Cambodia plans to boost lobster farming

The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 31 July 2009

Chun Sophal

Government plans major hatching programme to develop local market in bid to cut imports

THE government has waded deeper into the crustacean trade with plans to hatch 1 million baby freshwater lobsters by late October.

The juveniles will be sold to domestic farmers looking to rear them for the local market, thereby cutting the need for imports.

Haing Leap, the deputy director of the Department of Fisheries at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, told the Post on Thursday that the Takeo provincial fisheries department had hatched 300,000 baby lobsters since June.

He said the centre sells 45-day-old lobsters to farmers for US$0.06 each.

"We want to encourage farmers to raise baby lobsters because we expect they will be able to supply them to local markets," Haing Leap said.

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In no more than five years' time we will be able to cut lobster imports.
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He added that just 10-20 tonnes of wild freshwater lobsters are caught locally each year, with 3 tonnes a day brought in from Vietnam to satisfy demand.

Breeding areas diminish
Haing Leap blamed the low number of locally caught lobsters on environmental changes and the loss of sheltered areas where breeding females could lay eggs.

"We hope that if Cambodian farmers are interested in rearing lobsters, then in no more than five years' time we will be able to cut lobster imports," he said.

Prum Vath, a lobster farmer in Takeo province's Angkor Borei district, plans to raise 200,000 baby lobsters for the local market before the end of the year.

He said it takes a minimum of six months to raise them, at which point he sells them for US$15-$20 a kilogram.

"Rearing baby lobsters poses no problems because they are easy to look after and it is easy to find markets," the farmer said.

Another farmer told the Post that 3 percent of lobsters die before reaching maturity.

Haing Leap at the Fisheries Department said the hatching season runs between June and October, adding that farmers need at least 1.5 million baby lobsters.

"If farmers can raise 1-1.5 million lobsters a year, then that will supply local markets with 60-90 tonnes of lobster each year," he said.

Haing Leap said that in 2005 the Japanese government funded a five-year, $5 million project to teach lobster-rearing skills to farmers in a number of the Kingdom's provinces.

Disabled Volleyball League hits off

A player from the Siem Reap Eagles (centre) jumps but misses a blocking opportunity against the Prey Veng Cobras during their opening game of the Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled) Saturday.

The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 31 July 2009
KEN GADDAFFI

Disabled athletes showcase their skills inside Olympic Stadium at the annual Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled), where substantial cash prizes await the winners

WITH the excitement of the University Games still echoing through the hallways, the indoor sports hall of the Olympic Stadium came alive once again last weekend as 10 teams from across Cambodia assembled for the 2009 Cellcard Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled).

The annual competition, which is scheduled to run from July 24 until September 26, has attracted main sponsorship from telecom company Cellcard, as well as ANZ Royal Bank and numerous other contributors. The league offers mouth-watering cash prizes for the winners, with the first prize taking home a whopping US$3,000, runners-up earning $2,000, and third place finishers banking a cool $1,000. Outstanding players from the event will also be selected for the national team to represent the Kingdom in regional and world tournaments.

Teams entered into this year's league include Battambang MOSVY Tigers, Kampong Speu Global Giving Scorpions, Kampong Speu CTN Koupreys, Pailin Stadt Frechen Lions, Kampong Cham Bartu Bulls, Kratie Nike Changemakers Dolphins, Siem Reap Globe Magazine Eagles, Phnom Penh ANZ Dragons, Prey Vieng Kingmaker Cobras, and Takeo ISPP Templestowe Falcons. After the first round of games last weekend, the Phnom Penh Dragons and the Siem Reap Eagles share top spot with three wins out of three, while the Kratie Dolphins are rooted to the bottom having lost all of their three games. The next round of matches are to be played on August 22 and 23.

Secretary general of CNVL(D), Australian-born Christopher Minko, revealed that the league is in its ninth season, and unlike the able-bodied sports in Cambodia that are still trying to find their feet, disabled sports are already flying.

The Cambodian National disabled volleyball team is currently ranked third in the world, with the majority of squad members chosen from previous CNVL(D) meetings. "Cambodia is number one in Asia-Pacific, and third in the world behind Germany and Slovakia," Minko said. "We are hoping to push on until we reach the number one spot."

The 52-year-old Australian, who has been in Cambodia for 16 years developing disabled volleyball, is confident that local players can attain an extremely high standard of playing by competing in the CNVL(D). "These players are very good," Minko asserted. "They are not handicapped by their disabilities. They put in their best and are doing great."

CNVL(D) Secretary General Christopher Minko attends the opening day of the CNVL(D) at Olympic Stadium Saturday

The national team have triumphed over Poland, Canada, India and Australia in the past, and is looking to repeat such feats in the 2009 World Cup coming up in December. They will receive training from Christian Zepp of Germany, who has been working as the national team coach since 2001. Zepp has been campaigning for CNVL(D) funding for many years. A year ago he won a local swimming pool competition near his home in Frechen, near Koln, swimming 40.7km over a weekend and donating the entire prize money to the CNVL(D).

Minko revealed that the CNVL(D) are also involved in training athletes in wheelchairs, and will prepare to send some Cambodian disabled athletes to the 2012 Paralympics Games in London.

The CNVL(D) has had Prime Minister Hun Sen as its Grand Patron since 1999, and help provide essential services for disabled Cambodians, most of whom are victims of polio and land mine accidents, as well as organising educational programs to raise awareness of disability issues.

Photos by Nick Sells (www.nicksellsphotography.com)

Army team suffer lack of depth

National Defence Ministry manager Op Sam An (centre, white shirt) shouts intructions to his players from the dugout during their CPL match against Khemara Keila Saturday

The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 31 July 2009
Ken Gadaffi

With an injury room full of key players and a policy not to sign foreign players, the National Defence Ministry have struggled to compete this season

Army team plagued by injury
The National Defence Ministry team (MND), popularly known as "Army", is feeling the pressure to perform with the key squad members plagued by injury.

Noted for their fluid passing game, MND are currently languishing in eighth out of 10 teams, with 13 points from 12 games, although a nine-point gap separates them from the drop zone. With only six rounds remaining, the Army side face a titanic struggle to make it into the Super 4, with fourth-placed Naga Corp five points ahead.

According to the assistant coach Long Rithea, who spoke on behalf of head coach Oup Som An, the club has been hit hard by the loss of players such as leading goalscorer Khim Borey, fellow forwards Um Kompheak and To Vanthan, and defensive midfielder Nhem Piseth. "This problem has affected our game plan, and we have been trying to find a solution by introducing other players," said Long Rihtea said just moments after his team fell to Khemara Keila by a lone goal last Saturday. "We hope to improve further as the league progresses."

The team has registered the maximum 30 players allowed by the Football Federation, but all are under 23 years of age with many representing the national team: nine players in the under-23 team, and six players in the under-19 team. MND is the only Cambodian Premier League team without a foreign player, which many soccer pundits have blamed for the team's poor showing this season. Coach Long Rithea stated that it's the decision of the club's management to install a policy of not signing foreign players. "They [the management] want to develop the local players," Long Rithea remarked.

However, the assistant coach, who played of the Army team from 1995-2005, noted a lack of physicality and experience due to the youthfulness of the squad. "We have assembled players since 2006, and most are very young ... so they are [still] learning," he said.

Long Rithea is realistic that the club can squeeze into the top four by the end of the season and, having played the top teams already, they are looking to capitalise on the weaknesses of teams lower down the table in their remaining fixtures.

MND have lost all three of their games in the second half of the season, 1-3 to Phnom Penh Crown July 11, 0-2 to Preah Khan Reach July 18 and 0-1 to Khemara Keila last Saturday. They face second from bottom Post Tel this Sunday at 2pm.

Khemara Keila's Adeleke Eleshin (right) has moved to play in the Thai Premier League after two years in the CPL.

