China has said it is to allow some trade with its neighbours to be settled with its currency, the yuan.
The pilot scheme was announced in a package of measures designed to help exporters hit by the global downturn.
It means if the two parties to a trade have yuan available, they need not enter world exchange markets to pay.
Most of China's foreign trade is settled in US dollars or the euro, leaving exporters vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations.
The yuan is not yet a freely convertible currency.
Officials did not say when the trial scheme would start.
When it does, the yuan could be used to settle trade between parts of eastern China (Guangdong and the Yangtze River delta) and the territories of Hong Kong and Macau, and between south-west China (Guangxi and Yunnan) and the Asean group of countries (Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).
Spreading yuan
Analysts told Chinese media that the yuan was already being used in some South East Asian countries and that China was happy to see such use extended.
They also agreed that the measure was intended to help companies cope with the global financial meltdown, even though buying and selling the currency requires the presentation of legitimate trade documents to banks.
The latest measure follows Beijing's announcement earlier this month of a 30-point directive in which it vowed to "support the development of yuan business in Hong Kong" and expand the use of the currency to settle trade with neighbouring countries.
Central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying: "The US dollar is unlikely to be stable next year and later.
"And the likelihood of the United States issuing more money in the near future adds to the depreciation risk in US-dollar-denominated assets and trade settlements."
He also reportedly said that Guangxi, a province in southern China, had already been settling trade with Vietnam in yuan for some time.
Spurs to spend
A document released after a meeting of China's State Council on Wednesday announced more measures to stimulate domestic consumption.
These include subsidies to rural households for the purchase of household appliances and other goods, and the setting up of new stores and distribution centres in rural areas.
The document called for the renovation of urban food markets, the provision of more variety of goods on sale, the setting up of more second-hand markets, incentives for distribution companies to merge and consolidate, and support of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The state news agency Xinhua said the government intended to raise export tax rebates for high-technology products, to encourage foreign investment, extend customs and inspections services, lower inspection fee for exports and strengthen trade relations in emerging markets.
Analysts said the ideas, though vague, indicated growing concern among China's policy makers about the domestic impact of the current global financial turmoil.
Powered by exports, China's economy has grown by double digits in recent years.
In November, official figures showed a 2.2 percent drop in exports, the first decline in more than seven years.
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Thursday, December 25, 2008
China to allow freer yuan trades
Businesses and entrepreneurs from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to be honoured
An awards ceremony for outstanding businesses and entrepreneurs from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam will be held on January 18, 2009, according to the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium-sized enterprises (Vinasme).
According to the organizing board, the awards will be presented to successful businesses and entrepreneurs from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam for their remarkable achievements in production, business, services and social welfare activities.
The awards will contribute to strengthening exchanges between enterprises to explore business opportunities in the three countries.
At present, more than 100 businesses and entrepreneurs have entered the contest as candidates for the award.
The event was co-organised by Vinasme, the Economics Department under the Ministry of National Defense, and the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia economic and development association.
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Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Cambodian Supreme Court will review trade union leader’s murder
Two men convicted of the murder of trade union activist Chea Vichea in Cambodia after a seriously flawed criminal investigation and a grossly unfair trial will have their case heard by the country's Supreme Court on 31 December.
Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were sentenced to 20 years for Chea Vichea’s murder. However, their detention and trial were plagued with human rights violations, including torture or other ill-treatment and deeply flawed court proceedings that relied on unfounded and inadmissible evidence.
"The Cambodian Supreme Court must dismiss the case against both men and ensure that they are released." said Amnesty International's Cambodia researcher Brittis Edman.
The organisation has long argued that the true perpetrators of the murder remain at large. The Free Trade Union (FTU), of which Chea Vichea was President, has also repeatedly called for the release of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun.
Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun had alibis for the time of the shooting on 22 January 2004. Instead of conducting a thorough, impartial investigation, police officers threatened and detained people who would provide these alibis, and intimidated other witnesses.
Born Samnang repeatedly stated that police beat, coerced and bribed him into making a confession. Despite this, the Municipal Court accepted the confession as a central piece of evidence on the basis of which both men were convicted.
On 1 August 2005, the Municipal Court sentenced them both to 20 years’ imprisonment for murder. On 6 April 2007, the Appeal Court upheld the decision, despite the prosecutor’s acknowledgment there was insufficient evidence.
Amnesty International has repeated its calls to the Cambodian authorities to conduct an impartial and effective investigation into the murder of Chea Vichea so that those responsible for it are brought to justice.
The organisation has also urged the authorities to initiate a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the conduct of the case - including allegations of torture or other ill-treatment by police during the initial interrogation of the two men, intimidation of witnesses and political interference with the judicial process.
Chea Vichea was murdered on 22 January 2004 after receiving a series of death threats. He was shot dead in an assassination-style killing at a news stand in central Phnom Penh. Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were arrested shortly afterwards on suspicion of his murder.
