You can get the World Bank report in this link. It is an extensive and very accurate research on East Asia. There are some facts about Cambodia we need to follow such as the lack of skilful workforce that would make the Cambodian economy vulnerable. But there are other facts to point out as well. Here I make a list of those facts described by the report in regard to Cambodia.

1. Cambodia remains with a significant problem in malnutrition of children together with Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.
2. We are among the faster labor productivity growings in the planet.
3. Most Cambodians continue to work in the informal sector (primary sector) and not in wage and salaried employment. It is also because Cambodia continues to be a rather agricultural society.
4. Cambodia rank poorly with regard to friendly investment climate (place 137 in the world.)
5. In Cambodia training program relied more in centralized planning and government supply than by market demand.
6. Cambodia is near the worst performance Micronesia limit in “ease of doing business” rank in East Asia.
7. Cambodia is considered an agrarian society with near 80% of its population living in rural areas. It means we need to raise the productivity of agriculture in order to free labor and human capital to work in rural off-farms enterprises and eventually to migrate to town and cities.

The academic system of some Cambodian universities, especially in the provinces, is creating only lazy individuals that confuse success with corruption… just more ducks with Laxus for the next generation.

Probably we need to invest more in fight the administrative corruption of our country. Surely, we have to understand that corruption is not only an evil of certain officials and public servants, but it can be rooted deeply in the culture, in the traditions, in the society, in the most simple of the daily life like going to the market or driving through the roads. I have always defended the idea that the worst of the Cambodian corruption is not the corruption itself (in all countries, even your country, oh foreign reader) there is someone being not transparent and abusing public funds to their benefit. No. The most problematic is when the people don’t know what corruption is. If you live in Cambodia you have to face with corruption in any scale. Many times you are obliged to “pay for a service” to an official that seems not to understand his/her social duty. So, let us go to the one of the roots of corruption – besides a manipulated will of those interested in holding corruption to guarantee their status: Education. 

Certainly we can count on some very good universities in Phnom Penh with international recognition and great academic projects such as the Royal University of Phnom Penh and Pannasastra University, to say only two of some. Easy to guess that those universities celebrate international agreements with high standard centers of education oversees and many of their professors or lectures are very well referenced professionals. The problem is that the best universities in Cambodia are only in Phnom Penh. While there is a dedicated worry to build hotels and resorts in provinces like Siem Reap and Sihanokville, the worry to diversify the best Cambodian universities to reach the provinces is null. No. It is let to very curious private universities, many of them created in garages or old houses, with very limited resources and high fees.

Commercial enterprises that get very easy official licenses to provide bachelor – and even master – degrees to young people willing to study… willing? Well… we don’t know if they will or not:

- Students absency… in those “garage universities” students can be absent as much as they like, because the most important is to pay the fee and… of course… some extra fees for some hungry “lectures”.

- Teachers absency… it is common to have teachers coming from the Royal Capital of Cambodia. Probably it’s an attempt to get “good teachers” but… if they are good teachers somewhere in Phnom Penh, their compromise with the provinces is far from being responsible… also teachers are allowed to be absent anytime….

- The lack of a culture of reading is a serious problem… A 8th grade student in Thailand has read more books than certain senior “garage” university students from Cambodia… ask any Cambodian near to reach how many books he/she has read… Try to see the thesis elaborated in these “garage universities”.

- A completely lack of practicality… these “professionals” are not at the level of the international standard. They confuse the tie with the brain.

At the end, these bad universities filling the Cambodian provinces, are creating only the next generation of corrupt leaders… a lazy and ambitious generation that want to have a car, a big house and a nice smart suit, but without work, without thinking, without effort… only being vampires of the common good of their own people. If we don’t change it, Cambodia will be far from being competitive. The World Bank Report said it already.  There is a need to include Confucius in all policy making for the Cambodian development.

I am not a tourist agency and for this reason I have the duty to give some advices to those who want to plan a trip to Cambodia. Although this country seems small in the map, actually it’s not too small and it has more things than what you can imagine. Actually the official slogan “Kingdom of Wonder” is rather exact. Let us see some advices for your travel to our dear country.

The most important tourist regions are by order the following ones. Notice that I think in someone who plan to come for some days, because if you want to stay for months, we can open another discussion. It means things you have to see if you come for only few days.

