectors and safety equipment to remove and detonate the mines.

"I have two reasons for working in the de-mining program. The first is that I am poor and I have to take care of my children. The other is that it gives me the chance to participate in clearing the mines.

"Before I became a Locality De-miner, I just focused on farming. It was very difficult – I couldn"t grow enough food, especially in times of drought or flood and my standard of living was very bad. Now things are better.

"Even though I am a woman and doing the job of a de-miner I am trying to keep strong and be careful all the time. I spend from six in the morning until three in the afternoon de-mining then I go home and take care of my children. Sometimes my neighbours take care of them too. One of my children cooks now. She is a great help."

Communities for communities

CARE's Highland Community Education Program works with people from ethnic minority groups in the remote province of Ratanakiri to establish community schools, conduct teacher training, create bilingual resources, and support community-run school boards.

Varina, a 29-year-old teacher trainer from the Krung ethnic group, tells her story:

"I was born in a difficult time – the time of Pol Pot. I nearly died because there was nothing to drink and not enough food. My mother tried hard to find me things to eat but I became very thin. Then she passed away.

"I have had a dream since I was ten years old that I would be a good mother and a good leader. Because I have had this commitment since I was ten, I feel that I have already reached my dream.

"I wanted to help the indigenous people here to have a school and to have education. I also wanted to strengthen myself and to build my capacity to help all of them. So when I saw CARE help the indigenous people with education I was very happy. When CARE helps indigenous people, they also help me. I try to learn more so I can help people, too."

Making the children smile

CARE works with local partners in Cambodia on projects like Orphans and Vulnerable Children so that children are able to get access to nutritious food and hygiene kits.

Dina is 21 years old and works with New Hope for Cambodia Children, one of CARE's partners. This is her story.

"I used to go to the riverside where I saw how difficult it was for children living there – so I decided to work with them. I like to see the children smiling.

"Most of the children like joking so when I visit them they always tell me a joke. One of the girls is very clever. She is the little one in the house but she knows everything. She is four years old – a lovely girl. Now she has gone to study at the kindergarten and, through the project, I have given her study equipment and a hygiene kit to help her.

"We tell the parents that nutritious food is very important for the children because even if they get their medicine, if their diet is poor, they cannot get better. I work with 27 families and go to each house every week. It's good to develop a relationship with the families; then they know they can trust us."

Small health, long lives

Le is 29 years old. In her work as a peer educator, she promotes family planning and information about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to friends through Small Health Promotions, part of CARE's Strengthening Capacity for Improved Community Health program. CARE runs the promotions though a partner organization at garment factories in Phnom Penh, providing training, peer educator support, condoms and clinic services to thousands of girls.

"In my village, many girls go to Phnom Penh to find work. I've worked in the garment factory for two years. My family doesn't have much education and are very poor. So, of the US$50 that I earn each month, I send US$20-$25 back to them.

"At the garment factory we get a lot of benefit from the Small Health Promotions. They're good for sharing ideas and getting access to the clinic. I help to prepare the health promotions and encourage friends to come, too.

"Because of my training, I have talked to my boyfriend about STIs and the benefits of condom use and, if my friends have husbands, I can explain to them about family planning."

BORDER DISPUTE: Govt quick to withdraw allegation

Defence spokesman's claim that Cambodia marked boundary unilaterally denied

January 26, 2008

The Defence Ministry yesterday rushed to retract statements made by a spokesman that Cambodia had "made up" history in a bid to claim the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear for Phnom Penh's unilateral benefit.

Top brass were urgently calling counterparts across the border yesterday to clarify statements made on Thursday by ministry spokesman Lt-General Pichsanu Puchakarn.

Preah Vihear is a sensitive issue between Thailand and Cambodia. It heated up early last year, when Thailand blocked Phnom Penh's attempt to list it as a United Nations World Heritage site. Bangkok asserted Cambodian listing documentation claimed land in "overlapping areas".

