‘EVERYDAY’ REMEMBRANCE

Many of us have been in this situation: you go back to your childhood home and are instantly reminded of specific events in your life. The fall off the third step on the staircase in the 5th grade, the fight with your sister in the hallway when you were 15.
 

Your surroundings often serve as an immediate trigger for a backlog of memories that, unintentionally or not, your mind decided to store away in the recesses of your mind.
 

This idea is amplified a thousand times over in relation to Khmer Rouge survivors forced to live amongst landmarks, both seen and unseen, of the tragedy they lived through, and serves as the topic of Everyday Experiences of Genocide Survivors in Landscapes of Violence in Cambodia, by Savina Sirik.
 

Ms. Sirik, a researcher who spent eight years working at the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) before getting her Masters in Geography from Kent State University in the United States, looks at the way the Khmer Rouge cemented violence into the everyday lives and surroundings of the country’s citizens, among a host of other interesting topics. 
 

Many of these landscapes, despite the lack of or dilapidation of physical memorials, now serve as personal reminders of tragedy for local residents, many of whom still live in the same homes and communities they resided in during the Khmer Rouge years.
 

“Through interviews with Khmer Rouge survivors, I discuss how men and women lived through the genocide years and how they conduct their day-to-day activities in the present amid sites of past mass violence,” she writes.
 

She goes on to detail the way structures and landscapes were taken over by the Khmer Rouge, used and then abandoned again. She focuses on Khmer Rouge survivors currently living around Chamkar Siv, a former Khmer Rouge prison located in Prek Ta Meak commune, Kandal province.
 

Residents of the commune are forced to live amongst landmarks, both personal and widely identified, of the violence that occurred during the Khmer Rouge. Rice fields that drivers pass by once served as mass burial sites. Schoolhouses and temples were once Khmer Rouge offices and prisons. The book delves into the effect this has on how survivors remember and commemorate those lost as well as deal with their own memories of personal tragedy.
 

“The potential for these sites to be memorialized or used to represent the past violence have largely been dictated by politics – the politics of memory that have been employed as a tool to justify the existing political regime.”
 

This idea blends into another topic she thoroughly researches – the politics of memory and its effect on people who were not there to witness what happened. She goes on to discuss how, once the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), led by current Prime Minister Hun Sen and backed by Vietnamese forces, took Phnom Penh from the Khmer Rouge in 1979, one of the first things the PRK did was create memorials and museums at the infamous S-21 prison and Choeung Ek Killing Fields.
 

“The significant message that Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek sent to the local population in the early period of the PRK regime, and which is still apparent today, was that the population needed to support the PRK government in order to prevent the Khmer Rouge from returning to power,” the book states. 
 

“In order to justify the presence of Vietnam and distance the PRK regime from the crimes committed by the DK [Khmer Rouge] regime, the new emerging state established a narrative that labeled DK a ‘fascist’ regime, in alignment with Hitler’s Germany,” she writes. “It was also important for the PRK regime to argue that what happened in Cambodia during the DK regime, and particularly at Tuol Sleng, was a genocide like that of the Holocaust during World War II.”
 

She says that while their objective was not malicious, the memorials did serve a very specific political purpose. By highlighting the absolute worst of the Khmer Rouge, they in turn legitimized their own takeover and justified their rule of the country thereafter.
 

* * * 

The dissemination of the state-sanctioned narrative of the Khmer Rouge mostly lines up with the experiences of people across the country, she writes. But this narrative may also do a disservice to the wide range of memories related to the Khmer Rouge. 
 

The dominant narrative often has an effect on the way people personally remember situations. Many people mesh the official story with their own, sometimes even forgetting their own specific experience in favor of the common narrative.
 

But what brings people back to their own personal memories are often landmarks – significant places or events that people will always remember regardless of the amount of time that passes.
 

“By exploring the experiences of survivors who lived through the violence and continue to live among sites where mass violence was perpetrated during and after the Khmer Rouge regime, this study reaches two major conclusions: 1) Although individual experiences vary, the ways in which survivors narrate their experiences appear to relate to standard or collective narratives widely disseminated at the national level; and 2) Public ceremonies and monuments are not enough,” she writes.
 

The last conclusion is the lynchpin for the book, and she goes on to explain how the current monuments and ceremonies are supplemented, or even replaced, by hyper-local, and sometimes intensely personal, displays of remembrance, ranging from private annual ceremonies in homes to traditional Buddhist gatherings at temples or stupas.
 

This also plays a role in the way the country’s young people interact with the Khmer Rouge and its memory. Many survivors interviewed in the book said they were dismayed by the lack of understanding and, at times, outright denial of facts by a new generation that cannot fathom the idea that Khmer people would do the things historians and survivors have described to other Khmer people. 
 

“These sites constitute unmarked violent landscapes, identifiable only by local residents, and remain invisible to visitors who merely pass by the area. This is especially true for members of the younger generation born after the atrocities,” she writes, adding that having young people understand and think about what happened will not only have an effect on them, but on survivors as well.
 

“Many survivors… stressed that having their children learn and accept the history of the DK regime validated their own experiences and personal narratives,” she writes. 
 

Though efforts by DC-Cam to hold events and include the country’s history in textbooks are working to better educate young people, many survivors wonder whether the younger generation will ever truly understand what happened during the Khmer Rouge.
 

Thy, a woman Ms. Sirik spoke to for the book, said: “I think even if I keep telling them, children still do not believe me 100 percent. It’s hard for them to believe that such an atrocity could have taken place in their country and against their parents.” 
 

The book is available at all Monument Bookshops across Cambodia, Laos and Burma. You also can find it at DC-Cam. 

http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25441/---everyday----remembrance/

PRESS FREEDOM RANKING LOW BUT RISING

Cambodia ranked 128th in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2015 ranking of press freedom in countries across the world, the watchdog said yesterday on its website.
 

RSF, which has been compiling the rankings yearly since 2002, said press freedom worldwide had seen a disturbing downturn as governments attempted to crack down on print and online news dissemination.
 

“The climate of fear results in a growing aversion to debate and pluralism, a clampdown on the media by ever more authoritarian and oppressive governments, and reporting in the privately-owned media that is increasingly shaped by personal interests,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.
 

“Guaranteeing the public’s right to independent and reliable news and information is essential if humankind’s problems, both local and global, are to be solved.”
 

Using journalistic independence, self-censorship, transparency, abuses and a number of other criteria, RSF compiles its list after sending out surveys to reporters and lawyers in every country.
 

Despite the low ranking, Cambodia actually rose 11 spots compared with last year. But RSF said reporters, especially those covering illegal logging and trafficking of any kind, still faced government stonewalling and overt threats of violence from powerful stakeholders within the country. RSF also mentioned the highly controversial Telecommunications Law, which they say has the “aim of closely regulating Internet use.”
 

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan had not read the report, but dismissed claims that the Telecom Law was intended to stifle dissent, saying its purpose was to protect privacy and prevent hacking.
 

“The draft law is not a threat to freedom of speech,” he said.
 

Executive director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) Chak Sopheap said it will have an effect on journalists’ ability to cover difficult issues plaguing the country.
 

“While the implementation is yet to be seen, it is likely that this law is intended to provide the government with yet another tool to crack down on freedom of expression, which of course will impact independent journalists disproportionately,” she said.
 

Executive Director of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media Pa Nguon Teang echoed Ms. Sopheap’s comments last year, when he said: “The Internet, once Cambodia’s last open and free medium for press freedom and free expression, is now becoming increasingly restrictive and subject to government controls that have for so long limited the country’s mainstream media.”
 

In spite of the disagreements over the Telecoms law, Mr. Siphan said he was pleased to hear that Cambodia had climbed in the ranking.
 

“I think it is important to evaluate Cambodia in a regional context,” he said. “There is more freedom of the press here than elsewhere in the region,” he explained, saying journalists are free to report “without fear or favor.”
 

“The government always respects freedom of speech and does not censor,” Mr. Siphan added. He also said ministries were working to improve communications with the media by appointing and “empowering” spokespeople.
 

The prime minister is also using social media to create direct communications with the public, Mr. Siphan added.
 

Undersecretary at the Ministry of Information Ouk Kimseng acknowledged that covering illegal logging was dangerous, but said journalists had to be aware of the risks involved in their job.
 

