Monday, May 31, 2010
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at 30,000-dollar "gift" and no job? I'm suing, says job-seeker
May 31, 2010
DPA
DPA
Phnom Penh - A Cambodian official who said he paid 30,000 dollars to secure a government post has sued after the job failed to materialize, national media reported Monday.
Municipal court prosecutor Hing Bunchea said Tea Kimhong was charged with fraud for offering the position to Heng Heam, who works at the military court.
'Heng Heam was apparently offering money for any job as a civil official,' Hing Bunchea told the Cambodia Daily newspaper.
The accused told the court he had received only 27,000 dollars, the prosecutor said.
Cambodia coastal development strategy moves ahead
May 31, 2010
Source: Xinhua
Source: Xinhua
Cambodia has begun implementing its master strategy for attracting development in the country's four coastal provinces over the next 20 years, local media reported on Monday, citing officials at the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction.
"This is a good plan and a way to develop Cambodia into the future," the Phnom Penh Post quoted Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim as saying at a conference detailing the plan on Thursday.
Calling Sihanoukville the "dragon's head", Im Chhun Lim said that the plan priorities improving development in Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kep and Koh Kong provinces in order to increase economic activity and provide jobs.
Far Horizons offers up-close view of Cambodia
Some of the sites of Angkor Thom. (Mary Dell Lucas/Far Horizons)By staff and wire reports
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Get an insider's view of Cambodia's Angkor Wat and the remote reaches of Laos in Southeast Asia.
Far Horizons Archaeological & Cultural Trips is offering a 17-day tour Jan. 7-23. Located in what now is Cambodia, Angkor Thom, capital of the flourishing Khmer empire in the 11th century, was one of the world's most densely populated cities. An incredible mass of dazzling pagodas grew up around Angkor Thom, culminating in the glory of the magnificent temple complex at Angkor Wat. With the fall of the Khmers, the temples were slowly recaptured by the lush forest and remained a hidden legend until 1861 when they were re-discovered and introduced to the western world.
Leading the tour is Damian Evans, director of the University of Sydney Robert Christie Research Centre in Siem Reap, Cambodia and deputy director of the Greater Angkor Project. Cost is $9,995 per person, double occupancy and includes international air from Los Angeles in coach; five internal flights; all hotels; meals as noted in brochure; entry fees and land transportation. Cost does not include donation of 150 per person to Heritage Watch, air fare from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, passport or visa fees, airport taxes, beverages or food not included on regular menus, laundry, excess baggage charges, gratuities to guides and drivers, alcoholic drinks or other items of a personal nature. Single supplement is $1,395.
Details: 800-552-4575 or www.farhorizons.com.
Flat out on Lazy Beach
Two Cambodian fishermen go night fishing in the seaside resort of Sihanoukville. Photo: AFPSydney Morning Herald
From a hammock in the bar, Stephen Phelan watches the tide rise and fall on a deserted jungle island off Sihanoukville.
This is not Cambodia, in any way you'd imagine. The island of Koh Rong Saloem has no roads or infrastructure, no native inhabitants, no history to speak of and no electricity, save for a few hours of inconstant power in the evenings, provided by two shuddering diesel generators. If Lazy Beach had a local name before a small settlement of wooden bungalows and outhouses was built on it three years ago, nobody here seems to remember.
"I think it was just called Beach Number Two," says the co-owner and operator of the site, Chris Beadles. That sounds like the kind of impersonal number the Khmer Rouge might have assigned, as they did to all the streets in Phnom Penh when Pol Pot's forces seized the capital in 1975.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Local Communities Tapped to Counter Mekong Floods
By Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK, May 30, 2010 (IPS) - With monsoon rains beginning to sweep across mainland south-east Asia, mobile phones are being put to further use as part of a plan to protect communities living on the banks of the Mekong River from flash floods.
Riverbank communities in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have been supplied with 120 mobile phones and trained to monitor the rising tide of the Mekong, which swells with a larger volume of water as the monsoon deepens by August.
The use of the mobile phones to strengthen greater community participation in reducing flood risks is part of an ongoing trial by the Mekong River Commissions (MRC), an intergovernmental body based in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The initiative that began in 2008 and is due for expansion aims "to get potentially affected people more involved in flood preparedness," states the MRC.
Iranian Parliamentary Delegation Leaves Tehran for Cambodia
2010-05-30
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iran-Cambodia parliamentary friendship group left Tehran for Phnom Penh on Saturday night to discuss bilateral relations and other issues of mutual interest with Cambodian officials.
"During the three-day trip, the two sides will hold discussions on inter-parliamentary relations and discuss paving the ground for developing ties and other related issues based on the Islamic Republic of Iran's view on the East Asian countries," Head of the delegation Mohsen Kouhkan told FNA.