1. Siem Reap Province… this is the place where the main archeological temples stay… the more noticeable ones (there are temples everywhere). For example, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prum, Banteay Srey… these are the most famous temples. If you come to Cambodia and you don’t see those temples, it is like if you go to Egypt and you don’t see the pyramids. How many days you can stay there: minimum three days if you are in hurry. if you love archeology, you should be minimum one week…
2. Phnom Penh… the Royal Capital. It is by now a chaos in traffic, but Phnom Penh is Phnom Penh, a place of history, the center of the Cambodian culture… you find Cambodians from every corner of the country, a busy city and, especially, the object of huge developments. Minimum of days here: 2.
3. The coastal provinces… The center of them is Sihanoukville, but you have Kog Kong near the Thai border and Kampot and Kep near the Vietnamese border. Islands, white beaches, beautiful hills with waterfalls, caves… The coastal provinces would be a place to come to relax after you see the temples in Siem Reap. Minimum of days: 2.

That would be a travel of one week. But there are many other places in Cambodia to see:

- Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri provinces: they have hills, indigenous communities and jungle with an interesting fauna and flora.

- Kroche Province with the white dolphins of the Mekong… by the way on danger thanks to the fever to build dams on the Mekong (Laos?).

- Preah Vehear Province and its temple, an old dispute with Thailand… though the situation, it is rather safely to visit the place going by kilometers at the north of Siem Reap and Kompung Thom.

- Kompung Thom and its Sambo Prey Kuk temples… they are so amazing as the Angkorean ones.

And many other places such as mountains, jungles, towns…

How to schedule the flights?

I recommend to schedule the flight like this:

Cambodia has two international airports: Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Both cities are far as 314 kilometers (191 miles). Therefore, schedule your flight arriving in one city and living from the other, for example, arriving to Siem Reap and leaving from Phnom Penh. If you arrive and leave from Phnom Penh, it means you have to travel to Siem Reap by bus and returning to Phnom Penh the same way, so you lost time.

If you come for short visits and you want to go by land to another provinces, it is better to go by vans. Bus companies can be slow. Especially avoid Sorya Bus Company and Bunthan. Mekong Express could be one of the best.

If you are traveling to Thailand in this moment or you are there, it is appropriate to take some security measures. Keep contact with your embassy. Traditionally, Thai political turbulences keep distance from the tourist industry, but be aware of incidents. Here some recommendations:

- Keep your passport and all travel documents with you all the time. Provide it to any authority if they request to see them.

- If you are travelling in group, please stay all the time in connection with your agency and the tour leaders, especially passing any security checkpoint.

- You have to know that the taxi services at the Suvarnabhumi Airport are available 24 hours. The taxis have a sticker displayed on the front windscreen as Suvarnabhumi Taxis. Please use them, because officials will allow access for those vehicles only.

- If you need any other information or assistance, contact the Survarnabhum Airport Call Center (number phone: 1722).

- Keep with you the number phone of your embassy or consulate and follow news.

- The press has been restricted (censorship). Please don’t take photos or videos of sensitive areas. Stay aways from political gatherings of security checkpoints.

- The army announced a countrywide curfew from 10PM to 5AM. Please follow instructions by the authorities.

Other interesting links:

• Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens: Curfew from 10 PM to 5 AM. US Embassy in Bangkok.
• Foreign Minister urges caution for Australians in Thailand. ABC News.
• Irish Department of Foreign Affairs issues travel advisory for Thailand. Independent.ie
• Cambodians Warned Against Travelling To Thailand.

Our promising city of Kampot opens today the branch of a new bank in town: ABA (Advance Bank of Asia Ltd), a joint Cambodia – South Korea enterprise that started in 1996 and today is growing as an option to provide commercial banking services. Other banks in Kampot Province include Canadia, Acleda, Amret and Cambodian Public Bank. ABA offers services such as deposit account, credit, trade finance, money transfer and cash management. It has also an ATM in its own offices, located just in Kampot downtown, near the Main Traffic Circle. ABA has 20 branches, mostly located in Phnom Penh. Provinces include Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Pursat, Chbar Ampov, Chom Chao, Takhmao, Takeo, Kampot and Kampong Chnang. It has more than 60 ATMs and 325 million in deposit portfolio. The deposit and customer base extends to 40,000 accounts with 4,000 borrowers.  

The last reports on the two stories of Somaly Mam – the fake and the real – is only a tip of the iceberg and it is a big tip. She attracted international attention for the organization that has her own name as an activist against sex and human trafficking, specialized in the rescue and support of girls and young women, who are victims of sexual slavery. In this article by Simon Marks of Newsweekly, the journalist that uncovered her fraud, it is said that she got a long list of prominent international admirers that include former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, actresses like Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon and Shay Mitchell, New York Times Pulitzer-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof, Queen Sofia of Spain, former Facebook adviser Brandee Barker and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Such public attention gave so much financial capacity that her “refugee center” known in French as Agir Pour Les Femmes en Situation Précaire, AFESIP (in English would be “Acting for Women in Precarious Situation”) became international, opening offices in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, France and Switzerland. 