“I think that if reporters want to be careful, they should not go into the forest searching for illegal logging alone,” he said. “They should go with a group of people and not just go alone.”
 

Ms. Sopheap of CCHR said Cambodia’s continually low ranking was not surprising at all.
 

“Cambodia is a dangerous place to be an independent journalist, with brave journalists regularly risking their lives and liberty,” she said, citing the deaths of 13 journalists for their reporting since 1994.
 

“We have seen a spike in threats and arrests against social media commentators as Internet penetration increases exponentially across Cambodia. The huge proportion of media outlets which are owned by individuals who are well connected to the ruling party also undoubtedly contributed to this ranking,” she added.
 

For the situation to improve, Ms. Sopheap said the government should enact the Access to Information Law, which she said would “improve transparency and offer better protection to journalists.”
 

But most importantly, she believes press freedom lies in the hands of the government and the country’s judicial system.
 

“For Cambodia to enjoy genuine press freedom, the judiciary and government need to stop targeting those who dare to expose corruption and criticize the powerful,” she said.
 

Additional Reporting by Srey Kumneth.

This story was featured in print on April 20.

SURVIVOR RECALLS CANNIBALISM AT TRIBUNAL

In harrowing testimony yesterday at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, a witness described hearing about guards at the Au Kanseng Security Center in Ratanakkiri province disemboweling a sick and dying prisoner there so Khmer Rouge security officials could eat her gallbladder.
 

Answering questions for Case 002/02, Moeurng Chandy, a 62-year-old Takeo province native, described her life in Au Kanseng after being brought there in June of 1977. She spent the first two years of the Khmer Rouge regime takeover working on a rubber plantation near Ban Lung town. Along with three other women, she was arranged to marry a man in the village. She ended up with Phon Thol, who also testified at the court yesterday. The two have since divorced.  
 

She was unsure of why she and her husband were brought to the prison, but testimony from other witnesses and research into the Khmer Rouge leadership found that Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Son Sen, three of the most senior officials within the Khmer Rouge at the time, had ordered that all workers at Ms. Chandy’s rubber plantation be arrested and brought to the prison in June of that year out of fear that a revolt was fomenting. Detainees estimate that 400-600 prisoners were held there at its peak.
 

“I didn’t know what I did. One day at a village committee meeting, the village chief said Thom, who was running all of Ratanakkiri, ordered me in. They put me in a truck after,” she said.
 

Three pairs of men and women joined her and her husband on the drive to the prison, which was about an hour or two away, according to Ms. Chandy’s testimony. “Once I got off the truck I knew I was being taken to a prison. The location was isolated and I saw people locked inside,” she told the court. “When I arrived in the area, I realized I would die. I did not know why I was sent there, but I thought that would be the end of my life.”
 

It was only after arriving at the prison that she realized she was pregnant. In early 1978, with only a single medic and her cellmates to help her, she gave birth to a baby girl. Once she regained her strength, she was assigned to work in the kitchen to cook rice for the prison guards.
 

“I had no breast milk, so I had to feed my child palm juice. The situation was miserable,” she said.
 

Ms. Chandy was eventually moved from a locked cell to an unlocked room with a guard on the outside. She described a number of atrocities committed at the prison, some of which she said she saw firsthand.
 

Groups of 10-20 Jarai people from a village along the Vietnamese border were detained at the prison during her time there. She said the women were put in her facility and tied together by a single rope. After 10 days, the prison guards told them that they would be sent back to their village. Some of the women had small children with them, half of whom could not walk without their mothers.
 

Three days after watching this from her prison cell, she said she was picking vegetables in a garden when she saw a pit created by a bomb dropped from a B52 airplane. In the pit, she could see the bodies of people wearing the same clothes as the Jarai who were detained in her facility.  
 

“I smelled the decomposing bodies. I could tell they were Jarai from their clothing. I was talking to myself, asking if I would also share the same fate,” she said. “The pits were eventually covered, and the clothes of the Jarai were distributed to other prisoners in my building.”
 

The leader of the prison guards, Ta Ouy, stuck out in her memory as particularly cruel and vengeful. She witnessed him murder a young woman, and had to hold back tears as she described the scene.
 

“I saw him walking a woman to a field as I was picking vegetables. She was begging him for her life, but he hit her with the butt of his rifle,” Ms. Chandy told the tribunal. “I did not know her, or where she was from, but I remember her begging for her life as he smashed a hoe on her repeatedly.”
 

Ta Ouy was well known around the prison for his depravity, and especially by the kitchen staff, the witness said. Ms. Chandy said it was widely rumored around the facility that the prison guards had removed the gallbladder from a dying prisoner and ate it.
 

“The kitchen was along a road I used to walk. One person was so cruel and brutal. He used a bamboo stick from the wall to cut open bodies and remove the gallbladder. These people were dying,” she said. “Every time Ta Ouy left the kitchen, he said that he ate human gallbladders.”

This story ran on March 4, 2016.

SICK, LONELY AND AFRAID, NAURU REFUGEE REGRETS COMING TO CAMBODIA

The controversial Nauru refugee resettlement deal received another blow when one of the two remaining refugees in Cambodia said he is “unwell and lonely,” in need of medical attention and fears he “will die here.”
 

In an interview with Fairfax Media, 26-year-old Mohammed Rashid complained that he has received only $4,000 of the $8,000 payout promised by the Australian government to persuade him to move from Nauru. He added that the other perks he was promised, such as good healthcare and employment, have not materialized.
 

These revelations are the latest black eye to a $40 million refugee resettlement deal struck between the Australian and Cambodian governments in 2014. Australian opposition politicians are now calling for an audit of the program.
 

“Spending millions of dollars to grease the wheels of a corrupt regime so that the government can dump a handful of people in an impoverished country is unacceptable,” Greens party immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young told Fairfax yesterday. She called for “an independent assessment of value for money.”
 

It is not the first time the Nauru refugee resettlement program has come under fire. Multiple groups have said that Cambodia – with human rights abuses of its own and a weak healthcare system – is ill-equipped to deal with refugees.
 

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) received a hefty $11 million budget to pay for medical healthcare, housing and employment for Mr. Rashid and one other refugee in Phnom Penh. It has spent $1.4 million on the two refugees so far, including hundreds of thousands spent on a luxury villa where Mr. Rashid no longer lives.
 

This controversial refugee deal was signed in 2014 when Australia promised to give Cambodia $40 million in aid in exchange for Cambodia taking refugees from Nauru. In the years since, all but two of the five refugees who came to Cambodia have returned to their home countries, but that did not stop Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton from hailing the deal as a success last week.
 

“The fact that we’ve had no drownings at sea and no successful boat arrivals I think is a pretty good outcome,” Mr. Dutton said in an interview with an Australian radio station.
 

Mr. Rashid was one of the five Nauru refugees who agreed to the resettlement deal. He originally left Indonesia bound for Australia on a boat operated by people smugglers, but was intercepted by Australian authorities and detained on Nauru in 2013. He arrived in Phnom Penh three months ago.
 

He told Fairfax Media that he now regrets the decision to leave Nauru. He suffers from kidney and lung problems as well as asthma, but said IOM has been unresponsive to his requests to be hospitalized. In a particularly harrowing part of his interview, he described having a friend take him to a hospital in Phnom Penh where doctors said he needed to stay at least 10 days for observation. Representatives from IOM spoke to doctors at the hospital and said he was only allowed to stay there for three days despite his illnesses. This, he said, contributed to an overall feeling of abandonment and isolation from the outside world.
 

A spokesman for Mr. Dutton told Fairfax a different story, saying that IOM officials contact Mr. Rashid daily, and added that he has declined offers of better housing and healthcare. “[Mr. Rashid has] so far declined to engage with IOM on their offer of assistance in seeking permanent accommodation options,” the spokesperson told Fairfax.
 

Kem Sarin, a spokesman for the Cambodian refugee department, told Khmer Times that he was surprised to read of Mr. Rashid’s problems. “I was wondering as well regarding that [the report],” he said. “We have more than 60 refugees in Cambodia that have integrated into the community – except him.”
 

