Over $80,000 raised to feed Cambodia kids

Mon, May 30, 2011
By Jecolia Tong
Asia One (Singapore)

MORE than 700 people showed up yesterday morning at East Coast Park for a 2km walk which culminated in a fair, and they helped to raise over $80,000 for underprivileged children in Cambodia.

The Walk The World event, held annually by express-delivery company TNT, consumer-goods company Unilever and global science-based company DSM, was organised in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP).

WFP is the United Nations' front-line agency in the fight against global hunger. However, those companies were not the only ones doing their part for charity. The event was held in more than 100 countries yesterday.

In Singapore, funds were raised through the sale of coupons, which could be exchanged for drinks and food, or used to play games at a fair set up at the event. There were corporate donors, such as Swiss bank BSI, which donated $30,000.

Walk The World began eight years ago, with the idea seeded here by TNT.

The concept was proposed to the WFP by TNT chief executive Peter Bakker, and was the first of such initiatives undertaken by the company as part of its corporate social responsibility scheme.

About $60,000 was raised in Singapore alone last year through this event. Internationally, Walk The World last year raised enough money to feed 14,000 underprivileged children for one year in countries such as Malawi and Tanzania.

TNT's target amount for Singapore this year was $60,000 but, as of yesterday, funds raised have surpassed that amount.

Funds will go to the School Feeding Programme in Cambodia, which provides food for schoolchildren. This encourages people to send their children to school, and it is hoped that promoting education will help many break out of the poverty cycle.

The event was open to the public, but most who turned up to show their support were from TNT, Unilever, Credit Suisse and BSI - the main corporate participants.

Many of those present - such as Ms Jennifer Hewit, the vice-president of the information-technology department at Credit Suisse - were with their families. Ms Hewit was with her husband and their two-year-old son, Tyler.

She said: "It's good to teach your children that not all children in the world have it as easy as they do."

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Cambodians Want Cases 003 and 004; Cases 001 and 002 Not Enough

"What the Cambodian People Are Anticipating is Case 002, Not Cases 003 and 004!" (sic!)

Political Analysis by Neth Pheaktra

Phnom Penh Post Khmer, May 20, 2011

(Unofficial English translation from the Khmer article)

Phnom Penh: "I would like to see the full completion of the trial proceedings for Case 002 against the four former senior Khmer Rouge leaders before starting to scrutinize Cases 003 and 004," a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime commented, adding that Case 002 has great significance for Cambodia’s history and for learning about the inner working of the Communist Party of Kampuchea on how it ordered and planned the killings of the Khmer people.

This case will fill a gap in Cambodia’s history because the question as to "why the Khmer Rouge savagely killed its own people?" has so far not provided an answer to all the victims. Furthermore, these four former senior Khmer Rouge leaders are currently very old and they are ridden with countless diseases.

This clearly shows that what the Cambodian people consider as important and is of great interest to them is Case 002, but not Cases 003 and 004. In fact, the latter two cases are currently facing turmoil among the judicial staff of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal itself. The International Co-Prosecutor would like to pursue the prosecution of these cases, but the National Co-Prosecutor – Mrs. Chea Leang – had released a Press Statement clarifying her position by stating that the suspects in Case 003 are not senior Khmer Rouge leaders nor are they the most responsible individuals of the Democratic Kampuchea regime.

Mrs. Chea Leang underscored in her Press Statement that: "The National Co-Prosecutor holds the position that the suspects in Case 003 do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for prosecution, and the prosecution of the defendants currently detained by the ECCC sufficiently fulfills the mandate of this Tribunal."

What was raised by the National Co-Prosecutor clearly emphasizes the goal of national reconciliation and the protection of political stability in Cambodia which has experienced peace only in the past decade. The push for more prosecutions on former Khmer Rouge cadres by the International Co-Prosecutor for whatever reason can lead to a failure in the national reconciliation process through the Khmer Rouge cases as it would increase the number of prosecutions and create more complications. The Cambodian Premier stated in the past that he would rather see the Khmer Rouge Tribunal fail than allow Cambodia to return to a new civil war.

Nevertheless, to prosecute or not to prosecute is a judicial matter. The Cambodian people want justice but they do not want a return to civil war or turmoil, nor do they want to see any secession zone created from the desire for justice. What the Cambodian people want is for National and International judicial officers to provide clear balance between justice and national reconciliation. Peace in Cambodia came at a heavy cost, financially and in terms of human lives. Therefore, the Cambodian people no longer want to see bloodshed and tragedy anymore.

. . . . .

Published in both English and Khmer editions of The Phnom Penh Post

May 27, 2011

Theary C. Seng (Photo: Nigel Dickinson, 2010)

Dear Editor of The Phnom Penh Post:

I am deeply troubled by Neth Pheaktra’s analysis “What the Cambodian People are Anticipating is Case 002, Not Cases 003 and 004!” in the Khmer-language Phnom Penh Post, 20 May 2011. He attributes one quote to an unnamed victim saying that s/he would like to see Case 002 against the “four senior Khmer Rouge leaders fully tried first before moving on to scrutinizing cases 003 and 004”, and goes on to defend the position of the National Co-Prosecutor Chea Leang and Prime Minister Hun Sen against Cases 003 and 004, quoting the Prime Minister that he would rather see the Tribunal fail than allow for political upheaval. In response to the analysis, I’d like to raise three points:

1. Division of Labor. The 40-plus personnel in the Office of Co-Investigating Judges of the Extraordinary Chambers (“ECCC”, or “Tribunal”) can proceed with their investigation of Cases 003 and 004 without interfering in the progress of Case 002. These 40-plus personnel have no role or duties in the trial hearings of Case 002 beginning on June 27. Currently, they are sitting idle, collecting salaries in the range of US$250,000 per month. The numbering of the case files is sequential for purposes of management, but the work on these cases can be done concurrently, especially as they are at different stages in the ECCC process, without overlapping staff or venues.

2. The False Dilemma of Peace vs. Justice. Truth is a pre-condition of justice. Justice is an integral element of peace. There can be no genuine peace without justice; there can be no justice without truth. A fragile peace of temporary stability of the Pyongyang or Burmese ilk cannot last; it will only further imbed impunity, oppression and other social ills into iron-clad destructive mentality. A fragile peace or faux stability is a superficial façade over a boiling kettle of unresolved social injustices. Truth, justice and peace are mutually reinforcing of and not opposed to each other, as argued by Neth Pheaktra, Madam Chea Leang and Prime Minister Hun Sen.

3. Cambodians Demand QUALITY justice, not a figure. We know there is no magical figure as to how many should be tried or indicted. We know it is not practical nor desirable to try everyone with a bloody hand for crimes committed during the period of 17 April 1975 to 7 January 1979. That would be in the hundreds if not thousands, and it would create social chaos and instability, working against the goals of reconciliation. That said, however, the current five is not enough and to push for another five is not unreasonable. Here, to argue social instability is to employ a false pretext, which is the current position of the National Co-Prosecutor and of the Government. In blocking further prosecutions, the Prime Minister is assuming the role of a prosecutor or co-investigating judge, an unacceptable overreach of his political position.

