The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “It smiled” plus 9 more

I saw the crab with my own eyes on Sunday, and I saw the woman's face [on its shell] wearing a crown, and when we asked [the face] to smile, it smiled. It does what we order it to do.

The US state of Alabama is associated with many things (Lynard Skynard's "Sweet Home Alabama", Martin Luther King, Southern cooking), but Angkorian-era mystery is not one of them. One Emmy-award-winning filmmaker hopes his upcoming Cambodian fantasy flick will change that.

Nathaniel Nuon, 32, who was born in Battambang but has lived in Alabama since he was three years old, filmed Broken Balance, about a young Cambodian-American with superpowers, in the US earlier this year. He hopes it will make its premiere in his home country in the coming months.

It's not the director's first film for the Cambodian market. In 2010, his short film Residue, which recounts the CIA's involvement in pre-Khmer Rouge Cambodia, won two regional Emmy Awards for best production and best original score.

But for his new film, which he hopes will be the first of a six-part saga, Nuon has set his sights even higher.

"The goal is to be the biggest ever Cambodian film by a Khmer director with a Khmer lead," said the filmmaker, speaking over Skype.

"For what we're doing, it's pretty far out from a typical Cambodian film budget."

The plot follows Danny (played by Nuon's brother Peter), a parentless 16-year-old Cambodian-American living in the Alabama countryside near the town of Mobile.

Over the course of the film, he finds out he possesses otherworldly powers that reach far back into Khmer history that make him something of a superhuman.

Alabama's climate and landscape can be similar to Cambodia's, allowing local woods to stand in for Cambodian forests, while Angkorian temples were digitally added to the set.

Nuon said that setting the film away from major Cambodian-American centres, such as Long Beach, California, and Lowell, Massachusetts, provided a window into a less known quarter of the community.

"I have friends from Long Beach and Massachusetts, and when I tell them I'm from Alabama, I get the same reaction: 'Where? You're a Cambodian director who landed in Mobile, Alabama? That's the strangest thing!'"

But the genesis of the film came after a visit to Cambodia in 2012, during which Nuon met children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"I wanted to write these characters to be like figures of hope, and heroes for these kids," said Nuon. "A lot of the Cambodian kids I met were from broken families, so I wanted to show Danny and his sister growing up by themselves.

"He goes to school, he has to work, and I think it's a lifestyle they can relate to. But inside them is something greater, more powerful."

American characters were adapted to be more identifiable to Cambodian youth, he added.

While Broken Balance features 70 per cent English dialogue, the film was written with a Cambodian audience in mind and will be screened first in Cambodia, Nuon said. Screenings in the US will follow.

With principal photography finished, Nuon has entered into negotiations with Cambodian distributors and the Ministry of Culture to release the film, although said he was unsure when it would happen.

Malaysian-owned chicken restaurant chain Kenny Rogers Roasters (KRR) is one of the new brands coming to Cambodia next year when the Japanese-funded AEON mega-mall opens its doors in Phnom Penh.

Tony Toh, senior finance manager of Kenny Rogers Roasters International, said in an email yesterday that the brand expects to open its first KRR outlet in the second quarter of 2014 in the mall.

"Our target plan is to open six KRR restaurants over five years," he said.

Kenny Rogers Roasters opened in the US in 1991 and was even used as the crux of a plot in the American television series Seinfeld.

The chain shifted east when Berjaya Roasters, a subsidiary of Berjaya Group Berhad, gained franchising rights and incorporated in the mid-1990s, according to a company website. There are no longer any stores in the US, but the restaurant is popular in Southeast Asia and China.

Berjaya Group now operates some of the leading food and beverage brands in Malaysia, including Starbucks Coffee, Wendy's and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Asked whether the company plans to bring in other businesses such as Starbucks, Toh said that "at this moment, our focus is on opening KRR restaurants and later if the opportunity arises we will consider other F&B businesses in Phnom Penh".

Japan-based AEON Group is building a 68,000-square-metre shopping mall in the capital at a cost of $205 million. The mall will be located on Sothearos Boulevard near the Sofitel.

Typhoon Nari is expected to cause heavy rain across 13 provinces this week, according to an announcement from the Minsitry of Water Resources and Meterology released yesterday.

