Eav Sroh cuts fruit at a market stall in Aranyaprathet, Thailand, on the Thai-Cambodian border earlier this month. Some say trade has been steadily declining since violence erupted at Preah Vihear in February. Photo by: Cheang Sokha
Monday, 21 March 2011 15:01Cheang Sokha
Poipet, Banteay Meanchey province
OFFICIALS from Cambodia and Thailand say it is business as usual along their border despite the clashes that broke out in early February, but a month later many vendors in the area beg to differ.
Last month’s hostilities were just the latest in a series of clashes between Thai and Cambodian troops along the border near Preah Vihear temple.
Tensions in the area have been heightened since 2008, when UNESCO listed the 11th-century structure as a World Heritage site for Cambodia over Thai objections.
After the recent violence erupted, Prime Minister Hun Sen urged trade between Cambodia and Thailand to continue.
High-ranking officials from Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province and Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province, west of Preah Vihear, recently told The Post that the fighting did not affect business between the two countries.
“The trading of goods is proceeding as usual. There is no sign of a drop” in business, said Winai Wittayanugool, vice governor of Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province.
He claimed that more than 10,000 Cambodians make their way into Thailand’s Rung Cloeur market everyday.
“Business operation is [as] usual, and there is not anything cutting off the relationship between the two countries,” he added.
Authorities in Sa Kaeo and Cambodia’s Banteay Meanchey province have regularly contacted each other when anything has happened along the border to resolve the matter, he said.
His counterpart across the border, Banteay Meanchey Deputy Governor Chhum Vannarith, also said that the exchange of business and trade has not changed and local farmers from Cambodia are exporting rice, corn, cassava and fruit to Thailand.
“Before we were concerned that the border fights between the two countries will affect the people, but we have cooperated and talked to avoid disputes and the situation remains normal,” he said.
But that is not how some vendors see it. Sam Sary, whose wife sells clothes at Aranyaprathet’s Rung Cloeur market near the border at Poipet, said that business has been steadily declining since the fighting resumed in February. Thai businessmen have decreased both the amount of goods they import and export from Cambodia.
“It is difficult to make business here now. The selling is not so good,” he said.
“The people still fear more fighting, that it might erupt anytime.”
Another vendor, 21-year-old Phal Sreysal, who sells second-hand coats to Thailand, said that for almost a year orders have dropped to 2,000 to 3,000 coats a week from 5,000 to 6,000 a week.
“The Thais have dropped their buying recently,” he said.
“We now sometimes face difficulty with money transferring. Since we’ve have border problems, business has been quite difficult,” he said.
The big question for these vendors is whether the violence in Preah Vihear could eventually make its way to Banteay Meanchey, further hurting business.
One vendor, Sam Sary, seems to think not.
“I don’t think the fighting will spread out to this area as this is the international border gate,” he said.
WHEN India conducted an auction for 3G wireless licences last year, generating close to US$15 billion in revenues for the country, the process marked a drastic improvement on licensing for 2G services that took place in 2008.
WHEN India conducted an auction for 3G wireless licences last year, generating close to US$15 billion in revenues for the country, the process marked a drastic improvement on licensing for 2G services that took place in 2008.
Although convoluted – the process required 183 rounds of bidding over 34 days – last year’s auction was considerably more transparent than the earlier 2G process in which the IT and Communications Minister A Raja is alleged to have dished out cheap licences to favoured businesses and individuals. He resigned last November and is under investigation for corruption.
In the wake of the 3G licensing scandal engulfing Deputy Prime Minister Nhek Bun Chhay and the manner in which many businesses licences are distributed here, Cambodia should take note.
The main difference between the two processes in India was that last year’s auction – a transparent process in which companies were required to openly stake their claim to a licence – replaced the notoriously opaque “first-come-first-served” transactions.
It is the latter system of licensing that unfortunately remains the norm in Cambodia.
And it’s a system responsible for the recent allegations against the Deputy Prime Minister, mismanagement in the telecoms sector, the possibility licence revenues are not reaching state coffers and the perpetuation of a culture of graft that threatens investment and undermines the economy.
If Prime Minister Hun Sen is to lead a serious effort to tackle corruption, a problem he acknowledged last week in identifying the need for a “well-regulated environment for business”, then there would be no better place to start than licensing procedures.
Licensing represents the front line of interaction between the state and the private sector, and is therefore highly prone to acts of corruption. And for a country like Cambodia, negative repercussions as a result are substantial and wide-ranging.
Cases in which licences are distributed for the personal gain of the issuer almost always result in lost revenues for the state, a situation Cambodia can ill-afford given the miniscule government budget.
India’s 2G scandal is likely to have cost the country about $7 billion in lost licence fees.
How much money has Cambodia lost in the past due to its own under-regulated and opaque licensing system?
Although senior politicians in Cambodia continue to congratulate themselves on passing recent anti-corruption legislation, measures such as this have thus far remained largely antidotal. They do not address the root cause of corruption before it can take place.
By switching to an open bidding process to allocate operating licences for sectors such as telecoms, mining and energy, Cambodia would eradicate the possibility for the kind of corruption related to licensing documented in major sectors of the economy.
Every time a licence is issued in this country in murky circumstances, a precedent for impropriety is laid for the business concerned and the cycle of graft begins again.
Cambodia could break this cycle without too much difficulty. Just ask India.
British author Sue Guiney pictured during a workshop with children at Siem Reap-based NGO Anjali before the children read out their stories in front of an audience.
Sue Guiney, author of Cambodian-based novel Clash of Innocents.
