Cambodia's Future After The 'Killing Fields'

Belmont film maker Lauren Shaw explores the post genocide generation of Cambodians in her documentary "Angkor's Children."

By Len Abram
BelmontPatch.com

A still from Lauren Shaw's documentary "Angkor's Children." Credit Lauren Shaw 

A still from Lauren Shaw's documentary "Angkor's Children." Credit Lauren Shaw 

Lauren Shaw

From 1975 until it was overthrown in 1979, the infamous Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot ruled Cambodia, murdering more than two million fellow Cambodians in a reign of internal terror not seen in modern history. The expression "the killing fields" represents what most people think of Cambodia.

This great loss of life changed the Cambodian demographics: 51 percent of the country today is under 25, and large numbers of the survivors fled to the United States as refugees, many settling in the Boston area.

Belmont resident Lauren Shaw, an associate professor in Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College, teaches photography in Boston. She was visiting Vietnam in 2007 when she decided to take a side-trip to Cambodia, the site of one of the world's great architectural wonders, Angkor Wat.

In contrast to Vietnam, she saw a country that was trying to rebuild after the horrors of genocide. It became apparent that Cambodia was a place she felt compelled to help.

Belmont Patch reached Shaw, who is preparing for another trip in December to Cambodia to work on her latest film, "Angkor's Children."

See the trailer for "Angkor's Children" above.

Patch: Your first documentary is about providing clean water to Cambodians, by contributing to the construction of wells. How did you first get involved in this village development project?

Shaw: "A Drop in the Bucket" is a documentary about the need for safe water throughout the rural areas of Cambodia. Without good health and education, this country cannot move forward.

Water is essential for providing good health, something we Americans take for granted. In Cambodia, a well costs $350.

Change has to begin somewhere. My documentary explores how safe water improves the lives of villagers and ultimately the general population. My wish is that "A Drop in the Bucket" raises public awareness and becomes a call to action.

Q: A significant Cambodian immigrant population is in the Boston area. Are they aware of your work about their native land?

A: In Lowell especially, I know of many Cambodian immigrants. And that's in addition to many Cambodian children adopted by American families after the Pol Pot regime. I have not shown this film in Lowell, but have made connections within the community, many of whom have never visited Cambodia. They share a deep love for their country, however, and their hope for its future.

Q: How will your second film "Anghor's Children" differ from your first?

A: "Angkor's Children" is about the post-genocide generation of young Cambodians. As noted, 50 per cent of the population is under 21. The seeds of the Angkor Empire of the 12th century lie in the Cambodian youth of today, which is moving beyond "the killing fields" to the aspirations of a new generation.

It is a story told by Cambodians, of energy, hope, and unexpected turns as they recapture the ancient, and embrace the modern, to create their future.

I intend to focus on three Cambodians as they pursue their dreams. One of them, a young woman, who earned her living picking trash, is now is a leading member of the Battambang circus. Chai a former boy/soldiers is an engineer, who is working to revise ancient, water reservoirs so that more villages will have access to water. Boomer, a deportee from the US, uses hip-hop to teach gang members in the city how to get off the street and live constructive lives. They are determined individuals in their ambitions, not unlike kids anywhere, except for their tragic national past.

When I get to Cambodia, I will determine if we have chosen the best stories to represent our theme of Cambodian renewal through this new generation.

Q: What is the LEF Foundation?

A: It's a private family foundation that funds the work of independent film and video artists in the region. The Foundation hopes to advance recognition and support for local filmmakers, both locally and nationally.

The Foundation awarded our film $5,000 toward the pre-productions of "Anghor's Children," of which we have shot 47 hours of film. Following my trip in December to Cambodia, I have applied for a sabbatical semester to complete the film in Cambodia.

Q: What do you think we Americans can learn from Cambodians and their tragic national experience?

A. We see a people of great courage, tenacity and resilience. "Anghor's Children" demonstrates those characteristics through the lives of young people, trying to find a place for themselves, against heavy odds. Their struggle is challenging and hard.

"Angkor's Children" will tell the world they are more than just a country of tears; they are a country of dreams.

For more information on Lauren Shaw's films, please visit

www.laurenshaw.com, www.adropinthebucketfilm.com, and www.angkorschildren.com

In Visit, Clinton Signals Support for Youth, as Well as the Tribunal

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, and the U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Carol Rodley stand in front of the Royal Palace on Monday. (Photo: AP)

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Monday, 01 November 2010

“You have an opportunity to rewrite the future... it will be up to the young people to decide how to change that new future.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an official visit to Phnom Penh on Monday, affirming US support for the Khmer Rouge tribunal and meeting with a group of students.

Clinton said Monday the she personally wanted to see the UN-backed tribunal reach speedy trials for jailed Khmer Rouge leaders, after touring the Tuol Sleng genocide museum.

“So I will be personally reaching out to help raise the money that is needed,” she said.

The tribunal has been dogged by financial problems, especially on the Cambodian side of the hybrid court. The US has so far given $7 million to aid the tribunal, which successfully tried Tuol Sleng prison chief Duch earlier this year.

Clinton also met with Cambodian students at a “town hall” meeting on Monday, where she fielded questions regarding China and other political points.

“It is smart for Cambodia to be friends with many countries and to look for opportunities to cooperate with many countries,” she said in response to a question on Cambodia's growing ties with China. “China is a great country, and China has a very exciting future, and there are certainly many reasons for Cambodia to have a good relationship with China.”

Analysts say China's influence in Cambodia has expanded, thanks in part to large aid packages and projects. These packages have come without the benchmarks or conditions often imposed by Western donors, increasing China's sway here.

