HIV Testing for Global 'One Million Tests' Campaign Begins During Cambodia's National Water Festival

Wednesday November

AHF Cambodia CARES Donates 20,000 Kits to Government Testing Programs and Commits to Test 10,000 Individuals; Hard-hit Country Will Test 30,000 People Throughout November

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of an ambitious global effort to test one million people for HIV in observance of the One Million Tests World AIDS Day 2008 campaign, AHF/Cambodia CARES launched its inaugural testing effort during the annual Water Festival, the largest festival in the Cambodian calendar which marks the end of the rainy season. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS group in the US which currently provides AIDS medical care and services to more than 83,000 individuals in 22 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia, spearheaded the worldwide initiative to test one million people in conjunction with the observance of this year’s World AIDS Day.

AHF Cambodia CARES, which operates 11 free AIDS treatment clinics throughout the country, has taken a leadership role in Cambodia’s HIV testing efforts by donating 20,000 kits to government HIV testing programs. In addition, AHF Cambodia CARES has also committed to testing 10,000 individuals. As a result, one of the countries in the Asia Pacific region that has been hardest-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic will test 30,000 people for HIV throughout the month of November.

“With the beginning of the Water Festival today, AHF Cambodia CARES was pleased to get an early start and launch our country’s participation in the World AIDS Day 2008 One Million Tests campaign. At four sites in Phnom Penh, AHF Cambodia CARES tested 250 individuals. Of these, three people were found to be HIV-positive, and each has been counseled and linked to a clinic for follow up care and access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment,” said Chhim Sarath, M.D., AHF Country Program Coordinator for Cambodia.

Cambodia is one of the poorest nations in Asia and also has one of the most rapidly growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the region. The HIV epidemic has spread beyond high-risk groups such as sex workers, male police officers, factory workers, mobile populations, injection drug users and men who have sex with men, to the general population.

The number of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) centers in Cambodia has increased dramatically over the last 5 years (only 12 sites in 2000 to 199 sites by the first quarter or 2008). Of the current 199 VCT centers, 180 are supported directly by the government, while 19 are supported by non-governmental organizations.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the nation’s largest non-profit HIV/AIDS organization. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 85,000 individuals in 22 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean and Asia. Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org.

Police Chief Inherits Slew of Grievous Cases

Relatives of opposition journalist Duong Daravuth grieve before his portrait during his funeral in Phnom Penh, following a deadly 1997 grenade attack that has never been solved.

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 November 2008

As he begins his work as national police chief, Gen. Neth Savoeun will face a pile of open cases that his predecessor was accused of ignoring, impeding or perpetrating. Rights workers Wednesday wondered whether the new chief would make progress on any of them.

The former police chief, Hok Lundy, who died in a helicopter crash Sunday, failed to solve a number of high-profile cases that pained the nation: extrajudicial killings in the July 1997 coup, a grenade attack on opposition demonstrators that killed 16 in March 1997, and the murders of actress Piseth Pilika, Funcinpec lawmaker Om Rasady and opposition journalist Khim Sambor.

Hok Lundy, a powerful Cambodian People’s Party official close to Prime Minster Hun Sen, was routinely accused of collaboration in most of the cases. His death also left two men in prison widely considered innocent in the 2004 murder of labor leader Chea Vichea.

Rights workers were split on whether a police force under Neth Savoeun, who was a deputy of Hok Lundy and is married to a niece of Hun Sen, would be able to solve any of the cases.

“I don’t believe the appointment of Neth Savoeun as new national police chief will solve the crimes that happened in recent years,” Ou Vireak, chairman of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said.

Even if Neth Savoeun had a will to investigate them, Ou Vireak said, he could face incarceration like Heng Pov. The former Phnom Penh police chief fingered Hok Lundy for a litany of crimes after Heng Pov fled the country in 2006, only to be extradited and imprisoned.

“When Heng Pov knew of these crimes, the government arrested him and put him in jail,” Ou Vireak said.

Heng Pov is now serving more than 50 years in a Cambodian prison and faces yet more charges for his alleged involvement in crimes while he was city chief under Hok Lundy.

Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch, doubted Neth Savoeun would make major changes to the police.

“He would almost certainly continue to politicize the work of the police and tighten Hun Sen’s personalized control over the national police,”Adams said.

Am Sam Art, an investigator for the rights group Licadho, said he believed the appointment could lead to breakthroughs in all the serious cases.

“I believe Neth Savoeun will reform the national police force to have a good reputation, not like Hok Lundy,” he said. “That’s why he should do everything in the interest of the people.”

Chea Mony, brother of slain union worker Chea Vichea and president of the Free Trade Union, said he hoped Neth Savoeun would find “justice” in that case. Two men believed innocent, Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, are serving 20-year prison sentences for the murder.

“I think Neth Savoeun could find the real killers involved in the murder of my brother,” Chea Mony said. “We are ready to cooperate with him and give him the evidence if the police force needs the local NGOs to help.”

Vorn Phonn, 63, father of Sok Samoeun, appealed to Neth Savoeun to reexamine the case.

“I request to the replacement of Hok Lundy to urge the Supreme Court to judge the cases of my son and nephew Born Samnang,” he said. “I filed a complaint in May 2007, and until now it has been more than a year, so I hope Neth Savoeun can be able to push the judicial process.”

Gen. Neth Savoeun could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said, “Those cases have not been closed by the Ministry of Interior.”

“We will be investigating those crimes to find justice for the people, for the victims,” he said.

Province Laments Death of Chief Benefactor

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Svay Rieng province
12 November 2008

In the home province of the late national police chief Hok Lundy, his reputation as a reformer, fundraiser and benefactor overshadow any of the human rights complaints leveled against him.

As he rose through the ranks of the Cambodian People’s Party and its political positions, an increasing amount of development came to Svay Rieng, where Hok Lundy was born and raised—and where he perished in a helicopter crash Sunday night.

According to longtime residents of the province, Hok Lundy’s father was a policeman during the regime of Lon Nol. The Khmer Rouge killed his mother in Bavet commune. Village elders helped him escape death at the hands of the regime, leading him to Vietnam with other villagers. He returned in 1979, as a soldier in the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea, led by Heng Samrin.

He served as deputy secretary of the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea, a precursor of the Cambodian People’s Party. In 1987, he was appointed governor of Svay Rieng province, a post he held until he became governor of Phnom Penh, from 1990 to 1994.

In 1994, he became chief of national police, a title that earned him a reputation as a powerful CPP official and condemnation for alleged collaboration in many serious rights abuses, including murder.

A gloomy Pen Phen, 60, white-haired and seated in the shade of his home in Bavet commune, Chantreav district, where Hok Lundy was raised said: “We very much regret the death of Hok Lundy, because Hok Lundy helped to develop 60 percent of the commune in his homeland, like building roads, bridges, infrastructure, schools, Buddhist pagodas, as well as helping attract foreign investment.”

“After I heard of Hok Lundy’s death, feeling left my body, and I thought I was a man who had lost one arm or one leg,” Pen Phen said. “Hok Lundy’s death will affect the development project in this area. He planned to enlarge Bavet to become a modern border city.”

According to “Twenty-Six Years in the Participation of Svay Rieng Development,” a booklet by former high school director Tea Hun, Hok Lundy spurred 53 development projects, from pagodas, schools, a university, district offices, district police posts, border protection buildings, roads, bridges, infrastructure and playgrounds.

Hok Lundy, in the role of national police chief and the province’s CPP deputy chief, had ambitions to develop Bavet commune as a model town and center of trade, said 45-year-old resident Mo Sin Yi. Hok Lundy hoped to increase his influence in the promotion of the development of the province, he said.

