Q & A with Cambodia national team coach Scott O’Donell

The Australian football public would not know much about Scott O’Donell.

The 42-year old New South Welshman is a former player who represented a few NSW Premier League clubs in and around Sydney before making the move to Malaysia as a 27-year old.

Since then has played in Malaysia and Singapore and is currently in his second stint as head coach of the Cambodia national football team.

tribalfootball.com caught up with O’Donell to discuss certain aspects of his footballing life along with the status of football in Asia and upcoming plans for the Cambodia team, otherwise known as The Royals.

tf.com: How did you get over to Asia in the first place? Was it purely for football or were you also interested in other things such as the culture, lifestyle etc?

SO’D: “I first went to Malaysia in 1994. I had always wanted to play football full-time. At the time I was playing for Parramatta Melita in the NSL (National Soccer League) and teaching economics and business studied in Sydney’s western suburbs.

“When the opportunity came, I jumped at it. I was coached by former Chelsea player and manager Ken Shellito at Kuala Lumpur and had a relatively successful season.

Parramatta loaned me to KL for the season and I came back to play the last few NSL games in 1995 under Washington Gonzales. After Parramatta were subsequently kicked out of the NSL for the 95/96 season, I signed for Tampines Rovers FC for the inaugural S.League season in Singapore.

“I played for four seasons in Singapore before getting my coaching licenses back in Australia before commencing my coaching career at Geylang United. After Geylang, I was offered the Cambodian national coaching position in 2005.

“I jumped at the chance because my two daughters (Emma and Ellie) were adopted from Cambodia and we always intended to try and go back and live there one day, so it worked out well.”

tf.com: Can you identify the major differences between football in Australia and football in Asia, predominantly in Cambodia where you are based now and in Malaysia and Singapore where you played?

SO’D: “There is no doubt that the football in Australia is a lot more physical. The level of professionalism has also greatly improved compared to the old NSL. The A-League is light years ahead of the NSL.

“Technically, I don’t think there is a big difference between the better players in South East Asia and Australia.

“Professional football in Cambodia is in its infancy. We have a professional league and have foreign players but the standard is fairly average. Having said that, the competitiveness and the quality is slowly improving. A lack of youth development in year gone by certainly hasn’t helped.”

“Malaysian football has struggled over the last decade or so. When I first went there, there were Australian internationals like Darren Stewart, Alan Davidson, Alistair Edwards and Abbas Saad playing, the crowds were great and the press coverage was unbelievable. But it has gone downhill fast.

“There are no foreigners anymore, the crowds are poor and the media coverage is too. There are some very good players and hopefully the success they had at the SEA (South East Asian) Games last year will help kick-start Malaysian football. They have great facilities and a great passion for football.”

“The S.League has constantly struggled to get crowds. It is one of the best organised leagues in South East Asia. Most of the clubs are very well run but it struggles to compete with the English Premier League, which is hugely popular in Singapore.

“In the first year of the S.League, the crowds were good, it was a new league and like Malaysia, there were some very good foreigners like Vlado Bosinovski, Ernie Tapei, Ivan Kelic and some excellent foreigners from Croatia, Iran and Brazil. Unfortunately the quality of foreigners has declined and the interest seems to be waning.

“One of the benefits of the S.League has been the rise to prominence of the Singapore national team under Serbian coach Raddy Avramovic. The S.League has allowed more players to become professional players therefore giving Raddy more players to choose from. The standard is not bad. SAFFC (Singapore Armed Forces) have qualified for their second successive AFC Champions League, which I think, is a reflection of the quality of the S.League.”

tf.com: What’s planned for Cambodia national team in the next six to twelve months? Do you envisage staying in the role or are you likely to move on?

SO’D: “The Cambodian national team have the opening rounds of the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in early October as well as the Suzuki Cup (ASEAN Football Championships) qualifiers at the end of October in Laos.

“My current contract ends in May 2010. I will be having discussions with the Federation in the coming weeks and will see what transpires. I would love the chance to come back and work in Australia but as you know, full-time opportunities in football are fairly limited. I have had approaches from other clubs in the region but I have not confirmed anything yet.”

tf.com: You have worked closely with the AFC. Have you seen an improvement in Asian football over the past few years and if so, what have been the main factors for this improvement?

SO’D: “I really enjoyed my time as director of coach education at AFC. Without a doubt I think there has been a massive improvement in Asian football.

“I think Australia would be the first to admit that competing in Asia is not as easy as many first though. (AFC) President Hammam has been instrumental in implementing policies and projects aimed at improving football across Asia.

“The Japans and Koreas can look after themselves but countries like Uzbekistan and Vietnam are really taking off. Improvements in coach education, club administration, referees and overall professionalism is taking football in Asia to greater heights. I think Uzbekistan is a country to watch out for in the coming years. They have a group of passionate people working to improve all aspects of football and they have the money to employ the likes (Luiz Felipe) Scolari and (ex-Brazil star) Rivaldo to help raise the profile of football.

“The AFC Champions League is also gaining in popularity and is great for the Australian clubs and players to travel across Asia to experience playing in different conditions against different styles of play.”

tf.com: Do you look back on your time with Tampines Rovers (particularly) and other Asian clubs with fondness and would you suggest it worthwhile for Australian players to experience Asian football?

“I really enjoyed my time playing in Asia. The opportunity to play full-time and to play with and against other foreign and local players was a challenge that I enjoyed.

“I think the 3+1 rule has definitely opened the door for more Australian players to play in Asia. Players like (Brendon) Santalab and (Joel) Griffiths are doing well and hopefully that will open the door for more Australian players in Asia. I think if you asked the players like Peter Bennett, Alex Duric, PJ Roberts and Santalab who all played for me at Geylang United, they would all say that they enjoyed their time playing in Singapore.

“Playing for Tampines was very enjoyable. They are a real community club based in the east of Singapore. They have very loyal supporters who are very passionate. They have gone from strength to strength in recent years and have achieved a great deal of success under the chairmanship of Teo Hock Seng, a successful businessman in Singapore.

“With full-time playing opportunities in Australia being limited, I would strongly advise young players who have not yet been signed by A-League clubs, to head to countries like Singapore to gain some experience. Singapore is a great place to live and the Aussie boys would have no problems adapting to life in Singapore.

“There is some decent money in some of the other South East Asian league like Vietnam and Indonesia and the quality is good.”


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Russian experts offer training to Cambodian anti-drug officials

Mar 03, 2010 (BBC Monitoring via COMTEX) -- [Report by Visal: "Anti-Drug Law Enforcement Officials Are Trained To Have Sufficient Capacity"]

Phnom Penh: 57 Cambodian anti-drug law enforcement officials, from the Departments of Customs and Camcontrol, Anti-Drug Bureau, National Military Police, Phnom Penh Municipality, and Kandal Province, are receiving, starting from 1 March morning, training instructed by Russian experts to increase their capability and knowledge so they will have sufficient skills to enforce the drug control law.

Kao Khondara, vice-chairman of the National Authority for Combating Drugs, said that this training course would help drug law enforcement officials, who were having difficulty in combating illegal drug trafficking, production, and transaction, to obtain higher possibilities in drug control.

Alexander I. Ignatov, Russian ambassador to Cambodia, said that the Russian Government, like the Russian people, had always helped Cambodia in national rehabilitation and construction. Particularly, the Russian drug control institution had provided technical assistance and expert trainers to make presentation in this training course.

It should be pointed out that the four-day training course on drug control law enforcement will focus on a number of themes, including cooperation with public and non-government organizations in combating drugs trafficking and preventing drug use, cooperation offered with the monitoring of measures to thwart money laundering [sentence as published], and investigation into crimes relating to the theft of drugs from legal drug circulation.

Source: Reaksmei Kampuchea, Phnom Penh, in Cambodian 3 Mar 10

BBC Mon AS1 AsPol FS1 FsuPol tbj

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Ex-war correspondents plan reunion in Cambodia+

PHNOM PENH, March 3 (AP) - (Kyodo)—A group of war correspondents plans to hold a reunion next month in Phnom Penh in memory of colleagues who perished in Cambodia during the Indo-China War in the early 1970s, organizers of the event said Wednesday.

Chhang Song, an information minister during the U.S.-backed Lon Nol government, told Kyodo News that the event was set for April 20-23 with a gathering of war correspondents who covered Cambodia from 1970, when the Lon Nol government was inaugurated, to 1975, when the Lon Nol regime collapsed and gave way to the Khmer Rouge government.

Carl Robinson, a former Associated Press correspondent and another organizer of the event, told Kyodo News via e-mail that while there had been reunions in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, among war correspondents who covered the Vietnam War, none had been held in Cambodia.

Chhang Song said the commemorative plan had received full backing from Khieu Kanharith, the Cambodian minister of information.

Robinson, who was based in Saigon from 1968 through 1975, said that between April 1970 and April 1975, 33 foreign journalists and 21 Cambodian journalists were killed or went missing while performing their jobs.

Among foreign journalists who died during the Cambodia conflict were 10 Japanese, eight French nationals, seven Americans, and others from Switzerland, West Germany, Austria, Netherlands, India, Laos and Australia.

"Chhang Song and I are the inspiration behind this one. I think for many of us, the experience of Cambodia was so painful -- not only the war itself but what followed -- that it's been very hard for us to come to terms with over the years," Robinson said.

Robinson said he expects more than a dozen of the 40 or so surviving war correspondents to attend the reunion.


