Monday, July 04, 2011: Today is Independence Day in America. Is your flag flying? It should be because Independence Day is America's birthday. Let see – 1776 to 2011 is 235 years. Wow! Happy Birthday America!

So, to you all in the US, as you go about your activities today with parade, picnics, ball game, etc.., be sure to remember "WHY" you are able to enjoy these festivities. And the WHY is because you are celebrating one of the most significant days in the history of mankind.

To learn more about why this day is so important, click here

Happy Holiday Americans (and Cambodian-Americans)!

Click on the control below to listen to the VOKK program:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne0zPn8ajQU

Two bands playing music inspired by Cambodia's "golden era" of rock 'n' roll and pop music during the 1960s through to the mid-'70s, LA-based Dengue Fever and Phnom Penh-based Cambodian Space Project (CSP), recently released new albums.

Dengue Fever's Cannibal Courtship (Concord Music) is the band's fifth studio album and the first since the hugely successful Venus on Earth in 2008. Dengue Fever, led by the Holtzman brothers and fronted by Khmer singer Chhom Nimol, started by playing covers of songs by late stars like Sin Sisamouth, Ros Sereysothea and Pan Ron but over the past 10 years have slowly developed their own unique sound that takes Cambodian pop and blends its with edgy rock riffs, snatches of Ethiopian jazz and the sound of the Farafisa organ.

The band is very popular now on both the indie rock and World Music festival circuits, and the new album - on a new label and with a bigger budget - is likely to make them even more popular.

Cannibal Courtship is a mix of English- and Khmer-language songs, all of which were written by the band. The first thing I noticed about the album was the "wall of sound" the band has created. You can hear this on the title track, a surf guitar rocker about the travails of repressed love. The rock element is further explored on Family Business, Only A Friend and the hard driving final track, Durian Dowry.

While I like Nimol's singing throughout (for someone who couldn't speak English a few years ago, she now handles English lyrics with aplomb), it's the Khmer-language songs that I really liked, particularly the album's standout track, the dreamy, haunting Uku. But overall, this is Dengue Fever's most accessible album, full of interesting songs and musical detours. A band right on top of its game - highly recommended (http://www.denguefevermusic.com).

I reviewed the Cambodian Space Project's debut release, a vinyl maxi-single (the first vinyl released in Cambodia for more than 30 years) called I'm Unsatisfied, a Pan Ron classic, a few months back. Now, after a tour that took place in Australia, the US and Europe, the band, a fluctuating collective of up to 11 members, led by Aussie guitarist Julien Poulson and singer Srey Thy, has released its debut album titled 2011: A Space Odyssey, on the Hong Kong-based Metal Postcard record label.

In contrast to the established Dengue Fever, the CSP is just starting on its musical journey.

The songs on the band's debut go from Pan Ron and Ros Soreysothea covers like Love Like Honey to covers that take the song into uncharted waters like Love God and the anthemic and irrepressible Kangaroo Boy (a good one to pogo to). Singer Srey Thy is not such a smooth singer as Dengue Fever's Nimol, but her voice perfectly matches the more indie-rock approach the CSP has taken. And with the funny and moving Have Visa No Have Rice, she is also developing her skills as a songwriter.

The CSP covers perhaps the most famous '60s Cambodian pop song, Ros Sereysothea's I'm Sixteen, with a great deal of energy and some excellent blues harmonica playing from Ken White. Dengue Fever also covered this song some years back, but I like the CSP's version for its drive and edgy sound.

If they can keep going - it ain't easy being such a huge band in Phnom Penh - I think we can expect great things from the Cambodian Space Project in the future.

The CSP appears on a sampler compilation from the band's label, Metal Postcard Records, which is run by CEO Sean Hocking, who also operates a company producing podcasts for the Chinese market.

The Thai-based band Pussy & The Learjets is also on the record label (look for the band's download, Nothing/Itchy Skin).

The compilation's title is interesting - Dedicated to John Heartfield: Metal Postcard 2005-2010 - as it pays tribute to the pioneering German photomontage artist John Heartfield. It includes a track from the Cambodian Space Project's debut release, the maxi-single Knyom Mun Sok Jet Te (I'm Unsatisfied), as well as garage rock (DP from Hong Kong), minimalist rock from Perth-based rockers Erasers, electro from WOW, mutant disco from someone called "Dsico", and a strange cover of Woody Guthrie's classic US folk song, This Land Is Your Land. There is "attitude" on many of the songs, plus snatched media sound bites and a collage approach to creating music (perhaps this links with the photomontage of Heartfield) - but my favourite on this release is another band from Perth, singer songwriter Swoop Swoop, whose acoustic guitar-led songs Drive Into the Night and Your Blood Is My Blood are standouts.

The funniest title would have to go to the wonderfully named Bedford Avenue Mullet Girl; the song took me right back to the technopop of Human League from my hometown Sheffield. Check out 

http://www.metalpostcard.com.

