Consolation victory for Myanmar

Substitute Myo Min Tun saved Myanmar's blushes, scoring a later winner to give his side a consolation victory against Cambodia in the AFF Suzuki Cup on Tuesday.

Goals by Moe Win and Yazar Win Thein put Myanmar in control at the Jalak Harupat Stadium in Bandung but Kouch Sokumpheak struck just before half-time and Khim Borey converted a penalty to draw the Cambodians level with 13 minutes left.

But Tun ensured that Myanmar would bow out of the tournament with a win when he fired home a loose ball five minutes from time.

With both sides already eliminated from the competition after losing their first two Group A games against Singapore and Indonesia, there was little at stake and little intensity during a dull first half-hour.

Myanmar had the better of the possession but very nearly fell behind in the 28th minute when Khim Borey turned Moe Win in the box and sent his low shot just wide of the right-hand post.

That scare appeared to rouse Myanmar from their slumber as striker Yan Paing made a quick burst down the left channel and fired a shot across goal that Samreth Seiha got his fingers to.

But Myanmar took the lead from the resulting corner as Yazar Win Thein floated the ball in to Moe Win, whose header from close to the penalty spot looped past goalkeeper Seiha and a defender on the line.

Yan Paing missed a glorious opportunity to extend the lead, sending an unchallenged header wide, but Thein made no mistake in the 35th minute, side-footing home after a low ball by Soe Myat Min was deflected into his path by Tieng Tiny.

It was the 11th goal conceded by Cambodia in three games but to their credit, the Indochinese side battled on and got a goal back five minutes before the break as Kouch Sokumpheak saw his initial shot saved by Htet but made no mistake with the follow-up.

Zaw Lynn Tun was fortunate to only receive a yellow card for pulling down Sokumpheak as he looked to break clear on goal seven minutes into the second half.

But an equaliser arrived in the 77th minute when Cambodia were awarded a penalty after Htet sent Sun Sovannarith sprawling in the box.

Borey maintained his composure to draw the sides level, stroking the ball down the middle as Htet dived to his left.

But with just five minutes remaining, Cambodia failed to clear their lines and Myo Min Tun capitalised to fire home the winner from six yards out. Read more!

Russia cancels 70 percent of debt to Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Russia has agreed to cancel most of Cambodia's $1.5 billion debt owed to Moscow since the 1980s, an official said Tuesday.

The vice chairman of Russian Parliament, Valery A. Yazev, told the Cambodian government during a visit last month that up to 70 percent of the debt was being canceled by Moscow, said Cheam Yeap, the chairman of the Cambodian parliament's finance commission.

Cheam Yeap was replying to questions by lawmakers in parliament during a debate on Cambodia's $1.8 billion national budget for 2009, which was approved Tuesday by the parliament's lower house.

During the 1980s, Cambodia was a close Russian ally and relied heavily on Moscow for weapons, food and infrastructure equipment.

Cambodia is one of the world's poorest countries and is heavily reliant on foreign aid.

Cambodia also owes the US government over $300 million, Cheam Yeap said, adding that most of it was borrowed in the 1970s.

He said Cambodia has asked the US government many times to reduce the debt or cancel it, but there has been no response from Washington.

Deputy Finance Minister Ouk Rabun, also speaking during the budget debate, said Cambodia owed more than $2.3 billion to various countries. This amount does not include the amounts owed to the US and the forgiven Russian debts.

In addition, the International Monetary Fund also canceled last year an $82 million debt owed by Cambodia.

Ouk Rabun said most of the debt, which is in the form of soft loans, was spent on infrastructure and social welfare projects.

"We can't leave those broken roads without repairs," he said.

Cambodia's 2009 budget includes about $400 million to be spent on health, education, agriculture and other social welfare projects. More than $200 million will be spent on national defense and security. - AP Read more!

Cambodian NGOs, officials fight to ban toxic pesticides

PHNOM PENH, Dangerous pesticides pose serious health risks to farmers and consumers, say NGOs and agricultural officials who have rallied for a national ban, national media reported Monday.

Cambodia spends nearly 30 million U.S. dollars on chemical sprays every year, many of which are illegal in the countries where they are manufactured, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

Cheang Sovannrath, a project officer with the nongovernmental group Chemical Spray Reduction and Sustainable Agriculture, said the campaign, which included a march through Phnom Penh, aims to educate consumers about the dangers of chemical sprays and encourage the government to stop importing them.

"I think this campaign can sound an alarm for consumers and authorities to restrict the import of chemical sprays," Cheang Sovannrath said.

Meanwhile, the campaign is supported by the NGO Forum on Cambodia.

"I think if we don't start this kind of campaign now, we will face real danger in the future," said Keam Makarady, research project coordinator for the Cambodia Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC).

Ninety percent of chemical spray users have suffered adverse health effects, with at least 10 percent of these experiencing serious problems, he said.
Read more!

Give the gift of a better world

By CAROL PUCCI

This is the time when I look under my desk where I store some of the oddball travel gadgets sent my way during the year. It’s a reminder that few of us really need a plastic cup holder that hooks to the side of a suitcase, a disposable pillow or a GPS-trackable dog collar.

Here’s a suggestion: If you’re looking for a holiday gift for the globe-trotter on your list, chuck the junk and instead consider a gift that gives back to the people in the countries we visit.

A few ideas:

• Support a banking system that’s not in need of a bailout. Give a gift certificate for a loan through Kiva.org, and let a friend or family member discover how far $25 can stretch.

This past year, I tracked the progress of two women with whom I forged a special connection: Nguyen Thi Nama, with six children and a small business selling groceries in Vietnam, and Diana Beleva, a Bulgarian sock peddler. I loaned them each $25 through Kiva, a San Francisco nonprofit that links third-world entrepreneurs with first-world lenders who pool their money into short-term, interest-free business loans.

My two business partners paid the money back a few months ago, and I recycled the cash into new loans, this time for Phan Ny, a blacksmith in Cambodia, and Joise Yabu, who sells rice and fried eggs at a hotel in Sudan.

Kiva has so far arranged nearly $50 million in loans in 41 countries. Vetted by micro-financing organizations in their home countries, the borrowers pay the money back in monthly installments. Pictures, bios and updates appear on Kiva’s Web site.

The program has become so popular that lenders sometimes outnumber borrowers. The recipient of your gift certificate may have to wait awhile to find an entrepreneur to support, but once the two connect, your gift truly will be one that keeps on giving. See www.kiva.orgfor details.

• Shop for handmade crafts, jewelry, textiles and other gifts at stores and online retailers dedicated to supporting fair wages and decent working conditions for third-world artisans.

Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit trading organization sponsored by the Mennonite Church, sells the work of artists from more than 30 countries.

Far East Handicrafts in Seattle, supplies handmade arts and crafts from artists and cooperatives in Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, where the organization supports medical and educational projects. Gifts under $50 include wind bells, singing bowls and handmade paper products.

