KI Media: “Speak Truth To Power in KI-Media Series - Gabor Gombos (Hungary) “Mental Disability Rights”” plus 24 more |
- Speak Truth To Power in KI-Media Series - Gabor Gombos (Hungary) “Mental Disability Rights”
- Anti-corruption law in Khmer and English [-If only they follow it....]
- Brain Food for the Unfriendly
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Brain Food for the Religious, the Righteous, and the Right-winger
- Political Cartoon by Chhaya Khemarak
- Question from an anonymous reader about Mr. Tran Manh Rinh
- Cambodia To Host China-Asean Car Race In October
- Cambodia Reportedly Pulls Out Troops From Disputed Border Area
- Cambodia Cleans Out The Pretenders [-Hundreds of casualties in the fight with Thailand?]
- សូម អរ គុណ ចំពោះ កូន ខ្មែរ ដោយ ឆាំ ឆានី (Orkun Koun Khmer by Chham Chhany)
- "កំណាព្យ, ម្ដេចឃើញតែជេរអញ្ចឹង?!" a Poem in Khmer by Sam Vichea
- Kingdom of "Shock and Awe" Wonder
- Kingdom of Wonder: Where money and culture/religion goes hand in hand ... at the expense of Samdech Sangh Chuon Nath
- TED - Josette Sheeran: Ending hunger now
- Cambodia edges away from U.S. dollar
- Bird Flu Worries Rise With Seventh Fatality This Year
- Malaysia Defense Minister Urges Border Peace
- Cambodia reports H5N1 death, zoo outbreak
- Modern day slavery - The Way I See It
- New border gates to Cambodia opened
- Cambodia: Blog article leads to murder investigation [-Kudos to Khmerization!]
- Masterton opportunity seized
- "រឿងធំតែមួយ" a Poem in Khmer by Sék Serei
- Sen & Rainsy - Poem/Tale in Khmer by Srey Sra'em
| Speak Truth To Power in KI-Media Series - Gabor Gombos (Hungary) “Mental Disability Rights” Posted: 30 Jul 2011 05:16 PM PDT | ||||
| Anti-corruption law in Khmer and English [-If only they follow it....] Posted: 30 Jul 2011 05:05 PM PDT | ||||
| Posted: 30 Jul 2011 04:58 PM PDT Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion. - Thich Nhat Hanh  | ||||
| Convention on the Rights of the Child Posted: 30 Jul 2011 04:54 PM PDT Convention on the Rights of the Child Ratified by UNGA in Nov. 1989, entered into force 1990 Cambodia ratified this Convention on October 15, 1992 PART IArticle 311. States Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts. 2. States Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.  | ||||
| Brain Food for the Religious, the Righteous, and the Right-winger Posted: 30 Jul 2011 04:40 PM PDT On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."
