Education on the internet

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 15:01 Kong Sidaroth

You don’t have to stop learning when you leave the classroom; there are many other places out there where you can acquire knowledge, especially if you have access to the Internet. In fact, for anyone who wants to keep their mind sharp, learning must never stop.

This process, called lifelong learning, is born from a concept that suggests that your knowledge about a certain subject will become obsolete within two years if you do not update it. And once you begin to investigate the world, you will want to know more. A famous Khmer proverb says “the more you learn, the more you don’t know”, meaning that it is only when you begin to study something that you realise the enormity of information that there is to learn.

Whether you are a teacher, a student, or an employee, you should adopt a habit of lifelong learning for the continuous acquisition of knowledge, professional development and career advancement. One easy step to engage in lifelong learning is to explore and learn from the following online learning sites:

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/

A very useful learning site from the Nobel Foundation. On this Web site you can learn by directly interacting with the provided graphic and animated simulation on the subjects of peace, economics, medicine, physics, chemistry and literature.

www.wikipedia.org

A free encyclopedia featuring numerous articles about the arts, biography, geography, science, society, technology and much more. It is available in many languages, including Khmer. In English, the site contains 3,213,262 articles and continues to increase. In Khmer, the site contains 2,251 articles. Wikipedia can be the first place to visit when you want to learn quickly about something and, from that, you can find additional resources. At Wikipedia you can also update existing information and add new topics if you can’t find them on the site.

http://alison.com/AllCourses

Free online interactive courses and skills training for the workplace. Alison offers a wide range of learning topics; some suggested useful ones are How to use Gmail, Financial Literacy, Managing Safety and Health in Schools, Workstation Ergonomics and Basic Study Skills on mind mapping, time management, keeping a study diary, reading and writing techniques, as well as listening, speaking and telephone techniques.

http://www.moeys.gov.kh/Includes/Contents/Icha/

An e-training course in Khmer about HIV-AIDS lets you be more aware about the disease, its transmission, support for people who are infected in your community and how to better protect yourself.

So, wait no longer to start your lifelong learning journey and help our nation avoid this problem: “A nation that doesn’t adopt lifelong learning is a nation with eroding knowledge capital.”

Pushing primary education into the future

The grade 4 class at Northbridge International School

Koam Sarun teaches her grade 1 students at East West International School

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 15:00 Post Staff

Although the vast majority of Cambodian children are studying in the public school system, there are some exciting things happening at the country’s private schools, and these are exposing the younger generation of Cambodians to a new way of learning.

The country’s private schools include international schools that cater mostly to foreign students, but a growing number of less expensive schools that are engaging Cambodia’s middle class in more progressive styles of education are also available. While the work being done at these schools has yet to change the way that the majority of Cambodians receive their education, in generations to come, the lessons learned by students at these schools might change the way the entire country learns.

“In the long term, the impact of our school will be that we produce great thinkers,” explained Sandra Chips, who has been the principal of East West International School since its inception almost four years ago. “Our students will have the opportunity to see many different points of view.”

The main difference between public schools and the country’s more well-financed private schools is the method of education that better funding allows. At East West and many of the other private schools in the country, inquiry-based and student-led education have been embraced, meaning that students have the chance to pursue their own interests and investigations within the context of classroom learning.

“It is very different here,” explained Mon Sothy, a 25-year-old TA at East West who was educated in the public school system. “We ask the students what they think about what we are talking about. It is not just writing what is on the board and filling out workbooks.”

Mon Sothy, who teaches grade 5, admitted that teaching in this way can be difficult. But he said that he is happy to do the hard work because he believes that it will make the students more excited about learning and successful in their studies. “It is really cool. Our students love experiments and enjoy learning.”

The idea of having students in charge of their own experiments has also been embraced by students and teachers at Northbridge International School.

The grade 4 class, which has 24 students, 10 of whom are from Cambodia, undertook a number of investigations and actions related to pollution in Cambodia. The class observed the reality of the situation, taking a field trip across the city and onto the Mekong River, and discovered, as most people do when they drive around Phnom Penh, that pollution was a major problem.

After their field trip, the students decided that they needed to do something. The group paired up and wrote letters to the government suggesting ways in which the pollution problem could be solved. The main suggestions were to put more public toilets in the city, more garbage cans and garbage trucks, and also begin to pass more laws related to clean living.

A week after the letters were sent, the government passed a law against throwing rubbish on the streets. The students agreed that it might have just been a coincidence, but who knows?

According to Sambo Ngorn, who used to study at a public school in Cambodia, there are a number of differences between his experiences at the two places. “At Northbridge we learn about science and stuff,” he explained. “In Khmer school we just learned about the Khmer language. And the teachers in Khmer school were much more strict.”

Koam Sarun, another TA at East West, agrees that the behaviour and rules in her classroom now are much less strict than in those that she was educated in, but she thinks that the freedom for students to guide their own learning is more important than following rules. “In Khmer school students can memorise lessons, but do not understand what they mean,” she explained. “Here students understand so much of what they learn.”

Even though she didn’t intend on becoming a teacher coming out of Mekong University’s English for Business programme, she says she now realises the importance of teaching. “Teaching is very important because good teaching makes good citizens.”

Language for life

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 15:00 Susan Wilson

On the day his English school opened in the tiny town of Chumkriel in Kampot, in October 2005, Nget Sothy wasn’t sure there would be any students. He said the locals had told him English wasn’t important for their children. The next meal was what mattered and lofty dreams of foreign languages and university education were a waste of time. But when the day came, they must have changed their minds because over a hundred students flocked to his little room, keen to learn.

Nget Sothy knows the importance of a good education. Born in 1973 in the remote village of Prey Trang, in Kampot province’s Chhuk district, he says his teachers were any villagers who knew something about anything.

“We learned what we could,” he says, “but it wasn’t much.

“Coming into town, I was just very scared, like I was from another world, a different world, you know. [The town people] were very good, and I was very different. I thought, how could I help the remote students have a good time in the town?”

The answer, according to Nget Sothy, was an English school. He says English opens up opportunities for children from the provinces, making university education a more realistic possibility.

“Some students who come from remote areas find it very difficult to study because all of the documents are in English. But the children who live in town, it’s easy for them because they know English,” he says.

