Jia Qinglin (R), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, meets with Hor Nam hong, Cambodian deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 6, 2012. (Xinhua/Li Tao)
BEIJING, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- China and Cambodia on Monday vowed to further promote their ties in a meeting between top political advisor Jia Qinglin and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Nam hong.
"China attaches high importance to its comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation with Cambodia, and will continue to deepen bilateral substantial cooperation so as to benefit both sides," said Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
He spoke highly of the development of bilateral relations, citing frequent high-level visits, strengthened mutual political trust and fruitful substantial cooperation as some of the achievements made in the area.
Jia said China appreciates Cambodia's firm adherence to the one-China policy and steady support for China on issues involving Tibet, Xinjiang and other major issues.
"Cambodia is a good friend indeed, a friend that China trusts and relies on," Jia said.
Hor Nam hong also praised the development of Cambodia-China relations in recent years. He thanked China for its assistance in Cambodia's social and economic development.
Hor Nam hong vowed to work with China to strengthen friendly exchanges and deepen bilateral cooperation so as to bring their comprehensive strategic partnership to a new high.
Jia also spoke positively of the strategic partnership between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as the important role ASEAN has played in promoting east Asian cooperation.
Jia said China is ready to join hands with all ASEAN countries, including Cambodia, to continue to contribute to the region's peace, stability and prosperity.
Hor Nam hong said Cambodia will help promote ASEAN-China ties and east Asian cooperation.
Earlier Monday, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks with Hor Nam hong, during which the two sides agreed to enhance coordination to promote China-ASEAN ties and cooperation in East Asia.
Later Monday afternoon, Hor Nam hong also met with senior legislator Lu Yongxiang, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body.
Hor Nam hong was invited by Yang to visit China from Feb. 5 to 7.Read more!
(NewDesignWorld Press Center) - Cambodian authorities must stop the use of excessive force against peaceful land and housing activists, Amnesty International said today, after police violently dispersed a group of around 150 women protesting forced evictions in the capital Phnom Penh.
Police yesterday beat and arrested several of the women, who were peacefully protesting against last month’s forced eviction of the Borei Keila community and the situation at the capital’s Boeung Kak Lake.
“Communities all over Cambodia are peacefully resisting forced evictions and taking action to claim their rights,” said Donna Guest, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Programme.
“The Cambodian authorities must stop the use of excessive force against these communities, and bring to justice those responsible for such violence.”
Yesterday’s episode follows more serious incidents elsewhere in the country, where land activists were reportedly shot and injured in Kratie province in eastern Cambodian by military personnel working for a private company, and in Battambang province in the west by military police.
Several of the women protesting in Phnom Penh yesterday were half naked, as they removed their clothing in an apparent show of desperation. Police reportedly grabbed and beat the protesters, including elderly women, to the ground, before six women were thrown into a police van and detained overnight at Phnom Penh police station.
The six women included Borei Keila residents Seng Kunthea, Seng Rany, Tom Sakmony, Nen Sarith and Ath Samnang, as well as Srang Srey Tuch, a former resident of Boeung Kak Lake.
At least two of them were injured during the arrest but reportedly received no medical care, while none of them were given full access to lawyers.
Four of the detained Borei Keila women had previously been held at Prey Speu Social Affairs Center, after a peaceful protest last month against the Borei Keila forced eviction.
All six were released today without charge after being detained overnight. Phnom Penh authorities agreed to discuss the disputes with representatives from the two communities.
Women from Borei Keila are seeking compensation for damaged property and calling on the authorities to address their housing needs after more than 300 families were evicted from a development site on 3 January. The developer, Phan Imex, has failed to build the on-site housing it previously promised them.
Seven people arrested during the Borei Keila eviction remain in detention.
Residents from Boeung Kak Lake are calling for the authorities to follow through on the Prime Minister’s promise, made in August 2011, to grant land titles to remaining residents and allow construction of on-site housing around the lake.
They are also demanding that the authorities take measures to alleviate flooding caused by the company filling in the lake. Former residents are calling for additional compensation for being forced to leave their homes and relocating elsewhere.
Earlier this week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned against the use of violence in land disputes.
“The Cambodian government is saying one thing and authorities at the local level are doing another. Yesterday’s use of excessive force by police in Phnom Penh contradicts the Prime Minister’s call for peaceful resolutions to land disputes,” said Donna Guest.
“Instead of trying to silence these communities through intimidation and violence, the Phnom Penh authorities should listen to them. These communities have a right to a prompt solution that meets Cambodia’s international legal obligations to provide adequate housing,” said Donna Guest.
Region Asia And The Pacific
Country Cambodia Read more!
The UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal’s final judgment against a former prison chief in Cambodia today is an important step towards accountability but raises human rights concerns, Amnesty International said.
The tribunal’s Supreme Court Chamber upheld an earlier conviction of Khmer Rouge jailer Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, for crimes against humanity and war crimes described as “amongst the worst in human history”, and increased his sentence from 35 years to life in prison.