Mr. Sarin added that the Cambodian refugee department is not responsible for Mr. Rashid’s wellbeing. “We are responsible for providing legal documents, to provide him a legal stay,” he said, “but for other services the IOM is the one [responsible].” Despite repeated phone calls and emails, IOM could not be reached for comment.
 

Mr. Rashid said he has warned other Nauru refugees against accepting the Australian government’s offer of a home in Cambodia. He said he has been told he cannot return to the island. “If I am going to die, I should have stayed in Nauru and died there,” he told Fairfax Media.

This story ran on March 13, 2016. 

OBAMA NOMINATES NEW AMBASSADOR TO KINGDOM

US President Barack Obama announced William Heidt as his choice for ambassador to Cambodia on Tuesday.

Mr. Heidt is a career diplomat currently serving as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the Department of State, a position he has held since 2012. 

This won't be Mr. Heidt's first time working in Cambodia. He served as Economic and Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh from 1997 to 1999.

He has worked in embassies across the world, with stops in Indonesia and Poland as well as a post working for the US delegation at the UN in New York. 

If he is confirmed for the post, he will be replacing William Todd, who has worked as ambassador to Cambodia since 2012.

This story ran on April 8, 2015.

MEXICAN NATIONAL CONVICTED OF SEXUAL ABUSE

A 60-year-old Mexican national working at a school in Sihanoukville was convicted of sexually abusing two young girls yesterday and sentenced to two years in prison, with one year of the sentence suspended, according to APLE Cambodia, a child rights NGO.

In addition to his prison sentence, the court ordered him to pay 10 million riel to the two victims.
 

Pina Paez Bernado was arrested in June last year after a police investigation. He was convicted under article 43 of the Law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, according to Colonel Chor Heng, the chief of the Anti Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Unit in Preah Sihanouk province.
 

Khoem Vando, a program manager at APLE Cambodia, said Mr. Paez Bernado was seen contacting the two girls in public by officials from APLE. The police were alerted immediately, he said.
 

Mr. Paez Bernado was still able to get the girls to come to his apartment, and the next day, APLE contacted the police again about the situation. The two girls were interviewed about what happened, and police arrested and questioned Mr. Paez Bernado. Legal action was immediately taken after speaking to both sides.
 

After the case ended, the two victims, a 12-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl, were sent to a facility where they are receiving support.
 

APLE noted that the case is a prime example of “child-friendly” court procedures, due to the court’s use of privacy screens, which allow victim’s the chance to testify without having to relive the trauma brought on by seeing the suspect.
 

“We are confident that Cambodian courts will become child-sensitive in all future cases involving children testifying. This will increase the likelihood of young victims speaking out in court,” said Seila Samleang, APLE Executive Director.
 

Following his prison sentence, Mr. Paez Bernado will be deported back to Mexico.

This story ran on February 18.

SPIN CLASS: TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF DJS

The Cambodia DJ Academy teaches locals and ex-pats the ins and outs of production and DJ-ing. The only prerequisite: a love for music.

A drop of sweat trickles down the side of the face of a dj, who with one hard head bob flings it through the air. He is one of a dozen employed by the Cambodia DJ Academy, an upstart school based in Phnom Penh taking on the challenge of trying to teach the art of DJ-ing. 
 

The term ‘disc jockey’ was coined in 1935, when a radio announcer decided to spin a couple records as his audience was eagerly waiting for updates on the Lindbergh kidnapping. It has evolved into a multi-billion dollar business, spawning new genres of music while becoming its own art form.
 

“Music is feeling. It makes you feel sad, makes you feel happy. Just in general, it brings out emotion,” says Steve Moskowitz, a 67-year-old Philadelphia native who worked as a DJ for 15 years in a number of countries across the world before settling down and starting the DJ Academy in Phnom Penh near the end of 2014. 
 

With the assistance of 12 DJs, three of whom are Cambodian, the Academy has grown into a full-fledged program, serving more than 85 students in total and now holding 3 to 4 classes a day for students. Forty percent of their students have been women, and that number continues to rise. They cater to aspiring DJs of all ages.
 

It’s impossible, he added, to mass-produce DJs, so each class is tailored specifically to each student. 
 

“We don’t tell them, ‘you’re gonna learn this music’. We tell them to bring the music that you love, and we will teach you how to mix. We will teach you how to put playlists together, we will teach you how to use equipment and how to make your mix into something special,” he said.
 

CDJA teaches everything from beat mixing to basic scratching and cutting, while also helping students learn to create playlists and market themselves through social media.
 

“I’ve gone back into the lab for this one and made it very personal. We have so many different people coming for classes,” he says. “We have a lot of students who just want to learn how to spin or DJ at a party. And then we have others who need this to make a living.”
 

In recent years, the sheen and prestige associated with DJing has taken somewhat of a hit, due in no small part to the spread of technology, which has allowed any celebrity with an iPod to call themselves a DJ.
 

But Moskowitz compared training a DJ to training a boxer. Years, he said, are needed until you perfect your ability to move seamlessly between songs, create your own mixes, and most importantly, are able to read a crowd and alter your playlist in congruence with the mood of the room.
 

“In my day, a DJ got paid $10,000 for a couple hours,” he says. “There weren’t that many DJs. Now, everyone is a DJ. All you need is a laptop.”
 

His solution to the ubiquitous nature of DJs is to add on an extra set of skills: the ability to create your music.
 

“Now, a DJ gets paid $50 to spin the whole night playing someone else’s tunes,” he added. “But the way to make money in this industry is to be able to make your own music, to be able to sell it to labels, to sell it to beat ports, to be able to produce your own stuff.”
 

And that is where Dileepa Aponsu comes in. Aponsu, known to most partygoers as ‘Dilee D’, is helming CDJA’s new beatmaking class, where he teaches the ins and outs of Ableton and other music-making software platforms. 
 

“You have to make and sell your own music. You can’t rely just on DJing anymore,” he said. “When you get old, you can’t DJ anymore. But with your own music, you can always keep making and selling it.” 
 

Aponsu’s class already has 4 students after only a month, and they hope to expand the program if the demand continues to grow.
 

“Producers came before DJs. Producers had to become DJs so people could hear their music,” Aponsu says. “But now it’s switched. Everyone becomes a DJ first.”
 

Hailing from Sri Lanka, Aponsu came to Phnom Penh to teach this program and DJ here a few months ago. He has been DJing for 10 years and using Abelton for 6, creating his own brand of deep house, techno and all-around “underground music,” as he calls it.  
 

Despite the reversal in the number of DJs versus producers, Aponsu says it may actually help beatsmiths hone their craft more effectively by DJing, as they will have a better understanding of what crowds generally want to hear.
 

“There is morning music and there is night music. It depends on the venue, on the crowd, on your mood,” he said. “Everything depends on timing.”
 

Half of CDJA’s students have been expats, but the number of Cambodians joining the program has grown as more and more people share their positive experiences about the program with others.
 

For most, the biggest issue is price. Eight lessons cost $350, a meager sum compared to the skyrocketing prices for DJ classes in the West and even in Bangkok, where Moskowitz also has a DJ school. But for many Cambodians that price is out of reach, so CDJA offers a number of payment plans and is trying to be flexible to attract more local talent.  
 

But tougher than the price issue is the cultural understanding of DJing in Cambodia.
 

“There is a stigma here that a DJ is just above a bar man. They don’t really see this as a specialty. This is a concept we really want to change, by developing homegrown DJs who are able to produce their own music and tour internationally,” Moscowitz says.
 

“It takes 2 or 3 or 4 years, but once they develop, they’re unstoppable. The more you do something, the more you’re going to love it. And the more you love it, the better you are at it.”
 

One of these DJs is 27-year-old Phnom Penh native Sarinchankrisna Khat, who is only the third person to make it through all three levels of CDJA’s courses. He has been DJing for 4 months now, and although he hasn’t had any gigs yet, he has nothing but positive things to say about the program. 
 

“They’re not just taking your money. They are giving you real skills to be able to actually make a living as a DJ. I have learned so much from being here,” he said. “I want nothing more now than to be in front of a crowd spinning.”
 

Khat, who goes by DJ Krisna, says he used to listen to a wide variety of music. But now his music palate has expanded tenfold since he started DJing.
 

“I love music so much. I listen to it every day. Jazz, Hip-Hop, House,” he said. “I love it all with my soul.”
 

