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Cambodian and Thai troops exchange fire, no injuries reported

Phnom Penh - The Ministry of Defence said Cambodian and Thai troops briefly exchanged fire along the border early Tuesday.

General Chhum Socheat, a ministry spokesman, said no Cambodian soldiers were injured in the morning exchange. He said he did not know whether there were Thai casualties.

"After the fighting stopped, the two sides met each other and said that a mistake caused the (clash)," he said of the six-minute clash.

"I heard that we were in our area and the Thais were in theirs, and (the soldiers) could not see each other clearly," he added.

The exchange of gunfire took place in Oddar Meanchey province around 40 kilometres west of Preah Vihear temple, a regular flashpoint between the two nations.

The relationship between Cambodia and Thailand has been tense for nearly two years with sporadic clashes. Much of their common border has yet to be demarcated.

Diplomatic relations worsened markedly in October when Cambodia appointed Thailand's fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra as a government adviser.

UN envoy to look at Cambodia justice system

Hun Sen's government has been criticised for prosecuting critics The UN Human Rights Special Envoy for Cambodia is making his third visit to the country.

Surya Subedi plans to look at the country's judicial system, which has long faced allegations of corruption and political interference.

A pressure group says that defendants are often denied their basic rights.

Last year, Professor Subedi said that bringing criminal charges against critics of the government was "disproportionate and unjustifiable".

The visit comes a week after the Supreme Court found a prominent opposition figure guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen.

A succession of land disputes have meanwhile sparked protests by poor villagers, who argue that judges tend to favour well-connected individuals.

'Basic rights'

The Centre for Justice and Reconciliation, a local organisation funded by the UN, has also sought to drawn attention to the plight of defendants.

It says that basic judicial rights, including the right to be tried in person, are frequently not met.

Of trials held in absentia, it says, nine out of ten trials in absentia last for less than 30 minutes, and many call no witnesses.

It is potentially tricky territory for Professor Subedi, who - unlike his predecessors - has maintained a good relationship with government officials.

But he seems to be able to deliver criticism in a way that does not put noses out of joint.

Cambodia's water revenues rise with customer increase

Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) revenues grew by 11 percent during the first five months of the year compared with the same period in 2009, local media reported on Tuesday, citing sector's General Director Ek Sonn Chan.

The water authority generated 10 million U.S. dollars in unaudited revenues in 2010 to the end of May, he said at a press conference announcing that the PPWSA had won the Stockholm Industry Water Award for 2010.

"The increase is the result of a rise in new customers as Phnom Penh recovers following the world economic crisis," he was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying.

The authority generated an average of 2 million U.S. dollars per month since January from supplying water in Phnom Penh, an 11 percent rise from the 1.8 million averaged per month during the first five months last year, PPWSA statistics showed.

The PPWSA vends water at 0.25 U.S. dollar per cubic meter, kept cheap by maintaining a low loss rate around 6.3 percent, Ek Sonn Chan said.

It plans to expand production by building a third 80 million U. S. dollars water treatment station in late 2010, he said, able to produce some 130,000 cubic meters of water per day once complete.

Presently the PPWSA has two main water treatment stations able to produce a combined 300,000 cubic meters of water a day, distributed to customers through a 1,783-kilometer-long pipe network, according to information provided by the authority. The stations are located in Prek village and Chroy Changvar commune.

The authority plans to produce 430,000 cubic meters of clean water per day by 2015, distributed through a 2,300-kilometer -long network. It aims to distribute 560,000 cubic meters through 2,800 kilometers of pipeline by 2020.

The Stockholm Industry Water Award was awarded due to the PPWSA improving service and fighting corruption beginning in 1993, a press release said.

Khmer and Thai troops clash in Chhouk Run region, Trapaing Prasat district

Oddar Meanchey province – A source reported to DAP news at 9:50 AM on 08 June 2010 that there was an armed clash between Cambodian and invading Thai troops at O’Chambak point, near Chhouk Run area, Trapaing Prasat district, Oddar Meanchey province.

General Chea Dara, the RCAF deputy –commander, told DAP that the clash took place when 15 Cambodian soldiers were patrolling the border and Thai troops opened fire on them using M-16 machine guns and M-79 grenade launchers. Cambodian troops responded with their PKM guns.

According to reliable source, Thai troops were killed and injured during the clash, but Cambodian troops did not sustain any casualties or injuries.

Cambodian, Thai troops clash at disputed border area

Cambodian and Thai forces exchanged small arms fire at a disputed border area Tuesday, but no casualties were reported, a senior Cambodian military official said. Chea Dara, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, told Kyodo News by telephone the skirmish broke out at 9:50 a.m. Tuesday and lasted for about 15 minutes at a border point in the Trapaeng Prasat district about 60 kilometers west of an ancient temple that has been at the center of a border dispute between the two countries since 2008.

(Additional news are upcoming)

Dangerous hide-and-seek game by Cambodia's royal palace

Left to rigth: Thomico, Former monarch Sihanouk and Yim Sovann

SRP refuses to pursue exchanges with the royal palace

07 June 2010
By Meas Mony
Free Press Magazine Online
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

KI-Media notes:

• Thomico: “…the former monarch [Norodom Sihanouk] does not have the right to get involved in state affairs”
• Yet, Thomico forgets that: “the former monarch is OFFICIALLY invited to visit Srok Yuon as a stateman of Cambodia.”
• Well, Thomico, which of the two issues above is correct? Is former king Sihanouk involved in state affairs or not? If he is not, then he shouldn’t visit Srok Yuon, lest he wants to violate Cambodia’s Constitution.

The request made by a group of SRP MPs asking former monarch Norodom Sihanouk to help intervene with the Yuon government on border issue when the latter will perform his 4-day official visit on Yuon land at the end of June, under invitation from Yuon president Nguyen Minh Triet, has turned into a heated verbal exchange. However, recently, the SRP refused to pursue this verbal exchange with the royal palace.

On Monday, Yim Sovann, SRP MP and spokesman, told FPM: “I don’t want to pursue exchanges with the royal palace as it can viewed as if I am opposed to the king. However, all Cambodian citizens have the right and the duty to defend our territorial integrity.”

Yim Sovann made this statement after Sisowath Thomico, the personal secretary of king Norodom Sihanouk, claimed that the request letter by SRP MPs for the king’s intervention: “seems to be like a trap for the throne.”

