World survey: Thailand 'no longer free'

(BangkokPost.com, Freedom House)

The year 2006 saw little change in the global state of freedom in the world and the emergence of a series of worrisome trends that present potentially serious threats to the expansion of freedom in the future, Freedom House says in its annual survey of global freedom made available today."Freedom in the World 2007," a survey of worldwide political rights and civil liberties, found that the percentage of countries designated as Free has remained flat for nearly a decade and suggests that a “freedom stagnation” may be developing.

Two countries experienced negative status changes: both Thailand and Congo (Brazzaville) moved from Partly Free to Not Free. Freedom House had condemned the Thailand coup from the beginning. "Along with friends of Thailand everywhere, Freedom House hopes for a speedy return to constitutional rule," it said last year."Thailand has ipso facto ceased to be a democracy.

No matter the rationale - and the restoration of democracy and the end of corruption are frequently cited as justification for coups the world over - no group that gains power through a coup can be accepted as legitimate by democratic governments."Asia experienced the largest proportion of lowered scores in 2006. The dominant development was the military-led coup that ousted Thailand’s democratically elected prime minister.

But other countries previously considered showcases of Asian freedom, including the Philippines and East Timor, also experienced setbacks. In addition, ethnic and religious divisions were a major problem in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Fiji. The region’s most important positive development was Nepal’s climb from Not Free to Partly Free due to the end of direct rule by the king and the return of parliament.Sixteen of Asia’s 39 countries are Free (41 per cent), while 12 are Partly Free (31 per cent) and 11 are Not Free (28 per cent). The continued weakness of democratic institutions—even after holding democratic elections—in a number of countries continues to hamper further progress.

“Although the past 30 years have seen significant gains for political freedom around the world, the number of Free countries has remained largely unchanged since the high point in 1998. Our assessment points to a freedom stagnation that has developed in the last decade,” said Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House, “and should lead to renewed policy attention to addressing the obstacles that are preventing further progress.” Regionally, major findings include a setback for freedom in a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region, a more modest decline in Africa, and a solidification of authoritarian rule in the majority of countries of the former Soviet Union.

Three countries experienced positive status changes: Guyana moved from Partly Free to Free, and Haiti and Nepal moved from Not Free to Partly Free. Freedom House also noted that the trends reflected the growing pushback against democracy driven by authoritarian regimes, including Russia, Venezuela, China, Iran, and Zimbabwe, threatening to further erode the gains made in the last thirty years. The pushback is targeted at organisations, movements, and media that advocate for the expansion of democratic freedoms. Read more!

Cambodia's `jungle woman' trying to escape

TIRED OF CIVILIZATION: Villagers in Oyadao have turned the family's hut into the must-see attraction, with dozens of locals and journalists stopping by to peer inside.

At their rural home in Oyadao, Rattanak Kiri Province, about 660km north east of Phnom Penh. Cambodia's "jungle woman" seemed to be tiring of civilization and has repeatedly tried to escape back into the wild where she lived for nearly two decades before being discovered last week, her presumed brother said yesterday.

"Last night, she tried some tricks to run back to the jungle," said Rochom Khamphi, who has claimed Rochom P'ngieng as his long-lost older sister.

He said his sister -- who does not speak any intelligible language and only uses hand signals to indicate her basic needs -- indicated she wanted to go outside to relieve herself and then made a break for freedom.

"On the second visit to toilet, she removed her shirt ... and was about to make a move to run," he said.

He said his mother managed to grab her and called out for the rest of the family to help bring her back into the house.

But inside the house, the woman refused to sleep and made several moves toward the front door, Rochom Khamphi, 25, said, adding that the entire family was "sleepless the whole night" because they had to guard her.

Rochom P'ngieng, now believed to be 27, disappeared in the jungle of Rattanakiri Province in Cambodia's northeast while herding water buffaloes when she was 8 years old, according to Sal Lou, who has claimed the woman as his daughter.

Her family says she was found on Jan. 13 walking like a "monkey" out of the jungle. But since then, she continues to mesmerize villagers in Oyadao town, about 70km east of the provincial capital.

Villagers in Oyadao, a town of 100 people, have simply dubbed her "jungle woman" and turned the family's hut into the must-see attraction, with dozens of locals and journalists stopping by to peer inside for a look at her.

Unable to communicate in a language the villagers understand, Rochom P'ngieng's whereabouts the past two decades remain unclear.

Many questions remain about the circumstances of her disappearance and what happened to her, said Mao San, police chief of Oyadao District.

"I suspect there may be a family or someone out there still alive that might have gotten hold of her the whole time," he said on Saturday.

"I still have many questions unanswered," he said. "We would like to have blood taken for DNA testing to ascertain the case. Only by that can we end the suspicion," he added. Read more!

Silent jungle girl poses yet more riddles for Cambodia

Michael Sheridan, Far East Correspondent

THE father sets hot water before his daughter in their wooden shack. She reaches out to touch it. Then she recoils in shock and runs from the room.

After 18 years lost in the jungles of northeast Cambodia, she has forgotten what hot water is, along with all the other rudimentary comforts of peasant life.

This weekend the questions are multiplying about how the girl vanished in 1989, what she endured in the jungle and why she was not found until villagers stood guard to catch a thief last weekend.

Her fear was what struck the first independent eyewitnesses to see her, Yun Samean and Erik Wasson, the reporters who published their first-hand account in yesterday’s Cambodia Daily newspaper.

“She just sat there and stared at us remaining entirely quiet,” said Yun Samean yesterday. “She seemed very frightened.

“She is so afraid of unfamiliar things that when her father boiled water, she reached out to touch it and was so surprised to find it was hot that she ran away to her room.”

The girl has already tried to flee once, tearing off her clothes to rush back into the jungle, said Yun Samean.

