Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com/)
Friday, April 30, 2010
Political Sacravatoons: "Press Freedom"
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com/)Auction of Srey Krup Leak scene will be be banned by Cambodian censors
Bogus news story on million-dollar daughter auction causes outrageFri, 30 Apr 2010
DPA
Phnom Penh - An article on the front page of one of Cambodia's biggest-selling newspapers has caused outrage after reporting that a woman was auctioning off her highly eligible daughter for 1 million dollars, local media reported Friday.
The article in the Koh Santepheap newspaper said the mother was driven to distraction trying to find a suitor for her foreign-educated and beautiful daughter and decided an auction - with bids starting at 1 million dollars - would resolve the problem.
The only catch? The news story was a disguised advertisement for a movie being filmed for the national television channel CTN, and the so-called facts were the script.
Who Was Chea Vichea and Why Does He Matter? Ask Filmmaker Bradley Cox
Chea Vichea's declaration
April 29, 2010
By Jim Luce
Huffington Post (blog)
Chea Vichea was assassinated in broad daylight. Brad Cox arrived just minutes after he was gunned down, and his footage makes for some of the most powerful moments of the film.
April 29, 2010
By Jim Luce
Huffington Post (blog)
In my own special screening, director Bradley Cox recently showed me his 55-minute film Who Killed Chea Vichea? in his office in Manhattan. Bradley is now in Southeast Asia. Chea Vichea was the president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) until his assassination on Chinese New Year in January 2004. Vichea was shot in the head and chest early in the morning while reading a newspaper at a kiosk in Phnom Penh.
I had interviewed Cambodian Parliament Member Mu Sochua -- the Cory Aquino or Aung San Suu Kyi of Cambodia, for The Huffington Post in March before she returned to Phnom Penh (story). She had told me, "The day I joined the opposition party was the day the leader of the workers' movement -- Chea Vichea -- was assassinated. He was the founder of the opposition in Cambodia."
Chea Vichea was assassinated in broad daylight. Brad Cox arrived just minutes after he was gunned down, and his footage makes for some of the most powerful moments of the film.Local police struggle to maintain order as journalists and frenzied onlookers surrounded the fallen union leader, his blood spilled over a copy of that day's newspaper. Images from the funeral that followed of Buddhist priests crying as they watch the procession pass are haunting.
Thai woman, Philippine man convicted in Cambodia
Friday, April 30, 2010
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — A Cambodian court sentenced a Thai woman and her Philippine accomplice to 30 years in prison for drug smuggling and will allow the woman to keep her newborn son with her behind bars, judges said Friday.
The woman cradled her seven-month-old baby in her arms during Thursday's ruling at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
Police arrested Chon Thong Theerat in June 2009 upon arrival from Malaysia at the Phnom Penh airport, where she walked through an X-ray security machine that showed she had swallowed a dozen condoms containing 400 grams of cocaine, said judge You Bunna.
Total contract with Cambodia needs scrutiny: watchdog
Fri, 30 April 2010
AFP
AFP
An environmental watchdog Friday urged Cambodia's donors to scrutinize multi-million-dollar payments by French oil company Total to secure the rights to explore an offshore area.
London-based Global Witness called on donors to "ask some tough questions and get some answers" about petroleum concession revenues, after Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Tuesday announced a 28-million-dollar contract with Total.
"We welcome the prime minister's openness on this latest round of oil payments," Global Witness campaigner George Boden said in a statement.
"But we still don't know whether the money from Total has turned up in national accounts because the information has not been made public," he added.
CSULB professor urges Cambodians to testify to history at event
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Prof. Leakhena Nou with one of the KR victims (Photo: AP)By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
LONG BEACH - For two years now, Leakhena Nou has been engaged in a personal mission.
The sociology professor at Cal State Long Beach has been at the forefront of collecting testimony from victims of 1970s Khmer Rouge atrocities in the Cambodian refugee community. The information could become part of the court records in the ongoing Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal being held in Cambodia.
Even 35 years after the rise of Pol Pot's genocidal regime and more than 30 years after it was toppled, Cambodian residents of Long Beach still struggle with the legacy of a genocide that left upwards of 2 million, or about one-quarter of Cambodia's population dead.
And for years, Nou bristled at the unwillingness to come forth of her countrymen in the Cambodian diaspora who were witnesses to the genocide.
South East Asian emergency rice reserve closer
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The East Asia Emergency Rice Reserve Pilot Project, was used to help disaster victims in Cambodia, Indonesia and Burma as well as for malnourishment eradication programs in Cambodia and Indonesia. [Reuters]ABC Radio Australia
A group of 10 South East Asian nations is close to realizing their goal of establishing an emergency rice reserve to ensure food security in the face of sudden instabilities in supply and production.
