Study: Pollution killing rare Irrawaddy dolphins
Eds: UPDATES with Cambodian government response, additional details on dolphins, conservation efforts in Cambodia. CORRECTS that study was released Thursday, not Friday.
By MICHAEL CASEY
BANGKOK (AP) -- Pollution in the Mekong River is putting the rare Irrawaddy dolphin in danger of disappearing from Cambodia and Laos, according to a study by an environmental group released Thursday.
A Cambodian government official, however, rejected the finding and demanded that the group apologize.
The World Wide Fund For Nature Cambodia said it has documented 88 deaths in the past six years of the Irrawaddy dolphin or Orcaella brevirostris along a 118-mile (190-kilometer) stretch of the Mekong River.
The Irrawaddy dolphin, which is related to orcas or killer whales, frequents large rivers, estuaries, and freshwater lagoons in South and Southeast Asia. The population in the Mekong is now believed to include as few as 64 members, the WWF said, down from 80 to 100 just three years ago.
Researchers from WWF Cambodia said they found levels of the pesticide DDT in the bodies of dead dolphin calves from the Mekong that were 10 times higher than in a similar population in India, plus environmental contaminants such as PCBs. They also found mercury, a toxin used in gold mining that can compromise the immune system of marine animals, they said.
The group said it was investigating the source of the pollutants, noting that many young calves died of bacterial diseases that only occur when immune systems are damaged. Many had black and blue lesions on their necks.
"These pollutants are widely distributed in the environment, and so the source of this pollution may involve several countries through which the Mekong River flows," said Verne Dove, the report's author and a veterinarian with WWF Cambodia.
Touch Sieng Tana, chairman of the Cambodian-run Commission for Mekong Dolphin Conservation, dismissed the findings and said there is no mercury, DDT or PCBs in the Mekong. He called on the WWF to apologize for suggesting that the Mekong was polluted.
"If the Mekong River is full of pollution, then all the Cambodians who use that water and drink it would have died," he said. "The WWF statement aims to destroy Cambodia and cause fear to foreigners who want to visit Cambodia."
Scientists do not know exactly how many Irrawaddy dolphins remain in the world -- researchers recently found a population of nearly 6,000 near Bangladesh's mangrove forests -- but the species is listed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Mekong River subpopulation has been listed as "critically endangered" since 2004.
Brian Smith, an Irrawaddy dolphin expert with the Wildlife Conservation Society, said the findings were surprising given that until now, the biggest threats facing the dolphins have been thought to be fishing, collisions with boats and habitat loss. He cautioned that more research needs to be done to establish a link between the deaths and pollution.
However, he said the extremely low survivorship of calves on the Mekong -- and the fact that many carcasses were found with lesions -- suggests that disease combined with pollutants documented in the WWF study "may indeed be an important factor threatening the population."
Seng Teak, WWF Cambodia's country director, urged Mekong River countries to develop a coordinated program to protect the dolphins that reduces pollutants at their source.
Two years ago, Cambodia launched a $700,000 plan with the World Tourism Organization to reduce threats from fishing by boosting tourism in areas known to have dolphin populations. Authorities have said the program was successful in increasing awareness among villagers and persuading some to abandon fishing for tourism jobs.
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Thursday, June 18, 2009
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
We still oppose heritage listing : Thai PM
Suwit to fly to Spain next week to ask world body to review decision
Thailand will seek review of World Heritage status giving to Hindu Temple of Preah Vihear, even though this status was decided last year, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.
It would maintain its objection to the Unesco's World Heritage listing of the temple, he said.
His cabinet endorsed the stance and assigned Suwit Khunkitti, Minister for Natural Resources and the Environment, to ask the World Heritage Committee to review its decision when it met in its its 33rd meeting in Spain's Seville next week, he said.
The listing of Preah Vihear, announced last July, was contrary to Unesco's regulations and spirit since it had created a dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, he said.
Thailand withdrew its support for the listing last year when the Democrat Party, then in opposition, feared a loss of Thai sovereignty over areas near the temple.
The party and protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy forced the Samak Sundaravej government to withdraw support for Cambodia's proposal for World Heritage listing of the historic cliff-top temple.
Noppadon Pattama was forced to step down as foreign minister after the World Heritage committee backed Cambodia's bid to list Preah Vihear. The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Hindu temple belonged to Cambodia, but Thailand claims some areas adjacent to the temple.
The two countries have yet to complete border demarcation near the site.
Cambodia delayed its plan to protect and develop the temple as required by the World Heritage Committee due to military clashes with Thailand at the site, which flared at the time of the Cambodian election and erupted again during domestic crises in Thailand last October and in April.
The World Heritage body suggested last year that Phnom Penh should invite Thailand to join a seven member International Coordinating Committee (ICC) to manage the site, but Thailand is reluctant to join as it does not want to recognise Cambodia's rights to the temple.
Thailand's objection would not jeopardise relations with Cambodia as the government could explain its stance, Abhisit said. He did not discuss the matter with his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen when visiting Phnom Penh last week but hoped Cambodia would understand Thailand.
"We didn't mention Cambodia but we did disagree with the World Heritage Committee/Unesco and their decision," Abhisit said.
Adul Wichiancharoen, adviser to Thailand's National World Heritage Committee, said the government's objection could not lead to a change in the listing of Preah Vihear.
However he agreed with the government maintaining its objection and keeping a close eye on Cambodian moves to prevent it annexing of areas claimed by Thailand.
Adul said Thailand's plan to offer Pha Mo I Daeng and twin stupas downhill from the Preah Vihear to be jointly listed as World Heritage sites, would be strongly opposed by Cambodia.
