The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Forced me to eat pork” plus 9 more

We had to cut our hair and we couldn't wear our headscarves.… They forced me to eat pork at gunpoint.

Nelson Mandela captured the importance of indigenous languages to the people who speak them when he said: "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart."

It is in this spirit that UNESCO celebrates International Mother Language Day every year, on February 21, today. First observed in 2000, the occasion grows in significance by the year as globalisation and other forces put the 7,000 mother languages remaining in the world increasingly under threat.

This year's theme, "Local Languages for Global Citizenship: Spotlight on Science", reflects what is at stake when it comes to the preservation of these languages. The theme captures the power of native languages to empower – both in harnessing local pride to foster informed global citizenship, and through removing any linguistic roadblocks in the pursuit of knowledge, particularly in scientific exploration.

Global citizenship has been defined by UNESCO as the ability to "play an active role on both the local and global levels to address global challenges and, ultimately, contribute proactively in creating a more just, peaceful, tolerate, inclusive, secure, and sustainable" world.

It's a concept that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon identified as one of the goals of his "Education First" initiative, which advocates for greater progress towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.
Identifying oneself as a global citizen is easier when one feels a strong identification with and grounding in one's own culture and language.

"Local" identification confers confidence and a sense of self which strengthens participation at both the national and global levels. Mastery of one's language and, through this process, strong identification with the culture it carries become essential in this regard.

Unfortunately, as globalisation races ahead, mother languages all too often lose out. Many have died out completely, some are reduced to a few thousand speakers or less and others could be extinct by the end of this century.

Some common misconceptions aggravate this situation.

Mother languages are often ignored and sometimes actively repressed due to the belief that they are "undeveloped", lacking, for example, the ability to capture modern knowledge.

This notion is doubly misleading and damaging, ignoring as it does the fact that all languages are in a constant state of development and also the fact, as noted by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, that, "local languages are perfectly capable of transmitting the most modern scientific knowledge in mathematics, physics, technology and so on".

Some governments regard mother languages as subversive to national unity. This outlook is contradicted by studies that show that non-dominant groups whose languages and cultures are respected rather than repressed will be more loyal to the state.

Perhaps the greatest threat to mother languages is posed by education systems that refuse to use them as languages of instruction or even to offer them as elective subjects.

Education systems often repeat common myths that portray mother languages as complicated (too many languages spoken in one classroom and too many without alphabets), expensive (requiring more and better trained mother-language teachers and mother-language materials), and ultimately harmful to the learning of the national and international languages.

A growing body of evidence and experience is proving this not to be the case. Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines are examples of countries with new national language policies based on rigorous and comprehensive research that emphasize the importance of mother languages.

These policies support mechanisms to recruit and train mother language teachers (or to train other teachers the mother language used in their schools) and to develop mother-tongue textbooks and other learning materials (including sometimes, an alphabet).

This approach ensures that children master literacy in their own language first. Using the skills gained in this process they then are shown to have greater success in mastering the national language, international languages as well as all other subjects in their curriculum.

The willingness of these governments to support mother-language based multilingual language policy derives in part from the realistion that the ability to work proactively towards a sustainable future at the global level – to be global citizens – is strengthened by a firm foundation in one's mother language.

This principle of empowerment extends to the role of mother languages in science. As Ms Bokova stated, minority languages are capable of communicating even the most advanced scientific concepts.

The use of mother languages in schools as the language of instruction helps communicate scientific principles and practices more effectively to students who have not yet mastered the usual language of school science.

Promoting mother languages can have a transformative effect that spans from an ethnic student feeling included in an educational scheme for the first time to inspired global citizenship leading to a more sustainable future.

This ability to enrich and empower is unparalleled and deserves to be celebrated today and throughout the year.

Sheldon Shaeffer works for the Asia Multilingual Education Working Group, comprising UN agencies, NGOs and academic institutions, set up to remove barriers in access to education for ethno-linguistic communities in Asia.

Big guns are set to blaze at Olympic Stadium tomorrow when the much anticipated Metfone C-League clash between former champions Boeung Ket Rubber Field and Phnom Penh Crown kicks off at 3:30pm.

Given their relative strengths, track records and star value, this stand-out fixture in a card of six matches framed for the weekend has all the trappings of a thriller in the making. The sheer intensity of this contest is expected to keep spirits high on the pitch as well as in the stands.

It is with a sense of relief that Boeung Ket coach Prak Vuthy will send out his players for this vitally important game after coming out of a two-match duck with a well merited win over Naga Corp last week.

Back-to-back defeats by TriAsia Phnom Penh and National Police Commissary had left the Kampong Cham outfit somewhat shaken but victory over one of the heavyweights, Naga, has given the side a big confidence boost.

The Crown backline, amongst the sturdiest in the business, will no doubt cast a hawk's eye on two of Boeung Ket's attacking assets, Chan Vathanaka and Khuon Laboravy, respectively representing youthful energy and vast experience. Undone by late goals against them twice in succession, the most useful lesson Boeung Ket has learnt is to stay alert defensively and deal effectively with the pressures of holding out in the closing stages.

