Bank reports slump in remittances

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Slumping volumes through Cambodia’s ports have led to a 24.6 percent drop in ACLEDA Bank’s remittances business.

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Nguon Sovan

ACLEDA counts 25 percent drop in trade transactions over first half of year compared with 2008, but expects an uptick before the end of the year after flows showed signs of recovery in June

Cross-border money remittances through ACLEDA Bank dropped 24.6 percent year on year in the first half from US$727.34 million to $547.83 million, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer So Phonnary said.

The fall was due largely to exports and imports, she said.

"The major decline was due to the drop in garment exports, so money transferred into the country was down," she said. "Because demand for imports of automobiles, machinery and goods and commodities into Cambodia also dropped, the amount of money transferred out of Cambodia was also down."

Outgoing remittances fell 16.4 percent to $284.29 million, and inbound remittances dropped 31.8 percent to $263.54 million.

Even as total remittances fell, the number of transactions increased by roughly 1,500 to 28,000. "Due to the crisis, cross-border trades became smaller in size," So Phonnary said.

So Phonnary said the most severe drop was in January when $39.7 million was transferred out of the country and $40 million in. By June, outbound remittances through ACLEDA had rose again to $54 million, and money coming into the country had increased to $42 million.

"Based on these figures, we expect business activities are going up in the second half of this year, but it's a slow recovery," she said.

Local money transfers through ACLEDA were more stable, dropping 5 percent from $1.24 in the first six months of 2008 to around $1 billion in the first half of this year. Average transaction sizes also fell domestically as the number of transactions rose 145,000 to 526,000.

Transfer fees are 0.1 percent of the total for inbound remittances and 0.17 percent for transfers out of the country.

Figures were not readily available Friday for remittances at other banks, but Union Commercial Bank CEO Yum Sui Sang estimated that cross-border remittances had dropped about 15 percent to an average of around $44 million per month.

"Business slowdown is the main factor," he said. "Exports slowed down, especially garment exports, so the money remittance declined."

Cambodian Public Bank country head Phan Ying Tong said remittance figures were unavailable. "I don't have the figures to compare, but I think the volume is quite stable.... It hasn't dropped dramatically or increased dramatically.

Tal Nay Im, director general of the National Bank of Cambodia, said Friday that the central bank did not directly supervise remittances and did not have figures to hand.

"[The crisis] has definitely reduced business activities between Cambodia and foreign countries," she said. "I hope the global economy recovers; when the economy recovers the banking industry will recover, too."

Veteran of vegetarianism says she's now guilt-free of trickery

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
Young diners at Sun I Miser Hor enjoying a vegetarian hot pot. Inset: Fried rice with a "mystery meat" ingredient: mushroom.

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Eating vegetarian food doesn’t just make diners healthy but saves animals.
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The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Roth Meas

Attitudes towards eating – and serving – vegetarian cuisine have changed since opening more than a decade ago, admits owner of one of capital’s first veg spots

Looking back on 12 years in the restaurant business, Chou Yin Ling offers up an ironic anecdote about her family's eatery: that they used to hide the provenance of their "mystery meat".

The 23-year-old owner of the all-vegetarian Sun I Miser Hor admits her family tricked their customers into trying their food. She said they used a need-to-know policy - basically, they didn't tell clients that the dishes they ate consisted of "meats" made mostly from mushroom or tofu. Otherwise, she says, the family feared customers would leave.

In those early days, the restaurant never even referred to the word "vegetarian". From a marketing standpoint, it would be the restaurant's so-called unique selling point, but at the time they thought it could also be a liability that people dining out wouldn't accept it.

"In 1997, everybody wanted to eat meat, which they believed empowered them," Chou Yin Ling said.

After a time, she said, customers became more familiar - and appreciative - of Sun I Miser Hor's veggie cuisine. She says the restaurant is popular with teens, and they serve about 200 people a day, mostly through word-of-mouth.

Chou Yin Ling says: "Young Cambodians nowadays have a new point of view. They acknowledge that eating vegetables is also good for them."

Expanding from its original two dishes, noodle soup and fried noodles, Sun I Miser Hor now offers up to 100 different dishes, including faux-fishball soup (2,000 riels), mushroom burger (4,500 riels), a vegetarian steak and rice set (5,000 riels), and a rice set with a mock-chicken "drumstick" (5,000 riels).

Although Sun I Miser Hor also serves its share of fried fast-food goodies, Yin Ling notes that vegetarianism is not only about being health conscious but it "also saves animals' lives".

Originally from Taiwan, Chou Yin Ling says that her cooking preparation and use of ingredients come from her Chinese heritage, but that she is largely self-taught.

Yseav Buoy, a 20-year-old high-school student, said she often comes to the vegetarian restaurant with friends after class. She said the benefit of eating vegetarian is that it helps her keep a beautiful figure, as the low-cholesterol content of the food on offer helps her avoid putting on weight.
Addicted

Her classmate, Sok Channy, 19, says she went veg six months after her friends introduced her to Sun I Miser Hor. She said she got tired of eating meat and has become a self-confessed addict of veggie food.

"The cooks make mushrooms that look a lot like real meat, so I eat them instead," she said.

Now she says she's keen to learn how to make the veggie food she's grown so fond of - and she expects to prepare it for her family someday.

Expanding one's culinary horizons

A monument to frogs past: almost nothing is off-limits to Cambodian gourmands. Bloomberg

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My stomach began churning. What was I doing? What would it taste like?
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The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Dene Mullen

It’s easy for expats to dismiss the stranger local bites on offer. But, then, when in Rome...

STAYING at home for three days straight can do funny things to a man's mind. After a particularly heavy, and expensive, weekend, I decided a self-imposed exile was the only solution.

By Day 3, I was manic, sitting in an irreparable man-shaped indent in my US$25 mattress, surrounded by the leftovers of three consecutive fish-and-chip dinners, and whooping with delight as Ellen Degeneres danced down the steps at the start of her show.

Yet the final straw came when I mouthed, "Really? Whose?" with bitchy intent, in answer to that blonde Desperate Housewife's assertion that, "I've got a husband now."

That was the moment I decided I had to get out of my apartment for some dinner. At least, I would the following night... I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here was on next with Lou Diamond Phillips in it!

Up for it
So, after a cracking night's sleep in my indent, I rose the next afternoon and was ready to take on the world.

I had decided to eat at Khmer Borane, a little restaurant I had heard good things about, which specialises in cheap, traditional(ish) Khmer food.

As I live close to Wat Phnom, it is a fair old walk to the restaurant at the south end of Sisowath Quay. At least, it is if you have spent the past three days wallowing in a den of chip grease and Star World-induced psychosis.

Tight budget
Yet with only $7 earmarked for my reintroduction to the world, I decided a 50-cent moto ride and walking home afterwards was the way to go.

The restaurant is very cute, resplendent in fairy lights, and there are a number of enticing choices on the menu. Yet there was one option that caught my eye and wouldn't let go - fried frog with peppers and onions.

Still suffering from my stay-at-home haze, I waged a mental war with myself. After all, there were spare ribs on the menu as well.

As the waitress approached to obtain my order, I almost involuntarily blurted out: "I'll have the frog please!" before she had even reached my table, let alone taken out her notepad.

Impressed
The diners around me seemed impressed with my brave decision, as was I; I'm sure one particularly debonair gentleman even gave me one of those nods that only the cognoscenti share.

I had planned to try new things during my time in Cambodia and wimped out until now, preferring to gorge myself on badly realised versions of Western food and the occasional chicken amok.

But look at me now! I was Bruce Willis; I was Indiana Jones; I was Lou Diamond Phillips!

However, the feeling I had finally taken my place among the most daring men alive soon receded. It was replaced firstly by nerves and then by reality's unforgiving slap.

Pre-meal nerves
My stomach began churning. What was I doing? What would it taste like? What if I didn't like it? Why had I just spent the last bit of money I had available, for the first proper meal I'd had in three days, on fried frog?

