BANGKOK, 5 April 2010 (IRIN) - Millions of people living in and around Southeast Asia’s largest river, the Mekong, need a greater voice in determining its future, say activists.
“There needs to be more recognition of the voice of the people who depend on the river and what their vision of the river is,” Carl Middleton, the Mekong programme coordinator for the US-based NGO International Rivers, told IRIN.
“Decision-makers should listen better to the people that are affected by [infrastructure] projects.”
His comments coincide with the conclusion of the first ever Mekong River Summit on 5 April in the Thai coastal town of Hua Hin, which brought together leaders from China, Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Thailand and Myanmar to discuss its management.
The summit, organized by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to mark its 15th anniversary, comes at a critical time: the river’s water-level is at its lowest point in 50 years in Laos and northern Thailand.
Boat traffic has been halted along many parts of the 4,350km river, and fisheries and irrigation systems have been adversely affected.
Dams in China
While unusually low rainfall is widely believed to be responsible for the current low level of water in the Mekong, many environmentalists and NGOs claim China has exacerbated the situation by damming the river upstream.
China has four dams on the river and four more planned, but Beijing denies the dams are contributing to the current low level of the Mekong, and used the MRC meetings to reiterate its stance that natural causes are to blame.
"The current extreme dry weather in the lower Mekong river basin is the root cause for the reduced run-off water and declining water level in the main stem Mekong," Chen Mingzhong, deputy director-general of China’s Department of International Cooperation, Science and Technology, told a conference on 2 April that preceded the international summit.
On 4 April, China’s delegation promised increased cooperation among Mekong river countries on water management issues, particularly concerning its dams. This comes after China agreed for the first time ever late last month to share water-level data at two dams.
“This is a positive step,” Middleton told IRIN. A lack of rainfall is obviously a very important factor in the low level of the Mekong, he said, but questions remain as to whether China’s dams have also exacerbated the situation, or whether the dams could be used to alleviate the problem.
The summit focused on regional cooperation in solving drought and flooding problems in the Mekong region. The final joint declaration covered how the river can be used to reduce poverty, boost sustainable energy development, help people adapt to climate change, improve infrastructure and increase the involvement of civil society stakeholders in planning and decision-making.
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Monday, April 05, 2010
ASIA: People’s voice absent in Mekong river talks - activists
China rejects Mekong River dam criticism
China has rejected claims that its dams on the Mekong River are to blame for record low water levels in downstream nations.
Speaking at a summit in Thailand, China's vice foreign minister said drought and not hydropower was to blame for the reduced river flow.
More than 60m people from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam depend on the Mekong River for their livelihoods.
Parts of the river are at their lowest levels in 50 years.
Further downstream drought, salt deposits and reduced soil nutrients are threatening food production in the rice bowls of Cambodia and Vietnam.
'Serious problems'
The leaders of Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam all attended the Mekong River summit in the Thai resort of Hua Hin.
Addressing the summit, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva warned that the river would not survive without good management.
"The Mekong River is being threatened by serious problems arising from both the unsustainable use of water and the effects of climate change," he said.
Activists have blamed Chinese dams for contributing to the drop in river flow and producing irreversible change to the river's ecology.
China has eight planned or existing dams on the mainstream river and says it wants more.
But Vice Foreign Minister Song Tao said the dams were not the problem.
"Statistics show that the recent drought that hit the whole river basin is attributable to the extreme dry weather, and the water level decline of the Mekong River has nothing to do with the hydropower development," he said.
He said that by regulating water flow, the dams could help with flood prevention and drought relief.
And he said that China had increased its information sharing in recent months - highlighting the provision since March of data from two hydrological stations to downstream nations.
Mr Abhisit said that the dialogue with China had been positive, and that he hoped information sharing would become "more systematic and more consistent" in the future.
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Man fatally wounded in S. Phila. shooting
Philadelphia Daily News
Ranny Thon was a peacemaker who was trying to calm an angry man when he was shot and killed early Saturday in South Philadelphia, relatives said yesterday.
The man killed Thon, 24, and wounded three relatives: a 22-year-old man who was shot in the shoulder; a 24-year-old man who was shot in the thigh and back; and a 17-year-old female cousin, who was grazed in the stomach, police said.
Yesterday, the 17-year-old cousin was sitting on the front steps of a house on 8th Street, near Moyamensing Avenue, with relatives and friends. The young woman, who asked that her name not be used, translated for Thon's mother, who came to this country from Cambodia and spoke Khmer, when she appeared briefly at the front door.
"She said to let everyone know, 'I miss him and I love him very much and I feel like I am going crazy because my son died,' " the young woman said.
Thon and his relatives were shot as they stood outside Thon's aunt's house. The girl said she believed the shooter was also Cambodian. She said Thon and his siblings were born in the United States.
No arrests had been made as of last night.
The relatives kept candles burning at a sidewalk memorial that included incense, a bowl of noodles, a cup of beer and a white plastic chair filled with stuffed animals and a picture of Thon.