The International Court of Justice ruled in June 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but access to the site is mainly via Thailand. Phnom Penh has recognised some overlapping areas, according an official at the Thai Foreign Ministry.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) agreed at a meeting in New Zealand in June last year to consider the heritage listing. It suggested Thailand and Cambodia jointly develop the site and agree on boundaries before a decision.

Both countries concurred.

The matter was at the heart of discussions between Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram and his counterpart Hor Namhong in Phnom Penh in December.

Cambodia praised Thailand for its offer of technical assistance in the restoration and maintenance of the ancient site.

The military statement on Thursday was a surprise. Pichsanu said Cambodia had created a new boundary in order to claim sovereignty of the entire area and was campaigning for international support for this.

He condemned Cambodia and demanded diplomats lodge an official protest with Phnom Penh.
Yesterday the ministry changed its tune. Supreme Command civil-affairs chief Lt-General Plangkul Klahan and Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said the previous day's statement was incorrect.

Anti-Thai sentiment is quick to emerge in Cambodia. Rioters set fire to the embassy in Phnom Penh in January 2003.

Tharit said yesterday Thailand and Cambodia had agreed in 2000 to a joint boundary committee. No changes in the environment of the area will be made before boundary demarcation. "Both countries continue dialogue to find the best solution to listing the area as a World Heritage site," he said.

Thailand's National World Heritage Committee chairman, Adul Vichianchareon, said that if they failed to settle boundary disputes, Unesco might reject the listing proposal.

The Nation

Khmer Rouge Tribunal Rejects Delay To Hearing:Official

01-28-08

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal will hear an appeal against regime leader Nuon Chea's detention on Feb. 4, officials said Monday, rejecting efforts to delay the court's second public hearing.

Legal maneuvering by Nuon Chea's defense lawyers had threatened to delay the proceedings, court officials said.

But the court said the hearing would take place as scheduled, rejecting requests by Nuon Chea's team to strike some of his testimony from the record.

Lawyers for the most senior surviving Khmer Rouge cadre had argued that tribunal judges should not have conducted their client's initial interviews in the absence of defense counsel following his arrest in September.

"Mr. Nuon's apparent waiver of his right to counsel was involuntary, uninformed, ambiguous and therefore ineffective," they said in their request to annul the written record of Nuon Chea's first three court appearances.

But judges, in an order issued Friday, said the 81-year-old had repeatedly denied that he needed a lawyer present for the interviews.

"It appears difficult to imagine a situation where the waiver could have been more clear and more deliberate than in this case," the judges wrote in their decision to reject the request.

Nuon Chea, who was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's closest deputy, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was the alleged architect of the communist regime's sweeping execution policies during its 1975-1979 rule.

Five top cadres 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 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.
"Everything is clear now. The co-investigating judges wanted to show that they have done everything fairly for Nuon Chea," tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told AFP Monday, saying the hearing would be held.

Australian Women Talk khmer

TM plans to invest in Cambodia, eyes other assets too

Monday January 28, 2008
By ELAINE ANG

SINGAPORE: Telekom Malaysia arm, TM International, is eyeing mobile assets in Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, and will invest US$100mil in Cambodia in the next two years to build its networks, the unit's chief said on Saturday.

Chief executive Yusof Annuar Yaacob also expected TM International's revenues to grow up to 20% in the next three years.

“We're investing about US$100mil in Cambodia over the next 18 to 24 months, and we're looking at a transaction in Laos at the same time – we're talking to the government about taking over one of their mobile operations,” Yusof told Reuters in an interview.

“As for Myanmar, which is the El Dorado of Asian telecoms, we're quite keen to do something there too – we've been engaging with the government there,” he added.

The company was also keen on Vietnam and would wait for an opportunity to open up, he said.
“We've been engaged with the respective telecoms companies for a couple of years now,” he said.

“It's also a partnership issue. Despite the war, they like American companies, but for an American company to come through the door, it might not be politically acceptable, so it might be an idea for us to partner one of these guys to increase our chances of taking a stake,” Yusof said, adding that possible partners included AT&T Inc and Vodafone Group plc.

