A Cambodian man shot and seriously wounded by Thai soldiers while foraging along the borders
Jan 4, 2010Monday, January 04, 2010
By Khmerization
A 25 year-old Cambodian man was shot and seriously injured on the left leg by Thai soldiers while he and 2 friends were foraging for wild vegetable and hunting animals on top of the mountains along the Khmer-Thai borders on 3rd January 2010, reports Radio Free Asia.
Phoeuth Phim was shot when he and friends went picking for wild vegetable and set up traps to catch animals on the mountain in Banteay Chmar commune in Thmor Puok district of Banteay Meanchey province.
Mrs. Chea Saroeun, mother of the victim, said her son and his friends were foraging and hunting inside Cambodian territories. "They shot him on the left leg. Everyday he always went to set up traps to catch wild animals and pick wild prich (a kind of wild vegetable) leaves for his wife to sell at the market. They (the Thai soldiers) are very cruel, they shot him even while he is inside Khmer territories. If they entered Thai territories then they deserved to be shot, but they were actually inside Khmer territories", she said.
Currently, Phoeuth Phim was sent for treatment at Cambodia-Japan Friendship Hospital in Mongkolborey district in Banteay Meanchey province. His two friends were unhurt.
Phoeuth Phim was shot when he and friends went picking for wild vegetable and set up traps to catch animals on the mountain in Banteay Chmar commune in Thmor Puok district of Banteay Meanchey province.
Mrs. Chea Saroeun, mother of the victim, said her son and his friends were foraging and hunting inside Cambodian territories. "They shot him on the left leg. Everyday he always went to set up traps to catch wild animals and pick wild prich (a kind of wild vegetable) leaves for his wife to sell at the market. They (the Thai soldiers) are very cruel, they shot him even while he is inside Khmer territories. If they entered Thai territories then they deserved to be shot, but they were actually inside Khmer territories", she said.
Currently, Phoeuth Phim was sent for treatment at Cambodia-Japan Friendship Hospital in Mongkolborey district in Banteay Meanchey province. His two friends were unhurt.
Backlash against Rogue Chinese Investors Alarms Beijing
By Antoaneta Bezlova
In Vietnam, where the communist party rules unrivalled in much the same way as in China, the state leaders have come under fire for undermining the country’s sovereignty by giving Chinese companies too many contracts to mine valuable natural resources.
BEIJING, Jan 4 (IPS) - As China moves up in the world and the need for investment in its own infrastructure declines, Chinese investors and financiers are eyeing lucrative contracts in less developed countries, winning bids to build dams, power plants and highways from Burma to Uzbekistan and Angola.
However welcome by local governments this influx of fresh Chinese financing may be, the wave of cheap Chinese labour and investors’ lack of concern for local communities are creating ripples of resentment in recipient countries, and gradually becoming a PR problem for image-conscious Beijing.
When economic historian Qin Hui recently gave a talk on China’s involvement in infrastructure projects in South-east Asia, he described Chinese investors as the new "Westerners" in Laos and Cambodia.
Speaking in Kunming – the centre of much Chinese investment flowing into the Mekong region – Qin said Chinese companies have a tendency to apply the lowest standards they possibly can. "Some companies look to see whether local standards are lower than Chinese standards – if so, they apply local standards," Qin said.
This has created a lot of complaints about Chinese companies’ wrongdoings, agrees Zhang Xizhen of the School for International Studies at Beijing University. "There are multiple reasons for this: some Chinese companies only focus on profits and have little concern about local peoples’ benefits. On the other hand, the Chinese government has not taken strict measures to check companies’ behaviour but has only encouraged them to ‘go out.’"
While some of the companies that operate in Asia are small and obscure private enterprises, the most important players come from the state-owned sector – they are big, powerful and enjoy strong support from the government and the state banks.
In the first ten months of 2009, Chinese companies completed overseas projects worth 58 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 33 percent over the same period in 2008, according to data from the commerce ministry.
Flush with cash and backed by an economic "going-out" government strategy, Chinese companies are more daring than ever when contemplating projects in risk places like Burma or Sudan. But the backlash against Chinese investors in some countries like Zambia and even ideological allies such as Vietnam are now sounding alarm bells in Beijing and making policymakers question the behaviour of its state champions abroad.
