Archive for March, 2007
Where Elephants Weep
In Arts and Culture, Cambodia, Khmer, Social Events on Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 9:47 PM
East Meets West in a New Contemporary Cambodian Opera,
fusing traditional Cambodian music with rock and rap, sung in English and Khmer, with subtitles in both languages.
The opera’s “hybrid” musical style will merge traditional Cambodian instruments in a contemporary sound. Musical themes will carry the epic quality of the story and play off the unity and disunity of East meeting West. The production features a traditional Khmer orchestra and a Khmer rock band, traveling from Cambodia, and a string quartet from the New England Orchestra.
First preview performances in Lowell, MA on April 27, 28 & 29, 2007.
DON’T MISS THIS PRICELESS OPPORTUNITY!
By supporting this opera, you are keeping Khmer culture alive!
Click here now to grab your tickets!
Related Post
Kumomo Tree Project
In Cambodia, Education on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 11:41 AMIn rural Cambodia, hundreds of villages are still deprived of functional primary and secondary schools. American Assistance for Cambodia(AAfC) founded the Rural Schools Project in 1999, has led the effort to construct over 300
primary and lower secondary schools. One of the schools will be built from the advertisers’ booking fee through the Kumomo Tree Charity Project.
“I am honored you have chosen us as one of the charities to support and give you our blessing to list us, as well as your creative skill and community spirit,” said Mr. Bernard Krisher, Chairman of AAfC.
For every successful ad space booked, Kumomo collects a booking fee from the advertiser and contribute to the Cambodian Rural School Project fund, while any remaining goes directly to the space owner.
It took the team of 12 a full 6 months to realize the Kumomo concept and it’s finally launched to the public 2 weeks ago. Once the fund hits USD13,000, the check will be issued to AAfC. The team hopes to deliver the first check within
the next 3 months.
About Kumomo
Kumomo is a free ad space booking marketplace to buy and sell advertisement space. It is not totally limited to online ad space but also physical ad space or any unconventional space that you can ever think of. There is no cost for
publisher to list their ad space.
Kumomo collects booking fee for charity purposes while the remaining ad revenue goes directly from advertiser to space owner. It is a commission free booking platform with no cash holdback.
For more details, visit www.kumomo.com
Building Phnom Penh: An Angkorian heritage
In Architecture, Cambodia on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 3:39 PM 
The movement’s influence was short-lived: few of its architects survived the Khmer Rouge. However, Vann Molyvann, the leader and most prolific member of the group remains at 80 an enterprising and increasingly respected figure.
PHNOM PENH: Many Asian cities have laid claim to the title of “Paris of the East.” During the 1930s, Phnom Penh’s candidature was supported by no less a luminary than Charlie Chaplin, who described its orderly, tree-lined avenues as “little sisters” to the Champs-Elysées.
But today’s visitors to Cambodia are surprised to discover that the true architectural legacy of this former French protectorate is not colonial at all, but a unique synthesis of postwar European modernism and what might be called “Angkorian vernacular.”
“New Khmer Architecture” emerged from Cambodia’s 15 years of prosperity following the end of French rule in 1953. The euphoria of independence spawned an entire school of designers and architects who, rather than replicate international styles, chose to reinterpret them according to a set of local conditions, foremost among them flooding and hot temperatures.
It was a kind of Asian Bauhaus in that its members worked concurrently and in a similar style.
The movement’s influence was short-lived: few of its architects survived the Khmer Rouge. However, Vann Molyvann, the leader and most prolific member of the group, remains, at 80, an enterprising and respected figure, even if his work has yet to acquire the protection it so patently deserves.
The first Cambodian architect to be trained in Europe – at Paris’s Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts – Vann returned to Cambodia in 1956. Introduced to the left-leaning King Norodom Sihanouk, the two spearheaded a campaign of urban development and construction that transformed Phnom Penh from a sleepy colonial backwater to a vibrant, ambitious capital.
From universities to sports facilities, the architect and his royal mentor created more than a hundred public projects throughout Cambodia, using funds from the Chinese, Russian and French governments as well as “nonaligned” states during the decade and a half before Cambodia was dragged into a regional war with the United States. The engineer Vladimir Bodiansky and the urbanist Gerald Hanning provided technical assistance.
Vann’s imposing Independence Monument at the intersection of Sihanouk and Norodom boulevards symbolizes the era. Paying direct homage to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the chocolate-hued Phnom Penh structure built in 1960 is adorned, appropriately enough, with a profusion of nagas, the protective serpents of Hindu mythology.
