Cambodia says Thailand's political unrest affects ASEAN's image+

PHNOM PENH, May 17 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The Cambodian government said Monday the political unrest in Thailand has affected the image of ASEAN as a whole and urged the Thai government and antigovernment protesters to reach a political settlement through dialogue.

"The current awful situation in Thailand has gravely affected not only Thailand's image, but also that of ASEAN as well," the Cambodian government said in a statement.

Cambodia "urges all parties concerned in Thailand to resume peaceful talks in order to achieve a political settlement to the current standoff and restore peace and normalcy to the Thai people, thus stability in the region," the statement said.

The death toll from four days of clashes between troops and antigovernment protesters in Bangkok rose to 36 Monday following overnight violence in which an air force officer was shot dead and a luxury hotel was hit by grenades.

Since antigovernment protests began in mid-March, 59 people, including five soldiers and two policemen, have been killed and more than 1,100 others wounded, mostly in the April 10 clashes between security personnel and protesters.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.


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Cambodian king makes first Japan visit

TOKYO — Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni arrived in Tokyo Sunday for his first state visit to Japan, where he will meet the Japanese royals and the prime minister.

Sihamoni will meet Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Monday at the start of his five-day visit, Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told AFP.

"The state visit by the king to Japan will strengthen the relationship and cooperation between the two countries," he said.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will hold talks with Sihamoni on Tuesday. Read more!

Even in liberal-leaning Mass., GOP eyes US House

STEVE LeBLANC
The Associated Press

(AP) — BOSTON - Four months after Republican Scott Brown won the U.S. Senate seat held for half a century by the late Edward Kennedy, liberal-leaning Massachusetts is rife with Republican candidates hoping to flip even more Democratic seats into GOP hands.

With all 10 congressional offices now occupied by Democrats, Republicans are confident one or two are ripe for the picking.

Topping the list is the 10th Congressional District seat held by Democrat William Delahunt, who won't be seeking re-election. The district, which includes Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, handed Brown 61 percent of its vote in January.

State Rep. Jeffrey Perry is one of several GOP candidates hoping to appeal to that base. Like Brown, who endorsed him, the Sandwich Republican is counting in part on the backing of Tea Party activists.

"The people who have been supporting me as a state representative for the most part are the same people who are involved with the Tea Party," said Perry, who has pushed legislation he said would make it harder for illegal immigrants to obtain public benefits.

Perry faces a crowded GOP primary that includes former state Treasurer Joseph Malone.

Malone, who has the backing of former GOP governors William Weld, Paul Cellucci and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said voter anger about the economy could boost Republicans in Massachusetts, which last elected a GOP member to a U.S. House in 1994.

"It's a one party system at the state level. It's a one party system at the federal level and it's harming people," Malone said. "People see the American Dream slipping away."

A third Republican candidate, Cohasset public accountant Ray Kasperowicz also said fiscal worries, as opposed to social issues like abortion or gay marriage, were driving voters.

"People are really upset about the financial burden Washington is putting on future generations," he said.

Two Democrats, Norfolk District Attorney William Keating and state Sen. Robert O'Leary, are also running.

Another closely watched race is in the state's 5th Congressional District, where Niki Tsongas is running for her second full term after winning a special election in 2007 and running unopposed in 2008.

Four Republicans say they've collected the 2,000 signatures needed to get on the primary ballot, including Jon Golnick, a reseller of Boston College merchandise. The Carlisle father of two said he jumped into the race because Democrats like Tsongas have failed on the economy.

"We wasted 12 months on health care when we should have been focusing on creating private sector jobs," Golnick said.

Robert Shapiro, a former math teacher and software engineer, said Kennedy's death robbed Massachusetts Democrats like Tsongas of their mystique.

"She's following along with the party line," he said. "Whatever (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi puts on her desk, she goes along with."

Two other candidates-Sam Meas, a research analyst from Haverhill, and Tom Weaver, a small business owner from Westford-are also in the running.

Meas, who came to the country as an orphan from Cambodia in 1986, faulted Tsongas for not reducing unemployment.

"The people in my district, they need jobs, jobs, jobs," Meas said.

For Weaver, the top concern is the effect the national debt will have on Americans like his youngest son.

"I wonder what type of freedom he's going to have if we don't correct the course we're on," Weaver said.

Tsongas' campaign manager Nick Clemons said Republicans shouldn't underestimate the Lowell Democrat. He said Tsongas has been coming back to the district every weekend to meet with voters.

"What she's hearing is that people are hurting," Clemons said. "That's why she's focused on job creation."

Tsongas has donated her last few pay increases to charity and sponsored legislation for lightweight body armor for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Clemons said.

Tsongas also has a fundraising edge. She had $380,660 in her campaign account at the end of March compared to $133,396 for Golnick, who loaned his campaign more than $100,000, and $1,898 for Shapiro. Meas showed a negative balance of more than $6,000 and there was no filing for Weaver.

The National Republican party is keep an eye on both races.

Perry and Golnick are on the radar of the Republican National Congressional Committee's "Young Guns" recruiting program-although the committee has yet to promise funds.

Committee spokesman Tory Mazzola said Brown's victory showed Republicans can win even in Massachusetts.

"It's still an uphill climb. but in this environment, no Democrat is safe," said Mazzola.

State Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh said Massachusetts is no rush to bolster GOP ranks in Washington.

"The forces of 'do nothing' and 'no' in Washington are looking for reinforcements and I don't think the voters of Massachusetts are interested in sending in more," he said.

Nearly every other Democrat incumbent, with the possible exception of U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, are also facing possible Republican challengers.

Sean Bielat, a former Marine Corps lieutenant from Brookline, and Earl Sholley, a former landscape company owner from Norfolk are hoping to oust U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a favorite GOP target.

In western Massachusetts, U.S. Rep. John Olver is being challenged by William Gunn of Ware while U.S. Rep. Richard Neal could face either former U.S. Navy pilot Tom Wesley from Hopedale or Jay Fleitman, a doctor of internal medicine from Northampton.