Crown's dynamic duo of George Bisan and Newton Ben Katanha are capable of rattling the strongest of safety nets and the four-time champions have in their ranks this season some of the fastest legs as wingers.

The attacking formations that coach Sam Schweingruber has set forth have proved profitable and it is churlish to expect Crown not to put their rivals through hoops of fire.

The workload for the goalkeepers is bound to be heavy.

In Sou Yaty, Crown have a pair of safe hands. The national team No.1 has allowed just one goal past him in four games, though the teams he has faced so far are lot lighter than Boeung Ket.

The sharp end of the title campaign is months away but what happens tomorrow may have some bearing as to how well it shapes up for either side.

A clash of University-backed sides Western and Build Bright United follows the Boeung Ket-Crown contest. With 10 goals conceded in two games, BBU's top priority would be to stem the rot while Western would be keen to break the tedium of drawing their last two games.

Defending champions Svay Rieng have a tough assignment tomorrow at Old Stadium where they meet Ministry of National Defence, whose rugged style of play can trouble the best.

Svay Rieng scampered home on the back of substitute Hoy Phallin's opportunistic strike against TriAsia, who enjoyed long spells of dominance in the game but failed to make good on the chances that came their way.

The Armymen are not easily dislodged, however, so Svay Rieng will have their work cut out.

Tomorrow's first match at Old Stadium sees Asia Europe University come up against Kirivong Sok Sen Chey. Both sides are on the lookout for some comfort padding.

Sunday's opening game at Olympic Stadium pits the MCL's first foreign franchise, Albirex Niigata, against 2009 champions Naga.

As Naga coach Prak Sovanara suggested, the loss to Boeung Ket is behind the team and what the players are looking for is to play hard to their known strengths.

Albirex have taken such severe beatings in their last few games that it is highly unlikely they will pose a serious threat to a well-rounded side like Naga.

The weekend's final fixture, between TriAsia and National Police, could produce a nip-and-tip finish.

TriAsia were far from disgraced in that 0-1 loss to Svay Rieng while the Policemen are riding high after an exquisite win over Kirivong.

Taking a line through their beating of Boeung Ket, collateral form indicates that TriAsia and Police are well-matched and that no quarter will be sought or given in this tight game.

Weekend Fixtures
Saturday February 22 At Old Stadium
AEU v Kirivong SSC – 1:30pm
Svay Rieng v MND – 3:45pm

At Olympic Stadium
Boeung Ket v PP Crown – 3:30pm
Western Uni v BBU – 6pm

Sunday February 23 At Olympic Stadium
Albirex v Naga Corp – 3:30pm
TriAsia v Nat Police – 6pm

Expert "mixologist" Paul Mathews has an enviable life. He moves from country to country with his wife, who is a diplomat, sampling the world's diverse alcoholic heritages – from the tequilas of Mexico to the baijius of China – while working with local watering holes to come up with new beverages. He has more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry – originally as a side gig while studying and working in conservation biology – and owns the Hide Bar in London. Nearly a year after moving to Cambodia, where he has been consulting for local venues and writing for international trade magazines, Will Jackson asked him what he thought of Phnom Penh's bar scene.

What were your first impressions of the local bar scene?
First impressions of Phnom Penh were that it's considerably smaller than Beijing where we were previously – here everyone knows everyone! I was also amazed by the price of wine and spirits here. Taxes are a fraction of those in other countries regionally, and there's a great selection of things available.

How do you see the local bar scene evolving?
Phnom Penh is an amazing place for those with an entrepreneurial spirit. There are very few barriers to starting a business as a foreigner here, whether legislative or financial, so it's great to see so many small owner-operator places with influences from around the world. I haven't been here a year yet, but it seems that places are becoming more professional. It's a very dynamic market, so venues are having to compete at a higher standard to draw in the customers. I hope there will be more places opening that cater to the wider market too; many of the bars seem to be expat-run and very expat-focused, but I think there's the potential to appeal to a multinational Khmer and foreign audience in the same way that the coffee shop market has exploded in popularity.

What's your favourite drink in Phnom Penh?
Fresh sugar cane crushed with limes in a roadside press, a measure or two of decent rum and some chunks of ice is pretty hard to beat – a roadside Daiquiri or Ti Punch!

What's your favourite bar here?
I like Seibur from a bartender's perspective – a great tiny space with one bartender. I'd love to do a shift behind the bar there. Other than that, I think that technically the best-made drinks I've seen are at Deco – though it's a restaurant rather than bar. In addition, Chinese House for the fantastic building, Metro Hassakan and Bar Sito for people watching, Doors for its creative drinks and garnishes, the FCC for sundowners and the Elephant Bar for transporting oneself to another time and place! They all offer something different. I would never want to just drink in one place. I like variety!

What's distinctive about Phnom Penh's bar scene?
I love Cambodia's freshness and seasonality. For example the mangos at the moment are amazing, with such huge variety. If you were to put a fresh mango cocktail on a list in London, the taste would be flat, made with fruit that is imported hard and artificially ripened. Here there are dozens of varieties of mango to choose from, so you can almost pair the variety with the style of rum, creating a huge variety of drinks with differing degrees of sweetness, acidity, bitterness or vegetal flavours. I made a drink with a homemade purple dragon fruit and kaffir lime leaf syrup last year, but the week after coming up with it, the dragon fruit was out of season. I love that drink because of its seasonal nature and the fact I can't make it again until the rainy season.

