Phnom Penh Riots Five Years Later: Khmer Studies Becoming More Popular

Logo of Dhonburi Rajabhat University in Bangkok.

Relations improve in wake of anti-Thai riots

THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL

The riots in Phnom Penh five years ago that resulted in the Thai embassy being burned and rocked Thai business confidence in the country has not deterred Thai people from learning the Khmer language. Since the anti-Thai protests on Jan 29, 2003, Dhonburi Rajabhat University, which pioneered teaching Khmer, has seen more students applying for the course, according to university vice-president Prayoon Songsilp.
About 40 students enrol in the class each year, said the expert in the Khmer language, adding the number was higher than during the protest, which temporarily soured ties between the two countries. However, she did not reveal past records on the number of students.
Dhonburi Rajabhat University opened its Khmer language course in 1989. Now Silpakorn, Maha Sarakham and Si Sa Ket Rajabhat universities also offer students courses in the Khmer language in a bid to build closer relations between the countries.
For Thailand, one of the most jarring events in Thai-Cambodian relations in recent history happened on January 29, 2003. On that day hundreds of young Cambodians stormed the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh, broke into the compound and burned the building. The angry rioters then moved on to other Thai businesses in the area, looting and smashing property, prompting then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to send C-130 military planes to evacuate Thai people living there.
The major cause of the protests came from a single misunderstanding of culture and history between the two countries. Actress Suwanan Kongying was accused of saying that Angkor Wat belonged to Thailand in a television show, something she later denied saying.
The incident showed a large gap in understanding between the two countries. One way to close that gap was to learn the language of Thailand's neighbouring country.
''The Thai people should know all the languages of their neighbours, especially the Khmer due to many similarities in the cultures,'' said Ms Prayoon.
Thai words used to address members of the Royal Family have their roots in the Khmer language, she said as an example.
Pajaree Phancharoen, 20, a second-year student at Silpakorn University's archaeology faculty, said she had chosen to learn Khmer because she was interested in the language.
It is not difficult to learn to write Khmer because it is similar to the Thai language, but the pronunciation is different because it has more than 20 vowels, she added.
''I would like to become a tour guide because there are very few people who know the Khmer language. I want to know the Cambodian culture, way of life and food,' ' she said.
Supachai Varoros, a fourth-year student at Dhonburi Rajabhat University's education faculty, said he is taking up the course because his home province, Si Sa Ket, is adjacent to Cambodia.
''After I graduate, I will go back home to become a teacher because I got a scholarship to study. I chose to learn Khmer because I think I can use it more than Japanese, Chinese or English in my hometown,'' he said.
''Language will be an important way of helping us understand and not look down on each other,'' he added.
The situation now is different from in the past when only a few Thais knew the language of their neighbouring country.
The lack of Thai people speaking Khmer was reflected in an incident involving the navy when Cambodia was at war.
''The Royal Thai Navy, which patrolled along the border, got hold of some Khmer documents, but no navy officer could read the documents,'' recalled Ms Prayoon.
After then-prime minister Chatichai Choonhavan launched a policy of turning the battlefield into a trading market in 1988, a lot of Thai businessmen flocked to Cambodia but knew nothing of the language, she said.
Those who knew how to speak Khmer made big money at the time when Thai businesses starting up in Cambodia needed people to translate contracts and agreements.
In addition to being translators, these Thais also had to turn themselves into teachers for the Thai businessmen and bankers who wanted to do business in Phnom Penh.
The demand for Khmer speakers led to a decision by Dhonburi Rajabhat University to open language courses to the public.
''Reporters or businessmen were among the 500 people in the first group who entered Phnom Penh, but they had to apply to join the course first,'' she said.
She also taught the language to Thai diplomats being sent to Phnom Penh or those wanting to know Khmer since 1994.
However, the Khmer language is not highly popular compared with other languages in this region for Foreign Ministry officials.

Ensuring history's right on both sides is key to better ties

THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
One of the keys to closer ties between Thailand and Cambodia lies with the Thai-Cambodian Association that was set up a year after the 2003 riots.
And for the association, a way to prevent violence recurring is to create a proper understanding of Thai-Cambodian history. Trying to correct history textbooks is a good way to start.
But five years on, there hasn't been much progress on this front even though academics from the two countries have met frequently to discuss the textbooks.
''What is different in the textbooks [about Thai-Cambodian history] is that the two countries write history differently,'' Dhonburi Rajabhat University vice-president Prayoon Songsilp said.
Ms Prayoon said it might be wise if the two countries studied each other's history more and softened the words used in textbooks.
The future is also encouraging as Thailand is helping Cambodia design a curriculum for the Thai language at the bachelor's degree level at the University of Cambodia in a task expected to be completed next year, she said.
Allowing Cambodian students to learn Thai in universities also shows that the Cambodian government is more open about education these days, she said. In the past the Phnom Penh government feared Thai influence, she added.
The Thai-Cambodian Association has also launched more than 30 projects _ mostly in arts and culture, literature and student exchanges, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said.
''We believe that Cambodian people have a better attitude towards these projects,'' he said, citing the good response from Cambodian university students who know the Thai language who have been invited to visit Thailand. ''They know Thailand better,'' he added.
Bangkok has taken Thai movies and songs to Cambodia to show to Cambodians and the two countries also have cooperated to produce dictionaries as well as projects on reading and writing the Thai language for students at the secondary to university level .

Cambodia plans to buy more electricity from Vietnam

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Monday that his country was planning to purchase more electricity from Vietnam to meet its ever rising demand.
"I requested the Vietnamese side to supply Cambodia with more electricity," he told a school opening ceremony in Svay Rieng province neighboring Vietnam.
The proposal was made during his visit with Vietnamese official, he said, without elaborating the detail.
"I told our minister of industry, mine, and energy to hold talk with the Vietnamese side to buy 200 megawatts of electricity per year in the new plan. We used to buy only 80 megawatts a year from Vietnam, but this was far from enough," he said.
Power price remains high in Cambodia. The demand in capital city Phnom Penh annually increased by 25 percent, according to official source.

Hun Sen to UN: Spend Rights Money Elsewhere

Hun Sen (right) Versus Yash Ghai (left), the Battle of Human Rights in Cambodia.

By Chun Sakada, VOA

Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh

28 January 2008

Prime Minister Hun Sen continued a public campaign against the UN’s human rights office Monday, saying the international body should stop spending money in Cambodia.
“The UN should take all this budget to victims in areas such as Kenya, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, or other countries facing crises, rather than wasting money in Cambodia,” Hun Sen said.
The latest row comes on the heels of a December visit by Yash Ghai, an envoy for the UN secretary-general, who was highly critical of the government’s rights efforts.
Hun Sen said Monday UN member states should not have to finance trips by Ghai.
“He rides in airplanes and stays at hotels; where does the money come from?” Hun Sen said. “This money is more than a salary. This money is still the UN’s money, and we are also a member of the UN that must also pay membership dues to the UN. We have a duty to appeal for saving the budget, to be spent in other areas, rather than having Yash Ghai traveling to Cambodia.”
Ghai rankled officials in December when he said weak rule of law and ongoing theft of land from the disenfranchised could cause people to rise up against the government.
Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha said Monday that Hun Sen should solve rights abuses and land grabs and solve murders for which no culprit is ever found.
“If he does not want the UN human rights envoy to come to Cambodia, and he regrets the fact that money is wasted, he should solve human rights violations in Cambodia,” Kem Sokha said.
Eng Chhay Eang, secretary-general of the Sam Rainsy Party, said Monday Hun Sen should worry more about the increasing price of goods and fuel and rising unemployment.
“The problem over the UN should not be an issue to bring a headache, whether it has enough money in protecting human rights in Cambodia,” he said.
Cambodia still needs funding for “strengthening human rights mechanisms,” said Thun Saray, director of the rights group Adhoc.