Japan's Kyodo news agency quotes official sources saying agricultural and forestry ministers from 13 countries aim to sign the agreement when they meet in October in Cambodia.
It will be the first time for the region to have a permanent mechanism for an emergency rice reserve and stock based on cooperation among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the three Northeast Asian countries, Japan, China and South Korea.
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at SRP requests pardons for CFF members
Thursday, 29 April 2010
By Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post
EIGHT National Assembly lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party sent a letter on Tuesday to King Norodom Sihamoni and to Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana requesting the pardon of five imprisoned members of the former guerrilla group known as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) who were convicted of involvement in a series of attacks in November 2000.
By Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post
EIGHT National Assembly lawmakers from the Sam Rainsy Party sent a letter on Tuesday to King Norodom Sihamoni and to Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana requesting the pardon of five imprisoned members of the former guerrilla group known as the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) who were convicted of involvement in a series of attacks in November 2000.Son Chhay, one of the lawmakers, said Wednesday that the letter had been received by National Assembly President Heng Samrin before being forwarded to the cabinet of the King and to the minister of justice.
“That group of CFF were former members of the SRP; therefore their wives and families have been asking us for intervention to secure their release,” he said.
Villagers face arrest over land row
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Land dispute in Oudong (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)By Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post
OFFICIALS in Banteay Meanchey province’s Thma Puok district have so far failed to hold a promised meeting with villagers over the alleged seizure of their land by the military, residents said Wednesday.
They added that local officials have threatened to have them arrested if they continue to contest the proposed construction of an army base on the disputed property.
Long Than, 58, a village representative who claims to have lived in Thma Dekkes village since 1993, when his family was relocated there from a refugee camp, said he has been told that the rice field now belongs to the military, and that members of RCAF’s Brigade 51 stopped him from cultivating the land on Wednesday.
“We cannot plough anymore on our land,” he said. “The village chief also threatened to put us in handcuffs if we protest.”
Survivors shunned by their peers
Thang Kham speaks about her fears that she will not be able to find a job once she leaves the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity. She is due to return to her native Siem Reap on Friday after staying at the charity for four years. Others who need assistance or would like to seek care in cases of acid- or acid burn-related emergencies are encouraged to call the CASC hotline at 092 600 031. (Photo by: Rick Valenzuela)By Mom Kunthear and Brooke Lewis
The Phnom Penh Post
Acid attack victims encounter fear and misunderstanding as they try to return to their old lives.
THANG Kham is a nurse with formal training and experience who has also worked as a teacher and, most recently, a cook. But as she prepares to return from Kandal province to her native Siem Reap on Friday, she is worried she won’t be able to find work.
That’s because the 62-year-old suffered severe scars on her face and one arm in an acid attack in Phnom Penh’s Kandal Market 20 years ago that also injured four other women, one of whom died. Though she does not believe she was the target of the attack, she has lived with the scars from it for two decades, eventually seeking assistance at the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC four years ago.
She now believes she is ready to live on her own. “I plan to leave this charity on Friday. I am going to live with my children in Siem Reap province,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
“But I don’t know what kind of job I can do. It is useless for me to look for a job as a nurse since I was attacked, even though I have the ability, because my face is bad-looking and my hands are trembling.”
Authorities Ban Screening of Chea Vichea Film
Kong Sothanarith, VOA KhmerPhnom Penh
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Phnom Penh and Ministry of Interior authorities have banned the screening of a US documentary on the murder of labor leader Chea Vichea, saying the film is not licensed in Cambodia.
Organizers of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions had planned to show the film, which questions the motives behind the 2004 murder of the widely popular activist, for International Labor Day.
Organizers had wanted to screen the film following a May 1 march of around 200 workers and teachers on the National Assembly and the site near Wat Langka pagoda where Chea Vichea was killed.
Exiled Journalists Worry Over Press Freedom
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Journalist Khim Sambo's funeral (Photo: Xinhua)Washington, DC
Thursday, 29 April 2010
With World Press Freedom Day approaching next week, two Cambodian journalists living in exile say Cambodia needs to improve its media environment or risk becoming more dangerous, or an authoritarian state.
The vast majority of Cambodia’s TV, radio and newspapers are controlled or influenced by members of the ruling party and the government, with few outlets for alternative news or opposition voices. Cambodia's media was described as ''not free'' Thursday in Freedom House's annual international press freedom report for 2010. Last year, Freedom House ranked Cambodia’s media as “partly free,” and Reporters Without Borders ranks the country No. 117 of 174 in press freedom.
