3,016 Chinese companies registered in Cambodia

A total of 3,016 Chinese companies have registered in Cambodia, far more than those from other investing countries like South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, local media said on Saturday.

South Korea has 1,162 companies registered in the kingdom, while Singapore has 1,036, Malaysia 918 and Thailand around 800, Chinese-language newspaper the Commercial News quoted the statistics from the National Assembly as saying.

Since 1998, there have been 15,254 domestic and foreign companies registered in Cambodia, said the statistics unveiled here on Friday when the assembly debated the draft bankruptcy law.

Meanwhile, official figures showed that China has been Cambodia 's largest investing country from 2003 to 2005, but went down to the second largest after South Korea in 2006.

According to the Chinese Embassy in Cambodia, the bilateral trade volume between China and Cambodia stood at US$730 million in 2006, a 30 percent increase over 2005, and is expected to reach US$1 billion in 2010.

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Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam agree on tourism cooperation

VietNamNet Bridge - Tourism ministers of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam issued a joint declaration on trilateral cooperation at their meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on October 5.

The three countries agreed to encourage their national tourism agencies to boost exchange of information and experiences in tourism development and promotion. They agreed to jointly hold and attend tourism events and tours and cooperate in personnel training.

The three countries will take measures to facilitate tourists’ travel, boost tourism and cultural activities among their sister cities and heritage sites, as well as encourage public-private partnerships with regard to tourism development.

Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that the meeting of tourism ministers of the three countries, the first of its kind, was an important milestone in boosting trilateral cooperation to a new height matching their potential.

He expressed his belief that the scheme “three countries – one destination” would help build the three countries into a single tourist destination with diverse, unique and sustainable tourism products and high competitiveness in the region.

Sharing the host’s view, Cambodia Tourism Minister Thong Khon and Lao Minister and Chairman of the Lao National Tourism Administration Somphong Mongkhonvilay said their meeting laid a foundation for stronger tourism cooperation among the three countries, which will contribute to fortifying sustainable tourism development in the Greater Mekong Sub-region and the ASEAN.

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Qur’an copies a rarity in Cambodia

Cambodian Muslims can hardly find a copy of the holy Muslim book in the Buddhist country.

"Copies of the Qur'an are hard to get in Cambodia," Mufti Karmaruddin Yusof said in statements carried September 29 by Malaysia's Bernama news agency.

He said copies of the holy book are usually stolen from mosques in the Southeastern Asian country.

This makes it difficult to explain and spread the Islamic teachings in the Buddhist country, he said.

Ahmad Zahid, the chairman of the Dewan Amal Islam Hadhari (Damai), said at least 200,000 copies are needed by the Muslim minority. He urged Malaysia, the chairman of the 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference, to meet this serious shortage.

Zahid added that his organisation has collected so far RM200, 000 for its Wakaf Al-Quran programme.

There are estimated 700,000 Muslims in Cambodia, making up 5 per cent of the country's 13 million population.

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Cambodia's National Animal Is "Real," Study Says

Anne Casselman
for National Geographic News

October 5, 2007
A recent genetic analysis of a Cambodian ox called a kouprey matches fossil evidence that proves Cambodia's national animal is indeed its own species.

The latest study joins a growing body of evidence showing that the kouprey (pronounced "ko-prah") is not a hybrid between two related species of ox, the banteng and zebu, as was previously suggested.

French evolutionary biologists Alexandre Hassanin and Anne Ropiquet at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, sequenced kouprey DNA and compared it to that of related wild and domestic oxen species.

There are two types of DNA in a cell: nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Nuclear DNA is a combination of maternally and paternally inherited genes, and mtDNA is inherited exclusively from the mother. Hassanin analyzed both types of DNA in the new study.

"These molecular data allow us to study the evolutionary history of both paternal and mitochondrial lineages," he wrote by email from Vietnam.

If the kouprey is a hybrid of its close oxen relatives, its nuclear genes would have been a combination of the two hypothetical parent species. Instead Hassanin found that the kouprey's nuclear sequences differed from those of banteng and zebu.

"Our interpretations are therefore that the kouprey is a real wild species, different from all other wild oxen," wrote Hassanin.

The study will appear in the November issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Disappearing National Icon

The kouprey, which resembles a dark-coated ox with massive, curling horns, was first recognized as a species in 1937. In 1960 Cambodia made it the national symbol.

But habitat destruction and hunting took its toll, and many experts believe the last scientific observation of the animal in the wild was in 1957.

"I cannot imagine that if there were any kouprey left today we wouldn't be aware of them," said Gary J. Galbreath, an evolutionary biologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, who was not involved in the study.

In 1961 German zoologist Herwart Bohlken suggested that the kouprey might be a hybrid population of the banteng and zebu because of similarities between the animals' skulls.

Galbreath and his colleagues tested that hypothesis in a 2006 Journal of Zoology study by comparing kouprey and banteng mtDNA. If the hybridization hypothesis was correct, the mtDNA of both animals would be similar.

