HIV/AIDS families to get homes of concrete

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:02 James O’toole and Meas Sokchea

HIV-affected families at the controversial Tuol Sambo relocation site are slated to receive newly built concrete housing to replace the cramped metal dwellings in which they currently live, local authorities and rights group workers announced Friday.

The Phnom Penh Municipality forcibly relocated 20 HIV-affected families to Tuol Sambo, in the capital’s Dangkor district, in June, following their eviction from the Borei Keila community in central Phnom Penh. More than 20 additional Borei Keila families were sent to Tuol Sambo in July.

On Friday, Phnom Penh Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun travelled with other members of government to the relocation site, where it was announced that the Caritas Cambodia charity will partner with other local rights groups to build new houses for the families at Tuol Sambo. As part of the visit, government representatives also distributed five sewing machines and a tuk-tuk to Tuol Sambo residents.

Over the past few months, residents and rights groups have condemned the conditions at Tuol Sambo, where the 3.5-metre-by-4.5-metre green metal sheds that house evictees fall below minimum dimensions required by the UN for dwellings at refugee camps.

On Sunday, however, Mann Chhoeun struck a triumphant note as he described the new plans for the community.

“Those who insulted us are regretting their insults now,” he said, adding: “Caritas is a good partner for us, different from other organisations that have insulted us.”

Kim Rattana, the executive director of Caritas Cambodia, confirmed that his organisation would be leading the effort to build 45 new houses and a community centre at Tuol Sambo, aiming to complete the project in six months.

Kathleen O’Keefe, an independent consultant based in Phnom Penh who specialises in HIV/AIDS and land issues, said Sunday that although she welcomed the actions by Caritas and its partners, she worried about the precedent Tuol Sambo might be setting for further interactions between the government and civil society groups.

“It’s very difficult when NGOs come in and pick up the pieces when the government comes in and evicts people.... [NGOs] must find ways to stop the government from doing this stuff in the future,” she said.

Kim Rattana acknowledged this issue but emphasised the humanitarian needs at the site.

“We are not supporting the evictions, but this is an emergency case … so there is an emergency need for support,” he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHHAY CHANNYDA

Rap teaches B'bang youths the dangers of land mines

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:02 Robbie Corey-Boulet and May Titthara

Mine Risk Education group uses music to break down myths that put people – especially boys – at risk across the province.

Battambang

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Rappers from Sek Sak village perform at a mine-risk education contest Saturday in Ratanak Mondol district, Battambang province.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I never knew about the bad impacts of using the weapons.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TEN years ago, Nam Vanna, 25, lost his right hand in a land mine explosion. The accident happened while he was trying to kill fish using a mine he found in his native Sek Sak village in Battambang’s Ratanak Mondol district.

He had used the unorthodox fishing technique many times before, “following the example of his father”, he said Saturday from the sidelines of a mine-risk education (MRE) rap contest near his home. For him and many of his friends, land mines were a childhood fixture. “I always went to collect them in the forest, and my friends and I would play with them,” he said. “I never knew about the bad impacts of using the weapons.”

Nam Vanna was one of 45 young villagers from Ratanak Mondol to perform in the contest, organised to educate local boys about the dangers of land mines and unexploded ordnance. For more than an hour, groups from three villages battled over beats by Dr Dre, Flo Rida and 50 Cent – all the while emphasising that playing with land mines does not make you manlier, and that Khmer magic will not protect you from a mine blast.

One of the organisers, Catherine Cecil of the International Women’s Development Agency, said the contest – held at the high school in Pcheav village – was geared towards a particularly vulnerable subgroup: According to data from the Cambodia Mine/UXO Victim Information System (CMVIS), Battambang suffered the most mine casualties of any province in 2008. Thirty-four percent of the victims were boys under 18. CMVIS also reported that 83 percent of the victims had been exposed to some MRE – an indication, Cecil said, that education programmes had not been particularly effective. “We think we need a better approach,” she said.

Several performers agreed and said it was the music, not the message, that had drawn them to Saturday’s event. Sry Dalen, a 15-year-old from Phlov Meas village, said: “I really like hip-hop, so I decided to join this programme. I didn’t really know why they were trying to educate us about the mine issue, but now I know a lot about it.” Even though he had been told before that mines were dangerous, he didn’t take the warnings seriously – until now. “We never listened to them, but now I will stop touching mines,” he said.

One of the songs performed by Sry Dalen’s group poked fun at a teenage boy who boasted: “I am a gangster leader. I am not afraid of mines because my body is tattooed, and I have Khmer magic, so mines will not explode on me.”

All three groups wrote lyrics mocking this particular belief, which several performers said was widely held among youngsters. In a special guest appearance, MC Tola addressed it himself in a song written exclusively for the event.

DJ Sdey, who served as MC and as one of the judges, also touched on the consequences. He rapped: “The second time you tamper, you lose your girl. The third time you tamper, you’ve lost your girl and you’re losing your arm.” Of the three competing villages, Chi San took the top prize: the chance to appear in a new MRE radio ad.

Rappers from Sek Sak performed songs describing the economic factors that prompt villagers to handle mines in the first place. “If we don’t use mines to catch fish, how can we support our daily living?” the group sang before emphasising that mine-related injuries are often lifetime economic liabilities. Yin Rachana, 20, whose father lost a leg in a mine accident when he was a soldier, said: “An arm or leg disability – that can ruin your life.

