China's security chief goes on tour - How is Asia reacting?

China's Politburo Standing Committee Member Zhou Yongkang arrives for a meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, August 17, 2011. (Photo: Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters)

Over the past week, as I've traveled across Asia, I've discovered an unlikely partner in my continental peregrinations: China's security chief Zhou Yongkang. The senior Chinese envoy's travels have taken him to Nepal, Laos, Cambodia and Tajikistan. The final stop is Mongolia, where Zhou is expected to head on Tuesday.

In Zhou's wake, the narrative has tended to follow the same plot-line: first, China's state media proclaims “mutually beneficial cooperation” and “longstanding friendship” between Beijing and the local government. Then a raft of trade deals or bequeathing of military goodies is announced. Finally, an undercurrent of unease follows, with regional analysts wondering about China's growing economic and security might.
Last Saturday, Zhou was in Cambodia, where he met with Prime Minister Hun Sen. In addition to various mining, road-construction and farming deals, China has agreed to supply nearly $200 million in helicopters to Cambodia. Beijing is already the Southeast Asian nation's largest foreign investor, and Hun Sen, who has quietly evolved into one of Asia's longest-serving strongmen, has been vociferous in his support of China. His enthusiasm for Chinese largesse stands in marked contrast to his feelings toward Western donors who tend to attach pesky strings like human-rights commitments to their aid. The Phnom Penh Post quoted a local researcher worrying that “Cambodia will become subservient to China.”
Before that in Nepal, Zhou oversaw the signing of more than $50 million in trade and aid. Sandwiched between India and China, Nepal has turned into a kind of proxy ground tussled over by the two Asian giants. The Chinese delegation arrived just days after Nepal's Prime Minister had resigned. Political dysfunction, though, didn't stop the caretaker government from trying to profit from what China's 60-person delegation had to offer. During the Chinese security czar's stay, members of Nepal's Tibetan refugee community were warned against expressing any sentiment that might be considered “anti-China.” (Zhou's previous political duties have included serving on a Beijing committee that deals with Tibet; he helped oversee a crackdown on Tibetan activity in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.)

Zhou's travels produced some consternation in India, which shares a long border with China and has skirmished with its northern neighbor over the contested boundary. On August 22, the Times of India reported that the Indian Army was considering the creation of a Mountain Strike Corps to counter a Chinese military build-up in Tibet, which borders India. Ultra-light howitzers and light tanks would possibly be stationed along parts of the 4,057-km Line of Actual Control, according to the Times. Despite such tough talk, however, it's unclear whether India is really willing to commit financial resources to a military expansion.

Luckily for China, the official reaction to Zhou's visit was far rosier in communist Laos. According to China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, Laos' President Choummaly Sayasone announced last week that “China has become a significant force in the international community and is playing a key role in promoting regional and global peaceful development, which reveals the vitality of socialism and greatly encourages the Lao people.” Socialist brotherhood doesn't get any better than that. Read more!

Cambodia Town made official

Despite being 72 years old and living with the effects of a stroke, Chhang Song, a former Cambodian Information Minister, wasn’t a minute late in arriving to salute the recently installed Cambodia Town sign in Long Beach, California.

The Long Beach Public Works Department installs one of the first
two signs in Cambodia Town on Friday, July 8.
 Photo by: EDWARD SANA TAN

Wheelchair-bound, he gave a moving speech at the official unveiling of the sign on July 16, saying he was very proud and excited to be able to observe the historic event. The signs, which are visible along several streets and highways in Long Beach, are a visual representation of the resiliency and determination of the millions of Khmer currently living outside their home country.

“I wanted to say ‘thank you, Long Beach’. I wanted to embrace and thank the young men and women who made the birth of Cambodia Town possible in America,” Chhang Song says.

Having served the Cambodian government between 1970 and1975, Chhang Song was fortunate enough to have left the Kingdom bound for the United States, Virginia specifically, before the Khmer Rouge took hold of the capital in 1975. Obviously, millions of others weren’t so lucky. If being captured, murdered or put to work wasn’t one’s fate, fleeing the capital for refugee camps located near the border of Thailand was another.



Chhang Song delivers a speech at the official unveiling of the Cambodia Town sign in Long Beach, California.
 Photo by: MICHAEL BURR

Come 1978, thousands of those displaced fled to the US in search of some form of safety, security and the possibility of a better life, and Chhang Song was part of the effort to have these people rescued.

“We succeeded in having the Dole-Solarz Amendment passed by both houses of the US Congress in 1978,” says Chhang Song, who later moved to Long Beach to assist with the refugee resettlement. “By virtue of the Dole-Solarz Amendment, a total of 150,000 Cambodians who fled Pol Pot and lived in border camps in Thailand were processed for admission into the US.”

Chhang Song says the areas in which these Cambodians resettled were initially horribly depressed, though the community worked together to clear rubbish, organise self-help services and establish non-profit agencies and law offices. A new way of life was slowly becoming a possibility.

More and more Cambodian-run businesses popped up around the neighbourhood, including doughnut shops, car repairers, jewellery stores, restaurants, beauty salons, pharmaceutical clinics, fabric shops and supermarkets. Khmer culture also began to thrive with the construction of Buddhist temples, Khmer language centres and library programmes which focused on the Kingdom’s rich history.

Sithea San, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide who narrowly escaped the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime by crossing the landmine-riddled border into Thailand to settle in a United Nations refugee camp immigrated to Long Beach with her family in 1981. Upon arrival she spoke no English, yet went on to become fluent and graduate from high school in 1986. She then went on to tertiary study – a time which would change her own, and many others’ lives.

While studying for her bachelor of science in business management at California State University, Sithea San helped organise the first Cambodian Cultural Show through the college’s Cambodian Student Society. It was due to this event she says she developed a burning desire to continue to promote the development of a Khmer community in California.

“From these beginnings, my commitment to preserve and share my cultural traditions became the driving force for my work within and on behalf of the community,” she says.

While in the process of organising the Cambodian Cultural Show, Sithea San met her husband, Richer San, and in 2001 the pair was invited to attend a community meeting organised by the Cambodia Town Initiative Task Force. The meeting was intended to garner support for the establishment of the Cambodia Town Economic Development Project, both from members of the public and local politicians.

Now 44, Sithea San has been the chairperson of community-based organisation Cambodia Town Inc. since 2005, and says the establishment of the Cambodia Town Economic Development Project has been the most challenging experience of her professional life in the US, not least because of a complete lack of funding.

“There were no funds available to hire consultants or staff or for expenditure on publicity or public relations. This all-volunteer effort was built and funded from the ground up,” explains Sithea San, adding that the project also experienced strong opposition from certain sections of the Long Beach community.

“The critics … said the establishment of the Cambodia Town Business and Cultural District would result both in inter-ethnic gang wars between the Cambodian and other ethnic communities, and the isolation of the Cambodian community from the rest of the local communities in Long Beach,” she says.

Cambodia Town Inc. and its board members persevered, however, and spent countless hours lobbying elected officials and municipal staff, as well as leaders of other ethnic communities. Finally, after seven long years and with a 1000-strong crowd packing the council chambers, the proposed resolution of the Cambodia Town project was brought before the city council for approval on July 3, 2007.

