The affluent and well connected couple, Richer and Sithea San, is offering a much needed service that the Hun Sen ruling party did not object to their latest visit. Such service includes among others: "hosting a team of Cambodian business owners interested in investing in Long Beach" (Photo: Long Beach Press Telegram)By Mira Jang, Staff writer
Long Beach Press Telegram (California, USA)
LONG BEACH - Sithea and Richer San are not government officials with fancy titles or policy experts with Ph.Ds.
They are a married couple who share a deep concern and a similar vision for the Cambodian community here and abroad. They say they'll do whatever they can to help Cambodian businesses thrive in Long Beach and rebuild the economy of their former homeland, which they fled years ago to escape death under the Khmer Rouge.
The Bellflower residents on Friday left for Cambodia, where they will join a 10-member U.S. delegation of business owners from Long Beach and Houston. In addition to Richer San, who is vice chairman of the local Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, the group includes Peter Long, the local chamber's chairman.
Over two days, the team will meet the ambassador to the United States and representatives from the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the National Cambodian Rice Miller Association in the largest trip of its kind, they say.
"Before the Killing Fields, we did well," Richer San, 43, said. "Cambodia could do better."
Cambodia, a country of nearly 14 million people, has been reeling from the devastating effects of civil wars and massacres under the extremist communist regime, the Khmer Rouge, which seized power in April 1975. Under the regime, at least 1.5 million people died from executions, starvation or hard labor, according to the CIA World Factbook Web site.
With a 2005 per capita GDP of $2,500, 40 percent of the population lived below the poverty line as of 2004, according to CIA World Factbook estimates. Comparatively, 12 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line as of 2004, and U.S. per capita GDP was $41,600 as of 2005, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Despite the daunting task of economic reform in a country mired in red tape and corruption, the U.S. delegation is hoping to make inroads into a society they believe is ready and hungry for more open trade relations.
The key to development and, in turn, the creation of a sizeable middle class and a more democratic society, they say, is public awareness and efficient economic policies that will make it easier for foreigners to invest in Cambodia and for Cambodians to trade with the United States.
"If they're always thinking about what they'll eat, they won't be able to think about anything else," Sithea San, 42, said.
One goal, they say, is to help Cambodian rice producers export their crop to the United States and educate other retailers on sending over dried fish and canned fruit that usually come from other Asian countries.
Friends Danny Phan, 35, and Paul Holt, 34, both of Houston, will visit Cambodia for the first time this week to see if they could start a shrimp business back in the United States.
"It's cheaper there (in Cambodia), so we want to explore the possibility of importing," Phan said.
For the past two years, the Sans have hosted a team of Cambodian business owners interested in investing in Long Beach, which is home to the largest population of Cambodians in the country.
Room to grow Cambodia Town
Community leaders are awaiting the possible approval of a proposed Cambodia Town designation along Anaheim Street to jump-start what they see as a burgeoning business community and tourist attraction.
Recently, the Long Beach City Council voted to send the Cambodia Town idea to a committee for further review. When the idea returns to the council early next year, Richer San said he is confident the council will approve the plan.
"Cambodia Town is the ultimate goal. That's the big picture. More economic development will benefit the Cambodian community," Richer San said.
"We want to build a bridge between Long Beach Cambodians and Cambodians in Cambodia by bringing Cambodia right here to Long Beach. It will show Cambodians back home the effect of free will, and it will influence their attitude about the possibilities of trade and economic development."
During his visit, Richer San will try to convince investors to build in the area informally known as Cambodia Town - roughly along Anaheim Street between Junipero and Atlantic avenues.
"I'm trying to sell them their legacy because they don't need to make any more money. It will be something for them to pass on to the next generation," Richer San said.
A group of investors are close to finishing up a deal to buy back a large piece of city land on Anaheim Street and Walnut, Richer San said, to build a business center that will include an expansive jewelry mart.
One sign of transnational trade relations is the 120 acres of land in Cambodia that Richer San bought with 14 other Cambodians in Cambodia and the United States. The seaside estate may be turned into a luxury resort, Richer San said.
The delegation will also present a proclamation from Mayor Bob Foster to a newly formed organization, "Phnom Penh-Long Beach Sister City," which will work with the sister city group here to facilitate student exchange programs and cultural education.
The Sans are aware that some Cambodian Americans will disapprove of their effort to work with the Cambodian government - a relatively new democracy - given the legacy of the Khmer Rouge. But they see it as an opportunity to stretch the imaginations of those who doubt the country's readiness for free market enterprise.
"We owe it to our country, not any political group. We see the suffering, the effects of the civil war," Richer San said.