Clinton also said Cambodia could find creative means of repaying more than $400 million in debt incurred during the Lon Nol regime. Debt forgiveness is a major sticking point for the Cambodian government in talks with the US.

Clinton's talk with the students was to “promote an even better understanding of the United States and our shared values,” the US State Department said in a statement.

“You have an opportunity to rewrite the future,” Clinton told a audience of 500 students. “It will be up to the young people to decide how to change that new future.”

“We want to help Cambodia establish a new era of opportunity,” she said. “So that you do not fear for the future but you look forward to it. You find good jobs, you develop your talents and you make your contribution.”

The upcoming language used in our universities: Op-Ed by Khemara Jati

La langue future de nos universités

La langue future de nos universités scientifiques ne sera, ni anglaise, ni française, mais vietnamienne. Les ingénieurs et autres formés au Vietnam ne seront pas différents de ceux formés en URSS (à l'exception de ceux qui ont appris les langues anciennes comme Long Siem et ceux qui ont appris la musique occidentale).

Les Cambodgiens qui vont faire leurs études au Vietnam, reviendront avec des doctorats ronflants. Ils occuperont des postes importants. Mais pour travailler et pour faire quoique ce soit, ils auront besoin d'être conseillés par des experts Vietnamiens.

Les meilleurs élèves sortis de l'École des Ingénieurs, gérée par la France, obtiendront des bourses pour continuer leurs études à l'étranger ne reviendront pas au Cambodge, car il n'existe aucune entreprise pour les accueillir et leur donner un salaire convenable. Employés dans des services de l'État, ils gagneront au plus 100 US$ par mois.

Les travaux sur notre histoire et notre culture ne trouvent aucun financement. Le "Dictionnaire du Khmer Ancien" de Long Siem a été publié par la Fondation Toyota.

Le premier Opéra moderne, ou "Comédie Musicale" en français, composé par un Cambodgien Him Sophy, ayant fait des études à Moscou, inspiré pourtant de notre célèbre "Toum Teav" et une musique moderne, inspirée de notre patrimoine musicale, jouée avec nos instruments de musique, traditionnels, qui a fait grand bruit sur la scène internationale, fut interdit par le pouvoir actuel et le compositeur Him Sophy a perdu son espoir de célébrité et la fortune espérée. Un autre ancien étudiant de Moscou a pu gagner sa vie en étant connu comme violoncelliste et compositeur de musique occidentale.

Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, une danseuse classique Cambodgienne qui a obtenu un PHD aux Etats-Unis, a interprété l’Opéra de Mozart « La Flute Enchantée » au Palais de Schönbrunn à Vienne (Autriche) lors du 200è anniversaire de la mort de Mozart, est maintenant laissée dans les oubliettes.

Récemment un Prix Nobel d'économie, lors d'un séjour au Cambodge, a décelé un très grand nombre de talents cambodgiens, malheureusement non utilisés.

Une entreprise, même à capitaux cambodgiens, est-elle cambodgienne, si les dirigeants, les ingénieurs et techniciens sont des étrangers ? N'est-elle pas la raison que fait que les ingénieurs qualifiés Cambodgiens ne trouvent pas de travail au Cambodge ? Une compagnie d'aviation est-elle cambodgienne, si son directeur, les aviateurs et les ingénieurs et techniciens de maintenance sont des Etrangers ?

Voilà comment le Vietnam est en train d'essayer de transformer notre pays en une province vietnamienne.

Qui a tué Hok Lundy ? Si l'assassin n'est pas vietnamien, il y aurait des enquêtes sérieuses pour le retrouver. L'hélicoptère qui le transportait était vietnamien.

Alors pourquoi tuer Hok Lundy ? Hun Sen a pleuré, à genoux devant le corps de Hok Lundy ?
Cet assassinat, n'est-il pas un avertissement à Hun Sen et autres hauts dignitaires du PPC que c'est le sort qui les attendrait s'ils n'obéissaient pas aveuglément aux ordres de Hanoi ?

Depuis c'est l'accélération de la vietnamisation du Cambodge avant 2015, date de l'ouverture totale de nos frontières au commerce de l'ensemble de l'Asie de l'Est et du Sud-Est Asiatique.

Khemara Jati
Montréal, Québec
Le 28 janvier 2010

To live and die with Hun Sen

Jan 22, 2010
By Paul Vrieze Asia Times Online

"But when survival is your life goal you cannot have any vision. This is why Cambodia under Hun Sen is going nowhere, if not down the drain, [through] corruption, poverty, human-rights abuses, in spite of competent civil servants, dedicated civil society and abundant natural resources ... Hun Sen has had only two ways in dealing with his political opponents: Buy them or eliminate them either physically, [through] grenade attack, military coup [...] or politically, [through] sham lawsuits ... There is no example in the whole world of any country being a democratic and prosperous one with the same top leader for decades" - Sam Rainsy

PHNOM PENH - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen recently marked his 25th anniversary as the Southeast Asian nation's leader. First appointed by the Cambodian National Assembly on January 14, 1985, he became at 33 years old the youngest prime minister in the world.

Hun Sen's journey from a communist leader to an elected head of government spans a quarter of a century of civil war, domestic and international upheaval, a negotiated peace and transition to democracy through which he and his Cambodia's People's Party (CPP) have imposed themselves as the country's deliverers of stability and order.

By retaining the helm in Cambodia's fractious politics for 25 years, he now stands among a unique category of leaders, ranking as the 11th-longest ruling leader in the world. In Southeast Asia, only the Sultan of Brunei, the number one longest-serving government leader since assuming office in 1967, has been in power longer than Hun Sen. Of the other nine longer-serving leaders, five are heads of governments in Africa and four are from the Middle East.