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Kbal Spean or the River of 1000 Lingas : The combination of natural and cultural attraction

Located about 50 kilometers from Siem Reap town, Cambodia, Kbal Spean is one of the foremost attraction sites in the Province. The site is also commonly known as the River of 1000 Lingas.

Mar 03, 2010 – Located about 50 kilometers from Siem Reap town, Cambodia, Kbal Spean is one of the foremost attraction sites in the Province. The site is also commonly known as the River of 1000 Lingas. If traveling from Banteay Srey, the finest architectural temple, it will take 12 Km. Kbal Spean offers both natural and cultural attraction to visitor at the same time. It can be argued that Kbal Spean is a unique Angkorain area due to its holy and cultural aspects accompanying with the pure forest and water fall. The River of 1000 Lingas, which is located in Phnom Kulen, represents the combination of natural beauty and the religious carving stone.

The Angkorain area was constructed under the reign of King Jayavarman II in the early of 9 century. The linga is a simple phallic shape, the symbol of the god Shiva and his powers of creation. There are reportedly around 1,000 images in all. They probably served a purification purpose. In addition to the lingas along the riverbed, there are bas-relief carvings in many of the boulders along the stream. The carvings end in a small but pretty waterfall that apparently was once used as a ritual bathing spot by the king. The landscape around the stream is also rather spectacular in itself. It is no doubt that the place was the hiding spot of the Khmer Rouge during the war time. With the reclining Buddha,remarkable riverbed caving, water fall, and pure forest, Kbal Spean can be a good attraction, especially during the raining season when the place contains large volume of water, where visitor can enjoy. Regarding to religious belief, some visitors believe after getting bath there, it will bring good things and even help cure the illness.

This attraction is popular for domestic tourists while probably the international tourists may lack information and the long distance from Siem Reap town. However, to complete and explore the real travel experience in the top destination of Cambodia, Kbal Spean WOULD NOT BE MISSED. It is the golden opportunity to view all attractions of the world heritage site and economically contribute to local resident and help enhance living standard and be apart of sustainable tourism development solution in Cambodia.

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Drought drops Mekong River to nearly 2-decade low

By DENIS D. GRAY (AP)

BANGKOK — Severe drought has dropped the Mekong River to its lowest level in nearly 20 years, halting some cargo traffic and boat tours on the Asian waterway that is the lifeblood for 65 million people in six countries, a draft report said.

The decrease was caused largely by an early end to the 2009 wet season and low rainfall during the monsoons, rather than dams built upstream in China, according to documents drafted by the Mekong River Commission.

"At this stage there is no indication that the existence of dams upstream has made the situation more extreme than the natural case," said the draft report seen by The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Nongovernmental organizations have long blamed China for shrinking the Mekong and causing other ecological damage by building dams. A dozen exist or are planned on the river in the country where it originates.

But dams have also been built or planned in other countries, principally on the river's many tributaries in Laos.

Senior officials from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam met Wednesday in Luang Prabang, Laos, to discuss the river. China and Myanmar, the other two riparian countries, are not commission members.

The report said the river level in southwestern China is the lowest in 50 years, with only half the volume that would be normal in February. Levels at mainstream measuring stations in Laos and northern Thailand are below those in 1992.

River tour operators have stopped services on stretches of the river in Laos and cargo vessels have been halted in China's Yunnan province, the report said.

The commission said the water scarcity has sparked fears of food shortages, lack of access to clean water and impoverishment in some of Southeast Asia's poorest regions.

"This situation represents a wide regional hydrological drought affecting all countries in the upper part of the (Mekong) basin," the report said. It also noted the commission will hold further discussions with China but gave no details.


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Voyage of discovery: Vietnam, Camboidia

Written by Catharine Stewart-Roache


After docking in Ho Chih Minh City (Saigon) we immediately got on an airplane and flew to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. We visited museums, palaces, and took a sunset boat trip on the Mekong. But the transforming moment for 60 of us (students, faculty and Lifelong Learners) was our visit to the Palm Tree Orphanage where 80 children ages 1-24 live as one big family, taking care of each other and getting more education than the government schools.

As we walked down a dark but crowded street on Friday night, we felt small hands in ours to take us to their home. The children were ready to show us where they have classes and go to sleep, play and eat. They know only a little English, but hugs and warm smiles went a very long way. We sang songs to each other and played silly games. We had met 14 of these students who are trained classical Cambodian dancers. They had come onto our ship in the morning and we were amazed at their dancing skills. No professional troop is any better.

As we left Palm Tree there were tears in many a students' eyes as it really hit home how tough a life many, many people on Earth have. The war with the Khymer Rouge took almost half of the population and the lives of almost 100 percent of all teachers, professors and "cultured" people.

The continuing result is a country that struggles. There is 50 percent unemployment and more than 35 percent live on less than $1 a day. Corruption is widespread. Many (some guides said most) of the government is very corrupt and are left over from the leaders of the hated Khymer Rouge, who are associated with Chinese interests and ethnicity. There is no industry save tourism. Angkor Wat is their economic salvation. About 300,000 Cambodians are in tourist-related fields.

We got to experience knowledgeable guides and pesky, begging children at the World Heritage site, Angkor Wat — which was built up in my mind so much that I thought I would be disappointed. Not so. It is truly fantastic and covers a huge area of buildings and interior rooms. Pat and I both wished that we were there for a week with our bicycles. That would be a terrific way to see it.

Oh, but it was hot! And the humidity was in the 90s. We climbed and climbed, and drank and drank water. I would be surprised if anyone was a runner or tri-athlete here. But I did see an aerobics class going on during the weekend. I could never be that dedicated.

Our return to Vietnam gave us an exciting experience of traffic. It is more organized than in 1998 (we now know which side of the street people are supposed to ride on), and there are far less bicycles and rickshaws, but there are masses of people zipping in and out of each other's way. Pat says Saigon may become the first city to have "carpool" lanes for motor bikes with three or more people! Babies are sandwiched in between parents; sometimes two or three children hang on to mom and dad. Add to this, bikes going against the traffic and making lefthand turns in front of cars and buses from two lanes to our right.

We ended our travels in this part of Southeast Asia by visiting the Mekong Delta. In this part of South Vietnam the river is sometimes 2-3 kilometers (3-4 miles) wide. We spent the day on the water and on jungle walks. We were refreshed with Jackfruit, sapodilla, mango, and bright pink dragon fruit. The main meal of the day was one of the best meals of the trip.

We will be sailing before dawn in order to catch the tide and make it out of the Saigon River, which empties into the South China Sea. Then on to India. This will take more than a week and will give me time to catch my breath and reflect on what I have seen and learned. It is almost overwhelming.

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ANZ subsidiary linked to Cambodian army

By Liam Cochrane for Radio Australia


ANZ Royal, a subsidiary of one of Australia's largest banks, has denied it is involved in a scheme that creates partnerships between private businesses and Cambodian military units.

Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen announced the initiative last week and said more than 40 partnerships had been established to provide food, medicine, tools, buildings and transport for troops and their families.

One of the businesses named as a sponsor of the Cambodian army was Metfone, a subsidiary of a mobile phone company owned by the Vietnamese military.

Another on the list was ANZ Royal, a joint partnership between Australia's ANZ Bank and one of Cambodia's biggest business conglomerates, The Royal Group.

Cambodian council of ministers spokesman Phay Siphan says the scheme reflects Cambodian culture.

"Some Cambodians on management [at ANZ Royal], they have the chance to mobilise their charity to support some [soldiers]," he said.

"The charity hasn't just been supported today, it's been years already. It's just that they have been assigned it so that the people understand who they help."

ANZ Royal has declined to comment to ABC's Radio Australia, but chief executive Stephen Higgins has been quoted in local media saying that he is unsure how his company's name appeared on the list of military sponsors, saying it might be "some type of printing error".

A statement from ANZ in Australia said "it is not appropriate for ANZ to provide support or sponsorships to individual military units in any country in which we operate".

"ANZ Royal Bank, as a subsidiary of ANZ, has not and will not be providing such support," the statement said.

Seeking answers

The initiative to formally link businesses with the military has raised concerns among human rights groups that work in Cambodia.

Naly Pilorge, a spokeswoman for the rights group LICADHO, says "it is especially concerning because some of these ministries [involved] have absolutely no link to the military, such as those that are supposed to focus on youth or women or health".

"That's the question we are trying to find the answers to, because right now it is very unclear.

"It is alarming because some of these ministries have nothing to do with the military, and for good reason."

Ms Pilorge says a similar scheme would not be tolerated in other countries.

"In most countries, developed countries and developing countries, it would be illegal for business in the private sector to openly and directly fund the milliary," she said.

"But by dealing so openly there is an assumption that the military is open to any group or any company that wishes to use the military to protect its interests and its private interests.

"We have see this over the country over the years in terms of land grabbing. We have seen the military used, especially in the rural areas... to evict people to protect the interests of economic concessions.

"This is really disturbing because legislation says the miliary is to protect citizens equally and not be used for the private interests of companies."

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LDS Church works with Cambodian government to aid rice farmers

By Carole Mikita


KAMPONG CHHNANG, Cambodia -- Last November, KSL 5 News showed you how Utahns were helping Cambodian children receive education and training that changes their lives. Now, other Utahns, also missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are working to help rice farmers double their production.

The rice fields of Kampong Chhnang province in Cambodia are brown in the dry season, but the farmers who own them have increased production substantially in the last three and a half years.

"I went around and spoke to a number of them, and almost every one of them indicated that, personally, the amount of rice that they raised on a particular piece of ground doubled, in terms of the yield received," said LDS missionary Elder Lowell Curtis.