And that, Moskowitz said, is what they are always looking for. Regardless of age, race, or gender, the core of any good DJ is a passionate love of music.  
 

“We got a comment on Facebook from a woman who said, ‘I’m too ugly to learn, I’m too old’,” Moskowitz said. “I told her if you love music, you love music. It has nothing to do with beauty or age. Its all just feeling.”

This story ran in Khmer Times' Weekly Magazine on April 7.

JUSTICE MINISTER NAMED IN ‘PANAMA PAPERS’

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana is among the many world leaders, government officials and celebrities named in the so-called “Panama Papers,” a massive trove of leaked documents released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) yesterday detailing offshore holdings and international accounts that passed through the powerful Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
 

The documents have been compared to the 2010 release of classified documents from the US State Department, referred to as WikiLeaks. The difference, according to the ICIJ, is that the Panama Papers expose the often corrupt methods wealthy individuals and corporations go through to avoid taxes and oversight in offshore financial transactions.   
 

The firm Mossack Fonseca specializes in setting up and often selling shell companies for its clients, allowing them to hide, transfer and loan money worldwide to evade taxes and oversight, the report said.
 

The ICIJ report acknowledges that not everyone named in the leaked documents was necessarily involved in illicit financial transactions, saying there are legitimate uses for offshore companies.
 

However, Mr. Vong Vathana was not identified as a “politically exposed person” despite being listed in a document from the law firm as Cambodia’s “Minister of Justice.” Had Mr. Vong Vathana been properly designated, the firm would have been required to conduct background checks on him and the source of his funds, according to the ICIJ report.
 

The leaked document – a hand-written note – says Mr. Vong Vathana became one of five shareholders of RCD International Limited in May 2007, paying $5,000 for 5,000 shares of the company based in the British Virgin Islands, according to the ICIJ report.
 

ICIJ said it was unable to determine what kind of business the company operated.
 

Mr. Vong Vathana yesterday denied any link to the company, telling an online media outlet: “I do not know anything about this company, so how can I be a shareholder?”
 

He said he wanted more information about the company from ICIJ, and threatened to file a defamation suit against the group if the document linking him to Mossack Fonseca and RCD International was false.
 

“I’m not a superstar like Messi,” he added, referring to football star Lionel Messi, who is among the many high-profile people named in the leaked documents.
 

The Ministry of Justice also released a statement yesterday saying it “knows nothing about this company or the shareholders.”
 

“Therefore, the information released [by the ICIJ] was false. This is misinforming the public and it will impact the honor of the minister,” the statement said, adding: “Please verify this information before publishing anything about it.”
 

The ICIJ, however, has already published the information online, including a photograph of Mr. Vong Vathana and a brief biography of him.
 

Opposition lawmaker Son Chhay yesterday said the issue should be investigated by the Anti-Corruption Unit. “The ACU should investigate this…They should not keep silent about this,” the senior member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party said.  
 

Speaking to Reuters yesterday, Ramon Fonseca, director of Mossack Fonseca, denied that the firm had any involvement in illegal activities or money laundering, claiming that it is “dedicated to making legal structures which we sell to intermediaries such as banks, lawyers, accountants and trusts, and they have their end-customers that we don’t know.”
 

Information from the leaks is still trickling out as more news organizations make their way through the massive stockpile of documents, but ICIJ director Gerald Ryle told CNBC that the leak was evidence of a larger worldwide issue.
 

“We’re looking at a system that’s actually broken. You’ve got a system that sells, as a primary product, secrecy...If you go to the offshore world, you can do things that you wouldn’t be able to do at home,” he said.
 

The 11.5 million documents spanning more than 40 years were leaked to the team of journalists, who set up a detailed website linking accounts to some of the world’s most powerful and famous people, including 12 current and former heads of state, 200 politicians, associates of numerous mafia organizations, 350 major banks, celebrities and thousands of regular citizens.
 

The ICIJ said the leak “allows a never-before-seen view inside the offshore world – providing a day-to-day, decade-by-decade look at how dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues.”
 

“The documents show that banks, law firms and other offshore players have often failed to follow legal requirements that they make sure their clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or political corruption. In some instances, the files show, offshore middlemen have protected themselves and their clients by concealing suspect transactions or manipulating official records,” it added. 

This story ran on April 4, 2016.

US LAWMAKERS CREATE ‘CAMBODIA CAUCUS’ IN CONGRESS

The creation of a bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Cambodia was announced by two United States lawmakers earlier this week, with both men hoping the US takes more of a role in the country’s growth economically and socially.
 

Representative Alan Lowenthal, a Democrat representing one of the largest Khmer communities outside Cambodia in Long Beach, California, and Representative Steve Chabot, a Republican from Ohio, came together to create the caucus and will serve as co-chairs.
 

Mr. Chabot is well-known to many Cambodians for his fruitless attempt to cut American aid to Cambodia ahead of the contentious election in 2013.
 

“On July 28, Cambodia will hold its fifth national election behind a false veil of democracy during which Hun Sen will win his fourth term as prime minister through the incitement of political violence, corruption and nepotism,” Mr. Chabot said during a congressional House Subcom¬mittee meeting on Asia and the Pacific in 2013.
 

“Cutting off direct aid to the Cambodian government, specifically foreign military financing and international military education and training funding, is a tangible action the US can take to show its condemnation of the upcoming fallacious and undemocratic election.”
 

Mr. Chabot and Mr. Lowenthal met with US Ambassador to Cambodia William Heidt last week to discuss the situation in Cambodia, and believe the caucus can assist in efforts to push human rights and economic development.
 

“The Cambodian Caucus offers a real opportunity for Congress and members of the public to vigorously discuss a full range of issues important to Cambodia’s development, and it will strengthen our bilateral relationship,” Mr. Lowenthal said.
 

“As the representative of so many Cambodian Americans, many of whom still have deep connections to Cambodia, I feel it is critical that Congress do everything it can to ensure that the United States continues to serve as a positive influence on Cambodia as it works to fully integrate into the international community.”
 

Mr. Chabot echoed his statement, saying Cambodia is “vital to the future of freedom and democracy in Southeast Asia.”
 

“Cambodia is fast becoming an important economic partner to the United States and it is imperative that we continue to foster Cambodia’s economic growth while promoting our core values like respect for human rights and rule of law,” he added.
 

Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman Yim Sovann welcomed the effort, and said the caucus would “push Cambodia to improve freedoms, respect human rights and the rule of law.”
 

“Currently, Cambodia’s situation does not have enough respect for human rights. But this committee proves that Cambodia is not isolated,” he said.
 

He added that a number of US lawmakers have spoken to the opposition about their concerns on the arrest and detainment of party activists.  
 

Ruling party spokesman Sok Ey San said assistance provided by the US is welcome, and cited organizations like the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute as examples of ways the US can constructively contribute to Cambodia.
 

“But if this committee is just created for intervention into Cambodia, that is unacceptable,” he added. Mr. Ey San went on to say that despite opposition attempts to claim human rights are not respected in Cambodia, there has been very little pressure from the US on the issue.  
 

“Our relationship is good. Prime Minister Hun Sen went to California and Mr. Obama did not mention anything related to human rights,” Mr. Ey San said. “Mr. Obama did not put any pressure on the Cambodian government over human rights issues following criticism by some human rights organizations and CNRP members. He said nothing.”

This story ran on March 23.

DIP, DUCK, DIVE AND DODGE: PHNOM PENH’S ONE AND ONLY DODGEBALL GROUP KEEPS GROWING

A crowd starts to circle around a court as a young man in black shorts and a black shirt stares across a line of cones to the opposite end of the court; five people, each holding two rubber balls of their own, glare back at him.
 

Two of his adversaries step forward and fire. He dodges both before striking one of them with his own shot. Two more people attempt to hit him, but he again dodges both and grazes one of their legs with his counterattack. 
 

Eventually, he manages to survive until it is just him and one opponent on the court. Despite his eventual loss, the crowd gives him hearty round of applause, not only for his survival skills, but also for putting on a good show.
 

“If you haven’t played in a dodgeball tournament, you haven’t lived yet,” says John Munger, the mastermind behind the burgeoning dodgeball scene in Phnom Penh. His dodgeball group meets twice a week to play matches and held their second annual tournament last weekend, an affair fully outfitted with teams, jerseys and sponsors.
 