According to Thomico, the SRP’s letters looks like a challenge for the former monarch who does not have the right to get involved in state affairs. Thomico accused: “Why the SRP does not declare itself as republican directly?”

It should be noted that, currently, the problems of encroachment on Khmer territories – both along the western border with Siam and along the eastern border with Yuon – are reaching a boiling point. In particular, along the eastern border, up to now, two villagers who dare talked about Yuon planting encroaching border posts have already been sent to jail by the Phnom Penh regime. In Takeo province, villagers who appealed for intervention to the loss of their rice fields from border post encroachment are now living in fear for their own safety.

The planting of border posts along the eastern border is conducted in great mystery and without transparency, no Members of Parliament or Cambodian citizens, the rightful owners of the country, can overlook this operation. These irregularities create doubts among civil society, as well as the opposition party, as it can be perceived as if the government is undertaking bad deeds to deliver Khmer lands to the Yuons.

The royalist parties are dead, long life their alliance?!?!

Keo Puth Rasmey (L) and Chhim Siek Leng (R) (Photo: Free Press Magazine Online)

Funcinpec president called on nationalists and democrats to unite

07 June 2010
Free Press Magazine Online
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the article in Khmer

On Monday afternoon, the Funcinpec party president called on nationalists and democrats to unite in a single alliance.

In a speech delivered during the signing of the union between Funcinpec and the Nationalist Party (aka Norodom Ranariddh Party) at the Funcinpec party headquarters, Keo Puth Rasmey, Funcinpec president, declared that the current alliance is not just limited to between the two brother-parties, but also to gather various nationalists and democrats to build and develop the country.

During the occasion, Keo Puth Raskey called on all nationalists and democrats to unite as one in order to win the upcoming election.

Regarding the call above, Kem Sokha, HRP president, supports it, however, he indicated that his party can unite with these two parties only if Funcinpec and the Nationalist Party become independent from the government. “I want to see Funcinpec and the Nationalist Party – that want to unite with democrats – let go their hands from the communist first.”

At the same time, Mrs. Ke Sovanroth, SRP Secretary-general, declared that the SRP is opened to all political parties that want to unite with the SRP

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Khmerization website blocked by ICT of Thailand

By Khmerization

Today, I have just been informed by a reader in Thailand that "Khmerization blog" has been ordered blocked by the Thai government. Khmerbotra, a Cambodian student in Thailand and a fellow blogger, wrote this in an email to me: "Dear Sir, Your blog has been blocked by ICT of Thailand so the visitors can't visit your blog."

It is not a surprise to me as a lot of other blogs critical of the Thai king and the Thai monarchy, such as Sacrava Cartoon blog and Reahu.net, have also been blocked. However, it is disappointing that such a country that prides itself as the Land of Smiles and called itself one of the freest countries in the Southeast Asian region should engage in a censorship in free speech and trying to impede freedom of expression.

I have predicted that the Thai government will one day block "Khmerization blog" as it publishes many critical articles of the Thai king and the Thai monarchy. On 31st January 2009, upon hearing that Sacrava and Reahu.net had been blocked in Thailand, I made a prediction in Details Are Sketchy that it might be a matter of time before Khmerization blog will be blocked in Thailand. My comment reads: "This is censorship of information and restriction on the freedom of speech. If these two sites are banned, then Ki-Media and my blog, Khmerization, will be next."

The Thai attempt will not succeed in silencing me as many of Khmerization's articles had been republished in many blogs throughout the world. The Thai attempt to silence me only reflects bad on the true nature of the Thai mindset and the institution of the Thai monarchy which do not tolerate criticism. The Thai lese majeste law, which jailed many foreign and local critics of the Thai king and Thai monarchy, has really done a disservice to the Thai king and monarchy rather than serving the good of the country.

Khmerization is proud to be taken seriously by the Thai king and the Thai government. Korb Khun Krab, Thailand. Thankyou, Thailand.

Aid Donors Urged to Demand Faster Reforms from Gov’t [-Stealing from the poor to give to the rich?]

With land-related disputes brewing in Cambodia, thousands of people stand to be evicted from what government calls state property.

PHNOM PENH, June 7, 2010 (IPS) - Yuen Mach sat on the floor of her wooden home, her hands nervously twisting a stalk of lemongrass into fibrous strands.

Ever since authorities told her that the plot of land that her family occupies and which overlooks Phnom Penh’s Boeung Kak lake no longer belonged to her, but to a local company that plans to flip the site into a massive real estate development, her days have been filled with worry.

"The government took the land from the poor and gave it to the rich people," she said. "We are the poor people. Now they say we’re living on state property illegally."

Yuen and her relatives are among an estimated 4,000 families that will likely be relocated as part of the sprawling 133-hectare development – the largest real estate project in Cambodia’s rapidly changing capital.

With numerous other land disputes simmering across the country, housing rights advocates here say Boeung Kak lake is just one potent symbol of the worsening problems affecting the landless poor – land tenure, poverty and the cavernous gap between rich and poor.

But with international donors having pledged a record 1.1 billion U.S. dollars this year in aid to the government, some advocates say that those who hold the most influence have failed to use it to urge the government to pursue faster reforms.

"There are donors who give money and then keep quiet. We are sorry for that," said Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the coalition NGO Forum on Cambodia, which is composed of local and international non-governmental organisations working in the South-east Asian country. "People are crying and they just stay quiet."

The majority of the population in Cambodia lacks legal land titles, a result of the tumultuous Khmer Rouge regime that emptied Phnom Penh of its inhabitants and stripped away private ownership. When the regime fell in 1979, refugees flooded back to the cities from the countryside, many settling in abandoned buildings and squatting on vacant land.

"When we moved here, everybody just emerged from death, from the Khmer Rouge," Yuen said. "We just grabbed it and lived on the land. If the government had told us that living here was illegal, I would never have moved here."

An ambitious donor-funded land titling project begun in 2002 was supposed to have helped people like Yuen. The 28.8-million-dollar Land Management and Administration Project, or LMAP, was designed to create a government- run land management programme and distribute official land titles. Nearly one million land titles were issued as part of LMAP across the country.

But when the Boeung Kak lake residents demanded titles as part of the programme, authorities rejected the requests, claiming the residents were living illegally on state property. The residents soon learned the land had been leased to a private developer, whose plans for new office towers and villas did not include them.

