Saturday, October 31, 2009
13th Century Khmer Post Bayon Bronze Seated Ganesha
Details: A charming Khmer example of the popular Hindu deity Ganesha from the 13th century. He is seated holding his usual attributes, his broken tusk in his left hand and a large sweet in his right hand. Ganesha is wearing ornate jewelry and crown as well as a traditional Khmer sampot can kpin with an attractive folded edge on the front and a thin panel falling onto the base at the back.
In 1243 the Khmer king Jayavarman VIII came to power. A fierce Shivaite who violently opposed the state sponsored Buddhism practiced in the previous Bayon period under the pious Buddhist king Jayavarman VII. He changed the state religion back to Hinduism and violently tried to undo much of what Jayavarman VII had seen as sacred, this is reflected in the art of the mid 13th century, essentially a revival of the Hinduized forms of the Angkor Wat style of the early 12th century. Many images of Hindu deities were produced and many older Buddhist images were either vandalized or recarved into Hindu ones. This image of Ganesha is of this period. This final Hindu phase didn’t last that much longer and by the 14th century Hinayana Buddhism dominated the region as it still does to this day.
The son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha is the Hindu god of knowledge and the remover of obstacles. The first known records of this Vedic deity in Southeast Asia go back to the 7th century where he subsequently became an enormously popular deity particularly with the Indic Khmer. In Southeast Asia today he is still worshipped widely, usually before the start of a new venture or onset of a long journey.
Age: Second half of the 13th Century.
Height: On base14cm.
In 1243 the Khmer king Jayavarman VIII came to power. A fierce Shivaite who violently opposed the state sponsored Buddhism practiced in the previous Bayon period under the pious Buddhist king Jayavarman VII. He changed the state religion back to Hinduism and violently tried to undo much of what Jayavarman VII had seen as sacred, this is reflected in the art of the mid 13th century, essentially a revival of the Hinduized forms of the Angkor Wat style of the early 12th century. Many images of Hindu deities were produced and many older Buddhist images were either vandalized or recarved into Hindu ones. This image of Ganesha is of this period. This final Hindu phase didn’t last that much longer and by the 14th century Hinayana Buddhism dominated the region as it still does to this day.
The son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha is the Hindu god of knowledge and the remover of obstacles. The first known records of this Vedic deity in Southeast Asia go back to the 7th century where he subsequently became an enormously popular deity particularly with the Indic Khmer. In Southeast Asia today he is still worshipped widely, usually before the start of a new venture or onset of a long journey.
Age: Second half of the 13th Century.
Height: On base14cm.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Philippines, China sign accords to improve ties: officials
The Philippines and China signed two agreements on Thursday to boost bilateral ties and improve consular relations, officials said, despite disagreements on issues such as the disputed Spratly Islands.Philippine President Gloria Arroyo and visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi oversaw the signing of the agreements, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.
One agreement outlines areas in which the two countries intend to work more closely over the next five years, such as politics, trade, investment, finance, agriculture, food safety, defence and sustainable development.
"China is a strategic partner and we are looking forward, under the strategic cooperation plan, to have more activities between the two countries," Romulo said, but no specific details about the agreement were released.
The consular agreement is aimed at protecting Filipino workers in China and is the first such deal the Philippines has negotiated with another country, the Philippine foreign department said.
"The agreement addresses long-standing concerns of the Philippine Embassy and Consulates General in China with regard to the provision of assistance to nationals... such as notification of arrests and detention of Filipino nationals, repatriation and settlement of disputes," the department said.
Despite growing economic ties, relations between the Philippines and China have been marred by conflicting territorial claims over such areas as the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Chinese officials have said a Philippine law passed last year that spelt out Manila's claims to parts of the Spratly
One agreement outlines areas in which the two countries intend to work more closely over the next five years, such as politics, trade, investment, finance, agriculture, food safety, defence and sustainable development.
"China is a strategic partner and we are looking forward, under the strategic cooperation plan, to have more activities between the two countries," Romulo said, but no specific details about the agreement were released.
The consular agreement is aimed at protecting Filipino workers in China and is the first such deal the Philippines has negotiated with another country, the Philippine foreign department said.
"The agreement addresses long-standing concerns of the Philippine Embassy and Consulates General in China with regard to the provision of assistance to nationals... such as notification of arrests and detention of Filipino nationals, repatriation and settlement of disputes," the department said.
Despite growing economic ties, relations between the Philippines and China have been marred by conflicting territorial claims over such areas as the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.
Chinese officials have said a Philippine law passed last year that spelt out Manila's claims to parts of the Spratly
Pakistan 'hard to believe' on Al-Qaeda: Clinton
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struck an assertive tone in Pakistan on Thursday, hitting out at its government over Al-Qaeda and calling for better management of the economy.Clinton has spent the last two days in Pakistan, the troubled US ally on the frontline of the war on Al-Qaeda and its allies, trying to bolster the civilian government and counter rising anti-US sentiment in the Muslim nation.
But after pressing her message -- the US desire to turn a new page in its relations with Pakistan after mistakes of the past -- she appeared to get hot under the collar during talks with senior editors and business leaders.
The most senior US official to visit since President Barack Obama put the nuclear-armed state at the heart of the war on Al-Qaeda, Clinton took issue with Islamabad's position that the Al-Qaeda leadership is not in Pakistan.
"Al-Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002," Clinton told senior Pakistani newspaper editors in the country's cultural capital, Lahore.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," she added.
"Maybe that's the case; maybe they're not gettable. I don?t know... As far as we know, they are in Pakistan," she added.
She also showed impatience with criticism of a record US non-military aid bill giving Pakistan 7.5 billion dollars, which the army and political opposition have slammed for violating the country's sovereignty.
"At the risk of sounding undiplomatic, Pakistan has to have internal investment in your public services and your business opportunities," Clinton told businessmen, taking swipe at tax evasion in the cash-strapped country.
"The percentage of taxes on GDP is among the lowest in the world... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn't move, and that's not what we see in Pakistan," she said.
"You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don't know what you're gonna do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now," she said.
A US official, speaking to journalists on board Clinton's plane from Lahore to Islamabad, said there was nothing contradictory in her remarks and her mission to strengthen ties between the United States and Pakistan.
Pakistan's relations with Washington, on whom it depends for cash and weapons to fight Islamist militants bombing the country, can be uneasy.
Many Pakistanis blame the US-led "war on terror" and the government's US alliance for extremist attacks sweeping the country, and US missile attacks on Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked extremists have inflamed sensibilities.
Clinton's visit to the second largest city in Pakistan, which has been hit by a series of gun, suicide and grenade attacks this year, was accompanied by draconian security measures a day after a car bomb killed 105 in Peshawar.
She said the "horrific bombing" in the northwestern city left no doubt that "Pakistan is in the midst of a battle against extremists".
"This is not your fight alone... You're standing on the frontlines of this battle but we are standing with you," she told students at the elite Government College University Lahore, a breeding ground for public servants.
Following other investment announcements, Clinton pledged 45 million dollars for higher education in Pakistan.
Obama's administration wants to broaden engagement with a country whose people traditionally see the United States as interested only in securing its military cooperation in the fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Clinton has already committed 85 million dollars to countering poverty, 125 million dollars to improving Pakistan's woefully inadequate electricity supply and 104 million dollars to law enforcement and border security assistance.
But after pressing her message -- the US desire to turn a new page in its relations with Pakistan after mistakes of the past -- she appeared to get hot under the collar during talks with senior editors and business leaders.
The most senior US official to visit since President Barack Obama put the nuclear-armed state at the heart of the war on Al-Qaeda, Clinton took issue with Islamabad's position that the Al-Qaeda leadership is not in Pakistan.
"Al-Qaeda has had safe haven in Pakistan since 2002," Clinton told senior Pakistani newspaper editors in the country's cultural capital, Lahore.
"I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government knows where they are and couldn't get them if they really wanted to," she added.
"Maybe that's the case; maybe they're not gettable. I don?t know... As far as we know, they are in Pakistan," she added.
