Cambodia Khmer Angkor News

Free software pioneer takes aim at surveillance society

2014-11-26T22:00:00.001-08:00

Free software pioneer takes aim at surveillance society

Upgrading Port and Eco-village Phnom Krom | kun architect

2014-11-26T16:06:00.003-08:00

Upgrading Port and Eco-village Phnom Krom | kun architect

Upgrading Port and Eco-village Phnom Krom , Siem Reap | lumhor | architecture | urbanism | design

2014-11-26T16:06:00.001-08:00

Upgrading Port and Eco-village Phnom Krom , Siem Reap | lumhor | architecture | urbanism | design

mental disorders in Cambodia

2012-12-07T17:47:00.001-08:00

MENTAL health infrastructure is "critically deficient" in Cambodia
where "alarming" rates of trauma-related mental disorders have been
documented, a report released in Phnom Penh has found.

The responsibility of caring for those with mental health problems,
particularly in severe cases, quickly overwhelms families, experts
from the Leitner Centre for International Law and Justice at Fordham
Law School in New York reported in the study.

That frustration extends to family members chaining up or locking in
cages from 10 per cent to 40 per cent of those with severe mental
disabilities, the study said, citing estimates by mental health
professionals.

One mother said she "locked her daughter in a bamboo cage for several
years" before professionals provided treatment for her psychosis.
The report also noted that patient numbers also overwhelmed mental
health workers. In 2010, Cambodia had around 35 trained psychiatrists
and 45 psychiatric nurses catering to a population of close to 15
million, it said.

"Despite notable progress, Cambodia's mental health infrastructure
remains critically deficient given the scope of mental health needs it
is called upon to address," the study said.

It recommended introduction of more community-based care and an
increase in financial resources allotted to the mental health sector.
A non-governmental organisation, the Transcultural Psychosocial
Organisation Cambodia, launched a scheme on Friday to train volunteers
to provide support and information to those who might be suffering
mental health problems.

Studies have found high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder among
Cambodians who survived decades of unrest and the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge
regime.

Up to two million people died from execution, disease, starvation and
overwork during the Communist regime's rule.

http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/high-rates-of-trauma-disorders-in-cambodia

About high paid ¨star¨ tutors in Asia

2012-11-26T03:19:00.001-08:00

About high paid ¨star¨ tutors in Hong Kong

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20085558

The celebrity tutor phenomenon is a result of the huge growth in
out-of-school tutoring in Asia.

The tutoring industry, or "shadow education" has become very
widespread in Asia, fed by the growth in universities and the rising
proportion of school leavers aiming for university.

It's not just Hong Kong. Tutoring has "spread and intensified in Asia
and become more commercialised," said professor Bray. In South Korea,
90% of primary school children attend such classes.

In South Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, tutorial schools use
star tutors to attract even more students. "They have found a way to
appeal to young people and pull them in. They create a buzz," he said.

"With so many tutors in Hong Kong, students don't know who to choose
so they go for the 'tutor kings' and 'tutor queens'," she said.

Some students just attend the lectures and watch video recordings of
lectures while others purchase add-ons such as personalised
interaction with the star tutor or tutor's aide via Facebook or email.

But they are not movie stars or supermodels: they are Hong Kong's
A-list "tutor kings" and "tutor queens", offering pupils a chance to
improve mediocre grades.

In Hong Kong's consumer culture, looks sell. Celebrity tutors in their
sophisticated hair-dos and designer trappings are treated like idols
by their young fans who flock to their classes.

And they have earnings to match - some have become millionaires and
appear regularly on television shows.

"If you want to be a top tutor, it definitely helps if you are young
and attractive. Students look at your appearance," said Kelly Mok, 26,
a "tutor queen" at King's Glory, one of Hong Kong's largest tutorial
establishments.

Her designer clothes and accessories are not just for the billboards;
it's how she likes to dress outside classes. But she is also careful
to add that she wouldn't be in such high demand if she could not
deliver top grades in her subject, English.

Links: Mind Games

2012-11-24T19:35:00.001-08:00

Cambodian children: What are you most afraid of?

2012-11-21T04:09:00.001-08:00

"I am afraid of thieves, child rape and drug users," said 12-year-old
Panchma, a Cambodian girl in a survey of more than 6,000 children in
47 countries conducted by international child development coalition
ChildFund Alliance.

The survey of the hopes and fears of children aged 10 through to 12
shows that Cambodian children are significantly more concerned by
violent crime than most of their peers around the world, but have
particularly high aspirations for education in their country.

The study's findings place Cambodia alongside Liberia and Afghanistan
as the countries where the highest proportion of children emphasised
fear of violence and crime.

In response to the question, "What are you most afraid of?" just under
one third of Cambodian children surveyed answered violence and crime –
more than any other named fear.

This was a significantly high percentage compared to other countries
where an average of only 10 per cent of children surveyed named
violence and crime as their top fears, with most children responding
their top dreads were scary animals and insects.

The next most common fear among Cambodian children, identified by 22
per cent of respondents, was "unfulﬁlled aspirations, such as not
being able to complete school or ﬁnd employment".

The importance that Cambodian children in the survey attached to
education was echoed in their responses about hopes and aspirations.

Nearly three-quarters of kids said that if they were the leader of
Cambodia, their main way to better children's lives would be to
"improve education/provide enrichment opportunities" – a response
given by only 39 per cent of children surveyed overall and 52 per cent
of children in developing Asian nations.

Education also inspired a particularly large response among Cambodian
children to the question: "If you could grow up to be anything you
wanted, what would you be?"

Thirty-seven per cent of Cambodian children said they would be a
"teacher/academic."

by Justine Drennan
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012112159844/National-news/violence-tops-cambodian-children-fears-global-survey.html

Profile of Theary C. Seng

2012-11-19T21:50:00.001-08:00

Theary C. Seng is an American-Cambodian attorney and activist now
living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She was born in Phnom Penh in 1971 and
lived under the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-1979. In 1980, she and
her family immigrated to the United States. In 2004, she chose to
return to Cambodia permanently.

In Cambodia, Theary founded the Center for Justice and Reconciliation,
a non-profit organization that seeks justice for the victims of the
Khmer Rouge. She is also a founding director of CIVICUS: Center for
Cambodian Civic Education, an organization designed to teach Cambodian
citizens about civil rights, law, and government. She lobbies and
speaks often about the major social issues in Cambodia which include
human rights, poverty, education, land grabbing, government
corruption, and human trafficking.

