Country profile: Cambodia

The Southeast Asian nation has emerged from decades of conflict, but continues to face many challenges.

Last Modified: 22 Nov 2010

Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. King Norodom Sihamoni has reigned since 2004.

Theravada Buddhism is the official religion of Cambodia, which is practiced by around 96 per cent of the Cambodian population. The majority of Cambodians describe themselves to be Khmers, descendants of the Angkor Empire. The country's minority include Cham, ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese and various tribal groups.

Three-quarters of Cambodians depend on the land to make a living and agriculture remains the most important sector. Many farmers have been forced to sell their land to cope with financial pressures in recent years and land grabbing is a major issue.

Oil and nature gas deposits were found in Cambodian waters in 2005. Extraction is set to begin in 2011 and is predicted to have a transformative effect on the country's economy.

While there has been rapid economic growth in the past decade, this has come with a rising gap between the country’s poor and rich. Economic and political power remains in the hands of a small number of elites.

Cambodia is ranked 136 out of 179 in UNDP's Human Development Index (2008), the lowest among East Asian countries. More than a third of Cambodia's population live on less than $1 per day.

Illegal logging is prevalent throughout the country, leading to soil erosion and declining biodiversity. Fish stocks are also in decline because of overfishing.

There are up to one million small arms and light weapons in circulation in Cambodia and weapons remain "dangerously easy to obtain" and selling for as little as $25, according to Oxfam, a UK-based international development NGO.

Broadcast media is a mixture of state-owned, joint public-private, and privately-owned.

Tragic past

Cambodia was "protected" from its neighbours by the French from 1863, and became part of French Indochina in 1887.

Occupied by the Japanese during World War Two, the country won independence from the French in November 1953.

The Communist Khmer Rouge forces captured Phnom Penh in April 1975, after five years of fighting.

Executions, forced labour and starvation devastated the population. More than 1.5 million Cambodians died from atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge regime.

The Vietnamese invaded in December 1978, driving the Khmer Rouge into the countryside. Vietnamese occupation was to last a decade and triggered 13 years of civil war.

The Paris Peace Accords in 1991 mandated democratic elections and a ceasefire, although the Khmer Rouge did not fully abide by it.

Some surviving Khmer Rouge leaders are awaiting trial for crimes against humanity by a hybrid UN-Cambodian tribunal supported by international assistance.

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Bayon Information Center opens in Siem Reap, Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Based in Siem Reap provincial town, Bayon Information Center, serving as a showcasing center that reflects 15-year attainment of JSA/JASA (Japanese organization) in rehabilitating Bayon temple, was officially opened for the public on Aug. 6, the official news agency AKP reported on Monday.

Siem Reap provincial governor Sou Phirin, APSARA Authority General Director Bun Narith and representatives from Japanese Embassy and UNESCO partook in the opening ceremony organized by JASA organization.


The center provides not only information on history and temple sin Angkor area but also other researches as well as international cooperation projects. Photographic and video presentations and verbal explanation are means for showcasing the resources available in the center.

As part of its effort to restore current Angkorean temples, the Japanese government has picked Bayon as key focus given its priceless and unique natures. National conciliation effort represented one of Bayon's most valuable natures.

Cambodia Made It Again into the International Media

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 624

Cambodia made it again into the international media – together with Norway, it may be said.

Norway is hardly known in Cambodia – a small country of only about 4.5 million people compared to Cambodia’s around 14 million. Few people may know that the Norwegian branch of the international group of Save-the-Children fund organizations – Redd Barna – has been co-operating with the Ministry of Education of Cambodia over the years. And the organization Norwegian People’s Aid made it sometimes into the Cambodian press because of its involvement in landmine clearance and other activities related to dealing with landmines.


Since 1992 people from Norway are involved in Cambodia, providing technical assistance to the Cambodian Mine Action Center [CMAC]. But Norwegian People’s Aid does not work only on direct landmine clearance. In 1997, NPA was requested by the local authorities to assist in the resettlement of 5,000 displaced families on mine-free and de-mined land. In January 2007, requested by the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority [CMAA], NPA cooperated in Empowering CMAA, to analyze, plan, and use mine action data.

So far, their program Mines and Explosive Detection Dogs – through the NPA Global Training Center for Mine Detection Dogs co-operating with CMAC – found interest also in the Khmer press.

How is it possible that the people of this small country are involved in such work internationally? What is the background of the Norwegian People’s Aid? Norwegian People’s Aid has developed out of the Norwegian Labor Movement – struggling for their own rights, and extending the same spirit to others: “We support people in their struggle for more power and influence over their own lives and in the development of their societies.” The organization has about 12,000 members all over Norway: organizing work in Norway like First Aid and other emergency services, running receptions centers for refugees, voluntary activities for elderly and disabled people, as well as work against racism.

And the financial basis? A lot comes from individual regular supporters. But the Norwegian Television System is also assisting with fund raising for public concerns by organizing every year a Telethon: one whole Sunday afternoon and evening is dedicated to information about a specific issue, and at the same time, almost every house in the country is visited by volunteers collecting money. In this way, the 4.5 million Norwegians – “financial crisis or not” – collect normally around US$20 million and more millions during a few hours. And in preparation of these events – dedicated to problems of drug addition, physical disabilities, education, de-mining – a lot of further information is in newspapers, on radio, and on TV. In relation to Cambodia, this included recently also information about the conflicts between the residents around the Boeung Kak lake and the business plans of developing high rise buildings and to beautify Phnom Penh.

The Motto of the Kingdom of Norway is “Everything for Norway” – and this pride in their own identity leads to international outreach, support, and cooperation, at present in more than 30 countries, always trying to work with local partners and with local authorities. As for mine action, Norwegian People’s Aid is one of the leading organizations worldwide. But the work in this field of special competence is based on four wider concerns:

- Work against oppression, poverty and unfair distribution of resources.
- Fighting racism and discrimination.
- Working for gender equality, and against violence and abuse.
- Prevention, promoting voluntarism and building competence.

With these goals, the Norwegian People’s Aid found a natural partner in the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization [CDPO], working – in their own words –

“to develop the networks of people with disabilities so as to support, protect, serve and promote their rights, achievements and interests, in order to bring about their fuller participation and equality in society.

Vision

People with Disabilities have a right to participate fully and equally in society.
Value

One voice of People with Disabilities.
Empowerment of People with Disabilities.

Mission

Develop the networks of people with disabilities so as to support, protect, serve and promote their rights, achievements and interests, in order to bring about their fuller participation and equality in society.
Objective

To promote and bring about positive changes in attitudes in Cambodian society towards people with disabilities…”

After a Miss Landmine event had been organized with Norwegian cooperation in 2008 in Africa, in Angola, also a country suffering from decades of civil war and the devastation landmines bring, a similar event was planned and prepared in Cambodia in 2009, with the following goals – with which the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization agreed and they prepared an event together, based on the following convictions: [depending on your browser setting, if you wait several seconds, a "slide show" may start]

EVERYBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO BE BEAUTIFUL!

- Female pride and empowerment.
- Disabled pride and empowerment.
- Global and local landmine awareness and information.
- Challenge inferiority and/or guilt complexes that hinder creativity-
- historical, cultural, social, personal, Asian, European.
- Question established concepts of physical perfection.
- Challenge old and ingrown concepts of cultural cooperation.
- Celebrate true beauty.
- Replace the passive term ‘Victim’ with the active term ‘Survivor’
- And have a good time for all involved while doing so!

