Cambodia finds its 1st ancient ironworks site in history

PHNOM PENH, The Apsara Authority of Cambodia has found and excavated for the first time in its history the ancient ironworks site at Khav village, Khav commune, Chi-kreng district of Siem Reap province where is the home of Angkor Wat temple, the local media reported on Saturday.

"We have excavated four sites and each site has size of five meters in length and two meters in width, and we also found iron mines, some potteries, pieces of cook, some bamboos, other ancient materials, and a tube for blowing the air into the ancient cook to melt the iron stone," the khmer language newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea quoted Ea Darith, deputy director of temple conservation for external affairs of Angkor wat park as saying, who is also expert for leading the excavation group.

"Those sites were used for melting iron mines and it was belonged to aborigine "Kouy" and their relatives still exist in living in Cambodia now," he said. "They melted those iron mines to produce as guns, swords, javelins, and other daily households including axes, knifes, and chisels for the king at that time," he added.

"According to the analysis on potteries, those sites were constructed in the 11th or 13th century," Ea Darith said.

At the same time, Apsara Authority also found the ancient Chinese ointment containers which Khmer imported from China. "Khmer and Chinese people got married and lived at Angkor Wat region at that time. So we could find them," he said, adding that those ancient Chinese ointment containers were made in 12th or 13th century.

"Our excavation of the sites was stopped temporarily because our experts need to take those materials for laboratory and took photos to print on books for keeping for next generation to research. There are five sites of iron works here and we will excavate one more in the future at the area," according to Ea Darith.
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Life in focus

WHEN Age photographer Simon O'Dwyer first visited Cambodia in 1997 to photograph the landmine clearing work being done by AusAID and the Cambodian Mine Action Centre, he found a country devastated by war and death.

Under the command of Pol Pot, between 1975 and 1979, the Khmer Rouge systematically killed an estimated 2 million Cambodians, almost a quarter of the country's population.

The victims' ''crimes'' ranged from having an education or speaking a foreign language to being a soldier or government official from the previous regime. Entire families were imprisoned and murdered and, even today, the country remains forever changed, with generations lost to the Killing Fields.

Back in 1997, despite Cambodia's continuing struggles with poverty and disease and the pain still so visible on the scarred bodies of so many people, O'Dwyer also saw a resilience and hopeful dignity.

It was a resilience and hope that he explored further on a recent trip back - photographing the displaced people of Andong Village, the Stung Meanchey garbage dump and the historic temples of Angkor.

"For me, returning so many years later, the growth of tourism has taken a small part of that initial charm, but the spirit of the people and their hopes for a happier future remain," O'Dwyer says.

With more than 42 per cent of the country's population under the age of 15, Cambodia is a young country that is trying to move forward; taking what it can from a growing tourist market that draws international visitors to both the memorials of its grisly past and a raw beauty that decades of killing and conflict have not been able to destroy.

Next weekend, as part of the third Ballarat International Foto Biennale, a collection of photographs from O'Dwyer's two Cambodian journeys will be on display. It is just one of the exhibitions being staged at venues in and around the Ballarat Heritage and Arts precinct featuring at least 2000 images from up to 500 photographers.

For festival director Jeff Moorfoot, the decision to include O'Dwyer's work was based on his belief in the photographer's "humanist approach" to the subjects he photographs.

"There is a real empathy with his subjects, rather than sensationalism," Moorfoot says.

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Succulent souvenir of Cambodia

By Julie A. Warner


Our community has been enriched by recent immigrants from many countries, including Cambodia. Being a foodie, my conversations with my Cambodian friends often turn to their cuisine.

So I was excited recently to have the opportunity visit Cambodia with my daughter to experience the food, an important part of their culture.

During the course of this backpacking adventure, we traveled with an experienced guide who knew where and what to eat, be it roadside rest stops or fine dining. The colors, textures, aromas, and fellow diners were most unlike Rochester, but because of my contacts with our local community, strangely familiar as well.

One memorable stop on our journey was near Siem Reap, where we explored the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. After a morning of prowling these fascinating ruins we found ourselves at a very basic, outdoor roadside restaurant.

We dined under the shade of a canopy that provided welcome relief from the broiling sun, at red vinyl-covered tables fashioned from rough wood. The kitchen was also outdoors, without the benefit of shade, hidden behind a rather flimsy temporary wall. We wondered what was going on behind that wall!

Wanting to sample a traditional regional dish, I asked our guide for a suggestion, and he suggested loc lac or marinated beef strips with lime sauce. Our pretty young waitress took my order and I anxiously awaited my lunch.

I was not disappointed -- when the dish arrived, I found lime-marinated beef strips placed delicately upon a bed of green lettuces, red tomatoes, and golden fried potato wedges with a lightly fried egg placed on top.

To accompany my dish there was the common condiment of cracked black pepper, salt and lime wedges, the ingredients to make a dipping sauce by squeezing the lime wedges and mixing the juice with the salt and pepper.