Relations between Vietnam and the United States have warmed recently, culminating in the first visit to Washington last June by a Vietnamese head of state since the 10-year Vietnam War ended in 1975.

Last September, TM said it would spin off its mobile business into a separately listed firm, TM International, to help unlock the value of its fastest growing operations, separating it from its more staid fixed-line and broadband units.

TM International will house its domestic Celcom mobile unit and operations in nine other countries, including India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Earnings growth at TM, Malaysia's fifth largest company by market value, has mainly been driven by revenue from Celcom and its 67% owned Indonesian mobile unit, Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk.

Looking ahead, Yusof said he expected TM International's revenues to increase more than 20%, but this figure would fall when combined with Celcom's slower growth rates.

Celcom accounts for about half the group's revenues.

“The numbers are between mid to high teens (in percentage terms) for the blended organisation, over the next three years,” he added.

The listing of TM International would be finalised in early or middle of the second quarter, ahead of the earlier target of end-June, Yusof added. – Reuters

Khmer Mchas Srok Branch is formed in Minnesota, US

http://khmerquorum.blogspot.com/

Khmer Quorum
Saturday, January 26, 2008

A fear of Vietnamization in Cambodia and Khmer Race extinction is haunting all Cambodian communities around the world as well as in the country. In response to this fear, On January 26, 2008, about fifty Cambodian Americans in Minnesota have come together to form a Khmer Mchas Srok Branch in the state. At the meeting, the members have voted to choose a president, a vice president, three secretaries, a treasurer, and a numbers of advisors.

An important mission of this organization is to restore full independence and national sovereignty from Vietnamese expansionism policy and to brink back true democracy, self-determination, and the rule of law for our country. The president of this newly established organization has given a short speech to the members, focusing on an unfair border treaty with Vietnam, an alarming number of illegal Vietnamese Immigrants who continuously flowing into the country without check, and the growing influence of Vietnamese associations and businesses in the country.

The organization believes that at least there are 2 to 4 millions illegal Vietnamese Immigrants are currently living in Cambodia under the protection of the current regime. If the current government continues to rule the country for the next 30 to 50 years, Cambodia will automatically become Champa and Kampuchea Krom. The past and current situations have convinced the Khmer Mchas Srok that Vietnam is constantly and systematically swallowing Cambodian land through all kinds of mean.

To save Cambodia from the real danger of extinction, the Khmer Mchas Srok will appeal to all the signatory countries of the Geneva Peace Accord in 1954 and the Paris Peace Accord in 1991 to review and reinstate all clauses that had guaranteed the full sovereignty and independence of Cambodia. On the other hand, the Khmer Mchas Srok clearly states that it has no policy and intention to compete or challenge with any political party in Cambodia, but its sacred mission is to salvage our nation from the Vietnamese expansionism.

At the end of the emotional but enthusiastic meeting, the Khmer Mchas Srok Branch in Minnesota has called for all Cambodian communities around the world to rally and unify as a single force under an umbrella of the Khmer Mchas Srok in order to save our beloved country from Vietnamization.

Where Cambodia Stands on International Arena?

http://khmerquorum.blogspot.com/

Sunday, January 27, 2008
By Khmer Quorum

International Relations strongly depends on power of individualnation that participate in the world arena. Without sufficient power,a nation cannot survive in the world of constant struggle. Power canhelp to persuade aggressors to stay away from each other. Powerincludes military, economic, political, and psychological factors thateach country can use to balance each other. In this sense, countriesgenerally pursue their own national interest; there is no any countrycan afford to behave as if a Bodhisattva (Buddhist Saint) in this real world.

