A Change of Guard

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Friday 30 April 2010

MP appeals to Hun Sen over son’s shooting

Yont Tharo look at the body of his son, Yont Thavro, who was gunned down on 9th August 2009.

Friday, 30 April 2010
By Kim Yuthana
Phnom Penh Post

OPPOSITION parliamentarian Yont Tharo has sought help from National Assembly President Heng Samrin and Prime Minister Hun Sen in resolving the eight-month old case of his son’s killing.

The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) parliamentarian said Thursday that despite the fact that a warrant was issued in December for the suspect in the case – 30-year-old Bun Vimol, an anti-drug police officer at the Ministry of Interior – local police had yet to take any action.

“The police have not seemed to pay any attention to arresting the suspect at all, and as a result, the suspect walks in and out of the Ministry of Interior freely,” Yont Tharo wrote last week in a letter that he said had been forwarded by Heng Samrin to Hun Sen.

In the December warrant, investigating judge Yeith Molin charged Bun Vimol with intentional murder in connection with an August 2009 traffic altercation.

In that incident, 25-year-old Yont Thauron was shot and killed and three of his friends were wounded at a noodle stall near Daun Penh district’s Wat Botum after a road accident.

Yont Thauron and his friends were driving in a Lexus SUV when they collided with a number of motorbikes near Wat Botum park, and the shooting occurred minutes afterwards.

“I request that Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen kindly help push the police to follow the warrant, arrest the perpetrator and bring him to face the law so that justice can be found for the families of all the victims,” Yont Tharo said Thursday.

In September of last year, SRP parliamentarians sent a joint letter to Minister of Interior Sar Kheng to urge that action be taken on the case.

Phnom Penh Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth said Thursday that police have received the warrant and have been hunting for the suspect, but that their efforts have been unsuccessful.

“There has not been any sign of the suspect so far,” Touch Naruth said.

Total contract with Cambodia needs scrutiny: watchdog


Fri, 30 April 2010
AFP

An environmental watchdog Friday urged Cambodia's donors to scrutinize multi-million-dollar payments by French oil company Total to secure the rights to explore an offshore area.

London-based Global Witness called on donors to "ask some tough questions and get some answers" about petroleum concession revenues, after Cambodian premier Hun Sen on Tuesday announced a 28-million-dollar contract with Total.

"We welcome the prime minister's openness on this latest round of oil payments," Global Witness campaigner George Boden said in a statement.

"But we still don't know whether the money from Total has turned up in national accounts because the information has not been made public," he added.

Total has won the right to search for oil and natural gas in Cambodia's offshore "Block 3" in the Gulf of Thailand.

While disclosing the price paid by Total, Hun Sen on Tuesday said that eight million dollars of the money would go towards a "social fund".

Hun Sen also denied that Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP Billiton had paid a large bribe for an exploration contract in Cambodia, saying that money had also gone into a social fund.

Global Witness said "questions regarding oil and mining payments made to the Cambodian government should top the bill" at a meeting of aid donors in June.

Foreign aid to Cambodia will top one billion dollars in 2010 when international donors make their pledges during the June meeting, said a local media report citing Finance Minister Keat Chhon.

Following the discovery of oil in 2005, Cambodia was quickly feted as the region's next potential petro-state.

But concerns have also been raised over how Cambodia -- one of the world's most corrupt countries -- will use its new-found oil and gas wealth.

In a February 2009 report, Global Witness said earnings from oil, gas and minerals were being "jeopardised by high-level corruption, nepotism and patronage".

Chea Vichea film to be shown


Friday, 30 April 2010
By Meas Sokchea and James O’toole
Phnom Penh Post

Organisers say they will ignore government orders to first secure permission.
CAMBODIAN Confederation of Unions (CCU) President Rong Chhun says he will hold an outdoor screening of a controversial documentary about slain labour leader Chea Vichea on Saturday’s Labour Day holiday, despite not having received permission from government officials to do so.

Rong Chhun met at City Hall on Thursday for one hour with Koeut Chhe, the Phnom Penh Municipality’s deputy chief of cabinet, who told him that he could not show the film without first securing permission from the “relevant” government ministries such as the Ministry of Interior. The CCU president’s decision to flout the official’s orders could set up a confrontation, though it was unclear on Thursday how the government would respond to Rong Chhun’s decision.

“This country has laws, so if [Rong Chhun] is showing the film publicly, he must ask permission,” Koeut Chhe said following the meeting. “If he violates the law, that’s his business, but he must be responsible for his violations of the law.”

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said Thursday that because organisers are planning to show the film outdoors, jurisdiction over their activities falls to City Hall and the Ministry of Interior. Under the Kingdom’s new Demonstration Law, passed last year, government authorities may “take actions to cease” any unauthorised demonstrations or public gatherings.

Ministry of Interior spokesman Khieu Sopheak on Thursday called the film an “illegal import”. When asked how the government would respond to an unauthorised screening, he said to “wait and see on Saturday”.

Minister of Culture Him Chhem also claimed jurisdiction, saying that his ministry would have to grant permission before a public film screening could go ahead.

“Our Ministry has no problem with the screening. It is [Rong Chhun’s] right, but he must do it legally,” Him Chhem said.

Rong Chhun said Thursday that he planned to go ahead with the screening regardless of the government’s response, claiming he did not have enough time to secure permission from officials at the ministerial level.

“We have already seen politicians murdered, artists murdered, as well as an important union president murdered, and so far the authorities have not found the killers and their backers to be punished,” Rong Chhun said. “At 5:30pm on [Saturday], we are going to do everything according to the plan we submitted to the municipality – we will not withdraw.”

The CCU plans to screen the documentary near Chamkarmon district’s Wat Lanka, where Chea Mony was gunned down in 2004. The film, directed by American Bradley Cox, is currently touring film festivals and is scheduled for wider release in the US later this year.

Drawing from interviews with police, government officials and other public figures, including Chea Vichea himself, Cox’s film offers a portrayal of thuggish law enforcement and a kleptocratic ruling elite under Prime Minister Hun Sen. Although it does not make direct accusations, the film implies that Chea Vichea was killed because of his ties to the opposition, and that the two men convicted of the murder were framed.

Moeun Chhean Narridh, director of the Cambodia Institute for Media Studies, said Rong Chhun should attempt to get government authorisation “for extra precaution”, but should ultimately not be bound by attempts to constrain his freedom of expression.

“It does not cost anything just to ask permission, but if the Ministry of Culture or any other authorities do not give him permission, he should just go ahead and show the film anyway,” Moeun Chhean Narridh said.

Chea Mony, who has replaced his brother as president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, accused municipal officials of attempting to delay the screening and prevent the public from seeing the film.

“It is a pretext,” Chea Mony said. “If the authorities do not allow the screening, it means that they are afraid of learning more about Chea Vichea’s killing.”