Cambodians will not be satisfied with the current five indictees, especially in light of the US$200,000,000 already spent on this ECCC, for the deaths of 1,700,000 to 2,200,000 loved ones. And there's a real fear that only Duch and one or two of the senior KR leaders in Case 002 will live through the whole trial. This is not an equation that is acceptable to Cambodians—trying only five, with the real possibility that of these five, only three or four will live through the full legal proceedings and be the scapegoats of the KR regime. It's nonsensical math.

In sum, to prosecute or not to prosecute is a judicial decision, not to be decided by politics, if we are to adhere to international standards. International standards of QUALITY JUSTICE of INTEGRITY FOR ALL, including poor Cambodians, not just for the Cambodian elites and people of the developed world. International standards of the United Nations, agreed upon by the Cambodian government for this ECCC.

___________________________
Theary C. Seng, Founding President
CIVICUS: Center for Cambodian Civic Education

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Cambodia’s up-and-coming seaside towns

Friday, May 20, 2011
By Dustin Roasa
The Washington Post

As the sun sank over the tree-lined Kampong Bay River, Kampot, a town on Cambodia’s southern coast, stirred to life. The locals, who’d spent much of the day hiding from the heat in their homes and shaded alleys, emerged into the atmospheric streets, where sun-stained, mustard-colored French colonial shop houses provide the backdrop to the rhythms of daily life.

Old men with fedoras and graying sideburns gathered at a corner cafe to play chess, triumphantly thwacking hand-carved pieces against thick wooden boards. Small groups of boys fished on the banks of the river with homemade bamboo poles, while groups of teenagers with mussed and shaggy haircuts and wearing glittery T-shirts yelled “Hello!” and giggled at strolling tourists, who are a small but growing presence in this largely unexplored corner of Southeast Asia.

My wife and I had come here to escape the grit and bustle of Phnom Penh, where we live, and to show my visiting mother-in-law a slice of authentic provincial life. With crumbling historic architecture, largely unspoiled countryside and specialty regional cuisine, Kampot and Kep, seaside towns separated by a 30-minute car ride, are unlike anyplace else in Cambodia.

Although tourism has taken off in the past decade — for much of the 1980s and ’90s, the area was off limits due to the presence of the Khmer Rouge — the two towns have avoided the dizzying and sometimes tacky growth of places like Siem Reap, where busloads of visitors swarm the ancient Angkor temples, and Sihanoukville, which caters to backpackers looking for a cheap alternative to coastal Thailand.

Instead of mega resorts and budget dives, Kampot and Kep have attracted a smattering of boutique hotels, bars and restaurants that draw on the area’s history as a stylish retreat in the last century, when the French and Khmer elite spent weekends here soaking up the Riviera-like vibe.

Now, a new wave of expats and tourists is discovering the place. Ben O’Reilly, an Irishman who runs Mea Culpa, a guesthouse and wood-fired pizza restaurant set in a shady garden in Kampot, arrived as a tourist in 2004 and never left. “It stole my heart,” he said. “The stunning beauty of the people and the area makes it stand out unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been.”

A large part of the area’s appeal is its time-capsule quality: While much of Southeast Asia has been eager to demolish remnants of the past and modernize, Kampot and Kep have preserved a century of Cambodian history in their streets and surrounding hills. As we rode into Kampot with our taxi driver, a 56-year-old local named Eav, we watched the past flash by through the windows of his Toyota Camry.

There, on the left side of the road just outside town, Eav pointed out a salt plant built by the Khmer Rouge. “They exported salt to the Chinese in exchange for arms,” Eav said. Farther in was the columned and pleasingly dilapidated governor’s mansion, a symbol of colonial power, and its necessary counterpart, the French-built prison, which is still in use. Next came the Chinese school with its elegantly curved roof, a reminder of the sizable influence of the entrenched Chinese-Cambodian community here.

“The people here are proud of these buildings, and we want to keep them,” said Eav. “The local authorities are doing their best to preserve them.” So, too, are the entrepreneurs who have come here, many of whom have restored old villas and shop houses.

One such business is Epic Arts Cafe, a nonprofit that employs people with disabilities, where we had coffee and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. After a stroll through the streets surrounding the abandoned market at the center of town, we reserved seats on a boat trip down the Kampong Bay River and into the Gulf of Thailand.

As we puttered along the mangrove-lined river in a long-tail fishing boat with Capt. Chim, a man in his early 30s, we passed villages of wooden shacks with corrugated metal roofs suspended over the water on stilts. Although Kampot is not as cosmopolitan as it once was — it was the country’s primary port until the emergence of Sihanoukville in the 1950s — its access to the ocean continues to draw a mixed crowd.

We passed a fishing village with a white minaret poking out from a clump of palm trees, home to Cham Muslims, an ethnic minority that makes up 5 percent of Cambodia’s population and tends to live apart from the majority Khmer. Several minutes later, on the opposite bank, ethnic Vietnamese fishermen waved to us from moored boats as they prepped their nets for the night’s work ahead.

Gradually, the river widened until it deposited us into the Gulf of Thailand. Capt. Chim stopped the boat at a large sandbar some distance from land. Nearby, a hulking sand-dredging barge, pitched on its side, sat idle, a sign that the area’s small-scale approach to development would not last forever. A joint Cambodian-Vietnamese firm is building a resort and casino here on reclaimed land, Capt. Chim told us.

That night, back on Kampot’s sleepy riverside, we had well-made gin and tonics at the breezy Wunderbar before sampling the area’s famous fresh seafood at open-air and candlelit Rikitikitavi, where the fish amok, a coconut-milk mousse made with white fish, was superb.

The next morning, we were ready to tackle the nearby Elephant Mountains, a series of jungle-covered hills that rise toward the coast before sloping dramatically into the sea. A trip up Bokor Mountain, which can be arranged through travel agencies in Kampot, is one of Cambodia’s essential experiences.

As our car wound its way up the mountain, gaps in the thick roadside foliage revealed breathtakingly clear glimpses of the flat rice plains and salt fields that stretch for miles below. Near the top, tucked away in a small valley, is Bokor Hill Station, which the French built in the 1920s as a retreat from the sweltering Phnom Penh heat. They abandoned the area during fighting with Cambodian nationalists after World War II, and apart from some short-term stays by Khmer Rouge guerrillas, the Catholic cathedral, villas and four-story Bokor Palace Hotel have sat empty.