“We appreciate the achievements of Hok Lundy’s developments in Svay Rieng,” he said. “And we are very concerned for the development of the province after him.”

Hok Lundy had initiatives to fundraise for the construction and furnishing of Svay Rieng University, where more than 2,000 students now study, half of them on a “Hun Sen Scholarship.”

“When Hok Lundy became the national police chief, he helped develop Svay Rieng better than before,” said Kong Kakakda, a 21-year-old student of agronomy at the university who was discussing the news of Hok Lundy’s death with his friends in their dormitory.

Mot Savat, 20, a third-year student of rural development at the university, said he did not believe reports that Hok Lundy violated laws or human rights.

“His activities were for the people and the students,” he said.

Mission Serious for Festival Fireworks Crew

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
12 November 2008

Khmer audio aired 12 November 2008 (1.25 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 12 November 2008 (1.25 MB) - Listen (MP3)

At around 6 pm each night this week, the night sky above the Chroy Changvar peninsula in front of the Royal Palace becomes a host to a spectacle of lights and explosions.

The bright fireworks show attracts the gaze of hundreds of thousands of spectators as they make their way along the waterfront, crowding both banks of the Tonle Sap. But the display is not all fun. For the soldiers manning the tubes, it’s hard work, treated like a battle.

Before the show begins, a crew takes three hours to prepare. The team must dig holes in the ground, monitor the placement of the fireworks and prepare plastic bags in case of rain.

“If the fireworks are not placed properly, the explosives don’t lift straight out, but will burst inside the tube,” said Lt. Col. Chea Sreng, the technical expert in charge of the RCAF fireworks team.

The fireworks have different shapes and sizes, ranging from the numbers one to twelve. The smallest, one and two, look like bamboo tubes the length of a hand. These are put together in clusters of 50 or more, so that when they launch, a continuous explosion will ensue. When these burst, they appear as flowers of different colors.

From numbers three through twelve, the shape is spherical, ranging in size from a tennis ball to a soccer ball. Beneath the sphere is a lift charge, which launches the ball of powder into the air. Once the ball is airborne, a series of explosions creates the show.

The crew, comprised of RCAF soldiers under the Ministry of Defense, places these fireworks in tubes, making sure they will lift straight up, and install infuses.

Is it dangerous? “Yes, of course,” Chea Sreng said, explaining that part of their task is keeping people away from the launch zone.

“When we are here, it is just like a battlefield,” he said. “This is our mission.”

Lt. Gen. Ith Sarath said 2,400 fireworks are fired each night for five nights running during the Water Festival, in shows that last up to 30 minutes. He would not say how much money it takes.

Developer Has ‘Dream’ Plans for Island

Koh Rong could see millions of dollars in infrastructure development, as a Phnom Penh developer eyes the island.

By Vohar Cheat, VOA Khmer
Original report from Sihanoukville
12 November 2008

A Phnom Penh developer hopes to bring $200 million in infrastructure before investing in a resort on the island of Koh Rong, one of Sihanoukville's poorest administrative areas, which is currently cut off from the mainland and lacking many services.

The Phnom Penh company Royal Group has signed a 99-year lease agreement with the government to develop Koh Rong, with a total expected budget of $2 billion.

Jacov Montross, business and finance manager of Royal Group, said the company plans to spend as much as $200 million on road construction, sewage systems, air and sea ports, clean water, electric power and village infrastructure.

"Before any hotels or casinos or that kind of thing is put on the island, the infrastructure needs to be put on the island first," he said. "We would like to see the infrastructure start to go on the island within the next six months."

Currently, only a handful of tourists visit the remote island each day.

Montross said infrastructure development could take up to 20 years to finish, after which Royal Group plans dozens of hotels and casinos, a golf course and an airport large enough to handle Boeing 737s and direct flights from China, Japan and India.

A first-class hospital will need to be built for tourists, and islanders could be trained in hospitality and tourism. In all, the project could employ 120,000 people.

Duch Sokhom, chief of Koh Rong commune, implored the employment of the island's many fishermen, who are facing "devastating" shortages of marine life.

Montross said priority would be given to the islanders, especially for infrastructure construction. Better jobs would be available in the future, he said, but people must be trained.

Sok Phon, chief of cabinet for Sihanoukville, said that besides Koh Rong, other islands are being developed, such as Koh Puos and Koh Dekol. Sihanoukville administration encompasses the increasingly popular coastal town and 22 islands.

Royal Group is still looking for outside investors.

"Right now it is a dream," Montross said. "It is a dream that we would like to make into reality."

Phnom Penh land values down 20pc, valuers head says

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Nathan Green and Soeun Say
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

But rival realtor says there is no evidence land prices have fallen in the capital, with owners holding on to property for better times ahead

The president of the National Valuers Association of Cambodia claims property prices in Phnom Penh have fallen by between 10 and 20 percent from a historic peak in June.

"The main factors were the global financial crisis, the Cambodia-Thailand border standoff and loan restrictions on commercial banks set out by the government," Sung Bonna said.

He added it was impossible to predict if prices would fall further, saying it would depend on the length and depth of the global financial crisis and the introduction of government housing sector reforms.

Sung Bonna, who is also president of Bonna Realty Group, the largest real estate agency in Cambodia, has called on the government to ease restrictions on foreigners owning apartments to give the real estate sector a boost.

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction is pushing through a law change after some agents and developers reported sales declines of up to 50 percent this year, Prime Location reported last week.

Claim disputed

But Jean-Benoit Lasselin, business development manager at Cambodia Properties Limited, said there was no evidence prices were falling.

"Even with the crisis there is a big need for land in Phnom Penh. There is no crash in land values because there are so many people who want land downtown," he said.

Lasselin conceded that sellers were having trouble finding buyers, but said they were in no hurry to reduce prices in order to offload property.

The market would stagnate at worst, he said. "The price is going to stay stable but there is no fear it is going down.

"Keith Oi, country head for property consultancy Knight Frank Cambodia, warned that property values had to be taken with a grain of salt in Cambodia because there was no official body to record and publicise property transactions.

He has called on the Ministry of Finance to establish a department of land valuation in the name of transparency.

Bubble has burst

Property values in the capital have soared in recent years on the back of a large inflow of foreign funds for development projects.

According to Bonna Realty Group figures, property prices in Phnom Penh rose somewhere between 50 percent and 80 percent in 2007 and between 80 percent and 100 percent in the first half of this year.

Prices reached as high as US$5,000 per square metre by June in some prime central city locations.

The boom market came to an end as the country prepared to go to the polls in July, but realtors at the time predicted the election would serve only as a small blip on the long-term pattern of rising Cambodian property prices.

That was before the border dispute with Thailand and the onset of the global financial crisis. It is becoming increasingly clear the boom is over.

Building downturn leads to mass layoffs

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
Camko City construction workers leave the jobsite at the end of a workday late last month.

30%Laid off
The percentage of Cambodia's construction workers a union official says are out of work as financial crisis hits domestic building sector

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Soeun Say
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

About 30 percent of Cambodia's construction workers have lost their jobs as developments delayed, union official says

Cambodia's construction boom appears to be grinding to a halt in the wake of the global financial crisis, with nearly one-third of the country's construction workers finding themselves out of work, a labor leader said.

Sok Sovandeith, president of the Cambodia National Federation of Building and Wood Workers, said no official figures were available, but his research showed that employment in the sector was down 30 percent.

He blamed the global financial crisis for causing developers to delay construction, but said the ongoing border dispute with Thailand had also undermined property sales.