Since Chea Vichea’s death another two FTU activists have been killed in Phnom Penh. In May 2004, Ros Sovannareth, FTU President at the Trinunggal Komara factory, was murdered. Thach Saveth was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his murder in a one-hour trial described by observers as grossly unfair.
On 24 February 2007, Hy Vuthy, FTU President at the Suntex factory, was shot dead. No one has been brought to justice for this killing, and by September 2008, a Phnom Penh court official told media that the investigation had been closed for lack of evidence.
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Boy named "Lucky" travels from Cambodia to Las Vegas for heart surgery
little boy named 'Lucky' is living up to his name after traveling from Cambodia to Las Vegas to have his broken heart fixed.
Dr. Michael Ciccolo performed the operation at Sunrise Children's Hospital.
"The child has a hole between the lower pumping chambers. It's important to fix significant forms of heart disease, because if you don't they will not have a normal life expectancy," he explained.
The baby's name means "Lucky" in English.
His family thinks it's fitting that he had the procedure in Las Vegas.
They couldn't afford to pay for the surgery, so it was arranged through a charitable organization called Hearts Without Boundaries.
The hospital and the doctor donated their services as part of this international effort.
"It's quite a gift, not only to the patient, but to the patient's family. So it makes us feel very proud of the fact that we're able to do this here," said Dr. Ciccolo.
Word of the surgery's success was welcome news in Cambodia and Lucky's progress has been excellent.
He should lead a normal life with no additional surgeries.
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Saving Cambodia's musical heritage
By NOAH GRIFFIN
IN 1994, young Scott Stafford, was awarded special honors from the University of Chicago Music and Composition Theory Department. His honors thesis developed group theory to analyze traditional Balinese polyrhythm, drawing new parallels with Western Harmony.
Stafford, a San Rafael resident, most recently composed music and produced additional recordings for Pixar's critically acclaimed 2008 "Presto." At the time of his graduation, he had no idea his thesis would lead him down the path to helping rescue and preserve the Cambodian musical legacy.
The story of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, graphically depicted in the poignant portrayal in the book and 1984 film, "The Killing Fields," not only left an estimated 1.7 million dead, but nearly decimated the Cambodian musical legacy of thousands of years by systematically eliminating the music teachers who could pass on the country's musical heritage.
Stafford, on a family trip to the area, traveled to Siem Rep City. There, he heard a performance of the moribund music played from an ancient instrument he had seen carved in bas relief on the walls of Bayon, one of the main temples of Angkor Wat. The instrument is called the Kse Diev, meaning one string.
You pluck harmonics on it, moving it on and off one's chest.
Some of the last generation of surviving players were nearly all wiped out by the Khmer Rouge. Stafford's fascination with the music, along with his training, impelled him to quench his curiosity as to the music's current status, leading him to the discovery of the fragile nature of its existence.
He quickly found that precious little of it had ever been recorded.
Stafford raised funds to found Studio CLA (Cambodia Living Arts), a nonprofit ethnographic audio visual production studio with the goal of archiving Cambodia's endangered musical traditions, training local engineers in audio and visual production arts, and providing a laboratory for new creative and collaborative works.
CLA has now has four self-produced CD's for sale in Cambodia. The recent underground documentary, "Sleepwalking through the Mekong," is based on a Los Angeles and Long Beach band's pilgrimage to Cambodia to record in Stafford's studio and to collaborate with traditional CLA artists.
Stafford has plenty of in-country support for the collaborative project.
Most noteworthy are Arn Chorn-Pond and Sophy Him, whom he met in February 2002, during his first trip to Cambodia.
Arn Chorn, by playing revolutionary songs on the flute, survived the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime that turned him into a child soldier.
Today, he is an internationally recognized human rights leader, a recipient among other honors, of the Anne Frank Memorial Award and is the subject of the award winning documentary: "The Flute Player."
Sophy Him, a composer, is a professor of music and fine arts at the Royal Academy of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
Stafford, in support of Him's work, has been part of the creative team supplying additional music and direction for "Where Elephants Weep," the first-known contemporary Cambodian rock opera with a mission to stir young Cambodians to honor their heritage within the context of the changing global society and to inspire them to learn more about Cambodia's performing living arts.
The opera had its world premiere in Cambodia this year. To learn more about the music and CLA's mission, visit www.whereelephantsweep.net.
Noah Griffin of Tiburon is a public affairs consultant and a former citizen member of the IJ's editorial board.
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36 Hours in Siem Reap, Cambodia
By NAOMI LINDT
9 p.m.
The Khmer-chic rooms at La Résidence d’Angkor (River Road; 855-63-963-390; http://www.residencedangkor.com/) have hardwood floors, silk and bamboo accents and giant whirlpool tubs. Rooms start at $175.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Cambodia lacks funds for wildlife network
Written by Christopher Shay
AN increase in the number of wildlife seizures in Southeast Asia attests to the success of the region's collaborative approach to stamping out the black market wildlife trade, according to a press release from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Wildlife Enforcement Network (Asean-WEN).