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(VNA - 27/6/2011) - The Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee has sent a congratulatory message to the Cambodia People's Party (CPP) Central Committee on the occasion of the 60th CPP founding anniversary (June 28).

The message wrote the CPV and Vietnamese people congratulated the CPP on its great important achievements and believed that the CPP will overcome difficulties and challenges to lead the Cambodian people to gain more greater achievements in national construction and development.

The Vietnamese Party, State and people will exert their best together with the Cambodian Party and people to preserve and constantly develop the fine neighbourliness, traditioanal friendship, comprehensive cooperation and long-term stability between the two Parties, States, and peoples for mutual interests and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world, said the message.

Party General Secretary and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong congratulated CPP Chairman Chea Sim, CPP Honorary Chairman Heng Samrin and CPP Vice Chairman Hun Sen./.

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) India will set up a chair of Buddhist and Sanskrit Studies at Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University for four years from 2011 to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries, it was officially announced here.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in Phnom Penh between visiting Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) president Karan Singh and Cambodian Religion Minister Min Khin on behalf of the ICCR and the university Monday, an ICCR statement said.

Karan Singh, who arrived in the Cambodian capital July 2, also met former king Norodom Sihanouk and his consort Monineath Sihanouk at the royal palace Monday.

During the meeting, Sihanouk, who had abdicated in favour of his son, and Karan Singh traced historical and civilizational roots between India and Cambodia.

The former king and the queen remembered their visits to India and their association with Jawaharlal Nehru. Karan Singh acknowledged the significant role played by Norodom Sihanouk as a great stabilising force in Cambodia.

The ICCR president was conferred an honorary D.Litt by Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University in recognition of his contribution to the India-Cambodia friendship and intellectual achievements.

The Foreign Ministry on Monday issued congratulations to Pheu Thai party of Thailand, after it won an overwhelming victory in elections Sunday.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong welcomed the party and its leader, Yingluck Shinawatra, who is the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist prime minister ousted in a 2006 coup.

Yingluck is likely to be named the country's next prime minister.

"We hope that a new government formed by the Pheu Thai party will solve the border dispute with Cambodia more positively and more peacefully than the previous democratic government did," he said. "What we want is a peaceful border dispute resolution."

However, Son Chhay, a lawmaker for the Cambodian opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said the new Thai government would find it difficult to resolve the border dispute without international help.

The dispute, over a contested patch of land near Preah Vihear temple, has created a military standoff leading to a number of deadly skirmishes since 2008. Last month, Thailand withdrew from Unesco's World Heritage convention over a Cambodian proposal to manage the 11th-Century temple.

"We believe the border dispute will have its tension reduced" by the election, Son Chhay said. "But the solution will require the participation of the international community."

In a separate statement, the Sam Rainsy Party welcomed the results of Sunday's election, calling it a good example of fair elections for Cambodia.

Lake residents protesting over a Phnom Penh development delivered a letter to the US Embassy on Monday, asking for support in their ongoing dispute with the city and a development company.

The Boeung Kak villagers are asking the city to grant them a portion of land on the development site, rather than take buyouts and be removed to a resettlement site outside the city.

Fifteen representatives of 100 lake area residents thumb-printed the letter, addressed to US Ambassador Carol Rodley, requesting urgent intervention in their imminent eviction.

Developer Shukaku, Inc., has residential and commercial plans covering 133 hectares over Beoung Kak lake, which it has been filling in with earth dredged from the Tonle Sap river.

Residents say they are not happy with buyout or resettlement offers and have instead proposed they be given a corner of the development for their own homes instead.

Tep Vanny, a representative of the villagers, told reporters Monday they now had "no choice" but to appeal to the US, "a democratic country that has donated a lot to Cambodia."

"We've tried to find a solution from all relevant authorities, but we never get a response," said Sous Nary, a 44-year-old resident of the area. "We want the Cambodian government to offer what we need in order to prevent conflict."

Villagers have staged a number of demonstrations in front of City Hall, often clashing with police as a result.

Embassy officials were not immediately available to comment Monday, which is a US holiday. City officials declined to comment.

More than 300 protestors, demanding their former employer respect an arbitration council ruling to pay them severance pay, were blocked by police from marching to Prime Minister Hun Sen's Phnom Penh residence yesterday.

The former June Textile workers, who assembled at Phnom Penh's Freedom Park, had planned to deliver a petition to the premier calling on him to force the company to respect the arbitration council's ruling.

The ruling, which came after 1,000 workers were laid off when one of the company's factories burned down in March, found that June Textile should pay workers for a "pre-notice" period ahead of their dismissal of up to three months' salary, as well as other benefits.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, said yesterday June Textile had failed to respect that ruling, requiring the urgent intervention of Hun Sen.

"The workers face problems such as paying rent, water and electricity bills," he said, adding that only the premier had the authority to resolve the dispute.