Un Sokhom was the editor in chief of the Neak Prayuth newspaper until he fled to the US in 2004 in fear of his safety. He says a more open press will bring more safety to society.
Two Lawmakers Planning Trip to Iran
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Phnom Penh
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Two Cambodian lawmakers are planning a trip to Iran in May, where they hope to convince leaders there to consider investment in agriculture and to buy the country’s farm products.
Cambodia has sought similar deals in Middle Eastern countries like Kuwait and Qatar, where food shortages are a concern, but the visit to Iran represents a first. Cambodia expects a rice surplus of about 2 million tons for export this year and is seeking diverse markets in which to sell it.
Try Chheang Huot, chairman of the National Assembly’s committee on investment and agriculture, told VOA Khmer Wednesday he hoped to make the visit around May 10.
Malaria cases rising in Cambodia
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Written by Dan Parr
VSO International
Written by Dan Parr
VSO International
The number of Malaria cases in Cambodia has increased significantly, health officials have announced.
According to the National Centre for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control, better detection and reporting of the problem is required to combat the problem, Irin New reports.
The organisation has stated there was a 41 per cent increase in such instances last year.
In 2008, the amount of people recorded to have the illness stood at 58,887, but this swelled to 83,217 in 2009.
Garment workforce to rally for wage hike
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April 29, 2010Fibre2Fashion, Cambodia
On International Labour Day i.e. on May 1, around 7,000 workers from six labour unions intend to file a petition, by staging a rally, to the National Assembly in Phnom Penh, demanding the top legislative bodies to increase payment of workers in the garment trade and tourism sectors.
While, the Prime Minister, Hun Sen has warned workers to avoid demonstrations, the rally has already been scheduled to commence from Wat Phnom to the National Assembly.
According to Ath Thun, the President of Cambodian Labour Confederation, organizations such as the Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Democratic Union and the Cambodian Tourism and Service Sector Federation will partake in the rally.
Killing Fields for sale: It only happens under Hun Xen
Selling the Killing Fields
Source: http://www.voxy.co.nz/entertainment/week-tvnz-7/5/46716
Source: http://www.voxy.co.nz/entertainment/week-tvnz-7/5/46716
Broadcast date: Tuesday 18 May, 7.35pm
On:Unreported World On TVNZ 7 (New Zealand)
Thirty years on from the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and at the same time as Pol Pot's accomplices are being put on trial for war crimes, Cambodia's people are once again being brutally driven from their land.
This time, however, it is capitalism, not communism, that is displacing them, as growing numbers of tourists fuel a property boom that is having devastating results.
In Phnom Penh where land is now worth three times as much as two years ago, Unreported World investigates allegations that the Cambodian authorities are behind a policy of violent evictions of the country's poor from their homes. The inhabitants of the slum district of Dey Krahorm, which is home to 120 families and right next to central Phnom Penh's plush new hotels, embassies and new National Assembly, are being forced to leave so their land can be sold to a property developer.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
ANALYSIS: Graft likely to remain dominant feature in Cambodia
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The corruptor-in-chief? (Photo: AFP)By Robert Carmichael
DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen this week told a gathering of business leaders and government officials in Phnom Penh that there was no corruption in a deal by mining giant BHP Billiton Ltd, which pulled out of the country last year.
BHP Billiton, which is not saying much, is being investigated by the authorities in the United States and Britain for possible corruption offences. A number of media reports have cited Cambodia as one country where it might have paid bribes.
"They say that the company that explored for bauxite gave money illegally to Cambodia," Hun Sen was quoted as saying in the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. "We should ask: How can they bribe? It cannot be possible."
Comrade Men Sam An leads the Xmer delegation to the Indochinese Federation meeting in Uncle Ho's city
CPP Comrade Men Sam An04/29/2010
VOV News/VNA
A meeting on Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos friendship and cooperation opened in HCM City on April 28.
A total of 154 delegates from the three countries, students and officials from Cambodia and Laos who are studying and working in HCM City and former Vietnamese soldiers who fought and worked in the other two countries are attending the four-day event.
Speakers at the opening ceremony included Vu Mao, Head of the Vietnamese delegation and President of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association; Men Sam An, Head of the Cambodian delegation, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and President of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Association; and Vilayvong Bouddakham, Head of the Lao delegation, Vice Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and Vice President of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association. All described the meeting as vivid proof of international friendship and special solidarity among Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at Cambodian PM leaves for Shanghai World Expo
April 29, 2010 (Xinhua) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday left here for Shanghai, China to attend the opening ceremony of the World Expo 2010.