Members of the council voted eight to one for the establishment of the Cambodia Town Business and Cultural District and the rest, as they say, is history.

While it did take four years and additional fundraising, in February of this year, Cambodia Town Inc. received approval from the city council to install the Cambodia Town signs. Come July 8 and the first two signs, erected on Anaheim Street, were installed, marking the district’s western and eastern boundaries. July 16 then saw a traditional Khmer ceremony take place, complete with blessings by Buddhist monks and a rendition of the Khmer Wishing Dance, while the remaining three posts were erected. And that’s not the end.
“We are currently collaborating with Long Beach city officials to install 14 additional signs marking the district’s northern and southern boundaries,” Sithea San says, adding that she anticipates the completion of the project by the end of this year.

It’s been a long process, one not yet done, but one that holds significance for thousands of Cambodians. In 2005, the US Census Bureau reported that the number of Cambodians residing in the US was 241,025. And according to Chhang Song, Long Beach is today believed to be home to some 50,000 of them, the highest concentration, he says, of Cambodian immigrants living outside Southeast Asia.

Chhang Song believes now that Cambodia Town, while being primarily a cultural district, will also attract businesses geared toward Khmer communities and facilitate exchanges between Cambodians, between Cambodians and other communities, and between America and Cambodia on a global scale. He says that due to this, Cambodia Town’s official existence will go on to make for meaningful economic, cultural and educational advancement for Cambodians living in the United States.

“I feel that, from this moment onward, cultural, business and other forms of trade and exchange will no longer remain the same for the Cambodians [in Long Beach].”
Read more!

Cambodian, Thai travel agents to meet as border row eases

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian and Thai tour and travel operators are scheduled to meet over the weekend to discuss ways to boost the two neighboring countries' tourism after being affected by continuous border dispute since 2008, the Chairman of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA) Ang Kim Eang said Tuesday.

The one-day meeting will be held on Aug. 27 in coastal Preah Sihanouk province, some 230 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh, he said, adding that it will bring together 28 Cambodian tour and travel agents and 66 Thai travel agents.

"As military tension over the border conflict has eased and normalcy has returned to border, the two countries' travel associations want to create close connection to boost respective tourism," he said, "Both sides will promote each country's tourism destinations and seek partners for cooperation."

Thai tourists to Cambodia have constantly declined since the two neighbors have been involved in border dispute since July 2008 when Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, but Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers (1.8 square miles) of scrub next to the temple.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulting in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.

However, the border tension between the two countries has eased since the Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in the July 3 general election.

The latest statistics showed that Thai tourists to Cambodia had declined by up to 36 percent to 48,136 in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period last year of 75,695. Read more!

Angelina Jolie inspired to adopt by Tomb Raider

By Bang Showbiz

Angelina Jolie was inspired to adopt by her role in 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'.

The actress played a daredevil archaeologist - based on the character from the popular 'Tomb Raider' video game series - in the 2001 movie and she has revealed it was the scenes she shot in Cambodia which convinced her to adopt her first child, son Maddox, from the Asian country.

She said: "A turning point in my life came when I made 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider', in England. It also involved filming, partly, in Cambodia. I learned that the world is bigger than I thought it was and there were more important things than a film. I did not know much about Cambodia. I did not appreciate how beautiful it was and I had never met such open-hearted people."

Angelina - who went on to adopt two more children, son Pax from Vietnam and daughter Zahara from Ethiopia - also credits the film with helping her turn her back on her hard-partying behavior and live a healthier lifestyle.

She explained: "That film also helped me get in to shape. I smoked a lot, drank far too much, had way too much coffee and suffered from insomnia. The fitness coaches on 'Lara Croft' adjusted me. I had a certain amount of water, protein checks, vitamins, my cigarettes were taken away and I was not allowed to drink alcohol. As for that role, I was loud and insane. I had too much fire for everyday life, so fitted into Lara Croft's world perfectly."

Although Angelina had to fight robots and dodge booby traps in the adventure movie, the 36-year-old actress insists being a parent to Maddox, now 10, and his five siblings, Pax, seven, Shiloh, five, Zahara, six, and three-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox, is harder than being a Hollywood hero.

She said: "Once I became a mom, I realized it was far harder than being Lara Croft. I want my kids to appreciate how fortunate they are in life, compared with so many people who have nothing.

"If anybody ever tells me that I am a mother to them like my mom (Marcheline Bertrand) was to me, it will be a great compliment."

Read more!

China to lend Cambodia $195m to buy its helicopters

China has agreed to lend $US195 million to Cambodia so it can buy Chinese military helicopters.

It is the latest deal in a flurry of trade and investment between the two countries.


Chinese Zhi-9 helicopters, the type Cambodia is believed to have ordered,

 fly past during exercises in southern Kazakhstan. [Reuters]

 The loan would be for an undisclosed number of Chinese-built Zhi-9 (Z-9) utility helicopters, according to official documents seen by Reuters, which covered some 29 agreements signed on Saturday by the two countries.

The Z-9 is a license-built version of the French-made Eurocopter AS 365 Dauphin II first used in the 1980s. Much of Cambodia's military equipment is outdated and in need of repair, with only a few helicopters currently in use.

Cambodian defence ministry spokesman Chhum Sucheat could not confirm how many helicopters would be purchased or when they would be delivered.

China last year donated more than 250 jeeps, trucks and ambulances to Cambodia's army after the United States cancelled plans to provide it with 200 vehicles, in response to the government sending 20 ethnic minority Uighur asylum-seekers back to China in 2009.

As well as government-to-government loans, Chinese firms' Cambodian investments are mainly in construction, agriculture, mining and energy.

Chinese companies last year pledged to invest $8 billion in 360 projects in the impoverished South East Asian country in the first seven months of this year, almost as much as the country's annual gross domestic product.

Among the deals agreed at the weekend was for China's Huawei technologies to help cellphone operator CamGSM to build Cambodia's first satellite. Read more!

AP ENTERPRISE: Sand for Sale; Environment Ravaged

By DENIS D. GRAY Associated Press
KOH KONG, Cambodia August 22, 2011 (AP)

Round a bend in Cambodia's Tatai River and the virtual silence of a tropical idyll turns suddenly into an industrial nightmare.

Lush jungle hills give way to a flotilla of dredgers operating 24 hours a day, scooping up sand and piling it onto ocean-bound barges. The churned-up waters and fuel discharges, villagers say, have decimated the fish so vital to their livelihoods. Riverbanks are beginning to collapse, and the din and pollution are killing a promising ecotourism industry.

In this Aug. 2, 2011 photo, a Vietnamese vessel hauling sand plies the Tatai River in southwestern Cambodia. Dredging operations have sparked protest by villagers who say it is destroying the river’s ecology, and their livelihoods. Cambodia is exporting vast amounts of sand for land reclamation and construction projects in Singapore. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

What is bad news for the poor, remote Tatai community is great tidings for Singapore, the wealthy city-state that is expanding its territory by reclaiming land from the sea. Sand from nearby countries is the prime landfill and also essential building material for Singapore's spectacular skyline.

