Invasion of Angkor Wat

Cambodia's jewel has survived a lot, but popularity may be its biggest challenge, Kerry van der Jagt writes.

ANGELINA Jolie has a lot to answer for. Ta Prohm, with its ancient stonework and massive tree roots, is now sadly known as the Tomb Raider temple. And the tour groups love it. I watch on as entire groups re-enact Lara Croft running out from the temple.

One at a time they sprint, leap and hurl themselves towards their tour guide - and his video camera.

More like a stampede of clearance-sale shoppers than responsible travellers.

Angkor Wat and the surrounding Angkor temple complex in Cambodia are without doubt one of the seven man-made wonders of the world.

Stretching over 400 square kilometres, Angkor Archaeological Park contains the magnificent remains of the different capitals of the Khmer empire, from the 9th to the 15thcentury.

In December 1992, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation declared Angkor a World Heritage Site.

In 1993, 7600 intrepid travellers visited Angkor, but by 2006 the number had skyrocketed to 1.6million. By 2010, 3 million people are expected to visit Cambodia.

Dr Dougald O'Reilly, one of South-East Asia's foremost archaeologists and lecturer at the University of Sydney, founded the non-governmental organisation Heritage Watch in 2003.

The group has implemented a number of projects to help protect Cambodia's heritage by raising awareness of looting and its consequences. With full support from the Ministry of Tourism and the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap, Heritage Watch declared 2007 "heritage friendly".

Its aim is to bring together locally-based private, public and non-governmental sectors in a nationwide collaboration to promote responsible tourism, while encouraging businesses to promote the arts, culture, heritage and development projects in Cambodia.

An additional component of the Heritage Watch project, the Heritage Friendly Tourism Campaign, was launched in January.

"The idea behind the campaign is to raise awareness of the fragility of heritage and the need for travellers to be responsible when they visit archaeological ruins," O'Reilly says.

"We also hope to discourage people from purchasing antiquities and to broaden their travel experience outside of just Angkor."

O'Reilly would like to see visitors venturing further afield.

"Cambodia is an amazing and diverse country with much to offer, yet too few people leave Siem Reap where the temples of Angkor are located," he says. "Rural communities are in desperate need of tourist dollars and encouraging people to lengthen their stays and visit other places is one of the goals of the campaign."

A major component of the Heritage Friendly Tourism Campaign has been to involve the business and corporate community in promoting arts, culture and heritage in Cambodia.

More than 100 businesses have been certified as heritage friendly. Heritage friendly businesses are promoted through banners, street signs and stickers to help travellers identify and support those companies that give something back to Cambodia.

Heritage Watch offers some simple and undemanding guidelines for visitors: do not purchase ancient artefacts; respect the temples as they are religious monuments; refrain from touching bas-reliefs as the lanolin on hands imparts oil into the stone; use environmentally friendly transport such as bicycles in the park (vibrations from buses affect the monuments); conserve water in Siem Reap - the water table is dropping, which may cause the monuments to subside; purchase Cambodian-made products; dispose of rubbish appropriately; support businesses certified as heritage friendly.

Dr Tim Winter, of the University of Sydney, has worked in Cambodia for many years on the challenges that emerge around heritage and tourism. Winter acknowledges that though there has been significant damage to some of the temples, including erosion to steps, entrance ways and fragile carvings, this is only part of the problem.

Winter says there are other important things to consider when visiting the area: the local economy and major inequalities arising in Cambodia because of tourism and Siem Reap as an island of hyper-growth, surrounded by some of the poorest communities in the whole of Asia.

Associate professor Roland Fletcher of the University of Sydney, who is also the director of the Greater Angkor Project and the Living with Heritage Project, encourages visitors to prolong their stay in the area. "Basically, the key thing that tourists need to do is to stay longer than the average two-day stay," he says.

It sounds so simple, but makes good sense. By increasing your stay to four days, you will significantly contribute to the local economy. Even the pollution problem caused by washing your sheets and towels will be reduced.

Yes, parts of Angkor can feel like a circus. But if you venture further a field to the quieter temples of Preah Khan, Ta Som, Banteay Srei or Beng Mealea or spend a few extra days away from the madding crowds, you will be rewarded with the moments that every traveller craves.

Perhaps it will come while you're sitting under a centuries-old silk-cotton tree that is slowly devouring a temple, or when you talk with a saffron-robbed monk.

Or maybe when a shy local child plays peek-a-boo with you from behind a temple or during that spine-tingling moment when the sun first climbs through the sky over Angkor Wat.

TRIP NOTES

* Getting there: Regular flights are available to Siem Reap from Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Vientiane and Shanghai. There are also a number of border crossings.

* Staying there: There is no accommodation within the park. Visitors must stay in Siem Reap, about six kilometres from the main temples. Accommodation is plentiful and ranges from luxury five-star hotels to budget guesthouses.

* For more information: See http://www.heritagewatch.org and http://www.angkor.usyd.edu.au.

* Packages: Peregrine Adventures has a 14-day Saigon to Angkor cycle trip from $2420, excluding international air fares. See www.peregrineadventures.com.

Source: The Sun-Herald
"Cambodia is an amazing and diverse country with much to offer, yet too few people leave Siem Reap where the temples of Angkor are located," he says. "Rural communities are in desperate need of tourist dollars and encouraging people to lengthen their stays and visit other places is one of the goals of the campaign."

A major component of the Heritage Friendly Tourism Campaign has been to involve the business and corporate community in promoting arts, culture and heritage in Cambodia.

More than 100 businesses have been certified as heritage friendly. Heritage friendly businesses are promoted through banners, street signs and stickers to help travellers identify and support those companies that give something back to Cambodia.

Heritage Watch offers some simple and undemanding guidelines for visitors: do not purchase ancient artefacts; respect the temples as they are religious monuments; refrain from touching bas-reliefs as the lanolin on hands imparts oil into the stone; use environmentally friendly transport such as bicycles in the park (vibrations from buses affect the monuments); conserve water in Siem Reap - the water table is dropping, which may cause the monuments to subside; purchase Cambodian-made products; dispose of rubbish appropriately; support businesses certified as heritage friendly.

Dr Tim Winter, of the University of Sydney, has worked in Cambodia for many years on the challenges that emerge around heritage and tourism. Winter acknowledges that though there has been significant damage to some of the temples, including erosion to steps, entrance ways and fragile carvings, this is only part of the problem.

Winter says there are other important things to consider when visiting the area: the local economy and major inequalities arising in Cambodia because of tourism and Siem Reap as an island of hyper-growth, surrounded by some of the poorest communities in the whole of Asia.

Associate professor Roland Fletcher of the University of Sydney, who is also the director of the Greater Angkor Project and the Living with Heritage Project, encourages visitors to prolong their stay in the area. "Basically, the key thing that tourists need to do is to stay longer than the average two-day stay," he says.

It sounds so simple, but makes good sense. By increasing your stay to four days, you will significantly contribute to the local economy. Even the pollution problem caused by washing your sheets and towels will be reduced.

Yes, parts of Angkor can feel like a circus. But if you venture further a field to the quieter temples of Preah Khan, Ta Som, Banteay Srei or Beng Mealea or spend a few extra days away from the madding crowds, you will be rewarded with the moments that every traveller craves.

Perhaps it will come while you're sitting under a centuries-old silk-cotton tree that is slowly devouring a temple, or when you talk with a saffron-robbed monk.

Or maybe when a shy local child plays peek-a-boo with you from behind a temple or during that spine-tingling moment when the sun first climbs through the sky over Angkor Wat.

TRIP NOTES

* Getting there: Regular flights are available to Siem Reap from Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore, Vientiane and Shanghai. There are also a number of border crossings.

* Staying there: There is no accommodation within the park. Visitors must stay in Siem Reap, about six kilometres from the main temples. Accommodation is plentiful and ranges from luxury five-star hotels to budget guesthouses.

* For more information: See http://www.heritagewatch.org and http://www.angkor.usyd.edu.au.

* Packages: Peregrine Adventures has a 14-day Saigon to Angkor cycle trip from $2420, excluding international air fares. See www.peregrineadventures.com.

Source: The Sun-Herald

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UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Misako Konno to visit Cambodia

Japanese actress and essayist Misako Konno will pay a five-day visit to Cambodia this week in her capacity of the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador to understand better about the development issues in Cambodia.

During her visit, Konno will meet with president of the Cambodian Red Cross Madam Bunrany Hun Sen to understand more about the issues of HIV/AIDS and gender, go on to field visits in Siem Reap and Kampong Cham to see projects on biodiversity conservation, water sanitation and landmine, and then talk to women Commune Councilors, according to a UNDP press release issued on Monday.

She will also meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen to learn more about Cambodia's progress in achieving the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals, it said.

In her capacity as UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, Konno has been to Cambodia, Timor-Leste, Vietnam and Mongolia. This is her second visit to Cambodia. The first one was in 1999.

Konno is a known actress and active writer. She played one of the lead characters in a famous play "Sasame Yuki" (The Makioka Sisters). Her science essay "Sora Tobu Hotate" (The Flying Scallop) won the 1995 Japan Writer's Prize.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Thailand beats Cambodia 3-2 in ASEAN U-17 football championship

Thailand on Monday won over Cambodia 3-2 in the second match of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asia Nations) Football Federation (AFF) U17 Championship Tournament 2007.

In the first half of the match, Thailand scored two goals and Cambodia one. Thai player Rakpong Chumueang netted at minute 13 and Sarach Yooyen made it 2-0 at minute 42. Cambodian captain Keo Sok Ngon found the net at the minute 30.

During second half of match, Thai player Narakorn Kana scored his team's third goal at minute 70, Cambodian player Hou Sambo secured his team's second goal at 71.

Cambodian coach Prak Sovannara said that the Thai team is strongest in ASEAN and Cambodia is weaker than Thai in power and technique.

The match was postponed to Monday morning from Sunday afternoon due to heavy rain.

