Colonialism, war and aid dependence in Cambodia

Cambodia is a great case for study topics such as technologies appropriation and social change. We have a country that was few decades ago the scenery of violent tensions and now is struggling to recover its lost time by joining globalization. Even we have several objections, it is true that its economy is growing and much has been done in the last ten years in Cambodia. Therefore, we need a constant flow of analysis that any policy maker shouldn’t refuse, not inscribing in any monolithic conception of development. When we talk about growth and social change, we must know the distinction behind these two terms, used as synonyms by certain sources. M. Gillis, D.H. Perkins, M. Roemer and D.R. Snodgrass (1983) give us a good definition of it: 

Google translate supports Khmer now

This is definitely a good news for the reduction of the digital gap in Cambodia: the Google Translate, has released the Khmer translation option that would make the Cambodian language accessible to  65 other global language. It is good to congratulate all persons and organizations working to make computers and Internet accessible to Cambodians in their own language, as well as Khmer language, the main modern branch of the Mon-Khmer linguistic family and a relative to Sanskrit and Pali accessible to the international community. It will be a benefit to students, teachers, journalists, economist, officials and everybody involved in the digital development of Cambodia. 

Let’s preserve historical remnants in Kep and everywhere

An old edification in Bokorville, another former French village at the top of the Bokor Mountain, today a place of reconstruction with big development plants. Photo Al Rodas 04.16.2010.

The upcoming Kep Expo Project is speaking very good about preservation of historical remnants in Kep Province and Cambodia. In this short documentary by Radio Australia we can see that there are people who worry about the protection of the national historical heritage. For me it would not be exaggerated to request the inclusion of Kep Town and Bokorville, as well as many other French colonial places around the country, as Unesco World Heritage Sites and there are many reasons why.   But in order to do so, it is needed an urgent plan of protection before some other groups of people without any historical conscience and the hurry for dollars, will end with the demolition of most colonial old villas of Kep. One thing we have to understand is that the Cambodian past does not end in the Angkorean period. Contrary to it, there are several remnants before and after the Angkor period that fit the complete historical picture of Cambodia.

Shocking accident in Phnom Penh kills children

The country is now following the development of a horrific accident in the streets of Phnom Penh that kills at least two children and let ten other persons with serious injures this weekend. It is not yet satisfactory the explanations of the family of Miss Bised Marita, 22, who was driving her Camery car number ‘Phnom Penh 2R:5008′  at about 2PM of Friday. Marita is a student of medicine and it seems that she was bringing two young brothers with her. The mother said this morning to the press that her daughter has mental problems. Nine motorbikes, 4 bicycles, 3 children killed and ten persons in the hospital is the result of what first published as a woman that lost control of her car in the busy streets of the capital. A Camery coming from the Independence Monument hit first two motorbikes in front to the Thai Embassy, along the Preah Norodom Boulevard in the Chamkamom District. Other four motorbikes followed by the uncontrolled car. When she seemed to realized what was happening at the corner of the 466′s street, in front to he Ministry of Interior, witnesses say she tried to escape, then she hit other six motorbikes and then 6 child students in bicycles, two of them dying at the spot.

Event under development, wait for updates…

Phnom Sorsir’s children willing to learn

The children of Phnom Sorsir with Mr. Chin Sokkea of the Children Care organization from Phnom Penh (center). Don Bosco young volunteer Bin Pich up.

Kep City - The children of Phnom Sorsir had a special Sunday. The small program conducted by Cambodian volunteers of Don Bosco Vocational Center Kep in the region, got today a great motivation from Mr. Chin Sokkea and his organization Komphea Koma (Care for Children.)

The literacy program of Don Bosco Kep consisted in sending volunteer students to different villages of the Kep Province area during weekends to meet children. Mr. Bin Pich of the hotel management school, Seng Narong and Em Phorn of the social communication department chose Phnom Sorsir, a beautiful hill with a pagoda at its top, inside the Kep Province territory, not far from the sea.

