KI Media: “Cheam Yeap: Cambodia never used power to oppress anybody (sic! sick! SICK!)” plus 24 more

Cheam Yeap: Cambodia never used power to oppress anybody (sic! sick! SICK!)

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 01:22 PM PDT

Synopsis: CPP MP Cheam Yeap rejected the statement issued by Surya Subedi, the UN Special Raporteur on Human Rights in Cambodia, who indicated that leadership in Cambodia is conducted through orders rather than through the rule of law. Cheam Yeap said that everybody is Cambodia is under the law, starting from the king and that Cambodia has never suppressed freedom rights on its people.

KI-Media Note: Cheam Yeap is right, everybody in Cambodia is under the law, from the king down to the ordinary citizen. Of course, in Cambodia, there is only person is above the law: he is the king-maker by the name of Hun Xen because he is above the king.

Taking cue from the Jasmine Revolution?

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 01:08 PM PDT

Sibling Band: Santana's Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 10:49 AM PDT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TozxS2k-R5A

Parents Say Poor Education Aiding Illiteracy

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 10:46 AM PDT

Two young Cambodian boys play near their slum home on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. (Photo: AP)

Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

"We illiterate, it's like we have blind eyes, and we don't make any progress like the literates."

Van La is a rice farmer in Kampong Speu province's Udong district. Like many Cambodians, she is illiterate. And while she hopes her children will not suffer the same fate, many parents and educational professionals fear that Cambodia's education system may fail her.

"We face difficulties," she said as she worked at planting rice seedlings on a recent day. "We illiterate, it's like we have blind eyes, and we don't make any progress like the literates."

Government statistics show that 70 percent of the population is somewhat literate, but development experts say that a poor education environment and other factors are hurting the country's progress.

Van La said she was determined to send her children to school, so that they might learn to read and write and better their futures, but she could still face an uphill struggle.

Poor parents cannot always afford to send their children to school, where low-salaried teachers often ask for bribes.

"If my family has money, I will study to high levels like others," said Un Dom, who is 12 and lives in the same district. "But if my parents have no money, I cannot continue my studies in upper classes. I have a poor family. I may not be able to study to the upper classes as others do."

Some parents, like Van Botum, 34, who lives in Phnom Penh, say that even when they send their children to school, they aren't learning as well as they should.

"My oldest daughter studies in Grade 6, as normal," she said. "But my youngest daughter, in Grade 5, can't read or write at all. She feels bad, ashamed and fearful, and then she doesn't mind her studies."

Educators, too, acknowledge the difficulties.

Ros Tith Malay, a teacher at Boeung Trabek primary school, said the worries of parents and children are warranted.

"Teachers have a hard time making a living from the government's inadequate offers of salary," she said. "So the teachers have to demand money from students in exchange for their teaching, for fuel and to support their lives."

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, said such practices damage Cambodia's human resources and socio-economic development.

"The young have very little knowledge, no skills and no resources," he said. "So investors hesitate to invest in Cambodia."

Illiteracy also begets its own problems, said Heng Sreang, a professor at the Royal Phnom Penh University.

"The illiterates cannot walk out of their villages," he said. "So their lives are facing more poverty."

Even those few who can read and write have difficulties finding a job, he added.

Santosh Khatri, an education specialist at Unesco in Phnom Penh, said illiteracy is common among the rural poor, those who survive on basic agriculture. Efforts are underway to encourage more reading, he said. "They can improve their livelihoods and improve their agricultural techniques" with literacy.

The government, meanwhile, has "six strategies" in its approach to education, including the promotion of literacy, said Ou Eng, director-general of the Ministry of Education.

"For this reason in both primary and secondary schools, we have a number of works aimed at strengthening education quality and service with equity," he said.

Khmer Rouge Tribunal Continues Outreach Work As Trials Slow

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 10:39 AM PDT

Monks attend the Khmer Rouge tribunal outreach in Samlaut district, western Cambodia on Friday 26, August 2011. (Photo: VOA - R. Carmichael)

Robert Carmichael | Samlaut, Cambodia
Voice of America

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal is often in the news for the wrong reasons - funding problems, delays and allegations of political interference, to name a few.

But although the judicial progress is slow, the Phnom Penh-based court continues to spread its message around the country, most recently in the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Samlaut in western Cambodia.

Samlaut district has a long association with the Khmer Rouge. It was here in 1967 that the initial uprising took place which ultimately culminated in the rule of Pol Pot's government between 1975 and 1979 and the deaths of around two million people.

But the end of Khmer Rouge rule in 1979 did not mark the end of the movement. Propped up by Thailand, China and Western nations such as the United States, the Khmer Rouge ran their civil war from an arc of districts in western Cambodia.

Samlaut was one of those areas. It remained under Khmer Rouge control until the late 1990s when the movement finally collapsed in the aftermath of the Soviet Union's demise.

The U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal was created to bring some sense of justice to victims of the Khmer Rouge. But its creation took years of negotiations with Cambodian authorities who wanted to control the process. The tribunal is modeled on the French legal system and includes local judges and international judges who are approved by both the U.N. and Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge tribunal tasked with prosecuting former leaders and those most responsible is understandably not popular in places like this, where some see it as the embodiment of victors' justice.

