Former foreign war reporters revisit Cambodia

Former Washington Post correspondent Elizabeth Becker (L) consoles former staff member of Kyodo News, Yoko Ishiyama, as she prays at a Buddhist ceremony at Po Kandal village in Kampong Speu province 65 km (40 miles) west of Phnom Penh April 22, 2010, in memory of her husband, Koki Ishiyama, a former correspondent for Kyodo, who was killed covering the Cambodian civil war in 1973. About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the conflict, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Carle Robinson (L), former Associated Press correspondent prays at a Buddhist ceremony at Po Kandal village in Kampong Speu province 65 km (40 miles) west of Phnom Penh April 22, 2010. About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the Cambodian civil war, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Former Time-Life photographer Tim Page and other foreign correspondents pray at a Buddhist ceremony at Po Kandal village in Kampong Speu province 65 km (40 miles) west of Phnom Penh April 22, 2010. About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the Cambodian civil war, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Former foreign correspondents observe a moment of silence in front of a grave on a rice field at a Buddhist ceremony at Po Kandal village in Kampong Speu province 65 km (40 miles) west of Phnom Penh April 22, 2010 . About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the Cambodian civil war, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Former Washington Post correspondent Elizabeth Becker (L) reads a list of killed foreign correspondents as former staff member of Kyodo News, Yoko Ishiyama (R), weeps at a Buddhist ceremony at Po Kandal village in Kampong Speu province 65 km (40 miles) west of Phnom Penh April 22, 2010. The list includes Yoko Ishiyama's husband, Koki Ishiyama, a former correspondent for Kyodo, who was killed covering the Cambodian civil war in 1973. About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the conflict, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Former Time-Life photographer Tim Page prays at a Buddhist ceremony at Po Kandal village in Kampong Speu province 65 km (40 miles) west of Phnom Penh April 22, 2010. About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the Cambodian civil war, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Sylvana Foa (R), two-time nominee for the Pulitzer Price, former Newsweek and United Press International (UPI) correspondent and currently a journalism teacher at New York University's Tel Aviv campus and former staff member of Kyodo News, Yoko Ishiyama (L), place a flower at the dedication of memorial of journalists in Phnom Penh April 22, 2010. Yoko Ishiyama's husband, Koki Ishiyama, a former correspondent for Kyodo, was killed covering the Cambodian civil war in 1973. About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the conflict, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
Carl Robinson (R), former Associated Press correspondent and Chhang Song , former Khmer minister of information, stand near the sign dedicated to the memory of Cambodian and foreign journalists killed or missing during the Cambodian civil war April 22, 2010. About 40 retired journalists gathered on Thursday to officially commemorate more than 50 correspondents from Japan, France, the U.S., Cambodia, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, India and Laos, who were killed while covering the conflict, which lasted from 1970-1975. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Mobile technology gives Cambodians a voice [Dial 1-800-4Democracy?]

April 23, 2010
By Chak Sopheap
Guest Commentary
UPI Asia Online

Niigata, Japan — Cambodia: The Rise of Citizen Media via Mobile Phone

Mobile phones have gained in popularity since 2000, even at the bottom of the economic pyramid, due to their affordability and indispensability. This is especially true in Cambodia, the first country in the world in which the number of mobile phone users surpassed the number using fixed landlines.

There are nearly 4 million mobile users, representing 26 percent of the population, according to the United Nations Development Program’s 2009 report, “Cambodia Country Competitiveness.”

Even though the population size and penetration rate of mobile phones in Cambodia are much lower than in neighboring Thailand and Vietnam, which have penetration rates over 80 percent, the Cambodian market seems to be booming, with nine service providers to cover 14 million people.

Thailand, with a population of 67 million, has only seven providers, while Vietnam has eight operators for its 87 million people, according to a report in Economics Today.

Cambodia’s excess of service providers may not be viable in the long term, but the competition has lowered prices and brought greater customer satisfaction.

Thanks to low prices, mobile phones have become indispensable in Cambodia, preferred over traditional communications including landlines and the postal service. With poor transportation infrastructure and a shortage of electricity coverage, mobile phones are the most convenient appliance, offering a range of services including radio, music, videos, and even Internet access.

Interestingly, mobile banking service was recently introduced to Cambodia. Now rural Cambodians can make low-cost payments and money transfers from their mobile phones.

Beyond that, mobile phones have had a great impact on mobilizations and collective actions, during the election campaign for example. Political parties use SMS text messaging, the cheapest and most effective way of widely spreading their message, for their political campaigns. Also civil organizations that monitor elections use SMS to communicate among themselves.

Probably due to its accessibility and vast penetration, text messaging in Cambodia was banned during the last day of the Commune Council Election in 2007 by the National Election Committee. Though opposition parties and human rights groups claimed the ban would hamper the right to freedom of expression, the committee claimed the ban was justified by the law prohibiting campaigning on election day or the day before, and it would prevent parties from using text messaging to mobilize rallies, thereby ensuring a quiet environment for voters.

Surprisingly, SMS text messaging partly contributed to the 2008 election victory of the ruling party, which had supported the earlier ban of text messaging. This is because a nationalistic movement coincided with the election campaign, due to a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over the Preah Vihear temple. This generated political approval of the government, which publicly denounced any invasion of Cambodian territory. Mobile phone text messages circulated saying, “Khmers love Khmer and should boycott anything Thai or with Thai writing on it.”

Another side effect of mobile technology is that it mobilizes people for human rights activism and social causes through SMS text messaging. When human rights activists were being arrested in Cambodia in late 2005 and early 2006, for example, human rights activists used SMS text messaging to mobilize public support to demand the release of those arrested and freedom of expression.

In other Asian countries SMS text messaging has become an effective means of disseminating information and mobilizing people. The spread of information about the 2007 Saffron Revolution in Burma was possible thanks to mobile technology; it led to a global mobilization to free Burma from human rights abuses.

During that time, a group of Cambodians wearing red shirts gathered to protest in front of the Burmese Embassy in Phnom Penh. Thanks to the widespread use of mobile text messaging and blogs, people around the world could join the same cause at the same time.

This trend, the rise of citizen media, is especially important in countries like Cambodia, where people who otherwise would have no voice are encouraged to disseminate information, organize events, and join social causes through mobile phone communication.
--
(Chak Sopheap is a graduate student of peace studies at the International University of Japan. She runs a blog, www.sopheapfocus.com, in which she shares her impressions of both Japan and her homeland, Cambodia. She was previously advocacy officer of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.)