Duch was held responsible for killing at least 12,272 men, women, and children from 1975 to 1979 while he was in charge of “S21”, a secret prison run by the Khmer Rouge in a former school in Phnom Penh.
The judgment included additional convictions against Duch, but also raised human rights concerns by overturning a legal remedy he was granted after a Cambodian military court illegally detained him, without investigation or trial, from May 1999 until July 2007.
“The closure of this first case represents an important step towards achieving accountability for the mass crimes of the Khmer Rouge, and helping the Cambodian people draw a line under this tragic chapter of their country’s history,” said Rupert Abbott, Amnesty International’s researcher on Cambodia, who attended today’s judgment.
“But the decision to overturn the legal remedy for Duch’s unlawful detention and to provide no alternative may be perceived as a case of public opinion trumping human rights.”
Amnesty International considers that the July 2010 decision of the tribunal’s Trial Chamber to grant this legal remedy – a five-year reduction in Duch’s sentence as a result of the illegal detention – sent a positive message to the Cambodian justice system that human rights should be universally enjoyed and that violations must be remedied.
Another concern with the judgment is the apparent decision to leave the issue of Duch’s eligibility for parole to the Cambodian justice system, which has been criticized for its lack of independence.
Additionally, confusing findings relating to the Tribunal’s personal jurisdiction over former Khmer Rouge may have implications for other cases.
The Supreme Court Chamber’s judgment highlighted the suffering of Duch’s victims, their families and the Cambodian people, admitting several additional Civil Parties – victims who join as parties in the proceedings – whose applications had been rejected in the original verdict.
Amnesty International called on the Cambodian government to provide support for ‘moral and collective’ reparations for victims of the Khmer Rouge regime.
“Today’s judgment emphasized the important role of victims in proceedings before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. We had hoped, however, for a more creative decision on ‘moral and collective’ reparations and urge the Cambodian government to work with victims’ groups to meet their needs in this regard,” said Rupert Abbott.
The Supreme Court Chamber issued only a summary appeal judgment today, with a full decision to be issued in due course. The judgment is final and cannot be appealed.Read more!
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Eight farmers have died after their tractor ran over an anti-tank mine left over from Cambodia’s 1980s civil war.
The head of the Cambodian Mines Action Center, Heng Ratana, says two others were seriously injured Friday when the mine exploded as the farmers traveled to a cassava field in Banteay Meanchey province, 190 miles (300 kilometers) northwest of Phnom Penh.
He says the area was the site of intense battles between the communist Khmer Rouge and government forces in the 1980s and early 1990s. Deminers face the task of removing an estimated 4 to 6 million land mines and other ordnance still left from more than three decades of conflict.
Heng Ratana says about 200 Cambodians were killed or wounded by mines last year.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Read more!
A postmenopausal, empty-nest, middle-class woman, looking for something useful to do in the third act of her life, decides to volunteer in Cambodia on a house-building project. Call it a cliché if you wish. Or cue the laugh track of friends and family who know how useless I am with a hammer.
Volunteering internationally, I learned even before leaving, is the ultimate good deed for anyone sharing my own fortune of time, resources and health. Everyone I told about my plans thought it was noble of me to be giving back in this way.
It was hardly a selfless act, though. It was the exact opposite. At this crossroads in my life, it was an opportunity for a unique cultural experience in a country I had never visited before.
Part of my giving back, in fact, was to the project’s team leader. She happens to be an inspiring woman from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., who spent years living overseas. She has organized seven of these journeys to Cambodia for families and individuals like me. She also, in the past, put those same organizational and volunteer skills to good use supporting my own work. So this was an opportunity for me to say thanks.
The project was for a homegrown organization: Tabitha Foundation Canada, an NGO based in Ottawa, with its Canadian founder at the helm of headquarters in Cambodia’s capital city, Phnom Penh. Tabitha has helped two million Cambodians in more than 15 years of operation, working in the poorest parts of the country where the average family wage is less than $1 a day.
Unlike projects in other poverty-stricken regions of the developing world, there is an extra layer of despair when volunteering in Cambodia. It is a country that has seen years of civil war and a horrifying genocide of more than 1.5 million souls.
Tabitha’s formidable and indefatigable founder, Janne Ritskes, makes it mandatory for all volunteer house builders to visit the Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh (the converted high-school campus used by Pol Pot for torture), then to see the actual Killing Fields (where those who survived the torture were brutally murdered.)
As well as providing us with the cultural context for our work, Janne made another point perfectly clear: It’s about the Cambodians, not us. In no uncertain terms, we were told to never complain about anything and to keep our emotions in check at all times. Our first real test of the latter rule happened during our visits to the memorials of the genocide.
Thankfully, Janne had also scared us during our briefing on workplace safety before we left Phnom Penh for Kampot province in the south, where we would be working. The temperatures would be hitting close to 40 degrees, among other health considerations (malaria, dengue fever and heat stroke, to name a few). So when we heard the word “water” shouted out on the half-hour by our team leader, it was not a call to drink: It meant to come and have a bucket of it thrown over your head so you don’t faint.