Court spokesman Lars Olsen, who visited Samlaut last week with the tribunal's outreach team, says that provides a good reason for court representatives to visit.

"I'm pleased that a relatively large number of people turned up and that after some hesitation at least they chose to air some of their thoughts about the court process," Olsen said. "And as one could have expected from an area like this that is inhabited by a lot of former Khmer Rouge, they have reservations about the court process and they also expressed this view very clearly."

Around 200 residents attended, sitting on plastic chairs under a multicolored tarpaulin.

What they hear is straightforward enough: an explanation of how the court works, and discussion about its cases, including the tribunal's first against the Khmer Rouge jailer Comrade Duch, who used to live in Samlaut.

Six court staff made the 350-kilometer trip to Samlaut, including Deputy Prosecutor Vincent De Wilde d'Estmael.

It fell to him to explain the role of the prosecution.

"Our goal is to end the impunity regarding the crimes that were committed in the Democratic Kampuchea period," he explained. "Impunity has lasted too long. And, second, we would like that the truth is found about those crimes and that justice is rendered to the numerous Cambodian people who were victims of the crimes committed.

It's a message that frankly goes down better in non-Khmer Rouge areas of Cambodia.

In Samlaut, residents said the tribunal was within its rights to prosecute the senior leaders, but nobody else. This man said that trying others could undermine peace and stability.

That closely echoes the government's opinion. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has long said he will not permit the prosecution of five mid-ranking Khmer Rouge cadres whom the tribunal is investigating.

Olsen says in other parts of Cambodia people cannot understand how so few can be tried for such extraordinary crimes. "That's obviously not the case here. It was very much a focus of: Why do this now? Why jeopardize the achievements they have had since the peace? And is this some kind of revenge? And, of course, it's important for us to hear these concerns and also be able to address them," he said.

To date, the tribunal has held about a dozen public forums around the country. Most are targeted at victims of the Khmer Rouge.

This outreach in Samlaut was the second to focus on a former Khmer Rouge stronghold.

As the court gears up for the start next year of Case Two, the trial of the senior leaders, there will be many visits like this to make sure Cambodians on both sides of the divide are kept informed.

Khmer Rouge court takes action against US news service

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 10:34 AM PDT

Thursday, September 1, 2011

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court said on Wednesday it had started contempt of court proceedings against Voice of America Khmer for revealing confidential information about a new Khmer Rouge case.

The move comes after the US-funded news service posted an article and video on its website describing prosecution allegations of mass killings and other atrocities by three mid-level cadres during the regime's 1975-79 rule.

The service cited a document obtained by a source close to the court.

VOA Khmer 'on 10 August 2011 quoted verbatim from a confidential document... and even showed that document on a video', said the two judges who are still investigating the claims in the court's fourth and final case.

Cambodia Calls for Talks With Thailand on Disputed Offshore Gas

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 10:31 AM PDT

Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia called for official talks with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to jointly develop areas of the Gulf of Thailand that may be rich in oil and gas after revealing it held secret meetings with her predecessor.

"Cambodia would welcome the resumption of open and official negotiation on this issue and will pursue such a course as soon as practicable," the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority said in a statement yesterday.

Talks on delineating 26,000 square kilometers in the Gulf of Thailand stalled as battles between the neighbors since 2008 over temples on their land border killed more than two dozen people. Ex-leader Abhisit Vejjajiva scrapped a 2001 deal that established a framework for the talks after Cambodia appointed Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's brother, as an adviser.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An held "secret meetings" with Suthep Thaugsuban, Abhisit's deputy, the past two years on the disputed maritime territory, according to the statement. Cambodia's petroleum agency said Abhisit has been "attempting to derail" negotiations with Yingluck's government, which took power earlier this month.

Suthep declined to comment when reached by phone today.

--With assistance from Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok. Editor: Tony Jordan

Suthep denies secret deals over maritime zone

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 10:22 AM PDT

September 1, 2011
The Nation

Former Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban admitted yesterday that he met Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sok An twice - in Hong Kong and Kunming - but did not make any secret deal over the maritime resources in the overlapping zone in the Gulf of Thailand.

The Thai government under Abhisit Vejjajiva then invited Sok An to talk on the matter in Thailand but the latter had no free time to visit Thailand and so informal meetings were held in Hong Kong, Suthep said.

"I told Sok An that - as both of us were appointed chief negotiators on the overlapping area in the sea - why didn't we open a formal meeting to follow what previous governments had done," Suthep told reporters.

"Returning home, I rushed to issue a letter of invitation to talk in Thailand - but the meeting has never taken place as the bilateral relations turned sour," he said.

Suthep decided to clarify his meetings with Sok An after the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority issued a statement on Tuesday accusing Abhisit's administration of attempting to make a secret deal on the maritime zone.

Abhisit sent his deputy Suthep to have 'behind-the-scenes' meetings with Sok An in Hong Kong in August 2009 and in Kunming in July 2010, the statement said.

Suthep said he would make a formal clarification to Phnom Penh when he saw the statement in detail.