Lowell Curtis and his wife, Cheryl, are from Riverton. They are serving a humanitarian mission in Cambodia.

The farmers the couple are helping belong to a cooperative and participated in a project with Latter-day Saint charities and CEDAC -- the Cambodian Center for Study and Development of Agriculture. After centuries of doing it the same way, now they plant fewer seeds and plant them differently.

The farmers see a difference.

"New rice machine; the farmer come here, and testing, and [I] feel that the rice that come out is very good," Oum Sok said through a translator.

He was talking about the rice mill. LDS charities provided the funds to build it; the farmers from the village and surrounding villages financed the machinery. With a larger crop and their own mill, they have enough for their families and plenty of yield to sell.

The program also encourages the families to raise other crops, which create a healthier diet. The farmers also learn to raise chickens or pigs and increase their numbers. The money they earn from sales now goes here to the savings bank the farmers built, and they have moved out of poverty.

These villagers are not Latter-day Saints, most are Buddhists or Muslims.

"This particular project, the number of beneficiaries would be well over a hundred thousand, I suspect," Curtis said. "There aren't any members of the Church who have directly benefited from it. It's just an attempt to help individuals wherever the help may be needed without consideration for religion or national origin."

The rice program started in 2006 and concluded at the end of 2009. The farmers saw an increased success every year; and with the savings program, many have become financially independent.


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More Cambodian farmers shift toward organic crops

PHNOM PENH, Mar. 3, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) -- The number of organic farmers producing crops in Cambodia is growing thanks to efforts aimed at training agricultural workers in organic farming techniques, local media reported on Wednesday, citing the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC).

Marking the first organized meeting for organic farmers, CEDAC president Yaing Saing Koma was quoted by The Cambodia Daily as saying that the number of organic farmers registered with his organization reached 61 in 2009, up from just five in 2004 when CEDAC started to train farmers in the use of natural fertilizers.

"It is not easy to grow organic vegetables as we must be careful about the health of consumers," he said, making reference to the heightened risk of disease from insects in crops grown without the use of chemicals. "We don't use chemical substances to grow vegetables, only natural fertilizers."

Organic produce amounted to just 30 tons in 2009, according to CEDAC, which helps farmers earn a fair price for their produce at five shops in Phnom Penh and another located in Preah Sihanouk city.

In a statement released on Tuesday, CEDAC said that organic produce sells for an average of 15 to 25 percent more than non- organic vegetables sold in local markets.

The German development service, or DED, has been assisting CEDAC in their quest to link organic farmers to the domestic markets.

Anna Meusinger, a junior adviser to CEDAC working with DED, said despite recent progress a lack of irrigation systems was limiting the growth rate of organic farmers.

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Aid given for Cambodia's railways

The Asian Development Bank and Australia on Tuesday launched a multimillion dollar project to restore Cambodia's dilapidated railway network as part of a larger goal to boost regional rail traffic and trade.

Funding for the effort includes a bank loan of $42 million and $21.5 million in grant aid from the Australian government, according to a bank news release.

Cambodia's railroads are in serious need of repair following three decades civil war and of neglect, with a 30-mile (48-kilometer) link to Thailand destroyed.

Officials at the signing ceremony said the upgraded network, to be operational by 2013, would create jobs and business opportunities; reduce road congestion, road maintenance costs and environmental degradation; and help farmers and manufacturers transport their goods to regional markets.

The ADB, OPEC and Malaysia had earlier helped fund the rehabilitation project which will cost a total of $141 million.

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Cambodia PM warns of cosmetic surgery dangers

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday warned women to beware of dubious standards in the country's booming cosmetic surgery industry, in which doctors often practise without licences.

Despite a sluggish economy in Cambodia from the global financial crisis, health experts say the business of cosmetic surgery, including nose jobs and breast enlargements, has doubled or even tripled in recent years.

However Hun Sen said health officials needed to more stringently monitor lax standards in the industry and urged women to be careful or they might "go into a coffin" rather than obtain beauty.

"The problem is whether or not (we) understand clearly the materials or chemical substances that are used for beauty surgery," Hun Sen said, citing the recent case of a Cambodian woman who died after receiving an injection.

Many Cambodian women are aiming for the what they perceive as the more delicate looks of popular Korean and Chinese film stars.

But even as operations become popular among the emerging middle class, Cambodia remains a country where laws are loosely enforced and many people calling themselves doctors have little training.

Although cosmetic surgeons are required to register with the health ministry and have proper qualifications, officials say many operate freely and illegally without licences.

Hun Sen went on to urge Cambodian women to embrace their natural beauty.

"I would like to appeal to all women -- not only single women, but also married women -- that it is good to keep natural beauty," Hun Sen said.
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Cambodians complicit in Vietnamization

I promised last week to discuss today the 25-year treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation concluded by Heng Samrin, a former Khmer Rouge commander who is now a leader in Cambodia's government, and Vietnam's prime minister Pham Van Dong on Feb. 18, 1979.

This treaty binds Cambodia and Vietnam in what the treaty terms, "militant solidarity and fraternal friendship." In a stroke of the pen, the signatories extol a symbiosis of interests between Cambodia and Vietnam, opening the door to an even more thorough Vietnamization of Khmer land and culture than might have taken place in a federation of the states of the former French Indochina.

Retired Johns Hopkins professor Naranhkiri Tith observes on his Web site that the 1979 treaty between Hanoi and its puppet in Phnom Penh "became official in 2005" when Cambodia's King Sihamoni, "with the support of his father Sihanouk," put his royal signature on "supplements" to the treaty, thereby making Cambodians complicit in the Vietnamization of Cambodia.

Some readers have requested a review of Vietnam's historical expansionism and its contemporary revolutionary activities that ended with the 1979 treaty. I will provide that review today and then deal with the treaty.

A saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention."

Vietnam, which broke off its thousand-year bondage to China in 939, began its southward movement a few decades later, to escape Mongol and Chinese military threats in the north. Migration to the west was hampered by natural and physical barriers. To the south, the territory was unoccupied and the land was fertile. The horizon seemed infinite.

The migration was ongoing, even as other kingdoms were encountered. In 1406, the ancient kingdom of Champa's capital, Vijaya, was seized and the kingdom was extinguished in 1471. Then, in 1630, Vietnamese princess Ngoc Van, married to Khmer King Chey Chetha II, promoted Vietnamese settlements in the low delta in Khmer Preah Suakea (Ba Ria) and Prey Nokor (Saigon).

The 1979 friendship-cooperation treaty brings Hanoi's influence as far west as the border with Thailand.

What started as a necessity dictated by the search for security and growth became a strategy for expansionism. The intention to expand its influence is illustrated even in the name of the political party founded by modern Vietnam's leader, Ho Chi Minh, in 1930 -- the "Communist Party of Indochina." Ho Chi Minh didn't just want to liberate Vietnam from the French; he defined the task of CPI "to make Indochina completely independent."

In 1941, Minh created the Viet Minh, an abbreviation of "Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi," or "League for the Independence of Vietnam," and spread its anti-French activities to Laos and Cambodia, where the Viet Minh later fragmentized the anti-French local Khmer Issarak front into a Khmer Viet Minh front.

In 1949, the Viet Minh instituted the "Ban Van Dong Thanh Lap Dang Nhan Cach Mang Cao Mien" -- "Canvassing Committee for the Creation of the Revolutionary Kampuchean People's Party" -- and created the Kampuchean People's Liberation Army in 1950.

Although the CPI was dissolved to demonstrate Vietnam did not harbor expansionist intentions toward its neighbors, it resurfaced in February 1951 as the Vietnam Workers' Party (Lao Dong), with the same agenda. In November of that year, the Revolutionary Kampuchean People's Party was created. It has been said the RKPP and the Cambodian local Communist Pracheachon Party were one and the same.

As Prince Sihanouk wrote in February 1960, the Pracheachon Party was "working indefatigably ... and specifically to bring Cambodia under the heel of North Vietnam."

Finally, in 1952, the Hanoi-created "Kampuchean Resistance Government" emerged to rival Sihanouk's royal government.

When the 1954 Geneva Accords ordered the Viet Minh to leave Cambodia, they took with them to Vietnam between 4,500 and 8,000 Cambodians, mostly young children.

According to Cambodian Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Kampuchea was born on Sept. 30, 1960, after the first party congress of 21 people met for three days and three nights. According to Pol Pot, a Cambodian revolutionary movement that "truly belonged to our people," existed prior to the Geneva Convention, but its dissolution after the 1954 agreement was acknowledged because "people lacked a correct and enlightened guideline." Pol Pot described 1968 as the year when armed struggle -- civil war -- began.

Undoubtedly, Hanoi was aware that its publicly proclaimed "fraternal brothers and sisters," the Khmer Rouge, were not so "fraternal" privately, and it knew its relationships with the Khmer Rouge were unsatisfactory. But Hanoi let the Khmer Rouge be while it looked to building its own Kampuchean puppets. Hanoi was biding its time.

And as it was fighting a war against the Americans in Vietnam, Hanoi threw in its battle-tested troops to fight Lon Nol's republican army, enemies of Prince Sihanouk, who had allied himself with Hanoi. It was Hanoi's troops that routed Lon Nol's army and put Pol Pot in power in Phnom Penh.

Neither Hanoi nor the world governments intervened to stop the genocide that followed. However, when the Khmer Rouge's fierce independence of Hanoi was more than the latter would tolerate, Hanoi concluded it was time to teach its insolent comrades a lesson. The invasion of Cambodia followed, on Christmas Eve 1978.