Hun Sen reflected on his long political career and humble beginnings in a speech at the National Institute for Education in Phnom Penh on January 12. "I became [foreign] minister when I was 27 years old, deputy prime minister when I was 29 years old and prime minister at 33 years old," Hun Sen said of his appointments in the People's Republic of Kampuchea - the communist state set up by Vietnam in 1979 after it toppled the Khmer Rouge, whose bloody regime caused the death of about 1.7 million Cambodians.

He recalled how he joined the anti-republican maquis, a movement which consisted of several resistance groups including the Khmer Rouge, in April 1970, explaining his move was "based on an appeal from King [Norodom] Sihanouk", Cambodia's monarch who had been ousted in a coup d'etat earlier that year. "Throughout 40 years, I have known all kinds of tastes. I knew how my commander commanded the troops and I knew how to make tea for him. I knew how to wash clothes for him," Hun Sen said in his now trademark plain-speaking public-address style.

The prime minister went on to talk about his political future, confirming his intention to run in the next election in 2013. "The party conference announced my candidacy for the future prime minister and ... last week Chea Sim [president of the CPP] also reconfirmed my nomination for the premiership," Hun Sen said before taking aim at opposition parties.

"Please do not try to limit the mandate of the premiership. You want the mandate limited because you are worrying you will lose to me," he said, while also reminding the audience he still had another three-and-a-half years in office under the mandate of the 2008 election, which his party, the CPP, won with a two-thirds legislative majority.

Hun Sen started on his political path in 1978, when he became a founding member of the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation after fleeing to Vietnam in 1977 to avoid Khmer Rouge purges in the Eastern Zone, where he had been a Khmer Rouge regimental commander. The Front consisted of former Khmer Rouge cadres who were prepared by Vietnamese officials to become Cambodia's new leadership after the removal of the Khmer Rouge government.

The Vietnamese army and the Front brought down the Democratic Kampuchea regime on January 7, 1979, in reaction to bloody raids by Khmer Rouge forces into Vietnamese territory in 1978. As the Front's leaders assumed their positions in the new PRK government after the Khmer Rouge regime was toppled, Hun Sen became foreign minister.
The early years
Current and former government officials and people who knew Hun Sen in his youth or as a budding young communist leader said his rhetorical talents and ability to lead, learn, adapt and survive the changing political and ideological terrain in Cambodia were apparent from the start in his personality.

Hun Sen was born as Hun Bunnal on August 5, 1952, in Peam Koh Snar in Kompong Cham province, a village of tobacco farmers located on the banks of the Mekong River. Local villager Chhe Noeun, 61, who claimed to be a childhood friend of the premier, said during a visit to the village that he spent much time listening to his younger friend talk. "He was one of the kids who was smarter than the others. His speaking, his rhetoric, was very good. During farm work, he liked to chat a lot, he made a lot of jokes," he said.

Noeun said Hun Sen left the village to stay in a Buddhist pagoda in the capital when he was about 16 years old. The Hun family, he said, had left the village in about 1963 to move to Memot district, located on the Vietnamese border, but they returned in 1969 after the start of the American bombing campaign in east Cambodia.

After Hun Sen left the village, Noeun said, he did not see him again until 1974 when he showed up on a motorbike at a local primary school as a Khmer Rouge cadre carrying an AK-47 rifle. Hun Sen told his friend, "I just came again today and I don't know when I will come back or if I will die."

Veteran CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said during an interview last week that he remembered Hun Sen exhibited leadership qualities and a capacity to learn quickly early in his career. These skills, Yeap said, allowed Hun Sen to gain loyalty from his staff, to impress officials from Vietnam, whose military remained in Cambodia from 1979 to 1989, and to sway members of the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party - the previous name of the CPP.

"I met him in 1979 ... He was the youngest foreign minister in the world," Yeap recounted. "Even though he was five years younger than me, I saw he was hard working," he said. "[Hun Sen] only finished grade 3 or 4, before joining the resistance movement. Even though he studied a little bit, he learned very fast," Yeap said. "He liked to communicate with people, especially with those with more experience."

One man who takes a darker view of the young Hun Sen and his rise to power is Pen Sovann, the first prime minister of the PRK, who served as premier for only a few months in 1981 before being arrested and held under house arrest in Hanoi for nine years by the Vietnamese government. "Vietnam ordered me to be arrested by 12 armed soldiers. Hun Sen was there to read the charges against me," Sovann said during an interview at his Takeo province home. Sovann said he was purged by the Vietnamese authorities because of his independent political leadership and his opposition to a number of government policies proposed by Vietnam.

He claimed Hun Sen was appointed prime minister in 1985 because "[Vietnamese authorities] believed and depended on Hun Sen as they believed he would do everything for Vietnam." The former prime minister, who knew Hun Sen from the time he joined the Front in Vietnam, characterized him as smart and a talented public speaker, but also as an authoritarian with few scruples.

"He learns very fast and then he can lecture [on a topic] later on," he said. "Hun Sen has outstanding capacities. His intellect is strong, but he has no morals to go along with it." Sovann said he was "not surprised" by Hun Sen's world-beating political longevity. "Hun Sen likes power; he wants to increase his power. He doesn't listen to anyone ... If anyone criticizes him, he will do anything to defend his power."

Following the Paris Peace Agreements in the early 1990s and the subsequent United Nations-supervised transition from a Vietnamese-backed communist government to a fledgling democracy, Hun Sen quickly showed he was a clever politician who could woo Cambodia's largely rural and uneducated electorate. By the end of the decade, he had also managed to disband the Khmer Rouge step by step by offering amnesty to defectors.

