Article Written By LEONG SIOK HUI

Courtesy of The Star Online

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle

A passion for art and history led Lim Muy Thean to becoming a respected artisan in Cambodia. If you studied art at one of the most prestigious fine arts schools in the world – the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (National School of Fine Arts) in Paris – and your fellow alumni included artists like Claude Monet and Edgar Degas and fashion designers, Valentino and Hubert de Givenchy, what would you do? You could become a celebrity painter and command a six-figure price tag for each piece of your artwork. Or, you could be like Lim Muy Theam.

Lim set aside his dreams and journeyed to a place he once fled from 15 years ago to take part in the rebuilding of a country ravaged by three decades of war. Lim is one of the few overseas-educated Cambodians who are helping to revive the Khmer craft industry and manage the successful Artisans d’Angkor (AA). As the art-design director, Lim’s job is to create new products and introduce new collections for AA. He also designs the chic AA stores with simple lines to showcase the elaborate craftwork. “We are not simply just producing artefacts of Angkor temples,” says the genial Lim during an interview in his Siem Reap office. “My job is to come up with the right colour, proportions, shapes and designs that people can appreciate and want to put in their homes.” But how did Lim, who speaks fluent French, English and Khmer, end up with AA? 

The journey home 

Born in Takeo Province, south of Cambodia, Lim was nine when the Khmer Rouge regime fell and Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978. Amidst the widespread famine and the trauma caused by the genocide, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians fled the country. Lim’s family was among the refugees who arrived in France in 1980. Lim was separated from his family and adopted by a French family. “I was exposed to arts and culture since young,” says Lim, who visited his Cambodian family during summer holidays when he was growing up. Traditionally, Cambodian parents raise their children to pursue practical careers like in business or computers. “But my French family saw my artistic talents and passion for art and history. They pushed me to follow my dream,” says Lim. At that time, the Cambodian community in France only talked about politics, the rebuilding of Cambodia after the war, and not arts or culture, Lim adds. After high school, Lim enrolled in the École Bulle, Paris (one of the largest trade schools in France) to study interior design and graphics. In 1992, he gained admission into the tough and prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts.

In 1994, he made the life-changing decision to return to Cambodia.

“With my arts knowledge, I wanted to see how I can share and give what I had learned in France to my people,” says the idealistic artist. Growing up in France, Lim used to hear about the sublime Angkorian Empire and the glory of Khmer arts. But when he finally returned to Cambodia, he was shocked. “There was no presence of any art or style, people didn’t even speak very well. They were just trying to feed themselves,” says Lim, who initially worked as a painter and did a few exhibitions in an art gallery. So he set out on a mission to learn about Khmer art and style. For three years, he devoted himself to learning about his country. He trawled through temples and pagodas around the country, visited people’s homes, and studied whatever artwork and artefacts he could lay his hands on. The Khmer Rouge regime had tried to wipe out any reminder of Cambodia’s past – its artisans, cultural artefacts, statues and books. “I'm interested in how Cambodians live their everyday lives and use things like spoons and pots, the house they live in – the equilibrium of the designs,” says Lim, 39. “And I try to find the relationship between the aesthetics of the Angkor temples and present-day Cambodians' lives. Inevitably, Chantiers-Écoles (whose programme was still in its infancy) roped in the designer to help them set up a modular training and look into the technical and artistic aspects of the programme.  

Daunting tasks 

At Chantiers-Écoles, one of Lim’s roles was to reintroduce the traditional method to the trainees. But there were no precedents and virtually all the information on arts and crafts had to be researched, compiled or rediscovered. Lim was lucky to track down some of the old master craftsmen who were still alive and based in Phnom Penh. Most of these artisans are from Battambang, a once dynamic city that sits between the Thai/Cambodian bordertown of Poipet and Phnom Penh. At the beginning of the 20th century under French rule, Battambang experienced a rebirth of craft traditions with French and Siamese stylistics influences. The city produced skilled craftsmen, artists and musicians who later moved to Phnom Penh. Over three years, Lim studied how the masters worked and took notes and pictures. He then taught the traditional process to youths who have zero background or knowledge in arts and crafts. “These youths have never been to school and they had no concept of time and discipline,” explains Lim. “We had to figure out what language and method to use to make them understand without using technical jargons. We could only use visual tools to teach and motivate them.” It was a learn-as-you-go process for both the teachers and trainees. He spurs his trainees to look at links to their cultural past. Ancient temples dot the country and even in the boondocks, there is a presence of style and aesthetics. Cambodians also grew up with folktales told by their ancestors. “We’re not a fine arts school, we give basic skills to the artisans so they can work as a team within our network. In this modern economy, our artisans can’t work on his own out there because he doesn’t hail from a traditional craftsman’s family. “But people will give value to quality, aesthetic beauty and detail,” says Lim. “Even when we do reproductions, we respect the material, the process of creating the craft and try to understand what our ancestors have done, the years they spent to carve a masterpiece and try to feel their spirits in our work. “One of the most challenging things for me is, though I can come up with excellent designs that meet international standards, we still have to figure out how to transmit that message to our artisans about something so refined and with the right colour or shapes. It takes time.” What delights Lim is that over time, the artisans have become sensitive to aesthetics. “Even on weekends after work, when they're eating or lazing in their hammocks, they chat about proportions, what is good, what colour mixes well with another. They love to work on special orders, as they are freer to express their individual creativity.”  