After the project's proponents raised concerns about evictions with the government, authorities responded by abruptly cancelling the programme in September 2009.

The issue of land rights is just one of many on which critics are urging donors to take a tougher stand. The international watchdog organisation, Global Witness, slammed international donors last week for continuing to hand over huge sums of aid money, "despite evidence of widespread corruption and mismanagement of public funds."

"The Cambodian government has been promising to reform for years, but nothing has changed," Gavin Hayman, the group’s campaigns director, said in a statement.

The government, however, called the accusations part of a "hugely damaging smear campaign" to discredit authorities. "The request from NGOs to put pressure on the government and donors is a bad approach. They insult the government and they insult the donors," said government spokesman Phay Siphan.

"We are all partners here. We respect each other and we respect the partnership. And the country donors respect this nation’s right to be a nation."

In the end, the government said the donors had cumulatively pledged roughly 1.1 billion dollars toward the national budget.

Rafael Dochao Moreno, the chargé d’affaires for the Delegation of the European Union to Cambodia, said he believes the country is making strides toward development.

"It would be impossible for NGOs and development partners to agree 100 per cent," he said. "At the end of the day, nothing is black or white. I think there is a consensus that this country is moving in the right direction.

Still, now that the money has been pledged, some critics believe donors should be acting more aggressively to ensure the funds are well spent.

"The donors should make it clear that if the government is not willing to use the aid effectively, they can find alternative ways to do so," said Ou Virak, president of the non-governmental Cambodian Centre for Human Rights. "The problem is that message has never been clear."

Though donors insist they are urging Cambodian authorities to increase transparency, Ou said their efforts have done little to ensure Cambodians themselves can hold their government to account. Despite the promises, it remains unclear just where all the aid money will go, he said.

"It’s easy to call on the donors to bring about change," he said. "But the fundamental challenge here is how the donors can put conditions in place that will allow the Cambodian population to be able to hold its own government accountable.

"When you ask, has the money been used effectively? I just don’t know. There’s no transparency in this money and what kinds of projects they help to support."

Cambodia's Postal System for Sale next

Cambodia's Post to Go Public for Increasing Transparency, Revenue

2010-06-07
Xinhua

Cambodia's postal system will be become a public enterprise early next year in a bid to prepare for eventually listing on the domestic stock exchange, local media reported on Monday.

"The government has targeted listing it on the upcoming stock market, so it will become a public enterprise to increase transparency in account standards and financial statements," Sarak Khann, secretary of state of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC), was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying. "When it is transparent enough and generates sufficient revenue, it may be listed on the bourse."

The Council of Ministers approved a draft sub-decree establishing Cambodia's postal office as a public enterprise. Prepared by the MPTC, the sub-decree moves the postal system to a public enterprise to reform the management system, according to a press release issued Friday. It added that the system would take advantage of modern information technology to track postal consignments, along with expanding service in remote areas.

Cambodia's postal services were poorly developed, said Sarak Khann, who also leads a joint committee composed a MPTC and Ministry of Finance officials in evaluating the properties and capital of the system.

"We want to generate revenue from this sector like developed countries, not just around 2 million U.S. dollars a year it earns nowadays," he said.

Some 20 local and foreign companies are licenced to do business in postal services, but only half are presently in operation, he said.

Cambodia's postal system presently includes 700 employees working at 80 post offices in 24 cities. Employees working for both the postal system and government ministries will have to choose one employer when the move to a public enterprise takes place, Sarak Khann said.

The Cambodian Securities Exchange is scheduled to launch by the end of the year, and any qualified private firm or public enterprise is eligible to list, Cambodia Securities and Exchange Commission (SECC) director general Ming Bankosal said.

Red lights flash

07 June 2010
Steve Finch
Southeast Asia Globe

Asia is on alert as European mountain of debt gives world economy the jitters. But what impact will Greece's financial crisis have on Southeast Asian economies? Just when Southeast Asian economies seemed to be on track after a disastrous end to 2008 and an even worse 2009, economists are again warning of a possible economic meltdown as Europe struggles to contain Greece’s debt crisis.

In large part, the problems that have afflicted Greece in particular, and to a lesser extent other eurozone countries including Portugal, represent the second wave of the financial crisis that dates back to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September, 2007.

In responding to the crisis, many countries saw public spending spiral out of control – in Greece’s case, government debt was estimated in May at 13.6% of GDP prompting its debt rating to be lowered to ‘junk’ by the likes of Standard & Poor’s at the end of April.

And despite a European Union rescue package agreed jointly with the International Monetary Fund last month worth close to US$1 trillion, world markets have in recent weeks once again become extremely erratic.

With the fallout largely still contained in Europe, Asia remains on alert for yet another financial crisis after capital, trade and markets recently stabilised, according to the Asian Development Bank.

"While the return of capital flows is welcome, surges in short-term capital inflows could potentially leave countries vulnerable to a sudden reversal in portfolio investment and to sharp currency movements," Srinivasa Madhur, senior director of ADB's Office of Regional Economic Integration, says.

"More broadly, the region is holding up well in the face of the debt crisis in Greece and its potential contagion effect," he adds.

Still, Asian markets have not escaped the volatility.

The flight to safe assets saw gold reach consecutive record values last month. In May, gold climbed 1% in Asia to $1,224.40 an ounce while the US dollar has risen against just about every other major currency and commodity during the meantime, except gold.

But despite an 11% rise in the value of bullion this year, analysts are forecasting that gold may be hitting a ceiling on world markets with short-term backers reaching their limit. In Asia, buyers struggle to meet record-high prices in markets where the metal is traditionally procured for decoration rather than short-term speculation. In Cambodia, this effect is already apparent.

“Gold demand has decreased . . . since the gold price has become more expensive in recent months,” Phnom Penh gold dealer Heng Kunthea says. “People have said that as gold is more expensive, they don’t have the money to buy it.”

In highly dollarised economies in the region such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, the surging dollar has seen local currencies struggle, creating the longer-term risk of escalating inflation and lower purchasing power.

In Cambodia, the riel shed more than 1% of its value between mid-April and mid-May. The Vietnamese dong lost 5.4% of its value last year despite rigid government policies controlling the use of the dollar in a bid to spur demand for the local currency, but the dong has continued to drop. It has lost a further 2.6% of its value this year, according to ADB, falling to about 18,500 dong to the dollar as Hanoi was forced into a denial last month that it would again devalue the currency by 4%.