Phnom Penh was captured and a subservient regime was installed, leading to the signing of the February 1979 treaty between the master and the puppet comrades.


A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com. Read more!

Cambodia gets tough on acid attackers

Cambodia's government is drafting new laws to punish those who carry out devastating acid attacks.

According to official figures from the Cambodian police, 40 acid attacks were reported in 2008 and that number is rising. There have been six cases already this year.

Many of the attacks are carried out as punishment or revenge for acts of adultery.

Police are drawing inspiration from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan where acid attackers can face life in prison or even the death penalty.

Officials believe many criminals are using acid nowadays because tighter gun and knife laws in Cambodia have made it the easiest weapon to get hold of. They are also planing to impose stricter regulations on acid sellers.

Some of the victims are now being cared for at the Cambodian Acid Survivor's Charity where they receive medical care, physiotherapy and counseling to help heal both the physical and psychological wounds.
Read more!

‘Appu Pappu’ back from Cambodia

Director Anantha Raju and his entire ‘Appu Pappu’ gang are back in Bangalore after a tight 35-days schedule in Cambodia and Bangkok.

To brief the press about Appu Pappu, the crew had gathered on Saturday at the Bell Hotel. Director Anantha Raju, Music director Hamsalekha, Actors Abbas, Komal, Madhuri, co-producer Prathap, writer Ram Narayan were there.

The film's producer Soundarya Jagadish, the producer of the hit ‘Mast Majaa Maadi’ and the distributor of Kannada said the major attraction in the film will be an orangutan. The crew picturised many important scenes with artistes like Master Snehith , Abbas, Komal Kumar, Rangayana Raghu, Rekha, Madhuri, Gymnassium Ravi and others in the foreign locales. She also said Master Snehith has a lot of scenes with the orangutan in the film.

Soundarya Jagadish also narrated the hard work put by the crew in filming with the orangutan in Cambodia. 'Orangutan has his own moods and five trainers were hired to keep the character in good spirits”, she said.

The film has another 20-days shooting left and the film will be ready in March. Soundarya Jagadish is planning to release the film in May to catch up with the summer holidays.

Music director Hamsalekha said all the songs have come out good and are full of youth. He also said that they are trying Amithabh Bachchan to sing one song about human kindness and the producer has sent the portions of the film done so far and the music track to Amitabh to let him decide on it.

Read more!

SKorea To Fund New Road At Angkor Temple Complex

(AP) PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - South Korea has provided $9.2 million to Cambodia to build a new road that will circle the famed Angkor temple complex and reduce traffic in the area, officials said Monday.

The 13-mile road will be closed to trucks to reduce pollution, noise and vibrations that could damage the ancient ruins, said Soeung Kong, vice secretary-general of the Apsara Authority, the government agency that oversees the temples.

Construction will start this year and take three years to complete, he said.

It will be the second road in the Angkor area funded by South Korea, connecting with existing roads to the north and northwest of the temples, said South Korean Embassy official Son Sungil. The first road extended south from the temple complex.

Tourism is a major foreign currency earner for cash-strapped Cambodia, which hosts nearly 1.5 million foreign tourists each year, mostly from South Korea, Japan and the United States. More than half of the tourists visit Angkor, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northwestern Siem Reap province.

The temples were built when Angkorian kings ruled over much of Southeast Asia between the 9th and 14th centuries.

Conservationists have long expressed concerns about tourism's impact. They say uncontrolled pumping of underground water to meet the rising demand of hotels and residents in the nearby town of Siem Reap may be destabilizing the earth beneath the temples.
Read more!

Bangkok Under Fire on Immigration Policy

New Rules, Which Demand Compliance by March 2, Could Cause Massive Deportation of Migrant Workers

By PATRICK BARTA


Pressure is mounting on Thai authorities to rescind or delay new immigration rules that could cause hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to face deportation and drive up business costs in one of Southeast Asia's most important economies, human-rights workers say.

The rules, which demand compliance by Tuesday and which require some 1.5 million migrants to register with Thai authorities and prove their nationalities, or be kicked out, are adding to recent concerns about overreliance on imported labor in Asia's wealthier countries.

Other countries in the region, including Malaysia, Singapore and Korea, have increasingly drawn on low-cost foreign workers to help them stay competitive with China and India. Malaysian palm-oil plantation owners count heavily on labor from Bangladesh or Nepal to keep wages low.

In Thailand, textile manufacturers and fishing fleets—two industries that heavily rely on foreign labor—use workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and elsewhere.

Although precise data on such undocumented workers are unavailable, human-rights groups say they now account for roughly 5% to 10% of Thailand's work force.

As the number of migrants has grown, though, host countries have become more worried about backlash from local residents, who fear foreign labor is keeping local wages down. Officials say they also are concerned foreigners could pose security threats or health risks, since some come from countries with high rates of HIV or other diseases.

Thailand is emerging as the latest battleground. The country has long required migrant workers to register with the government. But now, authorities are asking them to undergo a considerably more onerous and time-consuming registration that involves verifying the migrants' identities with their home governments—something many workers are afraid to do because they fear it could subject them to punishments or penalties back home.

The goal of Thai authorities is to get a more reliable record of who is in the country at any given time, expand worker protections and tighten supervision, including ensuring workers have vaccinations.

The deadline for compliance, initially Feb. 28, was extended to March 2 after several hundred thousand migrants failed to appear. Workers who don't comply are subject to arrest and deportation, though it remains unclear when that process will start. In one concession, officials have said that workers who start the process now can finish the paperwork later, though they have also insisted they will take a hard line against anyone found to be intentionally avoiding the process.

Human-rights groups say as many as 700,000 of the 1.5 million or so migrants covered by the rule will refuse to comply, based on conversations they've had with Thai officials about current participation rates. A Thai government spokesman says he doubts the number is that high, but acknowledges at least several hundred thousand likely still haven't taken part.

Even a small reduction in the number of migrant workers could affect Thailand's competitiveness, analysts say, at a time when it is just beginning to recover from the world-wide economic crisis. Employers say they already are experiencing labor shortages, and will need more migrants to keep textile mills and other low-wage businesses, such as farm work or seafood processing, humming.

"Thai people don't want these jobs," says Amnart Nantaharn, deputy secretary general of the Federation of Thai Industries. Every sector of the Thai economy needs more migrant workers, he says.

Human-rights groups, meanwhile, say migrants have plenty of reasons to fear declaring themselves, including a history of past mistreatment by Thai authorities. Cases of arbitrary arrest and rape are detailed in a report released last week by New York-based Human Rights Watch. In some cases, activists allege, Thai authorities force migrants to pay bribes to avoid deportation.

On Thursday, police said Thai troops fire on a pickup truck carrying Myanmar migrants, killing three passengers, Reuters reported. The police said the driver was heading toward authorities near a border with Myanmar and refused to halt.

Other migrant workers worry that information about their activities will be shared with their governments in Myanmar, Laos or Cambodia, subjecting them to possible problems if they return home or their families to harassment.

"We recognize the right of the government to monitor immigration," says Phil Robertson, a deputy director of Human Rights Watch. "We just want them to do it in a way that prevents human-rights abuses against migrants."

Thai authorities say they are investigating the reports of abuse. They say the new registration process will ultimately help reduce such problems by formalizing workers' status and rights under Thai law.

"That is exactly why we need them to come forward and be protected, so they're not underground," says Panitan Wattanayagorn, a Thai government spokesman. He says he doesn't think higher costs for businesses "is much of an issue" but added the government will consider possible economic downsides as it considers how aggressively to enforce the rule.

Thailand isn't the only country in the region grappling with how to tighten rules on foreign workers without driving too many of them away. Last month, after complaints from local residents, Singapore said it would raise fees on employers who use overseas labor. Malaysia has cracked down on the movement of some migrants after a U.S. State Department report last year accused the country of allowing human trafficking, often for the purpose of bringing overseas workers in for forced labor. Malaysian authorities have said they don't condone trafficking and are dealing with the problem.Tighter controls could help Thailand and the foreign workers in the long run, says Christopher Bruton, an analyst at Dataconsult Ltd., a Bangkok advisory firm. Wages will likely have to rise and some businesses will "probably close or go over the border" to remain competitive if many migrant workers return home, he says. But relying on cheap labor tends to promote inefficiencies in businesses, he says, and forcing companies to accept somewhat higher wages could ultimately make them run better and be more competitive.

—Wilawan Watcharasakwet
and Celine Fernandez
contributed to this article.

Read more!

With a Free Enterprise Vietnam, Who Really Won the War?

By William Thompson


Mr. Thompson, Professor of Public Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is the author of Legalized Gambling: A Reference Handbook (Santa Barbara and Denver: ABC-Clio, 1994 and 1997-2nd ed.).

Over the year-end, I visited Vietnam, and I revised some thinking. I now conclude that we won the Vietnam War. We just weren’t there for the victory party.

I was in Vietnam to visit my son, a school teacher at the South Saigon (yes! SAIGON) International School. I rode on a “cyclo” from the Ho Chi Minh Post Office, filled with merchants hawking goods, to the Ben Thanh Market—from one hot spot of capitalism to another. I took a train trip to the ocean beach at Mui Ne, staying at a Western-style resort. I rode on a bus through incredible motorcycle traffic to Cat Tien National Park. There I asked our German guide (he was from the Deutschland equivalent of our Peace Corps) to tell me just what inside Vietnam was “communist.” Upon reflection he said, “Well, I guess about the only thing is this park. It is owned by the government. I can’t think of anything else.

