US-Cambodians Begin Signing Landmine Petition

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 156 countries have signed an international mine ban and 108 have signed a convention against cluster munitions.


Cambodians living in the Seattle, Wash., area have begun putting their names on a petition asking the US to join an international landmine treaty.

Organizers of the petition, including a Cambodian landmine victim and Nobel Prize laureate, Tun Channareth, say they want to collect 1,000 signatures before sending the petition to US President Barack Obama.

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 156 countries have signed an international mine ban and 108 have signed a convention against cluster munitions. Neither the US nor Cambodia are among them.

Henry Ung, a manager at the World Financial Group in Seattle, said he met with Tun Channareth and decided to support the cause and sign the petition. “I support him 100 percent in this field,” Ung said.

Ung fled the Khmer Rouge over the Dangrek mountains in 1979, crossing a mine field to get to Thailand. “That’s why I understand this,” he said.

Warya Pothan, who has lived in Seattle since 1975, said she supported the petition because “there are a lot of landmines in our country of Cambodia, and the casualties are so many.”

Millions of landmines remain in Cambodia, although the annual fatality rate has dropped from 1,154 to 185 over the last decade.

Moly Som, who came to Seattle in 1977, said she too supported the petition “to make peace in the world.”

Many signatories to the petition were moved by Tun Channareth’s work. He lost his legs to a landmine in 1982 while fighting in Cambodia’s post-Khmer Rouge civil war.

“He is very brave,” said Dani Morton, a grassroots activist in Seattle who also signed the petition. “He does wonderful work, and for those of us with both hands and legs, indeed, he hasn’t asked us for anything but our signatures.”

Morton arrived in the US in 1981, via a Thai camp, but she saw many family members perish to landmines along the border. “We should help each other,” she said, “and make President Obama participate.”
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Minister Lashes Out at Wasted Anti-Trafficking Efforts

Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Thursday upbraided government agencies and non-government groups for failing to cooperate against human trafficking, saying the lack of a clear strategy was adding to the
problem.

Sar Kheng, whose ministry oversees a special anti-trafficking unit, said the lack of cohesion meant a a waste of resources. He spoke at an anti-trafficking workshop in Phnom Penh to about 80 participants from the government and NGOs, including provincial authorities.



The US lists Cambodia among those countries that need to do more to combat trafficking—which generally means Cambodians being trafficked abroad.



“In the past, activity has been conducted at a distance, with no clear goals or strategies and no compromises, which has caused overlaps in work,” he said.

Government and non-government units need to combine their resources and expertise with law enforcement officials and other to better curb human trafficking, he said.

Last year, the government interceded in 160 cases of human trafficking, smuggling or labor exploitation, according to official figures. Those cases involved nearly 700 victims of trafficking, including nearly 300 juveniles.

Chou Bun Eng, who chairs a government committee to suppress trafficking, said the government is working with a plan that improves awareness of trafficking and provides legal support and alternative
choices.

“We think that the three-point strategy can help Cambodians be free from more danger,” she said.

However, Lim Mony, head of the women’s unit for the rights group Adhoc, said that while she supports the strategy in principle, it is not moving forward in reality.

“If there is no will in the implementation of this strategy, with strength and fairness, it’s still useless and won’t provide a positive result for our society,” she said. Read more!

US 'worried over Thai succession'



By Mike Wooldridge BBC News,

World affairs correspondent, London

American diplomats have expressed concern over Thailand's royal succession, according to leaked cables.



The lese majeste law provides protection to the monarchy from defamation, insult or threat



The documents suggest Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, who is next in line to the throne, is suffering from health problems. US officials are also worried about how the Thai public regards him.

His father, 83-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, has been in hospital for much of the past two years.


Thailand has strict laws prohibiting any criticism of the monarchy.

Offences under lese majeste laws are punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

The concerns of the US embassy officials were publicised by journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall in several British newspapers.

He left his job at Reuters news agency because they would not publish the claims.

He told the BBC: "The Thai people - most of them - genuinely love and respect King Bhumibol. It's not fake.
"They really do love him and they are very protective of him and that, I think, has caused people to be against anybody saying anything that appears to attack the monarchy."

But he said that the military and palace courtiers had been meddling in politics for years.

"And they have somehow allowed themselves to hide under the same umbrella of lese majeste as the king," he said.

The documents, publicised just days before Thailand's general election, were reportedly written by US diplomats over several years.

They air concerns about the prince and how he is perceived in the country, suggesting that Thailand will face "a moment of truth" when the king dies.

One embassy cable in 2009 is quoted as saying: "It is hard to overestimate the political impact of the uncertainty surrounding the inevitable succession crisis which will be touched off once King Bhumibol passes."

Many of the issues raised in the cables are known about and discussed privately in Thailand.

But there is a taboo around their public discussion in the country.









Read more!

Abhisit, Hun Sen speak out



Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Prime Minister Hun Sen delivers a speech yesterday in Phnom Penh.



Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has reportedly said that Thailand “can no longer work with” UNESCO if the United Nations cultural body fails to delay consideration of Cambodia’s management plan for Preah Vihear temple at a meeting this week in Paris.

The Bangkok Post reported yesterday that Abhisit had made the vague threat in reference to Cambodia’s management plan for the temple, which is up for discussion at the World Heritage Committee meeting, which began on Sunday and stretches to June 29.

“We keep talking with UNESCO,” Abhisit was quoted as saying. “If they don’t postpone [consideration of Cambodia’s management plan], they should know that we can no longer work with them.”

Heritage Committee meeting, which began on Sunday and stretches to June 29.

“We keep talking with UNESCO,” Abhisit was quoted as saying. “If they don’t postpone [consideration of Cambodia’s management plan], they should know that we can no longer work with them.”
The article did not go on to elaborate further on Abhisit’s remarks.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi referred questions to government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn, who said he was unfamiliar with Abhisit’s reported comments.

“My understanding is that we are waiting to hear from the World Heritage meeting,” Panitan said.

“We would like to persuade the members to hear our position – I think that’s all I can say at this moment.”

Tith Sothea, a spokesman for the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, said Thailand had “no authority” to block consideration of Cambodia’s management plan for the 11th-century temple.
“These activities won’t come to anything because the Cambodian plan has correctly followed the instructions from UNESCO,” he said.

In a statement issued ahead of the meeting in Paris, Cambodia’s National Committee for World Heritage said Thailand’s “decades-long record of military incursions shows why [it] does not want its actions on the border to be observed”.

“What we are seeing is the implementation on the ground of Thailand’s expansionist ambitions,” the statement said.

Preah Vihear temple was originally enshrined as a UNESCO World Heritage site for Cambodia in 2008 and is being developed as a tourist destination.

At a ceremony in Phnom Penh yesterday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said 24 Cambodian troops had been killed in periodic clashes with Thailand since 2008, most recently with clashes along the border near Oddar Meanchey province that concluded last month.

“We don’t really want war, but they are too rude,” Hun Sen said, referring to Thailand. “Despite that, it is better not to fight each other.” Read more!