A pat in the back 

After 10 years with AA, Lim can look back and be proud of one thing: He started working with 50 artisans and now AA has more than 600 artisans. He walks alongside the artisans as they journey through life, from their apprenticeship to securing a stable job and starting a family. “Now they have their own houses, and in the weekends, they can ride their motorbikes with their families to Angkor Wat, have a drink in front of the temple and spend a leisurely time,” says Lim, smiling. “To most people, this may sound simple, but it is a big success to have this stable and ‘normal’ life in Cambodia.” 

Today, one in three Cambodians still lives on less than 2000 riels (50 pence) a day (UNDP Cambodia). And most villagers from rural Cambodia have never stepped foot in Siem Reap. But AA has created over 1000 jobs for its artisans and staff involved in marketing, retail, design and logistics. “We have affected maybe a total of 4,000 to 5,000 Cambodians' lives, plus the children who are the future of Cambodia,” says Lim. “I think I've been part of this good work.” 

Artisans d’Angkor is located at Stung Thmey Street, Siem Reap

More information can be found at www.artisansdangkor.com

Courtesy of ‘The Wires’ (The FCC Cambodia's Newsletter)

www.fcccambodia.com

After years of interest, the FCC recently made a deal on the old mansion across from the National Museum and plans to return the rococo palace to its roaring 1920s glory.

It's one of Phnom Penh's most visible architectural relics: a prime project for preservation and a developer's dream. It's known as simply the "Old French Mansion," and now it has a new owner, and a bright future. After years of interest and negotiations, the FCC Phnom Penh and its parent company Indochina Assets Limited, recently obtained the title for the ornate colonial-era villa across from the National Museum at 32 Sothearos Boulevard. The roughly 1,200-square-meter site is famous for the yellow-hued rococo palace that many Phnom Penh residents have at one time gazed at with appreciation, amazement or concern. Complete with impressive Corinthian capitals and intricate sculptural designs, the building has sat in disrepair for decades - a gorgeous, crumbling mansion with an estimated worth of some $2 million. Now, according to FCC management, the villa will be completely restored to its past glory and become a 24-room luxury hotel with a swimming pool, French bistro and a structural link to the adjacent FCC restaurant.

"We've been interested in the building for about 15 years, since we came here in the early 1990s," says Anthony Alderson, FCC operations director. "We plan to renovate it in 1920s style." Alderson says a new FCC-affiliated company called Museum View is now conducting surveys and soil tests on the site, and it will soon open bidding to architects for design proposals. If all goes well, building will begin in mid-2008. The plans are welcome news for architects and preservationists who have long clamored for the building to be saved from neglect and disrepair. Dougald O'Reilly, former director of Heritage Watch, says the building is a signature Phnom Penh landmark and must be respected as such. Other FCC properties all have been certified "Heritage Friendly" by Heritage Watch, and O'Reilly was happy to hear the FCC was taking over 32 Sothearos.

With the massive boom in property value, preservationists like O'Reilly have become increasingly concerned about the disrepair - and disappearance - of many colonial era buildings. Although the exact history of 32 Sothearos has been obscured by war and civil strife, the house was probably built in the 1920s, says Helen Grant Ross, an expert on Cambodian architecture. The National Archives have no record of the building's original owner or use. "It's definitely a landmark. Just about everyone refers to it as 'that run-down colonial building opposite the National Museum,'" says Darryl Collins, a historian at the National Museum. "It's a typical French colonial, but has a style that incorporates a whole combination of styles imported from Europe. It was certainly built in the 1920s, and most colonial buildings of that time are this type of pastiche."