CSULB beginning
The Sans' commitment to rebuilding their homeland traces back to their days at Cal State Long Beach, where they met and fell in love. The couple and their families survived the Killing Fields as teenagers. When they arrived in the United States in 1981 - Richer San in Los Angeles's Koreatown and Sithea San in Long Beach - they vowed never to forget what they left behind.
"In college I always thought about going back," Richer San said. "I believed that if enough of us do our share, Cambodia will be better."
After marrying, they returned for the first time in 1993 to help a friend campaign for a seat in Parliament. Two years later, they moved there and worked for the now defunct Cambodian airline until they returned permanently to the United States in 2001.
With friends in high places, and by offering a much-needed service, Richer San said the ruling party in Cambodia has not objected to their latest visit.
Unlike previous trips, this one will be a mix of business and pleasure for the Sans. They will visit family in South Vietnam, or Kampuchea Krom, as well as Angkor Wat, the great temple featuring classical Khmer architecture.
"We want to focus on economic development, not the tragedies of recent history," Richer San said, "because that was just a small part of Khmer civilization. This is the way to help our people."
Mira Jang can be reached at mira.jang@presstelegram.com or at (562) 499-1278.
They are a married couple who share a deep concern and a similar vision for the Cambodian community here and abroad. They say they'll do whatever they can to help Cambodian businesses thrive in Long Beach and rebuild the economy of their former homeland, which they fled years ago to escape death under the Khmer Rouge.
The Bellflower residents on Friday left for Cambodia, where they will join a 10-member U.S. delegation of business owners from Long Beach and Houston. In addition to Richer San, who is vice chairman of the local Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, the group includes Peter Long, the local chamber's chairman.
Over two days, the team will meet the ambassador to the United States and representatives from the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and the National Cambodian Rice Miller Association in the largest trip of its kind, they say.
"Before the Killing Fields, we did well," Richer San, 43, said. "Cambodia could do better."
Cambodia, a country of nearly 14 million people, has been reeling from the devastating effects of civil wars and massacres under the extremist communist regime, the Khmer Rouge, which seized power in April 1975. Under the regime, at least 1.5 million people died from executions, starvation or hard labor, according to the CIA World Factbook Web site.
With a 2005 per capita GDP of $2,500, 40 percent of the population lived below the poverty line as of 2004, according to CIA World Factbook estimates. Comparatively, 12 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line as of 2004, and U.S. per capita GDP was $41,600 as of 2005, according to the CIA World Factbook.
Despite the daunting task of economic reform in a country mired in red tape and corruption, the U.S. delegation is hoping to make inroads into a society they believe is ready and hungry for more open trade relations.
The key to development and, in turn, the creation of a sizeable middle class and a more democratic society, they say, is public awareness and efficient economic policies that will make it easier for foreigners to invest in Cambodia and for Cambodians to trade with the United States.
"If they're always thinking about what they'll eat, they won't be able to think about anything else," Sithea San, 42, said.
One goal, they say, is to help Cambodian rice producers export their crop to the United States and educate other retailers on sending over dried fish and canned fruit that usually come from other Asian countries.
Friends Danny Phan, 35, and Paul Holt, 34, both of Houston, will visit Cambodia for the first time this week to see if they could start a shrimp business back in the United States.
"It's cheaper there (in Cambodia), so we want to explore the possibility of importing," Phan said.
For the past two years, the Sans have hosted a team of Cambodian business owners interested in investing in Long Beach, which is home to the largest population of Cambodians in the country.
Room to grow Cambodia Town
Community leaders are awaiting the possible approval of a proposed Cambodia Town designation along Anaheim Street to jump-start what they see as a burgeoning business community and tourist attraction.
Recently, the Long Beach City Council voted to send the Cambodia Town idea to a committee for further review. When the idea returns to the council early next year, Richer San said he is confident the council will approve the plan.
"Cambodia Town is the ultimate goal. That's the big picture. More economic development will benefit the Cambodian community," Richer San said.
"We want to build a bridge between Long Beach Cambodians and Cambodians in Cambodia by bringing Cambodia right here to Long Beach. It will show Cambodians back home the effect of free will, and it will influence their attitude about the possibilities of trade and economic development."
During his visit, Richer San will try to convince investors to build in the area informally known as Cambodia Town - roughly along Anaheim Street between Junipero and Atlantic avenues.
"I'm trying to sell them their legacy because they don't need to make any more money. It will be something for them to pass on to the next generation," Richer San said.
A group of investors are close to finishing up a deal to buy back a large piece of city land on Anaheim Street and Walnut, Richer San said, to build a business center that will include an expansive jewelry mart.
One sign of transnational trade relations is the 120 acres of land in Cambodia that Richer San bought with 14 other Cambodians in Cambodia and the United States. The seaside estate may be turned into a luxury resort, Richer San said.
