By Former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos
MANILA, Philippines – Upon Cambodia Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen's invitation, FVR attended the 6th General Assembly of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) and Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Centrist Democrats International (CDI)-Asia Pacific in Phnom Penh last 01–04 December.
The Philippines has maintained close diplomatic ties with Cambodia for more than 50 years, with bilateral relations between them being strengthened over the years with high-level visits among their leaders. Following an official visit to RP by then Cambodia Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Ung Huot on 6-8 August 1996, FVR offered to help promote the English language in Cambodia, and develop its agriculture and social health services to facilitate Cambodia's entry into ASEAN.
The Philippines-Cambodia Business Council under the leadership of (ret.) Gen. Jose Magno Chairman of CITRA Metro Manila Tollways Corporation, has been recently reactivated and provides important channels for bilateral networking through trade missions, business matching, trade shows, friendship roundtables, and similar activities.
Tenth Anniversary of ICAPP
In his letter-invitation, PM Hun Sen emphasized ICAPP's theme: "Asia's Quest for a Better Tomorrow," with special emphasis on economy, energy, and environment issues.
This international event marked the 10th anniversary of the founding of ICAPP and presented the opportunity for Cambodia to showcase its substantial progress after decades of Khmer Rouge genocide, internal turmoil, political reconciliation, democratic restoration, and membership in ASEAN.
PM Hun Sen delivered the inspirational remarks for the four-day event.
Initiated by Lakas-CMD in September 2000, ICAPP was established "to promote exchanges and cooperation between political parties from different countries and strengthen Asia's regional cooperation through the channel of political parties."
The founding meeting of ICAPP was held on 17-19 September 2000 at the Manila Hotel hosted by the Lakas-CMD (with FVR as Chairman Emeritus and former Speaker Jose de Venecia as Secretary General), and counted delegates from 46 political parties from 20 Asian countries in attendance, including the Communist Party of China. Since then, four more ICAPP General Assemblies have been held in Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul, and Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
Today, there are now more than 320 Asian political parties — emanating from 52 Asian countries and one territory — with varying political and ideological backgrounds who participate in ICAPP assemblies and related Asia-Pacific activities. ICAPP's Standing Committee is co-chaired by former Speaker De Venecia and National Assemblyman Chung Eul-yong of the Republic of Korea.
The Centrist Democrats International Arising out of Germany's Christian Democratic Union, the Centrist Democrats International (formerly known as Christian Democrats International) was formed in Chile in 1961. It is dedicated to the promotion of Christian democracy and anchored on the legacy of Christian democrats who sought to create a Christian-inspired alternative in governance and people empowerment.
Former Chile President Patricio Alywyn and FVR are the two lifetime Honorary Presidents elected by the CDI General Assembly in Madrid in 1999.
The CDI has now more than 100 member-parties, including ruling administrations in Germany and other European countries. The European People's Party is Europe's largest political aggrupation, with the Christian Democrats Organization of America as its Latin American equivalent.
The US Democratic Party maintains links with CDI through its National Democratic Institution for International Affairs. Current co-presidents of the CDI are Italy's Pier Fernando Casini and Mexico's Vicente Fox.
The Kingdom of Cambodia
Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy of 14 million people with King Norodom Sihamoni as Head of State since 2004. It was a protectorate of France from 1863 to 1953, though occupied by the Japanese from 1941 to 1945. Under King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953.
While visiting Beijing in 1970, Sihanouk was ousted by Prime Minister (General) Lon Nol with US support. This development led to a four-year civil war between Cambodian government and US-backed forces versus the combination of the Communist Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge guerrillas — which resulted in massive loss of lives and destruction of property.
The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot eventually gained power in 1975 and changed the country's name to "Democratic Kampuchea." This Communist regime attempted to rebuild the country by evacuating the cities and making the population work on rural agricultural projects. Anything considered Western-oriented was discarded and eventually destroyed. In the process, more than one million Cambodians out of a population of 8,000,000 died from executions, overwork, and disease.
The country thus became deeply impoverished, but in October 1991, thru a comprehensive peace settlement administered by the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), reconciliation and reconstruction came about. Norodom Sihanouk was restored as King of Cambodia in 1993.
CDI in the Asia-Pacific
To carry out CDI's expansion in the Asia-Pacific, CDI-AP was founded in Manila in January, 2006, with Lakas-CMD as its core group and six other Asian political parties as co-founders: Indonesian Golkar Party, Thai Rak Thai Party, Funcinpec Party, and Cambodian People's Party, Kazakhstan's Oton Party, and Pakistan Muslim League. Then Speaker De Venecia was elected President of CDI-AP.
It will be recalled that when the controversial merger of the Lakas-CMD and Kampi parties took place in June, 2009, FVR declined to assume its Chairman Emeritus position offered to him by then Philippine President/Chairperson Gloria Arroyo of the "merged Lakas Kampi CMD." Ramos flatly refused said position, asserting: "The merger was done with undue haste, and by dictation and not consultation."
Moreover, in his letter to President Arroyo dated 17 August 2009, Ramos made it clear that he continues to be the elected Chairman Emeritus of Lakas-CMD (of which he was the co-founder and elected Chairman earlier in December 1991).
At that time, FVR emphasized: "For the record, I wish to make clear that I have not relinquished the position of Chairman Emeritus of Lakas-CMD, which political party still exists in the COMELEC roster, and continues to maintain strong connections with the Centrist Democrats International and other political aggrupations worldwide."
From CDI Asia-Pacific to CAPDI
One important development in the Cambodia International Conference last week was the restructuring of the CDI Asia-Pacific in order to deepen its role and broaden its scope in Asia's fast-changing political, security and economic environment.
To highlight its new aspirations and greater regional reach, the original CDI-AP was renamed "Centrist Asia-Pacific Democrats International (CAPDI)." It is the first organization in the Asia-Pacific that brings together political parties and key democratic institutions of civil society — people's organizations, think tanks, academe, business leaders, media, women/youth sectors, and other eminent groups.
While its predecessor was a limited platform for Asia's centrist political parties, CAPDI now strives for a more comprehensive role and greater outreach. Thus, it becomes an institutional bridge between governments and common people represented by leaders of non-government sectors.