‘The Wires’ is an entertaining monthly newsletter produced by The FCC (Foreign Correspondent's Club) Cambodia – sign up to receive your copy here

Written by Guy De Launey

Courtesy of BBC News, Siem Reap

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7015647.stm

Cambodia has invited international law enforcement agencies to help protect the country's ancient temples. US homeland security and FBI agents are among those who may be advising the new national heritage police force. They are hoping to put an end to the rampant looting that has seen many monuments stripped of their statues.

Peace has not been kind to many of Cambodia's ancient monuments. As decades of conflict ended in the 1990s, looting accelerated dramatically. The local authorities and the United Nations' cultural organisation, UNESCO, moved quickly to protect the world-famous Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples. But more remote sites were left to their fate.

Stolen-To-Order

US agents and local officers have been meeting in Siem Reap to discuss ways of protecting what is left. US special agent Ann Hurst said their experience of dealing with stolen artefacts from Iraq will be crucial. "We can provide training in how to prevent these types of violations. There were stolen paintings and stolen coins being taken out of Iraq and smuggled in to the US," she said. "What we did in those cases was prosecute the people who smuggled the goods in - and the people who accepted the goods in the US." Many Cambodian items have been stolen to order for private collectors. Others have turned up at international auction houses, so expertise in intercepting illicit shipments is badly needed. Technical assistance in detection and policing will also bolster the thinly-stretched and poorly-funded local forces.

For Cambodia, stopping the looting is partly a matter of pride - the towers of Angkor adorn the national flag - but as tourism grows, so does the economic importance of preserving ancient treasures.

A mysterious ‘jungle girl’ who was caught stealing food less than a year ago has disappeared back into the Cambodian jungle from where she came. The young woman – believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, the long-lost daughter of parents belonging to an ethnic minority hilltribe - went missing 19 years ago when she was only 8 years old.

The full article, courtesy of The Bangkok Post, can be read here:

www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=122010

‘Blogging’ in Cambodia is fast becoming a popular past-time to those who have the skills and the means. Even former King Norodom Sihanouk has his own online journal, which has been updated daily since 2002 (by his staff).

An interesting article on Cambodia’s new style of communication – written by Ker Munthit and courtesy of The Associated Press – can be seen here:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gymju37Dp1LwdaJ2Iyl-nGfDtdXQ

Article Courtesy of LICADHO

(An NGO focussing on improving human rights and rule of law in Cambodia)

http://www.licadho.org/

"This picture demonstrates my regret at my actions which were wrong. They brought me to a place where everyone hates. In this place I lost my education, friends and family..." These are the heartfelt words from a 16 year old minor prisoner in Phnom Penh. Together with these words and his own drawing this prisoner has been able to express himself in prison - no place for a child to grow up.

From 15^th-17^th September 2007, an art-exhibition entitled "Experience and Dreams, Drawings by Children in Prison" was hosted at the Cambodian National Cultural Centre in Phnom Penh. The exhibition put on display a collection of expressive drawings by children detained in prison that illustrated prison conditions, their personal impressions of the justice system and their thoughts and future dreams.

The art event was part of the campaign "Children in Prison: No Place to Grow up" which aims to promote "protection, fairness, and hope rather than justice, neglect and despair" for children in prison. The campaign is funded by the European Union and DANIDA and is being implemented by DanChurchAid (DCA), Legal Aid of Cambodia (LAC) and LICADHO.

The public exhibition was the culmination of art classes that were held earlier this year at three separate prisons, Kandal, CC2 and Siem Reap. The classes involved 66 children (including eight girls) ranging in ages between 13 and 18 and some of whom were pre-trial detainees whilst others who had been sentenced to terms up to 15 years. The art classes gave the children an opportunity to express themselves in a challenging and unique way through the rehabilitative nature of art therapy and by providing a forum where their emotions and thoughts could be displayed.

To conduct the art classes six arts students from Phnom Penh's Art-University volunteered their time to teach the children drawings skills. The classes turned out to be a mutually beneficial experience; as the children developed their drawings skills and were occupied for a period of time while the art students participated in a rewarding teaching experience.

The Ministry of Interior and the Department of Prisons were cooperative in giving the NGO's permission to conduct the art classes and it is hoped in the future that there will be opportunity to conduct more classes.

Unfortunately the success of the art classes and the exhibition were overshadowed by the Ministry of Interior's final hour decision to remove several of the drawings. Prior to the exhibition, DCA, LAC and LICADHO had received permission from the Director of the Department of Prisons to exhibit a selection of drawings; however on the opening day of the exhibition a number of officials arrived at the National Cultural Centre to remove several drawings that they deemed unsuitable for public display. The removed drawings depicted acts of torture and abuse being perpetrated by prison officials and the police.