What area do Phnom Penh's bartenders need to work on the most?
The people I've met in the service industry here tend to be very friendly which is a great starting point. It would be good to see more people who want to take their career in this industry to the next level, though, and learn more about techniques, tastes and engaging customers – the art of service, rather than just doing what's in the job spec.

Have you got any plans to open your own bar in Phnom Penh?
I'll be doing some work on the refurbishment and redesign of the drinks for the FCC later this year – that's really exciting as it's such an iconic venue in Phnom Penh and offers so much potential. We're also planning a pop-up cocktail event at The Mansion from March 26 to 29. I'm fascinated by the modern history of drinking in Asia, the grandiose hotels and drinks that travelled the world with wandering bartenders. This will be a chance to revisit some old recipes, along with some new interpretations and twists. The event will be a "legendary cocktail journey" moving through successive periods of cocktail history each night for the four nights of the event. Starting with classic drinks of the 1920s when The Mansion was built, and ending with modern classics on the Saturday night, each evening will offer a changing selection of drinks, music and ambiance. I'll be making the event cocktails in a bar inside, while The Mansion will also have a regular bar outside – something it'll be operating every night from the beginning of March, along with films playing outside on Mondays and live music every Wednesday I gather.

On the ground floor of the colonial-era Battambang hotel La Villa, a young waiter slouched against a wall under a yellowed map of Cambodia. He wasn't taking orders. The place had never been so quiet. In a whisper, the curly-haired French manager assured a couple booking dinner reservations that the restaurant would look a little livelier in a few hours.

"Silence, s'il vous plait!" a voice hissed from the top of the staircase.

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Last Friday, the cast and crew of Le Portail, or The Gate, were in the middle of filming a delicate scene from the historical drama, an adaptation of ethnologist Francois Bizot's memoir of the same name. Their voice recorders were so sensitive, the manager said, that they could pick up the sound of tables and chairs being moved below. As a result, the hotel, with its European-style tiles, silent gramophone and historical wall-hangings, had, even more than usual, the feeling of being frozen in time.

For the past two weeks, the sleepy riverside town of Battambang has been taken over by a film crew headed by director Régis Wargnier, whose 1992 release Indochine won the Oscar for best foreign film.

The cast of the film adaptation now under way is reported to include Raphaël Personnaz (who featured in Anna Karenina) and celebrated French actress Catherine Deneueve, who starred in Indochine, as well as hundreds of Battambang expats who have been dolled up in 1970s-style makeup and outfits to play the assortment of diplomats, journalists and miscellaneous foreign nationals who feature in the memoir. Over the past two weeks filming has taken place at more than a dozen locations in and around the city, including La Villa, authorities say.

One of the hotel's seven art-deco style rooms was transformed into the living quarters of the French embassy in Phnom Penh during the chaotic days of late April 1975, after the Khmer Rouge had captured the city and foreign nationals scrambled to leave. Some 50 crew members were in and out of the hotel over two days, according to the hotel manager, Corinne Darquey.

"They booked the first floor, and I didn't see them, they just came and put all their things in there," she said in a phone interview a few days later. The daughter of a teacher at the French school in Phnom Penh, she lived in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge takeover but left in 1970 and observed the filming of Bizot's book with particular interest.

"I read the book a long time ago. It's part of Cambodia's history," she said.

Filming began in January in Koh Ker, a temple complex some 120 kilometres from Siem Reap that was for a short time the seat of the Angkorian empire. While the film's producer has closed the set to media, and representatives declined to comment, it could be that the scenes shot there will comprise the portion of the book which covers the three months Bizot spent imprisoned in a Khmer Rouge camp in 1971.

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During his time in captivity, Bizot, a French ethnologist who was in the country to research ancient Buddhist texts, held extensive political conversations with Khmer Rouge commander Kaing Guek Eav, who went by the nom de guerre Duch. He would become the chief of the notorious prison Tuol Sleng, or S21. But at that time, Bizot writes, Duch, who he called comrade, had yet to take his place in the museum of horrors."

Duch survived the regime to become a born-again Christian and it was in 1999, when he was exposed by journalists, that his former captive, Bizot, decided to put memories to paper and publish The Gate.

As well as detailing the horrors he endured in the jungle, a large portion of the book is given over to the time spent at the embassy. As a fluent Khmer speaker, Bizot negotiated the flight of foreign nationals to Thailand.

His memoir details some of the harrowing scenes that took place at the compound's gate, as Cambodians were either turned away from, or forced out of, the embassy.

Some 39 years after the actual events, the filmed re-enaction took place in Battambang's governor's residence: a grand mansion that dates back to the early 1900s, with high walls and wooden shutters.