The Khmer Rouge regime was responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million
Cambodians, almost twenty percent of the population of the country at
the time. The Khmer Rouge army gained control of Cambodia in 1975. The
Khmer Rouge forced all of the residents of the cities to evacuate to
the countryside, to become slave labor in collectivist villages. The
Khmer Rouge arbitrarily killed anyone they didn't like, including the
systemic executing of everyone who was educated or had foreign
influences.

Theary Seng and her family witnessed the full extent of the horror.
While she and her family were evacuating Phnom Penh, Theary's father
decided to make a trip back to the city to get more food. He was never
seen again. Sometime later, Theary, her mother and a brother were
imprisoned for several months, where, one morning, brother and sister
woke-up to discover that while they were sleeping, their mother had
been taken away to be killed. Throughout the entire period, in both
the collectives and the prison, families and individuals were being
taken away and killed on a regular basis. Food, clothing, housing, and
medical care were scarce. Everywhere, people were tortured, worked,
and starved to death. Theary Seng's extended family of grandmother,
aunts, uncles, cousins, and brothers became refugees in their own
country. At first they tried to seek refuge in Vietnam, but that
proved too risky. They along with groups of other refugees decided to
escape into Thailand. But Thai soldiers forced them at gunpoint to
march back into Cambodia on a narrow path through a valley that was
heavily mined. If anyone refused, was too tired, or lagged behind, the
Thai soldiers simply shot them on the spot.

In 1979, Theary and her surviving extended family members were able to
successfully cross the Thai border at another location and arrive at a
refugee camp. After a year, they were accepted as refugees in the
United States. Theary went on to graduate from Georgetown University
in 1995, from the University of Michigan Law School in 2000, and is a
member of the bar in New York State.

In 2005, Theary published a memoir titled, Daughter of the Killing
Fields, incorporating historical sources, her own childhood memories
and feelings, as well as the recollections of her family and others.
As a young refugee in the United States, Theary became a Christian,
and she attributes her sense of social obligation--of a need to give
back--to her Cambodian past, combined with her Christian faith. As a
law student and a lawyer Theary had gone back to Cambodia several
times as a volunteer to assist with various human rights projects. In
2004, she moved to Cambodia permanently, with the initial intention of
working on labor issues. But eventually the scope of her attention
shifted and expanded to seeking justice for the survivors of the Khmer
Rouge. She has been an influential public figure in the efforts to
bring the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge to trial. Moreover,
Theary frequently writes and speaks about what is needed for the
Cambodian nation to recover from that evil regime. She has published
articles regularly in Cambodia Daily, the Phnom Penh Post, and
Ki-Media, She is also the co-host of a Cambodian T.V. show called,
Youth Leadership Challenge.

After the Khmer Rouge had killed her parents her parents, Theary
became the beneficiary of the unconditional love of her extended
family of grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and her four brothers.
After many years of healing of healing in the U.S., she was able to
emerge from the experience with her humanity and her emotional health
intact. Unfortunately that has not been the case for numerous other
survivors. The Khmer Rouge years have scarred the psyche of millions
of Cambodians and left them with a legacy of domestic violence,
post-traumatic stress disorder, hyper-vigilance, and social
dysfunction that permeates their society.

In an interview, Theary said, "My work here is not to do anything big
but to be a common citizen back in my homeland where I suffered a lot,
and now I'm taking that suffering and shaping it into hope, and trying
to work with individuals who have not had the time and space to heal
that I've had."

Besides the killings and abuse, the Khmer Rouge destroyed all of the
commercial and education institutions in the country, leaving it as
the poorest country in the world. In Daughter of the Killing Fields,
she said: "I continue to mourn the loss of lives due to the Khmer
Rouge. Today, I also mourn the loss of human potential. How many Khmer
Mozarts, Einsteins and da Vincis will never be realized because there
are no infrastructures to encourage and absorb a Khmer child's
potential? I mourn when I meet a little girl on the street begging. I
see my face in her face. The only difference between us is in our
opportunities. At one point in my life, an opportunity existed which
led to other opportunities that nurtured and encouraged my budding
potential. In this little girl's situation, in light of the current
infrastructure and framework, the odds are stacked against her."

Theary Seng's own childhood story was a victory of hope over
persecution, suffering and evil. Theary could have chosen to remain
in the United States and pursue a career as an attorney, while living
a life of comfort and affluence. Instead, she has chosen to work to
inspire hope in her fellow Cambodians, to lead them to a vision of
justice, human dignity, and triumph over adversity.

A Profile of Theary Seng, Cambodian Human Rights Activist
http://blog.nominetwork.org/2010/10/profile-of-theary-c-seng-cambodian.html
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2010
by Stephen M. Bauer

Must-Have Job Skills in 2013

2012-11-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

Even as employers remain cautious next year about every dollar spent
on employees, they'll also want workers to show greater skills and
results.

For employees who want to get ahead, basic competency won't be enough.

To win a promotion or land a job next year, experts say there are four
must-have job skills:

1. Clear communications

Whatever their level, communication is key for workers to advance.

"This is really the ability to clearly articulate your point of view
and the ability to create a connection through communication," says
Holly Paul, U.S. recruiting leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, the
accounting and consulting firm based in New York.

For job seekers in particular, clear communication can provide a
snapshot of their work style to employers. "I can walk away from a
five-minute conversation and feel their enthusiasm and have a good
understanding of what's important to them," Ms. Paul says.

As office conversations increasingly move online, some workers are
losing or never developing the ability to give a presentation, for
example. Others may be unable to write coherently for longer than,
say, 140 characters.

"Technology in some ways has taken away our ability to write well.
People are in such a hurry that they are multitasking," and they skip
basics such as spelling and proofing, says Paul McDonald, senior
executive director of Robert Half International, a Menlo Park, Calif.,
staffing firm.

2. Personal branding

Human-resources executives scour blogs, Twitter and professional
networking sites such as LinkedIn when researching candidates, and
it's important that they like what they find.

"That's your brand, that's how you represent yourself," says Peter
Handal, CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, a Hauppauge, N.Y., provider of
workplace-training services. "If you post something that comes back to
haunt you, people will see that."