Rumpus over bride auction

100430_4a
Photo by: Heng Chivoan
A group of journalists gathered near the former National Assembly building Thursday morning discuss a story published in the newspaper Koh Santepheap about a woman purported to be auctioning off a chance to marry her daughter.
100430_4b 100430_4c 100430_4d
Sreung Thorn, 50: “It is like a mother selling her own daughter. Even if I didn’t have rice to eat, I would not sell my daughter.”
Pha Lina
Lay Seang, 60: “Such a headline can destroy Khmer honour if people from other countries read it without knowing the truth.”
Pha Lina
Mork Lany, 62: “It can affect women’s feelings when they see this movie and think, ‘Why are women valued so low?’”
Pha Lina

AN ARTICLE published in one of the country’s most widely read newspapers had some readers up in arms Thursday, incensed over a story describing how a woman intended to auction off her daughter for marriage at a starting bid of US$1 million.

The only problem: It wasn’t a news story at all, but part of a promotion for a new television movie.

The article, which was splashed on the front page of the daily Koh Santepheap, appeared to report that a local woman was driven demented over the complicated task of choosing one of many eligible suitors for her daughter’s hand in marriage. The daughter was a catch, the article declared – a beautiful woman, who was educated overseas and born of a highly honourable family, possessing all the qualities of a perfect, modern wife.

The mother planned to auction her daughter off to the highest bidder, the article read.

Tagged to the end of the story on an inside page: A sentence stating that the article actually described a new – and fictional – movie. But it appears some readers didn’t make it that far.

Lifelong Koh Santepheap reader Chhum Thy said he was shocked to hear about “the auction”.

“I think the mother considers her daughter to be like clothing, or things you can auction for other people. She is selling her daughter,” he said.

When told the article actually referred to a film, Chhum Thy said it was unacceptable for the newspaper to blur the lines between fact and fiction.
“Koh Santepheap is a famous newspaper, and it is not good that it runs false information,” he said.

A Koh Santepheap employee defended the story Thursday, saying the article shouldn’t have caused such confusion.

“It already mentions at the end of the article that it is a film advertisement,” said the employee, who asked not to be named because he was not permitted to speak on behalf of the newspaper. He said Koh Santepheap would run a clarification today.

Even though the article was fictional, however, some within the government are concerned by the apparent subject matter of the film, which is titled “Strange Couple” and is scheduled to premiere in August on Cambodia Television Network (CTN).

“I was surprised when I saw the headline in the paper. It is not good even if it is just a movie,” said Kong Kantara, an undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, who added that he was concerned by what he said were human trafficking connotations. “We will check the story.

We won’t allow it to have a scene about the auction,” he said.

On Thursday, the woman who wrote the film’s script defended its apparently controversial plot.

“There are many audiences who criticise my movies, but they do not follow it until the end. They just hear what other people talk about,” said Poan Phoung Bopha, CTN’s director of drama projects, who added that she planned to send a letter urging Koh Santepheap to clarify its story.

Total confirms $8m social fund


Friday, 30 April 2010
By James O'Toole
Phnom Penh Post

FRENCH energy company Total confirmed Thursday that it paid the government US$28 million, including $8 million for a “social development programme”, to secure rights to drill for oil offshore in an area claimed by both Thailand and Cambodia.

Penelope Semavoine, a Total spokeswoman in Paris, said Thursday the company had signed the agreement in October with the Cambodia National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) to explore the 2,430-square-kilometre offshore block designated Area III. The company, she added, paid a $20 million signature bonus to the CNPA in January and is planning an $8 million social development fund.

Prime Minister Hun Sen referred to the Total deal in a speech at the Government-Private Sector Forum in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. Rebutting media reports that mining giant BHP Billiton paid bribes to the Cambodian government, the premier said the firm had merely contributed to a social development fund. Total, he noted, “also paid this kind of money”.

Speculation has seized on Cambodia as the origin of an ongoing graft inquiry at BHP in part because of a $2.5 million payment to the government that the company said was for a social fund but that Minister of Water Resources Lim Kean Hor described in 2007 as “tea money”, or an unofficial fee.

Semavoine said Total’s $8 million social fund payment will be “administrated by committees that will include representatives from the CNPA and Total”.

“That will be a social development programme aimed at improving general health, education, culture, and welfare for the people of Cambodia,” she said. Exploration of Area III, she added, will not be undertaken until Cambodia and Thailand reach an agreement on their maritime boundaries.

A deal for the onshore Block 26, which covers an area of 22,050 square kilometres from Phnom Penh to the Vietnamese border, is still under discussion, Semavoine said.

CSULB professor urges Cambodians to testify to history at event

Prof. Leakhena Nou with one of the KR victims (Photo: AP)

By Greg Mellen,
Press-Telegram Staff Writer
Posted: 04/29/2010

LONG BEACH - For two years now, Leakhena Nou has been engaged in a personal mission. The sociology professor at Cal State Long Beach has been at the forefront of collecting testimony from victims of 1970s Khmer Rouge atrocities in the Cambodian refugee community. The information could become part of the court records in the ongoing Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal being held in Cambodia.

Even 35 years after the rise of Pol Pot's genocidal regime and more than 30 years after it was toppled, Cambodian residents of Long Beach still struggle with the legacy of a genocide that left upwards of 2 million, or about one-quarter of Cambodia's population dead.

And for years, Nou bristled at the unwillingness to come forth of her countrymen in the Cambodian diaspora who were witnesses to the genocide.

So she's done something about it.

With a tiny all-volunteer staff, Nou's nonprofit Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia, has become the leading collector of testimony from the worldwide Cambodian refugee community.

Although the first of the war tribunals has concluded, at least one more is upcoming and so-called "victim information files" are still being collected.

On Saturday from noon until 3 p.m., Nou and representatives from other groups will be at the Mark Twain Library, 1401 Anaheim St., to continue the dialogue with the community and tell residents how they can still be involved in a historic effort.
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Among event guests will be Rob Lemkin, co-director of "Enemies of the People," an award-winning documentary film about the Pol-Pot regime presented at the Sundance Film Festival this year and called "a watershed account of Cambodian history and a heartfelt quest for closure on one of the world's darkest episodes."

There will also be a representative from the tribunal court and other experts to explain the court process and update the news from Cambodia.

The event is entitled "From Victim to Witness: In Pursuit of Justice and Healing Community Forum." Nou says by speaking out, victims are able to regain a sense of power and justice.

"It's a matter of human rights," Nou said in 2009. "They have a right to be part of truth and reconciliation for their suffering and for their own healing."

Movie review: 'Dancing Across Borders'


Sokvannara Sar was brought from Cambodia to learn classical ballet.
Sokvannara Sar was brought from Cambodia to learn classical ballet. (Timothy Greenfield-sanders)

Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 30, 2010

Typical Cambodian souvenirs include hand-woven silks and wood carvings, but Anne Bass, a donor to and member of many ballet boards, wasn't after typical. On her trip to Angkor Wat, she picked up a human being instead.

"Dancing Across Borders" is the documentary that Bass, a first-time filmmaker, made about her effort to bring a Cambodian teenager to New York, where he underwent the grueling process of becoming a classical ballet dancer.

Do-gooder vanity projects don't come more self-aggrandizing than this. Bass is onscreen nearly as much as her sweet-faced work-in-progress, Sokvannara Sar, with whom she became captivated after watching him perform in a traditional Khmer temple dance. If you're able to get past her narcissistic streak -- and really, how else do you make a movie about yourself without being filmed and interviewed in it? -- then you're faced with buying into a morally dicey endeavor.