Monday, 21 March 2011 15:00 Nicky McGavin
CHILDREN and teenagers from Siem Reap’s Anjali House read aloud their poems and prose in front of an audience including Princess Norodom Bopha Devi last Friday night at Van’s Restaurant in Phnom Penh.
Their stories were brought to light following a creative writing programme set up at Anjali House by British writer Sue Guiney and Cambodian national Boris Van.
Their partnership was established in London, after Guiney launched her novel set in Cambodia, Clash of Innocents, published by Ward Wood Publishing.
Over the course of five days, Guiney introduced the kids to poetry and short-story writing using the themes “my life and family” and “my dreams”. Guiney followed up the children’s work through her blog, and the results were presented last week at Butterflies Restaurant near Wat Bo in Siem Reap.
The children read a selection of their own works published in a special magazine. As they read, their own photographs from a previous project were screened to provide a backdrop and a frame for their words.
“The project helps us to get a real insight into the kids’ lives and where they’re coming from,” said Sam Flint, director of Anjali.
Richard de Groot, a German volunteer who has been working with the young adults at Anjali for the past year said: “They’d never encountered a form of expression like poetry before. But they loved getting their ideas and feelings down on paper. Sue showed them how to organise their words and ideas, and they had a lot of fun. They are all learning English at school, but this gave them the opportunity to work with words and the language.”
The children’s work invoked their fears of war and conflict, their ideas of love, and traditional legends and stories. The results were impressive, and demonstrated a sophisticated grasp of metaphor and rhythm. They were, in a word, inspiring.
Friday’s event in Phnom Penh was organised with the help of Boris Van and his father Tuon Van. Princess Norodom Bopha Devi may have especially enjoyed the story about the princess who saved Cambodia.
Emmanuelle Becquemin and Stéphanie Sagot perform as the duo La Cellule.
Monday, 21 March 2011 15:00Post Staff
TWO surrealistic performances by French avant-garde duo La Cellule will be staged at Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26.
Dishes, table settings and kitchenware will take on a new guise in their act, playfully called Do Disturb, which they will perform in Sofitel properties in Beijing, Manila, Phnom Penh and Hanoi.
Using a cocktail party as their framework, artists Emmanuelle Becquemin and Stéphanie Sagot transform bunches of flowers into giant headpieces and unveil silver domes to reveal a mini grand piano on a plate.
This whimsical subversion of famed French hospitality and table service will charm guests, who become a part of the performance as they are surrounded by waiters wearing edible hats. Energising and laugh-inducing, this evening will bring art to the table in a way never seen before.
“La Cellule have the distinction of being simultaneously humorous and thought-provoking,” said the Sofitel General Manager Didier Lamoot. “This event will turn le service à la Française on its head – a cocktail party cleverly re-invented and re-imagined, and a night to remember.”
The pair who are appearing under the auspices of the French Embassy have performed at art festivals across Asia, South America and in Paris, among other engagements.
Australian Ambassador Penny Richards with Health Minister Dr Mam Bunheng.
Monday, 21 March 2011 15:00Sarah Macklin
MORE than 50 Cambodian students will be offered scholarships to pursue their master’s or doctorate degrees in Australia this year, the Australian Ambassador to Cambodia, Penny Richards, announced last week.
Applications are now open for the Australian Leadership Awards and Australian Development Scholarships to support their education costs overseas. The closing date is May 31.
Over the last 17 years, 440 students from Cambodia have been awarded the scholarships, with many returning to take up positions of leadership in all sectors, said the ambassador.
“Study has covered a broad range of areas, including health, agriculture and rural development, infrastructure and law and justice,” said Richards.
“We have more than 40 alumni working in the Ministry of Health, one of our four main areas of development cooperation with the royal government of Cambodia.
These include reducing rural poverty, improving health services, supporting infrastructure for growth, trade and travel, and promoting access to justice, she said.
Health Minister Dr Mam Bunheng said: “I hope that the 2011 Australia Awards will provide great opportunity for Cambodian people to absorb new skills, knowledge and experiences and also to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.”
Women stand on the balcony of the T&P Co Ltd training centre in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district where a 35-year-old trainee died earlier this month. Photo by: Pha Lina
Monday, 21 March 2011 15:02Matt Lundy and Mom Kunthear
A 16-YEAR-OLD Kampong Thom woman who was trained at labour recruitment firm T&P Co Ltd was sent to Malaysia in December, a local rights advocate said yesterday, contrary to the company’s reports that she had been released from its training centre earlier this month.
Moeun Tola, head of the labour programme at the Community Legal Education Centre, said a delegation from CLEC visited Sorm Sophary’s village in Kampong Thom province’s Stung Sen district yesterday to confirm the trainee’s return. He said multiple villagers – including Sorm Sophary’s sister, cousin and next-door neighbours – said she was underage while training at T&P and was sent to Malaysia on December 31.
“When we checked in the village, the girl named Sorm Sophary was not [there],” said Moeun Tola. “The villagers told us that [she] called her parents a week ago and told them she was in Malaysia.”
Sorm Sophary was named among five women that were released from T&P following allegations of forced detainment leveled against the company. Last week, the CLEC found that two of the women – Yorn Srey Leab and Sok Phal of Kampong Chhnang province – had their ages changed from 17 to 21, as well as their names, on T&P documents to make them eligible for work abroad.
The only trainee to be publicly released in front of local authorities was Srun Channang, a 23-year-old from Kampong Cham province, on March 11.
A T&P labour trainer, who declined to be named, said yesterday that she didn’t know who Sorm Sophary was or her whereabouts. However, a T&P broker who recruited the 16-year-old, and who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said she had already flown to Malaysia.