The Greece fallout led to a huge near-1000 point crash on the New York Stock Exchange in May, and markets have been volatile across the globe as Brussels debated if and when to bail out Athens before settling on the IMF-backed package. In Asia, markets have been more choppy than usual but have fared better than those in the West.

Vietnam remains the best performing bourse in Southeast Asia this year, and Thailand has held up relatively well despite the chaos in Bangkok caused by ongoing protests, even if the Stock Exchange of Thailand closed an hour early on a couple occasions last month as the standoff reached its climax.

Still, the more developed Chinese and Indian exchanges have seen intermittent sharp falls as Asian markets lost an average 2%, for example, on May 17.

As with the financial crisis previously, the rule has generally been that Asia’s lesser developed – and therefore integrated – economies have fared better following the Greek turmoil. But with Cambodia and Laos both scheduled to launch stock exchanges this year, instability could prompt further delays as well as the kind of opening volatility that characterised other young bourses in the region such as Dhaka or Ho Chi Minh City. Government officials in Phnom Penh, for example, previously cited the global financial crisis as part of Cambodia’s reasoning for postponing the launch of its exchange which had been planned for 2009.

The real threat for the region, and particularly developing economies in Southeast Asia, remains a wider global slowdown prompted by the eurozone crisis as was the case post-Lehman, say analysts.

Economies like Cambodia – without any stock market, limited financial integration and a low debt-to-GDP ratio – remain in recovery mode from the first financial fallout, according to Stephen Higgins, CEO of ANZ Royal Bank.

“No real impact here yet. It's a bit like the global financial crisis post Lehman Brothers – the direct impact was minimal, but as the rest of the world then fell in to recession, that impacted Cambodia,” he says. “So not out of the woods yet, but really depends on whether Europe can sort itself out, or whether we get a sharp contraction in global growth again.”

Economies such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar are mostly susceptible to falls in demand in industries such as the garment sector and tourism, say analysts, as well as any drop in foreign direct investment, the front line of expansion in emerging economies.

“While Greece’s sovereign debt situation has not had a major impact on flows to the region, the main risk scenario is one of worsening global risk aversion, should the jitters spill over to some of the larger European economies,” the IMF warned in its April outlook for Asia.

With banks in Europe providing close to half of cross-border lending to the Asia region, the IMF adds, “further balance-sheet deleveraging and some pullback from Asia also could affect funding of some key activities in the region, especially trade financing”.

Other analysts say there could be positive effects for the region.

Douglas Clayton, CEO of Leopard Capital, an investment fund operating in Cambodia and Sri Lanka, says this year’s Greek tragedy need not be a disaster for the region.

“The effect on Asia is neutral to slightly positive,” he says. “While global risk aversion will rise and Europe’s import demand will fall, there will be a shift in investor attention from Europe to Asia, and from highly leveraged advanced economies to low-leverage emerging markets.”

The key tourism sector, however, looks to be in trouble, especially when the violence in Bangkok – the region’s main air hub – is factored in to what was previously a positive outlook for the longer term.

Earlier in the year, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) forecasted a 1% rise in Asia-Pacific arrivals in 2010, climbing to 4.5% growth for 2011, but that was before Bangkok and Athens headed south, meaning this outlook may later be revised downwards.

“Both issues cause major concern for travel industry stakeholders,” says Dale Lawrence, PATA’s Bangkok-based head of corporate communications.

“Of course, you can still visit Thailand and have a wonderful holiday in a number of resorts unaffected by the current troubles. But the media images are certainly bound to have an impact on the confidence factor,” he added.

In regards to the fallout from Europe, Thailand’s main visitor is the UK tourist, while France, Holland, Russia, Germany and Scandinavia are “also sending significant numbers”, says Lawrence. Greece, meanwhile, was forecast to send less than 100,000 tourists to Thailand this year.

Similarly in Cambodia, visitors from the UK, France and Germany alone represented more than 13% of total visitors to the Kingdom in the first quarter, according to ministry of tourism figures, which showed a 10% climb in total arrivals in the same period in 2009.

But with chaos in Bangkok, European travellers tightening their belts as austerity measures kick in and a possible contagion effect spending across the whole industry, the Mekong region in particular – which relies on Bangkok’s Suvarhnabhumi as a transit hub – faces a difficult year’s end.

“When Thailand’s tourism suffers, the pain is felt by its neighbours,” says Ken Scott, a spokesman for the Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office, adding that Vietnam is slightly better off due to its larger volume of flights, some intercontinental. “Events in Bangkok have greatly damaged Thailand’s tourism prospects for this year and will also dampen demand for Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and, to a lesser extent, Vietnam.”

Although he says European travellers won’t be unduly deterred by the European debt crisis, most would be expected to downgrade on hotels and be more careful about holiday spending.

Indeed, belt tightening – originating in Europe – may only represent a little here and there. But when extrapolated across the whole of the global economy, Southeast Asia could again find itself on the wrong end of a financial mess for which it can claim zero responsibility.

With the euro hitting successive four-year lows against the US dollar late last month, eurozone purchasing power looks to be under serious threat, an effect that is multiplied by reduced state spending and faltering economic recovery.

Clearly tourism markets or industries in Southeast Asia relying on the eurozone are the most at risk from the current debt crisis, however, the worst-case scenario would be a second global downturn should Europe’s financial problems prove contagious.

In Cambodia’s case, agriculture – the country’s biggest sector – actually expanded last year as just about every other industry suffered, growing between 5 to 6% as foreign investment soared on the back of interest from Vietnam and Israel in particular.

As Thailand saw its SET index fall 3.11% in April, investment groups like the Thai Capital Fund reported its three top performing stock categories were energy and utilities, banking and food and beverages, according to the fund’s monthly market review.

“In times of global uncertainty, it’s best to stick to the basics and invest in things like food production and utilities, as demand for them tends to be relatively inelastic,” says Clayton of the Leopard Fund.

Traditionally, investors shed perceived risk in times of uncertainty, with many – particularly in the West – viewing the likes of Laos or Myanmar as emerging and therefore highly risky.

But the recent financial and economic woes have shown it’s not necessarily certain countries or markets that should be avoided. More important is the sector or industry. And after all, haven’t the US and eurozone shown themselves to be the least steady economies in the past few years?

