Custom red tape criticised

Cambodia’s customs procedures put the country at a disadvantage to its neighbours and require updating to encourage economic development, according to experts.

Domestic infrastructure is improving, but unnecessary regulations in Cambodia were hindering potential investment, said Paul Apthorp, board member of the Greater Mekong Subregion Business Forum.

“Freight cargo is like water – it takes the line of least resistance. If the easiest route is that way, that’s the way you’ll go,” he said.

“Transport has to do with time. If you want to send cargo, you send it [by] the quickest, most efficient route, not the shortest route.”

The Asia Development Bank has organised a two-day symposium in Phnom Penh on attracting investment and promoting growth on its Southern Economic Corridor project, which is envisioned initially as a transport and logistics route through southern Thailand, Cambodia and southern Vietnam.

Minister of Commerce official Cham Prasidh said in an opening speech that the Southern Economic Corridor had strong potential for development, but added this would not happen overnight.

ADB Southeast Asia Department official Arjun Goswami told The Post action had started on building the corridors project, though the SEC lagged behind other similar regional projects.

“I think what we now need is a clear, set timetable, an agreement on indicators and a sequence of steps to get the full implementation going,” he said.

Some infrastructure projects require completion – such as the Neak Leoung bridge spanning the Mekong river on the road between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City, which is set for a 2015 finish.

Conversations were required to discuss why the Southern Economic Corridor lagged behind other corridor projects in Southeast Asia, he said, adding it could be due to such reasons as incomplete transport links, issues over trade facilitation, or other problems.

Apthorp said the single biggest thing Cambodia can do to improve its transport and logistics industry is to recognise electronic transmission of documents.

“Remove the need for original documents for transit. Yes, have the original document for final clearance,” he said, adding this was commonplace in most countries.

“The law [in Cambodia] has not been updated for the modern trade experience.”

Apthorp – who is also a strategic development official at TNT Express Worldwide (HK) – said he preferred to send Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh freight via Laos as it is quicker than shipping through Cambodia.

He estimates unnecessary paperwork means freight costs 40 to 50 percent higher when shipping in Cambodia than it would if procedures were streamlined.

Although “tea money” payments were commonplace across the developing world, he said it was important to differentiate between tea money – which he likened to a tip at a restaurant – and flat-out bribery to cover illegal operations.

Sok Chheang, executive director the Cambodia Trucking Association, said that he would like to see an agreement in place for Cambodian trucks to cross the border with Thailand, and vice versa.

He claimed customs clearance was not a large problem, though at the Economic Corridor symposium he said he planned to ask the government to reduce time and costs at the border.

Customs officials could not be reached for comment today.

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Uncovering the treasures of Siem Reap

By Albert Alvarez

COMMON descriptions I have heard about Siem Reap have been, exotic, tranquil, serene and even sublime.

With all these good reviews about Siem Reap in Cambodia, I think it was worth taking a trip to see what the hype was all about.

Siem Reap has become a popular destination, because of the famous Unesco World Heritage site, Angkor Wat. You may have seen this temple in a movie or in documentaries on TV, but seeing the complex up close can be overwhelming. And to my surprise, aside from the Angkor Wat, there was so much more to see and do, in this very exotic and exciting destination.

To date, there are no direct flights from Cebu to Siem Reap, so allow travel agents or your own resourcefulness to check routes with airlines of choice, based on budget and schedules.

Like any trip, I would suggest that you read up on some basic facts about Siem Reap and Cambodia. Try to familiarize yourself with the popular destinations, lay out of the city and even the customs of the country. The question of where to stay is something important to me, based on the area, type of accommodation and price. For more information, try to check out these websites, http://www.siemreap-town.gov.kh and http://www.tourismcambodia.com/

Fortunately, Siem Reap is not as big as I thought it would be. I managed to walk a good portion of the city in a day. A small walking tour could take you to certain interesting points of the city. You could start at the heart of the city, which for me, would be Old Market. There are some interesting good deals to be made here.

Drop by Pub street, during the day and at night, to see what the social life is like in Siem Reap. Nearby, you can check out the Wat Preah Prom Rath, Wat Bo and Wat Damnak temples. Take a stroll along the Siem Reap River and make your way to the Royal Residence, the Royal Independence Gardens and the Angkor National Museums.

Then, when the sun goes down, make your way back to the Old Market via Sivutha Boulevard, passing by the Central Market, Noon Night Market and Angkor Night Market.

If you are not much of a shopper, check out the Khmer restaurants, other bars and cafes, where you can sample all sorts of food. My favorites were the chicken amok and the banana blossom salad.

Finally, the major attraction in Siem Reap is the Angkor Archeological Park. There are different day passes, such as the one-day, three-day or the seven-day pass. You can hire a guide, to give you a better understanding of the area and a vehicle as well, since the park is enormous. Due to the many number of temples,

I would probably suggest to see the Angkor Wat and the Angkor Thom (Bayon) first. If you have more time, check out Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and Phnom Bakheng. There are more temples such as Prasat Kravan, Bantay Srey, Neak Pean, Ta Som and so on. But you can make your own list of which temples you wish to see based on your own interest and schedule.

Like always, I would advise anyone going on a trip, to always note some important facts about your destination, such as telephone numbers and hotlines of the police, hospitals, banks, credit card companies, ports, airport, bus stations and the tourist office.

Siem Reap, for me, is now a destination I would recommend to anyone who wishes to see a bit of adventure as well as have some rest and recreation. The people are extremely friendly, the food is amazing and the places of interest possess a certain charm that is quite endearing.

I wish that you too will experience the treasures I have found in Siem Reap.

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World Bank project tied to forced evictions in Cambodia

Complainants won their case at the Inspection Panel

The World Bank’s Inspection Panel found that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to properly design and supervise the Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP), contributing to the forced eviction of some 4,250 families.

On all counts, the World Bank’s Inspection Panel found that the Bank breached its operational policies by failing to properly design and supervise the Cambodia Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP). These failures contributed to the forced eviction of some 4,250 families living around Phnom Penh’s iconic Boeung Kak Lake. Residents were unfairly denied the right to register their land ownership shortly before the government leased the area to a private developer and began a campaign of intimidation and pressure to force families living in the area to leave.

Today, the Bank Board of Executive Directors are meeting to decide what action to take in light of the findings of the Bank’s Inspection Panel that a $28.8 million land titling project in Cambodia flagrantly disregarded Bank policies, leaving more than 20,000 people facing forced eviction from their homes in central Phnom Penh.

The outcome of the Board meeting will signify how the Bank will demonstrate its accountability to some 2,000 families who have already been evicted and forced to accept a fraction of the market values for their property. As the deliberation on Panel Report and Management Response is happening today, the remaining 10,000 people living around the lake are served with a seven-day deadline to accept the compensation on offer or face bulldozers and get nothing.
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Accelerating the Global Health Initiative: Cambodia's HIV/AIDS Efforts Put Women in the Driver's Seat

U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.), center left, visits a SmartGirl Club and interacts with beneficiaries in a Karaoke parlor in Phnom Penh during a recent visit to Cambodia.


The exchange of sex for money remains a major driver of the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout Southeast Asia, but the karaoke bars, massage parlors, beer gardens, and other settings where these transactions are brokered remain some of the most viable employment venues for vulnerable women.

In Cambodia—where more than 10 percent of female entertainment workers are infected with HIV, and more than 25 percent of these women and girls report having no education—USAID programming supported by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is implementing a new approach to reducing HIV risk by focusing on the central principle of the Global Health Initiative: that the health and well-being of women is key to the health of all.

Instead of exclusively focusing on distributing condoms and conducting risk-reduction education for high-risk women, the SmartGirl program aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health of its beneficiaries more broadly through linkages to personal counseling, voluntary family.

Late last year, the program received a PEPFAR Heroes award from the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for its efforts to reduce the risks associated with entertainment work, while also supporting women in the pursuit of other employment.

"We're committed to having women in the driver's seat," said Michael Cassell, the coordinator of the PEPFAR initiative in Cambodia. "SmartGirl is largely designed and run by entertainment workers to address their own felt needs. And the skills they acquire in the process help many of them to consider and pursue other careers, including ones in HIV and reproductive health service delivery."

Avoiding "Message Fatigue"

Previous HIV/AIDS programs have focused on raising awareness of HIV, and educating people about how to avoid getting infected. But by demonstrating that staying healthy is key to the pursuit of education, wealth, happiness, and other personal objectives, SmartGirl strives to engage beneficiaries while sidestepping some of the "message fatigue" and monotony associated with more didactic approaches. Education sessions are run by peers, cover a broad range of topics that are updated regularly, and offer referrals to free HIV testing, family planning, and other services.

During a recent visit to a SmartGirl club in Phnom Penh, U.S. Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) was inspired to join program beneficiaries in a rousing karaoke rendition of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," noting her appreciation for the leadership of club members in providing health education and referrals to health care, vocational training, and legal services to other entertainment workers.

"I am so proud of you," Richardson told the club members.