As the result of extensive consultations among member political parties and newly emerged leadership groups, CAPDI intends to mobilize mainstream moderates — whether political or non-political — to work for good governance, mass poverty alleviation, elimination/reduction of corruption, empowerment of women/youth/disadvantaged groups, and environmental protection.
On the global front, CAPDI totally supports the UN Millennium Development Goals, Inter-Faith/Inter-Civilizational Dialogues, and Debt Relief for the 100 most heavily indebted nations. CAPDI strongly stands against international terrorism/political extremism, and provides viable mechanisms for peace, particularly in the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan Straits, Chechnya-Caucasus, Pakistan-Kashmir-India, Palestine-Israel, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Mindanao.
CAPDI's affairs are governed by an Executive Council led by a Chairman, President/CEO, Secretary General, and Vice Presidents/Directors representing specific regions and functional sectors. It will be initially headquartered in Manila for East Asia and Islamabad for South and Central Asia. It is scheduled to convene a General Assembly every other year, with functional conferences in between.
PM Hun Sen and FVR were elected as CAPDI Chairman Emeritus and Honorary Chairman, respectively, last 03 December in Phnom Penh.
People empowerment and a higher quality of life
Does the CAPDI look like a United Nations for Asia-Pacific? Of course, it does.
And why not? Because the world of the 21st century cannot and will no longer tolerate hegemonic powers, much less one single economic-political-military superpower in our family of nations.
In due time, empowered peoples around the world not only will clamor with greater force than ever — but will also mobilize with truly universal people power — for equal opportunity, justice, good governance, quality population, prosperity, and a better future for all.
Kaya Natin Ito!!!
Please send any comments to fvr@rpdev.org. Copies of articles are available at www.rpdev.org.
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Saturday, December 11, 2010
Cambodia International Conference of Asian Political Parties: Quest for a Better Tomorrow
Cambodian prince re-enters politics
PHNOM PENH — Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh returned to politics Saturday with a vow to reinvigorate the flagging royalist movement, taking the helm of his former party which has re-adopted his name.
Two years after quitting politics, Prince Ranariddh, who was Cambodia's first elected prime minister in 1993 after years of civil war, was re-instated as president of the party he created during a meeting in the capital.
Party members also agreed to re-name the Nationalist Party the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP).
The 66-year-old son of former king Norodom Sihanouk said in a speech that he was returning to politics to re-unite royalists ahead of 2012 local elections and a 2013 general election.
"I have seen that the royalists are hopeless, separated, I want them to be one family," he said.
Ranariddh called for an alliance with fellow royalist party Funcinpec, with him as leader.
"The prince wants to create a new party called Funcinpec 81 before 2012," party spokesman Pen Sangha told AFP. "The ball is now in the court of Funcinpec."
Ranariddh has been off the political scene since late 2008, when he said he was quitting the opposition after receiving a royal pardon on fraud charges and returning from self-imposed exile in Malaysia.
The prince's political career had begun with great promise when he won Cambodia's UN-sponsored election in 1993 as head of the royalist Funcinpec party.
However, he was forced to accept Hun Sen as co-prime minister, who then staged a coup in 1997.
In following elections, Ranariddh's voter appeal diminished as he entered into coalition agreements with Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.
In 2006, he was ejected from Funcinpec over fraud allegations involving the illegal sale of the party's headquarters. He formed the NRP shortly afterwards.
The prince was sentenced in absentia to 18 months in jail over the fraud charges the following year but was later pardoned.
The NRP won just two parliamentary seats in Cambodia's 2008 general election, as did Funcinpec. The NRP then changed its name to the Nationalist Party.
Both parties have in the past expressed an interest in merging to improve the royalist movement's flagging fortunes.
Hun Sen warned the prince earlier this week that if he was coming back to politics, he would not be able to stay on as an adviser to Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni, Ranariddh's half-brother.
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15 years for Kent man who traveled to Cambodia to have sex with girls
Craig Carr traveled to Cambodia to have sex with underage girls, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle.
At sentencing U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones told Carr "you prey on the most vulnerable of victims... very young girls. What you were doing satisfying your fantasy one night, leads to a lifetime of nightmares for them." The judge imposed the fine saying it was the same amount of money the defendant spent on his trip to Cambodia.
Carr told the judge, “I’ve ruined my life for a very troubled part of who I am. I have no one to blame but myself.”
According to the facts admitted in his plea agreement, Carr made contact over the Internet with a person in Cambodia who agreed to find young girls for Carr to have sex with during a visit in January of this year.
He said he paid this person approximately $8,000 for sex during the week-long trip. He specified that the girls be about twelve years of age. He even sent sexually explicit photographic examples of the approximate age he was seeking. He requested to take nude photographs of the girls and planned to send them from a FedEx store in Phnom Penh to his home in Kent. After his arrest on Jan. 22, he told investigators that he had sex with three young girls over his eight-day stay. His camera contained pictures of them. He agree to pay $8,000 in restitution to them.
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with assistance by law enforcement agencies in Cambodia.
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Friday, December 10, 2010
Hun Sen Scheduled for Five-Day Chinese Visit
Prime Minister Hun Sen will spend five days in China next week at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao.
Hun Sen will meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other senior leaders and will pay a visit to former king Norodom Sihanouk, who is in Beijing for medical treatment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on its website Hun Sen would pay an official visit Dec. 13 through Dec. 17.
China has become a large supporter of Cambodia, providing millions of dollars in aid packages and investment in infrastructure, power and mining.
Cambodian officials say they expect Hun Sen to sign even more deals with China on this visit, though they declined to give details.
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh are both expected to accompany the prime minister.
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Cambodian company to build coal power plant
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia's government has given its approval for a local company to build a 700-megawatt coal-fired power plant to help cope with the country's electricity shortage.
A government press release said Friday that Cambodia International Investment Development Group Co, Ltd had been awarded a 33-year contract to build and operate a $362 million power plant in the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk, the first Cambodian company to undertake such a project.
The statement said the plant would produce 270 megawatts in its first phase, due to be completed by 2015.
In September, a Chinese company, Erdos Electrical Power & Metallurgical Co., announced plans to build a 700-megawatt coal power plant in the same province. It was not immediately clear if the projects were related.
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A Decade Brewing Coffee, and an Arts Scene
Cambodian artists say they owe a debt of gratitude to Dana Langlois and her Java Gallery and Cafe, which marks its 10th anniversary on Saturday.