DCA, LAC and LICADHO are extremely disappointed by the Ministry's actions. The purpose of the art-exhibition was to show the public the point of view of children who live behind bars and also to provide them with an opportunity to express themselves. Children need to be provided with conditions that will not harm their development and they have a right to a legal and prison system which recognizes them as children. Children also have the right not to be subjected to torture and violence, whether or not they are living in prison. Sadly, Cambodia has no separate juvenile justice system and approximately 40% of minor prisoners are currently housed with adult prisoners.

Article By Erika Kinetz

Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

www.csmonitor.com

In another place, the great, if harmless, clouds of insects might have been a plague. In Cambodia, they are dinner.

It's a bumper year for crickets here in what is known informally as Cambodia's cricket capital. By night, the rice fields blaze with lights from the traps farmers set up to lure the insects. By morning, the markets are hopping with great heaps of dead and dying crickets. Men stand around nibbling from the bags of deep-fried bugs they've promised to bring home to their wives and children. Sor Van Nin came all the way from the capital, Phnom Penh, for these crickets, and he can't stop eating them. "They're so fresh," he says, grinning, a few stray antennae stuck to his chin.

I've come to Kampong Thom with my friend, Yun Samean, who is crazy for crickets. I think he came mostly for the snacks. I came for the history. Pol Pot, who oversaw the deaths of 2 million people in Cambodia in the late 1970s, grew up here, just down a slow lane by the Stung Sen River. His neighbours remember him as a nice kid. That is a Cambodian mystery I will never solve, but maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to understand the strange – but, to me, terrible – appeal of the cricket. I will try anyway, an effort that will surely involve eating one, and if I am going to eat a cricket, I want the finest, freshest, crunchiest cricket around. And that means driving to Kampong Thom.

Kampong Thom lies about halfway between Phnom Penh and its most famous tourist destination, Angkor Wat. In addition to being the birthplace of Pol Pot, Kampong Thom was the site of one of the largest slave-labour irrigation projects built by the Khmer Rouge, radical communist ideologues who ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and killed, starved, or worked to death about a quarter of the population. Today, people water their rice from the very canals that once nearly cost them their lives. Some 20,000 skulls were found at the local pagoda. Those who managed to survive kept their heads down and did not ask questions. Compared with a single spoonful of watery gruel or red ants – known sources of sustenance during those dreadful years – crickets probably seem fat, even nourishing to anyone over 35.

Each year, during the May-to-December rainy season, crickets migrate here by the ton. Locals have eaten crickets for as long as they can remember, which for Nuch Mondy – a local government agriculture official – is the 1950s. But, he says, the cricket business didn't boom until a few years ago, when fancy new technologies – namely, the battery - or generator-powered fluorescent tube lights one now sees strung above white tarpaulin traps in the rice fields around Kampong Thom – enabled people to catch commercial quantities of crickets. In peak season, the local haul is often 3 tons a night, which is packed in plastic bags on ice and sent to markets in Phnom Penh and Thailand. "Crickets are useful insects," Mr. Nuch says. "People make money from them."

Indeed, for Ang Thy, a rice farmer, crickets are a bit like the lottery: a chance for sudden bounty. On a good night, he says he makes $15, not bad in a nation where the minimum wage is $50 a month. He spends his nights on the edge of a shimmering rice paddy just outside town, sitting on the hard mud with an axe and his dog. "It's very lonely at night," he says, but if he doesn't stand guard, he explains, "People will take my crickets." Mr. Ang doesn't profess to know why crickets congregate here, or much about their breeding cycle. He just knows that when he turns on his lights, crickets come, and this time of year, they're big enough to eat. He's strung up three tarpaulin traps, each under a battery-powered fluorescent tube light, on the edge of a friend's rice field. A tarp behind each light acts as a backboard that the crickets, drawn to the light, bounce against before falling into the tarp below, where they're trapped. At dawn, Ang Thy carefully transfers the crickets – most of which have suffocated by then – into plastic buckets that he carries to market. Ang loves to eat crickets – especially stuffed with peanuts and fried with a lot of garlic. "It's a very good smell," he says. In the near distance, the lights of other men's traps cut through the darkness, but Ang Thy insists there's no competition out on the fields. "It's up to the crickets which trap they want to go to," he says. Nature, he figures, will give him what he needs, no need to go out and grab it.