As more countries ban its export to curb environmental damage — entire Indonesian islands have been all but wiped off the map — suppliers to Singapore scour the region for what still can be obtained, legally or not. Cambodia, a poor country where corruption is rife and laws are often flouted, is now the No. 1 source.

Singapore is by no means the only nation taking part in what is a global harvest of sand from beaches, rivers and seabeds. Officials and environmentalists from China to Morocco have voiced concern and urged curbs. As construction booms in emerging economies and more sources dry up, however, exploitation of the remaining ones is likely to intensify.

Sand mining began anew in May on southwestern Tatai River, which empties into the ocean almost directly north of Singapore, across 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) of open water.

Despite denials by the main owner of sand mining rights in Koh Kong province, two Cambodian officials told The Associated Press that the sand is destined for the island nation.

Singapore will not say where its sand comes from; the Construction and Building Authority said it is not public information. The National Development Ministry said the state's infrastructure development company buys it from "a diverse range of approved sources."

The mining visible on the Tatai River clearly violates some of Cambodia's own legal restrictions, not to mention a recent government order to suspend it temporarily.

Vessels of a Vietnamese company were tracked by boat from about 10 kilometers (6 miles) upriver to the Gulf of Thailand, where nearly a dozen seagoing barges, tugs hovering around them, took on the sand.

The AZ Kunming Singapore, a 5,793-ton (5,255-metric ton) barge pulled by the AZ Orchid, was seen arriving empty from the open ocean, its tug flying a Singaporean flag. Both are registered with the Singapore government, which would not comment on the barge's cargo or destination.

Ships from several countries, including China, were spotted in sand-mining operations in Koh Kong province, where residents joked about going to Singapore and planting a Cambodian flag there.

The vessels included one from Winton Enterprises, a Hong Kong-registered group that was subcontracted to export sand to Singapore, according to Global Witness, a London-based environmental group that published a detailed account of the trade last year.

The report said that miners had penetrated protected mangrove, estuary and sea grass areas, breeding grounds for marine life along a coastline and hinterland harboring some of the country's last wilderness areas.

Cambodia's cabinet spokesman, Siphan Phay, who was investigating the issue in Koh Kong, appeared angry that the temporary halt order was being ignored. He described the activity as illegal mining destined for Singapore, a surprising statement given that government ministers awarded the concession.

A police officer in the economic crime division, who demanded anonymity given the issue's sensitivity, also said the sand is going to Singapore.

Ly Yong Phat, who holds the major concession in Koh Kong, has at times openly acknowledged the Singapore connection. But in a recent AP interview, amid tightening restrictions and mounting criticism, he said his company had not shipped sand to Singapore for more than a year because "our sand did not meet their standards."

The dredging, he added, was for local sale and to deepen river channels.

However, a Malaysian company, Benalec Holdings, said it was ready to tap up to 530,000 tons for a reclamation project in Singapore from several sources in Cambodia, including Ly Yong Phat's LYP Group.

Known as the "King of Koh Kong," Ly Yong Phat is one of Cambodia's biggest tycoons and a senator with close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen. His holdings include hotels, a casino and agricultural plantations.

Land reclamation has enlarged Singapore by more than a fifth, and up to 100 square kilometers (nearly 40 square miles) more are slated for reclamation by 2030. What was once seabed is now Changi, among the world's finest airports, and more recently the Marina Bay complex, which includes a 2,560-room hotel and casino developed by Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Mountains of sand are needed for such fills. U.N. statistics show Singapore imported 14.6 million tons last year, ranking it among the world's top customers. Global Witness estimated that nearly 800,000 tons a year, worth some $248 million, were streaming to Singapore from Koh Kong alone.

The U.N. figures show that Cambodia supplied 25 percent of Singapore's imports in 2010, followed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines. With its secrecy and lax enforcement of environmental regulations, Myanmar could emerge as a major supplier.

The damage caused by sand extraction has spurred clampdowns on exports.

Malaysia imposed a ban in 1997, though the media there frequently report on massive smuggling into neighboring Singapore. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad complains that sand pirates are "digging Malaysia and giving her to other people."

An Indonesian ban came in 2007, following years of strained relations with Singapore over the sand on islands lying between the two countries. When miners finished with Nipah Island, reportedly all that was left was three or four palm trees protruding above the waterline. Environmental groups say smuggling is believed to be continuing.

Vietnam banned exports late last year.
Cambodia outlawed the export of sand from rivers in 2009 but allows it from some seabeds. Recently, some government officials said that rivers where seawater flowed into fresh water, replenishing sand naturally, were exempt.

Global Witness spokesman Oliver Courtney said the trade in Cambodia revealed a "mismatch between Singapore's reliance on questionably sourced sand and its position as a leader for sustainable development." The city-state prides itself on environmentally sound urban planning.

The dredging of the Tatai River began on May 17 "with a fury," creating a veritable traffic jam on the water, said Janet Newman, owner of the riverside Rainbow Lodge.

"Before you could see crab pots bobbing in the river everywhere and fishermen going out. Now there is nothing and nobody," the British woman said.

Chea Manith of the Nature Tourism Community of Tatai said 270 families along the river have seen an estimated 85 percent drop in catch of fish, crab and lobsters and were being forced to eke out a living from small garden plots. Tourists have all but vanished.

Armed with a petition, village leaders, tourism operators and a wildlife group met with Ly Yong Phat in early July. He appeared sympathetic, Newman said. He substantially reduced the dredging and has promised to stop altogether in October.

A subsequent letter from the Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology ordered the LYP group to halt operations temporarily on the Tatai, citing a breach of regulations. The letter was obtained by Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post newspaper, which made it available to the AP.

Hun Sen himself expressed concern over the mining in the river.
"We hoped that the prime minister's recent promise to review the impacts of the sand trade would lead to proper regulation of dredging operations," said Courtney of Global Witness. "Unfortunately, the pledge does not appear to have been followed up with meaningful action."

The mining has continued on the Tatai, and violations, such as dredging closer than 150 meters (165 yards) from riverbanks, were clearly evident.

The Post also obtained a Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy letter extending LYP Group's concession in Koh Kong until Sept. 2012.

"We are just little people. We cannot do anything," Chea Manith said.

Newman sounded a more optimistic note. "It's my hope that the LYP Group will become sympathetic through this experience of having seen the reaction from people passionate about protecting their environment," she said. "It would be sad if they just went somewhere else to dump the same on others."

———

Associated Press writers Sean Yoong in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Alex Kennedy in Singapore; Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar; and Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report. Read more!

Ruling parties of China and Cambodia expect closer cooperation

Zhou Yongkang (L, Front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, meets with Chea Sim (R, Front), Chairman of Cambodian People's Party and also President of the Senate of Cambodia, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 20, 2011. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)


PHNOM PENH, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Officials of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Cambodian People's Party (CPP) agreed here to promote inter-party cooperation on Saturday.

At a meeting with Chea Sim, CPP Chairman and also President of the Senate of Cambodia, visiting CPC senior official Zhou Yongkang conveyed best regards from Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo.