Why is this a big tip of the iceberg? Because it shows that people like sensational stories and buy them, giving the opportunity to clever individuals or groups to profit it in detriment of the real needed. At the same time, El Mundo newspaper from Spain was also denouncing since November further accusations into AFESIP of abuse and corruption that would continue filling headlines.

It will have by sure an impact on donors to countries like Cambodia in their support to many NGOs dedicated to problems like human trafficking. Probably, it will help us to develop means of control to get to the real victims, to the real vulnerable people, while giving attention to those groups and organizations that work mostly in silence but effective in their mission. We need to be transparent.

The story of Somaly is a big Cambodian scam, not so different from the pot of milk scam of Siem Reap. And there are many others around, with less publicity or big investors, but with the same scheme: creating high impact stories.

All these clever fakers can do whatever, but they are successful only for one reason: people want to believe something. Like in a religion system, like in a dogma, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (John 20: 29). And then, supporting a humanitarian cause is not for romantic positions and lazy assumptions. If you go to a Cambodian beach and you fall in love with that little cute beggar, you are not a social worker or a philanthropic, or a modern version of Mother Theresa of Calcutta or Gandhi or a missionary… no… you are an ignorant and a lazy and a blind… if you are very famous, prominent or well-off, so you have the same adjectives but with grandiosity. Giving a cent to that clever beggar, does not help to stop any problem, but it increases it. It feeds the snake of corruption and abuse.

What is the common thing between Colombian and Cambodian young people? “Show me your city“, an intercultural experience. In 2013 I agreed with two teachers of the Pontifical Bolivariana University of Medellín, Maribel Rodríguez and Ariel Acevedo, to make an academic experience between their students of graphic design and my students of social communication of Don Bosco Sihanoukville and Kep. The idea was that the students meet through a Facebook page and agree over the production of a short video per groups (5 to 10 minutes). In the story they have to show their culture, traditions and environment. Communication is of course an issue, but we wanted to demonstrate the effects of a global youth culture. 

This month we finished the second season dedicated to short horror films. More than 20 videos were produced by the Cambodian and Colombian youth portraying legends and ghosts from their own culture. The first intention was to elaborate a single script between both intercultural groups, but although the interaction through Facebook and Skype, it was difficult for them to agree in a unique script. The result was a rich offering of stories.

Yim Rotha, 18:

“Communication, team working, script writing… it is what I learned in this experience. A little difficult also because the language. Sometimes we could not understand their ideas. We could share our scripts and learn things. It was an opportunity to practice our English, to know a new culture and we proved our skills for example in the composition of a script.”

Im Tula, 19:

“I knew things about Colombia through the chats and their messages. When I talked by chat with them we concluded that our ideas were different, so we decided to follow our own traditions. I realized we were different, for example we Cambodians are polite and I saw them more informal. I guess it’s a Western behaviour.”

Kong Sokha Amatak, 22:

“It is a good idea to communicate with another culture. First we knew nothing about Colombia, its language, in the beginning was difficult the communication, but after we knew things. I knew about their way of thinking, their traditions. For example, when we greet we were more polite, but their greeting was more informal. They said they want to know our country.”

Nom Sothereath, 20:

“In a next experience, it is good to promote more communication. It is important to give more importance to the quality of the audio. I liked La Llorona because it was very original to me. I saw a ghost drinking beer.”

 The experience gives so many insights to the creativity and efforts of the young people and how they put all their talent to share their ideas and own identity. One very interesting video is the one of Vuth Savong, a disabled youth who acts in his own film “Ghost in Old House“.

The next season starts on October with a new topic or challenge for the students to face. I expect that group of students of other countries, especially young people interested in film production, join the experience. If you are a teacher and you want to include your students, please contact us.

The Cambodia Daily reported this Thursday that “After Somaly Mam Resigns, Trafficking NGOs Anxious.” I think that such anxiety should not correspond to transparent and professional organizations, because a honest NGO does not relay in fantastic stories like the ones of Somaly Mam Foundation, but in processes. Donors relaying their funds in processes should not be affected also, because they are already trained to receive objective results from the transparent organizations they use to reach the victims of social evils and poverty for years. Those donors that have been attracted by Hollywood-and-even-Bolliwood-stories-like will be by sure stop to give funds to organizations that relay in scripts rather than in processes. 

I am not agree with what Samleang Seila of APLE said to The Cambodia Daily in that article that “It would be sending a very confusing message about human trafficking in Cambodia and the number of victims and who the victims are”. Yes, we need that confusion. We need that donors become more critical, more conscious and more active in auditing their own support. This is a benefit for the real victims or those who benefit from the action of any ONG or official department. A blind support or a support attracted by tricks, does not help the people in real need. It is important also to show results, to show stories, but those results and stories are inside very well designed processes, not on the mouth of celebrities. We don’t need superheroes, but we need superprocesses with real aims and results to fight social evils.