Mounting controversy about the Kingdom’s labour recruiters has caused Prime Minister Hun Sen to order an investigation into their practices, according to a Facebook update on Friday from Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith.
He said Hun Sen had ordered the Anticorruption Unit to investigate complaints against “social labour office[s]”, following reports in the media.
Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said he wasn’t aware of those orders.
Keo Remy, spokesman of the ACU, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The United Nations’ International Labor Organisation weighed in on the T&P controversy on Friday, issuing a statement that said there is “a pressing need for legislation in Cambodia for better regulation of recruitment agencies”.
“The Ministry of Labour is aware of this and ILO is currently providing technical assistance on the development of rules and regulations on operation of private recruitment agencies and pre-departure orientation,” the statement read.
In a letter to the National Assembly last week, opposition lawmaker Son Chhay called on Labour Minister Vong Sauth to explain the lack of oversight into recruitment firms’ practices.
Mathieu Pellerin, a consultant with rights group Licadho, said yesterday the labour ministry has had “a track record until now of closing their eyes to abusers” in the recruitment industry. However, he said there are many levels of government “that are implicit in the [illegal] practices of recruitment agencies”.
“You’ve got the Ministry of Interior issuing passports with wrong ages,” he said. “I mean, we had cases of [migrant workers] 15 or 16 years old, and they have passports saying that they’re 21.” Additional reporting by David Boyle
Kith Meng, who as an orphaned child slept with pigs on a farm in Thailand, is now known as a sharp and sometimes ruthless businessman in Cambodia. Source: The Australian
Royal Group's joint venture with ANZ has done well. Source: The Australian
Royal connections
March 21, 2011 Sian Powell The Australian
BACK then, he was a skinny little kid, looking for his family in a nation devastated by the Khmer Rouge. He had been forcibly separated from his parents in a distant commune years before, later discovering they had starved to death. After the fall of the brutal regime, he and an older brother somehow made it to Phnom Penh. It was 1980. Kith Meng was maybe 11 years old.
Thirty years later, with a decade living, learning and working in Australia under his belt, followed by a meteoric business ascent in Cambodia, Kith Meng is a power to be reckoned with. Chairman and chief executive of the Royal Group, the largest privately owned conglomerate in Cambodia, he has his fingers in many of the nation’s growth industries – fast food, television, telecommunications, insurance, rail and banking. The group recently negotiated a $US591 million loan from a Chinese bank to restructure its debt and buy new technology. On paper he is a multi-millionaire, possibly even a billionaire. And he has the ear of Cambodia’s famously xenophobic and strong-arm prime minister, Hun Sen.
Slight, and beautifully dressed in a white shirt, navy suit and polished black shoes, Kith Meng is courteous and affable. Yet he has been viciously uprooted not once, but many times. From the day he was born in September 1968, his life was shadowed by war. His father, Kith Peng Ike, was a “class enemy”, a well-off businessman, feared, hated and targeted by the Khmer Rouge communists who were fighting to rule Cambodia.
When Kith Meng was a little boy, the Khmer Rouge finally came to power and forced all bureaucrats and entrepreneurs, clerks and educators, officials and technocrats out of offices and into the countryside, with the idea of setting up an agrarian utopia. Arbitrary executions and torture were routine. He remembers being kicked out of his home in Kandal province, near Phnom Penh, in 1975 and, with his mother and father, being made to walk 300 kilometres to a commune where the family was separated. “The parents go with the parents, the children with the children,” he says. “We were split up.”
After the Khmer Rouge regime, Kith Meng and older brother Kith Thieng (now vice-president of the Royal Group) struck out on their own and eventually made it to Thailand. “They put us in a pig farm at Suan Plu,” he says, shaking his head. “We slept with the pigs ... we no longer existed; we had no state, nothing.”
In 1980, they were found in a refugee camp and brought to Australia by their elder brother Sophan Kith. Kith Meng went to Melba secondary school in the outer suburbs of Canberra, where life wasn’t easy for a Cambodian boy with little English. “In Canberra, it’s very cold. You deliver pamphlets to earn your living; you walk. You feel you are very alone. I worked for an Indian restaurant as the dishwasher and I cleaned a fruit market on Sundays. I mowed lawns.”
Today he has Australian citizenship, a house in Canberra and relatives who live there. He visits occasionally. Sophan Kith returned to Cambodia and in 1991 his two younger brothers joined him. They began work catering for the UN and their company had a franchise to sell Canon copiers. Still in his 20s, Kith Meng took control of the Royal Group when Sophan Kith died from hepatitis. Now the president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, he carries the title of “Neak Oknha”, granted by royal decree to generous donors. He works long hours and rarely takes a holiday. He is known as a sharp and sometimes ruthless businessman, an early mover, a risk-taker and an operator who takes full advantage of his close connection to Hun Sen.
These days, Cambodia is considered to have significant business potential. Entrepreneurs appreciate Cambodia’s ease of doing business, its liberal trading regime and its relative political stability. It is a member of ASEAN and has joined the World Trade Organisation.
Yet there are significant drawbacks. Infrastructure is minimal and Cambodia ranked equal 154th out of 178 countries
in last year’s Transparency International corruption perceptions index. Kith Meng says Cambodia has a different culture and that the term “corruption” is difficult to define. “You have to remember that Cambodia is recently developed.”
“Before, there were problems with the formation of government. Yet the Australian government isn’t really stable [either],” he says, in reference to the independent MPs whose support is so necessary to Julia Gillard’s government.