Cambodia to Send Its Officials to Timor Leste

PHNOM PENH, April 22 (NNN-AKP) — Cambodia will send its officials with expertise in economy, trading and agriculture to conduct a survey on a potential for Cambodian rice being imported to East-Timor.

The remark was made known during a meeting on April 21 between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and President of East-Timor Mr. Jose Ramose-Horta, who is on visit to Cambodia.

Mr. Jose told the Cambodian premier of his country’s situations and his visit to the Kingdom, the purpose of which he said was to make a bilateral cooperation on economy and commerce between the two nations, Ieng Sophalet, assistant to the prime minister told reporters following the meeting.

He also asked Cambodia to support Timor Leste to become a full member of ASEAN countries, he said.

ASIC's eyes on BHP

AUSTRALIAN regulators are likely to do their own investigations into corruption claims involving mining giant BHP Billiton, according to a leading corporate law expert.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission yesterday would not confirm whether it was investigating already, but Melbourne University's Professor Ian Ramsay said local regulators would be "almost forced" to make inquiries.

Prof Ramsay noted that ASIC chief Tony D'Aloisio had confirmed the regulator was making routine inquiries into Rio Tinto in the wash-up of the Stern Hu affair, and expected it would have to respond the same way to the BHP situation.

US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Britain's Serious Fraud Office are probing the claims, apparently related to a bauxite exploration project in Cambodia.

BHP revealed on Wednesday it had uncovered evidence of possible violations of anti-corruption laws involving dealings with government officials, but it has refused to say whether it is connected to allegations of an unofficial $US2.5 million payment to secure exploration rights in the Mondulkiri province.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday he could not see grounds for an inquiry into the conduct of Australian mining executives overseas.

"I don't think that is a sensible or appropriate response for the Government to take," Mr Smith told Sky News.

In a message to BHP staff yesterday, company chief executive Marius Kloppers said: "While matters of this kind are of great concern, they remind us that we must work in a way that is consistent with our code of business conduct and our charter values. Along with safety, nothing is more critical to our success than working with integrity.

"That means working in a way that upholds our values, which underpins everything we do."

Prof Ramsay said the type of wrongdoing alleged was more common than the conduct in Rio Tinto's bribery scandal. "So that's why I would have thought that regulators in Australia would be making inquiries. In fact, they're almost forced to make inquiries now," he said.

Prof Ramsay noted the increased focus of governments and regulators on bribery matters in recent years, including the much higher penalties for bribery under Australian law which came into effect this year.

He said it was inevitable BHP would be pressured to disclose more.

"It's just better to put it all out there initially -- and that assists in terms of preventing speculation," he said.

Asian drought damage reconstructed

Tree ring scientists Edward Cook (left) and Paul Krusic trekked for nearly two weeks to reach this 1,000-year-old hemlock in the Himalayas of Nepal during their 15-year research. (Brendan Buckley/Columbia University)

Friday, April 23, 2010
CBC News

Scientists at Columbia University's the Earth Institute and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have put together a 700-year record reconstructing the destruction caused by droughts that happened when the Asian monsoon resulted in less than normal rainfall.

The study, Asian Monsoon Failure and Megadrought during the Last Millennium, and the Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas published this week in the journal Science look at the seasonal weather system since 1300, its effects on the continent and how the monsoon's future might impact climate change.

While the monsoon feeds nearly half of the world's population when the rain does fall, when the monsoon fails to provide the usual amount of water and there is a drought, death and destruction are rampant, the study found.

Columbia scientists measured tree data from mature tree rings in 300 locations across the Asian continent, Siberia and northern Australia to come up with the findings.

For most tree species, rainfall determines the width of the species, resulting in annual growth rings, scientists said.

By studying the rings, scientists were able to determine that at least four major droughts led to the devastation in the continent and surrounding areas.

Drought led to fall of China's Ming dynasty

For example, a drought in northeastern China led to the 1644 fall of country's Ming dynasty.

Another drought occurred from 1756-1768, which coincided with the collapse of kingdoms in present-day Burma, Vietnam and Thailand.

The study also looked at the 1876-78 drought known as the "Great Drought," which resulted in widespread famine and the death of a record 30 million people in India, China and present-day Indonesia.

"Global climate models fail to accurately simulate the Asian monsoon, and these limitations have hampered our ability to plan for future, potentially rapid and heretofore unexpected shifts in a warming world," said Edward Cook, the head of Lamont's Tree Ring Lab who ran the study, said in a statement.

"Reliable instrumental data goes back only until 1950. This reconstruction gives climate modellers an enormous dataset that may produce some deep insights into the causes of Asian monsoon variability."

The study follows a similar report in March by the Lamont tree-ring team suggesting that dramatic differences in the monsoon may have influenced the collapse of the ancient Khmer civilization at Angkor — now known as Cambodia — nearly 600 years ago.

That paper, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S., showed evidence of a mega-drought in the wider region around Angkor from the 1340s to the 1360s, followed by a more severe but shorter drought from the 1400s to the 1420s.

The droughts were combined with severe flooding, resulting in the kingdom's eventual collapse, researchers of that study found.

The research for the latest study was funded by the U.S National Science Foundation.

Cambodia's fight to stop spread of drug resistant malaria

World Malaria Day is a day to recognise the global effort to provide effective control of the disease. Malaria is one of the leading causes of death in the developing world, infecting more than 500 million people a year and killing more than a million. About two years ago a new strain of drug resistant malaria emegerd in Cambodia, sparking fears it could spread and lead to widespread health problems.

Presenter: Robert Carmichael
Speakers: Dr Duong Socheat, National Centre for Malaria Control; Dr Steven Bjorge, WHO malaria specialist

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

CARMICHAEL: In recent decades, the area around the town of Pailin in western Cambodia has been the source of several drug-resistant malaria strains.

Dr Steven Bjorge of the World Health Organisation's office in Phnom Penh explains that one malaria strain in Africa that is resistant to choloroquine which was for years the standard medical treatment has been proven to have originated in western Cambodia.

Reason enough, then, for the concern expressed last year by health experts over the news that another drug-resistant strain had emerged in Pailin.

In this case, the resistance found in Pailin is to the standard drug treatment called ACT used against the falciparum strain of malaria.

ACT, which is a combination of drugs, normally eliminates the parasite from the body within two or three days. But Pailin's falciparum parasite, which has built up some resistance to ACT, now takes twice as long to clear.