The delegation, consisting of five Iranian legislators, is also due to meet with the Cambodian prime minister, foreign ministry officials, their Cambodian counterparts and members of some of the country's parliament commissions.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Government Bolsters Efforts Against Squatters
Chun Sakada, VOA KhmerPhnom Penh
Friday, 28 May 2010
The Council of Ministers on Friday approved a legal circular that instructs provincial and municipal authorities to seek resolutions to illegal settlements on state property.
The order tells authorities to first meet with community representatives on state land to inform them of development projects and to then discuss compensation for residents.
The circular creates a regulation for measures already practiced by authorities, critics said Friday, and it does not address situations where residents refuse to leave.
Food-Borne Illness, Cholera Remain Concerns
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A cholera victim, a 60-year-old hill tribesman is comforted by his wife while receiving treatment at Ratanakiri Provincial Hospital in Banlung, located in northeast Cambodia. (Photo: AP)Washington, D.C
Friday, 28 May 2010
Cambodia continues to experience a prolonged hot season, and health experts remain concerned about severe illness or fatalities resulting from diarrhea.
“Your body can lose a lot of fluids and salts when you have very loose, watery stool,” Taing Tek Hong, a Florida-based physician, told “Hello VOA” on Thursday. “And it is important to replenish them. You need to drink plenty of fluids.”
In Modern Stoneworks, an Echo of the Past
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A Cambodian sculpture, a naga-protected Buddha. (Photo: Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer)Phnom Penh
Friday, 28 May 2010
Though the temples of Angkor Wat have some amazing stone carvings, contemporary sculpture in the country has not been widespread.
But a group of 14 young Cambodian sculptors wants to change that. They currently have 26 pieces of modern stone sculptures on display at a new exhibition hall at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.
The sculptures, whose meanings can be hard to decipher if not for the display tags, are the result of more than a year of hard work for the artists.
Cambodian Senate President meets Chinese delegation
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Source: Xinhua
Source: Xinhua
PHNOM PENH—Cambodian Senate President Chea Sim on Friday met with visiting delegation of Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee headed by Zhao Qizheng.
Zhao, chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, and his delegation arrived here on Thursday night to pay a four-day friendly visit at the invitation of Cambodian Senate which is aimed to further strengthen the traditional friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries.
During the meeting, Chea Sim said that Cambodia and China enjoy a long history of friendship. He said in the past half-century, the bilateral relations between the two countries have been enhanced and deepened steadily, especially in recent years with the frequent high-level visits.
Nestle's Creating Shared Value prize awarded to Cambodian rural development organization
Saturday, May 29, 2010
The China Post news staff
The China Post news staff
TAIPEI -- Nestle's Creating Shared Value Advisory Board has awarded the first Nestle Prize in Creating Shared Value to the Cambodian branch of International Development Enterprises (IDE), an international not-for-profit organization, which uses market-based approaches to increase the income of the rural poor by improving market access, boosting agricultural production, and creating sustainable local businesses.
Starting in 2005, IDE (www.ideorg.org) Cambodia developed a network of 60 independent small entrepreneurs in rural regions of Cambodia called Farm Business Advisors.
These advisors give technical advice to more than 4,500 small-scale farmers to help them expand their productivity, while selling them products such as high-quality seeds, fertilizer, plastic fencing and irrigation equipment and services.
Soldiers who fell in Cambodia laid to rest
May 29, 2010
VNA
VNA
The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai held a sombre ceremony at the Le Thanh international border gate on May 28 to receive the remains of 149 Vietnamese soldiers who lost their lives while serving in Cambodia.
The remains were found in the three Cambodian provinces of Ratanakiri, Strung Treng and Pret Vi Hia.
The fallen soldiers, who sacrificed their lives in the fight for independence and to help the Cambodian people escape from genocide, were finally laid to rest in a cemetery in Duc Co district.
A grand requiem for the soldiers was held by the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, monks and many local people before they were repatriated.
Vietnamese firms set on mining gold reserves in Cambodia
5/28/2010
Thanh Nien News
Thanh Nien News
Many Vietnamese companies want to enter the gold mining sector in Cambodia
The recent discovery of around 8.1 million tons of gold in Cambodia has caught the interest of many Vietnamese companies who now want to enter the gold mining sector in the neighboring country.
Nguyen Thanh Truc, director of Agribank’s subsidiary in charge of trading gold, said the Cambodian mine has the largest gold reserves in Southeast Asia and its discovery has encouraged Vietnamese companies to hatch plans to mine there.
When the time is right, his company will make such a move, Truc said in a report published by local news website VnExpress Friday. However, he noted that as the ore contains only 2.3 grams per ton, lower than the usual grade of 3 gram per ton, the project may not be highly lucrative.
Rising drug abuse in Vietnam prompts int’l cooperation
5/28/2010
Thanh Nien News
Thanh Nien News
Alarmed by an “unusual” increase in drug abuse in mountainous and border areas, Vietnam will strive to strengthen international cooperation in tackling drug trafficking.
