KI Media: “Sacrava's Political Cartoon: CSX” plus 24 more |
- Sacrava's Political Cartoon: CSX
- Chan Sarun: The blameless minister?
- Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News
- Tale from the Kingdoom of Wonder: Street-encroaching mango tree can be cut down only after the Viet Association was consulted
- Boeung Kak resident maintain their stance of development in place
- ECCC forbids publications on the health condition of the jailed KR leaders
- Tale from the Kingdoom of Wonder: 2-star Bavet Casino General fought with a deranged man, shot his gun and caused head injury
- Violent dispute is far from over
- Analysis: A hard road to democracy
- "Don't let Cambodia turn into a 2-state nation" - Poem in Khmer by Spean Tep
- Letter from Finland's President of Parliament
- Harvard University's JUSTICE with Michael Sandel - Episode 11
- Closing Order of Case 002 against Senior KR Leaders Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ieng Thirith
- Escape from the killing fields
- Muoy You, who escaped Cambodia's killing fields, now teaches self-respect and integrity
- Cambodia launches bourse without trading
- Cambodia opens stock market, no stocks in sight
- Sam Rainsy criticizes the NEC of lack of independence and neutrality
- Legend is Cambodian multiplex first
- The World View of Yingluck Shinawatra
- Cambodia to Start Stock Exchange, Aiming for December Opening
- Evicted residents protest at Cambodian groundbreaking
- គិតខ្មែរខ្លះផង ដោយ ឆាំ ឆានី (Kit Khmer klass phorng by Chham Chhany)
- Cambodia's appeal grows
- On Sourn Serey Ratha and the KPPM's team in France
| Sacrava's Political Cartoon: CSX Posted: 11 Jul 2011 05:23 PM PDT
 | ||||
| Chan Sarun: The blameless minister? Posted: 11 Jul 2011 05:19 PM PDT  The Tonle Sap lake is destroyed, Trees are destroyed, But yet, this man is never sentenced Photo of Chan Sarun (also known as Ngor Hong Srun, Chinese: 吴和顺), the sCambodian minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries  | ||||
| Som Niyeay Phorng - Op-Ed by Angkor Borei News Posted: 11 Jul 2011 05:12 PM PDT | ||||
| Posted: 11 Jul 2011 04:16 PM PDT  A mango tree caused upheaval in the city 10 July 2011 Koh Santepheap News Translated from Khmer by Soy Click here to read the article in Khmer
Stung Treng province – A raging fight between Cambodians and Vietnamese created upheaval among the city authority during morning hours. The incident took place during a road survey to ease traffic and to facilitate traffic for fire trucks. When the crew started surveying a mango tree and wanted to cut it down, a group came out to prevent the cutting down of the tree. A dispute ensued and the city authority summoned both sides to the city hall to resolve this problem. The incident took place on 08 July 2011, south of Damnak Bridge, Stung Treng commune, Stung Treng City. A report indicated that, prior to the dispute, local residents asked the local authority to set up a road with easy access for fire trucks. In this request, residents from one side of the road asked the authority to widen the road on the opposite side where a larger number of Viet residents live. That request led to an intense dispute because a mango tree planted by a Vietnamese resident was too close the sidewalk and it needed to be chopped down. However, the Vietnamese family which owned the tree refused and the dispute ensued. The authority got a headache during that morning and it decided to summon both sides to the city hall to resolve this issue. Keo Choeum, the deputy-city governor, indicated that the street widening was undertaken to solve all problems that could take place during fires. Before taking action, the city and commune authority invited residents from both sides of the street who are disputing with each other to come forward to resolve this issue so that an agreement can be made for the building of the street. Furthermore, the mango tree that the Vietnamese family claimed to be theirs and prevented the authority from cutting it down, was also chopped down to widen the street. Chea Vann, the Stung Treng commune chief, indicated that the authority made this decision after it invited the residents to come and discuss this issue several times. The problem stemmed from 2 or 3 Vietnamese families who prevented the mango tree from being cut down when the authority surveyed the street. In reality, the mango was encroaching on the street. Nevertheless, after the authority invited the chairman of the Vietnamese Association and the city authorities to visit the spot, and after an arrangement was made, the Vietnamese families finally agreed to the cutting of the mango tree.  | ||||
| Boeung Kak resident maintain their stance of development in place Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:48 PM PDT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_io4O8Zsp8&feature=player_embedded  | ||||
| ECCC forbids publications on the health condition of the jailed KR leaders Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:45 PM PDT 08 July 2011 Free Press Magazine Online Translated from Khmer by Soy Click here to read the article in Khmer On 06 July 2011, the ECCC (also known at Khmer Rouge Tribunal, KRT), issued a declaration to the lawyers of the accused and to all sources close to the KRT, telling them not reveal any information on the health condition of the 4 accused, i.e. Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Iend Thirith and Khieu Samphan. The ECCC said this information is considered secret.  | ||||
| Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:28 PM PDT 10 July 2011 By Sopisith Cambodia Express News Translated from Khmer by Soy Click here to read the article in Khmer ចំណែកឯម្ចាស់រថយន្ត បានអះអាងខ្លួនគាត់ថា ជាឧត្តមសេនីយ៍ទោ នៅកាស៊ីណូ បាវិត តែមិនបានប្រាប់ឈ្មោះទេ Kandal – A 2-star general pulled his gun and shot a bullet up into the air, he also beat up a deranged man who had to receive several stitches in his head. The general was angry at the deranged man who threw rocks on his car, and the deranged man used a saw to cut ice cubes to try to hack the general at 09:15AM on 10 July 2011. The incident took place at Street No. 118, at the intersection of National Road 1, Ta Hing village, Prek Dach commune, Leuk Dek district, Kandal province. The car which the deranged man threw rocks on was a gray Toyota Land Cruiser. The vehicle owner claimed that he is a 2-star general at the Bavet Casino, but he did not provide his name. The victim was 43-year-old Uk Sam Ath who lives in the village and commune above with his elderly mother. The deranged man is very poor and he faces very difficult hardship. After his beating by the 2-star general, he had to undergo several stitches on his head. The villagers indicated that Uk Sam Ath became mentally unstable for more than 10 years already. On the morning of the incident, the 2-star general drove his Land Cruiser along a road when Uk Sam Ath threw a rock that hit one of the car side doors. Some paint was chipped off from the rock throw. The 2-star general then backed his car, grabbed Uk Sam Ath and beat him several times. Because of pain, Uk Sam Ath, took an axe left top of an ice cube nearby and threw it at the 2-star general, but he missed the general who then took out his gun and shot it up into the air. When Uk Sam Ath saw that, he took a saw used for cutting ice cubes and tried to hack the 2-star general with it, but he only managed to injure the general's hand. The 2-star general then used the butt of his gun to beat Uk Sam Ath's head, causing the latter a big gash and bleeding. Witnesses went to report the incident to the local police authority, they asked that the cops arrest Uk Sam Ath, confiscate the car and report the case to higher authority. However, the local authority refused because Uk Sam Ath is known to be deranged. Both the village chief and the commune chief confirmed that Uk Sam Ath has mental problem for more than 10 years already.  | ||||
| Violent dispute is far from over Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:17 PM PDT
Monday, 11 July 2011 Khouth Sophakchakrya The Phnom Penh Post OFFICIALS are reportedly planning another attempt to enforce a Supreme Court-ordered eviction in Kampong Speu province, villagers said yesterday, following an effort last month that ended in violence. Bun Sokhom, a 46-year-old resident of Stok Slar village in Oudong district's Phnom Toch commune, said yesterday that authorities had warned villagers during a forum on Saturday that they would take any legal action necessary to seize a 65-hectare area that has been the centre of a dispute since 2004. A 2009 Supreme Court verdict ruled that the land belonged to the Meng Keth Company, owned by Taiwanese businessman Kuo Sheng, but villagers who disagree with the outcome have continued to occupy and plant rice on the land. Deputy provincial governor Satthya Vuth reportedly accused residents of an "illegal occupation", and said that the villagers had "no rights" to the land as they had sold it to the company and lost their case at three different courts, Bun Sokhom said. Satthya Vuth and Oudong district governor Poul Nov, who attended the forum sponsored by the United States-based National Democratic Institute with villagers, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Yan Sokhom, a 40-year-old from Por village of Dom Nak Rieng commune, said yesterday that villagers were united in their determination to protect land they believed was rightfully theirs. While Nut Romduol, a lawmaker for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party from Kampong Speu province, said yesterday that he had submitted a letter to National Assembly President Heng Samrin requesting further investigation into the dispute. Last month, about 300 policemen attempted to carry out a Supreme Court-ordered eviction of villagers in the 65-hectare area, but encountered a force of roughly 250 armed residents from Damnak Raing and Phnom Touch communes. A skirmish in Stock Slat village left at least 11 injured, including one villager who had been shot by police, and a police officer who was beaten unconscious by locals. Another policeman was taken hostage by villagers who discussed whether to kill him. Local authorities later filed a complaint against villagers for injuries to four policemen.  | ||||
| Analysis: A hard road to democracy Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:56 AM PDT Monday, 11 July 2011 Mu Sochua Letter to The Phnom Penh Post More than 1,400 opposition members were arrested at the weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Is this a sign of an Asian storm coming? Prime Minister Francois Fillon of France granted an exclusive interview to The Phnom Penh Post on the eve of his two-day visit to Cambodia last month. Fillon was totally correct to remind Cambodia that democratic institutions must benefit everyone. They are essential pillars of democracy. The challenge of building these institutions begins with the political will of leaders who have been chosen by their people to lead. Most important of all, the true challenge is the commitment to an inclusive system of governance and mechanisms that allows voices to be heard and differences of opinion to be brought to the attention of those in charge. Judging by these basic principles of democracy, Cambodia has a long way to go. It begins with the practice of "winner takes all" at the National Assembly. Since the 2008 general election – which European Union observers rated as "far below international standards" – the Cambodian People's Party has controlled 90 of the 123 seats. During each parliamentary debate, senior CPP members of parliament refer to themselves as: "we, the 90 seats" and remind other elected representatives that the people of Cambodia have "given" them the power to lead the country. They truly believe it is their full right to conduct business without any obligation to include the opposition, unless for ceremonial reasons. Such a mindset is a serious barrier to democratisation. Democratic institutions must be sustained by public officials and civil servants whose expertise, experience and knowledge ensure that services to the people are rendered equally and without political interference. Elected leaders and public civil servants have one thing in common: the obligation to maintain a high sense of ethics. This is another challenge to democratisation: the heavy and active presence of judges and court officials who are members of the central committee of the ruling party. Like civil servants in all other public institutions, court officials must pledge their allegiance to the CPP. Every weekend, officials from each ministry and department join CPP "working groups" to pay visits to the grassroots, using state resources and often with gifts for the rural poor. This system of patronage is totally contrary to a strict code of conduct and respect for ethics. In the past 20 