Cambodia, however, is still largely left out of this approach, as it lacks the funding to fully participate in the anti-wildlife trafficking group.
Asean-WEN, of which Cambodia is a member, is a network of law enforcement agencies seeking to improve communication between various government authorities in the 10-member bloc.
Sharing is caring
Suon Sovann, deputy chief of the Forest Crime Monitoring and Reporting Unit at the Foresty Administration, told the Post on Monday:
"Wildlife crime is not a Cambodian issue. It's a global issue. We need funds so we can share information about wildlife crime."
In order to abolish the illegal wildlife trade, governments have to address both the supply and demand sides. This involves many different branches of government in multiple countries, said Mark Gately, the country program director at the Wildlife Conservation Society.
"Improved communications between Southeast Asian countries means that if reports are made of wildlife leaving Cambodia illegally, authorities in the neighboring countries can be alerted," a Wildlife Alliance spokesperson said Monday.
"At present, animals can be rescued within Cambodia, but once they cross the border, nothing can be done."
Teak Seng, country director of the the global conservation group WWF, said: "One specific country cannot be effective at curtailing wildlife trade. It requires international cooperation."
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Amnesty Urges Cambodia To Free Alleged Killers Of Union Boss
PHNOM PENH (AFP)--Rights group Amnesty International Tuesday called on Cambodia's highest court to release two alleged killers of the country's labor leader, saying the true perpetrators remain at large.
Chea Vichea, who headed the country's largest labor union and was a vocal critic of Prime Minister Hun Sen's government, was gunned down at a Phnom Penh newsstand in January 2004.
The daylight murder shocked the country and was condemned by Cambodian and international rights groups as a brutal attempt to silence the opposition-linked workers' group.
Just days after the killing, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were arrested, convicted of murder and quickly sentenced to 20 years each in prison. They will make their final appeal at the Supreme Court next week.
"Amnesty International calls on the Supreme Court to dismiss the case against Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, and ensure that they are released without delay and their names cleared," the watchdog said in a statement.
The group said it "believes that the true perpetrators of the murder remain at large, while Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun have spent almost five years in prison after a seriously flawed criminal investigation and a grossly unfair trial."
The pair denied any involvement in the killing and have fought their convictions. Former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov, who led the investigation, also has admitted that the two didn't kill Chea Vichea.
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Thai cabinet line-up could anger Thaksin's allies
By Tim Johnston in Bangkok
Thailand's king approved a new cabinet yesterday but political turmoil could persist as many of its members supported the protests that paralysed air transport and government.
The high-profile positions taken by protest backers could spur demonstrations by supporters of the administration ousted this month by the courts. Supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister linked to that administration, demonstrated violently outside parliament last week when the new government, led by Abhisit Vejjajiva, was voted into power.
While Mr Abhisit offered support for the People's Alliance for Democracy, the group that occupied the prime minister's office in August and Bangkok's two airports in November, Kasit Piromya, his new foreign minister, was more active. The PAD's protests cost the economy at least $2.8bn.
Mr Kasit, a regular speaker at PAD rallies, once described the airports occupation as a "new innovation for public protests".
Last week Mr Kasit told the Financial Times: "This was a protest against an elected government that had become abusive and corrupted. The PAD was part of the whole democratic process. People should be happy that for once the military wasn't involved."
Mr Kasit had earlier taken a hard line on the border dispute with Cambodia, which centres on an ancient temple and led to low-level skirmishes this year. The PAD rallied anti-government support by saying ministers gave Cambodia too much leeway because of alleged business interests of Mr Thaksin across the border.
In the interview, Mr Kasit was more conciliatory, saying Hun Sen, Cambodia's prime minister, had been the first foreign leader to congratulate Mr Abhisit on his win. "I think this is a great sign of friendship," he said. "We have a common heritage; we have to use that to bring us together," he said.
Thailand holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Mr Kasit said he was hoping to reengage Burma in dialogue.
"We will talk across the board on all issues," he said. Asean last week adopted a new charter which calls for a regional human rights body. Burma's human rights record will pose one of the biggest challenges to the new charter but Mr Kasit said human rights would be high on the agenda.
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Monday, December 22, 2008
Mixed future for Cambodia's MFIs
AMK chief Paul Luchtenburg talks to the Post
The financial crisis has affected all MFIs in two ways. First, [there are] less funds available from lenders. Second, [there] is less money flowing around in the country. It means less funds and people will be less able to pay back their loans.
How long do you think the crisis will continue to affect the MFI sector in Cambodia?
That's hard to say. Some people say there will be only short-term minimal impact. Others ask what will happen next.
I would like to think that things will stabilise next year.
What about short-term future lending?
Our mission is to help as many people as possible. But we have fewer funds, so that means less lending.
Do you anticipate any change in interest rates on current loans?
