Expert Predicts Warmer Future US-Cambodia Ties

King Sihamoni of Cambodia diplomatic papers from newly appointed US Ambassador Carol Rodley, 2009.



With 60 years of diplomatic relations behind them, Cambodia and the US are likely to experience stronger ties, as they move toward more economic engagement, a lecturer told students and others on Thursday.

Speaking at a symposium organized by the US Embassy, Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said US-Cambodian issues were likely to shift away from ideology and politics and more toward economics.

“I hope for the next 60 years, it is more on an economic-oriented approach and economic interdependency,” he said.

Chheang Vannarith was among a number of experts, historians and former diplomats who discussed the ongoing relationship between the two countries, one that has not always been smooth. The US only recently restarted direct aid to Cambodia, following a withdrawal after the 1997 coup.

The new relationship will be characterized by “people to people” and “business to business” relationships, as more US investors look to Cambodia, he said.

He also added that China's relationship with Cambodia was not likely to hurt the US here, as as interdependent relationship between the two giants was ongoing.

Chheang Vannarith spoke to an audience that included many students, whose views on his talk varied.

Ly Sreyrath, a 24-year-old student of international studies at the Royal Phnom Penh University, said the next 60 years were bound to be better, especially with the increasing economic relationship between the two.

However, Ngol Kean, 23, and also a student of international studies at the university, said he was “worried” about the relationship.

“The economic and military influences of China have been expanding in the last century,” he said. “The US seems to think that Cambodia has more political interest [for it] than economic.”

“The major US companies will not have a presence in direct investment in Cambodia,” he said.


News from VOANEWS

Japanese Textile Artist Drawn to Silk Mystery

Louise Allison Cort, a ceramic curator at the Freer and Sackler galleries, is seen admiring these beautiful silk.

While the Freer and Sackler galleries showcase rare Khmer bronzes in an ongoing exhibition, traditional Khmer silks are also on display.

The silks are a bit of a mystery, at least to Kikuo Morimoto, the founder of the Institute for Khmer Traditional Textiles, who was invited by the Smithsonian to explain Khmer silk dyeing and weaving.

Morimoto brought with him examples of hand-woven textiles that include an important twill pattern, called “hol.”

“I am interested in the mysterious story of yellow raw silk of Cambodia as material relating to Cambodian textiles,” he said, in addition to finding the source of the unique weaving technique.

An artist from Kyoto, Japan, Morimoto said he started his project to restore silkworm cultivation in Cambodian villages and to preserve a culture of weaving that is similar to that in Japan. He especially worked with weavers in Takeo province.

“I met an old woman, she is still keeping the old-day [hol],” he said. “This is the same in Japan also.”

He moved his institute to Siem Reap in 2000, after establishing it in Phnom Penh in 1996, and he hopes to find a way to teach the old methods to younger generations. He now has five hectares of land north of the temples of Angkor, a region that was the heart of the Khmer empire from the 9th to 14th centuries.

His work earned him a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2004 and an audience with King Norodom Sihamoni in 2007. The king praised the institute for providing employment opportunities to impoverished Cambodian women and maintaining the old tradition.

Louise Allison Cort, a ceramic curator at the Freer and Sackler galleries, said she admired Morimoto for working to preserve the environment as well as the methods.

“When I wear this piece, I know that it was made completely by hand,” she said. “Somebody grew the mulberry trees to raise the silkworm; someone sponged the silk from the silk cocoons; someone used the natural dye to make the colors; someone weaved on the loom; and all of these people enjoyed their work and felt that it contributed to the whole finished result. And when I wear this I feel like I am participating in that project as well.”

The products of the silk weavers' labours are already being sold at a shop above the Siem Reap workshops. They are also available at the Freer and Arthur galleries withing the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.


News from VOANEWS

Prison Deaths Across Cambodia Increasing: Rights Group

Adhoc estimates the total number of prisoners in Cambodia at nearly 14,000, an increase of about 400 since last year.


