Cambodia Warming to Idea of Foreign Ownership

November 26, 2009
By SIMON MARKS
The New York Times

Canadia Tower in Phnom Penh is Cambodia’s tallest building. (Simon Marks)


Just three decades after the downfall of the Khmer Rouge, a deadly regime that left behind little notion of private property, a law that would allow foreigners to buy some kinds of real estate here appears to be nearing approval.

And while the proposed law is focused on the property market, experts agree it also would be a general boost for the country, which has been struggling through its own version of the global economic downturn.

“The law, in essence, will not help the whole economy recover. But it’s part of a wider picture,” said Daniel Parkes, country manager for the CB Richard Ellis real estate company. “What it is doing is making investment in Cambodia more transparent and easier.”

The law, which is expected to go to the National Assembly for a vote in the coming months, would allow foreigners to own apartments and condominiums on buildings’ upper floors. Now they are limited to 99-year leaseholds on any property.

Ground-level residences, which include ownership of the land that the units stand on, would continue to be reserved for Cambodians.

There are some controversial details in the draft. But over all, Mr. Parkes said, the proposed law would improve confidence in the market — especially in comparison with neighboring countries like Thailand, where foreigners are limited to 30-year leases on homes or land, and Singapore, where they are barred from owning property below the sixth floor.

Mr. Parkes’s own presence in Cambodia is due to great expectations for its real estate sector. The 27-year-old arrived here four months ago from Britain; his assignment was to open the first office of CB Richard Ellis in the capital to meet a growing demand for professional real estate services.

“Working in the U.K., it has become obvious over the last two years or so that it is a mature market,” Mr. Parkes said. “Where the future is, is in Asia.”

He says he considers the assignment to be a long-term one, and he spends weekends riding around the city on his 1967 Vespa, keeping his eyes peeled for a property that he might like to buy himself.

Over all, the country’s financial forecasts and Phnom Penh’s growth seem to support his optimism.

Economists here generally agree that Cambodia will emerge from its year-long recession in 2010. And the International Monetary Fund said in September that, while the country’s G.D.P. would contract 2.75 percent this year, it would climb about 4 percent in 2010.

The capital’s 1.3 million inhabitants mostly live in low-grade concrete apartment blocks that form the city’s low skyline. But Cambodia’s tallest building, the 30-story Canadia Tower, opened Nov. 5. And the structure, which includes apartments for some Canadia Bank employees, is the first of several such projects planned for the city center.

Like many housing markets across the world, speculative buying and inflated land values produced a lot of phantom growth in Cambodia in recent years.

From 2005 to mid-2008, prices for some houses in Phnom Penh rose tenfold. Increasing foreign investment and large-scale residential projects like Gold Tower 42, a South Korean-funded 42-story skyscraper that is still being built, were just some of the factors that led industry observers to have faith in the country’s market.

But as the effects of the global economic crisis spilled over into Cambodia in late 2008, demand dried up, and housing prices tumbled dramatically — 40 percent compared with the same period last year, according to real estate agents.

“Before there was so much investment from developers in China and South Korea,” said Soush Saroeun, executive director of Asia Real Property, a Cambodian real estate agency. He said prices in Phnom Penh’s most affluent neighborhoods had fallen to about $3,000 per square meter, or $280 a square foot, from around $4,500 per square meter in July 2008. (High-end real estate in Cambodia is generally valued in U.S. dollars.)

Some observers here say that confidence in the market actually was boosted when the long-awaited proposal to allow foreign ownership was introduced by the Ministry of Land Management in April.

Some investors and analysts say, however, that the draft contains stipulations that would cause unnecessary complications, like the rule that no more than 49 percent of a condominium building’s units may be owned by foreigners.

The rule would cause “big problems for developers in the region in their initial business plans,” forcing them to sell to two distinct markets, said Matthew Rendall, a managing partner with the legal consultancy Sciaroni & Associates, based in Phnom Penh.

Sek Sitha, an under secretary of state for the land management ministry, said the restriction was included because the government wants “Cambodians to have priority over foreigners.” But he said the Council of Ministers, which is now reviewing the draft law, and the assembly would consider the concerns.

In Channy, chief executive of Acleda Bank, one of the country’s largest banks, said that expecting Cambodians to buy 51 percent of the units in a building created to appeal to foreigners was unlikely because few would be interested in such a costly investment. “Demand is very low,” he said. “Most of our loans go to local Cambodians, but it depends on the cash flow of the individual borrower.”

The proposal also says foreigners cannot be co-owners in land purchases, nor can they buy any properties within 30 kilometers, or 18.5 miles, of the borders, except in special economic zones.

Rory Hunter, chief executive of the local property developer Brocon Group, said developers could bypass the proportional ownership issue by offering long-term leases, rather than sales, on the balance of the units in a building meant for the foreign market.

And while the current 99-year lease is not, practically, very different from an outright purchase, “psychologically, people want to own freehold, not leasehold,” Mr. Hunter said. “It will give foreign investors more confidence regarding the security of their investment.”

Ozawa looming as 'shadow shogun'

The Japan Times
By ALEX MARTIN
Staff writer

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009

DPJ heavyweight's clout seen eclipsing Hatoyama's

The Democratic Party of Japan's oldest lawmaker recently had a few bitter words for his old friend, DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.

Shadow shogun: Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa heads to the Prime Minister's Official Residence on Nov. 14, escorted by a security guard. KYODO PHOTO

Speaking in Fukuoka earlier this month, Kozo Watabe criticized what he considered the monopolization of party authority in Ozawa's hands.