Workers also should make sure their personal brand is attractive and
reflects well on employers. "More and more employers are looking for
employees to tweet on their behalf, to blog on their behalf, to build
an audience and write compelling, snappy posts," says Meredith
Haberfeld, an executive and career coach in New York.

Ms. Haberfeld has a client whose employee recently posted on her
personal Facebook page about eating Chinese food and smoking "reefer."

"I saw it on Facebook. Her supervisors saw it," Ms. Haberfeld says.

3. Flexibility

The ability to quickly respond to an employer's changing needs will be
important next year as organizations try to respond nimbly to
customers.

"A lot of companies want us to work with their employees about how to
get out of their comfort zone, how to adapt," says Mr. Handal.
"Somebody's job today may not be the same as next year."

The ability to learn new skills is of top importance, says George
Boué, human-resources vice president for Stiles, a real-estate
services company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "We want to know that if we
roll out a new program or new tools that the folks we have on board
are going to be open to learning," he says.

4. Productivity improvement

In 2013, workers should find new ways to increase productivity,
experts say. Executives are looking for a 20% improvement in employee
performance next year from current levels, according to a recent
survey by the Corporate Executive Board, an Arlington, Va., business
research and advisory firm.

"When you are at your job, do you volunteer for projects? Are you
looking for creative ways to help your organization," Mr. McDonald
says. "The way to really differentiate yourself is to be proactive."

Companies that are considering adding workers in coming years want
current employees to operate in growth mode now. "My clients are
looking for employees that have a great ability to understand what is
wanted and needed, rather than needing to be told," Ms. Haberfeld
says.

Even hiring managers need to work on certain skills as organizations
consider expanding next year. "The ability to spot talent and hire
people has fallen out of use over the last several years," says Ben
Dattner, an organizational psychologist in New York. "As the economy
turns around, companies will have to work harder to retain talented
employees. Companies have trimmed the fat, and now they have to build
the muscle."

Must-Have Job Skills in 2013
By RUTH MANTELL

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324735104578118902763095818.html?mod=WSJ_hp_us_mostpop_read#printMode

hand-painted signage power of individuality

2012-10-25T23:11:00.001-07:00

And that is what this resurgence of hand-painted signage is about: the
power of individuality.

Seeing the same lettering, the same color schemes, the same type of
signs everywhere we go has made us immune to the sad fact that
uniformity has taken over our cities.

This is never more apparent than when we walk by a shop with carefully
hand-painted signs.

It, almost without fail, will seem like the coolest and most
interesting shop on the street, even before we walk through the door.

Why? Because that store owner took pride in his or her business and
chose to display the individuality that other shops are missing.

http://weburbanist.com/2012/10/24/the-incredible-lost-and-found-art-of-hand-painted-signage

Convincing Women They're Too Hairy

2012-10-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Read how foreign companies use
psychology in advertising to sell
needless and useless products.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-10-18/convincing-women-in-china-theyre-too-hairy

Cosmetics
Convincing Women in China They're Too Hairy
By Matthew Boyle on October 18, 2012

Sales of hair-removal creams in Asia are growing 20 percent a year.

In the $427 billion global personal-care products business,
manufacturers have long convinced women to focus on perceived flaws.

Social media, business and politics

2012-10-21T06:27:00.001-07:00

More small businesses dedicating time to social media

One reason small businesses' interest in social media hasn't subsided
is because sites are constantly changing.

"When major shifts happen, some business owners panic with the
changes," Flint said. "But they have to remember that change affects
everybody. It sort of levels the playing field."

In Los Angeles, social media sites are fundamental for a business'
livelihood; food trucks announce their locations on Twitter to let
customers know how to find them and new health spas can attract
clients with a Groupon or Living Social deal.

Checking into a business through a social media site, such as
Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter and Yelp, is the modern equivalent of
talking about it with friends. But now the conversation includes
feedback from the company itself.

"The business owners can react to what people are saying or talk to
customers through their own page," said Dina Mayzlin, an associate
professor of marketing at USC's Marshall School of Business. "Social
media gives a restaurant a second chance to gain a customer who wrote
that they were unimpressed or the chance to build a deeper
relationship with their regular customers."

Businesses have a lot more to think about on social media sites than
just "likes" and "check-ins." There are tricks of the trade, such as
how to time posts, word Tweets and reveal attention-grabbing
giveaways.

The practice of setting a schedule for photos and messages to be
released to fans enables a business owner to set some time aside and
focus on the other demands of running an enterprise. The trick is to
balance traditional face time with customers and 21st century screen
time over the Internet.

"They might know how to run their business, but business owners might
still need help in how to utilize social media to its full potential"
with minimal time investment, said Katie Washington, director of
social programming for American Express. "For them, time is money."

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/oct/19/business/la-fi-social-media-small-business-20121019

Social media growing in US politics: study

WASHINGTON — Nearly two out of five US adults use social media to get
involved in politics, with the younger crowd and the ideologically
committed especially active, a study showed Friday.

The Pew Research Center study showed that 60 percent of adults use
social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter and that two-thirds
of these -- 39 percent of all US adults -- use social media for civic
or political activity.

Social media users who talk about politics on a regular basis or who
have firm ideological ties are the most likely to be active on the
sites, the study found.

And those aged 18-29 are "notably more likely than older users to have
posted their own comments, as are those who have at least some college
experience," Pew said.

"Now that more than half of adults use social media, these
technologies have worked their way into the rhythms of people's lives
at many levels," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet &
American Life Project.

"At the height of the campaign season, it is clear that most social
media users, especially those who care about politics, are using the
tools to debate others, stay in touch with candidates, flag political
news stories and analysis that are important to them, and press their
friends into action. We'll see the fruits of this neo-activism on
Election Day."

Around 35 percent of social media users have used the tools to
encourage people to vote, the study showed, with Democrats (42
percent) holding an edge over Republicans (36 percent) and
independents (31 percent).

Around a third post their own comments or thoughts, or repost content
from someone else.

About 21 percent of those using Twitter or other social media belong
to a group on a networking site that is involved in political or
social issues, or working to advance a cause.

Mam Sonando’s lawyer Sok Sam Oeun Ignorant of Truth

2012-10-04T07:24:00.001-07:00

Dissident Cambodian radio station chief Mam Sonando was sentenced to
20 years in prison.

Mam Sonando's lawyer is a rights advocate named Sok Sam Oeun.