Many countries use diplomacy to search and develop a commoninterest so that they can work together to achieve their common goalproductively. However, sometime the common interest doesn't last longenough to keep them together, a marriage of convenience is over.During the Cold War, China and the US became the biggest supporters ofthe Cambodian Coalition Government Forces which fought to liberatethe country from Vietnamese occupation backed by the Soviet Union.When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, China and the US ceasedsupporting the Cambodian fighters because they had no longer fearedthe Soviet's threat in Southeast Asia.Then, China and the US's common interest to help the Cambodian resistant forces also no longer existed.

Now the US starts to see China as a great threat to its interest in Southeast Asia, and it looks forward to its former enemy, Vietnam as its potential futureally to contain the Chinese growing power in the region. BothPresidents Clinton and Bush had visited Vietnam in order to cement theirrelationship with their new friend. Recently, Vietnam openly spokeagainst China's aggression over the Spradly Island where Vietnamregards as its own sovereign island for centuries. However, Vietnamtries to avoid any action that leads to opened conflict with Chinabecause Vietnam still remembers its nightmare on a border war with Chinain 1979 while the Soviet was reluctant to intervene on its side.

Meanwhile, China now sees Cambodia as a springboard to convey its power and influence into the region. In 2005, during an official visit to Cambodia, Chinese Premier Wei Jia Bao had pledged $600 million economic aid to Cambodia without any condition. China becomes the second largest investor in the country only behind SouthKorea. Both governments frequently have exchanged their high levelofficial visits. There is no doubt that China wants Cambodia to stayin its economic and political influence by using generous aid to buythe heart and mind of the Hun Sen's regime. Now, Cambodia has falleninto the sphere of an old Cold War again. Vietnam and China havestrongly supported Hun Sen's undemocratic government while the West isstruggling to restore democracy into Cambodia.

Without Vietnam and China's interferences, the seed ofdemocracy that planted by the UN and International Community in 1993would grow speedily and fruitfully in the country. In term ofInternational Relations, Cambodia lacks of military capability,economic strength, and even psychological determination that could beused as a leverage to balance itself with its neighbors and otherworld powers. Cambodia is rated by the World Bank as among the poorestand weakest nation in the world, and it has continuously struggled tosurvive itself from its more powerful neighbors, especially Vietnam.

After four years the Cambodian judiciary still denies justice to Chea Vichea, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeum

Offerings made in honor of Chea Vichea memory on the fourth anniversary of his assassination

Both courts ignored key evidence, including witness testimony that Born Samnang was 60km away from the crime scene at the time of the murder.

Today, the 28th of January, 2008, marks the fourth year of imprisonment of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeum who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for the murder of Chea Vichea, President of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC). As of today the two men have served a total of 1,461 days in prison.

The prosecution of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, has attracted widespread criticism for serious irregularities and the lack of evidence against them. Their trial by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in August 2005, and an Appeal Court hearing which upheld the guilty verdict in April 2007, violated Cambodian legal procedure and international human rights standards. Both courts ignored key evidence, including witness testimony that Born Samnang was 60km away from the crime scene at the time of the murder. The Appeal Court disregarded a written statement by Va Sothy, the prime witness to the murder, that Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were not the killers whom she saw.

The Appeal Court also ignored the conclusions of its own prosecutor, who acknowledged that the police investigation into the murder was incomplete and recommended that more investigation be conducted.

Local and international human rights groups and individuals including retired King Norodom Sihanouk have repeatedly stated that the two men are not the real killers of Chea Vichea. The family of Chea Vichea has also publicly denounced the trial and conviction of the two men and have refused to accept the USD$5,000 compensation that the court ordered the two men to pay.

The human rights community both in Cambodia and internationally continues to insist on the immediate release of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun.

Early last week union members, NGO workers, representatives from the Human Rights Party and the Sam Rainsy Party, and others gathered to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Chea Vichea. A small police contingent escorted 150 supporters as they marched from the FTUWKC headquarters to the newspaper stand near Wat Lanka where Chea Vichea was shot on 22 January, 2004.