She also showed impatience with criticism of a record US non-military aid bill giving Pakistan 7.5 billion dollars, which the army and political opposition have slammed for violating the country's sovereignty.
"At the risk of sounding undiplomatic, Pakistan has to have internal investment in your public services and your business opportunities," Clinton told businessmen, taking swipe at tax evasion in the cash-strapped country.
"The percentage of taxes on GDP is among the lowest in the world... We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn't move, and that's not what we see in Pakistan," she said.
"You do have 180 million people. Your population is projected to be about 300 million. And I don't know what you're gonna do with that kind of challenge, unless you start planning right now," she said.
A US official, speaking to journalists on board Clinton's plane from Lahore to Islamabad, said there was nothing contradictory in her remarks and her mission to strengthen ties between the United States and Pakistan.
Pakistan's relations with Washington, on whom it depends for cash and weapons to fight Islamist militants bombing the country, can be uneasy.
Many Pakistanis blame the US-led "war on terror" and the government's US alliance for extremist attacks sweeping the country, and US missile attacks on Al-Qaeda and Taliban-linked extremists have inflamed sensibilities.
Clinton's visit to the second largest city in Pakistan, which has been hit by a series of gun, suicide and grenade attacks this year, was accompanied by draconian security measures a day after a car bomb killed 105 in Peshawar.
She said the "horrific bombing" in the northwestern city left no doubt that "Pakistan is in the midst of a battle against extremists".
"This is not your fight alone... You're standing on the frontlines of this battle but we are standing with you," she told students at the elite Government College University Lahore, a breeding ground for public servants.
Following other investment announcements, Clinton pledged 45 million dollars for higher education in Pakistan.
Obama's administration wants to broaden engagement with a country whose people traditionally see the United States as interested only in securing its military cooperation in the fight against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Clinton has already committed 85 million dollars to countering poverty, 125 million dollars to improving Pakistan's woefully inadequate electricity supply and 104 million dollars to law enforcement and border security assistance.
PM denies influencing ruling
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is distancing his government from a Council of State recommendation that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra be stripped of his police rank and royal decorations.Mr Abhisit Wednesday said the government had not influenced the council's ruling on this matter, which was strictly between the Royal Thai Police and the government's legal advisory body.
"The Royal Thai Police asked the Council of State about the matter, and now the ruling has come out it will have to comply," he said.
The Council of State recommended on Tuesday that the fugitive prime minister be stripped of his police rank and royal decorations because he had been convicted and sentenced to two years in jail. Thaksin was a police lieutenant colonel before he built his business empire and entered politics.
The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions found him guilty in October of last year of a conflict of interest in relation to the sale of a prime piece of real estate on Ratchadaphisek Road to his then wife.
Mr Abhisit said the revoking of Thaksin's police rank would be handled by the Royal Thai Police while the recall of his royal decorations would be undertaken by the relevant agencies.
Procedures call for the Secretariat of the Cabinet to propose the recall of the decorations to the prime minister for endorsement and then forward the matter to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary. The recall, once it has royal endorsement, would be announced in the royal gazette.
The former prime minister has received nine royal decorations, the highest being the Knight Grand Commander (Second Class, higher grade) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chulachomklao, bestowed in 2002.
Thaksin wrote on his Twitter page yesterday that "it is a normal practice for this government... if they could find a law to kill me, they would have done.
"Law should be enforced for peace of society, justice, and equality, but this government chooses to enforce for political outcomes. Now I have to sing the song Khob Khun Thi Some Term (Thanks for repeatedly hitting me)."
Thaksin supporters have also come out to criticise moves to revoke his police rank and royal decorations.
Core Puea Thai Party member Chalerm Yubamrung said the move appeared to be politically motivated. It came just days after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen offered Thaksin a refuge and a job as his economic adviser.
"The government may or may not take advice from the Council of State," he said. "It depends whether or not the advice is useful to the government."
Mr Chalerm said the offence of which Thaksin was found guilty does not justify stripping him of his rank under the police's code.
"The Royal Thai Police asked the Council of State about the matter, and now the ruling has come out it will have to comply," he said.
The Council of State recommended on Tuesday that the fugitive prime minister be stripped of his police rank and royal decorations because he had been convicted and sentenced to two years in jail. Thaksin was a police lieutenant colonel before he built his business empire and entered politics.
The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions found him guilty in October of last year of a conflict of interest in relation to the sale of a prime piece of real estate on Ratchadaphisek Road to his then wife.
Mr Abhisit said the revoking of Thaksin's police rank would be handled by the Royal Thai Police while the recall of his royal decorations would be undertaken by the relevant agencies.
Procedures call for the Secretariat of the Cabinet to propose the recall of the decorations to the prime minister for endorsement and then forward the matter to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary. The recall, once it has royal endorsement, would be announced in the royal gazette.
The former prime minister has received nine royal decorations, the highest being the Knight Grand Commander (Second Class, higher grade) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chulachomklao, bestowed in 2002.
Thaksin wrote on his Twitter page yesterday that "it is a normal practice for this government... if they could find a law to kill me, they would have done.
"Law should be enforced for peace of society, justice, and equality, but this government chooses to enforce for political outcomes. Now I have to sing the song Khob Khun Thi Some Term (Thanks for repeatedly hitting me)."
Thaksin supporters have also come out to criticise moves to revoke his police rank and royal decorations.
Core Puea Thai Party member Chalerm Yubamrung said the move appeared to be politically motivated. It came just days after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen offered Thaksin a refuge and a job as his economic adviser.
"The government may or may not take advice from the Council of State," he said. "It depends whether or not the advice is useful to the government."
Mr Chalerm said the offence of which Thaksin was found guilty does not justify stripping him of his rank under the police's code.
Reflected Royalty
One of many pictures of the King erected around Phnom Penh this week in preparation for the Water Festival appears in the side mirror of a car at the front of Hotel Cambodiana on Wednesday.
Carnage in Pakistan
Shops burn as men gather at a market following a car bomb blast in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Wednesday that killed more than 80 people, underscoring the scale of the extremist threat as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thailand's fugitive former premier to visit Cambodia 'soon'
Bangkok - Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra plans to visit Cambodia soon after being offered refuge and a job as an economic adviser by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, media reports said Wednesday. Thaksin said he would be paying a visit to Thailand's neighbour "soon to thank Hun Sen," the Bangkok Post reported, citing an unnamed source in the Puea Thai opposition party, which has the financial backing of the former prime minister.
Hun Sen last week threw a monkey wrench in Thai-Cambodian relations by claiming that Thaksin, who faces a two-year jail sentence in Thailand and is living in self-imposed exile, was his good friend and would be granted refuge and a job as an economic adviser should be come to Cambodia.
He added that Cambodia would not extradite Thaksin to Thailand, even though the neighbouring countries have signed an extradition agreement.
The former Khmer Rouge cadre went on to compare Thaksin with Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house detention and was recently sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest.
Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon turned populist politician, was sentenced last year for abuse of power for allowing his wife in 2003 to bid on a plot of land at a public auction when he was still prime minister.
Thaksin was premier from 2001 to 2006 before being toppled in a bloodless military coup on charges of corruption, dividing the nation and undermining democratic institutions.
Thaksin's close ties to Hun Sen date back to when he was still the chairman of the Shinawatra Corp, which won several telecommunications concessions in neighbouring Cambodia.
Hun Sen's open support of Thaksin, made upon his arrival in Thailand Friday to attend a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, was seen as a diplomatic slap in the face to current Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who came to power in December after the downfall of the previous pro-Thaksin coalition government.
Thailand and Cambodia have a long history of animosity and border spats, the latest one being over joint claims to land adjacent to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on their border.
Hun Sen last week threw a monkey wrench in Thai-Cambodian relations by claiming that Thaksin, who faces a two-year jail sentence in Thailand and is living in self-imposed exile, was his good friend and would be granted refuge and a job as an economic adviser should be come to Cambodia.
He added that Cambodia would not extradite Thaksin to Thailand, even though the neighbouring countries have signed an extradition agreement.
