International Women’s Day – LICADHO Press Release

Mother is in cell and the children must be in cell too?

LICADHO Cambodia
6 March 2008

CAMBODIAN LEAGUE FOR THE PROMOTION AND DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS

My name is Lina* and I live in prison with my daughter, Maly in a prison cell with twenty-five other women. I had no other choice but to bring my daughter with me into prison. Maly was very young at the time. My husband had died and I didn’t have any family living near that could take care of Maly.

In prison everyday I struggle to feed Maly, because even though I have an extra mouth to feed I am not given any extra food. I have to share what little food I receive with Maly. We only have access to dirty drinking water that is always black and makes me sick. Maly gets very sick from drinking this water also . If you don’t have any money to buy coal to boil your water, or money to buy bottled water, then you have to drink this dirty water.

The worse thing about having Maly live in prison is that she is treated just like a prisoner. She is always locked up and does not have any freedom. She is never allowed to play like a regular child.

Maly is too young to understand what is happening or to understand what living in prison means, however I am always very sad at the thought that my child has to grow up in prison in such bad conditions.

Lina is one of over 640 female prisoners living in prison and one of the 43 women who currently live with their children in prison - her daughter is one of those 50 children. Their story is told in the LICADHO report, entitled Prison Conditions in Cambodia 2007: The Story of a Mother and Child, which is being released to mark International Women's Day, March 8 2008.

The report aims to provide a first hand account of life in prison for women who bring their children with them to live in prison. Cambodian law permits children under the age of six to live in prison with their parent, if no other alternative care is available. The main issues of concern for these children are that they do not receive enough food (no extra food is allocated to mothers with children, they must share their food), there is no adequate access to education and that while they live with their mothers in prison the children are essentially treated like prisoners.

"International Women's Day is day that is meant to celebrate all women and promote the rights of women. In particular on this day we would like to remember those women living in prison and their children, who are also vulnerable members of society that should not be treated any less nor forgotten." Kek Galabru, LICADHO President.

To commemorate International Women’s Day and to draw attention to the situation of women in Cambodia’s prisons, LICADHO will distribute food and materials to female prisoners, children living with their mothers in prison and female prison guards at 20 prisons all over the country.

For more information, please contact:
Dr. Kek Galabru, President of LICADHO at 012 940 645

UNLAWFUL DETENTION & ALLEGED TORTURE BY MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

LICADHO Cambodia
March 11, 2008

CAMBODIAN LEAGUE FOR THE PROMOTION
AND DEFENSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS

The Cambodian League for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (LICADHO) is gravely
concerned by the unlawful detention and alleged torture of a man in the custody of the Ministry ofInterior.

Mr Priep Pov, a Damnak Chang’aeur district policeman from Kep Municipality, was arrested without court warrant in Kep on February 18. Transferred to Phnom Penh on the same day, he has since been detained for three weeks at a compound used by the Ministry of Interior's Order Police and the Intervention Police units. He has been beaten and kept shackled with handcuffs by foot and hand for at least some of that time, and is in poor health, according to credible information received by LICADHO.

The policeman is reportedly involved in a land dispute with Princess Marie Ranariddh, over land he and his family are currently living on in Kep.

Several senior Ministry of Interior officials have stated that the policeman is being detained on the direct orders of National Police chief General Hok Lundy. They all have repeatedly refused to allow NGO doctors or human rights investigators to meet him in detention, saying that this is contrary to the orders of Hok Lundy.

Officials have stated that Priep Pov is being held for "disciplinary re-education" for disobeying orders of his superiors in regard to the land dispute. LICADHO is aware of no legal basis which permits the Ministry of Interior to indefinitely detain, or handcuff or otherwise mistreat, a policeman as a form of discipline. Under the 1995 Ministry of Interior Circular on Discipline of the National Police Force, police officers who disobey orders can be warned or reprimanded, demoted or expelled from the police.

Under Cambodia's Criminal Procedure Law, criminal suspects arrested by the police can be detained for a maximum of 48 hours without the approval of a court prosecutor.

Officials have made it clear that Priep Pov could be released if he signs a document giving up his family’s claim to the land in Kep. As such, he has effectively been held hostage as a way of attempting to coerce his family to leave the land.

LICADHO emphasizes that all land disputes should be resolved by proper and independent investigation by the judiciary and other State bodies according to the law. In this case, regardless of who should be considered the legal owner of the land, a completely unlawful process of arbitrary arrest and detention has been used.

We strongly urge the immediate release of Priep Pov from Ministry of Interior custody, because he has been detained unlawfully. If he is not released immediately, at a minimum the Ministry of Interior should grant NGO doctors immediate access to him to ensure he can receive adequate medical care.

For more information, please contact:
Naly Pilorge, LICADHO director, 012 803 650

Trial opens in Cambodia ' s largest paedophilia case

Police escort Russian businessman Alexander Trofimov (L) into the Phnom Penh municipal court. Trofimov, who is accused of sexually abusing at least 19 Cambodian girls, went on trial Tuesday in the country's largest-ever paedophilia prosecution(AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — A Russian businessman accused of sexually abusing at least 19 Cambodian girls went on trial Tuesday in the country's largest-ever paedophilia prosecution.
Alexander Trofimov was arrested last October after six girls and their parents filed complaints with the police accusing the 41-year-old of abusing them.

Since then, 13 more girls have filed complaints against Trofimov, a high-profile figure in the seaside town of Sihanoukville, where the alleged crimes are believed to have occurred. The girls are aged between 11 and 18.

Trofimov has been charged with debauchery, a criminal charge covering a wide range of sex offenses that carries a 20-year penalty.

One alleged victim, a 14-year-old girl, told Phnom Penh municipal court on Tuesday that Trofimov forced her to have unprotected sex with him four times.

"I was in pain and crying when he had sex with me," she said.

Trofimov has denied the accusation, saying he does not know her.

But prosecutor Sok Kalyan told the court that an investigation into the girl's claims had turned up large amounts of evidence against Trofimov.

The court expects to rule Friday on the 14-year-old's claims. More trials stemming from the other cases were expected, court officials said.

Trofimov is chairman of the Koh Pos Investment Company, which in 2006 received permission to build a 300-million-dollar resort on Koh Pos, or Snake Island, an area Cambodia is trying to develop as a luxury tourist destination.

Sihanoukville has gained a reputation as a haven for paedophiles drawn to the easy access to young beachside vendors.

Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia push in 2003.

While lauding the government's efforts to fight child sex crimes, officials, including foreign diplomats, have urged authorities to also target Cambodian paedophiles, who are thought to make up more than half of all sex offenders.

Laughing as his trial begins.. the swirly-face paedo suspect

Christopher Neil smiles as he makes his way to a prison bus at criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008. (AP / Apichart Weerawong)

"No1 DANGER MAN' IN SHACKLES"

By Mark Dowdney
11/03/2008

Grinning in the dock, teacher Christopher Neil stands accused of being one of the world's most dangerous paedophiles.

Interpol branded him their most-wanted child abuser after officers began to unravel hundreds of digitally distorted "swirly face" images of a man who abused children as young as six.
Neil, 32, was shackled as he appeared in court in Bangkok, Thailand.

He pleaded not guilty to four charges of molesting and distributing pornographic images of two Thai boys.

If found guilty, he could get 20 years. He told reporters: "I hope there is justice in Thailand."
Neil was seized in Thailand last October due to a trace on the mobile phone of his 25-year-old transvestite boyfriend, who identified himself to reporters only as Ohm.

The pictures - of which 70 have been unscrambled - are thought to have been taken in Vietnam and Cambodia, where Neil was teaching. After he fled to Thailand, two Thai brothers accused him of paying for sex when they were nine and 14.

Ohm said: "He never did anything to my nieces or nephews when he visited my family.
"He was a romantic man. I believe he did not do it. I will wait for him."

Canadian Neil could be extradited after serving any sentence as Cambodia and Vietnam want to quiz him. The trial was adjourned until June 2.