"They have stopped building because they cannot sell or rent apartments and therefore have no money for construction at this time," he said.

Some agents and developers have reported sales declines of up to 50 percent this year and have called on the government to ease restrictions on foreigners owning apartments to give the real estate sector a boost.

Chung Savoeun, the chief of construction workers at the Senmonorom City development in Phnom Penh, said he previously managed 68 construction workers but 33 had returned home after work dried up.

"If the construction owner has more work to do, I will bring all of them back," he said.

Nep Teak, 33, from Kampong Cham province, said he managed a 70-strong construction crew in Phnom Penh at the height of the building boom five months ago, but now he only manages five. The rest have gone to their home provinces and were waiting to return if he could find them work.

"I will take back my workers from other provinces to work as construction workers again after everything is better," he said.

Referring to the global financial crisis, he added, " I hope that everything will be solved and that the construction sector will boom again."

Unpaid wages

Chub Chom, 50, the chief of construction workers at Chip Mong Construction Co, said laid off workers from his Phnom Penh construction site still had not received wages owed.

"They were forced to go back home because the construction project was delayed, but they did not get their wages", he said.

"The company owes me around US$2,800, but they have not yet paid me a cent. I can't live without that money, and I am trying to get it back.

"The person in charge of wages at Chip Mong, Pich Sopharat, could not be reached for comment, but Sok Sovandeith said he had assured him he would pay wages to the construction chief Chub Chom after the Water Festival and "pay the other construction workers later".

Most laid off workers had been forced to return to their home provinces. Chhim Sophea, 36, said he had struggled to find a job that paid a livable wage after losing his job when the company he worked for delayed construction.

"I stopped working more than three months ago," he said. "I have no job to do so I stay at home and take care of my four children. My wife is working as a garment worker to support my family."

He added he was paid $2.50 per day as a construction worker and was unsure where he could find another well-paying job.

Construction worker Meas Samoun, 50, said he was forced to return to his village after losing his construction job in Phnom Penh.

He said he had worked ten years in the sector but had been unable to save money in that time, leaving him worried about the future of his family of seven children.

He was working as an ice-cream seller in Kampot province when he spoke to Prime Location.

The construction sector employed 45,000 to 50,000 workers at its peak, Lao Tip Seiha, director of the Department of Land and Construction, told Prime Location recently. Unskilled workers received $4 per day in wages, skilled workers $150-$250 per month and architects and engineers $600-$1,200 per month.

Independent economist Sok Sina said the downturn would make it hard for affected workers to support their families and reduced consumption would have a flow-on effect to economic growth.

He blamed the global financial crisis and its impact on South Korean developers. "There are some Korean projects that are delayed in Cambodia because of the financial crisis, he said. "If these problems are not solved, it will have more and more of an effect on Cambodia's economic growth."

Prime Location has reported that many South Korean developers have suspended any new construction activity. The developments include GS Engineering and Construction's International Finance Complex, BK Global's Pharos Mekong Towers and Daesan Cambodia, which is planning a 45-storey condominium tower overlooking the Tonle Bassac river.

Jobless after decade's hard slog

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Soeun Say
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Father of seven faces uncertain future after construction downturn

MEAS Samoun hasn't had much to show for almost a decade of toiling in the construction sector. But at least he had enough to keep his family fed and his children in school.

But now that the effects of the global financial crisis have begun to be felt on Cambodia's shores, the 50-year-old father of seven doesn't even have that.

He is one of an estimated 30 percent of construction workers in the country that have been laid off as developers began delaying construction amid global economic uncertainty.

"At least 10 years I worked as a construction worker but I have saved no money," he said. "I have used it only to live day-to-day, to send my children to school and to pay for food for my family.

"Now, I am still living in poverty," he added.

The Kampong Cham province native, whose family has lived in Kampot province since 1980, has been working in the construction sector since 1999 when the cement factory both he and his wife worked at closed.

Over that time he has moved where the work is, plying his trade throughout the country but mostly in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

It was Siem Reap where he was most successful, sending home around US$100 every month between 2006 and 2007 after paying for his own living costs.

When his job there came to an end he relocated to Phnom Penh to work on one of the many construction sites popping up all over the capital at the height of the country's building boom.

"I worked so hard every day under the bright sunlight," he said. "Sometimes I got sick but I still went to work because I had to earn money to support my family."

At the end of September he lost his job, returning to his home village of Dam Nak Loung, in Prey Khnoug district, to work as an ice-cream seller.

He is worried the small profit he makes selling ice cream will not be enough.

He said as soon as the sector recovers he hopes to return to work in Phnom Penh.

"I need my children to go to school because I don't want them to work in construction like me."

Festival sees transport prices spike

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

Cyclos, perhaps a cheaper form of transport during this year's Water Festival.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Khouth Sophak Chakrya and May Kunmakara
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Taxi fares to and from Phnom Penh have spiked 60 percent during this year's Water Festival as drivers take advantage of greater demand but also are forced to pay more in bribes to police.

Drivers say more visitors offer them a chance to increase profits, which they say is standard holiday practice.

"On a normal day, I charge only 7,500 to 8,000 riels (US$1.75 to $2.00), but during the festival I can get 15,000 riels to 20,000 riels," said Touch Vary, a taxi driver who works between Phnom Penh and Kampong Cham province.

"I increased the fares because everyone else does and because I have to pay police at least 2,000 riels for each of my passengers," he added.

Lim Say, who shuttles passengers between Phnom Penh, Battambang and Poipet, said normal fares run from 20,000 riels from Battambang to Phnom Penh, to 30,000 riels between Phnom Penh and Poipet, but that he can charge an additional 10,000 riels during the Water Festival.

"I am happy during national holidays, especially Water Festival, because I can earn more profits due to an increase in travellers coming to Phnom Penh to celebrate," he said.

While taxi drivers applaud the opportunity to gouge travellers for higher fares, at least one transport firm is taking a more moderate approach.

Meas Rotana, a ticket seller for the Phnom Penh Sorya Transportation Co, said her company has raised fares by only $1.00 to any destination.

"The number of travellers has increased by about 50 percent, so we must raise our prices a little bit," she said.

For residents in the capital who rely on motorbike taxis, fares this festival season have also spiked as workers try to take advantage of greater demand.

Thousands throng to riverside as races start

Photo by: AFP

Dragon boat racers power their vessels down the Tonle Sap Tuesday as the first day of Water Festival racing got under way.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Post Staff
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Celebrations make treasured memories for participants, spectators

FOR 48-year-old Veu Mai, Tuesday's trip to Phnom Penh was her first trip to the capital since she was a child.

"During previous Water Festivals, I saw a lot of people who came to visit Phnom Penh," she said. "So I saved my money for nearly a year to visit myself this time.

"Like millions of others, the Siem Reap province native helped kicked off Cambodia's largest-ever Water Festival celebration with a day full of revelry and even a public appearance by King Norodom Sihamoni, who late in the afternoon took centre stage with a host of other Cambodian notables, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, to toast the thousands of boatmen who have helped make this one of the Kingdom's most famous attractions.

"I am really happy when I see so many people," Veu Mai said.

Full Story

Vendors say restrictions hurt sales

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

A vendor from the provinces waits for customers in the riverside's Wat Ounalom, where many sellers say they have been forced to set up shop by authorities who have kicked them off of the capital's promenade. Police say the vendors get in the way of traffic.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Nguon Sovan
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Traditionally a boom time for crafts sellers from the provinces, this year's festival have proven a bust

VILLAGERS who hauled thousands of handmade products from their provinces to sell at the water festival have complained of new police restrictions on the places they can sell, and excessive demands by police for street tax.