This is the kind of journalism politicians dream

This is the kind of journalism certain politicians dream. In fact, some of them intend to give lessons to journalists of what to say and what to silence, making puppets to amuse the public, more as a kind of television show presenter than what we understand certainly as journalism: that representative of democracy with the duty to inform what is happening, putting it into historical, social and cultural context and analyzing it toward a future development of the events in order to light our decisions. As British play-writer Tom Stoppard said: I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon. And US fiction science writer Ray Bradbury: Journalism keeps you planted in the earth.

 

 

Cambodian young man looks for his Algerian father

Kol Said Dona holds the only two photos he has from his Algerian father, Chaffai Said, a former UNTAC policeman. Now he is looking for him after 18 years without news.

Kol Said Dona, 18, is a Cambodian student of journalism at Don Bosco Kep. His mother, Kol Syvong,  36, works as a farmer in Kompong Trach District, Kampot Province. He was born on 18 February 1994, one year after the United Nations Transition Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) finished its mandate. It was the first time that UN established a direct administration on an independent State. It came from the Paris Peace Accords of October 1991 where UNTAC became the government from 1992  to 1993 with the mission to prepare democratic elections. It included 15,900 military, 3,600 civilian policemen, 2,000 civilians and 450 UN volunteers from 33 nations.

Remembering Vann Nath

On 8th March 2009 I got the privilege to visit Mr. Vann Nath, the famous S-21′s painter survivor in his house of Phnom Penh. He would pass away two years after, on 5th September 2011. I got this opportunity thanks to a team of television journalists that were doing a kind of show and requested me to be their journalist guide throughout the Khmer Rouge regime history. To be frank, it was a very superficial approach and it is not even worthy to mention who they were, so the only thing I appreciate is the opportunity to meet persons like Vann Nath, Bou Men, the chief of the S-21′s prison and many other activities. 

Cambodia on its way

In 2012 Cambodia reached 14 million 952 thousand 665 persons, following the statistics of Index Mundo, which prevents that this estimate takes into account ‘the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS.’  Most Cambodians are by now 22 years old, being males younger the women. 32.2 percent of Cambodians are under 15 years old and 3.8 percent are older than 65. Cambodia continues to be a country with a very young population that is growing, though the unemployment rate is low with 0,2 percent as January 2012. In 2012 there was an estimate of 20% of Cambodians living in cities, but it is probably that such percent grew very much during the last year if we see how Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang and Sihanoukville are growing so fast.

I’m sorry I didn’t inform you about my traveling…

Talking about more Scam emails, here we have one that I think is becoming common in Cambodia targeting officials, expatriates and humanitarian workers. It involves the hack of your email account. The hacker sends an email in your name saying you are in an expected travel to somewhere in the world, then you lost your money, passport and everything by any circumstance. Now you are trapped in a foreign soil where you know nobody. May you send me some… to say, 2,900 Euros? I will give you back as soon as arrive home. As I have nothing more, please use the Western Union. 

ORG IFHRA fake email, be aware

 

Please be aware of fraudulent announcements directed to NGOs and development agencies. Here you find a screen shot of the last fake email I got in my account saying that a certain ORG IFHRA is concern about domestic violence. You can find the text denounced by this database monitoring fraudulent emails, UIA. Here is the text exposed. When you get an email of this kind and you have doubts about its real intention, copy the first lines and paste it on any search engine. In this case I paste the first text of this email in Google: ‘The worldwide concern about Domestic Violence; its impact on the fate of growing population of the world, has risen to unprecedented levels in the last few years‘ and it brought me to the monitoring fake emails’ database. Do not believe everything coming into your email.

Main text of the ‘worldwide concern about domestic violence’ fake email.

 

A Modern Historical Novel

Is a Cambodia a novel inspiration country? Evidently yes, with its troublesome past as a victim of the domino theory during the Cold War. Devastation, nightmares, terror and… Pol Pot. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia did not see an end to an even more complicated conflict, once more touched by internal and external interests, elements that molded what is Cambodia now. This political novel of William MacDonalds mixes many elements of that legacy of conflicts in a modern context. An imaginary story that touches reality in several points.