"The Democrat Party and I have no conflict of interest over this matter. The negotiation of the overlapping area is for the benefit of the country. I don't think anybody could have a personal interest in the deal. The process of negotiation must go through parliament scrutiny with public acknowledgement," he said.

However the issue of the overlapping area in the Gulf of Thailand became controversial as Democrat MPs accused Yingluck Shinawatra's government - during the policy debate in the Parliament last week - of trying to make a deal with Cambodia over the maritime zone for the personal benefit of her brother and former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Former Prime Minister Abhisit, who is leader of the Democrats, said yesterday Cambodia had issued the statement to discredit his government because he had never responded to Cambodian demands but did everything to protect Thai interest.

Under his government, Suthep simply tried to establish a framework of negotiation on the maritime zone deal and prepare to ask permission from the Parliament to open the talks, Abhisit said.

"As we put on hold the 2001 memorandum of understanding (MoU) on this matter, the attempt was over. There is nothing to hide," he said.

"By common sense, if my government had done anything for the benefit of Cambodia, Cambodia would be satisfied. But we have never done as they wanted, that's the reason they discredit us," Abhisit said.

The ruling Pheu Thai's MP Sunai Jullapongsathon yesterday questioned why Abhisit's government did not talk over the matter with Cambodia openly. He asked: Why did Suthep, who was then in charge of security matters, handle the maritime deal? Why did Suthep have to meet with Sok An before and after the decision to scrap the 2001 memorandum of understanding on the maritime? "Or did that happen because you could not cut the deal [as a] personal interest?" Sunai said.

Abhisit's government decided to terminate the MoU on the maritime deal signed with Cambodia during Thaksin's administration in 2001, as Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen had appointed Thaksin as his adviser in November 2009.

However denunciation of the MoU did not come into force as Abhsiti's government had not formally informed Phnom Penh over its decision.

Oil dispute flares up

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 08:33 AM PDT

Wednesday, 31 August 2011
Tom Brennan and Vong Sohkeng
The Phnom Penh Post

Secret meetings between high-ranking Thai and Cambodian officials to solve the demarcation of disputed offshore petroleum resources took place during the administration of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority revealed yesterday.

In a statement some commentators described as "coordinated attack" by the current Cambodian and Thai governments against political opponents, it also claimed there have been no such discussions since the election of Puea Thai in July.

The two countries first signed a memorandum of understanding on joint management of the Overlapping Claims Area in 2001, with a joint working group discussing further details from 2001 to 2007. The MoU for managing the OCA, which is thought to hold significant oil and gas reserves, was put on hold by the Thai government in November 2009.

"Even during the past few years when the [joint working group] did not meet formally, the Abhisit government continued to engage the Royal Government of Cambodia in negotiations on the OCA on multiple occasions …" the statement said.

Discussions had been held by high-ranking officials including Prime Minister Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, and Thai counterparts such as former Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban and former Minister of Defence Pravit Wongsuwan, it said.

Those meetings took place between June 2009 and July 2010 in locations including Kandal province, Kunming, China, and Hong Kong, according to the CNPA. Suthep Thaugsuban at the time "indicated a strong preference to resolve this issue during the mandate of the Abhisit government," and was instructed to do so by Abhisit Vejjajiva himself.

The CNPA claimed that Abhisit Vejjajiva had "wildly accused [deposed former Thai Prime Minister] Thaksin Shinawatra, who openly worked with Cambodia, of having secret interests with Cambodia", adding that Abhisit Vejjajiva is now "attempting to derail" any future talks between Cambodia and the newly elected Thai government.

"Cambodia is obliged to reveal this secret in order to protect the interests of Cambodia and H.E. Thaksin Shinawatra against the baseless allegations made on the part of the Democrats," it said.

Although representatives from the Thai Democrat Party could not be reached yesterday, some expert observers questioned the overtly political nature of the statement.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, lead researcher for political and strategic affairs at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies' ASEAN Studies Centre in Singapore said the statement could be the result of political maneuvering by the governments in Bangkok and Phnom Penh.

"I should think that this is a coordinated attack between Cambodia and the Yingluck government in discrediting the Democrat [Party] and at the same time enhancing their position at home," he said.

OCA negotiations most likely will not be hurt by recent claims from the Democrat Party, he added. In fact, he said they may result in greater transparency as Cambodia and Thailand look for an equitable solution.

Regardless, the issue will remain unsolved until the two countries find a solution to the disputed area around Preah Vihear temple, said Christopher Larkin, managing director of political risk consultancy CLC Asia.

"No matter what Thaksin's relationship with Cambodia is, I think an agreement on the street level is something that's not palatable to the Thai public. Preah Vihear needs to be solved first."

He added that the OCA was a "very politically unpopular issue" in Thailand, and that compromise of any kind carried with it serious political risk.

"I think there is the worry within policy-making circles that any talk of settling the maritime disputes generally leads to accusations of 'selling out', especially from the Thai side, where compromises on the Preah Vihear issue are seen as a trade-off for additional economic benefit from the Cambodians in the OCA."

