Cambodian civil rights activist comes to L.B.

Kem Sokha says he is returning to the political fold.
By Greg Mellen, Staff writer

LONG BEACH - Cambodian human rights activist Kem Sokha is back in the political game.
After spending five years as the ultimate political outsider, watch dog and critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen and the ruling Cambodian People's Party in his role as president of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, Kem announced he is stepping down from the nongovernmental organization to launch a new political party.

The Human Rights Party has applied for status from the Cambodian Ministry of the Interior and could be officially recognized by next week.

In an effort to drum up international support, Kem has been touring the North American continent, with recent stops in Canada, Seattle and Northern California.

On Sunday, he will speak in Long Beach at the Holiday Inn, 1133 Atlantic Ave., at 3 p.m. Admission is free. With the largest concentration of Cambodians in the United States, Long Beach is a vital stop for native Cambodians seeking U.S. support. This is Kem's second visit to Long Beach in just over a year.

With national elections slated in 2008, Kem hopes to provide a legitimate opposition party to the ruling CPP, which has been consolidating power in Cambodia.

After walking away from the often unseemly world of Cambodian politics in 2002, Kem earned tremendous popularity in his country, particularly in rural areas, as an advocate for human rights.

Across the countryside, Kem's group organized forums in which residents aired grievances and discussed the issues of the day. The forums, which were often highly critical of the government, were broadcast on the "Voice of Democracy" radio program.

"For almost five years, I educated people about human rights and democracy," Kem said. "Now the people ask me to go into politics."

Asked to run

According to Kem, more than 200,000 Cambodians signed petitions recruiting him to create a party.

"I tell them, I don't want to establish a party. I want them to establish a party, and I will help them," Kem says.

Kem is no stranger to Cambodian politics. He was a member of the parliament established after the United Nations sanctioned elections in 1993 and served until 2002 as a representative and senator. He was also chairman of the National Assembly Human Rights Commission.

However, throughout his career, he has been a lightning rod, in part because of his liberal views about democracy.

In January 2006, he was jailed for 17 days on criminal defamation charges, which were later dropped. When news of Kem's jailing was released, there was immediate condemnation from the international community, which likely hastened his release.

Kem also fled the country in 1997 after a government coup, and in 1998, he sought protection in the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh.

Critics of Kem have questioned his motives since he created his human rights group, claiming it barely disguised his true goals of returning to politics.

A year ago, when Kem was declaring he was uninterested in politics, the Sam Rainsy Party said Kem had "aims at conquering the SRP electorate for his future political party."

Other critics say, at best, Kem will dilute the power of opposition parties and help Hun Sen and the CCP further consolidate their power.

"(Those) people don't understand what I do," Kem said. "My objective is real democracy in Cambodia. There are many parties in Cambodia, but no real democracy."

To underscore his claim that he is not seeking personal power, Kem says one of the main platforms in his party is a two-term term limit.

The effect

Michael Hayes, publisher and editor in chief of the English-language Phnom Penh Post, says it's too early to gauge Kem's electoral clout.

"It depends on how much money he can raise for his campaign. Obviously, the more `opposition parties' there are, the less likely the chance any one of them will gain a significant number of seats in Parliament. So this will be a problem for the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), which is currently the strongest opposition party," Hayes said in an e-mailed response to questions.

The relationship between Kem and Sam Rainsy has been prickly in the past, which may make for rough going in attempts at coalition.

For now, the Sam Rainsy Party is taking a neutral stance.

"For SRP, we welcome all political parties which abide by democratic principles like us," Chrea Sochenda of Sam Rainsy Party told Radio Free Asia, "but in general, SRP has no concern about anybody forming a political party, or about any personality forming his party."

Hayes sees a wrinkle in the upcoming vote.

"The elections will be interesting, mostly because around 1 million Cambodians will have turned 18 since the 2003 elections and will thus be eligible to vote," Hayes wrote in an e-mail. "These young people have different aspirations and world views than their parents and no memories of the Khmer Rouge years. The opposition is hoping they will vote for change; the CPP is working on ways to get them to support the ruling party."

Kem says the recent commune-level elections in his country showed a lot of disaffection and apathy among voters. He is after the estimated 2.5 million voters who didn't exercise their rights to vote.

"I want to integrate those 2.5 million," Kem said. "If you give people hope and choice, that's real democracy." Read more!

Buddhist monks clash during protest

Two opposing groups of Cambodian Buddhist monks engaged in a street fist fight today during a protest to demand religious freedom for their fellow monks living in southern Vietnam.

Lim Yuth, a 23-year-old Buddhist monk, suffered a cut on his left eyebrow during the brawl, but it was not immediately clear what caused the injury.

Lim Yuth was among some 50 monks who marched through Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, to voice their grievances over alleged mistreatment by Hanoi authorities against Cambodian Buddhist monks in southern Vietnam.

A large part of southern Vietnam, known in Cambodia as Kampuchea Krom, used to be part of Cambodia's mighty Khmer empire centuries ago and is still populated by many ethnic Cambodians.

Hanoi permits only a handful of state-sponsored religious organisations to operate in Vietnam, which has led to clashes with some religious groups, including Buddhists. Read more!

20,000 OAV ballots have not yet reached Italy, Cambodia

After a week, only 1% have cast ballots overseas

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:56pm (Mla time) 04/20/2007


MANILA, Philippines -- Seven days into the overseas absentee voting (OAV), no election is still happening in Italy and Cambodia.

This is because some 20,000 ballots for overseas absentee voters in Rome and Milan in Italy and Phnom Penh in Cambodia have still not reached these posts, the Department of Foreign Affairs’ OAV Secretariat (DFA-OAVS) said Friday.

In a press conference, Ambassador Generoso Calonge, vice chairman of the DFA-OAVS, said the week-long delay in the voting in these places has made them consider extending the OAV there.

“We’ll see if they’re able to receive the ballots and have sufficient time to conduct the elections. After all, the voting period is one month. We’ll look seriously into extending the voting period,” he said.

Calonge said after seven days, as of Friday morning, only a little more than one percent, or 5,944 voters, of the 504,122 registered overseas voters have cast their ballots.

He also said some problems with undelivered ballots have been reported in Indonesia. “It appears that the individuals have relocated to other places and the embassy has not been informed of the new addresses,” he said. He added that some cases may be the result of the wrong addresses being written on the envelopes.

Calonge said his office is doing everything to hasten the delivery of the ballots to Italy and Cambodia.

“We are calling [the posts] every hour,” he said of the efforts his office is exerting to solve this problem. “I don’t want to point fingers but I think this problem is beyond the control of the DFA.”

Calonge said the Philippine Postal Corp. sent the ballots to Italy April 13 and 14, while the ballots for Cambodia are already in Bangkok. The OAV began April 14 and will end at 3 p.m. on May 14, when the polls close here.

“The Philippine embassy in Bangkok is helping the postal services physically locate the ballots so that they may be immediately sent to Phnom Penh,” he said.

Calonge said the DFA-OAVS has allowed “tagging” in the United Arab Emirates and “on a limited basis” in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Tagging in UAE, he explained, is allowing OAV voters registered in Abu Dhabi to vote in Dubai and vice versa.

He said this was allowed because many overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), in their constant search for better job opportunities, have moved back and forth between these two emirates without accordingly changing their addresses with the embassy and the OAVS.

To ensure that no multiple voting occurs, he said the posts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai inform each other of who has cast their ballots.

To increase the participation rate of overseas voters, Calonge said his office has called on all Philippine embassies, consulates, and labor offices to intensify their information drives. He said field and mobile voting has been allowed in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam and in a Stockholm facility for seafarers temporarily docking there.

If despite all these efforts the OAV turnout remains low, he said it doesn’t matter. “As they say, you can bring the horse to the river, but you cannot force it to drink,” he said.

“No matter what figures come out, the important thing is the right to vote [of OFWs] is there. It is our duty to provide them the opportunity to choose our national leaders,” he added.

Personal voting remained the biggest source of ballots cast, with 4,428 votes; voting by mail, 1,503; and modified voting by mail, solely from South Korea, 13.

Hong Kong remains the top spot for personal voting, with 1,172 ballots case; followed by Riyadh with 915; Al-Khobar with 409; Jeddah with 376; Kuwait with 305; Saipan with 196; Abu Dhabi with 186; Dubai with 176; Athens with 127; and Beirut with 115.

By region, personal voters came mostly from the Middle East and Africa, with 2,767; Asia Pacific with 1,338; the Americas with 196; and Europe with 127.

By region, the Americas yielded the biggest number of votes by mail, with 682; followed by Asia Pacific with 481; Europe with 294; and Middle East and Africa with 46. Read more!

Vietnam eyes on Cambodia land for more trouble for Cambodians

Vietnamese rubber manufacturers are bouncing into neighbouring countries due to a lack of suitable land at home.

State-run Daklak Rubber Company, or Dakruco, recently won a licence for its $10 million rubber plantation project in the north-eastern region of Cambodia, close to Vietnam’s Dak Nong and Dak Lak provinces.

It is the company’s second overseas plantation following one in Laos.

Dakruco director Huynh Van Khiet said the Cambodia-based project initially aimed to cultivate 1,000 hectares of rubber trees and build a small-scale rubber latex processing factory.

“We are quickly completing procedures to take over the land in Cambodia so that the plantation of the first 1,000ha will be finished by the end of this year,” Khiet said.

Capitalised at $32 million, Dakruco’s Laos investment project started in 2005, aiming to plant 10,000ha of rubber trees and 3,000ha of cashew and cacao trees. The construction of a 5,000 tonne capacity rubber factory is incorporated in the project and the factory will later be expanded to a 10,000 tonne capacity.