The government has said in a statement posted on its website this week that a campaign will be also launched to increase people’s awareness of the harmful consequences of drug abuse and to curb smuggling in border areas.
“Cooperation will be strengthened with countries in the region, especially those on the border, to detect, investigate and bust transnational drug smuggling rings,” according to a decision signed by Prime Minister Nguyen
Friday, May 28, 2010
Forest woman in Cambodia disappears, family claims
May 28, 2010Source: Xinhua
The family of the claimed " forest woman" said Friday she has disappeared from home and believed she had returned to the forest.
Rochom Kamphy, 28, a younger brother, said through the telephone that his sister has disappeared from home since May 25 in the afternoon.
He said his father had asked a fortune teller, who is an ethnic Vietnamese, and he was told to offer one pig, one goat and white wine to mountainous spirit to help making her return home.
Vision for Eco Resort Island continues in Cambodia’s Development
Friday, May 28, 2010
Travel Daily News International
Travel Daily News International
Cambodia’s most dynamic and diversified business conglomerate The Royal Group has unveiled its vision to create Asia's ‘first environmentally planned resort island’ pioneering high-end international tourism on the country’s idyllic coastline. With interests ranging from telecommunications and IT to banking, international schools, media and entertainment, hotels and resorts, property and infrastructure development, The Royal Group has been at the heart of Cambodia’s economic development for almost two decades. Now the corporation led by visionary tycoon Neak Oknha Kith Meng, is setting its sights on transforming the country’s tourism industry, which until now has almost exclusively depended on the attraction of world famous Angkor Wat. The vision is to develop the pristine island of Koh Rong, 30 minutes by boat from the coastal city of Sihanoukville, into an ecologically sustainable resort paradise rivaling and beating established, iconic Asian tourism destinations like Phuket, Koh Samui and Bali.
The Cambodian government has granted The Royal Group a 99-year lease on the 78 sq km (30 sq mile) island to advance the plan. Now international investors and partners are being sought to contribute to the development of the island including luxury resorts and residential infrastructure, such as transportation - the development of the island’s international airport, and leisure projects such as golf courses and a marina.
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Army fears outbreak of terrorism
CRES says it favours early end to curfew
28/05/2010
By Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post
28/05/2010
By Wassana Nanuam
Bangkok Post
The army is stepping up its surveillance in fear armed men allied to hard-core protesters could launch terror attacks in Bangkok and other provinces in revenge for the May 19 crackdown, an army source says.
Intelligence reports and an assessment of the situation in the wake of the rally have concluded there is a real possibility of violent retaliation by groups who fled the protest site at Ratchaprasong intersection after the military operation, the source said yesterday.
The revenge could be in the form of car and motorcycle bombs, taking the lives of soldiers and government figures, and arson attacks at locations which are symbols of the government and armed forces. They could take place in the capital or the provinces.
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at "Today, it's not the state who owns the old properties, but the ruling party, the CPP": Vann Molyvann
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Independence Monument; Vann Molyvann, architect (All photos: Luke Duggleby for The Wall Street Journal).jpg)
A lone figure walks the stands of Vann Molyvann's Olympic Stadium..jpg)
The Chaktomuk Conference Hall, one of Mr. Molyvann's earliest designs, was built in 1961..jpg)
The library at the Institute for Foreign Languages, now part of the Royal University of Phnom Penh.jpg)
More of Mr. Molyvann's work at the Institute for Foreign Languages.jpg)
Yet more of the instituteMAY 28, 2010
By TOM VATER
The Wall Street Journal
Vann Molyvann, Cambodia's greatest living architect, recalls that the night his Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh was completed, in 1964, "I took my wife to see the work." Sitting in the top tier of the stands, they listened to Dvorák's "New World Symphony" over the stadium's speaker system. "It was one of the great moments of my life."
In the years after Cambodia won independence from France in 1953, Mr. Molyvann—then scarcely in his 30s—set out under the tutelage of King Norodom Sihanouk to transform Phnom Penh from a colonial backwater into a modern city. But in the late 1960s the country was drawn into decades of war and terror, including years under the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, and Mr. Molyvann's vision was virtually forgotten. The architect himself had to flee the country.
Cambodia's Khmer culture is displayed in 'Gods of Angkor' exhibit
A figure of Vishnu holds, clockwise from upper right, a conch, a mace, a ball representing Earth and a discus. (National Museum Of Cambodia, Phnom Penh - National Museum Of Cambodia, Phnom Penh)By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
It's hard to tell which celestial being is depicted in one of the bronze figures in "Gods of Angkor." After all, he has lost his head.
It could be the Hindu god Shiva. Or it could be Avalokiteshvara, a bodhisattva, or manifestation, of the Buddha. Both religions flourished, side by side, in Cambodia's Khmer culture.
