Cambodia Preps for Oil Agreement With Iran

                               A Muslim woman carries her child at dusk in the holy city of Qom, Iran.

Cambodia is preparing a high-level delegation to visit Iran next week, where they expect to sign an agreement on petroleum cooperation, among others.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told VOA Khmer Friday the petroleum agreement would allow Iranian oil experts to provide technical assitance to Cambodia.
The delegation will be led by Foreign Minisgter Hor Namhong and will include Ho Vichit, vice chairman of the National Petroleum Authority, a ministry statement said.
Cambodia expects to see oil flowing from offshore blocs in 2012, Koy Kuong said, and Iran is one of the largest producers of oil in the world.
The visit will improve diplomatic relations between the two countries, as well as promoting trade, tourism and investment, he said.
The trip, scheduled for Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, could also mean positive developments for Cambodia's Muslim community, said Sman Teath, a Muslim and deputy director of the National Assembly's finance committee.
Cambodia has a population of nearly half a million Muslims, many of whom remain in poverty after devastating treatment at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
Sos Mos Sin, head of the Cambodian-Muslim Student Association, said the community needs trade and investment opportunities as well as humanitarian assistance from Iran.
“We want Iranian companies to invest in Cambodia, boosting economic growth and development for poverty reduction,” he said.
There are so far no plans for Iranian businesses to come here, Koy Kuong said.
Cambodia has had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1992, but it communicates with the country through its embassy in Hanoi.
Mohsen Kohkan, head of the Iran-Cambodia Parliamentary Friendship Group, who visited Cambodia in June, asked Cambodia to establish an Embassy in Iran. The Iranian Assembly has been encouraging its government to appoint an ambassador to Cambodia.

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Torture Center Marks First Year as ‘Memory of the World’

                    Known as S-21 to the Khmer Rouge, the former high school now goes by the official 
                                                 title of the National Museum of Tuol Sleng.

Tuol Sleng museum, the former Khmer Rouge torture center, marked its first anniversary as a Memory of the World Monday, as officials set a giant stone on the southern side of Building A.

More than 12,000 people were sent to their deaths at Tuol Sleng under Kaing Kek Iev, the Khmer Rouge prison chief who was sentenced to a commuted 19 years by a UN-backed tribunal last month.

Known as S-21 to the Khmer Rouge, the former high school now goes by the official title of the National Museum of Tuol Sleng, following its Unesco Memory of the World listing on July 31, 2009.

The museum holds an archive of 4,186 prisoner confessions, 6,226 prisoner biographies and 6,147 photographs.

“Its significant and outstanding value were a part of the Memory of the World, stemming from its testament to man’s inhumanity to man, women and children, and from the documentation of one of the most extreme examples of crimes against humanity of the 20^th Century,” Unesco’s representative to Cambodia, Teruo Jinnal, said during a ceremony Monday morning.

The anniversary comes just two weeks after the sentencing of Kaing Kek Iev, better known as Duch.

Chuch Phoeun, a secretary of stat the the Ministry of Culture, said the archives will be protected but that will require some technical assisance.

Van Nath, who survived the torture center under Duch, said he was satisfied that his former prison was now a Memory of the World.

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Court denies bail request for tycoon’s wife

                            Seng Chanda, the wife of businessman Khaou Chuly, leaves Phnom Penh 

                                   Municipal Court  with her lawyer after questioning in June.

THE Appeal Court yesterday upheld the Municipal Court’s decision to deny bail to the wife of a prominent Phnom Penh businessman accused of plotting to kill her stepdaughter.

Last month, Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged Seng Chenda, the wife of construction and engineering tycoon Khaou Chuly, with attempted premeditated murder under Article 3 of the Law on Aggravating Circumstances of Felonies.

The charges came after she was fingered as the mastermind of a plot targeting Suv Chantha, the wife of Sun Chanthol. Sun Chanthol is vice chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia and a former minister of public works and transport.

On June 16, Suv Chantha, Khaou Chuly’s daughter, filed a complaint accusing two men and two women of attempting to rape and murder her and her daughter in the family’s Sen Sok district villa.