I eagerly tasted the beef, and found it to be tender to the bite, sweet yet tangy to the taste and balanced by the richness of the fried egg. I savored each bit and was amazed that one could find such cuisine in such a humble roadside restaurant.

When I came home, I wanted to recreate this lime-marinated beef in my own kitchen.

This is the recipe I modified and shared with my family with great success.

Even though I do not have Angkor Wat in sight as I relish my loc lac I can still smell, see and savor a traditional Cambodian meal in my own home. Enjoy, enjoy!


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U.S. donates military equipment to Cambodian Armed Forces

PHNOM PENH, The United States donated military equipment to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) to help human resources and strengthen Cambodia's capacity, said a press release issued by the U.S. Embassy on Friday.

The U.S. formally transferred nearly twenty forty foot containers of excess military equipment to the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. The original cost of the material was approximately 6.5 million U.S. dollars and included 16,000 Kevlar helmets, 4,000field packs, 6,000 camouflage uniforms among other items.

The equipment was donated through the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. Since 2006, Cambodia has received approximately 4.5 million U.S. dollars worth of military equipment and technical assistance through this program.

The FMF program is also funding the grant of excess military transport equipment and technical assistance to the Ministry of National Defense and the High Command, English language training materials and technical assistance to the RCAF English Language Training Program and Maritime Security and Professional Development training to the Royal Cambodian Navy.

The equipment will be issued to priority units with the RCAF, many of whom are currently receiving training and capacity building assistance from the United States, it added.

The handover ceremony was conducted at the National Defense Ministry on Sept. 3 presided over by Brigadier General Skip Vincent and Lieutenant General Chau Phirun, General Director of Materiel and Techniques of the Ministry of National Defense.
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WHO: H1N1 flu widespread in South Asia

GENEVA, Switzerland, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia report regional or widespread H1N1 flu, World Health Organization officials say.

Pandemic H1N1 influenza continues to be the predominant circulating flu virus, both in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, WHO officials say.

Many tropical regions of South Asia and Southeastern Asia report increased or sustained high levels of respiratory disease, but Thailand and Brunei Darussalam report a declining trend.

In tropical regions of Central America and the Caribbean, flu activity continues to be geographically regional or widespread.

Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and parts of Brazil report regional or widespread flu activity, with some reporting an increasing trend in the level of respiratory diseases.

However, Chile, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand have passed the peak of their winter influenza epidemic. Influenza continues in South Africa and in parts of Australia.

In the Northern hemisphere, flu activity continues to increase in Japan, indicating an early beginning to its annual influenza season. In Canada and the United States, influenza remains low overall, however regional increases are detected in the Southeastern United States, WHO officials say.

Little flu activity is being reported in Europe or in central and western Asia. A few countries are reporting geographically widespread flu activity -- Austria and Israel, for example -- or an increasing trend in respiratory diseases -- such as the Netherlands and Romania.

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Hundreds of Cambodian police deployed against robbery in Phnom Penh

PHNOM PENH, Cambodian police authorities has deployed hundreds of police troops to seek the robbers and prevent any cases of robberies, DAP News reported on its website Thursday.

The action was taken after several cases of jewelry and property robberies occurred in past few weeks in Phnom Penh and which have caused some concern among the public, it said.

"We has been deploying our police troops to prevent any cases of robbery and provided safety for people especially jewelry sellers in the city after robbery cases occurred in the past two weeks," Khmer language DAP News quoted Touch Naroth, Phnom Penh police commander, as saying.

"We are also seeking to arrest the robbers and suspected people," he added.

It added that in the past two weeks, there were six cases of gold and other jewelry robberies in the city, and two gold sellers were shot to death. Meanwhile, the robberies caused thousands of U.S. dollars losses for the sellers.

"Our authority have to provide security for people, especially during the Khmer traditional Pchum Ben festival "ancestor guardian spirit ceremony" which will last from Sept. 5 to 19," Phnom Penh governor Ke Chuptema said.

"We have sent our spies and plain clothes police to seek robbers for punishment by law and take actions against it quickly," said Ya Kim Ie, Phnom Penh military chief.


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Retired King Flies to Beijing for Check-Up

By Kong Sothanarith

Former king Norodom Sihanouk left for Beijing Thursday, for routine medical check-ups to prevent a resurgence of cancer, according to a royal announcement.

King Norodom Sihamoni, who took the throne when his influential father abdicated in 2004, is accompanying the former monarch and former queen Monineath and will receive medical check-ups, as well.

Sihanouk is 86 and has suffered from various forms of cancer since 1993. He defeated a second round of the disease in 2005, and in June announced he had beat a third. He has undergone treatment for B-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the blood cells and the immune system.

His condition requires quarterly check-ups, and he only returned to Cambodian in July. He left the country from Siem Reap, with a departure that so “no problem at all,” said Um Daravuth, a royal cabinet member.

“He doesn’t have any more problems with cancer, but the Chinese doctors are wary he could undergo a fourth cancer, because the space of time where he had cancer between 1993 and 2009 became shorter and shorter,” Um Daravuth said.

