Latest pictures: Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million

A Cambodian guard stands in front of a statue of a lion at Preah Vihear temple. Thailand's foreign ministry on Monday denied Cambodian claims that Thai soldiers had damaged the ancient Preah Vihear temple with rocket fire during a border shoot-out earlier this month.(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)

A soldier is placed on a drip at Engel field, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh on October 18, 2008. Impoverished Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million following this month's border clash with Thailand, officials said on Wednesday, an increase that is likely to anger its donors. Picture taken October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian troops stand guard at Engel field, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008 . Impoverished Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million following this month's border clash with Thailand, officials said on Wednesday, an increase that is likely to anger its donors. Picture taken October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian troops patrol Engel field at Phnom Trop, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km north of Phnom Penh in this October 14, 2008 file photo.REUTERS/Stringer

Cambodian troops rest near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008 . Impoverished Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million following this month's border clash with Thailand, officials said on Wednesday, an increase that is likely to anger its donors. Picture taken October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian troops patrol the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008 . Impoverished Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million following this month's border clash with Thailand, officials said on Wednesday, an increase that is likely to anger its donors. Picture taken October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian troops sit on the military vehicle at Sraem village as they drive to the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 18, 2008 . Impoverished Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million following this month's border clash with Thailand, officials said on Wednesday, an increase that is likely to anger its donors. Picture taken October 18, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia, one of Asia's poorest countries, doubles military spending

AsiaNews.it
10/29/2008

It's about 25% of the new budget. The intention is to match up better against Thailand in the dispute over the temple of Preah Vihear, a World Heritage site. Meanwhile, recent fighting has caused damage to the 900-year-old sculptures.

Phnom Penh (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Cambodia is doubling its military spending to 500 million dollars, after the recent conflict on the border with Thailand, over the temple of Preah Vihear. Most of the country's population lives beneath the poverty level (less than a dollar a day) and needs international aid. Meanwhile, a joint visit to the temple is scheduled for November 7, with Cambodian and the United Nations authorities, to check the damage caused by the armed conflict.

Cheam Yeap, head of the finance commission of the national Cambodian assembly, says that next week voting will be held on the new state budget, with military spending at 25% of the total. "This incident has awoken us to the need for our soldiers to be better equipped. We cannot sit and watch Thai troops encroach on our border," Yeap says. "Our army needs to be more organised, better trained, with newer bases and well-fed troops."

Since August, the two armies have been squaring off near the 900-year-old temple of Preah Vihear, which UNESCO designated as a World Heritage site in July. Both countries claim ownership of the temple, although in 1962 the International Court of Justice ruled that it belongs to Cambodia. In recent fighting, the sculpture of a Hindu goddess was damaged by shrapnel, and both sides are blaming each other.

It is estimated that there are 100,000 soldiers in the Cambodian army, which makes it about a third the size of the Thai army, but it is a substantial force for one of the poorest countries in Asia. For years, international donors have been asking Cambodia to demobilize thousands of veterans, including many former guerrillas of the Khmer Rouge, in order to free up funds for health and education. Instead, over the past two weeks another 3,000 men have been enlisted, although Prime Minister Hun Sen reiterates that he wants to seek a negotiated solution with Bangkok.

Tense, but quiet, near disputed border temple

A barber in front of a temple wall at the disputed Preah Vihear temple. (Seth Mydans/International Herald Tribune)

International Herald Tribune

By Seth Mydans
Published: October 29, 2008

PREAH VIHEAR, Cambodia: Brightly colored lines of washing hang by the gray stone walls. A vendor offers sunglasses, shampoo and cigarettes from a plastic sheet under a tree. A man with a Polaroid camera sells souvenir photos to the Cambodian soldiers camped on the temple grounds.
At the main gate, where an hourlong firefight with Thai troops broke out nearly two weeks ago, the commander of a Cambodian border police unit is playing cards with his men.

It is a sleepy time here at Preah Vihear temple, on the Thai-Cambodian border, where a dispute over sovereignty has become the first international flash point in Indochina in 20 years.

Cambodian troops occupy the swooping clifftop temple, which is in Cambodia but is most easily reached from the high ground on the Thai side. The Thais, who claim parts of the territory around the temple, are mostly out of sight in the hills or in camps nearby in Thailand.

But the Cambodian government seems to be digging in for a long siege. A new budget expected to be approved next week would double its military budget to $500 million - or 25 percent of all government spending.

"We cannot sit and watch Thai troops encroach on our border," Cheam Yeap, deputy head of the national assembly's finance commission, told Reuters. "Our army needs to be more organized, better trained, with newer bases and well-fed troops."

The encampment here has the village feel of Cambodian deployments throughout conflicts in recent decades.

A small market has opened under red and blue tarpaulins; a barber has put out his chair by a temple wall; a satellite dish brings in both Thai and Cambodian soap operas for the officers to watch.

Soldiers calling their families wander the cliff's edge searching for a cellphone signal, which switches between Thai and Cambodian carriers as they walk.

At the bottom of the great stone causeway, giant loops of silver razor wire close off the main entrance, which is guarded by armed men wearing sandals; the 900-year-old temple, with its sagging walls and tumbling columns, is empty of tourists.

The commander of the forces here, General Chea Dara, claimed a great victory in the little skirmish that took place on Oct. 15.

"They left with their hands in the air!" he said of a group of 10 Thai soldiers whom the Cambodians captured and returned. He raised his arms and shook them, adding, "They were trembling! They thought we would kill them."

Other tales are told on the Thai side, and the origins and outcome of the clash remain unclear. Soldiers here say that three Cambodian soldiers died, two by gunfire and one from a heart attack. The Thais admit to one death and several wounded.

Tiny marks of shrapnel fleck the great stone staircase that rises from the Thai side to the temple, along with two stone dragons that flank the steps. But nothing seems to have been gained or lost in the fighting.

The dispute flared in July, when Unesco, the cultural agency of the United Nations, declared the temple a World Heritage site based on a Cambodian government proposal. Domestic politics in Thailand fueled a nationalist backlash, and troops, artillery and tanks were moved into position.

The confrontation echoes with the history of the rise and retreat of empires over the centuries, and old fears and hatreds still burn between Cambodia and its more powerful neighbors, Vietnam and Thailand.

The dispute also draws together the tangled strands of more recent conflicts, with roots in the Vietnam war and the brutal decades of massacre and civil war involving the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia.

One Chinese-made 85-millimeter artillery piece at the lip of the precipice was brought to Cambodia by invading Vietnamese soldiers in 1980, and it may have been used against U.S. troops a few years before that. Since then, both Khmer Rouge and government soldiers have fired it as control of Preah Vihear changed hands.

After that civil war ended a decade ago, the Khmer Rouge were integrated into the government army, and the combined force is facing off now against Thailand.

The Thais, armed and equipped mostly with American weaponry, have the advantage in firepower as well as air cover from fighter jets. Their 300,000-strong military is three times the size of the Cambodian armed forces.

But the Cambodians, with their more tormented history, are more hardened soldiers. Some of them have fought on one side or another - or on more than one - since they were boys in the 1960s.

"They wanted to test us, to see if Cambodian troops are easy to intimidate," said Colonel Meas Yoeun, 48, a ranking commander in Preah Vihear Province.

"They curse us and mock us and look down on us," he said of the Thai soldiers. "They say we have old weapons and ask us if they really fire."

According to the Cambodian soldiers camped here, the Oct. 15 battle began with taunts as Thai troops across a small stream shouted at them, "Come on, let's fight!"

Touch Socheat, 39, a captain in the border police, said he had come to know some of the Thai soldiers by name over the weeks as they called back and forth, and he felt betrayed when they started shooting.