Langlois, an American, opened her cafe, near Independence Monument, in 2000, creating a space for Cambodian artists to display their work and encouraging the growth of the arts, which were devastated under the Khmer Rouge.
“The dozens of young Cambodian artists who have exhibited at Java have played significant roles in the Cambodian art scene,” Langlois said in an interview.
Artists who have shown their work at Java have pursued subjects like culture, conservation, the environment and the daily lives of other Cambodians.
At least 20 different Cambodians have shown their work at the gallery. Chath Piersath, a painter, said Langlois was the “first foreigner” to concern herself with Cambodian art.
Leang Seckon, a painter, said Langlois had helped Cambodian art reach foreigners and encouraged younger artists to pursue more works.
“Java is a center for training professionalism in art and for counseling the establishment, innovation and exhibition of new works of art,” he said. It has also provided a venue for Cambodian artists to study works “from many countries,” he said.
“At this time, foreigners have come to see the development of Cambodian works of art, which began to rise up after the war,” he said.
Leang Seckon has shown 100 different works at the gallery over the past 10 years, fetching tens of thousands of dollars.
“I developed into a well-known artist in Cambodia and now I’ve become an internationally recognized painter,” he said. “I’m very happy for the art works that I have learned from paintings of different countries at Java, such as the United States, France and the United Kingdom.”
Oeur Sokuntevy, perhaps Cambodia’s best-known female artist, said Java helped artists train and develop.
“Ms. Dana has helped counsel Cambodian artists in painting and promoted their knowledge, understanding and wisdom of the Cambodian artists,” Oeur Sokuntevy said. “I have more understanding of technical painting, and the reason is the establishment of my art works at Java.”
So far, Oeur Sokuntevy has shown 55 works of art at Java, including paintings and sculpture, with price tags between $400 and $500. But it’s not about the money, she says.
“We do not hope to sell the paintings,” she said. “We show our art works, and we want our work recognized by the international community. It doesn’t mean that we just sell our work.”
While some work brings high prices, “for the artists, they think that they do not need the money, but they think of producing new innovations and strangeness in their works.”
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A Decade Brewing Coffee, and an Arts Scene
Cambodian artists say they owe a debt of gratitude to Dana Langlois and her Java Gallery and Cafe, which marks its 10th anniversary on Saturday.
Langlois, an American, opened her cafe, near Independence Monument, in 2000, creating a space for Cambodian artists to display their work and encouraging the growth of the arts, which were devastated under the Khmer Rouge.
“The dozens of young Cambodian artists who have exhibited at Java have played significant roles in the Cambodian art scene,” Langlois said in an interview.
Artists who have shown their work at Java have pursued subjects like culture, conservation, the environment and the daily lives of other Cambodians.
At least 20 different Cambodians have shown their work at the gallery. Chath Piersath, a painter, said Langlois was the “first foreigner” to concern herself with Cambodian art.
Leang Seckon, a painter, said Langlois had helped Cambodian art reach foreigners and encouraged younger artists to pursue more works.
“Java is a center for training professionalism in art and for counseling the establishment, innovation and exhibition of new works of art,” he said. It has also provided a venue for Cambodian artists to study works “from many countries,” he said.
“At this time, foreigners have come to see the development of Cambodian works of art, which began to rise up after the war,” he said.
Leang Seckon has shown 100 different works at the gallery over the past 10 years, fetching tens of thousands of dollars.
“I developed into a well-known artist in Cambodia and now I’ve become an internationally recognized painter,” he said. “I’m very happy for the art works that I have learned from paintings of different countries at Java, such as the United States, France and the United Kingdom.”
Oeur Sokuntevy, perhaps Cambodia’s best-known female artist, said Java helped artists train and develop.
“Ms. Dana has helped counsel Cambodian artists in painting and promoted their knowledge, understanding and wisdom of the Cambodian artists,” Oeur Sokuntevy said. “I have more understanding of technical painting, and the reason is the establishment of my art works at Java.”
So far, Oeur Sokuntevy has shown 55 works of art at Java, including paintings and sculpture, with price tags between $400 and $500. But it’s not about the money, she says.
“We do not hope to sell the paintings,” she said. “We show our art works, and we want our work recognized by the international community. It doesn’t mean that we just sell our work.”
While some work brings high prices, “for the artists, they think that they do not need the money, but they think of producing new innovations and strangeness in their works.”
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Railway Presents Relocation Woes: Housing Advocate
A railway rehabilitation project under a loan from the Asian Development Bank will impact 4,000 families, and a housing rights advocate said Thursday the solutions for them are inadequate.
Eang Vuthy, a project manager for Bridges Across Borders, told “Hello VOA” that the families have not received enough compensation to relocate from the path of the rail line, while their businesses, jobs, and children’s education are in jeopardy.
Residents in the provinces of Battambang and Preah Sihanouk have already been moved, with negative results, he said.
“Those people are stifled in relation to their living, because the land that was exchanged for them is without enough infrastructure or programs to create businesses and jobs,” he said. The move from urban areas to relocation sites outside of town have meant a loss of jobs, work and school, he said.
“Some people received only $200 in exchange for leaving their houses, which were built near the railroad,” he said. “How can they live?”
In other countries, such projects entail clear plans on how to deal with evictions, he said. Those who live in the path of the railroad received fair compensation, shelter and means to find work and open businesses, he said. In Thailand, people who live within 20 meters of the proposed line receive rental housing for a certain amount of time, providing them an opportunity to find a new place to live.
“People are concerned about when they are going to change to a new place, so they dare not conduct business on their land, they dare not renovate their houses, and they feel frustrated,” he said. “We should review the examples of our neighbors and apply them to our country and clearly define when we are going to develop this land.”
One caller said he was given only $9 to leave his land in Banteay Meanchey province, but Eang Vuthy said this was illegal. Banteay Meanchey has not yet come up with a plan for rail projects, he said, and families should not be forced out ahead of time.
People cannot be forced off their land without a contract, he said, adding that there were commune, district and provincial authorities in place to help solve problems, along with the courts and the ADB.
The railway project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2013, but delays are possible as unexpected problems crop up. The plan calls for the rehabilitation of 600 kilometers of railway, between Phnom Penh and Preah Sihanouk, and Phnom Penh and Banteay Meanchey and Poipet.