The lawyer for the foursome, Dun Vibol, said after their subsequent arrest that three of his clients had told police that Seng Chanda hired them to carry out the crime.

Seng Chanda’s lawyer, Lim Vanna, said yesterday’s Appeal Court ruling had left him “disappointed”.

“We tried our best to present reasons to judges for their consideration, for my client has a blood disease, and she has vowed not to escape while on bail,” Lim Vanna said.

He said that he had not yet consulted with his client on whether to take the bail matter to the Supreme Court, but that the decision would rest with his client. No trial date has been set for the case.





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Dengue Outbreak Prompts Government Campaign

                         At least 10 people have died from the disease since June, with another 3,700 infected 
                                                in  what health officials say is a sharp increase from last year.

Officials from the Ministry of Health met with provincial health authorities on Tuesday to begin a campaign to curb an outbreak of dengue fever.
At least 10 people have died from the disease since June, with another 3,700 infected in what health officials say is a sharp increase from last year.
“We are very concerned about the outbreak of dengue fever over the last few months,” Huy Rekol, deputy director of the Ministry of Health's dengue control department, told the meeting. “So we must have a strong response to this outbreak.”
The outbreak began at the onset of the rainy season, in June, and has spread across provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampot, and Kandal, as well as Kep and Phnom Penh.
The virus has become more potent in recent years, Kuy Rekol said.
“We must increase health education in communes and schools, so the people can understand how to prevent dengue fever,” Huy Rekol said.
Dengue is carried by mosquito, so people should kill their larvae by using the chemical known by its brand name Abate in water pots and other still water sources and fill in puddles around their houses, he said.
People should also sleep under mosquito nets at night to prevent the early morning bites of the Aedes mosquito, which carries the dengue virus, he said. The mosquitoes are most active between 5:30 am and 5:30 pm.
Beginning next week, the Ministry of Health will send around 5 tons of Abate to the worst hit provinces so that it can be distributed by local authorities.
People are also encouraged to by “seven-colored” fish from markets to put in water pots, which keep down mosquito larvae. Children should wear long sleeves and pants to prevent mosquito bites that can carry the disease, Huy Rekol said.

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Khmer Rouge Play Raises Questions on Reconciliation

                                            A scene from the play ' Breaking the Silence.'

“Breaking The Silence” is a play designed to encourage people to talk among each other about their experiences under the Khmer Rouge.
In much of Cambodia today, families still live among those who were members of the regime. They may never talk to each other or acknowledge their experiences.
“Breaking the Silence,” which was performed at Chaktomuk theater in Phnom Penh on Sunday, is a series of short skits designed to show people how they can begin a process of reconciliation.
The idea of reconciliation was highlighted by the verdict of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch, who received a commuted sentence of 19 years from the UN-backed tribunal last month for overseeing the torture and execution of more than 12,000 people at Tuol Sleng prison.
But following Sunday's performance, the audience was split on whether the ideas in “Breaking the Silence” can help.
“I thought this story, 'Breaking the Silence,' was an encouragement to push the people who used to make mistakes to dare to confess those mistakes,” Sok Lang, an employee of the Center for Justice and Reconciliation, told VOA Khmer after the show. “Because the story also explained that sometimes those people had committed cruel things just because of following orders.”
In his tribunal defense, Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, said he had been following orders. He took responsibility for the crimes committed under his watch, and he asked for forgiveness from those who lost family at the prison.
Sok Lang said he wanted other Khmer Rouge cadre to publicly apologize. “And we also want those who suffered to accept the apologies, because it is the only way to reconcile our nation.”
Not everyone was convinced that reconciliation will work.
Sok Chea, another audience member, said he had lost his father, all her father's relatives, and all her mother's relatives to the Khmer Rouge.
“Therefore, what they want for reconciliation for me, by showing this play, was just on the surface of my pain,” she said. “But for my real heart, it cannot. The Khmer Rouge regime is unforgettable for me. What they want for reconciliation for us cannot make us do away with our pain.”

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