"If Mr. Ozawa says turn right, we turn right. If he says turn left, we turn left. And if he says five plus five is 15, then we just have to say, 'Yes, sir,' " Watabe said.

Although the 77-year-old veteran lawmaker was apparently unhappy with Ozawa's decision not to reappoint him as the party's top adviser, his comments did provide a glimpse into how Ozawa almost single-handedly dictates policy, trying to reform the way politics are done.

But his top-down management isn't open to criticism, and his overwhelming authority over the DPJ has led many to fear Ozawa's influence may undermine the government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, the party's president.

There are already signs.

When the Government Revitalization Unit recruited 32 lawmakers as part of a team of inspectors tasked with examining and recommending cuts in unnecessary state budget expenditures, Ozawa muscled in and demanded first-term lawmakers be excluded, drastically cutting their ranks and in the process highlighting Hatoyama's lack of leadership.

"Even after being a lawmaker for 40 years, I still find it difficult to examine fat budget documents — besides, the party was unaware of the entire process," Ozawa said in an Oct. 26 press conference on his reasons for keeping junior ranks out.

The incident was evidence that Ozawa not only had assumed control of the DPJ, but also had a say in government personnel decisions.

In a recent article for the quarterly journal Bungei Shunju, political commentator Takashi Tachibana expressed concern over Ozawa's increasing clout, and compared his dictatorial style to that of Ozawa's Liberal Democratic Party mentor, the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, one of postwar Japan's most powerful, and scandal-tainted, politicians. Known as the "shadow shogun," Tanaka's behind-the-scenes clout lasted long after his prime ministership ended.

But with the entry of some 140 freshmen lawmakers who rode the DPJ's tidal wave into power in the Aug. 30 election, and who owe their success to Ozawa, his political influence now even dwarfs Tanaka's. "Ozawa has now assumed command of the nation's future," Tachibana wrote.

Even though Ozawa was forced by financial scandal to give up the DPJ presidency last spring, and faces fresh allegations of receiving illegal political donations, his influence seems to be on an ever-increasing upward trajectory.

He recently ruled that all petitions directed from municipalities to the government be channeled through the DPJ secretary general's office instead of having their targeted ministries handle them.

Ozawa said this "reform" was intended to prevent various organizations from directly petitioning ministries — a practice that often led to cozy ties between bureaucrats and politicians with vested interests.

"Petitions taken directly to the central bureaucracy via political connections contravene our goal of decentralizing power," Ozawa said this month.

While significantly hiking the authority of his office, the petition rerouting simultaneously serves to bolster the DPJ's control over municipal organizations — key vote-generating machines — ahead of next summer's Upper House poll, in which the party aims to win a majority on its own.

But while such tactics may boost the DPJ's chances of winning elections, experts warn it is essential that Ozawa not become a "back seat driver" who pulls the strings behind the scenes and is immune from responsibility.

Hidekazu Kawai, honorary professor at Gakushuin University, said that considering Ozawa's background and political expertise, it was only natural that he assumed command of the party — especially with most of the other DPJ heavyweights in the Cabinet.

Ozawa — a '90s defector from the LDP — was the point man when it came to whittling away the LDP's traditional support base ahead of the last poll, and is doing likewise for the coming Upper House election, and Hatoyama thus has no choice but to rely on him, Kawai said.

But unless the administration can find a way to hold Ozawa accountable, he could become the next shadow shogun, calling the shots without ever having to take any responsibility for the government's actions, Kawai said, adding the key to the political situation will be whether the kingmaker can be held to account.

Ozawa's rapid changes in the way the government does business are having side effects. Since the DPJ abolished the policy research council, lawmakers who aren't part of the government apparatus are having a hard time getting their voices heard.

Out of the 419 DPJ lawmakers, 160 have been assigned to either government, party or Diet posts, leaving more than 200 with time on their hands.

A rookie DPJ lawmaker, who declined to be named, recently said he was still unsure how he could be involved in policy decisions, voicing hope that a way can be paved for young lawmakers' opinions to be reflected in policymaking.

"It's as if we're only here to vote (on) bills," he said.

But Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Sophia University, said that while it was unlikely Ozawa will loosen his grip on power, he also believed the media might be going overboard with his image as a backroom fixer.

Despite fears of Ozawa's influence, there's a limit to how far his authority can stretch, he said, adding, "After all, he's neither the prime minister nor the president of the DPJ. He can't possibly assume complete control."

Australia apologizes for child migrant programs

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized Monday to thousands of impoverished British children shipped to Australia in past centuries with the promise of a better life, only to suffer abuse and neglect thousands of miles from home.

At a ceremony in the Australian capital of Canberra attended by tearful former child migrants, Rudd apologized for his country's role in the migration and extended condolences to the 7,000 survivors of the program who still live in Australia.

"We are sorry," Rudd said. "Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care. Sorry for the tragedy — the absolute tragedy — of childhoods lost."

The apology comes one day after the British government said Prime Minister Gordon Brown would apologize for child migrant programs that sent as many as 150,000 poor British children as young as 3 to Australia, Canada and other former colonies over three and a half centuries.

The programs, which ended 40 years ago, were intended to provide the children with a new start — and the Empire with a supply of sturdy white workers. But many children ended up in institutions where they were physically and sexually abused, or were sent to work as farm laborers.

Rudd also apologized to the "forgotten Australians" — children who suffered in state care during the last century. According to a 2004 Australian Senate report, more than 500,000 children were placed in foster homes, orphanages and other institutions during the 20th century. Many were emotionally, physically and sexually abused in state care.