Also missing: two of the figure's four hands, which might have once held clues to its identity. Another figure -- clearly identified because of what he's holding -- juggles Vishnu's trademark conch, mace, discus and ball, representing the Earth. Look behind him, and you'll notice what looks like a butterfly on his tush. A nearby statue of Shiva has one, too.
Sackler Gallery exhibits 'Gods of Angkor' bronzes from Cambodia
The Sackler's 36-piece exhibition includes bronzes of Shiva's elephant-headed son Ganesha and a crowned Buddha, above, from the 12th century. (Images From National Museum Of Cambodia, Phnom Penh)By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
There are only 36 works on display in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's latest exhibition, "Gods of Angkor: Bronzes From the National Museum of Cambodia." Maybe twice that, if you count all the extra arms and heads.
Gods, you see, are not like us.
The show -- a jewel box of mostly smallish sculptures in three tiny galleries -- centers on devotional figures of Shiva, Vishnu and other Hindu deities, several of whom are depicted with anywhere from four to 10 arms, and as many as five heads. One, in the case of Shiva's son Ganesha, has the head of an elephant.
Cambodian 'jungle woman' back in forest
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Rochom P'ngieng during her hospitalization in 2009 (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)AFP
Cambodia's "jungle woman," whose story gripped the country after she apparently spent 18 years living in a forest, has fled back to the jungle, her father and local police say.
Rochom P'ngieng, now 29, went missing as a little girl in 1989 while herding water buffalo in Ratanakkiri province, around 600 kilometres northeast of the capital, Phnom Penh.
In early 2007 the woman was brought from the jungle, naked and dirty, after being caught trying to steal food from a farmer. She was hunched over like a monkey, scavenging on the ground for pieces of dried rice.
Cambodian Factories Seek Eco-Friendly Power Alternatives
May 27, 2010
By SIMON MARKS
International Herald Tribune
By SIMON MARKS
International Herald Tribune
PHNOM PENH — Almost every day for the past 15 years Cheang Vet, a roadside mechanic near Phnom Penh’s Cambodian-Japanese Friendship Bridge, has witnessed the constant flow of traffic making its way in and out of the capital by its main northeasterly access point.
But in the last decade, as the number of people employed in Cambodia’s garment sector has increased from about 25,000 in 2000 to around 300,000 today, he has noticed a steady increase in one particular type of vehicle entering Phnom Penh: heavy-load trucks carrying huge stacks of firewood.
“There are at least 10 trucks a day carrying about two and a half tons of firewood,” Mr. Vet estimated. “They tell me they are on their way to the garment factories on the other side of the city.”
The rich and powerful continued to abuse the criminal justice system to silence people protesting against evictions and land grabs: Amnesty Int'l
Forced evictions continued to affect thousands of families across the country, predominantly people living in poverty. Activists from communities affected by forced evictions and other land confiscations mobilized to join forces in protests and appeals to the authorities. A wave of legal actions against housing rights defenders, journalists and other critical voices stifled freedom of expression. The first trial to address past Khmer Rouge atrocities took place. The defendant, Duch, pleaded guilty, but later asked to be acquitted.
Background
At least 45,000 garment factory workers lost their jobs as a result of the global economic crisis and a number of companies reduced salaries. Surveys indicated growing mass youth unemployment as some 300,000 young people faced joblessness after completing their high school and bachelor degrees. For the first time, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights considered Cambodia’s state report, which the authorities had delayed submitting for 14 years. The Committee identified serious shortcomings in the implementation of a number of treaty obligations, including those relating to the judicial system, housing and gender inequalities. Cambodia’s human rights record was reviewed under the UN Universal Periodic Review in December.
Forced evictions
Forced evictions continued to affect the lives of thousands of Cambodians. At least 26 forced evictions displaced around 27,000 people, the vast majority from communities living in poverty. In July, a number of international donors called for an end to forced evictions “until a fair and transparent mechanism for resolving land disputes is in place and a comprehensive resettlement policy” is established.
- On 16/17 July, security forces forcibly evicted Group 78, a community group in Phnom Penh after a deeply flawed legal process. The last 60 families had no choice but to dismantle their houses and accept compensation that prevented them from living near their former homes and workplaces. Most of the families were relocated outside the city with few work prospects.
PM slams critics over revenues
Who's the thief ringleader: Global Witness or Hun Xen?By Sebastian Strangio and Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post
“It’s unfortunate that Prime Minister Hun Sen used the opening speech at such an important national conference promoting Cambodia’s mining sector as a stage to personally attack us, rather than focus on how his government is going to implement the critical reforms needed for transparency
and accountability in the industry” - Global Witness
Hun Sen tells global community not to treat Cambodia ‘like a child’
PRIME Minister Hun Sen lashed out at critics of the government’s handling of extractive-resource revenues on Wednesday, branding them “thieves” and saying that tensions between Cambodia and international watchdog Global Witness stem from a “sexual scandal” involving the group’s staff.
