KI Media: “Cambodian tribunal visits place of Khmer Rouge uprising” plus 24 more

Presenter: Robert Carmichael

Speaker: Lars Olsen, tribunal spokesman; Anne Heindel, legal adviser at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam); Pay Lim, Samlaut resident

CARMICHAEL: (sfx) There are few places in Cambodia that have such strong links to the Khmer Rouge as Samlaut district which lies in the west near the Thai border.

It was among these hills that a 1967 uprising marked the start of the Khmer Rouge's efforts to take over Cambodia.

The voice you can hear is Samlaut resident Pay Lim giving his opinion on how many people the court should prosecute.

This type of outreach work is regular fare for the tribunal, which has visited many places around the country to tell people what it does. But its message is received quite differently in places like this, says tribunal spokesman Lars Olsen.

OLSEN: Usually we are asked why not more people are put on trial. Here they were crystal clear that the court should limit its prosecution to only senior leaders.

CARMICHAEL:Around two million people died during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.

The court is in theory investigating a further five lower-level Khmer Rouge cadres, but the Cambodian government has long said it won't permit those to go to trial, and the tribunal seems to be going through the motions ahead of spiking them.

At least one of those five, former navy commander Meas Muth, is a resident of Samlaut, but he did not turn up to Friday's outreach.

The trial of the four senior leaders is known as Case Two, and was meant to start around the middle of this year. However various delays conspired to push back that date. Last week the court confirmed a further delay that means Case Two probably won't begin until 2012.

The reason for this latest setback is that the tribunal has decided that defendant Ieng Thirith, who was the Khmer Rouge's social affairs minister, needs a psychiatric assessment.

OLSEN: And this is what the Trial Chamber will in the very near future do - they will appoint international and national psychiatric expertise to conduct a further assessment on Ieng Thirith's fitness to stand trial.

CARMICHAEL:Ieng Thirith's mental health has been a matter of speculation for several years. Her most famous court outburst came in early 2009 when she cursed her accusers to the seventh circle of hell. It is not clear why it took the court more than two years to decide that it should examine her mental health. This delay, it seems, was avoidable.

And because the court wants to try all four at the same time, it won't start the hearing until Ieng Thirith is found fit or unfit for trial.

Anne Heindel, a legal adviser with genocide research organisation DC-Cam, explains what that means.

HEINDEL: It's not just a medical assessment - it's the legal evaluation of a medical assessment. Can you participate in your defence? Can you instruct your counsel? Do you understand what your plea means? Do you understand what's going on in the proceedings?

CARMICHAEL:In Ieng Thirith's case there is a family history of mental health problems - her sister, who was married to the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, suffered from schizophrenia.

Heindel says there is always a chance medical treatment can improve a defendant's physical health, but that's far less certain with mental health conditions.

HEINDEL:Based on her family history it seems unlikely that if she has reached a point of mental illness that she could be assisted to again be healthy enough to be tried by this court.

CARMICHAEL:Later today the tribunal will convene to discuss medical reports examining the physical condition of Ieng Thirith and co-defendant Nuon Chea, the movement's chief ideologue. These reports are to determine whether the two are physically fit to stand trial.

But it is the delay associated with Ieng Thirith's psychiatric assessment that has made the news. The tribunal has as yet no donor funding pledged for next year, and although cash will probably arrive in due course the one thing money can't change is the age of the defendants.

The youngest is 79, and there is a slim chance that all four - should four finally take the stand - will survive a lengthy trial. That won't worry the residents of Samlaut, but this tribunal is for all of the people of Cambodia. Its legacy is yet to be written and more lengthy delays won't help.

(Photo: PPP)

(All remaining photos: DAP-news)

Hun Xen threatens land concession owners with concession cancellation if they don't resolve land problems with affected villagers

Once again, Hun Xen issued a warning to all companies that receive land concession rights from the government for development, telling them that they have to resolve all incidents with affected villagers in regards to their concessions, otherwise, these companies will see their concessions rescinded.

Hun Xen's statement which was adopted during the meeting of the Council of Ministers last Friday claimed that: "Samdach Hun Xen advises the ministry of Agriculture, the ministry of Environment and the ministry of Land Management, Unban Planning and Construction to visit and resolve problems along the various economic concessions where disputes are taking place, and they must set up agreements between the people and the investors who provide income to agriculture." It added that Hun Xen threatened to cancel economic land concessions to investors who do not resolve problems for the villagers who have settled in these regions for a long time already.

This is an immediate reply that was issued in regards to the land-grabbing of villagers by the Hun Xen regime. Such land-grabbing led the villagers to stop supporting the regime and caused uprise to protest against such action, just like the case in Uddong district, Kampong Speu province at the end of June 2011. In that protest, villagers used knives, axes and slingshots to chase the authority agents who came to evict them from their lands for the sake of the companies. Furthermore, donor countries and the World Bank have also issued strong criticisms [on this case], and the election is also fast approaching.

Avian flu shows signs of a resurgence, while a mutant strain - able to sidestep vaccines - could be spreading in Asia, the United Nations has warned.

The variant appeared in Vietnam and China and its risk to humans cannot be predicted, veterinary officials said.

Virus circulation in Vietnam threatens Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, where eight people have died after becoming infected this year, they warned.