It may seem like a good thing that a 16-year-old Cambodian without means was scooped up and deposited in Manhattan, where he could pursue the American dream, even if it meant wearing tights. Shouldn't we be impressed that he was saved? But hear Sar describe mixed feelings (mostly sad ones) about Bass's invitation, hear him talk about his reluctance to leave his mother and how lonely he was among the skyscrapers and perennially dissatisfied ballet teachers, and you may find Bass's unique twist on arts patronage uncomfortably one-sided.

This is particularly true when we see what Sar goes through to master in five years what takes 10 or 15 for a typical ballet dancer to learn. A professional dancer starts training as a child, when muscles and joints are more malleable. Sar, however, was nearly an adult, and his experience in Khmer dancing, with its emphasis on slow, gentle movements and sinking low into the ground, lent him some very lovely qualities but did not fully prepare him for ballet's speed, lyricism and perfection of form. Also, whether it was because he was a teenager or because he was unhappy or he just wasn't brought up in ballet's culture of subservience, Sar wasn't always a cooperative student.

Still, his teachers were intrigued by the challenge he posed. He was a combination of "the extraordinary and the complete lack of training," said Peter Boal, a former New York City Ballet principal dancer, who helped in Sar's grooming.

Eventually, Boal left City Ballet to direct Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet, and he hired Sar as an apprentice.

Much is made of the fact that, as a Cambodian ballet dancer, Sar is a cultural rarity. Indeed, he is a singular dancer, and the film is at its best when it captures him in glorious motion, particularly in a contemporary solo that was perfectly suited to his physical softness and delicacy. Perhaps things turned out okay for him, or at least better than fishing in the mud. But watching Sar's difficult journey, I felt like a voyeur to a slightly creepy case of noblesse oblige.

And here's a footnote to the success of Bass's project: Sar quit Pacific Northwest Ballet earlier this year.

**Show Time: Unrated. At Landmark's E Street Cinema. Contains nothing offensive or violent. 88 minutes.

A beautiful Khmer baby named Ann Marie

By David Calleja
April 30, 2010
Foreign Policy Journal

You can find out more about Partners in Compassion by visiting their website:

www.partnersincompassioncambodia.com

Ann Marie is not the most traditional Khmer name a Cambodian girl can be christened with. Her bulging eyes and a black mark on her forehead the size of a human thumb print are signs of the burden she is carrying. This fragile baby who weighed 1.6 kilograms (3.5 pounds) at birth on March 23 has already experienced more trauma in her short lifetime than so many of us would experience in half of our statistically predicted average life expectancy.

Twenty days after Ann Marie was born, her mother passed away from AIDS-related complications. There is a high probability that Ann Marie is HIV positive. It is hoped that she has relatives who may come to visit her one day, but this is not a certainty because none of her relatives know where she is.

Baby Ann Marie (Photo courtesy of Wayne Matthysse, co-founder of Partners In Compassion)

Baby Ann Marie (Photo courtesy of Wayne Matthysse, co-founder of Partners In Compassion)

Now baby Ann Marie has a new home and an extended family to watch over her.

Wayne Matthysse is co-founder of Partners in Compassion, a communal home for residents infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. He is under no illusions about the situation that he is dealing with. “We do not get the perfect children, just the rejected ones. But when you are in the kind of business we are in, you take whatever comes.”

Statistics tell conflicting stories on the approach to the situation of AIDS in Cambodia. The British-based charity AVERT declares on its website that Cambodia has Asia’s second highest AIDS prevalence rating. In a report released by UNAIDS in March that focused on Cambodia’s progress, the country’s National AIDS Authority shows that between 3638 children between the ages of 0-14 years received Anti-Retro Treatment, an increase of 18.6% compared to 2008, and 237.2% since 2005. While no new data is presented since the previous report in 2007, it reiterates that 8.8% of children aged between 0-17 years are recorded as orphans (one or both parents dead) and 6.1% of children aged between 0-17 years have a chronically ill parent.

For all the numbers and indicators, it does not answer how this affects the quality of life and care that baby Ann Marie will encounter.

Mr. Matthysse spoke about how Ann Marie became the newest resident of Partners in Compassion in Sramouch He village. Situated two hours from the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh, this is home for adults and children whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS, either through contracting the illness or having no other family capable of caring for them.

“The day Ann Marie’s mother died, Vandin San (who runs Partner in Compassion Home Care) rang me and asked if I would accept her.” With one phone call, Ann Marie was literally “dropped like a hot potato” on the doorstop; no forms and no bureaucracy to contend with.

In October 2008, while living in the nearby village of Tropang Sdok, I made a visit to Partners in Compassion to see how residents lived and the small scale business projects in animal husbandry, sewing, and community building. At the time, plans were being made to construct extra classrooms along with further restoration of the adjoining Wat Opot. At that time, 65 residents, of which less than half were identified as being HIV positive, resided on the grounds of Partners in Compassion. From that visit, two aspects stood out: Chhang’s Place, a crematorium named after one of the former child residents who passed away, and the level of responsibility undertaken by children in the burial process. They seemed remarkably mature for their age and cope with loss in a dignified manner.

There is no question about the amount of love that will be afforded to Ann Marie by Partners in Compassion’s extensive family. Inhabitants love their newest addition to the family like their sibling or daughter. Donors have provided consignments of baby clothes. With three trained nurses (including Matthysse, a qualified medic), there is no shortage of attention and expertise. The day after Ann Marie’s arrival, Jurgen Reichl, a Male Paediatric Intensive Care Nurse from Switzerland, arrived at Partners in Compassion and decided to stay for a few weeks. Together, the parenting skills and available medical resources give Ann Marie a fighting chance at living a full life.

Since her arrival, Mr. Matthysse says that Ann Marie’s condition has improved greatly and her weight has increased to 1.8 kg. “She is feeding well and is gaining more strength color,” he says. Once health services resume after the break, Ann Marie will be taken to the nearby town of Takeo to be registered in the HIV program. Mr. Matthysse is determined to provide the baby with the same opportunities that every other child, teenager and resident has had to make the most of life. “I am well aware of the fact that I will most likely not be around to see her graduate from high school,” says the 63 year-old. “So I must work even harder to assure that there will still be a program for her 18 years from now.”

This does not just represent Mr. Matthysse’s future vision, but one that is already in place. Current students benefit most from opportunities to shine, like Pesai, a high school student who has grand visions of becoming a professional artist. Several years ago, Pesai, his sister Srey Lak and mother entered the grounds following their father’s death from AIDS. Matthysse told me their while their mother was taking Anti Retro Viral (ARV) drugs and showed signs of improvement, she later broke her hip, developed ulcers on both buttocks, and never recovered. She died with her two children at her bedside.

“After the cremation, Pesai came to me and asked, ‘I don’t feel sad that she died. Is that wrong?’” says Mr. Matthysse. “I assured him that there was nothing wrong with feeling that way and that in time he would be able to remember the good times again.”

Pesai’s inquisitiveness about his own nature and that of others has influenced his art, dealing with what Mr. Matthysse calls the two sides of personality: what we show and hide—traits reflected in Pesai’s depiction of Angkor. Mr. Matthysse believes that Pesai will not only become a wonderful artist, but more importantly, “a great leader”.

Maybe someday, when Ann Marie is older, she will find her own unique style in which to express her gratitude and approach to life, in an environment where everyone is beautiful.