Sriev Tham Ronn, senior adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen said at the airport that Cambodia and China enjoy a long history of friendship and such friendly relations have developed rapidly and enhanced steadily in recent years. "The Shanghai World Expo 2010 is the largest one in its history, so we are happy to have the chance to participate in it. We believe that we can learn more from it and let more people know Cambodia," he added.
The delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong, Senior Minister and Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh and other members of the Royal Government of Cambodia.
During his visit, Hun Sen will hold official talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Pan Guangxue and other government officials saw Hun Sen and his delegation off at the Phnom Penh International Airport.
Editor: Tang Danlu
Joint effort with Indonesia and Cambodia to boost tourism
Thursday April 29, 2010
The Star Online
The Star Online
PHNOM PENH: The tourism authorities in Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia have agreed to complement each other in bringing tourists to these three countries.
Malaysia’s tourism industry was also expected to get a boost with the “trial of civilisation” concept featuring heritage sites recognised by Unesco, said Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.
“Since Malacca and Penang have received the award from Unesco as World Heritage sites, they will be the link in the tourism industry to the other two countries.
Thai Soldier Killed in Protest Clash, Raising Tension
By Daniel Ten Kate and Supunnabul Suwannakij
April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Thai security forces stopped anti-government protesters from rallying north of the capital in clashes that killed one soldier, raising tensions in a seven- week standoff that has paralyzed Bangkok’s commercial center.
One soldier was shot dead and two were injured in the skirmish, police official Worapong Chiewprecha said in a televised briefing last night. Seventeen protesters were also wounded after authorities opened fire to prevent a convoy of about 5,000 people from traveling to a fresh-food market north of Bangkok, he said.
The incident may add pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to scatter demonstrators who have disrupted businesses and irked residents by occupying a district since April 3. The country’s worst political violence in 18 years has now resulted in the deaths of 27 people this month.
Visakha Bochea celebration in Siem Reap
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Cambodian dancers perform to mark Visakha Bochea, the Buddha's birthday, at Bayon temple of Angkor complex in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers(199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith).jpg)
Cambodian Buddhist nuns sit as they hold lotus flowers during ceremonies to mark the Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, at Bayon temple of Angkor complexin Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)+Bayon+Illumination.jpg)
Cambodians gather to mark the Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, at Bayon temple of Angkor complex in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles)north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)+Bayon+Illumination.jpg)
Cambodian Buddhist monks hold candles at the famed Bayon temple to mark the Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, at the Bayon temple of Angkor complex inSiem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)+Bayon+Illumination.jpg)
Cambodian Buddhist monks, lower, hold candles as the famed Bayon temple is illuminated to mark the Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, at Bayon templeof Angkor complex in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)The Big Picture: Orange crush
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Buddhist monks at the Bayon Temple in Cambodia to commemorate Visak Bochea (Photo: AFP/ GETTY IMAGES)By Kunal Dutta
The Independent
Buddhist monks gather at the Bayon Temple in Cambodia to commemorate Visak Bochea – the day of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death.
The celebration, which coincides with the first full moon of the year – and the Buddhist calendar year 2553 – saw monks congregrate at the ancient temple for sermons, chanting and a candle-lit procession.
Situated in Siem Reap province, the Bayon Temple was built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII. As well as etchings of the Buddha, one side of it features an smiling face, thought by some to be a portrait of Jayavarman himself. It has been dubbed the "Mona Lisa of Southeast Asia".
Visakha Bochea celebration in Angkor Wat
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Cambodian Buddhist monks carry some food offered by local villagers at Angkor Wat temple in Angkor in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles)north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Cambodia marks Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, on April 28 in the Angkor Wat complex. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith).jpg)
Cambodian Buddhist monks take lunch near Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday,April 28, 2010. Cambodia marks Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, on April 28 in the Angkor Wat complex. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith).jpg)
A Cambodian Buddhist monk uses a mobile phone as his visits Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh,Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Cambodia marks Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, on April 28 in the Angkor Wat complex. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith).jpg)
Cambodian Buddhist monks head to their pagoda as they walk through Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of PhnomPenh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. Cambodia marks Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, on April 28 in the Angkor Wat complex. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)Cambodian lessons for South Korea
Apr 29, 2010
By Donald Kirk
Asia Times Online
By Donald Kirk
Asia Times Online
SAIGON - North Korea's apparent torpedoing of a South Korean navy ship and getting away from the scene of the crime with no more than recriminations and oratorical flourishes ringing in the ears of the perpetrators demonstrates a reality from which there is no escape. The North still has thousands of artillery pieces within range of metropolitan Seoul and the nearby port of Incheon as well as missiles with the range to reach anywhere in the South, and nobody in South Korea really wants to challenge that kind of threat.