"Every year we have been allowed to sell on riverfront streets, but this year we are limited to selling inside the Ounalom pagoda," said Chey Chan, 36, who brought souvenir handicrafts from her home in Siem Reap to sell at the festival.

She added that despite the new limitations and the impact of them on their sales, police were frequently demanding they pay a street tax.

"Three to five police come to take money from us each day. They take 1,000 riels each time, so we spend between 3,000 riels and 5,000 riels in tax," she said. "I am worried that I may have no money to board a taxi back to my home due to the police limiting our sales and taking money from us."

Pich Socheata, deputy governor of Daun Penh district, said Tuesday that vendors were not allowed to place goods on the street sides of Sothearos and Sisowath Quays because of traffic.

"Limiting vendors to sell their products in the pagoda is to facilitate traffic for festival goers and to keep order along the streets," she said, declining to comment on police bribes.

Party in the streets is just beginning

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Tith Hing, 75, busks with his cha pei, or Cambodian lute, on Phnom Penh's riverside on Tuesday, the first day of the Water Festival celebrations.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Titthara
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Festival's size expected to create challenges for city

WHAT started as a trickle of people over the weekend by Tuesday night had become a mass of tens of thousands of mostly homeless - at least temporarily - Cambodians.

This sudden convergence of people, while by no means unusual for any Water Festival, is challenging both those trying to enjoy three days of fun and the authorities expected to keep order in the largest Bon Om Tuk celebration ever.

"Those who don't have relatives to stay with, we encourage them to stay at pagodas," said Him Yan, chief of the Municipal Public Order Police.

"We don't want them staying near the riverside celebrations because its impacts on the beauty of our city," he added.

Still, thousands could be seen camped under makeshift tent covers or in the open air in parks and on street kerbs.

While some accepted that these instant tent villages springing up in Phnom Penh's riverside neighbourhoods did not add to the charm of the festival, others - many of whom came from quiet provincial hamlets - said they were concerned for their security is forced deeper into the city seeking shelter.

Scared but happy

"We are from the provinces and are afraid that some young criminals will come look for us in the night and want to steal from us," said Battambang native So Leang, describing how police ordered him out of a riverside park his first night in Phnom Penh.

"It's is good for me to stay here because there are a lot of others with me too," he added.

"Even though it is difficult and unsafe for us to stay here, I am really happy with the Water Festival. It's a big ceremony for the Cambodian people and I want to see the boat racing.

"But the very popularity of the celebration is also what makes it the hardest to monitor, said Tin Prasoeur, chief of Phnom Penh's Traffic Police.

"We have thousands of police to take care of security, but there are four million people coming and no room on the riverside for them," he said.

Groups use festival as forum against violence

Game face

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

A team of visiting dragon boat racers parade down the riverfront on Tuesday ahead of the day's first events.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

ANTI-DOMESTIC violence groups have taken their message to the streets this Water Festival, with hundreds of motodops and cyclos touring bustling Phnom Penh with T-shirts and hats promoting "happy families".

Local NGO group Project Against Domestic Violence (PADV) as well as Plan International have clad more than 500 drivers with their campaign's message, "happy family is our wish", with the aim of taking advantage of the millions of people who are expected to converge on the capital for this week's festivities.

"I hope the millions of people who visit the water festival this year will see this message and will understand and stop domestic violence altogether," said PADV coordinator Chan Sareth.

She said that due to poverty and misunderstanding in rural Cambodia, more than 40 percent of women and children have suffered from domestic violence.

Vong Socheata, a 45-year-old villager from Kandal province who had traveled to Phnom Penh for the festival, said that as a victim of domestic violence herself, the campaign gave her hope.

"When my husband gets drunk, he always fights my children and me," Vong Socheata said.

"So I hope people see the message."

Leaders reflect on top cop

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng pins medals onto an effigy of Hok Lundy at his memorial serivce Tuesday.

Profile Hok Lundy

-Born February 3, 1957
-Where Svay Rieng province
-Family Wife, Men Pheakday, two sons and two daughters
-Career

Following the 1979 ouster of the Khmer Rouge regime, from which he fled in 1977, Hok Lundy rose rapidly through the ruling party ranks at both the provincial and national level. A former governor of Svay Rieng province, Hok Lundy became National Police commissioner in 1994 and was promoted to the CPP's Central Committee three years later.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kay Kimsong
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

After a memorial service Tuesday, leaders disagree on the legacy of former National Police Chief Hok Lundy, who died in a helicopter crash Sunday

AS the country's leaders grappled with the sudden death of National Police Chief Hok Lundy at his Tuesday memorial, officials were divided on the legacy of the often criticised top cop.

On one side are Cambodian People's Party members who say that Hok Lundy served his country with distinction during a career stretching back to the 1970s.

On the other side are opposition lawmakers and human rights groups who point to unsolved political murders and alleged links to crime rings that they say cast a dark shadow on his tenure.

Hok Lundy and three others died in a helicopter crash Sunday night, and Cheam Yeap, a senior CPP lawmaker, said the death meant that the ruling party had lost a valuable asset who spent half a lifetime serving the nation.

"I can tell you, the CPP and all Cambodians have suffered a huge loss from Hok Lundy's death. I am very sad to lose him," he said.

"The police chief brought experience and skill to the police force and army, to which he dedicated his life since the 1970s," he added.

"[Hok Lundy] fought against the Khmer Rouge and helped bring peace and social stability to the country."

But opposition lawmaker Yim Sovan said the former police chief's tenure was marred by corruption and murder.

Controversial cop

He pointed to years of international criticism for Hok Lundy's suspected role in political killings and human trafficking as evidence of an unsavory past.

"There were many criminal cases and murders that happened [during Hok Lundy's time as police chief] against politicians and young female stars," said the Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian.

He added that none of the crimes have resulted in convictions.

He said he hopes the police chief position will be filled by someone who upholds the standard of law.

"I would like to call for a new top cop who can bring social safety and peace for people," he said.

Yim Sovan said he hopes the murders committed during Hok Lundy's term would be pursued in the same way that the UN and Cambodian government are bringing Khmer Rouge leaders to trial.

"Justice is a necessary tool for a developing country like Cambodia," he said.

" There were many criminal cases and murders that happened [under hok lundy]. "

The Kingdom's top policeman was also regularly the target of human rights groups that criticised him as a brutal tactician.

Investigations into Hok Lundy's death, and the death of General Sok Saem, who was also in the helicopter, concluded that the crash was most likely caused by a mechanical failure.

About 40,000 police officers are now under the supervision of General Neth Savoeun, Hun Sen's nephew-in-law and deputy commissioner of the National Police.

"I strongly hope that Neth Savoeun will able to handle the new job," Cheam Yeap said.

He added that the CPP would be watching the police boss before deciding whether to promote him as Hok Lundy's successor.

Hok Lundy boat wins early heats at festival

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

The boats sponsored by Hok Lundy and Sok Saem are prepared for racing.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

WATER festival boats sponsored by the former National Police Chief Hok Lundy, who was killed in a weekend helicopter crash, and RCAF General Sok Saem, who died alongside Cambodia's top cop, both won their early heats in Tuesday's Water Festival races after organisers decided they would compete, despite the deaths.

Soun Bun Oeurn, committee director of Hok Lundy's boat Dysencheybaromeibopia, and Saemsencheybaromeisvaychhrum, the boat sponsored by Sok Saem, said, "We are very sorry for losing our best supporters, if compared to other boats we got the best support".

