Updated January 21, 2010 11:13:47
The United Nations cultural organisation UNESCO says one language becomes extinct every fortnight. By the end of this century, the world will likely lose half of its 6,700 languages. Cambodia has 19 languages listed as endangered, and it is unlikely that many of them will survive the next 90 years.
Presenter: Robert Carmichael
Speakers: Dr Jean-Michel Filippi, linguist; Mr Noi, S'aoch villager; Blaise Kilian, UNESCO; Ron Watt, CARE International
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CAMBODIAN VILLAGER: (S'aoch)
CARMICHAEL: You might have guessed that those words are the numbers from one to ten in someone else's language - in this case, that language is known as S'aoch and it is found in one small village in southern Cambodia. The S'aoch word for ten is LOP. And that is also the total number of people who are fluent in the 5,000-year-old language. In short S'aoch is dying. Language experts reckon it has perhaps 10 years before it disappears for ever. That is because the 110 S'aoch people prefer to speak Khmer, the language of the majority of Cambodians, rather than their own tongue. Dr Jean-Michel Filippi is a linguist who speaks more than a dozen languages. Filippi is studying S'aoch and has transcribed around 4,000 S'aoch words to date. His target, once the dictionary is completed, is a grammar book. Transcribing is a laborious process - here is Filippi using the Khmer language to transcribe the S'aoch word for durian, the pungent fruit common to Southeast Asia, with Mr Noi, the village chief, and his 40-year-old son, Tuem.
FILIPPI, NOI AND TUEM: (KHMER AND S'AOCH)
CARMICHAEL: And what does that mean?
FILIPPI: Durian.
CARMICHAEL: The durian fruit.
FILIPPI: Absolutely, absolutely.
CARMICHAEL: It is painstaking stuff, and even Filippi acknowledges S'aoch has no chance of survival. So why bother?
FILIPPI: Culturally-speaking a language is a unique vision of the world. You can take two languages which may appear to be - if not similar [then] very close to each other, like French for instance and English - in fact the vision of the world which applies in the French language or the English language are totally, totally different. If language disappears, a whole vision of the world disappears as well at the same time.
CARMICHAEL: Filippi explains that the S'aoch suffered such extreme poverty that they have rejected their own language and culture in favour of Khmer, hoping things will improve.
FILIPPI: In the case of the S'aoch they apparently want to get rid of their language and their cultural institution because it is linked to their poverty, to I would say to their economic situation, which compared to the Khmers is a very poor one, and so on and so on.
CARMICHAEL: But the S'aoch people are not alone in facing language extinction. The UN cultural body UNESCO says at least 19 languages spoken in Cambodia are at risk. Blaise Kilian is UNESCO's joint programme coordinator in Phnom Penh. He says the obvious factor in the demise of any language is having too few people who are fluent.
KILIAN: But besides this you have the environment. You have the way people themselves - especially the new generation - react to the change of environment. How much they are interested in preserving and transmitting their own languages. It's a number of I would say internal and external factors which play an important role besides the number of speakers.
CARMICHAEL: Kilian says the outlook for many of Cambodia's languages is bleak. But measures are being taken to revitalise some minority languages in the country's north and north-east. One step is bilingual education for schoolchildren. CARE International, an NGO, started a bilingual school programme seven years ago - it is now used in 25 schools and last year benefited 1,900 children. Ron Watt, CARE's education adviser, says the programme has gone from strength to strength.
WATT: Bilingual education is really spreading - people are very enthusiastic about it.
CARMICHAEL: Ron Watt explains that children in the first year of school use their own language for 80 per cent of classes with the rest of instruction in Khmer. The proportion of minority language used drops over the following two years, and by the time Grade 4 begins, all instruction is in Khmer. It's not ideal, but it is better than nothing. Good though that is, the lessons from the S'aoch are instructive and worrying. Their descent into poverty started when they lost their land 30 years ago. In today's Cambodia land-grabbing is rife, particularly in the north-east where many minority peoples live. With 19 local languages endangered, it is anyone's guess as to just how many Cambodia will have lost by the end of the century. This is Robert Carmichael in Phnom Penh. (S'aoch)
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Golf and the great Lao land grab
Jan 21, 2010
By Beaumont Smith
Asia Times Online
VIENTIANE - It is easy to be seduced by the peaceful rural scenes, punctuated by rice fields, vegetable patches and reed-filled wetlands. But behind the natural tapestry, tension and anger are brimming over in the local communities near the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge outside of the Lao capital.
The communal complaint: their long self-sustaining community will on government orders soon be converted into an 18-hole golf course, luxury hotel and top-end residential developments, and the compensation on offer to relocate is well below going market land prices.
The Vietnam-owned Long Thanh Golf Trading and Investment Joint Stock Company, the developer behind the US$1 billion project, has already placed survey stakes and bulldozed certain areas in the 557 hectare plot. To make way for the construction, which is scheduled for completion in 12 years, over 250 mostly poor families will be forced to abandon their communities and small farms.
Some, however, have bravely braced for a fight. "If I had a gun I would kill them. I do not know what to do," said Khampheng, a teary-eyed community member. "I fought for this country, I fought for my land. I watched my friends die to defend Laos. Now the government is forcing us off. What did I fight for? I am losing the land I have lived on since the war. I am too old to start again."
His are bold words in authoritarian-run Laos, where the regime brooks no dissent or media criticism. As the economy transitions towards more market driven economics, the landlocked country has undergone a quiet economic boom in recent years, with average gross domestic product growth averaging around 6%.
At the same time the country's Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, has steadily increased, indicating a widening gap between rich and poor amid rising economic growth. Recent widespread and broad scale land grabs have become part and parcel of the government's new market-led development model, as witnessed in recent years in neighboring Cambodia and Thailand.
As in many traditional societies, land in Laos is often held by tacit agreement rather than legal deeds. In some cases land was given by the state to those deemed worthy, like soldiers. Now that land is becoming a highly prized commodity, traditional land rights are being overturned by state power.
The people living on the 557 hectare proposed site are poor and live off the land. Some are retired soldiers, who like Khampheng have lived here since hostilities ended in the 1970s. A few are civil servants. "I can't live on my government salary," one said in passable English. "I have to grow food; my wife sells any surplus. The money they're offering is not enough to buy land like this and there is none nearby that we can afford."
A man in Nahai village told this correspondent that he did not wish to give up his land but had been told by the village chief that if he did not accept the government's compensation offer, the land would be sequestered anyway and he would receive nothing. "One day when I die I would like to give this land to my children, but now what do I have? They told me I can work on the golf course, but I am too old, and what would I eat - grass?"
State-led trespassing
The state-backed Long Tranh project, according to some expatriate consultants monitoring the situation, is typical of the rampant land grabbing now underway across this impoverished country. Like many controversial developments here, it appears to have the imprimatur of Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, who some onlookers believe will one day make a run for the presidency.
At a January 4 groundbreaking ceremony, Somsavat insisted that the government would create "favorable conditions" for the Long Tranh project. That was read by some as a tacit threat to those who have voiced opposition to the development. Villagers have reported a heavy police presence as well as Vietnamese security guards positioned around the now cordoned off site.
Beyond Somsavat's public appearance, it's unclear which level of government is driving the contested project. The $1 billion price tag is indicative of central government involvement. Negotiations and attempts to mollify angry villagers, however, have so far been handled mostly by district and local level authorities.
Long Thanh is known to be partially owned by a group of retired Vietnamese army officials who fought in Laos during the revolutionary conflicts, according to soldiers on the construction site and releases from the Lao government mouthpiece media. The company's principal, Le Van Kiem, a Vietnamese Communist Party member and ardent golf fan, has expressed his aim to establish the most beautiful golf courses in Asia, according to the Hanoi Golf Club's website.
Prior to the project's launch, the Vietnamese army gave their Lao counterparts a gift of armaments, according to a Lao army official who spoke with this correspondent. It’s unclear if the gift in any way paved the way for the project's concession, but as people living in the project's target area expressed dissent to the development, the Ministry of Defense sent officials to investigate.
They told Khampheng - a retired soldier viewed by many here as a community leader - that he should be among the first to demolish his fence and make way for the development to set an example for other community members to follow. Many villagers have already acquiesced to incessant pressure from the authorities and threats of jail time if they did not move to an already crowded relocation site adjacent to the project.
According to several villagers, many were told by authorities that they could be charged with treason if they refused to leave the land. Opposition to government policy and state-led development plans carries the threat of long jail sentences in Laos.
Those living in the area's Nong Hew and Xiengda villages have agreed to give up their land, which has caused rifts with the villagers in nearby Nahai and Dongkhamsang who are still holding out. "They didn't know their rights and so they gave up easily. I pay land tax and I am being told I do not have a title, so I will not get any money. Who are they talking to? I will fight this, even if I die," said an elderly lady from one of the opposed villages.
"Even though I have not signed over my land, I am afraid that their tractors will uproot my garden," said another villager, requesting anonymity. "I know I have a right to plant as the land is still mine, but other people who like me have not signed have had their trees and gardens destroyed. I decided not to plant beans and cucumbers. What is the use if they come and bulldoze my crops? But now I have no income."
Others have complained that they have been barred by Vietnamese soldiers from gathering mushrooms in a nearby copse that until now had been a mutually accepted commons. One woman reported that when she had taken her two cows to graze in a nearby marsh, she was turned away by an armed soldier.
"Why are Vietnamese soldiers in Laos? This is our country, what gives them the right to not let us use land we have always used?" she asked. "I can tell you about the soldiers, but if I complain to the authorities they tell me that I will be arrested."
The presence of Vietnamese soldiers around the project raises touchy issues of sovereignty between the two neighboring, nominally communist allies.
On January 9, the situation on the project's site escalated with the unauthorized bulldozing of one woman's land. The community believed she was targeted for reprisal because she refused five days earlier to host a ground breaking ceremony on her plot.
"They are staging war," she said. "It's not the war of old times in the forest, but a war in the city against their own people."
At one point during the confrontation, local men grabbed her toppled fence palings and advanced on the bulldozers, but they retreated after guards cocked their guns, according to one eyewitness. District head Khamla Chandala arrived on the scene later that afternoon to speak with the aggrieved villagers, many of whom openly challenged his authority. He ordered those who photographed soldiers and taped his presentations to stop recording the heated event.
Bureaucratic layer cake
These events are typical of the Lao government's lack of transparency; its bureaucracy is notoriously convoluted and unaccountable to the public. In this particular case, none of the threatened villagers can pinpoint which branch of government is directly responsible for the project's administration.
Many first read about the $1 billion project in the Vientiane Mai, a Lao language-newspaper, while others only learned about it when they saw unidentified men planting survey pegs outside their houses and rice fields, or when the same individuals demolished their fences and orchards to make way for construction equipment.
Villagers have sent protest letters to the various bureaus of the Land Management Department, the National Assembly and even the Prime Minister's Office. So far they have been met with government delegations that showed no willingness to compromise. Meanwhile government appointed village heads have threatened villagers who refused to move.
Nearly all here agree that the compensation on offer isn't sufficient to buy suitable replacement lands and most have no idea where they could viably resettle. Land prices around Vientiane have steadily increased in recent years. One woman was offered 40 million kip (around US$4,700) by mediating officials for her 3 hectares of paddy, garden plots and house at the center of the project's site.
"It's not enough," she said. "Besides I have to pay the village headman to get my compensation. If I don't pay him, he will not put his signature on the documents." She notes that one hectare of land in the same vicinity on the outskirts of Vientiane was recently advertised on a real estate site for $50,000.
Some believe that funds allocated to the Lao government by Long Thanh to purchase the contested land have been siphoned off by unscrupulous officials. "One of the Vietnamese said the company had given 12 billion kip to the government to pay us for the land," said one old man at the project's site. "Where is it?"
Outsiders have questioned the underlying economics of the project. "There will soon be more golf courses than people playing golf," claimed Robert Howard, a resident of Udon Thani, Thailand and frequent visitor to Laos. "When I play [golf in Laos], there are usually never more than another three guys playing, so I wonder how can they justify more courses."
Ironically, the Long Than project is sited right next to another golf course, which is usually empty. But that's not what concerns soon-to-be-displaced villagers. After one woman villager threatened Vietnamese workers who demolished her fence, a delegation of Lao officials was sent to investigate.
On their arrival, she accused them of allowing the destruction of her trees and fences by foreigners and once again refused to sign over her land. When fellow villagers chimed in with their complaints and grievances, the officials beat a nervous retreat, according to one eyewitness to the incident.
The woman who started the impromptu protest has since been warned by government insiders that she could be framed for a minor offence and jailed to send a signal to others still resisting the project - as well as exact revenge for the officials who publicly lost face. She has since left her home over fears for her personal security.
Some wonder whether the mounting anger and resentment could energize a larger grassroots movement against government-backed land grabbing across the country. "It's interesting that Laos is surrounded by ferociously nationalistic countries," said a foreign agriculture consultant, who requested anonymity.
"Look at China and Vietnam, who have not yielded one centimeter of territory, and Thailand and Cambodia arguing about a temple. But Laos is giving the nation away for peanuts," he added. "The Vietnamese, Koreans and the Chinese must be laughing at how easy it is to buy land ... What is going to be left for the Laos? If they try to fight for their land, they get kicked in the face."
Others have noted similar grassroots protests in the old royal capital of Luang Prabang, where prime rice fields have also been set aside by the government for a vast golf course complex. A British man living in the area said that there had already been noisy local protests over the project.
"The people couldn't buy a dog kennel with what they were being offered [in government compensation]," he said. "It's a prime rice-growing area, that's why people are living there. Why would you give land like that away so that a few Charlies can play golf?"
Beaumont Smith is a Vientiane-based correspondent.
By Beaumont Smith
Asia Times Online
VIENTIANE - It is easy to be seduced by the peaceful rural scenes, punctuated by rice fields, vegetable patches and reed-filled wetlands. But behind the natural tapestry, tension and anger are brimming over in the local communities near the Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge outside of the Lao capital.
The communal complaint: their long self-sustaining community will on government orders soon be converted into an 18-hole golf course, luxury hotel and top-end residential developments, and the compensation on offer to relocate is well below going market land prices.
The Vietnam-owned Long Thanh Golf Trading and Investment Joint Stock Company, the developer behind the US$1 billion project, has already placed survey stakes and bulldozed certain areas in the 557 hectare plot. To make way for the construction, which is scheduled for completion in 12 years, over 250 mostly poor families will be forced to abandon their communities and small farms.
Some, however, have bravely braced for a fight. "If I had a gun I would kill them. I do not know what to do," said Khampheng, a teary-eyed community member. "I fought for this country, I fought for my land. I watched my friends die to defend Laos. Now the government is forcing us off. What did I fight for? I am losing the land I have lived on since the war. I am too old to start again."
His are bold words in authoritarian-run Laos, where the regime brooks no dissent or media criticism. As the economy transitions towards more market driven economics, the landlocked country has undergone a quiet economic boom in recent years, with average gross domestic product growth averaging around 6%.