We are committed to keeping interest rates as low as we can. The challenge is that AMK works in remote areas, where we have to send staff to make sure the poor are properly receiving our services. Our interest rates are higher because of these remote services.
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I WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT THINGS WILL STABILISE NEXT YEAR.
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Have AMK's profits suffered as a result of the crisis?
We cover our costs, even despite the current crisis, and we still have funds available for lending. The challenge on our side is to improve the system so poor people in need of financing can get the funds they require more rapidly.
Do you see greater risk of default among your clients because of the global crisis?
Our client portfolio is among the best in the world. We have had very few problems.
How much does AMK lend per year?
Our portfolio has grown from US$10 million last year to $22 million so far in 2008. We have put some $72 million into Cambodia's economy in the last three years. I think MFIs are strengthening the economy because lenders come back for more loans.
In what ways does AMK help reduce poverty?
This is hard to quantify. We are currently doing a study to assess this, which will come out next year and which compares our clients with others who don't currently use our services. But I will always believe that microfinance takes the highest view of people's potential than any other development-based initiative.
What responsibilities remain for the Ministry of Rural Development to reduce poverty?
Cambodia's poorest provinces, such as Preah Vihear, Oddar Meanchey and Stung Treng, need infrastructure. They need roads, houses and greater access to education.
Has the crisis affected AMK's ability to get continue to secure outside funding?
I think we've seen a 25 percent drop. This is an estimation. We have projected a 40 percent drop in 2009.
Are you concerned by recent growth predictions from the World Bank and others that show lower GDP next year?
It is a concern because we could see problems with repayment. So, we have to be careful in assessing potential clients' ability to repay.
But we are facing more difficult times, and more people will need our help. We just need to make sure the best candidates are the ones receiving loans.
What do you think the MFI sector will look like two or three years on?
I think 2009 will be an interesting year. We have some new players entering the sector. I think the slowdown will continue, but the way we react will set the tone for 2010. But I believe that AMK will continue to remain stable.
With the slowdown likely to continue, how do you explain the rise in new commercial banks?
Cambodia is an emerging market, and we have seen a lot of interest in the banking sector. New banking requirements relating to capitalisation have opened up new possibilities for niche markets. Will some of them be forced to close down? It's hard to say. Some could refocus on mortgages, others could focus on other things. That's the good thing about competition. It makes every organisation better. There is no room for sloppiness in Cambodia. This, in turn, has created a very dynamic environment for microfinance.
Have you thought of turning AMK into a specialised bank?
With the NBC regulations, it is too expensive for us. ... But we want to start collecting savings independent from investors or creditors.
Fixed Deposit Interest Rate of 10 Banks (5 December 2008)
ACLEDA 5.50% 6.00% 6.50% 8.00% 7.50% 9.50%
Cambodian PM regrets death of Khmer typewriter keyboard inventor
PHNOM PENH, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his deep regret here on Monday over the death of Keng Vannsak, inventor of the Khmer typewriter keyboard.
Vannsak just died at 83 years old of pneumonia in a hospital at the outskirts of Paris, where he had lived since the 1970s. His funeral will be held there on Tuesday.
"I was so regretful that we lost a famous intellectual of our country," Hun Sen told the graduation ceremony of a university.
"Grandfather Keng Vannsak told me in a recent letter that he had the plan to visit Cambodia," he said, adding that he had never returned to Cambodia since the 1970s.
Vannsak invented the Khmer typewriter keyboard in 1952 and was also known as a politician, Khmer-language teacher and scholar, poet, composer and historian.
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Chinese man arrested in Cambodia on terrorism charges
Phnom Penh - A Chinese national was arrested and charged with kidnapping and terrorism offences in Cambodia, national media reported Monday.
Police on Sunday arrested Hour Ming, 33, after he allegedly held hostage Seang Youhour, 34, for 13 hours in his house in the capital Phnom Penh and threatened to set off a bomb if officers tried to raid the building, The Phnom Penh Post reported.
The man slashed the victim's face with a knife and stabbed himself in the chest as police raided the house early Sunday morning, officials said.
Police said the suspect and the victim were being treated in a Phnom Penh hospital.
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Sunday, December 21, 2008
Refugee parties after deportation scare
By REBECCA TODD
Cambodian refugee has escaped deportation after an 11th-hour government reprieve.
Friends of Sokhom Pich celebrated his return to Christchurch with a party on Saturday night.
Former associate immigration minister Shane Jones decided to release Pich and allow him to apply for permanent residency just one hour before he was to be deported on November 4.
Members of Christchurch's Cambodian community had appealed to the then Labour government to allow Pich to stay in the country after he was arrested as an overstayer in September.
After living in New Zealand for 11 years, the 47-year-old had exhausted every legal avenue in his bid to remain in the country as a political refugee despite fears he would be imprisoned and possibly killed if he was sent back to Cambodia.
Just an hour before boarding a plane in Auckland, he received the news that he could stay.
