-Aid has not helped Cambodia reform -Protestors Call for Justice for Cambodian Wife
-PM tells unemployed workers of Cambodian to return to agriculture -Did Dinosaurs Survive in the Cambodian Jungle Until the Middle Ages?<http://io9.com/5167172/did-dinosaurs-survive-in-the-cambodian-jungle-until-the-middle-ages> -Mosha the elephant gets prosthetic leg *Aid has not helped Cambodia reform* March 11, 2009 A saying goes, "The greatest ignorance is to reject something you know nothing about." Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. lamented, "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." And American futurist Alvin Toffler warns, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." But it's not enough just to learn, we must apply. That's how we develop and grow, avoid others' pitfalls, prepare and build a better future. In a globalized world, what occurs in one area will affect other areas, sooner or later, directly or indirectly. So, when the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific posits, "Bad governance is being increasingly regarded as one of the root causes of all evil within our societies," it behooves all of us to take notice. "Major donors and international financial institutions are increasingly basing their aid and loans on the condition that reforms that ensure 'good governance' are undertaken," ESCAP says, but the reality is "reforms" are lacking, though aid and loans continue to flow in. The London-based environmental watchdog Global Witness charged in its report, "Country for Sale," for "more than a decade now" international donors gave the Cambodian regime over 50 percent of the country's national budget, and pledged nearly ($1 billion) in development aid for 2009, "yet (donors) failed to use this opportunity to demand new governance measures." "Unless this is changed, there is a real risk that the opportunity to lift a whole generation out of poverty will be squandered," Global Witness says. It quotes a statement by the U.N. Special Representative in Cambodia: "With aid-giving comes the responsibility to ensure that it helps the people. ... It is not sufficient to ... emphasize adherence to human rights treaties and protocols (useful as they are). Nor are new laws or suddenly created institutions the panacea, for the (Cambodian) government has disregarded laws, or through abuse, turned them to its own partisan advantage," the statement reads. The Special Representative and Global Witness were booted out of Cambodia. Hun Sen can be blamed for bad behavior and bad governance, which continue because there is no consequence. But enablers of bad behavior and bad governance are not excused from responsibilities for the situation. Cambodia's current governance began as a result of the failure of the world community to implement the 1991 Paris Peace Accords that stipulate Cambodia's adherence to "the rights and freedoms embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other relevant international human rights instruments" -- which, in turn, are incorporated in Cambodia's constitution. Enablers conceded to Sen's demand for co-premiership, though he lost the election, and closed their eyes to unconstitutional power grabs that ended with the 1997 coup d'etat, in which many were killed. Donors praised political stability -- attained through blatant grabs for power. Donors praised economic development -- attained through forced evictions of citizens, sale of natural resources, institution of a regime of kleptocracy. Gone are what's necessary for good governance: the rule of law that requires the promotion of human rights and freedom; legal impartiality; separation of powers; checks and balances; the accountability (to the public and institutional stakeholders) that requires the existence of the rule of law and transparency; equity; inclusiveness; and responsiveness. Asia Times Online's Bertil Lintner's "One big happy family in Cambodia" referenced the Phnom Penh Post's compilation of how "arranged marriages" produced "growing family ties (that) run all the way to the top of Cambodia's political pyramid. ... These new family ties between the children of (cabinet) ministers and top officials potentially set the stage for the (Cambodian People's Party's) grip on power to continue for generations." It is a picture of grotesque concentration of powers, a family hall for distributing political and economic resources, a stadium for job seekers, a true Hun Sen Inc. within a larger People's Party Ltd. Said to be a U.N. "success story," Cambodia is a story of bad governance, a sad story written with the help of international donors, apparently more impressed with the Monivong Boulevard's "gleaming new" Kentucky Fried Chicken, or the 27-story Canadia Bank Tower with health club and restaurant, than with the health and welfare of the people, 30 percent of whom, Sen says, live below the poverty level today. Stanford journalism professor Joel Brinkley writes in the March-April Foreign Affairs Magazine's "Cambodia's Curse" that the 2004 and 2005 comprehensive studies funded by the U.S. embassy in Phnom Penh "showed in stunning detail that Cambodian government officials steal between $300 million and $500 million a year (most years, the state's annual budget is about $1 billion)." A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. http://www.guampdn.com/article/20090311/OPINION02/903110330/1014/OPINION *Protestors Call for Justice for Cambodian Wife* * * Last month in Daegu a very young Cambodian woman was arrested for attempted murder <http://koreabeat.com/?p=3696> after stabbing her abusive husband. Today Yonhap News reports<http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LS2D&mid=sec&sid1=102&sid2=253&oid=001&aid=0002540038>that local civic and women’s organizations are calling for… well, it’s not clear exactly what they want, but we also learn that the young woman is pregnant. “Cambodian people will think a person is rude for touching their heads. We do not know if that was the reason that 18-year old Mrs. Choun (pseudonym) stabbed her husband after marrying him from Cambodia.” On the 6th, two days ahead of International Women’s Day, at the 2.28 Democracy Movement Commemoration Foundation in Daegu. It was here that a demonstration called for proper handling of the case of a Cambodian woman who stabbed her husband in their home in Daegu in January after he hit her. 50 members of local civic organizations, including ones dedicated to immigrant brides, attended. One of them was Mrs. Kolbuokkheng, who also came from Cambodia. She said, “Mrs. Choun was desperate as a result of her husband’s beating her head. Like other Cambodian people who believe patience is important, Mrs. Choun did not reveal her problems, which was simply violence.” Mrs. Kolbuokkheng