The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 331 people since 2003.

It has also killed or provoked the culling of more than 400m domestic poultry worldwide and caused an estimated $20bn (£12.2bn) of economic damage.

The virus had been eliminated from most of the 63 countries infected at its 2006 peak, which saw 4,000 outbreaks across the globe, but remains endemic in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

And the number of cases has been rising again since 2008, apparently because of migratory bird movements, said the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) chief veterinary officer, Juan Lubroth.

"Wild birds may introduce the virus, but people's actions in poultry production and marketing spread it," he said.

Avian flu has in the past two years appeared in poultry or wild birds in countries that had been virus-free for several years: Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Bulgaria, Romania, Nepal and Mongolia are among those recently affected.

Mr Lubroth said the new strain had infected most parts of northern and central Vietnam and could also pose a risk to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

South Korea began culling hundreds of thousands of chickens and ducks in December last year after confirming its first cases since 2008.

The FAO is calling for countries to adopt "heightened readiness and surveillance" against a resurgence of the virus.

A medical expert told Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal Monday that one of its four defendants is suffering from memory loss and may have Alzheimer's disease.

The report from geriatric expert John Campbell means that Ieng Thirith, the Khmer Rouge's former social affairs minister, may be found unfit to stand trial for her role in the brutal regime blamed for up to 2 million deaths in the late 1970s.

At minimum, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith will have to undergo additional testing, likely pushing back the beginning of testimony in the landmark trial well into next year.

That is frustrating for ordinary Cambodians like teacher Chhek Dom, who attended Monday's proceedings: "I think that the accused are old, so the court should put them on trial soon, so the younger generation can understand the cause of the killing then.''

The tribunal began hearing preliminary motions in the case against the four top Khmer Rouge leaders a month ago, but defense motions and technical issues have already pushed back the likely start of the actual trial.

The others on trial are 79-year-old Khieu Samphan, the nominal Khmer Rouge head of state; 84-year-old Nuon Chea, described as the regime's chief ideologue; and Ieng Thirith's 85-year-old husband, Ieng Sary, the Khmer Rouge foreign minister.

The charges against the defendants include religious persecution, torture and genocide linked to the deaths of as many as 2 million people between 1975 and 1979.

The trial is the showcase event for the U.N.-backed tribunal, which was created to demonstrate impartial justice and foster national healing.

29 August 2011 – The United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia dealing with mass killings and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge three decades ago began its fitness hearing today into the health of two of the ageing defendants currently on trial. 

Nuon Chea, 84, and Ieng Thirith, 79, are among four most senior surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge facing charges before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), sitting in Phnom Penh.

They are accused of genocide, murder, torture, religious persecution and other war crimes and crimes against humanity over their alleged actions when the Khmer Rouge was in power between April 1975 and January 1979.

Professor John Campbell, a specialist geriatrician from New Zealand, was in court today at the start of the three-day hearing aimed at determining whether the accused will be well enough to stand trial.

In his assessment, Mr. Campbell found Ieng Thirith, a former social affairs minister under the Khmer Rouge, "cognitively impaired" which compromised her rights to a fair trial. He also explained that Nuon Chea was unable to sit for long periods, but that he was otherwise fit to stand trial and did not suffer from cognitive or memory problems.

Mr. Nuon, known as "Brother Number Two" under the Khmer Rouge, acted as chief policy architect of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, controlled the country's internal security apparatus and rendered support for the regime's policies of forcible relocation, enslavement and other inhumane acts.

They are on trial along with Ieng Thirith's husband, Ieng Sary, an 84-year-old former history professor who served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister under the Khmer Rouge, and Khieu Samphan, 79, who served as head of State of Democratic Kampuchea. He took over from Pol Pot when he retired as the official head of the Khmer Rouge in 1987.

Under their alleged leadership, at least 1.7 million people are believed to have died from torture, starvation and execution, the ECCC said in a news release.

The Trial Chamber held an initial hearing of the trial in late June and is expected to begin substantial hearing to examine evidence and witnesses by early next year.

More than 800 people came to the Court to observe the fitness hearings today, many of them high school and college students.

The ECCC was set up in 2006 and the UN provides assistance through the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT) and participates in the operations of the tribunal.

The Sam Rainsy Party machinery throughout the country is ready for the 45-day registration period.

SRP Battambang team conducted a 2-hour training of youth and women leaders from Mong Russey, Rokakiri and Koh Kralor on how to deliver the party message door-to-door.

Where do we find rural youth? Playing volley ball, in the rain, in the mud. Do we mobilize them? Yes!!! Every single vote counts.

Our teams throughout the country will be ready to assist new voters and those who did not have their names on last elections' lists. More than 2 million potential voters missed their chance to exercise their right to vote in 2008.

We will go after women and youth votes.

Prior to settling in Southern California, Eric Chuk didn't have many occasions to mark his family background. Aside from a few Khmer New Year celebrations in Saint Petersburg, Florida, he found that there was a disconnect between him and the Cambodian culture. Now after several years in Los Angeles, he recalls one reason he left his former home.

"I wanted to live with a larger Khmer population while continuing my studies," said Chuk. "I've had the opportunity to meet others from the generation that has been raised as Cambodian-American, and I've become compelled by our history and potential."