"I was really, really, really happy. I was just jumping and it was just amazing," he said.
"I was surprised because in Auckland I was feeling everything was over. For 20 seconds I couldn't say anything."
Pich said he was a member of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party in his home country which criticised the government for corruption and cracking down on political dissent.
"If the government is not good, people live without houses and food and that's not good for the people," he said.
Pich said a number of his fellow party members had disappeared or been killed and he feared a similar fate. "I felt scared and quite nervous about being sent home, but after it came closer and closer I wasn't scared, I wasn't anything."
Cambodian community adviser Bill Noordanus said Cambodian law meant Pich would have been imprisoned for more than three years if he was sent home as he had left the country illegally.
"He's a very fine man. He's an idealist and like all idealists they sometimes clash with the authorities."
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New Foreign Minister readies for ASEAN Summit, Cambodia disputes
BANGKOK, Dec 21 (TNA) - Newly appointed Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said he is ready to work on two urgent priorities, preparation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leader meeting (ASEAN Summit) that Thailand will host early next year and the talks to provide a sustainable settlement of the border disputes with Cambodia.
During the ASEAN Foreign Minister's Meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, last Monday, the ministers tentatively agreed that the Summit would be held in Thailand by the end of February.
The meeting fixed the new dates of the 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits on February 24-26, 2008.
However, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo reportedly said the delayed summit may need to be rescheduled as some leaders are unable to make it. He did not mention which leaders would be unable to attend, but said alternative dates being considered include late January and early February.
Thailand, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the 10-member bloc, was forced to delay the ASEAN summit from mid-December to March because of political circumstances, including the blockade of Bangkok's main airports -- Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang -- by anti-government protesters, which left hundreds of thousands of travellers stranded.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Mr. Kasit said apart from the ASEAN Summit preparation, the highest priority issue was the talks to solve the border disputes with Cambodia.
He said he believed the issue was likely to be solved as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was the first leader who sent congratulation message to Abhisit Vejjajeva after His Majesty the King had given his royal endorsement to the new Thai prime minister, which could be considered a good sign of the warm friendship between the two neighbouring countries.
As for the extradition of fugitive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra, Mr. Kasit said he would ask for more details from the ministry's officials when he starts working at the ministry on December 23.
As far as he knew, Mr. Kasit said, Mr. Thaksin's diplomatic passport had already been revoked and the procedure to revoke his normal passport was underway.
Mr. Thaksin jumped bail and fled into exile in August as corruption cases piled up against him, and he was sentenced on October 21 to two years in jail for breaching graft laws by helping his wife, Khunying Pojaman to buy state-owned land.
Mr. Kasit said he would like to see the details first and would decide how to bring ex-premier Thaksin back to be prosecuted in Thailand. (TNA)
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Wealthy countries seek land in Cambodia, Madagascar, and Brazil.
By David Montero Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The farm fields of this country once fed the legendary civilization of Angkor, the world's largest empire in the 9th century. Tomorrow they may feed the megacities of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar.
Reeling from food prices that have doubled on average from a year ago, several Gulf countries are pursuing land deals worth billions of dollars in Cambodia, according to recent statements by Cambodia's government. Those countries would lease land, grow rice and corn, and then ship it home – potentially saving millions by bypassing world markets.
The race for farmland in Cambodia underscores how countries desperate to boost farming amid an ongoing food crisis are turning to global outsourcing, hoping to grow their own food on land abroad. Japan has bought up plots in Brazil, South Korea large tracts in Madagascar, in a trend poised to change global land ownership and agricultural production.
While it may bring succor to countries squeezed by high prices, it may also incite conflict and poverty, some experts warn. In August, Jacques Diouf, director-general of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization, warned against creating a kind of food "neocolonialism," with rich countries securing food supplies at the expense of poor farmers.
From his office in Dubai, Mohammed Raouf can see the global food crisis closing in on the Gulf states. Growing food at home is not viable – in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Raouf points out, farmers have tried for 15 years, unsuccessfully, to grow wheat in the desert.
As a result, Gulf nations must import about 80 percent of staple foods. And the price of those imports has ballooned from $16 billion in 2006 to $20 billion in 2007, according to the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development.
Land acquisitions abroad are the only viable response, Raouf and others say. "For the Gulf countries ... under current technology, it is impossible to guarantee their food security internally, because they lack water resources and arable lands," Raouf, program manager of environment research at the Gulf Research Center, a Dubai think tank, writes in an e-mail. "So this [is] the best policy option now to follow…"
In recent months, Cambodia has positioned itself as a solution: of 6 million hectares (about 15 million acres) available for cultivation, only 2.5 million are currently used, the government says. It's been wooing the Gulf, hosting delegations of Arab leaders, and hopes to finalize concessions worth up to $3 billion with Kuwait and Qatar. As Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a recent radio address, "Those countries have oil but no rice. I think the Gulf can become our rice market."