Twenty women have been finally selected, and their pictures were to be displayed in the cultural center of the Meta House in Phnom Penh. They come from the provinces and cities of Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampot, Kompong Cham,Kompong Chhnang, Kandal, Kep, Kompong Speu, Kompong Thom, Mondolkiri, Pailin, Phnom Penh, Preah Sihanouk, Preah Vihear, Prey Veng, Pursat, Siem Reap, Stung Treng, Svay Rieng, and Takeo.

They range in age between 18 and 48, they survived a mine explosion between 1979 and 2000, they are farmers, or selling cake at a market, work in a factory, or are students. And their pictures show that they are, in spite of having survived a terrible experience, claiming their “right to participate fully and equally in society” according to the Vision of the Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization.

This endeavor is sponsored and funded, like many other international activities, by the people of Norway, in this case through the Arts Council Norway (Norsk Kulturråd) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

But Ministry of Social Affairs Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation of Cambodia prohibited the planned event, as The Mirror reported already on Thursday, 6.8.2009, and the Miss Landmine website said: “all further activities on Cambodian territory are canceled as of today 2 August 2009.”

The Cambodian Disabled People’s Organization followed suit: “We totally support the content of the announcement of the Ministry of Social Affairs Veteran and Youth Rehabilitation not to support the Miss Landmine contest, because it can create misunderstandings among the public towards the honor of disabled people, especially of disabled women.”

And the Minister of Women’s Affairs declared in The Cambodia Daily, that her Ministry had never given full support to this plan, as had been claimed.

This event brought Cambodia again into the international media: Soon after the prohibition, there was a report broadcast on BBC World Service, and a quick research showed that by now there are are about 250 reports in the media in Argentina, Chile, Denmark, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.

Many of these reports refer also to the pictures on the Miss Landmine website. To look at them, to read the individual short notes of every one of these 20 women standing form many, many more survivors, may explain why this planned event – and its prohibition – finds such wide international interest. What does it mean that the positions taken by the Cambodian authorities on the one side, and the people of Norway who supported the efforts which were welcome in Angola, and which seem to be welcome in the media reports around the world? Even when the language not of all reports can be understood, the pictures speak clearly.

Please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.

Get the camera ready for this Cambodia Adventure!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

You won’t be able to resist getting snap-happy in Cambodia – the region is a melting pot overflowing with spectacular sights, fascinating history, other-worldly spirituality and unique culture, all fringed by dense jungle.

Tour Cambodia with a five-day extension before one of Contiki’s amazing new Asian itineraries and throw yourself head first into one of the sparkling jewels of South-East Asia. Learn about the genocide of the Khmer Rouge, visit the captivating Angkor Wat, sample traditional deep-fried spiders and delve deep into the country’s heartbeat.

Highlights of this tour include:

•Phnom Penh: discover the city once known as the Pearl of Asia with its broad French-style boulevards, boutique stores and unique local culture

•Siem Reap: travel by tuk-tuk to watch the sun set over one of the most stunning skylines in Asia and visit the floating villages on Tonle Sap Lake by wooden boat

•Angkor Wat: visit one of the biggest religious monuments ever built and marvel in its splendor, which was lost in the jungle for more than 600 years

The 5-day Cambodia Extension tour is priced from $725 per person, twin share (land only). Departures are available until May 2010.

Your amazing Cambodian tour will feature the expertise of local, English-speaking guides to show you the true Cambodian lifestyle and get you up close and personal with South-East Asia’s most unique culture.

This tour is an add-on before you begin one of Contiki’s fabulous new Asian itineraries. Accommodation and most meals are included in the itinerary, with dinners excluded to give you plenty of time to get out and sample the authentic local cuisine.

Contiki has been taking 18 to 35s around the globe to experience far off places and exotic cultures for over 45 years, so they know what young people want. Contiki’s trips include a perfect balance of sightseeing and adventure with loads of free time to experience all the destination has to offer.

Contiki’s 2009 Asia brochures are on travel agent shelves now!

The temples of Angkor Wat, Cambodia in mind

Ann told her experience and feeling in Angkor temples as well as in Siem Reap, Cambodia when she took part in an eighteen day travel through Asia with her husband.

Independent travel has been great, but after 4 months on the road all the planning and organizing was getting a bit tiresome. We booked an 18-day guided tour that would take us from Bangkok all the way through Cambodia and Vietnam with the luxury of nearly everything being planned for us.

In Bangkok we met up with our group of 11 fellow travelers, as well as our guide and a new trainee. As it turns out, everyone has been great and our group is getting along quite nicely.

The first part of our tour took us into Siem Reap, our first stop in Cambodia. Before I get any further, I’d like to go over some shocking statistics. The average age in Cambodia is 57. About 50% of the population is under the age of 18. Their literacy rate is said to be between 40-50%. And about 1/3 of their population lives on less than $1 USD per day. Another interesting fact??? 80% of all visitors to Siem Reap are either Japanese, Korean, or Chinese.

Getting from Bangkok to Siem Reap involved a 12 hour bus ride across the boarder, of which the last 160 kilometers were on a very bumpy and unmaintained gravel road. At one point our bus had to stop for repairs as we had 3 flat tires. As we crossed from Thailand to Cambodia the changes were immediate. Garbage was everywhere you looked, piled high in fields and ditches. At the boarder we had to get off the bus, walk through customs, and wait on the Cambodia side to be picked up again. Brian managed to get robbed in the first 5 minutes in Cambodia, luckily it was only his bottle of water. A young barefoot and filthy boy walked very slowly up to him, looked him in the eye for a few seconds, bent down and grabbed the bottle sitting near Brian’s feet, and ran off. Everyone in our group just watched in a combination of amusement and sadness…then clutched their belongings a little tighter.

Day two, and three, and four brought us on a guided tour of the famous Angkor Temples which were built between the 8th and 13th centuries and are spread out over about 40 miles around the village of Siem Reap. Some were in nearly complete ruin, some in the middle of restoration, and some in surprisingly great condition considering they are a tiny bit old. For you movie buffs, the Angelina Jolie movie Tomb Raider was filmed in one of the jungle temples there.

While in Siem Reap we also took a boat ride on lake Tonle Sap which is home to a floating village of houseboats, floating stores and churches, even a boat that serves as a basketball court. We did some shopping around the temples and in Siem Reap, because every few feet there are children surrounding you begging you to buy there bracelets/scarves/books /etc. We’ve also done a lot of eating - Cambodian Khmer food is very tasty.

Lots of pumpkin, coconut sauce, and fresh fruit.

So far our travels in Cambodia have surpassed our expectations. Next stop? Phnom Penh. Stay tuned…..

Author: Anne
Source: The Hallgrens’ Blog - Realtravel
They are traveling as a couple in their 30s from Belle Plaine. They decided to quit their jobs, sell their house in the suburbs, and spend time exploring the world.

Buying a touring motorbike in Vietnam

hoto by: DON MORGAN AND STUART MCDONALD
Not-so-lonely creek: trifling obstacles such as rivers shouldn’t hold up your progress too much.

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Ask around if you plan to go into the remote regions of the country. there's no harm in trying your luck.
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The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
DON MORGAN

When it comes to transportation, the motorbike reigns supreme in Southeast Asia, probably because it provides a speedy, inexpensive and durable platform for travel around the region

FOR TRAVELFISH.ORG

BY far, the best way to experience Vietnam is by motorbike. As is the case elsewhere in Southeast Asia, here, the motorbike is king. They are cheap to buy, easy to repair, and they can take you places the tour bus would never dare to go.