Conference addresses law, economic freedom

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

Finance Minister Keat Chhon told conference delegates in Siem Reap on Friday that Cambodia had suffered from decreasing demand since the crisis hit as risks have risen in the economy.

----------------------------------------------
[In] a free market someone can buy all the rice and sell it for $100 per kilo.
----------------------------------------------

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:01 JACOB GOLD

In speech to Siem Reap meeting, Finance Minister Keat Chhon acknowledges unexpected problems posed by global crisis

SIEM REAP

MINISTER of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon told an economics conference in Siem Reap ended Saturday that the economic crisis had presented Cambodia with “unexpected challenges”, promising that the Kingdom would uphold the rule of law and economic freedom in dealing with the fallout.

Speaking in a keynote address to gathered delegates at the two-day event, the minister acknowledged Friday the drop in demand for Cambodian goods and the increased financial risks that hit the Kingdom’s narrow economy.

“Cognisant of the correlation between the rule of law and economic growth … our responses to the crises respect the rule of law and economic freedom,” he said at the annual Economic Freedom Network Asia event at the Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra hotel, organised by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), a German NGO dedicated to putting the ideas of economic and political liberalism into practice across the developing world.

The meeting saw regional experts, as well as those from further afield, come to Siem Reap to discuss and share economic information and ideas as part of the event, which was titled “Overcoming the Global Financial and Economic Crisis: The Rule of Law as the Key to Economic Freedom”.

Speaking Friday on the sidelines of the conference, Rainer Adam, FNF regional director for Southeast Asia, told the Post that economic production could be achieved at the smallest, but that ordinary peoples’ rights were too often not protected in the Kingdom.

“The informal sector is full of entrepreneurs. They do have capital, even if we may not appreciate it as such. It may be a bicycle, a pushcart, a portable stove,” he said. “In the cities, they are treated as a nuisance. Their property rights are not being respected.”

The matter of Cambodia’s recent land disputes – including seizures and evictions that have sometimes turned violent – was largely absent from the conference’s discussions, and participants focused instead on a social justice issue that has achieved more positive development: the empowerment of Cambodia’s farmers and rural communities.

Son Koun Thor, vice chairman of the Supreme National Economic Council of Cambodia and head of the Rural Development Bank, said that his organisation was working to increase the accessibility of agricultural loans, including a pilot project to provide 500 microfinance loans totalling US$200,000 to rural households.

Globally disconnected

However, Son Koun Thor expressed poor Cambodians’ deep-seated ambivalence about the supposed benefits of total free-market exposure being advocated by others at the conference.

“If you have the money, you can buy rice at US$1 per kilo. But if you apply a free market, someone can buy all the rice and then sell it for $100 per kilo,” he noted.

According to anecdotal evidence, particularly from the government, the roughly 21,000 garment workers that have failed to be absorbed back into the sector this year have largely returned to the provinces to work on family farmland, boosting what is tipped to be the best economic performer this year: agriculture.

International agencies including the Asian Development Bank and International Monetary Fund have forecast agricultural growth to reach around 5 percent this year while last month forecasting that Cambodia’s overall GDP would shrink by up to 2.75 percent this year.

More licences sought for overseas recruiting

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:01 May Kunmakara

More licences sought for overseas recruiting

THE head of Cambodia’s recruitment agency association has called on the government to license more agents following calls for 50,000 workers for Malaysia’s garment and electronic factories.

Association of Cambodian Recruitment Agencies (ACRA) Director An Bun Hak said the three official agencies in the country have been given one year to find the workers.

Requests for workers began coming in around July as factories in Malaysia began cranking up production, An Bun Hak said Friday. By September, agencies were trying to fill calls for 35,000 workers. As of Friday, that number had swelled to 50,000, he added.

“With the global crisis getting better, we received a lot of requests,” he said. “They came to us because Cambodian workers are well regarded by Malaysian employment agencies because they obey labour laws, are disciplined in the workplace and are very patient when it comes to working in a production job,” he said.

Malaysian employers were also increasingly turning to workers from the Kingdom instead of Indonesia, he added. Association figures show 3,922 domestic workers travelled to Malaysia for domestic work in the first six months of 2009, already more than the 2,654 sent last year. By comparison, 2,116 went to Thailand last year, and just 937 in the first half of this year. Migrant workers in Malaysia and Thailand remitted around US$200 million last year, according to agency figures.

An Bun Hak said Cambodia has three private recruitment agencies and was in danger of not being able to fill the order. The association has asked Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training to step in and license more agencies, he said.

Nhem Kimhouy, a ministry official, said the request had been passed to the government for approval. “It’s important … to help people find work, especially during the current crisis in which a lot of garment workers have lost jobs,” he said.

Ministry figures show that 77 garment factories closed during the first three quarters of the year, resulting in the loss of 30,683 jobs. A further 53 suspended operations, affecting an additional 30,617 workers. However, 40 factories opened during the period, creating work for 9,605 people.

Nhem Kimhouy said recruitment agencies need to register with the ministry and deposit $10,000 at the central bank.

An Bun Hak said the association was screening the factories that were requesting workers to ensure they could find good working conditions in Malaysia. “Because we got a lot of requests, we will select the well-known factory owners for our workers first, especially the owners from Japan or the USA,” he said.