The marriage of rich countries seeking land and poor countries seeking cash has accelerated since 2007, goaded by troubling statistics: as populations rise globally by 1 to 2 percent, agricultural production is not keeping pace. Investment has slumped, and farmland is disappearing as nations transform countrysides into urban centers.
The result has been a quiet but dramatic redrawing of the world's land ownership. China may have a lot of land mass, but much of the arable land it has is rapidly being turned over to industrial use, and tens of millions of its former farmers have moved to the cities for work. So it now is negotiating deals to buy more than 2 million hectares of land in countries as far flung as Mexico, Tanzania, and Australia. The United Arab Emirates is seeking some 800,000 hectares in Pakistan alone, while Saudi Arabia is negotiating for 1.6 million hectares in Indonesia, according to statistics compiled by Grain, an environmental organization based in Spain.
Such deals may look good on paper, bringing cash and possibly technology transfers. But many in Cambodia – as elsewhere – are concerned. They worry that poor countries could undercut their ability to feed themselves by selling land, especially in times of food crisis.
"We still need to develop our agricultural technology on our own land,," says Meas Nee, country director of Village Focus International, a nongovernmental organization that focuses on farmers' livelihoods. "If this kind of investment is not carefully planned, all the investment will be done at the expense of the rural poor and farmers."
Another concern is that land may be unfairly taken away from farmers. Cambodia is already reeling from extensive land disputes, and local newspapers daily report on cases of poor farmers being kicked off their land. In many cases, local police and government officials are said to be responsible, making way for private businesses to set up agricultural projects.
No one knows for certain how many people have been dispossessed in recent years, but it is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, according to several local and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International.
In Laos, farmers are accusing Chinese of kicking them off their land. When it was announced that Egypt hoped to buy 840,000 acres of land in Uganda, a public uproar ensued, resulting in the Ugandan government denying the transaction. It remains unclear if that deal will go through.
"The land deal could trigger a conflict over land and also raise other political issues. We could see a reversal of our socioeconomic progress," says Arthur Bainomugisha, director of research at ACODE, a think tank headquartered in Kampala, Uganda.
Here in Cambodia, critics worry that land deals could be made without local consultation and could result in more people being kicked off their land.
Cambodian farmers would still be able to work on the land that foreign countries buy, but critics worry that companies would not be able to provide as many jobs as they might potentially take away. "The companies can make jobs, but in our observation, they cannot make the jobs enough," says Thun Saray, the executive direction of Adhoc, a local human rights organization.
"If the government permits land sales to foreign countries, where will Cambodians who need land go? How can they survive?"
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Australian prefers Thai jail to home
A MELBOURNE man who has been living in shocking conditions in a crowded Bangkok immigration jail cell for more than four years is refusing to accept Australian Government help to return home.
Colin Hansch, 61, has told Thai authorities he would rather stay in jail than return to Australia, even though he has only a mat to sleep on and receives a small daily serve of rice and soup.
"I've not been back to Australia for 30 years. I don't want to go back, I've got nothing to go back to," he said.
Mr Hansch, a computer engineer who left Melbourne in 1967, is worried he will not be able to obtain a passport to travel overseas again if he accepts the offer. It is believed he wants to be able to visit Malaysia or Cambodia.
"I think they [Australia] don't want to give me a passport … they don't want to set a precedent giving a passport to somebody while they are in custody," he said.
#A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Canberra said Mr Hansch had repeatedly rejected an offer from the embassy in Bangkok to issue a limited-validity document to let him return home immediately.
Mr Hansch has been held at the immigration centre in Bangkok, just around the corner from the Australian embassy, since September 2004. He was transferred there, supposedly pending deportation, after serving two years in a Bangkok jail for assault causing serious bodily harm, which related to a dispute with a bar girl in the beach resort of Pattaya.
He shares a large cell on the immigration centre's second floor with up to 100 illegal immigrants. Fights often erupt. He spends much of his time listening to FM radio and reading books.
The department spokesman said Australian consular officers have provided assistance to Mr Hansch while he was in jail and now at the immigration centre.
For 12 years Mr Hansch worked as a computer engineer for a US firm in Thailand. He has also worked as a computer engineer in the US and at the former Woomera defence site in South Australia.
"Thai authorities have informed the embassy that Mr Hansch is subject to deportation following completion of his criminal sentence and must travel directly to Australia," the foreign affairs spokesman said.
"The embassy is not able to issue Mr Hansch with a full-validity passport as he has been unable to satisfy documentation requirements to enable the issue of a full-validity passport."
There are about two dozen Australians among thousands of foreigners in Thai jails, most of them for drug-related offences.
There is an agreement with Thailand under which prisoners can transfer to Australian jails, but the process is very bureaucratic.
A Melbourne man, Harry Nicolaides, 41, has been in prison in Bangkok since August 31 on charges of lese majeste, which can carry up to 15 years' jail. He is scheduled to appear in court on January 19.