Last weekend, the expansive grounds of the residence, now used for the workings of the provincial government, had been transformed into a refugee camp, littered with khaki tents and sandbags. A classic car was parked in the drive, and film trucks emblazoned with the Cambodia Film Commission logo, two reels, were stationed in the courtyard. Across the road, the building that usually serves as the tourist department was mocked up as a fake Korean embassy.

Police closed the surrounding roads with red and white plastic tape. Not that it stopped most pedestrians and motorcyclists, who simply walked by, or drove by, on the pavement.

Soeum Bun Rith, the vice-administrator of Battambang's provincial government, said the authorities had helped co-ordinate the shoots during the crew's stay, which lasts until Wednesday. The market was closed for half a day, he said.

Other locations included Ek Phnom temple and Banan temple among a total of 15, he added.

"The [film] company are happy that the provincial government helps and encourages them to have a film in this province. We don't even think much of money from them, but just only an incentive to the authorities who help them hand-in-hand."

Speaking on Monday, Henk de Jong, a local school principal who has lived in Battambang for 10 years, said the crew had filmed at the city's 1960s-era central market the day before.

Not everyone, he said, was delighted with the experience.

"Some locals and some guests were not too happy because they closed off the road," said de Jong, who was cast as an extra in the film.

"But local businesses and hotels were happy, because it's a big crew," he added.

So too were the expats, some 200 of whom were recruited as extras.

"Battambang expats have a Google group and the main fixer for the movie company, he emailed us asking for extras," said de Jong.

Once enlisted, they were sent an email with photos of suggested outfits to bring: black and white polaroids showed men in paisley and floral shirts with very high-waisted trousers and shaggy beards.

For some, the costume extended to facial hair.

"I was not allowed to cut my hair and I had to grow sideburns," said de Jong.

He was hired to work on one day, Thursday, for which he would be compensated $50.

"I would have loved to do it every day, but I just don't have the time," he said.

Locals say the arrival of the film company was an unprecedented event in Battambang. But it doesn't seem much will change in its wake. As film trucks left La Villa with the last of the equipment on Friday night, a policeman dozed nearby in a tuk-tuk. By 7pm, dinner was back on.

Additional reporting by Vandy Muong.

When Neak Chandara was 22 years old, he came so close to death that the paramedics were ready to send him to the mortuary. Like many Cambodian men in their early twenties, he'd been spending the night drinking with friends in Phnom Penh.

Unfortunately, he decided to drive his motorbike and collided into a car. He and his two friends flew off the motorbike, and he hit his head. He wasn't wearing a helmet.

Tracing the scar on his head, Chandara, who is better known as Dara, said: "The doctor said I was dying because I stopped breathing and my heart stopped beating. I had blood inside my head so they had to perform surgery."

Dara's near-fatal crash happened 10 years ago, but stories like his are still commonplace in Cambodia. Two weeks ago, he was injured in another crash. The same thing happened to his friend, now lying in a Battambang hospital, two days later.

A report published two weeks ago in Taylor & Francis's International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion and using data from the country's Road Crash and Victim Information System (RCVIS) – the surveillance system used to collect data on injuries and deaths caused by road crashes in Cambodia – found that between 2007 and 2011, motorcycle fatalities in the Kingdom increased by 30 per cent. Increased motorisation of Cambodia's population and speeding were highlighted as reasons for the rise.

The report said that Southeast Asian countries have experienced a rapid rise in motorisation in recent years, as growing economic growth has led to an expanded middle class which has more disposable income to spend on road vehicles.

The research found that Cambodia suffers the highest motorcycle fatality rate in Southeast Asia.

Ear Chariya, road safety program manager at Handicap International, and who co-authoured the report, added in an email: "It's linked to the economic growth and a growing middle class, as well as the improvement and extension of road networks, especially from dirt or unpaved roads to paved roads, which result in an increase of travelling speed and longer travelling journey of Cambodians."

However, while Cambodian motorcyclists may be at greatest danger of dying in an accident, the figures don't necessarily mean that more Cambodian motorcyclists are dying than Thais. According to the WHO statement, when it comes to measuring motorcycle fatality rate per population, Thailand's rate is 71 per cent higher than Cambodia's.

Of all Cambodia's motorcycle fatalities between 2007 and 2011, 46 per cent had speed as a contributing factor, the study revealed. Men Chansokal, a spokesperson from the National Road Safety Committee, said that a new law attempting to lower the rural speed limit to 80 kilometres per hour is currently being discussed by the government. She said: "We're still discussing about the penalty, whether Cambodians would accept it or not, due to their financial situation."

Enforcement of the law remains a concern, however. Dr Sao Sovanratanak, Cambodia's national professional officer for violence, injury prevention and road safety at the World Health Organization (WHO), conceded that in order for the proposed law to improve the situation, it was crucial that legislation and enforcement worked together. He said: "We should have strong legislation that is backed up by enforcement. Enforcement has to be stringent, constant and visible, with punitive fines and severe penalties."