June Textile has previously said it does not have enough money to pay the workers compensation in line with the ruling, but Rong Chhun claimed yesterday the company was ensured for US$16 million.

Neither Ken Loo, president of the Garment Manufactures' Association in Cambodia, nor representatives of June Textile could be reached for comment yesterday.

Though the protestors were blocked from demonstrating outside the prime minister's house, Pal Chandara, an official from Hun Sen's cabinet, said yesterday he had met with 10 of the group's representatives and would forward their petition to the premier.

"This issue cannot be resolved at once as we would want. I would like [all workers] to rest first, then once it has reached me I will resolve it for you," he said, adding there was no exact schedule to deal with the dispute.

The KR movement was created by and for North Vietnam with the aim of enabling Hanoi to replace France as the master of Indochina.

The idea of Indochinese Federation sought (and still being pursued) by Hanoi is modelled on colonial France's Confederation of Indochinese states consisting of Tonkin (North Vietnam), Cochin China (South Vietnam, including former Cambodian territory known as Kampuchea Krom or the Mekong Delta), the Kingdom of Laos (later taken over by the Prathet Laos, another instrument like the Khmer Rouge minus the mass killings, both created by Ho Chi Minh to implant North Vietnamese political influence across the rest of the Indochinese peninsula) and the dwindling Kingdom of Cambodia.

The Communist Party of Kampuchea (dubbed 'Red Khmers' or 'Khmer Rouge' by French-speaking Prince Sihanouk) had not clearly been formed with Cambodia's national interests in mind. Communism was ill-suited to the Cambodian condition at the time despite a sense of unease among the peasantry (and sections of urban population) towards exploitative colonial regime and subsequently the autocratic self-styled rule of Sihanouk who in his heyday was loathed by educated Cambodians in the same measure as Hun Sen is frowned upon by many educated Khmers today.

I could expand on the similarities between these 2 idiosyncratic personalities, but I am aware many of you are not fond of lengthy discourses!

The reasons that led to the KR leadership turning against their mentors and comrades-in-arms i.e. Hanoi, is a subject worth exploring by a chapter or more. But, to be brief, all the major events are inextricably woven and interlinked or intertwined together in such a manner that separating the black from the white is virtually impossible. The said events encompass the promulgation of the umbrella Communist Party of Indochina (The Indochinese Workers' Party) of which the Prathet Laos and the Communist Party of Kampuchea (KR-DK, PRK and current CPP) are its off-shoots or constituents; the historic Geneva Conference on Indochina in 1954 marking the first sign of a split between the Kampuchean communists (or a faction among them) from their North Vietnamese allies, even if this discord had been kept under the surface for the time being; the open rift between Cambodian communists now led by Pol Pot sometime prior to their coming to power in April 1975; the decision taken to evacuate the towns and cities in Cambodia following this historic event; the motivations behind that decision (remember that the Communist Party of Kampuchea was a creature created by Hanoi, and whilst Pol Pot may have command over the overall body of this creature, it is far from certain he was in control over all the cells that had been implanted in that body, hence, the pre-emptive move to empty Phnom Penh and other urban centres of populations which would have provided ideal incubators for these active or sleeping cells to foment); the frenzy killings, mainly of former urban dwellers and educated Cambodians under Democratic Kampuchea, and later on the purging of that regime's internal hierarchy involving party cadres and the armed forces (how much had all this pattern of internal cleansing been spiralled out of control as a result of Pol Pot's paranoia and madness, and how much had Hanoi's moles and agents exploited to the maximum this pervading fear and paranoia?, who would have gained the most from targeting the educated middle classes for executions, or from the erasing from collective memory of Khmer culture and history?, who indoctrinated the Cambodian communists with this elementary Marxist doctrine?); the ousting of Democratic Kampuchea and its replacement by the People's Republic of Kampuchea; the supplementary treaties signed between the PRK/CPP and Vietnam (Cambodia acceded to Hanoi's demand not to raise territorial issues over the territories of Kampuchea Krom, ceded to Vietnam under unhappy circumstances); the Most-Favoured Nation status granted to Vietnam to usurp Cambodia's market and natural resources; and so forth . . .

Cambodians are generally a grateful and noble 'race'. The word 'Khmer', according to scholars, translates as 'noble' or one of noble soul or bearing. Compassion, a strong sense of ethic, simplicity, a tendency to avoid confrontation, forgiveness; are among the qualities that can be said to be deeply imbedded in that soul.

This is part of the reason why Khmers allow themselves to be divided over most of the issues affecting their nation. Not because these qualities are deficient or wrong, but rather because of the hard work done over the past half century to enfeeble and cripple the best part of that soul. One could still find incessant effort made even today to cause confusion and discord among Khmer people, even via this forum, although their arguments are often so polished and persuasive that not every Cambodian can see through their actual intentions and machinations.

