Outside the Comfort Zone: Flying Doctors of America in Cambodia

By James Schantz, DC

For many chiropractors, success is about comfort, predictability and ease. We strive to make our practice run smoothly, with as few ups or downs as possible. What if you were to purposely throw a monkey wrench into your daily routine? Willingly put yourself into a practice setting that was uncomfortable, ill-equipped and unpredictable?

Sound appalling? Stop reading right now. Sound appealing? You might be a candidate for a Flying Doctors mission! Flying Doctors of America is a non-governmental organization that runs non-sectarian health care missions to Third World countries. Think "Doctors Without Borders," but a one- to two-week commitment versus a one- to two-year commitment, and mostly safe countries versus some of the most dangerous places on Earth.
Each Flying Doctors mission is composed of volunteers who are willing to practice without the amenities (or restraints) of our modern, high-tech health care system. Mission sites are selected by a board of directors, each of whom leads at least one mission each year. Locations are selected based a number of different considerations including cooperation from the respective country's ministry of health, logistical assistance available on the ground, and safety. Missions usually involve one to two days of travel, four to five days of clinics and one to two days of exploring archeological and historic sites.

Mission to Cambodia
Each volunteer contributes to cover the costs of transportation, lodging, food, logistics and administration. I raised money for my latest mission by soliciting donations from colleagues and vendors. My office also ran a Flying Doctors Day: new and established patients could receive chiropractic services in exchange for a donation to Flying Doctors. Our team featured three surgeons, five MDs, six nurses, two dental professionals, two non-medical spouses, one physician assistant and me - the chiropractor.

Our mission destination on this occasion was Cambodia, one of the poorest countries in the world. Eighty-five percent of the population is subsistence farmers or fisherman trying to get by on about $1 a day. Cambodia was thrown into an extremely dark period in the 1970s, and it is still struggling to recover. The Khmer Rouge regime of the ultra-Maoist dictator Pol Pot devised a plan to turn the country into an agrarian utopia. Pol Pot cut off foreign trade, closed down the banks and universities, and then took anyone with an education or money and had them executed or forced into labor camps. The horror of the Killing Fields is fading from the national psyche, but economic recovery is stymied by corruption and lack of infrastructure and education.

The first rite of passage on our Cambodian mission was a one-stop flight from Atlanta to Siem Reap, Cambodia that took 24 hours. You feel more like a prisoner than a passenger in economy class. At least they let prisoners lie down to sleep. The following day, I joined our team leader, an anesthesiologist who specializes in pain management, at the local hospital. Our job was to perform screening exams on about 100 patients for the ENT surgeons. I was soon busy palpating goiters, checking for broken eardrums, inspecting nasal polyps and scoping infected tonsils. My partner nearly dropped his otoscope when he heard the pop as I performed an auricular adjustment on a patient complaining of fullness in the ear.

Our next day was designated as a rest day so everyone could get their biological clocks in sync. My wife, Dixie, and I were already recalibrated to Cambodian time, so we opted to hold an impromptu chiropractic / acupuncture clinic in the courtyard of the Siem Reap hospital where our surgical team operated.

"How will you explain to people what you are going to do, we don't speak Cambodian?" Dixie asked me. "Just lie down on the table, and I will start working on you. They'll get the idea," I replied. Dixie and I got translation help from a university student named Kosal who speaks some English. Soon we had people crowding around, curious and eager to be next. Folks on crutches, wheelchairs; there was even a fellow without any legs in a wagon circling the portable chiropractic table.

One of the things that I love about practicing chiropractic on missions is that bedsides being a wonderful healing, it also makes great entertainment. People love to see and hear the groans, moans, winces, cracks, pops and smiles. After we have treated about 40 patients, we are ready for a break. Kosal invited us back to his home for lunch. We were excited to see how a Cambodian family lives, so we accepted his offer.

His place looked like a studio apartment for one, but we soon found out that his mother, aunt, sister and two brothers all shared the 12' x 20' room. The only furniture: a bed and a plastic stool. Lunch was prepared and served on the floor. We realized that given these conditions, we were exposing ourselves to a host of microorganisms, but figured that our medical compatriots would help us if we got in trouble.

We were treated to a traditional Cambodian dish called amok. It is chicken with rice and vegetables, cooked in coconut milk and lemongrass, and it is served in a woven banana-leaf basket. Wow, was that spicy, but really tasty. It didn't seem to make us any sicker than any of the other food we had eaten since we arrived. (For the entire mission I fought a stomach ache, nausea, fever and malaise on a daily basis. Not enough to knock me out of commission, but just enough to make me feel like I was hitting on only two pistons most of the time.)

The next four days, we boarded a bus each morning and traveled to different villages on the outskirts of Siem Reap. With the help of interpreters, we would triage the awaiting throng of villagers and assign them to our clinics. We had general medicine, OB/GYN, pediatrics, dentistry, pharmacy and chiropractic / acupuncture. We had no X-rays, no lab tests and no specialized equipment. All the doctors and nurses must rely on a scant history, a few physical findings and their intuition. One doctor said, "This is like practicing veterinary medicine!"

I have been in active practice since 1986, and have volunteered at inner-city clinics and rural settings in Peru, Guatemala and Vietnam. Nonetheless, there were some unique patient encounters in Cambodia, including adjusting the blind and villagers who had limbs missing from landmine explosions; diagnosing Parkinson's disease in a farmer; improvising a splint for a little girl who had been run over by a motorbike; and performing acupuncture on a Buddhist monk.

Each day I ended up hot, sweaty, smelly and dirty. A hot shower, clean clothes and a cold beer were anticipated rewards for my work. I felt very fortunate that I had these waiting for me back at our hotel, and at the same time saddened because the patients I had seen during the day had no such respite from their daily life.

On our last day I was able to realize a long-awaited dream: a visit to Angkor Wat. I had first gazed on the sublime temples of Angkor Wat in a book of poems by Alan Ginsburg back in 1972. Since those teenage days, I have wanted to explore these mystical ruins. Angkor Wat ranks among the world's most magnificent treasurers, on par with the pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal. If you have ever seen the movie, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" then you have caught a glimpse of the Buddhist temples being engulfed by the jungle.

Volunteerism Has Its Challenges and Its Rewards

Mission trips can be exotic, exciting and exhausting. You work long hours alongside many fine professionals who share a passion for adventure and helping the poor. You may have the honor of treating native people with a heritage that goes back thousands of years. But let me caution you - more than once I have returned from a mission feeling disenfranchised from my practice and my culture.

In the Third World countries where I have worked, the people do not have material possessions to make them happy, so they rely more on their interpersonal relationships. What little they do have they seem to be more willing to share. It doesn't seem like that here in the U.S. But despite our materialism, we do promote humanitarianism. The U.S. produces many fine individuals who give of themselves to people of different races, cultures and religions.

There are many ways that doctors of chiropractic can volunteer their services both at home and abroad. Several chiropractic colleges and chiropractic mission organizations send students and licensed DC's to places in the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. Mission trips coordinated by churches and other religious organizations are beginning to include chiropractors as part of their medical teams. Locally, you can find homeless shelters, group homes and charities that will consider including chiropractic in their package of services.

We have a safe, drug-free method of alleviating human suffering that can help so many people. When you volunteer, you help grow your profession, your practice and your soul.

Author's note: I would like to recognize Lhasa OMS, Lifetimer Tables, Cryoderm, Dee Cee Labs and Bettis Electrical Contractors for their donations, as well as my colleagues and patients who gave their support.

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For more information on Flying Doctors of America, visit www.fdoamerica.org. Dr. Schantz has written about his experiences with Flying Doctors of America on several occasions including 1997 ("Chiropractic at 11,000 Feet: Flying Doctors of America," Jan. 1 issue, detailing his mission trip to Chinchaypucjio, Peru) and 2004 ("Mayan Healing: Mission Trip to Guatemala," May 20 issue).

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Dr. James E. Schantz, a 1986 graduate of the National College of Chiropractic, practices in Roswell, Ga. He received the Chiropractic Award of Excellence for Community Service from Prevention magazine and the Alliance for Chiropractic Progress in 1998, and is a two-time recipient of the Humanitarian of Year Award from the Georgia Chiropractic Association. Contact Dr. Shantz with questions or comments at schantzchiro@earthlink.net . Read more!

As UN Security Council Takes Up Ethiopia-Eritrea at Portugal's Request, Empty Thai Cambodia Talk

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 17 -- Alongside Yemen in this afternoon's Security Council consultations are two other conflicts: Ethiopia and Eritrea, and Thailand - Cambodia.