Sacravatoons no 915 :" The Art Monument of Pol Pot's Victims "

Courtesy of Sacravatoon : http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Sacravatoons : " Election 2008 & Hun Xen "

Courtesy of Sacreavatoon : http://sacrava.blogspot.com/

Torture Bill: Override this veto

March 10, 2008
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Any bill banning the use of controversial torture techniques by the CIA seems like the sort of common, values-based bill most of us could get behind. Harsh, inhumane treatment of terror suspects (who knows to what extent those being waterboarded are actually culpable?) is a dark and foolish road to travel. The Washington Post reports that according to torture experts and congressional testimony, the CIA's waterboarding technique is similar to methods used by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and to what is now being employed in Myanmar.

Sad to say -- and predictably -- President Bush vetoed a bill that would have limited the CIA to using the same 19 interrogation techniques available to the Army. Claiming, as Bush does, that treating these suspects worse than we do any other sort of criminal is somehow justifiable in that it might prevent terrorist attacks is specious at best.

When it comes to violating human rights, the ends simply can't justify the means. Would Bush think sweatshop labor or the trafficking of sex slaves are good ideas because they create cheap goods and jobs?

Torture often leads to false confessions or false statements made on behalf of the suspect. As Navy Rear Adm. Mark Buzby (commander of the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay) said last week, interrogators yield more "dependable information" from suspects by "just sitting down and having a conversation and treating them like human beings in a businesslike manner."
Congress must overturn this odious veto.

Big Government under Big Mouth

By Kok Sap
March 10, 2008
Courtesy of RepublicofCambodia Yahoo Group

Cambodia claims Buddhism its national religion. This religion strongly embraces self restraint in basic five precepts. In reality from Royal Palaces to the village chief stall, daily activity is nothing close to Buddhist. In pecking order, officials behave as they are above land creatures and impose fear onconstituency.

It appears in every poor inhabitant seems full of fear to even look at the official face. The visible rise of classism, societal division, alcoholism, prostitution, gambling, shameless feudalism and bribery is sprung up all over the country. It is frightening to see systematic feudalism -ego eccentric and immoral conduct thriving in short span of time up to the sky limit.

In cities, the poor especially female learns how to entertain and drink alcohol in early teen in order to work in restaurants or nightclubs. The future Cambodia mother and wife are strapped with government social mischief and development failure. In the same hand imagine, who are the patrons and operators of these sin filled establishments?

Meanwhile poor young male sees glamour of self cheating in society and in officials of in government to amassing wealth.The emergence of communist control and materialism drowned Buddhiststo the bottom of Canal Vinh Te and Preah Vihear. The erosion inpatriotism and self righteousness is incredible. People do not trust government. Worstmost do not see hope in life.

Let's examine the big government leader behavior. He forgets Cambodia belong to citizens who sure can replace any government in either way. Never failed in each of public address, the big mouth fell in love in own speeches. He loves to berate opponents in vulgartone, character defamation, and self perpetuation. He thought all made him look good worldly. Insult own people to impress foreign benefactors a la Sihanouk. The big mouth never encourages people inself determination and rights to stand up to hypocrisy. He sees people beneath him and family. This is surely a mental disease. It is an error in his Mekong prawn brain judgment.

No secret, such behavior reflects in the poor living along Cambodia borderlines. There are countless examples recurred in Eastern, S Eastern, S Western , North and Northwestern zone. The government armed forces dissipated in the wind when crisis arrived and let land owners stranded alone then pulled back while the neighboring countries sent in reinforcement of armed battalion. The government big mouth shut his hole and never bothered to climb on his helicopter or else to personally find facts. In all incidents, big mouth never dared to send armed forces to secure people safety and homes. No matter what the neighboring armed men can intrude and destroy citizens' properties as they please. Never once big mouth would raise his Iron Fist.

Fear of democratic process and accountability, the big government under big mouth increases tactics to put fear in own people hearts and belligerence toward the world handful sympathizers. Big mouth saw no fault in his big speeches and systematic corruption. All are well and good in his disturbed mind yet he is so fearful of his own shadow let alone to walk the street in day time. Big mouth never ceased to boast millions love him but completely forgets a handful of keys big government personality never believed a word he said. This is the problem, big mouth lies too much so he almost believes his own craps.

Since 1982, in spite of long historical feuds and misrepresentation injected by neighboring countries the big government never encouraged proper education in geography and history so people would know what to look for when dispute arose. All borderlines dispute remain myth and false rhetoric in big mouth arguments. Usually no matter what, government obliges people demands. But under big mouth government, it is the other way around. To date big government is good in increasing national debts and decreasing future human resources and morality. All voters, it's time to move on and vote own conscience for a change to restore country moral duty and Buddhism.

Basic living but Janet has learned so much

10 March 2008

By Rachel Mayfield

This month marks the 50th anniversay of the international development charity Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO).

Since its inception more than 32,000 people from all over the world have been VSO volunteers.Working in countries from Bangladesh to Zambia, volunteers have changed their lives and made a real difference to hundreds of others.

To mark the anniversary Rachel Mayfield spoke to Spalding woman Janet Gracey, who went to Cambodia as a VSO volunteer in September 2006 for two years.

Janet is living in Sisophon and working as a teacher trainer adviser at a college with 136 students.

The facilities are very basic as Janet explains: "The classrooms are in a concrete block with bare walls and the students sit on rickety benches at rickety desks.

"The dormitories are so basic. The girls share three classrooms, 11 to a room, while the boys have wooden shacks with earth floors, no windows – 19 to the room.

When it rains, which is often, the tin roof leaks."Janet has been observing lessons including English, computers (eight computers for 31 students), housekeeping, administration, dance and teaching materials.

She added: "They have absolutely no resources in the college or in the schools. Whatever a teacher needs they have to make from scrap materials."Classes often have 40 to 50 children sitting on rough wooden benches.

Most children attend either morning classes from 7am to 11am or afternoon school from 2pm until 5pm."Most teachers do either morning or afternoon school and nearly all have another job because their pay is so low, around $30 a month.

"In her first year in Cambodia Janet has spent $11,000 – collected through fundraising and donations from people in the UK – on sport, play equipment, books, library, repair of roofs, a new floor, decorating classrooms and a basketball court.

She has received a medal from the Provincial Education Ministry for the work she has done.Travelling in Cambodia is not easy as the roads are very busy and heavily potholed.

Janet said: "Think of the worst Fen road, widen it a little and put it in place of the A1.

"Lorries, four-wheel drives, buses, vans, cars, motorbikes, horse drawn carts, cyclists and walkers all share the road and everybody blasts their horn when overtaking."

Road accidents are the commonest way to get injured or die, not land mines.

"Janet decided to apply for her post after being encouraged by friends and later seeing an advert in the paper.

She said: "I had never been to Asia and knew very little about Cambodia but I knew it was where I wanted to spend the next two years.

"I was 56, had taught all my life and felt I had the knowledge and skill I could share so accepted the post.

"I enjoy the relaxed way of life – sometimes so relaxed it can be frustrating in the work situation."Being a volunteer is not as altruistic as it sounds.

I have learned and am still learning so much from this experience."

Chevron gives go ahead for $3 billion Thai gas project

A customer pumps gas at a Chevron gas station in Louisville, Kentucky in this file photo from February 2, 2007. (REUTERS/John Sommers II)

March 9, 2008

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Chevron Corp. , the second-largest U.S. oil and gas company, said on Monday it has decided to go ahead with the Platong Gas 2 project in Thailand at a cost of $3 billion.

The project would increase processing capacity in the Gulf of Thailand by 420 million cubic feet a day, Jim Blackwell, president of Chevron's Asia-Pacific exploration and production division, said at a speech at a gas conference in Thailand.

