Vietnam launches campaign against human trafficking

Hanoi- Vietnamese police will launch a two-month campaign next week targeting human trafficking, a police official said Tuesday.

The General Department of Police has asked its forces nationwide to make plans to combat rings involved in trafficking in border regions, especially areas near China and Cambodia where many women have been trafficked.

'Human trafficking is becoming very complex in Vietnam due to the economic crisis,' said Nguyen Tri Phuong, deputy director of the National Social Order Crime Investigation Department. 'Traffickers are taking advantage of increasing unemployment to cheat women.'

Phuong said many women want find it hard to get other work after losing their jobs. Traffickers lure many into their trap by promising good jobs overseas. After taking them out of Vietnam, traffickers sell them to brothels or for other work.

'One hundred and ninety-one trafficking cases involving 417 women and children have been discovered so far this year,' Phuong said.

The state-run Viet Nam News on Tuesday reported traffickers often sell women and children they kidnap in northern provinces to contacts in China.

Traffickers often take advantage of dark nights and a lack of vigilance among families to kidnap their children. In isolated cases, they have murdered parents to kidnap newborn babies.

Vietnamese police will closely co-ordinate with provincial police and bodies in China, Cambodia and Laos to prevent trafficking rings, Viet Nam News reported.

Since 2005, there have been 1,600 cases of human trafficking with 4,300 victims and 3,000 people were investigated for involvement.
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Malaysian-driven energy for Cambodia coastal town

HANOI, Malaysia’s Leader Universal Holdings Bhd will invest US$160 million (RM560 million) in a new coal-fired power plant in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, to meet the local increasing demand for electricity, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

Presently, the capacity of all power plants in the Southeast Asian nation is only around 410MW while the demand is estimated at 808MW, according to the local state-owned power company, “Electricite du Cambodge”.

The power plant with a designed capacity of 100MW is scheduled to commence its operations in 2012 after two years of construction, said Leader’s Managing Director Sean H’ng Chun Hsiang.

The company is a leading wire and cable producer located in Penang. The Group’s principal activities are manufacturing and selling telecommunication, power and optical fibre cables, and various electronic wires. Other activities include providing power generation services, property development, letting of properties, insurance agent and investment holding.

Besides Malaysia and Cambodia, the Group also carried out projects in Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Belgium and Saudi Arabia.

Sean also revealed a plan to develop a 700MW power plant in Sihanoukville and the project will start after the completion of the 100MW plant in 2012. Sihanoukville is a popular coastal town located about 200km south-west of Phnom Penh.

It is one of the fastest-growing regions in Cambodia due to its beaches and island hops as well as a few casinos currently in operation.

Cambodia currently relies on importing electricity, with 220MW from Vietnam and 30 MW from Thailand. – Bernama

Read more!

Khmer asylum seekers's Cambodia complaints

Nearly two dozen asylum seekers deported by Thailand to Cambodia more than 10 days ago are complaining of a lack food and harsh living conditions.

They are part of a group of 56 ethnic Khmers who fled southern Vietnam for Thailand between six months and six years ago.

The Phnom Penh Post says the rest of the Khmer Krom have now left the border area to seek shelter from friends and relatives in Cambodia.

But the remaining 23 deportees say they have no family in the country, and are surviving on charity outside the border town of Poipet.

Several members of the group have told the Post what they fear most is repatriation to Vietnam, where Khmer Krom say they face restrictions of freedom of expression and religion.
Read more!

THIRD EYE: Asian Edification, Unity For All, Wild Strawberries

ASIAN EDIFICATION

LEGO. According to a Singapore media report, in “2012, you might be able to drive across the Second Link to Johor Baru and, in 15 minutes, catch a view of the Petronas Twin Towers, India’s Taj Mahal, Cambodia’s
Angkor Wat and Singapore’s Merlion — all at one go”.

Yes. It’s the Asian Legoland “slated to come up at the Iskandar Malaysia development region in three years’ time”.

Recruitment of builders is under way to piece together 30 million Lego bricks for the RM750 million, 23 ha theme park, “which will boast more than 30 rides, shows and attractions, from roller coasters and boat rides to adventure walks”.

Legoland is expected to create some 5,000 jobs. Syabas

UNITY FOR ALL

QUESTIONS. According to media reports, Information, Communication and Culture Minister questioned Pas’
rejection of the idea of unity with Umno but willingness to cooperate with the DAP.

Also an Umno supreme council member, he said he could not understand why Pas was rejecting the the idea, which was benefi cial to the Malays.

“Why do they not want unity?

Malays are questioning this.”

He said the actions of the party in rejecting idea of a unity government mooted by the Pas president made it look as though it had internal problems.

It could be those in favour of the idea were being disfavoured, he said on the stump in Manik Urai.

Anyone interested in transethnic unity, YB?

WILD STRAWBERRIES

CAMERON Highlands. According to media reports, “30 hectares of land in Cameron Highlands grown with strawberries are capable of producing RM70 million worth of the fruit each year”. Deputy Agriculture and
Agro-Based Industries Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Kasim said the achievement was due to the proactive
measures taken by the ministry to ensure that the quality of strawberries produced here was on par with that of
imported strawberries.

“If previously the strawberries grown here were smaller and rather sour, now they are bigger, sweet and more delicious. Because of their better quality, the fruit has begun to be exported to Singapore,” he said when
launching the “One District, One Industry” programme. Sounds like Thailand’s One Tambun (village) One Product concept. Read more!