Despite his political skills, Hun Sen did not shy away from using violence against political opposition. In 1997, he took over the government by force and the ensuing fighting killed about 100 people, mostly from the rival Funcinpec Party, according to a 2008 US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, which referred to the takeover as an "unlawful seizure of power".

Before the military takeover, a grenade attack hit a peaceful opposition rally in Phnom Penh, which killed 16 children, men and women and wounded more than 100 others. Recent disclosures of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) probe into the attack, which was conducted because an American citizen was injured in the blast, were made under a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Cambodia Daily, a local English-language newspaper.

The investigation, which was cut short due to intensifying threats to the FBI agent, found evidence that directly implicated Hun Sen's bodyguard unit and the CPP, while highly placed witnesses declined to cooperate with the FBI, according to the records disclosed to the newspaper. The US government reacted to the violent events of 1997 by banning direct aid to Cambodia for a decade. As the US Congressional Research Service noted, "The autocratic tendencies of Prime Minister Hun Sen have discouraged foreign investment and strained US-Cambodian relations."
Mixed reviews
Although opinions vary among researchers and observers on Hun Sen's accomplishments during his 25-year reign, most acknowledged the transformation of war-torn Cambodia into a stable, peaceful country with an open and growing economy as his principal achievement. Before economic growth came to a halt last year due to the global economic crisis, Cambodia's economy grew an average 9.5% per year from 2002 to 2008, according to a recent World Bank report.

However, human-rights abuses, land evictions, rampant corruption among government officials, a lack of an independent judiciary and intimidation of political opponents have also been part of life in Cambodia under Hun Sen, local and international human-rights groups have said. Last year saw a rise in court cases against political opponents and other critics of Hun Sen.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy, of the eponymous political party, is currently in France but facing criminal charges in Cambodia over the removal of boundary posts along the border with Vietnam. Rainsy said Hun Sen had shown during his long premiership that his objectives were personal and did not serve ordinary Cambodians. "It is obvious that Hun Sen's only or predominant goal is to remain in power, to survive politically ... Power is everything for him. But above all, power means impunity for him and his clan," Rainsy wrote in an e-mail.

"But when survival is your life goal you cannot have any vision. This is why Cambodia under Hun Sen is going nowhere, if not down the drain, [through] corruption, poverty, human-rights abuses, in spite of competent civil servants, dedicated civil society and abundant natural resources," he wrote. "Hun Sen has had only two ways in dealing with his political opponents: Buy them or eliminate them either physically, [through] grenade attack, military coup [...] or politically, [through] sham lawsuits ... There is no example in the whole world of any country being a democratic and prosperous one with the same top leader for decades," Rainsy added.

According to historian Evan Gottesman, author of the 2003 book Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen's durability is in itself exceptional. "The fact that the same man who led Cambodia in 1985 could also run the Cambodia of 2010 is remarkable," Gottesman said via e-mail. "Hun Sen's most impressive achievement was his ability to lead Cambodia from being an isolated communist country to economic and political integration with the non-communist countries of the region," he said.

"Hun Sen's greatest failure is his failure to promote, in fact, his willingness to undermine democratic institutions such as an independent judiciary, accountable security forces and a professional civil service," he added. According to Gottesman, three qualities are central to Hun Sen's hold on power: The first is ideological flexibility, which he said became apparent when Hun Sen decided to quickly abandon communist orthodox ideas in the late 1980s when it suited the situation.

"The second is a willingness to be absolutely ruthless with his opponents when he feels it necessary. The third is his cultivation of a patronage system that supports him," Gottesman wrote. "[A] lack of an independent judiciary or accountability for human-rights abuses persist because these hallmarks of modern democracies do not serve the interests of leaders who intend to remain in power indefinitely," he added. Reflecting on how the character of the 1980s communist PRK regime, many of whose officials are still in the government, influences Cambodia today, Gottesman said, "Cambodia's government is still built on patronage systems that support top officials, with Hun Sen at the top."
Rights and wrongs
International environmental watchdog Global Witness said in a February 2009 report entitled "Country for Sale" that its research indicated revenues from Cambodia's growing oil and mining industries were being siphoned off by a network of corrupt officials. "Rather than using these millions to lift its people out of poverty, Cambodia's government could instead continue to follow the example of neighboring Burma [Myanmar], where an autocratic elite uses money generated from the country's natural resource wealth to rule over an impoverished majority," the report warned.

Janice Beanland from rights group Amnesty International's Southeast Asia Team said in an e-mail that the protection of human rights in Cambodia under Hun Sen had come "a very long way" since the 1985 communist regime. However, she added that his government had often failed to undertake serious attempts to further improve the country's human-rights record, which remains poor. "[T]he lack of accountability and the culture of impunity that held sway [in the 1980s] remains in place to quite a degree. Judicial reform remains a plan, rule of law is not yet in place and for most Cambodians, there is very limited protection for human rights," Beanland said.

"[I]f the prime minister had wanted to institutionalize human-rights protection - through the legal system, the government administrative structures and independent institutions - he would have had the power to do so," she said. "The continued lack of integrity and independence within the court system, for instance, testifies to the limited human-rights commitment of the government."

Chea Vannath, a local independent political analyst, said Hun Sen's most important accomplishment was restoring peace in Cambodia, while adding that his premiership had lacked in economic management and improving child and maternal health. "His achievement is that he was able to bring peace to Cambodia, a very valuable achievement. His shortcoming is the economy, it moves but it stumbles ... It seems the economy could have done better, maternal and child health should also be better," she said.

Vannath said Hun Sen's strengths included his ability to cope and navigate a changing political climate and system, his ability to equitably share political power with others and his vigilance to not rest on his laurels."So far, another blessing is [his] good health," she added.