The media

This is a very good lesson for the media. The Pulitzer must be given to Simon Mark, to the Newsweek and to the Cambodia Daily. In journalism skepticism is a virtue.

The first thing we should realize is that victims of sexual trafficking do not go in front to cameras to speak out. It is a dream for several media to have the story of a real victim in cameras or radio in order to increase rating. Of course, most media in the Somaly Mam’s case were taking the flag of a great campaign to end slavery and we can believe that it was their genuine intention and thanks and sorry for the dismay. But as well as donors should learn how to do when it is about supporting causes, the media must learn also that there are more effective means to do and one is applying to the rigor of journalism, being objective and respecting also the dignity of victims.

Then we need to go through professionals and persons on the terrain. In Cambodia we have many organizations, NGOs and officials, with the authentic professionalism to fight realities such as human trafficking. While those organizations are on the terrain following effective processes and needing more funds to increase their effectiveness, the media was hypnotized by a woman who said that she was a sexual slave and coaching her own girls to say the same.

It is already one week looking for a plane during the technological revolution, in a time where we can detect planets around stars located thousands of years light far from us or lead electronic wars whatever, including professional spies in US and Britain that can read emails of anybody on Planet Earth! This search is a shame for everybody, starting by the Malaysian government with an incompetent army unable to trace a plane that chanced its rout on the sky.

It is shame for the military powers like China, US with all its power just few kilometers at the west in Pakistan and Afghanistan, for India and even Vietnam and Thailand. It means that the Gulf of Thailand, a swallow square of water surrounded by too many countries, is unprotected and it can be used by any terrorist or criminal organizations any time… This case must be taken by the International Community. In the time of the technological revolution even a kid could participate in a global search for the craft. Stop so much “military secrecy” by so many incompetent guys on uniform and open it to the public of what is happening now to the sake of the families who are suffering the long wait. All those armies, so much brave for nothing, should be at this time going around the jungles from Malaysia to Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, Burma and even India in search for the craft. Where is ASEAN???

A girl about 12 sits down near the entrance of a supermarket near the Pub Street. She holds in her arms a sleeping baby, observing with attention the foreign customers coming inside the supermarket. It is around 8PM in Siem Reap and the girl gives special gazes to women with children. A woman with two boys leaves the supermarket. Her children hold big packages of chips and cold sodas. Suddenly, the way of the three is cut by the girl, who looks to the eyes of the foreign lady with tenderness. The baby of her arms does not seem disturbed but in a deep sleep. “Ma’am, give me food for my brother, give me a pot of milk, ma’am,” she says in a very fluent English. 

The lady is shocked. She can see the sleeping baby, the claim of the girl asking only food and the presence of his two boys eating chips… The perfect scenario: she is defeated. There is not any possibility of rejection, not any Western logic to debate with such apparition.

Without any word the lady is back inside the supermarket and looks for the milk pot. She chooses the biggest one that is 20 US dollars about. She pays it to the cashier who smiles in a very compressible look. It reinforces the pushed act of charity from the foreign lady, who returns to the entrance like a public hero… but she does not give the milk pot to the girl directly: oh no, she must give a good lesson to her two boys… she gives the pot to the older boy and tells him to hand it to the girl, but… wait… “we need to take a photo”, so this “spontaneous act of charity” will be registered very well in Facebook, Twitter or in her blog.

The lady left the scenario and by sure she will sleep with a feeling of satisfaction: she did charity to that poor sleeping baby that got the biggest milk pot, while giving a lesson to her boys of how good people must behave…

As soon as the Samaritan lady and her boys are out of view, the girl comes inside the supermarket and puts back the milk pot… the baby continues sleeping… then she turns to the good cashier who makes a mark on a list. Then the girl goes back to the same place, to wait the next victim, preferable women with small children, the most vulnerable. It is also probable that the the same pot of milk is given several times that night…

This scam is one of the most frequent in the streets of Siem Reap and it has been for years without any control. But this criminal business is getting its golden time this year. Now it is possible to see about ten girls with sleeping babies asking the milk pot to foreigners. One curiosity is why the baby is always sleeping and does not seem disturbed by nothing?

The most probable is that the baby is rented and the criminals give them drugs to keep them quiet.

You can get the World Bank report in this link. It is an extensive and very accurate research on East Asia. There are some facts about Cambodia we need to follow such as the lack of skilful workforce that would make the Cambodian economy vulnerable. But there are other facts to point out as well. Here I make a list of those facts described by the report in regard to Cambodia.