What's more, there are no restrictions on foreigners buying motorbikes. All you need is a passport and valid visa, and you'll receive a title of ownership and a deed of transfer.

Rentals will suffice for most, but if you plan on serious bike time, buying is more economical - you can even sell the bike before you leave and recoup most of the expense.

We know the traffic seems crazy. But once you get the hang of it, you'll learn there is a method to the madness. Travel by motorbike has its dangers, to be sure, and should be undertaken conscientiously. But the vast majority of foreigners come away from their motorbike trek with nothing but great experiences to talk about back home (and maybe a few tail-pipe burns to remember them by).

You can buy a bike almost anywhere, but bigger cities will have a better selection and be more comfortable selling to foreigners. Naturally, it's best to shop around. When you settle on a bike, insist on taking it for a spin - and to a mechanic for a once over.

Your two main considerations are whether to buy new or used, and how powerful a bike you need. New Japanese and Chinese models can be purchased for as little as US$400. They should be more reliable, but then again, you may be the one stuck working out all the kinks. And you'll take a bath on the resale value.

Photo by: Don Morgan and Stuart McDonald
What happens when things go wrong.

Tuning up
We recommend a used bike. This may seem a bit daunting, and it's a good idea to make friends with a trustworthy mechanic if you can swing it.

When you buy a bike, all you're really looking at is the engine, the shocks, the wheels and the frame. If nothing's leaking or broken, and it kicks up a throaty hum when it runs, you're off to a good start. Everything else on a bike can be fixed cheaply and easily - though be sure to factor such repairs into the price you plan to pay.

In terms of power, a 100 cc bike is fine throughout most of the country, depending on the weight you intend to carry. By the time you stack two people and two full packs on it, you'll struggle up the hills even in Dalat.

Consider a clutch
Northern Vietnam is notoriously hilly and requires at least a 115cc bike. Check out the bikes used by the guys who do the Easy Rider tours, and look for something similar. If you've never driven a clutch, consider learning - it quickly becomes second nature.

Even if you buy a bike that's been restored, be sure to take it to a mechanic anyway and put some more money into it. New tires, brake drums, batteries, starters and the like are all cheap and will give you that much more peace of mind. Finally, think about where you're going to put your stuff. We got a custom-made back rack for US$6.25.

When it comes to plotting a route, we suggest planning to see more of the country by seeing less of it. You can't see everything from Sapa to Vung Tau by motorbike in a month. Pick a region - north, central, or south, and focus on that. Alternately, many buses and trains will take on a motorbike as freight for the price of an extra ticket, so you can split a trip between two regions.

Don't plan an overly aggressive route. The whole point is to take in the scenery, to stop and explore along the way. We find more than 120 kilometres in any given day starts to feel rushed. Fortunately, in thin, compact Vietnam, there is always a good option for your next stop within that distance.

It's also worth mention that, while the 'open road' in Vietnam can be breathtakingly beautiful and provide an utterly authentic experience of the country, this is Vietnam, and not all roads are open.

Try your luck
Ask around if you plan to go into remote regions of the country, especially near the borders, but there's really no harm in just trying your luck. The worst that can happen is that the police will ask you to turn around.

Final note: Wear a helmet, bring rain gear and memorise the lyrics to "Born to be Wild" before you leave. You'll be needing them.

Cambodian police arrest British man on child sex charges

Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - A British man accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl has been arrested in the Cambodian coastal resort town of Sihanoukville, police said Wednesday. Gareth Ashley Corbett, 51, was taken into custody Tuesday by Phnom Penh police, said Keo Thea, Phnom Penh anti-trafficking police chief.

The arrest was reportedly made after an investigation into complaints by two girls that last week led to the arrest of US national Scott Alan Hecker, 41, in Phnom Penh.

Dozens of foreigners have been jailed since Cambodia launched a crackdown on child sex crimes in 2003.

Germany injects over $1 mln to Cambodia, Laos for fighting against hunger

PHNOM PENH, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Fearing with the continued impact by global economic crisis, the government of Germany has provided another 1.3 million euros (approximately 1.8 million U.S. dollars) to Cambodia and Laos to fight against hunger.

In a statement released Wednesday, German embassy in Phnom Penh said of the above total amount, one million euro was destined for Cambodia which is expected to help assist about one million Cambodians in 2009.

It said the fund was donated through the United Nations agency, World Food Program for its operation in this country.

The fund will help improve immediate food security and nutritional status of the Cambodian people while enhancing social stability through interventions in three priority areas: education, health and nutrition, and disaster risk reduction.
Xinhua English
In April, the U.N. Office in Cambodia issued a statement saying the country's positive trends of its economy will be slowdown after it has enjoyed over decade of increase. And less demand from foreign markets and reducing of foreign direct investment have forced a mass of people losing their jobs, such as in garment and construction sectors.

The U.N. data also indicated some 80 percent of Cambodians are living in rural areas, and where many poor families depend upon migrant remittances as their major source of income.

It is, then, citing fear that Cambodia's rural poor might adopt "unhealthy" coping measures such as reducing their number of meals per day or eating less-nutritious foods, and cutting back on health services.

Safety nets in health, education, food, and work can help break the poverty cycle, it added in the statement.

According to the World Food Program, Cambodia might need 76.3 million U.S. dollars for three years project in curbing with people in crisis.

It said the project that began in January 2008 and which is due to last until the end of 2010 has, so far, received 33 million U.S. dollars or bout 43 percent of its appeal, and that Germany has donated 2.3 million U.S. dollars or 3.1 percent of the total donated fund.

International Groups Express Concern About Cambodian 'AIDS Colony'

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Public Health

In an open letter to Cambodia's prime minister and health minister, more than 100 international HIV/AIDS advocates and human rights organizations "accused the Cambodian government of herding HIV-affected families into an 'AIDS colony' outside the capital, Phnom Penh," the Guardian reports (McCurry, 7/28).

According to CNN, the letter said the "de facto AIDS colony at Tuol Sambo ... is far away from the jobs, medical facilities and support services" residents had when they lived in the city. The human rights advocates said the HIV-positive residents were moved despite repeated appeals to the government, including from the U.N. (7/28).

The groups said they are very concerned about the "life-threatening" conditions in the settlement where 40 families live in "sheet-metal sheds without running water or proper sanitation," writes the Guardian. According to the newspaper, the Cambodian government has spent the past two months moving HIV-positive people from the Borei Keila district of Phnom Penh to Tuol Sambo, "a flood-prone area 15 miles away" (7/28). In June, 20 families with HIV-positive members were evicted from their homes and moved to make way for a Ministry of Tourism garden, according to the Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report (6/19).

Local officials acknowledged concerns about the settlement and said they were attempting to improve conditions, reports the Guardian. "We are trying to find clean water for them," said Mann Chhoeun, Phnom Penh's deputy governor. Chhoeun added that there are plans to distribute free medicine via the Centre of Hope mission (7/28). The open letter "acknowledged the international recognition the Cambodian government has received for treating and supporting people living with HIV," CNN reports (7/28).

This information was reprinted from globalhealth.kff.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at globalhealth.kff.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
at 7:49 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Cambodian government accused of creating 'Aids colony'
http://www.mg.co.za
Jul 29 2009

Aids campaigners and human rights groups on Wednesday accused the Cambodian government of herding HIV-affected families into an "Aids colony" outside the capital, Phnom Penh.

In an open letter to the country's prime minister, Hun Sen, and the health minister, Mam Bunheng, more than 100 international and domestic pressure groups said they were "deeply disturbed" by "life-threatening" conditions at the settlement.