years, Lithuania, a small country that spent 50 years under a Soviet regime, has built strong democratic roots, a striving civil society and a vibrant multi-party system. The president of the Lithuanian parliament is a woman, and the first vice-president is a woman from the opposition party. The parliamentary commissions on finance and audit are reserved for the opposition for check and balance, and the opposition leader is first to have the floor during debates. Where is the hope for democratisation in Cambodia? That light of hope shines each time our villagers stand up to defy arrests. Networks of the opposition are tightly woven in the countryside, despite the absence of their leader. Workers have called out for general strikes for better wages. Women take an active part in that grassroots movement. The women of Beoung Kak lake who were re-arrested last Thursday are part of the hope, and their fearless fight for dignity is joined by other victims of injustice throughout Cambodia. The only way to stop those people fighting for justice is for the ruling party to realise that sharing power is a must. And it must begin with dialogue and with the recognition of people's rights and freedom. Oppressive regimes will always come to an end. The world movement for change has proven so. More than 1,400 opposition members were arrested at the weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Is this a sign of an Asian storm coming? -------------------- Mu Sochua is a former minister of women's affairs who now serves as a parliamentarian in the opposition Sam Rainsy Party.  | ||||
| "Don't let Cambodia turn into a 2-state nation" - Poem in Khmer by Spean Tep Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:36 AM PDT   | ||||
| Letter from Finland's President of Parliament Posted: 11 Jul 2011 11:21 AM PDT Dear All, Last week, Sar Sophorn, the vice president of SRP-Finland has sent a letter to congratulated Mr. Eero Heinäluoma who has been elected as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland. Today the Speaker sent back an official letter as attached. We strongly hope that next time our President Sam Rainsy or/and our MP(s) will have a chance to meet him in the Parliament. Warm greeting from Finland. SRP-Finland   | ||||
| Harvard University's JUSTICE with Michael Sandel - Episode 11 Posted: 11 Jul 2011 09:50 AM PDT Episode 11Part 1 – THE CLAIMS OF COMMUNITY Communitarians argue that, in addition to voluntary and universal duties, we also have obligations of membership, solidarity, and loyalty. These obligations are not necessarily based on consent. We inherit our past, and our identities, from our family, city, or country. But what happens if our obligations to our family or community come into conflict with our universal obligations to humanity? Part 2 – WHERE OUR LOYALTY LIES Do we owe more to our fellow citizens that to citizens of other countries? Is patriotism a virtue, or a prejudice for one's own kind? If our identities are defined by the particular communities we inhabit, what becomes of universal human rights?  | ||||
| Posted: 11 Jul 2011 09:42 AM PDT 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.CLOSING ORDER of Co-Investigating Judges You Bunleng and Marcel Lemonde, 15 September 2010 B. WORKSITES AND COOPERATIVES Tram Kok Cooperatives1233 Treatment of Specific Groups 319. The subdistrict militia kept a close eye on the persons who arrived from Phnom Penh. If they said anything against the CPK they were arrested and taken away.1316 Former members of the Khmer Republic armed forces and the police of the Khmer Republic, especially those who had held the rank of officer, were closely monitored. Lists of former Lon Nol officers who arrived in the subdistricts were drawn-up and sent to the district. For example, a District 105 document from Nheng Nhang Subdistrict records the names of 11 former Lon Nol officers who had been placed in the subdistrict.1317 320. Two witnesses recall that Cham people in Tram Kok district were treated like everyone else.1318 On the other hand, the Vietnamese appear to have been treated differently. One witness recalls that all the Vietnamese eventually disappeared from his village.1319 A former teacher in the children's unit in Nheng Nhang Subdistrict recalls that in 1976, the Subdistrict chief announced that Subdistrict members of Vietnamese ethnicity would be sent back to Vietnam. She remembers the arrest and execution of people who had lied about their ethnicity hoping to escape. She says that there were two phases in the treatment of the Vietnamese. In the first phase, the Vietnamese were in fact sent home. However, in the second phase, ethnic Vietnamese were taken away and executed.1320 Several District 105 documents record the arrest of ethnic Vietnamese.1321 A report from the Ang Ta Soam Subdistrict dated 26 April 1977 requests guidance from "Angkar" on what to do about the registration of Khmer Krom people. It appears that in several couples, only one person was Vietnamese, but both asked to be sent to Vietnam.1322 Another report records that pursuant to a decision of "Angkar", seven Khmer Krom persons were sent back to Vietnam.1323 321. In parts of Tram Kok, the CPK banned religion and disrobed monks from as early as 1972.1324 By April 1975 this policy was instituted district-wide. One witness, a former monk, recalls that after April 1975 all monks who had been born in Takeo or Phnom Penh were instructed to stay at Ang Rakar Pagoda in Tram Kok. CPK cadre later came and told them all to disrobe.1325 Witnesses recall the destruction of Buddhist statues and the conversion of monasteries into meeting halls, detention centres, dining halls, pig farms and warehouses.1326 People were not permitted to burn incense.1327 Those monks who had been disrobed were sent to join the army or made to work.1328 In addition, family members were not allowed to cremate bodies or hold funeral ceremonies.1329 *** 322. Fifty one (51) civil parties were declared admissible with regards to Tram Kok Cooperatives,1330 since the alleged crimes described in the application were considered as being more likely than not to be true, pursuant to Internal Rule 23 bis (4). These civil parties have provided sufficient elements tending to establish prima facie personal harm as a direct consequence of the crimes committed at Tram Kok Cooperatives.  | ||||
| Escape from the killing fields Posted: 11 Jul 2011 09:39 AM PDT