Rust-colored lichen and green moss have made primitive splatter canvases of the buildings’ gray stone and reinforced concrete exteriors. As I wandered through the empty hotel, the wind whistled down empty corridors, the hand-painted floor tiles covered in layers of dust and grime. On the back veranda, where colonialists would have sipped aperitifs and enjoyed the fresh air, I chatted with a large family of Cambodian tourists from Phnom Penh. “There are ghosts in there,” said a man named Hang, to nervous laughter from his family members. “People lost money at the casino and jumped to their deaths. They haunt these buildings.”

Kep, the seaside retreat 15 miles southeast of Kampot, has its share of ghosts, too. Less a town than a collection of small resorts and seafood shacks, in the post-World War II years it was a glamorous weekend getaway for the Khmer elite, who vacationed in Le Corbusier-inspired villas built by the country’s premier architects.

These villas reportedly hosted wild parties with actors, pop stars and artists who were driving a cultural renaissance in the 1950s and ’60s. Now they’ve been reduced to little more than their foundations and a few walls. You can wander through them and imagine their former grandeur, but the only signs of life are the graffiti scrawled on the walls and the disused clotheslines left by squatters.

One exception is Villa Romonea, a six-room hotel that was designed as a private villa by leading Cambodian architect Lu Ban Hap in the late 1960s. The modernist-style house was the lifelong dream of a local businesswoman who grew up across the road. But she lived in the house for only a few years before the Khmer Rouge took over the area and eventually executed her. Her vision lives on, though, in the house’s exquisite design, with its curved rear facade, which mimics the bend of the shoreline it faces, and the walls of windows that keep the minimalist interior airy, cool and light.

Life in Kep revolves around its rocky beaches, so in the late afternoons, it’s best to head there to watch the locals gather to buy snacks such as the scrumptious num ompong, tubular rice cookies covered in black sesame seeds, from street vendors. The cookies go well with Campari and sodas at the Sailing Club, a nearby sky-blue bar and veranda.

Kep is known for its fresh crab, and the best place to sample it is Kim Ly restaurant, where metal cages containing the day’s catch bob in the gentle surf. Sitting at a table facing the water, which glistened through tiny cracks in the floor below us, we devoured a heaping plate of crab, which is prepared with fresh green peppercorns from local farms. The way the sweetness of the crab meat interacts with the richness of the coconut milk and the spiciness of the peppercorns has made this dish a local institution.

The area’s peppercorn is also renowned. Once a prized ingredient in the world’s best kitchens — particularly in France — the crop was all but destroyed during Cambodia’s 30-year civil war. It has made a comeback in recent years, and in 2010 the European Union and the Cambodian government granted it “geographical indication” status, which has raised its profile.

I wanted to see these farms firsthand, so we rented motorbikes and drove up into the low hills half an hour outside Kep, where peppercorn plantations thrive. Down a rutted dirt road is the Heng Kimean farm, run by 55-year-old Saem, who showed us around the clumps of vines growing on wooden poles spaced several feet apart.

He pulled a fresh sprig from a mature vine and offered it to us. We munched happily, the spice’s mild piquancy tingling in our mouths. “I’m selling more and more to France,” said Saem. “The chefs in Paris have found us again.”

After years of inaccessibility, the world is also once again discovering the charms of Kampot and Kep.

Roasa is a writer based in Phnom Penh.

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Billboards to be dismantled

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Children walk past a billboard that was stripped of its advertisement yesterday in Chroy Changvar commune, in Phnom Penh’s Russei Keo district. Three other nearby billboards blew over on Tuesday, damaging property and injuring one woman.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

via CAAI

Thursday, 12 May 2011 14:02 Sen David

Two billboards on Chroy Changvar peninsula in Russei Keo district are set to be dismantled after three others nearby collapsed on Tuesday amid strong winds, injuring a woman and leaving at least four homes damaged.

Chin Pou, director of the commercial billboard office at Phnom Penh Municipal Hall, said yesterday that the company that constructed the structures, Moon Media, had decided to remove the remaining two in view of obvious safety concerns.

“The company decided to take out these two billboards because most of the residents appealed to have them taken out and residents think these billboards cannot stand up against the force of the wind,” Chin Pou said.

“This area is on the riverside, so when a strong wind comes up, sometimes the billboards cannot stand up. The recent incident is an example of this.”

An announcement on the City Hall website said yesterday that Moon Media had “intelligently and responsibly decided to remove the remaining billboards”.

The remaining two structures carried advertisements for the mobile operator Mfone and the Japanese company Kansai Paint. The three that went down on Tuesday had been commissioned by mobile operators Hello and Beeline and by Hennessey cognac.

As of late yesterday afternoon, the signs had been removed, though the metal structures that had held them in place remained, prompting concern from some on the peninsula.

“We thank the authorities and the company for taking out the signs, but I am so worried that the billboards will be put in place again because the legs have not been removed,” said Vern Vannak, 21.

“The authorities and the company must think about our safety before business.”

The billboards that collapsed on Tuesday were held in place by rusted bolts in concrete foundations that could be scraped away by hand following the accident.

Chan Nat, assistant to Chroy Changvar commune chief Pich Saroeun, said Moon Media had arranged for compensation for the injured woman and the owners of the damaged homes, though he was unsure of the amount provided.

In addition to their signs on Chroy Changvar, Moon Media is responsible for a number of other billboards throughout the capital and in the surrounding provinces, including one located near Phnom Penh International Airport on Pochentong Boulevard and another at the roundabout on Street 289 in Tuol Kork district.

A receptionist at the Moon Media offices in the capital’s Canadia Tower said yesterday that the company’s manager was unavailable for comment. As the woman spoke with a reporter, another staff member called down the hallway: “Don’t talk!”

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE

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Out of Hardship, a Health Advocate Is Born

Theary Chan (in large hat) participates in a USAID project to improve access to safe drinking water among poor floating communities in Cambodia. (credit: Sok Kata, RACHA)

April/May 2011
Theary Chan | HEALTH
USAID

I belong to a generation that has witnessed political upheavals, genocide, civil war, drought, and poverty. After the Khmer Rouge regime, when an estimated 1.5 million Cambodians were killed or died of starvation, my family and I fled the country, joining thousands of others to become refugees in the Thai-Cambodian border camps.

I spent 12 years in the border camps, surrounded by barbed wire and soldiers. During that time, we always kept our belongings packed in a small bag, ready to run if the camp was attacked. Sometimes we moved five times within a year to escape fighting and insecurity.

Our homes and hospitals in the refugee camp were built from bamboo and thatch, and we lacked water, electricity, and land. At night, this largest city of Cambodian people was plunged into darkness and fear. Our common goal was survival.

It was in the camps where I developed a passion to work for the empowerment of women. I received my initial health training in the border camps, spending more than a decade of my life working in the maternity ward of a makeshift hospital. I eventually became the chief midwife, working with a team of 25 Cambodian midwives.

We found great satisfaction in providing quality care and kindness to desperately poor and stressed women. At that time, our salary was a bag of rice and a few canned fish, but we felt rich in capacity development, friendship, and achievements.