The SmartGirl program, which is implemented by USAID-partner Family Health International, currently provides services to 12,600 of the estimated 35,000 women working in clubs and night spots in Cambodia. The program is funded by PEPFAR but is consistent with the overarching objectives of the Global Health Initiative, the U.S. government's six-year, $63 billion commitment to help partner countries strengthen their health systems, with a particular focus on improving the health of women, newborns, and children.

"Almost 30 percent of entertainment workers in Cambodia report having an abortion in the past year, suggesting inconsistent condom use and unmet needs for family planning," said Cassell. "By linking these women to sexual and reproductive health services, we stand to prevent new HIV infections while also reducing maternal mortality—the latter arguably being Cambodia's biggest public health challenge."

A Model Approach

Cambodia is home to one of the most renowned national success stories in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Late last year, the country received international recognition in the form of a Millennium Development Goals country award for cutting adult HIV prevalence in half, from 2 percent to 0.9 percent between 1998 and 2006, while extending HIV-related care to more than 70 percent of HIV-infected adults, and HIV treatment to more than 90 percent of eligible individuals.

The estimated proportion of sex workers infected with HIV is down to around 10 percent from over 21 percent in 2003, according to the 2006 HIV Sentinel Surveillance (HSS). However, the maternal mortality ratio in Cambodia remains the second highest in East Asia.

"We're particularly excited about the potential of this program to serve as a model for the scale up of higher quality and more holistic approaches to address the needs of populations at high risk for HIV infection," said Cassell. "Many of the service delivery and referral protocols pioneered through SmartGirl are now being implemented as part of Cambodia's national program with support from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria."

In the past decade, the U.S. government has invested more than $150 million in HIV/AIDS programs in the Southeast Asian nation, providing almost 40 percent of the resources available to the national response.
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Unhappy holidays for Cambodia's economy?

People march past Hun Sen park during a protest on Human Rights Day in December last year


Workers across the Kingdom will enjoy a day off on Tuesday to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Next month will bring three days off for Khmer New Year, and after six more public holidays in May, June will begin with a day off for Children’s Day.

All told, Cambodians will enjoy 26 public holidays this year, a total among the highest of any country in the world.

While workers will assuredly enjoy the break tomorrow, some observers are raising questions as to whether this surfeit of days off is introducing a hurdle to Cambodia’s development.

“It’s a clear economic impediment,” said Stephen Higgins, chief executive officer of ANZ Royal Bank.

“Any reduction in economic activity means that Cambodia is not meeting its growth potential.”

Regional powerhouses Hong Kong and Singapore enjoy 17 and 11 holidays, respectively, while workers in neighbouring Vietnam and Laos earn just nine and 10.

Holiday totals in Western countries, by and large, are similarly low, with the United States and the United Kingdom enjoying 10 and nine public holidays this year, respectively.

In the Philippines – which, at 21, still has 19 percent fewer public holidays than Cambodia – a group of seven foreign chambers of commerce released a study in December arguing that the large number of holidays was raising costs for employers by millions of dollars while serving as a deterrent to foreign investors.

"Every paid holiday goes to the bottom line of the balance sheet, and, like minimum wages, can pressure firms that operate on low profit margins to reduce their work force, close, or move into the underground economy," the study said.

Significant underemployment and informal economic activity mitigate the effect of Cambodia’s holiday glut, said Michael Smiddy, a former senior consultant at Emerging Markets Consulting in Phnom Penh.

Many businesses choose to stay open during some holidays, while other key sectors are largely unaffected, he added.

“You can’t harvest more rice just because there are less holidays,” he said.

“The same number of tourists would still come and spend the same amount.”

Other industries, however, feel the effects of public shutdowns more acutely.

Sjaak de Klein, the country manager for transportation and logistics firm TNT, said importers and exporters whose shipments require processing by the government see their activities in many cases delayed unnecessarily by the excess of holidays, reducing the Kingdom’s competitiveness.

Public holidays also typically create a multiplier effect in slowing down work, de Klein added, as many employees choose to take annual leave around their official days off.

“Especially with a middle class arising, this could be a big impact on a rapidly expanding economy,” he said in an email.

In manufacturing, too, the excess of holidays is felt in the form of either stalled production or increased labour costs, as employees earn overtime pay on the many public holidays they choose to work.

“This is an issue that we have been grappling with for a long time and we have reflected to the government on numerous occasions,” said Ken Loo, secretary general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia.

Chea Peng Chheang, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said he did not believe the issue posed a challenge to Cambodia’s growth.

“I think that the high number of public holidays in Cambodia does not affect the Cambodian economy, because these days have been set out in the government’s laws and schedules with clear planning,” he said.

Ye Samphy, manager of training and communications at the Labour Ministry’s Arbitration Council Foundation, noted that other countries have annual leave requirements that bring their overall amount of days off closer to the total seen in Cambodia.

Under Cambodian law, full-time employees in the Kingdom are entitled to 18 days of annual leave, plus one extra day for every three years of continuous service.

This total is roughly in line with the personal leave provided in many other countries, though above nations such as Singapore, where employees who have worked for five years at a particular company get just 12 days leave.

TNT's de Klein said a reduction in public holidays could be balanced with annual leave increases in the private sector, thereby allowing workers the same amount of days off while reducing the number of overall economic “shutdowns” over the course of the year.

Higgins, meanwhile, said a simple glance at the calendar suggested obvious starting points for reform.

“Some of these international days do not require a public holiday to celebrate them, whether that’s International Women’s Day, International Human Rights Day – I don’t understand why they need a holiday to celebrate that,” he said. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA Read more!

Cambodia’s derivative trade ban evokes partial response

PHNOM PENH (Commodity Online) : Cambodia’s decision to stop five companies from trading in derivatives markets evoked positive responses.

The Southeast Asian nation is yet to launch its first commodity exchange.

Five domestic firms trading in derivatives have been ordered to suspend their operations by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia.

The SECC ordered five companies to halt operations. They were named as Gold Financial Global, First State Gold Investment Company, Global Gold and Forex Investment Consultant Company, CMDK Gold Company, and International Gold Market Company.

In a statement, SECC said Cambodian firms offering derivatives trading had operated without the necessary regulatory framework being in place.

The SECC was cooperating with the firms to prepare the necessary regulations, but the emphasis for the regulatory body was currently on launching the Cambodia Securities Exchange, which is slated for July, the statement said.

Some analysts said to allow some companies the opportunity to start trading in derivatives in commodities including gold, metals and oil would have been the financial equivalent of sprinting before learning to walk in Cambodia’s case.

One of the main challenges Cambodia faces with the forthcoming stock exchange is educating the general public to avoid stock trading turning into a sophisticated version of gambling.

The problem with derivatives trading is that it is infinitely more complex than stock trading. By its very nature, you trade in a value derived from an asset and not in an asset itself.

As instruments that allow hedging and speculation, derivatives offer security for companies against foreign exchange volatility and fluctuating commodity prices as well as a lucrative source of revenue for investment banks.

Indeed, big banks were considered the driving force behind deregulation of derivatives markets dating back to the late 1990s in the United States, a move many financial experts consider to be the root cause of the financial crisis.

Financial products that led to the high leverage that sparked the crisis in the US, including subprime mortgage-backed securities and credit default swaps, are all derivatives.

No-one is suggesting these five Cambodian companies could cause a similar financial meltdown but recent lessons the world has learned from derivatives trading should be clear.

If regulated appropriately, companies in Cambodia will in the future be able to hedge on insurance, oil prices and foreign exchange, all of which represent considerable and often unpredictable costs here.

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Huge potential for Indochine in PNG

It has been a case of back to the future for Stephen Promnitz, the chief executive of the south-east Asia and south-west Pacific copper/gold explorer Indochine Mining (ASX:IDC).

Indochine raised $20 million in its December float on the strength of a big copper/gold exploration tenement package in little-explored Cambodia. The float attracted the backing of the mighty fund manager BlackRock and hedge fund Och-Ziff as substantial shareholders, with holdings of 7 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

Drilling gets under way at the Cambodia properties later this year. In the meantime Promnitz has secured an option for Indochine over the Mount Kare gold project in Papua New Guinea.

As a young geologist with CRA (which has since merged with Rio Tinto), Promnitz witnessed one of the great alluvial gold rushes in the modern era at Mount Kare.

The 1988-89 rush left an impression. ''It was the most astounding thing I have ever seen,'' Promnitz told Garimpeiro. ''There was more gold than you could poke a stick at. So much so that I thought I would never be looking for gold again.

''The locals were shaking gold nuggets from the roots of the grass. Some of the nuggets were the size of goose eggs.

''It was on for young and old.

''We saw the place go from having nobody there to having more than 6000 people with picks and shovels in the space of six weeks.''

Gold was well understood in the region, given Barrick's 25 million ounce Porgera deposit some 20 kilometres away.