- St. Luke (the Holy Bible)
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| Political Cartoon by Chhaya Khemarak Posted: 30 Jul 2011 03:20 PM PDT   | ||||
| Question from an anonymous reader about Mr. Tran Manh Rinh Posted: 30 Jul 2011 03:13 PM PDT  Click on the control below to listen to Mr. Manh Rinh's voice  | ||||
| Cambodia To Host China-Asean Car Race In October Posted: 30 Jul 2011 03:02 PM PDT PHNOM PENH, July 30 (Bernama) -- Cambodia will host China-Asean car race in October this year, the first car race ever involved by Cambodia, a senior official of National Olympic Committee said Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported. Vath Chamroeun, secretary general of National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (COCC) said the car race is initiated by China in order to mark the 20th anniversary of China-Asean bilateral cooperation. He said, as planned, the "2011 China-Asean International Touring Assembly and China-Asean Journalists Rally" will begin on Sept 9 through Oct 9 this year. The rally will begin in China and go across five countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and to end up in Cambodia. According to the schedule, Cambodia will host the end-up rally racing on Oct 7-8, beginning from Siem Reap province, hometown of Angkor Wat Temple to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Chamroeun said Cambodia is prepared to send two drivers for the race, the first ever that Cambodians are directly involved in the race and as well as the host of the event. He added the procedure for the rally-racing is free with any kinds of cars, but speed is the subject for scoring.  | ||||
| Cambodia Reportedly Pulls Out Troops From Disputed Border Area Posted: 30 Jul 2011 02:52 PM PDT BANGKOK, July 30 (Bernama) -- Cambodia has reportedly withdrawn some 2,500 troops from an unsettled area bordering Thailand, a move expected to ease tension between the two neighbouring countries, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported. Updated reports on Saturday said that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered the troop withdrawal from the contentious border area surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple. Newspapers showed pictures of Cambodian troops and tanks leaving the area. The withdrawal of the Cambodian troops came almost two weeks after the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered both Thailand and Cambodian to pull out their troops from the unsettled area pending the World Court's concluded decision on a case earlier filed by Phnom Penh, requesting the UN highest court to provide clarification of its 1962 ruling on the Preah Vihear Temple. However, according to TNA Phnom Penh reportedly acknowledged later that its troop pull-out from the border area was not aimed to comply with the World Court's order, but to lessen military confrontation in the area, where fatal clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops had erupted over the past few years. . The Cambodian government said that Cambodian troops have remained inside the Preah Vihear Temple.  | ||||
| Cambodia Cleans Out The Pretenders [-Hundreds of casualties in the fight with Thailand?] Posted: 30 Jul 2011 02:44 PM PDT
July 30, 2011: The Cambodian Army has been conducting a vigorous recruiting drive recently. The goal is 3,000 fit and intelligent young men. The new recruits are to replace several thousand older soldiers who were recently retired. Like many nations, Cambodia has long used the army as a jobs program. The emphasis was on keeping the 124,000 military personnel employed, not ready for war. Cambodia found that there were serious shortcomings with this approach when, three years ago, a border dispute with Thailand turned into a military conflict. Nothing major. The action has been mostly assault rifles, machine-guns, artillery and mortars. There have been hundreds of casualties. What shocked Cambodian commanders and political leaders was how unprepared their army was for even a minor conflict like this. This led to a revitalization plan for the army, which the current recruiting drive is part of. The border war was unexpected, even though Cambodia and Thailand have long argued over who owns how much of an ancient temple site. In 1962, an international court declared the temple Cambodian, but Thailand continued to claim adjacent areas that the Cambodians insist are part of the temple complex. Currently, each side has about 3,000 troops near the temple site, and there have been a few shooting incidents since 2008, but nothing serious. The two countries have been negotiating the withdrawal of troops. Fighting earlier this year damaged portions of the temple (which Cambodians occupy) and caused over 20,000 local civilians to flee. This dispute is but one of many similar ones. The basic problem is that the current 730 kilometer long border was defined in 1907 by the placement of only 73 border markers. This has left the exact location of the border open to interpretation. Occasionally these interpretations clash, as is happening