David Calleja graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science and Master of Social Science from RMIT University in his home city of Melbourne, Australia. He has taught English in China, Thailand, South Korea and Cambodia, where he worked for a local NGO, Sorya, based in Tropang Sdok village. In addition he has also volunteered as a kindergarten English teacher, tutor and a football coach to male orphan students in Loi Tailang, Shan State. He has narrated and produced a video biography of Cambodian students learning English entitled I Like My English Grilled. His video documenting life at Stung Meanchey, Cambodia, A Garbage Life, can be viewed online. Contact him at david_calleja@foreignpolicyjournal.com.

[Vietnamese] President greets delegates to friendship meeting

State President Nguyen Minh Triet on April 29 received delegates from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, who are attending a people-to-people friendship and cooperation meeting in Ho Chi Minh City.

The President welcomed the Cambodian and Lao delegations to the meeting, which takes place at a time when the Vietnamese people are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the South’s liberation and the nation’s reunification. This reflects the solidarity and sentiments that the Cambodian and Lao people have extended to their Vietnamese counterparts, he said.

Despite their different conditions and situations, the three countries share a traditional history of struggling against foreign colonialists and imperialists, and supporting each other in the cause of national liberation, President Triet noted.

He told the guests that reciprocal visits by leaders of the three nations in recent years and booming economic relationship demonstrate the continuous development of trust, solidarity, friendship and cooperation.

Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Cambodian delegation Men Sam An thanked Vietnam for its valuable, timely and effective assistance to Cambodia’s revolutionary cause and its fight against the genocide of the Khmer Rouge regime.

An, who is President of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Association, also conveyed deep condolences and gratitude to the families of Vietnamese volunteer officials and soldiers who had laid down their lives for the national liberation and recovery of Cambodia.

Vilayvong Bouddakham, Head of the Lao delegation and Vice President of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association, said the 1975 Great Spring Victory was important not only to the people of Vietnam but also to those of Laos and Cambodia.

The Lao people are always grateful for the wholehearted assistance provided by the Party, State and people of Vietnam over the past years, he said.
VOVNews/VNA

Thai woman, Philippine man convicted in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP)— A Cambodian court sentenced a Thai woman and her Philippine accomplice to 30 years in prison for drug smuggling and will allow the woman to keep her newborn son with her behind bars, judges said Friday.

The woman cradled her seven-month-old baby in her arms during Thursday's ruling at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

Police arrested Chon Thong Theerat in June 2009 upon arrival from Malaysia at the Phnom Penh airport, where she walked through an X-ray security machine that showed she had swallowed a dozen condoms containing 400 grams of cocaine, said judge You Bunna.

She led police to 36-year-old Luyo Romeo Plaza, who was waiting for the woman to deliver the drugs to a hotel, police said. The woman had traveled from Argentina and after stopping in Cambodia was headed to Thailand.

The pair were held in pretrial detention, where the 29-year-old woman gave birth to her son. It was not clear if Plaza was the child's father.

The court ordered each to serve 30-year prison terms and pay fines of $12,000. The woman's defense lawyer said he would appeal the verdict.

Judge Kor Vandy, one of three presiding judges, said the woman would be allowed at least initially to continue caring for the baby.

"The child would continue to live in jail with his mother at first," Kor Vandy was quoted as saying in The Cambodian Daily. He added that rights organizations will sometimes help jailed mothers take care of their children inside prisons.

Cambodia is not a major producer of illegal drugs but has increasingly become a smuggling transit route.

Authority bans "Who killed Chea Vichea?" film from screening in Cambodia


By Khmerization
Source: RFA

Cambodian authority has banned the documentary film "Who killed Chea Vichea?" from being screened in a Phnom Penh public park in International Labour Day as well as any across the country, reports Radio Free Asia.

The ban was issued in a meeting between Mr. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association and the Confederation of Cambodian Unions, and Phnom Penh City Hall officials on Thursday. Mr. Rong Chhun and a few other unions had asked permission to screen the film publicly about Chea Vichea's murder. Many commentators, foreign diplomats as well as government critics believed that the government or officials were complicit in his murder when he was gunned down in broad daylight in January 2004.

In a minute of the meeting as well as a response letter to the unions, Phnom Penh City Hall stated that the reason the permission was not granted was because the film had not received proper official authorisation from the relevant government ministries.

However, Mr. Rong Chhun said that he will go ahead with the screening of the film regardless of whether the permission was granted or not. "In the name of the Confederation of Cambodian Unions, we will make an effort to screen the film so that the people, teachers and workers can watch it and it is also another way of pressuring the authority to urgently re-open the investigation relating to the murder of union leader Chea Vichea", he said.

However, Mr. Touch Naroth, Phnom Penh Police Commissioner, told Kampuchea Thmey newspaper that if Mr. Rong Chhun go ahead with the screening without permission, the police will take action against him.

Thai troops occupied patrolling tracks at Ongkounh village

By Khmerization
Source: everyday.com

A military source from Cambodian Battalion 42 told Reaksmey Kampuchea newspaper that Thai troops have occupied a patrol track and motorbike and tractor track at Thmor Daun village west of Ta Krabey temple and prevented Cambodian troops from using the track to patrol the areas as well as preventing motorbikes and tractors from travelling through the track, reports everyday.com.

There are reports that Thai troops had also built a wooden military camp with corrugated iron-roofing in the spot. Fences built by Thai troops at Chorng Kang Chhorm Pass and in Thmor Daun village have now built dismantled by Thai forces and flatly bulldozed as if to prepare to build border posts in the area, which is deemed disputed. Thai troops had also moved in vehicles and tractors and Thai work sites making thatch-roofing to very close to Thmor Daun village.

On 27th April, Cambodian and Thai troops had physically engnaged in chest-pushing at a stand off that nearly lead to armed clash. The military tension ignited against after there are news that a group of Thai ultra-nationalists will travel to Ta Moan temples to uproot border post number 23 planted by Cambodian-Thai Border Commission.

ILO: 1,500 Cambodian workers died every year from accident

Cambodian workers working in unsafe environment to construct a highrise building in Phnom Penh.

By Khmerization
Source: RFI

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said that about 1,500 Cambodian workers died every year from accidents at works, reports Radio France Internatinale.

In a report released on Thursday 29th, ILO said that this means that 4 Cambodian workers died everyday, a statistic which was echoed by government officials and civil society.

Mr. Leng Tong, director of the Labour Department, said in 2009 there were 3000 workers were seriously injured from works.

Mr. Ath Thon, president of the Cambodian Textile, Tourism and Construction Workers Union, said the high number of accidents in the workplaces resulted from the neglect of safety by employers and by the government. He said, in the construction sectors which is a fast-growing sectors, the companies did not put in place safety measures to protect workers and that many workers who had died and permanently disabled have not been sufficiently compensated.

Sokvannara Sar, DANCING ACROSS BORDER

Watch video of Sokvannara Sar dancing.