I was genuinely nervous, and it was clear I hadn't been thinking straight. After all, I'd chosen frogs over spare ribs; surely it is only a matter of time before this test is used to ascertain whether a man needs to pay a visit to the psych ward.

Yet when the dish arrived, 30 agonising minutes later, I was pleasantly surprised. The whole, slightly slimy frogs I had pictured in my mind's eye were not present. Instead, what confronted me were not dissimilar to miniature chicken wings, with plenty of green peppers, in a slightly spicy sauce.

Familiar taste
It has become a cliche to say that frog tastes a bit like chicken. Yet I cannot think of a better comparison to make.

It is similar in taste, texture and just a little bit greasier. It is not unpleasant in the slightest, although the main, and crucial, difference comes with the size of the animals.

Frogs are, of course, much smaller than chickens and thus have much smaller bones. This results in you spending more time picking tiny pieces of frog skeleton out of your mouth than actually eating the small amount of meat.

Many creatures great and small are enjoyed as delicacies throughout Southeast Asia. Both the riverside area and the Central Market are home to vendors peddling what the Post's Marika Hill called "Cambodia's crittery bites", including grilled snake, deep-fried tarantula, crickets and larvae, black beetles - and frogs.

Pastures new
I definitely enjoyed my amphibious specimen, and my meal has given me a new admiration for frogs' muscular thighs. I have also realised that perhaps being a little bit dazed when ordering food can produce some serendipitous results.

Next week I'm planning to visit one of the markets and get to grips with those spiders I've been considering since I arrived. I won't be scared this time though; Lou Diamond Phillips wouldn't be.

Khemara Keila kick themselves

Khemara Keila's Ty Bunvicheth (center) takes a shot at the Post Tel goal during their Cambodian Premier League match Saturday at Olympic Stadium.

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Andy Brouwer

Khemara Keila squandered numerous chances to allow strugglers Post Tel Club to grab a point in a 1-1 draw Saturday while Naga Corp’s African players showed their worth in a 3-1 victory over National Defence Ministry

AT the start of Saturday's match, the gap between the two teams was 20 points, with Khemara Keila occupying third spot in the Cambodian Premier League (CPL), and Post Tel Club languishing in ninth. And that's pretty much how the game played out, with Khemara clocking up the chances with monotonous regularity and Post Tel holding on for dear life.

But football has a way of bringing you back down to earth with a bump, and Khemara, looking to move up to within two points of the league leaders, were made to pay for their wayward finishing and overconfidence.

Post Tel started the game brightly, with Gafar Durosinmi seeing his low drive pushed aside by Khemara goalkeeper Mak Theara early on.

But as expected, it wasn't long before Khemara stepped on the gas and took the game to their lowly opponents. Missing two of their African stars upfront, Khemara replacement striker Sophal Odom was determined to show his worth and swept the ball over the line for the game's opening goal on 30 minutes, after Kuoch Sokumpheak had flicked on Ty Bunvicheth's corner.

With Sophal Odom and Kuoch Sokumpheak leading the Post Tel defence a merry dance, both strikers should've extended the lead but failed miserably, as did teammate Loch Ratha, who blasted his shot miles over the crossbar when well-placed.

The game continued in the same vein after the halftime break, and within a couple of minutes of the restart, Ty Bunvicheth found himself all alone in front of goal, but spurned another gilt-edged opportunity. Chances came and went for Khemara, and Post Tel must've been dreading the final tally when they lost defender Kun Kuon to a red card for a last-man foul on Sophal Odom on the hour mark.

Khemara were left kicking themselves for an appalling waste of at least half a dozen second-half opportunities to extend their lead. With just five minutes of the match remaining, Khemara's Chan Dara lay prostrate in his own box with teammates standing still, as Ouk Chheng Hort raced away down the right wing and delivered a perfect cross for Durosinmi to knock in the equaliser, very much against the run of play.

Khemara's Kuoch Sokumpheak still had time to fail again in front of the sticks in injury time, as his team sank to their knees with frustration at the final whistle, while Post Tel celebrated as if they'd just won the league.

Naga Corp's Meas Channa (left) and National Defence Ministry’s Huot Sokunthear chase down a ball Saturday.

MND 1 Naga Corp 3
National Defence Ministry (MND) are the only team in the CPL that don't employ any of the foreign contingent, who ply their trade in Cambodia's top division. And that was their downfall in this match, as they were undone by the superior skill and finishing ability of two of Naga's African players.

MND began with a flourish, and in Nov Sokseila they have one of the CPL's most exciting young talents, with his dashing wing play and relentless determination. Occasionally it boils over into frustration, though his speed and crossing ability leave most defenders in his wake.

Naga made their mark early on in this game and never looked back. After just four minutes Sunday Okonkwo played a one-two with Chun Chom, burst into the box past three defenders, and finished with a deft flick over the onrushing goalkeeper for one of the best solo goals of the season so far. Then they went two-up after nine minutes. Meas Channa's corner was met firmly by the forehead of Yemi Oyewole at the near post to leave MND a mountain to climb.

However, MND fought back immediately, and after Nov Sokseila had outfoxed everyone on the right wing, his cross was despatched past Naga keeper Chaom Veasna by maurauding full-back Pheak Rady.

Naga regained their strangehold on the game, and Sun Sovannarith fired a close-range shot against the upright on the halftime whistle.

The game's intensity dropped off after the break, and the only chance of note came on the hour as Oyewole headed a centre by Soeung Monyroath against the crossbar. Naga's third goal came on 71 minutes, as Friday Nwakuna sent Okonkwo away, and the accomplished striker turned his marker inside out before finishing with another cool clipped shot around the goalkeeper to confirm the three points for his side.

Photos by Nick Sells (www.nicksellsphotography.com)

BBU bump out Phouchung; Crown triumph

Phouchung Neak’s Heng Sokly (centre) finds himself surrounded by Build Bright United players Sunday at Olympic Stadium.

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Andy Brouwer

SUNDAY'S encounter between Build Bright United (BBU) and Phouchung Neak turned out to be an entertaining affair, despite both teams' residing in the bottom four of the CPL, and with Phouchung already relegated. BBU ran out 3-1 winners at the death, with a pot full of goalmouth action created by each side.

Both teams hit the woodwork in the early stages, with BBU's Cliff Goodluck firing his close-range shot against the upright, and Phouchung skipper Kao Niso floating over a free kick that eluded the goalkeeper and rebounded back into play off the crossbar.

Though BBU were creating most chances, Phouchung were never out of it, though it took a dramatic last-ditch tackle by Peter Onuhejike to deny Augustine Ogbemi after the BBU striker had outfoxed two defenders and the goalkeeper and had the goal at his mercy.

Four minutes before the halftime interval, BBU finally cracked the resolute Phouchung defence. Ek Vannak did well to control a bobbling ball on his chest, and surprised everyone, including the goalkeeper, by wrapping his foot around the ball from 20 yards and firing into the corner of the net.

They doubled their lead on the hour, when Phouchung keeper Sar Sophea handled outside his area and Oum Chandara struck the resultant free kick true as an arrow past the defensive wall and into the bottom corner.

Phouchung sensed a comeback when BBU defender Rim Bunheang was dismissed for bringing down the rampaging Wilson Mene. The Nigerian forward got up, dusted himself down and smashed home the penalty kick.

The Navy side should've levelled matters three minutes before the end, when busy midfield maestro Onuhejike headed over the crossbar from eight yards out. Instead, BBU went up the other end of the field, and Ogbemi rode two tackles to fire in their third and final goal.

Kirivong Sok Sen Chey’s Hem Salam (left) attempts a slide tackle on Phnom Penh Crown’s Tieng Tiny Sunday.

Kirivong SSC 0 PP Crown 3
Phnom Penh Crown maintained their winning run at the top of the CPL league table with a resounding win over Kirivong Sok Sen Chey Sunday, though they did it with a much-changed side, giving a run-out to a few squad players not normally on show. In Chan Rithy, they had a temporary skipper for the day, who led by example by scoring twice in the first 20 minutes of the second half.

His first was a header from close range when he found himself unmarked from an Oscar Mpoko corner on 54 minutes.