I’ve come to the conclusion that he might be right. About the only thing communist I found in the country was the national park, along with city parks and a few museums.

The American-Vietnam War was fought with multiple goals—although they were ill-explained and very murky. One rationale for the war was the “domino theory.” Concomitant with containment (as expressed first by George F. Kennan in 1947), the domino theory held that if communist forces could be victorious in one country, then those forces would seek to conquer the next adjacent non-communist country, until all countries had fallen like dominos. The whole world was the target of domino thinking, as expressed in the manifesto of Marx and Engels. If South Vietnam fell to communists supported by the Soviet Union and China, we expected Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines to fall as well, then Asia as a whole—and then the world.

President Lyndon B. Johnson stated in a speech on April 7, 1965, “Over this war…is another reality: the deepening shadow of Communist China. The rulers in Hanoi are urged on by Peking. This is a regime which has destroyed freedom in Tibet, attacked India, and been condemned by the United Nations for aggression in Korea. It is a nation which is helping the forces of violence in almost every continent. The contest in Vietnam is part of a wider pattern of aggressive purpose.”

There were also ideological reasons for being in this war. We wanted to demonstrate the viability of free enterprise capitalism in competition with state ownership of commerce.

President Johnson continued his speech with the hope that even our adversary could see the wisdom of working together for more commerce. “I would hope that the Secretary General of the United Nations could use the prestige of his great office…to initiate, as soon as possible, with the countries of the area, a plan for cooperation in increased development. For our part I will ask the Congress to join in a billion dollar American investment in this effort as soon as it is underway….The task is nothing less than to enrich the hopes and existence of more than a hundred million people.”

There was a humanitarian goal in the war. Johnson spoke of terror and violence in South Vietnam. “It is a war of unparalleled brutality. Simple farmers are the targets of assassination and kidnapping. Women and children are strangled in the night because their men are loyal to their government. Small and helpless villages are ravaged by sneak attacks. Large scale raids are conducted on towns, and terror strikes in the heart of cities.”

Whatever our goals, we abandoned notions that our forces would overturn the existing communist regime of North Vietnam, but would be used to defend the survival of the free enterprise regime of South Vietnam. We did so thinking we were preserving the “independent nation of South Vietnam.” “We want nothing for ourselves, only that the people of South Vietnam be allowed to guide their own country in their own way.” No notice was given to the fact that there was only one nation of Vietnam until the French left in 1954. Our efforts were to support a divided Vietnam—not to promote a united, independent nation. There had been one Vietnam for over a thousand years. There were two Vietnams only for a decade.

In 1973, the U.S. participated in peace talks that promised that a South Vietnamese regime could be preserved. We agreed to disengage and remove our troops and forces, and the North agreed that they would not take over the South. Political realities led to different results. Our withdrawal was accompanied by a withdrawal of funding for our military effort by Congress. In turn, North Vietnam took over the South. In 1975, North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon.

For thirty-five years, I have heard that we had “lost” the war. However, what I saw over the recent holiday leads me to reject that conclusion. The war was “won.” The trouble is that we were not around long enough to see the victory. Ironically, “our” victory was won, not by American troops, but rather by the Vietnamese armies and the Vietnamese people.

The communist takeover did originally, as Washington feared, result in the loss of liberty, property, and life – an almost inevitable consequence of war, as the North Vietnamese Army punished many in the South. It was also a result of the imposition of communist ideology. Private property was seized and free enterprise activities were forcibly restrained.

But more was happening. The U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam guaranteed the collapse of the already fragile Cambodian government, which was deposed and replaced by Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. The massive wave of violence we feared would be set into motion in southern Vietnam came to Cambodia. Pol Pot’s imposition of peasant communism led to the evacuation of Cambodia’s cities, forced labor in the countryside, and mass murder in the “killing fields.” The killing focused on political rivals—such as Buddhist monks and entrepreneurs—and on those of foreign heritage, including Chinese and Vietnamese. Over two million were murdered in the Cambodian genocide.

With no American forces left in Vietnam, we were hardly in a position to stop the killing. Still, the U.S. did little in using diplomatic pressure to stop Pol Pot. Instead, the Carter administration gave support to Pol Pot by backing the United Nation’s recognition of his government.

But the killing in Cambodia did come to a stop. How? The Khmer Rouge conducted border raids into Vietnam, and Vietnam reacted. On December 25, 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia. Pol Pot was deposed, a new government put into place, and the killing ceased. The new communist government of a united Vietnam ended the genocide.

The new puppet government in Cambodia was also communist, but did this mean that dominos were falling? Hardly. While pursuing the goals of Kennan’s containment policy, our efforts were based on an assumption that by being brother communists-in-arms, the Chinese and Vietnamese loved each other. Not so! They enjoyed a millennium of animosities that were only temporarily held in check by the American conflict (and in the previous wars with the French and Japanese). China and Vietnam were traditional enemies.

When Vietnam achieved its unity, the country expelled people of Chinese heritage. China took umbrage. In February 1979, China quit playing dominos, sending 120,000 troops into Vietnam. Vietnam fought back, stopping the Chinese before they could reach Hanoi, and counterattacking across the Chinese border. Within a month, China withdrew from Vietnam. The only thing defeated was the domino theory.

As the killing stopped, and the game of dominos ended, there was an end to communist ideology. The imposition of communist economics led to conditions that the United States had predicted. There was a lack of productivity, a shortage of goods, and starvation. Rice, the country’s leading agricultural crop, had to be imported from India. The Vietnamese are natural hustlers with boundless energy, witnessed in their determination to stand up to the Americans, the French, the Chinese and the Cambodians. Yet, they were now told to stand in line and bow to the edicts of ideological government bureaucrats. Their energy was capped.

Their leaders were not entirely blind. One common story is that a leading general took the podium at the 6th National Congress in 1986. He said, in effect, that he had not asked the people and his troops to shed their sweat, tears, and blood “for this!” They had fought for a better life. Things were only worse. He called for the party to “let the people be free to use their intrinsic energy to produce goods for their own benefit.”

The leaders could not quarrel with the general, and an era of doi moi (renovation, renewal and reform) was initiated by that year’s party congress.

The Vietnamese regime is still led by the Communist Party of Vietnam, but what they have, economically, is what the American military fought to defend. Free market businesses, capital investment, manufacturing, and export development have been part of doi moi. Poverty was cut in half, income doubled, economic growth became rampant, and food is now exported. The people are not hungry. Changes in the economic structure led the U.S. to drop an embargo in 1994, and Vietnam is now part of the World Trade Organization.

Saigon is still “Saigon” to the people, although the government calls it Ho Chi Minh City. In the south of the city, a Taiwanese company reclaimed thousands of acres of swampland and developed a major suburban-like community called

Phu My Hung. There shopping centers and commercial streets are found with restaurants, hotels, single family houses and apartment complexes. The neighborhood houses the South Saigon International School, owned by Taiwanese, but giving instruction in English to children from Vietnam and 30 other nationalities.

Around the corner is the Phu My Hung Bookstore. Most books are in Vietnamese, but I ventured to look around. They had American news and travel magazines. There was also an English language book which I purchased: “Viet Nam Vision 2020: The 10th National Congress of the Communist Party of Viet Nam.” The book explained that the country was enjoying the twenty-fifth year in a row with economic growth, average growth was 5.5% a year, second worldwide only to the Chinese. Agriculture output doubled in fifteen years. Vietnam was second to Brazil in exports of coffee, fourth in rubber exports, and fourth in timber and wooden furniture. There are thirteen automobile assembly plants in the country.

State owned enterprises are being replaced by private concerns. “The overall number of private enterprises had increased from 132 in 1991, 80,000 in 2003, and 170,000 in 2006.” There are 9.7 million “individual businesses,” and half of the families in Vietnam are involved in owning businesses. Seventy-three countries had made investments in the country.

There is concern with corruption in the bureaucracy. The 2020 “Vision” Report decried bribery and corruption among party officials, indicating that the “party had disciplined 40,000 party members in the form of being blamed, warned, expelled, dismissed or sent to jail.”

The notion of the victory of American values is reflected in goals of the party expressed in the report:

To strongly liberate the production force, promote all potential as well as human resources.…To strongly move to a market economy, comply with market principles…To encourage all people to raise their incomes through lawful means….To make significant changes in administrative reform, and reduce red tape, corruption, and wastefulness….To implement a system of distribution basically according to work results, economic efficiency, the level of contributions of capital and other resources.…To create a favorable legal environment, mechanisms and policies to tap all social resources for development….To effectively manage the operations of basic markets in line with a healthy competition pattern….To steadily develop the financial market….To develop the real estate market, including the market of land use rights…To make land a real source of capital for investment….To swiftly draw investment capital...for carrying out important projects on oil and gas exploitation…

The report further urged that “there must be help for the development of enterprises, with no direct interference in their production and business….Efforts must be made to ensure that all citizens have free rights to invest and do their business without limitation in all fields…”

Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee don’t need the Republicans to hire Newt Gingrich to write another “Contract with America.” The Republicans need only look to Vision 2020 Report of the Communist Party of Vietnam for their 2010 platform. The war was won! Read more!

Northeastern states stage a cultural festival

Agartala, Feb 27: To promote closer ties among the Northeast states and with their neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, a month-long cultural festival 'Inter-Cultural Dialogue' is being staged and the second leg of it concluded in Agartala on Friday.

New Delhi-based the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) in association with North East Zone Cultural Centre (NEZCC) and the state governments
is organizing the first ever-international cultural festival across the northeast region.

