Monday, February 21, 2011

Youth and TV in Cambodia

See:
http://editorials.cambodia.org/2011/02/youths-apply-for-dance-contest-much.html

I agree with you. The television can be used for teach Math, English, Health, and many, many good things. Rather now, it is a tool used for extending power. It is the same way with the billboards we see on the side of the roads. Most signs are about politics, cigarettes, or alcohol. The International NGO must come to Cambodia to put up billboards that teach what is good. The cigarette and alcohol companies with the big money will put up their billboards that teach bad habits that cause problems for everyone.

So much money is spent on political advertising every five year. The same money can be used for teaching the people a better way of life, like the International NGO's are doing. Political leaders in Cambodia need to grow up. They can not see a clear common sense way to approach so many problems which do indeed have a solution. The answer resides with the youth. The youth are the new leaders of tomorrow. No change will happen unless it is initiated by the youth. The youth who are aware need to speak up and wake up the youth who are still asleep. Only this way will you change your country for good.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Cambodia Denies Ordering Websites Blocked

For the past few weeks, several websites critical of the Cambodian government have been unavailable through a number of Internet service providers, or ISPs. Although the government has denied ordering the sites censored, a leaked memo indicates it indeed ordered access cut.

The Phnom Penh Post newspaper this week published extracts from leaked minutes of a meeting at which the minister for post and telecommunications asked Internet service providers to block access to critical sites.

The Post also ran extracts from an e-mail sent by a senior ministry official congratulating 10 ISPs for helping to block the websites, and admonishing three others for not doing so.

Human rights group LICADHO, which issues an annual report assessing Cambodia's media, objects to the web censorship.

LICADHO consultant Mathieu Pellerin says the revelation of state censorship is significant.

"Beginning to censor the Internet is basically censoring the last unregulated space for Cambodians to express themselves and reach information that would otherwise not be accessible to them," said Pellerin. It is an important milestone in the ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression and access to information."

Cambodia's press technically is free, but every television station is pro-government as are most radio stations. The government uses the threat of criminal defamation charges to curtail criticism.

Internet service provider EZECOM, one of the biggest here, said for weeks that the government had not told it to block sites, and that it had not blocked any.

But EZECOM was one of the 10 ISPs praised in the official's e-mail for blocking a number of sites, including KI-Media.

EZECOM's chief operating officer would not comment on the Post's reports.

The half-dozen or so blocked websites are often critical of the ruling party. Prime Minister Hun Sen is listed on the KI-Media website, for instance, in a column titled "Traitors""

The site shows exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy in its "Heroes" column.

KI-Media often runs articles critical of the ruling party and its supporters.

LICADHO's Pellerin says because Cambodia's Internet market is small, the effect of barring access to these websites is more significant than it might seem.

"And so you don't have as many sites as you would have in other countries, so few sites but in a smaller pool of sites affects quite a lot of viewers, and these sites that have been censored were quite popular with the Cambodian community," he added.

The minister for post and telecommunications said on Thursday that there was no policy to block access to websites.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Cambodian-Government-Denies-Ordering-Websites-Blocked-116464743.html

Monday, February 14, 2011

Cambodian Case for Dollarization

Phnom Penh should use its stock exchange opening later this year as an opportunity to formally adopt the U.S. dollar.

==

Cambodia doesn't get a lot of attention on the world stage, but it deserves a closer look because of the way its economy has quietly exceeded expectations in recent years. Growth has been running at near double-digit rates over the last decade, and the country is attracting significant foreign investment, particularly in the textile and tourism industries. A big part of this success is due to its use of the U.S. dollar as its primary currency.

The government didn't orchestrate this monetary reform; in fact it resisted most of the way. But Cambodians voted with their wallets, shunning the Cambodian riel and demanding dollars.

This is no doubt due to the country's tragic history, which made its people especially aware of the mischief governments can play with currencies and property rights. The same Khmer Rouge that killed one-quarter of the population in the late 1970s also abolished money and title to land. Though the riel came back into circulation in 1979, people preferred to use the Thai baht initially and then, once international aid poured into the country in the early 1990s, the dollar.

The use of the dollar has soared since then, accounting for 90% of the currency in circulation today and 97% of banking deposits. Most banks don't even lend in riel.

This has brought the country a level of monetary stability it couldn't have achieved on its own. The Asian Development Bank notes that while inflation averaged 56% from 1990-98, it declined to 3.5% for most of last decade—a period the dollar took over.

That in turn created the foundation for greater investor confidence. The financial sector deepened, and foreign direct investment rose to $3.5 billion in 2007 from $38 million in 1990.

Now Cambodia faces an important decision as it prepares to start up a stock market in July. Last month, regulators convened a public workshop to decide whether to denominate stock prices in riel, dollars or both.