At the same time the country's Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality, has steadily increased, indicating a widening gap between rich and poor amid rising economic growth. Recent widespread and broad scale land grabs have become part and parcel of the government's new market-led development model, as witnessed in recent years in neighboring Cambodia and Thailand.
As in many traditional societies, land in Laos is often held by tacit agreement rather than legal deeds. In some cases land was given by the state to those deemed worthy, like soldiers. Now that land is becoming a highly prized commodity, traditional land rights are being overturned by state power.
The people living on the 557 hectare proposed site are poor and live off the land. Some are retired soldiers, who like Khampheng have lived here since hostilities ended in the 1970s. A few are civil servants. "I can't live on my government salary," one said in passable English. "I have to grow food; my wife sells any surplus. The money they're offering is not enough to buy land like this and there is none nearby that we can afford."
A man in Nahai village told this correspondent that he did not wish to give up his land but had been told by the village chief that if he did not accept the government's compensation offer, the land would be sequestered anyway and he would receive nothing. "One day when I die I would like to give this land to my children, but now what do I have? They told me I can work on the golf course, but I am too old, and what would I eat - grass?"
State-led trespassing
The state-backed Long Tranh project, according to some expatriate consultants monitoring the situation, is typical of the rampant land grabbing now underway across this impoverished country. Like many controversial developments here, it appears to have the imprimatur of Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, who some onlookers believe will one day make a run for the presidency.
At a January 4 groundbreaking ceremony, Somsavat insisted that the government would create "favorable conditions" for the Long Tranh project. That was read by some as a tacit threat to those who have voiced opposition to the development. Villagers have reported a heavy police presence as well as Vietnamese security guards positioned around the now cordoned off site.
Beyond Somsavat's public appearance, it's unclear which level of government is driving the contested project. The $1 billion price tag is indicative of central government involvement. Negotiations and attempts to mollify angry villagers, however, have so far been handled mostly by district and local level authorities.
Long Thanh is known to be partially owned by a group of retired Vietnamese army officials who fought in Laos during the revolutionary conflicts, according to soldiers on the construction site and releases from the Lao government mouthpiece media. The company's principal, Le Van Kiem, a Vietnamese Communist Party member and ardent golf fan, has expressed his aim to establish the most beautiful golf courses in Asia, according to the Hanoi Golf Club's website.
Prior to the project's launch, the Vietnamese army gave their Lao counterparts a gift of armaments, according to a Lao army official who spoke with this correspondent. It’s unclear if the gift in any way paved the way for the project's concession, but as people living in the project's target area expressed dissent to the development, the Ministry of Defense sent officials to investigate.
They told Khampheng - a retired soldier viewed by many here as a community leader - that he should be among the first to demolish his fence and make way for the development to set an example for other community members to follow. Many villagers have already acquiesced to incessant pressure from the authorities and threats of jail time if they did not move to an already crowded relocation site adjacent to the project.
According to several villagers, many were told by authorities that they could be charged with treason if they refused to leave the land. Opposition to government policy and state-led development plans carries the threat of long jail sentences in Laos.
Those living in the area's Nong Hew and Xiengda villages have agreed to give up their land, which has caused rifts with the villagers in nearby Nahai and Dongkhamsang who are still holding out. "They didn't know their rights and so they gave up easily. I pay land tax and I am being told I do not have a title, so I will not get any money. Who are they talking to? I will fight this, even if I die," said an elderly lady from one of the opposed villages.
"Even though I have not signed over my land, I am afraid that their tractors will uproot my garden," said another villager, requesting anonymity. "I know I have a right to plant as the land is still mine, but other people who like me have not signed have had their trees and gardens destroyed. I decided not to plant beans and cucumbers. What is the use if they come and bulldoze my crops? But now I have no income."
Others have complained that they have been barred by Vietnamese soldiers from gathering mushrooms in a nearby copse that until now had been a mutually accepted commons. One woman reported that when she had taken her two cows to graze in a nearby marsh, she was turned away by an armed soldier.
"Why are Vietnamese soldiers in Laos? This is our country, what gives them the right to not let us use land we have always used?" she asked. "I can tell you about the soldiers, but if I complain to the authorities they tell me that I will be arrested."
The presence of Vietnamese soldiers around the project raises touchy issues of sovereignty between the two neighboring, nominally communist allies.
On January 9, the situation on the project's site escalated with the unauthorized bulldozing of one woman's land. The community believed she was targeted for reprisal because she refused five days earlier to host a ground breaking ceremony on her plot.
"They are staging war," she said. "It's not the war of old times in the forest, but a war in the city against their own people."
At one point during the confrontation, local men grabbed her toppled fence palings and advanced on the bulldozers, but they retreated after guards cocked their guns, according to one eyewitness. District head Khamla Chandala arrived on the scene later that afternoon to speak with the aggrieved villagers, many of whom openly challenged his authority. He ordered those who photographed soldiers and taped his presentations to stop recording the heated event.
Bureaucratic layer cake
These events are typical of the Lao government's lack of transparency; its bureaucracy is notoriously convoluted and unaccountable to the public. In this particular case, none of the threatened villagers can pinpoint which branch of government is directly responsible for the project's administration.
Many first read about the $1 billion project in the Vientiane Mai, a Lao language-newspaper, while others only learned about it when they saw unidentified men planting survey pegs outside their houses and rice fields, or when the same individuals demolished their fences and orchards to make way for construction equipment.
Villagers have sent protest letters to the various bureaus of the Land Management Department, the National Assembly and even the Prime Minister's Office. So far they have been met with government delegations that showed no willingness to compromise. Meanwhile government appointed village heads have threatened villagers who refused to move.
Nearly all here agree that the compensation on offer isn't sufficient to buy suitable replacement lands and most have no idea where they could viably resettle. Land prices around Vientiane have steadily increased in recent years. One woman was offered 40 million kip (around US$4,700) by mediating officials for her 3 hectares of paddy, garden plots and house at the center of the project's site.
"It's not enough," she said. "Besides I have to pay the village headman to get my compensation. If I don't pay him, he will not put his signature on the documents." She notes that one hectare of land in the same vicinity on the outskirts of Vientiane was recently advertised on a real estate site for $50,000.
Some believe that funds allocated to the Lao government by Long Thanh to purchase the contested land have been siphoned off by unscrupulous officials. "One of the Vietnamese said the company had given 12 billion kip to the government to pay us for the land," said one old man at the project's site. "Where is it?"
Outsiders have questioned the underlying economics of the project. "There will soon be more golf courses than people playing golf," claimed Robert Howard, a resident of Udon Thani, Thailand and frequent visitor to Laos. "When I play [golf in Laos], there are usually never more than another three guys playing, so I wonder how can they justify more courses."
Ironically, the Long Than project is sited right next to another golf course, which is usually empty. But that's not what concerns soon-to-be-displaced villagers. After one woman villager threatened Vietnamese workers who demolished her fence, a delegation of Lao officials was sent to investigate.
On their arrival, she accused them of allowing the destruction of her trees and fences by foreigners and once again refused to sign over her land. When fellow villagers chimed in with their complaints and grievances, the officials beat a nervous retreat, according to one eyewitness to the incident.
The woman who started the impromptu protest has since been warned by government insiders that she could be framed for a minor offence and jailed to send a signal to others still resisting the project - as well as exact revenge for the officials who publicly lost face. She has since left her home over fears for her personal security.
Some wonder whether the mounting anger and resentment could energize a larger grassroots movement against government-backed land grabbing across the country. "It's interesting that Laos is surrounded by ferociously nationalistic countries," said a foreign agriculture consultant, who requested anonymity.
"Look at China and Vietnam, who have not yielded one centimeter of territory, and Thailand and Cambodia arguing about a temple. But Laos is giving the nation away for peanuts," he added. "The Vietnamese, Koreans and the Chinese must be laughing at how easy it is to buy land ... What is going to be left for the Laos? If they try to fight for their land, they get kicked in the face."
Others have noted similar grassroots protests in the old royal capital of Luang Prabang, where prime rice fields have also been set aside by the government for a vast golf course complex. A British man living in the area said that there had already been noisy local protests over the project.
"The people couldn't buy a dog kennel with what they were being offered [in government compensation]," he said. "It's a prime rice-growing area, that's why people are living there. Why would you give land like that away so that a few Charlies can play golf?"
Beaumont Smith is a Vientiane-based correspondent.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Forex reserves up 25pc
The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:00 Nguon Sovan
FOREIGN reserves increased 25.2 percent to US$2.6 billion in 2009, from $2.07 billion in 2008, according to Monday’s central bank annual report. The reserves now held could fund four months of imports into the Kingdom, it added. According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report released in December, gross official reserves were thought to have stayed broadly stable in 2009, compared to 2008. But the IMF predicted reserves would fall modestly in 2010, as loose fiscal policy and a widening current account deficit more than offset both official and foreign direct investment flows.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:00 Nguon Sovan
FOREIGN reserves increased 25.2 percent to US$2.6 billion in 2009, from $2.07 billion in 2008, according to Monday’s central bank annual report. The reserves now held could fund four months of imports into the Kingdom, it added. According to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report released in December, gross official reserves were thought to have stayed broadly stable in 2009, compared to 2008. But the IMF predicted reserves would fall modestly in 2010, as loose fiscal policy and a widening current account deficit more than offset both official and foreign direct investment flows.
Women see Facebook as a recipe for business success
The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:01 Ellie Dyer
Networking site a new forum for Cambodian businesswomen
A female worker takes a look at the Cambodia Women in Business page on Facebook Tuesday. The group reached 100 members Monday, a figure that is still rising.
UNDERREPRESENTED female entrepreneurs in the Kingdom are utilising the Internet in a bid to discuss their problems and encourage business growth.
A group called Cambodia Women in Business has set up on social-networking site Facebook to act as a forum for businesswomen.
It was started by female participants in the Government-Private Sector Forum (G-PSF), a group that facilitates business discussions between the public and private sectors. They found that only 10 percent of participants were women, despite a 2009 study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Asia Foundation which found that 55 percent of private businesses in Cambodia were owned by females.
A spokeswoman for the IFC Coordination Bureau, which organises the forum, explained that participation by women in formal associations and forums may be lower, as many operate small and informal enterprises.
The IFC hopes that for some, the forum will provide an accessible place where gender-related issues can be discussed.
Julie Brickell of the IFC explained in an email Tuesday: “Two things happened to start this off. Women participating in the forum wanted to come together to discuss problems they face as entrepreneurs, and to help each other. They also wanted to reach other women who are not participating in the forum and draw them in.
“Since these women were all using the Internet, they thought setting up a Facebook page would be a good means of facilitating dialogue on this topic.”
Since its launch in November, over 100 women and men have become members of the site. They post links to academic studies, newspaper articles and discussions on gender equality in Cambodia.
The IFC reports the reaction has “been very enthusiastic” so far. It hopes that by promoting women’s empowerment, they can fuel economic growth within the business community and so reduce poverty.
Former women’s minister Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party welcomed the move, but said she believes that underlying issues causing gender inequality need to be addressed in Cambodia, and that the Internet is an inaccessible resource in much of the country.
She pointed to a lack of education, the pressures for women as carers, societal values and poverty – as well as considerations such as micro-finance interest rates – as factors holding women back in developing small businesses such as tailors, grocery stores and wedding outfitters.
Scholars from the Shinawatra International University in Thailand and Preston University in Cambodia interviewed 61 female entrepreneurs in Phnom Penh in 2009 and reported that 47.5 percent of respondents had a problem balancing work with being a housewife, 14.8 percent reported resistance from their husband’s family and 9.8 percent spoke of the indifferent or hostile attitude of society towards female entrepreneurs.
“Anything that is helping women in business have access to information is a good thing. If women were more educated, they’d be able to use computers and the Internet. In turn, that would help advance their businesses,” said Mu Sochua.
However, she said, gender relations in the Kingdom are changing as female role models – such as radio presenters – reach the public eye.
“But women themselves have to be more confident. Women’s empowerment in all sectors is so important.”
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:01 Ellie Dyer
Networking site a new forum for Cambodian businesswomen
A female worker takes a look at the Cambodia Women in Business page on Facebook Tuesday. The group reached 100 members Monday, a figure that is still rising.UNDERREPRESENTED female entrepreneurs in the Kingdom are utilising the Internet in a bid to discuss their problems and encourage business growth.
A group called Cambodia Women in Business has set up on social-networking site Facebook to act as a forum for businesswomen.
It was started by female participants in the Government-Private Sector Forum (G-PSF), a group that facilitates business discussions between the public and private sectors. They found that only 10 percent of participants were women, despite a 2009 study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Asia Foundation which found that 55 percent of private businesses in Cambodia were owned by females.
A spokeswoman for the IFC Coordination Bureau, which organises the forum, explained that participation by women in formal associations and forums may be lower, as many operate small and informal enterprises.
The IFC hopes that for some, the forum will provide an accessible place where gender-related issues can be discussed.
Julie Brickell of the IFC explained in an email Tuesday: “Two things happened to start this off. Women participating in the forum wanted to come together to discuss problems they face as entrepreneurs, and to help each other. They also wanted to reach other women who are not participating in the forum and draw them in.
“Since these women were all using the Internet, they thought setting up a Facebook page would be a good means of facilitating dialogue on this topic.”
Since its launch in November, over 100 women and men have become members of the site. They post links to academic studies, newspaper articles and discussions on gender equality in Cambodia.
The IFC reports the reaction has “been very enthusiastic” so far. It hopes that by promoting women’s empowerment, they can fuel economic growth within the business community and so reduce poverty.
Former women’s minister Mu Sochua of the Sam Rainsy Party welcomed the move, but said she believes that underlying issues causing gender inequality need to be addressed in Cambodia, and that the Internet is an inaccessible resource in much of the country.
She pointed to a lack of education, the pressures for women as carers, societal values and poverty – as well as considerations such as micro-finance interest rates – as factors holding women back in developing small businesses such as tailors, grocery stores and wedding outfitters.
Scholars from the Shinawatra International University in Thailand and Preston University in Cambodia interviewed 61 female entrepreneurs in Phnom Penh in 2009 and reported that 47.5 percent of respondents had a problem balancing work with being a housewife, 14.8 percent reported resistance from their husband’s family and 9.8 percent spoke of the indifferent or hostile attitude of society towards female entrepreneurs.
“Anything that is helping women in business have access to information is a good thing. If women were more educated, they’d be able to use computers and the Internet. In turn, that would help advance their businesses,” said Mu Sochua.
However, she said, gender relations in the Kingdom are changing as female role models – such as radio presenters – reach the public eye.
“But women themselves have to be more confident. Women’s empowerment in all sectors is so important.”
Mong Riththy fires up 'clean' charcoal brand
The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:01 Chun Sophal
MONG Riththy Group is preparing to put “cleaner” charcoal on the domestic market after a US$10 million investment, its president told the Post Tuesday.
