The Royal that Roared

Tan and Trev have previously mentioned the former Cambodian monarch is a regular blogger. However as www.norodomsihanouk.info is mostly in French, we have been unable to enjoy the comments at their source.

That is why we are glad to find today's coverage in the Chicago Tribune which offers yet another glimpse of how the former King Norodom Sihanouk hold court daily with more than 1000 visitors on the net.

Sihanouk's site doesn't have all the technical features of a typical Web log, or blog. Still, says David Sifry, whose company, Technorati, tracks blogs, Sihanouk is making "incredibly innovative use of the Internet to be able to communicate directly with the people of Cambodia and the people of the world."

No surprise there. Sihanouk has always seen himself as a communicator and a trendsetter.

A potted history of his life can also be found here.

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Dung Does it Better

Human and animal waste is helping to power Tamoung, a village in Takeo province 70km south of the capital Phnom Penh.

This piece helps explain the benefits of the non-profit Cambodian Rural Development Team.

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Call for Catharsis Action

An opinion piece in the Chicago Sun-Times suggests that the U.N.-backed trial would help a traumatized and broken nation.

It suggests that during the 20th century, "two to five times more people died from mass killing than on the battlefields".

It is time to bring justice so that Cambodia might mend in order that it will know peace, achieve stability and move forward.

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A Look Back

On This Day, a service by BBC News, charts significant events in post-war society. Today's entry covers the turning point 32 years ago when the U.S. Senate voted to cut off funds for the bombing of Cambodia.

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News that Isn't: Midgets versus Lion

Tan and Trev had stumbled over this odd piece yesterday but resisted the urge to post it here. Lucky us.

Trev couldn't see how our monitoring of world media had missed a piece supposedly posted 2 May by the BBC News covering the mutilation of 42 midgets in a ring-fight with a lion. Something just didn't add up.

Today we find the Pookai Book Project staff have posted the answer over at Santepheap. They found this item explaining why the fake began.

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Oxen Predict Break in Drought (Maybe)

This Reuters yarn at Independent Online provides a delightful snapshot of a centuries-old ritual still in vogue today.

In a ploughing ceremony overseen by King Norodom Sihamoni, a pair of sacred oxen create a symbolic furrow outside Phnom Penh's gilded Royal Palace to mark the start of the season for rice harvesting. Then the oxen are offered a choice of seven dishes - rice, corn, beans, sesame, water, wine and grass.

Depending on which dishes they consume, Royal astrologer Soeung Kimleang can then make proclaimations as to the type of season ahead.

The oxen consumed 90 percent of the rice, and 95 percent of the corn and beans, and steered cleared of the water, signifying a plentiful harvest.

But some farmers who had travelled to the capital to witness the ceremony had their doubts. "I saw the oxen drinking the water. That means maybe there will be a lack of rain," said farmer Ly Sophat, 41, from north-west province of Pursat.

But even after witnessing this, farmer Ly Sophat still has a strong desire to believe the Royal astrologer that an end is on its way to the worst drought in living memory.

"I only believe about half of what they are predicting," [he said].

In a similar ceremony two weeks ago in neighbouring Thailand, sacred oxen predicted abundant rains and healthy crops, the same prediction as last year, which saw one of the worst droughts on record.

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Former Enemies Find Common Bond

This is an interesting yarn about the Amputee Salvation Association which began with no seed money but through sheer determination built the communal village of Veal Thom for 285 amputees and their families.

[It's] a village of amputees that could serve as a metaphor for a struggling country.

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How Well is Aid Spent?

Guy De Launey, a BBC correspondent in Phnom Penh, has filed this insightful report on the size of Cambodia's dependency on foreign aid.

Already, more than half of the national budget comes from such contributions.

And over the next three years Cambodia will receive a further $1.5bn from donor countries.

The BBC article deals with a wide range of items and touches on how long-term benefits ultimately rest on skills development over mere cash donations.

The charity Action Aid believe that donor countries themselves are partly to blame for the plight of Cambodia's people.

They say that almost half the amount of aid goes on 'technical assistance', and that the 700 or so international consultants working in the country earn more than Cambodia's 160,000 civil servants put together.

According to a report released by Action Aid, consultants in Cambodia are too bogged down writing reports and should instead be transferring their international expertise to Cambodian staff.

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Temples in the Forest

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

In the late afternoon on our day trip from Kampong Thom we drive out to Sambor Prei [pronounced: Prey] Kuk [pronounced: Kok], which proves to be a real gem.

Meaning "hillock in the forest of Sambor", this collection of 7th century temples and ruins are a real treat. Far enough off the beaten track to draw only small numbers of tourists, it is the heart of the former Chenla kingdom that now stands in serene forest.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

We count ourselves lucky to have this destination included in our itinerary. Sambor Prei Kuk is home to an impressive group of pre-Angkorian buildings that are possibly the best examples of their kind anywhere in Cambodia. But the true value comes from the unhurried way we could wander the poke-marked landscape and wandering throughout the ruins of more than 100 small temples scattered through the forest.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Groups of local children are quick to join our meanderings. With visitors a rare event, they were eager to peddle postcards, books and cool drinks.

The tell-tale signs of exploded landmines can frequently be seen scattered among the temples. But just in case we missed it, the children would point to a leaf-covered cater or pot-hole and say "boom". One can only wonder how many would have actually witnessed these explosions?


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

But the children's repeated stories served as a chilling reminder. So much so, that we felt incline to remind one in our tour group not to wander too deeply into the forest when seeking out the privacy of a tiny nook to take a leak.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Sharing Experience in Urban Construction

A shortage of skills is a major problem for Cambodia. Yet China has offered "share experience with Cambodia" in city planning, construction, management, and in housing system reform, according to this report from the People's Daily Online.