Lim Kean Hor, Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology, said the severe weather caused by Nari will increase the risk of flooding as the Mekong River rises.

"Cambodia will see rain from [Wednesday to Thursday] due to Typhoon Nari, which will increase the water level in the Mekong a little and waves [at the coast] will be higher, from one meter to two meters," he said in the statement.

The ministry forecast heavy rain in Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom, Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong, Kratie, Mondulkiri, Preah Vihear, Preah Sihanouk, Prey Veng, Ratanakkiri, Stung Treng and Svay Rieng.

The tropical storm reached the Vietnamese coast shortly after 6pm yesterday and is expected to dissipate in eastern Thailand on Wednesday morning after passing over central Vietnam and southern Laos, according to forecasts from the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center and the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Nari left at least 13 dead in the Philippines over the weekend and about 50,000 displaced while Vietnam has reportedly evacuated about 180,000 people to avoid the worst of the storm.

Chan Yutha of the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, said the government had used 20,000 sandbags to create levies in an attempt to stop the Trapaing Thmar reservoir in Banteay Meanchey's Phnom Srok district from breaching, adding that the risk to villagers living nearby was minimal.

"Trapaing Thmar reservoir has not yet broken, and officials have used many packages of sand … to defend it and stop water flowing into villages," he said, adding that the government was working with international agencies and NGOs to lower the risk of flooding near reservoirs and dams in Siem Reap and Battambang provinces.

According to a report released by the National Committee of Disaster Management, this year's floods have so far killed 122 people and 1.5 million people have been affected.

Rights group Adhoc is investigating claims that a Ratanakkiri province cadastral officer is illegally grabbing and selling off forest land, officials at the organisation said.

Khin Sophal, a director of the O'Yadav district cadastral office, bought land titles from 50 families in the province and sold the parcels to a businesswoman, a Jarai ethnic minority living in the district said yesterday.

But in addition to the purchased plots, portions of neighbouring land was also seized and cleared, villager Romas Sat, 48, told the Post in an interview yesterday.

"We are worried the villagers who have sold their land to the business people will not have land to live and the [developers] continue clearing the land, affecting land we do not sell," he said.

According to Chhay Thy, a provincial coordinator for Adhoc, Khin Sophal legally bought land titles for $1,500 per hectare, buying five to six hectares per family. But neighbours claimed that unsold land and parts of the Jarai ethnic community forest were grabbed as well.

"We held a meeting with the community on Sunday and there was a report of more land clearance besides the land bought from people," Thy said.

Khin Sophal could not be reached for comment yesterday.

"Sophal does not dare to pick up a call today because a lot of journalists have called him and he knows the case we are investigating," Chhay Thy said yesterday.

"But when Radio Free Asia contacted him this morning he admitted he has bought more than 100 hectares of land legally, but we have also found out the land is a forest land. But authorities have conspired and let … people sell the land. This is a pure forest clearance."

Pav Horm Phan, Ratanakkiri provincial governor, told the Post that he had not received any information about illegal land clearance.

"No one has reported forest clearance to me. But if it is happening, it is illegal," he said.

A mustard-tinted crab found in Kampong Cham's Kampong Siem district on Friday has been elevated to celebrity status after locals deemed the blurry, face-like markings on its shell to be a sign of magical provenance.

Pich Srey, 45, one of the crab's owners, said yesterday that she was initially sceptical of her 11-year-old son's claims that he had found a magic crab, but after seeing the anomalous arthropod for herself, she – and some 20 to 30 villagers every day – was convinced of its magical properties.

"My son and daughter called me to see the face of the woman on the crab's shell with eyes, a nose and a mouth, but I yelled at them and said they are crazy," she said.

Thinking nothing of it, Srey left home to sell fish at the market as usual. When she returned, however, there were so many people at her house that she thought something was wrong, "but actually they were visiting the crab".

"I saw the crab with my own eyes on Sunday, and I saw the woman's face [on its shell] wearing a crown, and when we asked [the face] to smile, it smiled," she said. "It does what we order it to do."

Villagers have since taken to collecting the water from the crab's jar to take home for sick relatives to drink in hopes that it will cure them, Srey said.

"They light incense sticks and pay some money and pray to the magic crab for health and wealth," she said.