(Reporting by Fayen Wong)

AP Executive Morning Briefing

The top business news from The Associated Press for the morning of Monday, March 10, 2008:

Oil Prices Steady Above $105 a Barrel

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices steadied on Monday after retreating from last week's record amid easing tension between oil producers Venezuela and Colombia over the weekend. Crude contracts had risen above $106 a barrel on Friday after a weak U.S. jobs report that fueled hopes the Federal Reserve would continue cutting interest rates.
___
Investors Await Retail, Inflation Data

NEW YORK (AP) — This week on Wall Street, investors will find out if consumers' worries about housing, jobs and rising prices are affecting their spending — and, in turn, posing a further threat to the economy. The market begins Monday with the Dow Jones industrial average back below 11,900 and having closed at its lowest level since October 2006. Stocks were battered last week by another round of bad news about the economy and the staggering credit market.
___
Investing Joins 3 R's at Unusual School

CHICAGO (AP) — Like their peers elsewhere, the students at a one-of-a-kind public elementary school on the South Side of Chicago are dazzled by pop-culture stars — Beyonce and Common, Kanye West and Lil' Wayne, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Listen closely to the hallway chatter at Ariel Community Academy, though, and you may hear unexpected references to uncool dudes like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. After all, these kids have their portfolios to worry about.
___
BMW Cuts at Home, Builds Up US Factories

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — On one side of the Atlantic Ocean, BMW says it will cut 7.5 percent of its work force over two years. On this side of the water, the company says it plans to increase production by more than 50 percent by 2012. "This is completely driven by the plunge in the dollar," said Greg Gardner with Oliver Wyman, publisher of the Harbour Report on automotive manufacturing activity. "It is untenable to produce at a much higher cost in Germany."
___
Reports: FBI Investigating Countrywide

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal authorities are investigating Countrywide Financial Corp. for securities fraud, according to media reports. The FBI is in the early stages of an inquiry into whether company officials misrepresented its financial position and the quality of its mortgage loans, The Wall Street Journal first reported Saturday, citing law enforcement officials and finance executives with knowledge of the development.
___
Cambodia Property Boom Enriches, Divides

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — An old hospital was razed to make way for Phnom Penh's tallest building — a 42-story twin condominium tower. A garbage-strewn slum became prime real estate after police evicted its dwellers to a parched rice field outside the capital. Cambodia is experiencing a construction boom fueled by foreign investment, particularly by South Koreans, and buying and selling among the country's few nouveaux riche — while leaving the poor majority behind.
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Chile Boosts Public Pensions for Poor

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Once a model for privatized social security in dozens of countries from Peru to the U.S., Chile is undertaking the largest-ever overhaul of its pioneer private system, adding sweeping public payouts for low-income seniors. The new $2 billion-a-year program will expand public pensions to groups left out by private pensions — the poor and self-employed, housewives, street vendors and farmers who saved little for retirement — granting about a quarter of the nation's work force public pensions by 2012.
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Foreign Companies Become NYC Landlords

NEW YORK (AP) — For foreign companies in New York, it's a huge cost of doing business: Employees move to the city or come here on assignment, and the company has to put them up in temporary corporate housing that routinely exceeds $4,000 a month. But a growing number of foreign firms are buying up high-end Manhattan condos and taking on the role of landlord themselves, brokers say. The companies, many from Europe and Asia, say the strategy makes perfect sense because of the booming Manhattan real estate market and the favorable exchange rate.
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Ameriprise to Begin Issuing MasterCards

NEW YORK (AP) — Asset manager Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. is pairing up with MasterCard Inc. to become a credit card lender for the first time, the two companies planned to announce Monday. It looks like a tough time to be entering the credit card space. Default and delinquency rates are climbing from what had been historically low levels due to the housing slump and a rebound in bankruptcies.
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Japan Opposition Doubts Bank Nominee

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's opposition suggested Sunday it would fight the government's choice of a nominee for the central bank chief, setting the scene for a divisive fight in the country's stalled parliament. The government on Friday nominated Toshiro Muto, a deputy governor at the Bank of Japan, to take over later this month. The term of the current bank head, Toshihiko Fukui, ends March 19.
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Gold Prices

LONDON (AP) — Gold bullion opened Monday at a bid price of $979.90 a troy ounce, up from $976.15 late Friday.
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Japan Markets

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's stock market fell to its lowest level in 2 1/2 years in since September 2005 amid renewed concern about a slowdown in the U.S. economy.
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Dollar-Yen

TOKYO (AP) — The dollar fell against the yen and the euro in Asia Monday on speculation that gloomy economic conditions in the U.S. will prompt the Federal Reserve to slash interest rates next week.

Communism new focus for history agency

10 Mar 08

Online: http://www.thelocal.se/10388/

Sweden's Living History Forum on Monday launched a new project designed to highlight crimes against humanity committed by communist regimes around the world.

Young Swedes lack knowledge about communism (9 May 07)
The Holocaust: Sweden's complex legacy (26 Jan 07)
Swedish teacher at Holocaust denial conference (14 Dec 06)

The project will explore the actions of the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia.

The Forum, which was created by the government and launched in 2003, has dedicated its activities to educating people about the Holocaust for the last four years.

At the behest of the government, the agency is now concentrating on crimes committed in the name of communism.

Among planned activities is a traveling exhibit about a boy named Pavel, a hero for youth in the east who was famous for informing on his own father.

“It is introductory material designed to increase knowledge of totalitarian regimes and the practice of informing,” said project leader Erika Aronowitsch.

The material on display focuses on the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia from 1917 to 1989.

Soviet prison camps, China’s Cultural Revolution, and the emptying of cities in Cambodia are just a few examples of what’s in store.

“In these three countries one can most certainly talk about crimes against humanity.

But we could have also mentioned North Korea, Cuba, or countries in East Europe,” said Lund University professor Klas-Göran Karlsson, who is responsible for compiling research for the project.

A study conducted last spring by the organization Information about Communism (UOK) showed that 95 percent of young people in Sweden between the ages of 15 and 20 knew about Auschwitz, but 90 percent didn’t know about the Gulag, the Soviet system of prison camps.

Expelled Frenchman arrested for trying to sneak into Thailand

March 11, 2008

A Frenchman was arrested yesterday in Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district while trying to breach through a border fence between Thailand and Cambodia.

Checking immigration records, police later found that Levy Gilbert Gille, 55, had been expelled from Thailand for his theft conviction and overstaying Thai visa in April 2006.

Gille, a certified assistant engineer, was sentenced to a suspended one-year prison term for stealing and overstaying Thai visa in Pattaya by the Chon Buri court, which ordered his expulsion.

Gille has been charged with illegal entry and violating expulsion order and is now in custody of Khong Luek police.

The Nation

Bullets over Phnom Penh

bigempire.com
10/03/08

The Captain stumbled and slipped down the stairs at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Phnom Penh. Not the best way to start a Monday morning, he thought.

When he emerged onto the sidewalk, a moto driver was leaning on his scooter. "Sir, sir, do you want to shoot a gun?"

Bullets and beer, a buck a pop.

After maneuvering down the bumpy dirt side street and clearing the single checkpoint, the entry to the Cambodian Special Forces shooting range is just ahead.

An employee rushes out to greet the car. A menu then falls on one of the half-dozen tables in front of the shooting area. A tray of cold Angkor beer ($1) - yes, beer - and soft drinks arrives quickly thereafter. But alcohol is not the only thing that makes this range special.

The price list includes just about every kind of armament known to man: machineguns, rifles, and handguns.

"Treat all firearms as if they are loaded," reads one posted rule.

The range, operated by Cambodia's 911 Paratrooper Commandos, is a 20-minute drive outside of central Phnom Penh and offers visitors a chance to shoot, launch, or toss dozens of different kinds of weapons in a country still scarred by the brutal regime of Pol Pot three decades ago.

Samples of the available weapons, all well-oiled, can be seen hanging by wood pegs mounted onto a bamboo wall. A Luger pistol, an Uzi submachine gun, and an AK47 automatic rifle are but a few. Dangling strings of ammunition round out what is truly an intimidating scene. At the register young boys fill empty magazines with bullets from boxes.

The range has two main areas. For lighter weapons, such as the AK47 or a M16 (either at $30 for 30 rounds), slots spaced a few meters apart allow about a dozen shooters to take aim at targets containing a silhouetted marksman mounted 150 meters away in a grassy field.

"Keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard," another rule requests, "until ready to shoot."

Visitors, wearing ear muffs, must obey the orders of their personal guide just prior to raising their weapon and opening fire.

"POP! POP! POP!"

After a few pulls, each shooter lowers his muzzle and peers into the distance to observe his work.
Though in 2001 then King Norodom Sihanouk objected to the use of live animals as targets, very little coaxing of range officials is required to learn that chickens ($5) are indeed available.

Various livestock and water buffalos range between $100 and $300, which are quite handsome sums given that in Cambodia a monthly wage of much less than $100 is common for school teachers and garment workers.

