KI Media: “Khork Bomnang - "Deceived": Peom in Khmer by Chham Chhany” plus 24 more

Tuesday 07 October 2008. TV5 World [channel], Asia. 07:45AM (Beijing time).

A TV program about India. Several pretty Indian women are rushing to (women) beauty shops to change their brown skin to white with a (new) cream that can turn their brown or dark skins to white.

An Indian woman, whom I found her pretty and attractive with her brown skin, said: "I must have my skin color changed because men only love women with fair skin." –sic!-

In Cambodia, people knew, "before [it is even known in] India," about this miraculous cream which, when applied on brown or "black" skin, turns this skin into … white.

That's why [the] Phnom Penh [channels] TVK, CTN – TV stations which I watch every day during my stay in Beijing – show us a large majority of "white" Khmer women and only a negligible minority of brown-skinned Khmer women!

With food, one can love and appreciate both French dishes and desserts and Khmer dishes and desserts.

For a woman, it is the beauty of her face and body shape that matter. Not the color of her skin.

(Signed) N. Sihanouk

Five hundred families from Oddar Meanchey province are now awaiting a decision by Khmer Rouge tribunal investigating judges on whether a controversial case will move forward with the UN-backed court.

Hong Kim Suon, a legal representative of the families, submitted an open letter to the judges late last month, describing the deaths of thousands of people through starvation, illness or execution at a massive dam project in the province.

"We are waiting for their answer," he said Monday.

The mass deaths at the Ang Trapaing Thmor dam could fall under Case 004, which would require the indictment of three more senior leaders, court work that Prime Minister Hun Sen opposes.

In their June 29 letter, five representatives of 550 families wrote they were "regretful and suffering" at learning the case could be "kicked out" of the tribunal. Court officials have denied any political influence in the two cases, and the UN has denied giving up on their prosecution.

The Ang Trapaing Thmor dam was a massive irrigation initiative by the Khmer Rouge. More than 32,000 people worked at the site. Survivors say their family members and countrymen died from the policies of the Khmer Rouge.

But during a preliminary hearing for four jailed Khmer Rouge leaders at the tribunal last week, two former cadre said they two wanted to learn the full truth of the deaths at the dam.

"I was the commander in charge of measuring and constructing the dam," Pan Chhuong, a former Khmer Rouge soldier, told VOA Khmer. "I saw people die in the hospital, but not in their working groups. Still, there was killing there, yes."

He said he had joined the initial hearing and would follow the trial until its conclusion. Jailed leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith will all face the tribunal later this year on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and others. They have all denied the charges against them.

"Did Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Pol Pot give orders to kill people or not?" Pan Chhuong asked. "Whether they are heavily sentenced or not, I'll be happy. But I want to know the reality, because at the time, they did not allow people who were sick or thin to see high-ranking leaders of delegations. It was curious."

Another Khmer Rouge soldier with oversight at the dam said orders could have come from a high level for people to be killed.

"Why were people of high responsibility killed [at the dam], not just the simple people?" said Chhit Yeuk, who oversaw food rations for all 32,000 workers.

He was equipped with seven trucks and five tractors to carry rice and supplies. But even then, people were starving, he said. "We were eating the bran" instead of the rice grain, he said. "That bran is supposed to be served as medicine for people with swelling."

Neither man said who he thought responsible for such deaths. But each said others died of starvation and disease as well.

"I am waiting for the sentencing, to see if it fits with their responsibility or not," he said of the upcoming trial. But even though Khieu Samphan, the regime's former nominal leader, vowed to help uncover the secrets of the Khmer Rouge last week, Chhit Yeuk said he'll never "obtain 100 percent of the truth."

Defense for the aging Khmer Rouge social affairs minister say they want her excused from trial at the UN-backed tribunal.

Now 69, she suffers from knee problems, poor eyesight and insomnia, according to her lawyers.

The court will determine whether or not she is fit to stand trial, a tribunal spokesman said. However, a source close to the case said it was possible she would be excused from the proceedings.

The old age of four defendants on trial for atrocity crimes is a major challenge for the court. Under the rules of the tribunal, the defendants are to be medically evaluated before standing trial.

"We requested her release on bail during provisional detention because of her health, and in the next step of the trial we jumped another step," said Phat Pouv Seang, a defense lawyer for Ieng Thirith.

Lars Olsen, a spokesman for the tribunal, said "some of the defendants" in Case 002, which wrapped up a preliminary hearing last week, will have their health assessed.

"That evaluation will soon be completed, and if anyone is to be excused from the trial proceedings for medical reasons, this will be made public," he said.

Ieng Thirith is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and other crimes, alongside her husband, Ieng Sary, the former foreign minister of the regime; Nuon Chea, its chief ideologue; and Khieu Samphan, the nominal head of the movement.

Clair Duffy, a court monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative, said all except Khieu Samphan were having "extensive" medical checks ahead of a trial, which is slated to begin later this year.

Buoyed by the landslide victory over the Democrat Party, Pheu Thai, with 265 seats in the bag, does not intend to share key ministries, one of them the Foreign Ministry, with its coalition partners. Its choice for foreign minister will be either a party insider or an ex-career diplomat who can direct foreign policy, especially on attempts to mend fences with neighbouring Cambodia.

Seeing the unofficial poll results on Sunday, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong had reason to be jubilant with Pheu Thai's victory, as Phnom Penh also expects the end of a bitter wrangle at the border and, more importantly, the issue surrounding the Hindu temple to be resolved "positively and peacefully".

The first task of the new government is to reconsider the decision by outgoing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Democrat-led government which declared its intention to quit the World Heritage Convention just days before the election.