Vann’s 1964 National Sports Center, constructed before Kenzo Tange’s Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, is as clear a statement of civic pride and for Sihanouk an attempt to proclaim the country’s neutrality in the face of growing Cold War hostilities. Cambodia’s rejection by the pro-Western International Olympic Committee prompted Sihanouk to join Ganefo (Games of the Nonaligned and Emerging Forces), a sporting event created by China, Russia and others. Cambodia’s turn to host the Games came in 1966.
Though Vann shared Sihanouk’s utopian vision, his inspiration is drawn from his own architectural heritage. The Sports Center’s large ornamental pools directly imitate the barays, or reservoirs, surrounding Angkorian temples, while the elevated walkways at both his Cham Car Mon palace and the School of Foreign Languages pay homage to Angkor Wat’s kilometer-long causeway.
Vann’s signature suspended “zigzag” roof lines created artificial space to enable air to flow in what he describes as “a reworking of the concave shape of the temple roofs.”
The other major influence was Le Corbusier and his complex theories of communal living. Vann’s use of the Frenchman’s “modular”‘ as a tool for establishing proportions is best emulated in the “White” and “Gray” buildings of the Front du Bassac, a development begun in 1964 to house foreign advisers and Ganefo’s athletes.
“His buildings are like sculptures in the way they celebrate depth and space as well as light and darkness,” said the architect today.
Assessing Phnom Penh at that time as “an active sedimentation zone with poor ventilation and prone to flooding,” Vann found traditional solutions to mass housing in a rapidly expanding city. A new book, “Building Cambodia: ‘New Khmer Architecture’ (1953-1970)” by Darryl Leon Collins and Helen Grant Ross (The Key Publishers, Bangkok 2006) applauds the movement’s aims and philosophy while establishing Vann as a seminal figure in postwar Asian architecture.
The latest building to attract scrutiny is a theatre commissioned by Sihanouk in 1966 to promote Cambodia’s resplendent performing arts. A masterpiece of concrete plasticity with staircases suspended over shallow pools of water.
But while steadily collecting admirers abroad and celebrated by the more enlightened sections of Phnom Penh society, this architectural patrimony has not been protected by the authorities. Rather than celebrate the achievements of Sihanouk’s “golden age,” the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen seems to go to considerable lengths to undermine them.
To the dismay of international groups attempting to stimulate cultural continuity, Vann has been largely shunned by the political establishment in Cambodia. When Unesco organized a conference on how to protect this legacy and designated Vann as its head, it had to disinvite him after complaints by the government. Rarely consulted on the fate of his buildings, Vann has been forced to watch from the sidelines while his work has been ripped out or ineptly renovated.
The refurbishment of Vann’s fan-shaped Chaktomuk Conference Hall met with the architect’s general approval. However, the Taiwanese Yuanta Group’s cosmetic makeover of the National Sports Center in 2000 robbed this voluminous site of a good deal of its land to make way for commercial development. “Economic tradeoffs with foreign developers result in short-term quick-fix solutions that ignore longterm planning,” Collins said.
The latest building to attract scrutiny is a theater commissioned by Sihanouk in 1966 to promote Cambodia’s performing arts. A masterpiece of concrete plasticity with staircases suspended over shallow pools of water, the Preah Suramarit was gutted by fire in 1994, devastating the auditorium and stage area. It has remained in its ruined state for more than a decade.
Only days after Cambodia’s new King Norodom Sihamoni declared a desire to see the theater rebuilt, the government pre-emptively announced its sale to a local telecommunications company, which is expected to replace it with a conference hall and TV tower.
Given the minimal architectural merit, much less public interest to be found in the latest rash of government offices, casino and private villas, this is especially depressing.
Source: The International Herald Tribune
Hmong Girl on Guitar
In My Life on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 11:49 PMI found this Hmong girl named Maiyia on Youtube and just couldn’t help admiring her talents. She not only possesses a diva’s voice but also writes songs on her own. Way to go, girl! You should have gone to American Idols. I’ll be the first person to vote for you! Love ya and your sweet voice!
Anderson Cooper in Cambodia
In Cambodia on Monday, March 26, 2007 at 9:29 AMPedophilia and Child Abuse
Sex Slavery
The Facebook Skit
In A Minute of Laughter, Online Networking on Thursday, March 22, 2007 at 12:04 AM
Specially dedicated to all the FACEBOOK fans out there!
Forum on SSEAYP International General Assembly 2007
In Cambodia, SSEAYP, Youth activities on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 9:46 AM
ធនធានប្រេងកាត និង ខស្ម័នកម្ពុជាលំដាប់ទីពីរក្នុងលោក
In Cambodia, Economy & Business on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 12:01 AM
ប្រភព: កោះសន្តិភាព
Cambodia’s first rock opera inspired by Broadway hit ‘Rent’
In Arts and Culture, Cambodia, Khmer on Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 6:35 PM
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — When the Cambodian composer Him Sophy saw his first Broadway musical six years ago, he was so captivated he went back to see it again.