“To me, this is what really differentiates dodgeball from other sports. It gives us an avenue to bring our own unique character and creativity into the game and competition,” he said. “Plus, it’s one of the funniest things you’ll see.”
 

The San Diego-native started the group in July 2014 after moving to Phnom Penh for a job at Passerelles Numeriques, an international education NGO. Despite the prevalence of the sport in the US, Munger didn’t really start playing dodgeball until he moved to Ho Chi Minh City in 2011. On his first day at work in Vietnam, he met a fellow American who invited him to play.
 

“I was hesitant at first, but I went one time and really liked it. I played dodgeball in Saigon for two years,” he said.     
 

After his move to Phnom Penh, Munger spent six months living a dodgeball-less life, eventually realizing how big a role it played in his time in Vietnam. Prodded by his dodgeball crew in Ho Chi Minh, he decided to set up a small group here, posting notices on expat Facebook pages and praying for responses.
 

Twenty people showed up on the group’s first official night, and since then it has grown, expanding to two nights a week and leading to the creation of an official tournament once a year. 
 

The roots of the sport are murky, with a number of countries and cultures claiming ownership over its popularization. But most historians agree that the sport got its start more than 200 years ago when Dr. James H. Carlisle, a missionary working throughout Africa, saw a more vicious version of the game being played between villages and communities. 
 

He took the idea back to England, replacing rocks and stones with a leather ball, and the sport was born. 
 

Despite its violent origins, the draw of the sport in Phnom Penh is more social. It is a great way to exercise, to meet people and to blow off some steam, and Munger was attracted to the idea that both women and men could play at the same time.
 

“It’s not common that you can have a co-ed sport where girls are as good as the guys and even better,” he said. 
 

Phaline Taing, who initially joined the group because one of her co-workers helps organize the weekly meetings, believes the sports underlying message is more important than the entertainment.
 

“I found that it’s courageous to implement this kind of sport in Cambodia where the culture is very different from the States. In Cambodia, sports are very discriminated,” she said. “Girls play this sport, boys play this sport. But dodgeball is great, both sexes can play together.”
 

Costing only $1.50 for foreigners and $0.75 for Cambodians per meeting, many of the group’s most ardent followers revel in the sport’s ability to provide a good workout and a venue to meet people.
 

Shelby Jones, a 26-year-old from England, said the sport and the people involved helped him cope with a personal tragedy. 
 

“I needed to find company, make some friends and do something to take my mind off things,” he said. “Dodgeball was perfect. Everyone there is so welcoming and friendly. It’s not just a place to play some sports. It’s a place to make great friends from all over the world.”
 

The most avid members of the group say it has evolved beyond just a twice-weekly meeting into a tight-knit, full-fledged community.
 

“I think the biggest attraction for people is the dodgeball community,” said Giovanni Todaro, a 28-year-old Texas native. “Most of the people that play dodgeball spend time together outside of it. We go to movies, eat dinner and go out with each other on the weekend. There is a family vibe in the dodgeball community.”
 

The widespread diversity of the community has only helped it to grow even larger, pulling in people from across the world and locals alike.
 

“Through dodgeball, I can meet lots of people from different backgrounds,” Taing said. “And it’s the only time that I can throw balls at people and they keep laughing and smiling when they get hit.” 

This story ran in Khmer Times' Weekly Magazine on March 24.

AUSTRALIAN MINISTER STILL DEFENDING CONTROVERSIAL NAURU REFUGEE DEAL

Only $1.4 million of the original $40 million deal with Cambodia has been spent on refugees sent from the island nation of Nauru to Phnom Penh, Australian Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said in a radio interview yesterday morning with a local station.
 

Most of the funds for the deal were to be spent on the National Election Committee (NEC) and other election assistance, landmine clearance and agricultural production, he said. 
 

A total of $11 million was planned for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to help them settle refugees and cover the costs for housing, healthcare and employment.
 

Now that all but two of the refugees have left Cambodia and returned to their home countries, the controversial deal is in jeopardy of falling apart. 
 

Australian ministers have slammed the deal as a waste of money, with the Australian opposition party’s immigration spokesman Richard Marles saying earlier this week: “The inability of this government to secure a meaningful resettlement arrangement with a credible third country is a serious failure.”
 

The revelation is another black eye for the much-maligned deal signed early in 2015. Australia hailed it as a solution to its long-standing issue with refugees. They have refused to accept any refugees arriving by boat, instead detaining them in a facility run partially by IOM on Nauru. 
 

The facilities have also been criticized by human rights advocates, with repeated cases of alleged abuse, rape and malnourishment happening to those detained there, according to an Australian Immigration Ministry report. 
 

Since five refugees arrived in Phnom Penh in June and July last year, two Iranians and one Rohingya from Myanmar have returned to their home countries, citing difficulties with the language and seclusion as the reason behind their decision to leave. Now, only one Iranian and one Rohingya remain in Cambodia.
 

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy spoke harshly about the deal last August, telling an Australian media outlet that Cambodia should not be a “dumping site for refugees.”
 

Cambodia was widely criticized for accepting the deal, with many NGOs and civil society organizations here claiming that Cambodia’s own record with human rights makes it ill-suited to take on the task of caring for refugees. 
 

Kerm Sarin, a spokesman for the General Department of Immigration at the Ministry of Interior, said neither he nor any other government official knew the exact amount Australia spent on the refugees. 
 

The expenses for the refugees are handled by the Australian government and IOM, with Cambodia only involved in providing legal documents for them, he said. 
 

“The resettlement in any country is dependent on the favor of the refugee. If they want to live in Cambodia, we will organize the legal documents or other paperwork for them and facilitate their integration into society,” he said. “Any expense in relation to the resettlement and training courses does not involve Cambodia.” 
 

Mr. Sarin said the refugees who resettled in Cambodia have every right to return home and their decision will not affect the deal. 
 

“Whether they want to live here or go back has no effect on the agreement. They are volunteering to go back to their countries,” he added.
 

But the Australian architects of the deal have hailed it as a success, saying that since detaining most refugees on Nauru and only offering them the chance to reside in Cambodia, they have seen a decrease in the number of boats carrying migrants trying to make it to their shores.
 

“The fact that we’ve had no drownings at sea and no successful boat arrivals I think is a pretty good outcome,” Mr. Dutton said in his interview yesterday.

This story ran on March 10. 

CALIFORNIA SEX OFFENDER CHARGED FOR CAMBODIA SEX TRIP

An American sex offender was convicted earlier this week in a California Federal Court for traveling to Cambodia in 2009 to engage in “illicit sexual conduct with young girls”, according to the US Department of Justice.
 

After a six week trial, 55-year-old Ronald Gerard Boyajian was found guilty of traveling to Cambodia explicitly to engage in sexual activity with minors. 
 

He was convicted on charges of “intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct”, as well as “engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor in foreign places”. 
 

On his 35th trip to Asia over a nine-year period, Mr. Boyajian was arrested by Cambodian police after a joint investigation by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Los Angeles, as well as HSI’s Attaché Offices in Bangkok, Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh, alongside the US Embassy in Phnom Penh.
 

The investigation revealed that Mr. Boyajian made his way to Cambodia once he had finished his parole for a prior conviction on “illegal sex with a minor” charges.
 

During his trip to Cambodia in 2009, he sexually assaulted four girls, all aged between 8 and11, in the village of Svay Pak, about 11 km from Phnom Penh. 
 

He paid local pimps and family members for access to the girls, who were all from immigrant Vietnamese families. According to the prosecutor and Cambodian police, the area is an infamous destination where Westerners travel to engage in under-age sex.
“The evidence presented at the trial showed that Boyajian thought that he could molest and intimidate his young victims with impunity because he was in a foreign country, but he could not have been more mistaken,” said United States Attorney Eileen M. Decker. 
 

“Protecting children from sexual exploitation is one of our top priorities, and we will pursue pedophiles across the globe if necessary. I also salute the courage of his victims who were willing to come to the United States to be witnesses at the trial and testify against him.”
 

An 8-year-old girl who testified during the trial said Mr. Boyajian “was abusive, he was cruel, he treated me like I wasn’t even human.”
 