Some in the audience wept openly and held each other as Rudd shared painful stories of children he'd spoken with — children who were beaten with belt buckles and bamboo, who grew up in places they called "utterly loveless."

"Let us resolve this day that this national apology becomes a turning point in our nation's story," Rudd said. "A turning point for shattered lives, a turning point for governments at all levels and of every political hue and color to do all in our power to never allow this to happen again."

At that, the audience erupted into loud cheers and applause.

John Hennessey, 72, of Campbelltown, 40 miles southwest of Sydney, struggles to make himself understood through a stutter — a never-healing scar from a thrashing he received from an Australian orphanage headmaster 60 years ago.

Hennessey was only 6 when he was shipped from a British orphanage to an institute for boys in the country town of Bindoon in Western Australia state.

At 12, he was stripped naked and nearly beaten to death by the headmaster for eating grapes he had taken from a vineyard without permission because he was hungry.

"What terrified me most was that in my mind I thought: 'that's my father; what's he doing?' — I had nobody else and he was the one I'd looked up to," Hennessey said. "Before that I didn't have a stutter. I've sought medical advice since and they've said: 'John, you're going to take that to the grave with you.'"

The British government has estimated that a total of 150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad between 1618 — when a group was sent to the Virginia Colony — and 1967, most of them from the late 19th century onwards.

After 1920, most of the children went to Australia through programs run by the government, religious groups and children's charities.

A 2001 Australian report said that between 6,000 and 30,000 children from Britain and Malta, often taken from unmarried mothers or impoverished families, were sent alone to Australia as migrants during the 20th century. Many of the children were told that they were orphans, though most had either been abandoned or taken from their families by the state. Siblings were commonly split up once they arrived in Australia.

Authorities believed they were acting in the children's best interests, but the migration also was intended to stop them from being a burden on the British state while supplying the receiving countries with potential workers. A 1998 British parliamentary inquiry noted that "a further motive was racist: the importation of 'good white stock' was seen as a desirable policy objective in the developing British Colonies."

Australia had an immigration policy that favored British and white immigrants until the 1970s.

"We were used as white fodder," Hennessey said. "The Archbishop met us at Fremantle (in Western Australia) and I can still remember his words. He said, 'Welcome to Australia. We want white stock because we're terrified of the yellow peril.'"

British Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the child migrant policy was "a stain on our society."

"The apology is symbolically very important," he told Sky News television.

"I think it is important that we say to the children who are now adults and older people and to their offspring that this is something that we look back on in shame," he said.

Britain has been trying to make amends since the late 1990s by funding trips to reunite migrants with their families in Britain.

Brown's office said officials would consult with representatives of the surviving children before making a formal apology next year.

Official apologies for historical wrongs have proved controversial.

Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard initially resisted calls to apologize to institutionalized children and Australian Aborigines, arguing that contemporary Australians should not take responsibility for mistakes made by past generations.

Rudd reversed the policy after he was elected in 2007 and apologized to Aborigines for 200 years of injustice since European settlement.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Harvesting Season in Japan

Cabbage Harvesting Season on a farm in Yokohama, Japan, November 05, 2009

YOMIURI INTERNATIONAL FORUM 2009 / DPJ official: Party overdoing politician-led reform drive

The Daily Yomiuri

The Democratic Party of Japan has gone too far in implementing its much-touted policy of taking the policymaking initiative from bureaucrats, Goshi Hosono, chairman of the party's Organization Committee, said Monday.

At the Yomuiri International Forum held at a hotel in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Hosono, 38, said division chiefs and bureau directors at government ministries are beginning to find themselves with nothing to do, as Cabinet ministers, senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries--the top three tiers of lawmakers serving at government ministries--take on what had previously been their work.

As a result, lawmakers stationed at government offices, especially senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries, are finding it difficult to cope with their hectic schedule, Hosono said.

"We need to consider whether the current relationship between lawmakers and bureaucrats is appropriate. From now on, I believe there should be cases in which bureaucrats provide several options regarding policies to lawmakers, and those lawmakers then exercise their leadership [in choosing between them]," Hosono said.

Hosono spoke at the forum meeting titled "A Changing World and Japan--Change of Government and the Future Direction of Politics." The other panelists were Kozo Watanabe, former supreme adviser of the party, Tokyo University Prof. Takashi Mikuriya and Steven Vogel, professor at University of California, Berkeley.

At the forum, Watanabe said the party should not stick too closely to the manifesto it drew up for the House of Representatives election in August.

After saying he thinks the manifesto is very significant, Watanabe added that there are times when the government should not obsess about sticking to its every detail, especially regarding foreign policy, such as the realignment of U.S. forces stationed in Okinawa Prefecture.

"If we break promises made to another country just because the administration has changed, the relationship with that country will be lost," Watanabe said.

"I don't think it's best to implement every single item of the manifesto. The priorities considered most important change when a party moves from opposition to government," he added.

Watanabe also noted that a manifesto can become out of date as public opinion changes.

Meanwhile, Mikuriya said the government needs to achieve results in key policy areas within 100 days of its inauguration.

Mikuriya said he sees similarity in the current Hatoyama administration and that of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which was ambitious about reform, but lasted only about a year after failing to see them through.

"If the government fails to draw up a fixed road map this year [on important issues], the support rate for the current administration will drop dramatically," he said.

Vogel expressed views similar to Mikuriya's.

"What the Japanese people called for in the general election was a drastic change of the political system," Vogel said. "For now, they are satisfied with change itself. However, that satisfaction may not last after the next House of Councillors election [in summer 2010]."