Hopkinton Board of Selectmen Chairman Brian Herr and Holliston lawyer Marty Lamb are competing to take on U.S. Rep. James McGovern while Saugus attorney Rob McCarthy and Boxford attorney Bill Hudak are trying to dislodge U.S. Rep. John Tierney.

Business analyst and combat photojournalist Keith Lepor of Boston's Roslindale neighborhood and Braintree small business owner Vernon Harrison are eyeing incumbent U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch while Woburn doctor Gerry Dembrowski is hoping to oust longtime U.S. Rep. Edward Markey. Read more!

Calgary Journalist shot mid Thai prptester

Anti-government "red shirt" protesters assist Nelson Rand after the photojournalist from Calgary was shot three times -- in the leg, wrist and abdomen -- while covering clashes in Bangkok on Thursday. Rand is expected to re-
Photograph by: Adrees Latif, Reuters, Calgary Herald


Parents relieved after son's four-hour operation

By Jason Van Rassel, Calgary Herald May 15, 2010


T elling stories that have gone untold has taken Calgary native Nelson Rand to the jungles of Cambodia and into the middle of political violence now gripping Thailand, where he was seriously wounded by three bullets Friday while reporting on anti-government protests.

Rand, 34 , is in stable condition at a Bangkok hospital after a four-hour operation to treat bullet wounds to his leg, abdomen and wrist -- news that offered his shaken parents some measure of comfort on Friday.

"We are very optimistic," said his father, Serge Rand.

The day didn't start that way for Serge and Barbara Rand.

A telephone outage Friday morning meant rather than a phone call from an official, the first indication they had their son had been hurt was an e-mail from a friend asking about his "condition."

The query prompted them to search the Internet, where they quickly found news articles about the shooting.

"We were broken up," Serge said of their reaction.

They were still waiting to speak to Nelson on Friday, but had received enough information through his friends and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs to ease their minds.

Rand has lived in Asia for about a decade and was based in Bangkok, where his most recent job was working for the TV network France 24.

Sixteen people have died and 141 have been hurt in clashes between the Thai army and so-called "red shirt" protesters who have occupied portions of central Bangkok for the past six weeks.

The political instability that gave rise to the current unrest goes back even further and is rooted in a divide between mainly monarchist urban elites who support Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The "red shirts" are mainly poor urban and rural dwellers who support former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist billionaire ousted in a 2006 coup.

Rand, who has lived in Bangkok for several years, didn't shy away from danger, said George McLeod, a longtime friend and fellow journalist.

"He's one of the few people who gets on the front line and is willing to put himself in harm's way," McLeod said. "It worries me, but I would put his bravery as a journalist far ahead of mine."

McLeod, a freelance journalist who is currently based in Bangladesh, said he met Rand in 1998 and discovered they had a common objective: to seek out and report on the last remnants of Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s.

After its ouster in 1979, the Khmer Rouge retreated to the jungle and continued to wage a guerrilla war against the government.

Since then, Rand has spent two months in the jungles of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, with the ethnic Karen people, and has journeyed to southern Thailand, where a long-simmering -- and largely unreported -- Muslim insurgency has been escalating since 2005. Last year, he wrote a book about his experiences with rebel armies and persecuted ethnic minorities in countries such as Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.

"He's devoted his life to highlighting these issues that don't get reported in the western media -- and I think that's admirable," McLeod said.

The jungles of Southeast Asia are a long way from Alberta, where Rand spent his early childhood in Red Deer, and later years in Calgary.

His parents said his interest in Southeast Asia was fuelled by a trip he took to Vietnam during a year off following high school.

After obtaining bachelor and master's degrees in Asian studies from the University of British Columbia, Rand returned to Asia -- and for the most part, hasn't left.

Rand once worked as a contractor for the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok, but has carved out a reputation as a passionate journalist who goes to great lengths to tell stories that are often overlooked in the West.

"We have always kept in touch and we're very proud of what he's accomplished," Serge said.

Because of the instability in Thailand, Rand's parents have been advised not to go there.

They're now waiting to meet him in another country -- and are hopeful he might come back to Canada, if even temporarily.

"He has to decide whether he comes back. We'd like him to recuperate here, if possible," Serge said.

jvanrassel@theherald.canwest.com

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Heikki Kovalainen bids big at Monaco charity auction

(Reuters) - Lotus Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen was the biggest bidder at a Monaco Grand Prix charity auction, shelling out 300,000 euros ($381,100) toward an AIDS project in Cambodia.

The auctioneer did not name the Finn but the former McLaren driver told Reuters after the event on Friday night that he had made the bid, although multi-millionaire team principal and Air Asia airline boss Tony Fernandes was also present.

"It is my money but Tony pays my salary," said Kovalainen. "I have been looking to do something for a long time. This is a good cause."

The sum will cover half the budget of a project to provide 320 permanent homes for 1,760 people living with AIDS/HIV in the country.

Organizers said the Elton John AIDS foundation would contribute a matching donation.

The seven lots at the Amber Lounge auction raised a total of 520,000 euros for the charity, including 50,000 splashed out by an anonymous bidder on a pair of black and white diamond cufflinks.

Formula One drivers, led by McLaren's 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton, took part in a fashion show before the auction, attended by celebrities including former tennis great Boris Becker and actress Elizabeth Hurley.
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Is Cambodia Dredging its Rivers to Death?

By Christopher Shay

Paul Ferber was scuba diving in Cambodia's Sre Ambil River shortly after ships had finished dredging the area. As director of Marine Conservation Cambodia, Ferber was used to seeing the Cambodian estuaries teeming with marine life. He was shocked: Over 15 kilometers of river, he saw exactly one fish and two shrimp. "It was crazy to dive and see nothing," he says.

This isn't just happening to Cambodian rivers. Cambodian fishermen say fish stocks have plummeted off the coast of the province of Koh Kong, and that they now need to travel further and further to feed their families. Residents say the timing of these changes points to one main culprit: the sand industry, for which dredgers suck up more than 25,000 tons of Cambodian sand a day to export primarily to Singapore, according to a report released this week by Global Witness, a London-based environmental watchdog.

