KI Media: “Finally we are back up!” plus 17 more |
- Finally we are back up!
- Cathay Pacific Airbus 330 makes emergency landing in Singapore
- An 11 year-old girl run away to live in the jungle to escape beatings by father violent father
- Latest update on CambodiaWatch-Australia 15 May 2011
- Multinational military exercise kicks off in Cambodia
- Second KRouge trial to start June 27: tribunal [... if at all!]
- Maps of Ta Moan and Ta Krabei temples by EU edited by Bora Touch
- A lesson on diplomacy among neighbours
- Haunting memories linger in Cambodia
- Documentary gives Khmer Rouge convict his say at Cannes
- Duch, Master Of The Forges Of Hell
- S'pore effort to help kids in Cambodia
- Cambodia eyes Filipino market
- Thailand-Nambodia-Vietnam: The Indochinese Federation Coastal Highway?
- 3 Cambodian deminers killed disarming old shell
- Cambodian residents report threats over railway development [Bravo AusAID?!?!]
- CAMBODIA: The Lotus Movement -- If we have our political or personal differences, let's not tear each other apart
- "Chbabb Nei Chun Krao Chbabb" a Poem in Khmer by NhiekKiri
| Posted: 16 May 2011 09:59 AM PDT Dear Readers, We apologize for the recent service interruption caused by problems faced by Blogger, our host. We would be up much sooner had the number of our posts been smaller. However, as of last count, with over 44,000 posts, it took sometime for Blogger to restore our site back. We really appreciate emails from our Readers expressing their concerns over the disappearance of KI-Media. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you out there who passed the words about our mirror website http://ki-media2.blogspot.com which was functioning much sooner than our main website. A big thank you to Lok Sacrava and Khmerization also.
Quite honestly, it feels very good to be among all you again! Thank you, KI-Media team  | ||
| Cathay Pacific Airbus 330 makes emergency landing in Singapore Posted: 16 May 2011 02:09 AM PDT
'God, save our flight! Give us your protection!' passengers pray 2011-05-16 msnbc.com news services SINGAPORE — Terrified passengers aboard a Cathay Pacific plane prayed together as their aircraft, one of its engines on fire, made its way back to Singapore on Monday, and their calm response earned praise from the captain. Cathay Pacific said the Airbus 330, bound for Jakarta with 136 passengers on board, landed back in Singapore "without incident" just before 2 a.m. It said the crew shut down the engine after receiving a "stall warning." Reuters photographer Beawiharta was aboard the plane with his wife, two sons and daughter. About 20 minutes after take-off, there were two sharp bangs, sending cabin staff scurrying to retrieve the meals they had only just begun serving. The plane began shaking violently, he said, and the lights went out. He could smell something burning. His son, Pradipta, 15, said he saw nothing as he peered out the window. "But I asked him to cup his hands to get a better view," Beawiharta said. "He shouted: 'I see fire! I see fire!' "Panicked, he then asked: 'Will we die? Will we die?' I took his hand and told him firmly: 'No, we are going to live.' Don't miss these Travel stories Courtesy Belmont Park 11 new rides for thrill seekers Theme and amusement parks are rolling out new (and newly renovated attractions) that emphasize unique elements and psychological thrills over sheer speed and stupefying G-forces. "Behind us, passengers were praying: 'God, save our flight! Give us your protection!'" Prayers and panic The prayers got louder and louder, pierced by only the occasional cry of panic. "A stewardess told us an engine had caught fire and we were on our way back to Singapore. Glued to the window, my son said he could see lights, the sea and ships and then lights on the ground. We all grabbed life jackets from beneath our seats, but the plane landed smoothly. "Within five minutes, as firefighters doused the damaged engine, we walked off the plane into the terminal." In the waiting room, the pilot greeted assembled passengers. "The best that we can ever ask of passengers is to stay cool, stay calm ... which you did," he said. "And for that we thank you." Flight CX715 had taken off from Singapore heading to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, at 1:12 a.m., but soon turned around after engine trouble and landed at 1:57 a.m., Singapore's Changi Airport said in a statement. Firefighters extinguished the fire and normal flight operations resumed on the runway about an hour later, the airport said. It was the second time in six months an Airbus had to make an emergency landing in Singapore because of engine problems. A Qantas A380 turned around shortly after takeoff Nov. 4 when one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines disintegrated. The airport would not say how many passengers were on board Monday's flight or what kind of engines the plane used. A spokesman for Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific was not immediately available for comment. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.  | ||
