Thai declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday and ordered armored vehicles into the streets

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra celebrate after seizing an armoured personnel carrier in Bangkok April 12, 2009 a day after the ASEAN Summit was cancelled. Troops fired into the air as Thai anti-government protesters stormed the country's interior ministry on Sunday after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in the capital.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT)

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra ride motorcycles beside an armoured personnel carrier returning to a military base in Bangkok April 12, 2009 a day after the ASEAN Summit was cancelled. Troops fired into the air as Thai anti-government protesters stormed the country's interior ministry on Sunday after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in the capital.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY)

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra watch armoured personnel carriers returning to a military base in Bangkok April 12, 2009 a day after the ASEAN Summit was cancelled. Troops fired into the air as Thai anti-government protesters stormed the country's interior ministry on Sunday after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in the capital.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT)

Anti-government demonstrators capture a Thai Army armored personnel carrier near the Foreign Ministry Sunday, April 12, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Bands of anti-government protesters are roaming areas of Bangkok as a state of emergency was announced, with some smashing a car carrying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and others beating up motorists who hurled insults at them.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, center, arrives for a meeting before declaring a state of emergency at Interior Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, April 12, 2009. Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday and ordered armored vehicles into the streets to stem a tide of protest across the country.(AP Photo)

A Thai Army armored personnel carrier waits for instructions near the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, April 12, 2009. Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday in an attempt to stem the tide of protest across the country.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A Thai Army armored personnel carrier waits for instructions near the government House in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, April 12, 2009. Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday in an attempt to stem the tide of protest across the country.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A Thai Army armored personnel carrier waits for instructions near the government House in Bangkok, Thailand Sunday, April 12, 2009. Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday in an attempt to stem the tide of protest across the country.(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Thai anti riot-policemen stand guard on the streets near Government House in Bangkok on April 12, 2009. Tanks and armoured vehicles rolled through the streets of Bangkok on Sunday as premier Abhisit Vejjajiva cracked down on anti-government protesters in the most serious crisis yet of his rule.(AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

Soldiers stand guard with weapons as supporters of former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra block the main road during a state of emergency in Bangkok April 12, 2009. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told anti-government demonstrators on Sunday to end their protests or face tough measures allowed under a state of emergency that he declared earlier in the capital.REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT)

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra beat up an occupant of a government vehicle after dragging him out of the car at the interior ministry in Bangkok April 12, 2009. Troops fired into the air as Thai anti-government protesters stormed the country's interior ministry on Sunday after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in the capital.REUTERS/Stringer (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT)

Red-shirted anti-government protesters and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra circle to attack the car of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as Abhisit's security guards, black jackets, try in vain to stop them after Abhisit declared a state of emergency at Interior Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, April 12, 2009. Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday and ordered armored vehicles into the streets to stem a tide of protest across the country.(AP Photo)

Soldiers watch a TV broadcast of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's speech during a news conference at the Government House in Bangkok April 12, 2009. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told anti-government demonstrators on Sunday to end their protests or face tough measures allowed under a state of emergency that he declared earlier in the capital.REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY)

Red-shirted anti-government protesters and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attack the car of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva with clubs and various objects as Abhisit's security guards, black jackets, try in vain to stop them after Abhisit declared a state of emergency at Interior Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday, April 12, 2009. Thailand's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday and ordered armored vehicles into the streets to stem a tide of protest across the country.(AP Photo)

Thai anti-government demonstrators gather round a vandalized car leaving the Thai Interior Ministry on Sunday, April 12, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. The country's embattled government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down a 16-nation Asian summit, declared a state of emergency in the capital Sunday and ordered armored vehicles into the streets to stem a tide of protest across the country.(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Vietnamese, Cambodian youths promote exchange

VOV News
04/12/2009

A sports delegation from Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province is joining Vietnamese youth in an exchange programme in the Central Highland province of Dak Nong from April 9-11.

Vietnamese and Cambodian representatives shared experiences in boosting youth movements and affirmed the youth’s key role in preventing crimes, social evils and abolishing backward customs to ensure peace for the people.

They pledged to actively take part in social activities and poverty reduction, as well as providing assistance to underprivileged people, overcoming the aftermath of natural calamities and protecting the environment. They also held cultural exchange and sports competitions to strengthen friendship.

Dak Nong and Mondulkiri share a 130 km long border. People of ethnic minority groups in the two provinces regularly hold joint activities to promote their unity, friendship and cooperation.

Cambodian nationals arrested for drug trafficking

VOV News
04/12/2009

The criminal investigation department under the Ministry of Public Security on April 10 prosecuted and arrested four drug traders and traffickers, including two Cambodian nationals.

The detainees were Ho Minh Loi, 33, and Pham Thai Son, 37, both from Long An province, Khuon Khmoi, 29, and Kim Phuc, 42, both Cambodian nationals.

The four established a ring to transport synthetic drugs from Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City across the Tho Mo border gate in Long An province to be distributed in cafés, bars and discos.

According to initial investigations, the ring, led by Khuon Khmoi, had been operating for nearly 10 years.

In March 2009, the criminal investigation department caught Pham Thai Son and Ho Minh Loi red handed trafficking 200 amphetamine tablets and 100gr of powdered drugs.

Son and Loi confessed that they were hired by Khuon Khmoi to transport the drugs to Vietnam. Later, police arrested Khuon Khmoi and Kim Phuc in Long An province.

Thai protesters storm interior ministry

Reuters; Thai riot police

TVNZ (New Zealand)
Sunday April 12, 2009
Source: Reuters

Troops fired into the air as Thai anti-government protesters stormed the country's interior ministry after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in the capital.

About 50 protesters broke through security at the interior ministry in Bangkok while Abhisit was in the building, but the prime minister escaped by car, a TV channel said.

Reuters journalists at the scene said soldiers initially made no effort to stop the protesters from entering the building but later fired into the air to prevent more from joining them.