In Zambia, where China is mining cobalt, the deaths of several local workers in an accident in a Chinese factory in 2006 led to riots and more fatalities. After Chinese investment became an issue in Zambia’s presidential elections, Chinese president Hu Jintao was advised against visiting the country’s copper mines during his state visit to the country in 2007.
In Vietnam, where the communist party rules unrivalled in much the same way as in China, the state leaders have come under fire for undermining the country’s sovereignty by giving Chinese companies too many contracts to mine valuable natural resources.
In a stunning outcome for Hanoi, the environmental lobby and dissidents were joined by the venerated statesman and general Vo Nguyen Giap. The general, who once took his lessons in Marxism and guerilla warfare from Chinese communist leaders, has written several open letters calling on party leaders to scale down Chinese companies’ infiltration of Vietnam.
All these developments have been a matter of concern for Beijing for some time, and observers say Chinese leaders have responded to mend the country’s image and prevent another rise of "China threat" propaganda – particularly in South-east Asia, which Beijing regards as its backyard.
The development of the Mekong water resources in the region has emerged as one of the most sensitive issues between China and its downstream neighbours. China has built three hydroelectric dams on the Mekong (known as the Lancang in China) and is halfway through a fourth at Xiaowan, in the southern Yunnan province. What is more, Chinese investors are involved in scores of hydropower projects in Laos, Cambodia and Burma.
According to Qin Hui, of the 34 planned hydropower projects in Laos, roughly 40 percent are being developed with Chinese investment, while all of the 20 plants planned to be constructed in Burma are being built by Chinese companies.
Both the environmental protection and commerce ministry are reported to be working on guidelines requiring Chinese investors to apply Chinese domestic standards to overseas projects if the host country’s environmental and labour standards are too weak. During their diplomatic tours of Africa and Asia Chinese leaders from party chief Hu Jintao to vice-president Xi Jinping have been calling on Chinese business abroad to comply with local laws and respect local communities.
But, "although owned by the state, Chinese enterprises often operate at arm’s length from the government and do not necessarily follow official policies when they contradict corporate interests," notes Peter Bosshard, policy director of International Rivers in the winter issue of the ‘World Policy Institute’ journal.
Bosshard, who has been observing the expansion of China’s dam industry overseas, believes that without Chinese funding and technology, many controversial projects in countries such as Burma, Laos and Sudan would not go forward.
But Chinese experts defend Beijing’s record, arguing that China cannot be expected to enforce its own other standards and that only those of the host country apply to infrastructure projects. Shi Guoqing, a resettlement expert who had been studying the Ilisu Dam project in Turkey – one of the most controversial large dam projects nowadays – says resettlement programmes are the responsibility of the host country and not of the developer or the funding agencies.
The Ilisu project, which had been rejected by European export credit agencies and private banks twice, is now reportedly lobbying for support from Sinosure – China’s official export credit insurance agency. Shi, who had been studying the proposed dam for three years, confirms that the project would displace up to 60,000 Turkish and Kurdish people from their land but argues that social resettlement programmes need to be guaranteed by the Turkish government.
"It is hard to expect foreign sponsors to go in and impose their own standards on the host country," Shi says. As for Chinese funding, he believes that now even commercial Chinese banks like Huaxia bank are developing their own code principles and this would lead to a more unified approach in deciding where Chinese money goes.
Other experts say it is too simplistic to lay the whole blame for Chinese companies’ behavior abroad with the companies themselves. Ding Xueliang, a social scientist with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, says big Chinese state-owned companies go abroad only with the blessing of both Beijing and the governments of the host countries.
"If Chinese state companies do something bad abroad, they are indeed regarded as ‘big bullies’, but one needs to remember that the initiative had come first and foremost from the government of the host country. It is more of a government-to-government affair whenever big state companies are concerned," Ding, who has researched Chinese company’s behavior in Southeast Asia, says.
He adds that Western nations’ reluctance to do business with some rogue countries in Asia has left a huge investment vacuum that Chinese companies are only too eager to fill. "Without competition from Western companies in the region, there is no pressure for Chinese companies whatsoever to improve their corporate behavior," Ding says.