| An 11 year-old girl run away to live in the jungle to escape beatings by father violent father Posted: 16 May 2011 01:33 AM PDT     Monday, May 16, 2011 By Khmerization Source: Koh Santepheap Villagers have stumbled on an 11 year-old girl living in a bush in a tarpaulin tent by herself, eating only wild leaves and morning glory/watercress after she had run away from home 20 days ago to escape repeated beatings by her violent father. 11 year-old Sok Reastr Ros, which means 'a citizen living happily', was found living in a bush behind the village in Chok Chey village, O'Bei Choan commune in O'Chrov district in Banteay Meanchey province at 4pm on 8th May living in a tarpaulin tent, eating only watercress and wild leaves. Mr. Kham Yan, chief of O'Bei Choan Police, said he had been informed that villagers had found an 11 year-old girl living in the bush by herself and he went and brought her back to the village under heavy rain. He said went the police arrived at her tent, they only found a bunch of watercress and a packet of pounded salted chilli at her side. She told police that she had escaped from home on 12th April because she cannot endure repeated beatings from her violent father. She said she lived under the tent for 20 days, under heavy rain without food and blanket and only eat watercress for the last 20 days. She was so skinny and very weak when she was found. The girl told police that on the day she run away, her father asked her to go to ask a neighbour for basil leaves for the cooking. After she cannot get the basil leaves she was too afraid to come back home because her father was very violent who had beaten her many times before. Police had summoned the girl's parent, Mr.Sok Sarath and Ms. Loeun Pov, both 50 years old, to the police station. They told police that she is a very difficult girl. On the day she disappeared, her father gave her the money to buy some cigarette and she had disappeared since then. However, they said they do not want the girl back and gave her to the authority. Mr. Suong Moeung, chief of O'Bei choan commune, told Koh Santepheap that this family is very poor and some days they went without food. The couple had 9 children and Sok Reastr Ros is the 7th child. Police and commune chief said that the girl's father, Sok Sarath has been jailed for 2 years because he had attacked and injured his wife with a machete before. He had just been released from jail when his daughter ran away from home. The girl has been since sent to a Cambodian Women's Crisis Centre (CWCC). Mr. Pin Phirum, an official from the CWCC, said the girl has been housed at CWCC centre in the Banteay Meanchey provincial town. He said the girl is very emaciated and she had scars, bruises and gangrenes/infections all over her body. He said she had suffered severe psychological trauma because even in the centre she was very timid, kept to herself all the time and is very scared of everybody.  | ||
| Latest update on CambodiaWatch-Australia 15 May 2011 Posted: 16 May 2011 01:08 AM PDT Please find below the latest update on CamWatch blog. Best Regards, CambodiaWatch- Australia Teamhttp://camwatchblogs.blogspot.com/ Assessment of Dr. Tith's Presentation on Cambodia: an Endangered Nation  | ||
| Multinational military exercise kicks off in Cambodia Posted: 16 May 2011 01:04 AM PDT
PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) – The "Angkor Sentinel 2011" multinational peacekeeping military exercise kicked off Monday at Cambodia's military commanding headquarters in Kampong Speu province, some 50 kilometers west of Phnom Penh, a senior military official said Monday. The exercise, co-hosted by the United States, involves 300 members of the Cambodian armed forces, 200 ones of the U.S. Army Pacific, and some others from Mongolia, Indonesia and Nepal, said Lt. Gen. Chhum Socheat, the spokesman for Cambodian Defense Ministry. "It's to strengthen and expand cooperation between Cambodia and the United States in peacekeeping operations and humanitarian activities," he said. The 12-day training (May 16-27) focuses on command post exercise, engineering work such as building school and hospital, humanitarian affairs, rescues and medical treatment, he said. "Angkor Sentinel 2011" is a part of the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI) program, the United Nations Peacekeeping framework for strengthening peace and security. This is the second consecutive year that Cambodia has hosted the event, he said.  | ||
| Second KRouge trial to start June 27: tribunal [... if at all!] Posted: 16 May 2011 12:52 AM PDT
AFP PHNOM PENH — Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes tribunal on Monday officially set June 27 as the start date for a highly-anticipated trial of four top former Khmer Rouge leaders accused of genocide in the 1970s. The accused are "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary, his wife and ex-social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, and former head of state Khieu Samphan. They face charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and related crimes under Cambodian law in connection with the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and execution between 1975 and 1979. "The initial hearing will commence on Monday 27 June" and will focus on technical issues and discuss witness and experts lists, the court said in a document posted on its website. The trial will be the court's second following the landmark July conviction of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known as Duch, who was sentenced to 30 years in jail.  | ||
| Maps of Ta Moan and Ta Krabei temples by EU edited by Bora Touch Posted: 16 May 2011 12:47 AM PDT Dear Readers, Please find below: Maps of Ta Moan and Ta Krabei temples by EU edited by Bora Touch, Esq.