Red-shirted protesters were also gathering at the capital's police headquarters while a crowd at Government House had grown to over 4,000.

The latest unrest comes a day after protesters stormed the venue of a summit of Asian leaders, forcing the event to be cancelled and seriously undermining confidence in the government.

In a weekly address to the nation, Abhisit said arrest warrants were being drawn up for those responsible for the unrest.

Police said they had already arrested Arismun Pongreungrong, a popular singer prominent in the summit assault, and were holding him at a police station north of Bangkok.

"In the current situation, what I have to do is to bring peace to the country, bring back governance and have a process of political reform," Abhisit said.

Political humiliation

Abhisit suffered a political humiliation when the summit he had presented as a sign of the country's return to normality had to be cancelled after red-shirted supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra broke into the venue, sending Asian leaders fleeing by helicopter.

Thaksin's supporters say Abhisit only became premier because of a parliamentary stitch-up engineered by the army. They want new elections, which they would be well placed to win.

The events will pile more pressure on an economy teetering on the brink of recession, especially if foreign tourists are put off by the scenes of chaos.

Thai financial markets are closed until Thursday for a holiday. After months of falls, many Asian stock markets have rallied in recent weeks but the Thai market has been held back by the political unrest and is flat on the year.

Patareeya Benjapolchai, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, was concerned.

"It's really up to the government now how it manages the situation within this five-day break. What happened was a loss for the country. The Asean summit was supposed to be a step-up for our economy," Patareeya told Reuters.

Newspapers were outraged both by the pro-Thaksin supporters' insult to foreign leaders and by the government's inability to put proper security in place. Police and soldiers put up little resistance as the demonstrators marched towards the summit hotel.

"Yesterday was a truly shameful day for our country, which had its international image destroyed," the Bangkok Post said in a front-page editorial.

Khmer Rouge survivors give voice to their 'silent suffering'

Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times
Born Pach, 40, survived a Khmer Rouge work camp in Cambodia and made it to Long Beach in 1989.

Los Angeles Times
By Joe Mozingo
April 12, 2009

At night, the old woman hears the voices of her children crying out for her. She knows they will never stop.

Um Sath is 89, and it has been three decades since the Khmer Rouge laid waste to Cambodia. But she shuts her eyes and furiously taps her temples to show exactly where the genocidal regime still rules with impunity. "We miss you, Mama," the voices cry.

Viasnah Cragn, 58, recalls the executions, the dead bodies, the screaming — and how soldiers killed children with clubs to save bullets.
(Ann Johansson / Los Angeles Times) April 9, 2009

Um Sath, left, at a Cambodian New Year celebration, lost her sons and husband.
(Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times) April 2, 2008

Sath spends much of her day sitting in silence and fighting her mind. For years she rarely left her old clapboard house in central Long Beach. Though she now finds slivers of peace chatting with the other haunted figures at her senior center, she has mostly kept the caroming echoes of the "killing fields" sealed tightly inside her head.

One bright spring morning last month, she let them out -- joining dozens of survivors at a recreation center in Long Beach to face their memories head-on. They wanted to see just a bit of reckoning for the perpetrators of one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.

Since February, a United Nations-backed tribunal in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh has been trying the first of five Khmer Rouge leaders charged with crimes against humanity, for the brutal experiment in communism that took at least 1.7 million lives between 1975 and 1979.

Activists in the United States are trying to get refugees outside Cambodia to submit their testimonies to the tribunal, in an effort to spur a judicial process beset by delays, limited funds and allegations of corruption. They hope, along the way, that they can relieve the emotional torture of survivors who rarely speak about what happened.

"I'm hoping it will allow them to tell the world what happened 34 years ago," said Leakhena Nou, an assistant professor of sociology at Cal State Long Beach, who is leading the outreach effort in Southern California, home of the largest Cambodian refugee community in the world. "The Khmer Rouge leaders are getting old, the victims are getting old. This is their chance to have their voices be heard before it's too late."

Nou has found that survivors of the Khmer Rouge era living in Cambodia and the U.S. have endured what she calls a prolonged "silent suffering."

"What we're seeing with Cambodians is anomie -- a state of hopelessness and helplessness and this feeling of being disconnected from society."

In a children's day-care room at the rec center in McBride Park, Nou explains to Sath and other victims the importance of submitting their written testimony to the tribunal.

Nou understands this tribunal has huge problems. She knows it won't touch even a small fraction of the era's killers. She knows political forces in Cambodia are trying to limit the tribunal's reach. She knows survivors' memories are fragmented and muddled by trauma and time. And she knows that asking them to condense incomprehensible horrors of that time -- the irrevocable turning point in all of their lives -- into a few quotidian lines in tiny boxes on a government form borders on cruel farce.

Description of crime. Date. Who do you believe is responsible for these crimes and why do you believe this?

Nou hasn't even been assured that prosecutors will read the forms. But she still hopes this could be a starting point for Cambodians around the world to rally for justice.

She asks the survivors whether, before filling out the forms, they want to get their stories out into the open and tell them to the group.

A slight, pale figure in a checkered coat stands up. Sath's eyes crinkle before she speaks.

She and her husband were farmers and merchants in the rich land along the Mekong River, south of Phnom Penh. In the middle class, with enough money to own a modest brick house, they were targets when the Khmer Rouge swept into power in 1975, brutally turning the country into a collective society of farm peasants. Intellectuals, teachers, doctors, businessmen, government bureaucrats and army soldiers were executed en masse.

Khmer Rouge soldiers showed up at Sath's home with rifles, took her husband away and told her to start walking with her eight children. "Just walk," she recalls. Mother and children had nothing but their clothes.

The countryside was crowded with people treading the rutted roads. Sath held her 6-year-old boy's hand. Everyone was silent.

For days they wandered, following orders. Anyone who complained or asked questions was dismissed by a bullet to the back of the head.