Portugal requested that the Department of Political Affairs provide the first briefing, based on reports of escalation received from its embassy in Addis Ababa, sources say, and the United States backed Portugal's request.


DPA's Pascoe and Araud,  answers to question not shown

Numerous Council members were dismissive of the UN briefing about Thailand and Cambodia, given no little role the UN has in resolving that conflict. (Some say that UNESCO granting of a unilateral application for heritage status of border temples helped cause the conflict.)
On Monday evening, two Security Council members' political coordinators told Inner City Press that it was Russia, often described a blocking Council meetings, which provided the initial support for Cambodia's request for a formal meeting.

“This is actually bullets across borders, what the Security Council was formed for,” one of them said, contrasting it to recent Council action on Libya, and talks without action on “internal” conflicts in Yemen and Syria.

Another joked that if the Thai - Cambodia conflict were in Africa, the UN would be all over it.

Meanwhile, as the Council ended one of its Tuesday morning sessions, President Gerard Araud as has become his practice refused to take questions. He even read a press statement on Haiti -- only in French -- and refused to take questions on it.

Portugal's Ambassador Cabral consented to speak on camera, about North Korea sanctions. He dodged questions about what he called the “independent” panel.

Inner City Press asked him about reports that one of the experts on the panel, at the behest of the government of his country, was refusing to sign off on the report. “I've heard that,” Cabral said, then maintained again that these sanctions panel members are independent. There are allegations flying all in directions. Watch this site. Read more!

Cambodian residents report threats over railway development

Impoverished Cambodians say they are being forcibly moved out of their houses to make way for the country's redeveloped railway system.

The ABC's Southeast Asia correspondent, Zoe Daniel, says more than 160 families from a community in the capital, Phnom Penh, have been offered a few hundred dollars' compensation for their houses by local authorities.

The residents say the compensation they've been offered isn't enough. Some say they will lose buildings they live and work in, while others are angry that they've been told to move about 20km out of the city.

Residents who don't want to leave say they've been threatened by local officials.

One resident says she was asked to accept the deal by giving a thumb print.

"If I don't, they will bulldoze my house, they will hire [a] drug user to burn my house," she said.

The railway project being is built with funding from the Australian aid agency AusAID and the Asian Development Bank, and that marked buildings within 3.5 metres of the line are scheduled to be partially or fully demolished.

ADB spokesman Peter Bloch has rejected reports of intimidation and threats.

"Resettlement is always a horribly difficult thing to do in this part of the world," he said.

"We have what's known as a safeguards policy, which sets certain minimum standards that must be upheld when resettling people."

But residents, together with NGOs, are preparing a complaint to the ADB's highest level, while Bridges Across Borders Cambodia (BABC), a prominent NGO, is also advocating on residents' behalf.

The organisation's founder, David Pred, says the project bears the characteristics of corporate welfare.

"You have Australian tax dollars and Cambodian debt to the Asian Development Bank bankrolling a project, whose primary beneficiaries thus far have been major Australian and Cambodian corporations," he said.

Failed resettlement
Last year, our correspondent says more than 50 families were relocated to Battambang, a town north-west of Phnom Penh, and that many reported having no power or clean water when they arrived.

Sok Cheun says two of his children drowned when they went to get water from a deep pond nearby.

"If we had enough food, enough water, my children would not have died," he said.

Following the deaths, AusAID and the Asian Development Bank say they increased their monitoring of the government resettlement program.

Power has also reportedly been connected to houses but at the resident's cost, and many of those resettled are understood to have left.

The Asian Development Bank's criteria for resettlement outlines the need for people to be in the same or better circumstances after they are moved.

Mr Pred says BABC believes the large number of families that have left Battambang is an indication that the resettlement process has failed.

"Obviously, if people are not happy to stay here, where they've been moved, then that shows that they weren't resettled adequately," he said.

AusAID declined to comment but has said that relocating people affected by the new rail line is the responsibility of the Cambodian Government.

The new railway is expected to be operational by the end of next year, and is to be run by an Australian firm, Toll Holdings.

Our correspondent says Toll Holdings, which has a 30-year concession to operate Cambodia's train system, has indicated that it is not responsible for either fixing the tracks or moving the people. Read more!

Tiny nation can take rightful place in ASEAN

OUR desire to join ASEAN is a longstanding one and in the past 10 years, we have shown unequivocal determination to join the organisation. Geographically, we are very much part of Southeast Asia. Indonesia has shown statesmanship, vision and a real sense of history by being among those most strongly advocating Timor-Leste's membership.

Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, The Philippines, Cambodia and Burma have expressed public support. When I visited Cambodia a few weeks ago, I was told by Prime Minister Hun Sen that in preparation for Cambodia's chairmanship of ASEAN next year, they are already making additional arrangements to accommodate Timor-Leste as the 11th member. But Singapore, while agreeing with Timor-Leste's ASEAN membership, objects to early membership, arguing the country is not yet ready to deal with the challenges and complexities of ASEAN membership.

According to the just-released UN Development Program Human Development Report, Timor-Leste's Human Development Index value is 0.502, placing it in the medium human development category, ahead of ASEAN members such as Cambodia, Laos and Burma and just behind Vietnam in the overall measure of human development.

School enrolment jumped from a modest 63 per cent in 2006 to 82.7 per cent in 2009. Illiteracy will be eliminated by 2015. Child and infant mortality, as well as post-birth mother mortality, have been halved. Life expectancy at birth increased by more than two years and now averages 62.1 years. Incidences of malaria and dengue fever have decreased significantly in the past four years and poverty has also lessened.

Gross national product per capita increased 228 per cent during the same period to more than $US5000.

Timor-Leste has no foreign debt, and according to The Economist 2010 Pocketbook, it has the highest surplus in the world - over 280 per cent as a percentage of gross domestic product. Our economy has continued to show robust growth for four consecutive years, and Timor-Leste is among the nine fastest-growing economies of the world.

In the past few years, the political situation has been remarkably free of tension. On the security front, Timor-Leste does not have ethnic or religious conflicts, organised crime or armed insurgency. Political and social tensions and, in some instances, sporadic violence have flared up but we have been able to quickly overcome these spasms, which are typical in nation-building. We have rebounded from these periods of crisis even stronger.

The London-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative rates Timor-Leste the best performer in Asia and third in the world in terms of accountability and transparency in the management of our petroleum resources.

In the pursuit of good governance and transparency, and to get rid of the worldwide phenomenon of corruption, parliament has passed the Anti-Corruption Law and we have created an anti-corruption commission. With active support from Indonesia, Australia and the US, we are strengthening our national police, enabling them to better prevent, intercept and fight organised crime. from sex slavery to people-smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering.

We are proud of what we have achieved since 2002. We have a dynamic multi-party democracy with nine parties in the national parliament. Almost 30 per cent of the elected MPs are women, and several women hold key ministerial portfolios.

Timor-Leste stands out with its very liberal and humanist constitution that prohibits the death penalty. We have ratified all major International Human Rights treaties and have complied with our reporting obligations. Timor-Leste, according to Reporters Without Borders, has one of the freest media in the region.

Since our independence, we have made every effort to harmonise our foreign and security policies with those of our ASEAN neighbours. We have been sensitive to our neighbours' views on regional and global issues, always making every effort not to stray from the ASEAN view whenever there is a consensus on a specific country situation or thematic issue. We have friendly and pro-active relations with emerging powers such as China, India, South Africa and Brazil while maintaining special relations with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, the European Union and the US.

In the past decade, we have not had a single diplomatic or security incident involving any neighbour. Relations with Indonesia are exemplary.

In view of Timor-Leste's financial circumstance and its proven ability to engage regionally and internationally, Timor-Leste is ready to join ASEAN this year or next. We concede we have many weaknesses and shortcomings, but ASEAN could admit Timor-Leste now and give us a five- to 10-year transition period, during which we would expand efforts to catch up to the more advanced ASEAN members. This would make sense, in line with past ASEAN practice in relation to other members and with the EU practice of admitting new members and supporting them until they are able to fully meet their obligations.

ASEAN fellow members should not have to worry about any financial costs as Timor-Leste will not beg for economic or financial support.

Jose Ramos-Horta is the President of Timor-Leste. A longer version of this article was published on the East Asia Forum, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/.
Read more!

PM kicks off construction of southern coastal road

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on May 14 issued an order to kick off construction of the Minh Luong-Thu Bay section and the Rach Gia bypass as part of the southern coastal corridor road project in Chau Thanh district, the southern province of Kien Giang.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony, PM Dung emphasised the extremely important significance of the project for Kien Giang province in its development.