TOMS shoes expands into sunglasses - and improving eyesight

Shoes were apparently just the first step. TOMS shoes, the company that catapulted to fame for giving away free footwear for every pair it sells, is now in the sunglass game.

The brand launched a new line of retro-styled frames this month. Expanding its “one-for-one” mission, for every pair of sunglasses sold, the philanthropic for-profit will provide prescription eyeglasses, sight-saving medical treatment or surgery to a person who needs it.

The eye care — targeted initially for Nepal, Tibet and Cambodia — will be administered by the Seva Foundation, a northern California-based group that “has been implementing sustainable blindness prevention and sight restoration programs for over 30 years,” according to the company.

The new $135 to $145 sunglass frames, made in Italy, come in three models: a wayfarer, an over-sized round-eye model and an aviator, each with various color options. All of the designs have thre, hand-painted stripes on the temples, representing the purchaser, the company and the eye-care recipient. Locally, Massey’s stores, which sell Toms shoes, will carry the sunglasses.

“If it’s anything like the shoe phenomenon, then it will be huge,” said Massey’s general manager Gerry Fullington. Indeed, TOMS has a passionate fan club. The Los Angeles Times reported that more than 1,000 people turned out on a Tuesday for the sunglass launch at the California Heritage Museum, with radio stations live broadcasting the event.

Though TOMS would not release sales figures, a spokeswoman said two of the sunglass designs already sold out online.

TOMS was founded five years ago by Austin-native Blake Mycoskie with an unusual business model: to merge a charitable mission with for-profit motive. To date, the company has given away more than 1 million pairs of shoes.

The concept has rocketed Mycoskie to rock-star-like fame and made him the poster child of the growing social entrepreneurship movement. Popular particularly with recent college graduates, hundreds of small businesses — from Falling Whistle necklaces to the New Orleans-based FeelGoodz flip flops — have been inspired by the TOMS model of corporate and community collaboration.

New Orleans jewelry designer Thomas Mann even created a little pewter pendant, which is sold on the TOMS Web site to help support its work.

Mycoskie has visited New Orleans several times, and did a “shoe drop” here in 2009, where he gave away 2,000 pairs of white, canvas shoes to youngsters at five local elementary schools.

During that stop in New Orleans, Mycoskie said he envisioned the company expanding its mission.

“Ever since 2007, I’ve realized the TOMS One for One model could do more than give shoes — it could and should address other needs around the world,” Mycoskie said in a press release this month. “Sight is a fundamental need. The loss of sight has a dramatic impact on a person’s life — and on his or her family and community.”
Read more!

One Man's Mission to Open History of Khmer Rouge

Next week, four top leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime will be brought to trial in Cambodia for alleged crimes against humanity (known as Case 002). Journalism student Jake Schoneker reported from Cambodia ahead of the trial.



Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia


BY JAKE SCHONEKER

When my co-producer Mark Oltmanns and I set off to Phnom Penh to shoot our story on Case 002, we planned to focus on victims of the Khmer Rouge time, on those civil parties and witnesses who would be brought to testify against the four leaders during the upcoming trial. But though listening to their stories was harrowing -- a woman left without family and forced to marry a soldier, a man still imprisoned by the Khmer Rouge in hellish nightmares -- it was the story of the students, and the impact of education, that made the deepest impression on us.

A central figure in the incorporation of that Khmer Rouge education to classrooms was Youk Chhang, the director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, or DC-Cam. For over a decade, he's compiled hundreds of thousands of documents, photographs, and testimony about the Khmer Rouge -- evidence that now is playing a key role in the trials of the Khmer Rouge cadre.

But what gets Chhang most excited is when he talks about Cambodian students and the textbook that he's helped incorporate into Cambodian classrooms. Sitting in his cluttered office in Phnom Penh this past March, he told me a story that helps put the whole trial into perspective. It goes something like this:

Chhang had gone to a high school classroom in Phnom Penh, and brought along two survivors of the Khmer Rouge period to meet the students. First was Norng Chan Phal, a former child prisoner of the infamous Tuol Sleng prison, where thousands were tortured and killed. And second was Him Huy, a Khmer Rouge prison guard at Tuol Sleng who admitted to killing five people during his employ there.


Him Huy, fourth from left, leading group of Khmer Rouge guards at Tuol Sleng



Chhang began leading a lesson to the class, without telling them who the two men were. When the students started asking questions, he told them to ask the survivor or the prison guard in front of them.

"I said, 'Why don't you ask Him Huy? He's said he killed people, he's said he arrested people, and he admits he was head of the prison guards at Tuol Sleng," Chhang told me. "The whole class fell silent. Their eyes got big."

No one would make eye contact with Him Huy -- they directed all their questions to Norng Chan Phal. They pretended like the former prison guard wasn't there. In Phnom Penh, most children come from families who were victims of the genocide -- part of the Khmer Rouge doctrine was to eliminate educated city people and create a pure, agrarian society.

Finally, a boy with a backpack rose from his seat to ask a question -- about Him Huy, directed at Youk Chhang. He still couldn't bear to look at the prison guard. He slowly spoke.

"Him Huy joined the Khmer Rouge because he wanted power, right?"

As the boy sat down, all his classmates clapped and cheered him -- all except one girl in the back of the class. Some time later, that girl had a question of her own for Chhang.

"Teacher, are all Khmer Rouge bad people?"

Chhang could sense that she was a child of the Khmer Rouge herself. Later, she told him that her father was a Khmer Rouge soldier. That night, the girl went home to her father and asked him another question, which she repeated back to Chhang the next school day.

"Daddy, did you kill people?"

Chhang asked the girl what the answer was.

"My father said, 'you can never understand.' That was it."

You can never understand. That seems to have been the mantra of survivors of that time, as a cold silence has clouded the country's discourse. Only a few years ago, that silence was helping to create a young demographic who had little knowledge or understanding of their own history, and no confidence to question their elders. But the Tribunal (which is prosecuting former members of the regime) has helped spark an education campaign that has brought light to those long shadowed corners of the Cambodian psyche, and armed a new generation of students with the confidence that they can create a better country than the one in which their parents lived.

"It took us nine years to convince the government to write a text book of 78 pages -- and finally, in 2007, they approved," Chhang told me. He said that DC-Cam has helped train 3,500 teachers across the country on the Khmer Rouge curriculum. From grade 9-12, students are required to study about the Khmer Rouge, and questions about those lessons are on the high school final exam. After years of silence, there is now a platform for discussion.

High school students in Phnom Penh reading textbooks produced by the Tribunal

There still appear to be problems -- many of the 3,500 teachers who have been trained were themselves part of the Khmer Rouge, with their own prejudices and opinions about that history. And many students come to school with their own attitudes toward the past.

"If you go to Battambang or Banteay Meanchey (western provinces that were considered the Khmer Rouge stronghold for decades) you can assume that half of the students were children of the perpetrators," said Chhang. "Then you have students who were the children of the victims, who start to divide from their own friends who were children of perpetrators."