Eleshin packs his boots for Thailand
Khemara Keila defender Adeleke Eleshin has signed for Thailand club Bangkok Glass for an undisclosed amount. The Nigerian-born defender, who won the 2008 CPL season and 2009 Samdech Hun Sen Cup with Phnom Penh Crown before joining Khemara Keila earlier this season, finally got his clearance from the club on Monday to leave. Eleshin will be joining fellow compatriot Gbenga Ajayi at the club currently second in the Thai Premier League (TPL), which entered its second round last Sunday.

"I am delighted to be moving to Thailand," said Eleshin. "With the experience I have [from] playing for Phnom Penh Crown and Khemara Keila, I hope to do well."

The lanky defender, who also can play in midfield, was originally signed by Thai Ports Authority, but has been loaned to Bangkok Glass for the rest of the TPL season, after which he will return to Thai Port.

Ironically, Eleshin will come up against his former club Phnom Penh Crown next month when Bangkok Glass play them in the quarterfinals of the Singapore Cup. First leg is slated for August 26 with the second leg on September 2.

Photos by Nick Sells (www.nicksellsphotography.com)

Basketball coach returns from US scouting

The Cambodian national basketball team train in the dimly lit inside sports hall of Olympic Stadium Tuesday under the watchful eye of Coach Koledoye (bottom right).

Cambodian national basketball team coach Augustine Koledoye

The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 31 July 2009
Ken Gadaffi

CAMBODIAN national basketball team coach Augustine Koledoye has returned from a month long visit to the US and Canada, where he was searching for Cambodian-born talent to draft into the national team ahead of a busy schedule of games coming up in the later part of the year.

"I have been scouting around for Cambodian-American players, and I found three good players in LA," said Koledoye by telephone, moments after he arrived in Phnom Penh airport. "In fact there are many of them, but I only have hope on those three because the rest are just a bunch of street players."

Many Cambodian players whose families were relocated to the US play for community-based teams in an Asian League. "The players are quite good," remarked Koledoye. "But for their height, they would be able to find their way into the NBA."

According to the Nigerian-born coach, the tallest he was able to find was only 6-foot-2 (1.88 metres), significantly under the NBA players' average height of 6 foot 7 inches, and dwarfed by the likes of China's 7-foot-6 superstar Yao Ming.

Koledoye declined to reveal the players' identities until further discussions with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, but remains confident that they will commit to coming to play for Cambodia in the future. The coach said he has already presented a plan of the team to the players and hopes they can honour a call up to the national team.

The coach also stated that basketball at the SEA Games in December is still in the balance, as the host country Laos has requested to write off the discipline due to lack of facilities. However, regional basketball superpowers Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines are unhappy with Laos' decision and are seeking an alternative venue.

Koledoye, who doubles as sports director and after school coordinator at Northbridge International School, revealed that Thailand are prepared to host the event in a town close to Laos border, but has received no official verdict yet. "The big basketball countries want to offer help ... but Laos is not budging," complained the Cambodia coach. .

Photos by Nick Sells (www.nicksellsphotography.com)

CBF announces its events calender

Photo by: Cambodian Baseball Federation
Young Cambodians practice playing baseball with donated equipment at the Baribo ballpark near Kampong Chhnang town in 2007.

The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 31 July 2009
DAN RILEY

Cambodian Baseball Federation publishes a complete schedule including annual league and province tournament as well as dates for national team training and tryouts among events

CAMBODIAN Baseball Federation (CBF) President Joe Cook, who lives and works as a chef in Alabama and who makes establishing baseball in Cambodia his life pursuit, has emailed the Post an extensive calendar listing upcoming events organised by the Federation.

First up was the return of the Cambodian national teams to training July 25 that saw 118 baseball hopefuls turn up at Baribo ballpark, near Kampong Chhnang Saturday to tryout for squads.

Of the players that attended, 57 were chosen to stay on for further training, although this number is likely to drop to 20-30 over the few next weeks as funds run low.

Coaches bring technology
A big boost for the development of the national league is the August 1 arrival of five American coaches from Oregon, who will stay in Baribo village for five days, or possibly more, bringing technical equipment such as laptops and digital cameras to help players improve their hitting, pitching and fielding.

Also planned is to send Cambodian coaches and umpires to different schools to help train students and popularise the game. Currently, the federation has 11 former players that have retired. Five are to be chosen to become national team coaches, while the remaining six will take up other roles in the federation, such a management staff.

Players divide into three
The players will keep training until September 14, when they will be drafted into three separate teams of 15, based in either Baribo, Kampong Thom or Kampong Speu.

The Baribo ballpark has received significant upgrades such as extra batting nets, dugout and pitching mound renovation, replacement roof for the clubhouse and a grass-trimming for the entire field, not an simple task without a mower.

Kampong Speu ballpark is the newest addition to the baseball setup, with owner Kevin Kim promising completion in early November.

Photo by: Cambodian Baseball Federation
Joe Cook poses with his beloved baseball equipment in front of Siem Reap’s Angkor Wat temple.

Pakistan event 80 percent
From August 23-28, the Asian Baseball Federation (BFA) are scheduled to hold a South and West Asian Cup competition in Lahore, Pakistan. Nations slated to participate in the event include Afghanistan, Cambodia, India, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, as well as the hosts. However, in light of the recent terrorist attacks there, the BFA have yet to decide whether it is a safe venue, and Cook suggested the competition has around an 80 percent chance of going ahead.

October 5 sees exhibition games in prelude to the start of the Major league season on October 12, with the Little League and Youth League seasons also starting two days later. Cook has stressed an emphasis on developing these leagues to develop future talent for the national team and major league. All games are to be played at Baribo, although it is unclear if they will follow a regular schedule, and the season ends next February.

A trip to Vietnam and an invitation to the Malaysian team, whom Cambodia historically beat 20-8 in the Asian Baseball Cup May 28, has been discussed for October, although not confirmed.

Biggest-ever tournament
The CBF's event of the year is the province tournament, held November 23-27. Cook declares this year's competition, now in its sixth edition, as the biggest in the federation's history, which conincides with the CBF's seven-year anniversary.

Despite the Baribo team's having won all of the previous tournaments, a team from Banteay Meanchey are apparently set to steal the crown.

The federation are yet to decide upon the exact details of the tournament, although an August 12 meeting in the residence of Nhem Thavy, the Kampong Thom-based federation official, is set to help clarify rules and regulations amongst the teams. The meeting will also be attended by members of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the National Olympic Committee.

Not safe to visit, says Cook
Cook mentioned briefly by phone about the contempt that meets him when he travels to Cambodia, citing animosity from other sports federation officials over his occupancy, rather than a Cambodian's, of the CBF presidency. "There are many people that really hate me," said Cook, hinting that his life is in danger each time he visits his homeland. "But I will die for my love of baseball," he declared.

Cook stated that he will not allow corruption to plague his federation by allocating a Cambodian dignitary as president, although he said the reason officials are so angry with him is that they believe he is using the federation to extort money himself. "Why would I do that?" complained Cook. "Its my hard-earned money in the first place that funds the federation."

One hopes Cook would consider relinquishing his position as president to a suitable candidate to appease the federations and ministries, and thus allow him to concentrate on daily happenings as a general secretary.

With the CBF desperate for sponsorship and funding in what has proved to be an expensive pastime, Joe Cook needs to attract all the help he can get.

"People can donate anything," he said eagerly. "Even a hundred dollars will buy an advertising spot on the shirts. Everything helps [our cause]."

Currently, the CBF rely on Cook's private funding and various donations from baseball federations around the globe, including the US Major League and the Japanese Baseball Federation.