According to historian Henri Locard, who has taught at the Royal University of Phnom Penh since the early 1990s, one of Hun Sen's primary skills is his ability to fascinate the Cambodian public. "Hun Sen is a past-master in the control of rhetoric ... He is sure to hold the majority of the population by the invisible thread and the fascination of his words," Locard said. After the dark days of the Khmer Rouge and the communist government, Cambodians now "relish all their newly-acquired freedoms", he said, adding, "With one major exception: the freedom to challenge his all-embracing power ... there is a great deal of self-censorship exerted in this country."

Indeed, many civil society members and researchers consulted for this article, foreign and local, declined to comment directly on Hun Sen's premiership. CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap contested Hun Sen's record of human-rights abuses, tolerance of corruption and intimidation of political opponents. "Fighting corruption is not easy. Europe and the US have these problems too," he said. "Sam Rainsy breaks the law and then he says his rights are violated when he gets charged."

Yeap contended that Hun Sen and other CPP members had built up the country after its near-complete destruction by the Khmer Rouge. "I would like to ask you who could do it? [Opposition leaders] Sam Rainsy, Ranariddh, Kem Sokha couldn't do it ... They came later on, then they demanded this, they demanded that. They want freedom to attack everyone, everything. The CPP cannot allow them to do that."

On December 27, the 25th anniversary of his appointment as acting prime minister, Hun Sen met with members of his family at a hotel in Phnom Penh and contemplated a time when he no longer ruled Cambodia. Should that day come, according to Hun Sen, members of his powerful extended family could find the tables turned against them if they alienated ordinary Cambodians.

"If Hun Sen loses power, you will become a target for attacks if you do not follow my advice," he said during his televised remarks, advising his family that they should show charity and concern for the less fortunate. It was a rare reflection by the strongman leader on the eventual limits of his rule.
Paul Vrieze is a reporter with the Phnom Penh-based The Cambodia Daily. Phann Ana, also a reporter at the newspaper, contributed to the reporting.

No opportunity for bright young Cambodians?

David Jonathan Gross

Nobel Laureate: Human Resource is the Major Problem Facing Cambodia

By Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
19 January 2010

As other developing countries in the world, the major problem facing Cambodia is the serious lack of human resources for the country’s development, according to Professor David Jonathan Gross, a Nobel Laureate for Physics.

Prof. Gross said through his lecture and dialogue with some participants and people he met, he observes that there are quite a lot of brilliant young people in Cambodia, which will be important for Cambodia’s future development, but the most important thing is whether they are given opportunity to develop their skills.

“It’s a major problem - human resources,” Gross said in a phone interview with VOA Khmer during his visit to Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. “I’ve met a lot of very hopeful people. You know that’s the most important thing. People are very optimistic about the future. Cambodia has a lot of great resources. I have a lot of faith in young people, very brilliant young minds that could do great things just given the opportunity. I have tried to tell them that they should dream big. I have talked to people about giving young people opportunity.”

Prof. Gross is a Nobel Laureate for Physics in 2004. He has discovered and explored the force that binds particles inside an atomic nucleus. This phenomenon led to a whole new physical theory and enabled scientists to complete the standard model of particle physics, which describes the fundamental particles in nature, and how they interact with one another.

Gross said there are two kinds of human resources. While the majority of people are just working forces, others have special talents and great minds, who make great contributions to the country’s development. This kind of people should be given special opportunity.

"And then, very gifted people, whose minds you really don’t want to waste and who will contribute very important contributions to the society,’’ Prof. Gross said. ‘’And it’s important to make sure you don’t lose those really special people, and you give them opportunities. You will have to enable them to go abroad. It’s also important to identify very brilliant people and give them special opportunities because those people can make important contributions.”

Chek Chan Oeun, a physics lecturer at Royal University of Phnom Penh, who participated in the Professor Gross’s lecture, said the lecture paves the way for participants, especially for students to a broader scientific research and open their minds to how science can help social development.

“Through this lecture, we have acquired some knowledge related to universe, dark energy, dark materials, and the evolution of the universe,” Chek Chan Oeun said. “In addition, it encourages students to find out what has been discovered by scientists, what is still unknown, and what they are doing to help the world.”

“In the future I want to be like him and discover new things to meet the needs of the world,” said Sun Limhour, a 4th year student in physics department of Royal University of Phnom Penh. “I have loved electronics since I was young. It is a true science.”

The visit by Prof. David Jonathan Gross intends to strengthen the relationship among nations in Southeast Asia and ASEAN with the rest of the world, according to the organizer.

“It’s our aim really to build these bridges not only with Nobel laureates from the United States or Europe and the societies here in Southeast Asia, but between the societies in ASEAN to reach more cooperation on the level of education because education as we think is basic for peace and that’s why we are doing this program at the universities and at schools here in Cambodia and also in other countries in the region,” said Morawetz, director of International Peace Foundation.

Born in Washington, D.C., Professor David Jonathan Gross, received his undergraduate degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1962 and then continued his education at University of California, Berkley, from where he received his Ph.D. in physics in 1966. He then served as a junior fellow at Harvard University. Professor Gross is now a director and holder of the Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of California in Santa Barbara and a member of the Advisory Board of the Intentional Peace Foundation.

As part of the “Bridges” program by the International Peace Foundation, the next Nobel Laureate who will pay a visit to Cambodia on January 20 is Professor Eric Stark Maskin, a 2007 Nobel Laureate for Economics.

