Learning to Live With the Mekong's Floods

BANGKOK, May 24 (IPS) - A Vietnamese academic has developed a small following over the past two years for his views about the waters that inundate the Mekong delta. The seminars he attends ends with participants wanting to know more.

What has created such interest is the positive twist Bach Tan Sinh, senior researcher at the National Institute for Science, Technology Policy and Strategic Studies, in Hanoi, gives to the waters of the Mekong river that overflow during the flood season.

''I have been talking about people living with floods rather than having to escape them,'' Bach said during an interview from the Vietnamese capital. ‘'Many people who are not from Vietnam hear this and want to learn more.''

It is not a view of his making, though. He conveys that when he draws from the language of the Vietnamese communities that live in the Delta and need the annual floods for their twin occupations, agriculture and fisheries. ‘'The people describe this period as ‘water rising'; it has been part of our history,'' he adds.

By contrast, the more conventional view of floods prevails further up the Mekong River, which is shared by four other South-east Asian countries, such as Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, and Yunnan, a province in southern China. This mighty river travels over a 4,880-km path, beginning in the mountains of Tibet and flowing out into the South China Sea, in southern Vietnam.

And as another monsoon season begins, with floods expected to follow, both views are being bandied among experts determined to ensure that the communities living on the banks of the Mekong are ready to cope with the excess volume of water in their midst.

A priority for these communities are efficient early warning and flood forecasting systems, said Oliver Cogels, head of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-government agency, at a recent seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, in southern Vietnam. ‘'(The MRC member countries) need the tools, data and information to help them make the right decisions.''

Not all of the MRC's members, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, have such flood warning systems in place to save human life, protect property, agricultural land and livestock, he added at the ‘5th Annual Mekong Flood Forum.' These concerns have increased due to the ‘'changes in land use,'' which has made more of the Mekong basin ‘'vulnerable to flood damage.''

At present, only communities living along the mainstream of the river have been benefiting from the limited flood forecasting system in place, says Nicco Bakker, chief technical advisor at the Regional Flood Management and Mitigation Centre, in Phonm Penh. ‘'But we want to provide the information for the entire basin.''

‘'Flash floods have been a problem upstream. It is caused by heavy rainfall and the flow of mud due to deforestation,'' he said over the telephone from the Cambodian capital. ‘'There are many vulnerable communities.''

Cambodia has a forecasting system in place that typifies the prevailing early warning measures along the Mekong's mainstream. Forty villages from five of the country's provinces regularly hit by the floods have been linked into a network since 2002 to share information about the river's volume and speed of water.

Another programme in two Cambodian provinces and two Vietnamese provinces focus on awareness raising. ‘'There are cultural shows and programmes in schools to prepare people ahead of the flood season,'' Thanongdeth Insisingmay, programme manager at the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, told IPS.

‘'This will add to the people in some villages having a forecasting system of their own,'' he added. ‘'They have learnt from their own experiences. They keep in mind the flood mark from previous years before building schools, homes and the temple.''

The need for international assistance to expand these measures across the Mekong basin grows out of the impact from flooding that comes with the heavy monsoon rains. The peak flood season last from August through early October.

Thailand was hit by flash floods last year, with the northern province of Chiang Rai, past which the Mekong flows, seeing 500 houses destroyed, according to the MRC's ‘Annual Flood Report 2006'. ‘'An additional hazard associated with flash floods, particularly in the steeper landscapes of Chiang Rai province (were) mud slides which annually threaten many villages.''

Flooding in the Mekong Delta at the start of the flood season in June 2006 was ‘'extremely rapid,'' added the report about Vietnam. And the two peaks in the water level were ‘'two weeks later than usual, (with the) late October and early November water levels remained higher than normal.''

But the impact was mild in comparison to the devastation of the extreme floods in 2000, where 800 deaths were recorded in the Mekong basin, of which nearly 80 percent of the victims were women and children from river-based communities. Cambodia was among the worst hit, with a death toll of 347 people.

The following year also saw little respite, since the 2001 flood season resulted in 61 deaths in Cambodia. No deaths were reported in 2002, but the floods affected the lives of nearly 1.4 million people in seven provinces.

The Mekong River's basin stretches over a 795,000 sq km area and is home to some 55 million people, according to the MRC. The water flowing from the basin into the mainstream is substantial, it adds. ‘'So much water flows into the mainstream Mekong from the surrounding basin area that, on average, 15,000 cu metres of water passes by every second.''

Yet during the flood season new pressures emerge, MRC officials have confirmed, with the water level rising by up to three metres in a space of one to two hours.

‘'There is no reason to expect the river to behave differently this year,'' says Bakker, of the MRC. ‘'But last year there were no basin-wide floods.'' (END/2007) Read more!

His goal: to build 300 schools

By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer

Retired American journalist Bernard Krisher, who is devoting his retirement to raising money to build more than 300 small schools in rural Cambodia, will give two public talks in Hawai'i about his efforts.

He will speak at 6 p.m. May 31 at Temple Emanu-El, and at 10 a.m. June 2 at Central Union Church's Adult Education Committee. The public is welcome at both events.

Krisher, a former Asia bureau chief for Newsweek based in Tokyo, raises private funds that are matched or doubled by the World Bank or Asia Development Bank to build small wooden schools throughout the Cambodian countryside.

In 1993, he formed American Assistance for Cambodia and Japan Relief for Cambodia, both independent nonprofit organizations that accept private donations to fund schools.

Eight schools — four in operation and four under construction — have been made possible by Hawai'i donors, including Vanny and Jerry Clay who have become informal spokespeople for Krisher in Hawai'i.

"We just formed a 'donors club,' which meets once every three months," said Vanny Clay, in an e-mail message.

Clay, a teacher at Punahou, and her attorney husband, visited Cambodia in 2002 and saw the high level of illiteracy among children there. Clay, who is from Cambodia, heard about Krisher's work two years later, and the couple got involved. That year they visited him in Cambodia and saw five of his schools.

"We were totally amazed by the success of his program and convinced this is the way to help children," she said. "We donated funds to build a school in a very remote area in the northeastern part of the country. Our dream of providing basic education to impoverished children is now a reality."

The Clays visited the school they helped fund in 2005 and again last year to meet with students and teachers.

"We know that children are the future of the country," Clay said. "We wanted to help these children."

A school can be built for as little as $13,000 from a private donor, which is then matched by about $20,000 by one of the two international aid organizations. Schools built on land donated by a village include three to six classrooms, desks and chairs. Fully constructed schools are given to the village.

The Clays named the school they funded Mr. and Mrs. Sak Nhep School after Vanny Clay's parents.

In addition to teachers provided by the government, the Clays have hired an extra teacher to provide English and computer instruction to the children.

"We keep doing a little bit by a little bit," said Clay. "Some children walk one hour to get to school, so we want to try and buy some bicycles next year."

The school has four classrooms, 277 students ages 5 to 17, and teaches in two shifts, 7 to 11 a.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. Before starting a school day, children work in a garden, watering and caring for the vegetables that are harvested for hot meals at the school. "We want them to know about responsibility," Clay said.

To learn more about Krisher's project, visit www.cambodiaschools.com or call Jerry Clay at 535-8469.

Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com. Read more!

Borei Keila Community Relocation, a derailed social project in Cambodia's capital

A Cambdodian body was looking at On going demolishing Borei Keila
While some have moved into the newly built apartments (back), other are left on the building site without being informed what will happen next and all the while their houses are being dismantled
Lack of transparency by the authorities during the relocation process led to several heated discussion between the community and officials
As of today, the poorest were left camping in squalid conditions, uncertain of their fate and what will happen next

In 2003 it was touted as a great leap forward into developing a social housing program, an alternative to the widespread forced land evictions in Cambodia. Four years later, in May 2007, men, women and children are living under tarpaulins amid the rubble of their demolished houses. This is the plight of families living at Borei Keila in the heart of Cambodia's capital.

A brief history
Borei Keila, located opposite the Bak Tuok High School in central Phnom Penh in Veal Vong commune of 7 Makara district, covers 14.12 hectares of land and it is divided into 10 communities. It houses at least 1,776 families —including 515 families who are house renters and 86 families who reportedly have HIV/AIDS. Villagers first settled on the land, the site of a former police training facility, in 1992.

In early 2003, in the lead up to the July 2003 general election, a "land-sharing" arrangement was proposed for Borei Keila, which would allow a private company to develop part of the area for its own commercial purposes while providing alternative housing to the residents there. The idea was hailed because, rather than the villagers being evicted, they would be compensated for the loss of their land by being given apartments in new buildings to be constructed on part of the site.

In June 2003, Prime Minister Hun Sen authorized a social land concession on approximately 4.6 hectares (30% of the total 14.12 hectares of land). Construction giant Phanimex Company was contracted by the government to construct 10 apartment buildings on 2 hectares of land for the villagers, in return for getting ownership of 2.6 hectares to commercially develop.

Municipal and district authorities conducted a survey of the area, and as a result a list of 1,776 families who should receive apartments was drawn up. As well as house owners, this included renters who had lived in Borei Keila for at least three years.