Despite Chuk's cultural connection being relatively absent from his upbringing, he feels that people can have good role models in their lives no matter where they are.

"Most of us have someone among our family and relatives whom we admire for certain characteristics," said Chuk, "so I think those are the most natural role models." Furthermore, he expresses something counter-intuitive: the idea of focusing less on the ethnic aspect of role models, which many minority communities can seem to fixate on.

"While it is gratifying to see a positive example set by a Khmer person, we can be inspired by all kinds of people," said Chuk.

In addition, Chuk acknowledges the differences between America and Cambodia, having made the trip overseas a few times. "The gap between lifestyles is huge in terms of opportunities to prosper and institutional resources," said Chuk, "but that doesn't mean America is in all ways better than Cambodia or without its own problems."

He also encourages those with a hybrid identity, like Khmer-Americans, to try "reconciling the two worlds that produced it by questioning but appreciating both... [to] see where the values overlap and move forward from that agreement."

As a PhD student in library and information science at UCLA, Chuk believes the abstractions of higher education can be made relevant beyond school, to improve the world. Echoing one of Mahatma Gandhi's most well-known adages, Chuk said, "If we want to productively affect our community, we have to become the success stories we've always wanted to hear. Independently developing true concern and motivation is the key to positive change, since those two things are almost impossible to implant."

While working with THE KHMERICAN, Chuk hopes the web-based media outlet can expose people to issues they might choose to care about and then be motivated to take real action for. He also wants the Khmer community to gain recognition for its talent and reach, not just its tragic past.

Eric Chuk joins THE KHMERICAN team as a content manager and editor.

He was only 8 years old when his father, a clerk at Cambodia's Supreme Court, was killed by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Thirty-five years after that murder, some of the leaders of the murderous regime are on trial for war crimes while the boy has become a fighter for democracy—one of this year's winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, dubbed Asia's version of the Nobel Prize.

Though decades have passed since his father was killed, Koul Panha has not forgotten. He was on the verge of tears when he spoke of those dark times in his country during an interview with the Inquirer at the weekened.

Koul's father was picked up by soldiers of the Khmer Rouge in 1976 and ordered to gather beans.

"My father knew that he would be faced with great danger. After a few days, I received information from the villagers that he was killed," Koul said.

"The senior villagers told me that my father did not let the Khmer Rouge guards and soldiers kill him easily as he fought back."

The Ramon Magsaysay Foundation cited Koul for his efforts at promoting fair and honest elections in Cambodia.

Five other recipients of this year's awards for outstanding work in their respective fields come from India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The awarding ceremony will be held on Aug. 31 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

The awardees will each receive a certificate, a medallion and a cash prize.

It was the death of his father that pushed Koul to decide to be at the forefront of Cambodia's struggle for democratization.

Koul believes the brutalities and the human rights abuses that he, his family and other Cambodians experienced while living under the thumb of the communist regime could be prevented in a stable, democratic country.

For this, he said, the advancement of a free electoral system was crucial.

"In a fragile democracy like Cambodia … a sustained work to aggressively campaign and advocate free, fair and meaningful elections is necessary in order to promote democracy," Koul said.

In its citation, the Ramon Magsaysay Foundation praised Koul for "his determined and courageous leadership of the sustained campaign to build an enlightened, organized and vigilant citizenry who will ensure fair and free elections—as well as demand accountable governance by their elected officials—in Cambodia's nascent democracy."

Images of how dangerous it was to live under the Khmer Rouge were still clear in Koul's mind as he recalled a time in 1975 when his family hid in a trench amid rumors that Phnom Penh, the capital, was going to be bombed.

When the Khmer Rouge took over the city that year, his family was forced to leave their house without being given a chance to take their possessions with them.

"My mother complained and protested when the Khmer Rouge ordered us to leave our house," he said. "My father stopped her, telling her that if she protested she could be shot."

The following year, the Khmer Rouge took away his father and shot him.

Led by Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. It is said to have caused the death of 2 million people—or as much as one-fourth of country's population—from starvation, overwork, torture or execution.

The Khmer Rouge were driven from power in January 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.

After graduating with a BS Chemical Industry Engineering degree in Phnom Penh in 1991, Koul joined the nonpartisan Task Force on Cambodian Elections. This eventually became the Committee for Free and Fair Elections (Comfrel).

In 1998, Koul became its executive director.

"A main motivation for joining (this) came from my own experience. When I was a child, Phnom Penh was bombed many times. I did not want this to happen again," Koul said.

After earning his master's degree in Politics of Alternative Development, Koul committed himself full time to Comfrel's mission.

Under his leadership, the organization became the country's leading independent center on electoral matters, now with a nationwide network of partners and more than 50,000 election volunteers.

In the 2008 elections, more than 10,000 of the center's volunteers were deployed to cover 60 percent of the electoral precincts.

Cambodia's democratic progress has been slow and turbulent since the fall of the Khmer Rouge. It was only in 1993 when it held its first national elections. Since then, it has held five other national and local polls.

These elections were characterized by fraud, violence and factionalism.

"Cambodia's democracy can be referred to as a young democracy," Koul said. "This democracy began recently, a short period after the genocide, post-conflicts, human rights abuses and oppression."

Owing to the country's lack of democratic tradition, Koul had had to contend with harassment from parties who deemed political and electoral reforms acceptable only if they served their own interests.