“Investment formalities differentiate from each country. The Cambodian Government would like to see our project’s effectiveness before allowing us further land,” he said.

Regarding Dakruco’s project in Laos, Khiet said by the end of this year 6,000ha of rubber trees would be planted and the bulk could be harvested in early 2010.

Laos’ more fertile land and favourable climate helped reduce the growth period of rubber trees from seven years if planted in Vietam to five years.

“We are also building the latex processing factory in Laos in 2009,” Khiet said, adding that the factory would help Dakruco raise its annual export value by 20 per cent from $28.1 million last year.

Similarly, state-run Vietnam Rubber Group (Geruco) which is Vietnam’s leading rubber producer with 50 per cent of the country’s rubber plantation area and 70 per cent of the country’s latex output, is also accelerating the group’s investment projects in Laos and Cambodia.

A Geruco source said that by the end of this year, the group would cultivate 8,000ha of a 10,000ha rubber plantation in the southern region of Laos. The $25 million project is 200 kilometres from Vietnam’s Quang Tri province.

The source also said the Cambodian Government had allowed Geruco to study 180,000ha for the possible cultivation of rubber trees in Cambodia, with the first 10,000ha lot expected to begin plantation by 2007.

Vietnam is the world’s sixth largest rubber producer and fourth largest rubber exporter, behind Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. The country’s rubber plantation area has expanded to 450,000ha since rubber trees were brought to Vietnam more than 100 years ago.

The nation’s annual rubber latex output is estimated at 400,000 tonnes, 80 per cent of which is exported and 20 per cent was domestically used. China is the biggest importer of Vietnam’s rubber latex. A robust increase of 25 per cent in rubber latex price, from $1,800 per tonne last year, is making local rubber firms profitable.


By Hoang Mai Read more!

Cambodia dismisses rights abuse claims against police chief

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia on Thursday dismissed calls for the national police chief to be barred from the United States because of alleged human rights abuses, calling the claims against him "nonsense."

Gen. Hok Lundy is scheduled to leave for Washington on Friday to discuss counterterrorism and transnational crimes with FBI officials, said Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has urged the U.S. State Department to cancel Hok Lundy's visa, alleging in a statement Monday that he once ordered an extrajudicial killing and has been involved in drug smuggling and human trafficking.

"This is nonsense," said Khieu Sopheak.

The allegations are "unacceptable, groundless, baseless," and they "have tarnished the reputation of the national police chief" and the police force, he said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tuesday that Washington had "compelling reasons" to issue Hok Lundy a visa, which he declined to discuss.

Hok Lundy was denied a U.S. visa early last year for reasons never made public.

Neither McCormack nor the FBI would comment on Lundy's alleged misdeeds or on the planned counterterrorism discussions.

Brad Adams, the Human Rights Watch Asia director, said Monday that Hok Lundy "represents the absolute worst that Cambodia has to offer and should never have been given a U.S. visa."

He said the FBI should investigate, not host, the police chief for his "alleged involvement in political violence and organized crime in Cambodia."

Human Rights Watch said Hok Lundy has been implicated in a number of serious human rights abuses, including a conspiracy to carry out a grenade attack on a peaceful demonstration by opposition supporters in March 1997, in which a U.S. citizen was injured. Read more!

Former U.N. ambassador who escaped Cambodia’s killing fields highlights Human Rights Day

By Arthur E. Foulkes
The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — Sichan Siv told an audience gathered Wednesday morning at Indiana State University about his harrowing escape from his native Cambodia in the 1970s.

Siv, a former U.S. representative to the United Nations, was the keynote speaker for the sixth annual Terre Haute Human Rights Day.

The event is organized by local human rights activists and supported by several academic departments at ISU as well as a number of local organizations.

Siv fled Cambodia in early 1976.

“It was hope that kept me alive for one year,” Siv said, speaking about the year he survived in Cambodia after the communist Khmer Rouge took control of the southeast Asian nation on April 17, 1975.

He told the audience of some 200 students, faculty and local citizens he never knew if he would be alive the following day when he went to sleep each night after a day of 18 hours of forced labor.

The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia until 1979 when they were toppled by a Vietnamese invasion. Under Khmer Rouge rule, an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians were killed by execution, starvation or forced labor.

In April 1975, Siv and about 3 million other residents of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, were forced to evacuate the city by the newly installed Khmer Rouge leadership. Siv and his family eventually found themselves in a distant village where they were placed into forced labor, he said, adding he soon realized that, because he had worked previously for an American aid agency, CARE, he was a danger to the rest of his family. This knowledge led him to escape the forced labor camp, he said, riding a bicycle some 600 kilometers across country to near the border with Thailand, he said.

Once on his own, Siv told the audience, he was captured again by the Khmer Rouge and placed back into forced labor. All this time, Siv said he tried hard to conceal his education because the Khmer Rouge killed anyone suspected of being educated, a capitalist or political opponent.

“I threw away my glasses,” Siv said. Wearing glasses was taken as a sign of education, he said.

Siv escaped from the Khmer Rouge again by jumping from a moving lumber truck. He worked his way across country without food or water for three days until reaching Thailand, where he was arrested for illegally entering the country.

Eventually, Siv’s former colleagues with CARE helped him immigrate to the United States, where he started a new life shortly before July 4, 1976 – the U.S. bicentennial year. He picked apples, flipped hamburgers and drove a cab in New York City before being admitted to Columbia University on a scholarship. Taking an interest in politics, he eventually volunteered for the 1988 George H.W. Bush presidential campaign and was later asked by Bush’s transition team to work for the president, where his duties would eventually take him to the United Nations.

Sadly, he said, Siv learned his mother, sister, brother and their families were all murdered back in Cambodia by the Khmer Rouge.

“Adapt and be adopted,” Siv said is his advice to his fellow U.S. immigrants. “Adapt to America and America will adopt you.”

The audience asked questions of Siv after his approximately 30-minute talk. In response to a question about illegal immigration in America, Siv said that is a very emotional subject for him personally, adding that the key word is “illegal.”

Siv was critical of the United Nations Human Rights Commission for admitting countries such as Iran, North Korea and Cuba, which he characterized as “bad and ugly.” He said he often walked out of commission meetings in protest when such countries gained membership.

“That’s a sad situation,” he said.

Siv added, however, he believes the United Nations is the best option currently available for international cooperation.

“There is nothing better at the moment,” he said, adding that the UN presently does some things well, such as its handling of HIV, aid for children and assistance for refugees.

Arthur Foulkes can be contacted at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com. Read more!

Hydroelectric dams endanger Cambodia's river people

Powell River Peak reporter Luke Brocki travelled to Cambodia and Vietnam after winning a fellowship administered by the Jack Webster Foundation and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency.

The second installment in his series of development-related stories looks at the lives of indigenous minority groups along the Sesan River in Cambodia's Ratanakiri Province. Brocki gathered data from personal accounts, academic studies and history books to explain the impacts of Vietnamese dam construction on downstream village communities.

Sesan struggles
"Yesterday morning, we could see the sand," says the village elder. "For the last two weeks, the river was so dry we could ride motorcycles to the other side."

We're standing on the sunny shores of the Sesan River in the jungle of Cambodia's Ratanakiri Province, on a large tributary of the Mekong River recognized in Vietnam for its hydro power potential. Two other rivers, the Sekong and Srepok, join the Sesan in Cambodia before flowing into the Mekong; together they contribute about 20 per cent of the Mekong's water. For comparison, all of Thailand contributes about 10 per cent.

"And during the rainy season, riverbanks cannot contain the water," says elder Kosal Teouy of the Kanat Douch village. "We moved the village up here in 2000, afraid of being swept away by the sporadic releases of water from the upstream dam."

Teouy's village is one of 12 in the area that abandoned the riverbank for the safety of the surrounding hills. The fears of the villagers proved justified; the site of the old village flooded in 2006.

"The water at the moment is clear, but it looked murky and mixed with oil over the last year and during dam construction," Teouy tells me through a translator.
A large group of wet children chase each other around the shore, while another couple of youngsters push a long and narrow wooden boat around the calm water with a long oar, like gondoliers.

"The children get a rash when they swim in the river; their skin gets red and itchy," he tells me when the group passes us.

The water is also no longer drinkable. The village gets its drinking supply from a well, recently dug by a German non-governmental organization (NGO). "It's very difficult to find food to eat," Teouy says. The main diet consists of rice and salt, with traces of fish, meat and wild vegetables when available.
.
The villagers are used to seasonal fluctuations of the water table and even to flooding during the wet season, but since the dam construction, the river levels have been changing frequently and erratically. Diurnal fluctuations of the water table have made fishing and farming difficult, if not impossible.

The basin's entire ecosystem is in danger, with many varieties of riverine plants having dwindled because of unnatural flooding, and bird and turtle nests having been swept away.

"We've made several requests to the government to stop dam construction, but the government doesn't respect the demands of the people. The situation is becoming worse and worse."

The politics of power
Cambodia's young democracy hasn't yet been the catalyst for change. Reigning prime minister Hun Sen was appointed to government by Vietnam while Cambodia was under Vietnamese military occupation in the late 1970s. Initially with the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen changed sides and was selected for a leadership role in the rebel government Vietnam was installing in Cambodia after overthrowing the murderous Khmer Rouge regime in 1978. He ruled as a despot until 1991, when the Paris Peace Accords mandated democratic elections. His party, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), went on to win the 1993, 1998 and 2003 elections. Today, the CPP has a majority in the National Assembly of Cambodia, but governs in coalition with the royalist Funcinpec party, which won 20 per cent of the national assembly's 123 seats in 2003.