The 17-year-old cousin said Thon had tried to intervene when a man came by about 2:30 a.m. and began arguing with a couple who were out on the sidewalk with her male relatives.
The man left the block for about 10 minutes and when he returned, "he got mad because the guy he was arguing with had gone," the 17-year-old said.
As Thon tried to calm the man down, the gunman started shooting. Her three male relatives were shot outside and the teenager as she stood just inside the front door. "I just screamed and started crying," the girl said. "I didn't know I was hit until I got inside."
Cambodia OKs foreign property ownership
PHNOM PENH—Cambodia's parliament on Monday approved a law allowing foreign ownership of property such as apartments and office buildings, in a measure intended to increase economic growth.
The draft law, which will permit foreigners to buy leaseholds on buildings and apartments, but not own the land beneath them, was passed when 85 of 96 members of parliament who attended the Monday meeting voted in favor.
Land management minister Im Chhun Lim told the national assembly the law would boost the kingdom's real estate market and bring in more foreign investment.
The law will take effect after approval from Cambodia's Senate and promulgation from King Norodom Sihamoni, which are both considered formalities.
Under old rules, foreign property investment could only be made through the name of a Cambodian national and many were unwilling to risk losing their assets to potentially unscrupulous local partners.
The cash-strapped country's investment law was amended in 2005 to allow foreign ownership of buildings but the legislation was never implemented and the initiative foundered.
Despite the restrictions, billion-dollar skyscraper projects and sprawling satellite cities promising to radically alter Phnom Penh have bloomed over the past few years.
But many projects have been halted or slowed down as Cambodia was buffeted by the world financial crisis after several years of double-digit growth, fuelled mainly by tourism and garment exports.
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Sunday, April 04, 2010
Thaksin not allowed to use Cambodia to criticise Thai govt : Hun Sen
By The Nation
Convicted ex-Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra will not be invited to Cambodia during the red shirts' protest to prevent him from using the country as a base to criticise Abhisit government, Cambodia's PM Hun Sen said Sunday.
As long as the red shirts hold mass rally in Thailand, Thaksin, an economic adviser to Hun Sen and the Khmer government, will not invited as guest of Cambodia.
Thai Deputy PM Suthep Thaugsuban said Hun Sen conveyed the message during their meeting on the sideline of mekong Summit in Hua Hin.
Hun Sen's message surprised many. It is because Hun Sen had angered Thai government by appointing Thaksin as economic adviser and the appointment led to the downgrading of the mutual ties.
Hun Sen himself had criticised Abhisit government, saying that his government is not willing to deal with Abhisit government. He even challenged Abhisit to dissolve the House and hold a snap election
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PAD protesters tell Cambodia's Hun Sen he's not welcome in Hua Hin
VOICING THEIR OPINION: Members of the People’s Alliance for Democracy show their opposition to Cambodian Prime Minsiter Hun Sen yesterday.
Key People's Alliance for Democracy figure Veera Somkwamkid led the group and handed the letter of protest to Chavanond Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign minister.
Hun Sen is due to attend the Mekong River Commission summit in Hua Hin tomorrow.
Mr Veera said the Cambodian prime minister is "persona non grata" in Thailand and accused Hun Sen of having tried to interfere in Thailand's domestic affairs.
He said Hun Sen showed a disregard of the Thai judicial system when he criticised it over its handling of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's legal cases.
Mr Veera said Hun Sen offended Thais by appointing Thaksin as an economic adviser and his own personal adviser.
Mr Veera attacked Hun Sen for putting personal relationships and individual interests above relations between Thailand and Cambodia.
Mr Veera accused the Cambodian prime minister of trying to infringe on Thailand's sovereignty by sending troops to invade the 4.6-square-kilometre area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple. He also alleged Hun Sen was trying to take control of other disputed areas along the Thai-Cambodian border and the overlapping areas in the Gulf of Thailand.
Mr Veera said he and other Thais would fight to protect the country's territorial integrity.
He said Thais would not be bound by any agreements and actions by past and present governments that violate the constitution and hurt the country's interests.
Charity Concert for Cambodia
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Cellist Mark Kosower and pianist Oh Ji-won will perform in a fundraising concert for disadvantaged Cambodians.
The duo’s recitals, organized by PBC and Sharing Fund, a nongovernmental organization that helps underdeveloped Asian countries, will be held on Wednesday and Friday at Kumho Art Hall, downtown Seoul.
Kosower is a renowned American artist who is a recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize. He currently holds a solo position with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in Germany. Oh is an accomplished chamber musician who has performed extensively in Europe and North American including the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Lincoln Center in New York.
The first concert will feature Rachmaninov’s Sonata for Cello and Sonata No. 19. Singers from the Rime Opera Ensemble will take the stage during the second half of the performance to deliver widely loved songs such as ``Time to Say Goodbye’’ and ``Ah! Je Veux Vivre’’ from Gounod’s opera ``Romeo and Juliet.’’