Vogel said the DPJ needs to achieve results especially with its economic policies and welfare, saying voters will not remain patient for long.
(Nov. 10, 2009)

Cambodia’s New Intellectuals

The Far Eastern Economic Review
by Geoffrey Cain
Posted November 7, 2008

After France granted Cambodia independence in 1953, an impassioned renaissance swept Phnom Penh in the 1960s, a resurgent Angkorian nationalism alongside a potpourri of foreign influences that included Beatlemania and existentialism. Many saw the city—once called the “Pearl of Asia”—a neutral safe haven from the havoc that rocked neighboring Vietnam and Thailand. Artists, writers and scholars frequented Phnom Penh’s beautified universities and cafés, discussing the great works of Jean-Paul Sartre and Picasso, while musicians and dancers revived traditional Khmer styles from the country’s Angkor-era height. Even then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the movement’s figurehead, was a filmmaker and singer who led a jazz band.

Fast forward a few years. Bombing campaigns, military coups and civil war rip the country apart. Intellectuals are targeted and wiped out under the Maoist Khmer Rouge regime from 1975-79 and their works destroyed. A former Khmer Rouge cadre named Hun Sen bullies his way into power in 1993 against United Nations-backed election results, and then orchestrates a coup against his co-Prime Minister Norodom Ranarridh in 1997. His ruling Cambodian People’s Party consolidates power in the media, and rampant corruption rankles the universities. Debate and discussion are left dead and a country is in ruins.

Yet today a brimming young movement of intellectuals resembling those of the 1960s is quietly—and sometimes anonymously—creating change in Cambodia. They mostly draw on the same inspirations and discuss the same topics of culture, politics and romance—the latter remains a highly taboo topic. Some even listen to the same music, writing about the classics of Simon and Garfunkel. Yet unlike their predecessors, these intellectuals do not mingle in French-style cafés and art galleries, but in the new wireless Internet cafés springing up in Phnom Penh.

Looking at them, one would think they are just a typical group of youngsters. During lunch breaks and on weekends, they can be seen in popular Monivong Boulevard hangouts wearing ripped jeans and headphones, clicking away on their quirky, stickered laptops, stopping sporadically for a sip of iced coffee. Virtually all are under 30, born during a 1980s baby boom that followed the Khmer Rouge genocide. They represent a small but growing tech-savvy middle class of students, lawyers, technology professionals and journalists, who only recently came of age in a society where little public discussion of issues exists.

Formally banding together in 2006 in a project to teach students about technology, this new generation of intellectuals never actually refers to themselves as “intellectuals.” The word’s archaic connotation foregoes their 21st-century context. Perhaps more appropriate for an environment dominated by mobile phones and cyberspace, they have instead named themselves “Cloggers,” a portmanteau of “Cambodian bloggers.” And, as the name implies, they blog—turning to the unregulated Internet medium because they would have little chance to speak their minds otherwise.

With stilted shacks and slums lined along Phnom Penh’s dirt roads, and a populace of which 33% earn less than $0.50 a day according to optimistic government statistics, Cambodia is remarkably wired. After King Sihanouk, now King-Father, started Cambodia’s first blog in 2002 and the Cloggers began their educational tours of the country, blogging mania swept Phnom Penh; a “blogosphere” once numbering 30 bloggers spawned into a vibrant community of pundits, photographers and diarists now innumerable.

Even though only 2% of Cambodians have regular Internet access on computers, the urban blogging craze can be partly attributed to Cambodia’s widespread mobile-phone culture that also offers mobile Internet access. Only a high rural illiteracy rate of 35% stands in the way to larger change, say Cloggers. “We have a dichotomy. Cambodia has leapfrogged landlines to embrace modern, high-tech mobile phones. Users aren’t afraid of technology. But phones are not reaching their full potential,” said John Weeks, an American blogger who has lived in Phnom Penh since 2003. “If ordinary Cambodians can overcome the language barrier and literacy barriers, phones have incredible gateway potential that would dwarf the current blog boom.”

The trend is only set to grow despite literacy shortfalls. The recent introduction of 3G mobile-phone technology into Cambodia promises high-speed Internet access from anywhere—even the remote northern provinces—for only $35 a month or less. Enthusiasts can also attach their 3G phone to their computer and use it as a makeshift satellite modem, even if they’re traveling in the electricity-starved countryside.

Complementing their taste for global technology culture, that prospect fuels the intellectuals’ desire to continue shaping Cambodia’s public discussions. “Blogs are really a way of culture-sharing and getting discussions going, something Cambodia really needs now,” reflected Keo Kounila, an inquisitive young Clogger and journalist who voraciously reads John F. Kennedy and Mahatma Gandhi. “It’s that we’re trying to find a unique way to bring more foreign ideas to Cambodia, but put them into a Cambodian context.” Like others, she’s noticed that blogs in Cambodia attract the attention mostly of their American counterparts, who she thinks bring an “open source” culture to Cambodia—referring to the technology movement that strives for free flow of ideas.

Prum Seila, also a journalist and university student, chimed in while humming to his favorite Beatles tune on his mobile phone. “Foreigners give us a lot of ideas about social issues and the problems of globalization, with the garment factories. Cambodia really needs those new ways of thinking about things,” he added, noting that Cambodia’s current blogging scene resembles the 1960s mostly because of its American cultural influence.

The duo credits foreign attention to the fact that many Cambodians blog in English, as opposed to neighboring Thailand and Vietnam where blogs are largely in local languages. “It’s important to bring more international attention to Cambodia with English, because our issues haven’t been that known for very long,” Mr. Prum added. But as the Open Institute in Phnom Penh spreads its Khmer-language Unicode project, a Cambodian font constantly being tweaked, more Cloggers have embraced Khmer to tap into a local audience.