"We would like their spirits to help both of these boats achieve victory," Soun Bun Oeurn told the Post.

With a long history of successes, the two boats were expected to do well in this year's races. With the deaths of their patrons, they claimed they were more determined than ever.

Both craft were built in 1998 and are crewed by 85 rowers.

They represent Hok Lundy's native Svay Rieng province, where his helicopter crashed on Sunday evening.

Royal touch

Photo by: Kem Sovannara

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kem Sovannara
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

King Norodom Sihamoni greets crowds of students expressing reverence Tuesday morning at the Independence Monument, where he presided over a ceremony to extinguish the victory flame, a lamp inside the monument that was ignited at the start of Independence Day celebrations on Sunday and kept burning for three days.

Chevron tight lipped on alleged tax row

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by GEORGE MCLEOD
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

The oil giant refused to comment on recent reports its operations have been delayed

OIL giant Chevron released a statement Monday refusing to comment on reports that its operations in the Gulf of Thailand had been delayed.

The Post reported last week that the Cambodian government said in a meeting with International Monetary Fund officials that Chevron's operations were in question, amid local media reports that a taxation dispute had delayed production.

"[Chevron] and its partners have been working hard to find a solution to develop the complex reservoir and we are in the process of evaluating several development options for the Block A resource to overcome this challenge," the Chevron statement said.

The statement did not refer to the alleged tax dispute.

Earlier reports said that Cambodia would begin to produce oil in 2009, but recent statements from the Cambodian government have cast doubt on these predictions.

Cambodia is reported to have hundreds of millions of barrels of light sweet crude off its southern shore, as well as up to two trillion cubic metres of natural gas.

The IMF did not comment on the allegations, but confirmed that the issue of the Block A oil concession had been raised at the November 3 meeting.

The IMF said that it has no position on the issue.

Expression still limited in Cambodia: forum

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

AN annual Asia-wide lecture tour promoting freedom of expression touched down Monday in Phnom Penh, providing students and journalists with a chance to compare levels of expression in their home country with those across Asia and Europe.

The lecture series, titled "Perspectives on Freedom of Expression in Asia and Europe", is sponsored by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) in partnership with the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR), and kicked off in Bangkok. It will travel to Vientiane, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.

CCHR Director Ou Virak said he was optimistic the lecture would spark change.

"Freedom of expression in Cambodia today is still limited, as media organisations in print, TV or radio who don't support the government line are often closed or threatened," he said.

"I hope that with the support of Asean members and the European Union, freedom of expression in Cambodia can develop and become broader."

Eye-opening

Yim Amrint Sourkear, a third-year accounting student at the Institution of Vanda, said that the lectures had startled her by exposing the limitations of expression in Cambodia. "I find out that freedom of expression in Cambodia is still very limited," she said.

Ou Virak said the ongoing objectives was to discuss freedom of expression through public forums, rural conferences and school programs.

"We want people to understand their right to express their own opinion," he said.

Cambodian, Thai FMs to meet today over border

Photo by: AFP

A Cambodian soldier walks near Preah Vihear temple in this file photo.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith
Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Talks earlier this week have made only little progress towards resolving the prolonged standoff over disputed territory

FOREIGN Minister Hor Namhong is expected to meet today with his Thai counterpart, Sompong Amornvivat, at the culmination of three days of talks over disputed territory on the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

The negotiations follow what officials have called "big steps" made towards resolving a standoff on the border that pitted troops from the two countries against each other in a deadly shootout last month.

However, Var Kimhong, head of Cambodia's border committee, said Tuesday's meeting struggled to find points of agreement because participants did not have the authority to make policy decisions.

"We need more time and high-level decisions," he said.

But Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told the Post Tuesday that officials over the past two days have prepared the way for the two foreign ministers to meet.

Tuesday's talks focused on demarcating the border around Preah Vihear temple, the 11th-century World Heritage site that was the flashpoint for the most recent border crisis, which erupted in July when Thai troops took up positions inside Cambodia near the temple.

"The agenda was to address border demarcation at Preah Vihear and also the withdrawal of troops from the area," Phay Siphan said.

Koy Kuong, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the foreign ministers' meeting today would build on the progress made since the start of the week between Cambodian and Thai border committees.

Military sources say troops from both sides have drawn back from the front lines, but remain skeptical that this round of negotiations will result in any significant results.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP

Cambodia, Vietnam to build processing plant to boost trade

www.chinaview.cn

2008-11-12

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Vietnam have agreed to build a new industrial processing factory aimed at boosting the two countries' agricultural exports, national media reported Wednesday.

The factory will promote cooperation between the two largely agricultural countries and raise quality standards on export goods such as beans, corn, palm sugar and cashew nuts, the Phnom Penh Post said.

Officials say the products would be aimed at the local and export markets.

"The factory will be constructed near the border between both countries in order to capitalize on each country's resources," HorNamhong, Cambodian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, was quoted as saying.

News of the partnership follows Prime Minister Hun Sen's return from a state visit to Vietnam, where he signed a trade agreement to increase cross-border commerce.

Trade between Cambodia and Vietnam reached 1.7 billion U.S. dollars through the first eight months of this year, Hor Namhong said, up from 1.19 U.S. dollars billion in 2007.

"Vietnam has more modern technology, capital and human resources than Cambodia, so (the new factory) will offer a significant tool to develop our economy," he said.

Le Bien Cuong, the commercial counselor at the Vietnamese embassy in Cambodia, said hopes were high that the factory would be completed soon, and that the plant would raise the quality of local products to international export standards.

Editor: Sally

Gandhi, Sihanouk get Soekarno Prize

Ni Komang Erviani
The Jakarta Post , Denpasar
Wed, 11/12/2008 Bali

Two leadership figures from Asia, Mahatma Gandhi of India and King Father Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, received the 2008 Soekarno Prize on Monday to honor their contributions to the ideologies of Indonesia's first president.

The prizes, received by Gandhi's great-grandson, Tushar Arun Gandhi, and Sihanouk's daughter, Samdech Norodom Arunrasmy, were awarded in conjunction with the inauguration of the Soekarno Center at the Blanco Renaissance Museum in Ubud, Gianyar.

The Soekarno Center is an institution which examines the ideologies of Soekarno, known affectionately as Bung Karno, Indonesia's first president and one of its most controversial figures.

Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, Soekarno's daughter and head of the Soekarno Center's Guiding Council, said the awards were given to honor Gandhi's and Sihanouk's dedication towards building Asia.

Soekarno's leadership, Sukmawati said, was heavily inspired by both figures who struggled together with Soekarno in achieving a stronger Asia.

"(Soekarno's) words showed the spirit of the great soul Mahatma Gandhi. His words showed the great vision of King Father Norodom Sihanouk," she said during the award ceremony.

The ceremony, she added, would become an annual event to celebrate the figures whose struggle reflected Soekarno's leadership qualities and teachings.

"I hope the Soekarno awards can further spread Bung Karno's great work as a figure who remained true in igniting the spirit of Asians in international politics," she said.

Tushar Arun Gandhi said he was honored to be able to represent his great-grandfather in receiving the award, saying the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Soekarno must be passed on to Asia's younger generations.

"My great grandfather Mahatma Gandhi said Asia had a responsibility to provide leadership to the world," he said.

"President Soekarno was one such leader who had the vision and the abilities to provide a dynamic and profitable leadership, not only as the president of Indonesia, but through his titanic statesmanship.

"He became one of the larger than life leaders of Asia," said Tushar, who founded the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation in honor of his great-grandfather.

Samdech Norodom Arunrasmy said the award was an extraordinary recognition of her father.
"My country, Cambodia, had a special place in Soekarno's affections," she said.