On Friday, Kosower and Oh will take the stage again for more chamber music. The duo will play Debussy’s Cello Sonata No. 1, Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 2 and Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances.
Also included in the program are Mendelssohn’s Cello Sonata No. 2 and Dutilleux’s ``Trois Strophes sur le Nom de Sacher.’’
Tickets for both concerts cost from 30,000 to 100,000 won. Proceeds from the event will go toward an aid fund to help develop agricultural and educational projects, provide medical assistance to landmine victims and donate wheelchairs to the disabled, among other causes.
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Cambodia may tweak Phuket property
Phuket NEWS Hound
– A daily digest of news from around the world compiled by Gazette editors for Phuket's international community
PHUKET: Cambodia is trying to encourage international investment by relaxing laws on property ownership by foreigners.
The Financial Times reports that Cambodia's draft law is under discussion at the National Assembly and would allow non-nationals to fully own residential apartments for the first time.
While resort islands such as Phuket and Bali remain the most popular destinations for foreigners looking to purchase a holiday home in southeast Asia, Cambodia's lawmakers hope deregulation will help to lift the Cambodian property market out of the doldrums.
While Hong Kong and Singapore pose few barriers to foreign ownership of property, the less developed nations of southeast Asia still labor under significant restrictions against it. In Thailand, total foreign ownership of buildings must not exceed 49 per cent.
But with property prices under pressure across Asia, a number of countries are now considering liberalising discriminatory property laws.
Protests shut down shopping
The Star
More than than 30,000 red shirted protesters converged on the main shopping area in Bangkok on Saturday and threatened to stay until the prime minister calls elections, forcing big department stores to close and paralysing traffic.
The red-shirted protesters swarmed an intersection whose upmarket stores are a symbol of wealth in the Thai capital, accusing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government of neglecting the poor on the 21st day of their mass street rally.
Central World, the second-largest shopping complex in Southeast Asia, and other big malls shut their doors in response to the protests.
Jatuporn Prompan, a red-shirt leader, said from a makeshift stage: "It is time for the under-privileged to liberate themselves from oppression made by the elite-backed government.”
While the protests in the nation's capital continue, Phuket remains calm, as does the rest of Thailand outside the Greater Bangkok area. However, the political turmoil is clearly inflicting mounting damage on tourism in Phuket.
On Wednesday, Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) president Somboon Jirayus said that tourism in the resort province this year has seen only 60-70 per cent of the check-ins it enjoyed during the same period last year.
Thailand faces sugar shortage
The Nation
Thailand’s Commerce Ministry has found that 20 provinces are facing an inadequate supply of sugar, while consumers are paying more than the controlled price in 50 provinces.
Furthermore, Thailand is facing a serious sugar shortage, as most millers have refused to supply the commodity to the ministry for a special 80,000-tonne allocation aimed at easing the tight market situation.
Yanyong Phuangrach, permanent secretary to the ministry, yesterday said that since an agreement was reached late last month, only one miller had come forward, supplying only 360 tons.
The ministry now plans to send teams to inspect sugar millers' stockpiles to prevent hoarding and price speculation. If the government were to find any unfair practices, traders could face imprisonment and a 140,000-baht fine, the ministry warned.
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Saturday, April 03, 2010
From California to Cambodia, Fighting for Women
By SETH MYDANS
MAK PRAING, Cambodia
IT was at Berkeley in the 1970s that Mu Sochua, a shy teenager fleeing a war in Cambodia, learned the thrill of speaking her mind.
The daughter of a well-to-do merchant in Phnom Penh, she had been sent to the West at the age of 18 to study and to be safe from the fighting that later brought the brutal Khmer Rouge regime to power.
“When I hit San Francisco I knew that was my city,” said Ms. Mu Sochua, who is now 55. “I began to shine. I let my hair grow. I looked like a hippie.” She learned English, she said, by listening to the Beatles.
She earned a master’s degree in social work from Berkeley and transformed herself enthusiastically from a demure traditional Cambodian woman to one who knew her rights and was not shy about demanding them.
That is her problem today as the most prominent female member of Parliament, a leader of the country’s struggling political opposition and a campaigner for women’s rights in a society where women are still expected to walk and speak with a becoming deference.
“I have to be careful not to push things too far,” she said in a recent interview on the campaign trail here in southern Cambodia. “I have to be very, very careful about what I bring from the West, to promote women’s rights within the context of a society that is led by men,” she said.
“In the Cambodian context, it’s women’s lib. It’s feminism. It’s challenging the culture, challenging the men.”
She has this in mind as she campaigns through the villages of Kandal Province, a woman with power but a woman nonetheless. “I walk into a cafe and I have to think twice, how to be polite to the men,” she said. “I have to ask if I can enter. This is their turf.”
Ms. Mu Sochua is a member of a new generation of female leaders who are working their way into the political systems of countries across Asia and elsewhere, from local councils to national assemblies and cabinet positions.
A former minister of women’s affairs, she did as much as anybody to put women’s issues on the agenda of a nation emerging in the 1990s from decades of war and mass killings.