During the opening match held on Sunday afternoon, Indonesia defeated Brunei 3-0.

Except the Philippines, all ASEAN countries sent teams to the tournament.

The first ASEAN U-17 football championship was held in 2005 in Thailand, with Burma being the winner, and the second in 2006 in Vietnam, with Vietnam the winner.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Good works: Clinic in Cambodia aids thousands

On July 28, 23 medical professionals and support personnel from New Life Foursquare Church in Everett joined with 15 other medical professionals from Nevada, California and Idaho to conduct a medical clinic in the Oddar Meanchey province of northern Cambodia.

Over the course of the seven-day clinic, the team treated 10,500 patients for health problems such as common complications of malnutrition and more serious diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. The team also brought 120 suitcases of vital medication, including deworming pills, vitamins, malaria kits, antibiotics and more.

Warm Blankets Orphan Care International co-sponsored the clinic with New Life Foursquare Church and hosted the clinic at one of the organization's orphan homes and secondary schools.

Warm Blankets has established more than 100 church orphan homes in Cambodia, caring for a combined total of more than 3,000 orphans.

The team established 20 stations, including an eye clinic and lab. The emergency room staff provided urgent care and surgeries, including functional circumcisions and the separation of the fused fingers of a boy's hand.

The lab allowed accurate diagnoses of diseases and infections, while the pharmacy dispensed prescribed treatments. The dental clinic saw more than 400 people at five stations for extractions, fillings and cleanings. Nurses and additional staff treated wounds and scabies. Every child treated for scabies was giving a bottle of scabies shampoo and a new set of clothing.

Crowds began lining up for triage hours before the clinic opened at 8 am. Several Cambodians reported walking for two days to get to the clinic. Those who arrived after the close of the clinic camped out on the side of roads to wait for an opportunity to be treated.

The new Warm Blankets ambulance transported the most severe cases to local hospitals for continued care. One woman with appendicitis was taken 100 miles for medical treatment paid for by the team.

Churches team up for ServeFest 2007

Cascade Community Church and the Monroe Community Chapel have joined in a new venture, ServeFest 2007. Beginning this year, ServeFest participants will take this Sunday to serve the Monroe and Sultan communities. Anyone is welcome to participate in Serving and Celebrating Community Together.

This year, hundreds of people will carry out various jobs for Monroe schools, the city of Sultan, the city of Monroe, the Evergreen State Fairgrounds and two housing programs, Take the Next Step and Housing Hope. At 4 p.m., there will be a celebration at Lake Tye Park with food and music.

For more information, call 360-794-4600 or go to www.servefest.org . Read more!

Kyrgyzstan beat Cambodia in Nehru Cup goal feast

New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) -Kyrgyzstan scraped past lowly ranked Cambodia 4-3 in the third match of the Nehru Cup International Football Tournament here Sunday.

The sparsely filled crowd at the Ambedkar Stadium got to witness some beautiful football, as both teams did not leave an inch of ground.

But it was the higher ranked Kyrgyzstan that had the last laugh, as they got the goals thorough Samsaliev Talant (17th), Mamatov Bakytbek (24th), Djamshidov Ruslan (49th) and Herchenko Vadim (65th).

For Cambodia, Hok Sotitya (34th), Chan Rithy (40th) and Chin Chum (43rd) made up the numbers. Sotitya was also named the Man of the Match.
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Cambodia right from the start looked a different side, after their 0-6 drubbing at the hands of India in the opening match of the tournament. But at the end of the day it was so near yet so far for this Southeast Asian team.

Kyrgyzstan opened scoring as early as in the 12th minute after Talant got a clinical pass on the edge of the box and unleashed his powerful left-footer that gave Cambodian goalie Oum Veasna no chance. Five minutes later, Bakytbek doubled the lead after his well-directed header again foxed Veasna.

After digesting two goals, Cambodia came out firing on all cylinders and scored three goals in a span of 10 minutes and really looked like the winning team. Sotitya opened the scoring for Cambodia in the 34th minute from a free-kick, and his swerving shot gave no chance to the Kyrgyzstan custodian.

The Cambodian seemed to be on a goal spree and found the equaliser six minutes later after Rithy's shot broke into the net from a deflection that skimmed off a Kyrgyztsan defender from a corner kick. Two minutes from the lemon break, Cambodia went into lead after a measured header from Chum from a corner kick.

Four minutes into the second half, Kyrgyzstan equalised through a beautiful solo effort from Ruslan. After being fed by a long cross from the left flank, he made a solo run in to the box and then dribbled past a Cambodian defender and slammed the ball in the net.

After the equaliser, Kyrgyzstan looked like a relaxed lot and kept on making regular inroads in the Cambodian team but every time custodian Veasna kept on putting up spirited display to thwart all the attempts.

Kyrgyzstan kept on stepping up the pace of the attack and found the winner in the 65th minute through a beautiful header from Vadim.

Teams:

Cambodia: Oum Veasna (goalkeeper), Chan Dara, Kim Chan Bonrith, Soun Thoun, Chan Rithy, Teab Vathanak, Sam Minar, Hok Sotitya (Sam El Nasa, 77), Pok Chan Than, Chin Chum (Sun Sovannarith, 77), Tieng Tiny (Thul Southearith, 66)

Kyrgyzstan: Kahsuba Valeri (goalkeeper), Amin Viacheslav, Samsaliev Talant, Mamatov Bakytbek, Askarov Davron, Kniazev Sergei (Zakirov Rustamjan, 90),

Harchenko Vadim, Bokoev Aibek, Djamshidov Ruslan (Valiev Timur, 75),

Lutfullaev Hurshil (Mirzalive Alambazek, 64), Kornilov Roman

Referee: Srinivasan Suresh (India)
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UN Concerned At Cambodian Judge's Appointment

Press Release: United Nations

UN Concerned At Appointment Of Judge On Khmer Rouge Tribunal To National Court
The United Nations today voiced concern over the appointment to the Cambodian Court of Appeal of a judge already serving on the UN-backed tribunal trying Khmer Rouge leaders accused of mass killings and torture during the late 1970s, saying it could affect both the efficiency and perceived independence of the body.

Extraordinary Chamber in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Co-Investigating Judge You Bun Leng was appointed President of the Cambodian Court of Appeal by royal decree on 9 August. The UN is seeking further clarification from the Cambodian authorities.

Under an agreement signed by the UN and Cambodia, the trial court and a Supreme Court within the Cambodian legal system will investigate those most responsible for crimes and serious violations of Cambodian and international law under Khmer Rouge rule between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979, when hundreds of thousands people were killed.

"The United Nations is concerned about the effect of the Decree's implementation on the efficiency of the proceedings currently before the court," the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT) said in a press statement.

"The United Nations is also concerned about the impact of the Royal Decree on the perceived independence of the ECCC," it added.

In a statement released by UNAKRT You Bun Leng said that as long as the ECCC considered his presence essential it was his duty to continue, ensuring there was no interruption or delay in the process, until such time as an appropriate and smooth transition can be made.

"I have already begun consultation with my staff and my international counterpart to reach a mutually acceptable and constructive solution that does not disrupt our work," he said, noting that while the ECCC Law stipulated that the Co-Investigating Judges shall be appointed for the duration of the investigation, it also provided for the appointment of reserve Co-Investigating Judges.

The EC weeks ago, accusing Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, of crimes against humanity over his role as chief at the S21 prison in the capital, Phnom Penh.


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South Korean company finances Cambodia to build taekwondo training center

A South Korean company has donated 300,000 US dollars for Cambodia to build a taekwondo training center, local media reported on Friday.

The center will become a bridge of friendship and cooperation between Cambodia and South Korea, Cambodian-language newspaper the Kampuchea Thmey quoted Lee Joong Keun, president of Boo Young Company, as saying.

Bun Sok, Secretary of State Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, said that both sides signed the memorandum of understanding on Aug. 15 and the center will be built inside the Olympics Stadium in Phnom Penh.

"My ministry considers this sport field influential for Cambodia, because our taekwondo players used to receive golden medals on the international stage," he said.

Earlier in April, the South Korean company had donated 100,000 US dollars to help train Cambodian taekwondo players and purchase equipments for them.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

ONGC Cup: India crush Cambodia

Its the best possible start Indian Football Coach Bob Houghton could have asked from his team on Friday night as they blanked Cambodia 6-0 in the opening game of the 2007 ONGC Nehru Cup at New Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium.

The Indians opened the scoring through N P Pradeep in the 16th minute before Captain Baichung Bhutia scored from the spot just before half-time.

But it was the second half explosion that would have pleased Houghton.

Two goals apiece from JCT's Sunil Chhetri and Mahindra United's Steven Dias set the team up perfectly for their next clash on Monday against neighbour Bangladesh.

The rival team is being coached by Former Indian Captain Syed Nayeemuddin, who ironically was Houghton's predecessor as India's Coach.
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Vietnam's telecommunications company expands business in Cambodia

Viettel, Vietnam's military-owned mobile phone service provider, will invest in banking and energy companies in neighboring Cambodia, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Thursday.
Viettel will invest 1.2 million U.S. dollars, equivalent to an eight-percent stake, in the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Stock Bank, whose primary aim is to provide financial services to Vietnamese companies operating in Cambodia, the paper said, adding that the investment negotiations have been completed.

Viettel will also pour 7.5 million dollars, or five percent of charter capital, into the EVN-Cambodia Joint Stock Company, which will construct hydroelectric plants on the Mekong River in Cambodia, it said.

Last year, Viettel set up Viettel Cambodia, a wholly owned subsidiary and the company's first foreign venture.

Meanwhile, Viettle is negotiating with Laos Asia to establish a joint stock company to provide telecommunications services in Laos.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Vietnam's telecommunications company expands business in Cambodia

Viettel, Vietnam's military-owned mobile phone service provider, will invest in banking and energy companies in neighboring Cambodia, local newspaper Vietnam News reported Thursday.
Viettel will invest 1.2 million U.S. dollars, equivalent to an eight-percent stake, in the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Stock Bank, whose primary aim is to provide financial services to Vietnamese companies operating in Cambodia, the paper said, adding that the investment negotiations have been completed.

