Cambodia: Warm reception for floating book fair

http://www.inspiremagazine.org.uk

Residents of the coastal town of Sihanoukville welcomed Doulos crew with open arms during the floating book fair’s recent visit to Cambodia. The extended hands of friendship were firmly seized by all those on board, who had spent months praying and preparing for the 18-day visit.

As Doulos approached the coast and pulled into port, the crew had high expectations of all God would do.

The country’s Minister of Tourism, His Excellency So Mara, was present at the quayside as the ship docked and the gangways were lowered. Along with His Excellency Mr Sbong Sarath, Governor of Sihanouk Province, he wanted to personally welcome the crew into port. Both of the distinguished guests were delighted to learn that following Doulos’ first-ever visit to Cambodia in 2007, there is now a Cambodian serving among the all-volunteer Christian crew.

During previous port of calls, the ship’s company had appealed for donations of medical supplies and educational resources. Churches in Hong Kong and Taiwan responded generously. With Doulos docked in Cambodia for over two weeks, those gifts were distributed to needy communities across the country, with orphans, schoolchildren and the sick among the many to benefit.

Back on board, the ship’s educational and Christian book fair was also busy, as thousands of people came to chose from the titles on offer.

After departing Sihanoukville on 28 July, Doulos headed to Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand. The ship is already attracting considerable media interest there following news that a member of the royal family will visit.

On the other side of the world, Doulos’ sister ship, Logos Hope, has completed a highly successful visit to the UK and is now serving impoverished communities in the Caribbean region.

Further information from www.omships.org

Cambodians learn about past

Even though there's a war crimes tribunal for senior leaders of the 1975-79 movement, most here are unaware the regime killed up to two million people. --PHOTO: AFP

The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com/

Aug 2, 2009

ANG SNUOL (Cambodia) - IT PLUNGED their country into a communist 'Year Zero' in the late 1970s and killed about a third of the population, but most young Cambodians shrug when asked about the Khmer Rouge.

'I don't know who are the Khmer Rouge. I never learned about the regime and my parents never told me about it either,' says 15-year-old Si Phana.

Her schoolmate Ang Pheaktra, 17, knows only a little more about that bleak time which traumatised a generation.

'My parents only told me that the Khmer Rouge were very cruel,' Ang Pheaktra says.

Even though there's a war crimes tribunal for senior leaders of the 1975-79 movement, most here are unaware the regime killed up to two million people, emptying cities and enslaving the population on collective farms.

The country is pocked with bone-strewn memorials and mass graves but Hang Chhum, principal at Hun Sen Ang Snuol High School, says many young people do not even believe Khmer Rouge atrocities occured.

'Cambodians rarely tell the bitter history to their children,' Mr Hang Chhum says. 'Many young Cambodians nowadays do not believe the regime happened because its tragedy was too extreme.' More than 70 per cent of Cambodia's 14 million people were born after the Khmer Rouge were ousted in 1979 and, as the topic has been sensitive among elites who were involved with the regime, little about it has been taught in schools.

But this year, three decades after the fall of the reign of terror, the Cambodian government has agreed to include a text on the Khmer Rouge - 'A History of Democratic Kampuchea' - in its 2009 high school curriculum.

Some half a million copies are being distributed to more than 1,300 schools across the country for grades nine through 12.

'We want students to know that this event did happen in Cambodia and it is not fabricated,' Mr Hang Chhum says. -- AFP

_________________________

So that future will be told regime will never reoccur

'SO WHEN they learn and understand what happened under the regime, they will in the future tell their children so that this regime will never reoccur,' he adds.

The 100-page text on the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge was reviewed by Cambodian and foreign scholars. It also includes lessons from Nazi and Rwandan genocides.

Mr Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which produced the text, says students studying the Khmer Rouge past will 'help heal the wounds of their parents and help build a reconciled society in Cambodia'.

Cambodia's bloody history was briefly included in 2002 high school social studies classes, but the book was cut from the curriculum after it caused tension between Premier Hun Sen and his then rival, Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

The text failed to mention that Mr Ranariddh defeated Mr Hun Sen in the country's 1993 election, the first democratic polls after the premier participated in a Vietnam-backed invasion force which ousted the Khmer Rouge.

Mr Hun Sen forced a coalition after that UN-backed poll, and the two men served as co-prime ministers until he ousted the prince in 1997. The rejected textbook glossed over those details, while highlighting Hun Sen's 1998 national election victory.

Students appeared pleased to get the new textbook and promised to study hard during a recent ceremony unveiling the book at Hun Sen Ang Snuol High School, some eight kilometers (five miles) from the first UN-backed Khmer Rouge court.

The tribunal is currently dealing with the trial of Duch, the former head of the regime's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, which is now a genocide museum.

At the start of proceedings in March, 66-year-old Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, begged forgiveness from victims after accepting responsibility for overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people.

But as the trial continues, it remains to be seen if many Cambodians will learn more about their brutal history.

Knowledge here about the Khmer Rouge has been so dismal that a University of California, Berkeley study showed last year, before Duch's trial began, that nearly 40 per cent of Cambodians had no knowledge of the war crimes court.

Court officials assert that number has changed drastically as 12,000 people so far have visited Duch's trial, and compelling testimony has been broadcast on national television.

'With your own eyes, you can see people in this country are very thirsty for information about this tribunal,' says court spokesman Reach Sambath.

'It's important to get people engaged in the process. We think it will help Cambodians finally settle with peace in their hearts.' -- AFP

Site Rides Rising Tide of Web Users

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
01 August 2009

The slogan for angkorone.com, a recently launched Web site, makes it networking goals known: “Khmers, unite, inspire, share.”

Angkor One, which has become highly popular in a short time, uses networking tools similar to Facebook, allowing users to communicate with friends and family from across the globe. But it also does something that Facebook does not: it asks Cambodians using the site to help out others.

“A percentage of the profit will go to charity,” said Steven Path, a Cambodian-American who founded the site. “We want all Khmers living overseas, especially those with good jobs and money, to send in just $15 to buy a water filter for a poor family here.”

The Web site joins a number of others in Cambodia’s emerging information market, at a time when users are increasing and prices are falling, even as the technology improves.

The site is posted in English and Khmer, making it “easy for Khmers all over the world to use it and join the community of Khmers,” Path told VOA Khmer recently.

Angkor One is loaded with information on tourist attractions across Cambodia, and users can even book tour guides from the site.

“We want foreigners and Khmers abroad to see what Cambodia has to offer, so that they can visit our country,” said Path, 41, who left Cambodia when he was seven.

The Web site has proven effective in mobilizing people beyond their computers. A few weeks ago, for example, Angkor One organized a social event to bring groups of students and monks together to collect litter around Phnom Penh’s Wat Phnom.

The site has become popular, too, ranking 29th most visited from June 22 to July 22, with only five Khmer-language sites ranking higher, according to Alexa.com, which monitors Web traffic.

Angkor One has emerged at a time when more and more Cambodians are using the Internet, especially with the introduction of a standard Khmer font recognizable by different computers. Most of these Internet users are young, primarily using the Web to network, according to an Open Forum survey. That allows more and more people to connect with each other over vast distances.

No accurate figure for Cambodian Internet uses is available, though the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications says 40,000 subscribers are registered with the country’s Internet service providers. The ministry says 219 Internet cafes are operating across the country in 19 provinces; more than 100 run in Phnom Penh alone.

And while Cambodia’s Internet rates remain higher than its neighbors, Thailand and Vietnam, Phu Leewood, secretary-general for the nation’s information technology authority, said the government was working to bring cheaper Internet access to the countryside.