During six years as minister, Ms. Mu Sochua campaigned against child abuse, marital rape, violence against women, human trafficking and the exploitation of female workers. She helped draft the country’s Prevention of Domestic Violence law.
In part because of her work, she said, “People are aware about gender. It’s a new Cambodian word: ‘gen-de.’ People are aware that women have rights.”
But she lost her public platform in 2004 when she broke with the government and joined the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, and she is finding it as difficult now to promote her ideas as to gain attention as a candidate.
LIKE dissidents and opposition figures in many countries, she has found herself with a new burden, battling for her own rights. As she has risen in prominence, her political stands have become more of a political liability than her gender.
Most recently, she has been caught in a bizarre tit-for-tat exchange of defamation suits with the country’s domineering prime minister, Hun Sen, in which, to nobody’s surprise, she was the loser.
It started last April here in Kampot Province when Mr. Hun Sen referred to her with the phrase “cheung klang,” or “strong legs,” an insulting term for a woman in Cambodia.
She sued him for defamation; he stripped her of her parliamentary immunity and sued her back. Her suit was dismissed in the politically docile courts. On Aug. 4 she was convicted of defaming the prime minister and fined about $4,000, which she has refused to pay.
“Now I live with the uncertainty about whether I’m going to go to jail,” she said. “I’m not going to pay the fine. Paying the fine is saying to all Cambodian women, ‘What are you worth? A man can call you anything he wants and there is nothing you can do.’ ”
Ms. Mu Sochua was still in California when the Khmer Rouge seized power in Cambodia in 1975 and began mass killings that would take 1.7 million lives over the next four years.
“We were waiting, waiting, waiting to hear from our parents,” she said. “They told us they were on the last plane to Paris. They never made it.”
She headed for the Thai border, where refugees were fleeing by the tens of thousands, and it was there that she met her future husband, an American, when both were working in the refugee camps. They have lived together in Cambodia since 1989, where he works for the United Nations, and have three grown children living in the United States and Britain.
Ms. Mu Sochua makes frequent trips into the countryside around their villa, introducing herself to constituents who may never have seen her face. The next parliamentary election is still three years away, but she is already campaigning because she is almost entirely excluded from government-controlled newspapers and television.
She paused politely the other day at the stoop of a small open-fronted noodle shop in this riverside village, where men sat in the midday heat on red plastic chairs. She let her male assistants enter first.
She had succeeded in halting a sand-dredging project that was eroding riverbanks here, and she wanted the men to know that she had been working on their behalf. “I came here to inform you that you got a result from the government,” she told the men, showing them a legal document. “I want to inform you that you have a voice. If you see something wrong, you can stand up and speak about it.”
Asked afterward what it was like to have a woman fighting his battles, Mol Sa, 37, a fisherman, said, “She speaks up for us, so I don’t think she’s any different from a man. Maybe a different lady couldn’t do it, but she can do it because she is strong and not afraid.”
FEAR was a theme as Ms. Mu Sochua moved through the countryside here.
At another village where cracks were appearing in the sandy embankment, a widow named Pal Nas, 78, said the big dredging boats had scared her.
“I’m afraid that if I speak out they will come after me,” she said. “In the Khmer Rouge time they killed all the men. When night comes I don’t have a man to protect me. It’s more difficult if you are a woman alone.”
Mr. Hun Sen’s ruling party holds power through most of rural Cambodia, and Ms. Mu Sochua said party agents kept an eye on her as she campaigned. At one point a man on a motorbike took photographs of her and her companions with a mobile telephone, then drove away.
Later, as the sun began to set, a farmer greeted her warmly, calling out to his wife and climbing a tree to pick ripe guavas for her.
“I voted for you,” he said as he handed her the fruit. “But don’t tell anyone.”
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Experts Say Cooperation Needed on Mekong River Resources
The Mekong River runs more than 4,000 kilometers through six countries, vital to large populations for farming, fishing, drinking water, industry and power generation
After two days of discussions, some 200 experts on water, environmental protection, and finance concluded there is not enough cooperation on developing the Mekong River's resources.
They urged Mekong countries to find a balanced approach to harness the river's economic benefits such as hydropower without causing too much social and environmental damage.
Ian Matthews, who is with the ANZ Bank in Singapore, says international standards for environmental protection are not being met on Mekong dam projects when international banks are not involved.
"As a country, as a government, there's a clear desire to have hydropower finance because it is an increasingly valuable resource in places like Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. If the international bank is not going to finance it, and they're not going to apply World Bank standards, IFC standards, to these projects, what you get are banks coming in who have much lower standards. Now, that will lead to much greater degradation of the environment, it will lead to the exclusion of other stakeholders," said Matthews.
China is the only country with hydropower dams on the Mekong and along with Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand is also planning to build more.
Until recently China provided very little information from its dams to its downstream neighbors.
And when the river flooded in 2008 and this year dropped to a 50-year low, many along the Mekong blamed China.