now. Neither side wants a full scale war, even though Thailand has a larger and better equipped military. In the last few years, Cambodia doubled its annual military budget to $500 million. Thailand spends more than six times that, and has done so for decades. Thailand has 300,000 troops, Cambodia only 124,000. Cambodia is very poor, and has been helped by China. which recently donated 50,000 field uniforms (including hats and boots). Last year, China donated 257 military trucks, and also supplied weapons. The infantry weapons tend to be older models. That's because China is introducing a new and improved model of their QBZ-95 assault rifle (also called the Type 95) to their own troops. The QBZ-95 is a distinctive bullpup design (the magazine is behind the trigger) that China has been issuing to its troops for over a decade now. That means China has plenty of surplus Type 81 (improved AK-47) rifles (which the QBZ-95 replaced) to either put into storage, or distribute to allies. Cambodia has bought some Type 95s, for elite units. But most everyone else has the second hand Type 81. AK-47s have been widely used in Burma nearly half a century. Cambodia has never really recovered from its disastrous experiment in communist government (the Khmer Rouge) in the 1970s. That killed off 15 percent of the population (including nearly all the ethnic Chinese community) and trashed the economy. China supported the Khmer Rouge (as fellow communists), but Khmer Rouge aggression against Vietnam resulted in Vietnam invading in 1979 and deposing the Khmer Rouge. But as the decades went by, former Khmer Rouge officials got back in power, and China made nice.  | ||||
| សូម អរ គុណ ចំពោះ កូន ខ្មែរ ដោយ ឆាំ ឆានី (Orkun Koun Khmer by Chham Chhany) Posted: 30 Jul 2011 01:42 PM PDT   | ||||
| "កំណាព្យ, ម្ដេចឃើញតែជេរអញ្ចឹង?!" a Poem in Khmer by Sam Vichea Posted: 30 Jul 2011 08:17 AM PDT   | ||||
| Kingdom of "Shock and Awe" Wonder Posted: 30 Jul 2011 01:20 AM PDT
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| Posted: 30 Jul 2011 01:12 AM PDT
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| TED - Josette Sheeran: Ending hunger now Posted: 30 Jul 2011 12:35 AM PDT By Khmer Democrat, Phnom Penh Where is Our Humanity? Series ATTENTION PRIME MINISTER! Here's a film for you!! Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Program, talks about why, in a world with enough food for everyone, people still go hungry, still die of starvation, still use food as a weapon of war. Her vision: "Food is one issue that cannot be solved person by person. We have to stand together." Why you should listen to her:Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, based in Rome, oversees the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger around the globe. Every year, her program feeds more than 90 million people, including victims of war and natural disasters, families affected by HIV/AIDS, and schoolchildren in poor communities. She says: "I think we can, in our lifetime, win the battle against hunger because we now have the science, technology, know-how, and the logistics to be able to meet hunger where it comes. Those pictures of children with swollen bellies will be a thing of history." "The era of cheap food is over. The transition to a new equilibrium is proving costlier, more prolonged and much more painful than anyone had expected. 'We are the canary in the mine,' says Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Programme."The Economist  | ||||
| Cambodia edges away from U.S. dollar Posted: 29 Jul 2011 11:22 PM PDT
By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Cambodia, one of Asia's fastest-developing frontier economies, is gradually letting go of the U.S. dollar's hand in favor of its own currency, the riel — and some investors welcome the shift. The Asian Development Bank predicted Cambodia will grow 6.5% in 2011, as textile and garment industries boom in a country that spent decades of the past century ravaged by civil war. According to the ADB, 90% of currency in circulation is the greenback — which is not the most popular world currency at the moment. Read more on dollar, currencies. "The U.S. dollar is losing its credibility from the reckless 'quantitative easing' programs of the U.S. Federal Reserve. It is becoming unsafe for Cambodia to delegate its monetary policy to the bankrupt U.S., which hopes to inflate its way out of its recession and huge debts," said Douglas Clayton, managing partner of frontier markets investor Leopard Capital. Leopard Capital already has $34 million equity fund investing in the country, and is launching a $75 million find aimed at Cambodia and neighboring Laos. "I am in favor of the riel being introduced as a more sound currency, even though this will initially be more cumbersome for investors like us," Clayton said in an email interview with MarketWatch this month. Jayant Menon, principal economist in the Asian Development Bank's Office of Regional Economic Integration, said the shift would be a positive one, but needs to happen at its own speed. "My view is that Cambodia would