The show was “Rent,” the long-running rock opera about struggling artists in New York City. What struck the Cambodian maestro was the musical genre, which featured a five-member rock band right on the stage.
Inspired, the Russian-trained Him Sophy went home and started work on Cambodia’s first rock opera.
Where Elephants Weep” features a 10-person band that fuses the sounds of an electric guitar, electronic drums and keyboards with traditional Cambodian instruments like buffalo horns, bamboo flutes, gongs and the chapei, a long-neck lute with two nylon strings.
This is an East-meets-West blend,” Him Sophy, 44, who earned a doctorate in musicology at Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, said during a rehearsal at a makeshift studio in a Phnom Penh apartment.
The story is a modern take on “Tum Teav,” the Cambodian version of “Romeo and Juliet.”
It follows Sam, a Cambodian-American who returns home after Cambodia’s civil war to trace his roots. In Phnom Penh, he meets and falls in love with Bopha, a karaoke singer, said Catherine Filloux, the opera’s librettist.
New Digs for ‘Queen of the Fish’
In Cambodia, Khmer, New York on Sunday, March 18, 2007 at 6:25 PM
BATTAMBANG II, a grocery near Fordham University in the Bronx, could easily be considered a video and magazine store that also sells groceries. A wall is dedicated to contemporary Cambodian movies and karaoke videos, and the shelves are laden with Cambodian fashion magazines and Khmer-language newspapers. The small back room bulges with thousands of VHS tapes of serialized Cambodian soap operas and folk tales.
The store, which is owned by a Cambodian named Tek Vandy and is named for the city that is the birthplace of many of the 2,000 Cambodians living in Fordham and University Heights, has now raised its profile even further as a clearinghouse for Cambodian popular culture. An actual Cambodian movie star is in residence, one who despite her stardom can be found bundling vegetables and making change.
Mr. Vandy, a sharp dresser who favors Polo shirts and sports a watch bearing the image of the Cambodian prime minister, was married last April to Ratana Veth, a popular Cambodian actress and karaoke singer whom he met during a trip home in 2005. In September, the 43-year-old Mr. Vandy brought his 24-year-old bride to New York, and since then the two have spent weekends barnstorming the country’s other Cambodian neighborhoods, where Ms. Veth sings on the Khmer heritage festival circuit.
These days, all the free wall space in Mr. Vandy’s store is devoted to posters advertising events that give top billing to a heavily made-up Ms. Veth, dressed in the brightly colored silk gowns that constitute traditional Khmer formalwear. “Dance Party With Cambodian Movie Star,” proclaims one poster promoting a New Year’s Eve affair in Long Beach, Calif.; others describe similar gatherings in Atlanta, Dallas, Seattle, Philadelphia and Lowell, Mass.
Cambodian actresses and karaoke singers — the country’s equivalent of pop stars — have immigrated to those cities, Mr. Vandy said, but Ms. Veth is the first to settle in New York, which has a relatively small Cambodian community.
One recent day in the store, at 229 East Kingsbridge Road, Ms. Veth was less formally dressed but looked no less elegant in tight black slacks, open-toed black high heels and a pink-and-white-striped Tommy Hilfiger blouse as she helped her husband tie rubber bands around bundles of potato leaves in the store’s back room.
“I still miss Cambodia very much, but I’m happy that my movies help people who also miss Cambodia,” said Ms. Veth, who says she prefers traditional roles based on Khmer folk tales to the racier material that appears in Cambodian cinema.
Cambodia’s Gandhi, Maha Ghosananda Dies
In Cambodia on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 1:44 AM
It is the law of the universe that retaliation, hatred and revenge only continue the cycle.
Venerable Maha Ghosanada (1929-2007)
The Venerable Maha Ghosananda, a Buddhist monk who led the rebuilding of his religion in Cambodia, calling for peace and reconciliation after the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, died Monday in Northampton, Mass. He was in his late 70s and lived in Providence, R.I., and Leverett, Mass.
The death was confirmed by Christina Trinchero, a spokeswoman for Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.
Cambodian monks elected Maha Ghosananda (his monastic name) as a supreme Buddhist patriarch in 1988. By then, his efforts to bring solace to a nation in which more than 1.5 million people were starved, worked to death or executed under the Communist dictatorship of Pol Pot had inspired many to call him “the Cambodian Gandhi.”
In his 2002 book “The Future of Peace: On the Front Lines With the World’s Great Peacemakers,” Scott A. Hunt, a professor of Buddhism at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote that Maha Ghosananda’s ability to forgive those “responsible for the murder of his entire family is incomprehensible,” until one heard his explanation of Buddhism.