But the most sensitive issue is an expected return of support from Bangkok for Phnom Penh's management plan for the area around Preah Vihear.

The World Heritage Committee listed Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site in 2008 but the process will not be completed until the approval of the management plan for the area that includes the 4.6 square kilometres of land claimed by both countries.

The management plan was bogged down due to fierce opposition from the Abhisit government which feared that accepting it could also imply that Thailand was surrendering sovereignty over the overlapping area.

With Pheu Thai in power, Cambodia expects Thailand to be more friendly on the Preah Vihear issue, given the close ties between Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was once an adviser to his government.

Pheu Thai's predecessor, the People Power Party (PPP), which ran the country after winning the 2007 poll, supported Cambodia in listing the temple as a World Heritage site when Noppadon Pattama was foreign minister.

The support sparked nationalistic fervour and protests led by the yellow shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), as it claimed the listing could lead to the loss of the disputed area. The PPP and Mr Noppadon insisted that the listing included only the temple and the overlapping area was excluded.

But public sentiment against Thai support for the temple's listing eventually pressured Mr Noppadon to resign. The PPP was later disbanded due to electoral fraud in 2008.

The new foreign minister will find himself in a difficult position as a Pheu Thai-led government has to decide whether it will reverse the Thai stance by supporting the management plan for the Preah Vihear area or continue to oppose it as the Abhisit government did over the past three years.

Supporting the plan carries a risk as the issue could return the yellow shirts to Bangkok streets to protest against the new government by banking on nationalism to win the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR-3CmxqT8A&feature=related

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Today, SRP MP Mu Sochua met with top officials in Helsinki at the Presidental Palace and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Please read the statement below in Khmer.

"You cannot open a book without learning something," said the great Chinese teacher Confucius.

Though I hated to open a book as a child -- perhaps more as a rebellion against my father's endless preaching about the value of education as a key to success -- I nevertheless was forced to open not one book but many as I struggled in my college freshman year, not just to learn something, but to get a decent grade.

A lot of what I read made little or no sense at the time, but one day it began to make sense, like a lightbulb that suddenly burns brightly.

In graduate school, I read a quote that inspired me. Equally as powerful as the poem "Don't Quit," to which I attached photos I took of the island of Guam and created a YouTube video, are the words of Harvard University educator and senator from Massachusetts, Edward Everett: "I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

And that "something that I can do" is to write and share what creative and critical thought I have learned from great men and women who tell of their own experiences. Over the years, I have had significant opportunities to apply what I have learned, such as during my service in the Khmer People's National Liberation Front at the Khmer-Thai border.

American-trained in political science, I am a believer in, and have linked my life to, the principles of individual rights, freedom and the rule of law. Man lives and man dies, but those principles live on, thanks to the men and women the world over who fight to ensure they are perpetuated.

It's dangerous that Cambodians have a natural propensity to make anything and everything personal. When they do that, and live in a culture that teaches "honor" and "saving face," they are boxed in and the stakes in any dispute are artificially raised because of the overriding need to save face at any cost.

The resulting spiral breeds endless thesis-antithesis, and encourages the sowing of "doubt," about which I wrote last week, and which Buddha called "poison," "thorn" and "a sword that kills."

Thus, I have suggested that a cultural change catalyzed by individual changes in attitude is an essential foundation to political change. Russian writer Leo Tolstoy said, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."

Although I oppose the violations of individual rights, freedom and the rule of law by Prime Minister Hun Sen and his regime, I acknowledge (as I have done in the past) that today's Cambodia under the Vietnamese-installed Hun Sen is better than the Cambodia of Beijing-backed Pol Pot of Democratic Kampuchea, known infamously for the 1975-1979 killing fields.

When the U.S.-based International Republican Institute (linked to the Republican Party) revealed earlier this year that 76 percent of Cambodians, surveyed in mid-2010, said Cambodia is headed in "the right direction," they cited better infrastructure -- roads, bridges, buildings, schools, health clinics.

Thus, the Asian Times Online's June 22 article by Julie Masis, a Cambodia-based journalist, referenced Cambodia's experiences with a fast economic growth (about 9 percent) over the past decade. Masis corroborated what Cambodians see as improvements. Only five years ago, Phnom Penh's tallest structure was a seven-story hotel; today, nine buildings have 20 or more stories and 55 others are between 10 and 19 stories. More high-rises are on the way -- "at least 200 additional buildings with more than 10 floors, including a 60-story skyscraper."

Yet IRI's survey also noted that 23 percent of Cambodians polled said Cambodia is headed in "the wrong direction." They cited corruption, joblessness, high poverty and high inflation.

A friend who just returned from Cambodia wrote: "Life in Cambodia is getting harder for the poor. Food prices rise rapidly and people have difficulty dealing with inflation. ... It takes more dollars to buy the same thing."

While Phnom Penh is described as "a bustling urban metropolis," and land prices are put at $3,000 per square meter, Julie Masis wrote that around 30 percent of Cambodia's population still lives under the poverty line (less than 75 cents per day).

While the gap between the rich and the poor is widening, increasing arbitrary and oppressive measures by the authorities have resulted in some localized rioting. Some 200 villagers in Kompong Speu battled with wooden sticks, knives, sling shots, against 300 armed police, routing the authorities. Villagers' patience is reaching its limit.

Conventional wisdom says Cambodians are quiet, passive, peaceful and accepting. Generally, they believe karma dictates. Yet a sign in Khmer under Hun Sen's photo, both attached to a tree, reads: "Would die for ricefields." Another: "Would die in order to live."