Koul said that Comfrel began lobbying for the restoration of political stability and for a government commitment to violence-free polls.

In 2000, it took its campaign to the grassroots by conducting electoral activities calling, among others, for gender equality in electoral representation.

Koul is happy to see his efforts have not been in vain.

"The major political players in Cambodia have accepted that peaceful regular elections are the proper legitimate mechanism for installing or removing a government," he said.

He said, however, that the country still had a long way to go.

"Although there are legal frameworks and procedures for electoral democracy in Cambodia, the country still lacks strong democratic institutions … and is threatened by the return of an authoritarian rule," Koul said.

To prevent this from happening again, Koul stressed the role of the youth and of education.

"The youth have the power to enforce democracy for a better society. They have to get involved in politics so they can be trained to become leaders," he said.

Koul said the youth was the "hope" of every nation.

If they are informed, he said, then democracy can fully develop and the human rights violations that characterized the Khmer Rouge regime can be prevented.

Koul said winning the Ramon Magsaysay Award would be a "source of energy" for him which he could use to "work harder."

"This will further encourage the organizations that I work for," he said.

COMFREL is please to release its press release on the result of workshop on voter's voice in remote areas; Koh Preah commune, Chong Siembok district, Stung Treng province was held on August 21, 2011.

Please see the attached document for details.

FYI : If you need releases or articles related to workshop on voter's voices, elections reforms, democracy/political reforms, decentralisation and governance, please feel free to visit our website :

The villagers contend they have lived on the land in question since 1979.

They urged Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene on their behalf against three companies allegedly behind the plan.

One of the companies has been identified as tycoon An Marady's Chamkar Leu Rubber Plantation. The other two are said to be tycoon Long Sreng's Memot and Stung Trang rubber plantations.

Friday was the second consecutive day that villagers from Chamkar Leu district's Bos Khnor and Ta Ong communes protested against the Chamkar Leu Rubber Plantation.

One hundred and fifty villagers gathered in Freedom Park the day before to voice opposition to the palns.

Staff from Chamkar Leu Rubber Plantation had asked families in three villages in Bos Khnor and Ta Ong communes to accept new 10 by 20 metre plots and US$600 in compensation for relocating to a new site, protester Srun Touch, 52, said. However, the new sites lacked necessary infrastructure, including roads and a school.

Meanwhile, staff from Memot Rubber Plantation had asked families in Tramoung commune to accept new 4 by 11 metre plots of land and US$600 in exchange for relocating, commune chief Vinh Ny said.

While these plots were smaller than those offered by Chamkar Leu Rubber plantation, Vinh Ny said the company was nearly finished building the necessary infrastructure for the new village, including

roads, a school, and a market.

Vinh Ny said that so far, about 60 to 70 percent of the villagers had accepted the company's offer. "Some villagers have volunteered to leave in accordance with the company's policy," he said.

Those that have not accepted the offer say they just want to remain on their land.

"We do not want anything from the companies. All we want is to live in our current village," said Un Si Cheng, 52, from Memot district's Tramoung commune.

According to documents received by the Post, in March 2008 the government gave 9,121 hectares in Memot district to Memot Rubber Plantation. However, this did not include the protesting villagers' land. Instead, the land granted to Memot Rubber Plantation went around those villages.

A cabinet official visited Freedom Park and told the villagers to return to their homes, promising to inform them of Hun Sen's decision.

Prince Norodom Ranariddh has lost his longtime spokesman to the ruling Cambodia People's Party. Chea Chanboribo, who was also a secretary of state at the Ministry of Information in 2005, has officially joined the CPP, Chea Chanboribo said yesterday.

"No one can win against the Cambodian People's Party. Therefore, I am taking the opportunity to serve the nation with the Cambodian People's Party," Chea Chanboribo said, adding that he had submitted a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen last Tuesday asking to the join the CPP.

Chea Chanboribo had been a long time ally of the prince, who now leads the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP). He had been a member of the royalist Funcipec party, which formed a coalition government with the CPP. When the prince was removed from the Funcipec Party in 2006, Chea Chanboribo left with him.

Chea Chanboribo said he had become disenchanted with the NRP's platform, which he described as too centrist to win an election. "Samdech Krom Preah [Norodom Ranariddh] takes a centrist policy. This is not enough," he said. Prince Ranariddh just wants to collect members to run in an election and then try to form a coalition with the CPP, he explained.

NRP spokesman Pen Sangha said Chea Chanboribo's defection would not affect the NRP. "He defected for personal reasons; it has no effect on us," he said.

Painter Vann Nath, 66, who testified against former Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, during the Khmer Rouge Tribunal's first and thus far only completed trial, suffered cardiac arrest in the early hours of Saturday, family members said. He was rushed to hospital in Phnom Penh, they said.

"The doctors are closely monitoring his illness and our family has yet to decide whether to send him abroad for treatment," his son Vann Chan Narong said yesterday.

Vann Nath, Bou Meng and Chum Mey are thought to be the sole surviving victims of Tuol Sleng and have all spoken extensively about the brutality they experienced.

