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Wednesday, November 24, 2010
សេចក្តីបំភ្លឺរបស់គណៈកម្មាធិការជាតិបេតិកភណ្ឌពិភពលោក
CLARIFICATION OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE WORLD HERITAGE (24/11/2010)
The National Committee for the World Heritage is dismayed at the distortion of the facts voiced by a group
of Thai extremists who made a consecutive statement, reported on ASTV manager online, dated on 18
November 2010 that “UNESCO inscribed the Khmer Royal Ballet into the World Heritage List, though
both music and dance of its modern forms are of Thai characteristics.”
The National Committee for the World Heritage would like to provide an explanation to the above
unreasonable and baseless claim as follows:
The Kingdom of Cambodia and the 132 states parties (by 2010) to the Convention for the Safeguarding of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) are under duty to conserve and preserve the World Intangible
Cultural Heritage of common importance for present and future generations of humanity.
From the past day upto the present time, the Kingdom of Cambodia has still constituted a cultural loft of
both tangible and intangible heritage, and there is no doubt that Cambodian Royal Ballet was proclaimed as
a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage in 2003, and inscribed on the List of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008. The Cambodian Royal Ballet was thoroughly evaluated and
studied by high professional Advisory Bodies before it was approved by the Intangible Heritage
Committee as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Royal Ballet existed in the history of Cambodia since the beginning of the Christian period and
continued to be performed during Angkorean, Post-Angkorean periods up to the present time, as depicted
on galleries of ancient Khmer temples and architectures.
Thus, what raised by the Thai extremists that UNESCO inscribed the Royal Ballet to Cambodia with Thai
forms of art is entirely a contempt of respectful and conscientious works of all the members of the
Committee for the Intangible Heritage, Advisory Bodies and States Parties to the Convention for the
Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Once again, the National Committee for the World Heritage strongly condemns the irrational and
irresponsible statement which badly tarnishes the honor of the Committee for the Intangible Heritage and
UNESCO.
Phnom Penh, 24 November 2010
The National Committee for the World Heritage
សេចក្តីបំភ្លឺរបស់គណៈកម្មាធិការជាតិបេតិកភណ្ឌពិភពលោក (២៤/១១/២០១០)
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ASEAN invites U.S., Russia for East Asia Summit from 2011 (Lead)
By Puy Kea and Ko Hirano
HANOI, Oct. 28, Kyodo - Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed Thursday to invite the U.S. and Russian presidents to attend the East Asia Summit starting from 2011, said Vietnam, which currently holds the chair of the 10-member ASEAN.
HANOI, Oct. 28, Kyodo - Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed Thursday to invite the U.S. and Russian presidents to attend the East Asia Summit starting from 2011, said Vietnam, which currently holds the chair of the 10-member ASEAN.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are scheduled to attend an EAS summit Saturday in Hanoi as observers, where leaders will endorse a plan to include the two countries in the regional forum from next year, increasing the membership to 18.
ASEAN leaders on Thursday adopted a plan for deeper regional integration in an effort to reduce economic disparities in Southeast Asia and help ASEAN achieve its goal of an economic community by 2015, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry said in a press release issued after a one-day meeting.
The ''Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity'' calls for efforts to improve the region's connectivity in three areas -- physical connectivity such as transport and information communications technology infrastructure, institutional connectivity such as trade and investment liberalization, and people-to-people connectivity such as tourism and education.
The leaders welcomed ASEAN finance ministers' efforts to establish a regional infrastructure fund to ensure smooth implementation of the ASEAN Connectivity initiative, the press release said.
The ASEAN leaders were having a working dinner Thursday to exchange views on regional and international issues, indicating that they will touch on issues such as Myanmar, territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea and climate change.
The leaders may also discuss potential coordination on currency policy given the fact that the currencies of many ASEAN members have risen sharply against the U.S. dollar, a development that could hurt export-driven growth in the region, a member of the Philippines delegation said.