Kaun Khmer - "Khmer Children": A Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'em

Click on each page of the poem to zoom in

Poem in Khmer by Srey Sra'em

A future in the balance

Thursday, 21 May 2009
Written by Rod Brazier
The Phnom Penh Post

"The CPP's legitimacy depends largely on maintaining rapid improvements in the quality of life. Basic, first generation economic reforms are in place, but the high-growth trajectory of recent years will hit limits imposed by rampant corruption and cronyism. Extracting continued rapid growth will require painful choices by the Cambodian leadership that will impinge on the interests of entrenched party elites. This is where the rubber will hit the road for reform: when economic growth is crimped by cronyism."

A few final reflections on the situation in Cambodia from the Asia Foundation's outgoing country director.

THE Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has consolidated its position as the dominant political force in Cambodia. Until the global financial crisis struck, political stability had led to a dramatic increase in investor interest, generating a surge in investment and economic growth.

The CPP won a resounding victory in the July 2008 national elections, elections which were recognised by the international community as free and fair. The CPP enjoys widespread support today owing to the stability and economic growth that have occurred in recent years. Outside, it's not well understood that this government is truly very popular, despite some authoritarian tendencies.

That's because Cambodia has made remarkable progress over the past 15 years. Starting from a very low base, key indicators of human welfare, such as maternal and child mortality, have improved dramatically.

The opening of the economy in the 1990s gave initial impetus to economic growth and job creation. The main drivers of growth have been the garment sector, tourism, construction in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and public spending.

Remittances from garment factory workers to the rural country-side have been an important source of income transfer to those areas, while the very large agricultural and fisheries sectors act as buffers against economic turmoil.

All round, a very good picture for a country that was still at war with itself little more than a decade ago.

The political consolidation by the CPP over the last several years has changed the context in which Cambodia will develop over the next few years. One-party rule has replaced fractious politics. Growth and development are top priorities.

The emphasis on economic growth holds promise for increasing prosperity for ordinary Cambodians, but possibilities for re-emergence of an open pluralistic polity are greatly reduced.

In addition, the global financial crisis threatens to undermine the anti-poverty gains of recent years and to exacerbate the nascent social tensions arising from the visible gap between rich and poor.

Therefore, the main challenges for the country over the next few years will be to sustain the current pace of economic development and reduce poverty, while addressing the worst abuses arising from a system of governance that has resisted reform in the past.

I have a few scattered observations about Cambodia, gleaned from almost three years in Phnom Penh. Many of you have been here longer than I have, so forgive me if any observations are shallow.

The international community is woefully under-informed about Cambodia

Compared to the international communities in neighbouring countries, the international community here in Phnom Penh is terribly ignorant about the political economy of Cambodia.

I hasten to add that I include myself in this category. As a group - for there are very few exceptions - we know very little about the politics that matters in Cambodia. There is, of course, the noisy, quarrelsome discourse that is carried out in the headlines between the government and the opposition. Despite the high volume and frankness of the exchanges, I don't think this is where the action is politically. To me, the internal politics of the CPP are more intriguing and far more consequential, for several reasons:

• The CPP is extremely disciplined and little internal friction ever becomes apparent - at least in decipherable ways - in public. A few ripples appeared on the surface after the sudden death of Hok Lundy last November, but otherwise very little specific information about internal dissension ever becomes known outside tight circles. The workings of the CPP are especially mysterious to those of us who do not speak Khmer.
• The CPP's grip on power means that mid-term change and reform is likely to emerge from within the CPP rather than through formal competition with the other parties.
• Those of us who engage with different parts of the government see great variation from one ministry to the next - there are many opportunities to work cooperatively and fruitfully with the government on reform activities. Partners need to do their homework on who should be engaged beyond those listed on the government organagrams.

"I am cautiously optimistic about Cambodia. The focus ... has shifted from winning the political contest and seizing power to governing well and staying popular by delivering infrastructure and services."

The government is not hostile towards all NGOs

Relations between the CPP and NGOs - both local and international - have been occasionally thorny. Broadly, though, relations are improving, and I see two reasons for this:

• The CPP is more confident as it ascends politically and so feels less vulnerable to criticism.
• Reform-minded officials see value in close relations with some NGOs, both as sources of feedback on performance and as providers of expertise. We see this very vividly in our interaction with the Ministry of Interior, where the appetite for cooperation seems to be insatiable. We also see it in our work with the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) on counter-trafficking. Of course, there are dinosaurs and hold-outs.

There is a general assumption that the draft NGO Law is designed to rein in NGOs. No. NGO laws are a common feature of many countries' legal landscape.

Reading the latest draft, one can't find so much that's objectionable. One clause on political activity is problematic, and the sanctions for some types of non-compliance are rather heavy, but it is still a draft. I have begged my colleagues to view it as a draft and to take up the government's offer to consult. But perceptions are stubborn, and some letters have been written that have been counter-productive. The Asia Foundation has not signed those letters because we want to enter consultations in good faith.

Inequality and under-investment in education are growing as concerns

Cambodia is probably on a very positive and well-trodden Asian path to development. In several respects, though, it is deviating in ways that could threaten long term development prospects:

• Inequality. Newly Industrialising Countries (NICs) have typically seen gini co-efficient, a numerical expression of inequality used by social scientists, narrow; it's getting wider in Cambodia. Eventual social consequences but also political and welfare concerns should be a cause for concern in this area.
• Education. Investment in education is dismal. All the latest and finest academic work shows that governments can make no better single investment than in education. Dollar for dollar investment in education brings greater benefit to a country and its people than any other. I don't see Cambodia investing enough in its people's education. Certainly, we see a hunger for personal improvement and a new generation of bright and ambitious young Cambodians seems to be emerging. But not all will be able to secure international education.

