CambodiaWatch-Australia

Viet Nam and Cambodia boost border co-operation

2012-03-11T07:46:00.000+11:00

Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — The seventh meeting on co-operation and development between the border provinces of Cambodia and Viet Nam began yesterday in HCM City, co-chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh and Cambodian Deputy Primer Minister Sar Kheng.
At the meeting, the two sides praised each other's co-operative efforts between ministries and local authorities in border provinces, particularly in implementing agreements on safety and security, improvement of socio-economic activities and the maintaining of good friendships between the border provinces.
The two countries also pledged to create more favourable conditions in promoting co-operation and friendship among localities.
Despite the serious impact from the global downturn, trade relations between Viet Nam and Cambodia maintained growth with turnover of US$2.8 billion last year, an increase of 54 per cent in comparison with 2010.
For the next five years, the two countries have targeted to reach $5 billion in trade by providing tax privileges for each partner's commodities; simplifying customs procedures; opening bank branches on the border; strengthening information exchange; implementing bilateral memoranda on market watches and organising annual conferences on trade development and co-operation between the border provinces of Cambodia and Viet Nam.

Trade fairs and exhibitions, conferences and business forums have been encouraged to organise on a regular basis.
The master plan for markets along the border during the 2010-2020 period should be completed soon and pilot projects for the border markets will be completed this year.
Regulations to manage the border markets should be researched, along with solutions to stop smuggling and trade fraud.
Cambodia praised Vietnamese investment projects in the country and pledged to conduct research on how it could give Viet Nam more incentives for investment in the border area, especially for hydropower projects.
In the near future, more attention will be paid to transport infrastructure in order to create a good road system linking all economic zones and markets at the border gate.
The master plan to link transport between border provinces will be finished soon.
The two sides also pledged to sign a financial memorandum to build the Cambodian part of the Long Binh – Chary Thom bridge project.
Co-operation in agriculture, forestry and marine sectors will be promoted by exchanging experiences, techniques and information, and providing high-yield animal breed and plant seed.
Officials will also strengthen animal quarantine, insect and disease control and illegal trade in animals and wood.
To celebrate "Year of Viet Nam -Cambodia Friendship 2012", there will be cultural, art and sports exchanges.
Work on defining the landmarks for the border line between the two countries will continue as well.
The two sides promised to speed up the remaining work for a peaceful, friendly, co-operative and developed border.
Co-operation to maintain security and order inside each nation as well as the border area have also achieved good results.
The two countries also pledged not to allow any of their forces to invade and violate the other's territory.
To continue the fight against illegal immigration and inter-continental crimes, the border will maintain their joint patrols, support each other in securing orders, and hold regular meetings.
In addition, local authorities will educate border residents about border regulations and take part in the search for bodies of Vietnamese solders who died in Cambodia.
During the meeting, the Cambodian side appraised and thanked the medical check-ups that are regularly given by Vietnamese doctors in their country.
The eighth meeting on co-operation and development between border provinces of Cambodia and Viet Nam will be held in Cambodia in 2013. — VNS

ឫសគល់នៃការផ្តាច់ខ្លួនរបស់អ្នកនយោបាយ

2012-03-11T07:10:00.000+11:00

សៅរ៍ 10 មីនា 2012

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©ចាន់ណា

ដោយ ប៉ែន បូណា

ឲ្យតែដល់ពេលជិតបោះឆ្នោត សកម្មភាពនយោបាយឈូឆរក៏បានផ្តើមកើតឡើងជាពិសេសចលនាផ្តាច់ខ្លួនពី គណបក្សមួយទៅចូលគណបក្សមួយទៀត។ គណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជាហាក់ដូចជាលេចធ្លោជាងគេក្នុងការប្រកាសទទួល យកសកម្មជនពីគណបក្សផ្សេង។ ប៉ុន្តែ គណបក្សកាន់អំណាចមួយនេះបានរងការរិះគន់ថា បានប្រើប្រាស់មធ្យោបាយគាបសង្កត់ឬលុយកាក់ដើម្បីអូសទាញសមាជិកពី គណបក្សផ្សេង។ ចំណែកឯអ្នកផ្តាច់ខ្លួនវិញ ត្រូវបានគណបក្សសាមីចោទថា ជាឈ្លឹកឈើជ្រុះឬជាមាសក្លែងក្លាយទៅវិញ។ តើអ្វីទៅជាឫសគល់ពិតប្រាកដនៃចលនាផ្តាច់ខ្លួនរបស់សកម្មជន នយោបាយ?

នៅសល់តែប៉ុន្មានខែទៀតមុនការបោះឆ្នោតក្រុមប្រឹក្សាឃុំ សង្កាត់ចូលមកដល់ ចលនាផ្តាច់ខ្លួនរបស់អ្នកនយោបាយ ឬសកម្មជននយោបាយកំពុងកើតឡើងយ៉ាងសកម្ម។ បន្តិច គេលឺសូរគណបក្សនេះទទួលយកសកម្មជនគណបក្សនោះ ជាពិសេស អ្វីដែលគេបានឃើញញឹកញាប់ជាងគេគឺគណបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជារៀបចំពិធី ទទួលយកសកម្មជន និងសមាជិកគណបក្សប្រឆាំងមកចូលរួមជាមួយខ្លួន។
ចលនាផ្តាច់ខ្លួនពីបក្សមួយទៅបក្សមួយមិនមែនជារឿងថ្មីទេ សម្រាប់ឆាកនយោបាយប្រទេសកម្ពុជា ប៉ុន្តែ វាជារឿងដែលគួរតែស្វែងយល់។ ជាទូទៅ អ្នកដែលបោះបង់គណបក្សរបស់ខ្លួនទៅចូលរួមជាមួយបក្សផ្សេងវិញតែងតែ ស្តីបន្ទោសគណបក្សចាស់ថា គ្មានប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ បក្សពួកនិយម មានអំពើពុករលួយ ឬក៏បានបោកប្រាស់ពួកគេជាដើម។ ចំណែកឯគណបក្សដែលមានសកម្មជនរត់ចេញឯណោះវិញ បានហៅអតីតសកម្មជនទាំងនោះថា ជាស្លឹកឈើជ្រុះ ជាអ្នកលក់ខ្លួន ឬក៏ជាមាសក្លែងក្លាយគ្មានតម្លៃ។ មិនតែប៉ុណ្ណោះ បក្សប្រឆាំងក៏បានរិះគន់បក្សកាន់អំណាចថាបានប្រើមធ្យោបាយគំរាម ឬលុយកាក់ដើម្បីអូសទាញសមាជិករបស់ខ្លួន។

អ្វីដែលគេបានឃើញ និងបានស្តាប់លឺទាំងនេះគឺជាការចោទប្រកាន់ផងនិងជាការពិតផងដែល នៅលាយឡំគ្នាពិបាកញែក។ ពិបាកញែកនៅត្រង់ថា នៅកម្ពុជាការប្រកួតប្រជែងខាងនយោបាយនៅមានសភាពស្រួចស្រាល់និងមិន ទាន់មានតម្លាភាព និងសុច្ចរិតភាពគ្រប់គ្រាន់នៅឡើយ។ កង្វះតម្លាភាព និងសុច្ចរិតភាព ទាំងនៅក្នុងប្រព័ន្ធទូទៅក៏ដូចជានៅក្នុងផ្នត់គំនិតមនុស្សផងនោះ នៅតែផ្តល់ឱកាសឲ្យគណបក្សនយោបាយអាចប្រកួតប្រជែងគ្នាក្នុងទីងងឹត បាននៅឡើយ។ ដូច្នេះ ការគំរាមកំហែង ការទិញទឹកចិត្ត ឬក៏ការងាករេតាមផលប្រយោជន៍ផ្ទាល់ខ្លួនរបស់អ្នកនយោបាយមួយចំនួន គឺជារឿងដែលគេមិនអាចបដិសេធបាន។ នៅក្នុងបរិបទបែបនេះ គណបក្សណាដែលមានមធ្យោបាយខ្លាំងជាង គណបក្សនោះនឹងមានឱកាសឈ្នះច្រើនជាងជាមិនខានឡើយ។

យ៉ាងណាក៏ដោយ ការផ្លាស់ប្តូរពីគណបក្សមួយទៅមួយក៏អាចជាកំហុសឆ្គងរបស់គណបក្ស នយោបាយនីមួយៗដែរ។ បក្សនយោបាយមួយអាចមើលពីខាងក្រៅទៅស្អាតស្អំគួរឲ្យស្រឡាញ់ ប៉ុន្តែ ដល់ពេលចូលដល់ខាងក្នុងទិដ្ឋភាពពិតបែរជាផ្ទុយពីការរំពឹងទុកទៅ វិញ។ បញ្ហាដូចបានលើកឡើងទាំងអស់នេះហើយដែលបង្កើតបានជាចលនាផ្លស់ប្តូរ បក្សនយោបាយចុះឡើងៗមិនចេះចប់។

ដើម្បីឈានទៅកាត់បន្ថយ ឬលុបបំបាត់ចលនាបែបនេះ មានកិច្ចការជាច្រើនដែលត្រូវពិនិត្យមើលឡើងវិញ។ ទី១៖អ្នកនយោបាយខ្លួនឯងត្រូវតែគិតឲ្យបានច្បាស់លាស់ថា តើធ្វើនយោបាយដើម្បីស្វែងរកប្រយោជន៍ផ្ទាល់ខ្លួនឬប្រយោជន៍ ប្រទេសជាតិជាធំ? ជាទូទៅ អ្នកនយោបាយពិតប្រាកដត្រូវមានឧត្តមគតិ និងគោលដៅច្បាស់លាស់ ហើយត្រូវដើរឆ្ពោះទៅសម្រេចគោលដៅនោះដោយមិនងាករេទៅតាមផល ប្រយោជន៍ផ្ទាល់ខ្លួនឡើយ។ អ្នកធ្វើនយោបាយដើម្បីតែស្វែងរកប្រយោជន៍ផ្ទាល់ខ្លួន នឹងនាំប្រទេសជាតិនិងប្រជាពលរដ្ឋទៅរកគ្រោះថ្នាក់។ នេះជាអ្វីដែលគេត្រូវពិចារណា។
ទី២៖ អ្នកដឹកនាំបក្សនយោបាយវិញ ក៏ត្រូវតែពិនិត្យមើលគណបក្សរបស់ខ្លួនឡើងវិញដែរថា តើអ្វីដែលខ្លួនបានធ្វើសមស្របទៅនឹងឧត្តមគតិដែលខ្លួនបានឃោសនា បង្ហាញគេដែរឬទេ? ជួនកាលអ្នកដែលពូកែឃោសនាឲ្យគេជឿ មិនប្រាកដថាអាចធ្វើបានដូចការនិយាយនោះឡើយ។ នេះក៏ជាប្រភពនៃការខកចិត្តដែលនាំឲ្យមានរលកចលនាចាកចោលគណបក្ស ដែរ។

ដូច្នេះ ការរង់ចាំតែបន្ទោសអ្នកចាកចេញ ដោយមិនបានឆ្លុះបញ្ចាំងមើលខ្លួនឯងក៏ជាកំហុសឆ្គងមួយដែរ។ និងទី៣៖ ការកសាងវប្បធម៌ប្រកួតប្រជែងដោយតម្លាភាព និងសុចរិតភាពដោយគ្មានការគំរាមកំហែង ឬទិញទឹកចិត្តគឺជាគន្លឹះមិនអាចខ្វះបានក្នុងការកសាងបរិយាកាសល្អ បរិសុទ្ធនៅក្នុងឆាកនយោបាយ។ ប្រសិនបើកត្តាសំខាន់ៗទាំងនេះអាចកើតមានមែននោះ ចលនាផ្តាច់ខ្លួនច្បាស់ជានឹងមិនកើតមានទៀតឡើយ ហើយបើទោះជាមាន ក៏វាលែងជាប្រធានបទនៃការចោទប្រកាន់ និងលាបពណ៌គ្នាតទៅទៀតដែរ៕

តើការចម្លងប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តជាការរំលោភកម្មសិទ្ធិបញ្ញាដែរឬទេ?

2012-03-11T07:07:00.000+11:00

ថ្ងៃ សៅរ៍ 10 មីនា 2012

RFI

ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្ត នៅសៀមរាប កម្ពុជា

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ដោយ សេង ឌីណា
ព័ត៌មានស្តីពីការណ៍ដែលអង្គការក្រៅរដ្ឋាភិបាលមួយ នៅឥណ្ឌា កំពុងរៀបចំសាងសង់ប្រាសាទ ដោយចម្លងតាមទាំងស្រុងពីប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តរបស់កម្ពុជា កំពុងតែធ្វើឲ្យមានភាពចម្រូងចម្រាសយ៉ាងខ្លាំង។ ការបញ្ចេញយោបល់ប្រឆាំងនឹងការចម្លងនេះក៏កំពុងតែផុសផុលខ្លាំង ក្នុងចំណោមប្រជាជនកម្ពុជាជាទូទៅ។ ចំណែកក្នុងជួរមន្រ្តីរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជាវិញ គេឃើញមានការបញ្ចេញយោបល់ខុសៗគ្នាជុំវិញបញ្ហានេះ។ សំណួរសួរថា តាមផ្លូវច្បាប់ តើការចម្លងប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តនេះ គឺជាការរំលោភលើកម្មសិទ្ធិបញ្ញាដែរឬទេ?

ការសង់ប្រាសាទថ្មី ដោយចម្លងតាមប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្ត ដែលគេកំពុងធ្វើនៅឥណ្ឌា នៅពេលនេះ គឺចូលក្នុងករណីចម្លងស្នាដៃស្ថាបត្យកម្ម ដែលជាផ្នែកមួយ នៃសិទ្ធិអ្នកនិពន្ធ។ នៅក្នុងក្របខ័ណ្ឌច្បាប់កម្ពុជា ស្នាដៃស្ថាបត្យកម្ម ទទួលបាននូវការការពារពីសំណាក់ច្បាប់ ស្តីពីសិទ្ធិអ្នកនិពន្ធ និងសិទ្ធិប្រហាក់ប្រហែល ឆ្នាំ២០០៣។
នៅក្នុងក្របខ័ណ្ឌច្បាប់អន្តរជាតិ សិទ្ធិអ្នកនិពន្ធទទួលបាននូវការការពារពីសំណាក់អនុសញ្ញាសំខាន់ៗពីរ គឺអនុសញ្ញាក្រុងប៊ែន (Berne Convention 1886) និងអនុសញ្ញាក្រុងហ្សឺណែវ ស្តីពី
សិទ្ធិជាសកលនៃអ្នកនិពន្ធ (Universal Copyright Convention 1952)។ កម្ពុជា និងឥណ្ឌា គឺជាសមាជិកនៃអនុសញ្ញាក្រុងហ្សឺណែវនេះ។ ម្យ៉ាងទៀត ប្រទេសទាំងពីរសុទ្ធសឹងជាសមាជិកអង្គការពាណិជ្ជកម្មពិភពលោក និងអង្គការកម្មសិទ្ធិបញ្ញាអន្តរជាតិ។ ដូច្នេះ ឥណ្ឌាមានកាតព្វកិច្ចគោរពសិទ្ធិអ្នកនិពន្ធ ដែលមានចែងក្នុងច្បាប់របស់កម្ពុជា។
ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ ទាំងនៅក្នុងច្បាប់កម្ពុជា និងនៅក្នុងអនុសញ្ញាអន្តរជាតិ ស្នាដៃស្ថាបត្យកម្មមិនទទួលបាននូវការការពារជារៀងរហូត ដោយគ្មានកាលកំណត់នោះទេ។ ច្បាប់របស់កម្ពុជា (ក៏ដូចជាអនុសញ្ញាក្រុងប៊ែន) បានកំណត់ថា សិទ្ធិបេតិកភណ្ឌរបស់អ្នកនិពន្ធទទួលបានការការពារតែក្នុងរយៈពេល ៥០ឆ្នាំប៉ុណ្ណោះ ក្រោយពីការស្លាប់របស់អ្នកនិពន្ធ។
ដូច្នេះ ស្នាដៃស្ថាបត្យកម្មប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្ត ដែលសាងសង់ដោយអតីតព្រះមហាក្សត្រខ្មែរ តាំងពីរាប់រយឆ្នាំមកហើយនោះ ប្រាកដជាត្រូវហួសពេលកំណត់ ដែលការពារដោយច្បាប់ហើយ។
នៅក្នុងក្របខ័ណ្ឌអង្គការយូណេស្កូវិញ ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្ត ដែលត្រូវចុះក្នុងបញ្ជីបេតិកភណ្ឌពិភពលោក ទទួលបាននូវការការពារពីសំណាក់ អនុសញ្ញា ឆ្នាំ១៩៧២។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ អនុសញ្ញានេះ មានចែងតែអំពីការការពារ និងការអភិរក្សប្រាសាទ កុំឲ្យបាក់បែក ឬខូចខាតតែប៉ុណ្ណោះ មិនមានចែងអំពីការការពារស្នាដៃស្ថាបត្យកម្ម ពីការថតចម្លងនោះទេ។

Tour Eiffel នៅកាស៊ីណូ Las Vegas សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក

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នៅ ក្នុងការអនុវត្តជាក់ស្តែង ការចម្លងសម្បត្តិវប្បធម៌ ដែលជាបេតិកភណ្ឌពិភពលោក មិនមែនទើបតែនឹងកើតមានឡើង ចំពោះប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តរបស់កម្ពុជានៅពេលនេះទេ។ Tour Eiffel របស់បារាំងត្រូវបានគេចម្លងប្រមាណជា ៣០ ដូចជា Tour Eiffel នៅកាស៊ីណូ Las Vegas (សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក) ដែលជាការចម្លងដូចបេះបិទ គ្រាន់តែមានទំហំទាបជាងពាក់កណ្តាល។ អង់តែន Tokyo Tower នៅជប៉ុន សង់យកលំនាំតាម ហើយមានកម្ពស់ខ្ពស់ជាង Tour Eiffel មែនទែន ដោយគ្រាន់តែលាបពណ៌ខុសគ្នា (ពណ៌ស លាយក្រហម)។
ករណីសង់ចម្លងក្នុងទំហំប៉ុនរបស់ដើម គេក៏ធ្លាប់មានដែរចំពោះ Stonehenge របស់អង់គ្លេស (សង់ចម្លងនៅវ៉ាស៊ីងតោន សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក) Parthenon របស់ក្រិក (សង់ចម្លងនៅទីក្រុង Nashville រដ្ឋ Tennessee សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក)។ Taj Mahal របស់ឥណ្ឌាខ្លួនឯងក៏ត្រូវបានគេសង់ចម្លងដូចគ្នាបេះបិទដែរ នៅក្នុងប្រទេសបង់ក្លាដែស។

Taj Mahal នៅបង់ក្លាដែស ដែលចម្លងពី Taj Mahal របស់ឥណ្ឌា

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គួរ បញ្ជាក់ថា ការសង់ចម្លង Taj Mahal នៅបង់ក្លាដែស គឺជាគម្រោងរបស់មហាសេដ្ឋី ជាម្ចាស់ផលិតកម្មភាពយន្តជនជាតិបង់ក្លាដែសម្នាក់ ដោយត្រូវចំណាយលុយប្រមាណ ៥៨លានដុល្លារសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក និងរយៈពេលសាងសង់ប្រមាណ ៥ឆ្នាំ ហើយចាប់បើកទ្វារឲ្យទេសចរចូលទស្សនា នៅឆ្នាំ២០០៩។
ការសង់ចម្លង Taj Mahal នៅបង់ក្លាដែស ក៏បានធ្វើឲ្យមានការតវ៉ាប្រឆាំងយ៉ាងខ្លាំងក្លាដែរ ទាំងពីសំណាក់រដ្ឋាភិបាល និងប្រជាជនឥណ្ឌា។ ឯកអគ្គរដ្ឋទូតឥណ្ឌាប្រចាំប្រទេសបង់ក្លាដែសថែមទាំងបានគំរាមប្តឹង អ្នកចម្លងនេះទៀតផង ដោយចោទពីបទរំលោភលើកម្មសិទ្ធិបញ្ញា។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ អ្នកច្បាប់ឥណ្ឌាជាច្រើនបានពន្យល់ថា សិទ្ធិលើស្នាដៃស្ថាបត្យកម្ម Taj Mahal បានហួសរយៈពេលកំណត់នៃការការពារដោយអនុសញ្ញាអន្តរជាតិហើយ។
បើទោះជាមិនអាចដាក់បណ្តឹងតាមផ្លូវច្បាប់ ក៏នៅតែមានមតិជាទូទៅ នៅឥណ្ឌា នាំគ្នាតវ៉ាប្រឆាំងនឹងការចម្លង Taj Mahal នៅបង់ក្លាដែស ដោយលើកឡើងថា ការចម្លងនេះអាចនឹងធ្វើឲ្យទេសចរទៅទស្សនា Taj Mahal មែនទែន នៅឥណ្ឌាត្រូវធ្លាក់ចុះ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ ទីបំផុត នៅក្រោយពេលដែល Taj Mahal នៅបង់ក្លាដែសសាងសង់រួច ហើយបើកទ្វារឲ្យទេសចរចូលទស្សនា គេមិនឃើញមានផលប៉ះពាល់ដល់ចំនួនអ្នកទៅទស្សនា Taj Mahal មែនទែន នៅឥណ្ឌា ភាពចម្រូងចម្រាសក៏បានស្ងប់ទៅវិញ។

ប្រាសាទ Parthenon នៅក្រិក (ឆ្វេង) និងប្រាសាទចម្លងនៅអាមេរិក

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តាមការ សង្កេតកន្លងមក ការសង់ចម្លងអច្ឆរិយវត្ថុសំខាន់ៗ ដូចជា Tour Eiffel, Stonehenge និង Parthenon ជាដើម ហាក់ដូចជាមិនបានធ្វើឲ្យប៉ះពាល់ដល់ចំនួនអ្នកទៅទស្សនា អច្ឆរិយវត្ថុមែនទែន នៅកន្លែងដើមនោះទេ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ ទោះជាយ៉ាងណា ភាពចម្រូងចម្រាសជុំវិញកម្មសិទ្ធិបញ្ញាលើអច្ឆរិយវត្ថុក៏តែងតែកើតមាន ជារឿយៗដែរ៕

Krour Sar Thmei- A Story of Khmer orphans returning from Site 2 Refugee camp (Thailand) in 1992

2012-03-10T14:17:00.011+11:00

In 1993 I was engaged by a film maker in Sydney to embark on my first project of doing translation and subtitle for a documentary about Jack Thomson and returnee orphans of Krour sar Thmei from site 2 camp to Cambodia.It was quite a tireless and challenging task but satisfying. Coincide with the 20th anniversary of the repatriations of Khmer refugees from Thailand-Cambodia border here are some of the clips of those returnee orphans and the emotional reunion of Jack Thompson and those kids 19th years later.

Collection of Khmer Refugee's story:Thai robbery near refugee camp - late 1979

2012-03-10T13:18:00.002+11:00

Courtesy of SY

It was late 1979 when our family was living in Khmer Refugee Camp 007 which was also known as Chumrum Thmey (New Camp).

For survival, my brother, my cousin and I often crossed the border into Thai villages before dawn to buy some groceries and came back before day break. We would later sell our goods to make some profit.

We always went as a group as there were Thai bandits everywhere. They would rob us if we were alone and if we were caught by the Thai Army that was it, "Aller sans retour".

One day, I had finished buying groceries from the Thai villagers and was on my way back to the camp when the robbery happened. With my groceries balanced over a shoulder pole (Rek Amrek), I ventured into an alleyway, lined with about six Thai bandits. I initially thought they were Khmer but then I realised they were Thai bandits when one of them said “Pai Pai” to me to ‘go’ down the alleyway. I quickly turned around and ran as fast as I could from the way I’d initially come from. However I couldn't run fast because of the load of the shoulder pole and groceries on my shoulder.

After running about fifteen metres I looked back. And to my complete shock, I saw that they were chasing me. One pirate was only about two metres behind me, brandishing a horrifying sword. It looked like he wanted to run the knife through me and cut me to pieces.

I was so terrified.

My immediate reaction was "run for my life and not to worry about the Amrek on my shoulder". So I threw what I was carrying away and ran as fast as I could. After about thirty metres, I looked back and saw that they had ended their chase. I stopped and took a few deep breathes to calm myself. I was very shaky and my heart was pounding very fast.

I was so lucky to be alive and escaped without any injuries.