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Prison chief says Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot ordered 4 Western prisoners killed
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot personally ordered the killing and burning of four Western prisoners who were captured while sailing in Cambodian waters, a former prison chief on trial for crimes against humanity testified Wednesday.
Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who commanded the communist group's S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, said the prisoners were an American, an Australian, a New Zealander and a Briton.
He also testified that several days before the Khmer Rouge were ousted by invading Vietnamese troops in early 1979 he was ordered to kill all inmates at the prison.
"The purpose was to have no prisoners left at S-21" when Vietnam's troops arrived, he said.
As many as 16,000 men, women and children were tortured at S-21 before being sent to their deaths during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.
Duch is being tried by a U.N.-assisted tribunal for crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture. About 1.7 million Cambodians died from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions under the radical regime.
Duch (pronounced Doik) testified that Pol Pot, who died in 1998, personally ordered that the four Westerners be executed and then burned, and that the order was conveyed by Nuon Chea, the regime's No. 2 leader and chief ideologue, who has also been charged by the tribunal.
"I received an order from my superiors that the four Westerners had to be smashed and burned to ashes. It was an absolute order from my superiors," Duch said. "Pol Pot, not Uncle Nuon, personally ordered to burn the bodies."
In response to questioning from Judge Dame Silvia Cartwright of New Zealand, Duch denied reports that the four Westerners were burned alive. He said their bodies were burned near the prison after they were executed.
He testified that only four Westerners were detained while he commanded S-21, but prison records suggest there may have been as many as 11.
Several Americans and Australians are listed, but only one New Zealander, Kerry Hamill, and one Briton, John Dewhirst.
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009
EDITORIAL Shock move by White House
The latest decision on Southeast Asia by US President Barack Obama is the second disturbing action by Washington affecting this region. Late last Friday, after the main news cycles for the week had elapsed, Mr Obama announced a major new policy initiative. The low-level statement that he was declaring Laos and Cambodia eligible for major US loans and trade concessions took the rest of the region by surprise.
The first visit to Southeast Asia by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton largely ignored the longest and strongest US allies. Now, the decision to give special treatment to Laos and Cambodia came as a bit of shock, including in Thailand.
Mr Obama's "determination" about each country was a brief official statement, posted at the White House media room and website. Such presidential determinations are legal obligations in many cases in the United States; these were the 20th and 21st of an early presidency. But as these statements showed, they are often "game changers" by the president. In these almost identical statements, Mr Obama declared that Laos and Cambodia are eligible to be beneficiaries of US Export-Import Bank loans for American businesses in those countries.
The reason, Mr Obama said, is that each "has ceased to be a Marxist-Leninist country".
Mr Obama was apparently not concerned with the nuances of Marxist evolution. It was mandatory to declare Laos and Cambodia were not communist countries in order to achieve his true goal - to provide millions, and perhaps billions, of investment capital for American businesses to set up, operate in and trade with the two neighbouring countries.
Mr Obama did not explain why he set this goal. Indeed, the manner of the announcement was to keep all questions and justification to a minimum.
This apparently was to stifle the negative reaction of political groups in the US who are appalled at the treatment of Hmong tribespeople by Laos.
A more important result, however, is that Mr Obama has created negative fallout in Thailand and the region.
The US Exim Bank rarely is involved with Thailand, and generally supports one-time sales rather than investment.
In 2003, it provided support for sales of Boeing 747 aircraft to Thai Airways International, and there are occasional cases where the bank has backed smaller deals. As the Thai economy has developed, the US Exim Bank has been an ever-smaller presence.
That is why Mr Obama's unexpected support for Laos and Cambodia disappointed many in Thailand. For years, Thai businesses have expanded into these countries. The overseas business expansion - ironically with the frequent support of the Exim Bank of Thailand - has been a major engine of Thai growth. This in turn has led to decreasing dependence upon foreign help and special programmes by Washington.
The sudden entry of the US Exim Bank into these Thai markets will affect Thai trade and the economy. By failing to warn and prepare Thai authorities and businesses, the Obama administration has created a shock that will have negative implications, at least at the start.
This problem could easily have been avoided had the White House warned of the coming decision and allowed time for diplomatic talks and business preparations. Failing to do so again begs the question of whether the United States is seriously engaged with its long-time allies in this region.
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TNI begins UN peace keepers joint training
The Indonesian military (TNI) will begin on Tuesday a joint training of United Nations peace keeping forces dubbed Garuda Shield 2009 with 24 countries in Bandung, West Java.
THI chief Gen. Djoko Santoso and chiefs of staff are scheduled to open the training at 10 a.m.
The training, aimed at promoting between the countries' armed forces, especially in the UN peacekeeping mission, will last until June 29.
The training will be participated by armed forces of 24 countries, including United States, Bangladesh, Australia, Cambodia, France, German, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
TNI will host the training at the Infantry Training Center in Cipatat, Padalarang.
Indonesia has been involved in 15 UN peacekeeping missions, including in Egypt, Vietnam, Lebanon and Congo, since 1957 . (dre)
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Monday, June 15, 2009
Civil society groups call for transparency on resource revenues
Written by Sebastian Strangio
A COALITION of civil society groups launched a new resource revenue watchdog Friday, citing the need for more transparency in Cambodia's natural resources sector.
Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency (CRRT) - founded by the Centre for Social Development, Development and Partnership in Action, the NGO Forum on Cambodia, the Economic Institute of Cambodia and the Youth Resource Development Program - aims to ensure that revenues from mining and potential offshore oil deposits are handled accountably.
"[T]he revenues from extractive industries have enormous potential to lift Cambodians out of poverty," Lim Solinn, the regional programme coordinator for Oxfam America's East Asia office, said at the launch.