The former king, who is revered among many Cambodians, continues to have treatment for “prevention,” Um Daravuth said.

According to a royal statement, Sihanouk is expected to return in February 2010.

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Cambodian Soldiers use Tatoos To Protect Thems from Bullets

John Maloy I GlobalPost

Cambodian soldiers believe certain tattoos can protect them from bullets and landmines, and even make them invisible.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- Magic tattoos begin with a magic man. Typically a Buddhist monk or adjar (essentially a deacon) and known for great piety, this Khmer magic man can draw scripts and images into another's skin, granting with the person supernatural armor against all kinds of harm. Understandably, such body art became popular with soldiers.

Reut Hath is one such magic man. He first learned the art of inking magic from his father, a farmer and martial arts trainer in northwestern Cambodia who was himself a "powerful magic man," according to the 52-year-old former soldier.

"Many people came to [my father], so he gave some of the work to me," Reut Hath said. "So, I had to learn magic."

Wherever Cambodian soldiers cluster, charms and amulets abound, from cloths scrawled with protection spells to bags of Buddha figurines to boar tusks -- anything to gain a magically endowed edge over the enemy. And there is perhaps no more explicit display of belief in mystical powers than magic tattoos, geometric patterns of written spells and images that crisscross the bodies of many older soldiers.

The list of powers that supposedly come with the tattoos is long and includes: imperviousness to bullets, anti-landmine protection, invisibility, an amplified voice to address troops and "great gravity" magic to make one's fists into heavier, deadlier weapons.

The intricate arrangements of some tattoos and the folk-like quality of others are often beautiful artworks in their own right. However, it's also a fading art, a system of belief that is disappearing from a military looking to recruit younger soldiers in place of aging veterans of the country's recent decades of civil war.

Reut Hath started tattooing soldiers in 1977 after himself fleeing executioners from the murderous Khmer Rouge to join the resistance against the Pol Pot regime. (In its effort to create a Maoist agrarian utopia, that regime was ultimately responsible for the deaths of more than 1.7 million people. In early 1979, the Vietnamese military toppled the Khmer Rouge government, sparking a 20-year civil war in Cambodia.)

Reut Hath joined the Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF), one of the main resistance groups that battled it out with the Vietnamese-backed Phnom Penh government throughout the 1980s. It is mostly former fighters from resistance groups like the KPNLF that have the magic tattoos.

The method

Magic men punch tattoos into the skin by hand, using a thin handle about 30 centimeters long with two syringe needles at one end. According to Reut Hath, any old ink will suffice, but during the civil war, when ink was often in short supply, he would create his own by mixing the material inside alkaline batteries with rice wine.

It only takes a few seconds to punch a single letter into the skin, though some soldiers have veritable essays written on their bodies, which require days of painful prodding.

Casting the spell

The spells are written in two ancient Indian languages -- Sanskrit or, more commonly, Pali, which is the liturgical language of Cambodia's dominant religion, Theravada Buddhism. Reut Hath admits he can't actually understand any of the spells because they aren't written in his native tongue of Khmer.

"I cannot read the Pali, but I know what letter is what letter, so I know what to write according to the formula," he said. "I learned it, but even I don't understand why the magic is so powerful."

The soldiers' stories

Sgt. Maj. Boung Thoeun is covered from head to toe in protective tattoos, his arms almost black from the dense web of Pali spells running up and down them.

The 50-year-old soldier, a former KPNLF captain, said that his tattoos twice saved him from landmines, which merely fizzled when he stepped on them. He also recalled getting caught in a nighttime ambush that should have meant certain death, but he came away unscathed.

"The enemy sprayed a lot of bullets at us," he said. "It was a dark place but there were so many [tracer bullets] flying about that it looked like the daytime."

Cambodian army Maj. Gen. Lay Virak, formerly a KPNLF senior commander, said he knows of magic that prevents a person from getting lost in the forest. He also met a monk who knew magic that allowed one to walk through fire.

"During the war, we believed in the magic. We knew a lot, including magic that prevents you from being tied up or hurt by torture," Lay Virak added.

With so much power supposedly at their fingertips, it would seem like a half-dozen tattooed soldiers could take on an army. But when it comes to magical tattoos there's still a catch -- several, actually.

"It is a question of your belief, your nationalism and your devotion to the rules," said Reut Hath of how one keeps their magic potent.

The basis of belief

These rules are typically based on morality and religiosity: Do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery, regularly burn incense and pray, recite magical mantras, etc. The rules establish a Buddhist grounding for the magic, taking what could be thought of as a selfish act to empower oneself and changing it into a promotion of moral behavior and faith. Of course, to the more cynical-minded, the rules also provide reasons why a man covered in protection spells might be killed on the battlefield: "If only he hadn't been so forward with his neighbor's wife," for example.