Family reunited with dad they thought was dead 07/11/2011 By: Nick Martin Winnipeg Free Press (Canada) Prof. Sorpong Peou's last memory of his father Nam had been watching the Khmer Rouge throw the elder man into a blue truck in 1975 to be taken to execution in the killing fields of Cambodia. Sorpong Peou was 17 and terrified he would soon die just like his father. And seeing him hauled away was his last memory of Nam Peou until the two embraced in Phnom Penh last month. For 36 despairing years, the father thought his wife and seven children had been murdered; the family believed their father and husband had died. "It's a complicated story, a complicated life," Peou said quietly, sitting in his Lindenwoods home. For the past year, Peou has been the chairman of the political department at the University of Winnipeg. "My life has been a long journey, from being a survivor of the civil war, to being a survivor of the killing fields, to being a refugee in Canada," said Peou. Back to 1975: Peou's parents and their seven children, Sorpong the eldest, his dad a government official in a country torn by civil war, were struggling to survive in a country gone mad. The Americans had withdrawn, the government fell, and the Khmer Rouge began the systematic murder of the two million most-educated of Cambodia's seven million citizens. "Those who survived had to pretend we were uneducated," said Peou, forced to become a slave labourer pulling a plow. "Young men were forced to pull plows, because there weren't enough oxen... starvation, no medical care, I was close to death so many times," recalled the 55-year-old Peou, who has a wife and two children. Someone witnessed his father Nam Peou executed, Peou said, and that much was true. "Definitely -- he was taken away for execution. He was thrown into a ditch, bodies on top of him, but he didn't die." Peou's father fled, was captured again, tortured, and then somehow got away into the jungle on the Thai-Cambodian border, believing his family was dead. They weren't, but they were living through hell. Those next three years were depicted in the film The Killing Fields, which Peou has been able to watch only once. "It made me feel as though I was still there... but not real enough." Real life was far more horrific than anything in that film, said Peou. When the Vietnamese army swept into Cambodia in 1978 to drive out the Khmer Rouge, Peou found out later, "We were on the execution list." Instead, miraculously, the Vietnamese army freed them. "International security is my field. I wrote my thesis on UN peacekeeping, with the focus on Cambodia," said Peou, interrupting his harrowing tale for a brief moment of academia. Vietnam portrayed that 1978 invasion as a humanitarian intervention, and Peou is willing to call it that, or a liberation or even salvation, though, "I'm always skeptical of the motivation when it's one single country." Peou and his mother and six siblings made it to a refugee camp in Thailand, and came as refugees in 1982 to Ottawa, where they all became Canadian citizens, and he began his climb to academia through a PhD at Toronto's York University. Peou later taught in Singapore and in Tokyo, and it was in Tokyo in late 2009 that things got really strange. After relating unthinkable horrors for an hour, his voice at times quavering, juxtaposing the tranquillity of Lindenwoods with the Cambodian jungle of the late 1970s, Peou was suddenly lost for words -- he is a spiritual man, but has no belief in psychics, Peou said several times. But, still, how to explain what came next? Start with the night-long dream Peou had in Tokyo on Christmas Day in 2009, a dream in which he walked and chatted with his father, and in his dream his dad told Peou he was alive. Then his brother visited an Ottawa psychic to get advice on a business matter, only to have the psychic tell the brother that Nam Peou was alive. Skeptical, a sister went to the psychic without revealing the family connection, and then Peou's mother went, and they all heard the same story about Nam Peou's having survived. Pooling their money, the family dispatched a brother to Cambodia, where he put up thousands of posters of Nam Peou's photo as he looked 40 years ago, and scoured countless Thai border villages and former refugee sites. And then, came the day that Peou's younger brother saw an old man in the street, who looked at one of the posters and said, "This man looks like when I was young." The old man was 85, his memory shattered by years of deprivation and torture. The old man was certain his family had died in the killing fields -- he'd remarried, and now had another six children. The old man resisted believing the Canadian of Cambodian heritage standing before him, Sorpong Peou's younger brother, was his son. The family back in Canada similarly resisted believing immediately that this old man was their father, said Peou. This man had a mole on his face, his father had had no such mole; this man had perfect fingernails, his father had a lifelong split nail on one thumb. The mole had developed during a near-fatal illness, it turned out, and the perfect nail had grown back in after the Khmer Rouge had pulled out Nam Peou's fingernails one by one. Little by little, his father's memories emerged, and mutual doubt turned to mutual amazed belief, as Nam Peou and his family talked by telephone and over a period of time he remembered and related things that only Nam Peou would know about his wife and children -- they realized that they were all really the family that had known happiness in Cambodia four decades before. Peou's mother moved from Ottawa to Phnom Penh to be with her husband and his new family, along with one of Sorpong Peou's brothers, who owns a thriving seafood business in Phnom Penh and cares for them all. Reluctantly, "My mother has to accept that he has his own family," Peou said. In June, Peou went to Phnom Penh and embraced the father who once upon a time would come home each day to his young family and "would pick us up and kiss us like a baby... a truly gentle man who would not kill a fly, a devout Buddhist." Peou doesn't try to explain how any of this came about. But as his story spreads, others wonder, is someone dear to them still alive in Cambodia, Peou said: "People start to have hope now." nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca  | ||||
| Muoy You, who escaped Cambodia's killing fields, now teaches self-respect and integrity Posted: 11 Jul 2011 09:15 AM PDT