Porgera hadn't been developed by then, but it had been a gold exploration project for 30 years. What eventually got Porgera into production was the discovery of zone 7 with its amazing grade of 40 grams of gold a tonne.

In the end, the locals that swarmed to Mount Kare plucked more than 1 million ounces of gold from very thick, sticky clay. The alluvial gold eventually petered out but the underlying hard-rock potential remained. And there was plenty of work for everyone at Porgera.

Books can and have been written on the Mount Kare alluvial gold rush. Fascinating stuff it is too, as you would expect given conmen were quick on the scene. They love a gold rush as much as anybody else.

For today's purposes, all we need to know is that CRA walked away from Mount Kare following the forced abandonment of its Panguna copper mine on Bougainville island because of attacks by secessionist rebels at around the same time, which led to the company exiting PNG completely. (Rio's listed subsidiary Bougainville Copper still harbours ambitions of returning Panguna to production.)

Canadian groups eventually secured the title to Mount Kare and in the late 1990s and early 21st century set about assessing the hard-rock potential of the site.

The Canadians outlined, under their national reporting requirements, a 1.7 million ounce hard-rock gold resource (1.9 million ounces if you give the silver in the mineralisation a gold equivalent value).

But the global financial crisis in 2008 clipped their wings and Mount Kare ended up for sale in the hands of a liquidator. Indochine has now secured an option over the deposit in a deal with the private Australian-PNG syndicate that acquired Mount Kare from the liquidator, with an initial payment of $4 million made by Indochine last week.

Full details of the expected shares and cash deal that will give Indochine control of Mount Kare are expected to be released within 21 days or so.

On that happening, stand by for a re-rating of the stock.

At Friday's closing price of 30¢ a share, Indochine was being valued at $82 million.

Compare that to the fancy market values of any number of ASX-listed West African gold explorers with similar-sized projects to Mount Kare and you'll see why the re-rating potential is there.

PNG can be a hairy place, as can West Africa. But if Garimpeiro had to be dropped into either of them, PNG would be his choice, because of the $20 billion being pumped in to developing PNG's gas export business by Exxon Mobil and others.

It is transformational stuff for PNG in terms infrastructure that will make the country less difficult to get things done. Things like telecommunications, air services, technical and legal support, not to mention the new casino and hotels that are going up in Port Moresby.

Once the Indochine option over Mount Kare is bedded down, the plan is to start work on an ASX-compliant resource.

Given the estimate by the Canadians was largely in the drill-indicated category, the swap from their assessment to one that suits local reporting requirements should be plain sailing.

More to the point is that the Canadians' assessment was based on a gold price of just $US300 an ounce and a silver price of only $US5.50 an ounce.

Both metals now trade at multiples of those prices, meaning there is now the potential to add a sizeable open-cut resource to the underground resource.

It is also worth noting that while ''near-ology'' is a dangerous practice, Mount Kare does share similar geology and geological setting to the Porgera deposit.

Whether or not Mount Kare too has a zone 7 that will be uncovered by further exploration remains to seen.

What is known is that the current Canadian resource estimate (it has a high-grade portion of 740,000 ounces of gold in 4.6 million tonnes of material grading 5 g/tonne gold) is good enough for Indochine to get working on a feasibility study into Mount Kare's development.

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Cambodia, Laos, VN discuss joint website management

Representatives from Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam gathered in Ha Noi yesterday to discuss a draft co-operation agreement on the management and operation of their joint website.

The website was initiated by the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment to promote co-operation and development between the three countries, particularly in the triangle development area. The draft focuses on regulations for administrative procedures, editing and provisions and checks on information and data posted on the website.

Under the agreement, information provided by each country will be in line with the website's purpose as well as the laws and regulations that pertain to each country. In addition, posted information will not bring harm to the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country.

The website is on a trial run at http://clv-triangle.vn in English, Khmer, Lao and Vietnamese. It will introduce the development triangle and the potential of the provinces in it, provide and share information on activities relating to the triangle, deliver news on the investment climate and opportunities and promote tourism among other things.

The Cambodia-Laos-Viet Nam development triangle initially covers 13 provinces, including Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Binh Phuoc in Viet Nam, Sekong, Attapu, Saravan and Champasak in Laos, and Stung Treng, Rattanakirri, Mondulkiry and Kratie in Cambodia.
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Cambodia waiting for Thai parliament's endorsement before next boundary talks

Phnom Penh will wait until Thailand's parliament ratifies the previous memos of Joint- Boundary Commission (JBC) meetings before it will accept Bangkok' s proposal on the next JBC meeting, Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman said Saturday.

Thailand has proposed to hold the next JBC on March 7-8 with its neighboring Cambodia in order to discuss border demarcation.

The issue so far has not yet been submitted for approval of Thai parliament; therefore, it is uncertain the next JBC would be held in Indonesia during March 7-8, Thani Thongpakdi, FM spokesman said.

The Article190 of Thailand's 2007 Constitution regulates that any treaty to be signed with other foreign countries and may bring about territorial changes requires parliament's ratification before it will be implemented.

The spokesman insisted that the meeting would be carried out bilaterally not multilaterally as Cambodian preferred. There might be the third country to facilitate talks but only Thailand and Cambodia would be at negotiating table, he added.

The two neighboring countries share a common border approximately 800 kilometers (500 miles) long but demarcation has never been fully completed. The 11th-century Preah Vihear temple has been the subject of age-old border dispute for decades. Although the International Court of Justice awarded the Hindu temple to Cambodia in 1962, the dispute over area adjacent to the temple has never been solved.

Listing of the temple to Unesco's World Heritage Site in 2008 fueled tensions between the two countries, resulting in military build-up with sporadic skirmishes. The latest deadly clashes on Feb 4-7, when both countries exchanged small arms firing and shelling, caused loss of lives of civilian population and soldiers on both sides as well as massive evacuation of residents along the border.

Source: Xinhua. Read more!

ASEAN chair to set up meetings for Cambodian-Thai border dispute

PHNOM PENH, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia, in the status of ASEAN chair, is arranging meetings for Cambodian-Thai defense ministers and border chiefs in Jakarta, said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday.

"Indonesian foreign minister (Marty M. Natalegawa) is preparing to have the meetings of Cambodia-Thai General Border Committee and Joint Border Committee on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC) in Jakarta, Indonesia," Hun Sen said during a visit to about 500 disabled soldiers and their families in Chhouk district of Kampot province.

"Cambodia welcomes Indonesian foreign minister to set the dates for the meetings of the two countries' defense ministers and border chiefs," he said. "And Indonesia, the host, will be the referee, and whatever points Cambodia and Thailand agree, Indonesia has to take a note of every agreement between us."

Hun Sen said that Indonesia foreign minister Marty M. Natalegawa has sent a letter to Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers and other foreign ministers of ASEAN members on Friday.

The letter mentioned Cambodia's absolute acceptance of the terms of reference for the Indonesian observers to the border disputed areas.

Also, in the letter, the foreign minister wrote, "I am aware that Thai side does not oppose to the observers, but it is taking it into consideration," Hun Sen said.

Cambodia has arranged 14 places for the observers and for the period of 12 months, and it said the time could be extended and the 14 points could be added further. "Nothing is mysterious for Cambodia," said Hun Sen.

Cambodia and Thailand on Feb. 22 agreed to receive Indonesian observers to monitor the border disputed areas near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple in order to ensure a permanent ceasefire

The border between Thailand and Cambodia has never been completely demarcated.

Although the International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Temple of Preah Vihear belonged to Cambodia, the row over the 4.6-square-km territory around the temple has never been resolved.

The conflict has occurred just a week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted as World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, since then both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes happened, resulted in deaths of troops on both sides.

The latest clashes on Feb. 4-7, unleashed a barrage of artillery shells on both sides of the border, had killed and wounded many soldiers and citizens of both sides, and caused tens of thousands of the two countries' villagers nearby the disputed areas fleeing for safe shelters.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Editor: Tang Danlu

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Cambodia takes attaches to disputed area

The Thai government is outraged by a visit from foreign attaches to the disputed border areas in Cambodia, an army source says.

But the source said: "If we open fire, this will play into the hands of Cambodia and it will show the world that we started the fight."

Cambodian troops have taken foreign military attaches on a visit to Preah Vihear temple and the surrounding disputed border area in what is seen by Thailand as a violation of an agreement made in 2000 between the two countries governing the disputed border site.

The army source said Cambodian troops yesterday led a group of military attaches from 12 countries from Phnom Penh to visit the temple.

The military attaches came from the US, France, Russia, China, Japan, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Burma, Vietnam and Laos.

The source said they were visible to Thai troops through binoculars on the other side of the border on the mountaintop of Pha Mo I Daeng.

"The Suranaree task force has written to the Cambodian side protesting against the move, which violates an agreement governing the 4.6-square-kilometre disputed area also claimed by Thailand," the source said.

"Their visit did not have permission from Thailand."

The source said Cambodia claimed it had a plan to take the military attaches to visit Cambodia's Viharn province to inspect disputed border areas on Thursday and Friday.