Cambodian crickets come in two sizes: Big and small. The big ones, about an inch long, are the more highly prized. Deep-fried, they're said to have the same appeal as popcorn does in the US. I like popcorn. And so, sitting across from Samean in one of the provincial town's few restaurants, I try to keep popcorn firmly in mind. Samean is making quick work of a big plate of fried crickets. I decide to start small. He pulls off a leg and hands it to me. Popcorn doesn't have legs. I put it in my mouth before I can think about it too much. It is sweet, greasy, and crunchy, but definitely not delicious enough to continue with the thorax, antennae, and head. Why, after all, deprive Samean of the pleasure? Samean eats the crickets by the dozen.

Having eaten my first and last cricket leg, I try to smile. I try to say, how nice for you that you have so many delicious crickets to eat. But I can't. What I say instead is: "I don't like crickets, Samean. I just can't eat them." Just then a grasshopper, I kid you not, lands on the end of my nose. Samean laughs at me. He says, "I don't eat grasshoppers. My mother taught me to eat crickets but not grasshoppers. She said they are dirty. How can I change?" I say: "My mother taught me that grasshoppers and crickets are both dirty. Though she did serve me cow tongue. And peanut butter pickle sandwiches, but only with dill pickles." Samean has no problem with cow tongue. I don't know how he feels about peanut butter. He says, "I eat all kinds of insects. The black bugs in the water. Black scorpions, the big ones. They're very expensive, like $2 or $3." "Big black scorpions are poisonous," I say. Samean shrugs.

The front of our restaurant opens onto the main street of the provincial town, no more at this hour than a dark strip of low buildings that quickly diminishes into rice fields. Even now, crickets, those foolish creatures, are pushing through the night toward all the great white lights, only to end up a meal for their troubles. By morning, they'll be so dead but still so anatomically perfect that they look like they could start crawling around at any moment. And, now and again, a diminished cricket will hobble from the great dead piles, and one will almost feel mercy. But that is me, and not my friend Samean. I think he feels hungry.

Additional Reporting By Yun Samean

www.csmonitor.com/2007/0919/p20s01-litr.html

A new website has just been launched to provide up-to-date coverage of the forthcoming UN-backed genocide tribunal which will be taking place in Phnom Penh.

The Cambodia Tribunal Monitor is available at www.cambodiatribunal.org and will provide details of the Defendants, a Schedule of Proceedings, Webcasts, Pleadings, and eventual Decisions & Judgments.

Article Courtesy of People’s Daily Online

http://english.people.com.cn

The 10th Asian Cartoon Exhibition has opened in Phnom Penh with the theme of ‘Asian Environmental Issues’. The exhibition is being held at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Centre (CJCC) in Phnom Penh from 17^th to 29^th September.

The exhibition displays 77 new cartoons of leading cartoonists from 10 Asian nations, namely China, Cambodia, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Each cartoon presents various perspectives of the cartoonists on the topic of environmental issues in each country.

Cambodian cartoonist Em Sothya appeared at the opening of the exhibition on Monday and explained his works about illegal logging to the audience. The Japan Foundation has been sponsoring the Asian Cartoon Exhibition every year as a contribution to the greater understanding of Asian societies, cultures and people through the widely appreciated medium of cartoons, adding that this year the exhibition is held by the Japan Foundation in cooperation with CJCC.

Below are two linked articles relating to the resurrection of the Cambodian silk trade, both courtesy of

The Star Online www.thestar.com.my

Articles By Chin Mui Yoon

Photo Credit : Art Chen, Chin Mui Yoon & Courtesy of Rolex Awards

THREADS TO A BETTER FUTURE

Cambodia's silk was once among the region's finest, until 30 years of armed conflict destroyed the ancient art. Now, thanks to one man, the beautiful textile is making a comeback.

When Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge regime ended five years of genocide across Cambodia in 1979, it left two million people dead and the Khmer people’s culture, arts and traditions decimated. In implementing his brutal Year Zero plan to create a new society, Pol Pot exterminated an entire generation, including Cambodia’s artisans and artists. While the ancient Angkor kings had built temple monuments for Cambodians to inherit, which draw millions in tourist revenue today, Pol Pot left only poverty, suffering and a devastated culture. The years of turbulence have resulted in Cambodia becoming among Asia’s poorest countries today. When Japanese silk expert Kikuo Morimoto first arrived in Cambodia in 1993 to conduct research on traditional Khmer textiles for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), he found a population almost devoid of those aged between 30 and 50. This unbalanced demography resulted from Cambodia’s history of armed conflicts since Lon Nol’s reign in 1970, then the Khmer Rouge in 1975, followed by the Vietnamese intervention in 1979. The transitional government came only in 1993. A vital bridge to pass on traditions from old to young such as textile production was lost. Little information existed due to the craft’s 25 years of absence. 