Various political opponents accuse Hun Sen of being a puppet of Hanoi due to his past ties with the North Vietnamese, but he defends the charges with claims that he represents only the Cambodian people. More recent political opponents outside the country accuse him of being a corrupt dictator who controls the country by force.

Kanat Douch is beginning to despair. This group of a few dozen villagers is by no means alone. More than 55,000 people have suffered severe impacts to their health and livelihoods because of upstream dam construction along the Sesan. For these indigenous groups, the nightmare began with the completion of Vietnam's US$1 billion Yali Falls Dam, about 80 kilometres upstream from Cambodia's border. Construction on the 720-megawatt dam began in 1993 and was completed in 2000, funded by loans from Russian and Ukrainian governments. Since then, the World Bank last paid for an electrical transmission line that transports power from the dam south to Ho Chi Minh City.

By 1993, Vietnam had a fledgling environmental law that called for mandatory environmental impact assessments (EIAs) of major investment projects, including large-scale hydroelectric dams, but the law lacked regulations and guidelines to govern transboundary issues. Thus, downstream impacts of the Yali Falls Dam, now known to extend through Ratanakiri and as far as Cambodia's Stung Treng Province, some 300 kilometres downstream, were not investigated in the EIA. Construction pressed on and six other dam sites have since been identified for the upper Sesan River Basin; most of them are complete and operational today.

Development gone wrong
Since about 2000, flurries of studies and reports have been emerging as academics, local advocates and members of the media noticed downstream impacts.

According to a 2002 briefing paper by the International Rivers Network, the worst erratic releases of water occurred while the dam was under construction from 1996 to 2000, resulting in flash flooding downstream, causing deaths of at least 36 people and hundreds of thousands of livestock, and destruction of rice fields, vegetable gardens and fishing gear totaling about US$800,000.

In late 2005, the NGO Forum on Cambodia released a report documenting serious violations of international law under the 1995 Mekong River Agreement. The agreement calls for immediate cessation of transboundary harms as soon as victims speak out and for the resolution of disputes within a timely manner. That dialogue is only now beginning.

A 2007 paper co-authored by Canadian Ian Baird and Australian Andrew Wyatt, about to be published in the International Journal of Water Resources Development, examines transboundary impacts in detail in the Sesan River Basin. Baird and Wyatt identify as challenges the failure to implement standard international planning processes and the failure to follow due process in dam planning, construction and operation, despite the availability of international expertise and funding. "Weak technical and financial capacity on the part of the downstream country, Cambodia, has allowed the politically dominant upstream country, Vietnam, to impose its national interests on downstream communities in Vietnam and Cambodia," they stated.

Forging connections
A key figure on the front lines of the human rights battle, Kim Sangha, came to Ratanakiri six years ago. He planned to stay for one year, but became involved with a local NGO-3SPN, the three S-rivers protection network.

The 38-year-old Phnom Penh native couldn't leave once he saw the problems these indigenous groups were facing, and the hopelessness that was settling in after years of denial and inertia from powerful people able to effect change. Now coordinator of 3SPN, Kim spends his days visiting local villages and educating villagers about their rights to voice concerns and bring their problems to the attention of Cambodia's young democratic government.

"Our role is to report the concerns of the people and build up a local movement," he says in an interview in Kanat Douch village. "We organize many events and workshops, let villagers and officials debate the issues."

Kim fights for the demands of the villagers: bringing back the natural flow of the river, compensation for their losses and a guarantee of their safety in the future through a strong communication system.

"Right now, the villagers' participation in the projects is very limited," he says. "In Vietnam, they have policies for resettlement programs with compensation. In Cambodia, nothing."

His latest focus is on creating strong regional linkages between the villages in Ratanakiri to help villagers communicate and make them understand their rights. "Every year, we organize about 25 commune workshops to bring people together and dispense new information about dam construction and action plans for the villages. We need to push government on this issue."

Cambodia's minister of environment, Mok Mareth, was not immediately available and did not return my messages by deadline. Kim's luck was a little better.

"We talk with government often, but still don't know if the political will is there to help us," he says. "There were talks around equitable benefit sharing, which is a very good message given by government, but the government desires to develop economically. Sometimes this looks like a game they play to build more dams in the region and sell power around the country."

But Sangha refuses to lose hope. When asked about his source of motivation, he says he's driven by the promises of choice in a democratic society.

"There's a new election every five years," says Sangha. "Something has to change. We don't yet have a real democracy, but if we want one, it will have to happen through mobilization of the people. The children of government officials go to the United States, United Kingdom and Australia to learn about democracy. Maybe they'll use the new ideas. I hope it won't come to a revolution, but we have to fight for the people."

TIMELINE OF DAM IMPACTS

November 1993: Construction begins on the US$1 billion Yali Falls Dam.

1996: Major flooding hits northeastern Cambodia, including Ratanakiri and Stung Treng provinces. Dam construction begins to alter the flow of the Sesan River.

1998: The Yali Falls Dam reservoir is completed.

1999 to 2001: Water releases, spills and surges from the Yali Falls Dam cause a series of deaths and other downstream damage in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Early 2000: Reports of surges and deaths appear in the media. The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat begins an investigation.

April 2000: MRC involvement leads to steps for advanced warnings of water releases. Independent consultants draft a report reminding Vietnam about its international obligations, calling for remedial efforts and compensation for affected communities. Vietnam never accepted, finalized, or officially published the draft.

April 2002: The Yali Falls Dam officially opens.

November 2002: A Vietnamese official acknowledges water releases and apologizes for downstream impacts.

June 2005: Villagers from Ratanakiri send a petition to the Cambodian government, again listing their demands for action surrounding the dam. They have yet to receive compensation.

Currently: Frontline local NGOs (non-governmental organizations), in partnership with philanthropic giants such as the McKnight Foundation, Oxfam Australia and Oxfam America, continue to educate and mobilize indigenous minorities to fight government and end the injustice.

Source: NGO Forum on Cambodia.

Read more!

Observer Trip Showcases Health Programs in Vietnam and Cambodia

by Shilpika Das , Special to RedCross.org

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 — American Red Cross Board of Governors members, National Celebrity Cabinet member Elisabeth Rohm, and Senior Vice President of International Services David Meltzer will visit Red Cross programs in Vietnam and Cambodia April 23-28. They will witness first-hand the programs supported by the American Red Cross and its local Red Cross partners, which are improving the health of mothers, children and their families.

Since March 2004, the American Red Cross has partnered with the Vietnam Red Cross Society (VNRC) to improve the development of school children and support projects focusing on school feeding, school-based nutrition, and hygiene education. Through the Vietnam Education and Child Nutrition Initiative, the American Red Cross and VNRC has helped improve the overall academic performance of primary school children at 126 poor, rural schools in Vietnam by reducing hunger. Malnutrition rates have dropped from 45 percent to 20 percent over the school year. Sufficient nutrition and health education is key to keeping children healthy and alert so they can learn in school and contribute to the development of their country later in life.

The partnership has already benefited more than 50,000 school children and 40,000 families. Building on its success in four provinces of Central Vietnam, the project was expanded in 2006 to six provinces – including two remote mountainous provinces in the north.

In Cambodia, the American Red Cross and the Cambodian Red Cross have been working together since the 1990s to address the needs of the most vulnerable people in Cambodia. In 2004, the American Red Cross and its local partner implemented the Integrated Child Health Project in Siem Reap – an area with one of the highest child morbidity and mortality rates in Southeast Asia. The project aims to reduce childhood morbidity and mortality with a focus on health education for families in rural Cambodia. The program directly benefits more than 33,500 children under five years of age and more than 52,700 women of reproductive age.

The American Red Cross continues to help increase community access to health information, services, and products through an expanded network of more than 2,200 Cambodian Red Cross volunteers.

Led by American Red Cross field experts, the observers will visit these project sites, and also witness the Vietnamese Red Cross Society's work on typhoon relief, blood collections and services for people living with HIV and AIDS. In Cambodia, they will visit a program that teaches expectant mothers to identify the five danger signs of problems during pregnancy. This program is responsible for saving lives of mothers and their newborns by teaching them health interventions and when to seek immediate medical attention.

The trip will give the observers an opportunity to witness American Red Cross programs in action – and the positive change that generous contributions from donors, partnerships and media coverage can create.

For more information, visit www.redcross.org. For media inquiries, contact Carol Miller at millerca@usa.redcross.org or 202-345-6163 .

As part of the world's largest humanitarian network, the American Red Cross alleviates the suffering of victims of war, disaster and other international crises, and works with other Red Cross and Red Crescent societies to improve chronic, life-threatening conditions in developing nations. We reconnect families separated by emergencies and educate the American public about international humanitarian law. This assistance is made possible through the generosity of the American public. Read more!

Travelling down the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia

The mighty Mekong river runs nearly 5,000 km through Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and while it may not be the longest river in Asia, it is certainly the most beautiful.

The river flows into the South China Sea just south of Saigon, known today as Ho Chi Minh City, and its delta is the starting point for many cruises.

It is not possible to navigate the entire length of the Mekong since the Sambor rapids prevent further passage. Luckily, the confluence with the Toble Sap, the river's main tributary, is just above Phnom Penh and ships can use it to reach the celebrated temple complex of Angkor Wat.

Gliding along the lower reaches of the Mekong offers the visitor broad tableaux of local everyday life. Only two cruise vessels ply this section, the Tonle Pandaw and the Mekong Pandaw, which can carry 66 or 64 passengers. Those who have booked a trip upriver, board their ship in My Tho in Vietnam, some 60 km south of Saigon.