She has been living for a week in a village of the Phnong ethnic minority, who inhabit the jungles of northeastern Cambodia, at least 16 hours’ drive from the capital, Phnom Penh.

Although the Phnong follow no organised religion, the family took her to a Buddhist pagoda, where monks sprinkled her with holy water and chanted sutras to calm her spirit.

Now she has become entranced by the family’s collection of DVDs. Like many poor rural Cambodians, they have enough money for an electrical generator and a DVD player.

She is trying to get used to life among the family that has claimed her as their long-lost daughter and spends her days and nights watching the films or sitting glassy-eyed while curious locals come to stare at her.

They attribute the girl’s loss of speech and traumatised behaviour to 18 years as the companion of a jungle spirit who has now abandoned her.

There is a mystery over the figure of a wild, ragged man with glaring eyes and a sword, who fled into the jungle when the girl was found. Some villagers say he was the spirit. And there is a further enigma over the fate of the girl’s sister, who vanished on the same day in 1989.

Police, social workers and members of the extended village family are bemused by the woman’s reappearance and there is as much confusion over her future as her past.

The girl’s name is Rocham Phoeung, now 28, and her missing sister was called Rocham Boeung, according to the man who says he is their father, local policeman Sar Yo, 45.

“She was naked and walking in a bending-forward position like a monkey, exactly like a monkey. She was bare-bones skinny,” he said.

But he checked her right arm. There he found a scar, just as his daughter had from an accident with a knife before she disappeared: “She looked terrible, but despite all that, she is my child.”

Rochom Khamphi, 25, her brother, said: “I saw the scar right away and I knew that she is my sister. Then tears just rolled from my eyes. That’s the proof. I remember it very clearly — I’m not making it up, because I was the one who caused the injury.”

The villagers told how they had been pestered in recent months by a strange thief, who stole food from rations left by workers around a small sawmill on the fringe of the forest.

The sawmill workers lay in wait last Saturday morning. To their amazement, a naked, dirty woman came out of the undergrowth on all fours, like a big cat. She was followed by an unkempt, straggle-haired man, also naked, who had a sword in his hand. The two parties stared at each other in mutual terror.

“The villagers told us they were very frightened because the man had great wide glaring eyes,” said Yun Samean.

Recovering their wits, the villagers chased the pair but the man vanished. They surrounded the girl and brought her to the nearest settlement, a village called O’Yadaw.

“The family told us they recognised her at once,” said Yun Samean, “and I could see that she has a strong resemblance to her sister and her mother.”

The mother, Rocham Soy, 41, told him: “This is my daughter, I am sure of it.” She now yearns to know what became of her other missing daughter.

The family have consented to medical tests to establish their relationship but they face a dilemma. Rocham Phoeung cannot communicate in any tongue and can shed no light on what befell her sister or what happened to her in the jungle.

She appears relatively normal after a week in which she was bathed, given a haircut and provided with ordinary Cambodian clothes. But the reporters noted a thick weal above her left wrist, suggesting she may have been tied up for long periods.

The local police, who are as fearful of ghosts and spirits as most Cambodians, have declined to go into the jungle in pursuit of the fugitive wild man.

Rocham Phoeung’s family hope she can learn to speak again, that she may get psychological help and go back to school, 18 years late.

Read more!

Cambodia opts for ePassport labels

Malaysian ePassport systems supplier IRIS Corporation has signed a contract with Southeastasianet Technologies (SEANET) to supply ePassport labels, ePassport systems and automated border control systems to The Ministry of Interior, Kingdom of Cambodia. SEANET is the prime contractor on the project having been awarded a 15-years concession by the Cambodian Government.

The Cambodian project appears to be the first in Asia to use ePassport labels. According to IRIS, this gives the country the ability to laminate contactless IC chips into existing passport books (either previously issued or stock items). This addresses a challenge faced by countries who have large stockpiles of conventional passport books.

The scope of the project also includes the IRIS’ ePassport system for enrolment, personalization and issuance of ePassports, and IRIS’ automated border control solution. IRIS’ electronic identity management system, IdenCraft, will also be used. This system handles security, inventory, workflow, personalization and lifecycle requirements.

According to the supplier, the deliverables will adhere to International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards and deliver a multi-level identity management solution combining fingerprints, facial characteristics, biodata and signature capture. Read more!

5 kids injured in Cambodia mine blast

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 21 (Xinhua): The explosion of two mines wounded five children on Saturday in Thmor Pouk district, Battambang province, some 250 km northwest of the capital city, police source told Xinhua by phone.

Two of them were heavily injured, while the other three slightly over the blast in Sre Laor village, said Yort Rai, Deputy Police Chief of the district.

"They found the two mines in a black plastic bag behind their village and thought that it was make-up powder boxes. They hit them with a stick in order to take off the shells and sell them to waste-pickers. They then exploded," he said.

The two injured seriously were sent to a children's hospital in Battambang provincial town, he added.

"The girl suffered from injuries on face, hands and chest. Both children may become blind and lose their hands," he said, adding that the four boys and one girl were from four to seven-years-old.

Earlier on Friday, seven mine cleaners died over the blast of three anti-tank mines in Komrieng district, Battambang province.

According to the Cambodia Mine Action Center, there were more than 400 human casualties over mine and UXO (unexploded ordnance) explosions in 2006 in Cambodia, or 50 per cent decrease over the average number of the previous six years.

Due to 30 years of armed conflicts, Cambodia has become one of the world's most heavily mined countries with an estimated four to six million of such "hidden killers" buried underground in areas as extensive as 2,900 square kilometers.

All the mines and UXO may take another 150 years for the kingdom to clear out, statistics say. Read more!

A retired Hawaii Kai couple uses deposites to help villagers

Cans for Cambodia
By Pat Gee

Sometimes onlookers mistake Florence Doi for a homeless woman looking for food through trash cans at public parks. It doesn't bother her a bit.