Eang Vuthy said the ADB has allocated $3.5 million for the resettlement of residents, a figure he said was not enough.
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Thursday, December 09, 2010
Cambodian PM warns Prince to lose advisory role if joins politics
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen warned Thursday that Prince Norodom Ranariddh will lose his role as president of the supreme advisory council to King Norodom Sihamoni if he joins politics.
Delivering speech at inauguration of University of Battambang on Thursday, Hun Sen said he will inform the King to write off the prince's position from his advisory role in the next few days, if he decides to join politics as planned.
The prince wrote a letter to Hun Sen last month saying that he will return to politics to lead "Norodom Ranariddh Party"for the 2013 general election.
"Taking this opportunity, I would like to inform Samdech Decho (Hun Sen) that I am happy to go back and lead Norodom Ranariddh Party in 2013 in order to reunite royalists and Sihanoukists so that we can further cooperate with your Royal Government in the fifth term which will then comply by the principle of national reconciliation and unity...," the prince said in the letter.
Hun Sen said that the prince has his own choice between an" advisor to the king or politics".
The prince announced in October 2008 his complete resignation from politics.
The Norodom Ranariddh Party was established in 2007 after the prince was toppled from the president of the royalist FUNCINEC Party in 2006.
Hun Sen warned that Prince Ranariddh's re-entry into politics will cause ambiguity among royal family, the king and the former king whether they are also involved in politics.
He said once the prince joins politics, the prince might suggest he is the son of former King Norodom Sihahouk and is the elder brother of the present King Norodom Sihamoni.
Source: Xinhua
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Mining Company makes Sydne debut
Indochine Mining, which claims to be Cambodia’s largest mineral miner by land concessions, began trading on the Australian Stock Exchange on Thursday with a market capitalisation of A$54 million (US$53.2 million).
The company’s Chief Executive Officer Stephen Promnitz said the bulk of its 270 million tradable shares were owned by institutional investors seeking exposure to the Kingdom’s “expanding economy” and “resources in a new frontier such as Cambodia”.
“The great thing about Cambodia is it has not had a great amount of modern exploration,” he told The Post.
The company is “confident” of a “large discovery”, given the Kingdom’s history of limited exploration coupled with the large grants of land.
Indochine holds 2,900 square kilometres of land in Ratanakkiri province, in northern Cambodia, and another 1,400 square kilometres in Kratie province,
“I don’t think we’d be there otherwise,” said Promnitz.
The gold and copper explorer listed on the ASX in Sydney at A$0.20 a share after a successful initial public offering in October.
The IPO raised $20.1 million, exceeding its minimum target of $12 million.
Indochine’s share price fell to a low of A$0.16 during the first day of trading, finally closing 3 cents down at $0.17.
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Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Cambodian refugee
By MIKE ECKEL
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AP) — The distant thuds of gunfire and bombs weren’t nearly as memorable for Michael Misiewicz as fishing barehanded with his older brother in Cambodia’s Mekong River.
In 1973, as a 6-year-old then called Vannak Khem, he was more concerned with boys’ games than the deepening war – unaware, like most Cambodians, of the trauma that the Khmer Rouge would soon inflict on the country. He had no idea that after his adoption by an American woman that same year, it would take him 37 years to go home.
Misiewicz finally returned home Friday as commander of the US Navy destroyer USS Mustin – reuniting with the relatives who wondered whether they would ever see him alive, and the aunt who helped arrange his adoption. His ship departs Monday.
“Chumreap suor, Om,’’ he greeted 72-year-old Samrith Sokha in the Khmer language, clutching her in a sobbing embrace on the Mustin’s sea-swept walkway. “Greetings, Auntie.’’
The warship has a larger mission: to help the United States as it deepens ties with Cambodia and other nearby nations in a region overshadowed by China’s economic and military clout.
But the ship’s arrival in the port of Sihanoukville also ends an odyssey that took Misiewicz, now 43, from the poverty of Cambodian rice fields to the farmlands of the midwestern United States to the helm of a US destroyer.
The process of returning has been intensely emotional, he said: Sadness for the more than 1.7 million who died or were killed by the communist Khmer Rouge when they held power in 1975-1979, combined with guilt at his escape from it and joy at seeing the relatives who helped him leave it behind.
“This isn’t going to wash the guilt away but I am looking to provide some sense of closure, going back to my birth country, going back to where my family suffered, and where my dad was executed, seeing it firsthand,’’ he said in a phone interview before his ship arrived.
Born south of the capital, Phnom Penh, Misiewicz and his family were uprooted in 1969 as Khmer Rouge fighters forced villagers to join the radical communist movement. His father didn’t sympathize with it, unlike many of his mother’s family, and many considered him a traitor for not joining up, Misiewicz said.
They fled north, living on the streets as beggars for a time and scraping by until settling in Phnom Penh. They lived in a stilt house over mosquito-infested waters, subsisting mainly on his father’s work as an herbal medicine pharmacist. His father’s oldest sister Sokha worked for Maryna Lee Misiewicz, a US Army administrative assistant with the defense attache’s office at the US Embassy.
Misiewicz remembers eating popcorn and watching cartoons while his aunt cooked and cleaned Maryna’s home. Eventually, he said, his father decided they should ask Maryna to adopt him and Maryna and the boy left for the United States in April, 1973.
“They were concerned about the Khmer Rouge. No one had any idea what would happen, but they hoped for a better life for Mike,’’ Maryna Misiewicz said in an interview from her home in Freeport, Illinois. “We had no idea how long it would be before they would ever see each other again.’’
He grew up in Lanark, a town of 1,500 people just south of Freeport, most of whom had never seen an Asian before, and he said he cried frequently, thinking about his family.
Gradually, the letters to his relatives went unanswered as Cambodia spiraled into chaos. He forgot what little Khmer he knew, graduated from local high school and enlisted in the Navy. Like most Americans, he only later realized how many had died and suffered because of the Khmer Rouge’s nightmarish efforts to create an agricultural utopia. Maryna Misiewicz said she initially tried to shield her adopted son from the few reports about the Khmer Rouge’s brutal actions.
“You didn’t have any idea it would end up like that,’’ Maryna said. “I felt badly for Mike and his family and I wondered what was going on, what they were going through.’’
“As I got older it was less painful to not think about it,’’ Misiewicz said.