Cambodia trip can be carbon heavy for careless travellers

Buying locally is one way for tourists to reduce carbon footprint, an an oportunity exists for businesses looking to cash in on conscience

Cambodia's level of carbon emissions are relatively small at less than 2 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per capita per year, but as the tourism industry grows, so does the rate of carbon emissions.

According to GERES Climate Change Unit Manager Minh Cuong Le Quan, tourism directly affects climate change on two accounts. "One is direct emissions from the travel of the tourists," he said, with air travel making a particularly high contribution.

According to the Lonely Planet, a couple flying from London to New York adds 2.68 tonnes of CO2 to their carbon footprint, or over a quarter of the average UK household's yearly emissions.

As tourists visit restaurants and hotels, and travel between them, they also add to domestic consumption of fossil fuels, further adding to Cambodia's total greenhouse gas emissions, Le Quan said.

The first thing to do is take an honest look at one’s own practices.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But there are also additional, more subtle ways that tourism increases Cambodia's energy consumption, he added, as tourists maintain their first world, high-consumption lifestyles.

"People tend to take showers the same way and take baths the same way they would in the West or Northeast Asia," Le Quan offered as an example.

Steps to reduce footprints
Le Quan suggested ways that tourists can lessen their carbon footprint. "The first thing to do is take an honest look at one's own practices," he said. "This begins by using the least-polluting modes of transportation."

According to Le Quan, economy class seats are two times less polluting than business class seats on airlines, and three times less polluting than first class.

He also recommended staying in "environment friendly" hotels, though recognised this could be difficult in Camboida due to an absence of any specific "climate friendly" labels.

However, a number of hotels and restaurants have already gone beyond the usual eco-friendly standards, he said, including properties owned by the FABS Group and the Foreign Correspondents Club in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

It is also more environmentally friendly to buy Cambodian-made products and crafts instead of imports, and tourists can also give money to carbon offset programs, which GERES is involved with.

"The idea is good," said Le Quan, but added that potential donors look carefully at the organisations they are giving money to, pointing out that many are for-profit businesses.

Getting off easy
Some critics of carbon offsetting have compared such donations to the payment for papal pardons.

"This is a valid criticism," Le Quan said. "If you just keep going your own way and just offset because you've got money to spend on it and want to feel good about it, that's a pardon."

Instead, he suggests reducing consumption before paying for offsets.

To Le Quan, adopting climate friendly practices is an opportunity for businesses. "It's an opportunity to the structure of companies to answer to the new economy which is emerging this century, which is socially and environmentally responsible," he said.
Read more!

Seeing Cambodia's temples - but without the crowds

John Burgess
The Washington Post


It's early on a Sunday morning in Cambodia and I'm standing at a 12th-century moat. Traces of mist hover above the lotus leaves that dapple the water. Across a causeway, through a tumbled-down gate, lies Banteay Chhmar, one of the largest temples ever built by the ancient Khmer Empire. My friends and I will have the place all to ourselves.

We walk in. It turns out that we do end up sharing it, with a local man who brings his cows onto the grounds to graze. And with an affable mason who leads us across acres of fallen stone to see a message from the past, an inscription chiseled into the door jamb of a holy tower. This kind of company we welcome.

Cambodia's great temples of Angkor, 100 kilometres away, have long since been rediscovered after a quarter-century of closure by war. They now draw more than a million foreign visitors a year, not a few of whom regret that so many other people had the same idea. At peak hours, human traffic jams can form at temple steps.

But go beyond Angkor and you can find places that serve up the old solitude and sense of discovery.

Banteay Chhmar is among the most spectacular of these places. Getting to it entails hours on very bumpy and dusty dirt roads. Staying the night means making do with primitive accommodations: candlelit rooms in local homes, bath water drawn from that same moat.

I stayed the night, and it turned out to really make the visit. The next morning I rose early, as everyone here does, and took a walk in clean country air. I passed hens foraging with their chicks and boys tending to a mud oven in which charcoal was being made. I was seeing not only a temple but a way of life.

Today several thousand people -- rice farmers, cattle herders, market vendors -- make their homes on all four sides of the temple. They grow vegetables on the banks of a series of moats; they pile straw within the walls of lesser ancient buildings that dot their settlement. The ancient and present day coexist.

Spending time here also means doing a good turn, spreading a bit of wealth in a part of a war-recovering country that has largely missed out on the tourist dollars that Angkor is bringing in. People do have cellphones (charged by generator), and some have small tractors, but there are few other signs of affluence.

Banteay Chhmar was created in the Khmer Empire's last great burst of construction, under the 12th-century Buddhist king Jayavarman VII. His engineers were thinking big even by Khmer standards: To contain a great settlement, they built earthworks and moats that formed a square measuring roughly one 1.5 kilometres on each side. At its centre, within another square moat system, they built the temple.

More than a century ago, French archeologist Etienne Aymonier found the temple to be in a state of "indescribable ruin.'' It still is, despite the efforts of the friendly mason, who is part of a small reconstruction team. But that's part of what makes the site so enticing.

Exploring it means climbing over piles of large fallen stones. We passed ruined towers, courtyards and ceremonial walkways. Sometimes the stones were so high that we were walking at roof level.