“We should not give up our own language so we can blog in English,” said Be Chantra, a Unicode developer and Khmer-language blogger. “With Khmer, we can make a bigger impact on important decisions in Cambodia, with a more local voice.” But overall, English remains the language of choice for Cloggers who seek global discussion and an escape from government authorities. One Clogger even exclaimed that Mr. Be’s initiatives could get them censored someday.

In a country where the ruling party dominates most newspapers, radio stations and television stations—Mr. Hun’s daughter, Hun Mana, even directs the popular Bayon tv channel—young bloggers like Ms. Keo and Mr. Prum feel that blogs are the only place to foster fresh, nonpartisan discussions. Both said political self-censorship on the part of newspapers, which read more like tabloids, keeps the Cambodian public ill-informed to pressing issues like corruption and land evictions. Unlike nearby Malaysia, Thailand and China, however, the Cambodian government does not actively censor blogs, making it a preferred medium to evade authority. Many say the country’s power elite just haven’t caught up with the times yet, or that they lack the resources to implement rigorous censorship programs. Others say not enough Cambodians read controversial blogs.

Some media outlets have taken advantage of the government’s blind eye to the Internet. Following a spat last May between the government and English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper over a supplement about Burma, the newspaper circumvented government authority by publishing it online. To the surprise of many, Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith’s stance on the Daily’s choice was favorable: “It’s online. It’s OK,” he announced. Wide implications for the Cloggers followed.

Since Cloggers see the cyberspace as an escape, blogs fill a crucial gap against mainstream media that politicize important issues, Cloggers say. Some point to the current border conflict at the Preah Vihear temple. After UNESCO listed Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site in July, the popular station CTN aired a celebration program showing Mr. Hun’s portrait encircled by stars with the national anthem being performed in the background. Many provincial stations are now reportedly being used to recruit citizen militias in light of the Oct. 15 border skirmish that left three Cambodians and one Thai soldier dead. Cybernationalists have also taken to Internet forums and Wikipedia, vandalizing Web sites with propaganda and brash confrontations that border racism. The Cloggers, however, became the intense focus of a heated but sophisticated discussion on scholarship and history related to the temple, something they say Cambodian tv stations and other Internet sources completely left out.

After she returned from reporting on the Preah Vihear crisis, Ms. Keo reflected in her blog about the writings of the ancient Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan who documented his trips to Cambodia in the 13th century. In his memoir, he observed Cambodian soldiers carrying their swords everywhere as a testament to their willingness to fight. She concluded with more questions. “Does nationalism mean that you have to die for your country all the time while you leave someone else suffering?” A flurry of comments and discussions ensued, which she said is unheard of in the “real world” of Cambodia.

Teng Somongkol, a former lecturer at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and now doctoral candidate in Minnesota, also took to historical literature and blogged a well-documented record about Thai soldiers pushing 45,000 Cambodian refugees off the cliffs of Preah Vihear in 1979. “In fact, many Cambodians, especially those of my generation who was [sic] born in the 1980s, are not even aware that this horrible event took place,” he wrote. “What they were taught was about the Khmer Rouge period, but not about what happened at Preah Vihear.” He noted that, as a Buddhist, his goal was not revenge but only to point out the “terrible things” that have happened at the temple. His commentary earned him a spot in the Phnom Penh Post newspaper.

Despite the heated debates of nationalism and scholarship, blogs in Cambodia mostly discuss everyday topics like relationships and culture. But more controversial blogs still maintain a firm presence the “Clogosphere,” like the blog of vocal activist Chak Sopheap, who regularly criticizes government leaders over issues of corruption and forced land evictions. She’s already received one death threat, she claims. Her public profile is a gutsy move while most other blogs critical of the government remain anonymous.

“I am often asked by many friends whether I am intimidated for my outspoken statements,” proclaimed the former employee of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, which received international attention in 2005 when two of its activists were arrested after a peaceful demonstration. “Officials feel insecure when there is resistance. I’m just advocating for a change of attitude by them to listen and tolerate different opinions.”

Now, the youthful and eloquent speaker is pursuing a master’s degree in international relations in Japan, a country from which she draws inspiration for her writings. “I’ve learned from a different cultural context about how crucial good governance is,” she said, referring to Cambodia’s corruption problem that led Transparency International to rank it the 14th most corrupt country in the world this year. “I’m trying to take a comparative perspective about Cambodia in my blog, learning from my professors about the Japanese spirit of success. I don’t mean that other cultures or practices are inferior to Japan, but just that we can integrate these experiences to our benefit.” She hopes to include her favorite blog posts in a book one day.

Of all the great rising Cambodian thinkers, paving the trail is Bun Tharum, widely received as the leader of the Cloggers. A 25-year-old technology professional, Mr. Bun takes inspiration from Western individualism, Ayn Rand and Charles Dickens. He’s a prolific photographer who documents everyday life in his popular blog with haunting and dazzling imagery. Also a writer of short stories, he hopes to publish the next great Cambodian novel in the tradition of the 1960s, an age he longs to revive. “Young people have a lot to learn about this country, about its history, about how it was run. The 1960s were the greatest time for Cambodia,” he said, eyebrows dipped in reflection. “We haven’t completely realized that dream yet. But I remain optimistic.”

Geoffrey Cain is a Phnom Penh-based author for Global Voices Online.