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Putting this into practice remains difficult. Levels of fines and penalties are currently very low: 75 cents for speeding anywhere between one and 19 kilometres over the legal limit or for not wearing a helmet; $1.50 for having a breath-alcohol concentration of between 0.25 and 0.39 milligrammes per litre of air. The maximum sentence for those found driving without a licence is one month in prison. They could even be fined as little as $6.25, according to the WHO. It has even been reported that some drivers can pay an extra $100 to skip the tests required for a licence, though Sovanratanak said there was no evidence to support this.

Cambodia is 166th out of 177 countries on the worldwide corruption index, according to last year's Transparency International figures, and traffic police are not exempt. Sovanratanak referred to traffic offenders bribing police as "a hot issue". However, he maintained that there are attempts within the police to rectify this, citing a recent internal rule stating that any officer found guilty of extortion will be dismissed from their unit. He added: "Hopefully something will come of it."

The report's figures are not all doom and gloom. One of its findings was that from 2009 onwards, the motorcyclist death rate "seemed to stabilise". The study linked this to the action taken by international organisations in projects such as the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Programme. This program has specifically targeted two areas of traffic abuse: helmet wearing and drink-driving, both of which accounted for Dara's grave injuries, and both of which, according to the report, have improved among motorcyclists.

Sovanratanak, who is working on this project on behalf of the WHO, said that initiatives include advocacy, social marketing to raise awareness of safety, and law enforcement.

Chariya added: "I think the success (of the scheme) includes the capacity building of traffic police on law enforcement and the promotion of civil society actors in the field of road safety for the advocacy on the improvement and revision of traffic legislation."

Nevertheless, for young men like Dara and his friends, road deaths remain a real danger. According to Chariya, they are the leading cause of death for Cambodian men aged between 15 and 45. When it comes to motorcycle fatalities alone, men aged between 25 and 29 years old account for 40 per cent.

This is partly because men are more likely to drive motorbikes, according to a joint statement from Sovanratanak and his WHO colleague Jonathon Passmore, technical officer of violence and injury prevention at the organisation's Western Pacific Regional Office. They said: "Males can be at greater risk due to greater exposure, and because they exhibit greater risk taking behaviour, such as speeding, drink-driving and not wearing helmets, compared to females."

As well as efforts to improve traffic law enforcement and reduce speeding, Cambodia is taking small steps to encourage its citizens to give up their motorbikes for public transport. In Phnom Penh, a public bus trial began on February 5. While its main goals are to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality, Chansokal believes a public bus service could reduce motorcycle deaths too. She said: "It's much safer than motorbikes."

Sovanratanak feels that the government isn't making the most of the scheme. He said: "The government should make people aware of the benefits of a public bus, because now people are so used to private vehicles, they think they're convenient."

And what do the people think? Dara praised the public bus scheme, but said that benefits would only be noticeable if a large number of people used the bus. For now, he said, the majority of Phnom Penh residents aren't convinced: "Now, we have the bus, but the traffic is still jammed, so people might not want to stay on the bus. But if the traffic is good, maybe people will decide to use it. Compared to a motorbike, it's safer."

Additional reporting by Vandy Muong.

Sou Sotheavy's struggle for LGBT rights in the Kingdom recently resulted in her winning the David Kato Vision and Voice Award in Berlin. But the fight for LGBT Cambodians goes on.

In 1940, Sou Sotheavy was born a biological male in Takeo province. But for as long as she can remember, she has felt like a woman.

In the years leading up to the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975, Sotheavy immersed herself in the burgeoning performing arts scene flourishing in Phnom Penh while working as a military nurse.

Like other survivors of the communist rule under which two million died, Sotheavy lost her entire family. She was raped, tortured and forced into a marriage with a woman.

After surviving fierce persecution, especially because she identified as transgender, she dedicated her life to human rights advocacy, beginning with HIV/AIDS outreach.

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In 1999 she founded the Cambodian Network for Men Women Development (CMWD), the first Cambodian NGO to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in the Kingdom.

Last week Sotheavy, who is in her seventies, was awarded the David Kato Vision and Voice Award during a gala ceremony at the Berlin Film Festival.

Presented annually alongside a $10,000 grant designed to bolster the winner's cause, the award – which celebrates the legacy of David Kato, a Ugandan LGBT rights campaigner and human rights activist who was murdered in his home in Kampala in 2011– is bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and courage in advocating for the rights of LGBT individuals.

Active throughout 15 provinces, Sotheavy's CMWD has provided much needed capacity building to LGBT groups, providing invaluable support for local programmes and advocacy and training LGBT rights activists.

The activist travelled from Germany to Cambodia this week, arriving home thrilled and exhausted.

Sotheavy hopes the award will inspire people to join the movement against discrimination in Cambodia.

"I was so excited to be in Berlin speaking to 35,000 people from more than 190 countries during the award ceremony," she said in an interview in Phnom Penh.

"This award was given individually and not to my organisation but with this $10,000, I will continue to strengthen the capacity and rights of my team," Sotheavy said.

There is still some way to go to change perceptions, she added.

"This country's government and media still does not count LGBT Cambodians as ordinary people. We are called khteuy, which hurts our feelings because it's discrimination. It's not a proper term for us."

Local LGBT campaigner Srun Srorn, who has known Sotheavy since 2009, said it was a proud day for all LGBT Cambodians, proving that their families should never be ashamed.

