The World Is Going Against the Junta!

NEW YORK, USA

Buddhist monks demonstrate in front of the UN headquarter in New York.

ROME, ITALY

Buddhist monks protest against the Myanmar government in Rome, September 27, 2007. (Tony Gentile/Reuters)

PARIS, FRANCE

 JAKARTA, INDONESIA

Indonesian foreign ministry employees stand during a minute’s silence in Jakarta in support of Myanmar’s people and monks September 28, 2007. Fuelled by “revulsion” at Myanmar’s violent crackdown on popular protests against military rule, Southeast Asia rounded on the generals on Friday and critics planned demonstrations at embassies across the region. REUTERS/Beawiharta (INDONESIA)

 MANILA, PHILIPPINES

INDIA

HONG KONG, CHINA

Human rights group activities, holding pictures of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, protest during the candle light vigil in Hong Kong Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 commemorating victims of Myanmar crackdown. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

SOEUL, SOUTH KOREA

South Korean protesters shout slogans as they hold candles and banners during a candle rally against Myanmar’s military junta in downtown Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 28, 2007. South Korea expressed grave concern Thursday over Myanmar’s crackdown on massive protests and called on the government there to exercise restraint. The Koreans read ” Stop, Massacre.” (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

BANGKOK, THAILAND

Thai monks pray outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok September 28, 2007. (Sukree Sukplang/Reuters)

SINGAPORE

Expatriate women living in Singapore wear red t-shirts as part of a global action Friday, Sept. 28, 2007 in Singapore to support the brave in Myanmar, as they walk past Buddhist women praying at temple. Myanmar’s deadly military crackdown prompted protests and warnings from the reclusive nation’s Asian neighbors, with China and Japan agreeing Friday to join efforts to help end the strife. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

TOKYO, JAPAN

Japanese Buddhist monks demonstrate against Myanmar’s crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo September 28, 2007. REUTERS/Toru Hanai (JAPAN)

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

Myanmarese demonstrators shout slogans during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur September 28, 2007. A large crowd of protesters gathered in the Malaysian capital on Friday to shout slogans and wave placards condemning violence in Myanmar outside the embassy of the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation. REUTERS/Zainal Abd Halim (MALAYSIA)
Email Photo
Print Photo

The Yangon Bloodbath

Reported by the AFP, the two above images are believed to be of Kenji Nagai, 50, a Japanese journalist who died while covering the protests in Yangon for Japanese video news agency APF News.

A monk runs with tear gas filling the air as police cracked down on protesting Buddhist monks and their supporters in Yangon. Myanmar has told Japan that a Japanese national was killed in the crackdown on protests against the military regime.(AFP/The Irrawaddy)

In this photo made available by the Mandalay Gazette, Myanmar soldiers with their weapons are seen in downtown Yangon, Myanmar, Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007. About 10,000 anti-government protesters gathered in the city Thursday despite a violent crackdown by security forces that drew international appeals for restraint by Myanmar’s ruling junta. (AP Photo/The Mandalay Gazette, HO)

A Myanmar activist holds a portrait of Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a protest outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok September 27, 2007. About 50 activists from Myanmar held a protest calling for a stop to violence against peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar. REUTERS/Chaiwat Subprasom (THAILAND)

A street is littered with blood and sandals from protesters after armed troops dispersed them in central Yangon. Security forces swept through Myanmar’s main city, arresting hundreds of people and firing warning shots as they intensified a violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrators. (AFP)

 

It Ultimately Happened…

I was so shocked and saddened by what the Burmese junta at last resorted to. Why would such a terrible government ever exist at all? They should all go to hell.

BURMESE MONASTERIES IN NIGHT RAID

Witnesses say security forces in Burma have launched raids on monasteries and arrested scores of monks, as they try to stem a rising tide of protests.

About 200 Buddhist monks were reported to have been held when two monasteries in the east of the main city, Rangoon, were stormed overnight, witnesses said.

It followed reports of several deaths when police broke up demonstrations by monks and civilians on Wednesday.

The UN Security Council has called on Burma’s military junta for restraint.

A witness to one of the raids said she heard shouting and screaming.

There are also reports of raids in the north-east of the country.

Police barricades have been set up around Shwedagon Pagoda and Rangoon city hall, two of the focal points for recent demonstrations, as security forces prepare for another day of protests.

On Wednesday the UN Security Council in New York met in emergency session to discuss the crisis.

The US and European Union wanted the council to consider imposing sanctions – but that was rejected by China as not “helpful”.

We Are With You, Myanmar!

The largest street protest against Myanmar’s ruling generals in two decades gained momentum today, as thousands of people joined Buddhist monks in the streets of the country’s largest city Yangon on Monday.

The protest was the latest in a series of protests that began August 19 as a movement against economic hardship in the Southeast Asian country after the government sharply raised fuel prices. But arrests and intimidation kept demonstrations small and scattered until the monks joined and managed to bring people into the streets in numbers not seen since 1988.