The festival began on February 21 in Guwahati, Assam and will wind up on March 12 covering Meghaylaya, Tripura, Manipur and Nagaland, followed by a four-day symposium-cum-cultural show in New Delhi from March 17 to March 20.

Around 150 artists and performers from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and northeastern states are performing various traditional dances to showcase their area's traditional art and culture.

Other than traditional Thai dance and Indonesian dance depicting scenes from Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, the mask dance of Sikkim and traditional Indonesian Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet) were enjoyed very much by the audience, as they were totally new to them.

Audience, who were mesmerized by the programme, felt that academics and artists of these regions should collectively revisit their history, culture and economy and look at the commonalities, which still persist to a significant extent. "

I feel our culture, that is to say, ancient Indian culture specially the Aryan culture has been beautifully mixed in their chorography. They are also trying to expose their dance items, their choreography through Ramayana, Mahabharata. This is beautiful mixture of Indian culture and neighbouring countries," said Swapan Nandi, audience and renowned painter.

Participants from the Southeast Asian countries said they were happy participating in the event.
"We are happy to join this festival because here we can show our culture and learn other cultures like of India, Thailand, Cambodia and Java," said Chum Chanveasna, an artist from Cambodia.

The organisers said that the unique relationship in cultural-historical experiences of the people of Southeast Asian countries and northeast India has become a subject of genuine importance in the background of the overall drive for cultural, economic, political understanding and unity, and such cultural events help to bridge the gap and rediscover old ties between them. Read more!

Thai court seizes more than half of Thaksin's fortune

BANGKOK: Thailand's top court on Friday seized $1.4 billion in assets belonging to the family of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra for abuse of his power, far less than expected, in a decision that could appease some anti-government forces.

The court said Thaksin had concealed his ownership of shares in his family telecommunications conglomerate Shin Corp during his five years in office and geared government policies to benefit the company, but ruled that $900 million amassed before his premiership be unfrozen.

Authorities said major violence was unlikely in response to the ruling but mobilised thousands of police and troops to pre-empt any backlash by supporters of the 60-year-old fugitive at the centre of a five-year political crisis in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.

Prior to the ruling, analysts said any decision allowing Thaksin's family to keep a portion of the assets would be more favourable for markets in the short term by reducing the risk of an imminent showdown in Thailand's divisive colour-coded crisis.

"The partial seizure of the assets should be what financial markets prefer because both sides can claim victory," said Prapas Tonpibulsak, chief investment officer at Ayudhya Fund Management.

The judges said Thaksin had abused his power in all five major cases against him, which included shaping telecoms and satellite policies, including concessions fees and state loans, to benefit Shin Corp.

Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 coup and convicted in absentia of graft, has denied the charges from self-imposed exile in Dubai.
Read more!

Thai court begins lengthy hearing on Thaksin verdict

BANGKOK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Judges in Thailand's Supreme Court began reading a verdict on Friday afternoon that will decide whether the government can seize $2.3 billion of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra's frozen family assets.

The nine-judge panel began reading the long-awaited verdict at around 1:30 p.m. (0630 GMT). It could take several hours before a decision on the assets is announced.

The twice-elected Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 coup and convicted in absentia of graft, is believed to be in Dubai and says he will fight any confiscation of the assets.

Thousands of police and soldiers are on alert across Bangkok, ready to tackle any violence by supporters of the 60-year-old former telecommunications mogul at the centre of a five-year political crisis in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.

The pro-Thaksin "red shirt" movement, which forced a regional summit to be abandoned last April and staged protests that sparked Thailand's worst street violence in 17 years, plans a mass rally in Bangkok on March 14 but says it will not protest on Friday [ID:nSGE61N09L].

Other Thaksin supporters, however, plan to gather in Bangkok.

Read more!

Cambodia Not Ready for Munitions Pact: Official

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Washington


Cambodiais not ready to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, due to stockpiles it is currently holding, a senior government official said Thursday.

Cambodia is still assessing the cost and means associated with finding a replacement to its current munitions, Prak Sokhon, vice president of the Cambodia Mine Action Authority, said, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

We need more time to study the number of cluster munitions we have and if we need to replace them in order for us to sign the convention,” he said.

The government also needs to know “how much money and time we need to replace the munitions with the ones that are not banned,” he said. “Once we have these, we can then sign it.”
The UN took the opportunity on National Mine Awareness Day on Wednesday to renew an appeal for Cambodiato renew its commitment to the eliminating cluster munitions.

“We urge Cambodiato sign and ratify as soon as possible the Convention on Cluster Munitions to demonstrate its commitment to a peaceful and secure world,” the UN said in a statement.

Cambodiais peppered with landmines, remnants of decades of civil strife, though the number of mine- and ordnance-related fatalities has dropped over the past four years, falling from 450 in 2006 to 243 in 2009.

The decrease was due to better demining operations, law enforcement and coordination in identifying mined areas, Prak Sokhon said.

Read more!

Cambodia SKorea bilateral trade soars

Cambodian exports to South Korea surged 391 percent in January compared with the same month last year.

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency says the 4 point 3 million dollar rise comes amid an overall increase in bilateral trade between the two countries.

Korea Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia says rising demand from North America has also help spur the recovery in trade.

South Korea runs garment factories in the Kingdom, and Cambodia in turn imports raw materials for its primary export industry, so trade between the two is highly dependent on demand from the United States and Canada.

Last month rubber was Cambodia's largest export to South Korea indicating the Kingdom's intention to move into other export industries, particularly agricultural products.
Read more!

Vietnam to help build Cambodian Assembly's information infrastructure

Hanoi is gripping tighter on Cambodia by trying to tap every piece of information from Cambodian National Assembly. Yuon will collect all internal and external secret intelligence from Cambodian National Assembly to control the state of Cambodia.

The National Assemblies of Vietnam and Cambodia will start a project to install network equipment for information processing and Intranet access at all agencies of the Cambodia National Assembly.

The agreement was reached between the two countries' legislators during a visit to Cambodia by a Vietnam National Assembly delegation this week.

The 300 thousand dollar project is funded by the Vietnam National Assembly.

In the first phase Vietnam will supply servers, computers and transmission lines to Cambodia, this year.

In the second phase next year Vietnam will complete the installation of equipment for the Intranet to support information processing between Cambodia's National Assembly agencies.
Read more!

Cambodia to again sue opposition leader Sam Rainsy

The Cambodian government has filed a new lawsuit against leading opposition figure Sam Rainsy.

The government accuses Mr Rainsy of forging public documents and spreading false information about a border dispute with Vietnam.

Mr Rainsy, who is living in exile, was given a two-year jail term last month for a political protest in which markers along the border were uprooted.

He could face up to 18 years in prison if found guilty of the latest charges.

"The lawsuit involves forging public documents and publicising disinformation related to the forgery of a map in order to manipulate the public over the border issue with Vietnam," government lawyer Ky Tech told the AFP news agency.

'Political tool'

In January, Mr Rainsy was given the two-year jail term in his absence for encouraging villagers to uproot the border markings.

He did not attend the hearing, saying in an e-mail believed to have been sent from France, that the case against him was politically motivated.

"The court in Cambodia is just a political tool for the ruling party to crack down on the opposition," he said.

"I will let this politically subservient court prosecute me in absentia because its verdict is known in advance."

Cambodia and Vietnam officially began demarcating their contentious border in September 2006, in a bid to end decades of territorial disputes.

The 1,270-kilometre (790-mile) border has remained essentially unmarked and vague since French colonial times, with stone markers and boundary flags having disappeared, while trees once lining it were cut down.

Mr Rainsy's party accuses the Cambodian government of ceding territory to its larger and more powerful neighbour. Read more!

China Huadian Plans To Build 338 MW Hydropower Project In Cambodia

China Huadian Corporation

- Power - Deals and Alliances Profile - a new market research report on companiesandmarkets.com

http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/Summary-Company-Profile/china-huadian-

China Huadian Corporation - Power - Deals and Alliances Profile is an essential source for company data and information. The profile examines the company’s key business structure and operations, history and products, and provides summary analysis of its key revenue lines and strategy as well as highlighting the company’s major recent financial deals.

China Huadian Corp. (China Huadian) is a wholly state owned energy and utilities company. The company is engaged in the generation, development and production of electricity. The company also provides electricity related services to its numerous client and customers. The company is also engaged in the development of power related energy, such as coal and conventional energy sources. In addition, it also supplies petent technologies services. At present, the company principally operates in China..
And More inside the report…

Recent Developments

Jan 12, 2010: China Huadian Plans To Build 338 MW Hydropower Project In Cambodia
Dec 10, 2009: China Huadian To Invest CNY60 Billion In Huadian-Xiangtan Nuclear Power Project In China
Dec 04, 2009: China Huadian´s Subsidiary To Formulate Wind Power Standards: CEC

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- Provides key company information for business intelligence needs
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China, Cambodia sign Consular Treaty to further strengthen cooperation ties

China and Cambodia on Thursday signed here the Consular Treaty, aimed to further strengthen the cooperation relations between the two friendly countries.

Long Visalo, secretary of state of Cambodia's Foreign Ministry and Zhang Jinfeng, Chinese ambassador to the Kingdom, signed the treaty on behalf of their respective countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and other government officials presented at the signing ceremony.

"Along with all-round development of the friendship relations between our two countries, personnel exchanges between the two countries are also increasing," Long Visalo said, and expressed his believe that the Consular Treaty will effectively protect the legitimate interest of citizens of the two countries.