The Royal Group has strong links to Australia. It has a joint venture with Toll Holdings – called Toll Royal – which last year won the concession to run the Cambodian railways, and another joint venture with ANZ bank, named ANZ Royal, which has flourished in Cambodia for five years. The Royal Group is the junior partner in both cases. No one from either firm will talk about Kith Meng.
Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, has tried to negotiate with Kith Meng and the Royal Group to stop Cambodians being thrown out of their homes on newly purchased land. “He’s a cutthroat business operator,” he says. “That’s the reality. He doesn’t entertain any of the suggestions we make. He’s willing to do what he has to do to get what he wants. He doesn’t hesitate.
“He’s quick on his feet, trying to do many things at the same time. He’s very aggressive. He’s stamped on many people’s toes, and probably worse than that. It is fair to say his connection with Hun Sen and the government is not just friendly relations. There are business interests in being close to the government.”
Kith Meng says he does often travel with Hun Sen, representing Cambodia’s interests abroad, but the suggestion that he sits in on cabinet meetings makes him laugh. He denies having much influence with the PM: “I’m just a businessman. He knows me and I know him. He’s the leader of the country. Of course we must know him and respect him.”
The suggestion that he, Kith Meng, might one day stand for office also makes him laugh. “No, I like what I’m doing. Leave politics to the politicians.”
He is happy to have helped shape booming Cambodia, now a nation with solid economic growth, a thriving business community and a prosperous, harmonious populace. Kith Meng smiles again. “I feel that I have contributed something to the country and to the people. I am very proud of what I have achieved here, to be able to develop a company that gives jobs to the people. If my parents were here, they would be happy.”
L’APCQ a le plaisir de vous informer que les votes de Miss Cambodgienne Canada 2011 pour la catégorie « Choix du public » débutent dès ce soir (10 mars 2011). Vous êtes invités à voter pour votre candidate coup de coeur. La gagnante de ce sondage sera couronnée « Miss Cambodgienne Canada 2011 – Choix du public » le 9 avril 2011 prochain, lors de la soirée du Nouvel An khmer organisée par l’APCQ. Veuillez noter que cette catégorie est totalement indépendante des 3 finalistes: le « Choix du public » peut faire partie des 3 finalistes, tout comme il peut ne pas faire partie des finalistes. Être gagnante de ce concours n’assure pas une place parmi les 3 finalistes. Cliquez ici pour plus d'information.
The APCQ has the pleasure to inform you that votes for the Miss Cambodia Canada 2011 « Public’s Choice » category begin this evening (March 10th 2011). You are invited to vote for your favorite candidate. The winner of this poll will be crowned « Miss Cambodia Canada 2011 – Public’s choice » on April 9th 2011, during the Khmer New Year organized by the APCQ. Please note that this category is totally independant from the 3 finalists: the « Public’s Choice » can be among the 3 finalists, or could as well not be part of the 3 finalists. Winning this poll does not guarantee a place among the 3 finalists. Click here for additional information.
Singer Him Savy (centre) and the Tre So Band are core figures in O Cambodia, a response to the brutality of Pol Pot's regime. Photo / Supplied
Saturday Mar 19, 2011
There was no questioning the sincerity of this project, a response by two Cambodian and two New Zealand composers to the appalling abuses of the Pol Pot regime. Alas, the deeply moving message of O Cambodia fell upon far fewer ears in Thursday's concert than it should have.
The programme, played without the interruption of applause, opened with Chinary Ung's In Memoriam for vocalising piano trio.
It was technically testing for NZTrio, but cellist Ashley Brown was totally at ease with singing and playing simultaneously.
The strenuousness and utter concentration conveyed by the musicians assisted a certain sense of catharsis, with momentum provided by Ung's textural and harmonic ingenuities.
The First Strike composer Him Sophy performed alongside his colleagues. Based on Sophy's own horrific experiences, the piece worked best when restrictive rhythms were swept away by Keo Dorivan's remarkably free-flowing flute solo and the beautifully inflected voice of Him Savy.
Jack Body's O Cambodia gave the evening its title and embraced all manner of subtleties.
Framed by a cleverly deployed Khmer Rouge anthem, in one episode Him Savy's delicate vocals were set against intricately orientalised violin and cello.
Body had harsh governmental stipulations barked over a megaphone at times against chords recalling his earlier composition, Turtle Time. Ever the optimist, the composer saw to it that brutality melted into lyricism as Savy dealt out the sweetest of jungle parables over the chime of piano.
Gillian Whitehead's The River Flows On again grew from the personal - the story of a young Cambodian woman. A folkish passage, played against a projected image of a green rice field, was perhaps overly fulsome, but Whitehead's more open style of composition allowed a spaciousness in which the narrative could unfold.
Finally, a radiant Him Savy emerged from behind music stand and microphones to sing a salute to the healing power of dance.
This was the ultimate message of the evening. Art may not be a cure for the horrors that inspired O Cambodia, but it is certainly a solace and, more importantly, a vehicle for all-important prayers.
Cambodian farmers carry rice in a field in Kampong Speu province, south of Phnom Penh in 2010
PHNOM PENH — Cambodian and US officials held talks on Thursday to explore ways of settling a decades-old "dirty debt" of more than $400 million, both sides said.
The low-interest loans from the US were given to the government of General Lon Nol after it came to power in a US-backed coup in 1970.
Cambodia says the money helped pay for a devastating bombing campaign on the country by US forces targeting Khmer Rouge guerrillas in the early 1970s.