In June last year Duch received a 35-year sentence commuted to 19 years because of time already served, after being found guilty of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

Khmer Rouge Tribunal spokesman Neth Pheaktra said he could not confirm whether Vann Nath was due to testify in the tribunal's second and most high profile cases. The four most senior living former leaders of the regime are set to stand trial early next year.

The Australian government's handling of ransom demands for backpacker David Wilson has attracted new criticisms during an inquiry into his 1994 murder by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

West Australian man Darryl Hockey has given a statement to the Melbourne Coroners' Court containing fresh criticisms of the "sufficiency of the interventions made by the Australian government" in relation to Mr Wilson.

Mr Hockey said he gathered the information, which was not detailed in court on Monday, from people in Cambodia claiming to have first-hand knowledge of the Melbourne backpacker's fate.

Mr Wilson, 29, and two companions were kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge during an attack on a train in which they were travelling in Cambodia in July 1994.

The Khmer Rouge demanded a ransom of US$50,000 in gold for each of the hostages, but the Australian government maintained its policy of not paying ransoms and refused to accept private offers for their payment.

Mr Wilson, Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet and Englishman Mark Slater were murdered in early September 1994, after negotiations between the Cambodian and Australian governments and their captors broke down.

Three former Khmer Rouge guerillas, including the commander of the group that kidnapped Mr Wilson, have been convicted of his murder.

At a coronial inquest that began in 1998, several criticisms of the handling of the negotiations were raised, including a detailed account by former Australian diplomat Alastair Gaisford, who was stationed in Cambodia at the time of the kidnapping.

When the inquest re-opened on Monday after a 13-year adjournment, counsel assisting the coroner said Mr Hockey had offered his unsolicited statement following his own investigations in Cambodia.

Dr Ian Freckelton SC told the court Mr Hockey had come across information while living in southern Cambodia last year.

As a result, he travelled to the area in which the hostages had been held and interviewed several people he believed had first-hand information about the case.

Mr Hockey's information follows a newspaper article published earlier this year in which Mr Gaisford claimed the key to finding the truth in the Wilson case lay with former foreign minister Gareth Evans.

Mr Gaisford has said he was a consul in the embassy in Phnom Penh at the time of the kidnapping and murder and had worked on the Wilson case.

He said Mr Evans was in Bangkok during the week of the kidnapping but rejected embassy advice that he come to Cambodia and "use his unique influence" to assist in obtaining the hostages' release.

Dr Freckelton told the court the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade maintained Mr Gaisford did not hold the position of consul and had never risen beyond second secretary at the Australian mission.

He said Mr Gaisford would apply to appear before the inquest when it resumed and wanted to call witnesses.

Dr Freckelton told Coroner Iain West Mr Hockey's evidence might be pertinent, but it had been gathered many years after the relevant events and was hearsay.

He recommended Mr Hockey not be called as a witness.

The inquest has been adjourned to a date to be fixed.

PHNOM PENH, Aug 29, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Senior defense officials of Cambodia and the United States of America on Monday pledged to intensify bilateral ties on military cooperation in the areas of peacekeeping, maritime security, humanitarian assistance, and counter-terrorism.

During a meeting with Neang Phat, Cambodia's Secretary of State for Defense, the visiting Brigadier General Richard Simcock, Principal Director for South and Southeast Asia in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, said that the U.S. would continue to help Cambodia in the above-mentioned areas in order to build a stronger tie between the U.S. and Cambodian armies.

"The assistance of the U.S. Department of Defense to Cambodia would help to develop a professional force that contributes to regional and international peace and stability," (sic!) he said.

Meanwhile, Neang Phat said Cambodia and the U.S. military cooperation have been gradually improved and the U.S. Department of Defense has helped a lot in national defense.

"The visit of Brigadier General Richard Simcock in Cambodia will bring closer military cooperation between the two countries' armies," he said.

Simcock made his visit in Cambodia from Aug. 29 to 31 strengthen Cambodia-U.S. defense relationship, according to a press release from the U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh.

During the visit, he will participate in a defense ministry's workshop in Sihanoukville to discuss the development of Cambodia's maritime security strategy.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Michel Sidibe, executive director, UNAIDS

SIDIBE: We're just realising that after ten years, the reduction of 20 percent of infection in this region, is very encouraging. But it's encouraging, because we're seeing a new policy reform in different parts of the region. a few years ago, it was not possible to think one second, that we'll have methadone maintenance treatment in Indonesia, or in China. Today, it's there. We're seeing a growing interest for investing on HIV in many parts of the region - Thailand is almost financing the bulk of their epidemic, we're seeing China taking more and more interest in financing their programs, but at the same time, it is not time for complacency. In the Philippines, just a few years ago, we were thinking an epidemic would never happen there. We were having zero-point-one per cent of prevalence, so it was very, very low. But in less than two years, in the city of Cebu, the prevalence rose from zero point six percent to 53 percent, amongst people who injected drugs.

LAM: So, as you say, there have been impressive gains in the Asia Pacific region in recent years, such a 20 drop in infections, a threefold increase in access to therapy. But are you saying also that the gains are pretty uneven across the region?

SIDIBE: The gain is uneven across the region, because if you look at your other region, in other countries, which already reached universal access on treatment. But you have the big countries, where you still have only 30 to 35 percent of people in need of treatment, having access to treatment. And we know today, with the new discovery, that if we put people on treatment early, we could reduce infection by 96 percent. The biggest challenge for us today, is the quality of the program in the region, the allocation of resources are not necessarily directed to areas where we can have the maximum of return.