However, some of the rules might appear more arbitrary. Reut Hath forbids the men he tattooed from eating dog meat. In addition to dog, Lay Virak must also shun snake, turtle and pork, and in perhaps the most unusual limitation, he will sacrifice his protection if he urinates and defecates at the same time.

In addition, former resistance fighters say, the end of warfare in Cambodia has done much to reduce both the strict morality and magical potency associated with the tattoos -- with easy living comes temptation.

"During the fighting, most of the fighters were powerful -- the magic worked," Reut Hath said. "But with peace, many came to the cities and starting drinking, sleeping with girls and the magic has faded away."

This perceived decline in morality has driven Reut Hath to vow to never tattoo anyone ever again. "I decided to stop giving the tattoos because I cannot trust the young people these days. If they had tattoos they'd probably fight. Before, we thought about the liberation of our country. We had a good spirit."

He said he does know of some magic men who continue to tattoo people, but their numbers are dwindling. "Many soldiers have [tattoos] but they don't know how to pass them on," he added.

Though not in any way prohibited, tattoos are now an increasingly rare sight in the Cambodian military. Even among those who fought in the 1970s and '80s, it was only in the resistance groups based along the Thai border that it remained a prominent tradition. Resistance fighters who joined the military after the war have also typically found themselves relegated to positions with little authority or influence.

"Usually it's the fighters from the border that have tattoos," said Maj. Gen. Chap Pheakdei, commander of Brigade 911, the army's elite paratrooper unit, adding that few of his soldiers have sought the protection of magical body art.

"On the Phnom Penh side during the [civil] war maybe two out of 100 would have [tattoos]," said one Brigade 911 officer who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press. "Some guys go out with tattoos all over them and get killed, and a guy with nothing comes back fine -- I believe in luck, not magic."

"But maybe," he added, "that's because our side has tanks."

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Thai Parliament Opens Way for Border Talks

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer


The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday welcomed the approval of border discussions in Thailand’s parliament, providing the border committees of the neighbors a foundation for resolving a longstanding border dispute.

The two sides are expected to discuss border demarcation near the temple of Preah Vihear, which has been at the center of a military standoff for more than a year. The approval follows the withdrawal of some troops by both sides in recent weeks.

In a closed-door session between the Thai upper and lower Houses, lawmakers voted 306-6 to engender talks, the Nation newspaper reported. Earlier attempts to negotiate a border settlement have been scuttled by a Thai government in chaos, as partisan sides protested, and, in one case, ousted, the government.

“Thai parliament approved the negotiation framework to allow the Thai government to discuss all problems with its neighbors, particularly the border issue with Cambodia,” said Koy Kong, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. “In the past, Cambodia has waited for approval from Thai parliament allowing the Thai border commission the right to continue discussions with the Cambodian side.”

The new vote would allow discussions “as soon as possible,” he said. “The Cambodian side needs to resolve the border dispute sooner and sooner.”

Var Kimhong, head of Cambodia’s border committee, said the two countries have so far approved more than 30 of 73 sites where markers need to be placed along 805 kilometers of frontier.

The General Border Committee, led by defense ministers of both nations, and the Joint Border Commission, led by the foreign ministers, met in late July, while the top commanders of respective militaries met in August—all in talks aimed at diffusing tension along the border, which saw at one time a build-up of thousands of troops and led to to several skirmishes and at least seven dead soldiers.

Over the past year, those skirmishes threatened to spill over into larger battle, as soldiers fired machine guns, rockets and mortars at each other, while heavy infantry and artillery were stationed nearby. A Cambodian market was destroyed, Preah Vihear temple damaged and hundreds of residents near the 11th-Century temple forced to evacuate their homes.

The standoff was sparked by the July 2008 listing of Preah Vihear temple as a Unesco World Heritage site, subsequent protests in Thailand and on the border and the occupation of disputed land near the temple by troops from both sides.

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2000 Border Agreement a Disadvantage: Expert

By Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington


A 2000 border agreement signed between Cambodia and Thailand is not likely to yield results in longstanding disputes, a former minister told VOA Khmer.

The agreement put Cambodia at a disadvantage, and border negotiations will face endless crises, said Sean Pengse, former Minister of Industry and a border expert.

After Cambodia regained peace and the reintegration of Khmer Rouge fighters into society, border trade flourished, and the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2000.

However, it would have been better for Cambodia to negotiate on the border from a position of a 1962 international court decision, which “set a clear border with no white zones,” Sean Pengse said. “Why are there now white zones? Why should Cambodia neogtiate? I believe Cambodia’s voice in the negotiation is useless, because we beg aid form them. Our country is small, and we should use international law, from which we previously had an advantage.”

The 2000 agreement led to the white zones, or disputed areas, he said, giving Thailand the chance to argue against rebuilding a market near Preah Vihear temple.

The temple is at the center of a military border standoff that has claimed seven lives so far. The market was destroyed in fighting earlier this year.