However, the Mekong River Commission, the organization coordinating cooperation on the river, says drought was the real culprit.
But the MRC says dams on the Mekong are likely to have adverse effects on fish migration and sediment flows.
Pham Thi Thanh Hang is coordinator of the MRC's Basin Development Program. She noted China was giving more data on its dams but said even more was needed.
"We have been benefiting from the sharing of informations, from the sharing of the borders used, with our Chinese colleagues, and comparing the model results. But, we will also benefit if further, extensive information will be shared. For example, on the operations of the dams. So that the countries down here can really plan and work according to a good understanding of what are the opportunities and risks," she said.
MRC member countries are Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Their prime ministers are to meet Monday to discuss for the first time efforts to improve transparency and cooperation on the river.
They will be joined by dialogue partners from upstream countries Burma and China.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Cambodia shrugs at US punishment over Uighurs
PHNOM PENH--The Cambodian government on Friday said it was untroubled by a US refusal to send military aid to the Southeast Asian nation as punishment for its deportation of 20 Chinese Uighurs.
The US stopped a shipment of 200 military trucks and trailers on Thursday in response to Phnom Penh's controversial December deportation of the ethnic Uighur asylum seekers to China, where they said they would face torture.
Nations and rights groups deplored Cambodia's move to expel the Uighurs, who had been labelled "criminals" by Beijing after fleeing China's far western Xinjiang region following violent clashes with the majority Han.
Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said his country was not concerned by the cancelled donation of surplus US military supplies, part of an American aid programme.
"If the US gives us the equipment, we are happy. And if they won't give it to us, it is also good," he told AFP.
"There will be no effect to our military work," the spokesman added, saying that the UN refugee agency had been too slow in assessing the Uighurs' claim to refugee status.
The decision to deport the Uighurs came a day ahead of a visit by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, during which he agreed 1.2 billion dollars in aid and loans to Cambodia with Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Clashes between Xinjiang's Uighurs and China's majority Han ethnic group in July left nearly 200 dead and 1,600 injured, according to official tolls.
The US State Department in its last annual human rights report said that China was stepping up cultural and political repression against Uighurs in Xinjiang.
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Briefing Skipper: Cuba, Gration, Karzai, Hu, Cambodia
In which we scour the transcript of the State Department's daily presser so you don't have to. Here are the highlights of Thursday's briefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley:
State Department counselor Cheryl Mills met with Cuban Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez on the sidelines of the Haiti donors conference Wednesday. "They talked about Haiti in particular," Crowley said. The U.S. also brought up the situation of Alan Gross, the USAID contractor arrested for passing out satellite phones and laptops and such. So is this a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations? Not so much.
Sudan Special Envoy Scott Gration is in Sudan but seems to not have saved the elections, which are now dangerously in peril. "We have concerns about, you know, the credibility of the election," Crowley said, stating the obvious, but being careful not to characterize the elections as a failure... yet.
The State Department does "not accept [the] judgment" of Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the west was responsible for the "massive fraud" he now acknowledges helped keep him in power in last year's elections as part of a vast UN conspiracy. "Karzai has to step forward, lead his government, you know, in terms of convincing the international community and the Afghan people that they are taking measurable steps to reduce corruption," Crowley said, later adding, "President Karzai has said the right things to us starting, you know, with the promises that he made in his inaugural speech late last year." Peter Galbraith disagrees.
State "welcomes" the decision by Chinese President Hu Jintao to attend the upcoming nuclear security summit in Washington. "China's participation at the highest possible level reflects China's concern as well about nuclear security in the future," Crowley said. But let's not make too much of it. "I think you should take this at face value,' he added.
On China and Iran sanctions, Crowley said, "China has indicated a willingness to be a full participant as we -- as we go through the specifics of what would be in a resolution." That's... encouraging???
The U.S. is suspending "excess defense article" sales to Cambodia, including trucks and trailers, as a response to that country's decision to return 20 Uighur asylum seekers to China, where their future looks bleak. "We said there would be consequences, and this is a step in that direction," Crowley said. The Cambodians are apparently "shrugging off" the punishment.
Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela will begin a week-long trip to Ecuador, Colombia and Peru next week. The topics? Security cooperation, social inclusion, economic competitiveness, democratic governance and human rights, you know, the usual.
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Please crash my wedding day, Cambodians say
A Cambodian couple poses for their wedding day photo. Huge marriage celebrations with hundreds of people are normal here, and even newly arrived foreigners can find themselves attending numerous weddings. Julie Masis
Westerners who move to Cambodia are likely to find themselves invited to more weddings than they would be back home. While traveling by motorcycle on a rural road for a half-hour on a recent Saturday afternoon, I passed at least five wedding tents. They are easy to spot – decorated with pink curtains, ribbons tied around chairs, and the names of the bride and groom engraved above the gate.
Hart Feuer, a researcher who has lived in the country for a year, says he has attended at least 15 weddings – including some with more than 1,000 guests and meals served in shifts.