Workers selected to travel to Malaysia will sign a three-year-contract paying between $250 and $350 per month, An Bun Hak said.

The UN Development Programme said in its most recent quality of life index that Cambodian migrant workers send around $353 million home from their work abroad every year.

Gold prices react to international surge

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

Young potential gold buyers take a look at necklaces made from the precious metal at a jewellery shop near Central Market.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think that the price of gold [in Cambodia] is likely to continue to rise.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:01 Nguon Sovan

Dealers in Phnom Penh report record prices as global markets lose faith in the US dollar

GOLD prices in Cambodia have reacted to the surge on world markets with the price climbing 4.6 percent over the past fortnight, Phnom Penh-based dealers told the Post.

Cambodia’s largest gold dealer, Ly Hour Exchange in the capital, hit a recent high of nearly $1,260 a damlung, said owner Sieng Lim. A damlung is the commonly used Cambodian measure for the precious metal, equal to 37.49 grammes or 1.2 ounces. Two weeks ago the price was at $1,200, she added.

“The rise in the price of gold in Cambodia is due to the surge in gold prices on international markets as the US dollar experiences weakness,” she said, adding that in Cambodia the dollar has this month remained stable against a riel currency that has been propped up in recent months by the government, most notably in August.

The riel nevertheless depreciated 1.8 percent against the greenback since April, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said in its October outlook for Cambodia.

The rate was largely unchanged at the end of last week at 4,176 riels, according to ANZ Royal bank rates.

On Sunday, gold prices reached a new high of $1,258 a damlung, said Sok Ly Meng, gold jewellery manager at Mokod Pich Gold Shop near Central Market, citing global price rises in recent days.

Sieng Lim said it remained difficult to predict how gold prices were likely to proceed in the coming weeks given the dependence on international markets. However, international analysts were predicting last week that gold would realistically continue to move beyond Thursday’s high of $1,062.70 per ounce ($1275.24 a damlung) with some commentators predicting a likely target price of $1,500 per ounce ($1,800 a damlung).

“There’s been talk this week of $1,500, and I see that as perfectly achievable,” Arthur Hood, chief executive of Australia’s second-largest gold company, Lihir Gold Ltd, told Australian Broadcasting Corp television Sunday.

Virin Ratanak, owner of Virin Ratanak Gold Jewellry, another Phnom Penh-based gold dealer close to Central Market, said that with international prices pushing up the local selling rates to record levels, demand had since dropped, but she declined to say how much her shop had sold in recent weeks.

“I think that the price of gold is likely to continue to rise,” she said.

Gold prices soar in 2009

Recent prices rises in the precious metal mean that Cambodian prices have increased 29.8 percent this year during a period in which the riel has remained fairly stable to the US dollar and inflation has generally been stagnant – official data last week showed that consumer price index inflation was just 0.5 percent in September month on month.

According to Ly Hour Exchange, the price of gold hit a ceiling in August last year at around $1,190 per damlung, but gradually dropped to $970 a damlung by January. Since then, it has steadily surged to $1,258 a damlung Sunday.

An ounce of gold was $1,049.60, or $1,259.50 per damlung, on international markets Sunday, which represents a 4.95 percent surge from $1,000 (or $1,200 per damlung) an ounce on October 1.

Cambodia’s gold reserves have reached record highs this year, climbing to $2.624 billion by the end of the second quarter, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data.

Gold reserves in the Kingdom have generally been kept at levels similar to foreign exchange reserves, which have also hit highs this year despite predictions by the EIU in particular earlier this year that Cambodia’s forex reserves would drop.

However, Cambodia has been helped by the IMF, which allocated $108 million in Special Drawing Rights in August.

Foreign exchange reserves were $2.522 billion at the end of August, Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thursday.

STOCK ROUNDUP: Gold spurs rally for extractive industries

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:01 Steve Finch

STOCK ROUNDUP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXTRACTIVE industries posted healthy gains last week amid record gold prices as most markets surged, resulting in some strong performances from Cambodia-affiliated mining companies on world markets.

Elray Resources, which operates gold and other mineral concessions in northern Cambodia under its wholly owned subsidiary Angkor Wat Minerals, surged 27.59 percent up to the end of trading Friday to US$0.185. The US over-the-counter stock reached a week-high of $0.20 Wednesday, its strongest showing since August 13 as gold prices hit a record $1,062.70 an ounce Thursday.

OZ Minerals, which plans to further explore a “promising” gold system in Mondulkiri province following the end of the rainy season, rose 15.38 percent last week in Sydney to A$1.27 (US$1.15) despite announcing Wednesday a class action over alleged hidden debts. The Melbourne-based firm said in a statement the same day it would fight the case brought by a group of shareholders that said they were not informed of maturing debts at the end of last year.

Southern Gold of Adelaide fell 4.17 percent to A$0.115 despite its gold prospects in Kratie province first announced in mid-July.

Chevron stocks climbed 6.78 percent in New York by the end of trade Friday to $72.76 after announcing a likely production increase this quarter, Bloomberg reported.

In other sectors, ANZ Bank was up 10.72 percent in Sydney to A$22.42 despite closing down 0.58 percent Friday as Australian stocks responded well to the central bank’s interest rates hike Tuesday.