"We ran the DNA, and lo and behold, our prediction was correct," Galbreath said. "We now know that this [new study] is Murphy's law in action, but at the time it seemed very convincing."

But that December a fossil kouprey skull, described by Thai scientists Chavalit Vithayanon and Naris Bhumpakphan in 2004, came to Galbreath's attention. The skull possibly dated back to the late Pleistocene or early Holocene epoch, about 125,000 to 5,000 years ago.

"You can't have a fossil kouprey skull if the kouprey is a recent hybrid," he said.

Galbreath and his colleagues formally rescinded their previous view that the kouprey was a hybrid in the March 2007 Journal of Zoology.

Given that the kouprey was its own species after all, the question remained, how did it come to share mtDNA with the banteng?

The genetic data published by Hassanin and Ropiqet suggest that at some point in the Pleistocene, a female kouprey and a male ancestor of today's banteng mated, and that this coupling occurred at least once.

Somehow their offspring spread its maternally inherited kouprey mitochondrial DNA throughout the banteng population.

The artifact of this ancient hybridization event is that banteng carry kouprey mtDNA. Read more!

Pretty in pink

By Cassie Phillips for CNN

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (CNN) -- From my table at work, I have a partial view of the courtyard through the window and the double doors to the right. This allows me to gaze out and watch the kids playing during the day when I tire from work.

Despite finding the weather to be incredibly hot, I still observe office dress code and wear longer pants and skirts everyday.

In my first week of work I learned all of the kids at Homeland have their own clothes and are responsible for washing them. The kids run around in any assortment of pants, shorts, jeans and T-shirts. One boy in particular always catches my eye when he wears his pink bubble gum colored shirt and soccer shorts. I often find myself envious of his soccer shorts and irritated by his pink shirt.

The type of clothing worn by Khmer sometimes surprises me. Pajamas are commonly worn as daytime apparel, be it silky flowered pink pajamas for boys at play or patterned cotton matching sets for women. Men at work often sport traditional komars (short wraparound skirts) and bare chests.

The more I learn about social customs, I see how gender dictates both the actions and dress of men and women. Generally, women show the least amount of skin while men can show quite a bit without fear of scorn.

Children are free to roam the streets naked until late toddlerhood and beyond in some places.

I've recently learned colors do not have the same meaning as they do in the United States. Nonetheless, pink shirts on men remain the most striking and interesting to me as an American woman living in Cambodia.

As I've come to understand the color pink in the American context, it hasn't been until fairly recently that the color pink was liberated from its gender assigned designation to women.

I understand that a man wearing pink in Cambodia does not carry the same social meaning as it does in the United States. However, every time I see a man in pink, it brings into focus the tension I feel my gender creates as I negotiate the prescribed role of women in Cambodia.

Despite foreign women having a larger degree of acceptable social behaviors, I try to stay attuned to the roles Cambodian women fill. As such, I am acutely aware that I am a woman in Cambodia. This awareness comes from my consciousness of needing to go home when it starts to get dark if I am alone, to finding very few outlets for women to have fun, especially when considering their male counterparts.

I see men playing football or doing other team sports everywhere. However, I have never seen a woman playing. When I ask about it, I'm told, "girls don't play sports because it's too hard to teach them". Nevertheless, when I ask to join in games, men are very responsive and welcoming.

As a woman, I never feel discouraged from playing sports or going out for drinks on the weekend. This is in large part because I am a foreigner. At the same time, I note that local women never partake in these activities.

It seems that Khmer women understand very well that they are to stick to what women always do and not try new things.

Not wanting to believe that women do not feel restricted by these narrow roles, I continue to ask women if they are interested in learning to play sports or try something new over the weekend. It seems the women I meet know that they are to go to school, take care of siblings and stay inside when it gets dark. While some may express some interest in trying something out of the ordinary, they would never act upon it.

To their credit, all of the women I know are very busy all the time. It's as if free time does not exist for many women in Cambodia. However, even when women do have free time, they seem content not exploring new and different social activities.

I do not expect women in Cambodia to behave the same as men, however I'm shocked by their compliance with traditionally determined acceptable social behavior.

Still, I can't help but think if these women had role models or examples of women who dared not to conform they might try new things.

Not wanting to completely cast social order aside, I feel I have the opportunity to communicate a different story about women through my actions. For example, I still want to respect Cambodian culture, but also challenge myself and others to better understand this culture.

Perhaps I will never wear shorts to work, but I might join in a game of football and show how a woman can still be a woman and be athletic. In time, I would like to earn social approval as a woman but also suggest to those around me that women can still be respectable and do something different.

Read more!

UN Reports Call for Changes in Structure of Khmer Rouge Tribunal

By Rory Byrne

A United Nations agency says the U.N. should pull out of the special tribunal set up to try leaders of Cambodia's genocidal Khmer Rouge government unless reforms are made. Separately, two United Nations experts have reported serious problems with the administration and hybrid structure of the tribunal. Rory Byrne reports for VOA from Phnom Penh.