Such prices, however, are not a deterrent to foreign visitors. As far as popular tourist attractions, Cambodia's gun ranges, which are often staffed by former Khmer Rouge soldiers, are mentioned in guidebooks nearly as frequently as the Killing Fields and the torture museum Tuol Sleng, both of which stand as morbid reminders of Pol Pot's murderous rule that spanned between 1975 and 1979.

"Do not point at anything you are not willing to shoot."

A narrow room of bricks with rows of sandbags at the end is used for unloading weapons like the K50, a submachine gun (not too dissimilar from a "Tommy Gun") fabricated in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War and capable of firing more than 10 rounds a second.

The gun roars: "POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP!"

Powder clouds rise and shell casings and sparks fly inside the enclosed area. The sandbags twist and fray with each blow.

Also on offer is the M60, a machine gun that comes with a bipod mounting and an effective range of 1,100 meters.

Still not satisfied? Single grenades can be launched from a M79 ($100) or a B40 ($200). For both, staff will transport the shooter to a "safe" location, which is about 40 minutes by car.

Should that distance be off-putting, a mere $15 is all that is required to lob a grenade into a pond on the range's property. Upon each detonation, a cloud of water rises above the pond, not too dissimilar from a nuclear blast.

Perhaps an ominous sign posted on the wall of weaponry sums up the no-holds-barred attitude of the range best: "Mess with the best, die like the rest."

Cambodian Women Still Lacking: Rights Group

By VOA Khmer, Reporters
Original reports from Washington and Phnom Penh
10 March 2008

Khmer audio aired March 7 (1.53MB) - Listen (MP3) Khmer Khmer audio aired March 8 (1.07MB) - Listen (MP3)

Women across Cambodia still lack education and other basic needs, a leading female rights worker said ahead of International Woman's Day Saturday.

"We have a lot of resources, so we better use them all to develop the country and not leave them in vein," said Kek Galabru, founder of the rights group Licadho said.

Members of Licadho traveled to PJ, Prey Sar and Takmau prisons Saturday to highlight the conditions across Cambodia's penal system.

More than 500 women live in Cambodian prison, and in February the group found four pregnant.

About 50 children nationwide live with their mothers in prison, Licadho says.

Kek Galabru told VOA Khmer ahead of International Women's Day that women need more higher education and encouragement from their families and society in general.

Fearful Villagers Flee Shots in the Night

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 March 2008

Khmer audio aired March 10 (930KB) - Listen (MP3)

About 50 Villagers returned to their homes on the border of two districts in Battambang province Monday morning, after spending one to two days away for fear of fighting between local police and former Khmer Rogue soldiers.

Villagers who heard signs of violence on the nights of March 7, 8 and 9, told VOA Khmer they ran because they feared a land dispute was leading to armed conflict.

Mei Sandab, a villager from Banan and worker for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said Monday more than 10 villagers fled their home village to spend the night elsewhere.

Authorities could not confirm Monday whether the former Khmer Rouge were armed.

Residents See Waste Over Sign Ban

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 March 2008

Khmer audio aired March 10 (1.05MB) - Listen (MP3)

Residents of Phnom Penh's Tuol Kork district watched Monday as local police confiscated a political party's sign. Next to the sign was an overflowing shipping container of trash. That pile of trash, the residents said, should have received more priority.

Instead, the Human Rights Party was not allowed to hang its party sign, an act the group called illegal.

Party signs are a common form of party propaganda ahead of elections.

After about a dozen police put a large party sign in the back of a truck and carried it away, neighbors at the site told VOA Khmer the signs were not hurting anyone, but the reeking pile of garbage needed more attention.

"The removal is not a good sign for the political party, or for a democratic country," said 70-year-old resident Men Sean. "And the way the authorities act will affect the voters' feelings."

Local Painter's Exhibition Sees Life Through Skin

By Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 March 2008

Khmer audio aired March 8 (1.29MB) - Listen (MP3)

A new exhibition by local artist Leang Seckon seeks to teach its viewers more about themselves through their own skin, and the skin of others.

"All people stand in front of mirrors to see their faces, complexion and appearance several times a day, and they always notice the unsatisfactory defects," Leang Seckon said, opening his exhibition, "Skin," which opened March 6 and will continue through the month of March.

The show incorporates paintings on several types of skin, including snake.

Only 30 years old, Leang Seckon, has long had experience in painting and is recognized by the international community.

His paintings hang in the national museums of the US and Singapore, and he has sold paintings to patrons from many countries.

Reactions to his latest exhibition varied on Thursday's opening.

Hor Vireak said at the exhibition opening he didn't understand the paintings and maybe needed one month more to do so.

Fleur Smith, from New Zealand, said that the skin sent a message, that even though we have different skin and different colors, we can all be friends and should not discriminate.

Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said that the paintings were good for foreigners as well as Cambodia's young generation.

sacravatoons : " MK restaurant "

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Volunteers going overseas for Operation Smile

Monday, March 10, 2008

Dr. Alice Smith of Coralville will be among more than 50 volunteers traveling to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday to March 21 with Operation Smile to provide free treatment to children born with facial deformities.

The volunteer team consists of more than 50 medical and non-medical volunteers from Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore and the United States.

Founded in 1982, Operation Smile is a worldwide children's medical charity dedicated to helping improve the health and lives of children and young adults.

Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Neil goes on trial in Thailand

Canadian pedophile suspect Christopher Paul Neil at criminal court in Bangkok, Monday, March 10, 2008. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Apichart Weerawong

March 10, 2008

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BANGKOK, Thailand - A Canadian pedophile suspect arrested last year in a worldwide manhunt after Interpol unscrambled his swirled digital images from Internet photos went on trial Monday in Thailand, accused of sexually abusing a nine-year-old boy.

Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old schoolteacher who worked in several Asian countries, was arrested in Thailand on Oct. 19, 2007 after Interpol issued an unprecedented global appeal to help apprehend him.

Shackled and smiling, Neil waved to a friend and said "How's It Going" as he entered Bangkok's criminal courthouse ahead of the trial. He was wearing an orange prison uniform, barefoot and chained to another prisoner.

"I hope there will be justice in Thailand," he told The Associated Press.

Neil has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing a nine-year-old Thai boy, who contacted police after seeing Neil's face on television following his arrest. The child claims Neil paid him the equivalent of between $15 to $30 to perform oral sex in 2003, while he was living in Thailand.

He faces up to 20 years in prison for charges that include sexually abusing a minor and videotaping the alleged abuse, taking a child without parental consent and holding him against his will.

"We've got the evidence and we have the victim," said prosecutor Sontus Singhapus. "He's guilty."

Prosecutors plan to introduce some 70 photographs that allegedly show Neil engaging in sexual acts and playing with young naked and partially clothed young boys, said Sontus.

They also plan to put the nine-year-old victim on the stand along with his parents and another boy who recruited the youngster for Neil.

Sontus said Neil could face additional charges if police can track down other Thai victims whom he allegedly abused.

Neil's opening hearing was quickly adjourned after the court assigned him a lawyer and set the next session for June 2.

Interpol's public call for help was based on the discovery of some 200 Internet photos believed to show Neil sexually abusing at least a dozen Vietnamese and Cambodian boys, some as young as six.

The photos were found online in 2004, but the face of the perpetrator was digitally obscured as a swirling shape. After three years of searching, the international police agency was able to unscramble the images with the help of German police computer experts. Interpol circulated the pictures publicly and received hundreds of tips that led them to identify Neil as the suspect.

Neil was arrested 11 days after the appeal was launched after flying into Bangkok on a one-way ticket from South Korea, where he was working as an English teacher. He was caught at the house of his boyfriend identified as Ohm in Nakhon Ratchasima province located in the country's northeast.

Ohm, who refused to provide his full name, was at the hearing Monday and insisted Neil was innocent.

"How can this be him?" Ohm said. "When I stayed with him, there was nothing like this. I don't believe (the charges)."

Neil had taught at various schools in South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam since 2000. Previously, Neil worked as a chaplain in Canada, counselling teens.

Neil lived in Thailand from 2002 to early 2004, according to police.

Since Neil's arrest, Interpol has said it will allow wider use of public appeals to track suspected pedophiles, trying to build on the success it had tracking down the Canadian.