“The Phnom Penh government claims that I speak groundlessly about the MOU,” he said. “Now Thailand isn’t allowing us to rebuild the market that they burned down. They have warned us against rebuilding it, citing contradiction to the MOU. The Cambodian government didn’t realize the MOU contradicted our interests. If Cambodia wishes to develop anything at Preah Vihear temple, [the Thais] warn us it is a white zone.”

However, Var Kimhong, chairman of Cambodia’s border committee, denied the 2000 agreement included areas of Preah Vihear temple as white zones. The agreement was over cooperation on border demarcation for 805 kilometers from the Dangrek mountains to the sea, he said, adding that Sean Pengse’s claims are contradictory to the facts.

“He shouldn’t make comments if he doesn’t know the truth,” Var Kimhong said.

Thailand “warned us against rebuilding the market, claiming we were violating Article 5 of the 2000 MOU,” he said. “We responded to Thailand, explaining that we are rebuilding the market on the orders of Prime Minister Hun Sen, in honor of Article 5 of the MOU to keep the status quo before the MOU. The MOU was signed June 14, 2000. The market had been there since 1998.”

Many Thais objected to Cambodia’s bid to enlist the temple as a Unesco World Heritage Site. When it was listed in July 2008, pro the current military standoff began.

Sean Pengse said that Thailand has in the past and is now currently using negotiation time for its own interests.

“Thailand doesn’t want us to file a complaint with the international court,” he said. “The 2000 MOU states that the border dispute should be discussed. This deprives us of our right to file a complaint.”

However, Var Kimhong said the agreement has not lost groud for Cambodia and honors the 1962 agreement.

“If you read the 2000 MOU, you would see that it refers to all previous treaties, conventions and maps since 1907,” he said.

The government was seeking joint cooperation on border demarcation as its primary choice, in the name of being a good neighbor, he said. It has not deprived itself the right to complain on border demarcation contrary to a map signed between the French and Thailand.

Sean Pengse worries that negotiations will drag on and more serious incidents will ensue.

After regaining independence from France in 1954, Cambodia reclaimed Preah Vihear from Thailand, after regaining several lost provinces, such as Battambang and Siem Reap. Disputes over the temple escalated, including a severing of diplomatic ties between the two in 1958. Cambodia lodged a complaint with the international court, which decided in 1962 Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia.


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Cambodia Angkor Air receives Airbus A321

Cambodia Angkor Air, the new national carrier, has just received its first Airbus A321 to join its fleet of two ATR 72 planes for services between Siem Reap, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.

Launched with the help of Vietnam Airlines, Cambodia Angkor Air started operations late in July this year after the collapse of former national carrier Royal Air Cambodge in 2001.

“In operating the new aircraft, we will triple return flights between Siem Reap and Ho Chi Minh City - so now 21 flights a week - and double return flights between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh,” said Soy Sokhan, Secretariat of Civil Aviation Undersecretary of State, to local media.

Flown in a two class configuration, Cambodia Angkor Air intends to seat 16 in Business Class and 168 in Economy Class for its Airbus A321-184 aircarft.

Cambodia Angkor Air has previously said it aims to increase its fleet to ten aircraft by 2015.
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Cambodia invests in packaging to boost rice exports

Cambodian rice farmers are turning to new packaging facilities to help boost export sales, according to local media.

Cambodia is looking to begin exporting 200,000 tonnes of milled rice next year and has invested in new facilities to help achieve that goal. Milled rice is said to have a higher value and more markets than unmilled rice.

The Phnom Penh Times reported that the Federation of Cambodian Rice Millers Association had invested $7.8m in a milled-rice packaging plant in Battambang province.

The plant is 90% complete and is scheduled to go on line in December. It uses Japanese technology and will be able to pack 720 tonnes of rice a day.

Federation president Phou Puy said: "We hope that when the plant is finished, it will play an important role in supporting Cambodia's plant to export in a more competitive manner."

The new facility echoes Clifton Packaging's scheme to improve the packaging of food in Africa to secure better prices on the export market. For more on the 'Buy African, Build Africa' scheme. Read more!

Thai Parliament approves gov't talks of boundary demarcation with Cambodia

The Thai Parliament approved Wednesday reports of Thailand-Cambodia joint boundary commission, which will give a go-ahead to boundary demarcation at the disputed border area near the ancient Preah Vihear temple.

The joint session between the Thai lower and upper house in a closed-door meeting voted in favor of the reports 306 against 6, The Nation newspaper's website reported.

The Thai cabinet submitted for the parliament approval the three agreed-minutes of Thai-Cambodian Joint Commission on Demarcation for Land Boundary (JBC), which is required by the article 190 of Thailand's Constitution.

The JBC was activated to clear the boundary line and set provisional arrangement to jointly run the disputed area as long as the border demarcation has not finished yet.

In November last year and February and April this year, the JBC met to set frameworks for the boundary demarcation and provisional arrangement at the disputed border area near Preah Vihear temple.

However, the Thai government needs to report to the parliament approval prior to any further discussion with Cambodia.

