khmer Song: Monday, August 10, 2009

Monday, August 10

Japan's bad-boy Kameda to challenge the world again

Writer: AFP

Published: 11/08/2009 at 05:00 AM

Japanese boxer Daiki Kameda, back from a one-year ban for fighting dirty in a world title match two years ago, said Monday he would challenge a world champion again in October.

A referee signals to the judges two penalty points for Japanese challenger Daiki Kameda (R) after throwing Daisuke Naito to the canvas on the 12th round of their World Boxing Council (WBC) flyweight title bout in Tokyo, in 2007. Kameda, back from a one-year ban for fighting dirty in a world title match two years ago, said Monday he would challenge a world champion again in October.

The 20-year-old Kameda, ranked 11th in the World Boxing Association flyweight division, said he would fight title-holder Denkaosan Kaowichit of Thailand in his hometown of Osaka on October 6.

"I have worked hard and come a long way to make another challenge," Kameda told a news conference here. "Now it is me who will make it happen."

In his failed crack at a world title, he kicked, choked and repeatedly tackled World Boxing Council flyweight champion Daisuke Naito in Tokyo on October 11, 2007. The incident led promoters to be flooded with complaints from fans.

The Japan Boxing Commission suspended Kameda from prize fighting for a year and indefinitely barred his father Shiro Kameda from being a cornerman. The senior Kameda groomed all three of his sons to be brash boxers.

The eldest of the three sons is Koki Kameda, 22, who was World Boxing Association light flyweight champion from August 2006 to January 2007 when he gave up the title and stepped up to flyweight. Koki is now the top WBA contender.

Koki was also reprimanded by the commission for urging the boxer to fight dirty. The youngest son, Tomoki, is an 18-year-old bantamweight.

"It's been just two years since that time. I tried to learn about society as a human being in the first year. I have worked hard and produced results in the past year," Daiki said.

Denkaosan, who turns 33 this month, won the title from Japan's Takefumi Sakata in December last year. He retained it on a split decision against another Japanese Hiroyuki Hisataka in Uttaradit, Thailand, last May.

Kameda has a record of 14 wins, 10 of them by knockout, against one loss.

The Thai champion has 47 wins, 20 of them inside the distance, to his name against one draw and one loss.

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Thai Arrested for Insulting Angkor Wat

The arrested Thai citizen sitting in front of the toilet adorned concrete depiction of Angkor Wat as a stepping stone (All photos: DAP-news)

The arrested man with the picture of Angkor Wat removed from the front of his toilet

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 August 2009

A Thai citizen was arrested in Poipet Monday for allegedly insulting Angkor Wat.

Banteay Meanchey provincial police arrested the man after he carved the shape of Angkor Wat in the concrete in front of a public toilet in the border town.

His act constituted “looking down” on Angkor Wat and was “against the will of Cambodian people,” a police official said, a penal crime under Cambodian law.

The suspect has not yet been sent to the court.

In 2003, rumors of Thai insults of Angkor Wat were enough to spark a night of riots and looting that destroyed the Thai Embassy and numerous Thai businesses in the capital.

The arrest also comes as Cambodia and Thailand are seeking to resolve a long-running military standoff along the northern border.

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Child Guard Recalls Burials Under Duch

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 August 2009

A former child guard at Duch’s Khmer Rouge prison told a UN-backed court Monday he had been ordered to bury prisoners after he was recruited form Kampong Chhnang province.

Chhun Phal, now 47, said he was ordered to dig a mass grave for dead Cambodians, including one who still wore shackles from the prison.

Duch, 66, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, is on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and murder, for his role as head of Tuol Sleng prison, where prosecutors say 12,380 were sent to the their deaths.

Chhun Phal told the court he was ordered to dig a hole 2 meters by 3 meters that was as deep as his neck, but he could not remember how many bodies were buried in it.

His other duties including caring for prisoners by giving them baths, which he did sometimes while they remained shackled.

He also said he saw Duch beat a prisoner with a rattan stick.

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Vann Molyvann calls on Cambodian engineers abroad to return home to help improve engrg. education and development: Are you ready to return?

Architect Vann Molyvann (Photo: Cambodge Soir Hebdo)

Shoring up the foundations

Monday, 10 August 2009
Khouth Sophak Chakrya
The Phnom Penh Post

Veteran architect Vann Molyvann says Cambodian engineers working abroad should return home to help improve engineering education and development.