Nonprofit Aid to Artisans works with retailers to develop new markets for products that foster artistic traditions and help communities in countries such as India and Mozambique. Check its Web site for a list of retailers that carry its products, or buy online.

Andy and Tammy James opened Market Street Traders after vacationing in Thailand. They bought $500 worth of goods from a remote village after an elder told them that was enough money to send all the village kids to school for a year.

Global Exchange, a San Francisco-based international human-rights organization, operates an online Fair Trade store stocked with items such as hand-woven leaf earrings from Swaziland and laptop sleeves made by a women’s cooperative in Rwanda.

• Buy a gift subscription to a publication that promotes responsible, sustainable travel. When my favorite, Transitions Abroad,, ceased print publication, subscriptions were transferred to a Canadian publication called Verge,. Yearly subscriptions are $25.

International Travel News targets active and armchair travelers with articles and reader advice on budget travel and independent adventuring, much of it aimed at older travelers. This 100-page plus monthly packs hundreds of useful tips into each issue. Travelers do most of the writing. A subscription is $24 or call 800-486-4968.

• Build a school, help protect a forest or send a child to school. Dozens of organizations in the Pacific Northwest support third-world relief efforts. One of my favorites is Friendship with Cambodia of Eugene, Oregon. I traveled to Cambodia a few years ago with its founder, Bhavia Wagner, the author of “Soul Survivors,” a book about women and children who survived the Khmer Rouge.

In the United States, we dream of college educations, houses and good-paying jobs. In Cambodia, villagers dream of raising $15-$20 to buy a bicycle or a few pots and pans to use to start a business that can support a family. You can help.

The economic downturn is taking a toll all over the world, especially in countries that depend on tourism. The U.S. dollar is gaining strength just about everywhere. If you have a job and the money, it’s a good time to start planning a trip. Travel itself is the best gift of all, and, for now at least, it’s on sale. Happy holidays!
Read more!

Evidence of Artemisinin-Resistant Malaria in Western Cambodia

Figure 1. Parasite Density, Parasite-Clearance Time, and 50% Inhibitory Concentration (IC50) among Patients Receiving Artesunate, According to Clinical Outcome.

Panel A shows the parasite-reduction curves for the 56 patients who were cured, the 2 patients classified as having artemisinin-resistant infections, and the 2 with drug failures (i.e., patients who had recrudescence but who were not classified as having artemisinin-resistant infection, since the drug level was inadequate). The data points and horizontal I bars denote the means and standard errors. Panel B shows the parasite-clearance times in the artesunate group, as compared with the IC50 for dihydroartemisinin (R=0.31, P=0.03). Orange circles indicate patients whose infection was classified as artemisinin-resistant, and blue squares patients in whom treatment failed but whose infection was not classified as resistant.

To the Editor: Although artemisinins are potent and rapidly acting antimalarial drugs, their widespread use for treating patients with Plasmodium falciparum malaria raises the question of emerging drug resistance.1,2 Artemisinin monotherapy should not be used in areas where malaria is endemic; it requires an extended administration period and may lead to treatment failure, most frequently because of problems with compliance. Recent reports of high failure rates associated with artemisinin-based combination therapy, as well as in vitro drug-susceptibility data, suggest the possibility of clinical artemisinin resistance along the Thai–Cambodian border.3,4 We studied the potential emergence of artemisinin resistance using in vivo, in vitro, molecular, and pharmacokinetic methods specifically designed to address the question of potential artemisinin resistance.

We randomly assigned, in a ratio of 2:1, 94 adults from Battambang Province presenting with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria (100 to 100,000 parasites per microliter) to receive either high-dose artesunate therapy (4 mg per kilogram of body weight per day, orally, for 7 days) (60 patients) or quinine (30 mg per kilogram per day) plus tetracycline (25 mg per kilogram per day) in a split dose every 8 hours for 7 days (34 patients). The study was approved by ethics review committees in Cambodia and the United States and was conducted from October 2006 through March 2007. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

Patients were admitted for 28 days to rule out reinfection. The clinical outcome was recorded, plasma drug concentrations and in vitro drug susceptibility were measured, and molecular assays were performed to investigate genetic resistance markers and to rule out reinfection. Only patients who met all the following criteria were classified as having artemisinin-resistant infection: persistence of parasites 7 days after the start of treatment or reemergence of parasites within 28 days after the start of treatment; adequate plasma concentrations of dihydroartemisinin, a major artemisinin metabolite; prolonged time to parasite clearance; and reduced in vitro susceptibility to dihydroartemisinin.5

Four of the 60 patients who received artesunate had reemergence of parasitemia between days 21 and 28 after the start of treatment (with a Kaplan–Meier probability estimate for cure at day 28 of 93.6%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 84.7 to 97.7); 2 of these patients (3.3%) were classified as having artemisinin-resistant infection, according to the criteria listed above (Figure 1A). These two patients had parasite-clearance times that were prolonged (133 and 95 hours, as compared with a median of 52.2 hours for patients who were cured), and the plasma drug concentrations after the first dose were classified as adequate (greater than the mean for the cured patients minus 1 SD) (see the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at www.nejm.org). For these subjects, the 50% inhibitory concentrations for dihydroartemisinin were up to 4 times the geometric mean for cured patients and almost 10 times that for the reference clone W2. In the artesunate group, 47.9% (95% CI, 36.1 to 60.0) of the patients still had parasitemia 48 hours after the start of treatment, as did 21.9% (95% CI, 13.1 to 33.1) 72 hours after the start of treatment. Clinical and in vitro data suggest that artemisinin resistance may be more accurately portrayed as the long tail of a single distribution than as the result of a sudden change in sensitivity (Figure 1B). Resistance did not appear to be mediated by the number of copies of the P. falciparum multidrug resistance gene pfmdr1 or selected PfATPase6 polymorphisms tested in this study.

The high overall treatment efficacy seen in patients treated with artesunate indicates that relatively few parasite isolates have crossed the threshold of artemisinin resistance as defined in our study. Artemisinin resistance does not seem to be a widespread epidemiologic phenomenon at this time. The prolonged parasite-clearance times and the two cases meeting our definition of artesunate resistance are nonetheless a concern.

Harald Noedl, M.D., Ph.D.
Medical University of Vienna
A-1090 Vienna, Austria
harald.noedl@meduniwien.ac.at

Youry Se, M.D.
Kurt Schaecher, Ph.D.
Bryan L. Smith, M.D.
Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences
Bangkok 10400, Thailand

Duong Socheat, M.D.
National Center for Parasitology, Entomology, and Malaria Control
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Mark M. Fukuda, M.D.
Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences
Bangkok 10400, Thailand

for the Artemisinin Resistance in Cambodia 1 (ARC1) Study Consortium

Supported by the U.S. Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections System Program. The opinions or assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.

This letter (10.1056/NEJMc0805011) was published at www.nejm.org on December 8, 2008. It will appear in the December 11 issue of the Journal.

References

Duffy PE, Sibley CH. Are we losing artemisinin combination therapy already? Lancet 2005;366:1908-1909.