New Zealand Rider Wins TOTAL Motocross 2008 Championship in Cambodia

James Robinson (L) of New Zealand and Pierre Yves-Catry of France take part in the Total International Motocross Championship on the outskirts of Phnom Penh March 9, 2008 . REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

2008-03-09
Xinhua

New Zealand motor rider James Robinson on Sunday won the TOTAL International Motocross 2008 Championship in Cambodia in Class A with the cash prize of 400 U.S. dollars.

Meanwhile, in Class A, Cambodian-French rider Pierre Yves Catry won second place with the cash prize of 250 U.S. dollars, and Siam Tiencharoenphol from Thailand won third place with the award of 150 U.S. dollars.

In addition, Cambodian rider Khan Chove won first place with the cash award of 250 U.S dollars in Class B, while another Cambodian rider Lim Pheng won first place in Class C with the cash prize of 150 U.S. dollars.

TOTAL, the major fuel driller and vendor from France, hosted this motorcycle field race, which was divided into series of Class A, B and C.

Some 20 riders from Cambodia, Indonesia, France, Australia, the U.S., Thailand, Canada and New Zealand joined the race.

TOTAL is one of the main fuel vendors in Cambodia and already hosted two motorcycle field races for the kingdom.

Thailand, Cambodia To Set Up Joint Development Areas

BANGKOK, March 10 Asia Pulse - Thailand and Cambodia plan to set up joint development areas (JDA), covering 26,000 square kilometers of overlapping sea border areas, to facilitate the exploration of natural gas and crude oil, Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said.

FM Noppadon said the Thai and Cambodian foreign ministries would hold talks on the establishment of the JDA to manage the overlapping border areas which are rich in natural gas and crude oil.

Thailand's Foreign Ministry would join its Energy Ministry in talks with Cambodia as soon as possible on the issue, FM Noppadon was cited by the Bangkok Post as saying.

Force and Fraud

lewrockwell.com
March 10, 2008

by P.M. Lawrence

Technically, tax isn't theft and slavery. But the technical side is all about how you do the taxing, not about what happens to the person and property being taxed. Some of these technicalities do matter to us, the taxpayers, on the principle of "know thine enemy" so we can accommodate ourselves better to the load, but they just aren't on the same wavelength as the ethical question or the personal experience.

A lot of tax advocates retreat into the area they know to try to justify it, though. They just don't realise that they are building in their assumptions and addressing the wrong question, any more than the shopkeeper in the Monty Python Dead Parrot sketch did when he admired the plumage and forgot the dying bird – a bird that was, in actual fact, dead. It's the same way a Vietnam War spokesman was missing the point when he pointed out that, technically, the USA had not invaded Cambodia, it was only an incursion. That was something that made a great deal of difference to the military operation, but practically nothing to the people in Cambodia.

In the same way, another of the usual suspects, Zahi Hawass, trotted the same sort of thing out, explaining how – technically – the pyramids weren't built by slave labour: "The name of Khufu and his pyramid is always attached to a popular notion that the pyramid was built by slaves. But that was not the case... They were also paid by the king, or worked instead of paying tax." Well, even if you are going to be technical, it's still wrong; they hadn't invented money in those days, so it couldn't have been tax, could it? As though it made a difference to the people involved if they were obliged to hand over crops or labour instead of currency. If you want to see how the technicalities weren't the point for the people, look at the Old Testament. Sure, the children of Israel were forced to work for the Pharaoh, but look – when they fled, they had all sorts of possessions they could take with them and homes of their own to mark with blood, so they weren't really slaves, were they? Technically, they weren't taxed to build Solomon's Temple either, for the same reason that money hadn't been invented, but try reading the description of just how that was done.

And so on down to our own age. We get a clearer picture of just what tax is when we aren't so close to it, and when the people involved had previously had a different alternative we can compare it with. One case is what the French did when they colonised Madagascar, just over a century ago.

Not that there had been a golden age before, of course. The independent kingdom that was overthrown had relied on something more overt, though – slavery, and forced labour from "free" peasants, a corvée. But look and see just what happened in reforming these things, how the burden was simply rearranged in a technically more convenient way but the burden if anything increased.

Governor-General Gallieni implemented a hybrid corvée and poll tax, partly for revenue, partly for labour resources and partly to move away from a subsistence economy. The last feature involved paying small amounts for the forced labour; that way, not only did it create a demand for money to get out of the corvée, money trickled into the system to close the loop. It's actually better for the victims than a straight corvée or a straight poll tax, since they don't get trapped by impossible demands so often – it's more "progressive" for people who are either feeble or cash poor, "only" destroying people who are both...

"There was the introduction of equitable taxation, so vital from the financial point of view; but also of such great political, moral and economic importance. It was the tangible proof of French authority having come to stay; it was the stimulus required to make an inherently lazy people work. Once they had learned to earn they would begin to spend, whereby commerce and industry would develop.

"The corvée in its old form could not be continued, yet workmen were required both by the colonists, and by the Government for its vast schemes of public works. The General therefore passed a temporary law, in which taxation and labour were combined, to be modified according to country, the people, and their mentality. Thus, for instance, every male among the Hovas, from the age of sixteen to sixty, had either to pay twenty-five francs a year, or give fifty days of labour of nine hours a day, for which he was to be paid twenty centimes, a sum sufficient to feed him. Exempted from taxation and labour were soldiers, militia, Government clerks, and any Hova who knew French, also all who had entered into a contract of labour with a colonist.

Unfortunately, this latter clause lent itself to tremendous abuses. By paying a small sum to some European, who nominally engaged them, thousands bought their freedom from work and taxation by these fictitious contracts, to be free to continue their lazy, unprofitable existence. To this abuse an end had to be made.

"The urgency of a sound fiscal system was of tremendous importance to carry out all the schemes for the welfare and development of the island, and this demanded a local budget. The goal to be kept in view was to make the colony, as soon as possible, self-supporting. This end the Governor-General succeeded in achieving within a few years." ~ The Drama of Madagascar, Sonia E. Howe, pp. 331–2. Methuen & Co. ltd. London, 1938.

See how open and honest the governors can be, when they don't realise just what it is they are confessing? They could do that then because it seemed so clear that they were improving on slavery and forced labour, while bringing the benefits of civilisation to primitives as well. They conveniently forgot that by arranging the burden better they were just making it easier for them to pile on more, and that those "primitives" had been interacting with the outside world for generations, quietly and incrementally reforming and civilising themselves all along. The same applies to our situation, only the governors muddy the waters by not realising that they are doing it, since they think they are us and that it is we who are doing it to ourselves. If you want to be technically accurate, tax isn't theft. But tax is still just a proxy for burdens, forced labour, taking of property without consent and so on – it is just more convenient than coming right out and doing it just like that. Fraud before force, but force after all. A technicality, not a justification.

Cambodia to form committee to check on quality of medicines

chinaview.cn
2008-03-10

PHNOM PENH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Around 30 leaders from Cambodia's various pharmaceutical organizations have agreed that a Pharmacy Accreditation Committee must be formed this year to keep check on the quality and validity of medicines sold through the kingdom's growing number of pharmacies, local media reported Monday.

"Among our many challenges are keeping check on the quality of medical products sold and an overall improvement in the quality of health services, so a Pharmacy Accreditation Committee is needed," Yim Yann, president of the Pharmacist's Association of Cambodia, was quoted by the Mekong Times as saying.

The Pharmacy Accreditation Committee, to be supervised by the Health Ministry's Department of Drugs and Food, will assess whether pharmacies reach a standard called "Good Pharmacy Practice," said Yim Yann, with those up to scratch receiving of facial accreditation.

The rapidly increasing circulation of medicines is hampering efforts to control the sector, Sok Pheng, Under Secretary of State for the Health Ministry, said, adding that drug traders with no medical knowledge often conspire with dishonest traders to circulate fake medicines.

Although relevant laws are enforced, most pharmacies are substandard so contraband, counterfeit, inferior, unregistered and expired drugs still sit on pharmacy shelves, he said.

Mao Dareth, deputy president of the Pharmacist Association of Cambodia, said that there are about 1,300 pharmacies throughout the country, nearly 500 of which are in Phnom Penh.