His follow-up was arguably one of the goals of the season, as he volleyed in a perfect Chan Chhaya cross that nearly took off the goalkeeper's hand and exploded into the net after 65 minutes.

Four minutes later, Kirivong were dead and buried as Crown netted their third through substitute Chan Chhaya, who stooped to head in a knock-back from Tieng Tiny.

Crown had the edge throughout the game, though Kirivong came closest to scoring in the first period, when Vin Nhek Troeung smacked a 30-yard drive onto the crossbar. At the other end, Crown's battering-ram of a centre-forward Mohamadou Ousmanou missed a hattrick of chances just before the half-time interval.

The victory takes Crown five points clear of second-placed Preah Khan Reach, who have two games in hand.

Photos by Nick Sells (www.nicksellsphotography.com)

In Brief: Hor Nambora takes swipe at BBC report

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Sebastian Strangio

CAMBODIA'S ambassador to the United Kingdom has criticised the BBC for airing an "extremely one-sided" report alleging widespread land-grabbing in the Kingdom. In a letter to BBC World Service acting editor Andrew Whitehead dated Thursday, Ambassador Hor Nambora said a story aired on the Assignment programme on Thursday was "at variance" with the BBC's global reputation. The report, by journalist Robert Walker, cited UN reports that "hundreds of thousands" of Cambodians are now affected by land disputes.

Police Blotter: 17 Aug 2009

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Lim Phalla

DRUNKEN MOTO RIDER HITS TRUCK, DIES
Yi Sam, a 38-year-old from Kampong Chhnang province's Rolea B'ier district, was injured in the head and died instantly in an accident in which his motorbike crashed into a truck at midnight on Friday. The accident took place in Khsam commune in Kampong Chhnang town. Police said the victim was heavily drunk when he was riding the motorbike, and the truck driver immediately fled the scene.
KAMPUCHEA THMEY

BATTERED WOMAN BATTERS HUSBAND
Diem Rim, 48, was beaten dead with a wooden stick by his second wife, Yon Heang, 46, who suffered the man's violent acts for many years and could not be patient any longer. According to villagers, the man's body was found lying on a bed in front of his house in Chineang village, in Kampong Cham province's Taing Krasaing commune, on Friday morning. The couple had five children, and the dead man had another five children with his first wife.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

JEALOUS VENDOR ATTACKS HIS WIFE
A collector of recyclables was arrested by police for cutting his wife with a knife because of jealousy. The event happened in Trea village, in Phnom Penh's Steung Meanchey commune, on Thursday night. Police said the suspect was Keo Mech, 32, and the victim, who was severely wounded on her whole body and is being treated at hospital, was Ly Soriya. The couple have two children and had been separated for over a month at the time of the attack.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

JOURNALIST NABBED ON ROBBERY CHARGES
A journalist at a local newspaper was arrested in his house in Banteay Meanchey province's O'Chrov district on Tuesday afternoon for alleged involvement in a robbery. According to the police, journalist Thorn Chantha, male, 39, was one of four armed men who robbed Theung Sambun of 18 chi (.067 kg) of platinum and 35 chi (.13 kg) of gold in Poipet town on August 1.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

RECKLESS DRIVER DIES IN MOTO CRASH
One person died and another was severely injured after a full-speed motorbike crash. Police said the accident, which happened on Friday morning at Kampong Thom bridge, was caused when Theuk Hong, 24, rode his motorbike too fast and accidentally bumped into Seou Chandararith, 30, who was coming from the opposite direction on his right-hand side. Theuk Hong died in hospital about an hour after the accident, and Seou Chandararith remains hospitalised in Phnom Penh.
KAMPUCHEA THMEY

Brief: Baseball goes to Balaing

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
DAN RILEY

KAMPONG CHHNANG - Following the meeting Thursday at Baribo headquarters, Kampong Chhnang province, the Cambodian Baseball Federation (CBF) has announced the 2009 Khmer National Baseball Tournament will be held at Balaing Baseball Field, Kampong Thom province. "It came clear to us that [Balaing's] prime location is the best place to have such a tournament in Cambodia," said CBF President Joe Cook on Friday. The tournament will be played November 23-27.

Traffic injuries drop in capital

Photo by: Aaron Leverton
An officer inspects a traffic accident that left four people dead after a truck crashed into the rear of a Camry on National Road 4 earlier this year.

The Phnom Penh Post
Monday, 17 August 2009
Chhay Channyda

TRAFFIC injuries in Phnom Penh decreased by 55 percent from May 2008 to May 2009, according to a report released on Friday by the National Road Safety Committee (NRSC), a local traffic safety group.

In a survey of hospitals, health centres, private clinics and traffic police departments in 24 provinces, NRSC found that in May 2009, there were 627 crashes throughout the Kingdom, resulting in 1,446 casualties, including 131 fatalities and 479 severe injuries.

Though crashes and total casualties in Cambodia decreased compared with May 2008 by 13 percent each, fatalities saw a 12 percent increase.

In Phnom Penh, however, the news was much better. Some 219 traffic-related casualties were reported in the capital in May 2009, a 55 percent
decrease from May 2008. The survey reported 13 traffic deaths in Phnom Penh from this May, compared with 26 during the previous year.

Ung Chun Hour, director of the NSRC, said that enforcement of the Land Traffic Law - which requires motorbike drivers to wear helmets, among other regulations - is the most likely source of this decline in road injuries.

Court of Women Hears the Testimonies of Trafficked and Sexually Exploited Women and Girls

http://www.examiner.com
August 15, County Foreign Policy Examiner
Lawrence Gist

Testifier breaking down as she tells her story

The jury deliberating on a most unusual trial – the first South East Asia Court of Women on HIV and Human Trafficking in South East Asia – urged the governments, UN agencies, civil society organizations and others to urgently to address the vulnerabilities of women to trafficking and HIV.

However, these responses should be rights and gender-responsive and should not “re-victimize” the women who have been trafficked, they said. What is required are joint-efforts based on human rights principles rather than inappropriate law enforcement.

This was no typical court proceeding, but was instead a symbolic court held in conjunction with the 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP), which opens here on 9 August.

“The vulnerabilities of women to trafficking and HIV are rooted in the disproportionate human insecurity, poverty, illiteracy and dis-empowerment that they face in their daily lives,” the Jury said in a statement issued at the end of the Court. In several countries , women who are trafficked are chased by the same law that is meant to protect them: they are treated as “illegal migrants” and “criminals” and are often denied their rights and choices.

The jury of six eminent legal and human rights experts heard real-life testimonies in the Women’s Court, including harrowing stories of trafficking, violence and exploitation. The Court provided a forum for women across SE Asia to share their personal survival stories and to create further awareness about trafficking, sexual exploitation, bonded labor, and HIV in the region.

Alongside the powerful and poignant testimonies of women w ho suffered at the hands of traffickers, “expert witnesses” presented data and powerful analysis to highlight the intense violation of dignity and rights of thousands of other women from South East Asia. The Court brought together leaders, politicians, activists and communities who are working to make a difference to empower women and reduce their vulnerability to trafficking and HIV in the South East Asia region.

The event was organized by the UN Development Program (UNDP), Asian Women’s Human Rights Council (AWHRC), and Yakeba, a Balinese NGO , with financial support from the Japanese Government and in partnership with UNODC and others.

Opening the court, Ms. Meutia Hatta, Minister for Women’s Empowerment of Indonesia, said: “of the total number of people trafficked globally, one-third is from South East Asia and gender inequality and unequal power relations are the main fueling factors for this phenomenon.” In view of the seriousness of the issue, the Government of Indonesia enacted the anti-trafficking law in 2008. The spread of HIV in the region is increasingly impacting women 2-3 times more at risk of contracting HIV than men in the same age group.

In her key note address, Dr. Nafis Sadik, UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific region, said that trafficking was matter of legislation alone, though laws were essential. They should be drafted with due respect for human rights and there must be even-handed enforcement. “Too often, we find double or triple standards at work.” She added: “the sex workers are endowed with the same rights as other human beings; and that coercion in all its forms, including trafficking, has no part to play.