As part of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) co-operation programme, the project aims to set up an international road linking important economic zones of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand with other ASEAN countries. It will create conditions for the region’s economic development as well as security and defence, and help reduce poverty for border provinces in southwestern Vietnam.

The 950km-long route, which begins in Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok, runs through Cambodia and finishes in Ca Mau city, will be built at a cost of US$398 million sourced from preferential loans of the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Asian Development Bank; non-refundable aid of the Australian government and reciprocal capital of the Vietnamese government.

Once operational, the road is expected to facilitate travels and goods circulation in the region and open up possibilities for exporting goods to Cambodia through the Ha Tien International Border Gate in Kien Giang province.

Together with the Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong expressway, Can Tho and Rach Mieu Bridges, Southern Hau River and Quan Lo-Phung Hiep routes, the southern coastal corridor route will form an extensive and uninterrupted road system that helps the Mekong Delta take off.

Read more!

Tours & cruises: Cambodia and Vietnam



Vietnam's Mekong Deta ( Jason La/ Los Angeles time)

 By Avital Binshtock
Special to the Los Angeles Times

Pacific Delight’s eight-day Mekong River cruise from Cambodia to Vietnam aboard La Maguerite or Amalotus makes it possible for travelers to visit pagodas, shop Cai Be’s floating market, see a catfish farm and tour small villages as well as important sites and cities. Onboard are dance and musical performances, cultural discussions and themed dinners.

Itinerary: Cambodia: Tonle Sap Lake to Kampong Tralach, Oudong, Chong Koh, Phnom Penh to Vietnam: Tan Chau, Sa Dec, Xeo Quyt, Cai Be and Ho Chi Minh City

Dates: Departures through December

Price: From $1,599 (prices rise later in the year), double occupancy, including lodging, all meals and alcoholic beverages, and guides. The rate does not include international airfare or transfers (which can be purchased from Pacific Delight), taxes or gratuities.

Info: Pacific Delight Tours, New York; (800) 221-7179. Read more!

China, Cambodia new venues for oilmeal exports

India’s deoiled meals would remain in high demand in the overseas markets, as China and Cambodia emerge as the key export destinations for the commodity. According to the details provided by the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), oilmeal exports from India have seen a sharp rise over the past one year, and the trend is expected to continue in the coming months.

According to the SEA estimates, China is now emerging as a key export destination for oilmeals. The neighbouring country is buying large quantities of extractions of rapeseed, soybean and groundnut from India. The total exports from India are expected to be around 500,000 tonnes per annum, valuing over Rs 600 crore.

A SEA delegation, led by its president Sushil Goenka, visited China and Cambodia during April 23 and May 3, with an objective to strengthen the relations with the end users of Indian deoiled meals (extractions). India being a producer of non-genetically modified variety of oilmeal, there were better prospects for overseas demand.

The delegation found China to be a potential market for exports of Indian deoiled meals, particularly for rapeseed. The exports can be doubled in the next three years from the present level of half a million tonne, SEA noted.

In order to promote the export of oilmeals, SEA has decided to participate in various exhibitions being held across China from time to time to create further awareness about Indian oilmeals, as well as create confidence in the minds of the Indian buyers being a serious and regular source of supply for oilmeals.
Read more!

Cambodia to postpone Thai expo slated for next week in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia decided to postpone the Thai expo planned for next week in Phnom Penh, saying it is not the right time to hold such an expo.

"Due to recent restrictions on border trade by Thai military region 2, I am of the opinion that this is not the right time to promote Thai products in Cambodia," Cambodian Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said in a letter to Thai embassy in Phnom Penh on Friday.

Cambodia's decision is a response to the 2nd Thai Army command' s order on Tuesday to halt a further exports of fuel and other products into Cambodia, claiming the Cambodian military may need them to support their troops in operations against Thai forces along the disputed border.

"The export ban will last until the border situation really returns to normal," the Bangkok Post online reported, citing the order letter of the 2nd Army command.

On Wednesday, Thailand announced that it would organize the second largest scale expo of Thai products in Phnom Penh from May 19-22.

"We cannot guarantee the reaction of Cambodian visitors to such exhibitions after Thai's behavior," Cham Prasidh said.

"Therefore, I have issued instructions to the Department of Trade Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce to contact the organizers of the Thai exhibition 2011 to postpone the said event until more favorable time comes," added the minister.

Jiranan Wongmongkol, director of the Thai embassy's Foreign Trade Promotion Office in Phnom Penh, which is the event organizer, said Friday that the embassy has received the letter and agreed to cancel the event.

"We have no choice, we have to postpone the event," she said. "We don't know when it will be re-arranged."

Cambodia and Thailand has border dispute just a week after Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was listed as World Heritage site on July 7, 2008. Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 sq km of scrub next to the temple.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border, and periodic clashes between the two countries' soldiers have resulted in the deaths of troops on both sides.

The latest flare-up occurred from April 22 until May 3 at the 13th century Ta Moan temple and Ta Krabei temple in Oddar Meanchey province, leaving 19 people, on both sides, killed and nearly 100, 000 civilians evacuated for safe shelters.
Read more!

Aid donor battles Cambodia over forced evictions

Poor residents fight eviction in Cambodia's capital, and the World Bank fights the government

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A manmade sand dune looms over Cham Pothisak's tin-roof and plywood shack, left by builders who want to transform the sprawling slum-like neighborhoods on the periphery of Phnom Penh's largest lake into fancy villas and office space.

Cham and his family are among 10,000 people who face eviction because of a questionable deal turning over some of the Cambodian capital's priciest real estate to a company reportedly owned by a close associate of the prime minister.

Their predicament stems in part from a flawed $23.4 million World Bank program that was supposed to prevent such land grabs by strengthening people's title to their land. The problems illustrate how difficult it can be for well-intentioned outsiders to bring about change in developing countries plagued by corruption and entrenched interests.

The dispute over Boeung Kak lake has embarrassed the World Bank and led to an unusually tense standoff with Cambodia's government. The bank issued an ultimatum in March demanding a halt to evictions and higher compensation for landowners. A May 8 deadline has been pushed back to next Monday, though the bank is not likely to act immediately.

The 38-year-old Cham likens the situation to life under the Khmer Rouge, the ultra-Marxist regime that terrorized the country for four years in the late 1970s.

"We're angry but we can't do anything against them," he said. "It's like the Khmer Rouge all over again. We're helpless."

The root of the mess lies with the Khmer Rouge, which outlawed private property in a bid to create an agricultural utopia. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians were killed or died of starvation or disease under its brutal rule and failed polices.

Since the Khmer Rouge was ousted in 1979, the United Nations and other international groups have tried to help rebuild the country and its government institutions, with mixed results. Democracy has struggled; Prime Minister Hun Sen consolidated power in a 1997 coup and has not relinquished it since. A real estate boom has driven land-grabbing by wealthy or politically connected developers to new heights, activists say.

In 2002, the World Bank, the Washington-based institution focused on development and poverty reduction, helped set up the Land Monitoring and Administration Program to build a system of paper titles and central registries. Germany, Canada and Finland helped finance the effort.

When the lands in question were marginal, the system appeared to work. Government surveyors interviewed owners, reviewed documents and issued more than 1.2 million titles, a sign of the program's success, the bank says.

But when business interests wanted land -- for logging, sugar plantations or real estate, for example -- the process actually left some more vulnerable to eviction.

That's because government officials running the program would simply reject claims from poor landowners or deny them the right to appeal, said David Pred, whose organization Bridges Across Borders Cambodia advocates for landowners.

"Meanwhile, the wealthy and well-connected have little difficulty in acquiring land title in high value areas in which poor communities reside due to their connections or their ability to pay the high 'unofficial fees,'" Pred wrote in an email.

A 2006 report done for the German government's aid agency found that 20 percent of households surveyed were refused the right to prove ownership of their property, according a land-use consultant with firsthand knowledge of the report. The consultant spoke on condition of anonymity because the report is not public.

Many landowners around Boeung Kak -- a 330-acre (133-hectare) bowl of sewage-filled water and trash-littered marshes in the shadow of high-rise banks and government ministries -- expected to have a chance to argue their claims after workers began surveying their properties in May 2006.

But in January 2007, authorities surprised residents, activists and foreign donors by refusing to acknowledge any records of the residents' properties, essentially pre-empting any ownership claims.

The next month, the government announced that a company called Shukaku Inc. had acquired the development rights to the lake under a $79 million, government-backed 99-year lease. The land was worth far more, residents say.