Editor: Jiang Yuxia

Cambodia Property Boom Enriches, Divides

Construction workers cut steel for building a new apartment complex in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 11, 2008. Cambodia is embracing a thriving real estate market, where land and housing prices in the capital city skyrocket with no sign of letting up. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Mar 9, 2008
By KER MUNTHIT
Associated Press Writer

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- An old hospital was razed to make way for Phnom Penh's tallest building - a 42-story twin condominium tower. A garbage-strewn slum became prime real estate after police evicted its dwellers to a parched rice field outside the capital.

Cambodia is experiencing a construction boom fueled by foreign investment, particularly by South Koreans, and buying and selling among the country's few nouveaux riche - while leaving the poor majority behind.

Shopping malls and tall apartment buildings are sprouting up, transforming the capital's landscape that once bore the charm of colonial French-styled villas but resembled a ghost town at the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime nearly 30 years ago.

Political stability and robust economic growth of nearly 10 percent have lured investors to the real estate market that has seen prices surge over the last few years - though they are still lower than in neighboring Vietnam or Thailand.

"Cambodia was sleeping for many years and now it's waking up," said Claire Brown, managing director of Britain-based Claire Brown Realty, who began buying and selling property in Phnom Penh two years ago.

"Everybody wants to get a piece of the action," she said by phone. "The time to get in is now because soon it's going to be too late."

Prime city land prices have tripled over the last two years to $3,000 per square meter ($279 per square foot). Those kinds of returns have drawn rich and middle-class Cambodians, as well as those living abroad.

"In buying and selling land, they could get profit 100 or 200 percent a year, if they make the right bet on the right location," said Dith Channa, the sale manager of CPL Cambodia Properties Ltd., a Phnom Penh-based real estate agency.

But the soaring real estate market is also widening the gap between the rich and the poor.
"Phnom Penh city is getting modern every day - of course for the wealthy," said Chhorn Et, a former slum dweller now living with hundreds of others in a village in the middle of rice field about 12 miles from the capital.

"The government swept us away because they regarded us as very unpleasant for their eyes," said the 34-year-old woman who scavenges for discarded cans and bottles to sell for a living.
The flourishing property market is also happening in the shadow of problems of land rights disputes that, in recent years, have often pitted the poor against wealthy developers with link to the Cambodian political establishment.

"We're moving toward possibly about 10 percent of the population owning 90 percent of the land in Cambodia," said Naly Pilorge, director of the nonprofit human rights group Licadho.

That could fan social and political unrest, she and others have warned.

The biggest projects are being funded by South Korean investors and companies, which have been the leading investors in Cambodia following the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1997. Investment and tourists from South Korea have surged following a 2006 visit to Cambodia by former President Roh Moo-hyun.

World City Co., of South Korea, is investing $2 billion to build a "satellite" urban complex called Camko City on a 300-acre area on the northwest side of Phnom Penh. The project, the single biggest foreign direct investment in Cambodia to date, will include residential, commercial and public facilities - villas, condos, trade and financial centers, office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, schools and hospitals.

Meanwhile, at a busy corner leading up to the city's landmark Independence Monument, an old government hospital has been torn down to make way for a 42-story condominium and shopping complex worth about $250 million. That's going to dramatically change Phnom Penh's skyline, where the tallest building now is a 15-story hotel.

It is going to be the first luxury residential building and tallest structure in Cambodia, said Kim Tae-Yeon, chairman of Yon Woo Inc., a South Korean developer.

Kim said the towers will have about 500 units of apartments, office space and retail shops with price tags ranging from $112,000 to $1.8 million a unit. Construction will start next month and take 3 1/2 years to complete, but Kim said nearly half of the units have already been bought.

In recent years, Siem Reap, a northwestern town near the famed Angkor Wat ruins, also has seen frenzy of hotel and guesthouse construction for the growing numbers of tourists.

Thrilled with the boom, Prime Minister Hun Sen has said it has been made possible by the political stability he has brought. In a recent speech he warned that if he isn't re-elected in July elections, property prices could nosedive.

"It was a threat, a dirty trick to gain votes," said Son Chhay, an opposition party lawmaker.

Son Chhay and some human rights workers, including Pilorge of the human rights group Licadho, believe that the boom is partly fueled by people laundering money from illegal logging, drug trafficking and tax evasion by plowing the cash into the real estate market.

"This is not going to be healthy for the Cambodian economy," Son Chhay said.

There are also concerns that the rapid price gains are creating a bubble that will eventually pop.
Eric Sidgwick, senior economist at the Asian Development Bank office in Phnom Penh, said the real estate market has been "driven by a combination of genuine demand for business-related and residential construction," as well as a growing population, increased urbanization and speculation.

Still, there were "reasons to be concerned about the recent increase in real estate prices and the dangers of further inflating a speculation-led bubble," he said in an e-mail. He declined to comment about any possible link between money laundering and the property market boom.

Meanwhile, the poor like Chhorn Et, the former slum dweller who was moved outside the capital, are left to cope with a stark reality in their new village, which has no running water or sewage system.

Although each family has been given a small piece of land to live on, they complained of the lack of means to support their livelihoods. They have to travel daily to the capital to do odd jobs as motorbike taxi drivers, in construction or scavenge for bottles and cans to sell to buy food.

Many of them are even too poor to afford a latrine and have to use a nearby rice field as toilet, said 37-year-old Mom Somaly, a mother of five children.

Pointing to a distant land-for-sale sign, she said "soon they may not even have a field to use as toilet any longer."

Total International Motocross Championship, Phnom Penh

James Robinson of New Zealand takes part in the Total International Motocross Championship on the outskirts of Phnom Penh March 9, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Pierre Yves-Catry (L) of France takes part in the Total International Motocross Championship on the outskirts of Phnom Penh March 9, 2008.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

James Robinson (L) of New Zealand and Pierre Yves-Catry of France take part in the Total International Motocross Championship on the outskirts of Phnom Penh March 9, 2008 .REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Trial begins in Thailand for Canadian suspected in pedophile case

Canwest News Service

Sunday, March 09, 2008

BANGKOK -- A Canadian man, arrested after police unravelled a digitally scrambled face from images of child abuse found on the internet, will begin his trial Monday in Thailand.

Four months after his arrest, Christopher Neil, of Maple Ridge, B.C., who pleaded not guilty, will stand trial on charges of molesting underage children in Thailand.

Neil was arrested in rural Thailand in October after a week-long manhunt.

Thai police accuse the 32-year-old of raping young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia several years ago.

Detectives in various countries had been trying to track Neil down since German police discovered photographs on the Internet three years ago of a man sexually abusing 12 boys in Vietnam and Cambodia.

The man's face had been scrambled with a digital swirling pattern, but German police computer experts managed to unravel the disguise and Interpol issued an unprecedented worldwide appeal through the Internet for information.

More than 350 people came forward with information.

If convicted, Neil could face up to 20 years in jail in Thailand.

Why I loved Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Angkor Wat, Cambodia submitted by Pat Mundy

The Indianapolis Star
March 9, 2008

There are only a few places in the world where man-made wonders, which required unbelievable efforts by the civilizations that created them, are so accessible. You can walk in, around and through so much of the ruins such as this.

This massive tree, with its roots spilling over the ancient temple buildings, seems almost surreal. If you let your mind imagine what it was like nearly eight centuries ago, the beauty is even more amazing.

Pat Mundy, Zionsville

Sacravatoons no 912 :" The Winner of the Election 2008 "

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Chim Manavy: Women Dare to Break the Silence and Get Rid of a Culture Affecting Their Rights

Posted on 9 March 2008.
The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 550

“Phnom Penh: At the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8 March 2008, reporters of Rasmei Kampuchea interviewed Ms. Chim Manavy, the Director of the Open Institute, a local non-governmental organization working in many areas, including for the promotion of the role of women. Below is the content of the interview:

“Question: What do you think about the respect for women’s rights, in particular comparing the situation of one year ago?“Answer: During the last several years, we have seen that the respect for women’s rights has grown much, compared to before, because citizens have now a better understanding of human rights. During the same time, the government and civil society organizations pay also more attention to implement policies of gender mainstreaming. Women are encouraged to participate in many social activities. The Commune Council elections provided opportunities for women to show their capacities. They competed with their male counterparts to contribute to the development of their communities. Actually, during the Commune Council elections from 2002 to 2007, we saw an increasing participation of women in the leadership of the country. During the first Commune Council election in 2002, women who stood for election accounted for 919 or 8.16 percent of the total candidates. But at the second Commune Council election on 1 April 2007, the women who stood for election accounted for 21 percent of the total candidates. It made much a difference in relation to women’s participation in decision making.