He is the executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project.

As his lawyer, he said it was not his place to comment whether or not
the court's ruling was just.

"Fair or unfair, I will not say. [That is a question for] the suspects
themselves because they know the truth, which I don't".

Mam Sonando, 71 operates the 105 FM Beehive radio station.

He was found guilty of insurrection and inciting villagers to take up
arms against the state.

Cambodian and international rights groups have called the accusations
against Mam Sonando baseless.

They say the government was seeking to justify its harsh crackdown on
the alleged Kratie rebellion.

During the rebllion, a 15 year old girl was killed by a stray bullet
fired by authorities as a warning shot.

In condemning the court decision, Human Rights Watch said this is

"the worst miscarriage of justice we have seen" since U.N. forces
withdrew about 20 years ago after helping to rebuild war-shattered
Cambodia."

There was no evidence Mam Sonando had been involved in the Kratie dispute.

The idea villagers were attempting to secede from the country is ridiculous.

Twenty years in prison is a "death sentence" for Mam Sonando, who has
been in poor health since his arrest.

International rights groups say this case raises concerns about the
impartiality of Cambodia's justice system.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed "serious concern"
over the conviction.

She said "raises severe doubts about the impartiality and independence
of the court."

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said this case shows
how the Cambodian government uses the courts as a "tool for
repression."

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/mam-sonando-10012012135649.html

History :: Who was Barry Commoner ?

2012-10-02T01:30:00.001-07:00

Who was Barry Commoner ?

Barry Commoner died on September 30, 2012 in Manhattan, New York.

In his 1971 book The Closing Circle, a bestseller, Commoner suggested
that the American economy should be restructured to conform to the
unbending laws of ecology.

For example, he argued that polluting products (like detergents or
synthetic textiles) should be replaced with natural products (like
soap or cotton and wool).

This book was one of the first to bring the idea of sustainability to
a mass audience.

One of Barry Commoner's lasting legacies is his four laws of ecology,
as written in The Closing Circle.

The four laws are:

1. Everything is Connected to Everything Else. There is one ecosphere
for all living organisms and what affects one, affects all.

2. Everything Must Go Somewhere. There is no "waste" in nature and
there is no "away" to which things can be thrown.

3. Nature Knows Best. Humankind has fashioned technology to improve
upon nature, but such change in a natural system is, says Commoner,
"likely to be detrimental to that system."

4. There Is No Such Thing as a Free Lunch. Exploitation of nature will
inevitably involve the conversion of resources from useful to useless
forms.

Barry Commoner published another bestseller in 1976, The Poverty of Power.

In that book, he addressed the "Three Es" that were plaguing the
United States in the 1970s:

1. First there was the threat to environmental survival;

2. then there was the apparent shortage of energy;

3. and now there is the unexpected decline of the economy.

He argued that the three issues were interconnected:

1. the industries that used the most energy had the highest negative
impact on the environment;

2. the focus on non-renewable resources as sources of energy meant
that those resources were growing scarce,

3. thus pushing up the price of energy and hurting the economy.

Barry Commoner (May 28, 1917 – September 30, 2012) was an American
biologist, college professor, and politician.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Commoner

In other ecology news today ::

Climate change and ocean acidification is killing off coral reefs
around the world.

One of the worst hit reefs if the magnificent Great Barrier Reef, off
of Australia, half of which has died off in the last 30 years, a new
study suggests.

Several human interventions could save the reef, Les Kaufman told LiveScience:

"The problem is entirely soluble, and coral reefs can be saved through
concerted effort over this and the following two or three
generations," said Kaufman. "There is absolutely no excuse for failure
to do this, and if we do fail our generation will forever be
remembered for unimaginable, unforgivable stupidity and sloth."

Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/half-of-the-great-barrier-reef-died-30-years-2012-10

Young people from provinces flood Phnom Penh to send money back home

2012-10-01T23:37:00.001-07:00

According to the
Cambodian Rural Urban Migration Report Project (CRUMP),
http://www.mop.gov.kh/
undertaken by the
Ministry of Planning and United Nations Population Fund Cambodia,
http://web.unfpa.org/focus/cambodia/unfpain.htm
young people from the provinces are flooding Phnom Penh for work and
education opportunities.

On average, four per cent of a village's population migrate away each year.

One village lost 600 people in a single year.

Phnom Penh's population has doubled in roughly 11 years.

Infrastructure is concentrated only in Phnom Penh.

We need to fill the gap between urban and rural development.

Sometimes money is sent back home to the village.

The average remittance is about 40,000 riels ($10) a month.

Women send over a dollar more than men, even though they earn less.

Garment workers send 100,000 riel – about a quarter of their salary.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012100259040/National-news/young-cambodians-in-exodus-to-phnom-penh.html

Cambodia: freedom of expression deteriorating

2012-10-01T21:39:00.001-07:00

The United States says it is "deeply concerned" at the conviction of a
prominent Cambodian land rights campaigner who was sentenced to 20
years in prison on insurrection charges.

In a statement Monday, the State Department characterized the sentence
against Mam Sonando as "harsh" and called on the Cambodian government
to immediately release the 71-year-old.

A Cambodian court on Monday convicted Sonando of inciting villagers to
try to form their own state following a land dispute in eastern
Cambodia earlier this year. Sonando denied the charges.

His radio station, known as Beehive Radio, sometimes broadcasts
material critical of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia
since 1985.

The Cambodian Center for Human Rights slammed the conviction as being
politically motivated. It said there is no evidence Sonando was
involved in the unrest, which the government viewed as a rebellion.

Amnesty International called the conviction "shocking and baseless,"
saying it reflects the deteriorating situation of freedom of
expression in Cambodia.

Cambodia has carried out an intensifying wave of sometimes violent
forced evictions affecting tens of thousands of people. Activists say
officials are increasingly cracking down on those who challenge the
land grabs.

Source:
http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2012/10/02/us-slams-harsh-sentence-against-cambodia-govt-critic/

Vietnam convicts 3 bloggers for anti-gov't posts

2012-09-24T03:29:00.001-07:00

A Vietnamese court issued jail sentences ranging from four to 12 years
on Monday to three bloggers who wrote about human rights abuses,
corruption and foreign policy, intensifying a crackdown on citizens'
use of the Internet to criticize the government.