Why so many weddings? It might have something to do with the fact that 64 percent of Cambodians are under the age of 30. And it is culturally unacceptable for Cambodian men and women to live together before marriage, says Rabbi Bentche Butman, who runs the Jewish Center of Cambodia. Another reason is financial. When attending a wedding, it is customary to give money – approximately $20. Because of that, hosts invite many people, and sometimes even people whom they have never met.
Un Chanta, a cook, recently invited all of the employees at her company to her daughter’s wedding – including some foreigners who had arrived in Cambodia just days before.
“It’s prestigious to have a Westerner at your wedding,” says Naomi Robinson, the managing editor of Cambodia-based magazine AsiaLIFE Guide. “And also you’re expected to give money – and if you’re a Westerner, you’re expected to give more.”
Whatever the reason, the enormous number of weddings can be a financial burden.
Phnom Penh college student Dorn Phok, whose monthly salary is $100, was invited to five weddings in February, of which he attended three, but sent money to all.
“When I get married," he says, "I want to make a big wedding to follow Khmer traditions and because everyone owes me money."
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Thursday, April 01, 2010
Fair aims to expand market share of VN goods in Cambodia
An annual fair showcasing high-quality Vietnamese goods and exports will be held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia from April 3-7.
The event aims to increase export turnover, expand market share, and affirm quality and position of Vietnamese goods in Cambodia.
Now in its ninth year, the event has helped earn Vietnamese products a good reputation throughout Cambodia, thanks in part to a “high-quality product” logo affixed to Vietnamese items.
Moreover, the Cambodian border is situated just 240 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City, so Vietnamese goods are thus able to be kept fresh during the journey into the country.
The domestic Vissan Company says two of its products are now very popular in Cambodia: pork pâté and liver pâté. This year, the company says it will introduce several other products such as nutritional sausage and stewed beef cubes at the fair.
Vinamilk Company is also planning to showcase many kinds of yoghurt and condensed milk at the event, and will provide refrigerators at all distribution centers to ensure product quality.
The company said it also targets building a processing factory in Cambodia in the near future.
In June 2009, Saigon Industrial Commercial Bank opened a branch in Phnom Penh offering simple, low-cost, one-hour money transfer services between Vietnam and Cambodia.
In August 2009, An Giang Province opened the Tinh Bien Trade Zone, creating new opportunities for businesses in the two countries to carry out trade activities.
Currently, Vietnam exports mainly instant noodles, plastic products, cigarettes, confectionaries, maize seeds, household goods, and vegetables to Cambodia. It imports textile and garment materials, wood and rubber from Cambodia.
The Cambodia government, meanwhile, is in the process of reforming administrative procedures to create advantageous conditions for foreign countries to do business in the country.
Cambodian commercial counselor Yeav Kim Hean said Cambodian people are now shifting away from Thai goods and are instead using more Vietnamese products.
Vu Kim Hanh, director of the local BAS Company, said that this year the fair has attracted more businesses than last year with a diversified offering of products and services.
Numerous cultural and sports activities will also be held at the fair including a friendly cycling race between Vietnam and Cambodia as well as art performances. Free medical exams and medicines will also be provided for three poor Cambodian provinces during the event, said Hanh.
Cambodia is among the top three investment destinations out of 50 countries and territories Vietnam has targeted. Two-way trade between the countries this year is expected to reach around US$2 billion.
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Work starts on hydropower project in Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
A Chinese company began work Thursday on a hydroelectric dam in Cambodia, the second Chinese dam project launched this week in the country where only about a quarter of the population has electricity.
The two projects are among several hydroelectric dams planned to reduce power shortages in Cambodia although activists warn they could cause environmental harm.
State-owned China Huadian Corp., one of China's biggest power companies, will build the 338-megawatt dam on the lower Russei Chrum river in Koh Kong province, with an investment of about $500 million. The project is due for completion by 2014.
A project launch ceremony was held in the capital, Phnom Penh, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) east of Koh Kong province.
Industry Minister Suy Sem said the power generated from the dam will be distributed to neighboring provinces and the capital.
"Cambodia will benefit greatly from this dam. It will provide us with a huge power capacity and help us to reduce the use of oil for producing power," Suy Sem said.
Cambodia's economy has grown rapidly over the past decade but poverty remains widespread.
Electricity generation is underdeveloped, and most power plants use fossil fuels. Cambodia also buys electricity from neighboring Vietnam and Thailand. Many people rely on generators.
By 2009 some 26 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people had access to regular electricity, said Heng Kunleang, director of the electricity division at the Industry Ministry.
Its electricity prices are among the highest in the world, which is also a major source of complaint from investors in Cambodia.
In a bid to meet future electricity demands, the government has identified 21 potential hydroelectric dam sites across the country.
But environmentalists have voiced concerns about the impact those projects will have.
In a 2008 report, the U.S.-based International Rivers Network said "poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage" Cambodia's environment and also extract a social cost.