Cambodian schools -- like Cambodian courts -- have a long way to go. But where the Tribunal is having one of its biggest impacts is in providing an opportunity to create a teaching moment for an entire generation by offering them a model of what the rule of law looks like. And giving them the ability to ask hard questions: to themselves, to their parents and elders, and eventually, to the civil society in which they live.

View Schoneker and Oltmanns' report, which aired Tuesday on the NewsHour:

 

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

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Sumner Redstone Donates Another $720,000 to Cambodian Children's Fund

The Viacom and CBS chairman had previously given the group $1 million, including a $500,000 gift in April.

NEW YORK - Sumner Redstone has further increased his donations to the Cambodian Children's Fund, which provides health and educational services to impoverished and abused children in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.



On Tuesday, the Viacom and CBS Corp. chairman and controlling shareholder announced a $720,000 gift to the group. It is his largest to-date and brings the media mogul's total commitment to CCF to $1.72 million. 



Redstone's initial $500,000 grant in 2007 established CCF's child rescue center. And just in April, he donated another $500,000.



NEW YORK - Sumner Redstone has further increased his donations to the Cambodian Children's Fund, which provides health and educational services to impoverished and abused children in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.



On Tuesday, the Viacom and CBS Corp. chairman and controlling shareholder announced a $720,000 gift to the group. It is his largest to-date and brings the media mogul's total commitment to CCF to $1.72 million. 



Redstone's initial $500,000 grant in 2007 established CCF's child rescue center. And just in April, he donated another $500,000.

 Read more!

US Navy in South China Sea Exercise with ASEAN



Chief Boatswain's Mate Foy Melendy checks to make sure a Singapore navy sailor's weapon is clear before starting a boarding exercise aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter (USCGC) Mellon (WHEC 717) during Southeast Asia Cooperation Against Terrorism (SEACAT) 2010. SEACAT is a weeklong, at-sea exercise designed to highlight the value of information sharing and multinational coordination. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David A. Brandenburg/Released)



WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy has begun with its annual Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training SEACAT exercise.

The 2011 operation, which began Wednesday and runs through next Friday, is the 10th in the series of annual multilateral maritime operations. The Navy is operating in conjunction with ASEAN members the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, Radio Free Asia reported.

The geographical breadth of the operation is wide-ranging, including exercises in the Malacca Strait, Sulu and Celebes Seas.

More than 50,000 vessels ply the 621-mile Malacca Strait each year, carrying half of the world's oil shipments carried by sea.

The SEACAT operation is intended to enhance maritime information-sharing and the regional coordination of maritime security responses. During the exercise, the navies involved in SEACAT will undertake drills to include tracking maritime vessels as well as boarding of U.S. civilian shipping simulating international merchant vessels suspected of engaging in maritime terrorist related activities.

Philippines navy spokesman Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay said that the operation is intended to enhance interoperability among the participating navies.

The operation is occurring amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, where China's increasingly assertive behavior over territorial waters claims has raised concerns with the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, as well as non-ASEAN members Kampuchea and Taiwan.

The waters are essential for Chinese energy exports. A prominent Chinese shipping executive, speaking on background, said that by 2015 China will need nearly 150 Very Large Crude Carrier tankers to meet its energy needs.

VLCCs are the second-largest class of tankers, displacing 200,000-320,000 tons, and are capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil.

Tankers are second only to pipelines in terms of efficiency and the efficiency of large volume transport means that importing oil by tanker adds only 2-3 U.S. cents per gallon to cost. Virtually all VLCCs carrying crude oil to China pass through Southeast Asian waters using the Malacca Strait.

SEACAT 2011 exercise director Filipino navy Capt. Sebastian Pan said of the maritime operation, "This activity will involve surface, air, and special operations units in the conduct of surveillance, tracking, and boarding of the COI from the different participating navies within their respective maritime territories."

The United States and Philippines will participate in joint naval exercises following SECAT until July 8 in the Sulu Sea, the eastern province of Palawan, which were planned before sovereignty disputes between the Philippines and China increased in the South China Sea. Read more!

6 Asean states join call for peaceful resolution

By Pia Lee Brago

Manila, Philippines - Six Southeast Asian countries have joined the Philippines in calling for a peaceful resolution and the use of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in resolving disputes over some areas in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea.

Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos and Singapore arrived at the consensus during the 21st Meeting of States Parties to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (SPLOS 21) from June 13 to 17 at the UN headquarters in New York.

The Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN in New York also voiced during the meeting the country’s rejection of the inclusion of areas within Philippine jurisdiction in the dispute.

The six countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stressed the need to maintain peace and security in the region. ASEAN has 10 members. The three other member-countries are Brunei, Cambodia, and Myanmar (formerly Burma).

“The rule of law is the bedrock of peace, order and fairness in modern societies. The rise of a rules-based international system has been the great equalizer in global affairs,” a statement from the Philippine mission read.

“Respect and adherence to international law have preserved peace and resolved conflicts. International law has given equal voice to nations regardless of political, economic or military stature, banishing the unlawful use of sheer force,” it said.

A statement delivered by Commission on Maritime and Ocean Affairs Secretariat (CMOAS) Secretary-General Henry Bensurto, noted that “recent developments in the Recto bank have tended to broaden the concept of disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea to include even those waters and continental shelves that are clearly within the sovereignty and/or jurisdiction of the Philippines.”

“The Philippines firmly rejects any efforts in this regard. Such actions are inconsistent with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,” Bensurto said.

“We expect nothing less from our international partners,” he added.

“In situations where disputes on maritime claims exist, UNCLOS provides clues as well as answers by which such maritime disputes could be addressed,” he said.

He also urged all parties to the ASEAN-China Declaration of Conduct in the South China Sea to faithfully abide by the provisions in the declaration, particularly on the need to “exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability.”

“The Declaration of Conduct expresses in a concrete way our collective goal for rules-based action by all concerned parties,” he added.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario met Friday with the nine ambassadors and charges d’affaires of ASEAN member-states and briefed them on Philippine perspectives on recent developments in the West Philippine Sea.

No cause for upset
A “rules-based” multilateral approach to resolving disputes over some areas in the West Philippine Sea and South China Sea should not upset China considering its own commitment to shun confrontation, Malacañang said yesterday.

“Our policy is to really have a rules-based, a multilateral approach to the settlement of the dispute. What we advocate is to actually for us to arrive at a peaceful resolution. We should really exhaust all diplomatic means,” deputy Palace spokesperson Abigail Valte said over state-run radio dzRB.

Valte said international laws like UNCLOS should be the basis for settling the territorial dispute.

“Our statements have always been very clear,” Valte said.

She also welcomed Australia’s call on parties involved in the territorial spat to adherence to international laws like UNCLOS.

Australia voiced its position through its top ministers in a joint statement with Philippine officials in the 3rd Philippine-Australia Ministerial Meeting in Canberra last Thursday.