It was in 1989 when he was at the US Naval Academy when he was finally located by his family – and he learned of their own odyssey through refugee camps on the Thai border and in the Philippines and finally to Austin, Texas.
His birth mother, two brothers, and a sister had survived but two other sisters died, most likely of disease or malnutrition. All of his mother’s relatives, except for a brother, died or were killed by the Khmer Rouge, he said.
“We never knew what was going to happen,’’ said Misiewicz’s younger brother, Rithy Khem. “Thank God we were able ... to be reconnected with each other finally.’’
Misiewicz learned that his father, who was drafted as a medic for the US-backed government that collapsed in 1975, was summoned to a meeting with Khmer Rouge officials on the anniversary of their takeover and never returned.
Misiewicz said his reunion with relatives in Cambodia would go a long way toward easing his qualms about the opportunity he had – and that his relatives did not.
“A lot of who I am is small-town America, you know, work hard trying your best at whatever you do ... but certainly the genetic thing, so many of the blessings that I’ve had come from my birth family,’’ he said.
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Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos determine to enhance co-op in combating drugs
The 10th tripartite/bilateral ministerial meeting on drug control cooperation between Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos began on Wednesday.
Ke Kim Yan, chairman of the Cambodia's National Authority for Combating Drugs (NACD), called for more cooperation among the three countries to achieve the ASEAN free of drugs by 2015.
"There are flaws in cooperation among the three countries in combating drugs,"Ke Kim Yan said during the opening ceremony.
He said that the three countries should intensify more cooperation to complete the flaw of cooperation in order to prevent circulation, production, farming drug crops at border areas of the three countries and turn the border areas as the wall to prevent production, plantation, circulation, smuggling, transit, and consumption of drugs.
"We need more efforts and cooperation to combat drug criminals to achieve the ASEAN free of drug by 2015,"he said.
Moek Dara, secretary general of the NACD, told reporters after the opening ceremony that Cambodia is actively combating against drug criminals.
In 2010, 320 cases of drug offensives have been cracked down with 638 suspects including 63 foreigners (three Laotians) and drugs were seized for destruction, he said.
He added that the number of drug addicts in Cambodia is still stable at 6,000 drug addicts. Currently, 1,119 drug addicts have been in the centers for drug quit and education.
The three-day meeting is attended by 84 drug officials from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
The Laotian officials led by Soubanh Sritthirath, chairman of the Lao National Commission for Drug Control and Supervision, and Vietnamese officials led by Le The Tiem, deputy minister of Public Security and permanent member of the National Committee on AIDS, Drugs, Prostitution Control of Vietnam.
Source: Xinhua
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Tuesday, December 07, 2010
[Viewpoint] Korean fury in Cambodia
The conference takes place to discuss global themes. But the conference room was full of smoke and fury generated by the two Korean delegations.
South Korean and North Korean officials toured the ancient Cambodian temple city of Angkor Wat over the weekend. The men were wowed and fervently took pictures to capture the grandeur of the 12th century Hindu architecture, no different than regular tourists.
They were among the participants in the three-day International Conference of Asian Political Parties in Phnom Penh that closed on Saturday. It was hosted by the Cambodian government.
About 300 delegates from 89 political parties of 36 countries attended the sixth such assembly. They flew to the ancient temple complex on a special flight provided by the Cambodian government.
South and North Korean delegates were among them. Representatives Kim Hyung-o and Hwang Jin-ha of the Grand National Party, Jung Jang-sun of the Democratic Party, and Lee Yong-kyung of the Creative Korea Party and their aides went on the trip.
Four came along in the North Korean delegation, including deputy secretary of the Workers’ Party’s international department, Park Geun, though he was without his boss, Kim Young-il, secretary of the international department of the Workers’ Party, who bowed out citing personal reasons.
Delegates from the two Koreas exchanged fiery words and icy looks over North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong Island throughout the conference. They were hardly in a mood to enjoy a leisurely tour. They had their backs to each other and avoided contact during lunch.
Out of professional obligation, I attempted conversing with North Korean delegates. I was able to ask deputy secretary Park a couple of questions.
Journalist: “South Koreans are outraged by North Korea’s attack. They aren’t likely to tolerate it if North Korea strikes again.”
Park: “It is the South that provoked us first. We warned several times that we will strike if South Korea tests artillery around the Yeonpyeong area. We issued a warning on the morning of the event [the attack]. But South Koreans ignored us and went on with their fire drill. We merely acted on our words.”
Journalist: “Still, how could you have fired on an island populated with civilians? That is a ruthless attack that cannot be excused whatsoever. Civilians died in the attack.”
Park: “We targeted where the fire came from. We regret civilian deaths, but it is the South Koreans who are using civilians as human shields near a military base.”
Journalist: “Civilians were there for construction work near the base. The artillery shells fell on civilian homes far from the military base. What you say does not make sense.”
Then Park lashed out at the United States, arguing that the South is being fooled by the U.S., which is simply trying to bring a nuclear-armed warship to the Yellow Sea to contain China. He then went on with the North’s typical claim that South Korea is innately dependent on external powers before suddenly stopping himself.
South Korea started the rhetorical fire at North Korea during the conference. Former National Assembly Speaker Kim strongly condemned the Yeonpyeong attack. Kim commented on the Yeonpyeong event in his opening remarks while his North Korean counterpart, Kim Young-il, lashed back during an afternoon address, devoting half of his speech to condemn South Korea and the U.S.
In the first bout of the verbal war, North Korea walked off with a curl of the lip. On the second day, Representative Hwang used the podium to lambaste North Korea. His speech was mostly devoted to attacking North Korea, reciting the trajectory of the North’s provocations from the presidential assassination attempt in 1968 to the torpedo attack on the Cheonan in March. North Koreans remained silent.
The forum was established a decade ago to promote exchanges and cooperation among Asian countries of different ideologies and cultures to enhance mutual understanding and trust, as well as contributing to peace and co-prosperity in the region.
The conference takes place in different cities every one or two years to discuss global and regional themes of poverty, development, human rights, energy, resources, the environment and climate change.
But instead of a series of sincere debates, the conference room was full of smoke and fury generated by the two Korean delegations. They may have raised consciousness among participants of heightened regional tension, but at the same time were disrespectful of the host country and other members as well as the norms and practices of international forums.