South Korea is doing so well economically and living standards are so high that the idea of seeking anything other than rhetorical revenge for the sinking of the Cheonan with a loss of 46 lives on March 26 appears almost unthinkable. Certainly South Korea would get no support for such a venture from its American ally, bogged down in wars in the Middle East and attempting to force South Korean generals reluctantly to believe they should take full command of all forces in the South in the event of a second Korean war.
World Bank agrees to full investigation into land activities in Cambodia
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House dismantling in Boeung Kak Lake (Photo: Nicolas Axelrod)Source: Bank Information Center
Human rights organizations welcomed news last week that the World Bank Inspection Panel will conduct a full investigation into the Bank-funded land-titling project in Cambodia, following a complaint that groups vulnerable to forced eviction have suffered serious harm from the project.
For Immediate Release
April 28, 2010
Human rights organizations welcomed news last week that the World Bank Inspection Panel will conduct a full investigation into the Bank-funded land-titling project in Cambodia, following a complaint that groups vulnerable to forced eviction have suffered serious harm from the project.
The complaint was filed in September by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), with the support of Cambodian housing rights groups, on behalf of more than 4000 families living around Boeung Kak lake who have suffered or are currently threatened with forced eviction. It alleges that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to adequately supervise the Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), which has denied urban poor and other vulnerable households due process rights and protection against increasing land-grabbing and forced evictions in Cambodia.
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Election monitor says SRP has been left out of Assembly decisions
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(Photo: AFP)By Kim Yuthana
The Phnom Penh Post
A REPORT released Tuesday by the election monitoring group Comfrel criticised the power wielded by Cambodian People’s Party lawmakers in the National Assembly, contending that all decisions issued by the body during the first year of the party’s fourth mandate were made exclusively by its own representatives.
“The power in the assembly is in the hands of a single party,” the report states.
The authors of the report note that members of the CPP hold the positions of president and vice president on all nine of the assembly’s committees.
PM scraps rice-export licences to boost trade
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Prime Minister Hun Sen at the launch of the Government-Private Sector Forum, held in Phnom Penh Tuesday. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)By Chun Sophal and May Kunmakara
The Phnom Penh Post
Hun Sen calls food-security measure a ‘barrier’ for rice traders
PRIME Minister Hun Sen axed rice export licences Tuesday in a bid to boost sales of the Kingdom’s “white gold”.
In a move widely welcomed by the business community, the premier ordered a 2008 circular to be cancelled. The document ordered would-be exporters to apply to a Ministry of Commerce-run company called Green Trade for a permit.
“We have to nullify applications for licences to export rice from Cambodia through the Green Trade Company now,” Hun Sen said at a Government-Private Sector Forum in Phnom Penh. “It is barrier for all rice traders at the moment,” he added.
The circulation, numbered 02, was issued in 2008, as food security concerns spread throughout the world. All traders who wanted to sell more than 200 tonnes of the grain had to apply for a permit, in an attempt to secure Cambodia's rice and paddy supply.
Now, Hun Sen believes export obstacles will exist unless the circulation is nullified.
Group to screen Chea Vichea film
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A screenshot from the documentary Who Killed Chea Vichea? shows the union leader moments after he was shot dead on Street 51 and Sihanouk Boulevard. (Image courtesy of Bradley Cox)By Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post
Unionists propose screening the documentary near the site of the labour leader’s 2004 murder
UNIONISTS plan to mark the May 1 Labour Day holiday by screening a documentary that explores the infamous unsolved murder of leader Chea Vichea near the spot where he was gunned down, union officials said Tuesday.
Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), said he is planning to show the film, titled Who Killed Chea Vichea?, on Saturday in an attempt to pressure authorities, who critics say have dragged their heels in finding the perpetrators of the January 2004 slaying.
“We want this case to be investigated,” Rong Chhun said. The government “should not allow this case to go unresolved”.
Preah Sihanouk farmers plan protest
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Hour Chrib, 35, looks out over disputed farmland in Kampong Speu province on Monday. (Photo by: Heng Chivorn)By May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post
FARMERS in Preah Sihanouk province said Tuesday that they are preparing to file a complaint with Kampong Seila district Governor Kheng Teng over a land dispute involving an NGO that provides assistance to the disabled.
On Monday, the farmers squared off on two separate occasions with workers from the Kampong Speu-based Cambodia Disabled Survivors’ Association, though officials intervened both times to prevent violence.
The NGO says it has been awarded land in Kampong Speu, Kampot and Preah Sihanouk provinces that is also claimed by the farmers, who were preparing to plant rice on Monday.