CPL matches reshuffled

The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 31 July 2009
DAN RILEY

PHNOM PENH - After a full round of Cambodian Premier League matches that left the order completely unchanged, round 13 fixtures have been rearranged to accommodate teams missing squad members at the U-19 competition in Vietnam. Phnom Penh Crown can go top for the first time this season with a win over Post Tel Club, although Preah Khan Reach can regain their throne after playing their game in hand next week. Meanwhile, Build Bright United and Spark FC could momentarily break into the Super 4 with victories before Naga Corp's game Wednseday.

Cambodia will receive 33000000$ from Japan for 3 projects

Sex slave tells story to stop trafficking

http://www.edmontonsun.com

Woman on campaign to end global child prostitution

By TAMARA CHERRY, SUN MEDIA
31st July 2009

TORONTO -- In the years after Somaly Mam was stolen from the streets of Cambodia and sold into the sex trade, she ran to several people for help but got none.

More than two decades later, she hopes that by sharing her tale around the globe, others will be moved to give the countless faces of the flesh trade the help she so desperately needed.

Mam doesn't know her birth name -- she was orphaned as a young child.

She doesn't know her exact age, but figures she is about 39 and was "12 or 13" when she was sold by a man posing as her grandfather into years of slavery.

During an interview yesterday in front of Metropolitan United Church, where she, The Body Shop and Beyond Borders launched a campaign to stop sex trafficking, Mam said she didn't know what a brothel was either -- before she was forced to work in one.

Mam, who has rescued thousands of children from the sex trade in Cambodia, is travelling the globe with The Body Shop, which promises to donate a chunk of money from every bottle of Soft Hands Kind Heart cream sold in Canada to the Somaly Mam Foundation and Beyond Borders, the Canadian affiliate of ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes).

"We are also human beings, even if we are victims," Mam said. "Who wants to be a victim? Who wants to be sold in a brothel? Who wants to have all the clients rape you every night? Who wants it? No one wants it."

Beyond Borders president Rosalind Prober said she hopes the Stop Sex Trafficking campaign will spread "the message of hope" for the countless victims within our borders.

"We have always said that we were a country of freedom, a country of growth and prosperity, but you can't have that when our most vulnerable group, our children, are being exploited and that's being accepted," said Winnipeg MP Joy Smith, who is pushing the federal government to create a national strategy to combat human trafficking and pass a bill that will mean minimum five-year sentences for child traffickers.

"We don't want to launch a campaign that upsets people so much that they just switch it off," The Body Shop spokesman Shelley Simmons said. "We want them to know that with Somaly's organization and ECPAT, there are solutions."

TAMARA.CHERRY@SUNMEDIA.CA

New Form of Drug-resistant Malaria Spreads in Cambodia

http://newsfromrussia.com/

07/30/2009

A malaria that resists the drug artemisinin, which was considered a wonder cure for the disease, has been spreading rapidly in Cambodia, causing concern that it could spread globally.

The drug, which is popular because it is fast-acting, has few side effects and was almost 100 per cent effective, is the first choice for combating the parasitic infection, which kills about a million people each year.

But a study has found that malaria patients in the province of Pailin in western Cambodia are taking far longer than normal to recover, and many are not recovering at all, Telegraph.co.uk reports.

The findings, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, are expected to add urgency to efforts to halt the spread of the new strain which experts say could lead to millions more deaths from the disease.

The report comes on the same day researchers in Europe claimed a significant breakthrough, using mosquitoes themselves as a way to a potential malaria vaccine.

In the study conducted at Radboud University in the Netherlands volunteers using the drug chloroquine were given gradual exposure to malaria-infected mosquitoes.

The experiment produced dramatic results, with all 10 subjects in the vaccine group all acquiring immunity to malaria, while five others in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, Aljazeera.net reports.

With signs of artemisinin-resistance occurring in Cambodia and Thailand, Dr Dondorp says swift action is required to contain the spread.

"Preventing the spread of resistant parasites when they emerge is crucial," he says. "The use of combination therapies is very important for this. I would like to see a ban on artesunate monotherapy except for specific cases," Science Daily reports.

Confronting Malaria and Drug Resistance on the Thai-Cambodia Border

OCHRAB, Cambodia In this reporter's notebook, NewsHour correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro writes about tracking the growing resistance to the malaria drug artemisinin in western Cambodia.

http://www.pbs.org/
By Fred de Sam Lazaro, NewsHour correspondent

It is in the remote villages carved out of forests along Cambodia's border with Thailand that you get a keen sense of the challenge in containing the malaria parasite, which has withstood numerous attempts at eradication over the decades.

It now threatens to outfox medicine's last line of effective drugs.

A NewsHour crew accompanied a team from Cambodia's National Malaria Control Program to Ochrab village, two bumpy hours from the nearest public health center in Thasanh.

Here, after asking around about those who might be ill, we found a gaunt 23-year-old Pin Sreymom. Too weak to tend the family's patch of land with her parents, she sat outside the family home, a one-room wood structure perched a few feet above ground on stilts.

Inside, her 19-year-old brother Pin Vantim lay bedridden by the searing fever that is a hallmark of malaria. He had rejected all offers to address his declining health. Meanwhile, his sister took some medicines bought from a neighbor.

With cajoling, the siblings agreed to be tested for plasmodium falciparum, the most lethal malaria parasite, which kills hundreds of Cambodians each year. A health worker mixed the blood specimens with a blue fluid, spread them on glass slides and set a timer for 30 minutes -- time enough to set up a microscope and probe their hosts' reticence to seek free treatment offered at the regional center.

Her brother is afraid of drugs and injections, explained Sreymom. For her part, leaving their house unattended was simply out of the question, she said. The journey would take too long, imperiling their modest livelihood and belongings and the motorcycle taxi ride is both unaffordable and uncomfortable.

So Sreymom made do with a sachet of pills from a neighbor. The label suggested it contained a full four-day course of the government-approved combination therapy for malaria. Sreymom decided to take only some of the cocktail of tablets, a common practice, often done to conserve a precious commodity.

Her case deeply worries doctors like Darapiseth Sea, of Cambodia's malaria control program. For one thing, Sea could not certify the authenticity of the drugs. Counterfeits are widespread here. Imported mostly from China they may contain none of the drug's active ingredients or - worse - only a portion of what's required. Even in cases where the drugs are genuine, patients often stop taking them once they feel better. However it occurs, such partial dosing means the parasite may not be eliminated from the body and can begin to develop resistance to the drug.

That's what happened with earlier antimalarials, like Chloroquine and Mefloquine. New studies show a similar pattern, a small but disturbing decline in the efficacy of artemisinin, modern medicine's last effective weapon against P. falciparum, says Mark Fukuda, co-author of one of the recent studies, published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Fukuda is a Bangkok-based lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, one of several international agencies launching a concerted joint effort to contain the problem here.

Cambodia's health officials must coax patients to take only the approved drug combinations, which mix in a portion of artemisinin with older anti-malarial drugs, which are far less effective by themselves. Doctors want to preserve the potency of artemisinin and use it as a solo drug for only the most severe cases.

The government must make it easier and cheaper for patients to get unadulterated drugs -- the most effective way to put knock-off drug sellers out of business. And health workers must convince patients to take the full dosage, even after they feel better.

The goal is to get information and medicines to vulnerable people, along with treated bed nets that can shield them from mosquitoes, which spread the parasite as they pierce the skin of one human victim after another.

It is a daunting task in a region still suffering the legacy of decades of brutal warfare. Roads are poor to non-existent in a landscape where signs warning of unexploded mines are common.

And the government must find more efficient ways to deliver care, such as training local volunteers to conduct surveillance. That may become easier with the advent of promising new rapid test kits. The stop at the Pin residence alone took almost an hour for the malaria team we followed, a tedious rate of productivity.