I recall assisting a woman with a prolonged and complicated labor. When indiscriminate shelling wrecked the roof of the hospital, only the woman, her family, and I remained. The expatriate health staff had been evacuated by the United Nations security group and other health staff ran for their lives. Unmindful of the danger, I successfully assisted the woman to safely deliver a healthy baby, and stayed with her until her condition improved.

After the experience I gained in the maternity ward at the Thai-Cambodian refugee camp, I worked for two years as a resident midwife at Hospital Jean-Verdier and Hospital General de Romans, in France, and completed a Masters of Public Health in Holland. Afterwards, I spent 20 years working with international organizations. Then I felt ready for a new challenge in my life.

This led me to apply to the Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) in 2003, where I was offered the post of executive director. When I started, RACHA was in the process of becoming a local NGO. In 2004, RACHA began to receive funding from USAID.

New Approaches to Save Lives

My country currently has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the region.

Through generous funding from the American people via USAID, RACHA works in collaboration with government counterparts, especially the Ministry of Health, and other development partners, to reduce maternal, newborn, and children-under-5 mortality in Cambodia. RACHA’s strategy is to improve the lives of individuals in Cambodia by making services for reproductive, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, and HIV/AIDS safe, available, accessible, and sustainable.

RACHA also assists the government to implement the “Health Sector Support Project, Fast Tract Initiative Road Map” in five provinces. That includes: training health ministry workers; strengthening the links between health facilities and communities; mobilizing communities to improve referral systems; and increasing the number of community-based transportation systems to improve access to comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care.

RACHA constantly seeks new approaches and technology that will improve the lives of the communities it serves. One example: the conversion of lake water into safe drinking water through a biotech filtration system that supports thousands of poor communities living on and around the Tonle Sap Lake.

Cambodian people today wish to join the rest of the world in marching towards peace, progress, and prosperity. RACHA will do its best to use USAID’s resources effectively to reach more beneficiaries in remote areas, and to pursue innovative interventions to contribute to the achievement of the Cambodian Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Theary Chan is the executive director of Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA), a USAID/Cambodia local implementer.

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PMs' face-to-face meet fails to resolve conflict

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/

via CAAI

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Jakarta
Published on May 9, 2011

PM Abhisit proposed discussing the troop withdrawal in a military-run General Border Committee (GBC) meeting, but Cambodia's Hun Sen disagreed, saying the GBC meet would not be convened before a Thai letter accepting the Indonesian observers' terms of reference had been submitted.

A tripartite meeting called by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to setฌtle the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia yesterday made no progress as the conflicting countries remained extremely indifฌferent.

Indonesia's plan to dispatch its observers to the borderdisputed area adjacent to the Preah Vihear temple has not materialised as Thailand insists it would not sign a letter of acceptance to the Indonesian observers' term of reference (TOR) unless Cambodia withdrew its troops from the Hindu temple and its vicinฌity.

Cambodia rejected the condition- saying it would not withdraw troops from its own territory.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva proposed to discuss the troop withฌdrawal in a militaryrun General Border Committee (GBC) meeting - but his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen disagreed, saying the GBC meetฌing would not be convened before the Thai letter of acceptance to the TOR was formally submitted to Indonesia.

"Once Thailand has signed the TOR, the meeting of the GBC could start immediately," Hun Sen told a press conference on the sideline of the Asean summit.

Seeking a solution

As the issue came into deadlock, Indonesian President Yudhoyono, who is facilitating the peace process, recommended foreign ministers of the two nations stay one more day in Jakarta to work with Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa and seek a solution. The ministers are in Indonesia for an Asean summit meeting which ended yesterday.

The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia came to the attention of Asean following a major clash in February at the Preah Vihear temple. The United Nations Security Council (UNSC), as requested by Phnom Penh, entrusted Asean to implement a permanent ceasefire.

The armed conflict extended to other areas near Ta Mouan Thom and Ta Kwai temple in Surin in late April. The latest clash which caused more casualties prompted Cambodia's move to have the International Court of Justice (ICJ) interpret the scope and meaning of the 1962 ruling on the Preah Vihear case.

Prime Minister Abhisit charged Cambodia with igniting the military conflict to internationalise the issue, although the two countries already had many bilateral mechanisms, including the GBC, to settle the conflict.

Abhisit rejected Cambodian preฌmier Hun Sen's accusation of being an obstacle to a peaceful solution, saying it was the government in Phnom Penh that had made the issue more complicated, calling for differฌent solutions to the problem.

Cambodia called for a third party from international organisations to intervene in the Preah Vihear case but was willing to settle the conflict in areas of Ta Mouan bilaterally.

'Two areas, two approaches'

"Prime Minister Hun Sen reiterฌated two areas needing different approaches which I find hard to understand as people along the borฌder areas need equal attention and long lasting solutions," Abhisit said in another press conference.

Thailand's position was consisฌtent in having a longlasting soluฌtion and prevent further conflict, he said.

Hun Sen defended his idea that a third party was needed for the Preah Vihear, as the issue had already been submitted to the UN and the Asean had a UN mandate to participate.

"We necessarily have to respect the role of Asean, we cannot talk together secretly or quietly, he said.

"The acceptance of Indonesian observers had been agreed in the meeting of Asean foreign ministers in February and the TOR has been modified seven times already - and there were no demands for troop withdrawal and no demands for a GBC meeting before the signing of the letter of acceptance," he said.

Abhisit argued that the message of troop withdrawal had been conฌveyed to Indonesia at the beginning, not a new condition, since the presฌence of troops at the temple and in its vicinity is against the spirit of the Hague convention and world herฌitage guidelines.

"Cambodia cannot deny this conฌdition as its request to ICJ also wantฌed to have the withdrawal of Thai troops from the temple. So I find it hard to understand why Cambodia cannot accept there is a need for disฌcussion for both sides to talk about troop withdrawal from sensitive areas," Abhisit said.

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The call of Cambodia: Where nature's beauty and mankind's cruelty combine

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

via CAAI

By Michael Buerk

6th May 2011

Nature's been kind to Cambodia, but man hasn't. That's the fascination of the place - it's what makes it more than just another edgy tropical paradise on the backpacker trail.

In fact, this is the most compelling tourist destination in South-East Asia. You can go just to unwind.

The scenery is rich, the food - with its French colonial overtones - exotic. Park by the pool, order the beers and soak up the old Indochina, free of Thailand's rampant commercialism or Vietnam's frenetic crowds.

From glory to ruin: Angkor Wat reminds you of the feats humans can attain, and how quickly the jungle can claim it all back

But this would be missing the point. The history of Cambodia adds up to a short course in human futility.

Successive rulers have tried to impose their own ideas of earthly heaven, which have all ended in varying kinds of ruin. And it is all there; awful, in every sense.