The two neighboring countries had a brief military conflicts in the disputed area adjacent to the temple this year.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

US official applauds Cambodia for arresting paedophiles

US official praised Cambodia Wednesday for its efforts against foreign paedophiles but urged the government to work on prosecuting more sex traffickers.

Luis CdeBaca, director of the US state department's office to monitor and combat trafficking in persons, told reporters he had asked Cambodian officials to go after those "who had provided the victims to the foreign paedophiles".

He said the US hoped to work with the Cambodian government to investigate and prosecute sex traffickers, after the two countries cooperated to fly home three American men accused of sexually abusing children in Cambodia.

"We applaud the government for the action that they have taken so far," he said during a press briefing.

"Another party to that crime remains here in Cambodia and that would be the brothel owners who were selling the children to these paedophiles," CdeBaca added.

Erik Leonardus Peeters, 41, and Ronald Gerard Boyajian, 49, both from California, were arrested along with 75-year-old Jack Louis Sporich from Arizona by Cambodian police in February.

Authorities in the US said Tuesday that the trio had been flown home and would be charged, vowing a renewed effort to stop US paedophiles from going to Cambodia.

The Southeast Asian country has struggled to shed its reputation as a haven for paedophiles, putting dozens of foreigners in jail for child sex crimes or deporting them to face trial in their home countries since 2003.

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Unique Cambodian Mototaxi Driver

Cambodia is well known for its taxis and Tuks Tuks, but it’s a small motodop that Um Chanthon drives. She’s one of the few females in the world of mototaxis, an industry traditionally dominated by male drivers.

Um became a motodop driver nine years ago, after her marriage ended in divorce.

She started working to support her family, including her mother, her two sons and a nephew.

[Um Chanthon, Motodop Driver]:
"Each morning I get up early to clean my motorbike and prepare the gears for my daily work.”

And it doesn’t faze Chanthon in the least that she’s one of the only women doing it. Her male colleagues even praise her for it.

[Chan Ti, Motodop Driver]:
"She is more courageous than us that she can do our work. I praise her heart that she can do this work to support her family after being separated from her husband."

Chanthon gets more female customers than her male counterparts, as they trust her driving skills and want to help her.

[Von Sreyneang, Customer]:
"She is stronger than me because she can take more than one person, while I cannot even drive just myself properly.”

She gets about six customers a day, which allows her to earn an average of ten U.S. dollars per day. Read more!

Holy Father’s September Prayer Intentions

Holy Father’s September Prayer Intentions - with reflections from the Apostleship of Prayer.
General Intention

Knowledge of God’s Word. That the Word of God may be better known, accepted, and lived as the source of freedom and joy.

B.I.B.L.E, says one popular song awhile back, stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. True enough. The Bible is a manual for living in peace, freedom, and joy, both here and hereafter. It’s the Word of God and contains everything essential for our good.

Pope Benedict XVI in his September prayer intention reminds us of the power of knowing, accepting, and living God’s Word. We pray that people everywhere may deepen their personal experience with the Scriptures.

Historically, the Jews are known as The People of the Book because they believe their Bible, our Old Testament, was inspired by God. To the Old Testament, Christians add the New Testament, both together comprising the inspired Word of God.

The Church gave us the Bible and teaches us from it at every Mass, yet Catholics are not known as the People of the Book. Why not? The answer is actually in the Bible. St. Paul called the Church the “pillar and foundation of truth” (I Timothy 3:15). The Church itself rests on the foundation of Jesus Christ, who promised the Holy Spirit to lead the Church into all truth. Thus inspired by the Holy Spirit, Scripture must also be interpreted by the Church which in turn is guided by the Holy Spirit.

The Church’s authority over the Scriptures does not mean that we should be afraid to read the Bible, as many Catholics are. The Bible is a living book that can speak to our hearts and help us in our daily struggles. Reading it stirs up faith, hope, and love. It gives us insights. It inspires us to pray. It helps us draw close to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In close friendship with God, we are able to obey his commandments and do his will. If we are reading Scripture on a regular basis, we appreciate anew how Jesus asked us to live, loving one another, and we discover new ways to do that. As we live in the Word of God, we find supernatural peace, incredible freedom from fear, and unspeakable joy in being a child of God. Let’s pray together that many will come to know, accept, and live God’s Word.

Reflection

How will you find regular opportunities to read the Word of God?

Scripture

James 1:22-25 — Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves.

Mission Intention

Christians in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. That by trusting the Holy Spirit, Christians in Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar may, amid great difficulties, courageously proclaim the Gospel to their brothers and sisters.

Christians make up a tiny percentage of the population of Indochina, where people are predominantly Buddhists. Laotian Christians number about 100,000 Christians out of 7,000,000; Cambodian Christians number about 20,000 out of 14,000,000; and Myanmar (formerly Burma) Christians number about 1,720,000 out of 45,000,000.

Not only are Christians in the minority, they are often persecuted in this part of the world. In some places, Catholics are allowed to worship, but Protestants are not.