The United Nations Development Program was commissioned last year to report on hiring practices at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. The assignment followed allegations that Cambodian employees had paid court officials to obtain their positions with the tribunal.

A UNDP report published this week says no evidence of salary kickbacks was discovered. But the report says investigators did find that the Tribunal is employing unqualified Cambodian staff, at inflated salaries, and without proper hiring procedures.

The report says that if the Cambodian side of the tribunal does not agree to reforms in procedures and structure, "serious consideration should be given to withdrawing from participation in the project altogether."

A second U.N. report this week pointed out numerous administrative shortcomings, and recommended shifting control of crucial court functions to the United Nations.

The tribunal is a joint U.N.-Cambodian court, with Cambodian judges holding three of the five slots. The other two are held by international jurists selected by the U.N. The second report says that because Cambodia's judiciary is weak, the tribunal may be subject to political interference.

Peter Foster, the official spokesman for the U.N. side of the hybrid court, says the reports are being studied for possible action.

However, experts say that fully implementing the recommendations would require re-negotiating the agreements that established the tribunal - a move Foster says would endanger the whole process.

"Renegotiation would take some time," he said. "We have to remember that it took 13 years to get to the agreement that we have in place now, and we certainly don't want to reopen that and spend another 13 years."

Foster says it is possible the U.N. can take more of a "leadership role" without making major changes to the existing agreements.

"A 'leadership role' is a term that can be defined in many ways, it doesn't necessarily means that we have to renegotiate part of the contract or part of the agreement or change the basic fundamentals of how we're structured," he said. "We can certainly make adjustments within the current system to provide greater assistance and greater advice to our Cambodian colleagues…"

Foster says some remedial measures have already been taken, and that experts are being recruited to improve the functions of the tribunal and ensure fairness.

The court is currently investigating five people for crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 rule over Cambodia, during which up to two million people died. So far, two suspects have been detained: former prison chief Kaing Kek Eav, alias Duch, and Khmer Rouge ideologue Noun Chea. Cases against the other three are being prepared.

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Cambodia trip the 'ultimate' work experience for journalism student

By HoldtheFrontPage staff

A journalism student from the University of Sheffield has spent a week in Cambodia on the ultimate work experience trip.

Kirstie Kinrade won the trip after entering a writing contest run by the charity World Vision and Bliss magazine.

During the week there she spent time investigating the country's child sex trafficking problem.

She interviewed girls who had been rescued after being sold to brothels, and went out at night to meet street children who are part of a scheme run by World Vision to teach them life skills.

She also travelled to a school where the older children volunteered to teach the younger pupils how to avoid being tricked into the sex trade.

She was accompanied on the trip by officials from World Vision and a journalist from Bliss, and Kirstie's diary from the trip has now been published in the current edition of the magazine.

A futher real-life feature is also due to be published in next month's issue.

Kirstie, (21), told holdthefrontpage: "The trip was shocking and upsetting at times, but it was a really good experience - the best work experience I could ask for.

"Seeing my work in Bliss is a bit strange.

"I've had stuff published in local papers but it is strange to see it in a national magazine. But it is good for my CV."

She added: "I learned how to interview vulnerable people, and how to conduct interviews through a translator.

"I was glad because the team I was with allowed me to do my own thing and to interview people by myself, which has really boosted both my confidence and my shorthand speed!

"As well as doing a diary and a feature article for Bliss magazine I also kept an audio diary for BBC radio and a video diary for Sky TV."

Kirstie, who is a final-year student on the BA Journalism course, won the trip after entering a contest to write 150 words about a 'world issue that concerns you'. She wrote about the media, and how it fails to report on things that don't affect the western world.

Read more!

Sucked into a Black Hole

By JOSHUA KURLANTZICK

At night, the streets of Phnom Penh reveal the country's vast wealth gap. In front of shopping centers selling luxury cosmetics, whole families sleep on patches of sidewalk; beggars missing limbs, a legacy of civil war, crowd outside upscale restaurants where a tiny élite downs French entrées and chic cocktails. But many average Cambodians hope this poverty will vanish, thanks to an apparent miracle: the country has discovered oil. Off Cambodia's southern coast, explorers have found as much as 500 million barrels, potentially providing over $1 billion annually to the country.

Cambodia is hardly unique. As oil prices hit record levels, multinationals are hunting for black gold in ever more unlikely places, and many Southeast Asian nations now are eagerly exploring new fields. Yet few seem to realize that rather than miracles, oil often brings misery, including the massive graft witnessed in some petroleum-rich African and Middle Eastern states.