In the coming two weeks, the company is set to introduce between 250 and 1,000 tonnes of Acacia charcoal on the domestic market each month at a price of 1,200 riels (US$0.30) per kilogram, said Mong Riththy.
The special charcoal is thought to be cleaner than the domestic charcoal used normally, as it burns at a high heat and does not produce as much smoke as other varieties.
It has been produced using wood from Acacia trees planted in 2005 on 3,200 hectares of land in the Keo Phos area of Stueng Hav district, Preah Sihanouk province, Mong Riththy said.
“We hope that our company will be successful in putting its clean charcoal into the market because the product is easy to use, burns well, and does not affect the health of users,” he explained Tuesday.
He added that a grinding plant and 50 charcoal kilns have been built to process the wood, which is mixed with palm oil shells to produce the charcoal.
Mong Riththy said he hopes to encourage people to grow Acacia trees to avoid cutting down the Kingdom’s natural forests. One hectare of the crop, which takes five years to mature, could earn about $500 per year, he added.
Government officials welcomed the move to produce cleaner fuel.
Ty Sokun, director general of the Department of Forestry Administration, said Tuesday that people throughout the country cut down around 3.5 million tonnes of wood to use as cooking charcoal each year.
According to a report from the Department of Forest Administration, 70 percent of the firewood people use to cook in Cambodia is cut from natural forest. The other 30 percent is cut from fruit trees.
“We believe that it is a good idea to produce clean charcoal because it will help reduce the demand for firewood from natural forests,” said Ty Sokun.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:01 Chun Sophal
MONG Riththy Group is preparing to put “cleaner” charcoal on the domestic market after a US$10 million investment, its president told the Post Tuesday.
In the coming two weeks, the company is set to introduce between 250 and 1,000 tonnes of Acacia charcoal on the domestic market each month at a price of 1,200 riels (US$0.30) per kilogram, said Mong Riththy.
The special charcoal is thought to be cleaner than the domestic charcoal used normally, as it burns at a high heat and does not produce as much smoke as other varieties.
It has been produced using wood from Acacia trees planted in 2005 on 3,200 hectares of land in the Keo Phos area of Stueng Hav district, Preah Sihanouk province, Mong Riththy said.
“We hope that our company will be successful in putting its clean charcoal into the market because the product is easy to use, burns well, and does not affect the health of users,” he explained Tuesday.
He added that a grinding plant and 50 charcoal kilns have been built to process the wood, which is mixed with palm oil shells to produce the charcoal.
Mong Riththy said he hopes to encourage people to grow Acacia trees to avoid cutting down the Kingdom’s natural forests. One hectare of the crop, which takes five years to mature, could earn about $500 per year, he added.
Government officials welcomed the move to produce cleaner fuel.
Ty Sokun, director general of the Department of Forestry Administration, said Tuesday that people throughout the country cut down around 3.5 million tonnes of wood to use as cooking charcoal each year.
According to a report from the Department of Forest Administration, 70 percent of the firewood people use to cook in Cambodia is cut from natural forest. The other 30 percent is cut from fruit trees.
“We believe that it is a good idea to produce clean charcoal because it will help reduce the demand for firewood from natural forests,” said Ty Sokun.
Nobel laureate to push PM on school reform
The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:03
By Ellie Dyer
Photo by: Rick Valenzuela
Economist and Nobel laureate Eric Maskin speaks at the Hotel Cambodiana on Tuesday.
A NOBEL Prize-winning economist said Tuesday that he intends to discuss the “critical” gap between rich and poor, and emphasise the importance of improving the national education system when he meets with Prime Minister Hun Sen later this week.
Professor Eric Maskin, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2007, is scheduled to meet with the premier on Thursday as part of the International Peace Foundation’s “Bridges for Peace” lecture programme.
In an interview Tuesday, he said he believed the rapid economic growth Cambodia experienced prior to the global economic downturn had left the country with a severe skills gap because the rich had disproportionately benefited from access to education.
It will be necessary to close the chasm that resulted in order to improve the Kingdom’s economic prospects, he said.
“I think education is critically important for Cambodia. I don’t think an economy can truly prosper when an equality gap is too high,” he said.
“It can be a socially and politically disruptive force if people are living in such different circumstances, and I’m afraid the gap between rich and poor will continue to grow.”
He added: “I’d like to raise this with Hun Sen. I feel strongly that on the basis of the evidence and the data that education has to be a priority of the government in development.”
Maskin will deliver a lecture titled “Why Global Markets Fail to Reduce Equality” at the University of Cambodia today at 2pm.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:03
By Ellie Dyer
Photo by: Rick ValenzuelaEconomist and Nobel laureate Eric Maskin speaks at the Hotel Cambodiana on Tuesday.
A NOBEL Prize-winning economist said Tuesday that he intends to discuss the “critical” gap between rich and poor, and emphasise the importance of improving the national education system when he meets with Prime Minister Hun Sen later this week.
Professor Eric Maskin, who won the Nobel Prize for economics in 2007, is scheduled to meet with the premier on Thursday as part of the International Peace Foundation’s “Bridges for Peace” lecture programme.
In an interview Tuesday, he said he believed the rapid economic growth Cambodia experienced prior to the global economic downturn had left the country with a severe skills gap because the rich had disproportionately benefited from access to education.
It will be necessary to close the chasm that resulted in order to improve the Kingdom’s economic prospects, he said.
“I think education is critically important for Cambodia. I don’t think an economy can truly prosper when an equality gap is too high,” he said.
“It can be a socially and politically disruptive force if people are living in such different circumstances, and I’m afraid the gap between rich and poor will continue to grow.”
He added: “I’d like to raise this with Hun Sen. I feel strongly that on the basis of the evidence and the data that education has to be a priority of the government in development.”
Maskin will deliver a lecture titled “Why Global Markets Fail to Reduce Equality” at the University of Cambodia today at 2pm.
NGOs want larger role in national planning
The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:04
By Sebastian Strangio
CIVIL society representatives have called on the government to allow for more input on Cambodia’s national planning process, repeating earlier criticisms that NGOs were not given enough of an opportunity to help shape the draft National Strategic Development Plan Update for 2009-13 (NSDP).
Chith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum in Cambodia, said the three-week period slated for civil society comment on the NSDP draft, which closed on January 14, was too short to be meaningful.
“Sufficient information should be given before consultations take place,” he said during a workshop in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. “In order to ensure the participation is successful, sufficient time should be given.”
The NSDP for 2009-13 – a key planning document that creates a framework for the country’s development – carries forward a similar plan for 2006-10, though it has been adjusted to account for the effects of the global financial crisis, said Theng Pagnathun, deputy director general at the Ministry of Planning.
He said the government’s consultation process over the new draft began last May with the issuing of a circular and the organisation of workshops for its distribution. “There has been the involvement of NGOs, CSOs [civil society organisations] and donors,” he said. “This is the consultation we’ve been having – it’s not perfect.”
The NSDP draft is due to be signed by the King in May or June, at which point it will be disseminated widely, he added.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010 15:04
By Sebastian Strangio
CIVIL society representatives have called on the government to allow for more input on Cambodia’s national planning process, repeating earlier criticisms that NGOs were not given enough of an opportunity to help shape the draft National Strategic Development Plan Update for 2009-13 (NSDP).
Chith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum in Cambodia, said the three-week period slated for civil society comment on the NSDP draft, which closed on January 14, was too short to be meaningful.
“Sufficient information should be given before consultations take place,” he said during a workshop in Phnom Penh on Tuesday. “In order to ensure the participation is successful, sufficient time should be given.”
The NSDP for 2009-13 – a key planning document that creates a framework for the country’s development – carries forward a similar plan for 2006-10, though it has been adjusted to account for the effects of the global financial crisis, said Theng Pagnathun, deputy director general at the Ministry of Planning.
He said the government’s consultation process over the new draft began last May with the issuing of a circular and the organisation of workshops for its distribution. “There has been the involvement of NGOs, CSOs [civil society organisations] and donors,” he said. “This is the consultation we’ve been having – it’s not perfect.”
The NSDP draft is due to be signed by the King in May or June, at which point it will be disseminated widely, he added.
Nobel Laureate: Human Resource is the Major Problem Facing Cambodia
By Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
19 January 2010
David Jonathan Gross
As other developing countries in the world, the major problem facing Cambodia is the serious lack of human resources for the country’s development, according to Professor David Jonathan Gross, a Nobel Laureate for Physics.
Prof. Gross said through his lecture and dialogue with some participants and people he met, he observes that there are quite a lot of brilliant young people in Cambodia, which will be important for Cambodia’s future development, but the most important thing is whether they are given opportunity to develop their skills.
“It’s a major problem - human resources,” Gross said in a phone interview with VOA Khmer during his visit to Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. “I’ve met a lot of very hopeful people. You know that’s the most important thing. People are very optimistic about the future. Cambodia has a lot of great resources. I have a lot of faith in young people, very brilliant young minds that could do great things just given the opportunity. I have tried to tell them that they should dream big. I have talked to people about giving young people opportunity.”
Prof. Gross is a Nobel Laureate for Physics in 2004. He has discovered and explored the force that binds particles inside an atomic nucleus. This phenomenon led to a whole new physical theory and enabled scientists to complete the standard model of particle physics, which describes the fundamental particles in nature, and how they interact with one another.
Gross said there are two kinds of human resources. While the majority of people are just working forces, others have special talents and great minds, who make great contributions to the country’s development. This kind of people should be given special opportunity.
"And then, very gifted people, whose minds you really don’t want to waste and who will contribute very important contributions to the society,’’ Prof. Gross said. ‘’And it’s important to make sure you don’t lose those really special people, and you give them opportunities. You will have to enable them to go abroad. It’s also important to identify very brilliant people and give them special opportunities because those people can make important contributions.”
Chek Chan Oeun, a physics lecturer at Royal University of Phnom Penh, who participated in the Professor Gross’s lecture, said the lecture paves the way for participants, especially for students to a broader scientific research and open their minds to how science can help social development.
“Through this lecture, we have acquired some knowledge related to universe, dark energy, dark materials, and the evolution of the universe,” Chek Chan Oeun said. “In addition, it encourages students to find out what has been discovered by scientists, what is still unknown, and what they are doing to help the world.”
“In the future I want to be like him and discover new things to meet the needs of the world,” said Sun Limhour, a 4th year student in physics department of Royal University of Phnom Penh. “I have loved electronics since I was young. It is a true science.”
The visit by Prof. David Jonathan Gross intends to strengthen the relationship among nations in Southeast Asia and ASEAN with the rest of the world, according to the organizer.
“It’s our aim really to build these bridges not only with Nobel laureates from the United States or Europe and the societies here in Southeast Asia, but between the societies in ASEAN to reach more cooperation on the level of education because education as we think is basic for peace and that’s why we are doing this program at the universities and at schools here in Cambodia and also in other countries in the region,” said Morawetz, director of International Peace Foundation.
Born in Washington, D.C., Professor David Jonathan Gross, received his undergraduate degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1962 and then continued his education at University of California, Berkley, from where he received his Ph.D. in physics in 1966. He then served as a junior fellow at Harvard University. Professor Gross is now a director and holder of the Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of California in Santa Barbara and a member of the Advisory Board of the Intentional Peace Foundation.
As part of the “Bridges” program by the International Peace Foundation, the next Nobel Laureate who will pay a visit to Cambodia on January 20 is Professor Eric Stark Maskin, a 2007 Nobel Laureate for Economics.
Original report from Washington
19 January 2010
David Jonathan GrossAs other developing countries in the world, the major problem facing Cambodia is the serious lack of human resources for the country’s development, according to Professor David Jonathan Gross, a Nobel Laureate for Physics.
Prof. Gross said through his lecture and dialogue with some participants and people he met, he observes that there are quite a lot of brilliant young people in Cambodia, which will be important for Cambodia’s future development, but the most important thing is whether they are given opportunity to develop their skills.
“It’s a major problem - human resources,” Gross said in a phone interview with VOA Khmer during his visit to Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. “I’ve met a lot of very hopeful people. You know that’s the most important thing. People are very optimistic about the future. Cambodia has a lot of great resources. I have a lot of faith in young people, very brilliant young minds that could do great things just given the opportunity. I have tried to tell them that they should dream big. I have talked to people about giving young people opportunity.”
Prof. Gross is a Nobel Laureate for Physics in 2004. He has discovered and explored the force that binds particles inside an atomic nucleus. This phenomenon led to a whole new physical theory and enabled scientists to complete the standard model of particle physics, which describes the fundamental particles in nature, and how they interact with one another.
Gross said there are two kinds of human resources. While the majority of people are just working forces, others have special talents and great minds, who make great contributions to the country’s development. This kind of people should be given special opportunity.
"And then, very gifted people, whose minds you really don’t want to waste and who will contribute very important contributions to the society,’’ Prof. Gross said. ‘’And it’s important to make sure you don’t lose those really special people, and you give them opportunities. You will have to enable them to go abroad. It’s also important to identify very brilliant people and give them special opportunities because those people can make important contributions.”
Chek Chan Oeun, a physics lecturer at Royal University of Phnom Penh, who participated in the Professor Gross’s lecture, said the lecture paves the way for participants, especially for students to a broader scientific research and open their minds to how science can help social development.
“Through this lecture, we have acquired some knowledge related to universe, dark energy, dark materials, and the evolution of the universe,” Chek Chan Oeun said. “In addition, it encourages students to find out what has been discovered by scientists, what is still unknown, and what they are doing to help the world.”
“In the future I want to be like him and discover new things to meet the needs of the world,” said Sun Limhour, a 4th year student in physics department of Royal University of Phnom Penh. “I have loved electronics since I was young. It is a true science.”
The visit by Prof. David Jonathan Gross intends to strengthen the relationship among nations in Southeast Asia and ASEAN with the rest of the world, according to the organizer.
“It’s our aim really to build these bridges not only with Nobel laureates from the United States or Europe and the societies here in Southeast Asia, but between the societies in ASEAN to reach more cooperation on the level of education because education as we think is basic for peace and that’s why we are doing this program at the universities and at schools here in Cambodia and also in other countries in the region,” said Morawetz, director of International Peace Foundation.
Born in Washington, D.C., Professor David Jonathan Gross, received his undergraduate degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1962 and then continued his education at University of California, Berkley, from where he received his Ph.D. in physics in 1966. He then served as a junior fellow at Harvard University. Professor Gross is now a director and holder of the Frederick W. Gluck Chair in Theoretical Physics at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics of the University of California in Santa Barbara and a member of the Advisory Board of the Intentional Peace Foundation.
As part of the “Bridges” program by the International Peace Foundation, the next Nobel Laureate who will pay a visit to Cambodia on January 20 is Professor Eric Stark Maskin, a 2007 Nobel Laureate for Economics.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Lenders look to Cambodian market
Blogger note: Cambodia's size is 181,035 squate kilometers NOT 181,000 squate kilometers
Shinhan Khmer Bank, right, opened in October 2007, while Kookmin Bank Cambodia opened in May 2009. Both banks have been working hard to attract more Cambodian customers instead of members of the Korean expat community - the traditional clientele of Korean banks operating abroad. By Kim Joon-hyunJanuary 19, 2010
JoonAng Daily (South Korea)
Until about 10 years ago, few Korean companies imagined that Cambodia - an impoverished Southeast Asian country ravaged by decades of internal conflicts - would become one of the top destinations for local banks looking to step onto the global stage.