The CNPA's statement also highlighted claims from Democrat Party Member of Parliament Anik Amranand last week, who it says accused Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government and Cambodia of meeting in secret to negotiate over the OCA for reasons of personal rather than public interest.

The CNPA yesterday denied such meetings took place, though added it hoped talks would openly resume soon.

"So far, the newly formed government led by Prime Minister Yingluck has not yet held any meeting or raised any proposal with the Royal Government of Cambodia to resolve the OCA, let alone any proposal to settle the dispute in exchange for any private individual gains as alleged by" Anik Amranand, it said.

"Nevertheless, the Royal Government of Cambodia would welcome the resumption of open and official negotiation on this issue and will pursue such a course as soon as practicable in the mutual interests of both people and countries."

Press Release From The Co-investi​gating Judges [-Don't cry over spilled milk?]

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 08:26 AM PDT

PRESS RELEASE BY THE CO-INVESTIGATING JUDGES

31 August 2011

After Voice of America Khmer on 10 August 2011 quoted verbatim from a confidential document of the ECCC and even showed that document on a video, the Co-Investigating Judges have instituted proceedings for Interference with the Administration of Justice (Contempt of Court) pursuant to ECCC Internal Rule 35. 

Anyone intending further disclosure of confidential court documents is hereby warned that his case could be transferred to the National Prosecutor pursuant to Rule 35 (2) (c).

Invoking Buddha to Protect Forests

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 12:28 AM PDT

The young, novice monk Sar Vy says he doesn't need to understand the science of climate change to know that his country and its people - as well as the wider world - benefit from forest conservation. (Photo: Brendan Brady)

Click here to view additional photos

August 30, 2011
By Brendan Brady
By The World (USA)

Click here to listen to the audio program (MP3)

Tha Soun's orange robe shimmers as he strolls through a patch of forest in Northern Cambodia, pointing out trees and shrubs with medicinal benefits. He gestures toward berries that he says are good for joint and muscle pain, and a beehive full of nutritious wild honey.

Tha and his fellow monks from nearby Samraong pagoda have presided over this 44-thousand acre forest known as Sorng Rukavorn, or simply Monk Forest, for a decade. These days it seems a serene garden, but it wasn't always so.

Tha says that not long ago, police and soldiers would come here to poach timber.

"I would advise them to stop if I thought they might listen," Tha says. "But if they wouldn't listen, I would just take away their chainsaws and weapons."

Tha says he and the other members of his Buddhist community have succeeded in protecting the forest because they are respected spiritual figures. But his experience before he became a monk certainly helps as well.

"The soldiers don't scare me, because I used to be a soldier, too," Tha says.

This determination helps preserve the forest for use by both the monks and the local community. Now, the effort could also provide lucrative for Cambodia.

Monk Forest is one of 13 community forests totaling more than 250 square miles in Odder Meanchey province whose value in fighting climate change is being marketed in an international exchange of what are called avoided deforestation carbon credits. That's a mouthful that basically means Cambodia hopes to get paid by outsiders not to cut down their trees.

The credit market is based on the fact that forests absorb huge amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide. The effort is meant to help curb rising CO2 levels by preserving as much forest land as possible.

Tha acknowledges that climate science is new to the monks here, but he does understand that with climate change a lot is at stake for his country, because most people here survive off the land.

And Tha says preserving forests has always been important in Buddhist tradition.

"It was under a tree that Buddha was born, achieved enlightenment and passed away," Tha says.

So like Buddha, Tha spends much of his time in ritualized performances under the forest canopy.

But such natural temples have become harder to find in Cambodia. More than a fifth of the country's forests have been cut down over the past twenty years.

Today, large-scale logging has been reduced but big timber sales continue, even in protected areas. Tha says when that happens, local people can no longer get any benefits from the forest,

Here in Monk Forest, on the other hand, local residents can still share its abundance. And they also help monitor and protect the forest.

34-year-old volunteer Choun Chun says the monks have taught him about the value of conservation.

"When I was young, I was tempted to cut the trees for profit," Choun says. "But, slowly, I realized the forest was important for our society. If we cut the trees, we destroy ourselves."

Destruction has been widespread in the area in recent decades. Oddar Meanchey province was the hideout of remnants of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime for almost 20 years after they were overthrown in the mid 1970s. In those years they funded their insurgency by selling timber in nearby Thailand.

Today, the area remains poor and isolated, which makes illegal logging tempting. The carbon credit deal is meant to address this by essentially offering a reward for protecting the forest. By one estimate, the credits for all 13 forests could be worth as much as 50 million dollars over 30 years.

But the carbon credit process is largely untested, and critics worry it could be vulnerable to corruption. Kuy Thourn, who's a local leader in a village near Monk Forest, says he's not sure his community will ever see any benefit.

Thourn says the money might go to the people, or it might go to corrupt officials.

"We will have to find out."

A government representative recently visited the area to assure villagers that they will benefit from the deal. But skepticism is rampant, and monk Tha Soun worries that it will be difficult to convince some Cambodians of the importance of protecting their forests. But he says he remains committed, no matter what.

"I decided to become a monk because we Cambodians believe it is the duty of some boys to keep the religion alive and clean the sins of our parents," Tha says.

