Rebuilding Cambodia: Cultivating a New Generation of Women Leaders
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Too many curveballs for Moun Chanthorn
090825_24 from Phnompenhpost.com
Cambodia's Moun Chanthorn pitches a curveball against Myanmar in the Asia Cup on May 27. CBAF
CAMBODIAN National Baseball team captain Moun Chanthorn has been placed on the disabled list due to a strained elbow. The right-hand pitcher picked up the injury while playing Friday for the Royals team, who represent Eastern Cambodia, against their national opponents the Braves.
Moun Chanthorn had suffered elbow problems during Cambodia's game against Myanmar in the 8th Asian Baseball Cup May 27. The national team doctor has confirmed that the latest injury will keep the 22-year-old out of action for at least two weeks.
Hailing from Banteay Meanchey province, Moun Chanthorn has played baseball since 2004, emerging as the Kingdom's top pitcher, while also ranking fifth in hitting. Tom Dill, a baseball coach from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, warned the Cambodian Baseball Federation (CBAF) not to let its pitchers throw too many curveballs, as it can cause serious damage to the arm muscles.
Moun Chanthorn, whose best pitch is the curveball, was initially reluctant to take the mound Friday, but was determined to help the Royals draw level with their opponents, having lost to the Braves in their first two games and winning the third.
Head coach of the national team Savoeun Nhoeb was deeply concerned about the star hurler's condition, hoping that he will recover in time for the Asia Cup in Dubai, September 28, where they will face archrivals Myanmar. "Being without Chanthorn at the tournament will [make it difficult] for our team to beat Myanmar," said the head coach. "He's our best pitcher, and great leader."
Moun Chanthorn has shown his frustration at being kept off the field but will try to help the Royals in the meantime overcome their national counterparts through a coaching position.
Meanwhile, the Royals' new pitcher Teng Sakan, who was traded last Friday, helped inspire the team to a 11-2 spanking of the Braves on Saturday. The Braves were missing the skills of their expert shortstop Houey Sipho, who seemed to be suffering from heat exhaustion. The Royals then rallied Sunday to complete a come-from-behind 3-2 victory, to go up 4-2 in the series, having won the four straight games.
The Braves have looked like a caged tiger since the trade Friday and can't seem to figure out a winning strategy.
However, the introduction of right-hand fastballer Chea Theara Monday should produce a change in fortunes, with crowds amassing to watch the promising young talent.
The Royals also prepared for the debut of second baseman Sunn Vikea, nicknamed the Lightening Kid. He is reported to be the fastest of any player in the league today, with a batting average of .389 and 12 stolen bases.
6 persons drown, 3 missing as boat capsizes in northeastern Bangladesh
DHAKA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Six persons, including three children, drowned and three others were still missing as a boat capsized in northeastern Bangladesh's Habiganj district, about 163km from capital Dhaka, on Tuesday night.
Police and local officials said a small boat carrying 16 passengers sank when it was caught in a storm late on Tuesday night. Seven people managed to swim ashore.
They said the local people recovered four bodies on Tuesday night and two more bodies early on Wednesday morning.
They said the rescue operation is still going on to search for the three missing persons.
Vietnam's A/H1N1 flu cases rise to 2,142
HANOI, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam confirmed 69 more cases of A/H1N1 influenza, raising the total number of flu patients in the country to 2,142, said a report of the website of Vietnam's Ministry of Health on Wednesday.
Among the newly-reported cases, 55 were in the south, 12 in the north and two in the central highland provinces of Vietnam, said the report.
So far, 1,228 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. The rest are being quarantined and treated.
Vietnam has reported two deaths of the A/H1N1 flu since its outbreak.
Malaysia agrees on Indonesia's requests to improve labors' working standard
JAKARTA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia agreed on Indonesia's three of several requests to improve working standard of the country's "informal labors" who work there, the business daily Bisnis Indonesia quoted a minister as saying on Wednesday.
Informal labor refers to little professional skilled-workers like household maid as well as construction and plantation worker, among others.
The three points are that Malaysian government provides one day-off for the informal workers, agrees on certain 'salary scale' and lets the workers to hold their passports by themselves
The agreement was achieved in a meeting between the two countries in Malaysia last week.
However, there has no agreement about two other points, which are talks about cost structure on recruitment and placement of the workers as well as establishment of a joint monitoring task force.
"With the agreement, now Indonesian workers in Malaysia get one day off after working for one week. Their employers also no longer hold their passports," said the Minister for Labor and Transmigration Erman Suparno here on Tuesday.
He also said that the scale of the workers' salary could be adapted with how long they have been working.
Cases of runaway and abused informal workers, especially household maids, were rampant recently, prompting the two countries' governments to seek ways in solving the problem.
Cambodian intellectual property law to draw drug firms: govt official
PHNOM PENH, Aug 25, 2009 (Xinhua) -- A senior Cambodian Commerce Ministry official said he hopes a draft law easing intellectual property restrictions on imports and exports of essential medicines will encourage major manufacturers of generic drugs to set up operations in Cambodia, local media reported on Wednesday.
The Law on Compulsory Licensing for Public Health will be submitted to the Council of Ministers "soon" and is expected to be passed by the National Assembly by the end of this year, Var Rath San, director of the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Intellectual Property Rights, which drafted the law, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.
The law would bring Cambodia into line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations allowing developing countries to bypass patents when importing and exporting drugs used to treat serious diseases such as malaria and HIV.
"Hopefully, foreign investors and large foreign pharmaceutical firms that are not eligible to produce generic drugs at home will come to set up factories to produce generic drugs for local and overseas pharmaceutical markets," Var Rath San said.
The WTO's 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) allows developing countries to issue a compulsory license to drug manufacturers, allowing them to produce a patented drug without the consent of the patent owner.
A "proper fee" must be paid to the patent holder, but the fee is determined by the government according to its ability to pay.
Ministry of Health Secretary of State Chou Yin Sim said the law will help expand the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in Cambodia.
The Law on Compulsory Licensing for Public Health will be submitted to the Council of Ministers "soon" and is expected to be passed by the National Assembly by the end of this year, Var Rath San, director of the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Intellectual Property Rights, which drafted the law, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.
The law would bring Cambodia into line with the World Trade Organization (WTO) regulations allowing developing countries to bypass patents when importing and exporting drugs used to treat serious diseases such as malaria and HIV.
"Hopefully, foreign investors and large foreign pharmaceutical firms that are not eligible to produce generic drugs at home will come to set up factories to produce generic drugs for local and overseas pharmaceutical markets," Var Rath San said.
The WTO's 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) allows developing countries to issue a compulsory license to drug manufacturers, allowing them to produce a patented drug without the consent of the patent owner.
A "proper fee" must be paid to the patent holder, but the fee is determined by the government according to its ability to pay.
Ministry of Health Secretary of State Chou Yin Sim said the law will help expand the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector in Cambodia.
Over 90 new A/H1N1 flu cases confirmed in Europe
STOCKHOLM, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- A European health agency said Tuesday that 93 new A/H1N1 flu cases were reported in European countries within the last 24 hours.
The majority of new cases, 63 of 93, were confirmed in Switzerland while other cases were reported in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Malta, Romania and Slovakia, the European Centerfor Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in its daily situation report.
The cumulative number of confirmed cases of the A/H1N1 flu virus in the EU (European Union) and EFTA (European Free Trade Association) countries increased to 43,245, with 14,325 cases in Germany, 12,957 in Britain, 2,210 in Portugal, 1,631 in Greece and 1,538 in Spain, the ECDC said.
The ECDC publishes a daily situation report about the H1N1 flu cases in the EU and EFTA countries based on official information from these countries.
Cambodia needs to be more than dressmaker to the world
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
By Anne-Laure Porée
OnlineOpinion.com.au
Defying the gloom descending on the tourism sector brought about by the global crisis, the capital’s airport recently launched a hopeful initiative: a new airline. Cambodia Angkor Air was launched to boost tourism between the capital and Siem Reap near the famed ruins of Angkor Wat. With tourist arrivals falling sharply since late last year, this may signal a triumph of hope over reality. If anything, the hopes and fears surrounding Cambodia’s tourist revenue and garment trade underline how the fortune of the country has become intertwined with the larger world.