Construction on the first three of the 10 new apartment buildings began in September 2004.

Apartment Allocation Process
In March 2007 the first three buildings, A, B and C, were completed. On March 5, the Phnom Penh municipality allocated apartments in buildings A and B to 87 families. Over the next few weeks the municipality would allocate apartments in buildings A and B to a further 244 families. Allegations of corruption in the allocating of apartments were rife.

In order to clear land to make way for the construction of the next seven apartment buildings, the authorities quickly moved to evict other families from their houses. These families' homes were demolished without them being given apartments in the three buildings already constructed, leaving them at the mercy of corrupt community leaders and officials who demanded money in exchange for the promise of an apartment.

The reason for the authorities' haste was they wanted the land cleared in time to hold a televised ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the seven new buildings – days before the April 1 commune elections.

As the authorities still sought to present Borei Keila as a model inner-city development project which protected the housing rights of the poor, the reality was very different. More than 100 evicted families were camped in the rubble of destroyed houses on a small strip of land.

Alerted by the worsening situation, LICADHO and UN Habitat became involved and questioned local authorities over the lack of transparency in the allocation of apartments. It was evident that at least some of the homeless families living in squalid conditions were registered in the 2003 survey and eligible for apartments.

Days before the commune elections, authorities agreed to create a joint committee, including municipal and district officials, community representatives and LICADHO and UN Habitat, to review the cases of homeless families. The committee reviewed the cases of 90 families (mostly renters) and found that 28 of them were eligible for apartments. The list was submitted to the municipal governor for a final decision.

After the commune elections, the committee process fell apart. The municipal governor did not give approval for the 28 selected families to be given apartments. The municipality began to suggest that no families who had rented (rather than owned) houses at Borei Keila would be given free apartments – despite the fact that in 2003 the municipality had committed to giving apartments to all renters who had lived there for at least three years.

Finally, only four additional families received apartments – three of them were among the 28 families considered eligible by the committee, but the fourth was not. The remaining families were not told clearly whether their cases were definitely rejected or not, and there were renewed allegations of community representatives or officials seeking bribes in return for the promise of an apartment.

In addition, there are 28 other families – who are all affected by HIV/AIDS and were given temporary shelter in a large green shed at Borei Keila after their homes were demolished – whose cases have yet to be considered. At least some of them are also eligible for apartments but there is no indication of if and when they will get them.

Ongoing Difficulties
So far, the Phnom Penh municipality has only allocated apartments to just 335 families including 14 HIV/AIDS-affected families. This leaves 181 families without apartments in hazardous health conditions. According a survey conducted by LICADHO, of the 181 families there are 123 families living under tarpaulins in the debris of destroyed houses.

The 123 families living under tarpaulins, including 248 children and 6 HIV/AIDS-affected families, face many grueling hardships. Most pressing is the lack of sanitation, which along with poor nutrition, squalid living conditions and the coming rainy season, means their situation gets worse each day. Without proper shelter or toilets, living amongst building debris and dirty puddles of water, the villagers are at great risk of diarrhea and other illnesses. Most of the people do not go to work because they are perpetually waiting for a resolution to come and are afraid of losing their property if they leave.

The 28 HIV/AIDS-affected families who are temporarily staying in the green shed – which will likely flood in the rainy season – are particularly vulnerable to poor sanitary conditions and inadequate nutrition.

Medical and Food Assistance
LICADHO's medical team has been providing treatment for homeless villagers at Borei Keila two to three times a month. The team provides medical treatment to approximately 50 to 60 villagers including about 20 children each time. The team has also referred 9 pregnant women for medical checks. LICADHO has also provided food and material assistance to villagers who have HIV/AIDS.

The Borei Keila development – which was supposed to be a model to show the government's commitment to housing for the urban poor – has been derailed. The process to allocate apartments has been rife with allegations of corruption, nepotism, an unfair evaluation criteria and a lack of transparency and commitment to honoring past promises. Unless urgent action is taken by authorities to tackle these issues, and restore transparency and fairness to the process, the credibility of the project and the government will continue to suffer. The ultimate victims will remain the families living amongst the rubble as they hope to be given apartments. Read more!

Britain's cultural initiative in Cambodia

Britain will hand out hundreds of radios to Cambodia's Cham Muslim minority in a broad cultural permutation effort in the poor society.

According to an AFP report Thursday, the radio giveaway in the rural Kompong Chhnang province is part of a larger effort begun last year to give Cambodian Muslims access to Cham-language programs

The British Embassy in Phnom Penh claimed in a statement, "The program helps to engage the Muslim community throughout Cambodia and works to promote peace, democracy, human rights, and combat terrorism."

Cambodian Muslims make up about one percent of the country's total population and have traditionally lived in tight-knit, but poor fishing communities.

While the government says it has no specific concerns that the Chams are leaning towards militancy, several Cambodians, including Muslims, were arrested over the accusation of allegedly trying to create an armed force.

MF/BGH

Read more!

Cambodia, Myanmar agree to direct flights

CAMBODIA and Myanmar have agreed to direct flights between their main tourist destinations, Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong said Wednesday.

The flights will connect Bagan and Mandalay, Myanmar's top tourist stops, to Cambodia's Angkor temple town Siem Reap, he said after returning from accompanying the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, to the reclusive state.

"Cambodia and Myanmar agree to boost the tourism industry between the two nations and attract more international visitors," he said.

"We have the same culture because we are both Buddhist, so we have to attract more tourists to both countries," he added.

Impoverished Cambodia has built a booming tourist industry on the back of the 800 year-old Angkor temples, drawing some 1.7 million foreign visitors in 2006.

But Myanmar has failed to bring in even a fraction of that number, mostly due to poor infrastructure, and its cultural treasures go largely unseen by foreigners.

Cambodia, which has close diplomatic ties with military-run Myanmar, hopes to create regional package tours that also take in neighbouring Thailand and Laos, Cambodian officials said before the start of the visit.

Direct flights between Myanmar and Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh will begin sometime in the future, Hor Nam Hong said. Read more!

Brash recharges his computer skills in Cambodia banking job

After being doomed politically by emails he considered stolen from his PC, former National Party leader Don Brash is now putting his "rusty" computer skills to work in Cambodia.

Dr Brash has spent much of the past three months in Phnom Penh, helping the central bank computerise its payments systems as part of a project funded by the Asia Development Bank.

The former Reserve Bank Governor said he had been offered the job after being recommended by former Labour Cabinet minister David Butcher who was consulting on the telecommunications sector in Cambodia.

"He rang me and said they were looking for someone in the central banking area," Dr Brash said. "I said, 'well, I know quite a bit about that'."

Dr Brash said his computer skills were "rusty" but he had top-level advisers helping him with the technology. He had travelled through much of Asia, but never to Cambodia.

Police have been investigating after hundreds of Dr Brash's emails last year made it into the public arena.

Dr Brash believed they were stolen from his personal computer. Some of his emails were published in the Nicky Hager book The Hollow Men, an inside look at the wheelings and dealings of the National Party.

Besides his work with the bank, Dr Brash has also been appointed a director on the board of one of Australia's largest banks, the ANZ National Bank. Another directorship he had secured would be announced shortly, he said.

Dr Brash was the Governor of New Zealand's Reserve Bank from 1988 to 2002 before he resigned from the $500,000-a-year job to pursue a career in politics. He quit Parliament in February.

Read more!

Cambodia Gets A Modest Bond Boost

It may take years for investors to confidently put their money in highly corrupt Cambodia. Yet, Cambodia’s first-ever rating by the Moody’s Corporation this week signals that the country, ruled by Prime Minister Hun Sen—a one-eyed former Khmer Rouge soldier—is not completely without hope.

Moody's rated Cambodia’s foreign-currency and local-currency government bonds at B2, a junk-bond level that indicates a high risk of default. The rating, however, is considered stable, meaning it is unlikely to be changed soon, for better or worse.

Cambodian external debt at the end of 2006 was $3.2 billion, according to Thomas Byrne, a vice president and senior analyst at Moody's. Byrne adds that virtually all the debt is from creditors including the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. Meaning that Moody's rating is on Cambodia itself, as the nation hasn't issued any bonds yet. "What our rating is, technically, (is) a rating on the government," Byrne said.

Even so, there is reason to believe that things are turning to the better in Cambodia. "Cambodia has recently attracted significant inflows of foreign investment into such sectors as tourism, garments and energy, which should help boost the overall level of investment in the economy, as well as strengthen the balance of payments," Byrne said.

Byrne also said the inflows of foreign investment have partly offset Cambodia's account deficit and built up its foreign exchange reserves, thus providing a buffer for its external debt.

Cambodia's credit fundamentals and macroeconomic policy flexibility, however, are still hindered by its weak state of governance. Other structural problems include the financial system's high degree of dollarization, low level of intermediation and the government's weak revenue base.

Byrne says Cambodia’s future depends on the government’s ability to improve its revenue performance, the country’s competitiveness in the garment and tourism sectors and its relatively large reserves of oil and gas.

