Phnom Penh, Cambodia Different Perspectives Newsletter August 9, 2008

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Dear Patrons,

Welcome to our news letter. The Staff at Different Perspectives try to bring a clearer picture of current events effecting China and Asia. Although we believe the international media driven primarily by the western world's interests, is bringing the public events as they happen, we at Different Perspectives are independent and non biased without an agenda for prestige or monetary profit. We simply feel the western world may be somewhat isolated from news that is local to our office here in Beijing, China.

We hope you enjoy the news from a different perspective. Please contact us with your questions or comments. We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you
Different Perspectives Staff
Edward
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Saturday August 9, 2008
Yang Chou Thmey Guest House
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The flight from Vientiane to Phnom Penh was uneventful and after landing and fighting off the tuk tuk's I hired a motor bike taxi for my ride into the city. It was great to be here since I had been moving through Thailand and Laos rather quickly to avoid the tourist route. I was looking forward to settling down for a few days.

As my motor bike driver took me into the city I snapped pictures and had a feeling that I was entering a city absent of the constant tourist presence and into a world of mystery and struggle dotted with events such as the Pol Pot Regime, S21 Prison and the Killings Fields.

And as a result of the Vietnam War a country that had more of a relationship with my birth country America, than the previous three counties that I had visited. I was ready for some history that was more familiar to me than Myanmar Thailand and Laos.

I got comfortable in this city right away, finding a nice place for ice coffee across the street from the Yang Chou Thmey Guest House. I sat chatting with locals as I flipped through my LP guide book to scope out some activities for the day.

I remember seeing the monks come by mid-morning soliciting for donations in such a presence of peace it reminded me of what I had experienced in Myanmar. I felt home here.

After scoping out a plan for the day based on details out of my guide book I headed out walking to the S-21 Prison Memorial a few km away. The Khmer Rouge Pol Pots Regime detained and tortured 1000’s of political prisoners here from 1976-1979. A very interesting piece of contemporary Cambodia history.

I got lots of pictures and surprisingly many tourists were visiting. It was a peaceful solemn afternoon among the detention halls where men, women and children were tortured. There were displays of torture instruments, chains and the original spring beds in the cells.

Another area housed many, many pictures, testimonials and written history of the dark events in this period of the countries history. I walked up and down stark concrete stairwells from floor to floor. In one of the buildings on the bottom floor there was actual evidence in the form of prison clothing left in a big pile from 40 years ago.

S21 was the name of the cities primary school before Poll Pot turned it into the halls of torture and interrogation. Those prisoners that didn’t corporate were sent off to their deaths at what would be later known as The Killing Fields.


Sunday August 10, 2008
Yang Chou Thmey Guest House
Phnom Penh, Cambodia


I visited my local friends for ice coffee this morning, scanned Lonely Planet Cambodia
and headed out by tuk tuk for a motorbike rental. I was feeling really good here.

The weather was good and people seemed to be less busy (I’m sure unemployment was high) but regardless my neighbors seemed to offer me their time in conversation without limit.

I made friends in the area quickly.

Getting to the bike rental shop I was met with pleasant Cambodian personalities. The husband and wife team rented me a motor bike for $10 a day, and were helpful in putting
a basket on the front of the bike so I could carry my shoulder bag in it.

They suggested that I wrap the shoulder strap around my handlebars so that it was more difficult to snatch if someone chose to grab it. Later on I added a quick release clip from my back pack to make a more secure lock onto the basket.

I road motor bikes all over SE Asia and never had anyone try to grab my bag. A nice husband and wife couple running this shop I felt safe and taken care of.

My first destination on my motorbike was Phnom Wat, a few km due north. I had my map (courtesy of the bike shop, a nice map too!) folded and stuck onto a clip on the bike between my legs so that I had a route to follow as I toured the city.

I found the traffic in Phnom Penh quite chaotic, (you can actually drive in any direction you wish on most streets, not to many rules) but for the most part drivers looked out for each other, didn’t drive too fast and the vehicle volume was moderate. I liked this.

Approaching a park area with a boulevard around it, Phnom Wat was located on a hill about 50 km above road. Off to the right I spotted the United States Embassy.