Shukaku's chief is widely reported to be Lao Meng Khin, a ruling party senator, reclusive businessman and close associate of Hun Sen.

By August 2008, workers had started pumping sand into the lake, creating berms like the one menacing Cham's house. Torrents of sand and water flooded some homes almost instantly, sometimes in the dead of night. The World Bank and many foreign embassies complained.

In September 2009, the government abruptly canceled the land title program, citing what Hun Sen called "complicated conditions."

Most of the lake is now filled, the sand all but destroying its ecology. More than 2,000 families have already moved. The remaining landowners complain that the compensation being offered is laughable, particularly given skyrocketing real estate values.

Authorities "aren't stupid, they're just corrupt. They just have no conscience," said Tep Vanny, who faces eviction from her house on the lake's east side. "It's a way to keep the people poor, and for them to stay in power."

Neither Shukaku officials nor Lao Meng Khin responded to written requests for interviews.

Government officials, including the Phnom Penh governor and the national government's chief spokesman, either refused to comment or take a reporter's repeated phone calls.

In an internal report released March 8, World Bank inspectors concluded the land title program was flawed in its design, violated bank social and environmental policies and may have made it easier to evict landowners.

The bank also warned that it would reconsider both current and future projects in Cambodia if the government doesn't help resolve the Boeung Kak controversy. Bank President Robert Zoellick took the unusual step of publicly criticizing the government on the day the inspectors' report was released.

Aid experts say the government does not want to be seen as being pushed around by a foreign institution and may be using the fight as a signal to keep other donors in check. For the World Bank, its credibility is at stake if a strong-arm government can ride roughshod over bank policies to protect the poor.

Sia Phearum, head of a Cambodian housing rights organization, said that people in many countries welcome development projects and the hope they bring for better lives -- but not in Cambodia.

"In Cambodia, people who have no land have no hope," he said. Read more!

Cambodia war crimes judge threatens suit against prosecutor

Phnom Penh - A German judge who jointly heads the investigation office at the UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Cambodia has threatened to file contempt-of-court charges against the tribunal's international prosecutor.

The unprecedented development that two senior UN staff might face off within the tribunal's system came days after the prosecutor, Andrew Cayley, said an investigation by Judge Siegfried Blunk's office was deficient.

Blunk did not reply Friday to emailed questions, but the Cambodia Daily quoted him as saying it could 'write any story you like' after he declined to say what lay behind the contempt-of-court charges.

Cayley said Monday that he had reviewed the file prepared by Blunk's team on the third case in the prosecution of leaders of Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge regime and would request the investigating judges do more work on it.

His comments seemed to confirm long-standing rumours that the judges have done little on the case.

Cayley, a British national, told the German Press Agency dpa Tuesday that case three still needed 'a substantial amount' of investigation and called on Blunk's office to notify the suspects they were under investigation and to interview them.

'And [there are] a number of other steps, including investigation of crime sites also originally named by the prosecution in the introductory submission, which haven't been investigated at all,' Cayley said.

Tribunal observers have long feared the investigating judges are trying to shelve the tribunal's third and fourth cases. That would suit the Cambodian government, which has repeatedly said it would not permit those cases to go to trial.

Asked whether the court was indeed trying to bury cases three and four, Blunk responded with a threat.

'The use of the word 'bury' is insolent, for which you are given leave to apologize within two days,' Blunk wrote in an email Tuesday without specifying a penalty.

Blunk's actions come at a critical time for the court as it prepares for its second case against four senior surviving Khmer Rouge leaders this year.

Cases three and four involve five unnamed former Khmer Rouge, who between them are thought to be directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths.

But the investigating judges have refused to make public any details about either case, including which crime sites were under investigation, leading to accusations that they have deliberately excluded victims.

Tribunal monitor Clair Duffy of the Open Society Justice Initiative, which is funded by US billionaire George Soros and monitors the tribunal, said Friday that the case-three investigation had already done substantial damage to the tribunal's reputation.

She said news of possible contempt-of-court proceedings was 'potentially very damaging.'

'The potential message is that those seeking to act independently of political will and to act with integrity in the pursuit of justice will be laying themselves open to criminal sanction,' Duffy said.

In its first case, the tribunal last year convicted the Khmer Rouge's head of security, Comrade Duch, of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

More than 2 million people are thought to have died under the movement's rule of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Read more!

Wichit offers himself as border problem solver

Army veteran seeks seat in House to end clashes
Newspaper section: News

Gen Wichit Yathip, the former deputy army chief, hopes to enter politics so he will have a chance to take part in solving the conflict at the Thai-Cambodian border.

Army on a roll
About 300 soldiers of the 2nd Army carry out an exercise at a military training field in Nakhon Ratchasima’s WangNamKhieo district. Live ammunition was used during the exercise, with six F-16 jet fighters taking part. PRASIT TANGPRASERT


Gen Wichit, who is also a close aide of former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who is known to have close ties with Cambodia, said he is considering what party he will join for the July 3 election.

Last month Gen Chavalit resigned from Pheu Thai party as its chairman.

Gen Wichit, 63, told the Bangkok Post that he was ready to offer himself as a problem-solver in the Thai-Cambodian spat.
He decided to enter politics because he felt deep sorrow about the fighting between Thai and Cambodian troops.

Calling Thais and Cambodians "brothers", Gen Wichit said when Thai and Cambodian soldiers kill each other, the confrontation could escalate into long-lasting "hatred and nationalism".

Gen Wichit said the clashes were the saddest he had faced.

The two countries enjoyed a much better relationship when he served in the army and was assigned to deal with Thai-Cambodian issues, he said.

He would work with any party which appoints him to solve the Thai-Cambodian problem.

"I want to see Thais and Cambodians love each other again," he said.

He had met Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva recently to discuss the conflict over the disputed 4.6-square-kilometre overlapping border area near Preah Vihear temple. He gave Mr Abhisit some recommendations on the issue.

Before clashes broke out in February, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen talked to Gen Wichit and suggested a three-point solution.

They were that both countries should withdraw troops from the area, jointly manage the 4.6-square kilometre overlapping border area, and have Thai and Cambodian monks live together at the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda, which is in the disputed area.

He believes Hun Sun was keeping a close watch on whatever government takes shape after the July 3 election.

"If the Democrats return to power, there will be further fights, but if Pheu Thai heads the government, talks are likely to go more smoothly," Gen Wichit said.

He had recently called Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh and found he was unhappy with Mr Abhisit's approach to dealing with the border conflict.

"We have to understand how Gen Tea Banh might feel, because he has to listen to Hun Sen," he said.
Read more!

Indonesia's peace solution proposal approved by Cambodia: official

JAKARTA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- An Indonesian government official said on Friday that the Cambodian government has approved the peace solution proposed by Indonesia to settle the armed conflict between Thailand and Cambodia.

"Thailand government has yet to approve the package solution. The approval would wait for its cabinet meeting scheduled within the next few days," Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Micahel Tene said here.

Michael added that the package solution was in the recent trilateral meeting between Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia foreign ministers here on May 9, following tough discussions on the issue during the 18th ASEAN Summit recently.

The meeting among foreign ministers of the three countries was mandated by the previous trilateral meeting among President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia in the summit.

As the implementation of the proposal Indonesian Observer Team (IOT) would be deployed in the disputed border area according to a timeline inside the package, monitoring efforts and condition in the fields that favoring to peace solution.

Besides that the quick announcement of the establishment of General Border Committee (GBC) and Thailand's approval on the terms contained in the Terms of Reference (TOR) towards the deployment of IOT was also part of requirement to the package solution.

Thailand and Cambodia agreed that conflict between them be settled in ASEAN-facilitated measures with Indonesia, the ASEAN chair this year.

. Read more!

Laos Plans New Study on Dam Effects

A Cambodian fisherman holds a bag loaded life fishes as his catches from the Mekong River at the out skirt of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, April 19, 2011. Laos has deferred decision on erecting in the first dam on the lower Mekong River in face of strong opposition from neighboring countries including its closest ally, Vietnam.

Laos says it will conduct new research on the environmental effects of a hydropower dam it wants to build on the lower Mekong River, bowing to requests from neighboring nations for more study on the project.

Daovong Phonekeo, the deputy director general of the country's Department of Electricity, said Tuesday the country will hire advisers to do the study, and will ask a Thai construction company that is playing a leading role in the project to fund the study.

He says construction work on the project will be delayed for the study.

The Xayaburi dam will be the first hydropower dam on the lower reaches of the river, although China has built dams on the upper stretches of the river.