North Korea is entirely blamed for the bombardment of Yeonpyeong. The Phnom Penh declaration contained words of indirect condemnation of North Korea’s provocation. North Korean delegates nevertheless enjoyed the tour of Angkor Wat. They must have grown immune to words of censure.
*The writer is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.
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Assembly President Nixes Separate Bridge Inquiry
National Assembly President Heng Samrin on Tuesday denied an opposition party request that parliament establish a special commission to investigate the deadly Nov. 22 bridge stampede.
A government committee determined the stampede, which killed 353 people and injured nearly 400, was an accident due to panic on the crowded Diamond Bridge.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said in days following the disaster that no officials would be held responsible for what he called a “joint mistake” in an unforeseeable event.
But opposition lawmakers said the National Assembly should establish an investigation of its own, a request Heng Samrin said was “not a necessity.”
Son Chhay, a lawmaker for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, who signed the request with two other parliamentarians, said the denial showed “non-responsibility by the National Assembly.”
“It is regretful, but we will not give up on our investigation,” he said. “We will work closely with some non-governmental organizations to independently investigate the real cause and information on the deadly incident, and push the government to fine government officials who lacked responsibility.”
The Cambodian Center for Human Rights, an independent organziation, has said it will pursue its own investigation into the tragedy.
Speaking on “Hello VOA” Monday night, Kimsour Phirith, another lawmaker for the opposition, said the government findings were not enough.
“This was not a natural disaster like a tsunami or volcano eruption, where we were not able to know it in advance,” he said.
“Responsible officials,” he said, should be held accountable through resignations or suspensions.
However, Cheam Yiep, a National Assembly member for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, said the government investigators had “done their job to handle the problem.”
“If we set up a committee, we don’t know what to do,” he said. “It is not our expertise.”
He suggested that the legislative body bring government representatives to answer questions, a process Kimsour Phirith said had proven ineffective in the past.
“Instead of coming to answer questions, they just come to read their answers and ignore the questions,” he said.
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Daughter Sought ‘Fun’ Festival Before Bridge Tragedy
It has been two weeks since Kim Sineng lost her daughter, Sok Lai Eng.
“She always used sweet words with her mother, her family,” Kim Sineng said, sitting on a wooden bed in a house near the Kandal province garment factory where her daughter worked. “She would take care of me when I was sick. She wanted me to wear clothes like a rich person. She said she would be happy to see me where clothes like this.”
Sok Lai Eng was 23, the third of six children, and she had left her job as a waitress in Kampot province for work in the garment factory in Kandal. Like millions of Cambodians, she had gone to Phnom Penh to watch the Water Festival. Like thousands of others, she had become trapped on Diamond Bridge on the night of Nov. 22. And like 352 others, she died on the bridge, when the throng became so packed that revelers panicked and stampeded.
Her mother said Sok Lai Eng had taken the job to help reduce the family’s debt and help them build a new house. She had $6 in her pocket when she left for the Water Festival. She died alongside one of her friends on bridge.
“She said her last words before going out, that she wanted to hear happy words,” her mother said, as tears ran down her sun-darkened face. “And she asked me permission to go to visit the Water Festival to have fun. I reminded her to be careful because it was crowded, and I wouldn’t be able to help her if anything happened.”
Sok Lai Eng had four sisters and one brother. The family relies on silk weaving to make a living, but with the silk market in decline, her mother had sent her to work as a waitress in Kampot and then to joint two older sisters in the Kandal factory. None of her sisters had went to school beyond 10th grade, while her younger brother has continued study in public school.
Kim Sineng said she lost touch with her daughter around 7 pm, and that night received a phone call saying she was missing. Kim Sineng spent hours searching the hospitals of Phnom Penh, as casualties continued to rise and the scope of the disaster unfolded. There were so many dead, she could not find her daughter.
“I prayed to Buddha, saying that if my daughter was really dead, I should find her corpse, because I didn’t see her in two or three hospitals,” said Kim Sineng, whose eyes have become rimmed in red from constant crying. “Then I found her and I prayed again to bring her home.”
The family has now received about $7,000 of at least $12,000 expected from payments from the government, donors and others.
“Even if I received five times the money, it could not buy the soul of my daughter,” said Mam Chha, Sok Lai Eng’s father. “But we can’t say anything because it was an accident. And it is our wish that they should be well-prepared for the next time."
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Monday, December 06, 2010
US Warship Docks, Begins Humanitarian Mission
The US warship USS Mustin arrived in Preah Sihanouk province on Friday for a five-day visit, officials said.
Troops from the Mustin, which is commanded by an American-Cambodian who left with a US Embassy official prior to the fall of Phnom Penh, will conduct humanitarian missions, such as medical checks at orphanages and schools. Other exercises include training with Cambodian military personnel and visits to Angkor Wat.
For Commander Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz, the visit is a homecoming to a country he left nearly 40 years ago. Misiewicz said he expected to meet with family members who had remained in Cambodia, in what he predicted would be an emotional visit.
Over the past few years, he said, the US has increased its visits to Cambodia and other countries across Southeast Asia, “to assure all the nations in the area that the US is there to help promote peace and stability.”
The arrival of the warship comes on the heels of a visit here by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in November.
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Cambodia's first merger of mobile operators announced
PHNOM PENH, Dec 06, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Cambodia's two mobile phone operators will merge their operations from March next year, according to a joint statement Monday.
Smart Mobile and Star-Cell will merge their operations under Smart Mobile to become one of the market leaders, the first merger among Cambodia's mobile operators.
It stated that Smart Mobile will become, with this combination, one of the market leaders with more than 850,000 subscribers and aims to be a market leader both in subscriber base and new subscriptions through its further aggressive growth and strong market presence.
"Our subscribers will enjoy the benefits of the merger without any change of telephone numbers and SIM cards," said the press release.
Smart Mobile's network will, after both networks have been combined, serve 23 out of 24 provinces of Cambodia and will extend to the remaining province in the course of 2011.
The completion of the transaction is, subject to final approval by Cambodian authorities, expected to be in December 2010, and the finalization of the network combination by March 2011.
Cambodia currently has 9 mobile phone operators with more than 6 million users, according to the statistics from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunication.