The military government has so far showed restraint against the protests. For a fact, monks are highly revered in Burma, so as in other Southeast Asian countries. Any move by the junta to crush their demonstrations would spark an outcry. Even so, by late Monday, the junta finally broke its silence over the protest, saying that it was ready to “take action” against the monks. It repeated its warning in state media on Tuesday, ordering monks not to get involved in politics and accusing them of allowing themselves to be manipulated by the foreign media.

As a peace lover, I really appreciate this courageous move. I pray this remarkable display of desire for peace and freedom will not lead to any bloodsheds, as it used to. Sincerely, my heart goes to everyone out there! I salute the Burmese people’s power and let’s be the change!

Chandlers Pond at the Onset of Fall

The Business of Branching Out

I found this interesting article in Inside Higher Ed this morning. Without any doubts, this is what higher education and college administrators in Cambodia and worldwide should be aware of. Not all US universities and degree programs, opening branch campuses and twinning projects abroad, are great. They may just be another scam, among many scams in higher education business.

As the number of U.S. branch campuses continues to grow – increasing from 24 in 2002 to 82 last year, according to a report from the London-based Observatory on Borderless Higher Education – concerns about questionable business practices at these potentially lucrative overseas outposts grow as well.

“If one starts looking under the rocks of this whole international business, one will find lots of sleazy things under there,” said Philip G. Altbach, a professor and director of the Center for International Education at Boston College. “A lot of this stuff exists because it is overseas and it’s a non-regulated environment and therefore both institutions in this country and also the other sponsoring countries, the Brits and the Australians and so on and so forth, can do things that are not watched very carefully and that might not be acceptable at home – but are somehow acceptable overseas,” Altbach said.

A Monday Baltimore Sun article highlighted what the reporter called “a case study of the lightly regulated trend’s promises and potential risks.” The article, which was hotly contested by university officials, described a contractual relationship that the University of Maryland University College has entered into with ST International for the recruitment and administration of its doctor of management program in Taiwan. A spokesman for the university confirmed Monday that the company, STI, receives 25 percent of each student’s tuition dollars — an arrangement that wouldn’t seem to pass muster if the program were based in the United States, where federal law bars colleges from paying recruiters based on how many students they enroll.

Kong Nay’s WOMAD Workshop

For those wanting to catch a glimpse of what we did at the workshop, check this out! ខ្ញុំរាំអត់ស្អាតទេ! មេត្តាកុំសើចខ្ញុំបាទ!

All the credits for this video go to Brother Y. You rock bro!

Shot of the Week: Udong

A Photo by Daniel Cheong

Udong (ឧត្តុង្គ) is the former royal capital of Cambodia prior to the current, Phnom Penh. It was founded in 1626 by HM King Srey Soryopor (ព្រះបាទស្រីសុរិយោពណ៌)​as an alternative to Longvek, (លង្វែក) which was ransacked by the Siamese several years before. In 1866, it was abandoned by HM King Norodom (ព្រះបាទនរោត្តម), taking his royal court along with him to Phnom Penh.

Udong locates an hour northwest of Phnom Penh, just off national route 5 in Kampong Speu. Several temples, stupas and other structures cover three hills. The walk up the hills provide an excellent view of the surrounding Cambodian countryside. The hill is crowned with stupas containing the remains of several Cambodian kings including those of King Srey Soryopor himself, King Monivong (1927-1941) and King Ang Duong (1845-1859). The most majestic of all is the tall white stupa in the northern most hill. An important worship venue for Cambodian Buddhists, it is known as the Preah Sakyamunijedei (ព្រះសក្យមុនីចេតិយ្យ). It is here where Buddha’s relics are kept.

This & That from WOMAD

WOMAD Wristband. Instead of a ticket, each visitor was given a wristband as a proof of attendance and registration.

A Weekend of Live World Music. Rock-n-rollin’ here is a band called the Balkan Beat Box. Not exactly sure which country they are from, but they were super cool. Around the Balkan area, I guess.

WO-Mad or WO-Mud? I guess it was a combination of both.

Sight and Sound. A colorful and energetic African drummer demonstrating his dance and music.

Let’s Camp. A row of tents camped by WOMAD visitors. That reminds me of the famous Woodstock days in America.

Wheels in Motion. A mud-clogged tire of a truck parked near our tent.

Be Green. Given such a huge turnout, proper measures need to be taken to protect the environment. There you go the WO-Mud dustbins..

 

WOMAD: Where World Music Legends Meet

Mud, mud, mud. What the heck is going on? What are these people doing?

This picture is taking us back to my trip to the UK  with Master Kong Nay this summer, if you haven’t forgotten. I know I have been rather inactive lately but here I’m back. Believe it or not, this is a real scene from the famous WOMAD Festival many of you have long anticipated to learn about.

WOMAD

For those who don’t know, WOMAD stands for World of Music, Arts and Dance. An annual music festival, it aims at celebrating and bringing together many forms of music, arts and dance from countries and cultures all over the world. It is a brainchild of British rock legend and philanthropist Peter Gabriel, who initiated the idea in 1980 and made it a reality in 1982.