"One guy got hit right over here as he was taking a bath," he said, pointing to an open pump. "I'm not going to trust them any more."

Srum Mao, 45, a deputy post commander for the border police, said the two sides watch each other quietly now, waiting for some new surprise.

"We watch what they do," he said. "When they carry ammunition, we carry ammunition. When they dig a bunker, we dig a bunker. When they put down their weapons, we put down our weapons. We are watching each other."

Business drop-off hits 'Silk Island'

Photo by: Tracey Shelton

A Koh Dach villager weaves silk. Hardly any customers have come to the island for months.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith
Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Silk weavers on Koh Dach, whose products are renowned among dealers and tourists alike, say they are baffled by the sudden disappearance of customers and fear for their livelihoods

THOUSANDS of silk weavers on Cambodia's Silk Island, or Koh Dach, say their businesses are in danger due to a dramatic fall-off in customers that has many in this formerly profitable community baffled.

"For two months there have not been any dealers or customers coming to buy our silk products," said 58-year-old Pok Savmav, a silk weaver in the island's Ronas village.

"My family and the other villagers here now have almost nothing to eat because our silk products have not sold," Pok Savmav told the Post by phone on Tuesday.

The few customers who do visit the village are offering lower prices than before.Previously, a set of handwoven silk products that takes some three days to produce fetched US$12.

But now villagers are only able to sell for around $8.

"If I sell at this price, I will get no profit," Pok Savmav said.

"And this does not include labour that I spent on weaving," she added.

Up to 70 percent of the 2,887 families living in the Koh Dach commune rely on silk weaving as their primary source of income, said Tat El, Koh Dach commune chief.

The remaining families rely on other handicrafts - making pots for example - or small-scale farming to survive.

Tat El said that the situation had gotten substantially worse since October 15, when Thai and Cambodian troops clashed on the border in Preah Vihear.

" I HAVE EARNED NOTHING FOR THE LAST TWO MONTHS... WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US? "

Since then, only a small number of customers have come to buy silk and have been offering lower prices for products than before.

Tat El said he was trying to find other markets for silk products in order to keep this traditional way of life going.

Worried about the future

Another Koh Dach resident, Chheun Chhoun, 60, who makes her living from silk, says she is increasingly worried about her family's livelihood.

"I have earned nothing for the last two months," Chheun Chhoun said. "I am worried that over the next couple of months my family will have no money to buy food - I have used up all my savings already, so what will happen to us?"

For Chheun Chhoun, silk is her entire life. She has no other skills and says she cannot imagine earning her living any other way. Many other villagers are in a similar predicament, she said.

In Koh Dach's Ronas village,the majority of the 400-plus families who reside there earn their living from weaving silk, said village chief Kouk Sokhun.

Two months ago, many local middlemen, customers and exporters used to visit the village to buy silk products, but that traffic has fallen off recently. Most of the village's trade was done with local middlemen who were buying silk products to resell to tourists in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. Sometimes, rarely, tourists used to visit the village directly and buy from local weavers.

"Villagers love their silk weaving, and they pass on their skills to their children. Many families have been weaving silk for generations," he said, adding that he was now worried about the future of the whole village.

Kouk Sokhun said if this problem lasted a few more months, the livelihood of people in his village as well as other villages throughout Koh Dach commune would become miserable.

"I learned to weave silk when I was 15 when my mother taught me, and I have taught my own daughters how to weave," Chheun Chhoun said.

Twenty-two-year-old Kouk Vicheka, who is Pok Savmav's daughter, said she also learned to weave silk from her mother. She is now married - to another silk weaver - but says life is getting harder.

"Nowadays, my husband, son and I go to have food at my mother's house because at my home we have no food," she said, adding that she has not earned any money from her silk products for months now.

Koh Dach, located around 15 kilometres northeast of Phnom Penh, has a long-standing reputation for the high quality of its silk.

PVihear fundraising continues apace

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Monks and soldiers walk through Preah Vihear temple earlier this year.

The Phnom Penh Post

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Cambodia's Supreme Patriarch leads the way by donating nearly $18,000 for a new tarmac road

SUPREME Patriarch Nun Ngeth has raised 68.85 million riels (US$17,732) in donations to support the Bayon TV Foundation's campaign to pave the road leading up to Preah Vihear temple, but officials say more work needs to be done to bring the road up to a navigable standard.

Tith Thavrith, executive director of Bayon TV, said Tuesday the construction will be finished in early 2009, later than planned due to heavy rain and a shortage of funds.

"We didn't look over the master plan for the road renovation, we just started to work immediately," Tith Thavrith said, adding that the operation was about 60 percent completed.

"We have estimated on spending $1 million ... now the money [raised] has exceeded our target", but more is needed, he said.

Road needed fast

"We needed to have a paved road immediately. When renovations end, the road is expected to become easier to travel, which is good as it is the only way to get along the mountain to the temple," Tith Thavrith said.

Bun Vanna, deputy chief of staff of Brigade 43 stationed at Preah Vihear, said the road up the mountain was difficult to traverse during heavy rain, and that only trucks could pass. Every day, dozens of military trucks drove up and down the road, transporting supplies to soldiers stationed at the temple.

"We want the road constructed quickly," Bun Vanna said. "They have bulldozed up to the temple already."

The need for mountain access was highlighted after clashes between Cambodian and Thai soldiers earlier this month killed three Cambodian soldiers and one Thai soldier.

Thailand, Cambodia to officially confer on border conflict Nov. 10-14

BANGKOK, Oct 29 (TNA) - Thailand and its neighbour Cambodia will officially confer to discuss ways to avoid armed confrontation along their disputed border areas between November 10-14 at a meeting to be held in Cambodia, a senior Thai foreign ministry official said Wednesday.

Director-General Virachai Plasai of Treaties and Legal Affairs Department said the upcoming meeting will discuss solutions to both immediate and long-term problems.

The meeting was organised after a joint session of Thailand's House of Representatives and Senate late Tuesday gave the green light to the proposed framework and approved a clear mandate for the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) to negotiate with Cambodia on talks to settle the disruptive border dispute between the two countries.

Discussions dealing with the short-term problem will focus on avoiding confrontation between soldiers of the two countries at disputed borde areas, especially in the vicinity of the ancient Preah Vihear temple which was the scene of the latest clash on October 15.

Officials attending the upcoming meeting are also expected to confer on a border survey and demarcation based on the 2000 memorandum of understanding and set up a temporary coordination working group to consider the disputed border areas. Results from their assessment will be forwarded to a session of the Joint Border Commission.

A joint survey and land demarcation will be discussed under the long-term solution plan, based on the convention between Siam and France in 1907 and on Siamese and Cambodian-held Indochina maps, he said.

Cambodia uses a French colonial map demarcating the border, which Thailand says favours Cambodia. Thailand relies on a map drawn up later with US technical assistance.

Mr. Virachai said Thailand will also inform official delegates attending the Ottawa Convention banning landmine usage by signatory members during a meeting in Switzerland November 24-28 that Thai soldiers had found landmines inside Thai territory near the border between the two countries.

Also, Thai officials plan to inform the delegates concerning the October 15 clash in which Thailand charged that Cambodian soldiers based at Preah Vihear temple in firing at Thai soldiers.

Relations between the two countries flared up in July when Preah Vihear, which belongs to Cambodia, was awarded a World Heritage site status by UNESCO. (TNA)

Property market should revive in 2-3 years: official

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chun Sophal
Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Ministry of Economy and Finance official Hang Chuon Naron says that Cambodia's weakened real estate market is likely to be back on track within two or three years.