"Conversely, if not properly managed, these same dollars could have dramatically adverse affects - environmental, social and economic."
Resource bounty
The discovery of oil and gas reserves by US oil giant Chevron off the country's south coast in 2004 has prompted speculation about the potential benefit of any future oil revenues, with some civil society groups expressing concerns that Cambodians will derive little benefit from the money.
In February, international corruption watchdog Global Witness released a report claiming high-level corruption and nepotism in the country's extractive resources sectors, springing from the granting of "highly dubious" economic concessions by the government.
Lim said that Cambodia was well-placed to avoid the "resource curse" - the economic distortions caused by a heavy reliance on extractive resources - provided it makes an effort to establish the proper procedures and regulatory infrastructure, including input from the non-government sector.
"This can only be done with a strong and meaningful engagement between government, companies and civil society," she said.
Financial reforms
Hang Chuon Naron, vice chairman of the Supreme National Economic Council, said at Friday's launch that the government was dedicated to ensuring extractive resources would be a blessing rather than a curse, claiming increased revenues could be used to sustain "robust economic growth" and "rapid poverty reduction".
He said the government's Public Financial Management Reform Programme, initiated in 2004, would ensure a fully transparent system is in place by 2015, adding that the government would share information about oil revenues with NGOs and development partners.
But Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay regarded the government's promises with suspicion, saying its track record on natural resource revenue management was not good.
"We don't trust the government.... There's no record in the past that the government has been accountable," he said. "A lot of resources have been disappearing, starting with forests, gems and gold mines."
But he reiterated the CRRT's calls for more information on oil revenues, saying the SRP has requested that details of oil exploration agreements be made public.
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Evictees cry foul over homes
Written by CHRISTOPHER SHAY AND KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA
District officials deceived the HIV community of Borei Keila into thumbprinting an agreement to vacate homes, residents claim
"The authorities are cheating. When we agreed to thumbprint, the authorities told us they would remove the dividers to make two houses into one house," said resident Sok Sinethe.
But Horm Oun, another Borei Keila resident, said, "Lim Seda [the deputy chief of Prampi Makara district] told us after we gave our thumbprints we cannot make two houses into one".
"I felt hopeless when I heard this," she said.
The chief officer of the district's development programme, Sok Ath, said the Borei Keila residents were mistaken.
"We did not make promises or threaten them for their thumbprints. We only agreed to take their request for larger homes to City Hall for a decision," he said, adding that they would also ask City Hall that instead of buying two tuk-tuks to ferry people into the city for work, that it give each family US$250.
Sao Vanna, the chief of the HIV community, who does not live with the families facing eviction, said 20 families will be moved to Tuol Sambo perhaps as early as today.
Sao Vanna, who will set up an office at Tuol Sambo, blamed NGOs for the conditions at the relocation site.
"Before, City Hall had plans to construct 4-metre-by-12-metre homes and called upon the NGOs to fund the construction and infrastructure, but without NGO funding ... City Hall did not have enough money," he said.
But on Sunday during a visit to Tuol Sambo - about an hour's tuk-tuk ride away from Borei Keila - residents said that it was clear the municipality could do more to support them.
Ten paces from the green metal shelters that will house the families, workers are building brick homes for families from Russey Keo who lost their houses after a riverbank collapse. According to a construction worker, the Russey Keo homes will be 4 metres by 8 metres, almost double the floor space of the HIV community's homes, which are 3.5 metres by 4.8 metres.
"Why does the municipality make small houses for us and big homes for others?" Sok Sineth asked.
Residents also fear that their community, which is already known as "the AIDS village", will face discrimination.
Resident Touch Chhay Ran said when she visited Tuol Sambo last month she overheard local villagers insulting the Borei Keila community, giving her fears that she will need to endure discrimination on a daily basis.
"They said they were afraid that their community would catch AIDS from us, turning all of Tuol Sambo into ‘the AIDS village'," she said.
Assembly to rule on MP's legal shield
Written by Meas Sokchea
THE Permanent Committee of the National Assembly is to meet today to consider suspending the parliamentary immunity of Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Mu Sochua, in relation to the defamation lawsuit filed against her last month by Prime Minister Hun Sen.
National Assembly Permanent Committee President Cheam Yeap said a request for the temporary suspension of Mu Sochua's immunity came Friday from Phnom Penh Municipal Court.
"When we have the meeting we will discuss this. This is one of a large number of issues that the committee must resolve," he said, adding that Mu Sochua's immunity would be restored if the court found she was not at fault.
"This is just a temporary suspension [of her immunity] so that the court has the right to question her directly about the lawsuit."
The move has been criticised by observers who say that, while technically legal, the removal of the lawmaker's protection would raise questions about the independence of the courts.
"The court's request is legal, but I would like to emphasise that the courts in Cambodia nowadays are not independent. This issue is very much bound up with politics," said Heang Rithy, president of the Cambodian National Research Organisation.
Hang Chhaya, executive director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy, agreed, saying the abuse of power by the ruling party ran counter to the spirit of the Kingdom's Constitution.
"We are concerned about the suspension of [her] immunity. It doesn't seem to be necessary," he said.
"We should think whether it is necessary and in the interests of the people. When one side has all the power and abuses it, it is contrary to the Constitution."
Hun Sen sued Mu Sochua after she filed her own lawsuit against him for comments made during a speech in Kampot on April 4, when, she said, he insulted her by calling her a cheung klang.
Mu Sochua claimed the Khmer term, meaning "strong legs" in English, has derogatory overtones when used in relation to a woman.
But her lawsuit was dismissed by the Municipal Court on Wednesday, with Deputy Prosecutor Hing Bun Chea explaining in a three-page statement that since the prime minister's comments did not refer to Mu Sochua by name, and Hun Sen did not intend to insult any individual with his comments, the suit was not valid.