Since peace came to Cambodia in the last years of the last century, the country has emerged as a poster child of globalisation in South-East Asia. In the middle of this decade, Cambodia enjoyed double digit growth and even hoisted itself up to 6th place in the rank of the fastest growing economies for the 1998-2007 period.
And now the country is experiencing the downside of dependence on the world. The sectors most affected by the crisis - tourism and garment export - are the ones that have seen the most development thanks to the integration of Cambodia into the global economy a decade ago, after peace was restored in the country.
At this time, the economy was opened to foreign investors, who poured money into the garment industry, taking advantage of supports granted to Cambodia such as the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). This status provided access to the American market and it enabled other Asian investors - Chinese in particular - to get round their own quotas or the Least Developed Country status conferred upon them by the United Nations.
But the happy days are now threatened by the shrinking world market. Of the four major pillars of Cambodian economy - the garment industry, tourism, construction and agriculture - three are seriously impaired by the global crisis. With 70 per cent of Cambodia’s garment production going to the US, the declining American economy, choosey shoppers and stay-at-home tourists have led to job losses in Cambodia.
The figures released in late July by the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) showed a worse than anticipated loss: exports dropped almost 30 per cent and one garment worker in six lost her job in the first six months of 2009. Most of these workers are women who transfer a substantial part of their earnings to their family living in rural areas in order to supplement farming-based incomes. In some villages, every family has one or several members working in the garment factories based in the Phnom Penh suburbs. Some go for unpaid leave or part time jobs, some enter prostitution, but most decide to go back to their village in order to work in the rice fields.
According to Van Sou Ieng, GMAC president, Cambodia is much more severely affected by the crisis than other Asian countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh or China because the industry sector in Cambodia is less competitive. “We need more time to produce than China or Vietnam,” he says. Though the government helps with profit tax exemptions or export charge reductions, there’s no miracle cure for Ieng.
Tourism - the second pillar of the economy - has suffered from the economic crisis, and the fallout from the swine flu. In Siem Reap, located next to the famed Angkor temples, a spot visited by more than 1 million tourists in 2008, the situation is described as “catastrophic” by hotel managers. The hotels’ occupancy rate has fallen 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. Several three- or four-star hotels have definitely closed their doors, and the mid-range hotels have been multiplying promotional offers for months.
The drop in western tourists’ arrivals (down 14 per cent during the four first months of 2009 according to the Minister of Tourism) has a direct impact on tourism generated incomes - foreigners spent US$1.6 billion in 2008. The Ministry of Economy and Finance expects a drop in tourism growth of 7 to 8 per cent this year.
The construction sector is also affected: many foreign investors have delayed, reduced or slowed their projects. The capital Phnom Penh started to change face in 2008 with the building of huge towers, business centres and shopping malls but activity slid in the second half of 2008, leaving workers without employment. Such trends have had significant consequences, particularly among the banking sector. The Acleda bank, which has the largest branch network in all provinces, reported a fall in profits in the second quarter of 2009 because of late payments and less lending. The Cambodians, who speculated on land as investment, are now facing difficulties because the prices of land and real estate have plunged and they can’t sell and get cash.
The hardest hit, of course, are the poorest of the poor who count each riel. For them, any drop in income, as well as any unexpected crisis, immediately results in cutting down the number of meals a day.
Agriculture, the fourth pillar of the Cambodian economy and the least exposed to global currents, could bolster the country’s 2009 growth, which is forecast at 2.1 per cent. The agricultural sector (with 4.3 per cent growth expected in 2009 depending on weather conditions) is essentially based on rice farming and fishing.
But the part of agriculture that has drawn foreign interest proves to be a mixed blessing.
In northeastern Mondolkiri province, plans by a French company to set up a rubber plantation have created a conflict that symbolises the double edged sword of globalisation. For several months, Bunong, a Montagnards ethnic group, has been fighting against the project - as their farmland gets swallowed up by the rubber company that has an agreement with the Cambodian government. The company is expected to make huge profits, a part of which could return to the community via the salaries of the plantation workers and the development of a new city.
The crisis has forced the government to pay attention to those left behind by globalisation. “We thought that the private sector could solve every problem but we have to reconsider the role to be played by the State in order to palliate the deficiencies of the market,” says Hang Chuon Naron, Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The crisis has also led the leader of political opposition Sam Rainsy, former Economy Minister, to call for injecting government funds into the economy and for pushing reforms, in particular against endemic corruption. But the government would rather let the storm blow over, waiting for growth to come back in developed countries, hopefully pulling the country out of its recession in the process.
In the meantime, some hopes turn to the mineral, oil and gas resources development. But the revenues from these productions will be mainly derived from exports of raw materials with no local added value, whereas imports of manufactured goods will increase. Even after growth returns, Cambodia will still have to figure out how to hitch its industry to the global economy profitably rather than be a supplier of garments produced by cheap labour. Cambodia is beginning to learn the challenge of being part of an integrated world.
Since peace came to Cambodia in the last years of the last century, the country has emerged as a poster child of globalisation in South-East Asia. In the middle of this decade, Cambodia enjoyed double digit growth and even hoisted itself up to 6th place in the rank of the fastest growing economies for the 1998-2007 period.
And now the country is experiencing the downside of dependence on the world. The sectors most affected by the crisis - tourism and garment export - are the ones that have seen the most development thanks to the integration of Cambodia into the global economy a decade ago, after peace was restored in the country.
At this time, the economy was opened to foreign investors, who poured money into the garment industry, taking advantage of supports granted to Cambodia such as the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) and the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). This status provided access to the American market and it enabled other Asian investors - Chinese in particular - to get round their own quotas or the Least Developed Country status conferred upon them by the United Nations.
But the happy days are now threatened by the shrinking world market. Of the four major pillars of Cambodian economy - the garment industry, tourism, construction and agriculture - three are seriously impaired by the global crisis. With 70 per cent of Cambodia’s garment production going to the US, the declining American economy, choosey shoppers and stay-at-home tourists have led to job losses in Cambodia.
The figures released in late July by the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC) showed a worse than anticipated loss: exports dropped almost 30 per cent and one garment worker in six lost her job in the first six months of 2009. Most of these workers are women who transfer a substantial part of their earnings to their family living in rural areas in order to supplement farming-based incomes. In some villages, every family has one or several members working in the garment factories based in the Phnom Penh suburbs. Some go for unpaid leave or part time jobs, some enter prostitution, but most decide to go back to their village in order to work in the rice fields.
According to Van Sou Ieng, GMAC president, Cambodia is much more severely affected by the crisis than other Asian countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh or China because the industry sector in Cambodia is less competitive. “We need more time to produce than China or Vietnam,” he says. Though the government helps with profit tax exemptions or export charge reductions, there’s no miracle cure for Ieng.
Tourism - the second pillar of the economy - has suffered from the economic crisis, and the fallout from the swine flu. In Siem Reap, located next to the famed Angkor temples, a spot visited by more than 1 million tourists in 2008, the situation is described as “catastrophic” by hotel managers. The hotels’ occupancy rate has fallen 25 per cent compared to the same period in 2008. Several three- or four-star hotels have definitely closed their doors, and the mid-range hotels have been multiplying promotional offers for months.
The drop in western tourists’ arrivals (down 14 per cent during the four first months of 2009 according to the Minister of Tourism) has a direct impact on tourism generated incomes - foreigners spent US$1.6 billion in 2008. The Ministry of Economy and Finance expects a drop in tourism growth of 7 to 8 per cent this year.
The construction sector is also affected: many foreign investors have delayed, reduced or slowed their projects. The capital Phnom Penh started to change face in 2008 with the building of huge towers, business centres and shopping malls but activity slid in the second half of 2008, leaving workers without employment. Such trends have had significant consequences, particularly among the banking sector. The Acleda bank, which has the largest branch network in all provinces, reported a fall in profits in the second quarter of 2009 because of late payments and less lending. The Cambodians, who speculated on land as investment, are now facing difficulties because the prices of land and real estate have plunged and they can’t sell and get cash.