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| A lesson on diplomacy among neighbours Posted: 16 May 2011 12:06 AM PDT Sunday May 15, 2011 Comemnt by MERGAWATI ZULFAKAR The Star Online (Malaysia) ACCORDING to a recent Bangkok Post report, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva blamed Malaysia's Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Richard Riot Jaem for not understanding the border spat with Cambodia. "The Malaysian deputy foreign minister may not have understood the border situation because there was a tripartite meeting between the Thai, Cambodian and Indonesian foreign ministers last night (May 9) and the issue was settled," the Post quoted Abhisit as saying. For the uninitiated, Abhisit was talking about negotiations between Thailand and Cambodia with Indonesia as the mediator to resolve a border conflict that has resulted in 18 deaths so far. In February, both countries agreed to a ceasefire. Clashes had occurred over the ownership of a small patch of territory surrounding an 11th-century Khmer temple. The Preah Vihear temple, which was granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008, belongs to Cambodia. Last weekend, Asean leaders including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak came out in full support for the dispute to be resolved amicably after their summit nearly got "hijacked" when Cambodian leader Hun Sen verbally attacked Thailand. Based on what Richard was quoted as saying by the media on the border dispute, Abhisit's response that Malaysia did not understand the conflict is a natural one. It all started in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. When opening a symposium on the Dynamics of Youth and Terrorism, Richard said he was taken aback that an agreement signed by all Asean members in February, of which he was a signatory, was not adhered to by Thailand. News agencies Bernama and AFP quoted him in their stories. Thai newspapers including the Bangkok Post then obtained the reaction of their Prime Minister. More than 24 hours after the wire reports emerged, Richard called for a press conference at Wisma Putra to clarify a "miscommunication" at the symposium. It is unprecedented for a deputy minister to call for a press conference at 8.30pm in Putrajaya. Why so late in the day? Why not just issue a written statement to clarify the matter? Sadly, it ended up as a meek clarification at best by Richard that evening – cautious but not diplomatic enough. It is easy to blame the media. Richard said that his remarks were misinterpreted by journalists who interviewed him. "I was asked twice whether I blamed Thailand and I replied 'No'. So I don't know how it was published in the papers that I blamed Thailand," he told reporters. Those who attended the press conference really wanted an end to the issue. In fact, the Malaysian embassy in Bang-kok had already met up with the Thai Foreign Ministry's director-general for East Asia, and Bangkok had accepted Kuala- Lumpur's explanation. Richard had also said at Tuesday's press conference that it was the Government's practice not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, especially Asean members. Spot on. That was what Najib had all along tried to explain to the Malaysian media who accompanied him to Jakarta for the Asean summit – that this matter should be resolved in the Asean spirit. According to a veteran diplomat, there are a few basic rules of conduct in diplomacy:
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| Haunting memories linger in Cambodia Posted: 16 May 2011 12:01 AM PDT
May. 15, 2011 Maggie Downs Special to The Desert Sun This used to be a school. Then the Khmer Rouge communist regime took over. From 1975 to 1979, this institute of higher learning was turned into a torture chamber, Security Prison 21. An estimated 20,000 people were beaten, maimed, tortured and killed in the converted Phnom Penh high school. Some of them were soldiers for the opposition. Others were simply intellectuals, academics, doctors, teachers, monks and students. Now the buildings form a memorial site called Tuol Sleng, which translates to "Strychnine Hill." These are some of the people who died there. Their faces haunt me. On the right you can see photos of the prisoners as they looked when they arrived at S-21. The corresponding photo on the left side is how they looked before they perished. Many of the classrooms still have blood-stained tiles underneath rusty beds and shackles. The building facade is shrouded in barbed netting. The desperate prisoners who tried to commit suicide off the buildings were instead wounded by razor-laced wire. When the guards ran out of burial space near the school, the prisoners were taken outside of town to Choeung Ek extermination center, a place better known as the Killing Fields. Already-weak inmates were beaten with iron bars, axes and bamboo sticks until they were tossed into mass graves. Then chemicals were poured over the bodies to kill those who were buried alive. I have a difficult time coming up with any words to talk about this. It's why I still haven't written about my experiences visiting the genocide memorials in Rwanda. It's such a deep dark confusing pit of emotion, I don't even know where to begin. It's heinous, yes. Confronting such evil makes me doubt my belief that people are inherently good. It forces me to question God. It makes me want to cry out in horror. But it goes beyond that too. As I travel, I realize how much of the existence I enjoy is pure luck. It is only by chance that I came into this world in a humid Georgia hospital instead of a humid Cambodian town. It is only a fluke that I have an easy life, one I never had to fight for. It's a sheer accident that I didn't witness the slaughter of my family in 1994 Rwanda. Instead I was getting shoes dyed to match my prom dress. It could have been me. It could have been you. It could have been all of us. Sometimes the horrible incidents that we see on the news feel so far away. But it only takes one chilling walk through a sorrow-soaked hallway to remind you of how close it could really be.  | ||
| Documentary gives Khmer Rouge convict his say at Cannes Posted: 15 May 2011 11:40 PM PDT 