benefit from de-dollarization, but only when it is ready for it. I think it has a long way to go still, and that it should happen in a natural way, for it to be sustainable," Menon said. According to Menon, dollarization itself is not a problem, "but rather a symptom of underlying problems." These include the weak institutions, poor governance and underdeveloped financial markets of a transitional economy, he said, as well as uncertainty relating to enforcement of laws and macroeconomic stability. When these issues are addressed, "then the symptom, which is dollarization, is likely to diminish, and disappear, over time," Menon said. Earlier this month, Cambodia opened its first securities exchange, but something was missing: traded companies, which were still making listing preparations. "Today's inauguration is the evidence of the readiness of Cambodia Securities Exchange to start trading, which has been scheduled to launch by the end of this year,'' Keat Chhon, the country's finance minister, said at the July 11 launching ceremony, according to Kyodo News. The Cambodia Securities Exchange, or CSX, is a joint venture between the government, which holds a 55%, and the Korea Exchange, which holds 45%. Three state-owned enterprises — Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority, Telecom Cambodia and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port — are reportedly preparing to list on the exchange. Other Cambodian companies are said to be eyeing other bourses. Rubber company Swift Resources plans to raise $100 million to $200 million in an initial public offering ahead of a fourth-quarter listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to reports this week. When trading on the CSX eventually starts, stock quotations will be in riels, by order of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia. But for the first three years, settlements can be made in dollars if both buyers and sellers agree. "Foreign investors would initially prefer to trade shares in dollars since that is simplest for them. But once there are enough riels in circulation and sufficient liquidity in the foreign exchange market, trading shares denominated in riels will not pose any problems for investors," said Clayton. Click to Play Euroview: Dollar's still a safe havenAfter weeks of wobbling over the U.S. debt ceiling talks, the dollar has stabilized, suggesting it is still the world's number one reserve currency after all. Leopard Cambodia Fund has made ten investments, Clayton said, mostly in financial services, utilities, and food processing companies. "We hope that Acleda Bank will be our first portfolio company to go public, and that others such as Kingdom Breweries and Nautisco Seafood Manufacturing may someday follow," he said. "Rural banks like Acleda can gradually try to match loans and deposits with riel, which is used more widely in rural areas. Urban banks will initially have a harder adjustment as their balance sheets tend to be more dollarized," said Clayton Leopard also has a position in Electricite Du Laos Generating Co., or EDL Genco, a hydro-electric power company that is listed on the Laos Stock Exchange. That exchange opened in January and trades two stocks. "The stock exchanges in Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand all trade in local currencies, so why not Cambodia?" said Clayton. Lisa Twaronite is MarketWatch's Tokyo bureau chief.  | ||||
| Bird Flu Worries Rise With Seventh Fatality This Year Posted: 29 Jul 2011 11:01 PM PDT
Friday, 29 July 2011 Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh "She touched a dead chicken and got sick." Bird flu has claimed the life of a 4-year-old girl from Banteay Meanchey province, the sixth child this year, health officials confirmed Friday. The girl had been ill for 10 days and had sought treatment from a traditional healer before she was transferred to a pediatric hospital in Siem Reap, where she succumbed. "She touched a dead chicken and got sick," said Sok Touch, director of the Ministry of Health's communicable disease department. Hers was the 15th death from avian influenza since 2003, and the seventh death this year, the ministry and the World Health Organization said in a statement. "Avian influenza is still a threat to the health of the Cambodian people," Health Minister Mam Bunheng said in the statement, adding that children were especially susceptible. "I urge parents and guardians to keep children away from sick or dead poultry," he said. Sok Touch said the girl's village was now under supervision, while results from blood tests of 13 other villagers were pending. Worldwide, bird flu has been confirmed in 563 people since 2003, with 330 of them dying.  | ||||
| Malaysia Defense Minister Urges Border Peace Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:49 PM PDT