After I arrived back to the camp, my mum never allowed me or anyone else to become a Risky Trader anymore.
And that was the scariest moment of my life …

ពលរដ្ឋចោទបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សថាយករូបថតបិទនៅទីសាធារណៈ

2012-03-10T12:43:00.000+11:00

RFA

ដោយ ខែ សុណង

2012-03-07

ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋមួយចំនួនរស់នៅខណ្ឌមានជ័យ រាជធានីភ្នំពេញ បានចោទប្រកាន់មន្ត្រីគណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សថា បានយករូបថតរបស់ពួកគេបិទជាសាធារណៈបង្ហាញថា ពួកគេជាសមាជិកគណបក្សនោះ ដោយពុំមានការអនុញ្ញាតពីសាមីខ្លួន។

ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋរស់នៅភូមិព្រែកតានូ សង្កាត់ចាក់អង្រែលើ ខណ្ឌមានជ័យ រាជធានីភ្នំពេញ បានប្រតិកម្មចំពោះករណីមន្ត្រីគណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស ដោយសុំឲ្យបករូបថត និងឈ្មោះរបស់ពួកគាត់ចេញពីតារាងមួយដែលមន្ត្រីគណបក្សនេះ បានបិទបង្ហាញនៅក្នុងបឋមសិក្សាចាក់អង្រែលើ។

ស្ត្រីឈ្មោះ គ្រុយ ផល ពលរដ្ឋរស់នៅភូមិព្រែកតានូ បានឲ្យដឹងនៅថ្ងៃទី៧ មីនា ថា ក្នុងរយៈពេលជាងមួយសប្ដាហ៍មកនេះ មន្ត្រីគណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សប្រចាំមូលដ្ឋានរបស់គាត់ និងក្រុមការងារគណបក្សនេះដែលគាត់មិនស្គាល់ឈ្មោះ បានទៅបញ្ចុះបញ្ចូលពួកគាត់បោះឆ្នោតឲ្យគណបក្សនេះ។ គាត់បន្តថា ក្រុមការងារគណបក្សនេះបានសុំឈ្មោះ និងរូបថតពីពួកគាត់ ប៉ុន្តែបែរជាយកទៅបិទបង្ហាញនៅលើក្ដារខៀនក្នុងទីធ្លាសាលាបឋមសិក្សាចាក់អង្រែលើទៅវិញ។

ស្ត្រីឈ្មោះ គ្រុយ ផល៖ «ខ្ញុំមិនទាន់ហ៊ានទៅបកផង ប៉ុន្តែប្អូនថ្លៃខ្ញុំវាលួចទៅបក ២នាក់ប្ដីប្រពន្ធវាភ័យពេកនោះ។ ហើយទៅល្ងាចមិញអាអ្នកចុះកត់ឈ្មោះនោះ ថាសុំរូបថតខ្ញុំ និងឈ្មោះខ្ញុំមកវិញមក ហេតុអីបានយកខ្ញុំទៅឈរឈ្មោះអ៊ីចឹង ព្រោះអីខ្ញុំចុះឈ្មោះអត់មានថា ឈរតំណាងអីមួយទេ ហេតុអីយករូបថតខ្ញុំទៅតាំងអ៊ីចឹង»។

ពលរដ្ឋម្នាក់ទៀតបានសម្ដែងក្ដីព្រួយបារម្ភថា ទង្វើនេះអាចប៉ះពាល់ដល់ការដោះស្រាយបញ្ហាផ្ទះសម្បែងរបស់ពួកគាត់៖ «គណបក្សប្រជាជនទៅឃើញថាផ្អើលថា ឥឡូវជិតបានលុយគេឲ្យចេញហើយនោះ ផ្ទះហ្នឹងដល់ទៅធ្វើអ៊ីចឹងពួកខ្ញុំហ្នឹងកុនហើយ ខែ៧ខែអីនេះ គេដោះដូរដីហ្នឹងឲ្យយើងចេញហើយដល់តែបិទមុខមាត់ខ្ញុំអ៊ីចឹងទៅ ខ្លាចគណបក្សប្រជាជនគេអត់ជួយខ្ញុំ»។

បើទោះបីជាមានការចោទប្រកាន់យ៉ាងនេះក្ដី លោក យ៉ែម ប៉ុញ្ញឬទ្ធិ អគ្គលេខាធិការគណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស បានច្រានចោលចំពោះការអះអាងរបស់ពលរដ្ឋដូច្នេះ។

លោកបានបន្តថា ទាំងនេះពុំមែនជាគោលការណ៍របស់គណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សនោះទេ៖ «យើងនឹងឲ្យមន្ត្រីគណបក្សតាមដានមើលថា នរណាហ៊ានធ្វើកិច្ចការហ្នឹង ឬមួយក៏ជនខិលខូច មន្ត្រីខិលខូចប្រើកលល្បិចឧបាយកលដ៏ខ្មៅកខ្វក់ហើយបង្ខូចឈ្មោះគណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្ស។ អ្នកដែលអាចមានរូបថតពួកគាត់នោះមានច្រើនកន្លែងណាស់ មិនប្រាកដជាបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សទេ ដូច្នេះរឿងទាំងអស់នេះ យើងគ្មានផែនការ គោលការណ៍ធ្វើនយោបាយគំនិតខ្មៅកង្វក់ហើយបោកប្រាស់អ៊ីចឹងទេ»។

ចៅសង្កាត់ចាក់អង្រែលើ លោក កែវ សាវឿន បានថ្លែងថា លោកពុំបានដឹងព័ត៌មាននេះទេ។

ទាក់ទងបញ្ហានេះ អគ្គលេខាធិការនៃគណៈកម្មាធិការជាតិរៀបចំការបោះឆ្នោតហៅកាត់ថា (គ.ជ.ប.) លោក ទេព នីថា បានពន្យល់ថា ក្នុងពេលនេះគឺជាដំណាក់កាលចុះបញ្ជីបេក្ខជននៃគណបក្សនយោបាយឈរឈ្មោះបោះឆ្នោត ហើយការយករូបបេក្ខជនឈរឈ្មោះបិទបង្ហាញនោះ គឺជារឿងធម្មតា។ ប៉ុន្តែប្រសិនជាពលរដ្ឋធម្មតាត្រូវបានគេយករូបថតបិទដូច្នេះគឺជារឿងមិនប្រក្រតីឡើយ។

លោក ទេព នីថា៖ «ក្នុងករណីនេះមិនដឹងនរណាយកទៅបិទទេ មានចេតនានយោបាយអីមិនដឹងទេ។ រឿងនេះវាប៉ះពាល់ដល់សិទ្ធិរបស់ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋផ្ទាល់។ គាត់អាចប្ដឹងអ្នកដែលរំលោភយករូបថតគាត់ទៅបិទប្ដឹងទៅតុលាការតែម្ដង។ ធម្មតាគាត់អត់ដឹងផង គាត់យករូបថតទៅបិទអី បង្ហាញ ព្រោះថាការចូលទៅគណបក្សណាមួយជាសិទ្ធិរបស់ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋម្នាក់ៗ ហើយក៏គាត់មានសិទ្ធិប្រាប់ឲ្យគេដឹងគាត់មានសិទ្ធិមិនចង់ឲ្យគេដឹងដែរ។ នេះជាសិទ្ធិរបស់គាត់ស្របច្បាប់ អ៊ីចឹងកាលណាយកអ្វីដែលគាត់ចង់ផ្សាយមកលាតត្រដាងវាខុសច្បាប់ហើយ»។

នៅមុនពេលមានយុទ្ធនាការឃោសនាបោះឆ្នោត ជារឿយៗតែងតែមានការចោទប្រកាន់ពីគណបក្សមួយទៅគណបក្សមួយ ក្នុងការអូសទាញ ឬក៏បង្ខិតបង្ខំប្រជាពលរដ្ឋឲ្យចូលជាសមាជិករបស់គណបក្សនយោបាយ។ ហើយបញ្ហានេះ បានធ្វើឲ្យពលរដ្ឋមួយចំនួនព្រួយបារម្ភពីសុវត្ថិភាពផ្ទាល់ខ្លួន នៅពេលណាមានការបង្ហាញជាសាធារណៈថា ខ្លួនជាសមាជិកគណបក្សណាមួយនោះ។

បន្ទាប់ពីប្រតិកម្មដូច្នេះ ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋទាំងនោះបានអះអាងថា ក្ដារខៀនដែលគេបិទរូបថតពួកគាត់នោះ ត្រូវបានគេលួចលើកចេញពីបរិវេណសាលាបឋមសិក្សាចាក់អង្រែលើ ហើយមិនដឹងយកទៅណាទេ រហូតមកដល់រសៀលថ្ងៃទី៧ មីនា។

គ.ជ.ប. បានឲ្យដឹងថា កាលបរិច្ឆេទនៃការបោះឆ្នោតជ្រើសរើសក្រុមប្រឹក្សាឃុំសង្កាត់អាណត្តិទី៣ នឹងចាប់ផ្ដើមនៅថ្ងៃអាទិត្យ ទី៣ ខែមិថុនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២៕

ស្ថានភាពនារីកម្ពុជា

2012-03-10T08:00:00.002+11:00

Cambodian Group Preserves Musical, Cultural DNA

2012-03-10T07:58:00.000+11:00

Friday, 09 March 2012

Daniel Schearf, VOA | Phnom Penh

Photo: by Daniel Schearf

"What I know must be recorded so that this work will not disappear after my death," Mann Men said. "These students can continue it."

"Art is like the DNA of a culture."

Mann Men composes and performs traditional Cambodian wedding music, a genre he calls older than Buddha. One of its few remaining masters, he says the sound is at risk of disappearing as fellow musicians age and die.

Because this particular form of indigenous Cambodian sound exists only in two provinces, it is vital, he says, to pass his skillset on to the next generation.

"What I know must be recorded so that this work will not disappear after my death," he says. "These students can continue it."
With a grant from the U.S. Ambassador’s Fund, Mann Men (pronounced mahn mine) and other Khmer music masters are working with the cultural preservation group Cambodian Living Arts to record and promote their sound.

Founded in 1998 by a Cambodian-American activist whose family of artists was murdered by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, the group teaches traditional dance and music to younger generations, often on scholarships, as part of an effort to revive what was nearly lost forever.

"Art is like the DNA of a culture," says the group's program manager Song Seng, explaining that Khmer Rouge extremists killed off 90 percent of the country’s artists, nearly wiping out entire art forms in their pursuit of a communist utopia. "So it is important for CLA to support it, because, without DNA, Khmer culture will disappear."

"There really just aren't many masters left in Cambodia or the world, so we want to work with Cambodia to preserve what is left so that it can be here for future generations," says Michelle Bennett, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh.

But for students like fourteen-year-old Lay Roza (pronounced lie roe-zah), who is learning to play the “small kong” (gong), it's not only about history and preservation.

"I saw others playing it beautifully, so I wanted to play it too," he says.

Although Cambodian Living Arts hosts an annual Youth Arts Festival, they're planning to take their program on the road in 2013, with a scheduled stop in New York City. Called the “Season of Cambodia,” the traveling program hopes to find new audiences for traditional arts by introducing Americans to Cambodian music, dance, theater, visual arts, and film.

ឌុចត្រូវបានបន្តឃុំខ្លួននៅតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម

2012-03-10T07:53:00.000+11:00

ថ្ងៃ សុក្រ 09 មីនា 2012

RFI

ឌុចត្រូវបានបន្តឃុំខ្លួននៅតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម

REUTERS/Nhet Sokheng

ដោយ លី ម៉េងហួរ
លោកស្រី ជា លាង និងលោក អាន់ឌ្រូ ខេលី ( Andrew Cayley ) សហព្រះរាជអាជ្ញារបស់តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម បានសរសេរលិខិតរួមគ្នា ដាក់ទៅកាន់ក្រសួងមហាផ្ទៃ ដើម្បីបានស្នើសុំបន្តឃុំខ្លួនទណ្ឌិត លោក កាំងហ្កេកអ៊ាវ ហៅ ឌុច នៅមន្ទីរឃុំឃាំងរបស់តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម។ លោក កាំង ហ្កេកអ៊ាវ អតីតមេគុកទួលស្លែង ដែលត្រូវផ្តន្ទាទោសដាក់ពន្ធនាគារមួយជីវិតនឹងត្រូវឡើងធ្វើជា សាក្សី នៅក្នុងសំណុំរឿង០០២ នាចុងខែមីនានេះ។ម្យ៉ាងទៀត មកដល់ពេលនេះ គេនៅមិនទាន់សម្រេចថា លោក កាំង ហ្កេកអ៊ាវ ហៅ ឌុចត្រូវផ្ទេរទៅជាប់ពន្ធនាគារថ្នាក់ជាតិណាមួយនៅឡើយទេ។

លិខិតរបស់សហព្រះរាជអាជ្ញាតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម ចុះថ្ងៃទី៧ ខែមីនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២ បញ្ជូនទៅកាន់អគ្គនាយក នៃអគ្គនាយកដ្ឋានពន្ធនាគារ របស់ក្រសួងមហាផ្ទៃ លើករណីរបស់ទណ្ឌិត លោក កាំង ហ្កេកអ៊ាវ ហៅ ឌុច។ សាលដីកាផ្តន្ទាទោស ឌុច ដាក់ពន្ធនាគារមួយជិវិត បានចូលជាស្ថាពរនៅថ្ងៃទី៣ខែកុម្ភៈ ឆ្នាំ២០១២។

សំណើសុំការអនុវត្តន៍ទោស ដែលផ្សព្វផ្សាយនៅថ្ងៃទី៩ ខែមីនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២ លោកស្រី ជា លាង និងលោក អាន់ឌ្រូ ខេលី សហព្រះរាជអាជ្ញារបស់តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម បានបង្ហាញសេចក្តីព្រួយបារម្ភថា ការផ្ទេរបញ្ជូនទណ្ឌិតឈ្មោះ កាំង ហ្កេកអ៊ាវ ពីមន្ទីរឃុំឃាំងនៅ អ.វ.ត.ក. ទៅកាន់ពន្ធនាគារ អាចនឹងធ្វើឲ្យមានភាពស្មុគស្មាញដល់ការចូលរួមរបស់គាត់ ក្នុងនាមជាសាក្សីនៅក្នុងដំណើរការនីតិវិធី នៅចំពោះមុខតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម។ ដូច្នេះសហព្រះរាជអាជ្ញា សូមស្នើអគ្គនាយក នៃអគ្គនាយកដ្ឋានពន្ធនាគារ នៃក្រសួងមហាផ្ទៃ សុំឲ្យទណ្ឌិតឈ្មោះ កាំង ហ្កេកអ៊ាវ បន្តជាប់ឃុំ នៅតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម។

តាមសហព្រះរាជអាជ្ញា ឌុច បន្តជាប់ឃុំនៅតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម រហូតដល់ធ្វើជាសាក្សីចប់ និងរហូតដល់មានការយល់ព្រមលើការកំណត់ពន្ធនាគារ ដើម្បីឃុំខ្លួន ឌុច។

លោក នេត្រ ភក្ត្រា អ្នកនាំពាក្យសាលាក្តីខ្មែរក្រហម បានលើកឡើងថា លោក កាំង ហ្កេកអ៊ាវ ហៅ ឌុច ប្រហែលជាឡើងផ្តល់សក្ខីកម្ម ក្នុងសំណុំរឿង០០២ នៅចុងខែមីនានេះ។ ក៏ប៉ុន្តែគេមិនដឹងថា ឌុច នឹងត្រូវចំណាយពេលប៉ុន្មានថ្ងៃ ដើម្បីផ្តល់សក្ខីកម្ម ក្នុងនាមជាសាក្សី នៅតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហមទេ។

ក្នុងនាមសាក្សី លោក កាំង ហ្កេកអ៊ាវ ហៅ ឌុច នឹងបង្ហាញពីរចនាសម្ព័ន្ធរដ្ឋបាល ប្រព័ន្ធទំនាក់ទំនងការងារក្នុងរបបខ្មែរក្រហម ព្រមទាំងលើកបង្ហាញពីតួនាទីរបស់លោក នួន ជា លោកអៀងសារី និងលោកខៀវសំផន។

តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម នឹងចាប់ផ្តើមសវនាការលើសំណុំរឿង០០២ ឡើងវិញ នៅថ្ងៃច័ន្ទទី១២ ខែមីនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២ បន្ទាប់ពីឈប់សម្រាក ចាប់តាំងពីថ្ងៃទី១៧ ខែកុម្ភៈ ឆ្នាំ២០១២។

តុលាការខ្មែរក្រហមនៅថ្ងៃនេះ ក៏បានផ្សព្វផ្សាយពីការអនុម័តគម្រោងថវិកា នៅឆ្នាំ២០១២ ងឆ្នាំ២០១៣ ដែលប្រទេសម្ចាស់ជំនួយបានយល់ព្រម កាលពីសប្តាហ៍មុន នូវទឹកប្រាក់សរុប ៨៩,៦ លានដុល្លារ។ ក្នុងនោះ ៤៥,៧ លានដុល្លារសម្រាប់ឆ្នាំ២០១២ និង ៤៣,៩ លានដុល្លារ សម្រាប់ឆ្នាំ២០១៣។ ថវិកាសម្រាប់ភាគីជាតិ មានចំនួន ២០ លានដុល្លារ៕

Cambodia Hands Document on Disputed Area with Thailand

2012-03-10T07:43:00.000+11:00

2012-03-09 20:16:15 Xinhua Web Editor: sunwanming

As ordered by the International Court of Justice last year, Cambodia has submitted additional document on disputed area with Thailand to the world's top court at The Hague in Netherlands, a senior Cambodian official said Friday.
Koy Kuong, spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong had already submitted the additional document, the follow-up papers required by the ICJ after oral arguments were made by both Thailand and Cambodia last year.
He said Cambodia was given time to present the additional document by March 8 this year while Thailand was given time to do so late last year.
Hor Namhong left Cambodia on Monday and will return home on Saturday, Koy Kuong said.
Thailand and Cambodia had fierce military conflicts following Cambodia's ancient Temple of Preah Vihear was listed as World Heritage Site in 2008. Thailand has claimed 4.6 square km of land near the temple.

The conflicts resulted in many deaths and injuries, mostly soldiers from both sides.
Following the fighting, Cambodia has sought interventions from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the United Nations Security Council and as well as the ICJ.
Cambodia was requesting for ICJ interpretation of the 1962 verdict that ruled in favor to Cambodia.
The ICJ, however, has not yet set any date when the interpretation will be pronounced, but government sources said that it will be within this year.

TPRF Aids Water, Sanitation Program in Cambodian Province

2012-03-10T07:39:00.001+11:00

LOS ANGELES, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Up to 25,000 people in a remote and impoverished area of Cambodia are expected to gain access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation thanks to a grant from The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF).
TPRF is contributing US$6,800 to fund the purchase of three portable water-purification systems by All Ears Cambodia (AEC), an organization that has expanded its services in Cambodia's Battambang province in an effort to meet a wide range of needs in the population it serves.
"Clean water is essential for health and well-being for everyone," says Linda Pascotto, President of TPRF. "The water provided for these Cambodian communities through AEC and TPRF will protect people from disease as well as satisfy their thirst. The impact will be wide-ranging, ongoing, and life sustaining for people who haven't been able to enjoy this basic necessity that so many take for granted."

AEC is installing one of the three systems at its clinic in Rokhakiri and the remaining two at schools in Toul Koki and Roung villages, said Glyn Vaughan, AEC's Director and Secretary for the nonprofit's Board of Directors.

"These systems," he said, "will be used on a daily basis by the schoolchildren and teachers, and by the wider community, benefiting 25,000 people."
Rokhakiri is a small district in the southeast region of Battambang that has been devastated by years of war. Severely delayed in its development because it was occupied by Khmer Rouge troops until the late 1990s, the region was only recently officially reintegrated into Cambodia.
The people of Rokhakiri, Vaughan said, are "terribly poor and have almost no access to quality healthcare services."
In 2009, AEC completed construction of a community ear clinic in Prey Tralach commune in Rokhakiri following a donation of land. It has since been developing its services well beyond its initial mission of targeting hearing disorders to also include issues of hygiene, sanitation, nutrition and preventative measures against malaria and dengue fever.
Vaughn said tests conducted in 2009 showed that none of the water sources that the population uses were potable.
TPRF funding, Vaughn said, will cover the installation of low-cost community water-treatment technology that removes microbiological contamination at the point of use.
About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/03/08/3925620/tprf-aids-water-sanitation-program.html#storylink=cpy

ឃ្លាតបងបូរ៉ាកាន់តែកាន់នឹក

2012-03-10T07:21:00.000+11:00

វិការភាពដួងចិត្តដែលចេញពីវិបត្តស្នែហ៍ គេអាចព្យាបាលបានដោយការរុញច្រាននៃពេលវេលា។តែការទក់ទី វក់វី ខ្ទាំចិត្តដោយនឹកដល់បងបូរ៉ា និរាស់ពីបង ពេលវេលារុញកាន់តែឆ្ងាយ កាន់តែសែនលាននឹក ។

Postcards from Cambodia: From Koh Kong province to Sihanoukville and Bokor National Park

2012-03-10T00:12:00.002+11:00

Courtesy of IL

CCHR Announced the Launch of a Project to Promote Women’s Political representation in Cambodia

2012-03-09T21:19:00.001+11:00

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights is delighted to announce the launch of a new project today entitled The Project to Promote Women’s Political Representation in Cambodia.

មជ្ឈមណ្ឌលសិទ្ធិមនុស្សកម្ពុជាបង្កើតគម្រោងលើកស្ទួយសមាសភាពស្រ្ដីចូលនយោបាយ
ភ្នំពេញៈមជ្ឈមណ្ឌលសិទ្ធិមនុស្សកម្ពុជាដែលធ្វើការងារផ្ដោតទៅលើសិទ្ធិនោះបានប្រកាសចាប់ផ្ដើមដំណើរការគម្រោងថ្មីមួយរបស់ខ្លួននៅថ្ងៃនេះដែលមានឈ្មោះថាគម្រោងវិស័យនយោបាយនៅកម្ពុជា(គម្រោង)។

CCHR | Cambodian Center for Human Rights

បក្សប្រឆាំង គាំទ្រនីតិវិធី ស្តីពីការបំពេញបេក្ខជនបម្រុងបន្ថែម នៃគណបក្សនយោបាយ

2012-03-09T21:09:00.000+11:00

(ថ្ងៃទី 9 មីនា 2012, ម៉ោង 12:52:PM) | ដោយ: រតនា

CEN

ភ្នំពេញ: គណៈកម្មាធិការជាតិរៀបចំការបោះឆ្នោត ហៅកាត់ គ.ជ.ប. បានរៀបចំកិច្ចប្រជុំពិសេសមួយជាមួយនឹងតំណាងគណបក្សនយោបាយ និងអង្គការក្រៅរដ្ឋាភិបាលជាតិ និងអន្តរជាតិ ស្ដីពី ការបំពេញបេក្ខជនបម្រុងបន្ថែម នៃគណបក្សនយោបាយ ដែលទទួលបានអសនៈ ក្នុងក្រុមប្រឹក្សាឃុំ សង្កាត់។
កិច្ចប្រជុំនេះ បានប្រព្រឹត្តឡើងកាលពីវេលាម៉ោង ១០ព្រឹកថ្ងៃទី៩ ខែមីនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២ នៅទីស្នាក់ការ គ.ជ.ប. ដឹកនាំដោយលោក អ៊ឹម សួស្ដី ប្រធាន គ.ជ.ប.។

សេចក្ដីព្រាងនីតិវិធីស្ដីពី ការបំពេញបេក្ខជនបម្រុងបន្ថែម នៃគណបក្សនយោបាយ ដែលទទួលបានអាសនៈ ក្នុងក្រុមប្រឹក្សាឃុំ សង្កាត់ មានចំនួន ១៣ប្រការ។
នៅក្នុង កិច្ចប្រជុំនោះ លោក អ៊ឹម សួស្ដី បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា នេះជាពង្រាងនីតិវិធី ដែល គ.ជ.ប. បានពិចារណាពិនិត្យ ដើម្បីធ្វើយ៉ាងណាឲ្យការបោះឆ្នោតប្រព្រឹត្តទៅបានរលូន ជាពិសេសនៅពេលដែលត្រូវការជ្រើសរើសបេក្ខជនដែលជាប់ឆ្នោត។

លោក បានបញ្ជាក់ថា គណបក្សនយោបាយ នៅពេលដែលបេក្ខជនរបស់ខ្លួន បានដាក់ហើយ មិនអាចចេញបានទេ រហូតដល់បញ្ជីផ្លូវការ ហើយនៅក្នុងបញ្ជីផ្លូវការមានបេក្ខជនខ្លះស្លាប់ បេក្ខជនខ្លះសុំចេញពីបញ្ជី ខ្លះត្រូវបណ្ដេញចេញដោយគណបក្សនយោបាយ ដែលការប្រាសចាកពីគណបក្សនយោបាយ៘ ដូច្នេះគ្រប់គណបក្សនយោបាយ ត្រូវតែរាយការណ៍ទៅ គណៈកម្មការរៀបចំការបោះឆ្នោតរាជធានី ខេត្ត ដើម្បីធ្វើបញ្ជីបច្ចុប្បន្នភាព ដើម្បីងាយស្រួលដល់ការរៀបចំអាសនៈ ជ្រើសរើសចំមនុស្ស ដែលជាបេក្ខជន ដោយ គ.ជ.ប. មិនអាចជ្រើសរើសអ្នកដែលស្លាប់ អ្នកដែលប្រាសចាកពីគណបក្ស អ្នកដែលចេញបានទេ។

លោក អ៊ឹម សួស្ដី បានបញ្ជាក់ទៀតថា បើសិនជាការចេញនោះ មិនប៉ះពាល់ដល់ចំនួនអាសនៈទេ នឹងរើសអ្នកបន្ទាប់ ប៉ុន្តែបើសិនជាប៉ះពាល់ដល់ចំនួនអាសនៈ ត្រូវបំពេញបន្ថែមទៅតាមលក្ខខណ្ឌ ក្នុងរយៈពេល ១៤ថ្ងៃ ហើយការបំពេញបន្ថែមនេះ បើគណបក្សសាមី មិនបានបំពេញបន្ថែមទេ គ.ជ.ប. នឹងចែកអាសនៈដែលបាននោះ ទៅគណបក្សផ្សេង។

នៅក្នុងកិច្ចប្រជុំនោះ លោក គួយ ប៊ុនរឿន មន្ត្រីទទួលបន្ទុកកិច្ចការបោះឆ្នោត នៃគណបក្សប្រឆាំងសមរង្ស៊ី បានប្រកាសគាំទ្រលើសេចក្ដីព្រាង ស្ដីពី ការបំពេញបេក្ខជនបម្រុងបន្ថែម នៃគណបក្សនយោបាយ ដែលទទួលបានអាសនៈ ក្នុងក្រុមប្រឹក្សាឃុំ សង្កាត់ ដែលធ្វើឡើងដោយ គ.ជ.ប.។

លោកបានបញ្ជាក់ថា លោកសូមកោតសរសើរដល់ គ.ជ.ប. ដែលបានត្រៀមលក្ខណៈទុកជាមុន រៀបចំនីតិវិធីនេះ គឺជាការត្រឹមត្រូវ ពីព្រោះ គ.ជ.ប. មានបទពិសោធន៍ជាច្រើនមកហើយ។

ប៉ុន្តែលោក គួយ ប៊ុនរឿន និងលោក ហូ វ៉ាន់ មន្ត្រីគណបក្សសមរង្ស៊ីទាំងពីរ បានលើកឡើងពីការគំរាមកំហែង ការរារាំង ការទិញទឹកចិត្តបេក្ខជន ទំលាក់ផ្លាករបស់គណបក្ស ដូច្នេះហើយទើបស្នើសុំឲ្យ គ.ជ.ប. មានវិធានការទប់ស្កាត់ និងអនុវត្តច្បាប់ផ្ដន្ទាទោសដល់ជនល្មើស ដើម្បីកុំឲ្យប្រព្រឹត្តអំពើបែបនេះតទៅទៀត។

ជាការឆ្លើយតប លោក ទេព នីថា អគ្គលេខាធិការ គ.ជ.ប. បានបញ្ជាក់ថា ចំពោះបញ្ហាទាំងអស់នេះ មានចែងលម្អិតនៅក្នុងនីតិវិធីរបស់ គ.ជ.ប. ការគំរាមកំហែង ការរារាំងបេក្ខជន រារាំងប្រជាពលរដ្ឋមិនឲ្យទៅបោះឆ្នោត គណបក្សនយោបាយត្រូវប្ដឹងទៅគណៈកម្មការរៀបចំការបោះឆ្នោតឃុំ សង្កាត់ ដែលមានតួនាទីជាអ្នកសម្របសម្រួល តែគ្មានសិទ្ធិបើកសវនាការទេ។ គណបក្សនយោបាយអាចប្ដឹងបន្តមកគណៈកម្មការរៀបចំការបោះឆ្នោតស្រុក ខេត្ត តាមនីតិវិធី។

លោកបញ្ជាក់ថា ចំពោះការគំរាមកំហែងទាំងនោះ គណបក្សនយោបាយអាចប្ដឹងទៅតុលាការ និងប្ដឹងទៅអាជ្ញាធរដែនដីបាន៕

Ewha’s welfare center in Cambodia

2012-03-09T20:44:00.000+11:00

2012-03-08

The Korea Herald

Ewha Womans University established a social welfare center in Cambodia to provide education to underprivileged children and women, according to the school on Wednesday.

The school became the first education institute in Korea to build a social welfare and education center overseas.

The Ewha Social Service center in Phnom Penh is expected to run education programs for children from low-income families, computer courses for women and workers, and projects that can contribute to the development of local neighborhoods.

Cambodian children show drawings during a class at the Ewha Social Welfare Center. (Ewha Womans University)

The programs to be provided by the center include after-school classes, culture programs for children, and language and computer programs for women.

“Cambodia and Korea have sad memories of genocide, the brutal Khmer Rouge and the Korean War, respectively. Korea has overcome social and economic hardships after the war, and I think we have a lot to offer to Cambodians, which will improve their lives,” Nho Choong-rai, a social welfare professor at the university, said at the opening ceremony on Feb. 21, according to the school.

The ceremony was also attended by Graduate School of Social Welfare Dean Kim Mi-hye, Shinhan Khmer Bank CEO Lee Jae-joon, Woosuk Scholarship Foundation Chairman Han In-jong and Cambodian officials who contributed to the establishment of the center.

Ewha has volunteered education and medical services in Cambodia before.

Former biology professor Kim Gil-hyun and his wife have devoted their life to education and missionary work in Cambodia since 2005 after he moved to teach at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, the school said.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldm.com)

Angkor Wat temple replica to rise on banks of the Ganges

2012-03-09T20:40:00.000+11:00

For Hindus who can't visit Cambodian world heritage site, retired Indian cop is building a copy in Bihar dedicated to the deity Ram

Maseeh Rahman in Delhi guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 March 2012 16.03 GMT

The temple of Angkor Wat near Siam Reap, Cambodia. Photograph: Barbara Walton/EPA

Though India is the homeland of Hindus, their grandest temple stands thousands of miles away in Cambodia. Now the trustee of a temple in Bihar has decided to do something about it – he is building a full-scale replica of the 12th century temple of Angkor Wat on the banks of the Ganges river, near the state capital Patna.
"The Angkor Wat temple in Bihar will be as majestic as the original, and slightly larger – it will be 222ft by 222ft, and its five shikharas [towers] will also be 222ft high," said Kishore Kunal, who runs the Mahavir Mandir temple trust in Patna. "And when it's ready in 10 years time, it will be a functioning temple, employing at least a dozen priests."