External perceptions of Cambodia are sticky

It's only a little more than a decade since Battambang was captured briefly by the Khmer Rouge. Cambodia is small, and positive developments here are seldom heard in the din of the 24-hour news cycle. This is unfortunate. A vivid demonstration of this is the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report.

The EIU published two reports in March 2009. One was the regular Country Report about Cambodia. Nothing in that report was objectionable.

In fact it was a sober, sensible report that no one in this room would likely find controversial.

The report that has caused so much anger here is called Manning the Barricades, a 32-page report that mentions Cambodia once.

Manning the Barricades with global coverage that purports, among other claims, to rank countries by the risk of political instability. Some of the indicators included were: inequality, state history, trust in institutions, and corruption. These are reasonable.

The government erred badly in complaining so loudly about this report because the complaints brought prominence to a single mention of Cambodia on page 16 of the report that would otherwise have gone largely unnoticed. The rush by business groups and others to condemn the EIU was equally unhelpful and merely nourished an incorrect perception.

Sustaining rapid economic growth: not a straight shot

The CPP's legitimacy depends largely on maintaining rapid improvements in the quality of life. Basic, first generation economic reforms are in place, but the high-growth trajectory of recent years will hit limits imposed by rampant corruption and cronyism. Extracting continued rapid growth will require painful choices by the Cambodian leadership that will impinge on the interests of entrenched party elites. This is where the rubber will hit the road for reform: when economic growth is crimped by cronyism.

This problem is most dramatically illustrated in problems related to land issues. Foreign investors say that uncertainties over land are the single biggest concern, and often the reason that potential new investors walk away. It's worth noting that the prime minister himself has warned countless times about the dangers of continued land-grabbing. Yet it persists. Other similar pressures will emerge over time to test the government's commitment to market-led growth.

The government must reduce these vulnerabilities by fixing fundamental policy weaknesses. A key to improving economic governance will be to nurture and empower the small group of Western-educated technocrats within the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and scattered throughout other ministries and departments.

This group is more outward looking and reform-minded and is believed to have close ties to the pragmatic Prime Minister Hun Sen. We need to nurture and support these people, for they will face heavy challenges in the coming years that will determine the pace and trajectory of economic reform and development in Cambodia.

I have spent some time listing weaknesses and vulnerabilities. But we must also acknowledge the enormous strides that the Cambodian people have taken.

From civil war and unimaginable sorrow and misery just a generation ago, to a normal, developing country encountering the typical range of challenges that every other country in the region has faced. The good news is that others have shown it is possible to overcome these impediments.

But it is long, slow work and, in some respects, the early years are the easiest. I am cautiously optimistic about Cambodia. The focus of government has shifted from winning the political contest and seizing power to governing well and staying popular by delivering infrastructure and services.

This is a watershed transition that hasn't been noted enough. In the words of my friend His Excellency Roland Eng, who said five years ago: "We used to talk politics, now we talk policy."
---------------
The Asia Foundation's Cambodia country director Rod Brazier has been in Cambodia for three years. He is leaving the Kingdom shortly to take up a position with the Australian government in Canberra. On April 24, 2009, he spoke to the American Cambodian Business Council. What follows is an excerpted version of his speech to AmCham members.

Under Hun Sen's prosperous regime, street children trade and are sometimes traded ... and many Cambodians still don't have enough to eat

A family living on the street.

Tots doing trade

Saturday September 20, 2008
By DEBBITA TAN
The Star (Malaysia)

The streets of Cambodia are a world where street children trade and are sometimes traded.

“One dollar, one dollar!” It is rather impossible really, to put on a poker face and ignore these unrelenting three-syllable cries.

What more when they emanate from enterprising tots no more than three feet tall, whose first words were most probably “one dollar”, quickly followed by “You buy?”

And that is just English; Cambodian street children generally speak whatever language it takes to make another dollar for the day. And just like any self-respecting trader worth his salt, these industrious little tykes know that variety is key.

It is no wonder then that the list of goods sold for a single American dollar runs longer than the mighty Mekong itself.

Some tourists who trot around clutching their Lonely Planet guidebooks actually end up clutching even more copies after being ambushed by groups of these little traders. Others simply emerge with everything else, from postcards and bracelets to foot-long flutes and statues of the Buddha of all sizes.

“I just could not say no!” most of them shrug.

To some degree, I could not say no, either. After all, these kids are not pestering tourists because they want to, but because they have to. Cambodia’s street children are the tragic outcome of the country’s history of chaos and isolation, uneven development and the rugged nature of its new economy.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), thousands of Cambodian children work and live on the streets, returning home to their families only irregularly. Sadly, home €” to a good number of the families €” is also out on the streets.

A street child trying to sell a handmade flute.

Different people are affected by Cambodia in different ways. Some are awed into silence - sometimes into tears - by the sight of the magnificent Angkor Wat, while some blindly ask, “Angkor what?”

Others feel a desperate need to bite into fried tarantulas so they can horrify friends back home, and the rest just want to live on Siem Reap’s Pub Street forever.

But the essence of Cambodia that affects most visitors, if not all, must surely be the resilience of its street children.

They teach you that survival means taking a step forward each time you are about to be shoved a step back.

In short, if you are a street kid in Cambodia, it is all about survival. Earning another dollar means buying a bit more time and a bit more of life. A dollar can go a long way here.

If you can just get over your attachment to international fast food chains for a while and dive headfirst - or at least dip a toe - into the local cuisine, you will most likely find yourself pleasantly surprised.

The children will do anything for a dollar, even coil a snake around their necks.

It is all about being a good sport, really. Discovering where the locals eat entails research and taking time to talk to the locals. Once you find yourself in the right place, chances are you will walk away hours later feeling utterly guilty for having wolfed down platters of great Khmer food for less than US$2 (RM7).