Prime Minister Hun Sen last year called for the "dirty debt" to be cancelled, but the government softened its stance after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in November that Washington was willing to discuss alternative ways for Cambodia to repay the sum.
A Phnom Penh meeting between US Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Joseph Yun and Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong was the first step in that direction, the US embassy said in a statement.
During the talks, Hor Namhong asked the US to lower the interest rate on the loans from three percent to one, foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said.
Phnom Penh also requested that 70 percent of the debt be converted into development assistance for Cambodia, he said, without giving further details.
The remainder of the amount would be paid to Washington, he added.
"Our real wish is that... we want it to be cancelled. (But) we have to find common ground that we all can agree on. We cannot resolve it if we stick to a point that they do not agree with," Koy Kuong said.
Yun did not talk to reporters after the meeting but the US embassy said the US hopes "an agreement can be reached soon".
"Such an agreement would enhance Cambodia's creditworthiness and ability to access international capital markets," the statement said.
By the end of 2009, Cambodia's debt to the US totalled approximately $445 million, it added.
Washington was the main financial and military supporter of Lon Nol's regime until it was toppled by the Khmer Rouge movement in April 1975.
Officially, the loans were to develop the country's agriculture sector and boost commodities exports.
First Lady Michelle Obama greets guests during the International Women's Day reception in the East Room of the White House. Photo appears courtesy of whitehouse.gov
Chen Sokha (L) and Oun Sreyna (R). Photo appears courtesy of A New Day Cambodia
2011-03-17 Radio Free Asia
Two young women travel from the dumps of Cambodia to the White House.
Two Cambodian teenagers who had formerly scavenged the garbage dumps of Phnom Penh have reversed their fortunes and were honored with a visit to the White House to meet with First Lady Michelle Obama on International Women’s Day.
Chen Sokha, 16, and Oun Sreyna, 18, were notified of the surprise invitation to the U.S. president's mansion while preparing to take part in a women’s conference with the Chicago-based A New Day Cambodia (ANDC), a non-governmental organization supporting their education.
Chen Sokha was orphaned in Svay Rieng province at the age of six and forced to scavenge for recyclable materials after moving to the Cambodian capital.
She labored in Phnom Penh’s Stung Meanchey garbage dump for a few cents a day until she was rescued by ANDC in 2007.
These days, Chen Sokha studies English and mathematics in the sixth grade at the ADNC center in Phnom Penh.
Chen Sokha was recently selected as the Cambodian representative for a documentary entitled “10X10” about educating 10 girls in 10 countries around the world. Her participation in the film had caught the attention of the Women of the World Summit organizers, who invited her to the U.S. to attend the conference.
It was during a stop at the ANDC headquarters ahead of the summit that she was notified of her invitation to the White House. According to Annette Jensen, executive director of ANDC, the two girls were asked to meet the First Lady because of their participation in the conference.
“I was speechless when I met her—First Lady Michelle Obama—because I was extremely excited. I never thought in my life that I would be able to meet her, so I nearly cried,” she said.
‘I was so excited’
Oun Sreyna, who now attends Norton University in Phnom Penh as a first year student with her older sister, said the chance to visit the United States was something she never would have imagined when she was rescued from the Stung Meanchey dump eight years ago.
“Initially, I did not realize that I would able to visit the U.S. When I was asked by the organizer to take a picture for a visa application, I was surprised and wondered, ‘Where am I going?’ Then she told me that I was being invited along with Sokha.”
Once in the United States, Oun Sreyna said she received the other surprise news—an invitation to meet with the First Lady.
“I was so excited, but I did not know what I should say when I met her, because [U.S. customs are] so different from Cambodia,” she said of the International Women’s Day event, which also included several other teenage girls from around the world.
“We were standing in line when First Lady Michelle Obama came out and shook hands with us. She met and spoke in a friendly manner with us one by one.”
Oun Sreyna said that despite her nervousness, she managed to speak to Michelle Obama and present her with two Khmer silk scarves, one on behalf of Chen Sokha.
“She thanked us and said she was so happy to receive the gifts. I told her that I was very excited to be able to meet her—especially when she hugged me.”
Perils of scavenging
The Stung Meanchey garbage dump was closed by the Cambodian government in 2009 and reopened as Choeung Ek Dump further outside of Phnom Penh.
But children from impoverished families still scavenge the site for plastics, glass, tin cans, and other recyclable goods to sell, hoping to earn as much as U.S. $10 a month.
Dangers abound in the dumps for children who pick through the toxic heaps of trash, often barefoot and shirtless.
The waste is damp and unstable and bulldozers rumble through the site throughout the day. Children show up at local clinics suffering from bruises, rashes, and cuts, while others who are not so lucky have been crushed under the machines and the heavy bins they drop off at the dump.
While it is illegal in Cambodia for children under the age of 18 to perform such treacherous work, the law goes largely unenforced.
Solving the problem of the dumps will not be easy—by locking scavengers out, the government would be denying them a living wage, but allowing them to continue puts their lives at risk.
Reported by Naline Pea for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Chivita. Written in English by Joshua Lipes
Rain clouds pile up over the clock tower of Battambang's colonial-era Art Deco market.
A group of veteran rain bettors crowds along the edge of a rice paddy in Battambang just after dawn, watching the clouds. They are likely to remain there until late afternoon.
A homemade device used by Vandara's rain gambling house to measure rainfall. When water spills up from the 60-ml test tube and into the metal dish, it is usually considered to have rained. Vandara and his wife use the receptacle to approximate the amount of rain that would soak through 13 sheets of tissue paper.