Krishna S, Bustamante L, Haynes RK, Staines HM. Artemisinins: their growing importance in medicine. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2008;29:520-527.

Jambou R, Legrand E, Niang M, et al. Resistance of Plasmodium falciparum field isolates to in-vitro artemether and point mutations of the SERCA-type PfATPase6. Lancet 2005;366:1960-1963. [CrossRef][Medline]

Vijaykadga S, Rojanawatsirivej C, Cholpol S, Phoungmanee D, Nakavej A, Wongsrichanalai C. In vivo sensitivity monitoring of mefloquine monotherapy and artesunate-mefloquine combinations for the treatment of uncomplicated falciparum malaria in Thailand in 2003. Trop Med Int Health 2006;11:211-219. [ISI][Medline]

Noedl H. Artemisinin resistance: how can we find it? Trends Parasitol 2005;21:404-405.
[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]

Read more!

Cambodia cuts military budget after IMF concern

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia's government has slashed its proposed military budget for 2009 after the International Monetary Fund questioned the big increase it had announced, officials said on Monday.

In a parliamentary debate on next year's budget, the government proposed military spending of just $160 million for next year, way below the $500 million it had earmarked earlier after a border clash with Thailand in October.

"Before, we planned to divert resources to defence and security, but once we announced the plan, there was some criticism from donors," said Cheam Yeap, head of the National Assembly's finance commission.

"We don't want donors to get nervous about spending in the field so we decided to reduce it," Yeap told Reuters.

The IMF expressed concern about the big increase in military spending at a meeting of international aid donors in Phnom Penh last week.

Cambodia's opposition has also worried about the government's plan to spend more on the military at a time when donors such as the World Bank are contributing millions of dollars to help demobilise troops and slim down the country's bloated army.

The budget for military spending in 2008 is $108 million. Total spending on security, including the police force, is around $250 million.

Officials said the proposed increase in military spending next year would go towards better pay and welfare in the army, not weapons.

Cambodia's total budget for next year is now likely to be around $1.4 billion rather than the $1.8 billion proposed earlier.

Read more!

Former Cambodian monarch says his health is deteriorating

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's former king Norodom Sihanouk said his health was deteriorating and hinted that he did not have long to live, in a letter seen on his website Monday.
The 86-year-old, who left for Beijing in July for his annual medical treatment, wrote in a message titled "The deterioration of the state of my health" that his "eminent Chinese doctors" had told his wife, former queen Monineath, that he should be hospitalised in case of emergency.

"My important and respected Chinese friends dare not speak about my death (from old age) in the not so distant future. But I told them I would prefer to die in 'my' residence instead of a hospital, where I have very comfortable apartments," Sihanouk said.

In the message, dated December 1 but only posted recently on his website, the former monarch added that doctors had increased their examinations from once a week to many times a week, and sometimes twice a day.

Sihanouk has suffered from a number of ailments, including cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

Despite giving up his role as monarch, he remains a prominent figure in Cambodia who often uses messages to weigh in on matters affecting the country.
Read more!

Fair Trade Fairs Fare Well For Shoppers

Jill Kimball's love affair with Southeast Asia blossomed seven years ago, when adopting her daughter Jayne brought her in touch with the Cambodian people, art, and culture. Along with her new baby girl - her real treasure, she brought home gorgeous handwoven silk scarves, handmade jewelry and crafts fashioned from recycled materials that most of us would consider trash. Jill was so impressed with what the indigenous artisans' cooperatives could produce. "In these poor, rural communities, there is absolutely no waste," she says.

She and her friend Kathy Mahoney, both Montclair Moms, were game to start a business supporting fair trade artisans, and import their beautiful handicrafts to the US market. Lotus Jayne was born three years ago, and we first wrote about them when we noticed their Bombshell Bracelets made from 155mm artillery shells. Now, Lotus Jayne is present at nearly all of Baristaville's fair trade fairs and markets.

Annual buying trips include visits to remote villages reached by paddling over rice paddies, have enriched their inventory with items from India and Thailand hand-crocheted purses, jewelry, and silk clothing, both casual and chic. You'll find silver jewelry made by the Karen Hill Tribe in Thailand, new pendants made by artisan friends in Phnom Penh, and custom designed handwarmers (unknown to the artisans) and scarves made by women from the Godavari Delta of India.

Lotus Jayne's merchandise is amazingly affordable. Check their website, there's nothing listed over $50. Here's where you'll find Lotus Jayne this month.

Sunday, Dec. 7 & Dec. 14, 11am-1pm
Union Congregational Church Holiday Alternative Gift Fair
176 Cooper Avenue, Montclair, NJ

Thursday, December 11, 3pm-9pm
Montclair Coop School's Huge Winter Wonderland Holiday Shopping Fair
Includes Cafe and Children's Area
65 Chestnut Street, Montclair, NJ

Sunday, December 14, 10:30am-1pm
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Montclair
Fair Trade Holiday Fair
67 Church Street, Montclair, NJ

Wednesday, December 17, 5pm-8pm
Chalk Farm
Holiday Shopping, Wine & Cheese
182 Glenridge Avenue, Montclair, NJ

They are also available by appointment. For more info, visit their website or call
Katie Mahoney 973-744-7576, Jill Kimball 973-744-7802.
Email: info@lotusjayne.com

Jill's comments about the photos:
Manager
This intelligent, beautiful woman manages the work brought to the village by Somphen.

Old Woman Spins
Old woman spins silk onto spools made of pieces of pvc pipe. When we asked her (by translator) why she didn't wear her glasses to see the almost transparent fibers of organza, she answered "I only wear my glasses for TV!" The village has a little black and white TV run by a moto battery powered by a small generator.

Silk by Hand
Silk ready to be wound onto spools. This home is so clean and neat.

Village Farewell
Goodbye! Leaving the village, everyone accompanies us to the riverbank. Read more!

Cambodia And Human Trafficking

On December 7th, performing artists, human rights activists, non-governmental organizations, and officials of the Royal Cambodian government will gather at Angkor Wat to focus world attention on the scourge of human trafficking.

A rock concert will be held at Angkor Wat, December 7th, in cooperation with MTV EXIT [End Exploitation and Trafficking], a project of the MTV Europe Foundation. This London-based charity is working to increase awareness and prevention of human trafficking exploitation. MTV EXIT in Asia is produced in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development.

British and a number of international artists will perform along with some of Cambodia's biggest recording artists, including Pou Khliang. The Angkor Wat show is part of an exciting nation-wide concert tour that began November 22nd at Ochheuteal Beach in Sihanoukville. The final concert, featuring Cambodian pop star Preap Sovath, will be held at Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh on December 12 in recognition of Cambodia's National Day to Combat Human Trafficking.

"We are incredibly proud to perform at this important concert," said one band member. "We hope that through our music and involvement in this event and the MTV EXIT campaign that millions of people learn about this tragic form of slavery." The concert tour will provide content for a series of television programmes produced by MTV EXIT to be broadcast in Cambodia and on MTV channels internationally. These specials will combine concert footage with important information about human trafficking.