Some find it necessary to shell out a few more dollars for some very decent Angkor beers and Tomb Raider cocktails.

Guilty pleasures aside, what I find distressing is that in the face of so much affordable food available to the tourists, many Cambodians still do not have enough to eat. As for the street children, despite their best efforts to earn money and fend for themselves, many are malnourished.

It is even more heartbreaking to see these children with hungry bellies skirting the sidewalks of restaurants that seem glitzy enough to attract bad-boy celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay to come over and shout out orders and obscenities in their kitchens.

How do you even begin to comfort a hungry child who is staring at this extreme abundance out of his reach?

The World Food Programme (WFP) in Cambodia estimates that hundreds of thousands of Cambodian children depend on the meals provided by the WFP for sustenance and nutrition. But donor support for the agency’s relief programme has diminished alarmingly since 2005, and the agency is anxious to fully restore this much-needed food assistance for the children, as well as for the very sick and the critically poor.

According to the 2006 Global Hunger Index, Cambodia is one of the 12 “hunger hot spot” countries listed as “extremely alarming”. With nearly 35% of Cambodians living below the poverty line, Cambodia is classified as a least developed, low-income and food-deficit country.

Poverty looms over Cambodia like a bad bet that has gone terribly wrong. Some blame it on the nation’s dark past while others fault its erratic progress. What is clear, however, is that Cambodians have become more aware of what tourism can do, and reliance on tourism does seem to be the one key hope that they are clinging on to.

Today, the major draw card of this tiny pocket of Indochina is undoubtedly the Angkor temples, and the locals are banking on it like there is no tomorrow.

Amidst the quaint and rustic feel of rugged Cambodia, one can now see the increasing emergence of tourist-friendly spots, like restaurants that cater to international palates (no such thing as chilli crickets and skewered scorpions here) and other establishments that many Cambodians cannot afford.

Like the rest of South-East Asia, Cambodia is coming into its own, and it will not be very long before this little bump on the map fits in snugly, in terms of tourism outlook, with its immediate neighbours, Thailand and Vietnam.

The street is where they make their home and living.

I will not say Cambodia is an amazing mix of the old and the new. Most places are these days, and tourism billboards the world over use this tagline to death. But Cambodia is an amazing place.

You will find yourself intrigued - seduced by the charms of its ruins, captivated by the stories you hear, pained by the hardships you witness, and surprised by the resilience of its people.

Visitors often arrive with images of the Angkor temples in their minds and leave with memories of the local folk in their hearts.

Even harder to forget would be the faces of the street children. They don’t have the luxuries of their counterparts in other countries.

They are trying to sell something every other minute just to ensure their survival.

One child told me, “No, no school for me. No play for me. You buy postcards, please? I give good price.”

These kids will do anything to get through the day. They will play you a medley of tunes using the handmade flutes they are hoping to sell.

They will pose with snakes coiled around their little necks in exchange for payment. Their desperate situation also means that they are a prime target for child prostitution and child sex trafficking.

Although Cambodian society is becoming more wary of paedophilia, much needs to be done to protect these children.

In 2005, Dateline NBC went undercover here with a human rights group to expose child sex trafficking and came out shocked by the magnitude of it. This exposé was elaborated upon by Time magazine in 2006 when it reported that Cambodia has been a haven for foreign sexual predators since the United Nations brought peace to the war-ravaged country in 1993, and since its neighbour Thailand started its own crackdown on child sex abuse.

In recent years, international organisations like the Child Safe Network have been working hard to shield the children of Cambodia from exploitation. According to Child Safe, a total of 167 paedophiles were arrested in Cambodia in 2006 for sexually abusing children, and these are just the reported cases.

Organisations like Child Safe train key members of society - for example, taxi drivers and hotel workers - to recognise and help children who may be in danger.

There are also local heroes who have taken it upon themselves to protect their country’s children. Take, for instance, the case of one man (who only wished to be known as Hong), who runs a small dilapidated orphanage in Siem Reap that is simply known as “Orphanage”.

An orphanage classroom.

“The place looks run-down, I know. But we keep it clean and comfortable. Also, all the kids here go to school. My mission is to keep them off the streets. The streets are just too dangerous,” said Hong.

The orphanage is dependent on donations, and paintings produced by the children in their spare time are also sold to visiting tourists to help keep the place running. Some travellers insist on seeing both the real Cambodia and the Cambodia made for mass tourism, and a good part of the real deal is often found in the country’s many orphanages.

Sad, but true.

Most taxi or tuk-tuk drivers, as well as hotel staff, are happy to point out the nearest orphanages. However, it is a good idea to trawl through some reliable information first before you start donating cash. Some orphanages are known to be managed in ways that do not put the interests of the children first.

There are many things a visiting traveller can do for the orphans. It is not all about money. In fact, it is perfectly fine to bring along food, books and toys. The kids love it when you play Santa.

At times, they do not even clamour over the gifts. They clamour over you instead! Just like any other kid, all they want sometimes is just a big hug and a kind word.

As you trot around Cambodia pursued by guides who keep reminding you about Angelina Jolie and Tomb Raider, you cannot help but find that everything fades whenever a street child approaches you. If nothing else, the resilience of the street children are to be admired.

Cambodia is a place that does not try very hard to impress anyone. But you will end up not only impressed, but charmed by it. While the majestic Angkor temples are remarkable, I believe the magic of Cambodia lies in the faces of its children - children who keep taking a step forward each time they are about to be shoved a step back.

In every one of their faces, the message is always crystal clear: I am not giving up on life just yet.