For every bottle or can she finds, Doi gets a 5-cent refund, and in Cambodia, that is enough to buy a meal of rice for two children, she said.

Her husband, Takeshi Terada, might grumble a bit about the gas it takes to make their daily scavenging rounds, then take the load to a redemption recycling center. But Terada just likes to "kid her," he said.

The retired, elderly couple from Hawaii Kai admit their charity work has become somewhat of an overwhelming, full-time job with all the collecting, rinsing and sorting of cans and bottles.

"(But) when you think about the value of the outcome, that you can help people in Cambodia, it's very worthwhile. ... One-hundred percent (of the refund) goes to charity," Terada said.
They just returned from their third trip to poverty-stricken Cambodian villages with an outreach group from the University Avenue Baptist Church. The group started going seven years ago and is made up mostly of Cambodian refugees, led by Bible teacher Hongly Khuy.

Khuy, himself a refugee, calls the suburbs outside of Phnom Penh "scavenger villages -- they live on the rubbish (they collect)."

Doi saw "a black and smelly village," emitting the smoke of rubbish fires, and children rummaging through garbage when she first visited Cambodia in 2004. She turned to her husband and said, "Let's be the scavengers for them. Let's go out into the beaches and parks, and go into the rubbish cans."

"I was so touched by what I saw. I couldn't think of anything else."

Although the couple cannot speak to the villagers in their language, "we talk with our eyes," Doi said. "The mothers' eyes -- they are just so full of disbelief that they are getting this rice."
This year, they bought $2,000 worth of rice (equivalent to 20,000 pounds) in Cambodia, along with other items, such as saimin, small toiletry items, medicine, Bibles and reading glasses for 300 villagers.

In addition to their recycling efforts, the couple has weekly garage sales at their Kuliouou Street home to sell items that are dropped off by friends, neighbors and people who have heard of it through word of mouth. The couple also picks up hundreds of bottles weekly from Makiki Christian Church.

Within two days of returning from their trip Jan. 3, the couple got more than 2,000 plastic or glass bottles and cans from people who dropped off the items in their garage.

"We raised $88 in two days. These nickels really add up fast," Doi said. "People are very giving. I don't know who they are. They must come to the garage sale and see pictures of (us) in Cambodia hanging in the garage."

She added, "People started dropping things off because they don't want to see us picking through garbage. ... Japanese people don't want to be seen picking through rubbish, but we think, 'Ooh, this is going to feed two children' (whenever they find a bottle)."

Their evening sojourns to Sandy Beach are made as much to enjoy the natural beauty and peaceful surroundings as they are to go through some 30 rubbish barrels. Park regulars are so friendly and save bottles and cans for them, too, Doi added.

"Once a man asked me, 'Lady, you hungry?' and offered me money. ... Maybe they think we're poor. In Hawaii, people are so kind. ... Their hearts open up very big."

If you have recyclables you want to donate to the couple's cause, call 396-0850.

Read more!

Cambodia 'Jungle Woman' yields no clues

By KER MUNTHIT

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

OYADAO, Cambodia -- A woman who emerged from the jungles of Cambodia a week ago, burbling, grunting and walking bent over, is still giving up none of her secrets, even to the family that has taken her in as their presumed long-lost daughter.

Dubbed a "jungle woman" by residents of this remote district in the northeastern province of Rattanakiri, she is claimed by a local family to be 27-year-old Rochom P'ngien, who went missing at the age of eight when herding buffalo in 1988.

But unable to speak any words the villagers can understand, the woman cannot solve any of the mystery that surrounds her disappearance for nearly two decades.

Villagers expressed skepticism Friday that the woman could survive on her own in the jungle and said she was apparently found with her hair trimmed short.

"If she was in the jungle for 19 years, why was her hair short?" said Cheat Ki, a shopkeeper in the village. "It should have been long unless someone cut the hair for her in the jungle."

Many questions remain about the circumstances of her disappearance and what happened to her, said Mao San, police chief of Oyadao district. Officials want to take DNA samples from the parents and the woman to see if they match, and the parents have agreed, he said.

She was captured, naked, on Jan. 13 after a villager caught her taking food from a lunch box he left at a site near his farm, said local police.

Village policeman Sal Lou described his first glimpse of the woman: "She was naked and walking in a bending-forward position like a monkey, exactly like a monkey. She was bare-bones skinny." Her eyes were red like a tiger's, he said, and he felt fear.

But he checked her right arm. There he found a scar, just as his daughter had from an accident with a knife before she disappeared.

0"She looked terrible, but despite all of that, she is my child," he said. Objective evidence for the relationship, beyond a certain physical resemblance, is thin. But Sal Lou is not the only family member claiming Rochom P'ngien has returned at last.

Rochom Khamphi, 25, said that the moment she arrived at their house with Sal Lou he went to grab her right arm to check for the scar.

"I saw the scar right away and I knew that she is my sister," he said Friday. "Then tears just rolled down from my eyes. That's the proof. I remember it very clearly -- I'm not making it up, because I was the one who caused the injury."

Despite be taken into Sal Lou's extended family, the woman's heart may remain in the jungle. On Thursday she took off her clothes and acted as if she was about to go back into the wild, Sal Lou said.

Restraining her, the family took her to a nearby Buddhist pagoda for a monk to give her a holy water blessing to expel any evil spirits that may have possessed her, he said.

For members of the Pnong minority - who normally are not members of any organized religion, but instead are animists who revere nature - the move was unusual.

"We worship no religion but we took the advice of some elderly Khmer (ethnic Cambodian) people to have the holy water blessing done to chase the evils souls from her body," said Sal Lou, as his presumed daughter sat next to him, motionless as a stone.

She spends her days sitting or lying on the floor, sleeping or staring glassy-eyed at the scores of visitors who come to gawk at her in the dirty, ramshackle house she now shares with 12 other people.