For generations, Khmers lived on their land peacefully. Now their tranquility is at risk. Many are forced to move as their land is needed for economic development.

Lately, I have collected published photos of events that occurred in Cambodia and created several PowerPoints now posted on YouTube, free of commentary. I encourage readers to spare a few minutes to view the presentations, accompanied by Khmer music and songs. The pictures speak for themselves.

Ed Royce, a House Republican from California, said the UN-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh has cost millions of dollars, tried only one man, and was leaving Cambodians in America frustrated by its lack of effectiveness.

"There is an expression used in the US, 'Justice delayed is justice denied,'" he said in an e-mail Friday. "I'm afraid that may be the case in Cambodia."

The court has come under increased criticism for its handling of the cases against Khmer Rouge leaders, including from victims groups in the US and Cambodia.

"This is very slow progress for a court that is eight years old and has received hundreds of millions of dollars in funding from the international community," Royce wrote in response to questions. "The US Congress has expressed its concern over the corruption and mismanagement. Unfortunately, the court is also suffering from political interference at the highest levels."

Royce was referring to allegations that surfaced on the Cambodian side of the court, when staff complained they were paying kickbacks to keep their jobs. Prime Minister Hun Sen has publicly opposed the prosecution of two more cases at the court, while top ruling party officials have refused to comply with summonses there.

The tribunal has spent around $150 million since 2003, and only stood up in 2006, after much wrangling between Cambodian officials and the UN. In June 2010, it sentenced Duch, the former head of Tuol Sleng prison, to a commuted 19 years in prison, after a lengthy trial. That case is currently under appeal. A second case, for top leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, will begin in full later this year. Two more cases that would require more indictments have stalled in the court process.

Royce, who is a House member of the committees of Financial Services and of Foreign Affairs, said the Khmer Rouge was responsible for the deaths of up to 2 million Cambodians, giving survivors a desire to hold its leaders accountable.

"This horrendous crime was committed against the Cambodian people, but we all have an interest in seeing that justice is done," he wrote.

Tribunal spokesman Huy Vannak said this week that an independent audit had cleared the court of corruption charges, but he acknowledged there have been complaints over the slow work of the tribunal as well as allegations of political influence.

But he said the court process was actually moving faster than other war crimes tribunals, while at the same time jurists are working to ensure that the process is legitimate.

"If we are careless, then such a heritage will return," he said.

Still, Royce said, Cambodians in the US are not happy with the way the trials have gone.

"Most Cambodian-Americans I've talked to express frustration that the tribunal is not open to the public and that there aren't more defendants on trial, including officials in the current government," he said.

Huy Vannak said the court was working 30 years after the fall of the regime, making some indictments impossible.

"We also know that senior Khmer Rouge leaders like Pol Pot, Ke Pauk, Son Sen and Ta Mok died," he said. Had they lived, they could have been included in the first two trials at the court, he said.

Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong cracked open the champagne to celebrate when news filtered through of a landslide election win by Thailand's opposition party, hoping a border dispute that brought the two neighbours to the brink of war this year can now be put to rest.

Relations were severely strained under Thailand's defeated Democrat Party-led government, but Cambodia seems confident the historic foes can start anew with Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai Party at the helm in Bangkok.

"We cannot hide that we are happy with the victory of the Puea Thai Party. We hope this new government will solve the problems with Cambodia more positively and more peacefully," Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said after making a toast with a glass of champagne with diplomats. That's what we want, a peaceful solution."

Clashes flared between Thai and Cambodian troops in February and April near disputed ancient Hindu temples on two parts of the border, killing a total of 18 people and forcing the relocation of tens of thousands of villagers on both sides.

The clashes were accompanied by verbal tirades and personal insults traded by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The biggest bone of contention is the 11th Century Preah Vihear temple which an international court awarded to Cambodia in 1962 after decades of squabbles over jurisdiction.

Cambodia wants to list Preah Vihear as a Unesco World Heritage Site, but Thailand has sought to stall the process, insisting a 4.6 sq km area of scrub around the ruins must first be demarcated.

Thailand last week threatened to withdraw from the World Heritage Committee in protest at what it said was Cambodia's uncompromising stance. What riled Abhisit's government the most was Hun Sen's decision to appoint ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - Ms Yingluck's self-exiled brother - a special economic adviser rather than extradite him to Thailand to serve a two-year prison term for graft.

Thaksin later gave up the Cambodian post.

Analysts in Cambodia believe the chances of peace between Cambodia and Thailand would be higher with Yingluck in charge and Abhisit's Democrat Party out of the picture.

"She will be playing a role as the mother and she will put out all the flames," said Sok Touch, rector of Phnom Penh's Khemarak University.

Cambodian tycoon Senator Mong Reththy, who has several joint ventures with Thai investors in palm oil and port businesses, said he was confident a new Thai government would be a boost for trade and investment.

"When I heard this news, I was very happy. Everybody knows Abhisit's government regarded Cambodia as the enemy, unlike any other before," Mong Reththy said.

"Now, Thai investments will flow into Cambodia."

Re: 'Why not declare Preah Vihear Hindu territory?', Letters, July 3.

Constance Beasley's proposal is somewhat light-hearted but her premises for that fantasy require modifications.

The Preah Vihear Temple, like many other ancient temples in Cambodia, was built in the 10th century as a Hindu place of worship. Due to the general decline of Hinduism in the 13th century, almost all sites in the Khmer Empire were then converted to use by Buddhists.

Secondly, the fighting is not about the ownership of the temple (that was judged and accepted by Thailand as belonging to Cambodia) but about the territory nearby of 4.6 square kilometres that is claimed by either side as theirs.