For Tha, those sins include the past generation's mistreatment of the forest. He says he's determined to help save Song Rukavorn, and as much forest land here in northern Cambodia, as he can, for sustainable use, and spiritual contemplation.

Upstate man uncovers lost story of 12th century king

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 12:15 AM PDT

Riverside High School world history teacher Steve Johnson spent two summers doing research in Cambodia. / Steve Johnson/Reader submittted

Riverside High history teacher did his research in Cambodia

Aug. 28, 2011
Anna Lee | Staff Writer
GreenvilleOnline.com (USA)

Some stories take years to tell and thousands of miles to find.

Steve Johnson found his story an hour's motorbike ride out of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, where a Buddhist temple sits halfway up a small mountain.

For the last two years, Johnson, a Riverside High School world history teacher, has spent his summers talking to natives about King Jayavarman VII, who ruled from 1178-1219 and was considered the greatest of the Khmer (Cambodian) kings.

"He's kind of like the George Washington and the Abraham Lincoln all in one of this country, yet no one knows his story," Johnson said. "I researched every book I could find on the subject, but there were still some holes in the story that needed to be filled in."

To find someone who knew the entire tale meant traveling to Wat Tamov temple, where a handful of Buddhist monks who survived Pol Pot's Communist regime lived on the edge of a tiger sanctuary.

More than a million Cambodians were killed when the Khmer Rouge took over in 1975, and "anyone that was educated or any kind of religious leader was hunted down and killed," said Johnson, whose wife is Cambodian.

Those who survived hid.

The sun was rimmed in red, and shadows slipped across the roof of Wat Tamov as Johnson listened to an old monk tell the stories of King Jayavarman.

The oral tradition was alive in Sav Sarong, who when asked his age through a translator, put it at somewhere between 90 and 100.

"He was fascinating to talk to," Johnson said. "There's a joy in this guy, a happiness."

Stories have a way of unraveling more stories. Between the tales of a legendary king, Johnson learned how Sav Sarong survived four years of genocide.

"The Khmer Rouge wanted to kill him because they were trying to kill all the Buddhist monks and teachers. They wanted everyone to believe in Communism, and no one was supposed to have a religion," Johnson said.

While others fled across the border to Thailand, Sav Sarong found his own refuge in a cave deep in the tiger sanctuary.

The tigers didn't bother him, the monk said. They looked him in the eye and stalked away, but the Khmer Rouge weren't so lucky.

"The tigers killed two men who came looking for him and ate them, and after that, they never came up again," Johnson said.

Sav Sarong was the last piece of his research.

In October, the Angkor National Museum in Cambodia will publish the high school teacher's essay on King Jayavarman VII in English and Khmer. Strategy & Tactics magazine will carry the essay next year, available at all Barnes & Noble stores.

"What I did was just some investigative reporting," Johnson said. "It took a few years, but I found it, so that's my story."

Anna Lee can be reached at 298-4246.

Workers Collapse at Garment Factory

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:42 PM PDT

Workers are attended to after fainting at a factory in Kampong Chhnang, Aug. 25, 2011. (RFA)

Scores of garment workers faint at a factory in Cambodia, leaving investigators stumped.

2011-08-30
Radio Free Asia

More than 100 workers fell ill in a Cambodian garment factory over the last four days, in the latest fainting saga involving textile workers that has spurred an investigation into working conditions in the country's third-largest industry.

The workers, employed by the Chime Ly Garment Factory in Cambodia's southern Kandal province, began fainting Friday after what they described as "shortness of breath" and were taken to the local hospital. The factory was the third to be affected by fainting spells in August alone.

The mass sickness follows an incident last week involving some 300 garment workers, who fainted while laboring at a factory in central Cambodia owned by a supplier to Swedish fashion brand H&M. Those workers said they experienced an overpowering smell before losing consciousness.

One employee at the Chime Ly factory, who asked to remain anonymous, said the fainting occurred just as the workers were returning from lunch.

"The building is too hot and lacks fans. It is too crowded. The smell from the chemical substance the clothes are treated with caused us to faint," she said.

"Not only the workers inside the building fainted—the guards outside also collapsed."

A doctor at the Oum Sivorn Referral Hospital, where the workers were treated, told RFA that the workers collapsed due to hypoglycemia resulting from low blood sugar.

Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, one of Cambodia's biggest independent unions, said unhygienic conditions and a lack of oxygen in the factory led to the faintings.

"The factory buildings were built too close each other, which prevents enough oxygen from getting into the facilities," he said.

Factory officials could not be reached for comment.

Faintings on the rise

Faintings in Cambodian garment factories have left authorities baffled and investigators struggling to determine the cause of the incidents.

On Friday, at least 20 workers from the Shingly Garment Factory, near the capital Phnom Penh, fainted while on the job.

Some unions suggested that the workers had been forced to work long hours of overtime before collapsing.

A day earlier, more than 200 workers from M&V International Manufacturing Ltd, a Chinese-owned supplier to H&M, also fainted. It followed another incident on Tuesday, where nearly 100 workers collapsed at the same factory.

A company executive told the Phnom Penh Post that allegations of forced overtime and a toxic working environment were untrue, adding that the fainting was caused by a "strange psychological phenomenon."