Ten years ago, with a barrel of oil dipping to about $10, there was little interest in Southeast Asian petroleum, other than established deposits in Indonesia and Brunei. But now, global instability and rising demand from India and China have spiked oil prices to over $80 per barrel, and governments are nationalizing major fields from Russia to Venezuela. At the same time, as offshore technology improves, oil firms can hunt in deeper, tougher waters, like the Timor Gap between Australia and East Timor. So the region has exploded with oil fever. Vietnam plans to explore in seven offshore blocks, Malaysia this summer launched the deepwater Kikeh field, and Indonesia expects production from its vast Cepu oil field to start next year. East Timor could earn at least $10 billion from the Gap, and Burma has discovered offshore fields that could contain 2.5 trillion cubic feet (70.8 billion cubic meters) of gas.

But oil can lead to the "resource curse" — a government-connected élite profits, most people still suffer, and the economy winds up dependent on petroleum and facing inflation from rising oil revenues. Nigeria, for example, ranks in the top 10 of world oil exporters, yet 60% of Nigerians live below the poverty line, and the country's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has said that the government has stolen or wasted some $400 billion, a fair share of which presumably came from oil.

Many Asian countries could go Nigeria's way so far as oil is concerned. Cambodia, which is still recovering from the Khmer Rouge era, ranks near the bottom of Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, and does not possess the institutions to monitor how the government uses its new oil riches. East Timor's economy will have almost no other foundations — studies estimate over 90% of government revenues eventually will come from oil. Before its latest brutal crackdown on peaceful protestors, Burma's military regime already demonstrated such little concern for its people that it reportedly spent among the lowest on health care per person of any government on the planet. Hiding out in its new jungle capital Naypyidaw, the junta has not even suggested that oil money will benefit its people. While many oil companies support the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which pushes countries to explain how they spend petroleum money, Chinese oil giants, dominant in Burma, refuse to sign up. Even Brunei, a country that at least used decades of petroleum wealth to provide free health care, is not immune. Suckled on oil, Bruneians demonstrate minimal entrepreneurship, leaving the country with almost no industry when oil runs out, possibly within 20 years.

Some Southeast Asian governments seem to want to learn from the mistakes committed by other countries. East Timor has created a national petroleum fund to save revenues for future generations. Dili has also enlisted advisers from Norway, one of the best examples of putting black gold to good use, to manage its oil money. But noble intentions are not enough. East Timor NGOs worry that their country's oil laws are so vague that they open the door to mismanagement and skimming. A damning World Bank–Indonesia joint study earlier this year showed Indonesia was struggling to spend state funds on decent development projects.

Cambodia could be the biggest worry. Prime Minister Hun Sen has pledged to steer oil revenues toward poverty reduction, but his government has offered no clear plans of how it will ensure riches are spent wisely. The promise of wealth has already sparked a property boom in Phnom Penh, a possible early sign of inflation. In the future, no doubt, Cambodia's capital will boast even more classy French bistros. But it just might have more beggars, too.

With reporting by Joshua Kurlantzick is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power is Transforming the World

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Vietnam-Cambodia trade fair in Phnom Penh to open in November

Nhan Dan - The Vietnam-Cambodia International Trade Fair will be opened in Phnom Penh on November 3.

The fair is jointly organised by the Defence Ministry and Ministry of Trade and Industry of Vietnam and the Defence Ministry and Ministry of Trade of Cambodia.

The event is part of the national trade promotion programme in 2007. The fair is aimed to create opportunities for enterprises of the two countries, including military-owned businesses, to promote trade, introduce their products, boost economic co-operation and investment.

The fair will also help strengthen the solidarity and traditional friendship between the people of Vietnam and Cambodia.

The fair closes on November 6.

At the press briefing on October 2 in Hanoi, the Defense Ministry also announced its participation in another international trade fair “Socio-economic development in the Central Highlands – International Economic Integration” to be held in Buon Ma Thuot city in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, from December 14-18.

The fair is jointly organised by the Defence Ministry, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the People’s Committee of Dak Lak province.
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Cambodian official visits Troy

By Matt Clower, The Messenger

The Senior Minister of Education for Cambodia met on Wednesday with leaders at Troy University to lay the groundwork for a possible educational partnership.

Dr. Kol Pheng, who also serves as chairman of the board of trustees for Pannasastra University of Cambodia, is the highest- ranking foreign official to visit the Troy campus. Kol said the main purpose of his visit was to find ways to improve the quality of education offered in Cambodia.

“We want to continue to improve our educational system and ensure we are keeping up with international standards,” Kol said.

To that end, Kol said he wants to see the formation of a 1-2-1 study program that will allow Cambodian students to come to Troy - the student would study for one year in Cambodia, two years in Troy, and then a final year at home.

The same program has been implemented successfully with several Chinese universities, said Dr. Jack Hawkins Jr., chancellor of Troy University.

He said 1-2-1 is also soon to be implemented in Malaysia, as well.

“The model has been almost perfected in China, and we feel like we can replicate it almost anywhere there is an interested partner,” Hawkins said.

Kol said the training of teachers is of particular interest to Cambodia as the country looks to expand free public education for first through ninth grades.

There's hope that the partnership will work both ways, and Troy University education students will one day spend time in Camboida.