Public awareness is just one component of a larger global effort to prevent human trafficking. In its annual report on human trafficking, the U.S. State Department notes that the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and expunging corruption, are critical to the fight against trafficking. Estimates suggest that some 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders annually, with up to 80 percent of the victims being female and up to 50 percent being children. These figures do not include millions who are trafficked for purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation within national borders as well.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it is important for "responsible nations across the globe to stand together, to speak with one voice, and to say that freedom and security are non-negotiable demands of human dignity." Read more!

Tourist dies in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH - A GERMAN tourist has died in Cambodia's north-east after falling off a veranda and refusing hospital treatment, police said on Saturday.

Eye-witnesses told police that 65-year-old Klaus Dieter Rubloff had been waiting for a bus on a riverside veranda in Kratie province on Thursday when he fell three metres to the ground.

He was taken to the nearby provincial hospital with head and hand injuries but refused to stay there, wanting to travel instead to the capital Phnom Penh.

He was found dead the next morning at the guesthouse where he was staying.

'The tourist accidentally fell off the balcony. After he was sent to the hospital, he refused requests by the doctor and his two foreign friends to stay in the hospital,' said provincial police chief Chuong Seang Hak.

'His death was caused by the accident and his refusal to be hospitalised here,' he said. -- AFP


Read more!

Concert to benefit school in Cambodia

By Ron Cassie

A benefit concert planned for later this month traces its genesis back three and a half years, to a meeting between a Frederick couple and a former Cambodian refugee.

During a vacation to Vietnam and Cambodia in February 2005, Ted and Bonnie Nieman were overwhelmed by the poverty in rural Cambodian towns. When they returned to Frederick County, they began raising money to build wells for clean drinking water in the villages neighboring their hotel -- work they continue to this day.

Sensavon Bennici, who as a child escaped Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s with her family, read about their efforts in The Frederick News-Post in April 2005 and contacted the Niemans. The Niemans and Bennicis, including Sensavon, her husband Frank and four children, Maria, Anthony, Matthew, and Charles, have been friends ever since.

Now Maria, a senior at Walkersville High School, has organized a concert to benefit the Niemans' latest Cambodian project, a new school for 120 children in a rural village about 30 miles outside Siem Reap (population 10,000).

"I have had this idea since the end of my sophomore year," said Bennici, a classical pianist. "This summer I really got thinking about it, and in July and August I began talking to some of my friends about it. At the beginning of the school year I talked to our principal, David Kehne, and he was supportive. Everyone at the school has been very supportive, taking the time to deal all my questions and make I was doing everything I needed to do."

Bennici named the concert "Harmony for Hope."

Fifteen Walkersville students, including Maria and her brothers, will play. Anthony, 15 and a sophomore at Walkersville, will play classical guitar, and Matthew, 8, and Charles, 7, will both play piano concertos. Maria will perform a duet with each sibling.

"I thought that would be cute," she said.

The first half of the program will be classical. After intermission, the second half will feature more contemporary music.

"Jason Mraz, Train, things like that," Bennici said. "That way everyone in the audience will have a particular favorite."

Admission is free. Donations toward Cambodiawecare.org, the Niemans' nonprofit group, and the new school will be accepted. Bennici said she plans to have Ted Nieman give a brief talk about both before the concert.

Since 2005, the Niemans have raised money to install an estimated 1,000 wells and helped local Buddhist monks construct and launch a sewing center for impoverished women, Ted Nieman said. They have raised $6,000 toward the $30,000 for the new elementary school in Pouk.

About 120 first- and second-graders now squeeze into a single-room schoolhouse. Their two teachers' salaries are subsidized by Cambodiawecare.org. Donated school books and supplies are delivered regularly.

"The kids push and shove each other for a new No. 2 pencil," said Nieman, who with his wife has traveled back to Cambodia five times since their first trip. "They are so eager to learn."

One hope is that eventually the school will be expanded to include third- and fourth-grade classes.

"I was raised to make education a priority and it's very important to me, personally," said Bennici, who is considering Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon and NYU, among other colleges.

"I think the whole world should have access to quality education, and I think what the Niemans are doing is inspiring. It shows you don't have to be Angelina Jolie to make a difference. You can start your own organization or make a contribution to one right here."

Read more!

Cambodia Considers Allowing Foreign Ownership of Property

Cambodia real estate values are in freefall, and officials may soon allow foreigners to purchase buildings, though foreign ownership of land is still out of the question. For more information, read the following article from Global Property Guide:

Cambodia’s housing market is plummeting, and the government is considering a new law to allow foreigners to own buildings.

In 2005, the government amended an investment law to allow foreign ownership of buildings. However Cambodia’s property market was then experiencing one of the biggest booms in Asia. As a result, the law was never implemented and the idea floundered.

The boom saw prices surge 25 percent to 40 percent annually from 2004 to 2007. Land price increases were at first confined to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, but the boom spread right across Cambodia. Other hot spots have been the border areas with Vietnam and Thailand and, to a lesser extent, Laos.

The capital’s most sought after locations fetched US$500 per square metre in 2000, but were sold at around US$4,000 or more per square metre along Norodom Boulevard, and US$2,500 per square metre in the central residential neighbourhood of Boeung Keng Kang (BKK).

A downturn started in July 2007 after the government announced new investment guidelines for developers.

Then in mid-2008, the bubble burst. The global financial crisis had hit Cambodia’s biggest investor, South Korea, and Korean investors began pulling out foreign assets to increase liquidity.

Real estate sales plummeted 30 percent to 50 percent from a year earlier.

To prevent the market from sliding further, the government is considering moves to allow foreigners to fully own buildings. Land ownership is still out of the question.

The housing boom

Cambodia has just witnessed one of the biggest real estate booms in Asia.

The reasons are obvious, as soon as you visit Cambodia. Phnom Penh is an attractive colonial city, with broad avenues, charming housing, a hip and young atmosphere, and a riverfront view. Siem Riep, which houses Angkor Wat, is even more charming, and has a cooler, more agreeable climate. There are agreeable beachfronts at Sihanoukville.

Cambodia is in a strategic position in the centre of IndoChina. Prices are laughably inexpensive (from a foreign perspective) and economic growth is exploding. The combination is hard to argue with.

Rentals are far higher than in days when Phnom Penh was a sleepy outpost where the only foreigners worked for aid organizations. In BKK I, according to a report in the Bangkok Post dated March 2008, a spacious, four-bedroom apartment with gym, swimming pool, parking and 24-hour security is on the market for US$3,000 a month. Nearby, the owners of a two-story, four-bedroom villa are looking for US$5,000 per month.

Phnom Penh has, as a result, experienced a construction boom. The government is aggressively pro-development, and squatters and other eyesores are simply cleared away, by a government which is in league with wealthy developers.