The temple is no longer a formal religious site, but Cambodians believe that it, like all those that their forebears left behind, remains a holy site. In one surviving chamber we found a small contemporary shrine, with a Buddha image wearing a cloth robe, where people made incense offerings.

One of the best parts of this temple is the many bas-reliefs on its outer walls. We had to scramble up more stones to get a good view. Before us was a full sample of life 900 years ago: processions of elephants, prominent ladies tended by maids, children roughhousing, villagers in a sampan, servants tending a stove.

There were also many scenes of war with Champa, a long-vanished rival state to the east: The temple is in large part a memorial to four generals who lost their lives in that long conflict. On land, the men of arms go at one another fiercely with spears (you can identify the Chams by the curious blossom-shaped headdress they wear). On water, rows of men pull at oars from galleys as others strike at the enemy with spears. There are also images of the divine, notably the god Vishnu, with 32 arms arrayed like rays of light.

The carving style is similar to that of the Bayon temple reliefs in Angkor. The difference is there's no need to fight for a view. We did cross paths for a few minutes our first day with a party of about 20 French-speaking tourists. We saw no other visitors that day or the next.

Late in the afternoon, we went to see what the ancient Khmers could do with water. Just east of the temple, they created a big reservoir. Academics disagree over whether it did only symbolic duty as an earthly stand-in for the mythic Sea of Creation, or was part of an irrigation system, or both. Whatever the truth, I was awed by the scale.

The reservoir was now largely dry, but because its floor is low and collects water, it has been divided into rice paddies. We went for a stroll, walking along paddy dikes to keep our feet dry. We said hello to members of a farming family who were tinkering with a small tractor. A woman had caught a bucketful of paddy crabs and insects, which she would sell as food.

I spent the night at the house of a Cambodian family, friends of a friend. They couldn't have been more gracious. They gave me a room, bottled water, mosquito coils and a big luxury: a car battery hooked to a fluorescent light.

Other members of our party slept at a formal homestay, the term given to guest houses. It had two rooms with large beds covered by mosquito nets. Downstairs there was a basic bathroom with a squat toilet and scoop bath.

In the morning we had breakfast at a stall in the town's market; there are no proper restaurants. It was noodle soup with chicken, and very good.

I first visited Angkor in 1969. Back then, you could be alone in the big temples there. I once walked through the largest of them, Angkor Wat, encountering hardly a soul.

It's good to know that such an experience can still be had. You just have to work a bit harder for it.

IF YOU GO:

Getting around: There is no public transportation to the sites described here; wheels are on a bring-your-own basis. Tour companies in Siem Reap will arrange visits. If you feel adventurous, strike deals directly with taxi or motorcycle drivers and go on your own.

Being Mealea and Koh Ker can be visited in one long day. Banteay Chhmar, at four hours each way, is a bigger challenge to reach. If you're entering Cambodia overland from Thailand, you can save time by turning north at Sisophon town to reach the temple.

When to go: Winter is Cambodia's peak tourist season. Avoid March, April and May, the peak time for heat. Don't be scared off by the summer-through-fall rainy season. The rains typically occur only in late afternoon.

Where to stay: A French non-profit organization has been helping Banteay Chhmar operate a homestay program. It provides for overnight accommodations, often in a guesthouse next door to the host family's home; meals; local culture performances; and an ox cart ride. Tour companies can book you. Or you make direct contact by emailing program co-ordinator Tath Sophal at tathsophal (at) yahoo.com.

Koh Ker has guesthouse accommodations.

For more information: The official Cambodian tourism site is www.tourismcambodia.com
Read more!

Woman Hears Call, Responds, Raises More Than $2,600 For The ‘Silent’

By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor


The saga of how area kindergarteners raised $680 to assist children sold into slavery in another country is a story worth telling repeatedly as an encouragement to those wanting to "do something," said an area children's minister.

Missy Zivney, children's minister at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, helped raise more than $2,600 in July for the locally based nonprofit For The Silent.

The story starts in January, when Missy Zivney, a mother of four, went to see the child sex-slave traffic rockumentary "Call + Response." The depiction of abused children "gripped my heart," she said. She left the Times Square Cinema, which showed the film in cooperation with local churches, feeling bewildered and almost paralyzed.

"The problem of sex trafficking children is so pervasive and so overwhelming, you can get paralysis from the analysis," said the Whitehouse mother of four. "It's a temptation to just want to shut it out, and have it be 'out of sight, out of mind.' For awhile, I was wondering what one person could even do."

But not for long. During a benefit concert in May at Rose Heights Church with Paul Balouche, she heard more about For The Silent, a local nonprofit featured in the Tyler Morning Telegraph during the sold-out "Call + Response" showings. For The Silent founders Kenny and Julie Rigsby, 27 and 25, respectively, said their effort focuses on poverty stricken Cambodian children sold into slavery. The children have few or no advocates and almost no resources to help them escape a dismal life of servitude in seedy brothels.

"At the concert, I heard Kenny speak about this horrible and heinous crime on their bodies that these kids experience, and it gripped my heart all over again," Mrs. Zivney said. "After the concert was over, I saw all these For The Silent donation envelopes on the floor and in the pews. I sent two of my children to gather them all up, and I said, 'Lord, I'm going use these somehow.'"
She wasn't sure just how until a meeting at Pleasant Hill weeks later to form a church day camp for her young charges.