So, dear Mrs Beasley, the problem is not as simple as you and I would have wished, since there are so many stirrers involved in making life difficult for all of us.

Bangkok

Restoration of bilateral relations with Cambodia will be an uphill task for the new government as ties have been seriously damaged and the party which won the election on Sunday could face a lot of difficulties and obstacles in trying to fix them.

Relations between the two neighbours have been trapped by bruised nationalism over the past years, mostly because of domestic political conflict.

As long as domestic conflict remains, the new government won't be able to make a simple U-turn in the policy toward Cambodia to restore relations. This would spark fierce resistance from ultra-conservatives and Thai nationalists.

The defeat in the election on Sunday of the Democrats and the Social Action Party, who championed the tough policy against Cambodia, may suggest the nationalists failed to win electoral support but it does not mean they have lost power in real politic.

The conservatives in the military and the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) are ready to exercise such power as soon as the new government shows any sign of being on good terms with Phnom Penh. The former has guns while the latter is keen on a street battle. Previous governments under the late Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat have already tested the bitter nature of nationalism.

A political discourse on Sia Din Daen ('Lost Territory') is being circulated and waiting for responses. Conservative groups have spread their rhetoric on the Internet saying "the victory of Pheu Thai is equivalent to the loss of Thai territory to Cambodia" and "the [World Heritage] listing of Preah Vihear is the loss of Thai territory."

For the nationalists, close personal relations between former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen are the same as a business deal that goes beyond national interests. They throw doubt on every deal made in the past - and will make in the future.

The conflict with Cambodia was exacerbated by being dragged into many international forums such as the United Nations, Asean, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Unesco/World Heritage Committee. Abhisit's government, which preferred nationalism, took a very hard stance on compromise in such forums.

Asean is waiting for a Thai decision on a team of observers from Indonesia. Jakarta, as the chair of Asean, proposed that it should monitor a permanent peace in the border areas adjacent to Preah Vihear. Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia made a deal on a peace package in May after the Asean summit. Phnom Penh has already shown its readiness to enforce it, and is waiting only for a decision from Bangkok.

The ICJ will make a decision soon on the request by Phnom Penh for provisional measures to ban the Thai military from undertaking activities in the disputed area near the temple. The new government might not have much to do with the case, but people in power will have to deal with the consequences of the court's injunction.

Another matter which the Abhisit administration left to the new government was a decision on whether to withdraw from the 1972 World Heritage Convention. Suwit Khunkitti, the former Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, expressed an intent to do this during a meeting in Paris last month.

Legally speaking, Thailand remains a member of the convention and could opt to stay in the UN cultural body. But conservatives and nationalists may try to force the new Cabinet to endorse Suwit's move, as they fear any support for Cambodia's management plan for the temple would jeopardise Thai claims for land adjacent to Preah Vihear.

The head of a US-based group that advocates for victims at the Khmer Rouge tribunal said last week's hearings for four jailed leaders will likely soften some criticism for the court.

Nou Leakhena, director of the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia, said on "Hello VOA" Thursday that court officials had eased some of the concerns of victims, "to make sure their grievances and voices are heard."

Nou Leakhena was in Cambodia last week to help Cambodian-American victims of the Khmer Rouge file and be represented at the upcoming trial.

Some court observers say they now worry the court will not bring indictments for five other leaders in two more cases, but Nou Leakhena said Thursday the number of cases was not as important as proper proceedings that can serve as an example and prevent such atrocities from happening again.

"We are not shy to speak out if the court is doing something wrong," she said. "The most important thing is that we protect the rights of victims both inside and outside Cambodia. The victims want to see the court work transparently, to deliver justice, not as a joke."

Former leaders Noun Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith have all denied atrocity charges they will be facing when a trial begins in earnest later this year.

A preliminary hearing on key procedural questions was held last week, with some 3,000 people taking part over four days, according to a court spokesman.

"We have heard their voices and we acknowledge that this is because they are concerned," the spokesman, Huy Vannak, said of victims. "They care about justice, and we will work to follow all legal procedures to deliver justice."

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and its development partners, including the Government of Cambodia, have agreed to a detailed, time bound action plan to resolve resettlement problems on a railway rehabilitation project.

ADB and the Government of Australia are providing over $100 million to help rehabilitate the country's national railroad stretching from Sihanoukville in the south, through the capital Phnom Penh and up to the northern border with Thailand. Hundreds of families are being asked to move to make way for the line upgrade and many complaints and requests have been made by affected households over compensation rates, compensation payment and assistance, the readiness and adequacy of relocation sites and other issues.

Officials from ADB, the Australian Agency for International Development and the Government reviewed the progress of resettlement and concerns raised by the affected households in early June. They have now drawn up an agreement that sets out specific, tangible measures to be taken to address each of the concerns.

The agreement provides a time-bound action plan for responding to grievances and confirms that no affected households will be relocated until their complaints or requests have been addressed and basic facilities are provided at the resettlement site. An external monitoring group has examined compensation concerns and ADB will consider the findings and decide on further action by the end of July. A timetable for the completion of electricity, water supply and other basic facilities at relocation sites has been drawn up.

The parties have also agreed to an expansion of the income restoration program to fund livelihood support for resettled families.

"ADB is fully committed to ensuring that its resettlement guidelines are complied with so that families who relocate receive the appropriate support and are not economically disadvantaged." said Kunio Senga, Director General of ADB's Southeast Asia Department. "We will continue our discussion and close cooperation with the Government to ensure that the resettlement process complies with the agreed Resettlement Plan and ADB's resettlement policy."