The hardest hit, of course, are the poorest of the poor who count each riel. For them, any drop in income, as well as any unexpected crisis, immediately results in cutting down the number of meals a day.
Agriculture, the fourth pillar of the Cambodian economy and the least exposed to global currents, could bolster the country’s 2009 growth, which is forecast at 2.1 per cent. The agricultural sector (with 4.3 per cent growth expected in 2009 depending on weather conditions) is essentially based on rice farming and fishing.
But the part of agriculture that has drawn foreign interest proves to be a mixed blessing.
In northeastern Mondolkiri province, plans by a French company to set up a rubber plantation have created a conflict that symbolises the double edged sword of globalisation. For several months, Bunong, a Montagnards ethnic group, has been fighting against the project - as their farmland gets swallowed up by the rubber company that has an agreement with the Cambodian government. The company is expected to make huge profits, a part of which could return to the community via the salaries of the plantation workers and the development of a new city.
The crisis has forced the government to pay attention to those left behind by globalisation. “We thought that the private sector could solve every problem but we have to reconsider the role to be played by the State in order to palliate the deficiencies of the market,” says Hang Chuon Naron, Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The crisis has also led the leader of political opposition Sam Rainsy, former Economy Minister, to call for injecting government funds into the economy and for pushing reforms, in particular against endemic corruption. But the government would rather let the storm blow over, waiting for growth to come back in developed countries, hopefully pulling the country out of its recession in the process.
In the meantime, some hopes turn to the mineral, oil and gas resources development. But the revenues from these productions will be mainly derived from exports of raw materials with no local added value, whereas imports of manufactured goods will increase. Even after growth returns, Cambodia will still have to figure out how to hitch its industry to the global economy profitably rather than be a supplier of garments produced by cheap labour. Cambodia is beginning to learn the challenge of being part of an integrated world.
The Accreditation Committee of Cambodia Held a Meeting to Conclude Its Activities – Tuesday, 25.8.2009
Posted on 26 August 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 627
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 627
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/
“Phnom Penh: The Accreditation Committee of Cambodia released the results from its checking the educational progress during the Foundation Year education [the Foundation Year is defined as the first academic year towards achieving a bachelor degree] of 38 higher education institutions, which found that 15 educational institutions performed very good, 15 performed good, and 8 performed moderate during the year 2008-2009.
“The findings of the assessment were announced during a meeting of the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia in the morning of 24 August 2009 at the Council of Ministers, under the presidency of the Minister of the Council of Ministers, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.
“Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said that the main mission of the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia is to assess the quality of education of higher education institutions, based on a set of standards, on which also all relevant sides, such as higher education institutions and relevant ministries, have commented. The assessment of the quality of education is a difficult task, requiring thorough attention and extreme carefulness, otherwise there might arise various kinds of criticism.
“According to the report of the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia, the assessment of the quality of education has two stages: the assessment of the quality of education during the Foundation Year education, based on six characteristics, and the assessment of the quality of education of educational institutions, based on nine standards, which are planed to be achieved by 2010, following pre-set stages and procedures.
“The Foundation Year education programs of 35 higher education institutions were assessed. The Accreditation Committee of Cambodia fully accepted the Foundation Year program of 19 institutions, while the programs of a further 16 institutions were accepted temporarily. This year, there were no higher education institutions where their programs were rejected [as not qualified].
“During the assessment of the quality of the Foundation Year programs, working groups implemented procedures for the assessment and for observations, and set up clear procedures for the task, in order to ensure fairness and transparency in their assessments.
“Based on some reference document, including documents of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University – 上海交通大学 – and the Times of London Higher Education Survey, the ranking of universities in the world usually focuses on the following major criteria:
1- Assess former students
2- Assess accomplishment awards
3- Assess the number of learners and researchers of various subjects
4- Assess the number of articles published in humanities and in science
5- Assess the outreach of universities by covering the percentage of foreign
lecturers, the percentage of foreign students, the proportion between the number of lecturers and students, the size of libraries, and the number of books
6- Assess assessments by partner universities
7- Assess assessments by employees
8- Assess assessments by staff and students of universities etc…
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4981, 25.8.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Authoritarian regimes must be opposed
A. Gaffar Peang-MethPacific Daily News (Guam)
August 26, 2009
In an authoritarian regime, political power is concentrated in an authority not responsible nor responsive to the people. Such a system is the polar opposite of a democracy.
In a June posting in Foreign Policy Online, Freedom House executive director Jennifer Windsor, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Jeffrey Gedmin and Radio Free Asia president Libby Liu warned in "Authoritarianism's New Wave," that our current international system based on the rule of law, human rights and open expression, is being confronted by a "most serious challenge" from modern authoritarian regimes in "updated, sophisticated, and lavishly funded ways."
In the 94-page study, "Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians," experts from the three institutions analyze strategies and methods used by China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia and Venezuela "to impede human rights and democratic development" in their countries and abroad.
Windsor, Gedmin and Liu expressed their concerns that "policymakers do not appear to appreciate the dangers these 21st century authoritarian models pose to democracy and rule of law around the world."
The study reveals that the 21st century authoritarians, like the traditional ones, manipulate the "legal system, media control, and outright fear" and protect their power by "rewarding loyalists and punishing opponents without regard to due process."
To domestic audiences, they "redefined and heavily distorted" the concept of democracy, stressing their achievements and belittling what is "Western." To overwhelm, distract and disrupt legitimate Internet discussions which they deemed undesirable, the new authoritarians subverted "legitimate online discourse ... enlisted loyal commentators and provocateurs" and used "draconian laws to punish outspoken online critics and discourage any who might emulate them."
They undermined or crippled democracy, human rights and rules-based organizations, including the United Nations, and actively promoted or encouraged strong "nationalist or extremist" views of history to imprint in the younger generation hostile attitudes toward democracy and suspicion of the outside world.
To advance their interests internationally, authoritarian regimes are using "soft-power methods ... particularly, through billions of dollars in no-strings-attached development aid."
As Russia, Iran and Venezuela use "oil wealth to build foreign alliances and bankroll clients abroad," China, a country that aspires to world power status, has adopted a "doctrine of win-win (shuangying) foreign relationships" and encouraged Latin American, African, Asian and Arab states "to form mutually beneficial arrangements with China based on the principle of noninterference."
This brings to mind Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Asia late last month. On a mission to re-engage the United States in Asia, Secretary Clinton signed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation that is guided by the principle of "Non-interference in the internal affairs of one another." In other words, "Live and let live."
In the June 4 London Economist Online article, "An (iron) fistful of help," the article begins with, "China, Iran, Russia and Venezuela have been doling out largesse. Should Western democracies be worried?"
The significance of "authoritarian aid" does not lie just in its total value -- China does not publish aid figures, but the World Bank says China gives Africa $2 billion a year -- but "autocracies offer an alternative to western aid," which demands "good governance," while China and others do not, says the Economist.
The "Undermining Democracy" study says Chinese aid "now outstrips that of democratic donor countries" in many Southeast and Central Asian states. It says, "The Chinese government is Cambodia's largest provider of military aid, most of which goes to antidemocratic security forces that are used as a political weapon by Prime Minister Hun Sen." It says Beijing has pledged $600 million to Phnom Penh while Washington gives Cambodia about $55 million a year -- less than a tenth the aid from Beijing.
It says each year Beijing trains at least 1,000 Central Asian judicial and police officials, "most of whom could be classified as working in antidemocratic enterprises."
Writes the Economist: "Naturally, help from harsh regimes is rarely encumbered with pesky demands for good governance. This makes it welcome to corrupt officials and even to those merely sick of being lectured by Westerners. Alas, it can encourage bad governance."
"This unconditional assistance -- devoid of human rights riders and financial safeguards required by democratic donors, international institutions, and private lenders -- is tilting the scales toward less accountable and more corrupt governance across a wide swath of the developing world." The study states: "An absence of institutional accountability, leads to repressive and arbitrary governance, and to entrenched, rampant corruption."