Cambodia's biggest hydropower dams serious threats to people

The Nation-The construction of Cambodia's first and second biggest hydropower dams pose serious threats to eco-systems and the livelihood of thousands people in southwest of the country, an environmental conservationist report said Monday.
Under an aid package of $600 million(Bt18.6 billion) from China, Cambodia is constructing the Kamchay Dam with an installed capacity of 180 Megawatts (MW) the biggest in Cambodia in the southwestern Kampot Province and the 120 MW Stung Atay Dam in Pursat Province.
The Kamchay Dam developed by China's largest hydropower developer, Sinohydro Corporation, is located wholly within the Bokor National Park and will flood 2,000 hectares of protected forest, according to a research report by the US-based conservationist International Rivers.
The project, to be completed by 2010, denied access to nontimber forest products to local residents, for whom many is an important source of income, and potentially a negative impact on a local tourist resort downstream of the dam, it said.
The Stung Atay, constructed by Yunnan Corporation for International Techno Economic cooperation, will be completed by 2012. The dam will flood a substantial area of the Central Cardamom Protect Forest, the report said.
"Cambodia's free flowing rivers and abundant natural resources are invaluable assets, the health of which are vital to the wellbeing of Cambodia's rural population," said Carl Middleton, Mekong Program Coordinator with International Rivers.
"Poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage these resources and undermine Cambodia's sustainable development."
At present, only 20 percent of households in Cambodia have access to electricity. It is expected that the soaring demand for electricity will increase to more than 900 from the 212 MW in 2002.
The government has many hydropower projects under feasibility study, including the Sambor Dam to be built in the mainstream of the Mekong River in Kratie Province with a capacity of 465 or 3500 MW depending on the design and size of the reservoir.
The Sambor Dam, if built, would block major fish migrations and could decimate the income of tens of thousands of subsistence and commercial fishers. The dam also threatens the habitat for the endangered Irrawaddy Dolphin, around which a thriving local tourism industry has grown.
The Ministry of Industry, Mine and Energy estimated the country has the potential to generate approximately 10,000 M, of which more than 50 percent will come from the Mekong mainstream.
Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told an investment conference in Tokyo recently that his country has a great potential to generate electricity supplies for the region. Apart from Laos, Cambodia could be the "battery of Asia", he said.
The report recommends that Cambodia adopts international best practices in electricity planning, including the findings of the World Commission on Dams, which is widely recognised to be the international standard for energy and water planning.
"Cambodia has many choices for meeting our electricity needs including renewable and decentralised energy options that must be explored," said Ngy San, Deputy Executive Director with the NGO Forum on Cambodia.
by Supalak G Khundee

TM plans to invest in Cambodia, eyes other assets too

By ELAINE ANG
SINGAPORE: Telekom Malaysia arm, TM International, is eyeing mobile assets in Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, and will invest US$100mil in Cambodia in the next two years to build its networks, the unit's chief said on Saturday.
Chief executive Yusof Annuar Yaacob also expected TM International's revenues to grow up to 20% in the next three years.
“We're investing about US$100mil in Cambodia over the next 18 to 24 months, and we're looking at a transaction in Laos at the same time – we're talking to the government about taking over one of their mobile operations,” Yusof told Reuters in an interview.
“As for Myanmar, which is the El Dorado of Asian telecoms, we're quite keen to do something there too – we've been engaging with the government there,” he added.
The company was also keen on Vietnam and would wait for an opportunity to open up, he said.
“We've been engaged with the respective telecoms companies for a couple of years now,” he said.
“It's also a partnership issue. Despite the war, they like American companies, but for an American company to come through the door, it might not be politically acceptable, so it might be an idea for us to partner one of these guys to increase our chances of taking a stake,” Yusof said, adding that possible partners included AT&T Inc and Vodafone Group plc.
Relations between Vietnam and the United States have warmed recently, culminating in the first visit to Washington last June by a Vietnamese head of state since the 10-year Vietnam War ended in 1975.
Last September, TM said it would spin off its mobile business into a separately listed firm, TM International, to help unlock the value of its fastest growing operations, separating it from its more staid fixed-line and broadband units.
TM International will house its domestic Celcom mobile unit and operations in nine other countries, including India, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Earnings growth at TM, Malaysia's fifth largest company by market value, has mainly been driven by revenue from Celcom and its 67% owned Indonesian mobile unit, Excelcomindo Pratama Tbk.
Looking ahead, Yusof said he expected TM International's revenues to increase more than 20%, but this figure would fall when combined with Celcom's slower growth rates.
Celcom accounts for about half the group's revenues.
“The numbers are between mid to high teens (in percentage terms) for the blended organisation, over the next three years,” he added.
The listing of TM International would be finalised in early or middle of the second quarter, ahead of the earlier target of end-June, Yusof added. – Reuters

Thai Government quick to withdraw allegation

Preah Vihear temple, entrance from the 2nd gopura (top) and the beautiful scenery of the surrounding areas(below).

Defence spokesman's claim that Cambodia marked boundary unilaterally deniedJanuary 26, 2008

The Nation (Thailand)
"if [Cambodia and Thailand] failed to settle boundary disputes, Unesco might reject the listing proposal [for Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site]" - Adul Vichianchareon, Thailand's National World Heritage Committee chairman.

The Defence Ministry yesterday rushed to retract statements made by a spokesman that Cambodia had "made up" history in a bid to claim the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear for Phnom Penh's unilateral benefit.Top brass were urgently calling counterparts across the border yesterday to clarify statements made on Thursday by ministry spokesman Lt-General Pichsanu Puchakarn.Preah Vihear is a sensitive issue between Thailand and Cambodia. It heated up early last year, when Thailand blocked Phnom Penh's attempt to list it as a United Nations World Heritage site. Bangkok asserted Cambodian listing documentation claimed land in "overlapping areas".The International Court of Justice ruled in June 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, but access to the site is mainly via Thailand. Phnom Penh has recognised some overlapping areas, according an official at the Thai Foreign Ministry.The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) agreed at a meeting in New Zealand in June last year to consider the heritage listing. It suggested Thailand and Cambodia jointly develop the site and agree on boundaries before a decision.Both countries concurred.The matter was at the heart of discussions between Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Pibulsonggram and his counterpart Hor Namhong in Phnom Penh in December.Cambodia praised Thailand for its offer of technical assistance in the restoration and maintenance of the ancient site.The military statement on Thursday was a surprise. Pichsanu said Cambodia had created a new boundary in order to claim sovereignty of the entire area and was campaigning for international support for this.He condemned Cambodia and demanded diplomats lodge an official protest with Phnom Penh.Yesterday the ministry changed its tune. Supreme Command civil-affairs chief Lt-General Plangkul Klahan and Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said the previous day's statement was incorrect.Anti-Thai sentiment is quick to emerge in Cambodia. Rioters set fire to the embassy in Phnom Penh in January 2003.Tharit said yesterday Thailand and Cambodia had agreed in 2000 to a joint boundary committee. No changes in the environment of the area will be made before boundary demarcation. "Both countries continue dialogue to find the best solution to listing the area as a World Heritage site," he said.Thailand's National World Heritage Committee chairman, Adul Vichianchareon, said that if they failed to settle boundary disputes, Unesco might reject the listing proposal.

KRouge Tribunal Rejects Hearing Delays for Nuon Chea

Nuon Chea being escorted by Cambodian police from a helicopter to go to court.

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal will hear an appeal against regime leader Nuon Chea's detention on February 4, officials said Monday, rejecting efforts to delay the court's second public hearing.
Legal maneouvering by Nuon Chea's defence lawyers had threatened to delay the proceedings, court officials said.
But the court said the hearing would take place as scheduled, rejecting requests by Nuon Chea's team to strike some of his testimony from the record.
Lawyers for the most senior surviving Khmer Rouge cadre had argued that tribunal judges should not have conducted their client's initial interviews in the absence of defence counsel following his arrest in September.
"Mr. Nuon's apparent waiver of his right to counsel was involuntary, uninformed, ambiguous and therefore ineffective," they said in their request to annul the written record of Nuon Chea's first three court appearances.
But judges, in an order issued Friday, said the 81-year-old had repeatedly denied that he needed a lawyer present for the interviews.
"It appears difficult to imagine a situation where the waiver could have been more clear and more deliberate than in this case," the judges wrote in their decision to reject the request.
Nuon Chea, who was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's closest deputy, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was the alleged architect of the communist regime's sweeping execution policies during its 1975-1979 rule.
Five top cadres have been arrested so far, with the first trials expected to begin in mid-2008.
Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which emptied Cambodia's cities, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia.
Schools, religion and currency were outlawed and the educated classes targeted for extermination by the communists.
"Everything is clear now. The co-investigating judges wanted to show that they have done everything fairly for Nuon Chea," tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath told AFP Monday, saying the hearing would be held.