LAM: And Cambodia, I understand, is one of the surprise packages. Cambodia's one of only eight countries worldwide, that provide drug therapy to the majority of its HIV sufferers. That's pretty impressive, for a country that not so long ago, was seen as a basket case. How did Cambodia achieve this?

SIDIBE: I think Cambodia is a very interesting case, because again, Cambodia is one of the countries able to apply systematically, the concept of knowing your epidemic, and acting on it. They developed a clear situation analysis and from point of view, they managed to develop a plan with a strategy which targeted people in need of services. And they identified people who were at risk and they provide the services for testing, and they increased the coverage on treatment. And that is very encouraging, and we're seeing that also in Malaysia, where you have more than 80 percent of coverage in the region. But Cambodia, definitively, has a very interesting program.

LAM: China of course, is one of the countries cited in the UNAIDS report, and it's a huge country, with a population to match. Does that mean that China also has a very uneven picture, where AIDS and success in tackling AIDS, is concerned?

SIDIBE: Yes, China is for me, a very encouraging case because the political leadership is there. And a strategy that's well-defined to create a space, that's more and more for community-based participation in service delivery, which was major challenge for us. I was in Chengdu and I saw a very interesting program linking provincial government and particularly community-based organisation, to provide services to men having sex with men, and I saw also, rehabilitation centres managed by community-based organisations and health-workers. It's amazing - ten years ago, it was zero tolerance. And today, it's a very open policy, in terms of targeting most-at-risk populations. They realised that 33 percent of their new infections, just two years ago, occurred amongst men having sex with men. And now, they're putting in place a huge program to reach men having sex with men. So we're seeing a signal in the region, which is a very encouraging one to support and to continue.

LAM: What about the Pacific region? Tell us about the situation there, and also, which is the country that's still grappling with this huge problem?

SIDIBE: The Pacific is a very interesting case because we're seeing major political commitment from Fiji - just last week,they've been able to remove travel restrictions for all HIV-related people. And now we're seeing also Samoa, which are investing in their AIDS response. i've been myself in Papua New Guinea. We're seeing with the effort of your country, because with a partnership with Australia, we've seen a change happening there also. We're seeing a reduction in new infections, but we're seeing a new debate being opened around the status of women, look at the violence against women - all those elements seem for me a very important to address, with the region.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: Phil Robertson, Deputy Director of the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.

ROBERTSON: Well, we're seeing that the law users of a tried and true Cambodian government method pass a law that restricts core rights, in this case, the right to freedom of association and set out a vague criteria to making decisions so the government official power will have absolute power to make arbitrary decisions, so this is going to allow them essentially shut down NGOs that they don't like, ones that raise unpleasant truths, expose corruption or take the side of villages in cases where the government may be doing something wrong like seizing land.

COCHRANE: It's still a draft law being considered by the Cambodian government. You're saying that there is a potential for this, but have there been any indications that this is the way that the law might be used?

ROBERTSON: Well, there have been already. We can already see in the case of an NGO that has been active, involved with projects of Ausaid funded project supported by ADB that railroad rehabilitation project, a small Cambodian NGO that has been working with the communities that have been forcibly resettled from those areas and when they raised concerns about systematic under estimating the compensation to the people being moved, they have been accused of incitement and have been suspended. It's unclear actually even what legal provision the government used to suspend them, but it has sent a chilling affect through the NGO community and we're seeing that as a clear harbinger of the way that the government will use the law if it gets this through the National Assembly.

COCHRANE: Now some other countries have an NGO law. I believe that France is one of them. Shouldn't a country be able to regulate its not for profit sector as it wishes?

ROBERTSON: Well, we think that governments do have a right to regulate the NGO sector. They just should not do it by systematically undermining human rights. Cambodia has an obligation to protect freedom of association and in fact Cambodia has a civil code that is going to be going into effect in November this year, which will provide the power to regulate the non profit sector in a voluntary way, providing incentives for people to register, but not this sort of draconian law that will allow the government to undertake arbitrary decisions to shut down NGOs.

COCHRANE: Now you and others have asked for Western donor countries to consider reviewing their aid to Cambodia if this law is passed. Recently, the Cambodian government announced that it was cancelling what were annual meetings between it and donors where issues were discussed and at times the government was criticised for not getting on with the job essentially. Do you think that foreign and particularly Western donors still have the power to make much of a difference in Cambodia?

ROBERTSON: I think they have a tremendous power to make a difference. Well over 50 per cent of the Cambodian government budget comes from foreign assistance, so we think that the Western donors and the donors who have set out clear conditions related to human rights now are obligated to act for these NGOs who have been taking human rights approach to development. It's really five minutes before midnight. Those who are willing to challenge the government when it does something wrong or when a government minister or is cronies do something like seizing land. These NGOs are going to be the edge of a cliff if this law passes and so we're calling on bilateral and multi-lateral donors to make it clear that if this law passes, that they will reconsider their bilateral assistance to Cambodia. We think they should seriously start reassessing whether the rights abusing government like this one that persecutes civil society watchdogs their best development partner.

COCHRANE: You've written to Australia's Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, US Secretary-of-State, Hillary Clinton and others of similar positions. Has there been any response yet?