Since ACT is the standard treatment worldwide for malaria, full resistance would be a huge public health problem in combating a disease that kills around one million people a year, most of them in Africa.

BJORGE: And so the fear is that again the drug-resistant parasite, for example from western Cambodia, will move to Africa, and Africa has a malaria problem many magnitudes worse than anything in southeast Asia

CARMICHAEL:The number of people dying from malaria in Cambodia is low relative to many African countries. Last year the disease killed around 270 Cambodians - a figure that has declined from around 800 deaths ten years ago.

But concerned at the public health implications for Cambodia, the region and possibly the world donors last year implemented a containment plan that saw a huge tract of land around Pailin designated as Zone 1 the main area for targeting the problem.

A buffer area comprising around half of the rest of Cambodia is known as Zone 2, while the rest of the country is classed as Zone 3.

BORGE:We have emerging tolerance which undoubtedly will lead to full-blown resistance if it continues. So what we've done now in Zone 1, increasingly in Zone 2 and then under Global Fund Round 9, what we'll do in Zone 3 is provide early diagnosis and treatment together with mosquito control through insecticide-treated bednets.

CARMICHAEL: Dr Duong Socheat, who heads the government's anti-malaria effort, says aspects of the containment plan include educating people on the correct drug use should they contract malaria, cracking down on fake or substandard medicines, and treating malaria in Zone 1 with a new combination known as DHA.

Another key element is that every village in Zone 1 now has at least one volunteer trained to test for malaria in fellow villagers.

Dr Duong Socheat is hopeful that not only will these efforts turn around the problem of the resistant strain, but that in another decade there will be no deaths from malaria in Cambodia.

So how is the containment programme going?

DR DUONG SOCHEAT: If you look deep you can see very good results.

CARMICHAEL: Dr Duong Socheat explains that last year there were no deaths from malaria in Zone 1, adding that the zone also showed no increase in the number of malaria cases.

He says a key challenge in the coming decade will be dealing with migrant workers. If they contract the resistant form of malaria, they could transfer that to their home provinces.

DR DUONG SOCHEAT: This is the main issue. The migrant, they move from the eastern part to the western part to look for the job for the crop season and come back with malaria.

CARMICHAEL:Next week, after the country has marked World Malaria Day on Sunday, health workers will move into a dozen villages in Pailin that are most afflicted by malaria.

The initiative - the first in Cambodia's treatment of the disease - will see them take blood from every villager in each village, test it at a lab in Phnom Penh, and within 48 hours treat anyone who is infected with the disease but not exhibiting the symptoms.

WHO's Dr Steven Bjorge says this effort, along with the entire containment plan, gives him some hope that they are making progress.

DR STEVE BJORGE: We feel that in Zone 1 we are having some success. It's still early in the game and so we're trying to gather the data and evaluate it, but we think that we're having some impact.

Hope for exploited daughters

(Photo: Samaritan’s Purse)

Thursday, 22 April 2010
Samaritan’s Purse (Australia)

“Channa” was 14 when she was sent to Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh to earn extra income for her mother’s medical treatments. Desperate for work, she found a job at a bar.

Channa had always refused lewd offers from male patrons, but when her family continually pressured her to earn more, she thought she had no alternative. For a full year, Channa engaged in commercial sex work and desperately wanted out. Neighbours began looking down on her. And her dreams of a happy future seemed spoiled. “I thought I was an animal, a slave,” she said.

Thousands of Cambodian women are forced into such work every year. A lack of opportunities for education and skills training, the result of decades of civil unrest and instability, leave them with few options to support their families.

Samuel Heng of Daughters, our local partner says that cultural norms contribute to the problem. “Many girls believe that the more they sacrifice for their parents and family, the better their next life will be. They say parents are like a second god – Buddha is the first, parents are the second. So you should serve your parents like you would serve god.”

Samaritan’s Purse is working with Daughters to give these women a way out. The ministry runs a safe house and provides vocational training in sewing, cooking, fabric painting, cake decorating, card and jewellery making.

Channa now works as a cake decorator, with a special expertise in making delicate sugar flowers. Perhaps the sweetest part of her story is that Channa has found new hope and peace in her faith in Jesus Christ. “When I prayed, I felt a peace in my heart,” she says. “I hadn’t felt that before.”

Channa goes to weekly church services and has found a community that provides encouragement and support. “I feel that a lot of people love me at Daughters, that I have a big value and a lot of hope,” Channa said. “Before I had a big family, but with no love, no peace. Now I have a good father – God.”

Unconditional nomination of Hun Xen and Xok An to the Royal Cambodian Academy ... which was created by Hun Xen

Hun Xen (R) and Xok An (L) are the two new members of the Royal Cambodian Academy which, coincidentally, was set up by Hun Xen himself. Hun Xen's talent is displayed by his poem writing whereas Xok An is a well known expert in cock-fighting.

Poem written by Academician Hun Xen sent to his lover, Ms. Piseth Pilika, who was later gunned down. Heng Pov revealed that the person who commissioned the killing of Piseth Pilika was no other than Mrs. Bun Rany Hun Xen, the famous wife of Academician Hun Xen (Poem posted at: pisethpilika.free.fr)

21 April 2010
By Nhim Sophal
Cambodge Soir Hebdo
Translated from French by Sen Os Somneuch
Click here to read the article in French

Hun Xen and vice-PM Xok An have just been nominated as members of the Royal Cambodian Academy

The royal decree to the effect was also issued, but the ceremony will only take place next week. It is now official: the two leaders are now full members of the famous academy. 16 individuals, including 4 Cambodians living overseas, are part of this prestigious institution.

Created in 199 by a sub-decree issued by Hun Xen who is also its honorary president, the Royal Academy is still administered by the Council of Ministers. At the beginning, there was no preset condition to become a member. Graduated individuals who provide academic documents and work are often accepted as its members. Under this stipulation, Hun Xen – who penned several poems and research works in politics, as well as giving out important speeches – and Xok An were both admitted to the prestigious institution.

However, in the future, candidates must fulfill new conditions in order to become provisory members. They must earn a Ph.D. degree after spending 5 years of academic work and they must be elected the full members. The maximum number of members is limited to 60 and only 2 persons can be selected for each year.

“To be elected, one must undertake scientific research without plagiarizing others. We must have new [rules], but for now, it is not easy to follow all the rules,” Ros Chantraboth, an advisor and full member of the academy, admitted.