At the newspaper stand a ceremony was held to pay tribute to the union leader. Wreaths were laid and incense lit in prayer, honoring Chea Vichea who gave his life for the struggle to represent the needs of Cambodian workers.

RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Land Grabbing - A Serious Concern

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jan 28 (IPS) - At the beginning of January, Ros Sovann was just another private security guard one sees standing outside fancy restaurants and the homes of the rich in Phnom Penh. By month end, the 28-year-old had catapulted from obscurity to become the symbol of rage spreading through Cambodia over land grabbing.

Ros’ transformation took place shortly before midnight on Jan. 13 in front of a house in the Cambodian capital, owned by Chin Kim Sreng, a 70-year-old parliamentarian from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Sometime close to 11:30 p.m., Ros brutally attacked Chin with a steel pipe as the latter had got out of his luxury car to open the gate of his house, say reports in the local press.

But Ros was not finished, despite his beatings leaving Chin bleeding and with open head wounds, added an account in the Khmer language ‘Rasmei Kampuchea’ newspaper. He had then got into Chin’s car and crashed it into the gate.

Ros’ arrest by the police and subsequent confession revealed that there was more to the attack than the visible facts. He said in his statement that he was exacting revenge on the country’s powerful government officials responsible for grabbing the land that his family owned in a village on the outskirts of Phnom. The lost land was to have helped his family raise funds to pay for his wedding.

‘’(Ros) said he had had no personal grudges against Chin,’’ states the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a Hong Kong-based regional rights lobby. ‘’However, since the loss of his land he had harboured strong resentment for all powerful officials, so much so that, on becoming a security guard, he had requested his firm to assign him to guard their houses so that he could have opportunities to take revenge on them.’’

The attack -- while not being condoned -- has attracted the attention of international and local rights groups who have been raising a cry against the strong-arm tactics used by Cambodian authorities to evict hundreds of the country’s urban and rural poor from their homes and their lands. ‘’Ros’ attack on lawmaker Chin Kim Sreng, brutal as it was, should not be treated as a crime like many others,’’ noted the AHRC. ‘’It should be taken very seriously as it was a cry for justice for himself and for other victims of the injustices of land grabbing.’’

In fact others reveal that such an act of violence by the victims of evictions against government officials is new. ‘’It is the first case that I have heard of, although our organisation does not condone such violence,’’ says Dan Nicholson, coordinator for the Asia and Pacific Programme at the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a Geneva-based housing and land rights lobby. ‘’The victims have often pursued peaceful means to advocate for their rights.’’

Such non-violent activity, either through community-organised protests or turning to the courts, comes despite growing frustration about the heavy odds the evicted men, women and children are up against. ‘’The people feel very frustrated at the difficulty they are having to defend their rights,’’ Nicholson revealed during a telephone interview from Phnom Penh. ‘’The courts have not been very helpful, and there are cases of intimidation and threats used against the community leaders who challenge the authorities after the eviction.’’

Last November even saw two deaths, many injuries and hundreds evicted from their homes in a typical campaign the Cambodian authorities launched to secure land from the poor. As always, armed police, soldiers and the military police were used in such eviction operations. The security forces shot dead two people on Nov. 15 during ‘’a forced eviction in the remote northern Preah Vihear province,’’ said Amnesty International, the London-based global rights campaigner. ‘’The victims, one man and one woman, belonged to a group of 317 families -- over 1,500 people -- evicted by more than 200 armed (members of the security force).’’

The push by Cambodian authorities to drive the poor from their lands in Phnom Penh, beachside tourist resorts like Sihanoukville and central provincial areas like Kompong have grown with intensity since 2006. That year saw over 7,000 people thrown out of their homes in Phnom Penh to enable private sector investments build new apartments, business centres and shopping malls on the lands.

According to local rights group, the heavy-handed measures used by authorities to grab real estate from the vulnerable exposes the downside of Cambodia’s march to shed its image as a poverty-stricken country. This South-east Asian nation, which has enjoyed over a decade of relative peace after nearly two decades of a brutal conflict, posted economic growth averaging 11 percent annually over the past three years. Tourism and garments are the country’s money-spinners.