At the working dinner, the leaders are expected to urge Myanmar's junta to hold general elections slated for Nov. 7 ''in a free, fair and inclusive manner,'' says a draft of a chairman's statement to be issued, according to the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, on Friday.
''ASEAN encouraged Myanmar to further accelerate progress in the implementation of the roadmap for national reconciliation and democracy including the preparation for the upcoming general elections leading to a constitutional government in Myanmar,'' says the statement, a copy of which was obtained by Kyodo News.
Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Thursday that ASEAN foreign ministers told Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win on Wednesday that there should be no more other charges against pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, expressing hope she will be released from house arrest in mid-November as scheduled.
'''The immediate release' is not yet certain, but we hope that she will be released because she could be part of the national reconciliation,'' Kasit told journalists on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.
The ASEAN leaders will agree to try to ensure effective implementation of a 2002 ASEAN-China declaration that calls for ensuring settlement of territorial disputes in the South China Sea diplomatically to avert military conflict, according to the draft statement.
Some ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines have grown concerned about Beijing's increasing assertiveness in pressing its claims to sovereignty over islands such as Spratlys and Paracels in the South China Sea and elsewhere.
''We stressed the need to intensify efforts to ensure the effective implementation of the DOC (Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea) and move toward the eventual conclusion of a regional code of conduct in the South China Sea,'' the draft says.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
(Varunee Torsricharoen contributed to this report)
==Kyodo
China seeks support for stance on S. China Sea, Senkaku issues
By Puy Kea
HANOI, Oct. 29, Kyodo - China has been lobbying many states in the region to support its position in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea, especially nonclaimant states, ASEAN sources said Friday.
The sources said China has been active to that end both prior to and during the ongoing meetings in Hanoi of leaders of the countries in Southeast Asia and outside the region, using various forms of assistance as inducements.
Premier Wen Jiabao is tipped to meet bilaterally in the Vietnamese capital with the leaders of at least seven other countries as part of what some observers see as a lobbying blitz to win them over to China's position on the territorial disputes.
In Thursday talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, for example, Wen thanked Cambodia for its firm position that the South China Sea issue should not be ''internationalized'' and should not dominate this week's meetings in Hanoi hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, on grounds that there are more pressing issues.
According to Cambodian delegation officials, Wen offered Cambodia a 100 million yuan ($15 million) as grant for economic development. Some observers speculated whether the gift was in exchange for support of China's position.
For several other countries too, China offers similar forms of assistances either in kind or in cash for what is called as economic development.
China has in recent weeks been engaged in a row with Japan over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are known to Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands.
China has territorial disputes in the South China Sea with four ASEAN members -- Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia and Brunei -- which partly involve overlapping claims to the Spratly Islands.
The territorial disputes, and concerns over increased Chinese assertiveness, have been overshadowing this week's various meetings of senior officials, ministers and leaders in Hanoi.
In addition to meetings with Vietnam, as the host of the meetings, Wen and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi have met or will meet with Laos, Cambodia, South Korea, Singapore and Australia, and likely also Japan.
ASEAN sources said China was angered at Vietnam after it chaired the ASEAN Regional Forum in July in which the South China Sea issue was raised with greater involvement of the United States in the discussion. China insists any talks on the issue to be limited to the claimant states, preferably on a bilateral basis.
Since then, the issue was also discussed during the ASEAN-U.S. Summit in New York and at the ASEAN Defense Ministers Plus Eight meeting in Hanoi, further irritating China, they said.
China is also wary of signs that he United States has been encouraging Japanese involvement in the matter, one source said.
ASEAN groups Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Myanmar.
==Kyodo
HANOI, Oct. 29, Kyodo - China has been lobbying many states in the region to support its position in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea, especially nonclaimant states, ASEAN sources said Friday.
The sources said China has been active to that end both prior to and during the ongoing meetings in Hanoi of leaders of the countries in Southeast Asia and outside the region, using various forms of assistance as inducements.