The cases are particularly high-profile examples of the Communist
government's attempts to stifle challenges to its authority on the
Internet, which has emerged as a major avenue for dissent in the
country of 87 million people.

President Barack Obama has mentioned one of the defendants, and the
mother of another died after setting herself on fire to protest her
daughter's arrest.

The defendants, two men and one woman, are founding members of the
"Free Journalists' Club," a group of citizen journalists who posted
their work on the Internet.

They were found guilty of spreading "propaganda against the state."

Nguyen Van Hai, who has written under the pen name Dieu Cay or
"Tobacco Pipe," got 12 years, Ta Phong Tan received 10 years and Phan
Thanh Hai got four years, according to defense lawyer Ha Huy Son.

The trial in Ho Chi Minh City lasted less than six hours.

The country regularly convicts dissidents, but sentences have
generally been around five years.

The United States, which is seeking closer economic ties with Vietnam
but is also pressing it on human rights, quickly criticized the
sentences.

Obama mentioned Nguyen Van Hai's case in a May speech that called for
greater freedom for media around the world.

"The government's treatment of Dieu Cay appears to be inconsistent
with Vietnam's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, as well as the provisions of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights relating to freedom of expression and due
process," it said in a statement.

Nguyen Van Hai criticized the government for its handling of tensions
with neighboring China over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

Tan, a former police officer, wrote a blog called "Justice and Truth"
that criticized police abuse of power. Her mother set herself on fire
in protest of the case in late July.
International rights groups have condemned the trial and called for
the release of the defendants.

"These harsh sentences against bloggers are absolutely outrageous, and
show the depth of the Vietnam government's intolerance of views that
oppose its own," said Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch. "Today's
sentences show how deep-seated the Vietnam government crackdown on
basic human rights really is."

HANOI, Vietnam (AP)
By CHRIS BRUMMITT
24 Sept 2012

We try harder.

2012-09-16T08:19:00.001-07:00

We try harder.

Cambodia Special Economic Zones

2012-09-09T22:28:00.001-07:00

The Royal Government of Cambodia (RFC) recognises that Special
Economic Zones (SEZs) in Cambodia are an important part of the
country's economic development because they bring infrastructure,
jobs, skills, enhanced productivity and not least the prospect of
poverty reduction in rural areas.

Location of the SEZs are vitally important so that the benefits in
terms of increased employment and poverty reduction can be shared
throughout Cambodia.

It is the policy of the Royal Government to lay production foundations
in regions other than Phnom Penh in order to build economic linkages
between urban and rural areas.

Cambodia is not an urbanised society and so the SEZs will provide
employment for the country's labour force which is predominantly from
the provinces and mainly women.

Fulfilling issues of corporate social responsibility, SEZs will also
be able to provide accommodation, education and healthcare services
for the workforce, something not generally provided by stand-alone
factories.

A sub-decree on the Establishment and Management of Special Economic
Zones (to include export processing zones and free trade zones) was
adopted in December 2005.

The Royal Government has since approved a total of 21 Special Economic
Zones (SEZs) located along the border with Thailand and Vietnam (Koh
Kong, Poipet, Savet, Phnom Den), at Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.

Of the 21, 6 have commenced operations.

Aiming to attract more investors, the SEZs offer a 'One-Stop Service'
for imports and exports, with government officials stationed on-site
providing administrative services.

Applications to establish factories within the SEZs are dealt with
on-site as well as all administrative clearances, permits,
authorisations, etc.

Businesses within the SEZs also benefit from a number of fiscal
incentives, including income tax, customs, and VAT benefits.

Cambodia's SEZs are located adjacent to new road networks and provide
state-of-the-art factory buildings, plentiful water supplies, water
treatment plants, vocational training, banking services, postal
services and telecommunications.

Because of Cambodia's high cost of electricity, SEZs located inland
have installed power plants to generate their own electricity, while
those at the border buy cheaper electricity from Thailand or Vietnam.

SEZs located at the border not only benefit from the cheaper cost of
electricity, but also attract investors from the other side of the
border.

Investors from Thailand and Vietnam operating within these SEZs are
able to manufacture in Cambodia at a lower price and export directly
to Thailand and Vietnam, or further afield within Asean and the rest
of the world.

Special Economic Zones were formally introduced in Cambodia in 2005,
and there are currently 22 approved SEZs.

1. Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) Sihanoukville
2. Sihanoukville Port SEZ Sihanoukville
3. Neang Kok Koh Kong SEZ Koh Kong
4. Suoy Chheng SEZ Koh Kong
5. S. N. C. SEZ Sihanoukville
6. Stung Hav SEZ Sihanoukville
7. N. L. C. SEZ Svay Rieng
8. Manhattan (Svay Reing) SEZ Svay Rieng
9. Poipet O'Neang SEZ Banteay Meanchey
10. Doung Chhiv Phnom Den SEZ Takeo
11. Phnom Penh SEZ Phnom Penh
12. Kampot SEZ Kampot
13. Sihanoukville SEZ 1 Sihanoukville
14. Tai Seng Bavet SEZ Svay Rieng
15. Oknha Mong SEZ Koh Kong
16. Goldfame Pak Shun SEZ Kandal
17. Thary Kampong Cham SEZ Kampong Cham
18. Sihanoukville SEZ 2 Sihanoukville
19. D&M Bavet SEZ Svay Rieng
20. Kiri Sakor Koh Kong SEZ Koh Kong
21. Kampong Saom SEZ Sihanoukville
22. Pacific SEZ Svay Rieng

According to the Cambodian Government's SEZ website, businesses within
SEZs "benefit from a number of fiscal incentives, including income
tax, customs, and VAT benefits."

Cambodian SEZs are designed to offer a 'One-Stop Service' for imports
and exports, and have specially trained government officials stationed
on-site to provide administrative services.

Applications to establish businesses within SEZs are dealt with
on-site, as is company registration and investment licenses, work
permits and labour books for workers.

Investment approvals, customs inspections and import-export procedures
are also conducted onsite.

Other benefits listed on the SEZ website include tax holidays up to 9
years, 0% VAT, full import duty exemption for raw materials,
machinery, and equipment, no export tax, permanent visas for families
of investors and free repatriation of profits.

Interest in Cambodia investing growing

2012-09-09T21:11:00.001-07:00

With GDP growth averaging around 9% for the past decade, Cambodia is
certainly attracting interest from potential investors.