"I hope the real estate market in Cambodia will return to normal within the next three years," Hang Chuon Naron told Prime Location on the sidelines of a recent conference on initial public offerings in Phnom Penh.

He also said that the global financial crisis and the recent slowdown in construction in Cambodia were the causes of the sluggish market.

"I think we will face a long-term standstill in the Cambodian real estate market. However, it won't affect the economy because government limits bank lending" for real estate projects, said Hang Chuon Naron.

Currently, Cambodian commercial banks have a total of US$2.5 billion a year to allocate to real estate lending.

Sung Bonna, president of National Valuation Association of Cambodia, said the Cambodian real estate market was down by about 20 percent this year and growth could come to a standstill in the coming months.

But, he said, "I think the real estate market will shoot up next year because the global financial crisis will have gradually been solved," said Sung Bonna.

The real estate market in Cambodia started to decline in July this year as national elections approached.

National Assembly member Son Chhay, a member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said the decline in the real estate market was due to slowed foreign investment, particularly from Korean investors and overseas Khmer.

"I suspect that Cambodian economic growth might drop to only five percent if the real estate market sees a long-term slowdown. The analysis of government officials that real estate does not affect the country's economy is wrong," said Son Chhay.

"I think government limitation of bank loans to the real estate sector is insignificant, but if the decline of real estate market continues, it could make bank depositors lose confidence and withdraw their money. Then there might be serious consequences," Son Chhay said.

Croc farms, environmentalists form uneasy alliance

Crocodiles sit in and on the edge of water at the Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo

Thailand's crocodile exports

BANGKOK (AFP) — As deforestation and a loss of natural prey threatens Siamese crocodiles with extinction, the farms that once helped endanger the species are now helping save it, conservationists say.

There are fewer than 50 Siamese crocodiles left in the wild in Thailand and about 200 in the entire Mekong river region, but thousands live on commercial farms designed to transform them into belts, shoes and handbags, or meat for export.

"(People) hunt the young to sell to the crocodile farms. For the big ones, they hunt for the skin, the hide," says Chavalit Vidthayanon, a freshwater specialist with conservation group WWF.

"Crocodile farming may induce hunting also," Chavalit says. "That is a negative side. But on the positive side it means the crocodile farm can retain the genetics of the crocodile for a longer time."

Thailand's crocodile farming has over the past six years expanded into a booming multi-billion-dollar industry, with tens of thousands of crocodile skins and live crocodiles, as well as the reptile's meat, sold worldwide each year.

Much of the skins end up as handbags, wallets or shoes on chic consumers in Asia and the West.
The dark green, three-metre (10-foot) long Siamese crocodile begins life at one of the dozens of farms along the Mekong river.

The conservation group Fauna and Flora International says the farms are to blame for the extinction of the Siamese species from 99 percent of its natural habitat.

But now the industry is helping preserve the rare reptile and deter smuggling, says Wuthiphong Thaolar, a Thai customs inspector and member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Wildlife Enforcement Network.

There are 22 farms in Thailand that are legal and approved under the CITES global treaty on trade in endangered animals.

This makes smuggling wild crocodiles into Thailand from neighbouring countries such as Cambodia a less attractive proposition, says Wuthiphong.

Poaching of wild Siamese crocodiles appears to be more of a problem in Cambodia, where Fauna and Flora International say there are thousands of unregulated, illegal farms, and just a handful of legal ones.

Cambodian farmers will almost 2,000 dollars for a mature wild female, the group says, which represents around half a year's income for many Cambodians.

Efforts to re-introduce the animal to the wild in the region have been "quite far from successful," says WWF's Chavalit.

Water pollution has killed the fish the young Siamese crocodiles eat in the wild, while deforestation and hunting have reduced populations of monkeys and deer that the mature reptiles favour.

Many farms are inter-breeding the Siamese crocodile with the saltwater crocodile for a higher-quality hide and superior growth rate, but this makes the animals useless for re-introduction to the wild, conservation groups say.

U.N. Ambassador Recalls Cambodian Past

Columbia Spectator Online Edition

By Claire Shapiro

PUBLISHED OCTOBER 29, 2008

The typical American biography does not begin in Cambodia—but then again, Sichan Siv is not the typical American.

The Cambodian immigrant and former United States ambassador to the United Nations shared excerpts from his life story at a reading and book-signing event in Teachers College’s Milbank Chapel hosted by the college and the Cambodia Project Tuesday evening. Siv, SIPA ’81, described his autobiography Golden Bones as “an American story, an American dream.” The event was organized as part of Siv’s current book tour, and a major event for the Cambodia Project, which is linked to Columbia.

Just a few years before sitting in a classroom as a student at the School of International and Public Affairs, Siv was on the ground in Cambodia in 1975 when the communist Khmer Rouge took power. Working for relief and development organization CARE, Siv faced a dilemma as his educated status put his family at risk. So, with his mother’s advice to “never give up hope, no matter what happens,” Siv left them, and headed toward Thailand.

Siv recounted his harrowing journey through the Cambodian jungle, and spoke of his luck in finally reaching the border. From Thailand, he traveled to the U.S., arriving just before the bicentennial. While watching fireworks on the Fourth of July, Siv had a realization.

“I said to myself, ‘this is a beautiful country,’” he said. Siv worked his way through a series of jobs, and then attended SIPA on a full scholarship. He described his experience at SIPA as one of the most “productive investments” of his life.

Interested in American politics, Siv volunteered in George H. W. Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign, ascending to deputy assistant to the president for public liaison and ultimately attaining the post of deputy assistant for South Asian affairs in the state department. When George W. Bush took office, he nominated Siv to be ambassador to the U.N. Economic and Social Council. From 2001 to 2006, Siv represented the U.S. in the General Assembly and the Security Council.

Siv’s visit to the University reflects the relationship between the school and the Cambodia Project. Established by General Studies graduate Jean-Michel Tijerina in 2006, the organization includes Columbia graduates, and undergraduates may also become involved.

Nettra Pan, CC ’12 and vice president of the Columbia chapter of the Cambodia Project, said that many members of the club are interested in not-for-profit work, and in Cambodian issues. “One of my greatest passions is helping Cambodia,” Pan said.

Despite his many achievements, Siv spoke frankly with audience members.

“I didn’t want to visit a painful past,” he said, explaining his reluctance to write an autobiography. He found the experience to be “liberating” and “therapeutic” all the same.

Along with other events, the Cambodia Project is spearheading a program to aid education in Cambodia. Construction of its first school is slated to begin this winter, and plans for another two schools are in the works.

news@columbiaspectator.com

Cambodia ignoring its Constitution

UPI Asia.com
By Lao Mong Hay
Column: Rule by Fear

Hong Kong, China — As the Cold War drew to a close, 18 countries, including the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, assembled in Paris in October 1991 to end the protracted war in Cambodia. They laid down in a peace agreement a set of basic principles to be incorporated in the Constitution of Cambodia to serve as its governing principles.

Cambodia’s own Constitution, adopted two years later in 1993, enshrined all these basic principles. Besides, it further specified the separation of powers, the organization and functioning of state institutions, and the election, appointment and status of officers to run them.

However, 17 years on, constitutionalism has not yet taken root in Cambodian soil. In fact, several new developments have taken place to counter it.

Last July, the Cambodian People’s Party won the parliamentary election, again, with an overwhelming majority of seats – 90 out of 123 – in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. On Sept. 24, the new Parliament was sworn in.

According to the 1993 Constitution, the election of the president or speaker and vice-chairmen of the National Assembly should have followed. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The chairman of the National Assembly in consultation with the vice-chairman should have nominated a leader of the majority party for the king to appoint as prime minister. The latter should then have formed a government and submitted it to the National Assembly for a vote of confidence. The election and the vote of confidence should have been conducted by secret ballot. However, constitutional rules were ignored.