China will also provide administrative and technical personnel training for Cambodia for common development, said [Chinese Vice-Premier] Zeng [Peiyan] in a [Beijing] meeting with Cambodian Minister of Urbanization and Construction Im Chhun Lim.

I find it amazing that a nation of people who once built impressive city temples - like those at Sambor Prei Kok which that have lasted more than 13 centuries - must now look abroad to China for this set of skills.

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Border Talks End in Stalemate

TNA reports that "hopes of securing a Cambodian commitment to re-opening the Preah Vihear border crossing were dashed today after a marathon discussion with the deputy governor of Cambodian Preah Vihear Province, in which the Cambodian authorities emerged refusing to make any promises."

Apparently earlier claims about re-opening the border were premature.

The deputy governor of Preah Vihear Province insisted that the agreement to re-open the border on 20 May was one made between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, and that the provincial governor – the only person with the authority to order the re-opening – had not been informed.

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Former Khmer Rouge Leader Admits 'Mistakes'

"Bother Number Two" Nuon Chea has told Radio Australia's Khmer Service that he is ready to appear in an international court to clarify "mistakes".

The most senior surviving leader of the Khmer Rouge regime has acknowledged "mistakes" in the deaths of Cambodian people, but says the killings did not happen intentionally.

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Border dispute lingers

Thai PM has swung into the Preah Vihear dispute and blasted the Cambodian media for printing 'unfounded' allegations concerning the Thai army, reports TNA at Mathaba.net.

Curiously the examples cited have not found their way into the coverage offered anywhere else in the global media.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vigorously denied Cambodian reports that Thai troops had fatally shot a Cambodian national, and that the press was making up stories out of a desire for fame.

Mr. Thaksin insisted that the governors of the two provinces concerned – Si Sa Ket in Thailand and Preah Vihear in Cambodia – now come to an understanding, and that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen be asked to help ensure the understanding of local people.

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Suntok in Sepia

This stunning gallery has Tan and Trev keen to experiment today with sepia images.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Particularly as this technique might help to jazz up a selection of otherwise lack lustre images we gathered at Phon Suntok.

Not far out of Kampong Thom on the road to Phnom Penh is the hilltop pagoda of Phnom Suntok. The visit to this unique mountain temple full of carved reclining Buddas was part of our itinerary for a day trip from Kompong Thom.

The scenery at these hilltop shrines probably deserve better treatment than our humble effort managed to gather - but endurance test in the form of a 956-step climb left Trev with little enthusiasm for pictures. Instead it merely left him with a newfound determination to find improved fitness ahead of the next trip abroad. (Ed note: we are please to report that he is lighter today than when this hike was tackled in January - so he is well on the path towards achieving this goal in a new health regime).

At the foot of the stairs it is essential to lay down a few ground rules. Children skip school to earn tips fanning the sweating climbers. But it is important to clearly assign the task to one child - or risk having dozens each self-assign the task. And there is no point in trying to dodge having a would-be fan girl or boy tagged along as a guide. There simply is no escape.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

The stairs wind their way up through a forest and emerge at a colourful pagoda with many small shrines, quite unlike others you see around Cambodia. Imagine a tired theme park, somehow a little behind the times but still greatly treasured for the memories it brings of earlier visits. That is the sort of feeling evoked here from a number of interesting sandstone boulders balanced around the wall, into which have been carved images of the Buddha.

The shrines are highly significant to the locals, and carry many images and immense Buddha footprints.



Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Job Scare in Border Closure Rumour

TNA reports a large number of Thais crossed into the Cambodian border town of Poi Pet to gamble amid renewed rumours that Thai officials would close the Aranyaprathet border checkpoint on Sunday.

The border official said he had assured traders on both sides of the border that Thailand would not close the Aranyaprathet border checkpoint.

The rumours have made Cambodian vendors reluctant to place purchase orders for Thai goods with merchants in Aranyaprathet.

More than a thousand Thais employed in the casinos in Cambodia are also worried about losing their jobs.

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Pact iV: Another Joins the Dots

Interested to see that the International Justice Tribune - which promotes itself as the independent newsletter on international criminal justice - has today drawn the same link between two events which this blog first noted here.

The Cambodian parliament has unanimously adopted an agreement with the United States to prevent US citizens from being extradited to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The vote came on the first day of a visit, on 18 and 19 May, by US war crimes ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper. The ambassador was heading a delegation to discuss the creation of extraordinary chambers to try the Khmer Rouge. On 2 May, the White House announced that it had signed with Angola its hundredth "bilateral immunity agreement" protecting its citizens from prosecution by the ICC. Forty of these are made with states that are also members of the ICC, including Cambodia.

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Threat to Embassy

Ninemsn reports Australia's embassy in Cambodia is one target in a suspected terrorist group's threatened first of a wave of attacks on Western missions.

The Australian newspaper says it is understood the group, which identifies itself only as "Allah", conveyed the threat in a letter to Canadian officials last month.

Embassies belonging to Australia, Canada, the US and other Western nations were singled out for harm, with embassies in Cambodia the first targets.

Previous media reports dealing with Australia's concerns about possible terrorist activities in Cambodia have been covered here and here.

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Quota Returns to Safeguard Garment Trade

Cambodia's garment exports already reported steep declines in March and last month, according to the Garment Manufacturers' Association of Cambodia (GMAC). The industry has already laid off 25,000 workers this year as 10 percent of factories pulled out of the country.

However according to this report, relief may be on the way. The U.S. has enacted a "safeguard" on import quotas on four textile and garment items out of China; and the EU is expected to follow suit by re-applying quotas on at least nine items from China.

Under WTO rules, safeguards can be re-applied on textile and garment imports from a country if that country's exports create excessive "market disruption" during the first three years of quota-free trade.