"The award can help show the world and the Cambodian government that transgender Cambodians and LGBT Cambodians have existed before and during the Khmer Rouge," Srorn said.

Nuon Sidara, project coordinator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights' Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity project said LGBT people continue to be marginalised in Cambodia.

Sidara said that living standards – adequate shelter and food – are the primary issues for transgender Cambodians along with access to jobs because of stigmatisation, discrimination and bullying in workplaces and schools.

"Automatically, Sotheavy should receive this award because she is very active and has dedicated her life to advocat[ing] for the LGBT movement in Cambodia," she said.

"Secondly, she is a role model for the LGBT community and has helped the whole country begin to recognise that transgender rights have an important role in society and not just LGBT groups."

Wan-Hea Lee, a representative of the Cambodian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, pointed to research showing that LGBT Cambodians face high levels of stigma, discrimination and exclusion at home, schools, workplaces, health facilities and public spaces.

Transgender Cambodians tend to be exposed to greater prejudice, stigma, discrimination and violence than other LGBT people, the research indicates, and are subject to higher rates of police harassment and arbitrary arrest and detention as they are frequently identified as criminals, gang members, thieves or drug users.

"I know that [Sotheavy] is one of the oldest LGBT activists in Cambodia, and that she is known as one of the most vocal and bravest activists in the LGBT community," Lee said.

"I hope that this award will inspire and encourage more people to join the anti-discrimination movement in Cambodia," she added.

Sotheavy said she intends to use the grant money to continue countering the ubiquitous challenges confronting LGBT Cambodians, she said, especially in the country's rural provinces where education levels are low, discrimination is rampant and LGBT people are frequently forced to hide their true identities for fear of persecution from their neighbours.

In a statement, she said: "I will fight until the end of my life. I will not stop until the rights for LGBT exist like for other people."

Additional reporting by Will Jackson.

From local independent productions to Hollywood blockbusters, all films screened legally in the Kingdom are subject to government censorship. But what are the boundaries?

While Rithy Panh will be the first Cambodian director to walk down the Oscars' red carpet next month, many filmmakers at home are faced with a stickier path: through a good deal of red tape. Some directors report no problems while others have had their releases delayed indefinitely, but one thing is for certain: no film can be shown in Cambodia's cinemas unless the government says so.

Under Cambodian law, every feature film released in the Kingdom must be approved by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Art's film censorship board. Such scrutiny is normal in the region, with every ASEAN state exercising direct film censorship to some degree, while government censorship in Western nations is usually only reserved for cases of extreme "obscenity", such as depictions of pedophilia, bestiality or real-life violence.

For local productions in Cambodia, scripts must also be submitted prior to filming. If the film is rejected at either stage, it cannot be legally screened in Cambodia. Cambodian film censors have most recently held up the release of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo Dicaprio, which contains graphic sex scenes, drug use and more than 500 uses of the word f***.

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But filmmaker Chhay Bora, who directed the yet-to-be released 3.50, said that the censorship board has never explained to him their grounds for evaluating movies.

"It's like walking in the jungle with no road map to follow," said Bora, whose film on sex trafficking was supposed to be released last October but never received final approval. Although his script was approved, Bora said that the censorship board has failed to reach a verdict on the final version. No specific cuts have been ordered by the ministry, he said, but feedback he received suggested that censorship board members were concerned about the movie's heavy social commentary.

"The Ministry of Culture film department said they didn't ban the film, but they didn't grant the licence yet," said Bora, adding that although the film's dialogue did not seem to cause controversy, the censorship board expressed concern over "not less than 10" shots. Some of the criticism, Bora said, was over shots that the board claimed represented Cambodia in a bad light, such as a taxi driver throwing a cigarette out the window and a scene within the impoverished "White Building" community on Sothearos Boulevard.

Bora also said that other scenes were too political for the censors' comfort, such as a shot of a character walking down a dusty road with Prime Minister Hun Sen's office visible in the background.

But it is not just edgy, socially provocative films that are sent to the censors. Sok Visal, whose debut feature film Gems on the Run premiered last December, said that the censorship board was never hostile to his project but expected a clean moral message for his family-friendly comedy, which involves two friends transporting $3 million of stolen gems. Since the plot features a police officer working with criminals, Visal made sure his script approached the subject with care.

"When we wrote the script, we watched through the process to make sure we didn't incriminate the police guy," Visal said. When asked if he could have portrayed police corruption more vividly, Visal said he could as long as it neither condoned corruption nor made specific accusations.

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"If there's a moral in that film where a cop is corrupted and he gets arrested and the government helps for his arrest, that should be fine. People are aware that corruption exists here. No one denies it. Just don't point fingers at existing people."

Upon receiving feedback from the censorship board, Visal said that the board only asked that he realistically portray police procedures in the movie. To comply, the production had a police officer serve as an on-set adviser. The board also made suggestions which Visal said he chose to follow but was free to ignore.

"They wanted us to make sure its Khmer. The way the actors dress, they shouldn't be too foreign. They were mostly afraid we'd dress up our actors as Korean stars."