Premier Wen Jiabao is tipped to meet bilaterally in the Vietnamese capital with the leaders of at least seven other countries as part of what some observers see as a lobbying blitz to win them over to China's position on the territorial disputes.
In Thursday talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, for example, Wen thanked Cambodia for its firm position that the South China Sea issue should not be ''internationalized'' and should not dominate this week's meetings in Hanoi hosted by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, on grounds that there are more pressing issues.
According to Cambodian delegation officials, Wen offered Cambodia a 100 million yuan ($15 million) as grant for economic development. Some observers speculated whether the gift was in exchange for support of China's position.
For several other countries too, China offers similar forms of assistances either in kind or in cash for what is called as economic development.
China has in recent weeks been engaged in a row with Japan over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which are known to Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands.
China has territorial disputes in the South China Sea with four ASEAN members -- Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia and Brunei -- which partly involve overlapping claims to the Spratly Islands.
The territorial disputes, and concerns over increased Chinese assertiveness, have been overshadowing this week's various meetings of senior officials, ministers and leaders in Hanoi.
In addition to meetings with Vietnam, as the host of the meetings, Wen and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi have met or will meet with Laos, Cambodia, South Korea, Singapore and Australia, and likely also Japan.
ASEAN sources said China was angered at Vietnam after it chaired the ASEAN Regional Forum in July in which the South China Sea issue was raised with greater involvement of the United States in the discussion. China insists any talks on the issue to be limited to the claimant states, preferably on a bilateral basis.
Since then, the issue was also discussed during the ASEAN-U.S. Summit in New York and at the ASEAN Defense Ministers Plus Eight meeting in Hanoi, further irritating China, they said.
China is also wary of signs that he United States has been encouraging Japanese involvement in the matter, one source said.
ASEAN groups Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei and Myanmar.
==Kyodo
សាកសពដឹកចេញពីពេទ្យជិតអស់ហើយ
CEN; សុពិសិដ្ឋ (ថ្ងៃទី 23 វិច្ឆិកា 2010)
ភ្នំពេញ: រហូតមកទល់នឹងល្ងាចថ្ងៃទី២៣វិច្ឆិកានេះ សាកសពនៅតាមមន្ទីរពេទ្យនានាត្រូវបានគេដឹកចេញ ទៅកាន់ផ្ទះសម្បែងរៀងៗខ្លួនជិតអស់ហើយ។ នៅមន្ទីរពេទ្យកាល់ម៉ែត្រដែលមានសាកសព ១៣៨ នាក់ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញទាំងអស់ហើយ។
នៅមន្ទីរពេទ្យលោកសង្ឃដែលមានសាកសព ៤៩ នាក់ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញចំនួន ៤៦ នាក់ហើយ។ នៅឯមន្ទីរពេទ្យរុស្ស៊ីវិញ ក្នុងចំណោមសាកសព ១៣៩ នាក់ មានសាកសព ១៣៥ នាក់ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញគឺនៅសល់តែ៤នាក់ប៉ុណ្ណោះ។
ចំណែកឯនៅមន្ទីរពេទ្យព្រះកេតុមាលាហៅពេទ្យធំ សាកសព១១រូបក៏ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញហើយដែរ៕
ភ្នំពេញ: រហូតមកទល់នឹងល្ងាចថ្ងៃទី២៣វិច្ឆិកានេះ សាកសពនៅតាមមន្ទីរពេទ្យនានាត្រូវបានគេដឹកចេញ ទៅកាន់ផ្ទះសម្បែងរៀងៗខ្លួនជិតអស់ហើយ។ នៅមន្ទីរពេទ្យកាល់ម៉ែត្រដែលមានសាកសព ១៣៨ នាក់ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញទាំងអស់ហើយ។
នៅមន្ទីរពេទ្យលោកសង្ឃដែលមានសាកសព ៤៩ នាក់ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញចំនួន ៤៦ នាក់ហើយ។ នៅឯមន្ទីរពេទ្យរុស្ស៊ីវិញ ក្នុងចំណោមសាកសព ១៣៩ នាក់ មានសាកសព ១៣៥ នាក់ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញគឺនៅសល់តែ៤នាក់ប៉ុណ្ណោះ។
ចំណែកឯនៅមន្ទីរពេទ្យព្រះកេតុមាលាហៅពេទ្យធំ សាកសព១១រូបក៏ត្រូវបានដឹកចេញហើយដែរ៕
Cambodia Mourns in Aftermath of Bridge Stampede
Hospitals were lined with the bodies of the dead, with disaster authorities claiming they had so far only identified 60 percent of the victims.