When the timer went off, the microscope confirmed what seemed obvious to the visiting team. Pin Sreymom's blood samples showed some parasites. However, her brother's levels were life-threatening and required immediate intervention.

Still, Vantim adamantly refused to travel for treatment - an intravenous course of pure artemisinin for his advanced case. In the full glare of an international news crew backing up the malaria team, he finally agreed to take a less-optimal course of pills. The team could only hope he would complete the dosage. There are no resources yet to follow up on his case.

It was a long morning's work in the farthest reaches of the global malaria pandemic. The stakes are huge. Resistant malaria would spell catastrophe if it spread to sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease already kills 3,000 children every day. With the ease of global travel, Fukuda says, we're one plane ride away from that epidemiologic leap.

UK Embassy Upset by Financial Times Report

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 July 2009

Cambodia’s British Embassy sent a letter to the Financial Times Wednesday, criticizing the daily paper’s reporting earlier this week on a government crackdown on dissenters.

In an article headlined “Cambodia Cracks Down on Dissenters,” the London paper reported on an opposition newspaper’s closing, following the threat of a government lawsuit, as well as defamation cases against two opposition lawmakers.

“I think the internal affairs of a sovereign country cannot cause concern to other countries in the region,” British Ambassador Hor Nambora wrote the editors.

Regarding a legal suit brought by Prime Minister Hun Sen against opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, Hor Nambora said the prime minister was within his legal right to “defend and protect his reputation.”

Koy Kuong, a spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Wednesday he considered the publication of the Financial Times story an attack on “the honor of Cambodia.”

However, Yim Sovann, Sam Rainsy Party spokesman, said Wednesday the letter and statements were more evidence the ruling party Cambodian People’s Party never admitted its faults.

“I call on the government to recognize the truth and improve the situation of the country, to avoid the condemnation of international and Cambodian people,” he said.

Minister Prepares for Border Discussions

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 July 2009

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong on Thursday urged border committees from Cambodia and Thailand to find a resolution to the ongoing border dispute between the two neighbors.

Hor Namhong made his remarks ahead of a joint border committee meeting scheduled in Bangkok next week, where he will meet with his counterpart Kasit Phiromya.

Hor Namhong told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs he would push for a resolution to the crisis, which has claimed seven lives in military skirmishes over the past year, and would seek to have the disputed border demarcated.

Thai soldiers entered a disputed area in July 2008 near Preah Vihear temple, which had just been listed as a World Heritage site. The incursion sparked a massive build-up of troops on both sides, and several rounds of talks have failed to resolved the problem.

Var Kimhong, head of Cambodia’s border committee, said the Cambodia side will request from Thailand “a clear date” for the joint committees to find suitable places for border demarcation.

Cambodia and Thailand have approved more than 30 out of 73 sites where markers need to be placed along 805 kilometers of border, he said.

THAI-CAMBODIAN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES

Pattaya Daily News
http://www.pattayadailynews.com

July 30, 2009
sornNews Type : Thailand news
Story : Warina Punyawan
Photo : Internet

Pattaya, July 30 (PDN): as part of the resurrected Silk Route Project, key countries en route are pledged to help their less privileged neighbours develop their road and rail networks. Cambodia currently qualifies and is to be recipient of a Bt1.4 billion soft loan from the Thai government to improve Highway Route 68 from Kralanh to Samrong and O-Smach.

This highway is located the subsection designated GMS (Greater Mekong Subregion), connecting SW Cambodia to Eastern Thailand. On July 28, the Thai Cabinet approved the Bt1.4 billion loan, which was originally proposed in 2008, in the form of a ‘soft loan’ whereby Cambodia will pay 1.5% annual interest, with a grace period for the first 10 years, and will begin repaying the principal after 2019. PM Abhisit Vejjajiva is also interested in strengthening and expanding existing bilateral co-operation, especially by opening more border crossings with Cambodia to boost cross border trade.

Previously, the Thai government provided another soft loan of Bt1088 for the improvement of

Route 48, the 150 km-long highway betwen Koh Kong- and Sre Ambel, including four bridges en route. Route 48 is also a key tourist route, the improvement of which will boost trade, speed intercommunication and strengthen social networking ties.

The far eastern section of the Silk Route Project links China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Thailand by road and rail. The intention is to significantly reduce trade barriers and facilitate fast transit across borders so that some of the fabled wealth of th original Silk Road may return to stimulate especially the depressed economies of the region, notably Cambodia and Laos, as well as bringing greater prosperity to the others.

Mosquitoes Deliver Malaria 'Vaccine' Through Bites

A field sample of mosquitoes that could carry West Nile Virus is seen at offices of the Riverside County Department of Environmental Health on April 26, 2007, in Hemet, Calif.
David McNew/Getty Images

http://wbztv.com/

CBS News Interactive: Healthwatch

In a daring experiment in Europe, scientists used mosquitoes as flying needles to deliver a "vaccine" of live malaria parasites through their bites. The results were astounding: Everyone in the vaccine group acquired immunity to malaria; everyone in a non-vaccinated comparison group did not, and developed malaria when exposed to the parasites later.

The study was only a small proof-of-principle test, and its approach is not practical on a large scale. However, it shows that scientists may finally be on the right track to developing an effective vaccine against one of mankind's top killers. A vaccine that uses modified live parasites just entered human testing.

"Malaria vaccines are moving from the laboratory into the real world," Dr. Carlos Campbell wrote in an editorial accompanying the study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. He works for PATH, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, a Seattle-based global health foundation.

The new study "reminds us that the whole malaria parasite is the most potent immunizing" agent, even though it is harder to develop a vaccine this way and other leading candidates take a different approach, he wrote.

Malaria kills nearly a million people each year, mostly children under 5 and especially in Africa. Infected mosquitoes inject immature malaria parasites into the skin when they bite; these travel to the liver where they mature and multiply. From there, they enter the bloodstream and attack red blood cells — the phase that makes people sick.

People can develop immunity to malaria if exposed to it many times. The drug chloroquine can kill parasites in the final bloodstream phase, when they are most dangerous.

Scientists tried to take advantage of these two factors, by using chloroquine to protect people while gradually exposing them to malaria parasites and letting immunity develop.

They assigned 10 volunteers to a "vaccine" group and five others to a comparison group. All were given chloroquine for three months, and exposed once a month to about a dozen mosquitoes — malaria-infected ones in the vaccine group and non-infected mosquitoes in the comparison group.

That was to allow the "vaccine" effect to develop. Next came a test to see if it was working.

All 15 stopped taking chloroquine. Two months later, all were bitten by malaria-infected mosquitoes. None of the 10 in the vaccine group developed parasites in their bloodstreams; all five in the comparison group did.

The study was done in a lab at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and was funded by two foundations and a French government grant.

"This is not a vaccine" as in a commercial product, but a way to show how whole parasites can be used like a vaccine to protect against disease, said one of the Dutch researchers, Dr. Robert Sauerwein.

"It's more of an in-depth study of the immune factors that might be able to generate a very protective type of response," said Dr. John Treanor, a vaccine specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., who had no role in the study.

The concept already is in commercial development. A company in Rockville, Md. — Sanaria Inc. — is testing a vaccine using whole parasites that have been irradiated to weaken them, hopefully keeping them in an immature stage in the liver to generate immunity but not cause illness.

Two other reports in the New England Journal show that resistance is growing to artemisinin, the main drug used against malaria in the many areas where chloroquine is no longer effective. Studies in Thailand and Cambodia found the malaria parasite is less susceptible to artemisinin, underscoring the urgent need to develop a vaccine.

Prostitution has no place in Kingdom of Wonder

The Phnom Penh Post
Thursday, 30 July 2009
Chansokhy Anhaouy

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to the recent article on sex workers' desire to be included in conversations about anti-trafficking policies ("Sex workers seek policy partners", July 28, 2009).