Over the course of the project we built 18 houses, basic shelters on stilts with one door and a window. I spent my days hammering in the floors.
There was a wide range of ages and life experiences on our 18-member team, from a 15-year-old girl travelling with her mother (the young woman never muttered a word of complaint, except perhaps to her mother for taking so many pictures of her), to a seventysomething retired educator who had bicycled through Vietnam with his wife before our work began. As we shuttled between our work site and the jungle eco-lodge where we were staying, the dynamics of the team made the conversations always stimulating.
And hilarious. As unexpected as that might sound, we laughed a lot. Although I wasn’t too amused by the captured, caged rat that fell out of my hut’s ceiling a foot from my toilet on our last morning, I had the presence of mind to take a picture of it with my BlackBerry, knowing that no one would ever believe me.
I certainly laughed at myself at the experience of leading a half-dozen women, desperate for a bathroom, to a Cambodian village storefront in search of relief. Confused by my request using the universal sign language of washing my hands, I shamelessly squatted down in front of the female shopkeeper, mimicking the Asian way. Mission accomplished.
On the final day of the project, when the houses are completed, it’s tradition to have a handover ceremony. Each family receives a quilt for their new home made by Tabitha’s own handicraft industry, another part of the foundation’s work in Cambodia. I found it harder to control my emotions during that ceremony than I did holding back my tears at the Killing Fields.
The sad history of Cambodia was too huge for me to get my head around. But watching the families happily take possession of their new homes, which by Canadian standards give new meaning to the word basic, was incredibly moving. What we had accomplished was so immediate and right before our eyes.
Who cared if a few nails didn’t get hammered in perfectly? We all could feel the difference we had made in the families’ lives. And in our own lives, too – even if that was against the rules.
Robin Pascoe lives in North Vancouver, B.C. Read more!
Jen Jewett says she's nervous about how she'll react to seeing children as young as toddlers being sold for sex. (Courtesy of Uptown Saint John)
Jen Jewett, of Saint John, will travel to Cambodia next month
A Saint John woman will travel to Cambodia next month to help with efforts to get children out of the sex trade.
Jen Jewett will spend five weeks with an organization that's setting up a safe house and training program for boys who have been rescued from brothels.
About 60 per cent of children living in brothels there are boys, but it's seldom discussed, she said.
"In their culture, men are basically like untouchable. There's a saying that men are like gold and they can't be tarnished and women are like cloth or something and once they're stained, it's done," said Jewett.
"And I was reading about how government sometimes, if they take boys out of brothels, they will just throw them back onto the street because they don't want to acknowledge that boys have been in there too.
"It's just sort of ignored and pushed aside because they don't want to deal with that."
As a result, there are currently no safe houses designated for boys in Cambodia. That's why the missionary group, Iris Cambodia, decided to set one up, said Jewett.
"It's just a place that we will provide a safe area for them basically to try to rehabilitate themselves and teach them other skills they can use so they don't have to sell their bodies," she said. "So they can sew, or cook, or something instead."
Daunting task
Jewett won't be part of the raids on brothels, but she will help rehabilitate the victims back at the safe house.
Still, she's a bit nervous about how she will react to seeing children as young as toddlers being sold for sex.
"I love kids so much and…I can't imagine that this is happening to kids, you know, which is why it's something that I want to be involved in, but it's also really scary, the thought of what will happen when I see that. I don’t know how I'll react."
Cambodia, which borders Thailand, has one of the highest rates of child sex trafficking, said Jewett.
"It's just so common that it's not hidden, it's everywhere," she said.
"It's just part of the mindset. If parents need to provide for the rest of the family, they sell one of their kids, or kids are kidnapped into it sometimes, or sometimes they think they're going to a real job and so their parents send them off but then they end up taking them to a brothel instead of a farm or something."
Still, as difficult as the experience may be, Jewett felt compelled to get involved with the organization, whose founders she met five years ago while volunteering at an orphanage in Africa.
"I feel like it's just, you have to do something about it. It's something that's so wrong, you can't just pretend that life goes on as normal, you know?"Read more!
Chhang Youk is scheduled to appear before the Trial Chamber on Thursday.
Youk Chhang, a leading Cambodian genocide researcher, shows a copy of the Cambodian version of a Khmer Rouge history textbook to teachers in Takeo province.
The head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, which has provided hundreds of thousands of documents to the Khmer Rouge tribunal, addressed the court on Wednesday to vouch for the accuracy of the research.
Defense attorneys for three jailed regime leaders have challenged the authenticity of documents from the well-established organization, which has collected documentation on Khmer Rouge atrocities for nearly 15 years.
Chhang Youk told the court that documents were thoroughly vetted and that the age of the paper, dates, signatures and other proof are used to verify their authenticity. Chhang Youk is scheduled to appear before the Trial Chamber on Thursday.
He told the court Wednesday he had established the center for the purpose of national reconciliation in the wake of Khmer Rouge atrocities and that he hoped the UN-backed court would provide accountability for the leaders of the regime. Read more!
ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish Coast Guard boats, tug boats and a helicopter were searching for eight crew members after a Cambodia-flagged freighter ship sank in stormy waters off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Tuesday, officials said. Three other crew members were rescued.
The ship, Vera, was sailing to Turkey's Aliaga port from Russia when it sank off the coast during a storm, regional Gov. Erol Ayyildiz said. He said police were also searching the shore for the missing crew.
Ayyildiz said the ship's second and third captains and its cook, a woman, were rescued and hospitalized.
"There is hope that the eight (missing) will be rescued," the state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Ayyildiz as saying. "They are used to the sea, they are experienced. Therefore, until we reach them, we are assuming that they are alive."
The Maritime Affairs Directorate said there were 10 Ukrainians and one Georgian crew member aboard the ship, which was carrying scrap metal.
It said at least three tug boats had joined the Coast Guard search-and-rescue effort, while Ayyildiz said a helicopter had also been dispatched.
"By the time the Coast Guard arrived in response to the distress call, the ship had already sunk," Irfan Erdem, head of the Chamber of Commerce for the region, told Turkey's NTV television.
He said a storm likely caused the ship's cargo to shift, tilting the vessel to the side and causing it to take on water.
Much of Turkey has been affected by a cold snap that has hit parts of Europe, with stormy weather disrupting maritime traffic.
The accident occurred some 10 days after another cargo ship brushed against two anchored vessels during severe weather off the coast of Istanbul, taking on water for hours before authorities pulled it ashore using a tug boat.Read more!
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, sits during a meeting at Peace Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, July 28, 2011. Hun Sen on Thursday opened the third meeting with environment ministers from the Greater Mekong Subregion countries which consists of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday demanded a rubber plantation turn over two security guards accused at opening fire on a gathering of villagers earlier this month.
Police say they are searching for two men who shot at a crowd of villagers who had gathered in protest to a land concession in Kratie province on Jan. 18. Four people were injured in the shooting, but no arrests have so far been made.
Hun Sen called the violence intolerable and called on TTY Corporation, which is owned by powerful business tycoon Na Marady, to turn over the security guards.
The Kratie court has issued a summons for the two guards.
At the inauguration of a new road in Mondolkiri province, Hun Sen said the company should be punished if it is found to be protecting them.
“I condemn such violence and cannot tolerate it,” Hun Sen said. “And ask the TTY Corporation to help hand over the offenders to the authorities of justice.”
Hun Sen said he had ordered Interior Minister Sar Kheng to arrest the men.
Land disputes are a growing concern in areas of more and more land concessions. Rights workers have pointed to tens of thousands affected and a potential source of widespread unrest.
Hun Sen said Tuesday he would take back land concessions if the violence continues.
Am Sam Ath, lead investigator for the rights group Licadho, welcomed premier’s words, but he said, “we will watch the effectiveness in implementation of Hun Sen’s speech.”Read more!
The government of Cambodia has announced that it is planning to import and refine oil from Iran in clear defiance of recent US sanctions on Iranian oil imports.
“Cambodia will not take into account the foreign policies of other countries toward Iran when considering investment in the Kingdom,” spokesman of Cambodia's Council of Ministers Ek Tha said yesterday.
“We do not discriminate where our FDI [foreign direct investment] comes from,” he said, adding that the deepening of cooperation with Iran was strictly civilian, not military, the Phnom Penh Post reported.
According to Ek Tha, Cambodia is planning to refine crude oil that it imports from Iran at a local refinery whose construction will begin within a few months, and then sell refined products to China and South Korea starting in 2014.
Construction of Cambodia's first oil refinery, located on 365 hectares in Sihanoukville and Kampot provinces, will begin in April and finish in 2014.
Tehran and Phnom Penh signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on oil and gas projects last year.
Reacting to the announcement, spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, Sean McIntosh, said members of the United Nations shouldn't ignore US policy toward Iran.
"We expect all UN members to strictly enforce UN [Security Council] relations and to consider carefully the impact of new US regulations when considering engaging in economic activity with Iran," he added.
The US President Barack Obama signed into law new sanctions against Iran which seek to penalize other countries for importing Iran's oil or doing transactions with the country's central bank. The European Union also approved new sanctions against Iran's oil and financial sectors on January 23, which will cut off crude oil imports from Iran on July 1.
The United States, Israel and their European allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used this pretext to impose four rounds of international and a series of unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Iran has refuted the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran has a right to use nuclear technology for peaceful use.
PHNOM PENH, Jan 30 (Bernama) –- The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) gained a majority of the votes in the country's Senate elections, receiving up to 77.81 percent, according to preliminary results provided by the National Election Committee (NEC) of Cambodia on Sunday.
The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), which is the country's main opposition party, gained 21.93 percent of votes, reported Vietnam news agency on Monday.
According to NEC, the official election result will be announced on Feb 4, but may be postponed to March 5 if there is any complaint from political parties.