By Julia Wallace The Atlantic
Betters deploy superstition, amateur meteorology, and networks of sources to win big on the weather
BATTAMBANG, Cambodia - There is a tribe of men here who stare at the sky. They do it patiently, devotedly, obsessively, for much of Cambodia's six-month monsoon season, standing in rice paddies or perched on rooftops, scrutinizing the shifting clouds from daybreak to sunset, waiting hours for the moment when they burst.
Although gambling on rainfall is a casual pastime in other parts of Cambodia, Battambang, a city of crumbling French colonial buildings that snake along the sleepy Sangke River, elevates the hobby to serious business. It boasts the largest and most sophisticated rain betting market in the country, complete with bookies, near-professional gamblers, and thousands of participants. As the clouds shift, networks of dedicated sky-watchers call in information from as far as Pailin, a remote frontier town on the Thai border.
The rain-betting day is divided into three segments: 6 am to noon, noon to 2 pm, and 2 pm to 6 pm. A bet, starting at $2, yields a pay-out if it rains during the chosen time period. Betting on rain during the typically dry mornings is riskier, but offers a massive payoff. But it's relatively safe to assume that it will rain before 6 pm at the height of the wet season, so winning bets on the third segment of the day bring in paltry returns.
But because gambling is illegal in Cambodia, the bustling rain betting networks are entirely underground, and its participants are perpetually skittish about the prospect of crackdowns. Most people interviewed for this story refused to be named, citing the regular bribes they were already paying to both the terminally corrupt Cambodian police and to local journalists--who can be nearly as bad, extorting money from lawbreakers in exchange for not publishing articles about them.
One recent steamy morning, about 30 veteran rain bettors stood on the edge of an electric-green rice paddy on the outskirts of the city, peering intently west. Despite the heat, they had bundled up in military jackets against the wet postdawn mist, sucking their morning tea from plastic bags. Nearly everyone clutched a walkie-talkie or two, pausing every now and then to bark into the handsets or listen intently to the garbled transmissions.
Some of these men amount to futures traders, betting against rainfall hitting a certain spot at a certain time. Others make straight bets, or a combination of the two. And a handful of the youngest ones are scouts for the clandestine betting houses in the city center.
Their eyes were all fixed on the one cloud in the sky, probing it like a Rorschach blot, trying to calculate what it meant for the day's profits.
One of the gamblers, a retired soldier dressed in camouflage fatigues and brandishing what might be the biggest walkie-talkie in the clearing, proclaimed himself the Minister of Meteorology.
"We bet because we know the way of the rain," he said. "Just like the way of the cars, the rain has a way it needs to go. So if there is a cloud over there, it is likely to hit the betting area, so we should be careful."
He pointed at the fluffy, innocent-looking cloud far off in the distance. "You can see that dangerous cloud over there."
As he spoke, more men pulled into the clearing on motorbikes and crowded around. One of them passed around a bag of fried pork buns.
"It's not about money--it's about honor and reputation and believability," the "Minister" explained. "If you want to bet, you just say, 'I want to bet.' If you lose, you can just bring the money tomorrow."
He estimated that some 80 percent of Battambang residents place rain bets at some point during the season. With about 30 betting houses scattered around the city and its outskirts, it's a believable assessment.
"It's a very popular game," he said. "We play broadly and openly here. In Phnom Penh, they play but it is not out in the open like this."
The others, clearly on edge, signaled him to stop talking to me, nervous that he was speaking too freely. One warned, "Don't say too much-if the government hears that they will start to crack down on us." The Minister, nodding, walked away.
Sar Thet, the police chief of Battambang province, explained that although his officers try to take a hard line against rain bettors, the market is so diffuse and deep-rooted that there's little they can do. He denied, dubiously, that police accept or solicit bribes from bettors.
"Rain betting has existed for a long time and has now become the custom," he conceded. "Police do not support betting on rain, but it has also become a custom to them after so long."
It's unclear when rain betting first took root in Cambodia, but Ros Chantrabot, a prominent historian here, believes it was likely introduced by Chinese immigrants.
"In Cambodian history, we don't see any evidence of rain betting, just of praying for rain," Chantrabot said. "It must have originated from China, as only Chinese-Cambodians play it, and it's culturally very Chinese."
Vandara, 43, who has run a rain-gambling house out of his mobile telephone store in the city's Chamka Samrong commune since 1997, says the large concentration of ethnic Chinese in Battambang explains the game's immense popularity there. As he tells it, rain betting originated among tea farmers in China's Guangdong province, many of whom immigrated to the area after the Chinese Revolution.
A glass case of rhinestone-encrusted phones is on permanent display in front of Vandara's shop, but nobody pays much attention to them. The action all takes place in a dark corner inside, where Vandara's wife sits at a desk piled with stacks of Cambodian riel and Thai baht, six burbling walkie-talkies, and dozens of betting slips.
Vandara's office is a wooden platform five stories off the ground, where he perches with his 28-year-old assistant, Pheak. Here he spends most of his daylight hours sitting on the building's roof, watching the sky in order to set the house odds. They change approximately every three minutes, depending on the clouds. The men are surrounded by the tools of their trade. They use five walkie-talkies to communicate with men in the field and with Vandara's wife downstairs. Four cell phones keep them constantly in touch with sky-watchers on their payroll who are stationed in Pailin. Less frequently, they check the latest Internet weather reports. They smoke constantly.
Although all of the Battambang betting houses have their own techniques for measuring rainfall, there is only one official gauge of whether it has rained. By mutual agreement, this happens in an isolated and closely guarded mansion on the outskirts of town.