The element of wildness is evident as well to a neighbor, Cheat Ki, and it frightens her.
"I was so scared, scared of evil spirits that might have come with her," she said. "At night before we went to sleep, after seeing her, I told my children to lock the door for fear that some evil might come and strangle us.

Read more!

Congress acted to rein in Nixon over Cambodia during Viet War

Thursday, January 18, 2007By Jerome L. Sherman
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

WASHINGTON -- As Pennsylvania's Rep. John Murtha prepares to use his considerable budgetary power to challenge President Bush on Iraq, he could look to the Vietnam War era for examples of successful congressional confrontations with the president over military authority, several historians say.

In April 1970, then-President Richard Nixon announced that he was sending ground troops into Vietnam's southern neighbor, Cambodia. His decision prompted protests across the country and pushed Congress to pass the Cooper-Church Amendment, blocking further troop deployments across the Vietnamese border.

"That is the first concrete example where Congress, through legislation, says 'no' to the president [on the war]," said Julian Zelizer, a Boston University congressional history specialist.
Dr. Zelizer argued that the president's call for 21,500 more troops for Iraq, opposed by a solid majority of Americans, could provide a similar impetus for the new Democrat-controlled 110th Congress.

Mr. Murtha, D-Johnstown, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee's defense spending subcommittee, has said he hopes to limit any escalation of the U.S. commitment in Iraq by requiring strict readiness levels for the military's strategic reserves, units that could react quickly to crises in other parts of the world. He also wants the United States to withdraw its forces from Iraq as quickly as possible.

For an example of how to proceed, Mr. Murtha could look to former Idaho Democratic Sen. Frank Church: "It's time to acknowledge the futility of our continued military intervention in Vietnam," Mr. Church said on the Senate floor the day after Mr. Nixon's announcement of the Cambodia incursion.

The following week, Mr. Church and then-Sen. John S. Cooper, R-Ky., attached an amendment to an appropriations bill that would block spending on U.S. troops in Cambodia.
"Church's strategy was to show they could limit presidential actions," said history professor David F. Schmitz at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., and author of "The Tet Offensive: Politics, War and Public Opinion." "He would have liked withdrawal, but he knew it was politically infeasible."

Mr. Church's amendment eventually passed the Senate, despite heavy lobbying by the Nixon administration. It died in the House. A different version passed both the House and Senate several months later, but it allowed the president to take action when the safety of U.S. troops was at stake. Mr. Nixon used that loophole to continue the air war in Cambodia, Dr. Schmitz said.

In 1973, Congress overwhelmingly approved a new Church-backed amendment, blocking U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia without congressional authorization. By that point, the last U.S. combat troops had already left Vietnam.

The troop "surge" in Iraq could be creating the conditions for a similar showdown between the president and Congress. "There's this sense that, if the executive doesn't start winding the war down, Congress is going to have to do it," Dr. Schmitz said.

The House Democratic leadership hasn't developed a detailed strategy, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a close relationship with Mr. Murtha, such that she will likely support his plans when the Bush administration comes to Congress for a supplemental spending package on Iraq next month.

Besides limiting the troop surge, Mr. Murtha also hopes to try to force closure of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He calls it a stain on America's international credibility.

Any broad actions by the House will face tougher terrain in the Senate, where Democrats hold only a one-seat majority. But several Republicans also have voiced concern about Mr. Bush's Iraq policies.

Indeed, the president and his party may face more political peril today then Mr. Nixon did in the Vietnam era, when he was directing a war that grew under predecessors Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Dr. Zelizer said the Iraq war is more closely linked to Mr. Bush alone.

Congress also clearly has the power to make the president acknowledge calls for change. "When you control the budget, you really control everything," Dr. Zelizer said. "Congress can create amazing headaches for the president." Read more!

Wild jungle girl found in Cambodia

POSTED: 0312 GMT (1112 HKT), January 18, 2007

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) -- A woman who disappeared in the jungles of northeastern Cambodia as a child has been found 19 years later, police and a man claiming to be her father said.

The woman -- identified as Rochom P'ngieng, 27 -- does not speak any intelligible language, according to Sal Lou, a village policeman who said he is her father. Sal Lou said Thursday he recognized his daughter by a scar on her right arm.

Rochom P'ngieng, then 8, disappeared in 1988 while herding buffalo in a remote area, said Chea Bunthoeun, a deputy provincial police chief in Rattanakiri province some 200 miles northeast of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

The woman was found Saturday after a villager noticed that food had disappeared from a lunch box he left near his farm, Chea Bunthoeun said.

"She was shaking and picking up grains of rice from the ground to eat," Sal Lou, 45, told The Associated Press by telephone from the province's Oyadao district, where the woman was found.

When she is hungry, she pats her stomach as a signal, he said.
"If she is not sleeping, she just sits and glances left and right, left and right," Sal Lou said. He said his family was closely watching the woman, who he said took off her clothes Thursday and acted as if she was going back into the jungle.

Many questions remain about the circumstances of the girl's disappearance and what happened to her, said Mao San, police chief of Oyadao district. Officials want to take DNA samples from the parents and the woman to see if they match, and the parents have agreed, he said. Read more!

Cambodia arrests 3 army generals for involvement in armed robberies

Three army generals were arrested in Phnom Penh on Tuesday for involvement in armed robberies and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and sent to Battambang province on Wednesday, Sao Sokha, military police commander of Cambodia confirmed to Xinhua by phone.

"We arrested them in Phnom Penh city according to the arrest warrants from Battambang provincial court, so we sent them back to Battambang province today because they committed crimes there ( some 250 kilometers northwest of the capital)," he said.

One-star general Kheang Savorn, 46, two-star general Outh Sakhan, 48, and two-star general Men Saran, 49, were believed to have been involved in "weapon robberies" and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, Sao Sokha said.