The journey unfolds past mangrove forests and green rice paddies, offering glimpses of many villages and cottage industries along the way. Now and then, the ships pass a bathing spot where children enjoy a dip while their mothers wash clothes and crockery in the water. There are hardly any roads here, the river is the main transport artery and that explains why it is so busy. Motorboats dart past canoes being paddled from bank to bank while the traditional sampan wooden cargo boat is a common sight.

When it runs close to larger towns and cities the Mekong becomes even livelier. Take the bustling town of Cai Be, where the big river cruisers tie up at the dockside. A maze of canals, it boasts many gardens, some temples and a church but no streets to speak of.

The floating market is the main attraction here and it lures farmers from the outlying districts who trade their wares straight from the deck of a sampan.

Chau Doc is another hive of activity. A huge dockside market selling local produce and commodities dominates the town on the border with Cambodia. The fresh food booths offer anything from dried fish to peeled grapefruit or even frog's legs for the gourmet.

Beyond the border there are fewer settlements and houses alongside the river compared with the stretch inside Vietnam. The Cambodian riverside is less busy until shortly before Phnom Penh. This energetic city is the largest settlement along the river. The waterside is dominated by relics of the past; pagodas and palaces attract the eye alongside handsome villas built in the French colonial style.

The best place to muse over artefacts of the Khmer culture is the National Museum, whose riches were fortunately not plundered during the murderous reign of the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979. It is best to set aside a whole day to admire the many statues and bas-reliefs. The huge central market erected in the art deco style is also well worth a visit along with the Royal Palace.

The horrors of Cambodia's recent past can be seen at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. After a tour of the former Pol Pot torture chambers, the proverbial gentleness and friendliness of the Cambodians seems all the more astonishing.

Beyond Phnom Penh, the cruise ship leaves the Mekong to chug up the Tonle Sap. This river is unique since for half of the year, starting from the rainy season in June, it reverses its flow. From November onwards, the normal flow to the river mouth is resumed.

On the northern shore of Tonle Sap lake is the booming provincial town of Siem Reap. The most compelling reason to come here is to visit Angkor Wat, one of the world's most spectacular ancient temples. The complex has been on UNESCO's list of world cultural monuments since 1992.

Around 1,000 relics lie strewn across this vast site stretching across some 200 square km. Visitors can book individual tours or explore on their own. Those with only a few days to spare should concentrate on Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious structure, and plan trips to the overgrown city of Angkor Thom and the Ta Phrom temple district.

Both world culture and subculture are catered for in Siem Reap, which offers a wide range of bars and clubs in the centre, one street is even called Bar Street. One of the establishments is the Red Piano Bar where actress Angelina Jolie was a guest when she filmed the movie 'Tomb Raider' in Angkor in 2001. It comes, as no surprise that the most popular drink here is Tomb Raider Cocktail. Read more!

Controversial Cambodian to Visit U.S.

Hok Lundy, the Notorious Criminal Mafia of Cambodia meet the luck from FBI, words: Criminals are always lucky. Hok Lundy is a Vietnamese High Ranking Officer who remained in Cambodia to hold power for Communist Vietnam. He and others high ranking Vietnamese are continueing to steer Cambodia in all level of government.

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 18, 2007; Page A21

A U.S. visa application by Cambodia's police chief provoked a rancorous argument inside the Bush administration because of the official's alleged links to an act of terrorism and to trafficking in women. But the State Department decided to permit Hok Lundy to travel here this week for counterterrorism meetings with senior officials at the FBI, U.S. officials and others disclosed yesterday.

The decision was a policy reversal for the department, which last year told Lundy, a longtime aide to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, he would not get a visa to attend a U.S. police conference. John Miller, then head of the State Department's anti-trafficking office, said at the time that the threatened denial was based on "reports and allegations concerning his role in trafficking in persons."

But Lundy's visa approval is just the latest step in the restoration of his reputation in Washington, which U.S. officials ascribe to his support for the counterterrorism effort. Earlier this month, Lundy boasted of helping to arrest members of the militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah, designated by the Bush administration as a terrorist organization. Two weeks ago, the FBI announced the opening of its first permanent office in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.

"This is kind of a hold-your-nose deal," said a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to speak for attribution. The U.S. Embassy in Cambodia, the State Department's East Asia bureau, the Justice Department and the FBI pushed for the visa approval, while the State Department's human rights and anti-trafficking offices strongly urged the application's rejection, two U.S. officials said. R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, cast the deciding vote.

Lundy is not the first foreign official implicated in human rights abuses to be welcomed by U.S. counterterrorism officials. Sudan's intelligence chief, Salah Abdala Gosh, visited Washington in 2005 as a guest of the CIA, despite his alleged links to war crimes in Darfur being investigated by the International Criminal Court. Although the administration has called him an ally in the counterterrorism fight, the United Nations last year put Gosh's name on a list of Sudanese officials who it said should be sanctioned for crimes by subordinates.

The decision to admit Lundy nonetheless provoked dismay and anger among human rights groups and others. "This is a guy who should be the target of U.S. law enforcement operations and not a partner," said Tom Malinowski, the Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "It sends a miserable message."

Pressed to explain the decision, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday: "I know that there are a lot of allegations, and I'm not trying to discount those allegations. The key here is that there's no -- in the review of the visa application, there was no legal bar to his being granted a visa." Essentially, he added, "it comes down to a policy judgment, and the policy judgment in this case was he was scheduled to attend a conference or a meeting with the FBI concerning counterterrorism issues."

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was a healthy discussion about this matter," McCormack said. An FBI spokesman declined to comment, saying he was under instructions to refer calls to the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia. McCormack said, in turn, that only the FBI could say why it is necessary to bring Lundy here. The Cambodian Embassy in Washington did not return phone calls. A woman who answered the phone at its United Nations mission said no one there was authorized to speak about Lundy or his visit.

Lundy's reputation initially suffered because of evidence -- detailed in a classified FBI report described by four U.S. officials -- linking his police forces to a March 1997 grenade attack on a Phnom Penh rally organized by a political opponent of Hun Sen. It killed more than 20 and wounded 150, including an American employed by the International Republican Institute. Lundy's response, on Hun Sen's order, was to arrest those who organized the otherwise peaceful rally.

His reputation took another hit in 2004, when a police unit conducted a major raid against a notorious Cambodian brothel and it was -- Miller said -- "reversed within hours," with the managers freed, dozens of women forcibly returned to the brothel and the head of an anti-trafficking group "roughed up." Some U.S. officials concluded from the event that Lundy was profiting from trafficking; he denies that.

"Do you think this just happens by accident?" asked Miller, U.S. ambassador-at-large on modern-day slavery from 2002 until last December. "All of this could only have happened with the approval of the chief of police. He's not the sort of person I would want to issue a visa to, based on what I know." A U.S. official said the brothel has since been closed, and that at least one local anti-trafficking group has endorsed Lundy's trip.

Stephen Morris, a Cambodian scholar and research fellow at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said: "If this was done because somehow or other Cambodia was in the throes of a radical Islamic insurgency and you needed every hand on deck to fight it, you could make a case. But this is not the case. There is no jihadist threat emanating from Cambodia. All that's threatening the United States from Cambodia are drugs, which pass on their way to Western destinations under the supervision of high regime officials."

Staff researchers Madonna Lebling and Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Read more!

Cambodians remember Khmer Rouge victims, demand end to delays in justice

Victims who are waiting for justice in Choeung Ek prison of Cambodia

Khmer Rouge leaders Khieve Sam phan and Nuon Chea

CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia: Some 300 Cambodians held a memorial service Tuesday for victims of the Khmer Rouge communist regime that ruled the country in the 1970s and demanded an end to the delay in the start of U.N.-backed genocide trials.

The commemoration — organized by the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party at the Choeung Ek "killing field" just outside the capital Phnom Penh — was led by 32 Buddhist monks, who marked the 32nd anniversary of the Khmer Rouge taking power in Cambodia.

The communist movement came to power on April 17, 1975 after defeating a U.S.-backed Cambodian government in a bloody civil war.

It implemented radical policies that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

The Khmer Rouge was driven from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979 and finally collapsed eight years ago. But none of its leaders has ever been brought to trial.

"How long do we have to wait? Where is justice? Year after year has passed, so please put them on trial since my eyes are still open and able to see," 62-year-old Chan Kim Suong said, adding that her husband and son were executed by the Khmer Rouge.

She and two other women, who addressed the crowd through a microphone about their losses, urged a U.N.-backed genocide tribunal to convene trials for former Khmer Rouge leaders.

The tribunal was created last year following a 2003 pact between Cambodia and the United Nations. But trials, which had been expected to begin sometime this year, have been delayed by disputes over procedural rules and, most recently, a demand by local lawyers for legal fees from foreign lawyers wishing to take part in the tribunal.

Attending Tuesday's event, Sam Rainsy, the opposition leader, blamed the Cambodian government for creating "one excuse after another" to delay the trials.

Looking at hundreds of skulls of Khmer Rouge victims stored in a concrete memorial at the Choeung Ek mass grave site, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Phnom Penh, Sam Rainsy said: "When we look at those skulls, it seems they are staring back at us with a cry for help in finding justice for them."

"But I do not think the current leaders want to see the tribunal move ahead. They want to let remaining Khmer Rouge leaders die one by one until no one is left, so that the tribunal would finally collapse," he added.

Various human rights groups have also accused the Cambodian government of foot-dragging, which the government has repeatedly dismissed.

The tribunal's foreign judges have said they will not meet with their Cambodian counterparts on April 30 as scheduled, if the Cambodian Bar Association does not reconsider the US$4,900 (€3,610) legal fee it plans to impose on each foreign lawyer wanting to practice at the tribunal.

Read more!