1. Cambodia remains with a significant problem in malnutrition of children together with Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.
2. We are among the faster labor productivity growings in the planet.
3. Most Cambodians continue to work in the informal sector (primary sector) and not in wage and salaried employment. It is also because Cambodia continues to be a rather agricultural society.
4. Cambodia rank poorly with regard to friendly investment climate (place 137 in the world.)
5. In Cambodia training program relied more in centralized planning and government supply than by market demand.
6. Cambodia is near the worst performance Micronesia limit in “ease of doing business” rank in East Asia.
7. Cambodia is considered an agrarian society with near 80% of its population living in rural areas. It means we need to raise the productivity of agriculture in order to free labor and human capital to work in rural off-farms enterprises and eventually to migrate to town and cities.

The academic system of some Cambodian universities, especially in the provinces, is creating only lazy individuals that confuse success with corruption… just more ducks with Laxus for the next generation.

Probably we need to invest more in fight the administrative corruption of our country. Surely, we have to understand that corruption is not only an evil of certain officials and public servants, but it can be rooted deeply in the culture, in the traditions, in the society, in the most simple of the daily life like going to the market or driving through the roads. I have always defended the idea that the worst of the Cambodian corruption is not the corruption itself (in all countries, even your country, oh foreign reader) there is someone being not transparent and abusing public funds to their benefit. No. The most problematic is when the people don’t know what corruption is. If you live in Cambodia you have to face with corruption in any scale. Many times you are obliged to “pay for a service” to an official that seems not to understand his/her social duty. So, let us go to the one of the roots of corruption – besides a manipulated will of those interested in holding corruption to guarantee their status: Education. 

Certainly we can count on some very good universities in Phnom Penh with international recognition and great academic projects such as the Royal University of Phnom Penh and Pannasastra University, to say only two of some. Easy to guess that those universities celebrate international agreements with high standard centers of education oversees and many of their professors or lectures are very well referenced professionals. The problem is that the best universities in Cambodia are only in Phnom Penh. While there is a dedicated worry to build hotels and resorts in provinces like Siem Reap and Sihanokville, the worry to diversify the best Cambodian universities to reach the provinces is null. No. It is let to very curious private universities, many of them created in garages or old houses, with very limited resources and high fees.

Commercial enterprises that get very easy official licenses to provide bachelor – and even master – degrees to young people willing to study… willing? Well… we don’t know if they will or not:

- Students absency… in those “garage universities” students can be absent as much as they like, because the most important is to pay the fee and… of course… some extra fees for some hungry “lectures”.

- Teachers absency… it is common to have teachers coming from the Royal Capital of Cambodia. Probably it’s an attempt to get “good teachers” but… if they are good teachers somewhere in Phnom Penh, their compromise with the provinces is far from being responsible… also teachers are allowed to be absent anytime….

- The lack of a culture of reading is a serious problem… A 8th grade student in Thailand has read more books than certain senior “garage” university students from Cambodia… ask any Cambodian near to reach how many books he/she has read… Try to see the thesis elaborated in these “garage universities”.

- A completely lack of practicality… these “professionals” are not at the level of the international standard. They confuse the tie with the brain.

At the end, these bad universities filling the Cambodian provinces, are creating only the next generation of corrupt leaders… a lazy and ambitious generation that want to have a car, a big house and a nice smart suit, but without work, without thinking, without effort… only being vampires of the common good of their own people. If we don’t change it, Cambodia will be far from being competitive. The World Bank Report said it already.  There is a need to include Confucius in all policy making for the Cambodian development.

I am not a tourist agency and for this reason I have the duty to give some advices to those who want to plan a trip to Cambodia. Although this country seems small in the map, actually it’s not too small and it has more things than what you can imagine. Actually the official slogan “Kingdom of Wonder” is rather exact. Let us see some advices for your travel to our dear country.

The most important tourist regions are by order the following ones. Notice that I think in someone who plan to come for some days, because if you want to stay for months, we can open another discussion. It means things you have to see if you come for only few days.

1. Siem Reap Province… this is the place where the main archeological temples stay… the more noticeable ones (there are temples everywhere). For example, Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prum, Banteay Srey… these are the most famous temples. If you come to Cambodia and you don’t see those temples, it is like if you go to Egypt and you don’t see the pyramids. How many days you can stay there: minimum three days if you are in hurry. if you love archeology, you should be minimum one week…
2. Phnom Penh… the Royal Capital. It is by now a chaos in traffic, but Phnom Penh is Phnom Penh, a place of history, the center of the Cambodian culture… you find Cambodians from every corner of the country, a busy city and, especially, the object of huge developments. Minimum of days here: 2.
3. The coastal provinces… The center of them is Sihanoukville, but you have Kog Kong near the Thai border and Kampot and Kep near the Vietnamese border. Islands, white beaches, beautiful hills with waterfalls, caves… The coastal provinces would be a place to come to relax after you see the temples in Siem Reap. Minimum of days: 2.