Not only would riel listings add costs and confusion in a largely dollarized economy, it would create an additional risk for international investors, driving them away. Instead, Cambodia could use the exchange opening as an opportunity to embark on formal dollarization.

In a neighborhood where governments debase their fiat money—Vietnam devalued the dong by 8.5% last week—Phnom Penh would stand out all the more by making a commitment to stick with the dollar. A stable unit of account for investment as well as trade after all was one key to Hong Kong's transformation from shanty towns to financial center in a single generation. Cambodia also shares Hong Kong's low, flat income tax and few barriers to trade and investment.

The country faces significant problems that Hong Kong never had though, including an autocratic ruler who has undermined civil liberties and the rule of law. But mitigating these shortcomings is part of the reason Cambodians use the dollar in the first place, and the fact that their savings cannot be held captive will gradually strengthen their ability to demand change from their government. Cambodia is providing a fascinating case study in the power of dollarization to promote development in even the most devastated and poverty-stricken of countries.

==

WALL STREET JOURNAL
OPINON
REVIEW & OUTLOOK ASIA
FEBRUARY 15, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703584804576143631011302612.html

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wifi-equipped tuk-tuks Phnom Penh

We've now spotted Cambodian telecoms provider qb fitting-out a fleet of 15 tuk-tuks to demonstrate its 3.5G service and associated promotions. The tuk-tuks were devised by agency OgilvyAction and launched at the end of last year, providing free internet access to anyone in the immediate area. In addition, the tuk-tuks served as a showroom for the company's products and services, which can be purchased on the spot. Initially offering connectivity on the move to residents of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, the tuks tuks will also be rolled out to other Cambodian cities such as Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Batambong, as well as coming together for one-off events.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Many adult Cambodians have diabetes

Many adult Cambodians have diabetes

When 46-year-old Cambodian motorbike taxi driver Gao Savvy broke his leg, he did not realize he would have to have it amputated, but he has had diabetes for five years and recently developed a condition called stenosis, a narrowing of the blood vessels, meaning doctors had no option but to amputate the injured leg.

"Now I only have my wife to take care of me. I don't know what we'll do next," said Gao, who earned just US$50 a month.

Rapid lifestyle changes over the past two decades combined with poverty in Cambodia (according to government statistics, a third of the population lives below the national poverty line of 75 US cents a day) mean diabetes has become a major health problem.

The number of people with the disease is rising: Of the country's 14.5 million inhabitants, about 352,000 adults live with diabetes, according to the 2009 Diabetes Atlas published by the Belgium-based International Diabetes Federation.

In 2005, about 255,000 people suffered from diabetes, according to an article published that year in the Lancet, a UK-based medical journal. Two-thirds of all cases went undiagnosed before the survey.

In 2010, Cambodia had about 8,000 diabetes-related deaths, according to the International Diabetes Federation. By contrast, the government records more than 200 malaria deaths per year, and has calculated over 1,000 HIV/AIDS-related deaths each year since the most recent prevalence data were collected in 2006.

"It's a silent killer," said Lim Keuky, an author of the 2005 study and head of the Cambodian Diabetes Association. "You don't know about it until the symptoms appear, and then it might already be too late."

Keuky's study found a surprisingly high prevalence (5 percent) in Siem Reap, a province in the northwest, and 11 percent in Kampong Cham Province in eastern-central Cambodia.

Lifestyle changes

However, economic growth and urbanization mean many of Cambodia's poor are eating processed food and not exercising enough, according to Denmark-based NGO the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF).

These lifestyle changes have taken place on top of the hunger and desolation of the 1980s, the group said.

"Most processed and unhealthy food is the cheapest option while healthy foods have become increasingly costly and beyond the reach of the poor, so the poor have no control over the risk factors," said WDF head Anil Kapur.

Meanwhile, campaigners say diabetes is not getting enough attention from international donors.

"Foremost is the misconception among donor agencies that these [non-communicable] diseases are diseases related to affluence, and do not affect the poor, which is completely untrue," Kapur told IRIN.

About 80 percent of all diabetes cases are in low- and middle-income countries, affecting mostly people aged 45-64, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

Globally, about four million deaths are attributed to diabetes every year, compared to three million for AIDS-related illnesses and one million for malaria. Diabetes is responsible for about 5 percent of all deaths globally each year and the figure could rise by more than 50 percent in the next 10 years if urgent action is not taken, says WHO.

According to new research published by the Lancet, chronic diseases such as diabetes could kill up to 4.2 million people annually in Southeast Asia by the year 2030.

CAMBODIA: Diabetes - the silent killer
PHNOM PENH
7 February 2011 (IRIN)

http://www.irinnews.org/PrintReport.aspx?ReportID=91852

Gao Savvy lost his leg because of diabetes The relatively high rates of diabetes in Cambodia were surprising, the study said, given that the country is poor, and lifestyles are still fairly traditional.