For the past 10 years, this institution has been criticized for not undertaking any valid research. From now on, it hopes to play the role of a memory bank for the government and the society.

Chhnam Thmei Mok Dol - "Arrival of the New Year": A Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'em

Click on the poem in Khmer to zoom in

Short biography of the world cookbook winner

Mrs. Long Sorey (L) winner of the World Gourmand cookbook (Photo supplied)

21 April 2010
By Mao Sotheany
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy and Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Under this week’s Khmer Women’s Progam, Mrs. Mao Sotheany is reporting about a short biography and the volunteer work by the winner of the World Gourmand cookbook author.

The Cambodian cookbook penned by a Cambodian woman and her daughter was selected to receive the World Gourmand prize in France. The cookbook was considered as the most talented cookbook in the world for 2009 among a selection of 6,000 other entries.

The French-language cookbook includes about 139 recipes and it also includes photographs. It was authored by Mrs. Long Sorey who is currently retired and living in Cambodia.

The 69-year-old lady was a former teacher during the Lon Nol Khmer Republic regime and she is currently retired. She is very happy after learning that the cookbook she co-authored with her daughter was recognized as a special cookbook in the world, both in terms of quality, printing, cover illustration, as well as photo illustrations of the completed dishes and the ease to prepare more than 130 Cambodian dishes.

Mrs. Long Sorey said: “I am very pleased, extremely pleased! Two Cambodian women wrote the number 1 cookbook in the world. This prize is beyond my imagination, it means more than money to me. I remembered about Cambodia, nobody knew about me, I had a Cambodian flag and they did not know about Cambodia. I showed them where Cambodia is! I showed them…”

Mrs. Long Sorey, the winner of the World Gourmand cookbook, said that the recognition of the talent in this Cambodian cookbook is an important factor to let countries in the world know about the civilization, the culture and the customs of Cambodia, and Cambodian food in particular.

In addition to her cooking skills, she is also very skilled in sewing and knitting, as well as being an expert in wedding marriage clothing. She said that after coming to live in Virginia, USA, in 1975, she was actively involved in Cambodian communities, especially during the celebration of the Cambodian New Year.

Mrs. Long Sorey said: “I dress up in Cambodian clothes to show how Cambodian women dress up, how they carry a food container to take to the pagoda, how we dress up for weddings, and during the Cambodian New Year, I have to do it to show others. People like to cook, they asked me to help so I can earn some extra income on top of my factory salary because I only know how to cook, to work in the household, so in order to survive, I did everything…”

In 1977, Mrs. Long Sorey and her husband, Mr. Long Bota, a former professor under the Lon Nol regime, along with their two children, decided to move to live in France. There, she and her husband were actively involved in the Cambodian community: “… Me and my teacher, we formed the women association to help in the translation work, to help find jobs, to teach cooking, tailoring, dressing up in Khmer. In Cambodia, I used to teach tailoring. People wanted to know, wanted to learn, so on Sundays, my family went to teach others because it’s something we like…”

Mrs. Long Sorey added that, in addition to being a teacher for household work during vacation period and weekends, she also used to volunteer her work in France and in refugee camps along the Khmer-Thai border.

Mrs. Long Sorey said: “When I arrived in France, I continued my study until I became a chef teacher for more than 20 years, up until my retirement in 2001. Prior to 2001, I returned back to Cambodia once a year. After 1980, I volunteered to work at refugee camps along the border because I have 2 months of vacation each year, I went to teach cooking and tailoring to Cambodian women in refugee camps so that when they return back to Cambodia, they have some skill to survive on…”

Mrs. Long Sorey and her husband, Mr. Long Bota, retired in 2001. They currently returned back to live in Cambodia and to offer volunteer work for the Children’s Smile NGO.

Mrs. Long Sorey claimed: “I volunteered to teach at a school where they gather children who scavenge garbage and bring them in to study at the center. I teach them, the younger teachers do not know how to cook Khmer food.”

The two children of Mrs. Long Sorey and her husband are both married now. Her son now lives and works in Switzerland, and her daughter went to live and work in England after her wedding.

She added that as long as she lives, she will continue to share all her professional knowledge to all Cambodian girls and younger generation of Cambodian women who want to learn about savoir-vivre (life), morale and household work such as cooking, dressing up for wedding, tailoring, knitting, etc…

Mrs. Long Sorey claimed that her cookbook is currently being translated into English and in the future, it will also be published in Khmer as well.

Photo Exhibition by Khvay Samnang Starting from Wed April 21

Dear art lovers,

Happy Khmer New Year!!!!

Sa Sa Art Gallery is back!! Our first exhibition this new year features Khvay Samnang’s photo series on Cambodian wedding. Come join us at the opening night on Wednesday April 21st at 6:30pm.

'I want to show a fuller picture of the wedding - what is happening during the wedding, for example when the bride and the groom changing dresses and doing make-up, the decoration of the wedding house, the way people dress-up and show off their jewelery, the hectic pace of the wedding and the tiresome rituals endured by the family, and especially the embarrassment that people don’t want to show in photos.'

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Neay Krud'th's Words

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Khmer New Year Celebration in Fresno 2010

Click to Read More...

Cambodia reports H5N1 death, WHO confirms Vietnam cases

Lisa Schnirring Staff Writer

Apr 21, 2010 (CIDRAP News) – Cambodia's health ministry today announced that a 27-year-old man died of H5N1 avian influenza, while the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed two previously reported cases in Vietnam and ruled out human-to-human transmission.

The Cambodian man, whose case is the country's first of the year, lived in the eastern part of the country in Prey Veng province, the Associated Press (AP) reported today. Few other details were available about the case, and the health ministry said it is investigating the man's illness and death. He will be listed as Cambodia's 10th H5N1 case and its 8th death from the disease.

Meanwhile, the WHO today confirmed the H5N1 infections of two Vietnamese patients who are part of a suspected case cluster. The patients, a 22-year-old man and a 2-year-old girl are both from Bac Kan province in the northern part of the country. Their illnesses raise the number of H5N1 cases in Vietnam to 119, of which 59 have been fatal.

Previous news reports said the area where the two live had mass poultry deaths and that at least four other people with flulike symptoms were isolated and treated with antiviral medication. Reports of suspected and confirmed H5N1 infection clusters raise fears that the virus is becoming more transmissible among humans and could become a pandemic flu strain. However, the WHO said an epidemiologic investigation has found no link between the two patients that would suggest human-to-human transmission.