"That's when it hit me like a lightening bolt," Mrs. Zivney said. "We would structure our whole day camp around For The Silent. I didn't want to just have a fun day camp where the focus is just having a good time. I wanted to issue a challenge to get them to go out and do something, something with a meaningful basis, something to do with ministry."

Getting some church teens to help with the approximately 160 kids from dindergarten to sixth grade who came to camp each day June 29 through July 3, Mrs. Zivney set up a crafts fair. The children made and painted birdhouses, rocks, paperweights, picture holders and colorful tiles to be used as trivets in kitchens.

Then they sold them from 50 cents to $ 1.

"I'm telling you," Mrs. Zivney said, "the response was overwhelming. Parents sent in $20 $50 and $100 checks for a $1 item. They got so excited and behind this ministry that the kindergarten-age camp class alone raised $680."

The grand total from the entire camp was $2,600. When Kenny Rigsby heard the total raised, he was momentarily speechless.

"It's completely incredible to see kids helping other kids going through some of the worst things imaginable," he said, "and area kids having a positive impact on children they'll never know or see. It's always cool to see young kids caring about what God cares about."

The money will go toward purchasing a vehicle for a Cambodian After Care ministry that desperately needs a vehicle to transport children rescued from the slave trade, Rigsby said.

"That's hugely important in Cambodia," he said, "because vehicles cost so much there and there is little money to buy them. The center needs safe transportation for the children to go to school, visit the doctor and to see their families. We take transportation for granted here, but there it makes a tremendous difference."

And making a difference is what the children of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church did for some children in Cambodia.

Rigsby said, "What Missy did is what we always ask people; do what they already know how to do to make a difference in the lives of these children. She used her camp and influence to extend her reach into families. She did Day Camp For The Silent and look at the result."

Mrs. Zivney said, "Our kids got T-shirts that read, 'Go Win With Jesus For The Silent.' What better way to minister to those children in need than through our children?"

Donations of about $10,000 are still needed to purchase the vehicle for the After Care ministry. To donate online, visit www.forthesilent.com, or send donations to For The Silent, P.O. Box 998, Tyler, 75710. Call 903-530-4931 for information.

Read more!

Angkor’s temples are uniquely Khmer

The Indianization of Southeast Asia was one of the early theories developed in the last century to explain the pervasive presence of Hindu religious sites, sculptures and languages in this region, but the mechanisms of Indianization have always been subject to debate. In the early years of this theory, it almost seemed as if Southeast Asia was a passive recipient for Indian ideas and religion, but today the general consensus is that local rulers used the religious teachings from India as a way to further validate their royal power, leading to many similarities in the ways rulers exerted control over their subjects here (think the traditional Mandala structures of kingdoms), but also to regional distinctiveness. This article shows how the buildings of Angkor reflect that Indian influence, but are also fundamentally Khmer in construction.

Ancient Khmer art and culture have characteristics distinct from India, though some ideas appear to have been borrowed from the tradition, a Canadian archeologist told guests in Washington last week.

Speaking to a small conference at the Freer-Sackler Art Gallery, Mitch Henderickson, director of the Industries of Angkor Project and researcher at the University of Sydney, said he found no evidence after seven years of research indicating that temples or architectural structures like Angkor Wat had been built in India.

“In the past it was interpreted as a direct diffusion of Indians and Indian ideals into Cambodia,” he said. “It has only been, say, in the last 10 years that we have truly understood how Brahman and Buddhist ideals have been brought into Cambodia and whether the actual Brahman or monks were giving the ideas.”

Some architecture and arts were now thought “uniquely Khmer,” he said, “because there are no temples in India that are built in the same way. They don’t follow the idea of building a ‘baray’ with a ‘mebon’ in the center, which is the representation of Mount Meru in the Sea of Milk [epic]. There’s nothing like that i​n India. So, the idea is that now we realize that Cambodia took the ideas that they wanted and modified them to suit the purpose and goals of the rulers and kings.”

Read more!

The Vietnamese Government Unlawfully Imprisons Members of the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV)

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the last three weeks, three members of the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV) have been arrested for promoting the strengthening of democracy and human rights for the people of Vietnam.

On July 7, 2009, Dr. Nguyen Tien Trung, the leader of the DPV’s Youth for Democracy organization, and Lieutenant Colonel Tran Anh Kim, a key member of the DPV, were imprisoned for urging increased freedoms of the press, religion, travel and improved human rights. On June 13, 2009, Le Cong Dinh, a prominent attorney and member of the DPV, was unlawfully detained for similar reasons.

These actions came shortly after the arrest and imprisonment of Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, CEO of OCI, Le Thang Long, Le Thi Thu and Tran Thi Thu on May 24, 2009. The above individuals had been politically involved in a peaceful manner with the aim of promoting & strengthening democracy and human rights, leading to economic prosperity and stamping out poverty.

According to Dr. Nguyen X. Ngai, the Vice Secretary of the Democratic Party of Vietnam, “The actions of the Vietnam government are unlawful and unacceptable in the world community, and is just the opposite of what the Vietnam government agreed to when it joined the WTO and the United Nations.

“The DPV deplores this action and demands that the government of Vietnam obey the law and release all the above individuals, as well as other political members who are still unlawfully imprisoned in Viet Nam, without any restrictions or conditions attached.”