Last month, at the Mekong River Commission, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, which the Mekong also flows through, asked for more information on the dam's possible effects on wildlife, fish stocks and farming along the river.

Vietnam has asked that all planned hydropower dams on the river be delayed for 10 years for further study. The commission, which aims to build a regional consensus for sustainable development of the river, does not have the power to block any dam projects.

Laos plans to build a series of dams on the river to generate electricity, which it can sell to other countries. Thailand earlier had agreed to buy 95 percent of the power from the project.

About 60 million people depend on the Mekong directly or indirectly for their livelihoods. Environmental groups, including the WWF, have expressed concern that dams on the Mekong could endanger rare fish and wildlife, and could damage farms along the 4,800-kilometer river.

The WWF on Tuesday urged that international best practices be used in any studies to evaluate the dam's effects.
Read more!

Urgent Measures Needed on Food Prices in Asia, Warns UN

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says food prices in Asia remain high despite a brief drop in April.

A Cambodian man carries rice at a paddy rice farm in Bekpeang village, Kampong Cham province (File photo).

According to the FAO, the retail cost of wheat and rice in Asia declined slightly last month, the first drop in nine months.

The price of rice, Asia’s staple, dropped two percent in Cambodia and Sri Lanka, and about half a percent in Bangladesh, it says. In India, the price of wheat declined seven percent.

The oil factor
But the FAO attributed the fall in food costs to a brief, sharp drop in the price of crude oil.

Despite the price drop in some places, the cost of rice from one year ago is still higher by 29 percent in Bangladesh, 25 percent in China and 40 percent in Vietnam and Laos.

The FAO's representative for the Asia-Pacific region, Hiroyuki Konuma, told reporters Wednesday that food prices across the region remain high and are hurting the poor most.

“So, negative impact of the retail price hike of food commodities, particularly of staple food like rice and wheat, it’s affecting the poor households which spend as much as 70 percent of their income for food,” Konuma said.

World food prices hit a record high in February as the cost of crude oil was driven up by political instability in the Middle East and North Africa.

The price of oil is closely linked to the price of food through transportation and processing costs.

Precautions

Konuma says countries need to take urgent precautions to prevent a repeat of the 2008 food price crisis when costs of some staples doubled in a matter of months. He recommends countries establish social security nets for the poor and emergency food reserves.

“And, improving the availability of food security and market information. This is one of the factors that create unnecessary speculation and also panic buying,” he said.

The FAO expects about a two percent increase in rice production in 2011 but a slight decline in wheat production.
Despite rising prices, Konuma said food production is expected to meet global market demand but is still falling short of the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goal of halving the hunger rate by 2015.

The World Bank says since October rising food prices have pushed more than 40 million people into extreme poverty. Read more!

New species of lizard that has no eyes or legs discovered in Cambodia

A new species of lizard that has no eyes or legs has been discovered by scientists in Cambodia.

The small worm-like creature was found by researcher Neang Thy when he turned over a log in the Cardamom Mountains.

The reptile tried to flee from the sudden light, but Dr Thy noticed its peculiar attributes and swiftly took a photo of it.

It has now been officially identified as a new species and named the Dalai Mountain blind lizard - Dibamus dalaiensis - after the mountain on which it was found.
Dr Thy, who works for conservation charity Fauna and Flora Interational (FFI), said: 'At first I thought it was a common species, but looking closer I realised it was something I didn't recognise.'

These cryptic species of reptile are easily overlooked and previous to this discovery there is no record of a blind lizard in Cambodia. Read more!

PM Abhisit takes border peace one step back with new conditions

By Piyanart Srivalo,
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation


Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva took the Indonesia-brokered peace solution back to square one yesterday as he insisted that Cambodia withdraw its troops "before" a team of observers can be accepted and added an extra condition by requesting that Jakarta dispatch an advance survey team to the border area.

Foreign ministers from Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand met in Jakarta on Monday and agreed to combine all conditions and demands from both sides into one package. However, under the package, all parties must refrain from setting prerequisites before the package is implemented.

"We talk about who must do what in advance before taking the next step. It is a process, not an event-by-event thing," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said.

To be more precise, he said it would happen when Thailand had formally agreed with the terms of reference (TOR) of the team of Indonesian observers, and at the same time Phnom Penh had announced the meeting of the military-run General Border Committee (GBC).

Initially, both sides agreed to the text of the TOR, but Thailand would not officially accept it until Cambodia withdrew its troops from the disputed areas and the Preah Vihear temple. Bangkok wants the troop withdrawal to be discussed by the GBC.

For its part, Cambodia has rejected the condition and is refusing to call the GBC meeting until Thailand formally accepts the team of observers.

In the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Abhisit said he would have the new peace package considered by the Cabinet as well as propose that Indonesia send an advance survey team to the border before the TOR and troop withdrawal is discussed.

Premier's proposal of an advance team is a modification

Abhisit's proposal of an advance team is a modification, because the four-page TOR - a copy of which was seen by The Nation - does not mention any advance teams. The TOR mostly indicates the role of the team of observers and the location where they will be stationed.

The prime minister also said he wanted the conflict in the border areas of Ta Muen Thom and Ta Khwai in Surin province, where a serious military clash broke out in late April, to be included in the peace package.

Cambodia has not put any additional conditions in the package because, as Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told Kyodo News, his government was ready to accept the package, which involves a series of steps to be taken by the two countries under a specific timeline.

Speaking to reporters upon arrival from the Jakarta peace talks, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said there would be no implementation of the peace package until Cambodia withdrew its troops from Preah Vihear and adjacent areas.

Thailand has been consistently calling for the withdrawal of Cambodian troops, because a military presence goes against the spirit of the Hague Convention for the protection of cultural property and the memorandum of understanding signed in 2000 by both countries, he said. Read more!

US-Cambodian Group Prepares Lobbying Effort



US congress, located at Washington DC

 A Cambodian-American advocacy group has begun a lobbying campaign in the US Congress for hundreds of thousands of Cambodians living in the US.

“We will educate the members of Congress about what the Cambodian people are facing,” said Theanvy Kuoch, founder of the National Cambodian American Health Initiative.

Cambodians who survived war and made it to the US are not well understood, she said. “We work together in the United States to meet congressional members and educate them who Cambodians are. If not, they don’t know us.”

About 15 US-Cambodians will talk to lawmakers May 24 and May 25 to discuss issues ranging from diabetes and high blood pressure to mental trauma and psychosomatic conditions, she said.

The group will also organize about 500 Cambodians to hold a candlelight vigil in front of the White House in Washington this fall, she said.

Dani Morton, a grassroots activist from Seattle, Wash., who has worked closely with Theanvy Kuoch, said Cambodians are often heard at the national level.

“There are all kinds of consequences we see in Cambodian communities, which are mainly language and cultural barriers,” she said.

Both Morton and Theanvy Kuoch traveled to Washington last week to join the 32nd anniversary of Refugees International.
Read more!

Cambodians must join to oust Hun Sen



A. Gaffar Peang Meth

 Thirty-two years ago, more than 100,000 Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, smashed Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge guerrillas, took over Phnom Penh, installed a puppet regime in January 1979, and staffed the Hanoi-instituted Cambodian administrations with Vietnamese to oversee the puppet government's activities.

Several thousand Cambodian youths taken in 1954 by the Viet Minh for education, indoctrination and training in Vietnam -- by 1979 in their forties and fifties and fully acculturated in Vietnam -- were brought back to Cambodia.

The puppet government leaders and their Vietnamese masters allowed Vietnamese citizens unrestricted access to live in Cambodia in support of Hanoi's long-term economic and expansionist goals. The immigrants, like the Hanoi-backed Cambodian regime, were illegally installed in Cambodia.

These illegals were integrated into different aspects of Khmer society. There are Vietnamese who speak Khmer and act Cambodian, and many Cambodians who speak and enjoy Vietnamese ways, as this helps get them closer to privileges. An officer of Premier Hun Sen's army told me it's no longer easy to tell who is Vietnamese and who is Cambodian.

Nationally conscious Cambodians hate what has happened in the country, acknowledging their fear that Cambodia and the Khmer race may be subsumed by the country's eastern neighbor. As Cambodian anger mounts, Vietnamese who migrated and have lived in Cambodia since France ruled Indochina, who have families who have lived all their lives in Cambodia, also are threatened by the new arrivals. The "old" Vietnamese know no other place but Cambodia; the "new" Vietnamese are exploiters of Cambodia's resources.

Cambodians called on the Vietnamese to leave Cambodia and for Premier Hun Sen to step down. But the Cambodian-ized Vietnamese are not going anywhere, nor is Hun Sen, elected again and again.