The winning party applied rules stipulated in the Additional Constitutional Law of 2004 to organize a bloc vote by a show of hands for the election of the parliamentary leadership and the vote of confidence. This law allows for such election and vote of confidence as a “necessity” when the application of the rules of the 1993 Constitution obstructs the smooth functioning of state institutions.

This bloc vote violated the Constitution on two counts. First, the constitutionality of the additional law itself was very dubious right from the start. The CPP, which won the 2003 election, forced the new Parliament to adopt it prior to the election of its leadership.

This party had not been able to form a government on its own, and a deal with a coalition partner was made to secure a two-thirds majority vote of confidence as required by the 1993 Constitution. But the leader of the stronger faction, Prime Minister Hun Sen, nominated many of his supporters in the government, as he was not sure of securing sufficient votes from its weaker coalition partner in Parliament.

The CPP feared that following the rules of the 1993 Constitution and holding an open debate would allow dissent and could thwart the planned composition of the leadership of the National Assembly, the government and the premiership of Hun Sen. The additional law allowing a bloc vote by a show of hands was introduced to silence such dissent.

Secondly, in this year’s election, the same party won more than the absolute majority required for the election of the leadership of the National Assembly and the vote of confidence in the government. But the rules of the 1993 Constitution were not applied first, according to the Additional Constitutional Law, to see whether they would have led to any particular obstacles that warranted the short cut with the bloc vote.

The new government has further violated the Constitution. After the vote of confidence, Hun did not make a policy address to the National Assembly, which he should have done to announce the political program of his government and seek the Assembly’s approval. Instead, the next day he made a policy address to his Cabinet at its first meeting, announcing that his government would continue to implement the political program of his previous government.

Such implementation is in beach of the Law on the Organization and Functioning of the Government (1994) whereby it implements policies and plans that received prior approval by the National Assembly.

The third and most serious violation was the ultimatum Hun gave to Thailand on Oct. 14, to withdraw its troops by the next day from the disputed territory near a temple called Preah Vihear on the Thai-Cambodian border. The area was occupied by Thai troops since July 15, 2008. Hun told reporters that the visiting Thai foreign minister and Cambodian army leaders including commandos at the frontline were instructed, “This place is a life-and-death battlefield.”

Hun’s warning to Thailand and instructions to Cambodian army commanders amounted to nothing short of a declaration of war. On Oct.15, Cambodian and Thai troops engaged in a brief battle, which caused death and injuries on both sides.

Hun’s action violated the Cambodian Constitution, according to which only the king of Cambodia, the supreme commander of the Cambodian armed forces, can make a declaration of war after both Houses of Parliament approve it. Hun Sen usurped the king’s power.

Constitutionalism in Cambodia exists only on paper given its past and present violations. The signatories to the Paris Peace Agreement should work with the Cambodian government to implement it the way they set out to do when they signed it in 1991.

--
(Lao Mong Hay is currently a senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 2003. In 1997, he received an award from Human Rights Watch and the Nansen Medal in 2000 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)

Aussies Overhauling Cambodia's Railroad

JAUNTED

October 29, 2008

War-torn, poor and corrupt Cambodia is sometimes thought of as the missing link in rapidly developing Southeast Asia. But at least when it comes to train travel, the designation might soon end.

Currently, the national railroad’s cars chug along rickety rails at a sluggish 18 miles per hour. And riding the train carries about the same risk of death as hopping the NYC subway in the 1980s. Now, an Australian rail company is planning to purchase and overhaul the system, renovating the cars and adding new lines. Right now, long stretches of missing track prohibit train travel throughout the country except for trips between Battambang and Phnom Penh, and even then, the lumbering, open cars are subject to robberies.

The 30-year contract will split profits between the Aussie firm and Cambodia’s government, and the upgrades should be complete within three years. Seems like an optimistic time line for a country still fumbling around with its attempts try Khmer Rouge cadres for crimes they committed in the 1970s, but if the project works, maybe by 2050 Cambodia will have its own Danube Express.

Cambodia's First Rock Opera "Where Elephants Weep" Opens Next Month

October 29, 2008

Shannon Moore - Celebrity News Service Reporter

Phnom Penh, Cambodia (CNS) - In a country where performing arts were banned during the Khmer Rouge years, the city of Phnom Penh is breaking the mold and opening the country's first rock opera.

The rock opera titled, "Where Elephants Weep," uses a mix of Western rock and traditional Cambodian music and will eventually tour in the United States, South Korea and Singapore.

The opera tells the story of Cambodian-American young man, Sam, a refugee from the Khmer Rouge genocide who leaves America and returns to his homeland of Cambodia. While tracing his roots, he falls in love with Bopha, a Cambodian pop singer who works as a karaoke singer.

World Education is the parent organization and fiscal sponsor of the Cambodian Living Arts, who commissioned the show. The CLA helps to revitalize performing arts among Cambodians.

Him Sophy is the composer for the show, Scot Stafford is the music director and Robert McQueen is the stage director. John Burt is the executive producer. The opera's orchestra includes a rock band, traditional Cambodian ensembles and a string quartet that combines synthesizers, electric guitars and folk instruments that date back to twelfth-century Cambodia.

Him Sophy told the Associated Press, "It is going to be a big national cultural event. And the entire team is committed to making it happen flawlessly and perfectly."

The show will open on November 28 and will have a 10-day run in a converted movie theater.

American arrested in Cambodia on child sex charges

GMA NEWS TV
10/29/2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – An American man has been charged with soliciting sex from two Cambodian girls, officials said Wednesday.

Michael James Dodd of Washington, DC, was arrested at his rented house in the capital, Phnom Penh, on Sunday, said police Maj. Gen. Bith Kimhong.

He said police who raided the house found the two girls, ages 13 and 14, inside with Dodd.

Dodd was charged during a court appearance on Tuesday, said prosecutor Sok Kalyan. If convicted, Dodd could face up to 10 years in prison, Sok Kalyan said.

The suspect's Cambodian lawyer, So Dara, said his client denied the allegation against him.

Cambodia has long been a magnet for foreign pedophiles because of poverty and law enforcement undermined by corruption. But the country's police and courts have stepped up action against sex offenders in recent years.

A 59-year-old Michael James Dodd is listed as a sexual offender on a Web site of the Department of Law Enforcement of the State of Florida in the US. The listing gives his last registered address as Syracuse, New York.

It was not immediately clear if the man, who was convicted in July 2002 of sexual abuse of a child, was the same man arrested in Phnom Penh. - AP

Thai parliament gives green light for border talks with Cambodia

A Cambodian commander (L) talks to a Thai commander (R) on October 19, 2008

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thai parliament has given the government the green light to launch talks with Cambodia aimed at settling a long-running border dispute which boiled over into violence, officials said Wednesday.

The next round of talks aimed at ending a military stand off on disputed land near Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple will be held next month, after a border firefight on October 15 killed one Thai and three Cambodians.

"Parliament has granted the government two frameworks of negotiation," said Virachai Plasai, a foreign ministry official in charge of legal affairs.

"The two frameworks will allow the government to launch negotiations with Cambodia in order to solve the boundary and border issues," he told reporters.

Initial issues to be hammered out, beginning when the two sides meet from November 10 to 14, are the redeployment of troops on disputed land near Preah Vihear and removing landmines from the area.

In the longer-term, Virachai said, the two countries would try and settle ownership of patches of disputed land along Thailand and Cambodia's 798-kilometre (495-mile) shared border.