The former Khmer Rouge cadre went on to compare Thaksin with Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has spent 14 of the past 20 years under house detention and was recently sentenced to another 18 months of house arrest.
Thaksin, a former telecommunications tycoon turned populist politician, was sentenced last year for abuse of power for allowing his wife in 2003 to bid on a plot of land at a public auction when he was still prime minister.
Thaksin was premier from 2001 to 2006 before being toppled in a bloodless military coup on charges of corruption, dividing the nation and undermining democratic institutions.
Thaksin's close ties to Hun Sen date back to when he was still the chairman of the Shinawatra Corp, which won several telecommunications concessions in neighbouring Cambodia.
Hun Sen's open support of Thaksin, made upon his arrival in Thailand Friday to attend a summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, was seen as a diplomatic slap in the face to current Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who came to power in December after the downfall of the previous pro-Thaksin coalition government.
Thailand and Cambodia have a long history of animosity and border spats, the latest one being over joint claims to land adjacent to the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on their border.
Thais to send letter clarifying Thaksin status
THAILAND will send a diplomatic note to Cambodia to “clarify” the legal status of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday as about 100 Thai protesters converged outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok to decry Prime Minister Hun Sen’s show of support for the exiled former leader.Hun Sen last week offered a safe haven in Cambodia to Thaksin, suggesting that the fugitive billionaire serve as his economic adviser. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup and self-exiled to avoid a jail term on corruption charges.The Thai government, which hosted Hun Sen and other regional leaders at the 15th ASEAN summit in the resort town of Hua Hin, said it would pursue extradition of Thaksin if he sought refuge on Cambodian soil. The Cambodian government, however, responded on Friday by issuing a statement that it would not comply.Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Bangkok suspects Hun Sen is “misinformed” about Thaksin and will therefore send a letter clarifying the ex-prime minister’s legal status “hopefully by the end of this week”.“We just wanted to make sure that the Cambodian side and Hun Sen have all the relevant facts at hand,” Thani said, explaining that the communique will consist of “an information paper detailing all the facts and the latest status of the legal cases related to the former prime minister for the information of the Cambodian side”.Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban met with Hun Sen on Saturday at the ASEAN summit to “update him on the situation” regarding Thaksin, Thani added.Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said Thailand was welcome to communicate further about Thaksin through diplomatic channels.“It’s up to the Thai side if they want to send a note or more information about that,” he said, declining to comment on whether the Cambodian government felt it had been misinformed about Thaksin.Panitan Wattanayagorn, the deputy secretary general to the Thai prime minister on political affairs, said Sunday that his government has a duty to ensure that cases involving Thai nationals in Cambodia are handled according to bilateral agreements, adding that Thai authorities are unsure of Thaksin’s present location. “For the time being, we are not able to confirm the whereabouts of this particular person,” he said.‘Insulting to all Thais’At the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok, protest leader Chaiwat Sinsuwong, a leading member of the anti-Thaksin Yellow Shirt movement, told the crowd that Hun Sen’s remarks had “shown hostility” to Thailand and had interfered in the country’s internal affairs. “His comments were insulting to all Thais and destroyed bilateral relations,” Chaiwat said.Thai police tightened security around the embassy, placing about 150 officers on guard for the rally, which dispersed without violence after two hours, district police commander Samit Choensa-ard said.Chheang Vannarith, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace, said Thaksin’s presence in Cambodia would prompt further demonstrations of this sort and “may harm the Cambodians living and working in Thailand”.Diplomatically, however, there would be little recourse for the government of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to pursue Thaksin if Cambodia were to deny his extradition, said Josh Kurlantzick, a Southeast Asia expert with the Council on Foreign Relations.“I don’t think Abhisit really has many options here, if Thaksin is on Cambodian soil,” he said Saturday.In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh sought to quash speculation that the morning’s protest had gotten out of control. “The Thai embassy in Cambodia would like to dispel the rumour that there was a demonstration in which Cambodia’s embassy in Thailand was burned down,” the statement read.
Eviction coming in Koh Kong: observers
OFFICIALS moved one step closer to forcibly evicting 43 families in Koh Kong province Tuesday when a provincial court judge divided a swath of disputed land between two feuding businessmen, and villagers who stand to be affected complained that they had been excluded from all discussion concerning land they have lived on for more than a decade, residents and rights workers said. Sre Ambel district officials had earlier signalled the eviction would be carried out Tuesday, and residents said more than 200 villagers gathered early Tuesday morning and prepared to obstruct any attempt to remove the families. Instead, 50 police officers escorted Deputy Judge Meas Vatanea to the site, where he read aloud a June Supreme Court ruling that awarded the land to the two businessmen, Sok Hong and Heng Huy, residents said. They said Meas Vatanea then marked off how the land would be divided, with most going to Heng Huy. In a surprise move, they said, Meas Vatanea also ruled that some of the 43 families were living in Chi Khor Leu commune, headed by Chhay Vuth, and not Chi Khor Krom commune, headed by Toav Vann. Am Sam Ath, technical supervisor for the rights group Licadho, said this was significant because Chhay Vuth was known for being “very sympathetic” to Heng Huy, who has said he plans to convert the land into a cassava farm. Chhay Vuth could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
गेत्तिंग रेडी फॉर कंपनी
Workers build a path at Sambo Prey Kup temple in Kampong Thom on Friday. The 1,400-year-old temple is one of two for which Cambodia requested UNESCO World Heritage status in September.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Introduction
In the USA, Memorial Day for the dead every May is commemorated instead of Remembrance Day in November. But here in Bermuda, Canada, United Kingdom and elsewhere in the British Commonwealth of Nations, Remembrance Day, at the Cenotaph on Front Street in थेसिटी Hamil every November 11 is a very solemn day. For Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC, 1894-1946) Association Members, Friends, Families and Community members who are interested, it begins with an appearance at the BVRC War Memorial at Victoria Park, Hamilton, for a Parade and Service of Remembrance, with laying of wreaths and roll of honour. Then at 11 am, it is a parade for all surviving Bermuda veterans of World Wars and Korean War (none served in the more recent Gulf Wars or in Afghanistan or Iraq), in both the BVRC and other Bermuda military units such as the Bermuda Militia Artillery, etc. at that time.
Bermuda veterans of World Wars 1 and 2 and Korean War of the 1950s were mostly in the Bermuda Home Guard or serving abroad in the British Army (Mostly Caribbean Regiment or Lincolnshire Regiment), Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Merchant Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy. They included John Ward, a veteran of the 9th Submarine Flotilla.
If well enough to appear, they do so wearing their medals and march down part of Front Street.
The Remembrance Day Service pays tribute to those who served locally or overseas in the two wars above and died or survived, and those who guarded freedom at home. In Bermuda, as at November 11, 2008, there were 183 living registered veterans and 78 widows of veterans. The Home Guard were joined by Bermudians in Royal Naval Dockyard who kept to the Atlantic supply lines open, ensuring the British received essential supplies.
Accompanied by the Bermuda Regiment Band and Corps of Drums, the Salvation Army, North Village and Somerset Brigade Bands, and the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band, they reflect on their comrades who fought for freedom. At 11 a.m. guns fired at Fort Hamilton and Ordnance Island, St. George's, to signal the two-minute silence, held every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate the end of the First World War.
Wreaths were laid by Governor Sir Richard Gosney, Premier Ewart Brown, Hamilton Mayor Sutherland Madeiros, Opposition Leader, the president of the War Veterans' Association, the Defence Board chairman, the Regiment's commanding officer, the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Fire Officer.
They were followed by former members or on behalf of the Bermuda Home Guard and Bermuda Contingent of the Caribbean Regiment. A service takes place in the Bermuda Cathedral in the event of wet weather.