AFP CANNES, France — Duch, who oversaw the deaths of 15,000 people as a Khmer Rouge prison chief in the 1970s, portrayed himself Sunday as a victim of circumstances in a documentary screened at Cannes. Cambodian director Rithy Panh filmed Duch a few weeks before the commander of Tuol Sleng prison, also known as S-21, became the first Khmer Rouge cadre to be tried by a UN-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh. Panh apologised Sunday for turning down interviews about "Duch: Master of the Forges of Hell", saying a decision was imminent on Duch's appeal of a 30-year jail sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity. "I don't have the right to set out my opinions" while the appeal process is under way, said the film-maker, who was a child when his family perished under the Khmer Rouge. "Duch: Master of the Forges of Hell", which in the style of French documentaries does away with a narrator, sees Duch speaking calmly and frankly from behind a desk carpeted with photos of his victims. He does not deny his actions, but puts them in the context of the brutality with which the Khmer Rouge, under Pol Pot, imposed its brand of Marxism-Leninism on then-Kampuchea in the late 1970s. "I tend to regard myself as innocent" and "held hostage" by the regime, said Duch, who today is 68. "I just belonged to the police... I wanted to go up the ladder just like anyone else," he added. Speaking in Khmer, but switching to French to quote Karl Marx and the International Declaration of Human Rights, Duch described himself to be "a stoic, not a sadist". For the Khmer Rouge revolution to succeed, he recalled, it was deemed necessary at the time for detainees at S-21 to be tortured, then interrogated, then "destroyed". "This is how the machine worked," he said. Spliced into the film are re-enactments of interrogations at S-21 -- a one-time high school that now is a genocide museum -- and paintings from Vann Nath, who survived his incarceration there. Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in the late 1970s in a bid to create an agrarian utopia, killing up to two million through starvation, overwork and genocide.  | ||
| Duch, Master Of The Forges Of Hell Posted: 15 May 2011 11:25 PM PDT   By Dan Fainaru ScreenDaily.com Dir: Rithy Panh. France. 2011. 103mins Kang Guek Eav, aka Duch, may not be Adolf Eichmann but he is certainly a monster in his own right. As the former commander of an infamous Khmer Rouge prison in Cambodia, he was personally responsible for the death of at least 12,380 inmates, possibly much more. Put on trial, in 2009 he was condemned to 35 years in jail - he has of course appealed and the final verdict is due to come out in June 2011. This is an important document to keep and show in future, a lesson not to be forgotten. Rithy Panh, possibly the best-known Cambodian filmmaker abroad, based in Paris now for many years, has already dedicated a vastly researched documentary in 2002 to the prison camp S21, displaying in detail the crimes perpetrated there by the communist regime. Now, he decided to allow Duch, who was in charge of the camp from 1975-1979, to have his say. He went back to Cambodia to interview him in prison and out of 300 hours he collected on tapes, with additional documentary footage of the camp at the time, and several testimonies of survivors from that period, he came up with what is essentially an almost two hour-long speech by a man who does not even bother to deny that he is responsible for everything that took place in the S21 death factory. On the contrary, he simply argues he did it all in the spirit of the regime he has faithfully served - an obedient and dedicated soldier of a revolution which intended to put an end to the corrupt system ruling the country until then and start everything from scratch, for a more equitable and just society. Though he never actually says the words, "you don't make omeletes without breaking eggs" in his eyes, all those he tortured and killed were expendable victims on the altars of the new world. He is more than willing to explain in detail that extracting confessions was essential, torturing prisoners was the best way to achieve this end, the point being, of course, not to kill the subjects but make them speak. That is unless the party leaders preferred - as happened most of the time - termination to imprisonment. In which case, simply to save money and efforts, Duch would first bleed his prisoners to death, after establishing that their blood was safe enough to be used for soldiers fighting on the front, and then, once the prisoners were dead, dispatch their bodies for extermination ("much easier than to send them alive"). As he goes through the piles of documents that brought to his conviction, he painstakingly details many single operations, but insists that he never committed any crime personally. He may have devised and trained the torturers and executioners on the particular techniques they used (of which he is quite proud) but stayed away, in person, from any bloodshed. Witnesses who served under him deny these allegations. But he still sticks to his point, adding that in any case, now he has reverted back to the Catholic Church and realises that he has done wrong, but did it for a cause he believed in at the time. For those who are not familiar with recent Cambodian history, with Pol Pot's regime and the identity of his faithful minions, Duch's avalanche of information may be just a little bit too much to swallow. However, this is an important document to keep and show in future, a lesson not to be forgotten. One of its most striking aspects being that you don't identify monsters by their horns or tails, because they don't sport them out for everyone to see. They look just like and other human beings… in Duch's case just like the mathematics teacher he used to be before he joined the revolution. But they are monsters, nevertheless.  | ||