The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Tensions between the neighbours flared in July when the 11th century Preah Vihear was awarded United Nations World Heritage status, rekindling long-running tensions over ownership of the surrounding land.

Two rounds of emergency talks after the October 15 clashes made little progress, with both sides only agreeing not to fire on each other again.

Cambodia's first rock opera opens next month

In this Jan. 17, 2007 file photo, Cambodian musicians play Western and traditional Cambodian instruments music for an opera at a rehearsal room in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia's first rock opera will make its world premiere in Phnom Penh next month, a cultural milestone in the Southeast Asian country where performing arts were banned during the brutal Khmer Rouge years. Organizers said Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, the show will open a 10-day run Nov. 28 in a converted movie theater in the capital, Phnom Penh, a year later than its planned debut at the end of 2007. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, FILE)

In this Jan. 17, 2007 file photo, Cambodian musician plays traditional Cambodian instruments music for an opera at a rehearsal room in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia's first rock opera will make its world premiere in Phnom Penh next month, a cultural milestone in the Southeast Asian country where performing arts were banned during the brutal Khmer Rouge years. Organizers said Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008, the show will open a 10-day run Nov. 28 in a converted movie theater in the capital, Phnom Penh, a year later than its planned debut at the end of 2007. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, FILE)

By KER MUNTHIT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's first rock opera will premiere in Phnom Penh next month, a cultural milestone in the Southeast Asian country where performing arts were banned during the brutal Khmer Rouge years.

"Where Elephants Weep" is an East-meets-West blend of traditional Cambodian music and Western rock that is modeled after "Romeo and Juliet" and inspired by the Broadway musical "Rent."

Organizers said Wednesday the show will open a 10-day run Nov. 28 in a converted movie theater in the capital, Phnom Penh, a year later than its planned debut at the end of 2007.

The show was commissioned by Cambodian Living Arts, a project of the Boston-based nonprofit organization World Education, which seeks to revive traditional Cambodian performing arts and inspire contemporary artistic expression among Cambodians.

Charley Todd, a co-president of the CLA's governing board, said the opera had a successful preview last year in Lowell, Mass., which has a sizable community of Cambodian refugees. But producers needed extra time for fine-tuning.

It is expected to later tour in other countries, including the United States, South Korea and Singapore.

Arts and entertainment were banned when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia between 1975-79 and killed some 1.7 million people through starvation, disease, overwork and execution. Execution sites from the time now serve as grim attractions for tourists visiting Cambodia.

"Where Elephants Weep" is an operatic take on "Tum Teav," the Cambodian version of "Romeo and Juliet."

It tells the story a Cambodian-American who lost his father during the Khmer Rouge era and returns home after Cambodia's civil war to trace his roots. In Phnom Penh, he meets and falls in love with a Cambodian woman who works as a karaoke singer.

The music was composed by the Russian-trained Cambodian maestro Him Sophy. He was inspired by the musical genre of the rock opera "Rent," which he saw twice during a trip to New York City.

Cambodian musicians in the performance use electric guitars, electronic drums, keyboards and traditional instruments like buffalo horns, bamboo flutes, gongs and the chapei, a long-neck lute with two nylon strings.

After seven years of work, Him Sophy said he expected a celebration — both on stage and in the country.

"It is going to be a big national cultural event," Him Sophy said. "And the entire team is committed to making it happen flawlessly and perfectly."

SRP proposal rejected

Cambodge Soir

29-10-2008

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) asked for official recognition of its status as opposition party. But an amendment of the internal rules of the National Assembly or a bill are the required procedures to follow according to a Cambodia’s People Party (CPP) lawmaker.

Cheam Yeap, CPP MP, confirmed to Cambodge Soir Hebdo, that SRP proposal to modify the National Assembly internal rules was rejected on Tuesday October 28 without having been examined.

The lawmaker is also a member of the standing committee of the National Assembly and explained that “the proposal did not follow the usual procedural rules”. He also added that the wording “opposition party” is not mentioned in the Constitution of the Kingdom. Also, pursuant to article 82 of the internal rules providing that an amendment proposal must be submitted by at least a quarter of the MPs, the SRP with only 26 elected MPs cannot reach this quorum.

Last week, the SRP sent a letter to the president of the National Assembly to remind him of the amendment project and to ask the lower chamber to examine the proposal.

Cambodge Soir Hebdo could not reach any representative of the party to react to the National Assembly standing committee decision. Nevertheless there are still recourses for the SRP. Cheam Yeap explained the procedure to follow: “the party shall draft a bill as in case of recognition of the party as an opposition party, it could benefit from public funding. But to allocate part of the budget can only be done within the framework of the law”.

On September 24, a few hours before the new National Assembly first session, Hun Sen agreed to a demand from Sam Rainsy to officially recognise the role of the opposition party. But the Prime Minister added that an ad hoc group would have to be set up to examine this proposal.

NGO provides schooling toPreah Vihear children

Cambodge Soir

29-10-2008

The border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia left children of the families living in the surrounding area of the temple school less. A British sponsored NGO help them to go back to school.

Yim Sokhary, director of Street Children Assistance and Development Programme (Scadp), stated that her and her colleagues sent back 115 children to school. Lessons temporarily take place in the buildings of the organization, located 30km from Preah Vihear. “I want the children to be far from the danger zone so that they can be provided with schooling and try to forget the fear they and their families are suffering from”, she said.

The Scadp project was originally conceived for 30 pupils and is now hosting around 100 children. Financial problems are mounting especially when buying the daily 25kg ration of rice. Yim Sokhary added that the children cared for, come from a school of the organisation close to the Preah Vihear site. They also come from the Hun Sen Prasat Preah Vihear School, which had to close when the shooting started. Children of the soldiers and policemen sent to the border are also enrolled. As soon as the situation will be back to normal, the children will be able to return to their normal schools. To support Cambodian soldiers’ moral, the director focuses in particular on the children of those who died fighting; she teaches them in person.

Scadp was created in 1992 and it cares for poor children living on the streets, forced to work in rural or urban areas. A total of 10,000 underage children are supported throughout six provinces and towns of the Kingdom: Phnom Penh, Kandal, Preah Vihear, Prey Veng, Koh Kong and Kampong Speu.

Sam Rainsy asked to fork out or to take a pay cut

Cambodge Soir

29-10-2008

The National Election Committee (NEC) sent to the National Assembly president a proposal to cut in half the salary of Sam Rainsy, the leader of the main opposition party.

According to the NEC the president of the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) violated the electoral law during the general election and did not pay the applying fine. On October 24, the NEC sent a letter to Heng Samrin, president of the National Assembly.

The NEC took this opportunity to remind people fined by the NEC that they have 30 days to pay their penalties. In case of non-payment, legal proceedings would apply. The NEC convicted Sam Rainsy for having verbally abused three Cambodia’s People Party (CPP) officials. He has not yet settled the 10 million riel (US$ 2,500) penalty and the fine is now overdue.

“To ensure that justice is enforced, the NEC asked the cooperation of the President of the National Assembly to cut Sam Rainsy salary and therefore pay the fine to the national budget cashier”, detailed a release dated October 27.

Ladyboys face crackdown

Photo by: Rick Valenzuela
Srey Lim (foreground), a hairdresser by day and a crossdressing male prostitute at night, hangs out at one of her former streetwalking spots in Pursat town last week.

The Phnom Penh Post

Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Gay male prostitutes have solicited on Pursat Bridge for a decade, but a police crackdown has forced them into more dangerous parts of town

Pursat Province

THE ladyboys of Pursat - gay male prostitutes dressed as women - have been banned from soliciting on the notorious Pursat Bridge, their haunt for at least a decade, but provincial police enforcing the ban say they have the best interests of the prostitutes in mind.