Part of the charm may be about to be lost as Phnom Penh succumbs to development. A 42-story US$250 million twin condominium, twice as high as Phnom Penh’s current tallest building, is being built in the most conspicuous position possible—at a busy corner leading to the city's Independence Monument. Residential units in the ‘Gold Tower 42’ project, which will not be completed till 2011, range from US$459,000 to US$1,500,000, according to developer Yon Woo Cambodia Co. Around 70 percent of the buyers are Cambodian. Around 40 percent of the sales have gone to speculative investors.

World City Co. Ltd., a South Korean company, is investing US$2 billion to build a satellite city called Camko City on a 120-hectare (300-acre) in northwest Phnom Penh. The single biggest foreign direct investment in to date, Camko City will include residential units, villas, condominiums, commercial and public facilities, trade and financial centres, office buildings, shopping centres, hotels, schools and hospitals. The project will include about 500 apartments with price tags ranging from US$112,000 to US$1.8 million a unit. Construction will take 3 1/2 years to complete. Nearly half of the units have already been sold.

Land values in Siem Reap have risen 25 percent to 30 percent every year for the last four years at least. The average price of land per square metre is now around the US$500 to US$600 mark. But premium land in downtown tourism districts is around US$1,600 per square metre.

Housing mortgages

Mortgage finance is now available in Cambodia. Acleda Bank entered the home lending market in January 2007; by March 1 2008 Acleda’s home loan portfolio was worth about $40 million. To get around foreclosure risk, given the corrupt legal system, Acleda keeps the title to the property until the loan is repaid.

ANZ also offers 15-year installment loans, allowing customers to borrow up to 60 percent of the home purchase price at variable interest rates, lending against registered titles.

Foreign-ownership schemes

Foreign individuals cannot buy real estate in Cambodia directly. But land can be held by foreigners on long (renewable) leases and through majority locally-owned companies incorporated in Cambodia. This company structure is the safest for a foreigner wishing to buy land. It is not totally bullet-proof, but in practice it works.

Foreigners typically take two Cambodian nationals as partners in the land-holding company, with the 51 percent share allocated so that the foreigner is the biggest single partner. Other safeguards include

Creating different classes of shares, giving the foreigner more rights;
Minority control documents;
A mortgage on the land, stipulating that the land cannot be transferred without the consent of the foreigner.

Leases up to 99 years are another common acceptable structure—the magnificent Raffles Hotel le Royal in Phnom Penh, for instance, is held on a simple lease. Read more!

CAMBODIA: Children miss out on school because of corruption

PHNOM PENH, When Sok Sopheap could not pay his daily bribe, his secondary school teacher refused to let him attend class.

The teacher demanded he stand for an hour by the door until the class finished.

"It was humiliating, but it happens a lot to students," said the 19-year-old son of a food vendor, graduating years late because of what he calls "high corruption fees".

"We have to pay unfairly for almost everything at school," he complained, including exams, tests and even class time.

"I don't think the problem is getting better," he said. "Young people in Cambodia have lived with this all our lives and no one has done much to stop it."

Chronic poverty

"New teachers often face a many-month delay before they receive their salaries," David Coleman, education chief of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) for Cambodia, told IRIN. "Teachers sometimes supplement their income with a second job. This can affect their own attendance at school, and can put pressure on the amount of time they have to prepare their lessons."

Teachers' salaries start from US$50 a month, even less than garment factory workers earn, Coleman added.

High oil and gas costs, which have only fallen slightly since their summer peak, despite a global price plummet, could be adding to teachers' salary woes, said Soprach, a primary school teacher in the capital, Phnom Penh.

"The price I pay for gas every month is almost the same as my salary," Soprach told IRIN. "How am I supposed to survive and feed my family without charging extra?"

Daily fees of 700 riel (20 cents) do little to drain students of money while keeping his own family afloat with $200 a month, he added.

Yet others think the tiny costs add up in significant ways, unfairly forcing poorer students out of school.

A 2007 report by the Cambodian NGO Education Partnership (NEP)
reveals education costs for each child averaged $108 annually, or 9 percent of each family's annual income.

The inability to pay informal fees was the most common reason parents gave for their children dropping out, the report stated.

"When you include informal and formal school costs, and private classes and snacks, many students are paying $2.50 every day," Leng Theavy, education and capacity-building officer for the NGO Education Partnership (NEP), told IRIN.

"That money is a lot because many Cambodians don't make more than $60 a month. In the survey we found the informal fees to be small, but we think the numbers could be much higher now," she added.

The study also noted that a quarter of parents were unaware that their children were entitled to a free education, a legal right.

Informal fees are prevalent in Phnom Penh, not in the countryside, the report said, though Theavy said corruption still happened in the provinces.

"Some teachers in the countryside take large fees too, and often the communes receive documented complaints from parents," she said.

Tackling corruption

As part of Cambodia's Education Strategic Plan for 2006 to 2010, the Ministry of Education is seeking ways to improve efficiencies to reduce informal fees.

The establishment of a Teacher Professional Code, ensuring on-time payments and raising teacher salaries are priorities.

However, Theavy said government had only limited options.

"The situation is out of the control of the Ministry [of Education] even though they circulated a ban on informal payments," she told IRIN. "Teachers commit this on their own."

Corruption overall is one of Cambodia's most pressing issues, with anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International scoring the country the 14th most corrupt in the world in its 2008 index, and the third most corrupt country in the Asia-Pacific region.
Read more!

Global Draw and Elixir Gaming form Strategic Alliance for Placement of Server-Based Gaming Machines in Asia

NEW YORK, SGMS wholly-owned subsidiary, The Global Draw Ltd. ("Global Draw") and Elixir Gaming Technologies (EGT:elixir gaming technologies) announced today they have formed a strategic alliance to address new opportunities in the high-potential gaming market of Cambodia through placements of Global Draw's popular server-based gaming machines at Elixir Gaming sourced venues. Pursuant to this agreement, gaming machines from Global Draw will be placed at venues on a revenue share basis and Global Draw and Elixir Gaming will share in the net win of the machines placed into operation. It is expected that Global Draw and Elixir Gaming will enter into a similar arrangement for the Philippines in the first quarter of 2009.

The first placement of Global Draw machines under this new agreement of approximately 65 Silverball networked gaming machines will be placed in casinos and licensed gaming halls in popular visitor destinations in Cambodia, as sourced by Elixir Gaming, during the first quarter of calendar 2009. In addition to securing new locations for the placement of Global Draw products, Elixir Gaming will provide ongoing marketing and technical support of the installed units.

Global Draw first introduced server-based gaming to the British betting market in the late nineties and has over 13,000 of its popular Silverball and Nevada terminals operating worldwide.

Neil Moir, Director of International Business Development for Global Draw, said: "This new alliance with Elixir Gaming aligns us with the perfect strategic partner to immediately access the South East Asian gaming market, which is the fastest growing gaming market in the world and represents another significant milestone in Global Draw's ability to expand our presence beyond our core market in the UK. Global Draw's unique downloadable, server-based games and services are applicable to all global markets as they allow us to work closely with our customers to increase machine income by making constant changes to our content. We are very pleased to leverage the benefits of Global Draw's unique products with the expertise Elixir Gaming has quickly developed in addressing the Cambodian market through their strong market presence and expanding relationships with venue owners. We expect our exciting level of content and increasing the level of security and flexibility offered by our products will provide immediate benefits to venue owners and their players in these rapidly growing markets."