Remembrance Day events are also broadcast on the Government TV station CITV from 10.30 a.m (CableVision Ch. 2 and WOW Ch 102).also remembers the Island's war heroes, at a Remembrance Day Parade in the Town Square opposite the War Memorial. Those present include the Mayor, The Royal Artillery and Ex-Artillerymen's Association, Bermuda Island Pipe Band, The Bermuda Regiment Band & Corp of Drums, Bermuda Sea Cadets, St. George's Girl Guides, Bermuda Fire Service, Bermuda Regiment Wreath Bearers, Bermuda Regiment Gun Troop, and the Boy Scouts all participate in the ceremony.If veterans served with a British unit - as most of them did - they also get the HM Armed Forces Veterans Badge, and a War Pension from the United Kingdom. Eligibility to this prestigious badge was widened following Remembrance Day 2005 to include all those who served between the end of the Second World War and December, 1954, thus encompassing the Korean War and military campaigns in Malaya undertaken by British forces. Another local veteran, also honored, served in Korea with the US Army. Unlike in the UK, USA, Canada, etc. there are no retirement homes or hospitals specifically for World War veterans. Some Bermuda veterans have had to pay more than $100,000 out of their own money if they have it to overseas hospitals for operations, owing to a lack of affordable medical insurance and no social conscience in Bermuda from taxpayers' resources. If they don't have the funds, they don't get treated overseas.
However, in Bermuda, registered veterans and their widows get a Bermuda War Pensions benefit of $800 a month, plus full coverage on all prescription drugs, medical tests at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and partial coverage for medical visits to local medical general practitioners and specialists.
In England, on every Sunday before Remembrance Day in London, the Foreign Secretary, currently the Right Hon. Jack Straw, MP, on behalf of the Foreign & Commonwealth ओफ्फी London, England, which administers Bermuda, lays before the Cenotaph (later copied by Bermuda) in London Territorie. He is accompanied by the UK's Prime Minister, and leaders of the Opposition - those from the main Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
The wreath is supplied to the FCO by the Directors and Staff of, and hand-made at, Kew Gardens, Britain's finest gardens, from flowers and botanicals in its collection from all the Overseas Territories including some prized Bermudiana. It always includes sprigs of two endemic Bermuda species, the Juniperus bermudiana (Bermuda Cedar) tree and Chiococca bermudiana (Bermuda snowberry) shrub.
Bermuda veterans of World Wars 1 and 2 and Korean War of the 1950s were mostly in the Bermuda Home Guard or serving abroad in the British Army (Mostly Caribbean Regiment or Lincolnshire Regiment), Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Merchant Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and Royal Canadian Navy. They included John Ward, a veteran of the 9th Submarine Flotilla.
If well enough to appear, they do so wearing their medals and march down part of Front Street.
The Remembrance Day Service pays tribute to those who served locally or overseas in the two wars above and died or survived, and those who guarded freedom at home. In Bermuda, as at November 11, 2008, there were 183 living registered veterans and 78 widows of veterans. The Home Guard were joined by Bermudians in Royal Naval Dockyard who kept to the Atlantic supply lines open, ensuring the British received essential supplies.
Accompanied by the Bermuda Regiment Band and Corps of Drums, the Salvation Army, North Village and Somerset Brigade Bands, and the Bermuda Islands Pipe Band, they reflect on their comrades who fought for freedom. At 11 a.m. guns fired at Fort Hamilton and Ordnance Island, St. George's, to signal the two-minute silence, held every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate the end of the First World War.
Wreaths were laid by Governor Sir Richard Gosney, Premier Ewart Brown, Hamilton Mayor Sutherland Madeiros, Opposition Leader, the president of the War Veterans' Association, the Defence Board chairman, the Regiment's commanding officer, the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Fire Officer.
They were followed by former members or on behalf of the Bermuda Home Guard and Bermuda Contingent of the Caribbean Regiment. A service takes place in the Bermuda Cathedral in the event of wet weather.
Remembrance Day events are also broadcast on the Government TV station CITV from 10.30 a.m (CableVision Ch. 2 and WOW Ch 102).also remembers the Island's war heroes, at a Remembrance Day Parade in the Town Square opposite the War Memorial. Those present include the Mayor, The Royal Artillery and Ex-Artillerymen's Association, Bermuda Island Pipe Band, The Bermuda Regiment Band & Corp of Drums, Bermuda Sea Cadets, St. George's Girl Guides, Bermuda Fire Service, Bermuda Regiment Wreath Bearers, Bermuda Regiment Gun Troop, and the Boy Scouts all participate in the ceremony.If veterans served with a British unit - as most of them did - they also get the HM Armed Forces Veterans Badge, and a War Pension from the United Kingdom. Eligibility to this prestigious badge was widened following Remembrance Day 2005 to include all those who served between the end of the Second World War and December, 1954, thus encompassing the Korean War and military campaigns in Malaya undertaken by British forces. Another local veteran, also honored, served in Korea with the US Army. Unlike in the UK, USA, Canada, etc. there are no retirement homes or hospitals specifically for World War veterans. Some Bermuda veterans have had to pay more than $100,000 out of their own money if they have it to overseas hospitals for operations, owing to a lack of affordable medical insurance and no social conscience in Bermuda from taxpayers' resources. If they don't have the funds, they don't get treated overseas.
However, in Bermuda, registered veterans and their widows get a Bermuda War Pensions benefit of $800 a month, plus full coverage on all prescription drugs, medical tests at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and partial coverage for medical visits to local medical general practitioners and specialists.
In England, on every Sunday before Remembrance Day in London, the Foreign Secretary, currently the Right Hon. Jack Straw, MP, on behalf of the Foreign & Commonwealth ओफ्फी London, England, which administers Bermuda, lays before the Cenotaph (later copied by Bermuda) in London Territorie. He is accompanied by the UK's Prime Minister, and leaders of the Opposition - those from the main Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
The wreath is supplied to the FCO by the Directors and Staff of, and hand-made at, Kew Gardens, Britain's finest gardens, from flowers and botanicals in its collection from all the Overseas Territories including some prized Bermudiana. It always includes sprigs of two endemic Bermuda species, the Juniperus bermudiana (Bermuda Cedar) tree and Chiococca bermudiana (Bermuda snowberry) shrub.
फ्नोम पेन्ह प्रेपरेस फॉर वाटर फेस्टिवल
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday ordered Phnom Penh authorities to prepare for the annual Water Festival, which draws millions of visitors to Phnom Penh every year.
The festival, which marks a change in direction of the Tonle Sap river and commemorates a naval victory of the Khmer empire over Cham adversaries, begins Nov. 1 and lasts three days.
Authorities expect five million people to attend this year’s festivities, which include a lighted nighttime flotilla and daytime boat races, with around 300 teams competing.
“I would like to call on Phnom Penh municipal authorities and the provinces around Phnom Penh to provide good safety for our people,” Hun Sen said. “All kinds of armed forces must defend the safety of Phnom Penh. During the Water Festival, people from the rural areas are coming into Phnom Penh more and more.”
Phnom Penh will deploy about 6,500 security personnel to maintain public order.
“We have enough police and military police forces to maintain public security and order during the Water Festival,” Touch Naroth, chief of Phnom Penh police, said. “We have prepared our patrols and intervention forces to help pedestrians along the streets. First, we will prevent any offenses, and second, we will avoid traffic jams and traffic accidents.”
Pickpockets and lost children top the problems that must be dealt with, he said.
Hun Sen also urged people to be mindful of sanitation, as well as the spread of HIV and the H1N1 virus, which has killed three Cambodians so far this year. Health authorities have said the festival could be a major incubator for the flu virus.
The festival, which marks a change in direction of the Tonle Sap river and commemorates a naval victory of the Khmer empire over Cham adversaries, begins Nov. 1 and lasts three days.
Authorities expect five million people to attend this year’s festivities, which include a lighted nighttime flotilla and daytime boat races, with around 300 teams competing.
“I would like to call on Phnom Penh municipal authorities and the provinces around Phnom Penh to provide good safety for our people,” Hun Sen said. “All kinds of armed forces must defend the safety of Phnom Penh. During the Water Festival, people from the rural areas are coming into Phnom Penh more and more.”
Phnom Penh will deploy about 6,500 security personnel to maintain public order.
“We have enough police and military police forces to maintain public security and order during the Water Festival,” Touch Naroth, chief of Phnom Penh police, said. “We have prepared our patrols and intervention forces to help pedestrians along the streets. First, we will prevent any offenses, and second, we will avoid traffic jams and traffic accidents.”