Along the Kampot River in February, angry residents destroyed nearby dredging equipment after a collapsing riverbank threatened their village. Mu Sochua, an opposition party parliamentarian, said the villagers had already tried pressuring their provincial leaders and sending letters to the Prime Minister and that the villagers "had no other choice." Phay Siphan, a spokesman from the Cambodian Council of Ministers, dismissed Mu's complaints, saying, "From my experience, the opposition party never does the job. They sit down and wait to hear from outside reporters and then take the opportunity to insult the government."

Cambodia does regulate its sand exports — at least on paper. After a host of protests and a raft of bad press, the Cambodian government banned the export of river sand a year ago. But the Global Witness report claims that dredging operations have actually expanded since then and that the dredging of river sand continues unabated. A search of alibaba.com, a Chinese business-to-business e-commerce site, still reveals a number of companies purporting to sell Cambodian river sand.

This booming Cambodian trade, according to the report, is fueled by Singapore's voracious appetite for sand. Since splitting off from Malaysia in 1965, Singapore has become one of the world's wealthiest countries, and as its importance has grown, so, too, has the country. According to Global Witness, since the 1960s, the island of Singapore has increased its size by 22%, or 130 square kilometers (50 miles), and the country has plans to expand at least another 50 square kilometers (20 miles). This has made Singapore one of the world's biggest importers of sand. After Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam limited or banned sand exports because of the environmental impact of dredging, Singapore has increasingly relied on Cambodia, the report says.

The result has been "ecologically and socially devastating," says the Global Witness report. The NGO accuses Singapore of "hypocrisy on a grand scale" for presenting itself as a leader on green issues — even hosting the World Cities Summit with the theme of "Liveable and Sustainable Cities of the Future" — while burying its head in the sand, so to speak, and ignoring the environmental consequences in Cambodia. In a statement released on Tuesday, the Singaporean Ministry of National Development countered, "The report suggests that the Singapore government seeks to import sand without due regard to the laws or environmental impact of the source country, in this case, Cambodia. This is not true. We are committed to the protection of the global environment, and we do not condone the illegal export or smuggling of sand." The statement added that sand is supplied by private entities that are contractually obliged not to cause adverse impact to the environment of the source country and must comply with its laws.

Dredging picked up in Cambodia after Indonesia abruptly banned sand exports in 2007. Prior to the ban, more than 275,000 tons of sand were being exported every month from Indonesia's Riau Islands, according to the Global Witness report, and two islands — Nipah and Sebaik — nearly vanished because of extensive dredging. The Indonesian government had to go back and fill in Nipah in order to save the island, which helps determine Indonesia's maritime border with Singapore. Even with the bans and export restrictions, sand remains big business in the region. Sand smuggling has become a problem in Indonesia with more than an estimated 300 million cubic meters of sand being exported illegally every year, according to the Telegraph. In Malaysia, 34 government officials were arrested in a sex-for-sand scandal in January, where officials allegedly received bribes and sexual favors to help smuggle the sand out of the country.

In Cambodia's Koh Kong province every month, dredgers extract more than 850,000 tons of sand, according to Global Witness, which valued a year's worth of Koh Kong sand at nearly $250 million on the market in Singapore. A Cambodian government-sponsored website claims that dredgers remove only between 40,000 and 60,000 tons of sand per month in Koh Kong, and that the sand mining operations "remain small-scale." Global Witness acknowledges their numbers are only estimates but stands by their claim that the numbers are far greater than the government is reporting.

Exact numbers are hard to come by since the wheeling and dealings of Cambodia's sand trade go on behind closed doors, Global Witness says. The report claims two Cambodian senators with close ties to both Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Cambodian military are at the center of this trade. In response to Global Witness, the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in London released a May 11 statement slamming the study, calling it a "cheap and rubbish report" containing "malicious and misleading claims by an international> troublemaker."

It isn't the first time Global Witness has picked a fight with Cambodia's ruling elite. After the release of a 2007 report alleging links between high-ranking members of the government and illegal logging, the Cambodian government denied all charges, the head of the Forestry Department called the report "laughable," and a provincial governor — who also happens to be the Prime Minister's brother — promised that if members of Global Witness ever set foot in Cambodia, "I will hit them until their heads are broken."

Dredging sucks up sand a few feet below the marine floor, disturbing the water. Even temporary increases in turbidity can interfere with spawning and suffocate coral reefs, according. Ferber from Marine Conservation Cambodia dove along a dredging pipe and told TIME the sea was thick with sediment. Overdredging in waterways can lower stream bottoms and disrupt the natural sedimentary processes, leading to the erosion of riverbanks. In Cambodia, the marine life is particularly rich; the seagrass beds of Kampot are the largest in the region and shelters endangered dugongs and dolphins. Chourn Bunnara, a program coordinator at the Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT), says he's seen dredging in only 10 meters of water that has "completely destroyed" an area, killing nearby mangroves and emptying the waters of fish.

Not everyone has given up on putting a stop to dredging in Cambodia. Chourn knows it will be difficult to end unsustainable sand dredging in Cambodia because of the "rich people and the power men behind it." But his organization, FACT, is nonetheless putting together a workshop in hopes of educating the country's politicians about the dangers of dredging. "We've learned about other countries and the negative impacts that happened there," he says. For her part, Mu says she won't stop fighting but admits, "Civil society has already done everything possible," and says Singapore needs to take more responsibility. Singapore "leads the world in good business that protects the environment." But, she adds, "any country that is part of this is part of the destruction of the environment."

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Human Rights leader Samantha Power on the life of United Nations Icon

If Samantha Power -- who was a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, acclaimed journalist, and popular Harvard lecturer on human rights before becoming a close advisor to President Obama -- says that she has a story to tell about a "man of action and a man of reflection," who had "a thirty-four-year head start in thinking about the plagues that preoccupy us today," we would all do well to listen.