Muoy You has opened Seametrey Children's Village in Phnom Penh to help restore Cambodia's culture. July 11, 2011 By Tibor Krausz, Correspondent The Christian Science Monitor Phnom Penh, Cambodia For Muoy You, "the power of education" isn't an abstract concept. She's seen it transform the life of her family. Her father was a bicycle repairman, and her mother an illiterate street vendor. Yet her four children are all university graduates. "They're high fliers," Ms. Muoy says. One of her sons teaches aeronautics at the University of Washington in Seattle; another is working on a PhD in particle physics at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, in Geneva. Muoy grew up poor in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during the Vietnam War. "We lived in a squatters' shack, but I loved learning and I did well in school," she recalls. In 1972 she won a scholarship to study in France. It would save her from Pol Pot's killing fields, where her parents and siblings were among the 2 million dead. She spent the next two decades in exile, raising a family and working as a teacher in Africa and the Middle East. Now Muoy wants to transform the prospects of other Cambodian families by giving children of low-income cleaners, laborers, farmers, and tuk-tuk (motorized rickshaw) drivers a high-quality education. "I don't just want to teach them to read and write," she stresses. "I want them to become professionals, writers, thinkers, artists – to make their country proud." In Cambodia today, few students have that chance; most have access only to basic education. So upon returning home to Phnom Penh in 2003, Muoy set up the Seametrey Children's Village, a private initiative. She mortgaged a property she owned abroad, bought a small plot of land, and converted a run-down hut on it into a classroom. "A school is just a building," she notes. "It's the resources that matter." Courteous and fluent in English, Muoy modestly calls herself "an obscure woman with dreams bigger than herself." She started with a handful of young children – those of neighbors and acquaintances. She ditched the rote learning that is common at crowded government schools and instead set about helping children discover the joys of learning by themselves in a free-spirited environment. "You shouldn't just stick children behind desks," Muoy explains. "You need to help them retain their childlike curiosity and spontaneity." Word of her school spread. As more and more students came, Muoy rented the house next door to expand. Two years ago, after the death of her architect-painter husband, she turned their airy, four-story home on the site into a guesthouse. "I've turned hotelier for the cause," Muoy says with a chuckle. The income "helps us sustain the school without the need for handouts," she says. Parents pay according to their means. The poorest pay nothing; some pay small sums they can afford. Expatriates and better-off locals pay the full monthly fee of $290. "A school like this would have been beyond our dreams," says Ang Kim, a tuk-tuk driver whose two young daughters study in Seametrey. He can't pay, but he volunteers as a security guard on Sundays. Currently, the school has 80 students, from toddlers to teens. They learn in small groups from nursery through primary school. Whether from dirt-poor villages, urban slums, or well-heeled Phnom Penh homes, they're treated alike – and are expected to treat one another alike, too. A poor farmer's son is best friends with a rich rice merchant's son – a rare friendship in a country with a rigid social divide between rich and poor. "We have to break down social barriers and emphasize our common humanity," Muoy insists. A key part of the curriculum is moral education. Muoy and her teachers, many of them foreign volunteers, urge the children to value ethical behavior as its own reward. "Be gentle and nice, Samreth!" Muoy chides a lively 4-year-old when she sees him scuffling with a little girl on the school's shady, well-equipped playground. "She pushed me first!" Samreth insists. "Shouldn't you be a gentleman and not push back?" Muoy tells him. The boy agrees, then scampers back to play. Samreth studies at Seametrey with his older sister. His grandmother, who sells sugar-cane juice and helps out at the school, gave birth to the children's mother the very same day in April 1975 that the Khmer Rouge set about driving the entire population of Phnom Penh into the countryside to become slave laborers. During the ultra-Maoist movement's brutal four-year rule that followed, teachers and intellectuals were systematically eliminated in a policy that would tear apart the moral fabric of the society. Cambodia still hasn't recovered. "Seametrey is a visionary project [aimed at] regenerating Cambodians' self-respect and integrity," says Elia Van Tuyl, a retired businessman in Palo Alto, Calif., who runs the Friends of Cambodia charity. "It seeks to attack poverty by addressing its psychological, educational, and cultural roots." After just two years at Seametrey, young Samreth now speaks fluent English. "He's a bright boy with leadership and oratory skills remarkable for his age," Muoy says. "I'm very happy for my grandchildren," says Tes Kamsan, the boy's grandmother. "They'll have a much better life than their mother and I had." Muoy is certain of that. She points to a flowery vine in her garden. From its pot the plant has climbed all the way up to her fourth-floor balcony. "That is my analogy for education," she explains. "Place children in fertile soil, and they'll blossom and flourish!"  | ||||
| Cambodia launches bourse without trading Posted: 11 Jul 2011 09:05 AM PDT