A WHO statement suggests both had similar exposure to the virus. It said an initial investigation revealed sick and dead poultry around both patients' homes and in surrounding areas. It said the girl's family had recently slaughtered sick poultry to eat.

The man is listed in critical condition at National Hospital of Tropical Diseases, and the girl is in stable condition at Cho Moi District Hospital.

The newly confirmed Vietnamese H5N1 cases raise the global H5N1 total to 495 cases, which includes 292 deaths.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Tea Money

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Cambodian toddler recovering after surgery in Dominican Republic

Millikan High senior Lauren Briand, left, and Socheat Nha in her Briand's Long Beach home in February. Behind her is Nha's father, Phin Ken, and her cousin, Kenha Heang, right. (Jeff Gritchen/Press-Telegram)

04/21/2010
By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)

A Cambodian girl taken from her homeland to receive life extending surgery was resting comfortably after a four-hour surgery performed in the Dominican Republic.

Socheat Nha, who turned 3 years old Wednesday, survived a tricky operation to repair a large hole in her heart and also had work done on the pulmonary artery that connects the heart ventricle to the lungs.

Although Dr. Rodrigo Soto, who performed the procedure, said the next 48 hours remain critical, he did say Socheat left the operating room in good condition and that in some ways her condition was not as bad as initially feared.

Soto, a surgeon from Chile working for the International Children's Heart Foundation, said he closed the hole, called a ventricular septal defect. Socheat, however, might need more work done in 6 to 10 years on her pulmonary artery, he said.

If she gets through the recovery period without incident, "she should be able to grow, put on weight and live a normal life."

Socheat overcame a big hurdle by making it through the operation without issue, but there are myriad other complications that can arise in the two days of recovery, according to doctors.

Peter Chhun, the head of Hearts Without Boundaries, which brought Socheat from Cambodia for the procedure, was cautiously optimistic.

"We all jumped up and down with joy that she survived the surgery," he said, "but I told her father we will celebrate when we all walk out of here together."

Socheat has gone through a circuitous and fretful route to get this far.

When she was first accepted by Hearts Without Boundaries to receive the surgery, it was planned that she would have an operation done in Las Vegas. However, doctors canceled her surgery because of complications and fear she would not survive.

With the help of a cardiologist in San Diego, Chhun was able to connect with International Children's Heart Foundation, which specializes in treating children from Third World countries.

That organization offered to perform the procedure in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

Chhun had to raise funds to cover travel expenses and to pay for the hospital, although the surgeon donated his services.

Despite his immediate relief, Chhun sound exhausted when reached by phone in the Dominican Republic.

He said the celebration will come when Socheat walks out of the hospital doors.

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291

China's new dam seen as a water hog

Still under construction, the 66-story-high Xiaowan dam is scheduled to be completed this year. Other countries accuse China of stealing water.

By Calum MacLeod
USA TODAY

XIAOWAN, China — Wearing cloaks of tree bark strands, villagers from the Yi ethnic minority tend wheat terraces that cascade downhill toward the riverbank.

It is a scene unchanged for centuries, and it takes place in the shadow of a modern wall of concrete as high as a 66-story skyscraper that fills a gorge of the Lancang River in remote southwestern China.

The Xiaowan dam in the hills of Yunnan province is one of eight hydroelectric projects that will bring China?s industrial revolution to the impoverished region. It is by far the biggest of the four dams built so far that when done this year will be the biggest arch dam in the world.

But not all of the water is China's. The downstream half of the 2,700-mile-long river winds through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, where it is known as the Mekong.

In those countries, 60 million people rely on the Mekong not for electricity but for food, water and transport. They say the Chinese dams have reduced the river to its lowest levels in 50 years, and environmental groups accuse China of reducing the river flow downstream.

"Many local people and groups that monitor the dams in China point the finger at the dams as one of the main causes of the drying up of the river," says Srisuwan Kuankachorn, co-director of Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance, a Thailand-based environmental group.

Srisuwan says the countries are in a drought caused by China that has killed fisheries, withered croplands and dried up waterway transportation routes.

And the problems are likely to get worse with the completion of the Xiaowan dam. A United Nations report issued in May 2009 warned that China's eight planned dams, of which Xiaowan is the fourth, "may pose the single greatest threat to the river."

"The capability of the new dam is much bigger than the other three combined," Srisuwan says.

Little leverage for compliance

At the plush local offices of dam builders Huaneng Hydrolancang, senior engineer Zhao Meng is unruffled by the dire allegations. Zhao, 58, bears a scientist's conviction that the doubters are wrong.

"However much water arrives, the same amount will leave," Zhao says. "We have no plan to keep the water or use it elsewhere. We will store water for a while as we fill the reservoir (currently 30% full), but this dam will not affect the water flow downstream."

Some regional experts agree that the hydroelectric projects are unrelated to the drought.

"China's dams have not caused this problem," says Jeremy Bird, CEO of the Mekong River Commission, an organization that helps manage the river's resources for Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

But China's refusal to provide data to the commission on the dams already is raising suspicions among analysts. This month, a Chinese delegation to the commission promised deeper cooperation but stopped short of adding to a promise to provide hydrological data for two smaller Yunnan dams.

"The Chinese must come clean on how much water they are diverting at Xiaowan and, in the future, at Nuozhadu," another dam that will boast an even bigger reservoir, says Alan Potkin, a development specialist at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University.

Xiaowan is "an enormously large dam, bigger than anything in North America," says Potkin, who worries that in two years' time both Xiaowan and Nuozhadu could be filling reservoirs simultaneously. Potkin is urging the commission to ask China for the most critical data. But he knows the board can do little if China refuses. "It has very little leverage at all," he says.

Journalists have been kept at bay at Xiaowan. A USA TODAY reporter was detained by police for three hours while trying to get to the site and then refused entry.

Local residents dispute that the drought stems from natural causes.

Here in Yunnan province, White Fish Pond hasn't seen fish for years, says Bi Xiuxian, who heads a small hydropower station on the Weishan River. For the past half-year, the river has hardly seen any water, either. So the privately owned power plant in the village of Lishimo is idle.

"Poor management of water facilities is definitely a major reason for this drought," complains Bi, an ethnic Yi. "We need new wells, better management of old wells, and more maintenance of water canals."

Elders pray for rain

China's thirst for energy will likely keep the projects moving forward without much look back, say activists.