European missionaries (mostly French) evangelized Vietnam in recent centuries, and Vietnamese missionaries evangelized Laos and Cambodia, where tribalism made missionary work extremely dangerous.

Another difficulty in the region is recovery from the Vietnam War and the subsequent Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia, when all religions were suppressed.

Pope Benedict met with the bishops of Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar last year, in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis that had destroyed so much of Myanmar. The Holy Father praised the bishops for their “solidarity with the poor and needy.”

The Pope also commended the growth of Catholicism in all three countries, evidenced in part by the rising numbers of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life. He observed as well that the laity in Myanmar have founded “many new catechetical and spiritual initiatives, often involving great numbers of young

Faced with both great difficulty and great opportunity, Southeast Asian Christians need our prayers. The Holy Father directs us to pray that Christians there may trust the Holy Spirit to help them to proclaim the Gospel to their brothers and sisters. If the Holy Spirit is with them, their work will bear fruit, whatever the difficulties.

Reflection

How would your faith be different if you found yourself among a Christian minority of less than 1 percent?

Scripture

Acts 4:31 — As they prayed, the place where they were gathered shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Prayer of the Month

Lord, inspire us to read your Scriptures and to meditate upon them day and night. We beg you to give us real understanding of what we need, that we in turn may put its precepts into practice. Yet we know that understanding and good intentions are worthless, unless rooted in your graceful love. So we ask that the words of Scriptures may also be not just signs on a page, but channels of grace into our hearts. — A Prayer from the Early Church Father Origen Adamantius (185-254) Read more!

The Challenge of Extracting Oil from Cambodia

SUSIE GHARIB: China is the world's second largest oil consumer and until the recession hit, its appetite for fuel was driving economies around the globe, including Cambodia. As Rian Maelzer reports, the global slowdown has raised doubts about Cambodia's plans to tap recent finds of oil and gas.

RIAN MAELZER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: strong demand from the U.S. and EU had been keeping Cambodia's sewing machines working at full tilt. But in the past year, garment exports to those markets have slumped, costing thousands of workers their jobs. Arjun Goswami of the Asian Development Bank says it's a huge blow for a country that still relies on foreign aid for close to half the government's budget.

ARJUN GOSWAMI, COUNTRY DIRECTOR, ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: This is an open economy, it's a small economy and it's not very diversified, so there have been serious impacts.

MAELZER: With tourism also hit hard, Cambodia had hoped it would start to see revenues this year from the country's first ever oil and gas finds. The waters off Cambodia's coast are estimated to contain about two billion barrels of oil -- small by global standards, but significant for one of the world's least developed countries. Subbu Bettadapura of consultancy Frost and Sullivan warns that extracting Cambodia's reserves will be challenging.

SUBBU BETTADAPURA, ENERGY ANALYST, FROST AND SULLIVAN: They are not in a big reservoir where you can go in and tap them. They are in various pools, so there is a technical challenge for the oil companies to go in and try to monetize these reserves.

MAELZER: Chevron has been the most active company in exploring Cambodia's oil potential. Chevron isn't saying how much oil it thinks might be in its offshore block or when it might start commercial operations. A company spokesman said Chevron still has to hammer out legal and financial frameworks with the Cambodian government and those are serious shortcomings cited by multilateral agencies and aide donors working in what is one of the most corrupt countries in Asia. Eleanor Nichol of the watchdog group Global Witness has studied Cambodia's nascent energy and mineral sectors.

ELEANOR NICHOL, RESEARCHER, GLOBAL WITNESS: What you have is two sectors operating in what is effectively a regulatory vacuum with no public or parliamentary oversight. Also, what we've seen happen previously in the forestry sector is that money generated from logging and extraction of that resource never reached the state coffers and we want to try and avoid is a duplication of the same patterns occurring in the oil and mineral sectors.

MAELZER: Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh rejects those concerns.

CHAM PRASIDH, CAMBODIAN MINISTER OF COMMERCE: We are not going to use this money to pump corruption or to encourage corruption, but the money properly managed, properly monitored and properly spent in the right places.

MAELZER: Cambodia is still hoping the oil will start flowing by 2012. Analyst Bettadapura says the timing could end up being a blessing.

BETTADAPURA: If they wait for a little while longer until oil prices pick up, then they are going to get much higher returns and you need to consider the fact that the lifespan of this field is only 10 years.

MAELZER: The government estimates it should reap at least half a billion dollars a year from oil and gas, a huge boost to its revenues, which barely topped $1 billion last year. Rian Maelzer, Cambodia.
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WB eyes on agriculture sector in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, A senior World Bank official who had paid a visit to Cambodia early this week said that the world is now looking into agriculture which is one of the important sectors in the country, officials at Ministry of Economy and Finance said Friday.

During a meeting early this week, Jim Hagan, executive director at the World Bank, representing a constituency of 13 countries told Keat Chhon, minister of economy and finance that World Bank's new policy is to focus on agriculture, citing it as a priority demand by the Royal Government of Cambodia, according to the officials.