Meanwhile, the arrest warrants signed by investigating judge Du Sok Sa Rin from the Battambang provincial court also confirmed that the court accused the three generals of being involved in 18 gun robberies since 2005. Details of the accusation has been disclosed yet.

If found guilty of such crimes, they will face 25 years of imprisonment.
The first general belongs to the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, while the other two are supporters of the co-ruling Funcinpec Party. Cambodia currently has 619 generals nationwide.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

China's CPC delegation holds talks with Cambodia's CPP deputies

A good-will delegation of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Wednesday in Phnom Penh met with senior representatives of the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) on bilateral exchange and cooperation.

The CPC wants to exchange experiences about governing state with the CPP, said Chen Jianguo, delegation head and secretary of the CPC Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee.
He also introduced the situation in China, especially that in Ningxia.

Yos Son, member of the CPP Central Committee and chairman of CPP Committee of Foreign Affairs, welcomed the delegation's visit and exchanged views with them in certain fields.
The delegation arrived here on Wednesday on the final leg of a regional tour which also included Laos and Vietnam.

It paid the visit as guest of the CPP and the co-ruling Funcinpec Party.
The delegation is scheduled to meet Funcinpec representatives on Thursday.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Cambodia's gambling industry contributes 17 mln USD in tax revenues in 2006

The Cambodian Ministry of Finance and Economy in 2006 collected about 17 million U.S. dollars in tax revenues from the gambling industry, including casino, lottery and electronic gaming, the Cambodia Daily reported in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

Casino tax revenues alone amounted to 13 million U.S. dollars, which exceeded the target casino revenues of 12.5 million U.S. dollars laid out in the 2006 national budget, Bankosal Ming, deputy director of the ministry's finance industry department, was quoted as saying.

According to another senior ministry official, Phnom Penh's NagaCorp Casino paid the lion's share of the revenues, or 2.4 million U.S. dollars, to the state coffers in 2006, while smaller casinos paid at varying levels based on their sizes.

In contrast to casinos, which are geared almost exclusively toward foreigners, the lottery, betting and electronic gaming cater to ordinary Cambodians, Bankosal Ming said.

The gambling industry is expected to contribute 19 million U.S. dollars in tax revenues in 2007, he added.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

By Ker Munthit
ASSOCIATED PRESS
5:19 a.m. January 16, 2007

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Scores of Asian and European companies have expressed an interest in tapping Cambodia's oil wealth, though it will be years before the country realizes the benefits from its offshore reserves, a government official said Tuesday.

Te Duong Tara, the director-general of Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, told The Associated Press Tuesday that the country was still assessing the situation and was a “long way” from reaching a production phase.

Impoverished Cambodia was set abuzz in 2005 following the discovery of oil off the southwestern coast by U.S. energy giant Chevron Corp.

Since then, Te Duong Tara said oil firms from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, France, Indonesia and China, have been lining up for licenses to explore other potential blocks in the Cambodian waters.

The Chinese state-owned oil company CNOOC Ltd. is presently negotiating terms of agreement with the Cambodian government, which could be signed in the near future, he said without elaborating.

“We are bringing in highly experienced operators,” Te Duong Tara said on the sidelines of a petroleum seminar.

Chevron, meanwhile, is conducting exploration drillings in Block A where it first discovered oil, a site located about 87 miles southwest of the seaport of Sihanoukville, which is about 115 miles southwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.

The company discovered crude oil in 2005 in four wells in the block and has plans to drill 10 more through 2007.

Te Duong Tara said that oil revenues could have a “profound” impact on the future of Cambodia, where 35 percent of the country's 14 million people live below national poverty line of 50 cents a day. Read more!

54 U.S. soldiers still missing in Cambodia: Official

Charles A. Ray, former U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, said on Tuesday that there are 54 U.S. soldiers still missing in action (MIAs) in Cambodia.

"The parents of those soldiers are still asking us about their sons and if they died. Their parents need the evidence," Charles told some 100 media management students at the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Ray, also a veteran in the Vietnam War, said that in the ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, his team will conduct investigation of archives and villages to seek out details that might lead them to aircraft crash sites or to potential burial location.

"But we are faced with rigid border-crossing rules and regulations. Our investigations have often been halted for months or longer, while negotiations must take place. Such delays are devastating to the progress of a case, and especially to the families who are waiting and hoping that answers on their missing loved ones will be forthcoming," said Ray, who arrived here on Monday in capacity of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for POW/Missing Personnel Affairs.

"Cambodia has set up an example for the other nations in this region and the citizens of the U.S. recognized that," added Ray, who was ambassador to Cambodia from 2002 to 2005 and got his current post in September 2006.

Meanwhile, he noted, Prime Minister Hun Sen said in Siem Reap in 2004 that the mission of recovering the remains of U.S. soldiers offered new venues of cooperation between Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

"The relation between Cambodia and the U.S. is up and down and sometimes is rocky," he said, adding that presently both sides cooperate nearly in all sectors and "it is a positive sign." Ray, reportedly on a special mission to find out the whereabouts of the missing U.S. soldiers in Cambodia, is expected to meet King Sihamoni and Hun Sen on Wednesday.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Bush's New Iran Policy

POLITICS:Bush's New Iran Policy - War Plan or Propaganda?Analysis by Gareth Porter*

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (IPS) - President George W. Bush's seemingly aggressive Iran policy of taking direct action against alleged Iranian "networks" involved in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, combined with the deployment of a second carrier group off Iran's coast, triggered speculation that it is related to a plan for an attack. But the revelation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that the campaign against Iranian officials had already been in effect for several months before Bush's speech last Wednesday indicates that the new rhetoric is aimed at serving the desperate need of the White House to shift the blame for its failure in Iraq to Iran, and to appear to be taking tough action.