Sy Sar and Anne Bass was interview on "the 10 show live" at 11:00AM Philadelphia this morning but I couldn't find the video clip online. Maybe they have not yet post it. You can check later if they post the interview.
Info:
Bill was interveiwing them on April 29, 2010 on 11:00AM - 12:00PM Show
NBC Philadelphia, the 10 show! http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/shows/10-show/
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One Week Only! Starts Friday, April 30
at the Ritz at the Bourse
Philadelphia, PA


Dancing Across Borders chronicles the intimate and triumphant story of a 16-year-old boy from Angkor Wat, Cambodia named Sokvannara "Sy" Sar. Immensely moved by his amazing natural charm and grace as a dancer, filmmaker Anne Bass decided to bring Sy to the ballet stage in America. A longtime patron of dance in the U.S., she arranged for Sy to visit New York and audition for the prestigious School of the American Ballet (SAB). What unfolds is a tentative negotiation between Sy and the world of American ballet and culture—from the serene countryside of Southeast Asia to the halls of SAB, to the stage of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. The film follows Sy's unusual development as a dancer and offers a remarkable behind-the-scenes look into the world of American ballet. At its heart, Dancing Across Borders is an extraordinary story of growth, adaptation, and belonging as well as of the development of talent and the mastery of an art form.
R. Visal
Philadelphia, PA

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SOKVANNARA (SY) SAR, Dancing Across Border - Brief Bio

Sokvannara (Sy) Sar was born in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where he studied traditional Khmer dance from the age of ten at the Wat Bo School. He often performed with the school’s troupe at Preah Khan Temple for guests of the World Monuments Fund. In 2000, Anne Bass, an American enthusiast and supporter of ballet, saw him there and was impressed by his talent and invited him to visit the School of American Ballet in New York.

Sar studied at the School of American Ballet for five years and ultimately joined Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle when his teacher, Peter Boal, became Artistic Director.

Sar was a semifinalist in the International Ballet Competition, Varna, where he performed variations from Giselle, La Sylphide, Coppelia, and Le Corsaire. He was also a guest artist at the cross-cultural evening at the Chatomuk Theatre to celebrate the opening of the new United States Embassy complex in Phnom Penh, where he danced variations from Square Dance, Tschaikovsky pas de deux, and Le Corsaire. He has originated roles in Benjamin Millepied’s On the Other Side, 28 Variations of a Theme by Paganini, and 3 Movements. In July, 2008, Sar performed On the Other Side, accompanied by Philip Glass, for the opening night of the Vail International Dance Festival. In addition, he has danced featured roles in George Balanchine’s La Sonnambula, William Forsythe’s One Flat Thing, reproduced, Kent Stowell’s The Nutcracker, Twyla Tharp’s Waterbabies Bagatelle, and Marco Goecke's Mopey.
While still in Cambodia, Sar placed third in the National Japanese Language Competition. During his years at the School of American Ballet, Sar also attended Professional Children’s School, from which he graduated in 2003 with honors. He has attended Fordham University and Seattle Community College.
Retrieve: http://dancingacrossborders.net/bios.html

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

Philadelphia, PA... Landmark Ritz at Bourse... April 30 - May 6, 2010
Showtimes... 1:10, 3:30, 5:40, 7:40, 9:45pm

CLICK TO SEE ALL UPCOMING SCREENING IN YOUR AREA


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Pass it on...

"This story's a fairy tale come true. It's magical to watch Sar, who seems as light as air but powerful as a gale-force wind. You can applaud now."

–Deborah G. Guadan
San Francisco Chronicle
We are pleased to annouce that
Dancing Across Borders
opens Friday at...


Berkeley, CA at
Landmark Shattuck April 30 - May 6, 2010
Showtimes: 3:00, 5:10, 7:25, 9:40pm (Friday - Sunday: 12:35pm)
Filmmaker Anne Bass and dancer Sokvannara Sar in attendance
Sunday, May 2 after 5:10 show

Long Beach, CA at
Art Theatre April 30 - May 2, 2010
Showtimes: 4:30pm (daily)

Philadelphia, PA at
Landmark Ritz at Bourse April 30 - May 6, 2010
Showtimes: 1:10, 3:30, 5:40, 7:40, 9:45pm

San Francisco, CA at
Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema April 30 - May 6, 2010
Showtimes: 1:45, 4:20, 6:45, 9:10pm (Friday - Sunday)
1:45, 4:20, 6:45pm (Monday - Thursday)
Filmmaker Anne Bass and dancer Sokvannara Sar in attendance
Saturday, May 1 after 6:45pm and before 9:10pm shows

Washington, DC at
Landmark E Street April 30 - May 6, 2010
Showtimes: 1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50pm (Saturday - Sunday: 11:00am)
Filmmaker Anne Bass and dancer Sokvannara Sar in attendance
Friday, April 30 after 7:40 and before 9:50pm shows

For a complete national schedule go to our
screenings page.
Be sure to check our
press and reviews!

Radio Free Asia Responds to Freedom House's Media Freedoms Survey Results

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 29, 2010

Contact: John Estrella 202 530 4900 estrellaj@rfa.org

Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 mahajanr@rfa.org

Radio Free Asia Responds to Freedom House’s Media Freedoms Survey

All six RFA broadcast countries ‘Not Free’: Report

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Radio Free Asia President Libby Liu responded to the findings released in the Freedom House’s 2010 Freedom of the Press survey that classified all six RFA target countries as “Not Free.”

“This year’s edition of Freedom House’s Freedom of the Press survey is an urgent reminder of the need to empower citizens in Asian countries that limit free speech and free media,” Liu said. “Despite recent economic gains, media freedoms throughout Asia have continued to decline and worsen, as confirmed in this index.

“It is especially important for Radio Free Asia to keep carrying out its mission to provide its listeners with timely, reliable information and news happening within Asian countries that lack free media.”

Liu participated in Freedom House’s release of its annual report at the Newseum as moderator of a panel of distinguished experts, including Bob Boorstin of Google, Frank Smyth of Committee to Protect Journalists, and Chris Walker and Karin Karlekar of Freedom House. Freedom House’s comprehensive report, which examines the media environment in 196 countries and territories, cites the governments of all six countries into which RFA’s nine language services broadcast – China, North Korea, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia – as actively taking steps to censor news and information in print, on television and radio, online, and throughout all new media formats. These countries’ governments also intimidate and harass reporters, prevent public access to uncensored news and information, and restrict media freedoms in general, earning the survey’s designation of “Not Free.”

Most global press freedom rankings of RFA’s target countries remain consistent with previous surveys, with North Korea ranked at the top as the world’s worst free media environment. Notably, however, Cambodia’s ranking as a repressor of free press jumped up six places, after the recent spate of criminal disinformation lawsuits by Cambodian government officials against reporters, editors, and publishers to silence voices of opposition.

Who Was Chea Vichea and Why Does He Matter? Ask Filmmaker Bradley Cox

Jim Luce

By Jim Luce

Posted: April 29, 2010

In my own special screening, director Bradley Cox recently showed me his 55-minute film Who Killed Chea Vichea? in his office in Manhattan. Bradley is now in Southeast Asia. Chea Vichea was the president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC) until his assassination on Chinese New Year in January 2004. Vichea was shot in the head and chest early in the morning while reading a newspaper at a kiosk in Phnom Penh.

I had interviewed Cambodian Parliament Member Mu Sochua -- the Cory Aquino or Aung San Suu Kyi of Cambodia, for The Huffington Post in March before she returned to Phnom Penh (story). She had told me, "The day I joined the opposition party was the day the leader of the workers' movement -- Chea Vichea -- was assassinated. He was the founder of the opposition in Cambodia."