Viettel will also pour 7.5 million dollars, or five percent of charter capital, into the EVN-Cambodia Joint Stock Company, which will construct hydroelectric plants on the Mekong River in Cambodia, it said.

Last year, Viettel set up Viettel Cambodia, a wholly owned subsidiary and the company's first foreign venture.

Meanwhile, Viettle is negotiating with Laos Asia to establish a joint stock company to provide telecommunications services in Laos.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Nehru Cup: Cambodia Football Coach Wary Of Bhaichung

Cambodia's national football coach Scot O'Donell is aware of Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia's class and has some plans to stop the striker from scoring goals in the inaugural encounter of the Nehru Cup international football tournament here Friday.

'I have seen Bhaichung play before also and he is a prolific goal scorer. But I have some plan against him and few others,' said O'Donell, an Australian, at a press conference here Thursday.

The 40-year-old coach is on his second visit to India and players like Bhutia, Deepak Mondal and Mahesh Gawli, who are in the national side, are not unknown to him.

The last time he visited India was in 2005 as the coach of Singapore club Geylang United, who were held 1-1 by East Bengal in an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup match in Kolkata. In the away match, East Bengal emerged victorious 3-2.

'I have seen all these players when they played for East Bengal and they did very well to come back from behind and draw the match 1-1,' recalled O'Donell.

The Australian said that Cambodia have come with their best team and playing an international tournament like the Nehru Cup will always be beneficial for them.

'We need to play more international tournaments like the Nehru Cup, which gives us good exposure. We are not here to make up the numbers and we will be competitive every time we go out to play,' he said.
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Cambodia bans pig, pork imports amid disease outbreaks in China, Vietnam

PHNOM PENH (Thomson Financial) - Cambodia Thursday banned the import of live pigs and pork products, citing fears that outbreaks of pork-borne diseases in other countries could devastate farms here.

The move came as China battles a recent outbreak of blue ear disease that led to a mass cull of pigs.

In neighboring Vietnam, 26 people have been admitted to a Hanoi hospital with a bacterial infection from diseased pigs, leading to two confirmed human deaths.

Twenty others were treated this year in southern Vietnam for the same illness.

Thursday's ban is also aimed at cutting down on pork products smuggled into the country, mostly from Vietnam.

Read more!

Cambodia begins destroying largest stockpile of drug-making chemicals

KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia (AP) - Officials began destroying Cambodia's largest seizure of drug-making chemicals Thursday, while acknowledging that the country has moved from being a transit point to a producer of illegal drugs.

Interior Minister Sar Kheng, wearing a head-to-toe protective suit, led Cambodian and U.N. drug officials in launching the destruction of almost 5 tons of chemicals, including nearly 3 tons of highly hazardous thionyl chloride used to produce amphetamine.

Authorities seized the substances during a raid in April on a laboratory on an isolated farm 100 kilometers (62 miles) west of Phnom Penh. It was Cambodia's first discovery of a laboratory producing synthesized drugs, Sar Kheng said.

"The laboratory is among the largest in Asia and instantly placed Cambodia on the map of drug producing countries,'' said Lars Pedersen, the representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Cambodia.

The destruction process began with diluting the thionyl chloride.

It takes up to two weeks for the chemical to be completely diluted, officials said.

Thionyl chloride is harmful to humans, animals and the environment, and may explode if it comes into contact with water or heat, Sar Kheng said.

He called on government agencies to tighten regulations on imports of chemicals that could be used to produce illegal drugs.

Pedersen said Cambodia received US$60,000 (euro44,525) each from Australia and the United States to help destroy the chemicals, and will need greater assistance from the international community to deal with drug problems.

Eighteen people, including three Chinese citizens and a Thai man, were arrested after the April raid and charged with producing and trafficking drugs and conspiracy to produce drugs.

The crimes are punishable by 20 years to life in prison.

Read more!

Angkor Study a Wake-Up Call for Cambodia

By Ker Munthit

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - A new study of the demise of the ancient city of Angkor is a wake-up call for Cambodia to be more vigilant in its efforts to conserve the site, an official said Wednesday.

The study in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that Angkor was far larger than previously thought, incorporating an elaborate water management network of nearly 400 square miles and rice paddies to feed more than 1 million people.

Researchers discovered, however, that the complex was too vast to manage and could have contributed to the civilization's decline. The extending rice fields resulted in serious ecological problems, including deforestation, topsoil degradation and erosion.

Soeung Kong, deputy director-general of the government agency managing the site, said that what happened to ancient Angkor "appears to be repeating itself now" due to over-exploitation from tourism, highlighting the current challenges in managing and conserving the temples.

"The findings are eye-opening for us. They awake us to a greater need for safeguarding (the ancient city)," he said.

The study, led by Damian Evans of Australia's University of Sydney, revealed that Angkor was "the world's most extensive preindustrial low-density complex" during its zenith between the 9th and 14th centuries - far larger than previously thought.

Using airborne imaging radar data acquired in 2000 by NASA, the researchers produced a "comprehensive and up-do-date" digital map of the area, which has been long obscured by jungle. They detailed tens of thousands of individual features of the site across nearly 1,200 square miles, Evans said in a statement on his university Web site.

"It shows conclusively that Angkor was a vast and populous network of agricultural and settlement space covering much of the Siem Reap area, and stretching far beyond the well-known temples of the central archaeological park," he said.

But the complex's size led to ecological problems that could have doomed the civilization, the researchers found. That conclusion supports a theory in the early 1950s by Bernard-Philippe Groslier, a prominent French archaeologist, that the collapse of Angkor stemmed from over-exploitation of the environment.

Soeung Kong said similar problems exist today.

Impoverished Cambodia has relied heavily on the Angkor temples to earn much-needed tourism revenue. But in recent years, conservationists have expressed concerns about stress to the monuments, including the famed Angkor Wat, from the ever-increasing number of visitors.

They also fear that the unrestricted pumping of underground water to meet the rapidly rising demand of hotels, guesthouses and residents in the provincial town may be undermining Angkor's foundations, destabilizing the earth beneath the temples so much that they might sink and collapse.

Evans said the mapping of the area found delicate traces of great archaeological significance, such as ponds, occupation mounds, field patterns and signs of local shrines, still remaining on the ground surface today. But he warned that they "are under serious threat from uncontrolled development in the Siem Reap area."

He said his group has recently given the digital mapping database to Cambodia's government to use in taking appropriate and effective measures to safeguard the archaeological landscape.

Read more!

Cambodia Puts Khmer Rouge Reign of Terror on Trial

By Rory Byrne
Phnom Penh
15 August 2007

Thirty years after the brutal Khmer Rouge governed Cambodia, efforts to punish those considered most responsible for the deaths of nearly two million people have entered a new phase. A former leader of the ultra-Maoist group has just been charged with crimes against humanity while cases against four others are pending. But as Rory Byrne reports from Phnom Penh, doubts remain whether the Khmer Rouge tribunals will deliver justice.

A monument outside Phnom Penh shows some of the enormous scale of the killing in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Almost two million people, a quarter of the populations, died under the Khmer Rouge from overwork, starvation and execution.

The ultra-Maoist group wanted to create a rural socialist utopia. It executed political opponents, the educated and ethnic minorities. Many died brutal deaths.

Kaing Khek Iev, commonly known as "Duch," was the commander of S-21 prison in Phnom Penh where thousands were tortured and killed.

He is the first member of the Khmer Rouge to be indicted in connection to the regime's reign of terror.

Almost 30 years after the Khmer Rouge were ousted from power, a joint international and Cambodian court is preparing to try those accused of being most responsible for the deaths.

Five former leaders are scheduled to be tried at a new court outside Phnom Penh, although more may follow later.

Civic groups warn that because Cambodia's judiciary is weak, the tribunal may be subject to political interference.

Attorney Theary Seng, whose parents were killed by the Khmer Rouge, is the director of Cambodia's Center for Social Development. "The concern, first and foremost, is political interference because some of the current leadership of the current government were members of the Khmer Rouge over a certain rank. There may be information that they do not want to surface within the trial so there are concerns that there could be political interference and we have been given indications that there are."

Helen Jarvis is the spokeswoman for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. She says that, despite their limitations, the trials are an important part of coming to terms with the past. "Certainly, it can't meet everybody's expectations, it can't tell the whole story, it can't do everything that Cambodia needs but it's a very important piece of what is required."

Civic groups see the tribunal as part of a wider process aimed at helping the country come to terms with its traumatic past.

Lawyer Theary Seng says, "The core benefits of a trial are becoming the ancillary benefits and the side benefits of outreach, engaging the Cambodian people, of disseminating information, of talking about history, of human rights abuses, of rule of law -- those issues are now becoming the core values of having this tribunal."

This annual re-creation of Khmer Rouge atrocities aims to help Cambodians remember the past and to heal the wounds of that era. Rights activists hope the Khmer Rouge tribunal will play another part of that healing process. Read more!

Ex-Cambodia cop fails to get officers cited for contempt

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court dismissed a contempt of court application by a former Cambodian police chief against a senior Immigration officer and a deputy public prosecutor.

Judge Tan Sri Richard Malanjum said the applicant, Heng Peo, failed to discharge the standard of proof required in bringing the action against Immigration enforcement chief Datuk Ishak Mohamed and deputy public prosecutor Hanafiah Zakaria.

"The standard of proof in a contempt proceeding is beyond reasonable doubt and the applicant failed to discharge that burden."

He said it was also an undisputed fact that the two did not breach any order of the Federal Court or Court of Appeal.

He said the complaint against Hanafiah was that he received a "thank you" telephone call from an Immigration officer as Heng Peo was taken to the Subang Airport.

"We have considered the grievances and are not satisfied that it amounted to contempt of court," Malanjum said.