However welcome by local governments this influx of fresh Chinese financing may be, the wave of cheap Chinese labour and investors’ lack of concern for local communities are creating ripples of resentment in recipient countries, and gradually becoming a PR problem for image-conscious Beijing.
When economic historian Qin Hui recently gave a talk on China’s involvement in infrastructure projects in South-east Asia, he described Chinese investors as the new "Westerners" in Laos and Cambodia.
Speaking in Kunming – the centre of much Chinese investment flowing into the Mekong region – Qin said Chinese companies have a tendency to apply the lowest standards they possibly can. "Some companies look to see whether local standards are lower than Chinese standards – if so, they apply local standards," Qin said.
This has created a lot of complaints about Chinese companies’ wrongdoings, agrees Zhang Xizhen of the School for International Studies at Beijing University. "There are multiple reasons for this: some Chinese companies only focus on profits and have little concern about local peoples’ benefits. On the other hand, the Chinese government has not taken strict measures to check companies’ behaviour but has only encouraged them to ‘go out.’"
While some of the companies that operate in Asia are small and obscure private enterprises, the most important players come from the state-owned sector – they are big, powerful and enjoy strong support from the government and the state banks.
In the first ten months of 2009, Chinese companies completed overseas projects worth 58 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 33 percent over the same period in 2008, according to data from the commerce ministry.
Flush with cash and backed by an economic "going-out" government strategy, Chinese companies are more daring than ever when contemplating projects in risk places like Burma or Sudan. But the backlash against Chinese investors in some countries like Zambia and even ideological allies such as Vietnam are now sounding alarm bells in Beijing and making policymakers question the behaviour of its state champions abroad.
In Zambia, where China is mining cobalt, the deaths of several local workers in an accident in a Chinese factory in 2006 led to riots and more fatalities. After Chinese investment became an issue in Zambia’s presidential elections, Chinese president Hu Jintao was advised against visiting the country’s copper mines during his state visit to the country in 2007.
In Vietnam, where the communist party rules unrivalled in much the same way as in China, the state leaders have come under fire for undermining the country’s sovereignty by giving Chinese companies too many contracts to mine valuable natural resources.
In a stunning outcome for Hanoi, the environmental lobby and dissidents were joined by the venerated statesman and general Vo Nguyen Giap. The general, who once took his lessons in Marxism and guerilla warfare from Chinese communist leaders, has written several open letters calling on party leaders to scale down Chinese companies’ infiltration of Vietnam.
All these developments have been a matter of concern for Beijing for some time, and observers say Chinese leaders have responded to mend the country’s image and prevent another rise of "China threat" propaganda – particularly in South-east Asia, which Beijing regards as its backyard.
The development of the Mekong water resources in the region has emerged as one of the most sensitive issues between China and its downstream neighbours. China has built three hydroelectric dams on the Mekong (known as the Lancang in China) and is halfway through a fourth at Xiaowan, in the southern Yunnan province. What is more, Chinese investors are involved in scores of hydropower projects in Laos, Cambodia and Burma.
According to Qin Hui, of the 34 planned hydropower projects in Laos, roughly 40 percent are being developed with Chinese investment, while all of the 20 plants planned to be constructed in Burma are being built by Chinese companies.
Both the environmental protection and commerce ministry are reported to be working on guidelines requiring Chinese investors to apply Chinese domestic standards to overseas projects if the host country’s environmental and labour standards are too weak. During their diplomatic tours of Africa and Asia Chinese leaders from party chief Hu Jintao to vice-president Xi Jinping have been calling on Chinese business abroad to comply with local laws and respect local communities.
But, "although owned by the state, Chinese enterprises often operate at arm’s length from the government and do not necessarily follow official policies when they contradict corporate interests," notes Peter Bosshard, policy director of International Rivers in the winter issue of the ‘World Policy Institute’ journal.
Bosshard, who has been observing the expansion of China’s dam industry overseas, believes that without Chinese funding and technology, many controversial projects in countries such as Burma, Laos and Sudan would not go forward.
But Chinese experts defend Beijing’s record, arguing that China cannot be expected to enforce its own other standards and that only those of the host country apply to infrastructure projects. Shi Guoqing, a resettlement expert who had been studying the Ilisu Dam project in Turkey – one of the most controversial large dam projects nowadays – says resettlement programmes are the responsibility of the host country and not of the developer or the funding agencies.