After ruling the country for over 20 years, Hun Sen recently opened up the Cambodian economy while still keeping tight political control.

In a road show in Melbourne, Australia last October, Hun Sen introduced a series of initiatives to encourage foreign investment. These included the removal of overlapping government licensing, the reduction of value-added and income taxes, and the simplification of company registration.

Hun Sen also emphasized that his government counted on foreign investment to help solve irrigation problems, build new railroads, bridges and airports, and develop petroleum reserves.

Recently, BHP Billiton (nyse: BBL - news - people ), the world largest mining company, began digging for bauxite in Cambodia. Also U.S. oil giant Chevron (nyse: CVX - news - people )drilled four exploration wells there earlier this year, and is expected to finalize its petroleum reserve estimations in the next few months.

Foreign investment in Cambodia reached nearly $4 billion in 2006. Of this, $2.6 billion came from tourism, mineral exploration, energy development and construction. Textiles production earned $552 million, and agriculture yielded $481 million. The International Monetary Fund recorded 10.5% gross domestic product growth for Cambodia in 2006.

Nevertheless, Cambodia is still heavily dependent on foreign aid. It receives nearly $600 million in financial assistance from foreign powers, totaling nearly two-thirds of the government’s annual revenue. Read more!

Cambodia, Myanmar agree on direct flights

Phnom Penh - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen returned from a three-day official visit to Myanmar Wednesday, with the country declaring it had successfully negotiated for direct flights between the two nations.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, who accompanied Hun Sen, told a press conference that the two nations had agreed to the flights in an effort to boost tourism between the two culturally rich nations.

'There will be direct flights from Bagan and Mandalay ... to Siem Reap,' he told reporters without naming a date on which the first flights will be available.

Bagan and Mandalay are two cultural hubs of Myanmar, also known as Burma. Siem Reap is the gateway to the 800-year-old Angkor Wat temple and a world famous collection of surrounding temples which form the keystone of Cambodia's booming tourism industry.

Hor Namhong said the two nations shared a similar Buddhist culture and the direct flights were a natural extension to both country's tourism sectors.

He said direct flights between Myanmar and the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh were also planned in the near future.

Although opponents to Myanmar's harsh ruling military junta have tried to discourage tourism, saying it only supports a government notorious for human rights abuses, Cambodia has taken the traditional Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) line that Myanmar's politics are an internal issue for the Myanmar government.

Both Myanmar and Cambodia are members of the 10-nation ASEAN bloc and Cambodia has actively sought to increase inter-ASEAN tourism in recent years and has maintained cordial bilateral ties to Myanmar.

Hun Sen was also accompanied by Tourism Minister Thong Kong and Commerce Minister Cham Prasith on his visit, which Hor Namhong said had also further strengthened bilateral trade ties.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Read more!

THAI to replace ageing fleet to keep up with region’s carriers

THAI Airways is planning to purchase at least 46 new aircraft in order to compete with the new carriers in the Southeast Asia region, Bloomberg News has reported.

According to THAI’s 10-year business plan, the airline will be replacing 46 of its older aircraft between 2008 and 2017 with newer models. The new planes will also help THAI add new destinations to its service network.

''The company has to complete the business plan as soon as possible to maintain competitiveness in the regional airline industry,'' the airline’s president Apinan Sumanaseni was reported as saying after a board meeting yesterday.

In fact, THAI’s average fleet age is twice that of rival Singapore Airlines.

THAI will need greater capacity to compete with other carriers in Southeast Asia that are buying planes. However, expansion in Asian economies will be likely to lift passenger travel growth, according to the International Air Transport Association

Although Mr. Apinan did not disclose which aircraft THAI would buy, the airline reported in February that it would be ordering eight Airbus SAS A330-300 planes at a discount, in compensating for delays in the delivery of the six A380 superjumbos it ordered.

THAI will receive deliveries of the A330 from October next year, with the last order to be completed in 2010. These will be used to replace the six Airbus A300-600s and two Boeing 747-300s that it has been using for over 20 years.
Read more!

Cambodia sentences two Taiwanese men 58 years jail for drugs

Phnom Penh - Two Taiwanese men were sentenced to 30 and 28 years in prison after being found guilty of trying to smuggle more than a kilo of heroin out of Cambodia late last year, a judge said Tuesday.

Judge Sao Meach of Phnom Penh Municipal Court said the two, for whom the court gave the Khmerized names as Yein Junasuch, 49, and Jy Sunglean, 59, had been found guilty of trying to board a flight to Hong Kong from Phnom Penh International Airport on October 20 last year carrying 1.4 kilograms of the drug between them.

The pair had been carrying the heroin in pairs of specially built-up shoes as well as on their person and their strange gait raised the suspicions of customs officials, the court heard.

Junasuch was given the harsher sentence as he was carrying more, Meach said.

Both men are expected to appeal the sentences.

The harsh sentences are thought to mirror increasing frustration by Cambodian anti-drug trafficking police after a string of Taiwanese and mainland Chinese have been caught at the airport smuggling drugs in recent years.

Cambodia does not have a death penalty. Read more!

Cambodia-Thailand trade volume tops 1 bln USD

The trade volume between Cambodia and Thailand reached 1.279 billion U.S. dollars in 2006, 34.4 percent higher than 2005, local media quoted Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh as saying on Tuesday.

This is a remarkable and proud trade volume between the two countries, Cambodian language newspaper Kampuchea Thmey Daily quoted Cham Prasidh as saying.

The good trade relations between Cambodia and Thailand resulted from the border-crossing trade agreement which was approved between the two countries in February 2006, Cham Prasidh added.

Recently, Thailand has provided 340 kinds of products for selling in Cambodia without having to pay tax or paying very low tax, he said at a Thai Products Fair held in Phnom Penh from May 19 to 22.

High quality and luxurious products from Thailand are popular in Cambodian market, including construction materials, cosmetics, household goods, food, clothes, stationery, decoration materials and souvenir, the newspaper said.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Escape from Cambodia

Chheun Sean is glad to be living in New Zealand and enjoying all the freedom a peaceful country can offer.

Life has not always been peaceful for Chheun.

Born and raised in Cambodia, he came to New Zealand as a refugee 19 years ago.

He recalls those days as 'a very stressful time'.

"It took a couple of years to adapt to the New Zealand way of life and I couldn't speak any English back then," he says.

Chheun was a baby when the rebel uprising started in his home country and he says his parents became caught up in the crossfire.

"My father was captured and taken away to jail by rebels because he was suspected to be a spy. He was destined to be killed," he says.

However, one of the rebel leaders, who his father had grown up with, recognised him and vouched for his innocence and he was freed.

There was pressure for people to join the rebel movement back then, Chheun says.

"My parents would have had to join and I would have just been left on the streets to die because they would not have been able to take me with them and they would have had no choice."

A cousin of Chheun's did find himself in just that predicament but was luckily picked up by an uncle.

Chheun's parents farmed before the war and then they cooked food to sell, from their house.

"I used to have to sell the food on the streets in the mornings and then I would go to school in the afternoons," he recalls.

Because the schools were overcrowded, children would attend only half days.

However, Chheun's family opted to escape the inrest and they arrived in New Zealand when he was about 13.

Chheun's wife, Channdeth Uch, has been in New Zealand about eight years. The couple have two children, seven-year-old twin girls - Soktaera and Soktaeradh.

Read more!

Axis to spin at a bigger plant

By YEOW POOI LING

JOHOR BARU: Second board-listed Axis Inc Bhd sees growing sales on the back of capacity expansion and wider customer base, said executive director Jimmy Koh Tee Jin.

The company is a semi-integrated textile and garments manufacturer. Its knitting and dyeing facilities are located in Johor while garment manufacturing is contracted to two factories in Cambodia and another in Vietnam.

Axis plans to spend between RM33mil and RM35mil in the next two years for capital expenditure (capex) to be funded via the capital market or bank borrowings.

“We have identified a piece of land in Johor Baru for our new knitting plant. We’re almost out of space at our knitting factory in Tangkak. We have to move if we want to increase our capacity and storage space,” he told StarBiz during a recent plant visit.

Koh said the shift to a bigger plant and closer to its dyeing factory would save as much as RM1mil a year on transportation costs.

Currently, the knitting factory is running at 100% capacity of 1.5 million pounds of fabric per month with 78 knitting machines.

Axis intends to boost that to two million pounds a month by adding 30 machines.

To control raw material costs, the company had a hedging mechanism in place for the purchase of yarns, which comprised more than half of operating costs, Koh said.

All the output from the knitting factory is consumed internally for the dyeing operations.

Given the increase in knitting production, Axis planned to install six new dye tanks to boost dyeing capacity by a further 10% to two million pounds of fabric a month, he said.

Two years ago, the company replaced dyeing tanks that were more than 10 years old due to their declining efficiencies.

“These old tanks use more water and require more power to run. It’s better to replace them,” Koh said, adding that utility costs comprised about 10% of operating costs.