He said Ishak had not only acted speedily but in accordance with the Immigration Act because the Court of Appeal did not make a prohibition order against his department.

"His (Ishak’s) act did not amount to contempt of court," Malanjum said in the unanimous decision. Sitting with Malanjum were Datuk Hashim Yusoff and Datuk Azmel Maamor.

At the outset of yesterday’s proceeding, Heng Peo’s counsel A. Sivananthan withdrew the action against Immigration director-general Datuk Wahid Mohd Don because he was overseas when the deportation took place. Wahid was earlier named in the application.

On Dec 21 last year, the Court of Appeal set aside the order of the High Court that Heng Peo be sent to Singapore, his last point of disembarkation.

Following the order, Heng Peo was immediately taken to the Subang Airport and sent back to Cambodia, despite his lawyers’ attempt to stay the deportation pending their appeal to the Federal Court.

Hanafiah appeared for the department at the Court of Appeal.

While Sivananthan and Abdul Shukor Ahmad filed their appeal documents with a certificate of urgency at the Federal Court registry, they were informed that Heng Peo had left Malaysia by a private plane at 12.35pm, an hour after the Court of Appeal delivered its decision.

On Feb 2 this year, Heng Peo, 52, obtained leave from the Federal Court to initiate committal proceedings against Ishak and Hanafiah.

In his submission yesterday, Sivananthan said the two had committed contempt because they had deprived Heng Peo of the opportunity to ventilate his appeal to the Federal Court.

He said a call at 11.45am by Immigration officer, Kasturi, to Hanafiah was questionable.

"Why say ‘thank you’ to him? It must be that she was informing Hanafiah that Heng Peo was being taken to the airport," he said, adding that an inference should be drawn that the DPP had knowledge of the deportation.

He said Ishak did not check with Hanafiah on the consequence of the Court of Appeal decision and instead acted on his own to hand over his client to Cambodian authorities.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, who represented the two officers, said there was a misunderstanding as to what transpired that day.

"It was a comedy of errors and the two had no intention of interfering in the administration of justice," he said.

Gani said the "thank you" call was normal and that he, too, had received such calls from accused persons in the past.

He said Sivananthan did not indicate to the prosecution that he was appealing to the Federal Copurt.

"He delayed in filing his appeal soon after the Court of Appeal decision as he was busy entertaining reporters."

Gani added that the department was right to deport Heng Peo because the Cambodian authorities had revoked his passport and Singapore had refused to accept him.

"Ishak was right to rely on a provision in the Immigration Act to deport him to Cambodia since he no longer had a passport," he said.

Read more!

World Bank Grants $70M in Cambodia Aid

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The World Bank said Tuesday it will give US$70 million (euro51.3 million) to Cambodia to help reduce its widespread poverty in a package that includes a plan to import cheap electricity from the country's neighbors.

Some US$18.5 million (euro13.5 million) will be used to build cross-border transmission lines to Laos and Vietnam to import electricity to Cambodia, the bank said in a statement Tuesday. The project is expected to be completed by August 2011, it said.

The new power lines will connect Kampong Cham province in the east with Vietnam, and Stung Treng province in the northeast with Laos, the bank said in June. The two provinces now have some of highest electricity rates in the world.

Customers in the provinces pay up to US$.30 (euro.22) per kilowatt-hour of electricity. The tariffs are expected to drop to between US$.10 (euro.07) to US$.15 (euro.11) per kilowatt-hour once the transmission lines are operational, the bank said.

The remaining money in the aid package will be used for projects supporting development of the private sector, public financial management, good governance, natural resource management and decentralization of local government, the statement said.

The funds will help "build stronger institutions of governance that will lead to higher growth and faster poverty reduction," Ian Porter, the bank's country director for Cambodia, said in the statement.

Cambodia has achieved double-digit economic growth during the last three years but still remains one of the world's poorest nations.

Donors in June pledged US$689 million (euro501 million) in aid for Cambodia after rapping the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen for failure to combat corruption. The World Bank statement did not say whether the new aid is part of the earlier pledge.

Fraud and corruption in the procurement process led the World Bank in June 2006 to freeze US$7.6 million (euro5.6 million) in funding for several projects in Cambodia. Hun Sen angrily said there was no proof of wrongdoing.

Early this year, the bank lifted the suspensions after it agreed with the government on new frameworks for improving implementation of the projects. Read more!

CAMBODIA: Khmer Krom seek return of defrocked monk

The Khmer Krom Federation is applying international pressure to demand the return to Cambodia of defrocked monk, Tim Sakhorn. The Khmer Krom are a minority group in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam and Cambodia. The former abbott of the Phnom Den pagoda in Cambodia went missing for a month after being defrocked in June for allegedly stirring unrest in Vietnam. He's now facing a charge in Vietnam for entering the country illegally.

Presenter - Sonja Heydeman Speaker - Giap Tran, Treasurer of the Khmer Krom Federation in the US); Director of the Hawaian Institute for Human Rights, Joshua Cooper.

HEYDEMAN: The Director of the Hawaian Institute for Human Rights is concerned for the welfare of Tim Sakhorn.

Joshua Cooper says the Khmer Krom Federation, as well as its alliances of NGO's and activists have been working full-time since the first whisper of the former abbott's disappearance.

COOPER: From the issue of the disrobing which we find was not accurate in any way, to the issue of the deportation, which was also alarming, and then of course to the disappearance. We know that there's actually new international instrument on disappearances, we've actually utilised every international mechanism available from the special rapporteurs focussing on religious freedom to the special rapporteurs on indigenous people. So we've been active so that hopefully it wouldn't come to that level of a story about a sad situation, but more importantly about people standing up for their rights from the beginning.

HEYDEMAN: Joshua Cooper says he believes Tim Sakhorn will be successfully freed.

COOPER: And we believe that through our efforts of organising with our NGO networks as well as academics, and more importantly through the international institutions guaranteed to protect and promote human rights, they will be successful to secure his release.

HEYDEMAN: The Human Rights Institute Director says sources in Vietnam are trying to keep track of the location and condition of Tim Sakhorn.

Mr Cooper says this is not the only case they're watching.

COOPER: The case of the five who had been disrobed and then also faced charges and so I think this is important is that if we hadn't done the groundwork in the last five years these kind of things that are taking place to Khmer people I mean almost for centuries, and definitely in the last decades from the 70s onwards, but no one knew about the Khmer people and their struggle for self-determination. And what we have then is we've taken this case to the International Court of Justice, to the international human rights bodies such as SEDA focussing on women's rights. And so I think that work has made it then more of a story and more people are aware, whereas unfortunately these human rights violations have taken place consistently for a long period of time. The only difference now is the world is watching.

HEYDEMAN: The Director of the Hawaian Institute for Human Rights, Joshua Cooper.

The Treasurer of the Khmer Krom Federation in the US, Giap Tran, says Khmer Krom communities around the world are actively seeking the release of Tim Sakhorn.

Mr Tran says the Vietnamese government has systematically tried to erase the Khmer Krom entirely.

He says part of the dilemma is the lack of global awareness of their plight.

TRAN: Around the world it seems since the French colonised there they ceded the land to Vietnam, since then all the history has been erased and millions of Khmer Krom that be a part of that land that has been buried under Vietnamese regime.

HEYDEMAN: Mr Tran says he feels such a great sense of sadness for his people.

TRAN: Right now what I can feel for them is like a stateless people. When we lived in Vietnam, Vietnamese government never gave any respect as a people, as Vietnamese citizens. They tried to do all kinds of oppression to make Khmer people leave the country. When we left the country to Cambodia, Cambodian government announced that they recognised Khmer Krom as a citizen when we get to Cambodia. But in reality there's no protection, there's no legal mechanism to help us when we're in Cambodia. So when you look into both countries, not willing to recognise us as people, so it's got to be very, very emotional.

HEYDEMAN: Meanwhile, the Hawaian of Institute for Human Rights Director, Joshua Cooper says there needs to be mechanisms in place in the region to promote and protect human rights.

COOPER: The European Court of Human Rights exists, Africa's creating a court and inter-America has a court and a commission. We believe we don't want there to be more Tim Sakhorns and we believe the only way to do that is to build institutions on a regional level that will then take the cultures as well as the global customs and norms into account. So we believe a human rights instrument at the regional level in Asia would be one of those aspects. So we're not just focussing on Tim now, but also for the future for all people who stand up for their human rights. Read more!

Sprawling Angkor engineered its own end

A NEW archaeological map confirms that Angkor in Cambodia was the biggest pre-industrial city ever founded and provides tantalising clues about its mysterious demise 500 years ago.

Sprawling about 1000sqkm out from its central religious heart with its legendary temples and reservoirs, known as Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, the vast city was roughly the size of Singapore, or greater Sydney from the coast to Parramatta.

Angkor itself was the capital of a sparsely settled agricultural empire that stretched from Thailand in the north, across the flood plains, and southwards towards the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

"Like the modern world there was a vast expansion of the urban environment out into the rural world," said Sydney University archeologist Roland Fletcher, founder and co-director of the Australian, French and Cambodian Greater Angkor Project.

A goal of the project was to nail down the geographical extent of the city. According to GAP deputy director Damian Evans, a Sydney University doctoral student, the new map does just that.

"This is the culmination of about 15 years of mapping work," said Mr Evans, who led the effort to integrate the data into the map, revealed overnight in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Sources included hand-drawn maps, ground surveys and airborne photography provided by GAP members and ground-sensing radar images provided by the US space agency NASA.

Not only does the map reveal the extent of Angkor -- a Khmer kingdom from the 9th to the 15th centuries -- it pinpoints over 1000 new water storage ponds and more than 74 long-lost temples. In its heyday, as many as 500,000 people may have lived in the sprawling low-density city. The map will allow scientists to tighten population estimates.

According to Mr Evans, the map also provides hard evidence backing the controversial hydraulic hypothesis.