Cambodian blogger Be Chantra said the site is well designed and could be poised as the leading social Web site in Cambodia.

“In terms of social networking, Angkor One is the first-ever made by a Cambodian, so in the future, if the site is run well, it will probably be ahead of the others,” Be Chantra said.

And because it also appears in Khmer, the site can be useful to non-English speakers in Cambodia, he said, as more young people access Khmer-language sites.

Opinion: Pol Pot's younger brother finds peace

Saloth Nhep bears a striking resemblance to his older brother, Pol Pot, but has lived a very different life. (Jay Mather/GlobalPost)

Cambodians appreciate, even savor, the calm in their country, rather than worrying over the deprivation of their present-day lives.

http://www.globalpost.com

By Joel Brinkley - GlobalPost

PREK SBOV, Cambodia — Saloth Nhep enjoys watching the Khmer Rouge trial, underway in Phnom Penh. Like most Cambodians, his home does not have electricity, but he has a small black-and-white TV powered by a car battery.

What strikes him, he says, is that “the court is not Cambodian, it’s partly international. That’s unusual here.”

Both the United Nations and Cambodian government are administering the trial. Still Saloth Nhep says he hopes the defendants, aged Khmer Rouge leaders, are convicted, even though they were close friends and war-time compatriots of his older brother, Saloth Sar — Pol Pot.

The Khmer Rouge leader, Brother Number One, died 11 years ago, and at that time Saloth Nhep grieved. "When I heard the news I was very sad, and I felt my heart slow down," he said then.

Now he is 84 years old. Even with a creased face and white hair, Saloth Nhep holds a striking resemblance to his brother. Whatever anger he still holds toward his brother relates primarily to Pol Pot’s neglect of his family — not his role in the deaths of two million Cambodians.

Before joining the Cambodian communist party, Saloth Sar studied in France, and “after he came back from France, he came to see us only twice,” Soloth Nhep complained. "He did not care about family. He has never even seen the face of my oldest child.”

While the Khmer Rouge held power, from 1975 to January 1979, “I did not know the name Pol Pot, did not know he was my brother,” Saloth Nhep said. Even as the president’s brother, he was swept into the vortex of the Khmer Rouge horror. Unlike his older brother, he was an illiterate rice farmer — just the kind of Cambodian the Khmer Rouge respected.

“They treated me like everyone else; they didn’t know he was my brother. I didn’t know Pol Pot. The work was very hard, and their was no freedom.” But then in 1977 he saw a poster with his brother’s picture. He stared. He was shocked.

“What I was thinking was that he should not be leading the country this way and letting people starve to death.”

After that, he says he did not tell anyone that Pol Pot was his brother. Asked why, he just shrugged. He continued working with little if anything to eat until the Vietnamese invasion in 1979. Neither during the war nor after did he ever see his brother again.

Today, Saloth Nhep illustrates the paradox of Cambodian life, 30 years after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime — 10 years after the last Khmer Rouge guerrilla surrendered. He lives with his extended family in a small house. The walls of his home, and the roof, are of bamboo and palm fronds. He has no toilet, no telephone, no clean water, no furniture other than straw mats and a hammock he sits in without a shirt as he dries off from his bath from a bucket. As he talks, three young children, Pol Pot’s great nieces, watch him from behind another hammock, giggling and chewing on rice cakes.

Saloth Nhep is content now. His expression at rest is serene. “The present government is better than the previous regime,” he avers. “There is freedom of travel, and we have security.” That’s all he seems to want.

For most Cambodians, life is an unending struggle to survive.

Just down the road, Tuy Khorn, 42, is trying to plow her rice paddy with a single-blade plow pulled by two oxen. The Khmer Rouge killed her husband, so she is alone. She tries her best to tie a heavy rock to the plow blade so it will dig a deeper furrow. But as soon as she ticks the oxen with a stick, and the animals begin lumbering forward, the rock falls off. Again and again.

“Some years I can grow enough rice” to last through the year, she says. “But if there’s no rain, I can’t grow enough. I don’t know what I will do if there’s no rain, maybe just go by nature” — meaning eat fruits and insects and whatever she can find in the wild.

But Tuy Khorn does not complain. The country is at peace. She needn’t worry about Khmer Rouge raiders popping out from behind the line of trees just ahead. Even now, she and most Cambodians appreciate, even savor, the calm and worry less about the deprivation of their present-day lives.

“We worked hard to achieve peace,” said Prach Chann, governor of Battambang Province. “Now we don’t want to fight among ourselves anymore. Now we can move on.”

After a long life of hard labor, Saloth Nhep does not complain, either. He is calm, clear-eyed, comfortable with himself. He now has enough to eat, and he has gained respect in his village, even with his uncanny resemblance to his notorious brother. Once, they actually elected him to a school committee.

“They can see that I behave in a good way, so they accept me,” he said. “I just live like everyone else. I never had to prove myself because I was not involved with my brother. That is hard to explain to people from far away.” He, too, is at peace.

US trade envoy to voice 'tough love' for Africa

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk

WASHINGTON — The top US trade diplomat said Friday he would have a message of "tough love" for African nations on an upcoming visit after some complained about extending export preferences to other poor regions.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk plans to travel with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to an economic meeting next week in Kenya. Kirk will then visit Ethiopia and Senegal, while Clinton will head to six other African nations.

The Kenya meeting involves countries covered by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a US law giving preferential access to the world's biggest market to African states with open markets and democratic governments.

Kirk acknowledged that some African nations were concerned at calls by US lawmakers to extend such benefits to impoverished nations in other regions -- notably Bangladesh and Cambodia, major producers of textiles.

"I think some of what we may respond with is a little bit of tough love," Kirk told reporters on a conference call.

"The reality of being involved in a globally interconnected world is that those countries... that invest in their people and their education, that reform their laws, that invest in their infrastructure are the ones that are the most successful," he said.

"The United States is absolutely committed to strengthen the successful relationship with AGOA, but that should in no way impair our relationships with other least-developing countries," he said.

Bangladesh and Cambodia both export more garments to the United States than all African nations combined.

But the Asian nations in turn have been seeking greater access since the end of a global quota system in 2005, fearing being swamped by giants China and India.

Kirk said the United States nonetheless firmly supported AGOA, signed in 2000 by then-president Bill Clinton.

The legislation transformed the US ties with Africa "from principally a paternalistic and sort of humanitarian relationship to one that frankly was more balanced around mutual interests," Kirk said.

Trade between US and sub-Saharan Africa has more than tripled since AGOA but critics say that the impact has been inflated by US demand for oil from energy producers such as Angola and Nigeria.

Opinion: Identifying Cambodian injustice

A woman pushes her bike in February 2008 along a railroad track in Pursat Province, where Top Chan Sereyvudth is the chief prosecutor. (Chor Sokunthea/Reuters)

What prosecutor Top Chan Sereyvudth's true nature says about Cambodia's justice system.

http://www.globalpost.com/
By Joel Brinkley - GlobalPost
Published: August 1, 2009

PURSAT, Cambodia — Top Chan Sereyvudth is a little man, maybe five foot four, with a bit of fuzz on his chin that some might mistake for a beard. When faced with questions about his problematic behavior, he takes several steps backward with a nervous look. His is the face of injustice in Cambodia.