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Sunday, December 05, 2010
US Navy commander returns to Cambodian roots
In this photo taken Dec. 3, 2010, family members of the U.S. navy officer Michael "Vannak Khem" Misiewicz boarding the USS Mustine at Cambodian coastal international see port of Sihanoukville, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Misiewicz finally returned home Friday as commander of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mustin, reuniting with the relatives who wondered whether they would ever see him alive, and the aunt who helped arrange his adoption. His ship departs Monday.
In 1973, as a 6-year-old then called Vannak Khem, he was more concerned with boys' games than the deepening war - unaware, like most Cambodians, of the trauma that the Khmer Rouge would soon inflict on the country. He had no idea that after his adoption by an American woman that same year, it would take him 37 years to go home.
Misiewicz finally returned home Friday as commander of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Mustin - reuniting with the relatives who wondered whether they would ever see him alive, and the aunt who helped arrange his adoption. His ship departs Monday.
"Chumreap suor, Om," he greeted 72-year-old Samrith Sokha in the Khmer language, clutching her in a sobbing embrace on the Mustin's sea-swept walkway. "Greetings, Auntie."
The warship has a larger mission: to help the United States as it deepens ties with Cambodia and other nearby nations in a region overshadowed by China's economic and military clout.
But the ship's arrival in the port of Sihanoukville also ends an odyssey that took Misiewicz, now 43, from the poverty of Cambodian rice fields to the farmlands of the midwestern United States to the helm of a U.S. destroyer.
The process of returning has been intensely emotional, he said: sadness for the more than 1.7 million who died or were killed by the communist Khmer Rouge when they held power in 1975-1979, combined with guilt at his escape from it and joy at seeing the relatives who helped him leave it behind.
"This isn't going to wash the guilt away but I am looking to provide some sense of closure, going back to my birth country, going back to where my family suffered, and where my dad was executed, seeing it firsthand," he said in a phone interview before his ship arrived.
Born south of the capital, Phnom Penh, Misiewicz and his family were uprooted in 1969 as Khmer Rouge fighters forced villagers to join the radical communist movement. His father didn't sympathize with it, unlike many of his mother's family, and many considered him a traitor for not joining up, Misiewicz said.
They fled north, living on the streets as beggars for a time and scraping by until settling in Phnom Penh. They lived in a stilt house over mosquito-infested waters, subsisting mainly on his father's work as an herbal medicine pharmacist. His father's oldest sister, Sokha, worked for Maryna Lee Misiewicz, a U.S. Army administrative assistant with the defense attache's office at the U.S. Embassy.
Misiewicz remembers eating popcorn and watching cartoons while his aunt cooked and cleaned Maryna's home. Eventually, he said, his father decided they should ask Maryna to adopt him and Maryna and the boy left for the United States in April 1973.
"They were concerned about the Khmer Rouge. No one had any idea what would happen, but they hoped for a better life for Mike," Maryna Misiewicz said in an interview from her home in Freeport, Illinois. "We had no idea how long it would be before they would ever see each other again."
He grew up in Lanark, a town of 1,500 people just south of Freeport, most of whom had never seen an Asian before, and he said he cried frequently, thinking about his family.
Gradually, the letters to his relatives went unanswered as Cambodia spiraled into chaos. He forgot what little Khmer he knew, graduated from local high school and enlisted in the Navy. Like most Americans, he only later realized how many had died and suffered because of the Khmer Rouge's nightmarish efforts to create an agricultural utopia. Maryna Misiewicz said she initially tried to shield her adopted son from the few reports about the Khmer Rouge's brutal actions.
"You didn't have any idea it would end up like that," Maryna said. "I felt badly for Mike and his family and I wondered what was going on, what they were going through."
"As I got older it was less painful to not think about it," Misiewicz said.
It was in 1989 when he was at the U.S. Naval Academy when he was finally located by his family - and he learned of their own odyssey through refugee camps on the Thai border and in the Philippines and finally to Austin, Texas.
His birth mother, two brothers and a sister had survived but two other sisters died, most likely of disease or malnutrition. All of his mother's relatives, except for a brother, died or were killed by the Khmer Rouge, he said.
"We never knew what was going to happen," said Misiewicz's younger brother, Rithy Khem. "Thank God we were able ... to be reconnected with each other finally."
Misiewicz learned that his father, who was drafted as a medic for the U.S.-backed government that collapsed in 1975, was summoned to a meeting with Khmer Rouge officials on the anniversary of their takeover and never returned.
Misiewicz said his reunion with relatives in Cambodia would go a long way toward easing his qualms about the opportunity he had - and that his relatives did not.
"A lot of who I am is small-town America, you know, work hard trying your best at whatever you do ... but certainly the genetic thing, so many of the blessings that I've had come from my birth family," he said.
"I feel a lot of sadness for my own family, but also for so many Cambodian families," he said. "It's been a long, long time of war, genocide, civil war; my birth country and my fellow Cambodians just need a break."
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Cambodia Finds Solace in Spirituality
In the week after a stampede on a crowded Phnom Penh bridge killed 353 revelers celebrating the annual water festival, both the people of Cambodia and the country's government have been struggling to put hundreds of troubled ghosts to rest.
According to Khmer custom, the deceased believe they are merely asleep until the seventh day after their hearts stop. When they realize the truth--that they are dead forever, that they will never go home again--they grow terrified and angry.
The solution is the "seven-day ceremony," an hours-long funerary ritual to soothe the souls of the dead and placate them with offerings, speeding them on their way to the next life. On the seventh day after the stampede, the country was awash in these ceremonies, with mourners offering their dead everything from pigs' heads to fake bars of gold.
Although Buddhism is the state religion here, ancient animistic beliefs are just as important. Spirits lurk everywhere, predictable in their habits but terrifying once their anger is aroused. The ghosts of those who died in violent accidents are said to be especially restive.
The country's superstitious prime minister, Hun Sen, has already staged several traditional ceremonies designed to appease the stampede's unmoored dead. But he has been less proactive in the physical realm, presiding over an open-and-shut investigation that yielded no significant findings and refusing to concede any wrongdoing by anyone.
While Hun Sen's government has acted fast to compensate the families of victims with over $12,000, gathered from government funds and other donors, for each person killed, more than 15 times Cambodia's average per capita income, it has not even gestured toward addressing the deeper public safety concerns raised by the stampede.