Bodies were put in coffins and shipped to their home provinces for burial, as the government declared Thursday a national day of mourning and established an investigative committee.
Officials say at least 378 people were killed during a crowd stampede on a bridge near Diamond Island, on the riverfront, following annual Water Festival festivities.
Revelry turned to tragedy as a crowd in the thousands, trapped on the bridge, panicked, crushing some underfoot as others jumped into the river to escape. More than 700 people were wounded in the event, which had emergency crews scrabbling through the early morning hours Tuesday.
Hospitals were filled with the bodies of the dead, lined up along the floor, where loved ones were forced to search for the lost.
Horn Sam An, 41, in L'vea Em district, Kandal province, found her sister dead after she spent from midnight to 8 am searching three hospitals before finding her at a fourth, Calmette.
Soa Sok, 37, from Kampong Cham province, said he walked with three friends from hospital to hospital to find his missing brother. He had still not found him as of Tuesday afternoon.
In a national address, Prime Minister Hun Sen called the tragedy the worst since the Khmer Rouge, and he appointed one investigative committee to learn the reason for the disaster and a second committee to help the families of victims.
Nhim Vanda, deputy chief of the National Disaster Committee, said health officials were performing examinations of the bodies and identifying them for families.
“And then we put the bodies in white cloth and plastic in a coffin and are transporting the bodies to their respective homes for traditional ceremonies,” he said. “The government has paid everything for all the bodies of families for transport and ceremony.”
Bodies were sent back home via ambulances, military trucks and other vehicles.
Prum Sokha, secretary of state for the Interior Ministry and the head of the investigative committee, called for the survivors and other witnesses to help by providing information to the authorities.
Family members who came to Calmette Tuesday morning described bruised and broken bodies.
“My sister's body was blackened on the hands, chest, stomach and feet, like people had stomped on her,” said Sok Navy, 41, from Kandal province.
But there were those too who escaped the stampede with their lives. Pheoung Srey Leak, a 22-year-old survivor, said she was trapped on the crowded bridge for four hours.
“It was very stuff, and no air,” she said. “I couldn't walk out of the crowd. I had a feeling I was probably not alive, and I was hopeless.... I was determined not to faint. If I had fainted and fallen down, I would have been stomped to death by other people.”
But she did faint, she said, and she couldn't breathe. “When I woke up, I was in the emergency room of Calmette hospital,” she said.
For those who died, some 4,000 Buddhist monks held a ceremony of prayer Tuesday afternoon.
The government has declared Thursday a national day of mourning, and groups from around the country have pledged their support to the families of victims.
Former king Norodom Sihanouk and his son, the king, Norodom Sihamoni, expressed condolences for lost loved ones and promised $200 to the families of the deceased and $100 to the families of the injured.
Students from 10 separate universities have established the 2211 foundation, named for the date of the incident, to gather funds for the families.
“And to march on Nov. 25 to pay respect to the souls of the deceased,” said Toch Norin, a student representative.
Political parties and development agencies issued their own condolences, along with others.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement on behalf of President Barrack Obama, saying: “I have seen their strength and resilience first hand, including during my recent visit, and I am confident that they will pull together and persevere through this difficult time.”
But questions over how the tragedy happened, and the response, remain.
The Asian Human Rights Commission issued a statement of condolence that also questioned security measures in the capital during the massive festival, saying: “It is clear that Phnom Penh was unprepared for any large-scale disaster.”
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