On Monday, the China National Heavy Machinery Corp. started building a $540 million hydropower plant in the Koh Kong province that will generate up to 246 megawatts. It is also due for completion by 2014.
China is a leading foreign investor in Cambodia.
Some 349 Chinese companies have been invested in Cambodia mainly in agriculture projects, construction and dams, the Chinese Embassy said recently.
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Wednesday, March 31, 2010
US pledges $5 million to Khmer Rouge court
PHNOM PENH (AFP) – The United States has pledged five million dollars to Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal amid the troubled court's attempts to address corruption allegations, an envoy said Wednesday.
Stephen Rapp, the US ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, told reporters the donation was made "in light of continued progress" with the establishment of an independent official to help monitor graft.
The UN-backed court, which finished arguments in its first trial in November, has faced controversy over allegations of government interference and claims that Cambodian staff were forced to pay kickbacks for their jobs.
"We believe that credible steps have been taken (against corruption)," Rapp said in a US embassy press conference.
"The whole world is aware that Cambodia is moving forward from a dark period of its history," he said, adding the funds would be intended for the court's second trial, of four senior regime leaders, expected to begin early next year.
Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation, disease and overwork as the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge movement emptied cities and enslaved the population on collective farms in its bid to create a communist utopia.
The long-awaited first trial heard Duch, real name Kaing Guek Eav, acknowledge responsibility and beg forgiveness for overseeing the torture and execution of more than 15,000 people at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison.
Rapp told reporters he was not troubled by allegations that Cambodia's administration has attempted to interfere in the tribunal to protect former regime members who are now in government.
"From my observations, the court is able to do its work," Rapp said.
Amid repeated warnings by premier Hun Sen that further cases against the hardline regime could spark civil war, Cambodian and international prosecutors have clashed over whether the court should pursue more suspects.
The tribunal was created in 2006 after several years of haggling between Cambodia and the UN.
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Cambodian ex-king returns home from China
Sihanouk, his wife, and his son King Norodom Sihamoni were greeted at the airport by Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior government officials.
Oum Daravuth, a member of the royal cabinet, told reporters that Sihanouk was now in "good health" and that his royal presence would bring harmony to the kingdom and its people.
Sihanouk, 87, has suffered from a number of ailments, including cancer, diabetes and hypertension.
In July last year he returned to Cambodia after a stay of almost one year in China, where he was successfully treated for a third bout of cancer.
He and his wife returned last September for a check-up and treatment, while Sihamoni flew to see the pair in Beijing last month.
The ex-monarch said last October that he had lived too long and wished to die as soon as possible, according to a personal handwritten note on his website. "Lengthy longevity bears on me like an unbearable weight," he said.
One of Asia's longest-serving monarchs, he abruptly quit the throne in October 2004 in favour of his son, citing old age and health problems.
Despite abdicating, Sihanouk remains a prominent figure in Cambodia and often uses messages on his website to comment on matters of state.
ADRA Helps Displaced Residents Following Destructive Fire in Cambodian Capital
SILVER SPRING, Md.--More than 2,000 people were affected when a house fire broke out on March 8, destroying an entire block of homes in a low-income section of Tuol Kork, in Cambodia's capital city of Phnom Penh, reported the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).
According to ADRA Cambodia country director, Mark Schwisow, house fires are common in the shanty areas of Phnom Penh due to the construction of small, wooden homes, which are often built in close proximity to each other. In addition, when an emergency occurs, Schwisow explained, the small entryways into these areas hinder critical response vehicles, which are unable to access the affected buildings, leading to widespread destruction of entire blocks of homes.
"Families have been forced to move in with family members and friends, or onto small spaces by the railroad, or the pagoda compound near where they lived," said Schwisow.
To meet the immediate needs of 2,000 survivors, ADRA worked with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cambodia to purchase emergency supplies and basic food supplements, including rice, sugar, oil, fish, noodles, and tarpaulins. This aid was distributed on March 10, in collaboration with the Phnom Penh governor's office, and with the support of other local institutions.
ADRA International, the ADRA Asia Regional Office, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cambodia, and ADRA Cambodia funded the response.
In April 2008 and 2009, ADRA also provided assistance to local residents following two separate fires that displaced more than 3,500 people in impoverished sections of Phnom Penh.
ADRA has been active in Cambodia since 1988 in the main sectors of Health, Water and Sanitation, and Food Security.
Follow ADRA on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information as it happens.
To send your contribution to ADRA's Emergency Response Fund, please contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or give online at www.adra.org.
ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.
For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.
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Camouflage expert discovered in Cambodia
Researchers have discovered a cryptic species of gecko in the Cardamom Mountains of Cambodia, reports Fauna & Flora International (FFI), a conservation group that operates in the region.
The new species, named Cnemaspis neangthyi after Neang Thy, a Cambodian conservationist, was first collected during a field survey led by Dr Lee Grismer of La Sierra University in 2007. It is characterized by a broad flattened head and cryptic coloration that helps it blend in with rock surfaces and tree trunks.