CAMBODIA: Information Minister welcomes new political party

In Cambodia, another political party has been launched to contest next year's much anticipated national polls. Social activist Kem Sokha has announced the formation of the Human Rights Party. But it's still the ruling Cambodian People's Party which is set to further consolidate its power in the 2008 vote.

Presenter/Interviewer: Linda LoPresti
Speakers: Khieu Kanharith,Cambodia's Information Minister

KANHARITH: In Cambodia, anybody can form a political party and that's why I think this new political party would add more diversity to the democratic horizon in Cambodia.

LOPRESTI: So it's a good thing.

KANHARITH: The more the better.

LOPRESTI: Ken Sokha is highly regarded, both within Cambodia and internationally. He is the head of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. He says he's going to step down to form this party and he's also a dissident who has gained some international recognition. He says he hopes to win about 30 seats in the 123-seat parliament in the national elections next year. What do you think?

KANHARITH: When you form a political party, you expect to win some seats but it depends on your ability to conduct your campaign, your ability to gather support from the masses.

LOPRESTI: Alot of Cambodia's opposition parties, like the Sam Rainsy Party, like the Human Rights Party, many of them have one thing in common which is that they seem to be united in their calls for a greater crackdown on corruption. Even the US ambassador to Cambodia, Joseph Mussomeli has been quoted as saying that corruption is a major problem in Cambodian politics. What does the ruling party intend to do about this.

KANHARITH: You know before everyone talked about democracy, now they're talking about corruption. But the problem is not so simple. In Cambodia, the ruling party has taken alot of measures to fight corruption that's why you have some high officials who have been demoted because you can't find any argument to win the hearts and mind of the people, it's the current catch phrase of the day.

LOPRESTI: But I would think that given you have national elections coming up next year, the ruling party would want to make it a focus of its election campaign.

KANHARITH: For the ruling party it's not just corruption. First of all what the people want is to impove their living conditions. Two, for the young people they want that the corrupt people be removed or some legal action be taken. Up to now more than 60 judges and attorneys were disciplined, so they can see that alot of steps have been taken. Sure we don't have a law against corruption. But that doesn't mean that the government stays idle. Alot of concrete measures have been taken.

LOPRESTI: But even so isn't it concerning that the US ambassador to Cambodia is publicly putting himself out there as saying that corruption is a problem. I mean I can understand that you have opposition parties which have a vested political interest but in saying so, but when you've got high international officials.

KANHARITH: It's not so simple. If you want to fight corruption you must have some law. We have already finished the draft on corruption but we must pass first the penal code. Right now the national assembly is examining the civil code already.
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LOPRESTI: Just on another matter, the Khmer Rouge trials. There appear to be constant delays in getting these trials up and running. There now appears to be a conflict of interest between the international judges and the Cambodian Bar Association over money, over lawyers' fees. Government opponents have accused your party of fanning the flames of delay because of the damaging political fallout from testimonies of the Khmer Rouge leaders.

KANHARITH: First of all I can say that the Khmer Rouge trials was the Khmer's idea, Cambodian idea, this idea was proposed first in 1992.

LOPRESTI: It's now 2007.

KANHARITH: In fact in 1996 second time, and only after that, after the Khmer Rouge was dismantled in 1998 and after 2000 only then everybody tried to push ahead on this. Now you have one or two months delay and everybody blames Cambodian government. It's unfair, it's involved in that because you have this conflicting offer about the freeze between the lawyers it's already had that. For us the sooner the better.

LOPRESTI: Now during that time, during the Khmer Rouge time you were editor of the Kampuchea newspaper, and a decade later you lost that position and you were actually detained yourself in 1990. Can you tell us about that?

KANHARITH: In Cambodia, you must form a political party to run the elections, that's why some of my friends decided to set up a political party, and because some of my friends they had been arrested and because I knew them that's why.

LOPRESTI: So by association, you were arrested by association?

KANHARITH: Some conservative groups, that's why they tried to demote me and cast me aside.

LOPRESTI: And during that time that you were detained I understand you carried a copy of the book "Shogun" with you?

KANHARITH: Yes, I spent five years to translate this book.

LOPRESTI: And what is it about that book that touched you obviously, that had an impact on you?

KANHARITH: After my friend was arrested I thought that maybe it was my turn and I think that maybe I would be arrested.

LOPRESTI: So you thought you were going to be arrested as well?

KANHARITH: That's right, I think that after there might be some interrogation, long interrogation, I might be detained I don't know how many months or years, that's why I bring this book "Shogun", and after that I feel that for maybe Cambodians, they had Vietnamese, they had the Thai, because they always think that the Thai or the Vietnamese destroy the Khmer party, but they never asked the question why, that's why when I read "Shogun" I want to show that you that there might be also the other civilisations, other people who have a strong point. That's why I translate this book just to make my companions understand that when we talk about Cambodia be proud, but sometimes we only look at the past, we never look at the future. This book it's just to say that you have to try to combine the best of your side with the best of the other side. Read more!

Learning from George McGovern and Earl Browder

Special from Hawaii Free Press
By Andrew Walden, 4/16/2007 8:37:23 AM

“Do we sit on the sidelines and watch a population slaughtered, or do we marshal military force and put an end to it?” -- Senator George McGovern, August 21, 1978

The “it” McGovern wanted U.S. troops to put an end to was the killing of millions of Cambodians in the late 1970s by the communist Pol Pot dictatorship. Three-and-a-half years after congressional Democrats made that slaughter possible by cutting off all U.S. aid to anti-communist forces with their so-called December, 1974 “Foreign Assistance Act”, their leader McGovern had made a complete reversal and was suddenly calling for a new U.S. war in Southeast Asia.

Why is this little-remembered footnote in history relevant today? Congressional Democrats’ March vote for phased withdrawal from Iraq is a replay of McGovern’s treacherous 35-year-old script with McGovern consulting from the sidelines. Last November, the sixty-two members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, led by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) sat down with McGovern to work out a strategy for withdrawal from Iraq. Those discussions led to the mis-named “Iraq Accountability Act”, now heading for a veto from President Bush after passing the House and the Senate in March.

With Congressional Democrats, and a few Republicans, dancing to McGovern’s tune, it might behoove them to break out of their December, 1974 mind frame and take a look to August of 1978—forty-four months down McGovern’s Southeast Asia timeline.

Passage of the December, 1974 “Foreign Assistance Act”, had lead quickly to the collapse of anti-communist forces in Cambodia on April 17, 1975, and in South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. This marked the end of the US war, but the killing was just beginning. The communist forces controlling Vietnam are credited with the killing of 1.8 million people (not counting war casualties) as they warred to take power from 1945 to 1987. In Cambodia anybody appearing ‘educated’ was killed and the cities were emptied. Thousands starved or were beaten to death in slave labor camps. Pol Pot’s death toll is estimated at 2 to 3 million killed between 1975 and 1978.

Needless to say, McGovern’s August, 1978 turnabout raised many eyebrows. The Wall Street Journal wrote August 23 of that year:

“There is a truly mind-boggling quality to a statement like this. Nearly 20 years ago, American liberals came to power in this country exhorting us to take a more vigorous and expansive view of our role as leader of the free world. They came complete with a theory of counterinsurgency, ‘winning the hearts and minds of the people.’ When the then-existing government of South Vietnam failed to fully adopt this prescription, they blithely arranged its overthrow. Upon discovering the price of the commitment thereby sealed, they set about toppling the American President, who inherited the aftermath of the coup. Not content when American troops were finally withdrawn, they set about slashing, on the grounds that the South Vietnamese government was ‘immoral,’ the aid funds it needed to maintain any pro-Western presence in Indochina. Now, having finished the task of destroying that presence, they are shocked and dismayed by the news of the grim and brutal world that resulted.”

It would be pleasing to write about an anti-American war Senator who finally saw the light. But McGovern was not actually flip-flopping. He was consistently representing the interests of what he described in an August 25, 1978 speech on the Senate floor as, “Ho Chi Minh’s popularly-based revolution for independence in Vietnam.”

Pol Pot’s genocidal brutality was well-known. The New York Times had denounced the new Cambodian dictatorship as early as July, 1975. McGovern’s call for US-led international military intervention against Pol Pot did not come at the beginning or even in the middle of the genocide, it only came as his comrades in Hanoi prepared to capture Phnom Penh and replace Pol Pot with communists loyal to Vietnam and the Soviet Union.

Dripping with sarcasm, the Washington Star editorialized on August 23, 1978:

“Presumably the senator’s theory is that except for American influence, Cambodia might have been controlled by the kind of ‘popularly supported revolution’ that is now rearranging things in Vietnam. If boatloads of refugees fleeing Cambodia can be found floating side by side with boatloads of refugees fleeing Vietnam, that’s a coincidence. Naturally there would be former lackeys of the Americans who would try to get out of doing their share in building the new Vietnam.

“The senator’s faith in the Hanoi regime is central to his thinking about the rest of Southeast Asia. …To have Cambodians fighting Vietnamese makes people of the McGovern point of view readier to wax indignant about human rights in Cambodia.

“… (This) just shows how well Senator McGovern knows the difference between repressive totalitarian communists and popularly supported people’s democracies that may have to slap a wrist once in a while.

“We hope this clears up any misunderstandings about Senator McGovern’s consistency as a thinker in the foreign policy area. And we are glad he noticed what’s been going on in Cambodia.”

In 1974 it was easy for Democrats to serve America’s enemies. Vietnamese communists had limited territorial ambitions and no matter what happened on Southeast Asian battlefields, their Soviet overlords were kept in stalemate by American nuclear weapons. Their physical combat operations never reached American soil.