That goal is one Hawkins said he feels strongly about.

“Think about the view those students would have of the world and how much better they will be as teachers,” Hawkins said.

Pol said U.S. students studying in Cambodia would be able do research on issues unique to developing countries.

“We have a lot of emerging issues relating to economic development and different trends in our society,” Kol said.

Emerging from decades of violence under the Khmer Rouge, Kol said Cambodia is still trying to heal old wounds and move forward as a nation.

“For me, education and teaching about the past has been the way to promote healing and forgiveness and replace hate with love,” Kol said.

Following the meeting in Troy, Kol traveled to the Montgomery campus, where he was scheduled to meet with several other leaders from aross the state.

The meeting with Kol was arranged through the university's relationship with former U.N. Ambassador and Cambodian native Sichan Siv.

Siv spoke at the university's spring commencement in May 2007.

Read more!

Ethical Traveler begins campaign to stop child sex slavery in Cambodia

Four non-profit groups have come together this year to launch a campaign to help stop and bring about awareness of Cambodia’s child sex trade. Driven by Berkeley-based Ethical Traveler, the campaign will feature a letter-writing drive in the hopes to pressure the government to pass and enforce laws to protect minors. Global Exchange, Not For Sale Campaign and ECPAT-Cambodia will join Ethical Traveler in its cause. The letters will all be sent from travellers straight to Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism, urging him to use his name and influence to help abolish the now thriving sex slave industry.

"Cambodia relies on tourist dollars for much-needed foreign exchange," said Jeff Greenwald, Ethical Traveler's Executive Director. "Child sex tourism is a threat to the future of this developing nation, and to its appeal as a legitimate travel destination."

Victims of sex slavery are often treated as illegal immigrants in Cambodia and are sent to prison, whilst their traffickers go unpunished. The letter writing campaign aims to disrupt the attitudes and laws surrounding victims.

"We have created a simple, easy, and direct way for concerned people from around the world to write the government of Cambodia, urging it to take action to stop child prostitution," said Greenwald. "Tourism is a major economic force in Cambodia. By joining together, travelers can influence Cambodia to protect vulnerable children even as it protects its reputation as a world-class tourist destination."

For more information on this campaign, or to send a letter to the Cambodian Minister of Tourism, please visit http://www.ethicaltraveler.org/cambodia. Read more!

Cambodia Asks ASEAN To Act In Myanmar Crisis

Phnom Penh, Cambodia - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday urged the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to find ways to solve the erupting crisis in Myanmar.

Sen in an interview with the China View, said that Singapore, who stands as the rotating Chair of ASEAN, should be uniting with the countries Malaysia and Thailand in order to form a group of three that will find a solution to Myanmar problem.

The Prime Minister described the problem in Myanmar as it reached the new level of seriousness.

"ASEAN should be playing a more active role," he said in an interview with the China view noting that he would like to see the government of Myanmar exercise the maximum tolerance to clear out the protesters.

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Japan may cut aid to Myanmar; Cambodia calls for regional role

TOKYO: Japan said Wednesday it is preparing to cut aid to Myanmar, while Cambodia's prime minister urged Myanmar's neighbors to work as a group to help find a democratic solution to the country's political crisis.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen called for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to play a role resolving the tensions in Myanmar and urged the junta to refrain from further violence.

Hun Sen said the involvement of Myanmar's Buddhist monks in recent pro-democracy protests showed problems had reached a new level of seriousness.

"ASEAN should be playing a more active role," he told reporters, proposing the bloc form a group, led by ASEAN chair Singapore, that can "assist in finding solution to the problems in Myanmar."

Myanmar's junta broadcast warnings from trucks Wednesday that soldiers were searching for protesters.

Myanmar's military crushed pro-democracy protests on Sept. 26 and 27 with live ammunition, tear gas and by beating up demonstrators. Hundreds of monks and civilians were carted off to detention camps. The government says 10 people were killed in the violence, but dissident groups put the toll as high as 200. They say 6,000 people were detained.

U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari was in transit in Singapore on Wednesday after a four-day mission in Myanmar, where he met junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe and his deputies to convey the international community's outrage at the junta's actions. He also talked to detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi twice.

In Singapore, Gambari met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Myanmar is an ASEAN member.

A Singapore government statement said Lee told Gambari that ASEAN "is fully behind his mission" to bring about a political solution for national reconciliation and a peaceful transition to democracy.

In Indonesia, dozens of Buddhist monks rallied outside the Myanmar Embassy, demanding Jakarta and the U.N. to take immediate action and waving banners denouncing the military junta.

"Stop all forms of violence and start looking for a solution with cool heads," said monk Matra Maitri.

In Geneva on Tuesday, the 47-nation U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the military's crackdown and urged an immediate investigation of the situation.

In Tokyo, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Japan was preparing to suspend aid to Myanmar over the death of Kenji Nagai during last week's military crackdown on street protests in Yangon despite repeated international calls to end repression.