Speaking at the opening of a two-day mining conference in the capital Wednesday, Hun Sen said criticisms from international organisations and foreign countries were misplaced because the government has not yet pocketed any funds from extractive industries.
Mining sector a ‘blank slate’
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Right: VIPs listen to speakers at the nation's first international mining conference, held Wednesday at the InterContinental Hotel. Left, top to bottom: Prime MInister Hun Sen; UNDP Country Representative Douglas Broderick; Minister of Mines and Industry Suy Sem. (Photo by: UY NOUSEREIMONY)By Jeremy Mullins and May Kunmakara
The Phnom Penh Post
CAMBODIA’S untapped mining sector is a potential windfall for the country, but must be carefully regulated if it is to attract foreign investment, said international experts taking part in the Kingdom’s first international mining conference Wednesday.
World Bank mining specialist Craig Andrews told the Post the sector will benefit if regulatory and taxation issues are in place before mineral exploitation begins.
He counselled the Kingdom to avoid an Australian-style “super tax” on mining profits, saying the situation in Australia’s developed mining sector and the Kingdom’s nascent industry require different kinds of policies.
Cambodia in bribe scandal: Australian MP
Hun Xen and the late Hy LundokBy David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post
CAMBODIA has been potentially implicated in an international corruption scandal involving an Australian company accused of procuring prostitutes for foreign officials and offering them bribes in order to secure contracts to print bank-notes, an Australian senator said Tuesday.
Securency – a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia, which has a 50 percent stake in the company – manufactures polymer bank notes that are used in nearly 30 countries.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is already investigating whether the company’s commissioning agents offered huge bribes to officials in Malaysia, Vietnam, Nigeria and Indonesia.
At a federal senate committee hearing on Tuesday, Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens party, indicated that Cambodia could be another country where agents employed by Securency have engaged in bribery.
No Clear Use Found for BHP ‘Social Fund’
BHP Billiton, the world's biggest mining company by market capitalization. Photo: APPhnom Penh
Thursday, 27 May 2010
A year after it pulled out of Cambodia, the Australian mining giant BHP Billiton has found itself under a US Securities and Exchange Commission investigation for allegations related to bribery in a foreign country.
Officials have not said which country the alleged corruption took place in, but the company has said it gave $2.5 million to the government here in exchange for mining exploration rights, making Cambodia among the likely countries under the scope of the investigation.
It is not uncommon for companies to pay bonuses for concessions here, but what happened to that money remains unknown, with government and company officials sending conflicting statements and no apparent accounting for the funds.
Hydrodam Plans Stir Ratanakkiri Unease
A woman with her children in a small boat pass a flooded house in Cambodia. (Photo: AP)Ratanakkiri, Cambodia
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Patt Paing has five hectares of land by the Sre Pok river. She has a small wooden house, and she raises pigs. The 55-year-old leads a quiet life here in Village Two, in Ratanakkiri’s Koun Mom district. But over the past three years, life has been more difficult.
That’s because of the floods.
“I don’t have enough rice to eat because of the floods for the past three years,” she told VOA Khmer in an interview last week. “In previous years, I could harvest more than 1,000 buckets or over 10 tons of rice per season.”
The floods were caused by water releases from dams upriver, she said.
Ung Chaniry Charms Washington Audience
Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington, D.C
Thursday, 27 May 2010
The thrilling sound of a flute mingled with piano, violin and guitar, all to the tune of Cambodian-American composer Ung Chinary (picture), thrilling the audience who had come to hear for the first time a rare classical concert in Washington.
Washington, D.C
Thursday, 27 May 2010
The thrilling sound of a flute mingled with piano, violin and guitar, all to the tune of Cambodian-American composer Ung Chinary (picture), thrilling the audience who had come to hear for the first time a rare classical concert in Washington.Held last week at the Sackler Gallery, the concert was performed by the Da Cap Chamber Players as part of the “Gods of Angkor” exhibit, which includes rare bronzes from the National Museum of Cambodia.
Five of Ung Chinary’s songs were featured, including “Child Song,” “Luminous Spiral,” “Life After Death,” “Mother and Child,” and “Oracle.”
"Facing genocide - Khieu Samphan and Pol Pot" at Norwegian and Montreal International Film Festivals (June-Sept. 2010)
Source: http://www.story.se/films/-facing-genocide---khieu-samphan-and-pol-pot/?category=&page=
A film by David Aronowitsch and Staffan Lindberg
The film is a search into the personality of Khieu Samphan. He was the Head of state of one of the most brutal regimes ever, the Khmer Rouge-regime in the Democratic Kampuchea. We have followed him one and half year before his arrest in 2007. He is soon facing a trial and is charged with Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes. The film gives insight into his mindset, his life today and his close relation to Pol Pot. The film is a unique story about an ex-leader the time before his arrest and before he is put on trial. The film is completed January 2010.