The testimonies heard by the Court included:

* Wanta, a young Cambodian woman selling sugar care juice on the streets of Phnom Penh couldn’t resist the lure of an overseas job that promised her a decent salary. Smuggled out of her country through the Cambodia-Thai border, she ended up in Malaysia as a bonded sex worker. After months in several brothels and a jail, she is now back in Phnom Penh, thanks to the intervention of an NGO. But with a battered past and HIV, life is a daunting struggle for her.

* Nitha from Indonesia took a job in the Middle East as a domestic worker, but faced extreme hardship and escaped, ending up in a detention center in Jakarta. Unable to make both the ends meet, she tried for another job in another country. This time, the working conditions were worse. “They forced me to work without a break and withheld my pay frequently. I fell unconscious often. I was raped several times.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. El Mostafa Benlamlih, UN Resident Coordinator for Indonesia and UNDP Resident Representative, said: “there are no borders between human trafficking, violence and HIV/AIDS as there are no borders between nation states. When human insecurity and poverty thrive; migration, human trafficking, violence against women and HIV breed on each other.” “Behind the voices of the testifiers at the Court, there is suffering of human beings, men, women and children; misunderstood, victimized, exploited, raped, infected, imprisoned, blamed and thrown at the margins of society.”

“The timing of the Court is significant in that the current economic crisis has narrowed the opportunities for formal migration, making women in particular vulnerable to various forms of exploitation including trafficking. What is needed is collective and inclusive responses, given the diversity of views that exist on the issue,” said Mr. Jeff O’Malley, Director, HIV/AIDS Practice, UNDP, New York said. The Court has brought together these critical views and has made an affirmative move towards joint efforts against trafficking and HIV that build on human rights principles and empowerment strategies, rather than inappropriately using only law enforcement, he added.

“In addressing the dual challenges of human trafficking and HIV, we need to ensure that the voices of women who are most affected are heard. The Regional Court of Women in attempting to bring such unheard voices to the public domain is laudable,” said Christian Kroll, Global Coordinator of HIV/AIDS, UNODC.

“We need to urgently shift the deeply embedded norms, attitudes and behaviors that socially sanction unspeakable forms of violence against women. Rampant human rights violations, gender inequality, severe deprivation and unsafe migration; which create a fertile environment for trafficking of women are the same factors that increase their vulnerability to HIV, Ms. Caitlin Wiesen, Regional HIV Practice Leader, Asia Pacific, UNDP, said.

Ms. Corinne Kumar, International Coordinator, Courts of Women, said: “in its experience of a new imaginary, the Courts of Women are finding different ways of speaking truth to power; but also speaking truth to the powerless, seeking the conscience of the world, creating other reference points than that of the rule of law, returning ethics to politics.”

The eminent jury included Hon. Mieke Komar Kantaatmadja (Supreme Court Justice, Indonesia), Prof. Vitit Muntarbhorn (Prof. of Law and Former UN Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, Thailand), Marina Mahathir (Steering Committee Member, Asia Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS and Development, Malaysia), Annette Sykes (Lawyer, New Zealand), Sylvia Marcos (Director, Center for Psycho-ethnological Research, Mexico), and Esperanza I. Cabral (Secretary, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippines).

American Leaves Myanmar After Prison Release

An American man imprisoned in Myanmar for sneaking into the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi flew out of the country Sunday after a visiting U.S. senator won his release. (Aug. 16)

Myanmar deports American citizen out of relations with U.S.: official

www.chinaview.cn
2009-08-16

YANGON, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government said on Sunday night that its decision to deport imprisoned American citizen John William Yettaw is out of attachment of importance to bilateral relations with the United States, according to the state-run Myanmar Radio and Television.

At the request of Democratic Senator of the U.S. Jim Webb, who is Chairman of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar, Yettaw's seven years' rigorous imprisonment, sentenced by a Myanmar district court on Aug. 11, was commuted half and the remainder half was suspended by deportation, the report quoted a government order as saying.

The 54-year-old epilepsy-suffering Yettaw was convicted by the court on charge of entering into Aung San Suu Kyi's restricted lake-side residence for three days in early May.

The government's decision was made also on grounds of sympathy with his health and his future, the report said, adding that Yettaw left the country along with Webb on conclusion of the latter's three-day visit to Myanmar Sunday afternoon.

Webb told the press before his departure from Yangon that he hopes that the U.S.-Myanmar relation would improve, thanking the Myanmar government for freeing Yettaw.

Webb also said the U.S. Administration is reassessing its policy towards Myanmar and he would make proposals for the move after he is back to the country.

Webb arrived in Myanmar on Friday on a three-day visit as part of his two-week tour to five Southeast Asian nations at the invitation of Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win.

During his visit in Nay Pyi Taw, Webb met with Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Prime Minister General Thein Sein and the State Constitution Drafting Commission, led by Chief Justice U Aung Toe, on the government side.

Webb also met with leadership of 10 legal political parties including the National League for Democracy (NLD) and National Unity Party (NUP) and that of some ethnic peace groups from Kachin, Shan and Kayah special regions as well as representatives of some social organizations.

He was allowed by the government to meet with NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under suspended 18 months' sentence of confinement to her residence in connection with Yattaw's case, becoming the first foreign official to meet with Suu Kyi after her sentence.

Webb's Myanmar visit also represents the first ever one to the country of a member of the U.S. Congress in over a decade.

Webb's five-nation trip had taken him to Laos and he is proceeding to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia after Myanmar visit.


Editor: Mu Xuequan

This road to hell paved with pale blue intentions

Cambodian security force members stand watch outside the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia on the second day of a UN-backed tribunal against former Toul Sleng commander Kaing Guek Eav, also know as "Duch" Tuesday, March 31, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. On the first day of the trial prosecutors alleged that the former Khmer Rouge commander oversaw grisly atrocities at the Phnom Penh prison and that all who were imprisoned there were marked for death. (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

Winnipeg Free Press
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com

By: Reviewed by Ron Robinson
16/08/2009

Pale Blue Hope

Death and Life in Asian Peacekeeping

By Ronald Poulton
Turnstone Press, 224 pages, $22

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Canadian human-rights lawyer Ronald Poulton's intentions in Cambodia and Tajikistan were to see justice done by encouraging both countries to adopt and use Western legal systems and practices -- presumption of innocence, an independent judiciary, the golden chain of evidence that John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey proclaims from beneath his powdered wig at the Old Bailey.

The results, as recalled in this critical memoir of being in harm's way, were a mix of Kafka and Keystone Cops.

Poulton saw duty as a human rights investigator in Cambodia in 1992, and as a legal advisor to UN peacekeeping in Tajikistan in 1998.

In both cases the gap between stated intentions and the actual support to achieve them from the countries involved and the UN was glaringly wide.

As he puts it, "Human rights work required muscle, and weapons to defend the innocent, I came to believe." Surely a statement Gen. Romeo Dallaire could have made.

The death of thousands is a headline, but the death of a single child described in detail reads as a tragedy. Poulton has the personal experience and the haunting memories to punch through our tired response to pleas of aid and understanding.

In Cambodia he comes to understand the power that ghosts have on the populace. Ghosts of the Khmer Rouge murdered millions. What simple legal precept can pacify a population where, as H.L. Mencken would have said, they "worship the principalities of the air"?

How can Poulton scold the "warden" of a prison where the prisoners are shackled to the floor each night, when the doors of the prison won't lock, the prison is short staffed, the prisoners have lied to him, and he knows that other similar prisons are much more brutal in their treatment of their captives ?

In Tajikistan he finds UN bureaucratic timeservers and a UN contingent hiding in their compound, locking themselves behind steel doors at night. Drinking alone, waiting for their turn to answer their nightly roll call by radio.

In this instance he is there to help discover who murdered Team Garm, three UN soldiers and their interpreter.

Three "combatants" (as the comedy team Beyond the Fringe used to say, it's difficult to distinguish between a terrorist and a freedom fighter when you're being disembowelled) have been ordered by their commander to turn themselves in to the police to answer questions about these deaths.