ROBERTSON: Not yet. The letter actually went out earlier this past week, so we're expecting that we'll probably be getting a response, the first responses back in the next week or two. And of course we're engaging with people on this as well and advocating and lobbying with them.

By Kaitlin Shung

Aug. 29 – Tourists to Cambodia often take similar routes, discovering the wide and stately streets of Phnomn Penh before taking a dusty six hour bus ride to Siem Reap, home of the beautiful Angkor Wat. Among the ruins of the ancient Khmer Kingdom at Angkor Wat, local Cambodian children can often be seen calling out flattering phrases, usually in Chinese and English, looking for a crisp American dollar or a few pieces of candy.

Cambodia boasts a rich and more recently, bloody, history. An underdeveloped country of roughly 14.7 million, Cambodia was set back significantly in the 1970s under the extremist rule of the Khmer Rouge. It was estimated that nearly 20 percent of the population died under the leadership of Pol Pot due to starvation, torture, and executions, and the economy was completely dismantled.

As a result of its short time under French rule, the official languages spoken are Khmer, French and English, although French appears to be scarce except among the older generations. The majority of the population is within the 15-64 age range and the country has a respectable 73.6 percent literacy rate.

Cambodia operates as a multi-party democracy under a constitutional democracy, and the long-serving prime minister has a considerable amount of power. The head of State is King Norodom Sihamoni, who was sworn in on October 29, 2004 while the prime minister is Hun Sen.

The Cambodian currency is the riel (KHR), which traded, on average, at KHR4,145 to US$1 in 2010. In addition to the riel, U.S. dollars are also commonly accepted and according to the New York Times, almost 90 percent of deposits and credits in the banking system are denominated in U.S. dollars. With a large portion of capital and savings in the greenback, the Cambodian government ultimately has less ability to influence the economy and thus less control.

Before the global financial slowdown, Cambodia was one of the strongest economic performers in Southeast Asia, posting annual growth of around 10 percent over the previous decade. Cambodia's economy is focused in four key industries: tourism, clothing, construction and agriculture. The lack of diversification in the economy impacted on the country hard when the Global Financial Crisis hit and since then, the government has begun efforts at initiating reforms to encourage the development of emerging industries.

Within its labor force of 8.8 million, roughly 70 percent work in agriculture which constitutes roughly one-third of Cambodia's GDP. The country's GDP grew 6 percent year on year in 2010 to US$11.63 billion, which is comparatively about one-fiftieth the size of China's economy. After agriculture, services account for 45.2 percent of GDP while industry contributes 21.4 percent.

Exports totaled US$3.687 billion in 2010, with primary export partners being Hong Kong, the United States and Singapore. Comparatively, imports were US$6.005 billion and primary import partners were China, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Key exports were clothing, timber, rubber, rice and fish while key imports were petroleum, cigarettes, gold and construction materials.

FDI inflows totaled US$532.5 million in 2010, with the majority of capital coming from China. Chinese investment is often preferred because it is generally unconditional, as opposed to Western investment which is usually tied to political and economic reform. In the first half of 2011 alone, Chinese investors had already put in place plans for 360 projects worth US$8 billion in Cambodia, which is nominally the equivalent of all Chinese investment in Southeast Asia in the previous year.

As previously mentioned, Cambodia has access to a number of natural resources, but the country often does not have the infrastructure in place to take advantage of those resources. For example, nearly 70 percent of the country is covered with trees, but the lumber industry falters under illegal logging, costing vast amounts of missed revenue.

Oil and natural gas were found in Cambodia in 2005, the exact amount of which has not been released, but commercial extraction is expected to begin in 2012.

"We welcome investments in all sectors, including banking, insurance, and telecommunications. Investors can own 100 percent of their business here, in most countries 100 percent foreign ownership is not allowed," Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has been quoted as saying.

Key industries for investment include agriculture (an industry which has an ample labor supply in Cambodia but lacks investment in physical infrastructure), technology to increase yields, and the country has a gaping hole where a processing and packaging industry should be. Furthermore, light industry and manufacturing are relatively underdeveloped, despite the low labor costs in the country. More information on investing in Cambodia can be found through the web site – www.investincambodia.com.

Taking the lead from China's successful Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Cambodia has also begun to build SEZs, primarily along the country's borders with Thailand and Vietnam. There are a total of 21 approved SEZs – of which five have already commenced operations and two are under construction. Cambodia's SEZs offer tax and VAT benefits and strong government support has simplified importing and exporting into these areas.

Administratively, the government has set up two boards responsible for managing the country's SEZs: the Cambodian Special Economic Zone Board and a separate trouble shooting committee. Both are headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and if managed properly, will help bring foreign investment into the country through these economic zones.

Investing in Cambodia has certainly been helped by the country's entry into the World Trade Organization in 2004 (Cambodia was the second least developed country to join the WTO through the full working party negotiation process). As a member of the WTO, Cambodia has taken steps to meet international trade and regulatory standards, including the implementation of a number of new legal reforms. Examples include: the Law on Commercial Enterprises (2005), the Law on Commercial Arbitration (2006) and the Law on Secured Transactions (2007).