Others appearing in the film:
- Theary Seng, lawyer and victim of the Khmer Rouge. She is Khieu Samphan’s antagonist in the film and also the voice of the victims.
- Jacques Vergès, Khieu Samphan’s defence-lawyer often called the Devil's advocate.
- So Socheat, Khieu Samphan’s wife, who has been with him since the beginning of the seventies.
- Nuon Chea, ideologist and Head of Security of the Khmer Rouge.
'Tired' Khmer Rouge ex-head of state Khieu Samphan skips hearing
Thu, 27 May 2010
DPA
DPA
Phnom Penh - Khieu Samphan, the Khmer Rouge former head of state, failed to appear at Cambodia's war crimes tribunal Thursday.
Khieu Samphan had requested Thursday's session after the tribunal rejected a request on April 30 to release him from pre-trial detention, tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen said.
"He informed the chamber today that he refused to appear," he said. "And he complained that he felt tired and weak."
Vietnam, Cambodia complete 17 border markers
05/27/2010
VOV News
VOV News
Seventeen out of a total 26 markers have been planted along the 240-km border between Vietnam’s Binh Phuoc province and the three Cambodian provinces of Mondulkiri, Kratie and Kampong Cham.
According to a Government plan, Binh Phuoc province will plant 26 border markers along the common border with Cambodia, including an A marker at Hoa Lu international border gate.
The existing land markers have been inspected and are being maintained by the Binh Phuoc provincial Border Guard Command.
30th ASEAN Chiefs of Police meeting concludes in Cambodia
May 27, 2010
Source: Xinhua
Source: Xinhua
The 30th conference of ASEAN Chiefs of Police (ASEANAPOL) concluded on Thursday after a series of discussion on common interest and the fight against crimes and terrorism.
A statement, released after the meeting, said heads of the delegations of the 30th ASEANAPOL had exchanged views on progress and ways forwards in the implementation of various operational measures, particularly as to how best member countries can work together to curb the common enemy of transnational crime.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at EU, ASEAN FMs vow to cooperate
May 27 2010
Source: Xinhua
Source: Xinhua
Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) started talks on integration mechanisms and increasing cooperation in the economy, politics and security here Wednesday.
The EU-ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting is expected to conclude with the signing of the Madrid Declaration, establishing future targets for bilateral cooperation and reviewing progress on the Nuremberg Action Plan, signed by both blocs in 2007, and the Phnom Penh Meeting (Cambodia), held in May 2009.
This year sees the 30th anniversary of the signing of the 1980 Cooperation Agreement between the EU and ASEAN that opened the door for economic and political exchanges.
Cambodia to host 16th SEA table tennis championship
May 27 2010
Source: Xinhua
Source: Xinhua
Phnom Penh's National Sports Center will host the 16th SEA Table Tennis Championship on June 3- 7, local media reported on Thursday.
This will be the first time Cambodia has hosted the annual event which was held last year in neighboring Thailand, the Phnom Penh Post reported.
Eight countries are expected to take part in the competition, including Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the philippines and Cambodia, with a total of around 120 players competing, it said.
Find beauty in a far place in Cambodia
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A girl checks the fence line of a fishery in Kompong Khleang, a fishing village on Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. (All photos: Star-Telegram/Jen Friedberg).jpg)
Foreign visitors are rare but are likely to be greeted with curious looks and friendly smiles at Siem Reap's New Market..jpg)
Early risers can see vendors setting out fruits and vegetables at Samaki market in Siem Reap..jpg)
This statue of the Hindu god Vishnu greets visitors at the entrance of Angkor Wat.By JEN FRIEDBERG
Fort Worth Star-Telegram Staff Writer
SIEM REAP, Cambodia -- When people talk about vacation destinations, Cambodia, notorious for the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, doesn't often come up in the conversation. But three decades later, this is a country worth considering for a distinctive adventure vacation.
Although Cambodia is still relatively off the beaten path, Siem Reap, the town nearest the iconic temples of Angkor, is quickly becoming tourist savvy. New businesses catering to travelers and renovations to the temples at Angkor are changing the region rapidly, thus visitors interested in a more authentic experience should go before the destination is "discovered."
Human Traffickers Target Young Cambodian Men for Fishing Industry
Thai fishing boat (file photo)Phnom Penh 26 May 2010
Women and children are commonly believed to be the main targets of human traffickers. But in Cambodia, scores of men have recounted stories of modern-day slavery on board Thai and Malaysian fishing boats.
Manfred Hornung, a legal adviser with the Cambodian human rights group Licadho, says that although figures are very limited, it is possible thousands of Cambodian men have been trafficked onto regional fishing boats in recent years.
The group has interviewed more than 60 men who were trafficked onto Thai fishing boats since 2007. Their stories typically begin the same way.