Elixir Gaming is a leading supplier of technology gaming solutions in its key markets in Asia. Through its growing installation base of over 1,200 electronic gaming machines which are leased to its customers on a participation basis, local market relationships, and operational expertise, Elixir Gaming has established a meaningful presence in the high-potential gaming markets of the Philippines and Cambodia.

Clarence Chung, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Elixir Gaming, said: "We are delighted to be working with a company like Scientific Games, and its subsidiary Global Draw, which share our passion for delivering excellence in terms of cutting edge games, technology, and customer service. This agreement provides us with opportunities to ramp up our installed base with value-added networked gaming machines that complement our existing operating units. Importantly, this new alliance is another indication of the progress we are making with initiatives to improve our operating performance as we believe the entertainment value of Global Draw's products will help to deliver incremental net revenues to Elixir Gaming while allowing us to preserve capital for execution on additional growth initiatives."

About Scientific Games

Scientific Games Corporation is the leading integrated supplier of instant tickets, systems and services to lotteries worldwide, a leading supplier of server based gaming machines and systems, Amusement and Skill with Prize betting terminals, interactive sports betting terminals and systems, and wagering systems and services to pari-mutuel operators. It is also a licensed pari-mutuel gaming operator in Connecticut, Maine and the Netherlands and is a leading supplier of prepaid phone cards to telephone companies. Scientific Games' customers are in the United States and more than 60 other countries. For more information about Scientific Games, please visit www.scientificgames.com.

Company Contact:
Investor Relations
Scientific Games
212-754-2233


About Elixir Gaming Technologies, Inc.

Elixir Gaming Technologies, Inc. is a provider of gaming technology solutions. The Company secures long-term contracts to provide comprehensive turn-key solutions to 3, 4, and 5 star hotels and other well-located venues throughout Asia that seek to offer casino gaming products. The Company retains ownership of the gaming machines and systems and receives recurring daily fees that average in excess of 20% of the net gaming win per machine and provides on-site maintenance. The Company has established a strategic presence in the Asia Pacific region with a focus on the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam markets. For more information please visit www.elixirgaming.com.

Company Contact:
Traci Mangini
SVP, Corporate Finance
702-617-4741


Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release which are not historical facts constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those forward-looking statements include statements regarding the expectations for the business relationship between Global Draw and Elixir Gaming including the placement of games and recurring revenue that may develop from the relationship between the two companies. These statements, including those relating to timing of contracts, renewals or other events, business plans and performance objectives, are based upon management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates and are not guarantees of future results or performance. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in these statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors, including, among other things: that Global Draw and Elixir Gaming may not realize the expected benefits of the game placements, risks related to Elixir Gaming's inability to place gaming machines at significant levels or at all and risks relating to Elixir Gaming's ability to place games that generate the expected amount of net-win; competition; material adverse changes in economic and industry conditions in our markets; technological change; protection of intellectual property; security and integrity of software and systems; laws and government regulation, including those relating to gaming licenses, permits and operations; seasonality; dependence on suppliers and manufacturers; factors associated with foreign operations; failure to retain, renew or perform on contracts; resolution of pending or future litigation; and other factors described from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and except for our ongoing obligations under the U.S. federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Read more!

Cambodia promised aid worth nearly $1 bln for 2009

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia has been promised aid worth $951.5 million for next year -- the most since 1994 -- with pledges linked to the country implementing reforms and fighting graft, the finance minister said on Friday.

Speaking at a news conference after a donors' meeting, Keat Chhon said China was Cambodia's biggest aid donor, with $257 million, followed by the European Union with $214 million, and Japan with $112 million.

"China is more than just a good rich neighbor ... China knows what Cambodia needs," he told reporters, saying Beijing's aid was unconditional, unlike assistance from the rest of the donors.

At the conference, other donors urged Cambodia to approve a long overdue anti-corruption law which they said was essential for private sector investment.

"Passing the law will be an important signal, providing investors and development partners with confidence to make more long-term commitments in Cambodia," said Qimiao Fan, the newly appointed World Bank country manager for Cambodia.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also expressed reservations about the government's plan to double spending on the military next year to $500 million after a border clash with Thailand earlier this year.

Finance Minister Keat Chhon said the spending increase was for pay and social welfare rather than arms and equipment. (Reporting by Ek Madra; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Read more!

Milton students to attend school dedication in Cambodia

It is a foreign school they 'built"

By Wayne Laepple

MILTON -- At 2:45 this morning, eight students, six teachers and chaperones were climbing aboard a bus to begin an epic journey, the culmination of their yearlong quest to build a school in Cambodia.

By airplane, boat and bus, their trip will take them to a tiny village called Mean in Kampong Cham Province to see the dedication of the Milton School, believed to be the first school in Cambodia built with funds raised by American public school students.

They will see first-hand what their work has meant to the children of the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian country. It was their efforts to raise money that built the school.

Larissa Luu, a Milton senior who is the spark plug of what came to be known as Educate Cambodia, is among the group taking the trip. She became the face of the effort, speaking before church and civic groups, urging her fellow students on, and her work brought her the 2008 Young Heroes Award from the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia.

"I'm really excited that it's built," she said. "But I'm nervous about the trip."

The trip is costing each of the participants about $3,300, a price that includes a deep discount by American Council for International Studies, of Boston, which made all the travel arrangements.

Michael Conn, who teaches history and world cultures at Milton, visited Cambodia during the summer of 2007. He saw the desperate poverty and hunger for knowledge and made the initial pitch to help build the school.

Luu and her fellow students took it from there.

Conn and two other teachers, high school Principal Bryan Noaker, a teacher's sister and a parent, will accompany the students.

Conn said there hasn't been much contact with the people in Mean.

"We got an e-mail last Friday telling us the school was open and kids were attending," Conn said. "That's when it really hit us that we had done it."

The Milton School in Mean has 145 students and 11 teachers, and more pupils are expected as word spreads through the region about the school.

A week from today, Luu and her fellow students plan to wear the "Educate Cambodia" T-shirts they sold as fundraisers to the dedication.

Community response phenomenal'

William Clark, Milton's superintendent, said those going on the trip are "ambassadors of educational goodwill."

Clark has been supportive of the trip ever since Conn pitched the idea to him a year ago.

"It's an opportunity that shows a teacher with a passion for kids can take it to a higher level," Clark said.

"The outpouring of support from the community has been phenomenal," Clark said. "You get a broader perspective of the world when you understand what's outside Milton."

Milton students -- kindergarteners through seniors -- raised more than $36,000 since last December to build the school.

They held car washes, spaghetti dinners, penny wars and other fundraisers. They did chores and sold T-shirts. They manned booths at Wal-Mart and at various community events. The Milton community rallied behind them, and service clubs, churches and individuals added to the tally.