Zhou highly spoke of the CPP's achievement in leading Cambodian people to develop economy, reduce poverty, promote ethnic reconciliation, secure national stability and play an increasingly active role in regional and international affairs.

The CPC is willing to carry out more active inter-party exchanges with the CPP to share experience in state governance and administration, and further upgrade the China-Cambodia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Chea Sim said Cambodia would deepen mutual-beneficial cooperation with China in politics, economy, culture and other areas. He said he believes Zhou's visit will be an opportunity to enhance the Cambodia-China ties and benefit both peoples.

After the meeting, Zhou and Chea Sim attended a signing ceremony of a document on inter-party exchanges between the CPC and CPP.

Zhou, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and also secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, arrived here on late Friday to pay an official good- will visit at the invitation of the CPP and the Funcinpec Party.

Cambodia is the third leg of Zhou's five-nation Asian tour after Nepal and Laos. He is set to leave Cambodia on Sunday and continue his visit to Tajikistan and Mongolia.

Zhou Yongkang (R, Front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, shakes hands with Chea Sim (L, Front), Chairman of Cambodian People's Party and also President of the Senate of Cambodia, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 20, 2011. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Zhou Yongkang (L, Front), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, and Chea Sim (R, Front), Chairman of Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and also President of the Senate of Cambodia, attend a signing ceremony of a document on inter-party exchanges between the CPC and CPP in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 20, 2011. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

Zhou Yongkang (2nd L, sitting), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Political and Legal Affairs, and Chea Sim (2nd R, sitting), Chairman of Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and also President of the Senate of Cambodia, attend a signing ceremony of a document on inter-party exchanges between the CPC and CPP in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Aug. 20, 2011. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing). Read more!

Cambodian maids tell of abuse by their employers

The government says it condemns abuse of maid but has not done anything to review the laws to protect them, say human rights activists.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hok Pov had never been beaten and never known hunger until she came to work in Malaysia in April.

In the six weeks that she worked as a maid for a Malaysian family, she says she lost 10 kilograms while toiling 20 hours a day with little to eat. Often she was slapped and punched by her employer, she says.

“I was so hungry that I even ate chicken bones,” a sobbing Hok Pov, 31, said at the office of Malaysian rights’ group Tenaganita that rescued her in June with the help of police.

“There was always lot of work to do and I had to suffer beatings. Once I was slapped so hard that my tooth fell off. Who can bear this?” Hok Pov said in her first media interview

She is among 41 Cambodian maids rescued this year by the group, highlighting the frequent abuse and exploitation of foreign domestic workers due to inadequate laws .

Concerns of abuse of Cambodian maids came under the public spotlight after a Cambodian maid was found dead last month outside the home where she worked, while another was rescued by Malaysian police after she was allegedly abused and had her head shaved bald by her employer.

According to the embassies of Indonesia and Cambodia — which have supplied the bulk of more than 230,000 foreign maids in Malaysia — about 2,000 women come forward every year with complaints of abuse.

Although that’s a tiny fraction of the total number, rights groups say every instance of abuse shows Malaysia in poor light and emphasizes the government’s uncaring attitude to the problem.

Malaysia’s rising prosperity has meant that fewer locals want to do menial, low-paying jobs. The gap has been filled by foreigners, mostly Indonesians who can be seen on construction sites, palm plantations and in homes as maids.

But a string of high-profile abuse cases, including deaths, led Indonesia to ban its women in 2009 from working in Malaysia. The number of foreign maids fell from 280,000 three years ago to about 230,000 today. Some 50,000 of them are Cambodians, of which 30,000 came this year alone.

Stop sending maids here
The government says it condemns abuse of maid but has not done anything to review the laws to protect them. Malaysian immigration officials in charge of foreign domestic workers couldn’t be reached for comment on the issue, despite repeated attempts to contact them.

Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez said that maids who come from poor countries are all vulnerable to abuse, except for Filipinos who are better protected by their government.

She said abuse is institutionalized here as maids aren’t allowed to retain their passports and get no days off in a week.

“Instead of addressing the root problem of putting an end to abuse, the government is turning to other poor countries vulnerable to abuse to source for maids,” she said.

Tenaganita is urging Cambodia also to stop sending maids to Malaysia until the government puts in place tougher laws, or at least an agreement that protects the maids from abusive employers. Indonesia has negotiated such an agreement and is expected to lift the ban on its maids soon.

To ban or not to ban
Hok Pov, who said her hair was cut short like a boy’s, was promised a monthly salary of RM650 — double her wage as a factory worker in Cambodia. She has not received any money from her employer.

“I just want my salary and get out of here. I don’t ever want to come to Malaysia again,” said Hok Pov, who is married and has an 8-year-old son.

“They are rich, educated and religious people but why don’t they have any compassion for the poor like me? I have no one to turn to. Every night I cried myself to sleep. It was one and a half months in hell,” she said.

Tenaganita official Liva Sreedhana said it was difficult to file criminal charges against Hok Pov’s employer as she has no physical injury or scars to show, and only has her words.

The group is now negotiating with the employer, who is refusing to give Hok Pov any money and is dodging meetings.

Men Chaveasna, who also lives in Tenaganita’s shelter with Hok Pov, completed her two-year work contract last August but never got her wages.

Her Malaysian employer bought her a flight home and ditched her at the airport.

Chaveasna, 30, who came to Malaysia to work to support her farmer parents, won a case in the labour court this year to demand wages totaling RM7,700 owed to her. But her employer appealed to the high court and the case is pending.

“It is better not to work in Malaysia because we may not get paid,” she said. “There are many new factories in Cambodia and I can find jobs back home.”

Cambodian Ambassador Norodom Arunrasmy said that Malaysia is the only country that recruits Cambodian maids, giving the poor a lifeline.

She said the Cambodian government was in the process of drafting a new law to protect its maids, including screening the employer to ensure the girls would be properly housed and not overworked.

“To ban or not to ban would be up to the high decision of my government … but they [the government] also know that our people need work and jobs in order to survive,” Arunrasmy said in an e-mail.
Read more!

Cambodian girl dies from H5N1 infection

Aug 19, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Cambodia's health ministry has confirmed that a 6-year-old girl died from an H5N1 avian influenza infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

The girl, from Kampong Cham province in eastern Cambodia, got sick Aug 7 and was first treated by local healthcare providers, the WHO said. After her condition didn't improve she was admitted to Kantha Bopha Children's Hospital in Phnom Penh on Aug 12, where she died 2 days later.

Her infection and death raise Cambodia's H5N1 toll to 18 cases and 16 deaths, the WHO said.

Cambodia has reported eight H5N1 cases this year, all of them fatal. Though a recent report from German researchers noted that the overall case-fatality rate for the disease has declined over the past 5 years, it has been lethal in Cambodia, which reported its first cases in 2005 and has had only two patients who survived their infections.

Cambodia's latest case raises the world's H5N1 total to 565 cases, which include 331 deaths.

An investigation into the source of the girl's illness suggests that she had been exposed to sick poultry. There were recent reports of poultry die-offs in the girl's village.