But the situation has radically changed since then, and a growing number of Korean financial companies are starting to view the country as a promised land with vast growth potential.
With competition becoming increasingly cutthroat and even self-predatory in Cambodia, Korean firms are finding that localization is the key to survival and success in a market that some optimistic experts hail as the next Vietnam.
Kookmin Bank, Korea’s largest lender by assets, is one of most aggressive foreign firms in Cambodia and has been beefing up its localization efforts since it took a foothold in the country last year. The bank set up a locally incorporated unit, called Kookmin Bank Cambodia, last year and has been working hard to increase the bank’s brand awareness among locals.
At 5 p.m. on a recent Friday, some 20 Cambodian employees gathered at the branch office in downtown Phnom Penh to attend a seminar led by Kim Eung-nam, vice chief of the Cambodian unit. Kim holds the weekly seminars to train local employees about basic and advance-level banking operations.
“This is not a mandatory event, but everyone attends it every week regardless,” Kim said. “They are so eager to learn.”
The weekly seminar has an important long-term goal: help local employees learn enough about the company and the industry so that they can become senior managers one day.
“We have emphasized repeatedly that the bank, though formed by Koreans, is a Cambodian company,” said Jang Ki-sung, the head of Kookmin Bank Cambodia.
Jang said he plans to let one of the Cambodian employees head the bank’s second branch in the country, which Kookmin plans to open next year. He also promised a fat bonus for everyone if the bank produces profits this year, hoping it will serve as an incentive to work harder.
In another effort to nurture leadership among local employees, Kookmin in 2007 hired a handful of locals in several countries it wanted to enter in the future - including Cambodia - before it set up operations in those nations. The company brought the employees to the bank’s headquarters in Seoul to participate in training programs that lasted over a year.
Fast-forward three years, and two of those initial hires are working at Kookmin Bank Cambodia’s private banking division as managers.
Among the 1,226 banking accounts that have been opened via the Cambodian unit through last November, 663 of them - or about 55 percent - belong to locals as opposed to Korean expats and businessmen operating in the country.
About 70 percent of the bank’s total loans also were made to Cambodians, a rarity for a foreign unit of a Korean bank that has long catered to expats.
“It is premature to judge whether or not we have been successful here since this bank was officially established in May of last year,” Jang said. “But at least we have a good start.”
Other Korean banks are tapping the market as well. Shinhan Bank, for instance, was one of the pioneers in Cambodia, setting up a unit in the country called Shinhan Khmer Bank in October 2007. Lee Jae-joon, the head of Shinhan Khmer, boasts that 80 percent of the unit’s loan borrowers are local Cambodians.
That’s not to say everything is rosy for these companies: The industry is still relatively new, corruption in the country is rampant and there’s a severe lack of relevant funding options. Also, most of deposits are of the short-term nature, posing a big challenge for banks when it comes to managing their deposit pool.
“Corporate balance sheets are considered very unreliable, meaning we can’t lend on a non-collateral basis,” said Lee of Shinhan Khmer.
Jang echoed that sentiment, saying such lingering uncertainties are the reason why global banking giants like HSBC and Citibank have yet established a presence in Cambodia.
Scholar Touts 'Made-in-Korea' Democracy for Emerging Nations
01-18-2010
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The Korea Times (South Korea)
Youn Jung-suk, president of the Korean Legislative Studies Institute, speaks in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, last Tuesday. He said that now is the time for the National Assembly to find its role in helping what he called the emerging democracies. (Korea Times Photo/Shim Hyun-chul)
Youn pointed out that strengthening parliaments to make them work better was one of the sustainable ways to help people live in better conditions.
Officials in some developing Asian countries, including Vietnam and Mongolia, have begun taking a closer look at the development of Korea's legislature as a model, said a political scientist.
Youn Jung-suk, president of the Korean Legislative Studies Institute (KLSI), said that now is the time for the National Assembly to define its role in helping emerging democracies.
"I think the Korean model of democracy-building works better in nations where top-down decision-making is predominant, such as former communist states, those under authoritarian governments or nations that have been under dictatorship," Youn said in an interview with The Korea Times last Tuesday.
Since 1945, when Korea was liberated from Japan, the pro-democracy movement here has survived turbulent periods of military dictatorship and authoritarian control.
The decades-long effort finally bore fruit in the late 1980s. The rising demand for democracy from the people led the government to give in and let the people choose a president through direct voting.
Youn hinted that the top-down style in managing the nation facilitated economic growth during the nation's industrialization.
He observed that in the political arena, the practice prompted bottom-up democracy, as activists stood up against the repressive regime in the post-industrialization era.
Youn argued that as Korea has achieved democracy and prosperity through this unique path, it can give informed guidance to nations facing similar challenges.
The professor emeritus, who majored in Japanese studies at the University of Chicago in the 1960s, now teaches at Sogang University.
Before assuming the KLSI presidency, Youn served as president of Chung Ang University.
Founded in 1981, the KLSI has performed mainly academic and research activities in the fields of the parliamentary system, comparative studies of foreign legislatures and major legislative agendas.
Permanent Good
Youn called on policymakers mapping out aid strategy and policies to consider the Korean model of building democracy as one of the major areas where the country can assist less developed nations.
"As a donor, I think, Korea should think seriously about how it can help poor nations achieve permanent positive change. We need to look beyond one-off assistance measures and try to focus on helping their systems work better," he said.
His observation was in line with the message that the recent crisis in Haiti is sending the world.
In the wake of the magnitude 7 earthquake that pounded Haiti ― the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere ― last week, local experts and government officials are forecasting that the death toll may rise to 200,000.
Help is on the way from all around the world. Rescue workers and medical teams rushed to Haiti to save the lives of as many of those trapped under rubble as they could. Donations of medical products, water and other necessary items followed.
Korea joined the international rescue efforts by sending a team consisting of medical experts and rescue workers last Friday.
Meanwhile, the crisis in Haiti sheds light on a lesser-known consequence of calamities on poor nations ― poor infrastructure makes it difficult for them to rise from the ashes as they have almost nothing to begin with.
An American television journalist who was dispatched to cover the crisis said that he was told many times by locals that they need better construction of housing and other infrastructures to move forward in a sustainable manner.
Haitians want the world to help them in a manner that promotes sustainability, instead of simply one-off relief assistance.
Role of National Assembly
Among others, Youn pointed out that strengthening parliaments to make them work better was one of the sustainable ways to help people live in better conditions.
He called on the National Assembly to play a role in helping developing nations that are based on the relatively poor legislative representation system.
He said officials from Vietnam, Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar had expressed deep interest in learning from Korea's experience in establishing a parliamentary representation system.
"They do have parliaments but their legislative bodies do not work properly in the parliamentary oversight of executive bodies and legislative assistance," the scholar said.
"In particular, they want to know how standing committees here work and to explore parliamentary think tanks, such as the National Assembly Research Service, that help lawmakers with expertise and policy recommendations."
Youn argued that the balance of power between legislature and the executive body is one of the areas that strengthened in emerging Asian nations.
Last year, Youn sat down with Speaker Kim Hyong-o to address the need for exchange programs with those nations. Kim was quite moved by his presentation, and directed his staff to find a role that the legislature could play in this regard.
"As Kim's term at the key post ends in May, his hands are tied. But I will keep trying to address the matter with the incoming speaker after that," he said.
"I assume that we can draw up a road map for the plan by next year."
Parliamentary Strengthening
When it comes to aid policy, the strengthening of democracy and parliamentary systems has been one of the major focuses of major donors such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has had a program to help poor nations develop their democracies since the 1970s.
But the agency said it was not until the late '80s or early '90s that agency's program started in earnest.
Since the agency chose the promotion of democracy as one of its principal goals in 1994, it remains particularly active in Africa. USAID produced technical assistance guidelines to help nations establish systems for legislation, oversight and representation.
The Canadian Development Agency and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency have also worked with developing nations to make their parliaments work better.
International institutions, including the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and non-profit groups are also active in governance building in developing or poor nations to help them escape the past.
Dos and Don'ts
After Korea joined the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, a club of donors, intellectuals, such as former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo, advised policymakers to follow a set of strict guidelines when charting aid strategy.
The guidelines warn not to try to use development assistance as a tool to show off Korea's standing in the world economy; not to try to lecture to other countries; and not to link aid to overseas business deals such as energy diplomacy.
"If Korea ignores the guidelines, the recipient governments will feel insulted. If this happens, Korea will end up a self-serving nation trying to take advantage of aid for its own sake," the former prime minister said.
Lee called on policymakers to keep their eyes on recipients' needs and then include their requests in aid packages.
"Recipient nations will come to expect Korea, the only recipient-turned-donor in the world, to become a donor that has a deeper understanding of their circumstances than other advanced nations, as it shares the experience of poverty in its past.
"They don't want us to feel pity for them but want us to be a thoughtful donor that has gone through similar experiences," Lee said.
Youn shared a similar view with Lee regarding the principles of Korea's aid policy, saying policymakers and aid workers need to take a close look at the unique circumstances facing recipients and come up with a country-specific aid strategy.
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
The Korea Times (South Korea)
Youn Jung-suk, president of the Korean Legislative Studies Institute, speaks in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, last Tuesday. He said that now is the time for the National Assembly to find its role in helping what he called the emerging democracies. (Korea Times Photo/Shim Hyun-chul)Youn pointed out that strengthening parliaments to make them work better was one of the sustainable ways to help people live in better conditions.
Officials in some developing Asian countries, including Vietnam and Mongolia, have begun taking a closer look at the development of Korea's legislature as a model, said a political scientist.
Youn Jung-suk, president of the Korean Legislative Studies Institute (KLSI), said that now is the time for the National Assembly to define its role in helping emerging democracies.
"I think the Korean model of democracy-building works better in nations where top-down decision-making is predominant, such as former communist states, those under authoritarian governments or nations that have been under dictatorship," Youn said in an interview with The Korea Times last Tuesday.
Since 1945, when Korea was liberated from Japan, the pro-democracy movement here has survived turbulent periods of military dictatorship and authoritarian control.
The decades-long effort finally bore fruit in the late 1980s. The rising demand for democracy from the people led the government to give in and let the people choose a president through direct voting.
Youn hinted that the top-down style in managing the nation facilitated economic growth during the nation's industrialization.
He observed that in the political arena, the practice prompted bottom-up democracy, as activists stood up against the repressive regime in the post-industrialization era.
Youn argued that as Korea has achieved democracy and prosperity through this unique path, it can give informed guidance to nations facing similar challenges.
The professor emeritus, who majored in Japanese studies at the University of Chicago in the 1960s, now teaches at Sogang University.
Before assuming the KLSI presidency, Youn served as president of Chung Ang University.
Founded in 1981, the KLSI has performed mainly academic and research activities in the fields of the parliamentary system, comparative studies of foreign legislatures and major legislative agendas.
Permanent Good
Youn called on policymakers mapping out aid strategy and policies to consider the Korean model of building democracy as one of the major areas where the country can assist less developed nations.
"As a donor, I think, Korea should think seriously about how it can help poor nations achieve permanent positive change. We need to look beyond one-off assistance measures and try to focus on helping their systems work better," he said.
His observation was in line with the message that the recent crisis in Haiti is sending the world.
In the wake of the magnitude 7 earthquake that pounded Haiti ― the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere ― last week, local experts and government officials are forecasting that the death toll may rise to 200,000.
Help is on the way from all around the world. Rescue workers and medical teams rushed to Haiti to save the lives of as many of those trapped under rubble as they could. Donations of medical products, water and other necessary items followed.
Korea joined the international rescue efforts by sending a team consisting of medical experts and rescue workers last Friday.
Meanwhile, the crisis in Haiti sheds light on a lesser-known consequence of calamities on poor nations ― poor infrastructure makes it difficult for them to rise from the ashes as they have almost nothing to begin with.
An American television journalist who was dispatched to cover the crisis said that he was told many times by locals that they need better construction of housing and other infrastructures to move forward in a sustainable manner.
Haitians want the world to help them in a manner that promotes sustainability, instead of simply one-off relief assistance.
Role of National Assembly
Among others, Youn pointed out that strengthening parliaments to make them work better was one of the sustainable ways to help people live in better conditions.
He called on the National Assembly to play a role in helping developing nations that are based on the relatively poor legislative representation system.
He said officials from Vietnam, Mongolia, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar had expressed deep interest in learning from Korea's experience in establishing a parliamentary representation system.
"They do have parliaments but their legislative bodies do not work properly in the parliamentary oversight of executive bodies and legislative assistance," the scholar said.
"In particular, they want to know how standing committees here work and to explore parliamentary think tanks, such as the National Assembly Research Service, that help lawmakers with expertise and policy recommendations."
Youn argued that the balance of power between legislature and the executive body is one of the areas that strengthened in emerging Asian nations.
Last year, Youn sat down with Speaker Kim Hyong-o to address the need for exchange programs with those nations. Kim was quite moved by his presentation, and directed his staff to find a role that the legislature could play in this regard.
"As Kim's term at the key post ends in May, his hands are tied. But I will keep trying to address the matter with the incoming speaker after that," he said.
"I assume that we can draw up a road map for the plan by next year."
Parliamentary Strengthening
When it comes to aid policy, the strengthening of democracy and parliamentary systems has been one of the major focuses of major donors such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has had a program to help poor nations develop their democracies since the 1970s.
But the agency said it was not until the late '80s or early '90s that agency's program started in earnest.
Since the agency chose the promotion of democracy as one of its principal goals in 1994, it remains particularly active in Africa. USAID produced technical assistance guidelines to help nations establish systems for legislation, oversight and representation.
The Canadian Development Agency and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency have also worked with developing nations to make their parliaments work better.
International institutions, including the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program, and non-profit groups are also active in governance building in developing or poor nations to help them escape the past.
Dos and Don'ts
After Korea joined the OECD's Development Assistance Committee, a club of donors, intellectuals, such as former Prime Minister Lee Hong-koo, advised policymakers to follow a set of strict guidelines when charting aid strategy.
The guidelines warn not to try to use development assistance as a tool to show off Korea's standing in the world economy; not to try to lecture to other countries; and not to link aid to overseas business deals such as energy diplomacy.
"If Korea ignores the guidelines, the recipient governments will feel insulted. If this happens, Korea will end up a self-serving nation trying to take advantage of aid for its own sake," the former prime minister said.
Lee called on policymakers to keep their eyes on recipients' needs and then include their requests in aid packages.
"Recipient nations will come to expect Korea, the only recipient-turned-donor in the world, to become a donor that has a deeper understanding of their circumstances than other advanced nations, as it shares the experience of poverty in its past.