The areas included Keo Sikha Kiri Savara pagoda sitting in the disputed area near the 11th century Hindu temple, as well as other surrounding disputed areas claimed by Cambodia.

The source said the military attaches could be seen visiting Preah Vihear temple.

The source said the move by the Cambodian side was an act of defiance and could only reignite border tensions.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the government was "trying every means" to secure freedom for Thai Patriots Network co-ordinator Veera Somkwamkid and his secretary Ratree Pipatanapaiboon.

A Cambodian court on Feb 1 convicted the two to eight and six years in jail respectively for spying and illegal entry into Cambodian territory. Read more!

Cambodia appeals Hindus for help to safeguard landmark Preah Vihear Shiva temple

Nevada (US), March 05 : Cambodia has sought the help of the Hindus worldwide to help safeguard the landmark Preah Vihear Shiva temple, which was reportedly damaged recently due to Thai-Cambodia border clashes.

Ros Borath, President of Cambodia's National Committee for the World Heritage, in a emailed letter to distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, wrote with the hope that "Hindu world will soon take notice of this place, most sacred to Shiva, and help people of Cambodia to safeguard this world heritage monument with universal spiritual value as propounded by Lord Shiva".

"Preah Vihear is Mount Kailash of South East Asia in the Dangrek range. Bhadreshvara-Shiva arrived here from Vat Phu via India to radiate his Shiva Teja over people of South East Asia flourishing under the Angkor kingdom. Preah Vihear is the open air theatre for the cosmic dance of Shiva. The colossal dancing image of Shiva is sculpted on the door frame (Pediment) of the mandapa of the main temple", Borath argued.

Describing the Temple, Committee President Borath further wrote: "Besides the central temple where this dancing image of Shiva is sculpted, there are four other temples at the four levels of the plateau (gopura II-IV). These gopuras are in reality mandapas where the gods of the family of Shiva (parivara devata) are depicted. Images of Brahma, Vishnu, Krishna and Shvia are all carved in bas-reliefs on the lintels and pediments over the doors of these five temples. Sanskrit and Khmer inscriptions found from Preah Vihear inform us that this temple complex was a great hermitage center for meditation, following the path of Shiva. There were a number of hermitages at the foothills of Dangrek, and the networking of these ashramas was done from Mount Preah Vihear, Kailash of mainland Southeast Asia."

"Since the sculpture of Shiva is above the door of the mandapa of the main temple, its safety is in great danger. All the images of parivara devata of Shiva, as they are sculpted out side the structure on the doorframes, are in great danger", he added.

Pictures of the Preah Vihear Shiva temple were also attached, indicating damages to Gopura (towered gateway found at the entrances to temples) I, II, III, IV, and V resulting from Thai-Cambodia border clashes.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, urged various Hindu organizations world over to raise public opinion about this Shiva (Bhadreshvara) Temple, claimed to be one of the world's biggest temple complex dedicated to Shiva.

Expressing serious concern at the reported damage, Rajan Zed said that international community, UNESCO, and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) should immediately provide funding to bring back this Lord Shiva temple to its original shape as it was before Thai-Cambodia clashes began February four. These organizations should not shy away to shoulder their responsibility of saving the important heritage of the world and respecting the feelings of Hindus worldwide, Rajan Zed said and added that besides temple repairs, some infrastructure in the area should also be provided for devotees and other visitors.

Zed stressed that this landmark age-old and revered Preah Vihear Hindu Shiva temple complex was important to Hindu heritage and must be preserved to pass it on to the future generations. Damage to 11th century Shiva temple was shocking and hurtful to the Hindu community world over. Lord Shiva, one of the major deities in Hinduism forming great triad with Brahma and Vishnu, was focus of worship of the Hindus, and it was important for them that Preah Vihear Hindu Shiva temple be protected. It was a world heritage and it was moral duty of the world to keep it intact for the coming generations.

Known as Preah Vihear in Cambodia and Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, this remote temple at the border between Thailand and Cambodia, which had reportedly not been clearly demarcated, had been a source of tension for generations. Preah Vihear was said to even predate Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex by about 100 years and its stunning setting made it finest of all the ruins left from the mighty Khmer civilization, Rajan Zed stated.

Zed pointed out that world should not let this sacred site dedicated to Lord Shiva (situated where Preah Vihear province of northern Cambodia touched Sisaket province of eastern Thailand) be further damaged to advance political agendas of some as there appeared to be a no clear solution to settle the long-standing territorial dispute surrounding the temple, which was already a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and whose history could be traced to 9th century when the hermitage was founded.

Moreover, Temple of Preah Vihear, an outstanding masterpiece of Khmer architecture mostly created by Suryavarman I and Suryavarman II, was a unique architectural complex of a series of sanctuaries and was said to be exceptional for the quality of its architecture and carved stone ornamentation. It was reportedly dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva in his manifestations as Sikharesvara and Bhadresvara. It was also said to be marking representation of sacred Mount Meru, the abode of the gods, and showing a depiction of Churning of the Ocean, a Hindu scriptural episode, Rajan Zed said.

Cambodian Government's Committee describes Preah Vihear as: The site serves as a sacred place worshipping to the Hindu god Shiva manifesting as Sikharesvara (the Lord of Peak) and his figures are depicted on pediments and lintels.


--ANI Read more!

Degar-Montagnards: Cambodia Must Uphold Asylum Rights

Despite the fact that the UN refuge centre is now closed, according to international standards Montagnards basic right to seek asylum cannot be denied and must be protected.


Cambodia should provide safe asylum for Montagnards fleeing Vietnam’s Central Highlands even after it closes the United Nations’ refugee centre in Phnom Penh for Montagnards on 15 February 2011, Human Rights Watch has said.

Ongoing government crackdowns in Vietnam against Montagnard Christians make it imperative for Cambodia not to deny Montagnards their basic right to seek safe asylum, Human Rights Watch said. As a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, Cambodia is obligated to protect the rights of all who seek asylum within its borders.

“Cambodia has a clear obligation to ensure that future Montagnard asylum seekers are permitted to enter a refugee screening process that is fair and based on international standards,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Closing the Montagnard refugee centre doesn’t change those obligations.”

In December 2010, the Cambodian government ordered the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to close the Montagnard refugee centre by 1 January 2011. The Cambodian government subsequently agreed to an extension of the deadline to 15 February to allow time to resettle or repatriate the Montagnards remaining at the centre.

Human Rights Watch expressed concerns that after the refugee centre closes, the Cambodian government will screen future Montagnard asylum seekers under a procedure that does not meet international standards.

A Cambodian government sub-decree passed in December 2009 allows Cambodia’s Interior Ministry, not UNHCR, to make the final decision about a refugee’s status. Human Rights Watch’s analysis of the sub-decree finds, however, that it fails to incorporate the UN Refugee Convention’s definition of what constitutes a refugee and lacks provisions to fulfil Cambodia’s other obligations as a party to the convention. The sub-decree provides Cambodian authorities great leeway to reject and expel asylum seekers, with insufficient procedural protections in place to prevent unlawful forced returns that are in violation of the Refugee Convention.

Just days after the sub-decree was passed, Cambodian authorities deported 20 Uighur asylum seekers who were at risk of torture and mistreatment to China.

“The Cambodian government has a dismal track record when it comes to deporting recognised refugees and asylum seekers under UNHCR protection – particularly those from countries such as China and Vietnam, with whom it has close relations,” said Robertson. “The UN and concerned governments should press Cambodia to make sure the Montagnards don’t suffer the same fate as the Uighurs and others who have been unlawfully deported.”

In defending the closure of the Montagnard refugee centre, Cambodian officials have declared there is no longer any need for Montagnards to flee to Cambodia, citing Vietnam’s economic progress and lack of armed conflict in Montagnard areas.

“It is time for us to close the refugee center because Vietnam has no war or armed conflict, and it is not necessary to have the refugee centre in our country,” Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters in December.

“The Cambodian foreign minister and other officials have grossly mischaracterised the definition of a refugee,” said Robertson. “A refugee is a person with a well-founded fear of being persecuted, whose flight can occur irrespective of armed conflict or economic factors.”

Since 2001, thousands of Montagnards in Vietnam have fled harsh government crackdowns to Cambodia, where most have been recognised as refugees and resettled to the United States, Sweden, Finland, and Canada.

Under a 2005 agreement between the UNHCR and the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments, the UNHCR handled the protection and refugee screening process for Montagnard asylum seekers in Cambodia. The agreement called for Montagnards whose asylum claims had been determined to be either resettled abroad or repatriated to Vietnam.

Human Rights Watch continues to receive credible reports of persecution of Montagnards in Vietnam, where more than 300 have been imprisoned since 2001 for peaceful expression of their religious or political views, or for trying to seek asylum in Cambodia.

“Montagnards will continue to try to flee Vietnam as long as the Vietnamese government systematically violates their basic rights,” said Robertson. “It’s imperative that the Cambodian government live up to its international obligations and not force asylum seekers back to a place where their lives and their liberty will be at stake.”