National and local response teams are conducting an outbreak investigation, according to the WHO report. So far none of the girl's contacts have tested positive for the H5N1 virus.
Read more!

Phnom Penh softens stance on observers

Indonesian observers may not be needed in the disputed border area with Cambodia, said Defence Minister Yutthasak Sasiprapa.

He said yesterday that Cambodia had told him if bilateral talks between the two countries can lead to the withdrawal of troops from both sides, third-party observers may not be necessary.

Cambodia had earlier insisted that third party observers from Indonesia enter the disputed border area, but the country has taken a more compromising stance following the Pheu Thai Party's election victory last month.

Mr Yutthasak cited a recent conversation with Defence Minister Tea Banh, who placed his hopes in negotiations of the Regional Border Committee (RBC) and the General Border Committee (GBC) as ways to solve the row.

If Thailand and Cambodia can reach an agreement in bilateral talks, Indonesian observers may not be needed to monitor a ceasefire, Gen Yutthasak quoted Gen Tea Banh as saying.

"I've appointed acting adviser for the defence minister, Gen Wichit Yathip, to work on the issue," he said.

Gen Wichit, a former deputy army chief, is known to have close ties with Cambodia.

The retired general was assigned to deal with Thai-Cambodian issues during his service in the army.

The withdrawal of Thai and Cambodian soldiers from the disputed border area near Cambodia's Preah Vihear ruins has become a priority for the countries, following an order by the International Court of Justice in Hague last month.

The ICJ ruled that the area around the temple should be declared a demilitarised zone, pending its consideration of Cambodia's complaint over the ownership of a 4.6-square kilometre overlapping border area near the temple.

Representatives of the two countries will attend the RBC meeting, co-chaired by Thai 2nd Army commander Lt Gen Tawatchai Samutsakhon and Cambodia's 4th Army chief Chea Mon, on Wednesday and Thursday in Nakhon Ratchasima.

The RBC will set a discussion framework for the GBC which will hold talks soon afterward in Phnom Penh, according to Gen Yutthasak.

"We will discuss how we will live together and how we will manage the troops," said army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha, referring to the RBC meeting.

Gen Yutthasak was optimistic about the meetings. He even hoped tourists may be allowed to visit the Preah Vihear temple if the GBC meeting turns out well.

Gen Prayuth yesterday visited Pha Mo I Daeng in Si Sa Ket, which is close to the border. There were no traces of tension, he said.
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ADB backs under-fire campaigners in Cambodia

People sit along railroad tracks outside their shanty homes in the Boeng Kak slum area of Phnom Penh (AFP/File, Nicolas Asfouri)


PHNOM PENH — The Asian Development Bank on Friday defended two land rights organisations in Cambodia that have been rapped by the government for criticising an ADB-funded railway redevelopment project.

The attacks on the two groups, who monitor the relocation of families living near the railway tracks, come as the government is preparing a controversial law to regulate the activities of campaigners and charity workers.

"ADB views recent developments with the utmost seriousness," the bank said in a statement after the local Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) charity was slapped with a five-month suspension and international group Bridges Across Borders Cambodia (BABC) was given a government warning over a critical report.

Both had been monitoring the project's resettlement of over 1,000 families and had provided "important information", the Manila-based lender said, adding it hoped they would "be allowed to continue making contributions".

The bank is providing $84 million in loans for the $140 million project to improve Cambodia's tattered railway system, with additional funding coming from the Australian government and Phnom Penh.

The government suspended STT earlier this month, ostensibly for failing to file the correct paperwork, but 40 non-profit groups said in a joint statement the real reason was the group's "legitimate work among urban poor communities".

BABC, meanwhile, was summoned to meet foreign ministry officials on Thursday to "clarify" a statement from October last year that said two children had drowned fetching water in a relocation site it said lacked proper facilities.

"The deaths of the children are not linked to ADB's project to restore the railway," foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told AFP, adding that the government had told BABC to "improve its work".

The action against the two charities has fuelled fears of a wider crackdown on civil society groups once the proposed NGO law takes effect, rights groups said.

The legislation has come under fire from campaigners in Cambodia and abroad for imposing burdensome registration requirements and giving the government the power to dissolve organisations.

In January the US State Department said it had "serious concerns" about the draft law and questioned whether the measure was even necessary.

Charities have played an active role in rebuilding Cambodia since it emerged from the brutal Khmer Rouge regime and years of civil war, but they have on occasion clashed with the government.

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UN Urges Asia to Enforce Human Trafficking Laws

Cambodia remains a Tier 2 country, putting it in a category above China, which is on a “watch list,” and Burma, which is a major source of trafficking. Other Tier 2 countries in Asia include Indonesia, Laos and Singapore.


Senior United Nations officials say countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region including Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are failing to apply existing laws aimed at combating human trafficking. The conclusions come as a U.N. envoy on human trafficking concluded a 10-day assessment of Thailand's efforts to curb labor migration abuses.

The U.N.'s Special Rapporteur on Human Trafficking, Joy Ezeilo, says countries need to adopt a comprehensive approach to combat trafficking and implement laws that are already on the books.

Some progress made

Ezeilo said in Thailand, authorities have made 'significant progress' but officials are still not doing enough to protect irregular migrants and overcome corruption.

"We need a comprehensive approach to combating human trafficking. I think implementation is actually where the challenge is, because you may have very good laws, very good national plans - and actually done a lot in the sense of rehabilitative measures to assist trafficked persons, but then with the gap to the application of the law - it should [be] comprehensive in prosecution, punishment of traffickers," she said.

After assessing Thailand's efforts to curb abuses, Ezeilo said the country remains a source, transit and destination country for trafficking.

The report said Thais are trafficked to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Germany, Israel, Japan, South Africa and the United States. Thailand also is a receiver nation from Cambodia, Burma, Laos and Vietnam.

Children targeted
Ezeilo said within Thailand, internal trafficking of children is also rampant, including children of hill tribe communities.

The trafficking fuels child prostitution, pornography and sex tourism. Other traffickers target workers for domestic help, begging, forced marriage and surrogacy. The report said the practice is growing in the agricultural, construction and fisheries industries.

Human trafficking is estimated to be worth millions of dollars to criminal gangs across the region.

The U.N.'s International Labor Organization (ILO) has backed efforts to implement programs to protect migrant workers from Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

But Nilim Baruah, a chief technical advisor with the ILO office in Bangkok, says despite the effort countries in the region, including Cambodia and Laos, have failed to apply their own laws to better regulate labor migration.

"Management and governance of migration continues to be a major area of concern for government in the Mekong Sub Region," said Baruah. "If one looks at Laos and Cambodia, the question is also about the capacity of the government to develop and implement their legislation. In terms of Laos and Cambodia there is a need for capacity building and training from the part of the government themselves."

Comprehensive approach

Martin Reeve, a regional advisor to the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) agrees a comprehensive approach is needed to curb human trafficking beyond law enforcement and include other sectors of the community, including business.

"Certainly law enforcement can't do it on its own, neither can government policy, neither can civil society," said Reeve.  "So really you do need a multilateral approach to this - the business community. The business community can look at its own practices and to make sure that it's not involving exploitative labor at any point during the supply process - and that's a key thing."