With Asia having recovered first from the recent global economic crisis, while maintaining on average much lower levels of debt than more developed Europe and North America, surely the region remains well-placed to ride out what could be a second meltdown.

GOLD

With the precious metal hitting recent highs, most people might expect gold to be a safe bet at the moment – but don’t forget investors would be almost certainly buying at a high. Many analysts are now predicting that gold can’t sustain its current price, arguing that recent highs are just a short-term reaction to the Greek crisis. Still it remains a safe bet. With a full-blown economic recovery still some way off, the safety of gold remains an alluring, and indeed sensible, choice particularly in countries where there are few other solid investment alternatives.

PROPERTY

Cambodia’s recently passed property law was designed to spur a lackluster market and many analysts say the only way is up. Certainly the market is somewhere around the bottom so it’s a good time to buy property, but buying land as a foreigner is still not possible in Cambodia. Foreigners can only purchase property as long as it is not the ground floor of a building. The adventurous might look west to Bangkok – after staying fairly robust after the worst of the crisis, the Thai capital is sure to see a few bargains after the violence of the red shirts protests. Bangkok will remain the regional air hub for years to come and therefore remains a good long-term bet.

STOCKS

Thailand’s burning stock market is no doubt undervalued in the wake of recent violence in the capital but prospects depend very much on how long the chaos continues. Vietnam has been a much safer bet in 2010 and is likely to benefit from the country’s strong prospects for economic growth for this year. Pioneers could test the forthcoming Laos and Cambodian bourses due later this year but expect volatility.

DOLLAR

The Greenback is strong at the moment but that is only likely to last as long as the turbulence continues. Still, for those in Cambodia and Vietnam in particular, holding savings in dollars is a winner. In Laos, the kip has steadily risen in recent years so do the exact opposite. The baht is likely to weaken against the dollar as long as political instability is the order of the day, even if the Thai currency remained surprisingly robust in April and the first half of May.

SAVINGS

With the likes of the UK and the US in particular offering little in the way of interest, streetwise savers coming to Cambodia often marvel at fixed rate deposit accounts offering upwards of 5%. Go for a fixed term that fits the likely duration of your stay in the Kingdom and only save in US dollars, despite its slightly lower rates than the local currency. The riel has been sliding recently and its longer term outlook isn’t great.

LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

Human rights activists consider the country off-limits, but given its track record during the global economic crisis, Myanmar is the latest emerging market in Southeast Asia. While the likes of Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia in particular, all suffered large reversals in GDP, Myanmar barely registered a dent last year. Key sectors include agriculture and even the supposedly high-risk tourism and hospitality sectors for the particularly brave

Cambodia's colonial architecture faces modern threat

Hotel Le Royal, a landmark French colonial building in central Phnom Penh that was beautifully restored by the Raffles hotel group. [Robert Carmichael]
The remains of the Ecole Professionale in Phnom Penh, a former warehouse and then training school built in 1908. It is rumoured to be replaced with a shopping centre and a hotel. [Robert Carmichael]

Monday, June 07, 2010
Robert Carmichael, Phnom Penh
ABC Radio Australia

Experts are warning not enough is being done to protect what remains of Cambodia's French architectural heritage.

Much of the French colonial architecture in Phnom Penh and some provincial capitals has been destroyed, with some experts reckoning that 40 per cent of perhaps three hundred colonial era buildings have been demolished in the past 20 years.

Michel Verrot, the head of the French-funded Mission du Patrimonie, which works to assess and sometimes helps to restore the capital's shrinking pool of colonial buildings, says the government is keen to preserve buildings in the tourist town of Siem Reap.

But he says interest does not extend to Phnom Penh, which is seen as the business and economic hub of the country, and not a tourist zone.

"Phnom Penh must be a very modern town, an economical town," he said.

"And the heritage is in Siem Reap, and the tourism must be on the sea and in Siem Reap. But not in Phnom Penh. It's wrong. It's clearly wrong, but it is [how it is]."

Samraing Kimsan, a deputy minister at the Cambodian Ministry of Culture, says a lack of funding is one of the major problems in protecting the country's older buildings.

"This is the problem - I do believe this is the problem," he said.

"It depends on the plan - how to preserve the building, how to get money to preserve. But if we have no money to preserve, so we cannot stop the development of the modern building."

But Michel Verrot says demolishing an existing building and putting up something new actually costs more, because modern buildings use more imported materials and make less use of Cambodia's cheap labour.

He also says the demolition of colonial buildings is costing Cambodia tourism dollars.

But Samraing Kimsan says there is also the attitude of many Cambodians towards old buildings - in a land where modern and new are desired, old has limited appeal.

"They do not understand or do not love the traditional and old style of building," he said.

"They do not understand."

At age 15, Portland student Christina Schmidt has already helped build a school in Cambodia

Christina Schmidt works on a school project for her social studies and English class. After wrapping up her freshman year of high school this month, Schmidt will travel to Guatemala with her family to help build a house through Habitat for Humanity. (Arkasha Stevenson/The Oregonian)

June 06, 2010
By Carolina Hidalgo
The Oregonian (Oregon, USA)

On a tidy shelf in a bright turquoise bedroom in Southwest Portland sits a framed certificate from the Cambodian Ministry of Education. It is written in Khmer, the official language of the Southeast Asian nation, except for a name: Christina Schmidt.

The document, essentially a fancy thank-you note, was presented to the 15-year-old last winter in a tiny village about a day's drive northwest of Phnom Penh after she helped raise more than $16,000 to build a secondary school in the impoverished country.

"I feel like it's part of my duty to give back and to help others who aren't as lucky as I've been," Schmidt said.

Now, as she wraps up her freshman year at Lincoln High School, the teen with a passion for nonprofit work and a knack for raising money is preparing for her next project: a family Habitat for Humanity trip to Guatemala. She and her 13-year-old brother, Andrew, have raised $2,000 to put toward construction supplies. They will donate their time to build a house with the family that will live in it.

Schmidt, sitting at her dining room table, traces her interest in humanitarian work to a 2007 family vacation to Vietnam and Laos that introduced her to life in developing countries.

She got involved with Cambodia a few months later while considering what do the next year for her eighth-grade project, required of students at Arbor School of Arts & Sciences, the private school she attended in Tualatin.

An e-mail from her dad held the answer. It contained a news article about a girl who raised thousands of dollars for American Assistance for Cambodia, a nonprofit that builds schools. As soon as she read it, she rushed downstairs to her dad's home office.