"We need time to see the real results," says Wang Yongchen, founder of Green Earth Volunteers, an environmental group, who has monitored China's dam-building for several years. "China is developing so quickly and needs a lot of energy, but nature is not just for humans."

In Shuanghe village, Nanjian County, Yunnan province, farmer Xu Piqing stands on a bridge above the now-dry water canal that usually rushes into the Weishan River.

"We should be busy now, harvesting corn and beans, but instead we have nothing to do," says Xu, 43.

Some villagers are taking action, though.

This month, more than 100 elders will gather to pray for rain on the hilltop, lighting incense and kowtowing to the earth. It's an annual ritual, but "this year will be the biggest ever," Xu says.

BHP declines comment on 'tea money'

22 Apr 2010
AAP

BHP Billiton Ltd is refusing to confirm corruption claims relating the company are connected to so-called "tea money" paid to officials in Cambodia.

Non-government group Global Witness last year highlighted allegations originally aired in a local Cambodian newspaper in 2007 that the company had paid the "tea money" a customary term for unofficial payments.

A BHP Billiton spokeswoman on Thursday said she was unable to add to comments already made by the company.

In its quarterly production report on Wednesday, BHP Billiton revealed it had uncovered potential corruption in company dealings with government officials.

The company did not disclose which country or countries the allegations related to, or whether any workers had been stood down or sacked in relation to the claims.

But Global Witness has said: "According to an article published in The Cambodia Daily on 24 May 2007, Cambodia's Minister for Water Resources, Lim Kean Hor, told the National Assembly that BHP Billiton had paid $US2.5 million to the government to secure a bauxite mining concession.

"In the same article, Lim Kean Hor is reported to have described this payment as tea money, a customary term for an unofficial payment in Cambodia," Global Witness said in its Country for Sale report.

The report went on to say that in accordance with the terms of a minerals exploration agreement BHP Billiton paid $US1 million to the Cambodian government in September 2006.

It said the money did not appear to be accounted for in government financial documents, raising questions about where the $US1 million had gone.

Global Witness wrote to BHP Billiton in 2008 about the allegations and the miner replied that it had paid $US2.5 million for a social development fund in Cambodia.

"We reject any assertion that the payment under the minerals exploration agreement is, or the amounts contributed to the social development projects fund are, tea money," the miner told Global Witness.

BHP Billiton on Wednesday said it was cooperating with relevant authorities and had disclosed evidence it uncovered regarding "possible violations of applicable anti-corruption laws".

The corruption investigation comes at a crucial time for BHP Billiton, as it is trying to convince regulators in Australia, Europe and Asia to sign-off on a controversial joint venture with Rio Tinto.

While refusing to name which country the corruption allegations relate to, BHP Billiton has volunteered that it does not relate to China.

Four Rio Tinto workers based in Shanghai were recently convicted of receiving bribes and jailed in China.

BHP shares were 1.47 per cent weaker at $42.10 at 1242 AEST, against a 1.17 per cent slide in the benchmark index.

Doing business in Cambodia, BHP-style

22 April 2010
By former Phnom Penh Post journalist Georgia Wilkins
crikey.com.au

Today’s broadsheets reported that mining giant BHP Billiton could be guilty of paying $US2.5 million in bribes to the Cambodian government to secure a bauxite mining concession in the country’s north-west.

Further investigations have revealed that BHP discretely shelved its mining plans at the same time as a probe into the deal by the US Securities and Exchange Commission began. It seems Japan’s Mitsubishi were also part of the deal.

Is this a repeat of the Rio Tinto saga, or are we seeing a pattern emerge?

It seems that even the world’s largest mining company and one of the world’s largest diversified trading and investment companies believe that they can get away with corrupt behaviour; at least in vulnerable corners of the world in which few in London or New York pay attention too.

The Sydney Morning Herald claims that the latest graft scandal to hit a mining company has been under investigation by SEC since August. This coincides exactly with the company’s sudden pull-out from the bauxite mine in Mondulkiri province, Cambodia.

BHP at the time attributed the pull-out to their failure to find bauxite in sufficient quantities, with a spokesman for BHP in Australia quoted in the Phnom Penh Post as saying: “We completed our exploration field work in the Mondulkiri province and are in the process of sharing our evaluation with the Royal Government of Cambodia. As such, we have reduced our presence in Phnom Penh.”

The spokesman, who was not named, refused to give further details, saying that “…we do not comment publicly about the results of our exploration activities”.

Another source confirmed this alibi, telling the Post a feasibility study, which reportedly cost $US10 million and covered 400 hectares of the company’s 996-hectare concession, failed to find bauxite in sufficient quantities to make extraction profitable and justify the construction of the aluminium refinery.

But it seems that the news of poor profits was so devastating to BHP that it not only exited the deal, but exited the country, quickly vacating their large French-colonial building on the city’s main boulevard and no longer returning the Post’s calls.

The question needs to be asked: Why is this coming to light now?

The Global Witness report has been on the record for over a year, claiming BHP is involved with gross wrongdoing. But only now is it reaching papers in the developed world — surely in part because of the blow-up of the Stern Hu case.

Tireless watchdogs like Global Witness have long been a thorn in the side of Cambodia’s political and military elite. But officials know that without a large international audience, the group’s naming and blaming usually falls on deaf ears. It is this isolation from the world community that, as Global Witness itself points out, makes Cambodia such a natural fit with extreme corruption and kleptocracy.

So why were these commercial titans with huge reputations on the line dipping into the forbidden fruit on offer in small, backwater countries?

Global Witness says the fact that Cambodia has been resting on the cusp of a “petroleum and minerals windfall” is at least partly to blame.

“High demand worldwide for these commodities has, until recently, led to high prices. As a result companies are beginning to search for economically viable reserves in previously untapped countries once thought to be too politically unstable to operate in,” it says in its report, Country for Sale.

So, was it only a matter of time?

Cambodia and Vietnam, with fractured economies and greedy politicians, both have a reputation in south-east Asia for being the lowest hanging fruit on the dirty-money tree. Cambodia also has the seductive advantage of a huge bureaucracy in which standard accounting practices can disappear without a trace; not to mention a system of bullying predicated on fear which guards corrupt deals against squealers.