The soldiers barked questions about her husband at Sath: Why did he travel to Phnom Penh so often? Did he work for the national police?

She told them they were just poor people, doing nothing.

They let her and her children return to where she had lived. The family reunited with her husband and stayed for a month. Their house had been burned to the ground -- just a pile of bricks and the skeleton of a stairway. They slept on the ground. There was no food, and they nearly starved, eating only watery rice soup.

The soldiers forced them back on the road, this time to a work camp near Pursat, where they lived on the dirt floor of a straw hut. The family was emaciated, working to exhaustion in the rice fields day after day.

There were no clocks or calendars, just a malignant silence. Time was elastic and unmoored, like in a nightmare.

The smell of death

One day, soldiers came and locked Sath in chains and took her husband away. She said nothing. Days later she overheard soldiers casually mention his execution. She reeled, but kept it inside for her children.

They came again, in the rice paddy. They asked the children all sorts of questions about their parents. They were kids; they didn't know what they needed to lie about. They said their dad traveled back and forth. They said they had had servants.

The soldiers took her three sons -- two in their late teens, and the 6-year-old.

Some time later, Sath heard that other villagers had seen the boys' clothes in the plowed-up dirt where bodies were routinely buried.

They came for her next. They took her to the same field and beat her unconscious. She woke up naked, amid decaying bodies and the smell that, decades later, could bring every fine grain of this horror back to life. She made it back to her hut, surviving several more near-death moments before Vietnamese soldiers ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

So now she stands in this children's playroom, with its drawings of Cookie Monster and Nemo the clown fish, and the words pour out too fast for the translator to keep up. Sath's eyes are fixed on the middle distance.

"I lost my sons, my grandson. They took my husband away right in front of me. They killed my husband. They took my brothers and sisters away. They were all killed by the Khmer Rouge."

The anguish in her face tells of the unspeakable loss in her heart. A man in a gray suit pulls a handkerchief from his pocket and wipes his eyes. Another takes his glasses off and pinches the bridge of his nose. Women choke back sobs.

Sath thanks everyone profusely for listening.

A stout little woman in a red floral dress and white sandals takes the microphone next. Her face is swollen with emotion before she can speak.

Born Pach, now 40, was a child when the black-clad soldiers came for her parents. They told her they needed to be "re-educated."

They sent Pach to a camp in the province of Battambang to cut rice. She begged to see her parents. But they shouted at her, no, she would not see them again.

One day, the guards accused her of stealing a rooster and beat her. Another time, when she was ill, they accused her of being lazy and sliced the top and side of her head with a knife, and then stuck a burning piece of metal in her rectum.

She saw them slit other children's throats, or club them to death.

Dreams, nightmares

Pach survived the Khmer Rouge and made it to Long Beach in 1989. She lives alone in a tiny Section 8 apartment, watching Cambodian karaoke shows behind a steel security screen door, venturing out mostly just to collect cans. She had a boyfriend for several years. They had a wedding ceremony in Las Vegas, but they never made it official and he left her for someone else years ago. The photos of his family hang on her wall. They're all she ever had.

On her mini-fridge, she has a small shrine for her parents, with Buddhist statuettes, incense she keeps burning and cans of soda for them to drink. She dreams that her mother is talking to her, telling her to take care of herself. She can still see her face.

Pach has sought counseling for depression, but never kept up with it. She has nightmares that she is being burned alive. She thinks Khmer Rouge spies live in her building and record her every word.

But she says she is not afraid of them. She wants her torturers to go to prison.

"The Khmer Rouge killed my parents when I was 5 or 6 years old," she cries at the rec center. "I wanted to see my parents so much, but the Khmer Rouge wouldn't let me. They tied me up. They said, 'No, you can't see your parents.' "

She recounts her injuries, in between shallow breaths, and sits down.

Viasnah Cragn, 58, steps up and tells how the Khmer Rouge shot her sister-in-law in the head as she begged for her husband's life. Her story follows no chronology, just the messy onslaught of images in her head.

She recalls someone executed for complaining about mosquitoes. She tells of giving birth twice, being forced into the rice paddies immediately and coming home to find the newborns unfed -- and dead. She remembers dead bodies left unburied for the dogs to eat, and the carnivores' otherworldly howling at night. She remembers the ghostly silence of daylight.

She describes her husband, starving, falling off a footbridge into the water while carrying a bag of rice.

"I asked for him to be rescued," she says. "They said, 'Why are you so possessive? Your husband is no longer your husband! Your children are no longer your children! You just need to focus on your work.' "

She describes how they killed children with clubs to save bullets. The adults quickly learned to be silent. The children couldn't help themselves. Cragn constantly hears their screaming -- Mommy, Daddy, help me! -- to this day.

Cragn looks at everyone, desperate, beseeching, alone.

"I live here," she says. "I walk around. But I feel like I'm a person living without a soul."

Digging deep

The levee is broken and the stories are pouring out. One woman gets a roll of paper towels to hand around to wipe the tears.

When they get to the forms, 21 people fill them out. No one remembers dates. Places are vague. Only one victim names an alleged perpetrator. The rest do not remember their tormentors' names, never knew them, or are still scared.

A week later, Cragn says she feels that a great pain -- a physical pressure she carried in her chest -- has been lifted by telling her story that day.

"Ever since I did what I did Friday, I feel like there's nothing left of it," she says. "I don't know where it all goes."

But pain has its own strata, and some layers are too deep to unearth. She didn't tell everything that day. She told of other people getting tortured. When asked about her own torture, tears stream down to her jaw before her face is wrung in agony.

"I can't talk about that," she cries.