The Ilisu project, which had been rejected by European export credit agencies and private banks twice, is now reportedly lobbying for support from Sinosure – China’s official export credit insurance agency. Shi, who had been studying the proposed dam for three years, confirms that the project would displace up to 60,000 Turkish and Kurdish people from their land but argues that social resettlement programmes need to be guaranteed by the Turkish government.
"It is hard to expect foreign sponsors to go in and impose their own standards on the host country," Shi says. As for Chinese funding, he believes that now even commercial Chinese banks like Huaxia bank are developing their own code principles and this would lead to a more unified approach in deciding where Chinese money goes.
Other experts say it is too simplistic to lay the whole blame for Chinese companies’ behavior abroad with the companies themselves. Ding Xueliang, a social scientist with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, says big Chinese state-owned companies go abroad only with the blessing of both Beijing and the governments of the host countries.
"If Chinese state companies do something bad abroad, they are indeed regarded as ‘big bullies’, but one needs to remember that the initiative had come first and foremost from the government of the host country. It is more of a government-to-government affair whenever big state companies are concerned," Ding, who has researched Chinese company’s behavior in Southeast Asia, says.
He adds that Western nations’ reluctance to do business with some rogue countries in Asia has left a huge investment vacuum that Chinese companies are only too eager to fill. "Without competition from Western companies in the region, there is no pressure for Chinese companies whatsoever to improve their corporate behavior," Ding says.
Rong Chhun reelected as CITA President [-Congratulations Mr. Rong Chhun! You are doing a great job!]
Rong Chhun, CITA President04 January 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Rong Chhun, the vocal president of the Cambodia Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA), has been re-elected to this position for another 4-year term. Rong Chhun, who did not face any opponent for this election, said that his first task is to push the government to increase the teachers’ salary of 1 million riels ($240) per month. Currently, teachers in Cambodia earn about $2 per day only. Rong Chhun was first elected as CITA president in 2000. Currently, CITA counts 9,263 members in 19 provinces and municipalities.
Cambodia Ports See Traffic Drop by Double Digits in 2009
2010-01-04
Xinhua
Cambodia's three major ports saw shipments and revenues fall in 2009 as garment and construction trade slumped, local media reported on Monday, citing operators.
Officials from the Kingdom's largest port, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS), were quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that revenues declined an annualized 16 percent in 2009, from 28.8 million U.S. dollars to 24. 19 million U.S. dollars.
The gross amount of cargo going through the Sihanoukville fell by around 13 percent and the number of containers handled by around 20 percent, they said.
In the last 12 months, revenues at Phnom Penh Autonomous Port ( PPAP) fell 15 percent.
Oknha Mong Port, in Preah Sihanouk province, saw cargo shipments -- mostly construction materials, consumer goods and fruit from Thailand -- reduce by 10 percent.
Lou Kim Chhun, director-general of PAS, on Sunday blamed the slump on falling garment exports and construction imports.
According to statistics from the Commerce Ministry's Trade Preferences System Department, obtained last week, garment exports plummeted 20.83 percent to 2.14 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2009, compared with 2.71 billion U.S. dollars in the same period of 2008.
But Lou Kim Chhun, who emphasized that PAS still operated at profit, remained hopeful about the year ahead. "We expect to see revenues return to 2008 levels due to increased output in agricultural products such as rice and corn. This will increase exports," he said.
Eang Veng Sun, deputy general of PPAP, was less positive, adding that he believed 2010 could be similar to last year.
Officials from the Kingdom's largest port, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS), were quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying that revenues declined an annualized 16 percent in 2009, from 28.8 million U.S. dollars to 24. 19 million U.S. dollars.
The gross amount of cargo going through the Sihanoukville fell by around 13 percent and the number of containers handled by around 20 percent, they said.
In the last 12 months, revenues at Phnom Penh Autonomous Port ( PPAP) fell 15 percent.
Oknha Mong Port, in Preah Sihanouk province, saw cargo shipments -- mostly construction materials, consumer goods and fruit from Thailand -- reduce by 10 percent.
Lou Kim Chhun, director-general of PAS, on Sunday blamed the slump on falling garment exports and construction imports.