11 July 2011 AFP PHNOM PENH: Cambodia launched its long-awaited national stock exchange on Monday, aimed at boosting economic growth -- but trading is not set to start for months because of a string of delays. During the opening ceremony for the exchange, Economy and Finance Minister Keat Chhon said the event was "an important historical day for the Cambodian financial sector" and a new source of "national pride". "It clearly reflects that Cambodia has been moving forward to another stage of financial sector development," he said, describing the Cambodia Stock Exchange (CSX) as "a new instrument" for saving and investment. Full operation will start before the end of the year, Keat Chhon said. Cambodia signed an agreement to set up the stock market -- a joint venture between the government and South Korea's stock exchange -- in 2008 and planned to open it in 2009. However, the launch date was pushed back twice due to the global downturn and regulatory hurdles. The Korea Exchange, which has a 45 per cent stake in the CSX, has a similar interest in the recently-opened bourse of Laos. Keat Chhon said three state-owned enterprises had been instructed by the government to work on listing their stocks for trading. Last November, 15 securities firms were granted licences as underwriters, brokers, investment advisers and dealers to operate on the bourse. Stock quotations for trading must be in local currency -- the riel -- only, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) said in March. But for the first three years, both buyers and sellers can arrange to settle payments in US dollars at their agreement, according to officials. Cambodia has a long-term goal to reduce reliance on the greenback, which according to the Asian Development Bank makes up more than 90 per cent of all currency in circulation in the country. While still among one of the world's poorest countries, Cambodia has emerged from decades of conflict as one of the region's rising economies. Cambodia remains a largely cash-only economy and a high degree of mistrust means many people hoard their money at home instead of using banks.  | ||||
| Cambodia opens stock market, no stocks in sight Posted: 11 Jul 2011 08:59 AM PDT By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH, July 11 (Reuters) - Cambodia opened its new stock exchange on Monday but there was no trading because there are no listed companies and officials seemed uncertain that any would be listed by the end of the year, the latest date for the much-delayed start of operations. In a speech at the country's tallest building, part of which houses the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), Finance Minister Keat Chhon told the three state-owned companies that plan a listing to hurry up. "The inauguration today signals the readiness of the securities market for trading, which is planned for the end of this year if the companies can issue securities as planned," Keat Chhon said before touring the CSX's small trading room, which was crowded with guests and journalists. He placed the first dummy order but the system did not appear to work. Three state companies, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA), Telecom Cambodia and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, are preparing listings. Alexandra Herbel, general manager of the French Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said she was aware of several private companies that were also making preparations. "The process of listing is quite long, nine months to two years. It will take a little bit of time, so it will start with these three large companies and I think they have been working very hard and getting things up to standard," she said. "How long it will take to really get everything approved, I don't know," she added. PPWSA's director general, Ek Sonn Chan, declined to commit himself. "As of now, I don't know when we can get listed." The CSX is a joint venture between the Cambodian government and Korea Exchange, the operator in Seoul of Asia's fourth-largest bourse. It also helps run the bourse in Laos, another Southeast Asian frontier market. That market opened in January and trades two stocks. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Alan Raybould)  | ||||
| Sam Rainsy criticizes the NEC of lack of independence and neutrality Posted: 11 Jul 2011 02:09 AM PDT  11 July 2011 Everyday.com.kh Translated from Khmer by Soch Tep Nitha, the secretary-general of the National Election Committee [also known as: National Election Cheating] (NEC), said that opposition leader Sam Rainsy's criticism on the NEC as lacking independence and neutrality as being an old issue. Through a videoconference held in the afternoon on 08 July 2011, Sam Rainsy criticized the NEC of lacking independence, it is under the influence of the ruling party, it lack neutrality and it only serves the CPP. [CPP-installed] Tep Nitha said that Sam Rainsy's criticisms are old news and he does not pay attention to them. Tep Nitha said that the NEC was set up according to the law and it fulfill its duty properly (sic!). Tep Nitha added that, following each election, national and international organizations recognize the positive aspect of the elections. He said that only the opposition party who lost the election accused the NEC of lacking independence and that the election is unfair. [KI-Media note: Through this statement, Tep Nitha clearly shows his subservience to the CPP]  | ||||
| Legend is Cambodian multiplex first Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:06 AM PDT Mon, 11 July 2011 By Patrick Frater Exhibition News The first multiplex cinema in Cambodia opened this week with screenings of Transformers: Dark of the Moon – and a few surprising teething problems. The Legend Cinema is a three screen multiplex, built in capital city Phnom Penh's City Mall, and owned by the Westec Media Ltd. The complex, which was reportedly built at a cost of $1.5 million, includes 800 seats and has one theatre equipped with Dolby 3-D systems. Tickets are priced at $4 as standard rising to $6 for VIP seats in the regular halls, and $6 rising to $8 in the 3-D theatre. Westec Media is a joint venture between Cambodian firm Westec Corporation, which has interests in schools, universities and security services, and Malaysia's Beep Media, which provides security services in the movie industry, event management in the games industry, and training and technology services. Westec Media says it is the only company licensed and endorsed by the Ministry of Culture in Cambodia for the distribution of foreign content. In May it signed a deal with 20th Century Fox, providing it with X-Men: First Class and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. It followed that with a 12-film deal with United International Pictures, spanning upcoming 2011 titles and some catch-up movies including Thor and The Last Airbender. Commercial operations got underway a week later than previously announced on Thursday 7 July after delays blamed on equipment supplies from overseas. The lack of a cinema-going habit means that the Legend's management has to spell out basic etiquette including getting to cinema ahead of the advertised screening time, not taking off shoes and not eating food in a noisy fashion. One problem they did not anticipate was the high level of breakages of the 3-D glasses. Damages were so high on the first day that on Friday it was announced that the $30 Dolby glasses would be ditched in favour of a cheaper Chinese-made model, though they soon relented and are persevering with the Dolby glasses. Though Legend is not Cambodia's only cinema showing imported films, the smaller Flicks Community Movie House, owned by Hong Kong's Ramon Stoppelenburg Enterprises, operates with a menu of independent and studio fare. Currently showing are titles including Arthur, Insidious, Limitless, My Big Fat Greek Wedding and The Stoning of Soraya M.  | ||||