Some Cambodians call for the "reactivation" of the 1991 Paris Peace Accord to restore individual rights, freedom and democracy in Cambodia, and protect her independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The international community's $3 billion U.N.-managed peace initiative never required the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese-propped Heng Samrin/Hun Sen factions to disarm, nor created a politically neutral environment essential for the accords to work. The naïve nationalist KPNLF/KPNLAF and royalist FUNCINPEC/ANS were happy to empty their pockets, in the name of "national reconciliation," with hungry alligators to get closer to the seat of power.

Recall the wide-eyed international community, which thought it could make Cambodia a "success" story, leaving town after the first U.N.-organized elections in 1993.

Today, in the midst of economic crises and world political upheavals, which government would step in to implement the accords?

Hun Sen is now a recipient of so-called Chinese "aid without strings attached" -- no strings so long as Hun Sen agrees to a "one China" policy, deports the Uighurs seeking political asylum and allows unfettered Chinese investment in Cambodia. He and his ruling party can do what they please with the land and national wealth, and thumb their noses at Western financial donors and the U.N.

Frustrated, some bloggers have chided me for not providing a "solution." Actually, they wanted an ABC manual to bring Hun Sen down; ideas and thoughts seem too complicated. Yet, in my column last week, "Stop giving Hun Sen power to rule," I suggested what to do, and not do -- to converge the different efforts by individuals and groups, to disintegrate a dictatorship. A reader emailed to tell me not to "bark" too much and return to Cambodia "to fight" and he will join me. Oh dear.

Last month, an email from a friend from a different continent referenced the necessity to create a "critical mass" in Cambodia to bring a long-lasting change and led me to write on the subject.

Last week, an old Cambodian friend emailed from Phnom Penh to urge continued "fighting" on two main fronts: education and economy. "At least 80 percent of the population (of 14 million) must have at least 10 years of schooling; at least 40 percent of the population must be college graduates, and at least 10 percent must have Ph.D. degrees, ... and the GDP per capita must be at least $10,000," he wrote. Ah, the man of my dreams, I said to myself as I scratched my head. When will we reach that level of education and economic development?

Unless we do, Cambodians have every reason to worry about the disappearance of Cambodia and the Khmer race.

Only last week I quoted statistics by the U.N. Children's Fund that recorded Cambodia's net secondary school enrollment for 2005-2006 at 36 percent for males and 32 percent for females. My questions were: Out of these enrollees, how many actually attend school (which is open only a few hours per day), how many actually graduate from secondary school, how many go on to high school, etc.

So my friend's email made me want to cry to heaven for help. And when I think of the finding that nearly 40 percent of the Cambodian people live under the poverty line of $2 a day -- many live on 50 cents a day -- the suggested $10,000 GDP per capita makes me look for my spiritual balance.

Yet I cannot accept despair. And so I keep on writing and hoping more readers will not remain complacent and will join with others to do something, do many things, which will converge to create a tipping point to cause Hun Sen's government to disintegrate.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com. Read more!

Government, Adhoc To Form Land Investigation Team

Phnom Penh city workers demolish wooden houses in Boeung Kak lake as a man in the water collects his belongings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Jan. 14, 2011.

The government’s human rights committee and Adhoc, a local rights NGO, have agreed to establish a joint working group for investigating land disputes, which have become an increasingly thorny problem nationwide.

Om Yentieng, head of the government’s Human Rights Committee, said the working group will investigate land disputes together and issue a joint report, even if both sides are not in total agreement.

“It does not mean that the working group must have only one voice in a joint report, but that the working group works on the same case,” he said, opening a land dispute workshop in Phnom Penh Tuesday.

Om Yentieng, who is also a senior adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen and the head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, said the working group made for a “concrete step” in addressing the problem of land disputes, where the rural poor are often ousted from their land by powerful business interests.

Findings by the working group would be put forward to the National Authority for Land Dispute Resolution, members of the government and the courts, he said. “But we do not need others to respect our decisions, because our recommendations or points of view are not a verdict. Our decisions are a light.”

Thun Saray, president of Adhoc, which has a vast network of rights workers across the country, told reporters Tuesday that a joint working group would be more productive than to have his group and the government at odds with each other.

“We want to provide the authorities our findings, testimony and recommendations for solving land disputes,” he said, adding that the courts or national land resolution committee would ultimately be responsible for solving any one issue.

Adhoc received more than 200 land dispute cases in 2010, accounting for more than 300 victims.

“We’ll work jointly to find the facts,” he said. “We’ll help to solve some complicated cases. It is good. This cooperation will not silence us from speaking out.”

Yem Ponhearith, lawmaker for the Human Rights Party, called the working group a good step toward resolving land disputes, but its success would depend on both sides’ gathering of the facts.
Read more!

Cambodia rejects Thai temple demands

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong rejected a Thai demand to withdraw troops from an 11th-century Khmer temple at the disputed border, saying Bangkok was not sincere about peace.

'We never can withdraw our troops from our own territory. That should be very clear,' Hor Namhong told reporters on Friday after a meeting in Jakarta with Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa.

The Indonesians are trying to broker a ceasefire and the deployment of neutral military observers to the flashpoint area on the Thai-Cambodia border where some 18 people have died in fighting in recent months.

The issue is likely to be discussed at a summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders in Jakarta starting on Saturday.

Both countries have accused each other of sparking the violence, which centres on territory surrounding the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, the most celebrated example of ancient Khmer architecture outside Cambodia's Angkor.

The World Court ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia but both countries claim ownership of a 4.6 square kilometre surrounding area. The temple was granted UN World Heritage status in 2008.

Cambodia has previously denied it has troops stationed at Preah Vihear itself, although it has soldiers in the contested area.

The neighbours agreed in late February to allow Indonesian observers near Preah Vihear, but Thailand has been dragging its heals on their deployment as fighting continues.

'The problem is the willingness of Thailand to accept the observers or not, that is the real problem,' Hor Namhong said.

Indonesia holds the current chair of ASEAN and has been trying to use its position to broker an end to the hostilities, which are undermining ASEAN's ambitions to create a closely integrated community by 2015.

Natalegawa said Cambodia had agreed to the terms of the observer mission but Thailand was insisting on the withdrawal of Cambodia's troops from the temple.

'We're ready (to send observers) but Thailand is saying that before the deployment of observers can be made, they require the redeployment of Cambodian troops out of the temple,' he said.

'This issue is not governed in the terms of reference. It's outside the terms of reference proper. This is where we are now.'

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a ceasefire and said the neighbours should launch 'serious dialogue' to resolve the dispute, which temporarily displaced about 85,000 people. Read more!

Gen Prawit: Troop withdrawal first

Thai Siamese crocodile Gen. Prawit cried for Khmer Troops to withdraw from Khmer Preah Vihea land.  He forgot that he is living on Khmer land.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has supported Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's demand that Cambodia withdraw its troops from the 4.6 square kilometre disputed area around Preah Vihear before Indonesia sends its observers there.

"The prime minister has spoken clearly about this and the armed forces are of the same opinion," Gen Prawit said on Monday.

"Cambodian soldiers must withdraw from the disputed area before any other steps can be taken."

Gen Prawit said that there should be a meeting of the General Border Committee (GBC) first, to explore ways of enabling Thai and Cambodian troops to both stay in place before an agreed terms of reference is signed to allowed the Indonesian observers into the disputed area.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong were today due to meet in Jakarta to try and find a way out after the two sides remained deadlocked because Cambodia insisted in not withdrawing the troops from the disputed area, which it terms its "own territory", as demanded by Thailand.

Gen Prawit said he hoped the two sides could finally reach a common ground.

A Defence Ministry source said Gen Prawit will attend the Asean Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM) in Indonesia on May 18-21.

He is expected to discuss with Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh preparations for the 8th GBC meeting, even though Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen wants Thailand to allow Indonesian observers into the disputed area before proceeding with bilateral meetings, said the source.
Read more!

PMs' face-to-face meet fails to resolve conflict

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation

PM Abhisit proposed discussing the troop withdrawal in a military-run General Border Committee (GBC) meeting, but Cambodia's Hun Sen disagreed, saying the GBC meet would not be convened before a Thai letter accepting the Indonesian observers' terms of reference had been submitted.

A tripartite meeting called by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to setฌtle the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia yesterday made no progress as the conflicting countries remained extremely indifฌferent.

Indonesia's plan to dispatch its observers to the borderdisputed area adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple has not materialised as Thailand insists it would not sign a letter of acceptance to the Indonesian observers' term of reference (TOR) unless Cambodia withdrew its troops from the Hindu temple and its vicinฌity.