On Friday, the Philippines called on ASEAN member-states to take a common stand on developments in the West Philippine Sea.

Also last Friday, President Aquino insisted that the country won’t be bullied by China in a territorial spat over the Spratly Islands and that Beijing should stop intruding into Philippine waters.

Aquino also told AP that a government-backed mission to scout the West Philippine Sea for oil and gas had turned up “very good” prospects, though he declined to elaborate. He said the Philippines reserved the right to explore its waters despite China’s rival claims.

China, which claims the Spratlys and all other waters in the South China Sea, last week demanded that its southern neighbors halt any oil exploration there without Beijing’s permission. Chinese Ambassador Liu Jianchao said, however, that China was open to joint exploration with other countries.

“We will not be pushed around because we are a tiny state compared with theirs,” Aquino said.

“We think we have very solid grounds to say ‘do not intrude into our territory’ and that is not a source of dispute or should not be a source of dispute,” the President said.

“We will continue with dialogues, but I think, for our internal affairs, we don’t have to ask anybody else’s permission,” he added.

Singapore encounter
One of the three US Navy warships participating in this year’s joint naval exercises called Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) 2011 in the waters of Palawan is now in Singapore where Haixun-31, China’s largest maritime patrol vessel, is also set to drop anchor.

Guided-missile destroyer USS Chung-Hoon is now moored at the Changi Naval Base.

Changi Naval Base is now the center of the ongoing US-led naval exercises dubbed SEACAT (Southeast Asian Cooperation Afloat Training). The navies of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei are joining the naval maneuver.

“The exercise is led by the US Navy and is centered this year in Changi, where the exercise’s command and control center is located,” Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Omar Tonsay said.

It’s not clear if the US Navy destroyer is also taking part in SEACAT.

“Well, I could just surmise that there are lots of eavesdropping, surveillance and counter-surveillance activities now going on,” said a military official, who declined to be named. The CARAT exercise is set on June 28 to July 8.

At Fort Del Pilar in Baguio City, Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Oban said the military is prepared to deal with threats to the country’s sovereignty but expressed hopes diplomacy would prevail.

The vast South China Sea and West Philippine Sea form one of Asia’s most politically sensitive regions, with China, Vietnam and the Philippines trading diplomatic barbs recently over overlapping territorial claims. Vietnam’s navy conducted live-fire exercises Monday after accusing Chinese boats of disrupting oil and gas exploration in its waters.

The Aquino administration already has protested at least six incidents involving alleged Chinese intrusion into waters within the Philippines 320-kilometer exclusive economic zone that is covered by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In February, Manila accused Chinese naval ships of harassing an exploration ship near Reed Bank, an area 80 miles or 130 kilometers west of Palawan.

Liu said last week that China was exercising its sovereign rights over all of the South China Sea.

“The overall strategy, we’re not going to engage in an arms race with them. We are not going to escalate the tensions there but we do have to protect our rights,” Aquino said.

The battle for ownership of the potentially oil-rich Spratly Islands has settled into an uneasy standoff since the last fighting, involving China and Vietnam, that killed more than 70 Vietnamese sailors in 1988.

In 2002, the 10-member ASEAN and China signed a non-binding accord that calls for maintaining the status quo. China wants to engage claimants individually - against the wishes of countries like the Philippines that want to negotiate as a bloc.

Complicating the issue is the role the United States wants to play in resolving the dispute. It is a key Philippine defense treaty partner, which means that in case of a Chinese attack it is obligated to come to aid the Philippines.

US Ambassador Harry Thomas said last week that Washington would stand by the Philippines.

On Friday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland voiced US concerns about rising tensions in the South China Sea, and called for multilateral negotiations to settle disputes.

“We call on all parties to find a venue where we can have a collaborative negotiated resolution to these issues,” she told a news conference in Washington, without elaborating on who the parties would be.

The UK-based Forum Energy PLC, which has a contract with the government to explore the Reed Bank, has announced that it has completed seismic tests in the area and will process the data to identify the best location for drilling appraisal wells.

Forum Energy Robin Nicholson said in a statement in March that his company is looking forward “to making further investments into the project.”

The company said that in 2006, a seismic survey in an area in the Reed Bank indicated it contained 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas. - With Aurea Calica, Jaime Laude, Artemio Dumlao, AP Read more!

Tensions Brew in Southeast Asia

Part of an escalating trend of tension and mistrust between the Asian nations of China and Vietnam, on Thursday China is reported to have sent its largest patrol ship, the Haixun-31, into waters currently disputed by Vietnamese sovereignty. This Chinese military action, which could be seen as a move meant to intimidate and "bully" the Vietnamese government, was greeted with increased military drills in the area as well as a declaration that military conscription will commence in response to the current threat. Tensions between the two nations are at an all time high; for some the threat of war is extremely real. A storm is brewing in the South China Sea, and should it not be controlled, the entire region may be engulfed.

The main dispute between the two nations focuses on the subject of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea; this resource-rich archipelago has been a subject of tension and controversy for many years. Actual conflict occurred in 1988 when China sunk three Vietnamese vessels around the Spratly region. In 1991, China laid out an official claim to the chain of islands; however, that claim has been disputed by Vietnam and has never been accepted by the UN and the greater international community. As of now, China has no more right to the islands as anybody else. Rather, China is deciding to flex its military muscles with increased military activity in this disputed and tense area.
Thursday's events, including the sighting of the Chinese vessel in the disputed waters and the swift denouncement from the Vietnamese government, illustrate how tensions between the two nations are a high point for the last twenty years, possibly for all time. However, considering China to be the only aggressor does not address the root of the problem. Contributing to the tensions of the region is "...Vietnam’s staging of a live-fire exercise in the area and China’s denouncement of it." Therefore, through Vietnam's military exercises, as well as the announcement of a new military draft, it is apparent that Vietnam is not apathetically standing back while China claims disputed territory; Vietnam is actively opposing the Chinese and appears to be readying itself for a potential military conflict.
However, besides the obvious economic benefits of gaining control of the Spratly Islands, China's motives in its inflammation of the Vietnam situation appear to be obscure. Simply, China may be attempting to exert its power and influence in the region; it may feel that by using imperialist tactics and military force to intimidate other nations, it could be able to dominate them both economically and politically. However, the question of why remains.

A possible answer to that question could lie in the politics of Hu Jintao. The current Chinese President, Jintao will not return to power following an election in 2012. Before he leaves office, Jinatao may attempt to take a firm stand against its regional rival Vietnam and the interests of America and the West. By annexing the Spratly Islands, Chinese nationalism could be aroused and could therefore lend popular support to whichever candidate is best associated with the idea of military action. Therefore, both the old government and the new potential candidates would see the Spratly issue as a possible poll-booster; success would provide the incumbent with support and a legacy following exit from office, while a candidate that supports Chinese nationalistic ideals would garner a great deal of popular support among the Chinese people (see Obama, Barack, and bin Laden, Osama).