Cambodian cargo ship missing

Monday, 28 January 2008
A SEARCH is underway in the East China sea for the 1982-built, Cambodian-flag general cargo ship Captain Uskov which has disappeared on voyage between Nakhodka and Hong Kong with 17 crew on board and a cargo of steel coils.
Last contact with the ship was a radio message on 20 January since when there has been no further sign of the ship.
The Captain Uskov is owned by a St Kitts and Nevis company but is understood to be controlled by Russian interests and is managed by Sovetskaya Gavan-based company Hermes, according to the Equasis database.

Suharto's Atrocities

Members of the Youth Wing of the Indonesian Communist Party (Pemuda Rakjat) are guarded by soldiers as they are taken by open truck to prison in Jakarta, in this Oct. 30, 1965, file photo. Historians estimate that between 300,000 and 800,000 Indonesians were killed in Gen. Suharto's bloody rise to power from 1965 to 1968, the worst mass slaughter in Southeast Asia's modern history after the Khmer Rouge killing fields in Cambodia. A frenzy of anti-communist violence stained rivers with blood and littered the countryside with the bodies of teachers, farmers and others.(AP Photo/File) .

Top Cambodian foreign minister pays tribute to Suharto

Foreign minister Hor Namhong.
Phnom Penh - Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong made an official visit to the Indonesian embassy in the capital Monday to lay a wreath and sign a condolence book in honour of former Indonesian president Suharto. Hor Namhong did not speak to reporters but spent several minutes with Indonesian embassy staff. The elderly Cambodian statesman appeared visibly moved.
Suharto, a former five-star general, died of multiple organ failure Sunday at Jakarta's Pertamina Hospital, where he had been treated for 23 days. He was 86.
Cambodia is a fellow member of the 10-nation Association of South-east Asian Nations bloc and enjoys warm diplomatic ties with Indonesia.

After four years the Cambodian judiciary still denies justice to Chea Viceah, Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun

Sok Sam Oeun and Born Samnang who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned for Chea Vichea's murder.

Offerings made in honor of Chea Vichea memory on the fourth anniversary of his assassination

Today, the 28th of January, 2008, marks the fourth year of imprisonment of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun who were wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for the murder of Chea Vichea, President of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC). As of today the two men have served a total of 1,461 days in prison. The prosecution of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, has attracted widespread criticism for serious irregularities and the lack of evidence against them. Their trial by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in August 2005, and an Appeal Court hearing which upheld the guilty verdict in April 2007, violated Cambodian legal procedure and international human rights standards. Both courts ignored key evidence, including witness testimony that Born Samnang was 60km away from the crime scene at the time of the murder. The Appeal Court disregarded a written statement by Va Sothy, the prime witness to the murder, that Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun were not the killers whom she saw. The Appeal Court also ignored the conclusions of its own prosecutor, who acknowledged that the police investigation into the murder was incomplete and recommended that more investigation be conducted. Both courts ignored key evidence, including witness testimony that Born Samnang was 60km away from the crime scene at the time of the murder.Local and international human rights groups and individuals including retired King Norodom Sihanouk have repeatedly stated that the two men are not the real killers of Chea Vichea. The family of Chea Vichea has also publicly denounced the trial and conviction of the two men and have refused to accept the USD$5,000 compensation that the court ordered the two men to pay.The human rights community both in Cambodia and internationally continues to insist on the immediate release of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun. Early last week union members, NGO workers, representatives from the Human Rights Party and the Sam Rainsy Party, and others gathered to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Chea Vichea. A small police contingent escorted 150 supporters as they marched from the FTUWKC headquarters to the newspaper stand near Wat Lanka where Chea Vichea was shot on 22 January, 2004.At the newspaper stand a ceremony was held to pay tribute to the union leader. Wreaths were laid and incense lit in prayer, honoring Chea Vichea who gave his life for the struggle to represent the needs of Cambodian workers.

RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Land Grabbing- A Serious Concern

Ros Sovann, the man who beats the parliamentarian because he resented the fact that his land was confiscated by people in high positions like this parliamentarian.

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jan 28 (IPS) - At the beginning of January, Ros Sovann was just another private security guard one sees standing outside fancy restaurants and the homes of the rich in Phnom Penh. By month end, the 28-year-old had catapulted from obscurity to become the symbol of rage spreading through Cambodia over land grabbing. Ros’ transformation took place shortly before midnight on Jan. 13 in front of a house in the Cambodian capital, owned by Chin Kim Sreng, a 70-year-old parliamentarian from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Sometime close to 11:30 p.m., Ros brutally attacked Chin with a steel pipe as the latter had got out of his luxury car to open the gate of his house, say reports in the local press. But Ros was not finished, despite his beatings leaving Chin bleeding and with open head wounds, added an account in the Khmer language ‘Rasmei Kampuchea’ newspaper. He had then got into Chin’s car and crashed it into the gate. Ros’ arrest by the police and subsequent confession revealed that there was more to the attack than the visible facts. He said in his statement that he was exacting revenge on the country’s powerful government officials responsible for grabbing the land that his family owned in a village on the outskirts of Phnom. The lost land was to have helped his family raise funds to pay for his wedding. ‘’(Ros) said he had had no personal grudges against Chin,’’ states the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a Hong Kong-based regional rights lobby. ‘’However, since the loss of his land he had harboured strong resentment for all powerful officials, so much so that, on becoming a security guard, he had requested his firm to assign him to guard their houses so that he could have opportunities to take revenge on them.’’ The attack -- while not being condoned -- has attracted the attention of international and local rights groups who have been raising a cry against the strong-arm tactics used by Cambodian authorities to evict hundreds of the country’s urban and rural poor from their homes and their lands. ‘’Ros’ attack on lawmaker Chin Kim Sreng, brutal as it was, should not be treated as a crime like many others,’’ noted the AHRC. ‘’It should be taken very seriously as it was a cry for justice for himself and for other victims of the injustices of land grabbing.’’ In fact others reveal that such an act of violence by the victims of evictions against government officials is new. ‘’It is the first case that I have heard of, although our organisation does not condone such violence,’’ says Dan Nicholson, coordinator for the Asia and Pacific Programme at the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a Geneva-based housing and land rights lobby. ‘’The victims have often pursued peaceful means to advocate for their rights.’’ Such non-violent activity, either through community-organised protests or turning to the courts, comes despite growing frustration about the heavy odds the evicted men, women and children are up against. ‘’The people feel very frustrated at the difficulty they are having to defend their rights,’’ Nicholson revealed during a telephone interview from Phnom Penh. ‘’The courts have not been very helpful, and there are cases of intimidation and threats used against the community leaders who challenge the authorities after the eviction.’’ Last November even saw two deaths, many injuries and hundreds evicted from their homes in a typical campaign the Cambodian authorities launched to secure land from the poor. As always, armed police, soldiers and the military police were used in such eviction operations. The security forces shot dead two people on Nov. 15 during ‘’a forced eviction in the remote northern Preah Vihear province,’’ said Amnesty International, the London-based global rights campaigner. ‘’The victims, one man and one woman, belonged to a group of 317 families -- over 1,500 people -- evicted by more than 200 armed (members of the security force).’’ The push by Cambodian authorities to drive the poor from their lands in Phnom Penh, beachside tourist resorts like Sihanoukville and central provincial areas like Kompong have grown with intensity since 2006. That year saw over 7,000 people thrown out of their homes in Phnom Penh to enable private sector investments build new apartments, business centres and shopping malls on the lands. According to local rights group, the heavy-handed measures used by authorities to grab real estate from the vulnerable exposes the downside of Cambodia’s march to shed its image as a poverty-stricken country. This South-east Asian nation, which has enjoyed over a decade of relative peace after nearly two decades of a brutal conflict, posted economic growth averaging 11 percent annually over the past three years. Tourism and garments are the country’s money-spinners. Most troubling for groups like the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC) is the Cambodian government’s attitude towards the 2001 Land Law, which offered a new framework regards land ownership in a country where there was no strong culture of land rights and private land ownership. What was more, the little records of title deeds the country had were destroyed when Cambodia was ruled in the late 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, led by Pol Pot. ‘’The 2001 Land Law is progressive. It recognises the right of people who have lived on a piece of land for over five years to be entitled to the land’s title,’’ Yeng Virak, executive director of CLEC, said in a telephone interview from his organisation’s office in Phnom Penh. ‘’There has been a systematic effort to register land over the past six years.’’ But the poor who have been targeted for evictions are among the millions who have not received the ‘’paper work’’ to lay claim to the land they are living on. Consequently, they have become victims of the manner in which the Cambodian government is interpreting the two types of state land in the country -- for public use that needs protection, such as forests, and for private use, which can be sold for development. ‘’The government is saying that the people being evicted do not have the legal claims on the land and that such property is state land meant for private use, for economic activity,’’ says Yeng. ‘’And only some of the families who have been evicted have received compensation. Others have been dumped in an area where there are no facilities.’’ It is a development model that wins little support from Yeng, whose organisation is providing legal assistance to some of the evicted communities. ‘’Economic development is good, but the problem is when it is done at all costs,’’ he explains. ‘’The land issue is becoming a very serious concern here.’’ (END/2008)