"And I remember that (Soekarno) visited us in Cambodia several times where he enjoyed our traditional dishes and the hospitality of our people."

CAMBODIA: "Sometimes I get regular women, sometimes I hire lady-boys"

Male commercial sex worker in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH, 11 November 2008 (PlusNews) - At the end of each day, Lux, a construction worker in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, goes home for supper with his wife and young children. At the weekend he leads a different life, cruising the city's most notorious male brothels, where he regularly has group sex with men while watching pornographic videos.

"I think it's pretty common. A lot of men I know do this in secret without their wives knowing," he told IRIN/PlusNews. When asked about using condoms during sex, he said, "Sometimes, but never with my wife."

After police cracked down on the brothels he visited, Lux turned to the streets, taking nightly strolls through Hun Sen Park, where he pays transsexuals for sex at least once a month.

"Sometimes I get regular women, and sometimes I hire lady-boys," he said. He has never been tested for HIV and does not think it an issue, given Cambodia's falling HIV rate.

HIV prevalence dropped to just 0.9 percent in 2006 from 3.7 percent in 1997. But among men who have sex with men (MSMs), the rate remained an uncomfortably high 5.1 percent nationally, and 8.7 percent in Phnom Penh in 2006, the most recent year for which UNAIDS data is available.

Advocacy groups warn that the lack of outreach programmes to educate MSM about HIV risks could undo the progress that Cambodia as a whole has achieved.

"There are underestimated contributions of MSM to the overall environment of HIV," Tony Lisle, UNAIDS Cambodia country coordinator, told IRIN/PlusNews. "The HIV epidemic has been largely ignored among MSM."

Cambodian MSM see themselves as belonging to two distinct groups, which complicates outreach efforts. They define themselves as either "short-haired" - masculine-acting MSM who tend to have sex with each other - or "long-haired", transgender MSM, whose sexual partners can be from either group.

Half of long-haired MSM and 38 percent of short-haired MSM reported having unprotected sex in the past month, according to a UNAIDS survey in 2006. "We need to achieve an 80 percent condom-use rate to have an impact," Lisle noted.

Hidden MSMs

Long-haired MSMs had double the number of sexual partners as short-haired men (5.7 male partners in a month compared to 2.9 partners for short-haired MSM), and were far more likely to have sold sex (60 percent to 36 percent of short-haired men).

"These hidden MSM are difficult to reach because they're not self-identifying," Lisle said. "Many also engage in unsafe behaviours, like injecting drugs."

Lux does not consider himself homosexual, or at a heightened risk of HIV. "I'm not a gay person. I just do this for pleasure, like a lot of men," he told IRIN/PlusNews. "From the TV programmes I've seen that are run by NGOs, I think gay people spread AIDS, but not people who just do this on the side."

Makara, a male sex worker, is aware of the HIV risk and wears a condom, but does not panic if his condom breaks. "If it breaks for a second, that's fine," he said. "I just get a new one. I don't worry about HIV for that short amount of time it breaks."

Over a three-month period in 2006, according to UNAIDS, 20 percent of long-haired MSM who engaged in risky behaviour reported condom breakage, but nearly half said they had obtained their most recent condom from an NGO, showing that targeted prevention efforts have been making headway.

"If NGOs can get more prevention services to this vulnerable group, we could maintain the great progress we've seen for the last five years," Lisle said.

Cambodia and Thailand continue border talks

12 November 2008

The foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Cambodia’s Siem Riep, aimed at resolving their border dispute. Officials of the two nieghbours made it clear they would make it a priority to demarcate territory around the 11th century temple as soon as it was cleared of landmines.

The Cambodain -Thai Joint Boundary Commission or JBC ended a two-day meeting on Tuesday, to draw up an agenda for discussions between their foreign ministers on Wednesday. The talks are aimed at ending a four month military stand-off, which escalated into a shootout near Preah Vihear temple, in mid October killing one Thai and three Cambodians.

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. Officials need to be very careful in their survey operation to find boundary posts in accordance with an agreement between the two countries in 2000.

Thai officials from the Royal Thai Survey Department, which is responsible for working with Cambodian officials to conduct the survey, said the border demarcation was a painstaking process.

"Cambodian and Thai officials use the same maps in the joint operation to demarcate the border, but we sometimes have different opinions when we interpret maps and the treaty," Royal Thai Survey Deptartmenet official Col. Chakorn Boonpakdee said.

Thailand and Cambodia share an almost 800 kilometre land border 100 years ago, Thailand and France placed 73 markers along the border from Thailand’s Si Sa Ket to Trad. However, the marker were located far apart and almost half were destroyed or removed. As a result, the two countries have not been able to specify the border line at many point.

In 2006, Cambodia and Thailand started a new survey in line with the Siam- France Treaty of 1904 . According to the agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, the joint survey began in Sa Kaew and would later move north to other provinces including Si Sa Ket, where this year’s border dispute near Preah Vihear temple erupted.

"Our survey operation doesn’t aim to benefit any side but we do it for clear border demarcation and justice of the two sides," Royal Thai Survey Deptartmant official Col. Pratya Nakhonkao said.

The joint survey so far had found 48 of the 73 century old boundary posts and now the survey was under way in Trat.

Sompong discusses border framework in Cambodia

Bangkok Post
Wednesday November 12, 2008

(BangkokPost.com) - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat travelled to Cambodia on Wednesday to discuss the meeting framework concerning the Thai-Cambodian border row after both countries’ Joint Border Committee (JBC) meeting went smoothly earlier this week.

Before leaving for Cambodia, Mr Sompong said he and Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen will determine further proceedings after the second round of the JBC meeting discussed different issues such as boundary demarcation and the reduction of arms and troops from the two sides.

The foreign minister said both sides will try to find an agreement on demarcating the border areas to prevent the two countries from making conflicting statements.

Headway in demarcation talks with Cambodia

Bangkok Post
Wednesday November 12, 2008

THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL

SIEM REAP : The Thailand and Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) yesterday agreed to give priority to surveying and demarcating the disputed border areas in and around the Preah Vihear temple. Vasin Teeravechyan, the Thai co-chairman of the two-day meeting, which concludes today, said the job would be difficult as the area has no boundary pillars.

Teams of experts from the two countries would be sent to establish the location where the first boundary pillar should be erected as soon as possible, Mr Vasin said.

''We have agreed to move our survey teams based in Trat to Si Sa Ket and Surin provinces for the job,'' said Mr Vasin.

Under the 2000 memorandum of understanding on boundary demarcation, the two countries agreed to divide the border into seven areas and survey the untroubled areas first.

But they agreed at yesterday's meeting that priority should be given to the area surrounding Preah Vihear, where armed clashes broke out last month.

Thailand and Cambodia share a 798km-long borderline. Most of the boundary was demarcated in 1904 and 1907 under the Siam-French treaties, but the borderline has changed naturally over time and some boundary pillars have been destroyed. The border conflict flared up anew in July when Thailand opposed the listing of the temple as a world heritage site with Unesco.

Foreign Minister Sompong Amornvivat and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong would today seek temporary measures to declare the disputed areas around the temple as awaiting demarcation, said Mr Vasin.