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Malaysia's defense minister met with his Cambodian counterpart this week, emerging from talks to express his hopes that the conflict on the Thai border will be resolved. The International Court of Justice ruled earlier this month that Thailand and Cambodia should establish an Asean-observed demilitarized zone near Preah Vihear temple, around which deadly clashes have sporadically occurred since July 2008. A July 18, 2011 sketch-map by the International Court of Justice shows an area around Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple and surrounding territories claimed by Thailand, which the Court identifies as a 'Provisional Demilitarized Zone.' The July 18 ruling is the first ruling pending the Court's final decision on its interpretation of its 1962 ruling. Malaysian Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told reporters Thursday that the court's judgment served as an opportunity for Asean to help bring peace to the border conflict. "We would like to congratulate both countries, Cambodia and Thailand, for being given the opportunity to maintain peace and stability," he said. Implementation of the court's decision has stalled, however, with Thailand yet to establish a government following July elections. Indonesia, as head of Asean, is waiting to send an observer mission to the border, as called for by the international court. Hamidi said Indonesia is now working on a plan for the mission. Thailand, meanwhile, is seeking a bilateral meeting with Cambodia through a border committee to move a troop withdrawal forward, the Bangkok Post reported Thursday. However, Chhum Socheath, a spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Defense, said a bilateral meeting at this stage "cannot work," and such talks must now include Asean. "Thailand must respect the decision of the International Court of Justice," he said. The border remains a contentious issue for both sides. Thailand's governmental human rights body said Friday it would begin investigation into allegations of more than 20 extrajudicial killings of Cambodian civilians along the border over the last four years.  | ||||
| Cambodia reports H5N1 death, zoo outbreak Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:43 PM PDT Lisa Schnirring, Staff Writer Jul 29, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Cambodia's health ministry today announced today that a 4-year-old girl died from an avian influenza infection, a day after the country's animal health officials reported that the virus struck a zoo in a different province. The girl, from Banteay Meanchey province in the northwestern part of the country, died Jul 20, the ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a joint statement, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. Her death is Cambodia's seventh this year and pushes its number of H5N1 cases to 17, including 15 deaths. The report did not mention if the girl had been exposed to sick or dead birds, but Cambodia's health minister, Mam Bun Heng, warned parents and guardians to keep children away from them, according to the AFP report. Yesterday Cambodia's agriculture ministry reported an H5N1 outbreak that killed 19 wild birds at a Phnom Tamao zoo in Takeo province, located in the southern part of the country, according to a report to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). The bird deaths started Jul 13 at the zoo's rescue center, where workers feed the wild birds fish distributed on the banks of a pond during the rainy season (June through December). Zoo workers originally suspected Newcastle disease or fowl cholera, and they buried the carcasses and disinfected the area. The virus killed 19 birds, and 10 more sick ones were destroyed to control the spread of the virus, according to the report. Investigators aren't sure where the birds are from, but they suspect the Tonle Sap River, which expands into a large lake during the rainy season, flooding nearby fields and forests. A team from the National Veterinary Research Institute and the zoo conducted an investigation and surveillance in neighboring villages.  | ||||
| Modern day slavery - The Way I See It Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:37 PM PDT
By Michelle Kim | Staff mkim@dailycal.org The Daily Californian (USA) In light of my upcoming trip to Cambodia, I have been reading a lot of Southeast Asian news so as not to seem completely oblivious when I arrive. Of the many things that I have read, one societal ill that continuously appears as a dominating issue is the exponential growth of the sex trafficking industry. When it comes to the issue of sex trafficking, almost everyone recognizes its immorality and burden on its victims. But why, then, is it that the sex trafficking industry rakes in roughly $87 million a day worldwide, and is second of criminal industries to only the drug trade? Oakland itself is one of the largest centers of sex trafficking in America. While Oakland infamously houses many societal problems, it's nauseating to think that just a couple minutes drive away from our campus is a hub of struggling young women beaten and forced into having sex. Some claim that prostitution is a choice, and undoubtedly for many women, it is. Desperate times calls for desperate measures, and selling sex brings money