That would be a travel of one week. But there are many other places in Cambodia to see:

- Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri provinces: they have hills, indigenous communities and jungle with an interesting fauna and flora.

- Kroche Province with the white dolphins of the Mekong… by the way on danger thanks to the fever to build dams on the Mekong (Laos?).

- Preah Vehear Province and its temple, an old dispute with Thailand… though the situation, it is rather safely to visit the place going by kilometers at the north of Siem Reap and Kompung Thom.

- Kompung Thom and its Sambo Prey Kuk temples… they are so amazing as the Angkorean ones.

And many other places such as mountains, jungles, towns…

How to schedule the flights?

I recommend to schedule the flight like this:

Cambodia has two international airports: Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Both cities are far as 314 kilometers (191 miles). Therefore, schedule your flight arriving in one city and living from the other, for example, arriving to Siem Reap and leaving from Phnom Penh. If you arrive and leave from Phnom Penh, it means you have to travel to Siem Reap by bus and returning to Phnom Penh the same way, so you lost time.

If you come for short visits and you want to go by land to another provinces, it is better to go by vans. Bus companies can be slow. Especially avoid Sorya Bus Company and Bunthan. Mekong Express could be one of the best.

If you are traveling to Thailand in this moment or you are there, it is appropriate to take some security measures. Keep contact with your embassy. Traditionally, Thai political turbulences keep distance from the tourist industry, but be aware of incidents. Here some recommendations:

- Keep your passport and all travel documents with you all the time. Provide it to any authority if they request to see them.

- If you are travelling in group, please stay all the time in connection with your agency and the tour leaders, especially passing any security checkpoint.

- You have to know that the taxi services at the Suvarnabhumi Airport are available 24 hours. The taxis have a sticker displayed on the front windscreen as Suvarnabhumi Taxis. Please use them, because officials will allow access for those vehicles only.

- If you need any other information or assistance, contact the Survarnabhum Airport Call Center (number phone: 1722).

- Keep with you the number phone of your embassy or consulate and follow news.

- The press has been restricted (censorship). Please don’t take photos or videos of sensitive areas. Stay aways from political gatherings of security checkpoints.

- The army announced a countrywide curfew from 10PM to 5AM. Please follow instructions by the authorities.

Other interesting links:

• Emergency Message for U.S. Citizens: Curfew from 10 PM to 5 AM. US Embassy in Bangkok.
• Foreign Minister urges caution for Australians in Thailand. ABC News.
• Irish Department of Foreign Affairs issues travel advisory for Thailand. Independent.ie
• Cambodians Warned Against Travelling To Thailand.

Our promising city of Kampot opens today the branch of a new bank in town: ABA (Advance Bank of Asia Ltd), a joint Cambodia – South Korea enterprise that started in 1996 and today is growing as an option to provide commercial banking services. Other banks in Kampot Province include Canadia, Acleda, Amret and Cambodian Public Bank. ABA offers services such as deposit account, credit, trade finance, money transfer and cash management. It has also an ATM in its own offices, located just in Kampot downtown, near the Main Traffic Circle. ABA has 20 branches, mostly located in Phnom Penh. Provinces include Siem Reap, Sihanoukville, Battambang, Kampong Cham, Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Pursat, Chbar Ampov, Chom Chao, Takhmao, Takeo, Kampot and Kampong Chnang. It has more than 60 ATMs and 325 million in deposit portfolio. The deposit and customer base extends to 40,000 accounts with 4,000 borrowers.  

The last reports on the two stories of Somaly Mam – the fake and the real – is only a tip of the iceberg and it is a big tip. She attracted international attention for the organization that has her own name as an activist against sex and human trafficking, specialized in the rescue and support of girls and young women, who are victims of sexual slavery. In this article by Simon Marks of Newsweekly, the journalist that uncovered her fraud, it is said that she got a long list of prominent international admirers that include former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, actresses like Meg Ryan, Susan Sarandon and Shay Mitchell, New York Times Pulitzer-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof, Queen Sofia of Spain, former Facebook adviser Brandee Barker and Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. Such public attention gave so much financial capacity that her “refugee center” known in French as Agir Pour Les Femmes en Situation Précaire, AFESIP (in English would be “Acting for Women in Precarious Situation”) became international, opening offices in Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, France and Switzerland. 

Why is this a big tip of the iceberg? Because it shows that people like sensational stories and buy them, giving the opportunity to clever individuals or groups to profit it in detriment of the real needed. At the same time, El Mundo newspaper from Spain was also denouncing since November further accusations into AFESIP of abuse and corruption that would continue filling headlines.

It will have by sure an impact on donors to countries like Cambodia in their support to many NGOs dedicated to problems like human trafficking. Probably, it will help us to develop means of control to get to the real victims, to the real vulnerable people, while giving attention to those groups and organizations that work mostly in silence but effective in their mission. We need to be transparent.