The safeguard clause has given Southeast Asian exporters a much-needed breather in their battle against global garment heavyweight China -- which claimed 16 percent of the world's market last year and could easily capture up to 50 percent in the next decade.

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Border Stays Shut

Hundreds of Thai tourists were left stranded at the Thai-Cambodian border ... when the Cambodian authorities refused to honour an agreement to reopen an ancient Khmer temple which straddles the line dividing the two nations.

Buoyed by news reports suggesting that Cambodia was about to relent after several days of tense standoff between Thai and Cambodian troops, around 80 tourists gathered at the entrance of the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple this afternoon, only to find the steel doors locked shut.

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Help Sought on Landmines

Cambodia is appealing for more aid to deal with unexploded ordinance (UXOs). ABC reporter Peter Lloyd files this reports which is also accessible as Real Audio, Windows Media, and MP3.

Since the year 2000, unexploded ordinance or UXOs have maimed and killed far more Cambodians than landmines.

It happens mostly when poor villagers, desperate for cash, collect UXOs for sale to local scrap yards.

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Pact: Part III

Yet another report suggesting U.S. may help meet the shortfall in funding for the three-year trial provided it can dictate the standards applied for the Extraordinary Chamber.

The U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, Pierre-Richard Prosper, came to the Cambodian capital this week to discuss with government officials the conditions for U.S. involvement in a trial of former leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.
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Mr. Prosper says the United States has no deadline to decide on whether to support the trial, as it waits for Cambodia to present its selection of judges.

It would appear that the condition of having U.S. citizens and troops exempt is not enough to satisfy the policy-makers in America. They also insist "the Cambodian government and the United Nations to uphold international standards in selecting judges for a tribunal".

As an observer, it is difficult to determine the exact meaning of "international standards" at this stage. However the U.S. insist that support would be forthcoming "only if it [the tribunal] is fair and free of corruption and political manipulation" in its appointment of independent Cambodian judges.

It is interesting to see that other nations have already given freely to funding this tribunal without first stipulating a series of conditions as to how it is to be run.

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All is Quiet at the Front

It's over. Cambodia on Friday reopened its border with Thailand after both withdrew troops from the disputed area near the Preah Vihear temple.

Cambodian authorities closed the crossing near the Preah Vihear temple Saturday after Thailand stationed more troops in the area. They reopened the border 8 a.m. (0100 GMT) Friday, said Thai army spokesman Col. Akara Chitroj.

However reports out of Phnom Penh from wire agency dpa suggest things might not yet be fully resolved. It quotes Phreah Vihear provincial governor Preap Tann as saying the border crossing with Thailand near the hill-top temple ruins remained closed, denying contrary reports from Thailand.

Meanwhile, these border problems would be discussed in detail at the next Thai-Cambodian Border Committee meeting on June 9-10 in Phnom Penh, according to Defence Minister Gen Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya.

As previously noted here, the Cambodian government recently appointed its former king, Norodom Sihanouk, to head a panel to resolve border disputes. It will be interesting to see if his health allows him to attend next month's meeting.

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Pact: Part II

Further to yesterday's post, it is interesting to see the statements of a senior U.S. diplomat during a two-day visit to Phnom Penh at the same time that Cambodia's legislature were ratifying a non-extradition pact.

Again, the rhetoric is that America can only provide financial support to a tribunal if it is run at "international standards". As explained here, these standards could defined as including a safeguard against extradition for Americans.

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Lest We Forget

How best does a nation mark its sad past?

Anzac Day is a day to commemorate when the Australian and New Zealand troops landed in Gallipoli. January 16 was a national day of mourning and reflection for tsunami victims. And today, Cambodia marks its annual "Day of Anger".

Cambodia's Cabinet ministers observed a moment of silence Friday as the country marked an annual "Day of Anger" to remember victims of the Khmer Rouge "killing fields."

Prime Minister Hun Sen and his ministers rose to their feet, with the Cambodian leader saying, "Never will our compatriots, who unjustly died under Pol Pot's regime, be forgotten."

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Troops Remain at Border

Talks set to defuse conflict at the Thia-Cambodia border appear to have stalled.

Where Thialand was originally complaining that living quarters were built too close to the agreed no-go area, the focus of its grievance now seems to have shifted to other items.

Thai troops will not withdraw from the border area in Si Sa Ket near Cambodia's ancient Phreah Vihear temple unless Phnom Penh stops polluting water near the border, army chief Pravit Wongsuwan said.

''If they don't withdraw, we will not do so either,'' Gen Pravit said. ''If a withdrawal becomes necessary, both countries must do it simultaneously.

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Pact Exempts Americans

It now makes sense. There was a motive behind the tub-thumbing of previous months in which the United States had refused to donate further to a tribunal to prosecute surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

Perhaps U.S. beancounters and lawmakers wanted to first ratify a non-extradition pact before throwing further financial support into the Cambodian Extraordinary Chambers.

Boston.com ran this yarn by Ker Munthit, of Associated Press.

Cambodia's legislature on Wednesday ratified a pact with the United States exempting each country's citizens from extradition for prosecution by the International Criminal Court, an agreement sought by Washington to avoid political trials of its citizens.

All 89 members of the National Assembly voted to approve the pact, whose main intent is to exempt Americans from prosecution by the court, which is based in the Hague, Netherlands.

So previous statements about the U.S. before providing funding needing to be convinced that the trials will meet international standards of justice can now be understood to mean confidence that safeguards would first be in place to prevent extradition of U.S. troops and other Americans who might face politically-motivated charges.

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Talks Begin at Close Border

The Bangkok Post News reports that Thai and Cambodian soldiers have agreed to negotiate to solve their conflict concerning the the Phreah Vihear ruins.

The Thai side insisted that Cambodia stop discharging wastewater that caused problems to villagers on the Thai side, and quit building roads, temples and houses within a 500-metre radius of the border.