Mu Sochua told the Post on Sunday that she was unsurprised by the news that she might lose her immunity, claiming her only concern was the reversal of basic democratic rights because of the ruling party's domination of the judicial process.
"I am not worried at all. I just want people to realise that they voted for the CPP to win 90 seats in the National Assembly. But how much justice has the CPP guaranteed for the people? This is not only my story: It is everyone's story," she said.
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Cambodia Tribunal Reduces Sentence for Khmer Rouge Torture Chief
By Daniel Schearf, Bangkok
Cambodia's U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal has ruled a former Khmer Rouge torture chief now on trial was detained "unlawfully" by the military and would be compensated for time served. The ruling means the only Khmer Rouge official to face justice can no longer be sentenced to life in prison.
Cambodia's war crimes tribunal says the military violated the rights of Kang Guek Eav in detaining him after his 1999 arrest.
Better known as Comrade Duch, the former head of the notorious Khmer Rouge S-21 detention center was held for eight years before being turned over to the tribunal.
Duch was arrested and is on trial for his role as head of the detention center, charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder and torture.
He was facing up to life in prison if convicted, but will now have all his time in detention subtracted from any sentence he may receive.
The tribunal's legal communications officer, Lars Olsen, says that means at least 10 years taken off, depending on how long the trial lasts.
"And he would also be entitled to additional remedies which the trial chamber in its decision today said they would address when the time for the sentencing would arise," Olsen said. "That could be typically that he would get extra time off of a sentence because of his unlawful detention."
Olsen says the arrest of Duch was legal, but his detention from 1999 to 2007 was illegal under Cambodian law, which only allows a maximum of three-years provisional detention.
Duch's defense team had asked that he be released from his current detention, but the court rejected that request.
Duch is the only senior former Khmer Rouge official to face justice for crimes committed under its brutal late 1970's rule. He is also the only one to admit responsibility, although he claims he never personally killed anyone.
Under Duch's supervision, more than 12,000 prisoners there were accused of being enemies of the communist Khmer Rouge and then systematically tortured and executed.
Four more senior former leaders are set to face trial in the next year or two.
Up to two-million Cambodians were worked, starved, and executed by the Khmer Rouge in their attempt to create a Communist utopia.
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Alleged Khmer Rouge torturer cries in court
By SOPHENG CHEANG
Associated Press Writer
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A man accused of running an infamous Khmer Rouge torture center broke down in tears at his trial Monday as he spoke of the imprisonment and execution of former comrades in the facility he commanded.
Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch (pronounced Doik), testified to Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal that the prison's own guards and interrogators were also among those executed during the regime's brutal rule, in some cases for simple irregularities and mishaps in carrying out their duties.
He commanded Phnom Penh's S-21 prison, where as many as 16,000 men, women and children were tortured before being sent to their deaths when the communist group held power in 1975-79. About 1.7 million Cambodians died from forced labor, starvation, medical neglect and executions under the regime.
The tribunal also ruled Monday that Duch - who is being tried for crimes against humanity, war crimes, murder and torture - was held in government custody longer than is legally allowed, and if found guilty can apply to have his sentence reduced.
The 66-year-old displayed rare emotion during his testimony as he spoke of seeing fellow revolutionaries locked up in the cells of his prison.
"I did not want them to see my face when they were in such conditions," he said as tears rolled down his face. He said even today he tries not to recall them.
"Betraying friends, yes, I did. That was beyond cowardly," he said.
Duch had previously testified that being sent to S-21 was tantamount to a death sentence. Most prisoners were tortured into giving fanciful confessions that suited the Khmer Rouge's political outlook, though they generally had been loyal members of the group.
He also said more than 100 personnel from S-21 and the Prey Sar prison - a reeducation center on the outskirts of Phnom Penh - were arrested, tortured and executed for minor offenses. He said he was the one who reported such incidents to his superiors.
Those killed included torturers, security guards and interrogators. Their wives and children were also arrested and executed because they were considered the regime's enemies, he said.
Duch is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial, and the only one to acknowledge responsibility for his actions. He could face a maximum penalty of life in prison; Cambodia has no death penalty.
The tribunal's judges agreed Monday that Cambodian laws only allowed him to be held for three years without trial. Duch had been held by Cambodia's military court from 1999 until 2007, after which he was transferred to the tribunal's custody.
His lawyers have applied several times - most recently in April - for his release from provisional detention, as well as credit for time served and a reduced sentence to compensate Duch for the violation of his rights.
The judges said his detention until 2007 "constitutes a violation of the Cambodian domestic law applicable at the time" and of "his internationally recognized right to a trial within a reasonable time," the judges said in a 15-page ruling.
They said the tribunal was not responsible or liable for the prior abuse of Duch's rights, but agreed that if found guilty, "he is entitled not only to credit for time already spent in detention, but also to a reduction in sentence as a result of previous violations to his rights."
Duch's age, however, means that a reduction in his sentence would have little impact should he be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders will face trial in the next year or two. They include Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith.
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Maybank opens fourth branch in Cambodia
MAYBANK (1155) yesterday opened its fourth branch in Cambodia, located in the city centre on Tep Von Street, Siem Reap City.
The branch will offer full banking facilities and services including deposits, mortgage financing, trade financing, deposit, remittance services as well as foreign exchange services. It also offers ATM facilities which are linked to the Maybank ATM network in Phnom Penh.
In a statement, Maybank head of international, Abdul Farid Alias, said the branch in a provincial location of Cambodia is part of the bank's strategy to tap on the growth potential of the region as well as to support the development of the business and tourism sectors there.