The project, Kunal estimates, will cost at least 600m rupees (£7.5m) – half to create the basic structure, the rest for the embellishments, including sculptures of gods and goddesses. The replica, though, will not be ringed by a moat nor have a palace on its campus.
But the main difference will be in the temple's presiding deity. The original Khmer temple at Angkor, built in the 12th century by a Hindu king from a dynasty linked to southern India and now a Unesco world heritage site, was dedicated to Vishnu. Bihar's replica will be called the Virat Angkor Wat Ram Mandir, and will have Ram as the main deity, flanked by his consort Sita, who is said to have been a native of the state.
Groundbreaking ceremony for Bihar's replica Angkor Wat temple. Ram, though, is an avatar of Vishnu and, according to legend, the Hindu god once crossed the Ganges at the very spot where the temple dedicated to him will be constructed.
Kunal, a 61-year-old retired police officer, has never visited the original temple complex in Cambodia, which moved from Hindu to Buddhist use in the 13th century. He is planning his first visit soon but hopes that thousands of Indians who cannot afford to visit Angkor Wat will be able to experience its grandeur by visiting the replica nearer home.
Under Kunal's management, the Mahavir Mandir temple trust has built three hospitals in Patna, while as head of the state religious trust board, he has restored 12 historical temples in Bihar. The trust will finance half the cost of the replica temple. "Those who know me know I complete my projects," he said.
Kunal conducted the temple's groundbreaking ceremony on Monday. Since the style of the original Angkor Wat was influenced by Dravidian architecture, with its typical storeyed towers, traditional South Indian temple builders are being hired for the project in Bihar. The basic structure will be in concrete clad in granite, since using stone, as in the original, will double the cost and take twice as long to complete. The towers will be fashioned from stone fragments using an ancient technique.
"Someone told me the Cambodians are upset that I'm creating a replica of Angkor Wat," he said. "But why should they? If the Taj Mahal is recreated in the UK, we won't mind. We'll feel happy."

Spate of abuses continues

2012-03-09T19:14:00.000+11:00

Sen David
Friday, 09 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

Nearly two dozen fishermen were repatriated to the Kingdom yesterday after being trafficked aboard Thai fishing boats where they endured forced labour and rampant abuse.

Trafficked fishermen return to Cambodia yesterday from Malaysia after being forced to work in slave-like conditions on Thai fishing boats. Pha Lina

The 11 men bring to 30 the number of fishermen repatriated from Malaysia and Indonesia this year. They were visibly shaken as they recalled grim tales of abuse and exploitation.

Sem Sophon, 23, said that a broker he had used to find work in Thailand had sold him to a fishing boat. He was told he would make 4,500 baht (approximately US$150), but instead received no pay.
“We had to work so much, but we didn’t even get one riel,” Sem Sophon said.

Many of the men were forced to take drugs in order to be more productive, he added.

“I escaped from my sadness, now it is my new life.”

Tong Chan, 25, said he and his fellow workers were treated like animals.

He, too, was lured and cheated by brokers who promised him work in Thailand, though he vowed never to fall victim to such scams again, and encouraged others to avoid his mistakes.

“If I did not escape from the boat, I would have died, because I worked so much,” he said.

Another returnee, Kong Chan, appealed to Cambodians to learn from their travails and not take the risk of using brokers to find work across the border.

“There were so many Khmers on my boat, and there were hundreds of boats. Each one had at least 10 Khmer people,” he recalled.

The 11 men were saved after they escaped from the boat they were on while it was docked in Malaysia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with the International Organisation of Migrants and the Malaysian government secured their return.

Chhiv Phally, deputy director of the Ministry of Interior’s anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection department, promised to investigate.

According to the Ministry of Interior, roughly 12,000 Cambodians were repatriated from foreign countries last year.

Koh Kong intervention sought

2012-03-09T19:12:00.000+11:00

May Titthara
Friday, 09 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

The provincial office of rights group Licadho has called on Koh Kong provincial politicians to help more than 1,000 families being forcibly evicted to make way for a sprawling gambling resort and other development, representative said yesterday.

A man stands near a construction base for a Chinese company at Botum Sakor National Park in Koh Kong province last month. Reuters

More than 130 families, from three villages in Kiri Sakor and Botum Sakor districts in Koh Kong province, had filed complaints to Licadho between April and December last year, asking for intervention after staff from Chinese company Tianjin Union Development Group and military police allegedly tried to force them off their land.

“We would like to ask the company to stop taking military police to burn down villagers’ homes, to stop forcing and threatening villagers – let them live on their land,” the letter says.

Union Group is transforming 340 square kilometres of Botum Sakor into a resort that will include gambling as well as hotels and an ecotourism development.

Provincial Licadho coordinator In Kong Chit said he had sent the letter on March 5.

“We want Koh Kong parliament to intervene to stop people being forcefully evicted from their villages,” he said, adding that 1,143 families were affected.

“We want a resolution for villagers who agree to go, and we want those villagers who have already moved to be provided infrastructure.

“The purpose of the economic land concession is to improve villagers’ standard of living. This company is making villagers lose their jobs and become poorer and poorer.”

In Kong Chit called for Koh Kong parliament to check that what Union Group had been granted – more than 40,000 hectares from two concessions – complied with the economic land concession law.

Ai Khon, a Koh Kong parliamentarian, could not be reached by the Post for comment yesterday. However, Chan Davuth, an administration officer at Koh Kong Parliament, said he had received the Licadho letter.

In a report in the Post yesterday, a Union Group spokeswoman, who did not want to be named, said allegations of forced eviction were “a problem between the Cambodian government and its people”.

Women take to the streets

2012-03-09T19:11:00.000+11:00

Bridget Di Certo with additional reporting by Phak Seangly, Cassandra Yeap, Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Friday, 09 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

From prisons to the pavements of Phnom Penh, women had a strong message for the Cambodian government on International Womens’ Day: Stop the violence and stop the discrimination.

Demonstrators carry photographs of women who have been the victims of domestic violence during a march to mark International Women’s Day yesterday in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district. The photographs are streaked with red to represent blood and the suffering of women at the hands of local authorities and their husbands. Pha Lina

Four hundred Boeung Kak lake and Borei Keila evictees marched through Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district with placards emblazoned with images of eviction violence used against their communities by authorities.

“We, the residents of Boeung Kak and Borei Keila, request the local authority and company owners to stop evicting us and stop using violence against women,” villager representative Tep Vanny said.
However, the womens’ march against police brutality was cut short by a 100-strong force of military and national police, who ejected the villagers from the streets due to their impact on traffic congestion.

In Tuol Kork district, along railway tracks that wind through a slum, a group of 30 university students, dressed in sashes and skirts made from newspaper articles of domestic abuse, carried signs and chanted anti-domestic abuse slogans.

“There are a lot of policies and legal rights to protect women, but the number of domestic violence cases decreases too slowly, and in 2011 and 2012, there have been many cases of violence against female demonstrators,” said Hem Nareth of Empowering Youths in Cambodia.

“There is no respect,” she added.

Licadho president Pung Chhiv Kek put the number of women experiencing domestic violence at at least 25 per cent and said that “more than 80 per cent of cases” are believed to go unreported due to reasons including tradition, shame and fear of public reaction.

“Cambodia is still an agrarian society, where the tradition of male supremacy is at the core of common thinking,” Pung Chhiv Kek said yesterday.

“A key factor [in slow and small improvement to women’s rights] is a very hesitant political will of the male elites to improve the situation,” Pung Chhiv Kek added.

The Kingdom’s theme for International Women’s Day was “my eminent mother”, a theme many women’s rights workers saw as fitting in the context of problems plaguing rural mothers and daughters, such as sexual violence, discrimination and health disadvantages

Ruling Cambodian People’s Party spokesman Cheam Yeap said that 30 per cent of CPP candidates in the upcoming June 3 commune elections will be women, adding that all political parties will be pushing women candidates.

“It is our CPP policy to take care of women, both rural and in the city,” Cheam Yeap said.

Gender and Development for Cambodia executive director Ros Sopheap pointed out that while more women are entering government positions, they are rarely decision-makers.

“This year is the year to achieve our millennium development goal [of 30 per cent] for elected women,” Ros Sopheap pointed out.

Rights NGO Licadho delivered care packages to 500 female prisoners detained at Prey Sar yesterday to mark the day. President Pung Chhiv Kek encouraged the women detainees to look at the facility as one for correction, not punishment.

“We are born equal and the same, the only difference is if we are born male or female,” Pung Chhiv Kek told the prisoners. “Women can do everything the same as men if they are given the opportunity.”

While celebrations of International Women’s Day were numerous and vibrant in Phnom Penh, the majority of Cambodia’s women, those living in rural areas, are unlikely to see any improvement to their status until there is a change of political will, observers said.

The WHO yesterday stressed the UN’s Women’s Day theme of “Empower rural women: end hunger and poverty” by emphasising the dire situation of Cambodia’s rural population.

Only 39 per cent of births in rural areas are attended by skilled personnel, the WHO said, adding that Cambodia has one of the highest adolescent fertility rates in the West Pacific, a fact complicated by high percentages of stunted growth and anaemia.

Che Katz, program director at Marie Stopes International Cambodia, told the Post by email that while access to family planning services in Cambodia is a high-profile government initiative, modern contraceptive prevalence is only 35 per cent, compared to upwards of 70 per cent in Vietnam and Thailand.

“If family planning was more accessible to these women, then we could prevent many unnecessary abortions in Cambodia,” Katz said.

“There are also many traditional family planning beliefs [and] cultural barriers, along with myths and misconceptions about modern family planning,” Katz said, adding that men need to actively engage in family planning decisions.

The UN, WFP, CCHR and Australian Embassy each announced new projects to support women’s rights yesterday; however, a report released by Adhoc last week pointed out that there are lots of efforts, but few results in improving the situation of women and children’s rights in Cambodia.

“The Royal Government of Cambodia has made significant efforts … however, according to Adhoc’s research and observation, there has been little improvement in the situation in 2011,” the report states, adding that what is needed most is a large-scale attitude change toward women’s rights from men and women alike. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY PHAK SEANGLY, CASSANDRA YEAP, KHOUTH SOPHAK CHAKRYA

Shooting suspect a governor no more

2012-03-09T19:08:00.000+11:00

May Titthara and David Boyle
Friday, 09 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

Triple-shooting suspect Chhouk Bandith has been sacked as Bavet town governor to prevent him from interfering in court proceedings, the Svay Rieng deputy provincial governor said yesterday.

The high-profile suspect is accused of shooting three garment factory workers at a protest outside the Kaoway Sports Ltd shoe factory in Svay Rieng’s Manhattan special economic zone last month.

Svay Rieng deputy governor Men Vibol said Chhouk Bandith’s governorship was terminated by a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen on March 6, a day after he was issued a summons by the provincial court for questioning next Friday.

“The reason that the governor was fired from his position is because they make a way for the court to take action following the court procedure,” he said, suggesting that court officials might be unwilling to take action because of his position.
The sub-decree, also signed by Minister of Interior Sar Kheng, orders that Chhouk Bandith be given an unspecified position in the Svay Rieng provincial administration, he added.

Since the shooting on February 20, Bavet town hall officials have reportedly made repeated visits to the three victims, offering them sums ranging from US$500 to $1,000 in exchange for agreeing not to press charges against Chhouk Bandith.

Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said the move would strip Bandith of his influence over local police, government and court officials.

In terms of government, if they move or put him into a position without any power or put him in a suspended position, he still has the same rank, but he doesn’t have any power,” he said.

If there was evidence afterward to suggest Chhouk Bandith was still wielding influence that amounted to judicial interference, the victims of the shootings or NGOs could recommend the case be moved to another court through the judiciary, he added.

Svay Rieng provincial chief prosecutor Hing Bun Chea said the sub-decree had nothing to do with the court, which had been given a free reign to conduct its work since the beginning of the investigation.

Chhouk Bandith has been identified by Interior Minister Sar Kheng as the sole suspect in the shootings, which took place in front of about 6,000 protesters and police outside a supplier for sportswear
giant PUMA.

But the Svay Rieng court has declined to issue an arrest warrant, citing a lack of faith in the police reports.

The slow progress of the case has drawn sharp criticism of the police and courts from rights groups that have said a suspect should have been arrested at the scene and expressed fears that Chhouk Bandith has now been given ample warning and time to escape.

Men Vibol said he did not know whether Chhouk Bandith would attend the swearing in of his former deputy, Neb Saron, as Bavet town governor on Friday, because he had not seen him.

PUMA said they will issue a joint brand statement today and Larry Kao, managing director the Manhattan SEZ, said it was not his place to comment on the sacking.

Funcinpec weighs in on case

2012-03-09T19:06:00.003+11:00

Meas Sokchea
Friday, 09 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

The Supreme Court has rejected a bid to re-hear a case involving land seized as state property from the widow of a former Funcinpec Party secretary of state at the Ministry of Interior who was killed during factional fighting in 1997.

In a verdict issued on October 30 and obtained by the Post yesterday, Supreme Court judge Khim Pon said Funcinpec asked the court to resolve the issue by granting 133,000 square metres of land to Chea Kim, the widow of Ho Sok, but the court rejected the request.

The verdict said Chea Kim had fled to the US in 1997 after her husband’s death and had not occupied the land since, thereby forfeiting her ownership rights.

“Article 76 of the land law states that abandonment for more than three years makes land state property,” the verdict reads.
Chea Kim’s lawyer Lin La Nin criticised the “illegal decision”, explaining that within a year of her client moving to the US, 33 families had squatted on the land.

“I will still file the complaint to the court asking for it to be judged again,” she said.

Last year, the Supreme Court awarded the land to Prak Savuth, Kratie provincial council member for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, overturning a 2007 verdict in favour of Chea Kim.

Lin La Nin requested the Supreme Court re-examine the case between Chea Kim and the 33 families, who had since bought the land from Prak Savuth, because he had stolen Ho Sok’s land to sell to them, she said.

Prak Savuth could not be reached by the Post for comment yesterday.

ប្រតិកម្មចម្រុះក្នុងចំណោមឥស្សរជនជុំវិញការសាងសង់អង្គរវត្តនៅឥណ្ឌា

2012-03-09T19:00:00.000+11:00

ថ្ងៃ ព្រហស្បតិ៍ 08 មីនា 2012

RFI

អង្គរវត្តពេលថ្ងៃលិច

ដោយ លាង ដឺលុច
មានការយល់ឃើញផ្សេងគ្នាក្នុងចំណោមមន្ត្រីរដ្ឋាភិបាល ជុំវិញគម្រោងសាងសង់ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តថតចម្លងនៅក្នុងប្រទេសឥណ្ឌា ដោយអង្គការមួយ។ គណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សវិញបានចេញសេចក្តីថ្លែងការណ៍មួយរិះគន់សមាជិក រដ្ឋាភិបាល អំពីការខ្វះការទទួលខុសត្រូវចំពោះសម្បត្តិដូនតា នៅពេលដែលអ្នកនាំពាក្យរដ្ឋាភិបាលថ្លែងប្រាប់អ្នកសារព័ត៌មានថា វត្តមាននៃវត្ថុចម្លង នឹងធ្វើអោយវត្ថុពិតកាន់តែមានតម្លៃ។

ដូចការយល់ឃើញរបស់លោកខៀវ កាញារីទ្ធអ្នកនាំពាក្យរដ្ឋាភិបាល និងជារដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងព័ត៌មានដែរ លោក ថោង ខុន រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងទេសចរណ៍បានប្រាប់វិទ្យុបារាំងអន្តរជាតិពីយោបល់ ផ្ទាល់ខ្លួនរបស់លោកថា ការបង្កើតអោយមានវត្ថុថតចម្លងមួយនឹងធ្វើអោយមានវត្ថុពិតកាន់តែ មានតម្លៃ។ ហើយថា អ្នកដែលបានឃើញវត្ថុចម្លង នឹងមានចិត្តចង់ឃើញរបស់ពិត។ លោករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងទេសចរណ៍បានថ្លែងយ៉ាងនេះ ដោយអះអាងយ៉ាងច្បាស់ក្នុងចិត្តថា ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តចំណាស់១០០០ឆ្នាំរបស់កម្ពុជា នឹងមិនអាចមានអ្នកណាធ្វើដូចនោះឡើយ។

រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងវប្បធម៌លោក ហ៊ឹម ឆែម ឯណោះវិញបើទោះជាទទួលស្គាល់ថា គ្មានអ្នកណាអាចសាងសង់អង្គរវត្តថ្មីអោយដូចប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តរបស់ កម្ពុជាដែលត្រូវបានចុះឈ្មោះចូលក្នុងបញ្ជីបេតិកភណ្ឌពិភពលោកនៅ ឆ្នាំ១៩៩២នោះបានក៏ដោយ ក៏លោករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីក្រសួងវប្បធម៌សុំបញ្ចេញទស្សនៈក្នុងនាមជាពលរដ្ឋ ខ្មែរម្នាក់ប្រឆាំងដាច់ខាតការសាងសង់ប្រាសាទចម្លងនៅក្នុងប្រទេស ឥណ្ឌានេះ។

ទោះយ៉ាងនេះក្តី រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីទាំងពីរបានអះអាងដូចគ្នាថា ពួកលោកបានមិនដែលបានទទួលព័ត៌មានថា មានភាគីឥណ្ឌាបានមកជួបរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា ដើម្បីជជែកអំពីសាងសង់ប្រាសាទព្រហ្មញ្ញសាសនាអង្គរវត្តចំលង នៅក្នុងប្រទេសឥណ្ឌានោះឡើយ។

គម្រោងសាងសង់ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តចម្លងដើម្បីឧទ្ទិសដល់ព្រហ្មញ្ញសាសនា នេះត្រូវកសាង ដោយអង្គការ Mahavir Mandir Trust ដែលត្រូវចំណាយពេល១០ឆ្នាំ ក្នុងតម្លៃ២០លានដុល្លារ។

ពាក់ព័ន្ធនឹងគម្រោងដ៏គួរភ្ញាក់ផ្អើលនេះហើយ ដែលធ្វើអោយគណបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សធ្វើសេចក្តីថ្លែងការណ៍បន្ទោសសមាជិក រដ្ឋាភិបាលថាបានធ្វើអត្ថាធិប្បាយដែលបង្ហាញពីភាពការមិនទទួល ខុសត្រូវចំពោះកេរមរតកដូនតា ដោយអនុញ្ញាតអោយការសាងសង់សម្បត្តិអច្ឆរិយៈរបស់កម្ពុជានៅឥណ្ឌាអោយ ធំហួសទំហំដើម៕

RFA News via YouTube

2012-03-09T18:57:00.000+11:00

Alienation, Symbolism and the Paintings of You Khin

2012-03-09T18:51:00.000+11:00

Thursday, 08 March 2012

Cheang Sophinarath, VOA Khmer | Long Beach, California

Photo: Courtesy of Van Cleve Fine Art

“He had a social conscience.”

The paintings of You Khin, a deceased Cambodian artist whose impressionistic work depicted alienation and sadness following the Khmer Rouge, are currently on display at California State University in Dominquez Hills.
You Khin died of lung cancer in 2009. He fled Cambodia in the early 1970s and watched from afar as his country fell to the Khmer Rouge.
The effects of the regime deeply influenced his work, such as “Woman With a Red Baby,” which shows a mother in white turning away from a scarlet newborn.

“You don’t sense any connection or affection between the two,” said James Scarborough, executive director of the Picture Art Foundation. “The mother is really white, and the child is very red. So you’re thinking maybe it was just born. But you still cannot explain why the mother does not react to her child.”
You Khin’s oil paintings tend to tell stories of the past. “Woman With a Red Baby,” for example, is a depiction of a mother and child under the Khmer Rouge.
The use of color was symbolic, Scarborough said.
“Consciously it’s Khmer Rouge—red communist,” he said. “You’ve got an actual piece of string that binds the mother to the child. On one hand, it could be the umbilical cord that’s about to be torn, but it can also symbolize the web of all this strange peculiar cultural things that happened in Cambodia at that time.”
The artist’s widow, You Mouy, said You Khin’s artwork was meant to convey messages, “not just a piece of decoration.
Art, she said, “can change feelings, thoughts, concepts in the world, and that is why communist countries are afraid of artists, so they threaten artists.”
“He had a social conscience,” Scarborough said. “That’s what makes his pictures so significant.”
You Khin’s paintings are part of a larger exhibition of art from Southeast Asia called “I Have the Right,” which will be on display at CSU Dominguez Hills through September.

A king’s playground

2012-03-09T18:49:00.001+11:00

9 March 2012
The Australian Financial Review

Ta Prohm ... left overgrown by the French. Photo: Michele Mossop

Nick Hordern
Angkor Wat refers to two different things. It’s the name of the biggest and best known of the classic Khmer temples that lie scattered across the countryside around Siem Reap. And it’s the collective name for the group of monuments as a whole.
There’s more of a difference between the two meanings than is generally realised.
Everyone knows about Angkor Wat the temple, whose sculptured friezes by themselves justify a trip to Cambodia.
Then, people who have seen Lara Croft: Tomb Raider would recognise the nearby Bayon temple, with its distinctive face towers, and Ta Prohm – left overgrown by the French archaeologists without whose work of restoration there would be a lot less of classic Khmer civilisation to see. But these are only three out of nearly 40 sites that are within a day’s reach of Siem Reap.
People say you can see the best of the monuments in three days; this may or may not be so but even a week of steady sightseeing won’t get you to all of them, particularly as many of the monuments call one back for another look in a different light.

Partly, it’s a question of logistics. The trick is to get to the most heavily visited sites as early as possible in the day and then, as the crowd thickens, take oneself off to the more remote.
And unless you’re competing in the tourist Olympics, an early start makes a midday siesta more or less obligatory. Then you can venture forth again in the late afternoon to watch the shadows lengthening across the exquisite Cambodian countryside.
The standard excursions to Angkor Wat, the Bayon, Ta Prohm and the sunset pilgrimage to the top of Bakheng hill, are no less worthwhile for being so well known. But besides these there’s plenty to see in the smaller outlying sites such as the West Mebon, the island in the middle of the extraordinary West Baray, the only one of the giant ancient reservoirs that still holds water.
Whatever buildings once stood on the West Mebon are long gone: you’re there for the boat trip and the distant view of Bakheng hill and the Angkor Wat towers.
And then you can visit its twin, the East Mebon in the now dry East Baray, and ponder the difference between the two.
Everyone will have their favourite Angkor Wat sights and some may not involve buildings at all – such as the carvings in the rocks along the banks of the Kbal Spean River in the Kulen Hills, about 34 kilometres north of Siem Reap.
But the more one understands, the more rewarding the experience. Try George Coedès’s book of historical essays Angkor. It’s 70 years old but it gets you thinking about the difference between a temple and tomb. Angkor Wat is both.

Cambodian calm soothes the soul

2012-03-09T13:15:00.001+11:00

UPDATED: 09 Mar 2012
Australian Financial Review

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Photo Mike Clay

Jessica Gardner

A relaxing massage is often the first order of business for travellers. That first hour eases you into a state of relaxation.

But as my masseuse Sophany began kneading and elbowing, it felt more like I’d signed up to some hardcore holiday induction.

I admit, it was my fault. I do enjoy relaxation, but trying new things on holiday is more my style. Just as I would always taste the chilliest meal or attack the steepest descent, I’d responded “medium . . . to strong?” when Sophany had asked my massage strength preference. Cue images of a bruised backside and ego.

But never fear. At Bodia Spa in Siem Reap a few well-timed, sharp gasps (and maybe an “ouch!”) was all that was required for the responsive hands of Sophany to settle back to a more “medium” mode. The aromatherapy massage was the first stop of a three-hour Bodia relaxation package, for $US62 ($58).

Travellers come to Cambodia’s second city to visit the Angkor temple complex. On your temple-free days it is the ideal place to split your time between meeting the locals and treating yourself to affordable luxury.

On arrival at the spa, tucked in a doorway behind a pharmacy off the bustling Pithnou Street, I was greeted with a glass of guava juice and a cool eucalyptus-soaked hand towel. Following the hour-long massage, I was scrubbed and masqued to a state of holiday rejuvenation. Layers of mango mask, yoghurt, honey and black sticky rice exfoliant and fragrant cucumber moisturising cream were like a facial fruit platter and left me starving as I left the warm embrace of Bodia Spa.

In a post-spa haze I crossed the street to the best eating in Siem Reap, the restaurants found down The Alley. At Cambodia BBQ you can try all manner of meats from goat to ostrich, but if you want to taste the Khmer specialty, amok fish, there are better venues, such as the dish’s namesake, Amok.

I was so taken with the national dish, a mild curry built upon coconut milk, turmeric and paprika, that I signed up for a morning cooking class at restaurant Le Tigre de Papier the next day (three hours, $12). Our bubbly teacher, Savoeun, first guided us on a tour of the old market (Psar Chaa), which was at bursting point with locals sorting through produce. Then, in a small demonstration kitchen on the roof above the restaurant, I was expertly guided in the chopping, grating and stirring of amok fish, and another local staple, spicy papaya salad, on the side. The result? I was taught well.

For equally delightful food and drink in a calmer, quieter location than The Alley, try an evening of cocktails and shared plates by the pool at exclusive five-star, 24-suite Amansara resort.

Even if you’re not a staying guest (the nightly rate is $1150) you’re welcome to lounge by the pool and observe teams of geckos hunting insects by candlelight, while you sip.

Insects are even invited into the glass with cocktail The Ants ($18, turmeric and galangal infused rum with lemongrass, pineapple juice and coconut cream. And ants) although I found the Amour amok ($18, cognac, cointreau, orange juice, ginger and basil) tastier and less confronting. For travellers after a bit less lounging, guided quad-bike tours leave Siem Reap each afternoon, bound for sunset over the rice paddies that ring the small city (Quad Adventure Cambodia, one hour, $28 per person).

Farming children drop their handmade kites and run towards the dusty tracks as they hear your bike approach. Even the most tentative wave (holding on amid potholes is really your priority) has them dutifully waving and jumping up and down with glee in return.

The thing about Siem Reap is you can do luxury and local in equal measure.

Although there’s no point scrimping on your holiday massage. Cheap parlours ($5 an hour) and “Dr Fish” pedicures line the streets, but with experiences as luxuriously affordable as Bodia Spa, and massueses as perceptive as Sophany, there’s no real choice to be made.

The Australian Financial Review

Obama’s China choice

2012-03-09T13:09:00.003+11:00

09 Mar 2012
Australian Financial Review

US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Chinese President Hu Jintao after a joint news conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington in 2011. Photo: Reuters

Henry Kissinger
On January 19, 2011, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao issued a joint statement at the end of Hu’s visit to Washington. It proclaimed their shared commitment to a “positive, co-operative, and comprehensive US-China relationship”. Each party reassured the other regarding his principal concern, announcing, “The United States reiterated that it welcomes a strong, prosperous, and successful China that plays a greater role in world affairs. China welcomes the United States as an Asia-Pacific nation that contributes to peace, stability and prosperity in the region.”

Since then, the two governments have set about implementing the stated objectives. Top American and Chinese officials have exchanged visits and institutionalised their exchanges on major strategic and economic issues. Military-to-military contacts have been restarted, opening an important channel of communication. And at the unofficial level, so-called track-two groups have explored possible evolutions of the US-Chinese relationship.

Yet as co-operation has increased, so has controversy. Significant groups in both countries claim that a contest for supremacy between China and the United States is inevitable and perhaps already underway. In this perspective, appeals for US-Chinese co-operation appear outmoded and even naive.

The mutual recriminations emerge from distinct yet parallel analyses in each country. Some American strategic thinkers argue that Chinese policy pursues two long-term objectives: displacing the United States as the pre-eminent power in the western Pacific and consolidating Asia into an exclusionary bloc deferring to Chinese economic and foreign policy interests. In this conception, even though China’s absolute military capacities are not formally equal to those of the United States, Beijing possesses the ability to pose unacceptable risks in a conflict with Washington and is developing increasingly sophisticated means to negate traditional US advantages. Its invulnerable second-strike nuclear capability will eventually be paired with an expanding range of anti-ship ballistic missiles and asymmetric capabilities in new domains such as cyberspace and space. China could secure a dominant naval position through a series of island chains on its periphery, some fear, and once such a screen exists, China’s neighbours, dependent as they are on Chinese trade and uncertain of the United States’ ability to react, might adjust their policies according to Chinese preferences. Eventually, this could lead to the creation of a Sinocentric Asian bloc dominating the western Pacific. The most recent US defence strategy report reflects, at least implicitly, some of these apprehensions.

No Chinese government officials have proclaimed such a strategy as China’s actual policy. Indeed, they stress the opposite. However, enough material exists in China’s quasi-official press and research institutes to lend some support to the theory that relations are heading for confrontation rather than co-operation.