"My family members also drink the water," she added. "We put out rice and fish for the crab to eat two times per day – breakfast and dinner. It looks healthy."

Some, however, like Kien Chrey commune police chief Chan Rithy, are unconvinced.

"The villagers believe it is a magic crab because they have never seen that kind of crab, but I do not believe in it," Rithy said. "It is just a natural phenomenon."

The Appeal Court has taken up a land-grab case originally dropped by the Ratanakkiri Provincial Court, summonsing the leaders of a Jarai ethnic minority community who accuse Chea Chanrith Aphivath Co Ltd of illegally bulldozing their homes.

Sal Ny, a representative of 115 families from Lumchor commune in O'Yadav district who are fighting an economic land concession (ELC) overlapping with their community forest, said police handed a summons to them on Saturday night to appear in court yesterday.

"We could not travel there on time as scheduled, so I have asked for them to put it off until the 16th," he said yesterday.

"Our complaint is asking the company to reforest the trees they have cut from 30 hectares of [our] land, and $10,000 in restitution to the community and to buy buffalos for a traditional ceremony," he said.

Chea Chanrith Aphivath, representatives of which could not be reached yesterday, was granted a 659-hectare ELC last October to plant rubber in Bakeo and O'Yadav districts.

Villagers complained to the court in November after the company cleared 30 hectares of their 481-hectare community forest, but the complaint was dropped without explanation.

Pann Kim Lean, the Appeal Court prosecutor who signed the summons, could not be reached for comment.

Police yesterday released additional details about the case of a Phnom Penh man and his mistress accused of slashing the throat of the man's pregnant wife, saying the killing was a premeditated act carried out in tandem by the two suspects.

Deputy Phnom Penh municipal police chief Chuon Narin said yesterday that husband Si Lou Henglong, 32, had allegedly prepped the murder of his wife, Chou Ly Chou, by leaving gloves, a murder weapon and a key to the home's safe for his mistress, Sovann Voleak, 22, to use while he left the house.

"Based on the suspects' answers and the evidence gathered by police, we have decided to charge them with premeditated murder," Narin said.

The pair is expected to be sent to court today, he added.

Narin said Henglong had unlocked the doors of his Meanchey district home, including the one to his wife's bedroom. He then allegedly placed the keys to his safe on a table before stashing a motorcycle basket containing a pair of gloves and a knife under his house for Voleak to find.

After Henglong left the house while his wife slept, Narin continued, Voleak arrived and allegedly used the gloves and knife to slash and stab Ly Chou in the throat, then made off with several pieces of jewellery and about $6,800 in cash.

Opinion

Teachers play a key role in the development of children, supporting them to gain knowledge and become responsible and productive members of society.

One of the most important aspects of any society is the younger generation; they represent the future direction and course that society will take. Teachers can enrich a generation of children so that the future is a safe, secure and better place to live for every person in the society.

October 5 was the World Teachers' Day – a day devoted to appreciating, assessing and improving the educators of the world.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, UNESCO Phnom Penh is celebrating the event this year in the presence of His Excellency Dr Hang Chuon Naron in order to show our deep appreciation for the vital contribution that teachers have made in education and development of the Cambodian society.

These celebrations recognise the important role of teachers and galvanise support for their job as educators and also as role models. WTD is a natural extension of UNESCO's year round work of promoting teachers, ensuring that this profession, so vital to the healthy functioning of society, is itself "healthy".

WTD is an opportunity to rethink national issues facing teachers from an international perspective and to benchmark progress made by national teachers in a global context.

In just over three decades, Cambodia has grown an impressive teaching force of 86,000, which continues to grow. Teachers are one of the main pillars of a sound and progressive society.

They bear the weight and responsibility of teaching, and, apart from parents, are the main source of knowledge and values for children. Learning is not possible without professional, well-trained, well-supported, accountable and valued teachers.

In a survey carried out by the NGO Education Partnership (NEP) among 1,100 people throughout Cambodia, more than 90 per cent of respondents believe that teaching is a good profession, and two-thirds of them believe that teachers are respected or highly respected in Cambodian society.

Teachers pass on knowledge and values to children, prepare them for further education and working life and are main contributors to good education. This most important profession, however, does not get the recognition it deserves.