Zhang Jinfeng said that China and Cambodia are good neighbors and have a good cooperation on many fields including consular, such as jointly combat illegal immigrant and transnational crimes.
She said that the Consular Treaty has established the framework of consular cooperation between the two countries, provided a legal basis for solving the problems that may arise in the consular affairs and also defined the responsibilities and obligations of both sides. She believed that the treaty will help promote the further development of bilateral consular relations.

Zhang also hoped that the two sides will exchange instruments of ratification as soon as possible, so that the treaty could come into effect as soon as possible.

At present, Cambodia has established six Consulate Generals in China, including China's Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Kunming, Chongqing and Nanning, while China has not yet set up the consulate in Cambodia.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

OZ in $512m hole after big restructure

OZ MINERALS has signed off on what was a miserable 2009, posting an annual loss of $512 million after being forced into a drastic restructuring by its bankers when the global financial crisis was at its worst.

The restructure reduced the group's portfolio of mines from five to one and led to the appointment in August of a new managing director, Terry Burgess.

According to an upbeat Mr Burgess yesterday, it was time to focus on OZ's future. He said the group's remaining operating asset, the new Prominent Hill copper and gold mine in South Australia, made an excellent start, and that the results of a study of underground mining there would be ready by June. The market should also look out for a maiden-resource estimate next month for the group's gold exploration project in Cambodia, he said.

OZ Mineral's declared loss of $512 million does not look bad when compared with the $2.5 billion loss recorded in 2008, when there were some massive asset-value write-downs following the creation of OZ through the merger of Zinifex and Oxiana. But it was the performance of Prominent Hill that was the main focus at yesterday's profit briefing to analysts.

Prominent Hill's maiden profit was $203 million. After taking in $91 million in charges on the refinancing of bank loans and foreign exchange losses of $113 million, the group's net profit for the year was $31 million.

Including the $607 million loss recorded on the $2 billion sale of the four mines last June (offset by $63 million in earnings before their sale) took OZ's bottom line to the loss of $512 million.

The upside from last year's drastic restructuring is that OZ has minimal debt and cash of $1.07 billion. Despite the cash bundle, it is not paying dividends, preferring to earmark the funds for regrowth.

OZ intends to expand through the acquisition of copper projects, either at the exploration, development or production stage.

Gold was not mentioned, but Mr Burgess said later that OZ had not gone cold on gold.

He pointed to the looming maiden-resource estimate for Cambodia as an indication of OZ's continuing interest in gold. The market believes a maiden resource of at least 2 million ounces will be required to maintain OZ's interest in the project.

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Cambodian military, business cosy up as premier calls for support

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has asked business leaders to help fund the country's military, saying all citizens of the South-East Asian nation have a duty 'to defend the nation,' national media reported Thursday.

'This is not a legal duty that you have to do - the support is voluntary according to your ability,' the Cambodia Daily newspaper quoted him as saying.

Hun Sen's speech was followed by a get-together late Wednesday hosted by the prime minister where senior military officials were scheduled to meet 250 leading business people.

Government spokesman Prak Sokhon told the newspaper that the aim was to establish a strong relationship between business and the military.

'To sponsor a battalion - well, 'sponsor' is a big word, but the private companies will help as far as they can,' Prak Sokhon said. 'In the past they sent food and so on to the border - it will be this kind of relationship.'

Earlier this month Hun Sen addressed troops near the Thai-Cambodian border and heaped praise on a number of businessmen for providing support to the army.

'[They] donated 7,000 wooden beds at a total cost of 210,000 dollars,' Hun Sen said, before outlining further requirements. 'I need 30,000 beds for the [army], military police and the police who are standing by at the Cambodian-Thai border.'

Hun Sen also announced Wednesday that he would visit troops on the Cambodian-Thai border this weekend in the north-western province of Battambang.

However, he refuted any link with the imminent verdict in the case against Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Thailand's Supreme Court is set to rule Friday on whether to seize 2.3 billion dollars of Thaksin's assets.

Thaksin was appointed as an adviser to the Cambodian government last year, a move that ramped up tensions between the two nations.

Cambodia's military has long been accused by human rights groups of involvement in illegal activities, including logging, mining, land grabs and human rights abuses. Read more!

Cambodian premier: Opposition leader won't run in next election

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said the leader of the country's main opposition party would not be permitted to participate in the next general election unless he serves a pending jail sentence, local media reported Thursday.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy is currently in France after being sentenced in January to two years in absentia for his role in uprooting controversial boundary posts on the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.

'This time the court sentenced him to jail - no pardon this time,' Hun Sen was reported as saying by the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. 'In the next election [due in 2013] there will be opposition parties, but this person will not be there.'

'You must be jailed first, if you are brave enough to come and be jailed,' he added.

Sam Rainsy told the German Press Agency dpa in late January that he was prepared to return and serve time provided the government freed two villagers locked up over same incident.

He said the government must also return land that farmers in the border area said they had lost in an ongoing border-marking effort between the two nations.

Both Hun Sen and Sam Rainsy have accused each other of betraying Cambodia in the border row.

The border-post incident, which took place in October, riled Hanoi which has close links to the government in Phnom Penh.

Vietnam has significant business interests in Cambodia, including investments

in agribusiness, aviation, telecommunications and banking.

In December, Hanoi signed an agreement with Phnom Penh that could result in investments worth billions of US dollars, including a deal to look for aluminium ore, known as bauxite, in Cambodia's border province of Mondolkiri.
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Cambodian PM to make second trip to Cambodia-Thai border area this week

Aiming to inspect border development and military capacity, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that he will make his second trip to the country's northwestern border later this week.

Delivering speech at graduation ceremony at Royal University of Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said he will make his second trip to military region 5 on Feb. 27 to inspect the border development, infrastructure and military capacity presence there.

He said the visit is a routine one to be made by a leader of a country and that it has nothing to hide with military challenge with neighboring country.

Hun Sen said prior and during his first visit to border area in the country's northern provinces of Preah Vihear and Uddor Meanchey, there were some comments made by leaders of the neighboring country.

This time, Hun Sen said he will not make any statement concerning the neighboring country as long as no comment to be made prior to his visit there.

Hun Sen spent for almost a week earlier this month visiting several military spots and bases as well as other development infrastructure along Cambodia-Thai border near Preah Vihear Temple.

His presence at the border area had drawn much attention from Bangkok administration on the motive behind his trip there.

Since July 2008, Cambodia and Thai armed forces have exchanged a few rounds of armed conflicts as a result of border dispute near the Cambodia's ancient temple of Preah Vihear.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Hun Sen to bar Sam Rainsy from running in next general election+

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 24 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Wednesday that opposition leader Sam Rainsy will not be allowed to run in the 2013 general election, calling him a traitor on border issues.

Speaking to graduate students in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said while Cambodia is in conflict with Thailand over a border dispute, Sam Rainsy has diverted the nation's attention to a border issue with Vietnam.

Hun Sen said Sam Rainsy's action would split the country's armed forces and cannot be "tolerated."

Sam Rainsy, leader of his self-named party, was sentenced Jan. 27 in absentia to two years in prison for having led villagers to uproot border markers on the Cambodia-Vietnam border in October last year.

Sam Rainsy, who lives in exile in France, has defended his action which he said was carried out after villagers showed him wooden poles that had been planted in their rice fields by Vietnamese authorities and "complacent" Cambodian counterparts.

He said the poles were planted 200-300 meters inside Cambodian territory and the villagers uprooted them "to symbolically show their refusal to give up ancestral rice fields they had been cultivating since 1979 and to be deprived of their livelihoods."

The Cambodian and the Vietnamese governments have rejected Sam Rainsy's accusation as groundless.

On Monday, the government warned it would take legal action against Sam Rainsy, accusing him of distributing false border maps.

Cambodia holds a general election every five years, and the next election will be held in 2013.

Hun Sen said the opposition party will not be barred from running in the next election, but not Sam Rainsy, warning that he will be put in jail if he returns to the country.

In the 2008 election, Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party won 90 seats in the 123-member parliament, followed by the Sam Rainsy Party with 26 seats, with the rest taken by three minor parties.

Hun Sen, who has ruled the country since 1985, is often criticized by opposition parties and both local and international human rights groups for having used his power to suppress and silence the opposition.


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Cambodia to conduct multiple rocket launcher tests

Phnom Penh, Cambodia's priminister Hun Sen on Wednesday said that Cambodia will conduct a multiple rocket launching test next week.

Speaking at a graduating ceremony for graduate students, Hun Sen called the move a routine military drill and said it is not intended to show Cambodia's military muscle to any country.

Cambodia has been locked in a territorial dispute with Thailand since 2008 and there have been sporadic military clashes between the two countries at the border area near Cambodia's Preah Vihear Temple.

Hun Sen said the rocket tests will take place March 4 in Kompong Chhnang Province, about 100 kilometers north of Phnom Penh.

About 200 rounds of the BM-21 multiple rocket launcher will be fired to test the military's capabilities as well as the quality of the Russian-made rocket-launching system, he said.

The 122-mm rockets have a range of 40 kilometers. Hun Sen said one round of the BM-21 costs between $1,200 and $3,800.

Earlier this month, Hun Sen toured the Cambodia-Thai border area and visited military units. The trip and the heavy weapons displayed during his visit were broadcast on many television channels in Cambodia. Read more!

Bammer: Listening to Cambodia: Electric, acoustic

By Richard Bammer


Awaking once recent morning, I turned on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" and heard the music of Dengue Fever for the first time.