Thailand implemented a process of documentation and registration of over one million migrant workers over the past years, mostly from Burma as well as Cambodia and Laos. The latest campaign to register the workers, largely from the fishing industry, ended this month. A full report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur, Ezeilo, is expected to be presented to the U.N. in mid-2012. Read more!

UN envoy: Thailand fails to enforce laws against human trafficking

Bangkok - Corruption and poor law enforcement has undermined Thailand's efforts to crack down on human trafficking, which remains rampant, a UN envoy said Friday.

'Corruption, coupled with the infamous brokerage system, has diluted the efficacy of government policies and programmes to combat human trafficking,' UN special rapporteur on human trafficking Joy Ezeilo said after concluding a 12-day assessment tour of the country.

Thailand, which has about 2 million registered migrant workers and an estimated 1 million unregistered ones, has long been a hub for human trafficking for the sex industry and forced labour.

'There is widespread occurrence of sexual exploitation, including child prostitution, pornography and sex tourism,' Ezeilo said.

She added that she found evidence of increased trafficking of forced labour in agriculture, construction and the fishing industry.

'In particular, trafficking for forced labour is notoriously common in the fishery sector, where men are often trafficked onto fishing boats,' Ezeilo said.

The special rapporteur would present her final report on human trafficking in Thailand to the United Nations in June.

Despite past efforts to register its migrant labour force, pass laws that increase penalties on traffickers and provide better services for victims, Thailand continues to get poor grades for tackling the crime.

The US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report placed Thailand in its Tier 2 category, which indicates it does not fully comply with laws on preventing human trafficking but are making significant efforts to enter Tier One, which indicates full compliance. Thai officials said they believe the country should be in Tier One.

'We don't think that we deserve it because we've been doing quite a lot in the field,' Thai Foreign Ministry Information Department head Vijavat Isarabhakdi said.

Thailand passed an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act in 2008, and has established teams in every province to cope with human trafficking.

'I think implementation is where the challenge is,' Ezeilo said. 'Now what I am challenging the government to do is more investigations to ensure that the bad eggs in the police and those abetting and aiding human trafficking are punished.' According to non-governmental organizations, police are always on the receiving end of a well-organized brokerage system that preys on both documented and undocumented workers seeking work in Thailand from its neighbours Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

The UN rapporteur was in Thailand at the invitation of the Thai government.

'We welcome all her observations and comments, and we are determined to do what we can to address the things that are still lacking,' Vijavat said.
Read more!

Can Yingluck fix Cambodian ties?

The election of Yingluck Shinawatra has raised hopes that Thailand can improve its prickly ties with Cambodia. But will the Thai Army get in the way?

Yingluck Shinawatra spent much of the month following her landmark victory in Thailand's national elections in July traveling the country, meeting with adoring supporters and enjoying a well-earned victory lap. But with all the problems that await her now that she has taken over as prime minister – opposition to her populist economic policies, a simmering insurgency in southern Thailand, and above all, the immense task of national reconciliation following the political violence in Bangkok last year – it’s a lap few could blame her for wanting to extend.

Amid all these challenges, though, there’s hope that the charismatic 44-year-old may be well-positioned to address one of the region's thorniest disputes: the border standoff between Thailand and Cambodia.

Military clashes between the two sides have left at least 28 dead so far this year, and have displaced thousands of civilians temporarily. The dispute centres primarily around Preah Vihear temple, an 11th-century complex along the border that was enshrined as a UNESCO World Heritage site for Cambodia in 2008.

In a 1962 decision, the United Nations' International Court of Justice awarded sovereignty over Preah Vihear to Cambodia, though it didn’t address a stretch of adjacent territory that both sides now claim. Cambodia therefore requested earlier this year that the ICJ expand on its 1962 ruling in order to also address the disputed area near the temple. While a final decision on this request could take years, the ICJ made an interim order last month calling for both sides to withdraw their troops from the area.

This has so far been held up by disagreements between the respective governments over the details of the pull-out. With the term of erstwhile Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva having drawn to a close, however, Cambodian officials are holding out high hopes for the new government.

‘It’s true, we can’t hide the fact that we are happy with the victory of the Puea Thai Party,’ Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters following the Thai elections. ‘We hope that the new government in Thailand that is organised by Puea Thai will resolve issues with Cambodia more positively and more peacefully.’

Hun Sen, Cambodia’s outspoken prime minister, has made no secret of his disdain for Abhisit, calling the Oxford graduate the most difficult Thai premier with whom he has ever worked. Hun Sen has instead cultivated his relationship with Puea Thai and Yingluck's older brother Thaksin, who currently lives abroad to avoid a graft conviction after being ousted in a 2006 coup but who is widely believed to be pulling the strings for the party. In 2009, Hun Sen appointed Thaksin as an economics adviser to the Cambodian government, calling him an ‘eternal friend.’

Yingluck, for her part, has reportedly said that the restoration of ties with neighbouring countries will be a priority for the new government, an apparent reference to Cambodia.

This will not be without its challenges, however. Many analysts see the Thai army as being behind the clashes earlier this year, and senior military officials will assuredly work to preserve their autonomy despite the change in government.

The border dispute also arouses passions from other quarters in Thai society, particularly members of the conservative establishment and the Yellow Shirt movement. Then-Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama was forced from his position in 2008 for supporting Cambodia's UNESCO bid without parliamentary approval, and he and ex-Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej later faced charges over the issue from Thailand’s National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Although Yingluck's administration will be wary of inviting a similar reaction, they must nonetheless move on the issue, says Puangthong Pawakapan, an expert on Thai-Cambodian relations at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

‘I think Puea Thai realize that they have to try to solve this Preah Vihear temple issue,’ Puangthong says. ‘The new minister of foreign affairs needs to have the guts to fight against the misinformation created by the nationalists and be firm on the previous positions taken by Samak Sundaravej – that supporting Cambodia’s World Heritage inscription will not affect Thai territory at all.’

The appointment of new Foreign Minister Surapong Towijakchaikul, a relation of Thaksin by marriage, may herald a return to the business-focused diplomacy that characterized Thaksin’s tenure as prime minister. This could be a welcome approach in the Thai-Cambodian dispute, as past border tensions have held up a resolution to the countries’ so-called ‘overlapping claims area’ in the Gulf of Thailand, thought to be rich with untapped oil and gas resources.

While resistance at home may be fierce, the opportunity is there for Yingluck to move closer to resolving the conflict with Cambodia, says Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

‘Yingluck will have to try very hard to separate domestic politics from foreign affairs,’ Pavin says. ‘It will be difficult, but she has to do it.’ Read more!

Thaksin 'has no plan' to go to Cambodia

Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has no plan to visit Cambodia at this time, says his close aide and legal adviser Noppadon Pattama.

Mr Noppadon said Thaksin told him over the phone around 3pm yesterday he would not travel to Cambodia from Friday to Sunday or after his trip to Japan, as reported in the media.

Thaksin is scheduled to visit Japan from Monday to Friday.

Mr Noppadon also denied reports that Thaksin planned to discuss a business deal on petroleum resource development in the overlapping maritime area between Thailand and Cambodia.