"Selling sex is illegal in Cambodia. We are not allowing these prostitutes to conduct business on the bridge anymore because it has a negative impact on residents who live close by," said Lok Sary, chief of the Pursat provincial police force.

"We also want to take care of the ladyboys' health and protect them from HIV/Aids."

Since the police crackdown, the ladyboys have moved their business to the shady gardens surrounding Pursat Lake, particularly a stretch between Pursat Bridge and Speanthmor Garden.

Fresh dangers

But the move has been a difficult one for the more than 50 ladyboys who work in Pursat, according to Srey Lin, 25, who has been a prostitute in the town for two years.

"If we are standing on the Pursat Bridge, it is much safer for us. The police are always nearby, but here we face a lot of problems," she told the Post.

" We have to do this job secretly because we are looked down on. "

"Sometimes young gangsters come by and mistreat us. They try to steal drugs and money, and sometimes they force us to have sex with them for free."

Srey Lin works as a hairdresser in the daytime but said she turned to prostitution because she did not earn enough to support herself. She added that most of her clients are older Cambodian men, and that ladyboys usually earn about US$20 a night.

"We work from 8pm until midnight, and when we see the police we all split up and pretend to be visitors," she said.

"We have to do this job secretly because we are looked down on by the wider community, especially the women, but we conduct our business properly: We only go over to a man if he stops his moto near us. We do not sit or stand on the edge of the road and call out to clients."Rotana, an employee at the Phnom Pich Hotel, which faces the bridge, says she is pleased the ladyboys have moved on, viewing them as a threat to decent society.

"I think the police made the right decision moving the ladyboys from Pursat Bridge," she said. "This province is unsafe today because of the anarchy of these gay groups. They always used to fight with gangsters on the bridge. Even though police banned them from the bridge, I can still hear them calling out from the gardens and I think police should ban them from there too.

"Klem Sokoun, chief of the Pursat provincial health department, said his office is growing increasingly worried about the spread of HIV/Aids through gay brothels.

He said it is conducting research into the brothels and that a crackdown is likely to begin soon.

Foreigners arrested on drug suspicions

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Wednesday, 29 October 2008

TWO foreign nationals, one French and one British, were arrested Friday in Sihanoukville for on suspicions of trafficking marijuana.

Mok Dara, director of the anti-narcotics department at the Ministry of Interior, said police arrested Frenchman Franget Jocelyn Fanget, 42, and Briton Craig Bullock, 37, as well as a Cambodian national, Chan Datry, 35, while in possession of 1.1 kilograms of marijuana.

"We have already sent them to the court on October 26," Mok Dara told the Post on Tuesday. "They were charged with drug trafficking."

According to Mok Dara, Fanget owned a restaurant in Sihanoukville and Bullock was a tourist staying in Kampot province.

"Our forces had followed them for months before arresting them," he said.

"We arrested them at the scene while they were exchanging drugs," he added.

Meas Sopheak, chief prosecutor at Sihanoukville municipal court declined to comment and referred questions to investigating judge Plang Samnang, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday sentenced a 34-year-old Taiwanese man, Liao Ichun, to 22 years in prison for heroin smuggling.

Liao was arrested in December 2007 with 240 grams of heroin while preparing to depart from Phnom Penh International Airport. The court also ordered him to pay US$12,000 in additional fines.

Mok Dara said most foreigners arrested on drug trafficking charges are Chinese, adding that there were fewer arrests this year than last. He declined to reveal exact figures.

Unesco to post signs at PVihear

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Wednesday, 29 October 2008

AN official with the Council of Ministers said Tuesday the Cambodian National Committee, in partnership with Unesco, will post signs at Preah Vihear temple to create a protection zone around the World Heritage site.

The move follows claims by Cambodian officials that a statue and staircase at the 11th-century monument were damaged by Thai grenades during clashes on October 15 that left three Cambodian soldiers and a Thai trooper dead.

Phay Siphan, secretary of state at the Council of Ministers, said three signs will be posted around the temple on November 7 to prevent further damage to the site.

"Preah Vihear is not just Cambodian property, but world property," he told the Post Tuesday. "Cambodia and Thailand are both members of Unesco, so we want their cooperation in protecting the temple."

Thailand denies charge

Thailand's foreign ministry on Monday denied claims that Thai soldiers had damaged the temple.In a statement, the ministry said Thai soldiers only fired rifles, and instead accused Cambodian troops of using grenades.

Hang Soth, director general of the Preah Vihear Authority, said the new signs will demarcate a new protection zone to deter fighting in the area.

"There will be no further shooting on the temple or in the protection zone," he said. "We will post the signs, and Thai soldiers must join us in respecting the boundary."

General Srey Doek, commander of Cambodia's Brigade 12 stationed at the temple, said he could not comment on the new protection zone.

"We are waiting to receive orders from higher levels about whether to remove our troops from the temple," he told the Post.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP

Rainsy faces pay freeze over campaign remarks

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Vong Sokheng
Wednesday, 29 October 2008

The National Assembly is to consider a request from the NEC that it cut off the political opposition leader’s salary for his 'insulting' election comments

THE National Election Committee has requested that Cambodia's parliament cut off lawmaker Sam Rainsy's salary after the opposition leader failed to pay a US$2,500 fine for insulting leaders of the ruling Cambodian People's Party during this year's national election campaign.

In a letter to Assembly President Heng Samrin, the NEC said Sam Rainsy had yet to be punished for violating electoral law during campaigning.

The fine resulted from speeches given by Sam Rainsy referring to a report by the environmental watchdog Global Witness on illegal logging, which implicated a number of high-ranking officials and relatives of Prime Minister Hun Sen in corrupt activities.

The report, titled Cambodia's Family Trees, was banned in Cambodia following its publication in January 2007.

"In order to guarantee electoral legitimacy, the NEC would like to request that the president of the National Assembly cut off the salary of Sam Rainsy and transfer the money into the national budget," the NEC said in the letter.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Tuesday that any request to cut a parliamentarian's pay would be considered by the Assembly's standing committee.

"If there is an official request to the Assembly, the standing committee will consider ... whether Rainsy's salary should be cut," he said.

Parliamentarians make an average of US$2,000 a month.

SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said that the NEC must guarantee its independence rather than target opposition lawmakers.

"The NEC has no right to request the Assembly to cut off individual parliamentarians' salaries," he said.

Bokator beat down begins in Phnom Penh

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Heng Chivoan
Wednesday, 29 October 2008

Bokator fighters compete at Olympic Stadium Tuesday, the second day of the national championships of Cambodia's martial art, which pairs graceful, animal-like moves with sudden eruptions of violence. Grand Master Sean Kim San said this year's entrant numbers are down due to the rising cost of transport and travel expenses, but said that aside from the competition, there will be demonstrations of different styles of Bokator fighting to try to encourage Phnom Penh residents to get involved in the sport.

US-Cambodians Fret Over Election Barriers

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2008

Khmer audio aired 29 October (1.81 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 29 October (1.81 MB) - Listen (MP3)

Difficulties with the English language and high-tech electoral systems are among worries that Cambodian-Americans say could keep them from voting in the impending presidential election.

Among the thousands of Cambodians who have immigrated to the US as a result of their homeland’s civil strife, many have voted, but many have not. On Nov. 4, when the US chooses between senators Barack Obama and John McCain, some may stay at home again.

“If I knew how to press the computer, I would go, but I don’t know,” said 62-year-old Khoy Aun, from Arlington, Va. “I can’t even count to A-B-C, so how can I vote?”