US strategic concerns are magnified by ideological predispositions to battle with the entire non-democratic world. Authoritarian regimes, some argue, are inherently brittle, impelled to rally domestic support by nationalist and expansionist rhetoric and practice. In these theories – versions of which are embraced in segments of both the American left and the American right – tension and conflict with China grow out of China’s domestic structure. Universal peace will come, it is asserted, from the global triumph of democracy rather than from appeals for co-operation. The political scientist Aaron Friedberg writes, for example, that “a liberal democratic China will have little cause to fear its democratic counterparts, still less to use force against them”. Therefore, “stripped of diplomatic niceties, the ultimate aim of the American strategy [should be] to hasten a revolution, albeit a peaceful one, that will sweep away China’s one-party authoritarian state and leave a liberal democracy in its place”.

On the Chinese side, the confrontational interpretations follow an inverse logic. They see the United States as a wounded superpower determined to thwart the rise of any challenger, of which China is the most credible. No matter how intensely China pursues co-operation, some Chinese argue, Washington’s fixed objective will be to hem in a growing China by military deployment and treaty commitments, thus preventing it from playing its historic role as the Middle Kingdom. In this perspective, any sustained co-operation with the United States is self-defeating, since it will only serve the overriding US objective of neutralising China. Systematic hostility is occasionally considered to inhere even in American cultural and technological influences, which are sometimes cast as a form of deliberate pressure designed to corrode China’s domestic consensus and traditional values.

The most assertive voices argue that China has been unduly passive in the face of hostile trends and that (for example, in the case of territorial issues in the South China Sea) China should confront those of its neighbours with which it has disputed claims and then, in the words of the strategic analyst Long Tao, “reason, think ahead and strike first before things gradually run out of hand . . . launch[ing] some tiny-scale battles that could deter provocateurs from going further”.

A Chinese child posing with her grandmother at Shiqiao villiage in Tunchang, south China's Hainan province.Chinese authorities estimate that 22 million youngsters in China have been left at home while their parents migrate to cities to find work. Photo: AFP CHINA XTRA

Is there, then, a point in the quest for a co-operative US-Chinese relationship and in policies designed to achieve it? To be sure, the rise of powers has historically often led to conflict with established countries. But conditions have changed. It is doubtful that the leaders who went so blithely into a world war in 1914 would have done so had they known what the world would be like at its end. Contemporary leaders can have no such illusions. A major war between developed nuclear countries must bring casualties and upheavals impossible to relate to calculable objectives. Pre-emption is all but excluded, especially for a pluralistic democracy such as the United States.

If challenged, the United States will do what it must to preserve its security. But it should not adopt confrontation as a strategy of choice. In China, the United States would encounter an adversary skilled over the centuries in using prolonged conflict as a strategy and whose doctrine emphasises the psychological exhaustion of the opponent. In an actual conflict, both sides possess the capabilities and the ingenuity to inflict catastrophic damage on each other. By the time any such hypothetical conflagration drew to a close, all participants would be left exhausted and debilitated. They would then be obliged to face anew the very task that confronts them today: the construction of an international order in which both countries are significant components.

The blueprints for containment drawn from Cold War strategies used by both sides against an expansionist Soviet Union do not apply to current conditions. The economy of the Soviet Union was weak (except for military production) and did not affect the global economy. Once China broke off ties and ejected Soviet advisers, few countries except those forcibly absorbed into the Soviet orbit had a major stake in their economic relationship with Moscow. Contemporary China, by contrast, is a dynamic factor in the world economy. It is a principal trading partner of all its neighbours and most of the Western industrial powers, including the United States. A prolonged confrontation between China and the United States would alter the world economy with unsettling consequences for all.

Nor would China find that the strategy it pursued in its own conflict with the Soviet Union fits a confrontation with the United States. Only a few countries – and no Asian ones – would treat an American presence in Asia as “fingers” to be “chopped off” (in Deng Xiaoping’s graphic phrase about Soviet forward positions). Even those Asian states that are not members of alliances with the United States seek the reassurance of an American political presence in the region and of American forces in nearby seas as the guarantor of the world to which they have become accustomed. Their approach was expressed by a senior Indonesian official to an American counterpart: “Don’t leave us, but don’t make us choose.”

China’s recent military build-up is not in itself an exceptional phenomenon: the more unusual outcome would be if the world’s second-largest economy and largest importer of natural resources did not translate its economic power into some increased military capacity. The issue is whether that build-up is open ended and to what purposes it is put. If the United States treats every advance in Chinese military capabilities as a hostile act, it will quickly find itself enmeshed in an endless series of disputes on behalf of esoteric aims. But China must be aware, from its own history, of the tenuous dividing line between defensive and offensive capabilities and of the consequences of an unrestrained arms race.

China’s leaders will have their own powerful reasons for rejecting domestic appeals for an adversarial approach – as indeed they have publicly proclaimed. China’s imperial expansion has historically been achieved by osmosis rather than conquest, or by the conversion to Chinese culture of conquerors who then added their own territories to the Chinese domain. Dominating Asia militarily would be a formidable undertaking. The Soviet Union, during the Cold War, bordered on a string of weak countries drained by war and occupation and dependent on American troop commitments for their defence. China today faces Russia in the north; Japan and South Korea, with American military alliances, to the east; Vietnam and India to the south; and Indonesia and Malaysia not far away. This is not a constellation conducive to conquest. It is more likely to raise fears of encirclement. Each of these countries has a long military tradition and would pose a formidable obstacle if its territory or its ability to conduct an independent policy were threatened. A militant Chinese foreign policy would enhance co-operation among all or at least some of these nations, evoking China’s historic nightmare, as happened in the period 2009-10.

Another reason for Chinese restraint in at least the medium term is the domestic adaptation the country faces. The gap in Chinese society between the largely developed coastal regions and the undeveloped western regions has made Hu’s objective of a “harmonious society” both compelling and elusive. Cultural changes compound the challenge. The next decades will witness, for the first time, the full impact of one-child families on adult Chinese society. This is bound to modify cultural patterns in a society in which large families have traditionally taken care of the aged and the handicapped. When four grandparents compete for the attention of one child and invest him with the aspirations heretofore spread across many offspring, a new pattern of insistent achievement and vast, perhaps unfulfillable, expectations may arise.

All these developments will further complicate the challenges of China’s governmental transition starting in 2012, in which the presidency; the vice-presidency; the considerable majority of the positions in China’s Politburo, State Council, and Central Military Commission; and thousands of other key national and provincial posts will be staffed with new appointees. The new leadership group will consist, for the most part, of members of the first Chinese generation in a century and a half to have lived all their lives in a country at peace. Its primary challenge will be finding a way to deal with a society revolutionised by changing economic conditions, unprecedented and rapidly expanding technologies of communication, a tenuous global economy, and the migration of hundreds of millions of people from China’s countryside to its cities. The model of government that emerges will likely be a synthesis of modern ideas and traditional Chinese political and cultural concepts, and the quest for that synthesis will provide the ongoing drama of China’s evolution.

These social and political transformations are bound to be followed with interest and hope in the US. Direct American intervention would be neither wise nor productive. The US will, as it should, continue to make its views known on human rights issues and individual cases. And its day-to-day conduct will express its national preference for democratic principles. But a systematic project to transform China’s institutions by diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions is likely to backfire and isolate the very liberals it is intended to assist. In China, it would be interpreted by a considerable majority through the lens of nationalism, recalling earlier eras of foreign intervention.

What this situation calls for is not an abandonment of American values but a distinction between the realisable and the absolute. The US-Chinese relationship should not be considered as a zero-sum game, nor can the emergence of a prosperous and powerful China be assumed in itself to be an American strategic defeat. A co-operative approach challenges preconceptions on both sides.

The United States has few precedents in its national experience of relating to a country of comparable size, self-confidence, economic achievement, and international scope and yet with such a different culture and political system. Nor does history supply China with precedents for how to relate to a fellow great power with a permanent presence in Asia, a vision of universal ideals not geared toward Chinese conceptions, and alliances with several of China’s neighbours. Prior to the United States, all countries establishing such a position did so as a prelude to an attempt to dominate China.

The simplest approach to strategy is to insist on overwhelming potential adversaries with superior resources and materiel. But in the contemporary world, this is only rarely feasible. China and the US will inevitably continue as enduring realities for each other. Neither can entrust its security to the other – no great power does, for long – and each will continue to pursue its own interests, sometimes at the relative expense of the other. But both have the responsibility to take into account the other’s nightmares, and both would do well to recognise that their rhetoric, as much as their actual policies, can feed into the other’s suspicions.

February 21, 1972: US President Richard Nixon conferring with Mao Zedong.
Photo: Getty Image

China’s greatest strategic fear is that an outside power or powers will establish military deployments around China’s periphery capable of encroaching on China’s territory or meddling in its domestic institutions. When China deemed that it faced such a threat in the past, it went to war rather than risk the outcome of what it saw as gathering trends – in Korea in 1950, against India in 1962, along the northern border with the Soviet Union in 1969, and against Vietnam in 1979.

The US fear, sometimes only indirectly expressed, is of being pushed out of Asia by an exclusionary bloc. The United States fought a world war against Germany and Japan to prevent such an outcome and exercised some of its most forceful Cold War diplomacy under administrations of both political parties to this end against the Soviet Union. In both enterprises, it is worth noting, substantial joint US-Chinese efforts were directed against the perceived threat of hegemony.

Other Asian countries will insist on their prerogatives to develop their capacities for their own national reasons, not as part of a contest between outside powers. They will not willingly consign themselves to a revived tributary order. Nor do they regard themselves as elements in an American containment policy or an American project to alter China’s domestic institutions. They aspire to good relations with both China and the United States and will resist any pressure to choose between the two.

Can the fear of hegemony and the nightmare of military encirclement be reconciled? Is it possible to find a space in which both sides can achieve their ultimate objectives without militarising their strategies? For great nations with global capabilities and divergent, even partly conflicting aspirations, what is the margin between conflict and abdication?

That China will have a major influence in the regions surrounding it is inherent in its geography, values, and history. The limits of that influence, however, will be shaped by circumstance and policy decisions. These will determine whether an inevitable quest for influence turns into a drive to negate or exclude other independent sources of power.

For nearly two generations, American strategy relied on local regional defence by American ground forces – largely to avoid the catastrophic consequences of a general nuclear war. In recent decades, congressional and public opinion have impelled an end to such commitments in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Now, fiscal considerations further limit the range of such an approach. American strategy has been redirected from defending territory to threatening unacceptable punishment against potential aggressors. This requires forces capable of rapid intervention and global reach, but not bases ringing China’s frontiers. What Washington must not do is combine a defence policy based on budgetary restraints with a diplomacy based on unlimited ideological aims.

Just as Chinese influence in surrounding countries may spur fears of dominance, so efforts to pursue traditional American national interests can be perceived as a form of military encirclement. Both sides must understand the nuances by which apparently traditional and apparently reasonable courses can evoke the deepest worries of the other. They should seek together to define the sphere in which their peaceful competition is circumscribed. If that is managed wisely, both military confrontation and domination can be avoided; if not, escalating tension is inevitable. It is the task of diplomacy to discover this space, to expand it if possible, and to prevent the relationship from being overwhelmed by tactical and domestic imperatives.

The current world order was built largely without Chinese participation, and hence China sometimes feels less bound than others by its rules. Where the order does not suit Chinese preferences, Beijing has set up alternative arrangements, such as in the separate currency channels being established with Brazil and Japan and other countries. If the pattern becomes routine and spreads into many spheres of activity, competing world orders could evolve. Absent common goals coupled with agreed rules of restraint, institutionalised rivalry is likely to escalate beyond the calculations and intentions of its advocates. In an era in which unprecedented offensive capabilities and intrusive technologies multiply, the penalties of such a course could be drastic and perhaps irrevocable.

Crisis management will not be enough to sustain a relationship so global and beset by so many differing pressures within and between both countries, which is why I have argued for the concept of a Pacific Community and expressed the hope that China and the United States can generate a sense of common purpose on at least some issues of general concern. But the goal of such a community cannot be reached if either side conceives of the enterprise as primarily a more effective way to defeat or undermine the other. Neither China nor the United States can be systematically challenged without its noticing, and if such a challenge is noted, it will be resisted. Both need to commit themselves to genuine co-operation and find a way to communicate and relate their visions to each other and to the world.

Some tentative steps in that direction have already been undertaken. For example, the US has joined several other countries in beginning negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade pact linking the Americas with Asia. Such an arrangement could be a step toward a Pacific Community because it would lower trade barriers among the world’s most productive, dynamic, and resource-rich economies and link the two sides of the ocean in shared projects.

Obama has invited China to join the TPP. However, the terms of accession as presented by American briefers and commentators have sometimes seemed to require fundamental changes in China’s domestic structure. To the extent that is the case, the TPP could be regarded in Beijing as part of a strategy to isolate China. For its part, China has put forward comparable alternative arrangements. It has negotiated a trade pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and has broached a North-East Asian trade pact with Japan and South Korea.

Important domestic political considerations are involved for all parties. But if China and the US come to regard each other’s trade-pact efforts as elements in a strategy of isolation, the Asia-Pacific region could devolve into competing adversarial power blocs. Ironically, this would be a particular challenge if China meets frequent American calls to shift from an export-led to a consumption-driven economy, as its most recent five-year plan contemplates. Such a development could reduce China’s stake in the US as an export market even as it encourages other Asian countries to further orient their economies toward China.

The key decision facing both Beijing and Washington is whether to move toward a genuine effort at co-operation or fall into a new version of historic patterns of international rivalry. Both countries have adopted the rhetoric of community. They have even established a high-level forum for it, the Strategic and Economic Dialogue, which meets twice a year. It has been productive on immediate issues, but it is still in the foothills of its ultimate assignment to produce a truly global economic and political order. And if a global order does not emerge in the economic field, barriers to progress on more emotional and less positive-sum issues, such as territory and security, may grow insurmountable. As they pursue this process, both sides need to recognise the impact of rhetoric on perceptions and calculations. American leaders occasionally launch broadsides against China, including specific proposals for adversarial policies, as domestic political necessities. This occurs even – perhaps especially – when a moderate policy is the ultimate intention. The issue is not specific complaints, which should be dealt with on the merits of the issue, but attacks on the basic motivations of Chinese policy, such as declaring China a strategic adversary. The target of these attacks is bound to ask whether domestic imperatives requiring affirmations of hostility will sooner or later require hostile actions.

By the same token, threatening Chinese statements, including those in the semi-official press, are likely to be interpreted in terms of the actions they imply, whatever the domestic pressures or the intent that generated them.

The American debate, on both sides of the political divide, often describes China as a “rising power” that will need to “mature” and learn how to exercise responsibility on the world stage. China, however, sees itself not as a rising power but as a returning one, predominant in its region for two millennia and temporarily displaced by colonial exploiters taking advantage of Chinese domestic strife and decay. It views the prospect of a strong China exercising influence in economic, cultural, political, and military affairs not as an unnatural challenge to world order but rather as a return to normality. Americans need not agree with every aspect of the Chinese analysis to understand that lecturing a country with a history of millennia about its need to “grow up” and behave “responsibly” can be needlessly grating.

On the Chinese side, proclamations at the governmental and the informal level that China intends to “revive the Chinese nation” to its traditional eminence carry different implications inside China and abroad. China is rightly proud of its recent strides in restoring its sense of national purpose following what it sees as a century of humiliation. Yet few other countries in Asia are nostalgic for an era when they were subject to Chinese suzerainty. As recent veterans of anti-colonial struggles, most Asian countries are extremely sensitive to maintaining their independence and freedom of action vis-à-vis any outside power, whether Western or Asian. They seek to be involved in as many overlapping spheres of economic and political activity as possible; they invite an American role in the region but seek equilibrium, not a crusade or confrontation.

The rise of China is less the result of its increased military strength than of the US’s own declining competitive position, driven by factors such as obsolescent infrastructure, inadequate attention to research and development, and a seemingly dysfunctional governmental process. The US should address these issues with ingenuity and determination instead of blaming a putative adversary. It must take care not to repeat in its China policy the pattern of conflicts entered with vast public support and broad goals but ended when the American political process insisted on a strategy of extrication that amounted to an abandonment, if not a complete reversal, of the country’s proclaimed objectives.

China can find reassurance in its own record of endurance and in the fact that no US administration has ever sought to alter the reality of China as one of the world’s major states, economies, and civilisations. Americans would do well to remember that even when China’s GDP is equal to that of the US, it will need to be distributed over a population that is four times as large, ageing, and engaged in complex domestic transformations occasioned by China’s growth and urbanisation. The practical consequence is that a great deal of China’s energy will still be devoted to domestic needs.

Both sides should be open to conceiving of each other’s activities as a normal part of international life and not in themselves as a cause for alarm. The inevitable tendency to impinge on each other should not be equated with a conscious drive to contain or dominate, so long as both can maintain the distinction and calibrate their actions accordingly. China and the US will not necessarily transcend the ordinary operation of great-power rivalry.

But they owe it to themselves, and the world, to make an effort to do so.

Foreign Affairs

Henry Kissinger is chair of Kissinger Associates and a former US secretary of state and national security adviser. This essay is adapted from the afterword to the forthcoming paperback edition of his latest book, On China, Penguin, 2012. © 2012 Council on Foreign Relations, publisher of Foreign Affairs.
The Australian Financial Review

America must curtail twin cravings

2012-03-09T12:57:00.000+11:00

Source: Business Spectator

Peter Morici

Published 8:08 AM, 9 Mar 2012 Last update 9:04 AM, 9 Mar 2012

Tonight, the US Commerce Department is expected to report the deficit on international trade in goods and services was $48.4 billion in January, only slightly changed from December.

The $580 billion annual trade deficit is the most significant barrier to jobs creation and lowering unemployment, and oil and consumer goods from China account for virtually the entire problem.

Economists agree, the pace of economic recovery has disappointed, because of too little demand for what Americans make. Consumers are spending again – the process of winding down consumer debt that followed the Great Recession ended last April; however, every dollar that goes abroad to purchase oil or Chinese consumer goods, and does not return to purchase US exports, is lost domestic demand that could be creating American jobs.

Jobs creation

Also tonight, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy created 204,000 jobs in February; whereas, 367,000 jobs must be added each month for the next 36 months to bring unemployment down to 6 per cent. With federal and state governments cutting payrolls, the private sector must add about 390,000 jobs per month to accomplish this goal. Growth of at least 4 to 5 per cent a year is needed to accomplish that.

Unemployment has fallen from 10 per cent in October 2009 largely because working aged adults are dropping out of the labour force – they are neither employed, nor seeking work. The jobless rate has fallen to 8.3 percent, because the percentage of adults participating in the labour force – the employed and those unemployed but making some effort to find work – fell from 65.0 to 63.7 percent. The percentage of adults employed has not changed – it’s stuck at 58.5 per cent.

Simply, during this recovery, the most effective jobs creation program has been to convince more adults that they don’t want a job or it is futile to look for a decent position, and simply quit looking – that phenomenon has accounted for 75 percent of the reduction in the unemployment rate over the past 27 months.

Just to keep up with productivity growth, which averages at about 2 per cent a year, and natural increase in the adult population, which is about 1 per cent, the economy must grow at about 3 per cent a year – unless more adults quit looking for work altogether. As stronger growth attracts immigration and encourages idle adults to reenter the labour force, growth in the range of 3.5 per cent is needed to sustain a full employment economy.

Economic growth

The economic recovery began five months after Mr Obama assumed the presidency, and GDP growth has averaged a disappointing 2.4 per cent a year.

This is in sharp contrast to Ronald Reagan’s economic recovery. Like Mr Obama, he inherited a deeply troubled economy, implemented radical measures to reorient the private sector, and accepted large budget deficits to get their plans in place. As Mr Reagan campaigned for re-election, his post-Carter malaise economy grew at a 7.1 percent rate. That expansion set the stage for the Great Moderation – two decades of stable, non-inflationary growth.

Most economists agree, growth is inadequate because demand is too weak. The trade deficit is the culprit.
Consumers are spending and taking on debt again, but too many dollars spent by Americans go abroad to purchase Middle East oil and Chinese consumer goods that do not return to buy US exports. This leaves many US businesses with too little demand to justify new investments and more hiring, too many Americans jobless and wages stagnant, and state and municipal governments with chronic budget woes.

In 2011, consumer spending, business investment and auto sales added significantly to demand and growth, and exports did better too; however, higher prices for oil and subsidised Chinese manufactures into US markets pushed up the trade deficit and substantially offset those positive trends. Now a recession in Europe, slower growth in Asia, and consumer debt will curb demand at least into the spring and summer.

Administration imposed regulatory limits on conventional petroleum development are premised on false assumptions about the immediate potential of electric cars and alternative energy sources, such as solar panels and windmills. In combination, administration energy policies are pushing up the cost of driving, making the United States even more dependent on imported oil and overseas creditors to pay for it, and impeding growth and jobs creation.

Oil imports could be cut in half by boosting US petroleum production by four million barrels a day, and cutting gasoline consumption by 10 per cent through better use of conventional internal combustion engines and fleet use of natural gas in major cities.

To keep Chinese products artificially inexpensive on US store shelves, Beijing undervalues the yuan by 40 per cent. It accomplishes this by printing yuan and selling those for dollars and other currencies in foreign exchange markets. In addition, faced with difficulties in its housing and equity markets, and troubled banks, it is boosting tariffs and putting up new barriers to the sale of US goods in the Middle Kingdom.

Presidents Bush and Obama have sought to alter Chinese policies through negotiations, but Beijing offers only token gestures and cultivates political support among US multinationals producing in China and large banks seeking business there.

The United States should impose a tax on dollar-yuan conversions in an amount equal to China’s currency market intervention. That would neutralise China’s currency subsidies that steal US factories and jobs. That amount of the tax would be in Beijing’s hands – if it reduced or eliminated currency market intervention, the tax would go down or disappear. The tax would not be protectionism; rather, in the face of virulent Chinese currency manipulation and mercantilism, it would be self defence.

Cutting the trade deficit in half, through domestic energy development and conservation, and offsetting Chinese exchange rate subsidies would increase GDP by about $525 billion a year and create at least five million jobs.

Peter Morici is a professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland School, and former Chief Economist at the US International Trade Commission.

Dark Clouds Over Angkor

2012-03-09T10:07:00.002+11:00

Courtesy: Khmerization
by School of Vice

Dusk at Angkor Wat - jonwhitephotography

Judging by the tone of most of the remarks or comments posted in response to my piece here on India’s ambitious project to recreate Cambodia’s most famous landmark and national emblem in the Indian state of Bihar, the overall feeling engendered by me [normally on a good day, a guarded optimist!] is one of grave disappointment, if not despair, not so much because I fear that the prospective rivalry or alternative in having such a replicated site outside Cambodia [one report says the envisaged project currently underway in Bihar, India will be even larger than the Khmer original] will leave Cambodia struggling to earn tourism revenue and, Cambodian government officials less well endowed financially, which is far from being the case as I already know that many of these individuals are well off enough to be able to buy a street in New Delhi or New York! What disturbs me is how many Cambodians have become so ‘reductionist’ or expedient in their mental and intellectual outlook to the point of being unquestioningly receptive to events rather than proactively trying to shape them for their nation’s short and long term good. Perhaps, they have lost the true pride and dignified sentiment of a people who had in centuries past initiated and mastered the course of history instead of having it dictated by others.

We know that Angkor Wat is under the stewardship of a powerful businessman who is widely believed to be ethnically Vietnamese and who is probably planted in the country for the long term advantage and favour he could thereby proffer to another foreign government or state; that some rogue ships and commercial trawlers have been known to carry Cambodian flags of convenience all over the four oceans; that vast tracts of land have been leased or sold to foreign interests that have left thousands of native Cambodians destitute and landless; that primary forests had been destroyed to make way for this kind of private and corporate convenience; that no matter whoowns and milk Angkor Wat as potentially the nation’s biggest cash cow and source of hard earned foreign currencies, the truth and reality remain that the Cambodian people have no say whatsoever in the outcomes of these events. If an ethnic ‘Khmer’ businessman had been in charge of Angkor Wat Archaeological Park instead of an ethnic Vietnamese, there would have been no more plausible grounds for us to expect him/her to sacrifice his/her time and endeavour in service to the nation, anymore than we are expecting Mr Sok Kong to do likewise, since the main chain of events that had led to his/her appointment to the said position had been made in conformity with pre-ordained bias and political agenda in the first instance. After all, it was not Mr Sok Kong who threatened to abolish the monarchy when the current king showed hesitation in granting his royal seal of approval required for the ‘last’ [who knows how many similar treaties had been signed behind closed doors since?] signed revised or supplementary border Treaty with Vietnam, or the granting of exorbitant land leases to the same country. That had been the undisputed achievements of the “Strongman”himself.

However, none of this provides us with legitimate pretext for overlooking what after all is, or will be, the grandest act of cultural theft in human memory. Currently, as it stands Angkor Wat is believed to be the largest religious structure known to man. If the Indians or Hindus are so infatuated with the aesthetics and religious appeal of this structure, and be prepared to realise what every visitor to it could barely dream of: Angkor Wat as it was in its original pristine condition with the five towers gleaming in their golden colours, and the looted statues all restored to their respective locations and states, then there is no reason why they could not bring that dream to life by building its replica anywhere in Cambodia. Cambodians are not going to object to that idea of giving travellers and visitors to the Kingdom the bonus of comparing the original against the replica so long as both are on Cambodian soil, I think. After all, it’s not as if the spiritually awakened 800 million Hindus in India are being starved of places of worship in that vast sub-continent, eh? They are more at risk of dying from lack of food and medical care because one of the world’s largest economies somehow still can’t figure out how to feed and shelter its own great, hungry multitude or to stop Indian doctors from emigrating to the west to practice their profession, except building them more and more temples to worship at. This would be the noblest gift a country like India - one so proud of its own past greatness and whose moral and cultural influence spread far and wide beyond her own shores – could bestow upon another nation with strong historical ties to her. It could be India’s answer to France’s Statue of Liberty which the French people and government gifted to the people of the United States of America.

On the other hand, if the Indians see nothing wrong in exploiting the present bureaucratic malaises afflicting the Khmer people and their philistine, myopic and, above all, propped up political leadership to plunder the country of its Soul and asset, how much can the Khmers rely upon them not to let their sacred cows roam loose among the tourists along those famed, beautifully carved galleries that once may have served to remind the Khmers of the extent of their creative genius and potential as humans, and their sure footed dignity as man and nation among the most distinguished in the civilised world?

We're here by divine right! Cows in a Hindu temple in Banaras; a visitor's photo, c.1910 - columbia.edu

Yes, Cambodia is not in the same state politically as she had been between the 6thand 13th centuries when many of the sacred Prasats and mount temples were constructed, nor are her people in any actual position to influence many of the decisions taken in their name, but that does not mean we should surrender our right to make our moral choices over what’s right and what’s wrong, and to stand our ground to our last breath against whatever we believe to be inimical to the well-being of our fellows and in favour of whatever is conducive to mankind’s welfare. This was what the great Khmer ancestors of the past did, and were they alive today, they would have done exactly the same. The destructions, the tears of the common man, the widespread lootings of antiquities, the great losses in territories that were to come after the fall of Angkor following the cited period of substantive stability and unity above would have caused those ancestors no end of grief by itself. We know, and yet we have persuaded ourselves that since we are not in any realistic position to reverse the course of action, why not try to at least see the positive side of things and even take pride in allowing or consenting [morally] to others paying us their ultimate compliment by virtue of imitating and “publicising”our art and culture? But is that how it really is, or simply just what we wish to see and find contentment in? Some kind of sour grapes in reverse? Have we not heard of how past Khmer rulers such as Chey Chetha II lost hold of Southern Kampuchea due to their misguided generosity? Had critics and dissents not tried to warn in the sixties and the early seventies about the calamities that the Hanoi-backed and bred Red Khmer movement would bring to bear on the Cambodian nation? Of course, such discounted souls and dissidents would have been regrettably few in number, but history has not forgotten them, and the course it has since taken has shown them to have been right all along in their measured projections and forebodings; and even though they themselves must have felt somewhat powerless in convincing their fellow countrymen of their intuitive yet heart-felt sentiments.

So why bother writing and speaking out, knowing that your endeavour is expensed in vain? Well, perhaps, it’s a sense of duty some of us owe to posterity to tell them that we had lived true to our conscience, and had borne witness to both man’s virtues and vices before Truth and History.

To the memory of all great and noble Angkorian Kings and Khmer ancestors who built marvellous cosmic stone monuments with your own bare hands, your own sweat, and who endured untold sacrifices out of love for, and devotion to, your own kind and your own descendants: we humbly ask your forgiveness for being powerless to fulfil your noble wishes; to live up to your example, nay worse, to prevent your sacred legacy from being put to ruins in your and our name. For all this we ask for your ahorsikam!©

Vietnam-Cambodia trade fair to be held in Phnom Penh

2012-03-09T09:57:00.000+11:00

(8.3.12, VOV) - A Vietnam-Cambodia trade and service exhibition fair will take place in Mondial Centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from March 28 to April 1.