The Senate elections are taking place under observation of 131 representatives of political parties and 1,432 domestic and foreign observers.
Only two main political parties participated in this year's elections. They are the ruling CPP and SRP.
The elections will select only 57 seats out of 61 seats as two senators will be appointed by the King and two by the National Assembly.
The Senate election is held every six years. In the last election in 2006, CPP won 45 seats, followed by the royalist FUNCINPEC party with 10 seats, and the remainder went to SRP.Read more!
Jan 30, 2012 (Rasmei Kampuchea Daily - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- ' Phnom Penh (Rasmei Kampuchea Daily/ANN) -- The ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) won 78.1 per cent of the vote in Cambodia's Senate elections on Sunday with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) getting about 21.99 per cent, according to preliminary results announced by the National Election Committee (NEC).
The CPP announced separately that it had won 46 of the 57 seats up for grabs in the indirect election which was limited to less than 12,000 local councillors and national lawmakers. The SRP said it expected to win 11 seats. Two of the other four seats are appointed by the king and the other two are elected by the National Assembly.
Both parties said they were satisfied with the election environment.
Ok Kim An, an official at CPP headquarters, said: "The number of votes for the CPP rose in every province even though the increase varied from one province to another." Yim Sovan, the SRP spokesman, noted that his party had only two seats in the outgoing Senate.
The CPP and SRP were the only two parties to field candidates in the election for the Senate, the third since the upper house was established to resolve a political crisis that followed elections for the National Assembly in 1998.
The ruing party held a majority of almost two thirds in the outgoing senate with 45 seats. Funcinpec, the royalist party which has since split but still governs in a nominal coalition with the CPP, had 21 seats including two voted by the National Assembly. Since it didn't field candidates in Sunday's election, both the CPP and SRP expected to gain.
The preliminary results Sunday showed the CPP winning 8,880 votes of the 11,412 valid votes counted with the SRP getting 2,503 votes, the NEC said. A spokesman said some of the completed ballots were invalid.
Voter turnout among the those eligible to cast ballots was 99.6 per cent. The NEC said 46 of the the eligible 11,470 members of Commune Councils and the National Assembly did not vote.
After voting closed at 3 pm, the NEC said the elections had been held in a safe and secure environment.
Cambodia is scheduled to hold commune elections in June ahead of national parliamentary elections in 2013.Read more!
Lying in the bath on a wooden junk in the South China Sea at dawn, the porthole opens on to an astonishing vista of mini mountains, one of Vietnam's most extraordin-ary surprises. It is pure Doctor Dolittle territory, with thousands of rough-hewn islands of limestone jutting out of the turquoise water. All that is needed is for a giant sea snail to slide gracefully into view among the 1,969 rocky isles, which UNESCO has described as one of the eight natural wonders of the world.
The Bhaya, an elegant junk with 20 cabins, is sailing in Halong Bay, 100 miles east of Hanoi. It begs for Agatha Christie to set Monsieur Poirot a mystery on board. It is light, airy and comfortable but full of potential for a whodunit: a very respectable couple from Shropshire sit next to a young gay couple from Germany, while a boisterous Australian family order drinks. Some try squid-fishing from the lower deck after a fresh crab dinner served on crisp white tablecloths.
Canoes are available in the afternoon for the more adventurous, and a spa is discreetly set up by white-uniformed staff for those who want to do nothing. This is a quirky sea venture: Bing Crosby songs alternate with Russian-Scottish music at the bar; cocktails are only a couple of dollars or so a shot. Vietnam at every stage is delightful and inexpensive.
How wise were the French to choose Indo-China when the world was like a huge Monopoly board being divided by the West's Great Powers. What is not to like about what is now Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos: staggeringly beautiful countries with ancient cultures going back more than 1,000 years, and landscapes, people and cuisine that are all beyond seductive.
It is almost 40 years since this region was ravaged by tanks, bombs and civil war. It is
37 years since the Vietnam War ended and Vietnam is now one of the world's fastest-growing economies. Hanoi buzzes with modern expansion yet remains traditional: women in coolie hats carry baskets of jackfruit past hi-tech gadget shops and a shiny Louis Vuitton store; and after just a short drive, you are in paddy fields with farmers trudging beneath palm trees in scenes that have remained unchanged for centuries.
Everything is a mix of ancient and modern. Hoi An, about 500 miles south of Hanoi, is an ancient town declared a World Heritage Site for its extraordinarily well-preserved 17th-century buildings, bridges over the river and old pagodas. Alongside are shops where Indian tourists whisper, 'Even we find it cheap here,' as they snap up silk scarves and have their children's portraits drawn by talented street artists for £4.
This former harbour town at the estuary of the Thu Bon river was an important trading centre in the 16th and 17th centuries, where Chinese from various provinces settled alongside Japanese, Dutch and Indians. During this period, the town was called Hoai Pho (Seaside Town in Vietnamese). Originally, it was a divided town with the Japanese settlement across the 16th-century Japanese Bridge, the only known covered bridge with a pagoda on the side.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the cult of the eponymous former leader is much celebrated with statues and a tomb that receives as much attention as Lenin's in Red Square. For those brought up on Apocalypse Now and other Vietnam films, it is fascinating to see this tranche of modern history - always referred to by locals as the 'American War' - through the eyes of the Vietcong.