It has possibly the most investor-friendly environment in Asean with
no exchange controls, no restrictions on repatriation of profit, and
no discrimination between foreign and local investors.

Moreover, corporate income tax is 20% and there are tax holidays of up
to nine years.

Foreigners can also take out leases on land for up to 99 years and
foreign companies can buy land.

--

For Thai investors, the interest so far has been in Cambodia's growing
footwear and garment industry.

This is Cambodia's biggest employer and key export earner and there
are over 300 garment or textile factories.

Low wages – about one-third the level of Thailand's – are a big
attraction for investors, even though the minimum wage for garment
workers in Cambodia rose from $61 a month to $66 earlier this year.

Cambodian garments and footwear also enjoy favourable tariff-free
access to markets in the United States and Europe.

Many American and European brands are already outsourcing their
production to Cambodia.

One of the benefits for these companies is the unionised workforce and
labour laws in Cambodia, as it is assumed that basic rights of workers
are protected.

This provides insurance for big-name brand companies concerned about
possible consumer boycotts over poorly treated workers.

There are challenges, however, for investors in Cambodia's textile and
garment industry.

For example, there are already signs of labour shortages – earlier
this year the Cambodian industry association said that many vacancies
had gone unfilled as more young people were being lured to work
overseas.

--

Another potential problem is strong competition from Myanmar as
economic sanctions fade and investors from developed economies begin
establishing businesses there.

A third problem facing all manufacturers is the electricity supply –
electricity in Cambodia is expensive and access is largely restricted
to urban centres, with only 20% of households nationwide connected to
the power grid.

However, these issues do not seem to be a major concern to Japanese
investors who last year more than doubled their investment in Cambodia
to around $75 million.

According to the Japan Times, Japanese investors are focusing on
Cambodia as labour costs are rising in Thailand, China and Vietnam.

Although Japanese investors are interested in the garment and textile
industry, they are also concentrating on food processing, agriculture
and tourism, retail, transport services and natural resources
development.

--

The Japanese government has also worked with the Cambodian government
to develop the Sihanoukville Special Economic Zone near Thailand's
eastern border.

This industrial zone adjoins the Sihanoukville Port, which is the only
deep-water port in Cambodia, and the infrastructure is being developed
by Japanese engineers and contractors.

Sihanoukville Port is being prepared for listing on the Cambodian
Stock Exchange later this year and is expected to attract great
interest, given the success of the Exchange's first listing, in April
this year, when the IPO of the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority was
many times oversubscribed.

As one of the frontier economies of Southeast Asia, and a close
neighbour, Cambodia should certainly be of interest to Thai SMEs
considering expanding their production base.

Although Cambodia has been mainly limited up until now to small scale
enterprises dominated by tourism and the garment and textile industry,
the new developments taking place are a sign of things to come.

Cambodia opening its doors to investment
10 Sept 2012
http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/311715/cambodia-opening-its-doors-to-investment

Cambodia steps up Internet surveillance

2012-08-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

As Burma loosens its grip on the media, Cambodia has begun to rank
high among the countries repressing internet and telephone freedom in
the name of national security, safety and social order.

It is still not comparable to China or Vietnam, but Cambodia is moving
in the wrong direction.

Cambodia steps up Internet surveillance

Aug 30, 2012
By Clothilde Le Coz
http://asiancorrespondent.com/author/clothildelecoz/

Last February, the Kingdom of Wonders adopted an "inter-ministerial
circular", according to which every Internet cafe in the country has
to set up surveillance cameras and any phone shop has to register
callers using its services.

According to an unofficial translation obtained by the Asian
Correspondent, the circular is meant to "promote protection of
national security, safety and social order for the country".

Even though nothing has been implemented thus far, the circular is a
threat to every phone and Internet user in the country.

"This is not a law. The authorities simply decided to do whatever they
want to regulate online content in the country only because it could
violate khmer culture," stated Norbert Klein, the "founding father" of
the Internet in Cambodia and now the head of the Cambodia chapter of
the Internet Society.

To him, the circular is a "means of intimidation for Internet users
more than a means to protect their safety ".

In 1990, Norbert Klein connected Cambodia to the web at the back of
what is today an always-full restaurant in the heart of Phnom Penh,
where NGO workers and the expat population mix.

At that time, he wanted to help one of his colleague to complete an
online fellowship.

With a Colombian email program and a Singaporian modem it took them
weeks to get connected and finally read and receive emails.

Moreover, since the connection was asking for stable and steady
supply, the electricity was generated by a Vietnamese truck battery
stationed outside the house.

At that time, never Klein would never have imagined that the Internet
in Cambodia could deal with censorship.

After all, the only censor they faced in 1990 was the price: $5 per
minute of connection.

But then came human rights defenders like the Venerable Loun Sovath
using online tools to advocate for a cause, scandals arose when the
behaviors created by the Internet attempted to cult and religion and
the feared Jasmine Revolution started in neighbouring countries.

As of today, Cambodia has a bit more than 3% of its population online
with one of the quickest rates of growth in the region since it is
more than twice the number registered in 2011.

These are some of the reasons behind the Internet crackdown, which is
nothing but a simple agreement that the government can claim at any
moment and that consulted no elected member.

According to the inter-Ministerial circular signed by the Deputy Prime
Minister and the Minister of Post and Telecommunications, "past
experiences […] have shown that criminals and offenders always used
telecommunications services such as mobile phones, fixed phones, VoIP
and Internet as a means to commit terrorism, trans-boundary crimes,
robberies, kidnapping, murders, drug trafficking, human trafficking,
economic offenses, illegal installment of and illegal corporation of
all forms of telecommunications service, broadcasting of obscene
pictures and debauchery, which affect national customs, traditions and
social good moral values."

For these reasons, "all locations serving telephone and Internet
services shall be equipped with closed circuit television camera and
shall store footage data of users for at least 3 months.

Telephone service corporation owners along public roads shall [also]
record National Identity Cards of any subscriber".

As of today, there are more than 19 million sim card holders in Cambodia.

And it is still very difficult to get an ID card for Cambodian nationals.

For the Cambodian Center for Independent Media, which organizes "good
governance" forums in the country, the first obstacle to possess a
national id card is the price.

There is no fixed economic value to it and it can vary from $2.5 to $50.