"Siem Reap is one the fastest growing towns in Cambodia and has the advantage of being the gateway to the famous Angkor Wat as well as many other ancient temples. The tourism industry has tremendous potential given the presence of many tourist facilities, namely hotels and businesses. Our branch will be able to serve the needs of the local businesses as well as Malaysian and Singaporean companies which have business activities in the region as well as the country," he said.
Siem Reap Province has a population of one million and Siem Reap is the second largest city in Cambodia. An estimated 70 per cent of its population consisting both local and foreigners live in Siem Reap City itself.
"We plan to open four more branches in Cambodia by the end of the next financial year subject to approval from the authorities," added Abdul Farid.
Its international network currently has over 400 offices in 13 countries, in addition to 384 branches in Malaysia as well as associates in Pakistan (MCB Bank) and Vietnam (An Binh Bank).
Maybank first established its presence in Cambodia in 1993 and has three other offices in the capital city Phnom Penh.
"Maybank Cambodia registered a 22.37 per cent growth in revenue for the 11 months of our current financial year compared to the previous corresponding period. Total loans to various sectors of the economy as at May 2009 grew 64.25 per cent over the previous period," Abdul Farid said, adding that the top three sectors it provides financial support to are telecommunications, manufacturing and general commerce.
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Sunday, June 14, 2009
Cambodia: Controversial Angkor Wat lighting project
To promote “night lighting” tours and to reverse the 20 per cent drop in visitors, the Cambodian government has installed artificial lighting in the 11th century-old Angkor Wat Temple. This project is opposed by some heritage conservationists and concerned Cambodian citizens. Angkor Wat is the most popular tourist site in Cambodia and is recognized as a World Heritage site.
Heritage conservation specialists describe the installed light bulbs as “unsightly.” Since 2006, more than $12 million were spent for the lighting of the temple. It is part of a grand project to transform the Angkor Wat as a complex of entertainment venues.
The government defended the lighting decoration by arguing that it has the support of the UNESCO. Authorities also added that only solar powered lighting technology was used in the project.
The public was stunned when it learned that holes were drilled in the temple to install electric bulbs. This was denied by the government and the project contractor:
“The working team explained that they have a technique to set up electric bulbs which causes no harm to the temple. They install bulbs by using cork stoppers put into already existing holes, and they set up lights only where it is possibly, and also at the lower layers of the stone. The working team claims that the heat of the bulbs is weak and does not affect the temple.”
The controversy became more intense when the person who exposed the Angkor Wat lighting was sued by a government lawyer for spreading false information. The accused has fled to France to avoid prosecution.
Below are some reactions from the Cambodian blogosphere. From The Son of the Empire:
Can this equipped light attract more tourists to Angkor Wat and Cambodia as a whole while a leader of a country is incompetent to lead a country with transparency, security, stability, human right respect, and yet committing corruption and dependent on alm and submitting to neigboring countries?
Personally, the light decoration is untolerable and I think those who allow this project to be carried out is considered as a traitor and are untolerable.
Those people must think about the long term and should have done their best to preserve this most wonderful work of our greatest ancestors who have built this marvelous heritage for the world, for us and has become the soul, the spirit, and the pride of our people and nation.
Real Cambodia appreciates the effort to improve the image of Angkor Wat
I kind of like the idea of seeing Angkor Wat at night. I imagine some of the statues, carvings, and shadows would be pretty amazing, particularly after happy hour. And hopefully they’d use really environmentally-friendly lighting, like LED lights, in a smart and innovative way, creating lots of trippy, dramatic angles. But I’d also hope they left most of the park undisturbed, all the better to retain its unique position at the nexus of natural and supernatural.
The Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog warns that increasing the number of tourists in Angkor Wat is bad for business
The move may serve to boost falling tourism numbers, but does nothing to address what heritage specialists have been saying for years – that the effects of increased traffic to Angkor is ultimately bad for business.
An anonymous commenter rejects the lighting project:
Even from a plain, regular guy like me, I could see that the lighting was absolutely inappropriate for a sacred monument any where in the whole world, let alone a magnificent heritage like Angkor Wat. Who ever came up with that idea should be fired from his job!!!! No sense of fine aesthetic, whatsoever!!!
The Deputy PM will be summoned by the Parliament to answer questions about the controversial project.
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Saturday, June 13, 2009
US dogs to sniff out Cambodian tigers
Mereuch, Cambodia: Researchers will monitor Cambodia’s remaining tigers using almost 200 camera traps and two specially trained dogs – capable of tracking the tigers over 150 square kilometers by following the animal’s droppings.
The camera traps and dogs ultimately will help conservationists to better protect tigers in the Mondulkiri Protected Forest in Eastern Cambodia, one of Southeast Asia’s largest remaining tropical dry forests.
WWF has set up more than 165 camera traps in the area, and in a few months two US-trained dogs, will begin scouring the undergrowth and sniffing for tiger scent.
The two dogs will be re-trained to locate the scat of tiger and other carnivores. Using dogs to sniff out the scats from large carnivores has been widely used in other parts of the world with great success, such as tiger monitoring projects in the Russian Far East.
“We know tigers are there. With more concentrated monitoring we have a better chance of spotting them – and this will enable us to put more protective measures in play,” said Nicholas Cox, WWF’s Dry Forests Ecoregion Leader.
Despite many years of poaching, there now are signs that the dry forest is recovering as a habitat for tigers. Leopards now are relatively common and other wildlife returning to the area include wild banteng, Asian jackal, Eld’s deer and primates such as silvered langur. In addition Vultures, Great Hornbills and Giant Ibis have now been frequently spotted in the forest.