The event, organized by the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of Ho Chi Minh City (ITPC), is scheduled to attract over 150 businesses.
On display will be various kinds of goods: food, garments, cosmetics, home décor, fine arts and handicrafts.
Within the fair, trade promotion activities will be held, including organizing an exhibition on the achievements of HCM City and Vietnam’s leading businesses, conducting market research, offering gifts to poor people, and giving arts performances by Vietnamese and Cambodian artists.
Huynh Tan Phong, ITPC Deputy Director, said that Cambodia’s purchasing power increases annually, opening new opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to improve product quality and designs to accelerate exports to the market.
The fair is expected to be a good chance for businesses of the two countries to expand cooperation and promote Vietnamese products in the Cambodian market.

FM affirms closer Vietnam-Cambodia ties

2012-03-09T09:55:00.003+11:00

(8.3.12, VOV) - Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh has reaffirmed Vietnam’s policy of strengthening ties with Cambodia, especially when the neighbouring country takes over the ASEAN chair in 2012.

Vietnam, Cambodia strengthen legislative ties
While receiving Ung Sean, Cambodian Foreign Affairs Secretary of State, in Ho Chi Minh City on March 8, Minh expressed his delight at the recent development of bilateral friendship and comprehensive cooperation in all fields, including trade and investment.
He highly valued the cooperation between the two foreign ministries in implementing signed agreements, which he said has contributed to consolidating the traditional relations between Vietnam and Cambodia.
He also proposed that the two ministries further foster cooperation to celebrate the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Year 2012 and the 45^th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.
** On March 6-7, a Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy FM Pham Quang Vinh worked with a Cambodian delegation led by Sean Ung to review recent bilateral cooperation, and discuss regional and international issues of mutual concern.
Both sides agreed to work closer together to implement the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Year, and affirmed that the cooperation demonstrates mutual understanding and contributes to developing bilateral friendship.

Sam Borin trust fund Appeal

2012-03-08T23:57:00.004+11:00

Source:Anne Dykstra <ahdykstra@yahoo.com>

Our friend, Sam Borin, has been battling liver cancer for the past year. He has been under the care of the oncology medical team at Georgetown Hospital. The doctors told him last month that there is nothing left they can do to halt the spread of this disease. If he is to get better, it will because of his amazing courage and those mysteries the doctors don’t understand. We have hope he will return to health.

Borin has chosen to be cared for by Hospice at home. He is mostly pain free and in good spirits. Each day is a gift because he is surrounded by his wonderful family: his wife, Samen Sar, his daughter, Romany, and his three sons Ramman, Borom and Sorim.

Friends have set up a trust at Bank of America to honor Borin’s work and life. The donations will be used for expenses not covered by Medical Insurance. Any money not used for end of life expenses will go for scholarships to students from Kampong Chhnang, Borin’s home province, to attend the University of Phnom Penh. To receive a scholarship, the student must be an orphan or from a poor family. The Maryknolls at Phnom Penh University, Education Department will administer the Scholarships.

If you would like to contribute to this trust, please write your check to: The Sam Borin Trust and

mail it to:

Anne Dykstra, Trustee Samen Sar (Wife)

2620 Major Ave North or 3901 Palmira Lane

Golden Valley, Minnesota, 55422, U.S.A Silver Spring, Maryland 20906, U.S.A.

If you wish, your contribution can be electronically transferred to:

Name of Bank: Bank of America

Address: 13711 Connecticut Ave

Silver Spring, Maryland 20906

Routing and Transit Number: 052001633

Account Number: 446025300705

Beneficiary: The Sam Borin Trust

Trustee: Anne H Dykstra, Trustee (former Head, Education, Unicef, Cambodia)

Trustee Address: 2620 Major Ave N

Golden Valley, MN 5542

Should you wish to write Sam Borin here is his contact information, please copy his wife,

Samen Sar so that she can read your message to Borin:

samborin@yahoo.com samen55@yahoo.com

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

Your kind consideration and response to Sam Borin’s news is greatly appreciated by Sam Borin and his family.

Warm regards,

Anne Dykstra, Trustee

Sam Borin Trust

ahdykstra@yahoo.com

Vietnam's Communist Party Ponders Change

2012-03-08T23:53:00.002+11:00

Written by Khanh Vu Duc
FRIDAY, 02 MARCH 2012
Asia Sentinel

New blood needed.

The party is living on borrowed time as it drifts aimlessly

The Communist Party of Vietnam turned 82 on Feb. 3, of which 36 years have been spent ruling Vietnam. We can only guess what the next 82 years will bring. Indeed, this past week the party’s delegates and executives met in Hanoi to discuss much needed reform.

These discussions will focus on curbing corruption and deficiencies among party members, along with supposed improvements to human rights. However, any serious suggestion about reform by senior party officials has been just that – a suggestion. As these proposed reforms are designed to benefit the party, change for the Vietnamese people will continue to remain a distant hope.

The party today has strayed far from its Marxist-Leninist roots, evolving into a semi-benevolent dictatorship whose iron-fisted tactics are reserved for those democratic and human rights activists unwilling to accept the one-party rule of the government.

The party at present

Economic reforms have helped Vietnam prosper, but the reforms have done little to address the hopes and aspirations of the people, providing only a cover for the party to say, “I did something for Vietnam.” For Vietnam? Perhaps. For the party? Most definitely.

Afflicted with a grandiose sense of accomplishment, the party has found reason to act only when absolutely necessary, if only to stave off a domestic Arab Spring from seizing the streets of Hanoi and Saigon. This complacency not only ignores future planning but it ignores the needs of the people until it is too late. This is not to say the party does not have its finger on the pulse of the nation, but the unwillingness of the Communists to act until needed betrays any sense of accountability.

What future, then, does the party have in Vietnam? Change is necessary, of course. Change within the party. Constitutional change and political change. But these necessary changes will not happen by themselves. A spark – peaceful or violent, although one hopes for the former – is needed, but what “spark” and how? And what happens after for Vietnam and the party?

Vietnam will undoubtedly change and likely in reaction to external forces. These forces can be China or the United States exerting their influence over Vietnam, providing Vietnam with some benefit but not before the government is required to make some adjustments. One need only look at the South China Sea maritime and territorial disputes to see evidence of this. Vietnam’s unease about China and its desire to acquire arms from the US requires Hanoi to undertake serious democratic reform and improve human rights conditions.

These external forces can also come from market pressure. Presently, Vietnam is suffering from high inflation and trade and budget deficits. However, economic reform may not be enough as we have seen Vietnam change economically but not politically. This is not true change but merely a diversion. It is an attempt at distracting the people while the system continues to fail.

True change requires a complete renovation of the political institutions of Vietnam, but what force can bring about this required act? And what of the Communist Party?

Limitations of the Internet

Short of a revolution, the party will not simply disappear overnight but slowly whittle away. As such, it may be years before we can measure the level of progress. Currently, one of the driving forces behind the need for reform in Vietnam. such as internal reforms as discussed in Hanoi, has been technological advances like the Internet.

The Internet has provided an outlet for Vietnamese citizens to voice their frustration. It has provided a means for them to compare their government to those around the world, to better understand its successes and failures. It has also provided an opportunity for citizens to become part of the global community, to become current with international developments. Access to information is greater than ever before.

But the Internet alone will not drive the Vietnamese people to demand change, for if this was the case, there would have been change long ago. The Internet can be controlled, as witnessed in China and Iran. Information can be manipulated. Although the people will play a vital role in building a new Vietnam, they will not be the primary actors in instituting change. The catalyst for change will undoubtedly come from without.

The big, red tent

What the South China Sea disputes have succeeded is lighting the flames of nationalism in the Vietnamese people. The government, however, trying to maintain friendly relations with China while requesting arms assistance from the US, has both quashed and supported public demonstrations against China.

As a result, this sending of mixed signals has infuriated Vietnamese citizens, who are unsure if their government is pro-China, pro-American, or simply lost. Moreover, this indecision has also created a rift between party members, many of whom are asking the same questions as the people. Although united in public, it is hard not to imagine that factions are forming behind closed meetings.

What will inevitably doom the Communist Party is not revolution but differences of opinion. The party is no longer driven by communist ideology. Given the one-party rule of Vietnam, the Communist Party has become a very big tent for those well-connected citizens and individuals with political aspirations. Ideological purity no longer matters.

As such, current party members are of different minds about a variety of issues. Factions will inevitably form as some party members coalesce around one position while others form around another, pushing their separate agendas to advance their interests. What will emerge is a very basic, if not limited form of democracy within the party. Should any faction gain momentum and influence, they may very well separate and kick-start democratic reform throughout Vietnam.

The catalyst for change will come from without, but the first instances of change will come from within. It will come from the Communist Party itself, reacting to issues that have inflamed the people. Whether this issue is the South China Sea disputes remains to be seen, but it is almost certain that the party will divide over how best to handle critical domestic and foreign policy concerns.

The Communist Party will not implode and disappear, but deep divisions and lack of party unity will eventually cause its downfall, this year or the next or maybe just the next decade.

(Khanh Vu Duc is a Vietnamese Canadian lawyer in Ottawa, focusing on various areas of law. He researches on International Relations and International Law.)

The State of the World: Assessing China's Strategy

2012-03-08T23:50:00.001+11:00

March 6, 2012 | 0016 GMT

By George Friedman

Simply put, China has three core strategic interests.

Paramount among them is the maintenance of domestic security. Historically, when China involves itself in global trade, as it did in the 19th and early 20th century, the coastal region prospers, while the interior of China -- which begins about 100 miles from the coast and runs about 1,000 miles to the west -- languishes. Roughly 80 percent of all Chinese citizens currently have household incomes lower than the average household income in Bolivia. Most of China's poor are located west of the richer coastal region; this disparity of wealth time and again has exposed tensions between the interests of the coast and those of the interior. After a failed rising in Shanghai in 1927, Mao Zedong exploited these tensions by undertaking the Long March into the interior, raising a peasant army and ultimately conquering the coastal region. He shut China off from the international trading system, leaving China more united and equal, but extremely poor.

The current government has sought a more wealth-friendly means of achieving stability: buying popular loyalty with mass employment. Plans for industrial expansion are implemented with little thought to markets or margins; instead, maximum employment is the driving goal. Private savings are harnessed to finance the industrial effort, leaving little domestic capital to purchase the output. China must export accordingly.

China's second strategic concern derives from the first. China's industrial base by design produces more than its domestic economy can consume, so China must export goods to the rest of the world while importing raw materials. The Chinese therefore must do everything possible to ensure international demand for their exports. This includes a range of activities, from investing money in the economies of consumer countries to establishing unfettered access to global sea-lanes.

The third strategic interest is in maintaining control over buffer states. The population of the historic Han Chinese heartland is clustered in the eastern third of the country, where ample precipitation distinguishes it from the much more dry and arid central and western thirds. China's physical security therefore depends on controlling the four non-Han Chinese buffer states that surround it: Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet. Securing these regions means China can insulate itself from Russia to the north, any attack from the western steppes, and any attack from India or Southeast Asia.

Controlling the buffer states provides China geographical barriers -- jungles, mountains, steppes and the Siberian wasteland -- that are difficult to surmount and creates a defense in depth that puts any attacker at a grave disadvantage.

Challenged Interests

Today, China faces challenges on all three of these interests.

The economic downturn in Europe and the United States -- China's two main customers -- has exposed Chinese exports to increased competition and decreased appetite. Meanwhile, China has been unable to appropriately increase domestic demand and guarantee access to global sea-lanes independent of what the U.S. Navy is willing to allow.

Those same economic stresses also challenge China domestically. The wealthier coast depends on trade that is now faltering, and the impoverished interior requires subsidies that are difficult to provide when economic growth is slowing substantially.

In addition, two of China's buffer regions are in flux. Elements within Tibet and Xinjiang adamantly resist Han Chinese occupation. China understands that the loss of these regions could pose severe threats to China's security -- particularly if such losses would draw India north of the Himalayas or create a radical Islamic regime in Xinjiang.

The situation in Tibet is potentially the most troubling. Outright war between India and China -- anything beyond minor skirmishes -- is impossible so long as both are separated by the Himalayas. Neither side could logistically sustain large-scale multi-divisional warfare in that terrain. But China and India could threaten one another if they were to cross the Himalayas and establish a military presence on the either side of the mountain chain. For India, the threat would emerge if Chinese forces entered Pakistan in large numbers. For China, the threat would occur if large numbers of Indian troops entered Tibet.

China therefore constantly postures as if it were going to send large numbers of forces into Pakistan, but in the end, the Pakistanis have no interest in de facto Chinese occupation -- even if the occupation were directed against India. The Chinese likewise are not interested in undertaking security operations in Pakistan. The Indians have little interest in sending forces into Tibet in the event of a Tibetan revolution. For India, an independent Tibet without Chinese forces would be interesting, but a Tibet where the Indians would have to commit significant forces would not be. As much as the Tibetans represent a problem for China, the problem is manageable. Tibetan insurgents might receive some minimal encouragement and support from India, but not to a degree that would threaten Chinese control.

So long as the internal problems in Han China are manageable, so is Chinese domination of the buffer states, albeit with some effort and some damage to China's reputation abroad.

The key for China is maintaining interior stability. If this portion of Han China destabilizes, control of the buffers becomes impossible. Maintaining interior stability requires the transfer of resources, which in turn requires continued robust growth of the Chinese coastal economy to generate the capital to transfer inland. Should exports stop flowing out and raw materials in, incomes in the interior would quickly fall to politically explosive levels. (China today is far from revolution, but social tensions are increasing, and China must use its security apparatus and the People's Liberation Army to control these tensions.)

Maintaining those flows is a considerable challenge. The very model of employment and market share over profitability misallocates scores of resources and breaks the normally self-regulating link between supply and demand. One of the more disruptive results is inflation, which alternatively raises the costs of subsidizing the interior while eroding China's competitiveness with other low-cost global exporters.

For the Chinese, this represents a strategic challenge, a challenge that can only be countered by increasing the profitability on Chinese economic activity. This is nearly impossible for low value-added producers. The solution is to begin manufacturing higher value-added products (fewer shoes, more cars), but this necessitates a different sort of work force, one with years more education and training than the average Chinese coastal inhabitant, much less someone from the interior. It also requires direct competition with the well-established economies of Japan, Germany and the United States. This is the strategic battleground that China must attack if it is to maintain its stability.

A Military Component

Besides the issues with its economic model, China also faces a primarily military problem. China depends on the high seas to survive. The configuration of the South China Sea and the East China Sea render China relatively easy to blockade. The East China Sea is enclosed on a line from Korea to Japan to Taiwan, with a string of islands between Japan and Taiwan. The South China Sea is even more enclosed on a line from Taiwan to the Philippines, and from Indonesia to Singapore. Beijing's single greatest strategic concern is that the United States would impose a blockade on China, not by positioning its 7th Fleet inside the two island barriers but outside them. From there, the United States could compel China to send its naval forces far away from the mainland to force an opening -- and encounter U.S. warships -- and still be able to close off China's exits.

That China does not have a navy capable of challenging the United States compounds the problem. China is still in the process of completing its first aircraft carrier; indeed, its navy is insufficient in size and quality to challenge the United States. But naval hardware is not China's greatest challenge. The United States commissioned its first aircraft carrier in 1922 and has been refining both carrier aviation and battle group tactics ever since. Developing admirals and staffs capable of commanding carrier battle groups takes generations. Since the Chinese have never had a carrier battle group in the first place, they have never had an admiral commanding a carrier battle group.

China understands this problem and has chosen a different strategy to deter a U.S. naval blockade: anti-ship missiles capable of engaging and perhaps penetrating U.S. carrier defensive systems, along with a substantial submarine presence. The United States has no desire to engage the Chinese at all, but were this to change, the Chinese response would be fraught with difficulty.

While China has a robust land-based missile system, a land-based missile system is inherently vulnerable to strikes by cruise missiles, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles currently in development and other types of attack. China's ability to fight a sustained battle is limited. Moreover, a missile strategy works only with an effective reconnaissance capability. You can't destroy a ship if you don't know where it is. This in turn necessitates space-based systems able to identify U.S. ships and a tightly integrated fire-control system. That raises the question of whether the United States has an anti-satellite capability. We would assume that it does, and if the United States used it, it would leave China blind.

China is therefore supplementing this strategy by acquiring port access in countries in the Indian Ocean and outside the South China Sea box. Beijing has plans to build ports in Myanmar, which is flirting with ending its international isolation, and Pakistan. Beijing already has financed and developed port access to Gwadar in Pakistan, Colombo and Hambantota in Sri Lanka, Chittagong in Bangladesh, and it has hopes for a deepwater port at Sittwe, Myanmar. In order for this strategy to work, China needs transportation infrastructure linking China to the ports. This means extensive rail and road systems. The difficulty of building this in Myanmar, for example, should not be underestimated.

But more important, China needs to maintain political relationships that will allow it to access the ports. Pakistan and Myanmar, for example, have a degree of instability, and China cannot assume that cooperative governments will always be in place in such countries. In Myanmar's case, recent political openings could result in Naypyidaw's falling out of China's sphere of influence. Building a port and roads and finding that a coup or an election has created an anti-Chinese government is a possibility. Given that this is one of China's fundamental strategic interests, Beijing cannot simply assume that building a port will give it unrestricted access to the port. Add to this that roads and rail lines are easily sabotaged by guerrilla forces or destroyed by air or missile attacks.

In order for the ports on the Indian Ocean to prove useful, Beijing must be confident in its ability to control the political situation in the host country for a long time. That sort of extended control can only be guaranteed by having overwhelming power available to force access to the ports and the transportation system. It is important to bear in mind that since the Communists took power, China has undertaken offensive military operations infrequently -- and to undesirable results. Its invasion of Tibet was successful, but it was met with minimal effective resistance. Its intervention in Korea did achieve a stalemate but at horrendous cost to the Chinese, who endured the losses but became very cautious in the future. In 1979 China attacked Vietnam, but suffered a significant defeat. China has managed to project an image of itself as a competent military force, but in reality it has had little experience in force projection, and that experience has not been pleasant.

Internal Security vs. Power Projection

The reason for this inexperience stems from internal security. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is primarily configured as a domestic security force -- a necessity because of China's history of internal tensions. It is not a question of whether China is currently experiencing such tensions; it is a question of possibility. Prudent strategic planning requires building forces to deal with worst-case situations. Having been designed for internal security, the PLA is doctrinally and logistically disinclined toward offensive operations. Using a force trained for security as a force for offensive operations leads either to defeat or very painful stalemates. And given the size of China's potential internal issues and the challenge of occupying a country like Myanmar, let alone Pakistan, building a secondary force of sufficient capability might not outstrip China's available manpower but would certainly outstrip its command and logistical capabilities. The PLA was built to control China, not to project power outward, and strategies built around the potential need for power projection are risky at best.

It should be noted that since the 1980s the Chinese have been attempting to transfer internal security responsibilities to the People's Armed Police, the border forces and other internal security forces that have been expanded and trained to deal with social instability. But despite this restructuring, there remain enormous limitations on China's ability to project military power on a scale sufficient to challenge the United States directly.

There is a disjuncture between the perception of China as a regional power and the reality. China can control its interior, but its ability to control its neighbors through military force is limited. Indeed, the fear of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is unfounded. It cannot mount an amphibious assault at that distance, let alone sustain extended combat logistically. One option China does have is surrogate guerrilla warfare in places like the Philippines or Indonesia. The problem with such warfare is that China needs to open sea-lanes, and guerrillas -- even guerrillas armed with anti-ship missiles or mines -- can at best close them.

Political Solution

China therefore faces a significant strategic problem. China must base its national security strategy on what the United States is capable of doing, not on what Beijing seems to want at the moment. China cannot counter the United States at sea, and its strategy of building ports in the Indian Ocean suffers from the fact that its costs are huge and the political conditions for access uncertain. The demands of creating a force capable of guaranteeing access runs counter to the security requirements inside China itself.

As long as the United States is the world's dominant naval power, China's strategy must be the political neutralization of the United States. But Beijing must make certain that Washington does not feel so pressured that it chooses blockade as an option. Therefore China must present itself as an essential part of U.S. economic life. But the United States does not necessarily see China's economic activity as beneficial, and it is unclear whether China can maintain its unique position with the United States indefinitely. Other, cheaper alternatives are available. China's official rhetoric and hard-line stances -- designed to generate nationalist support inside the country -- might be useful politically, but strain relations with the United States. It doesn't strain relations to the point of risking military conflict, but given China's weakness, any strain is dangerous. The Chinese feel they know how to walk the line between rhetoric and real danger with the United States. It is still a delicate balance.

There is a perception that China is a rising regional and even global power. It may be rising but it is still far from solving its fundamental strategic problems and further yet from challenging the United States. The tensions within China's strategy are certainly debilitating, if not fatal. All of its options have serious weaknesses. China's real strategy must be to avoid having to make risky strategic choices. China has been fortunate for the past 30 years being able to avoid such decisions, but Beijing utterly lacks the tools required to reshape that environment. Considering how much of China's world is in play right now -- Sudanese energy disputes and Myanmar's political experimentation leap to mind -- this is essentially a policy of blind hope.

Vox pops: Indian Angkor replica questioned

2012-03-08T23:07:00.000+11:00

Yi Somphose & Pha Lina

Thursday, 08 March 2012

Phnom Penh Post

Puth Sopha, 29

“It has not been approved by the Ministry of Arts and Culture or the Ministry of Information.

If they copy the style of Angkor Wat, they should have to be given an official licence from us [Cambodia].

Each country varies in culture from others, so they should not attempt to copy anyone.

Angkor Wat is known globally and belongs to Cambodians.

It is also one of the World Heritage sites.”

Hourt Chan Vottey, 21

“We cannot keep them from construction, but we need to make sure that what they are going to construct is different from us.

Otherwise, it is merely copying and pasting.

The rate of tourism may be cut down, which will cause economic growth to slow as well.

The next generation will get confused whether Angkor Wat belongs to Cambodia or not, like Thais who teach their children that Angkor Wat is their possession.”

Hem Mardy, 21

“If countries continue to build [Angkor Wat replicas] without permission, it means they do not respect us [Cambodia].

In my opinion, I consider it wrong for [this company] to build the Angkor Wat replica without permission.

It is the symbol of our country.

It is the pride of our nation, which is something unique that others [nations] do not have.

The one [nation] who copies us will be regarded as shameless.”

Ly Nai Huoy, 17

“As a Cambodian citizen it seems to be absolutely wrong.

Do they want to copy us to in order to attract more tourists?

They are jealous of us [Cambodia] because we have a wonderful and one-of-a-kind wonder of the world.

However, some expect that tourists will make their destination to India rather than to Cambodia to see their Angkor Wat replica, even though it is just plagiarism.”

Union fears fainting workers will fall again

2012-03-08T23:03:00.002+11:00

Phak Seangly with additional reporting by Shne Worrell
Thursday, 08 March 2012

Phnom Penh Post

Many of the 50 workers who fainted as the temperature soared to almost 35 degrees Celsius in the crowded Nanguo Garment Co factory on Tuesday were back at work yesterday, despite only a minor – and enforced – change to the building’s ventilation system.

Ministry of Labour officials said yesterday they had ordered the factory’s bosses to remove the glass from windows as a temporary solution.

Meng Hong, a member of a workplace safety committee at the Ministry of Labour, said bosses at the factory, in the special economic zone in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nub district, had not improved the factory’s ventilation.

This was despite the government ordering it to do so after 200 workers fainted last month.

“We have ordered them to remove the glass from windows because the temperature inside ... is unusually high,” he said.

Yov Khemara, director of the provincial department of the Ministry of Labour, said factory bosses claimed to have been waiting for ventilation equipment “to be imported”.

The temperature in the factory had hit 34.6 degrees on Tuesday, he said.

Ministry officials confirmed 50 workers had fainted, 23 of whom were kept in hospital overnight on Tuesday. Four women and one man remained in hospital last night, while some were resting at home.

The Free Trade Union sent a letter to the ministry yesterday urging it to take more serious action. “We’re worried they will faint again because their health remains weak,” Ly Dee, an FTU investigator, said.

Worker Khen Rothani, 20, who spent Tuesday night on a breathing apparatus, said she had fainted at work twice in three months.

“It was hard to breathe. My hand and leg seemed to turn a bit cold,” she said.

Joel Preston, a consultant at Community Legal Education Center, said studies of businesses in the wider Preah Sihanouk area had revealed fainting was a daily occurrence.

“At eight to 10 factories, we’re hearing reports of up to one to two workers fainting every day,” he said.

Nanguo officials could not be reached for comment.

The Kingdom’s first IPO

2012-03-08T23:01:00.000+11:00

Anthony Galliano

Thursday, 08 March 2012

Phnom Penh Post

The long awaited first security listing on the Cambodian Securities Exchange became a reality on February 23 with the Security Exchange Commission of Cambodia’s “in principle” approval of Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s (PPWSA) “disclosure document for public issuance of equity securities”.

This is effectively a preliminary prospectus that includes information on the company such as its history, operations, management and financials as well as the terms, proceeds use, timetable, and risk factors of the offer.

TongYang Securities (Cambodia) Plc, an overseas affiliate of South Korea’s TongYang Securities Inc, will act as sole underwriter, book runner and lead manager.

An initial public offering, also referred to as a primary offering, is first sale of a company’s shares to investors on a public exchange. PPWSA intends to issue 13.04 million ordinary shares with a par value of 1,000 riels.

This represents a 15 per cent float, the total amount of shares publicly owned and available for trading.

Eleven per cent of the float will be allocated to the company’s employee stock option plan.

The state, represented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance will retain 85 per cent ownership or 73.9 million shares.

The role of the underwriter is to file the registration documents, advise on the IPO pricing, sell and distribute the securities, position and market the company, and purchase all the securities to be offered from the issuer under a firm commitment, which is the case of this offering.

Book building is the process of recording investor demand and the price the investor’s are willing to pay.

For PPWSA offering, this began on February 29 and ends March 13.

Interested investors must submit a book building form indicating the quantity of shares desired and a bid price, which must be in the range of the indicative offering price.

A 10 per cent deposit is required based on the total equity value of securities that prospective investor has bid for.

The indicative offering price is US$1.00 to $1.57.

The final offering price will be determined by the underwriter and issuer, using the weighted average method based on the price and the quantity of securities that investors have selected and indicated in the book building form.

The Cambodia Securities Exchange and Securities Exchange Commission must approve the final offering price.

Successful bidders will be informed by the company and may subscribe for a quantity of securities in which they bid, or a larger amount with an additional deposit, during the subscription period.

Subscriptions can be made through designated branch offices of ACLEDA Bank and ACLEDA Securities, the selling agent for the underwriter.

There is a reserve of shares for unsuccessful bidders and investors who did not subscribe during the book building process.

The prospective listing date is April 18, and secondary market trading begins thereafter.

PPWSA intends to pay a dividend.

PPWSA is forecasting revenues of $28.3 million for 2011, up from $26.2 in 2010.

Net profit for 2009 was $6.4 million and was $7.2 million in 2010. The company expects to continue to expand its service coverage, increase production capacity, reduce its water losses, and grow its customer base. PPWSA is a monopoly supplier.

Proceeds from the offering will be used to repay loans from the World Bank, CAPEX, business expansion and working capital.

The prospective price-earnings ratio is between 11 and 18, in line with other water utilities around the world – a very exciting time for the Kingdom’s evolving capital markets.

Anthony Galliano is the chief executive of Cambodian Investment Management.
anthonygalliano@covenantim.com

Increasing prices drive Kingdom’s rubber

2012-03-08T22:55:00.000+11:00

Sieam Bunthy

Thursday, 08 March 2012

Phnom Penh Post

Rubber production in early 2012 increased 21 per cent when compared to the end of 2011, according to Mak Kim Hong, president of the Cambodian Rubber Association.

Chub farm in Kampong Cham. Photo by Phnom Penh Post

He said yesterday that the price of one tonne of good-quality rubber rose to US$3,800 in early 2012, compared to $3,150 late last year.

Total exports last year reached 46,727 tonnes and $200.93 million, a more than 55 per cent increase from 2010’s 30,040 tonnes at $86.76 million, according to date from the Ministry of Commerce.

Cambodia is the main rubber supplier to China, Malaysia and Singapore.