"This is what I want to do," she told him. "I want to do this."

Her excitement surprised her father, David Schmidt, a pulmonary specialist at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center.

"I didn't intend for her to do that exact project," he said. "But she grabbed onto it kind of like grabbing a bull by the horns."

Before jumping in, Christina Schmidt tracked down and pored over American Assistance for Cambodia's tax records. "They use every single cent that they get so well," she said.

She also learned that if she could raise $13,000, it would be matched with $20,000 from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank -- enough to build a school.

Next, Schmidt had to track down a professional to work with, a requirement of her school. She found a mentor in Kim Freed, former managing director of the Oregon Zoo Foundation, who had years of fundraising experience.

Freed said she was nervous when she heard that Schmidt planned to raise $13,000 in nine months.

"But I could tell by her determination and her energy that she was going to see it happen," Freed said. "I was very much inspired by her."

Bernie Krisher, former Newsweek Tokyo bureau chief and founder of American Assistance for Cambodia, said schoolchildren often work together to raise money to build schools, but only a very few can accomplish the goal on their own.

"They are very compassionate," Krisher, who has corresponded with Schmidt by e-mail, said of children who devote time and money to advancing education around the world. "They're going to contribute a great deal and learn a lot and probably succeed in life."

Schmidt kicked of a 300-letter fundraising campaing and secured small grants from two foundations. Then during her 2008 winter break, her family traveled to Cambodia on vacation, and Schmidt got the chance to visit an American Assistance school.

Interacting with the students brought her project to a "whole other level," she said. She keeps a gift from them, a frosted blue binder filled with colorful drawings, next to the certificate on her bedroom shelf.

Her favorite drawing, of a yellow and red sun overlooking a field of purple flowers, came with a message: "Hello! My name is Kunthea." She was touched that he made an effort to write in English. "I just thought that was so sweet."

Schmidt and her father returned to Cambodia a year later to attend a dedication ceremony for the school she helped pay for: The Arbor School of Hope. The 80 students lined up in their crisp white shirts and navy slacks and skirts to greet her. They giggled when she said hello in their language: "Johm ree-uhp soo-uh!"

In the end, she raised $16,235.14. Now she's working to use the extra money to secure a water filter and textbooks for the three-room, shingle-roofed school. She has also become interested in water scarcity issues, recently participating in Portland's Walk for Water and helping with awareness days through her high school's Mercy Corps club.

"Christina's always been pretty confident," said her mother, Jennifer Schmidt, who's taking the year off from teaching. "But ever since the project, she seems much older and more mature."

Christina Schmidt is grateful for the outpouring of support she received. She keeps a zip-close bag filled with letters from donors in a cabinet below the certificate of thanks.

"They're just really important to me," she said of the letters. "Because the school wasn't really built by me. It was all the people who gave the money who really deserve the recognition, because without them, it wouldn't have happened."

Recovering drug addicts claim abuse in Cambodia

June 06. 2010
Jared Ferrie, Foreign Correspondent
The National (United Arab Emirate)

PHNOM PENH // They are abducted and held against their will in centres where many – some of them children – are beaten, whipped, and shocked with electric batons. These are allegations made in two recent reports about conditions in drug treatment centres in Cambodia, including one that receives funding from the United Nations’ child protection agency, Unicef.

The claims, which government officials denied, have UN agencies scrambling to come up with a cohesive response. Both UNAids and the World Health Organisation have called for all the facilities to be closed immediately, while Unicef has denied that there is abuse in Choam Chao, a youth centre to which it provided US$28,440 (Dh104,000) last year.

In late March, Unicef’s representative in Cambodia, Richard Bridle, told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that Human Rights Watch (HRW) had made a mistake when it alleged abuse of children at Choam Chao. Mr Bridle suggested that researchers had confused Choam Chao for another centre.

HRW said it made no such mistake.

The National interviewed two street youths who said they were taken by police to Choam Chao in early April, after the HRW report was released and the allegations were reported by local media. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.

“They beat me twice. I used my hands to block the blows,” said one. “They beat me with a baton.”

The other boy said he was not abused, but he witnessed guards at the centre beating two boys who had scuffled during a game of football.

Other youth and adults told similar stories and worse to HRW and to researchers who contributed to a joint report made public April 27 by the Open Society Institute and the University of Melbourne. Both reports detailed systematic abuse in 11 drug treatment centres across Cambodia, including severe beatings and rape perpetrated by guards.

In light of such reports, the UNAids executive director, Michel Sidibé, wrote to HRW expressing concern that conditions in the centres would “discourage people who use drugs from accessing health services, including for drug dependence and for HIV prevention, treatment and care”.

“I believe that the centres in Cambodia should be closed,” Mr Sidibé wrote in the letter.

HRW said it received similar correspondence from the World Health Organisation, which called for the closing of all 11 centres, including the one funded in part by Unicef.

The chief of communications for Unicef’s Cambodia office, Marc Vergara, declined to comment. At the time, he said Unicef was meeting with other “partners” to discuss the response to allegations of abuse at Choam Chao and other facilities.

“We know about that, but we have decided not to comment until we have come to the end of this discussion,” he said in a telephone interview last month, adding that he did not know when the talks would conclude.

Joe Amon, HRW’s director of health and human rights, said his organisation met with Unicef staff in Cambodia, Bangkok and New York to inform them of conditions at Choam Chao long before the report was released.

“Quite honestly, I’m shocked,” Mr Amon said. “Unicef’s mandate is to protect children and they’ve had nine months to investigate the evidence we’ve provided them of the torture, arbitrary detention and forced labour of children.”

The UN’s Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) were contacted by telephone and were submitted questions by e-mail. Both agencies declined to comment.

UNODC is leading the UN’s efforts, in co-ordination with the Cambodian government, to overhaul the country’s drug treatment system. Some details of the plan were highlighted in a recent presentation given by Juana Tomas-Rossello of UNODC’s East Asia and Pacific regional office.

The $9.7-million programme plans to extend health services for drug users to communities throughout the country. Community health workers would then refer them to one or possibly two national rehabilitation centres where they would voluntarily submit to treatment. The plan has a timeframe of five to eight years, according to Dr Tomas-Rossello.

