In Modern Stoneworks, an Echo of the Past

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Saturday, 29 May 2010

One of the 26 pieces of modern stone sculptures on display at a new exhibition hall at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh

Though the temples of Angkor Wat have some amazing stone carvings, contemporary sculpture in the country has not been widespread. But a group of 14 young Cambodian sculptors wants to change that. They currently have 26 pieces of modern stone sculptures on display at a new exhibition hall at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.

Hydrodam Plans Stir Ratanakkiri Unease

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Friday, 28 May 2010

Patt Paing has five hectares of land by the Sre Pok river. She has a small wooden house, and she raises pigs. The 55-year-old leads a quiet life here in Village Two, in Ratanakkiri’s Koun Mom district. But over the past three years, life has been more difficult.

That’s because of the floods.

“I don’t have enough rice to eat because of the floods for the past three years,” she told VOA Khmer in an interview last week. “In previous years, I could harvest more than 1,000 buckets or over 10 tons of rice per season.”

The floods were caused by water releases from dams upriver, she said.

In Preah Sihanouk, a Tale of Two Mosques

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Din Nos lives just a few steps from a newly built mosque in his home village of Banteay Prey in Preah Sihanouk province. But he refuses to pray there.

Instead, the 76-year-old travels a kilometer down the road, to neighboring O’trav village. That’s because the new mosque has brought new ways with it, and Din Nos, who is almost bald and was lying on a long wooden bed facing the new mosque, prefers the old traditions.

“In this new mosque, they do not pray the way we do,” he said. “We don’t just follow the new way after having seen it, because we have our traditional ways left behind by our ancestors.”

Sea Town With a Reputation Seeks More Visitors

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Tuesday, 18 May 2010

On her head, Bun Net carried a tray full of colorful bracelets, necklaces and other souvenirs. She walked along Ochheuteal beach in the coastal province of Preah Sihanouk on a recent day, selling her wares to European sunbathers under the noon sun.

“I’m not selling well there days, because there are fewer foreign tourists now, the 15-year-old vendor said, as other vendors her age gathered around. “Some vendors have sold nothing at all from morning until now,” she said.

The number of foreign visitors to this town are in decline. In the first four months of 2010, visits were down about 2 percent compared to the same period last year. The provincial tourism department estimates about 59,815 visits so far this year. In all of 2009, more than 120,000 people visited this province of eight sand beaches, an international airport and a national park, Ream.

Tribunal Prosecutor Allays Cham Concerns

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Thursday, 13 May 2010

White-haired and toothless, Leb Sarem was riding his bicycle from his home to pray at a nearby mosque in Preah Sihanouk province. Along the way, he stopped at a neighbor’s housing compound where last month he and other residents here in the village of Prek Torl met with an international prosecutor from the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The visit, from UN prosecutor Andrew Cayley, set his mind at ease, Leb Sarem told VOA Khmer at the compound last week.

“Before he came here, I felt very tense,” the 67-year-old Muslim said. “But now I feel more relieved, because I hope that he will find justice for me by taking the Khmer Rouge leaders to trial sooner.”

Policy Alone Inadequate: Youth Advocate

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Facing a rising number of young people who are graduating school, looking for work and entering society in general, the government is drafting an official national youth policy. But advocates from the growing demographic say a policy alone is not enough.

“If we have only the document, but no institution to implement it, it will be useless,” Sun Chansen, president of the Khmer Youth Association, told “Hello VOA” Monday.

Sun Chansen, whose association represents six non-governmental organizations that work with young people, said a national youth council must be created to enforce the policy.