The story of longtime U.N. diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello has become a centerpiece of Power's public discussions on the importance of the U.S. taking a principled stance on human rights in its foreign policy, the shortcomings of the United Nations, and how to confront, or better yet prevent, mass atrocities and genocide. From her book Chasing the Flame grew the film "Sergio" by director Greg Barker, which after making the rounds at international film festivals, debuted on HBO last week. Following the screening, Power and Barker joined a public conference call moderated by a veteran of African conflict zones, John Prendergast.

Their candid conversation, which lasted well into the night, is a rare gem, and I wanted to draw attention to it today. You can listen to this podcast after the jump, at the bottom of this post.

When Sergio Vieira de Mello died in the rubble of the bombed out U.N. compound in Baghdad, the United Nations lost one of its most experienced and talented diplomats. Power eloquently described how she channeled her grief over his death into an effort to examine and immortalize his legacy. And she found that, beyond simply an intriguing biography, the tragedy of Vieira de Mello's death was a metaphor for the vexing, even debilitating, challenges the United Nations faces around the world.

Power first met Sergio Vieira de Mello when their paths crossed in eastern Europe in 1994. She was a young journalist covering the war in the former Yugoslavia and Vieira de Mello was a top U.N. diplomat dispatched to work on ending it. Though it would be another 10 years until Power began researching Vieira de Mello's life for the biography, she recounts their first dinner meeting with a level of detail that conveys the significance of those first impressions. He was "a cross between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy," she wrote.

Vieira de Mello did indeed travel with the headlines of the day; a timeline of significant dates over the last 30 years of the U.N.'s history mirrors the major promotions and moves of Vieira de Mello's career since he was 21. As he rose through the U.N. ranks, he continuously reflected on his decisions from both a philosophical and a practical standpoint. As Power wrote in Chasing the Flame:

At the start of his career he advocated strict adherence to a binding set of principles. (...) He was deeply mistrustful of state power and of military force. But as he moved from Sudan to Lebanon to Cambodia to Bosnia to Congo to Kosovo to East Timor to Iraq, he tailored his tactics to the troubles around him and tried to enlist the powerful. He brought a gritty pragmatism to negotiations, yet no amount of exposure to brutality seemed to dislodge his ideals.

At times, Vieira de Mello's approach flirted with moral lines, such as when he chose to negotiate directly with the Cambodia's Khmer Rouge while the rest of the world isolated the genocidal regime, and certainly he was responsible for his share of mistakes. But the profile Power paints is of a leader who challenged himself to translate failures into lessons. He understood that his engagement -- the U.N.'s engagement -- would not always, or perhaps even not often, move mountains. But he understood that even a small improvement made the effort worthwhile. Vieira de Mello personifies Power's concept of an upstander, someone who doesn't simply stand by when injustices occur.

It's remarkable to have the chance to hear Samantha Power, a woman many people regard as a hero in her own right, describe the inspiration she found in one of the fallen heroes of our time. Listen to this podcast; the lessons she draws from Vieira de Mello's life are central to the work all of us do as human rights advocates.
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Government of Canada Supports Western Canadian Food Processors Accessing Asia-Pacific Markets

SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN, Food processors based in Western Canada will soon access new markets across Asia-Pacific countries, thanks to an investment from the Government of Canada.

An announcement was made today in Saskatoon by the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification Canada, to support international trade opportunities for western Canadian food processers. The Government of Canada is providing $961,000 to help increase the availability of Western Canadian value-added food product exports in Asia-Pacific markets.

"Western Canadian producers process some of the best food in the world, and today's announcement will help them grow and create jobs by expanding their market opportunities," said the Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification.

Saskatchewan Food Processors Association, Inc. (SFPA), as the lead organization in partnership with similar associations in Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, and with Food Beverage Canada, will direct the trade missions to and from China, Hong Kong, South Korea, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. This is an ideal opportunity to market existing food products to these countries and also develop new value-added food products based on the needs of Asia-Pacific consumers.

"This funding will be instrumental in developing and implementing a multi level strategy for assisting and growing the Western Canadian Food Processing industry in Western Canada," said Darrell Schneider, Chief Operating Officer of the Saskatchewan Food Processors Association, Inc.
This marketing initiative is projected to return approximately $13.5 million in sales and foreign direct investment from Asia-Pacific countries to Western Canada over the next four years. This represents a direct benefit to over 900 food processing companies associated with the SFPA and its partners, their employees and their communities. Many of these member companies are small and medium sized businesses who might otherwise not be able to market their products on this scale.

Western Economic Diversification Canada works with the provinces, industry associations and communities to promote the development and diversification of the western economy, coordinates federal economic activities in the West and represents the interests of western Canadians in national decision making.

A stronger West. A stronger Canada to news releases and keep up-to-date on the latest from WD

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Master Bronze Works on Display in Washington

On the metro platform, in Washington DC, a billboard highlights the “Gods of Angkor” exhibit.

Thirty-six master bronze works from Cambodia are being exhibited now at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery in Washington, part of a collection of 7,000 bronzes from the National Museum.

Curators of the exhibit say they hope “Gods of Angkor” will raise international awareness of the richness of Cambodia’s artwork, and possibly convince more tourists to visit the country.

The bronze works are from prehistory—somewhere between 300 BC and 400 BC—and from the Angkorian period—from about the 9th to 13th centuries AD.

“Despite it’s title, ‘Gods of Angkor,’ even before Angkorian time we were advanced in bronze work,” Chea Socheat, deputy chief of the conservation office at Cambodia’s National Museum, told VOA Khmer Wednesday.

The exhibit is meant to celebrate “the accomplishments of the Khmer bronze casters” as well as the conservation work of the National Museum, Julian Raby, director of the Freer and Sackler galleries, told reporters.

“I am happy that Cambodian culture is being shown here, and the benefit from this will be more tourists coming to Cambodia,” Chea Socheat said.

The bronzes represent Buddhism and Brahmanism and are set amid three linked galleries. They include an urn, bell, a naga-protected Buddha, Ganesh, Shiva, and other ritual objects.

Some are on display for the first time, such as a group of seven bronzes that were only unearthed in 2006.