A Helping Hand

Boys at Knar School eat lunch of noodles. Most of Ponheary Ly's clients are American tourists who support Cambodian schools with their donations.

Newlyweds lend a hand in Cambodia's struggle against the ravages of war and poverty.
By Chris Gray
Inquirer Staff Writer
SIEM REAP, Cambodia - Let's be honest: It was the specter of tigers, temples, and tom yam soup that led my husband and me to honeymoon in Southeast Asia. We wanted an adventure to remember, on a continent where neither of us had been.
But as I researched our trip, I realized that we should spend at least a little time practicing "voluntourism," giving back to people who are still struggling for the basics after decades of war and poverty.
We found a way to have it all in Siem Reap, Cambodia, home of the ancient temple complex Angkor Wat - and Ponheary Ly, a tour guide who considers it her mission to help educate as many Cambodian children as possible.
I found Ly, a Siem Reap native and survivor of dictator Pol Pot's labor camps, through the Asia message board on Fodors.com. Ly, 44, is a veteran guide who has arranged private tours of Angkor Wat and other Siem Reap attractions in both English and French - languages she learned in secret during the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia - since 2000.
A former English teacher, Ly has also worked for seven years to enroll children in Cambodian schools. While public school in the country is ostensibly free for the first three years, many rural children do not have the $12 necessary for shoes, school supplies or uniforms, she said.
"As a teacher, I knew about the difficulties of the kids and families who couldn't send the kids to schools. Also, I found that the kids are smart, but they don't have any occasion to show how smart they are. To build the country, we have to build the education for all people, especially the kids."
It's a message that Ly's clients - mostly Americans who prefer independent travel with native guides to packaged tours - could support. In addition to touring the temples, more and more visitors asked Ly whether they could visit the schools and donate money for bicycles, supplies and uniforms.
Lori Carlson, formerly of Austin, Texas, was one such convert. When she visited here in 2005, Carlson was struck by Ly's background and dedication. On her return to the States, she founded the Ponheary Ly Foundation (http://www.theplf.org/), a registered nonprofit that channels money directly to the schools.
As of December, Carlson, 48, had raised $90,000 for five schools - and quit her job to move here to work fulltime with Ly. She formed a board of directors for the PLF, which distributed school supplies to 1,955 children last fall.
"I believe the travelers who go to visit the temples at Angkor Wat understand they bear at least some of the responsibility to gently nudge these children toward school rather than reinforce the idea that it's good to stand on the corner and beg dollars from tourists," she said.
With such strong advocates, Don and I were excited to meet Ly and do our part. We arrived here to find a city undergoing massive change. The number of tourists visiting Angkor Wat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992, has exploded in recent years, spurring an increase in hotels, shops, restaurants and other businesses.
While the influx of dollars has been good for many Cambodians (merchants prefer U.S. dollars to the Cambodian rial), it's disconcerting to see barefoot bicyclists ride past $800-a-night hotels. Young children hawk maps, books and trinkets near the temple grounds; tuk-tuk drivers fight over $1 fares.
That's not to say that Don and I eschew luxury (it was our honeymoon, after all). We turned down a $20 room at Ly's simple guesthouse, primarily because it didn't have a pool, which we considered essential to deal with the area's crushing humidity. At $95, our poolside room at Bopha Angkor was spacious yet not ostentatious, and the package included daily breakfast, a traditional Khmer dinner, and a massage.
Just a few hours after we landed, we went to Angkor Wat with Ly's brother Dara as our guide. There are more than 300 temples in the complex, but Dara steered us to the ones that would provide the most interesting backdrops for my husband, the photographer.
As we sweated in the 90-degree heat, I asked Dara about his family's experience under the Khmer Rouge. He told us that his father, a teacher in Siem Reap, was among the first wave of educated people to be killed under Pol Pot's regime. As a result, Dara and his siblings were sent with their mother to the countryside to work.
It's a sobering tale, and we heard more from Ly over the next few days. Ly, who was 13 when the Khmer Rouge came to power, and her siblings survived, mainly because villagers would leave food for them at night.
"We were given this much rice," Ly told us, holding up the tip of her finger. Dara would "crawl out on all fours, like a cat" to get extra food; sometimes, actual cats or monkeys would have gotten to the rations instead, she said.
Still, the extra nourishment kept the family alive - and the Khmer Rouge noticed. Officials asked her mother why her children were still alive when so many other youngsters had died, Ly said. When her mother refused to answer, she was horribly beaten.
Such atrocities were common in the Pol Pot years. Yet most Cambodians don't like to talk about the time under the Khmer Rouge, Carlson said. It's rare to find it discussed in schools, primarily due to the country's Buddhist beliefs, which hold that people - even war criminals - are responsible for their own karma.
Ly is different, Carlson said. She understands that it's important to talk about the past so it doesn't happen again. We were talking in Ly's van, on our way to deliver lunch to the 476 children at Knar school, out in the Cambodian countryside. On the road, we saw men on bikes toting crates filled with piglets and open huts with children playing in the dirt.
Cambodian families expect all children, no matter how young, to contribute economically, Ly told us. Which is why even the kids who are lucky enough to go to school attend for a half day; at home, they are needed for chores, farm work, or other ways to make money.
In addition to a donation made before our trip, we gave Ly $40 for lunch, which buys two noodle packets for each child. That's essential, Carlson said, because if the child received only one packet, he or she would take it home to the family instead of eating it. The school tries to feed the children at least once a day to make sure they have enough energy to learn, Carlson said.
We arrived at Knar School, which consists of several one-story classrooms. As Don carried the boxes of noodle packets into the rooms, the children's eyes grew wide. They straightened in their seats and thanked us by pressing their hands together and bowing.
Carlson and Ly showed us around the school and talked about the improvements that have been made. Incentives such as bicycles, uniforms, and extra noodle packets show the families that there are tangible benefits to their children attending school, Carlson said.
"I would like to have my country be the same as the other countries," Ly said, with Cambodian children able "to have good education to work well to get out from the poor life."
The children seemed to love school, showing off their uniforms and books. An impromptu game of soccer ensued, with Don in the thick of it. It was an emotional sight for me, which sparked later discussion: Although we had been together several years, Don and I had never talked about the greater good we could accomplish as a couple.
It's a conversation that all newlyweds should have, wherever their honeymoon takes them. For us, road-testing our fledgling marriage in an underdeveloped country not only gave us the adventures we sought, but also set the course for a more permanent path. And that's definitely a trip worth taking.
Two Sides of Cambodia
There are no direct flights to Siem Reap from the United States. You can fly there from various Asian cities, including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi.
British Airways flies to Singapore from Philadelphia International Airport with one stop. The lowest recent round-trip fare was about $1,815. Singapore Airlines flies nonstop from Newark Liberty International Airport for about $1,970 round trip.
We stayed at Bopha Angkor (http://www.bopha-angkor.com/), booking the "Poolside Evasion package." The cost was $285 for both of us for three nights, including airport transfers, breakfast, a dinner, and a massage for two.
We booked Ponheary Ly as a guide by e-mail (ponheary@yahoo.com). Ly charged us $145 for 21/2 days of touring, which included three half-day sessions at Angkor Wat, the visit to Knar School, and a visit to the floating village on Tonle Sap lake.
More information
To donate or read more about the Ponheary Ly Foundation, go to http://www.theplf.org/. Or e-mail Lori Carlson at donate@theplf.org.
Cambodia Tourism
http://www.tourismcambodia.com/
Angkor Wat
http://www.angkorwat.org/
- Chris Gray