Maha Ghosananda said he “does not question that loving one’s oppressors — Cambodians loving the Khmer Rouge — may be the most difficult attitude to achieve,” then added, “But it is the law of the universe that retaliation, hatred and revenge only continue the cycle.”
Reconciliation, he continued, “means that we see ourselves as the opponent; for what is the opponent but a being in ignorance, and we ourselves are also ignorant of many things.”
Somdet Phra Maha Ghosananda was born in Takeo, Cambodia, in 1929. He was initiated into the Cambodian Buddhist Order in 1943. In 1969, he received a doctorate from Nalanda University in Bihar State, India.
He was living in a monastery in southern Thailand when a five-year civil war ended in Cambodia in 1976, with Pol Pot establishing what he called Democratic Kampuchea. Within days, almost the entire population of Phnom Penh, the capital, had been marched into the countryside to do forced labor. The Khmer Rouge closed about 3,600 Buddhist temples throughout the country. By the time Vietnamese forces overthrew the regime 44 months later, only about 3,000 of Cambodia’s 60,000 Buddhist priests were still alive.
By then, Maha Ghosananda had already trekked from one refugee camp to another along the border with Thailand, establishing Buddhist temples and training new monks. He continued that work throughout the country after the ouster of Pol Pot.
Maha Ghosananda moved to Massachusetts in the late 1980s at the invitation of a Buddhist order in Leverett. But in 1991 he returned to Cambodia to lead a 16-day pilgrimage across the country — gathering followers from village after village — in the first of what became known as the Dhammayietra Walks for Peace and Reconciliation.
In 1998, the Niwano Peace Foundation of Japan awarded Maha Ghosananda its peace prize, saying in its citation that “through these walks, Maha Ghosananda became a bridge of peace — bringing together people who had been separated by war — and wiped away their fears with his call for peace.”
Pointing out that Maha Ghosananda had promoted nonviolence as a remedy for other causes, including deforestation and the use of land mines, the foundation also said, “In both spirit and deed, he has shown the way to a fundamental resolution of regional and ethnic strife around the world.”
Source: New York Times
Khmer Movies That Once Rocked Thailand!
In Cambodia, Khmer, Movies, Thailand on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 7:21 PM
Produced in the early 1970s, “Pos Keng Kang” (ពស់កេងកង) or “The Giant Snake” was probably the most famous Cambodian film on the international scene. As reported by Thailand’s Krung Thep Turakij Newpaper, the movie was awarded 6 golden awards at the 19th Asian Movie Awards in Singapore in 1972. It came out in two episodes, with the second one co-produced by Cambodia and Thailand starring Cambodian heartthrobs Chea Yuthorn (ជា យុទ្ធថន)and Dy Saveth (ឌី សាវ៉េត), together with famous Thai star of the time Aranya Namvong (อรัญญา นามวงศ์).
Other movies that made a big hit in Thailand back then were “Panjapoar Tevi” (បញ្ចពណ៌ទេវី), “Bopha Tevi” (បុប្ផាទេវី), “Neang Sok Kror-oab” (នាងសក់ក្រអូប) and “Damnok Chiem Kroam Teuk Pliang” (ដំណក់ឈាមក្រោមទឹកភ្លៀង).
From what my Thai friends once told me, Chea Yuthorn, Kong Sam-Oeurn and Dy Saveth were so popular that they became household names among many Thais of the time. The news sort of stunned me in the beginning, but I was so glad it happened.
Viva Cambodia! Viva Khmer Films!
Pictures courtesy of Thaifilm.com
Sin Sisamuth’s Songs in Thai
In Cambodia, Khmer, Thailand on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 5:10 PMThe following songs are identical, not only in terms of melodies but also lyrics! Check them out and compare by yourself! Who is the real copycat?
ឱ! ស្នេហ៍មាសបង
ល្មមហើយណាស្រី
ថ្មម
Laugh or Get Spanked?
In A Minute of Laughter, Japan on Monday, March 12, 2007 at 10:26 AMThree Minutes of Japanese English
This is a clip from a Japanese TV show where players are required to watch a video of an English lesson. To win the game, all contestants must make sure they do not laugh. Failing to do so will result in disqualification and spanking.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’ll definitely lose this game big time. Try it and get spanked!
Big Congrats to Raju!
In Friends, My Life, Nepal on Monday, March 12, 2007 at 9:09 AM
I got to know Raju during a KOICA-sponsored training session in Seoul, Korea three years ago. Although the program lasted only 10 days, Raju and I, plus almost 20 other programmates, were exceptionally close. Many of you wouldn’t expect such an intimacy from a 10-day program, would you? But we did. I still vividly remember how good and bad we were. I am missing so much of all the fun and jokes we shared, all the songs we sang and all the things we did together. We were so active that our KOICA program manager gave us two thumbs up for our youthfulness and group unity.