The number of people dying in Cambodia's prisons are increasing, according to a leading human rights group. Adhoc investigators say at least 26 prisoners have died across the country in the first six months of the year.

That number is an increase of 18 above the same period in 2009. The figures are according to a study conducted by Adhoc, which in part looked at prison documents.

The provincial prison in Kampong Cham accounted for the most deaths, which recorded at least six in the month of July, Adhoc reported.

According to a Kampong Cham prison report obtained by VOA Khmer, the prisoners died of Hepatitis B, hypertension and stroke, among other ailments. But Adhoc says the deaths can be blamed on overcrowding in cells.

“I do not believe prisoners died from disease,” Chan Soveth, an investigator for the group, said.

In Kampong Cham prison, up to 23 prisoners are kept in one room, creating conditions so crowded they are forced to sleep on their sides instead of their backs, he said.

Seak Leng Seap, deputy director of Kampong Cham prison, called the report untrue, but he declined to comment further. Officials at the Ministry of Interior's prison department could not be reached for comment.

Adhoc estimates the total number of prisoners in Cambodia at nearly 14,000, an increase of about 400 since last year.


News from VOANEWS

Peeping-Tom Pagoda Reopens After Scandal

A pagoda that was at the center of a peeping-tom scandal has reopened in Phnom Penh, but it has seen few worshippers.

Sras Chak pagoda, where a monk allegedly convinced women they could be blessed by showering there and then secretly videotaped them, will now have to work to recover its reputation.

The video images have spread throughout Cambodia, passed phone to phone via Bluetooth technology or USB drives, despite a national call from the government to cease their disbursement.

Now defrocked, Net Khai has been charged with shooting video of more than 100 women since 2008. He is also charged with distributing pornography, a crime under the anti-trafficking law. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

The former head of the pagoda, Meas Kong, stepped down as a result of the scandal. The new chief monk, Chhoeng Bunchhea, told VOA Khmer he was preparing internal regulations and rules of Buddhism to restore the reputation of the pagoda.

“Monks are not allowed to bless in hidden rooms,” he said. “We allow the monks to bless people in public spaces.”

He appealed to Cambodians to stop the spread of the footage and destroy copies as an act of good merit.

“All of Cambodian Buddhists should bury what happened at Sras Chak pagoda, and they need to think about Buddhism,” he said.

The pagoda, which is home to 55 monks and 108 students, is now quieter than before and still controlled by investigating police.

The pagoda had previously seen up to 30 or 40 visitors per day, but now very few visit, according to a layman at the pagoda who asked not to be named. The shower room where victims were videotaped has now been destroyed, he said.

“I didn't think Net Khai could commit this video shooting, because he was a gentle man and talked little with ordinary people,” said a monk living near the suspect's quarters.

Chea Vannath, the former head of the Center for Social Development, said the scandal will hurt the reputation of monks as well as the victims.

Police are now investigating whether more suspects were involved in the video shooting.

A Cambodian Woman Died, Other Five Injured Seriously From lighting Strike in Cambodia

CAMBODIA, BATTAM BONG, JULY 22, 2010-A woman died and other five people seriously injured from the lighting strike during heavy rain in O’pong Mon village, Takream commune, Banon district of Battambang province, western part of Cambodia, a police officer said on Thursday.

The lighting strike hit the tree where the victims were sheltering during the rain and it occurred about 3PM on Wednesday. A woman names Yoeun Yon, 40, died of lighting strike immediately at the scene and other five injured seriously,” But Sambo, police chief of Banon district said by phone.

Sambo continued that five injured people lost conscience at that time and they were taken to hospital and now they recovered. Last year, about 140 people were killed by lightning in Cambodia. The Cambodian authorities have always appealed repeatedly to local people about the danger of lighting strike after it showed cruelly. The authorities tell people to avoid holding iron, talking on phone and sheltering under the rain.

News from DAP-NEWS