The War Remnants Museum shows devastating photographs of the effect of American bombing using the chemical weapon Agent Orange. The message of the museum is a complete condemnation of America for its military intervention. Curiously enough, however, the museum is partly funded by American Democrat donations, and the Vietnamese staff are extraordinarily friendly to every sheep-faced American tourist.
Yet more riveting is a visit to Cu Chi, just an hour by taxi (£40 return), where 75 miles of underground tunnels were bored out during the war. It is where the Vietcong lived amid horrendous conditions. The torturous underground traps, complete with sharp spikes, which they laid to ambush American soldiers send shivers down the spine. But the ingenuity and bravery of the Vietcong as they lived in these subterranean passages, just 18 inches high and accessed by wormhole entrances leading to pitch darkness, only popping up to fight the US troops, is remarkable.
For something less cultural, but no less enjoyable, incorporate into your trip a few days at the Fusion Maia resort in Da Nang, where every spa treatment is free and the beach is sprawling and dramatic.
And anyone going to Vietnam must also hop on a flight to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat. It is 1,000 years old, the same age as Westminster Abbey, and the temples are exactly like something from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Vast tree roots drape over ancient stone arches and steps, and the carvings of Buddha have survived ten centuries. This is a place where the number of tourists seems to be easily diluted - there are, after all, more than 5,000 temples in the area.
Stay at Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor: simple, traditional, luxurious and detail-oriented. It also smells completely delicious, nothing is too much trouble and the comfort is as extraordinary as the value. Noodles and spring rolls seem to almost pop up in one's dreams, along with locust curry and frog's leg soup. This is a journey for all the senses, and a delight for anyone interested in history, ancient and modern. ES
Geordie Greig travelled courtesy of Vietnam Airlines (020 3263 2062; vietnamairlines.com) and leading Indo-China destination management company HG Travel (hgtravel.com); Bhaya Cruises (bhayacruises.com);
the InterContinental Hanoi Westlake (intercontinental.com); Fusion Maia (fusion-resorts.com); the Raffles Grand Hotel d'Angkor (raffles.com); and the Caravelle Hotel (caravellehotel.com). Vietnam Airlines offers non-stop services four times per week from Gatwick to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. etours (0844 472 3421; etours.co.uk) offers a six-night Vietnam package from £1,789 per person, with a three-night extension to Siem Reap from an additional £569 per person
PHNOM PENH, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's political parties had ended electoral campaigns for the third legislature of the Senate on Friday, two days prior to the vote.
Mao Sophearith, member of the National Election Committee (NEC), said Friday that during the 21-day campaign, the parties had promoted their political stances through marching and broadcasting on the National Television of Cambodia.
"In general, the campaign had been done smoothly with good environment and security," he said in a press briefing to conclude the campaign. "There was no any violence happened during the period." Only two main political parties will participate in this Sunday ' s election. They are the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and Sam Rainsy Party, a main opposition party in the country.
According to the NEC, the Senate has 61 seats, but the election is held for only 57 seats as two senators will be appointed by the King and the other two by the National Assembly.
Each of the two parties has named 57 full candidates and 57 reserve ones to the NEC to compete in the election.
The Senate election on Sunday will be voted by 119 Members of Parliament and 11,351 commune councilors at 33 polling stations across the country.
The results will be announced on Sunday afternoon.
The Senate election is held every six years. The last one was in January 2006, at that time, three parties -- Cambodian People' s Party, Funcinpec and Sam Rainsy Party -- joined the contest. As a result, the CPP won 45 seats, the Funcinpec 10 seats and the Sam Rainsy party two seats. Read more!
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has jailed two Muslim Uighurs deported from Cambodia for life, Radio Free Asia reported on Friday, showing no sign of loosening its grip on far-western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region which holds rich deposits of oil and gas.
The sentences -- and deadly clashes this week between police in Sichuan and ethnic Tibetans -- come at a sensitive time for China for whom ensuring stability ahead of a leadership transition later this year is a top priority.
They also precede a visit to the United States by Vice President Xi Jinping, who is seen as China's leader-in-waiting and who could come under criticism for the government's handling of the unrest.
Cambodia, the recipient of increasingly large amounts of Chinese investment and trade, was sharply rebuked by human rights groups for deporting the asylum seekers.
Two days after Cambodia deported the Muslim Uighurs in December 2009, Chinese Vice President Xi visited Phnom Penh and signed 14 trade deals worth $850 million.
The U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia broadcast and online news service cited family sources and local authorities in Xinjiang who in turn quoted jail notices they had seen.
It was unclear when the sentences were handed down or what the men had been charged with.
A spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government told Reuters she was not aware of the sentences.