“At the same time, the UN recommends that while the new model drug dependence treatment system is being developed and the current drug detention centres remain open, compliance with Cambodia’s international human rights obligations is guaranteed,” Margaret Lamb, a spokeswoman for the office of the UN resident co-ordinator in Cambodia, said in an interview.

But human rights groups remain sceptical that conditions in drug detention centres will change without international pressure on the Cambodian government.

“When thousands of people have been abused, subject to torture and forced labour in these centres, the UN should really find the courage to plainly say that the centers should be immediately closed and those responsible for the torture held to account,” Mr Amon said.

Licadho, a local human rights group, said it provided evidence including photos of abuse at two drug detention centres to the ministry of social affairs in 2008.

“Nearly two years after, the ministry has yet to conduct a credible investigation,” said Naly Pilorge, the director of Licadho. “Quite the opposite, the ministry went on publicly rejecting undeniable evidence of unlawful detentions in the two centres and took actions to cover up the abuses.”

Kong Chhan, the deputy director general of the ministry, declined to comment on alleged abuse at detention centres, including Choam Chao, and he directed questions to the National Authority on Combating Drugs.

“In terms of my position as a government officer I say that everything’s OK in the centres,” said Neak Yuthea, the authority’s director of prevention and education. But, he added: “You can ask someone who is independent.”

Cambodia: Liberal politicians facing increasing oppression

Liberal International Briefing Document

• Cambodian MP Mu Sochua sentenced for defamation by Supreme Court
• Liberal Leader Sam Rainsy facing jail sentence

This week, Cambodian MP and member of the Sam Rainsy Party (LI Observer) Mu Sochua was convicted for defamation by the Cambodian Supreme Court, after being stripped of her parliamentary immunity earlier this year. The Court’s ruling, despite the sheer lack of evidence against Mu Sochua, shows the court did not base its decision on an independent and impartial application of the facts to the elements of the law, but instead bowed to political manipulation by the executive. Local human rights groups have described freedom of expression in Cambodia as in a "perilous state".1

Earlier this year, the Cambodian government initiated a politically motivated lawsuit against Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy of Liberal International member party the Sam Rainsy Party on the charges of falsifying public documents and distribution of false information. Mr. Sam Rainsy is facing up to 18 years in prison. Liberal International stresses its concern regarding the political persecution of Mr. Rainsy and members of his party, who are democratically elected liberal opposition members, by the Cambodian authorities.

Mr. Rainsy is currently living in exile after being sentenced in absentia by a Cambodian court in 2009 to two years' in prison for a political protest directed against the government. Mr. Rainsy’s immunity as an MP had been lifted in February 2009 to enable prosecution against him for allegedly insulting the Camdodian People’s Government. Prime Minister Hun Sen reportedly warned that he would not request a pardon for Mr. Rainsy should he be found guilty. The Cambodian government has issued an order against Mr. Rainsy, which prohibits him from returning to his country.

In a January 2010 decision of its Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) said it “is deeply concerned at the lifting of Mr. Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity for the same reasons as the ones it has expressed in the cases of opposition parliamentarians Ho Vann and Mu Sochua, namely that without proper examination of the request for the lifting of immunity, without an open and public parliamentary debate, during which the parliamentarians concerned can present their arguments, without a secret vote, parliamentary immunity is reduced to a mere formality and is thus meaningless.” 2 On 2 April 2010 the IPU again expressed its grave concern on the request for the lifting of immunity of the MPs listed above.3

The above cases demonstrate proof of a politically motivated attack on the rights of a parliamentarian – an issue that is concerning to liberals and democrats everywhere. Three points are important regarding the case of Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua:

1) The accusations made against Mr. Rainsy and members of his party are politically motivated: the Cambodian government’s purpose is to silence Sam Rainsy’s voice from speaking out against undemocratic government practices. These are political trial and Cambodian courts are being used as a tool to oppress the opposition.

2) The filing of new lawsuits is aimed at preventing Sam Rainsy and members of his party from participating in the 2013 elections as well as being used as an excuse to crack down on the Cambodian opposition.

3) The lawsuit against Mr. Rainsy, the conviction of Mrs. Mu Sochua and the request for lifting of immunity for democratically elected Cambodian Members of Parliament is yet another blow to Cambodia’s foundering democracy, and the ongoing and disturbing trend of using the courts to intimidate and weaken political opponents shows the lack of respect for Human Rights and freedom of speech in Cambodia.

Liberal International’s call for action

Liberal International regrets that lawsuits against Mr. Sam Rainsy and members of his party have been filed for political reasons, and calls for a united worldwide liberal response to the actions of the Cambodian government.

Liberal International would like to encourage member parties to support each other with the matter, by submitting the following written question through their parliamentary Foreign Affairs spokesperson to their country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs:

Written questions regarding the lawsuit against Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy:

• Is the Foreign Minister aware of the politically motivated charges made by the Cambodian government against Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy, leader of the Sam Rainsy Party and member of Parliament, on February 26 2010, following a 2009 ruling sentencing him to two years in prison for involvement in a political protest? Is the Foreign Minister aware of the request for lifting of parliamentary immunity of a number of democratically elected Cambodian opposition MP’s by the Cambodian government, and the ruling this week of the Cambodian Supreme Court convicting Mu Sochua for defamation?
• Is the Foreign Minister of the opinion that this orchestrated attack of the Cambodian government against lawful representatives of the Cambodian people is an intolerable act of power abuse? Does the Foreign Minister share our concerns about the foundering state of Cambodian democracy and its continuing disturbing trend of using Cambodian courts as a government tool to oppress the lawful opposition?
• Is the Foreign Minister planning to inform the Cambodian embassy of these concerns, and at the same time point out his/her support for the lawful and democratically elected opposition of Cambodia including Mr. Rainsy and Mrs. Mu Sochua to fulfill their democratic job without government interference? Will the Foreign Minister demand from the Cambodian Government to stop the political persecution of Mr. Rainsy and members of his party and restore their parliamentary immunity?
• What other action will the Foreign Minister undertake regarding these issues?

And, in the case of being an aid donor to Cambodia:

• Does the Foreign Minister agree that aid donors to Cambodia must condemn the lack of reforms of the judiciary in Cambodia and the direct manipulation of the justice system by the executive branch, and place more strict demands on the government to allow judges and lawyers to exercise their roles and functions according to the rule of law?