It says authoritarian regimes "are eroding the international rules and standards," but that the democracies are "uncertain" about how to respond.
Authoritarian regimes that are "already well-practiced in the art of allowing economic activity while protecting their political prerogatives ... are vigorously advancing their own, illiberal values. ... Why they would abandon this approach when dealing with foreign governments?"
Though the study notes, "In a 21st century context, isolation or disengagement from these authoritarian regimes are not viable options," it warns against falling into "authoritarians' trap," because authoritarians "would prefer engagement ... but only on their terms" in order to advance their economic interests.
Because democracies are rules-based, accountable and open systems, grounded in human rights and rule of law, "It is therefore in the democracies' interest to safeguard and promote the very qualities that set them apart from the authoritarians."
A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.
Psychiatrist says Khmer Rouge trial can help heal
By SOPHENG CHEANG,Associated Press WriterAP - Wednesday, August 26
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A psychiatrist testified Tuesday that prosecuting the former leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge can help ease the mental trauma of hundreds of thousands of victims who suffered under the brutal communist regime three decades ago.
Dr. Chhim Sotheara of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization _ which promotes community mental health programs _ testified at the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who commanded a Khmer Rouge torture center when the group was in power from 1975-79.
A U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the regime's radical policies.
Chhim Sotheara said according to his research, 14 percent of Cambodians, or about 800,000 people, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the Khmer Rouge's rule. The destruction of families and communities deprived people of their traditional pillars of psychological support, he said.
"The trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders is an opportunity for the victims who had suffered and who have been traumatized for many years to overcome their trauma through justice," Chhim Sotheara told the tribunal.
He said the government should also hold public reconciliation forums to help heal the victims' pain.
Asked for comment by the judges, Duch (pronounced DOIK) agreed that people's psychological damage remained a problem.
"The consequences are tremendous and extensive and long-lasting. Even at this time, the consequences are still ongoing," Duch told the tribunal.
Duch is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge figures scheduled to face long-delayed trials and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. His trial, which started in March, is expected to finish before the end of the year.
He could face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Cambodia has no death penalty.
Court Again Summons SRP Lawmaker
By Heng Reaksmey, VOA KhmerOriginal report from Phnom Penh
25 August 2009
Phnom Penh court has summoned Ho Vann, an opposition lawmaker accused of defamation and disinformation, who so far does not have a lawyer, for questioning.
Ho Vann is facing a lawsuit brought be 22 military officials, after he publicly questioned the quality of certificates granted by a Vietnamese war college. If convicted, he could receive three years in prison.
The summons is for Sept. 9, and deputy prosecutor Sok Roeun said the court would “wait and see” if Ho Vann appears.
Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the Sam Rainsy Party, said Ho Vann has not found a lawyer, which may prevent him from appearing.
“I don’t think the Cambodian court will bring justice for him,” Yim Sovann said Tuesday. “Ho Vann’s case is a political issue, so we already know the verdict. The court sentence will follow the government.”
The National Assembly, which is heavily dominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, suspended Ho Vann’s parliamentary immunity in June, along with fellow SRP lawamker Mu Sochua, who faces a fine for allegedly defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The cases were just two in a line of court actions that critics say is stifling government dissent.
Mongolian parliament...
Mongolian parliament chief meets Russian president on bilateral
ULAN BATOR, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian Parliament Chairman Damdin Demberel discussed greater inter-parliament cooperation with visiting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday.
The Russian president arrived here on Tuesday for a two-day visit to discuss bilateral relations.
Demberel said Mongolia-Russia ties had been consolidated in recent years and had now entered a new stage. Medvedev's visit showed the significance attached to further boosting the two countries' relations.
He said the two countries' parliaments undertook frequent exchanges and Mongolia attached importance to boosting cooperation between the two sides.
Medvedev said bilateral relations in the strategic partnership between Russia and Mongolia had developed well and the inter-parliament cooperation was an important element.
Medvedev also held talks with Mongolian president Tsakhia Elbegdorj and Prime Minister Sanjaa Bayar. The two sides signed a manifesto to boost the strategic partnership.
Floating villages in Combodia
Foreign tourists take a tour by boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local residents live on a floating water dwelling on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local vendors sell vegetables and fruits on a boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local residents rest on a boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009. Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, covering an area of 2,500-3,000 square kilometers during the dry season. In recent years, Tonle Sap Lake has become a famous scenic spot for tourists from all over the world, who have interest in the lifestyle of local residents living in floating villages around the lake. (Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
School closures not part of A/H1N1 battle plans in Canadian B.C. province
VANCOUVER, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- The provincial government of British Columbia in western Canada is preparing for a possible resurgence of the A/H1N1 flu virus when classes resume in September, but widespread school closures are not recommended, officials said Monday.
"We don't expect that individual school closures, community-wide closures or province wide closures will be useful in controlling the spread and impact of the H1N1 flu virus," said provincial chief medical officer Perry Kendall in a news conference.
"There would be a limited benefit for a lot of social disruption," he said. "Plus we can manage infection controls somewhat better in schools than we can in non-school settings."
Kendall added that closures early last spring were initiated " out of an abundance of caution" due to insufficient information on the new flu virus at that time.
"It has since become apparent that the disease caused by this virus is generally mild and does not warrant such severe measures," said Kendall.
The pandemic plans being put in place will include new information and materials for parents, students and schools, according to Ida Chong, the B.C. minister of healthy living and sport.
To complement the pandemic plans, new guidelines for when and if to shut schools have been developed after consulting with the federal government and public health partners, said B.C. education minister Margaret MacDiarmid.
Health officials say normal flu prevention measures are still the best way to prevent the spread of the A/H1N1 virus until a vaccine becomes available sometime in November.
Kendall said the back-to-school message is all about flu prevention, such as frequent hand washing, extra wiping of desks and doorknobs and ensuring students with flu symptoms stay at home.
So far, four people have died from the A/H1N1 flu in B.C. since March, but all the victims had underlying health issues.
U.S. global leading nanomanufacturer invests in Singapore d
SINGAPORE, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The venture capital arm of a U.S. global leader in nanomanufacturing has invested in a Singapore spin-off.
Applied Ventures. LLC, the venture capital arm of U.S.-based Applied Materials, Inc, has invested in a newly incorporated spin-off from Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), according to a statement by A*STAR on Tuesday.
The funds will be used for the development and manufacture of anew proprietary, moisture resistant film that can significantly extend the life span of devices such as organic solar cells and flexible displays.
The new film protects the easily degraded moisture-sensitive organic materials of plastic devices and targets the burgeoning plastic electronics industry.
Applications of the film include the manufacturing of flexible, lightweight and cheap electronics such as disposable or wrap-around displays, identification tags, low cost solar cells and chemical- and pressure-sensitive sensors.
Thailand's Election Commission extends probe on controversial funds donated to Democrat
BANGKOK, Aug. 25 Xinhua) -- Thailand's Election Commission (EC)Tuesday decided to extend for another 30 days its investigation of a controversial 258-million-baht (7.58 million U.S. dollars) donation to the Democrat Party, said Suthipol Thaweechaikarn, secretary-general of the poll agency.
The Democrat Party, which has led the coalition government, is being investigated for allegedly having received the donation of 258 million baht from the Thai Petrochemical Industry Public Company Limited in violation of the Political Party Act.
Also, the EC has to postpone its verdict on the Democrat Party's alleged misuse of 29 million baht (852,400 U.S. dollars) from the EC's political party development fund, said Suthipol, the website by Bangkok Post reported.
Suthipol said the EC was not able to make ruling on the two cases because information on hand was not clear enough on some points.
Examination of witnesses and documents, particularly those fromthe Revenue Department, had also not been completed, he said.
The EC has decided to ask the sub-committee handling the donation case to further investigate Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Democrat Party leader, and Prachai Liewpairatana, former executive of Thai Petrochemical Industry.
The sub-committee has been given 30 days to complete the assignment, Suthipol said.
One possible scenario, which might occur, is if the party is found of guilty, the Democrat Party might be dissolved.