Rice told the New York Times in an interview Friday that Bush had ordered the U.S. military to target Iranian officials in Iraq allegedly linked to attacks on U.S. forces some time last fall. Bush and Rice had previously created the impression that the administration had launched a new initiative against Iran in connection with its proposed increase in troop strength in Iraq. The Bush speech coincided with an attack by an unidentified U.S. military unit on the building used by Iranian consular officials in Erbil and the seizure of six Iranian officials in the compound.

But all indications are that the U.S. military has no real intelligence on any Iranian direct involvement in supplying lethal weapons to insurgents. The statement issued by the U.S. military but clearly written in the White House said the detainees, who were not identified as Iranians, were "suspected of being closely tied to activities targeting Iraqi and coalition forces".

That statement shows that the seizure was not based on any prior evidence of the officials' complicity in insurgent attacks. U.S. troops also seized documents and computers, indicating that the attack was really nothing more than an intelligence operation, launched in the hope of finding some evidence that could be used against Iran. The only other such U.S. military raid came in late December and targeted four Iranian officials visiting Baghdad at the invitation of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. That operation bore similar evidence of being a fishing expedition against Iranians, based on nothing more than the "suspicion" that they were connected with the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Contrary to the impression conveyed by the administration, therefore, it is not targeting those who it knows to be involved in supplying insurgents with weapons but is still trying to find some evidence to justify its tough rhetoric against Iran. The initial rhetoric from Bush suggesting a possible intention to expand the Iraq war into Iran or Syria in response to alleged Iranian and Syrian support for anti-coalition insurgents had been followed by clarifications and new details that point to a very carefully calibrated propaganda offensive aimed at rallying his own political base.

Bush's identification in his Jan. 10 speech of Iran and Syria as "allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq" and the more specific reference to Iran as "providing material support for attacks on American troops" seemed to hint at such a plan to expand the war across the board into Iran. Rice seemed to be dropping even more pointed hints of such a plan in television interviews on Thursday. On the NBC Today show, Rice vowed, on behalf of Bush, "[W]e are going to make certain that we disrupt activities that are endangering and killing our troops and that are destabilising Iraq." And when asked if that meant "attacks inside Iran and Syria" were "on the table", she responded that Bush "is not going to take options off the table..." Rice went on to declare, "The Iranians need to know, and the Syrians need to know, that the United States is not finding it acceptable and is not going to simply tolerate their activities to try and harm our forces or to destabilise Iraq."

Asked in an interview with "Fox and Friends" whether Bush's speech could mean "going over the border to chase down those who are providing the technology and possibly the training", Rice coyly replied, "Well, I don't want to speculate on what kinds of operations the United States may be engaged in," as if to leave that possibility open. Then she added, "But I think you will see that the United States is not going to simply stand idly by and let these activities continue." In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, Rice refused to answer a question from Chairman Joe Biden on whether the president has the authority to conduct military missions in Iran without congressional approval.

That provoked expressions of alarm from both Democratic and Republic senators. Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, said this ambiguity reminded him of the Richard Nixon administration's policy toward Cambodia in 1970 during the Vietnam War. Some analysts viewed Rice's rhetoric as evidence of an administration plan to justify an air offensive against Iran on the basis of alleged Iranian complicity in attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, rather than on the more abstract threat of Iranian progress toward a possible nuclear weapons capability. But the careful wording used and the explicit caveats issued by administration officials belied the impression of menace against Iran that Bush and Rice had clearly sought to convey.

Bush's reference to the issue in his Wednesday night speech avoided any actual threat to Iran. Instead he said, "We will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq." That formulation was carefully chosen to limit the scope of U.S. actions. The next day, even though Rice was provoking Congressional fears of a wider war, the whole Bush team was qualifying that rhetoric in remarks to reporters by specifying that U.S. actions to stop the alleged Iranian interference in Iraq will be confined to Iraq itself.

Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is considered a full member of the Bush administration team, limited the threatened aggressive U.S. actions to "those who are physically present trying to do harm to our troops..." He concluded, "We can take care of the security of our troops by doing the business we need to do inside of Iraq." And spokesman for the National Security Council Gordon Johndroe, after repeating the new line that the administration would "not tolerate outside interference in Iraq", went on to say that the actions would be taken only inside Iraq, not across the border.. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates also said on Friday the United States had no intention of going into Iranian territory.

The contrast between the general impression of steely resolve toward Iran conveyed by Bush and the unusual clarity about the limited geographical scope of the response points to a sophisticated two-level communications strategy prepared by the White House. For those who get their news from television, the message conveyed by Rice was one of effective action against the Iranians supposedly causing harm to U.S. troops; for the Congress and the media, the message conveyed to reporters was much more cautious.

The two-level communications strategy suggests, in turn, that the White House was acutely aware that a single message of menace toward Iran could have triggered a negative Congressional response that would have defeated the purpose of the tough rhetorical line.

Ironically, therefore, the net effect of the new tough line toward Iran may actually have been to force the administration to admit, if only tacitly, that it is not free under present circumstances even to threaten to go to war against Iran. *Gareth Porter is an historian and national security policy analyst. His latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in June 2005. ** This article is the first of a two-part series on the escalation of hostile rhetoric and actions toward Iran by the Bush administration. (END/2007) Read more!

NZ prisoner in Cambodia says he faces human rights abuses

The lawyer for a New Zealander serving a 20 year sentence in a Cambodian jail says he is facing serious human rights abuses.

Graham Cleghorn is appealing his sex charge convictions which involve young girls who worked for him.

His lawyer, Greg King, says he has voiced his concerns to Prime Minister Helen Clark if she will ask Dame Silvia Cartwright, who is in Cambodia, to investigate.

He says prisoners are being beaten, shackled and locked in dark 'punishment rooms'. Read more!