I snapped a couple of quick pictures of the Embassy, just because I knew it would upset the guards. They pulled me over but I denied I had taken any pictures. Come to find out you could nearly look into the whole complex and snap pictures from up on Phnom Wat. Typical Government logic.

I parked my motorbike about dusk at the foot of Phnom Wat Hill, climbed my way up the steps, among weekend Cambodian tourists, paid a small fee to tour the site and entered the stupor. It was the most beautiful stupor I had seen on my entire trip. A colorful display of Buddhist statues, flowers and many candles burning.

It seemed like a very sacred place, more so than the other Buddhist temples I had visited in Myanmar and Thailand. There were few people praying so it was quiet, but filled with the spirit of peace. I felt at home.

Next I traveled by motorbike 20 km south of the city to the memorial called The Killing Fields. Very challenging driving, dusty, run down roads but somehow I felt like I fit right in navigating my way through a sea of motorbikes.

Approaching the memorial the entrance area was relatively quiet with only a couple of tourist buses parked adjacent to where I was directed to park my bike. I locked my helmet to the front wheel, paid the attendant a small fee and walked toward the entrance way.

Directly inside was a square based monument of about 25 meters on each side with a tower 20 meters high. Inside the tower there was at least four levels of platforms displaying hundreds of human skulls, the victims of the 1978-1979 genocide conducted by the Pol Pot regime.

A humble solemn site. All four sides of the monument were open for viewing and at least one side was completely open to the display where you could actually touch the skulls and if you thought for whatever reason pick up and examine a skull of a genocide victim.

I thought it very strange, although I experienced the seemingly same lack of need to protect artifacts in other historical displays in Cambodia.

Walking further the memorial displayed the mass grave areas and actual open displays of human bone and tooth fragments. Embedded in the ground where I walked it looked like shreds of clothing, I’m guessing from the victims.

I was somewhat disappointed expecting the site to be quite a bit larger than it was. I recall the movie The Killing Fields showing a much larger area of mass graves. Although overall a very impressive informative memorial.

Before departing I wandered around a bit and stopped by to talk with a gentleman that looked like he worked for the park. I wasn’t quite sure what his role was but he spoke as if he had some knowledge of the history of the memorial and mentioned that there had been very little excavation over the last 30 years. I had asked him this because I had read at the S21 memorial that excavation for more graves was continuing.

Before hopping on my motorbike I rounded up the local kids for a picture in front of the memorial. The park staff asked me not to pay them a stipend. After snapping the kids ran down the long entrance driveway to the paved road outside the park property. There I gave them a few Cambodian dollars each.

Heading back toward the city I set my sites on Monoving Avenue and 92nd street to the Le Hotel Royal, where journalist Sydney Shaumberg and 4 others were held up, threatened by the Pol Pot Regime to be killed if they continued to report about the apparent genocide.

Arriving I asked a couple of hotel employees if they had ever heard of Sydney Shaumberg. Unfortunately no, however after having coffee in the hotel café, and checking out the tourists in the beautiful indoor garden pool (all westerners and I’m guessing at least 400 USD a night the hotel was top 5 star), I struck up a conversation with the café waiter.

After an initial inquire of information on the Pol Pot Regime, my friend mentioned that both his parents lost their lives, and he’d rather not continue the conversation. (listen to the recording attached in this publication).

From there I road to a restaurant about 5 km away by the name of Friends, that supported the local citizens by hiring and training workers in restaurant management and the culinary trade. Partial proceeds from a meal go to supporting this cause.

It sounded like a good cause so I checked it out, hung out with a restaurant full of more western’s than I’d see eon’s, had a bite to eat and scooted out on my motorbike to explore more of Phnom Penh.

Stopped by a river bistro in the tourist area to try some live music, but alas to no avail.
Headed back to the Yang Chou Thmey Guest House after stopping at the local convenience store for some mid night snacks.

Great day, motorbike is the only way to see S.E. Asia and traveling alone is the key.
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Next time on Different Perspectives join me as I explore more of the City of Phnom Penh and travel south of the city as twilight approaches to visit a wild life preserve in the wilderness of southern Cambodia.