Chumkriel was chosen as a location because there were no English schools in the area, and given the barrage of kids on the first day, there was evidently a need.

As usual, money was the biggest problem. The pay was low, even for Cambodia, so Nget Sothy hired the only local teachers who applied, despite their language ability. As a supplement, he charmed local Westerners and backpackers into volunteering for a week or two (he’s got a killer smile). When the school became more established, he even managed to get some Cambodian English teachers in from the towns.

“I told them, my students are so good, so calm, and much nicer than in town. I said there is not much money, but [the school] is a nice place to work,” Nget Sothy says.

He gives a wide, toothy smile and laughs. “Really, I just told them anything so they would come.”

While Nget Sothy says the school is heavily dependent on Western knowledge, time and money, it is managed by Cambodians, with Nget Sothy as director, and the ultimate goal is to build social and economic awareness in the local community.

Many Western volunteers work full time, some staying for months or years, but there are no salaried Western employees apart from Australian Hanna Guy, who lives with a Cambodian family and works full time for US$50 a month. She is working with the local community on fundraising projects, with the goal of making the school self-sufficient one day.

These days, the school provides one-hour evening English classes for more than 300 school-aged children, five days a week. Most pay a fee of 300 riels (about $0.07) for the lesson, but there are also 40 sponsored scholarship students. Each class has a permanent Cambodian English teacher, as well as a volunteer native speaker from time to time to help with pronunciation. In 2008, the school expanded to include the Chumkriel Learning Centre during the day for younger children, to fill the gap left by what the centre describes as “unpredictable state school schedules”.

Nget Sothy, or “Mr Thy” as his students call him, still shakes his head in disbelief to think of where the school has come from. But more exciting is where it’s going.When asked why she’s learning English, 15-year-old Kanha laughs and says she wants to be a teacher when she grows up.

It seems the school has a future.

Go to phnompenhpost.com to see a photo slideshow by Susan Wilson that captures the sounds and images of Chumkriel laguage school.

The long road from province to university

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 15:00 Cheng Lita

After 12 years of hard work in primary and secondary school and a high school degree, the next step for motivated students is to go to university. However, for students in the provinces who have aspirations of pursuing a career that requires university, it can be difficult to make the move to higher education.

For students who live in the provinces, especially those without a lot of money, there are many forces preventing them from getting a degree. For example, students in Preah Vihear province are forced to leave for Phnom Penh or a more nearby province to go to university. “Because we have no university in Preah Vihear, my friends and I have to leave home to go to university and some of us have to stop our studies.” said Visal Bout, currently a third-year Khmer literature student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Most aspiring provincial students want to go to university in Phnom Penh; however, the difficulty of maintaining a high living standard in a new environment and a new city sometimes makes them pull out and go back home. “I can’t afford to study in this city environment, so I came back to my province to attend a university with lower standards.” said Cheng Chan Sour from Sihanouk province.

Students from the provinces who want to stay closer to home have only a few choices, since there are a limited number of universities in the provinces. “Some of my students have gone to study in Phnom Penh, a few are still in the province, and others have stopped so they can start working.” said Lim Polla, a high school teacher at Hun Sen Mittapheap High School in Sihanouk province.

Most students are unable to study in university because of financial problems, as university fees are still unreasonable for their families budgets. “I stopped studying after finishing high school because I have no money to support myself,” said one student.

In some ways, high school students in Cambodia are gaining more opportunities. However, they have no money to continue their university degrees. According to the government scholarship guideline book from the Ministry of Youth and Sports; the scholarships given to students will prioritise poor students and those from distant rural areas, but only time will tell if these guidelines inspire change in the provinces.

Cambodia's lone man on the freestyle cycling scene

Photo by: Pha Lina

With a lone spectator looking on, cyclist Keo Chhomyung practices his freestyle tricks at Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh.

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 15:00 Roth Meas

Phnom Penh

VISIT the Olympic Stadium on any given Saturday or Sunday afternoon, and you will be treated to a rare sight in Cambodia: A 20-something Khmer wearing a helmet and shin guards practicing freestyle tricks on a seatless bicycle.

The cyclist, 26-year-old Keo Chhomyung, demonstrates an impressive repertoire of stylish street tricks, jumping and playing off the man-made features around the stadium, including curbs and concrete stairs. He can balance on a single wheel – front or back – for minutes at a time.

Such freestyle riding is a rarity in Cambodia. The first time Keo Chhomyung witnessed anyone doing bicycle tricks in the country was 2002, when he glimpsed a Chinese rider practicing freestyle in front of a crowd at Phnom Penh’s riverside.

“It was so attractive to watch, I immediately decided to start teaching myself how to ride like that,” said Keo Chhomyung, who works as an administrator at the University of Health Sciences.

Without anyone to teach him, Keo Chhomyung resorted to downloading instructional video clips from YouTube and practicing on his own.

He said many of the tricks were difficult to learn, and he even fell to the ground and sustained some light injuries along the way. Despite these obstacles he has never thought of quitting in the eight years he has been practicing, although he has started wearing a helmet, elbow pads and shin guards to protect himself.

“It’s a very strange sport, and it requires riders to struggle very hard to improve their skills,” Keo Chhomyung said.

He rides on a small-framed mountain bike that has been modified to suit his purposes: disc brakes and small gears have been added to maximise control, and the saddle and seat post have been removed to save weight and avoid hindrances.

He said that since he started practicing freestyle, cycling has become his favourite sport. He now rides nearly everywhere – to the market, friends’ houses, restaurants – except work.

“Riding a bicycle in the city is more convenient than other forms of transport. I’ve rarely had accidents, and when there’s a traffic jam I can still move forward,” he said. Keo Chhomyung added that riding a bicycle frees him from the burdens of buying petrol, and carrying a licence.

“Motorcyclists are always being pulled over for riding without helmets, not having mirrors, not using their lights, but cyclists don’t have to worry about these things,” he said. “Plus, riding a bike is healthy and doesn’t cause pollution.”