2010-04-29-Who_Was_Chea_Vichea_5.0_A.jpg
Chea Vichea was assassinated in broad daylight. Brad Cox arrived just minutes after he
was gunned down, and his footage makes for some of the most powerful moments of the film.


Local police struggle to maintain order as journalists and frenzied onlookers surrounded the fallen union leader, his blood spilled over a copy of that day's newspaper. Images from the funeral that followed of Buddhist priests crying as they watch the procession pass are haunting.

The government arrested two men and imprisoned them for their supposed crime. They were both soon judged innocent. The government did not like that judicial decision and the judge was immediately removed from his position at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court. His decision to drop charges was subsequently overturned in June 2004.

2010-04-29-Who_Was_Chea_Vichea_4.0_B.jpg
The Cambodian union leader Chea Vichea in 2003, one year before he was killed.
From "Who Killed Chea Vichea? Copyright 2009 Loud Mouth Films.


The two men were found guilty after a trial where no witnesses testified against the accused and no forensic evidence was brought to court. Both individuals were sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay $5,000 compensation each to the family of the victim. Vichea's family turned down the compensation, stating that they did not believe the two convicted were the real murderers.

The documentary of his life and death, Who Killed Chea Vichea?, premiered March 27 at the Frederick Film Festival in Maryland. The film, released by Loud Mouth Films in Philadelphia and Bangkok, is a gripping account of a corrupt government's campaign to hold onto power at any cost, and the quiet resistance of a people facing overwhelming odds. Filmed over five years, and following events as they happened, Who Killed Chea Vichea? was produced by Rich Garella and Jeffrey Saunders with an original score by Gil Talmi.

I interviewed film producer Rich Garella about their deeply moving film:

To me the core of this movie is that it unmasks a dictatorship. Unlike Burma, for example, Cambodia enjoys a lot of foreign aid from Western countries, who are basically being played against China by the Cambodian regime.


The tacit arrangement is that the Western donors agree to play along with the pretense that Cambodia is a 'fledgling democracy' and that Cambodia is constantly making incremental progress on human rights, corruption reduction, election quality and so forth -- even though there is never any detectable change for the better in these areas.

And if they don't play along, and actually demand some accountability, well, Cambodia can just get the same amount of aid from China, no strings attached.

It can also be viewed as a hostage situation, where (Cambodian Prime Minister) Hun Sen says to the West: Don't demand anything that threatens my power or I can make Cambodia into Burma II, and you don't want that. You don't want another intractable problem with a China-backed surrogate and you don't want the poor people of Cambodia to suffer even more than they do.

So Who Killed Chea Vichea? takes one example, out of many, to show that the Cambodian regime really has no limits on its ability to carry out any kind of atrocity, obscuring it only with the flimsiest veil of legitimacy. It's one of the few times, and probably the only time in the case of Cambodia, where a film follows a single emblematic event like this from start to finish, as it unfolds. And thereby gives viewers outside the country a front-row seat to the actual mechanics of this kind of soft dictatorship.

By focusing on a single key case we bring the story down to the human level, which is necessary because the power that the Cambodian regime wields works on the human level -- it's personal fear that limits what Cambodian people can do. They know that the regime has the power of life and death over each and every one of them. This is what the regime intends to illustrate by killing such a well-known and loved person as Chea Vichea: We can kill anyone, at any time, with complete impunity, whether our Western sponsors like it or not... so watch your step.

One aspect of this that we hope to reveal to viewers in these sponsoring countries, including the U.S., is that the apparent incompetence of the authorities in covering their tracks actually serves an important function for them. They don't actually want the people of Cambodia to think anything other than that the authorities had Vichea killed. They need the people to know that it was a political assassination that came from the top, or it wouldn't serve its purpose.

The foreign viewers should realize that the purpose of the cover-up (the framing of the two suspects) is a show that is staged only for the benefit the foreigners at home -- and it's impossible for anyone in Cambodia, including the diplomats from those foreign countries -- not to know the truth.

So in a way, we hope that the film can be a kind of key for viewers, that having seen this, they can have a better understanding not only of the situation in Cambodia but that it will help them interpret events in other countries that receive aid or trade benefits.

And of course, we tried to provide it in a way that is dramatic on a human level, to make it a true investigative thriller that pulls them into an unfamiliar world and gives them, as I mentioned, a front-row seat.

2010-04-29-Who_Was_Chea_Vichea_4.0_C.jpg
Monks precede dignitaries in funeral march for assassinated union leader Chea Vichea.
From "Who Killed Chea Vichea? Copyright 2009 Loud Mouth Films.


The story continues to be told. This week, The Phnom Penh Post published Delving Into An Old Murder, by James O'Toole and Meas Sokchea:

Vichea spent the morning playing with his daughter, studying his Khmer-English dictionary and plucking his moustache before deciding to leave his Phnom Penh home and pick up a copy of the day's newspaper.


"I watched him from the balcony as he left," Chea Vichea's wife, Chea Kimny, tells director Bradley Cox. "I got up and went to the kitchen. Suddenly, I felt like something kicked me in the chest."

Cox travelled to Cambodia to cover the contentious 2003 elections, and stayed to pursue the story of Chea Vichea's murder. In a one-hour film screened for the Post on Wednesday, he draws on interviews with witnesses and public figures to document the investigation of what has become one of the Kingdom's most infamous political killings in recent years.

"This is not a tale - it is a true story," Chea Mony said. "This film just wants to inform other countries, particularly free, democratic countries, that we can have no confidence in the Cambodian justice system."

In its early moments, Who Killed Chea Vichea? contains footage from an interview with its titular figure. With his slight build and nasal voice, he does not make for an intimidating presence, but his resolve is clear as he describes the history of death threats against him.

"I think they want to kill me because of my experience in the past," Chea Vichea says, adding: "I'm not afraid. If I'm afraid, it's like I die."

2010-04-29-Who_Was_Chea_Vichea_4.0_D.jpg
Evidence on display during police press conference.
From "Who Killed Chea Vichea? Copyright 2009 Loud Mouth Films.


The film's director Brad Cox is perhaps best suited to answer the question, Who was Chea Vichea and why does he matter? When I met with Brad in New York, he told me:

"Hero" is perhaps the most overused word in the English language, and to be honest, I don't know if I ever met an honest-to-goodness hero in the flesh until I met Chea Vichea.


Imagine a country where you can be arrested for simply displeasing the powers that be. Imagine a country where standing up for your rights can get you killed. This is Cambodia. To get by, most people keep their heads down and their mouths shut. Vichea did the opposite.

He stood up for the hundreds of thousands of garment workers who wanted nothing more than to be treated fairly and to receive a living wage. For his troubles, he was beaten, threatened and arrested countless times.

And when his life was threatened and the police urged him to leave the country, he refused to be intimidated. He stood his ground, because as he told me "If I leave, who will look after the people?"

Heroes are people who go forward despite being fully aware of the dangers that lie ahead. In this regard, Chea Vichea was the real deal.

The Free Trade Union of which Chea Vichea was president traditionally holds a big march on Labor Day -- May 1 -- that attracts thousands of people. They may try to have a public screening of the film this May 1 in the park in Phnom Penh across from where Vichea was killed. If so, it would be a landmark event in Cambodia. I believe the authorities will sadly intervene.