Though Cambodia has 180 engineers who have been certified by the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (AFEO), Vann Molyvann, the Kingdom's most famous architect, says there is much to be done to bring Cambodian engineering up to international standards.

"The shortage of facilities, materials, and especially well-experienced professors are the main problem for Cambodian students who want to become engineers," he told the Post on Sunday.

Vann Molyvann was at the forefront of the New Khmer Architecture movement that flourished under the patronage of then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk in the 1950s and 1960s.

He is responsible for many of Phnom Penh's most iconic structures, including Independence Monument and the National Sports Complex. Now 82 years old, he has worked abroad for much of his professional life, but resettled permanently in Cambodia in 1993.

Of 1,230 engineering graduates who took the AFEO exam this year, only 180 were certified, according to Prak Min, secretary general of the Board of Engineers, Cambodia (BEC). At a meeting on Thursday of the BEC, Deputy Prime Minister Sok An urged the group to train more engineers who meet AFEO requirements.

Prak Min said that Cambodian engineers compare favourably with those of other countries in the region, though he acknowledged that there is more work to be done.

Punching above its weight

Cambodia has more AFEO-certified architects than Laos or Myanmar, a number similar to Malaysia's, he said. Education and training issues, however, remain a challenge.

"Most of our students who graduate from engineering programmes need at least five to seven years of work experience before they can meet professional standards, but right now we have a shortage of jobs for them," Prak Min said.

He added that engineering students particularly need to improve their computer skills and their international language abilities, citing English and French in particular.

Civil society groups, Vann Molyvann argued, may play a role in reinvigorating Cambodian engineering.

Prior to the Khmer Rouge era, Cambodian students often took advantage of scholarships or government aid to study abroad - Vann Molyvann himself studied architecture in France.

But although increased international experience is one element that may improve the skills of Cambodian engineers, Vann Molyvann emphasised that domestic improvements, including the construction of new universities and the improvement of existing ones, would do the greatest good for the largest number of students. International donors, he said, should focus on these domestic projects as they work to address the education gap.

The architect added that Cambodia's turbulent past few decades have held back the development of engineering programmes.

Many of the Kingdom's most skilled professionals fled the country while the Khmer Rouge devastated most of the best Cambodian universities and training institutes, he said.

"In this situation, I call for all the Cambodian engineers who have fled abroad to please return to Cambodia to develop the craft and teach the people of the next generation to be skillful engineers like them," he said.

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Could it be that Cambodian leaders do not know Khmer language?

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (centre) and other government officials walk in front of a plane during the official launch of Cambodian national carrier Cambodia Angkor Air at Phnom Penh international airport. (AFP)

The website of Cambodia's national airline "Cambodia Angkor Air" carries information exclusively in Yuon and English. Could it be that Cambodian leaders do not read Khmer language when they announced that this national airline is Cambodia's pride and joy?

Cambodia AngkorAir: national airline pride?

27 July 2009
Editorial by Sopheak
On the web at http://sopheak.wordpress.com
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Click here to read the original article in Khmer (NOT Xmer!)

For the Cambodian government, 27 July is a humongous and victorious historical day for Cambodia which finally has a national airline that can show that Cambodia was indeed a former empire (sic!).

If one were to hear Cambodia Angkor Air, this name is music to the ears because the country is very famous for its Angkor temple, and wherever one turns, one surely hears the word “Angkor.” It is true that “Angkor” is Cambodia’s pride and it is an unavoidable fact. Nevertheless, can Cambodia Angkor Air actually represent our national airline pride?

The history of the Cambodia Angkor Air shows that it is half owned by Cambodia and half owned by Cambodia’s tens-of-thousand-years-old brother: Vietnam. However, right from the start, Cambodia Angkor Air did not show its aspiration to be Cambodia’s pride to the more than 14 million Cambodians at all.

It is in fact very regrettable and very shameful that, currently, Cambodia does not have the ability to form its own 100% national airline where the Cambodian flag adorned with Angkor Wat can be displayed.

When one tries to reach the Cambodia Angkor Air website (www.cambodiaangkorair.com), no information in Cambodian can be found. Quite to the contrary, the Vietnamese language is quite prominent, from airline reservation to airline flight routes etc… Could it be that Cambodia Angkor Air is merely a sexual toy of Vietnam Airlines? Is this what Cambodia Angkor Air pride amounts to?

We praise and encourage the Cambodian government that puts effort to bring back the national airline, but in the case of Cambodia Angkor Air, our pride on this so-called national airline is still doubtful.