JR East resorts to blue LEDs to stem suicides

Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009

By SHINO YUASA
The Associated Press

See the light: A Keihin Electric Express Railway Co. conductor alerts passengers that a train's doors are closing at Gumyoji Station in Yokohama, where blue lights are installed, on Oct. 14. AP PHOTO

Alarmed by a rise in people jumping to their deaths in front of trains, some railways are installing special blue lights above station platforms in the hope they will have a soothing effect and reduce suicides.

As of November, East Japan Railway Co. has put blue light-emitting diode lights in all 29 stations on the Yamanote Line, the central loop in Tokyo used by 8 million passengers each day.

There's no scientific proof the LED lights actually reduce suicides, and some experts are skeptical it will have any effect. But others say blue does have a calming effect.

"We associate the color with the sky and the sea," said Mizuki Takahashi, a therapist at the Japan Institute of Color Psychology, a private research center that was not involved in the lighting project. "It has a calming effect on agitated people, or people obsessed with one particular thing, which in this case is committing suicide."

Suicides have risen this year amid the recession and could top the record 34,427 deaths in 2003. Last year, nearly 2,000 people committed suicide by jumping in front of a train, about 6 percent of such deaths nationwide.

JR East has seen platform suicides in Tokyo surge to 68 for the year through March from 42 two years earlier.

That's causing more train delays. Conductors routinely describe the suicides over public address systems as "human accidents."

JR East has spent about ¥15 million to install the special lights on the Yamanote. The LEDs, which are brighter than standard fluorescent bulbs, bathe the platform below in an eerie blue light. They hang at the end of each platform, a spot where people are most likely to throw themselves onto the tracks, said Norimitsu Suzuki, a company spokesman.

Keihin Electric Express Railway Co., which operates in Tokyo and nearby Yokohama, installed blue lights at two stations last year after there were two suicides within a month at one of the two stations.

"We know there is no scientific proof that blue lights will help deter suicides. But if blue has a soothing effect on the mind, we want to try it to save lives," Keihin Railway spokesman Osamu Okawa said.

Shinji Hira, a professor specializing in criminal psychology at Fukuyama University in Hiroshima, speculated that blue lights could make people pause and reflect.

But he said if railways want to go further to ensure safety, they should set up fences on platforms, as several Tokyo subway stations have. The barriers have sliding doors that allow passengers access to trains only when they are stopped.

Flu cases reach alert level, set to top 6 million

Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009
Kyodo News

The cumulative number of people infected with influenza, in most cases H1N1 swine flu, since early July reached an estimated 5.85 million as of Nov. 1 and is set to top the 6 million mark soon, the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said Friday.

An estimated 1.54 million people infected with influenza visited medical facilities nationwide during the latest reporting week of Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, up from the 1.14 million in the preceding week through Oct. 25, the state-run institute said in a weekly report.

The number of flu patients in the latest week reported by the roughly 5,000 designated medical institutions jumped to 159,651 from 118,570 the preceding week.

The national average of flu patients per medical facility also surged to 33.28 from 24.62, topping the alert level of 30.00 for the first time.

This indicates the flu epidemic has entered a more serious phase, the institute said.

Flu patients per facility topped the caution level of 10.00 in all 47 prefectures, while the number of patients per facility topped the alert level of 30.00 in 21 prefectures.

Aichi led the list of prefectures hardest hit by influenza, with the number of patients per facility standing at 54.44 in the reporting week.

Speaking out about domestic violence

Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009
By DAVID McNEILL and CHIE MATSUMOTO
Special to The Japan Times

Lifting the veil: Victims of domestic violence march through Tokyo's Omotesando district on Nov. 1. DAVID MCNEILL

Just a year into her marriage, Emi Yoshida realized she might not survive it. Her violent, drug-addict husband had tried to strangle her, then beat her unconscious outside their Tokyo home. When she came to, he was threatening her with a knife.
Police offered no protection for her or her children. Instead of whisking her away to a battered wives' center, they tried to talk her into staying with her violent spouse, saying he "didn't mean" to inflict harm. "They said 'It's best the two of you talk it over,' " she recalled.

"If you beat up someone on the street, the police arrest you. But you're supposed to 'talk it over' when your partner is trying to kill you."

Now safe and happily in another relationship, the 29-year-old mother of three wants such violence treated as a crime like any other.

Legally, her demand has already been met: the 2001 Domestic Violence Law finally criminalized spousal abuse. The law has since been revised to include psychological abuse and threats, and allow for family restraining orders against abusive partners.

But despite — or perhaps because of this legislation — the number of victims grows year by year. A Cabinet Office survey released this year found that a quarter of all married women in Japan have experienced physical violence, and one in three has suffered verbal and psychological abuse.

Police handled 25,210 cases of domestic violence last year, up by 20 percent from 2007 and the largest number since surveys began in 2002. Activists say those statistics, and the 77 domestic homicides reported in 2008, are an underestimate.

"The issue is hidden because many women are too frightened or ashamed to speak out," explained Fumi Suzuki, a lawyer and director of the Chiba-based Allies Law Office, which gives legal advice to battered wives. "Partly because of that, spousal abuse has a very low profile in Japan."

Suzuki was one of about 200 people who marched through Tokyo's Aoyama-Omotesando district last weekend in what was billed as Japan's first public demonstration by domestic violence victims.

Because many of the women (and a sprinkling of men) still live in fear of violent spouses, the route was kept secret and most of the marchers — and their children — wore Halloween masks.

In a sign of growing openness, however, the march was supported by cosmetics retailing giant The Body Shop. Social Democratic Party President Mizuho Fukushima, minister for gender equality in the new Democratic Party of Japan-led government, sent a letter of encouragement.