Thailand's anti-gov't group to go ahead with rally as planned Sunday
BANGKOK, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will go ahead with a plan to stage an anti-government rally at the Royal Plaza in the center of capital Bangkok although the government will enforce the Internal Security Act from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, Jatuporn Promphan, UDD core leader said Tuesday.
The UDD group, which is also known as the red-shirted group, will stage the anti-government rally in an attempt to topple the Democrat-led coalition government.
Jatuporn said UDD core leaders will meet on Wednesday to discuss details of the demonstration, the website by Bangkok Post reported, adding that the protest would be prolonged, if the government uses force to disperse demonstrators.
Earlier Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister's Office Minister Sathit Wongnongtaey said that the cabinet approved the enforcement since intelligence agencies have learnt the UDD core leaders have reportedly planned to instigate unrest with goal to bring down the government.
ADB, S.Korea Support Cambodia to Improve Cross-Border Road Links
2009-08-25
Xinhua
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Republic of Korea are supporting road and border improvements in Cambodia to help reduce poverty, increase economic opportunities, and boost ongoing efforts to strengthen trade and tourism in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), a press release issued by ADB on Tuesday said.
ADB's Board of Directors approved a loan equivalent to 16.3 million U.S. dollars for the project which will rehabilitate 113 kilometers of a national road in the northwest of the country, and upgrade a cross-border facility with Thailand. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance of Korea is extending a loan equivalent to 25. 6 million U.S. dollars through its Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF).
The pot-holed gravel road, that is impassable in the wet season due to flooding, cuts through two of the poorest provinces in the country -- Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey. It links up with another major route which is a key conduit for goods and people between northwest Cambodia and northeast Thailand, and also forms a feeder connection to the GMS east-west corridor.
Roads are the lifeblood of transport in the GMS but poor surfaces raise costs, cause lost economic opportunities and contribute to high accident rates. The upgraded road and border facility will reduce travel times, improve traffic safety, increase access to markets, and provide new job and business opportunities. It will be another step to strengthen connectivity and develop economic corridors across the GMS -- a bloc of six nations committed to closer ties that support sustainable growth, boost employment and reduce poverty.
"The project will support the GMS strategy by improving connectivity between Thailand and Cambodia, thereby enhancing subregional transport and trade," said Shihiru Date, transport specialist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department.
The improved facilities are expected to aid cross-border tourism as the restored road connects to a key east-west route to Siem Reap site of the world famous Angkor Wat temple. Opportunities for contract farmers, who cultivate high-value fruit for export to neighboring countries should also expand, while the all-weather surface will improve access to health and education facilities. The project will include an HIV prevention and anti- human trafficking program, as new cross-border roads represent a potential threat for the spread of communicable diseases, and the trafficking of women and children.
ADB's loan, from its concessional Asian Development Fund, comprises 34 percent of the total project cost. It has a 32-year term with an eight year grace period carrying a one percent interest charge, and 1.5 percent for the balance. The Government of Cambodia will contribute counterpart funds of six million U.S. dollars, while the Ministry of Public Works and Transport will be the executing agency.
The estimated completion date for the project is December 2013.
ADB's Board of Directors approved a loan equivalent to 16.3 million U.S. dollars for the project which will rehabilitate 113 kilometers of a national road in the northwest of the country, and upgrade a cross-border facility with Thailand. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance of Korea is extending a loan equivalent to 25. 6 million U.S. dollars through its Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF).
The pot-holed gravel road, that is impassable in the wet season due to flooding, cuts through two of the poorest provinces in the country -- Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey. It links up with another major route which is a key conduit for goods and people between northwest Cambodia and northeast Thailand, and also forms a feeder connection to the GMS east-west corridor.
Roads are the lifeblood of transport in the GMS but poor surfaces raise costs, cause lost economic opportunities and contribute to high accident rates. The upgraded road and border facility will reduce travel times, improve traffic safety, increase access to markets, and provide new job and business opportunities. It will be another step to strengthen connectivity and develop economic corridors across the GMS -- a bloc of six nations committed to closer ties that support sustainable growth, boost employment and reduce poverty.
"The project will support the GMS strategy by improving connectivity between Thailand and Cambodia, thereby enhancing subregional transport and trade," said Shihiru Date, transport specialist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department.
The improved facilities are expected to aid cross-border tourism as the restored road connects to a key east-west route to Siem Reap site of the world famous Angkor Wat temple. Opportunities for contract farmers, who cultivate high-value fruit for export to neighboring countries should also expand, while the all-weather surface will improve access to health and education facilities. The project will include an HIV prevention and anti- human trafficking program, as new cross-border roads represent a potential threat for the spread of communicable diseases, and the trafficking of women and children.
ADB's loan, from its concessional Asian Development Fund, comprises 34 percent of the total project cost. It has a 32-year term with an eight year grace period carrying a one percent interest charge, and 1.5 percent for the balance. The Government of Cambodia will contribute counterpart funds of six million U.S. dollars, while the Ministry of Public Works and Transport will be the executing agency.
The estimated completion date for the project is December 2013.
KRouge trial can help trauma
Aug 25, 2009
AFP
PHNOM PENH - THE trial of Khmer Rouge leaders is a chance for the regime's victims to overcome their lingering trauma, a psychological expert told Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal on Tuesday.
Dr Chhim Sotheara was testifying at the trial of Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav and who stands accused of overseeing the torture and execution of roughly 15,000 people at Tuol Sleng prison during the regime's 1975-79 rule.
But the expert, who is director of Cambodia's Transcultural Psycho-social Organisation, noted that the victims' trauma seemed to reoccur after they observed the court proceedings.
The denial by some Khmer Rouge leaders of their roles in the atrocities also created more pain for the victims, he said.
Dr Sotheara said that people were traumatised throughout the nation after the Khmer Rouge destroyed the country's infrastructure and created an 'environment of fear'.
He told the court that Cambodians could cope with their three-decade-old trauma only when justice had been served and the truth behind regime was revealed.
'The trial of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge is an opportunity for the victims who have suffered and who have been traumatised for many years to overcome their trauma through justice,' he said.
'It will be very helpful to heal the wounds, the suffering of those victims,' he added.
Dr Sotheara told the court that for every five Cambodians, two had developed trauma, while 14 percent of country's population aged over 18 had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.
Several senior officials from the regime face trial.
AFP
PHNOM PENH - THE trial of Khmer Rouge leaders is a chance for the regime's victims to overcome their lingering trauma, a psychological expert told Cambodia's UN-backed tribunal on Tuesday.
Dr Chhim Sotheara was testifying at the trial of Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav and who stands accused of overseeing the torture and execution of roughly 15,000 people at Tuol Sleng prison during the regime's 1975-79 rule.
But the expert, who is director of Cambodia's Transcultural Psycho-social Organisation, noted that the victims' trauma seemed to reoccur after they observed the court proceedings.
The denial by some Khmer Rouge leaders of their roles in the atrocities also created more pain for the victims, he said.
Dr Sotheara said that people were traumatised throughout the nation after the Khmer Rouge destroyed the country's infrastructure and created an 'environment of fear'.
He told the court that Cambodians could cope with their three-decade-old trauma only when justice had been served and the truth behind regime was revealed.
'The trial of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge is an opportunity for the victims who have suffered and who have been traumatised for many years to overcome their trauma through justice,' he said.
'It will be very helpful to heal the wounds, the suffering of those victims,' he added.
Dr Sotheara told the court that for every five Cambodians, two had developed trauma, while 14 percent of country's population aged over 18 had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder.
Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.
Several senior officials from the regime face trial.
Psychiatrist says Khmer Rouge trial can help heal
2009-08-25
By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press
A psychiatrist testified Tuesday that prosecuting the former leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge can help ease the mental trauma of hundreds of thousands of victims who suffered under the brutal communist regime three decades ago.
Dr. Chhim Sotheara of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization _ which promotes community mental health programs _ testified at the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who commanded a Khmer Rouge torture center when the group was in power from 1975-79.
A U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the regime's radical policies.
Chhim Sotheara said according to his research, 14 percent of Cambodians, or about 800,000 people, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the Khmer Rouge's rule. The destruction of families and communities deprived people of their traditional pillars of psychological support, he said.