Protests Against Asia Summit

Armed security officers draw their weapons after supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra tried to enter one of the venues of the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Pattaya April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Pattaya, Thailand, has effectively been cancelled after anti-government protesters broke into part of the conference venue, a Thai government spokesman said on Saturday.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY)

Anti-government demonstrators storm through the 14th ASEAN convention hall Saturday, April 11, 2009, in Pattaya, Thailand, at the 14th ASEAN summit. A Thai government officials say a summit of Asian leaders has been canceled for security reasons. The announcement Saturday came after more than 1,000 anti-government protesters smashed through glass doors to storm into the convention hall where some of the meetings were scheduled to take place.(AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Thai anti-government demonstrators bash their way into the venue of the 14th ASEAN summit on Saturday, April 11, 2009, in Pattaya, Thailand. Visiting Asian leaders got a taste of Thailand's political turmoil when thousands of anti-government protesters converged on the venue of a regional summit, threatening to disrupt it unless the Thai prime minister resigns.(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra gather inside one of the venues of the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Pattaya April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Pattaya, Thailand, has effectively been cancelled after anti-government protesters broke into part of the conference venue, a Thai government spokesman said on Saturday.REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT)

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra sit outside one of the venues of the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits as an armed security officer keeps watch in Pattaya April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Pattaya, Thailand, has effectively been cancelled after anti-government protesters broke into part of the conference venue, a Thai government spokesman said on Saturday.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS MILITARY CONFLICT)

An armed security officer aims his weapon after supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra tried to enter one of the venues of the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Pattaya April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Pattaya, Thailand, has effectively been cancelled after anti-government protesters broke into part of the conference venue, a Thai government spokesman said on Saturday.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang (THAILAND POLITICS CONFLICT MILITARY)

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva walks as he arrives at U-Tapao military airport in Sattahip April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Thailand was cancelled on Saturday after hundreds of anti-government protesters broke through a cordon of troops and swarmed into the meeting's venue. About half of the Asian leaders attending the summit were evacuated by helicopter to a nearby military airbase. REUTERS/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/Pool (THAILAND POLITICS BUSINESS HEADSHOT IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva addresses a press conference at the venue of the 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and Related Summits, in Pattaya some 180 km southeast of Bangkok. Thai protesters smashed their way into a major Asian summit Saturday, forcing the country's embattled prime minister to cancel the meeting and evacuate foreign leaders by helicopter.(AFP/Christophe Archambault)

Vietnamese, Cambodian youths exchange views

11/04/2009

VietNamNet Bridge – About 100 representatives of the Youth Union and the Education and Training Department in Dak Nong Central Highland province and a youth and sports delegation from Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province participated in activities to exchange experiences on youth movement in Gia Nghia Commune, Dak Nong Province from Apr. 9-11.

The two neighbouring provinces of Dak Nong and Mondilkiri share a 130 km long border. People of ethnic minority groups in the two provinces have close economic, cultural and social relations and regularly hold joint activities to promote their unity, friendship and cooperation.

In the integration and globalisation process, the young people from the two provinces are required to raise local people’s awareness about the law and border regulations as well as the demarcation and landmark planting between the two countries.

The two delegations affirmed the youth’s key role in preventing crimes, social evils and abolishing backward customs to ensure peace for the people.

The young people pledged to actively take part in social activities, contributing to poverty reduction, assistance to underprivileged people, overcoming aftermath of natural calamities and environmental protection.

Youth from the two provinces also held cultural exchange and friendship sports events to strengthen friendship.

VietNamNet/VNA

ASEAN summit cancelled

itnnews

Anti-government protesters force their way inside the ASEAN summit in Thailand.

Cambodian PM returns home after ASEAN summits cancelled in Thailand

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sengreets before his departure back home at U-Tapao military airport, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Anti-government protesters stormed a building where leaders of Asian nations were to meet Saturday, prompting Thailand's government to cancel the summit and declare a state of emergency in the seaside city that was to host it.(AP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul, Pool)

www.chinaview.cn

2009-04-11

PHNOM PENH, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen arrived home from Thailand Saturday afternoon, after the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) summits in Pattaya were cancelled due to security reasons.

"The delegations could not enter the meeting place, and we delayed the meetings time after time. The time for the meetings was soon over and finally we decided to return home," Sry Thamrong, adviser for Hun Sen, told reporters at the airport.

"The protesters controlled the meeting place," he said.

It has been scheduled that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will visit Cambodia on April 18, but the plan might change because it depends on the internal situation of Thailand, he added.

While in Thailand on Friday, Abhisit Vejjajiva met with Hun Sen and handed over a piece of ancient Khmer artifact to him as a symbol of the bilateral friendship.

When Abhisit Vejjajiva visits Cambodia, at least 7 out of 24 pieces of ancient Khmer artifacts will be returned to Cambodia, according to Sry Thamrong.

These Khmer artifacts were stolen and trafficked out of Cambodia, but finally arrested by the Thai authorities.

Tha Cambodian delegation left for Thailand on Friday. Hun Sen was originally scheduled to meet with Chinese premier, UN secretary general, Malaysian prime minister and Australian premier over issues of bilateral cooperation.

According to an official press release, the Cambodian delegation for the ASEAN summits included Prime Minister Hun Sen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Nam Hong, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh and other governmental officials.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

Protesters force Thailand to cancel Asia summit

A military helicopter takes off from the venue of the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Pattaya April 11, 2009. With protesters still roaming around the sprawling summit venue, about half of the leaders were evacuated by helicopter to a nearby military airbase.REUTERS/Vivek Prakash (THAILAND TRANSPORT CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY)

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong walks as he departs from U-Tapao military airport in Sattahip April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Thailand was cancelled on Saturday after hundreds of anti-government protesters broke through a cordon of troops and swarmed into the meeting's venue. About half of the Asian leaders attending the summit were evacuated by helicopter to a nearby military airbase.REUTERS/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/Pool (THAILAND POLITICS BUSINESS)

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo walks before departing from U-Tapao military airport in Sattahip April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Thailand was cancelled on Saturday after hundreds of anti-government protesters broke through a cordon of troops and swarmed into the meeting's venue. About half of the Asian leaders attending the summit were evacuated by helicopter to a nearby military airbase.REUTERS/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/Pool (THAILAND POLITICS BUSINESS)