H&M told Reuters it was investigating the fainting and said the government, local authorities, and the UN's International Labor Organization (ILO) had "not found any plausible causes so far."

The chief of the Provincial Department of Labor, Peou Sitha, ordered the M&V factory shut down over the weekend to allow the 4,000 workers to rest and to give experts time to investigate the incident, though no new details have been released.

This year alone, more than 2,000 workers have reported fainting in as many Cambodian factories for reasons that are not fully explained, Chea Mony was reported saying last month.

Toxic chemicals

The garment sector is Cambodia's third-largest currency earner after agriculture and tourism. Many of the workers labor long hours for meager salaries which are critical for hundreds of thousands of poor rural families.

In late 2009, officials vowed to crack down on safety violations that endanger factory workers after toxic fumes in a garment factory in Cambodia's capital sickened hundreds of workers.

Last week, environmental watchdog Greenpeace said in a report from Beijing that traces of toxic chemicals harmful to the environment and to human health had been detected in products made by 14 top clothing manufacturers.

Samples of clothing from top brands including Adidas, Uniqlo, Calvin Klein, H&M, Abercrombie & Fitch, Lacoste, Converse,and Ralph Lauren were found to be tainted with the chemicals, known as nonylphenol ethoxylates, the watchdog said at the launch of its report "Dirty Laundry 2."

Reported by RFA's Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Escape from genocide

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:30 PM PDT

Complex: Alice Pung talks about her latest book.Picture: Rodger Cummins/The Age

31 Aug, 2011
Maribyrnong Weekly (Australia)

IT began with the knives. A long way from home, writing a short story about the way her father Kuan would make sure there were only blunt knives in the family home, Alice Pung realised this wasn't an average tale.

It dawned on the Footscray-born writer and lawyer that there were reasons behind her father's behaviour and a complex history that shaped their own relationship.

This realisation grew slowly into Pung's new book, Her Father's Daughter, launched on Sunday as a follow-up to her award-winning debut Unpolished Gem.

Set in Melbourne, China and the Killing Fields of Pol Pot-era Cambodia, the story traces the journey her father undertakes on his way to a quiet family life in the shadows of western Melbourne's factories.

The story also gives insight into the influence Kuan has had on his four children.

"There is not much literature about the children of survivors of the Cambodian genocide, but if you look at what has been written about the children of those who escaped the Nazi genocide you see some very similar things," Pung says.

At the time of her parent's arrival in Australia just over 30 years ago, there was an expectation people would simply forget what they had seen and experienced.

But these suppressed memories and feelings bubble to the surface and even filter into the lives of their children in unexpected ways.

Pung said her father had been open and honest about his past, but it wasn't until she left home that she could really understand its impact in shaping his protectiveness towards his children.

"If I hadn't moved out I would still be coddled," the author says.

"A few of my friends rebelled, while some stayed behind and got themselves caught within those expectations."

The portion of the book tracing her father's time under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime is an eye-opening account of the horrors inflicted by the "Black Bandits".

Many of her father's family perished and his own escape was hard-won.

"It was a very difficult story to write. I realised that this story is not going to have any easy epiphanies; a genocide does not have any easy epiphanies."

Her Father's Daughter is out now through Black Inc.

Thai defense minister to visit Cambodia in September

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:25 PM PDT

BANGKOK, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Defense Minister Gen. Yuthasak Sasiprapha would visit Cambodia in late September at the invitation of his counterpart Gen. Tea Bahn, Thai defense ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

His visit will be an informal one in order to pave the way for the upcoming General Border Committee (GBC) meeting, according to the spokesman's statement.

Gen. Yuthasak would also meet with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen and His Majesty Narodom Sihamoni.

Army Spokesman Colonel Thanathip Sawangsaeng informed that the defense minister would held a meeting of the Office of National Security Council with relevant agencies and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra within two weeks in a bid to discuss GBC meeting.

GBC meeting is normally co-chaired by both countries' defense ministers with the purpose of dealing with border problems and demarcation.

Regarding the outcome of the Regional Border Committee (RBC) meeting during Aug. 23-24 in Thailand's northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province, Gen. Yuthasak said he was satisfied.

Warning from UN over new strain of bird flu

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:23 PM PDT

Aug 31 2011
By Brendan Hughes
Western Mail

FEARS of a new outbreak of bird flu were raised yesterday by the United Nations, following the emergence of a mutated strain of the disease that is able to sidestep vaccines.

The avian flu variant has appeared in Vietnam and China and its risk to humans cannot be predicted, say UN veterinary officials.

It could also threaten Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, where eight people have died after becoming infected this year, they warned.

The World Health Organisation says avian flu has killed 331 people since 2003.

And more than 400m domestic poultry worldwide have been killed or culled as a result of the virus, causing an estimated £12.2bn of economic damage.

Experts in Wales said yesterday the new strain of the virus is unlikely to have an impact on the health of humans in Britain.

And the Welsh Government reassured the public that the country had "strong contingency plans" in place to prevent and tackle any potential outbreak.

