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Safety fears: Brad Pitt said he was concerned about partner Angelina and son Maddox
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Angelina Jolie has made a perilous secret trip to Cambodia with her young son Maddox – to the concern of her partner Brad Pitt.
The Hollywood actress wanted to open a community centre for children in the village where Maddox was born, but their 150-mile journey involved travelling through a remote area littered with landmines and known for its civil unrest in the days of the notorious Khmer Rouge.
Maddox – the couple’s ten-year-old adopted son – comes from Srok Samlot and Angie was determined that he should witness his roots first-hand and took him to meet the village chief.
‘Angie and Maddox are incredibly close,’ said a source. ‘She calls him her buddy and was determined to take him on the trip, but Brad questioned the trek because it was so dangerous.
‘The area they ventured through is littered with hundreds of thousands of landmines and cluster bombs. To say Brad was concerned is an understatement.’
The pair were accompanied by armed bodyguards and Brad is understood to be worried about exposing Maddox to violence. The source added: ‘Maddox is obsessed with toy guns. Brad thinks she should be letting him act like a little boy rather than encouraging his interest in violence.’
Brad, 47, and Angelina, 36, run the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation and the organisation supports a children’s centre in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh that cares for orphans.
Three of the couple’s six children are adopted, and earlier this month Angelina took their eight-year-old son Pax to his native Vietnam.
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By P. Aruna
The Star/Asia News Network
PETALING JAYA, Malaysia - Local maid agencies are compiling data to prove that more than RM20mil has already been paid to their counterparts in Cambodia.
The Malaysian National Association of Employment Agencies (Pikap) plans to submit the documents to the authorities there so that the Cambodian Government will release 2,500 maids.
It said the money had already been paid to Cambodian agencies before their government's sudden ban on its maids coming to Malaysia.
"The Cambodian authorities told us to show them solid evidence that the money has already been paid to their agencies before they would consider releasing the maids," said its secretary Lim Mei Yun after meeting 60 maid agencies yesterday.
It was reported that Malaysian employers and maid agencies had paid over RM20mil (S$8.2 million) to their counterparts in Cambodia for maids and that the fees were now "stuck" in Cambodia after the government imposed a sudden ban on sending their maids here on Oct 14.
All 36 Cambodian training centres for domestic workers bound for Malaysia have been ordered to shut down by its local authorities and the maids sent home.
Lim said they would submit the relevant documents to the Cambodian authorities by next week.
"Other maid agencies throughout the country that have already paid for Cambodian maids can also contact us," she said in a telephone interview after the meeting.
She added that Pikap was confident that the ban would only be temporary as assured by Cambodian authorities.
"We need employers to be pa-tient and hopefully the ban will be lifted soon," she said, adding that agencies were under pressure from employers to refund or offer replacements for the Cambodian maids that have yet to arrive.
Agencies can contact Pikap for more information at 012-277 2526.
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