ADB will also provide additional resources to support the resettlement program, including a communications specialist based in Cambodia to strengthen the information flows between all stakeholders.

Decades of conflict have left the railway in serious disrepair and by upgrading it into an international standard line the project will help lower freight costs, including for staple foodstuffs for the poor, as well as providing new investment and business opportunities. It will also form an integral section of the Greater Mekong Subregion's southern economic corridor linking Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam, and make up part of a broader Pan-Asian rail route.

PHNOM PENH (Xinhua) – The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS infection in Cambodia has gradually declined to 0.78 percent by the end of 2010 from 2.75 percent in 1998, the Cambodian National Centre for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Infections said in a report on Tuesday.

The report said that the HIV/AIDS transmission among adults aged 15 to 49 has dropped to 0.8 percent last year from 2.5 percent in 1998.

It added that the centre needs about 50 million U.S. dollars per year to continue efforts to prevent HIV/AIDS epidemic through education and antiretroviral drug provision to patients.

Currently, there are 58,200 people living with HIV/AIDS, of them, 43,905 people including 4,307 children have received antiretroviral drugs.

The country has 87 health centers offering free-of-charge services to HIV/AIDS patients.

Cambodia is set for a 30 per cent increase in garment exports this year, according to Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC) president Van Sou Ieng.

The sector was heavily dependent on foreign buyers, which were increasing their orders as the global economy recovered, he said.

"We see a very strong investment situation in the sector, and many international buyers are interested in the quality and stable pricing of Cambodian garments," Van Sou Ieng said.

Cambodia's garment exports totalled US$2.99 billion in 2010, a 26 per cent increase on the $2.38 billion for 2009, according to previous figures from the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia.

A new garment factory was opening in the Kingdom every 10 days, Van Sou Ieng said.

"They see good security [for their investments] and benefit from the tariff exemptions granted by European countries," he said.

The Kingdom has about 500 garment factories, as well as 36 shoe factories.

University of Cambodia business and economics lecturer Chheng Kimlong said signs pointed to continued recovery in the sector.

"I believe the garment industry will continue to improve on increased demand from the European Union and the US this year," Chheng Kimlong said.

Overloaded vehicles are contributing to a more rapid than anticipated deterioration of Cambodia's road network, experts said yesterday.

"The cost of overloading causes problems to everyone involved, but it is easy to control damage if we have good system in place. This is the only instrument we have to stop it," said Asian Development Bank Senior Transport Specialist Shihiru Date on the sidelines of a conference on the issue yesterday.

The ADB has funded an axle-load control programme as part of a US$1 million technical assistance package to support government rehabilitation of about 150 kilometres of the Kingdom's roads.

Under the programme, six weigh stations began operation on March 15, with one more to begin later, in a bid to reduce damage from excessive loads on transport trucks.

Cambodia's infrastructure has improved significantly in the past ten years, though further improvements are still to come, said Shihiru Date.

"Now that almost all the national roads are paved, the second step is to focus on provincial and rural roads, of which only 25 percent and 1 percent are paved respectively," Shihiru Date said.

He added that the rural economy is becoming increasingly dependent on improved road networks. However, rapid growth in traffic volumes, combined with a lack of financing and maintenance, continues to cause damage.

Cambodia's road network of about 39,600 kilometres comprises 2,100 kilometres of national roads, 9,500 km of provincial roads and 28,000 km of rural roads, according to an ADB statement.

Although the implementation of the weigh stations is welcomed by many as improving the Kingdom's logistics, other steps remain to be taken.

"We support the installation of these stations, however, our concern is that there is still unfair competition from [trucking] businesses that are not registered," said Cambodian Trucking Association Executive Director Sok Chheang.

A regulation was proposed at the Government and Private Sector Forum in April 2010, requiring businesses to register with the Cambodian Trucking Association if they owned in excess of ten trucks.

However, only registered companies pay certain taxes, providing a disincentive to register with the association, he claimed, adding unregistered companies in particular overloaded freight vehicles.

TOKYO, July 5 (Reuters) - Japanese fund manager Asset Design plans to launch a Cambodian equities fund in late 2011, targeting big returns after the Southeast Asian country launches a new stock exchange this month, an executive at the asset company said on Tuesday.

Asset Design expects the scale of the fund to eventually grow to about 1 billion yen ($12 million) and plans to run the fund for about 10 years, Max Takahashi, a director at Asset Design, told Reuters in an interview.

The initial size of the fund will be about 400-500 million yen around the time of the launch expected in November, Takahashi said.

The Cambodian fund will be aimed at luring Japanese investors who are seeking higher yields and looking to invest beyond recently popular investment destinations such as China, he said.

"Many have already invested in India, China and Vietnam. We wanted to be unique so we selected Cambodia after conducting research for two years," said Takahashi, who will be the manager of the fund.

Takahashi, who previously worked for companies including Sumitomo Trust and Banking, said he has visited Cambodia more than 20 times since 2009.

The asset company anticipates big economic growth in the country and its exchange would follow the launch of other bourses in the region, such as in Vietnam.

Asset Design, a Japanese equities-focused hedge fund founded in 2002, has been seeking to diversify its portfolios in emerging markets.

Asset Design has 7.6 billion yen ($94 million) in assets under management. Of the total, it runs two Japanese equities funds totalling 2.5 billion yen, and the rest involves advisory to pension funds and institutional investors.

The asset management company aims to market the Cambodian fund to Japanese high net worth individuals.

It plans to start subscriptions later this month until mid-September. It also plans to hold investor seminars in August and September, Takahashi said.

Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) is scheduled to launch on July 11, but there will be no companies listed on the exchange at the time of the launch.