“For the young victims robbed of their childhoods and innocence by this defendant, justice has been a long time coming, but they can take consolation knowing he will now be made to pay for his crimes,” said Joseph Macias, special agent in charge of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s HSI Los Angeles. 
 

“I applaud the efforts by the HSI special agents here and overseas who, along with the federal prosecutors, have fought tirelessly to vindicate the rights of these child victims. Today’s verdict should send a clear and resounding message that traveling overseas to exploit children will not go unnoticed or unpunished.”
 

United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder is set to sentence Mr. Boyajian on June 13. 
 

Due to his prior conviction for a similar crime, he is facing a maximum of 30 years in prison for each charge.

This story ran on March 9, 2016.

PM'S ELDEST SON DEMANDS FACEBOOK USER’S ARREST FOR DEFAMATION

Prime Minister Hun Sen's eldest son, Hun Manet, filed a defamation complaint to the National Police chief on Friday calling for the arrest of a Facebook user who he claims has insulted him. 

Lieutenant General Manet said a Facebook user known as Chham Chhany had committed public defamation against him by tying him and his mother, Bun Rany, to illegal logging.

In a Facebook post, Mr. Chhany’s account said Lt. Gen. Manet, who serves as a deputy commander in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, and Ms. Rany, were working with alleged illegal logging tycoons Lim Bunna and Soeung Sam Ol, both of whom run timber operations in Tbong Khmum province. 

The post alleged there was a dispute between Mr. Bunna and Mr. Sam Ol, each backed by Lt. Gen. Manet and Ms. Rany, respectively. 

“But after Oknha Khna [Mr. Bunna] begged for intervention from Hun Manet, things were changed to ‘legal wood,’ meaning that the two Oknhas still have the opportunity to fell trees, especially to feed Bun Rany and Hun Manet. If they do not feed them enough: imprison, imprison, imprison,” the post said.

International NGO Global Witness was banned from the country after releasing two reports, in 2005 and 2007, linking members of Mr. Hun Sen’s family to the illegal logging trade, including a prominent cousin and his wife. 

The post comes on the heels of a newfound push to crack down on the illegal timber trade in provinces along the border with Vietnam. One of Mr. Bunna’s timber warehouses was raided last week.

"Today, I take legal action against one person named Chham Chhany, who has fabricated stories, which affected my and my family’s honors and decency," Lt. Gen. Manet said. “In any democratic society, every citizen has the rights to freedom of expression. Yet, the exercise of a person’s freedom of expression must be accompanied by a certain degree of personal responsibility.”

Lt. Gen. Manet added that freedom of expression must fall within the confines of the country’s legal framework, and must not infringe on other people’s rights.  

"Any person who violates these two conditions must be held accountable for his/her actions," Lt. Gen. Manet said.

The account in question says Mr. Chhany went to school in the United States and indicates he may be there now.

This story ran on January 23.

PUSHING THE PEDALS: NEPALESE CYCLISTS PLAN TO CIRCLE THE WORLD

Dr. Amrit Baral can trace the seeds of the World Bicycle Tour back to April 25, 2015. It was almost noon when a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal, sending shockwaves of destruction and devastation throughout his home country. 
 

As a doctor at a government-run hospital, he was quick to act, heading out to remote villages to help people cope with a disaster the country was ill prepared to handle.
 

“I, along with members of Dirghayu Nepal [a local NGO], visited many affected villages to treat and supply basic relief materials to the victims,” he said as he described the scene.
 

It was in these villages that he realized the overwhelming number of issues facing those living outside of metropolitan areas. The lack of knowledge and awareness about health, hygiene and sanitation was eye opening, and made him wonder just how widespread this problem really was. 
 

Was it just that village, or just in the villages across Nepal, or across Asia, or across the world? As he answered these questions through research, he felt the need to take action. 
 

With the help of Shankar Poudel, a local radio host and seasoned cycler, and Ajit Baral, Dr. Baral’s cousin and an environmentalist at Dirghayu Nepal, he embarked on a cycling tour around the world, hoping to raise awareness about Nepal and funds for the victims of the earthquake as well as spread a message of genuine environmentalism and conservationism. 
 

They plan to cycle through 100 countries in five years, using planes and other modes of transportation when they absolutely have to. Starting on September 20 of last year, they cycled from Nepal through six countries, riding their way south to the tip of India, using boats to get to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, and then biking east through Myanmar, Thailand and Laos before reaching Cambodia.
 

Ajit Baral, Shankar Poudel, and Dr. Amrit Baral stand with their bikes in front of Independence Monument. (KT/Fabien Mouret)

When they are not stopping in a city to take a break, they try to cycle at least 100 kilometer per day, and 125 km if they’re feeling up for it.
 

The trip is entirely self-funded, and they are relying on Nepalese communities as well as small donations in every country to help them find accommodations, cover visa costs and pay for bike repairs.
 

“We always thought about doing something big, something meaningful in our lives for other people. And the earthquake sort of pushed these ideas to the forefront of my mind,” he said.
 

Each of them described how the earthquake was a watershed moment for them. Knowing that nature could erupt at any moment and take lives in an instant prompted them to act now, instead of waiting for the “right” moment or someone else to take up the mantle.
 

The earthquake served as the genesis of a number of facets of the World Bicycle Tour. An appreciation for the sheer power of nature was a natural byproduct of living through something as uncontrollable and massive as the earthquake, and they said the bike tour is their attempt to spread knowledge about why people’s daily interactions with nature are important and worth thinking about.
 

“We decided to go to different countries and try to teach people, spread the message that the environment is important,” Dr. Baral said. “People these days are so enamored with technology. And now they want giant buildings, they want 5-star resorts. Because of this, so many animals are being pushed to extinction and so much of the natural beauty of the earth is being destroyed.”
 

Mr. Baral works within the environmental arm of Dirghayu Nepal and runs education programs on recycling, deforestation, and water/air pollution. 
 

“Ten years ago, you could walk to a river and drink from it. But now, water has become a commodity like gold or silver,” he said. 
 

Part of the reason why they decided to cycle across the world was to see the effects of humans on a global scale, and they say their trip has been eye opening, especially in Cambodia.
 

“When we were crossing the border from Laos, we could see it, the deforestation,” Dr. Baral said. “All along the border we saw trees being cut and burned. It’s astonishing.”
 

The trio show the strings and bracelets given to them by local pagodas where they have stayed throughout Asia. (KT/Jonathan Greig)

Even in Phnom Penh, they were disheartened while walking along the riverside to see the banks of the Tonle Sap and the Mekong rivers covered in trash. 
 

 “The river is so beautiful,” Mr. Poudel said. “We saw people even throw trash into the river and pee into it. Why?”
 

 Throughout their trip, they have tried to expand their awareness campaign beyond newspapers and social media, meeting with local residents in every city and explaining the need for environmental efforts.
 

In India, Sri Langka and Laos, they gave speeches at schools describing their mission and ways local residents can be better about how they interact with their natural surroundings. 
 

“This should start at the school level. Children should be taught from a young age to respect the environment and understand why it is worth protecting so they can tell their friends and parents,” Mr. Baral said. 
 

The most important aspect of their trip, in Dr. Baral’s eyes, is local participation. They hope their presence in towns along their trip will make people realize that everyone can play a role in saving the environment. 
 

“There should be fines for throwing trash on the ground, extra costs for plastic bags, and trash bins on every street corner,” Dr. Baral mentioned amongst the long list of ways people and local governments can start the process of living more environmentally-friendly lives.
 

They are not against development, but Dr. Baral said there needs to be more of an effort to make development work alongside environmentalism instead of against it.
 

“In favor of economic development, we should not ignore social development,” Mr. Baral said. “We should take care of both together. They are not exclusive. We can have economic development and social development.”
 

Instead of starting a big campaign and trying to attract lots of donors and help from international NGOs, the trio believes the best way to go about a project like this is to keep it small.
 

Person to person interaction, Dr. Baral said, has been extremely effective in getting through to people who often feel unmoved by international campaigns that don’t try to identify with the everyday issues they face.
 

“Even if we can change one person in each country, that is enough. This is what motivates us to push the pedals. We don’t expect to change a whole country. But if we change one person, maybe that one can tell a friend, and a domino effect occurs,” Dr. Baral said with a smile.
 