The company also converted to natural gas from diesel at end-2005 as it managed to lock in the costs of natural gas with Petroliam Nasional Bhd. The move enabled Axis to save about RM250,000 a month.

As it aimed to cut cost by 30% within 12 months, it would pursue strategies in logistics management, fabric consumption, efficiency and productivity improvement, and production down-time savings via larger consistent orders in hand, Koh said.

As the company was building on dual production capability in knitted and woven garments, he said, it would put in the necessary infrastructure as well as retrain staff this year.

About 30% of fabrics produced at the dyeing factory are used for Axis’ garment manufacturing and the rest exported to other textile manufacturers.

“Our factories in Cambodia and Vietnam also import fabrics from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China as we do not produce all types of fabric that meet their requirement,” Koh said.

The plants in Cambodia and Vietnam have a combined capacity of 200,000 dozen per month with 7,000 workers and 4,200 sewing machines.

Axis does not own the foreign factories but has partnered local parties, as it requires less capex and reduces cross-border investment risks.

Koh said Axis supplied the machines and equipment as well as sourcing of materials while the foreign partners owned the land and factories.

It was also eyeing Indonesia and Myanmar to extend its contract garment manufacturing to take advantage of the cost efficiencies in these countries, he added.

Meanwhile, Axis planned to ramp the Cambodian and Vietnamese factories’ annual capacity to 250,000 dozen by year-end as well as install garment silkscreen printing machines at the factories, he said.

“We want to move up the value chain by playing on printing, embroidery and washing as they provide higher margins. Fabric design is also more complicated and with that we can ask for better margins,” Koh said, adding that Axis had to keep up with new technology in knitting, dyeing, sewing, silkscreen printing and embroidery to meet buyers’ requirements.

In terms of clientele, it has diversified its base in the past five years. In 2002, 70% to 80% of garment manufacturing output were attributed to GAP Inc but this had dropped to 10% now, Koh said, adding that other clients included Footlocker USA, Le Coq Sportif, NEXT and ECKO.

“We want to avoid concentration risk. We also try to reduce dependence on products with low margins,” he said.

Currently, the US clients comprise 70% of sales and Europe the balance.

“We hope to achieve a ratio of 60:40 in the next 12 to 24 months. The widening clientele base will boost annual sales by 15%,” Koh added.

On whether Axis would consider setting up a yarn factory in the future, he said it would only be “worthwhile” to do so if the company required six million pounds of fabric a month as the cost of a sizeable yarn plant was about US$100mil.

Axis hopes to transfer to the main board of Bursa Malaysia this year to gain higher exposure to institutional investors.

“We’ve already submitted an application to the exchange,” Koh added.

Read more!

Cambodia’s first-ever Moody's ratings

Phnom Penh (dpa) - The Cambodian government Monday welcomed its first-ever foreign currency and local currency government bond ratings from Moody's, saying the B2 rating represented a milestone.

In a joint government press release with the government's rating advisor Credit Suisse, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said the rating represented a new era in financial transparency and foreign investment for Cambodia.

"The ratings are a milestone in improving investor confidence in Cambodia and show Cambodia's willingness to make public its financial health," Sok An said in the press release.

Cambodia also secured a B+ rating for long-term foreign and local currency government notes from Standard & Poor's, according to the press release.

Standard & Poor's also awarded a short-term foreign and local currency rating of B. Moody's assigned a foreign currency notes ceiling of B1, a foreign-currency ceiling for bank deposits of B3, and a local currency notes ceiling and a local currency deposit ceiling of Ba1.

Moody's said the ratings at least partially reflected a favourable offset of Cambodia's current account deficit against foreign-direct investment inflows and a build-up in official foreign exchange reserves to a level adequate in relation to the country's near-term debt repayments.

The continued success of the country's tourism and garment sectors as well as anticipated good returns from oil and gas reserves, on which commercial drilling is expected to begin within two years, were also contributing factors, it said.

"Cambodia has recently attracted significant inflows of foreign- direct investment into sectors such as tourism, garments and energy, which should help to continue to boost the overall level of investment in the economy as well as to strengthen the balance of payments," Moody's Vice President Thomas Byrne said in the release.

The release also quoted Standard & Poor's primary credit analyst Agost Bernad as saying real gross domestic product (GDP) growth averaging nine percent over the past six years had boosted Cambodia's per-capital GDP by 64 percent.

"There is reason to expect similar robust growth performance in the medium term, given the policy continuity, which focuses on export-led growth and stability in price and exchange rates," Barnad said in the release.

Credit Suisse said the ratings showed that the ratings agencies had recognized "significant momentum" in Cambodia's reform programmes.

The outlook for all ratings was given as stable, according to the press release. All short-term ratings and ceilings were not prime. Read more!

Cambodia wants to link tourist flight to Myanmar

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen made an official visit to military-ruled Myanmar on Monday to promote direct flights between the two countries, home to some of Southeast Asia's greatest cultural treasures, his adviser said.

"Burma has great tourist potential," senior Hun Sen aide Sri Thamrong told reporters at Phnom Penh airport on yesterday. "Not only are they followers of Buddhism but they also have beautiful temples so we could offer joint package tours."

Cambodia's 800-year-old Angkor Wat temple complex is largely responsible for an explosion of tourists to the war-scarred nation, which attracted 1.7 million visitors last year.

Cultural aficionados say the similar-aged Buddhist temples in Bagan in central Myanmar are a close rival to Angkor, but a chronic lack of infrastructure in the former Burma -- power cuts are a daily problem and foreign credit cards are rarely accepted -- means they attract only a fraction of the number of visitors.

Airlines in Thailand have tried to promote a similar "cultural package" in the region, with flights linking Angkor to the ancient Thai and Lao capitals, Sukhothai and Luang Prabang, and Hoi An in central Vietnam.

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said Hun Sen's talks with the Myanmar junta would not include the detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, whose latest 12-month period of house arrest is due to expire this weekend. Read more!

Thai products, franchise draw much attention in Cambodia

BANGKOK, May 21 (TNA) – Thai products and franchises have drawn a lot of attention from local people and businesspersons in Cambodia since their quality is recognised, according to Deputy Commerce Minister Oranuj Osathanont.

Speaking after attending Thailand Exhibition 2007 Fair in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, she said the event is being held for the 13th year during May 18-22 in which 144 Thai producers and distributors open 216 exhibition booths.

Their products including foods and drinks, building materials, machinery, cosmetics, OTOP goods, and spas, are of much interest to Cambodian people who recognise their quality.

Mrs. Oranuj also presided over the opening of the Thailand Franchise Day Fair in which 11 Thai franchisers in foods and drinks and spa businesses participate to give information to and negotiate with Cambodian people interested in joining the franchise business.

She said many visitors had sought details of the businesses, which fares well for Thai businesses in Cambodia.

Cambodia’s Senior Minister and Commerce Minister Chom Prasith said Phnom Penh was ready to open up for foreign investment.

At present, Cambodia has enjoyed a political stability with the economy growing 13.4 per cent last year and the inflation rate staying at 6 per cent.

It is expected the economy would expand 7 per cent this year with the inflation rate of 4 per cent. The country is ready to gradually reduce import tariffs of many products to zero in 2018 under the trade negotiation framework. (TNA) – E005 Read more!

Cambodian PM visits Myanmar

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen arrived in Nay Pyi Taw Monday to begin a three-day goodwill visit to Myanmar.

It is Hun Sen's another official visit to the country as a Cambodian leader since 2000.

Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Nam Hong and Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh, Hun Sen is making the trip.

Hun Sen will have talks with Acting Prime Minister Lieutenant- General Thein Sein later after his arrival, official sources said.

Thein Sein, who is also First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was named acting prime minister in the absence of Prime Minister General Soe Win, who, 58, reportedly went to Singapore on May 13 for the second time to receive medical treatment after the first which lasted for less than two months since mid-March. Soe Win was said to have been suffering from leukemia.

Hun Sen is expected to call on SPDC Chairman Senior General Than Shwe in the new capital on Tuesday, the sources added.

Hun Sen's Myanmar visit also came after that to the country by Hor Namhong last month.

In October 1996, SPDC Chairman Senior-General Than Shwe visited Cambodia, during which three agreements were signed on tourism cooperation, air services and establishment of sister cities between Bagan (Myanmar) and Siemreap (Cambodia).

Then Cambodian First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh also came to Yangon the same year and another agreement on the establishment of a joint commission for bilateral cooperation between the two countries was also inked.

During Hun Sen's 2000 Yangon visit, an agreement on mutual exemption of visas for holders of diplomatic and official passports was further produced.

Representing Cambodia, Hun Sen attended a Mekong economic cooperation strategy summit of four countries -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand held in Myanmar's Bagan in November 2003.

In April 2005, Soe Win went to Phnom Penh as part of his three- nation tour to three member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Myanmar and Cambodia are not only cooperating in the 10-nation ASEAN as fellow members but also active in the five-country economic cooperation also known as the Ayeyawaddy-Chao Phraya- Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS).