"They don't want us to feel pity for them but want us to be a thoughtful donor that has gone through similar experiences," Lee said.
Youn shared a similar view with Lee regarding the principles of Korea's aid policy, saying policymakers and aid workers need to take a close look at the unique circumstances facing recipients and come up with a country-specific aid strategy.
Cambodia Takes to the Roads in Building Spree
The New York Times
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: January 18, 2010
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA — Bullet by bullet, workers removed the detritus of Cambodia’s past. They pulled 300 land mines and 30,000 rounds of ammunition from the red dirt and then laid down a thick layer of asphalt. Today, what would pass for a very ordinary road in wealthier parts of the world is precious pavement for a country motoring toward prosperity and trying to leave its bloody past behind.
Last month, the government inaugurated the newly refurbished Routes 5 and 6, both built during the French colonial era to connect the capital, Phnom Penh, with the Thai border.
Western Cambodia was the last holdout of the Khmer Rouge, the brutal regime toppled three decades ago. Rebel units held onto remote areas into the 1990s, skirmishing periodically with government forces and leaving the roads in total disrepair, a moonscape of potholes and mud that gave travelers sore backs and made for a crater-dodging, head-bumping ride.
Now enjoying the dividends of peace, Cambodia is halfway through a road-building spree with 10 projects totaling 1,173 kilometers, or 730 miles, of pavement still under way, said Prime Minister Hun Sen, who presided over the ceremony on Dec. 28. A further 11 major roads are under negotiation, he said.
The new roads make the storied temples of Angkor Wat a comfortable drive from the Thai border — and a short day’s drive from Bangkok. The roads also put more remote historic sites — in a country filled with them — within easy reach for tourists.
Roads are a big deal in Cambodia, and more than 5,000 villagers were summoned to attend the road’s official inauguration — farmers who arrived by bicycle, monks with freshly shaved heads, children in school uniforms. Organizers stenciled messages onto large banners strung across the canopy that gave shade from the searing sun: “Where there are bridges and roads there is hope.”
Cambodia’s road-building program is now taking “elephant steps, not mouse steps,” Mr. Hun Sen told the crowd.
Like the North-South Expressway in peninsular Malaysia, the American-built Friendship Road across Thailand’s northeast and the vast network of roads built by China over the past decade, roads are a key milestone of development in Asia.
For Cambodia, in particular, good roads help bring together a country fractured by civil war.
“This section was a very heavy battlefield,” said Pheng Sovicheano, the project manager of the road to the Thai border.
Mr. Pheng Sovicheano, who is also Cambodia’s deputy director general for public works, knows firsthand how bad the road was. During construction his driver drove into what looked like a large muddy pothole but turned out to be a small pond, flooding the car up to his chest.
Now, as a measure of Cambodia’s national reconciliation, some of the 360 workers Mr. Pheng Sovicheano hired to build the road were former Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Roads are expensive — $350,000 per kilometer for the road to the Thai border. But with many countries jockeying for influence in Cambodia the government appears to have no trouble finding financing. China is building a number of roads here, including one that passes through the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin.
Route 5 and Route 6 were financed with a low-interest, 32-year loan by the Asian Development Bank in Manila, an institution whose largest shareholders are Japan and the United States. South Korea is financing other road projects.
Mr. Hun Sen seems to enjoy playing these donors off each other. In his speech he chided the Asian Development Bank for its sluggish and bureaucratic two-year bidding process and praised the speed of Chinese projects.
“I compliment the way the Chinese companies work — very fast,” Mr. Hun Sen said, pointedly glancing over at the representative from the Asian Development Bank.
Political ties between Thailand and Cambodia have been strained by a territorial dispute near a 900-year-old mountaintop temple, Preah Vihear, but officials made no mention of the troubles.
Economic ties endure: By the end of this year western Cambodia will have three good roads leading to Thailand, connections that the government hopes will increase trade and investment. Western Cambodia gets most of its electricity from Thailand, and the company that built the road to the border, S.P.T. Civil Group, is based in Thailand. (The company has ties to Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister deposed in the military coup of 2006 who last year was named Mr. Hun Sen’s economic adviser.)
The new roads will make it easier for Thai companies to sell more cement, instant noodles and other products across the border. For Japanese companies, the roads will link the supply chains of factories in Bangkok and in Ho Chi Minh City.
And for villagers in western Cambodia, it may help lift rock-bottom incomes.
Yong Da, a 39-year-old deliveryman in the town of Kralanh, has more than doubled his income because of the new road. “The road was bumpy, and I could not take much stuff on my motorcycle,” he said. He now makes $2.50 a day, up from a dollar a day.
The sheets of dust that enveloped the roadside are also gone, and villagers say their children no longer have trouble breathing.
Good roads and the end of the civil war have allowed villagers to take back the night. Travel after dark was discouraged two decades ago because of poor security and the perils of bad pavement.
But with modernity comes another type of danger. Mr. Pheng Sovicheano says he was driving to Phnom Penh one night recently when he came upon a road accident.
A young man had been killed on his motorcycle when he rammed into the back of a poorly lighted truck. The boy’s distraught mother blamed the good road, Mr. Pheng Sovicheano remembers.
“She said, ‘Before, when there were bad roads, he never drove this fast.”’
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: January 18, 2010
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA — Bullet by bullet, workers removed the detritus of Cambodia’s past. They pulled 300 land mines and 30,000 rounds of ammunition from the red dirt and then laid down a thick layer of asphalt. Today, what would pass for a very ordinary road in wealthier parts of the world is precious pavement for a country motoring toward prosperity and trying to leave its bloody past behind.
Last month, the government inaugurated the newly refurbished Routes 5 and 6, both built during the French colonial era to connect the capital, Phnom Penh, with the Thai border.
Western Cambodia was the last holdout of the Khmer Rouge, the brutal regime toppled three decades ago. Rebel units held onto remote areas into the 1990s, skirmishing periodically with government forces and leaving the roads in total disrepair, a moonscape of potholes and mud that gave travelers sore backs and made for a crater-dodging, head-bumping ride.
Now enjoying the dividends of peace, Cambodia is halfway through a road-building spree with 10 projects totaling 1,173 kilometers, or 730 miles, of pavement still under way, said Prime Minister Hun Sen, who presided over the ceremony on Dec. 28. A further 11 major roads are under negotiation, he said.
The new roads make the storied temples of Angkor Wat a comfortable drive from the Thai border — and a short day’s drive from Bangkok. The roads also put more remote historic sites — in a country filled with them — within easy reach for tourists.
Roads are a big deal in Cambodia, and more than 5,000 villagers were summoned to attend the road’s official inauguration — farmers who arrived by bicycle, monks with freshly shaved heads, children in school uniforms. Organizers stenciled messages onto large banners strung across the canopy that gave shade from the searing sun: “Where there are bridges and roads there is hope.”
Cambodia’s road-building program is now taking “elephant steps, not mouse steps,” Mr. Hun Sen told the crowd.
Like the North-South Expressway in peninsular Malaysia, the American-built Friendship Road across Thailand’s northeast and the vast network of roads built by China over the past decade, roads are a key milestone of development in Asia.
For Cambodia, in particular, good roads help bring together a country fractured by civil war.
“This section was a very heavy battlefield,” said Pheng Sovicheano, the project manager of the road to the Thai border.
Mr. Pheng Sovicheano, who is also Cambodia’s deputy director general for public works, knows firsthand how bad the road was. During construction his driver drove into what looked like a large muddy pothole but turned out to be a small pond, flooding the car up to his chest.
Now, as a measure of Cambodia’s national reconciliation, some of the 360 workers Mr. Pheng Sovicheano hired to build the road were former Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Roads are expensive — $350,000 per kilometer for the road to the Thai border. But with many countries jockeying for influence in Cambodia the government appears to have no trouble finding financing. China is building a number of roads here, including one that passes through the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin.
Route 5 and Route 6 were financed with a low-interest, 32-year loan by the Asian Development Bank in Manila, an institution whose largest shareholders are Japan and the United States. South Korea is financing other road projects.
Mr. Hun Sen seems to enjoy playing these donors off each other. In his speech he chided the Asian Development Bank for its sluggish and bureaucratic two-year bidding process and praised the speed of Chinese projects.
“I compliment the way the Chinese companies work — very fast,” Mr. Hun Sen said, pointedly glancing over at the representative from the Asian Development Bank.
Political ties between Thailand and Cambodia have been strained by a territorial dispute near a 900-year-old mountaintop temple, Preah Vihear, but officials made no mention of the troubles.
Economic ties endure: By the end of this year western Cambodia will have three good roads leading to Thailand, connections that the government hopes will increase trade and investment. Western Cambodia gets most of its electricity from Thailand, and the company that built the road to the border, S.P.T. Civil Group, is based in Thailand. (The company has ties to Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister deposed in the military coup of 2006 who last year was named Mr. Hun Sen’s economic adviser.)
The new roads will make it easier for Thai companies to sell more cement, instant noodles and other products across the border. For Japanese companies, the roads will link the supply chains of factories in Bangkok and in Ho Chi Minh City.
And for villagers in western Cambodia, it may help lift rock-bottom incomes.
Yong Da, a 39-year-old deliveryman in the town of Kralanh, has more than doubled his income because of the new road. “The road was bumpy, and I could not take much stuff on my motorcycle,” he said. He now makes $2.50 a day, up from a dollar a day.
The sheets of dust that enveloped the roadside are also gone, and villagers say their children no longer have trouble breathing.
Good roads and the end of the civil war have allowed villagers to take back the night. Travel after dark was discouraged two decades ago because of poor security and the perils of bad pavement.
But with modernity comes another type of danger. Mr. Pheng Sovicheano says he was driving to Phnom Penh one night recently when he came upon a road accident.
A young man had been killed on his motorcycle when he rammed into the back of a poorly lighted truck. The boy’s distraught mother blamed the good road, Mr. Pheng Sovicheano remembers.
“She said, ‘Before, when there were bad roads, he never drove this fast.”’
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Japan Airlines nosedive
Updated: 22:50, Sunday January 17, 2010
Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu cut his pay, ate in the company cafeteria and even took the bus to work to help cut costs, but he couldn't stop the once-venerable carrier's financial tailspin.
His anointed successor Kazuo Inamori, a respected entrepreneur and ordained Buddhist monk, is expected to oversee much more radical cutbacks at the debt-ridden airline, which is widely expected to file for bankruptcy this week.
Inamori, the honorary chairman of Japanese high-tech maker Kyocera Corp, is being parachuted into JAL's cockpit by the government to replace Nishimatsu, who is set to step down despite being hailed for his humble management style.
Inamori admitted this week he was a novice in the airline industry.
But he is one of Japan's most well respected business executives and management gurus, having founded both Kyocera and a company that later became part of KDDI Corp, now Japan's number two telecommunication company.
'He's a great entrepreneur, and perhaps entrepreneurship is what JAL badly needs,' said Geoffrey Tudor, a principal analyst at Japan Aviation Management Research and former JAL employee.
Inamori is 'a very successful man in his own right. He didn't have any personal connections with important or influential people. He worked hard. He has a great personal ability,' said Tudor.
Inamori, who turns 78 years old on January 30, is a champion of deregulation and a philanthropist who entered the Buddhist priesthood at a temple in Kyoto in 1997 after retirement.
The Kyocera founder created his own 'amoeba management' theory whereby each unit of a company makes its own plans under the guidance of an 'amoeba leader'.
Members of the unit pool their knowledge and effort to achieve business targets, giving all employees an active role.
In one of his books, Respect the Divine and Love People, Inamori says his management philosophy is based on the many obstacles he has overcome.
'In both my professional and personal life, I have struggled with many dead-end situations which caused me endless agony,' he wrote, according to excerpts on his website.
'In those difficult circumstances, I would always go back to the fundamentals and ask myself, 'What is the right thing to do as a human being?' Everything I do in my work is based upon this fundamental principle.'
After contracting tuberculosis at age 13, when his home was also destroyed in an air raid, Inamori went on to study engineering and started a small ceramics company that he would transform into a leading high-tech maker.
Now he is Japan's 28th richest person with an estimated wealth of $US920 million ($A988.18 million), according to Forbes Rich List.
He faces a daunting task turning around JAL, which is expected to file for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday to make it easier to overhaul its debts and implement other measures likely to include about 15,000 job cuts.
While the airline -- deep in the red -- is expected to keep flying during its restructuring, equity investors are expected to lose most or all of their money.
Many shareholders have already bailed out and JAL's market value now stands at just $US210 million ($A225.56 million), having plummeted by $US1.8 billion ($A1.93 billion) in a week.
Source: http://www.skynews.com.au/business/article.aspx?id=418363
Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu cut his pay, ate in the company cafeteria and even took the bus to work to help cut costs, but he couldn't stop the once-venerable carrier's financial tailspin.
His anointed successor Kazuo Inamori, a respected entrepreneur and ordained Buddhist monk, is expected to oversee much more radical cutbacks at the debt-ridden airline, which is widely expected to file for bankruptcy this week.
Inamori, the honorary chairman of Japanese high-tech maker Kyocera Corp, is being parachuted into JAL's cockpit by the government to replace Nishimatsu, who is set to step down despite being hailed for his humble management style.
Inamori admitted this week he was a novice in the airline industry.
But he is one of Japan's most well respected business executives and management gurus, having founded both Kyocera and a company that later became part of KDDI Corp, now Japan's number two telecommunication company.
'He's a great entrepreneur, and perhaps entrepreneurship is what JAL badly needs,' said Geoffrey Tudor, a principal analyst at Japan Aviation Management Research and former JAL employee.
Inamori is 'a very successful man in his own right. He didn't have any personal connections with important or influential people. He worked hard. He has a great personal ability,' said Tudor.
Inamori, who turns 78 years old on January 30, is a champion of deregulation and a philanthropist who entered the Buddhist priesthood at a temple in Kyoto in 1997 after retirement.
The Kyocera founder created his own 'amoeba management' theory whereby each unit of a company makes its own plans under the guidance of an 'amoeba leader'.
Members of the unit pool their knowledge and effort to achieve business targets, giving all employees an active role.
In one of his books, Respect the Divine and Love People, Inamori says his management philosophy is based on the many obstacles he has overcome.
'In both my professional and personal life, I have struggled with many dead-end situations which caused me endless agony,' he wrote, according to excerpts on his website.
'In those difficult circumstances, I would always go back to the fundamentals and ask myself, 'What is the right thing to do as a human being?' Everything I do in my work is based upon this fundamental principle.'
After contracting tuberculosis at age 13, when his home was also destroyed in an air raid, Inamori went on to study engineering and started a small ceramics company that he would transform into a leading high-tech maker.
Now he is Japan's 28th richest person with an estimated wealth of $US920 million ($A988.18 million), according to Forbes Rich List.
He faces a daunting task turning around JAL, which is expected to file for bankruptcy protection on Tuesday to make it easier to overhaul its debts and implement other measures likely to include about 15,000 job cuts.