Nasdaq-listed Vimpelcom, owner of mobile-phone company Beeline, was up 7.86 percent last week, finishing Friday at $19.35 as Deutsche Bank lifted its forecast for the Moscow-based firm Tuesday to buy with a $23.10 target price.

HERE'S TO SAUSAGE, POLKA AND BEER

Photo by: AFP / TANG CHHIN SOTHY

(POst by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:01 AFP / TANG CHHIN SOTHY

Bavaria came to Cambodia last weekend for Oktoberfest at Hotel Cambodiana. Hosted by the German Business Group Cambodia, the taps flowed liberally as guests enjoyed traditional German food, live folk music, and, of course, beer. The beer-hall revellers were served by beer girls in traditional German dresses to the sounds of polka music. The all-you-can-eat buffet featured German fare such as smoked ham, sausage and potatoes, and while Tiger beer was the official sponsor, there was no shortage of Jagermeister or the traditional German wheat beer Schneider-Weisse to go around.

Sign language for Cambodia

Photo by: Borei Sylyvann

Student Sreng Vanny has her say using the Khmer version of sign language.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They should not speak ill of people…even though I cannot hear, I can see.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:00 Prum Seila

A unique Khmer sign language course derived from its American equivalent helps students at a school for the mute and deaf to complete their studies

The students run with an abandon befitting their age, and the usual playground high jinks can be seen in every corner of the recreation area.

Yet there is a crucial difference between this childhood scene and those witnessed in schools all over the world: the silence.

Hardly a noise is heard here at Chhbar Ampov, a specialist school for the mute and deaf, where the preferred method of communication is a pioneering sign language interpretable by Cambodians.

The students have a new lease on life since they learned the methods endorsed by Krou Sar Thmey, an organisation that helped provided the country’s first school and language course for the deaf and mute.

The Khmer sign language course has roots in its American equivalent, with some crucial tweaks to make it accessible to Cambodians.

“We took parts of the American language, but changed them to fit a Cambodian context,” explained Cheam Kosal, a general director of Krou Sar Thmey. “We also left in some natural signs used by deaf and mute people.”

The development of the language has resulted in the production of two dictionaries, which Cambodians can use to look up more than 1,600 words in sign language. The reference books are available on CD-ROM and online.

Khmer textbooks used by first- to fifth-grade students have also been redesigned, with images of hand signals included, to cater specifically to mute and deaf learners.

“It is a great aid in training teachers to practise and learn the language effectively,” said Hout Virak, a 27-year-old physics and chemistry teacher at Chhbar Ampov.

“At first, I felt quite nervous about teaching or explaining things to the students, but now it’s pretty easy since I always have a quiet group, unlike some of my other rowdy classes.”

Students divide their time between Chhbar Ampov and regular school, and some recently passed the general high school exam.

Sreng Vanny, one of those talented learners, told of her joy at her achievement through translator Hout Virak.

“I am very happy to have passed the exam,” she expressed in sign language, with a beaming smile, to her teacher.

“It was really hard to communicate with others and to ask the teacher questions when they didn’t know our language,” she added. “But I tried very hard, and now I have a good result.”

The sign language dictionary is proving helpful in Sreng Vanny’s home life as well. Her father Por Sreng said it was a useful aid in conversing with his daughter.

“I can understand some words used in the sign language,” he said. “I am happy to try to combine it with communicating with her via writing.”

But there have been occasions when the new language has been misunderstood. Hout Virak recalls students who once attempted to sign that they were dirty, by dragging their hands across their necks. The teacher, unfamiliar with the language, misinterpreted it, believing they wanted to kill her.

Despite the huge strides in learning and communication, the students still face an uphill battle. Marginalisation and stigma still afflict the deaf and mute population of Cambodia, as Sreng Vanny laments.

“I can see people gossiping about me,” she said.

“They should not speak ill of people with such difficulties because even though I cannot hear, I can see.”

Standing ovation for talented kids

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON

Srey Lin from Sunrise Children's Village performing the coconut dance in Sydney during their fundraising tour last week.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The thing I enjoyed most was seeing their adorable faces peeking out from behind the curtains, full of glee....

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:00 Tracey Shelton

SYDNEY

THERE was hardly a dry eye in the room at the Sydney Opera House last week after children from the Sunshine Children’s Village in Takeo presented their moving performances.

The 29 ecstatic but exhausted children arrived back home Tuesday after a week in Australia, where they performed Khmer dance, music and song at the iconic opera house.

Their ticket sales alone raised $75,000 for the Sunrise foundation, while donation boxes and merchandise sales took the figure to more than $100,000 for the night.

President of Sunrise Children’s Villages Geraldine Cox said she had been worried it was only motherly love for the children that had made her believe they had talent.

“It wasn’t until the curtain went up and I heard applause after applause after applause that I realised they really are incredibly talented children,” Cox said.

She said the trip was funded by 14 corporate sponsors, covering all expenses including airfares, accommodation and day trips for the children. Passports and airport fees were waived by Prime Minister Hun Sen, and the Australian Department of Immigration waived all visa-related fees for the children and staff supervisors.

Cox said the children showed Sydney Australians the “dignity and beauty of Khmer dance”.

“The love that just flowed over them at the concert hall was like a wave. You could feel it – and the children just loved every minute of being on stage,” she said.