The officials said, in response, Keat Chhon welcomed World Bank's interest in agriculture by saying that development in agriculture will help reduce the heavy reliance on external factors such as the reliance on investors for garment sectors or foreign tourists.

Garment and tourism have been, for many years, the main earning revenues for Cambodia.

After forming a new government following the 2003 general election, Prime Minister Hun Sen set in his rectangular policy that agriculture is one of the priorities that his government is committed to achieve it.

Some 80 percent of Cambodia's nearly 14 million populations are farmers.

Last year, Cambodia produced 7.15 million tons of rice from a total farming land of 2.25 million hectares.

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Vietnamese Art Exhibition to Premiere in Houston

An exhibition of Vietnamese art, with more than 100 objects never before seen in the U.S., will premiere at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston Sept. 13. It will remain on view through Jan. 3.

The show, called "Arts of Ancient Viet Nam: From River Plain to Open Sea," includes major loans from Vietnam's leading museums, including objects from the first millennium B.C. through the 17th century that have never before left the country.

The museum describes the show as the first "exhibition in the U.S. to address the historical, geographic, and cultural contexts of pre-colonial Vietnamese art in depth."

The show looks at Vietnam's history as a crossroads for travel and trade in Southeast Asia and beyond. Artifacts include ritual bronzes, fine gold jewelry, terra cotta burial wares, Hindu and Buddhist sculptures, and ornaments made of gold, lapis lazuli and crystal.

The exhibit was co-organized by The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and Asia Society in New York, which worked with nine museums in Vietnam and the Ministry of Culture. The show will travel to New York next year and be on view at Asia Society Feb. 2-May 2, 2010. Read more!

Sex-tourism operation nets three, Justice Department says

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Three men charged with sexually exploiting Cambodian children are being brought back to the United States to face prosecution, the Justice Department announced Monday.

The men are the first to be charged under an international law enforcement initiative specifically targeting Americans traveling to Cambodia for the purpose of sexually abusing children.

The initiative, Operation Twisted Traveler, is an effort by the Justice Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to crack down on sex tourism.

"The men charged in this investigation apparently thought they could pursue their abhorrent desires by leaving the United States to prey on children in another country, but they were sadly mistaken," U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O'Brien said in a statement.

"We are now working closer than ever with officials in other nations and concerned private parties to take every effort we can to identify and prosecute sex tourists, as well as to provide every protection we can to the world's children."

Ronald Boyajian, 49, Erik Peeters, 41, and Jack Sporich, 75, are each charged with international travel and engaging in sexual contact with minors, a charge carrying a maximum prison sentence of 30 years, according to the Justice Department.

They are slated to make their first appearances in federal court on Tuesday, the Justice Department indicated in a news release.

The defendants are charged with international travel and engaging in sexual contact with minors, a charge carrying a maximum prison sentence of 30 years for each of their alleged victims, according to the department.

They are charged under the federal Protect Act, enacted six years ago to strengthen federal laws relating to predatory crimes against children outside U.S. borders, the department added.

The three defendants were apprehended, according to Immigration and Customs officials, as a result of information provided by the human rights organization International Justice Mission and the group Action Pour les Enfants, which combats child exploitation.

All three men have been previously convicted of sex offenses in the United States, the Justice Department noted in its statement.

"These types of cases are disturbing not only because young, defenseless children were victimized in unspeakable ways but also because the defendants went to such lengths to engage in their dark activities overseas," O'Brien said at a news conference.

He highlighted the case against Peeters, who was convicted on child molestation charges in 1990.

"Our case against Mr. Peeters outlines evidence of him allegedly molesting Cambodian boys, paying them small amounts of money -- $5 to $10 -- and possibly taking digital pictures of his young victims while they were naked," O'Brien noted.

He said Peeters molested at least three boys in Cambodia over the course of several months. One of the boys was 12 years old when the abuse is said to have started.

Boyajian is said to have "engaged in sexual activity with a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl in an area outside Phnom Penh frequented by child sex tourists known as 'Kilo 11,' " the Justice Department statement said.

Sporich, according to Action Pour les Enfants investigators cited in the government's criminal complaint, repeatedly hosted three Cambodian boys at a residence outside the city of Siem Reap. The complaint states that Sporich "was known to drive his motor bike through the neighborhoods while dropping Cambodian (money) on the street in order to meet kids."

The new charges "clearly demonstrate to the Cambodian people that the United States will not tolerate this type of abuse," said Carol Rodley, the American ambassador to Cambodia.

"These cases not only signal to the Cambodian victims our commitment to justice, but they will also act as a powerful deterrent for those individuals who are contemplating traveling to Cambodia to engage in illegal sexual activity with minors."

The International Labor Organization estimates that at least 12.3 million adults and children are victims of forced labor, bonded labor and sex slavery each year.

Cambodia is one of several countries recently added to a U.S. "watch list" because of what a State Department report calls a worsening human trafficking record in that country.
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