Forty families are forced to live in sheet-metal sheds, without running water or proper sanitation.

The government has spent the past two months moving people with HIV/Aids from the Borei Keila district of Phnom Penh to Tuol Sambo, a flood-prone area 25km away.

"By bundling people living with HIV together in second-rate housing, far from medical facilities, support services and jobs, the government has created a de facto Aids colony," Shiba Phurailatpam, of the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living with HIV/Aids, said.

Rebecca Schleifer, a Human Rights Watch spokesperson, said the conditions at Tuol Sambo posed "serious risks" to people already vulnerable to syndrome.

"People living with HIV have compromised immune systems and are especially vulnerable," she added. "For them, these substandard conditions can mean a death sentence or a ticket to a hospital."

According to Médecins Sans Frontières, conditions at Tuol Sambo do not meet international minimum standards for temporary housing.

The families were evicted from Borei Keila to make way for a commercial development, which was reportedly granted government approval on the understanding that the developer would place the residents, including those with HIV/Aids, into new housing.

The evictions continued despite protests from UN agencies, and the campaigners' letter said: "We have reason to fear that relocations of HIV-affected families are continuing even as we sign this letter."

Campaigners urged the government to stop moving families to Tuol Sambo, urgently improve living conditions there and ensure that people with HIV have access to antiretroviral drugs.

Local officials said they were aware of the concerns over the settlement and were trying to improve conditions.

"We are trying to find clean water for them," Phnom Penh's deputy governor, Mann Chhoeun, told the Phnom Penh Post, adding that plans had been made to distribute free medicine via the Centre of Hope mission.

In 2008, an estimated 67 200 adults and 3 800 children in Cambodia were living with HIV/Aids, according to UNAids. - guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media 2009

Lawyers Say They Are ‘Free’ To Defend

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington

Opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua faced the court over her defamation suit with the prime minister on Friday without a lawyer. After her first attorney quit—facing defamation charges himself—she was unable to find another, she said, due to “political pressure.”

Cambodian lawyers say they are free to represent the clients they want, but Mu Sochua’s case has underscored the entanglement of politics and the court that critics say stops the judiciary from being independent.

“There is no problem as long as the client approaches us,” said Cambodian attorney Poeung Thida. “We just puck up a client we feel we want to defend. If we don’t want it, we just don’t take the case. This is our free will.”

In Mu Sochua’s case, her first attorney, Kong Sam Onn, quit after he was countersued by Prime Minister Hun Sen and was put under investigation by the country’s bar association. His case was dropped after he apologized to Hun Sen. (Kong Sam Onn declined to comment, saying he left because of a “personal issue.”)

Mu Sochua defended herself with a brief statement to the court, in a case that is to be decided on Aug. 4.

Chiv Song Hak, president of the 647-member bar association, said lawyers in the country have “enough freedom” to make their own choices.

“The law does not restrict them to only representing this client and not the other,” he said. “Our code of conduct only states that a lawyer has the right to decline a client they don’t want to represent.”

Mu Sochua, a US-Cambodian citizen and deputy secretary-general for the Sam Rainsy Party, said she did not agree.

“How can a lawyer do his job if they still feel scared?” she asked. “They still feel that they will become a victim like my lawyer, Kong Sam Onn. I see that professional lawyers are vulnerable to political pressure.”

Mu Sochua had also sought legal counsel from the Cambodian Defenders Project, but the head of the organization, Sok Sam Oeun, said his group defends the poor.

“She has enough money to hire a lawyer,” he said of Mu Sochua. “And so far as I know, there are many lawyers in the Sam Rainsy Party. To say that there is no lawyer willing to represent her is unreasonable.”

Cambodia Angkor Air plans flights to Viet Nam

PHNOM PENH — Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday cut the ribbon launching the new Cambodian national airline, Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), a joint venture between Viet Nam and Cambodia, at Pochentong International Airport in Phnom Penh.

CAA is a joint venture between the Cambodian National Aviation Agency and the Vietnam Airlines Corporation.

CAA has two ATR-72-500 aircraft that service domestic flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville and Siem Reap.

It has plans to expand its operations to other regional countries, including Viet Nam and Thailand, with A-320 and A-321 aircraft.

Cambodia’s national airline, Royal Cambodge Airlines (RCA), was established in 1994, but had to close operations in 2001 due to huge losses and the use of planes that did not meet the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s standards.

Cambodian art show casts light on Khmer Rouge horrors

Sos Thy speaks in courtroom in Phnom Penh (picture released by Extraordinary Chamber in Courts of Cambodia, 27 Jul 2009)

Artist Vann Nath, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge's notorious Tuol Sleng prison, explains a painting to villagers during an art workshop and exhibition project titled "The Art of Survival", in Kamport province, 146 km (91 miles) west of Phnom Penh, July 25, 2009.
REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

KOMPOT, Cambodia (Reuters Life!) - Cambodian artist Vann Nath only survived the Khmer Rouge's most brutal prison because its chief torturer liked his paintings of the tyrannical leader Pol Pot.

Now, the survivor of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison is using art to educate younger generations about one of the 20th century's darkest chapters through an exhibition of paintings reflecting the horrors of the Khmer Rouge regime.

"I come here to share my experiences as well as to remember our country's history, and ensure that it's not lost," Nath told Reuters Television.

An estimated 1.7 million people died during the Khmer Rouge's four-year "killing fields" reign of terror, which ended when Vietnamese forces invaded in 1979.

Three decades on, villagers at the exhibition reflected on the horrors of the regime with paintings of skulls, bodies lined up in a room, blindfolded prisoners and people with weapons in their hands.

The exhibition showcasing the work of about 16 Cambodian artists is the second of seven in the Cambodian countryside this year.

"It is good to have the Khmer Rouge tribunal going on because it can let the victims know what has happened then, why Pol Pot killed innocent people," said Chan Pisey, an artist and co-organiser of the exhibition.

"Of course, it cannot heal the suffering of everybody but at least 20 to 30 percent of it can be done."

The exhibition comes just weeks after Nath testified against Duch, Tuol Sleng's head jailer. He told the joint United Nations-Cambodian tribunal his experience inside the S-21 prison was like "hell".

He described the squalid conditions inside the prison and said there were times he was so hungry, he was forced to eat insects, such as grasshoppers or crickets.

"When there were insects falling from the lamp, I collected them and ate them. When the security guards saw this, they asked, 'What are you eating?' So they hit me until I spit out the grasshopper or cricket from my mouth," he told the court.

But Vann Nath is confident the people responsible for the killings will be brought to justice.

"I expect the Khmer Rouge court to point to the right killers so that we know clearly whoever committed such crime gets how much punishment," he said.

Cambodia: Respect For Suspects' Rights

Scoop New Zealand
http://www.scoop.co.nz

Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission

Cambodia: Respect For Suspects' Rights Will Prevent Death In Police Custody

Five suspects in police custody are known to have died in police custody in different locations in Cambodia over the first five months of this year. There have been allegations that they suffered torture or other forms of ill-treatment. However, the police have refuted these allegations and with medical certification as proof, claimed that the suspects had committed suicide. The reference to medical certification has led to further allegations that doctors whom the authorities called in to do the autopsies were themselves under pressure not to antagonize the police and arrive at a conclusion that did not differ from what the police version. Despite the ongoing suspicion of torture or other forms of ill-treatment the authorities have refused independent investigations into the causes of those deaths.