According to the Ministry of Interior there are 9,27866 Cambodian
holding ID cards.

What does this circular mean for the almost ten million Cambodians
with sim cards but no ID ?

The will to control telecommunications is not new

This February circular is not the first attempt to control the use of
telecommunications.

However, it shows once again that the Ministry of Information is
excluded from the decision and seems to be less relevant when it comes
to regulation.

In 2010, the same Ministry of Post and Telecommunications attempted to
get the monopoly over the Internet cable industry in the country.

There are about 30 internet service providers in the country and 10
phone operators, which causes a loss of profit to the state-owned
services.

To solve this, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications attempted
to direct all international internet traffic through Telecom Cambodia,
which would have charged other operators a transmission fee.

However this time, because the ministry of information went publicly
against it, it had to be abandoned.

Moreover, it has only been five years since the use of the
peer-to-peer software Skype has been authorized.

Even if it was possible to connect to it, it was still illegal for the
Ministry of Post and Telecommunications was loosing money.

This sounds like a false argument since the people using Skype were
the ones who could not afford a phone call.

There was a Cambodian version of Skype but its lack of popularity
among the high ranking society and its difficulty to be used made the
government give it in.

For most of human rights defenders, Internet remains a free space
where sensitive topics can be discussed.

For Chak Sopheap, online activist and contributor to the network
Global Voices online, Internet is a "digital democracy", which should
be put in place in reality, outside of a computer screen.

Internet activists in Cambodia are being more effective to advocate
for themselves and denounce human rights violations.

For example, when Loun Sovath records them, he get a double answer;
the international community takes an interest while the Cambodian
authorities arrest him. "Internet users are the ones that the
government fears the most", continues Klein.

This is also confirmed by Ou Virak, from the Cambodia Center for Human
Rights (CCHR), according to whom "activists use more the Internet
during protests for example. They can advocate for themselves online,
especially through Facebook. Before the Internet became popular, media
were the target of the government. Today, activists are".

This circular is not only limited to online and mobile content and
usage but also to radio stations since "any radio communication wave
system corporation shall require permission from the Ministry of Post
and Telecommunications".

The radio's mission is mainly defined as a "public service".

Therefore, the decision maker should be an institution and not a
private corporation.

This could therefore apply to any independent media trying to set up
as a private company to own airtime and a frequency.

Upward trend in European suicides

2012-08-15T04:03:00.001-07:00

"The recovery of the European economies is dependent on the mental
health of the population," Muijen said.

The upward trend in suicides began in 2008, when the euro zone entered
a recession.

In a study published last year in the journal Lancet, researchers
found that suicides rose from 2007 to 2009 in nine of the 10 countries
they studied.

The countries "facing the most severe financial reversals of fortune,"
they wrote, saw a greater rise in suicides.

The most dramatic change was in Greece, where the number of suicides
rose 19 percent.

The study, by David Stuckler at the University of Cambridge and
others, found that for every 1 percent increase in unemployment, there
is a an associated 0.8 percent increase in suicides in people under
65.

Although the rate of suicides remains lower than in other countries,
including the United States, the trend has alarmed mental health
providers because suicide was so rare in the past.

Greece, where the Orthodox church denies a funeral to people who take
their lives, had the lowest suicide rate of any Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development nation before the downturn surge
in unemployment.

Full article (long):
http://www.tampabay.com/news/world/suicide-rates-rise-in-europe-amid-job-losses-and-severe-cutbacks/1245869

The Greek Ministry of Health reported that suicides jumped 40 percent
in the first half of 2011 as compared with the same period in 2010.

In a single year, the rate increased from 2.8 suicides for every
100,000 people to at least five per 100,000.

The country's national depression and suicide hotline saw a 40 percent
increase in calls from 2010 to 2011 and reported that the majority of
people seeking help had problems including the loss of a job or an
inability to cover living costs.

And at the time the need for such a service is increasing, public
sector help has been reduced.

According to the Society of Social Psychiatry and Mental Health, the
cutbacks have had a severe impact on people's ability to get the help
they need:

There's a three-month wait for people seeking public mental health
services, social security has been reduced and community-based centers
for care have been shut down.

The suicide notes left in coat pockets or on desks in Greece are being
passed around on the Internet and studied like the final treatises of
revered scholars.

Friends and neighbors of Perris, who was 60 years old, say they have
read his note over and over to try to figure out whether they could
have done something differently. He blamed the "powerful of this
Earth" for his situation.

High school cheating and bribery

2012-08-08T06:27:00.001-07:00

In a blatant defiance of examination rules, Cambodia's high school
students are looking up answers to test questions online through their
cell phones under the noses of proctors, some of whom have been
bribed.

"This year, cheating has increased," Cambodian Independent Teachers
Association president Rong Chhun told RFA as high school examinations
got under way in the country.

"Students are using smart phones to surf the Internet and Facebook for
answers," he said, adding that in some examination centers, school
proctors also ask students for bribes in the exams, which run from
Aug. 6-8.

The reports of bribery and cheating underscore Cambodia's reputation,
highlighted in a recent report by Berlin-based Transparency
International, for widespread corruption in the public sector.

Students have paid between 5,000 riel (U.S. $1.23) to 20,000 riel
(U.S.$4.91) for answers to exam questions, sources told RFA.

Cheating has been reported in the capital Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap,
Pursat, and Prey Veng, Rong Chhun said, while in Prey Veng, proctors
are allowing some students to take exams on behalf of others.

In Battambang province, it was calm outside the test centers on the
second day of exams. But inside, students were using smart phones to
look up answers to chemistry and history questions posted on Facebook.

Bribes required

Speaking to RFA, students said that proctors had asked students to
raise money for them in exchange for permission to cheat.

A father named Hang Sambo said that he had told his son not to bribe
proctors if asked for money.

One proctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that he had been
asked by his own supervisor for a payment of at least 200,000 (U.S.
$49.10) as a share of what his superior assumed would be the bribes
paid to him.

"Only a few in the classroom know the subjects. They are relying on
answer sheets," he said.

In some cases, students are using answer sheets provided by their
teachers, he said, while in others teachers are entering the answers
onto test papers themselves.

In Phnom Penh, students admitted using smart phones to cheat on their
tests, while RFA reporters saw answer sheets sold openly on the
streets close to examination centers.