The exhibit will be open to the public from May 15 to Jan. 23, 2011, before it moves to the J. Paul Getty Gallery in Los Angeles in February 2011.

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Chamkarmon Governor to Retain City Position

Phnom Penh’s governor says he will not investigate a district official who was nearly implicated in two illegal karaoke clubs earlier this month.

Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema told VOA Khmer on Friday there was “no need” to investigate Chamkarmon District Governor Lo Yuy because of the structure of city government.

If he were removed, Kep Chuktema said, it would not be publicly. Kep Chuktema said he had not found bribery among any of the city’s eight district governors.

Kep Chuktema was quoted by the English-language Phnom Penh Post as saying in a meeting last week he wanted to fire Lo Yuy, after police raided two illegal karaoke clubs in his district.

“I did not accuse Lo Yuy of taking bribes from karaoke clubs,” the governor said Friday. “I only said, ‘The drug problem and sex abuse was happening in your area. So what does that mean that it still happens in your area? You don’t know, or you pretend not to know?’”

Kep Chuktema said he had phrased his words this way because residents in the area had complained of illicit drugs, prostitution and child sex crimes in the district, which could lead them to assume bribery by the district’s leader.

Instead, Lo Yuy will remain at his post. He declined to comment Friday. Read more!

Former Fashion Editor's Cambodia-Based Company Wanderlust Partners With Madewell

There's a little corner of Cambodia set up in lower Manhattan.

Madewell, on lower Broadway, is currently showing off the wares from its collaboration with Cambodian brand Wanderlust in a charming little hut on the store's second floor. This capsule collection, which consists of a couple of dresses, sarongs, bracelets and more, is designed by former New York fashion editor Elizabeth Kiester and made by Cambodian women artisans.

Kiester recently traveled from Cambodia to New York to celebrate the collaboration and shared some thoughts with StyleList.

StyleList: How did you end up in Cambodia?
Elizabeth Kiester: I went to Cambodia to do a volunteer vacation installing water pumps and working in orphanages for three weeks. Something about Cambodia really changed the way I saw my life and the world. I came back to New York and sold everything, went back and opened a store (Wanderlust).

SL: Everything is made in Cambodia, right?
EK: Everything is made in Cambodia. I design everything and the women make it out of their homes. I drive around in a tuk-tuk (a three-wheeled motor taxi) and pick everything up. They're all young women and I like to instill in them that they don't have to work in a factory. They can look after their children and their parents. It's been amazing.

SL: How did the collection with Madewell come about?
EK: Last summer, I did a little bracelet for the East Hampton store opening. They sold out of them in a weekend and here we are.

SL: The woven water hyacinth flower bag is great. What's the story behind it?
EK: The water hyacinth flowers were growing up and choking parts of the Tonle Sap river, therefore killing the fish. Once the fish were dead the men were out of work because that's how they survive. They figured out that if women could pull up the water hyacinth and dry them, they could weave them. The women are crafting something out of this, saving the wildlife and saving their husbands' or fathers' jobs. I call this 360 degree fashion – it looks good and it is good.
Find out what other feel good fashion initiative recently earned almost $43,000 to an important charity. Read more!

Continued Dredging Threatens Coast: Watchdog

The watchdog Global Witness is warning in a new report that Cambodia continues to export millions of tons of dredged sand despite a government ban and the potential environmental risks.

The report, “Shifting Sand,” says Singapore’s demand for Cambodian sand is undermining environmental and governance efforts in the country and threatening the coastal environment, endangered species, fish stocks and local livelihoods.

Global Witness fingers two ruling Cambodian People’s Party senators, Mong Reththy and Ly Yong Phat, as having received sand extraction licenses “behind closed doors” and “gaining control of an industry worth millions of dollars.”

“Once again, we have not seen any revenue reaching the government’s account,” George Boden, a researcher for Global Witness, told VOA Khmer.

Global Witness has rankled the government on several occasions, reporting on a “kleptocratic elite” who are close to the prime minister and control lucrative trades in timber and other natural resources.

Ly Young Phat could not be reached for comment.

Mong Reththy told VOA Khmer he had government permission to build a seaport in Koh Kong province, which required dredging. But he said he was not selling the dredged sand.

The report comes a year after a sand-dredging ban by Prime Minister Hun Sen, which Global Witness called a “mockery.”

“There is no evidence that basic environmental safeguards have been applied, with boats reportedly turning up and dredging sand, often in protected areas, with no local consultation,” the group said in a statement.

Boden said donors, who provide as much as half the government’s national budget, have failed to hold the elite to account for the loss of natural resource wealth that could lift the populace from poverty.

“Global Witness is calling on Cambodia’s donors to use a forthcoming meeting to lean on the Cambodian government more to ensure the money from the sale of natural resources reach government accounts and benefit ordinary Cambodian people,” he said.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan called the report an “attack” and said the policy of the government is that “any income must go to the national budget for development.”

He declined to comment on other aspects of the report.

Global Witness reported that at least 790,000 tons of sand from the coast are monthly shipped out, at a price of about $26 per ton, and that Singapore, the world’s largest importer of sand in 2008, has expanded its landmass with fill by 22 percent since the 1960s.

Global Witness said Singaporean demand for sand had created problems for the coastlines of Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, prior to Cambodia.

In a statement Monday, the Singapore National Development Ministry said, “We do not condone the illegal export or smuggling of sand or any extraction of sand that is in breach of the source countries’ laws and rules on environment protection.”

The statement said Singapore has not received official notice from Cambodia on a ban on sand exports.
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WCS Applauds U.S. Senators Kerry and Lieberman

The Wildlife Conservation Society applauded U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) for their leadership in introducing new legislation, The American Power Act, which would provide important measures to protect wildlife and wild places while ensuring our U.S. energy independence.

WCS Executive Vice President of Public Affairs John Calvelli issued the following statement:

"We praise U.S. Sens. John Kerry and Joseph Lieberman for their leadership in pushing for legislation that will ensure our nation's energy independence, and when reconciled with the Waxman-Markey bill in the House, will play a critical role in protecting tropical forests and all their biodiversity. There is no zero-sum game when we strive to create better energy policies and to protect our planet's forests and wildlife.