Khmer poem by Sam Vichea (on the web at 
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at The Xmer authority is defending the Yuon encroachment in Takeo?
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Border post no. 270 that the Anh-chanh villagers claimed it was planted on their rice fieldsCambodian authority explains about border stakes planting in Takeo
26 May 2010
By Sek Bandith
Source: Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy for KI-Media
Click here to read the article in Khmer
Sin Sotheany, chairman of the no. 4 land border post group, told RFA in front of several Anh-chanh villagers on 26 May that the villagers’ reaction to the planting of border stake in Anh-chanh village, Borey Chulsa district, Takeo province, that led to the loss of their rice fields is not true.
Sin Sotheany claimed that the planting of border stakes between Cambodia and Vietnam did not lead to a loss of land by the villagers.
Sin Sotheany indicated: “The reason the villagers were on alert yesterday, I personally asked Mr. Khim Pak. After questioning, there was no land involved in this area! Their [villagers’] land is located 200 to 300-m from there, it’s rather far away! When they saw the border post pointing toward them, they said that they lost their rice fields, so they were aroused. Another point indicating that a wooden post bearing a Viet flag, there was no such post, there was no Viet flag, there was nothing at all! It is just a wooden stake where no. 270 is marked on it, it just a temporary border post, not a stone border post. We did not install the stone post yet. I am telling that the application on the spot is unlike what [the villagers] accused Vietnam of! Yesterday, there were half Vietnamese and half Cambodians [in the border demarcation group], but they look from far away and they said that the group was all Vietnamese.”
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at US bill targets Kingdom over Uighur case
Dana Rohrabacher (R) (Photo: SRP)By Brooke Lewis
The Phnom Penh Post
TWO American lawmakers have submitted legislation designed to punish Cambodia for last year’s deportation of 20 Uighur asylum seekers by barring the reduction or elimination of more than US$300 million in debt as well as the extension of duty-free status to Cambodian garments imported into the country.
The bill, dubbed the Cambodian Trade Act of 2010, was introduced before the US house of representatives on Thursday by William Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts, on behalf of himself and Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California.
In an email to the Post, Rohrabacher said Tuesday that he could not comment on the likelihood that the bill will be passed, and added, “Whether it passes or not is less important than drawing attention to the misdeeds of the Cambodian dictatorship.”
NGOs list suggested govt reform
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
By Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post
By Sebastian Strangio
The Phnom Penh Post
Land and resource revenues top groups’ development concerns
LAND rights, the environment and extractive-industry revenue transparency are the focus of civil society recommendations released ahead of landmark government-donor meetings scheduled for next week.
The documents, released at a workshop in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, assess the government’s progress on the series of reform benchmarks – known as Joint Monitoring Indicators (JMIs) – that are tied to disbursals of foreign development aid.
The workshop comes ahead of the Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF), scheduled for June 2-3, at which donors will assess the government’s progress on previously agreed upon JMIs and set development priorities for the next 18 months.
More Government Appointments Rankle Opposition
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
The National Assembly is expected to approve 11 new high-level government appointments on Thursday, nine of which are additional posts that opponents say are a waste of money.
The nine new appointments are for members of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, with positions mainly for secretaries of state, but members of the opposition say they are unnecessary in an ever-expanding Cabinet.
“We don’t need to increase more pay of Cabinet members while Cambodians are facing poverty and the global economic crisis,” said Yim Sovann, a lawmaker and spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party. “It is not necessary to appoint more appointees as Cabinet members. In this situation, it increases the bureaucracy, corruption and expenditures. The Sam Rainsy Party will not support the increase of the Cabinet members.”
Tribunal Fund Drive Falls Short in New York
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington, D.C
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Washington, D.C
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
UN and Cambodian representatives for the Khmer Rouge tribunal failed to convince donors to pledge enough money to support the court for another two years, but instead received a modest amount following meetings in New York, a diplomat said Wednesday.
A tribunal delegation had gone to New York seeking some of the $87 million it says is needed for operations this year and next. Donors have approved the amount, but so far have not given over the money.
“There was not a big, successful pledge, but a reasonable pledge” this week, said the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Tourism Showing the Strain From Thai Crisis
Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Phnom Penh
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
With Thailand in the grips of a sustained political crisis, the Cambodian government has had to seek new strategies to draw in tourists and avoid relying on Bangkok as a gateway. But at least some damage has already been done.
Typically, around 40 percent of Cambodia’s 2 million visitors come through Thailand. But Tourism Minister Thong Khon told VOA Khmer that number is decreasing.
“Because of the situation in Thailand, we’re promoting other entrances,” he said. “In the past, we’ve advertised only on CNN in Europe and CNN in Asia, but in the near future we will advertise on CNN in America. And we have to promote direct flights and strengthen the quality of tourism services like food and accommodation.”