China could also be using this military challenge to taunt or test the will of the UN and America in the face of Chinese aggression. Dean Cheng of the Heritage Foundation stated: “This may well be a test. To see - ok- we’ve had these summits, we’ve said that we want better relations: Are you going to jeopardize that promise of better relations now by interacting on behalf of the Southeast Asians or with the Southeast Asians over issues the Chinese feel is their territorial rights." Similar to the situation in the Middle East, many wonder whether the US would attempt to maintain its image as a protector of democracy and the oppressed even if such actions cost America diplomatic relations with an important power. America may not take military action against Syria in order not to anger Iran; similarly, the US may not attempt to help Vietnam for risk of alienating the powerful Chinese government. China may hope that the US responds passively to the recent events; should America do otherwise, China would see the fragility of the alliance and could possibly cut diplomatic ties.

China and Vietnam have a history of disputes, especially over the debated waters near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. China may have many motivations for provoking the Vietnamese into preparing for war; however, the fact remains that tensions are only going to increase over the next few days and weeks between the two countries. China is widely acknowledged as a superpower; in terms of military force Vietnam would be no match. Therefore, the US, UN, and NATO must watch the situation closely and attempt to use verbal condemnations to solve the problem peacefully. Should a war break out and any power allies with China, a world war could be on the horizon. Therefore, the option for all involved is for China to cease its aggression and for diplomacy to return before this Asian Cold War spirals out of control. Read more!

BHS grads now in Cambodia to serve, teach

BOUNTIFUL —Less than a week after completing one chapter of their lives, Max and Carly Poth have begun another.

The 18-year-old twins graduated from Bountiful High on June 3 and on June 9, left for Peak Sneng, Cambodia, where they will be building an orphanage, starting a school and a gardening project, organizing softball and soccer games and teaching.

The two have been training for a year to make the trip with Youthlinc, an international humanitarian service program.
To be accepted to the program, it was necessary to find 1,000 sponsors, provide six letters of recommendation, write an essay, raise $2,800 and collect bags of school and medical supplies. In addition, Carly promoted a concert at This is the Place Heritage Park to raise money for the children of Peak Sneng.

The organization also encouraged them to provide 80 hours of service during the year. Carly helped tutor reading skills at Oak Hills Elementary and Max, who earned his Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) from DATC at the same time as he graduated, assisted at Bountiful High and South Davis Community Hospital.

Together, their group of 17 students involved in the travel raised over $10,000 for the children of Peak Sneng.

Max is the team leader and Carly is the lead photographer.

Through the year, they have been preparing to teach women’s health, hygiene and AIDS-prevention classes, start a micro-enterprise project, teach at the local school and train the local medical staff. They also plan to assist with a micro-enterprise project and build a village gardening project.

Ben Wilson, a graduate of the University of Utah who now lives in Siem Reap, 30 minutes away, will mentor the group.

After their return, both will be attending Westminster College with four-year scholarships, according to their mother, Jacki Lindsey. Read more!

Puma blames long hours for Cambodia plant fainting

PHNOM PENH — German sportswear giant Puma said long working hours and health and safety breaches were to blame for a mass fainting at one of its suppliers in Cambodia in April.

An independent investigation found that a failure to follow the company's labour standards caused 101 employees to become unwell at the Huey Chuen factory in Phnom Penh on April 9 and 10, Puma said in a statement dated June 16 and seen by AFP on Saturday.

"The breaches of these standards include excessive hours of work as well as multiple occupational health and safety violations," it said, without detailing the nature of the violations.

Puma said it took the findings "very seriously" and promised to educate workers and supervisors about improving working conditions at the factory, which makes footwear for the brand.

While rare, mass faintings occasionally happen in Cambodian garment factories and are often blamed on employees' poor health and bad ventilation in the workplace.

Earlier this week, more than 200 workers needed medical treatment after falling ill at a textile factory in Phnom Penh.

The garment industry is a key source of foreign income for Cambodia and employs more than 300,000 workers, mostly women.
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Backpackers 'wing it' on a bigger budget

In the 21st century, iPods, laptops make Asian trek easier

By Edward Yatscoff, Edmonton Journal

Flashpacker (def): Flashpacking is a new trend among travellers who share the backpacking ethos. Someone, usually in their mid-20s to early 30s, who travels like a backpacker but has more disposal income; also uses electronics on the road i.e. iPod or laptop; expects better accommodation and more amenities; seeks to explore the world but not give up comforts. Flashpacking is backpacking for the 21st century.

Except for our ages -my wife Gloria and I are in our late 50s -this description probably applies to us. Our long-awaited trip after retiring, intended to flee a good chunk of winter, finally came down to deciding where to go. Picking the brains of recent travellers and doing plenty of online research, we concluded Southeast Asia was our best bet.

People our age consider "winging it" through five countries an example of adventure travel. After a 32-year career with Edmonton Fire Rescue, I didn't want extreme adventure. Gloria would take it in small doses.

Everyone asked if we would be on a tour. Tours are expensive and too regimented for us. They do have advantages, but being on a leash doesn't appeal to us. Finding a piece of paradise and having to abandon it in an hour can be very disappointing.

Winging it has plenty of logistic challenges and self-reliance is paramount. Our have-to stops were a few UNESCO World Heritage sites including Angkor Wat, Halong Bay and China's Great Wall. Our lazy, unstructured itinerary left plenty of time at each and in between.

Most challenging was packing efficiently. With only one medium suitcase each, we fretted over what, or what not, to take. That turned out to be a total time waster.

Clothes are everywhere and cheap in the markets in Cambodia and Vietnam. International companies have large factories there and the irregulars/seconds are dumped locally. They'll also tailor any type of outfit and ship it home for you. For $110 you can get you a made-to-order silk suit in one day.

Usually when we travel, we book ahead only for the first night or two of accommodation. If we like a place, we'll stay -if not, we saddle up. Hotel photos can be very creative.

We took a laptop and it was invaluable: for banking; as an alarm clock; checking e-mail and weather; searching for accommodation and sights; updating ourselves on travel warnings and scams; and as a telephone to talk, using Skype, with our children regularly. We also bought landline time from Skype.

Many eateries, cafés, and just about all hotels/guest houses have free Wi-Fi; sometimes with a shared computer in the lobby. Dedicated Internet places offer Skype, photocopying, printing and CD burning. Bank account passwords and passport copies were uploaded to a server and saved in an e-mail. Internet maps provided locations of train and bus stations. If we got lost, we'd simply hop in a cab.

Only two types of plug-in converters were necessary for China, Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Both had two cylindrical prongs, with one device smaller than the other. As they say in Southeast Asia: "same, same, but different."

English books can be found in scattered bookstores or hotel book swaps. Books take up space so an e-book reader was the way to go. It's small and can download stories in seconds with a decent Wi-Fi signal.

We got our first entry visa online direct from the Cambodian embassy. The remainder were applied for on the fly at foreign embassies. It's cheaper and faster -except for China; the slowest at four days. They squeeze time-constrained tourists by steering them to an "express" option at double the cost.