The Democratic Party of Vietnam has been cooperating with the Vietnamese Communist Party since 1944. At that time, the late Hoang Minh Chinh, former Secretary of the DPV, reformed and reshaped the DPV to place emphasis on non-violent but law-abiding activities with no affiliation to any other political parties. This was announced and reemphasized again on January 9, 2008.

Central Executive Committee

Democratic Party of Vietnam

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CAMBODIA: "Floating toilets" offer hope for river communities

PHNOM PENH, A toilet now in the development stage could improve the health of thousands living in Cambodia's impoverished river communities.

River communities' homes are typically built on floating platforms and moved seasonally, and rarely have proper latrines. Occupants use the river – the same water they use for drinking, cooking and washing.

The health risks are high: according to Resource Development International–Cambodia [see: http://www.rdic.org/home.htm] , a faith-based NGO, 74 percent of all deaths are due to waterborne diseases, including diarrhoea.

Cambodia has one of the highest infant and under-five mortality rates in the region, at 97 and 141 per 1,000 live births, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports.

Many rural Cambodians see latrines as filthy, preferring open defecation as being more natural.

"It's not a poverty issue. Some wealthy people in the countryside don't have good sanitation, and some poor families do have it," Chea Samnan, director of rural healthcare for the Ministry of Rural Development, said. "It's an issue of access to the right information."

As part of its "River of Life" profect, Lien Aid [see: http://www.lienaid.org/home] , a Singaporean-based NGO, is working on what it describes as a "floating toilet". The toilets - built on floating platforms and attached to homes – will effectively prevent faeces from entering the water.

"We are still in the preliminary stages of testing out the prototypes," Sahari Ani, Lien Aid's head, told IRIN.

Eco-sanitation design

The device has three components - a superstructure, a urine diversion pan, and a space for a removable bucket or container for waste material.

Central to the design is the pan itself, effectively separating urine from faeces. A separate section of the pan allows for anal washing.

Materials such as dry soil, ash and wood chips can be added to excreta, thereby reducing odour and pathogens, while cutting the volume of waste.

The semi-decomposed faeces is then treated at a secondary storage chamber for complete decomposition and pathogen destruction, while the nutrient-heavy urine could be used as fertilizer after removal.

Commenting on the merits of the pan, Judy Hagan, project manager of a different operator, the Tonle Sap Floating Latrine Design Project, said separating the two waste materials reduced the bulk and mass of the faeces that needed to be treated, making it more viable in a floating environment.

Key challenges

But introducing such concepts in a country like Cambodia will not be easy.

As floating river communities exist only in Cambodia and a handful of other Asian nations, latrines designed specifically for their needs are rare and expensive.

Added to this is the country's lack of qualified engineers, poor sanitation infrastructure and low level of hygiene awareness.

"The more difficult challenge is to help the community build up the human resources necessary to make the venture financially sustainable over the long term," Sahari Ani said.

According to the World Bank, only 16 percent of rural Cambodians have a proper toilet, the lowest level in Southeast Asia.

Moreover, despite the country's abundant freshwater rivers and lakes, 60 percent of its population do not have access to safe water and 85 percent are without adequate sanitation, Lien Aid stated.

Cost effectiveness

While an exact price for the device is still being determined, the NGO hopes costs can be kept to a minimum, with families possibly purchasing building material in bulk to keep down costs.

One-third of Cambodians live on less than US$0.50 a day, according to government statistics, making cost a significant factor.

"We will still try to keep costs down by exploring the use of [local] materials and by encouraging local entrepreneurs to manufacture the required parts," Lien Aid's head explained.

Although fairly new, villagers in Cambodia have already been learning how to construct cheaper latrines for as little as $15 each from the community-led total sanitation programme, started in 2005 by UNICEF and Cambodia's Ministry of Rural Development.

And while not of the floating toilet type, the self-built, cost-effective latrines could provide further impetus to the floating toilet prototype once their use becomes more widespread. Read more!

Thai prime minister wraps up visit to Vietnam (Roundup)

Hanoi- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva wrapped up his one-day visit to Vietnam on Friday.
Abhisit met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party Nong Duc Manh.

He hailed the Vietnamese government for its economic growth of 3.9 percent in the first half of the year.

'I am very impressed by Vietnam's achievement,' Abhisit told Nong Duc Manh at the meeting.

Abhisit discussed a series of issues with his Vietnamese counterpart including economics, politics, bilateral trade, military matters, rice export collaboration, transport, tourism and the protection of the Mekong River.

The prime ministers agreed that trade between the two countries did not do well in the first five months of the year. Bilateral trade revenue was worth 1.9 billion dollars, down 30 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The two countries also discussed cooperation among members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as Vietnam will take its turn to chair the regional bloc in 2010.

This year, Thailand is chairing ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore.
Read more!

Cambodian SEA Games team downsized

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia will send a team to the South East Asian Games half the size compared with that to the last version, local media reported Friday.

Thong Khon, president of the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) told the Phnom Penh Post that they will send over 100 athletes and officials to compete in seven events in the upcoming 25th SEA Games in Vientiane, Laos in December. Over 200 were sent to the previous Games in Thailand 2007.

Cambodia's most successful one discipline during those games was petanque, with the team finishing second overall to Thailand, capturing two golds, three silvers and two bronzes then.