"There have been calls to freeze aid entirely, but ordinary people in that country are already suffering. So we've decided to narrow down humanitarian aid for now," Komura told a group of reporters.

Japan has not formally announced details of the aid cut, though Komura said Tokyo would keep up assistance to humanitarian projects like polio eradication.

Japan is Myanmar's largest aid donor. It suspended yen-denominated loans for major projects after another violent crackdown in 1988, but has since given aid under a program focused mainly on health, education and humanitarian projects.

In 2005, Japan provided grants totaling 1.3 billion yen (US$11.2 million; €7.9 million) and 1.7 billion yen (US$14.7 million; €10.3 million) in technology assistance, according to the latest ministry figures.

Japan has limited its economic aid to Myanmar to humanitarian assistance, and is now "considering cutting it back further," Komura said. Read more!

Cambodia's co-ruling Funcinpec Party to elect PM candidate

As the 2008 national election approaches, the co-ruling Funcinpec Party has announced that it will hold a two-day national congress from Oct. 18-19 to prepare its leadership structure and political programs and elect its candidate for prime minister, local media reported Wednesday.

"We will organize the party's national council congress on Oct. 18, which is the first anniversary of the party reform," said Funcinpec Secretary General Nhiek Bun Chhay, reported Cambodian- language newspaper the Rasmei Kampuchea.

Chhay also claimed that, during the October 18 event, which will be held at Olympic stadium, the party will also announce reform of the party national council, consisting of between 2,600 and 2,700 members from all levels of the royalist party, and will decide whether to extend the membership of the party's steering committee from 53 to 70, reported another Cambodian-language newspaper the Khmer Mekong News.

The party will also declare its candidate for prime minister for the 2008 national election. All three candidates, Princess Norodom Arun Rasmy, Princess Norodom Vichara and Prince Norodom Sirivudh, are from the blue-blooded Norodom branch of the royal family, reported another Cambodian-language newspaper the Khmer Machas Srok News.

Funcinpec spokesman Nov Savathero said that only princes and princesses who are popular and have good relations with the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) would be nominated as premiership candidates for the royalist party.

Princess Arun Rasmy, wife of Funcinpec president Keo Puth Rasmey, is in a strong position as she has never had any disputes with the CPP, reported the Khmer Machas Srok News.

Read more!

Creative Holidays launches Vietnam and Cambodia

Creative Holidays has launched its 2008 Vietnam & Cambodia program offering the trade an expanded product range, as well as new, more flexible travel options that can be tailored to suit specific clients’ time and budget requests.

The new program boasts a full page feature on Halong Bay boat options, including the introduction of the Halong Ginger, a five-star high-end junk for travellers looking for a more luxurious experience. The program also has more hotel options in the popular cities of Saigon, Hanoi and Hoi An, a full page outlining Sapa train and rail options as well as the introduction of product in the beach areas of Phu Quoc Island, Phan Thiet and Quy Nhon, and new group tours in Cambodia and Vietnam.

Andrew Yell, general manager, product, sales and marketing, Creative Holidays said “This year we have a really diverse range of products designed to suit all markets, including families, couples, singles, those on a budget, the more adventurous, people looking for a hands-on experience and those after romance, luxury and indulgence.

“The popularity of both Vietnam and Cambodia has grown significantly over the last 12 months with Australian travellers. In fact, we have seen sales to the region double, which is testament to a destination that really does offer something for everyone.

“We have been able to increase our range to offer more five-star resorts, like the Evason and Ana Mandara in Nha Trang, more options to the booming family market and, option of independent flexible itineraries and group trips for solo travellers.

“Truly flexible independent touring is always a popular choice and consultants now have more options than ever with Creative Holidays. Agents can tailor an itinerary exclusively for their clients with us, right down to the standard of accommodation, duration, budget and sightseeing options.

“Tailoring a trip for clients is simple in Vietnam because geographically the country runs over 3000km from north to south, so the most practical itineraries traverse the country from top to bottom or vise versa, with as many, or as few, stops in between as travellers would like. However, with the boom in interest to the region demand can sometimes out number supply, so book your clients early to ensure they don’t miss out during peak seasons.

“Moving forward into 2008, we expect to see unprecedented growth continue for Vietnam, particularly as the region is so accessible, easy to travel though and appeals to such a broad cross-section of the market.”

Creative Holidays’ entire program is a comprehensive information source and research tool to help consultants and their clients plan their holiday and features impartial destination information supplied by Lonely Planet including temperature charts, country and area maps, event details, currency and dining information, travel facts, country highlights and much more throughout.

As a SPECIAL BONUS, Lonely Planet is offering significant discounts on their range of travel guides to Creative Holidays’ customers, so if your clients wish to learn more about Vietnam and Cambodia be sure to direct them to www.creativeholidays.com where they can save 20 per cent on all full priced Lonely Planet guides.