Cambodia rejected the condition- saying it would not withdraw troops from its own territory.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed to discuss the troop withฌdrawal in a militaryrun General Border Committee (GBC) meeting - but his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen disagreed, saying the GBC meetฌing would not be convened before the Thai letter of acceptance to the TOR was formally submitted to Indonesia.

"Once Thailand has signed the TOR, the meeting of the GBC could start immediately," Hun Sen told a press conference on the sideline of the Asean summit.

Seeking a solution

As the issue came into deadlock, Indonesian President Yudhoyono, who is facilitating the peace process, recommended foreign ministers of the two nations stay one more day in Jakarta to work with Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa and seek a solution. The ministers are in Indonesia for an Asean summit meeting which ended yesterday.

The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia came to the attention of Asean following a major clash in February at the Preah Vihear temple. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), as requested by Phnom Penh, entrusted Asean to implement a permanent ceasefire.

The armed conflict extended to other areas near Ta Mouan Thom and Ta Kwai temple in Surin in late April. The latest clash which caused more casualties prompted Cambodia's move to have the International Court of Justice (ICJ) interpret the scope and meaning of the 1962 ruling on the Preah Vihear case.

Prime Minister Abhisit charged Cambodia with igniting the military conflict to internationalise the issue, although the two countries already had many bilateral mechanisms, including the GBC, to settle the conflict.

Abhisit rejected Cambodian preฌmier Hun Sen's accusation of being an obstacle to a peaceful solution, saying it was the government in Phnom Penh that had made the issue more complicated, calling for differฌent solutions to the problem.

Cambodia called for a third party from international organisations to intervene in the Preah Vihear case but was willing to settle the conflict in areas of Ta Mouan bilaterally.

'Two areas, two approaches'

"Prime Minister Hun Sen reiterฌated two areas needing different approaches which I find hard to understand as people along the borฌder areas need equal attention and long lasting solutions," Abhisit said in another press conference.

Thailand's position was consisฌtent in having a longlasting soluฌtion and prevent further conflict, he said.

Hun Sen defended his idea that a third party was needed for the Preah Vihear, as the issue had already been submitted to the UN and the Asean had a UN mandate to participate.

"We necessarily have to respect the role of Asean, we cannot talk together secretly or quietly, he said.

"The acceptance of Indonesian observers had been agreed in the meeting of Asean foreign ministers in February and the TOR has been modified seven times already - and there were no demands for troop withdrawal and no demands for a GBC meeting before the signing of the letter of acceptance," he said.

Abhisit argued that the message of troop withdrawal had been conฌveyed to Indonesia at the beginning, not a new condition, since the presฌence of troops at the temple and in its vicinity is against the spirit of the Hague convention and world herฌitage guidelines.

"Cambodia cannot deny this conฌdition as its request to ICJ also wantฌed to have the withdrawal of Thai troops from the temple. So I find it hard to understand why Cambodia cannot accept there is a need for disฌcussion for both sides to talk about troop withdrawal from sensitive areas," Abhisit said.
Read more!

Thai PM: Cambodian troops must leave border to solve disput

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) — Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday said the border conflict cannot be solved if Cambodian troops remain at the ancient Preah Vihear temple, MCOT Online reported.

“I think the problem lies in Cambodia’s refusal to withdraw its troops from the disputed area around Preah Vihear temple,” Vejjajiva said.

Prime Minister Vejjajiva held talks with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on the sidelines of the two-day summit of 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The one-hour meeting, also attended by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the host of the ASEAN summit, ended without progress, as both ministers are meeting again on Monday.

Prime Minister Vejjajiva said Cambodia’s Hun Sen wants Thailand to sign an agreement allowing Indonesian observers to be posted at the disputed border area before bilateral talks could start. He added that Cambodia wants to ask the International Court of Justice for “temporary protection” of the Preah Vihear temple by demanding the withdrawal of Thai troops.

Both Cambodia and Thailand claim the 4.6 square kilometer area near the ancient Preah Vihear temple on their shared border, which has never been formally established. Cambodia requested Indonesian observers to mediate in the conflict but Thailand denied.

Tensions first escalated between the two countries in July 2008 following the build-up of military forces near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. The United Nations Security Council urged both sides to establish a permanent ceasefire after at least 10 people were killed.

Clashes resumed in February as both nations claim the lands surrounding the ancient Hindu Temple, which has been damaged due to the conflict. The Preah Vihear temple dates back to the 11th century and is located on the Cambodian side of the border.

In 2008, it was inscribed on the World Heritage List in recognition of its outstanding universal value. It is considered an outstanding example of Khmer architecture and consists of a complex of sanctuaries linked by pavements and staircases on an 800-meter-long axis. Read more!

Thailand, Cambodia fail to resolve border dispute

By Kathy Quiano, CNN

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Leaders from Thailand and Cambodia failed to reach an agreement Sunday in a meeting aimed at mediating a longstanding border conflict over an ancient Hindu temple.

No resolution was reached after Indonesia's president led a meeting between the neighboring nations on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

However, the leaders of both countries agreed that their foreign ministers would stay another day for more talks facilitated by Indonesia.

Fighting along the turbulent border has raged since last month. Clashes around the Preah Vihear temple prompted displacement of thousands on both sides and caused at least 20 deaths.

Indonesia, which chairs the summit this year, has been trying to mediate talks between Thailand and Cambodia.

Thailand has refused to agree to a proposal that would send Indonesian observers to the disputed territory, saying Cambodia must first withdraw its troops from the area. Cambodia has rejected that demand, insisting that a team of Indonesian observers needs to be sent to the region.

Both issues are important and should be addressed together, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva told reporters Sunday

"Because, after all, the objective of what we are doing should not be about scoring political points -- thinking that there is some kind of technical victory on one issue and another -- but the ultimate objective must be to achieve lasting peace," he said.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he hopes both countries "can come up with a more comprehensive solution, that's real and more effective. This is what ASEAN supports and what has been agreed upon by both Thailand and Cambodia."

Such security and territorial disputes overshadowed this year's summit, as the Asian leaders highlighted their efforts to achieve economic integration by 2015 and make the bloc more relevant and accessible to the 500 million people who live in its 10 member countries.

The organization also has made food and energy security top priorities. A recent report by the Asian Development Bank says rising international food prices could push 64.4 millions into poverty.

"We all agreed to conduct regional cooperation in facing the threat of food insufficiency and energy security," Yudhoyono said.
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Cambodia police 'beat striking garment workers'

Around 100 police moved in to disperse the mainly female crowd of demonstrators (AFP, Tang Chhin Sothy)


PHNOM PENH — Rights groups in Cambodia accused police of using disproportionate violence on Sunday, alleging they beat protesters at a rally by 2,000 garment workers in the capital.

Around 100 officers, armed with anti-riot shields, electric batons and guns, moved in to disperse the mainly female crowd that had formed a roadblock near Phnom Penh's airport, according to a joint statement by three rights groups.

It said the police fired warning shots into the air, deliberately drove motorbikes into the crowd, arrested two female workers and left another eight women in need of hospital treatment for their injuries.

But Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naruth said just one person was arrested, who is still in custody, and that he had seen just "one or two" of the crowd wounded, while nine of the security force were injured.

"The use of violence by police was totally disproportional to the workers? actions," said Am Sam Ath, monitoring supervisor at the LICADHO, the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights.

"The government should be supporting unions on the issue of expressive rights, rather than systemically cracking down on every form of rights activism," he said.

The statement was also issued by ADHOC, the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association, and CLEC, the Community Legal Education Center.

The workers? dispute stems from the loss of jobs following a fire at a factory on March 30. The owner offered severance pay of $20 per year worked, which workers felt was insufficient, the statement said.

Sunday's action was intended to temporarily block the road to draw the attention of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was scheduled to return from abroad via the airport, to the workers' situation.

"Ordinary Cambodians have no leverage, no voice and no legal recourse in situations like this. They are simply brushed aside," said Moeun Tola, Head of CLEC's labour programme.

"People are increasingly resorting to acts of desperation. Police violence is not the way to resolve the problem."

Naruth insisted police were "trying to help" the people, but said the crowd did not understand and started to throw rocks. "They cannot block the street on which all VIP people are travelling," he said.

Cambodia has come under fire from activists and observers in recent months for stifling free speech and cracking down on opponents after it introduced laws that increase the risk of arrest for voicing dissent.