Legal or not, it is well-known that prostitution is associated with deviant behaviours and crimes. This is one of the reasons why I am very disgusted with and appalled by NGOs' arguments about the treatment of prostitutes as well as their lack of respect for Cambodian culture and law enforcement. I am also tired of the recurrent argument that sex workers are human beings that have situations in their lives that brought them into that occupation. If the same argument were made for drug users or for people who traffic women and children, then no one would be incarcerated for the crimes he or she has committed.

I am proud that our law enforcement and other agencies have worked hard to enforce the law and to bring back social order for the majority. The Cambodian Alliance for Combating HIV/AIDS (CACHA), the Women's Network for Unity (WNU) and the arguments of [Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers technical adviser] Sara Bradford are dangerous. They are really just arguing to preserve their own interests. They promote the sex, drug and porn industries and all of the crimes associated with them.

My argument is that less prostitution will create less trafficking of women and children and deviant behavior. It will also mean that fewer people will sell their bodies, which will deter young girls from going into prostitution. Less prostitution will bring less shame to the people, culture and society.

Cambodia cannot allow herself to become a major global sex tourist destination like the Netherlands or Thailand. Cambodia has enough other assets to be celebrated and enjoyed by all people from all parts of the world.

We must reject the nonsensical argument that prostitution has a place in Cambodia. Above all, we should always support our law enforcement and other agencies who work diligently to protect our Kingdom's reputation, culture and society from being dominated by the sex industry.

Chansokhy Anhaouy
Vancouver, Canada

Travelers Warned Of Scam At Thai Airports

http://www.comparecarrentals.co.uk

July 30th, 2009

Tourists heading to Thailand are being warned of a scam at Thai airports where foreigners are falsely arrested and must pay thousands of dollars before they can be released.

Travelers from Britain, Ireland and Denmark have already fallen of the extortion at Bangkok and Phuket airports, with the tourist minister ordering Thai airports to ramp up security.

A British couple, who were detained at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, were forced to pay £7500 for their release on advice from a lawyer hired on their behalf.

A scientist from Ireland was also arrested at the airport and forced to pay a large sum after being accused of stealing inexpensive make-up.

The Danish Embassy has also reported that one of its nationals has been subjected to the scam, saying that one of its nationals was recently subjected to a similar scam and has issued a warning to tourists heading to Thailand.

Thanks to Thai Visa. For more information visit their website, www.thaivisa.com

Tourists Targeted by Police in Bangkok Airport Scam

Mark Nestmann
http://nestmannblog.sovereignsociety.com

July 30, 2009

Don't buy duty-free in Bangkok! That's the message coming from dozens of tourists arrested in the Bangkok Airport for shoplifting, and then detained until they pay thousands of dollars for their release.

Here's how the scam works. You're at the Bangkok airport after your vacation in Thailand. After browsing through stores in the duty-free zone, a policeman approaches you. He informs you that some items are "missing" from a store, and that a security camera fingered you as the culprit. He asks to search your bags.

Naturally, he finds nothing, but he still removes you from your departure gate and escorts you to the airport police station. That's when things get really interesting.

According to several reports I've read, the pattern is roughly the same. First, the police confiscate your passport. Next, they interrogate you in Thai, interspersed with occasional phrases in broken English. Then you're thrown into a hot, filthy jail cell at the airport.

By now, you've missed your departure flight. You spend the night in the jail cell, wondering what you've done wrong.

In the morning, the police inform you that they will provide an interpreter for you to assist you. And at this point, it becomes clear that you're being subjected to nothing more than an old-fashioned shakedown.

The interpreter tells you that the charges against you are very serious. However, by paying a fee of $10,000-$15,000, you can avoid prosecution. If you don't pay, however, you will be transferred to the notorious Bangkwang prison, located on the outskirts of Bangkok. Your interpreter helpfully notes that all prisoners must wear leg irons for the first three months of their sentences.

Can't come up with the full amount? Don't worry—the fine may be negotiable. Your interpreter will take you to an ATM, and ask you to withdraw all the money you can from your account. If it's deemed sufficient--$5,000 is usually sufficient—you'll at least avoid Bangkwang. Instead, police will transfer you to a roach-infested hotel and warn you not to contact a lawyer or contact your embassy.

At this point, some victims of the scam—called the "zig-zag" by locals—manage to sneak out and contact their embassy, or hire a local attorney. But in virtually all cases, you're not permitted to leave Thailand until you come up with the remainder of the money the interpreter demands. If you don't, you risk transfer to Bangkwang.

I've also heard reports of similar scams in Cambodia, and given the "success" of the Thai scheme in raising money for extortionists in cahoots with local authorities, I wouldn't be surprised if it spreads to other countries as well.

Of course, most tourists visit Thailand without incident. But if you go, once you clear immigration upon your departure, go directly to your departure gate. Definitely don't shop in the duty-free area!

Research and Markets: Cambodia Telecoms Market Describes the Regulatory Environment in Cambodia

Business Wire

July 30, 2009

DUBLIN-- (BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/1bba8a/cambodia_telecoms) has announced the addition of the "Cambodia Telecoms Market" report to their offering.

A report describing Cambodia's telecoms market covering recent developments in the mobile, fixed and Internet sectors (including broadband and Wimax), and a overview of the regulatory scene

This report reviews the situation in Cambodia, looks at the country's economic prospects, and analyses the current telecoms market and its likely future direction. The report also describes the regulatory environment in Cambodia. In summary, our findings are that although Cambodia has been impacted by the global economic slowdown, the country had enjoyed four years of double digit economic growth and in the future may benefit from recently discovered offshore oil and gas.

This economic growth has helped to fuel the take up of mobile communications. There is a real risk, however, that the mobile market is becoming too crowded with the government licensing a number of new operators in 2007 and 2008. Whereas until recently there were only three GSM operators, there are now a total of nine players (eight GSM and WCDMA, and one CDMA 2000) in the market as of June 2009. There may be at least a further four unused licences.

Fixed and broadband network development has not matched this rapid growth of mobile. The fixed network penetration remains amongst the lowest in the world, and there are very few broadband connections. Telecom Cambodia (TC), the Government owned fixed network operator, depends on revenues from international services and expects to derive further revenue by acting as a transit point for all inter-operator traffic in Cambodia. The underdeveloped broadband market presents an opportunity that some foreign and local companies are now beginning to explore by acquiring WiMAX licences. As is the case with mobile services, there are a large number of companies that have received licences, some of which may have overlapping spectrum allocations.

The report concludes by reviewing options for effective market entry. M&A activity is on the increase in Cambodia's telecoms market and this appears to be the most effective method of entering the market at present. Greenfield start ups are not now recommended at this stage of the country's development.

Farmers forgotten in oil-for-food deals

Asia Times Online
http://www.atimes.com

Southeast Asia
Jul 31, 2009

By Brian McCartan

BANGKOK - Southeast Asian countries took big steps towards formalizing food-for-oil deals with Gulf states at a June meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Proponents of the deals cite the benefits of more foreign investment for the region's often backward agricultural industries, but the lack of transparency surrounding the investments is raising concerns about their ultimate economic impact.

A meeting in Bahrain on June 30 was notably the first between ASEAN and GCC foreign ministers, signaling growing trade ties between the regions. ASEAN secretary general and former Thai foreign minister Surin Pitsuwan summed up the commercial outlook of those attending at a press conference following the gathering. "You have what we don't have, and we have plenty of what you don't have, so we need each other."

ASEAN is composed of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Growing population and economic pressures on land and water contributed to the 2007-2008 global food crisis, which saw prices spiral and already impoverished global populations go hungry. That prompted several food-producing nations to restrict exports of certain staples and caused governments everywhere to rethink their food security policies.