‘Guilt swarms over Cambodia. It is in the billions of dollars of aid that flow into Cambodia’s struggling economy, in the thousands of foreign aid workers that labor in its tiny capital, in the countless charity offices in its provincial towns, in the endless efforts to improve its medieval politics. Emily has come as part of the guilt,’ – After Pol Pot, a Modern Historical Novel.

The cradles of the Khmer nation

Kbal Romeas caves are located in Kompot Province and they belong to the first evidences of human settlements in the Southeast Asian region.

In the beginning was the Kbal Romeas Cave. Nobody knows for how long it was inhabited. Archaeologists found marine shells and ceramics at the site dated 5370 BC. Carbonnel and Delibrias dated the place to the New Stone Age in 3420 BC, corresponding to the Neolithic Revolution. The amazement of the Angkorian temples makes to neglect other historical – and pre-historical – times of the Khmers. The grandeur of Angkor did not come from night to day – Phnom Penh wasn’t built in a night. It is actually the result of a long historical process. The lovers of Angkor must study the previous date with careful attention to understand the process.

An apostle of the refugee camps to honor forever

Fr Pierre Ceyrac at the Khmer Refugee Camp Site II in Thailand by 1985. Photo courtesy websitesrcg.com. 

Too many organizations must receive recognition for their commitment to the people during the most troublesome moments of the Cambodian history like the time of civil war and conflict. The Cambodians of the unforgettable refugee camps in Thailand keep by sure a good memory of those institutions and their members spending their times and resources to support the most needed.

Please help to identify who is this young women’s abuser

This Cambodian youtuber identified as Chlat (meaning ‘clever’) uploaded yesterday this hideous video showing how a young man in school uniform hit a young lady. The title of the video is សិស្សខ្មែរវាយគ្នា ស្ទឹងត្រែង (Khmer students fighting in Steng Treng). The 45 seconds video shows how the man hits the girl several times, while she tries to defend herself. A group of young observers, among them other women, seem to enjoy the unequal battle. Chlat seems to film the fight from a motorbike. Some male voices encourage the action. The man dominates the girl taking her from her hair and it ended when she is on the ground and he is up her, then the observers approach and stop it. Neither the face of the aggressor or the victim is shown, as well the faces of the observers. The Chlat’s channel does not provide much information about his owner. Please help to identified the aggressor and his accomplices. I kept a copy of the video if it is removed upon any investigation. We should not tolerate any violence against girls and women in Cambodia. Boys and young men should learn to respect and give dignity to women. Here the video, but it can be deleted on Youtube soon by sure.

Update: The video has been already deleted by Youtube for violation of its terms of conditions. There is already a Khmer media reaction here in KhmerLoads.com. It seems that the Chlat’s channels is linked to that Khmer news website. The article describes also the event saying that the men were encouraging the action and at the end one says ‘the video is over’. The event seems to be located on a bridge in Stung Treng province, northern Cambodia.

An Al Jazeera documentary on Cambodian’s orphan business

Juliana Ruhfus of the Al Jazeera‘s People & Power program gets into the evident fake of several Cambodian orphanages using children and volunteers to get profit. She discovers for example that many of these centers do not complaint with the law, neither with the minimum conditions to guarantee the safety and healthy growing of the children they argue to protect. Foreign volunteers are brought to these centers without requiring criminal records, while other centers are in connection with tourist agencies to put their orphanages as tourist destinations. Good work from Al Jazeera! See the video documentary this link.

The successful laptop experiment

‘I can conclude that young people are always open to listen proposals and those proposals must keep vision for a best society.’

In 2009 I did an experiment with all my students of journalism in Sihanoukville: I told them something like this:

‘When I studied journalism in my city, I didn’t have actually computers, but I used an old typewriter.