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Burmese junta choose stand-in PM

Burma has named a senior army officer as a temporary replacement for Prime Minister General Soe Win, who is thought to be suffering from cancer.
Lt Gen Thein Sein, who ranks fifth in Burma's military, was referred to as acting prime minister in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

It is thought he will greet Cambodian leader Hun Sen, who arrives on an official visit next week.

Soe Win has recently visited Singapore for medical treatment.

Officials have not confirmed his illness, but he is believed to be suffering from leukaemia.

'Serious health matter'

Thein Sein has conducted a number of official duties during Soe Win's illness - carrying out high-level negotiations with Bangladesh and Cambodia.

Burmese state media has variously referred to him as first secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council, and chairman of the National Convention Convening Commission.

Soe Win, an army general aged in his late 50s, travelled to Singapore in late February on what the city-state's foreign ministry called a "private visit".

But Burma's embassy in Singapore later said he was being treated for a "serious health matter".

He has been prime minister since 2004, when he replaced ousted Khin Nyunt.

Read more!

What If Every Child Had A Laptop?

Lesley Stahl Reports On The Dream And The Difficulties Of Getting A Computer To Every Child
CBS) Nicholas Negroponte, a professor at MIT, had a dream. In it every child on the planet had his own computer. In that way, he figured, children from the most impoverished places – from deserts and jungles and slums could become educated and part of the modern world. Poor kids would have new possibilities.

As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, it was a big dream.

Negroponte thought he had a chance of actually seeing it happen if he could help invent a really inexpensive laptop.

So, two years ago he founded a non-profit organization called “One Laptop Per Child.” He recruited a cadre of geeks and viola! The hundred dollar laptop, designed specifically for poor children, was born.

But let’s go back to the beginning when Negroponte first got his idea in Cambodia.

The idea came to him in a remote village called Reaksmy – a 4-hour drive on a dirt Road from the nearest town. It’s as far from MIT as you can get. They don’t even have running water.

Negroponte and his family founded a school here in 1999, putting in a satellite dish and generators. Then they gave the children laptops. Instantly, school became a lot more popular.

Kids who had never seen a computer before were now crossing the digital divide.

Nicholas Negroponte was knocked out.

"The first English word of every child in that village was 'Google'," he says. "The village has no electricity, no telephone, no television. And the children take laptops home that are connected broadband to the Internet."

When they take the laptops home, the kids often teach the whole family how to use it. Negroponte says the families loved the computers because, in a village with no electricity, it was the brightest light source in the house.

"Talk about a metaphor and a reality simultaneously," he says. "It just illuminated that household."

Once the computers were there, school attendance went way up.

Negroponte says that in Cambodia this year 50 percent more children showed up for the first grade because the kids who were in first grade last year told the other kids, “school is pretty cool.”

Negroponte wanted this for all children, everywhere, but he realized conventional computers were too expensive. And so his dream of a hundred-dollar laptop was born.

And this is it!

A low-budget computer for children like second graders in a poor school in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Each child has been given his or her own machine – as part of a test for the Brazilian government to see if they should buy them for all their school children.

"It’s very exciting," Negroponte says. "It’s very gratifying. It’s been two years in the making."

The children seemed to especially like the built-in camera that takes stills and video.

It also has Wi-Fi.

Negroponte’s idea was that kids don’t need teachers to learn the how to use the computer. They can pick it up by experimenting on their own – with help from a friend.

"That is what we are doing… is that that kid is showing this kid – that is key," he says.

"They get it instantly. It takes a 10-year-old child about three minutes."

When Stahl asks if he means children who have never used any computer before, Negroponte responds, "Children who’ve never, in some cases, seen electricity."

One Laptops are for sale in minimum lots of 250,000. Each costs $176, though Negroponte expects the price will go down to $100 within two years.

"You go into countries where there may not be enough food, where the children may not have good enough education to even teach them to read, why a laptop?" Stahl asks. "It almost sounds like a luxury for these people who need so much more than that."

"Let me take two countries, Pakistan and Nigeria. Fifty per cent of the children in both of those countries are not in school," Negroponte says. "At all. They have no schools, they don’t even have trees under which a teacher might stand…" CBS) "You’re saying give them a laptop even if they don’t go to school?" Stahl asks.

"Especially if they don’t go to school. If they don’t go to school, this is school in a box."

Negroponte took a leave of absence from MIT two years ago, and has done little else but work on this ever since.

He says it’s purely humanitarian, and non-profit. With start up money from Google and other big companies, he assembled a team of engineers and programmers to come up something that would stand up to Third World conditions.

"You can pour water on the keyboard. You can dip into – you know, you can dip the base into a bathtub. You can carry it the rain," he says. "It’s more robust than your normal laptop. It doesn’t even have holes in the side of it. If you look at it: dirt, sand, I mean, there’s no place or it to go into the machine."

Negroponte says it's designed for a child.

It looks like a toy – on purpose. But it’s a serious computer with many innovations. For instance, it’s the first laptop with a screen you can use outdoors, in full sunlight. Walter Bender, the president of software on the project, says there are loads of new features. You can draw on it...or compose music.

"It actually looks like an animal. These are meant to look like ears, right?" Stahl asks.

"Right. These ears are the way the laptop communicates with the rest of the world so the laptop listens with these ears," Bender says. "Those are radio antennas, sorta like the…"

"I don’t have that on my computer," Stahl says.

"No. And one of the reasons why this computer has probably two or three times better Wi-Fi range than your computer is because you don’t have that."

"It has 2 to 3 times better range?"

"Better range than your $3000 dollar laptop."

"How long does the battery work?"

"By the time we’re done with all our tuning, the battery should last 10, 12 hours with heavy use."

If the battery does run out and you live in a thatch hut in the middle of nowhere, you can charge it up with a crank… or a salad spinner.

A minute or two of spinning, Bener says, and you get 10 or 20 minutes of reading.

Wayan Vota is director of Geekcorps, a type of Peace Corps that brings technology to developing countries.

"The One Laptop Per Child computer is a computing revolution," he says.

He’s so fascinated by this computer he has a website devoted to it.

"It’s an entire change in the way you use computers," Vota says. "It's waterproof… I can’t wait to type outside without worrying about dust or heat. So the One Laptop Per Child technology is cutting edge. It’s clock-stopping hot."

But he doesn’t buy Negroponte’s contention that kids can figure it out without a teacher.

"If you hand a child a violin or a piano they can make noise with it, right? But will they be able to make music?" Vota says. "And if you give a child a computer they’ll be able to operate the computer// but will they really be able to learn without having a teacher, whether it’s formal, informal, to help them along that learning path?"

He says there are other problems. For poor countries like Cambodia, there are costs beyond the price of the computer like satellites to connect to the Internet. And what about theft?

"What says an older kid isn’t just going to swipe this thing?" Stahl asks. "It seems like it’s inevitable."

"Well we spent a lot of time on security," Negroponte says. "If this is stolen from a child, within 24 hours it stops working. It will not be useable."

But lately One Laptop has had to contend with a new challenge: competition. This lab in Sao Paulo is testing two other laptops the Brazilian government is thinking of buying for school children, including one made in India and Negroponte’s biggest competitor: the Classmate by Intel, the giant chip maker.

If Negroponte's program is purely humanitarian and only to benefit children, why would for-profit companies pursue the same goal?
(CBS) "Because the numbers are so large," Negroponte says. "They look at those numbers and they say, 'if we’re not in those, we’re toast'."

In Brazil there are 55 million schoolchildren, most of them poor, many live in favelas, or shanty towns. In China there are 200 million children. Worldwide Nicholas Negroponte says the potential number of kids who could get laptops is over a billion, a fact which has not gone unnoticed by Intel and other hi-tech companies.

Intel gave every student in this class in Mexico a Classmate – which Negroponte believes is part of an effort to kill him off.

At a recent lecture at MIT he accused Intel of dumping, of going to the same governments he’s trying to sell to and offering the Classmate below cost.

"Intel should be ashamed of itself," Negroponte says. "It’s just – it’s just shameless."

"Negroponte believes that you’re trying to drive him out," Stahl told Craig Barrett, Intel’s Chairman of the Board.

"We’re not trying to drive him out of business. We’re trying to bring capability to young people," Barrett responds. "And it’s more than just Intel. It’s going to take the whole industry to do this."

Barrett flies around the world bringing computers to schools in places like Malinalco, Mexico.

He says that like Negroponte, Intel just wants to help kids get affordable computers. And that they would be willing to reach an accommodation with One Laptop.

"There are lots of opportunities for us to work together," Barrett says. "That’s why when you say this is competition, we’re tying to drive him out of business: this is crazy."

Not to Negroponte who says the rivalry goes back to when he first introduced the One Laptop and Barrett dismissed it as “a gadget.” That infuriated Negroponte, who says the heart of it is that the One Laptop uses chips made by AMD, Intel’s biggest competitor.

"Intel and AMD fight viciously," Negroponte says." And we’re just sort of caught in the middle."