The two Uighurs were among a group of about 20 who had sought asylum in Cambodia following ethic riots between Uighurs and majority Han Chinese in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi in July 2009. Another of the group was jailed for 17 years, Radio Free Asia said, adding that the jail terms of the others were not known because court proceedings were held in secret.
"The imprisonment of these men, who were forcefully deported from a place of refuge, should serve as a wake-up call to the world about the brutal treatment awaiting Uighur asylum seekers who are sent back to China," Uighur American Association president Alim Seytoff said in a statement posted on the advocacy group's website.
"The Uighurs in Cambodia were sent back to the very repression they were attempting to flee. We cannot allow the long arm of Chinese pressure to govern the treatment of Uighur asylum seekers in other countries."
Radio Free Asia, citing rights groups, said the asylum-seekers had fled persecution because they had witnessed Chinese security forces arresting and using lethal force against Uighur demonstrators during the riots that killed nearly 200 people, many of them Han Chinese.
Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to Xinjiang, resent Chinese rule and controls on their religion, culture and language.
In September, China said it had sentenced four people to death for violence in two Xinjiang cities last summer in another flare-up that left 32 people dead.
(Writing by Ken Wills and Judy Hua; Editing by Nick Macfie)Read more!
BANGKOK, Jan 25 – The Royal Thai Army on Wednesday dismissed reports of a renewed clash between Thai and Cambodian soldiers at Ta Kwai Temple, but conceded that one soldier was wounded in a gunshot accident.
Thai army spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd stood firm that there was no military clash at the Surin province bordering Cambodia.
Col Sansern said the Second Army Region Command reported that the wounded soldier was Cpl Veerawat Pairoh, accidentally shot in the leg while on patrol along the border as another soldier fell and accidentally shot him with his 9mm pistol. The wounded man was sent to hospital.
The army spokesman said there was no reaction from Cambodian soldiers following the accident.
Second Army Region commander Lt-Gen Thawatchai Samutsakorn who oversees the border area earlier said that no clash between troops of the two neighbours had occurred.
Ties between Thailand and Cambodia have been strained with sporadic clashes between their troops since the historic Preah Vihear temple was granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but a 4.6 square kilometre (1.8 square mile) surrounding area remains in dispute as both countries claim ownership of the tract.
The court, last July ordered Thailand and Cambodia to withdraw their troops from the newly-defined demilitarised zone in a disputed portion of their border around the temple while urging both countries to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to agree to allow the regional bloc's observers to enter the disputed zone.
The two neighbours agreed to follow the court’s order and use the General Border Committee mechanism to consider details in implementing it.Read more!
“I saw a lot of depth in his face and his eyes, and from there I wanted to read more about his story.”
Khmer Rouge survivor Chum Mey, 81, right, talks to reporters as another survivor Bou Meng, 70, left, listens at Choeung Ek stupa, former Khmer Rouge killing field in the outskirt of Phnom Penh, file photo.
Bou Meng and Chhum Mey spend less time at the trial of Khmer Rouge leaders these days, and more time at the torture center they both survived.
The two men sit at the Tuol Sleng musuem, the former prison known the Khmer Rouge as S-21, selling the stories of their lives to tourists.
The men say they are not happy to do so, but they have no choice if they want to earn a living. Bou Meng, who sells copies of his biography, “A Survivor From Khmer Rouge Prison S-21,” by Huy Vannak, said he earns a few dozen dollars a day. On good days, he might earn a few hundred.
“I sell my book for $10, but some people give me $20 without getting back the change,” he said. “I thank them and kiss their hands to show that it’s their hands that help feed me for my daily survival.”
Bou Meng endured severe torture here under the Khmer Rouge, making it hard to return.
“Whenever I enter this place, I get really tense, but I have to come to earn some money, to feed my family, because I’m inadequately supported by the state,” he said.
Author Huy Vannak, who is now a spokesman for the Khmer Rouge tribunal, said he wrote the book “in hopes of making Mr. Bou Meng’s life meaningful, and to help him in various ways, both financially and mentally.”
Canadian tourist Claude Brale bought the book on a recent visit to the museum after talking with Bou Meng.
“I saw a lot of depth in his face and his eyes, and from there I wanted to read more about his story,” Brale said.
In another corner of the museum grounds, survivor Chum Mey sits selling books about the Khmer Rouge and magazines that tell his story of survival. It’s the only way he can support his family, he said.
The tribunal, which has already tried the former head of Tuol Sleng, Kaing Kek Iev, “has never provided anything to the victims,” Chum Mey said. “There are now only two remaining survivors of the S-21 prison after the passing away of Vann Nath, but there has not been any result for us at all.”
“Why does the court not pity the two remaining survivors who are sitting selling books to feed our stomachs?” Bou Meng said. “Why does it pity only the accused so much? What is the court is! I'm so disappointed.”
Huy Vannak said the court does not distinguish between Chum Mey, Bou Meng and the many other victims of the Khmer Rouge. “We don’t think there should be special treatment for any party,” he said.
Visitors here said that by buying books, they hope they help in some way.