I will discuss the emotional subject of Vietnamese 'liberation' of KR victims at another time. For now, it is worthwhile to bear in mind that this historical event, good or bad, is another piece in the jigsaw in the same chain of events described above.

 

Rawls argues that even meritocracy—a distributive system that rewards effort—doesn't go far enough in leveling the playing field because those who are naturally gifted will always get ahead. Furthermore, says Rawls, the naturally gifted can't claim much credit because their success often depends on factors as arbitrary as birth order. Sandel makes Rawls's point when he asks the students who were first born in their family to raise their hands.

Sandel discusses the fairness of pay differentials in modern society. He compares the salary of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ($200,000) with the salary of television's Judge Judy ($25 million). Sandel asks, is this fair? According to John Rawls, it is not.

In preparation for the start of trial hearings beginning on 27 June 2011 of Case 002 against the surviving Khmer Rouge senior leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, KI Media is starting a new series in posting installations of the public document of the Closing Order of Case 002. The Closing Order of the Co-Investigating Judges forms the basic document from which all the parties (Co-Prosecutors, Co-Lead Lawyers for all civil parties, Defense Lawyers) will be making their arguments before the Trial Chamber judges (one Cambodian President, 2 Cambodian Judges, 2 UN judges). Up until now, the hearings involving these four surviving senior Khmer Rouge leaders have been in the Pre-Trial Chamber over issues of pre-trial detention and jurisdictional issues. Beginning in June 2011, the Trial Chamber will hear the substantive arguments over the criminal charges (e.g. genocide, crimes against humanity, penal code of 1956). Available in Khmer and French. Contact the ECCC for a free copy.

of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde, 15 September 2010 

302.            Prior to 1975, the subdistricts of Tram Kok District were for the most part populated by local villagers. However, after the movement of the population from Phnom Penh, many former city residents were settled in Tram Kok District. Former Tram Kok District Chairman, [REDACTED], remembers being instructed by the Sector to prepare to receive the influx of people. He recalls sending approximately 3,500 to 4,000 families to the villages and subdistricts where they were organised into local cooperatives.¹²³⁹ As time went on, those people who settled in Tram Kok were occasionally moved en masse from area to area within the District.¹²⁴⁰ 

303.            The precise organization of the population in each cooperative depended on its leadership.¹²⁴¹ However, in accordance with CPK policy nationwide, members were officially divided into three categories: full-rights, candidate and depositee members. These categories determined the degree of their involvement in the functioning of the cooperatives.¹²⁴² The depositee category seems to have been broadly synonymous with the people moved from Phnom Penh and other locations which were under Khmer Republic administration up until 17 April 1975. This group was widely known as "new people"¹²⁴³ or "17 April people".¹²⁴⁴ "New people" lacked political rights and could not be unit chiefs within the cooperatives.¹²⁴⁵ Cooperative members known as "base people"¹²⁴⁶ could hold either full-rights or candidate status. The candidate category was for those with alleged family or other connections or links to the enemy.¹²⁴⁷ In mid-1978, this three-fold categorization was proclaimed abolished.¹²⁴⁸ However, this abolition may have been mere pretence.¹²⁴⁹ 

304.            Several witnesses recall that in their cooperatives full-rights, candidate and depositee people were separated into different labour units designated one, two and three, respectively.¹²⁵⁰ In which unit people were placed depended on what facts they revealed about themselves in their biographies.¹²⁵¹ The depositee unit was controlled by members of the full-rights and candidate units pursuant to the original policy that "new people" were not permitted to be unit chiefs.¹²⁵² In the Nheng Nhang Subdistrict, these three groups lived and worked apart until 1978, at which time they were integrated.¹²⁵³ This may have been in accordance with the CPK's nationwide abolition of the three categories.¹²⁵⁴ Each unit had several sub-units such as a carpenter unit, canal digging unit and cart unit.¹²⁵⁵ The head of each unit was a chairman who reported to the secretary of the subdistrict committee. In turn, the subdistrict committee reported to and received its orders from the district committee.¹²⁵⁶ Usually, messengers carried communications between the different levels, including invitations to meetings.¹²⁵⁷ 

305.            Every two weeks subdistrict committees met to discuss the "work plan". These meetings were led by District Committee cadre.¹²⁵⁸ Following these meetings, the subdistrict chief would verbally disseminate the work plan to the cooperative members and urged them to strive towards three to four tons of rice, per hectare, per year.¹²⁵⁹ One former cooperative member recalls attending small unit meetings three times a month. At these meetings members criticised each other and admitted what they had done wrong.¹²⁶⁰

308. The subdistrict made regular verbal and written reports to the district regarding the implementation of the work plan.¹²⁶¹ Similarly, the district made monthly reports about the implementation of the work plan to the sector.¹²⁶² This vertical chain of reporting on the implementation of the work plan at the bases extended all the way up to the Party Centre.¹²⁶³ Further, at least two witnesses recall the Zone Secretary, Ta Mok, visiting their cooperatives.¹²⁶⁴ 