“With a project like this, we just hope to hand a better world to the next generation.”

This story ran as the centerfold on February 4.

CAMBODIAN-AMERICAN NAVY COMMANDER PLEADS GUILTY IN US CORRUPTION CASE

A Cambodian-American US Navy commander plead guilty to bribery charges in US Federal Court last week after officials accused him of accepting money and concert tickets, among other gifts, from a private defense company in exchange for sensitive information about the movements of Navy ships, according to a statement released by the US Navy last week. Glenn Defense Marine, the company in question, runs resupply services at a number of ports across Asia.
 

Cmdr. Michael Misiewicz, whose name was Vannak Khem before he was adopted as a 6-year-old Kandal province native by an American working at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, allegedly received money, prostitutes, expense-paid trips and Lady Gaga concert tickets for routing and sometimes rerouting Navy ships to ports with services run by the Singapore-based contracting company. Glenn Defense Marine would then overcharge the Navy for refueling and other services. 
 

The company ended up making over $20 million in profits from working with a number of Navy officials and officers. Mr. Misiewicz is only the eighth person to plead guilty in a case where over 100 Navy servicemen, including high ranking officers, are being investigated. Mr. Misiewicz was arrested in 2013 and has been fighting the charges since then. But on Thursday night, he decided to change his plea.
 

“He is extremely sorry for the harm he has caused to his family, the United States Navy and this great country,” his attorney wrote in a statement. The 48-year-old graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis served as deputy director of operations for the Navy’s 7th Fleet in 2011 and 2012, a position which is in charge of determining which ports ships dock in and how long they stay.
 

The company provided prostitutes to Mr. Misiewicz in a number of cities across Asia, and gave his family gifts as well. 
 

He came back to Cambodia for the first time in 2010, when the naval ship he was commanding docked in Sihanoukville.

This story ran on January 31.

A PAGODA GROWS IN BROOKLYN

Venerable Bunthoeun Thor brushes his copper-tinted robe out of the way before silently lighting a candle and a stick of incense in front of the towering Buddha statue covered in flower petals and sashes.

He sits back onto his heels and closes his eyes, pushing his hands together as he recites chants quietly to himself.

This is a scene you could probably find at any pagoda across Southeast Asia. Less so almost 9,000 miles away, in a standard, American-style home just south of the largest park in Brooklyn, New York.

Since 1983, Watt Samakki-Dhammikaram has primarily served the Cambodian community in New York and New Jersey. Ven. Thor said about 350 families, 200 of which live in Brooklyn, attend the pagoda regularly, and they often get visits from recent Southeast Asian or Chinese immigrants looking for a place to pray or just to get a taste of something similar to their homeland. They often coordinate events and celebrations with a pagoda in the Bronx, the only other pagoda in New York City.

For the last five years, newspapers have said the Cambodian community in the city is shrinking at an increasingly rapid rate. Many Cambodians fleeing the civil war came to New York City in the 70s and 80s, some of the worst years for the city in terms of crime and violence.  As recent immigrants began to realize how difficult it was to live in New York City, more and more left for bigger Cambodian hubs in Lowell, Massachusetts and Long Beach, California.

All of this history has led up to now, where the Cambodian community in the Bronx, which once even had an area dubbed “Little Cambodia,” has all but disappeared. But this little pagoda in a house on a side street near Prospect Park is doing all it can to fight this narrative, pushing the Cambodian families in the borough to make their ties even stronger, and foster a closer-knit community than ever before.

A pillar of New York City’s Cambodian community rebuilds. (Tim Patterson)

Under the guidance of Temple President Kenny Seng and Treasurer Mean Mak, the pagoda has undergone a whirlwind of changes in the last four years. The pagoda and organization behind it fell into disrepair, but Mr. Seng and Mr. Mak have worked to renovate the building, set up legitimized fundraising and build back a community that was once a hallowed member of New York’s vibrantly diverse patchwork of ethnic communities.

“During the last four years we’ve been busy with the repair and renovation jobs for the Temple because the previous team did not do a thing to improve it. It was in a very bad shape,” Mr. Mak said. 

In 2014, the community managed to raise more than $100,000 to help with repairs to the pagoda, and last year they raised over $80,000, giving the organization more flexibility in terms of planning events and helping Cambodians in need. Mr. Mak emphasized that the new leadership of the pagoda has prioritized trust over everything else. Many of the Cambodians in the community separated themselves because of the disorganization and lack of transparency within the pagoda. 

“We have more and more people joining us during our major events, so, in other words, everything is unprecedented for this Temple, especially for it to do this well,” Mr. Mak stated. “I can see a brighter future for Watt Samakki. The culture of accountability that Kenny and I put in place makes many of our small community members see that things are a lot more different than they used to be.”

Although the pagoda tends to attract the older members of the Cambodian community, Mr. Mak and Mr. Seng have made it a priority to reach out to younger members, creating a Facebook page and holding events on Khmer holidays to not only connect young Cambodians, many of whom see themselves as Americans first, with the rest of the Cambodian community in New York, but also with their traditional Khmer roots in Cambodia itself.

Some members of the pagoda have banded together to create the New York City Cambodian American Association (NYCCAA) in an effort to attract young professionals with no previous connections to the community.

Arun Rith, a recent Cambodian immigrant living in the pagoda and a member of NYCCAA, said the community is small but is becoming closer-knit by the day.

“The pagoda lets me stay here while I study electrical engineering at City College,” he said. “They have been so supportive of me. That was something I did not find in Lowell.”

Only two years ago, Mr. Rith moved from Kampong Cham to Massachusetts after receiving a scholarship to study in the US. He eventually left Massachusetts for New York, and the pagoda supports him as he studies with housing and a small stipend.

Ven. Thor is also a recent arrival, as the community brought him over from Cambodia to assist the other monk at the pagoda and expand the organization’s outreach to the community. Hailing from Takeo province, 26-year-old Ven. Thor said he has been a monk for six years, and spent time in Phnom Penh studying for his current role.

His youth was part of his appeal. The pagoda leadership wanted someone who could connect with a new generation of Cambodians and give them some sense of what Cambodia was really like.

“I’m not sure how long I will stay,” he said. “But more people are coming to the pagoda these days. If they stay, I’ll stay.”

This story ran in Khmer Times' Weekly Magazine on January 13.

JESSIE J. RULES THE KINGDOM FOR A NIGHT

For a night, Jessie J ruled the Kingdom, commanding a legion of fans as they sang along to her hit songs at the Smart Axiata concert on Koh Pich Saturday night. The artist teared up during a touching moment where she told the crowd that her grandmother died five days earlier. 

“It’s sort of fitting that Smart organized this. That was her favorite color of green,” she said after emotionally belting out her hit song “Flashlight.”

The London-born songstress made her way to Cambodia on the last leg of her “Sweet Talker” world tour promoting her latest album and performing her hit song “Bang Bang” as well as many of her other fan-favorites. 

Some in the audience expected her to have an army of dancers and backup singers, but the strong-voiced star took the stage with just her band and captivated the audience with what she is known for: her ability to hit a wide range of notes in quick succession.

She even took time out from performing her hits to do a freestyle section, where she interacted with the audience and sang her conversations with delighted spectators in the front row. 

In an interview with Khmer Times, the singer said her road to stardom was atypical of your usual pop diva. She started out as an artist, but after the label that signed her went bankrupt, she was forced to turn to songwriting, believing that would be her only shot at success. She managed to score her first hit penning Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” before achieving her own success as a singer with the hit “Price Tag.”

“Being a songwriter and being an artist are very similar, because the songs are the most important thing,” she said. “The songs are the most powerful thing. You can have the best PR, you can have the best clothes, but if you don’t have a song, there’s no point.”

Inspired by everyday life, Jessie J said one of the greatest parts of her job is being able to work with legendary artists like Smokey Robinson, Tom Jones and Mary J. Blige.

“The way they conduct themselves is different from artists now. Social media wasn’t around. They became who they are in a different time,” the songstress said with a smirk. “So I love to watch how they keep themselves relevant without being part of the constant desire of people to need a part of you that doesn’t have anything to do with why they know you in the first place.”

Jessie J has been able to take the expert advice given to her by these renowned singers and pass it on as a coach for the British edition of “The Voice.” 