Women who were elected in 2007 as members of Commune Councils totaled 1,662 (but the Ministry of Interior’s figure was 1,683) or 14.64 percent. This was a satisfactory increase if compared to 920 or 8 percent in 2002.“Question: What do Khmer women do to celebrate their day?“Answer: 8 March is International Women’s Day. Not only Khmer women, but also women in many countries across the globe, celebrate the day. International Women’s Day is an international day to celebrate women’s achievements relating to economic, political, and socio-economic sectors. Many countries (such as Russia and the former states within the Soviet Union) across the globe include International Women’s Day into their culture. The day is not celebrated only in political terms, but it is also celebrated as an opportunity for men to express their love for the women around them. It is similar to Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day. Moreover, the topics of politics and human rights, set by the United Nations, has been widely discussed.

Information about the struggle of women in the world, concerning political and social issues, have been revealed and analyzed.

“Everybody should do something to participate in celebrating the day according to their respective skills and means. Women can share their good experience with others, they can write poems and stories about themselves and others. These reflect women’s talents, or they are advocacy for the equality between men and women. Women dare to break the silence and get rid of a culture affecting their rights.“Question: When the Open Institute inaugurated a Women’s Web Portal on the Internet, what kind of response have you received from the visitors, and what roles does the Women’s Web Portal play in disseminating the concerns of CEDAW - the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women?

“Answer: The Women’s Web Portal is an activity of the Open Institute, supported by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development, the Open Society Institute [in the USA], InWEnt [in Germany], and UNESCO. The Women’s Web Portal rectifies some deficiencies in the information about women and their rights. It plays a role as an important tool to disseminate information, and it is a means to communicate and share knowledge with women and among women’s organizations. This will further strengthen existing networks of women relating to empowering women and to improving their work. As permanent member of the Cambodian NGO Committee on the UN Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Open Institute disseminates on the Women’s Web Portal this Convention, and is providing further comments of the Cambodian NGO Committee on CEDAW, and other relevant documents for men and women working on CEDAW related concerns. Such information is available on the Women’s Web Portal to promote gender capacity, to help women to use their rights in a balanced manner, and to help build women’s capacity so that they have more self-confidence and self-independence.

“The Women’s Web Portal is a meeting place for interested organizations to share information and to increase cooperation. Electronic information can spread across the country and the world, wherever the Internet can be accessed. Those who receive a lot of information will have much better understanding and can make better decisions.

“Until now, the Women’s Web Portal has attracted more than 300 readers. This figure is not surprising, as the country has only few users of information and communication technology. The readers of the Women’s Web Portal expressed their interest in and their satisfaction for the dissemination of laws and other information relating to rights, in the Khmer language, through electronic communication, which is easy to be researched and read, and is useful for them.“Question: What do you want to say more about the International Women’s Day?

“Answer: I see that global trends and the government’s goodwill have made the situation of Cambodian women turn for the better. The government promotes policies on gender mainstreaming, to be implemented by state institutions, civil society organizations, and in the private sector. However, discrimination against women still exists, as women have not yet received full support from men. This has also caused women to lack self-confidence. To change discriminative attitudes against women, women have to try their best to build up and to promote their capacities, so that they can influence other people, become key agents for social change, work towards progress, and contribute to build a society with knowledge and justice.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4535, 8.3.2008

Border talks on oil and gas

Bangkok Post

Thailand and Cambodia plan to set up Joint Development Areas (JDA) covering 26,000 square kilometres of overlapping border areas to facilitate the exploration of natural gas and crude oil, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said yesterday. Mr Noppadon said the Thai and Cambodian foreign ministries will hold talks on the establishment of the JDA to manage the overlapping border areas which are rich in natural gas and crude oil.

The value of the natural resources is expected to be about 3.5 billion baht for natural gas and 1.5 billion baht for crude oil. If successful, Thailand will enjoy greater energy security essential to electricity generation and the development of the petrochemical industry, said Mr Noppadon.

He added that the Foreign Ministry will join the Energy Ministry in talks with Cambodia as soon as possible on the issue, which is regarded as very important.

Splendour of a magnificent past

Sunday, March 9, 2008
Sunday Herald

The remains of the mighty Khmer empire are there for us to see at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, writes Vaasanthi

As I stand before the magnificent temples I can hardly think of the tumultuous history of the land on which they have been standing for centuries. As if mocking history, they are a reminder of a past splendour that also speaks of what must have been an unrivalled empire spanning across South East Asia. Forgotten to the world for centuries, hidden behind the steaming jungles of Cambodia, rediscovered in the 19th century by diligent French explorers, the thousand-year-old stunning religious monuments of Angkor Wat stand as a testimony to human aspirations and imagination.

From Bangkok in Thailand, it is an hour’s flight to Siem Reap the nearest town to the fabled temples of Angkor in Cambodia. Siem Reap, a little more than a village before, is now undoubtedly Cambodia’s fastest-growing town.

It seems to have undergone a metamorphosis ever since the miraculous discovery of the temples. The past decade has seen its rapid growth from a sluggish impoverished village to a booming tourism spot. It is brimming with tourists from all round the world and quickly reinventing itself as a sophisticated centre for the new wave of visitors passing through each year. There are 100 hotels and thousand guesthouses and the number is going up every month; restaurants and bars every week.

It is still a small town with all the charm that goes with small towns. Thanks to tourism development the roads are good and the streets clean and oh, the people from old to the young and the very young always smiling and friendly. Who can say that this has been a land ravaged mercilessly in recent history by war and crime? They seem to have put their lives of recent past of terror and trauma behind to revel in the memory of a glorious past, which now remains a source of inspiration and national pride.

Contemporary Cambodia is the successor state to the mighty Khmer empire which during the Angkor period (9th to 15th centuries) ruled much of what is now Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The remains of the empire are there for us to see at Angkor Wat, the ultimate of Khmer genius, described by travel brochures as ‘unrivalled in scale and grandeur in Southeast Asia’.

Tough times

The first glimpse of Angkor Wat is indeed staggering especially if you remember what Cambodia has gone through. Things were good in the past, culminating in the vast Angkor empire, unrivalled in the region during four centuries of dominance. Then the bad set in, from the 13th centuries neighbours steadily chipped off chunks of its territory. In the twentieth century it went downright ugly, as a bloody civil war lead to the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge (1975-79) from which Cambodia is still recovering.

But meet the man in the street, you will hardly see any rancour towards the evil done. Cambodians have weathered through poverty, bloodshed and political chaos but their smiles have not faded. The tourists that throng and rush to the temple campus in the wee hours of the morning to catch the magnificent view of Angkor Wat at the first light of dawn are not bothered either. Their main worry is the overcast sky that threatens to break into a pouring rain.

As the sun slowly lights up the sky Angkor Wat turns into an ethereal golden hue with its reflection weaving magic in the lily pond. It is like divine inspiration. And yet it is the work of human hands that toiled to create such divinity out of sand stone. It takes some time to see how big the temple complex is.

Angkor’s monuments are spread throughout a huge forest. Heading north from Siem Reap, you first come to Angkor Wat, then the walled city of Angkor Thom to the east and west of this city are two vast reservoirs which helped to feed the Angkor Thom population. Further east are the temples of Ta Prohm and Pre Rup and in the north east is the beautiful well preserved temple of Banteay Srei. There are in fact a hundred temples and probably more.

What is of particular interest to the Indian visitor is the remarkable evidence of the spread of Hinduism and its gods and fables across the seas and the earth more than a thousand years ago. Angkor Wat temples are a celebration and glorification of the Hindu god Shiva and the mythologies of Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Though the lingams are no longer there and stone statues of the Buddha have taken over, the carvings of scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata on the walls of the long corridors of Angkor Wat have been restored and are intact. Hinduism and Buddhism were both the preferred faiths followed alternately according to the reigning king’s belief. The myth of the churning of the milk ocean by Asuras and Devas seems to have fascinated Angkor sculptors and kings. There are two huge rows of the scene at the gate of Angkor Thom temple.