Creative Holidays is Australia’s leading independent holiday company with a range of holidays to suit everyone – especially those who enjoy the independence and flexibility of planning their own holiday. Creative Holidays great deals are available exclusively through travel agents. Read more!

Cambodia facing tropical storm Lekima

Continual rain over the past few days is an indication Cambodia is likely to face tropical storm Lekima, which may bring serious flooding across the nation, local media said on Tuesday.

Lekima has moved from Vietnam to China's coastal area, provoking the Cambodian Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology to announce on Sept. 30 that it may soon need to issue flood warnings, should river depth at target points rise above danger levels, Cambodian-language newspaper the Rasmei Kampuchea quoted officials as saying.

The depth of the Mekong River at Stung Treng province has risen to 7.15 meters, in Kratie province 17.79 meters, in Kampong Cham province 12.64 meters and in Phnom Penh 8.73 meters, according to a bulletin issued on Oct. 1 by the ministry's hydrology department.

The warning will be announced if the depth at the target areas rises to 10.70 meters in Stung Treng, 22 meters in Kratie, 15.20 meters in Kampong Cham or 10.5 meters in Phnom Penh.

The storm would bring incessant torrential rains to Cambodia for days, possibly from Oct. 2 to 5, said the September 30 announcement, making an impact on not only Mekong River Basin but also northeastern provinces such as Ratanakiri, Modulkiri and Preah Vihear, and in the northwest provinces of Kompong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang.

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Cambodia working on establishing geographical rights of goods

Cambodia is conducting studies on the creation of geographical rights for the nation's key products to promote exports, local media said on Tuesday.

The process is being discussed at a two-day workshop here organized by the European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), which ends on Tuesday. The conference is being attended by officials from the ministries of commerce and agriculture and private producers, Cambodian-language newspaper the Kampuchea Thmey reported.

The study aims to identify the geography of goods to streamline the trade, said Rafael Dochao Moreno, EU charge d'ffaires to Cambodia.

"We have to collect goods in areas to be registered and disseminated and also protect those goods in the country and abroad," said Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Commerce Mao Thora. The project will run in conjunction with the government 's One Village One Product initiative.

Rice from Battambang, silk from Banteay Meanchey, palm sugar from Kompong Speu, pepper from Kampot, fish paste from Siem Reap, and Cardamom spices from Pursat are on a shortlist of products that are to be examined to see if they hold the criteria to meet geographical indication (GI) standards, said Mao Thora.

"Geographical indication is not a certificate," said Stephane Passeri, administrator for the EU-funded EC-ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Cooperation Program, or ECAP II.

"It is an intellectual property concept. Such rights have to follow national legislation, without which there is no recognition that can be claimed outside Cambodia," Stephane Passeri added.

With aid from EU, the geographical registration of goods is to urge for the adoption of Law on Intellectual Property Rights according to the demands of World Trade Organization (WTO), said Mao Thora.

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Cambodia facing tropical storm Lekima

Continual rain over the past few days is an indication Cambodia is likely to face tropical storm Lekima, which may bring serious flooding across the nation, local media said on Tuesday.

Lekima has moved from Vietnam to China's coastal area, provoking the Cambodian Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology to announce on Sept. 30 that it may soon need to issue flood warnings, should river depth at target points rise above danger levels, Cambodian-language newspaper the Rasmei Kampuchea quoted officials as saying.

The depth of the Mekong River at Stung Treng province has risen to 7.15 meters, in Kratie province 17.79 meters, in Kampong Cham province 12.64 meters and in Phnom Penh 8.73 meters, according to a bulletin issued on Oct. 1 by the ministry's hydrology department.

The warning will be announced if the depth at the target areas rises to 10.70 meters in Stung Treng, 22 meters in Kratie, 15.20 meters in Kampong Cham or 10.5 meters in Phnom Penh.

The storm would bring incessant torrential rains to Cambodia for days, possibly from Oct. 2 to 5, said the September 30 announcement, making an impact on not only Mekong River Basin but also northeastern provinces such as Ratanakiri, Modulkiri and Preah Vihear, and in the northwest provinces of Kompong Chhnang, Pursat and Battambang.

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Experts: Cambodia Fertile Ground for Tamil Tigers

Cambodian authorities recently broke up a human smuggling network run in part by the Tamil Tigers. The involvement of the Sri Lankan separatist group in illegal activities in Cambodia came as no surprise to experts, who have watched the sophisticated insurgency transform in Phnom Penh since it began buying Cambodian weapons in the 1990s.

"The operations in Cambodia still exist to a great extent. However, it may not be focused in the same areas that it was focused in the late '90s," said Shanaka Jayasekara, a terrorism researcher at Macquarie University in Sydney.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, no longer need Cambodia as a place to "mop up" old weapons, Jayasekara told VOA Khmer, echoing other interviews with analysts and government officials over several weeks.

Their weapons purchases are more sophisticated now, but the criminal infrastructure put in place in the early 1990s, when Cambodia was its primary arms bazaar, is still there, enabling drugs and human smuggling, credit card fraud and money laundering.