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) walks before departing from U-Tapao military airport in Sattahip April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Thailand was cancelled on Saturday after hundreds of anti-government protesters broke through a cordon of troops and swarmed into the meeting's venue. About half of the Asian leaders attending the summit were evacuated by helicopter to a nearby military airbase. REUTERS/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/Pool (THAILAND POLITICS)

South Korea President Lee Myung-Bak, left, talks with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prior to Lee's departure at U-Tapao military airport, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Anti-government protesters stormed a building where leaders of Asian nations were to meet Saturday, prompting Thailand's government to cancel the summit and declare a state of emergency in the seaside city that was to host it.(AP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul, Pool)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, center, walks to a plane for departure at U-Tapao military airport, Saturday, April 11, 2009. Anti-government protesters stormed a building where leaders of Asian nations were to meet Saturday, prompting Thailand's government to cancel the summit and declare a state of emergency in the seaside city that was to host it.(AP Photo/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul, Pool)

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen gives a traditional greetings as he depart from U-Tapao military airport in Sattahip on April 11, 2009. A summit of Asian leaders in Thailand was cancelled on Saturday after hundreds of anti-government protesters broke through a cordon of troops and swarmed into the meeting's venue. About half of the Asian leaders attending the summit were evacuated by helicopter to a nearby military airbase.REUTERS/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/Pool (THAILAND POLITICS)

A man is carried away after he was injured when supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra stormed the ASEAN summit. Thousands of Thai anti-government protesters have smashed their way into a major Asian summit, forcing the country's embattled prime minister to cancel the meeting and evacuate foreign leaders by helicopter.(AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)

Anti-government protesters and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra react to the speech of Thaksin who addresses the crowd via telephone from an undisclose location during a protest outside the government house in Bangkok, Thailand Saturday, April 11, 2009. Anti-government protesters stormed a convention center where leaders of Asian nations were to meet Saturday, smashing doors and searching room by room for the prime minister. Thailand's government canceled the summit and airlifted the leaders by helicopter from the seaside city. The red-shirted protesters, who are calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, declared victory and walked away from the complex after about an hour.(AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

A helicopter takes off from a roof of the hotel hosting the ASEAN summit after protestors stormed the venue in Pattaya. Thai protesters smashed their way into a major Asian summit Saturday, forcing the country's embattled prime minister to cancel the meeting and evacuate foreign leaders by helicopter.(AFP/Christophe Archambault)

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra force their way past soldiers through a shattered glass door at one of the venues of the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits in Pattaya April 11, 2009.REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Miami Herald Media

By AMBIKA AHUJA
Associated Press Writer

PATTAYA, Thailand -- Thailand evacuated Asian leaders by helicopter after hundreds of anti-government protesters stormed into their summit site, forcing the country's embattled prime minister to cancel the meeting.

The latest fiasco in Thailand's political crisis increased the threat of violence and a possible military crackdown.

More than 1,000 demonstrators broke through a wall of unarmed soldiers, smashed through the convention center's glass doors and ran through the building, blowing horns, waving Thai flags and shouting demands for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign.

They declared victory after Abhisit was forced to cancel the 16-country summit, where leaders of regional powers China, Japan and India, and the U.N. secretary-general and president of the World Bank, planned to discuss the global financial crisis.

Abhisit later denounced the protesters on national television as the "enemies of Thailand."

The country's political tension has simmered since former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was removed by a military coup in 2006. Thaksin opponents marched last year to remove Thaksin's allies from power, even shutting down the country's main international airport for about a week in November. After a court ordered the removal of the previous government, Abhisit was appointed by Parliament in December - sparking Thaksin supporters to take to the streets.

Their numbers grew to 100,000 in the capital, Bangkok, last week, and some in Pattaya smashed the window of a vehicle carrying the prime minister, who was unharmed.

Seizing the international spotlight of the East Asia Summit this weekend, protesters converged on the seaside city of Pattaya to push for Abhisit's resignation - seeking to embarrass him in front of other Asian leaders.

"We have won. We have stopped them from holding a summit," Jakrapob Penkair, a protest leader, said in Bangkok. "But we have not achieved our goal yet. We will continue to protest in Bangkok until Abhisit resigns."

Abhisit imposed a state of emergency after the summit was overrun, but revoked it six hours later after regional leaders were safely airlifted to a nearby military airport.

The ongoing protests could prompt the military to intervene - a high possibility in a country that has experienced 18 military coups since the 1930s.

"The situation has gotten completely out of hand. Violence and bloodshed is very much possible" if Abhisit does not resign or dissolve Parliament, said Charnvit Kasetsiri, a historian and former rector of Bangkok's Thammasat University. "If the government cannot control the situation, military intervention is not out of the question."

The incident raises questions about the government's ability to enforce law and order. Despite the presence of hundreds of soldiers in riot gear, the protesters met little resistance as they approached the summit venue. Government supporters believe elements within the police are sympathetic to the protesters, partly because Thaksin was himself an officer.

"Deep down, some government and military leaders also suspect some police have sympathy for Thaksin," said Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

"No one seems to be in charge within the establishment, the government and the military," Charnvit said.

Tens of thousands of the Thaksin supporters continue to ring Government House, the prime minister's office. They say Abhsit took power illegitimately and want fresh elections. They also accuse the country's elite - the military, judiciary and other unelected officials - of undermining democracy by interfering in politics.

The anti-government protests have already spread to rural provinces, where Thaksin remains popular due to his social welfare policies such as cheap health care.

"Right now, there are two possibilities - either a crackdown on the protesters or Abhisit dissolves Parliament," said Charnvit. "The situation has been pushed forward to a dead end."

A tense-looking Abhisit, speaking on national television, promised to restore the country to "peace and stability" as soon as possible.

"That would be my only goal," he said.