“I love that it’s not about me, because I like just taking a step back. I love to share my knowledge and my experience and all the things that no one told me when I was coming through. The things that keep you healthy and sane and happy. How to run around onstage and not run out of breath. All the small things that seem really insignificant but actually go towards you enjoying what you do every day,” she said.

But more than being able to pass on her years of experience, Jessie J revels in being able to give her fans what they need, when they need it through her music.

“If they need to cry, if they need some self-belief, if they need some hope, if they want some anger. Whatever they need to make themselves feel better, because that’s what we love about music as a world. You can listen to ‘Purple Rain’ and I can listen to ‘Purple Rain’ and what you take from it is different from what I need from it,” she said, “and that’s the beauty of music. It speaks to millions of people because we fix it to relate to our lives.”

This story ran in Khmer Times' Weekly Magazine on December 13.

ROTHANA GETS REVENGE IN MASSIVE ONE FIGHTCARD

In a lengthy, 10-bout fightcard, Chan Rothana exacted his revenge on bitter rival Sam Ang Dung in a first round knockout that drove the crowd at Koh Pich Theatre wild.

ONE Championship, one of the biggest mixed martial arts organizations in Asia, made its heralded return to Phnom Penh Saturday night with its ‘ONE: Kingdom of Khmer’ fightcard, featuring a number of Cambodia’s most experienced fighters.

 
In ‘ONE: Rise of the Kingdom’, their first fight series in Phnom Penh last year, Rothana was controversially disqualified for an alleged head stomp of Ang Dung despite dominating him for most of the match. 

The highly publicized rematch lived up to the hype, with Rothana and Ang Dung trading vicious blows before taking things to the ground. Ang Dung seemed to have the upper hand after slamming Rothana to the mat and grappling for more than 30 seconds, but Rothana managed to flip Ang Dung over and hit him with a devastating blow to the face, knocking him out cold.  

 
The main event was an underwhelming battle between American Lowen Tynanes and Russian Rasul Yakhyaev, which ended in the third round after Tynanes managed to subdue the Russian with a rear naked chokehold.

Malaysia-native Gianni Subba took down Thai karate champion Anatpong Bunrad in the night’s most kick-heavy bout. Subba and Bunrad traded devastating kick after devastating kick, but Subba was able to batter Bunrad with a series of punches and elbows. The two experienced flyweights went three rounds without ever taking things to the ground, giving fans a respite from the rest of the grapple-heavy matches. Subba managed to take the match in a split decision. 

Local legend Chan Heng was put down in the fastest TKO in ONE history. Indonesian Muay Thai fighter Mario Satya Wirawan landed a brutal blow to Heng’s head, knocking down the veteran Kun Khmer fighter before a devastating kick to the head forced the referee to end the fight after only 6 seconds.

In the night’s most exciting match, crowd-favorite Tharoth “Little Frog” Sam and Indian Jeet Toshi went toe to toe for all three rounds, fighting until both could barely muster the energy to throw another punch. The two spent the first round battling on the ground, pounding each other with a variety of punches and kicks. Toshi almost ended the match with a series of hits to the face and an arm bar, but the slippery Sam fought her way out of it and managed to keep the fight going.

In the second round, the plucky Sam had the crowd on her side, pummeling Toshi with leg kicks while grappling with her on the ground. The third round saw both exhausted fighters barely able to fight anymore, but Toshi managed to straddle Sam and pummel her with a seemingly endless barrage of blows to the face.

Despite the continued pounding, the Banteay Meanchey-native never tapped out, and although she lost the fight in a decision, the crowd gave her a rousing ovation for her resilience.

Additional Reporting by Ismail Vorajee

This story ran on December 9, 2015, 

KEM SOKHA SACKED AS VICE PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

The CPP-dominated National Assembly (NA) sacked key opposition figure Kem Sokha as deputy leader of the Assembly in a legally-disputed vote that was boycotted by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP). 

“According to the vote, I would like to announce that Kem Sokha has been removed as National Assembly vice president during the assembly session on October 30,” NA President Heng Samrin said following the vote this morning. All 68 CPP members voted in favor of the measure to remove Mr. Sokha.

The NA session was only supposed to involve votes on the upcoming commune election and internal NA rules, but early this morning, three CNRP members of the permanent committee fought the inclusion of the vote against Mr. Sokha to the agenda to no avail. The CPP holds the majority of seats on the permanent committee.

NA spokesman and CPP lawmaker Chheang Vun said the CPP was waiting for the CNRP to select a new vice president. He denied reports and statements from members of his own party that Mr. Sokha was removed because of the violent protests against him, instead claiming that they made the move because “it was necessary to protect the culture of dialogue and agreement.”

Despite Article 87 of the Constitution, which states that NA presidents or vice presidents can only be replaced in the event of a death or resignation, the CPP defended the legality of the move.

“Mr. Sokha was promoted by the CPP, so he can be removed by the CPP based on an absolute majority vote,” Mr. Vun said.

CNRP members and the party itself have released statements slamming the action, claiming it directly violates the Constitution and the political agreement between both parties.

“55 CNRP lawmakers could not join the NA session today which violated the Constitution and the political agreement between both parties,” the statement read.

CNRP lawmaker Eng Chhay Eang said the CNRP wanted to have a meeting with the CPP before they submitted a new candidate for vice president.

“If we don’t talk with each other clearly, it will be useless to promote a new candidate,” Mr. Chhay Eang said, adding that the CNRP’s members plan to wait for party president Sam Rainsy to return from Europe before they nominate anyone to replace Mr. Sokha. He said the party will continue to boycott the NA if the Constitution continues to be violated by the ruling party.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong met with ambassadors from a number of countries, as well as the EU and UN, this afternoon to quell fears of another political stalemate similar to the one that ended in July of last year.

Mr. Sokha is also deputy leader of the CNRP. Tensions between the government and the opposition dramatically heightened this week when CPP-aligned groups held a protest against Mr. Sokha that turned violent. After protests against him in France last weekend, Prime Minister Hun Sen promoted the protest against Mr. Sokha a day before it occurred.

Two CNRP lawmakers were dragged out of their cars during the protest and beaten as they exited the NA during a lunch break. Both have been sent to a private hospital in Bangkok with multiple broken bones and other injuries.

Mr. Sokha himself said in a statement yesterday that he is afraid to return to the country after protesters threw rocks at his house for six hours during the protests against him while his wife stayed locked inside calling the police to no avail. 

This story ran on October 30.

CNRP LAWMAKERS FILE COMPLAINT OVER ATTACK

Lawyers for two opposition lawmakers attacked last month outside the National Assembly filed a formal complaint against their alleged attackers yesterday at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, jump-starting the investigation into an attack that some observers have claimed was orchestrated by the government. 

The complaint is signed by Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) lawmakers Nhay Chamroeun and Kong Saphea, who are continuing to receive treatment at a Bangkok hospital.

It brings new charges against the three suspects who turned themselves in last week. The complaint accuses the men of aggravated assault, property damage, and attempted murder. Together, the crimes carry a possible sentence of 35 years in prison. The two lawmakers are also requesting $25,000 in compensation each. 

Sam Sok Kung, a lawyer representing them, said that the new, more serious charges make it likely that it will take more time for the case to go to trial. It may be between four and six months before the suspects go on trial, he said.

 
The three suspects – soldiers Chay Sarith, Mao Hoeurn, and Soth Vanny – have been detained at Prey Sar prison. They confessed last week to participating in the attack, videos of which has been circulating online. Mr. Chamroeun and Mr. Saphea were dragged from their vehicles and beaten, following an anti-opposition party rally. In the videos police can be seen nearby. The videos also show a large group of attackers, who remained in the area after the anti-opposition protest moved to the home of CNRP vice president Kem Sokha. Only the three suspects who turned themselves in have been arrested so far. 

Meas Cheanpiseth, a deputy prosecutor at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said that the investigation is ongoing. Among other witnesses, the police have also brought the two legislators’ drivers to court for questioning, he said, declining to comment further.In their complaint, the two lawmakers urge the government to cast a wider net. Mr. Kung called for speedier justice. “The court has to speed up the process,” he said. “They need to conduct an unbiased investigation, and bring the suspects to trial.” 

This story ran on November 10