Multiple Skills Needed To Compete in a Future Asean, Economist Says

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Saturday, 16 February 2013

The officers of U.N.-backed genocide tribunal meet high school students at Ek Phnom district in Battambang province, as they distribute recent verdict books of Khmer Rouge leader Kaing Guek Eav, northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, May 5, 2011.

PHNOM PENH — Young Cambodians must develop diverse workplace skills if they are to compete in an integrated Asean, a leading economist and adviser to the government says. “We have to make sure we are able to do multiple things if others are able to do just one,” the adviser, Sok Siphana, told “Hello VOA” Monday. “If they know only one language, we need to know two.”

Cheap Labor in Cambodia Lures Garment Factories

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Wednesday, 13 February 2013

China used to be the world's factory - workers were cheap, and manufactures liked the profit margin that meant, especially in the garment industry. But no more: China's laborers are now amongst Asian's best paid. Garment companies are looking for a better deal in Cambodian. VOA Khmer's Say Mony reports from Phnom Penh.

Mourners See Wisdom in Late Monarch’s Last Words

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Cambodian mourners cry and pray outside a crematorium as the late King Norodom Sihanouk is cremated in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013. Hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered in Cambodia's capital Monday for the cremation of Sihanouk, the revered "King-Father," who survived wars and the murderous Khmer Rouge regime to hold center stage in the Southeast Asian nation for more than half a century. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

PHNOM PENH - Although the late former king Norodom Sihanouk is gone, his admirers say they want to see the country’s political leaders follow his most important message: be united for the nation. “Before his death, His Majesty advised his people to stop quarreling with each other,” Ti Sam Ath, a farmer from Kampong Cham province, told VOA Khmer, following funeral ceremonies last week. “So I hope his words stay in the minds of all Cambodians.”

Sihanouk’s Golden Urn Returned to Royal Palace

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Friday, 08 February 2013

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni (L) and Queen mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk sit on the royal float as they transport urns with some of the cremains of former late King Norodom Sihanouk from a crematorium to the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh February 7, 2013. Some of Sihanouk's ashes were scattered near the confluence of the four rivers in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, while others were put in three urns, which, according to his wishes, will be placed on the grounds of the royal palace, media reported.

PHNOM PENH — The urn containing the late king Norodom Sihanouk’s remains was moved out of its crematorium on Thursday and into the Royal Palace, its final place of rest, on the last day of a weeklong funeral rite for the former monarch. A portion of Sihanouk’s remains were cast into the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers on Tuesday. A golden urn containing the other portion was moved from the Preah Meru field, where Sihanouk’s cremation took place on Monday, to the palace, in a procession limited to members of the royal family and key dignitaries.

Sihanouk Cremated, Surrounded by Cambodians

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Tuesday, 05 February 2013

The body of Norodom Sihanouk was cremated Monday night in an elaborate Buddhist ceremony, under bright lights and stars, surrounded by tens of thousands of the people who looked up to him as a leader for more than six decades. The central quarter of Phnom Penh near the Royal Palace was filled with Cambodians, scores of them weeping. VOA Khmer's Say Mony spoke from the cremation site with VOA Khmer's Poch Reasey in Washington.

Weeping, Chanting, Praying, Cambodians Mourn Late King

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Monday, 04 February 2013

Thousands poured onto the streets of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh for the royal funeral procession carrying the casket of former King Norodom Sihanouk. He will be cremated Monday in a Buddhist ceremony. Cambodians old and young mourned the revered Norodom Sihanouk, who passed in Beijing in October at the age of 89. His casket moved through six kilometers of central Phnom Penh streets, departing the Royal Palace and arriving at the nearby cremation ground. They wept. They chanted. They prayed. Among them was a 59-year-old farmer from Kampong Cham province named Tia Tha. In tribute to the late King, Tia Tha chants a poem he wrote when he learned of Sihanouk's death. VOA Khmer’s Say Mony reports from Phnom Penh.

Mourning in the Streets as Sihanouk Cremation Ceremonies Begin

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Saturday, 02 February 2013

The funeral procession for Cambodia's former king, Norodom Sihanouk, began Friday, starting in the pre-dawn hours as soldiers and military in ceremonial garb gathered in Phnom Penh, where between 1 million and 3 million mourners are expected to travel in coming days. Sihanouk will be cremated Monday, after days of ceremony, as Cambodians remember his legacy, which began with the country's independence from France in the 1950s, carried into the Khmer Rouge era, and only ended in 2004, when he abdicated and passed the throne to his son, Norodom Sihamoni. (VOA Khmer's Say Mony reports from Phnom Penh)

In Tribute, Musicians Perform Songs of Sihanouk

Say Mony, VOA Khmer
Friday, 01 February 2013

Foreign tourists, right, walk in front of Cambodia's late King Norodom Sihanouk portrait ahead of his funeral, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The body of Sihanouk who died on Oct. 15, 2012 at age 89, is scheduled to be cremated on Feb. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

PHNOM PENH - Norodom Sihanouk, the revered former king whose cremation ceremonies begin on Friday, was a music lover, singer and composer. In Phnom Penh, two separate groups of music students have decided to pay tribute to the former monarch by performing some of his favorite music. The musicians say that though the “King Father” is gone, his songs remain.