Unions Want Longer Contracts for Workers
Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Kandal, Cambodia
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Kandal, Cambodia
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Labor activists met with international union reps in Kandal province on Sunday as part of a wider effort to improve contracts workers have with their employers.
The educational meeting was an effort to convince workers to refuse short-term labor contracts in favor of longer guarantees.
More than 100 garment factory workers met with union representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal and Belgium.
Cambodia's PM says lessons on fiscal matters unnecessary
Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen liken lessons on managing unearned revenues to lessons on cooking a fish that was still in the water.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
By Robert Carmichael, Phnom Penh
ABC Radio Australia
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
By Robert Carmichael, Phnom Penh
ABC Radio Australia
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has told a conference on good mining practices the country does not need any more lessons on how to manage expected revenues from mining industries.
That comes ahead of a donor meeting next week where foreign nations will gather to decide how much to give the country for its budget.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was in combative form when he said foreign organisations must stop giving lessons on fiscal transparency in the extractive industries sector.
That comes after criticisms that millions of dollars paid in signing fees by French oil major Total and Australian mining house BHP Billiton failed to appear in the budget.
Cambodia touts gold, minerals
25/05/2010
Macau Daily Times
Macau Daily Times
Cambodia said yesterday that Australian firm OZ Minerals had discovered around 8.1 million tonnes of gold on its territory, ahead of the international mining conference that kicks off in Phnom Penh tomorrow.
“We have been conducting research and we have obtained remarkable results,” said Sok Leng, head of the General Department of Mineral Resources at Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, at a news conference.
OZ Minerals Limited had recently discovered about 8.1 million tonnes of gold in an area in the northeastern province of Mondulkiri, said Sok Leng.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at Cambodia tells donors to quit lecturing on fiscal transparency
May 26, 2010
DPA
DPA
Phnom Penh - Prime Minister Hun Sen told a conference on good mining practices Wednesday that foreign organisations must stop giving advice on how to manage expected revenues.
'This is not the hour to talk about spending the money,' Hun Sen told several hundred business executives, diplomats and civil society members in a speech opening the two-day meeting.
'And don't talk too much looking on Cambodia as a child; the (government) is not a child,' he said. 'So do not advise too much.'
Briton charged with paedophilia in Cambodia
May 26, 2010
AFP
AFP
PHNOM PENH — A Cambodian court has charged a British computer engineer with paying for sex with underage local girls, police said Wednesday.
Matthew Harland, 36, was arrested last week and Phnom Penh Municipal court charged him on Tuesday with buying sex from two children in 2006 and committing an indecent act against a 13-year-old girl more recently, police said.
Keo Thea, chief of Phnom Penh's anti-human trafficking unit, told AFP that police had confiscated two laptops -- one containing 200 pornographic images, mostly of children -- from the suspect.
A British police report said Harland jumped bail from Britain in 2005 after being arrested on child pornography charges, Keo Thea said.
Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for child sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia push in 2003 to try to shake off its reputation as a haven for sex predators.
Man arrested for Aussie's Cambodia death
May 26, 2010
AFP
AFP
Cambodian police say they have arrested a construction worker for the killing of an Australian man at a popular seaside resort late last year.
John Edward Thompson, 47, was clubbed to death with wooden sticks in a robbery late December in the southern town of Sihanoukville.
Kol Phally, a local deputy police chief, told AFP by telephone on Wednesday that the 20-year-old was arrested earlier this week, and was believed to be one of three construction workers who committed the crime.
Advertisement: Story continues below"He confessed to police that he killed the Australian man during a robbery attempt," Kol Phally said, adding that police were hunting for the two other suspects.
UN: Cambodia's Khmer Rouge trial threatened by lack of money
May 25, 2010
DPA
DPA
New York - Cambodia's prosecution of former Khmer Rouge officials responsible for up to 2 million deaths in the late 1970s has run into severe funds shortage, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.
Ban said at a pledging conference at UN headquarters in New York, attended by Cambodian government officials, that the total budget of 46.8 million dollars for the tribunals in 2011 remains unfunded except for 1.1 million dollars pledged by the royal government in Phnom Penh.
The trials involved both international and Cambodian lawyers and prosecutors since 2006 and depended on international financial support. Funds for 2010's trials face shortfall of 14.6 million dollars for the international component and 6.5 million dollars for the national component.
Donors urged to contribute to UN-backed genocide court in Cambodia
UN News Centre25 May 2010 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appealed to donors to provide urgent funding to the United Nations-backed court tasked with bringing justice to the people of Cambodia for the heinous crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970s.
The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), composed of both national and international judges and staff, were set up in 2003 under an agreement between the UN and the Royal Government.
The court is facing a shortfall of more than $21 million for 2010, including $14.6 million for the international component and at least $6.5 million for the national component. Neither of these figures includes future commitments for staff salaries and entitlements.
For 2011, the total budget of $46.8 million is unfunded, except for $1.1 million pledged by the Cambodian Government for the national component.
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