Please join me, until then…….


“Those who accept that we all die someday settle their quarrels.”


Edward
Different Perspectives
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Again welcome to our news letter. As is common with our objective the following articles are of interest in upholding the purpose of our newsletter to offer a different perspective.
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Myanmar boat people take up refuge in Sabang

Hotli Simanjuntak , The Jakarta Post , Banda Aceh · Sat, 01/10/2009 10:19 AM · The Archipelago
Imam Husein, 30, sobbed while a nurse at Sabang Hospital attended to him in a ward. Tears rolled down his face and drenched the shirt he had received from the local community moments after he landed at Sabang Naval Base on Jan. 7.
"Praise be to God, praise be to God," he exclaimed in tears.
Imam was one of 193 Myanmar refugees stranded off Sabang Island, Aceh, after a 28-day sea journey in the small boat.
Imam is from the Rohingya tribe in Arakan state in the western part of Myanmar, which lies along the eastern coast of the Bengal Bay bordering Bangladesh. Members of the tribe are generally Sunni Muslims -- a minority in the mainly Buddhist country.
Imam fled his country -- now under the control of a military junta -- to seek asylum overseas.
"No Muslim in Myanmar, no Muslim," he wept.
He said the group of refugees he was with had left Myanmar on Dec. 23, heading for Thailand.
They left Myanmar because they could no longer stand to live under the junta that did not recognize their existence, he said.
Imam added around 580 people fled at the time in four small boats, with almost 200 people in some of the boats.
They were heading for Muslim countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia and Afghanistan.

However, after landing in Thailand, the boat people from Myanmar met with harsh treatment from Thai Marines, Imam said.
"We were in Thailand for two days, but they abused us and expelled us with gunshots," Imam said in broken English.
He added the Marines put them back in their boats and towed them out to sea beyond Thai waters.
"After our boats were taken outside the border, the marines destroyed our engines and dumped all our food supplies into the sea," he said.
Left adrift in the middle of the ocean, Imam went on, the refugees, including women and children, were buffeted about by the currents and wind. They tried to fashion sails out of tarpaulins.
"We don't know where *the rest of the refugees* are right now," Imam said.
After 10 days out at sea without food or a destination, one of the three boats, carrying about 280 people, ended up in Sabang waters.
They were spotted by two Aceh fishermen out on the open sea.
"I was very shocked to see a small boat packed to the brim with hundreds of people in distress," said Rudiyanto, one of the fishermen.
The boat was towed to land, where the refugees received help and medical treatment. Eighty-one had to be taken to hospital because of severe dehydration. Some also had to be treated for injuries they said they sustain from the physical abuse by the Thai Marines.
"They had to receive inpatient treatment because they were weak, severely dehydrated and had been beaten," said Togu, a doctor attending to the boat people.
The asylum seekers are now being accommodated at a warehouse at Sabang Naval Base, pending a decision by the Indonesian Foreign Ministry over their asylum bid.
"We are still waiting and coordinating with immigration headquarters about the Myanmar citizens," said Sabang Immigration Office head Marsudi.
He added his office had not yet received information about whether to deport the refugees.
This is the second such incident involving Myanmar boat people adrift off Sabang. In April 2006, 77 boat people who fled their country were also found in a boat in Sabang waters.
They were eventually deported by the local immigration office without a clear destination, after staying several days in Sabang.
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In Thursday's essay, former Cuban President Fidel Castro said that Obama "has transformed himself under the inspiration of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. to the point of becoming a living symbol of the American dream."
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Indonesia to repatriate 193 boat migrants

updated 4:42 p.m. PT, Thurs., Jan. 22, 2009
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia will deny political asylum to 193 migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh who are being held at a navy base after they were found stranded off the country's western coast, the foreign minister said.

Most of the group identified themselves as Rohingya, members of a Muslim ethnic group that fled persecution in Myanmar. Tens of thousands of Rohingyas live in camps in Bangladesh, where they have been granted refugee status.
But Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said Thursday that the migrants found drifting off Indonesia's Aceh province on Jan. 7 will be refused entry into the country.