Monuments to ancient grandeur and modern cruelty, both probably unequalled anywhere in the world.

I came away half-haunted by three faces. First, King Jayavarman's is carved over and over again in stone 15ft high, staring down on what he helped to create. In the 12th century, Angkor was the greatest city on Earth. A million people lived in it - at a time when London could only count 20,000.

Now, half overgrown by tropical forest, it is arguably the greatest wonder of the old world. It is the centre of a sprawl of vast temple cities, spreading across 80 square miles, monumental in their magnificence, many covered in acres of intricate allegorical carving.

Second, there is Chan Kim Srun, who stares at you from a black-and-white photograph in the former Khmer Rouge interrogation centre, her newborn baby in her arms and an unfathomable sadness in her eyes.

Her husband was high in the ranks of those mass murdering madmen before, in their paranoia, they turned on their own. You can tell she knows they're both about to be murdered.

They were taken to the killing fields the night that photograph was taken.

Dark history: Cambodia's stunning architecture is contrasted by its black history

And, third, Hun Sen, the current prime minister, a former Khmer Rouge commander before he ratted on them and was put into power by the Vietnamese, who brought the insanity to an end.

He's been in charge of Cambodia for a quarter of century, a former ultra-Maoist who now encourages capitalism so he and his cronies can rip it off.

He heads what is widel y acknowledged as one of the most corrupt governments in the world, a kleptocratic elite that has made itself fabulously wealthy through seizing public assets and illegal logging, leading to repeated complaints of corruption from the World Bank.

The U.S. ambassador publicly accused government officials of stealing $500 million a year. All this when one in three Cambodians live on less than $1 a day.

This is more than a holiday. It's an education. Start in Phnom Penh, an attractive riverside city, tatty but game after the years of war and extermination. They call it Lexus City these days because of all the gleaming 4x4s the officials buy with their graft money.

Fascinated foreign correspondent: Michael Buerk and his wife Christine

Stay, if you can, in Le Royal, the grandest of French colonial hotels, now done up by the Raffles Group. It has sweeping hardwood staircases, scents of cinnamon, oozing luxury and Jeeves-like service.

The ghosts of Somerset Maugham and Andre Malraux slink down the corridors in their silk dressing gowns.

Go for a drink in the Foreign Correspondents Club. I was the only real foreign correspondent they'd had in the place for years - it's now a lively gathering place for gap-year girls.

Eat at Friends - a non-profit Jamie Oliver-type place that teaches street youths catering skills; a good, cheap, philanthropic feed.

There's plenty to see here. The Royal Palace complex is a relatively modern masterpiece of distinctive Cambodian architecture. The Silver Pagoda within it has a floor made up of six tons of ill-fitting solid silver tiles.

But the real, and awful, fascination is the four-year nightmare rule of the Khmer Rouge at the end of the Seventies. They murdered a million people while a million more starved to death, one in five of the population.

The former school they used as an interrogation centre is now a museum. In its way, it's as chilling as Auschwitz.

The rough bedsteads with their iron shackles surrounded by bloodstains, the classrooms, crudely subdivided into cells like hutches, the children's climbing frame they turned into a gallows, are all still there.

Worst of all are the pictures. The Khmer Rouge photographed their victims just before they were taken off to be murdered. They look at you now, hundreds and hundreds of them, blank, bewildered, doomed.

Human bones and fragments of clothing are still coming out of the ground today. Above, clouds of yellow and white butterflies - the sacred colours of the country's two historic religions - dance in the afternoon sun.

It's a dreadful place, marked now by a stupa with 17 tiers of crushed skulls.

Recovering: Traditional dancers are once again becoming common after they were massacred by the Khmer Rouge

The glories of Cambodia are the magnificent temple cities, just north of the modern town of Siem Reap, itself a short flight from Phnom Penh. The most famous, and best preserved, is Angkor Wat, the world's largest and surely most impressive religious monument.

It is an entire Hindu universe (it became Buddhist in the 13th century) realised entirely in laterite and sandstone.

It's also huge - more than 500 acres - and fantastically rich in sculptural detail. More than half a mile of its walls are covered in narrative bas-reliefs. It is only one of numerous fabulous temple complexes.

Jayavarman's legacy, Angkor Thom, is even bigger in total area and, in places, even more intricately decorated.

But the centuries, and the jungle, have taken a greater toll - soaring tropical trees swell out and up through the ruins. This is a place to dwell on the futility of human ambition while you keep a sharp look out for Indiana Jones.

It is joint first on my list of 1,000 places to see before you die (only Machu Picchu and the Galapagos come close). Go there soon, before the planned international airport opens and the world's most impressive tourist site becomes one of the world's busiest.

The place to stay is the Hotel de la Paix, a well-run modern hotel in the centre of bustling Siem Reap.

The service and the food are exemplary and they lay on traditional Cambodian dancing with all its old grace and control - an art thankfully recovering after the royal dancers, like everyone with any skill, talent or education, were massacred by the Khmer Rouge.

One day, somebody will explain why the most horrible things tend to happen in the nicest places.

Cambodia is utterly beautiful, its people are charming, its heritage unequalled.

Yet, in the lifetime of a single generation, it's been carpet-bombed by the Cold War, partly wiped out by a clique who made an ideology of insanity, and systematically raped by crooks with blood on their hands.

Tourism isn't the best hope. It may be the only hope for Cambodia to have the future it surely deserves.

Travel Facts

Seasons, 01244 202 000, www.seasons.co.uk, offers an 11-night trip through Cambodia and Laos, taking in Bangkok, Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh from £3,175pp.

Price includes flights, transfers and B&B accommodation at the Metropolitan Bangkok, Raffles Le Royal Phnom Penh, Hotel de la Paix Siem Reap, Settha Palace Vientiane and The Hotel Luang Prabang.

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Asian population surges in Austin [Texas]

Lena Chhom, 28, at MT Supermarket in Austin, is originally from Cambodia. She moved to Austin from Minnesota three years ago looking for better job opportunities

Growing numbers linked to jobs, community appeal

Friday, May 6, 2011
By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

When Channy Soeur came to Austin from Cambodia, there were maybe two or three Chinese restaurants in the city. Tops. And if you wanted Vietnamese, you could forget delivery the closest restaurant was in Houston.

That was 1977. Today there are 75 Vietnamese restaurants in Austin, nearly 200 Chinese eateries, 92 sushi joints and 63 Thai restaurants, according to a tally by Urbanspoon.com.

Pho may not yet be on par with Tex-Mex tacos or smoked brisket, but Asian food is "so normal (now), which means we have come a long way in terms of acceptance," says Soeur, the CEO of an Austin-based engineering firm and head of the statewide Network of Asian American Organizations, also based here.