The event was hosted by well-known Australian celebrity Ray Martin, and support performances included country singers Kasey Chambers and Beccy Cole, musician Jane Rutter, and singer David Campbell.

“The thing I enjoyed most was seeing their adorable faces peeking out from behind the curtains, full of glee – bursting with excitement,” said one member of the audience, Samantha Florence, 32.

The audience rose in a standing ovation as 13-year-old Chorn Chanvisal belted out the last few words of his powerful rendition of the song “Why”. Looking on from backstage, Chambers and Cole remarked: “With lungs like his, there might be some stiff competition coming up in the Australian music industry.”

But although Chanvisal said the performance was very exciting and happy, when asked if he would like to be a rock star he replied, “No, I’d rather be an accountant. If I become a pop star, someone might kill me.”

Outside of the performance the children with enjoyed a pirate ship cruise around the harbour, a wet but enjoyable trip to the zoo, and a day at Palm Beach.

Despite the excitement of the Opera House, for 12-year-old Thai Sreyleak the highlight of the trip was eating a hamburger and swimming at Palm Beach – despite the temperature hovering around a low 17 degrees.

Cox said in addition to the pride she felt during their stage performance, she was also quite pleased with their behaviour. “Not one event passed without people coming up and remarking on how well-behaved the children were,” she said. “They did Cambodia proud.”

___________________________________

Tracey Shelton has volunteered at Sunrise Children’s Villages since 1998 and assisted in supervising the Sydney tour. She is also the photographer behind a picture book about the children, titled We Can Be..., that was released at the Opera House.

Super Red jump to top of Futsal league

Players from Futsal team Dei Ek Katde (right, green) set up for a free-kick attempt against Tuol Sangke All Star (left, orange) during their FFC Hello Futsal League 2009 match at Olympic Stadium on Saturday. Photo by: Nick sells (http://www.nicksellsphotography.com/)

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

WITH wins from their first two games, Khmer Super Red sit atop of the FFC Hello Futsal League 2009. After crushing Dei Ek Katde 14-6, Super Red smashed Saturday opponents Panda FC 13-6.

Super Red’s hotshot So Daravuth was the man of the match with a stunning four goals in about as many minutes.

Olympic Youth also boast a perfect record following a 4-1 victory over reigning champions Funan FC 4-1 Saturday, but have four fewer in goal difference than the league leaders.

Rama Holding Group move into third after winning a testing clash with Khmer Eysann 4-3. And Dei Ek Katde grabbed their first points of the campaign with aplomb, trouncing Tuol Sangke All Star 13-2.

Canada victorious in FFC Nations Cup golf tourney

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:00 Peter Olszewski

TEAM Canada clinched the FFC Nations Cup on Sunday at Siem Reap’s Angkor Golf Resort, with an accumulated score of 270 points.

The combined British and Irish team came in second place with 254 points, edging Cambodia into third with 253 points.

Cambodia’s excellent showing in the tournament came about largely due to the blistering form of captain Ly Hong from Phnom Penh, who shot a gross 70 Saturday to record 45 stableford points.

Cambodia notched up the highest gross daily score for the tournament Sunday, which featured a one-over-par 73 by Ly Hong.

Seven teams took part in the event over the weekend. France entered two squads, Britain and Ireland made up a team, and nations Australia, Cambodia, Canada, and Thailand completed the field.

Play was marred by bad weather, but organisers said they were surprised how seriously the event was contested, considering it was just for fun.

At the end of the first day’s play, Britain and Ireland were the tournament pace-setters with 133 points, four points clear of Canada, while Cambodia lagged well behind with 115 points.

The British and Irish team, captained by Brendan O’Driscoll, went off the boil Sunday, scoring 121 points, allowing Michael Warford’s Canadian team to take first place with a daily total of 125. Cambodia were the surprise package on the final day, recording a magnificent 138 points, only to be pipped by a paltry point into third.

U16s taken to pieces of 8

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

Thailand thrash Cambodia U16s 8-0 in AFC qualifier Friday

LAST week, Cambodian Football Federation spokesman May Tola had predicted the U16 national team would perform admirably in their AFC Championship 2010 qualifiers in Thailand, inspired by the feats of East Timor, who had qualified for the finals for the first time in their history.

However, the Cambodian youngsters were well and truly routed by host nation Thailand, who smashed in an awesome eight with no reply Friday. A hat trick within seven minutes by Prakasit Khamkhong contributed to Thailand’s first-half tally of five.

Three Cambodian defenders were brought on midway through the second half in an attempt to stem the flow of relentless Thai attacks, but they couldn’t prevent Prakasit’s cropping up near the end to grab his fourth, and his team’s eighth.

Cambodia sit bottom of their group, which Thailand top, while North Korea take second place after beating Vietnam 2-1 Friday. Myanmar stunned South Korea with a 1-1 draw.

Nimol, a Cambodian student living in Bangkok, watched the match live at Bangkok’s Royal Thai Army Stadium. He said the Cambodian boys had little to blame themselves for, with the Thai squad holding a significant size advantage.

Nimol also noted that Cambodian goalkeeper Prak Monyphirun was kept extremely busy, with the Thais dominating the possession throughout the game.