Pickpockets and lost children top the problems that must be dealt with, he said.
Hun Sen also urged people to be mindful of sanitation, as well as the spread of HIV and the H1N1 virus, which has killed three Cambodians so far this year. Health authorities have said the festival could be a major incubator for the flu virus.
थे फिनान्सिअल सेक्टर इन कम्बोडिया एम्प्लोय्स
“Phnom Penh: All banks and micro-credit institutions in Cambodia employ 14,698 Cambodian persons, according to a report from the National Bank of Cambodia.
“The report of the National Bank issued recently said that banks and micro-credit institutions provide jobs for 14,698 people.
“The report shows that all commercial and other special banks create jobs for 9,550 citizens in total, while micro-finance institutions employ 5,148 people.
“According to this report, all banks in Cambodia recognized by the National Bank provide a variety of numbers of jobs. The banks employ between 13 to 6,128 persons, while the micro-finance institutions employ freom 6 to 1,024 persons.
“Based on the report, the job market in the banking and micro-finance sectors has achieved a moderate growth rate. In 2007, all commercial and other special banks provided 6,869 jobs, while in 2006, they could employ only 4,624 persons. Micro-finance institutions employed just 3,511 persons in 2007, and only 2,503 persons in 2006.
“By now, there are 24 commercial banks, 6 specialized banks, 18 micro-finance institutions, 26 rural credit operators, and about 60 organizations handling credits.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5031, 27.10.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #321, 27.10.2009
India Promised to Provide US$15 Million in Loans to Cambodia [for economic and social development]
The Ministry of Health Warned Clinics That Offer A/H1N1 Vaccine [saying that the vaccine has to be approved by the Ministry of Health]
[Anonymous] Robber Stabbed a Man [to death] to Rob His Motorbike – He Escaped Safely [Siem Reap]
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2082, 27.10.2009
Samdech Dekchor’s Statement [about Thaksin] Does Not Affect the Cambodian-Thai Relationship [according to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vijjajiva]
A Philippine Man Was Convicted to Serve 25 Years in Prison, and Fined to Pay Riel 80 Million [US$20,000] for Cross Border Drug Smuggling [Phnom Penh]
Samdech Euv [the former King] Does Not Want to Celebrate His Birth Day [on 31 October 2009, but he does not provide any reason]
Bombs Exploded against the Government in Baghdad, Killing 147 People
Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6789, 27.10.2009
The Phnom Penh Authorities Prepare 6,530 Uniformed Forces to Maintain Order during the Water Festival [from 2 to 4 November 2009]
Six Communes in Russey Keo District Are Flooded by Rain [Phnom Penh - the Russey Keo Deputy governor, Mr. Kob Sles, blames climate change - but according to other sources, residents blame the unchecked filling of natural ponds and lakes by property developers for the disaster]
A Monk Beat a Nun to Death, then Took Off His Robe and Hid in a Temple [he was arrested - Banteay Meanchey]
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5031, 27.10.2009
The Financial Sector in Cambodia Employs 14,698 People
Cambodian Troops Increase Alert at the Border after the War of Words between Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen and [Thai Prime Minister] Abhisit
Sam Rainsy Led Villagers to Remove Border Markers [set by the Cambodian and Vietnamese border committees] and the Government Accused Him of Destroying State Property
Sereypheap Thmey, Vol.17, #1816, 27.10.2009
[Sam Rainsy parliamentarian] Son Chhay: The Prime Minister Has Never Appeared in the National Assembly to Question Him According to the Law Since 1993
Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.And please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.
“The report of the National Bank issued recently said that banks and micro-credit institutions provide jobs for 14,698 people.
“The report shows that all commercial and other special banks create jobs for 9,550 citizens in total, while micro-finance institutions employ 5,148 people.
“According to this report, all banks in Cambodia recognized by the National Bank provide a variety of numbers of jobs. The banks employ between 13 to 6,128 persons, while the micro-finance institutions employ freom 6 to 1,024 persons.
“Based on the report, the job market in the banking and micro-finance sectors has achieved a moderate growth rate. In 2007, all commercial and other special banks provided 6,869 jobs, while in 2006, they could employ only 4,624 persons. Micro-finance institutions employed just 3,511 persons in 2007, and only 2,503 persons in 2006.
“By now, there are 24 commercial banks, 6 specialized banks, 18 micro-finance institutions, 26 rural credit operators, and about 60 organizations handling credits.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5031, 27.10.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:Tuesday, 27 October 2009
Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #321, 27.10.2009
India Promised to Provide US$15 Million in Loans to Cambodia [for economic and social development]
The Ministry of Health Warned Clinics That Offer A/H1N1 Vaccine [saying that the vaccine has to be approved by the Ministry of Health]
[Anonymous] Robber Stabbed a Man [to death] to Rob His Motorbike – He Escaped Safely [Siem Reap]
Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2082, 27.10.2009
Samdech Dekchor’s Statement [about Thaksin] Does Not Affect the Cambodian-Thai Relationship [according to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vijjajiva]
A Philippine Man Was Convicted to Serve 25 Years in Prison, and Fined to Pay Riel 80 Million [US$20,000] for Cross Border Drug Smuggling [Phnom Penh]
Samdech Euv [the former King] Does Not Want to Celebrate His Birth Day [on 31 October 2009, but he does not provide any reason]
Bombs Exploded against the Government in Baghdad, Killing 147 People
Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6789, 27.10.2009
The Phnom Penh Authorities Prepare 6,530 Uniformed Forces to Maintain Order during the Water Festival [from 2 to 4 November 2009]
Six Communes in Russey Keo District Are Flooded by Rain [Phnom Penh - the Russey Keo Deputy governor, Mr. Kob Sles, blames climate change - but according to other sources, residents blame the unchecked filling of natural ponds and lakes by property developers for the disaster]
A Monk Beat a Nun to Death, then Took Off His Robe and Hid in a Temple [he was arrested - Banteay Meanchey]
Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5031, 27.10.2009
The Financial Sector in Cambodia Employs 14,698 People
Cambodian Troops Increase Alert at the Border after the War of Words between Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen and [Thai Prime Minister] Abhisit
Sam Rainsy Led Villagers to Remove Border Markers [set by the Cambodian and Vietnamese border committees] and the Government Accused Him of Destroying State Property
Sereypheap Thmey, Vol.17, #1816, 27.10.2009
[Sam Rainsy parliamentarian] Son Chhay: The Prime Minister Has Never Appeared in the National Assembly to Question Him According to the Law Since 1993
Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.And please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.
Military beefs up defences
TROOPS in the northwest are stockpiling munitions following heightened tensions between Thailand and Cambodia in recent weeks, officers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) confirmed Monday.RCAF General Men Saroeun, in charge of air defence in Military Region 5 based in Battambang province, said his forces had recently received significant supplies of new small arms and artillery. “We now have modern weapons to defend our nation,” he said. “We have what the Thai soldiers have. This is our strategy to defend our border.”Tanks were seen being transported along National Road 5 last week in Battambang province, and an RCAF general, speaking on condition of anonymity, said missiles with a range of up to 60 kilometres had also arrived. In addition to 16 new tanks delivered to Military Region 5, he said, more than 700 RCAF officers have been issued K-54 pistols, marking the first time since 2000 that low-level commanders have been issued sidearms.Chhouk Ang, commander of Border Police Battalion 911 in Banteay Meanchey province, said he received word from his superiors to be on alert in the wake of the spat between Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. “While we remain watchful at all times, we have put our forces on alert to prevent Thai forces from entering Cambodian territory,” he said.But Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the re-arming was unrelated to tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, which intensified last week after Prime Minister Hun Sen invited fugitive ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to serve as his economic adviser.“This has nothing to do with relations between Cambodia and Thailand. The Thai Foreign Ministry has said that Cambodia and Thailand have a good relationship and that Thaksin’s case is a personal issue,” he said, adding that such rearmaments are a normal part of military operations.