Trading on the exchange has been delayed again until the end of the year because companies planning listings need more time to comply with regulations.

Asset Design hopes to double or triple its returns from the Cambodian fund shortly after the launch of the stock exchange, Takahashi said.

"We've seen in Vietnam and Laos that share prices surged in those market shortly after the launch. I expect the same to happen in Cambodia," Takahashi said.

"We want to invest a big chunk in the IPOs of these companies. We'll seek big capital gains shortly after trading begins in Cambodia," he said.

State-owned Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), Telecom Cambodia and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port are the companies that are planning to conduct IPOs.

At least 10 other private companies want to list on the bourse, a Cambodian government official said. ($1 = 80.770 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

The opposition Sam Rainsy Party will hold a ceremony tomorrow to remember the dozens who died in the 1997 factional fighting, SRP lawmaker Kimsour Pirith said. During two days of heavy fighting on July 5 and 6, a Cambodian People's Party faction led by then-second Prime Minister Hun Sen ousted forces loyal to Funcinpec, headed at the time by then-first Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Funcinpec president and Deputy Prime Minister Nhek Bun Chhay, who was targeted in the action but is now part of a coalition with the ruling CPP, said yesterday that the Sam Rainsy Party was using the occasion for its political benefit.

"Freedom has no obstacles but challenges-trying to govern" are words of President Tsakhia Elbegdorj as he delivers his acceptance speech for Mongolia's chairmanship of the Community of Democracies this year.

Speaking as a true democrat, president Elbegdorj continues, " no dictator can stand in the way of our people's will to be free". He sparked Mongolia revolution on Human Rights Day December 10, 1989.

Members of Parliament from the Sam Rainsy Party will participate actively in the Parliamentary Forum of the Community of Democracies in Mongolia.

We have already received hopeful signals that other democratic nations will provide us the support as we shape our movement for change from the grassroots up.

Our villagers, our workers, our market women are regularly marching to the prime minister's home. They are sent back , they are tricked and forced to remain silent.

Underneath the calm surface, the fields are shaking.

Time for democracy in Cambodia will come.

It was a great honour to have met President Tsakhia Elbergdorj at the Community of Democracies conference in Vilnius, Lithunia.

For the full speech: www.ned.org/events/address-by-he-tsakhia-elbegdorj

The Cambodian government had sent a message congratulating Pheu Thai on winning the election and being in a position to form the new government, Yingluck Shinawatra said on Tuesday.

Ms Yingluck said in the message Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen did not mention anything about the Preah Vihear temple.

Pheu Thai's policy is to promote international relations, protect national interests and win acceptance from the international community, she said.

On whether the government to be led by her would help Thai Patriots Network coordinator Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary Ratree Pipattanapaiboon, who are being jailed in a prison in Phnom Penh for spying and border intrusion, Ms Yingluck said the matter would be taken for consideration after the government had been formed.

Asked whether the new foreign minister would have to be well-versed in Cambodia issues, she said the party would pick a person who is capable of doing the job and acceptable to the international community.

CAMBODIA'S SECOND PRIME Minister Hun Sen knew how to stage a coup. The longtime communist assembled a loyal private army and sent it into action in the predawn darkness of July 5. It struck throughout Phnom Penh with tanks, rockets and mortars, routing the forces of the first prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Three days later, 60 civilians and troops on both sides lay dead as Cambodians and foreigners rushed to flee the capital. Hun Sen's men fanned out into the countryside, rounding up confederates of Ranariddh, shooting some dead and announcing their "suicides," pressing others to swear allegiance to Southeast Asia's newest unchallenged strongman. Warned at the last minute of the impending coup, the prince had fled to Paris. The new boss swaggered into a press conference, almost giddy with victory. He advised photographers not to miss the historic moment. "I am captain alone," Hun Sen declared.

So one of the world's most hopeful experiments in democracy comes to a crashing close. Only four years ago the United Nations sponsored Cambodia's first free elections, hoping to end a long civil war and nearly a decade of communist rule under Hun Sen. Ranariddh's clean victory in that election was widely hailed as a model for other troubled nations, but Hun Sen refused to accept defeat. He threatened to take up arms. U.N. negotiators had little choice but to cede the rough former rebel a share of the prime minister's post and hope he would be content with that. He never was. As opposition leaders fled in fear for their lives last week, a maniacally confident Hun Sen said he had acted to halt the "anarchy" of Ranariddh's rule. He compared Ranariddh, who had gone to the United Nations to appeal for the world's help, to Mike Tyson biting in the face of defeat: the last resort of a loser. Ordinary Cambodians, however, were in no mood to gloat. Again and again on the streets of Phnom Penh, they said Hun Sen had brought back the "nightmare" of communist-style rule.

Hun Sen has done far more than topple the freely elected leader of Cambodia. He has undermined the revival of a country still struggling to overcome the genocidal reign of the radical Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s, and the communist regime that followed. As a few intrepid tourists, traders and investors returned to Cambodia in recent years, its neighbors had welcomed the prospect of a peaceful capitalist democracy next door. Now the beacon light is out: "We have failed, completely failed," said Ranariddh at the United Nations. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was prepared to admit Cambodia along with Burma and Laos later this month, but suspended Cambodia's invitation after the coup. In an exclusive article for NEWSWEEK, acting Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim says Southeast Asia must rethink its traditional passivity, and consider active intervention to prevent crises like the one unfolding in Cambodia (following story). The United States, Japan and Germany temporarily halted aid programs to Cambodia, which relies on foreign largesse for more than half of its $600 million national budget. To one Cambodian journalist, it seemed that "all the energy and effort we put into getting the country back on its feet has been destroyed in just 48 hours."