Police Blotter 12 October 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:02 Chrann Chamroeun

KNICKER THIEF CASTS A SPELL

A 20-year-old man in Sihanoukville was arrested after allegedly stealing pairs of underwear from two girls, police said. The man claimed he was trying to right a wrong, saying he had used witchcraft to put a spell on the children, causing one girl to love him and the other to fall sick. He said he stole the underwear to free the pair from his spell. Police say the girls’ parents begged for the man’s release.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

BROKEN-HEARTED MAN HANGS SELF

A man committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree after catching his wife having sex with a customer at a Phnom Penh massage club, police said. The 39-year-old man’s body was found Friday, hanging from a cassia tree in Phnom Penh Thmey commune. He had strangled himself with his own shirt, police said. “There was no murder,”said commune police Chief Keo Sothorn. “He committed suicide because he had a broken heart, and he was disappointed with his fate that his wife abandoned him and came to work as a prostitute in a massage club.”

Chrann Chamroeun

POLICE HUNTING FOR KILLERS OF GIRL, 11

An 11-year-old girl was found dead, with both her eyeballs visibly damaged, in what police are calling a “brutal killing”. The girl had been missing since Tuesday, when she took her cow to graze at a rice field near her village in Kampot province. But when the cow came back alone that evening, authorities launched a search. Police say they are on the hunt for the suspected killers.

KOH SANTEPHEAP

MAN SUSPECTED OF ATTEMPTED RAPE

Police said a 21-year-old man tried to rape a woman shortly after he had been drinking wine with the woman’s husband on Wednesday in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nob district. The attempted rape was thwarted when the woman woke up and screamed for help, police said, which caused the suspect to flee. He was arrested the next morning.

KOH SANTEPHEAP

SON ATTACKS DAD FOR MAKING NOISE

A 49-year-old Banteay Meanchey man is in hospital with severe injuries after his “deeply drunken” son slashed his throat with a knife, police say. Svay Chek district police Chief Sy Dy said the 22-year-old suspect confessed to cutting his father’s throat because his father was noisily talking with his mother, keeping the suspect from sleep.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Brief: No medals from event

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

A four-strong Cambodian delegation returned last Thursday without having won any medals at a French-speaking nations’ sporting event held from September 27 to October 6 in Lebanon. The athletes included marathon runner Hem Bunting and boxers Svay Ratha, Long Lamda and Chan Vibol. Hem Bunting, who won a silver medal in the marathon and bronze medal in the 5,000 metres at the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand, said he had not enough time to prepare for event. Svay Ratha and Long Lamda lost their fights by decision, and Chan Vibol was stopped by his Bulgarian opponent in the second round.

Brief: KKC finals bout set

Monday, 12 October 2009 15:00 Robert Starkweather

Cheam Adam and Puy Neurn both claimed victories Saturday to advance into the finals of CTN’s Kun Khmer Tournament of Champions. Cheam Adam, the season one winner of CTN’s Kun Khmer Champion reality series, beat Khon Makara by unanimous decision, with four judges scoring the bout 99-96 and the fifth scoring it 98-97. Poy Neurn, the runner-up of season two, beat Sok Ratha by third-round knockout. The knockdown blow landed below the belt, but after ample recovery time, Sok Ratha refused to continue fighting, and referee Long Salavorn counted him out. Cheam Adam will fight Puy Neurn in the tournament final Saturday with fights starting at 2pm.

Tasting Cambodia Ecotourism with TourismIndochina.com

(Post by CAAI News Media)

2009-10-12 07:10:23 - With a wide variety of natural creational activities, you can enjoy cycling, trekking, boating, viewing landscape, and involving with local livelihood activities like agricultural activities which will immerse you a real combination of communities’ life experiences and natural tourism in Cambodia, a Kingdom of yet explored...

Ecotourism development is an emerging trend being developed for responsible tourists. Ecotourism is a current diversified form of tourism contributed to national economic growth. A new form of ecotourism development drives local community to a next stage to local livelihood improvement through alternative income, diversified job, capacity building and community empowerment.

Ecotourism development in Cambodian has been progressively developed in the northeastern area, where fabulous of biological species, life style and charming alongside region of the Mekong River, is not yet completely explored. With ecotourism development, community no longer predominantly depend on previous occupation, especially agricultural productivity, but having more opportunity to gain operational skills for ecotourism demands. Tourist involvement in ecotourism activities operated by local community is an act of stepping forwards to poverty alleviation responding to one of main millennium development goals.

With a wide variety of natural creational activities, you can enjoy cycling, trekking, boating, viewing landscape, and involving with local livelihood activities like agricultural activities which will immerse you a real combination of communities’ life experiences and natural tourism in Cambodia, a Kingdom of yet explored. Through accurate ecotourism activities, negative impact will be minimize, environmental and cultural experiences and respect will be built, experiences for both hosts and visitor will be provided, financial benefit will be contributed to conservation, community empowerment will be enhanced , and sensitivity of host environmental, political, social climate will be raised.

Cambodian communities are warm-hearted, friendly, and helpful. Tasting ecotourism and other types of tourism Cambodia is looking to serve, you will feel like you make your self at home as we greet you as resident and evoke you to revisit as family. Will you enjoy tasting ecotourism in The Kingdom of Wonder? Why not! We, Bayon Heritage Travel and Tours, could drive you to taste the environmental friendly and responsible tourism with our hard working colleagues committed to ensure your quality experience via good packages provision. Waiting no more to see a charming and yet explored of the Southeast Asia.