More recently, another suspect died in police custody in Svay Rieng Province. The suspect, Thong Sary, 54, was arrested in a drunk-driving accident in which he crashed his motorcycle, killing his passenger and injuring himself. His wife, Meas Thavy, visited him and, noting the worsening of his injuries repeatedly requested the custodial officer to send her husband to hospital for treatment. The officer refused her request and instead told her to bring in a doctor to treat him in prison.

Meas Thavy could not get a doctor to treat her husband because he was a suspect and there was no letter of authorization for medical treatment from the police. Dr. Ke Ratha, deputy director of the provincial health department, and a number of his fellow doctors carried out the autopsy on Thong Sary. Dr. Ke Ratha has reportedly said that Thong Sary “died from an inflammation of the stomach or intestine caused by drinking wine without eating, his injury from the traffic accident or if someone hit him.” Dr. Ke Ratha further said that “If he was sent for treatment on time he may not have died.”

Prach Rim, the provincial police chief, has denied allegations of torture on Thong Sary; but has admitted police carelessness over the refusal to send him for medical treatment.

The Asian Human Rights Commission holds that the cause of death of this particular police custody were not due so much to the “police carelessness” as to the shortcoming of the criminal procedure pertaining to police custody. This procedure has not recognized and guaranteed the rights of suspects to medical treatment. Article 99 of the Code of Criminal procedure has left this medical treatment to the discretionary decision to the custody officer and the prosecutor. This article says, “The Royal Prosecutor or the judicial police officer may ask a doctor to examine the detained person at any time.” Furthermore, article 98 of the same code has recognized and guaranteed the rights of suspect to legal counsel only after 24 hours of arrest has expired. It says, “After a period of twenty four hours from the beginning of the police custody has expired, the detainee may request to speak with a lawyer or any other person who is selected by the detain ee, provided that the sel.

In order to avoid any future possibility of “police carelessness” and further death in police custody, the Code of Criminal procedure should be amended to recognize and guarantee the rights of suspect to medical treatment, legal counsel and communication with family. Upon the arrest, it should be mandatory for custody officer to notify suspects of all these rights. Article 98 and article 99 should be amended for the custody police officer and be supplemented as follows:

Article 98: At the beginning of that detention, the suspect has to the right to speak with a lawyer or any other person who is selected by him or her, provided that the selected person is not involved in the same offense. He or she has further the right to communicate with his or her family.

Article 99: The suspect has the right to medical treatment anytime during his or her detention.
Article 99 (a): The custody police officer shall notify the suspect of his or her rights as mentioned in article 98 and 99.

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984

Human Impact on Critically Endangered Waterbird Beneficial

A white-shouldered ibis in Cambodia. Human impact on this critically endangered bird can be beneficial rather than destructive, and could even save it from extinction. (Credit: Hugh Wright)

ScienceDaily (July 26, 2009) — Human impact on one of the world's most threatened bird species can be beneficial rather than destructive - and could even save it from extinction - according to counterintuitive new findings by the University of East Anglia (UEA).

Published in the peer-reviewed journal Animal Conservation, the study by UEA conservation experts explores the exact reasons behind the decline of the critically endangered white-shouldered ibis.

The new study was carried out in Western Siem Pang Important Bird Area (IBA), northern Cambodia, where 160-200 of the birds survive – around half of the global population.

Working in partnership with BirdLife International, the researchers found that the ibis prefer to forage in open and accessible sites with low vegetation and bare soil. This is believed to be because it makes it easier to find prey, aids take-off and landing, and improves detection of approaching danger.

Traditional small-scale farming by local communities is therefore crucial to the ibis' survival because grazing livestock and burning of the forest understorey opens up these habitats making them suitable for the birds.

"Our findings show that this critically endangered species is largely dependent on the local farmers for their survival," said lead author Hugh Wright, of UEA's School of Environmental Sciences. "This is a fascinating outcome as we tend to assume that human activity always has a negative impact on the natural world."

Not all human influence is positive for the endangered ibis, however. Western Siem Pang - currently an unprotected site – is under imminent threat from large-scale development which would destroy the birds' habitats entirely, along with the local farming communities.

"The Forestry Administration in Cambodia is supportive of a proposal to make the area a protected forest and we believe that this – along with the continuation of local farming methods practiced for generation after generation – will be crucial in saving this once common species from extinction," added Hugh.

With fewer than 500 individuals remaining, mainly in Cambodia, the white-shouldered ibis has undergone the most rapid decline of all South-East Asia's large waterbirds and is now the most threatened. Once common in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, the precise causes behind the bird's continuing decline have until now been poorly understood, which has hindered conservation efforts.

This research was funded by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Chairman of Cambodian parliament told chairman of Thai parliament to withdraw troops from Cambodian territories

Source: Khmer Sthapana and Deum Ampil newspapers
Reported in English by Khmerization

Mr. Heng Samrin, the chairman of the Cambodian National Assembly, has told the visiting chairman of the Thai parliament to tell the Thai government to withdraw Thai troops from the Cambodian territories.

Mr. Chai Chidchob (pictured), the chairman of the Thai parliament, is on a two-day visit to Cambodia from 23rd to 24th July where he had met King Sihamoni, National Assembly Chairman Heng Samrin, Senate President Chea Sim and Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Mr. Korm Kosal, advisor Mr. Heng Samrin, told reporters that during the meeting between Mr. Heng Samrin and Mr. Chai Chidchob on the afternoon of Thursday 23rd, Mr. Heng Samrin told Mr. Chai to withdraw Thai troops from Cambodian territories. In response, Mr. Chai promised told convey the message to the Thai government.


Mr. Chai Chidchob (L) greeted Mr. Heng Samrin on his arrival for the meeting at Parliament House.


But during a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen on the same afternoon, the subject of Thai troop withdrawals have not been brought up. Mr. Ieng Sophalleth, spokesman for Prime Minister Hun Sen, told reporters that the pair only discussed about easing the military tensions along the borders. Mr. Sophalleth quoted Mr. Chi Chidchob as saying: "The Thai government will make efforts to ease the military tensions along the Khmer-Thai borders and he also proposed for strengthening of good cooperations between the two countries."

Mr. Sophalleth also quoted Mr. Hun Sen as responding that Cambodia will also make great efforts to avoid armed clashes along the borders.

At the same time as leaders from the two countries are discussing about easing border tensions, news from Preah Vihear indicated that the Thai military had sent more weaponry and troop reinforcements to Hill 500 while the Cambodian military responded by sending more troops to the area as well. The situations have been tense in the area.

Mr. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, told reporters that what Cambodia wants to see is the Thai parliament ratifying all agreements about border delimitation and demarcations signed by the Thai parliament. He said in the spirit of the agreements Thailand should have withdrawn its troops a long time ago.

Mr. Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association who had staged severals protests against Thai violations of Cambodian territories, said he is unable to organise a protest this time because he is on mission to the provinces.

Court Puts Off Verdict in Defamation Case

(Photo: SRP)

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
An unruly gathering of opposition supporters on Friday caused Phnom Penh Municipal Court to postpone a verdict in the defamation case against Mu Sochua until August.

Mu Sochua is being sued by Prime Minister Hun Sen for defamation, following her own suit against the premier in April. The municipal court was swarmed with more than 200 supporters Friday, while observers from the diplomatic and civil rights communities looked on.

Mu Sochua was present for the proceedings, which lasted all day, but she was unable to find a lawyer, after her first counsel resigned in the face of his own defamation suit and other attorneys were not found. Mu Sochua invoked her right to remain silent, saying in a statement to the court she was being denied a right to a fair trial.