Read more!

Cambodia's Isolated Villagers Change Their Lives With Lower-Cost Solar

By Coco Liu of Climatewire


ROU HAL, Cambodia -- With a desire to one day become a doctor and save lives, 12-year-old Phat Sopwa devotes most of his time to study. After dark, though, his dream grew dim.

Living in this typical Cambodian village without electricity, Phat used to do homework by a kerosene lamp that emits no more light than a cigarette lighter. The dim ray hurt his eyes, made him drowsy and forced the boy to quickly give up his tasks.

That dark homework time ended in February with a gift from his aunt. What Phat received is a small solar array, which powers three light bulbs and made his wooden hut fill with bright light for the first time.

"Solar is much better [than the kerosene lamp]. I can now see characters in my textbooks clearly," said Phat, while happily flipping on and off the light switch.

Phat isn't the only Cambodian who is excited about solar. In a nation deprived of electricity infrastructure, yet rich in sunlight, rural families are increasingly adding solar products to their shopping lists.

What's driving the trend, according to solar companies, is that Cambodia's rising economy has coincided with a continuing drop in the cost of solar energy. Meanwhile, financial incentives have been rolled out to help the rural poor harness the sun.

Although electricity grids from dams, neighboring countries and fossil fuel power plants are expected to reach more than two-thirds of Cambodia's households by 2030, some villagers don't want to wait for another two decades.

Last month, three families in Phat's village already switched on solar energy. "Many other villages around here are also using solar," said Phoeuy Phen, a tourist driver on his way to Angkor Wat, a centuries-old temple complex where Angelina Jolie filmed the movie "Tomb Raider."

Where the grid peters out in the coconut trees

Modern energy is a luxury in Cambodia, where millions of rural residents live beyond the reach of the nation's power grid.

Outside Siem Reap, one of Cambodia's more developed cities, electric lines are tangled like giant spaghetti on wooden poles -- sometimes on coconut trees -- to reach scattered villages. After a few miles, the lines peter out. Then, a vast kingdom running on kerosene and batteries begins.

There, roughly half of the people spend their nighttime with smoky kerosene lamps, a fire hazard to their wooden huts. Most can name a neighbor who lost a house and even children because of one careless moment.

This risk led some to a second popular solution. Richer Cambodians get access to electricity by using automobile storage batteries. Those batteries can do the job for a few days, and then it's time to take a bumpy journey.

In early morning, villagers load these batteries on bicycles and ply the rocky roads to diesel-powered charging stations, where they drop their empty battery off for a refill. At twilight, they come again, leave about 50 cents and take the recharged battery back home.

An Oach, who runs such a charging station, greets dozens of customers every day. Although the charging fee has gone up by 25 percent over the last six months, along with rising diesel prices, An says she believes villagers are likely to stay with her, rather than be lured away by some solar salesmen.

"For now, the price of solar is still too high, and not many know what solar is," An said, almost shouting in an attempt to be heard over the rat-a-tat-tat of her sputtering generator.

Solar isn't chicken feed to a farmer

It turns out that she isn't entirely right. A dozen miles up the road, in a small farming village called Chouk Saw, a chicken grower tells the story the other way around.

Three years ago, Bum Ma Sarith got convinced by a solar salesman and risked $1,500 from his savings to buy an Italian-made solar power system. Although his hope was simply to end tedious recharging journeys, Bum found out solar energy did more than that.

Unlike batteries, the solar power system never runs down, providing reliable and long-lasting light to his chicken farm, said Bum. Thus he was able to increase the farm's annual output by 30 percent. And every year, Bum also saves at least $500 on battery costs and enjoys an extra bonus: powering a small television and watching movies with his family.

The result whetted Bum's appetite for the technology. He now plans to buy a solar-powered pump that will fetch water from his backyard well.

Surprisingly, the popularity of solar energy is also emerging among the poorer families who can't even afford batteries.

Nouk Sarou, a 39-year-old mother of two, recently took a relative's advice and cut off her dangerous relationship with kerosene lamps. She bought a solar lantern equipped with a high-efficiency LED light.

Charged by a palm-size solar panel, the lantern provides safe light while it costs one-third of what Nouk spent on kerosene. Moreover, it also changed other aspects of her life, including the experience of going to the toilet.

Like most villagers in Cambodia, Nouk uses the forest for her private needs. But that is a scary thing to do at night, she said, adding that she used to pick up a burning branch from her cookstove and brave into the dark woods with it. Today, however, "with [bright light from] the solar lantern, there is no worries about going to the toilet," said Nouk, laughing and blushing.

A rent-a-lamp scares away the ghosts

Nouk said she is saving money for a solar power system that can operate a television -- a key channel for her to gain knowledge. Decades of war in Cambodia meant she never had a chance to go to school. Luckily for Nouk, she might not need to wait too long.

Kamworks, a solar startup in Cambodia, is making it easier for the rural poor to afford solar energy. Under its recently launched lending scheme, families can use solar products first, and gradually pay back with what they save on batteries or kerosene expenditures.

So far, more than 20 families have benefited from the pilot service, according to Jeroen Verschelling, a director at Kamworks. And the company is in talks with local banks, aiming to expand the reach of the scheme to cover half of the country, he added.

Still, despite Kamworks' efforts and complementing services from its peers and the government, the mission to power rural Cambodia with solar energy is eclipsed by three missing links.

It is hard to grow distribution networks in the remote lands, industry players noted. And investors show little interest in expansion plans, as they view solar energy and rural Cambodians a poor mix.

Other than that, generating electricity from the sun sounds too good to be real, making solar energy a hard sell to 4 out of 5 villagers who have never heard of such technology, according to Anthony Jude, an energy expert from the Asian Development Bank.

Solar entrepreneurs have been scrambling for ways to close the knowledge gap. They let solar energy be heard on radios, seen on handed-out T-shirts and also taken home without buying it.

Last year, Kamworks began renting out solar lanterns at a daily price of 8 cents -- roughly what villagers spend on kerosene. The rental business became so popular that the company plans to increase its rental outlets to 80, up from three right now, said Verschelling.

Designed by Dutch college students, the solar lantern is a favorite among rural families. According to its product leaflet, its functions include providing light to cook, study and scare ghosts -- a major need here after dark. Read more!

Sam Rainsy Says No Apology on Criminal Charges

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy says he will not apologize to the government for his stance of the border issue with Vietnam, despite losing a Supreme Court appeal on criminal charges this week.

Political observes say the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold charges against him for uprooting markers near the Vietnamese border means a political solution is the only way to bring him back for 2012 and 2013 elections.

Sam Rainsy remains in exile abroad and faces 12 years in prison on a raft of charges stemming from his contentions that Cambodia is losing land to Vietnamese encroachment.

Political opponents of Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People’s Party have received royal pardons in the past, but only at the behest of the premier to the king.

“On the issue of an apology, I do not need to apologize to anyone at all,” Sam Rainsy told VOA Khmer. “In the country, there are only the current Cambodian leaders who need to apologize to the people.”

Sam Rainsy is accused of racial incitement and destruction of property for uprooting border markers in Svay Rieng province in 2009, as well as charges of disinformation for publishing a map on his party’s website he claims shows encroachment. The courts have so far sided with government claims the map is a fabrication.

Sam Rainsy maintains the charges against him are politically motivated, and he remains confident a political solution can be reached. “It is moving forward,” he said.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yiep told VOA Khmer Sam Rainsy’s return depends on him writing Hun Sen and whether the premier will decide to allow him to come back.

Hun Sen has said in public speeches Sam Rainsy’s cases are matters for the courts. Read more!

Thailand Wants Terms of Asean Mission

Cambodia says the 11th-Century temple was damaged by Thai artillery in border clashes in February and has asked Unesco to assess the damage.


Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva says Thailand and Cambodia must still discuss the bilateral terms for an Indonesian monitoring mission to the border.

In remarks Wednesday, the premier said he has requested Indonesia delay the border mission, which follows deadly clashes last month, until its scope and areas can be determined.

“Otherwise, it may lead to further problems and dispute in terms of settlement claims,” he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday criticized Thailand for a slow response to the documentation needed for Asean observers at the border.

Indonesia hopes to send observers to both sides of the border, following deadly clashes last month, but Thailand has so far failed to agree to the terms of reference.

Thailand’s reticence could cause a delay to the observer mission. But Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told VOA Khmer that Cambodia will accept Indonesian monitors with or without Thailand.

“We’ve clearly said that in case Thailand objects, then Cambodia agrees to take them unilaterally,” he said.

Observers say the discrepancy can lead to problems for the Indonesian mission, which as planned would put observers on each side of the border to ensure no further border fighting takes place.

Clashes in early February left at least 10 people dead and caused damage to portions of Preah Vihear temple, a Unesco World Heritage site. After the fighting, both sides agreed in principle to observers from Indonesia, which is the current head of Asean.