When peace returned to Cambodia in 1990, traditional handwoven textiles were gradually revived in Takeo, near Phnom Penh, and in Kampung Cham along the Mekong River. Merchants supplied villagers with raw silk imported from neighbouring Vietnam to be woven into cotton cloths, as the practice of sericulture (growing silkworms) had long stopped. The impoverished villagers were paid a pittance for their labour and so they tried to produce as much as possible to earn more money. Instead of the traditional delicate geometrical designs or natural motifs the villagers resorted to bigger patterns as quantity replaced fine art.

I had heard of Thai and Laotian fabled silks, thanks to the efforts of the legendary American, Jim Thompson. But Cambodian silk was unknown to me. Then I heard about “The Japanese silk man” from Cambodians, which led me to seek out Morimoto on a recent visit to Siem Reap. Morimoto had remained in Cambodia after completing his research. He quit his job with Unesco to study the economics of cottage textile industries and started the Institute for Khmer Traditional Textiles (IKTT) in Phnom Penh. His goal was to help villagers revive traditional silk production, which he believed would alleviate their poverty. His simple vision has led him to planting new forests of mulberry trees and plants to sustain the silkworm production. Morimoto’s next step is to start a silk village as a model to revitalise rural Cambodia. He moved IKTT to Siem Reap in 2000, close to the countryside to position his rural renewal idea. “Cambodia was never rich but it always had a self-sustaining rural economy until war ruined it,” explains Morimoto, 58. “People were starving. I wanted to do something and textiles were the only thing I knew. But neither art nor hope can exist on an empty stomach. I hope to develop a practical model of providing art and livelihood in a devastated region.” 

Morimoto comes from the rich cultural background of Kyoto, known for its preserved traditional arts and temples. He trained in the Japanese art of yuzen, silk dyeing for kimonos, and has worked as a dyeing specialist for a large Thai textile factory. He once owned a silk business in Bangkok, taught at refugee camps and was a Unesco consultant, which had led him to Cambodia. With sharp, perceptive eyes set in a long, gaunt face, Morimoto’s credo is “Do not fear risk.” He first sought out five elderly “silk grandmas” who were experts from villages to help teach the craft. It was a skill that had been traditionally handed down through the generations. “Traditional Cambodia silk fabrication must be preserved because it is a beautiful hallmark of an ancient culture and bedrock for the economic viability of the village unit,” he says. 

The IKTT has trained over 500 people today, primarily women. Many once had to beg for a living. After the trainees complete their three-year training and return to their villages, the IKTT continues to help sell their work for them. In 2003, IKTT embarked on an ambitious five-year project called Project for Wisdom from the Forest (PWF). It reflects Morimoto’s ardent belief that “nature holds the resources to provide for mankind”, as Cambodia’s self-sustaining villages have proven in the past. Morimoto wants to restore the natural environment to produce materials for traditional textiles. His plan includes building a silk village on the site comprising an art school, a weaving workshop, a mulberry plantation and the entire silk production process. “It is crucial for man to live in harmony with nature,” says Morimoto. “The project is meant as a model of income generating activity in the rural areas through a cooperation network with the villagers. This means we do not have to purchase materials to produce textiles. The success of the project relies solely on human capacity and Cambodian spirit. My master plan for PWF combines traditional and modern wisdom.” 

Together with villagers, Morimoto sought out old people who once made silk. They made traditional tools used in the craft. He obtained silkworm eggs of the yellow tropical species from Thailand which were of Khmer origins near the borders. While yellow silkworms hatch up to seven times yearly, they produce less than 1gm (about 300m ) of raw silk from one cocoon compared to the more popular white variety from Japan and China, which produces 2gm (1,400m). Morimoto stubbornly sticks to yellow silkworms, as the silk from them is softer and more pliable, he explains. His work has not gone unnoticed: he was awarded a Rolex Enterprise Laureate Award in 2004 and he used the US$100,000 (RM370,000) prize, as well as his own savings, to purchase the 5ha (now 15ha) piece of land in Chot Sam, northeast of Siem Reap for the PWF project. The area was once lush tropical forest which had become a wasteland after desperate villagers chopped the mulberry and other native trees for firewood during the war. Morimoto has planted 1000 mulberry trees to cultivate the production of silkworms and native plants to obtain natural dyes. He wants to grow Lac insects next year, which when, crushed, were traditionally used to provide the royal red ochre dye. “Many of my 150 staff at the forest site is from the Kampot province, 420km from Siem Reap,” says Morimoto. “IKTT started a sericulture project in a village there in 1995. The villagers have agreed to help us with the forest regeneration project as we badly need their sericulture expertise.” Many risks are involved, not least the problem of landmines left by Pol Pot, who termed them “the perfect soldier”. One mine exploded near the PWF site last year. It is unknown how many more remain hidden in the land. Morimoto is hopeful. He expects to release the first batch of Lac insects in the forest next year. He also plans to relocate IKTT’s main workshop to the site to centralise operations and create more items to sell to the hordes of tourists visiting Angkor Wat. 