"He is fully aware of the situation in Thailand and does not want to be a target of opposition attacks," Mr Noppadon said.

The former prime minister did not want to cause the government, led by his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra, to worry about him.

Thaksin wanted to see the government direct all its efforts to helping the public, he said.

When asked which country Thaksin would go to after visiting Japan, Mr Noppadon said he did not know.

On Thaksin's plan to return to Thailand, the former prime minister would return to the kingdom "when the time was right", Mr Noppadon said. He insisted his boss would not do anything to obstruct the government's efforts to solve the country's problems.
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Defense Spending Expected to Rise Into 2012

Hun Sen's military thick skin and National Defense packes are ready to battle interlopers around Preah Vihea, sharp fangs for fierce fights

Cambodia expects to bump up its military and defense budget next year, an increase that comes amid an ongoing standoff with Thailand over the border near Preah Vihear, officials said Wednesday.

Defense remains a priority sector for spending, garnering $304 million in 2011, when it also saw an increase. Officials say they expect to prioritize health and education spending for 2012.

However, national defense remains a primary concern, with an ongoing border dispute that began in July 2008 and has led to a number of deadly skirmishes over the last three years.

As a result, the government has begun a recruitment drive for 5,000 more soldiers—many of them to replace retiring troops—who will train for three months before they are sent to the northern border.

The 2011 budget totaled $2.4 billion, with the Ministry of Defense—a portion only of defense and security spending—receiving $190 million, the Ministry of Education $223 million, and the Ministry of Health $169 million.

The $304-million defense and security budget for 2011 was less than Cambodia’s neighbors last year. US officials estimate Thailand’s defense spending at $2.41 billion, Vietnam’s at $5.2 billion. Laos spent less, with $212 million.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon declined to comment on the spending increase, saying only it has been “decided.”

“Everything is already prepared,” said Defense Minister Tea Banh. “We divide [the budget] depending on the reality of each year.”

By comparison, last year’s budget for education was $915,000.

Ly Sethik, director of finance for the Ministry of Education, said the budget increase for next year would go toward salaries.

Teachers have long complained of low government salaries, which they say forces them to take other jobs and ask for daily payments from students, marginalizing the poorest of them.

“With economic growth, it’s no problem that the budget is increased,” Ly Sethik said.

Health Ministry officials declined to comment in detail on next year’s budget.

Ly Horn, finance director for the ministry, said he was “not sure” how much an increase would be.
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Cambodian Anti-Corruption Drive Creates Headache for Western Firms

"It is a major issue for business because theoretically if any business pays them, they are liable to face criminal charges and the person paying them is liable to five years jail or more."

A man working at a money exchange (R) passes 100 Cambodian riel notes to a client in central Phnom Penh, March 12, 2011 (file photo).


Earlier this month the Cambodian government announced that as part of its anti-corruption drive, it had outlawed the payment of fees to civil servants. But the move has opened a new set of problems that worry Western businesses that operate in the country.

To the government, this was expected to be a minor announcement. As of August 1, all corruption offenses contained in two separate laws were now in force.

For Phnom Penh, this was another step on the road to combating corruption.

The problem is that the move has effectively outlawed "facilitation fees," payments that are critical for doing business in Cambodia. Anyone who pays them can be jailed for 10 years, while the person receiving them can get 15 years.

But what exactly is a facilitation fee?
"Facilitation fees are what are paid basically to low-ranking government officials to assist in doing their job," said Matthew Rendall, the managing partner at Sciaroni & Associates, a law firm in Phnom Penh. "No advantage and nothing illegal is being obtained. And you are basically having to pay these in order to do legitimate business."

He says these fees are not exorbitant and most businesses routinely pay them.

"It is day-to-day nickel-and-dime payments made to supplement the salaries of government workers who otherwise you know would not have enough," Rendall added. "You know it could be $2 for a form, $5 to submit it, $20 to put your monthly tax filing in."

In other words, these are payments made to process paperwork. They are not bribes. They are the sorts of fees that in other countries are paid to get a passport renewed or a license issued.

The difference is that other countries list those fees on a schedule and issue a receipt. In Cambodia, a customer pays the civil servant, who pockets the fee.

Cambodia's civil servants have long relied on facilitation fees, because their salaries are typically around $50 a month, far below what they consider a livable wage.

Stephen Higgins is the chief executive officer of ANZ Royal Bank, a part-owned subsidiary of Australian banking giant ANZ. He explains why outlawing the payment of facilitation fees is a problem.

"It is a major issue for business because theoretically if any business pays them, they are liable to face criminal charges and the person paying them is liable to five years jail or more," said Higgins. "And for a business such as ours, if we were to pay them then theoretically I would be liable to go to jail here in Cambodia, in Australia, in the U.K. and in the U.S. And I certainly don't wish that upon myself."

While it is unlikely that the Cambodian government would prosecute investors for paying facilitation fees, outlawing them has effectively triggered other anti-corruption regulations in Western nations.

U.S. and Australian law allowed companies to pay such fees provided they were not illegal in the country where the payment was made.

Now that they are illegal in Cambodia, any U.S. or Australian firm paying facilitation fees here is opening itself up to prosecution at home.

Rendall says the result is that Western businesses simply cannot risk paying them. He adds that investors have long asked the Cambodian government to formalize this system by drafting a schedule of fees and issuing receipts. There is now a pressing urgency to do so.

"I mean we are scrambling to get the government to implement practices so that those payments are receipted or scheduled at least," Rendall explained.

Once those fees are legal, Western businesses will be able again to pay them. But finding out what action the government will take is tricky. No government official responded to numerous requests for clarification of the policy.

Such ambiguity gives investors from Western nations pause and is already having an impact.

Last month, courier company FedEx said it would not deliver any items worth more than $300 until the government instituted a schedule for payments for more valuable goods.

Matthew Rendall says the situation could eventually skew the business climate to favor investors from Asia.

"Those countries that have foreign corrupt practices laws - the United States, the Western countries, etcetera - are at a massive disadvantage now," said Rendall. "So the one impact it has had: Does it basically result in a situation where Cambodia finds itself almost exclusively with Chinese, Vietnamese-type investors who are not susceptible back home to being prosecuted, and excluded from OECD-type countries? Absolutely. It is a concern, it has been raised."

Although that result does not appear to be the intention of the law, Rendall says it could be an unforeseen consequence unless the government finds a way to resolve the problem. Read more!

Cambodia Villagers Stage 'Avatar' Themed Protest About Land Loss

Cambodian villagers affected by the loss of land in Prey Lang forest in the north of the country pray at a Buddhist shrine in central Phnom Penh, August 18, 2011. Later, most were briefly detained after they distributed leaflets in the capital, but they were all later released.


.More than 100 villagers from rural Cambodia were detained briefly by the authorities in Phnom Penh after handing out leaflets detailing how government land concessions are affecting their lives.

Early Thursday, about 120 villagers gathered to pray at a Buddhist shrine on the riverfront in Phnom Penh.

Many were dressed in outfits designed to evoke a Cambodian version of the hit film "Avatar," which depicts the struggle of an alien race battling to save their forest from commercial exploitation. Protesters had green painted faces, green shirts and wore a green leaf as a hat.