Thai officials say they expect to hold further talks with Cambodia March 7 and March 8 during a joint border committee meeting. However, Koy Kuong said Cambodia has not agreed to those dates.

Cambodian officials maintain they will not negotiate the border with Thailand without the presence of Asean officials as witnesses. Read more!

Silence After Recruitment Firm Settles in Death of Woman

Last year, Cambodia has sent 94,564 legal workers to Thailand; 19,588 to Malaysia; 9,082 to South Korea; and 97 to Japan.


The husband of a woman who died after remaining ill in a recruitment center in Phnom Penh has settled with the company, but rights groups say they want a full investigation to continue.

Chin Sopheap, 36, was recruited to work as a waitress in Malaysia, but after she arrived at the company’s local center, she fell ill.

The company reportedly would not let her leave without being paid back money it had already invested in the woman.

Khiep Sony, general manager of the recruiting company, International Investment Services, Ltd., told VOA Khmer Chin Sopheap was ill before she arrived. The company tried to send her to the hospital “many times,” he said, but “she had a problem with her husband.” He blamed her death in a hospital on Friday of a heart attack.

Husband Heng Saroeun, 51, who had previously spoken about his wife’s death to local media, told VOA Khmer he had agreed to $4,000 in compensation but had agreed not to discuss the case further. He would now focus on her seven-day funeral ceremony, he said.

An increasing number of Cambodians are seeking work in Malaysia, subject to aggressive recruitment by local companies that work with Malaysia placement firms.

Critics warn that recruitment practices are not well governed and that women are at risk of abuse on their arrival in Malaysia.

Many recruiting companies offer families cash and rice up front as an incentive to join up for work. New government regulations for migrant labor have aimed at curbing the practice, but it is still common.

Chin Sopheap was recruited for work in January. Heng Saroeun previously said she had fallen ill with stomach problems, but the company would not release her without being repaid the $600 it had invested in her in paperwork and incentives to the family.

No autopsy was performed on her body, and the cause of death remains a mystery, said Am Sam Ath, lead investigator for the rights group Licadho. Licadho currently views the case as one of worker detention, he said.

Chim Sopheap is the second worker to die while awaiting work in Malaysia. The first woman died last year at the recruiting center of a Phnom Penh company, VC Manpower. Officials said at the time she too had died of a heart attack.

Chan Saveth, head of investigation for the rights group Adhoc, said that even if families receive compensation from companies, they can pursue legal charges. “This case cannot be solved with money,” he said. Read more!

Military Attaches to Inspect Sites of Border Clashes

The stone remains of Preah Vihear, built nearly 1,000 years ago, are supposed to be a protected U.N. World Heritage site. Instead they are at the heart of a dangerous tug-of-war between Cambodia and Thailand.


A delegation of foreign military attaches is scheduled to visit Preah Vihear temple Thursday, military officials said.

Cambodia says the 11th-Century temple was damaged by Thai artillery in border clashes in February and has asked Unesco to assess the damage. Thai officials maintain Cambodia has troops close to the temple, putting it at risk to future damage.

The military delegation will include 19 representatives of foreign countries including the US, China and Japan and will last for two days, said Chhum Socheath, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

The defense attaches will meet with Cambodian frontline commanders before touring as many areas along the border as possible, Chhum Socheath said. This will include strike sites where Cambodian officials say cluster munitions were used by Thai soldiers.

“They will see the reality, and from what they see they will have their own views,” he said. “I think a visit to Preah Vihear temple at this time will be very productive.”

Intense clashes between the two side Feb. 4 through Feb. 7 left at least 10 people dead and sent villagers fleeing for safety.

Both sides have since agreed to a ceasefire and a monitoring mission from Indonesia, the current head of Asean, but Thailand has said it does not condone a Unesco inspection of the temple while military tensions remain high.

Cambodian military officials on the border said they have been put on heightened alert for the military delegation’s visit. Read more!

A Current of Nationalism, Not Extremism: Researcher

Cambodians are experiencing an upsurge in nationalism thanks to a continued border dispute with Thailand, but a researcher says it has not veered toward extremism.

Lao Monghay, a former researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission, told “Hello VOA” Monday that Cambodians are now cooperating in economy, trade and culture more closely.

However, he added, trade goods from neighboring countries like China, Thailand and Vietnam are still in high demand.

“In Cambodia, even though there is stronger nationalism, it has not been extreme,” he said. “We see that Cambodians don’t seem to discriminate or oppose the goods of their neighbors at all. Even Thai goods, there is no movement stirred up to boycott Thai goods.”

Cambodians from many walks of life have rallied around the perceived threat posed by border clashes with Thailand, with the fiercest clashes to date last month.

A border dispute near Preah Vihear temple, a cultural touchstone for many Cambodians, has elicited support for Cambodian soldiers. But there have been no violent demonstrations, such as those in 2003, when a Thai actress was rumored to have said Angkor Wat should belong to Thailand. The 2003 demonstrations escalated into a night of rioting and the burning of the Thai Embassy by a mob of Cambodian youths.

Lao Monghay said that kind of nationalism was dangerous and to be avoided. Read more!

Cambodia accepts military observers

Cambodia has accepted terms of reference for unarmed Indonesian military observers to watch over a ceasefire along the Preah Vihear border area and now awaits a response from Thailand.

“We have clearly stated in the terms of reference letter that in the case of a Thai objection, Cambodia will receive Indonesian observers alone,” said Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We don’t know about the Thai side but our stance is that we have completely agreed to the terms of reference.”

After four days of fighting early last month left at least 10 dead, dozens injured and thousands temporarily displaced on both sides, Cambodia and Thailand agreed at an informal meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on February 22 in Jakarta to allow Indonesian military observers to monitor a ceasefire.

The 30 observers, 15 in each country, will report to both ASEAN and the United Nations Security Council, which has called for a permanent ceasefire.

Marty Natalegawa, the Indonesian Foreign Minister, sent Phnom Penh and Bangkok the terms of reference last week.

Veerachon Sukondhadhpatipak, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Army, and Thani Thongphakdi, deputy spokesman for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The Cambodian Ministry of Defence will lead a tour of the border area and the Preah Vihear temple tomorrow for military attachés from more than 10 embassies.

Although the move follows a similar event organised by Thailand, it has apparently annoyed at least some in the Thai army according to an unnamed military source quoted in the Bangkok Post.

Koy Kuong said there was no reason for the visit to increase tensions.

“Cambodia only brings those foreign military attachés to visit the border inside Cambodian territory, so there is not anything to cause tension,” he said.

“Thailand also brought foreign military attachés to visit the border recently, and Cambodia did not say it caused tension.” Read more!

ASEAN and the Cambodia-Thailand confiict

The fighting and violence that have taken place in the Thai-Cambodia border area violate both the letter of solemn agreements among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its spirit, the spirit which underlies the very concept of ASEAN.

As ASEAN members, Cambodia and Thailand are both signatories to the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), which commits them to reject the use or threat of force in the relations between states and to the peaceful settlement of inter-state disputes.

The overriding purpose in this regard is to avoid and prevent actions that result in the death or injury of human beings. Already, between ten and twenty persons are reported to have been killed and countless others injured or displaced in the border fighting between the two countries.

In addition to the provisions of TAC, certain facts have to be kept in mind to avoid the repetition of violence in the future.

The first is that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 1962 ruled that the temple of Preah Vihear, near where the fighting has occurred, belonged to Cambodia. Both Cambodia and Thailand had agreed to submit their dispute to the ICJ and to abide by its decision. The current dispute is not about the temple itself but over a strip of land nearby, which the ICJ saw fit not to adjudicate but which joint Cambodia-Thailand border and boundary bodies are supposed to deal with.

Another fact to remember is that in 2008 UNESCO listed Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site. It did so upon Cambodia’s proposal but with the support of Thailand. This cooperation between the two was manifested in an agreement signed in June 2007 by Noppadol Pattama, then foreign minister in the government of Samak Sundaravej, a successor to the deposed Thaksin Sinawatra deemed sympathetic to Thaksin. Anti-Thaksin politicians have charged that the agreement violated Thailand’s constitution.

These events were also inflamed by nationalistic public emotions. It would be responsible and indicative of the value that the leaderships in both countries place on human life if they were to dampen the emotional flames instead of fanning them.

As the weaker protagonist, Cambodia has sought to multilateralise and internationalise the matter, including asking for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on it. However, Thailand has expressed its preference for bilateral negotiations. But there are venues for mediating this conflict other than the world body, among them regional countries and ASEAN itself.

In recognition of this, Susilo Bambang Yudhuyono, President of Indonesia, this year’s ASEAN chair, has sent his foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, to Cambodia and Thailand on 7 and 8 February, respectively. The new ASEAN Charter allows the parties to a dispute ‘to request the Chairman of ASEAN or the Secretary-General of ASEAN . . . to provide good offices, conciliation or mediation’. Marty and the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand were invited to the 14 February UNSC meeting, at which all three made statements.