The food price scare, which has for now receded with falling commodity prices dragged down by the global economic crisis, has pushed many oil-rich and food-poor Gulf states to seek long-term lease rights to overseas farmlands.

Gulf states, which last year imported 80% of their staple foods at a cost of US$20 billion, have shown an increasing interest in Southeast Asian farmland. China, which in recent years has leased large tracts of regional land to grow rubber and crops for biofuels, is also seeking land to feed its rapidly urbanizing population. South Korea, with one of the world's highest population densities, and India, the second-most populous country, are both challenged by shrinking agricultural areas and are also in the hunt.

The deals brokered so far have been substantial. According to an October 2008 briefing paper by GRAIN, a Spain-based grassroots organization that promotes sustainable agriculture, Cambodia had at that time as much as US$3 billion in agriculture-related foreign investment under negotiation, apparently involving millions of hectares of land.

Agreements signed or under consideration included a $546 million loan from Kuwait for agricultural projects, a $200 million venture with Qatar, the lease of 1.6 million hectares to Saudi Arabia, a similar lease arrangement for 1.2 million hectares to China and another for 20,000 hectares to South Korea.

In the Philippines, Saudi Arabia announced it would allocate $238.6 million to establish fruit plantations and support aquaculture and halal food processing projects. Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo opened talks with Qatar in December to lease around 100,000 hectares of agricultural land.

Bahrain agreed in March to set up a $500 million joint agri-business venture and around 10,000 hectares have already been allocated to grow rice, corn, sugarcane, pineapple and various vegetables. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been granted 3,000 hectares for agriculture projects. A South Korean company was granted a 25-year lease in April for 94,000 hectares of farmland on Mindoro Island for growing feed corn.

An additional 1.5 million hectares is to be made available to foreign and domestic investors for agricultural projects, the Philippine Department of Agriculture announced on May 7.

In Indonesia, China has paid for the rights to 1.24 million hectares of land. That lags only Saudi Arabia's agricultural investments, which encompass 1.6 million hectares across the country. A planned $4.3 billion investment in rice production on 500,000 hectares by the Bin Laden Group of Saudi Arabia was recently put on hold for undisclosed reasons.

Even political pariah and agricultural laggard Myanmar is in on the Gulf action. Chinese companies are investing in contract farming of rice for export in the country's northern regions. In September 2008, Myanmar's ruling generals signed a deal with New Delhi to produce pulses exclusively for export to India. Kuwaiti officials visited Myanmar in September last year to finalize an agreement to produce rice and palm oil on a contract farming basis.

Estimates of land leased to foreigners in Laos now runs as high as 15% of total viable agricultural land - although some non-governmental workers dispute that figure as excessively high. GRAIN's figures in 2009 indicate that China has leased some 70,000 hectares in Laos for food, rubber and biofuel crops. Kuwaiti firms were reported by the Vientiane Times earlier this year to be interested in investing in rice and agarwood production.

Thailand and Vietnam, the world's two leading rice exporters, have also cut Gulf state deals. A big Thai exporter signed a memorandum of understanding in 2008 with Bahrain to secure rice supplies for the next two years. Earlier this month, Thai ambassador Suphat Chitranukroh told the Bahrain-based Gulf Daily News that Bahrain had been selected as a hub for the distribution of Thai food across the Gulf, with plans to build a Thai food distribution center in the country.

Meanwhile, Vietnam agreed in September 2008 to establish a $1 billion investment fund in cooperation with Qatar, funds from which will be earmarked for investment in food production for export. Talks held with Saudi Arabia in June were aimed at exchanging food for energy supplies.

Capital-starved lands
Proponents of the deals say they could help capital-starved Southeast Asian countries faster develop their often backward agriculture industries and in the process bridge the yawning wealth gap between urban and rural areas. They say rural-focused investments will result in more jobs, better infrastructure and improvements in agricultural techniques and technology. Foreign funds could also provide much-needed capital for small farmers, particularly as they face funding difficulties amid the current global credit crunch.

Cambodia has said it hopes foreign investment will improve its average rice yields from 2.5 tonnes per hectare to levels comparable to neighboring Thailand's 3.5 tonnes. The government is also eager to increase rice exports, which lag due to quality control problems caused by a shortage of storage and milling facilities. The Philippines says it expects an agreement with Bahrain will create 20,000 new jobs on the impoverished and insurgency-prone southern island of Mindanao.

At the same time, activists and food-security experts express concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding deals cut between Southeast Asian governments and their Gulf area suitors. Details of land areas, locations, lengths of leases and amounts invested have been scant in government statements, and news reports on the deals often present contradictory information. That, they venture, could open the way for abuse and corruption.

Jacques Diouf, the head of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), warned in August that a new kind of "neo-colonialism" could emerge from land deals where poor Southeast Asian countries produce food for export to rich Gulf states at the expense of their own underfed people.

Figures for deals brokered between Cambodia, Kuwait and Qatar, which media reports indicate could involve hundreds of millions of dollars, have not been publicly disclosed. Despite a string of prime ministerial visits and the official announcement last year of a $546 million loan for an agricultural land-related deal between Cambodia and Kuwait, official statements have been devoid of exact financial details.

In Laos, there is widespread suspicion that government officials are lining their own pockets from foreign-invested land deals. Many rural Lao are known to be upset by the ease with which foreign firms have been able to buy rights to farmland long worked by their families. There has been no public debate about Lao land deals in the state-dominated media. At least one Lao businessman who protested against China-invested rubber plantations mysteriously disappeared in 2007.

Loose laws
Land rights throughout the region are largely customary rather than secured through legal title deeds. Land entitlement and reform has been slow in coming in most Southeast Asian nations. In many villages across the region, land ownership is recognized by agrarians and village headmen, but formal legal titles provided by the central government are seldom granted. In Vietnam and Myanmar, land is formally owned by the state with farmers holding only land-use rights.

Land ownership laws that do exist are often inadequate, with vague language and numerous loopholes that are frequently exploited by businessmen and corrupt politicians to justify land seizures. In other countries laws are simply ignored by local elites and corrupt government officials with links to influential agriculture corporations.

Numerous reports have detailed heavy-handed expropriation in Cambodia and the Thai press regularly carries stories of land scandals involving politicians, businessmen and high-ranking army and police officers. Land-grabbing in Cambodian rural areas is rampant, human-rights groups allege, despite a land law that limits economic concessions to less than 10,000 hectares. LICADHO, a Cambodia-based rights group, estimated in a May report that over 250,000 people in 13 provinces had been adversely affected by land-grabbing and forced evictions since 2003.

British-based rights group Amnesty International said last year that on top of those already evicted another 150,000 Cambodians across the country were at risk of forced relocation. The Cambodian government's recently brokered and opaque deal with Kuwait for farmland in Kampong Thom province has farmers concerned that their eviction may be part and parcel of the deal, according to rights activists.

In the Philippines, which has a history of farmer demands for land redistribution and agrarian reforms, an agreement with China to lease 1.4 million hectares of agricultural land worth an estimated $4 billion was suspended in 2007 after protests by local farmers' groups, politicians and the Roman Catholic Church. Fishing and agricultural groups last month came out in opposition to the government's recent deal with Bahrain, calling it "unlawful and immoral" at a time when millions of Filipinos are landless.

In Myanmar, the government often uses the legal justification that the state owns all lands to forcibly remove peasants from their land for development projects. Human rights groups have for years documented forced relocations of whole villages and the seizure of farmland for commercial agriculture projects linked to the ruling military junta. Refugees arriving in Thailand have claimed that they were forcibly removed from their land to make way for rubber plantations, including deals cut with Chinese companies.