ស្ត្រីអ្នកតវ៉ារឿងដីធ្លីទាមទារឲ្យអាជ្ញាធរបញ្ឈប់ហិង្សាលើស្ត្រី [How Beung Kak women celebrate International Women Day]

2012-03-08T22:13:00.001+11:00

RFA

ដោយ សុ ជីវី

2012-03-08

ស្ត្រីជាប្រជាសហគមន៍រងគ្រោះដោយការរំលោភដីធ្លីប្រមាណ ៤០០នាក់ បានដើរក្បួនអបអរខួបលើកទី១០១ ទិវាសិទ្ធិនារីអន្តរជាតិ ៨ មីនា។

RFA/Sochivy

ស្ត្រីប្រជាសហគមន៍រងគ្រោះដោយការរំលោភ ដីធ្លី ដើរដង្ហែក្បួននៅលើដងវិថីមួយ នារាជធានីភ្នំពេញ ដើម្បីទាមទារឲ្យអាជ្ញាធរបញ្ឈប់ហិង្សាមកលើស្ត្រី ក្នុងថ្ងៃទិវានារីអន្តរជាតិ ៨ មីនា ឆ្នាំ២០១២។

ពួកគេមកពីសហគមន៍បឹងកក់ បុរីកីឡា និងសហគមន៍៣៤៧។ ពួកគេស្រែកទាមទារអោយអាជ្ញាធរបញ្ឈប់ការប្រើអំពើហិង្សាលើស្ត្រី ក្នុងការតវ៉ាក្នុងរឿងជម្លោះដីធ្លី។
ក្រុមស្ត្រីនៃសហគមន៍ដែលកំពុងមានជម្លោះដីធ្លីនៅកណ្ដាលរាជធានី ភ្នំពេញ បានប្រមូលផ្ដុំគ្នាក្នុងតំបន់បឹងកក់ នៅព្រឹកព្រលឹម ថ្ងៃទី៨ ខែមីនា។ ពួកគេតែងខ្លួនស្រស់ស្អាត ដោយស្លៀកសម្លៀក
បំពាក់ប្រពៃណី លើកបដាជាច្រើន ដែលនិយាយដល់ការទាមទារសិទ្ធិជានារី ជាពិសេសបានផ្ញើសារទៅកាន់អាជ្ញាធរអោយបញ្ឈប់ការវាយធ្វើបាបលើ នារីដែលចេញតវ៉ាការពារផ្ទះសម្បែង។

ដោយចេញដំណើរពីភូមិ២៤ នៃតំបន់បឹងកក់ ក្បួនដង្ហែបានឆ្លងកាត់វិថីមួយចំនួន ឆ្លងកាត់ខាងមុខសាលារាជធានីភ្នំពេញ ឆ្ពោះទៅស្ថានទូតសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក និងស្ថានទូតប្រទេសបារាំង។
ការរុញច្រានគ្នាមួយបានកើតឡើងរវាងអាជ្ញាធរ និងក្រុមអ្នកហែក្បួន។ អាជ្ញាធរបានព្យាយាមរារាំងមិនអោយក្បួនដង្ហែធ្វើដំណើរតាមមហាវិថី ព្រះនរោត្តម ប៉ុន្តែពុំមានភាគីណាមួយរងរបួសទេ។
ក្បួនបានត្រឡប់ចូលដល់តំបន់វិញនៅម៉ោង ១០ព្រឹក។ នៅទីនោះពួកគេបានថ្លែងពីទុក្ខលំបាកដែលកើតឡើងដោយសារការបាត់បង់ ផ្ទះសម្បែងដីធ្លី។
តំណាងអ្នកភូមិបឹងកក់ អ្នកស្រី ទេព វន្នី បានលើកឡើងថា កន្លងមកស្ត្រីដែលបានចេញតវ៉ាក្នុងទាមទារសិទ្ធិលំនៅឋាន តែងទទួលនូវការធ្វើបាបពីសំណាក់ក្រុមអាជ្ញាធរ។ អ្នកស្រីបន្តថា សកម្មភាពទាំងនោះសអោយឃើញថា អាជ្ញាធរសមត្ថកិច្ចមិនបានគោរពសិទ្ធិស្ត្រីឡើយ។
សូមរង់ចាំអាន និងស្ដាប់ព័ត៌មានពិស្ដារ...
កំណត់ចំណាំ៖ ចំពោះអ្នកបញ្ចូលមតិនៅក្នុងអត្ថបទនេះ ដើម្បីរក្សាសេចក្ដីថ្លៃថ្នូរ យើងខ្ញុំនឹងផ្សាយតែមតិណាដែលមិនជេរប្រមាថដល់អ្នកដទៃតែ ប៉ុណ្ណោះ។

Bavet governor demoted, summoned to appear in court over shooting

2012-03-08T21:25:00.000+11:00

Published: 08-Mar-12 03:54PM

Svay Rieng (Cambodia Herald) – Svay Rieng Governor Chea Om said Thursday that Bavet governor Chhouk Bundith was demoted as he was summoned to appear in court next week on charges that he opened fire and seriously injured three female workers protesting at the Manhattan Special Economic Zone last month.

His successor as governor of the casino town and manufacturing base on the Vietnam border is deputy Bavet governor Nep Sarun who will be formally appointed on Friday, Chea Om added.

The former governor, now a Svay Rieng City Hall officer, is scheduled to appear in court on Friday next week.

On Wednesday, a city hall officer tried to convince one of the victim’s families to take $1,000 in exchange for not pressing charges against the governor.

Under Cambodian law, however, prosecutors can still take action if a case is related to a crime.

The Age of Authoritarian Democracy

2012-03-08T21:23:00.000+11:00

Published: 08-Mar-12 08:23AM | By Sergei Karaganov

Sergei Karaganov

Source: The Cambodia Herald

MOSCOW (Project Syndicate) – The world is currently being shaken by tectonic changes almost too numerous to count: the ongoing economic crisis is accelerating the degradation of international governance and supranational institutions, and both are occurring alongside a massive shift of economic and political power to Asia. Less than a quarter-century after Francis Fukuyama declared “the end of history,” we seem to have arrived at the dawn of a new age of social and geopolitical upheaval.

Dramatically, the Arab world has been swept by a revolutionary spring, though one that is rapidly becoming a chilly winter. Indeed, for the most part, the new regimes are combining the old authoritarianism with Islamism, resulting in further social stagnation, resentment, and instability.

Even more remarkable, however, are the social (and antisocial) grassroots demonstrations that are mushrooming in affluent Western societies. These protests have two major causes.

First, social inequality has grown unabated in the West over the last quarter-century, owing in part to the disappearance of the Soviet Union and, with it, the threat of expansionist communism. The specter of revolution had forced Western elites to use the power of the state to redistribute wealth and nurture the growth of loyal middle classes. But, when communism collapsed in its Eurasian heartland, the West’s rich, believing that they had nothing more to fear, pressed to roll back the welfare state, causing inequality to rise rapidly. This was tolerable as long as the overall pie was expanding, but the global financial crisis in 2008 ended that.

Second, over the past 15 years, hundreds of millions of jobs shifted to Asia, which offered inexpensive and often highly skilled labor. The West, euphoric from its victory over communism and its seemingly unstoppable economic growth, failed to implement necessary structural reforms (Germany and Sweden were rare exceptions). Instead, Western prosperity relied increasingly on debt.

But the economic crisis has made it impossible to maintain a good life on borrowed money. Americans and Europeans are beginning to understand that neither they, nor their children, can assume that they will become wealthier over time.

Governments now face the difficult task of implementing reforms that will hit the majority of voters hardest. In the meantime, the minority that has benefited financially over the past two decades is unlikely to give up its advantages without a fight.

All of this cannot fail but to weaken Western democracy’s allure in countries like Russia, where, unlike in the West or to a large extent the Arab world, those who are organizing the massive demonstrations against the government belong to the economic elite. Theirs is a movement of political reform – demanding more freedom and government accountability – not of social protest, at least not yet.

A few years ago, it was fashionable to worry about the challenge that authoritarian-style capitalism (for example, in China, Singapore, Malaysia, or Russia) presented to Western democratic capitalism. Today, the problem is not only economic.

Western capitalism’s model of a society based on near-universal affluence and liberal democracy looks increasingly ineffective compared to the competition. Authoritarian countries’ middle classes may push their leaders toward greater democracy, as in Russia, but Western democracies will also likely become more authoritarian.

Indeed, measured against today’s standards, Charles De Gaulle, Winston Churchill, and Dwight Eisenhower were comparatively authoritarian leaders. The West will have to re-adopt such an approach, or risk losing out globally as its ultra-right and ultra-left political forces consolidate their positions and its middle classes begin to dissolve.

We must find ways to prevent the political polarization that gave rise to totalitarian systems – communist and fascist – in the twentieth century. Fortunately, this is possible. Communism and fascism were born and took root in societies demoralized by war, which is why all steps should be taken now to prevent the outbreak of war.

This is becoming particularly relevant today, as the smell of war hangs over Iran. Israel, which is facing a surge of hostile sentiment among its neighbors in the wake of their “democratic” upheavals, is not the only interested party. Many people in the advanced countries, and even some in Russia, look increasingly supportive of a war with Iran, despite – or perhaps owing to – the need to address the ongoing global economic crisis and failure of international governance.

At the same time, huge opportunities beckon in times of far-reaching change. Billions of people in Asia have extricated themselves from poverty. New markets and spheres for applying one’s intellect, education, and talents are appearing constantly. The world’s power centers are beginning to counterbalance each other, undermining hegemonic ambitions and heralding a creative instability based on genuine multipolarity, with people gaining greater freedom to define their fate in the global arena.

Paradoxically, today’s global changes and challenges offer the potential for both peaceful coexistence and violent conflict. Whether fortunately or not, it is up to us – alone – to determine which future it will be.

Sergei A. Karaganov is Dean of the School of World Economics and International Affairs at Russia’s National Research University Higher School of Economics.

Prey Lang protectors warned

2012-03-08T21:16:00.000+11:00

May Titthara
Thursday, 08 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

Member of the Prey Lang Network said yesterday that Ouch Sam On, the deputy governor of Kampong Thom province, had told them he would not be responsible if they were shot while protecting Prey Lang forest.

Villagers burn wood confiscated from illegal loggers in Prey Lang forest last month. Photo Supplied

Kim Cheng, 50, a member of the network, said villagers would not obey an order to stay out of the forest and would continue patrolling for illegal loggers.

“Ouch Sam On threatened villagers and told us we were not allowed to patrol anymore,” he said.

“Maybe he is cooperating with businessmen who are illegally cutting trees, so he is afraid our patrols will expose his interest.”

More than 30 companies have been granted economic land or mining concessions in the forest, which covers 3,600 square kilometres in four provinces in the country’s north, and villagers say illegal loggers regularly cut down trees for luxury timber.

Villagers want to protect the forest and end the “anarchy”; however, the deputy governor had refused to take responsibility if the villagers were shot doing so, Kim Cheng said.

“What they seem to be doing is abandoning villagers and trees in order to protect businessmen.”

Chheang Vuthy, a villager representative, said the commune chief, district governor and provincial governor had threatened to arrest villagers who defied the ban.

“They care only about the companies’ interests. We care about the trees, so we still keep doing our action.”

Ouch Sam On denied the accusations, saying villagers had entered the forest to burn trees cut down by companies licensed to do so.

“Two times already we have banned them, because they have burned companies’ property and other villagers’ property. We need to protect the trees, companies who are licensed to work in the forest and villagers,” he said.

Villagers and members of the Prey Lang network outraged police by burning 40 cubic metres of luxury timber on February 8, the Post reported. No charges were laid.

Chut Wutty, director of the Natural Resources Protection Group, said authorities were not working for the interest of local villagers.

Analysis: Employed, empowered

2012-03-08T21:13:00.000+11:00

Douglas Broderick
Thursday, 08 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

Today is International Women’s Day, and there is no better occasion to shine a light on the valuable contributions of women and girls in Cambodian society.

A woman engraves a copper bowl at a local business in Kandal province that produces handicrafts. More than half the adult female population of Cambodia is self-employed. Nina Loacker

According to the National Institute of Statistics, 52.4 per cent of Cambodian women in 2009 were self-employed, but just 0.3 per cent of the women in Cambodia were classified as employers.

Women are also twice as likely to face wage discrimination or find themselves in unpaid work.

The garment industry is one of the biggest employers in the country, with an estimated 350,000 employees.

According to the International Labour Organisation, 90.7 per cent of them are women, and their remittances support an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians.

As the stories published on a new United Nations-sponsored “New Waves” blog today clearly illustrate, there is no shortage of incredibly inspiring women and girls in Cambodia.

The personal stories featured on this blog tell of the fierce spirit, determination and perseverance of so many women and girls in this country who have not simply settled for the conditions they were dealt in their lives.

They have worked and struggled to change their lives, and the realities in their community, for the better.

These are women who seek economic empowerment and to strengthen their community and their country.

Essential to economic empowerment is the ability to believe in oneself.

It is through sharing these positive stories of women that we will inspire the continual growth of better protection of women’s rights, recognise women’s achievements and build stronger economic development in this country.

Minister of Women’s Affairs Dr Ing Kantha Phavi has often referred to the very substantial contributions of women to Cambodia’s economy—citing the fact that a great majority of businesses in the informal sector are women-owned.

For that reason, today is an opportune moment to reflect on the economic empowerment and entrepreneurship of Cambodian women.

Entrepreneurship is a path to the creation of jobs and incomes, and entrepreneurs play an important role in a country’s growth and its market economy.

Studies have shown that engaging women in business leads to fairer employment, improved corporate social responsibility and greater investment back into local communities.

In many emerging economies, women are setting up businesses at a faster rate than men, and women in Cambodia should be further encouraged and supported to do the same.

Cambodian women entrepreneurs are charting a new course in their economic pursuits.

They should be recognised for their resilience and determination in adapting to change, and for their strong leadership qualities in both the informal and formal sectors.

Considering the needs of their families, communities and businesses, Cambodian women entrepreneurs have demonstrated courage, technical skill and the capacity to build strong relationships.

But although many women are actively engaged in economic activities, most of them are working in the informal sector, particularly in the agricultural and manufacturing industries.

Improving the economic empowerment of women in Cambodia will require particular efforts to address a lack of direct market linkages; a lack of production capacity; a lack of business-management and data-management skills; and the low level of co-operation with the private sector.

Between 2011 and 2015, the United Nations in Cambodia plans to spend $33 million to address the needs of women in this country.

Part of this effort is aimed at strengthening the economic participation of women.

ThIs year, the UN will be working to strengthen women in business, producers’ groups and self-help groups.

We will also be supporting women to improve their productivity and the quality of their products.

Furthermore, we will continue our collaboration with social partners and NGOs to form and sustain more women’s business associations and promote the rights of women migrant workers seeking jobs abroad.

These efforts must be supported by the government, development partners and, especially, the private sector.

Douglas Broderick is the UN resident co-ordinator in Cambodia. Wenny Kusuma is the country director for UN Women.

Victim rejects ‘pay-off’ [Is this how women treated in Cambodia on International Women Day?]

2012-03-08T21:09:00.000+11:00

May Titthara and David Boyle
Thursday, 08 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

The price of justice in Bavet town is cheap if the alleged efforts of local officials to bribe shooting victim Buot Chinda are any indication.

Keo Near, 18, receives treatment at a private clinic after being shot in the arm during a protest outside the Kaoway Sports factory near Bavet town last month. Derek Stout

In the border town known for gambling and garment factories, municipal officials yesterday offered Buot Chinda her choice of US$1,000 or a new motorbike for her silence over town governor and sole suspect Chhouk Bandith’s role in her near-fatal shooting, both her brother and a deputy village chief said.

About seven municipal officials from the town in Svay Rieng province paid the family a visit at their Prey Phdao village home in Bavet town’s Chrak M’tes commune to make the offer in exchange for thumb-printing an agreement not to press charges, her elder brother Sam Sinat said.

“They look down on my sister’s life like a chicken. Now I am worried about my sister’s safety, because those authorities know my house well,” he said.

Sam Sinat said his 21-year-old sister – who was shot through the chest at the rowdy protest outside the Kaoway Sports Ltd shoe factory in Svay Rieng province on February 20 – would bow neither to temptation nor intimidation.

“I want to find justice for my sister. My sister’s life is not like an animal so that they can shoot at [her] anytime they want,” he said.

She still plans to press charges in about three days time, but will leave Bavet first, fearing that if town officials can’t buy her off, they will resort to more sinister ways to silence her, Sam Sinat added.

Buot Chinda returned to her home on Monday after being released from Phnom Penh’s Calmette hospital two weeks after she was shot along with 18-year-old Keo Neth and 23-year-old Nuth Sakhorn by a man who fled the scene despite the presence of police.

Sok Sea, deputy Prey Phdao village chief, said five officials from Bavet town, including the police chief, his two deputies and two Chrak M’tes commune chiefs, joined him in attempting to facilitate the deal.

“I don’t know where they got that money from, and they came to the victim’s village three times already, but Chhouk Bandith never came, only his deputy governor,” he said.

Despite Sok Sea’s account of the meeting, Bavet town police chief Keo Kong denied he had been involved in any such negotiations.

“I did not go to victim’s house. I don’t know about the news that they offered the victim $1,000 to stop her plan to file a complaint,” he said.

Last week, Sam Sinat also told the Post that Bavet town officials had visited his sister in hospital, offering her a gift of about $500 from deputy prime minister Men Sam An while again handing her an agreement not to press charges.

Rights groups are closely monitoring the case, fearing it will unfold like so many other dubious chapters in the recent history of the Cambodian justice system – with scapegoats, impunity and corruption.

Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Community Legal Education Centre, said the alleged attempted payoff by Bavet officials was particularly stupid as it simply added to the weight of evidence against their boss.

“What are they trying to do? This shows it is true that Chhouk Bandith is the perpetrator,” he said.

He said that by law, police should have arrested the suspect immediately after the shooting, which they witnessed, adding there was ample evidence now to arrest Chhouk Bandith, including a ballistics report from the Ministry of Interior.

On Monday, the Svay Rieng provincial court issued a summons instead of a warrant for Chhouk Bandith – who has been identified as the sole suspect by Minister of Interior Sar Kheng - claiming police reports were not sufficiently conclusive to arrest the governor.

The shooting took place in front of about 6,000 protesters, including police, and was reportedly caught in security footage that Ministry of Interior officials had inspected.

Mathieu Pellerin, a monitoring consultant with rights group Licadho, said the minister of justice could and should intervene to have the case moved to another court if there was sufficient evidence of judicial interference.

“I think that’s proof enough for people to know that if there is justice and rule of law in this case, it’s not going to go through authorities in Svay Rieng,” he said.

Sam Prachea Manith, director of cabinet at the Ministry of Justice, said it was untrue that Bavet officials had tried to pay off Buot Chinda’s family, before declining to comment further.

Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said he knew nothing about judicial interference in the case.

Insight: China gambles on Cambodia's shrinking forests

2012-03-08T20:57:00.000+11:00

Andrew R.C. Marshall and Prak Chan Thul Reuters

7:33 a.m. CST, March 7, 2012

Chicago Tribune

BOTUM SAKOR, Cambodia (Reuters) - It was once the unspoiled jungle home for tigers, elephants, bears and gibbons. But today Botum Sakor National Park in southwest Cambodia is fast disappearing to accommodate a much less endangered species: the Chinese gambler.

"This was all forest once," says Chut Wutty, director of the Natural Resource Protection Group, an environmental watchdog based in the capital, Phnom Penh, gesturing across a near-treeless landscape.

Schoolboys ride a motorcycle through Botum Sakor National Park in Koh Kong province February 2012,

Construction work takes place at Botum Sakor National Park in Koh Kong province February 20, 2012.

"But then the government sold the land to rich men."

He means Tianjin Union Development Group, a real-estate company from northern China, which is transforming 340 sq km (130 sq miles) of Botum Sakor into a city-sized gambling resort for "extravagant feasting and revelry," its website says. A 64-km (40-mile) highway, now almost complete, will cut a four-lane swathe through mostly virgin forest.

National parks and wildlife sanctuaries in Cambodia, an impoverished country known for its ancient temples and genocidal Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970s, could soon vanish entirely as deep-pocketed Chinese investors accelerate a secretive sell-off of protected areas to private companies, warns Chut Wutty and other activists.

The land sales also point to another trend: the expansion of Chinese economic interests in Southeast Asia's undeveloped frontiers, which comes at a delicate time as tensions simmer over China's sovereignty claims in the disputed South China Sea and the United States vows to re-engage with the region.

Last year, the Cambodian government granted so-called economic land concessions to scores of companies to develop 7,631 sq km (2,946 sq miles) of land, most of it in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, according to research by the respected Cambodia Human Rights and Development Organization

(ADHOC).

The area of concessions granted has risen six-fold between 2010 and 2011, partly a reflection of booming Indochina trade as China's economic influence spreads deeper into Southeast Asia.

Foreign conservation groups in the country have remained silent about the sell-off for fear of wrecking their relationship with the government of mercurial Prime Minister Hun Sen. But Cambodians dislodged from concession areas are starting to find their voices.

ANTI-CHINESE SENTIMENT

Fishing families in Botum Sakor say that Union Group is using strongarm tactics to relocate them deep inland.

"It's been my land since my grandparents' generation," says Srey Khmao, 68, from Thmar Sar. "I lived peacefully there until Union Group threatened the villagers and told them to remove their belongings."

Such protests could ratchet up anti-Chinese sentiment in Cambodia, where China is both the largest foreign investor and source of foreign aid. That aid, often in the form of no-strings-attached infrastructure projects, has made Hun Sen less reliant on Western donors, who generally demand greater transparency and respect for human rights.

It has also eroded the influence of foreign conservation groups in Cambodia, many of whom work in the same protected areas now being sold off. Their criticism has remained muted for fear Hun Sen will do what he did to British environmental watchdog Global Witness in 2005, and kick them out.

"The days of donor-dependency are over," says a foreign conservationist working in Cambodia, who asked not to be identified. "Much more money is coming into this country through direct investment, especially from Chinese companies, so the carrot-and-stick incentive that NGOs (non-governmental groups) might have had 10 years ago isn't as powerful these days."

Land-grabbing, illegal logging and forced evictions have long been common in Cambodia. But by granting land concessions, the government has effectively legalized these practices in the country's last remaining wilderness, say activists.

Companies from Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries are also exploiting the land sell-off, mainly to develop rubber plantations and other agribusinesses. But the most lucrative projects -- mining for gold and other minerals -- are dominated by the Chinese, says the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.

"THIS IS CHINA"

Cambodia's 2001 land law forbids economic land concessions greater than 10,000 hectares (24,700 acres). But China's Union Group won a 99-year lease thanks to a 2008 royal decree which carved out 36,000 hectares (89,000 acres) from Botum Sakor and redefined it.

In the same year, a contract was signed by Minister of Environment Mok Mareth and the chief of Union Group's board of directors Li Zhi Xuan. The company was granted a further 9,100 adjoining hectares last year to build a hydroelectric dam.

Union Group has big ambitions for the area, including a network of roads, an international airport, a port for large cruise ships, two reservoirs, condominiums, hotels, hospitals, golf courses and a casino called "Angkor Wat on Sea," according to the contract and its website.

It will sink $3.8 billion into its Botum Sakor resort, a figure quoted to rights groups in February by Bun Leut, governor of coastal Koh Kong province. It covers an area almost half the size of Singapore. People in the area say it will be called either "Seven-headed Dragon" or "Hong Kong II."

"Those are just rumors. It hasn't been named yet," says Cheang Sivling, a Chinese-speaking Cambodian manager for Union Group's road-building operations.

The four-lane highway, built at a cost of about $1.1 million a mile, is part of a system of roads Union Group will run across Botum Sakor, adds Cheang Sivling.

This alarms Mathieu Pellerin, a researcher with the Cambodian human rights group Licadho, who notes that newly built roads give logging operators greater access and could accelerate the destruction of forests.

"Botum Sakor is melting away," he says.

The worksites along the highway house a number of Chinese engineers, and are guarded by Cambodian soldiers.

Access to the resort area itself is blocked by a provincial park ranger who, when Reuters tried to pass, threatened to radio for back-up from military police, who along with the police routinely provide security for big concessionaires.

"This is China," he says firmly.

Nearby, at the picturesque seaside village of Poy Jopon, people were preparing to leave after signing away their property to Union Group -- under duress, they say.

"I'm upset, but there is nothing I can do about it," says Chey Pheap, 42, a grocery store owner. "This is the way society works." He and the remaining villagers will soon be moved to houses some 10 km (six miles) inland. When asked to describe the new area, one of Chey Pheap's neighbors says: "No work, no water, no school, no temple. Just malaria."

Nhorn Saroen, 52, was among hundreds of families who have already been moved from another fishing village, called Kom Saoi. "We were told it was Chinese land and we couldn't cut down a single tree," he says. "Some people refused to leave. Their land was taken and now they have nothing."

He was provided with a house in a purpose-built village far inland, robbing him of his main livelihood: fishing. The houses surrounding Nhorn Saroen's are deserted. Many families cannot make ends meet in the remote area and have moved away, he says.

Passing just behind his house was a moat which delineated Union Group's land. It was three meters deep (10 ft) and twice as wide, and ran for many kilometers. For the villagers, it symbolized China's power and remoteness.

"Even though we hate the Chinese, what can we do?" says Nhorn Saroen.

Union Group's website praises Cambodia for its "sound public order" and "simple and honest" people. Allegations of forced evictions are "a problem between the Cambodian government and its people," says a company spokeswoman, who declined to be identified.

Union Group obeyed Cambodian laws and worked closely with the Chinese government, she adds. Its road network was welcomed by people in the area. "Residents said they finally saw real roads and cars," she says. "In this regard, I think we have contributed to Cambodia."

She confirmed that Union Group is spending "billions" of dollars on the project.

CORE AREAS

The government granted a record number of economic land concessions in 2011, says Pellerin, but keeping track of them is impossible. Information on hard-to-reach concessions or the firms leasing them is not systematically maintained.

The government's contract with Union Group is "shocking," says Pellerin. "Cambodia is giving away 36,000 hectares to a foreign entity with little if any oversight or obvious benefit to the people."

As part of that contract, Union Group deposited $1 million with the Council for the Development of Cambodia, but pays no fees for the first decade of its lease.

Leasing protected areas generates minimal money, insisted Sem Saroeun, director general of finance and administration at the Ministry of Environment. The government charged even deep-pocketed Chinese firms a mere $1 per hectare per year.

"This is a voluntary price and the funds go to the protection and conservation of the environment," he says. New anti-graft laws prevent additional under-the-table payments, he adds.

But Seng Sok Heng of Community Peace Network, a group which helps track land concessions for the pro-transparency website Open Development Cambodia, says the government is charging up to $10 per hectare per year, and that additional bribes were common.

Environment official Sem Saroeun said he didn't know the total area leased out by the government, but added that concessions were only granted on land surrounding protected areas. "The core areas are still protected," he says.

But this claim is upended not only by Reuters' trip to fast-shrinking Botum Sakor, but also by satellite images and research by groups. Maps produced by Licadho show huge leaseholds at the heart of wildlife sanctuaries such as Boeng Per and Phnom Aural, while 19 concessions have swallowed up almost all of Virachey national park on Cambodia's remote border with Laos and Vietnam.

GROWING RESENTMENT

With Chinese investors fanning out across fast-growing Southeast Asia, festering resentment over land-hungry projects could spell trouble for Beijing, especially after the United States signaled last year that it would strengthen economic and diplomatic influence in the region.

A new generation of Chinese multinationals is facing pockets of resistance in a region they once dominated without question.

Myanmar's reformist government apparently bowed to popular discontent by cancelling a $3.6 billion Chinese-led dam project in September, marking a turning point in relations with its giant neighbor. A similar movement opposes trans-Myanmar pipelines that will transport oil and gas to China.

Through all this, Cambodia has been a reliable ally for China. Foreign direct investment from China was $1.19 billion in 2011, almost 10 times that of the United States, estimated the government's Council for the Development of Cambodia, which Hun Sen chairs.

China has also been generous with aid, pledging more than $2 billion since 1992, mostly in soft loans, according to Finance Minister Keat Chhon in February.

This "blank cheque diplomacy" threatened to "erode donor efforts to use assistance to promote improved governance and respect for human rights," a U.S. diplomat said in a cable released last year by the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks.