“This right can only be guaranteed when I, as the accused, am judged by an independent and impartial tribunal,” she told the court.

Mu Sochua had sued Hun Sen for allegedly derogatory remarks made during the 2008 election campaign, but the court dropped the suit against her while maintaining the countersuit of Hun Sen. She had her parliamentary immunity suspended by the National Assembly in June.

“As an elected representative of the people, as a woman verbally attacked in public, I seek justice,” she said in her statement to the court. “The decision you are about to make will require conscience, impartiality and your own determination to stay above all forms of political pressure. If your choice is dictated by those who use the court as an instrument to silence their critics, then there can be no justice. There can be no rule of law.”

Hun Sen’s lawyer, Ky Tech, demanded the court punish Mu Sochua “according to the law” and fine her 10 million riel, about $2,500.

Court prosecutor Sok Kalyan said the evidence showed Mu Sochua was guilty of defaming Hun Sen and the law called for a fine of up to that amount. The law did not call for a prison term, he said.

At the end of the day, court judges said they would announce a verdict Aug. 4.

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Labels: CPP silencing the opposition voice | Hun Sen's travesty of justice | Mu Sochua vs Hun Sen

Police Wrap Up Training in Artifact Protection

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24 July 2009

The US FBI and national police on Friday wrapped up four days of training to prevent the theft of cultural artifacts.

The training included speakers from the US National Parks Service and State Department. The US supplied $12,000 worth of computer and electronic equipment “designed to assist the force with the apprehension and prosecution of those involved with the theft of artifacts and relics,” the US Embassy said in a statement.

Police underwent two days of training in Siem Reap, the gateway city to the temples of Angkor Wat, and two days of training in Phnom Penh. This was the second of two planned training courses.

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Labels: Artifact protection | FBI training of Cambodian cops

Economy Brings Worries of Exploitation

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
24 July 2009

Human trafficking and sexual and labor exploitation are likely to become more prevalent in Cambodia as the economic crisis continues, senior officials and UN observers say.

The economic slowdown is limiting job prospects, forcing some workers to look abroad, where they could be in danger of exploitation, while others could fall into dangerous entertainment sectors.

“Because of the world’s economy has changed, it will cause trafficking more severely,” Ing Kantha Phavy, Minister of Women’s Affairs, told a recent conference. “Whenever people can’t find a job in their home country, they will decide to go abroad with high risk and insecurity. That will lead to exploitation.”

Cambodia typically legally sends between 7,000 and 8,000 workers abroad each year, mostly to Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea. An estimated 20,000 Cambodians work in Thailand illegally, in construction, tourism and domestic services. Remittances for these workers add up to $300 million per year.

But with the increase in joblessness this year, those numbers are climbing, by as much as 30 percent from January to April, officials say.

The financial crisis has also caused a small bump in the number of workers in the entertainment industry, around 3 percent, according to the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region, or UNIAP.

UNIAP recently surveyed 357 women and girls between the ages of 15 and 49.

“This is an unprecedented situation,” UNIAP’s regional manager, Matthew Friedman, said. “The job losses will probably lead to more exploitative, trafficking in the future.”

The agency is concerned the lower employment numbers will lead to less security and more exploitation over time, he said.

Cambodia remains a source and destination for international and internal human trafficking. Women and children are trafficked to Thailand and Malaysia for labor and sexual exploitation—or they are moved around the country, feeding demand in cities like

Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville and Preah Sihanouk province.

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Labels: Economic impact on Cambodia | Increasing human trafficking and labor expoitation | UNIAP

RIP Free expression under Hun Xen's autocratic regime

Free Expression Severely Deteriorated: Groups

By Im Sothearith, VOA, Khmer
Original report from Washington
24 July 2009

Freedoms of expression and the press have been seriously damaged in recent months, which can have a ripple effect throughout the region, rights groups and analysts said recently.

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance and other concerned groups sent an open letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen July 17, denouncing a “rapidly and palpably deteriorating environment for free expression in Cambodia.”

The open letter, signed by 12 advocacy groups from across Southeast Asia, marked concerns that political speech and press freedom have been severely restricted after harsh attacks against parliamentarians, advocates, lawyers and journalists over the past year.

Mu Sochua answered her case at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court

SRP MP Mu Sochua showed up in Phnom Penh Court without defense lawyer and she chose to use her right to remain silent during the trial on July 24, 2009.

Dams in China Turn the Mekong into a River of Discord

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Rivers know no borders, but dams do
By Michael Richardson
Back in 1986, when China began building the first of a series of dams on the Mekong River, hardly anyone in the downstream countries of Southeast Asia paid attention. But today, as China races to finish the fourth dam for generating electricity on the upper reaches of Southeast Asia’s biggest river, concerns about possible environmental impacts in the region are rising fast. Moreover, fear about antagonizing China and Southeast Asia’s internecine dispute might make any concerted move unlikely.

The sheer scale of China’s engineering to harness the power of the Mekong and change its natural flow is setting off alarm bells, especially in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, the four countries of the lower Mekong basin where more than 60 million people depend on the river for food, water and transportation.

A report in May by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) warned that China’s plan for a cascade of eight dams on the Mekong, which it calls the Lancang Jiang, might pose “a considerable threat” to the river and its natural riches. In June, Thailand’s prime minister was handed a petition calling for a halt to dam building. It was signed by over 11,000 people, many of them subsistence farmers and fishermen who live along the river’s mainstream and its many tributaries.


Some analysts say that if the worst fears of critics are realized, relations between China and its neighbors in mainland Southeast Asia will be severely damaged. But mindful of the growing power and influence of China, Southeast Asian governments have muffled their concern. Meanwhile, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand have put forward plans to dam their sections of the Mekong mainstream, prompting Vietnam to object and undermining the local environmentalists’ case against China.

Although the Mekong is widely regarded as a Southeast Asian river, its source is in the glaciers high in Tibet. Nearly half of the 4,880 kilometer river flows through China’s Yunnan province before it reaches Southeast Asia. Since there is no international treaty governing use of trans-boundary rivers, China is in a dominant position, controlling the Mekong’s headwater. It has the right to develop its section of the river as it sees fit, and has done so without consulting its neighbors, let alone seeking their approval.
Massive Chinese Dams

The Mekong River basin drains water from an area of 795,000 square kilometers. The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an inter-governmental agency formed in 1995 by the four lower basin countries estimates that the sustainable hydropower potential of the lower basin alone is a massive 30,000 megawatts. But it also says that there are major challenges in balancing the benefits of clean electricity, water storage and flood control from the dams against negative impacts. These include population displacement, obstruction to fish movements up and down the river, and changes in water and sediment flow.

The cascade of dams being constructed in Yunnan will generate over 15,500 megawatts of electricity for cities and industries, helping to replace polluting fossil fuels, particularly coal and oil. The eight Yunnan dams will produce about the same amount of electricity as 30 big coal-burning plants.

The fourth of China’s Mekong dams, at Xiaowan, is due to be completed by 2012 at a cost of nearly US$4 billion.

Rising 292 meters, the dam wall will be the world’s tallest. Its reservoir will hold 15 billion cubic meters of water, more than five times the combined capacity of the first three Chinese dams. Since the end of 2008, when the river diversion channel of the Xiaowan hydropower dam was closed by Chinese engineers, the reservoir has been filling with water, paving the way to start the first electricity generating turbine in September. When full, the reservoir will cover an area of over 190 square kilometers. With a capacity to generate 4,200 megawatts of electricity, Xiaowan will be the largest dam so far on the Mekong.