Indeed, the Cambodian government has been labeled the biggest in size in the world per capita; and they may likely be the richest. A nomenklatura of inter-wed and blood-related elites manage the country’s wealth through a sophisticated pyramid-shaped network of handshaking and intimidation. It is almost impossible to defy this natural hierarchy of power and its coercive logic of bribery: Global Witness claim every mine they investigated for their report was indeed run by a member of the government or military, or their relative.

So protected is the government from opposition that it can be genuinely humoured by attempts to threaten its power – especially when they come from outside the country. Following the release of Global Witness’s report, the Cambodian ambassador to the UK and son of the Minister for Commerce, Hor Nambora, responded by whipping up his own “report” with a poorly drawn image of the initial report going into a waste-paper basket.

But as the government squanders so much of the country’s wealth on big cars and expensive watches, teachers and low-level government workers are starved and forced to perpetuate the cycle of bribery.

‘Tea money’ may sound like a sinister misnomer, but to most Cambodians, a kickback is simply the cost of an every-day service. A legitimate monetary system can be easily reversed once one person’s salary is not paid. Because teachers receive barely any income, children learn from an early age that if they want to pass subjects, they must take a few hundred riel along with their lunches to school every day.

With this culture in place, it is difficult to believe that any company, large or small, international or local, can avoid paying this ‘tea’ tax on top of bloated concession fees. With SEC’s investigation underway, we are no doubt likely to see that the Stern Hu case is the rule, rather than the exception, when it comes to second and third-world business deals.

"Kung Th'Ngai Na Muoy..." a Poem in Khmer by Hin Sithan

Top Ratanakiri forestry official replaced

Illegal logging in Prek Proloung commune, Prek Prasap district, Kratie province on 12 August 2009 (Photo: Or Phearith, RFA)

21 April 2010
By Ratha Visal
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

The ministry of Agriculture had replaced Youkan Vimean, its top forestry official for the province of Ratanakiri, after it discovered numerous illegal cases involving precious wood in the region.

The announcement of the replacement took place on Tuesday 20 April at the Ratanakiri provincial office under the presidency of Chan Savuth, the under-secretary of state of the ministry of Agriculture. Vong Sok Serey, another provincial forestry official, took over Youkan Vimean’s position.

Besides provincial TV reporters and photographers for the ministry of Agriculture, no other reporters are allowed inside the building to report this event.

Youkan Vimean said that he does not have a positive feelings about this replacement: “This is a re-organization of my department where there is a replacement of working officials.”

Vong Sok Serey declined to comment, claiming that he is busy in a meeting and that he just took over his duty.

However, an anonymous provincial official indicated that the replacement took place under order from Hun Xen in order to reform the local forestry leadership to provide efficient forestry work.

The same anonymous source indicated also that Vong Sok Serey was the former top forestry official for Stung Treng province. Youkan Vimean will be transferred to the forestry department.

Ratanakiri officials indicated that about 600 to 700 cubic meters of all sorts of precious wood logs were confiscated from various hiding houses, located both in farms and in the woods in all the province’s districts, starting form March 2010.

Pen Bonna, a facilitator and investigator for the Adhoc human rights group for Ratanakiri province, said that it is time for a replacement in order to reform the protection of forests which are destroyed by the thousands of hectares for private interest.

Pen Bonna said: “He is not the only one, it also involves authorities and local officials as well. In some areas, we received reports that logs are still being hidden there, and illegal logging is still taking place.”

Pao Horm Phan, the Ratanakiri provincial governor, asked the population to cooperate and report all instances of illegal logging to the authority so that they may be taken care of.

Pao Horm Phan said: “If they [public] see it, let them report to us. We are searching every day and the work is still in progress.”

For the entire country, report of illegal precious wood log confiscation indicated that about 3,000 cubic meters of logs were confiscated during police raids since the beginning of March. However, Pen Bonna said that several thousands of cubic meters of precious wood were illegally logged and transported to Vietnam along the international border gate in O’Yadaw district, and to other destinations inside Cambodia between January and March 2010. Currently, there are still several hundreds of cubic meters of precious wood logs hidden on farms and in businesses and private houses belonging to some of the local officials.

Journalist reports death threat

Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Vong Sokheng
The Phnom Penh Post

A JOURNALIST for the Sam Rainsy Party-aligned Khmer Machas Srok newspaper alleged on Tuesday that bodyguards working for Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) officials had threatened to kill him.

Boay Roeuy, 40, who has worked for the paper since 1994, said he was at his home in Dangkor district’s Krang Thnong commune on Tuesday when a bodyguard whom he could identify only as “Sna” and several other men turned up at his door with a handgun and began shouting for him to come outside.

Boay Roeuy said that neighbours later told him that the men work as bodyguards for CPP officials.

He added that he fears for his safety because the bodyguard known as “Sna” lives in a house across the street from his own.

“If I would have gone outside my house they would have shot at me,” he said.

Boay Roeuy said he had informed the rights group Licadho of the incident and submitted a complaint to Mak Mi, the Krang Thnong commune police chief.

Mak Mi said on Tuesday that he had received Boay Roeuy’s complaint on April 20, but that no action had yet been taken.

“It doesn’t look like a case of intimidation or a death threat against the journalist,” he said, adding that during Khmer New Year it is normal for villagers to play loud music, shout in the streets and drink beer.

The political battle becoming dirtier by the day [in Thailand]

April 22, 2010
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation

Thais appear to be keen on expanding the ongoing conflict instead of containing it, with many different colour-coded groups emerging to confront the red-shirt protesters. Such confrontation would only orchestrate violence, if not a civil war.

Initially, the current political stalemate was only meant to be a conflict between Abhisit Vejjajiva's government and former PM Thaksin Shinawata's supporters. Now, unfortunately, lots of issues are being raised and more and more people are getting involved.

For instance, middle-class Bangkokians - at the end of their tether over the chaos caused by the red shirts - decided to take to the streets in multicoloured shirts last week to express their dissatisfaction. Some of them had minor clashes with the red shirts near Lumpini Park, while others had a bit of a fracas on Silom Road.

The multicolour group was born along the same lines as the red shirt's arch foe, the yellow-clad People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). Their demands are the same - disperse the protesters.

In fact, it is no secret that leaders of the multicoloured group used to be members of the PAD movement, which brought down the red-influenced governments of late Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat in 2008 before putting Abhisit at the helm.

The right-wing PAD has given the government a week to bring down the red-shirt movement, otherwise the group - which now calls itself a royal guardian - will take things into its own hands.

The yellow-shirt PAD is accusing Thaksin's red-shirt supporters of trying to bring about a "regime change" in which the Kingdom of Thailand becomes a republic, with Thaksin as its first president.