Today Raju sent me an extremely good news which she had kept secret until now. I couldn’t believe that my amazingly gorgeous friend had got married.
You really broke my heart, Raju! Did you know that I used to have a crush on you, dear?
Just kidding. I really wish I could get such a good news every morning. That would lighten up my day.
I am so happy for you and Amol. You’ve been together for so long, and definitely this is time you formally share your life together. May your love remain sweet and strong as always.
Keep Uncle Mongkol posted whenever there is a good news. I promise I’ll visit you and your kids in Nepal.
Reatrey Ramvong រាត្រីរាំវង់
In Cambodia, Khmer, Music on Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 10:35 PMBy Sin Sisamuth and Sieng Dy
Cambodian Wedding
In Cambodia, Khmer on Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 8:40 PMThe other day a classmate of mine was asking me questions about Cambodia. She told me she had been so interested in our country yet knows very little about it–an unsurprising situation I often encounter with foreigners. Our chat grew more interesting from one question to another, with the most interesting part being when we started to talk about Cambodian weddings. She was so amazed when I started to describe how tiring, colorful and lengthy weddings can be. Without any real visual aids, she could only imagine how impressive it might be. I then promised her I’d do a write-up with pictures on my blog for her later. And now here it is!
One of the most important rituals in Cambodians’ life is their wedding. A proper Khmer wedding is very colorful and filled with ceremonies and celebrations. It can last from as short as one morning to as long as three days and nights, depending on the financial situation and social status of the bride and groom’s families. According to the Khmer Institute’s website, ‘three’ is considered to be an especially auspicious number by Cambodians because of its association with the “three jewels” of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Sangha (brotherhood of monks), and the Dharma (the Buddha’s teachings). Somehow, due to the demands of modern day life today, both in Cambodia and overseas, most wedding ceremonies are completed in just one day, with the majority following a pattern as follows.
The wedding began early in the morning with the bridegroom, dressed in traditional Cambodian costume, and his family traveling to the bride’s home bearing gifts to the bride’s family as dowry. Family members and friends are introduced, and wedding rings exchanged.
Morning Procession. Since I have no pictures for this ceremony from a real wedding, I am using those from IFL’s Culture Day 2005 Fashion Show instead.
This is followed by breakfast of porridge, fruit and sweets while the master of ceremony and companion keep the audience entertained with folk songs. Among Cambodians of Chinese descent, the tea ceremony will be held before breakfast for the guests.
Breakfast is followed by the hair-cutting ceremony which is a must at all weddings. It is a traditional rite handed down from the old days to add merriment to the wedding. Although in the old days the hair-cutting was for real, nowadays a mock hair cut is staged. The couple, having changed into traditional outfits of gold and yellow, are seated on decorated chairs. The master of ceremony and his companion then teases them and the family members much to the delight of those present. Carrying a tray with scissors, a comb and a bottle of hair spray, the first person given the honor to cut their hair is the family matriarch, who pretends to cut the hair of the bridegroom. Soon she retrieves a gold ring from the hair which have earlier been placed there by the priest. She does the same to the bride after which the expensive hair spray is used. This ritual is repeated by other elderly folk at the ceremony. Retrieving the gold or silver rings is to signify that the couple will have a prosperous life.
Costumes for Haircutting Ceremony
The solemnisation of the wedding then follows. The bridegroom, after another change of clothes — this time dressed like royalty, approaches the entrance of the house where the bride, in a dazzling red outfit with gold embroidery, awaits him.
Knot-tying Ceremony
The washing of the feet ceremony is held where traditionally the bride placed the groom’s feet on a tray and washed them. These days, however, she merely sprays cologne over the feet. The priest holds their hands together and chants. And after blessings from the parents, the couple put their hands on a pillow and a sword is placed across their closed palms. In this final and most memorable stage of the wedding, family members and friends tie the bride and groom’s left and right wrists with blessing strings. The praises and well-wishes of happiness, good health, success, prosperity, and long-lasting love are acknowledged and witnessed by the loud sound of the gong and joyful cheer. The ceremony is concluded with a shower of palm flowers thrown over the new couple and a sumptuous dinner later at night with more songs and dances to entertain everyone.
Sarah, hope this summary clears things up for you. Cheers!