"The trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders is an opportunity for the victims who had suffered and who have been traumatized for many years to overcome their trauma through justice," Chhim Sotheara told the tribunal.
He said the government should also hold public reconciliation forums to help heal the victims' pain.
Asked for comment by the judges, Duch (pronounced DOIK) agreed that people's psychological damage remained a problem.
"The consequences are tremendous and extensive and long-lasting. Even at this time, the consequences are still ongoing," Duch told the tribunal.
Duch is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge figures scheduled to face long-delayed trials and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. His trial, which started in March, is expected to finish before the end of the year.
He could face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Cambodia has no death penalty.
Dr. Chhim Sotheara of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization _ which promotes community mental health programs _ testified at the trial of Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who commanded a Khmer Rouge torture center when the group was in power from 1975-79.
A U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal is seeking justice for the estimated 1.7 million people who died in Cambodia from execution, overwork, disease and malnutrition as a result of the regime's radical policies.
Chhim Sotheara said according to his research, 14 percent of Cambodians, or about 800,000 people, suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder related to the Khmer Rouge's rule. The destruction of families and communities deprived people of their traditional pillars of psychological support, he said.
"The trial of the former Khmer Rouge leaders is an opportunity for the victims who had suffered and who have been traumatized for many years to overcome their trauma through justice," Chhim Sotheara told the tribunal.
He said the government should also hold public reconciliation forums to help heal the victims' pain.
Asked for comment by the judges, Duch (pronounced DOIK) agreed that people's psychological damage remained a problem.
"The consequences are tremendous and extensive and long-lasting. Even at this time, the consequences are still ongoing," Duch told the tribunal.
Duch is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge figures scheduled to face long-delayed trials and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. His trial, which started in March, is expected to finish before the end of the year.
He could face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Cambodia has no death penalty.
Drought affects Cambodian rice farming
PHNOM PENH, Aug 25, 2009 (Xinhua) -- An independent watchdog for agriculture in Cambodia warned Tuesday that at least eight provinces out of the country's total 24 provinces and cities are facing drought.
The Center for Study and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC) said in its statement that as of August this year, at least eight provinces are facing drought and the affected farmland is more than 79,000 hectares, which brings worrisome to mass Cambodian farmers.
It said the provinces affected by drought are Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Kandal, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Takeo.
CEDAC said if there will be no rainfall for two more weeks, then Cambodia's farming will be in critical situation.
Rice is one of Cambodia's main agricultural production. Last year, Cambodia produced 7.15 million tons of rice from a total farming land of 2.25 million hectares.
Cambodia can now produce an average of 2.54 tons per hectare, but a large number of farmers across the country can only farm one time a year due to lack of water.
CEDAC was established in 1997 for helping Cambodian farmers in agriculture development.
The Center for Study and Development of Cambodian Agriculture (CEDAC) said in its statement that as of August this year, at least eight provinces are facing drought and the affected farmland is more than 79,000 hectares, which brings worrisome to mass Cambodian farmers.
It said the provinces affected by drought are Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Pursat, Kandal, Prey Veng, Svay Rieng and Takeo.
CEDAC said if there will be no rainfall for two more weeks, then Cambodia's farming will be in critical situation.
Rice is one of Cambodia's main agricultural production. Last year, Cambodia produced 7.15 million tons of rice from a total farming land of 2.25 million hectares.
Cambodia can now produce an average of 2.54 tons per hectare, but a large number of farmers across the country can only farm one time a year due to lack of water.
CEDAC was established in 1997 for helping Cambodian farmers in agriculture development.
Leading a Korean invasion: K-Pop and all that Hallyu
Jeong Ji-hoon - better known as Rain. Photo SuppliedThe Phnom Penh Post
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Joel Quenby and Tha Piset
Khmer parents beware: It seems that Cambodian youths, like most of their Asian counterparts, have contracted the contagious Korean pop-culture craze
Like image-conscious students everywhere, 19-year-old Nguon Dalen spends time on his appearance. Mostly on his hair, it appears.
Nguon Dalen's lovingly sculpted coif, a multilayered mullet, looks distinctly high-maintenance.
"I like Korean hairstyles," he shrugs. "I'm young, so I need something new. I especially like Rain's style: His hair and clothes help him look handsome."
Nguon Dalen has been into Korean fashion since he was in high school. And he's not alone.
Many young Cambodians are likewise seeking to emulate "K-Stars", as they are colloquially known.
It seems that, having flooded Asia's airwaves and won the hearts of fans region-wide in the process, "the Korean Wave" - a pop culture phenomenon also dubbed "Hallyu" - has washed onto Cambodian shores.
In November 2008, Glen Felgate, general manager of Cambodian Television Network (CTN), told Television Asia Plus magazine that Korean dramas were particularly popular in Cambodia. One, How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor, even visited the Kingdom on a location shoot last year.
"The reason many youngsters adapt to new waves of foreign pop culture is that young, influential Cambodian singers and film stars have followed the examples set by their Korean counterparts," says Vong Emsaman, sociology professor of the Royal University of Phnom Penh.
"We cannot stop the behaviour of those young people," he says.
But why would anyone want to?
The professor says he feels that the revealing ensembles favoured by Korean starlets impact negatively on the way well-mannered Cambodian girls clothe themselves.
His answer hints at a generational divide that has caused strife between parents and teenagers since Elvis first wiggled his hips on American network television.
Youth subcultures - from flower-power-spouting hippies in the '60s to the phlegm-gobbing punks of the late '70s - mutate over the years, but the nature of the conflict they bestride stays essentially the same.
After all, it's well-established that adolescents, if graced with the freedom and means, often instinctively rebel against their elders, seeking to distinguish themselves from the "squares", using fashion and pop culture tropes as their usual weapons of choice.
But the Korean Wave has been an especially pervasive love affair; this pan-Asian obsession has staying power.
Fans from Saigon to Shanghai await visiting K-Stars amid airport scenes reminiscent of Beatlemania.
This is curious, especially when one considers the language barriers necessitating subtitles for non-native fans of Korean media.
So how did it all begin?
The inception of Hallyu is tied in with the march of capitalist culture into Asia in the early '90s.
Tragic Korean actress Jang Ja-yeon. The GuardianSTORM IN SOUTH KOREA OVER SUICIDAL STARS
When Jang Ja-yeon killed herself in March, she not only deprived South Korea of a wildly popular soap star. In a damning letter naming the men responsible for the distress that may have caused her to take her life at age 26, Jang heaped shame on the country’s entertainment industry with allegations of sexual abuse. The villain of the piece, according to reports, was her agent, Kim Sung-hoon. Jang reportedly claimed Kim had regularly beaten her and forced her to have sex with a string of VIPs, including directors, media executives and CEOs. When police raided Kim’s office, they discovered a shower and bed in a “secret room”. The South Korean media has finally condemned the industry for the way it treats its most marketable – and usually female – talent. Film and TV viewers are now wondering how big a part abuse and the demands of “slave contracts” played in a spate of celebrity suicides originally put down to the pressures of fame. Jang’s suicide was one of several among South Korean entertainers over the past year. THE GUARDIAN
South Korea, as one of the era's economic tigers, with close ties to Western culture and rapidly emerging techno-wizardry, was well-placed to take advantage.
Newly minted transnational media corporations churned out slickly produced pop videos starring whiter-than-white (often cosmetically modified) stars.
Meanwhile, TV soap operas promoted ultramodern "middle-class" lifestyles, starring sensitive male protagonists who made teens and housewives alike swoon.
Perhaps just as importantly, South Korea wasn't as politically loaded as Japan or the US. Audiences thus felt freer to embrace comparatively neutral K-Star power - a "soft" force based firmly in the material realm, nonthreatening and easy to aspire to.
China and Taiwan became the first converts.
The message then spread like wildfire to Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific, even the Middle East (although the phenomenon is now well-established enough to have faced nationalistic backlashes in both China and Japan).
So much for the movement - who are the protagonists?
As any K-Pop devotee would attest, no one embodies Hallyu more emphatically than Jeong Ji-hoon - better known by his stage name Rain.