Although the red shirts' demand for a new election is nothing strange in a democratic society, Prime Minister Abhisit is subscribing to the PAD's belief and echoing accusations that the reds are committing "acts of terrorism" to bring about a "great change" in Thailand.

On Tuesday, an unknown group of people put up stickers on Silom Road saying that the red-shirt group wanted a new Thailand with Thaksin as president. A move like this suggests that the right wing and elitist forces are employing old tactics to label the opponents as anti-monarchists.

The anti-monarchist accusation in Thailand is powerful enough to destroy anybody. The institution of monarchy has been firmly established in the Kingdom for a long time. Stringent laws protect the monarch from the slightest of criticism and if anybody gets accused of lese majeste, it is hard for them to escape.

On October 6, 1976, student activists in Thammasat University were massacred just because they were accused of being anti-monarchists. Many politicians, including the red-shirt leader Veera Musigapong and some members of the ruling Democrat Party, have had bitter experiences related to the lese majeste law.

The stickers on Silom Road prompted an immediate denial from Thaksin, with the red-shirt leaders declaring on Tuesday that it was a dirty political game. They know the power of anti-monarchy accusations.

However, if Abhisit and his government are gentle and fair enough, they should be able to limit the conflict and stop a third hand from using this sensitive issue to make things worse.

Calling the protesters terrorists and turning a normal political protest into a national security issue and a threat to the revered institution, is uncivilised and unfair. Besides, such tactics will only make the problem more complicated and difficult to resolve.

Gov’t to increase bonus salary for high ranking army and police officers

5-golden-star general Hun Xen and top army brass (Photo: Khmer Sovannara, DAP)

21 April 2010
By Meas Mony
Free Press Magazine online
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

It has been turned into a bad joke when nonstop waves of demonstration of low ranking civil servants are demanding for a raise of their bonuses so that they can live a decent life, but quite to the contrary, the government instead decided to hand out bonuses only to a handful of high-ranking army and police officers.

Based on a sub-decree promoted by Keat Chhon, the minister of Finance, and approved by Hun Xen on 15 March 2010, bonuses will be doled out to army and police officers ranking between levels no. 1 and 50 only, the bonus amount is 50% [of their salary(?)].

Under this unfair distribution of social rewards, MP Yim Sovann, the SRP spokesman, declared that the government should think about soldiers and police officers stationed all along the country who have to face severe living and health conditions. Due to their low salaries, these lower-ranking soldiers and police officers could not send their children to school.

Currently, the salary for regular civil servants amounts to more than 100,000 riels (about $30). However, for those who hold the position of department chief and up, their salaries start at 1 million riels ($250), they also receive additional gasoline and telephone stipends.

Senior Opposition Leaders Continue Court Battles

Mu Sochua, a Cambodian opposition party lawmaker, looks on in front of the Phnom Penh Municipality Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Photo: AP)

Senior opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua returned to Cambodia last week, where she is contesting a defamation verdict at the Supreme Court.

Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 21 April 2010

On Tuesday, Sam Rainsy’s lawyer requested the establishment of a court border commission to investigate encroachment.

Senior opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua returned to Cambodia last week, where she is contesting a defamation verdict at the Supreme Court.

Mu Sochua, a member of the Sam Rainsy Party, was fined for remarks made in connection with a lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen, who she claims defamed her in public speeches made last year. She had been traveling in the US.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy himself remains in exile abroad, facing a two-year sentence on charges stemming from the destruction of border markers in Svay Rieng province, next to Vietnam.

He is also facing charges of disinformation—a potential 18-year sentence—for publishing a map on his Web site alleging border encroachment from Vietnam. On Tuesday, Sam Rainsy’s lawyer requested the establishment of a court border commission to investigate encroachment.

Court officials said Wednesday they were considering the request.

Cambodia rubber price rises by 236 percent

April 21, 2010

PHNOM PENH (Commodity Online) : Cambodia’s General Directorate of Rubber said the price of dry rubber has increased by more than 236 percent year-on-year in the country.

Such sharp increase in rubber prices has not been seen for 60 years. It has resulted from demand outstripping supply, it said in a report.

The price of rubber sold to international markets this month reached $3,700 per tonne.In April last year, rubber was sold for only $1,100 per tonne, with a 2009 market high of $3,000 per tonne.

Last year, because of the unfavourable weather and unusual heavy rainfall in major producing areas such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, world production decreased around 6 percent.

So far, much of Cambodia’s 130,000 hectares of rubber cultivation consists of young crops, which have not yet yielded.

In 2009, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported that Cambodia produced 37,000 tonnes of rubber, 36,000 tonnes of which was exported.

Counter-terrorism building inaugurated by ... Cambodia's "top power terrorist"?

1-golden-star general Hun Manet (L) standing next to his 5-golden-star father, general Hun Xen, during the inauguration of the new counter-terrorism building (Photo: Ly Meng Huor, RFI)

Hun Sen Opens Counterterror Building

Cambodia has emerged as a willing partner in the US’s fight against terrorism, having arrested four suspects of the Jemaah Islamiyah network in 2003.

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 21 April 2010

“Terrorism is the most ferocious [act] we have to fight. It occurs everywhere, without racial or religious discrimination.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday said he was committed to fighting terrorism, with the participation of Cambodian citizens.

“What I insist on is preventing terrorism,” Hun Sen said at the inauguration of a building that will house the government’s counterterrorism agency.

Hun Sen’s son, Hun Maneth, is the head of the Ministry of Defense’s counterterrorism unit.

“Terrorism is the most ferocious [act] we have to fight,” Hun Sen said. “It occurs everywhere, without racial or religious discrimination.”

Cambodia has emerged as a willing partner in the US’s fight against terrorism, having arrested four suspects of the Jemaah Islamiyah network in 2003. Three suspects remain in jail in Cambodia. Cambodia was also used as a haven for the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, Hambali, who was arrested in Thailand in 2003.

“We consider the Cambodian government to be a strong partner in terms of counterterrorism cooperation,” US Embassy spokesman John Johnson said Wednesday.

“We’ve said in the past that Cambodia’s porous borders are a concern, not just in terms of terrorism but also in terms of transnational crimes and narcotics trafficking,” he said. “And we’re therefore engaged with the government at all levels to help improve maritime and land border security, in order to ensure that Cambodia remains a strong and stable partner in the region.”