The committee established to investigate the disaster was packed with government, police, and military police officials from the ruling Cambodian People's Party. One of the only exceptions was Pung Kheav Se, the wealthy and well-connected director of the company that owns both the bridge and the lavish new entertainment district it leads to, Diamond Island.
The government has a long history of closing ranks during a scandal, and an even longer history of favoring business interests over ordinary citizens. When developer OCIC pursued a 99-year lease to Diamond Island several years ago, the military summarily evicted all of the island's residents.
In a marathon two-and-a-half-hour speech on Monday, the prime minister called upon the ghosts of Diamond Island to haunt his political opposition and anyone who criticized his handling of the disaster.
"They will get back their bad deeds from the souls of the victims who died, who will do something to them," he said. "I do not know what they will do, but I pray that [the spirits] will give them backaches."
When the chief of the government's National Committee on Organizing National and International Festivals tendered his resignation, Sen refused to accept it. He said nobody would be held accountable for the stampede, which he portrayed as a freak event that could not have been anticipated, despite the frenzied crowds that pack Phnom Penh every year for the festival.
"We did not expect that people could collide with each other like motorbikes and cars," he said.
Sen's wife, Bun Rany, made the rounds of seven-day ceremonies over the weekend, delivering donations from the Cambodian Red Cross (which she leads) and pushing the party line.
"She told us that [Sen] was just trying to construct the country and make it develop but this was an accident that was impossible to predict," one mourner said.
The man was helping to memorialize his sister, 20-year-old Tay Sibuoy, at a seven-day ceremony outside a photocopy shop. A priest dumped sack after sack of fake gold bars onto a fire dedicated to her.
"She was very gentle and quiet," her brother-in-law Lao Kimchan said. "She hardly ever went out, but she went out that night."
As Kimchan spoke, he and several other men held tight to a thin white string that formed a perimeter around the family's burnt offerings.
"We make this holy line to make sure no other spirits can come to get this stuff, only her. We've burned everything--a house, a car, a box of gold. What we burn, she will receive."
When the fire had quieted into a heap of ash, they broke the thread.
"It's all over," he said.
A similar ceremony took place in an alley in central Phnom Penh, where Cheam Yoeun offered a large paper mansion to the ghost of his youngest son, Yen, who had been 19.
A chauffeur-driven gold Lexus SUV made of paper was parked in the paper garage. Two stern-faced servants flanked the front door. The mansion was accompanied by a deed and title handwritten by Yen's brother and sister.
"We're afraid that his soul doesn't have any house to stay in," Cheam Yoeun explained. "The deed and title are to make sure the home belongs to him."
With funeralgoers looking on, a holy man blessed the paper mansion, and touched a match to it. Flaming ash and fake $100 bills swirled around the alley.
"We're feeling better and more peaceful after we did the ceremony," said Cheam Yoeun.
But although he was grateful for the government's money, which made the elaborate ceremony possible, he was still searching for answers.
"I have no idea who was responsible for the death of my child, but I really want to know who should be responsible. I want the government to tell me."
Nearly two weeks afterward, the stampede is still a matter of near-unprecedented public fascination in a country where media penetration is so low--and so many people have personal tragedies of their own to deal with--that few news stories make much of a mark.
In the days after the stampede, homemade memorials--a bunch of bananas, a glass of water, a burning stick of incense--dotted driveways across Phnom Penh. The street price of bananas doubled. Telethons to raise money for the dead and injured brought in over a million dollars, a massive sum here.
The banks of the Bassac River near Diamond Bridge were covered with everything a dead soul might conceivably need: ramen noodles, lotus flowers, fake $100 bills, cups of coffee, tangerines, rice porridge, sugarcane stalks, spoons and forks, and take-out containers of pork and rice accompanied by tiny bags of chili-flecked sauce.
Doh Soeun, who had set up on the banks to sell incense sticks and lotus flowers, said 20 raw chickens were still being offered to the dead every day as mourners and curiosity-seekers continued to visit the riverside in droves.
"Some are crying," he said, "and some just come to see and some come to pray and some parents come to call their children's souls back home, performing ceremonies and then calling them back home: 'Oh, my beloved child, come home!'
Neou Vannarin contributed reporting from Phnom Penh.
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Wang students pen pals with Cambodia counterparts
The Lowell Sun
LOWELL -- The Student Council at the Wang Middle School has established a pen-pal program with a school in Cambodia, and has been exchanging letters with Cambodian middle-school students.
The Student Council hopes to continue building a partnership with the schools in Cambodia, and send its thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.
LINCOLN: Parents, please remind children to do their RAH (reading at home) every afternoon or evening as part of their homework; initial your child's RAH Log. Lincoln's branch of Washington Savings Bank will be open Friday, 8:30-9:30.
MCAULIFFE: First schoolwide RIF book distribution Monday. Encourage your child to be a "high five" reader, and remind him or her to participate in the lobby book swap on their way to class in the morning.
MURKLAND: "Bingo for Books" is Wednesday, 6-7 p.m., for kindergarten, first- and second-grade families; Bingo winners choose a book for their prize. Preschoolers take home "Raising a Reader" book bags each Tuesday and return them to school by Friday. We are challenging our students to collect 2,000 Box Tops for Education this month.
ROBINSON: Thanks to parents who attended a record-breaking Open House; more than 400 showed overwhelming support for our school. Student Council continues to collect nonperishable items for their food drive to make baskets for Robinson families in need. Family Night Bingo for Books is Tuesday, 6-8 p.m., in the auditorium; bring a snack and share a snack; drinks will be available; students must be with an adult. Picture makeup is Thursday.
STOKLOSA: Stoklosa is collecting nonperishable food items for needy families in our school; send items in with your child to place in the shopping cart by the main office; if your family could use help this holiday season, call Mrs. Robtoy at 978-446-7452. Eighth-grade Talent Search students will visit Northeastern University on Monday. Sign and return all dental forms to the school nurse by Tuesday. Sixth-graders will read As I Grew Older by Langston Hughes to practice making inferences; other poetry and independent reading will be used for the purpose of inferencing. In Social Studies, many students will begin studying the Himalayas.
WANG: First-quarter honor-roll assembly is Friday morning in the auditorium, grades 7 and 8 at 8:20, grades 5 and 6 at 8:35; each ceremony will last about 15 minutes; parents are invited.
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