The International Trade Centre, a United Nations and World Trade Organisation agency, has reported that silk is enjoying a renaissance in Cambodia and may well be the way to reducing poverty. Cambodia is exporting US$4mil (RM15.2mil) worth of silk annually and there are over 20,000 weavers today.

After a sudden rainstorm, the earth exhales a fragrance of freshness, and to Morimoto, of hope. “This bloodstained land still provides for its people,” he says. “Agriculture must be regenerated. The Cambodia people need to revive the traditions of their motherland to become a cultural pride once again. It is a step to heal their past.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Courtesy of Rutland & Stamford Mercury

www.stamfordtoday.co.uk

If you would like to make a donation you can visit www.justgiving.com/michaeldavis

Photo Credit : Gregory Gulik

The Cambodian Ministry of Environment has announced that 20,000 acres of floodplain near the Mekong Delta has been set aside for a new sanctuary to protect the rare Eastern Sarus Crane. 300 of the 4-foot tall birds have been found in Takeo province, close to the border of Vietnam. They have also been found in the Banteay Meanchey province in an old Khmer Rouge reservoir. Sources state that there may be less than 1,000 of these beautiful birds remaining in their natural habitat.

Article Courtesy of Milton Osborne (Adjunct Professor) Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University

www.aseanfocus.com/asiananalysis.html

More than twenty-eight years after the Pol Pot regime was defeated in early 1979, there is now the real prospect that a small number of surviving Khmer Rouge leaders will be brought to trial before the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, officially known as the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). When this happens it will be the first occasion that any Khmer Rouge leader appears before a properly constituted court. In August 1979, shortly after the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam that ousted the Pol Pot regime, the newly installed People's Republic of Kampuchea put Pol Pot and Ieng Sary on trial before a 'Popular Revolutionary Tribunal' which sentenced them to death in absentia. Conducted with minimal regard for legal niceties, this event is widely regarded as having been a show trial in character. Since that time two of the most senior Khmer Rouge leaders, Pol Pot and Ta Mok have died, in 1998 and 2006 respectively.

After much delay the ECCC was finally established in July 2006 with the backing of both the Cambodian government and the United Nations. That it was delayed for so many years is judged by many observers to have reflected reluctance on the part of the Cambodian government to see a tribunal in action given the large number of current politicians and officials who had links with the Khmer Rouge regime. There is also little doubt that the Chinese government, which exercises great influence in Phnom Penh, would have preferred that the tribunal did not come into being because of its well-documented role as a major supporter of the Pol Pot regime.

Once established, the ECCC was further delayed from functioning by a series of technical disputes over the right of foreign lawyers to appear before the tribunal - opposed for months by the Cambodian bar association - and disagreements between the Cambodian and international judges sitting on the tribunal - over a range of procedural issues. These issues were only finally resolved in May of this year.

With these issues resolved, the ECCC's prosecutors announced on 18 July that they have submitted the names of five individuals to the tribunal for consideration in relation to twenty-five 'distinct factual situations of murder, torture, forcible transfer, unlawful detention, forced labour and religious, political and ethnic persecution'. While the names of the five individuals have not been released, there is little doubt that they include Nuon Chea, known as Brother Number Two and the Pol Pot regime's principal ideolgoue, Khieu Samphan who served as the regime's head of state, Ieng Sary, who was foreign minister, and Kaing Khek Iev, better known as Duch, who directed the Tuol Sleng extermination centre, or S-21. Observers in Phnom Penh are speculating that the fifth individual is Khieu Thirith, Ieng Sary's wife, who was minister for social affairs in the Pol Pot regime.

Of the five names just listed only Duch is currently in custody, though his detention relates to charges brought by the government separately from the ECCC's jurisdiction. The other four are living unrestricted lives either in Phnom Penh or in Pailin in western Cambodia.