In export-geared Thailand, agribusiness giant Charoen Pokphand Foods (CP) signed a deal on June 22 with the Bahrain-based Islamic Bank, al-Salam, to jointly invest in agricultural businesses. According to CP Group vice chairman Eam Ngamdamronk, "Investment in any project will be supplied by Bahrain, while the CP Group will provide knowledge and expertise to support them." The group is apparently looking at investment opportunities not only in Thailand but throughout the region.

What troubles activists is that land seized and committed to growing food for export may drive up prices in domestic markets and crowd out small farmers. Several regional countries, including Myanmar and Laos, receive food aid from the World Food Program (WFP) due to chronic agricultural production shortfalls.

Last year, Cambodia requested $35 million in food aid from the WFP at the same time as it was negotiating deals to lease large tracts of farmland to Kuwait and Qatar. The Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture said last October that as many as 100,000 Cambodian families suffered from insufficient food.

Food security experts, including the UN's special rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Schutter, have called for a "code of conduct" over land-lease deals to better protect host countries and local farmers. At an April 6 forum in New York, de Schutter said, "States all too often are led to make such deals because they are attracted to immediate rewards. But they should look at the long-term consequences."

The US-based International Food Policy Research Institute has similarly called for the creation of a code of conduct to govern commercial relations between foreign investors, whether corporate or governmental, and host countries which also protects the interests of small farmers and the environment.

In an April 2009 policy brief, the institute said that such a code of conduct should include transparency in negotiations, respect for existing land rights, shared benefits, environmental sustainability, adherence to national trade policies and strong enforcement mechanisms. Brian McCartan is a Bangkok-based freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.

Learn to make Cambodian-Style Fish Amok Step-by-Step

Cambodian-Style Amok Fish features fresh seafood with a lush coconut milk custard steamed in a natural container. It's easy to make at home with our step-by-step instructions.

Cambodia Style Fish Amok at Fort Lauderdale's Origin Pan Asian & Sushi restaurant. (Michael Laughlin, Sun Sentinel / July 30, 2009)

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/

By Deborah S. Hartz-Seeley
Food Editor
July 30, 2009

Fish amok is a traditional Khmer or Cambodian dish. It's not only attractive but tastes and smells tempting. It's fish mixed with a coconut curry sauce and steamed in a boat made origami fashion from a banana leaf. The sauce firms up to form a rich, velvety custard layer over the seafood and napa cabbage. The banana leaf adds its own fragrance and flavor to the experience.

You don't often get to taste a dish like this in South Florida, but Tahnu "Joe" Sinevong has Cambodian-Style Amok Fish on the menu at his Origin Asian Bistro in Key Biscayne and South Miami (his Origin Pan Asian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale recently closed). Here, he features the Thai food of his homeland, along with the cuisines of Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam and Cambodia.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, authentic amok fish is made with freshwater fish; a pounded spice paste called kroeung, which is a yellow curry paste that contains krachai, a ginger-like rhizome; and an herb called slok ngor, which is a bitter leaf.

Traditionally, fish amok is eaten by hand with Sticky Rice. "No need to use a spoon," Sinevong says.

At his restaurants, where he's substituted Thai ingredients for some of the elusive Cambodian ones, the banana-leaf boat is delivered to your table so the aroma of the leaf, the coconut milk and Thai basil waft up from your plate. The green leaf container is a work of art.

Having eaten this delectable dish, we wanted to try making it for ourselves. When we asked Sinevong to show us how, he invited us into the kitchen to watch his cook, Heidi Chan, go through the steps.

Putting together the dish is simple. But if you want to try it, you will have to visit an Asian market to get ingredients. Sinevong stresses you must use a red-colored Vietnamese fish sauce or nuoc mam (he uses the Viet Huong brand), and the fish must be fresh. In South Florida, you'll be able to find fresh Thai basil. The recipe also calls for kaffir lime leaves, which are available frozen, as are the banana leaves for shaping the boat.

Sinevong makes an entree using an 8- or 9-ounce tilapia fillet and a smaller appetizer version using salmon, scallops, squid and shrimp. But feel free to use any mild white fish, such as snapper.

You also have to do a little knife work.

Chan begins with long, thin bell peppers that she cuts in half lengthwise and then cuts diagonally across each half to form thin julienne slices. The lime leaves she stacks and rolls, then slices crosswise into thin strips.

The tilapia fillet she trims down the center, removing a dark line of flesh, which results in the fillet being cut into two parts. Then, working from the thick end of each piece, she cuts it crosswise on the diagonal into thin slices.

When the preparation is complete, she combines Thai red curry paste (this replaces the kroeung), coconut milk, an egg, sugar, red fish sauce, curry powder, kaffir lime leave strips and sliced fresh lemon grass with the fish.

Now she cuts two pieces of banana leaf that are about 9 inches wide. She stacks them with their bright green sides facing outward. Working with one end at a time, she creases each corner into a point and then folds both the wedge-shaped points in onto the end and secures them with a toothpick. This forms the end of the banana-leaf boat.

She fills the bottom of the boat with pieces of napa cabbage.

Then she spoons the fish mixture into the boat, adds a garnish of Thai basil and the red and green pepper strips and drizzles on more coconut milk. She puts the banana-leaf boat onto a plate and places it in a steamer, where it cooks gently about 15 minutes. We discovered that if you cook it at too high heat, the custard curdles instead of setting up into a creamy smooth topping.

You can check that the dish is done by making sure the custard is set. But Sinevong warns you must also check that the fish below is cooked through. "The custard sets up pretty quickly," he says.

Chan adds a drizzle of coconut milk to the top of the dish before serving.

The banana-leaf boat is a lovely presentation that adds flavor and aroma to the ingredients it nestles within. If you don't want to bother folding the leaf, but still want what it contributes to the dish, use a double thickness of banana leaves to line a small bowl, add the napa cabbage and fish mixture to the bowl and steam as described.

Serve the fish with sticky rice. At the restaurant, the rice comes in its own miniature bamboo steamer.

Most Members of the Cambodian Rice Millers Association Do Not Get State Funds to Buy Paddy Rice to Store It – Thursday, 30.7.2009

Posted on 31 July 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 623
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Phnom Penh: A three-page document with the names of medium and big scale rice millers in three districts of Battambang shows that they do not receive benefits from the Rice Millers Association. The source of such benefits is US$18 million that the government, through the Rural Development Bank, provides to the Rice Millers Association each year, to be distributed to rice millers that are members of the association, to buy paddy rice for storage. But the director of the Rural Development Bank, Mr. Son Kunthor, and the president of the Cambodian Rice Millers Association, Mr. Phou Puy, rejected this claim.

“Owners of eleven rice mills in Sangkae, Thma Koul, and Moung Russey districts in Battambang claimed that they have difficulties to gain benefits from the association. At least five of them said that they have never received any benefits since they became members of the Rice Millers Association.

“A member of the Rice Millers Association, Mr. Touch Kim Huot, told Deum Ampil by phone in the evening of 29 July 2009 that the Rice Millers Association had contacted him, inviting him to borrow money from the association, but the amount of money offered was very little, so that he could not do anything with it. He added, ‘Therefore, I didn’t borrow from them; I don’t want to risk anything, because the amount of money was too small. I have not borrowed money from the association for four or five years.’ According to this rice miller, the Rice Millers Association requires to deposit real estate before anyone can borrow money from the association. As he has only one piece of real estate, he cannot put it as mortgage to the Rice Millers Association. He might better ask for a loan from banks where, through mortgaging the same real estate, he can request much more loans.

“Another owner of a rice mill in Thma Koul in Battambang, Meng, said, ‘I have never asked for a loan, because there is no benefit from it.’ He said that when he first became a member of the Rice Millers Association, he attended their meetings, but after he found that there was no benefit from it, he then normally did not attend, even when he was invited for a meeting. Without criticizing anybody directly, this rice miller said, ‘Only their partisans can get something, as for us, we have never received anything.’