"Based on interviews they are economic migrants. They are not political asylum seekers," Wirajuda told reporters.
Wirajuda said Indonesia is working with their countries of origin and the International Organization for Migration to properly repatriate the migrants. "The sooner the better," he added.
It was not immediately clear if they would be sent to Myanmar or Bangladesh.
More than a quarter million Rohingyas fled Myanmar in 1992 amid a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing of Muslims, according to Human Rights Watch. The migrants face possible abuse and persecution at home and in Bangladesh, the New York-based group said.
The migrants were found floating in a 36-foot (11-meter) wooden boat without food or water, officials said. Many died on the trip to Indonesia during which they had to stand because the boat was so cramped, Wirajuda said, citing accounts by the navy. He did not say how many were believed to have died.
The Indonesian government has refused media access to the migrants, saying they are investigating.
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Myanmar hopes for policy change from Obama: official reports

AFP, YANGON, MYANMAR
Thursday, Jan 22, 2009, Page 5
Myanmar hopes that new US President Barack Obama will change Washington’s tough policy towards its military regime and end the “misunderstandings” of the past, a senior official said yesterday.
The Myanmar government and state media have made no official comment on Obama’s inauguration, but the official said on condition of anonymity that the country was looking to the US leader to show his “good intentions.”

Former US president George W. Bush’s administration strengthened decade-old sanctions against Myanmar while his wife Laura was an outspoken critic of the country’s ruling junta.

“Our two countries’ relations have had some misunderstandings in the past with the Bush administration. Mr Obama needs to study our country’s real situation so that he can change policy,” the Myanmar official said.

“There have been many mistakes in the past . We have had misunderstandings. But now we are expecting good intentions,” he said.

The Myanmar official accused Bush of making “one-sided” decisions.

The Bush administration “made decisions one-sidedly without knowing the real situation on the ground. We hope that US foreign policy will change for the world,” he said.

State-owned daily newspapers carried no comment on the swearing-in of Obama and there were only a few reports in the papers’ foreign news sections.

But people in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, watched the inauguration ceremony on satellite TV overnight.

“I have never seen anything like this ceremony in my life,” Aye Aye, 28, a university student said after staying up until late to see the event.

“There were so many people and it was very surprising and also interesting. I do not understand politics, I just watched because of my interest in the inauguration of the new president,” she said.

Myanmar’s top leader, Senior General Than Shwe, sent a formal diplomatic note of congratulation to Obama in November after he was elected.

Myanmar’s opposition pro-party has also cautiously welcomed the election of Obama, but said time would tell if he could help open up the military-run country.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and is under economic sanctions from the US and Europe over rights abuses and the detention of pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. .

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Myanmar Refugees Protest Alleged UN Discrimination

Wednesday January 21st, 2009 / 11h08

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP)--At least 50 Myanmar refugees demonstrated Wednesday outside the United Nations refugee agency office to protest alleged discrimination by the U.N. organization.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, denied the claim by the action group All Burma Democratic Force.
The protesters, including women and children, held placards saying "We need better treatment from UNHCR," and "Our future depends on UNHCR."
Anti-riot police were deployed, but there was no trouble.
Aung Kyaw Moe, 37, the protest group's spokesman, said UNHCR officials had discriminated against some of them.
"They divided us along ethnic group and won't allow some of us to enter the UNHCR office," he said, saying it was causing ethnic tension among the various refugee communities.
The UNHCR had said there were about 45,400 refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia, of whom 40,400 are from Myanmar, formerly called Burma.
The majority are Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar's Rakhine state, while the rest are Christian Chins, Karens and Shan.
The demonstrators in Kuala Lumpur demanded fair treatment from the U.N. body regardless of ethnicity or religion, especially regarding issues related to resettlement in third countries.
The U.N. organization said it recognized their frustrations.
"UNHCR's policies towards all refugee groups are nondiscriminatory. We do our utmost to assist and protect all refugees," said Yante Ismail, the U.N. agency Kuala Lumpur office spokeswoman.
"The UNHCR will continue to engage different refugee communities to address their problems," she said.

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