They will also discuss military redeployments and mine-clearing

Day 1 of Water Festival; Bon Om Touk

A boat decorated with Nagar floats on the Basak river on the first day of the annual Water Festival boat race in Phnom Penh November 11, 2008. About 29,000 oarsmen in more than 420 boats will compete in the three-day race from November 11 to 13.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodia, Thailand make little progress in talks: negotiator

A graphic on the Preah Vihear temple, site of border spat between Cambodia and Thailand. Cambodian and Thai negotiators made little progress Tuesday in talks aimed at resolving a long-running and deadly border dispute, said the leader of Cambodia's delegation.(AFP/Graphic)

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AFP) – Cambodian and Thai negotiators made little progress Tuesday in talks aimed at resolving a long-running and deadly border dispute, said the leader of Cambodia's delegation.

Officials from both sides met at a hotel in Cambodia's tourist hub Siem Reap to draw up an agenda for discussions between foreign ministers from the two countries, which are scheduled for Wednesday.

The meetings went five hours past schedule, and lead Cambodian negotiator Va Kimhong said both sides struggled to find points of agreement.

"We need more time and high-level decisions," Va Kimhong told reporters after meeting finished, adding, "what we have agreed is positive."

Both sides agreed to determine by December exactly where the border between their countries was drawn a century ago by French colonial officials, he said.

Negotiators also agreed that their countries would jointly remove landmines in the disputed area around the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, Va Kimhong added.

The three-day talks aim to end a four-month military stand-off and begin the process of hammering out competing territorial claims.

Shortly after earlier talks failed last month, troops from the two countries clashed on October 15 on disputed land near Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple, killing one Thai and three Cambodians.

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

The Cambodian government has since announced that it plans to double its military budget next year to 500 million dollars.

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.

The most recent tensions began in July when the 11th century Khmer temple was awarded United Nations World Heritage status, rekindling a long-running disagreement over ownership of the surrounding land.

Cambodia, Thailand continue border dispute negotiations

Agence France-Presse
2008-11-12

Cambodian and Thai negotiators met yesterday for a second day of talks aimed at resolving a long-running border dispute which last month erupted into a shootout that claimed four lives.

Officials from both sides met at a hotel in Cambodia's tourist hub Siem Reap to draw up an agenda for discussions between foreign ministers from the two countries, which are scheduled for today.

The three-day talks aim to end a four-month military stand-off and begin the process of hammering out competing territorial claims.

Cambodia's lead negotiator said the two sides made a "big step" when they agreed to an agenda to defuse tensions as talks began on Monday.

Shortly after earlier talks failed last month, troops from the two countries clashed on Oct. 15 on disputed land near Cambodia's ancient Preah Vihear temple, killing one Thai and three Cambodians.

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.

The most recent tensions began in July when the 11th century Khmer temple was awarded United Nations World Heritage status, rekindling a long-running disagreement over ownership of the surrounding land.

JBC to focus first on border near Preah Vihear

By Suparak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation, Siem Reap
Published on November 12, 2008

The Thai-Cambodia Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) yesterday agreed to give priority to the disputed areas near the Preah Vihear Temple.

A technical team would survey and measure the areas near the temple first, said the Cambodian co-chairman of the JBC, Var Kimhong, after the meeting.

Vasin Teeravechyan co-chair of the JBC on the Thai side said the area near Preah Vihear, 168 km in length, had not been demarcated yet.

Technical teams would be dispatched to find the location of the first boundary pillar as soon as possible, Vasin said.

Thailand and Cambodia have a 798-km boundary. Most of the boundary line, with the exception of the area near Preah Vihear, was demarcated since the 1904 and 1907 Siam-French treaties. However, nature has changed the boundary line over the years and some boundary pillars were destroyed.

Based on the memorandum of understanding on boundary demarcation in 2000, the two countries made a series of surveys to search for the old boundary pillars in 2006.

The JBC meeting yesterday also acknowledged the result of the survey to locate the 23rd-51st of the boundary pillars, Vasin said.

The meeting was held in a good atmosphere and both sides can reach common ground, both Vasin and Var Kimhong said separately.

The area in Preah Vihear's vicinity became a priority after the recent military clash. It was at the core of the conflict since July when Thailand opposed the nomination of the Khmer sanctuary as a World Heritage Site and both sides boosted troop presence in the areas.

A border skirmish last month killed four soldiers on both sides and injured many others.

Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong will discuss today the issues of provisional arrangement for the disputed areas near Preah Vihear, including military redeployment and de-mining, Var Kimhong said.

Hun Sen Relative Tapped as Police Chief

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
11 November 2008

Khmer audio aired 11 November 2008 (1.07 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 11 November 2008 (1.07 MB) - Listen (MP3)

A police general who served under the late Hok Lundy and is an in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen has been selected to lead the nation’s police force, following a deadly helicopter crash Sunday.

Gen. Neth Savoeun, who has served in the police as well as the Ministry of Interior and is married to Hun Sen’s niece, was officially decreed as national police chief late Monday.

The former chief, Hok Lundy, a powerful Cambodian People’s Party general who continually faced allegations of serious human rights abuses, died Sunday night, when a helicopter transporting him to his home province of Svay Rieng crashed.

“King Norodom Sihamoni officially signed the decree to appoint Gen. Neth Savoeun late Monday as the national police chief to replace Hok Lundy,” Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak said Tuesday. “I and all Cambodian police welcome the new appointment. Neth Savoeun has a lot of experience in the police.”

Neth Savoeun, 52, was police chief of Phnom Penh during the State of Cambodia, served as the head of the justice department in the Interior Ministry’s Penal Crimes Division after the 1993 elections, and recently became a deputy national police chief under Hok Lundy. He married Hun Sen’s niece, Hun Kimleng, in the early 1990s.

Contacted Tuesday, Neth Savoeun declined to comment on his appointment, saying he was busy with funeral ceremonies for Hok Lundy, who is scheduled to be buried in Svay Rieng’s Rumduol district Saturday.

“I’m not thinking about who [specifically] is appointed,” Chan Soveth, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc said. “But I want the person appointed as the new general of national police to have a good background, not to be involved in corruption, not be involved in human trafficking, or drug trafficking, or involved in killings. So I hope that the government has decided to appoint Neth Savoeun because his background is not involved in these.”

During his 14-year tenure as chief, Hok Lundy was accused of all these crimes, including collaboration in the 1997 grenade attack on opposition supporters, which killed 16 people, and extrajudicial killings during the 1997 CPP coup. He was denied US entry on suspicion of human trafficking in 2006, but had in recent years become an ally of the FBI for regional counterterrorism.

Under Hok Lundy, the national police force was routinely criticized for torture, corruption and abuse of power.

Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party, said Neth Savoeun lacked qualifications.

“As I’ve known him before, he has not graduated from the Police Academy, and his rank comes from his relations to a high-ranking official, or nepotism,” said Kem Sokha, who was arrested by the national police in 2006 and spent 17 days in jail on charges of defamation.

Asked whether Neth Savoeun could reform the national police, Kem Sokha said, “I don’t think it depends on Neth Savoeun. Whatever the national police chief did before, it was dependent on the government. [Police] weren’t independently allowed to do anything.”

In Festivities Lurk Worries of HIV's Spread

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
11 November 2008

With millions of spectators and hundreds of boat racers in the capital for this year’s Water Festival, health officials say they are worried about the spread of HIV and other diseases, as well as drug abuse.

A coalition of more than 100 health organizations, in collaboration with the national AIDS authority, has undertaken a three-day awareness campaign, distributing 250,000 free condoms to revelers and racers.

Authorities expect up to 5 million visitors to Phnom Penh for the three-day festival, which got underway Tuesday.

Health workers worry that festival-goers will use this opportunity to have unprotected sex with thousands of brothel workers, hostesses, beer girls and other prostitutes, or with “sweethearts” leading to the further spread of HIV.