Takoma, Wash., voter Saray Yuon, who came to the US in 1981, said he noticed a split between Cambodians who spoke English and those who had not learned it. Those who spoke English, he said, were voting for “change,” one slogan of the Obama campaign.

“We listen to the news on the radio and read the newspaper and Internet, and also through brothers and sisters who like to speak about which party we should choose,” he said.

Virginia resident Hean Yuth said voting would be hard for those who don’t speak English, but they can ask their children to help them operate the machines at the polling stations.

He would vote on issues “such as the declined economy and high unemployment,” he said.

Another Virginia voter, Tung Yab, said access to information on the TV and radio and in newspapers had made it easy for him to judge the candidates and determine his vote, though he admitted both candidates had exaggerated during the campaign.

Street Boys Remain at Risk of Sexual Abuse

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2008

The dimpled smile of CK, a 17-year-old boy who lives on the streets of Phnom Penh, disappeared when he recalled what happened to him a few months ago, after he was approached by a wealthy Cambodian man as he sat on a bench at Wat Phnom.

“I was just wandering, sleeping on benches or in gardens,” he said in a recent interview. “I followed a man. He took me to his house in his luxurious car. He cooked for me and then told me to sleep in his room, upstairs. After he had sex with me, he slept, but I hurt.”

One of more than 20,000 children living and working in the streets of Cambodia’s urban centers, CK, whose name is being withheld to protect his identity, ran away from his home in Kampong Cham province because he was angry with the stepmother.

In coming to Phnom Penh, he put himself at risk to predation by Cambodian and foreign adult men who ply the streets in search of the young and vulnerable. Authorities now say they are paying more attention to the abuse of young boys as they continue to root out pedophiles.

Aid workers say the majority of Cambodia’s sexually abused boys come from the provinces. In the city, they live hand-to-mouth on menial tasks, scavenging trash piles, selling candy or cakes and begging on the streets. This poverty makes them open to exploitation.

“Pedophiles or human traffickers for sexual exploitation lure the children with money,” said Sann Udom, a program coordinator for Mith Samlanh/Friends, which helps street children. “They buy things for the children or take them out for a walk. They tell the children that they will go to tourist sites but go to a guesthouse or hotel room instead.”

Some of these men even pay for the education of the children, he said.

Cambodian boys are most vulnerable in heavy tourist areas of Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Siem Reap. The organization World Vision estimates that 15 percent of boys living on the streets will be sexually abused before they are 10 years old.

Pe Vannak, a senior researcher for the rights group Licadho, said he received 108 sexual abuse cases against boys between January and September this year, a rise of about 4 percent compared to the year before. One boy was raped by a woman, he said.

“However, these are just the cases we have received and worked on,” he said. There are many cases that go unreported to police or courts.

“They may see that the current courts cannot provide justice for them,” Pe Vannak said. “In addition, they are too poor and live too far away from the city to file complaints.”

Protection will require commitment from the government and the public to strengthen law enforcement and eliminate impunity within the judiciary, he said.

Sexual abuse of a child can include physical abuse, as well as mental anguish, said psychiatrist Mony Sothara, head of the mental health section of Phnom Penh’s Preah Kosamak hospital.

“Because of the abuse, a boy may get confused over his own identity,” Mony Sothara said. “As a long-term effect, he may have a personality disorder.”

Cambodia has long been viewed as a safe haven for pedophiles, foreign and local. Authorities made 109 arrests of suspected pedophiles from January to September, including the arrests of seven foreigners. Four of them were arrested on suspicion of abusing boys.

However, authorities have traditionally overlooked the abuse of boys, said Lt. Gen. Bit Kim Hong, head of the Ministry of Interiors anti-trafficking department.

“Before we just focused on girls,” he said. “If we saw a foreigner walking hand-in-hand with a boy, we thought it was normal. But now we the authorities have focused on the protection of both boys and girls.”

Assembly Committee Weighs 2009 Budget

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2008

One of the first tasks for the new National Assembly will be the approval of the 2009 budget, which is now being considered in the finance committee.

The total budget for 2009 is $2 billion, an increase of 28 percent over the year before, said Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yiep, who is the head of the finance committee.

Spending in 2009 will increase across six sectors, but a large portion will be spent on national defense, he said.

Money budgeted healthcare, education, rural development, agriculture, women’s affairs and social affairs will rise more than 5 percent, but spending for national defense will rise nearly 70 percent, to about $500 million, according to Cheam Yiep, whose committee is reviewing a draft of the budget.

Ke Sovannaroth, secretary-general of the Sam Rainsy Party, said Wednesday she was disappointed with the taxation outlined in the new budget.

“The government will be increasing the taxes that affect the goods people use every day,” she said.

She was also concerned that management of the budget in each ministry would not be undertaken “effectively and with transparency.”

Cambodia Welcomes Renewed Thai Talks

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2008

Cambodian officials say they remain optimistic of a positive result in border negotiations with Thailand, following approval of the Thai parliament for talks between the two countries’ border committees.

Thai lawmakers approved negotiations over the disputed border at the root of a months-long military standoff across several provinces.

Approval of negotiations, a requirement under Thai law, will pave the way for talks scheduled Nov. 10 between the Joint Boundary Commission and Cambodia, the Bangkok Post reported Wednesday.

“It is a good signal that the Thais approved the Joint Boundary Commission negotiations,” said Koy Koung, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The parliamentary approval will provide a good chance for the two sides to further their discussions, he said. The green light for negotiation follows an escalation of the standoff that ended in deadly violence earlier this month and talks last week that were limited.

Var Kimhong, head of the National Committee for the Resolution of Border Disputes, declined to comment Wednesday.

“With the Thai side, we should be careful,” he said.

However, Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, welcomed the go-ahead, which “shows commitment to solve the border dispute between two sides.”

He confirmed two sides would meet Nov. 10.

Several rounds of bilateral talks between the countries have failed to bring a full withdrawal of troops from their positions on the border. The military standoff began July 15, when Thai troops occupied a pagoda near Preah Vihear temple, on land claimed by both sides.

Small Loans Fresh Casualty of Credit Crisis

A credit shortage spawned by the global financial crisis will mean less small loans to the rural poor.

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
29 October 2008

One of the clearest sectors in Cambodia to be hit by the global credit crunch will be microfinance, limiting loans for small businesses among Cambodia’s poorest at a time when the system is just taking off, financial experts say.

The financial crisis that spread from a US mortgage meltdown and has shaken global markets will take money away from the international lenders that make microfinance possible, leaders of several Cambodian microfinance institutions said in recent interviews.

For Cambodia’s rising number of microfinance borrowers—mostly the rural poor who take small loans to start or expand local businesses—that means less money to go around and higher interest rates to pay back.

Micro-lender Amret will cut 10 percent of its loans to the poor in the coming year, the institution’s general manager, Chea Phalarin, said.

“We will reduce our mission in response to less foreign resources,” he said. “We will cut down the number of lenders.”

Amret had expected to make small loans to around 250,000 families in 2009, he said, but that number has been cut to an estimated 230,000. An extended financial crisis could mean even less people will be eligible for loans, he said.

Sem Senacheat, general manager of Prasac, a microfinance lender, said it will be a hard task now to find foreign lenders. Prasac has already seen a $10 million loan canceled thanks to the financial crisis.

“Loans that we had negotiated before were suspended by the lenders, and recently we have tried to contact many institutions we used to borrow from,” he said. “But most of them can’t offer us the money.”

Foreign lenders that can afford to make loans are doing so at higher interest, experts said, raising rates from an average 9 percent to as much as 11 percent. The higher interest will be passed on to borrowers.

An estimated 1 million Cambodians are benefiting from microfinance programs, up 73 percent from the beginning of 2008. The country has 17 microfinance institutions with a total capital of $270 million, typically loaned to rural villagers for small-sized businesses.

Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia, has called microfinance the key to reducing poverty in rural areas.

But a slowdown means “people who need money to create new businesses or extend their businesses will be hurt,” said Kang Chandararoth, director of the Economic Development Institute.

Now, he said, microfinance lenders will have to amass local deposits, something local lenders say will be limited and far from able to reach the amounts of money foreign lenders can provide.

Micro-lenders also say they can’t seek loans from local commercial banks, because these are still not confident with microfinance systems.

The National Bank can’t help either; its reserves are too small.

“The National Bank can’t release much capital,” said Pal Nay Im, director of the National Bank of Cambodia. “Microfinance must find other new partners, especially the [World Bank’s International Finance Corporation], that don’t face a financial crisis.”

This will be hard as well, micro-lenders said. Lenders like the IFC or Asian Development Bank usually offer loans with higher interest rates, which would hurt borrowers.

For now, lenders are waiting to see how long the credit crunch will last.

“If the global financial crisis is not resolved as soon as possible, I am concerned that there will be a crisis in 2009," said Bun Mony, chairman of the Sathapana microfinance institution. “It means that our mission will be reduced to its lowest point.”

Thailand causes upset with ASEAN summit switch

Wed 29 Oct 2008
By Ed Cropley

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Seven weeks before it hosts ASEAN's annual jamboree of regional leaders, Thailand has suddenly decided to switch the venue from Bangkok to Chiang Mai.

Officially, the reason for the 700 km (435 mile) move to the northern city is because of its pleasant climate in December and a desire to "show the delegates some other part of Thailand," according to foreign ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat.

In private, however, officials admit it has nothing to do with tourism or the weather and everything to do with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the protest movement that has occupied the Prime Minister's official compound in Bangkok since August.

"They are just trying to avoid trouble with the PAD," one government official said, trying to play down suggestions that the last-minute change of venue represents a loss of face and makes the country look unstable.

Thai media have speculated that the PAD, whose street protest has crippled government decision-making since it started in May, will target the summit venue to embarrass the elected administration in what should be one of its proudest moments.

As well as government leaders from the 10 Association of South East Asian Nations countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines -- the meeting also includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Bangkok-based diplomats are fuming at the abrupt switch for the summit, which coincides with the height of the tourist season.

Coming at such short notice, it is hard to see a city with a population of 200,000 finding enough beds to cope with the influx of thousands of government officials and foreign media.

When neighbouring Laos hosted the meeting in its sleepy capital, Vientiane, four years ago it barred all foreign visitors from entry to the country for the duration of the summit to ensure enough space.

"This is a massive pain in the backside," one Bangkok-based diplomat said. "None of this has been budgeted for and how are we going to get hotel rooms at this time of year? We're going to be sharing rooms and sleeping on the floor."

The reservation department at the Shangri La hotel in Chiang Mai, which is hosting the meeting, said the entire hotel had been block-booked from December 11-19 although tourists with existing reservations would not be booted out.

News of the move appeared to have passed by the original venue for the meeting, Bangkok's swanky new Centara Grand hotel, where sales staff said the summit booking remained in place.

(Editing by Darren Schuettler)

Man on a (medical) mission

Fairfax Digital
29/10/2008

by Allira Preece

A TWO week medical mission as a volunteer with the Global Aid Network (GAiN) was an experience of a lifetime for Laurieton man Allan Phelps.

After obtaining information from a friend about GAiN, the dedicated retiree became inspired to be part of the organisation which helped make a difference in improvingthe health of more than 3,000 Cambodian residents.

Mr Phelps was one of 50 Australians, along with 50 Cambodian medical students, who took up the challenge to volunteer for the expedition.

He said during the two week period his group operated ten clinics in Cambodia.

“We commenced clinics outside Phnom Penh for the first three days, then travelled to Kampong Cham to conduct a further four days before travelling to Pailin, which is 14 kilometres from the Thailand border,” he said.

“The doctors attended to 2,276 Cambodians, the optometrists 1,152, with 43 operations being undertaken.

“The surgeon undertook operations ranging from the removal of growths to repairing hernias, all undertaken on a bed in the corner of the clinics with local anaesthesia and a torch for light.”

He said his role as an aid worker ensured the cooperation of patients whilst assisting them from triage, to waiting areas before they saw a doctor.

“We would arrive at a village in the early morning and be faced with between 300 and 500 local residents waiting.

“We had to send a minimum of 200 people away. They would sit in the sun all day waiting in case we could take a few more people.

“We endeavoured to see the young, elderly and the sick first. These people only have the opportunity to obtain medical attention on a yearly basis at best and we saw a lot of Cambodians who had terminal illnesses in which little could be done.”

Allan said working as a volunteer for GAiN had given him a much better understanding of the poor health situation in Cambodia.

“It was a real eye opener to see the almost pitiful needs of third world countries compared to how well-off we are here in Australia.”

“I became a volunteer to help those less fortunate then ourselves and to understand a culture that’s in desperate need of outside assistance,” he continued.

The Global Aid Network assists people worldwide by providing relief for those in need.

To find out more about the organisation or to become a volunteer you can visit www.globalaid.net.au

Cambodia doubles military budget after Thai clash

Cambodian troops patrol Engel field at Phnom Trop, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km north of Phnom Penh in this October 14, 2008 file photo.REUTERS/Stringer

International Herald Tribune

Reuters
Published: October 29, 2008

PHNOM PENH: Impoverished Cambodia has doubled its 2009 military budget to $500 million (311 million pounds) following this month's border clash with Thailand, officials said on Wednesday, an increase that is likely to anger its donors.

The National Assembly is expected to approve the new budget next week, with the military accounting for 25 percent of all spending, said Cheam Yeap, head of its finance commission.

"This incident has awoken us to the need for our soldiers to be better equipped. We cannot sit and watch Thai troops encroach on our border," he told Reuters. "Our army needs to be more organised, better trained, with newer bases and well-fed troops."

Three Cambodian soldiers and one Thai died in the October 15 firefight in the shadow of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, a stunning set of Hindu ruins that have been claimed for decades by both countries.

At roughly 100,000 men, Cambodia's armed forces are a third the size of Thailand's, but remain very large for one of Asia's poorest nations.

For years, international donors have been trying to get Phnom Penh to demobilise thousands of ageing soldiers, many of them former Khmer Rouge guerrillas, to free up more cash for investment in health and education.

In the two weeks since the clash, local army units say they have recruited 3,000 men despite Prime Minister Hun Sen saying he wants a negotiated settlement with Bangkok to disputed stretches of border.

(Reporting by Ek Madra; editing by Ed Cropley and Roger Crabb)

Frenchman, Briton arrested in Cambodia on drug charges

A Frenchman and a Briton have been arrested and charged with drug trafficking

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A Frenchman and a Briton have been arrested and charged with trafficking 1.1 kilograms (2.4 pounds) of marijuana in Cambodia, police said Wednesday.

Frenchman Jocelyn Fanget, 42, was trying to buy the drugs from Briton Craig Bullock, 37, when they were arrested Friday in the seaside resort town of Sihanoukville, said Moek Dara, director of the anti-narcotics department.

A Cambodian man, 35-year-old Chanda Try, was also arrested for providing transport to Bullock, he said.

"They were arrested at the scene while they were exchanging the drugs," Moek Dara told AFP. "The court has already charged them with drug trafficking. They are in jail now."

Marijuana is abundant in Cambodia and the country is also a well-known trafficking point for methamphetamines and heroin, particularly since neighbouring Thailand toughened its stance on illegal drugs in 2002.