I've yet to find a similar definitive version as to what Cambodia's concerns might entail.

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History Turns on One Sentence

Arnaud de Borchgrave explains his role as one link in a chain of events where a single sentence in Newsweek 42 years ago changed the course of history.

{He writes:] Had I double-checked it with our correspondent in Phnom Penh, who spoke impeccable French, we might have discovered in time that the bordellos were on land the queen mother owned, but she had nothing to do with leases, let alone being the madam.

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Landmine explodes at Khmer ruin

The Bangkok Post reports that a Cambodian soldier may have stepped on a landmine inside the ruins of the ancient Phreah Vihear temple.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya has ordered Thai troops to stay on alert along the border with Cambodia. The order follows a recent border dispute.

Bangkok earlier protested that Phnom Penh was building living quarters for its officials close to the frontier, and deployed about 100 paramilitary rangers along a one kilometre stretch of the border, from Pha Mo E-Daeng to Phu Makhua.

And TVNZ reports that Thailand's defence minister has said his troops would not withdraw from the border stand off with Cambodia.

Relations between the two countries, which share a common border of 800 km, hit bottom in January 2003 when a nationalist mob torched the Thai embassy in the Phnom Penh.

And Mathaba.Net carries a report suggesting Thailand's defence minister is keen to play down the dispute, saying the issue will be settled through negotiations and that he will be visiting Phnom Penh next month to "clear the air".

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the cabinet meeting in the northeastern province of Buriram, Thai Defence Minister Thammarak Isarangura Na Ayutthaya said the dispute stemmed from Thai and Cambodian traders entering restricted areas, and both sides were to blame.

General Thammarak said under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by Thai and Cambodian authorities last year nobody was allowed to enter areas still in dispute.

He suggested both sides should now follow the MOU.

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Money and Motives

This editorial for The Japan Times provides a valuable insight as to why that country is the major financial supporter for an international tribunal to try surviving members of the Khmer Rouge regime.

It also explains the reluctant of some sectors in Cambodia's domestic political circles, the United States and China to see a full airing of history.

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Gun no Fun for Yun

Samean Yun, an associate editor at the Cambodia Daily, is on a five month exchange at the Rocky Mountain News through the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship Program.

His account shows how leisure activities in the U.S. would be given a short-shift in Cambodia.

I understand that the idea of playing paintball is for fun here in the U.S., but I am afraid young Cambodians will find it too much fun and might become addicted to shooting. When they grow up, they will imagine how fun it is to shoot, so my country will sooner or later have another war.
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In Cambodia, civilians are not allowed to wear a solider's uniform. A person who is caught wearing the solider's uniform can be fined, stripped of the uniform on the street or even imprisoned.

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More About Closed Border

As predicted here, there are further reports on the border dispute closing Preah Vihear temple.

ABC Radio Australia has this reports on how this spat and its history.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the 1,000-year-old temple, which is more easily approached from Thailand, was in Cambodian territory.

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A 5 to 1 Ratio; There's Trouble Brewing

The coy and careful rhetoric about Cambodia's concerns for its borders has previously been noted along with the former King Norodom Sihanouk's zeal to have new national border council in place.

So today's Associated Press report in the Taiwan News shows how quickly action can follow words. It provides some insight into the heightened tensions as Cambodia closed its border near an ancient northern temple after Thailand stationed hundreds of troops on its side of the disputed frontier.

Typically, about 50 Thai soldiers guard Thailand's side of the border, Preab Tan said. But in recent days the number has grown to 400-500, and the soldiers have begun building a bunker in the zone between the two borders, he [provincial governor, Preah Vihear Governor Preab Tan] said.

Thai Major Piset Visaijorn said the army had stationed more troops in the area around Preah Vihear because 100 Cambodian villagers had begun living in disputed areas.

That's four or five soldiers to every one villager. As this does seem a tad ons-sided, I'm sure we will be hearing more of this incident in the not-to-distant future.

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Travellers We May Have Passed

Virginia L. Korte and Elizabeth Strauss Carson tell of their visit to Pour un Sourire d'Enfant (For the Smile of a Child), a French NGO that during their January-February visit (the same time period Tan and Trev were also touring Cambodia).

Only a few hundred feet separate the giggles of bath and breakfast time from the acres of trash where the children later forage for scraps of cloth, paper, plastic and glass that they sell to recyclers for pennies.

Pour un Sourire d'Enfant does the work of heroes. It has a satellite school for older children, and its goal is to continue transitioning the children from the dump to the residential school, where they receive excellent care, nutrition and educations. This NGO works for all the right reasons.

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Snacks and Spiders

Our tour party is loaded into a bus for the trip to Kampong Thom, but along the way we make quick stop at 74km from Phnom Penh, at Skoun.

This is Spiderville.

Skoun is famous for it's roast and fried spiders. The local delicacy is abundant in the Central Market, although we did not need to hunt there for an opportunity to sample these wares. Within seconds from alighting from the bus, hordes of vendors descended to ply their trade.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

On this item, Tan had laid down the law before we left Melbourne. At no point would she be sampling a bug. In fact, she planned make it clear to all fellow travellers that her leanings towards vegetarian cuisine would be somewhat stronger this trip than perhaps in previous years. “You might want to tell people you are a vegetarian too,” she suggests. Nah, why change the diet for the entire trip just to avoid fried arachnid?

It was not possible to get a clear picture from our guide as to what spider might taste like. Karen had previously been offered a leg, but the memory clearly repulsed her and she was not keen to relive the experience. She indicated that these edible insects are meant for the adventurous, as an anthropological and cultural experience.

For those who never tried them, apparently they taste creamy and can be very addictive. They are eaten like a crunchy appetizer or snack only.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

In reality, they looked neither appetizing nor crunchy. Surrounded by plates of deep fried insects, I couldn’t help thinking how oily they looked.