Top is the chief prosecutor in Pursat Province, a government lawyer charged with bringing malefactors to justice. Well, through a bureaucratic sleight of hand, he managed to have a case transferred from Banteay Meanchey Province, on the other side of the nation, into his own courtroom. This case involved a dispute with four villagers over ownership of some land. These villagers were locked in argument with none other than Top Chan Sereyvudth, who stood to gain five acres for himself.

In his own courtroom, the prosecutor managed to dispatch the villagers to jail after the court offered a preliminary judgement in his favor. In Cambodia, where courts are plagued with graft and inequity, that would have been the end of it — if not for Chhay Sareth, governor of Pursat Province.

He had been out of town during the prosecutor’s escapade, but he heard about it when scores of the victims’ friends from Banteay Meanchey began raucous demonstrations in the center of town.

“I was just informed that there were angry people in the street,” the governor told me. “I was 100 kilometers away. The case was getting bigger and bigger. I thought, if we don’t stop it, Hun Sen will hear about it!” Hun Sen is Cambodia’s prime minister.

After hurrying home, he called in the protesters, heard their story and “ordered the police to assure their security.” A few days later, the case moved to trial. By now the governor’s concern was well known, and the trial judge, In Bopha, let the four men go. When I asked him why, he chose his words carefully.

“It was determined that the crime was committed in Banteay Meanchey province and was out of our jurisdiction. So I ordered it forwarded back to Banteay Meanchey under article 290 of our code.”

As all of this proceeded, Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana grew angry. After all, he had approved the prosecutor’s request to transfer the case. Now, what was a governor doing messing around in his courts?

“The minister of justice asked me why I got involved in this,” the governor recalled. “I told him: ‘This problem came here from Banteay Meanchey, and when someone vomits on your leg, you have to react. So I got involved.’ I respect these people, even though they came from Banteay Meanchey. I did not know this case until they came here. The prosecutor brought this case here.”

All of that happened in February and March. I spoke to the governor in early July and asked him: After all of that, why is Top Chan Sereyvudth still chief prosecutor in Pursat Province?

“I wonder why the prosecutor, who was really involved in this case, why there is no punishment, no measure taken against him,” he said. “I still wonder why. If you want to know more, I suggest you talk to the minister of justice.” So I did. But not before Top Chan Sereyvudth showed his true nature one more time.

At the end of June, Lieut. Col. Ou Bunthan, a trafficker in endangered species, sent his employee, Leang Saroeun, to pick up a wild pangolin someone had captured. Leang did as told, but on the way back the animal escaped. The colonel was furious. He summoned Leang to his house, poured four liters of gasoline over him and then lit him.

Leang's wife, Laet Heang watched in horror as her husband, ablaze, “ran and jumped into a cistern” full of water, she told me. A few days later he died. Word of this got around, of course. A reporter asked Top Chan Sereyvudth about the incident, since it occurred in Pursat.

Top said he was awaiting a police report before considering the case. But then, without skipping a beat, he pronounced: “It is slanderous to say that Ou Bunthan burned Leang Saroeun."

A few days later I asked Justice Minister Ang Vong Vattana first about transferring the land case to Pursat. The minister answered with an imperial tone: “I have the right to transfer the case, and I did it.” But didn’t Top have a personal interest in the case? “People say he was involved, but nobody has shown me the proof.”

Okay, then, was it proper for Top to pronounce guilt in the Ou Buntham case — before he had even seen the police report?

For a moment, the minister simply glared with a pinched lip, narrow-eyed stare. Then he stood up and stormed out of the room, muttering, “you waste my time.”

Today, Top Chan Sereyvudth is still Pursat Province’s chief prosecutor. Today, as every day, justice in his court cannot be had.

The Vietnamese Embassy Asks Cambodia to Focus on Investment of Vietnamese Companies in Cambodia – Saturday, 1.8.2009

Posted on 1 August 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 623
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Phnom Penh: The Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia, Mr. Ngô Anh Dũng [Ngo Anh Dung], had met with the Minister of the Council of Ministers, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, to discuss existing cooperation in some important sectors with Vietnamese investments in Cambodia.

“An official of the Council of Ministers told reporters that after the meeting on 29 July 2009 at the Council of Ministers, Mr. Ngô Anh Dũng stated his intention to continue the existing work of the former ambassador, and he pointed to some important points that the Vietnamese government has requested to keep under attention, which are related to major investment sectors in Cambodia such as mines and energy where there is investment by Vietnamese companies. Therefore, the ambassador asked for cooperation and instructions from the Cambodian government. Regarding the oil sector, the ambassador said that both countries have large resources of oil and gas, because Vietnam has a lot of experience in these fields, as it has cooperated with Cuba, some countries in Africa, and Russia. As for agriculture and rubber plantations, the Royal Government of Cambodia had provided already 100,000 hectares as concession land. Also, the Viettel company is a licensed investor in telecommunications [brand name Metfone – 500,000 mobile phone users]. There is cooperation in culture, and in expanding tourism [after 5 years with tourists from South Korea topping the list, in 2009 there are more Vietnamese tourists than Korean] by combining tourism of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, since these three countries are similarly rich in cultural and artistic potential. Vietnam has already assisted in human resources development for Cambodia, so this is like what has already also been done before.

“In response, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An agreed that Vietnam is a country with much experience in development. Thus, Cambodia will try to ensure good and timely cooperation.”

Note:

This meeting followed several days of high level talks on Cambodian-Vietnamese cooperation, about which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam reported

Vietnam, Cambodia talk further cooperation

“Vietnamese and Cambodian leaders have met in Phnom Penh to discuss measures to boost the bilateral economic relations.

“During his three-day working visit to Cambodia , beginning on July 25, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trương Vĩnh Trọng [Truong Vinh Trong] held talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Vice Chairman of the Cambodian National Assembly Heng Samrin on July 26.

“The Cambodian leaders highlighted the visit by Deputy Prime Minister Trương Vĩnh Trọng, saying that the two countries’ solidarity and friendship have been further reinforced and developed.

“Deputy Prime Minister Trương Vĩnh Trọng and his entourage also paid a courtesy visit to Buddhist Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong at the Ounalom Pagoda, and presented hospital beds, medical equipment and computers to the Cambodian Buddhist Center’s infirmary.
The same day, the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trương Vĩnh Trọng and the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen attended a ceremony to inaugurate the Cambodian national airline – Cambodia Angkor Air, a joint venture between Vietnam Airlines and the Cambodian Aviation Administration.

“They also witness the awarding of the Cambodian Government’s license to the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) to open a representative office in Cambodia, and to set up an insurance company, and an investment development company in Phnom Penh.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4961, 1.8.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 1 August 2009

Mayor Bear helps Cambodian orphans

Travelling bear: Debra Long with her Mayor Bear and son Sam at the orphanage in Cambodia

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/

Saturday 1st August 2009

THE Mayor Bear has been on an inspirational trip to help children in Cambodia.

Debra Long and her son, Sam Cain, aged 16, took the Mayor of Bolton’s mascot to an orphanage in Siem Reap, where they used the bear to help teach English to children there.

The underprivileged children loved the cuddly creature so much that he ended up staying at the orphanage.

Mrs Long, from Atherton, whose son is a pupil at Canon Slade School, said: “We had a brilliant time working with the children.

“We used the bear to teach them about the clothes people wear in England. When it came time to leave we couldn’t bear to take him with us.

“We cycled to the orphanage every day. It was a very different kind of holiday, especially for Sam, but he insisted he wanted to come and he loved it.”

Before his trip, the Bolton bear stopped off at Bridge Hair Studio, in Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge, to get his fur trimmed.