October 29, 2008 is the Coronation Day of His Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni, the King of Cambodia for his fourth year anniversary. All government civil servent have a one day holiday in order to celebrate the Coronation Day of His Majesty the King Norodom Sihamoni.
May I take this opportunity to wishing His Majesty all the best, long lived and healthy to be the lead and shadow and the symbol of the peace, unity and eternity of the nation.
Please noted that in article 7 and 8 of the Constitution of Cambodia stated that:
Article 7-
The King of Cambodia shall reign but shall not govern.
The King shall be the Head of State for life.
The King shall be inviolable.
Article 8-
The King of Cambodia shall be a symbol of unity and eternity of the nation.
The King shall be the guarantor of the national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the protector of rights and freedom for all citizens and the guarantor of international treaties
Article 9 -
The King shall assume the august role of arbitrator to ensure the faithful execution of public powers.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Activists protest closed summit
CAMBODIAN and regional human rights groups have slammed the exclusion of five activists from a meeting with regional leaders at the 15th ASEAN summit on Friday, overshadowing the launch of the bloc’s long-awaited rights watchdog. Leaders from the 10 ASEAN member states were set to hold rare talks with rights group representatives – one from each country – in the Thai resort town of Hua Hin on Friday morning, but the governments of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore barred activists from the meeting at the last minute.Debbie Stothard, media coordinator of the independent ASEAN People’s Forum, which selected the delegates, said she was “shocked” by their exclusion, as the meeting had been in the pipeline since the February summit. “There was an organised process of interactions with ASEAN governments” leading up to the meeting, she said. “This is an outrageous development. It is a rejection of civil society and of the democratic process by which they were selected.”The government’s exclusion of Ney Vannda, Cambodia’s representative and the advocacy chief of local rights group Adhoc, mirrored similar events at February’s ASEAN summit, when Cambodia joined the Myanmar military junta in blocking activists from attending a similar face-to-face meeting.Adhoc president Thun Saray could not be reached for comment on Sunday, but Kek Pung, president of fellow rights organisation Licadho, said she was “disappointed” to hear activists were excluded from the meet, and that ASEAN had contradicted the spirit of its 2007 charter. “ASEAN has just approved a charter saying it should have a human rights body, so I think it’s important that civil society should take part,” she said.Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said he was unsurprised by the incident, but that he was “puzzled” the Cambodian government went to the effort of barring Ney Vannda from a routine meeting. “There’s nothing for this government to lose by letting these people into the meeting. It’s not helping the government’s reputation or that of ASEAN,” he said. Officials said the five activists were barred because they had not been approved by their governments in line with previous agreements. “The foreign ministers of ASEAN have agreed that the only civil society organisations that had the right to attend the meeting with leaders of ASEAN were civil society groups sent by their governments to participate [in the summit],” Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters at Phnom Penh International Airport on Sunday. Stothard, however, said that several government-selected “civil society” groups had enrolled in the ASEAN People’s Forum in order to wrest the nomination to appear at the meeting from independent groups. “Civil society [organisations] should not be considered pets of government. Trying to replace us with mirror images of the government doesn’t make the problems go away,” she said.Friday’s events came as ASEAN launched its Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, a body that has also come under fire for lacking the mandate to enforce rights standards. Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at Singapore Management University, said the body was “a start” but fell “far short” of being a credible mechanism, and Stothard said only Indonesia and Thailand had held a transparent selection process for their delegates to the commission.Sripapha Petcharamesree, the commissioner representing Thailand, did not wish to comment on the barring of the rights activists but said critics should take stock of ASEAN’s human rights achievements. The commission “is far from perfect, but it is a milestone within ASEAN,” she said Sunday. “One of our duties is to make it better.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHEANG SOKHA AND AFP
PM’s offer seen as gamesmanship
Comments in Thailand welcoming Thaksin raise questions, eyebrows.AS ASEAN delegates gathered in Hua Hin, Thailand, this weekend, intent on inaugurating a new human rights body and articulating visions of European Union-style cooperation, the latest conflagration in the long-smouldering dispute between Thailand and Cambodia threatened to overshadow the proceedings.Prime Minister Hun Sen touched off the controversy last week when, in a meeting with leading Thai opposition member Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, he called fugitive ex-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra his “eternal friend”, offering a residence in Cambodia to the elusive billionaire who has lived in exile since last year following his conviction on corruption charges in 2006. Thai leaders were quick to cite an extradition agreement between Thailand and Cambodia that they said they would promptly pursue in the event of Thaksin’s arrival here, but in a statement released Friday, the Cambodian government said it would not extradite Thaksin, with Hun Sen telling reporters in Hua Hin that Thaksin could serve as his economic adviser.But as leaders from both countries exchanged barbs over the course of the weekend, analysts questioned whether Hun Sen’s entreaty to Thaksin was a serious offer or just political gamesmanship.Josh Kurlantzick, a Southeast Asia expert with the Council on Foreign Relations, noted the history of ties between Thaksin and Hun Sen, which extend back to the 1990s and Thaksin’s career as a telecommunications mogul. He allowed, though, for the possibility of Hun Sen using Thaksin’s extradition as a diplomatic bargaining chip.“Hun Sen and Thaksin’s relationship is strong enough, from what anyone could tell from the outside, that Hun Sen is unlikely to hand over Thaksin for political points,” he said. “That said, Hun Sen isn’t exactly a sentimentalist when it comes to politics.”Though Hun Sen probably preferred Thaksin’s government to that of current Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prospect of Thaksin’s serving as an economic adviser in Cambodia is unlikely, said Christopher Roberts, a lecturer at the University of Canberra and the author of an upcoming book on ASEAN.“I think most likely it’s just political posturing from Hun Sen,” he said, adding that Thaksin would only take up the offer with a very specific objective in mind.“The only reason that Thaksin would take up this option would be for the purpose of influencing the situation” in Thailand, he said.Duncan McCargo, a Southeast Asia specialist at Britain’s Leeds University, said Hun Sen’s offer to Thaksin had been “carefully timed”, aimed more at embarrassing his Thai hosts in Hua Hin than at securing Thaksin’s presence in Cambodia.This sort of gamesmanship, Kurlantzick said, has been a common theme in Cambodia’s dealings with Thailand of late.“I think, bluntly, that Hun Sen these days rarely misses an opportunity to stick it to Thailand, and this is a prime opportunity,” he said.
South Korean president visits today for signings
Lee, Hun Sen share history of economic cooperation
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak gets into a limousine Tuesday after arriving at Hanoi’s Noi Bai international airport. Lee’s next stop will be Phnom Penh when he lands today for talks with the government and King Sihamoni before leaving on Friday. AFP
Although we have just a short-term relationship, I think that our friendship tie is very strong.