| The World View of Yingluck Shinawatra Posted: 11 Jul 2011 12:00 AM PDT July 11, 2011 Pongphisoot Busbarat Jakarta Globe Thailand is celebrating a newly elected female prime minister for the first time in its history. Yingluck Shinawatra and her Pheu Thai Party are forming a coalition government, although it may take up to a month to see the new makeup of the ministries and the coalition's policies. Pheu Thai will likely have to give up chairs in several ministries, but will definitely reserve the security and foreign affairs ministries. During press conferences to announce her coalition parties on Monday, Yingluck said restoring Thailand's foreign relations would be among her government's immediate priorities. Although Yingluck has not offered much comment on her foreign policy agenda, its orientation can be deduced from the policy outline she released before the election, "Thailand Vision 2020." This shows that the new government will likely have an outward-oriented policy emphasizing Thailand's leading role in the international arena. It reinvigorates Thailand's desire to be a regional hub for many activities, such as aviation, finance, health services and food production. This policy vision is arguably identical to the foreign policy of Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, during his premiership. He promoted Thailand's role in the region through the creation of a dual strategy based on both regional forums and a web of bilateral trade agreements. Yingluck underscored that "there is a lot of hard work ahead," when the preliminary election results suggested her party had gained a majority. At the regional level, Yingluck will need to restore Thailand's role in Asean and beyond. If Thaksin's ideas are influential in Yingluck's foreign policy formulation, one thing we can expect from her government is attempts by Thailand to revive its influence in regional affairs. Its own version of regional and sub-regional initiatives, such as ACD, ACMECS and BIMSTEC, will be renewed. Thailand may also try to resume its active role in Asean, which has diminished since the coup in 2006. Such a move will only be possible if Thailand's problems with Cambodia are resolved amicably and its attachment to democratic principles at home is proved sustainable. It is still not clear how Yingluck will fix Thai-Cambodian relations. There is a good chance she may reverse some of the decisions of her predecessor, Abhisit Vejjajiva, particularly Thailand's withdrawal from Unesco's World Heritage Committee. She may take the previous position of supporting joint management of the Preah Vihear Temple. Her main challenge is to find a way to resume bilateral talks with Cambodia on border management issues without risking another prolonged protest from conservative groups. We may see more ultranationalist rallies against Yingluck's policy over this issue, which could grow as other parties with their own grievances join. There are people, especially in Bangkok and the southern provinces, who do not like the Red Shirt and Pheu Thai victory. They are ready to join any protest if the campaign sounds legitimate, and the territory integrity issue is always a legitimate one. As prime minister, Yingluck could use her position to restore Thailand's standing as a proponent of democracy in the region. However, she will face other complications in Thailand's ties with Burma. While the new Burmese government is "democratically elected," the influence of the military in politics is evident. Dealings with the regime there may follow a similar pattern to what has been done in the past, but be more legitimate in many aspects. No matter what, Yingluck cannot afford to focus only on reaching economic deals with Burma, as her predecessors did with the junta, and pay no attention to its human rights. Her position on this issue is unclear. As a female prime minister, she will be expected to express more sympathy for human rights issues by rights groups and activists, including the matter of refugees along the Thai-Burmese border. She may also be called on to lend her moral support for Aung San Suu Kyi, which could damage Thai-Burmese relations. Given the United States' re-engagement with regional democratic development, Thailand's democratic stability will be of interest to it. As Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia and a long-time US ally, the United States will need to keep Thailand on track. The US approach to Thai politics since the 2006 coup has been viewed as relying on an interventionist approach, such as in the case of a meeting between the US assistant secretary of state and Red Shirt leaders during the political protests in May 2010. Yingluck's campaign for democracy will inevitably attract US involvement in Thailand's democratic consolidation. Yingluck's vision for Thailand may, at the same time, inevitably further anchor Beijing's influence in the country and the region. She wants to achieve an improvement in Thailand's international competitiveness by developing provincial urban areas, as well as the country's domestic railway network. This policy will likely have to synchronize closely with China's plan to extend high-speed railways to Southeast Asia. The escalating Chinese and US presence may also lead to a power struggle. Since Thailand needs to cultivate relations with both powers, it will need to strike a balance — a difficult task. These challenges will be central to Yingluck's success as a manager of Thailand's foreign relations. Thailand needs a clear and sophisticated foreign policy formulation to cope with these challenges. It also needs the next foreign minister to be someone who not only knows how to sell Thailand's products but also understands the sensitivity of domestic politics in Thai foreign relations, and the complexity of the regional political economy. East Asia Forum Pongphisoot Busbarat is a research associate at the Department of Political and Social Change at Australian National University.  | ||||