According to statistics from the Commerce Ministry's Trade Preferences System Department, obtained last week, garment exports plummeted 20.83 percent to 2.14 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2009, compared with 2.71 billion U.S. dollars in the same period of 2008.
But Lou Kim Chhun, who emphasized that PAS still operated at profit, remained hopeful about the year ahead. "We expect to see revenues return to 2008 levels due to increased output in agricultural products such as rice and corn. This will increase exports," he said.
Eang Veng Sun, deputy general of PPAP, was less positive, adding that he believed 2010 could be similar to last year.
Cambodian Border Commission meets to report its border works
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party claimed that border pillars like this one have often been planted inside Cambodian territories under the new Cambodian-Vietnam agreements.Thursday, 31 December 2009
By Khmerization
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Var Kimhong said the border commission will find a formula that will not make local farmers lose their lands because of border demarcations. (sic!)The Cambodian Border Commission (CDC) has on 30th December convened a meeting to prepare the reports of its 2009 achievements and also to devise its 2010 plans, reports Deum Ampil.
The meeting, chaired by Mr. Var Kimhong, chairman of CDC, has tabled its 2009 works on the border demarcations with Vietnam based on the 1985 Cambodian-Vietnamese Treaty and the 1985 Supplemental Treaty ratified in 2005 on border delimitations and border demarcations. The meeting reported that, under the 1985 Treaty, the 1:100,000 scale Bonn map will be replaced with the 1:50,000 scale UTM map commissioned under the 1985 Treaty.
The meeting reports that, currently, the Cambodian-Vietnamese Border Commission had mapped 229 demarcation spots on the maps, which is equivalent to 73% of the total demarcation spots to be demarcated. Another 17% of the demarcation spots will be completed in 2010. Cambodia and Vietnam had agreed to plant 375 border pillars along the more than 1000 kilometres long borders. Currently, 160 border pillars (43%) had been plnated. The plantings of border pillars in seven international border checkpoints of Bavet, Tropeang Sre, Tropeang Thlong, Prek Chak, Ka-orm Samnor, Koh Roka and Banteay Chakrey will be given priority.
Cambodia and Laos had also agreed to plant between 100 to 150 border pillars. All the plantings of border pillars with Vietnam and Laos are scheduled to be completed by 2012.
Regarding the borders with Thailand, the MoU on land borders signed on 14th March 2000 and the MoU on maritime borders signed on 25th August 2003 between Cambodia and Thailand have been implemented with technical teams from both countries conducting surveys and searches for old border pillars planted under the 1904 convention and 1907 border treaty. On land boundary, 73 border pillars were planted along the nearly 800 kilometres long borders between the two countries after the 1907 border treaty. The search teams had found 48 old border pillars, with 33 pillars had been agreed by both parties and 15 pillars are still in dispute. The technical teams are still searching for the other 25 pillars.
On the Laotian borders, the border works had neared its completion, said Mr. Var Kimhong. Both countries had already delimited 465 kilometres (86%) of the total border lengths of 546 kilometres. Both sides had agreed on the spots of the delimitations of 311 kilometres and 154 kilometres length is still in dispute. Currently, 121 border pillars had been planted, 4 will be planted soon and 20 demarcation spots need to be negotiated.
Mr. Var Kimhong said the French delimitations, done during the colonial rule, were so complicated that require more times to study and more works to complete the border demarcations.
He also said that Vietnam's unilateral decision to dig a canal to use as a borderline in 1979 has violated the real locations of the borderlines between the two countries. "One more complicated issue is Vietnam's decision to dig a canal along the borders in 1979 that did not respect the real borderlines drawn on the maps. (Now), the local people who live on both sides of the canal must consider the dike and the canal as the real borderline between the two countries", Mr. Var Kimhong said.
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Var Kimhong said the border commission will find a formula that will not make local farmers lose their lands because of border demarcations.
Christmas in Cambodia
01/04/2010
By Agnes Donato Cornibert
Philippine Daily Inquirer
SIEM REAP, Cambodia—A Filipino spending Christmas in a predominantly Buddhist country is a curious cultural experience. Walking around town, I realize there is little here to indicate that the two billion-odd Christians throughout the world are celebrating what is probably their most important holiday.