Owner Nicola Harrison, who is selling the bears at her salon, said: “People can come in and get their hair done before they go on their holidays and get a Mayor Bear to take with them.”

The Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Norman Critchley, is selling the bears to raise money for his chosen charities and he wants owners to take them on holiday and send back a picture as proof of how far they have travelled.

The owner of the bear which has travelled furthest will be treated to a champagne reception in the Mayor’s Parlour. The bears can be bought for £8.50 by calling the Mayor’s office on 01204 331057, or by calling in at Bridge Hair Studio.

steven.thompson@ theboltonnews.co.uk

Philippines, Southeast Asia, Mourn Death of Former President Aquino

Filipinos view remains of Mrs. Aquino at La Salle school in suburban Mandaluyong, east of Manila, 01 Aug 2009

By Daniel Schearf
Bangkok
01 August 2009

The Philippines is mourning the death of former president Corazon Aquino, who succumbed to cancer early Saturday morning. Mrs. Aquino is remembered as the icon of democracy in the Philippines for leading a "people power" movement against dictatorship. But, Mrs. Aquino also inspired democracy beyond the Philippines.

The Philippines is planning ten days of public mourning, masses and overnight vigils to honor the passing of former President Corazon Aquino.

She died Saturday at the age of 76 after a year-long battle with colon cancer. Corazon Aquino was known affectionately as "Cory" and was the Philippines first female president.

Mrs. Aquino's son, Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, told journalists he never asked his mother how she wanted to be remembered. But, he said he believed Corazon Aquino would be thought of as someone who did her best to help others and never gave in to the temptation of power.

Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino in 2008 file photo

"She really put into practice defending not only the rights of her friends but even those who would oppose you, relinquishing her power as fast as possible with adoption of the 1987 constitution. And, then, I can go on and on," he said.

Corazon Aquino is widely respected for leading a peaceful and popular movement in the late 1980s that overthrew dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The "people power" movement that swept Corazon Aquino into the presidency was felt not just in the Philippines but also across the world.

Southeast Asia in the 1980s was marked by communist governments and military dictators.

Teuku Faizasyah, a spokesman for Indonesia's department of Foreign Affairs, says Mrs. Aquino helped to inspire Indonesia's own movement to become a stable democracy.

"We are close neighbor," he said. "We watched the development in the Philippines at that time. And, certainly, there are a lot of resemblance-what happened in late 90s Indonesia and what happened in the late 80s in Philippines. People learned that by being together we were able to make a change in our political landscape."

Singapore's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Mrs. Aquino will long be remembered and respected both in the Philippines and internationally for her devotion to her people.

Even after retiring from politics, Mrs. Aquino actively challenged Philippines politicians she saw as corrupt.

She joined the Catholic Church and army in helping to oust President Joseph Estrada. And, until she became sick last year, Mrs. Aquino supported street protests against his successor, current President Gloria Arroyo.

But, even those Mrs. Aquino opposed had good things to say about her.

Mrs. Arroyo, who was in the United States on an official visit, praised Mrs. Aquino for helping restore democracy and the rule of law.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was deeply saddened by Mrs. Aquino's death.

6th Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission meets in Bangkok

http://enews.mcot.net

BANGKOK, Aug 1 (TNA) - Thailand will host the 6th Meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia (Joint Commmission) on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Centara Grand Hotel in Bangkok.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Kasit Piromya is heading the Thai delegation and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong leads the Cambodian delegation.

The parties will review past cooperation and plan future collaboration, according to a Thai foreign ministry statement.

The meeting is a time for Thailand and Cambodia to strengthen relations, and further discuss issues raised during Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s official visit to Cambodia on June 12.

The program and activities of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Cambodia in 2010 are expected to be discussed.

The Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) will be held Tuesday, and the Joint Commission will meet Wednesday.

The countries foreign ministers will sign an agreement on transferring sentenced prisoners and cooperating to enforce prison sentences.

The Joint Commission is responsible for supervising the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The meeting will address bilateral cooperation in politics, security, economics, society, science and technology.

The parties will also consider cooperation in multilateral frameworks such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), Emerald Triangle and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).

The 5th JC Meeting was hosted by Cambodia February 7-10, 2006 in Phnom Penh. (TNA)

Doulos crew bless Cambodia’s needy

http://au.christiantoday.com

Saturday, 1 August 2009

Having emerged from years of international isolation, residents of coastal Sihanoukville town in Cambodia welcomed Doulos crew with open arms during the ship’s recent visit there.

The crew who had spent months praying and preparing for the 18-day visit. As Doulos approached the coast and pulled into port, the crew had high expectations of all God would do.

The country’s Minister of Tourism, So Mara, was present at the quayside as the ship docked and the gangways were lowered. Along with Sbong Sarath, Governor of Sihanouk Province, he wanted to personally welcome the crew into port.

Following Doulos’ first-ever visit to Cambodia in 2007, there is now a Cambodian serving among the all-volunteer Christian crew.

The ship arrived with donations of medical supplies and educational resources from churches in Hong Kong and Taiwan responded generously.

With Doulos docked in Cambodia for over two weeks, the gifts were distributed to needy communities across the country, with orphans, schoolchildren and the sick among the many to benefit.

Back on board, the ship’s educational and Christian book fair was also busy, as thousands of people came to chose from the titles on offer.

After departing Sihanoukville on Tuesday, Doulos headed to Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand. The ship is already attracting considerable media interest there following news that a member of the royal family will visit.

Vietnam and Cambodia strengthen trade union co-operation

http://www.nhandan.com.vn

August 1, 2009

Vietnam and Cambodia should strengthen trade union co-operation, in line with the current global trend to emphasise the necessity of co-operation and association among trade unions.

Standing Vice President of the Vietnam Confederation of Trade Unions (VCTU) Nguyen Hoa Binh stated this while receiving a delegation from the Cambodian Confederation of Trade Unions (CCTU) led by its Vice President, Chuon Momthol, in Hanoi on July 31.

The Cambodian guest highly praised the operations of Vietnamese trade unions and expressed the wish to learn from Vietnam’s experiences in protecting labourers’ legitimate rights and interests, salary policies and measures to create jobs amid the global economic crisis.

He also thanked for the VCTU’s assistance in infrastructure and personnel training for the CCTU.

During its stay in Vietnam, the CCTU delegation worked with the Hanoi Federation of Labour and the trade union organisation of the industry and trade sector. (VNA)

Anger over Cambodia's HIV 'pariah' village - 31 July 09

AlJazeeraEnglish

Human rights organisations are accusing Cambodia's government of discriminating against a group of families infected with HIV/Aids forced to move to a newly constructed "Aids village" outside of the capital, Phnom Penh.

Health organisations say the government has essentially created a pariah community.

Al Jazeera's Steve Chao reports.

Flooded Mekong River bank that caused a house to collapse in Koh Norea village of a downtown Phnom Penh

A Cambodian man watches a collapsed house a long the Mekong River bank in Koh Norea village of a downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 31, 2009. the Mekong River'S flood season runs from May to September.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian man views the flooded Mekong River bank that caused a house to collapse in Koh Norea village of a downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, July 31, 2009. The Mekong River's flood season runs from May to September.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith

The roof of a blind children's school along the Mekong River bank is seen ruined in Chrang Bak village of a downtown Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, July 30, 2009. The Mekong River's flood season runs from May to September.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

WHO lists warning signs for severe H1N1 disease

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/

Jul 31, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) today issued a list of warning signs of possible severe disease in H1N1 flu patients, while adding its voice to the recent warnings about the virus's threat to pregnant women.