"The LTTE has been involved in the narcotics trade for quite some time. They have also facilitated human smuggling of the Tamil diaspora through some of the Southeast Asian countries," Jayasekara said.

Cambodia authorities say in August they broke up an operation run in part by Tamil Tigers intent on smuggling up to 250 Pakistanis and Sri Lankans to Western nations and Australia.

The bust was an indicator that efforts from Sri Lankan and Cambodian officials to unseat Tamil Tiger operations in the county had not been successful.

The Tamil Tigers earn hundreds of millions of dollars each year by collecting money from Tamil immigrant communities. The Tamil people belong to a minority group in northern Sri Lanka and southern India, but Tamil expatriates live in many Western countries, including Canada, Norway and Australia. A lot of money comes from these groups, either by choice or through coercion, experts said.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Tigers also earn money by running guns to groups like the Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group in the Philippines. And they smuggle Tamil people into Western countries.

This helps the Tamil Tigers fill their war chest and continue their separatist fight against the Sri Lankan government, Jayasekara says.

"It's a kind of a business opportunity for the LTTE. They make money out of it. They also do it to take their key operatives to certain locations and place them in vital destinations so that their international network can be run more efficiently," Jayasekara said.

At least two Tamil operatives escaped Cambodia's August dragnet: Ranni Lerin and his brother, Lipton Lerin, who operated their human smuggling ring out of a cafe in Phnom Penh, authorities said in September.

The Cambodian government made a public call to Interpol to help them capture the men.

Jayasekara said the flight of the two brothers likely has not halted the group's activities, which are now being run by a man who officials know little about.

Officials say more needs to be done to rein in the Tamil Tigers, who have invented devices—including the suicide vest—and innovated techniques that reach Islamic terrorists.

"The LTTE has growing links with other terrorist organizations like the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah," said Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Sri Lankan Secretary of Foreign Affairs in Colombo and an expert on the Tamil Tigers.

The innovative Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for a separate Tamil state since 1975, has its own navy, merchant vessels and a small air force. The insurgency has led to the deaths of more than 60,000 people.

Countries like Cambodia and Sri Lanka need help in pursuing the group, Kohona said. "We need expertise," he said.

"We need intelligence gathering assistance."

The US, meanwhile, has listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization.

Earlier this year, US agencies disrupted a Tamil Tiger plot to smuggle high-tech weapons, missiles, ammunition and night-vision goggles out of the US.

Undercover officers acting as State Department officials also caught operatives attempting to bribe them to have the Tamil Tigers taken off the US terrorist list.

The problems Sri Lanka is facing with the Tamil Tigers will become the problems of wealthier countries if more isn't done to stop the group, in undeveloped countries like Cambodia and in developed nations of the West," Kohona said.

"Terrorism is not an issue for one country. It is an issue for the entire sea of humanity," he said. "Terrorism is a scourge that has to be eliminated wherever it might be found."
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Audit finds flaws in KRouge tribunal hiring

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — An audit of Cambodia's genocide tribunal has highlighted serious hiring flaws and suggests that the UN's development agency UNDP, which oversees millions in donor funding, should quit the court.

The audit was commissioned by the UNDP last year following allegations that some Cambodian staff had paid for their positions on the UN-backed court, which was established to try former leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.

But it was only made public late Monday amid growing pressure for its release.

The audit details a tangled bureaucracy inside the Cambodian side of the joint-court, rife with unqualified staff, bloated salaries and the creation of dozens of unnecessary jobs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"If the Cambodian side does not agree to the essential measures that are, from UNDP perspective, necessary to ensure the integrity and success of the project, then serious considerations should be given to withdrawing from participation in the project altogether," the audit said.

It goes on to recommend that all Cambodian contracts be nullified, and new employees hired under closer UNDP supervision.

The UNDP says the audit is a private document and would not comment, but tribunal staff maintain that they have nothing to hide and have responded to most of the findings.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the court, which posted the audit on its website, had always wanted the findings to be made public.

But the official also dismissed the audit's recommendation that the UNDP withdraw from the court.

"Imagine if they were to leave this late in the game, 18 months on. It would be disastrous," the official said.

The court is currently investigating five people for crimes committed during the communist Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule over Cambodia, during which up to two million people died.

So far two suspects, former prison chief Duch and regime ideologue Nuon Chea, have been detained.

The tribunal's decision to post the audit comes as the cash-strapped court prepares to launch a major fund-raising campaign.

Tribunal spokesperson Helen Jarvis said earlier that the court has enough money to continue operating through early next year, but that budget shortfalls could threaten to delay the process after that.

Some 56.3 million dollars have been budgeted for the long-stalled trials, but the Cambodian government has so far only pledged a fraction of its 13 million-dollar share.

The rest, officials say, must come from additional donor funding, although there are fears that the international community might be unlikely to pay for what it perceives as a flawed process.

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