This states that Angkor was linked by a vast network of irrigation channels, storage ponds and reservoirs. As the city grew, land was cleared, causing soil to clog the channels. Eventually, it became too expensive and complicated to keep the system free-flowing and it collapsed, taking Angkor with it.

The city, in essence, engineered its own demise by disrupting the environment.

"We can certainly see there were problems in the hydraulic networks," said Mr Evans.

"There's evidence of water courses punching through dykes and inadequate attention (to maintenance)."

Said Professor Fletcher: "It's a cautionary tale for the modern world."

Read more!

30 years later - still rebuilding Cambodia

Nun on a mission to restore education

GALESBURG -Sister Luise Ahrens is on a mission.
Or more accurately, many missions. Sr. Luise is on a two-month tour of the United States to visit with friends and family and raise money for Maryknoll, a Catholic mission group focused on ministry and missionary work overseas.

She was in Galesburg Sunday to visit her best friends from college, Pat Conklin, Galesburg, and Judy Scheider, St. Paul, Minn. Her sabbatical is part fun but also part work on her main mission.
Ahrens was invited to Cambodia in 1991 to help re-establish the Royal University of Phnom Penh and has been working toward that goal for 16 years.

"It has been like starting all over - the year zero started in 1979 for Cambodians" said Ahrens. "The country is filled with damaged people, people who don't trust each other and have no belief in what the future can bring."

During the Pol Pot regime, millions of Cambodians were killed by the Khmer Rouge. People with educations and religious beliefs as well as civil servants were many of those murdered. Only 15 percent of educated Cambodians survived the genocide.

The Royal University was hit particularly hard during the reign of terror. Only two educators and 36 students were still alive and able to return to re-establish the University in Phnom Penh.
"If someone spoke French, had soft hands, or wore glasses, they were killed," said Sr. Luise. The majority of Cambodians died in work camps.

"Those that survived were extremely traumatized," Ahrens said. "One student was buried alive while trying to escape capture. Many survivors lost entire families."

The task of re-opening the University was difficult on many levels. "There was no electricity, no water, no books," she said. "The Khmer Rouge kept pigs in the auditorium to degrade and discourage the people." The auditorium was also a holding place before people were sent to the camps.

"One of the first things we did was teach English to the faculty," Ahrens explained. "The program grew from there."

Ahrens said many of those people educated in the 1970s came back but were poorly educated. "There was no leadership in the country," she said. "People could buy an education if they had money and many educators were very bad."

"The biggest challenge we faced was ignorance," Ahrens said. "People could not imagine what their lives could be."

It will take time and several generations to move past that way of life and mentality said Ahrens.

"Things are growing, but growing corruptly," she said. "Children learn corruption at a young age and that stays with them. It is all they have known."

Ahrens said the country has 53 universities but only eight of them are public. She said anyone with money can open a university in just a few days but most are worthless.

Positive changes are slowly happening however. Ahrens has worked closely with leaders from World Bank who recently gave Royal University $1 million to double the size of the library.

About 50 students a year from around Cambodia are given scholarships for master's programs in universities all over the world. "Nearly everyone of those kids that entered the master's programs has done well," she said. Those students sent to get a good education are the people needed to change the country.

"It has to be the Cambodians wanting change and Cambodians promoting change," she said.

Ahrens, who has a Ph.D. in English literature, no longer teaches at the University, but as an assistant vice-rector serves as a liaison between government, faculty and students.

She entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation in 1960. She went on to earn her master of arts in English then earned her Ph.D. in English literature in 1969.

In 1984 Ahrens was elected president of the Congregation of the Maryknoll Sisters and served for six years.

The 69-year-old Ahrens said she gets around the Phnom Penh on a motorcycle and the only thing that scares her about living in the city is the traffic.

"Life is cheap there," she said. "But I'm not worried about my safety. I have salty spit."

Ahrens said her work is rewarding.

"I would do it if I didn't like it," she said. "It is the sense that I can make a difference, even small one. The words of the Gospel are so important - planting seeds and watching them grow."
Read more!

Cambodian Appeals Court president removed in bribery scandal

Phnom Penh - The president of the Cambodian Appeals Court has been removed from her position after an Interior Ministry investigation found her guilty of accepting bribes, local media reported Monday.

Khmer-language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea and English-language Cambodia Daily quoted Justice Minister Ang Vong Wattana as saying Ly Vuoch Leng had been removed from her position at the head of the court after a request by Prime Minister Hun Sen and himself was granted by King Norodom Sihamoni.

The newspapers quoted Wattana as saying her removal was in relation to the release of two men convicted by a lower court of human trafficking offenses after a raid on a Phnom Penh hotel, the Chai Hour 2, in late 2004.

The men were sentenced to five and four years in jail respectively in February 2006, but the sentences were overturned by the Appeals Court. They were re-arrested in February 2007 for the same offense, prompting an investigation into their prior release.

Leng was subsequently found to have asked for 30,000 dollars in bribes in exchange for their release after an Interior Ministry investigation, according to newspaper reports.

Ang Vong Wattana was unavailable for comment Monday.

Donors have consistently called for judicial reform and controls on endemic corruption in Cambodia, which Paris-based watchdog Transparency International rated as one of the world's more corrupt nations in a recent survey.

The removal of Leng, listed by Who's Who as a member of the royalist Funcinpec party, may reignite controversy over a number of other cases which have passed through the Appeals Court in recent years, according to lawyers.

The family of New Zealand national Graham Cleghorn, whose appeal against a 20-year sentence for rape was upheld by the Appeals Court at its ninth attempt to be heard last month despite his witnesses again failing to be called, said Monday they were reassessing their legal options in light of Leng's removal.

In 2006, an appeal against a 10-year sentence for child sex was upheld against Australian Clinton Rex Betterridge in absentia by the court, despite all complainants recanting at the hearing and claiming they had been offered incentives to make their allegations.

The Australian government released Betterridge from a Queensland jail the same day, saying it had reasonable doubt he could receive justice if extradited to Cambodia.

Read more!

Better practices for foreign aid

professor Stuart Carr and Ishabel Mcwha

Ishbel McWha was so impressed with the work of organisational psychologist Professor Stuart Carr that she returned from the front line of aid work in Cambodia to work for him and the Poverty Research Group in the University’s School of Psychology.

Professor Carr is now six months into an international project that is expected to lead to better practices in the complex world of foreign aid and the thousands who work in this field – from the poorest of local people to highly paid ex-pats. The project is called ADD-UP (Are Development Discrepancies Undermining Performance).

He has played a leading role in bringing together a team of psychologists and sociologists from 10 countries to examine the human dynamics of aid salary discrepancies and the significance of these big differences in income levels, to the outcome of projects in poor countries.

Professor Carr’s commitment to applying organisational psychology to the world of aid workers was triggered 15 years ago when he was working in Malawi and watching aid projects unravel, as the side effect of unfortunate human dynamics. Many years on, he says in a world “awash” with aid workers, there is growing acknowledgement that there have to be better practices. For this reason, he says, the research initiative has been widely applauded. A cornerstone of a best practice is that pay should be aligned and harmonised across worker groups.

Professor Carr has been establishing working relationships with groups in Malawi, Uganda, India, China, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

Ishbel McWha, fresh off the plane from Cambodia, joined him at his Auckland-based office in July as project manager and research officer.

A postgraduate student at the University’s Palmerston North campus, she had developed a strong interest in the social marketing of poverty. In 2003 she headed for Rajasthan, in India, where she worked as the programme officer at a local NGO helping to raise the profile and expand the activity of the organisation.

Later she moved on to a local NGO in Cambodia to help build capacity. She learnt the language, travelled to remote places and embraced a rewarding but challenging time working towards local empowerment.

She blames a rogue mosquito under her desk for the subsequent onset of a very serious case of dengue fever that forced her to evacuate first to Bangkok and then home, to recover.

Determined to continue, she returned to her project in Cambodia. The chance to return to Massey and join the aid project enabled her to apply her education in a way she says she had never imagined.

Now she and Professor Carr have their international networks in place and they are developing the methodology and framework for this groundbreaking project.

Read more!

Cambodia needs over 50 tons of microbial insecticide to fight dengue

Cambodia now needs more than 50 tons of microbial insecticide to fight the dengue fever around the country, local media reported Sunday.

The Cambodian Ministry of Health needs to distribute 50 to 60 tons of microbial insecticide to local residents to control the spread of dengue fever, Chinese-language newspaper the Cambodia Sin Chew Daily quoted ministry officials as saying.

Some 50 tons of microbial insecticide had already been distributed to people in the 19 provinces having dengue outbreak, it added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is sending 25 tons microbial insecticide to the country, the newspaper said.

As of Aug. 2, there were about 29,000 cases of dengue in Cambodia and 316 deaths, according to statistics from the health ministry.

The microbial insecticide is used to kill wigglers in the water to prevent the spread of dengue fever, which is passed throughout a community in a cycle from mosquito to human and back again.

In 2006, 158 people died from the mosquito-borne virus, according to official statistics.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Volunteer Vietnamese doctors treat the poor in Cambodia

Communist Vietnam is trying to buy heart and soul of Cambodians by sending doctors to treat poor Cambodians in all provinces. Thanks Vietcong brother, but make sure you really do humanitarian jobs and don't give poisonous drugs to Cambodians. We knew it is not a free gift from Vietcong, exchange for more land or Phnom Penh?

PHNOM PENH — Poor in Cambodia’s Kampong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang provinces, received free medical check-ups and treatment from volunteer Vietnamese doctors during a two-day visit that ended last Wednesday.

The charity medical drive was made by the HCM City Association for Support of Poor Patients in co-ordination with the Viet Nam Red Cross and the Command of Military Zone No. 7.

A voluntary team of 28 doctors, nurses and technicians from Military Hospital 7A and Nguyen Trai and Tu Du hospitals in HCM City performed free eye surgeries on 692 patients and gave obstetric and gynaecological examinations to 611 women in the three provinces.