| S'pore effort to help kids in Cambodia Posted: 15 May 2011 10:56 PM PDT Mon, May 16, 2011 By Gwendolyn Ng My paper (Singapore) WHEN 23-year-old Candice Lim visited a hospital in Cambodia last year as a volunteer, a doctor gave her a stethoscope to listen to the beating of a baby's heart - one which had a hole in it. She said: "It sounded different from the usual 'lup dup' rhythm. There was a swishing sound, like the wind. "It was so sad to see the baby struggling to breathe, suffering at such a young age." The experience cemented her decision to help young cardiac patients get the health care they needed at the Angkor Hospital for Children (AHC) in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Miss Lim has been a volunteer for the past four years at Children of Cambodia - a non-profit project founded in Singapore in 2006. Over the past six years, the group - made up of young Singaporeans under the age of 23 - has organised musical concerts, sold teddy bears and sourced for sponsors. So far, they have raised over $1 million and secured medical equipment to support their cause. National University of Singapore medical undergraduate Jonathan Ng, 23, took over the position of project chairman four years ago. He said: "The project stood out because of its bigger vision. It wasn't a one-off effort. I really wanted to make a difference." The team liaises with doctors and nurses here who are willing to spare time and effort to provide medical help free of charge. The project has evolved over the years. Until 2009, they flew Cambodian children to Singapore if they needed complex heart surgery. Since then, Singapore medical experts, who are part of the team, have been imparting skills to the doctors at AHC so as to allow them to carry out more complicated surgical procedures. Heart surgeon Sriram Shankar, who has volunteered with Children of Cambodia since it started, said: "Our ultimate goal is to empower surgeons in the hospital to be able to do it independently." Their efforts have inspired others to give back too. Earlier this year, a young Cambodian boy donated US$100 (S$124) to the cause. Recounting the incident, Mr Ng said: "He was in one of the first batches of children to undergo surgery in 2006. It took him a long time to save the money. He said it was not much but he wanted to help." To raise awareness, the Children of Cambodia project will hold a visual-arts exhibition at The Arts House from June 5 to 12. It features photographs taken at AHC by professionals such as Singaporean Dominic Khoo and American Daniel Rothenburg. Mr Khoo, 33, who spent a week in March in Cambodia, said: "We're so lucky to be born here. This is a way for me to do my part."  | ||
| Posted: 15 May 2011 10:42 PM PDT Nascent rice exporting industry is eager to ship, offering to undercut competitors. 16/05/2011 Bangkok Post PHNOM PENH: Cambodia has held high-level talks with the Philippines that could result in the country's fledgling rice-export industry competing with Thailand and Vietnam for contracts to supply the world's largest importer. On the sidelines of the recent Asean Summit in Indonesia, Prime Minister Hun Sen offered to sell rice at lower prices than competitors in a meeting with Filipino President Benigno Aquino, according to a Cambodian government aide. The offer was made in return for investment in Cambodia's under-developed agricultural sector, said Srey Thamrong, an adviser to Hun Sen, who was present during the talks in Jakarta on May 7. ''They expressed their desire to import rice,'' he said, adding that President Aquino told Hun Sen he would appoint a team of government officials to negotiate the arrangement. The meeting followed a fact-finding mission by the Philippines National Food Authority to Phnom Penh early last month as part of the Aquino government's plans to diversify and reduce spending on rice imports that hit 2.25 million tonnes last year, the highest in the world. ''We are studying the possibility of Cambodia as an alternate source [of imports],'' NFA chief of staff Gilbert Lauengco told the Phnom Penh Post in April. Shipments would start ''at the very latest next year'', he added, although the exact amount and price the Philippines would pay Cambodia is yet to be agreed. NFA Administrator Angelito Banayo told the Philippines' annual Rice Congress earlier this year the country paid an average US$630 per tonne for rice imports in 2010, or $1.42 billion overall, which represented more than 44% of the Philippines $3.47 billion trade deficit for the year. This figure is set to fall dramatically in 2011 amid rising rice stocks and improved domestic production in the Philippines, according to government projections, providing tropical storms do not damage crops as has happened in the past in the typhoon-prone country. A Department of Agriculture report showed Philippines rice stocks reached a record 3.08 million tonnes by April 1, up 8% on the same period last year, while rice production climbed an annualised 16% in the first quarter to just over 4 million tonnes. In response, the NFA has announced plans to slash rice imports to just 860,000 tonnes this year after the new Aquino government accused its predecessors of over stockpiling rice, a move likely to further diminish opportunities for the country's two main suppliers Vietnam and Thailand as Manila also looks to add Cambodia as a lower-cost alternative. Reports in the Philippines said the government has agreed to purchase 200,000 tonnes from Vietnam this year as part of a rice-supply deal with Hanoi, while Thailand is set to be the main supplier of the country's reduced-tariffs programme with an agreement to ship 98,000 tonnes. In recent years Thailand, the world's largest rice exporter, has struggled to compete with Vietnam to supply the grain to the Philippines after shipments of 500,000 tonnes in 2008 dwindled to 80,000 tonnes in 2009 before climbing again to more than 200,000 tonnes last year. In the past Thailand has said it hopes to ship half a million tonnes of rice per year to the Philippines. Meanwhile, Vietnam is also set to lose out if the Philippines imports rice from Cambodia, say analysts. The Thai Rice Exporters Association estimates Cambodia supplies up to 1.5 million tonnes of paddy to Vietnam every year, which is then processed and shipped on as official export produce to markets including the Philippines. But during the talks in Jakarta, Mr Aquino reportedly told Hun Sen that Manila was ready to ''remove the middleman'' _ Vietnam _ resulting in lower import prices for the Philippines should Cambodia become equipped to process and ship the necessary quantities of rice, which is not yet the case. ''Cambodia's rice exports are mainly to Thailand and Vietnam at the moment and that is Cambodia's best option while the necessary downstream structures and logistics are not yet in place,'' said Korbsook Iamsuri, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association. It remains unclear whether the Philippines will meet Hun Sen's request for the necessary investment in Cambodia's underdeveloped agricultural industry, subject to a formal agreement. Although Cambodia is currently the world's seventh-largest exporter, it still has a long way to go before it can turn a paddy surplus estimated at just under 4 million tonnes this year into processed rice of a quality ready for shipment given inadequate infrastructure, high electricity prices and a lack of financing options in the industry. ''Hence Cambodian rice is not yet a threat to [the] export markets of both Thailand and Vietnam,'' said Ms Korbsook.  | ||