In a section worthy of an Ionesco or Pinter play, Poulton describes the twists and turns in the trial. He also conveys the power politics -- the subtle and not so subtle pressures to reach a speedy and seemingly already decided verdict.

Whatever the hopes were for the UN after the Second World War, it's hard to imagine that Lester Pearson, with his negotiating and horse-trading skills, would be happy with Poulton's summing up of the UN as an organization "doomed to chance."

Tribal ties trump blind justice would seem to be a fair summation of Pale Blue Hope. The title alone, with it's suggestion of faint hope, sums up its message, reinforced by the order of words in its subtitle. After all, who would willingly give up power, prestige and profit?

"Walk softly, but carry a big stick" may not be one of the Ten Commandments, but it still works in parts of the world where an AK-47 is preferred to a legal remedy. Poulton's book reads as a condemnation of the UN.

Winnipeg radio broadcaster Ron Robinson used to be a World Federalist.

Faith in Health

The Washington Post
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com

By Katherine Marshall
August 16, 2009

Hospital waiting rooms are glum places pretty much everywhere. People, sick or injured, wait and wait and wait. Nowhere are the huge gaps between rich and poor so graphically in evidence. That's the essence of the American health reform challenge, however deeply it gets submerged in the passionate debates now raging: to bridge those gaps so that the misery of illness is not compounded by inability to pay.

The issues are not just American, they are global. And they have many faith dimensions.

The waiting room at the Sihanouk Hospital of Hope in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is full of sick people. It's hot and they wait outside. Faces are resigned, many show obvious pain, and worried relatives cluster nearby. But the hospital's name is apt: Hope, because this is a well run facility, bustling with doctors from many countries. And a central principle is that care is free of charge, and available to anyone. Cambodian people sell their last bullock and travel for days to get here. They call it the hospital of God or the hospital of angels.

The hospital's story is unique, but there are many stories rather like it: a facility built because of a deep and faith-inspired determination to care for people. The Sihanouk Hospital came about through an alliance among a Jewish journalist and stubborn activist; a remarkable Japanese Shinto leader and philanthropist; an American Christian nongovernmental organization; and a Buddhist nation.

The principles of all these faiths can be read in the hospital's operations. The Jewish principle of "healing the world" (Tikkun Olam), plus a dose of chutzpah led Bernie Krisher to drive to build it. Dr. Haruhisa Handa is an intuitive and creative leader and philanthropist who guarantees half the operating costs (he also financed most buildings) and, drawing on his religious beliefs, presses the philosophy and policy of generosity (no payments). Bob and Pat Gempel head HOPE worldwide, a Christian organization dedicated to responding to the needs and wishes of poor countries across the world, which provides excellent management of the hospital. For their team, the healing mission of Jesus is the inspiration. And Cambodia, whose constitution defines it as a Buddhist nation, prides itself on the core Buddhist principles of loving kindness and compassion.

So, in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries, the very poorest citizens can hope to receive compassionate and excellent care at no charge. It's an inspiring example.

There's another inspirational story about overcoming the huge gulfs in health care: An unusual pressure group has come together across many boundaries of social group, political affiliation and nationality to support people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). They are demanding more active financing and aggressive research on the disease. And they have taken the extraordinary position that it is unacceptable for people to die because they do not have access to treatment and care, no matter what the cost of medicines or the seeming difficulty of delivering complex treatment regimes in poor countries.

Their pressure and their solidarity has truly moved mountains and played a major part in recent sharp increases in funding for HIV and AIDS programs. They are pressing hard to extend these benefits to the millions who need care in very poor and remote areas.

Likewise, the Catholic lay Community of Sant'Egidio has pioneered treatment programs grounded in the conviction that people everywhere are entitled to the highest standard of care. That means the poorest women of Mozambique and other African countries, places that "experts" had said could not handle sophisticated regimes. Sant'Egidio has proved them wrong, quite wrong, and their adherence and results are as good as any anywhere. They see equity in health care as the most basic of human rights, the sign of a decent and caring society.

There are some messages here that those debating American health care should heed. First, where there's a will there's a way (and political will is what may be in shortest supply at present). If complex HIV/AIDS regimes can be delivered in rural Mozambique, surely with will the United States can manage to deliver care to all its people. Second, many ethical and religious approaches would conclude that health care is part of what our modern society, with all its knowledge, skills, and resources, owes to every human being. And third, health care is not just an American issue. H1N1 fears are a reminder that diseases know no boundaries.

The HIV and AIDS activists and Sant'Egidio believe that equity means that what is available to us should also be available to others. Surely it is time to make common cause for decent care for everyone.

Katherine Marshall is a senior fellow at Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, a Visiting Professor, and a senior advisor for the World Bank

Women Linked Arms Around Cambodia's Mu Sochua

http://www.womensenews.org

08/16/09

By Stephanie Guyer-Stevens
WeNews correspondent

When Cambodia's opposition politician Mu Sochua was given a guilty verdict in early August riot police in Phnom Penh were ready to quell protesters. As part of Sochua's inner circle that day, Stephanie Guyer-Stevens offers an eyewitness account.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (WOMENSENEWS)--It's monsoon season here and dawns often bring a sodden feeling and gray rain.

But on August 4, when Mu Sochua arrived at the Phnom Penh courthouse, the air crackled with intensity.

As the world knows by now, the Cambodian member of parliament and internationally-renowned leader in women's rights was given a guilty verdict for defamation against Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, leader of the majority Cambodian People's Party.

Human rights groups have denounced the verdict as politically biased and Sochua's supporters showed up to signal their support.

I was among them.

Chanthol Oung, founder of Cambodia Women's Crisis Center, is a friend and close ally of Sochua.

She and I had worked closely over the years. When Oung learned about Sochua's impending verdict, she knew how critical the outcome would be for Cambodia. So she asked me to go as an international witness and to document the proceedings. I knew about Sochua and her work but had never met her.

My co-worker Rachel Leventhal and I left San Francisco on July 31, arriving in Phnom Penh August 2. The next day, the day before the verdict, Sochua came to meet us at my hotel. As soon as we met, Sochua took us into her inner circle and requested that we document the verdict from the inside as much as possible.

We ate ice cream on the verandah of my hotel, talked about the case and the current political climate in Cambodia.

Determinedly Unafraid

Sochua was relaxed, friendly, outgoing. She seemed determined to not be moved into fear.

She asked us to meet her early the next morning at party headquarters, as we would travel with her to the courthouse to hear her verdict.

Early the next day at the party headquarters, we bundled into Sochua's car, along with a cameraman from German television, and drove across Phnom Penh through the quiet gray morning.

Getting out of the car, we were greeted with a crowd of about 50 journalists and hundreds of supporters filled the intersection.

About a dozen policemen on the scene were visibly edgy.

After the court adjourned, police tried to prevent Sochua from speaking to the crowd and tried to block journalists from approaching her.

Rather than engage in confrontation, Sam Rainsy, the leader of the opposition party that carries his name and of which Sochua is a member, quietly told the group to continue walking--and they did.

One to two hundred of Sochua's party members and supporters, surrounded by journalists, staged an impromptu march to the Independence Monument, Cambodia's symbol of democracy and freedom. The monument was erected after the overthrow of French colonial rule in 1954. The march ended back at party headquarters, a walk of about two to three miles.

One man walked almost the whole way on crutches, until finally someone gave him a ride on the back of a motorbike.

Police and Military Forces Grew

The longer we walked the larger the police and military force grew around us.

A core group of us, which included members of the Women's Wing of the Sam Rainsy Party, ended up linking arms to stay together and to surround Sochua, who led the way carrying a candle.

It was fitting that Sochua attracted this envelope of female supporters.

As one of Cambodia's first female lawmakers, along with Chanthol Oung, Sochua helped to write the Cambodian Constitution, which includes laws opposed to discrimination against women.

Sochua was the first head of the Ministry of Women for the newly formed democracy. After she stepped down from that role in 2007, she joined party politics, campaigning with the Sam Rainsy Party to represent her home district, Kampot Province, in Parliament.