While the airline -- deep in the red -- is expected to keep flying during its restructuring, equity investors are expected to lose most or all of their money.
Many shareholders have already bailed out and JAL's market value now stands at just $US210 million ($A225.56 million), having plummeted by $US1.8 billion ($A1.93 billion) in a week.
Source: http://www.skynews.com.au/business/article.aspx?id=418363
Khmer Riche
The following article was published by Andrew Marshall of the Good Weekend Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia.
It is about luxurious lives of children of the powerful and elite Cambodians ruling Cambodia.
It is about luxurious lives of children of the powerful and elite Cambodians ruling Cambodia.
Tokyo library reaching out to foreign community
Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
The Japan Times
By MARIKO KATO
Staff writer
Whether to read a Pulitzer Prize-winning author in English, flick through global editions of Vogue magazine or delve into foreign encyclopedias, the Tokyo Metropolitan Library wants more foreigners to visit and take advantage of its free multilingual resources.
Wealth of information: Staff at the Tokyo Metropolitan Library try out the expanded online database last April. Foreign resources available on the library's terminals include Nature and Science magazines and the Encyclopedia Britannica. TOKYO METROPOLITAN LIBRARY
The library, whose central branch is in Minato Ward, is running a campaign to make non-Japanese residents aware of its wide range of resources in foreign languages, both online and in print.
"We have a lot of foreign-language materials, but not many foreigners know that," said Akiko Yoshida, who oversees the library's foreign-language resources.
Even though the library doesn't keep a record of who enters its building, staff at the central branch have observed that given the large foreign community in the surrounding area of Hiroo, not many foreigners drop by, she said.
The library has around 230,000 foreign-language books, probably the largest stock among Japan's public libraries. New materials arriving on the shelves this fiscal year include 4,000 Western books and 2,300 books in Chinese and Korean, the library said. Its Chinese and Korean collection, located in a special section, is among Japan's biggest, Yoshida said.
The branch in Tachikawa, called the Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Library, has 250 magazines from overseas and more than 20,000 children's books in foreign languages.
According to Yoshida, the role of libraries for people searching for foreign-language materials has been sidelined over the years.
"It used to be that people had to phone up to locate something, and we used to get a lot of calls. But now they can search online for materials themselves, and they just buy books from places like Amazon," she said.
The library does not lend out materials, but its card catalog is searchable in English, Chinese and Korean on its official Web site. The library's digital resources can be viewed for free on computer terminals located in the two branches, according to Yumi Sakamoto, head of the resources management division.
"You can look at many types of resources at the same time, and while resources found through Internet searches aren't guaranteed to be of good quality, you can get proper materials in the library," she said.
Among the online resources available at the library are Nature and Science magazines, Biography Resource Center and the Encyclopedia Britannica in French and Spanish as well as English, Chinese and Korean.
Sakamoto is particularly proud of the library's subscription to Nature magazine, which, due to the high cost, even the National Diet Library does not have, she said.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Library also has online the EIU Country Report and EIU City Data, which collect political and economic data from 40 countries and 140 cities worldwide. Those interested in the arts can access Oxford Art Online and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
One area of service toward foreign visitors not so well-established is the number of staff who speak foreign languages.
"Unfortunately, we only have a few people who speak foreign languages, or at least own up to it. We have a handful who speak English, but not many who speak Chinese or Korean," Sakamoto said.
But if a foreigner asks for assistance over the phone or in person, a staff member who can speak the language will be assigned to help, she added.
According to the metro government, more than 419,000 foreigners were living in Tokyo as of last month.
The Japan Times
By MARIKO KATO
Staff writer
Whether to read a Pulitzer Prize-winning author in English, flick through global editions of Vogue magazine or delve into foreign encyclopedias, the Tokyo Metropolitan Library wants more foreigners to visit and take advantage of its free multilingual resources.
Wealth of information: Staff at the Tokyo Metropolitan Library try out the expanded online database last April. Foreign resources available on the library's terminals include Nature and Science magazines and the Encyclopedia Britannica. TOKYO METROPOLITAN LIBRARYThe library, whose central branch is in Minato Ward, is running a campaign to make non-Japanese residents aware of its wide range of resources in foreign languages, both online and in print.
"We have a lot of foreign-language materials, but not many foreigners know that," said Akiko Yoshida, who oversees the library's foreign-language resources.
Even though the library doesn't keep a record of who enters its building, staff at the central branch have observed that given the large foreign community in the surrounding area of Hiroo, not many foreigners drop by, she said.
The library has around 230,000 foreign-language books, probably the largest stock among Japan's public libraries. New materials arriving on the shelves this fiscal year include 4,000 Western books and 2,300 books in Chinese and Korean, the library said. Its Chinese and Korean collection, located in a special section, is among Japan's biggest, Yoshida said.
The branch in Tachikawa, called the Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Library, has 250 magazines from overseas and more than 20,000 children's books in foreign languages.
According to Yoshida, the role of libraries for people searching for foreign-language materials has been sidelined over the years.
"It used to be that people had to phone up to locate something, and we used to get a lot of calls. But now they can search online for materials themselves, and they just buy books from places like Amazon," she said.
The library does not lend out materials, but its card catalog is searchable in English, Chinese and Korean on its official Web site. The library's digital resources can be viewed for free on computer terminals located in the two branches, according to Yumi Sakamoto, head of the resources management division.
"You can look at many types of resources at the same time, and while resources found through Internet searches aren't guaranteed to be of good quality, you can get proper materials in the library," she said.
Among the online resources available at the library are Nature and Science magazines, Biography Resource Center and the Encyclopedia Britannica in French and Spanish as well as English, Chinese and Korean.
Sakamoto is particularly proud of the library's subscription to Nature magazine, which, due to the high cost, even the National Diet Library does not have, she said.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Library also has online the EIU Country Report and EIU City Data, which collect political and economic data from 40 countries and 140 cities worldwide. Those interested in the arts can access Oxford Art Online and the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
One area of service toward foreign visitors not so well-established is the number of staff who speak foreign languages.
"Unfortunately, we only have a few people who speak foreign languages, or at least own up to it. We have a handful who speak English, but not many who speak Chinese or Korean," Sakamoto said.
But if a foreigner asks for assistance over the phone or in person, a staff member who can speak the language will be assigned to help, she added.
According to the metro government, more than 419,000 foreigners were living in Tokyo as of last month.
Metro job fair grads' last chance?
Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010
The Japan Times
By NATSUKO FUKUE
Staff writer
Many prospective college graduates are facing a cold, grim winter in their job hunt.
A survey by the labor and education ministries found that only 73.1 percent of university students graduating this year had received job offers as of Dec. 1, down from 80.5 percent a year earlier. That is the lowest figure since the survey was begun in 1996.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Labor Bureau are trying to help by sponsoring a job fair next month.
The metro government expects to draw about 150 small and medium-size companies and 2,500 job seekers graduating in March to the event, which will be held Feb. 16 in Shinjuku Ward.
At a similar fair held last November, about 2,500 students showed up, three times more than the government expected, said Masayo Maruyama, head of the youth employment division at the metro government.
"We organized (the fair) in November for students who did not receive an informal promise of employment by October. Then we decided to hold the fair again in February because it would be a last opportunity to get a job for those who wish to start working in April," she said, adding that job fairs for students graduating in 2011 are already about to start.
Takuya Kurita, editor-in-chief of Mainichi Communications Mainabi, a recruiting Web site, said university students typically begin their job hunting in October of their junior year. The early birds finish their search the following April or May at the beginning of their senior year, and if they're lucky they get an informal promise of employment in October.
Kurita said job fairs are mostly held in February and March, and are aimed at students graduating the following year.
On the other hand, small and medium-size companies tend to look for candidates throughout the year, according to Maruyama.
"Our job fair provides a good opportunity for students to get to know many companies in one day," she said.
An added benefit for recruiting companies is that registration at the government job fair is free, while it can cost hundreds of thousands of yen to set up a booth at a private-sector seminar.
"Since the 'Lehman shock' some companies have been canceling their employment promises, and the employment rate of university graduates was low last year. So we assumed it would be worse" this year.
The latest figures from the labor ministry show the unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent in November, down from 5.7 percent in July, which was the worst reading since 1953. However, the jobless rate is much higher for the young, reaching 8.5 percent for people between 15 and 24 years old and 6.3 percent for those from 25 to 34.
The employment picture is likely to remain murky through spring 2011.
The Japan Times
By NATSUKO FUKUE
Staff writer
Many prospective college graduates are facing a cold, grim winter in their job hunt.
A survey by the labor and education ministries found that only 73.1 percent of university students graduating this year had received job offers as of Dec. 1, down from 80.5 percent a year earlier. That is the lowest figure since the survey was begun in 1996.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Tokyo Labor Bureau are trying to help by sponsoring a job fair next month.
The metro government expects to draw about 150 small and medium-size companies and 2,500 job seekers graduating in March to the event, which will be held Feb. 16 in Shinjuku Ward.
At a similar fair held last November, about 2,500 students showed up, three times more than the government expected, said Masayo Maruyama, head of the youth employment division at the metro government.
"We organized (the fair) in November for students who did not receive an informal promise of employment by October. Then we decided to hold the fair again in February because it would be a last opportunity to get a job for those who wish to start working in April," she said, adding that job fairs for students graduating in 2011 are already about to start.
Takuya Kurita, editor-in-chief of Mainichi Communications Mainabi, a recruiting Web site, said university students typically begin their job hunting in October of their junior year. The early birds finish their search the following April or May at the beginning of their senior year, and if they're lucky they get an informal promise of employment in October.
Kurita said job fairs are mostly held in February and March, and are aimed at students graduating the following year.
On the other hand, small and medium-size companies tend to look for candidates throughout the year, according to Maruyama.
"Our job fair provides a good opportunity for students to get to know many companies in one day," she said.
An added benefit for recruiting companies is that registration at the government job fair is free, while it can cost hundreds of thousands of yen to set up a booth at a private-sector seminar.
"Since the 'Lehman shock' some companies have been canceling their employment promises, and the employment rate of university graduates was low last year. So we assumed it would be worse" this year.
The latest figures from the labor ministry show the unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent in November, down from 5.7 percent in July, which was the worst reading since 1953. However, the jobless rate is much higher for the young, reaching 8.5 percent for people between 15 and 24 years old and 6.3 percent for those from 25 to 34.
The employment picture is likely to remain murky through spring 2011.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Quiet please! Noise irks Japan's commuters the most
Reuters – A man watches television on his mobile phone while commuting on a train in Tokyo July 10, 2009. REUTERS/Yuriko … TOKYO (Reuters Life!) – Taking the train in Japan and want to avoid annoying fellow passengers? Keep conversation to a whisper, turn down your iPod and put your cellphone on vibration mode, a recent survey by the railway association showed.
Many foreigners who ride on Japan's vast network of subways and commuter trains complain about the pushing and shoving that accompanies getting into the train and the reluctance to give up seats for senior citizens and pregnant women.
But for Japanese commuters, noise is the biggest issue, with loud conversation and music from headphones the top two offenders and cellphone ringtones in fourth place, the survey by the Association of Japanese Private Railways showed.
Applying make-up ranked as the sixth-biggest breach of rail etiquette, worse than being drunken, which at number 9 just edged out bringing strollers onto crowded trains.
Here are the top 10 examples of bad rail manners according to the association's online survey, with responses from about 4,200 people:
1. Noisy conversation, horsing around
2. Music from headphones
3. The way passengers sit
4. Cellphone ringtones and talking on phones
5. Pushing, shoving when getting on and off trains
6. Applying make-up
7. Littering
8. Sitting on the floor of the train
9. Riding the train drunk
10. Riding a crowded train with a child in a stroller
(Writing by Chris Gallagher, editing by Miral Fahmy)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Cambodia Flag Gifts - Shirts, Posters, Art, & more Gift Ideas
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Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Surname bill would require children to share same name
The Yomiuri Shimbun
A bill to be submitted by the Justice Ministry to an upcoming Diet session to revise the Civil Code will require married couples who have chosen to use separate surnames to ensure their children use the names of either their mothers or fathers, according to a draft of the bill obtained by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
The bill also will raise the legal age to consent to marriage for girls from 16 to 18.
The ministry plans to submit the bill to an ordinary Diet session to be convened Monday. The ministry plans to begin negotiating with the ruling parties in an attempt to gain the Cabinet's approval of the bill in March.
In past bills submitted by the Democratic Party of Japan in regard to surnames for children whose parents each have a different name, the then opposition party wanted to allow children to have different names.
But the Legislative Council, an advisory panel for the justice minister, concluded in 1996 that siblings should have the same family names, even when their parents don't.
Justice Minister Keiko Chiba has been an advocate of a system that would allow women to retain their maiden names after marriage and played a leading role in the submission of the DPJ's past bills.
But political observers say she changed her stance due to criticism that separate names for children would dissolve family unity and because she placed priority on the passage of a bill.
In addition to the use of separate surnames, the revision also proposes that:
-- The age of consent for girls for marriage be raised from 16 to 18, in line with the law for boys.
-- Inheritance rights be made universal for children. The current law guarantees children born out of wedlock only half of what they are entitled to if they are born to married parents.
-- Women be allowed to remarry 100 days after their divorce is finalized, down from the current 180 days.
However, inside the ruling camp, Shizuka Kamei, minister of state for financial services and leader of the People's New Party, is vocally opposed to the separate surname system.
(Jan. 12, 2010)
A bill to be submitted by the Justice Ministry to an upcoming Diet session to revise the Civil Code will require married couples who have chosen to use separate surnames to ensure their children use the names of either their mothers or fathers, according to a draft of the bill obtained by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
The bill also will raise the legal age to consent to marriage for girls from 16 to 18.
The ministry plans to submit the bill to an ordinary Diet session to be convened Monday. The ministry plans to begin negotiating with the ruling parties in an attempt to gain the Cabinet's approval of the bill in March.
In past bills submitted by the Democratic Party of Japan in regard to surnames for children whose parents each have a different name, the then opposition party wanted to allow children to have different names.
But the Legislative Council, an advisory panel for the justice minister, concluded in 1996 that siblings should have the same family names, even when their parents don't.
Justice Minister Keiko Chiba has been an advocate of a system that would allow women to retain their maiden names after marriage and played a leading role in the submission of the DPJ's past bills.
But political observers say she changed her stance due to criticism that separate names for children would dissolve family unity and because she placed priority on the passage of a bill.
In addition to the use of separate surnames, the revision also proposes that:
-- The age of consent for girls for marriage be raised from 16 to 18, in line with the law for boys.
-- Inheritance rights be made universal for children. The current law guarantees children born out of wedlock only half of what they are entitled to if they are born to married parents.
-- Women be allowed to remarry 100 days after their divorce is finalized, down from the current 180 days.
However, inside the ruling camp, Shizuka Kamei, minister of state for financial services and leader of the People's New Party, is vocally opposed to the separate surname system.