| Thailand-Nambodia-Vietnam: The Indochinese Federation Coastal Highway? Posted: 15 May 2011 10:08 PM PDT Print PM breaks ground for coastal highway May, 16 2011 VNS (Hanoi) KIEN GIANG — Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last Saturday broke ground for the Rach Gia Bypass and Minh Luong – Thu Bay Road, both part of the Viet Nam section of the Southern Coastal Corridor, which also passes through Thailand and Cambodia. Officials from the Ministry of Transport, Kien Giang Province, and the My Thuan Project Management Unit, the builder, attended the ceremony held in Binh An Commune in Kien Giang's Chau Thanh District. The 20.8-km Rach Gia Bypass will have 22 bridges and the Rach Gia and Cai San intersections. The 22.8-km Minh Luong – Thu Bay Road will have the Cai Lon and Cai Be Bridges in Binh An Commune and 10 other smaller bridges. They will be completed in 36 months. The corridor will run along the coast of the Gulf of Thailand from Bangkok, entering Viet Nam at the Xa Xia Border Gate and going to Ca Mau city. The 217-km Viet Nam section will cost US$398 million to build, with the funds to come from ODA loans from South Korea, concessional loans from the Asian Development Bank, a grant from the Australian Government, and counter-capital from the Vietnamese Government, according to the My Thuan PMU. It would provide an impetus for socio-economic development of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta in Viet Nam, it added. The corridor would improve connectivity and promote cross-border transport between Thailand, Cambodia, and Viet Nam, Paul J. Vallely, Senior Transport Specialist in the ADB's Mekong Department, said. "It will foster economic and social integration, and support increased trade and investment in the Southern Economic Corridor."  | ||
| 3 Cambodian deminers killed disarming old shell Posted: 15 May 2011 09:56 PM PDT May 16, 2011 AFP PHNOM PENH -- Three Cambodian deminers were killed in a blast as they were handling an unexploded shell left over from decades of civil war, an official said Sunday. The accident occurred in the western province of Kampong Speu on Saturday when explosive powder in the ordnance was accidentally sparked, Heng Rattana, director general of the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, told AFP. He said the trio tried to run away "but could not escape before the explosion." Because of bad weather, the men had been trying to store the shell so that it could be destroyed the following day, Heng Rattana said. Nearly three decades of civil war and a secret U.S. bombing campaign during the Vietnam War have left impoverished Cambodia one of the world's most heavily mined countries.  | ||
| Cambodian residents report threats over railway development [Bravo AusAID?!?!] Posted: 15 May 2011 09:50 PM PDT
Monday, May 16, 2011 Radio Australia News Impoverished Cambodians say they are being forcibly moved out of their houses to make way for the country's redeveloped railway system. The ABC's Southeast Asia correspondent, Zoe Daniel, says more than 160 families from a community in the capital, Phnom Penh, have been offered a few hundred dollars' compensation for their houses by local authorities. The residents say the compensation they've been offered isn't enough. Some say they will lose buildings they live and work in, while others are angry that they've been told to move about 20km out of the city. Residents who don't want to leave say they've been threatened by local officials. One resident says she was asked to accept the deal by giving a thumb print. "If I don't, they will bulldoze my house, they will hire [a] drug user to burn my house," she said. The railway project being is built with funding from the Australian aid agency AusAID and the Asian Development Bank, and that marked buildings within 3.5 metres of the line are scheduled to be partially or fully demolished. ADB spokesman Peter Bloch has rejected reports of intimidation and threats. "Resettlement is always a horribly difficult thing to do in this part of the world," he said. "We have what's known as a safeguards policy, which sets certain minimum standards that must be upheld when resettling people." But residents, together with NGOs, are preparing a complaint to the ADB's highest level, while Bridges Across Borders Cambodia (BABC), a prominent NGO, is also advocating on residents' behalf. The organisation's founder, David Pred, says the project bears the characteristics of corporate welfare. "You have Australian tax dollars and Cambodian debt to the Asian Development Bank bankrolling a project, whose primary beneficiaries thus far have been major Australian and Cambodian corporations," he said. Failed resettlement Last year, our correspondent says more than 50 families were relocated to Battambang, a town north-west of Phnom Penh, and that many reported having no power or clean water when they arrived. Sok Cheun says two of his children drowned when they went to get water from a deep pond nearby. "If we had enough food, enough water, my children would not have died," he said. Following the deaths, AusAID and the Asian Development Bank say they increased their monitoring of the government resettlement program. Power has also reportedly been connected to houses but at the resident's cost, and many of those resettled are understood to have left. The Asian Development Bank's criteria for resettlement outlines the need for people to be in the same or better circumstances after they are moved. Mr Pred says BABC believes the large number of families that have left Battambang is an indication that the resettlement process has failed. "Obviously, if people are not happy to stay here, where they've been moved, then that shows that they weren't resettled adequately," he said. AusAID declined to comment but has said that relocating people affected by the new rail line is the responsibility of the Cambodian Government. The new railway is expected to be operational by the end of next year, and is to be run by an Australian firm, Toll Holdings. Our correspondent says Toll Holdings, which has a 30-year concession to operate Cambodia's train system, has indicated that it is not responsible for either fixing the tracks or moving the people.  | ||