Thong Khon said the NOCC trains around 340 athletes in their sports training center, located in the grounds of Olympic Stadium, but called on all public to provide support for their drive for greater Cambodian sporting achievements.

The FOCC claimed they currently organize national championships in tennis, taekwondo, wrestling, boxing, athletics, beach volleyball, petanque (which they call simply petan) and 25 other sports, as well as frequent international friendly matches. (PNA/Xinhua)

Read more!

Vietnam to discuss Mekong River with Thailand

Hanoi - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is to meet Friday with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajiva and plans to discuss the exploitation and use as well as the protection of the Mekong River, state media reported. The talks in Hanoi are also to focus on coping with the global economic crisis.

Vietnam is facing threats to its ecology, food security and the livelihoods of its people as upstream countries like China, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia build major dams on the Mekong.

Laos, Thailand and Cambodia are planning 11 large hydropower dams, which Vietnam said would limit the deposit of silt, acidify agricultural land and decimatefish stocks, affecting hundreds of thousands of fishermen and their households.

The Mekong flows through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia before ending its journey to the sea in Vietnam.

Read more!

Cambodia to receive $3.45m to diversify

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced Wednesday that Cambodia will receive a US$3.45 million technical assistance grant aimed at boosting the skills and incomes of people living in and around the Tonle Sap basin.

The money is to be used to help low-income groups in the area to diversify their vocational skills with the help of training programmes, demonstrations on modern farming techniques and Internet-based communication facilities, ADB said.

"The technical assistance will helpdiversify and improve the incomes of small land holders, marginal farmers and poor households in the Tonle Sap basin by increasing their access to good agricultural practices, technologies and information," Giap Minh Bui, rural development economist in ADB's Southeast Asia Department, said in a statement released Wednesday.

The Finnish government is providing the lion's share of the money - $2.7 million - with the Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund offering $500,000. The ADB, which will manage the funds, will give a $250,000 grant and the government will make up the remaining $200,000, ADB said.

The money will be used in four provinces around the lake - Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Cham, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap.

ADB said that the project will include a pilot communication project using Internet linked e-kiosks to provide up-to-date information on agricultural practices to be passed on to locals.
Read more!

Cambodia's finest secure chance to study at European universities in new program

Cambodian students from a variety of backgrounds are to leave to study at universities in eight European countries in August this year.

The 34 students are the first to be offered the chance to study abroad through the European Union's Erasmus Mundus Mobility with Asia programme (EMMA).

According to Phal Des, EMMA coordinator in Asia and IT dean at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), the programme aims to strengthen and bridge the knowledge gap between Europe and Asia.

"Europe is full of old wise people; Cambodia full of young but inexperienced people, so they need to go and learn from them," Phal Des said.

"This is part of globalisation - we want to learn from the developed countries a lot.
"These students will come back and become human resources for our country."

Phal Des added that in Europe, students who qualified for the EMMA program were admired and sought after by many employers.

Looking to the future
Chanthy Somela, 22, is a junior of agriculture at the Royal University of Agriculture and in his third year of Information Technology at RUPP. He finished his bachelor's degree in forestry in 2008.

He said he found out about the program through friends, Internet and brochures, and felt proud to be one of the Cambodians selected for the program.

"I'm very happy and feel very proud of myself,"Chanthy Somela said.
"I will try more to get my master's degree in forestry in Europe in a year.

"I am sure I will encounter new experience, thinking, new concepts, and a new environment.
"When I come back, I will help develop my country in the sector of forestry."

Chan Boramey, 20, will go abroad to study journalism and communication in Romania for one year.
She said she was leaving with a big hope in her heart.

"This is a great chance for Cambodian students to get exposed to a civilised culture, and it will open again for any student who is interested," she said.

"I am going to make the best out of every moment I have being there."
Addressing disadvantage

The other international EU scholarship programme was highly prestigious, said Phal Des, and was aimed specifically at Asian students from a disadvantaged but academic background.

The first phase of the program was finished early this year when 112 students from Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Philippines were accepted.

The number of students from Cambodia made up almost one-third of the students from the five countries in the programme.

The students will study in Romania, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Turkey and the Netherlands.

"I am very proud that a lot of Cambodian students have been selected, and this precious opportunity will keep their lives well-equipped," said Phal Des.

EMMA offers scholarships on undergraduate studies, graduate studies of master's and doctorate degrees, post-doctorate and research, Phal Des added.

The second phase will happen again in October this year in five different countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Mongolia and Myanmar.

EMMA's contact in Cambodia is Phal Des at RUPP.
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Retired king returns to Cambodia for two-month visit

Phnom Penh - Cambodia's retired king Norodom Sihanouk returned to his homeland for a two-month visit Thursday after spending almost a year in Beijing receiving treatment for cancer. The 86-year-old king-father and Queen-Mother Monique landed at Siem Reap International Airport about 3 pm and immediately traveled to a royal residence in the northern town.

Sihanouk last month announced he would return to Cambodia for two months after being successfully treated in Beijing for B-cell lymphoma, which attacks blood cells crucial to the body's immune system.

It was his third bout of cancer since 1993.

But Sihanouk said at the time he would have to return to Beijing after two months to continue his medical treatment.

Sihanouk abdicated and was replaced by his son Norodom Sihamoni in 2004, but he remains an influential figure in Cambodian politics.