In addition, Cambodia is also a member of ASEAN and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

The 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, a joint effort by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, ranked Cambodia 102 out of 179 countries or 17 out of 41 in the Asia-Pacific region. This is an improvement over the previous year's ranking, attributed to improvements in monetary control, labor freedom and a reduction in corruption. Cambodia's ranking suffers largely because of weak property rights and cumbersome bureaucracy.

Comparatively, the 2011 World Bank Doing Business Rankings ranked Cambodia as 147 out of 183 countries surveyed. A slight decrease from the 2010 rankings, Cambodia still has significant barriers in starting and closing a business as well as enforcing contracts.

Cambodia is an attractive investment opportunity for a few key reasons. First, the country has an income tax rate of 20 percent and because of its desire to attract foreign investment, also offers additional tax incentives. For example, eligible projects can receive tax holidays of between six and nine years from initial investment.

Unlike ownership requirements in neighboring countries like China, Cambodia allows for 100 percent foreign owned businesses. The lack of price controls on goods and services and no restrictions on repatriation of funds, free up investors in terms of downgrading investment risk.

Its status as an undeveloped country also works to the benefits of investors through tariff-free exports, which Cambodia has when trading with partners like the United States, Canada and Europe. Entrance into Cambodia is a gateway to the rest of the ASEAN market and domestically, the signs of an emerging middle class are appearing. With that comes the increased local consumption of goods and services.

Furthermore, as a part of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), Cambodia is strategically located in a hotspot for both economic and political influence. The GMS includes Yunan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in China, as well as Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Currently, over US$10 billion has been pledged for infrastructure projects which will build economic corridors between countries in the region.

The positives aside, Cambodia's business environment is not without problems and areas of concern. The most prevalent problem for foreign investors is corruption, which is reinforced by weak governance and a lacking legal framework.

In 2010, Transparency International ranked Cambodia 154th out of the 178 countries surveyed. Lack of transparency and abuse of power by government officials have drawn scrutiny to this Southeast Asian country. For example, a story came out this year about government action against two NGOs who were highlighting the negative effects of a US$84 million railroad investment, funded in part by the Asia Development Bank, on displaced families. Pressure on these groups opened the government to criticism and highlighted problems related to free speech in Cambodia.

High reliance on imported goods and services also do not speak well to the sustainability and strength of Cambodia's economy.

Poor infrastructure in the country has impeded the development of local and global linkages between Cambodia and the world economy. The government has prioritized building roads, airports, telecommunication networks and has received support from foreign sources like the Asia Development Bank and the governments of Australia and China.

In 2010, the government passed the National Strategic Development Plan which focused on the country's development from 2009 to 2013. A highlight of the plan was an estimated US$1.1 billion in development assistance, which was expected to be spent in 2010.

On a final positive note, Cambodia opened its own stock market earlier this year. At the time of its opening, there were no companies prepared to go public and this was largely indicative of Cambodia's weak financial sector and a lack of confidence in regulatory bodies' ability to enact and enforce corporate governance and accounting laws. However, three state-owned companies are in the process of preparing to list later this year and hopefully the establishment of its own stock market will bring stability to the Cambodian economy.

Cambodia's close ties with neighboring China have proven to be unnerving for American leaders, as China attempts to expand its dominance in the area. In 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited Cambodia and warned of an overly intense dependence on China.

"I think it is smart for Cambodia to be friends with many countries… It's like our relationship with other countries. You look for balance. You don't want to get too dependent on any one country," Clinton said.

U.S. concerns aside, friendly relations between China and Cambodia are evidenced by high level meetings between government officials. Last year, powerful CCP member Wu Banguo attended the signing of a contract between Cambodia's largest mobile phone company, CamGSM, and the Bank of China in the largest financing project to ever take place in Cambodia. Wu Banguo was quoted as referring to Cambodia as a "reliable neighbor, friend and brother."

In 2011, Zhou Yongkang, a member of the CCP's Standing Committee Politiburo, traveled to Cambodia to talk economic and political cooperation.

Complicated relations with neighboring Thailand have proven to be dire enough to come to arms and it is worth continuing to observe how relations improve or deteriorate in the future. The conflict stems from a border dispute which has come to repeated fighting between both sides' armies at a contested site. Furthermore, Cambodia's appointment of Thailand's former prime minister (who was charged with corruption-related crimes) as an economic advisor has accelerated tensions between the two countries.

"In the next 20 years, I expect Cambodia will be one of the world's best performers in terms of improved income and living standards, better infrastructure and a lifestyle on par with middle income countries," Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has said in an optimistic forecast.

At the 4th Cambodia Economic Forum held in February of this year, Prime Minister Hun Sen highlighted key areas the government hoped would expedite the modernization of Cambodia's economy. The government's strategies focused on figuring out ways to diversify the economy, reforming the nation's SEZs, increasing investment in human capital, establishing the state's place in industrial development and establishing the industrial sector's position in the local and global economy.

Rising costs in China are turning eyes southward for new, inexpensive manufacturing hubs and less developed countries like Cambodia are stepping up to the plate. Cambodia is a particularly interesting investment opportunity, given benefits extended to it as a result of its development status and its simultaneous membership in the WTO. If the government can continue to effectively battle corruption and diversify its economic pillars, Cambodia could potentially rise from poverty and development aid to become a powerhouse in emerging Asia.