"The new legislation contains essential language designed to manage the negative impacts of climate change on natural resources within the United States and abroad. The bill supports the international effort known as REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation), through which developing nations receive payments in exchange for protecting forest carbon reserves, but unfortunately provides no public funding and only limited opportunities for the private sector to support that work."

Around the globe, the Wildlife Conservation Society has led an effort to assist nations in which poverty rates are as great as their vast stores of biological richness. From Bolivia to Cambodia to Madagascar, forest carbon crediting has been used to provide an economic alternative to the destruction of precious forest land. In delivering economic benefits to local communities, this program also protects large tracts of forest in which carbon is sequestered and that a diversity of unique wildlife such as tigers, gorillas and jaguars depend upon.
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Sichuan Trade Mission Due Next Week

A Chinese delegation from the province of Sichuan will travel to Cambodia for the first time next week in search of investment options, on the heals of deepening ties between the two countries.

The delegation, led by Sun Yuan, president of the Sichuan Chamber of Commerce, will meet with National Assembly President Heng Samrin, lawmakers and trade officials.

The five-day visit is a fact-finding mission for Sichuan business leaders, who hope to build ties, especially in the trade of commercial goods, said Korm Kosal, Heng Samrin’s cabinet chief.

Nguon Meng Tech, secretary-general of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, said Cambodia has no Sichuan companies. However, he said, he hopes to convince investors on the visit to build agricultural businesses, expand tourism and bring construction and mining companies.

“If we receive investment from Sichuan, it will help push our economic growth through investment and trade exchange,” he said.

The visit comes follows an announcement last week that Cambodia will expand consular services to six cities in China and a $1.2 billion development pledge from Beijing in December 2009.

In October 2009, Prime Minister Hun Sen took more than 100 Cambodian companies to Sichuan province in an effort to woo investment.

Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Cheam Yiep said Heng Samrin will explain to the delegation the investor-friendly laws of Cambodia, which include tax incentives, land concessions, zero import duties for construction materials and zero export tariffs on some products.

Economist Kong Chandararoth said the visit marked a “new step” in Chinese-Cambodian investment.

“Cambodia will be able to strengthen its economic growth if Sichuan comes to invest,” he said.
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Sand dredging threatens Cambodia's coasts

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, May 12 (UPI) -- Sand dredging in Cambodia, fueled by Singapore's expansion and land reclamation projects, poses a huge risk to Cambodia's coastal environment, says a new report.

In its "Shifting Sands" report, environmental group Global Witness estimates that as much as 796,000 tons of sand is being removed from saltwater estuaries in Cambodia's Koh Kong province each month -- enough to cover all of Phnom Penh nearly a half-inch deep in just eight months.

Singapore, with a population of 4.9 million people, has increased its land surface by 22 percent since the 1960s, mostly through land reclamation projects using imported sand. This appetite for sand is fueling a "corrupt and environmentally disastrous" sand industry, the Global Witness report states.

The Cambodian government in May 2009 imposed a ban on sand exports. Yet two prominent Cambodian senators had been awarded sand extraction licenses, Global Witness said, and there is no trace of any revenues benefiting the state.

The London-based watchdog group estimates the annual value of the sand shipments is $28.7 million in Cambodia and $248 million once the sand reaches Singapore.

Cambodia's sand-dredging industry poses a "huge risk" to its coastal environment, threatening endangered species, fish stocks and local livelihoods, the report states.

Hundreds of fisherman from the Koh Kong and Kampot provinces have protested repeatedly against the sand dredging, The Phnom Penh Post reported, quoting a fisherman from Koh Kong as saying that fish catches had decreased about 40 percent since last year.

The process of sand dredging has also "wreaked havoc" on the region's coastlines, the Global Witness report said, noting that Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia each have banned dredging sand for export because of environmental concerns.

Emphasizing that Singapore prides itself as being a regional leader on environmental issues, "the country's failure to mitigate the social and ecological cost of sand dredging represents hypocrisy on a grand scale," George Boden, campaigner at Global Witness, said in a release.

"Cambodia's natural resource wealth should be lifting its population out of poverty," he said, noting that nearly 70 percent of the population subsists on less than $2 a day.

In a statement, Singapore's Ministry of National Development rejected the findings of the Global Witness report, saying "we do not condone the illegal export or smuggling of sand, or any extraction of sand that is in breach of the source countries' laws and rules on environmental protection."

"We have not received any official notice on the ban of sand exports from Cambodia," it added.

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Civil Coalition Slams ‘Unlawful’ Sugar Concessions

Villagers in Kampong Speu protest against Phnom Penh Sugar Company for land grabbing.

The government has granted tens of thousands of hectares of unlawful land concessions to a small group of companies, some of them owned by the same person, a coalition of rights groups said Wednesday.

The concessions violated portions of the land law and a sub-decree on economic land concessions, according to the coalition, comprised of the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee, NGO Forum and Housing Rights Task Force.

The law says that each concession must be below 10,000 hectares for any individual owner of a company.

But an investigation into the deals found “that although different locations are granted as land economic concessions to different company names, they are of course run and owned by only the same physical person with the size bigger than 10,000 hectares,” according to the coalition.

The coalition specifically named the Koh Kong Sugar Industry Company, granted 9,700 hectares in 2006; the Angkor Sugar Investment Company, granted 9,863 hectares in 2007; and the Phnom Penh Sugar Company, granted 8,343 hectares in 2010.

All three companies are owned by Ly Yong Phat, a powerful senator for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party who is currently engaged in an ongoing land dispute for the 2010 concession, in Kampong Speu province’s Omlieng commune, Thpong district.

“Such provision of land concessions is clearly contradicted to…Article 59 of [the] Land Law,” the coalition said in a statement.

Omlieng villagers say the Phnom Penh Sugar Company has pushed them from their farms, and they have staged multiple protests in the commune and provincial capital, including the burning of several company buildings and a bulldozer.