This is not 1974. Democrat gains in the November, 2006 elections were called, “…an obvious victory for the Iranian nation" by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As the Progressive Caucus prepared to sit down with McGovern, al-Qaeda in Iraq promised, “We will not rest from our Jihad until we are under the olive trees of Rumieh and we have destroyed the dirty black house -- which is called the White House."

These threats are underlined by the ongoing jihadi war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and over a dozen other countries, the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the September 11, 2001 attacks, and numerous terror attacks claiming hundreds of lives going back to the Iranian hostage crisis which began November 4, 1979—just over a year after McGovern called for the US to lead an invasion of Cambodia.

McGovern’s parroting of the Hanoi line echoes that of a less-well-known servant of foreign communism, Earl Browder. As General Secretary and Chairman of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) from 1932 to 1945 Browder led his socialist slaves in a series of “mind-boggling” reversals. The CPUSA’s intense anti-fascist propaganda activity focused on the events in Europe suddenly became anti-war agitation on August 23, 1939--the day the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed.

Browder again whipsawed his party on June 22, 1941 as Hitler broke his pact and invaded the Soviet Union. Communists who, for the last 22 months, had been fervent anti-war activists suddenly supported US entry into the war. They joined the military and the diplomatic corps and worked within the unions to maximize war production by blocking strikes.

The CPUSA even dissolved itself in 1944 into the Communist Political Association. As a result of communist support of the war effort, World War Two did not face significant organized domestic anti-war propaganda or agitation. The party again sharply reversed, reverting to true pro-Soviet, anti-American form after the Soviet capture of Berlin on April 30, 1945. At each reversal of policy, hundreds of communists resigned from the party, many of whom eventually made their way into the American cultural elites. Browder himself was stripped of all party position in 1945 and soon tossed out of the then-re-founded CPUSA.

It is neither useful nor accurate to label as communist McGovern, or his modern-day allies in the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Nonetheless, his life contains many parallels to the political life of the CPUSA. McGovern volunteered for the Air Force serving with distinction in North Africa and Italy. His first entry into politics was to campaign for the pro-Soviet Progressive Party ticket in 1948.

The CPUSA endorsed Progressive Party presidential candidate Henry A. Wallace and communists were thick in the ranks and leadership of the campaign which garnered only 3% of the vote.

McGovern was elected delegate to the Progressives’ first national convention. Four years later McGovern joined the Democrat Party where he eventually made his mark as a US senator serving, “Ho Chi Minh’s popularly-based revolution….” McGovern and his ilk are better understood as favoring an America submissive to “progressive,” “enlightened” foreign powers with which they share a utopian ideological affinity.

What will it take for those opposed to American victory in Iraq to wake up? The jihadis are not a progressive force. Today’s anti-war leftists are motivated not to strengthen jihad but to weaken America in order that “progressives” around the world might once again have their day.

This key element of the “progressive’ value system must be recognized by writers working to defeat them. The examples of McGovern and Browder provide an answer: a reversal will require the jihadi threat to “progressivism” to outweigh the American threat.

Jihadis have a long history of co-opting allies and then turning around to eat them alive. Somewhere—perhaps, as in the 1930s, in the streets of Europe—“progressives” may come to see the Islamic fascists as more threatening than America.

As that point arrives, even without a centralized CPUSA or Soviet Union to lead them, many anti-war leftists can be led to change their tune, declare a truce with America and, as in WW2, join the war against the fascists.

Until then, Americans will need to continue rhetorical combat in a domestic political war with those “progressives” amongst us who believe that America is more dangerous than jihad. Read more!

US: Notorious Cambodian Police Chief in US for Counter-Terror Talks at FBI

Top story: the top criminal Mafia of Cambodia will meet FBI on April 19 for the first time to discuss counterterrorism.
State Department Should Cancel Hok Lundy’s Visa

(Washington, DC, April 16, 2007) – The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on April 19 is scheduled to host Cambodia’s national police chief for discussions on counterterrorism, even though Hok Lundy has been implicated in what the FBI itself has classified as a terrorist act, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch called on the US State Department to cancel his visa. The FBI invited Lundy to Washington for talks on bilateral counterterrorism cooperation.

“Hok Lundy’s alleged involvement in political violence and organized crime in Cambodia means that the FBI should be investigating him, not hosting him,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Aside from his boss, Prime Minister Hun Sen, there is hardly anyone in Cambodia who has shown more contempt for the rule of law than Hok Lundy.”

Lundy has been implicated in a number of serious human rights abuses. According to information Human Rights Watch has shared with the US government, Lundy was part of a conspiracy to carry out a grenade attack on opposition leader Sam Rainsy in March 1997, in which 16 people were killed and more than 150 injured. The FBI officially classified the grenade attack as a terrorist act.

During the July 1997 coup, in which forces loyal to then co-Prime Minister Sen ousted then co-Prime Minister Norodom Ranariddh, Lundy commanded battalions loyal to Sen that were implicated in extrajudicial killings. More than 100 opposition party members and supporters were the victims of extrajudicial killings, and dozens of opposition supporters fled into exile.

Human Rights Watch’s investigations support allegations that Lundy ordered the extrajudicial killing of the deputy Minister of Interior Ho Sok, a senior Ranariddh loyalist, shortly after the coup. Sok was shot just down the hall from Lundy’s office in the Ministry of Interior compound. The official explanation was that unknown armed persons forced their way into the heavily guarded compound, shot Sok, and then successfully fled. Lundy was never investigated for the killing.

Lundy has also been implicated in drug trafficking, the return of refugees to countries where they faced persecution, and human trafficking. Two US Drug Enforcement Agency officials and a former US ambassador to Cambodia have confirmed to Human Rights Watch that the US government is aware of Lundy’s involvement in drug trafficking.




Read more!

Genares - Seminars for Hoteliers in Cambodia and Laos

Apr 16, 2007 -- /prbuzz/ -- Following their successful seminars in Vietnam in November 2006, TRG International and Genares Asia are organising further seminars in Cambodia and Laos to introduce the countries’ hoteliers to a solution that can help them achieve their targets.

During the seminars, the first of which will take place in Phnom Penh on 24 April 2007, Mr Brinley Waddell (Business Development Director of Genares) will provide participants with insights into GenaRes and how to maximise their global exposure, and consequently increase their room bookings and reservations through the usage of the GenaRes solution.

GenaRes, developed by GenaRes Worldwide Reservation Services Ltd, is a system that helps hoteliers connect with more than 100 major travel websites and 600,000 travel agents. Users of GenaRes can seamlessly access its central reservation system, providing real-time hotel reservation rates, availability and online booking capabilities to website visitors. It also lets them manage room inventory across all distribution channels, easily upload new rate plans, change availability, modify property descriptions and upload property pictures.

TRG International's General Director, Mr. Rick Yvanovich, said: "With our professional regional support, I believe that Genares is a cost-effective solution for the region's hoteliers to raise their global exposure, net more clients and increase their room occupation rates."

Mr Yvanovich also revealed that TRG is building a hotel reservations portal to support GenaRes users. He told us: "From 2007, hotels using Genares will benefit from worldwide exposure via the TRG hotel portal, an online reservations site for Southeast Asian hotels aimed at tour operators, travel agents and independent travellers." Read more!

Sentencing of two innocent men a 'travesty'

Monday, 16 April 2007, 1:38 pm

Press Release: International Trade Union Confederation
Cambodia: Sentencing of two innocent men for murder of trade unionist a "double travesty of justice"

Brussels, 12 April 2007 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has described a ruling by the Cambodian Appeals court confirming 20-year prison sentences for two men unjustly accused of killing trade union leader Chea Vichea in 2004 as a "double travesty of justice". "Not only have two innocent men been condemned to lengthy prison terms, but the real perpetrators of this vicious crime have gone unpunished", said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. In a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen, the ITUC points to the climate of impunity which reigns in Cambodia, reinforced by the lack of real action by the authorities following the murder of another trade unionist, Hy Vuthy, in February this year.

The Appeals Court decision comes in spite of overwhelming evidence of the innocence of the two men, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, including testimony by a key eye-witness and by the senior police officer initially investigating the crime that the two did not commit the murder, and the fact that both had credible alibis for the time of the killing.

The ITUC letter also condemns the continuing climate of violence, intimidation and harassment against Cambodian trade unionists, in violation of ILO Conventions 87 and 98 which Cambodia has ratified, and states that the ruling by the Appeals Court throws the independence of the country's judiciary into further disrepute.

"We are calling on Prime Minister Hun Sen's government to ensure that genuine justice is done, by the holding of proper investigations into this and other murders, and by ensuring the immediate release and protection of Mr Born and Mr Sok," said Ryder. "Cambodia's continued refusal to ensure that its international obligations to ensure full respect for trade union rights will only cause further harm to its international reputation, including its place in the global economy", he added. Read more!

The West's hypocrisy: language has the power to mask the truth

Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. George Orwell

In the world of politics, George Orwell realised that language has the power to mask the truth and mislead the public, and he tried to increase public awareness of this power by placing a great focus on Newspeak and the media in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Demonstrating the repeated abuse of language by the government and by the media in his novel, Orwell showed how language becomes a mind-control tool, with the ultimate goal being the destruction of free will and imagination.

In Australia, this type of politically-hybridised language is increasingly being used by some sections of the media to propagate apathy. Just consider the use of the term “un-Australian” for every action deemed by our populist press to be against so-called “mainstream values” - another devious term in its own right.

Worse still, we have become immune to this misuse of language as a propaganda tool and blind to the potency of well-crafted diplomatic-speak as a “reality extinguisher”. This abuse of language is an extension of the human rights abuses it is designed to white wash.