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Saturday, December 20, 2008
Pitt's coming of age
By Lawrie Masterson
BRAD Pitt is the first to concede his life can be chaotic. He and partner Angelina Jolie have busy careers. Both are heavily involved in humanitarian issues and then there's that tribe of children.
But in the next breath, Pitt readily admits he and Jolie, 33, are keen on the idea of adding to their family.
And he doesn't seem troubled about how they might find the time.
"We have our ways," Pitt says with a smile.
"There are some dry spells. There are a few moments in the desert, but mum and dad can get very creative."
For the record, this was the roll call at the Pitt-Jolie breakfast table last time we checked -- Maddox, 7, (adopted from Cambodia), Pax, 5, (adopted from Vietnam), Zahara, 3, (adopted from Ethiopia) and biological children Shiloh, 2, (born in Namibia) and six-month-old twins, Knox and Vivienne (born in France).
"It is chaos at moments, but there's such joy in the house," Pitt says.
"I look down and there's our boy from Vietnam and our daughter from Ethiopia and our girl born in Namibia and our son from Cambodia and they are brothers and sisters, man.
"It's such a sight of elation and, given our jobs, we have the capability to provide a home. But, let me tell you, it's selfish, too, because the rewards have been extraordinary."
Pitt says the safety of his family is "the only thing that keeps me up at night" -- that and having to pitch in on the nappy-changing duties.
"Sure, there's the janitorial aspect of it all, but it's the worry, because they just mean so much to me."
The whole question of mortality and the joys and sadness that come with love and family have weighed more heavily on Pitt lately as he has absorbed the experience of making The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, his third film with director David Fincher and a hot Oscar favourite.
Adapted by screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, 1994) from a 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is about a man who is born in his 80s and ages backwards.
As the people most important in his life -- such as his adoptive mother, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), and his greatest love, Daisy (Cate Blanchett), -- reach middle and old age, Benjamin "progresses" towards childhood.
"When we began this, David was already dealing with the death of his father and Eric had to deal with the death of his mother," Pitt, 45 last Thursday, says.
"About a month into shooting, Angie's mother passed away, so this whole idea of mortality and the family being finite and the individual being finite was first and foremost.
'T HE thing I walked away with was that time is short. I don't know if I have a day or if I have 10 days or 10 years or 40 years. Am I half way or close to the end?
"I don't know, so I've got to make sure I don't waste any of those moments on any kind of pettiness or bitterness or laziness and that I surround myself with what's most important to me and the people most important to me.
"I had a friend who worked at a hospice and he said people in their last moments do not discuss their successes, their awards, what book they wrote or what they accomplished.
"They only talk about their loves and their regrets and I think that's very telling."
Director Fincher and his team used groundbreaking computer-generated effects to transpose Pitt's heavily made-up face on to the bodies of older and sometimes much smaller actors for various scenes in the film, which clocks in at almost three hours.
"Fincher described it as me getting to drive the performance with the technology," Pitt says.
"I spent a couple of days just making faces I'd be embarrassed to show anybody else and they mapped every muscle contortion into the computer.
"I said I would never do a film with prosthetics and then what does Fincher bring me? A film with prosthetics and I can't say no to him.
"The make-up guys will tell you they got it down to 2 1/2 hours, but they're full of s---. The best we did was 4 1/2 hours. The first day I think it was, like, six hours."
A bonus for Pitt was that much of the film was shot in New Orleans, where he has been working on a project to build 150 affordable, aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly homes for families displaced by Hurricane Katrina, but that is not how he refers to the disaster that almost washed the city off the map in August 2005.
"I call it levee failure," he says.
"There's a misconception it was an act of God that happened down there, but it wasn't. It was man-made failure.
"We first wanted to be a catalyst to help people return, but we also saw this opportunity to be a proving ground for high-performance buildings, for a greener approach.
"When I left recently, the (power) meters were running backwards. Suddenly this is the greenest, most advanced neighbourhood in the US, so there's a template there that needs to be standardised and replicated because it works. There's no reason why some of this shouldn't work in Haiti or across Asia.
"There's something at play here that I think is bigger than just the starting point."
Pitt is working on his next movie, Quentin Tarantino's World War II film Inglourious Basterds which he describes as "outrageous, the World War II film to end all World War II films. I don't know how they do another one after this".
Pitt has not wanted to be separated from his brood, so they have travelled together between Germany, where the movie is shooting, the US and France, where they have set up another home.
"I've been dragging them back and forth from continent to continent, so I'm going to have to give them a break pretty soon," he says.
T HE new home in Nice is high on their list because, as the father of the family dubbed "most wanted" by the world's paparazzi says, the locals pay them hardly any attention.
"We were looking for a place where our kids could run free and not be hassled and there's a good relationship between us and the area," he says.
"We find it a good base for the family."
Pitt's command of the French language, however, still leaves much to be desired.
"I am in ecole (school)," he says. "But my seven-year-old rips it. He's fantastic. It's really humiliating, but we're very proud of him."