At the end of that meeting, the Council President, Brazil, issued a statement calling on ‘the two sides to display maximum restraint and avoid any action that may aggravate the situation’ and ‘to establish a permanent ceasefire . . . and resolve the situation peacefully and through effective dialogue’. It went on: ‘The (Council) members . . . expressed support for ASEAN’s active efforts in this matter and encouraged the parties to continue to cooperate with the organization in this regard. They welcomed the . . . Meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on 22 February.’

The Cambodia-Thailand conflict puts to a severe test both ASEAN and Indonesia. Indonesia was one of ASEAN’s founders, its largest member and its current chair. Indonesia was where the 1976 Treaty of Amity and Cooperation was signed and the Blueprint for an ASEAN Political and Security Community was adopted, in 2003. It is the leading proponent of the Political and Security Community, which calls for the prevention of disputes and conflicts from arising between member-states.

The 22 February ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting was called, hosted and chaired by Indonesia as ASEAN’s chair. It resulted in clever compromises among Thailand’s call for bilateral negotiations, third-party intervention, and ASEAN’s role. While the statement released at the end of the meeting underscored bilateral talks, it also repeatedly referred to Indonesia, which the ministers called on to send ceasefire observers on both sides of the disputed territory, as ‘ASEAN’s chair’.

For the sake of their peoples and of the region, not to mention ASEAN’s credibility, the efforts at mediation by Indonesia as the ASEAN chair and a cessation of hostilities must be encouraged and succeed.

Author: K. Kesavapany, ISEAS

K. Kesavapany is the Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.


Read more!

Lawmakers to boost Cambodian ties

HA NOI — The National Assemblies of Viet Nam and Cambodia needed to strengthen co-ordination and create the most favourable legal foundation for increasingly deep and effective co-operation between the two sides, said the former's Chairman, Nguyen Duc Kien.

He also confirmed the Viet Nam Party and Government's consistent policy to attach importance to developing relations with Cambodia.

He made the comments during a reception for the Cambodian Assembly's Commission on Education, Youth and Sports, Cults, Religious Affairs, Culture and Tourism chairman Mom Chim Huy in Ha Noi yesterday.

Kien suggested the two assemblies pay attention to popularisation and education work so that Vietnamese and Cambodian people, especially young generations, would continuously preserve and promote the fine traditional relationship between the two countries.

Kien said he wanted ministries, agencies, cities and provinces of the two sides to strengthen exchanges and further expand multi-faceted co-operation and relations, especially in economics, trade, investment, culture and education, based on full exploitation of potential and advantages in each country.

He acknowledged developments in the relationship between the two assemblies in the past, saying that they helped boost the traditional friendship, neighbourly relations and comprehensive co-operation between the two nations.

He thanked the Cambodian Assembly for its active support for Viet Nam as the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Chair during the 2009-2010 term and expressed his belief that the Cambodian Assembly would fulfil its role as the Chair during the 2010-2011 term and successfully host the 32nd AIPA Assembly in the country this September.

For his part, Chairman Mom Chim Huy affirmed the Cambodian Assembly's wish and determination to consolidate and further strengthen the exchange and co-operation between the commissions in particular and between the two legislative bodies of the two countries in general.

He stated that bilateral co-operation between Cambodia and Viet Nam had strongly developed in all fields, with two-way trade reaching US$1.8 billion last year. Vietnamese businesses have invested around $2 billion in Cambodia. — VNS Read more!

Husband Remembers Fatal Night on Diamond Bridge

Like other families of stampede victims on Diamond Bridge, Leung Porn's family decided to hold the 100-day ceremony last weekend at a Buddhist clergyman's suggestion.


Leung Porn's wife, Tor Sophal, was one of the 353 victims killed in the stampede on the bridge during last year’s water festival.

Leung Porn, who is 54 and now the single father of three children, said the ceremony will help his wife rest in peace.

“The ceremony is to stop her soul from wandering and help her reincarnate,” he said in an interview. “I pray for her to be reborn in a better life, one not as miserable as this one.”

Leung Porn is a farmer and motorcycle taxi driver from a small town in Kampong Speu province, Chbar Mon. His wife had been a commune council member and the main breadwinner of an extended family of 10 people.

“I wonder where she will be reborn,” Leung Porn said. “I still want to know in what direction, what province and what village she will be reincarnated.” He began to cry. “I love my wife so much,” he said.

Leung Porn was with his wife on the bridge on the night of Nov. 22, 2010. They had decided to walk along the bridge at the end of the Water Festival, along with many others. They found themselves trapped amid thousands of people, all sandwiched onto the small platform, pushing from two directions and unable to move either way. The crush of bodies began suffocating some, and when panic ensued, many where crushed to death.

Leung Porn said he survived by maneuvering his body to keep his chest from being crushed. He was separated from Tor Sophal and in the crush of bodies was helpless to save her.

“I was hopeless for my wife at the time, because I myself was nearly half dead,” he said. “When I saw my wife lying dead, I was confused and speechless.”

Tor Sophal’s ashes now sit on a shelf in the house, for the whole family to pray to. In the aftermath of tragedy, they received about $12,000 from the government and other donors. Some of that was spent on her funeral and subsequent ceremonies. The rest remains in savings.

“Even though you gave me gold too heavy to carry, I didn’t need it,” he said, looking at his teenage son, whose head was shaved in mourning. “I would have taken my wife back instead.”

Leung Porn said he will no longer allow any of his family members to go to Diamond Island, or even to the Water Festival, for fear of another disaster.

Cambodia University students lay down flowers during a memorial service near a bridge where festival goers were killed Monday in a stampede in Phnom Penh, Nov. 25, 2010.


“I’ve advised my children and grandchildren not to go there,” he said. “If they want to celebrate the event, I tell them to celebrate at home with the family. I’m afraid, and I swear I’ll never go again.”

Perhaps, he said, he would be willing to visit a memorial stupa for the dead if it is built near the bridge. And he wants the authorities to ensure such a tragedy doesn’t happen again.

For now, 100 days later, he remembers his wife and is sorry he had not done more for her when she was alive.

“I am regretful that I could never afford to treat her to a big meal in a restaurant,” he said. Read more!

Cambodian Court Rejects Opposition Leader's Final Appeal

Sam Rainsy, leader of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy Party, speaks during a campaign rally in Kandal province, Cambodia, July 11, 2008.


Cambodia’s highest court on Tuesday upheld a two-year jail term imposed on the exiled leader of the opposition, Sam Rainsy. The verdict came after he uprooted border markers on the country’s boundary with Vietnam more than a year ago, claiming Cambodian farmers were losing land to their more powerful neighbor.

Judges at the Supreme Court said Tuesday that opposition leader Sam Rainsy must serve the two-year sentence that was handed down last year by a lower court.

Sam Rainsy, who lives in self-imposed exile in France, was convicted of racial incitement and damaging public property in the October 2009 incident on the border with neighboring Vietnam..

Senior members of the Sam Rainsy Party, or SRP, said on Tuesday the verdict had come as little surprise. One of them, veteran SRP legislator Son Chhay, says the courts are there to do the bidding of the ruling party.

"We all predicted the Supreme Court will maintain the verdict to send Sam Rainsy to two years in prison," he says. "And we have no hope that the judicial system in Cambodia or the court itself will be able to make any reform to gain some confidence from the public in any near future."

The ruling party’s motive, says Son Chhay, is to ensure that Sam Rainsy is unable to take part in the next election, which is scheduled for 2013.

As matters stand with Tuesday’s ruling, there is little chance that Sam Rainsy can now participate, unless, that is, a political compromise can be reached.

Son Chhay says the international community, which has invested billions of dollars in Cambodia’s political stability, has failed to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

“They seem to be being fooled that the case of Sam Rainsy is an individual case, that it isn’t reflecting the whole need for maintaining the democratic environment in the country," he says. "That is a big mistake, the donors, especially the Western countries, who have provided so much assistance to Cambodia, should look into the issue of Sam Rainsy more seriously.”

During his recent trip to Phnom Penh, the United Nations human rights envoy Surya Subedi said public figures should become more tolerant and should stop using the courts against their critics.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy faces more legal problems.

Last year, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he displayed a map at a press conference that the government claimed misrepresented the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.

At the time, the government said that his actions amounted to disinformation and the falsifying of public documents.

The issue of the country’s border with Vietnam is a sensitive one for the government. Prime Minister Hun Sen maintains close relations with Hanoi, and many Cambodians are distrustful of their more powerful neighbor.

Last week, Sam Rainsy traveled to Washington to rally support from the U.S. government and human rights groups. During the trip, he sat down with VOA's Kate Woodsome, to talk about his legal troubles and the future of the opposition.
Read more!

Vietnam in Cambodia tourism push

A man-made mountain at a resort managed by Dai Nam Resorts Area, in Binh Duong province, Vietnam. The company is looking to attract more Cambodian visitors to its attractions. A company official said 5 million people visited the site last year


Vietnamese tourism companies are linking up with Kingdom firms in order to attract Cambodian tourists to the country’s resorts and health care facilities, whilst boosting cross-border visitors.