2010-04-29-Who_Was_Chea_Vichea_4.0_E.jpg
Director Bradley Cox with producers Jeffrey Saunders and Rich Garella.
From "Who Killed Chea Vichea? Copyright 2009 Loud Mouth Films.

Director Bradley Cox has lived in Cambodia for almost five years. He captured the story of Chea Vichea's murder as it unfolded on the streets and in the courtrooms of Cambodia. He previously made the documentary Cambodia: Anatomy of an Election, was a co-founder of Bhutan's first film school, has worked as a screenwriter and director in Los Angeles and has won numerous film festival awards.

Producer Rich Garella lived in Cambodia for most of 1995 - 2003. He was managing editor of The Cambodia Daily, and later worked as press secretary for Cambodia's main opposition party. He co-wrote and produced Polygraph for MoveOn.org's Bush in 30 Seconds project in 2004; the ad was broadcast nationally. With Eric Pape, he wrote A Tragedy of No Importance, about the 1997 grenade attack against the Cambodian opposition.

Producer Jeffrey Saunders is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and founder of CinemaCapital, an independent production and distribution company based in New York City. His films have been selected at international festivals including the Berlin Film Festival, IDFA, SWSX and Thessaloniki, and acquired by broadcasters including Sundance, ARTE, TF1, ZDF and SBS. His feature film Goal Dreams was selected as one of the top ten "Movies that Matter" by Amnesty International in 2006.

Selling the Killing Fields [of Cambodia]

The serenity of Cambodia's White Coast in Sihanoukville.

WORLD'S BEST -
Unreported World -
Tuesday 18 May

Thirty years on from the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and at the same time as Pol Pot's accomplices are being put on trial for war crimes, Cambodia's people are once again being brutally driven from their land.

This time, however, it is capitalism, not communism, that is displacing them, as growing numbers of tourists fuel a property boom that is having devastating results.

In Phnom Penh where land is now worth three times as much as two years ago, Unreported World investigates allegations that the Cambodian authorities are behind a policy of violent evictions of the country's poor from their homes. The inhabitants of the slum district of Dey Krahorm, which is home to 120 families and right next to central Phnom Penh's plush new hotels, embassies and new National Assembly, are being forced to leave so their land can be sold to a property developer.

On Cambodia's White Coast where beaches are an increasing draw for foreign tourists, the people of Kom Penh Chit fishing village are barred from the adjoining beach because it's been sold off to developers while local farmers have also suffered displacement because their coastal farms were highly prized for development.

In a 'resettlement village' where the government has relocated people it has evicted from the capital, the residents live under tarpaulin sheets and diseases like typhoid, dengue fever, pneumonia, tuberculosis and dysentery are endemic. It is a chilling echo of the suffering of those evicted from Phnom Penh by the Khmer Rouge. As one woman tells her story, she says she has already survived the Khmer Rouge regime, but after this eviction she feels her life is over.

Cambodia Infrastructure Report Q2 2010 - New Market Report Published

New report provides detailed analysis of the Construction market

Published on April 29, 2010

by Press Office

(Companiesandmarkets.com and OfficialWire)

Cambodia Infrastructure Report Q2 2010: http://www.companiesandmarkets.com/r.ashx?id=7J5O563FJ284826&prk=8c8341ff720097293f09a1bc1545f598

LONDON, ENGLAND


Until 2008, Cambodia's construction industry saw some spectacular growth rates however the global recession has highlighted the country's susceptibility to external risks and the lack of support provided by its poor business environment. We estimate that the construction sector shrank 5.8% in 2009 and will contract a further 2.1% in 2010. Growth is expected to return from 2011 onward; however, rates will be significantly lower than the 19% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth seen in 2008. Average growth from 2010 to 2014 will be 6.7% y-o-y taking the industry value to just under US$1bn.

Project financing has started to trickle back into the country with a number of projects announced at the start of 2010. China has a strong interest in Cambodian ventures. One of the largest Chinese power companies, Huadian Corp., signed an agreement for the construction of a US$558mn hydropower plant in January 2010. This follows an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract the company signed with Cambodia Energy in December 2009, for the construction of two coal-fired power plants in Cambodia.

In terms of its business environment Cambodia remains seriously disadvantaged compared with its regional peers. Widespread corruption and a lack of regulatory enforcement hamper project development at all stages and provide downside risk for investors. Overall Cambodia scores only 27 for its business environment placing it last in our ratings for the Asia Pacific region. Similarly in terms of project financing the country faces issues; however, strong growth rates resulting from Cambodia weak base position ensure that investment continues to appear higher in ratings.

The country's immediate development path is far from simple with many obstacles to overcome before the country becomes a secure investment environment. However, closer links to regional neighbours, in particular China, are likely to drive movement towards an improved regulatory system. Cambodia's aim of joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-China free trade agreement in 2015, will drive further improvements.

The Dish: Phnom Penh's Sour Fish Soup

Wall Street Journal

It seems most every Khmer is born with a batch of sour fish soup in the blood. It's considered mahop tourmada, or "everyday food," in the local lexicon.

[0428dish01] Jerry Redfern for The Wall Street Journal

Sour fish soup is the ultimate Khmer 'everyday food'. The dish derives its tang from tamarind pulp (and sometimes the leaf). It's fortified with fresh fish; packed with wild green water grasses, or trou kuon; flavored with fermented fish paste, prahok; and scented with the minty herb ma'om, which freckles the edges of rice paddies across the cultivated flats of Cambodia.

"It's an everyday soup, cheap and easy to make," says Narin Jameson, who is writing a cookbook of Khmer recipes intertwined with stories of her Cambodian childhood. "I did not like [the soup] when I was growing up," says the 65-year-old Ms. Jameson, who fled the country in the 1970s during wartime and later settled in the U.S. with her husband, an American diplomat. "But now I love it…especially when I am away from home." She uses a term, trou kuon tip—one bowl, another bowl, until you cannot take it anymore—to describe the "magic" in a soup that compels a person to keep eating more and more.

You'll find a slew of sour soups across Cambodia, but the simplest of all is samlor machou trou kuon trey, sour fish soup with water grass or "morning glory." It requires just a handful of key ingredients and takes but five minutes to cook. "In the olden days, it was a soup for peasants," says Ms. Jameson.

THE HISTORY

Khmers say they can't remember a time when the taste of sour fish soup wasn't imprinted on their tongues. "When I was first born, I knew about it," says Meng Hieng, who has run a no-name restaurant on a Phnom Penh sidewalk for 20 years. Like other restaurateurs and connoisseurs across the Cambodian diaspora, he knows no textbook history of the dish. But he can vouch: It's one of the most popular orders at his shop, which also serves noodles, stir-fries and rice.

Most any Khmer kitchen has the fixings for an array of sour soups (samlor means soup, machou means sour), which can be made with fish (trey), pork or beef; and occasionally, a pounded paste called kreung, that features lemongrass, galangal, turmeric, garlic, shallots and herbs. It's healthy food that helps "refresh" or "recharge" the body, says the noted Khmer chef Luu Meng, who runs several Phnom Penh restaurants, including Malis and Topaz. He says he believes that Cambodians have eaten sour soup for thousands of years.