Asia's new strongman came as a surprise, but only because high hopes for Cambodia obscured what everyone knew about Hun Sen. He was a battle-hardened communist before he was an adult. Caught up in the spreading Indochina war as a teenager, he joined the Khmer Rouge side and lost his left eye to the fighting. But Hun Sen would garner no rewards after the rebel victory in 1975, only the paranoid suspicion of Khmer Rouge mastermind Pol Pot. Facing a purge, Hun Sen fled with his unit to Vietnam. When Vietnam toppled Pol Pot in 1979, it installed Hun Sen as one of its puppet rulers in Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge continued to fight Hun Sen, often in alliance with the forces of Prince Ranariddh's royalist party, Funcinpec. Then came the 1993 elections. Fighting subsided. The Khmer Rouge began to break up. What Cambodians now fear most is a revival of the civil war. Already, diplomats say, Funcinpec militants are reaching out to the Khmer Rouge, seeking to revive their old alliance against Hun Sen.

He will be ready. During the 1993 campaign his Cambodian People's Party dropped the communist label, but never truly relinquished power. The CPP retained most posts below the ministerial level. Hun Sen was too tough for the refined prince, forcing him to drop two key allies (including his own uncle) from the cabinet. Hun Sen also retained operational control of the armed forces, making it easy for him to build up his own private army. He is obsessed by fears of assassination and has been beefing up the force of 1,500 bodyguards who surround his heavily fortified residence, the "Tiger's Den," outside Phnom Penh. As relations decayed between the ill-educated farm boy and the prince, both men began recruiting former Khmer Rouge to their personal security forces - even though the Khmer Rouge is officially banned in Cambodia.

According to a foreign diplomat with contacts inside the CPP, Hun Sen decided to topple Ranariddh with an old communist ruse. He would "create an incident so the CPP could react militarily and wipe Funcinpec out." First Hun Sen denounced Ranariddh as a "criminal" for recruiting the Khmer Rouge and receiving arms shipments, even though he was doing the same things. Then he manipulated a government committee set up to end fighting between the CPP and Funcinpec. Hun Sen's men began pressuring the committee to search Funcinpec military camps for Khmer Rouge fighters and arms. The houses of Funcinpec party officials were raided. The provocation worked. Earlier this month a firefight broke out at a naval base north of Phnom Penh as CPP men searched for "illegal" Funcinpec troops. The next day, July 4, CPP military police disarmed a group of 70 Ranariddh bodyguards.

The prince's security men warned that a coup was in the works and urged him to flee. Ranariddh immediately hopped a plane for Paris, hours before the real battle. Just after dawn, Hun Sen's tank troops overran the Funcinpec base at Ang Snoul, 10 kilometers from Phnom Penh's international airport. That afternoon, as CPP Defense Minister Tea Banh assured a meeting of foreign diplomats that all was calm, loud explosions could be heard. It was Hun Sen's forces firing mortars, rockets and small arms at the residences of tour senior Ranariddh advisers, including the home base of army deputy chief of staff Nhiek Bunchhay. Ostensibly, this was another attack on "hidden" Khmer Rouge soldiers, but it was led by a commander who is a Khmer Rouge defector himself.

By then Hun Sen had already launched a purge, borrowing from Pol Pot's lessons on how to consolidate power. He issued a list of Ranariddh loyalists who should be arrested for plotting against him. He said Ranariddh was free to come back "to face court" proceedings—an offer the prince was hardly likely to accept. Not after Hun Sen's men stormed his Phnom Penh residence, where guards raised a white flag of surrender. The attackers looted the house (taking several Mercedes cars) and moved on to other targets on Hun Sen's list. Ministry of the Interior official Ho Sok was taken to his own ministry and killed by at least two AK-47 rounds to the head. His death was later reported as a suicide in a CPP-affiliated newspaper, which also claimed Funcinpec intelligence official Chao Sambath had killed himself by biting off his own tongue. CPP sources privately admit Chao Sambath was executed along with three generals and as many as 60 soldiers. Hun Sen admitted no such thing. "This is not a coup," be insisted. "No politician has been arrested, political parties remain untouched."

SO FAR AS IS KNOWN, THE hundreds of captured Funcinpec soldiers are being held under armed guard in pagodas and makeshift detention centers. CPP sources say they will be transferred to a prison camp near Phnom Penh under the control of a provincial governor with a history of violent behavior. Many of the prisoners, according to CPP sources, will be held for "psychological and political re-education," an eerie echo of communist rule. Outside Phnom Penh, some Cambodian sources say, Hun Sen forces are systematically arresting local Funcinpec officials and have detained 125 so far. One Cambodian who works for a foreign company says the "climate of fear and depression reminds me of the way Phnom Penh was in 1975, as the Khmer Rouge began ordering everyone out of the city and into the countryside."

Hun Sen has tried every trick in the communist book of subversion. Using money and political intimidation, he orchestrated a split within Funcinpec earlier this year. He swayed provincial Gov. Toan Chay and several National Assembly deputies to form a rival Funcinpec party. Now Hun Sen is expected to persuade some Funcinpec leader to betray Ranariddh by taking his post as first prime minister. That would help support Hun Sen's claim that nothing of substance has changed. He says Cambodia still has the same Constitution, the same political parties contesting National Assembly elections scheduled for next year, even the same head of state: Ranariddh's father, King Norodom Sihanouk. The difference is that now all serious challengers to Hun Sen are exiled or dead. "I fear the human-rights movement may be finished here unless the present trend is reversed." said one activist.

