Posted by Kong Hean on Wednesday 31 October 2007 - 00:50:36

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2008-08-08 17:25

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: Kuwait has pledged US$5 million to help support religious activity and education for Cambodia's Muslims, a government official said Friday (8 Aug).

Prime Minister Sheik Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah made the pledge during his visit here earlier this week, said Ahmad Yahya, a government adviser who heads the Cambodian Muslim Community Development.

He said the fund was in response to a request Cambodian Muslim leaders brought to Kuwaiti officials during the visit.

The money will be used for renovating a mosque in the capital Phnom Penh and building a 2-hectare (5-acre) Islamic center near the mosque, in addition to several schools and mosques in a northeastern Cambodian province, Ahmad Yahya said.

Kuwait and other Gulf states, especially Saudi Arabia, have long funded schools and mosques in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand, both of which have small and generally poor Muslim populations.

Ahmad Yahya said the Kuwaiti prime minister announced the new pledge to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen during their dinner meeting on Monday.

"Prime Minister Hun Sen very much welcomed the pledge," he said. "The money is not here yet, but when its comes the Cambodian government will manage it accordingly."

Cambodia has an estimated 700,000 Muslims, representing about 5% of the country's 14 million people, according the U.S. State Department's annual report on religious freedom.

Most of them live in the rural areas and, in the past decade, have been experiencing a revival of their religious freedom that was abolished, just like all religious practices, when the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the past decade, there have been concerns that some projects funded by Middle Eastern money may become breeding grounds for extremists.

In May 2003, Cambodian authorities closed down a Saudi-funded Islamic religious school outside Phnom Penh and arrested three of its members on charges of alleged links to Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian Islamic extremist group connected to al-Qaida.

During his visit, the Kuwaiti leader also expressed his country's interest in investing in Cambodian farmland to produce food for the oil-rich Gulf state.

The two countries also signed agreements to foster economic cooperation, protect investments, and establish direct flights between them.

Cambodia also asked Kuwait for assistance in training its workers in offshore oil exploration and production. (AP)

Posted by Kong Hean on Sunday 10 August 2008 - 15:02:32

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BANGKOK (AFP) - Officials from Thailand and Cambodia traded claims Sunday over a second disputed Khmer ruin on their border, as the two nations remained at loggerheads in another territorial dispute.

Ta Muen Thom ruin sits on one of many disputed areas along the border, and depending on who you ask lies either in Thailand's northeastern Surin province or Cambodia's northern Uddor Meanchey province.

Both Cambodian and Thai officials on Sunday laid claim to the ruin, but denied that they had increased troop numbers there since a military stand-off erupted last month over the more well-known Khmer ruin of Preah Vihear.

"We have a paramilitary post which has been there for several years," said Major General Sujit Sithiprabha, Thai army commander for the Cambodian border.

"Prasart Ta Muen Thom belongs to us. We have to have soldiers to take care of the area which belongs to us."

Var Kimhong, chairman of the Cambodia Border Committee, conceded that Thai soldiers were stationed in the ruin, but said this was not a "new thing".

"Ta Muen is in our territory, but since 1998 Thailand took a chance to occupy it by claiming that they came to conserve it," he told AFP.

He said that in 2003 he told Thai troops that Ta Muen belonged to Cambodia and asked them to withdraw, and Thailand agreed to pull out as soon as Cambodia built proper roads to the temple.

More than 1,000 Cambodian and Thai soldiers have been positioned close to the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, east of Ta Muen Thom, since July 15 when Thai protesters attempted to reach the site from a closed border point.

During talks last Monday, Cambodia and Thailand both said they were willing to stand down the troops on the border, but neither have shown signs of making the first move.

Major General Sujit denied that Thailand was building up forces in any other border areas, and said they were waiting for word from the government on when to stand down the soldiers at Preah Vihear.

"We have not increased soldiers or invaded into a neighbouring country as we are waiting for the redeployment," he said.

Posted by Kong Hean on Tuesday 05 August 2008 - 02:38:19

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia will seek help from the FBI in trying to solve the murder of a journalist affiliated with the opposition party and his son, an official said Saturday.

The government has contacted the FBI office in the capital, Phnom Penh, and plans to send a formal request for assistance on Monday, said Ministry of Interior Spokesman Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak. He said the FBI could help in arresting the culprits.

Khem Sambo, 47, and his 21-year-old son were gunned down in a drive-by shooting July 11.

The reporter covered corruption and other social ills for the opposition newspaper Moneaseka Khmer.

Cambodian human rights groups have said they suspect the slaying was linked to the many articles Khem Sambo wrote about illegal logging, illegal fishing deals and land grabbing that involved powerful officials in the administration of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

U.S. Embassy officials could not be reached for comment Saturday. But days after the attack, the embassy said the FBI stands ready to help investigate the case.

Khieu Sopheak said the police investigation has uncovered details of the shooting but no arrests have been made. He said investigators concluded that the assailant took off on the back of a motorbike driven by another man after shooting Khem Sambo. The duo returned minutes later to shoot the journalist's son.

Posted by Kong Hean on Saturday 02 August 2008 - 15:22:42

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