309. A former member of the Sre Ronong subdistrict Committee recalls attending a meeting in 1977 or 1978 at which he was given instructions on "the purges of enemies within and outside the ranks, who had tendency for the Lon Nol people and as for the people in the party rank if they did not have good tendency, they were also purged.The enemies in the rank included cadres; as for the enemies outside the rank, they were ordinary civilians". ¹²⁶⁵ He also recalls reading copies of the magazine Revolutionary Flag which were distributed by the district to certain people in the subdistrict. The Number 6, June 1977 edition of this magazine contained a letter from the Central Committee to various districts, including Tram Kok, awarding them the Red Flag Award for "achieving the tasks of defending the country and continuing and building socialist revolution with the speed of the great leap forwards in consecutive years".¹²⁶⁶ In this letter, the Central Committee sets out a comprehensive and detailed work plan for the latter half of 1977 and includes instructions on defending the country, building socialism and achieving three to six tons of rice per hectare, per year.

Here is the attachment file of the appeal letter on dedication ceremony to the spirit and soul of Cambodian people in coup d'état on July 05-06, 1997. The ceremony to be held on July 6, 2011 at SRP Headquarters in Phnom Penh.

The Sam Rainsy Party congratulates the Puea Thai Party on their landslide election victory and sends its best wishes to Thailand's first government led by a female Prime Minister.

The opposition's victory in Thailand, a country geographically and culturally close to Cambodia, constitutes a strong encouragement for the opposition forces in this country.

It is obvious that

(*) The establishment in Thailand has been described in many reports and press articles. In Cambodia it is represented by the Samdechs and the Oknhas, the omnipotent and arrogant CPP government officials and army generals, the CPP-affiliated heartless tycoons and other unscrupulous businessmen, the land grabbers and destructive loggers, the corrupt judiciary, and those brainless members of the royal family who have nothing to sell to the CPP but their royal names.

One of the first jobs of the new government must be an urgent reassessment of the Cambodian border problems. The outgoing government under Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has not handled this issue well. The dead, the wounded and the homeless testify to that. The new government must reverse the walkout at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Paris by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Suwit Khunkitti.

Border relations with Cambodia, attention to our heritage and history and the country's image, all have been harmed in recent months.

It will be an effort to repair this damage and move ahead, but a determined government can handle the problem.

The faint praise and arm's-length "backing" that Mr Abhisit gave to Mr Suwit is instructive. Deeply involved in an election campaign, the premier sensed that the public had little sympathy for the walkout from Paris. Indeed, it was wrong on many levels.

The only saving grace for now is that Thailand has not signed anything, and it is only a walkout and not, as originally reported, a Thai decision to leave the World Heritage Convention.

An early act by the next prime minister should be to make it clear to the public and to Unesco that Thailand will be back, full of facts and fight, as soon as the WHC meets again.

From the beginning, the entire dispute over the border has seemed somewhat artificial. Even granting that the dispute over 4.6sqkm of territory is serious, there never seemed to be a real reason for military conflict. Cambodia has often been unreasonable and stubborn, but that is not a justification for mortal combat, with the death and destruction which always results.

In retrospect, sending Mr Suwit to Paris was probably a mistake. The World Heritage Commission is not a place for politicians. It is where technocrats and experts carefully watch and debate placement of commas and relevance of old maps. The head of the WHC delegation should be a highly qualified expert in Thai history and events in neighbouring countries.

One cannot blame Mr Suwit for acting like a politician; that is what he is.

Which brings us to the other politician deeply involved in this unnecessary problem. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen would do better to get over both his infatuation with ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and his personal animosity towards outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit. The Khmer leader has not only allowed his personal feelings to intrude into the serious business of international diplomacy, he has relished the event.

In goading Thailand, especially through attacks on Mr Abhisit and Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, Mr Hun Sen has exacerbated the passions which led to so many deaths and so much spilt blood.

Mr Suwit's claim is that Cambodian-sponsored documents under discussion at the WHC meeting "could have led" to a loss of territory. That has also been the singular claim of the People's Alliance for Democracy.

Yet the head of Unesco, Irina Bokova, has disputed this. And in truth, the WHC has never taken up the Cambodian plan for management of the temple, nor scheduled a meeting to discuss it.

It is thus unfortunate but inevitable that Mr Suwit's actions have been characterised as a political gambit, designed to get votes for his Social Action Party.The next government should handle this affair differently, and better.

Dear all

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) today, 4 July 2011, releases a report titled "False Promises – Exploring the Citizenship Rights of the Khmer Krom in Cambodia".