Although outsiders like me are forbidden from visiting the house, several bettors who had seen it described its elaborate procedure. A group of "watchers" monitor a stack of 13 layers of tissue paper on a table on the house's roof, which they must stay 3 meters away from at all times. If it rains enough to soak the tissues through so that water drips from them, it has officially rained and bets can be called in.
During my visit, rain broke just before 1 pm in a clear steady shower. Vandara's wife was glum. She had sold a lot of rain that morning, and lost a lot of money.
"Someone wins and someone loses every day," Vandara said with a shrug. "It's up to the odds, and up to the sky."
General Manager of Golden Rice, Chan Vuthy, is pictured with bags of the grain, which Prime Minister Hun Sen has previously called Cambodia’s ‘white gold’. Photo by: PHA LINA
Thursday, 17 March 2011 15:00Chun Sophal
General Manager of Golden Rice, Chan Vuthy, is pictured with bags of the grain, which Prime Minister Hun Sen has previously called Cambodia’s ‘white gold’. Photo by: PHA LINA
CAMBODIA is putting an increasing emphasis on agriculture as a pillar of future economic growth. Rice exports are expected to play a central role in developing this sector. Reporter Chun Sophal caught up with Golden Rice (Cambodia) Company’s General Manager Chan Vuthy to discuss plans to export more rice.
Cambodia has targeted exporting one million tonnes of rice per year by 2015. Last year we exported roughly 40,000 tonnes, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Is this one million tonne target achievable?
I believe Cambodia can reach the target of one million tonnes of rice exports by 2015.
We produce more rice than there is local demand for, and our ability to process rice is being developed.
However, we do face some challenges, such as logistical problems. We don’t know whether our transportation system and ports are able to support to export of such large quantities.
Our company is studying this problem. To support large exports, it is necessary for us [Cambodia] to have a better transportation system and ports.
How much rice does your company plan to export this year?
We aim to export 50,000 tonnes in 2011, to our existing market in Europe, and also new markets such as China, Hong Kong, and the United States.
Can you discuss how the company collects the rice it mills?
We send our staff directly to communities to survey and buy the rice they have. In order to collect the necessary amount, the company has built up communication with small rice miller networks in rural areas, to buy the rice they collect from farmers to us.
Currently, we cooperate well with 50 small rice millers, guaranteeing safety for our supply of raw materials.
We have strong competition with buyers from Vietnam and Thailand, because they dare to buy at higher prices than us, as their expenses for operation and processing are cheaper than us.
The government has announced Cambodia aims to double rice exports this year, compared with 2010. Do you think this is a realistic goal?
We agree with this prediction, as we see a tendency towards increased rice exports.
According to our survey, exports of rice will double compared to the previous year, as our country is rich in rice and has a growing number of millers.
We are making an effort to improve the ability to process rice at a higher quality than before, which will lead to more recognition from the international market – particularly Europe, which has lots of potential for buying Cambodian rice now.
What benefit did Golden Rice see from the government’s policy measures, introduced in August, to increase rice production and exports?
We have received benefits from export procedures from the government. Moreover, we share our experiences among government officials, such as our views related to markets, prices, and directions for the future of rice exports, and how this compares with countries in the region.
Additional benefits will not be obtained immediately, but over the long term, or in two to three years. We will have irrigation systems for supporting more production.
What are the obstacles to increasing exports?
Compared with our neighbours Thailand and Vietnam, in general our export costs are about 20 to 30 percent higher, including payments for exportation and transportation costs.
For our current exports, shipments to European markets go smoothly because we have experience there.
But the Chinese market is a new one and we face some difficulties.
I would like to stress that for the Chinese market we have two factors with clear limitations on exports – business and administrative factors.
With business factors, we need to negotiate with our customers before reaching mutual agreements to sign a contract.
As for administrative factors, we haven’t seen a precise way to export rice.
I would highlight that the governments of both countries have already agreed to a mutual policy, but haven’t seen clear procedures for actual implementation.
Do you think that authorities will be able to improve problems with export barriers?
In order to create a resolution to this problem, I think we have to work together.
Nowadays I see the government is trying to improve these matters, but exports are relevant to many institutions including transportation, customs and business.
I think if all these institutions work closely and make only one window for all kinds of exporting documents, it will be easier for costs, expenses, and time.
What conditions does your company rely on for stable rice exports?
We choose only customers who focus on quality as their priority, as in these sales ensure we receive a better price for our rice than we would from normal customers.
Alas, Shiny doesn’t come as a standard accessory to the Subaru Forester. Photo by: PHA LINA
Thursday, 17 March 2011 15:00Simala Pan
SUBARU is a relatively new brand on the Cambodian market, but the Forester 2010 four-door 2.5-litre SUV has won four safety awards despite its simple interior design and symmetrical all-wheel drive.
Imported by Motor Image Group, the latest model has a lower-slung Boxer Engine and AWD that helps balance a low center of gravity with generous ground clearance.
As service advisor Vicheth Mao explained: “The Boxer Engine has built in balance while driving on curvy roads while the AWD and VDC (Vehicle Dynamic Control) delivers power effectively among all four wheels.”
The expert, who has more than 15 years experience in vehicle servicing, pointed out the Forester’s other unique safety functions. In case of a front crash, the lower engine is designed to slip backward without hitting the steering wheel or harming the driver. Besides, with eight airbags, the strong metal cage built inside the two rear doors can prevent injuries from crashes on all sides.
“Subaru’s focus is on everything to improve safety,” said Vicheth Mao.