Raising awareness of deforestation
They said they had come to the capital to let the public know of the troubles they face in rural areas where huge tracts of forest have been leased to domestic and foreign businesses.

Villager Kao Chart, who traveled from the northeastern province Kratie, said the forests are being cleared and people like him are losing their livelihoods. He said 20 people came from his area, and are praying to the Buddha for help. He also said taking care of the environment is a priority.

A community group said similar gatherings took place in 145 other locations across Cambodia. The claim could not be confirmed, but a nationwide effort would mark an unusual degree of cooperation on a social issue in Cambodia, where activism tends to be local and small-scale.

Land issues, however, are a significant problem affecting many communities.

Pervasive issue
Earlier this week, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, a local non-profit organization, released a report showing that ownership of at least five percent of land, nationwide, had been disputed in the past four years.

CCHR estimates that 47,000 families are either at risk of land conflict or had been affected by it.

One threatened area in the news recently was Prey Lang, the largest lowland evergreen forest in the region. Large tracts of this unprotected forest recently have been leased to rubber plantations.

Villager Kao Chart, who relies on Prey Lang for a living, said he is optimistic that coming to Phnom Penh would raise awareness of the problems. He said he hopes the demonstration will attract more support, and that the government must control deforestation.

After the prayer session concluded, the villagers dispersed around the capital and started handing out leaflets that highlight the importance of preserving the forest.

Government detentions
But within an hour or so, the authorities had detained more than 100 members of the group. All were released shortly after promising they would not hand out leaflets again without permission.

Despite repeated calls, a ministry of interior spokesman was not available to comment on the detentions or the government’s reasons for preventing the leaflets from being distributed.

Three prominent rights groups spoke out against the detentions and the ban on distributing fliers. They said authorities had claimed the act of distribution could disrupt social order.

Ou Virak, who heads the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the real reason for the detentions was that such the protests threaten the ability of the elite to exploit Cambodia’s natural resources. Read more!

‘Gods of Angkor’ Exhibit Bids America Goodbye

On the metro platform, in Washington DC, a billboard highlights the “Gods of Angkor” exhibit.

It ran for more than a year, a collection of Cambodian bronze sculptures from the Angkorian period. On loan from the National Museum of Cambodia, the collection drew thousands of museum-goers, first to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, and more recently at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California.

But now the exhibit is on its way home, its run at the Getty having ended Aug. 14.

The project began with talks between the Smithsonian and the National Museum of Cambodia, said Jeffery Weaver, associate curator of sculptures and decorative arts at the Getty. That led to a Getty foundation grant to train conservators for the sculptures in Camboida, but went further when organizers decided to highlight the bronzes in the US.

As a result, the bronzes have been here since May 2010, and in Los Angeles, near the Cambodian community in Long Beach, they received a warm welcome and send-off.

The collection spurred a conference on the conservation of art, brief courses on Cambodian culture, art, religion and food, and a festival that included the US-based rock band Dengue Fever.

The very last gallery course was called “The Glory of Angkor,” set up by the Norton Simon Museum, which houses a permanent collection of Khmer art, and the Getty. The first part of the course taught the history of Hindu and Buddhist art in Southeast Asia. The second went into detail of the Angkor kingdom.

As student walked through the Getty gallery on a recent weekend, they were given details on each sculpture’s historic details, its value to the Angkorian period and its conservation history.

Rod-ari, who taught the double-weekend course, said she wanted students “to recognize how important Angkor Wat is to the art history and the culture of Cambodia.”

In her lecture, she also focused on the importance of mountain temples in Khmer religious architecture.

Those who attended the course said it helped them understand more about Cambodia. And the Getty’s Weaver said, now that the exhibit is gone, he’s looking forward to more in the future.

Read more!

Extinction Warning: only 85 endangerred Irrawaddy dolphins on the Mekong

By Amy Lou Jenkins

Today the World Wildlife Fund revealed that its research has confirmed that the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin population in the Mekong River numbers just 85. Complicating these dismal numbers was the finding that calf survival was found to be very low, leading researchers to conclude that the small population is declining and at high risk of extinction.

With the steep decline in populations of many animal species, from frogs,fish and dolphins to tigers, some scientists have warned that Earth is on the brink of a mass extinction like those that occurred only five times before during the past 540 million years.

Anthony D. Barnosky, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, a curator in the Museum of Paleontology and a research paleontologist in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, reported in the 2011 Science Daily:

"If currently threatened species -- those officially classed as critically endangered, endangered and vulnerable -- actually went extinct, and that rate of extinction continued, the sixth mass extinction could arrive within as little as 3 to 22 centuries. Nevertheless, it's not too late to save these critically endangered mammals and other such species and stop short of the tipping point. That would require dealing with a perfect storm of threats, including habitat fragmentation, invasive species, disease and global warming."

Each extinction accerates the threat of extinction to other species. Humans are a species.The WWF and scientist recognize human impact, development/ and climate change as a caustivative factors in the accerated extinction rates. Humans can also act to prevent mass extinctions, and the WWF is today calling for world wide effort on behalf of the Irrawaddy.

According to Dr. Li Lifeng, Director of WWF’s Freshwater Programme, the research is based on photographic identification of dolphins through individually unique features of their dorsal fins. “Most of the dolphins can be identified, and we use that information to estimate the population size.”Although this population estimate is slightly higher than the previous estimate, the researchers were quick to note that the population had not increased over the last few years.

“With a larger dataset and recent analytical advances, previously unidentifiable dolphins which had few marks on their dorsal fins have been included,” Dr. Li said. However, surveys conducted from 2007 to 2010 show the population slowly declining.

“Evidence is strong that very few young animals survive to adulthood, as older dolphins die off and are not replaced,” Dr. Li explained.The population is ranked as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, the highest international threat ranking for endangered species, and Irrawaddy dolphins are fully protected under the highest level of Fishery Law in Cambodia and Lao PDR. Dolphins in the Mekong continue to be threatened by gill net entanglement and the causes of calf mortality remain unclear.

“This tiny population is at high risk by its small size alone. With the added pressures of gill net entanglement and high calf mortality we are really worried for the future of dolphins,” Dr. Li said. The research (research reports available for download) also indicates that the small population resident in the transboundary pool on the Cambodia – Lao PDR border may number as few as 7-8 individuals. This is the only area in Lao PDR where dolphins remain. WWF is working to coordinate transboundary management with government agencies and local communities in Cambodia and Lao PDR at this most critical dolphin site.

“Our best chance of saving this iconic species from extinction in the Mekong River is through joint conservation action,” said Dr. Li. “WWF is committed to working with the Fisheries Administration, the Dolphin Commission, and communities all along the river to reverse the decline and ensure the survival of this beautiful species in the Mekong.”WWF is asking the government of Cambodia to establish a clear legislative framework to protect dolphins in Cambodia. This should include the designation of dolphin conservation zones and should allow a ban or limit on the use of gillnets where needed. Doing so will require formalizing special legislation to protect dolphins or amendments to existing Fishery Law. Read more!