BILATERAL TRADE
2005 Cambodia exports - $2.01mSKorean exports - $150.72m
2006 Cambodia exports - $3.196mSKorean exports - $146.11m
2007 Cambodia exports - $2.587mSKorean exports - $192.28m
2008 Cambodia exports - $7.415mSKorean exports - $229.77m Source: Embassy of South Korea PRIME Minister Hun Sen and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak are to meet in Phnom Penh today to sign a host of bilateral agreements, most of which are economic, in what will be Lee’s first visit to the Kingdom since becoming president in February last year.In an economic capacity, the two leaders have known each other for more than 13 years as part of a relationship that has driven economic ties between the two countries and led South Korea to become the second-largest foreign investor in Cambodia, according to analysts and observers.Hun Sen’s first interaction with Lee in Seoul in July 1996, a year before the two countries established diplomatic relations, focused purely on one question, says an unnamed official at the South Korean embassy in Phnom Penh: How can Cambodia develop economically?As a longtime employee of Hyundai Engineering, which he left after 27 years in 1992, Lee had spent his professional life in a country that had exited the disruption and chaos of the Korean War and initially struggled to develop following partition, falling behind North Korea in terms of economic output. In 1977, when Lee became South Korea’s youngest CEO at Hyundai, South Korea was still in the process of struggling for electoral democracy – in other words, it was a country not dissimilar to 1990s Cambodia.“South Korea (including CEO Lee) was [perhaps] the only country with the experience among developed countries that grew [from being] undeveloped,” says Ho Jai-jung, a business reporter at the Seoul-based Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, who has previously met with Lee. In 2000, two years after Lee resigned from a second term in the Korean National Assembly and was fined 4 million won (US$4,000) for breaking election rules on campaign fundraising, Hun Sen asked him to become a special economic adviser, a role that has been referenced numerous times, but which remains largely unclear in terms of its scope and mandate.The same year, this working relationship saw Lee visit Phnom Penh, during which time he and Hun Sen held “in-depth discussions … on [Cambodia’s] economic development”, said the South Korean official. “Since then, whenever Prime Minister Hun Sen visited [South] Korea, he and Lee engaged in discussions on a wide range of areas, including economic issues.”Lee already had considerable experience in infrastructure and investment projects in mainland Southeast Asia.While at Hyundai in the mid-1960s, he worked as an accountant in Thailand for Hyundai Construction on a two-year project building the Pattani-Narathiwat highway. Later, in the 1970s, he worked on a huge bridge project in Malaysia that involved close interaction with its former enigmatic leader Mahathir Mohamad. During the next decade, Lee was involved in the construction of a host of projects in Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. Lee had therefore built some of the largest infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia over a period of nearly three decades, an experience Hun Sen apparently hoped to tap into.Although reports this decade said Hun Sen had many foreign economic advisers, Lee’s influence appears to have been significant, as Cambodia received an influx of investment from South Korea, particularly from companies within the Hyundai group.At the end of 2003, Hyundai Engineering started provincial power-supply projects that saw infrastructure, including transmission lines, installed in eight rural towns in the Kingdom, Choi Kang-shik, the firm’s vice president of overseas marketing, said Tuesday by telephone. Before these projects were completed in November 2006, Hyundai Engineering consulted on a project developing Sihanoukville’s sewerage system that was implemented in 2004 and later worked on Battambang’s hydroelectric power plant.Still, Hyundai managers say that Lee’s former ties to the diversified group of companies did not further its standing in the Kingdom.“I don’t think so,” said Kim Song-soo, director of Hyundai Amco Cambodia Co Ltd. “He did – and will [continue to] – consider Hyundai as one of the Korean business groups, not more than that.”By the time Lee was elected president in 2008, which saw him end his role as Hun Sen’s adviser, South Korea had become the second-largest investor in the Kingdom after China and was providing Cambodia’s key tourism industry with more arrivals than any other country. “Such frequent exchanges between the two … clearly attest to the fact that the close relationship between our countries is progressing faster than at any time before,” said the South Korean official.However, 2008 also saw the onset of the global financial and economic crisis. Since Hun Sen’s attendance of Lee’s inauguration ceremony in Seoul last year, South Korea’s economic presence in the Kingdom has waned drastically, almost defining Cambodia’s experience of the crisis.Even as approved investment for South Korean firms soared from $148 million to $1.2 billion from 2007 to 2008, largely over the earlier part of the year, actual investment in Cambodia fell from $629.49 million to $472.89 million, according to the Korean embassy in Phnom Penh.Cambodia’s exports to its closest business partner continued to rise, reaching $7.4 million last year, mostly made up of garments and textiles, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency office in Phnom Penh. Exports were worth $4.8 million in 2007.However, these small gains did little to offset losses elsewhere, with orders from major garment buyers in the United States and Europe, which account for more than 80 percent of Cambodia’s garment exports, tailing off rapidly. What really hurt Cambodia where Korea was concerned was the cancellation or delay of many high-profile developments, which ripped the heart out of the local construction sector.With the won falling around 30 percent against the US dollar, building materials were suddenly much more expensive.South Korea has also been a key source of growth in Cambodia’s tourism sector, with the country accounting for more arrivals last year than any other. But since the downturn, South Korean tourists have stayed away. The fall in tourism has been compounded by the winding down of trade and investment since the fourth quarter of last year, meaning fewer Korean businesspeople have made the five-hour flight.Arrivals from South Korea, almost all by air, plunged 31.23 percent in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period in 2008, the largest fall of any country’s visitors. More Vietnamese than South Koreans have visited in 2009. Again Cambodia’s relationship with South Korea on the tourism front defines the sector’s woes since the economic downturn began. Although arrivals are up, particularly from Vietnam, air arrivals – the big moneymaker – were down 13 percent in the first eight months year on year, according to Ministry of Tourism figures. This prompted South Korea’s Asiana Airlines to suspend flights between Incheon and Siem Reap for nearly three months up to the middle of next month.Still, South Korea is going ahead with new projects in Cambodia. Hyundai Amco Construction, a division of Hyundai Motor group, started Phnom Penh Tower in December, and Dae Jo-young, director of Hyundai’s new assembly plant in Koh Kong province, said last week that the project is delayed but ongoing and could begin operations in February.Yet more deals – most notably on mining and energy – are due to be signed after Lee touches down in Phnom Penh today, along with a new arrangement on loans to the Kingdom, a government statement said.“Although we have just a short-term relationship, I think that our friendship tie is very strong,” South Korea’s Ambassador to Cambodia Lee Kyung-soo told reporters last week.In many ways, this is a relationship that has been established and defined by Hun Sen and Lee, almost purely in economic terms.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak gets into a limousine Tuesday after arriving at Hanoi’s Noi Bai international airport. Lee’s next stop will be Phnom Penh when he lands today for talks with the government and King Sihamoni before leaving on Friday. AFP
Although we have just a short-term relationship, I think that our friendship tie is very strong.
BILATERAL TRADE
2005 Cambodia exports - $2.01mSKorean exports - $150.72m
2006 Cambodia exports - $3.196mSKorean exports - $146.11m
2007 Cambodia exports - $2.587mSKorean exports - $192.28m
2008 Cambodia exports - $7.415mSKorean exports - $229.77m Source: Embassy of South Korea PRIME Minister Hun Sen and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak are to meet in Phnom Penh today to sign a host of bilateral agreements, most of which are economic, in what will be Lee’s first visit to the Kingdom since becoming president in February last year.In an economic capacity, the two leaders have known each other for more than 13 years as part of a relationship that has driven economic ties between the two countries and led South Korea to become the second-largest foreign investor in Cambodia, according to analysts and observers.Hun Sen’s first interaction with Lee in Seoul in July 1996, a year before the two countries established diplomatic relations, focused purely on one question, says an unnamed official at the South Korean embassy in Phnom Penh: How can Cambodia develop economically?As a longtime employee of Hyundai Engineering, which he left after 27 years in 1992, Lee had spent his professional life in a country that had exited the disruption and chaos of the Korean War and initially struggled to develop following partition, falling behind North Korea in terms of economic output. In 1977, when Lee became South Korea’s youngest CEO at Hyundai, South Korea was still in the process of struggling for electoral democracy – in other words, it was a country not dissimilar to 1990s Cambodia.