It relies on fresh ingredients that are easy to grow and are readily available. It's also medicinal. "The tamarind is eaten for cleaning the throat. It's good for coughs," says Om Sophoan, a chef at Khmer Kitchen in Phnom Penh.

Most Cambodians still eat sour soup at home (most Cambodians eat all their meals at home). But times are changing in the capital city Phnom Penh, which is clogged with workers. Migrants from other provinces need cheap mahop on the street, while the upwardly mobile can—and often do—pay someone else to make their comfort food. Today, sour fish soup is slurped on nearly every Phnom Penh avenue.
THE SETTING

Given its humble pedigree, some upscale menus omit sour fish soup. If it's not listed, ask the chef, who undoubtedly knows the recipe—"Everyone knows," Mr. Meng says—and likely has the ingredients on hand.

That said, the soup is most commonly found at roadside stalls serving vats of ready-made "fast food," or quick dishes made to order. Locals say sour soup is eaten at lunch or dinner, but never breakfast. Why not? It just isn't, Mr. Meng insists. That's tradition.
THE JUDGMENT

In the kitchen of Boeng Keng Kang Restaurant, chef Meak Bora has all the essentials lined up in little white bowls: thick slices of snakehead fish, a bunch of trou kuon, a mixture of salt, sugar and MSG, slivered chili, tamarind, galangal, shallot, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, fish sauce, prahok and ma'om. "Everything here is important," he says. Miss one ingredient and "it's no good."

Every cook has an opinion on the best recipe for sour fish soup, but on this Khmers agree: A good batch of samlor machou trou kuon trey requires a delicate balance of sour and salt, as well as appropriate fishiness. The latter is most commonly achieved through a small dollop of the pungent fish paste prahok, although some cooks use fish sauce. The minty chopped ma'om renders the finished dish complete. "It's important," Mr. Meng says. "Good smell." Finally, the soup is almost always served with shavings of mild red chili—for color, not heat.

Additional ingredients depend on the individual cook. Touch Yorn, a Phnom Penh wife and mother of three who works at the National Library, sometimes adds fish eggs or tiny shrimp. "It's up to you if you like," she says. "A little bit of shrimp with fish makes a good taste."

When it comes to greens, however, all cooks agree: Use only wild water greens in the soup; skip the farmed variety (the two types are usually sold side by side in local markets). Sa Roeun, a vegetable vendor at Phnom Penh's Psa Chas, explains why. She eyes her pile of farmed trou kuon with its long, skinny leaves. "We can put that one in soup, but it's not a good taste," she says. Instead, the wild variety, with lighter green stems and spade-shaped leaves, tastes better in soup. She knows. She eats samlor machou trou kuon trey every two or three days. "It's my favorite."
THE SOURCE

Khmer Kitchen (25 Eo, Street 310, tel: 855-12-712-541; US$3.50 a bowl) offers indoor and outdoor seating beneath a grass-and-shingle roof in a wooden house amid a blooming garden. Choose an upstairs table and dine against silk pillows in posh comfort that attracts the NGO and embassy employees who live and work nearby. The kitchen serves numerous sour soups, including a variety with morning glory. That's the soup in question, and it ranks among the city's best: a pleasing balance of sour tamarind with a hint of prahok in a broth that tastes light and lemony. Nothing in this dish overpowers.

Meng Hieng's popular no-name restaurant (tel: 855-12-570-678; $2.50 a bowl) sits beneath awnings and shade trees on the corner of streets 90 and 61. Here, tamarind juice and leaf work together to create a fiercely tart samlor machou trou kuon trey. Tiny shrimp add dimension to the dish. The set price of $2.50, which includes rice and tea, makes this an obvious choice for drivers of tuk-tuks (motorcycle taxis) and taxis who work in the vicinity, near the city's landmark temple, Wat Phnom. The restaurant serves down-home, made-to-order traditional Khmer dishes after the early morning, noodle-soup breakfast rush, which ends around 10 a.m.

For more than a decade, the Boeng Keng Kang Restaurant (185 Norodom, tel: 855-13-626-288; $7.25 for enough soup, rice and tea to feed three) has consistently served upscale, authentic Khmer dishes to a local business crowd. Chef Meak Bora's sour soup hits a high note in the olfactory zone.

Sa Em (corner of streets 172 and 19 SE, tel: 855-12-81-2131; $2.50 a bowl) doesn't always list sour fish soup on its menu, but the restaurant serves one of the city's most delightfully fragrant versions, thanks to an abundance of minty herb. A mountain of minced ma'om tops the pale green broth filled with chunks of white fish.

Karen Coates is a writer who splits her time between New Mexico and Asia.

Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos meeting opens

A meeting on Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos friendship and cooperation opened in HCM City on April 28.

A total of 154 delegates from the three countries, students and officials from Cambodia and Laos who are studying and working in HCM City and former Vietnamese soldiers who fought and worked in the other two countries are attending the four-day event.

Speakers at the opening ceremony included Vu Mao, Head of the Vietnamese delegation and President of the Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Association; Men Sam An, Head of the Cambodian delegation, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and President of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Association; and Vilayvong Bouddakham, Head of the Lao delegation, Vice Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and Vice President of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association. All described the meeting as vivid proof of international friendship and special solidarity among Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The meeting took place on the occasion of Vietnam’s celebration of the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Southern Vietnam and its national reunification.

The Vietnamese head delegate, Vu Mao, expressed the deep gratitude of the Vietnamese Party, State and people towards the Cambodian and Lao people for their sacrifice and valuable assistance to Vietnam’s national liberation.

This is an opportunity for the Cambodian and Lao people to celebrate the resplendent, historic milestone of 1975 in the war against US aggressors.

Within the framework of the meeting, the three countries’ delegates will pay courtesy visits to Vietnamese Party and State leaders, attend a seminar, go on a tour of HCM City’s socio-economic establishment and attend a meeting to mark the 35th anniversary of the liberation of Southern Vietnam and national reunification.
VOVNews/VNA

Thursday 29 April 2010

The Big Picture: Orange crush [in Cambodia's Angkor temples]


Cambodian Buddhist monks hold candles at the famed Bayon temple to mark the Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, at the Bayon temple of Angkor complex inSiem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Cambodian Buddhist monks, lower, hold candles as the famed Bayon temple is illuminated to mark the Buddha's birthday, Visakha Bochea, at Bayon templeof Angkor complex in Siem Reap province, about 320 kilometers (199 miles) north of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Wednesday, April 28, 2010. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Thursday, 29 April 2010
By Kunal Dutta
The Independent (UK)



Buddhist monks at the Bayon Temple in Cambodia to commemorate Visak Bochea (Photo: AFP/ GETTY IMAGES)

Buddhist monks gather at the Bayon Temple in Cambodia to commemorate Visak Bochea – the day of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death.

The celebration, which coincides with the first full moon of the year – and the Buddhist calendar year 2553 – saw monks congregrate at the ancient temple for sermons, chanting and a candle-lit procession.

Situated in Siem Reap province, the Bayon Temple was built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII. As well as etchings of the Buddha, one side of it features an smiling face, thought by some to be a portrait of Jayavarman himself. It has been dubbed the "Mona Lisa of Southeast Asia".