At its peak in 2006, there were 4,000 outbreaks of avian flu in 63 countries across the globe.

The H5N1 virus has since been eliminated in most territories, but it remains endemic in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation called on countries to adopt "heightened readiness and surveillance" against a resurgence of the virus.

Juan Lubroth, FAO chief veterinary officer, said: "Wild birds may introduce the virus, but people's actions in poultry production and marketing spread it."

In the past two years, avian flu has appeared in poultry or wild birds in countries that had been virus-free for some years.

Dr Roland Salmon, the director of Public Health Wales' communicable disease surveillance centre, said the development of a mutant, vaccine-resistant strain of bird flu should not cause alarm.

"I don't think this has a great deal of human health implications.

"Any problem that you're likely to see in Britain is almost certainly going to kick off among British poultry, rather than among humans.

"You're not going to suddenly get 50 people in Britain infected with bird flu, but you might get a flock of birds here infected," he said.

Wikileaks data leaked

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:10 PM PDT

Aug 31, 2011
The Voice of Russia

The Wikileaks website has come under hacker attack blocking access to all documents posted on the portal.

The website managers ask the users to create copies of the webpage located on other servers.

On Tuesday the US State Department lambasted the whistleblower website for posting a new batch of secret diplomatic cables, which this time contained the names of the State Department's informants, among them a UN staffer posted in East Africa and human rights activists in Cambodia.

"Preah Krou Luon Sovath" a Poem in Khmer by Sék Serei

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:08 PM PDT

Press Statement: CEDAC Welcomes draft law on pesticides and fertilizer​s management

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 11:02 PM PDT

Dear All,

CEDAC is pleased to announce its support to the draft law on pesticides and fertilizers management which was recently approved by the council of minister.

CEDAC finds that this draft law in a progressive step towards not only improved living standards and legalized pesticides and fertilizers management, but also towards a safer and healthier environment for rural farmers.

For more details, please find the attached press statement in Khmer.

Thanks and kind regards,
Him Khortieth
.......................
Communication Officer
Centre d' Etude et de Développement
Agricole Cambodgien (CEDAC)
No. 119, Street 257, Sangkat Toek Laak 1,
Khan Toul Kork
B.P. 1118 Phnom Penh
H/P: 855-16-57-57-13
Tel : 855- 23-880-916
Fax : 855-23-885-146
E-mail: himkhortieth@cedac.org.kh
www.cedac.org.kh

About the ECCC - Opinion by Chhaya Khemarak

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 10:53 PM PDT

http://www.box.net/shared/afops307kk1rhfe3isnj

http://www.box.net/shared/34l6aayiflrnlujr0rz9

Over 60 workers at Heart Enterprise fainted

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 10:10 PM PDT

Dear All

Please Note information from Heart Enterprise (Cambodia) Co., Ltd

Heart Enterprise workers faint over 60 people in garment factory. This Garment is situation Phum Ang, Khum Kantouk, Srok Angsnoul, Kandal or phone number is 016 929 248.

More Information, Please contact with Mr. Chea Mony 012 941 308

Thanks

--
Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC)
Social Justice is the Foundation of Peace

Address: House No.16A, Street 360, Sangkat Boeung Keng Kang 3,
Khan Chamkar Mon, Phnom Penh

Tel/Fax: +855 0 23 216 870
Mobile: +855 0 12 941 308 / +855 0 12 846 408

Inaugurati​on of Sam Rainsy Party Headquarte​r in Kompong Cham

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 10:04 PM PDT

In Unity

By Mu Sochua

The Sam Rainsy Party in Kompong Cham inaugurated its new headquarters this morning with over 500 participants from the grassroots, its MPs, and connected with president Sam Rainsy via video conference.

Our commune chief of Da commune, Meymuth district talked to us about his strategy: have an attainable objective; know each family in your commune; register all your supporters first; walk the campaign trail.

At first local election in 2002, SRP gained over 1,000 councilors; 2007, SRP more than double the number to over 2,600 councilors.

Over 1 million Cambodians lost their land to land grabs or forced eviction. Community forests are in danger of being given to companies as economic land concessions.

These are real local issues for change.

Change happens when grassroots voters are affected.

In unity, we say: Change!

Cambodia: New Regulation Short-Changes Domestic Workers

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 09:47 PM PDT

Revised Labor Migration Policy Weak on Recruitment Abuses

Source: Human Rights Watch

(New York, August 30, 2011) – Cambodia's revised regulation on labor migration, approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen on August 17, 2011, falls far short of minimum protections needed to safeguard migrant domestic workers, Human Rights Watch said today. The regulation omits or only has vague protections for workers and does not adequately address such problems as debt bondage, illegal recruitment of underage workers, and forced confinement by recruitment agencies in Cambodia, Human Rights Watch said.

The "Sub-Decree on the Management of the Sending of Cambodian Workers Abroad through Private Recruitment Agencies" was drafted without consulting civil society organizations or migrant workers.

"The Cambodian government didn't even bother to talk with domestic or international organizations involved in these issues, let alone the workers themselves," said Jyotsna Poudyal, children's rights research fellow at Human Rights Watch. "The result is a regulation that doesn't offer even minimum protections to Cambodians who face serious abuse when they agree to work abroad."