It is not entirely clear what will happen next. Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea all severed their links with the rump of the Khmer Rouge in the 1990s. Ieng Sary received a pardon for his past from the then King Sihanouk and Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan were granted amnesties by Hun Sen in 1998. While there is a presumption by many observers that past pardons and amnesties will be overridden by the ECCC's procedures, there seems little doubt that this will be a contentious issue likely to be addressed by defence counsel once trials begin. Whatever is the case, there is also the fact that age may yet defeat the effort to try the likely defendants. Nuon Chea is in his eighties, while both Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary are in their mid-seventies, with Ieng Sary in poor health. And there is some concern that, while having moved very slowly to reach its present position, the ECCC may exhaust its budget of nearly US$60 before the planned trials are completed.

All this said, the announcement that prosecutors have submitted the names of individuals to be considered for prosecution is the most important development in the long-running saga of efforts to bring the top Khmer leadership to justice. Not all agree that prosecution before the ECCC is the most desirable course of action to bring some form of end to the nightmare memory of the Pol Pot period. The respected biographer of Pol Pot, Philip Short has expressed his doubts, observing that a trial procedure that focuses on a limited number of very senior figures will allow the government to disregard the large number of less prominent Khmer Rouge officials who continue to occupy positions within the administration. On the other hand, many observers share the view expressed by Craig Etcheson, one of the most active foreign scholars to have documented the Khmer Rouge's crimes, that trials before the tribunal will play an important part in challenging the culture of impunity that continues to exist in Cambodia. Whatever might be the case, and echoing Winston Churchill's famous words after the Second Battle of El Alamein, what has now happened is not the end, 'but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning'.

Here’s a date for the diary!

On Sunday 16^th September at 5.20pm, an update of The Cambodia Trust 2006 Lifeline Appeal will be shown on BBC1 as part of the BBC’s Charity News feature.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I have huge admiration for the work undertaken by The Cambodia Trust in helping disadvantaged disabled people in Cambodia.

In case you miss it on Sunday, the appeal will be shown again on BBC2 on Wednesday 19^th September at 2pm.

More information on the incredible work undertaken by The Cambodia Trust can be found here

Last month I had the pleasure of meeting up with Loung Ung – the Cambodian genocide activist, author & lecturer – following her sell-out lecture at the Edinburgh Book Festival on Sunday 19^th August 2007.

Loung was participating in the Amnesty International Programme at this year’s Festival and, having read both of Loung’s memoirs, it was a wonderful opportunity to be able to sit and listen to her talk about the remarkable life she has led and the incredible work she is doing for her people.

Born in 1970 to a middle-class family living in Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh, Loung recalled with humour the treasured memories of her early years, including when, as a little girl, she would sit in the comfort & safety of her father’s lap at the local cinema, eating her favourite snack - fried crickets (which apparently these days are the perfect accompaniment to Margaritas!) - using his strong body as her armchair and his large hands as her cup holders. Sadly these innocent childhood days were short lived and at the age of only 5 years, Loung and her family were forced out into the countryside as part of the Khmer Rouge’s mass evacuations.

Over the next five years Loung witnessed the horrors of death, torture, and starvation, endured the agony of losing both her parents and two siblings, and suffered the ordeal of having to train as a child soldier, until finally in 1980 she, her older brother, and sister-in-law, managed to escape to a refugee camp in Thailand and, eventually, a new home in America. It was another 15 years until Loung was able to make the return visit to her homeland, reuniting with the members of family who had stayed behind.

In 2001 Loung released her first book - ‘First They Killed My Father – A Daughter ofCambodia Remembers’ – a beautifully written and deeply moving memoir detailing her early childhood in Phnom Penh, and how she and four of her siblings survived the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. Her second book released in the UK earlier this year – ‘After They Killed Our Father – A Daughter of The Killing FieldsReunites With The Sister She Left Behind’– details her life from the age of 10, growing up as a Cambodian refugee in Vermont whilst, in parallel, describing the life of her only surviving sister, Chou, who had remained in war-torn Cambodia.

As well as being a highly talented author, Loung is also a leading campaigner against landmines and a National Spokesperson for the Campaign for a Landmine-Free World. She has lectured on the subjects of Cambodia, child soldiers, women & war, domestic violence, and landmines, to schools, universities, corporations, and other symposia worldwide, including the UN Conference on Women in Beijing, the UN Conference Against Racism in Durban (South Africa), and the Child Soldiers Conference in Kathmandu (Nepal).

Loung is an inspirational woman - a strong & passionate voice for the people of Cambodia - and I encourage everyone to read her memoirs.

More information on Loung’s work & books can be found here

The Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the United Kingdom has just launched a weekly e-mail newsletter called ‘Development Today’ featuring news & views from Cambodia

Issue 1 can be viewed from the attached pdf file

More information on The Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the United Kingdom can be found at www.cambodianembassy.org.uk