“Besides the above two rice millers, some others who have received small amounts of loans complained about the complicated procedures and the commissions to be paid. Responding to Deum Ampil via telephone, another rice miller, Cheng, said that the procedure to request for a loan from the association is complex. Just for submitting the forms, one has to pay money, and after having received a loan, one month interest is taken immediately. When paying back the loan, one has to spend more for service charges to the association, which is responsible for taking the money back to the state in Phnom Penh. He said, ‘I decide to ask for a loan from the Canadia Bank, because it is easier.’

“Another rice miller from the Ou Ta Ki commune, Thma Koul, Battambang, said, ‘The association can offer loans, but 5% of the total loan must be paid in advance, and the interest rate is 0.5% per month. Actually, this expense is comparable to private banks. Therefore, to ask for a loan from a private bank is easier. Another thing is that the association has never assigned any work or supplied rice for me; they share only with their special members.’

“They complained about their difficulties in receiving benefits from the Rice Millers Association, and this disappoints some members to almost not attend the meetings. However, this does not apply to all, as some rice millers close to the Rice Millers Association president and his relatives can receive some benefits.

“Last week, both the president of the Cambodia Rice Millers Association, Mr. Phou Puy, and the secretary general in charge of the above affairs, Mr. Son Kunthor, rejected the above information and moreover, Mr. Phou Puy toldDeum Ampil briefly, ‘Don’t believe those ghosts!’”

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #249, 30.7.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Thursday, 30 July 2009

Govt urged to oppose French oil deal

http://www.bangkokpost.com

Writer: BangkokPost.com
Published: 30/07/2009

The People's Assembly of Thailand on Thursday submitted a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, calling for the government to act against the oil drilling agreement being made between the Cambodian government and the French oil company Total covering a disputed area of the Gulf of Thailand.

The letter was forwarded to the prime minister through the Government House complaints centre by Chaiwat Sinsuwong, the assembly secretary-general, and Admiral Bannawit Kengrian, chairman of the assembly's committee for monitoring the use of state power.

It said Cambodia and France had reached an agreement over an oil and gas drilling concession in the overlapping Thai and Cambodian territorial waters in the Gulf of Thailand, but the government and armed forces had not done anything to protect Thai territorial sovereignty.

Adm Bannawit, a former defence permanent secretary, said the assembly also submit a protest letter to the French embassy in Bangkok. He said the French ambassador admitted the area was under dispute.

Therefore, the government should take action to prevent border problems similar to the one concerning the Preah Vihear temple.

He said the prime minister would be charged with neglect of duty if he failed to act on this matter in seven days.

Phnom Penh is reported to be drawing up an agreement to give France's Total rights to look for oil in its offshore block 3 in the Gulf of Thailand.


A provisional agreement was reached two weeks ago when Prime Minister Hun Sen was in Paris.

"Hun Sen told the French prime minister that Cambodia had decided to award block 3 to the French company, Total, for oil drilling after lengthy consideration," Prak Sokhon, a senior government official who was in the delegation, later told reporters.

Te Duong Tara, director general of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA), said details were still being worked out.

Cambodia does not yet produce oil. Chevron Corp is the operator of Block A in the Gulf of Thailand but is unlikely to produce oil before 2010 at the earliest.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi braces for worst ahead of ruling

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2007, file photo, released by Myanmar News Agency, Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, meets with Relations Minister Aung Kyi, unseen, at the state guesthouse in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar's democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Monday July 27, 2009 was named the recipient of Amnesty International's highest honor, the Ambassador of Conscience Award. The human rights watchdog said it hoped this would help protect her as she faces a potential prison sentence.
(AP Photo/Myanma News Agency, File)

YANGON, Myanmar – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is bracing for Friday's ruling in Myanmar on whether she violated the terms of her house arrest by harboring an American, a decision that could send the frail icon of democracy to prison for up to five years.

The 64-year-old opposition leader was described by her lawyer Nyan Win as "physically and mentally fine, and very alert" Thursday. But he said she was also preparing for the worst, gathering medicine and several spy novels and biographies should she be given a lengthy prison term.

"She is getting ready for any result," Nyan Win said. "She is preparing for the worst."

Suu Kyi is charged with violating the terms of her lengthy house arrest when an American intruder swam across a lake and spent two nights at her home in May. Her trial in a court at Myanmar's Insein Prison has drawn international condemnation since it opened May 18 and many critics see it as a pretext to keeping her behind bars through the country's planned elections next year.

She is widely expected to be convicted, although there has been speculation she may stay under house arrest rather than serve time in jail. Suu Kyi has been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, since leading a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 that was crushed by Myanmar's military junta.

A verdict will also be given Friday for the uninvited American visitor, John Yettaw, 53, and Khin Khin Win and her daughter Win Ma Ma who stayed with Suu Kyi during her house arrest. Yettaw is charged as an abettor in violating her house arrest and faces up to five years in prison.

Threatened by a woman who remains the country's most popular politician, the junta has repeatedly detained her. During her brief moments of freedom, she was constantly hounded by the junta and a pro-government mob attacked her caravan in 2003.

If convicted, the charismatic mother of two will return to a lonely life, her days filled with mediation, reading books and getting the occasional censored letters. Knowing she could be put behind bars, Suu Kyi provided her lawyers with a list of requested items, which they were able to bring her, Nyan Win said.

"She is collecting some medicine and many books in English, French and Burmese," he said.

Suu Kyi's lawyers have not contested the basic facts of the case but argued that the law used by authorities against her is invalid because it applies to a constitution abolished two decades ago. They also say that government security guards stationed outside Suu Kyi's compound should be held responsible for any intrusion.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York on Wednesday that he hopes the government will respond to his repeated appeals to free Suu Kyi.

But neither outside pressure nor the possibility of better economic and political ties with the West has deterred the ruling junta, which appears determined to find Suu Kyi guilty and keep her out of the public eye.

___

Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker and Michael Casey in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Foreign Ministry: Cambodia's oil concession doesn't affect Thailand

http://enews.mcot.net/

BANGKOK, July 30 (TNA) - Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said Cambodia's concession granted to a French company to explore petroleum in the disputed maritime area will not affect Thailand's rights over the areas.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Vimol Kidchob said the ministry is now verifying information after Cambodia reportedly granted oil exploration rights to the French company Total in the overlapping zone in the Gulf of Thailand.

"Any concession granted by the Cambodian government would not affect the rights of Thailand," Mr Vimol said, "as both countries agreed in 1975 that any concessionaire would not be allowed to explore or develop petroleum resources in the disputed maritime zone unless Thailand and Cambodia successfully resolve the dispute."

Director-General Kurujit Nakhonthap of Thailand's Department of Mineral Fuels said the two governments must negotiate on how to deal with the 26,000 square kilometre overlapping maritime area.

Mr Kurujit said the Thai government once granted exploration licences to Chevron and PTT Exploration and Production in 1971, but four years later the licences were suspended as the dispute has yet been settled.

Regarding the concession given to Total, Mr Kurujit said, the rights to explore petroluem will be possible only when the two countries reach an agreement over the area first.

Meanwhile, the People's Assembly of Thailand (PAT), led by activists Chaiwat Sinsuwong and Admiral Bannavit Kengrian went to Government House to submit a letter urging Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to preserve Thailand's rights over the overlapping maritime area and protect Thailand's sovereignty.

They cited the World Bank and International Monetary Fund studies which earlier estimated that there are about 2 billion barrels of oil reserves, and more than 10 trillion cubic metres of natural gas reserves in the disputed area.

"If the government remains indifference, we will file a complaint to the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission charging that government for negligence of duty for its failure to protect national sovereignty," Adm Bannavit said.

He said his group urged the Thai government to protest to Cambodia to make it clear that Thailand opposes its neighbour's move. (TNA)