“The people at risk for HIV are the youth, who like having sex outside [their homes],” said Choub Sok Chamreun, director of technical support and best practices department for the Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance. “If no measures are taken to educate them and promote HIV awareness, we think that more than 10,000 people would face HIV during these three days.”

Ly Po, vice president of the National Anti-AIDS Authority, echoed those concerns.

“During the festival, my authority provided about 2 million T-shirts throughout the country, so that people understand HIV education. The T-shirt says, ‘We must prevent ourselves from being infected with HIV/AIDS’ and ‘Don’t take HIV/AIDS home.’”

Meanwhile, authorities have hung a banner over Mao Tze Tung boulevard reading, “Condoms are a weapon to prevent HIV/AIDS infection.”
Sex workers at a brothel in Tuol Kork district who asked not to be named said they expect more clients during the festival, including boat racers.

“Whoever doesn’t use a condom, I don’t have sex with him,” said a 23-year-old woman, who said that during the 2007 Water Festival, she turned away several clients who didn’t want to use a condom.

Boat racers said Tuesday they had been educated about the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and how to protect themselves from falling into the water and drowning.

“I must take caution, even though I come from a far-away area,” said Kem Sophath, a racer from Kratie province. “If I feel sexual, I must use a condom properly.”

Islanders Begin Protection of Their Waters

Koh Rong's residents have joined together in a fishing community to save coastal waters, like this river, and sea habitat.

By Vohar Cheat, VOA Khmer
Original report from Sihanoukville
11 November 2008

Khmer audio aired 08 November 2008 (1.59 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 08 November 2008 (1.59 MB) - Listen (MP3)

The 437 families living on Koh Rong have established a fishing community to preserve 5,000 hectares of ocean and rivers, hoping to protect the aquatic creatures and plants that have made life on this island sustainable—and could even make tourism here prosperous.

The community’s chief, Yun Mon, said the group was established two months ago to stop illegal fishing, after a survey by Sihanoukville’s fishery department showed a major depletion of the once-rich sea life around the island.

“The survey shows that a day’s catch for a fisherman on average dropped from 30 kilograms last year to 15 kilograms this year,” he said, adding that the livelihood of Koh Rong islanders is reliant on the sea.

The decline in marine life was due to an increase in local populations, illegal fishing and mangrove clearance on the coast, he said.

Choung Sam At, a Sihanoukville fishery official, said the boundary of the Koh Rong fishing community was designed around water areas up to 20 meters in depth, which are home to seaweed species, reef and a variety of fish that may prove to be attractive to divers.

“It is necessary to protect them; the seaweed and reefs are attractive for tourist divers,” he said. “Where there are seaweed and reefs, there are combinations of colorful fish.”

The areas are protected from big commercial fishing, but limited catches on a small scale or through traditional means are allowed for the islanders.

Illegal fishing remains a problem. Trawlers, which are definitely banned from the 20-meter waters, are often seen drifting in at night.

However, concrete pilings up to a meter in diameter have been laid underwater as a deterrent, which is helping keep the bigger boats out of the protected areas Choung Sam At said.

The preservation efforts could take between five and 15 years to renew the richness of the sea areas, he said.

Ung Nit, deputy chief of Koh Rong commune, said the percentage of fishermen on the island had dropped from about 70 percent of the population of 1,400 to 30 percent. Some fishermen had given sold off their tackle and boats to jobs as construction workers or woodsmen. Those who have kept fishing sell their catch in Sihanoukville markets. (Duch Sokhom, chief of the commune, disputed the decline, saying around 70 percent of the islanders remain fishermen.)

Koh Rong fishermen hold out hope that an island resort development planned by Phnom Pen’s Royal Group will bring them better business.

“I think I will get more benefits if I sell my fish to the company here, rather than going to [Sihanoukville],” said Si Sanh, a 39-year-old islander. “I keep losing 10 liters of gasoline by piloting my long-tailed boat to Sihanoukville to sell my fish.”

Jacov Mentross, business and finance manager for the Royal Group, said the preservation work by the fishing community will rehabilitate some of the marine life. He expects the new resort to buy fish from the locals.

About 120,000 people will begin working on the hotel and casino project, he said.

“A lot of people on the island are fishermen, and they may chose to continue to be fishermen,” he said. “Then it will be great for us…. Instead of selling their catches at Sihnoukville, there will be a large industry on the island where they can sell their catches directly to the island.”

‘Elephants’ Composer Sought Culture Push

Him Sophy, composer of “Where Elephants Weep”

By Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
11 November 2008

Khmer audio aired 10 November 2008 (5.06 MB) - Download (MP3)
Khmer audio aired 10 November 2008 (5.06 MB) - Listen (MP3)

Cambodian-born and Russian-educated, Him Sophy is the composer behind “Where Elephants Weep,” a modern rock opera that has its roots in both Cambodia and the West and is coming soon to Phnom Penh.

The story is a modern version of the “Tum Teav” fable, where a man named Sam returns to post-holocaust Cambodia and becomes a monk before falling into a tragic love affair.

Him Sophy, a professor of music at Phnom Penh’s Royal University of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said he wanted to incorporate rock-and-roll both conceptually and artistically. He typically has not written for rock or traditional Cambodian music, but the show, which debuts in Phnom Penh later this month, incorporates both.

“We played together with the rock band, sometimes separately,” he said Monday, as a guest on “Hello VOA.” “Sometimes the solo is only rock, sometimes only Cambodian traditional, and then they come together and have another sound that you never heard before.”

The hope was to blend the styles and push contemporary Cambodian culture forward, Him Sophy said.

“Where Elephants Weep” showed in the US last year.

“It was a journey of both tragedy and hope, and one that involved cross-cultural collaboration among many people behind the scenes,” Samkhan Khoeun, co-chairman for Rock Opera Khmer, in Lowell, Mass., who was also a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday.

The rock opera, which was started six years ago, is the latest undertaking of Cambodian Living Arts, a project of World Education, he said.

Cambodian Living Arts was founded in 1998 by John Burt, the show’s executive producer, with Arn Chorn-Pond, a Cambodian refugee who was adopted by Americans and lived for a time in Lowell.

The goal of the organization is to revive and support Cambodian arts, which were nearly eradicated under the regime of the Khmer Rouge.

Rower missing as annual Cambodian Water Festival begins

TopNews.in
Submitted by Sahil Nagpal
Tue, 11/11/2008

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's annual Water Festival, or Bon Um Tuk, began in the capital Phnom Penh on Tuesday amid fears for a boat racer who went missing the previous day during training session for the traditional regatta.

The Cambodia Daily newspaper reported 38-year-old Sin Sang from Pursat province in the country's west fell from his team's race boat 50 metres from the shore of Tonle Sap river on Monday.

The man's teammates were reportedly unable to enter the water to save him due to dangerous currents. The man's body still had not been found on Tuesday afternoon.

Five racers from Singapore drowned during last year's festival when their boat capsized while returning to the racing berth.

Officials estimate more than 4 million people have descended on the capital for the three-day festival, which celebrates the reversal of the flow of Tonle Sap and rivals Khmer New Year as the country's most important national holiday.

Tonle Sap, a river-lake system which changes its flow twice a year, is of huge importance to Cambodia. During the dry season, the Tonle Sap drains into the Mekong river at Phnom Penh, but reverses its flow during the rainy season. (dpa)

Chopper Crash

File photo showing Hok Lundy's helicopter flying over the Waiko River. The Helicopter Model is Eurocopter AS350 B2 Ecureuil or called Squirrel

Pieces from the exploded helicopter

Click on image to zoom in

Photo by Koh Santepheap News Paper