Most troubling for groups like the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC) is the Cambodian government’s attitude towards the 2001 Land Law, which offered a new framework regards land ownership in a country where there was no strong culture of land rights and private land ownership. What was more, the little records of title deeds the country had were destroyed when Cambodia was ruled in the late 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot.

‘’The 2001 Land Law is progressive. It recognises the right of people who have lived on a piece of land for over five years to be entitled to the land’s title,’’ Yeng Virak, executive director of CLEC, said in a telephone interview from his organisation’s office in Phnom Penh. ‘’There has been a systematic effort to register land over the past six years.’’

But the poor who have been targeted for evictions are among the millions who have not received the ‘’paper work’’ to lay claim to the land they are living on. Consequently, they have become victims of the manner in which the Cambodian government is interpreting the two types of state land in the country -- for public use that needs protection, such as forests, and for private use, which can be sold for development.

‘’The government is saying that the people being evicted do not have the legal claims on the land and that such property is state land meant for private use, for economic activity,’’ says Yeng. ‘’And only some of the families who have been evicted have received compensation. Others have been dumped in an area where there are no facilities.’’

It is a development model that wins little support from Yeng, whose organisation is providing legal assistance to some of the evicted communities. ‘’Economic development is good, but the problem is when it is done at all costs,’’ he explains. ‘’The land issue is becoming a very serious concern here.’’

U.S. Spy Satellite, Power Gone, May Hit Earth

January 27, 2008
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — A disabled American spy satellite is rapidly descending and is likely to plunge to Earth by late February or early March, posing a potential danger from its debris, officials said Saturday.

Officials said that they had no control over the nonfunctioning satellite and that it was unknown where the debris might land.

“Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation,” Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said in a statement.

“Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause.”

Specialists who follow spy satellite operations suspect it is an experimental imagery satellite built by Lockheed Martin and launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in December 2006 aboard a Delta II rocket. Shortly after the satellite reached orbit, ground controllers lost the ability to control it and were never able to regain communication.

“It’s not necessarily dead, but deaf,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and an analyst of various government space programs.

It is fairly common for satellites to drop out of orbit and enter Earth’s atmosphere, but most break up before they reach the surface, Mr. McDowell said. Such incidents occur every few months, and it is often difficult to control the satellite’s trajectory or its re-entry into the atmosphere.

The debris, if any survives the fiery descent, typically lands in remote areas and causes little or no harm.

“For the most part,” Mr. McDowell said, “re-entering space hardware isn’t a threat because so much of the Earth is empty. But one could say we’ve been lucky so far.”

Of particular concern in this case, however, is that the debris from the satellite may include hydrazine fuel, which is typically used for rocket maneuvers in space.

Much of the fuel on the experimental satellite may not have been used and, should the tank survive re-entry into the atmosphere, the remaining fuel would be hazardous to anyone on the ground. It is likely, however, that the tank may rupture on re-entry, and that the fuel would burn off in a fiery plume that would be visible to the naked eye.

John E. Pike, the director of Globalsecurity.org in Alexandria, Va., said that if the satellite in question was a spy satellite, it was unlikely to have any kind of nuclear fuel, but that it could contain toxins, including beryllium, which is often used as a rigid frame for optical components.

Since it was launched, the experimental satellite has been in a slowly decaying orbit. As of Jan. 22, it was moving in a circular orbit at about 275 kilometers above the Earth, Mr. McDowell said. In the last month, its orbit has declined by 15 to 20 kilometers.

“If you plot the curve, it’s now just a matter of weeks before it falls out of orbit,” he said.

The largest uncontrolled re-entry by a NASA spacecraft was that of Skylab, the 78-ton abandoned space station that fell from orbit in 1979.

My Khmer Compatriots, ask not what Cambodia and her People can do for you, ask what you can do for Cambodia and her People!