The coalition said the unlawful concessions “do not really contribute to a sustainable national development of Cambodia” and instead create a negative reputation for the country. The groups called on the government to cease new concessions, publicly review current ones and cancel those that are not in line with the land law.

They also recommended the government return land to people that was lost in unlawful concessions.

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Kent man charged for reportedly having sex with child prostitutes in Cambodia

By KENT REPORTER

A 59-year-old Kent man is expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Monday in Seattle to face charges he engaged in illicit sexual conduct with underage girls in Cambodia.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Craig Thomas Carr, of Kent, was accompanied by ICE agents May 7 as he boarded a plane in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the return flight to the United States, according to an ICE media release. The charges against Carr are detailed in a five-count criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court.

According to affidavit in the case, the investigation into Carr's activities began in December 2009 when the Cambodian National Police, acting on information from the French National Police, learned that a taxi driver in Phnom Penh, identified by the initials S.M., had advertised on the Internet that he could procure minors for the purpose of child prostitution.

Carr responded to one of S.M.'s advertisements in November 2009 and they subsequently exchanged approximately 20 e-mail messages.

In the e-mails, Carr and S.M. discussed Carr's desire to have sex with girls around 12 years of age. S.M. told Carr that he could arrange for the age and appearance of girls Carr described.

Court documents describe how Carr traveled Jan. 13 to Cambodia via San Francisco International Airport and Taipei, Taiwan. The next day, S.M. met Carr at his hotel and transported him to a local guest house where he met a woman who appeared to be managing the brothel.

ICE's investigation revealed that, for the next seven days, Carr had sex multiple times with three girls. All fees were pre-negotiated prior to his departure from the U.S.

According to the affidavit, Carr told ICE agents that he paid S.M. $3,000 when he arrived in Cambodia and had made two additional payments of $3,000 and $1,800 to the woman who operated the brothel. Carr also admitted to paying each young girl $20 for allowing him to take sexually explicit photographs of them.

The Cambodian National Police arrested Carr on Jan. 22. He remained in the custody of Cambodian authorities until he was removed from that country and escorted back to the U.S. by ICE. S.M. was also arrested by the Cambodian police in January and he remains in Cambodia.

"Pedophiles who believe they can escape the detection of law enforcement and travel overseas to commit heinous crimes against children should take note," said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of ICE's office of investigations. "ICE and its law enforcement partners around the globe will pursue those who subject children to this type of crime and bring them to justice."

The probe into Carr's activities was conducted by ICE's Office of Investigations in Seattle, ICE's Office of International Affairs that oversees the agency's Attaché Office in Bangkok, the Cambodian Police Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection offices and the French National Police.

Carr is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington under the Protect Act. The Protect Act, which went into effect seven years ago, substantially strengthened federal laws against predatory crimes involving children outside the U.S. by adding new crimes and increasing the penalties for these charges.

The investigation is part of Operation Predator, an ongoing ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.

ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423. The hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.

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Leading Indicators: Off-the-Radar News Roundup

Judah Grunstein

- China's central bank promised to maintain a "basically stable" exchange rate and a "moderately easy" monetary policy, in its first-quarter report released yesterday. The language has some analysts expecting an imminent shift toward a stronger yuan. Meanwhile, China posted double-digit trade growth in April, and first-quarter economic growth of 11.9 percent, but weak global demand has analysts skeptical that Beijing will move quickly to let the yuan rise. Got that? It would seem the only safe bet is that China will do something about the yuan, as long as you accept that "doing nothing" also qualifies as "doing something."

- China and Cambodia agreed to strengthen bilateral military ties following a meeting in Beijing between China's defense minister and Cambodia's chief of staff. Nothing new here, Cambodia has been steadily slipping into China's orbit for a while now.

- Just when you thought that Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's handling of the Futenma base relocation couldn't get any worse, government sources said that he has now given up on his self-imposed deadline to resolve the issue by May 31. No Coke!! Pepsi!!

- South Korea confirmed that a Pakistani man arrested for illegally entering the country is a member of the Taliban, raising security concerns for the G-20 summit scheduled in Seoul for November. The more globalization diffuses power -- and the symbols of power -- the more it diffuses the threat of anti-globalization backlashes, like Islamic terrorism.

- Meanwhile, and perhaps not unrelatedly, South Korea formally launched the 320-troop unit that will be deployed to Afghanistan in July and outlined its equipment: four helicopters, armored vehicles and a mini-UAV.

- India's army said that there had been no "intrusions" by China along the Line of Actual Control that defines their border, instead calling various incidents reported last year "transgressions" that resulted from "a matter of perception of the borderline."

- India's home minister ruled out military operations against Maoist Naxalite insurgents due to "ethical considerations," saying, "Sri Lanka might have used the military to tackle the LTTE, but we in India can't do that." Interesting that he referred to Sri Lanka, instead of to the Pakistani army's campaign in North Waziristan. Perhaps it has to do with not stepping on Islamabad's toes in advance of the July 15 meeting between the two countries' foreign ministers, announced today.

- Following a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Spain's foreign minister promised that the EU would open an unspecified number of new chapters in Turkey's EU accession negotiations before the end of the Spanish EU presidency in July. I'm not quite sure what the Spanish foreign minister is doing speaking on behalf of the EU on common foreign policy, given that there's now an EU foreign minister -- a role that was created for that express purpose.

- Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev met with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal during his visit to Syria. The two were joined by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This will probably raise hackles in all the usual places, but I think it's worthwhile having someone of Medvedev's stature able to sit down and cut to the chase with Hamas leaders. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been trying to do just that for a while, but faces constraints based on both the U.S. and EU listings of Hamas as a terrorist organization.

- Israel was invited to join the OECD after a 16-year effort. The bid was supported by Turkey over strenuous Palestinian opposition, signaling a potential thaw in recently testy relations between the two allies.