Keo Chhomyung said he used to practice along the road near Nagaworld with a few other young Cambodian freestyle riders, but the scene soon fell apart. “First we were banned from riding there by security guards who thought we would cause traffic jams, which is ridiculous because we only used a small area,” he said. “I moved my practice sessions to Olympic Stadium but all the other riders quit.”

“Those young riders try for a while and then quit when they see how hard it is. I know how long it takes and how hard it is to improve,” he said. “Even then, I know that compared with riders from Europe I’m still poor.”

And despite the long hours of hard work perfecting his tricks, Keo Chhomyung knows he is unlikely to have the opportunity anytime soon to show off his skills in competition.

“Freestyle riding is an unknown sport in Cambodia, so I’m not practicing for competition. But if I ever have the chance, I will happily take part in such an event,” he said.

Thailand's Red Shirts in blood protest

Anti-government protesters in Thailand - known as the Red Shirts - have spilt blood on the prime minister's office.

They drew it from their own veins, but in the end it was nowhere near the amount they'd promised.

Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports.

Center helps victimized women

THE QUEENS COURIER/Photo by Jessica Lyons

Yolanda Jimenez (right), the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, gives a tour of the Family Justice Center in Kew Gardens to sex trafficking survivor Somaly Mam (center) and Bill Livermore, the executive director of the Somaly Mam Foundation.

via CAAI News Media

BY JESSICA LYONS

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A visit to the New York City Family Justice Center in Kew Gardens left a Cambodian sex trafficking survivor happy that such a place existed, but also sad that there was no such place in her own country.

On March 12, activist Somaly Mam toured the center and also participated in an open discussion about issues related to helping trafficking victims. She is also the founder of the Somaly Mam Foundation.

The Family Justice Center opened in Queens in July of 2008 and helps domestic violence victims by providing a variety of services under one roof.

Yolanda Jimenez, the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office to Combat Domestic Violence, said that the Family Justice Center has had a handful of sex trafficking victims come through its doors. She said the discussion with Mam would give participants the chance to talk about how to identify sex trafficking victims and help them, while also being able to show Mam what is being done in New York to assist victims.

Deputy Mayor of Legal Affairs Carol Robles-Roman said that the city is focusing on a human trafficking initiative in 2010 that aims to increase awareness about the issue, while also working with partnerships to provide services to victims and put perpetrators behind bars.

“The most powerful part of Somaly’s story is the fact that she was a victim and that now she leads an international movement to raise awareness and to educate and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do here in New York,” Robles-Roman said. “We’re raising awareness and we’re educating.”

After her tour, Mam spoke to a room full of individuals about her experiences, which included spending many years in a brothel and being abused on a constant basis. She said that helping others has been part of her healing process.

“I’m not ‘poor Somaly’ any more,” she said. “I’m ‘rich Somaly’ because I help victims around the world.”

Mam said that she was happy to see all that was being done at the Family Justice Center and that there was such a place where victims could go to get help.

“I’m so happy to see all the people work for the victim,” Mam said.

However, it was also a reminder of what is lacking in Cambodia.

“I dream to have it [a similar center] in my country,” she said.

First Catholic higher learning institute for Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

Published Date: March 17, 2010

Cambodia’s new St Paul Higher Learning Institute has opened in Takeo, 70 km south of Phnom Penh, to train young people in agricultural sciences and informatics.

It is the first institute of higher education opened and managed completely by the Catholic Church in Cambodia, Fides reports.

As the local church tells Fides, the solemn inauguration ceremony was attended by senior authorities of the Cambodian Government, including the Vice-Prime Minister, representatives from the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Agriculture, and the Apostolic Nuncio in Cambodia, Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio.

The institute was founded and built by the Catholic Church in Cambodia, thanks to the efforts of Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler MEP, new Coadjutor Bishop of Phnom Pen, with the specific aim to promote growth and social advancement of rural youth, who do not have the financial ability to relocate to study in the capital Phnom Penh.

The Apostolic Nuncio expressed great appreciation for the work accomplished, thanking the members of the local Church and the Cambodian authorities for their cooperation.

The Higher Learning Institute will offer training in agronomy and information technology, acting in partnership with the Royal University of Agriculture in Phnom Penh and the Ngee An Technological Institute of Singapore, as well as other specialized institutions.

The school accepts 190 students currently, has 24 classrooms, a large library, and a computer room equipped with 100 personal computers and wireless Internet.

“St. Paul Higher Learning Institute - a source of the local church told Fides - will offer young people a place of education, from the intellectual, human and spiritual standpoint.”

Within the Institute, there is also a small chapel, a place of meditation, prayer, and encounter with God. The chapel was consecrated and inaugurated with a Mass presided by Archbishop Pennacchio.

The Cambodian Ministry of Education thanked the Church for her efforts in training the younger generations.

What next in Thailand?

via CAAI News Media

By Frank G. Anderson

Published: March 16, 2010

Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Monday night as my Thai wife and I watched Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s second call-in in two days to his Red Shirt loyalists, gathered by the tens of thousands in Bangkok to overthrow the government, we had to laugh. There were strong rumors that Thaksin was broadcasting from somewhere in Cambodia and not from Europe as he maintained.

As Thaksin spoke, behind him was a very Spartan room, nothing reminiscent of someone who was once the world’s 14th richest person. Thaksin was also wearing a winter vest. This he said was because there were rumors he was not in Europe; he had the vest on to prove that he was.

Besides the dubious nature of the claim – Europe has been cold to Thaksin lately and it’s not just the weather – Thaksin’s face seemed puffy. He also looked upset and frustrated. Why not? Having been deposed as prime minister back in 2006, to date he has not been able to engineer a counterrevolution that would restore his former glory. The reasons are more far-reaching than perhaps even he realizes or will admit to.

At the height of his power, Thaksin was very close to actually taking over administration of the country’s ever-present armed forces, the last vestige on his quick rise to national idolatry. But at the time rumblings were becoming louder and louder that his next step was the country’s most revered institution, the monarchy.

Thaksin had demonstrated through implication that he was indeed capable of either reforming or curtailing the influence of Thailand’s heart and soul. This capability, together with his popularity – which is still troublesome to traditionalists – was what did him in.

Elitists and others knew they could not afford to sit back and allow Thaksin sway over all else while he also bilked the country’s coffers – and worse, threatened their power. So they did the time-honored thing and ganged up on him.