They were also a puzzling assortment. In among the trays of large edible tarantula (also known as "ka ping" in Khmer) there seemed to also be spiders with four-legs spider. At the time I just wondered if they were damaged goods: eight-leggers that had been randomly sampled or just knocked-about. But I’ve read in blogs elsewhere that others too have seen the four-legged comestibles on offer by these five girls.

So I started to look around for a snaking partner. Someone with whom I could start the bluffer’s game of: “I will, if you will”. I sized up Amy as being the most likely other candidate in our group to be adventurous enough to give this culinary caper a try. Next I started fumble about for change – unsure as to how much one should pay for fried bugs. But all this mental procrastination only served to prove the old adage that “he who hesitates is lost”.

Suddenly there is a shriek. It starts a stampede as several in our tour group quickly scamper back to the “safety” of the tour bus. In the confusion I wonder what could have brought trade to such a sudden halt, even before it has begun.

Then I spot it. One of the hawkers has revealed a live spider and proudly wears it like a brooch as if it were a pin of honour. Had this been a snake, I probably would have been racing back to the bus. But the live spider doesn’t worry me. I have time to take a few pictures before climbing aboard the bus where Amy and I instantly realise we have missed an opportunity to taste spider.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

I make a mental note not to repeat such an opportunity again on this trip. And although it is not spider, I get to sample some other bug a few days later. (But that is a story for another day).

Dunlop Treads Difficult Path

Author and Photographer Nic Dunlop has travelled through difficult territory. Driven in a search for clues, he has tried to discover what motivated the notorious Khmer Rouge executioner Comrade Duch (pronounced Doik) to oversee the torture and death of reportedly 20,000 men, women and children.

In his book The Lost Executioner, Dunlop tells of his extraordinary accidental discovery of Comrade Duch - the man who was in charge of S-21 (Tuol Sleng) - and who had stayed hidden for two decades under an assumed name and identity as an aid worker after the Pol Pot regime collapsed.

Julian Gearing of the Asia Times offers this book review of Nic Dunlop's work.

Only two prominent men are in prison - Duch and Ta Mok, aka The Butcher. Many others who are guilty of torture and murder are walking around free - ghosts of the past still stalking the people.
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Dunlop's personal journey into the heart of post-Pol Pot Cambodia is a revelation. The photographer can now rightly claim to be part of Cambodian history, the man who discovered Duch and helped in no small way to kick the struggling justice system into life. For his efforts, he won an award from the Johns Hopkins University for Excellence in International Journalism.
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Will justice be done in the upcoming tribunal in Phnom Penh? Dunlop expresses doubts. Near the end of the book he grows despondent about whether his efforts as a photographer to show the world the aftermath of this brutal era will come to anything. He questions whether his discovery of Duch and the man's resulting imprisonment will amount to anything.

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Mending a Link

Australia continues to lend a hand in drafting a counter-terrorism law for Cambodia.

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Never Mind the Price, Feel the Quality

The question of what follows the removal of export quotas will undoubtably have a huge impact on Cambodia's manufacturing workforce.

Garment producers like Cambodia, which ships most of its output to the US, [are] facing potential ruin, as the industry employs 65 percent of its manufacturing workforce.

The unknown factor at this stage is whether U.S. buyers care enough to pay a little more for Cambodian products over the cheaper alternatives created under dubious conditions.

Cambodia may have a trick up its sleeve. In an industry often accused of exploiting sweatshop labor, Cambodia says it offers the opposite: unionized workers paid fairly in safe conditions. Regular inspections by a third-party watchdog keep managers on their toes and give companies with a conscience an incentive to buy Cambodian.

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More Border Watching

As covered earlier, Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni has approved the establishment of the National Border Council to consider border disputes between Cambodia and its neighboring countries, including Vietnam.

Today's news from Vietnam gives a very deliberate and considered reply.

"Vietnam strictly adheres to the border and territory agreements it signed with Cambodia on the basis of equality and mutual respect and in accordance with international laws and practices.

"At the recent forum of the Vietnam-Cambodia Joint Border Committee in March 2005, the two sides agreed to intensify negotiations on border issues and to quickly resolve outstanding issues in the spirit of equality, mutual understanding and good neighborliness with a view to building a common border of peace, friendship and cooperation for mutual development."

Power to the People

Our stops at cafes and restaurants along the route could easily give the false impression about power. With lights and television visible in windows as our bus trundles pass, it would seem that power is widely available.

However that is not always the case. Our guide explains that in many cases outside the major cities, residents rely on car batteries top juice their appliances.

Were at home we take such things for granted, Cambodia is still to develop a nationwide electricity grid.

The Cambodian government plans to have electricity available for 70 percent of the country's population by 2020 and 100 percent by 2030.

This piece announces that China's state-owned company has won a contract to build a $US270 million hydro-electric dam at Komchay mountain near Kampot province, about 100km southeast of Phnom Penh. The project is expected to begin next year and last four years.

On The Waterfront

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Life along the river in Cambodia is still not fully understood by westerners.
It is the longest river in Southeast Asia and the twelfth largest in the world, yet remarkably little remains known to those who do not live by its banks.

Indeed European knowledge of the mysterious Mekong remained extremely limited until just the past few decades. Its source was only pinpointed as being in eastern Tibet as recently as September 1994. An account of this discovery is in The Last Barbarians: The Discovery of the Source of the Mekong in Tibet, by Michel Peissel (New York: Henry Holt, 1997).

It is said that during the rainy season, so much water flows down the Mekong that when it reaches the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, the water backs up into the Tonle Sap River, the tributary linked to Cambodia's Great Lake, thus reversing the direction of the river flow during the dry season. No doubt this is a sight that, given the starke realities of current drought, locals hope will be repeated this year.