Avoid visa-on-arrival letters. Pay close attention to visa time limits as some begin upon entry and others begin as soon as you receive them. The bar code on our Cambodian entry visa didn't print out at home and caused some concern at the Phnom Penh airport. But they love tourists there and let me use their immigration computer. ASEAN countries are presently ironing out a unified "one visa."

Do bring duct tape, laundry bar soap and a length of clothesline to hang out wet clothing, although your laundry can be done for a dollar or two per kilogram.

We took U.S. cash and Amex traveller's cheques, which are useless to a thief. It's a chore trying to cash them, however, because it requires a passport. We kept our passports and cash bagged in small packets and carried them with us most of the time. Other times we stowed valuables in a vault in the room or at the hotel desk, wrapped in a bag and duct-taped.

My debit card wouldn't fit into a few ATMs in Vietnam and Cambodia, while others accepted it; however, you get a better rate for U.S. cash. Visa is not widely accepted at smaller hotels, so booking online as you go works well.

Don't worry about being homeless for a night as there are more hotels off the grid than on. The more you venture farther away from touristy areas, the more you'll need local currency.

Our budget was $50 to $60 per day or under $2,000 per month (food and accommodation with some transportation). We based it on $20 to $30 hotel rooms, with a flush toilet, private washroom, and pool. For the most part we stayed within the budget; often below it.

Many young backpackers stay at $3-a-night-and-up guest houses. If you choose to live large, a budget of $60 to $100 per day will certainly do it.

Cabs and tuk-tuks (motorcycles pulling a four-seater cart) in Asia are cheap transport. Hiring one for the day is worthwhile, but you'll have to be a savvy negotiator. It helps to look at a city map before you arrive anywhere.

In Kep, we got off the bus and were solicited by a tuk-tuk driver, who gave us a strange look when we told him our hotel name. His colleagues snickered, making us suspicious that something was up. He quickly took our dollar and drove us to our hotel -around the corner.

Don't buy tours or tickets on the street. Hotels and guest houses, along with travel agents, are your best option for travel/tour tickets as they'll save you time and legwork -and you'll have someone to yell at if your trip goes sour.

In Cambodia, if you book a room ahead, someone will meet you at the bus station holding up a VIP sign with your misspelled name. It's hilarious.

Vietnamese National Railways filled up faster than we expected. Rail car seating is a maze of options: hard seats, soft seats, suites, first class, A/C, sleepers, slow vs. fast trains, etc. Call in the travel agent on that one.

In Cambodia, use the Mekong Express: good Japanese buses, a stewardess, free pastries, moist towelettes, karaoke-style music videos, and employees who gleefully wave as you leave the terminal. A competitor bus company we used once broke down, requiring us to stand in the heat for an hour. But that's Asia. Everyone accepts these things. Perseverance is compulsory here.

Do not take the "sleeper" buses in Vietnam: late-night music, crazy wild driving, horrible roads, no shock absorbers, and still-warm blankets from the last passengers.

English is prevalent in many places in varying degrees. Not as much in China. Expect to occasionally pantomime what you need, and carry a "quick guide" of words in the local language. The locals appreciated our attempts to communicate. Hello, goodbye and thank you saw us through.

Checking English-language websites of local newspapers kept us apprised of events and weather. While in Asia, 12 people drowned when a tour boat sank in Halong Bay and the tsunami hit Japan. It made us wary of the cheapest tours.

We spent a lot of time cruising riversides and seashores. It seems that even the poorest towns in Asia have improved theirs, turning them into vibrant gathering places.

Booking transport and rooms too far ahead resulted in us missing a few events. But that's winging it. Do research on local festivals and events, and try to time your trip to them.

Our biggest decision was where and what to eat and discussing options for our next move. Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese menus are similar, hence, "same, same, but different." Patrons can linger at eateries for long periods as the owners like having bodies at tables to attract passersby.

Fruit here is plentiful and cheap and we ate it for nearly all our lunches. Bring a thin cutting board and sharp knife. Although we ate some street-food, we didn't get sick, crediting a combination of Dukoral medication, food wariness, chilies and luck. No salads, uncooked meals, smoothies with crushed ice, or ice cube drinks. Definitely no tap water. After eating at one busy place we happened to see the dishwashing area and figured we'd be laid up. People told us if that we happened to get seriously hurt or sick, go directly to Thailand -do not pass go.

Five countries were a bit much as the many currency conversions and languages overlapped in our heads and at times became confusing. We should have spent more time on the Cambodian coast and less in northern Vietnam as somewhat cooler temps there in February and March surprised us.

At no time did we feel threatened or unsafe. Locals were accommodating and friendly and older people are generally accorded more respect. We underestimated the trek on the Janshanling section of the Great Wall. It was a tough haul, but we did it.

The sights, sounds and smells in Southeast Asia can almost be overwhelming, akin to being dropped onto another planet. Riding in an open tuk-tuk is almost magical. Pungent frangipani scents mix with exhaust, charcoal cooking fires, incense and the odd whiff of fish and sewage. It's a heady mix.

Small children and extended families create lively street scenes and are present in almost every business. Their world is public and much work is still done on the sidewalks: moto repair to haircuts to barbecuing entire hogs.

The really good news was that beer is still a buck, and even cheaper some places. Deja vus all over again. The bad news is coming home and having to cook again. There were a lot more people there our age and older winging it. All it takes is a bit more effort.

Here are some helpful websites if you are planning a trip to Southeast Asia: Talesofasia.com, Agoda.com, travelfish.org, Tripadvisor.com, asiarooms.com and Foreign Affairs Canada at international.gc.ca/international/index.aspx.
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Land of ancient shrines, floating villages fascinates Edmonton couple

Peter and Cheryl Mahaffy pause in front of Angkor Wat in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province during an afternoon spent exploring a few of the historic temples by bike.


A touchdown in gritty Cambodia to visit a daughter interning with a local water project has lodged disparate snapshots in my brain.

I see ancient temples at once held up and torn down by massive trees. Hindu shrines turned Buddhist (or vice versa) with an axe, a chisel or a draped cloth.

Villages that not only float, but move with the seasons. A museum alive with notebook-toting youngsters learning about the genocide that killed so many of their kin.

Disparate though they may be, the scenes all reflect a certain resilience — an ability to flex, to incorporate whatever comes as a way of surviving.

In the Angkor region of northwest Cambodia, we encounter a striking example in 800-year-old Ta Prohm. A Buddhist monastery and university that once housed as many as 12,000 people and employed thousands more, Ta Prohm faded into the jungle for centuries following the fall of the surrounding Khmer empire in 1431.

Brought to light along with dozens of neighbouring temples in the early 1900s, Ta Prohm was left partly embedded in the massive trees that had draped themselves up, over and inside it.

The result is an amazing symbiosis of wood and stone. Each needs the other to remain standing even as it hastens the other’s demise. The effect is atmospheric, photogenic, awe-inspiring.

Perhaps it’s no wonder Ta Prohm appears in the film Tomb Raider, on the cover of Lonely Planet and (as we discover while wandering area shops) in much local art.