Step one was to get him out of the chair. That accomplished, people in different quarters played a waiting game to see if perhaps Thaksin might reform himself and once again be someone they could live with. This did not happen.

Giving in to the inevitable, royalists, elitists, traditionalists and the military, together and separately, all worked out a game plan to institutionalize anti-Thaksin fervor so that the people themselves, at least a comfortable majority of them, would sympathize with the state rather than with Thaksin. This technique seems to have taken hold and to be working against Thaksin.

Many of his assets in Thailand – hard cash and properties – have been frozen and he is now a criminal fugitive. Groups that were mediocre in the past in their opposition to him have become part of a powerful web of deterrence that simultaneously guards the monarchy and stopgaps any attempts by Thaksin to somehow wheedle his way back into the fold – and into power.

In short, in Thailand push has come to shove. The proverbial unstoppable object has met the immovable one.

Thaksin has, it seems, been stopped. Any significant letup by his foes in Thailand would surely lead to a recurrence of increased support for him – meaning less for them – so efforts to keep Thaksin off balance and to rip his financial feet out from under him are ongoing, non-stop. Powerful people overseeing the country’s finances are paying very close attention to Thaksin’s financial resources and, where possible, are clipping the hedges very close.

With all this going on quietly behind the scenes, one might ask what is the potential for violence as thousands of Thaksin supporters gather in the streets?

Over the last few days the country’s government, at the very top, has offered well-intended assurances to the public that the state will not use violence against the protesters, but will use strong measures to ensure national security, public safety and the non-interruption of government. M-79 attacks notwithstanding – six grenades were thrown into an army compound on Tuesday, injuring two soldiers – this assurance will only fail if the so-called Third Hand or Red Shirt supporters instigate serious violence themselves.

This they have done in the past. The Thai public still recalls vivid images of an LPG truck brought into a Bangkok neighborhood by Thaksin loyalists, who threatened to explode it with burning tires. So the government and public are just an arm’s length away from picking up batons and bullets and chiming in against Thaksin’s gathered tens of thousands should they suddenly break out with their own violence. The potential is there – the question is whether there is a catalyst.

Is Thaksin enough of a catalyst? Is an unexpected violent act by the state going to turn the tide from peaceful demonstration to mayhem?

Most informed observers of Thai unrest are just watching and waiting. They don’t know. A few are confident that nothing serious will happen and that after this week the Red Shirts will disband. Even fewer expect violence, but just how far Thaksin and his loyal supporters will go in pressuring the government is unknown.

Does he want power so badly that he is willing to shed the blood of his power base in a likely failure, or will his ranks suddenly burst out of their confines and begin torching Bangkok? There is no gauging the accuracy of anyone’s predictions on how things will turn out.

As we wait for Thaksin’s next call-in and monitor the current situation, we also need to take a look at how Thailand has changed internally from what was once a country with tenacious democratic roots to one where those roots have been trimmed by state fascism.

--

(Frank G. Anderson is the Thailand representative of American Citizens Abroad. He was a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer to Thailand from 1965-67, working in community development. A freelance writer and founder of northeast Thailand's first local English language newspaper, the Korat Post – www.thekoratpost.com – he has spent over eight years in Thailand "embedded" with the local media. He has an MBA in information management and an associate degree in construction technology. ©Copyright Frank G. Anderson.)

Coffee time in Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday 17 Mar, 2010

Southeast Asian coffee from Vietnam and Indonesia percolates around the world, but if a family roaster has its way, mugs may soon be filled with a blend from another unlikely location - Cambodia.

Every few days, the rich, earthy aroma of roasting coffee wafts over the dusty town of Mondulkiri in Cambodia’s remote northeast as the employees of family-owned Mondulkiri Coffee maintain a tradition started in the 18th century by French colonialists.

The hills surrounding Mondulkiri are about 800m above sea level, an ideal climate for the coffee plants which are irrigated by natural streams, and the area has so far remained safe from rubber plantations and other cash crops.

Mondulkiri Coffee owner Yon Thun is a relative newcomer to the business but says his love of the brew made him turn it into his livelihood.

His company roasts 150kg of coffee beans every couple of days, which are ground into a powder and packaged in 250g boxes which sell for $1.50 or larger half kg boxes which sell for $3.

“I used to drink coffee at this place and the taste was so good I asked the locals how they made it and I learnt from them,” Thun said.

“I then started to make coffee but it was not that good at first. But I got it right about six months later.”

Cambodian coffee, like other coffees in South-east Asia, are roasted until almost black with the help of vegetable fat. The beans are then ground into a fine powder, the whole process is done by hand, creating a rich, dark blend.

Now that Mondulkiri Coffee has mastered the area’s signature taste, Thun is eyeing the export market, and hopes his sales to supermarkets in the capital Phnom Penh will provide him with capital to ramp up production.

In Phnom Penh where most Mondulkiri coffee is sold, business is brisk, coffee shop and supermarket owners say.

“Customers want to buy Mondulkiri coffee because it is produced in Cambodia, they support the local product and it is also a good coffee,” said Pen Phanna, a supermarket owner.

In Indochina, Vietnam has long been the largest producer of coffee and is now the world’s second biggest exporter, but Cambodia and Laos lag far behind.

Apart from some beans that are sold through fair trade NGOs, much of Cambodia’s coffee is consumed locally. But those in the coffee industry in Mondulkiri say demand for their brew has tripled in the last year.

Bad roads and a primitive infrastructure has left much of the sparsely populated province cut off and largely off the tourist track.

But the few tourists who make it to the hills can enjoy freshly roasted coffee which is either made using a Vietnamese coffee filter or a cloth sieve.

There is little data on Cambodia’s coffee production, but industry sources say Mondulkiri and Angkor Coffee, the two largest brands, sell a total of two tonnes of coffee annually.

Government of Cambodia Announces Protection of Key Grassland Areas

via CAAI News Media

Wildlife Conservation Society and Partners Collaborate to Strengthen

Management of Protected Areas to Benefit Both People and Wildlife. Nearly 77,000 Acres of Critical Habitat to Be Protected

The Government of Cambodia has announced that it will protect six of the largest remaining tracts of lowland grassland in Southeast Asia. The wildlife-rich sites - located in and around Cambodia's Tonle Sap floodplain - contain unique seasonally flooded grasslands that form a refuge for many globally threatened birds. The grasslands provide a fishing, grazing, and deep-water rice farming resource for local communities.