The tiger population is estimated to be between 10 and 25 animals in the Eastern Plains Landscape. Camera traps have been used in some parts of the Protected Forest previously, but they will now be concentrated to a core area frequented by tigers. A tiger was last photographed in the area in 2007, and scats (droppings) have been found more recently in the area.
“It’s now or never, we must act if the trend of increasing tiger prey species is to be made permanent,” said Seng Teak, WWF Cambodia Country Director. “Stronger protection measures and a rigorous management plan are being implemented by the local government in Mondulkiri and WWF. When prey returns to the area the tiger population will have a chance to bounce back in a few years”, says.
WWF has been involved in conservation work in the Eastern Plains since early 2001. That commitment was increased a few years ago to cover an area spanning more than 20,000 square kilometers.
Strict protection measures have been enforced in the Mondulkiri Protected Forest and the Phnom Prich Wildlife Sanctuary. In core protection zones, villagers are not allowed to hunt or cut timber, and
more than 70 trained rangers patrol the protected areas.
Lean Kha, a 48-year-old ranger working for WWF, was a poacher in the 70s.
“As a 13-year-old boy I was forced by the Khmer Rouge to go into the forest and kill wild animals,” Kha said. “I quickly learned to shoot and lay snares. During a period of 5-6 years I shot 16 elephants, 14 leopards and two tigers. At the time, I was ignorant and did not think of the consequences when I shot those tigers.”
“Today I’m really proud to work for WWF, and to use my skills to combat wildlife crime so that there will still be tigers and other wildlife in the forest when my children grow up,” he said.
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US: Laos, Cambodia out of trade blacklist
WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama on Friday removed Laos and Cambodia from a blacklist, opening the way for US loans to companies doing business in the former US adversaries.
In brief declarations, Obama said Cambodia and Laos had each "ceased to be a Marxist-Leninist country," a designation that prevents financial support by the US Export-Import Bank.
The move, which still must go through formalities, means that US businesses would be eligible for US government-backed loans and credit guarantees as they can receive when operating in most countries.
"Given the commitment of Cambodia and Laos to open markets, the president has determined that this designation is no longer applicable," an Obama administration official said.
But the decision to boost trade ties with Laos came under criticism from campaigners for the Hmong minority, a hill people who supported US forces during the Vietnam War and recount retaliatory abuse decades later.
A recent report by Paris-based Medicins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said Hmong who fled since 2005 to Thailand have said they suffered killings, gang-rape and malnutrition at the hands of Laotian forces.
Obama's declaration "is completely shocking and outrageous," said Philip Smith, executive director of the Center for Public Policy Analysis, which promotes Hmong rights.
"This is a one-party regime which is closely allied with Burma [Myanmar] and North Korea," he said. "This will embolden the Laos government to continue to slaughter and massacre civilians."
Many Hmong are still in hiding in Laos. Another 250,000 Hmong have resettled in the United States.
The United States established normal trade relations with Laos in 2004, part of an effort under then president George W. Bush to reconcile after years of friction.
US relations with Cambodia have been marred by US concerns over accounting for Khmer Rouge war crimes along with corruption. Washington lifted all remaining restrictions on assistance to Cambodia in 2007.
The United States still forbids US-backed loans to businesses to operate in six countries –Cuba, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
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Friday, June 12, 2009
Tim Sakhorn confident on asylum bid
Written by Holly Pham and Neth Pheaktra
AS the June 18 deadline for his asylum application draws near, Buddhist monk and human rights activist Tim Sakhorn says he is confident the United States government will grant him political asylum and allow him to settle in America.
Tim Sakhorn, an advocate for the rights of southern Vietnam's ethnic Khmer minority, popularly known as Khmer Krom, fled from Cambodia in
April and has been living at an undisclosed location in Bangkok awaiting the US government's decision, expected next week.
"I am now waiting for an official confirmation from [the UN High Commissioner for Refugees]," Tim Sakhorn said by phone from Bangkok, adding that he is going to have a meeting with officials from the US Embassy in Bangkok soon.
"I strongly believe that I deserve asylum status since the threats from the Vietnamese authorities are real."
The 41-year-old monk, who was arrested and defrocked in Cambodia in June 2007 before being deported and jailed for a year in Vietnam on charges of undermining its national unity, fled to Thailand when Vietnamese authorities allowed him to enter Cambodia on April 4 to visit
family in his native Takeo province.
"It is difficult for Khmer Krom to stay in this country: The Thai authorities will arrest as soon as they find us," Tim Sakhorn said.
"It is a bit easier for monks since they can rely on pagodas for day-to-day support, but regular Khmer Krom have a hard time even finding shelter or paying for food. Khmer Krom will face serious problems if the UN fails to recognise our rights to refuge," Tim Sakhorn said.
The Bangkok office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees has granted temporary refugee status to five Khmer Krom monks, allowing them to stay in Thailand pending the approval of an asylum bid to other countries.
Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organisation, said the UNHCR is expected to release the official verdict on Tim Sakhorn's case on Thursday, while the refugee status of the other five Khmer monks will be finalised by early July.
He said Thailand is now a temporary home for more than 200 Khmer Krom currently applying for residence in third countries.
Since early 2009, the UNHCR has helped four Khmer Krom refugees obtain political asylum in the United States, while an additional 71 have received temporary refugee status and are waiting to move on to another country.
Worsening situation
Thach Setha, president of Khmer Kampuchea Krom Association, said the rapid increase in the number of Khmer Krom refugees in Thailand was due to the series of protests against rights abuses committed by the Vietnamese authorities in 2007 and 2008.
"Even after having fled to Cambodia, [the Khmer Krom] are not safe. The Vietnamese authorities continue to track them down here. This is why they must seek asylum in another country," he said.