China pledges 100 mln USD of loans for Cambodia to build infrastructure

China has pledged to offer 100 million U.S. dollars of preferential loans for Cambodia to build its infrastructure, said Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Nam Hong here on Monday upon his return from the Philippines.

"The loan from China will be used to build National Road No. 10 from Battambang province to Pailin city and the Takhmao Bridge in Kandal province," said Hor, who is also Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

This finance aims to encourage Cambodia to develop and offer benefits to the rural area, Hor told a press conference at the Phnom Penh International Airport upon his return from the ASEAN ( the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meetings.

Some of the loans will be dedicated to other road and bridge projects, he said, adding that China made this promise during the ASEAN meetings in Cebu, Philippines, in accordance with the Cambodian government's request made in 2006.

The loans were a follow-up to the 200 million U.S. dollars of aids and loans for Cambodia nodded by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in April, 2006, when he paid an official visit to the kingdom. Part of them have been earmarked to Cambodia to build bridges and roads.

Prime Minister Hun Sen also returned from the ASEAN summits on Monday evening.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Roundup: Hub in Sihanoukville re-opened to perfect Cambodia's air travel network

A triangular air travel network over western Cambodia was formed as a world-class airport was re-opened on Monday in seaside resort Sihanoukville to embrace anticipated influx of foreign visitors.

The network can apparently serve to link up the kingdom's major sight-seeing spots in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville, so as to provide more selectable travel routes for those curious about this colorful country.

"The re-opening of the airport is really good for our tourism," said Thong Khon, secretary of state at the Ministry of Tourism, adding that it is part of the ministry's strategy to connect Siem Reap and Sihanoukville by airlines to encourage tourists to extend their stay to enjoy the kingdom's sandy beaches after seeing the Angkor temples.

Upon the inauguration of the Sihanoukville International Airport, a former Soviet Union-made Antonov-24 propeller-driven aircraft from Siem Reap landed on the runway in its maiden flight with 11 passengers and four crew members on board.

Currently, flights by domestic airliner PMT have started to shuttle between Sihanoukville and Siem Reap around three times a week, while the beach city's connection with Phnom Penh, some 300 kilometers away, is yet worth of air travel and can be easily handled with automobiles at around three hours' drive on the national road.

Meanwhile, said Thong Khon, there is still another option for non-domestic travelers, who can first reach Sihanoukville by marine route and then transfer to Siem Reap by airlines and, of course, vice versa.

The Societe Concessionnaire des Aeroports (SCA), a French- Malaysian joint firm entrusted to run the hub, is now in talks with several other airliners about using the airport, whose runway will be extended from the current 1,800 meters to 2,200 meters with a further investment of 200 million U.S. dollars to accommodate jet flyers such as Boeing 737 by the end of 2007, said Norinda Khek, SCA's communications and marketing manager.

By then, international routes will also be opened, thus tapping the potential of Siem Reap's already established air links with countries such as South Korea, Thailand and China to expand foreign tourists' access to Cambodia, he said, adding that SCA, a subsidiary of France's biggest construction group Vinci, is licensed to operate the hub until 2040.

The Sihanoukville airport was closed in the early 1980s due to financial difficulties. Renovation by SCA started in June 2006 to preliminarily extend the terminal and the runway suitable for propeller-driven aircraft to land.

According to official statistics, some 280,000 tourists visited Sihanoukville in 2006, up by 30 percent over 2005. Among them 60, 000 were foreigners.

In addition, tourist arrivals in Cambodia jumped more than 20 percent to about 1.7 million in 2006, bringing in 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in revenue for the government.

Each visitor was estimated to have spent some 700 U.S. dollars in Cambodia, while 300,000 local people have found jobs in the industry, according to the Ministry of Tourism, which expects to receive 3 million foreign travelers in 2010.

Source: Xinhua Read more!

Chaotic Streets of Phnom Penh update

Posted by Admin / 14. January 2007, 19:55

Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh is arguably the most chaotic city in south east Asia. The roads, sometimes French style boulevards and at other times dirt tracks with holes, uneasily host a variety of pedal bikes, motor bikes and large jeeps which compete for space at every intersection and set of traffic lights. The motor bikes win if only by sheer force of numbers. There are said to be over a million bikes in a city not yet three times that number in terms of population. It’s certainly the traffic that leaves the most lasting impression on the casual visitor. Over the past 12 months, Phnom Penh has improved slightly from the natives’ point of view. Although the city is host to thousand upon thousand of near destitute people who throng the sea wall areas, free toilet portacabins have started to appear which is an improvement on the health and hygiene front.

Phom Penh traffic is truly chaotic. The building boom in commercial property, housing blocks and hotels is clearly providing more jobs and even the police have smartened up their appearance in terms of their uniforms. However, they are still harassing motor bike drivers at random who aren’t wearing a pair of goggles. For some reason, these are seen as more important than a crash helmet. Visa situation It has never been easy to obtain multi-entry or non-immigrant visas in Phnom Penh at the Thai embassy and that remains the situation today. The most you are likely to get is a single entry tourist visa (60 days) for Thailand and you are likely to be told not to come back for another one. Multiple entry tourist visas in the countries bordering Thailand seem to be decidedly a no-no. For the time being at any rate. We met one man who had secured a single entry non-immigrant “B” visa (90 days) but he was clearly applying for a work permit in Thailand and had a pile of company papers and a registration certificate from the Chonburi labour office to prove the point. A couple of other guys were trying to get multiple entry non-immigrant “O” visas to support their Thai wives. They eventually got a single entry apiece, but were told to apply inside Thailand if they wanted a one year permit. Accommodation A night’s stay in a lodging house can cost as little as US$3 but nobody is suggesting it’s luxurious. You can find a crop of these guest houses in the Independence Monument area or in some streets near to the Central Market. Then there’s a grouping of mid-price hotels for around US$20-50, some of which are located on the boulevard overlooking the estuary. Finally, there are the plush hotels from around US$60-$150 per night which are beginning to abound all over town. The Cambodiana and the Sunway are too of the most popular and can be booked, along with dozens of other choices, on the internet. It’s customary to throw in a free American breakfast, and the best rates seem to be reserved for package tourists, mainly from France and Japan, or for “rack” clients who just walk up to the front desk and ask for a discount.