The delegation will also present a proclamation from Mayor Bob Foster to a newly formed organization, "Phnom Penh-Long Beach Sister City," which will work with the sister city group here to facilitate student exchange programs and cultural education.
The Sans are aware that some Cambodian Americans will disapprove of their effort to work with the Cambodian government - a relatively new democracy - given the legacy of the Khmer Rouge. But they see it as an opportunity to stretch the imaginations of those who doubt the country's readiness for free market enterprise.
"We owe it to our country, not any political group. We see the suffering, the effects of the civil war," Richer San said.
CSULB beginning
The Sans' commitment to rebuilding their homeland traces back to their days at Cal State Long Beach, where they met and fell in love. The couple and their families survived the Killing Fields as teenagers. When they arrived in the United States in 1981 - Richer San in Los Angeles's Koreatown and Sithea San in Long Beach - they vowed never to forget what they left behind.
"In college I always thought about going back," Richer San said. "I believed that if enough of us do our share, Cambodia will be better."
After marrying, they returned for the first time in 1993 to help a friend campaign for a seat in Parliament. Two years later, they moved there and worked for the now defunct Cambodian airline until they returned permanently to the United States in 2001.
With friends in high places, and by offering a much-needed service, Richer San said the ruling party in Cambodia has not objected to their latest visit.
Unlike previous trips, this one will be a mix of business and pleasure for the Sans. They will visit family in South Vietnam, or Kampuchea Krom, as well as Angkor Wat, the great temple featuring classical Khmer architecture.
"We want to focus on economic development, not the tragedies of recent history," Richer San said, "because that was just a small part of Khmer civilization. This is the way to help our people."
Mira Jang can be reached at mira.jang@presstelegram.com or at (562) 499-1278.
19 comments:
best if we have more khmer development then foreign development
The idea is for the corrupt Cambodian officials and businessmen to legally move their dirty money out of Cambodia to the U.S., just like the triads invested their drug money in Cambodia on properties and lands. One man's profit is another man's loss. That is the economic reality.
Well Anonymous@4:46PM, that what Ho Chi Minh's vision had been...Vietnam still will be able to annex and vietnamize Cambodia systematically (or by the book if you will) with the help of Cambodian people themselves. The outside world will applaud the ideas while looking at it as steps and progress towards peace and prosperity in Cambodia. And, this is all because of the Viet-engineered Killing Fields. Khmer's spirit has been crushed for good. Khmer will no longer has the will to fight. Khmer will only do things to survive and heal leaving everything else to their Karma while the Viets are fully in control rewriting Khmer's history....The Viets have compared Khmer to a turtle that pulls his head back in to his cage/shell and never ever once again comes out.
Pretty soon, it will be all over for Khmer race as we know it! what a shame!
They want to bring the commis to spoil the Cambodian Community in long beach. they want to bring the commis to carry the blood money to clean in the us.
that what that couple want Cambodia Town in Long Beach
What a shame of this couple and his associate to Cambodian Community.
good for you...but do business with cpp is just a joke...even go and do charity they "bork you" already....how many cambodian american go and invested with cpp or cambodia bring back profit to usa to support their families...but only brought back with anger and break up with family...but good luck to you....may be you can change the pol pot children who now reign our belove it land and people.....
If you have a good sence of humour is a wonderful Khmer. But I have doubted if you go for grabbing land and robbing poor people in cambodia like OUknha Kidth Meng.
What kind of business can you do in Cambodia? Drugs? lands grabbing? If you don't do these business how can make enough profit to pay your security in Cambodia? What kind of business you can do in Cambodia better than in the US? Without doing illegal business, you will be bankrupt within your first month. Please ask Mr Ted Noy first. Why he has to return back to USA.
They said that they had friends in high places in Cambodia. Doesn't that tell you enough about their intention?
They're paid to spread positive propaganda for Hun Sen regiem.
To these people (CPP) democracy is the enemy, so they must think like the enemy. While hiding their true purpose.
I much appreciated your ideas. Hope you can make a difference to Cambodians in the US and Cambodia.
Hun Sen and CPP will buy out Khmer Comscousness starting with this powerful couple husband Cambodian Chamber and head of Phnom Penh-Long Beach husband and wife city initiative
Wife is head of Cambodia Town which will soon be PhnomLong Penhbeach wife city.It appears wife is the head of state and husband is the Prime Minister
It smells fishy here.
Doing business with a fuckup democracy country... That is childish!I thought they are smart couple but turn out to be a dumb ass.
"If they're always thinking about what they'll eat, they won't be able to think about anything else," Sithea San, 42, said.
IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT THOSE 90% IMPECUNIOUS AND DESTITUTE OF ETHNIC KHMER PEOPLE, THEY ARE DESPERATELY WORRIED WHETHER THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE ANYTHING FOR THE NEXT MEAL OR NOT.