Thailand, Cambodia will communicate more directly and often, says PM Abhisit

MCOT English News

PATTAYA, April 11 (TNA) – Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Friday announced that Thailand and Cambodia will communicate more directly with each other, and more frequently, to prevent possible border clashes caused by misunderstanding.

Speaking of a bilateral discussion with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on the eve of the ASEAN+3 and +6 summits being held in this eastern resort town, Mr. Abhisit said he had discussed with the Cambodian leader regarding more comprehensive cooperation between the neighboring countries.

“We shared a common view that the clash between soldiers of both countries, which occurred on April 3, was a misunderstanding or an accident. It won’t affect our bilateral relations and cooperation,” he said.

Mr. Abhisit emphasised both sides would attempt to negotiate and communicate more directly and frequently to prevent any similar undesirable incidents.

The premier said Cambodia and Thailand would forge their cooperation in key projects.

For instance, the deputy premiers of both countries have been assigned to find a common way to jointly develop overlapping marine areas.

An agreement on the matter must be reached soon because it would benefit both countries in terms of energy stability in the future, he said.

Other projects include construction of a hydroelectric dam and loan assistance for road building. (TNA)

Injured woman in Cambodian nightmare

Lisa Gatt (left) with her sister Lia

Times of Malta
Saturday, 11th April 2009

Cynthia Busuttil

The family of a 25-year-old woman are desperately trying to bring her back to Malta for treatment after she was badly injured in a traffic accident in Cambodia.

Lisa Gatt, a call centre worker from Marsascala, was riding pillion on a motorcycle last Tuesday when the accident happened.

"When she called home after the accident she said she had heard a loud noise and then everything went black," her sister, Lia, said.

Unconscious, the young woman was taken to a nearby clinic where she woke up some hours later in extreme pain.

"Her femur (thigh) bone is broken and one of her hands is so swollen that she can barely see her fingers," the distraught sister said.

The victim, who turns 26 in June, left for Cambodia in November to join a friend who was trekking in the South Asian country but the two later went their separate ways.

Having travelled without taking out an insurance policy, the young woman is now facing hefty medical bills. Surgery to pin her thigh bone back in place came with a €2,000 price tag, which her family had to borrow and wire over to her.

"She is in a small clinic in a rural village and we wanted to fly her to a military hospital in Bangkok. But just the helicopter ride would have cost €15,000 and another €10,000 for the surgery," her sister said.

The family is now appealing for help to fly the young woman back to Malta.

Writing on a Facebook page created specially to raise money to bring the young woman home, Lia Gatt wrote that her sister was in high spirits following the operation even though she was awake during the whole procedure.

"She saw everything that was happening to her, miskina (poor girl) and she also felt the pulls and tugs on her leg and could feel them drilling and banging on her bone. She tried to call out to tell them that she was still awake but was unable to make a sound," she wrote, adding that this probably meant the anaesthetic had not worked.

The young woman is still in severe pain, with her sister saying she "screams in agony" when they speak to her over the phone.

"We need to get her to Malta and admit her to hospital here to make sure she gets the proper treatment and avoid infections," she said.

But the young woman will need to be transported on a stretcher since she cannot move her leg, pushing up the price for a plane ticket.

"She has no control over her leg and will have to travel on a stretcher. We are in contact with airlines to try and find a way of getting her back to Malta," Lia Gatt said.

The girls' father is expected to travel to Cambodia as soon as arrangements are made to be with his daughter and help bring her home.

The family has asked for help from the Foreign Affairs Ministry, which, since Malta does not have an embassy in Cambodia, has asked for the British authorities' assistance. Lia Gatt said the British Embassy had sent someone to check on her sister.

"Lisa did not get travel insurance before she left. She left in a hurry and was unaware of the dangers. She made a mistake as many others do and let this be a lesson to everyone. Let's raise the awareness so it does not happen again," her sister wrote.

Lia Gatt can be contacted on liagatt@hotmail.com.

LB exhibit shares visions of Khmer lives

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

By Greg Mellen
Staff Writer
04/10/2009

LONG BEACH - On the walls are multimedia, photographic and painted works. In a side room is a photo collage of transgender life in Cambodia along with several books by Cambodian-American authors, including Long Beach's Navy Phim and Oni Vitandham. In the center of the main room is a traditional-looking Cambodian figure with the Superman "S" on its chest.

The 2nd City Council Arts and Performance Space is into all things Khmer with the debut of a new show called "Transformation II: Bringing Contemporary Khmer/American Art to Long Beach."

The show features Khmer and Khmer-inspired paintings, sculpture, photography, dance and performance art. There will also be documentary films and a writers' forum with published Cambodian-American writers.

The event is being presented at the 2nd City Council space at 435 Alamitos Ave.

The show builds upon a show that was presented in July, 2008, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at the Meta House Gallery.

That show paired the work of five California and five Cambodian artists, most of whom had never been in each other's countries.

Lydia Parusol, the art manager of Meta House, described the shows as the "first dialogue in an artistic way" between artists from the two countries.

In Cambodia, where most of the population is under the age of 30, in the wake of the Killing Fields Genocide of the late 1970s, a new and vibrant artistic movement is under way and artistic expression is

blooming from its ancient but often constrictive roots.
"In Cambodia there are young artists who are trying to go from traditional sculpture to more critical thinking," Parusol said. "They are reflecting society and themselves in the present Cambodian culture."

And on the walls of the gallery, the fusions of old and new Cambodia are represented in many ways, reflecting a "bridge between traditional and modern art," according to Parusol.

Denise Scott, who splits time between the United States and Cambodia, saw the original "Transformations" show and knew she had to bring something similar to the U.S. and specifically to Long Beach because of its large Cambodian-American population.

Furthermore, she wanted to present the show over the Cambodian New Year which occurs in mid-April.