For more information about Cambodia: www.tourismindochina.com/

CAAI News Media: RED Shirts are on the street again

Thai anti-government demonstrators gather near Democracy Monument Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, all in red shirts, rallied to demand the government step down and call fresh elections. (AP Photo/David Longstreath) (CAAI News Media)

Supporters of exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra hold candles during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa (CAAI News Media)

Supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra gather during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa (CAAI News Media)

A woman sells masks bearing the likeness of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (CAAI News Media)

Supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra carry his posters and banners during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (CAAI News Media)

Supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra gather during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (CAAI News Media)

A Thai anti-government demonstrator shouts to the crowd as he and others gather near Democracy Monument Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Bangkok, Thailand. Thousands of supporters of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, all in red shirts, rallied to demand the government step down and call fresh elections. (AP Photo/David Longstreath) (CAAI News Media)

Exiled former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gives a live address via tele-conference to supporters during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Kerek Wongsa (CAAI News Media)

Split between asean leaders and civil society groups widens

By Kavi Chongkittavorn

The Nation

October 12, 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

THAILAND'S LONG STANDING plan to institutionalise the interface between Asean leaders and representatives of the more than 70 Asean civil society organisations (CSO) are crumbling. The noble objective of establishing a people-oriented Asean community will remain a pipe dream for the time being.

Last week, at the Asean Joint Coordinating Meeting in Bangkok, aa land locked member proposed any such meeting in the future, including the forthcoming Cha-Am summit (15th Asean summit), should be optional.

Asean senior officials quickly took up Vientiane's idea which reflected readily the high anxiety held by their leaders since the historic event last February during the 14th Asean summit.

With strong support from the majority of Asean members, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand decided to go with the flow. After all, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak would not be able to make it to the scheduled meeting with the CSO. Without them, the numbers of Asean leaders attending the event could further dwindle.

It is highly likely new Asean members (Laos, Cambodia, Burma) would be abstaining given unpleasant encounters in the past. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who almost boycotted the function, was much disturbed by the way the first interface was conducted including the selection process of CSO representatives, especially from his own country. Hun Sen wanted to have his hand-picked CSO representative, not a person chosen among the group.

So too did Burma object to the CSO representative from the Burmese in exile. In the wee hours, to save the interface, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya decided to hold a separate meeting with the Burmese group led by Khin Omar, a coordinator of the Burmese Partnership Network and Cambodian representatives, and Pen Somony, programme coordinator for the Cambodia Volunteers for Civil Society.

The attitude of the incoming Asean chair, Vietnam, to the upcoming interface remained to be seen. Hanoi's absence would certainly spell a death knell to promotion of the nascent dialogue process. At first encounter, Vietnam was forthcoming.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made news headlines by welcoming the idea of listing the interface between the Asean leaders and civil society into the Asean framework. He pointed out there must be a guideline governing such relations as stated in the Asean Charter.

Both Brunei and Singapore are not enthusiastic about the interface as their authorities have constantly questioned the legitimacy of CSO representatives and their mandates as non-state actors. In the 13th Asean summit held in Singapore, there was no such interface, only the CSO reports sent to the leaders via chosen representatives. At earlier summits in Kuala Lumpur and Cebu, there were brief face-to-face meetings between the Asean leaders and CSO members.

At the first interface, the CSO called on the Asean leaders to treat them as partners and institutionalise the interface to ensure the full implementation of the Asean Charter and people-oriented community. They urged the leaders to view them as partners in the grouping's planned integration.

To prevent any possible embarrassment this time, all nominated CSO names must be submitted in advance for approval by Asean senior officials. Each country can only submit one delegate, not two as originally proposed by Thailand. The scheduled informal summits with representatives of the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly and the Asean Youth are less controversial and will proceed as planned.

The CSO, comprising more than 70 organisations based in Southeast Asia, will hold a two-day people's forum beginning Sunday in Bangkok to prepare its input for the Asean leaders during the interface. In past months, the CSO has been critical of the terms of reference of the Asean Inter-governmental Commission for Human Rights.

Asean-based human rights activists would like to see the Asean rights mechanism focus on protection as well as promotion and maintain the same universal standards. For instance, the Asean members rejected strongly the idea endorsed by the CSO for periodic review and reporting on the human rights situation in all member countries.

Some Asean senior officials have blamed the CSO for moving far too fast instead of taking an incremental step by step. After all, it would take a long lead time for the Asean leaders before they came to accept the CSO's regular presence and views. Quite a few criticised the host for failure to rein in the CSO during the first interface.

Sad but true, on 23rd October from 11.50 am to 12.20 pm, it is possible less than half the Asean leaders will be attending the scheduled 30-minute meeting with the selective CSO members unless there are seismic changes in the leaders' mindsets. If the other half does not show up, the future of interface is doomed. Vietnam, as the next Asean chair, will certainly work closely with its successor Brunei in 2011 and Cambodia in 2012 to clip the CSO's ever expanding wings of progressive ideas.