We wish Cambodia Angkor Air a good operation and that it may become popular with Cambodians and foreigners alike who will be using this airline for their travel needs!

Bravo, Cambodia Angkor Air!
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Comment from Chanroeun:

Bravo! your analysis is so obvious. I was so surprised to see the name of the board of directors, of this so called Cambodian National Airline, are all Vietnamese http://www.k6-air.com/Home/Intro/Generalinfo/BoardofDirectors/tabid/620/Default.aspx. A joke has become a real story.

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Documentary Probes Chea Vichea’s Murder

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
10 August 2009

Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun have each tearfully denied involvement in the murder for which they are blamed at every trial they’ve attended.

Facing 20-year prison sentences for the alleged killing of Chea Vichea, both are widely considered innocent, and in January, the Supreme Court ordered them released and has asked the Appeals Court to reexamine their case. But if it wasn’t them, then who was responsible for the death of the popular labor leader?

The question is asked but never answered in “Who Killed Chea Vichea?,” a new documentary from filmmaker Bradley Cox, screened in Rhode Island last week.

Cox’s first film, “The Plastic Killers,” examined the court case against Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, and his new film investigates the murder beyond the suspects and puts more emphasis on the victim.

“I go into a lot of detail about the case of Chea Vichea and the death and the murder of Chea Vichea, but I also expand on the theme of the movie, to use it as an example of some of these problems [of corruption and impunity] that continue to plague Cambodia,” Cox said in an interview with VOA Khmer last week.

Rights groups have welcomed the film, claiming it sheds light on the innocence of the two men and the shortage of independence within the court system.

“Evidence in the video will show better that neither of the accused were Chea Vichea’s killers in 2004,” Om Samath, a rights investigator for Licadho who has been following the case, told VOA Khmer last week. “This is a good thing that will push the Appeals Court to seriously look into the case and hopefully be able to bring the real killer for prosecution and give justice to the victims.”

Chea Vichea, a former president of the Free Trade Union of Workers in the Kingdom of Cambodia, held wide influence over garment factory workers and was able to rally them in mass gatherings. He was gunned down in an assassination-style on the morning of Jan. 22, 2004, while reading a newspaper with friends at a newsstand near Wat Lanka.

Not long after, police arrested Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun. Both the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and the Appeals Court sentenced them to 20 years in prison.

“I am only telling the truth,” Sok Samoeun told VOA Khmer last week. “Once they charged me, I knew nothing of the killing. I didn’t know about the killing or who died. I knew nothing.”

Both men have been summoned to the Appeals Court later this month.

Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, said the two are out on bail and no decision has been made in their case. He was surprised to learn the film had been released.

“Which one is the ‘Who’?” he asked, in reference to the title of the film. “Who did the film accuse?”

The film does not accuse anyone of the crime, but seeks to demonstrate that the two men accused of it could not have done it.

“What I’ve done is show conclusively who didn’t kill Chea Vichea,” Cox said. “It wasn’t Born Samnang and Sok Sameoun. I think any reasonable person can make their own conclusion. I don’t make a hard and fast conclusion as to who pulled the trigger. Personally, I don’t think we’ll ever know who really shot Chea Vichea on that day.”

The defendants, he said, do not have to prove in court who did the crime, he added, “just prove they didn’t do the killing themselves.”

Finding the killer, “that’s supposed to be the police’s job,” he said. And the more important question remains, knowing who was behind the decision to have Chea Vichea killed.

“Who Killed Chea Vichea?” includes interviews with police officers, judges, senior politicians in the ruling and opposition parties and rights and civic groups. It was filmed mainly in Cambodia, with other scenes in France, Holland, Thailand, Belgium and the US.

It will be shown on television in the US, as well as in Europe and Asia, but the filmmakers are not sure whether it will appear in Cambodia.

The recent screening, a little more than a week ahead of the Aug. 17 court day for Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, was a coincidence, Cox said, and was unlikely to influence the court.

If the judge evaluates the case on its merits, “he would have to release Born Samnang and Sok Samoeun, because they are innocent,” Cox said. If there is political pressure, the two may not be released.

“Either way I don’t think my movie will have an effect on the judge,” he said.

Meanwhile, the biggest question remains unanswered.

“Chea Vichea’s killer is still far away,” said his brother, Chea Mony, who now heads the Free Trade Union. “We still don’t have a clue. We are still waiting for justice, and we have received not a single piece out of million.”

More information on the film, including a preview, can be found at
www.whokilledcheavichea.com

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