"Transformation II" includes the work from the original show, but then builds on it with performance art and plans to show 12 documentary films that look at the vibrant emerging arts scene in Cambodia, including some major public arts projects and individual artists.

Scott says the two Transformation shows are just the beginning of what she hopes will be an ongoing exchange.

Plans are already in the works for another show at Meta House, with five to seven American artists traveling to Cambodia to not only show work, but engage in artistic exchanges and possibly working with Cambodian artists to create new works.

Scott also plans to have a return show in Long Beach next April.

At this year's Long Beach show, only one of the Cambodian artists was able to obtain travel documents.

The artists featured have studied at Cal State Long Beach, the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh, the Chicago Art Institute and Brown University, among others.

Khmer art on display

Transformation II: Bringing Contemporary Khmer/American Art to Long Beach" will run until May 3.

Today's events: An artists' reception from 6 to 9 p.m. with entertainment.

Friday, April 24: From 6 to 9 p.m. a second reception will feature the screening of documentaries and a book signing.

U.S. Secretary of State wishes Cambodian people happy Khmer New year

www.chinaview.cn

2009-04-11

PHNOM PENH, April 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday issued a letter to wish the Cambodian people a happy Khmer New Year, which falls from April 14 to 16, according to the U.S. Embassy.

"On the occasion of the Khmer New Year, I wish the Cambodian people peace, prosperity, and best wishes," she said in the letter made available to the press by the embassy.

"I look forward to the year ahead as our two nations identify even greater opportunities to strengthen our bilateral ties, as well as to work together on mutual areas of interest," she said.

"This past year has been marked by significant progress in our relations, including U.S. military humanitarian ship visits, new agreements to implement assistance programs in economic development and the rule of law, and Peace Corps volunteers in 11 provinces," she added.

This has been the first time in recent years that a U.S. secretary of state wrote to greet the kingdom on the occasion of the Khmer New Year.

In early March, U.S. Embassy spokesman John Johnson once told local media that Cambodia will host a multinational peacekeeping exercise in 2010 as part of a U.S. State Department program.

"The Royal Government of Cambodia has agreed to host a multilateral peacekeeping training event in 2010 as part of the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI), an annual Capstone training event attended by GPOI member nations and other regional and international partners," he said.

The event will provide training such as "field tactical and command post operations," but the formal planning and preparation for the exercise will not begin until late this year, he added.

Editor: Wang Guanqun

Thailand cancels Southeast Asian summit

Thai anti-government demonstrators gather just moments before bashing their way into the meeting venue on Saturday.Photo: AP

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PATTAYA, Thailand

Apr 11, 2009

Thailand declared a state of emergency in the city hosting a summit of Asian leaders and canceled the event for security reasons Saturday after more than 1,000 anti-government protesters stormed the venue.

The leaders were being evacuated by helicopter from the seaside city of Pattaya to a nearby military airport, a security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The red-shirted protesters, who are calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Abhisit Vejjajiva, smashed through the glass doors of the convention hall and ran through the building, overturning tables, blowing horns, waving Thai flags and screaming, "Abhisit get out!"

All the leaders were safe, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat. Nine leaders from Southeast Asian nations were in a nearby hotel on the convention grounds at the time the protesters broke in.

"The meeting cannot go on. We have to consider the security of the leaders," Thai government spokesman Supachai Jaisamuth said. "The situation is too violent and it is a security concern for the leaders."

The chaos dealt a major blow to Abhisit, who has been trying to project an image of calm and normality since taking power in a parliamentary vote four months ago after a court dissolved the previous government for election fraud.

It also scuttles a chance for the 16 regional leaders, including those from China, Japan and South Korea, to confer on ways to combat the global slump that has battered Asia's export-oriented economies. North Korea's recent rocket launch also was to be discussed at the weekend summit.

The protesters are supporters of former Tahi Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup. They say Abhisit was not elected by the people and should step down so new elections can be held.

"We want to tell Abhisit himself that this meeting cannot go on," protest leader Arisman Pongreungrong said after leading the mob into the convention hall.

Abhisit, who has repeatedly refused to step down, went on national television and declared a state of emergency in the area surrounding the summit.

"I am using my power as the prime minister to declare a state of emergency in the area of Pattaya and Chonburi," he said.

The decree gives the military the right to restore order, allows authorities to suspend civil liberties, bans public gatherings of more than five people and bars the media from reporting news that "causes panic."

Earlier, organizers said all morning meetings at the summit had been delayed after protesters blocked traffic around the hotels where delegates were staying and amid clashes between anti- and pro-government groups. There were unconfirmed reports of protesters carrying guns.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said two or three people were injured in the clashes and that authorities were investigating reports of shots fired and an explosion.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was scheduled to meet with the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Saturday morning. That was to be followed by meetings between ASEAN leaders and the president of South Korea, and later with Japan's prime minister.

A breakfast meeting of the foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea was also canceled.

After the protesters broke into the convention hall, a reporter saw at least three people with cuts from the glass and blood on the floor.

Panitan said protesters have been warned that "very tough standards will be applied to them very soon.

Key looking to get out of Thailand

NewsTalk ZB (New Zealand)
11/04/2009

The Prime Minister is hoping to get out of Thailand as soon as possible, amid the chaos the country has descended into.

John Key arrived in Bangkok first thing this morning intending to drive to the beach resort of Pattaya, where the ASEAN summit was to be held.

He says protestors made the road trip impossible because they had surrounded both the hotel he was staying at and the hotel where the summit was to take place.

John Key says the protestors' actions gave Thai authorities no other option but to cancel the summit.

He is now waiting to get on the first plane out of Bangkok to Beijing, where he will launch trade operations.

Column: From Cambodia to Columbia University

Trading Markets (press release)
Fri. April 10, 2009

Columbia U., New York, NY, Apr 08, 2009 (Columbia Daily Spectator/UWire via COMTEX) -- UCL Quote Chart News PowerRating -- Through the phone, the voice sounded cracked and distorted, heavy with genuine concern, aged by more than enough traumatizing experiences for any one lifetime. Thinking of the crime, violence, and general danger present at the time in a war-riddled nation, my grandmother wasted no time making herself clear regarding an offer my father had received. She told him, "I want my granddaughter to still have a father."