Asians have come a long way in sheer numbers, too. New census data show that although Asians represent just 6.3 percent of Austin's nearly 800,000 residents, the Asian population has surged by 60 percent since 2000, making it the fastest-growing group in the city by percentage, at triple the rate of Austin's overall growth . At 49,560 people in 2010, Austin's diverse Asian population ranked second in the state, behind only Houston.

Asian growth in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos metro area was even more impressive, increasing 86 percent since 2000 to 82,040 people.

Among all major Texas cities, Austin has the largest Asian population share, said City of Austin demographer Ryan Robinson, who expects fast growth to continue — he predicts Asians will surpass African Americans by 2015 as the city's second-largest minority group after Hispanics. (Austin's African American population in 2010 was 60,760, a decrease of 3,499 since 2000.)

"Austin is very much on the map of up-and-coming Asian (destinations) in the U.S.," Robinson said. "Our Asian community is big enough where it becomes an attraction to other Asian households around the country."

Good reputation

Word of mouth is also selling Austin to Asians outside the U.S., said Esther Chung, an Asian neighborhood liaison for the Austin History Center. About 80 percent of metro Austin's Asians were born outside the U.S., Robinson said.

Jobs, notably in high tech; business opportunities; a relatively low cost of living; and the University of Texas are among factors driving the growth, Asian Americans say.

"I've known a lot of transplants from California who are moving here because the cost of living is lower," Chung said.

Like with other racial and ethnic groups, Asians here include a mix of professionals and the working class. The 2010 census didn't include income data, but the 2000 census found Asians had the second-highest median family income in the city, after non-Hispanic whites.

Austin counts Chinese, Koreans, Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Pakistanis and others among its Asians, with Indians and Vietnamese topping the list in 2000. The 2010 census did not ask about place of birth, but Robinson, the demographer, thinks Indian s and Vietnamese still are the largest Asian groups in Austin. People belonging to more than a dozen nationalities, races and ethnicities can self-identify as Asians on the census form.

"We have so many different cultures, languages and religions and political ideologies. We really need to pay attention to those differences instead of painting all Asians in the same corner," said Amy Wong Mok, founder and CEO of the Asian American Cultural Center in Austin.

Attractive to families

Jaya Shukla, 41, moved from San Francisco to Cedar Park in 2005 with her 46-year-old husband, Piyush .

Born in India, the couple have two children, ages 10 and 5. Moving from California was primarily Piyush's decision — he works for Dell and weighed Chicago and other cities before deciding on Austin.

But Austin has turned out to be a good fit for Shukla's haute couture clothing design business, Bridal Motif. She designs dresses for the surging South Asian market, but in Austin she found a growing demand among non-Asians, too. "You see every culture is being respected in Austin," Jaya said.

Opportunities to excel

In Austin, "there are less expectations on how you live, what you wear, how much you spend. It's what you want to do rather than what's expected of you," said Shivani Langer, who came from New Delhi in 2001 to get her master's degree at UT. Langer had been accepted to a number of U.S. schools, but chose UT for its relatively low tuition and because its architecture program was highly rated.

A 35-year-old architect intern, she met her future husband, Himanshu Save, at UT. He's an aerospace engineer and works at the university. Also from India, he came to Austin in 2000. They have a 5-year-old daughter and are expecting another.

"Austin is a good-size town where you can get quality time with family rather than spend a whole day traveling (to work) and working extra jobs to make ends meet," Langer said.

Economic optimism

Lena Chhom, a Cambodia-born 28-year-old, moved to Austin in 2008 from Minnesota, where she said the economy was in shambles.

"Companies were closing left and right. Austin was known as a tech town, and I figured it would be a great move for a job opportunity," Chhom said.

In Texas she landed a job as a marketing manager at a California-based tech company in Round Rock.

Chhom visited other Texas cities before deciding on Austin. "I think most people here are generally open-minded," she said. The climate is appealing for Asians who "are trying to make their mark here, trying to build a community and trying to introduce their culture," she said.

Friendly neighbors

On the first day of his IBM internship in Austin about five years ago, a confluence of events made a lasting impression on George Luc. First, while lunching at Guero's restaurant, he spotted film director Quentin Tarantino at the next table. "That was cool," Luc says. Walking out afterward, Luc was approached by a stranger who handed him something. His wallet. Luc had unknowingly dropped it.

"I felt there were a lot of kind people here. It was a great selling point," Luc recalls.

The sale was made in 2007 when the 28-year-old Chinese American moved here from Virginia. He is now a product manager for HomeAway Inc. and on the boards of two nonprofits.

Wider growth

The Austin area's Asian surge mirrors state and national trends. Nationally, the Asian population grew 43 percent since 2000, faster than any other major racial or ethnic group, according to the census. The Asian population grew by 71 percent in Texas.

What sets Austin apart from most cities, however, is the support system of professional, business and social organizations that's been carefully cultivated over many years, said Soeur, the president of the Asian organizations network. Groups like the Austin Asian American Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Society of Austin, the Cambodian Foundation and the umbrella Network of Asian American Organizations — which lists 15 member groups on its Web site — help ease transitions to life in Austin, particularly for the foreign-born.

"We who've lived here a long time have tried very hard to get the Asian community to assemble into the mainstream," Soeur said.

Together with churches and religious institutions, the organizations lead Asian newcomers to the places where they can pray, learn English, buy food and put their children in school.

Chhom, the Cambodian transplant from Minnesota, said the Asian social and professional groups bring together members of ethnic groups with histories of friction and war in their homelands.

"It's great to see all various types united together as a whole," Chhom said. "Sometimes to have a louder voice, you have to join hands."

Community's future

Asians here eagerly await the anticipated opening next year of the city's Asian American Resource Center, Soeur said, on a 15-acre site at Cameron Road and Clear Creek Drive in Northeast Austin.

Austin voters approved $5 million for the center in a 2006 bond election. Community leaders championed the center as a vehicle to stimulate commerce and to showcase the best of Asian culture, something all of Austin could enjoy. The project will include an assembly hall for community events, classrooms, conference and office spaces, and an Asian Information Center.

"Its impact will be huge. That center is going to be very busy," Soeur said.

The center grew out of efforts in the 1980s to remedy what some viewed as discrimination — the absence of Asians among the executive and managerial ranks of the City of Austin's workforce.

"We worked very hard so that the city could create a workforce that looked like the city itself. We made gains," Soeur said.

Asian s are making their mark in Austin, in board rooms and in adding to the city's vibrant diversity, Soeur said.

Now, he hopes to see Asians embark on a new, important chapter. "We have not done a lot of civic duty. Now we have to get out and start to get involved in the local community," Soeur said.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635

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Thailand, Cambodia Agree to Indonesian Observers at Border

Brian Padden
Jakarta May 06, 2011

via CAAI

Photo: AP

Thai women and children walk to a waiting bus to transport them home after sporadic fighting between Thai and Cambodian troops was reported at a refugee camp in Surin province, northeastern Thailand, May 2, 2011

Ahead of a regional summit, Indonesia's foreign minister has said Thailand and Cambodia agreed to allow Indonesian monitors to go to the border between the two countries to help prevent further military clashes.