However, by 2014, China plans to finish another dam below the Xiaowan at Nuozhadu. It will not be quite as high but will impound even more water, nearly 23 billion cubic meters, and generate 5,000 megawatts of power.

Chinese officials have assured Southeast Asia that the Yunnan dams will have a positive environmental impact. They say that by holding some water back in the wet season, the dams will help control flooding and river bank erosion downstream. Conversely, releases from the hydropower reservoirs to generate power in the summer will help ease water shortages in the lower Mekong during the dry season.

However, the UNEP-AIT report said that Cambodia’s great central lake Tonle Sap, the nursery of the lower Mekong’s fish stocks, and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, its rice bowl, were particularly at risk from changes to the river’s unique cycle of flood and drought. The Cambodian lake is linked to the Mekong by the Tonle Sap River. Scientists are concerned that reductions in the Mekong’s natural floodwater flow will cause falls in the lake’s water level and fish stocks, already under pressure from over-harvesting and pollution.

Vietnam worries that dwindling water volumes will aggravate the problem of sea water intrusion and salination in the low-lying Mekong Delta, where climate change and sea level rise threaten to inundate large areas of productive farm land and displace millions of people by the end of this century.
Lack of Cooperation

The MRC says it has been discussing technical cooperation with Chinese experts to assess downstream river changes caused by hydropower development. But China has refused to join the MRC or to agree to observe its resource management guidelines, preferring to remain a “dialogue partner”. Full membership would intensify scrutiny of its dam plans by downstream Southeast Asian states and increase pressure on Beijing, which controls 21 percent of the water, to take their interests into account.

While China’s program to dam the Mekong is moving ahead on schedule, proposals to do the same on the Southeast Asian section of the river have been put on hold. Before the global credit crisis and economic slow-down hit Asia’s export-oriented economies with full force this year, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand had announced plans to follow China’s lead on the upper Mekong by building a series of dams on the mainstream of the river in the lower basin.

There are now over 3,200 megawatts of electricity being generated on Mekong tributaries in Laos. But that too is being hurt by the crisis as Thailand, the main consumer of electricity in the lower Mekong, has announced that because of the global economic downturn, it expects to cut substantially the amount of power it imports from Laos.

A woman weaves cotton for fabric in China's southwest Yunnan province. Environmentalists have warned that China's dam building threatens fish stocks and will add to the pollution in the Mekong River. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)


The slowdown, however, provides a breathing space for Southeast Asian countries to assess how the Mekong mainstream dam projects will affect the interests of people in the river basin. But without China’s full participation, no Mekong management plan can be effective.

Beijing is intent on forging closer economic integration with mainland Southeast Asia through trade, investment, communication, transport and energy cooperation with its neighbors in the Greater Mekong Subregion. But this strategy may backfire if the region concludes that Chinese dams are having an adverse impact on their future development prospects.

Photos from Phnom Trop, Preah Vihear province

(337 miles) north of Phnom Penh,

Cambodia soldiers patrol on the top of Phnom Trop, near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Thai troops stand guard on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea


Cambodian soldiers stand guard while Cambodian and Thai commanders have a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones of the Cambodian-Thai border at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)


A Cambodian soldier carries Thailand's B-40 rocket that he found on the ground last week back to Thai soldiers during a negotiation about a reset of soldier zones of the Cambodian-Thai border at the frontline on top of the mountain Phnom Trop about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) east of the famed Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008. Thai and Cambodian field commanders worked Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008, to strengthen a fragile truce following a deadly gun battle between their soldiers stationed on the border. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)


A Cambodian soldier carries a cow's leg on the way up to Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea


Cambodian troops patrol on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea


Cambodian troops patrol on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodian troops patrol on the top of Phnom Trop mountain near the disputed 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple in Preah Vihear province, 543 km (337 miles) north of Phnom Penh, October 19, 2008. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Photographer Showcases Legendary Khmer Temple Preah Vihear

Photo of Preah Vihear by Jon Ortner

Guarded by giant seven-headed serpent gods high on a mountain, on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, is an ancient sacred site that's often been at the center of conflict.
Jon Ortner, photographer and author of the book "Angkor, Celestial Temples of the Khmer Empire," shares his first encounters and impressions of the thousand-year-old sanctuary Preah Vihear in this essay of words and photos composed especially for NatGeo News Watch.





By Jon Ortner

Special Contributor to NatGeo News Watch

"Sir, you cannot go!" My heart sank as the harsh voice of a Thailand border patrol officer rang out, "If you go...boom, boom, boom."

I looked through the military binoculars the guard handed me. Across the valley, surrounded by thick piles of sand bags, was a bunker. In it was a group of young soldiers, members of the feared Khmer Rouge.

Casually smoking cigarettes, they were aiming a machine gun directly at us.

No other explanation necessary.

Our disappointment, hard to accept, was tempered by the stern and rugged faces of the men behind the machine gun. We needed no reminder that this place had a history of serious conflict.


My wife Martha and I were traveling along the rugged Dangrek Mountains where Thailand and Cambodia share a much-disputed border--and which is also home to some of the most magnificent temples in Asia.

It was March 1997, and we were approaching our objective, the reason we had traveled so far.

Our driver had stopped the car and motioned for us to start walking. Strangely alone, we walked down the empty road for 20 minutes.

After about a mile we approached what appeared to be a military border post. Partially dug into the ground, it was protected by walls of sand bags.

Across a forested valley we could see a mountain. A long flat plateau ran up its flank leading to the summit.

Scattered along the plateau, glinting in the harsh afternoon sun, were ancient ruins. Through the forest we could discern fragments of massive walls, terraces and piles of huge stones scattered about.

We were getting our first tantalizing glimpse of the legendary temple of Preah Vihear.


Translated as the "holy monastery," Preah Vihear is one of the great architectural treasures of the world. Some experts consider it the most spectacularly situated of all the Khmer monuments.

We had been drawn there by the faintest of rumors that had been floating around Bangkok: We had heard that it might be possible to visit Preah Vihear, a remote shrine famous for its fine carvings.

I had long dreamt of an opportunity to explore and photograph Preah Vihear. I had heard it described as a premier repository of Hindu art and architecture and a masterpiece of the Khmer civilization.

But as I took a last glance at Preah Vihear in the distance, the Thai officer reminded me that visiting this unique and beautiful place was forbidden, and that no attempt should be made to cross the border a few hundred yards away.

A monk stands beside the collapsed tower (prang) of the innermost sanctuary. The courtyard is enclosed by galleries.

Photo by Jon Ortner

Tragically, Preah Vihear had been taken over by the last desperate vestiges of the Khmer Rouge. Their notorious leader, Pol Pot, accused of murdering perhaps as many as two million of his countrymen, was hiding nearby in the small village of Anlong Veng. It was not until his death in April of 1998 and the surrender of the last Khmer Rouge forces that the area became safe to visit once again.

Attributed to the reign of Yasovarman I, who ruled from AD 889-910, the temple was maintained and embellished over a 300-year period by as many as seven kings.

Lord of the Summit

Constructed as a monastic sanctuary, it was dedicated to the Hindu God Shiva in his manifestation as the Shikhareshvara, Lord of the Summit.

Preah Vihear sits atop a 1,700-foot cliff named Pey Ta Di, The promontory on which it is built is part of a chain of heavily forested peaks that form the border of Thailand and Cambodia. And it is this geography that has put Preah Vihear at the center of conflict.

Although Preah Vihear was originally placed clearly within Cambodia on the first border maps drawn up in the early 1900s, its precarious location on the top of a peak has traditionally made access easier from the Thai side.