The story of Somaly is a big Cambodian scam, not so different from the pot of milk scam of Siem Reap. And there are many others around, with less publicity or big investors, but with the same scheme: creating high impact stories.

All these clever fakers can do whatever, but they are successful only for one reason: people want to believe something. Like in a religion system, like in a dogma, blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed (John 20: 29). And then, supporting a humanitarian cause is not for romantic positions and lazy assumptions. If you go to a Cambodian beach and you fall in love with that little cute beggar, you are not a social worker or a philanthropic, or a modern version of Mother Theresa of Calcutta or Gandhi or a missionary… no… you are an ignorant and a lazy and a blind… if you are very famous, prominent or well-off, so you have the same adjectives but with grandiosity. Giving a cent to that clever beggar, does not help to stop any problem, but it increases it. It feeds the snake of corruption and abuse.

What is the common thing between Colombian and Cambodian young people? “Show me your city“, an intercultural experience. In 2013 I agreed with two teachers of the Pontifical Bolivariana University of Medellín, Maribel Rodríguez and Ariel Acevedo, to make an academic experience between their students of graphic design and my students of social communication of Don Bosco Sihanoukville and Kep. The idea was that the students meet through a Facebook page and agree over the production of a short video per groups (5 to 10 minutes). In the story they have to show their culture, traditions and environment. Communication is of course an issue, but we wanted to demonstrate the effects of a global youth culture. 

This month we finished the second season dedicated to short horror films. More than 20 videos were produced by the Cambodian and Colombian youth portraying legends and ghosts from their own culture. The first intention was to elaborate a single script between both intercultural groups, but although the interaction through Facebook and Skype, it was difficult for them to agree in a unique script. The result was a rich offering of stories.

Yim Rotha, 18:

“Communication, team working, script writing… it is what I learned in this experience. A little difficult also because the language. Sometimes we could not understand their ideas. We could share our scripts and learn things. It was an opportunity to practice our English, to know a new culture and we proved our skills for example in the composition of a script.”

Im Tula, 19:

“I knew things about Colombia through the chats and their messages. When I talked by chat with them we concluded that our ideas were different, so we decided to follow our own traditions. I realized we were different, for example we Cambodians are polite and I saw them more informal. I guess it’s a Western behaviour.”

Kong Sokha Amatak, 22:

“It is a good idea to communicate with another culture. First we knew nothing about Colombia, its language, in the beginning was difficult the communication, but after we knew things. I knew about their way of thinking, their traditions. For example, when we greet we were more polite, but their greeting was more informal. They said they want to know our country.”

Nom Sothereath, 20:

“In a next experience, it is good to promote more communication. It is important to give more importance to the quality of the audio. I liked La Llorona because it was very original to me. I saw a ghost drinking beer.”

 The experience gives so many insights to the creativity and efforts of the young people and how they put all their talent to share their ideas and own identity. One very interesting video is the one of Vuth Savong, a disabled youth who acts in his own film “Ghost in Old House“.

The next season starts on October with a new topic or challenge for the students to face. I expect that group of students of other countries, especially young people interested in film production, join the experience. If you are a teacher and you want to include your students, please contact us.

The Cambodia Daily reported this Thursday that “After Somaly Mam Resigns, Trafficking NGOs Anxious.” I think that such anxiety should not correspond to transparent and professional organizations, because a honest NGO does not relay in fantastic stories like the ones of Somaly Mam Foundation, but in processes. Donors relaying their funds in processes should not be affected also, because they are already trained to receive objective results from the transparent organizations they use to reach the victims of social evils and poverty for years. Those donors that have been attracted by Hollywood-and-even-Bolliwood-stories-like will be by sure stop to give funds to organizations that relay in scripts rather than in processes. 

I am not agree with what Samleang Seila of APLE said to The Cambodia Daily in that article that “It would be sending a very confusing message about human trafficking in Cambodia and the number of victims and who the victims are”. Yes, we need that confusion. We need that donors become more critical, more conscious and more active in auditing their own support. This is a benefit for the real victims or those who benefit from the action of any ONG or official department. A blind support or a support attracted by tricks, does not help the people in real need. It is important also to show results, to show stories, but those results and stories are inside very well designed processes, not on the mouth of celebrities. We don’t need superheroes, but we need superprocesses with real aims and results to fight social evils.

The media

This is a very good lesson for the media. The Pulitzer must be given to Simon Mark, to the Newsweek and to the Cambodia Daily. In journalism skepticism is a virtue.