Some Tokyo shoppers along the route applauded the marchers, who held signs saying: "We are not to blame."

All of which is a disaster for women, and men, according to Masako Nomaki.

"The (2001) law is infused with communist ideology and is rooted in hatred of the family," said Nomaki, a teacher and conservative campaigner who wants the DV legislation repealed. "Men and women can work out their problems if the government stays out of family life."

Nomaki accuses Fukushima and other supporters of the law of "brainwashing" women and trying to "destroy" society. "They render all the guilt on the male side, but male-female relationships cannot be reduced to laws and punishment."

"So-called victims of domestic violence provide courts with evidence that is faked, distorted and exaggerated,"

Outspoken conservative responses like that are rare.

But the underlying assumption — that family is the bedrock of a stable society and should be immune to legal intervention — is not. Law or no, the police and courts still make life difficult for women looking for legal protection, argued lawyer Mami Nakano, who also represents domestic violence survivors.

She said police and judges sometimes blame the victims for provoking their husbands and are still wary of being proactive against violent partners in family disputes.

"I recently had to argue with a family-court judge about whether to leave a partition in place between my terrified client and the defendant."

Fear, and the dearth of open public debate in Japan, keeps women silent. Even during last week's demonstration, many wore hunted expressions beneath the candy-colored masks.

One abuse survivor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she grew more anxious for her children as the march worked its away down Omotesando because spectators were taking photographs.

"I'm afraid that my ex-husband might get hold of some of these pictures somewhere and will learn about my children's whereabouts."

Suzuki acknowledges the sea change in legal protection for battered wives since the 1990s, when the issue finally began to percolate into public view.

"It's only quite recently — and not just in Japan — that governments began to recognize they must intervene in the family to stop violence."

But like many campaigners, she believes the state is still only halfheartedly dealing with domestic violence.

"For example, women can now seek restraining orders, but once six months has lapsed they must go to court again and reapply. It's an ordeal, and if there has been no violence during that period a judge is likely to rule against her.

"It took a lot of courage for women to come out in public like this and demonstrate, so in that sense today's event is really very significant."

In at least one area, victims' lawyers and conservative opponents like Nomaki agree: Japan's deepening economic woes will increase tensions within society, and the home. Financial insecurity and the loss of male confidence are traditional harbingers of interfamily violence.

Yoshida said she owes her escape, along with her three children, to social workers and doctors who told her it was not her fault her husband was abusive. "They told me the children would be much better off without a father like that," she recalled.

Her husband was found dead in his apartment less than a year after their divorce became official. Yoshida was so traumatized from her beatings that for more than a month after his death, she was convinced he was playing a trick on her and was coming back. Even now, two years later, she says he still haunts her nightmares.

Now studying to become a nurse, her work and children, including a newborn, have helped her back on her feet.

"When I ran away, I made a commitment to cut the shackles that tied me to my husband and my children to the cycle of violence. Now I feel so free," she said while stroking her youngest daughter's hair. "I don't have to look around when I walk outside to see if he is chasing me."

Japan's NEC offers eyewear translator

Posted on - Thu Nov 5, 2009 3:22AM EST

TOKYO (AFP) - Most eyewear improves vision or cuts through solar glare, but a new gadget from Japan may soon sharpen linguistic skills and cut down language barriers instead, inventors said Thursday.

High-tech company NEC has come up with a device that it says will allow users to communicate with people of different languages.

Shaped like a pair of eye-glasses, but without the lenses, the computer-assisted Tele Scouter would use an imaging device to project almost real-time translations directly onto the user's retina.

The text -- provided instantly through voice recognition and translation programmes -- would effectively provide movie-like 'subtitles' during a conversation between two people wearing the glasses.

"You can keep the conversation flowing," NEC market development official Takayuki Omino told AFP at a Tokyo exposition where the device was on display.

"This could also be used for talks involving confidential information," negating the need for a human translator, said Omino.

Each user's spoken words would be picked up by a microphone, translated, and be instantly available for the counterpart in both visual text and as audio delivered through headphones.

Users can still see their conversation partner's face because the text is projected onto only part of the retina -- the first time such technology is used in a commercial product, according to NEC.

The company plans to launch the Tele Scouter in Japan in November next year, although initially without the translation mode.

NEC says the device can have other uses aside from translation.

For example, it could be useful for salespeople if it is linked with a camera, face-recognition software and a store's client database by instantly providing them with a customer's purchase history.

"It's best if you know the customer personally for individual sales pitches, but that can be difficult at big stores," Omino said. "This device can be a weapon for salespeople on the floor."

The model for sales staff and for translations is to be launched in 2011, Omino said.

A set intended for companies with 30 eyewear units would sell at 7.5 million yen (83,300 dollars), plus the cost of any customised software application.

Thaksin is officially appointed as Hun Sen's Economic Advisor

Source: Deum Ampil News, www.dap-news.com

Better schooling seen necessary for the future of youth, workforce

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 04 November 2009 15:00, James O'Toole

UN outlook for youth bleak on employment obstacles and economy

YOUNG Cambodians face increasingly daunting prospects for entering the Kingdom’s labour market, the United Nations said in a report released last week.

The report, titled “Situation Analysis of Youth in Cambodia”, was prepared to coincide with Saturday’s UN Day and is being launched at a ceremony this morning at the National Institute of Education. UN resident coordinator Douglas Broderick said that though the report also contains sections on health, education, rights and vulnerability, many of its most urgent recommendations focus on the issue of youth employment.

“This is the biggest issue affecting young people,” he said. “Cambodia has a young and vibrant workforce, but they lack the skills and training to achieve their full potential.”