In a report on the Khmer Krom issued in January, Human Rights Watch recorded the "severe and often shrouded" methods used by the Vietnamese government to stifle freedom of religion and other basic rights of the Khmer minority in the Mekong Delta.
The US Embassy in Bangkok could not be reached for comment Thursday.
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Crisis poses added hurdles to elimination of child labour
Written by khouth Sophak Chakrya As a garment worker, Ou Kunthear would regularly send US$30 back to her family in Kampong Speu province. Since losing her factory job, she can no longer send remittances, leaving her parents too poor to pay for food.
In response, her parents have taken her younger siblings - all under the age of 15 - out of school and forced them to work washing clothes and making charcoal.
"I pity my younger siblings, because they should be learning. They should not be working over charcoal stoves or washing stations," she said.
The eighth World Day Against Child Labour, observed today, marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of an International Labour Organisation convention stressing the need to end the worst forms of child labour.
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As the global economic crisis has hit Cambodia, however, pressure has mounted on families to pull their children out of school and push them into the workforce, experts said.
According to a statement released Thursday, ChildFund Australia estimated that 40 percent of all children aged between 7 and 17 years are currently engaged in some form of child labour.
But the ILO has said that efforts from the government and donors could help transform the crisis into a catalyst for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour in Cambodia.
"The economic downturn is one of the most unexpected, hardest challenges impacting child labour. But the downturn - even though it's a threat - can be turned into an opportunity," said Joseph Menacherry, the chief technical adviser at the ILO's International Program on the Elimination of Child Labour.
When the construction sector was growing rapidly, there was a sharp increase in demand for child labour, Menacherry said. As the boom goes bust, there are fewer jobs available to children, he said.
"This gives us an opportunity to be able to put into place sufficient awareness, sufficient sensitivity and sufficient mechanisms for monitoring and enforcement, so that once the economy starts to go up, we will be able to ensure that children do not go back to this hazardous construction sector," he said.
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I PITY MY YOUNGER SIBLINGS ... THEY SHOULD NOT BE WORKING OVER CHARCOAL STOVES.
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Menacherry said that eliminating child labour during an economic crisis has the added benefit of opening up jobs for adults, allowing more families to preserve their incomes and keep their children in school.
"Why are we sending children to work when there is an economic crisis? When there is an economic crisis we should be pulling children out of work and making sure adults go there," he said.
At the moment, however, the crisis is forcing more children into the worst forms of child labour, said Haidy Ear-Dupuy, advocacy and communications manager for World Vision Cambodia.
"Many workers have lost their jobs and seen their income drop," Ear-Dupuy said, adding that this has led many parents to force their children to find jobs.
Menacherry said the number of children working in hard labour conditions in Cambodia had grown from an estimated 250,000 in 2002 to about 300,000 this year.
Promoting economic growth
Child labour is one of the major hurdles Cambodia must clear if it is to achieve sustained economic growth in the future, said Bill Salter, director of the ILO's sub-regional office for Southeast Asia.
"Child labour has to be tackled in Cambodia - not only as a social issue, but also as an issue of human resource development that can help the economic growth of the country," he said.
The ILO, with the help of the World Bank and UNICEF, is finalising estimates of how much funding would be necessary to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in Cambodia.
Menacherry said the task would cost "not more than US$100 million", adding that he viewed the figure as "modest".
Even though child labour has increased over the last seven years, Menacherry said, the ILO's goal to end the worst forms of child labour in Cambodia by 2016 was "extremely realistic" if sufficient resources were made available.
In work, out of school
Knut Harald Ulland, country director for Save the Children, said the economic crisis could cause more teachers to begin collecting informal fees, which would make more families unable to send their children to school.
"Because teachers have felt the impact of the crisis, school fees may have increased" already, he said, calling informal school fees the biggest obstacle to education in Cambodia.
"As long as teachers don't have a living salary, it's difficult to crack down on," he added.
Four years ago, informal fees drove Ran Rin, 12, out of the classroom and into a salt-production job in Kampot province. He told the Post this week that he left school because his family could not afford the fees charged by his teachers.
"Poverty was the obstacle for my studies.... If teachers do not demand money from their students, then children of poor families like me would not have to drop out," he said.
7 ancient treasures returned to Cambodia
Statues from 12th century Angkorian era include heads of Hindu god Shiva
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, second right, and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, left, stand by a piece from Cambodian artifacts of the Angkorian era during a ceremony in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The statues from the 12th century Angkorian era, including six heads of the Hindu god Shiva, were handed to Cambodian officials during an official one-day visit by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Thai authorities seized them from smugglers in 1999.
Widespread looting of Cambodia's ancient temples has occurred in recent decades, with many items smuggled into Thailand for sale on the international antiques markets or to private collectors.
Plane hitch delays Thai PM's return from Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – The return of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from a one-day official trip to Cambodia was delayed Friday by problems with his plane.
The chief of police at Phnom Penh's international airport, Chay Bunna, said late Friday night that that a new plane was being sent from Thailand to pick up the prime minister and his delegation, after their 9:20 p.m. departure was delayed.
"The technicians at the airport said that his plane has a very minor technical problem, so we insisted that he delay his flight schedule," said Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong.
Chay Bunna identified the aircraft, on which repairs were being made, as an Embraer 145. He said that Abhisit's party first waited at the airport for the aircraft to be fixed, but drove back to the city to wait further after it was decided to fly in a replacement plane.
It was not immediately known when the new flight would depart.
Abhisit met with Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Norodom Sihamoni during his visit, his first to the neighboring country since he became prime minister in December. He also held talks with Thai businessmen and visited a hospital.