“When I first got here, people had no idea what Christmas was,” said Ilonggo artist Loven Ramos, who moved to Siem Reap five years ago. “Once, I went to a dance club with my friends and we found ourselves dancing to ‘Jingle Bells’—in the middle of February.”
Shopping for Christmas decor, he added, was a nearly impossible feat. The Christmas tree now towering over his living room had to be shipped from Vietnam two years ago.
That the Khmer people aren’t agog over Christmas doesn’t come as a shock. Not only is Cambodia a Buddhist nation; the country’s pride, the Angkor temple complex, is said to be the world’s largest religious structure, built initially as a Hindu site and later converted to Buddhist use. It’s a long way from Bethlehem.
However, Ramos said, Christmas is making its way to Cambodia little by little.
While Cambodia probably wouldn’t get a papal visit anytime soon, there is no question that the Kingdom of Wonder is slowly getting into the Christmas spirit.
First ever
In a few unexpected places around town, Christmas trees have sprung up. Flickering lights of red and green illuminate areas within a few feet of Buddhist shrines.
On Pub Street, the center of nightlife in Siem Reap, every other restaurant offers a Christmas set menu. Not too far away, a band of landmine victims can be heard playing “Frosty the Snowman” and other Christmas classics, on top of its usual repertoire of Khmer traditional music.
Two weeks ago, a luxury hotel here held what its employees called “the first ever Christmas tree lighting in Cambodia,” with a choir of children from a local orphanage singing Yuletide carols.
It’s all inevitable, with the growing Western presence in the country. One million (mostly Western) tourists travel to Cambodia each year to see Angkor Wat, and they typically come in droves around the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Cambodia also hosts a large community of expatriates working at diplomatic missions and humanitarian groups. And then there are the missionaries serving in religious and charitable organizations throughout the country.
Cashing in on the holiday
For the Cambodians, of course, December 25 isn’t a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. It’s more like a spending season, when the most merriment is had by tourist businesses cashing in on the holiday.
But then, one could argue that it’s not all that different in the Philippines and the rest of the Christian world. Don Protasio, a Filipino fashion designer working as an art curator for the stylish Hotel de la Paix, recalled memories of holiday shopping in the Philippines with a tinge of exasperation.
“Back home, Christmas is so commercial,” said Protasio, who is spending his third Christmas in Siem Reap. “The act of gift-giving has little purity left about it. You’re compelled to give something just because it’s the holidays. Here, it’s still pretty easy to get away from all that.”
But Protasio is no Scrooge; he simply prefers to play Santa on his own terms. “When I go home, I bring gifts for the whole family. Then I get to feel like Christmas,” he said.
Always home for Christmas
For teacher Jessie-Marie Morcoso, nothing beats being with family on Christmas Day. Since moving here in 2005, she has gone home every year to spend the holidays.
She left for the Philippines on a Sunday, much to the regret of her band mates. Morcoso sings in a locally popular band with three European expats, and the band had to turn down gigs around the holidays because of Morcoso’s absence.
“I’ve already sent two (cardboard cargo) boxes home for gifts,” Morcoso said the day before she left. The gifts, she said, were for her “immediate family”—by which she meant her parents, siblings, nieces, nephews—and all other relatives living within her family’s five-house compound in Legazpi City.
Lucky are the ones like the artist lover Ramos who don’t have to choose between work and family every holiday season.
Two years after Ramos came to work as an in-house graphic designer for a hotel here, his wife Faith joined him. Today, Ramos runs an art gallery-cum-boutique and collaborates on a gamut of freelance fashion and interior design projects with Protasio. Faith works as a manager at Amansara, one of the most luxurious resorts in Siem Reap.
The couple’s son, Freedom, was born here. Although the four-year-old attends school in the Philippines, Cambodia is now pretty much home for the whole family.
However, the family Christmas traditions remain intact, except for a few tweaks. Being the only kid in the household, Freedom can expect to be at the center of the celebration. His first task for the holidays was to put the star on top of the Christmas tree. He didn’t need to worry about Santa skipping the out-of-the-way trip to Cambodia. In addition to his parents, his lola and two aunts are in town this year to make sure he gets his share of aguinaldo.