Reference: Khmer Institute
Shot of the Week: Angkor Wat
In Photography on Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 8:30 PM
At the Vietnamese New Year’s Lantern Festival in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Photo courtesy of Tran Binh Quan
Seminar on Development and the Next Generation
In Education, Social Events on Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 9:16 AM
Just Seen: 300
In Movies, United States on Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 1:05 AM
Synopsis
Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, ‘300′ is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite against their Persian enemy, drawing a line in the sand for democracy. The film brings Miller’s (Sin City) acclaimed graphic novel to life by combining live action with virtual backgrounds that capture his distinct vision of this ancient historic tale.
Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten
In Arts and Culture, Cambodia, Khmer, Music on Friday, March 9, 2007 at 12:55 PM
During the 60’s and early 70’s, as the war in Vietnam threatened its borders, a new music scene emerged in Cambodia that took Western rock and roll and stood it on its head-creating a sound like no other.
Cambodian musicians crafted this sound from the various rock music styles sweeping across America and England, adding the unique melodies and hypnotic rhythms of their traditional music. The beautiful singing of the renowned female vocalists became the final touch that made this mix so enticing.
As the peasant Khmer Rouge army closed in on the capital city of Phnom Penh, Cambodian rock and rollers played at rooftop parties while bombs ignited the evening sky.
On April 17, 1975, after taking over the country, the Khmer Rouge began one of the most brutal genocides in history, killing 2 million people – 1/4 of the Cambodian population. Intellectuals, artists and musicians were murdered simply for their status. Only a few miraculously survived to tell their story.
Produced by John Pirozzi and his devoted production crew, “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten,” provides a new perspective on a country usually assocated with war and genocide. By celebrating this powerful music and the people who created it, Cambodia’s musical heyday emerges from the shadows of tragedy into the light of history.
For more info, kindly visit http://dontthinkiveforgotten.com/.
Rich List Billionaires Get Younger
In My Life on Friday, March 9, 2007 at 9:16 AM
The world’s richest are getting younger and richer with more Russians and Indians cropping up among the 946 people on Forbes magazine’s 2007 billionaires list unveiled Thursday.
The number of billionaires is 19 percent higher than last year when there were 793, and their total net worth grew 35 percent to $3.5 trillion, the magazine said.
The average billionaire’s age fell by two years to 62, and 60 percent started with very little. Two-thirds of those on the list were richer, with net worth up for nearly everyone in the top 50.
“This is the richest year ever in human history,” said Forbes Chief Executive Steve Forbes. “Never in history has there been such a notable advance.”
Among those joining the list are Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, which pioneered the $3 cup of coffee, and former Walt Disney boss Michael Eisner.
Daylight Saving Time Comes A Month Early This Year
In Daylight Saving Time, United States on Friday, March 9, 2007 at 8:53 AM
Announcement, Announcement, Announcement, guys!
Mark your calendars for MARCH 11th. That’s the day we’ll spring forward this year. A federal law is kicking in which moves the start of daylight saving time from the first Sunday in April to March 11th. The idea is to save energy, but are our PCs, cell phones, iPods and other electronic gadgets ready? Inevitably, the change could affect the time on some of these popular gadgets, basically any device that displays time. It could also affect people’s banking. Recently, banks have issued announcements suggesting their customers pay more attention on their transaction activities between March 11th and April 8th.
A good news is that people with Windows XP or Vista won’t notice the change because their devices will automatically update the time. And for other Microsoft systems, there’s an easy fix. Microsoft has addressed this new sensation by introducing a patch which you can download via this link. Having done that, you should be all set.
Let’s get ready for the new time zone.. Hmmm! Sadly, that will mean I’ll have a one-hour less sleep this Sunday. Let’s hope I can adapt myself in time and won’t be late for classes next week
Invasion of the Land-grabbers
In Cambodia, Human Rights, Khmer, Land Grabbing, Social Injustice, Society and Politics on Thursday, March 8, 2007 at 9:19 PMThe London-based Economist Magazine this week presented a comprehensive report on Cambodia’s notorious land-grabbing epidemic…
ONE day in December, 70-year-old Doung Moeurn and her neighbours arrived to work on their rice paddies to find soldiers putting up a barbed-wire fence around them. As in China, across Cambodia growing numbers of small farmers and slum-dwellers have fallen victim to land-grabbing.
The country’s rapid economic growth in recent years has meant that land, having hitherto been almost worthless, is now a fast-appreciating asset. Almost any Cambodian with a bit of spare cash is taking a speculative punt, snapping up a chunk of land in the hope of easy profits. Small farmers, and poor people living in shacks in the towns and cities, usually have no proof that they own their land or homes. This makes it easy for the speculators—often politicians, civil servants or army brass—to work the corrupt legal system to take the ground from under their feet.