Consider last month’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague clearing the Republic of Serbia of direct responsibility for genocide in the Bosnian war in the mid-90s. In what amounted to a mealy-mouthed legalese-infused response that reeked of diplomatic doublespeak and First World chauvinism, it could have been easily mistaken as the constitution of the League of Nations version 2.0.

According to the article “Timid Justice” by David Luban writing in the online journal www.slate.com, “The court's exoneration of the Serbian government nonetheless - and after the case dragged on for 14 years - undercuts the principle of state responsibility that it endorsed. If Serbia's actions don't amount to state complicity in genocide, it is hard to envision what would.”

Ironically it seems the only ones prepared to admit the truth about genocide are the perpetrators themselves. As Hannah Arendt famously complained 45 years ago at the trial of Adolf Eichmann, “international law had yet to come to grips with the notion of a criminal state”.

In 1944, Rafael Lemkin, coined the term “genocide”. Lemkin who lost 49 members of his family in the Holocaust, preferred to call it: “Genocide”, with a capital “G”. He believed that naming the crime of genocide was the first step toward forcing the world to commit to abolishing this horrendous practice.

An extremely persistent and relentless advocate whose passion finally lead him to an early grave, Lemkin was determined to establish genocide as an international crime and one that all countries were legally and morally bound to prevent. Language to Lemkin was an important precursor to facing the demons of reality.

Nowadays, it seems a lot easier on the Western political conscience to rebrand the term genocide as “atrocities” or “ethnic cleansing”: after all, it allows the West to abrogate any responsibility and to continue living in a state of perpetual denial. The language of the western political cartels is one of carefully orchestrated perturbation - you cannot condemn what you refuse to acknowledge. It is a bit like renaming Cambodia’s Killing Fields as “life annulment sectors” and claiming that you were totally unaware of the real intentions of the Khmer Rouge.

And speaking of the followers of Pol Pot, someone who went a long way to legitimising that foul regime was Gareth Evans. Now Evans, the former Australian Foreign Minister and Left road warrior is also the new head of the United Nations' Advisory Committee on Genocide Prevention. According to a recent piece in The Age titled “Remaking the mistakes of East Timor” by Scott Burchill, “Civilian massacres that reached genocidal proportions were only ‘aberrant acts’, Indonesia's takeover of East Timor was ‘irreversible’ and it was ‘quixotic to think otherwise’ - all this according to [the newly-created UN ‘genocide czar’] Gareth Evans.”

But it is not just the sheer banality of Evans’ remarks hiding the true horrors of 24 years of Indonesian occupation of East Timor; it is also a clear and present example of Western cultural hypocrisy and overriding Anglo-centric political elitism - if you don’t belong to a certain group; if you are not connected enough to be able to write your own version of history; or if you are not a strategic asset to NATO, your net worth may as well be that of a single-cell microorganism.

Neither Kemal Ataturk, Adolf Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic or Saddam Hussein et al could have been able to extinguish millions of innocent lives without some form of acquiescence from western spin doctors.

The West continuously moans and groans about its so-called “higher” morals and values, about how its political institutions and media diversity are superior to those of the rest of the planet, about how it is the shining example of where everyone else should be. This argument has also been used to underline the current War on Terror, as the jihadist enemy we are told, despises all we stand for. US President Bush conveniently advises us that “our way of life threatens them”.

But maybe it’s not so much our way of life that threatens them, but our hypocrisy that feeds their anger and resentment - all potent recruiting tools in this New World Order.

Our moral superiority complex is proving to be nothing more than an illusion of its own making; a house of sand and fog that sits precariously on the precipice of its own arrogance; a fools’ paradise in which military expansionism has become the only way left of demonstrating its own ethical vacuum and moral demise and language is being used as a tool to cloak this gradual downfall.

Mercifully though, the countless victims of genocide from Auschwitz to Srebrenica, from Cambodia to Kosovo and from Darfur to Rwanda will never have to suffer the added pain and indignity of seeing how little their sacrifices amounted to and how today words are used for the same purpose as bullets were yesterday. Read more!

Cambodia confirms bird flu outbreak

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia on Saturday confirmed a new outbreak of bird flu among poultry a little more than a week after a 13-year-old girl died of the deadly H5N1 virus.

The government said the fresh outbreak was discovered earlier this week in chickens and ducks raised in a family’s backyard farm in Kampong Cham province, 124 kilometres (77 miles) east of the capital Phnom Penh.

“We have a new outbreak of bird flu,” Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries Minister Chan Sarun told AFP.

The discovery came after the Cambodian girl died of bird flu last Thursday, becoming the kingdom’s seventh fatality from the H5N1 virus. Her death prompted the government to launch a week-long bird flu awareness blitz.

Following the latest outbreak, authorities killed some 100 chickens and ducks at the backyard farm in the eastern province, said the minister.

Cambodia has been praised by the United Nations for its rapid action against bird flu, which has helped spare it from the human and poultry deaths suffered by its neighbours. Read more!

Buddhist shrine brings a bit of Cambodia to area

By Kristen Holland

A member of Cambodia's royal family has spent more than a year painstakingly creating a three-story replica of a mausoleum at Angkor Wat, a temple complex northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

And he's been doing it in southwest Dallas.

Socheatrapagna Sisowath, a Cambodian Buddhist monk, arrived in North Texas a year ago to begin construction of the monument at the local temple site. He completed the work last month.

Temple member Shuen Cheh said the Dallas temple wanted to build a monument for those who haven't been to Cambodia. "And to bring the essence of Cambodia to the community," he added.

Mr. Cheh said the monument, constructed using 500- to 1,500-year-old stones and statues imported from Cambodia, is the only replica in the United States, and possibly the world.

Walking around the base of the temple, Mr. Sisowath pointed out the carvings of lotus flowers, minitemples, dragons and lions.

"The Cambodian king uses lions to represent himself and his power," he said through Mr. Cheh, who served as an interpreter.

Mr. Sisowath then showed a visitor a pile of molds he brought from Cambodia to create the intricate designs, as well as several rows of dried panels. He explained that he poured concrete into the molds and let them dry in the sun.

Temple member Volak Sin called the method "old school."

The interior of the stone temple is small, just large enough for a single altar to Buddha. Candles, incense and a plate of yellow and red apples have been placed immediately in front of the altar. Colorful treelike sculptures that represent life line the white walls.

Mr. Sisowath said through Mr. Cheh that he generally worked from 8 a.m. to around 2 or 3 a.m. He set each of the concrete moldings himself.

"I never see anybody that put so much effort into his work," Mr. Cheh said, eying Mr. Sisowath as he zipped around the site, flipping through detailed charts and plans of the mausoleum. "The only time he takes a break is when he sleeps and eats. He pretty much did everything, with his own hands."

Hidden treasure

WHAT: Cambodian Buddhist Temple of Dallas

WHERE: 5701 Crystal Lake Blvd. in southwest Dallas

HISTORY: The Dallas temple was founded in 1986. Weekly services aren't offered, but families visit from time to time for spiritual blessings or to meditate. Several monks live at the temple.

WORSHIP: Those who worship at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple practice Theravada Buddhism, the oldest surviving Buddhist tradition, closely approximating what Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, taught. It has been the predominant religion of Sri Lanka and continental Southeast Asia for centuries.

FESTIVALS: The Dallas temple hosts two major festivals a year. The first celebrates the Cambodian New Year; it takes place this weekend. The main celebration will be Sunday, on the grounds. It's open to the public; admission and parking are free. Vendors will be selling food (cash only), and festivities generally last from 9 a.m. till about 1 p.m.

The second, in October, involves a memorial for loved ones.

Read more!

Child-friendly schools support girls’ education in Cambodia

By Ticiana Maloney

KAMPONG THOM, Cambodia, 12 April 2007 – Taxi, 14, lives in a rural community of Kampong Thom Province, central Cambodia. It is the dry season and dust chokes the air in her poverty-stricken village, as in most of rural Cambodia. Small palm-roofed bamboo huts line the dirt road that leads to Sankor School, where Taxi attends sixth grade.

In March, with a few months left to complete her primary education, Taxi dropped out of school. “I was going to drop out because I am poor and I needed to work,” she says.

In many poor communities, girls tend to drop out when they reach the upper grades of primary school. “Poverty is the main reason why girls drop out,” says Huoy Sophea, a girl counsellor at Sankor school. “They often leave to work in the garment factories around [the capital], Phnom Penh.”

Reaching out to girls

“In grade 1 there is no gender gap,” says Director Sou Kim Try of the Kampong Thom Provincial Office of Education. “But when they reach grade 7, the percentage of girls is much lower than boys.”

The Government of Cambodia is committed to keeping children in school and, with UNICEF support, has been implementing a Child-Friendly Schools Initiative in 6 of the country’s 24 provinces. The aim is to increase equitable access to school and the quality of basic education.

Gender responsiveness is one of the key components. Through such activities as community research on gender and counselling for girls – known as ‘girl counselling’ – child-friendly schools reach out to girls who are at risk of dropping out, identifying gender barriers to education and increasing awareness about gender equality.

In Kampong Thom, girl counselling has been implemented in a majority of child-friendly schools. It targets girls in grades 5 and 6 who are at risk or have already left school. Preliminary results show that most girls have returned to school after receiving counselling.

Back to school

Taxi is one of the girls who benefited from the initiative. Three days after leaving, she was back in school. The Sankor school counsellor visited Taxi and her family at home after finding out she had dropped out. “The teacher persuaded me to come back to school. She said that education is important for me,” recalls Taxi.

Girl counselling works in a similar way in other child-friendly schools in Cambodia. Teachers inform girl counsellors, who are usually female teachers or mother representatives, when students have been absent for more than three days or have dropped out. The counsellors visit the at-risk student’s home to discuss the problem and to identify underlying causes for dropping out. Appropriate solutions are agreed upon by both students and parents.