Passion and terrible crimes

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

By Frank Moher, Citizen Special

October 11, 2009

(Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodian genocide

The Disappeared

By Kim Echlin

Hamish Hamilton Canada, $29

The first of the trials for genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s began this month, 13 years after the establishment of the UN-assisted tribunal, and fully 30 years after the end of the four-year period during which an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died.

The tribunal has been wracked by procedural delays and charges of corruption. Most recently, its chief judge warned that money is running out. Meanwhile, the first of the defendants, Kaing Guek Eav, who ran a secret torture facility and has confessed to being responsible for 15,000 killings, has expressed remorse for his deeds. It is entirely possible that is as much satisfaction as the world will get.

The impossibility of closure after great crimes, no matter how many tribunals and truth-and-reconciliation commissions we may launch, is the subject of Toronto author Kim Echlin's absorbing new novel, The Disappeared. Echlin, one of Canada's finest prose stylists, approaches her subject with the delicacy and solemnity it deserves. In the end, though, it begs the question: Is a beautiful work of art, which The Disappeared certainly is, the appropriate response to a holocaust?

Echlin's narrator is Anne Greeves, a middle-aged Montreal language instructor remembering her still raw-in-the-mind love affair with a Khmer exile 30 years before. She recalls Serey in the enraptured manner of the 16-year-old she was when she met him: besotted, helpless, aroused. The Disappeared takes its place with such other chronicles of female desire as Elizabeth Smart's By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept or Pauline Reage's The Story of O, here yoked to a history that makes it both larger and more keen.

When Serey returns to Cambodia, after the Vietnamese invasion and the fall of Pol Pot's regime, he disappears into a quagmire of political upheaval and continued killing, as the transitional government mimics democracy even while it suppresses dissent. Galvanized by what she is sure is a glimpse of her lover on TV, Anne forsakes "the liberties of the times, music and drugs and separatism," and travels to Phnom Penh to find him. She does, but, like a ghost darting around corners, he is soon gone again, among the missing after a grenade attack at an opposition rally.

"You cannot disappear," she laments, in the second-person voice that gives the novel the intimacy of whispered conversation. "Please do not disappear. No one can mend my sorrow. I love what I lost."

Echlin successfully links the void in Anne's heart with the void left in the lives of millions of mothers, widows and children, as well as with the erasure of cultural memory that was not only the intent of the Khmer Rouge but embraced by those who followed.

"What purpose to revisit the past?" asks an official charged with resisting Anne's effort at answers. Brian Fawcett covered similar territory 20 years ago in his odd duck of an essay/fiction collection, Cambodia: A Book For People Who Find Television Too Slow. "Most of the victims of the Khmer Rouge were killed merely because they could remember a different kind of world," he wrote.

Anne remembers a world in which she had love. Because of the circumstances of her childhood, raised by a maid and a distant father after the death of her mother, she is particularly desperate to have it back; love is, for her, a long, cool drink of which she can't have enough. And, unlike those around her on her journey of reclamation, she is not circumspect in the face of violence. Pure eros drives her, in a society that has largely lost its animating will.

The Disappeared is an expert novel which manages to penetrate to the aching core of the Cambodian tragedy. Eventually, though, its solemnity comes to seem more tragic pose than due regard for the dead, especially when it tips over into tendentiousness: "Get past the golden rule. Make the enemy inhuman. Call the enemy dog, snake, kraut, gook, kike, cockroach, slut, all that ugly talk." And there is something odd about a well-wrought treatment of chaos. Dark comedy or silence may be the only vehicles that can contain a genocide without reducing it.

Still, its heroine's sexuality is a force for life not only in the extinguished world in which she finds herself but in the novel itself. The Disappeared presents desire as an antidote to despair. We may need one, if those who committed the crimes that make memorials like this one necessary continue to, all these years later, elude karma.

Frank Moher is a playwright and the editor of backofthebook.ca.

Kim Echlin will appear at the Ottawa International Writers Festival on May 1 at 6:30 p.m.

Deaths in Cambodia ferry disaster

Sunday, October 11, 2009
(Post by CAAI News Media)

An overloaded river ferry has capsized in a tributary of Cambodia's Mekong river, claiming the lives of at least 17 passengers.

The ferry capsized some 160km upstream from the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh

The accident took place overnight in northeastern Kratie province, some 160km northeast of the capital Phnom Penh, Major Leng Sarum of the police said on Sunday.

Thirty passengers had been on the boat that was on its way to a Buddhist festival.

"There was no storm or heavy rain when the boat sank. The accident happened because it was overloaded with passengers," Sarum said.

Kham Phoeun, the governor of Kratie province, said the bodies of 17 dead, which included 14 women and two children under the age 5, were being given to relatives.

At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river

Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodians ride a ferry across the Mekong River from Svay Chrum village in Kamday province towards the city of Phnom Penh October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)

Cambodian boys ride a ferry across the Mekong River from the city of Phnom Penh towards Svay Chrum village in Kamday province October 11, 2009. At least 17 people were missing and presumed drowned in Cambodia after an overloaded ferry, similar to the one pictured, sank in the Mekong river, officials said on Sunday. The 14 women and three men were traveling to a local Buddhist temple to watch a performance in northeastern Kratie province, about 200 km (124 miles) from the capital Phnom Penh, when their ferry sank in a tributary late on Saturday in strong currents. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (Post by CAAI News Media)