The WHO said signs that can signal a progression to severe disease include shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, turning blue, bloody or colored sputum, chest pain, altered mental status, high fever lasting more than 3 days, and low blood pressure.

In addition, particular danger signs in children include fast or difficult breathing, lack of alertness, difficulty in waking up, and little or no desire to play, the agency said.

Because a patient's condition can worsen very quickly, medical attention should be sought when any of the warning signs appear, the WHO advised.

The agency noted that most patients continue to have mild symptoms and recover fully within a week, but a few people, usually younger than 50, rapidly progress to severe and often fatal illness. "No factors that can predict this pattern of severe disease have yet been identified, though studies are under way," the statement said.

Regarding pregnant women, the WHO noted a US study published this week in The Lancet that showed an increased risk of severe or fatal H1N1 disease in this group. Several other countries also have noted an increased risk for pregnant women and a higher risk of fetal death or spontaneous abortion, the agency said.

"WHO strongly recommends that, in areas where infection with the H1N1 virus is widespread, pregnant women, and the clinicians treating them, be alert to symptoms of influenza-like illness," the statement said.

The agency said pregnant women should be treated with oseltamivir as soon as possible after symptom onset and should be a priority group for immunization.

In other comments, the WHO said monitoring of viruses from multiple outbreaks has revealed no evidence of a change in the virus's ability to spread or cause severe illness.

See also:

Jul 31 WHO statement

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_pregnancy_20090731/en/index.html

Jul 29 CIDRAP News story "Study on pandemic flu risks in pregnancy finds antiviral treatment delays"

Study begins to look at impact of Mekong hydropower plans

The regulating dam of the Nam Theun 2 power dam is pictured under construction in Laos' Nakai plateau

HANOI — A watchdog has kicked off a study to look at proposed hydropower developments on the Mekong River and their impact on the tens of millions of people living along it, officials said Friday.

The probe has been launched to help countries affected by the projects decide whether they want to go ahead with them.

The results are expected by July or August next year, Damian Kean, spokesman for the Mekong River Commission (MRC) secretariat in Laos, told AFP.

While hydropower is already used to generate electricity on the river's tributaries, the private sector has not in the past seriously considered using the mainstream, the MRC said in a press release.

Eleven schemes are being studied by Cambodia, Laos and Thailand but in China, where the Mekong is known as the Lancang River, there are already eight existing or planned mainstream dams, the MRC said.

The Commission is an intergovernmental body that deals with all river-related activities including fisheries, agriculture and flood management.

Increased interest in building hydropower dams in the mainstream lower Mekong River basin means the MRC is now "faced with perhaps its most important strategic challenge" since its founding in 1995, Jeremy Bird, chief executive officer of the MRC secretariat, said in the statement.

China is not a member of the MRC but attended annual meetings with its four MRC neighbours this week in Laos and the Commission said it had expressed a willingness to provide experts for the study.

"I think it's very significant," Kean said. "They're a dialogue partner and I think that signifies that they're taking the concerns of the downstream countries reasonably seriously."

More than 60 million people in the lower Mekong basin depend on the river system for food, transport and economic activity, the MRC said, adding that it is home to the world's most valuable inland fishery.

Int'l help in probe key to proper trial

Constanze Oehlrich

http://www.thedailystar.net
Saturday, August 1, 2009

Cambodian expert says on war crime

Emran Hossain and Farhana Urmee Legal Adviser to Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia Constanze Oehlrich yesterday said assistance from international communities for evidence and investigation is necessary to ensure legitimate and transparent trial of war crimes.

It is very difficult to investigate such a large-scale crime and Cambodia needs to have additional capacity and support to make the trial legitimate and transparent, she said describing the Cambodian model.

“There is international experience in trying war criminals across the globe. In dealing with such a huge issue you need to be very pragmatic; you need to coordinate and organise the evidence,” said Constanze Oehlrich.

Oehlrich, who is visiting Bangladesh currently to attend the “2nd international conference on genocide, truth and justice,” expressed the view while explaining several features of Cambodian model for trial of war criminals with The Daily Star.

EU Parliament Member Helmut Scholz on Thursday said, “A legal analysis similar to the Cambodian model combined with international support is highly recommended for Bangladesh.”

Explaining the Cambodian model of court she said the Cambodian trial was backed by the United Nations. She mentioned that the Cambodian court was a mixed court involving judges from both national and international communities.

She mentioned that there was both national and international funding in Cambodian court.

“We have two prosecutors -- one is national and the other is international. We have both national judges and international judges. In case of taking decision both the national and international judges have to take decision unanimously,” she said.

She said that the trial of war criminals in Cambodia is divided into three parts---pre-trial, trial and Supreme Court chamber -- and majority of the judges are national.

There are, however, international judges in each step of the courts, she said.

“Decision in every step must be taken after getting super votes---like four votes out of five,” she added.

For example, if a decision is to be taken by the pre-trial court, which is consisted of five judges -- three Cambodian and two international judges, four judges must approve the decision.

She cited an example saying that Cambodian president at one stage ordered not to expand trial and limit it within the five accused. Later an international judge felt the necessity of conducting investigation against six more and then the matter was forwarded to pre-trial court for hearing.

She said it is tough to arrange a trial after 38 years of the incident. Newspaper reports can be used as written evidence and there are accounts of witnesses too.

Sharing her experience of work in the trial of war criminals in Cambodia Constanze said that there is a documentation centre in Cambodia, which has been collecting information soon after the killings in Cambodia.

She explained that the centre even visited countryside taking interviews and accounts of witnesses.

She and Nafia Tasmin Din, Victim's Unit, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, said that there are individual groups in Bangladesh who collected information after the Liberation War and that can be used during trial as evidence.

The genocide tribunal in Cambodia backed by UN began holding its first historic trial on November 20, 2007, 30 years into the killing of 1.7 million people, nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population.

Doulos crew bless Cambodia’s needy

http://www.christiantoday.com

Friday, July 31, 2009

Having emerged from years of international isolation, residents of coastal Sihanoukville town in Cambodia welcomed Doulos crew with open arms during the ship’s recent visit there.

The crew who had spent months praying and preparing for the 18-day visit. As Doulos approached the coast and pulled into port, the crew had high expectations of all God would do.

The country’s Minister of Tourism, So Mara, was present at the quayside as the ship docked and the gangways were lowered. Along with Sbong Sarath, Governor of Sihanouk Province, he wanted to personally welcome the crew into port.

Following Doulos’ first-ever visit to Cambodia in 2007, there is now a Cambodian serving among the all-volunteer Christian crew.

The ship arrived with donations of medical supplies and educational resources from churches in Hong Kong and Taiwan responded generously.

With Doulos docked in Cambodia for over two weeks, the gifts were distributed to needy communities across the country, with orphans, schoolchildren and the sick among the many to benefit.

Back on board, the ship’s educational and Christian book fair was also busy, as thousands of people came to chose from the titles on offer.

After departing Sihanoukville on Tuesday, Doulos headed to Bangkok in neighbouring Thailand. The ship is already attracting considerable media interest there following news that a member of the royal family will visit.

On the other side of the world, Doulos’ sister ship, Logos Hope, has completed a highly successful visit to the UK and is now serving impoverished communities in the Caribbean region.

Cambodia launches national airline

http://www.cctv.com

Watch Video

2009-07-31

Cambodian national airline -- Cambodia Angkor Air -- or CAA has been launched as a joint venture between Vietnam and Cambodia. The ceremony took place at Pochentong International Airport in Phnom Penh.

