Cambodian visitors full of hope

Students from Stuartholme School, Toowong, enjoy supper with the Cambodian dancers prior to a performance at the school

10 April 2008
Catholic Leader (Archdiocese of Brisbane, Australia)

FROM the tiny Ta Hen village of north-east Cambodia – a war-torn country recovering from years of domination and genocide, where more than a third of its population live below the poverty line – has come a group of young, inspiring dancers.

The hope-filled troupe recently performed at Catholic schools in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne on a national tour, Dance together for peace, co-sponsored by Jesuit Mission and Ignatian World Youth Day program organiser MAGiS08.

Accompanying them was Cambodia’s Battambang diocese Bishop Enrique (Kike) Figaredo, a Spanish Jesuit who formed the group in 2000 and has been working with them in the region since the late 1980s.

Initially comprised of 14 students, the class now has more than 150 dancers and musicians aged between four and 20, who practise each day in an effort to rebuild their ravaged culture.

“One of the worst consequences of so many years of conflict was the erosion of Cambodian self-understanding,” Bishop Kike said.

“Music and dance groups are helping reassert this national identity by recovering myths and stories of the life of the people.”

Proceeds from Dance together for peace will go to Jesuit Mission projects in Battambang, some of which provide scholarships for children to attend secondary school, buy land for those who have none and supply costumes for the dancers.

While in Brisbane, the dancers also performed at St Rita’s College and Marist College Ashgrove, and were guests at a reception hosted by Brisbane archdiocese’s World Youth Day Secretariat in the grounds of St Stephen’s Cathedral.

CAMBODIA: SRP aims to take government

21/02/2008
Radio Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Cambodia goes to the polls this July in an election that most observers expect will merely consolidate the power of Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party. One man who hopes that is not the case is the leader of Cambodia's opposition Sam Rainsy.

Presenter - Sen Lam
Speaker - Sam Rainsy, leader of the Sam Rainsy Party

Click here to listen to the program

LAM: First of all what brings you to our country, what's the purpose of your visit?

RAINSY: I am visiting the Cambodian communities in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

LAM: Well Cambodia's economic growth has been strong for the past few years, the Khmer Rouge leadership is on trial, infrastructure is improving. Do you think Cambodia is finally now on the right track to a bright future?

RAINSY: Yes there has been some progress, there is some development, but this development has not been sustainable is not equitable either. A group of people get richer and richer whereas the majority of the people remain poor.

LAM: But surely you can't argue that the government of the CPP has managed to get Cambodia on this track?

RAINSY: No we are moving very slowly, we could have hoped much faster given the huge amount of international assistance we have received. And natural resources have been depleted and in exchange for that we have a relatively limited growth and the growth as I just pointed out, has not improved, the living conditions for the majority of the population.

LAM: So in your mind you think the government has not properly exploited the foreign aid that has flowed into Cambodia?

RAINSY: No the foreign aid has been misused because of corruption, corruption is rampant and corruption has caused so many destruction of the natural resources, and has allowed government officials to sell state assets and to grab land from poor farmers.

LAM: Well whether or not the government has performed well for the Cambodian people do you accept though that Hun Sen and the CPP does have a stranglehold on power in Cambodia for years to come given that elections are due in July?

RAINSY: Things are changing, there are demographic trends, there are social trends, economic trends, technological trends; all these will lead Cambodia to change.

LAM: Do you think the Cambodian people is beginning to develop a sense of political awareness, to be more active in Cambodian politics?

RAINSY: Definitely, especially among the young. Half of the Cambodian population is under 20 and two-thirds of the population are under 30, and those young people are relatively more educated, their expectations are higher, so therefore they will push for a change.

LAM: The elections are not far away, do you see the next generation, this new generation of young people that you speak of, do you see them more actively participating?

RAINSY: Definitely because they suffer from unemployment, over half of these young group of people cannot find jobs and living conditions and those of their parents are not improving, and they want to live in a more just society. So they will push for democratic change.

LAM: Hun Sen, the Prime Minister says the CPP intends to continue its coalition with Funcinpec, even after the next election. Are you disheartened by that?

RAINSY: How can you marry a dead people, Funcinpec is dying and this so-called Royalist party will be completely dead after the next election.

LAM: But nonetheless though it does pose a major challenge to the Sam Rainsy Party, to the opposition does it not with this coalition if it continues?

RAINSY: Our objective is to be the number one party and we are moving forward, our share of the popular vote has been increasing and given the trends I have just mentioned, I expect that the force represented by people who want a better and more just society, these forces will prevail.

LAM: So you hold great hope for the coming elections?

RAINSY: Yes provided that the elections are relatively free and fair, at least that election will not distort the will of the people.

LAM: And yet several of your MPs had defected to the CPP, aren't you worried about the integrity of the Sam Rainsy Party?

RAINSY: This is not the first time as we approach elections the ruling party is trying to buy some of our officials, but we are not worried about that, on the contrary it will make our party stronger because it is an opportunity for the younger generation to replace the old one.