without any trade skills. While the argument that prostitution is a free choice and that laws preventing such an industry are limiting women from using their bodies for financial gains does carry some weight, it's curious that only women with the smallest number of choices are often caught in this industry. When polled, a staggering majority of women caught in prostitution would not want it to be legalized and would not want any loved ones to be involved in it. "Choice," after all, is a limited word. While we have the choice to do relatively anything if the opportunity arises, we cannot forget that when our choices are so few, it's not really a choice as much as it is an act of desperation. I realized that the sex trafficking industry, to my unending horror, is a lot more demoralizing than I had known. There are endless testimonies of liberated prostitutes on the Internet. Children as young as age four are sold to brothels; girls who get molested at home run away only to be forced into prostitution on the streets. A common method of discipline and torture is delivered in the form of electric shocks, which are incredibly painful but don't ruin the aesthetic and physical beauty of the girls, which would lower their price. One testimony was of a girl who begged for rest after a painful abortion, only to get her eye gouged out by the brothel owner with a piece of metal. In Southeast Asian countries, where a vast majority of the international sex trafficking industry exists, women who have virtually no education easily slip into the lies of sex traffickers, who claim that they can give the women steady jobs in the cities — a seemingly perfect way to get themselves out of the economic slump of villages. What seems to surprise people, though, are statistics of how rampant the sex trade is in cities close to us. In San Francisco, nail salons, massage parlors and other seemingly innocent businesses serve as cover-ups for brothels. And yet the question of whether prostitution should be legalized must be swept aside. People will remain forever divided on the issue, but while authorities argue, girls are still getting abused and beaten. Our real focus should be on the question of why people are flocking to these brothels and paying for sex from young abused girls. Chester Brown's novel "Paying For It" is an honest depiction of himself employing prostitutes for sex to replace romantic love. Controversial as it is, it provides a window of insight into the minds of those that keep the sex slave industry thriving. Whether it is a desire for sex, or the replacement of love after a heartbreaking split from his ex–girlfriend, his motivations reveal a narcissistic approach to life. To him, the girls are merely objects of paid sex and fake romance. This has to come from a mindset that his comfort and pleasure are of more importance than the safety and life of the girls he exploits. One BBC article interviewed a couple of men who paid for prostitutes; many of them were surprisingly nonchalant and remorseless about it. One man said that he didn't think it was shameful even if he was doing it behind the back of his actual girlfriend because he could demand sexual favors from prostitutes that he otherwise felt bad about demanding. To him it was a win-win situation … for everyone excluding the prostitute, that is. Society's mindset towards prostitutes remains surprisingly taboo. It was only in 2000 — a mere decade ago — that the Trafficking Victims Protection Act was passed, which made it illegal to provide, obtain or recruit those under the age of 18 for sex. Is it because people are too ashamed to face the problems that prostitution causes? Our approach to dealing with prostitution must change. Our society still has a stronger focus on arresting the prostitutes instead of the pimps. There are more slaves now worldwide than at any other point in history, and we cannot forget this industry and those enslaved by it.  | ||||
| New border gates to Cambodia opened Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:31 PM PDT July, 30 2011 VNS (Hanoi) BINH PHUOC — Viet Nam and Cambodia yesterday opened another pair of border posts, Hoa Lu in Viet Nam's Binh Phuoc Province and Trapeang Sre in Cambodia's Kratie Province. This is the fifth of seven pairs of border posts the two countries agreed to open under a road transport agreement signed in 1998 and a protocol signed in 2005. Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said the gates would not only facilitate trade and economic development between the two border provinces, but also improve co-operation between the two countries. The four border points currently open for road transport between the two countries are Moc Bai - Bavet (Tay Ninh and Svay Rieng provinces), Tinh Bien-Phnom Den (An Giang and Takeo provinces), Xa Xia - Prek Chak (Kien Giang, Lork, Kam Pot provinces), and Xa Mat -Trapeing (Tay Ninh and Kampong Cham provinces). Two other pairs of border crossings are expected to open later this year, including Le Thanh - Oyadav (Gia Lai and Andong Pich - Ratanakiri provinces) and Bu Prang - O Raaing (Dak Nong and Mundulkiri provinces). Last year, two-way trade between Viet Nam and Cambodia was US$1.83 billion. At present, Viet Nam is the fourth biggest importer of Cambodian goods and Cambodia is the 16th largest importer of goods from Viet Nam.  | ||||