If you tire, press on; touring temple brings understanding

Angkor Thom temple is located the well-known Angkor Wat temple. It is as impressive as Angkor Wat.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia - Frequent travelers call it "temple fatigue," the wave of exhaustion that sets in when you've seen one (or five) ruins too many.
It comes with the territory here. Not only is Siem Reap home to Angkor Wat, one of the world's largest religious monuments; the area also houses more than 300 other monuments, all beautiful and significant, in various stages of decay. If you take in too many at once, even the most intricate carvings can seem mundane.
But there's nothing like immersion to understand the complex history of the Khmer people. At one time, their empire spread from modern-day India to Vietnam, encompassing both Buddhist and Hindu faiths. One king, Jayavarman VII, commissioned hundreds of stone structures throughout the country, all within 30 years (although Angkor Wat, which graces Cambodia's flag and currency, was built by a predecessor, Suryavarman II).
So even if your feet hurt, your shirt is damp with sweat, and you feel you never want to see another temple again, somehow you need to find the energy to visit just one more.
Here are a few of the must-see sites at Siem Reap, all covered by a $40 three-day pass:
Angkor Wat. The early-12th-century structure is as immense and awe-inspiring as it looks in pictures. Both a capital and a temple honoring the Hindu god Vishnu, Angkor Wat is too large to take in all at once. We toured in the morning, avoiding the crowds, and then returned at dusk to see the iconic three stone towers bathed in golden-hour light.

Definitely a See-You-Before-You-Die sight.
Angkor Thom. Just up the road from Angkor Wat and built almost a century later, Angkor Thom is almost as impressive. A former royal city, the Angkor Thom complex is most famous for the Bayon, a Buddhist temple that features enormous faces carved from stone. There are plenty of other monuments here, too; we especially liked the South Gate, with a row of stone angels and demons holding a large naga (snake) on either side of the road.
Ta Prohm. If you've seen Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, you're familier with Ta Prohm, also known as the "jungle temple." Here you can see what happens when nature goes unchecked: Huge trees have engulfed the buildings and crushed the walls with their roots. Despite the crowds, it's an otherworldly sight and eerily romantic; Don and I both picked this one as our favorite.
Banteay Srei. Off the beaten path in the countryside, Banteay Srei is the oldest of the temples we visited (one guidebook placed its consecration date at 967 A.D.). It was also tinier and perhaps the most beautiful, because of the intricate carvings of Aspara dancers and Hindu gods. We particularly loved how the red sandstone appeared pink in the morning light.
- Chris Gray

Peronal Journey: A tourist, and a native, and comfortable

Writer Somanette Seang at Angkor Wat. She left Cambodia when she was 7 years old. Her return to visit Cambodia is a life experience.

By Somanette Seang
For The Inquirer
It had been more than 26 years since I was in Cambodia. I survived the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s and, at age 7, emigrated to the United States with my mother, grandmother, aunt and cousin.
Until last summer, I never felt ready to return to Cambodia because I struggled with feelings of survivor's guilt. Why did I live when an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians died?
My fear was that I would be just another tourist instead of Khmer. In the end, I was a Khmer tourist.
I arranged to volunteer as an English teacher in Siem Reap through the nonprofit organization Journeys Within Our Community (http://www.journeyswithinourcommunity.org/). I would be teaching two English classes at Wat Thmey (New Temple). Wat Thmey is an old temple with a modest memorial dedicated to about 50 people who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
My "classroom" was the open foyer of the temple, and I had a dry-erase board. My students were teenagers and young adults who could not afford to enroll in a high school or university. Poverty is prevalent throughout Cambodia, even as the country builds and develops.
My 17 students did not know what to make of me initially. I looked Cambodian enough, but there was an intangible characteristic that made me not quite truly Khmer. I told them my story of emigration and the loss of the father I never knew. Several of them told me stories of their impoverished lives in the rice paddies, helping their families find aluminum and plastic reusables in the polluted city, or selling beef on a stick and coca (soda) along the dusty and crowded streets of Siem Reap.
The students did not dwell on their struggles; they showed hope and determination. For the week I was there, they rode their bicycles - the luckier ones rode borrowed motos - to class. We studied present-tense verbs and vocabulary for different modes of transportation. But mostly, we talked about Cambodia. They were eager for me to know and love their country.
Because they wanted me to see the true beauty of Siem Reap, two of my students, Saphour and Vanna, picked me up on Saphour's moto (it is amazing how many people ride at once on a moto) and took me to Angkor Wat. I had read and seen pictures and movies about the 12th-century stone temple built with three levels and four galleries. The galleries' walls are covered with hand-carved, detailed scenes of battles, gods, heaven and hell. When I walked onto the gateway of Angkor Wat, I felt completely proud to be Cambodian.
My students thanked me for being their teacher. But truly, I was the most thankful. I may have taught them grammar, as my father might have done when he was a teacher, but they taught me about hope and self-acceptance. It was fine to be a Khmer tourist.

Haverford teenager is volunteer teacher

Croom Beatty is teaching English to Cambodian students in one of his volunteering assignments to Cambodia.

Lyle Beatty worried about many things when her 16-year-old son, Croom, went to Cambodia to teach English in 2006.
She didn't think about cobras.
Sure enough, her son came close to one while touring a temple in the countryside near Siem Reap.
Snake scares aside, Croom Beatty - now 17 and a senior at the Haverford School - has spent part of the last two summers teaching English in schools sponsored by the Ponheary Ly Foundation.
The Beatty family, of Haverford, met Ponheary Ly while touring Angkor Wat in 2005. Lyle and her husband had prepared their four children for the trip by watching The Killing Fields and learning about Cambodian history. But nothing compared to hearing Ly's personal stories, Lyle Beatty said.
"It was life-altering," she said.
Upon returning, Croom e-mailed Ly to ask what he could do to help. He envisioned raising money or giving a presentation at his school. Instead, Ly suggested that he return to Cambodia to teach. So Croom flew to Asia to teach for two weeks before meeting up with his family.
"The first day I walked into the school, I was very nervous," Croom said. "She dropped me off and had me do my own thing. When I walked in, everyone started giggling. It was challenging."
Eventually, Croom became more comfortable. Last summer, he returned with a friend for three weeks. They lived in the Ly guesthouse and rode their bikes to and from the school, witnessing Cambodian life firsthand.
"It was a lot of fun," he said. "Her family treated me like one of their own. The second year was a lot more relaxed. I got to know the kids better.
"It's amazing to see the potential of some of the students. . . . I was expecting to maybe give them enough English to work in a hotel. Some of them are exceptionally smart. They want to be doctors and teachers."
Lyle Beatty says her son has "learned so much. It went from being a vague do-gooder type thing to realizing what is there and the difference that one person or a lot of people can make."
- Chris Gray

Cambodia warns UN to change rights policy

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour.