She has received numerous international awards for her work on human rights, particularly for her efforts to stop sex trafficking, and has been a vocal women's rights advocate both in Cambodia and internationally for decades.

But in that group of women, she saw herself, and was seen, as a sister.

Each time we reached a major intersection the police tried to break our intertwined arms.

It became a civil rights march, where we tried to exercise the freedoms of democratic people. Our treatment proved the limitations of that freedom.

After about three hours, we neared the Independence Monument. As the march went on, the numbers of police continued to grow, with increasing degrees of weaponry. At times they tried to separate us from each other.

Some men were pulled out of our group. The police and military managed to isolate my group; a knot of about 10 with Sochua at its center.

We marched ahead. Now, instead having supporters all around us, we were in the middle of police in riot gear.

"They're protecting us," one woman joked.

As we got closer to the monument the police stepped up their force against us. They pushed in on us with their riot shields to stop our movement on all sides.

Sochua Never Faltered

It was hard to continue but Sochua, in the lead, never faltered.

The rest of us gripped each other's arms ever more tightly and continued to walk forward.

Finally the group of marchers behind us managed to catch up.

By the time we reached the Independence Monument, Rainsy, other party members, supporters and the flock of journalists were back together with us.

During the march, calm had reigned.

But after arriving at party headquarters several hours later, emotions ran high. There was elation at getting back safely mixed with anger over the injuries of the men who had been protecting us.

We had seen the police roughing a few people up along the way, but didn't know the extent of the injuries until we arrived back at party headquarters. Eventually all the men who had been injured also made it back.

We had also seen some other Westerners--possibly human rights observers--get singled out by the police along the way. But when we asked around party headquarters afterwards no one knew who they were. We only knew that, in the end, there were no arrests.

Many said they felt demoralized by the guilty verdict.

"Today is a day of darkness for Cambodia," said Sochua. "The guilty verdict is a clear result of the politicization of the courts."

After leaving her 2007 post as director of the Ministry of Women, Sochua, who is the mother of three girls, ran for election as a member of parliament for the Sam Rainsy Party, building her campaign among the country's most disenfranchised: as the representative of the very rural Kampot Province.

Since then, she has continued to steadily reach out to the common people of Cambodia, employing an Obama-style strategy of building on the grassroots.

After the march, I asked Sochua about the crowd of people in the streets closest to the party headquarters. Was this the neighborhood with the most supporters for their party? She emphasized to me that all of Cambodia was supportive of the opposition party, but most were afraid to speak out.

"The opposition party is not the minority," Sochua said after the rally. "We are the voice of all the people of Cambodia, but most people are afraid to speak for fear of reprisal. That is why I must do what I do. I voice their concerns."

Escalating Conflict

The verdict was the latest episode in an increasingly heightened exchange between Hun Sen and Sochua over the past year.

In April of 2008, Sochua confronted Cambodian People's Party officials for illegally using government vehicles and staff when she came across them campaigning in the countryside in her provincial district. The officials were driving a government car to campaign for Hun Sen for the July 2008 election.

Sochua attempted to take a picture of the car but the officials forcibly stopped her, ripping her shirt open in the process. Sochua then tried to hold on to the car until someone could take a photograph. The car began to drive away, towing her several meters until she let go.

Later that month, Hun Sen gave a speech to her party's supporters, in which he described Sochua as "strong leg," a term considered degrading towards women.

She sued him for defamation.

Hun Sen countersued claiming that he wasn't referring to her in his speech and that her lawsuit constituted defamation of his role of Prime Minister.

At the courthouse on August 4, police blockaded all journalists and all but a handful of Sam Rainsy Party members from going into the courtroom with Sochua. The verdict only took about 15 minutes.

Most likely due to unexpected international attention to the case, Sochua's punishment was relatively light: a little more than $4,000. Sochua has said she will appeal the fine.

Many human rights groups in Cambodia see Sochua's guilty verdict as another sign of escalating oppression by the ruling party.

"This verdict is a significant blow to freedom of expression," said Naly Pilorge, director of LICADHO, a Cambodian human rights nonprofit.

Pilorge predicted that the verdict will discourage members of the National Assembly from publicly speaking their minds. "It is yet another example of the perilous state of democratic freedoms in Cambodia," she said in a briefing after the march.

Stephanie Guyer-Stevens is executive producer of Outer Voices. She has been documenting women's rights leaders in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands since 2003.

Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.

Holiday Villa to open 2 more hotels in Cambodia, China

2009/08/17

HAVING made its presence felt in eight countries, Holiday Villa Hotels & Resorts, one of the leading hotel chains in Malaysia, expects to open two more properties in Cambodia and China by the end of the year.

In a statement made available to Business Times, Holiday Villa, a member the public-listed Advance Synergy group, said two more properties were in the pipeline, namely in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and Kaifeng in Henan, China.

Holiday Villa opened its door to guests in Doha, Qatar, with the soft launch of the Holiday Villa Hotel and Residence City Centre on July 20.

With the launch, Holiday Villa now operates 18 quality hotels and resorts with a total of 4,000 rooms and suites.

Besides Malaysia and Qatar, Holiday Villa Hotels and Resorts are located in the UK, Indonesia, Australia, Sudan, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Early this year, the hotel group expanded to Halong Bay in Vietnam and Shenzhen in China.

On its property in Doha, Holiday Villa said the hotel is strategically located at Al-Muntazah Signal, opposite the Muntazah Park.

American leaves Myanmar after release from prison

American John Yettaw (C) arrives in Thailand's military airbase in Bangkok August 16, 2009. A U.S. senator met Myanmar's top general and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, while arranging the release of prisoner Yettaw on a weekend mission that offered a rare opening for better ties with the isolated nation. Yettaw's swim to Suu Kyi's home in May led to her renewed detention. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

U.S. Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia talks to journalists during an ad-hoc press conference at Yangon International Airport before his departure Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, in Yangon, Myanmar. Webb secured freedom of an American man imprisoned for sneaking into the home of detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Saturday with a plea to Myanmar's ruling military junta. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Maung Myint, left, escorts U.S. Democratic Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia to the departure lounge after Webb's ad-hoc press conference at Yangon International Airport before his departure Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, in Yangon, Myanmar. Webb secured freedom of an American man imprisoned for sneaking into the home of detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi Saturday with a plea to Myanmar's ruling military junta. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

U.S. Senator Jim Webb gestures during a news conference at a hotel in Bangkok August 16, 2009. Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained under house arrest on Sunday but American John Yettaw, whose swim to her home in May led to her detention, headed home after Senator Webb secured his freedom. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom

John Yettaw of Falcon, Missouri, steps from the plane as he arrives in Bangkok on a US government plane in this image taken from TV Sunday Aug. 16, 2009. Yettaw was imprisoned in Myanmar for sneaking into the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi flew out of Myanmar Sunday after a visiting US Senator Jim Webb won his release.(AP Photo/APTN)

By AMBIKA AHUJA, Associated Press Writer – Sun Aug 16

BANGKOK – An American man imprisoned in Myanmar for sneaking into the home of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi flew out of the country Sunday after a visiting U.S. senator won his release.

John Yettaw of Falcon, Missouri, arrived in Bangkok on a U.S. government plane with Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who secured his freedom Saturday with a plea to Myanmar's ruling military junta.

Webb's visit to Myanmar was the first by a member of the U.S. Congress in more than a decade, and could presage a new approach by Washington toward the military government, which it has shunned.

A pale and haggard-looking Yettaw smiled as he left the small plane and flashed sign language for "I love you" to waiting reporters but did not respond to questions.

Yettaw, 53, was convicted last week of breaking the terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest by swimming to her lakeside home in early May and staying for two days.

Webb was also allowed a rare meeting with Suu Kyi, who is tightly restricted in her house arrest.

His meeting Saturday with the junta's chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, was the first time the reclusive general has met with a senior U.S. political figure.

Webb said he also asked Myanmar's military rulers to release Suu Kyi, 64, a long-standing demand of the United States and much of the international community.