What makes Christmas
Noche Buena was a sort of open-house party, with friends of different nationalities dropping in for a home-cooked feast. Although the menu defied traditions (the hosts are pesco-vegetarians and some of the guests are on a gluten-free diet), Ramos said the essence of the gathering couldn’t be more Filipino: family togetherness.
“In the Philippines, you see, taste, even breathe Christmas,” Ramos said. “But I wouldn’t really feel that holiday spirit if I wasn’t with my family and friends. At the end of the day, it’s the people you’re with that makes Christmas, Christmas.”
“When I first got here, people had no idea what Christmas was,” said Ilonggo artist Loven Ramos, who moved to Siem Reap five years ago. “Once, I went to a dance club with my friends and we found ourselves dancing to ‘Jingle Bells’—in the middle of February.”
Shopping for Christmas decor, he added, was a nearly impossible feat. The Christmas tree now towering over his living room had to be shipped from Vietnam two years ago.
That the Khmer people aren’t agog over Christmas doesn’t come as a shock. Not only is Cambodia a Buddhist nation; the country’s pride, the Angkor temple complex, is said to be the world’s largest religious structure, built initially as a Hindu site and later converted to Buddhist use. It’s a long way from Bethlehem.
However, Ramos said, Christmas is making its way to Cambodia little by little.
While Cambodia probably wouldn’t get a papal visit anytime soon, there is no question that the Kingdom of Wonder is slowly getting into the Christmas spirit.
First ever
In a few unexpected places around town, Christmas trees have sprung up. Flickering lights of red and green illuminate areas within a few feet of Buddhist shrines.
On Pub Street, the center of nightlife in Siem Reap, every other restaurant offers a Christmas set menu. Not too far away, a band of landmine victims can be heard playing “Frosty the Snowman” and other Christmas classics, on top of its usual repertoire of Khmer traditional music.
Two weeks ago, a luxury hotel here held what its employees called “the first ever Christmas tree lighting in Cambodia,” with a choir of children from a local orphanage singing Yuletide carols.
It’s all inevitable, with the growing Western presence in the country. One million (mostly Western) tourists travel to Cambodia each year to see Angkor Wat, and they typically come in droves around the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Cambodia also hosts a large community of expatriates working at diplomatic missions and humanitarian groups. And then there are the missionaries serving in religious and charitable organizations throughout the country.
Cashing in on the holiday
For the Cambodians, of course, December 25 isn’t a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. It’s more like a spending season, when the most merriment is had by tourist businesses cashing in on the holiday.
But then, one could argue that it’s not all that different in the Philippines and the rest of the Christian world. Don Protasio, a Filipino fashion designer working as an art curator for the stylish Hotel de la Paix, recalled memories of holiday shopping in the Philippines with a tinge of exasperation.
“Back home, Christmas is so commercial,” said Protasio, who is spending his third Christmas in Siem Reap. “The act of gift-giving has little purity left about it. You’re compelled to give something just because it’s the holidays. Here, it’s still pretty easy to get away from all that.”
But Protasio is no Scrooge; he simply prefers to play Santa on his own terms. “When I go home, I bring gifts for the whole family. Then I get to feel like Christmas,” he said.
Always home for Christmas
For teacher Jessie-Marie Morcoso, nothing beats being with family on Christmas Day. Since moving here in 2005, she has gone home every year to spend the holidays.
She left for the Philippines on a Sunday, much to the regret of her band mates. Morcoso sings in a locally popular band with three European expats, and the band had to turn down gigs around the holidays because of Morcoso’s absence.
“I’ve already sent two (cardboard cargo) boxes home for gifts,” Morcoso said the day before she left. The gifts, she said, were for her “immediate family”—by which she meant her parents, siblings, nieces, nephews—and all other relatives living within her family’s five-house compound in Legazpi City.
Lucky are the ones like the artist lover Ramos who don’t have to choose between work and family every holiday season.
Two years after Ramos came to work as an in-house graphic designer for a hotel here, his wife Faith joined him. Today, Ramos runs an art gallery-cum-boutique and collaborates on a gamut of freelance fashion and interior design projects with Protasio. Faith works as a manager at Amansara, one of the most luxurious resorts in Siem Reap.
The couple’s son, Freedom, was born here. Although the four-year-old attends school in the Philippines, Cambodia is now pretty much home for the whole family.