Attracting over 20,000 visitors from around the UK and the world, the 2007 WOMAD brought together over 70 artists from 40 different countries — among whom were two of Cambodia’s Chapei stars Master Kong Nay and his student Ouch Savy — to Charlton Park in Northern Wiltshire, England.

MY ROLES

I was part of the event in a capacity as Master Kong Nay’s personal interpreter and program host. Although I had done similar things on several other occasions, this was by far the biggest and most memorable project I had undertaken. For a fact, I had always known it was going to be big. But little did I know that I would have to stand up and talk in front of 10,000 people as I did there.

Honestly speaking, my stomach was full of butterflies right before the show. I was so worried that I wouldn’t do a good job and that I would spoil the show. Peter Gabriel was going to be there and for God’s sake I really couldn’t blew it. Anyhow, I did rather fine, largely thanks to the encouragement and support from my tour manager and colleagues, who told me to overcome my nervousness by taking deep breaths and considering my audience as nobody but new friends. I followed and there it went.

WHY MUD?

For many people, stereotypically, Britain is a land of beer, football and bad weather. Although the point about bad weather typically isn’t true, it was true when we were there. A week before the festival, Britain received some of the heaviest rains in years. Almost every British we met was complaining bitterly about it. According to them, normally it hardly rains in summer, but this year it did. That same week, many rivers began flooding, and cities near them started going under water. Although not flooded, Charlton Park wasn’t very lucky either. The one-week-long rain turned the park into a sea of mud. And when I said “a sea of mud,” I meant the most mud I had seen in life.

Several days before the event kicked off, there were speculations that WOMAD would probably have to be canceled as the mud situation hardly got any better. And even if it did not, there wouldn’t be a large turnout either. Somehow the speculations were wrong. The festival actually went on and it saw one of the largest turnouts ever.

Everybody (ទាំងយើងទាំងគេ) in our welly boots. This was the only way we could survive this mud ordeal. Let’s fight, fight, fight, WOMADians!

WHAT WE DID

Central to our performance at the festival was a fusion between Kong Nay’s unique Chapei music with Peter Gabriel’s Western rock music.

The real gig. An east meets west music fusion with Peter on the first day. This was one of our most successful moments. We had a strong audience attendance of almost 20,000 that night.

Our individual gig on the second day. We had a slightly smaller audience but they were very warm and cheerful. Kong Nay and Savy sang for forty-five minutes. It was here as well where we began releasing Kong Nay and Savy’s Mekong Delta Blues CDs.

Under the tree workshop. That evening we conduced a one-hour workshop on Chapei music, and it was attended by almost 200 audience. Not only could they hear more Chapei demonstration, but they also got to ask questions about Chapei, Kong Nay and Savy’s life as well. Another motivating success the workshop was.

Let’s Talk About Love

Gadget of the Day: iPod Touch

iPod Touch, scheduled to be released this September 28, comes in two models — 8 GB and 16 GB with a price starting at $299. This new model, believe it or not, is probably the coolest portable music player the world has seen. Almost like an iPhone, it comes with a gorgeous 3.5-inch display. It has a multi-touch interface that lets you control everything by simply using your fingers.  Cooler than that, it also gives users wireless access to the internet and music download as well.

Oh man, this really is irresistible. I really want one!!! It would be perfect if they had made it 30 GB or above. 8GB and 16 GB are a bit too small for a music fanatic like me.

 

Cambodia to establish national airline

How good that the government at last realizes this!

The Cambodian government will establish a national airline soon, senior officials said on Tuesday.

The state-owned aviation company will become a key tool for globally advertising and promoting of the kingdom’s tourism industry, because Cambodia expects to attract about two million of foreign tourists this year, said Tourism Minister Thong Khon at the 12th Government-Private Sector Forum.

“Last year Cambodia collected over one billion U.S. dollars from the tourism field and the tourist arrivals in the first half of this year increased nearly by 20 percent (over that of last year),” he added.

Also at the forum, Keat Chhon, Minister of Finance and Economy, told reporters that the new airline will be created with cautious management strategies, because Cambodia had learned a lesson from the bankruptcy of the previous national airline, Royal Air Cambodge (RAC), whose debts amounted to millions of U.S. dollars.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Sen blamed the failure of RAC for poor management.

“Once before, retired king Norodom Sihanouk planned to fly to China (by RAC flight), but the plane leaked gasoline. We invited the former king back to the Royal Palace and it caused him to delay his trip,” Hun Sen said.

Cambodia has a dozen of airlines which are run by the private sector. In June, a Russian plane from the PTM airline crashed in rain-storm in Kompot province, killing all the 22 people aboard, most of them foreign tourists.

Source: Xinhua

Shot of the Week: Three Little Ducks

I accidentally ran into these three little ducks while visiting a castle in Frome, England.. Right shot, right time..