CAMBODIA: Strict penalties planned for acid attacks
Keo Srey Vy hopes a new law will make a difference (Photo: Brendan Brady/IRIN)PHNOM PENH, 28 April 2010 (IRIN) - Keo Srey Vy’s brother-in-law had been planning to sell his child so he could buy a new motorbike. When she threatened to tell the police, he went to the restaurant where she worked as a cook and doused her face with acid.
She reported the attack to police, but gave up after they demanded a bribe to investigate.
“I didn’t consider revenge, but I wanted a law that would catch him and bring him to justice, and that law did not exist,” Keo Srey Vy, who is severely scarred, told IRIN. A year after the attack, she may have reason for hope.
Cambodian government warns foreign embassies not to criticise it
The diplomatic note warning to all diplomatic missions. Hun Xen's regime: Don't call us "banana republic" ... because we are a "banana kingdom"DPA
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian government spokesman on Wednesday warned foreign embassies and institutions against criticising the authorities or interfering in internal affairs.
The comments came one day after the Ministry of Foreign Affairssent a blunt letter to embassies complaining that some mission heads had behaved like proconsuls in giving lessons to the government.
"Such behaviours are not acceptable for Cambodia as a sovereign country," the letter stated. "Cambodia is not a BANANA REPUBLIC."
Cambodia tells diplomats it is no 'banana republic'
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
AFP
AFP
PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian government has told all foreign diplomatic envoys to avoid criticising the country, insisting it is not a "banana republic", in a letter seen by AFP Wednesday.
The foreign ministry letter sent to all diplomatic missions in Cambodia asked them to "avoid interfering in the internal affairs" of the country, regardless of the power of their home nations.
"There have been many occasions, in which some heads of diplomatic missions behaved like a 'proconsul' of his/her country to the Kingdom of Cambodia. They indulged themselves to criticise or to give lessons to the Royal Government of Cambodia," the letter said.
Vaguely, Ministry Lambastes Embassies
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong talks during a press conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: AP)Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an unexplained letter to embassies on Tuesday, reminding them not to interfere in the internal affairs of state.
The note was a sharp reprimand in diplomatic terms, but it was not addressed to any specific mission. It was issued to embassies throughout Phnom Penh.
“There have been many occasions, in which some heads of diplomatic missions behaved like a ‘Proconsul’ of his/her country to the Kingdom of Cambodia,” the ministry said in its note, without naming a specific country.
UN Prosecutor Vows To Work Quickly, Justly
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Andrew Cayley (Photo: Courtesy of Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia)He has sharp eyes and graying hair, and he says his experiences as a prosecutor for other war crimes have given him a strong commitment to finding the truth.
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
As the Khmer Rouge tribunal moves closer to a trial of more senior leaders, the UN-backed court’s international prosecutor, Andrew Cayley, says he is balancing pressure from the Cambodian people to find justice with the need to properly carry out his duties.
“I’ll do all I can with my national colleague to make sure that things run smoothly and efficiently, and also to satisfy the donors that we are doing everything we can to spend their money wisely and prudently,” Cayley, who is 64, told VOA Khmer in a recent interview in Phnom Penh. “We have to work efficiently, and we have to work quickly.”
Cayley, who served as prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and for the International Criminal Court in cases brought against Sudan, was appointed to the Khmer Rouge tribunal in November 2009.
Cham Son Seeks Tribunal ‘Justice’ for Father
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Cambodian Muslims, known as Chams, visit the burial ground at Choeung Ek museum. (Photo: AP)Sann Math Ly was a villager leader, well known, and he was unhappy with the Khmer Rouge and their treatment of the Chams.
Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Cambodia
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Ly Sukei’s father was a well-educated Cambodian Muslim who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge in 1975.
Now Ly Sukei is one of 228 Chams filing as civil parties at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, as the UN-backed court prepares to try at least four jailed leaders of the regime for genocide and other atrocity crimes.
“I filed a complaint to find justice for my father,” Ly Sukei told VOA Khmer at his home in Kampong Cham province, where many Chams lived and died under the Khmer Rouge.
Rare Khmer Bronzes To Show in Washington
(Photo: Mekong.net)An art exhibition of Cambodian bronzes to open in Washington next month, featuring Khmer sculptures and ritual objects from late prehistory through the Angkorian period.
Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
An art exhibition of Cambodian bronzes opens for the first time in Washington next month, featuring Khmer sculptures and ritual objects from late prehistory through the Angkorian period.
Thirty-six masterworks from the National Museum of Cambodia’s collection of some 7,000 bronzes will show at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery under “Gods of Angkor: Bronzes from the National Museum of Cambodia.”