The profession does not attract qualified and ambitious people because it is poorly remunerated. To attain the goal of universal and good primary school education, we need to make teaching an attractive profession again.

Cambodia now faces a shortage of qualified primary teachers. This is especially true in remote, rural and disadvantaged areas, where the pupil-to-teacher ratio can be as high as 66.8 to one in Ratanakiri.

The national average is at 48.5 to one pupil-to-teacher ratio at the primary level. This figure is far from the recommended number by UNESCO of a pupil-to-teacher ratio of no bigger than 40 to one.

The current shortage of primary teachers is already seriously harming children's learning, but the shortage will become even more extreme if action is not taken quickly. Furthermore, while many female teachers are involved in the profession at lower levels, there is evidence that it is harder for them to obtain positions of authority and leadership in the school system.

We, therefore, need to mainstream gender equality in the profession as the lack of female teachers as role models hinders girls' opportunities to access quality education.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has developed this year the new Teacher Policy in order to enhance teacher professional development and training, teacher deployment and teacher motivation.

We appreciate the continuous efforts made in order to upgrade this profession, and acknowledge that it is with the support of everyone including governments and educational institutions at all levels, teachers' associations, civil society organisations, development partners, the private sector, parents and teachers themselves, that we share this responsibility for supporting teachers and their working conditions.

The universally subscribed goal that "by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality" (Declaration of The World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal in 2000) can only be achieved if children can have access to motivated and knowledgeable teachers.

As Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director General, states: "Teachers hold the keys to a better future for all." From ancient times, teachers have played an important role in our society.

There is no stronger foundation for lasting peace and sustainable development than a quality education provided by well trained, valued, supported and motivated teachers.

The education of future generations hangs in the balance unless we can rise to the challenge of putting the best possible teacher in every classroom.

Anne Lemaistre is the UNESCO Representative in Cambodia.

The National Olympic Committee of Cambodia will hold the Olympic Council of Asia's educational enterprise – the Fun Run & Learn 2013 – starting from 6am this Sunday at Diamond Island.

Cambodia joins a list of 25 OCA member countries launching the run to raise awareness of health, hygiene and environmental issues.

Designed to encourage participants of all ages and athletic abilities, the run features two courses – 3km and 5km – for men, women and children. There are no registration charges.

"We are expecting around 1,500 runners including nearly 1,000 students and scores of foreigners and locals," NOCC secretary general Vath Chamroeun said during a media conference yesterday.

Cambodia Coca Cola has stepped in as the main sponsor of the event as part of the multinational company's firm commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Co-sponsors include mobile service providers Smart, soft drink brand Caam Caam, NVC Lighting, Kaspersky Lab and Canadia Bank Plc.

"We are proud to be associated with the NOCC for an event of such huge social significance," Cambodia Coca Cola's public affairs and communications manager Lim Lina told the Post.

Meanwhile, a meeting involving 10 OCA officials and members to discuss two specific issues will be convened next Monday in the Cambodian capital.

A field expert on doping control and prevention has been arranged by the OCA to address the meeting, at the end of which all Cambodian national athletes aged under 25 will be required to go through a counselling session on prevention and protection against doping practices.

"It will be very useful and informative for our young athletes to be aware of the darker side and to drive them away from such undesirable means of excelling in the field of sports," Chamroeun said.

The meeting will name one student from among scores shortlisted from many international schools in Cambodia as the student reporter the OCA will sponsor to attend the 2014 Asian Games in the South Korean city of Incheon.

The nominee will also serve as Cambodia's Young Ambassador to the biggest multi-discipline event in the world after the Olympics.

Soon after the OCA meeting, the spotlight will move to the first day of the NOCC's annual General Assembly, while the concluding day on October 22 will mark the elections to choose a new set of office-bearers for the Kingdom's prime sports body.

During the opening day's formal sessions, a Malaysian expert will help Cambodia draw up a road map leading to a master plan towards its ambitious goal of playing host to the 2023 Southeast Asian Games.

Presentations by the Ministry of Education and the NOCC will also be part of the day's proceedings.

Discussions on the SEA Games proposal are likely to be extended to the morning session on the second and final day as well.