In his role as the chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on Friday said there has been a breakthrough in ASEAN's efforts to mediate an end to the Thai-Cambodia border conflict.

"I can report to all of you that the two sides have agreed to the terms of reference for the observer team, the Indonesian observer team that we have been discussing for several weeks now," said Natalegawa. "That is a done thing in the sense that the negotiations have been concluded. Cambodia has formally acceded or formally agreed to the terms of reference. Thailand has also agreed to it but they are yet to fully conclude the formal exchange of documents."

The terms of reference include how many Indonesian observers will be dispatched and the specific areas along the border where they will operate.

Since February, more than 20 people have died in repeated clashes between the two ASEAN members along their disputed border. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes on both sides of the border.

The heart of the disagreement is a 900-year-old Hindu Khmer temple known as Preah Vihear in Cambodia and Prah Viharn in Thailand. The temple sits in Cambodia, but Thailand claims adjacent land that includes a key access route to the complex. The countries have fought sporadically over the border since 2008.

Natalegawa met with foreign ministers of the other ASEAN nations Friday. On Saturday, ASEAN national leaders begin a two-day summit in Jakarta.

The Indonesian foreign minister says talks Friday included the question of Burma's request to take over the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014. Human Rights Watch objects to the idea of Burma (also called Myanmar) leading the association, given it says, the country's long record of human rights abuses and its lack of democratic development.

While the ASEAN heads of states will decide if Burma's bid is accepted, Natalegawa said some concerns were expressed at the ministerial level.

"The state of readiness of Myanmar to chair ASEAN in 2014, which is quite a critical year for ASEAN, on the eve of its community in 2015, the state of readiness extends beyond practical arrangements readiness but also other dimensions that we need to ascertain ourselves," added Natalegawa.

Burma passed up its chance to take the rotating chairmanship in 2005, after the United States and European Union threatened to boycott ASEAN events if Burma's government was at the helm.

Natalegawa says the foreign ministers also addressed the issue of the South China Sea where China and some ASEAN countries have competing claims to small islands and areas believed to be rich in oil. He says ASEAN and China are continuing to work together to develop a declaration of conduct to help resolve disputes

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A Cool House in Cambodia

http://blogs.wsj.com/

via CAAI

By Mike Eckel

John Vink/Magnum Photos

Belgian photographer John Vink and his wife built a two-story home in Kep, Cambodia

Belgian photographer John Vink spent years splitting his time between Europe and Southeast Asia, shooting photographs of refugees in war-torn countries. Since 2000, he’s traveled a little less—going between Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, and the sleepy coastal town of Kep. But in early 2009, he decided to build a permanent place in the hills outside Kep.

The 62-year-old and his wife already owned several properties in the capital city. But he says they wanted to escape Phnom Penh’s incessant noise and pollution.

Mr. Vink bought the 2,000-square-meter lot from a local religious order that was moving its pagoda to a new location, and paid about $5 a square meter for the scrubby, jungly property. The nearby hills obscure the view of Kep’s shoreline over the Gulf of Thailand, which is why he says he paid less than the going rate for Kep property, which he estimates is about $100 a square meter. Instead, the home, which sits on a hillside roughly 60 meters above sea level, has a sweeping view of the Kampot plains to the northwest.

Mr. Vink hired Phnom Penh-based French architect Julien Sellon to build the 160-square-meter, two-level abode set onto the hillside with stilts. He worked with a French-trained Cambodian contractor, and got the bulk of the construction materials locally, with the exception of a few things, such as imported steel and cement.

Building on a hilltop is unusual in Cambodia because of cultural customs and costs, says Mr. Vink, so he faced some challenges in ensuring that he had an experienced contractor and proper permits. At one point a month after construction began, he thought all the permits were in order, until an inspector from the local environmental protection office showed up and ordered a halt to the project. But $300 in “fees” later—a sizeable sum in Cambodia—the necessary permits were obtained and the project moved forward, Mr. Vink says.

Built at a cost of about $170,000, including permits, architecture plans and construction materials, the house is newly completed, but Mr. Vink is still furnishing it and landscaping is a work in progress.

Native grasses, low jungle vegetation, plus the planned addition of various trees—cashew nut, mango, lemon and grapefruit–will eventually create a lush outdoor ambience. Three terraces and other landscaping will link the house to the swimming pool, set about four meters below.

To blunt the effect of the often-piercing sun, the architect, Mr. Sellon, decided to cover the southern-facing side of the house with steel horizontal louvers. They’re set away from the exterior wall by about one meter and function as a sort of Venetian blind, allowing shaded air to circulate along the sunny, south wall. Mr. Vink says he plans to put in greenery to grow up and down alongside the louvers.

The steel louvers also cover the top half-meter of the western and northwestern sides of the building, above the balcony, shading the living area—which has three-meter-high ceilings—from the midday sun.

Building an environmentally efficient house was part of the goal, says Mr. Vink. A rooftop passive solar water heater helps keep monthly electricity costs to about $100 or so (to power some appliances and the pump filter for the pool). He’s looked into wind power, and says he hopes to eventually install photovoltaic solar panels to generate electricity. And he’s considered putting a “green” roof on top—growing vegetation on the roof to provide insulation from the sun.

An environmentally friendly cooling system was central to the plan: A chimney-type design is built into the middle of the house, and functions as a wind-driven cooling system. Air rises from ground level after passing over a small, artificial pond (filled with fish, frogs and lily pads) and draws the water-cooled air up to the second-level living area, before moving out through a vented skylight. Mr. Vink says the sea winds that travel to the hills provide a constant breeze moving into, up and out of the house, eliminating any need for air-conditioning.

The home’s three bedrooms all have a three-level, split layout, so that you can see the view from the window while sleeping or standing. The top-most opening is shaded by louvers and is open to the outside. The steady wind circulating through house, according to Mr. Vink, keeps the mosquitoes at bay.

Like all construction projects, there were a few blips: Mr. Vink says thieves have twice swiped the copper wires that run electricity up the one-kilometer hill from the road to the house. But those headaches are a small price to pay for a home and a view that, he says, “Cleans the head and gives a bit of room to contemplate the world.”

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Bank of China sets to launch Cambodian branch

http://www.istockanalyst.com/

via CAAI

Friday, May 06, 2011

PHNOM PENH, May 6, 2011 (Xinhua News Agency) -- The Bank of China (OOTC:BACHY) pledges to bridge closer economic ties between the two countries, said the visiting Yue Yi, vice president of Bank of China, on Friday.

"The presence of the Bank of China in Cambodia is to strengthen and expand friendship and economic cooperation between Cambodia and China," Yue Yi said at a meeting with the governor of National Bank of Cambodia, Chea Chanto.