| Cambodia to Start Stock Exchange, Aiming for December Opening Posted: 10 Jul 2011 11:55 PM PDT July 11 (Bloomberg) -- South Korea's stock exchange and Cambodia have formed a joint venture that is aiming to open a stock market in the Southeast Asian country in December. The Cambodian government will hold a 55 percent stake in Cambodia Securities Exchange Co., while Korea Exchange Inc. will own the remainder, the South Korean bourse operator said in an e-mailed statement today. The Korean company will provide information-technology systems in return for the stake, while Cambodia will offer the site and building for the bourse, today's statement said. The venture's board will be comprised of four people from Cambodia and three from Korea Exchange, the statement said. Korea Exchange this year also helped Laos, Southeast Asia's smallest economy, open its stock market. The Lao Securities Exchange is 51 percent owned by the Laotian government and 49 percent held by Korea Exchange. --Editors: Darren Boey, Matthew Oakley  | ||||
| Evicted residents protest at Cambodian groundbreaking Posted: 10 Jul 2011 11:43 PM PDT Jul 11, 2011 DPA Phnom Penh - Cambodian officials broke ground Monday on a real estate project that human rights groups said has led to the illegal evictions of thousands of residents. In a ceremony at Phnom Penh's Boeung Kak lake area, city Governor Kep Chuktema inaugurated construction on the project as dozens of affected residents gathered to protest on the opposite shore. Most of lake has been filled with sand in preparation for the 133-hectare housing and commercial project being developed by a firm linked to a senator of the ruling Cambodian People's Party. The World Bank admitted in March that its land-titling programme that ended in 2009 had failed thousands of Boeung Kak's residents who have been forcibly evicted over the past two years. Few if any of the residents have been able to get title documents from local authorities. Sia Phearum of the Housing Rights Task Force non-governnmental organization said about 1,000 families remained with those evicted now living at resettlement sites outside Phnom Penh. He said many of those sites were far from schools, health clinics and job opportunities. 'We found that some people travelled back to Phnom Penh and others sold their flats to other people because it is far from their business,' he said. 'It's hard to live there.' Those remaining at the lake face a threat of eviction after city officials last week rejected a proposal by residents calling for an on-site housing option. Sia Phearum said the government should work out a compromise with Boeung Kak residents, who he said are being left behind by Cambodia's recent development. 'I think that if the government has a strong will to solve the problem, they can do it,' he said. 'If we develop, we should develop for all.' Cambodia's land tenure system was destroyed during decades of conflict. In recent years, land prices have risen sharply as the economy strengthened, and tens of thousands of people have been driven off their land by the powerful and well-connected.  | ||||
| គិតខ្មែរខ្លះផង ដោយ ឆាំ ឆានី (Kit Khmer klass phorng by Chham Chhany) Posted: 10 Jul 2011 11:33 PM PDT   | ||||
| Posted: 10 Jul 2011 11:30 PM PDT 11/07/2011 Nareerat Wiriyapong Bangkok Post Thailand needs to maintain political calm to regain the confidence of foreign investors as Cambodia has emerged as a promising investment location in Asean, says the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD). A window of opportunity had opened for Thailand as political tensions were easing after a relatively trouble-free election campaign that resulted in a Pheu Thai majority, said ITD, a unit of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). As well, it noted, Cambodia has welcomed the Pheu Thai victory and hopes strained relations between the two countries will improve. "But we have to maintain this peaceful situation and proceed with political reconciliation amid the global shift of foreign direct investments into Asia," said ITD executive director Weerasak Kowsurat, a former Tourism and Sports minister in Thailand. Geneva-based Unctad is preparing to release its World Investment Report 2011 late next month. A key finding in the report is the expansion of FDI in the services sector in China and Asean as the number of middle-income consumers grows and spending rises in proportion. Chinese investors, meanwhile, have stepped up their outbound investments in the region including the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). Mr Weerasak said Thailand's border dispute with Cambodia had bothered foreign investors who have been looking forward to benefiting from regional integration under the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 "But this concern seems to be easing as the Cambodian government favours Pheu Thai [more than the previous Democrat-led government]," he said. "We should never let internal politics intervene in international relationships with other countries." Unctad research has found that Cambodia is becoming increasingly attractive among non-Thai investors, thanks to the country's greater market openness to free trade. While Vietnam and Laos have some constraints related to labour issues, foreign investors have found Cambodia an attractive location, which also has a lower risk of monsoon rains, said Mr Weerasak. Thailand, he said, should focus more on the creative economy, sustainable or green investments, as well as quality services such as tourism. Unctad also found that declining raw materials might affect the competitiveness of Thailand's food processing industry. The garment industry, meanwhile, could attract more foreign investment if new ideas of the creative economy are applied. Electrical home appliance producers can also benefit but they need to focus less on original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business because global brand owners could easily switch to lower-wage destinations, he added.  | ||||
| On Sourn Serey Ratha and the KPPM's team in France Posted: 10 Jul 2011 11:26 PM PDT |
| You are subscribed to email updates from KI Media To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