He was appointed king by Cambodia's French rulers in 1941, but in 1955 Sihanouk abandoned the throne to become prime minister.

After being overthrown in a military coup in 1970, Sihanouk sided with the Maoist Khmer Rouge, who came to power in 1975 and oversaw the deaths of up to 2 million people until Vietnam invaded in 1979.

He was forced out of office again and remained virtually imprisoned in the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh during most of the Khmer Rouge's rule.

Sihanouk returned to the throne in 1993, but frequently traveled to Beijing for treatment for a range of illnesses.
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KRouge victim says brother forced to kill father

by Patrick Falby Patrick Falby


PHNOM PENH (AFP) – A woman who said she survived the Khmer Rouge's main torture centre told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court Thursday that one of her brothers was forced to kill their father at the prison.

Nam Mon, 48, was testifying at the trial of prison chief Duch, who is accused of overseeing the torture and execution of around 15,000 people who passed through Tuol Sleng prison during the regime's terrifying 1975-1979 rule.

Nam Mon told the court her two elder brothers were guards at the notorious jail, while she initially lived and worked there as a medic before being interrogated herself.

"My first brother, Nuon, killed my father and later on he was executed," Nam Mon said. "They accused him of hesitating to kill my father."

Recognised as a civil claimant in the case against Duch, Nam Mon was revealing her story in public for the first time, said her lawyer Silke Studzinsky.

However, judges have cast doubt on the authenticity of several civil claimants who have this week testified that they were at Tuol Sleng, castigating their lawyers for not being sufficiently prepared.

Nam Mon described to the court how her father was brought into the prison blindfolded, before being stripped, tortured and killed, and said the rest of her family was later rounded up and executed.

"My mother also died at Tuol Sleng with my younger brother but they died at different times," she said, adding she was then interrogated there for three months in 1978.

"During my interrogations I was not beaten with a stick, but they tightened the shackles on my ankles," Nam Mon told the court.

She then described being transferred to the nearby S-24 "re-education centre" where she was forced to dig graves for the corpses of children, adding she was freed by invading Vietnamese troops after being sent to another jail.

She told the court that she had not been able to find her prison mugshot, but had discovered all the photos of her family members who were executed at Tuol Sleng.

The 66-year-old Duch, real name Kaing Guek Eav, begged for forgiveness from victims near the start of his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity after accepting responsibility for his role overseeing the jail.

But he has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he held a central leadership role in the Khmer Rouge, and says he never personally executed anyone.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge a communist utopia. Up to two million people were executed or died of starvation, overwork or torture.

Four other former Khmer Rouge leaders are currently in detention and are expected to face trial next year. Read more!

Paris accords failed to save Cambodia

By Gaffar Peang-Meth
Guest Commentary


Washington, DC, United States, — In 1991 there were high hopes for Cambodia’s future. The brutal regime of Pol Pot had been knocked from power; guerilla warfare between the four Cambodian factions was being transformed from a shooting war to a contest at the ballot box; and the Final Act of the Paris Peace Accords promised Cambodia a liberal democracy whose citizens would at long last enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms.
Some interpreters of historical events dub what followed in Cambodia after the Peace Accords as a United Nations “success story.” It could have been a success story. The words and the vision in the settlement framework pointed to that direction.

The Final Act of the Paris Accords sought to “restore peace” to Cambodia, ravaged by “tragic conflict and continuing bloodshed,” through “an internationally guaranteed comprehensive settlement.” It was adopted on Oct. 23, 1991 by 18 participating governments – Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam – where officials of Zimbabwe and Yugoslavia represented the non-aligned movement and the U.N. Secretary-General and his special representative were participants.

Signatory states declared to “commit themselves to promote and encourage respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Cambodia, as embodied in the relevant international instruments to which they are party.”

Among other things, they agreed to maintain, preserve and defend Cambodia’s “sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and inviolability, neutrality and national unity”; restore and maintain Cambodia’s peace; promote national reconciliation; “ensure the exercise of the right to self-determination of the Cambodian people” through free and fair elections; and the “non-return to the policies and practices of the past.”

The Accords stipulated Cambodia’s Constitution as “the supreme law of the land”; promised adherence to fundamental rights of “life, personal liberty, security, freedom of movement, freedom of religion, assembly and association . . . due process and equality before the law, protection from arbitrary deprivation of property or deprivation of private property without just compensation . . . consistent with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international instruments.”

Annex 5 states, “Cambodia will follow a system of liberal democracy,” with an “independent judiciary . . . empowered to enforce the rights provided under the Constitution.”

Yet, from the outset of the Accords, the necessary “neutral political environment conducive to free and fair general elections” was never ensured. “The strict neutrality” of “administrative agencies, bodies and offices” responsible for “foreign affairs, national defense, finance, public security and information,” which the Accords placed under the direct control of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, to “exercise (its authority) as necessary to ensure strict neutrality,” was never consummated. Authority was not assumed by UNTAC, but remained in the hands of the Hun Sen government.

Some people do things simply because they can, with no fear of consequences. When Prince Ranariddh of the royalist FUNCINPEC – the French acronym for the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia – won the elections in 1993 as the people expressed their right of self-determination, Cambodian People’s Party leader Hun Sen, who had ruled Cambodia under Vietnam’s protection since January 1979, was allowed to elbow himself into a co-premiership with Ranariddh. The peoples’ ballots were rendered irrelevant, with the blessing of the U.N. Transitional Authority.