The Bank of China Phnom Penh Branch is scheduled to launch officially on May 7.

He said that with the bank's presence here, it will help facilitate business activities between the two countries. "We will also help to encourage more Chinese investors to Cambodia."

Meanwhile, Chea Chanto expressed his full support for the presence of the bank in Cambodia.

"The operation of the Bank of China in Cambodia reflects the trust of foreign investors on Cambodia," he said, "It's also a sign of progress in Cambodia's banking industry."

The governor said that Cambodia's banking industry, currently, is quite stable.

By the end of 2010, the customers' deposits grew by 26 percent to 4.16 billion U.S. dollars, while the customer credits increased by 26.7 percent to 3.18 billion U.S. dollars.

Also, the ratio of the non-performing loan in the banking industry has declined to only 3 percent as of April, said the governor.

Including the presence of Bank of China, there are 30 commercial banks in the country so far.

(Source: Quotemedia)

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AKP - The Agence Kampuchea Press

via CAAI

Samdech Heng Samrin Leaves for AIPA Meeting in Indonesia

AKP Phnom Penh, May 6, 2011 – A high-ranking delegation of the National Assembly led by its president Samdech Akka Moha Ponhea Chakrei Heng Samrin departed here on Friday for Jakarta, Indonesia to participate in the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) with the ASEAN heads of state/government, taking place from May 6 to 8.

The delegation was seen off at Phnom Penh International Airport by H.E. Nguon Nhel and H.E. Say Chhum, respectively First and Second NA Vice Presidents and other NA members.

At the meeting, Samdech Heng Samrin will deliver a speech related to security, socio-economy and good cooperation between neighboring countries, and urge the ASEAN heads of state/government to fully implement the ASEAN Charter.

The Cambodian delegation is scheduled to return home on May 8.

By SOKMOM Nimul

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PM To Raise Thai Repeated Aggressions at 18th ASEAN Summit in Jakarta

AKP Phnom Penh, May 6, 2011 – Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, will raise the issue of Thailand’s repeated acts of aggression against Cambodia at the ASEAN Summit to be held on May 7-8.

H.E. Sry Thamrong, Delegate Minister attached to the Prime Minister, told reporters this morning at Phnom Penh International Airport before the departure of the Cambodian delegation led by Premier Techo Hun Sen to Jakarta, Indonesia to attend the 18th ASEAN Summit at the invitation of H.E. Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia.

This issue affects the ASEAN’s image because we are building an ASEAN Community, explained the delegate minister, adding that if the fighting continues, we can not build a harmonized ASEAN Community.

According to a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the meeting will discuss a wide range of issues including the Implementation of the ASEAN Charter and Roadmap for ASEAN Community, the Implementation of the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, the ASEAN External Relations, the ASEAN Community in a Global Community of Nations, and the Exchange of Views on Regional and International Issues, especially the situation at the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

At the end of the meeting, H.E. Dr. H. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Chairman of the 18th ASEAN Summit will hold a Press Conference, and an Agreement on the Establishment of ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Center) will be signed by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers.

On the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit, Samdech Techo Prime Minister will have a bilateral meeting with President of the Republic of the Philippines.

By SOKMOM Nimul

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Cambodian FM: ICJ To Hold a Session to Solve Preah Vihear Temple Border Issue on May 30

AKP Phnom Penh, May 6, 2011 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague will hold a session from May 30 to 31 to take necessary actions for Preah Vihear Temple border issue raised by Cambodia, said Deputy Prime Minister H.E. Hor Namhong.

Before leaving Phnom Penh International Airport on May 5 for the ASEAN Summit in Indonesia, H.E. Hor Namhong, also Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation told reporters that in the morning of May 30 Cambodia will be asked to present a statement for two hours, while in the afternoon Thailand will be asked to give a clarification for two hours.

“In the morning of May 31, Cambodia will be allowed to present arguments for half an hour, while in the afternoon Thailand will reply back,” he said.

ICJ will decide what urgent necessary actions will be taken to ensure a ceasefire, stability and security along the deputed border, as well as keeping the calmness so that ICJ could clarify the 1962 verdict on Preah Vihear Temple, he said, adding that the interpretation will take a little long time.

The Cambodian foreign minister recalled Cambodia’s petition filed on April 28, saying that Cambodia asked ICJ to take immediate necessary actions for how to make a ceasefire.

Cambodia has not just made a preparation for the resolution at this time, he said, we have prepared this matter for many years, referring to Cambodia’s preparation to enter the meeting to deal with the dispute issue requested by the Cambodian side to ICJ.

Cambodian team comprises lawyers from France, England, the United State and Australia, he said.

By THOU Peou

______

Statement of ICAPP Standing Committee on the Situation on the Border between Cambodia and Thailand

AKP Phnom Penh, May 6, 2011 — The International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) has issued a statement, expressing its concern on the situation that has risen on the border between Cambodia and Thailand.

The full statement reads as follows:

“Statement of ICAPP Standing Committee

on the Situation on the Border between Cambodia and Thailand

The Standing Committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), the most representative body representing the ruling, opposition and independent parties, at its meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 5, 2011, expresses its serious concern on the situation that has risen on the border between Cambodia and Thailand, particularly the recent clashes, including large-scale artillery operations, the use of cluster ammunitions and ground assaults. The ICAPP Standing Committee endorses the statement of the United Nations Secretary General, His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, urging both countries to take “immediate measures for an effective and verifiable ceasefire”. The ICAPP also urges the parties to establish a permanent ceasefire and resolve the situation peacefully through effective political dialogue.

The ICAPP Standing Committee welcomes the initiative of ASEAN, through its Chairman, Indonesia, for organizing a dialogue between Cambodia and Thailand. As peace-loving members of the international community, the ICAPP, voicing the sentiments of the Asian people, rejects as unacceptable the use of force and sincerely hopes that peace will prevail through dialogue and effective negotiation.

In this regard, the ICAPP Standing Committee expresses its willingness to play any role, that is desirable by both parties, to defuse the situation and to help ensure the return of normalcy on the border between Cambodia and Thailand. We also urge both sides to respect all international treaties and covenants under international law and the United Nations Charter. We ask the ASEAN leaders who will meet in Jakarta on May 7-8, 2011, in the ASEAN Summit to do their utmost to put the process in place for an effective and verifiable ceasefire, with the introduction of the ASEAN-designated Indonesian military observers.”

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DPM Sok An’s Remarks at the 15th Meeting of the ICAPP Standing Committee in Kuala Lumpur

AKP Phnom Penh, May 6, 2011 — The following is the full remarks by H.E. Sok An, Standing Committee Member of the Cambodian People’s Party, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister in charge of the Office of the Council of Ministers, Member of the ICAPP Standing Committee at the 15th Meeting of the ICAPP Standing Committee in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 5, posted on the website of the Council of Ministers

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