The six sites - one in Siem Reap province and five in Kampong Thom province - comprise 76,996 acres (31,159 hectares) of habitat. While these sites were partially protected by a provincial conservation order, they remained vulnerable to land-clearing and dam-building activities associated with large-scale commercial rice production. The new designations empower staff from Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to prevent such harmful activities.

The designation of the protected areas is the result of work done by WCS in collaboration with Cambodia's Forestry and Fisheries Administrations, along with local governments and community stakeholders, to strengthen natural resource management in the protected areas.

As part of that effort, WCS has sourced funds and provided technical advice and management support. Other partners involved in this effort include the Centre d'Etude et de Développement Agricole Cambodgien (CEDAC), the Sam Veasna Center (SVC), BirdLife International in Indochina and the Angkor Center for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB), and the University of East Anglia.

"Recognizing the importance of these sites as part of Cambodia's unique natural heritage shows the national government's great commitment to the conservation of some of the country's valued landscapes," said WCS President and CEO Dr. Steven Sanderson.

Among the species that will benefit from the designation is the endangered Bengal florican - a large ground-nesting bird whose global population likely numbers less than 1,300 - more than half of which live in Cambodia. While florican habitat benefits from the traditional low-intensity agricultural practices such as seasonal burning, plowing, planting, and harvesting, illegal commercial rice farming destroys its habitat, forcing floricans into ever-shrinking areas. The new declaration represents the strongest step Cambodia has taken to date to protect the habitat of this and other species living in the protected areas - including Sarus cranes, storks, ibises and rare eagles.

The collaborative project has been supported by grants from: Fondation Ensemble; the IUCN Netherlands Ecosystem Grants Program; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife Without Borders - Critically Endangered Animal Conservation Fund; the UNDP/GEF-funded Tonle Sap Conservation Project; WCS Trustee Ms. Eleanor Briggs; the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, administered through BirdLife International in Indochina and which is a joint initiative of l'Agence Française de Développement; Conservation International; the Global Environment Facility; the Government of Japan; the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and the World Bank.

The right to fulfil a need

via CAAI News Media

Published: 17/03/2010 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

Re: the article by Robert Carmichael, published in the Bangkok Post on March 11, 2010 under the title, ''Cash-starved Cambodia dances to China's tune.''

He is right when he says China's investment and economic aid to Cambodia have enormously increased in recent years. He is also right to stress that the sums channelled into Cambodia amount to peanuts for China but are a big deal for Cambodia. However, the question raised in the article, about China's influence on Cambodia, is unwarranted and full of prejudice.

After decades of war and the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime which completely destroyed the country, Cambodia has been in need not only of foreign assistance but also foreign direct investment, to rebuild and develop its socio-economy.

Cambodia welcomes and appreciates help and investment from all parts of the world. If more businesses and investment come from China, why should it be wrong for ''cash-starved Cambodia'' (Mr Carmichael's term) to embrace them for the benefit of the country's socio-economic development? It is a fact that China is the biggest country in East Asia, whose significance and growing economic importance cannot be ignored.

Moreover, as already expressed by Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen, China has always respected Cambodia's independence and sovereignty.

Cambodia, as a sovereign country governed by democratic rule, has the full right to decide on what is best for the nation. Robert Carmichael cites Cambodia's op position legislator, Son Chhay, in claiming that Phnom Penh has ''to talk like a parrot'' in backing Beijing on Burma and Taiwan. In supporting such a position, Robert Carmichael himself clearly appears ''the parrot''.

With regard to Taiwan, Son Chhay has simply ignored the fact that the Royal Government of Cambodia has adopted its one-China policy since the 1950s like many countries around the world, long before it got any substantial aid and investment from China. On Burma, Cambodia has a common stand with all the other Asean countries.

OUK SOPHOIN

Charge d'Affaires, Royal Embassy of Cambodia

Thailand's blood protest: what does it actually mean?

via CAAI News Media

Jon Henley guardian.co.uk,

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Pouring human blood on Thailand's government headquarters made news worldwide – but left many in the country baffled

Supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra make their bloody protest. Photograph: Sukree Sukplang/Reuters

It certainly looks spectacular, but what does it mean? According to the Bangkok Post, today's blood protest by Thai "Red Shirts" loyal to their country's multi- millionaire deposed prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, saw "12 five-litre bottles, two large buckets and 50 syringes of blood" ceremonially splashed on the four gates of Government House and over the headquarters of the ruling Democrat party in a "ritual aimed at bringing down the government".

The blood had been collected from several thousand supporters by the opposition United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. Red Cross officials objected, arguing that throwing 300 litres of human blood on assorted public buildings might not be the best possible use of such a valuable resource, and that in a country with a relatively high rate of HIV infection, its collection and disposal raised potential public health issues.

Again according to the Bangkok Post, three demonstrators, including a Hindu brahman and a man carrying a statue of Buddha, "walked to the first gate of Government House, where a religious rite was performed. The brahman cited spells and incantations, and poured an amount of blood in front of the gate." Next, "the brahman took some of the blood from the ground to write letters on the concrete posts of the gate." Other Red tactics aimed at removing the present premier, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who they claim came to power illegitimately following the coup that ousted Thaksin for alleged corruption and abuse of power in 2006, have included burning coffins, breaking a pot in front of the statue of King Taksin, and throwing plastic bags full of rotten fish.

Blood, a symbol of life (and death), features in religious and other rituals around the world. Australian Aboriginals exchanged blood and rubbed it over their bodies in secret ceremonies; the spilling of human sacrificial blood was an important part of Aztec and other Mesoamerican cultures; ancient Germanic tribes sprinkled blood on walls and on the statues of their gods (the process of smearing blood was known in Old English as bleodsian, a term apparently at the root of the Catholic term blessing). Catholics, obviously, believe consecrated wine becomes the blood of Jesus.