Hun Sen and the CPP immediately began preparations for the 1998 elections. In 1997, Co-Premier Hun Sen’s forces fought Co-Premier Ranariddh’s royalist troops in the streets of Phnom Penh in a coup d’etat that killed many and sent Ranariddh fleeing to neighboring Thailand.

The world community realized that unless Ranariddh returned to participate in the upcoming elections, the Paris Peace Accords would be meaningless. It took coordinated high-level international pressures and threats for Ranariddh to agree to return to Cambodia. But Hun Sen and the CPP were already in firm control of the country. Recently, from eventual exile in Malaysia, Ranariddh was compelled to foreswear political activity before Hun Sen would allow him to return to his homeland.

In spite of the Paris Accords’ stipulation that “All persons in Cambodia . . . shall enjoy the rights and freedoms embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international human rights instruments,” in contemporary Cambodia, Hun Sen runs the country with an iron fist. He exercises control over the three branches of government.

With opposition much in disarray, an alternative to his rule is lacking. With the international community desirous of political stability, human rights are neglected and donor countries continue to make up half of the national budget that sustains Hun Sen’s regime.

By controlling the purse strings, donor countries assert they have some leverage to demand good governance, even from a dictator. But Hun Sen has made a mockery of both the domestic political and judicial systems – lifting legislators’ parliamentary immunity, filing frivolous lawsuits against his opponents – and the international court that has been seated to try cases against alleged perpetrators of atrocities under the Khmer Rouge regime – of which Hun Sen was a part.

So blatant is his disregard for international norms that he has warned foreigners that he has other “laws” to deal with “foreigners” who play with Cambodian politics. Good governance is entirely absent.

Today’s Cambodia under Hun Sen and the CPP has more roads, bridges, modern buildings, and fancy villas. It is more appealing than the Cambodia of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge whose regime of murder and mayhem devastated the country from 1975-79. But under Hun Sen, the rich get richer, nearly half of the population lives below poverty level, many live off the city’s refuse, and high officials are accused of siphoning several hundred million dollars each year for personal enrichment.

Generous monetary aid to Hun Sen and the CPP helps strengthen authoritarian rule, which is legitimized by elections in an environment of intimidation and fear. The level of deadly attacks may have declined, but how many fewer threats, how much less intimidation, and how many fewer deaths make elections “more free and fair”? Are Cambodians “more free” because they are given ballots to put in election boxes under the watchful eyes of party cadres and agents?

Does a government that sells natural resources for private gain, evicts the weak and the underprivileged from their land in order to permit development by the wealthy and the powerful, sues its citizens and lifts the immunity of lawmakers whose words and opinions aren’t in agreement with those of the party in power, represent progress toward a more democratic future?

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Library ship books fifth visit

By: ACHARA ASHAYAGACHAT


Newspaper section: NewsThe education ship Doulos returns to Thailand this month, marking its fifth visit since 1987. The 95-year-old ship will dock at Bangkok Port, Berth 1, at Klong Toey from July 30 to Aug 23.

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has confirmed her visit to the ''floating bookshop'' next month. The princess also went aboard during the ship's first visit to Thailand 22 years ago.

The Doulos also visited Thailand in 1990, 2001 and 2006. The last visit saw as many as 60,000 people tour the ship and buy books collected from around the world.

The ship, with its slogan ''Bringing Knowledge, Help and Hope'', is run by GBA Ships (previously known as Good Books for All), a private, non-profit, charitable organisation registered in Germany in 1977.

It has stopped off in Hong Kong and is now in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. After the Bangkok visit, it will head on to Malaysia to complete its Asian tour.


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AFC Futsal draw to be conducted in Malaysia

THE draw for the West Asia qualifying tournament for next year's Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Futsal Championship will be held on July 22 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, it was announced yesterday.

Bahrain are one of seven teams set to compete in the tournament, which will be held in Doha in October. It will mark the kingdom's international debut in futsal.

The competition feature four ranked nations in the sport and three unranked teams - one of them being the Bahrainis. Lebanon are the favourites. They are currently classified as the top team in the West Asian region and eighth overall in the AFC.

Iraq (14th), Kuwait (16th) and hosts Qatar (19th) are the other ranked teams. Jordan and Saudi Arabia join Bahrain as those without ranking.

Qualification

Apart from the West Asian event, qualifying tournaments will also be taking place in the Asean and East Asian regions.

The Asean teams, which will be divided into two groups, are Australia (ranked fifth), Malaysia (10th), Indonesia (11th), Vietnam (18th), Brunei (21st), Cambodia (NA), Myanmar (NA) and Philippines (NA).

The East Asian squads are Japan (third), China (fourth), Korea Republic (13th), Chinese Taipei (15th), Macau (17th), Hong Kong (NA) and Guam (NA).

The top three teams from each of the four qualification groups will advance to the AFC Futsal Championship, along with four nations who have already pre-qualified.

The squads that are already in are Iran, Thailand, Japan, and the host Uzbekistan. Iran, Thailand and Japan are in based on their top three rankings in the 2008 tournament, while Uzbekistan qualify automatically as hosts.

Bahrain's national futsal team, coached by Brazilian Gustavo Zloccowick, are scheduled to begin their daily training programme soon. Zloccowick has named a preliminary training pool of 35 players.
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