Riding the crest of the Korean Wave, Rain's meteoric rise saw him in 2004 become the first-ever winner of the MTV Asia Grand Slam, securing top honours in every country broadcasting MTV Asia.
By 2006 he was being listed in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People Who Shape Our World" and selling out gigs in Vegas and at Madison Square Garden.
Rain's march has been hindered by legal wrangles recently, but there's no doubting the impact he and his ilk have made across Asia.
A Thai concert promoter, for example, ran a competition in which the prize was a night's stay in Rain's Bangkok hotel suite after he'd checked out - but before the maid had cleaned up. (The winner presumably spent a rapturous night alternately sniffing and sobbing into Rain's rumpled towels.)
Jaruwan Supolrai, 26, of Bangkok's Thai Volunteer Service, says that, "many Thai teenagers are crazy for Koreanisation, especially those living in the city.
"They're big fans of Korean singers, stars and fashion. Of course, that makes them want to be like their idols."
His elder Vong Emsaman concurs.
"I lived in Japan for seven years," says the sociology professor. "And I saw that many women in that country may be dressed in sexy clothes, but they are still considered good in their society."
He adds that the solution is to set appropriate dress-code regulations at school.
Trust the powers that be to spoil kids' fun. Some things never change.
Civic Group Opposes House Discussion on Preah Vihear Temple
Yesterday a civic group observing the dispute on Preah Vihear Temple between Thailand and Cambodia petitioned to halt the discussion about a settlement with Cambodia, scheduled for a Parliament meeting this Friday .
The civic group who follows the dispute on Preah Vihear temple, led by Mom Luang Valwipa Jaroonroj์, Thepmontri Limpapayom and Veera Somkwamkid, submitted a petition calling for a postponement of the house discussion about a temporary agreement between Thai and Cambodia over the disputed ruins and land.
The group urged the House to call off the discussion until a transparent public hearing on this issue was held. They feel that the temporary bilateral settlement will eventually lead to the listing of the Preah Vihear temple as a Cambodian World Heritage site with Thai endorsement. If it happens, the group
says Thailand will lose its sovereignty in the 4.6 square kilometer overlapping border area.
Today at the Parliament, there will be a seminar about the overlapping border area with a presentation of evidence that shows the Foreign Affairs Ministry supporting the listing of Preah Vihear Temple as Cambodia's World Heritage.
On the other issues at the upper House meeting yesterday, the Senate resolved yesterday to extend the discussion about the borrowing act that would enable the Finance Ministry to pull in 400 billion baht for another thirty days after the Senate earlier endorsed its draft.
The senators also grilled the Prime Minister over the relocation of operations at Don Muang Airport to Suvarnabhumi Airports, tax collection, management of funds generated from the government bond issuance, political reform and the decentralization of power to local administrative bodies.
Floating villages in Combodia
2009-08-25
Children play on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local fishmen return home after a day's work by boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Foreign tourists take a tour by boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local residents live on a floating water dwelling on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local vendors sell vegetables and fruits on a boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009.(Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
Local residents rest on a boat on Tonle Sap Lake, northwest of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, on Aug. 19, 2009. Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, covering an area of 2,500-3,000 square kilometers during the dry season. In recent years, Tonle Sap Lake has become a famous scenic spot for tourists from all over the world, who have interest in the lifestyle of local residents living in floating villages around the lake. (Xinhua/Lin Yiguang)
khmer news
Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 24/08/2009: Day 63 in Duch’s trial at the ECCC © John Vink/ MagnumKa-set
http://cambodia.ka-set.info/
By Stéphanie Gée
24-08-2009
Due to progress in the trial and the withdrawal by some civil parties of their request to testify before the Chamber, only Monday August 24th was devoted to the testimony of the last civil parties who requested it. At this pace, hearings may be over by the end of September and the office of the co-Prosecutors and the defence would then enjoy a period – still undetermined to this day – to prepare their arguments and pleas. Mrs Chum Neou was finally able to share her full testimony, which was fragmented as it was spread over last Thursday and this Monday and interrupted three times. A former Khmer Rouge who was “betrayed” by the Angkar, she reported her aunt had never forgiven her for being one of them. As for Mrs Chhin Navy, she said she had made peace with her sister who denounced her husband to the militia. However, that act of forgiveness seemed to have been a half-hearted one…
A story told for the first time in 32 years
Mrs Chum Neou was now in her sixties and had joined the revolutionary ranks voluntarily in 1971. She resumed her story where she had stopped on Thursday and talked about the death of a son aged barely a few months, whom she was unable to care for adequately. She was there for him, for her husband, disappeared at S-21, and for herself, since she was detained at S-24 (Prey Sar). “It is the first time today in 32 years that I can talk about these things. Every time I remember these events, I cannot help crying,” the civil party said. Reviving these scattered memories overwhelmed her with emotion and maybe prevented her from being very “consistent,” she admitted. Everything came back to her in a disorderly fashion.
Her meeting with Duch
She recounted in detail her life at Prey Sar, which re-education centre nature she found out on the site. Despite the hardships, she continued, she did not cry at the time to “prove” she had been re-educated properly. And indeed, to her utmost surprise, she survived, she said. In the forest, near Omleang, still under Khmer Rouge surveillance, in early January 1979, Mrs Chum Neou reported she met Duch, whose house she had been summoned to for attempting to escape. “He took his gun out of its holster and pointed the muzzle at my forehead. I was certain that the safety mechanism was on and I was determined to fight to get rid of that gun. I was not scared. […] He asked me how many days I had stayed there. I replied I had been there since 1977. He seemed surprise and asked me how come I had managed to stay there that long but I said I didn’t know why. He then told me it was great that I had stayed that long and was still in good shape.” However, she assured judge Lavergne that Duch did not accompany the gesture with threats. She added it was not the first time she saw him as she said she surprised him twice in 1978, when he had come to “inspect work in the rice fields” at S-24. She returned to her village in 1980 to find the distressing news that all her relatives had died.
Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 24/08/2009: Chum Neou, civil party who lost her husband and new-born baby, on a screen in the press room on Day 63 in Duch’s trial at the ECCC © John Vink/ MagnumJoining as civil party to break away from the Khmer Rouge
François Roux, Duch’s international lawyer – back after two weeks away at the international tribunal for Lebanon –, returned to Mrs Chum Neou’s involvement in the Khmer Rouge movement. The decision had been made “because I was very angry that we suffered from the capitalists and the American imperialists” and “I wanted to free the country of those people.” As the leader of the girls in her commune, she quickly became in charge of bringing ammunitions and supplies to the troops on the frontline. “Did you feel that you served the Angkar, but the Angkar betrayed you?”, the lawyer asked her. “That is correct.”
“During that period, you lost not only your husband, but also other relatives. When you returned to your village, did people still consider you as a Khmer Rouge? And still today, do people see you as a former Khmer Rouge?” The civil party took a breath: “It is not that I cannot answer this question. But I am feeling pain now. My aunt was in such a rage when I met her again. She said it was because of me that her husband was dead. That was a great suffering for me. The accused has apologised repeatedly. But I obviously cannot accept it. I bowed before my aunt to ask her forgiveness for the death of her husband and he was a blood relative of mine. She did not accept. […] A word of apology by the accused before this Chamber is not enough! I bowed and I presented my apologies to my aunt and she rejected them. When I had a chance, I applied to join as civil party so I could speak in the name of my relatives who were victims and prove that I am not a Khmer Rouge member, that I am loyal to the Nation and I felt betrayed by that group!”
The accused did not question the fact that Mrs Chum Neou spent time at S-24 and her husband found death at S-21. However, he specified that if he did go to Prey Sar, he “never let people see [him].” He then denied he could have pointed a gun to her forehead: “I did not behave like that.”
The incomprehension remains
Mrs Chhin Navy, 70 years old, took the stand. This “April 17th,” according to Khmer Rouge lexicon, lost her husband, a former deputy president of civil aviation at Pochentong, at S-21 and said she since lived “in despair,” with the same questions haunting her. “Why my husband? Why my aunt? Why my mother-in-law? Why my sister? Why did a total of eight people in our families die, drowned in the river or taken by truck to be killed at the foot of the mountain? […] I am extremely grateful to this court that is seeking to give us justice. […] I hope human beings will never be as cruel as Pol Pot and his henchmen were.”