There appear, however, to be relatively few examples of blood being poured as a form of modern political protest. That's what it plainly is, though, for those leading Thailand's pro-Thaksin demonstrations – even if they're not entirely certain why. Nattawut Saikur, one Red leader, said the blood showed the movement's "commitment in calling for democracy", and was an "important curse ritual". If Abhisit refuses to step down, Saikur added, "even though he does not have blood on his hands, his feet will be bloodied with our curses".Another Red leader, Veera Musikapong, said the gesture was "a sacrificial offering . . . to show our love for the nation, to show our sincerity". A third, Somsak Janprasert, told AFP: "This is a very symbolic way to express that our blood, the people's blood, is power."

Experts on Thai culture and beliefs appear no less nonplussed: as SP Somtow, a Thai author and composer, relates on his entertaining and informative blog (somtow.org) that a recent televised debate between an authoritative panel of "Thailand's leading astrologers and magicians" failed completely to arrive at any meaningful conclusion as to the efficacy – or, indeed, the meaning – of the blood-spattering ceremonies, beyond observing that many Red supporters come from "the superstitious north".

Possible theories, Somtow says, include the Cambodian "which states that pouring blood on the headquarters of the government is a Cambodian plot to ensure the return of Thaksin"; the Astrologers, propounded by the chairperson of the Thai astrology society, which holds that blood-spilling is "simple sympathetic magic in order to gain victory, and the sort of thing anyone would do under the circumstances"; and the Historical, which seems based on the legend that the 16th-century Thai king Naresuan once ordered his army to capture and behead the Khmer king Satha so he could "use his victim's blood to wash his feet in".

So will the gory ritual work? Nothing, says Somtow, is less certain. According to the TV experts, "using your enemies' blood to ensure victory might be a logical example of sympathetic magic, but spilling your own could have the opposite effect." The Cambodian theory, too, could well backfire, "because you need to be 'pure of heart' to perform that rite . . . Without such doctrinal protection the magic would reverse itself, and the intended consequences would occur to the curser, not the cursee." And in any case, everyone agreed that "the entire ceremony can easily be negated by sprinkling some holy water from the Emerald Buddha Temple over the blood".

Magic spells, voodoo rituals, blood-spilling and fish-throwing, Somtow concludes, are unlikely to solve Thailand's immediate problems. But hey, if what you're after is the dissolution of the lower house of parliament, "when you have the all the resources of witchcraft and the supernatural at your disposal, why stoop to such mundane devices as, for instance, lobbying one of the smaller parties to switch sides so as to shift the balance of power?"

Financial Aid from the Federal Republic of Germany for 2009 and 2010 Amounts to Euro 36 Million – Tuesday, 16.3.2010

http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

via CAAI News Media

Posted on 16 March 2010

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 656

“Phnom Penh: A delegation of the Federal Republic of Germany arrived in Cambodia last week to sign agreements with the Royal Government of Cambodia relating to grant aid for 2009 and 2010 of about Euro 36 Million [approx. US$49 million].

“The spokesperson of the Ministry of Economy and Finance said that last week, the senior delegation of the Federal Republic of Germany led by the Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany, came to visit to study the progress of Cambodian developments. The forty two delegates are from the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, the parliament, civil society, and private financing agencies of Germany, and also journalists.

“The spokesperson said that the delegates met with the Minister of Economy and Finance, Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon, in the afternoon of 10 March 2010 before signing agreements between the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Federal Republic of Germany about financial cooperation.

“Officials said that the financial cooperation for 2009 amounted to Euro 19 million [approx. US$26] to implement three projects: the second phase health program with Euro 6 million [approx. US$8], the regional economic development project also with Euro 6 million, and the second phase rural infrastructure development with Euro 7 million [approx. US$10].

“Officials went on to say that regarding financial cooperation for 2009 and 2010, the Federal Republic of Germany promised to provide Euro 36 million [approx. US$49], where Euro 34 million [approx. 46 million] is new aid and the rest is aid promised in 2007. Officials added that the aid for 2009 and 2010 is planned to be spent in the health sector with Euro 10.25 million [approx. US$14], for rural development with Euro 22 million [approx. US$30], and for other sectors Euro 3.75 million [approx. US$5].

“Officials of the Ministry of Economy and Finance added that despite the bad impact from the global financial and economic crisis, the Federal Republic of Germany keeps providing aid to Cambodia of about Euro 34 million for two years. According to the official statistics of Cambodia, between 1992 and 2009, the Federal Republic of Germany provided US$280 million [approx. US$384]. Based on these statistics, the Federal Republic of Germany is the fifth donor of Cambodia after China, Japan, the United States of America, and France.

“The officials continued to say that the senior delegation of the Federal Republic of Germany will visit Siem Reap to study the progress of a program implementation for ‘Regional Economic Development’ which includes the green ring area project being implemented by the Apsara Authority.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5151, 16.3.2010

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:

Tuesday, 16 march 2010

Royalist Parties Look To Unite for 2013

via CAAI News Media

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

16 March 2010

The royalist Funcinpec party is hoping to merge with its rival, the former eponymous party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh, to contest national elections in 2013, an official said Tuesday.

The two parties each won two seats in the National Assembly after an internal dispute that ended in division.

“We have seen that the division made us lose voices, forces and lose time,” said Keo Put Reaksmey, president of Funcinpec. “Mathematically, if we were in unity [during the last general election] we would have won more seats.”

The Norodom Ranarridh Party is now called the Nationalist Party, and is currently only in discussion with Funcinpec over merging, he said.

Led by Norodom Ranarridh, Funcinpec was a major victor in the 1993 national elections, with 58 of 120 National Assembly seats, following by the Cambodian People’s Party, which won 51. In 2008, by contrast, the CPP won 90 of 123 seats, followed by the Sam Rainsy Party’s 26.

By 2006, Funcinpec was deeply fragmented. It then split, with Norodom Ranariddh forming his own party from exile, having been found guilty for corruption.

A merging of the two rivals seems a long way off, but Keo Put Reaksmey said the two were “lobbying each other” for a compromise.

And before they are able to join in national elections, they will have to cooperate for commune elections in 2012.

Koul Panha, executive director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections, said he appreciated the intent to merger, but said the process has been “too slow.”