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

25 January 2008

Top officials Friday warned the UN Human Rights Commission’s Cambodia office to be more cooperative with the ruling government, following several visits of a UN envoy highly critical of the government’s rights commitment.
“We have had a Memorandum of Understanding with this office, and we’ll see if we need to renew the MOU when it expires,” Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said. “But our request is that the representative office of the Human Rights Commission implement what is in the MOU, and not more than that, just as what it is.”
UN special envoy Yash Ghai said following a visit in December that Cambodia’s rights abuses, weak judiciary and increasing land thefts could cause the populace to “rise up” against the government.
His visit was not officially recognized, and he met instead with rural villagers, human rights groups and political parties. His remarks angered the government, including Prime Minsiter Hun Sen, who has in the past sought Ghai’s removal.
The UN rights office has said it will adjust work procedures to “sit with the government and get the problems solved,” government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said. “Now we just wait and see if they can make it.”
“But on the whole we can shut down [the rights office] any time regardless of whether they are right or wrong,” he said.

Thai MPs rush to meet Thaksin in Hong Kong

Samak Sundaravej, leader of People Power Party talked to the media in Bangkok about the possibility of forming a government.

Ex-PM Thaksin said to be key to forming government.
Flights between Bangkok and Hong Kong have been particularly loaded with Thai politicians lately. They have also been flying to the same destination, a hotel where ousted prime minister Thakin Shinawatra _ the man believed to be playing a pivotal role in the forming of the coalition government under the People Power party _ has been frequenting.
Observers say key figures of the PPP and its coalition partners have been meeting the deposed prime minister over the allocation of cabinet portfolios and the voting of PPP leader Samak Sundaravej as the country's 25th prime minister tomorrow. Mr Thaksin, leader of the dissolved Thai Rak Thai, moved to Hong Kong from his base in Britain several weeks ago to make it easier for visitors to meet him.
One of the most prominent visitors was Warawuth Silpa-archa, son of Chart Thai leader Banharn, who said he went to Hong Kong with his wife for shopping and took the opportunity to meet Mr Thaksin as well. ''I did go to Hong Kong. I also bumped into a large number of PPP MPs in a hotel,'' he said.
He gave assurances on his party's behalf that Chart Thai MPs would support a person nominated for the premiership by the PPP.
Just flying back from Hong Kong was Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, a former Thai Rak Thai executive. She and some Bangkok politicians close to her will have dinner together this evening. A source said they will discuss ways to push some of her confidants into cabinet seats.
Puea Pandin's key figures, such as Preecha Laohapongchana and Vatchara Pannachet, were also seen boarding flights to Hong Kong, presumably to meet Mr Thaksin.
PPP spokesman Kudep Saikrajang said all the MPs will gather for a briefing at party headquarters before they leave for parliament to vote for Mr Samak as prime minister.
Mr Kudep is confident all the other coalition members would also vote in favour of Mr Samak. He denied rumours that faction members within the PPP, particularly northeastern MPs, were pressing hard for more cabinet posts.
As the pendulum has swung back in PPP's favour, which is largely made up of former Thai Rak Thai members, several military officers _ mostly former Class 10 members at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School _ have also been visiting Mr Thaksin.

Thai coup leader Sonthi: I'm coming home

Thaksin Sinawatra held a press conference in Hong Kong on 25 Jan. 2008 about his possible return to Thailand.

(BangkokPost.com)
Former coup chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin insisted on Saturday he will not seek political asylum in a foreign country to seek shelter from the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra People Power party (PPP).
Gen Sonthi, Deputy Prime Minister in the lame-duck government, is to return to Thailand on Wednesday from a tour of the Middle East.
He has been the subject of rumours that he intends to flee Thailand in fear of retaliation from pro-Thaksin politicians because he was behind the Sept 19, 2006, coup that unseated Mr Thaksin.
He said he will hold a press conference after his return to Bangkok. The former junta chief has given no interviews since the Dec 23 election victory of PPP.
The press conference will be held at Suvarnabhumi airport in the morning right after his landing, aides said.

Barack Obama Wins South Carolina

Barack Obama addressing supporters after winning South Carolina with wife, Michelle, by his side.

By DAVID ESPO and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writers
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.
"The choice in this election is not about regions or religions or genders," Obama said at a boisterous victory rally. "It's not about rich versus poor, young versus old and it's not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future."
The audience chanted "Race doesn't matter" as it awaited Obama to make his appearance after rolling up 55 percent of the vote in a three-way race.
But it did, in a primary that shattered turnout records.
About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Obama, the first-term Illinois senator, got about a quarter of the white vote while Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina split the rest.
Clinton flew to Nashville as the polls closed, and looked ahead. "Now the eyes of the country turn to Tennessee and the other states voting on Feb. 5," she said, adding "millions and millions of Americans are going to have their voices heard."
Edwards finished a distant third, a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago. Even so, he vowed to remain in the race, his goal, he said, to "give voice to all those whose voices aren't being heard."
The victory was Obama's first since he won the kickoff Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3. Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, scored an upset in the New Hampshire primary a few days later. They split the Nevada caucuses, she winning the turnout race, he gaining a one-delegate margin. In an historic race, she hopes to become the first woman to occupy the White House, and Obama is the strongest black contender in history.
The South Carolina primary marked the end of the first phase of the campaign for the Democratic nomination, a series of single-state contests that winnowed the field, conferred co-front-runner status on Clinton and Obama but had relatively few delegates at stake.
That all changes in 10 days' time, when New York, Illinois and California are among the 15 states holding primaries in a virtual nationwide primary. Another seven states and American Samoa will hold Democratic caucuses on the same day.
Obama took a thinly veiled swipe at Clinton in his remarks.
"We are up against conventional thinking that says your ability to lead as president comes from longevity in Washington or proximity to the White House. But we know that real leadership is about candor, and judgment, and the ability to rally Americans from all walks of life around a common purpose — a higher purpose," Obama said.
Looking ahead to Feb. 5, he added that "nearly half the nation will have the chance to join us in saying that we are tired of business-as-usual in Washington, we are hungry for change, and we are ready to believe again."
Nearly complete returns showed Obama winning 55 percent of the vote, Clinton gaining 27 percent. Edwards had 18 percent and won only his home county of Oconee.
Obama also gained 25 convention delegates, Clinton won 12 and Edwards eight.
Overall, Clinton has 249 delegates, followed by Obama with 167 and Edwards with 58.
Obama also gained an endorsement from Caroline Kennedy, who likened the Illinois senator to her late father, President John F. Kennedy.
"I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them," she wrote on The New York Times op-ed page. "But for the first time, I believe I have found a man who could be that president — and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."
All three contenders campaigned in South Carolina on primary day, but only Obama and Edwards arranged to speak to supporters after the polls closed. Clinton left for Tennessee as the polls were closing. After playing a muted role in the earlier contests, the issue of race dominated an incendiary week that included a shift in strategy for Obama, a remarkably bitter debate and fresh scrutiny of former President Clinton's role in his wife's campaign.
Each side accused the other of playing the race card, sparking a controversy that frequently involved Bill Clinton.
"They are getting votes, to be sure, because of their race or gender. That's why people tell me Hillary doesn't have a chance of winning here," the former president said at one stop as he campaigned for his wife, strongly suggesting that blacks would not support a white alternative to Obama.
Clinton campaign strategists denied any intentional effort to stir the racial debate. But they said they believe the fallout has had the effect of branding Obama as "the black candidate," a tag that could hurt him outside the South.
Nearly six in 10 voters said the former president's efforts for his wife was important to their choice, and among them, slightly more favored Obama than the former first lady.
Overall, Obama defeated Clinton among both men and women.
The exit polls showed the economy was the most important issue in the race. About one quarter picked health care. And only one in five said it was the war in Iraq, underscoring the extent to which the once-dominant issue has faded in the face of financial concerns.
The exit poll was conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and the networks.