The river’s role as a historic stronghold in history, and the surprising contrast it has with the world’s other major waterways, is traced in Milton Osbourne’s academic paper available here.

For our own part, we could only marvel at the village life on the river as illustrated with these few pictures.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Crossing Borders for Work

As many as 170,000 Cambodians have registered so far to cross the border daily to work in Thailand without staying overnight.

Sansanee Nakpong, deputy government spokesman, said that migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos would be allowed to work in Thailand in the daytime only. They must cross the border back to their home country in the evening

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What Follows Export Quota Removal?

Click here for an update on the situation of the country's workers since the lifting of the textile and garment quotas on 1 January 2005.

"Tensions are rising in the factories, and mounting trade union repression will tarnish foreign investors' image of the country if it is allowed to persist," says an ICFTU report.

While urged the WTO, the international organisation responsible for world trade, to study the consequences of ending the quota system, this piece provides some dire warnings. It provides a stark contrast to the coverage
provided in the International Herald Tribune which suggests that much of Cambodia's garment industry is holding its own, despite the pricing challenge from China.

Cambodia, whose garment unions have become an independent political force in a country that is otherwise awash in corruption and cronyism, may point the way for other countries seeking to avoid a race to the bottom as they struggle to establish or sustain footholds in the global economy.

Despite the loss of special access to the U.S. market that had been tied to the labor program, the Cambodian government, many garment factory owners and the unions here are sticking to their higher standards. The system relies on independent inspections of factories, postings on the Internet of violators, and some of the strongest labor unions in the developing world. All here agree that this positive imprimatur has helped Cambodia escape much of the convulsions that are sweeping through the global apparel industry.

Indeed, according to the International Herald Tribune, the industry has played a pivotal role in achieving far superior results than many foriegn aid programs.

Since the 1992 Paris Peace Accords formally ended this country's 22-year plague - as a battle zone in the Vietnam War, followed by the nightmare of the Khmer Rouge revolution and another civil war - foreign countries and international organizations have spent more than $7 billion to help put this country back on its feet.

But all that money has failed to stop a slide in literacy rates and the quality of health care. Except for the garment industry, the pandemic of official corruption here has mitigated nearly all of the efforts at improvement, according to new studies by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. State Department's Agency for International Development.

"The labor program in the textile industry is more important to Cambodia than any other development program because we know the wages go directly to Cambodian workers and raise their standard of living," said Roland Eng, Cambodia's ambassador-at-large in charge of development issues.

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Seven and 40

Extraordinary figures in this piece suggesting that a staggering number of people in Cambodia needs to be diagnosed, treated and counselled for the psychological effects of mass violence.

Cambodia is one of the 50 so-called post-conflict nations -- Afghanistan, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe are among the others -- that have been hit hard by man-made violence.

As a result, more than 40 percent of Cambodia's population, according to a U.N. estimate, are mentally ill enough to require professional attention.

The overriding reason for such a high incidence is that many Cambodians have experienced no less than seven traumatic events in his or her lifetime, either suffering or witnessing acts of violence ranging from murder to the assault and rape of friends and family members, homelessness, and the loss of loved ones through starvation and disease.

Fortunately groups like the Peter C. Alderman Foundation are offering help in treating victims of terror.

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Extra Funding for Extraordinary Chambers

Annie Schleicher for NewsHour Extra suggests that
an appeal for help to international donors may help bridge the shortfall in funds required for the U.N.-backed tribunal.

"You can send a message that the international community will do its part to ensure that, however late, and however imperfect, impunity will not remain unchallenged, and a measure of justice will be done. That will be a precious and important gift to Cambodia," [said U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan].

On the topic of U.S. participation, Annie Shcleicher makes this observation:

Today, due to an unrelated dispute over international tribunals, the United States is not expected to take part in the Cambodian effort, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could still authorize U.S. participation in the attempt to bring the Khmer Rouge leaders to justice.

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Turning Rubber

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

After watching traditional methods in the plantation, the next stop was to a nearby factory to see the milky-white liquid transformed into rubber.

Our group was warned about the strong odours of the processing methods and initially thought the warning might have been overstated while walking around the factory compound.

"This isn't so bad," we agreed. The pong from the mixing tubs was confronting - like the nostril-stinging sensation of touring a sewage treatment plant - but there was nothing unbearable here. Or so we thought.

Little did we realise, as we watch tankers unloading their raw materials that we were still benefiting from the open spaces of the outdoors. Once inside the factory - and its enclosed areas - our guide's earlier warnings proved accurate on all accounts.

None of us could bear to breath through out nose. It was simply putrid. But undoubtable something that repeated exposure must somehow deaden the senses, because the workers didn't seem at all phased by the stench.

Tan spotted a few wearing "ISO 9000" Tee shirts and wondered aloud how this applied. Lorries backing up to huge open troughs didn't seem to gel with the careful and deliberate steps for quality control which she experiences daily under laboratory conditions. However it was later in the tour, watching the careful quality control methods for packaging and weight control of rubber blocks that the ISO standards began to make sense.

Rubber has been a key factor in Cambodia's economic history, so it is hardly surprising to find that this factory has internationally recognised skills in production.

Rubber and the Road

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Along long bumpy roads we travel deeper into Cambodia’s agricultural belt. Rural life here is mainly subsistence farming, with the exception of rubber plantations that serves as one of the country’s rare examples of export products.

As one wry saying goes: "In Cambodia, we export tree trunks and import toothpicks."

Rubber plantations are a reminder of French colonial times when Cambodia was one of the region's great rubber producers.

The next stop in our journey is to see how latex is tapped from the regimental lines of rubber tress. The dust churned up by lorries and buses has turned the foliage of the forest on either side of the track brick-red. This is ideal soil for rubber trees.

We watch as our guide demonstrates how grooves carved into the trees' bark allow the white sap to run into waiting pots, where it is collected and processed.


Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

A Quiet Moment

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005

Wat Nokor was an interesting place, with a strange mix of new and old.

Outside, the complex was surrounded by spire shaped stupas, most of them used for the actually interment of human remains. Our guide pointed to one and said it was filled with the bones of doctors and teachers killed by the Khmer Rouge.

The interiors of the temple were also interesting, with the walls and ceilings covered with brightly coloured paintings of scenes from the Buddha's life. The rich colours making a vivid contrast to the greys of sandstone and laterite outside.

These are working places of worship - not just jazzed up haunts for tourists. Even in our hour exploring the temple, we could see several villages shuffling in and out of the temple for worship (not just to chase the tourists, as was the case at Ta Phrom).

Silk Turns Heads Abroad

Nick Cumming-Bruce for the International Herald Tribune tells of the work of Weaves (Cambodia).

A tiny community at the remote northern village of Tbeng Meanchey, half of them maimed by land mines or polio, are making a hit selling silk products. The approach is also setting examples as to how aid can be sustainable.

Aid workers fear Cambodia is hooked on donor handouts that still account for half the national budget.... Much remains to be done to adjust the Cambodian managers and workers from an nongovernmental approach to the harsh realities of the commercial world, but the idea has already taken root.

These scarves now sell in New York's upmarket ABC Home & Carpets, the Smithsonian Museum's Freer-Sackler Galleries, and San Francisco's Craft and Folk Art Museum. According to Nick Cumming-Bruce, Burberry in London has expressed interest and an approach to Armani in Milan is planned for mid-year.

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Plan to Improve Air Links

The aviation authority of Cambodia along with those of three other new members of ASEAN (Laos, Myanmar and Viet Nam) to agree at a three-day meeting in Phnom Penh last week to strengthen air links to promote air transport, cargo services and tourism among their countries.

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Temple Life in US

Frank Carini in the North Shore Sunday tells of the Sanghikaram Wat Khmer Trust (also known as the Lynn Buddhist Temple), Lynn's Cambodian population of 20,000, and the Cambodian-Americans living in Lowell (which is the second-largest Cambodian community in the United States with 30,000).

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Privatization Furore Misses Mark

Controversy continues to grow about the deal to privatise the killing fields genocide memorial.

Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, Simon Montlake, can see the value of having a private company come in and upgrade the road (see story). "But the idea of profiting from genocide, that's hard to get my head around. It's hard to see the Germans, for example, deciding to privatize Auschwitz," he says.

In a move that has stirred public anger, this memorial to the genocide that haunts Cambodia has been given to a private company. Under a 30-year concession that started Sunday, JC Royal will "develop and renovate the beauty of Choueng Ek" to attract more paying tourists.

Critics said such profiting is unconscionable. "This is the memory of the nation. It doesn't belong to city hall. It belongs to the survivors," said Youk Chang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. The site's manager, who first revealed the privatization, has accused the government of "using the bones of the dead to make business."

The municipality of Phnom Penh, which owns the site, said the new owner is forbidden to move the skulls and other remains. The national government has sought to dampen criticism by saying profits would go to a local charity run by a senior Cabinet minister, Chea Vandeth. Local media have speculated about the ownership of JC Royal, a Japanese company run by Vandeth.

Some activists welcome the new ownership of the killing fields. They point to a contract that requires upgrading the unpaved road to the site and building a museum and documentary-film studio. "If a private company can do it better, why not? If they can bring in international visitors and tell them something about our tragedy, all well and good, so we don't repeat it," said Lao Mong Hay, head of legal reform at the nonprofit Center for Social Development in Phnom Penh.

Even at the old price before privatization, the entry fee was simply too steep for the majority of Cambodians. Even if given free access, the cost of transport to Choueng Ek would simply bar locals from considering a journey to the memorial.

So in a sense, this memorial has always been more a focal point for pricking the conscious of international tourists rather than the collective Cambodian psyche.

So rather than semantics about the privatization, I believe debate should focus on the paltry sum that actually remains in Cambodia. Tourism should be a major asset for the country, and it is a shame to see the lion's share of profits head off-shore.

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Border Watch

Verghese Mathews, Singapore's former ambassador to Cambodia, provides a vivid account of the former monarch Norodom Sihanouk's driven ambition to resolve the question of Cambodia's territorial integrity. He writes:

Sihanouk has a mammoth problem ahead. The negotiations could drag and perhaps take more years than Sihanouk can spare.

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The Generosity of Neighbours

Radio Australia reports that Cambodia will ask Japan for funding to pay for the bulk of its portion of a planned international tribunal to try surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Cambodia says it can only pay a $US1.5 million of its $13-million share of the bill.

Japan, Cambodia's largest aid donor, has already pledged $21.5 million to the UN for the trial, the most of any countries offering money for the three-year proceedings.

The Japanese prime minister, Hun Sen, says he is open to the concept:

"Thirteen million dollars for Japan is not much, but for Cambodia it is a lot of money," he said.

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Preventing a Crisis

Drought has been a recurring theme in this blog.

Kate Woodsome has filed this report for Voice of America in which she quotes World Food Program Country Director Thomas Keusters as having concern about the long-term health effects of food and water shortages.

"…more people die of hunger than of AIDS, T.B. and malaria combined. So there is no doubt that if the people are in a poor nutritional status, they are much more vulnerable to all sorts of illnesses," he [Mr Keusters] continued. "And I think we have that as a very serious danger for the country."

To provide a sense of the scale of the problem, Kate provides these insights:

The dry spell began in October, shriveling the December harvests and destroying more than 300,000 tons of rice. But the drought has been felt most during the past four months, drying up water reserves in 14 of Cambodia's 24 provinces.