Public anger over land grabs has risen to the point where the prime minister, Hun Sen, an elected strongman, is having to distance himself from those among the upper ranks of his Cambodian People’s Party who are the worst culprits. On March 5th Mr Hun Sen publicly rebuked them for ruining the party’s reputation, and gave them a “last chance” to abandon their dodgy land deals or be sacked. An unnamed army general was being demoted for disobeying this order, he said. Others, he thundered in his typically no-nonsense style, may face an even worse fate: “I really don’t want bloodshed, but if you still fail to obey me, blood must flow.”
Doung Moeurn says her family had been farming their patch of earth, in the rural province of Kompong Speu, since 1979. They have complained to the authorities, but so far to no avail. As they point out the offending fence and the guard-post with dozing soldiers at one corner of it, the head of a nearby village, whose people also lost land, turns up. He says he went to the provincial court the previous day but was told it could do nothing to help.
A Long Path to a Cambodian Dream
In Cambodia on Monday, March 5, 2007 at 4:59 PM
A very touching story, full of compassion and determination, which you guys definitely have to read..
PHNOM PENH: Stanley Harper took 18 years to complete his documentary film about a divided Cambodian family because, he says, “that’s how long it took.” Beginning in a refugee camp on the border with Thailand, he followed the family’s story with delicate minimalism as it reunited, reconciled and recovered the treasure of a hard life in the rice fields of Cambodia.
It took so long because, Harper said, stories unfold at their own pace, because he was forced again and again to stop and search for funds, and because he simply would not let go.
“Oh, it’s Stanley and his film that will never end,” people would say when he came around once again, showing new footage to potential backers.
The result is “Cambodian Dreams,” something of a parable of the country’s struggle for reconciliation and normalcy since the time of the Khmer Rouge killing fields, when 1.7 million people died between 1975 and 1979.
Harper said that the Cambodian government had agreed to launch the film and simulcast it on all national television channels, but that he was submitting it first for consideration for inclusion at the Cannes Film Festival this spring.
At its heart is the determination and eloquence of the family’s matriarch, Yan Chheing, a woman who embodies the uncomplicated certainties of village life that give strength in times of upheaval.
“What so struck me was her longing for homeland and her craving for dignity and self-sufficiency,” Harper said, “and this she achieves in the film.”
Surrounded by the passivity of other refugees, Yan Chhieng has a sense of place and belonging that seems to have sustained Harper, a New Zealand native who has lived in Europe and Asia for decades and said that he did not know himself what to call home.
“I am afraid my grandchildren will never learn anything,” Yan Chhieng says. “They will be satisfied with just living in here, happy to be surrounded by a fence. And why shouldn’t they be happy? They were born here, they grew up knowing only this miserable place. They just roam around in here, that’s all they know. If we stay here it will be like they are adrift on a river.”
To stay with a project so long may be “beyond anything that seems normal to the outside world,” said Philip Jones Griffiths, one of the great photographers of the Indochina war, who advised Harper on the editing of the film.
“We all have a choice in life,” said Griffiths, whose own work in Cambodia goes back 40 years. “You can cover a hell of a lot wide and shallow or you can cover a small number of things narrow and deep. Both are valid. But those who decide to do narrow and deep produce something that ultimately lasts.”
The film opens in the Site-2 refugee camp, a fenced-in world of hundreds of thousands of people just inside the border of Thailand, where Yan Chheing’s grandchildren are growing up without ever seeing a field or a forest, eating rationed rice and drinking water delivered by truck.
“Water I wouldn’t wash my feet in makes them happy,” the grandmother says as children splash in a muddy hole that passes for their swimming pool. “Imagine their excitement if they saw the water I knew everywhere when I was young — the water was clear like glass. But they don’t know any better. They have seen only their small pond and they are happy with that.”
Without telling her, Harper and his crew also began to film the parallel story of her grown daughter, Tha, on the other side of the border, living the traditional life that Yan Chheing longs for.
Help Me, Tech Support!
In A Minute of Laughter on Monday, March 5, 2007 at 4:33 PMPROBLEM
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance — particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NFL 5.0, NBA 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate
TECH SUPPORT’S RESPONSE
Dear Desperate:
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System.
Please enter the command: “http: I Thought You Loved Me.HTML” and try to download Tears 6.2 and don’t forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 7.7.
Good Luck,
Tech Support
Cambodia welcomes its oil wealth, but will it do more harm than good?
In Cambodia, Development, Economy & Business on Sunday, March 4, 2007 at 9:12 PMAid workers fear resource bonanza offers new potential for corruption
Ian MacKinnon in Sihanoukville
Monday March 5, 2007
The Guardian
Behind the tall fences and taller cranes of Cambodia’s sole deep-water port lurks a compound filled with rusty pipes and drilling equipment. Unlikely as it seems, this collection of shipping containers represents the best hope in years for the impoverished country still recovering from decades of war.