Ex-Indonesian dictator Suharto dies

By ZAKKI HAKIM, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Former dictator Suharto, an army general who crushed Indonesia's communist movement and pushed aside the country's founding father to usher in 32 years of tough rule that saw up to a million political opponents killed, died Sunday. He was 86.
"He has died," Dr. Christian Johannes, a member of his medical team, told The Associated Press, adding that Suharto died at 1:10 p.m.
Dozens of doctors had been rushed to the Pertamina Hospital in the capital, Jakarta, after Suharto's blood pressure fell suddenly Saturday night. Suharto had slipped out of consciousness for the first time in more than three weeks of treatment, doctors said.
Suharto had been in intensive care with lung, heart and kidney failure since he was admitted to the hospital on Jan. 4. Over the past week his physicians had spoken of a recovery, but by Sunday that had changed dramatically.
Suharto, who led a regime widely regarded as one of the 20th century's most brutal and corrupt, has lived a reclusive life in a comfortable villa in downtown Jakarta for the past decade.
He had been in and out of the hospital several times since being toppled by a pro-democracy uprising during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis for heart problems and internal bleeding.
Historians say up to 800,000 alleged communist sympathizers were killed during Suharto's rise to power from 1965 to 1968. His troops killed another 300,000 in military operations against independence movements in Papua, Aceh and East Timor.
Suharto's poor health had kept him from facing trial, and no one has been punished for the killings.
Corruption watchdog Transparency International has said Suharto and his family amassed billions of dollars in stolen state funds, allegations the family is fighting in court.
Suharto's successors as head of state — B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono — vowed to end corruption that took root under Suharto, yet it remains endemic at all levels of Indonesian society.
With the court system paralyzed by corruption, the country has not confronted its bloody past. Rather than put on trial those accused of mass murder and multibillion-dollar theft, some members of the political elite consistently called for charges against Suharto to be dropped on humanitarian grounds.
Some noted Suharto also oversaw decades of economic expansion that made Indonesia the envy of the developing world. Today, nearly a quarter of Indonesians live in poverty, and many long for the Suharto era's stability, when fuel and rice were affordable.
But critics say Suharto squandered Indonesia's vast natural resources of oil, timber and gold, siphoning the nation's wealth to benefit his cronies and family like a mafia don.
Jeffrey Winters, associate professor of political economy at Northwestern University, said the graft effectively robbed "Indonesia of some of the most golden decades, and it's best opportunity to move from a poor to a middle class country."
"When Indonesia does finally go back and redo history, (its people) will realize that Suharto is responsible for some of the worst crimes against humanity in the 20th century," Winters added.
Those who profited from Suharto's rule made sure he was never portrayed in a harsh light at home, Winters said, so even though he was an "iron-fisted, brutal, cold-blooded dictator," he was able to stay in his native country.
Like many Indonesians, Suharto used only one name. He was born Haji Mohammad Suharto on June 8, 1921, to a family of rice farmers in the village of Godean, in the dominant Indonesian province of Central Java.
When Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch in 1949, Suharto quickly rose through the ranks of the military to become a staff officer.
His career nearly foundered in the late 1950s, when the army's then commander, Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution, accused him of corruption in awarding army contracts.
Absolute power came in September 1965 when the army's six top generals were murdered under mysterious circumstances, and their bodies dumped in an abandoned well in an apparent coup attempt. Suharto, next in line for command, quickly asserted authority over the armed forces and promoted himself to four-star general.
Suharto then oversaw a nationwide purge of suspected communists and trade unionists, a campaign that stood as the region's bloodiest event since World War II until the Khmer Rouge established its gruesome regime in Cambodia a decade later. Experts put the number of deaths during the purge at between 500,000 and 1 million.
Over the next year, Suharto eased out of office Indonesia's first post-independence president, Sukarno, who died under house arrest in 1970. The legislature rubber-stamped Suharto's presidency and he was re-elected unopposed six times.
During the Cold War, Suharto was considered a reliable friend of Washington, which didn't oppose his violent occupation of Papua in 1969 and the bloody 1974 invasion of East Timor. The latter, a former Portuguese colony, became Asia's youngest country with a U.N.-sponsored plebiscite in 1999.
Even Suharto's critics agree his hardline policies kept a lid on Indonesia's extremists. He locked up hundreds of suspected Islamic militants without trial, some of whom later carried out deadly suicide bombings with the al-Qaida-linked terror network Jemaah Islamiyah after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S.
Meanwhile, the ruling clique that formed around Suharto — nicknamed the "Berkeley mafia" after their American university, the University of California, Berkeley — transformed Indonesia's economy and attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment.
By the late 1980s, Suharto was describing himself as Indonesia's "father of development," taking credit for slowly reducing the number of abjectly poor and modernizing parts of the nation.
But the government also became notorious for unfettered nepotism, and Indonesia was regularly ranked as one of the world's most corrupt nations as Suharto's inner circle amassed fabulous wealth. The World Bank estimates 20 percent to 30 percent of Indonesia's development budget was embezzled during his rule.

Prince Ranariddh visited a sick Suharto

Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh waves to journalists after arriving at the Pertamina hospital to visit Indonesia's former president Suharto in Jakarta January 25, 2008. Suharto has been in hospital for three weeks for suffered multiple organ failure.REUTERS/Crack Palinggi (INDONESIA)

Prince Ranaridhh visited Suharto

Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh speaks to journalists after his visit to former Indonesian president Suharto at the Pertamina hospital in Jakarta January 25, 2008. Suharto has been in hospital for three weeks after suffering multiple organ failure.REUTERS/Crack Palinggi (INDONESIA)

Sok An visited Suharto shortly before he died

Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An speaks to journalists after visiting Indonesia's former president Suharto at Pertamina hospital in Jakarta January 26, 2008. Suharto has been in the hospital since suffering from multiple organ failure on January 4.REUTERS/Crack Palinggi (INDONESIA)

Sok An visited Suharto in hospital

Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Sok An speaks to journalists after visiting Indonesia's former president Suharto at Pertamina hospital in Jakarta January 26, 2008. Suharto has been in the hospital since suffering from multiple organ failure on January 4.REUTERS/Crack Palinggi (INDONESIA)

Thai comments over temple 'stupid', FM says

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

25 January 2008
Foreign Minister Hor Namhong (pictured) condemned as “stupid” comments made by a Thai official Friday over a disputed border temple in the north.
Preah Vihear temple, known to the Thais as Khao Phra Viharn, has become controversial in the unmarked border area, claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia.
Thai Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Pichasanu Putchakarn told the Bangkok Post Friday that Cambodia’s recent unilateral request seeking UN World Heritage Site status for the temple could upset relations between the two neighbors.
“Thailand has to think of its national interests. We may protest to the Cambodian government through diplomatic channels and try to explain to other countries that Thailand has tried to cooperate with Cambodia in requesting the World Heritage listing of the sanctuary together,” Pichasanu told the Post.
“That general is stupid, as he does not know anything,” Hor Namhong said Friday, referring to Pichasanu. “Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia. That we want to put it into Unesco’s World Heritage is our right.”
Cambodia had shown a willingness to negotiate with Thailand “several times,” Hor Namhong said. “More Thai experts than the international ones showed up in the negotiation. That is a stupid claim.”
Cambodia and Thailand both have troops stationed at the border near the temple, Pichasanu said.
“If Thailand still objects to Preah Vihear being listed as a World Heritgage Site, that is fine. We’ll still keep going,” said government spokesman Khieu Kanharith. “We have warned Thailand that if it blocks the entry to Preah Vihear from Thailand again, we will block it forever. Then it is Thailand that will totally suffer from the loss.”