However, the Forester is also designed to appeal to amateur racers. While the media kit says the car can reach 100 kilometres an hour in just seven seconds, Mao confirmed that he had reached that speed within just three seconds while demonstrating the model – rendering his clients speechless.
According to him, Subaru has also earned motoring awards for the best car in rough driving conditions, and wanted to reassure his client by driving to a bumpy sandy area at a construction area in Koh Pich. Even with the music player and air-conditioner turned off, the Forester silently moved forward with ease, making the driver and passenger feel as comfortable as if they were driving on a smooth highway.
“Even if one of the wheels is on sand while the other is on a smooth highway, the Forester will distribute power effectively among all four wheels.”
Priced between US$50,000 and US$60,000, the new Forester 2010 uses between 8 and 12 litres of fuel for each 100 kilometres. And the service interval is 4,000 kilometres between visits to the garage.
Entertainment features include high-definition audio, a seven-speaker premium sound system, iPod jack, Bluetooth, hands-free calling, enhanced rear vision for easier parking and ambient lighting for better night driving.
Soeurng Sovannaroath with PSE founder Christian and Marie-France des Pallières.
Thursday, 17 March 2011 15:00
Roth Meas
SOEURNG Sovannaroath, 26, is just one reason why the NGO Pour Un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE, or A Child’s Smile) exists.
From a poor family with eight siblings in Kampong Speu province, he set out to seek his fortune in Phnom Penh in 2004, four years after his father died and left the burden of feeding the family on his mother.
Like many others flocking from grinding poverty, he took menial jobs to survive – working as a parking lot guard for 30,000 riel (US$ 7.40), 60,000 riel as a garage worker or as a garment worker, because he had no skills nor education.
He asked for help from PSE in 2007 as he heard from friends it could offer him free training and skills. “I really wanted to learn like other children too,” he told an audience of 1,000 people this week.
“I couldn’t believe that an NGO offered me free food, free meals, free accommodation, and free vocational skills. I couldn’t believe I also had a chance like other teenagers to have an education,” said Soeurng Sovannaroath at his graduation ceremony from PSE.
Soon after he completed his training in hospitality skills last year, he gained a job as a receptionist at Phnom Penh’s Royal Inn hotel.
Now he, along with 293 other youngsters, have received their graduation certificates from PSE founder Christian des Pallières. Three years of vocational training – plus education in maintaining good health and hygiene – have paid off for these hard-working students.
The affection Soeurng Sovannaroath feels for des Pallières is evident, calling the founder “pappy” and his wife Marie-France “mammy” because they took care of him as if he were their own son.
Handing out certificates, des Pallières pointed out that many graduates had gained jobs soon after their training. However, he appealed for more help to aid the thousand or so children still learning at PSE.
So far, PSE has trained more than 2,000 youngsters in skills such as cooking, service, waiting and housekeeping, as well as mechanics, information technology, business, construction and gardening. However, PSE still has a big burden to provide homes for 450 children and provide 9,000 meals to children every day.
Des Pallières said he hoped private companies would judge PSE by the work of its graduates. He also announced new classes in film production, to broaden the experiences and chances for jobs for PSE children.
PSE was founded by des Pallières in 1996 after he saw Cambodian children scavenging among rubbish to find waste cans and paper to sell at the Stung Meanchey dump. His organisation has stopped children from having to do such risky work by providing food and accommodation, as well as vocational skills.
Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer Washington, DC Wednesday, 16 March 2011
"The truth needs to come out and journalists need to do their part, writers need to do their part, artists and musicians need to do their part."
[Editor’s note: Cambodian hip-hop star Prach Ly has joined writers and playwrights at Brown University, in the US city of Providence, Rhode Island, for a three-day festival to celebrate the literature and culture of Cambodia, as well as free speech. “Khmer Voices Rising,” which is sponsored by the university, will include discussions and readings with writers from Cambodia, Vietnam and the US, among other events. Prach Ly spoke with VOA Khmer by phone from Providence on Tuesday.]
What do you think about the International Freedom-to-Write Festival?
They’ve invited journalists and writers from all around the world. And it is important because the freedom of expression, the freedom of speech, is lacking in Cambodia and also third world countries. But this year they are concentrating on Cambodia. One of the honorees or fellows they’ll honor this year is Tararith Kho.
Anywhere in the world, especially in Cambodia, writers and journalists need to express themselves, need the right to truth, and the truth needs to be told. If the people can’t speak out, if you can’t say a certain thing, then there’s no freedom, no sense of freedom. The truth needs to come out and journalists need to do their part, writers need to do their part, artists and musicians need to do their part. So freedom of expression is very important.
Why are you interested in participating in this festival?
I was asked to be here to headline the event. I am talking on four different panels and also doing a performance on Thursday at the end of the event. Again, I was censored in Cambodia and music was censored, even been banned. So I know how important it is to speak out and let your words be heard. If with censorship you can only go so far, if you can’t express your words, if the writers can’t write—I consider myself a writer too—and because my lyrics and my songs are very explicit in terms of storytelling, and if they censor and they said you can’t express certain thing, then I can’t do what I do, you know my freedom is gone. So, I feel that it’s very important to attend.
As soon as they invited me, I got on the plane and came right away. I am here now. Something like this with organizations around the world who help fighting for freedom and freedom of expression, freedom of speech, we need to keep on doing that, especially what’s happening in Egypt and also the domino effect that’s going on there. Everyone wants democracy; everyone wants freedom. That’s where it’s leading to right now. If you keep censoring people, you can’t say this, you can’t say that, and then you threaten them with death, and you know you threaten to kill them for exposing the truth, then you become a threat to yourself.