All the patients also received medicine and health care gifts worth a total of VND1.35 billion from the Viet Nam Red Cross.

The work was part of the first phase of a charitable medical examination and treatment programme in Cambodian provinces reached by Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni during President Triet’s official visit to Cambodia in February.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister, Kong Som Ol, said he appreciated the health drive and thanked President Nguyen Minh Triet and the Vietnamese people for their work.

Kong Som Ol, who is also Minister of the Royal Palace of Cambodia, said the aid reflected Viet Nam’s whole-hearted sentiment to Cambodia, affirming the two countries’ traditional solidarity and friendship.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he hoped that impoverished people in all Cambodian provinces would continue receiving medical assistance from Vietnamese physicians under plans to expand the charity programme.

Le Thanh Hai, Permanent Vice Chairman of the HCM City Association for Support of Poor Patients, affirmed that the programme on free eye operations for the poor will be carried out in all Cambodian provinces.

From 2008, he said, the HCM City Association for Support of Poor Patients would conduct free annual reconstructive surgery for Cambodian children with harelips and cleft palates and present 100 wheelchairs to disabled Cambodians.

He said that since 2003, his association had given free eye operations to 7,500 poor patients in 13 Cambodian provinces. — VNS Read more!

THIRD ANNUAL CYCLING TRIP THROUGH CAMBODIA RAISES MONEY FOR EDUCATION

PEPY, an adventure cycle tour and humanitarian aid organization, announces its third annual bike ride through Cambodia this winter. For three weeks beginning December 23rd 2007, a team of volunteers will cycle through the rural Cambodian countryside, volunteering at schools, teaching English and environmental lessons, and meeting with NGOs to better understand local development projects.

Prior to coming to Cambodia, participants will each fundraise $2,000 which will go towards PEPY’s educational programs in the area. PEPY has several innovative programs which aim to increase education in developing areas. To date, PEPY has funded the construction of two rural schools. They also run an English and Computer program, and a bike-lending program that offers bikes to graduating 6th graders so that they can reach rural secondary schools, often 5-10 kilometers away from their homes. In the past year, PEPY has started a library program aimed at increasing literacy among students, teachers, and community members. These programs are allowing a greater number of children to not only bike to school, but have access to a greater wealth of knowledge.

The PEPY Ride was formed in December 2005, beginning a tradition of bringing cyclists from around the world to Cambodia to visit schools and orphanages and spread the PEPY message, "Protect the Earth. Protect Yourself." Since this first ride, PEPY has led 15 volunteer and cycling tours. While biking across Cambodia, volunteers stop along the way to deliver school supplies, visit orphanages and teach classes on environmental awareness. To date, the PEPY Ride has raised nearly $200,000 for organizations supporting educational projects.

PEPY offers unique trips every year ranging from high intensity multi-week bike trips to week-long volunteer projects that focus on a specific development area. Each volunteer tour is designed to give participants an introduction to development work in Cambodia, with hands on experience, volunteering with the organizations their fundraising efforts support.

The PEPY Ride’s co-founder, Daniela Papi says, “Many people donate in support of development projects they will never visit, but with PEPY, you can go where your money goes. By joining one of our trips, you see firsthand the difference you are making.”

The PEPY Ride III will attempt to spread awareness on the state of Cambodia’s education and environmental condition, while each participant experiences an authentic cultural submersion through hands-on volunteering.

For more information, to make a donation, or to sign up for any of the upcoming volunteer trips, please visit www.pepyride.org .

The PEPY Ride is a New York State registered Non-for-Profit Corporation founded in 2005 to support educational projects in developing countries and disaster relief areas with a focus on the relationship between the environment and our health. PEPY Tours organizes volunteer and adventure travel in developing countries and redevelopment areas suffering from natural disasters. The PEPY Ride emphasizes education through action, where participants both learn from and give back to the communities they visit.


Read more!

Cambodia: Court Sentences 6 Cambodian Men Over Terrorist Plot

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: 6 Cambodian men were jailed for up to 12 years for plotting to bomb a crowded festival in the capital last year as part of a broader plan to overthrow the government, a judge said Friday (Aug 10th).

Judge Kim Ravy of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court said the plan to plant bombs among the crowd at the traditional water festival in Phnom Penh last October was foiled when authorities arrested the 6 men.

He said the bombings were part of a plot to remove the government. It was unclear how close the plan came to being realized.

The judge said he sentenced 4 men, who appeared in court Thursday (Aug 9th), to 6 years' jail. 2 other men were convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years and 12 years in prison, he said.

Tieng Vuthea, a Cambodian lawyer representing the four men at Thursday's hearing, said the charges against his clients were groundless and that he will appeal the ruling.

Earlier this month, in an apparently unrelated case, a Cambodian court charged two men with terrorism over a failed plot to blow up a controversial monument in the heart of the capital.

Police arrested the two on July 30th, a day after explosive disposal experts defused bombs planted at Phnom Penh's Cambodia-Vietnam friendship monument. Critics of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government say the monument shows too much closeness to neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia's traditional enemy.

The most violent terrorist incident to shake the Cambodian capital in recent years occurred on Nov 24th, 2000, when attackers with grenades and machine guns mounted pre-dawn assaults on government buildings in Phnom Penh. The rebels were easily overwhelmed by government forces, and 6 attackers and a civilian bystander were killed.

The attack was allegedly organized by a California-based group called the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who are opposed to Hun Sen's regime. Dozens of its followers were tried and convicted over the incident, receiving sentences ranging from 3 years to life in prison. (AP. ) Read more!

Police group presents $11,000 check to family of slain San Jose woman

By Jessie Mangaliman and Sean Webby

One note on an index card said, "I wish I can afford to give more." Another card in the giant stack said, "My deepest sorrow for your loss." Sokhim Sann, standing outside her East San Jose home, clutched them all to her chest and fought back the tears.

In the weeks since Sann's niece Sany San, 46, was slain in what police say is one of San Jose's most horrific attacks in recent years, kind wishes and checks had been flooding the San Jose Police Officers Association. Friday morning, association officials presented Sann with the cards and, in a flooring gesture, a check for $11,000.

"I'm moved and happy that people care," Sann said, accepting the donation on behalf of her sister, Muykeh Him, 64, San's mother, who lives in western Cambodia.

Bobby Lopez, president of the police association, said his organization received hundreds of donations, from $5 to $100, many of them accompanied by handwritten notes. The San Jose woman's shocking death touched a nerve throughout the community. In addition to the outpouring of generosity, hundreds of people also turned out for San's memorial service late last month.

"Cops don't just leave the scene of a crime," Lopez said. "We have compassion. We have to be able as human beings to provide and give something back to the city."

Sann's 26-year-old son, Dararith Kim, said the money will be wired to San's ailing mother, and two siblings in Cambodia - a sister, Sochiata Him, 30, and a brother, Chancoma Him, 28

who live in a decrepit farmhouse in Battambang, in western Cambodia. The siblings are seasonal farm workers. The money will pay for health care for San's mother, and improvements to the farmhouse, Kim said.

San, a seamstress, emigrated from Cambodia four years ago to earn a better living for her impoverished family. Her dream, Kim said, was to save enough to help her family pay for home improvements.

San had survived the genocidal rampage of the Khmer Rouge - a regime that killed 3 million people in the 1970s. But her family, like many in Cambodia, endured great hardships, including starvation and death in forced-labor camps. San's father and four of her siblings died during the Khmer Rouge rule, which ended in 1979.

Early July 22, a Sunday, San was walking from her aunt's house in East San Jose, on her way to catch a bus to her job at a doughnut shop near Palo Alto. Police say two homeless men approached her, looking to rob her. The men then beat and dragged her behind bushes, raped her, then stabbed her repeatedly, leaving her to die, police said.

Two men are in custody, awaiting a hearing on charges of kidnapping, murder and rape.

"This is one of the most violent and senseless crimes we've seen in years," Lopez said. "People care very much about what happened."

For that reason, Lopez said, the association, which represents San Jose's police officers and has raised more than $100,000 on behalf of victims since 2006, chose to collect money for San's family. The Santa Clara County Victim Witness Assistance Center also pitched in $7,500, to help with funeral expenses.

"We don't know where we would be if people had not helped us," Kim said. "It's just overwhelming for me and my mother, and we can't say enough thank yous to everyone who helped." Read more!

Cambodia to expand navy in gulf to guard oil fields

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Cambodian Ministry of National Defense is planning to significantly expand the Royal Cambodian Navy's presence in the Gulf of Thailand to provide security for companies searching for and extracting oil, local media said on Friday.

The navy will triple its size and increase patrols to defend Cambodia's offshore oil fields and maritime integrity, Minister of Defense Tea Banh was quoted by English-language newspaper the Cambodian Daily as saying.

He declined to comment further on the plan, which has not been officially approved.

The details of the naval expansion will be decided next month at a Ministry of Defense seminar, the paper quoted another source as saying.

The seminar will be co-sponsored by the Germany-based Friedrich Naumann Foundation, said lawmaker Yim Sovann, chairman of the National Assembly commission on national defense.

"We need to post patrols along the coast in order to provide security to oil exploration companies. We want to protect the property of investors from terrorism," he added.

Along the southwestern coast of the kingdom, several companies from the United States, South Korea and Cambodia itself have been searching for oil in the past years. The concerned sides have confirmed rich reservation of oil and natural gas and production is expected to start in 2008. Read more!

India face Cambodia in opener

NEW DELHI, Aug. 9: India will face Cambodia in the opening match of the five-nation ONGC Nehru Cup International football tournament to begin from 17 August at the Ambedkar Stadium. The tournament was initially perceived to be a six-nation event but the refusal of the Iranian football authority to send the national team forces the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to stick to five teams.

“Iran first accepted the offer to take part but then they said they wont be able to send their national team. We then asked of they could send their under-23 team, but they said they could send a club team, which is unacceptable to us,” AIFF general secretary Mr Alberto Colaco said on the sidelines of the unveiling of the Nehru Cup trophy here today. With the absence of Iran, Syria (113 in Fifa list) will be highest rank team in the tournament.