With the help of Vietnam Airlines, Cambodia launched the new national carrier, a 100-million-US-dollar venture with 3 aircraft, in a bid to boost the country's tourism sector.

Cambodia will hold 51 percent of CAA, and Vietnam the rest.

The airline will operate domestic flights from Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh... to Siem Reap, site of the Angkor temples, the country's biggest tourism destination. And also to the coastal tourist town of Sihanoukville.

CAA is also looking to expand commercial flights to Vietnam and neighboring Laos. And the company expects to increase its fleet to 10 by 2015.

Cambodia's tourism sector contributes about 13 percent of the country's GDP. It also welcomes about 2 million tourists every year.

Cambodia has had no national carrier since Royal Air Cambodge went bankrupt in 2001.

Cambodian private equity firm Leopard Capital buys majority stake in beer brewery for $2m

http://www.altassets.com/

31 Jul 2009
Source: AltAssets

Leopard Capital, a Cambodian private equity firm, has completed the fourth deal from its $27m debut vehicle Leopard Cambodia Fund by investing $2m in Kingdom Breweries.

LCF will acquire a 55.5 per cent share of the brewery for its investment.
The company, a Cambodian beer brewer, believes that with half the country’s population under the legal drinking age limit, consumption should shoot up over the next five to ten years.

Kingdom Breweries aims to secure a foothold by producing high-quality craft beer in a microbrewery in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

The fund’s previous transactions include a $1m investment in Greenside Holdings, which is part of a consortium of investors that is refurbishing, designing, constructing and commissioning a rural power transmission and distribution system.

LCF has also put $1.8m into Cambodia Plantations, a Singapore-based company which serves as an offshore finance vehicle for agricultural investments in central Cambodia.

The Leopard Cambodia Fund was launched in March 2008 and is targeting sectors in the financial services, agriculture, food and beverage production, building materials, tourism, and property development in the south-east Asian country.

The Kandal Provincial Governor Was Blamed by the Prime Minister for Being Lazy in Constructing Roads – Friday, 31.7.2009

Posted on 1 August 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 623
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“Phnom Penh: The prime minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Samdech Akkak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen, used serious words on 31 July 2009 at a closing conference to sum up the task of the Ministry of Tourism, and Samdech warned the Kandal provincial governor Chhun Sirun over his negligence, not repairing roads and the river bank in Kandal.

“Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen said, ‘Since a long time, the riverbank was not repaired, but just now when the water rises, they get started. Now the water broke some parts of the riverbank, and I almost want to hit the Kandal provincial governor one day. After I phoned him and gave an order, the work started – if I had not phoned, nothing would happen.’

“Besides such serious warnings towards the Kandal Governor Chhun Sirun, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen praised the Battambang governor, Mr. Prach Chan, who has frequently asked for funds to improve and repair many public recreational places and parks.

“Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen also repeated his previous recommendation to look at the roads. Samdech explained, ‘When I say again to look at the roads, that means: first, there must not be illegal check-points along the roads, and second, if the road is damaged, it must be repaired.

“His warning is not only aimed at the Kandal provincial governor, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen encouraged also other governors in Cambodia to be highly responsible in repairing roads in their respective regions, and they should build more recreational places without waiting for the prime minister to shout and give orders before they take any initiative.

“Moreover, Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen instructed again all authorities on all levels not to sell any pre-schools or children’s playgrounds for whatever other purpose, they should be kept as state property.”

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #250, 31.7.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Friday, 31 July 2009

Tribunal Rejects Vietnamese Prison Footage

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

The Khmer Rouge tribunal on Wednesday rejected two segments of documentary film provided by the Vietnamese government from the regime’s 1979 ouster, claiming it had gathered enough evidence in the atrocity crimes trial for Duch.

Duch’s notorious Tuol Sleng prison was liberated by Vietnamese forces in January 1979, as combat camera crews recorded the conditions of the facility as they entered. Tribunal prosecutors had entered the films as evidence, but the Trial Chamber of the UN-backed court said Wednesday it would not use them.

“The Trial Chamber finds that the footage in question is likely to have little impact on the trial, as the information it is supposed to provide has already been established though other testimonies and evidence,” according to the court decision. “The Trial Chamber also finds that verification of the reliability of the footage is unlikely to be obtained within a reasonable time.”

The first segment of the footage depicts the overview scenes of the interior of the compound of S-21, including of various types of cells and restraints, as well as images of decapitated corpses chained to beds. The second shows Vietnamese troops helping surviving children leave the prison.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is undergoing an atrocity crimes trial for his role as administrator of the prison and torture center, where prosecutors say 12,380 people were sent to the their deaths. He has been on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, trial and murder since March 30.

Long Panhavuth, a program officer of Justice Initiative in Cambodia, part of the Open Society Justice Initiative, said the court did not need to add evidence that could slow down the proceedings.

Pastor Remembers Duch’s Christian Conversion

Christopher LaPel baptizes a woman in Cambodia.

By Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Original report from Long Beach
31 July 2009

Thirteen years ago, Christopher LaPel, a Cambodian pastor for the Golden West Christian Church in Los Angeles and a founding leader of the Cambodian Christian Church in northwest Cambodia, baptized a man he believed to be a teacher in Battambang province.

In fact, the newly converted was Kaing Kek Iev, better known as Comrade Duch, chief of the Khmer Rouge’s torture center, Tuol Sleng. Duch is now facing trial at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal, where he has admitted to responsibility for mass torture and killings.

In a recent interview with VOA Khmer, LaPel described his relationship with Duch, who at the time called himself Hang Pin.

“I first met Duch in 1995,” LaPel said, speaking after a reunion of churchgoers in Long Beach. “He came to me and said, ‘Pastor Christopher, I have done a lot of bad things. I don’t think my brothers and sisters can forgive me.’”

Duch came with a colleague to take part in a two-week Christian leadership traingin course, in the village of Chamkar Samrong, Battambang, LaPel said. The man was quiet at first.

“He said he was not a believer but had come at the urging of a friend,” LaPel said.

Hang Pin, or Duch, would listen to LaPel’s services, and eventually he asked to be baptized.

“On Jan. 5, 1996, I baptized Hang Pin, along with many other believers, in the Sangke river in Battambang town,” LaPel said.

Christopher LaPel and Duch's mother in Siem Reap

The pastor returned to the leadership training the following year, but he did not ses Hang Pin. Then, in 1999, he did, in the news.

“In May of 1999, I saw this picture in every Cambodian newspaper,” LaPel said. “The man responsible for the deaths of up to 20,000 of my people now claimed to be a Christian, and I had unknowingly led him in.”

“An [Associated Press] reporters in Cambodia called me to inform me of Duch’s true identity,” he said. “As the reporter described him, I remembered than man I knew as Hang Pin—a short, thin, soft-spoken man in his fifties, and decidedly well-educated, as he spoke both English and French.”

“When he took part in our leadership training, he told me he was a teacher. I had no reason to doubt him. Reporters contacted me with media inquiries on his conversion and many asked me how was it possible for me to forgive such a man as Duch.”

Duch had been arrested and would be held by a military court until the UN-backed tribunal was established. He was transferred to the special court in July 2007.

“I was shocked when I found out who he really was, because what he did was so evil,” said LaPel, whose parents, brother and sister died under the Khmer Rouge.

Christopher LaPel points at a photo of Duch at S-21.

Duch is now on trial for the deaths of 12,380 people. He has admitted responsibility and apologized to the families of his victims, though he has never admitted doing any killing himself.