The Report explores and analyzes the contradiction between the Royal Government of Cambodia's public confirmation that the Khmer Krom, ethnic Khmer from South Vietnam, are Cambodian citizens, and the practical difficulties faced by the Khmer Krom who try to access the benefits of their Cambodian citizenship by applying for citizenship identity cards which are required to unlock the rights and benefits that are attached to citizenship/nationality such as employment, education, and property rights land rights. The central and overriding recommendation of the Report is for the RGC to put an immediate end to the uncertain situation that faces Khmer Krom who arrive in Cambodia by confirming their Khmer citizenship/nationality through the creation of a coherent framework that is specifically designed to facilitate Khmer Krom applications for ID cards.

Please find the report in English and the Executive Summary and Recommendations in Khmer. Also attached is a press release outlining the release in English and Khmer.

Thank you and kind regards

--

Only a few months ago, Indonesia was positioning itself as an 'honest broker' in the South China Sea dispute. Now it appears much more circumspect. Jakarta knows that only through wider regional discussions, which must include the US, can the quarrels be resolved.

Indonesia took up the rotating chair of ASEAN at the beginning of the year with a great sense of confidence. The largest country in the region, with a booming economy and flourishing — if messy — democracy, Jakarta saw the ASEAN chair as a good opportunity to solidify its credentials as the region's de facto leader.

In January Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa signaled that the long-running series of territorial disputes in South China Sea, which had again flared up during 2010, would be a key focus of Indonesia's diplomatic efforts.

Since then, Natalegawa has been distracted by another territorial spat closer to home.

Following an outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia around the disputed Preah Vihear temple in February, which resulted in 10 deaths, Natalegawa flew to Bangkok and Phnom Penh attempting to negotiate a solution.

In its capacity as ASEAN chair, Jakarta agreed to send unarmed Indonesian observers to monitor the situation on both sides of the border.

Yet despite months of frantic diplomatic effort, including a crisis meeting on the sidelines of the annual ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in May, the dispute remains unsolved. In spite of Indonesia's efforts at a regionally brokered solution, Cambodia has now taken its case to the International Court of Justice.

If ASEAN can't resolve a territorial quarrel between its own member states, can it expect to broker a solution in the high-stakes South China Sea?

The Cambodia-Thailand border dispute is a reminder of the limited role that ASEAN can realistically play in assuring regional security.

The only real option available to ASEAN in the South China Sea disputes, and to Indonesia as its chair, is to continue encouraging the US to play an active role in the region to counterbalance to China's growing weight.

This does not mean ASEAN is irrelevant. China maintains that the South China Sea disputes should be settled on a bilateral basis. But the ASEAN states involved – Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei – recognize that only by acting in concert can they hope to stand up to their powerful northern neighbor.

Strength in numbers has long been ASEAN's raison d'être. Formed in 1967 at the height of the Cold War, the founding five members thought that sticking together would give them the best chance of standing up to the circling superpowers.

A pact of non-interference in each other's internal security affairs enabled them to put their own animosities aside. But it also meant that security cooperation always lagged well behind economic integration. It has been through the US-led 'hub and spokes' system of bilateral relationships, rather than formal multilateral agreements, that security cooperation in Southeast Asia has largely taken place. ASEAN's key role has been to bring the major players together.

This should again be its role in the South China Sea.

Indonesia, as ASEAN chair, could push for the issue to be resolved in a wider ASEAN-led multilateral forum such as the East Asia Summit or the ASEAN Regional Forum, where the presence of the USA might force China to moderate its behavior. Jakarta understands that keeping both China and the USA inside the ASEAN tent is crucial.

Last year Indonesia welcomed US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's offer to mediate the dispute, made in response to China's claim (which it has since backed away from) that Beijing would now consider the South China Sea a 'core interest' on par with Taiwan and Tibet.

ASEAN's subsequent invitation for America (along with Russia) to join the East Asia Summit was widely interpreted as an attempt to dilute China's growing influence in the grouping, giving the Southeast Asian states more bargaining power in areas such as the South China Sea.

Jakarta's failure to broker a deal between Cambodia and Thailand is a reminder that settling territorial quarrels is not ASEAN's strong suite. It is a cautionary warning against institutional overreach. ASEAN is not the best forum in which to tackle the South China Sea disputes.

Where ASEAN can play a role is in bringing the major regional powers together, and giving the smaller Southeast Asian states a bigger voice than they could muster alone.

Indonesia's recent silence on the issue suggests it has realized this.

Prime Minsiter Abhisit Vejjajiva announced his resignation as leader of the Democrat Party on Monday morning.

The outgoing premier made the announcement after the Pheu Thai Party crushed his party in the 2011 general election yesterday.

"I've decided to resign because I could not lead my party to victory in the election," Mr Abhisit said.

Democrat executive members will meet to select a new party leader within 90 days, as the law requires, he said.

Before the election, Mr Abhisit said he would step down as Democrat leader if his party won fewer seats than in the previous general election.

The unofficial election result shows that the Democrats won 159 seats yesterday. In 2007, the party won 164 seats.