"I am hopeful that the relations between the United States and Myanmar will move forward and that the government will consider strongly" the request, Webb told reporters before leaving Myanmar.

But some of the junta's critics charged that Webb's trip will hurt the cause of democracy in Myanmar, which has been under military control since 1962. Yettaw's action was widely seen as giving the junta a legal pretext to keep Suu Kyi detained through general elections set for next year.

Suu Kyi, who has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, was sentenced by a court to three years in prison with hard labor for violating her house arrest as a result of Yettaw's intrusion, but the punishment was reduced to 18 months of house arrest by Than Shwe. Two female companions who live with her received the same sentence.

Yettaw was also convicted of an immigration violation and of swimming in a restricted zone, and received a total of seven years in prison with hard labor. He reportedly suffers from diabetes, epilepsy and asthma and was hospitalized for a week during the trial after suffering seizures.

Webb said in Bangkok that Yettaw had suffered another medical problem in Yangon on Sunday morning but did not give details.

Yettaw has said he made the visit to Suu Kyi's house because he had a vision that she was at risk of harm from assassins.

"I believe he was probably motivated by good intentions but he committed a very serious violation in this country," Webb said in Yangon. "It was a good gesture from your country to our country for humanitarian reasons to allow him to return to his family."

Yettaw has been held in Insein, Myanmar's largest prison, which is notorious for torture and other abuses of both political prisoners and ordinary criminals. But his lawyer has said his client was well-treated.

"If it's true, of course I'm extremely happy and we're ecstatic," Yettaw's wife, Betty, told The Associated Press on Saturday, referring to reports her husband would be freed.

Webb was eager to promote better relations with Myanmar.

"I have long believed that if certain obstacles are removed, there is a natural friendship between the U.S. and the people of this country, and it is toward that end I came here and I will be working toward that solution," he said.

Washington has been a leader in isolating the military regime, imposing strong political and economic sanctions because of its poor human rights record and failure to turn over power to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party after it won a landslide victory in 1990 elections.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a trip through Asia in February, addressed the administration's dilemma with Myanmar, also called Burma. She said neither tough U.S. sanctions nor engagement by neighbors had persuaded the junta to embrace democracy or release Suu Kyi.

"I don't think Sen. Webb can be proud for the release of Mr. John Yettaw, while our leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the real victim of this conspiracy and injustices, and two women colleagues, are still under detention," said Aung Din of the U.S. Campaign for Burma, a Washington-based group. Daw is a term of respect used for older women.

"This will surely make a negative impression among the people of Burma. They will think that Americans are easy to satisfy with the dictators when they get their citizens back," he said.

U2 announces Amnesty award to Aung San Suu Kyi

AmnestyInternational

U2 has announced that Aung San Suu Kyi has been given Amnesty International's highest honour - The Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2009

Thai soldiers built houses inside Khmer territory in Chup Koki village

Thai soldiers set up camps on the disputed areas.

Source: Khmer Sthapana newpspaer

Reported in English by Khmerization

A Cambodian military source said Thai soldiers had secretly built many houses inside Khmer territory near Ta Moan Thom and Ta Krabey temples in Ouddor Meanchey province.

A military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity said Thai soldiers had built houses inside Chup Koki village, Ampil commune of Banteay Ampil district for about one month already for their soldiers live.

He said Thai soldiers commenced building houses since July and now 10 houses had been completed already.

Mr. Neak Vong, commander of division 42 based at Ta Moan Thom temple and Gen. Chhum Socheat, spokesman for the Cambodian Defence Ministry, cannot be contacted for any comments.

However, Mr. Hour Bunthy, deputy commander of Border Protection Unit 42 based at Chup Koki Village West, said currently there is no Thai house in Chup Koki, by adding that houses previously built by Thai troops had been dismantled and demolished already after strong protests from senior Cambodian government officials.

US senator concludes Myanmar visit

US Senator Jim Webb (L) meets with Myanmar's top military leader Than Shwe in Naypyidaw August 15, 2009.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

YANGON: Democratic Senator of the United States Jim Webb concluded his three-day visit to Myanmar Sunday afternoon, bringing out from the country along with him an imprisoned American citizen John William Yettaw who was released and deported by the Myanmar government.

Meeting with the press before departure at the Yangon International Airport, Webb, Chairman of the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he hopes that the US-Myanmar relations would improve, thanking the Myanmar government for freeing Yettaw.

Webb also said the US Administration is reassessing its policy towards Myanmar and he would make proposals for the move after he is back to the country.

Webb arrived in Myanmar on Friday on a three-day visit as part of his two-week tour to five Southeast Asian nations at the invitation of Myanmar Foreign Minister U Nyan Win.

During his visit in Nay Pyi Taw, Webb met with Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Prime Minister General Thein Sein and the State Constitution Drafting Commission, led by Chief Justice U Aung Toe, on the government side.

Webb also met with leadership of 10 legal political parties including the National League for Democracy (NLD) and National Unity Party (NUP) and that of some ethnic peace groups from Kachin, Shan and Kayah special regions as well as representatives of some social organizations.

A handout picture taken on May 13, 2009 and provided by Myanmar News Agency shows US Citizen John William Yettaw in Yangon. [Agencies]

He was arranged by the government to meet with NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under suspended 18 months' sentence of confinement to her residence during which she is allowed to meet guests with permission.

Aimed at exploring opportunities to advance US interests in Myanmar and the region, Webb's Myanmar visit also represents the first ever one to the country of a member of the US Congress in over a decade.

The visit came days after a Myanmar district court sentenced on August 11 the 54-year-old epilepsy-suffering American, John William Yettaw, along with Aung San Suu Kyi, to seven years' rigorous imprisonment on conviction of charge of entering into Aung San Suu Kyi's restricted lake-side residence for three days in early May.

Webb's five-nation trip had also taken him to Laos and he is proceeding to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia after Myanmar visit.

Vietnam, Cambodia mull rice venture to steady prices

Workers harvest rice in a Mekong Delta paddy.

http://www.thanhniennews.com

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Vietnamese and Cambodian officials met this week to discuss setting up a state-owned joint rice mill project to control prices, a local association said.

An official from the Vietnam Food Association said Thursday that the Southern Food Corporation (Vinafood 2) and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam would be the Vietnamese partners, representing a 60 percent stake in the Cambodia-based joint venture.

The first rice venture between the two countries would combine the rice processing experience of the Vietnamese partners with Cambodia’s rice production sector, which has been largely untapped for exports, said the official.

Vietnam is the world’s second biggest rice exporter, having shipped nearly US$1.7 billion worth of rice in the first seven months this year.

Cambodian rice yields have been increasing and its government has encouraged businesses to process for export, according to the association.

About 1 million tons of Cambodian rice was ready for export, said the association. The competition, as well as a high summer-fall yield in Vietnam, was pushing prices down, according to local officials.

The new venture is expected to help prevent prices from falling, the association said.

The association aims to prevent price drops by asking members to buy 400,000 tons of the grain from farmers in order to increase its rice stockpiles.

Regional association

A Thai official said Saturday that five Southeast Asian nations may set up a rice-trade association next year to cooperate in stabilizing rice prices.

Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will also cooperate on other issues related to food security and production, said Chiya Yimvilai, a spokesman at a meeting of ASEAN economic ministers in Bangkok. The countries would also work together on developing rice products, he said.

“It won’t be like OPEC,” said Chiya, speaking at a press briefing. “Our objective is to help prevent prices from falling too much, but we won’t jointly set the prices.”

Reported by Minh Quang (With additional reporting by Bloomberg)

Palm Beach County health care workers travel to help heal in some of the world's poorest parts

http://www.palmbeachpost.com

By DIANNA SMITH
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, August 15, 2009

WEST PALM BEACH — This West Palm Beach nurse can't help everyone.

But she's determined to try.

That's why she treks to Cambodia every summer and sees children and adults whose bellies are empty and whose faces are thin. They're dying of malnutrition, dehydration, diseases that they probably wouldn't die from here in the United States.