"There is a growing sense -- and this is not unique to Cambodia -- that Chinese investors and employers are problematic," says Sophie Richardson, Asia Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch. "At the same time, it's not as if the Cambodian government is stepping up to defend its own citizens."

Hun Sen has publicly praised China for placing no conditions on its aid, but the U.S. diplomat noted in the cable that Chinese companies had been rewarded with non-transparent "access to mineral and resource wealth."

And land: leaseholds offer potentially strategic locations for expanding Chinese interests. Union Group's vast concession has easy access to both the Gulf of Thailand -- the traditional backyard of U.S. military ally Thailand -- and the hotly contested South China Sea.

For activist Chut Wutty, Union Group's activities smack of colonisation. "You think after 99 years that this land will be returned to Cambodia? You think they'll kick the Chinese out? No way. It's forever."

(Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jason Szep and Robert Birsel)

Cambodian classics re-emerge

2012-03-08T20:46:00.001+11:00

Bangkok Post

Rare screenings of vintage Khmer movies recently showed the missing link in Southeast Asian film heritage

Published: 7/03/2012 at 03:17 AM

The Khmer Rouge, headlong and senseless, arrived in Phnom Penh and spoiled the party. During the so-called Golden Age of Cambodian cinema, from the 1960s to the early '70s, almost 400 films were released in the country. A number of them travelled across the border and were screened in Thai cinemas, some gaining the status of popular entertainment, and at least one, featuring a chattering snake and his love affair with a beautiful woman, becoming a classic remembered today by Thais as a lost, distant dream.

Puos Keng Kang , known to Thai people as Ngu Keng Kong , is the most famous Cambodia movie that was recently screened in a retrospective of classic Khmer cinema in Berlin.

All Cambodian film-makers of those years were self-taught. They threw in their cauldron a recipe of primitivism, witchcraft, melodrama and folk horror that resulted in a cinema that bustled with colour and smelled of fragrant earth. When the Khmer Rouge approached the capital in 1975, however, the light from the projector grew dark. Artists and film-makers fled for their lives, many didn't make it, and out of the 400 movies made during those years, no more than 30 survived. It is one of the biggest losses in the history of Southeast Asian cinema.

Tea Lim Koun fled, too, at one point clutching a 16mm print of one of his films as he boarded the last airlift out of Phnom Penh. There had been bombs in the cinemas, and as the rebel advanced the curfew forced movie theatres to shut down. Intellectuals, writers, actors and artists were among those the Khmer Rouge made a priority to kill.

Tea Lim Koun

"Let's not talk about politics today. Let's talk about art, let's talk about movies," said Mr Tea, a legendary Khmer director who made Cambodia's most famous film, 1970's Puos Keng Kang (known in Thailand as Ngu Keng Kong). After decades of living in Montreal, Tea, now in his eighties, travelled to the Berlin International Film Festival last month where two of his works, Puos Keng Kang and Peov Chouk Sor, the one he managed to save on the last flight out of the falling city, were shown for the first time in almost four decades.
"I made 11 films, only six were saved and the rest were destroyed. I'm glad that at least I got a chance to show what I still have."
At the Berlin screenings, Tea Lim Koun arrived with two Khmer film-makers, the effusive Ly Bun Yim and Ly You Sreang, as well as Cambodia's best-known actress in its pitifully short cinema history, Dy Saveth. Such a gathering should've taken place in Phnom Penh, or at least Bangkok.
This unearthing of popular Khmer movies of yore happened out of historical curiosity and amidst the hope that since the situation in Cambodia has become stable _ if we turn a blind eye to the spats along the Thai-Cambodian border _ young Khmer film-makers are beginning to discover their film history and regard film again as a means of looking into the past, and the future.
Along with four old Cambodian films, the Berlin festival also screened a new documentary called Golden Slumbers, made by Paris-based French-Cambodian director Davy Chou. The documentary casts a probing, nostalgic look at the Golden Age of Khmer movies, and the young director was instrumental in the recent revival of his country's cinematic heritage. Golden Slumbers will be shown at the Thai Film Archive later this month.
The story of vintage Cambodian films is the story of a missing link in the study of film history. It is also a story of how, in pre-Asean days, the transmigration of proto-pop culture between Thailand and Cambodia had been mutual, natural and fairly rich. In Berlin, Ly Bun Yim's 1968 film, Puthisen Neang Kongrey, whose source story is known among Thais under the title Nang Sibsong or Prarot Meri, was screened from 16mm print in the Thai-dubbed version.

Ly Bun Yim

Meanwhile Tea Lim Koun's serpent-lover film Puos Keng Kang had a sequel co-starring Thai actress Aranya Namwong with Khmer duo Dy Saveth and Jia Yuthorn. ''Before Puos Keng Kang, there were at least five Cambodian films released in Bangkok,'' said Tea, who speaks some Thai since he stayed in Ekamai briefly before immigrating to Canada. ''At that time I wasn't sure that my film would be successful among Thai audiences, but to my surprise, it was. We showed it at Muang Thong Theatre in Pratunam, in 1971, and a lot of people came to see it.''
Puos Keng Kang tells the story of a magical snake who turns into a man and falls in love with a woman; they get married and she gives birth to a girl whose head is crowned with a squirming nest of vipers, Medusa-style. Part innocence, part deadpan-surrealism, this fantasy of inter-species romance was a hit not just in Thailand, but also in Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. It remains the most recognised Cambodian film in history (in another case of Siamese-Khmer hybrid, in 2001 Fay Sam Ang remade Puos Keng Kang starring a Cambodian actress and Thai actors).
Tea, who as a young man fed on the staple of Chinese, French, Thai and Indian movie available in Phnom Penh, said he made Puos Keng Kang with the aim to push Khmer cinema to the international market. ''I believe Cambodian films can be more accepted by people outside the country,'' he said. Perhaps he was on the right path of making that happen, if only history had been a little kinder to Cambodia.
In the early '70s, Ly Bun Yim, who was present in Berlin, was preparing to show his film Nang Sib Song in India and Bangkok when the situation grew precarious in Phnom Penh. He already had the film dubbed into Thai for the Bangkok release, but had to cancel everything when the war broke out. When he escaped to Bangkok, France, and later to Canada, with the help of Tea Lim Koun, that's the only copy of the film Ly took with him _ and that's why the 16mm screening of Nang Sib Song in Berlin was in Thai, even though the film had never been shown in Thailand before.
Ly Bun Yim managed to save just three out of his 20 films, meanwhile Ly You Sreang, another director whose work include tantalising titles like The Virgin Demon and The Sacred Pond, lost all the films he made in the 1960s when he fled the escalating atrocities to Laos and France.

Peov Chouk Sor , a film about an angel who gets stuck on Earth, was saved from destruction when the director carried its print on the last airlift out of Phnom Penh.

''I released Nang Sib Song in Cambodia in 1968. It was shown in all provinces, then a theatre in Thailand contacted me to bring the film,'' said Ly Bun Yim, a smiling character with a tendency for long speeches. ''I used to screen my film The Invisible Man in Bangkok before, and for Nang Sib Song, I asked for the best voice dubbers you have. We eventually used Sompong [Pongmit] and Juree [O-siri]. They did the dubbing perfectly, but too bad the situation in Cambodia became worse and we had to stop everything.
''I went to Bangkok once and tried to bring my parents out. Then I went back to Cambodia again and left for France at the end of 1976. The Thai-dubbed print of Nang Sib Song was stored in Thailand so it was safe [though later it found its way to California where his son lives]. It had hardly been shown anywhere before this event in Berlin.''
It is easy to imagine Nang Sib Song as a hit had it been screened here; it tells the story of 12 sisters, all married to one prince, whose eyes were gouged out by a jealous ogress. Popular Cambodian films from that period _ as opposed to the highbrow output of King Norodom Sihanouk, the film-making monarch whose movies were safe from Khmer Rouge destruction _ drew on the Third-World sources of myth, folklore, horror, magic and a kind of visceral sensationalism that defines the mainstream taste of mass audiences in this part of the world. A large number of Khmer films feature angels, ogres, talking animals and home-made special effects, as supernatural elements insert themselves, without warning or alarm, into mundane reality. This is old-fashioned by today's standard, even naive, but in terms of cinema archaeology, the rarity and near-extinction of such films and their time-locked sincerity entitle them with a unique historical value.

The Thai poster of Ngu Keng Kong when the film was released in Thailand.

''Those stories and style are part of Cambodian culture,'' said Tea Lim Koun. ''This is what the audience liked _ miracles, witchcraft, ghosts, pure melodrama, love stories. The sadness and the drama are what people want to see, and we made it for the people.''
The re-emergence of Puos Keng Kang, Nang Sib Song and Peov Chouk Sor _ it's possible that the films will tour other countries _ at least brings back the memory of a cinema culture that was largely forgotten. Films that have come out of Cambodia in the past 20 years belong mostly to one man, Rithy Panh, a Paris-based filmmaker whose famous works are documentary features that probe the Khmer Rouge horror. Meanwhile, according to Davy Chou of Golden Slumbers, a new crop of young filmmakers in Cambodia are discovering the power of documentary to reflect the reality of life in their country, the place that's slowly waking up from a long sleep like a stone snake in Puos Keng Kang, rising to breathe and live once again.

ក្រសួងវប្បធម៌ ប្រតិកម្មការសង់ប្រាសាទហិណ្ឌូ

2012-03-08T20:35:00.000+11:00

Source:news.sabay.com.kh

ផ្សាយក្នុងផ្នែក ព័ត៌មានសង្គម ដោយ yornsophearith កាលពី 2 days ago

ឯកឧត្ដម ហាប់ ទូច អគ្គនាយក បេតិកភណ្ឌ នៃក្រសួងវប្បធម៌ និង វិចិត្រសិល្បៈ បានមានប្រតិកម្មភ្លាមៗ បន្ទាប់ពីបានទទួលព័ត៌មានដែលថា ប្រទេសឥណ្ឌាបានចាប់ផ្ដើមសាងសង់ប្រាសាទបែបហិណ្ឌូ ចម្លងតាមប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តរបស់កម្ពុជា។

ឯកឧត្តមបន្តថា នេះជាព័ត៌មានមួយដែលធ្វើឲ្យ ភ្ញាក់ផ្អើលមែនទែន ព្រោះឯកឧត្តមពុំបានទទួលព័ត៌មានជាផ្លូវការពីរដ្ឋាភិបាល ឥណ្ឌានោះទេ។ ឯកឧត្តមបន្តថា ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តជារបស់ខ្មែរ ទោះបីជា ប្រាសាទនេះចូលជាបេតិកភណ្ឌ ពិភពលោកកាលពីឆ្នាំ១៩៩២ ក៏ដោយ ក៏ការចម្លងត្រូវតែសុំការអនុញ្ញាតពីប្រទេសសាមីដែរ មិនមែនចេះតែធ្វើៗទៅនោះទេ ព្រោះវាប៉ះពាល់កម្មសិទ្ធិបញ្ញាធ្ងន់ធ្ងរណាស់។

ឯកឧត្តមប្រឆាំងជាដាច់ខាត ចំពោះការលើកឡើងដែលថា ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តសាងសង់ក្នុងសម័យកាលដែលអាណាចក្រខ្មែរគោរពសាសនា ហិណ្ឌូ ហើយសាសនាមួយនេះមានដើមកំណើតនៅក្នុងប្រទេសឥណ្ឌា ប្រទេសឥណ្ឌាអាចមានសិទ្ធិចម្លងបាន។ ឯកឧត្តមលើកសម្អាងថា ប្រាសាទដ៏អច្ឆរិយៈរបស់ខ្មែរ មួយនេះ មានលក្ខណៈនិងរចនាបថខ្មែរ ហើយប្រាសាទទាំងអស់នៅឥណ្ឌា ក៏គ្មានមួយណាដូចប្រាសាទនៅកម្ពុជាដែរ ដូច្នេះចំពោះការចម្លងទាំងស្រុងគឺជារឿងមិនត្រឹមត្រូវទាល់តែសោះ។
បើសិនជាមាន ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តនៅប្រទេសឥណ្ឌា វានឹងមិនប៉ះពាល់ដល់វិស័យទេសចរណ៍នោះទេ។ ឯកឧត្តមបានបន្ថែមដូច្នេះ។ ឯកឧត្តម បានលើ់កឡើងដូចនេះ ដោយលើកហេតុផលថា ”ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តជាបុរាណវត្ថុ ហើយតម្លៃរបស់វា ស្ថិតនៅលើអាយុកាល ដែលជាភាពទាក់ទាញសម្រាប់ទេសចរណ៍ បើសិនជាមានការចម្លងមែន វាគ្មានន័យអ្វីទេ ព្រោះអ្នកទេសចរគេមិនចង់ទស្សនាទេ”។ ឯកឧត្ដម បានសង្កត់ធ្ងន់ថា “វាមិនអាចវត្ថុចម្លងមានតម្លៃដូចរបស់ពិតនោះទេ ព្រោះតម្លៃ នៃបញ្ញាញាណរបស់បុព្វបុរសខ្មែរ គឺធំធេងខ្លាំងណាស់ មិនមែនចេះតែចម្លងងាយៗបាននោះទេ ហើយខ្ញុំយល់ថា ការសាងសង់នេះគ្រាន់តែឧទ្ទិសសាសនាប៉ុណ្ណោះ ចំពោះអ្នកទេសចរគេមិនឲ្យតម្លៃទេ”។ ឯកឧត្តម បានបន្តថា ក្រសួងនឹងចាត់វិធានការយ៉ាងណានោះទេ គឺទុកឲ្យអាជ្ញាធរអប្សរា ជាអ្នកដោះស្រាយបញ្ហានេះ។ Sabay មិនអាចទាក់ទង អាជ្ញាធរអប្សរាបានទេ នៅពេលរសៀលនេះ។
គេហទំព័រព័ត៌មាន BBC បាន ចេញផ្សាយកាលពីម្សិលមិញថា ប្រទេសឥណ្ឌាគ្រោងសាងសង់ នូវប្រាសាទមួយមានឈ្មោះ Virat Angkor Wat Ram ដែលចម្លងតាមប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តរបស់ខ្មែរ តែមានទំហំធំជាង កម្ពស់ខ្ពស់ជាង ដើម្បីឧទ្ទិស ដល់សាសនាហិណ្ឌូ។ ប្រភពដដែលបានបន្តថា គម្រោងនេះ នឹងប្រើពេល១០ឆ្នាំ ដែលគិតជាទឹកប្រាក់ប្រមាណ២០លានដុល្លារអាមេរិក។
អត្ថបទ៖ កង ចាន់បញ្ញា
រូបថត៖ លន ហ្សាឌីណា

Math Enthusiasts Want More Development in Field

2012-03-08T19:58:00.000+11:00

Wednesday, 07 March 2012

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“I don’t think we are less intelligent than students from others countries, but if we work harder, have enough documents and do strong research, we could be stronger.”

A local Cambodian math organization says the country needs to focus on the field in order to better develop but that Cambodians have as much ability as others if they concentrate on it.
“Especially, it can be used in economics and technology,” said Chan Roth, president of the Community of Mathematics Teachers, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”
Cambodia has just wrapped up a four-day international math conference, as well as a math competition for local high school students.

Chan Roth called on the public to pay more attention to helping improve knowledge of mathematics in the country.
Lim Ratanak Liephea, a student from Sisowath High School and one of the math competition winners, said she wanted to encourage the study of mathematics in her country.
“I don’t think we are less intelligent than students from others countries, but if we work harder, have enough documents and do strong research, we could be stronger,” she said.
To be good at math, students have to do exercises, self-study, search for online resources and discuss with their classmates and teachers, she said.

Serei Mardy, a “Hello VOA” participant via Facebook, said that Cambodian students need more resources and documents that are translated into Khmer.
In addition, they have to start learning a foreign language like English because it is “useful” in strengthening their general knowledge.
Chan Roth agreed with Lim Ratanak Liephea’s view, saying Cambodian students are strong enough to improve in the field of math.
He cited the example of Tor Kim Sy, a former student who was strong in math and went on to study in United States, where she earned top grades for all her courses.

Phath Suy Kry, a Cambodian from California who provides support to the Cambodian math organization, said he hoped to help solve the lack of libraries at Cambodian schools.
“We are thinking about creating a mobile library system for them,” he said. “We hope overseas Cambodians can assist in this initiative.”

RFA News

2012-03-08T19:50:00.002+11:00

អង្គរវត្តត្រូវគេចម្លងសាងសង់នៅឥណ្ឌា

2012-03-08T19:46:00.000+11:00

ថ្ងៃ ពុធ 07 មីនា 2012

RFI

ឥណ្ឌាចាប់សាងសង់ប្រាសាទព្រហ្មសាសនាមួយដែលចម្លងរូបរាងពីប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តនៅក្នុងទីក្រុងបាហៀរ

ដោយ លាង ដឺលុច
ប្រព័ន្ធផ្សព្វផ្សាយអន្តរជាតិBBCបានផ្សាយអោយដឹងថា ឥណ្ឌាបានចាប់ផ្តើមសាងសង់ប្រាសាទព្រហ្មសាសនាមួយដែលចម្លងរូបរាងពី ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តរបស់កម្ពុជានៅក្នុងទីក្រុងបាហៀរក្នុងប្រទេស ឥណ្ឌា។ប្រាសាទចម្លងពីអង្គរវត្តនេះ នឹងក្លាយទៅជាប្រសាទព្រហ្មញ្ញសាសនាដ៏ធំជាងគេនៅលើពិភពលោកនេះ។ កម្ពុជានៅមិនទាន់មានប្រតិកម្មផ្លូវការនៅឡើយទេ។ ប៉ុន្តែអ្នកនាំពាក្យរដ្ឋាភិបាលលោកខៀវ កាញារីទ្ធបានប្រាប់អ្នកសារព័ត៌មានថា វត្តមាននៃប្រាសាទចម្លងនឹងប្រាប់ពិភពលោកអោយដឹងអំពីវត្តមាននៃ ប្រាសាទពិតនៅកម្ពុជាកាន់តែច្រើន។

យោងតាមការផ្សព្វផ្សាយរបស់ប្រព័ន្ធផ្សព្វផ្សាយអន្តរជាតិBBC ពិធីបញ្ចុះបឋមសិលាមួយដែលជាការចាប់ផ្តើមសាងសង់ប្រាសាទដែលមាន រូបរាងដូចអង្គរវត្តត្រូវបានគេធ្វើឡើងនៅក្បែរទីក្រុងBihar ក្នុងប្រទេសឥណ្ឌា។ គម្រោងសាងសង់ប្រាសាទដើម្បីឧទ្ទិសដល់ព្រហ្មញ្ញសាសនានេះត្រូវកសាង ដោយអង្គការ Mahavir Mandir Trust ដែលត្រូវចំណាយពេល១០ឆ្នាំ ក្នុងតម្លៃ២០លានដុល្លារ។

តំណាងអង្គការនេះបានថ្លែងប្រាប់ប្រព័ន្ធផ្សព្វផ្សាយBBCថា ប្រាសាទដែលថតចម្លងរូបរាងពីប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តរបស់កម្ពុជា នឹងក្លាយជាប្រាសាទព្រហ្មញ្ញសាសនាធំជាងគេនៅក្នុងពិភពលោក។ ប្រាសាទនេះនឹងត្រូវគេអោយឈ្មោះថា ប្រាសាទវីរ៉ាតអង្គរវត្តរ៉ាម។

អាចមានសំណួរជាច្រើនដែលអាចចោទឡើងជុំវិញការប៉ះពាល់ដល់ប្រាសាទ បុរាណខ្មែរចំណាស់១០០០ឆ្នាំ។ អ្នកនាំពាក្យរដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជា លោក ខៀវ កាញារីទ្ធបានអត្ថាធិប្បាយប្រាប់សារព័ត៌មានក្នុងស្រុកថា រដ្ឋាភិបាលកម្ពុជានៅមិនទាន់ប្រតិកម្មយ៉ាងណាជាមួយគម្រោងសាងសង់ ប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តចម្លោងនេះនៅឡើយទេ។ ប៉ុន្តែលោកបញ្ជាក់ថា ប្រជាពលរដ្ឋឥណ្ឌា១ ០០០លាននាក់ដែលបានឃើញប្រាសាទថតចំលងនៅឥណ្ឌាហើយ អាចនឹងមានចិត្តមកទស្សនាប្រាសាទបុរាណដើមពិតប្រាកដនៅក្នុងប្រទេស កម្ពុជា។

សម្រាប់ប្រធានសមាគមទីភ្នាក់ងារទេសចរណ៍លោក អាំង គីមអ៊ាងវិញ វត្ថុថ្មីនិងថតចម្លងនៅតែមិនអាចប្រៀបធៀបជាមួយវត្ថុពិតចំណាស់ ១០០០ឆ្នាំឡើយ។ ប៉ុន្តែលោកបារម្ភថា វត្តមាននៃប្រាសាទអង្គវត្តចម្លងអាចធ្វើអោយបាត់បង់ភាពអស្ចារ្យនៃ ប្រាសាទនេះដែលលែងមានតែមួយក្នុងលោកទៀតហើយ៕

Minister of Hennessy says who cares about India replica [since when did he care about anything even after India defacing ancient writings on Angkor walls with their so-called expert acid cleaning?]

2012-03-08T12:12:00.002+11:00

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) –
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Wednesday that plans for an Angkor Wat replica in India would not affect the real temple complex in Cambodia.

“Even though Brahmanism originated in India, no Indian temples have been bigger than Angkor Wat," said Khieu Kanharith, who is also spokesman for the Cambodia government.

“The real thing is always worth more than a fake,” he said, adding that Indians were likely to want to see the original site in Cambodia after visiting the replica.

He was speaking …

Gender នៅក្នុងសង្គមខ្មែរ

2012-03-08T06:47:00.001+11:00

ពុធ 07 មីនា 2012

RFI

Gender នៅក្នុងសង្គមខ្មែរ

Sami Sarkis/Getty Images

ដោយ ប៉ែន បូណា

ទិវាសិទ្ធិនារីអន្តរជាតិ៨មីនាបានចូលមកដល់ទៀតហើយនៅថ្ងៃ ស្អែកនេះ។ នៅកម្ពុជា ថ្ងៃ៨មីនាឆ្នាំនេះនឹងត្រូវគេប្រារព្ធធ្វើឡើងក្រោមប្រធានបទ «អ្នកម្តាយដ៏ឆ្នើមរបស់ខ្ញុំ»។ រយៈពេលជាច្រើនឆ្នាំចុងក្រោយនេះ ពាក្យថា Genderដែលគេសំដៅទៅលើសមភាពរវាងបុរសនិងស្ត្រីបាននិងកំពុងក្លាយ ជាពាក្យពេញនិយមមួយនៅកម្ពុជា។ អង្គការសង្គមស៊ីវិលជាច្រើន រួមទាំងក្រសួងស្ថាប័នរដ្ឋ ក៏ដូចជាគណបក្សនយោបាយដែរបាននាំគ្នាបង្ហាញយុទ្ធសាស្ត្រ និងសកម្មភាពជាច្រើនក្នុងន័យលើកស្ទួយស្ត្រីឲ្យមានសិទ្ធិស្មើនឹង បុរស។ តើអ្វីទៅជាទស្សនៈ Gender នៅក្នុងសង្គមខ្មែរ?

បច្ចុប្បន្ន នៅទីណាក៏គេនាំគ្នានិយាយពី Gender ដែរ។ Gender បានក្លាយជាពាក្យពេញនិយមមួយដែលគេនាំគ្នានិយាយស្ទើរតែគ្រប់ មាត់ ហើយពេលខ្លះពាក្យនេះបានក្លាយទៅជាពាក្យចំអន់គ្នាលេងក្នុងន័យ កំប្លែងផងក៏មាន។ ការបំផុសចលនាលើកស្ទួយសមភាពរវាងបុរសនិងស្ត្រី ឬក៏ហៅដោយខ្លីថាGender គឺជាប្រធានបទសំខាន់និងសមស្របតាមស្ថានភាពសង្គមខ្មែរ។ សង្គមខ្មែរដែលគេច្រើនតែចាត់ទុកស្ត្រីជាភេទទន់ខ្សោយដែលចាស់ បុរាណថា «បញ្ញាខ្លី សំដីតិច» ដែលត្រូវពឹងផ្អែកជាសំខាន់ទៅលើបុរស។

ជាការពិតណាស់ ក្នុងសង្គមខ្មែរបុរាណ កូនស្រីរស់ក្នុងគំនាបប្រពៃណីយ៉ាងតឹងរ៉ឹង ពោលគឺកូនស្រីតែងតែតោងកន្ទុយក្បិនឪពុកម្តាយ និងមិនអាចទៅណាឆ្ងាយពីភ្នែកឳពុកម្តាយបានឡើយ ហើយថែមទាំងត្រូវរវល់វក់វីតែនឹងចង្ក្រានជើងឆ្នាំងជាប្រចាំ។ នេះជាឧបសគ្គដែលធ្វើឲ្យកូនស្រីមិនអាចរៀនសូត្របានខ្ពង់ខ្ពស់ ដូចកូនប្រុស។ ហេតុដូច្នេះហើយបានជាក្រោយពេលរៀបការរួច ស្ត្រីខ្មែរជាទូទៅច្រើនរស់ក្រោមឥទ្ធិពលរបស់ប្តី។ នេះជាផ្នត់គំនិតចាស់គំរឹលម្យ៉ាងដែលគេកំពុងតែនាំគ្នាលុបបំបាត់ ក្នុងពេលបច្ចុប្បន្ន។
ក៏ប៉ុន្តែ និយាយពី Gender ក្នុងសង្គមខ្មែរ គេក៏មិនអាចបំភ្លេចចោលជ្រុងមួយទៀតនៃអំណាចពិសេសរបស់ស្ត្រីបាន ដែរ ជាក់ស្តែង អំណាចកាន់កាប់លុយកាក់ ឬអំណាចលូកលាន់និងប្រើប្រាស់ឥទ្ធិពលទៅលើការងាររបស់ប្តីជាដើម។ ត្រង់ចំណុចនេះ គេប្រាកដជានៅចាំបានពាក្យថា«ប្តីស័ក្តិ៣ ប្រពន្ធស័ក្តិ៤ កូនស័ក្តិ៥»។ នេះក៏ជាទស្សនៈឆ្លុះបញ្ចាំងពីតថភាពក្នុងសង្គមខ្មែរមួយជ្រុង ដែរ។ ដូច្នេះ ប្រសិនបើពិនិត្យឲ្យស៊ីជម្រៅមែនទែន សង្គមខ្មែរមិនប្រាកដថាជាសង្គមដែលស្ត្រីគ្មានអំណាច ឬគ្មានឥទ្ធិពលនោះឡើយ តែជាសង្គមដែលស្ត្រីត្រូវបានគេផ្តល់តម្លៃ ជាមេដឹកនាំនិងជាអ្នកមានឥទ្ធិពលពិសេសពីធម្មជាតិរួចស្រេចទៅហើយ។ គ្រាន់តែថា ការបត់បែននៃរបបនយោបាយដឹកនាំ និងកំហុសឆ្គងរបស់អ្នកនយោបាយមួយចំនួនបានរុញច្រានសង្គមឲ្យធ្លាក់ ក្នុងភ្លើងសង្គ្រាមវិនាសអន្តរាយដែលជាទូទៅផលវិបាកបានធ្លាក់ធ្ងន់ ទៅលើស្ត្រី។
បច្ចុប្បន្ននេះ ដោយសារតែការបំផុសចលនាលើកស្ទួយស្ត្រីដែលគេនិយមហៅថា Gender ស្ត្រីខ្មែរបានកែប្រែស្ថានភាពមួយចំនួនគួរឲ្យកត់សម្គាល់។ ជាក់ស្តែង ស្ត្រីខ្មែរមានវត្តមានកាន់តែច្រើនឡើងនៅក្នុងស្ថាប័នកំពូលៗទាំងបី របស់ជាតិ ក្នុងនោះស្ថាប័នព្រឹទ្ធសភា ៩ រូប ស្ថាប័នរដ្ឋសភា ២៣ រូប និងក្នុងស្ថាប័នរាជរដ្ឋាភិបាលជាច្រើនទៀតមានដូចជាថ្នាក់ឧបនាយក រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីមួយរូប ថ្នាក់រដ្ឋមន្ត្រី ២ រូប រដ្ឋលេខាធិការ ១៦ រូប និងថ្នាក់អនុរដ្ឋលេខាធិការ ៣១ រូប។ នេះនៅមិនទាន់រាប់ស្ត្រីខ្មែរជាច្រើនទៀតដែលកំពុងបម្រើការនៅថ្នាក់ មូលដ្ឋាន ស្ត្រីជាអ្នកដឹកនាំសង្គមស៊ីវិល និងវិស័យឯកជនជាច្រើនទៀតផងនោះផងទេ។
យ៉ាងណាក៏ដោយ សង្គមស៊ីវិល គណបក្សនយោបាយ ក៏ដូចជាស្ថាប័នរដ្ឋដែរកំពុងតែ ខិតខំដើម្បីលើកស្ទួយស្ត្រីបន្តទៀតរហូតដល់ចង់កំណត់កូតាស្ត្រី ឲ្យបាន២០ឬ៣០ភាគរយជាដើម។ កិច្ចខិតខំប្រឹងប្រែងនេះជាការត្រឹមត្រូវ និងគួរឲ្យលើកទឹកចិត្ត ប៉ុន្តែ គេមិនត្រូវភ្លេចទេថា ដើម្បីសម្រេចគោលដៅនេះ គេមិនអាចចាប់បង្ខំស្ត្រីឲ្យចូលរួមហួសពីសមត្ថភាពរបស់ខ្លួនបាន ទេ។ អ្វីដែលសំខាន់គឺគេត្រូវកសាងគ្រឹះតាំងពីកុមារទៅឲ្យហើយពោលគឺ ត្រូវទ្រទ្រង់ការសិក្សារបស់កុមារីឲ្យបានខ្ពស់។ ម្យ៉ាងទៀត គេក៏មិនត្រូវភ្លេចដែរថា គុណវិបត្តិមួយចំនួនរបស់ស្ត្រីខ្មែរក៏ជាចំណុចដែលត្រូវកែប្រែជា ចាំបាច់ដែរពីព្រោះថា ជួនកាលគុណវិបត្តិទាំងនោះអាចជាឧបសគ្គសម្រាប់ការឈានឡើងរបស់ ស្ត្រីខ្លួនឯង។
សរុបមកវិញ ភាពជាដៃគូពិតប្រាកដរវាងបុរស និងស្ត្រីពិតជាមានសារសំខាន់ណាស់ទាំងក្នុងគ្រួសារក៏ដូចជាក្នុង សង្គមទាំងមូល។ ដើម្បីឈានដល់គោលដៅនេះ ការជំរុញឲ្យកុមារី និងនិស្សិតស្ត្រីឲ្យរៀនបានខ្ពស់គឺជាគ្រឹះមិនអាចខ្វះបាន។ ទន្ទឹមនឹងនោះ ការរៀនគោរពសិទ្ធិគ្នាទៅវិញទៅមករវាងបុរសនិងស្ត្រី គឺជាកិច្ចការចាំបាច់ដែលត្រូវបន្ស៊ាំ។ នេះហើយជាសមភាពរវាងបុរស និងស្ត្រី ឬទស្សនៈ Gender ក្នុងន័យត្រឹមត្រូវរបស់វា៕

Cambodia Past and Present ( Part 1 to 6)

2012-03-07T23:24:00.001+11:00

Angkor redux scepticism

2012-03-07T23:21:00.001+11:00

Sen David with additional reporting by Bridget Di Certo and David Boyle
Wednesday, 07 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

Plans for a full-scale replica of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple were greeted with raised eyebrows by government officials yesterday.