A tragedy impossible to forget
She was very agitated and her story was entangled, but her lawyer did not come to her rescue. After one hour, president Nil Nonn invited her to focus on the period when her husband was detained at S-21.
When she discovered her husband’s photograph at Tuol Sleng in 1980, she could no longer control her crying. Her colleagues then advised her try and forget what happened, focus on her children’s education and think about the future. “But in my mind, I kept imagining very vividly the torture and sufferings inflicted upon my husband.”
Betrayal by a sister made blind by indoctrination
If her older sister betrayed them by accusing Chhin Navy’s husband of being a CIA spy, which resulted in his arrest, it was because she was “indoctrinated” by the communist, the civil party explained, claiming she was no longer angry with that sister. “She denounced my husband and I blamed her for that. But maybe she wanted to be Pol Pot’s wife. That’s why she denounced my husband to the militia.” “Once, I asked her what communism was after all these experiences and sufferings. Now, I know what communism is: it is competition, massacres, people being transferred to Tuol Sleng, betrayal, relatives being denounced and ending up executed…”
“You reap what you sow”
Mrs Chhun Navy found peace in Buddhism and believed in the work of justice. “You get what you plant. You reap what you sow. […] I pity Duch. Maybe people will feel hurt…” She added in the same breath: “But he deserves what is happening to him. My sister also deserves what is happening to her for denouncing my husband to the militia. How could I receive reparation for the suffering I was inflicted? […] Nothing can repair the acts perpetrated under that regime and that my husband suffered,” the widower said, speaking a little chaotically and always holding a handkerchief close to her lips.
A victim who used to be close to Duch
The last civil party to be heard, Mr Touch Monin, a teacher, came to honour the memory of a close cousin, an engineer who returned from USSR and disappeared at S-21 in 1977. He strayed in his statement, recounting his own trajectory under the Khmer Rouge. François Roux intervened to request that the civil party return to the object of his testimony, the fate met by his cousin. It was then discovered that the latter was a friend of Duch, who even accompanied him to the airport when he left for Russia. The accused himself confirmed it, but did not say more on this case…
Kambol (Phnom Penh, Cambodia). 24/08/2009: Villagers going to the hearing on Day 63 in Duch’s trial at the ECCC © John Vink/ MagnumThai, Cambodian army chiefs say temple hostilities over
Earth Times
http://www.earthtimes.org/
http://www.earthtimes.org/
Tue, 25 Aug 2009
Author : DPA
Phnom Penh - Cambodian and Thai armed forces chiefs said 13 months of sometimes-fatal hostilities around the ancient Preah Vihear temple are at an end, local media reported Tuesday. At least seven soldiers from both sides were killed in occasional clashes around the temple complex since mid-2008 in a tense standoff that has had other members of the ASEAN regional bloc concerned.
At a meeting on Monday between military top brass from both sides in Phnom Penh, General Songkitti Jaggabatra, the Supreme Commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, said the dispute would no longer be allowed to damage relations between the two kingdoms.
"I would like to clarify again that there will be no more problems between Thailand and Cambodia. The border will not be the cause of any further disputes," he said in remarks carried by the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.
His opposite number, General Pol Saroeun, echoed that.
"We have the same view. Our goal is to achieve peace and solidarity with each other as siblings," Pol Saroeun said.
Their meeting came just days after Prime Minister Hun Sen announced Cambodia would cut the number of troops stationed at Preah Vihear after Thailand reduced its forces to just 30 soldiers.
The 11th-century Hindu temple, which sits on Cambodia's northern border with Thailand, was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the World Court. Last year the UN's cultural body UNESCO added Preah Vihear to its World Heritage List, a move that rankled Thai nationalists who still contest the ownership of the site.
Cambodia and Thailand have yet to delineate much of their 804-kilometre long common border.
Horror trial is TV hit in Cambodia
A man in Cambodia watches a live telecast of the trial of chief Khmer Rouge torturer Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch. [Reuters]Australia Network News
http://australianetworknews.com
Robert Carmichael, Phnom Penh
A half-hour television show has proved a surprise success in Cambodia by telling people about the trial of Comrade Duch, the former Khmer Rouge prison commander.
It has become an important way to tell the country of the crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime.
Much television fare in Cambodia is light entertainment.
But this show presented by journalists Neth Pheaktra and Ung Chan Sophea is at the other end of the spectrum.
It deals with the continuing war crimes trial of Comrade Duch - Kaing Guek Eav - the former Khmer Rouge cadre who ran the notorious S-21 prison in Phnom Penh in the middle and late 1970s.
Diary
Co-presenter Neth Pheaktra told Radio Australia's Connect Asia: "It is a summary of the week of the Duch trial.
"During the 24 minutes of the program we have the summary, the diary of the Duch trial, and also the key points that the witness, the defendant and also the judges reveal in the court."
At least 15,000 people were sent to S-21 prison, and almost all were tortured and executed. As many as two million people are thought to have died during the Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia between 1975 and 1979.
Informing Cambodians of the facts of the country's genocide is a key part of the remit of the joint UN-Cambodian Khmer Rouge tribunal, says tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath.
But that is a challenge in Cambodia, where more than 80 percent of people live in rural areas, and levels of illiteracy are high.
Reach Sambath says TV and radio broadcasts are an important way of informing people.
Another way is physically to bring them to the courtroom, which is located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.
Believing
"By the end of this week we had more than 17,000 Cambodians (visit) from across the country," says the spokesman.
"And when they come to the court, which we call 'Seeing is Believing', everybody goes home and they talk with their friends and relatives."
The weekly television show, which is independent of the tribunal's public affairs section, reaches a lot more people than that.
Reach Sambath says the show provides an excellent summary of the week's events for people who are too busy to watch the daily live feed broadcast on television.
The program is the creation of a local production company called Khmer Mekong Films, or KMF, and is funded mainly by the British Embassy.
KMF executive producer, Briton Matthew Robinson, says the broadcaster estimates the show, which runs in the prime lunchtime slot on Mondays and is repeated on Tuesdays, is seen by up to three million of Cambodia's 15 million people.
Presenter Ung Chan Sophea says informing Cambodia's youth of the terrible events under the Khmer Rouge regime is extremely important.
She regularly has young people telling her how much they enjoy the show, and how much they have learned from it.
"I am very happy because I can contribute by participating in this program and helping people to understand."
Cambodian man spends four years awaiting trial for petty theft
Asia-Pacific News
Aug 25, 2009,
Phnom Penh - A 31-year-old man has spent nearly four years in a Cambodia prison awaiting trial on charges of stealing a mobile phone worth 15 dollars, national media reported.
Roeun Moeun was arrested in October 2005 along with three other men on suspicion of committing the crime, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported on Tuesday. The other men have since been convicted or released by the provincial court in Kandal outside Phnom Penh.
His defence attorney said when the judge ruled on the original case last year, he omitted Roeun Moeun's name from the ruling. For that reason he was not released.
'It is a serious violation of the rights of the accused,' the lawyer said. 'Why couldn't he receive justice from the court?'
The case appears to have been forgotten in the country's chaotic and inefficient court system. Court officials responsible for investigating the case over the years have been transferred to other provinces, with the result that Roeun Moeun's case was ignored.
Judge Leang Sour, who issued the original ruling last year, told the newspaper that he had been unable to release Roeun Moeun since he did not appear to be facing any charges.
'I returned his case to the prosecutor for further investigation and I never heard about it again,' he said.
In recent months several cases have emerged where suspects have been held for years before facing trial. In August a suspected drug smuggler was sentenced to 38 months in prison after she had spent all but five days of that time awaiting trial.
In response the government's human rights committee is reviewing the number of detainees in pre-trial detention in the nation's 25 prisons.
Under Cambodian law, pre-trial detention is limited to four months in the case of a misdemeanour if the potential sentence carries a term of more than a year.
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