- Egypt's prime minister asked parliament to extend the Emergency Law, in force since 1981, for another two years,a lthough promising to limit certain aspects of it. The lifting of the state of emergency has been a prominent demand of the Egyptian opposition. The extension, which parliament is expected to approve, is meant to be the last before an anti-terror law replaces it in 2012.

- Uruguay's local elections, which saw the opposition take most of the regional governments amid a record proportion of "blank ballot" abstensions, served as a "wake-up call" for the country's ruling coalition.

Research by Kari Lipschutz.
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Cambodia's Preap Sovath

By RFI

Cambodia’s best-known celebrity is actor and singer Preap Sovath. Immensely popular in his home country, Sovath has a talent for keeping his audience interested. Above all, he's a singer, but few will doubt his talent on the big screen.

Appearing in everything from music videos, to film, Sorvath's exploits in 2007 earned him the top honour at the Cambodian Film Festival. For Sovath, the biggest challenge was not simply becoming a celebrity, but remaining one - he confided to RFI.

In Cambodia, new stars appear every day: They are born at nightfall and then disappear as soon as the sun rises, making way for those to come the night after. It’s rare for an actor to survive longer than three years. As a result, they tend to adopt a similar, rigid, style and find it difficult to adapt to the tastes of the public.

Sovath, to the contrary, knew how to conserve his popularity. He’s been the country’s highest-billed star for almost 20 years. It all started when he began singing in 1990, at a time when Cambodian cinema was not yet developed.

Apart from foreign films, karaoke music clips were all the graced screens in Cambodia. Sovath, a singer but also a talented actor, quickly joined Hang Meas, the biggest producer of music video clips in Cambodia.

Year after year, Sovath knew how to evolve along with the changing tastes of his fans. He did not hesitate to reinvent the style of his songs, nor the way he sang them. Moreover, he sang everything (from rock and pop to Khmer folk) and ensured everyone could see themselves in these clips – the young, the less young, the townsmen and the countrymen.

It was in 2005 when Sovath decided to dedicate himself to the big screen. He rediscovered himself in the film The Crocodile Hunter, playing nothing less that the hero. It was his film debut – but it was also his greatest cinematic success.

Today in Cambodia, the film market is in decline, largely because intellectual property rights are not respected: from the date of their release, and sometimes even before, films are copied and sold at an unbeatable price. As a result, cinemas are closing one after another and the producers are profiting less and less.

At 35 years of age, a married father of three, Sovath is continuing on his journey, all the while enchanting his public.

His success is not just thanks to his voice and acting prowess, but also to the manner in which he manages his private life. A stable and solid married life is paramount in a traditionally conservative society such as Cambodia's.

While most Cambodian celebrities are often tainted by sex scandals, Sovath is known to be a family man.

For his part, Sorvath hopes to continue his career along the same trajectory – at least for now. “I love art - and I love my career my as an artist, as it has allowed me step out of the void and become a celebrity.”

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Businesswomen Find a Friend in Facebook

Around six month ago, Lim Viriya had abandoned her products distribution business—twice. The 29-year-old businesswoman from Siem Reap province nearly closed down her tour company, as she faced tight competition and thin profit margins.

Facebook saved her businesses.

“In the past, I was defeated many times,” she told VOA Khmer recently. “But afterward, I read information posted on Facebook, talking about the commitment and persistence of a restaurant owner to pursue her business, despite being defeated many times. She advised that with any kind of business, no matter how little we earn, as long as we persist, we will not fail.”

The site’s Cambodia Women in Business page encouraged her to carry on with her ventures, she said, and, since December 2009, things have been looking up.

The Facebook page was the initiative of the International Finance Corporation, the private-sector arm of the World Bank, which thought social networking could help Cambodian women looking to start their own businesses.

Cambodian women face a number of challenges starting or expanding their businesses. With often lower educations, they must make sense of regulatory information, and they have an uphill struggle against family values that disapprove of women in business.

Now the page has more than 300 members, many of them owners of small- or medium-sized businesses. There are female students, employers and researchers. Men are not excluded.

The page includes photographs of various businesses run by women and discussions about the challenges they face, such as difficulties with registration. It has suggestions on ways women can gain the support of their husbands. It includes market research, product prices and business management strategies. Members post articles on national and international businesswomen.

The page does have limitations. It is run in English, on the Internet, excluding many Cambodian women who can’t read English or don’t have access to the Web.

Still, IFC project manager Lil Sisambat says she’s confident it is helping.

“Facebook creates energy and a lot of ideas about how to do more business, to do better business and to have a way to solve the problems women are facing,” she said. “If one woman who starts a business faces difficulties, other women can help her online. So I think it is a very good source of support to make the environment easy to do business.”

Seng Stephene, an employee of a private business in Phnom Penh who wants to open a communication company, only joined Facebook a month ago. With it, she said, she learned how to start her own business and how to study the market.

Women who already have successful businesses, meanwhile, share their experiences.

“The moment that women face harder problem in their businesses, it will make them become stronger and be successful,” said Heng Chenda, manager of KNN Handicraft. “So, please, all women, behave with a strong commitment.”

Women play an important role in economic growth, and private enterprise is the main driver of economic development in Cambodia. It accounts for 92 percent of total jobs in the country, according to a 2008 study by the IFC. In those, women accounted for 55 percent of all business owners, mainly with micro- or small-sized ventures.

With Cambodian men the primary owners of medium and large businesses, women do not fulfill their potential as job creators, nor as developers of human resources—nor as taxpayers.

A network site like Facebook can help them put their voices together, said Veronique Salze-Lozac’h, the regional director of economic programs for the Asia Foundation.

“If they can actually find enough women to say, ‘Yes, this is really a problem,’ then they can come together and try to contact to the government to improve their situation,” she said. “So Facebook can be a very useful tool for businesswomen to push for some reforms.”

However, because of its unofficial nature, Ty Makara Ravy, an active member of the sight, thinks the government may not take it seriously.

That may not be so. Minister of Women’s Affairs Ing Kantha Phavy, after all, reads the page. She told VOA Khmer the concerns and challenges she finds there could help steer government policy.
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