BANGKOK - Thailand's powerful military will respect a landslide election win by allies of Thaksin Shinawatra who it toppled five years ago, the defence minister said Monday, easing fears of another coup.

Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra, a 44-year-old political newcomer who is set to become the kingdom's first female prime minister, was scrambling to form a coalition after leading the Puea Thai Party to victory Sunday.

The election and its aftermath is a major test of Thailand's ability to emerge from a long political crisis triggered by Thaksin's 2006 overthrow, which last year saw the country's worst civil violence in decades.

The Puea Thai Party - masterminded by Thaksin from his self-exile in Dubai - won a majority of 265 seats out of 500 in the lower house, the election commission said Monday after the vote count was completed.

That is well ahead of the 159 secured by outgoing premier Abhisit Vejjajiva's establishment-backed Democrats, who have conceded defeat after two and a half years in power. Abhisit resigned as party leader Monday.

The crushing win by Thaksin's allies has reshaped a fractured political landscape, but the party must tread carefully if it wants to avoid alienating other key players such as the military.

Puea Thai has already vowed not to seek revenge over a deadly military crackdown on Thaksin's "Red Shirt" supporters in Bangkok last year that claimed the lives of more than 90 people and left major downtown buildings in flames.

Thailand's outgoing defence minister, himself a retired general, told AFP that the army accepted the election outcome, easing fears of fresh military intervention in a country that has seen almost as many coups as elections.

"I have talked to military leaders. We will allow politicians to work it out. The military will not get involved," General Prawit Wongsuwon told AFP.

"The people have spoken clearly so the military cannot do anything. We accept it."

Observers say a key issue for the Bangkok-based elite is whether the opposition will seek to bring Thaksin back from Dubai, where he lives to avoid a jail term imposed in his absence for corruption.

But even more important may be whether the new government pursues legal or other steps against the generals over the bloody crackdown against last year's mass opposition demonstrations in the heart of Bangkok.

"I believe the military leaders are more concerned about their fates... than about Thaksin's return," said Thongchai Winichakul, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"The Thaksin issue is a smoke-screen to hide their real concern - whether they would be investigated and possibly punished."

Although Puea Thai has secured an absolute majority in parliament, it is courting other parties including Chart Thai Pattana - which won 19 seats - to bolster its hold on the legislature.

"We brought Chart Thai Pattana in to protect against possible defections but it is still uncomfortable in terms of seats and stability," Puea Thai deputy leader Plodprasob Suraswadi said.

The Election Commission is already studying complaints over irregularities, which could see candidates given disqualified and potentially whittle down Puea Thai's majority.

The populist Thaksin is loathed by the nation's elites who see him as corrupt and a threat to the revered monarchy.

An amnesty for the billionaire telecos tycoon would risk infuriating many in the Bangkok-based establishment in government, military and palace circles and could prompt protests by the royalist "Yellow Shirt" movement.

Thaksin, who despite being hugely divisive in Thailand has presided over victories in the nation's last five elections, called on all sides to respect the result and said he did not "want to cause trouble" by returning home.

"I think people want to see reconciliation. They want to move forward," he said. "We will not seek revenge," the former telecom tycoon told Thai television Sunday.

(VOV) - The Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has decided to organise the Song and Dance Festival of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in Quang Tri province in July.

The ministry authorized the Performing Arts Department (PAD) to work with the Quang Tri Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the International Cooperation Department and the Vietnam Musicians' Association to host the event.

The ministry also asked the PAD to be responsible for developing prorgammes and training performance troupes at the festival.

The festival will provide a good chance for art troupes from the three countries to meet and exchange experience, contributing to strengthening the ties of friendship between the three countries.

RATANAKIRI PROVINCE, Cambodia (WOMENSENEWS)–-The Cambodian government has not yet secured funding for Lower Sesan 2, a 750 megawatt, $650 million dam that would export electricity to Vietnam and become the largest hydropower dam in Cambodia.

With plans underway, though, some women in the deeply spiritual nine ethnic indigenous communities of Ratanakiri Province, 10 hours north of Phnom Penh, are braced for the worst.

Ratanakiri residents along the Sesan river support themselves by fishing and farming, both subject to drastic disruption by the project. The dam is expected to impinge on fish migration and flood surrounding farmland.

On Si Kan is "spirit chief" of her community of about 250, a position typically held by Lao ethnic women who channel male spirits. She has already given up any thought of fighting the dam, planned for 80 miles downstream.

"I tell people we can do nothing to stop the project. The government will build the dam," said On, 57, through a Khmer translator. "So the people can wait for the dam to come and they can die in the floods it will cause, or they can move away from the river."

At the same time as women such as On are resigned, others are leading community opposition, says Ian Baird, a University of Wisconsin, Madison, professor of geography and fisheries. Baird has worked in the region for more than 25 years.