| Posted: 15 May 2011 09:36 PM PDT "If we don't want dictatorship, let's not moan and groan.  FOR PUBLICATION AHRC-ETC-013-2011 May 16, 2011 An article by Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth published by the Asian Human Rights Commission Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth I write often that our future and what we do are not dictated by what we know. Its how we think even more than what we know that determines the quality of our life and the quality of anything we do. I also write often that though our brains can store countless facts and data, similar to keeping rocks in a box, that information is good and useful only if we can explain, interpret, evaluate, compare, and relate it to other facts and other situations around us, which requires critical thought, a capacity that can be taught and learned. And Lord Gautama Buddha (563 B.C.-483 B.C.) was not only one of the world's great critical thinkers, he was also an activist from whom we can learn a lot. Officially, 96.4 percent of the 14 million Cambodians are Buddhist; and there are more than 4,000 Buddhist monasteries scattered across the country, housing more than 50,000 monks. Theoretically Cambodians are followers of Buddha. Are they? What did Buddha teach about thought, action, and change? I have written about a prominent Buddhist monk in Phnom Penh who questioned quietly how many monks (and how many Buddhists) really understand Buddha's teaching. I have also mentioned a Khmer scholar who asked in his writing whether Khmer Buddhist beliefs are only "skin deep," and pleaded for some serious "soul searching" amongst the Khmer Buddhists. These are important points, because a misunderstanding of Buddha's teaching could hinder Cambodia's development and Cambodians' struggle for rights and freedom. Personally, I believe a correct application of Buddha's teaching could advance Cambodians' search for rights and freedom. Buddha's Teaching: Are Cambodians learning? As Buddha himself said, "However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do if you do not act on upon them?" The German playwright, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, "Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." So in my writing, I have reiterated Buddha's words from 2,500 years ago, "We are what we think … What we think, we become" and "He is able who thinks he is able". This latter quote should humble us today as specialists encourage positive thinking and the development of a "yes, we can" attitude to help make problems easier to solve and predicaments easier to cope with. An activist, Buddha said man is responsible for what he becomes and that he's not a product of karma: Man can improve his life here and now, and not wait for the next life. "I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act." "I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done." "Pay no attention to the faults of others, things done or left undone by others. Consider only what by oneself is done or left undone." So, what should man do? "To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life," Buddha said, and therefore, "Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others … No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path." In other words, man can do something to improve his lot in life and not to count on others. These are themes I have emphasized in my writing. Think positively, dream big, imagine the world we want to see, demonstrate a can-do attitude, and take the first step, however small. While Buddha says, "An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea," he also warned, "One thought leads to heaven, one thought leads to hell." So we learn how to think and apply the thought that leads to heaven! Buddha's principles of "Four Reliances" And so, Buddha provided man with a guide in the principles of "Four Reliances": First, to rely on the spirit and meaning of the teaching, not the words; second, to rely on the teaching, not on the personality of the teacher; third, to rely on the wisdom in the teaching, not the superficial interpretation; and fourth, to rely on the essence of our own pure Wisdom Mind (obtained through the eightfold-path), not on judgmental perceptions. One lesson taught by Buddha, which I am never tired of repeating, is his emphasis on "reason" and on accepting and living up to that which is to "the good and benefit of one and all." "Do not believe in anything because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." What We Do Today Matters Most Buddha's "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment," were not meant to discard the past as a lesson. He never tells man not to learn from the past, but he tells man not to be stuck in the past, not to live in it because it locks him in and provides him with no way to move forward. What has happened, happened, there is nothing one can do to change that. And he says, "Nothing is permanent." He warns not to waste time dreaming about a future that is yet to come, but to focus on the importance of today: We have 24 hours to do something today, here and now, to avoid the pitfalls of the past, and to affect the kind of future we want to see. Man, not karma, is responsible for the future. Think positively, think creatively and critically, and act now to build a new world. "Each morning we are born again," Buddha says, "What we do today is what matters most." Any common sense individual can see how all the above -- and many other teachings by Buddha not mentioned here -- apply to the life and the living of Cambodians in particular as they are facing the difficult time. Learning to Relate Thus, last month, at about the same time Cambodians celebrated the New Year 2555 of the Buddhist Era, the United States also celebrated the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War (1861-1865), the bloodiest conflict in United States history. I used the occasion to write in this space about how two general officers of two warring armies (which suffered 630,000 killed and more than one million injured) worked out in dignity and mutual respect the terms of surrender and organized a