Cambodia’s top tourist draw, Angkor Wat, last year. Naw Say Phaw Waa

Council of Minister’s Press and Quick Reaction Unit spokesman Ek Tha said such plans to build a “fake Angkor Wat” were trite.

“There’s only one Angkor Wat in the world, there’s not two,” he said, stressing that the Indian government – which is not involved in the privately funded project – had helped Cambodia restore temples damaged by natural causes.

Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts Secretary of State Thai Norak Satya said this was the first time he had heard of someone wanting to build a bigger Angkor Wat.

“In some cases, some other countries such as Thailand have built smaller models of Angkor Wat – but it is small, so it is okay,” Thai Norak Satya said.

“If [someone] wants to build a smaller model of Angkor Wat to showcase Cambodia, that is okay, but if they want to build it bigger – they cannot,” he said.

Government tourism officials and UNESCO specialists did not respond to requests for comment yesterday as they were attending a meeting in Siem Reap, the home of Cambodia’s national symbol.

On Monday, Indian NGO Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust, which plans to construct the replica, held a groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site in Bihar state.

Trust secretary Kishore Kunal told the Post yesterday that operations are “under way” to surpass Angkor Wat and build the biggest religious structure in the world.

“We are so impressed with Angkor Wat that we want to make a replica in India,” Kunal said of the temple that adorns Cambodia’s national flag.

“It will be the same as Angkor Wat, but bigger.”

Kunal said the Trust’s objective was to recreate the originally Hindi temple in India as both a tourist attraction and a place of worship.

“Of course, the Indians will still come to visit Angkor Wat, I myself am coming for a visit for the first time next month,” Kunsal said by telephone yesterday.

The replica will be a full-scale replica down to the world-renowned stone carvings.

“Since we are following the exact design of the world famous Angkor Wat temple, there is not much variation in our design from the original temple,” Kunsal said.

“We will complete construction within 10 years,” Kunsal said, adding that the Trust, which operates as an NGO, was funded by Lord Rama devotees.

Show/hide comments

There is nothing wrong to built a replica..That would only make our temple more famous...As mentioned in the first comment that the replica of Eiffel Tower was built everywhere around the world from Japan to US..Pyramid can be seen everywhere...I really support that idea and I am proud to see that...

Khmer on March 07, 2012 Report

The news is wrong. Because the proposed temple in India will be much smaller than the Angkor Wat. (See the yahoo link below). Only the central tower will be the highest. Some news organizations including Times of India, Phnom Penh post etc have reported it wrongly that they are going to build a temple bigger than Angkor. Before they write, they should have wondered whether one can build another Angkor Wat with just 20 million dollars. According to many estimates, to replicate Angkor Wat, it would cost more than 500 million dollars. This temple is India will be much smaller, but only the central tower will be the highest Hindu tower in the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/india-building-replica-cambodias-angkor-wat-164152346.html

Poorna Gopal on March 07, 2012 Report

Angkor Wat appears on our national flag if they build the same, the younger generation will have confused whether we use Angkor Wat image in India for our flag or our Angkor. I dnt think we can compare Eiffel Tower in this context. Eiffel Tower is not an identity of France but it is the modern symbol of France and it is not National Identity. We Khmer have to do something about this...

Vannak, from India on March 07, 2012 Report

“If [someone] wants to build a smaller model of Angkor Wat to showcase Cambodia, that is okay, but if they want to build it bigger – they cannot,”
TOTALLY AGREE with our Cambodian government.

Eiffel Tower and Egypt Pyramid in Las Vegas are smaller. So that's ok.

HOW DO YOU FEEL IF CAMBODIA SPEND $1 BILLION BUILDING REPLICA OF INDIA "The Taj Mahal" 100 TIMES BIGGER AND BETTER???

Sombat on March 07, 2012 Report

Building a bigger Angkor Wat is only paying tribute to how beautiful Angkor Wat is. All across the continent, Asians have a habit of copying each other. I don't think this should be a problem.

There is a huge Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas. Sure it's not 'bigger' but I didn't hear the French complaining!

Dominic on March 06, 2012 Report

Thank you so much for finally publish this article. Per my urgent request to have your company publish this article and to urge Cambodia government to complaint to the India government and UNESCO about this, I went ahead yesterday to post some commend to the India Times link below. I feel it is the right thing for me as a true Khmer who love my country and my Khmer ancestor, national pride to defend our only national prestige.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/angkor-wat-temple-bhumi/pujan-today/articleshow/12141459.cms

Sincerely,

Kosol(American Cambodian)

Kosol(American Cambodian) on March 06, 2012 Report

Borei Keila residents herald pledge of aid

2012-03-07T23:18:00.001+11:00

Khouth Sophakchakrya
Wednesday, 07 March 2012
Phnom Penh Post

Borei Keila evictees who have been sleeping in stairwells near where their houses once stood said yesterday the Phnom Penh municipal authority had promised to help them find homes.

People evicted from the Borei Keila community speak to a police officer outside the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. Heng Chivoan

Ka Rohanny, 35, a representative of the evicted residents, told the Post Kiet Chhe, deputy administrative president of city hall, had told her that authorities, including representatives of the Anti-Corruption Unit, would again investigate the Borei Keila dispute to try to resolve the evictees’ housing problem.

“He claimed he would deal with ‘house offerings’ for those who have enough documents and will do charity for those who do not have documents,” Ka Rohanny said.

The evictees, however, were not convinced this offer meant they would soon be given the flats that development firm Phan Imex promised to build them in 2004.

“We are really happy after being informed, but we still wait to see if what they have said is true,” Ka Rohanny said.

Sixty former Borei Keila evictees, some of whom were detained in Prey Sar prison and the Prey Speu social affairs centre early this year for protesting, gathered near the Phnom Penh city hall yesterday as city hall officials and five Borei Keila representatives discussed the offer.

“This time, I believe that the municipal authority will really put in an effort to help us find justice,” Yann Phoeun, 39, a representative of the evictees, said.

Tim Saka, who was representing her disabled son Un Kongpiseth, said she was happy the municipal authority had offered to find him a solution.

“I hope the authority will provide a house in Borei Keila for my son,” she said.

Kiet Chhe could not be reached yesterday.

The residents also launched a criminal complaint against Suy Sophan, the owner of Phan Imex, to the Phnom Penh municipal court yesterday.

The group wants her charged over the demolition of their homes on January 3.

The same residents launched civil action against Suy Sophan last month, demanding she compensate them for her employees using bulldozers to knock down their houses and destroy their property.

Suy Sophan could not be reached by the Post for comment yesterday.

Ball rolling on KRT cases

2012-03-07T22:55:00.000+11:00

May Titthara and Bridget Di Certo with additional reporting by Shane Worrell

Tuesday, 06 March 2012

Phnom Penh Post

Arter nearly four years of controversy and stalling, the Khmer Rouge tribunal has made moves to formally inform suspects in government-opposed cases 003 and 004 of the charges against them – a critical step in the momentum of the two cases.

Khmer Rouge tribunal Case 004 suspect Im Chem speaks to the Post at her home in Oddar Meanchey province in 2009. Robbie Corey-Boulet

Im Chem, who oversaw the Khmer Rouge regime’s largest irrigation project, told the Post yesterday that five representatives from the court had come to her home last week and read out the case against her.

“I denied all their accusations against me, because I did not kill people like they accused,” Im Chem said. “Their accusations were not true.”

The now deputy commune chief in Oddar Meanchey province said two foreigners and three Cambodians had come to her house unexpectedly and handed her “many many documents”, including a notice that she has the right to “go to Phnom Penh to find a lawyer”.

“I said I don’t need a lawyer and that I would not be going to Phnom Penh,” Im Chem said by phone from her home in Anlong Veng district, a former Khmer Rouge stronghold.

Im Chem, one of three Khmer Rouge cadre suspects in Case 004, said she was surprised by the litany of atrocities she is named as committing during the Khmer Rouge regime because, she said, all she ever did was “urge a group of women who were to plant rice”.

“After I denied all their accusations, they left my home,” she said.

The court was tight-lipped yesterday about the activities of investigators and no official statement or information had been issued by the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges.

“I have received no information [about the notification of suspects],” tribunal legal affairs spokesman Lars Olsen said.

Cambodian Co-Investigating Judge You Bunleng told the Post he had no comment on the notification of the suspects and stood by his previous statements in which he has said he does not acknowledge the legal authority of his international counterpart, reserve Co-Investigating Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet.

Sources close to the court said Kasper-Ansermet was one of the foreigners who delivered the notifications at the end of February.

Kasper-Ansermet did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

The two suspects in Case 003, Sou Met and Meas Muth, and the other two suspects in Case 004, Ta An and Ta Tith, could not be reached or declined to comment yesterday.

The Defense Support section of the tribunal likewise had not heard official information about the notification of suspects, however, DSS officer-in-charge Nisha Valabhji said that a charged person could only be questioned in the presence of a lawyer.

“It has been the long-held view of the DSS that the suspects in cases 003 and 004 are entitled to their fundamental right to individual legal representation,” Valabhji said by email.

“Last year DSS made several requests to … represent the general interests of the suspects, but these requests were declined.”

Documentation Centre of Cambodia legal advisor Anne Heindel called the development “significant” and echoed the sentiments of Valabhji that it would be appropriate for lawyers to represent the interests of the suspects.

“Particularly in light of the year that has gone by, with the suspects being contacted by journalists but not the court itself,” Heindel said.

“Their rights have already been prejudiced.”

The acting international co-prosecutor submitted the introductory submissions to the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges in 2008, and the cases have since been embroiled in a political tug-of-war between the UN, which calls for “due process” and the Royal Government of Cambodia, which wants the two cases killed, allegedly for fear of inciting a civil war.

Im Chem herself told the Post in 2009 that she knew she would never see the inside of a courtroom because Prime Minister Hun Sen would not allow any more Khmer Rouge to be arrested and sent to the tribunal.

In 2010, Hun Sen told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that the two cases would not be “allowed”.

Several senior government ministers have echoed this position.

Ek Tha, of the Council of Minister’s Press and Quick Reaction Unit saidthe government’s position remains unchanged and that it is up to the Supreme Council of Magistracy to approve UN-nominated Kasper-Ansermet before he has any legal authority to act.

UN Special Expert David Scheffer told the Post last week that the UN position is that Kasper-Ansermet “has the authority of a co-investigating judge”.

Ten parties to compete in elections

2012-03-07T22:53:00.000+11:00

Vong Sokheng

Wednesday, 07 March 2012

phnompenhpost

Ten political parties will vie for commune chiefdom in the upcoming June 3 elections, the National Election Committee’s official preliminary candidate report said yesterday.

The 10 political parties that submitted preliminary candidate lists to the NEC were all accepted to run in the Kingdom’s third-ever commune election, according to the report.

Cambodia has 1,633 communes and only the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party has indicated it will run candidates in every commune.

Opposition Sam Rainsy Party was the second-most ambitious party, with plans to run candidates in 1,621 communes.

Funcinpec, Human Rights Party and Norodom Ranariddh Party each indicated they will run candidates in more than 1,000 communes.

The remaining parties contending are the Alliance for Democracy Party, Democratic Movement Party, Cambodian Nationality Party, Khmer Anti-Poverty Party, and the Republican Democracy Party.

Official candidate lists are still being finalised, the NEC said.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the party intended to submit 20,000 candidates to the NEC while CPP Central Committee member Cheam Yeap said the ruling party would put forward 12,000 candidates and 12,000 reserve candidates for the elections.

9.2 million voters are eligible to vote in the June 3 election, according to NEC voter list.

More than 40 faint as firm denies exit

2012-03-07T22:51:00.002+11:00

Phak Seangly with additional reporting by Shane Worrell

Wednesday, 07 March 2012

phnompenhpost

More than 40 workers had fainted at a garment factory yesterday after officials prevented them leaving the building when four of their co-workers collapsed, a labour department official said.

The mass fainting occurred at the Nanguo Garment Co Ltd factory in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nub district, where more than 200 workers fainted less than a month ago.

Yov Khemara, provincial director of the Ministry of Labour, said initial investigations suggested 45 women and one man had fainted because of a lack of oxygen.

“After the previous fainting, the factory has not really improved its ventilation,” Yov Khemara said.

“There is not enough air to breathe. So it caused the heat to increase. Their fear also contributed to the fainting.”

About four female workers had fainted in the morning, causing their bodies to convulse and sending their co-workers, who feared the souls of ghosts had entered their bodies, into a frenzy, Yov Khemara said.

Officials had prevented workers from leaving because they feared they would not return, he said.

About 40 more hungry and fatigued women fainted about midday and were taken to hospital.

Preah Sihanouk provincial police chief Tak Vanntha said a strong odour from freshly cut fabric had caused the fainting.

Ly Dy, provincial monitor for the Free Trade Union, said the factory should not have prevented workers leaving.

Factory officials could not be reached for comment.

Maeve Galvin, a consultant at the International Labour Organisation’s Better Factories Cambodia, said studies had shown mass factory faintings in recent months were the result of several factors.

“It’s a combination of heat stress, poor nutrition, and there is a psychogenic component, usually beginning with one person having fainting symptoms.

“Structural changes need to be made. Because it’s a psychogenic condition that is contributing, it is very real and shouldn’t be confused with something psychological. So it’s important for factories to have a procedure and a drill.”

Truck overturns; four dead

2012-03-07T22:50:00.000+11:00

Thik Kaliyann

Wednesday, 07 March 2012

phnompenhpost

Four people were killed and eight others injured when a truck overturned on Monday in Siem Reap province’s Pongro Loeu commune, authorities said yesterday.

Kheav Kanha, 24, recovers at the Siem Reap provincial hospital after the truck she was riding on overturned yesterday. Thik Kaliyann

Chi Kraeng district police chief Touch Sakal said two trucks had been heading towards each another when one of them, which had been carrying a load of wood for construction as well as 12 passengers, swerved and overturned at the side of the road.

“Four died at the scene and eight have been hospitalised at the Siem Reap provincial hospital,” Touch Sakal said.

Khean Rithy said the 12 villagers had helped him move to his new house, and hitched a ride home on the truck.

“I went ahead on my motorcycle, and got a call from my friend who was on the truck with my wife. He said the truck was upside down.”

His wife was still in a critical condition, and his older brother had died in the accident, Khean Rithy said.

Hou Lihour, 28, who suffered minor injuries, said the truck driver had fled.

World Bank China report a warning to Australia

2012-03-07T21:39:00.000+11:00

Source: The Interpreter/Lowy Institute for International Policy

by John Edwards - 2 March 2012 12:34PM

John Edwards is a Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow, an Adjunct Professor with the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy at Curtin University and a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
As this week's business investment survey reminded us, the mining boom is the biggest economic event in Australia for decades. The last quarter of the calendar year was weaker than expected but if the survey is right, business investment this financial year as a whole will be more than a third higher than last year, and next year it will be higher by another third. Already much bigger than usual, business investment will soon account for nearly one-fifth of Australian output.

Roughly half of the planned investment is in mining, and is largely driven by expectations about the growth of China. Very few long-term economic issues therefore matter to Australia as much as how fast China will grow, for how long, and in what pattern. On those key questions, this week's China 2030 report by The World Bank is both illuminating and challenging.
It expects that, in a favourable scenario, GDP growth in China will slow from the current rate of over 9% to 5% by 2026. Within that overall growth, industrial output will slow more rapidly. The report implies that industrial output growth will slow to under 6% over the next decade, as services account for a larger share of China's GDP. Within industrial output, the intensity of energy and metals use will also fall. In the following decade the trends will become more pronounced, with industrial output growth falling to around 3%.
These are not alarmist or pessimistic predictions. Indeed, Australia's ABARE made many of the same points in the middle of the last decade. Carried out jointly with the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, the forecasts reflect widely accepted facts of demography and the arithmetic of productivity.

China's labour force is growing only very slowly — much more slowly than Australia's. Within four years, China's labour force will start to shrink. At the same time, China is exhausting some of the sources of huge gains in output-per-worker evident over the last thirty years. Much of the gain arises when subsistence peasant farmers move to manufacturing jobs in the cities. That migration is not over, but it is slowing down.

With rising manufacturing wages, China is moving up the production chain to products requiring higher levels of skill. Now the world's largest exporter of manufactures and the world's second largest economy, China is losing the advantages of coming from behind, particularly the advantages of applying cheap labour and cheap capital to readily available technologies.
There is still plenty of scope for China to find good productivity growth. Since employment will be shrinking, labour productivity growth will be higher than GDP growth itself. But the World Bank and the Chinese authorities want growth to come more and more from the production of services, and the production of more elaborately transformed manufactures. The growth of metals and energy inputs into production will accordingly fall.
These are the numbers that will ultimately cap the growth of Australian minerals and energy exports to China. There is little doubt that Australia will see very big increases in coal, iron ore and LNG exports over the next five to seven years. In the longer term, however, growth in mining output is far more likely to revert to the average of the last quarter-century or so.
In the case of iron ore, the volume of exports has grown at an annual average under 4% in the last thirty-five years. It is growing faster now and will accelerate as new production comes on stream. But in a decade or so, the growth of iron ore exports will likely be not much faster than the long-term growth rate of the Australian economy itself, about 3.5%.
Coal exports have on average grown faster, and are not nearly as dependent on the China market as is iron ore. But coal has its own problems and it is difficult to imagine it sustaining the 6% volume growth averaged in the last three decades. LNG exports will by contrast boom, but off a small base. Ultimately LNG exports will be constrained by slowing growth of energy consumption in China, and more importantly the large number of alternative sources.
It surprising but true that the mining industry in Australia is today not much bigger in relation to GDP than it was ten, twenty or even thirty years ago. Iron ore and coal output is much higher, but gold and oil have contracted and metal ores like copper or bauxite have not grown as quickly as other industries. Mining, in other words, has grown at much the same rate as the rest of the economy over the last three decades.
The mining workforce certainly doubled in the last decade (sharply cutting mining output per worker) but even so the mining workforce is still only 4% of the workforce. The mining sectors now expanding most dramatically and receiving most of the mining investment – iron ore and LNG – will employ only 0.4% of the workforce.
A reasonable guess is that, over a decade or so, the growth of mining output and exports will slip back to the average rate of growth of the Australian economy as a whole. It is a great industry and a source of immense strength for Australia but it may never employ a substantially higher share of the workforce and as a share of GDP it is difficult to think of it getting to more than around 15% of GDP, from 10% today.
The arithmetic tells us that Australia does not, cannot, and will not 'depend' on mining any more than it 'depends' on finance or manufacturing. It also tells us that, for all the investment in mining, for all the excitement, in a decade 95% of us will still be doing something other than mining.
As last year's Australian Government budget papers argued, the long-term advantage to Australia of China's increasing weight in the global economy may not be its appetite for iron ore and LNG, welcome as it is, but in the possibilities offered by the new Chinese economy depicted in the World Bank's China 2030 report – a China that is the world's biggest economy and getting bigger, focused more on services, consumption, technologically advanced goods and investment abroad.
Australia has had several hundred years of experience exporting minerals, energy and farm products. Finding our role in the new China economy will be an altogether more challenging undertaking. The insignificance of Australian non-commodity exports to Japan, Korea and Taiwan attest to the difficulty, which is no doubt now being pondered by Ken Henry and his Asian Century White Paper team.
Photo by Flickr user Allan Rostron.

CambodiaWatch-Australia

Viet Nam and Cambodia boost border co-operation

ឫសគល់​នៃ​ការ​ផ្តាច់ខ្លួន​របស់​អ្នកនយោបាយ

តើ​ការ​ចម្លង​ប្រាសាទ​អង្គរវត្ត​ជា​ការ​រំលោភ​កម្មសិទ្ធិ​បញ្ញា​ដែរ​ឬ​ទេ?

Krour Sar Thmei- A Story of Khmer orphans returning from Site 2 Refugee camp (Thailand) in 1992

Collection of Khmer Refugee's story:Thai robbery near refugee camp - late 1979

ពលរដ្ឋ​ចោទ​បក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​ថា​យក​រូប​ថត​បិទ​នៅ​ទី​សាធារណៈ​

ដោយ ខែ សុណង

2012-03-07

ស្ថានភាព​នារី​កម្ពុជា

Cambodian Group Preserves Musical, Cultural DNA

ឌុច​​ត្រូវ​បាន​​បន្ត​​ឃុំខ្លួន​​នៅតុលាការ​​ខ្មែរក្រហម​​

Cambodia Hands Document on Disputed Area with Thailand

TPRF Aids Water, Sanitation Program in Cambodian Province

ឃ្លាតបងបូរ៉ាកាន់តែកាន់នឹក

Postcards from Cambodia: From Koh Kong province to Sihanoukville and Bokor National Park

CCHR Announced the Launch of a Project to Promote Women’s Political representation in Cambodia

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights is delighted to announce the launch of a new project today entitled The Project to Promote Women’s Political Representation in Cambodia.

បក្សប្រឆាំង គាំទ្រ​នីតិវិធី ស្តីពី​ការបំពេញ​បេក្ខជន​បម្រុង​បន្ថែម នៃ​គណបក្សនយោបាយ​

(ថ្ងៃទី 9 មីនា 2012, ម៉ោង 12:52:PM) | ដោយ: រតនា

Ewha’s welfare center in Cambodia

Angkor Wat temple replica to rise on banks of the Ganges

Spate of abuses continues

Koh Kong intervention sought

Women take to the streets

Shooting suspect a governor no more

Funcinpec weighs in on case

ប្រតិកម្ម​ចម្រុះ​ក្នុង​ចំណោម​ឥស្សរជន​ជុំវិញ​ការសាងសង់​អង្គរវត្ត​នៅ​ឥណ្ឌា

RFA News via YouTube

Alienation, Symbolism and the Paintings of You Khin

A king’s playground

Cambodian calm soothes the soul

Obama’s China choice

America must curtail twin cravings

Dark Clouds Over Angkor

Vietnam-Cambodia trade fair to be held in Phnom Penh

FM affirms closer Vietnam-Cambodia ties

Sam Borin trust fund Appeal

Vietnam's Communist Party Ponders Change

The State of the World: Assessing China's Strategy

Vox pops: Indian Angkor replica questioned

Union fears fainting workers will fall again

The Kingdom’s first IPO

Increasing prices drive Kingdom’s rubber

ស្ត្រី​អ្នក​តវ៉ា​រឿង​ដី​ធ្លី​ទាមទារ​ឲ្យ​អាជ្ញាធរ​បញ្ឈប់​ហិង្សា​លើ​ស្ត្រី [How Beung Kak women celebrate International Women Day]

ដោយ សុ ជីវី

2012-03-08

Bavet governor demoted, summoned to appear in court over shooting

The Age of Authoritarian Democracy

Prey Lang protectors warned

Analysis: Employed, empowered

Victim rejects ‘pay-off’ [Is this how women treated in Cambodia on International Women Day?]

Insight: China gambles on Cambodia's shrinking forests

Cambodian classics re-emerge

Rare screenings of vintage Khmer movies recently showed the missing link in Southeast Asian film heritage

Published: 7/03/2012 at 03:17 AM

ក្រសួង​​វប្បធម៌​​ ប្រតិកម្ម​ការ​សង់​​​​ប្រាសាទ​​​​ហិណ្ឌូ

Source:news.sabay.com.kh

Math Enthusiasts Want More Development in Field

RFA News

​​អង្គរវត្ត​ត្រូវគេ​ចម្លងសាងសង់​​នៅ​ឥណ្ឌា​

Minister of Hennessy says who cares about India replica [since when did he care about anything even after India defacing ancient writings on Angkor walls with their so-called expert acid cleaning?]

Gender​ នៅក្នុង​សង្គមខ្មែរ

Cambodia Past and Present ( Part 1 to 6)

Angkor redux scepticism

Borei Keila residents herald pledge of aid

Ball rolling on KRT cases

Ten parties to compete in elections

More than 40 faint as firm denies exit

Truck overturns; four dead

World Bank China report a warning to Australia

ឫសគល់នៃការផ្តាច់ខ្លួនរបស់អ្នកនយោបាយ

តើការចម្លងប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តជាការរំលោភកម្មសិទ្ធិបញ្ញាដែរឬទេ?

ពលរដ្ឋចោទបក្សសិទ្ធិមនុស្សថាយករូបថតបិទនៅទីសាធារណៈ

ស្ថានភាពនារីកម្ពុជា

ឌុចត្រូវបានបន្តឃុំខ្លួននៅតុលាការខ្មែរក្រហម

បក្សប្រឆាំង គាំទ្រនីតិវិធី ស្តីពីការបំពេញបេក្ខជនបម្រុងបន្ថែម នៃគណបក្សនយោបាយ

ប្រតិកម្មចម្រុះក្នុងចំណោមឥស្សរជនជុំវិញការសាងសង់អង្គរវត្តនៅឥណ្ឌា

ស្ត្រីអ្នកតវ៉ារឿងដីធ្លីទាមទារឲ្យអាជ្ញាធរបញ្ឈប់ហិង្សាលើស្ត្រី [How Beung Kak women celebrate International Women Day]

ក្រសួងវប្បធម៌ ប្រតិកម្មការសង់ប្រាសាទហិណ្ឌូ

អង្គរវត្តត្រូវគេចម្លងសាងសង់នៅឥណ្ឌា

Gender នៅក្នុងសង្គមខ្មែរ