In a crackdown last month on a Phnom Penh rally against mass evictions, 11 protesters were detained and others were beaten by baton-wielding police, according to rights groups.
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Southeast Asian leaders wade into deadly Thai, Cambodian border dispute

Niniek Karmini, The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Southeast Asian leaders sought to help Thailand and Cambodia end deadly clashes along their disputed border, saying peace and stability were the prerequisite to larger goals of regional economic integration and security.

The two sides agreed to hold talks Sunday — mediated by Indonesia's president — as part of efforts to hammer out a lasting cease-fire.

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But with acrimony high, it was unclear just how much could be accomplished.

Other topics on the agenda of the two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, summit included Myanmar's bid to take over the rotating chair of the 10-member regional grouping, spiraling food and energy prices, and maritime security in the South China Sea.
The main tensions there are over the potentially oil-rich Spratly islands, claimed in whole or in part by China and four ASEAN members — Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam.

The smaller nations, together with the U.S., worry that China may use its military might to seize the area outright or assume de facto control with naval patrols.

That could threaten one of the world's busiest commercial sea lanes.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario raised the need for ASEAN to end a nine-year disagreement with China that has prevented the two sides from completing the guidelines of an accord aimed at preventing armed conflicts over the disputed islands.

The guidelines would allow all five of the countries to pursue joint development projects to ease tensions in the South China Sea region.

The summit that wraps up Sunday is supposed to focus on steps needed to create an integrated regional economic zone by 2015.

But Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said in his opening statement that little can be accomplished without peace and stability between member countries.

To that end, he will host a meeting between the Cambodian and Thai prime ministers to try to end repeated outbreaks of fighting that have claimed nearly 20 lives in the last two weeks and sent 100,000 people fleeing from their homes.

The dispute — allegedly over control of ancient temples claimed by the two nations — has stirred nationalist sentiment on both sides.

But analysts say domestic politics is fanning the fire, especially in Thailand, where the military that staged a coup in 2006 could be posturing ahead of elections expected as early as next month.

Though agreement to accept mediation was a good sign — Thailand has previously said the matter must be resolved directly between it and Cambodia — tensions remain high.

The two sides came up with preconditions Friday for sending Indonesian observers to the border, but Cambodia quickly lambasted a request by Thailand to first remove troops from its own side of the frontier.

"Can you imagine that Cambodia withdraw from their own territory? It's nonsense!" Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters at the summit Saturday.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insisted, however, that his country had no ill intention toward their eastern neighbour.

"We have a number of bilateral mechanisms that are functioning," Vejjajiva said, referring to Cambodia's attempt to seek a settlement through the International Court of Justice.

"This is something that we should talk about ... and prove to the world that as members of ASEAN, this can be resolved."

Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, who heads the military-backed party that overwhelmingly won general elections late last year, was expected to ask for the right, meanwhile, to chair ASEAN in 2014.

Some countries say Myanmar is ready, but others argue that, despite the recent release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the government has not yet done enough to improve human rights.

Myanmar still has more than 2,000 political prisoners.

The regional grouping is supposed to rotate its chair every year between member countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

However, Myanmar was forced to skip its turn in 2005 after coming under heavy pressure from the international community over slow progress on national reconciliation and human rights.

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Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks to the media as Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, left, and others listen after Hun Sen attended a meeting at the 18th ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, May 7, 2011. (AP / Achmad Ibrahim)

The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia agreed to meet with Indonesia's president at a summit of Southeast Asian leaders to try to find a way to end repeated deadly clashes along their disputed border, officials said.

The border issue dominated the mood at the annual meeting that also had Myanmar's bid to become chair of the regional grouping high on the agenda.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened the two-day summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, which is supposed to focus on steps needed to create an integrated regional economic zone by 2015.

But little can be accomplished, he said, without peace and stability between the 10 member countries.

To that end, Yudhoyono will host a meeting between the Cambodian and Thai prime ministers Sunday to try to hammer out a lasting cease-fire to end repeated outbreaks of fighting that have killed more than a dozen people over two weeks and forced nearly 100,000 villagers to flee.

Though agreement by both sides to accept mediation was a good sign -- Thailand has previously said the matter must be resolved directly between it and Cambodia -- it's unclear how much can be accomplished given the acrimony.

The two sides came up with preconditions Friday for sending Indonesian observers to the border, but Cambodia quickly lambasted a request by Thailand to first remove troops from its own side of the frontier.

"Can you imagine that Cambodia withdraw from their own territory? It's nonsense!" Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters at the summit Saturday.

Other security concerns on the table were terrorism following the death of Osama bin Laden and tensions over the potentially oil-rich Spratly islands claimed by China and four ASEAN nations -- a dispute that worries the U.S. as well.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters that during the ministerial meeting, he raised the need for ASEAN to end a nine-year disagreement with China that has prevented both sides from completing the guidelines of a 2002 accord aimed at preventing armed conflicts over the Spratlys.

The guidelines would allow China and other claimant countries -- Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam -- to pursue joint development projects to ease tensions in the South China Sea region.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, who heads the military-backed party that overwhelmingly won general elections late last year, was expected to ask for the right to chair ASEAN in 2014.

Some countries say Myanmar is ready, but others argue that, despite the recent release of pro-democracy leader Ang Sang Suu Kyi, the government has not yet done enough to improve human rights.

Myanmar still has more than 2,000 political prisoners.

The regional grouping is supposed to rotate its chair every year between member countries -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

However, Myanmar was forced to skip its turn in 2005 after coming under heavy pressure from the international community over slow progress on national reconciliation and human rights.
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Thai-Cambodia stoush overshadows ASEAN meeting

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in Indonesia on Saturday under the cloud of conflict on the Thai-Cambodia border and ongoing rights abuses in Myanmar.

Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened the two-day summit in his country's capital, which is expected to focus on long-term efforts to create a closely integrated regional economic zone by 2015.

Other issues expected to be addressed include the scourge of human trafficking in the region, food security, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, and East Timor's membership bid.

But even before the presidents and prime ministers of the disparate 10-nation bloc sat down in Jakarta's cavernous convention centre, their discussions had been framed by negative news from troubled member states.

Burma stole the headlines on Friday when it was announced that the military-led country and serial human rights abuser had asked to chair the group in 2014.

US-based Human Rights Watch said ASEAN, already struggling for credibility, would become the "laughing stock of intergovernmental forums" if it gave the chair to such a pariah state.

ASEAN leaders are also facing mounting pressure to help end a bloody border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia which has claimed 18 lives and temporarily displaced 85,000 people in recent months.

"We realise that to ensure a peaceful and stable East Asia region, we must ensure stability and security in our region," Mr Yudhoyono said in his opening speech.

"If conflict occurs, ASEAN must be capable of facilitating a forum for diplomacy and open dialogue with the intent of attaining common peace."

Until now, conflict resolution has been alien to a trade-focused group that works on a principle of non-interference in members' internal affairs, despite criticism over the years that it is nothing but a talking shop.

Its halting efforts to negotiate an end to the Thai-Cambodian conflict - a move described by ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan as a "great leap forward" -- are being closely watched as a litmus test of its lofty ambitions to create a more integrated regional economic and security community in just four years' time.

Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa met his counterparts from both countries in Jakarta on Friday and said they had agreed to accept 15 Indonesian military observers on each side of the disputed frontier.

But he said the modest observer mission, which would have no power to police a ceasefire, had yet to be dispatched because of disagreements over troop locations.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a ceasefire and said the neighbours should launch "serious dialogue", while backing ASEAN's mediation role. Washington has also said it supports ASEAN's efforts.

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

Burma skipped its turn to chair ASEAN in 2006 due to international pressure for democratic reforms, but only on condition that it could ask to lead the group when it felt it was ready.

The country's president Thein Sein met Mr Yudhoyono - both former generals - in Jakarta on Thursday on what is his first trip abroad as president since he was sworn in on March 30.

Mr Natalegawa confirmed Burma's request would be discussed but suggested that a decision would be deferred until the country's "readiness" for the job could be assessed.

The military-led nation is a constant source of embarrassment for ASEAN's more democratic states, trumping other problem members such as communist Vietnam and Laos, which have significant human rights issues of their own.

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in November shortly after an election, the country's first in 20 years, that led to the handover of power from the military to a nominally civilian government.

Her release was welcomed worldwide, but Western governments which impose sanctions on Burma want the new government to do more to demonstrate its commitment to human rights.

In his opening speech, Yudhoyono warned fellow South East Asian states that rising food and energy prices could drive more people into poverty and urged coordinated action to fight inflation.

"History shows that the rise of food and energy prices... has always caused the increase in the number of people living in poverty," he said.
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