Kyrgyzstan (152) is the next in the list followed by host and former Asian games gold-medalist India (162), Cambodia (170) and former Indian star and coach Syed Nayeemuddin’s Bangladesh (172).

The revival of the tournament is a big boost for the football in the country as AIFF, along with Fifa and Asian Football Confederation (AFC), were trying to revive the game in the country. In that regard AFC has already started two Vision India projects ~ in New Delhi and Manipur ~ and earlier this year had announced two more projects in the Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

In a jocular vein AIFF president Mr Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi accepted the popular demand from various quarters to give more international experience to the Indian national team.

“We accept the demand for more international exposure to the team. From now on we will try to organise more such matches for our team,” Mr Dasmunshi said. He also announced that President of India Mrs Pratibha Patil will inaugurate the event on 17 August.

AIFF worried
It looks like the global security concern has bug the Indian football team as All India Football Federation (AIFF) today expressed its concern about the security of its players who will visit the country in October for the away match for the first round of World Cup Qualifiers.

But the as of now the federation is ready to play in the country. “As of now, we are ready to play in Lebanon. . Read more!

Cambodia all set for Viet Nam Friendship Associations

Establishing Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Associations in every city of Cambodia. Are they going to be Vietnamese headquarters to spy on every cambodian? or Cammand posts to grab Cambodians' land?

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia is well on its way to establishing Cambodia-Viet Nam Friendship Associations in all its cities and provinces, Vice President of the UFCDK (Cambodian United Front for National Construction and Defence) Min Khin has said.

Min Khin revealed the plan to Vietnam News Agency reporters in Phnom Penh yesterday.

At a meeting with visiting Vice President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and President of the HCM City Fatherland Front, Tran Thanh Long, Min Khin said after one year, the UFCDK had completed the framework for branches in all of Cambodia’s 24 cities and provinces.

Recently, UFCDK chapters in provinces close to Viet Nam had burgeoned ties with the Fatherland Front chapters in Vietnamese provinces, and received aid from Viet Nam, he said.

Long and Min Khin agreed to boost co-operation between the Fatherland Front of Viet Nam and the UFCDK in the future.

During Long’s visit, HCM City’s Fatherland Front granted the Vietnamese Association in Cambodia money to build five charity houses for poor Vietnamese living in Cambodia. — VNS
Read more!

UN Calls on Cambodia to Protect Land of Indigenous People

By Ker Munthit, Associated Press Writer

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- The United Nations criticized Cambodia's government Wednesday for doing little to protect the land of indigenous people, whose livelihood has increasingly come under threat from land-grabbing by the rich and powerful.

The government needs to take swift action to halt land-grabbing in tribal areas, the U.N. Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia said in a statement Wednesday. The statement was released to mark the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on Thursday.

"There are continuing concerns about the protection of indigenous land. Of particular concern is the growing number of economic land concessions and mining licenses granted over indigenous land, without community consultation," it said.

Members of the Tampoun ethnic minority in the remote northeastern province of Rattanakiri said Wednesday they were forced to bury their tribal chief at a new site after their ancestral graveyard was sold to a private owner, an action they feared could bring them bad luck.

The U.N. office noted that Cambodia's land law passed in 2001 recognizes the right of indigenous communities to collective ownership of their lands, which includes land reserved for shifting cultivation.

But in the six years since then, "not a single collective land title" had been issued to any indigenous community by the government, it said.

In recent years, land disputes have become frequent occurrences in Cambodia, usually pitting poor farmers against developers. Several people have been killed.

Yash Ghai, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for human rights in Cambodia, expressed deep concern about ethnic minority groups losing out on land to business allies of the government.

"A wealthy and powerful social class has emerged on the back of the state through the exploitation of the people and the country's resources, relying on access to, and accumulation through, the apparatus of the state," he said in his report to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in June.

Instead of helping the indigenous people, "the government tilts in favor of business companies whenever their interests clash with the interests of rural or urban people," he said.

The government called his allegations unacceptable.

In the Rattanakiri case, the relatives of Bou Nuth, a 76-year-old tribal chief who died Sunday, were barred from burying his body in their ancestral graveyard, said Tev Mak, the deceased man's nephew.

Instead, they had to bury him about 1 kilometer away from their village, contrary to tradition that says the deceased must be buried near their home, he said.

Seng Thung, a village chief, said the old graveyard, covering about 10 acres, was sold to a senior provincial official in recent years by an unknown individual who had claimed ownership over the property.

Sak Son, a provincial district deputy governor, dismissed the villagers' claim the land was their ancestral graveyard, saying only that it belongs to a provincial official whom he declined to name. Read more!

Cambodia and Vietnam to build cross-border golf course

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia and Vietnam are going to build a $100 million (49.2 million pounds) golf course straddling their border in a region heavily bombed by U.S. forces in their anti-communist war in the 1960s and 70s, officials said on Wednesday.

The "Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Golf Resort" to be developed jointly by Cambodia's Bada Investment Co. and a Malaysian firm called VXL will take five years to build and will have nine holes in each country, as well as a 450-room five-star hotel.

A helicopter service will be able to carry visitors from Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temples to the resort, tourism minister Thong Khon said.

"After visiting Angkor, they can play golf before heading to swim at the beaches," he told Reuters.

Cambodia leased five islands in the Gulf of Thailand for $627 million to six local companies and foreign investors to build tourist resorts. It now has two golf courses near Phnom Penh and two near Angkor.

The southeast Asian nation is fast putting the legacy of Pol Pot's Killing Fields behind it, with economic growth in last two years at around 10 percent and foreign visitors climbing rapidly to the 2 million-a-year mark. Read more!

Japan announces military co-op with Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Defense Ministry will deepen bilateral ties with Cambodia's Defense Ministry in attempt to strengthen security in the region and the world, local newspapers reported Tuesday.

Japanese Deputy Defense Minister Takahide Kimura announced a plan during a meeting with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday in Phnom Penh, the Koh Santepheap newspaper said.

The military collaboration is a result of a deal struck between the two countries during Hun Sen's visit to Japan in June, Takahide Kimura was quoted as saying.

Eang Sophalleth, advisor to the premier, said Hun Sen welcomed the cooperation and asked the Japanese side to train the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces in engineering so that they can construct roads in rural areas and assist people during national emergencies, the Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper said. Read more!

Australia grants 2 million dollars to Cambodian land mine victims

Phnom Penh - Australia will provide 2.14 million dollars in aid over two years to help improve rehabilitation services for landmine victims in remote areas of Cambodia, the Australian government said Tuesday. In a statement posted on the AusAid website, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs said it would fund the supply of prosthetic limbs and skills'-training programmes, and support rehabilitation centres.

"Landmines and unexploded ordnance are significant obstacles to reconstruction and development," it said. "Australia's new aid package will help reduce suffering and lessen the threat and socio-economic impact of landmines and other explosive remnants of war in Cambodia."

Up to 6 million land mines and unexploded ordinance still litter parts of Cambodia after 30 years of civil war and US bombing during the Vietnam War era.

The Australian government said the two-year package would go towards assisting the Cambodian Red Cross provide survivor assistance and mine-risk education and support the Cambodian government develop a victim-assistance plan.

Australia has provided about 47 million dollars on mine action in Cambodia since 1996, the statement said, adding that international aid from Australia "has significantly reduced landmine and unexploded ordnance casualty rates in Cambodia by over 80 per cent in the past decade". Read more!

Vietnamese firms eye rubber cultivation in Cambodia

Three Vietnamese businesses have teamed up to kick-start a joint stock company that will cultivate rubber in Cambodia.

The Phu Rieng-Karatie Joint Stock Company has a total chartered capital of 200 billion VND. The Viet Nam Rubber Industry Group holds a 40 percent stake in the company, with the Phu Rieng Rubber Company and the Da River Corporation coming in for 30 percent each.

A 70 year lease on nearly 1,000 ha of land in Cambodia’s Karatie province was secured by the firm. Some 300 ha of land has been reclaimed and 100 ha is already having rubber trees.
Read more!

Cambodia : Garment sector competes & thrives

Wearing a dark-blue uniform, with red trim, and standing next to a huge ironing machine in a garment factory in Phnom Penh, 20-years-old, Son Sean, smiles and responds: “My family has better living conditions now,” she pauses and continues while pushing a collar into the machine, “From my earnings, my mother has been able to build a 5 by 7 meter brick house with a tiled roof, and my 15 year-old sister has been able to continue her schooling.”

Son Sean is one of many garment workers who come from the poor Cambodian province of Svay Rieng, located about 120 km east of Phnom Penh. She earns on average about US$70 per month, depending on how much overtime she gets, and each month, Sean sends US$50 to US$90 cash home to support her 50-year old widowed mother and her younger sister, who studies in the fifth grade.

Sean’s co-worker, Vong Pak, 39, smiles proudly when asked whether she supports members of her family with her earnings. “From my salary I support my 68-year-old mother, my four children and I pay for my children’s schooling,” she says while sewing a shirt. Pak is the breadwinner of the family. Three of her four children, who are 14, 12, 7, and 3 years old, are in school now.

Both Sean and Pak work at the New Island Clothing garment factory (NIC), along with more than 800 other workers. NIC is one of 290 garment factories in Cambodia which exports goods to the United States and Europe. NIC operates in six countries: Cambodia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Lithuania and Mauritius.

The company produces men's and ladies’ formal and casual shirts, supplying these to Marks & Spencers, as well as to premium overseas customers. New Island is a winner of Cambodia’s First Corporate Citizenship Awards which were sponsored by the World Bank Group’s private sector financing arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in 2005.

Cambodia’s garment industry is the country’s main industry and its leading export revenue earner. In 2006, exports totaled US$2.5 billion and the sector employed 330,000 mostly poorer rural women, who in turn support extended families. In total, an estimated 1.7 million people depend on the garment industry directly or indirectly.