added, “in Cambodia a person without a father is not looked on kindly. Mrs. Choun, who grew up being mocked for being fatherless, wanted to be a good mother to the child in her belly. It is my hope that with the help of Korean people Mrs. Choun can be forgiven.” Ludi Bay, a Filipina who married a Korean man five years, also spoke sympathetically. First she spoke movingly in remembrance of a Vietnamese woman who jumped from her apartment building to commit suicide last year as a way to escape her husband’s beatings. Sometimes there are victims, sometimes there are victimizers, but she effectively conveyed how frightened married immigrants in an alien culture can be. She said, “Korea is a frightening place for married immigrants because they have nowhere to turn for support,” concluding, “this 18-year old and pregnant Cambodian woman is my friend, and I ask people to learn about and support her.” The Korean civic organizations emphasized that our society is responsible when marriage immigrants find themselves the victims of terrible crimes rather than the happy married lives in Korea they expected. Kang Hye-suk, a member of the Daegu Married Immigrants Rights Center ( 대구이주여성인권센터) said, “we have to find out if our society can see this 18-year old girl as blameless.” A coalition of 34 Daegu-area organizations has come together on the 6th to support Mrs. Choun. Over 20 participants carried white signs with messages in their native languages, and attracted the attention of tens of passing citizens in the chilly weather. . *PM tells unemployed workers of Cambodian to return to agriculture* 2009-03-10 10:22:57 Special Report: Global Financial Crisis <http://www.chinaview.cn/fc/> PHNOM PENH, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Unemployed factory workers can return to agriculture to guarantee better crops supply for the kingdom, national media on Tuesday quoted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen as telling a recent meeting. Closure of factories has led to mass unemployment, but workers can still find their livelihood in the rural areas as Cambodia is a country rooted in agriculture, Chinese-language newspaper the Sinchew Daily quoted him as saying. "Unemployment hasn't caused very big crisis for our country," because people still have large fields to plant crops and fruit trees, he said. If more people return to villages for plantation, Cambodia can have better crops supply, he said. Meanwhile, Cambodia is also expecting EU, U.S., China, Japan and South Korea to revitalize their economies as soon as possible, thus becoming capable to help the kingdom develop itself, he added. According to local reports, at least 80 garment factories have been closed in Cambodia since the global financial crisis occurred at the end of last year. Some 19,000 people have lost their jobs in the garment sector so far and more are expected later this year, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in February. Garment is the kingdom's foremost pillar industry. Meanwhile, Cambodia is also a major rice exporter in the region beside the Mekong River. *Did Dinosaurs Survive in the Cambodian Jungle Until the Middle Ages?<http://io9.com/5167172/did-dinosaurs-survive-in-the-cambodian-jungle-until-the-middle-ages> * Now a rumor is flying around the web that this image depicts a stegosaurus (pictured here), and that it may mean this spiny giant survived until the modern era. Says All News Web, who received the photographs from a tipster: The reader who was visiting the area noticed very distinct and clear images that seem to depict a Stegosaurus, indicating that this creature might well have survived up until the Khmer era in the region. One expert on Khmer ruins has told us that it is unlikely that these images are a recent addition to the temple . . . According to conventional science this species existed in North America and died out around 155 million years ago. Villagers in the vicinity of the temple are said to retain traditions of this animal existing until fairly recent times. I like the "according to conventional science" caveat. Could the mega-beast have survived that giant asteroid hit 65 million years ago, and two ice ages, only to find itself the subject of a Cambodian sculptor? More likely it was just aliens visiting the planet and creating a little Jurassic Park action. *Mosha the elephant gets prosthetic leg* Mosha the elephant has been fitted with an prosthetic leg in Lampang, Thailand, after losing a limb when she stepped on a landmine. She was rescued when she was seven-months-old and brought to the Friends of the Asian Elephant hospital where she became the first elephant in the world to be fitted with an artificial leg in 2007. Now aged three, Mosha is growing at such a rate she has now been fitted with a second prosthetic leg. Her home in the tropical jungle of northern Thailand, near the Cambodian border, is an orphanage for elephants. Stumbling around on three limbs at the world's first elephant hospital, she refused to mix with other elephants and shunned food. Doctors had feared the worst until she had a chance meeting with Dr. Therdchai Jivacate, who runs a foundation for human amputees. Jivacate knew that Mosha would not survive as she grew heavier with age. "When she cannot walk, she is going to die," he said. Jivacate's foundation has made prosthetic limbs for over 16,000 humans. But it had never fitted an elephant until Mosha caught Jivacate's eye. Fashioned out of plastic, sawdust and metal, doctors at his Prostheses Foundation successfully fitted an artificial leg for Mosha sturdy enough to carry her weight. One of many patients treated at the unique £1m animal hospital, with fellow elephants suffering infections, broken bones and knife wounds, Mosha soon became the most famous. Almost a year after her operation, Mosha eats 200 pounds of food a day and is growing so fast that doctors recently fitted her with a second, larger prosthesis. After her daily exercises, Mosha takes a nap. The prosthesis is only removed when she sleeps. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ The articles and commentaries on this forum reflect only the personal opinion(s) of the poster(s) and not that of any organization or group with which the moderator(s) is (are) affiliated. A forwarded message or event may be posted for informational/educational purposes. Unless specifically stated, no endorsement of the posted opinions/events should be implied. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Angkorian Society" - <http://groups.google.com.au/group/angkoriansociety> -<www.geocities.com/angkorian_society> Keep away from bad deeds, Do good, and Purify the Mind ...This is the teaching of the Buddha..... 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