"When people from Ratanakiri come down to Phnom Penh to talk, many of them are really intimidated," he said. "But it's the women who are asking the most powerful questions, even as everyone is 100-percent afraid to speak out."

Ratanakiri representatives attended a national consultation on Sesan 2 at the end of May in Phnom Penh where the environmental minister, Prach Sun, highlighting project benefits.

"It will help bring Cambodia development and reduce poverty," Prach said. "This will contribute to the resources of Cambodia and to its people. That is the most important thing."

Hor Voy South, a 56-year-old mother of eight, is a community organizer for 3S Rivers Protection Network, or 3SPN, which supports communities threatened by hydropower dams in northeastern Cambodia. She attended the consultation in Phnom Penh and says she doubts the meeting will help.

"The community talks and the government listens, but nothing changes," she said. "We say, 'We don't want the government to build the dam here,' but we think they will build it anyway."

The sense of powerlessness among communities of Ratanakiri Province, 10 hours north of Phnom Penh, derives from what happened after another dam was built on the same river.

Yali Falls, a 720 megawatt hydropower dam, was established in 1996 on a part of the Sesan that is in central Vietnam, approximately 100 miles upstream from Ratanakiri.

The Yali construction caused flooding of land hundreds of miles away and hindered the migratory passage of the fish locals depended on for food and income.

Hydropower dams are sprouting up across Southeast Asia. Twenty seven are now operating in China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia; nine are being built and 14 are proposed. Hydropower dams produce one of the most common forms of renewable electricity, while releasing a very low rate of greenhouse gas emissions.

They also create havoc to traditional livelihoods. Upstream, the rivers back up and cause flooding. Downstream, the water volume is constrained, threatening aquatic life.

Water around hydro-dams is also prone to producing algae that can be poisonous or degrade water qualities in other ways.

After Spirit Chief On's property flooded multiple times following Yali's construction, she moved several miles away inland from the river in 2006.

Displacement like this, she said, was particularly hard on women who may have to seek out new, unfamiliar sources of food for their families inland and travel farther to find water.

While male villagers customarily do the fishing, women clean clothes and bathe children and draw water from it. After a dam, the river's flows become unstable and threatening. Women say their constant contacts with the river are now riddled with anxiety, especially when they consider the possibility that a giant dam could break.

"The floods come and destroy the farms and it becomes difficult for women, who have to do all of the work. Then we have to move to high land, and there we don't know where to find food," said the spirit chief.

On her dry patch of land it's difficult to grow food and there isn't always enough to feed the five people in her house. But at least she's not worried about flooding.

Im Yim Krub, 35, by contrast, still worries about flooding. She lives about 20 feet from the river, a few miles away from the spirit chief's land. In 2009 the river filled her house and attached convenient store with 4 feet of water. She fled on motorcycle with her husband and four children and stayed with relatives in the mountains for weeks.

"I think always if that could happen again this year. I have become afraid of the river and how it can rise so quickly," said Im, who does not let her children play in the river unsupervised.

Im sells bottled water for 25 cents, though she herself relies on a nearby well for drinking water. But many residents, like Hor Voy South, a 56-year-old mother of eight, drink from and bathe in the dirt-colored river.

Hor and one of her sons have developed skin infections in the past 10 years and often suffer diarrhea. She, like more than 40 percent of all Cambodians, lives on less than $1.25 a day.

More than 1,000 people in Ratanakiri have died since 1996 as a result of poor water quality, according to University of Wisconsin's Baird.

Yali Falls' downstream impact in Cambodia has caused serious ecological and social-economic problems for approximately 20,000 Ratanakiri residents and tens of thousands of people farther down the river. Aside from flooding and health problems, loss of fish and vegetables have also lowered people's regular incomes and food intakes. People in Ratanakiri have not received financial compensation for their health problems or income losses.

If Lower Sesan 2 is built, Ratanakiri residents will receive a one-time lump-sum payment to cover a single year for fish losses.

PHNOM PENH, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia is happy to see Pheu Thai Party's landslide victory in the Thai parliamentary election and looking forward to working with the new Thai government on solving the border dispute, said Cambodian deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Hor Namhong on Monday.

"We are delighted with the victory of Pheu Thai Party, we hope that the new government formed by the Pheu Thai Party will resolve border issues with Cambodia more positively than the previous government," he told reporters.

"Cambodia wants a fair and peaceful solution on border conflict, based on international laws, good neighborhood and friendship between Cambodian and Thai peoples, and the judgment of the International Court of Justice in 1962," he said.

Thailand's opposition Pheu Thai Party's candidate for prime minister Yingluck Shinnawatra declared victory while the ruling Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva conceded his party's defeat shortly after voting ended on Sunday.

Yingluck Shinawatra, the youngest sister of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, is set to become the country's first female prime minister.

Cambodia and Thailand have had sporadic border conflict over territorial dispute near the Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed the 11th century temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.