Women Face Obstacles for Small Businesses

via CAAI News Media

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer

Phnom Penh

16 March 2010

Limited education, poor money management and cultural restrictions are among the main challenges for women to conduct business in the country, according to an advocate for Cambodian business women.

More and more women are curious about owning their own businesses, but challenges remain, said Keo Davy, vice president of the Woman’s Association of Small and Medium Businesses, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

“More women are now in business, but most of their businesses are small,” she said.

Women have less education, less capital resources and difficulty with money management, accounting and future planning, she said. This keeps them from entering larger or industrial businesses.

Cultural limitations also hamper women.

“Culture and tradition make Cambodian women fear building relations with male customers,” she said. “Women are always discriminated against by people in society when they communicate with male costumers in public.”

Women who own big businesses also face family conflicts, she said.

“As a leader of a company, I became famous in society,” said Kao Mom, president of Ly Ly Food Industry. “But my husband was dissatisfied, wondering why I was more famous than him. Since then, we had disputes, which I thought would bring my business down. Finally, I decided to divorce him.”

A hospital worker in Siem Reap province, Sinketh Arun, who took a 50 percent share with her cousin to open a construction company, said she was kicked out of discussions until the company suspended operations.

“They didn’t really want a woman to know about the business,” she said. “They asked me not to care about anything whenever I showed my concern about the business. They felt women have less ability to make the job a success.”

Keo Davy said many men want women to respect their ideas, and likewise, “Women need more support from their husbands, families or society.”

“Without women’s participation, the economy can’t flourish,” she said. “From now on, women must join hands to build a strong voice and bring the message to the government to fulfill their needs.”

Justice Handbooks Issued to Help Solve Disputes

via CAAI News Media

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

16 March 2010

Cambodians may soon start to see handbooks on conflict resolution as a way to keep them out of court and friendly with neighbors.

New handbooks were announced by the government and UNDP on Tuesday, the fruit of a lengthy pilot project with dispute centers.

The ministries of Justice and Interior began providing mediation to villagers in 2006, hoping to keep them out of court, a process that can be expensive.

The rural justice centers were part of a pilot project under the Council for Legal and Judicial Reform. The handbooks were produced as a result of the project.

“At the time it was clear that the demand for justice was bigger than the courts could provide,” said Dorine van der Keur, international coordinator for UNDP’s Access to Justice Program.

The services are especially aimed at the poor, the indigenous and women, all of whom lack access to justice, she said, speaking at the distribution of the handbooks.

While some conflicts must be resolved in the courts, the justice project demonstrated a need for mediation, providing lower costs and faster results than the courts, and allowing both sides in a dispute to take responsibility for the solutions, she said.

“After these handbooks come out, we have a real and fair formula,” said Sok Bora, a project manager for the Ministry of Justice. “We will implement or operate in conformity with the rules and formulas of these handbooks.”

Phon Bunthal, deputy chair of the Legislative Council at the Ministry of Interior, said the handbooks can help people save money and “continue friendships and relationships.”

Doung Sarith, head of the Peany commune dispute committee in Kompong Tralach district, Kompong Chhang province, said the committee had 32 disputes in 2009 and mediated all but two.

“My work went smoothly and effectively in the mediation and justice services for all walks of people,” he said.

Pov Sao, 55, from Santuk district in Kampong Thom province, said he had participated in a dispute resolution.

“I liked the mediation,” he said. “I did not lose my money and my time.” He also salvaged a friendship with a neighbor, he said, “in a small land dispute.”

Thailand: Bangkok, the blood of the "Red Shirts" for the resignation of Abhisit

The protesters have launched a blood collection to be donated at the entrance of the government palace. The leaders of the protest besiege the building, guarded by officers in riot gear. The initiative causes concern for fear of epidemics and infection. The Thai premier rules out the possibility of ...

via CAAI News Media

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

By Asia News

Bangkok - The "red shirts" have launched a massive blood donation campaign, to be donated at the entrances of the Government Palace if the Executive does not resign and new elections are not held. An extreme form of protest, though peaceful, which arouses concern about the possible spread of epidemics. However, the Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva stands firm and excludes the possibility of leaving office. Meanwhile, Catholic and Buddhist religious leaders call the faithful to pray for peace and national reconciliation.

For five days, anti-government protesters have been patrolling the streets of Bangkok, with the aim of overthrowing the government. The "red shirts" loyal to former premier Thaksin Shinavatra in exile and supported by the opposition party United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), denounce the illegality of the executive led by Abhisit, that came to power in a military coup after the ouster of Thaksin.

Veera Musikapong, leader of the "red shirts," was the first to give blood. He described it as a "sacrifice" a demonstration of love for the country and "sincerity" of the intentions that guide the marchers. The goal is to collect at least 1000 litres of blood, from 100 thousand donors, which will be poured onto the entrance of Government House in Bangkok - home of the executive - manned by police officers in riot gear.

"They will have to walk on our blood," said one protest leader, referring to members of the government. The protesters have reached the seat of government and, soon, could begin to release the contents of the bottles.

The new form of protest has attracted some alarm among health authorities, including the national Red Cross. The same Thaksin said he was "worried" about the collection of blood in the square, which could cause mass infections. A fear shared by the Minister of Health, who does not want to be drawn into the political struggle.

However, the Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva rejects any idea of resignation. He ascended to power in December 2008 on parliamentary appointment, after the court ruling that dismissed the former ruling party loyal to Thaksin. The Democrat Party - near Abhisit and party leader of the ruling coalition - finished second in the last election and since 1992 has never won the majority vote. Meanwhile, Thai Buddhist and Catholic leaders are calling for national concord, for fear that the protests could degenerate into street clashes as happened in April last year. Bishop John Bosco Panya Krischaroen, Secretary General of the Conference of Thai Bishops, has sent a message to churches and seminaries, inviting Catholics to pray for peace. The country is divided, emphasizes the prelate, and many are "scared" by the turn that events may take. For this reason the bishops ask Thai Catholics for "special prayers to God and Our Lady to give peace to Thailand".