The base in sleepy Sihanoukville is US oil giant Chevron’s springboard for operations 100 miles off shore. It struck “significant” oil and gas deposits, and is confirming the discovery’s scale. The initial find, estimated by the World Bank and United Nations’ Development Programme to be 400m to 500m barrels of oil, has already sparked something of a “black gold” rush with Chinese, Japanese, French and Korean companies battling for lucrative rights.
Yet international donors whose aid propped up Cambodia for years fear that a bonanza pumping up to $4.6bn (£2.5bn) into the nation’s coffers every year for the next two decades could make things worse. They warn that Cambodia could be blighted by the “resource curse” that has dogged so many developing nations.
Newly oil-rich countries with fragile state institutions have repeatedly fallen victim to sluggish growth despite vast earnings, leaving the poor worse off. The UN Development Programme points to Nigeria, highlighting how it grew more slowly than nations which had no resource windfall. Today 70% of Nigerians live on less than $1 a day despite $450bn in oil revenues in the past 35 years.
Corruption
Diplomats fret that Cambodia, with endemic corruption and weak institutions that are the legacy of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, could slide into the mire of a full-blown kleptocracy. “At this stage we’re all rather nervous,” said one senior Western diplomat. “Suddenly there’s going to be this avalanche of cash. There’s endemic corruption and a weak system of governance with few checks and balances on which these huge revenues will be imposed. We’ve only got two or three years’ leverage.”
Oil revenues offer huge new potential for corruption in a country that cleaves to its communist traditions of secrecy. Most oil contracts have been signed by the powerful deputy prime minister, Sok An, a close ally of the prime minister, Hun Sen, with the senior bureaucrats and even the finance ministry out of the loop. Aid workers wryly look forward to the days of “Lagos on the Mekong” in a nation of 14m that is already “run like an episode of The Sopranos” because everyone gets their cut. “Cambodia’s like a pyramid scheme of corruption,” said one development staffer in Phnom Penh.
Energy-hungry China is keen to get its hands on the oil. It matched international donors’ cash with a “no-strings” $600m gift last year as two global Chinese oil firms compete for contracts.
“My concern is, the government sees these revenues and think they’ve won the lottery,” said one international aid worker. “Right now they’re saying, ‘bring it on, it’s going to save Cambodia’. They don’t understand our caution.”
The argument reached such a pitch that Hun Sen was forced to address the concerns recently. “We will make sure oil is a blessing, not a curse,” he said.
He pledged that the money would bolster long-term growth and cut poverty in a country where half the children fail to finish primary school and 35% of people live on less than 25p a day. It is the poor who will continue to suffer if the prime minister does not make good on his pledges. “The signs aren’t great,” said Warwick Browne, East Asia programme officer of Oxfam America. “But the future doesn’t have to be determined by past bad practices. If we look at the past we’re worried, but if we look forward there are encouraging signs.”
Pitfalls
Even without kickbacks being pocketed by Phnom Penh’s elite, the pitfalls remain enormous. Huge revenues rolling into government coffers will make it less reliant on the meagre tax earnings, isolating it from the people it serves and exacerbating authoritarian tendencies, all too evident in Cambodia even now.
The final threat of the “resource curse” is that the revenues trigger inflation and drive up the price of Cambodia’s currency, the riel, robbing fledgling export industries of their competitive edge. The garment industry churning out cheap clothes for the west and is vulnerable to the so-called “Dutch disease”, after the fate of the Netherlands following its 1960s oil bonanza. Cambodia’s rag trade was partly responsible for last year’s 13.7% growth.
International donors worry that their conditional aid could be swamped by the oil money. Last year development aid was $601m , but initial oil revenues could reach $1bn. Time is running out.
Backstory
Cambodia was only fully under the iron grip of Pol Pot’s genocidal Khmer Rouge regime for less than four years, from 1975 to 1979. But the effects are still being felt. The country remains one of the world’s poorest, with GDP per head barely $300 (£154). The economy is largely agrarian and more than 30% of people live below the poverty line. The average government spending on health services annually is just £1-£2 per person. Hun Sen, below, a long-time prime minister whose Cambodian People’s Party has governed since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1993, is the dominant political figure, consolidating his hold on power following electoral victory in 2003.
Weapons of Math Instruction
In A Minute of Laughter, ពីនេះពីនោះ on Saturday, March 3, 2007 at 8:51 AMAt New York’s Kennedy airport today, an individual — later discovered to be a public school teacher — was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator. At a morning press conference, the attorney general said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
“Al-gebra is a fearsome cult,” a Justice Department spokesman said. “They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns,’ but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘There are 3 sides to every triangle’.”
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.”
A repost from Khmerican.net