However, the family Christmas traditions remain intact, except for a few tweaks. Being the only kid in the household, Freedom can expect to be at the center of the celebration. His first task for the holidays was to put the star on top of the Christmas tree. He didn’t need to worry about Santa skipping the out-of-the-way trip to Cambodia. In addition to his parents, his lola and two aunts are in town this year to make sure he gets his share of aguinaldo.
What makes Christmas
Noche Buena was a sort of open-house party, with friends of different nationalities dropping in for a home-cooked feast. Although the menu defied traditions (the hosts are pesco-vegetarians and some of the guests are on a gluten-free diet), Ramos said the essence of the gathering couldn’t be more Filipino: family togetherness.
“In the Philippines, you see, taste, even breathe Christmas,” Ramos said. “But I wouldn’t really feel that holiday spirit if I wasn’t with my family and friends. At the end of the day, it’s the people you’re with that makes Christmas, Christmas.”
Increasing Numbers of N.Korean Refugees Head to Thailand
January 4, 2010
The Chosun Ilbo (South Korea)
An increasing number of North Korean refugees are arriving in northern Thailand, fleeing poverty and political oppression at home. Two North Koreans turn away as a group of journalists and refugee activists attempt to talk to them. They were spotted on the side of the road along Thailand's border with Laos. Several more ran as journalists approached.
Speaking in Chinese, one woman says they just arrived and asks where exactly they are, but she does not want to say where they came from or how they got here. "Don't ask this. So many things are not good to ask. We don't dare say," she said.
The refugees reach Thailand by crossing the Mekong River from Laos after a dangerous journey across China.
Thai immigration authorities say they took more than 1,000 North Koreans into custody in 2009, compared with less than 400 in 2008 when Beijing tightened security for the Olympics.
Police superintendent Sutham Chatarsa says they come to Thailand because, unlike in China and Laos, they will not be sent home, where they could face execution. "We don't have the policy to send them back to North Korea," he said. "We want to take care of them until they are accepted into a third country. It's not the same as people coming from Cambodia or Laos. North Koreans come here because of political problems. So, we want them to get to a third country."
Even so, the North Koreans are treated as illegal immigrants before being allowed to go to South Korea or another country. Lawmakers from 12 countries met in Thailand in November to raise attention to the plight of North Koreans fleeing their impoverished and repressive nation.
South Korean lawmaker Kim Yong-tae says they often face abuse because of their illegal status. "We need to cooperate with each other to pressure Chinese or the other country's governments to give them legal status. And second, we need to offer some conditions for them to sustain their livelihoods," said Kim Yong-tae.
Police at Chiangsaen question 14 North Koreans, including two children. Thai authorities say they expect the number of North Korean refugees to continue to grow in 2010 as more choose to take the dangerous journey to freedom.
Speaking in Chinese, one woman says they just arrived and asks where exactly they are, but she does not want to say where they came from or how they got here. "Don't ask this. So many things are not good to ask. We don't dare say," she said.
The refugees reach Thailand by crossing the Mekong River from Laos after a dangerous journey across China.
Thai immigration authorities say they took more than 1,000 North Koreans into custody in 2009, compared with less than 400 in 2008 when Beijing tightened security for the Olympics.
Police superintendent Sutham Chatarsa says they come to Thailand because, unlike in China and Laos, they will not be sent home, where they could face execution. "We don't have the policy to send them back to North Korea," he said. "We want to take care of them until they are accepted into a third country. It's not the same as people coming from Cambodia or Laos. North Koreans come here because of political problems. So, we want them to get to a third country."
Even so, the North Koreans are treated as illegal immigrants before being allowed to go to South Korea or another country. Lawmakers from 12 countries met in Thailand in November to raise attention to the plight of North Koreans fleeing their impoverished and repressive nation.
South Korean lawmaker Kim Yong-tae says they often face abuse because of their illegal status. "We need to cooperate with each other to pressure Chinese or the other country's governments to give them legal status. And second, we need to offer some conditions for them to sustain their livelihoods," said Kim Yong-tae.
Police at Chiangsaen question 14 North Koreans, including two children. Thai authorities say they expect the number of North Korean refugees to continue to grow in 2010 as more choose to take the dangerous journey to freedom.
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