Cambodian study hints at subclinical H5N1 cases

Jan 25, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – A recent study in Cambodia suggests that some human cases of infection with the H5N1 avian influenza virus escape detection because symptoms are mild or absent, according to a report from an international avian flu conference this week in Bangkok.
The meeting drew about 500 experts from 40 countries to discuss research and ideas on a wide range of topics. Some other topics discussed included the idea of stockpiling vaccine adjuvants to prepare for a pandemic, the use of engineered human antibodies as a defense against the H5N1 virus, and the high H5N1 case-fatality rate in Indonesia.
Cambodian studyThe Cambodian researchers tested 674 people in two villages who were exposed to the virus and found that seven of them, all between the ages of 4 and 18, had antibodies signaling previous infection, according to a Jan 24 Bloomberg News report.
The finding contrasts with previous serologic studies of people in areas affected by H5N1 outbreaks. A review published Jan 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) said the few serologic studies since 2003 of people with potential exposure to H5N1 suggest that asymptomatic or mild cases are rare. The studies involved people living with backyard poultry, workers in live-bird markets, and healthcare workers.
More cases of mild disease might suggest that the virus is improving its ability to spread among humans, while becoming less virulent. Based on the current global count of 353 cases with 221 deaths, the case-fatality rate is almost 63%.
The Cambodian researchers, led by Sirenda Vong of the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, conducted their study in early 2006, according to the Bloomberg story. The researchers asked villagers about their exposure to poultry and tested their blood for antibodies to H5N1.
The median age of the seven people who had antibodies was 12 years, compared with 27 years for those who had no antibodies, the story said.
Vong and colleagues had conducted a similar study of 351 Cambodian villagers in 2005 and found that none had antibodies to the virus. The study was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases in 2006.
Malik Peiris, a microbiology professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Bloomberg that the latest study supports findings from the 1997 H5N1 outbreak in Hong Kong, in which human cases were first reported. The virus infected 18 people, 6 of whom died. Peiris said children were less severely affected than adults and had a better survival rate, Bloomberg reported.
"Most of the children diagnosed in Hong Kong in 1997 had a very mild course of infection; they basically had a mild flu-like illness and they recovered," Peiris was quoted as saying. "I don't think there is any evidence to say the situation has changed."
The recent NEJM review said H5N1 infections involving febrile upper respiratory illnesses without pneumonia in children have been reported more often since 2005, but early antiviral treatment may account for this.
Stockpiling of adjuvantsAnother topic raised at the meeting was the idea of separately stockpiling adjuvants, immune-boosting chemicals that enable vaccine producers to reduce the dose of antigen in a vaccine without reducing immune response. Global health officials, including those at the World Health Organization (WHO), hope this dose-sparing approach could dramatically increase the world supply of pandemic vaccine.
Albert Osterhaus, a virologist at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands who spoke at the conference on Jan 23, said stockpiling adjuvants would be useful if the pandemic strain turned out to be a subtype other than H5N1, according to a Jan 23 Reuters report.
"There's a lot of discussion to vaccinate people against H5N1 with adjuvanted vaccines," Osterhaus said. "We might do that, but it's very expensive and it might well be that the pandemic outbreak may not be caused by H5N1 but by H7, H9, or H2 [viruses]."
Osterhaus said adjuvants should be stockpiled separately from antigens, Reuters reported. "Adjuvants can be stockpiled and H5 antigen as well," he said. "So if the pandemic is going to be H5N1, you just mix them and you get a vaccine. If not, you rapidly produce the antigen and add it together with the adjuvant."
Currently, the United States has no licensed influenza vaccines that contain adjuvants, according to a previous CIDRAP News report. However, a few studies of influenza vaccines with alum-based adjuvants have shown acceptable protection levels. In August, researchers working on a GlaxoSmithKline vaccine reported positive results for a split-virus vaccine combined with a proprietary oil-and-water adjuvant. A month later, Sanofi Pasteur reported promising results for its inactivated vaccine paired with its own adjuvant.
Using engineered antibodiesIn other developments, a researcher from Crucell, a Dutch biotechnology company, reported at the conference today that engineered human monoclonal antibodies to the H5N1 virus protected mice from several strains of the virus, according to a Reuters report.
Crucell created the human antibodies by mixing antibody fragments taken from nine blood donors with antigens from two H5N1 strains found in Vietnam and Indonesia, Reuters reported.
Mark Throsby, project director for antibody discovery at Crucell, told the conference that in vitro studies showed that one line of the engineered antibodies neutralized several strains of the H5N1 virus, including strains isolated in Hong Kong in 1997, Indonesia in 2005, and Vietnam in 2003, Reuters reported.
In the animal studies, he said, researchers injected the engineered antibodies into mice that had been given normally lethal doses of H5N1 virus 3 days earlier. "We were able to protect all the animals," Throsby was quoted as saying. "It reduced their disease and they became well again."
Drug resistance in Indonesia?Yesterday Menno de Jong, a virologist at an Oxford University clinical research unit in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, spoke on the topic of drug failure in the treatment of patients who have H5N1 infections. The case-fatality rate for the disease in Indonesia is especially high—82%, compared with about 63% overall, based on WHO figures.
De Jong told the conference that researchers are conducting studies to see if H5N1 patients in places like Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam require higher doses of antiviral medications, Reuters reported yesterday.
"It could be they are treated later, or the virus is different, more virulent," de Jong told a Reuters reporter. "There are many maybes, including differences in the susceptibility of the virus."
He told Reuters that the H5N1 viruses in Indonesia appear less susceptible to osteltamivir, the antiviral recommended as first-line treatment for H5N1 infections. "It's not a resistant virus, it's just that a bit more drug [may be] needed to inhibit these [H5N1] clade 2 viruses," he said.
De Jong was a member of the WHO expert panel that wrote the recent review in the NEJM on human H5N1 cases. In line with de Jong's observations at the Bangkok meeting, that article said clade 1 viruses appear to be 15 to 30 times more susceptible to oseltamivir than clade 2 viruses from Turkey and Indonesia. However, the panel wrote that the clinical relevance of this difference in oseltamivir susceptibility "remains to be determined."

Thailand downplays row over Preah Vihear

Entrance to Gopura III of Preah Vihear temple.

WASSANA NANUAM & THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
In a bid to downplay conflicts surrounding the Preah Vihear temple on the Thai-Cambodian border, Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtas said Thailand had decided not to protest against Cam-bodia's unilateral move to have the ancient temple ruins listed as a World Heritage site.
The minister said it was a misunderstanding on the part of defence spokesman Pichasanu Putchakarn and his statement was personal, not the resolution of the Defence Council.
''It is not a resolution of the Defence Council. It was just an internal meeting of agencies concerned to assess the situation. It was not intended to be announced and the information [given by the defence spokesman] was incorrect and included personal views,'' Gen Boonrawd said yesterday.
He was referring to a statement by Lt-Gen Pichasanu that Thailand was risking the loss of the disputed areas should Cambodia get the ancient temple listed as a World Heritage site without Thai participation, and that the government should protest and condemn the neighbouring country for the move.
Gen Boonrawd also tried to tone down the defence spokesman's remark that Cambodia attached a ''false'' map to claim the disputed areas with its World Heritage application. That referred to the use of a ''different'' map to claim the disputed areas, the defence minister explained.
Lt-Gen Pichasanu said the Defence Council had not reached a resolution, but it had held a discussion to prepare to take the right position.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said Cambodia's Preah Vihear move had nothing to do with the feared loss of Thai territory.
''Whether Preah Vihear will be listed as a heritage site or not is a matter for the World Heritage Committee (WHC). It will not involve the loss of Thai territory,'' he said.
Thailand has discovered that the information or map that the Cambodian side has proposed to the WHC includes the areas in dispute. Thailand has protested as the border demarcation is not concluded and Thailand's rights to the areas in question have been recognised, he said.
The spokesman said a Thai representative who joined an international committee's trip to Cambodia on Jan 11-12 had already complained about the territorial issue with the Cambodian authorities.
Meanwhile, Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Bahn said he already received an explanation from Lt-Gen Niphat Thonglek, the Thai border affairs director-general, that the matter was a misunderstanding.
Gen Tea Bahn said although Cambodia was building a walkway to Preah Vihear on its soil, the construction would not affect Thai territory.
''There is a joint committee working on border demarcation. But its work is quite sluggish,'' he said.