Ta Prohm is but one of the thousand or more temples that make up the sprawling Angkor UNESCO World Heritage Site. As we stand in awe at the sheer size of each stone, let alone the intricate carving still evident despite erosion, bombing, looting and (in the last dozen years) escalating tourism, others come to worship.

For here, as belief evolves, icons of faith are not only smashed and beheaded but also used in new ways. It’s not unusual to find a small chamber where people are burning incense and offering lotus flowers before a Hindu god turned Buddhist with an orange drape to cover the nakedness.

While we might cringe and call it desecration, flexing has kept the temples relevant — and not only as Cambodia’s top tourist attraction.

A visit to floating villages not far from the temples, at the edge of the aptly named Tonle Sap or Great Lake, reinforces the sense of Cambodian flex. Not only houses, but pig pens, chicken coops, shops, restaurants and an entire school bob on the water, held up by bunches of bamboo.

Chugging down “Main Street” in a modified fishing boat whose propeller periodically gums up with reeds, we pass villagers poling hither and yon in dugouts carrying everything from teapots to firewood. On the wooden front porches, women mend nets, elders lounge in hammocks and kids stop their play to gaze at the intruders.

Every monsoon season, these villages pull up anchor and move kilometres further into the lake. The reason is simple — and amazing. In dry season, the Tonle Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh, 150 km away. As the rains come and as faraway glaciers melt, the flow reverses and the lake balloons in size, bringing a rich supply of fish for the catching.

When dry season returns, the lake shrinks, creating pockets of water amid rich marsh and mangrove, perfect breeding ground for fish. By taking advantage of this annual pulse, the villages have made the Tonle Sap one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world, providing 60 per cent of Cambodia’s protein intake.

Like the water of the Tonle Sap, we enter and exit Cambodia through its capital, Phnom Penh. Compelled to face the country’s bloodbath under Pol Pot, we spend an afternoon at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

“Tuol Sleng” can be translated “Hill of Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine Hill,” and the name fits. From 1975 to 1979, this former high school became a place of torture and often death for supposed enemies of the Khmer Rouge.

Many of the instruments of torture remain starkly present: shackles, waterboards, electrocution units and an exercise bar turned gallows. Row upon row of photos of doomed prisoners in agony are coupled with paintings by a former inmate, who was kept alive to paint for the Pol Pot regime and now unleashes his memories on canvas. All testify to the horror of a place where even babies were bayonetted and dashed to the ground.

Much of a generation was snuffed out here and in killing fields outside the city, and almost the entire population was driven to out to subsist on a diet of enforced farming, hunger and fear. Phnom Penh left empty, with dark, achingly silent streets, is a place we cannot imagine.

More than three decades later, the aftermath continues. The kingpin of Tuol Sleng, often known as Duch, was sentenced for crimes against humanity just this year, and other trials carry on.

Our daughter’s colleagues, children of the dead, learn to parent without role models, their stories echoing those of residential school survivors in Canada.

Yet the fact that schoolchildren are tromping through the echoing corridors of Tuol Sleng, notebooks in hand, is itself a beacon of hope. As are the again-teeming streets, a feast for the eyes, nostrils and ears with their sidewalk barbers, massage clinics, fix-it shops, roasting pigs, tuk tuks and people on the move.

This country may be bent, I think, but it’s too flexible to break.
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Tribunal Judges Issue Warning to Media Over Leaks

Investigating judges at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal issued a sharp warning to media outlets on Friday, in an attempt to forbid them from printing information from confidential, leaked documents of the
court.

The Christian Science Monitor and the Associated Press have provided detailed coverage of a controversial case at the court, naming two suspects judges have said should remain anonymous based on a leaked prosecution submission.

The judges, Siegfried Blunk and You Bunleng, threatened legal action against media outlets that publish or broadcast the names of the suspects. It remains unclear under what authority the court would pursue such action.

The judges said they had “credible information” the prosecution’s introductory submission had been leaked by “a disloyal staff member” of the court, and said, “warning is hereby given that anyone publishing information from this confidential document is liable to be subjected to proceedings for interference with the administration of justice” under court rules.

The investigating judges have come under increased criticism for their handling of Case 003, after they hastily concluded their investigation in April without conducting field investigations or interviewing the two chief suspects.

The court has kept the names of the suspects confidential. However, the Christian Science Monitor, citing court documents in reports on June 10 and June 15, identified them as Khmer Rouge naval commander Meas Muth and air force commander Sou Met.

The US-based paper said they were accused of “shared responsibility” for crimes including torture, murder and forced labor.

“In particular, Sou Met and Meas Mut[h] participated in a criminal plan to purge the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea of all undesirable elements, which resulted in at least thousands and quite probably tens of thousands of deaths,” the Monitor reported, citing court documents.

Tribunal spokesman Huy Vannak said that the judges had not considered any actions yet, but that “any documents that are not issued by the court are unofficial.”

Ou Virak, head of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said Friday the case was already publicly known, but the naming of suspects did “touch on the rights of the accused.”
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CAMBODIA: Mass faintings reported at another garment plant

Garment workers in Cambodia have fallen ill in a further report of mass fainting in the country.

Around 250 female workers at King Fashion factory in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh fainted this week, because of bad working conditions, according to Chea Mony, president of Free Trade Union.

Mony said about 150 workers fainted on Wednesday, and that the number could rise as some workers were transported to hospital by family and friends.

This was followed by another mass fainting of 100 people on Thursday morning, Born Sam Ath, a local police official, told the local media.

The workers suspected that chemical odours from cotton and bad quality water they drank in the factory were to blame.

King Fashion Garment Co, a Taiwanese-owned dress manufacturer, was unavailable to comment when contacted by just-style.

It is a different manufacturer to Heuy Chuen (Cambodia) Corp, which reported a mass fainting of 101 workers making footwear for sportswear firm Puma in April. A subsequent investigation by Puma diagnosed hypoglycaemia, a medical term for lower than normal levels of blood glucose. Read more!

Thai Yellow Shirts Protest Against Leaders, UNESCO Temple Listing

 

Cambodia's famed Preah Vihear temple, which is enlisted as UNESCO's World Heritage site, in Preah Vihear province (file photo).

Thailand's royalist Yellow Shirts have protested outside the United Nations Cultural agency in Bangkok, urging it to withdraw world heritage status for a Cambodian temple near disputed territory. They also paraded through the Thai capital encouraging people not to vote in July 3 elections. The nationalist movement has stopped supporting the current government, saying it is too weak on the border dispute.

At least 2,000 yellow-dressed protesters demonstrated Friday outside of the Bangkok office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

They nationalists want UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, which meets Sunday in Paris, to de-list a temple in Cambodia near disputed territory.

The 900-year-old Khmer Hindu temple called Preah Vihear in Cambodia and Phra Viharn in Thailand was declared a world heritage site in 2008.

The listing sparked nationalist fervor on both sides and sporadic and deadly clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers.