This was my grandmother's reaction to my dad's announcement that he would be accepting a position in Cambodia's United Nations Transitional Authority in 1992. At a time when refugees were still fleeing from the postwar conflict in Southeast Asia, seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness anywhere but home, my father was among those headed in the opposite direction--to help, toward home (if you could even call it "home," seeing as he had not been there in 20 years). To my grandmother, I imagine that my father's acceptance of this job encompassed many negative doubts and fears. Accepting meant to abandon his stable post at Unocal, an oil company now absorbed by the corporate giant Chevron. It meant leaving Southern California, the place where most of the surviving members on my father's side had sought refuge from the Khmer Rouge genocide of 1975-1979.

For my mother, my father's choice didn't translate easily either. She had just recently moved to the United States from France, where her side of the family found protection from the war. For her, it was only after countless garage sales, selling our car and our house, and transits in France, Switzerland, and Thailand, that she and I, a wide-eyed toddler at the time, finally reunited with my father in Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh.

Here in New York, nearing the end of my first year at Columbia, I've been flattered to see a rise in the number of people curious about my past, especially given the great diversity on our campus. Like high school students will be asking themselves this month, I've had my share of the typical "Why Columbia?" question. True, a lot of students choose their colleges because of the distance between their school and home. New York City is the ultimate destination for students who may be habituated to a small town--students thirsty for more everything, especially more freedom. But my grandmother had a point when she spoke to my dad 30 years earlier. Isn't moving halfway around the world a bit much?

The international student would know: College abroad means trading in real phone calls for Skype and IM at odd hours of the night. For some, this difference means sacrificing frequent visits from home for frequent packages from Lerner. It involves exchanging long transit hours at airports for even longer winters away from home. For my parents, their only child's choice of college probably led to a more severe case of Empty Nest Syndrome and accentuated their characteristics as protective, demanding parents. (Yes, Cambodians fit the Asian stereotype as well.) My father seemed most convinced that the crime, violence, and general danger of a big city automatically dropped Columbia from the list from which I was choosing. He also preferred Stanford and Berkeley for the fact that I would be closer to family. Ironic, no?

Maybe not. As the sun, squirrels, and acceptance letters come out again, existential questions begin to resurface in the classic Columbia fashion as I ask myself how I got here. I remember the plane ride, the excitement, how new and not quite familiar everything felt at first but how natural and comforting everything ended up being. Columbia helped, of course, by arranging a dinner for international students on our first night at school. Six months later, the friends I made there are still some of my closest friends, hailing from Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. These friends helped as well. I was lucky enough, as an international student, to be adopted by an American family for a weekend and get a chance to indulge in the American traditions of Thanksgiving and Christmas, or Hanukkah.

Looking back, perhaps the parallel between my father's move to Cambodia and mine to New York is not that unexpected. It's likely that the same thing that lured my father to Cambodia was exactly what I found in the City that Never Sleeps; a dynamic life, internationalism, and the ability to give back to our land of origin, still in dire need of assistance. I guess you could say the United Nations headquarters located here was also factor in my decision. But most importantly, another similarity is how well our seemingly arbitrary choices worked out. Raising me in the international environment of a developing country provided me with an interesting perspective. I feel lucky to have gotten the best of all three worlds, compared to American or French cousins whose parents did not return to Cambodia. Thinking of how strongly these three countries influence me now, I don't know how I ever imagined myself elsewhere else. Riding the subway downtown, walking across campus, or even just sitting in John Jay, I realize New York is the one place where nearly everyone here is also from somewhere else. But the fact I cherish most is this: It feels like home.

http://www.columbiaspectator.com

Thai protesters target Asian summit - 10 Apr 09

AlJazeeraEnglish

A summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Thailand was set to focus on the global financial crisis, but the meeting has been over be overshadowed by political unrest.

Anti-government protesters are demanding the resignation of the prime minister, and the reinstatement of the previous constitution.

Al Jazeera's Tony Cheng reports from Bangkok.

Protests in Thailand force closure of ASEAN meet

Thai army officers get in position to block a protest of supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in Pattaya. (AFP Photo)

Thai army officers get in position to block a protest by supporters. (AFP Photo)

Supporters of Thaksin shake hands with soldiers blocking the road near ASEAN Summit venue in Pattaya. (Reuters Photo)

A supporter of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin shouts slogans as soldiers block a road in Pattaya. (Reuters Photo)

Supporters of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin prepare to confront pro-government supporters in Pattaya. (Reuters Photo)

Thaksin supporters clash witn pro-government supporters near the venue of the 14th ASEAN Summit in Pattaya. (Reuters Photo)

Pro-government supporters clash with Thaksin supporters in Pattaya. (Reuters Photo)

THE TIMES OF INDIA
11 Apr 2009

PATTAYA: The foreign ministers of China, Japan and South Korea cancelled a meeting at an Asian summit here on Saturday after Thai anti-government protesters blockaded their hotel, officials said.


Hundreds of demonstrators calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva prevented the Japanese minister's car from entering the venue in the beach resort of Pattaya.

The meeting, which was set to discuss North Korea's recent rocket launch and economic issues, was called off after the ministers had waited for an hour, officials from the Chinese and Japanese delegations said.

"The meeting has been cancelled," a senior Chinese official said.

It was the first time that the red-shirted supporters of fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra had managed to disrupt the summit programme since they descended on Pattaya a day earlier.

About 2,000 demonstrators on Friday laid siege to the main venue of the meeting of 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders plus their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

They had dispersed overnight but returned early on Saturday to block the road outside the meeting of the three east Asian nations with taxis and at least two large trucks, witnesses said.