Naga worship must have been prevalent as the snake motifs with erect hoods are carved in stone almost in all the temples. In the temple of Bantaey Srie, which is praised as the jewel of Angkor, the pillars come alive with dancing apsaras and the gateways are filled with exquisite carvings depicting scenes from the Ramayana. So the story goes...

There is an interesting story about the origin of the Indian connection. Cambodia came into being, so the story goes through a union between a Hindu Brahmin named Kaundinya who sailed by and a princess, the daughter of a dragon king who ruled the watery land. They fell in love and the king gave the land as dowry to Kaundinya to rule over. The kingdom was called Kambuja. The myth may or may not be true but it does say something about the cultural influences that affected Cambodia. Cambodia’s religious royal and written traditions stemmed from India. Buddhism spread there when Asoka sent his emissary to Cambodia. The long list of powerful Angkor kings has Hindu names beginning from Jayavarman II- who started building Angkor Wat two hundred years before Raja Raja Chola built the big temple of Tanjavur— the list has names like Yashovarman, Harsha varman, Rajendra Varman, Ishwara Varman— similar to the names of the Pallava kings of south India.

The French ‘discovery’ of Angkor in the 1860s made an international splash. It was only in 1901 the Ecole Francaised’Extreme-Orient began its long association with Angkor by funding an expedition to the Bayon temple. In 1907 Angkor, which had been under Thai control, was returned to Cambodia and the EFEO took responsibility for clearing and restoring the whole site. Since the temples had Indian connection and the theme Hinduism, the cooperation of the Indian government was also taken for some sites. It was a stupendous task indeed. The monuments of Angkor were left to the jungle for many centuries. A large number of monuments are made of sandstone that tends to dissolve in prolonged exposure to wind and rain.

Monuments that wow!

At Ta Prohm, the jungle had stealthily made an all out invasion. The huge roots swoop down the monuments as if to devour them and the visual is at once breathtaking and awesome. What is striking about the sculptures is that no structure is made out of single rock boulders like you see in the temples of South India, but an assembly of blocks. The remarkable symmetry and serenity that prevails in the faces of the Bayon temple is truly amazing. The temples of Angkor are the heart and soul of Cambodia. When our guide made a repeated reference to ‘My people, my country’ there was not only a natural pride but also the belief that Angkor was a true symbol of inspiration for the people to rise to eminence leaving behind the memories of suffering and trauma…

PM talks about trip to Cambodia on weekly show

(BangkokPost.com) – Mr Samak Sundaravej told viewers of his weekly television programme this morning about his first visit to Cambodia as Thailand’s prime minister. He said he was surprised and flattered by the amount of locals who came to greet him at Phnom Penh international airport.

He compared the country, which has a population of 14 million, to how it was 50 years ago and said that it had developed a great deal with major roads leading to the capital now.

Mr Samak also revealed how he was granted an audience with His Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni.

“From talks with His Majesty, he expressed a wish for MK Suki to set up business there,” the premier said.

MK Suki is one of the leading hot pot restaurants in Thailand.

Cambodia's thriving real estate market enriches the elite

thestar.com.m
Sunday March 9, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP): An old hospital was razed to make way for Phnom Penh's tallest building _ a 42-story twin condominium tower. A garbage-strewn slum became prime real estate after police evicted its dwellers to a parched rice field outside the capital.

Cambodia is experiencing a construction boom fueled by foreign investment, particularly by South Koreans, and buying and selling among the country's few nouveaux riche _ while leaving the poor majority behind. Shopping malls and tall apartment buildings are sprouting up, transforming the capital's landscape that once bore the charm of colonial French-styled villas but resembled a ghost town at the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime nearly 30 years ago.

Political stability and robust economic growth of nearly 10 percent have lured investors to the real estate market that has seen prices surge over the last few years _ though they are still lower than in neighboring Vietnam or Thailand.

"Cambodia was sleeping for many years and now it's waking up,'' said Claire Brown, managing director of Britain-based Claire Brown Realty who began buying and selling property in Phnom Penh two years ago.

"Everybody wants to get a piece of the action,'' she said by phone. "The time to get in is now because soon it's going to be too late.''

Prime city land prices have tripled over the last two years to US$3,000 (euro2,000) per square meter. Those kinds of returns have drawn rich and middle-class Cambodians, as well as those living abroad.

"In buying and selling land, they could get profit 100 or 200 percent a year, if they make the right bet on the right location,'' said Dith Channa, the sale manager of CPL Cambodia Properties Ltd., a Phnom Penh-based real estate agency.

But the soaring real estate market is also widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

"Phnom Penh city is getting modern every day _ of course for the wealthy,'' said Chhorn Et, a former slum dweller now living with hundreds of others in a village in the middle of rice field about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the capital.

"The government swept us away because they regarded us as very unpleasant for their eyes,'' said the 34-year-old woman who scavenges for discarded cans and bottles to sell for a living.

The flourishing property market is also happening in the shadow of problems of land rights disputes that, in recent years, have often pitted the poor against wealthy developers with links to the Cambodian political establishment.

"We're moving toward possibly about 10 percent of the population owning 90 percent of the land in Cambodia,'' said Naly Pilorge, director of the nonprofit human rights group Licadho.

That could fan social and political unrest, she and others have warned.

The biggest projects are being funded by South Korean investors and companies, which have been the leading investors in Cambodia following the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1997.

Investment and tourists from South Korea have surged following a 2006 visit to Cambodia by former President Roh Moo-hyun.

World City Co. Ltd., a South Korean company, is investing US$2 billion (euro1.3 billion) to build a "satellite'' urban complex called Camko City on a 120-hectare (300-acre) area on the northwest side of Phnom Penh. The project, the single biggest foreign direct investment in Cambodia to date, will include residential, commercial and public facilities _ villas, condos, trade and financial centers, office buildings, shopping centers, hotels, schools and hospitals.

Meanwhile, at a busy corner leading up to the city's landmark Independence Monument, an old government hospital has been torn down to make way for a 42-story condominium and shopping complex worth about US$250 million (euro162 million). That's going to dramatically change Phnom Penh's skyline, where the tallest building now is a 15-story hotel.

It is going to be the first luxury residential building and tallest structure in Cambodia, said Kim Tae-Yeon, chairman of Yon Woo Inc., a South Korean developer.

Kim said the towers will have about 500 units of apartments, office space and retail shops with price tags ranging from US$112,000 (euro72,647) to US$1.8 million (euro1.17 million) a unit.

Construction will start next month and take 3 1/2 years to complete, but Kim said nearly half of the units have already been bought.

In recent years, Siem Reap, a northwestern town near the famed Angkor Wat ruins, also has seen a frenzy of hotel and guesthouse construction for the growing numbers of tourists.

Thrilled with the boom, Prime Minister Hun Sen has said it has been made possible by the political stability he has brought. In a recent speech he warned that if he is not re-elected in July elections, property prices could nosedive.

"It was a threat, a dirty trick to gain votes,'' said Son Chhay, an opposition party lawmaker.

Son Chhay and some human rights workers, including Pilorge of the human rights group Licadho, believe that the boom is partly fueled by people laundering money from illegal logging, drug trafficking and tax evasion by plowing the cash into the real estate market.

"This is not going to be healthy for the Cambodian economy,'' Son Chhay says.

There are also concerns that the rapid price gains are creating a bubble that will eventually pop.

Eric Sidgwick, senior economist at the Asian Development Bank office in Phnom Penh, said the real estate market has been "driven by a combination of genuine demand for business-related and residential construction,'' as well as a growing population, increased urbanization and speculation.

Still, there were "reasons to be concerned about the recent increase in real estate prices and the dangers of further inflating a speculation-led bubble,'' he said in an e-mail. He declined to comment about any possible link between money laundering and the property market boom.

Meanwhile, poor residents like Chhorn Et, the former slum dweller who was moved outside the capital, are left to cope with a stark reality in their new village, which has no running water or sewage system.

Although each family has been given a small piece of land, they complain of the lack of means to support their livelihoods. They have to travel daily to the capital to do odd jobs as motorbike taxi drivers, construction workers or scavenge for bottles and cans to sell to buy food.

Many of them are too poor to afford a latrine and have to use a nearby rice field as a toilet, said 37-year-old Mom Somaly, a mother of five children.

Pointing to a distant land-for-sale sign, she said "soon they may not even have a field to use as toilet any longer.''