According to the report Export Diversification and Value Addition for Human Development which was published by the Economic Institute of Cambodia in June 2007, garment industry workers earn an average of US$73 per month, 29 percent of which comes from overtime work.

Representing almost 80 percent of Cambodia’s total exports, the sector is crucial to Cambodia’s economy. However, increasing global competition makes the industry vulnerable, and so a variety of approaches are needed to help the industry sustain itself. Read more!

Community Project: Fair Trade Fashion From Cambodia

When Japanese art critique Marie Furuta moved from Mexico to Cambodia in 2004 she soon decided to set up "something small" in her new home that would support the community and involve fair trade. Finding a strong fashion industry in Cambodia in general and looking at local, traditional materials, she decided to set up a new fair trade accessory label and simply called Sait - meaning beauty in Khmer!

Now she manages 5 different communities in Cambodia around Siem Reap to produce the accessories from scratch: anything from planting the trees for wild silk worms to grow, to gathering the cocoons for the precious Cambodian silk used for her bags and scarfs, creating the fabrics, designing and finally manufacturing the accessories. There are currently about 150 Cambodians making a fair living by working for Sait (http://www.republiqueair.com/ - sorry only really Japanese at this stage).

To share this spark of positive entrepreneurship today - read on!

Worldchanging: Marie, how did you start your fair trade company "Sait"? What were the first steps?

Marie: It all started little by little. By summer 2005, one year after living in Cambodia, I focussed my formerly vague idea of "helping the communities" on working with silk products, pitched my business plan to local NGOs, raised some money and looked for workshops who were interested in my project. I basically went around Cambodia and talked to the crafters to find out what problems they were facing and how to help them best. I now have 5 communities that I chose to work with and who agreed on this idea of creating bags and products with artisans to be sold in Japan and Spain.

It took me about one year to really fix the ideas of the workshop, create optimal working conditions and find buyers. In 2006 we started selling and things have been going well since then - step by step.

Worldchanging: What would you say is different about the way you run your fair trade company compared to others around?

Marie: There are lots of workshops in Cambodia already and lots of fair trade companies, so people don't view me or Sait as extraordinary as such, but they know that we are one of the few "fair" ones amongst all of those who "claim" to be fair.

I set up 3 important agreements with the people from my workshops:

1. The project must be community based, so it needs to stay relatively small. There are lots of big companies here doing fair trade, but instead of just creating a place for the crafters to go and "give them more work to do", I really wanted them to be able to work from their communities based on their schedules.

2. They have to be involved in the design of the actual product. This protects them from dull labour work and forces them to be creative, think about what they are producing, it educates and makes them more independent - and happier - in the end.

3. Maximum transparency. I have to tell them for how much I am selling their accessories in Japan and Spain, how much the shipping costs, how much the store keeps, how much money I spend for internet purposes etc. so things are kept as transparent as possible. They really need to understand how much things costs and recognize their own and the products' value in the chain of retail. Also we decided to sell the product very cheap (about 1500Yen for a middle size handmade 100% pure silk handbag) so that we sell more and make more profit in the end.


Worldchanging: Why is it so important or the crafters to stay in their community to work?

Marie: It is a real problem to provide work in Cambodia, since there are so many handicapped people due to land-mines. 3 managers out of 5 from my workshops are disabled. Many can actually still work but in order to get to or from work, or onto the chair etc. requires someone to help them. That is why working in a community makes it easy from the start.

On a normal day there could be 5 crafters from one community actively working, but one of them would do all the domestic tasks (helping the disabled, cooking, looking after the children etc.) and the others work on the accessories. The next day they would switch roles to keep everyone involved.

Since they are all good in making the products, it also allows them to go in and out. A while ago someone's brother had a problem and joined the community for some time,
stayed to earn money and once he had enough he left again to look for a new job. That gives people a lot of support in a country where there isn't such a system as social security established yet.

Worldchanging: How do you see the whole aspect of design in your project?

Marie: Design is one of the most important factors, definitely. I want our customers to buy our products because they really love the design - and as a result they are also helping. You cannot build on the idea of wanting to help through fair trade, since - hopefully - one day the country grows and there would then be no need for buying their "products to help" anymore.

The crafters have to learn how to create products of great value that are unique, have a local feel to them but also suit the needs of the customers (e.g. smaller "party size" bags for Spain, stylish silk bags to match Kimono in Japan or bags with an extra compartment for laptops). That is why I am really pushing for locally crafted and designed products that come from Cambodia. If our products convince as a product and you are surprised to realize all the story behind it - then buying these bags is twice as good as purchasing an ordinary product and we achieved our goal.

Also I really believe in handmade things. You feel it somehow! Also - knowing that the product has a greater value than another mass produced item might keep you using it for another year or two - adding to a healthier environment in that respect.

Worldchanging: A lot of culture and an overall identity has been destroyed in Cambodia and it is now on its way to re-define itself. Where do you see your role in this as a young entrepreneur?

Marie: Using traditional materials like silk for our accessories but trying to come up with something new on their own is one way to help our crafters to create a rooted but new identity to touch.

Also 10% of all our sales go to the Modern Art Project in Cambodia supporting contemporary local artists - which makes our crafters understand, that they are also contributing to help their own country flourish by supporting the arts.

This Modern Art Project raises money for Cambodian artists to exhibit their works in Cambodia or abroad - through small donators like us, bigger ones like Art Pacific (http://www.aapmag.com/) or from charity auctions of the artworks.

2005 was the first time that all Cambodian artists got pulled together which raised the awareness that there is such a thing as an emerging art scene in Cambodia in the first place. You should keep an eye on artists like Vann Nath and Svay Ken!

Worldchanging: Any last words from you? Future plans?

Marie: The one thing I am trying to improve right now is that we switch to using organic dyes. Somehow our crafters see the organic, traditional colors and all they can think of are traditional style Khmer bags! They simply freeze. So for now we work with toxic free dyes (http://www.twn.tuv.com/english/Services/product/approvals/tox.htm) from Oekotex (http://www.oeko-tex.com/OekoTex100_PUBLIC/index.asp), Germany. It is a slow process to convince them but we really only just started this, so there is a big learning curve ahead!

Also I am constantly looking for designers who would like to collaborate with us - designing new patterns or coming over to do a workshop.

Thank you Marie and good luck for that!!!

Sait's web-page (http://www.republiqueair.com/) is - unfortunately - only in Japanese at this point. For more info about their products or where to buy them in your country please contact Marie directly marie.furuta@republiqueair.com Read more!

Russian telecommunication operators’ landing in Cambodia

The Russian Telecommunication companies have broken through in their international expansion, having entered the Southeast Asia market. The Altimo Holding has bought Sotelco, the Cambodian mobile and wireless operator. The given operator has no network of its own, so Altimo is likely to resell it in the near future.

The Altimo Telecommunications Holding announced buying a 90% stake in Sotelco, providing WiMax wireless services in Cambodia and having a license for GSM 900/1800. That is the first transaction on purchasing the Southeast Asia assets by a Russian telecommunications company. Besides Cambodia, Altimo is going to make some purchases in Vietnam and Indonesia. Dmitri Vosianov, handling Altimo stake in MegaFon, is to supervise the given line.

Altimo indicates neither the transaction charge, nor the seller’s name, nor the bought operator performance index. When preparing the given publication, it was impossible to get any of the company’s representative for comments. The operator is likely to have been granted the cellular license not long ago, so it has not even started providing the services. At present there are three GSM-operators in the Cambodian market. They are CamGSM (operating in the 900 MHz range under the Mobitel brand, owned by the Millicom International Cellular international corporation), Cambodia Shinawatra (Camshin, 1800 MHz) and Telekom Malaysia International Cambodia (900 MHz, Hello GSM trading mark). Cambodia Advance Communications (Cadcomms) and Applifone also own the unrealized license for the 1800 MHz range.

Thus, Sotelco is the only mobile operator possessing frequencies in both GSM ranges. But Sotelco has no license for the 3G communication. At the same time, CamGSM and Cadcomms have license for 3G compatible with GSM UMTS, while CDMA-200 is owned by Azcom (800 MHz range) and Camshin (450 MHz).

Cambodia population is 14 mln., the absolute market leader being CamGSM with 1.3 mln. subscribers. “The mobile communication penetration in Cambodia is a little bit more than 10%, - Mr. Vosianov notes. – However, the country is rich in natural resources, including offshore oil, its economy growth exceeding 7% a year. We believe Cambodia cellular market growth potential is high”.

However, holding controlling interest is not characteristic of financial investors, such as Altimo. Of all it assets the Holding holds control only over Metrosvyaz CDMA-operator, a small Russian operator. According to a person, familiar with the situation, Altimo is to resell Sotelco, VimpelCom is likely to be the buyer. Altimo owns 44% of voting shares in the mentioned operator and has been reselling its mobile assets in Russia and CIS to VimpelCom so far.

Although the mentioned transaction was the first telecommunication assets acquisition in the Southeast Asia for the Russian investors, the CIS companies has already got assets in the mentioned market. According to CNews, a group of Kazakh investors launched Spice Nepal Private cellular network in Nepal in 2005, which is the second mobile operator in the republic after the public Nepal Telecommunications Corporation. The Kazakh partners in the given projects are the local governmental authorities businessmen. It is interesting the same investment group together with Altimo owns BiTel and SkyMobile, the Kirghiz mobile operators. Read more!

Lao president arrives in Cambodia for official visit

Phnom Penh - Lao People's Democratic Republic President Choummaly Sayasone arrived in Cambodia Monday on a three-day state visit at the invitation of King Norodom Sihamoni.

The Foreign Ministry said that apart from an audience with the king, Sayasone and his delegation would also meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior politicians during his visit.

Lao borders Cambodia to the north and the two nations - both members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - have made increasing bilateral trading ties a priority.

Sayasone, who was appointed president in June 2006, is also head of state of Lao. Read more!