“He came here and he asked permission to pray for those victims who died,” LaPel said. “He has a strong religious faith and is ready to testify. He would like to tell the truth, the whole truth, for what he did to his people.”

Since his arrest, LaPel has gone to see him twice, and he calls Duch a model convert. LaPel believes Duch has confessed his sins and is willing to stand witness against other former leaders of the regime now in custody at the tribunal.

In fact, LaPel said, a growing number of former Khmer Rouge have begun converting to Christianity. In Pailin, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold, has several Christian churches, and about 200 converts, he said.

Monk Offers Thoughts on Modern Buddhism

By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
31 July 2009

Venerable Nhem Kim Teng recently traveled to the US from India to chant at the second-year funeral ceremony of the revered monk Maha Ghosananda. Nhem Kim Teng, who is studying for a PhD in Buddhism, traveled to Lowell, Mass., to pay his respects to Maha Ghosanada, the man whom he had accompanied on numerous peace marches in the past.

Accompanied by several monks, he also traveled to Washington DC, saying in a recent studio interview that Buddhism retained an important role in social development, education, environmentalism and morality.

Maha Ghosananda was a revered figure in Cambodia’s peace movements over the decades, and his 2007 death was felt throughout the country’s political and religious landscapes.

Nhem Kim Teng said that while he was helping Maha Ghosananda for the Thoamayeatra peace march, he formed an NGO called Sonte Sena, which “gathered volunteer monks and laymen to educate the public on the importance of a good environment, particularly the preservation of the forest, the planting of trees and the preservation of biodiversity.”

He decided to deck the trees in robes, something he learned from Cambodia’s history.

“In the old days, they respected big trees as powerful trees,” he said. “They robed them and chanted sermons to give spirit to the trees.”

Nhem Kim Teng and his group did the same, sermonizing to the spirits of trees “as if we put a man through the monkhood.”

On education, Nhem Kim Teng said more than 60 monks have now gone to learn Buddhism in India, with four studying at New Dehli University. He himself is at work on his dissertation.

Nhem Kim Teng said Buddhism plays very important roles. Pagodas not only give shelter to poor students from rural areas, but they offer a place to learn, as well.

“Buddhism has five main principles of good deeds: to avoid killing and robbing others, avoid telling lies, avoid alcohol and drug abuse,” he said.

Nhem Kim Teng appealed for laymen to carefully consider belief in so-called magic monks, some of whom make money to prepare themselves to quit the monkhood and get married. Having too much money, some monks abuse Buddhist principles, such as having sex, drinking or debauchery.

“Well, there are some such practices; we cannot deny it,” he said. “Believers shouldn’t encourage such practices of magic for individual benefit. They should change the direction of their offers, for the education of monks, for common profits, or public infrastructure.”

Nhem Kim Teng also worried that the division of monks along political lines could weaken Buddhism.

“Monks must stayed neutral and stay off political lines, like the king, so that Buddhism can continue to earn respect from all sides,” he said. “Monks must shift from too much expression of political views to focus on their views on education and social development.”

26 Out on Bail After Land Dispute Violence

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

Banteay Meanchey provincial court released 26 people on bail Friday, but upheld charges against them for violence in a Poipet land dispute.

Police initially arrested 22 men and nine women on July 24 as they pushed them from their land, following a decision by the Supreme Court in a land dispute between two groups of villagers.

All 31 have been charged with destruction of property, incitement and attempted murder, after they battled with local security forces, throwing gasoline bombs, acid and stones, in an attempt to stay on their land.

Two men were released on Sunday under the control of court authorities, and three men remain in the provincial jail.

“Banteay Meanchey court decided to allow the 26 accused to remain out of detention in a verdict on July 29,” according to a decision by investigating judges Ang Mealtey and Soeng Kuch.

The 26 will be required to appear in court when summoned, the judges said.

Oun Ranhya, a 24-year-old defendant released Friday, said the decision was just, “because we lost our land and houses, and the court detained us.”

“We have lived on this land for nearly 20 years,” he said.

He appealed to the court to drop all charges against the villagers.

Sum Chankea, a local coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said the villagers were being charged with both civil and penal laws. He said they should only be charged with penal offenses, and should not have been released on bail, because the villagers don’t understand the verdict of the court or the law.

Artemisinin Resistance Continues Developing In Western Cambodia, Study Says

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Main Category: Tropical Diseases
Also Included In: MRSA / Drug Resistance
Article Date: 31 Jul 2009

Artemisinin, the "basis of the most effective" malaria treatment recommended by the WHO, took nearly twice as long to clear malaria parasites in patients in western Cambodia than it did in patients in northwestern Thailand, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study, which shows the "drugs are losing their power against the disease in Cambodia," Bloomberg reports (Bennett, 7/30).

For the study, researchers at the Wellcome Trust-Mahidol University Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Program "compared the effects of artemisinin drugs in 40 malaria patients in western Cambodia and 40 patients in northwestern Thailand. On average, the patients in Thailand were clear of malaria parasites within 48 hours, compared to 84 hours for the Cambodian patients," according to HealthDay News/U.S. News & World Report (7/29).

"We do not see 100 percent resistance, but the parasite is much less susceptible to artemisinin than we are used to. If used in combination with other drugs we can still cure malaria but it takes a few days longer," Arjen Dondorp, the leader of the study, said, the Telegraph reports (Leach, 7/30).

For decades, scientists have known that the area near Cambodia's border with Thailand, "is a breeding ground for drug-resistant malaria," according to Nature News (Sanderson, 7/29). Chloroquine "started to fail there in the 1950s and 1960s, before becoming ineffective elsewhere, according to the study. The WHO ... is coordinating efforts to prevent artemisinin-resistant malaria from spreading to Africa, which has 90 percent of the world's cases of the disease," Bloomberg writes (7/30). In an accompanying NEJM editorial, PATH's Carlos Campbell, who was not involved the study, writes "that the results leave no question that there is artemisinin resistance in western Cambodia," according to ScienceNow (Vogel, 7/29).

In a separate study published in the same issue of NEJM, scientists used "chloroquine to protect people while gradually exposing them to malaria parasites and letting immunity develop," according to the AP/Washington Post. "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 AP/Washington Post writes.

"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," according to the news service. While, a "vaccine that uses modified live parasites just entered human testing," this particular study "was only a small proof-of-principle test, and its approach is not practical on a large scale similar," according to AP/Washington Post (Marchione, 7/30).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Cambodia approves sub-decree of co-ownership regulations

www.chinaview.cn

2009-07-31

PHNOM PENH, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Council of Ministers on Friday approved a sub-decree of new co-ownership regulations, allowing legal ownership of individual apartments or condominium ownership, which paves the way for a law allowing foreign ownership of some property.

The new co-ownership regulations will make it possible to own units within a larger building without having title to the land it's on, according to the press release from the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers which was presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"Its objects will guarantee to protect rights of legal holders in apartments or condominiums for co-ownership," it said, adding that it will facilitate to management work of co-ownership of apartments and co-owners who live in the apartments or condominiums.

Moreover, the new regulations will also facilitate co-ownership for sale, exchange, donation, in-heritage, permanent rent, and collateralizing of the private parts as personal ownership. The sub-decree, with seven charters and 27 articles, has large coverage for exercising all kinds of the apartments and condominiums across the country.

"This sub-decree will be applied in the country soon and local people who bought the houses in the apartments, condominiums and skyscrapers blocks will know about the rights and ownership," Nun Pheany, spokeswoman for Ministry of Land Management, Urban planning and Construction, told Xinhua.