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opens on Friday.
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One Laptop Per Child a Solar Movement
No electricity? No problem. The One Laptop Per Child project has solar-powered laptops for kids in the most remote corners of the world
By Andy Patrizio
The One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program has suffered the occasional bumps in the road due to squabbling here in the U.S., but now that it's finally out and being deployed, the program is seeing success in the most remote parts of the world.
Usually, the OLPC XO laptop requires a power outlet, but the OLPC organization also has been shipping solar-powered laptops for some of the most remote, rural and poorest locations.
According to the group, more than 500,000 Internet-capable, solar-powered laptops have been distributed to children in places like Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Haiti, and Nepal. These children learn, play, program, and have access to thousands of books in their language, as well as millions on the Internet.
OLPC restarted its Give One, Get One (G1G1) program last month, the second time for the program. Last year's effort supported the production of over 150,000 XOs. This year the XO laptops will be shipped to donors through Amazon.com.
Like last year's program, donors can give $199 to give a laptop to a child in the developing world and/or give $399 to give a laptop to a child in the developing world and get a laptop for themselves.
OLPC is making its pitch with two new videos on YouTube; the rather disturbing Skills video, and the more uplifting Zimi's Story, in which an African girl thanks her unknown benefactor for her laptop.
Thus far the deployments seem to be going well, at least on the recipient side. The blog maintained by people in the field handing out these laptops reported on its most recent deployment in impoverished Nepal, where 135 laptops were given out to students. None were stolen or lost, but one was seriously damaged when the child who owned it cleaned it carefully with soap and water.
Clearly the proper care and maintenance of electronics needs to be added to OLPC training classes. But the quality of the laptops is dubious, if this deployment is any indication. Of the 135, eight had a bad motherboard, five had bad microphones, and four had bad keyboards.
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Friday, December 19, 2008
Rainy-Day Rice
Dictator, Hun Xen of Cambodia is plowing his rice field in the rainy season with lots of his ducks following him to catch minnows and snails.
It's a major step forward for weatherproof crops, increasingly touted as essential to the long-term future of the world's food supply. Advances in biotechnology have improved this ancient grain, which accounts for up to 70 percent of daily calories for people living in Asian countries. Imperiled by constant floods, rising sea levels and natural disasters, submerged rice survives just four days when deprived of light and oxygen. These new varieties last eight to 18 days.
The advance is urgently needed. "At least [58,000 square miles] of land in South and Southeast Asia are vulnerable to flooding, and floods will only increase," says Dave Mackill, a senior scientist with Manila's International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). In 2007, Cyclone Sidr destroyed 1.25 million tons of rice in Bangladesh; last year, multiple typhoons wiped out rice paddies in Vietnam.
To find a suitable template for the flood-resistant rice, Mackill turned to India's water-tolerant FR13A rice. Farmers stopped using the strain because of its poor yield, but its resilience intrigued him. To pinpoint the part of the rice genome carrying the trait, Mackill crossbred a hardy derivative of FR13A with another rice strain and derived 4,000 other rice plants from that cross. Geneticist Pamela Ronald of the University of California at Davis then searched the plants' DNA and unearthed Sub1A, a gene that triggers the grain to conserve energy when it is underwater. To create the final rice strain, Mackill cross-pollinated a Sub1A-containing plant with a high-yielding, better-tasting Indian rice variety.
In the coming years, IRRI researchers will supplement Sub1-class rice with a gene that resists flooding during the sensitive germination stage (something the Sub1 genes can't do). Also on the agenda: drought- and salt-resistant rice, now testing in nearly every Southeast Asian tropical country and China. Asia's inland and coastal areas often have salt-filled soil, which stunts rice growth.
The IRRI has already made its rice seed available to other research institutions and has been distributing it to Asian farmers for free. When sold by other seed growers on the commercial markets, the price should rival that of common varieties. "We anticipate adoption wherever submergence is a regular problem," Mackill says. If the rice is a success, climate-resistant crops may spread across the developing world, as well as the developed.
Cambodian PM urges wayward monks to follow Buddha's rules
PHNOM PENH, Cambodian Prime Minster Hun Sen has appealed to the Kingdom's Buddhist clergy to behave, saying that monk's misdeeds are causing citizens to lose respect for religion, national media reported Friday.
"If monks causing social problems, it is very difficult for me," Hun Sen said during the closing ceremony of the 17th monk congress, according to the Phnom Penh Post.
Hun Sen urged the community of monks to respect the rules by which monks must live, the Post said.
He said he had been shocked when he saw Buddhist monks dancing in a recording on one of his children's mobile phones, and mentioned an unidentified temple where the chief monk had collected money from ceremonies to buy himself a car.
However, he said this did not reflect on the overall spiritual health of the nation.
"These are individual monks making problems. Citizens should not consider it an issue of the whole religion, but equally, we must not be careless over the issue," Hun Sen said.
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