The trick for getting a film approved, Visal said, is to resolve the plot in a way that delivers an agreeable moral for the story without criticising the government.

In Bora's 3.50, one of his characters, after escaping a brothel, is last seen joining a group of other former sex workers instead of trying to return home. Her ultimate fate is never revealed, but the possibility of her returning to sex work is not ruled out.

"They said: 'why don't you find a solution for her, to find an NGO or new job?' And I said that's not my job. The filmmaker has no possibility to solve the social problem."

Bora said that the board's insistence that all plot conflicts be resolved before the credits roll suggests that the members of the committee, which Bora knows little about other than it consists of around 10 members, are not qualified film critics.

While the head of the censorship board did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication, local distributors have said that Cambodia's regulations for foreign films are not as strict as some of its neighbours and focus mainly on sex, drugs, violence and profanity in addition to politics.

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Simon Chow, distribution manger of Westec Media Limited, which is responsible for securing the local rights to major Hollywood productions, said that Cambodian censors are much more lax than in his native Malaysia.

"Different countries have different rules, and I think Cambodia is liberal at this," he said, adding that even brief nude scenes, such as in the 2012 3D re-release of Titanic, have passed the censors.

"I think the board is quite educated in this, they know what is good for the Cambodian culture. We don't want to tamper with the local culture, so I think we should just [hold] back."

Neither Westec nor Sabay MVP, which focuses on distributing foreign independent films, ever had a problem with the censors until the latter tried bringing in The Wolf of Wall Street. The film was even banned in Malaysia despite being financed by a production company run by the Malaysian prime minister's stepson.

Shakuntala Chandra, distribution manager at Sabay MVP, said that making The Wolf of Wall Street acceptable for Cambodian censors has not been easy.

"What can you cut from Wolf of Wall Street? The whole movie is supposed to be like that," said Chandra, adding that she expects the final Cambodian cut to have the profanity stay and around six minutes of sex and drug use cut.

The good news for Bora is that he suspects that the board will soon give approval to 3.50 after months of limbo. He said that he recently received word from the board that senior officials in the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts viewed the movie and found it acceptable, although it had not been officially approved as of press time.

Part of the hold up, said Bora, may have also stemmed from bureaucratic confusion that occurred after Bora's production company and his Singaporean partners, who have a majority stake in the movie, both submitted the film for review independently of each other, leaving the government with two copies of the same film accredited to two different production companies.

Although Bora said he would prefer no censorship, he said that the government should provide more support to filmmakers if they want to exercise veto power over the final products.

"They have the censorship [in other countries], but they support the filmmakers. Like in Vietnam, censorship is very serious and very strict, but the government can fund up to 60 per cent of the film budget."

Rithy Panh, whose film The Missing Picture is the first Cambodian film to be nominated for an Academy Award, said that the censorship board has never tried to cut his movies. However, he said that it would be better to depend on a content rating system rather than censorship.

"We are not in the time of censors. That time is over."

The designer of a proposed Khmer Rouge memorial, the sculptor Séra, is determined it should be placed at 'a crossroads of history, of destiny, of time'. Emily Wight reports on the new plans to commemorate Cambodia's painful history.

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PhouSéra Ing, better known as Séra, was 13 years old when he stood at the crossroads in front of the French embassy and witnessed black-clad Khmer Rouge soldiers marching into Phnom Penh, guns in hand, forcing residents to flee and begin a new life in the countryside. Upon telling his father that he saw the soldiers, he received a slap around the face. "It's taken me 30 years to get over that," he said, adding: "I'll never know exactly why my father slapped me. Confusion? emotion? anger? A desire to, in his own way, prepare me for what lay ahead? To wake me from innocence? I lost my childhood on that day, April 17, 1975. All of us did."

While Séra, his siblings and their mother, who was French, took refuge in the embassy and later escaped to Thailand and France, his father, who was Cambodian, was refused entry. The regime would go on to kill some two million, including Sera's father, who was executed in 1978.

Séra's memory of April 17, 1975 is crucial to the new plans to build a memorial sculpture to Khmer Rouge victims and survivors. While the proposed sculpture, entitled À Ceux Qui Ne Sont Plus Là (: For Those Who Are No Longer Here), has been given the go-ahead by both the French embassy, which has agreed to pay half the cost, and the City Hall, the embassy location hasn't been officially approved.

But for the 52-year-old, who is famous for his graphic novels such as Impasse et Rouge, L'Eau et la Terre and Lendemains de Cendres, which depict life during and after the genocide, the French embassy is the best place for the memorial.
Speaking from his home in Paris, where he has lived since 1975, Séra said: "The intersection is very symbolic: masses of people leaving, going towards the roads where they would be sent to forced labour camps. It's a crossroads of history, of destiny, of time."

He added: "We will try all efforts to have it placed at this intersection."

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Séra said that the memorial, which is expected to cost between $90,000 to $120,000 and will be made from bronze, will serve as a public, commemorative space for Cambodians to remember their shared tragedy.