In three months, the U.N. World Food Program has so far distributed 1500 tons of rice to 150,000 Cambodians. However an estimated 500,000 Cambodians is believed to be suffering food shortages caused by the drought.
No doubt there will be more heard about this crisis if drought-breaking rain is not forthcoming soon.
But also worth reading are the quotes of Yang Saing Koma, director of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture. Much like the concerns raised here about the degradation of the country's water system, he says the problem is man-made.

Cambodia is shaped like a bowl, with rains running from the surrounding mountains to feed lowland crops. But according to Yang Saing Koma, deforestation is destroying the natural water management system and measures must be taken to prevent an even greater crisis.

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Update on Royal's Health

As covered earlier in this blog, Cambodia has been awaiting progressive news on the health of former King Norodom Sihanouk.

The People's Daily Online carries a report that his planned return to Cambodia on May 8 to head a new national border council has been postponed for health reasons.

The retired King said on his website on Monday that Chinese doctors have recently discovered his cancerous tumor returned again and asked him to keep stay in Beijing to receive treatment, including resuming chemotherapy.

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Mechanics of Staging a Trial: 101

More details emerge in reports today about the mechanics of the proposed tribunal to prosecute members of Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge.

According to John Aglionby, south-east Asia correspondent for The Guardian:

The tribunal will comprise mainly Cambodian judges and prosecutors, but the agreement of at least one international judge will be required to obtain a conviction.

Still some diplomats and human rights activists are quoted as remaining unconvinced that the impoverished country's people would see justice for the 1975-79 genocide.

The international community has promised about £22.6m of the £29.5m estimated budget, with Phnom Penh contributing the rest.

I'm sure debate about whether Cambodia can afford to pick up the balance will soon be a thread in media speculation.

... a Cambodian government spokesman, Khieu Kanharith, said on Saturday. "We want this [tribunal] to be formed as soon as possible."

Such enthusiasm is probably not genuine, according to Kek Galabru, the president of the Cambodian human rights group Licadho. "If the government really had the political will to establish this tribunal we should have had one already," she told the Guardian. "So we are not sure that the tribunal will happen, even though the government has no more excuses to delay."

Phnom Penh-based diplomats are equally sceptical. "The government has undoubtedly been dragging its heels on this, and at times actively working against the formation of a tribunal," one senior western diplomat said.

The government's attitude was so uncooperative two years ago that the UN pulled out of the tribunal negotiations. The process was further delayed last year when Cambodia's political system was deadlocked after a general election produced a hung parliament.

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Mechanics of Genocide: 101

Iljas Baker, a visiting professor at Mahidol, has provided an exceptional piece for Bangkok Post News that I suspect might foreshadow some of the legal knots and twists likely to be put before the proposed tribunal.

It details why the definition of "genocide" might be a sticking point.

Short snippets here can not do the full piece justice, however here is a sample:

Although the media frequently refer to the mass killings that took place between April 17, 1975 and Jan 6, 1979 as genocide, the exact legal nature of the Khmer Rouge's crimes is still the subject of debate and one welcome outcome of this trial would be a legal decision stating what, if any, crimes satisfy the definition of genocide contained in the Genocide Convention of 1948.

The Convention states that genocide means ``any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.''
.....
One would think that the mass killing of the Cham Muslims at least would be recognised universally as constituting genocide. After all, this is a homogenous ethnic and religious group that was specifically targeted for persecution. But there is no such consensus.

Philip Short, author of a recent biography of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, states that the persecution of the Cham Muslims resulted from the fact they resisted the new order more than other groups. But, he believes it would be impossible to prove there was a systematic attempt to destroy the Cham Muslims.

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Mechanics of Building a Case: 101

Iljas Baker's piece as mentioned earlier also offers a startling insight into some extraordinary steps being taken to prepare for the tribunal.

Youk Chhang, director of the Phnom Penh based Documentation Centre of Cambodia, one of the major NGOs working for the establishment of an independent Khmer Rouge trial and preparing documentation of mass crimes, has reported receiving ``indirect threats''. The centre has felt it necessary to improve security at its offices and has taken the precaution of shipping 70% of its evidence overseas.

There is also mention of work in preparing people for the trial. As denoted earlier there is some uncertainty as to whether the experience will be a catharsis effect oe merely cruelly reopen old wounds.

There are also fears of a renewal of violence instigated by former Khmer Rouge leaders who feel threatened by the trial. These fears are shared by the rural population and the educated urban classes alike, and they are by no means groundless.
....
Fears of triggering psychological trauma associated with having to ``relive'' the Khmer Rouge era are also at the forefront of people's concerns and are beginning to be addressed by government organisations and NGOs before the trial gets under way.

History Lesson Labelled Leftist

Paul Mirengoff writes a rebuttal to the piece previously listed here by professor Alex Hinton's piece. He calls it "a specimen of the left's use of the war on terror to deconstruct American values".

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Lure of the Tourist Dollar

Earlier it was reported that a deal was delayed to privatise the killing fields genocide memorial. However today's travel section of the Sunday Times carries a brief item suggesting the deal is complete. It reads:

Last month, the government secretly signed over control of the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek, where more than 14,000 Khmer Rouge victims died, to a Japanese company. The general manager of Choeng Ek, Neang Say, has accused the government of allowing foreigners to “exploit our ancestors’ souls”.

Other sections of this item tell that "the Cambodian government is coming under intense criticism for allowing private companies to cash in on the country’s tourism boom while underfunding the protection of fragile historic sites". It reads:

More than 1 million tourists visited the famous temples of Angkor Wat in 2004, netting the private petroleum company that controls the ticketing 15% of all the revenues. Only 10% of those revenues went on restoration and research at Angkor.

Private toll roads are also springing up around Cambodia, connecting tourists to ancient sites once lost in the jungles of the north of the country. None of money raised by these road charges has been earmarked for restoration.

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