In fact, their $30,000 goal was reached in fewer than five months.

They worked through American Assistance for Cambodia, a charity based in Tokyo that has helped to open 366 schools in Cambodia and has 72 others under construction.

Many of the schools in Cambodia were financed by individuals and schools in Japan, Australia and Britain. The Milton School is the first sponsored by a public school in the United States, although two private schools have done so.

During a 20-year period, when the Khmer Rouge ruled the country, schools were razed, teachers were executed and books were burned. The country is still struggling to recover from that period, when more than 2 million citizens were killed by the government.

Sarah Haas, a Milton junior, said she's feeling emotional about making the trip.

"I think I'll be overwhelmed when we finally get there," she said. "It's a product of what we did here."

School is in session

When the first $15,000 was raised by Milton students, the school building was constructed and staffed, equipped with textbooks and solar panels to power a computer.

The seven-room school will educate children in Khmer, English, math and science. The additional funds raised will go to continue operating the school, provide a well for clean water and plant a garden to help feed the students and their families.

The group will fly from New York to Hong Kong today, and after a short layover, will fly on to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, arriving there around 6 p.m. Friday -- 6 a.m. Friday, Milton time.

The flight to Hong Kong will take more than 17 hours. Because the students will cross the International Date Line, it will be Friday afternoon when they arrive in Hong Kong.

Extraordinary field trip

The group will tour Vietnam for a couple of days before traveling by boat along the Mekong River to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, on Tuesday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, they will visit cultural and historic sites, including the infamous "killing fields," where thousands of Cambodians were slaughtered by the Khmer Rouge.

Finally, on Thursday, they will travel several hours by bus from Phnom Penh to the village of Mean for the dedication of the Milton School.

Luu will speak during the ceremony.

"I didn't write anything down," she said. "I want to be open to say what I feel at that moment."

Reflecting on the yearlong campaign to raise the money, she praised her fellow students.

"I hoped we'd get to this point, but I never expected it to happen the way it did," she said. "And I never expected to be going there." Read more!

China, Cambodia agree to further comprehensive, cooperative partnership

PHNOM PENH, China and Cambodia agreed here Thursday to further promote bilateral comprehensive and cooperative partnership during the talks between China's top political advisor Jia Qinglin and Cambodian Senate President Chea Sim.

Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), spoke highly of the development of bilateral relations in the past five decades of diplomatic ties.

He said China attaches great importance to its relations with Cambodia and the Chinese side will work with the Cambodian side to explore potentials and continuously push forward bilateral partnership of comprehensive cooperation so as to achieve reciprocal and win-win results.

The further development of bilateral traditional friendship is the common aspiration of the two peoples, conforms to the fundamental interest of the two countries, and will contribute to regional prosperity and development, said Jia, who arrived here Tuesday on an official goodwill visit as Chea Sim's guest.

He said the Communist Party of China attaches importance to its relations with the Cambodian People's Party and Funcinpec Party, and the CPPCC will strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Cambodian Senate.

Chea Sim said Cambodia takes China as a close friend, neighbor and cooperative partner, hoping that the two sides will actively push forward bilateral cooperation in such fields as economy, trade, tourism culture and education.

He also hoped that the two sides will enhance cooperation within the framework of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and strengthen coordination in international and regional affairs.

Cambodia is the last leg of Jia's four-nation visit which has taken him to Jordan, Turkey and Laos.

Read more!

ADB gives $10 mln for Cambodia to improve public financial management

PHNOM PENH, The Asian Development Bank is (ADB) providing 10.81 million U.S. dollars to support efforts by Cambodia to improve its public financial management to ensure thatmuch-needed government funds reach the rural poor, said an ADB press release here on Thursday.

The program consists of a 6.71 million U.S. dollars of grant for the first of two sub-programs that will strengthen public financial management (PFM) reforms in the three ministries supporting rural development, namely the Ministry of Rural Development, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology, it said.

Another 4.1 million U.S. dollars of grant will fund an institutional and capacity development project under the program.

The two grants will focus on improving the capacity of the three ministries in PFM subsystems relating to budget formulation,execution, procurement, and reporting; and internal audit for better service delivery to rural communities.

The two grants support Cambodia's Public Financial Management Reform Program, which was launched in December 2004 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance to address weaknesses in the public financial management system, according to the release.

While the benefits of recent growth have been widely spread across Cambodia, the rural poverty rate has not declined as expected. The poverty rate in rural areas was estimated at 39 percent in 2004 compared with the national rate of 34 percent.

With an estimated 80 percent of the population living outside the main urban centers, this translates to more than 4 million people living below the poverty line in rural areas, said the release.

Poverty reduction is severely hampered by the limited effectiveness of public spending due to the weak link between policy and the budget.

"The ministries that support rural development in Cambodia are currently the weakest and most underfunded of all the ministries. As a result, service delivery in rural areas is slow and the ruralpoor do not have many economic opportunities," Prasanna Kumar Jena, Governance Specialist of ADB's Southeast Asia Department, was quoted as saying.

A strong public financial management system will help the government implement its National Strategic Development Plan, which aims to reduce poverty, particularly through policy and financial support to the agricultural sector, which employs an estimated 70 percent of the rural population and accounts for a third of gross domestic product, said the release.

The capacity development needs of the government's National Audit Authority will also be taken into account by the program to improve the overall governance framework of Cambodia's public sector, it added.
Read more!

Cambodia's elite applaud Vancouver director's ambition

MICHELLE VACHON

PHNOM PENH — Director Robert McQueen's first taste of meshing opera with diverse cultures came by way of the Vancouver Opera, which asked McQueen to set Mozart's The Magic Flute among British Columbia's native people. His 2007 production used a forest setting with props and costumes inspired by traditional designs from 10 West Coast native groups, and he modified the text to include words from a Coast Salish language. But "the story remained the same," McQueen said, "and I did not touch one note of the music."

Then, used to uncharted waters, McQueen decided to take on another challenge, this time with an entirely new work: staging Cambodia's first rock opera, set in that country, and blending rock music with the eerie sounds of its traditional instruments.

Where Elephants Weep premiered last Friday in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh. Fred Frumberg of Cambodia's non-governmental organization Amrita Performing Arts, which is producing the show, says it is the most ambitious production staged in the country since the 1960s.

So rare was the occasion that on Friday Cambodia's major players in arts and culture as well as the city's usual special-event crowd, complete with government officials and the diplomatic corps, packed the Chenla Theatre at the corner of Mao Tse Tung and Monireth boulevards.

McQueen, just days before the opening, was still nervous about the finished product. "If you're directing a Neil Simon play, you can probably figure out on day one what opening night is going to look like," he said while overseeing one of the last rehearsals in Phnom Penh. "What's kind of extraordinary for me is that I have no idea how it's going to turn out."

It was the concept, rather than the scale or newness of the work that had prompted McQueen to get involved in the project. He said the two years he spent working on The Magic Flute in Vancouver, his hometown, made him incapable of going back to the usual musical or opera fare.