The foreigners have not had rights to own Cambodian land or housing so far. They could rent for doing their business or staying only, she stressed.

"In the near future, we will have a law on the foreign ownership of Cambodian land and housing. My ministry and Ministry of Justice are discussing to compose that draft law in accordance with our constitution," she said.

"By that law, the foreigners, perhaps, could own above the first floor for apartments or condominiums, even though, we need to discuss more details," she said.

However, Nun Pheany said the foreigners would not be allowed to buy the land near borders with neighboring countries because it could affect national sovereignty and which is also prohibited by the law.

She said that when foreign title law is to be approved, it will help increase the foreign investment and contribute to economic growth in the country.

Editor: Li Shuncheng

Cambodian authorities continue evictions despite numerous condemnations

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 04/10 2008: Borei Keila families with HIV/AIDS, who were to receive social housing, had lived under an eviction threat for two years
©John Vink/ Magnum

Ka-set
http://cambodia.ka-set.info

By Laurent Le Gouanvic
31-07-2009

Despite repeated condemnations from civil society and international community, the list of victims of forced evictions in Cambodia has kept growing. In July, several removal operations took place in Phnom Penh. After the residents of Dey Krohom in central Phnom Penh, whose houses were smashed to dust in January, their neighbours in Group 78, located in the Tonle Bassac area, were forced to leave their homes on July 17th. Similarly, several dozen families in Borei Keila, the majority of which carry HIV/AIDS and require healthcare, were relocated in successive rounds to the outskirts of the Cambodian capital in unsatisfying conditions, according to local NGOs. Again, protests multiplied, whether from the World Bank, donor countries, international media or online networks, while authorities continue to turn a deaf ear.

Déjà-vu
A video, shot in the morning of July 17th in the area known as Group 78 in Phnom Penh, and broadcast on the website of Cambodian human rights organisation Licadho, leaves an impression of déjà-vu: the same dusk bluish light, the same noises of tearing down corrugated iron, the same images of dozens of young workers in red shirts and equipped with pickaxes and bars as during the eviction on January 24th of Dey Krohom residents. But this time, no cries or violence: most of the approximately sixty families of Group 78 resigned themselves to leave and dismantled themselves their wood and metal houses, before security forces and hired workers intervened. The previous day, according to Licadho, they had ended up accepting a compensation of 8,000 dollars, supposed to allow them to find new housing. In the morning of July 17th 2009, human rights activists who were present reported that only a few resisting families had not taken down their houses. After a few hours of negotiations, they yielded as well, for an ultimate compensation of 20,000 dollars, Licadho specified, except for one family who allegedly refused to leave until the end and therefore saw their house be torn down against their will.

A dispute that ends without violence
This last episode put an end to a dispute that started more than three years ago between this Phnom Penh community on one side and, on the other, the municipal authorities and private company Sour Srun, who was granted the area under a concession for a real estate project. The case did not end in violence, as the residents eventually received compensation, but it nonetheless “represents another violation of the basic human rights of the people of Cambodia,” according to Dan Nicholson, coordinator of NGO COHRE (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions), quoted in a joint statement by several Cambodian organisations, published on the very day of Group 78’s eviction.

Voluntary… by force
Yet, the Municipality praised itself for not resorting to violence, alleging that Group 78 families left of their own free will and will receive food aid in addition to financial compensation. The fallacy of the argument was denounced by Yeng Virak, executive director of CLEC, who also signed the statement, together with NGO Housing Rights Task Force and the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR): “The authorities cannot claim that what happened at Group 78 this morning, and over the past months and years, was 'voluntary' on the part of the residents. The families of Group 78 were never given any real choice - they were just subjected to a campaign of intimidation and threats by the authorities, which lasted for years, in order to wear them down into submission.”

23,000 people evicted in 2008, according to Amnesty International
Amnesty International, who also condemned this eviction against these families, some of which had “started moving into the area on the riverfront in 1983,” stressed that the procedure should have respected the 2001 Land Law and the judicial overview it requires, instead of a simple administrative decision by the Municipality of Phnom Penh, who took into account neither the opinion of people concerned nor alternatives suggested so their basic rights be respected. For the London-based organisation, this was yet another such violation in Cambodia: “In 2008 alone, Amnesty International received reports about 27 forced evictions, affecting an estimated 23,000 people.” Its calls for a moratorium on all mass evictions have fallen on deaf ears.

Series of official condemnations
Also ignored were the requests from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, who had officially asked the Cambodian government on several occasions to prevent new evictions, particularly against Group 78.

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 03/06/2009: Group 78 residents, neighbours of Dey Krohom, had gradually anticipated their upcoming eviction
©John Vink/ Magnum

Similarly, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Commission delegation, the German, Australian, Bulgarian, Danish, U.S. and British embassies, as well as the Swedish and Danish development agencies (SIDA and DANIDA), did not influence the Cambodian authorities, although they published, on July 16th, a joint statement calling the government of Cambodia “to stop forced evictions from disputed areas in Phnom Penh and elsewhere in the country until a fair and transparent mechanism for resolving land disputes is put in place and a comprehensive resettlement policy is developed.”

Media and Internet
Also in July, British radio BBC World Service devoted a 25-minute broadcast to forced evictions in Cambodia. It highlighted, among others, the case of residents in the area of Boeung Kak lake, in the heart of Phnom Penh, which is currently being filled and progressively cleared of the shacks to make way for a large private real estate project.

On the network devoted to forced evictions in Cambodia on social networking website Facebook, petitions and calls have multiplied to denounce human rights violations and raise awareness with the widest audience possible.

Worse than refugee camps
Not only have these calls proved vain regarding the fate of Group 78 families, but they did not allow to stop other ongoing developments. Families living in temporary shelters for over two years – most of which carry HIV/AIDS and are taking antiretroviral medication – and waiting for social housing in Borei Keila district, in central Phnom Penh, were again moved to Tuol Sambo, a district located over twenty kilometres from city centre and devoid of running water or adequate sanitation. A first group of about twenty families had been brought there in June. A second group followed at the end of July. The organisation Human Rights Watch described how in the site, families live in metal sheds “that are baking hot in the daytime” and have only difficult access to the healthcare essential to their survival. Too crowded and hot, “flanked by open sewers” and provided with only one well, the substandard housing is reported “to not meet minimum international standards for even temporary emergency housing,” as stressed in an open letter signed by over a hundred international organisations working on health, HIV/AIDS and justice (Act-Up, AIDS…).

The same signatories also denounced the lack of transparency in the system of allocation of social housing in Borei Keila, which HIV-affected families applied for but were denied by the authorities. Several of them reportedly ended up having their request granted, but remain in uncertainty and have no written commitment for the time being.

Discrimination in addition?
Finally, the organisations expressed concern about possible discrimination against the families evicted from Borei Keila, while the Cambodian government has been praised for its efforts in the fight against AIDS and for a greater access to prevention and care. Adjacent to the site where they were relocated in Tuol Sambo, there are brick houses equipped with sanitation facilities which are intended for other “relocated” families. The unsanitary site where HIV-affected families were resettled was already called by neighbouring residents the “AIDS village.”

The situation, called by Licadho an “epidemic” of land-grabbing, remains very worrying in Phnom Penh, but also in remote areas in the Kingdom. The financial crisis does not seem to have dented the lust for land, despite a relative slowdown in speculation. It also failed, for the time being, to open the eyes and ears of the Cambodian authorities, who do not seem to hear the voices nor see the images that are now circulating internationally.