Liberal International (LI) is the world federation of over 100 liberal and progressive democratic political parties. LI was founded in 1947 to strengthen liberal protection from totalitarianism and communism. The founding “Oxford Manifesto” is widely considered as one of the most important political documents of the 20th century. It has since become the pre-eminent network for promoting liberalism, individual freedom, human rights, the rule of law, tolerance, equality of opportunity, social justice, free trade and a market economy.
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1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10215597.stm
2 http://www.samrainsyparty.org/archives/achieve_2010/February/D-Rainsy-128-E.pdf
3 http://www.ipu.org/conf-e/122/122.pdf

Ricky Martin Dedicates Award To Little Girl In Cambodia At amfAR Inspriation Awards

Ricky Martin carrying Cambodian babies (Photo: AP)

June 4, 2010
Excerpt from SocialiteLife.com

Ricky Martin, was honored during the night for his philanthropic contributions through his foundation. After using his last acceptance speech to address political issues close to his heart, he dedicated this award to a young Cambodian girl infected with HIV that he met while working against human trafficking.

"Today, I speak on her behalf," he said. "This award is for her. This award, I'm going to take to Cambodia again. I'm going to give it to her."

“For Communists and dictators, never trust, and always verify”: Sichan Siv

Sichan Siv
Would Mr. Sichan Siv's quote apply to Cambodia's dictator?

Remembering Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

06/06/2010
By Sichan Siv
HumanEvents.com

Spring 2010 marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of Cambodia and South Vietnam to communism. In a recent speech at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Mich., to commemorate the sad anniversary, I mentioned a pivotal date: April 10, 1975.

While in Cambodia, I listened to President Ford’s address to the joint session of Congress through the Voice of America. My heart sank when I heard him say: “The situation in South Vietnam and Cambodia has reached a critical phase requiring immediate and positive decisions by this government. The options before us are few and the time is very short.” I quoted this in my memoir Golden Bones (HarperCollins, 2008).

In his recently published book An American Amnesia (Beaufort Press, 2010), Bruce Herschensohn speaks to this date more extensively, including President Ford’s request for “Congress to appropriate without delay $722 million for emergency military assistance and an initial sum of $250 million for economic and humanitarian aid for South Vietnam.” Herschensohn concludes his quotes with the following paragraphs from Ford’s speech:

“In Cambodia, the situation is tragic. And yet, for the past three months, the beleaguered people of Phnom Penh have fought on, hoping against hope that the United States would not desert them, but instead provide the arms and ammunition they so badly needed. In January, I requested food and ammunition for the brave Cambodians, and I regret to say that as of this evening, it may soon be too late… Let no potential adversary believe that our difficulties or our debates mean a slackening of our national will. We will stand by our friends, we will honor our commitments, and will uphold our country’s principle.” But we didn’t, adds Herschensohn.

Ford’s address was one of the most difficult he had ever delivered. On the copy of the speech that he read, he added his own hand-written words to begin the speech: “I stand before you tonight after many agonizing hours and solemn prayers for guidance by the Almighty.”

An American Amnesia starts on January 23, 1973 in the corridors of the White House, where Bruce Herschensohn was working for President Nixon. He describes the cheerful mood in the executive compound after the peace agreement had been signed in Paris by the United States, its ally South Vietnam, Communist North Vietnam, and the Vietcong, known as the Provisional Revolutionary Government.

It was more than a cease-fire, Herschensohn points out. It called for the United States and North Vietnam, a.k.a. the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, to respect the right of the South Vietnamese people to self-determination. Following articles urged all parties to settle issues through negotiations and avoid armed conflicts and acts of reprisal, to insure democratic liberties, including freedom of speech, etc.

Cambodia and Laos were barely mentioned in the Accords; not until chapter 20, article 20. (I was a high school teacher in Phnom Penh and working at a conference of Southeast Asian nations on January 23, 1973. In all naïveté, I was happy that Cambodia was mentioned at all).

Without referring to North Vietnam and the Vietcong, who had occupied Cambodia’s eastern parts since the mid sixties, the accords stated: “Foreign countries shall put an end to all military activities in Cambodia and Laos, totally withdraw from and refrain from reintroducing into these two countries troops, military advisers and military personnel, armaments, munitions and war material. The internal affairs of Cambodia and Laos shall be settled by the people of each of these countries without foreign interference.”

These all sounded idealistic and wishful. There was hardly any provision to penalize the offenders of these articles. If anything, it was like trying to give speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

Obviously, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong had no intention of respecting the accords. Two years later they ran their tanks through Saigon and took over South Vietnam. The Khmer Rouge went even farther by immediately turning Cambodia into a land of blood and tears, where some two million people died. It was said there were only two kinds of people: those who had died and those who would die.

After 12 Congresses and five Presidents (Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford), Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam fell to the Communists. Who lost them?

An American Amnesia details the role of the 94th Congress which came to Washington after the November 5, 1974 post-Watergate landslide. It brought 291 Democrats and 144 Republicans to the House, 61 Democrats and 39 Republicans to the Senate. When it convened on January 3, 1975, President Ford became no more than a caretaker. The Democratically controlled Congress, along with the biased media, the anti-U.S. and pro-North Vietnam protesters (Jane Fonda, Ramsey Clark, and the like) made President Ford’s job at best challenging and at worst impossible.

Nixon probably said it best in 1969: “Let us be united for peace. Let us also be united against defeat. Because let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.”

Herschensohn’s chapter on “Hotel Journalism” is very telling about “cocktail reporting,” a tendency of anti-war journalists who filed stories from hotel bars based on propaganda fed by communist sympathizers. Incidentally, I was at one of those hotels, Le Royal in Phnom Penh, with my brother on April 17, 1975 when the Khmer Rouge came in and opened the darkest chapter of Cambodia’s history.

Bruce Herschensohn does an excellent job in painting the reality of this period, exposing the biased press and the overtly pro-Communist anti-war movement, and saluting the real heroes (Bud Day, John McCain, Jim Stockdale). He debunks many myths about the Vietnam War which he refers to as the Southeast Asian War.

President Reagan once quoted a Russian proverb: “Trust, but verify.” I would add, “For Communists and dictators, never trust, and always verify.”

Bruce Herschensohn’s American Amnesia is a must read for those interested in this critical period of history.
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Sichan Siv (www.sichansiv.com) is a former United States ambassador to the United Nations and author of "Golden Bones: An Extraordinary Escape from Hell in Cambodia to a New Life in America."