The memorial will be made up of six pieces of sculpture, centred around a large human-like form, between three and four metres high. Around this sculpture will be four smaller forms of about two metres, and behind it, a large wall.

He explained that the sculptures, which have bodily parts such as heads and limbs missing, are not supposed to be represent anybody in particular; it's not even clear whether they are men or women.

"These figures are symbolic, which allows them to speak to and beyond individual identity. They are recounting and expressing the convulsions of time and suffering endured by the victims of the Khmer Rouge period," he said.

Séra added that the sculptures' missing limbs had a double meaning. He said that their mutilation is indicative of the Khmer Rouge's attempts to break human beings and their identities: "By representing figures without heads, without arms, I speak of this mutilation of the mind and spirit as well as the body."

In addition, the missing limbs reflect a common feature in Khmer statues. He said: "What is left to us today of the ancient statues are more often than not without heads, without arms. The significance of these figures, therefore, resides in their duality evoking Khmer memory and history, of this century and of centuries past."

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Séra believes that while families and individuals can commemorate their ancestors privately at memorial stupas in their homes and in the pagoda, there is currently no public space for Cambodians to come together and mourn the victims of the genocide. The public, including Cambodians, have to pay to enter Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek, a policy which he called "an aberration".

He added: "They are tragic, horrific places, where one is more quickly plunged into sadness than brought to a feeling of reconciliation and peaceful remembrance of loved ones. I cannot, and the average Khmer cannot go to these places and honour the memory of loved ones."

Behind Séra is the Anvaya Association, a diaspora organisation launched in 2009, which received legal association status in November last year. Serving as a support network for Cambodian returnees, its central team in Phnom Penh is working with Séra to campaign for the memorial to be built, fundraising for the second half of the cost, and partnering with the embassy.

"We want this project to remain Cambodian-led, even if initiated with the support of the French authorities," said Ke Bin Soreasmey, president of Anvaya.

The next step lies with the Khmer Rouge Tribunal.

Although not necessarily needed to start building, the Anvaya Association believes it is important to have the tribunal's approval out of respect, Soreasmey said.

He continued that this is expected by the summer, adding: "We are willing for this project to be recognised by the tribunal, as this will give us a real legitimacy. But even if we do not have this recognition we will do it."

Youk Chhang, director at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), said he "wholeheartedly" supports Séra's memorial: "It's the wish for people in Cambodia, not just Sera, but all of us, that we must heal and move on."

Chhang is working on creating a memorial to the women who lived through the Khmer Rouge regime. He has the permission from the relevant authorities, he said, but is still seeking a designer.

It's crucial for Cambodians to remember the human rights abuses suffered during the Khmer Rouge regime, Chhang added: "It's who you are. How can you not deal with the past? If you cannot have adequate memory, how can you move on? You'll be incomplete."

Chinese food is ubiquitous in Phnom Penh. But somewhere between the chicken bones in the fried rice and the shark fin soup, they can be more of an adventure than a relaxing night out. Although one shouldn't expect anything different upon moving to Asia, many foreign nationals come from countries where Chinese cuisine has been tailored for our prickly culinary sensibilities and even bold diners in Phnom Penh may find themselves missing that kung pow chicken from their favourite hometown Chinese restaurants.

Mama Wong, from the owners of Duck restaurant on Sothearos Boulevard, has managed to strike the perfect balance between authenticity and familiarity. Located on Street 308, which is arguably becoming Phnom Penh's newest nightlife strip, it offers a the West's favourite dishes from throughout the Middle Kingdom. At nighttime, dim light from the ornate red lanterns could send a shiver down the spine of any Sinophile.

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The menu, while small, features a wide range of Chinese dishes using handmade ingredients. Hand-pulled noodles, which are made fresh at Mama Wong's every day, are served in soup, stir fried or cold tossed. I tried the stir fried with pork ($3.50), which is simple but wholesome, while my companion had the noodles cold tossed in satay and sesame oil with shredded cucumber ($3.50). The latter, which was garnished with fresh tomatoes, had a slight resemblance to a Western pasta salad and provided a vegetarian counter-balance to my pork dish.

Mama Wong also whips up hand-rolled dumplings that can be served in broth or as pot stickers, with pork and Chinese cabbage ($3.25), prawn and chives ($3.50) and spinach and shiitake ($3). I went with the pork and cabbage and was delighted to have steamed dumplings that were tenderly rolled with only a slight crisp on the bottom.

My personal favourite was the ma po tofu ($4.75). Literally meaning "pock-marked ma's bean curd" in reference to the old lady who purportedly invented it centuries ago in Chengdu, this tofu dish is packed with minced pork and chili sauce. I am not always a fan of tofu, but soaked in pork juice, salty bean paste and black pepper from Sichuan, it becomes a meat lover's best friend. And yes, kung pow chicken ($4.75) is also on the menu.

Mama Wong is tasty, chic and a great value. Although most dishes run for less than $5, it has the feel of somewhere far more expensive. Its cozy atmosphere also makes it ideal for lingering around after dinner for drinks. Perfect for a bite of China without leaving your comfort zone.

Mama Wong is located at #41 Street 308. Open 9am until 11pm every day.