“I hope it buys him some comfort in his life and enables him to have a better quality of life,” said Adam Marris, an Australian. “I hope he gets some satisfaction from being able to tell his story and perhaps make the world a better place.”Read more!
MANILA, Philippines - Cebu Pacific (CEB) will become the only airline flying direct from Manila to Siem Reap in Cambodia when it launches its flights on April 19, 2012. It will be a thrice weekly service, utilizing one of Asia’s youngest aircraft fleets.
“Adventurous backpackers usually travel by land from Ho Chi Minh or Bangkok to Siem Reap, just so they can visit Angkor Wat, part of the Angkor World Heritage site. Now, Cebu Pacific can fly them to Siem Reap on its trademark lowest fares,” CEB VP for marketing and distribution Candice Iyog said.
CEB will also be the only airline operating flights between the Philippines and Cambodia. According to the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Angkor is one of the most important archaeological sites in Southeast Asia. The Angkor Archaeological Park contains the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century, including the famous Temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Bayon.
To launch its newest international route, CEB offers P888 seats between Manila and Siem Reap from Jan. 27 to 29, 2012 or until seats last. These are for travel from April 19 to May 31, 2012.
Flights for CEB’s Manila - Siem Reap – Manila route are scheduled to depart Manila at 7:50 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, arriving in Siem Reap at 9:30 p.m. Return flights will leave Siem Reap at 10:30 p.m., and arrive in Manila at 2:10 a.m.
CEB operates the most extensive network from the Philippines to the ASEAN region, with 12 weekly flights to Bangkok, four weekly flights to Brunei, daily flights to Ho Chi Minh, four weekly flights to Jakarta, three weekly flights to Kota Kinabalu, twice daily flights to Kuala Lumpur, and up to seven daily flights to Singapore. It will commence its direct twice weekly Manila-Hanoi flights on March 17, 2012.
Meanwhile, CEB also holds a seat sale to select destinations from Jan. 27 to 29, 2012 or until seats last, for travel from March 1 to May 31, 2012.
Police began pushing, hitting and kicking the demonstrators, eye witnesses and rights workers said after they failed to disperse after the demonstration, on Wednesday January 11, 2012.
Several hundred families from the Borei Keila neighborhood filed suit against development company Phan Imex on Wednesday, for what they claim is a breach of an agreement to properly house residents displaced by their project.
Nearly 400 families were forcibly evicted from the Borei Keila site this month, and former residents say Phan Imex failed to construct two buildings of a promised 10 in order to house them.
Instead, many have been sent to relocation sites far from the city that lack proper health, hygiene, education and commerce opportunities, they said. The complaint calls for around $2,500 per family in compensation.
Tim Sakmony, a representative of the residents, said damages to homes in forced evictions cost families between $1,000 and $4,000.
“The company completely bulldozed my house,” Eng Than, 51, told VOA Khmer. “Dishes, rice, soup pots, blankets, mosquito net, clothes.”
Suy Sophan, president of Phan Imex, said the company will work to reach an agreement with families that have proper documentation and was offering a $500 relocation fee to families without it. Read more!
United Nations Special Expert to the Extraordinary
Chambers in Courts of Cambodia David Scheffer (AFP)
PHNOM PENH — The United Nations on Wednesday said a new foreign judge in the Khmer Rouge tribunal could push on with new cases even without the support of Cambodia, in the latest row to rock the court.
David Scheffer, the UN special expert to the tribunal, said Laurent Kasper-Ansermet could proceed with probing two new politically charged cases linked to the 1975-1979 regime despite Cambodia's objection to the Swiss judge.
"Our view is that this particular individual, judge Kasper-Ansermet, has clear authority to fulfil his duties in this country and we look forward to him doing so," Scheffer told reporters after crunch talks with Deputy Prime Minister Sok An.
Scheffer said Cambodia's rejection of Kasper-Ansermet as the international co-investigating judge was a breach of the 2003 accord which created the court to find justice for up to two million people who died under the Khmer Rouge.
But government spokesman Phay Siphan said the two sides had a "different interpretation" of the agreement and insisted Cambodia had the right not to endorse the Swiss judge.
"We need more discussions to solve this so no one loses face or loses their integrity," he told AFP, refusing to say how the stand-off could be resolved.
According to court rules, the reserve judge must be appointed if there is a vacancy, a situation that arose when a German judge abruptly quit in October citing government opposition to further prosecutions.
Kasper-Ansermet recently said on Twitter that he fully intended to investigate the two cases, which involve five former Khmer Rouge members, to the dismay of the Cambodian government.
Kasper-Ansermet's Cambodian counterpart You Bunleng has publicly refused to work with the Swiss so long as he is not legally accredited.
Scheffer said Kasper-Ansermet "does not need You Bunleng" to carry out investigations.
The tribunal has so far completed just one trial, jailing a former Khmer Rouge prison chief for overseeing the deaths of some 15,000 people.
A second trial involving three senior regime leaders is ongoing but the landmark proceedings risk being overshadowed by the current controversy. Read more!