Cambodian Independent Teachers Association president Rong Chhun said
he has asked the country's Ministry of Education to take immediate
steps to end the cheating during exams.

Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked
Cambodia 164th worst out of 182 countries surveyed in its 2011
Corruption Perception Index.

Cambodia's official Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) launched an initiative
in May to eliminate bribes solicited by local commune councilors for
performing public services, with ACU deputy director Chhay Savuth
declaring the country's "culture of bribery has been in place for
over 20 years."

But international organizations have warned that Cambodia's
graft-busting bodies will be ineffective until they are free of
government influence and control.

Reported by Sophalmony Soun and Mom Sophon.
Translated by Samean Yun.
Written in English by Richard Finney.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/cheating-08072012170011.html

Doctors discriminate against the poor

2012-08-06T18:24:00.001-07:00

Cambodia is instructing doctors to practice without regards to
socioeconomic status, according to the country's top health official,
amidst reports that women had been left to die during childbirth and
other patients have been refused treatment because they did not have
the money to pay for services.

Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said Friday that improvements in
healthcare quality and service had over the past two years
substantially decreased the number of maternal and child fatalities
across Cambodia, which has the highest infant mortality rate in the
Southeast Asia.

He said that since 2010 the ministry had worked to teach doctors not
to differentiate between the rich and the poor—a practice which had
led to some doctors refusing to admit pregnant women and other
patients who could not cover certain medical fees.

"We are working on a process to improve maternal and child health,"
Mam Bunheng said, adding that the ministry is also in the process of
drafting a code of conduct for midwives.

"We are also working to improve our midwives in health centers and
referral hospitals," he said. "We are working to train midwives to
work in communities."

Mam Bunheng said that doctors had been instructed to admit poor
patients and that the Ministry of Health had allocated equity fund
reserves for providing treatment and food to the underprivileged.

He said that the government has helped about two million poor patients
nationwide through the equity fund foundation.

Expensive fees

But the health minister's statement runs contrary to reports that have
recently surfaced in Cambodia about discriminatory practices against
the poor in hospitals around the country, particularly in rural areas.

Nob Mean, a farmer from northwestern Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey
province, told RFA that he had been referred to a hospital that had
charged him a number of fees for medical services.

"The referral hospital has asked me for money to pay for my bed. It's
expensive," he said.

"The hospital charged me 81,500 riels [U.S. $20]. It's a lot of money
for the poor," he said, adding that he considers service in the
country's health industry to be about 60 percent positive, but that he
would like the government to bring the standard closer to 100 percent.

Lor Vannthary, a physician who works for a domestic health
nongovernmental organization, said that while the government has paid
more attention to health issues in recent years, a number of problems
remain in the industry.

"Referral hospitals have been built, but they lack a sufficient number
of doctors. Young graduating doctors are refusing to work in remote
areas of the country and instead prefer the city," he said.

"Also, some doctors don't pay close enough attention to patients
staying in state hospitals because they have their own private
hospitals—the doctors are not being paid enough to work."

Heng Tai Kry, a secretary of state with the Ministry of Health,
acknowledged that some doctors are unable to pay enough attention to
their patients, adding that it was largely due to working long hours
with many different patients.

He denied the claim that negligence on the part of doctors was a
result of low pay.

"Doctors are paid enough to live, but sometimes the demand is too
great and we can't please everybody," he said.

"The same problem exists even in places like the U.S. and Singapore."

'Desperately poor'

Cambodia's Ministry of Health oversees more than 1,000 hospitals and
5,000 doctors across the country.

According to the London-based nongovernmental organization Health
Poverty Action (HPA), some 78 percent of Cambodians live in "deep
poverty" with four of out five living on less than U.S. $2 a day. The
group calls healthcare provision in the country "desperately poor."

Some 58 percent of people in mountainous areas were living below the
poverty line in 2004, it says, up from 40 percent ten years earlier.

"While poverty has decreased overall in recent years, the health of
indigenous people living in mountain areas has declined dramatically,
along with the quality of health services available to them," the
group said.

HPA says that with 98 deaths per 1,000 live births, Cambodia has the
highest infant mortality rate in Southeast Asia.

Health Officials Demand Equal Care
Cambodia's health ministry says doctors cannot leave the poor untreated.
2012-08-06

Reported by Tin Zakariya and Sok Serey.
Translated by Samean Yun.
Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/healthcare-08062012174311.html

Students Forced to Pay Bribes

2012-07-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

Reports of bribery in Cambodian schools underscore the country's
uphill battle against corruption.

Cambodian schoolchildren are being forced to pay bribes to pass high
school admissions tests, a senior local educator said on Thursday
while calling on the country's Ministry of Education to have students
retake their most recent exams.

"These tests must be taken again, as the results of the previous tests
are not valid," Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association president
Rong Chhun told RFA in an interview.

Proctors and examiners for junior high school students are requiring
payments of between U.S. $30 to U.S. $60 for a passing grade on high
school entrance exams, Rong Chhun said, adding that "middlemen" are
charging similar amounts for assurances the bribes will reach the
right people.

"There is a price for middlemen between U.S. $30 to U.S. $50. I urge
the Ministry of Education to work with local authorities to bring the
suspects to justice," Rong Chhun said.

Cambodian Minister of Education Im Sethy could not be reached for
comment, but the reports of bribery in Cambodia's schools underscore
the country's reputation, highlighted in a recent report by
Berlin-based Transparency International, for widespread corruption in
the public sector.

"This bribery takes place across the country," Rong Chhun said.

Payment to proctors

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the parent of a student in Kandal
province said that his son had been told to pay U.S. $30 to proctors
at the Bun Rany Hun Sen High School Examination Center in order to
pass his exam, held on July 16-17.

"All students were asked to pay at least U.S. $30 dollars, including
my son. But my son gave only U.S. $25," he said.

Results of the exam will be released on July 28, he said.

Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International ranked
Cambodia 164th worst out of 182 countries surveyed in its 2011
Corruption Perception Index.

Cambodia's official Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) launched an initiative
in May to eliminate bribes solicited by local commune councilors for
performing public services, with ACU deputy director Chhay Savuth
declaring that "[Cambodia's] culture of bribery has been in place for
over 20 years."

But international organizations have warned that the country's
graft-busting bodies will not be effective until they are free of
government influence and control.

Students Forced to Pay Bribes :: 2012-07-26
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/schools-07262012153620.html