Regina Clark, a nurse manager at Columbia Hospital, is one of many hospital staff members who spend their summer vacations not relaxing by the beach, but working in remote countries. They've dedicated their lives to helping the sick in America, and now they're taking their mission overseas.

"There were some that we know won't live long enough to get the help, and that's what breaks your heart," Clark, 53, said of the people in Cambodia.

That's how it is across the globe, in poor villages where doctors are scarce and modern medicines don't exist. So Clark and many other local nurses and doctors have committed themselves to helping each year.

Mission through music

Clark and 31 others traveled to Cambodia in July with a group called Musicianaries International - a nonprofit ministry dedicated to spreading God's love through music.

The group - which included doctors, nurses and professional musicians - delivered more than 500,000 containers of medicine, 700 school uniforms, 2,700 toothbrushes and toothpaste, 295 mosquito nets and 330 tons of rice.

They traveled the country in vans and spent time by the borders along Thailand and Vietnam. Their goal? To see people who have never been to hospitals.

"They're such a starving population. The average age is about 22," said Clark, who was on her third summer trek as a volunteer. "There's such a need for medical care."

Common medical problems include malnutrition, skin rashes, eye conditions and dehydration. Yet they still manage to smile.

"The people ... they warm your hearts," she said.

"You don't have to be fluent in the language to know they welcome anything. It's a great feeling."

Educating the islanders

While Clark headed for Cambodia, Dr. Michael Wolford traveled to the island of Tanna off the east coast of Australia. He was in the South Pacific with a group called Healthcare Ministries, a worldwide medical outreach program of Assemblies of God World Missions.

Wolford, 44, is an emergency room physician at Columbia Hospital and Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center.

In Tanna, he found many children suffering from malnutrition and ringworm or tapeworm.

He talked to the people through a translator about healthy living, encouraging them to take better care of themselves.

For almost three weeks, Wolford treated many men for high blood pressure and others for skin problems.

Because the island is primarily jungle, most who live there use machetes.

"It was unbelievable to see 5- and 6-year-olds swinging around machetes," he said.

Wolford said he enjoys showing people that there are others in this world who care about them.

"I've been blessed with talents I can share with people," he said, "and there's a world of people who need help."

Helping in Haiti

When his cousin died 10 years ago of liver cancer, Dr. Serge Thys wanted to keep his memory alive.

So he and others created the Gaskov Clerge Foundation, named after his cousin, with goals that include helping the sick in Les Cayes, Haiti, where Clerge and Thys were born.

Thys, 56, is the chairman of the psychiatric department at Columbia Hospital and also medical director of youth services.

This month, he returned from a trip to the southern part of Haiti where people have no access to any form of health care.

He and more than 60 of his colleagues built makeshift clinics in churches and schools and saw almost 3,000 people.

Like Clark and Wolford, Thys vows to continue his travel each year.

"It's priceless," Thys said. "You end up receiving much more than you give. This is the most beautiful part."

CAMBODIA: Government Pulls Out Legal Weapons Against Dissent

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PHNOM PENH, (IPS) - These are tough times to be either a journalist or an opposition politician in Cambodia.

That is because the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen is cracking down on both the opposition-aligned media and politicians from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP).

In June, an editor of a newspaper affiliated with the SRP was jailed for a year for publishing a story the government objected to. The publisher of the newspaper ‘Moneaksekar Khmer', was told this month that he would be sued after publishing a series of articles that the prosecutor said was designed to sow conflict between government ministers.

On the political front, two opposition members of parliament were stripped of their immunity and are being sued. Their lawyer recently quit their cases and the SRP and crossed over to the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) after being told he would be sued.

Two other opposition MPs have been told they could have their immunity taken away too. Two NGOs have also received threats of lawsuits.

There are fears that this South-east Asian country's democracy is under threat as the CPP -- which won more than two-thirds of the seats in the 2008 general election and which controls all the organs of state and the judiciary û moves against dissenters.

”We are being treated like the enemies of the state. It's a crisis in this country,” veteran opposition MP Son Chhay said.

But government spokesman Phay Siphan says the government is simply using the courts to target those people it considers to be spreading disinformation or threatening the country's stability.

”According to the Constitution, everyone has the right to say anything they like,” Phay Siphan said. ”But the Constitution prescribes clearly that (people may not) abuse other people's rights. So the government has to protect that.”

That is cold comfort to local and international observers such as Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, both of which have issued statements expressing concern about recent events. Human Rights Watch country specialist Sara Colm says recent events are a matter of ”extreme concern”.

”To have all of these different sectors of society effectively silenced is definitely a step backwards for the whole democratic process in Cambodia,” Colm said, adding that the right to express views critical of the government is being eroded. ”It's a very worrying trend in Cambodia to see lawsuits filed and even criminal charges levied against people for simply doing their jobs.”

In the legal action against the media, some noted that the prosecutors are using a law that allows journalists to be jailed for what they write. That is what has happened with Hang Chakra, the editor who in June began a one- year jail term after his newspaper ran a series of articles reporting that a senior government minister's staff had committed corrupt acts.

But the law the government ought to use in such cases is the 1995 Press Law, critics say. Local human rights group Licadho says the Press Law's provisions do not permit the jailing of media professionals found to have breached its provisions. It states that ”no person shall be arrested or subject to criminal charges as a result of expression of opinion”.

So why did the government prosecutor use the older law in the case against Hang Chakra? Phay Siphan says that is a question for the prosecutor, not the government, to answer. But, he says, the information minister has recently said that he does not want to see media workers jailed for what they publish.

To critics, the CPP, which has never been known for being tolerant of criticism, has become even more thin-skinned lately.

”We totally 100 percent accept that criticism,” Phay Siphan insisted. ”But insulting û no. And misleading û no. Freedom of expression is different from insulting and misleading.” He maintains that the government is simply balancing the right of expression against its duty to maintain law and order. It is ”concerned about national security too'”, he added.

At the SRP headquarters, opposition MP Son Chhay believes there are a number of reasons for the government's action against critics. First, the ruling party is worried about the social unrest that the effects of the global economic crisis could spark among younger Cambodians who are hard put finding jobs. Second, he says, there is dissatisfaction within the CPP over what critics call Hun Sen's autocratic style.

Son Chhay says Cambodia risks a reversal in its young democracy. To avoid that, he says donor nations, which pledged more than 950 U.S. million dollars to the Cambodian government this year, should pressure the government into making reforms.

”We don't want to live lives like the North Korean people û we have suffered enough,” he said of the kingdom's traumatic decades of war and the genocidal rule of the Khmer Rouge.

But the government's actions seem to be making many cautious about criticising it, for fear of being sued for disinformation, defamation or incitement. Son Chhay admits that official intimidation has led the opposition to conclude that these are bad times to speak out.

”We have no alternative,” he said. ”I think we will quiet down for a while. We are not going to speak too much. We are not going to raise the issue of corruption. We are not going to speak about landgrabbing. We are not going to talk about the corrupt court system.”

It does not help that the judiciary is not entirely independent, which is why the government wins its court cases, he adds.

This explains why the publisher of ‘Moneaksekar Khmer' tried to resolve his case as he did. Days after being told he would be sued for incitement and disinformation, Dam Sith wrote a grovelling letter of apology to Hun Sen begging forgiveness.

But in Dam Sith's defence, he has seen what happens when the media and the CPP collide. Last year, Dam was jailed for a week for publishing a story that offended the foreign minister. Shortly before the 2008 general election, one of his journalists was shot dead û the tenth to be murdered since 1993. None of those murder cases has been solved, and they are unlikely to be.

In his letter, Dam Sith told the prime minister that he would cease publishing his newspaper if Hun Sen saw to it that the court case was dropped. The government lawyer who filed the case told the English-language ‘Phnom Penh Post' on Jul. 10 that Hun Sen had instructed him to withdraw the complaints against Dam Sith.

The result is that the country's non-CPP media just became even weaker. Licadho's annual media report shows that the CPP effectively controls all eight of the nation's TV stations, most of its radio stations, and by far the majority of the Khmer-language newspapers.