“This exhibition presents the stunning accomplishments of Khmer bronze casters,” Louise Allison Cort, the gallery’s curator of ceramics, said in a statement. “These bronzes are among the most exquisite expressions of Khmer ideals of religious imagery and ritual implements.”
Culling Continues After Bird Flu Death
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Ducks poke their heads out of the side of a pickup truck in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: AP)Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Prey Veng provincial authorities expect to cull more than 700 ducks and chickens suspected of carrying avian influenza, following the death of a 27-year-old man earlier this month.
Chea Ly died of bird flu on April 17 in the province’s Kampong Leav district, which borders Vietnam, officials said this week, bringing the death toll of the disease in Cambodia to eight since 2005. The disease has killed more than 290 people since 2003.
Health and veterinary officials traveled from house to house in the district this week, killing the birds, which are raised family by family, said Chhun Dy, head of the district’s animal health office. So far, officials have culled more than 1,500 birds.
World Bank To Inspect Lake Land Management
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People are protesting against the development plan (Photo: VOA)The World Bank’s inspection arm will conduct an inquiry into a land administration project, following complaints that the plan failed to protect the land rights of residents around the Boeung Kak lake development.
Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
The World Bank’s inspection arm will conduct an inquiry into a land administration project, following complaints that the plan failed to protect the land rights of residents around the Boeung Kak lake development.
The Center of Housing Rights and Eviction says the $23.4-million Land Management and Administration Project failed to register land titles for the lake residents and in fact weakened their rights to customary land ownership.
Art Festival To Showcase Renewed Classics
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Students make offerings to the spirits of past generations of artists in the traditional sampeah kru ceremony before the beginning of the Festival. (Photo: Courtesy of Cambodian Living Arts)Cambodia is preparing for an expansive arts festival in August, one that will bring artists of all ages from at home and abroad to demonstrate some of Cambodia’s nearly lost traditions.
Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer
Washington
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Cambodia is preparing for an expansive arts festival in August, one that will bring artists of all ages from at home and abroad to demonstrate some of Cambodia’s nearly lost traditions.
The Cambodian Youth Arts Festival will be held in Phnom Penh’s Chaktomuk Conference Hall from Aug. 1 to Aug. 6, and organizers expect at least 20 different organizations to take part, representing as many as 10,000 young and professional artists.
Song Seng, project coordinator of Cambodian Living Arts, told “Hello VOA” Monday the festival will provide an opportunity for artists “to share and learn a variety of traditional arts forms developed from elder traditions.”
SE Asia Worries Thailand's Unrest Could Spread
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Pro-government demonstrators carry Thai national flags and Thai King's portrait during a rally at Victory Monument in Bangkok, Thailand, 26 Apr 2010 (Photo: AP)Jakarta
27 April 2010
Thailand's neighbors are watching the political unrest in Bangkok with growing concern. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has said the protests there could spread economic and political instability throughout the region.
ASEAN has called on the Thai government and the anti-government demonstrators to exercise restraint and to seek a settlement through dialogue and reconciliation. The foreign ministers of Singapore and Indonesia have made similar statements.
Thais free seven loggers after two years in prison
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
By Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post
By Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post
SEVEN Cambodian villagers from Oddar Meanchey province were released from prison in Thailand on Saturday after being held in detention for nearly two years without trial, a provincial official said Monday.
Touch Ra, chief of the Cambodia-Thailand relations office at the Chom International Border Gate in Oddar Meanchey, said the seven men were among a group of 20 who were captured by Thai soldiers in May 2008 while logging illegally in the Dangrek Mountains in Thailand’s Sisaket province.
“They have been detained in prison without any trial for two years,” Touch Ra said. “They had been jailed since they were arrested, and after they were dropped off by Thai authorities, we allowed them to go back home.”
‘Beer girls’ underpaid: report
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A beer seller refills glasses for young men at a beer garden in Phnom Penh. A report has found that beer promotion women in Siem Reap town are underpaid. (Photo by: Sovan Philong)By Will Baxter
The Phnom Penh Post
FEMALE beer promotion workers in Siem Reap town earned salaries that covered only half of their living expenses last year, a fact that led some 57 percent to engage in sex work, according to a report released last week by a Siem Reap-based NGO.
The report, co-authored by Ian Lubek, a psychology professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, is an updated version of an older report, and draws from interviews with 900 women.