(Jan. 12, 2010)
(Japanese) PM to double number of advisers
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Government and ruling coalition Democratic Party of Japan leaders on Monday decided to double the maximum number of advisers to the prime minister from five to 10, in an effort to strengthen the functions of the Prime Minister's Office.
At a special meeting between government and DPJ leaders held at the Prime Minister's Office, they also decided that five additional advisers would be appointed from the private sector.
They also decided to add three senior vice ministers and 12 parliamentary secretaries to boost the number of politicians in the government, as part of efforts to enhance politicians' initiative in the government's decision-making.
The number of politicians' posts in the government will be 94, at maximum, when the new measure takes effect as the leaders hope in April. To this end, they plan to submit bills to revise related laws, such as the Diet Law and the National Government Organization Law, to the ordinary Diet session to be convened Monday.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano from the government, and from the DPJ, Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, Azuma Koshiishi, chief of the party's House of Councillors caucus, and Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Kenji Yamaoka.
The attendees agreed to hold similar meetings of party and government leaders once a week in principle.
After the meeting, Hirano told reporters that boosting the number of advisers to the prime minister was needed to strengthen the staff supporting the prime minister.
In its manifesto for the 2009 House of Representative election, the DPJ said it would boost the number of politicians in the government to about 100. However, the latest move will fail to satisfy the target.
At the meeting, Hatoyama asked the participants to work hard to quickly pass the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 and the fiscal 2010 budget. "As the economy is in such a [bad] situation, please do your best to pass them [the budget]," he said.
The participants agreed to make a special effort to have the budgets approved quickly by the Diet.
"I ask the government to make preparations to have the budgets executable quickly after the bills are passed," Ozawa said.
They confirmed that the government would submit to the ordinary Diet session a bill to grant foreign permanent residents the right to vote in local elections.
(Jan. 12, 2010)
Government and ruling coalition Democratic Party of Japan leaders on Monday decided to double the maximum number of advisers to the prime minister from five to 10, in an effort to strengthen the functions of the Prime Minister's Office.
At a special meeting between government and DPJ leaders held at the Prime Minister's Office, they also decided that five additional advisers would be appointed from the private sector.
They also decided to add three senior vice ministers and 12 parliamentary secretaries to boost the number of politicians in the government, as part of efforts to enhance politicians' initiative in the government's decision-making.
The number of politicians' posts in the government will be 94, at maximum, when the new measure takes effect as the leaders hope in April. To this end, they plan to submit bills to revise related laws, such as the Diet Law and the National Government Organization Law, to the ordinary Diet session to be convened Monday.
The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano from the government, and from the DPJ, Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, Azuma Koshiishi, chief of the party's House of Councillors caucus, and Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Kenji Yamaoka.
The attendees agreed to hold similar meetings of party and government leaders once a week in principle.
After the meeting, Hirano told reporters that boosting the number of advisers to the prime minister was needed to strengthen the staff supporting the prime minister.
In its manifesto for the 2009 House of Representative election, the DPJ said it would boost the number of politicians in the government to about 100. However, the latest move will fail to satisfy the target.
At the meeting, Hatoyama asked the participants to work hard to quickly pass the second supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 and the fiscal 2010 budget. "As the economy is in such a [bad] situation, please do your best to pass them [the budget]," he said.
The participants agreed to make a special effort to have the budgets approved quickly by the Diet.
"I ask the government to make preparations to have the budgets executable quickly after the bills are passed," Ozawa said.
They confirmed that the government would submit to the ordinary Diet session a bill to grant foreign permanent residents the right to vote in local elections.
(Jan. 12, 2010)
Nation set to reduce targets for education
Tuesday, 12 January 2010 15:03
The Phnom Penh Post
Sebastian Strangio and Cheang Sokha
Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Students study at Toun Fha primary school near Kandal Market. A draft of the government’s forthcoming National Strategic Development Plan includes revised education targets.
CAMBODIA is set to slash education targets under its new development plan, abandoning benchmarks that education specialists have described as “completely unrealistic”.
According to a draft of the country’s National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) update for 2009-13, a copy of which was obtained by the Post Monday, a wide range of education targets would be cut considerably, thereby lessening the country’s chances of fulfilling its education-related Millennium Development Goal (MDG).
The NSDP for 2006-10 aimed at achieving universal enrolment at both the primary and lower secondary levels by 2015, a goal that was in line with the MDG benchmarks. The new plan, however, would lower the target for lower secondary enrolment from 75 percent by 2010 to just 51 percent by the 2013-14 school year.
In The, spokesman for the Ministry of Education, said that in previous plans, figures had been drawn from national directives, but that the new figures reflect more detailed analysis conducted by the ministry itself.
“In previous planning, we did not make specific analysis,” he said. “In the draft we have made a clear and fair analysis based on the current situation and adjusted the ministry’s targets and its implementation goals.”
The goal of 50 percent enrolment in rural areas by 2010 would likewise be reduced to 42 percent by 2013-14, while the same goal in “remote” areas – for which the 2006-10 document set a target of 50 percent by 2010 – would be set at 22 percent for 2013-14. Completion rates for lower secondary school would also be reduced from 76 percent by 2010 to 59 percent by 2013-14, and the target literacy rate for those aged between 15 and 24 would be dropped from 95 percent by 2010 to 92 percent by 2013-14.
Education specialists applauded the adjustments, saying they were a clear improvement over the wildly optimistic MDG targets contained in the 2006-10 plan.
“The way [the targets] were set was completely unrealistic,” said Sherif Rushdy, a consultant who conducted an assessment of the MDG benchmarks for the UN Development Programme last year.
“If the goal is not achievable, there’s not much incentive to achieve it.”
Rushdy said that many of the MDG targets for education, set by the government in 2003, were not backed up by enough analysis to determine whether they were feasible.
“You can’t achieve 100 percent primary enrolment and 100 percent secondary enrolment in the same time frame. And there was no projection made of what it actually takes to get there,” he said, adding that it was “reasonable to adjust the figures to something that’s more realistic”.
In Samrithy, executive director of NGO Education Partnership, agreed.
“In the previous [plan], it seems the government tried to play up the numbers to show they were trying to reach the goal as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that the inflated goals were “beyond the government’s capacity”.
Short on time
As the deadline for public consultations on the NSDP draft closed on Monday, civil society groups criticised the government for the length and timing of the consultative period, saying they were not given enough of a chance to make submissions about the 200-page document.
The NSDP draft was originally released to NGOs on December 17 for perusal, but the three-week period for making formal submissions about the contents of the draft was too short, Chith Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum, said on Monday.
“NGOs realise the importance of the NSDP update,” he said, but added that the consultative period was “clearly too short to have a proper consultative process”.
“The consultative process excluded many civil society organisations from taking part,” he said.
Others questioned the timing of the consultation period, which was disrupted by the Christmas and New Year holidays. “Given the holiday period and everything, it was just not sufficient for NGOs and donors to make their submissions,” said Lun Borithy, executive director of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia.
“It’s an important document that will be a road map for the government between now and 2013, so it’s important that broad consultation is conducted.”
But Theng Pagnathun, deputy director general at the Ministry of Planning, which has been responsible for formulating the NSDP draft, said the concerns came only from a small number of civil society groups.
“Only some NGOs have complained that we did not give them enough time, but I think that they weren’t working at that time. Maybe they were on holiday,” he said.
He added that government institutions and their “main development partners” had made no complaints about the timing of the consultation period.
“We were aware about [NGO] concerns on this issue, but we work based on a majority of voices,” he said. “The government will not postpone its deadline.”
The Phnom Penh Post
Sebastian Strangio and Cheang Sokha
Photo by: Heng ChivoanStudents study at Toun Fha primary school near Kandal Market. A draft of the government’s forthcoming National Strategic Development Plan includes revised education targets.
CAMBODIA is set to slash education targets under its new development plan, abandoning benchmarks that education specialists have described as “completely unrealistic”.
According to a draft of the country’s National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) update for 2009-13, a copy of which was obtained by the Post Monday, a wide range of education targets would be cut considerably, thereby lessening the country’s chances of fulfilling its education-related Millennium Development Goal (MDG).
The NSDP for 2006-10 aimed at achieving universal enrolment at both the primary and lower secondary levels by 2015, a goal that was in line with the MDG benchmarks. The new plan, however, would lower the target for lower secondary enrolment from 75 percent by 2010 to just 51 percent by the 2013-14 school year.
In The, spokesman for the Ministry of Education, said that in previous plans, figures had been drawn from national directives, but that the new figures reflect more detailed analysis conducted by the ministry itself.
“In previous planning, we did not make specific analysis,” he said. “In the draft we have made a clear and fair analysis based on the current situation and adjusted the ministry’s targets and its implementation goals.”
The goal of 50 percent enrolment in rural areas by 2010 would likewise be reduced to 42 percent by 2013-14, while the same goal in “remote” areas – for which the 2006-10 document set a target of 50 percent by 2010 – would be set at 22 percent for 2013-14. Completion rates for lower secondary school would also be reduced from 76 percent by 2010 to 59 percent by 2013-14, and the target literacy rate for those aged between 15 and 24 would be dropped from 95 percent by 2010 to 92 percent by 2013-14.
Education specialists applauded the adjustments, saying they were a clear improvement over the wildly optimistic MDG targets contained in the 2006-10 plan.
“The way [the targets] were set was completely unrealistic,” said Sherif Rushdy, a consultant who conducted an assessment of the MDG benchmarks for the UN Development Programme last year.
“If the goal is not achievable, there’s not much incentive to achieve it.”
Rushdy said that many of the MDG targets for education, set by the government in 2003, were not backed up by enough analysis to determine whether they were feasible.
“You can’t achieve 100 percent primary enrolment and 100 percent secondary enrolment in the same time frame. And there was no projection made of what it actually takes to get there,” he said, adding that it was “reasonable to adjust the figures to something that’s more realistic”.
In Samrithy, executive director of NGO Education Partnership, agreed.
“In the previous [plan], it seems the government tried to play up the numbers to show they were trying to reach the goal as quickly as possible,” he said, adding that the inflated goals were “beyond the government’s capacity”.
Short on time
As the deadline for public consultations on the NSDP draft closed on Monday, civil society groups criticised the government for the length and timing of the consultative period, saying they were not given enough of a chance to make submissions about the 200-page document.
The NSDP draft was originally released to NGOs on December 17 for perusal, but the three-week period for making formal submissions about the contents of the draft was too short, Chith Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum, said on Monday.
“NGOs realise the importance of the NSDP update,” he said, but added that the consultative period was “clearly too short to have a proper consultative process”.
“The consultative process excluded many civil society organisations from taking part,” he said.
Others questioned the timing of the consultation period, which was disrupted by the Christmas and New Year holidays. “Given the holiday period and everything, it was just not sufficient for NGOs and donors to make their submissions,” said Lun Borithy, executive director of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia.
“It’s an important document that will be a road map for the government between now and 2013, so it’s important that broad consultation is conducted.”
But Theng Pagnathun, deputy director general at the Ministry of Planning, which has been responsible for formulating the NSDP draft, said the concerns came only from a small number of civil society groups.
“Only some NGOs have complained that we did not give them enough time, but I think that they weren’t working at that time. Maybe they were on holiday,” he said.
He added that government institutions and their “main development partners” had made no complaints about the timing of the consultation period.
“We were aware about [NGO] concerns on this issue, but we work based on a majority of voices,” he said. “The government will not postpone its deadline.”
Na'vi ascendant as Cambodia's languages face extinction
Tue, 12 Jan 2010
DPA
Phnom Penh - The world's rich array of languages is shrinking, UNESCO said, with one language becoming extinct every two weeks. By the end of the century, the UN's cultural body said it expected today's 6,700 languages to be halved. With them will go untold cultural diversity. It is a bleak tale and seemingly unstoppable although not every endangered language is on UNESCO's list. One called Na'vi even has its own listing on Wikipedia, where its 23-page entry covers pronunciation and grammar to frustrate the most talented linguist.
But Na'vi, whose name will be familiar to many moviegoers, is a fiction: It was invented for James Cameron's blockbuster movie Avatar, and even the US language professor who created Na'vi cannot speak it fluently. Technically, that makes Na'vi extinct, although its inventor has high hopes it would catch on.
At the other end of the spectrum is S'aoch, an ethnic minority language spoken in southern Cambodia that experts said predates Na'vi by 6,000 years. S'aoch is at least a working language with 10 fluent speakers.
But there is no Wikipedia page for S'aoch, which is on the verge of extinction. Given that there are people who speak Klingon, a language invented for the Star Trek films, and that Avatar is now the second-highest-grossing movie in history, there is a good chance Na'vi would be spoken long after S'aoch is gone.
Jean-Michel Filippi, a linguistics professor based in Cambodia, is S'aoch's most passionate supporter, having studied the language for 10 years and transcribed more than 4,000 words, which incidentally is four times the vocabulary of the Na'vi language.
He is the first to admit S'aoch has no chance. The village of Samrong Loeu, where the last speakers live, has 110 inhabitants. Just 10 are fluent, but none uses the language. Filippi stressed the lack of speakers is not solely to blame.
"Survival depends on one thing: Does the minority want to protect and save its own culture?" he said.
In the case of S'aoch, the answer is that they do not. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the S'aoch-speaking people were unable to return to their original village, so they ended up in Samrong Loeu with no land and are consequently poor. They see around them Khmer-speaking people with land and relative wealth and, not surprisingly, aspire to be like them.
"When you are put in a position of economic inferiority, you tend to reject your own culture," Filippi said.
S'aoch is an ancient tongue and is related to minority tongues in India and Malaysia as well as to modern Khmer. It predates the famous temples of Angkor Wat in the country's west and is also one of 19 Cambodian languages UNESCO said are at risk of extinction.
Filippi explained why the number of speakers matters less to a language's survival than one might think. Another endangered language, Somray, which is spoken by a few hundred people in western Cambodia, stands a much better chance because the villagers need the language for prayers used in their animist religious services.
"If the prayers are pronounced badly, then they won't work, so they want their children to learn the language," he said.
Blaise Kilian, UNESCO's joint programme coordinator in Phnom Penh, said an array of factors conspire to kill languages, the most obvious being too few people fluent in the tongue.
"You also have the environment and the way people themselves, especially the new generation, react to the changing environment and how much they are interested in preserving and transmitting their own language," Kilian said.
The imminent demise of S'aoch raises the question of what can be done about Cambodia's other endangered languages. Kilian said the outlook is bleak for many.
In the case of S'aoch, the only option is to do what Filippi is doing: write down and record as much of the language as possible while its remaining speakers are alive.
Some of Cambodia's languages are more widely spoken, and steps such as broadcasting radio programmes in minority languages do help - something UNESCO and the government do in the north-eastern provinces of Ratanakkiri and Mondolkiri.
Bilingual education in schools is also important, which is what the international charity Care has done in Cambodia's north-east in conjunction with the Education Ministry. Ron Watt, Care's education adviser, said the 7-year-old programme covers almost 1,900 pupils in 25 schools and incorporates four languages.