Buddhist Monk Phra Wor. Vatcharamaethee, recalls that "those who do not live their lives according to the teachings of the Buddha, can not be good politicians, or even honest people." He adds that the "unique characteristics" of a public official is "knowledge, wisdom, kindness, honesty, administrative capacity, friendship within the team, vision, foresight and skill in making the right decisions."

Parinya Taewanaruemitrekul, deputy dean at Thammasat University, notes, "the yellow shirts and red shirts have contributed to the development of democracy in Thailand, but to overcome the" transition period" and useless bloodshed should be avoided."

Sihanouk's fall played fateful role

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth

via CAAI News Media

By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth

March 17, 2010

Forty years ago tomorrow, on a ride to Moscow Airport, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin told Prince Sihanouk that the prince had been removed from power as Cambodia's chief of state.

The events that led to Sihanouk's downfall and those that followed cause me to write today's column with a heavy heart. Cambodia's national tragedy cost Cambodians two million lives and delivered the country to Vietnamese expansionism. The tragedy also took my parents' lives, alienated some of my best friends and separated me from the land of my birth.

Had those in power chosen different courses of action, much loss could have been avoided. As Karl Marx said, "History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this."

Men tend to reject what they don't conform to their view, because not to reject means accepting they were wrong. They look for what supports their views, brush off what doesn't, and they dig in.

To argue that Sihanouk's overthrow brought the Vietnam War to Cambodia ignores the reality that Cambodia's compromised neutrality under Sihanouk's leadership brought Vietnamese infiltration and U.S. response across the Cambodian border long before the overthrow.

To argue U.S. bombings gave rise to the Khmer Rouge overlooks Sihanouk's role in their expansion and the years of support they received from Vietnamese and Chinese communists. The support continued even when the Khmer Rouge's atrocities were impossible to ignore.

Eventually, the Khmer Rouge, having developed a sense of omnipotence, became defiant of their Vietnamese benefactors. This led to the December 1978 military invasion by Vietnam. The success of that invasion led to the ouster of the Khmer Rouge, the establishment of a Vietnamese puppet regime in Phnom Penh, and the imposition of the 1979 unequal treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation, which opened the door to Cambodia becoming part of greater Vietnam, in fulfillment of Ho Chi Minh's dream.

We shall never know what now King Father Sihanouk and deceased former Premier Lon Nol conspired to achieve in March 1970.

"Les absents ont toujours tort," the French say. "The absent are always in the wrong" -- they cannot defend themselves.

Sihanouk won't tell. His political missteps led to Vietnamese presence in Cambodia as they fought their compatriots and the Americans. To get the Vietnamese communists out of Cambodia, Sihanouk reportedly told Lon Nol to organize anti-North Vietnamese and anti-Vietcong demonstrations, which got out of hand March 11.

On that day, Sihanouk told journalists, "I plan to ask the Russians and the Chinese authorities to ask the Vietcong to leave us in peace," otherwise Cambodia might go to "the right" with Lon Nol. Reportedly, Lon Nol assured Sihanouk on that day there was room for friendship with the communists, but the Lon Nol government told the communists to depart before dawn on March 15.

Seizing the political moment, an enraged Sihanouk denounced Lon Nol and company before leaving Paris for Moscow on March 13: They were "more patriots of the dollar than patriots of Cambodia."

Eventually, it was reported that a cassette recording of a closed-door meeting came to light. In the meeting it was alleged that Sihanouk threatened death to government leaders and Lon Nol. In Moscow later that day, Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny urged Sihanouk to return right away to Phnom Penh.

In Peking, China's foreign ministry summoned French Ambassador Etienne Manac'h on March 15 to ready an Air France plane to fly Sihanouk to Phnom Penh as soon as he arrived from Moscow. Press media reported from Phnom Penh of festive preparations to welcome Sihanouk along the road from Pochentong Airport.

But Sihanouk postponed his trip to Peking.

Lon Nol was said to have dragged his feet against Sihanouk's ouster until the evening of March 17, when he allegedly was confronted with the tape. On March 18, the Cambodian parliament voted 92 to 0 to depose Sihanouk as chief of state.

On March 21, the prince told the press in Peking: "It is absolutely not my intention to try to regain the power which I lost."

But two days later, on March 23, he reversed himself. Over Peking Radio, Sihanouk called on Khmers and foreign residents "to engage in guerrilla warfare in the jungle against our enemies," and announced the formation of the "National Union Government," the "National Liberation Army" and the "National United Front of Kampuchea."

In his "message and solemn declaration," Sihanouk spoke of personal revenge: "In the struggle which I am determined to see to its end (or at least until my death in the underground which I will soon join), I seek among other things, one personal goal. ... I will say that I want revenge."

On March 26, the Vietnamese Communists began military action in Cambodia's southern provinces.

On April 15, 1970, Sihanouk declared in a message, "Henceforth, I shall irreversibly be engaged in combat." He spoke of his "single objective of establishing in Cambodia a socialist regime whose leaders would be, on the one hand young, progressive nationalists, and on the other, communists.

And that's where we are today in Cambodia.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com .

Cambodia attracts US$ 116.5M in FDI in two months

via CAAI News Media

March 16, 2010

PHNOM PENH, March 16 — Cambodia attracted US$ 116.5 million in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first two months of this year, showing a recovery in FDI attraction from a decrease of 46 percent to US$ 5.9 billion last year.

The Cambodian Development Council (CDC) granted licences to nine projects worth US$ 75 million in January and to six others worth US$ 41.5 million in February, reports Vietnam news agency on Tuesday.

The projects mainly involve in agriculture and apparel, including two garment and textile plants invested by China and Singapore, a Vietnamese-invested rice processing mill and several farm produce processing plants, according to the CDC.

The agriculture sector is becoming the most attractive area for foreign investors in the Kingdom and it has potential in the world market, especially in the European Union.

The Cambodian government has offered various incentives for investments in the sector, including tax incentives, in order to turn agriculture into the country's sustainable economic spearhead.

Cambodia has more than six million hectares under agricultural and industrial crops. However, only two-thirds of the acreage are under cultivated as the country lacks irrigation systems, advanced farming methods and high-yield strains.

With an output of about seven million tonnes of rice in 2009, the government targets to produce about eight to nine million tonnes of rice by 2015, aiming to make rice a hard currency earner for the country.