Restaurants Prices in the eating houses tend to be cheap and excellent value. On the estuary boulevard, the foreign correspondents’ club – which is open to all – serves a variety of wholesome dishes both Asian and European. It’s also Phnom Penh’s main gossip shop although you probably won’t have heard of the guy or gal under the microscope. Nearby, also on the sea front, are a growing number of pubs-with-grub. We enjoyed several meals in the British run Hope and Anchor where a soup, bangers and mash and a beer will leave lots of change from a 10 dollar bill. For some reason nobody seems to understand, the Indian restaurants which number six or seven are amongst the best in Asia. The food in all of them is excellent and main courses start at around three dollars. How much more you pay depends on the surroundings rather than the dishes themselves. The Indian nosheries are also good for vegetarians – the people who don’t fancy eating anything which once had a face – and both north and south Indian cuisine is rich in non meat and non fish choices. Eating in the top class restaurants is expensive even by Thai standards. But many of them put on evening or weekend buffets which can be worth a visit. For example, the Sunway which is located near the recently opened American embassy, has several international buffets a week for a very fair US$18.50. Finally, at the other end of the scale, it’s best to avoid street kitchens and food stalls. They are strictly for the locals and no assumptions should be made about the quality of water used in the washing up or the personal hygiene standards of the operators.

Sight seeing: All the places to go are only a few minutes by motorbike taxi, except the notorious Khmer Rouge “Killing Fields” which require a limousine taxi for the 30 km round trip at about 30 dollars. Many tours start with the downtown, huge temple site Wat Phnom (temple on a hill) and take in the museum near the royal palace, mainly stone artefacts and ruins. It’s as well to remember that Cambodia had an advanced civilization at a time when medieval Brits were going around in the dark and looking for trouble with clubs and knives. Not much has changed.

Ghastly reminder of Cambodia’s pastEveryone has to go and see Toul Sleng, the prison where thousands of men, women and children were tortured and butchered in the era of the Khmer Rouge thirty years ago. Many people have found the visiting experience very moving indeed, perhaps the more so because of the thousands of photos of inmates staring down at you from the walls. Another place worth a quick look is the Russian Market although the piles of marijuana once on sale have disappeared for all time.

Night life: It’s tame by Pattaya standards. There are nightclubs dotted around the central areas including the once famous or infamous Heart of Darkness which attracts the Camodian jet set and their Oddjob type minders. There are plenty of beer houses, Pattaya style, the most popular being on the waterfront or near the independence monument. Keep well clear of the port area where assorted tarts try to entice unwary visitors into tiny shacks and where you are more likely to lose your wallet than your virginity. The only sort-of gay bar is the Salt lounge where foreigners seem to outnumber the locals. If none of the above applies, you could try the Naga casino in the government offices’ district. Most of the floor space is given over to hungry slot machines and to baccarat. Those looking for a blackjack game might be disappointed as there are only two tables, with all the seats mostly occupied by rich locals who never seem to go home. The casino isn’t allowed to advertise and many city guide maps don’t include it. It’s a short distance from the Cambodiana hotel and open 24 hours, 365 days a year. Food and drink is free whilst you are betting.

However, an entertainment complex and luxury hotel are currently being built next to the gambling den. Getting there Bus trips from Thailand are only for the hardy or the foolhardy. The el-cheapo flights start at around 3,000 baht round trip and Thai is currently offering the same for 8,500 baht. Don’t forget that the el cheapos are subject to more delays and amalgamations. The tourist visa on arrival at Phnom Penh airport costs US$20 and the departure tax a steep US$25. Taxis to and from are a set price at US$7. Take US dollars with you for all bills and you’ll receive change in that currency. The local currency, the riel, is only used by tourists for very small transactions under one dollar. There are no coins in use in the country and no ATM machines.

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China-ASEAN Free Trade Area

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries signed The Agreement on Trade in Services of China-ASEAN Free Trade Area on Sunday in Cebu, the second largest city of the Philippines.

The agreement was signed at the 10th China-ASEAN Summit attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders of the 10 ASEAN member countries.

The signing is another major achievement in China-ASEAN economic cooperation and trade. It will mark a key step forward in the building of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area and lay the foundation for full and scheduled completion of the China-ASEAN FTA.
The following are some basic facts about the China-ASEAN free trade area.

On Nov. 4, 2002, then Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and leaders of the 10 ASEAN nations signed at the sixth China-ASEAN summit the landmark Framework Agreement on ASEAN-China Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, marking the beginning of the process of setting up a China-ASEAN free trade zone.

Under the agreement, the free trade zone would be completed by 2010, and the four new ASEAN members -- Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam -- have been allowed an additional transitional period of five years and are slated to complete the building of the free trade area in 2015.

The China-ASEAN free trade area, which will comprise China, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, is expected to be one of the biggest free trade areas in the world.

The China-ASEAN free trade area will have a total population of 1.8 billion and a combined gross national product of 2 trillion U.S. dollars when completed in 2010.

The estimated total trade volume of 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars will make it the third largest market in the world, after theEuropean Union and the North American free trade area.

Since 2003, China and ASEAN have held consultations on agreements concerning the building of the free trade area. Beginning from July 1, 2005, China and ASEAN countries started their tariff-reducing process. The two sides will gradually reduce or cancel tariffs on 7,000 kinds of products.

By 2010, China and six old ASEAN member nations -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand will impose zero tariffs on most normal products, while China and the other four new ASEAN members -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- will do the same in 2015.

Source: Xinhua Read more!