To prove that Intel has targeted his machine, Negroponte gave us some documents Intel sent to the government of Nigeria.

When Stahl shows those documents to Barrett, he says, "This is an Intel marketing document – there’s no question about that."

One document outlines the “shortcomings of the One Laptop Per Child approach” and lists the supposedly stronger points of the Classmate.

"So somebody at Intel sees this as direct competition, clearly," Stahl says to the Intel chairman.
"Well, someone at Intel was comparing the Classmate pc with another device being offered in the marketplace," Barrett responds. "That’s the way our business works."

For Nicholas Negroponte it’s not just business – it’s personal. It’s about his dream, his baby.

"Has Intel hurt you and the mission?" Stahl asks.

"Yes, Intel has hurt the mission enormously," Negroponte says.

These laptops are prototypes. To get them into mass production, Negroponte needs at least 3 million orders which he thought he’d have by now. But so far he has lots of promises but no definite orders.

And he blames Intel. He spends almost all his time – about 330 days a year he says – lobbying government officials, going from one country to the next.

He says he’s confident he’ll get his orders, even though he’s about to face even more competition as other companies are working on low-cost laptops.

That will result in more kids getting them – which is, after all, what Negroponte said he wanted in the first place.

"You call your project 'One Laptop Per Child,' and you mean that every kid in the entire world is going to have a laptop. Is that realistic?" Stahl asks.

"If I was realistic I wouldn’t have started this project, okay?" Negroponte responds.

"Okay."

"So it’s not realistic," Negroponte continues. "But we’ll come close."

If you’re wondering if the One Laptop will be available in the U.S., right now Negroponte’s in talks with some states and school districts. He says it will be sold commercially in the future, but you’ll have to buy two: one for your child and one for a child in a poor country.

Read more!

Thailand preventing birdflue from Phnom Penh

Thailand's Livestock Develop-ment Department is planning to provide assistance to Cambodia in a bid to prevent the cross-border spread of the bird-flu virus.

Chaweewan Leowijuck, deputy director-general of the department, said the assistance was part of the government's plan to prevent bird-flu outbreaks in neighbouring countries and thus stop the disease reaching Thailand.

The programme focuses on providing basic necessary equipment and chemicals to eradicate the virus.

The Cabinet approved a budget of Bt5.34 million in 2005 to set up the project, but it will end this year.

The department has delivered chemicals and equipment such as gloves, masks, protective suits and goggles to Nou Nuth, under-secretary of state at the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry in Cambodia . In addition, experts have been sent to Cambodia to help its officials carry out faster inspections.

"The assistance is not only aimed at helping Cambodia undertake stronger protection measures but also to stop the spread of the virus throughout the region," Chaweewan said. Read more!

UN aids Cambodia to develop eco-tourism

The United Nations' World Tourism Organization (WTO) has signed an agreement with the Cambodian Tourism Ministry to help the country develop eco-tourism in its northern province of Kratie, local media said on Saturday.

According to the agreement, the WTO will grant technical assistance worth 700,000 U.S. dollars to help establish sustainable eco-tourism system, improve protection of environment, and develop tourism promotion programs in the resort areas in Kratie, Cambodian daily newspaper Koh Sonthephea reported.

The development projects aim to attract more tourists to Kratie, which boasts primitive scenery and endangered species habitants, and contribute to poverty reduction in the country, the WTO said.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

'Killing fields' ghosts offer treasure to destitute Cambodian peasants

SRÉ LIEV, Cambodia: Pheng Chea was just another poor Cambodian peasant until a ghost came to his rescue.

In a recent dream, he recalls, the spirit of a long-dead Khmer Rouge victim showed him a gold necklace and instructed him to dig it out from her grave.

"The ghost told me her grave was near a dead big tree stump, so I dug down half a meter (1.6 feet) and found the gold," he says.

The 29-year-old man is now known as the luckiest man in Sré Liev village. He found US$240 (€177) worth of gold chains earlier this month when he and other villagers ransacked one of Cambodia's many "killing fields," the mass graves where the Khmer Rouge government dumped victims during its brutal rule from 1975 to 1979.

The pillaging highlighted the extreme poverty faced by many Cambodians — so poor that they would disturb a burial ground — as well as the role of ghosts and superstition in their lives.

The incident also worried researchers trying to preserve a historical record of the Khmer Rouge, blamed for the death of 1.7 million people through hunger, illnesses, overwork and execution. By the time the researchers learned about Sré Liev, the bones had already been piled up in the open.

Cambodia's mass graves could be useful evidence for planned genocide trials of Khmer Rouge leaders, though it remains unclear whether the Sré Liev killing field would have played a part.

Srey Noeurn, who took a pair of earrings from the skeletal remains of what appeared to have been a woman, had other concerns.

"When I arrived home, I did not keep them in the house because I was afraid the ghost would come to ask for them back," the 48-year-old mother of four said. "So, I rolled them in a plastic bag and hid them in a tree in front of the house."

She organized a Buddhist ceremony to show her gratitude to the original owner of the earrings and lit incense sticks to pray to the owner and ask for forgiveness. She sold one of the earrings for 150,000 riel (US$37.50; €28), a big sum in a country where 35 percent the people survive on less than 50 U.S. cents (€37 cents) a day.

Pheng Chea, the "luckiest man," had more worldly fears. Other villagers told him that local police were looking for him to demand a cut from his gains. And he hid for three days at his mother's house 20 kilometers (12 miles) away because he feared robbers.

The farmer sold the gold for one million riel (US$240; €177), which he used to purchase his first-ever cow. At a recent Buddhist ceremony, he offered a bowl of rice noodles to the female ghost of his lucky dream and asked for her forgiveness.

"I thanked the spirit for giving me the gold," Pheng Chea said.

Not all the villagers raided the grave.

"I told the grave diggers we ought to feel pity for (the dead)," Srey Bouy, 51, said. "They died painfully through execution and starvation."

Located in Kampot province, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) southwest of the capital of Phnom Penh, Sré Liev village is tucked away in a forest. The 100 residents live in ramshackle thatched houses and eke out a living planting rice or cutting wood for sale.

For years, the villagers left the nearby grave site alone. But recently, a team of Vietnamese soldiers mistakenly excavated the site looking for the remains of comrades who had died after Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979 and drove the Khmer Rouge from power.

When the Vietnamese soldiers left, curiosity among the villagers turned into wild speculation that the pits held jewelry. The onslaught of the graves began.

The villagers acted out of desperate poverty, says Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, an independent group collecting evidence of the regime's atrocities.

The looting of the killing fields was common shortly after the Khmer Rouge lost power, he said. His center has documented about 20,000 mass graves across Cambodia; the vast majority of them have been disturbed, mostly by poor rural people, he said.

Peter Foster, a spokesman for a United Nations-backed tribunal created to conduct genocide trials, described the looting of the Sré Liev graves as "unfortunate." He suggested that Cambodian authorities try to protect such sites in the future.

The trials have yet to start. Years of negotiations to form the tribunal, including bickering over procedures and legal fees for foreign lawyers, have delayed them for so long that many of the potential defendants have died. Three decades after the Khmer Rouge's terrifying rule, many Cambodians wonder whether they will ever see justice done.

The seemingly endless wait may have influenced the villagers too, Youk Chhang said. "When we see a piece of bone now," he said, "we have no more tears to drop." Read more!

Cambodia, Vietnam plan to plant another 118 border markers

Cambodian and Vietnam have decided to start installing another batch of 118 border markers on May 24, local media reported on Saturday.

Both sides agreed recently to conduct a ceremony on May 24 for installing the markers along the border at Komgpong Cham province, where the main crossing between the two countries is situated, Lon Lim Thay, Chief of Cabinet of the province, was quoted by Cambodian daily newspaper the Raksmey Kampuchea as saying.

"Both sides have also agreed on the architecture of the makers and the Vietnamese side will pay for the construction," he added.

In September 2006, both countries began the first phase of border marker installation at the Bavet-Mocbai international border checking point.

Cambodia and Vietnam plan to install altogether 353 border markers along their land border of 1,270 kilometers and the whole process is expected to end in December 2008.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam discuss policy for development triangle

Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam reached unanimity in developing mechanism and policy to give incentive to their development triangle at a meeting wrapped up yesterday in the Central Highland province of Gia Lai.

The two-day conference was jointly chaired by Cambodian Senior Minister and Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh, Head of the Lao Committee for Planning and Development Sulivong Dalavong, and Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc.

The discussions focused on creating favorable conditions for people's activities, transport, business and trade as well as investment in the triangle, which must go hand in hand with other regions in the process of international integration.

The three co-chairmen agreed on preferential tariff imposed on many kinds goods essential for daily life and production of the people in the three countries, facilitating cross-border transport by applying simple procedures for products produced by in the region.

They also placed importance to calling for investment from outside into the triangle and promoting cooperation in various fields.

The three co-chairmen agreed to convene the 2nd meeting of the coordination committee between the three countries in Cambodia in February 2008.