During an interview with host Scott Simon, band members played a couple of tunes from their latest album, a compilation of Cambodian rock 'n' roll songs from the late 1970s.

I have to admit I was struck by the music's earnestness, which came through despite my missing the literal message, because I do not understand or speak Khmer, the native language of Cambodia.

But, after all, music is a universal language. On some level, I felt its vibrations, its essence and understood some vague notion of the Cambodian people. For it is true, if you want to understand a people and their culture, listen to their music.

At the same time, I was struck by this fact: The Cambodian pop music Dengue Fever chose to collect was recorded during a particularly horrific time in Cambodian history: the brutal regime of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

The Los Angeles-based band, led by Cambodian songstress Chhom Nimol, backed by a quintet front by Zac Holtzman on guitar and vocals, has been part of modern American culture for a few years now. I recall reading reviews of their performances in the New York Times. Their music has been featured in a number of films and TV shows, including "Must Love Dogs," "Broken Flowers" and twice on Showtime's hit series "Weeds." The band has released several albums, among them, "Venus on Earth," and the DVD "Sleepwalking Through the Mekong," a documentary.

Listening to the NPR interview reminded me that, like music everywhere, Cambodian music has a way of surviving the worst in the world: homicidal dictators, wars, famines and floods.

Besides "Electric Cambodia," two cases in point: "The Music of Cambodia: 9 Gong Gamelan, Volume 1" and "Traditional Khmer Music," albums I bought last month in and near the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Prasat Ta Prum.

I saw and heard the ensemble featured on the latter album, a group of eight to 10 musicians, all of them victims of land mines. I was moved by their resolve to try to make a living despite their disabilities incurred by the leftovers of 20th-century war. I could only imagine how a walk through the jungle one day altered their lives forever in the fiery flash of one terrible moment.

To some Westerner's ears, the high, minor-key sound of four-string Asian violin, gongs, cymbals and hand drums may not be appealing. Yet is easy to hear and feel the joy of the musicians, who played traditional wedding music such as "Houmrong" and "Anteack Prat."

Produced by David Parsons, "The Music of Cambodia" is the first recording made inside Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious monument, which, over time, has been a Hindu and Buddhist temple.

The musicians, including the Pinpeat Orchestra, a local version of the Khmer Empire's royal court music from the ninth to the 15th centuries, used wood and metal percussion instruments and Asian versions of the oboe, fiddle and flute.

Like the ancient ruins they played in, it is testimony of music's ability to survive the vicissitudes of time and turmoil.

Reach Reporter staff writer Richard Bammer at RBammer@TheReporter.com or telephone (707) 453-8164. Read more!

Brenda Hollis Named Special Court Prosecutor

The Secretary-General of the United Nations has named Brenda Joyce Hollis of the United States as Prosecutor of the Special Court. Since 2007, Ms. Hollis has been a Principal Trial Attorney in the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), where she is responsible for leading the legal team prosecuting former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

From 2001 to 2007, Brenda Hollis was an Expert Legal Consultant on international law and criminal procedure.

During this period she trained judges, prosecutors and investigators at courts and international tribunals in Indonesia, Iraq and Cambodia. She also assisted victims of international crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Colombia to prepare submissions requesting investigations by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

. In 2002 and 2003, and again in 2006, Ms. Hollis served as a consultant to the OTP, where she assisted in evidence-gathering missions and provided legal and tactical advice.Ms. Hollis was Senior Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) from 1994 to 2001, where she served as lead counsel in a number of historic prosecutions. She led case in which rape was charged as torture, and was lead counsel in the preparation of the case against former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic until her departure from the ICTY in 2001.

Brenda Hollis paid tribute to Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kamara, who has served as Acting Prosecutor since the departure of Stephen Rapp last September. “I look forward to working closely in partnership with Deputy Prosecutor Joseph Kamara, for whom I have the greatest personal and professional respect,” she said.
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Empowerment of women urged

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists shed light on sale, abuse of females in other parts of world

By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer


TROY-- Nicholas Kristof is surely the only journalist on the planet who submitted this on a newspaper expense form: Purchase of two girl sex slaves in Cambodia, $350.

He dutifully got receipts for his $150 and $200 purchases -- which bought the teenagers' freedom from a Phnom Penh brothel -- and the New York Times reimbursed its op-ed columnist.

"I knew I had a great front-page story, but I was leaving these girls behind and that felt very exploitative," Kristof said of his scheme to buy the girls. He first ran it past a Times lawyer, who did not deny the request since there was no formal policy covering such.

Kristof and his wife and co-author, Sheryl WuDunn, spoke Tuesday to the students of Emma Willard School, a private school for girls in Troy, about the couple's non-traditional, award-winning journalism. Their work has illuminated the oppression of girls and women in the developing world while advocating for gender equality in education and employment opportunities.

WuDunn called bridging the gender divide "the central moral challenge of the 21st century."

Backed by color images projected on a huge screen above the stage of EMPAC on the Rensselaer Polytechnic campus, the couple told simple human stories about girls they had met and interviewed and their hard lives, mired in heartbreaking situations of abuse and neglect in male-dominated cultures in China, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Uganda.

They spoke of a school in rural China and a 13-year-old girl whose family could not afford its $13 tuition. They planned to pull their daughter out of school, condemned to a future of toiling in the fields. With donations sent to the Times, the couple was able to give thousands of dollars to upgrade the school and they paid for the girl, the brightest in her grade, to continue her education. She ended up getting a degree in accounting and helped her parents build a new home.

Not all of their stories had happy endings. In Ethiopia, WuDunn described meeting emaciated girls who were nothing but skin and bone while their brothers were well-fed. In India, they learned that girls have a 50 percent higher mortality rate than boys.

In addition to gender abuse, the oppression of girls is undercutting these poor countries' economic development efforts. WuDunn quoted Bill Gates, who told an audience in Saudi Arabia that they were doomed to trail rich nations for as long as they failed to "fully utilize half the talent in your country" by keeping girls down and offering only boys the chance at an education and skilled jobs.

"Women and girls are not the problem. They are the solution," WuDunn said.

The couple discussed their latest book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," a best-seller now in its 17th printing after it was first published last fall.

Kristof joked that his wife "holds up about two-thirds of the sky in our household." They have three children and live in Westchester County.

"This is not a zero-sum game," Kristof said of his efforts to give voice to the voiceless females around the world. "Men become the beneficiaries when women succeed."

Kristof and WuDunn became the first couple in 1990 to win the Pulitzer Prize jointly for their coverage of China's Tiananmen Square democracy movement. Kristof won a second Pulitzer in 2006 for his stories on the genocide in Darfur. He has traveled to 140 countries for his far-ranging Times column, which highlights human rights abuses around the globe.

Neither of them projected the gung-ho self-importance stereotypical of foreign correspondents who like to swap war stories. A Cornell MBA and Princeton MPA, WuDunn comes off as poised and business-like, while Kristof, also a Harvard grad, seems soft-spoken and mild-mannered.

In the question-and-answer period, Kristof offered this advice to the students: Travel and engage the world, even the dark places. "You have to get outside your comfort zone," he said. "If it's always fun, something is wrong."

Kristof received the loudest whoops and cheers from the students when he wished happy birthday to Emma Willard. The event, which included a lunch and afternoon discussions with the journalists, coincided with the 223rd birthday of the school's founder, a woman ahead of her time when it came to notions about education, gender and equity in early 19th-century America.

Paul Grondahl can be reached at 454-5623 or by e-mail at pgrondahl@timesunion.com. Read more!

Migrants face peril from Thai registration deadline: HRW

BANGKOK - More than one million migrants in Thailand face possible deportation and further abuse if they fail to meet a deadline this week to register with authorities, a rights watchdog said Tuesday.

Thailand has ordered all citizens from neighboring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos to register and verify their nationality by Sunday or risk deportation, as part of an ongoing clampdown on immigration.

But Human Rights Watch said the ultimatum will force an already vulnerable community to endure further abuse at the hands of Thai authorities and employers who they say regularly exploit migrant workers with impunity.

"Millions of migrants living in Thailand have been subjected to various forms of abuse ranging from extrajudicial killings to torture, arbitrary arrest, extortion...," Sunai Phasuk, the New York-based group's Thailand expert, said at a press conference to launch a report on the deadline.

"Migrant workers need to be seen as human beings, not simply as assets."

Some 200,000 of an estimated 1.3 million migrants in Thailand have begun the registration process, and so far 45,000 have completed it, said HRW, quoting official figures.

The watchdog said registration in theory gives migrants a temporary passport and legal footing in Thailand, but unscrupulous employers routinely confiscate such documents.

Officials also extort money from migrants by threatening deportation and arrest unless bribes are paid, with killings and beatings often going unreported, the 124-page report said.

HRW urged the Thai government to postpone the registration process and enforce labor protections for workers.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has so far bowed to domestic opinion by maintaining a tough stance on immigration, but he has insisted the government will use a rights-led approach.

Abhisit has failed to publicly revoke a series of provincial laws which restrict movement by migrants, banning them from travelling by motorcycle or using mobile phones and laying down curfews.

Thailand, which is seeking a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, has been heavily criticized in recent months for its crackdowns on migrants from neighboring Laos and Myanmar.

In December Bangkok sparked outrage when it defied global criticism and used troops to repatriate about 4,500 ethnic Hmong from camps on the border with communist Laos, including 158 recognized as refugees by the United Nations.

Earlier last year hundreds of ethnic Rohingya migrants from Myanmar were rescued in Indian and Indonesian waters after being pushed out to sea in rickety boats by the Thai military.

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