Protester Vipida Thaisawat says Cambodia is using the world heritage status to encroach on Thai land. Like some other nationalists, she claims the temple is in Thai territory.

"Actually, [getting the] temple back [to Thailand] or not is not the point," Vipida noted. "But, the point right now is they [Cambodia] want the land around Phra Viharn to register as a world heritage [under Cambodia]. And, we can't let that happen."

Cambodia has proposed a joint management plan for the temple complex, which the World Heritage Committee is reviewing and may decide on next week.

Thailand has urged the plan be delayed until a decision is reached on the land surrounding the temple, which both sides claim.

Cambodia last month asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to rule on the disputed 4.6-square-kilometer area around the temple.

The ICJ ruled in 1962 that the temple itself is in Cambodia, but made no decision on the surrounding land. The court's ruling is expected sometime early next year.

The Yellow Shirts paraded Friday from the UNESCO office through Bangkok, directing most of their anger at Thai politicians.

They urged Thai people not to vote in a July 3 election, saying none of the parties have Thailand's true interests at heart, including the ruling Democrats they once supported.

The Yellow Shirts say the government has been weak in the border dispute with Cambodia and are demanding it stop cooperating with UNESCO and Phnom Penh.

The Thai government has waffled on whether it wants the withdrawal of the temple's World Heritage status, but has also dismissed the Yellow Shirt demands.

Meanwhile, the border remains tense with both militaries on alert. Clashes between the two sides killed at least 10 people in February. Another 18 died in fighting in April near another ancient temple complex about 150 kilometers farther west.

Each side blamed the other for starting the fight.
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Premier says suspected spy leader has fled country

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has admitted that the suspected leader of three men arrested for alleged spying on the Thai-Cambodian border has managed to flee the country.


The three alleged spies after their arrest in Si Sa Ket province on June 7

 Mr Abhisit yesterday said he had received information from authorities concerned that the suspected leader of the group, who is a Cambodian colonel, had escaped from Thailand.

Police are now questioning the three men who were detained in connection with the alleged spying to find out further information, Mr Abhisit said.

He insisted that Thailand had not fabricated the spying allegations against Cambodia.

A Thai, a Cambodian and a Vietnamese, were arrested in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket on the evening of June 7 carrying maps with military bases marked on them, according to police.

The three were identified as Suchart Muhammad, a 32-year-old Thai Muslim, Cambodian citizen Ung Kimtai, 43, and Nguyen Teng Dang, 37, a Vietnamese national. All three suspects denied they were spying in the area.

Cambodia accused Thailand of "deceitful fabrication" following the arrests. Phnom Penh said the spy claims were fabricated to justify Thai aggression against Cambodia along the border.

Police said Mr Suchart had admitted that he was paid 5,000 baht to drive a pickup truck for a group of six men to gather information on Thai military bases and bomb shelters at villages along the border in Si Sa Ket.

Mr Suchart told police that the group was led by a Cambodian man called Wichai.

Mr Wichai and three other men managed to escape police arrest while the three others were arrested.

Mr Suchart alleged that Mr Wichai had managed to get away with maps with information on the Thai military bases in the area.

On Wednesday, the provincial court in Kantharalak district issued a warrant for the arrest of Mr Wichai on a charge of espionage.

The name on his passport is reported to be Ya Pov or Chea Pov.

The 48-year-old Cambodian man is believed to have the military rank of colonel and runs a business in Cambodia, according to police.

An Immigration Police source said it was believed Mr Wichai left Thailand and crossed into Cambodia on June 9 via the immigration checkpoint at Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban yesterday defended soldiers and police who failed to capture the suspected leader of the alleged spying gang.

Mr Suthep said the army had done its best to prevent Cambodians from spying on Thai territory.

He said he did not think the escape was the army's fault.

Mr Suthep, who is in charge of national security, said the information on Thailand's military bases which Mr Wichai had obtained was not strategically important.

The bitter border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia has seen 28 people killed this year, and the row has since moved to the United Nations' International Court of Justice. Read more!

Assembly Approves Triple-Country Convention



The law passed with 83 votes from the Cambodian People’s Party, zero from the Sam Rainsy Party and a boycott from the Human Rights Party.


Cambodia’s ruling party on Thursday approved a regional convention that would set up a joint development area between Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, but which opposition critics argue would cede land to Vietnam.

The law passed with 83 votes from the Cambodian People’s Party, zero from the Sam Rainsy Party and a boycott from the Human Rights Party.

The law would set up a special economic zone and would require the placement of a border marker stone at the intersection of all three countries.

Supporters of the law said it will help create a development area for four provinces in Cambodia’s northeast, as well as neighboring provinces of Laos and Vietnam.

Var Kimhong, chairman of Cambodia’s Border Committee, told the National Assembly the plan would include setting a granite marker at the intersection of the three countries’ borders, which would be protected from any effort of removal or damage.

However, SRP lawmaker Ke Sovannroth told the Assembly that the border in that area remains unclear and that Cambodia could be losing land by agreeing to the convention.

“We should not pass it,” she said. “If we pass it, it means that we recognize it. So we are also responsible for the history.”

Laos ratified the convention in July 2009, but it has yet to be approved by Vietnam.
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Cambodia moves to bar Thai chicken

Cambodia yesterday barred imports of chicken products from Thailand after authorities raided chicken slaughterhouses in Nakhon Ratchasima for selling decomposed chicken, Xinhua news agency reported.

"The Ministry of Commerce instructs all levels of authorities along the border between Cambodia and Thailand to prevent all imports of chicken products from Thailand even though the products have phyto-sanitary certificates in order to protect our people's health," Cham Prasidh, Cambodia's minister of commerce, wrote in a directive.

The move came after Thai officials raided chicken slaughterhouses in Nakhon Ratchasima province on Monday and seized about eight tonnes of decomposed chicken.

The slaughterhouses had soaked dead chickens in a strong-smelling formalin solution before processing them as food products for human consumption.

Wachirawit Kritrittisak, deputy chief of Nakhon Ratchasima police, said police had already pressed at least 10 charges against the operators of four of the 11 slaughterhouses.

The suspects allegedly said that they typically supplied chicken carcasses to fish and crocodile farms. They told police they had bought them from middlemen.

The investigating team is gathering evidence against the operators of the other slaughterhouses, according to Pol Col Wachirawit.

Meanwhile, Nakhon Ratchasima Governor Raphee Phongbupphakit yesterday said a committee has been set up to look into claims of negligence after learning the slaughterhouses had allegedly sold to local food processors meat from chickens that had arrived at their facilities already dead.

The probe is expected to be completed in three days, Mr Raphee said.

The panel yesterday invited Pak Chong livestock chief Wibul Rattanapornwong, police chief Col Pakawat Thamde and two senior officers from Pak Chong and Klang Dong police stations to testify.

Earlier, the governor ordered a transfer of the provincial livestock chief, Suksawat Thongnoi, to an inactive post pending the probe into his conduct in relation to slaughterhouse operations in the district.
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