Although many girls return to school, there are some who do not return or who drop out again. And while poverty is the main reason children – especially girls – drop out of school, there is also a traditional perception that education is not important for girls. Parents often feel that education has little value for their children, since economic opportunities are limited once they complete school.

“There is a lack of role models,” says UNICEF Education Officer Kerstin Kalstrom. “The girls and their parents see very few people who have better jobs thanks to their education, particularly in rural areas.”

Comprehensive approach

Cambodia has gone a long way towards rebuilding its education system after the abolition of schools during the Khmer Rouge regime.

New schools have been built, hundreds of teachers have been trained and enrolment has been increasing steadily in recent years. But according to data from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the country hasn’t achieved universal primary education, and completion rates remain low, especially for girls.

At the secondary level, participation is low and the gender gap particularly wide, with only about 30 per cent of boys and 10 per cent of girls of secondary school-age enrolled.

UNICEF is working with the government to improve education outcomes, change perceptions and help increase opportunities for children. The Child-Friendly Schools Initiative adopts a comprehensive approach that can accelerate progress towards education for all. Read more!

Muslim of Cambodia

by Rouquiyah Yoeu

Cambodia is a little country whose history and people have been in turmoil both through foreign domination and internal strife. When people think of Cambodia, they probably imagine the genocidal holocaust which killed millions of Cambodians under the communist rule of Pol Pot and the Khmar Rouge. When pictures are presented of Cambodia, many people see Buddhist temples, idols, ancient buildings or monks. What people do not realize is that between 2.5% to 5% of the people were devoted Muslims. These Muslims include primarily a group known as Chams and also some Khmar (indigenous Cambodians) of the south. The Chams are descended from Malay or Indonesian traders. Before the Cambodian holocaust the approximate number of Muslims was between 120,000 and 350,000 and there were 300 mosques. It is very difficult to get any precise numbers but the Cambodian Muslims estimate that at least one half of the Muslims in Cambodia were either killed or became refugees.

Each Muslim village contained one surow, which is similar to a foundation. This large, one room house was mainly used for Islamic studies such as Qur’anic recitings, hadith, Shar’iah and Arabic studies. However, larger mosques were built for Muslim gatherings and festivals. These larger mosques usually made from bricks were almost always provided with a dome. Through volunteers, young and old, big mosques were established. After working all day, people gathered to help with the construction of the new masjid. Some mixed sand, rocks and water for cement. Others laid bricks while still others helped raise the dome. Wherever there was work needed, Muslims were ready and willing to help. Through hard work by the Muslim community, a masjid was soon provided for all. Along with the invasion of the Khmar Rouge came destruction of many beautiful masjids. Because the Khmar Rouge discouraged religion, they therefore tried to destroy all buildings of worship.

For each devoted Muslim family, life included daily prayers, Qur’anic recitation and Islamic study. Many Khmer Muslims were fishermen or farmers. Many Chams were cattle traders, silk weavers and butchers. For all Muslim youth, Islamic studies were held during their three months of vacation away from regular school. These studies were mainly taught by an Imam in the surow. One Imam might have 30-40 students, free of charge. Because of the importance placed on Qur’anic recitation, classes were held for at least six hours a day.

As soon as the Khmar Rouge seized power many Cambodians, Muslims and non-Muslims, all felt their destructive power. Education was prohibited, and those who were educated were executed, Imams were in danger. Some were killed while others hid for fear of their life. Islamic prayers and Qur’anic studies were prohibited. Anybody caught praying would be killed. Many Qur’ans were burned. During the Khmar Rouge era, Islam seemed lost as people fled for their lives. But today, Cambodian Muslims are slowly, progressively rebuilding this small Islamic nation. Even though the Khmar Rouge are still a threat and are attempting to regain control of the country from the Vietnamese, the Muslim Cambodians seek refuge with Allah (SWT). Read more!

Mad tourist rush threatens future of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat

Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2007 (EST)

The Cambodian Government and locals are reportedly concerned over the over-exposure of its famous Angkor Wat (Sun) temple to tourists.

The Angkor Wat temple is the biggest Hindu temple in the world. It is counted among the seven modern wonders of the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site visited by millions of tourists each year. Until 150 years ago, this whole city was undiscovered, being covered by thick jungles and overgrown trees! This temple is a wonderful example of the Hindu concept of the cosmos. The moat represents the oceans. The temple is the Mount Meru and the galleries, which lead up to the sanctum, are the various continents. The constant upward movement of the building from one gallery to the next represents the spiritual path of a human being. The final destination is the sanctum sanctorum where he/she comes face to face with divinity. Photo Credit: © Prabhakar Patil

Sydney, Apr.12 (ANI): The Cambodian Government and locals are reportedly concerned over the over-exposure of its famous Angkor Wat (Sun) temple to tourists.

There is a worry now that the droves of tourists visiting the heritage-listed site could grow from the hundreds at present to thousands.

The Sunday Telegraph quotes Khun Sokha, a tourist guide, as saying, "The ancients built the temples for religious purposes, not for such crowds of tourists to climb on."

"The harm is obvious. We are worried, but the people's livelihood depends on these tourists," he adds.

The Cambodian Government is caught in a Catch 22 situation. On the one hand, the Angkor Wat temple is at the very heart of Cambodia's identity, and on the other, is the fear that this famous landmark could be ruined by the onslaught of the nearly two million tourists that see it annually. The Government is recognizing the need to keep these precious ruins intact.

"The harm to the temples is unavoidable when many people walk in and out of them," says Soeung Kong, deputy director-general of the Apsara Authority, which oversees Angkor's upkeep.

It is also hard to ignore the nearly 1.85 billion dollars in revenue that tourism brought to the impoverished country last year.

"We are trying to keep that harm at a minimal level," Kong says.

The Angkor Wat has been on the UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1993.

Since then, tourist arrivals have risen meteorically, with the Government hoping for three million visitors to Cambodia by 2010. (ANI).

Read more!

'I love Cambodia,' college grad says

Posted on Apr 11, 2007 by Dea Davidson*

SOUTHEAST ASIA (BP)--Even before he's fully awake, Joshua McFadden* knows he's not in Kentucky anymore.

Roosters crowing, babies crying and his neighbors pumping water from the well outside his bedroom window remind the recent college grad that he's in Cambodia. So do the thatched-roof homes on stilts he passes as he bikes down the red dirt road to a Cambodian-style outdoor diner. Yet, as he wolfs down breakfast and endures teasing by the older village women, he is thankful God brought him to Southeast Asia.

"I love my job. I love these people. I love Cambodia. I love my life," McFadden says. "I know it sounds sappy, but it's true. When I'm riding my bike through a village and say, 'Hi,' to all the kids, it's a daily revival. How often do you go through a village and everyone speaks to you?"

McFadden's interest in sharing Christ internationally sharpened as a result of trips to Cambodia and China in college, but he can see how God started working on him back in the fourth grade. That year, his Sunday School teacher, a short-term missionary journeyman just back from Kenya, brought carved rhinoceroses and tribal masks to class and helped make sharing Christ come alive. That teacher, Randy Jacobs*, is now McFadden's team leader in Cambodia.

McFadden has learned a lot since he stepped off the plane in August 2006 – not only about fitting in with a different people group but also the importance of helping them physically as well as spiritually.

"It's really important for Christian people to do development work in addition to evangelism to catch the vision for really changing a place," McFadden says. "I just hope I am able to portray to them someone who genuinely cares about their needs. If we totally ignore the dire situation and physical concerns, it's not responsible on our part as Christians."

McFadden and his team minister to the Cambodian people first by providing water filters, locating cleaner water sources, providing medical education and creating educational videos. Within his team, McFadden is taking a key role in animal husbandry and agricultural programs. As he helps his neighbors raise healthier goats and pigs and produce better crops, he builds relationships that give him opportunity to share his testimony.

While McFadden loves the work he is doing now, he is excited about plans to move to a more remote village on his own. That village, accessible only by ferry across the Mekong River, has no electricity, running water or concrete buildings. By choosing to live among these isolated Buddhist people, he hopes to show them that happiness in life comes not through rituals or things but through a God they have never heard about.

At the end of his two-year term in Cambodia, McFadden hopes he will have helped change the lives of some Cambodians, but more importantly, his life will have changed.

"It's one of my biggest hopes that I'll be different when I go home," McFadden says. "I love my life in America, but I want to go back and be different so I don't get pulled back into American culture. I think it would be the way Jesus would live on earth."
--30--
*Names changed for security reasons.

Read more!

Cambodia mulls pipeline project from shore to Sihanoukville

Some international companies will study the feasibility next month of building a gas pipeline from Cambodia's offshore oil exploration sites to seaport Sihanoukville, local press reported on Thursday.

The U.S. oil giant Chevron, Japanese firm Mitsui and South Korean electronics group LG will together examine the feasibility of constructing the pipeline, an official from the Investment Committee of the Cambodian National Assembly was quoted by English- language newspaper the Cambodian Daily as saying.

Addressing seminar "Avoid the Oil Curse" held here on Wednesday, Chairman Phan Sina said no company has yet been selected to build the pipeline, which is expected to transport natural gas from Block A, where Chevron has been drilling test wells.

The pipeline study brings Cambodia one step closer to the much- anticipated production of oil and gas, said the report.

Cambodia is also preparing an oil and gas management law in anticipation of its oil and gas production.

At least 700 million barrels of crude oil are estimated to lie off Cambodia's coast and the government expects to collect revenues from petroleum by as early as 2010.

Source: Xinhua. Read more!