At the conference on investment promotion in the triangle held in Kon Tum province also in Vietnam’s Central Highlands last month, Japan pledged US$20 million to build infrastructure facilities in the region.

Source: VNA Read more!

Chevron to Invest $4 Billion in Asia

BANGKOK, Thailand — Chevron Corp. will invest about $4 billion in Asia this year, mostly for petroleum exploration and production, a company executive said Friday.

"The company sees Asia as a very attractive place for investment for future growth," Steve Green, managing director of Chevron Asia South Ltd., told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.

Chevron plans to spend $20 billion this year and 20 percent of that will be spent in Asia, he said.
The company's major plans for Asia include developing the Gorgon liquefied natural gas project offshore Australia, building petroleum production in Indonesia and Thailand, and exploring for oil and gas in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam, he said.

Asia accounts for a quarter of Chevron's 62 billion barrels-of-oil-equivalent in global reserves. The company plans to increase its global production by an average of 3 percent a year from now to 2010, Green said.

In the first quarter of the year, the company's worldwide oil-equivalent production was 2.64 million barrels a day, unchanged from the first quarter of 2006, the company said in April.

Chevron's gas production in Thailand, where it is the largest natural gas supplier, will increase a minimum 160 million standard cubic feet this year, Green said. He would not provide an estimate of current gas production in Thailand.

Chevron is in negotiations with Thailand's PTT PCL, the country's sole natural gas buyer, to supply an additional 330 million cubic feet of gas a day from its Platong II field in the Gulf of Thailand, Green said, when production begins in 2010.

The company's production in Bangladesh will increase by 200 million cubic feet of gas a day in 2007, after it started production from the Bibiyana field in March. Production from the field is targeted to reach 500 million cubic feet of gas a day by 2010. Chevron's total gas production in 2006 in Bangladesh averaged 310 million cubic feet of gas a day.

The company also has five exploration and production projects in China, where its average daily production in 2006 was 100,000 barrels of crude oil and condensate and 54 million cubic feet of gas.

Chevron drilled four exploration wells in Cambodia earlier this year and expects to have reserve estimations at its offshore oil and gas Block A there in the next few months, Green said. He didn't elaborate on the company's plans for Vietnam.

Chevron is also evaluating potential exploration projects in India, Green said. Read more!

Thai embassy in Cambodia ordered to tighten visa screening

The Thai embassy in Phnom Penh has been instructed to tighten screening of applicants for visa to Thailand, a deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday.

Piriya Khempol, the deputy spokesman, was quoted by Thai news group The Nation as saying that the embassy was instructed to take the action after Gen Watanachai Chaimuanwong, an adviser to the prime minister on security affairs, voiced concern that international terrorists could try to sneak into Thailand from Cambodia and Indonesia.

Watanachai said the international terrorists, who are members of Jemaah Islamiyah Group.

Apart from the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, other embassies in other countries were also ordered to tighten the screening of visa applications, Piriya said.

He said the embassies have an online network to cross-check the applicants' name with the blacklists of the Immigration Bureau and other security agencies.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

OU Int'l Week speaker recalls Cambodia's killing fields

2007-05-17
By Meghan Montgomery
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter


The keynote speaker for Ohio University's 2007 International Week recounted his survival from one of history's worst genocides Tuesday night at Baker Center.

"I never gave up, and I promised in my heart over time that I would never stop talking when I survived," said Dith Pran, whose story was told in the award-winning film, "The Killing Fields." "This story needed to be told, so you can save lives for the future generations, because this could happen again and again."

Dith Pran survived the Cambodian genocide committed by the Communist Khmer Rouge regime, explained a representative from OU's Cambodian Student Association during Pran's introduction.

In the late 1970s, Pran covered the Cambodian civil war for The New York Times, but was not permitted to leave the country when other foreign correspondents evacuated. According to the Cambodian student representative, Pran endured four years of torture and starvation in labor camps, while the Khmer Rouge killed nearly a quarter of the population, including 50 of Pran's relatives.

Now, as the founder of the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project, Pran speaks about the Cambodian holocaust to promote awareness and prevent future genocides. "I'm not a hero, I am a messenger," said Pran.

In the beginning of his speech, Pran explained how the Communist regime was allowed to take power partly because of negative American public opinion after the Vietnam War. "People ignored Cambodia because American voters at the time said 'don't go back to Southeast Asia...enough is enough,'" said Pran. "I know why America did not look back, because they said 'we lost so many people already.' That's why during the time no one paid attention."

Pran said that when the Khmer Rouge came to power, they thought communism was the best way to change the world. "Communism to them meant you work together, you sleep together, you eat together, and you are supposed to be one person," said Pran. "But this is not how it works, because they have another rule... a jungle rule that we suffer."

Pran said that when the Khmer Rouge took the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, in 1975, he made the mistake of staying behind. "That's why we lost so many people, because we never believed the Khmer Rouge would do such horrible things to people, such as killing children and killing priests," said Pran.

According to Pran, when the Communist regime came to power, their first initiative was to rebuild Phnom Penh and empty the city by moving the urban population to the countryside. He said the Khmer Rouge destroyed everything because they believed in starting from zero.

"They wanted to kill all of the generation who knew anything 'American,' and who felt what lies in the city is better than the countryside," said Pran. "They wanted to get rid of the city people and promote the country people, because they believed they could turn the people in the countryside into robots who would not question and who would just do what they want."

Pran said that although the Khmer Rouge wanted to supposedly rebuild the country, they killed the engineer who could build irrigation; they killed the doctor who could save lives; and they stopped educating the children who were supposed to be the future generation. Pran said they didn't have hospitals because the Khmer Rouge closed them, so they made untrained teenagers their nurses and doctors. "They killed by allowing people to starve to death, by killing doctors, and by confiscating medicine," recalled Pran.

In order to survive, Pran said he would eat crickets, or anything he could. "Cambodians don't eat wolf, but when you have no choice and you are sent to a jungle with plenty of wolf... you learn how to make a trap," he said.

Pran stated the importance of keeping hope in order to survive the genocide. "Losing hope happened to many people. Some people gave up hope, but I never gave up hope," said Pran. "I believed that the evil never could stay forever, but I pretended to be stupid. That's how I survived; you have to know how to play games with the enemy in order to survive."

At the end of his speech, Pran affirmed the importance of speaking out in situations like these, in order to minimize the killings. "We cannot stop it completely, but we must learn how to do something instead of saying we can't do it," he said.

Pran's story and message is depicted in "The Killing Fields" and in his book, "Children of the Killing Fields." He testified before the House of Representatives about the Cambodian genocide, and today receives recognition for his struggle and his mission.

Tuesday night, Thomas Hodson, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at OU, awarded Pran the school's Carr Van Anda Award for his contributions to journalism.

"I suffered tremendously, but I have people here who care, and who won't let this happen again. I hope together we can make a change," said Pran. Read more!

Cities of Cambodia, Estonia sign agreement to improve investment, cooperation ties

Cambodia's major seaport city and travel destination Sihanoukville has signed an agreement with Estonia's tourism city Maardu to seek for mutual investment and cooperation, local media said on Thursday.

"This agreement will help improve the investment and development cooperation between the two cities," Cambodian daily newspaper the Koh Sonthephea quoted Say Hak, governor of Sihanoukville, as saying.

Details of the agreement was not disclosed.

While signing the agreement on Wednesday, Georgy Bystrov, mayor of Maardu, highly appreciated the achievements of Sihanoukville, said the paper.

During his trip to Sihanoukville, Bystrov visited the industrial, commercial, tourism and cultural areas of the city as well as the seaport, the paper added.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

U.S. donates bird flu equipment for Cambodian officers to make money off the poors

Cambodian government officials on Thursday had welcomed a big load of brand new avian influenza equipment from the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In the big load of equipment has everything in a complete set for influenza emergency outbreak.

The U.S. government donated 65, 000 U.S. dollars worth of avian influenza equipment to the Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on Thursday.

These equipments are free gift to Cambodian officials or they will become tools for Cambodian officials to make money off the poors. It is an other chance of luck that will help them make extra money from the long history of corruption in the Hun Sen's society.

The U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has donated 4,500 sets of personal protection equipment and 50 decontamination kits to the Cambodian side, these items will assist the Cambodian government in its efforts to fight avian influenza and other potential pandemic diseases.

The equipment includes protective suits, respirators, goggles and gloves, Joseph Mussomeli, the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia, said while addressing the handover ceremony. But will these equipments help the poors or getting more pain?

In Cambodia, every hospital and clinic are not for poor Cambodians to walk in for a free health check up event Donors and the UN had funded hundred millions of dollars. All hospitals, especially in Phnom Penh must be paid from $5 to $10 under the table to get check up. If there is no fee, there is no free check up or you will be waiting all days.

But we just hope that thing will get better in the future and we just hope that these equipment won't be sold to private clinic or be stolen. In the past, a lot of equipments from high tech hospital equipment to school Lab equipments were stolen or sold for deep pockets.