. . One sign of transnational trade relations is the 120 acres of land in Cambodia that Richer San bought with 14 other Cambodians in Cambodia and the United States. The seaside estate may be turned into a luxury resort, Richer San said.
YOU DID NOT TELL US THE WHOLE STORY. DID YOU OR DID YOU NOT HAVE THOSE OF YOURS WITH THEIR GUNS POINTING AT THOSE POOR INNOCENT KHMERS' HEADS . . . . . SO YOU CAN HAVE YOUR SO-CALLED SEASIDE ESTATE . . .
. . they returned for the first time in 1993 to help a friend campaign for a seat in Parliament. Two years later, they moved there and worked for the now defunct Cambodian airline until they returned permanently to the United States in 2001.
THE OPPORTUNISTS! YEP, BOTH OF YOU CAME BACK WITH YOUR TALES BETWEEN YOUR LEGS. AS A MATTER OF FACT, NOT JUST BOTH OF YOU, NUMBERS OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU WERE LIKE THAT BACK THEN. NUMBERS OF YOU THOUGHT "ONE TRIP TO STRIKE RICH"
. . . .With friends in high places, and by offering a much-needed service, Richer San said the ruling party in Cambodia has not objected to their latest visit.
YEP, THAT TELLS US A LOT ABOUT BOTH OF YOU. BROWNNOSING! THEY DON'T NEED YOU, PEROID! THEY HAVE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND THE WORLD BANK SHOWERING THEM WITH LOTS OF $$$$ ALREADY.
. . . We want to focus on economic development, not the tragedies of recent history," Richer San said, "because that was just a small part of Khmer civilization. This is the way to help our people."
SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL PRINICIPLES GO HAND IN HAND. IN CAMBODIA, SOCIAL (90% ARE POOR AND UNEDUCATED), ECONOMIC (FEW RICH AND CORRUPTED), POLITICAL LEADERS (ABSOLUTE POWERS AND FAKED PHD’S).
CAMBODIA DOES NOT HAVE THE GOVERNMENT THAT BELIEVE IN THEIR PEOPLE.
ENJOY YOUR TRIP.
This is such a novel idea proposed by Mr. Richer San and I haven't thought about this before because I had always viewed HUN SEN regime as corrupted, violation of human right and violation of freedom of speech is not worth the time dealing with.
I think this idea might work after all. This will give the business community in United States to impose transparency , law and order, and democracy on any Cambodian businesses under HUN SEN regime that are doing business in United States.
Hopefully this will create domino effect on all businesses under HUN SEN regime and it will bring a change which will lead to a true free enterprise and fair competition and who know HUN SEN regime will also be change!ahaha
Welcome to United States to all those businesses under Mr.HUN SEN regime and let Uncle SAM shows you how it is done!ahahahahahahahhah
Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to the United States.
Calm down now,they just return for their second honeymooning after the first sour grape round.That's all folks
To: Bidder of US!
What is your point man? I don't care if it is a second honeymoon!
What matter to me is does Cambodian business under HUN SEN regime will to be democratic and law and order and of course transparency!
It only a honeymoon and they haven't got down to business yet!
I say let get it on with the business right now because time is money!
Please tell me of any single richman of Cambodia has his wealth without killing one of his partner?
I guarantee you that all the rich there are all cold blood people!!!!
They have created their wealth from other people lives.
To 3:37AM
Duh? Come on man! Rich people need poor people to be rich! Poor people without the rich people won't have job to do!
Do you see poor people set up factories or employ people?
New people! new idea!
Do whatever you want to do. You are free! No one can say that you are right or wrong or good or bad. Time will tell. You are into this with a long hall to prove to us and you are sure at the prime time of your life. Typical young thinker. I believe that they are at least innocently sail into an advanture of their lives.
I wish you both much such success! Think positive and always think turning Cambodia around. Good Luck!
I like 1:06p.m. give them a chance. We are all only live one.
In 2008, will change our PM and that is our plan. We should and will not giving that idoit and as...gov another chance that sure. No way!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next!
Visiting Cambodian in South Vietnam or having so amny acess to just about everywhere in Cambodia, you both could be more sucessful being lure into as a Spy by those Vietcong than a business people.
Don't turn on our won people! Do you undertsand? I'm happy for you, but also deadly afraid of your darkest side. Somebody needs to be on al ook out for this two couple. They'd better not turn their fang toward us.
Appearancely, they didn't seem to worry about that or just planly unawared of this dangerous circumstance. No wonder many of us could not do what they did, but this is just one couple. There will be many more follow, if they are to be sucessful and one will fall, if not becareful enough.
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