The pediment on the gopura of the second level illustrates the Hindu myth of creation, "The Churning of the Sea of Milk."

Photo by Jon Ortner

Thailand has had a long history of disagreement with the placement of the border with Cambodia, which has led to repeated armed clashes between the two nations. The matter was brought to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and in July 1962 Cambodia was awarded official ownership of the temple and its precincts.

Civil war broke out in Cambodia in 1970 and by May of 1977 Preah Vihear was fully controlled by the Khmer Rouge.

Invasion by Vietnam

From 1979 through 1989 Vietnam invaded and occupied Cambodia, trying to rescue the country from the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.

The continuation of guerilla warfare throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, and the planting of land mines in the area surrounding Preah Vihear, kept it completely off limits.

During those decades no one knew if warfare or theft had severely damaged or even destroyed the delicate and irreplaceable art and architecture of the shrine.

A stable government was seated in Phnom Penh by September 1998, and by 2000 Preah Vihear was again open for visits from the Thai side.

The gopura, or entrance pavilion, of the first level is ornamented with an unusual diamond-shaped decoration at the top of the gable."

Photo by Jon Ortner

In November 2000, finding ourselves once more based in Bangkok, Martha agreed to try to visit Preah Vihear again. We flew from Bangkok to Ubon, then drove toward the border.

After staying overnight in the town of Kantharalak, we approached the first Thai check post early the next morning. My knees were weak with anticipation as we passed through in the direction of Cambodia. Again we were let off by the driver and told to start walking.

Soon we were crossing a footbridge across a small stream. We opened a wire gate and walked through. Chain-link fences heavily festooned with barbed wire extended from us. Our attention was immediately drawn to the ominous warning signs of land mines. They directed us, convincingly, not to step off the path.

Photo of Martha and Jon Ortner courtesy Jon Ortner

We crossed the actual border, then, walking uphill, we soon came to a small market. We were practically alone, didn't see any other westerners, and had to ask where we could find the Cambodian border guard to stamp our passports.

After paying visa fees and getting our papers stamped, we were on our way.

Just ahead we could see the beginning of an ancient stone stairway, almost 30 feet wide at its base. Its massive steps were made of single slabs, some hewn directly out of the mountain.

At the top we emerged onto a platform, flanked by a pair of giant seven-headed Nagas, or snakes. Protectors of the underworld, granters of the monsoon rains, controllers of the sacred rivers, they guarded and sanctified the grounds we were about to enter.


Naga, a seven-headed serpent god, at the entrance of Preah Vihear.

Photo by Jon Ortner

When we reached the lowest pavilion we were greeted by a group of young Cambodian soldiers. Very friendly and eager to practice their English, they welcomed us to Cambodia and to Preah Vihear.

Our first impressions of the temple were overpowering. The carving was some of the most beautiful and detailed that we had ever seen, reminding us of the intricate work we had observed at the miniature pink temple of Banteay Srei, near Angkor. At Preah Vihear the colors of the stone glowed richly in shades of tan, yellow, and russet. Faint traces of the original red paint were visible.

Lichens and mosses fed by the persistent cool and foggy conditions had grown over everything. A living patina covered the crumbled ruins of towers, walls and colossal foundations. It had the appearance of great age, and as we wondered through it we imagined we heard echoes of prayers and the chants of veneration accorded it over the centuries.

Spiritual Power

Slightly overgrown with tall grasses swaying in the breeze, Preah Vihear gave us a vision of a place that still resonates with an indescribable spiritual power. We felt as if we had entered a forgotten paradise whose sanctity somehow still infuses every stone, every leaf, and each moment in time.

For two glorious days we explored, discovered and were mesmerized by the complexity, the elegance, and the overpowering beauty of the location and the shrine itself.

Aside from a few Thai tourists, we were almost completely by ourselves. Only now do we realize what an extraordinary experience it truly was.

As we walked through immense hallways, giant stone colonnades arranged in rows spoke of the power and grandeur of these structures.

When we reached the main sanctuary situated on the summit of the mountain, what struck us so notably was that, unlike most of the other Khmer temples we had studied and photographed, this one was not enclosed by vegetation.

Surprisingly it was neither overgrown by dense jungle nor shaded by tall tropical trees. Instead, it was open to the sky, with expansive views in all directions.

Yet the temple faced south, and its purpose was not for the enjoyment of scenic views, but for introspection, meditation, and worship of the Hindu gods. The cliff upon which it sat was sheer and extended far out over the plain below. The main shrine was built at the very tip of this triangular promontory.

The courtyard enclosed by galleries contained a cruciform-shape mandapa or pavilion, and the ruins of a large prang or tower. It was likely that only the king and certain high priests would have been allowed in this inner sanctum.

Here we found a solitary monk, standing quietly, as delicate and shy as a forest deer.

Illuminated by the late afternoon light, his robe glowed deep orange, the color sacred to both Hindu and Buddhist ascetics. He kindly gave us blessings for having arrived at the end of our journey, the very heart of Preah Vihear.

Its inaccessible location on top of the peak gave the whole complex a feeling of mystical isolation. It was an earthly representation of the mythological abode of Shiva on celestial Mount Meru high in the Himalaya.


On the fourth level, square pillars once supported a tiled, wooden roof of a grand hall leading to the inner enclosure.

Photo by Jon Ortner

Unlike the gargantuan temple-cities of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, monuments that projected the unlimited power of the gods and the kings, Preah Vihear was constructed as a monastic retreat, a hermitage and the distant outpost of the empire.

The levels of the temple symbolize the progressive stages of spiritual evolution through the higher states of consciousness, and ultimately to nirvana.

As we ascended the levels of the shrine, we were aware of the deeply held belief that the levels of the temple symbolize the progressive stages of spiritual evolution through the higher states of consciousness, and ultimately to nirvana or enlightenment.

Almost everywhere we looked, carved into the lintels and pediments above each doorway were scenes of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, the trinity of great Hindu gods.

Looking down upon us they were forever frozen in time, enacting their elaborate roles in the cosmic drama, the stories of creation, destruction, war and love, from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

World Heritage Site

In 2008 Preah Vihear was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which should have brought additional protection to the site.

But by July 2008 there were renewed tensions as the boundary issue flared again. Sporadic fighting has continued, and in April 2009 Thai rockets fired across the border destroyed a Cambodian market. At least 11 soldiers have died in the last year during this series of skirmishes.

Currently the temple is again off limits.

Perhaps some kind of international park with the shrine open from both Thailand and Cambodia may be the only way to resolve the stand-off.

We can only hope that soon the thousand-year-old Preah Vihear and its sacred mountain will once again be open to elevate the aspirations of mankind and to inspire with its beauty all who are privileged to see it.


Jon Ortner is the photographer and author of a number of photography books, including "Angkor: Celestial Temples of the Khmer Empire" (Abbeville Press, 2002).

The book contains more than 200 photographs (shot with 6x7cm medium-format cameras and Fuji Velvia 50 film), historic illustrations, maps, crhonology of sites, and floor plans. The photographs were created over a six-year period, starting in 1995 and ending in 2001, on numerous extended journeys to Cambodia and eastern Thailand.

Preah Vihear, Phnom Kulen, Kbal Spean, and Beng Mealea--areas closed for decades because of the activities of the Khmer Rouge--are among the many seldom-visited locations of Khmer sacred sites included in the book.

TVK Khmer News- 7 July 2009-2 Preah Vihear (UNESCO)
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