This equipment will be distributed to the front-line workers who come in direct contact with infected poultry, and will be used during the collection of samples and the culling of diseased flocks, he said, adding that the decontamination kits will limit the risk of animal-to-animal and animal-to-human infection during an outbreak response by reducing the presence of the virus in the affected community.

Since 2004, Cambodia has experienced 22 bird flu outbreaks that killed 7 people, according to official statistics. And all children that died in the Hospital were from poor family. Read more!

Who pays for our impulsive consumption?

A tradition of disposable clothing has existed in the fashion industry for many years — clothing that falls apart easily, garments that you wear twice and then give away. However, we rarely consider what effect this impulsive consumption of goods has. Perhaps we know at one level that the fashion industry has quite a lot to do with poverty?

Recently I walked into a 'disposable clothes shop' in Sydney and viewed it through a different lens. As I looked at a beautifully embroidered shirt and a pair of trousers, I started to picture the women who worked to assemble its pieces.

Remembering lines of women in Cambodia walking along Phnom Penh’s roads with pink scarves around their heads, long sleeved shirts and simple black pants, my conscience was pricked. These women were on their way to work in garment factories, yet rarely did I remember seeing on the labels of my clothing 'Made in Cambodia'.

While these Cambodian women work in comparatively good conditions, it is impossible for Cambodia to continue on this path as it can no longer compete in the world market. The franchise that China has on the garment industry is preventing countries like Cambodia from working their way out of poverty.

On the other side of the world the situation is similar. The United States subsidises its cotton farmers, which prevents African countries such as Mali from being able to export good quality cotton to a world market. Peru is in a similar situation with its alpaca wool.

This situation was considered in The Dollar a Day Dress, a documentary made by the BBC's Panorama in 2005. The documentary travelled to Peru, Mali, Uganda and Cambodia to source material from people who lived on less than a dollar a day. The dress was then created by London School of Fashion students and paraded during fashion week, 2005. However, despite advocacy efforts like this, two years later, the situation has not improved.

In July 2007, the world will reach the halfway point of the UN Millennium Development Goals. These development goals aim to alleviate extreme poverty and hunger, providing universal primary education and addressing gender inequality. So let’s look at the facts. Australia is a signatory to these UN promises, and by signing on to them Prime Minister John Howard signed onto a pledge which states:

"We will spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected. We are committed to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want."

Australia currently ranks 19th out of 22 OECD countries in its contribution to overseas aid spending. In last week’s Budget, whilst the Federal Government increased the aid budget, it failed to increase aid funding from its current level of 0.3 per cent of GNI. The budget did however decrease its governance funding on a percentage basis, and increased infrastructure, health and education spending by $1.6 billion over four years. This is promising, in that less aid dollars are being spent on security operations in places such as the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste, and more is being spent on sustainable development. Nonetheless, our signing of free trade agreements with the United States is the very thing which keeps developing countries from working their way out of poverty.

One answer to these complex problems is for Australia to show some leadership, and start providing more and better aid; to focus its aid dollars on development projects with a mandate of building peace and alleviating poverty, and investing in fair trade initiatives. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to create a global partnership for human development. It is not possible to eradicate extreme poverty without working together. Working together using principles of fair trade is a challenge that governments need to be made aware of. Programs need to be firmly grounded in good development principles, encouraging a mentality of doing with rather than doing for.

Another more personal response is to consider our buying habits. Our awareness of the working and living conditions of garment workers rarely plays out in our own lives. Christian Kemp-Griffin, the Chief Executive Office of Edun Apparel — an ethical clothing company founded by U2’s Bono and his wife Ali Hewson — says that socially conscious clothing sells. "The ethical image has value. A company doesn't have to sacrifice its margins to sell its product because it's doing it ethically. It actually adds value for the consumer."

A fundamental shift needs to happen in the minds of Western governments. It takes specific action and focussed aid and development dollars to alleviate poverty, and the need is more urgent than ever. Read more!

Australia to increase aid to Cambodia in 2008

The Australian government has decided to increase aid to Cambodia by 11 percent in the coming year, but the actual amount is not specified, local media reported on Wednesday.

Australian Ambassador to Cambodia Margaret Adamson told Prime Minister Hun Sen here on Tuesday that the aid will target agriculture, health and scholarships for Cambodian students, reported Cambodian daily newspaper the Kampuchea Thmey.

Australia will continue to help Cambodia in order to strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation, Eng Sophallet, personal assistant to the premier, was quoted by another Cambodian daily newspaper the Koh Santepheap as saying.

Hun Sen said that the Australian aid is well-suited to Cambodia 's rural development and poverty reduction strategies and thanked the Australian government for its continuous assistance to Cambodia, reported the Koh Santepheap.

Hun Sen also requested the Australian government to assist Cambodia for its 2008 national election, reported the Kampuchea Thmey.

Hun Sen paid a six-day official visit to Australia in October 2006.

As the visit was wrapped up, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh told reporters that the Australian government is to offer to Cambodia over 123 million Australian dollars (around 92 million U. S. dollars) of aid in the next 5 years.

Among it, 48.5 million Australian dollars (some 36 million U.S. dollars) goes for comprehensive projects from 2006 to 2007, and 45 million Australian dollars (some 34 million U.S. dollars) for agricultural projects and 30 million Australian dollars (some 22 million U.S. dollars) for justice and penal affairs in the next 5 years.

From 1996 to 2006, Australia has offered a total of 424 billion Australian dollars (around 318 billion U.S. dollars) of aid to Cambodia.

Australia is the kingdom's third largest donor, trailing Japan and the United States. Read more!

Rare soft-shell turtle found in Cambodia

16 May 2007

Phnom Penh, Cambodia – One of the world’s largest and least studied freshwater turtles has been found in Cambodia’s Mekong River, raising hopes that the threatened species can be saved from extinction.

Scientists from WWF, Conservation International, the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and the Cambodian Turtle Conservation Team captured an 11-kilogramme (24.2-pound) female Cantor’s giant soft-shell turtle during a recent river survey.

“This incredible discovery means that a unique turtle can be saved from disappearing from our planet,” said David Emmett, a wildlife biologist at Conservation International.

“We thought it might be almost gone, but found a number of them on this one pristine stretch of the Mekong, making the area the world’s most important site for saving this particular species.”

Stuck in the mud
Instead of an exterior shell commonly associated with turtles, the Cantor’s giant soft-shell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) has a rubbery skin with ribs fused together to form a protective layer over the internal organs. To protect itself from predators, it spends 95 per cent of its life hidden in sand or mud with only its eyes and nose showing.

The turtle can grow up to 2 metres (6 feet) in length and weigh more than 50 kilogrammes (110 pounds). It also possesses long claws and can extend its neck with lightning speed to bite with jaws powerful enough to crush bone.

“It has the fastest strike of any animal I’ve ever seen, including cobras,” Emmett added.

The researchers also found a nesting ground for the species and brought back eggs that have since hatched. The hatchlings were released into the wild on 8 May, together with another adult turtle and additional hatchlings captured by fishermen.

Last observed by scientists in the wild in Cambodia in 2003, only a few records of the species exist for Laos, and it appears to have disappeared across much of its former range in Vietnam and Thailand.

It is currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the same status as tigers and pandas. Threats to its existence include over-harvesting by hunters for its meat and eggs, as well as habitat destruction from dams, irrigation and dredging.

River survey
The stretch of Mekong River where the turtles were found is an area that had been closed for many years to scientific exploration because it was one the last strongholds of Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge regime. The river survey was the first detailed study of the area since security restrictions were relaxed in the late 1990s.

“Our survey work to date has documented some of the highest freshwater biodiversity values in the entire Lower Mekong Basin,” said Mark Bezuijen of WWF’s Mekong Programme, who led the team.

“During our survey we also discovered an entirely new plant species, Amorphophallus Sp., along with populations of such threatened species as terns, fish eagles, green peafowl, otters and silvered leaf-monkeys. More than 180 fish species were recorded, including one identified as a new species of spiny eel.

Bezuijen described the area where the turtle was discovered as “a near pristine region of tall riverine forest, waterways and island archipelagos where further exciting biological discoveries will almost certainly be made.”

A further survey of the area by an international team of flora and fauna experts is planned for July 2007.

END NOTES:

• For the future protection of the species, Conservation International, WWF and the Cambodian Turtle Conservation Team plan to employ local community members to protect nesting beaches for the turtles and to conduct patrols during the dry season to prevent illegal fishing of the species prized as an expensive delicacy in neighboring Vietnam. The organizations will also provide the communities with financial incentives to offset the potential loss of revenue from illegal trade in the turtles.

• The turtle survey team consisted of Cambodian Fisheries Administration staff and the Cambodian Turtle Conservation Team, a group of early career conservationists who have received long-term mentoring from Conservation International (with funding from the British energy company BP). During the survey, they worked also worked closely with WWF staff and local fishing communities.

For further information:
Chris Greenwood, Communications Advisor
WWF Cambodia
Tel: + 855 092 916 454
E-mail: chris.greenwood@wwfgreatermekong.org

Read more!