Watt said children in first grade use their own language for 80 per cent of classes with the rest undertaken in Khmer, but the proportion of minority language used drops over the following two years and, by the time fourth grade begins, all instruction is in Khmer.
"People with a language-development bent would say this isn't a classic language maintenance model, let alone a language development model," Watt said, "but it is much, much better than nothing."
It is too early to say whether efforts such as Care's as well as adult literacy classes in minority languages run by other non-governmental organizations would succeed. But S'aoch is certainly finished, and when it slips away in the next decade, the chances are that only Filippi and a few others would even notice.
Many - perhaps most - of the other 18 endangered Cambodian languages are also doomed. With their extinction will go unique customs and cultures stretching back into Cambodia's pre-history.
DPA
Phnom Penh - The world's rich array of languages is shrinking, UNESCO said, with one language becoming extinct every two weeks. By the end of the century, the UN's cultural body said it expected today's 6,700 languages to be halved. With them will go untold cultural diversity. It is a bleak tale and seemingly unstoppable although not every endangered language is on UNESCO's list. One called Na'vi even has its own listing on Wikipedia, where its 23-page entry covers pronunciation and grammar to frustrate the most talented linguist.
But Na'vi, whose name will be familiar to many moviegoers, is a fiction: It was invented for James Cameron's blockbuster movie Avatar, and even the US language professor who created Na'vi cannot speak it fluently. Technically, that makes Na'vi extinct, although its inventor has high hopes it would catch on.
At the other end of the spectrum is S'aoch, an ethnic minority language spoken in southern Cambodia that experts said predates Na'vi by 6,000 years. S'aoch is at least a working language with 10 fluent speakers.
But there is no Wikipedia page for S'aoch, which is on the verge of extinction. Given that there are people who speak Klingon, a language invented for the Star Trek films, and that Avatar is now the second-highest-grossing movie in history, there is a good chance Na'vi would be spoken long after S'aoch is gone.
Jean-Michel Filippi, a linguistics professor based in Cambodia, is S'aoch's most passionate supporter, having studied the language for 10 years and transcribed more than 4,000 words, which incidentally is four times the vocabulary of the Na'vi language.
He is the first to admit S'aoch has no chance. The village of Samrong Loeu, where the last speakers live, has 110 inhabitants. Just 10 are fluent, but none uses the language. Filippi stressed the lack of speakers is not solely to blame.
"Survival depends on one thing: Does the minority want to protect and save its own culture?" he said.
In the case of S'aoch, the answer is that they do not. After the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979, the S'aoch-speaking people were unable to return to their original village, so they ended up in Samrong Loeu with no land and are consequently poor. They see around them Khmer-speaking people with land and relative wealth and, not surprisingly, aspire to be like them.
"When you are put in a position of economic inferiority, you tend to reject your own culture," Filippi said.
S'aoch is an ancient tongue and is related to minority tongues in India and Malaysia as well as to modern Khmer. It predates the famous temples of Angkor Wat in the country's west and is also one of 19 Cambodian languages UNESCO said are at risk of extinction.
Filippi explained why the number of speakers matters less to a language's survival than one might think. Another endangered language, Somray, which is spoken by a few hundred people in western Cambodia, stands a much better chance because the villagers need the language for prayers used in their animist religious services.
"If the prayers are pronounced badly, then they won't work, so they want their children to learn the language," he said.
Blaise Kilian, UNESCO's joint programme coordinator in Phnom Penh, said an array of factors conspire to kill languages, the most obvious being too few people fluent in the tongue.
"You also have the environment and the way people themselves, especially the new generation, react to the changing environment and how much they are interested in preserving and transmitting their own language," Kilian said.
The imminent demise of S'aoch raises the question of what can be done about Cambodia's other endangered languages. Kilian said the outlook is bleak for many.
In the case of S'aoch, the only option is to do what Filippi is doing: write down and record as much of the language as possible while its remaining speakers are alive.
Some of Cambodia's languages are more widely spoken, and steps such as broadcasting radio programmes in minority languages do help - something UNESCO and the government do in the north-eastern provinces of Ratanakkiri and Mondolkiri.
Bilingual education in schools is also important, which is what the international charity Care has done in Cambodia's north-east in conjunction with the Education Ministry. Ron Watt, Care's education adviser, said the 7-year-old programme covers almost 1,900 pupils in 25 schools and incorporates four languages.
Watt said children in first grade use their own language for 80 per cent of classes with the rest undertaken in Khmer, but the proportion of minority language used drops over the following two years and, by the time fourth grade begins, all instruction is in Khmer.
"People with a language-development bent would say this isn't a classic language maintenance model, let alone a language development model," Watt said, "but it is much, much better than nothing."
It is too early to say whether efforts such as Care's as well as adult literacy classes in minority languages run by other non-governmental organizations would succeed. But S'aoch is certainly finished, and when it slips away in the next decade, the chances are that only Filippi and a few others would even notice.
Many - perhaps most - of the other 18 endangered Cambodian languages are also doomed. With their extinction will go unique customs and cultures stretching back into Cambodia's pre-history.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Falling birth rate raises problem for Japan
From CNN
January 11, 2010
Posted: 1016 GMT
Young people celebrate Coming of Age Day in Tokyo.
Tokyo, Japan - Today is a joyous national holiday in Japan known as the Coming of Age Day. The day marks the time when girls and boys become women and men.
All over Tokyo, young women who are turning 20 this fiscal year are decked out in the fanciest, brightest, and most expensive kimonos you’ll ever see. Young men show up in the sharpest (and likely their first) black suit. The women are adorned with all the stylings of youth: huge hair, flowers, furs and silk. You have to forgive them if they’ve gone a bit over the top — you only become an adult once in Japan.
At the Shibuya ward office, 1450 people arrived at the important Coming of Age Day this January 11, 2010. Compare that number to years past, and you get a glimpse into one of Japan’s most pressing economic problems.
Five years ago, Shibuya ward had 1,917 people turn 20. Ten years ago, that number was 2,462. Twenty years ago, it was 4,380. That’s a steady decline in 20 years, down almost 70 percent. The number of young people is declining, not just in Shibuya, but all over Japan.
The birth rate in Japan is 1.37, among the lowest in the world. Japanese women, in survey after survey, report they’re holding back from having children because of the lack of daycare, inequity of domestic duties in marriage, career concerns and the high cost of living in Japan.
At the same time, the number of elderly is growing. By 2050, Japan’s government predicts 40 percent of its population will be over the age of 65. It’s a crippling population problem which analysts say will make this current recession and recovery look like a brief hiccup.
Japan celebrates its young today. But the joy diminishes every year.
January 11, 2010
Posted: 1016 GMT
Young people celebrate Coming of Age Day in Tokyo.Tokyo, Japan - Today is a joyous national holiday in Japan known as the Coming of Age Day. The day marks the time when girls and boys become women and men.
All over Tokyo, young women who are turning 20 this fiscal year are decked out in the fanciest, brightest, and most expensive kimonos you’ll ever see. Young men show up in the sharpest (and likely their first) black suit. The women are adorned with all the stylings of youth: huge hair, flowers, furs and silk. You have to forgive them if they’ve gone a bit over the top — you only become an adult once in Japan.
At the Shibuya ward office, 1450 people arrived at the important Coming of Age Day this January 11, 2010. Compare that number to years past, and you get a glimpse into one of Japan’s most pressing economic problems.
Five years ago, Shibuya ward had 1,917 people turn 20. Ten years ago, that number was 2,462. Twenty years ago, it was 4,380. That’s a steady decline in 20 years, down almost 70 percent. The number of young people is declining, not just in Shibuya, but all over Japan.
The birth rate in Japan is 1.37, among the lowest in the world. Japanese women, in survey after survey, report they’re holding back from having children because of the lack of daycare, inequity of domestic duties in marriage, career concerns and the high cost of living in Japan.
At the same time, the number of elderly is growing. By 2050, Japan’s government predicts 40 percent of its population will be over the age of 65. It’s a crippling population problem which analysts say will make this current recession and recovery look like a brief hiccup.
Japan celebrates its young today. But the joy diminishes every year.
Laos first stop as P Penh goes complaining
Monday January 11, 2010
Saritdet Marukatat
Bangkok Post
COMMENTARY
A small story sometimes has big implications. What is happening between Cambodia and Laos nicely fits this definition.
Cambodian Deputy Foreign Minister Long Visalo went to Vientiane last Tuesday. His mission to the northern neighbour was clear. The Cambodian government wanted to brief Laos about its dispute with Thailand.
In the Laotian capital, Long Visalo lectured some 200 Lao Foreign Ministry officials on the history of Preah Vihear, the ruling by the International Court of Justice in 1962 that the Hindu temple belonged to his country, as well as Cambodia's right to list it as a World Heritage Site under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in July 2008.
The Cambodian deputy minister also told his hosts about the border dispute between his country and Thailand, which started after the latter country made a U-turn on its previous stance which had been in support of Cambodia's attempt to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site.
The Cambodian campaign cannot be seen as anything but the start of its efforts to drum up backing from other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help sort out the border conflict with Thailand for good.
And Laos will not be the only stop in this tactic. On the list, of course, are Burma and Vietnam (the latter is scheduled to take the Asean chair till December).
Phnom Penh's strategy is to turn the dispute over the overlapping land boundary of 4.6 square kilometres into a regional issue by trying to bring in the involvement of other Asean members.
Thailand thinks otherwise, with its intention to keep the matter as a quarrel between two neighbours which should be settled by the two neighbours only.
The more countries jumping in, the more difficult it will be to resolve the problem.
The talks in Vientiane did not cover the issue of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - at least as far as the information made public shows.
But then again, the Thaksin issue is not a main factor at all for Cambodia.
Ending Thaksin's role as an economic adviser to Phnom Penh is Bangkok's condition for diplomatic normalisation with Cambodia. No country can stand seeing its citizen, who has been sentenced to jail, given recognition by another government.
But for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the root cause goes beyond last year when he added Thaksin to the long list of advisers to his government. It began right there on the border between Cambodia' Preah Vihear province and Kantaralak district in Si Sa Ket province.
The whole issue is about the temple and the land dispute in that area.
"You raise the issue of Thaksin, but you forget the issue of Preah Vihear," Hun Sen said in October, during one of his verbal onslaughts on Thailand.
It is not difficult for anybody to guess that there is no way in sight for the two countries to end the sour ties, given their vastly different positions which are beyond the reach of a compromise. But, as Asean members, they cannot leave relations festering this way, either. Other countries view what is happening between Thailand and Cambodia as an obstruction to Asean's attempts to bring unity into the club which, five years from now, is to become one single community. However, what can other Asean countries do but watch and hope that there will be a miracle to end the two neighbours' quarrel?
Another worry from the Thai-Cambodian spat is that it could spill over to poison ties between Thailand and other members in Asean who are very close to Cambodia. One of them is Laos. The history of their jungle warfare to drive out, first the colonialists and then the Western-supported governments, has made Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam brothers, who also have same positions on issues in Asean. As countries with Thailand as their immediate common neighbour, Cambodia and Laos have long been aware of the rising Thai influence in their country.
So far there are no problems in the relations between Thailand and Laos. But that does not mean everything will go smoothly. Problems still exist but they have been swept under the carpet by Vientiane over the past years because it needed help from Thailand to host the SEA Games last year.
Now the Games are over. Now the Cambodian deputy minister has visited Vientiane. And now the story of Thai-Laos relations in the post-SEA Games era begins.
Saritdet Marukatat is News Editor, Bangkok Post.
Saritdet Marukatat
Bangkok Post
COMMENTARY
A small story sometimes has big implications. What is happening between Cambodia and Laos nicely fits this definition.
Cambodian Deputy Foreign Minister Long Visalo went to Vientiane last Tuesday. His mission to the northern neighbour was clear. The Cambodian government wanted to brief Laos about its dispute with Thailand.
In the Laotian capital, Long Visalo lectured some 200 Lao Foreign Ministry officials on the history of Preah Vihear, the ruling by the International Court of Justice in 1962 that the Hindu temple belonged to his country, as well as Cambodia's right to list it as a World Heritage Site under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in July 2008.
The Cambodian deputy minister also told his hosts about the border dispute between his country and Thailand, which started after the latter country made a U-turn on its previous stance which had been in support of Cambodia's attempt to list Preah Vihear as a World Heritage Site.
The Cambodian campaign cannot be seen as anything but the start of its efforts to drum up backing from other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help sort out the border conflict with Thailand for good.
And Laos will not be the only stop in this tactic. On the list, of course, are Burma and Vietnam (the latter is scheduled to take the Asean chair till December).
Phnom Penh's strategy is to turn the dispute over the overlapping land boundary of 4.6 square kilometres into a regional issue by trying to bring in the involvement of other Asean members.
Thailand thinks otherwise, with its intention to keep the matter as a quarrel between two neighbours which should be settled by the two neighbours only.
The more countries jumping in, the more difficult it will be to resolve the problem.
The talks in Vientiane did not cover the issue of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra - at least as far as the information made public shows.
But then again, the Thaksin issue is not a main factor at all for Cambodia.
Ending Thaksin's role as an economic adviser to Phnom Penh is Bangkok's condition for diplomatic normalisation with Cambodia. No country can stand seeing its citizen, who has been sentenced to jail, given recognition by another government.
But for Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, the root cause goes beyond last year when he added Thaksin to the long list of advisers to his government. It began right there on the border between Cambodia' Preah Vihear province and Kantaralak district in Si Sa Ket province.
The whole issue is about the temple and the land dispute in that area.
"You raise the issue of Thaksin, but you forget the issue of Preah Vihear," Hun Sen said in October, during one of his verbal onslaughts on Thailand.
It is not difficult for anybody to guess that there is no way in sight for the two countries to end the sour ties, given their vastly different positions which are beyond the reach of a compromise. But, as Asean members, they cannot leave relations festering this way, either. Other countries view what is happening between Thailand and Cambodia as an obstruction to Asean's attempts to bring unity into the club which, five years from now, is to become one single community. However, what can other Asean countries do but watch and hope that there will be a miracle to end the two neighbours' quarrel?
Another worry from the Thai-Cambodian spat is that it could spill over to poison ties between Thailand and other members in Asean who are very close to Cambodia. One of them is Laos. The history of their jungle warfare to drive out, first the colonialists and then the Western-supported governments, has made Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam brothers, who also have same positions on issues in Asean. As countries with Thailand as their immediate common neighbour, Cambodia and Laos have long been aware of the rising Thai influence in their country.
So far there are no problems in the relations between Thailand and Laos. But that does not mean everything will go smoothly. Problems still exist but they have been swept under the carpet by Vientiane over the past years because it needed help from Thailand to host the SEA Games last year.
Now the Games are over. Now the Cambodian deputy minister has visited Vientiane. And now the story of Thai-Laos relations in the post-SEA Games era begins.
Saritdet Marukatat is News Editor, Bangkok Post.
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