moving ceremony of disbanding the defeated army with "honor answering honor." As the Civil War ended, the United States motto, E pluribus unum -- Out of many, one -- became alive, the many states of the United States became one nation, the peace and the reunification subsumed the years of animosities, and the American Nation became stronger and united. I did not know what lessons Cambodian readers may have drawn out of that article, but the picture of two adversaries coming to deal with one another with integrity and humanity at the conclusion of the Civil War was a far cry from Cambodia's Khmer Rouge victors executing the vanquished and turning the country into the killing fields. The divided warring states of the United States were able to reunite and rebuild whereas the four warring Cambodian factions, even blessed with the 1991 Paris Peace Accord, were cowed into submission by Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party. Cambodians who oppose Hun Sen's autocratic regime can learn from India's political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi, who observed, "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." Gandhi, 5 foot 3 and weighing a mere 100 pounds, told the world, "You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind." And Gandhi's mind was made up and unshakable. Gandhi was determined to lead his people in a non-violent struggle to end the British Empire's rule over India. He and his people won. As US President John F. Kennedy said, "A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." Ideas were what interested Buddha. Thomas Jefferson was only 32 when he wrote in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, a sentence that has inspired men and women around the world: "We believe these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. . ." The declaration became one of the world's most admired historical documents. Fifty-six Americans -- lawyers, jurists, merchants, plantation owners, farmers -- signed the Declaration. They knew what would become of them should they be captured by the British and charged with treason. As the story is told, of the 56 signers, five were captured and tortured until they died; nine fought and died in the Revolutionary War; twelve had their homes ransacked and burned; two lost their sons in the War; another had two sons captured. Nearly one hundred years after independence, Americans fought between themselves over the issues of human rights and slavery. The Civil War over, the fight for equal rights never stopped. American children go to school, learn the sacredness of the self-evident truths. And today's Americans continue their relentless fight to ensure that the self-evident truths live on. The struggle of the Cambodians As self-described followers of Buddha's teaching, briefly described above, Cambodian democrats who are generally Buddhist, should be successful in their struggle, the goals of which are clear and worthy: Keep the Cambodian nation from being overtaken by expansionist neighbors; protect the country's national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; protect and defend the individual rights and freedom of the Cambodian people in accordance with the Khmer Constitution and all relevant international conventions to which Cambodia has been/is a party. Yet Cambodian democrats are in disarray. Individually and as opposition parties they fight and tear at one another more ferociously than they fight the dictatorial regime in power. When Cambodian democrats call for national unity, they generally mean unity behind their respective leadership and party. Cambodians of my generation, many of whom remain politically active in Cambodia, learned in elementary school that "Samakki chea kamlaing," or "L'union fait la force" – or "Unity makes strength." It is a common precept. Among Cambodians of all generations, however, Buddha's teachings provide the foundation for unity across political parties. The teachings illuminate a way forward that is apolitical. How far the strand of Cambodian authoritarianism extends can be worrisome. I find it astounding that some Cambodians find it appropriate to raise doubts about people and pejoratively brand them, because they hold different political opinions and methods for dealing with problems. I would not have believed this until in an e-mail someone I do not know charged that I am a "Vietnamese who pretend(s) to be Khmer … to destroy Khmers" because of my criticism of Hun Sen's autocracy, asserting that I have not written on the most recent Khmer-Thai spat over Preah Vihear Temple, nor have I written about Kampuchea Krom, and that right now is not the time to criticize Hun Sen but to unite all Khmers against Thailand's aggression! I recall Buddha's words: "There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills." The "Lotus" Movement I have previously written about the Cambodians' "Lotus" movement: A movement of Cambodians of different political viewpoints from different areas of the world, who joined in Paris to demand Vietnam's withdrawal from Cambodia and that Hun Sen step down. A few days ago, a Khmer statement, "Our Determination," in my box, made me smile. I liked it. Here's my translation of it: "If we don't want dictatorship, let's not moan and groan. "If we don't like foreign domination, let's not whisper. "If we have problems bringing down a dictatorship, let's not shed our tears in solitude. "If we have problems evicting the foreign aggressors, let's not talk quietly. "If we have our political or personal differences, let's not tear each other apart. "We have had to struggle against such difficulties since the Fourteenth Century, and our [mystical] Preah Bat Thoammoek never listened to our cries. "Henceforth, we shall protest often and regularly through non-violent actions, "To disintegrate the dictatorship, and evict the foreign aggressors from our Motherland!" To those soothing words, I say, Amen! ------------- The views shared in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the AHRC, and the AHRC takes no responsibility for them. About the Author: Dr. Gaffar Peang-Meth is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. He currently lives in the United States. He can be contacted at peangmeth@gmail.com.  | ||
| "Chbabb Nei Chun Krao Chbabb" a Poem in Khmer by NhiekKiri Posted: 15 May 2011 06:16 PM PDT   |
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