International and domestic beer companies operating in Cambodia offered average monthly incomes of about US$81, but workers, often referred to around the country as “beer girls”, said they needed between US$160 and $209 to cover monthly expenses and support their families, according to the report.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
35 years after fall of Saigon
April 28, 2010By Richard Botkin
WorldNetDaily
Thirty five years ago this Friday, the final chapter to the American portion of the Vietnam War was ingloriously concluded – even though American combat forces were largely gone by late 1971 and all remaining support troops, air crews and POWs were home in early 1973. Unlike Dec. 7, 1941, or June 6, 1944, or Aug. 15, 1945 (Victory over Japan Day), or any other notable day from World War II, April 30, 1975, will never be recalled in positive ways by those old enough to remember or those too young whose ideas have instead been shaped by contemporary media.
For the more than three million American servicemen who honorably served in Southeast Asia between 1964 and 1973, there were no tumultuous homecoming parades, no victory celebrations in Times Square or any town square – nothing. For the remaining 200 million Americans alive then who did not go to Vietnam, the war was mostly a vicarious, unpleasant inconvenience. Where Americans might recall this day in 1975, if they recall it at all, they are likely to conjure tension-filled images of action at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, of Marines attempting to impose order from chaos, of throngs of Vietnamese clamoring to get aboard already overcrowded helicopters hoping to leave ahead of the invading communists, some of those same helicopters later being pushed over the sides of U.S. Navy ships, of barely seaworthy, ramshackle hobo freighters packed to the gunwales with star-crossed refugees steaming well in trace of the American armada. As negative as it all seemed, as bad as the day was, at least the bad dream that was, for Americans, the Vietnam "experience" was ending. Time to move on.
For the left-behind 17 million citizens of the Republic of Vietnam, which ceased to exist the moment the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet retired over the eastern horizon, memories of that day are far different. While April 30, 1975, really did signal the conclusion of American involvement, all that changed for our discarded former allies was the manner of struggle and degree of difficulty. There would be no moving on. The new communist masters would impose a different kind of peace. It would be peace with retribution, peace with subjugation, peace with no forgiveness and peace with maximum pain.
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at Two who made a real difference
April 28, 2010
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News
Thought is the ancestor of every action, as American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson said. Imagination is the beginning of creation, according to playwright George Bernard Shaw. Physicist Albert Einstein echoed: "Imagination is more important than knowledge."To repeat what I have written for years in this space -- and repetition is not without importance for many -- first, you imagine what you desire (a goal), and you believe it is reachable, then you create a will to reach it, and finally you take action to attain it. American engineer Charles F. Kettering said, "Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail." What emerges is change.
Any individual can contribute to bringing about change. Recall Japanese poet Ryunosuke Satoro, who said: "Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean." There are many heroes -- and "sheroes" -- in unsung roles who help bring change.
Linguist races to save a dying language spoken in Cambodia
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Rich Clabaugh/StaffWith no more than 10 speakers remaining of S'aoch, a language spoken on Cambodia's sea shore, French linguist Jean-Michel Filippi is in a race against time to preserve a disappearing culture.
April 27, 2010By Jared Ferrie, Correspondent
The Christian Science Monitor
Samrong Loeu Village, Cambodia
In halting, creaky tones, the elderly chief of this tiny community spoke in his indigenous language, S'aoch, an ancient tongue linguists predict will be extinct within a generation.
Noi, who goes by a single name, is one of 10 still fluent in S'aoch, and this village of 110 people is the last vestige of a disappearing culture.
S'aoch is one of about 3,000 languages endangered worldwide, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: One of them disappears about every two weeks. In Cambodia alone, 19 languages face extinction this century.
There's no bribery in Cambodia ... only "social funds": Hanoi Spin Doctor Hun Xen
Cambodian leader says cash was for social fund
April 28, 2010
AFP, PHNOM PENH
April 28, 2010
AFP, PHNOM PENH
THE Cambodian Prime Minister has denied that BHP Billiton paid a large bribe for an exploration contract in his country.
It was reported last week that the US Securities and Exchange Commission was probing BHP over a $US2.5 million ($A2.7 million) payment related to a project in Cambodia.
But Cambodian leader Hun Sen said the money was for a ''social fund'' established in an agreement between Australia and Cambodia, and was used to build a hydroelectric dam, schools and hospitals.
BHP urged to open up on payments
April 28, 2010
By MATHEW MURPHY
The Age
By MATHEW MURPHY
The Age
BHP Billiton has been urged to show leadership and voluntarily disclose all payments made on a country-by-country basis to avoid allegations such as the Cambodian ''tea money'' scandal from damaging its reputation.
Non-government organisation Oxfam called for the action in the wake of the US Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation of payments BHP made to the Cambodian government, allegedly to secure bauxite leases.
Oxfam's mining advocacy co-ordinator, Serena Lillywhite, said BHP, as a supporting company to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), should honour the principles of the agreement.
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