“South Korea (including CEO Lee) was [perhaps] the only country with the experience among developed countries that grew [from being] undeveloped,” says Ho Jai-jung, a business reporter at the Seoul-based Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, who has previously met with Lee. In 2000, two years after Lee resigned from a second term in the Korean National Assembly and was fined 4 million won (US$4,000) for breaking election rules on campaign fundraising, Hun Sen asked him to become a special economic adviser, a role that has been referenced numerous times, but which remains largely unclear in terms of its scope and mandate.The same year, this working relationship saw Lee visit Phnom Penh, during which time he and Hun Sen held “in-depth discussions … on [Cambodia’s] economic development”, said the South Korean official. “Since then, whenever Prime Minister Hun Sen visited [South] Korea, he and Lee engaged in discussions on a wide range of areas, including economic issues.”Lee already had considerable experience in infrastructure and investment projects in mainland Southeast Asia.While at Hyundai in the mid-1960s, he worked as an accountant in Thailand for Hyundai Construction on a two-year project building the Pattani-Narathiwat highway. Later, in the 1970s, he worked on a huge bridge project in Malaysia that involved close interaction with its former enigmatic leader Mahathir Mohamad. During the next decade, Lee was involved in the construction of a host of projects in Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. Lee had therefore built some of the largest infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia over a period of nearly three decades, an experience Hun Sen apparently hoped to tap into.Although reports this decade said Hun Sen had many foreign economic advisers, Lee’s influence appears to have been significant, as Cambodia received an influx of investment from South Korea, particularly from companies within the Hyundai group.At the end of 2003, Hyundai Engineering started provincial power-supply projects that saw infrastructure, including transmission lines, installed in eight rural towns in the Kingdom, Choi Kang-shik, the firm’s vice president of overseas marketing, said Tuesday by telephone. Before these projects were completed in November 2006, Hyundai Engineering consulted on a project developing Sihanoukville’s sewerage system that was implemented in 2004 and later worked on Battambang’s hydroelectric power plant.Still, Hyundai managers say that Lee’s former ties to the diversified group of companies did not further its standing in the Kingdom.“I don’t think so,” said Kim Song-soo, director of Hyundai Amco Cambodia Co Ltd. “He did – and will [continue to] – consider Hyundai as one of the Korean business groups, not more than that.”By the time Lee was elected president in 2008, which saw him end his role as Hun Sen’s adviser, South Korea had become the second-largest investor in the Kingdom after China and was providing Cambodia’s key tourism industry with more arrivals than any other country. “Such frequent exchanges between the two … clearly attest to the fact that the close relationship between our countries is progressing faster than at any time before,” said the South Korean official.However, 2008 also saw the onset of the global financial and economic crisis. Since Hun Sen’s attendance of Lee’s inauguration ceremony in Seoul last year, South Korea’s economic presence in the Kingdom has waned drastically, almost defining Cambodia’s experience of the crisis.Even as approved investment for South Korean firms soared from $148 million to $1.2 billion from 2007 to 2008, largely over the earlier part of the year, actual investment in Cambodia fell from $629.49 million to $472.89 million, according to the Korean embassy in Phnom Penh.Cambodia’s exports to its closest business partner continued to rise, reaching $7.4 million last year, mostly made up of garments and textiles, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency office in Phnom Penh. Exports were worth $4.8 million in 2007.However, these small gains did little to offset losses elsewhere, with orders from major garment buyers in the United States and Europe, which account for more than 80 percent of Cambodia’s garment exports, tailing off rapidly. What really hurt Cambodia where Korea was concerned was the cancellation or delay of many high-profile developments, which ripped the heart out of the local construction sector.With the won falling around 30 percent against the US dollar, building materials were suddenly much more expensive.South Korea has also been a key source of growth in Cambodia’s tourism sector, with the country accounting for more arrivals last year than any other. But since the downturn, South Korean tourists have stayed away. The fall in tourism has been compounded by the winding down of trade and investment since the fourth quarter of last year, meaning fewer Korean businesspeople have made the five-hour flight.Arrivals from South Korea, almost all by air, plunged 31.23 percent in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period in 2008, the largest fall of any country’s visitors. More Vietnamese than South Koreans have visited in 2009. Again Cambodia’s relationship with South Korea on the tourism front defines the sector’s woes since the economic downturn began. Although arrivals are up, particularly from Vietnam, air arrivals – the big moneymaker – were down 13 percent in the first eight months year on year, according to Ministry of Tourism figures. This prompted South Korea’s Asiana Airlines to suspend flights between Incheon and Siem Reap for nearly three months up to the middle of next month.Still, South Korea is going ahead with new projects in Cambodia. Hyundai Amco Construction, a division of Hyundai Motor group, started Phnom Penh Tower in December, and Dae Jo-young, director of Hyundai’s new assembly plant in Koh Kong province, said last week that the project is delayed but ongoing and could begin operations in February.Yet more deals – most notably on mining and energy – are due to be signed after Lee touches down in Phnom Penh today, along with a new arrangement on loans to the Kingdom, a government statement said.“Although we have just a short-term relationship, I think that our friendship tie is very strong,” South Korea’s Ambassador to Cambodia Lee Kyung-soo told reporters last week.In many ways, this is a relationship that has been established and defined by Hun Sen and Lee, almost purely in economic terms.
Thaksin a central figure at 15th ASEAN summit
Hun Sen’s overtures to Thai ex-PM stoke rhetorical flames, but Hor Namhong emphasises progress on regional economic ties, meeting with US president.
Photo by: Heng Chivoan Hun Sen arrives at Phnom Penh International Airport after attending the 15th ASEAN summit in southern Thailand.PRIME Minister Hun Sen, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and the rest of the Cambodian delegation returned Sunday from the 15th ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, a meeting at which leaders faced distraction by Hun Sen’s controversial invitation to Thai ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.Speaking to reporters after his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, Hor Namhong said that ASEAN leaders had focused on bolstering economic ties both within the bloc and with global allies.“There will be a meeting between leaders of ASEAN and US President Barack Obama on November 15 in Singapore,” Hor Namhong said, adding that regular meetings between the US and ASEAN would occur in the future.China, meanwhile, promised to increase its loans to ASEAN nations to US$6.5 billion, while Japan “will look for investment in developing members of ASEAN including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar,” Hor Namhong said.Away from the meeting rooms in Hua Hin, though, Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva engaged in a war of words stemming from Hun Sen’s invitation for the exiled Thaksin, on the run from Thailand following his ouster in a 2006 coup and conviction on corruption charges, to come to Cambodia and serve as his economic adviser. “Millions of Thai people, the Red Shirts, support Thaksin. Why as a friend can’t I support Thaksin?” Hun Sen said in Hua Hin, adding: “Many people talk about Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, why not talk about Thaksin? That cannot be referred to as interfering.”Abhisit rebuked his guest, telling reporters there was no comparison with the Myanmar opposition leader. “I don’t know how many people share [Hun Sen’s] view that Thaksin is like Aung San Suu Kyi. I doubt there are many, for fairly obvious reasons,” Abhisit said.Thailand deployed thousands of security forces in and around Cha-Am over the weekend in order to avoid repeats of disruptions at previous summits. Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper reported Sunday, however, that members of the anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) plan to protest next month outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok. Hor Namhong said that despite recent differences, the Cambodian government had “received assurances from Thai authorities that they will protect our embassy.”
Photo by: Heng Chivoan Hun Sen arrives at Phnom Penh International Airport after attending the 15th ASEAN summit in southern Thailand.PRIME Minister Hun Sen, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and the rest of the Cambodian delegation returned Sunday from the 15th ASEAN summit in Hua Hin, Thailand, a meeting at which leaders faced distraction by Hun Sen’s controversial invitation to Thai ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.Speaking to reporters after his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport, Hor Namhong said that ASEAN leaders had focused on bolstering economic ties both within the bloc and with global allies.“There will be a meeting between leaders of ASEAN and US President Barack Obama on November 15 in Singapore,” Hor Namhong said, adding that regular meetings between the US and ASEAN would occur in the future.China, meanwhile, promised to increase its loans to ASEAN nations to US$6.5 billion, while Japan “will look for investment in developing members of ASEAN including Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar,” Hor Namhong said.Away from the meeting rooms in Hua Hin, though, Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva engaged in a war of words stemming from Hun Sen’s invitation for the exiled Thaksin, on the run from Thailand following his ouster in a 2006 coup and conviction on corruption charges, to come to Cambodia and serve as his economic adviser. “Millions of Thai people, the Red Shirts, support Thaksin. Why as a friend can’t I support Thaksin?” Hun Sen said in Hua Hin, adding: “Many people talk about Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, why not talk about Thaksin? That cannot be referred to as interfering.”Abhisit rebuked his guest, telling reporters there was no comparison with the Myanmar opposition leader. “I don’t know how many people share [Hun Sen’s] view that Thaksin is like Aung San Suu Kyi. I doubt there are many, for fairly obvious reasons,” Abhisit said.Thailand deployed thousands of security forces in and around Cha-Am over the weekend in order to avoid repeats of disruptions at previous summits. Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper reported Sunday, however, that members of the anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) plan to protest next month outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok. Hor Namhong said that despite recent differences, the Cambodian government had “received assurances from Thai authorities that they will protect our embassy.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