Hun Sen is already campaigning for status more grand than second prime minister. He travels frequently to the countryside, where his advance team makes sure the crowds and the LONG LIVE HUN SEN banners are in place before he arrives. During a recent trip near the Vietnamese border, he inaugurated yet another "Hun Sen" pagoda.

"Hun Sen" dormitory for monks and "Hun Sen" school for monks. He prostrated himself before saffron-robed monks, and handed out thick envelopes stuffed with cash to locals. Hun Sen may campaign like a Marxist autocrat, but he has a pragmatic streak. He was instrumental, for example, in loosening the regime's controls on Buddhism. "I've been called a communist, a pro-Vietnamese, an ex-Khmer Rouge," he recently told NEWSWEEK. "Finally I have to define myself to the world: I am Hun Sen, a pro-Cambodia Cambodian."

Nationalism is no longer enough to ensure his welcome in Southeast Asia. The coup solidified Hun Sen's reputation for unpredictable outbursts of irrationality and violence. He can be smart, even subtle, but "too often Hun Sen's way of solving problems is by force," says one Asian diplomat. His troops are suspected, to cite just one example, of plotting a 1995 grenade attack that left two dead at a congress of the pro-Ranariddh Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party. The day before, Hun Sen publicly warned the party leaders to cancel the congress—or risk a grenade attack. "You don't want to corner a man like Hun Sen," says one Western observer in Phnom Penh. "You don't want to put him in a position in which he has nothing to lose."

Hun Sen warned the world to stay out of Cambodia's internal affairs as the coup progressed. But no nation with citizens or business interests in Phnom Penh could ignore the looting and vandalism. Soldiers from both sides rumbled down streets in tanks stacked high with motorbikes, TVs, even mattresses. They took gas pumps from service stations, 4X4s from a Toyota and an Isuzu dealership. They stole buses and the entire duty-free store from the airport. Then they raked the tower and tarmac with heavy weapons, closing Phnom Penh's connection to the outside world. It was three days before panicked tourists and foreign residents could begin flying out.

IT WILL TAKE LONGER FOR Cambodia's reputation to recover. The economy was growing at 6 percent annually, and the garment industry in particular was expanding with the help of outside investors. Now locals and foreigners alike are shuttering businesses and putting plans on hold. A huge Malaysian-owned floating casino on the Mekong River has been closed and all its Filipino workers evacuated. "The economy will definitely take a hard hit," says one Asian diplomat. "People are frightened." Funcinpec National Assembly deputy Ahmad Yahya took a flight out. "If I stay I'll be like a prisoner," he said. "They'll force me to say white is black and black is white."

Hun Sen's neighbors still find it difficult to call his coup a coup. The United States avoided the word in part due to intelligence reports that Ranariddh, too, was plotting a power grab, and out of recognition that both sides were cozying up to the Khmer Rouge. "There are no heroes in Cambodia," says a senior Clinton administration official. "Nobody's black or white; they're all shades of gray." ASEAN likes to think of itself as broad enough to cover all shades of "Asian values," but couldn't accept what it called the "unfortunate circumstances which resulted from the use of force." ASEAN's deliberations have already been complicated by admitting the communists of Vietnam. It is about to admit the repressive generals who rule Burma. Cambodia was supposed to be easy, in comparison. "This is a major setback," says Philippine strategic analyst Carol Hernandez. "ASEAN had put a great stake in the peace and reconciliation process, and now it's all falling apart."

Hun Sen still insists nothing has changed, other than the departure of the "traitor" Ranariddh. He does not seem to hear the anger of officials at the United Nations, who uncharacteristically denounced the "coup d'état," exasperated that the $2 billion invested in the '93 election process had suddenly been tossed away. Afterward, Hun Sen sent a note to startled Western and Asian embassies asking for yet more aid—this time to repair damage from the coup. ASEAN foreign ministers plan to recruit King Sihanouk, who has played the role of national conciliator before. But Hun Sen has already rejected the offer. "It is too late," he said. "Everything is over."

Not quite. Outsiders may be exhausted by Cambodia, and Phnom Penh is quiet, but fighting continues in the countryside. Top Funcinpec generals have escaped Hun Sen's dragnet in the capital and are seeking to reunite with their troops in the northwest. Diplomats say a Funcinpec regional commander in the Siem Reap area, Gen. Kan Savoen, has joined forces with hated Khmer Rouge leader Ta Mok, the man said to have captured Pol Pot last month. One Cambodian analyst says this force could launch attacks near Phnom Penh as soon as late August. Hun Sen, huddled in the Tiger's Den, has often predicted that if he ever becomes sole leader of Cambodia, he will be assassinated. Now, he commands alone, and Cambodia faces the prospect of a violent turn in its troubles.

The ministry of Economic and Finance indicated that the Cambodian government handed out an oil exploration concession to the French Total company. The concession is located inside the overlap sea between Cambodia and Thailand. In return, Total promises to provide social funds for the development of that zone [KI-Media note: social funds are nothing more than under the table corruption money provided to the Hun Xen's regime]. The spokesman for the ministry of Economic and Finance indicated that Yves Lebail, the deputy-director of Total and the regional deputy director of Total in Cambodia, Vietnam and China, met with Comrade Keat Chhon, the minister of Economic and Finance, in Phnom Penh on 01 July 2011 to discuss the cooperation and the investment for oil exploration in Cambodia, as well as to discuss about social funds provided by the Total company. The ministry official said that the Cambodian government and Total are determined to use these oil social funds for social developments that serve the interest of the Cambodian people [KI-Media note: meaning these social funds will be used to grease the corrupt Hun Xen's regime officials]