The first thing we should realize is that victims of sexual trafficking do not go in front to cameras to speak out. It is a dream for several media to have the story of a real victim in cameras or radio in order to increase rating. Of course, most media in the Somaly Mam’s case were taking the flag of a great campaign to end slavery and we can believe that it was their genuine intention and thanks and sorry for the dismay. But as well as donors should learn how to do when it is about supporting causes, the media must learn also that there are more effective means to do and one is applying to the rigor of journalism, being objective and respecting also the dignity of victims.

Then we need to go through professionals and persons on the terrain. In Cambodia we have many organizations, NGOs and officials, with the authentic professionalism to fight realities such as human trafficking. While those organizations are on the terrain following effective processes and needing more funds to increase their effectiveness, the media was hypnotized by a woman who said that she was a sexual slave and coaching her own girls to say the same.

Cambodian migrant workers deported by the Thair Military Junta in Poipet. Photo Seun 06.18.2014

Caritas Cambodia is leading a campaign to attend the humanitarian crisis caused by the Thai Military Junta with the deportation of thousands of Cambodian workers, legal and illegal. So far, last June 14 Saturday, there were 100,000 migrant workers deported; last June 15 Sunday, 27,000 more crossed the border. It is expected that there will be 25,000-30,000 deportees per day just in Poipet border alone.

The government has been sending only 150 trucks to Poipet, but in reality only 120 in number. They are not enough to transport every day the deported workers to their respective province.

The deportees are struggling to look for food, water and transportation. Delay in transport exposes them, especially women and children to the changing weather conditions.

Don Bosco Cambodia offers already the campus of Don Bosco Poipet as a temporary shelter, thinking especially in women and kids.

Caritas assessed the population on June 18 establishing that there 7% were children and 34% were women, many with pregnancy.

IOM provides 27 buses, WVC mobile latrines, Samaritan Purse 34,000 packs of rise, CWCC 10 dollars to pregnant women and transport for persons with small kids.

Priorities:

- Provide food and drinking water for those who wait in Poipet.
- Transport.
- Temporary shelters.
- Volunteers.

Those who want to provide any of these things through Don Bosco Kep in Kep and Kampot provinces, please send things to Don Bosco Kep. We are going to prepare the transport of any good to Don Bosco Poipet to a proper distribution of those more in need, especially children and pregnant women. Tomorrow we are sending a team from the Don Bosco Kep Children Fund to assess the situation and produce a newest report.

You can approach the Don Bosco Kep campus, email us (management@donboscokhmer.org) or call to 097.371.2020.

Thanks for any intention to join this appeal to support Cambodians in this difficult moment.

It is true the historical Cambodian ambivalence over territorial claims on Koh Tral / Phu Quok as well as the use of such claims on political and nationalistic grounds that rest authority to those claims. However, Cambodia has the right to request a technical review of its claim over the rights on its encroached sea platform.

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea “every State has the right to establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles” (UNCLS, art. 3)

We can determine that the base line in our case is the litoral of Kampot, Kep and Sihanouk provinces. It is not difficult to demonstrate that Koh Tral Island is right in front to the Cambodian base line. It is just 10 miles from the Cambodian coast, so it is nothing more than inside the Interior waters of Cambodia.

Vietnam argues something similar on its claim over the Spratlys islands on the South Chinese Sea, even establishing that they are nearer to Vietnam than China, Taiwan and the Philippines (see this report). At the same time, it defends that the islands have been historically Vietnamese, including its French colonial time. Koh Tral is almost attached to the Cambodian base line than the Spratlys. Reviewing the history of the Spratlys, they are actually islets in the middle of a sea that has been historically the center of several sea powers such as China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan, the colonial powers of France, US, etc. On historical bases, all have the right to claim them in different proportions.

The historical ambivalence of Cambodian population on Koh Tral does not give legal rights to Vietnam for the following reasons:

• Vietnam has been an expansive power that historically comes from the north.
• Cambodia is naturally the native of all this region, including the South of Vietnam (Kampuchea Kraom that translates “Low Cambodia”, like to say “Low California”.)
• Cambodians, even during the ancestral Khmer Empire, never have been a sea power like Malaysia, Vietnam or China. It could be one of the reasons of its decline. This explains also an ancestral Cambodian indifference for the sea and why Cambodians did not show much interest in setting there. But this fact does not represent an objection to a legal claim.

Finally, one argument that should be reviewed as Koh Tral belonging to the Cambodian sea platform is Bokor Mountain. Everybody sees the Cambodian base line, but I never have seen this argument: Koh Tral is the sea continuation of the Bokor range. This natural phenomenon can be seen from any Kep beach.

Wait for a clear photo of this geographical evidence.

See also:

• Jeff Mudrick (2014). Cambodia’s Impossible Dream: Koh Tral. “History doesn’t appear to support claims by the Cambodian opposition to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc”. The Diplomat, June 17, 2014. Link retrieved on June 18, 2014 from http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/cambodias-impossible-dream-koh-tral/