Neang, who runs FFI’s Cardamom Mountains Research Group and works for Cambodia's Ministry of Environment, said the discovery highlights the need to study and protect the Cardamom region, a biodiversity trove that is under threat from agriculture, fire, and illegal logging.
"Maybe this [discovery] will also help to involve Cambodian people more in the conservation of species, landscapes and habitats," he said in a statement. "If we do not do this, many animals in Cambodia may soon become extinct and we will not be able to show them to our children."
The Cardamom Mountains region has been named a Global Biodiversity Hotspot and is home to at least 62 globally threatened animal and 17 globally threatened tree species. According to FFI, the Greater Cardamoms cover over 2 million hectares of forest, making it one of the largest remaining blocks of evergreen forest in Southeast Asia.
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Who will defend the children in Cambodia?
At the end of January, Human Rights Watch released a report on abuses throughout Cambodia's system of drug detention centres.
Our report detailed terrible abuses and sadistic violence. The adults and children we interviewed told us of being beaten, whipped and punished with electric shocks.
Unicef provides direct funding for one of the centres, where drug-users and children - some reportedly as young as four - are brought in from the streets. When we briefed them four months before we released our report, they told us they were shocked.
They promised to look into the abuses. Children who had been detained at the Unicef-funded centre told us of being tortured. They told us of being forced to do exhausting military exercises, work on construction projects and even dance naked for guards.
We expected Unicef to press for a thorough and independent investigation and to demand that those responsible for the abuses be held accountable. We hoped they would conduct a review of their funding, programming and activities. We expected them to press the Cambodian government more broadly about the detention of children alongside adults.
What actually happened? Not much. Unicef issued a statement when our report was released saying that past reviews conducted by the Ministry of Social Affairs - the ministry running the centre - had found no evidence of "major violations".
Over the next few weeks Unicef officials defended their support for the centre, saying that they monitor conditions in the centre "from time to time". Unicef's director in Cambodia, Richard Bridle, said that they "look for the positive". At the same time, Bridle conceded that he "wouldn't be surprised" if abuses were taking place, and that these kinds of abuses are "typical in centres [such] as this one".
Last week, Unicef officials visited the centre - the Choam Chao Youth Rehabilitation Centre, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh - and then told reporters that Human Rights Watch had made a mistake. Mr Bridle said that on their visit, Unicef staff had joked with children being held there and found them "engaging".
Bridle told the Phnom Penh Post that "there is no culture of violence" at the centre. He pointed to an as-yet-unreleased internal assessment by the Ministry of Social Affairs and to statements made by a non-governmental organisation that provides some services in the centre (and which is also financed by Unicef) to suggest that we had our facts wrong.
It's a tactic we are more accustomed to seeing from repressive governments than from Unicef officials: A quick trip, an internal investigation and an announcement of no wrongdoing.
In contrast to Unicef's cursory review, our investigation was independent and thorough. We conducted detailed, in-depth interviews with 53 people who had been detained in drug detention centres within the last three years, 17 of whom had been detained at the centre Unicef supports. Our interviews were conducted outside of the centres, where children could feel safe from possible retaliation for telling us of their experiences.
While Unicef claims that the Choam Chao centre is "open" and "voluntary", here is what a few children who had been held at the centre told us:
"I tried to escape but my feet got stuck on the barbed wire. I was re-arrested. They beat me with a rattan stick until I lost consciousness and they poured water on me. They said, each time, "Don't run again!" Teap (14 years old);
"As soon as I arrived, the Social Affairs staff kicked and beat me. I don't know why. He said, 'You stay here. Do not run! There are high walls here. If you get re-arrested, I won't be responsible if your leg is broken.'" Chambok (17 years old);
"They shocked the big kids who tried to escape. I saw when they escaped and when they got shocked. They shocked them a lot." Chamnauth (15 years old);
"If anyone tried to escape, he would be punished. Some people managed to escape, some didn't. Most who were punished for escaping would be beaten unconscious. Beatings like this happened every day." M'noh (16 years old).
All of these children were detained during the period when the centre was getting funds from Unicef.
We're not the only ones presenting evidence of abuse. In the same article that quotes Richard Bridle saying that "These were not brutalised kids", the reporter from the Phnom Phen Post quoted a drug-user who had been at the Unicef-funded centre a year ago: "They used sticks.
They unlocked the door, entered and started beating. They punched me in the face. They smashed my head against the wall. They beat me three times with the cable in the same place. You could see the flesh come out. It was like pieces of flesh from a fish." He then showed the journalist his scars.
We have briefed Unicef four times, before our report and afterwards, both in Cambodia and New York. It's been six months since we first presented our findings, methodology and recommendations.
While Unicef officials defend their colleagues at the Ministry of Social Affairs, who is defending the children at the centre they fund, or at the 10 other drug detention centres throughout the country? When will Unicef decide to listen to the voices of the children who have been beaten and tortured? When will they support our call for a thorough, independent and credible investigation?
Joe Amon is director of health and human rights for Human Rights Watch.
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