During 2010, while the numbers of Vietnamese tourists arriving in Cambodia surged by 48 percent to 466,695 compared with 2009, some businesses within Vietnam also spotted an opportunity for growth by forging new alliances.

One such company was state-run Vietravel Co, valued at US$76 million last year, which now holds 49 percent in a joint venture called Indochina Heritage Travel (Cambodia) with Cambodian and Vietnamese partners.

While its capital investment in the new company has not been detailed, after opening two months ago, it plans to lead 100,000 Vietnamese tourists to the Kingdom during 2011 and to promote cross-border tourism.

Nguyen Quoc Ky, general director of Vietravel Co, said: “I feel confident about tourism sector growth in Cambodia, that’s why I decided to put capital forward.”

While Tran Duc Hai, director of Indochina Heritage Travel (Cambodia), added: “We try to promote tourism for both countries and will bring tourists to both sides.”

Monthly package tours are on the venture’s agenda, with trips tailored to the health tourism market also planned.

Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism, Thong Khon, acknowledged today that Cambodian citizens visit Vietnam for health consultations and treatment and that at the moment “Vietnam is trying a lot to promote tourism in Cambodia”.

While the ministry did not have specific visitor data for Vietnam, he stated: “We have a strong relationship and cooperate together on tourism for both sides benefit.”

In Vietnam, health care providers are hoping to tap into a potential market of Cambodian nationals.

Chief operation officer of Victoria Healthcare VietNam, Binh Pham Cobb, said her private clinic in Ho Chi Minh City received 200 patients a day, some of whom came from Cambodia.

“We saw that Cambodian patients came to check their health a lot at the state hospital in Vietnam.”

Through cooperation with firms such as Indochina Heritage she hopes to “get more and more Cambodian clients to come here”.

While 25-year-old Cambodian tourist Sout Vanny, a visitor to Dam Sen theme park in Vietnam, said that while on holiday she had a health consultation as “services in Vietnam are cheaper that Cambodia and they also make me confident”.

But along with health care demand, vacationing tourists are also boosting trade for Vietnam’s holiday resorts, according to businessmen.

Hoafng Van Ba, deputy general director of Saigontourist, the parent company of Dam Sen Resort in Ho Chi Minh City, said that 5 percent of visitors to his resort – which includes a theme park – were now Cambodian.

It has incorporated Cambodia into its future, as the company has plans to build a similar complex in the Kingdom with negotiations with its Cambodian partner underway.

Dai Nam Resorts Areas, the biggest resort in Vietnam which lies on 450 hectares of land in Binh Duong province, is also looking for Cambodian visitors. Tran Thanh Hai, director of its parent company Dai Nam Joint Stock Corp, said: “Last year, 5 million tourists came to our resort, most of them were local tourists. Now, we are promoting ourselves to neighbouring countries, especially Cambodia.”

According to the Ministry of Tourism, outbound Cambodian tourists increased by about 49 percent in 2010.
Read more!

China's growth is changing Southeast Asia

BANGKOK -- What has China got to do with recent bloody clashes over a 900-year-old temple in Southeast Asia?

Beijing is not a party to the conflict, nor has it any stake in the territorial dispute between Cambodia and Thailand.

And yet China, with its growing presence and influence in Indochina, is changing the power dynamics in the region.

One key result has been the weakening of Thailand's traditional economic domination in the neighborhood as China steps up trade and investment in countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion, which besides Thailand includes Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.

With Cambodia less reliant on the Thai growth engine, its Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has become emboldened to put up a tough fight against Thailand in its border dispute, some analysts say. The border clashes early this month left at least three Thais and eight Cambodians dead.

Given its proximity and long-standing ties, Thailand no doubt still plays a big role in Cambodia's economy. Two-way trade last year was valued at about 81 billion baht (US$2.63 billion), up 20 percent from the previous year. Thai businessmen have over 80 projects worth over US$363 million in the country.

But the Chinese presence in Cambodia has grown rapidly in recent years. In a paper last December, Australian academic Geoff Wade, currently with Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), noted that there were 360 Chinese investment projects in Cambodia totaling US$80 billion by the middle of last year.

China recently waived US$400 million worth of Cambodian debt. One of the largest Chinese-language schools in Southeast Asia is located in Phnom Penh. China also provides much of the Cambodian army's equipment, say observers who have seen Cambodia's military deployments at the disputed Preah Vihear temple site.

In turn, Cambodia has cooperated with Beijing politically, sending 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers back to China in 2009, for instance.

Thai historian Thongchai Winichakul, in a recent talk in Bangkok, noted China's neutrality on the Thai-Cambodia conflict, but acknowledged that “Cambodia is less dependent on Thailand than the Thais think.”

At one time during the booming 1980s, Bangkok was the “logical center” of the region, says Professor Michael Montesano of ISEAS.

Now, “Cambodia certainly, and Laos to a degree, have other options. Cambodia is more sophisticated now; they can pick and choose. In addition to China, with its huge demand and ability to penetrate markets, Singapore also comes into play.”
Cambodia also has strong economic ties with Vietnam as well as other countries like South Korea and Japan as it forges ahead with its growing network of international linkages.

China's rising profile in Indochina is not restricted to Cambodia. It is the same in Laos, where it has stepped up investments in agriculture and infrastructure.

Its investment in infrastructure in Myanmar includes laying strategic gas and oil pipelines and port development. The Myanmar-language Weekly Eleven reported recently that China poured more than US$3 billion into the country from last November through January this year, bringing its cumulative investment since 1988 to US$9.6 billion, above Thailand's US$9.56 billion.

As for Thailand, its officials have described their country's relationship with China as one between siblings. Bangkok is also positioning itself as a partner to China in the hopes of mutually benefiting from its growth. One example is the 45 billion baht China City trading complex on the outskirts of Bangkok.

When completed in two years, thousands of Chinese traders will operate from there, re-exporting Chinese-made goods from Thailand to avoid costly tariffs. The trading center is expected to create an estimated 70,000 new jobs.

“The economic might of China imposes a compelling calculation,” said an Asian diplomat of its burgeoning ties in mainland Southeast Asia. “With all these countries, because of proximity and land links, it is very difficult to ignore China.”

But that is not to say there are no limits to China's influence.

In Thailand, the Chinese community has for generations been seamlessly integrated into the rest of Thai society. But in Myanmar, distrust of China among the older intellectual and military elites remains, and Myanmar nationalism will be a brake on Chinese influence.

And there is competition too. American officials have been open about the fact that the recent re-engagement of the United States, in the shape of a development initiative for lower Mekong countries, is an attempt to balance China's surging economic influence.

Vietnam too has its own ambitions in the neighborhood, along with historical baggage, having fought a ferocious border war with China in 1979.

“They can't ignore China. But because of their status as a new tiger and with a more self-confident and outward-oriented approach, Vietnamese officials often speak against China on issues,” said the Asian diplomat. Read more!

Cambodia beckons for midwifery chief

A MIDWIFERY boss is stepping down to carry out volunteer work in a poverty-stricken country.

Angela Oxley, head of obstetrics and gynaecology at Furness General Hospital, is leaving her post to work on improving maternity services in a hospital in Cambodia for two years.

Mrs Oxley, who also works across other hospitals within the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, will be based in Stung Treng hospital in northern Cambodia as part of a programme run by the Voluntary Services Overseas charity.

The hospital is staffed by a medical director and team of midwives, but they do not receive regular wages and must work in the markets to earn money.

In the province of Stung Treng, there are eight small clinics where births take place with only a basic qualified midwife or traditional birth attendant present. Part of Mrs Oxley’s work will involve reviewing care in these clinics and trying to improve training and referrals.

Mrs Oxley, who has 20 years’ experience working as a midwife in Cumbria, said: “I’m going out there to see what improvements can be made with a limited staff and budget.

“It will be a huge challenge, I know, but the idea is not for me just to go out there, work as a midwife and come back two years later with nothing changed.

“My colleagues at FGH have been really positive. A lot have said they could never do it, but I also hope it will encourage more people to go out there and do it.”

VSO in Cambodia has an overall aim of reducing infant and maternal mortality rates in line with the United Nations and World Health Organisation. The current maternal mortality rate is one in 260, compared with one in 12,000 in the UK.

Many of these deaths occur in the rural areas, where women often have no access to trained staff.

The VSO funds Mrs Oxley’s travel to Cambodia and her return in two years, but while she is living in the country she will be paid a basic wage of £240 a month and be expected to raise funds for the project.

Mrs Oxley will be joined by her husband Chris on the trip, who is also hoping to carry out volunteer work.

She said: “He is coming over with me to share the experience, but he is funding himself. He has done a qualification in teaching English as a foreign language and he has a background in engineering.”

The couple will keep a blog of their trip, which can be viewed at www.angelaandchriscambodia.blogspot.com. Read more!