Human Rights Watch urged the Cambodian government to revise the regulation or adopt a new policy on recruitment agencies that would address key concerns, such as recruitment fees and debts, freedom of movement in training centers, and child recruitment. Such protections should be created in consultation with domestic and international organizations working on migration and trafficking and include detailed methods for enforcement, Human Rights Watch said.

Cambodians travel abroad for work to escape unemployment at home and to send remittances back to their families. Most go to Thailand, South Korea, and Malaysia. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that the number of Cambodian migrants in Thailand alone was 248,000 in 2008. Many migrants, especially domestic workers en route to Malaysia, are subject to a range of deceptive and exploitative practices by poorly monitored recruitment agencies in Cambodia.

Recruitment agencies, and the local brokers they pay by commission, often fail to provide full information to prospective migrants about their training, recruitment debts, and employment abroad. Others help falsify documents to get around Malaysia's requirement that migrant domestic workers must be at least 21 years old. Many of those who migrate are under age 18.

Women and girls typically must turn over the first six to seven months of salary to repay exorbitant recruitment fees to their labor agents in Cambodia. Once they agree to migrate, the recruitment agents require them to live in training centers in Cambodia for months until they leave for Malaysia. The recruiters require workers to pay the recruitment fees even if they change their minds about migrating and return home. Many workers who come from poor households have little choice but to accept overcrowded living conditions in the training centers and the employment contracts that labor agents require them to sign to work as domestic workers in Malaysia.

"The Cambodian government is well aware that recruitment agencies subject prospective workers, including children, to months-long confinement in overcrowded training centers, charge exorbitant recruitment fees, and harass them about repaying loans," Poudyal said. "It is appalling that the new regulation fails even to mention these practices, which contribute to even graver abuses, including forced labor and trafficking."

The new regulation replaces a 1995 measure, "Sub-decree No. 57 on the Sending of Cambodian Workers Abroad," and includes some positive changes, Human Rights Watch said. It assigns the Ministry of Labor and Vocational Training the responsibility to inspect recruitment agencies. It requires the recruitment agencies to supply lawyers for migrants in legal proceedings abroad and contracts in the Khmer language between agencies and workers. It specifies "decent" living standards for the training centers though it does not specify the minimum requirements.

The new regulation includes penalties for violations by agencies. They begin with a written warning and can culminate in the revocation of an agency's operating license. Agencies may also lose all or part of a US$100,000 surety deposited with the government upon registration. However, the regulation does not create accessible complaint mechanisms.

Human Rights Watch said the regulation failed to include many provisions outlined in the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers, an international treaty adopted in June 2011. Article 15 on recruitment agencies stipulates accessible complaint mechanisms, substantial penalties for agencies that violate standards, and prohibitions on salary deductions for recruitment fees.

"The Cambodian government needs to get serious about protecting people who risk exploitation and abuse abroad to provide for their families," Poudyal said. "To be effective, and to make a real difference in migrants' safety, the government should set minimum standards, create rigorous monitoring, and enable prospective migrant workers to file complaints when mistreated."

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on women's rights, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/category/topic/women

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Cambodia, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/asia/cambodia

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Jyotsna Poudyal (English): +1-212-377-9437; +1-917-576-6969 (mobile);

poudyaj@hrw.org

In New York, Nisha Varia (English, Spanish): +1-212-216-1858; +1-917-617-1041 (mobile); or

varian@hrw.org

In Bangkok, Phil Robertson (English, Thai): +66-85-060-8406 (mobile); or 

robertp@hrw.org

"ស្អីៗសុទ្ធយួន" a Poem in Khmer by Hin Sithan

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 09:46 PM PDT

Malaysian firm eyes Kampong Thom land [-More eviction coming up in Kampong Thom?]

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 09:30 PM PDT

Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Tom Brennan
The Phnom Penh Post

MALAYSIAN firm Lion Forest Industries Berhad plans to acquire 58,000 hectares of land in Kampong Thom province for US$26.1 million, the company announced yesterday.

The company has also announced its intention to purchase 9,995 hectares of land in Preah Vihear province for $3.9 million, according to a previous statement.

LFIB, which distributes building materials, petroleum and automotive products, will use the land to plant oil palm and rubber, a company statement said.

The move comes after LFIB over the past year has disposed of its tyre operations in Malaysia and China and seeks to identify a new core business, according to the statement.

"The proposal allows the LFIB Group the opportunity to tap into a new core business and also to diversify its earnings stream by investing in lands for the purposes of plantation of rubber and/or oil palm."

LFIB will partner with domestic firm Seng Enterprise on the deal, with Seng Enterprise helping LFIB to attain the economic land concession from the Cambodian government.

Seng Enterprise will assist six wholly owned subsidiaries of Harta Impiana, which itself is a wholly owned subsidiary of LFIB, to buy land rights at $450 per hectare for a period of no less than 70 years.

Each of the six subsidiaries will purchase 10,000 hectares or under, the filing said. Land concessions can be no larger than 10,000 hectares, according to Cambodian law. The deals are expected to be completed later in 2011, it said.