| Cambodia: Blog article leads to murder investigation [-Kudos to Khmerization!] Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:20 PM PDT
30 July 2011 Written by Sopheap Chak Global Voices Online An investigation on the reported death of a Cambodian domestic worker in Malaysia has been initiated by the Cambodian Embassy in Malaysia in cooperation with the police, according to an article by the Phnom Penh Post. The aunt of the domestic worker was informed by the labor recruitment firm APTSE & C Cambodia Resource Co Ltd that her 19-year-old niece died from pneumonia. However, the pre-departure medical test in Cambodia in September last year showed her health to be perfectly fine. It's now alleged that she could have been murdered following an expose by a news aggregation website, Khmerization, which published and circulated an email from an anonymous person who reported that a maid in Malaysia is being abused by her employer. The case was picked up by rights groups and politicians who appealed for a proper investigation. The anonymous sender of the letter wrote to Khmerization:
It should be noted that Khmerization has once successfully convinced authorities to investigate and assist another Cambodian maid who was allegedly abused by her employer in Malaysia. Aside from publishing an article about the abuse, Khmerization circulated an email encouraging its readers to submit a letter to embassy officials in Malaysia. According to the 2011 report prepared jointly by CARAM Asia, CARAM Cambodia and Tenaganita, titled "Reality Check: Rights and Legislation for Migrant Domestic Workers Across Asia," the number of Cambodian migrant domestic workers in Malaysia are over 40,000 of which the women account for 51.7%. The report outlined some common violations experienced by domestic workers:
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| Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:13 PM PDT
30th July 2011 By Jared Nicoll Wairarapa Times-Age (New Zealand) An Asian immigrant family has travelled more than 9000 kilometres to create a shining example of business success in Masterton. Bontong Hong and his wife bought the Master Fried Chicken restaurant on Queen St and strong profits persuaded the family to open another in Featherston and, recently, one in Palmerston North. The Hongs flew in to New Zealand from Cambodia about two years ago to start a new life and, after researching business opportunities in Auckland and Wellington, settled in Masterton. Mr Hong said his family's success was proof New Zealand had more potential business opportunities compared to Cambodia if you were willing to work hard to find them. "I have cousins who live around the country, in Auckland and in Wellington, and New Zealand is a great place. The business is going really good. I have two sisters in law in Australia and they're doing good too," Mr Hong said. His family decided Masterton was the best option because of its central lower North Island location. "One of my cousins manages a Master Fried Chicken in Featherston and one manages the new one in Palmerston North. "It's great. Sometimes my cousin's family come up and see us or we go down and see them, and it doesn't take very long to get to them," Mr Hong said. Masterton didn't have the heavy traffic larger cities such as Wellington or Auckland did and the time he saved on travelling meant he had more time to spend with his family. "I told my friends that you don't need to wait in traffic for 20 minutes every time you want to go see someone, in Masterton there's only roundabouts," he said. Master Fried Chicken would diversify its menu in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup with homemade lasagne and pasta bakes to cater for foreign tastebuds. The new selection would broaden the restaurant's appeal to tourists passing through the Wairarapa in September and October to make the most of the extra visitors during the Rugby World Cup, he said. "In New Zealand, a lot of people eat here because of the fresh chicken and the quality of our pies. I want to add a few special ingredients to make sure they are the best. "It's quite good for the tourists. New Zealand pies are famous around the world and people really like them here," Mr Hong said. His cousin, a trained pastry chef who managed one of the other restaurants, would prepare gourmet pies and Kiwi favourites including steak and cheese, he said. The restaurant would be refurbished in time for the Rugby World Cup with new tables and chairs to upgrade the image with a more sophisticated look.  | ||||
| "រឿងធំតែមួយ" a Poem in Khmer by Sék Serei Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:12 PM PDT   | ||||
| Sen & Rainsy - Poem/Tale in Khmer by Srey Sra'em Posted: 29 Jul 2011 10:07 PM PDT |
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