Until then, McQueen's career had followed a more traditional path, which had included directing Puccini's La Bohème for the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto and the musical The Spitfire Grill at the Grand Theatre in London, Ont., and playing the role of associate director for Mamma Mia! at New York's Winter Garden Theatre.

While he worked on The Magic Flute, he said, "without consciously knowing it at the time, it began to alter the kind of theatre that I wanted to be doing."

McQueen said he was now eager to explore how cultures could come together in a project and not so much blend as "inform" each other.

In Where Elephants Weep, a Cambodian man visits his homeland in the mid-1990s after immigrating to the United States as a child at the end of the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. As he finds himself a stranger in a culture he no longer knows, he falls in love with a woman pledged to her brother's business partner in an arranged marriage.

The story reflects the mixture of Western and traditional elements of today's Cambodia: women in long silk skirts next to others in short dresses or pants; men praying at Buddhist pagodas in the morning and splitting their time between karaoke bars and sex workers at night.

At Friday's performance, the artists received a standing ovation, which is quite unusual in Phnom Penh, and at the reception afterward, Cambodians as well as foreigners were enthusiastic about the show, the few dissenting voices those who dislike musical theatre in general.

Where Elephants Weep was created by Cambodian music composer Him Sophy, Franco-American librettist Catherine Filloux and U.S. executive producer John Burt. McQueen met the team in Phnom Penh in 2003 while he was travelling in Asia. But with Burt and Filloux based in New York and Him Sophy in Phnom Penh, it would be four years before the three were ready to call on McQueen finally to stage the show.

The cast consists of one Cambodian singer and New York singers with Asian roots, as no Cambodians with musical-theatre-type voices could be found in the country. Actors, dancers and the 11 rock and traditional musicians are Cambodian.

Many of the scenes, and especially those at pagodas, involved "cultural protocol considerations," McQueen said: "I couldn't just stage the scene the way that I wanted to ... because to a [Cambodian] local audience, it might be complete confusion if they see monks doing something that monks would never do."

Customs in Cambodia are mainly taught through oral tradition, so McQueen relied on his Cambodian assistants to let him know whenever a scene did not ring true. And yet, he pointed out, "I still had to draw on what I know as a theatre maker - I can't abandon that because that's me, the storyteller - and I had to include the information that was coming at me and figure out a way of weaving them together so that they meet."

Most of the opera is in English with occasional Khmer songs and dialogue; subtitles were provided in English and Khmer.

Where Elephants Weep is being staged in Phnom Penh through Sunday, with plans to tour in Asia and North America, Burt said. As for McQueen, he is heading for the Galaxy Theatre in Tokyo where he will stage "Carousel, one of the most American musicals ever written, and I'm doing it in Japanese." Read more!

Cambodia revives Pol Pot's deadly canals

BARAY, Cambodia: The dry season has taken hold here, but water is everywhere. It pours out of sluice gates with the roar of an Alpine torrent. Playful children do back flips into the ubiquitous canals and then pull their friends in with them. Fishermen cast their nets for minnows, and villagers wash their Chinese-made motorcycles.

"It's never dry here," said Chan Mo, a 36-year-old rice farmer standing on top of an irrigation dike.

The Khmer Rouge canals have come back to life.

By the time the brutal government of Pol Pot was toppled three decades ago, 1.7 million Cambodians were dead from overwork, starvation and disease, and the country was a ruin. But the forced labor of millions of Cambodians left behind something useful - or that's how the current government sees it.

The leaders of the Khmer Rouge were obsessed with canals, embankments and dams. They presided over hundreds of irrigation projects to revive Cambodia's glorious but perhaps mythical past of an agrarian wonderland.

"There has never been a modern regime that placed more emphasis and resources towards developing irrigation," wrote Jeffrey Himel, a water resource engineer, in a recent study of Cambodia's irrigation system.

"The Khmer Rouge emptied all cities and towns, and put practically the entire population to work planting rice and digging irrigation dikes and canals." Some of the canals were poorly designed - "hydraulic nonsense," says Alain Goffeau, a French irrigation expert with the Asian Development Bank. But many were viable.

The Khmer Rouge built around three-quarters of Cambodia's more than 1,000 canal networks, according to a survey commissioned by the United Nations in the 1990s.

Now, across this impoverished nation of 14 million people, the canals are being rebuilt by a government hoping to take advantage of the world's increasing demand for rice.

The Asian Development Bank is helping finance the rehabilitation of a dozen canals, adding to projects financed by the Japanese and South Korean governments.

"There's a lot of possibility," Goffeau said.

For older Cambodians, the canals are a source of ambivalence. Men like Loh Thoeun, 61, now a rice farmer, think back to the baskets of dirt that he carried away, hour after hour.

He recalls the horrors of the Khmer Rouge - the laborers, hands tied behind their backs, who were "dragged away like cows" and never returned, the Muslim families who were thrown down a nearby well. The foremen of the irrigation project in Baray were killed after the canals and embankments were completed - without explanation. Loh says he once saw Pol Pot inspect the canals on what he described as a "speedboat."

All of the work was done by hand here in Baray, a two-hour drive north of the capital, Phnom Penh. No talking was allowed among laborers. The Khmer Rouge played revolutionary songs and banged hubcaps to encourage the workers. Contemporary photos show huge crowds toiling in the dust.

"The earth here is very hard, and when we dug deeper we got to the hardest part - the most compact ground," said Loh, sitting in a bamboo shelter beside his rice fields. "We had to hammer at it. It was like cutting down a tree."

For so many Cambodians the Khmer Rouge years, from 1975 to 1979, were about digging. Villagers and residents of Phnom Penh, who were forced to move to the countryside, were organized in small work units.

"I was a slave," said Ang Mongkol, now the deputy director general of the Ministry of Interior who was a law student when the Khmer Rouge came to power and was assigned to haul dirt.

Yet despite the sorrow of those years, there are only traces of remorse here about taking full advantage of the canals. Loh hopes the canals he built in slave-like conditions will help double or triple his rice output.

"I always recall the past to my children," Loh said. "I say, "We have water from this canal that was built by the people. And many of them died."

Ang is leading an experimental project that uses water from the canal to irrigate fields of hybrid rice varieties that promise to yield four times as much as the variety traditionally grown here. Because only about 20 percent of Cambodia's fields are irrigated, its rice farmers harvest on average half as much as Vietnam's and one third as much as China's.

The irrigation system in Baray, which is fed from water diverted from the nearby Chinit River, functioned for several years after the Khmer Rouge left power. But in the mid-1980s it fell into disrepair. It was only in 2005 that the government began rebuilding it. Today, the local municipality hires a maintenance crew to keep the water flowing.

Among the workers is Sim Vy, 48. As a teenager she was enlisted by the Khmer Rouge to help build the canals. She was told she was working for national glory but received only a watery gruel as recompense. Now she is paid $55 a month. "I prefer working this way," she said. Read more!