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Malaria is more deadly than swine flu
Perhaps the alarm caused over swine flu will help us empathise with the victims of other diseases that are killing millions
It is no mean feat to knock Ronaldo off the front pages, especially when the self-regarding Portuguese footballer has just broken the club record for a transfer fee. But yesterday the World Health Organisation's Margaret Chan achieved just that by declaring the first influenza pandemic in 40 years.
Never mind that to date H1N1 swine flu has killed just 144 people worldwide. With 1,300 cases now being reported in Australia, and simultaneous community outbreaks in Chile, Japan and the United States, Chan said scientists had concluded that transmission was "unstoppable" – hence the decision to declare a maximum pandemic alert at level six.
The subtext of Chan's message was that this was no time for complacency: with the winter flu season in Australia now well underway, hospital admissions in Melbourne have quadrupled in recent weeks. If the virus maintains its present level of virulence then experts are predicting that a third of the British population could be infected this autumn and as many as 36,000 could die – about three times as many as in a normal flu season.
But "could" is not the same as "will", and looking round the world you will find many more mortal and, arguably, more present threats to global health. Take HIV/Aids, for instance, a disease that has been pandemic, or at least has been spreading at epidemic levels in Africa, for 30 years. In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, Aids-related illness killed 2 million people worldwide, including 270,000 children. But because two-thirds of the 33 million people annually infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa and the remainder belong, by and large, to discrete "high-risk" groups such as intravenous drug users, HIV no longer blips on our radar screens.
Or take malaria. I have just returned from western Cambodia, where scientists are now reporting the first signs of parasite resistance to the world's current frontline anti-malarial, artemisinin. Malaria, along with diarrhoeal diseases and pneumonia, is one of the leading causes of infant mortality in Cambodia. And in Uganda and other high malaria transmission countries in Africa, it is also a major killer of pregnant women (the WHO estimates that some 3,000 people a day die from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa every day, the majority of them women and children).
Unlike influenza, as yet we have no vaccine against malaria. Indeed, artemisinin is currently the best, and in some parts of the world, the only effective treatment against the deadliest strains of the parasitical disease. In other words, if resistance to artemisinin spreads worldwide – as occurred with choloroquine in the 1960s – then we have nothing else in the locker. This may not matter to you now: but it could well matter to you if you travel to Kenya and the prophylactic your GP has prescribed fails, or if your child is hospitalized with falciparum malaria during his or her gap-year travels.
Yet as with HIV, malaria strains our empathy. "When one has fought a war, one hardly knows what a dead person is," wrote Albert Camus in The Plague. "And if a dead man has no significance unless one has seen him dead, a hundred million bodies spread through history are just a mist drifting through the imagination."
Or as a taxi driver in York put it en route to York University's biology department – where scientists are currently breeding high-yielding strains of Artemisia Annua, the plant from which artemisinin is derived, to produce sufficient quantities of the drug for Cambodia – "Unless it affects someone in my family, why should I care?"
H1N1 of course could affect that taxi driver's family and the families of millions of Britons like him. Unlike seasonal strains of influenza, which are usually only dangerous to infants and the over-65s, H1N1 swine flu – like the 1918 H1N1 "Spanish" influenza virus – appears to be hitting the under-25s hardest, hence the importance of WHO's declaration yesterday and the stepping-up of vaccine production before the autumn (at present, experts predict there will only be enough vaccine to inoculate half the British population).
Yet, for all the concern about an influenza pandemic, we should keep in mind that WHO's announcement was first and foremost an exercise in risk assessment: a signal to governments who have yet to activate their pandemic plans to pull their fingers out. Its use of the term is also the reflection of changing definitions. In the past, WHO defined an influenza pandemic as causing "enormous numbers of deaths and illness". By contrast, the current definition requires only "community-level outbreaks" in two continents at the same time – a test that was actually met several weeks ago.
That WHO has delayed announcing the inevitable until now is an indication of how worried United Nations member states have become of fuelling panic at a time when the world economy is just beginning to shown faltering signs of recovery from the credit crunch. But while Chan recognised there was a danger of people overreacting, she argued that the greater danger was "complacency". She also warned that while a level six pandemic alert did not mean the virus was becoming more dangerous or that we should expect to see an increase in mortality in developed nations, there was no telling how H1N1 would behave "under conditions typically found in the developing world".
If panicking about an influenza pandemic can help us empathise with the plight of the invisible victims of infectious diseases and make those global health connections, so much the better. Like the HIV virus and drug-resistant malaria parasites, H1N1 is no respecter of borders. And whether we drive a taxi in York or live in a mud hut in Yemen, we can be bitten at any time.
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Thursday, June 11, 2009
Opposition Leader Warns of Catastrophe
By Sok Kemara, VOA Khmer
Cambodia’s two opposition leaders are in the US together for the first time, and one of them warns that Cambodia is facing a catastrophe.
Sam Rainsy, leader of his self-named party, and Kem Sokha, head of the Human Rights Party, are in the US together seeking political support.
Speaking at a National Democratic Institute conference in Washington Wednesday, Sam Rainsy said the economic crisis was hitting Cambodia hard. “I can tell you that the situation is catastrophic,” he said. “If the economic crisis lasts, let’s say, one year, two years, then we will have serious problems.”
Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government will not be able to address the economic problems, he said, “so this will bring the regime to a very critical stage.”
Echoing Sam Rainsy’s concerns, Kem Sokha said Cambodia needs to unite its democracy advocates and its messages to help people stand up for their rights, something that would not be possible without help from the international community.
The NDI meeting was attended by Cambodian-Americans, US non-governmental agencies and other institutions. Both leaders were looking for greater support from the US and other countries, and said they worry about the future of Cambodia.
They criticized donors for turning a blind eye to Cambodia’s problems with the economy, human rights, corruption and poverty.
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