People ages 10 to 24 currently comprise 34.7 percent of the Cambodian population – more than 300,000 leave school and look for work each year, and youth participation in the labour force is among the highest in the region, according to the report. However, recent economic growth has largely depended on a few key sectors: garments, construction and tourism, and these sectors are ill-equipped to further absorb large numbers of workers.

John McGeoghan, project manager at the Phnom Penh office of the International Organisation for Migration, said that Cambodia must account for the potential social dislocation that occurs when young people migrate from rural to urban areas in search of employment.

“What we are concerned about, perhaps in terms of trafficking, is that there are significant numbers of young people who don’t have a social network,” he said.

The UN analysis also noted this trend, but it emphasised the importance of expanding Cambodia’s labour capabilities in the agricultural sector, as the earning potential for youths entering the labour force is significantly lower in rural areas than it is in Phnom Penh.

Officials from the Ministry of Labour could not be reached for comment. In August, however, Ministry of Labour Director General Heng Sour told the Post that the government is currently sponsoring a job training programme supporting 40,000 people, 30,000 of whom are studying agricultural vocations.

“We are observing whether the economic crisis will continue and whether this training will be enough,” he said, adding that the Ministry of Economy and Finance will consider whether or not to renew this programme at the end of the year.

These sorts of initiatives, Broderick said, are crucial for the Kingdom to meet the challenge or a burgeoning working-age population. He adds, “Establishing programmes and opportunities for young people to develop work-related skills, such as more school-based vocational training, apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and opportunities in civil service … is essential.”

Cambodia To Pave Road To Preah Vihear Temple

PHNOM PENH, Nov 3 (Bernama) -- Royal Cambodian Armed Forces ( RCAF) will begin paving the 80 km dirt road from Oddar Meanchey province's Anlong Veng district to Preah Vihear temple before Nov 25, China's Xinhua news agency reported, citing officials from RCAF as saying in a local media.

"We will begin pave the road by the end of the month. The total distance is about 80 km. It may cost about US$10 million and it will be finished by June 2010," Kwann Seam, director of RCAF's engineering department, was quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.

He said that his team would begin surveying the road after the Water Festival in Phnom Penh is finished.

By April 2010, RCAF will begin paving another 22 km dirt road, this time to Ta Moan temple from Kork Mon commune in Oddar Meanchey province's Banteay Ampil district, he said.

Seam said that the paving of roads in the area is part of a larger project to pave all northern roads in the country.

"We hope that by 2013, all the roads in the northern area will be paved," he said.

Major General Srey Doek, commander of RCAF Division 3, said that despite ongoing tension between Cambodia and Thailand over Preah Vihear temple, tourists should not worry about safety.

In Cambodia, a Cry for Small-Scale Subsidies

November 2, 2009
By Simon Marks
The New York Times

A $20 solar-powered lamp could benefit millions of rural Cambodian residents, but most still can’t afford it. Subsidies, its makers say, are sorely needed. (Kamworks)

Generous subsidies for businesses and tax incentives for consumers are needed if developing countries like Cambodia are to promote renewable energy alternatives — particularly in rural areas — a conference in Phnom Penh on green energy was told last week.

At the moment, conference participants complained, such incentives are sorely lacking.

“Cambodian investors have low investment capital,” said Rin Seyha, the managing director of SME Renewable Energy, a Cambodian-based renewable energy investment firm. Unlike neighboring Vietnam, there is very little in the way of tax incentives and subsidies on loans for renewable energy companies, he said.

Jeroen Verschelling, the director of Kamworks, a Cambodian-based solar energy company, said consumers who wish to use more environmentally friendly energy sources are often forced to ask for assistance from microfinance institutions that tend to provide loans with extremely high interest rates.

Mr Verschelling complained that large scale coal plant and hydropower projects are able to easily secure financing. For smaller, renewable projects, “it is much harder to do that,” he said.

According to the environmental group Geres, 80 percent of Cambodia’s energy consumption comes from biomass, mostly from burning timber. The United Nations Development Program estimates that just 20 percent of the population has access to the national power grid.

Small, renewable energy developers say this means most energy-sector financing is directed at projects that benefit only a fifth of Cambodia’s residents.

Kamworks has recently launched a basic solar powered light for people in rural areas. The lamp, which retails for about $20, needs direct sunlight during the day and at night runs for about 12 hours on its lowest setting, or about three hours on its highest.

“To pay $20 at once is a huge amount for local people,” said Patrick Kooijman, the marketing director for Kamworks, who added that the lamps really ought to be given away for free. “I think that the private sector getting involved in things like this is the only way it really can work in the long term.”

Meanwhile, Margaret Ryan, an energy consultant for Khmer Solar, which specializes in solar power installation, said that despite government efforts to slash import tariffs on equipment used for renewable energy sources — tariff rates on imports have been reduced from 35 percent to seven percent on items such as solar panels and battery chargers and have been altogether eliminated for items such as wind and hydraulic turbines — the Cambodian consumer is generally unable to afford the costs of installing solar panels.

“Even if labor is very inexpensive, it is still costly,” she said. “Any expense is too much expense.”

In order to reduce prices, Khmer solar is encouraging Cambodians to install the equipment themselves by disseminating simple installation leaflets and employing operators who can troubleshoot for clients with technical issues.

But these efforts are merely a drop in the pond when trying to make any major inroad into Cambodia’s energy sector.

“The next obstacle to overcome will be a workable plan for a subsidy,” Ms. Ryan said. “It would be wonderful if the government subsidizes the poorest to get solar systems. But I doubt it will happen.”