Internationalisation in higher education – Rhetoric versus reality

Hans de Wit22 July 2012 Issue No:231

 

In 1998, Philip Altbach and Patti McGill Peterson wrote a critical assessment in Change with the title “Internationalise American Higher Education? Not exactly”. They observed a discrepancy between the optimistic rhetoric of internationalisation and the reality of significant constraints.

Nearly 15 years later, the third study Mapping Internationalisation on US Campuses by the American Council on Education (ACE), which studied 1,041 institutions, confirms that this tendency is still prevalent in US higher education.

And I would be inclined to add – also elsewhere.

What lessons can be learned from the mapping exercise? Would similar studies in Europe and elsewhere come to similar results? Will the divide between research universities and other institutions of higher education with respect to internationalisation increase and in what way?

The results of the study by ACE are described in a positive way.

More institutions incorporate internationalisation into their mission statements and strategic plans. There are more assessment procedures for internationalisation in place. There is more attention paid to hiring faculty with international backgrounds, experience and interests.

Attention to mobility issues remains strong. Partnerships, cross-border delivery of education and joint degrees are on the rise. And in general there is an increase in funding, in particular for study abroad and recruitment.

Concerns

But the ACE report is also outspoken in its concerns.

According to the report, Altbach and McGill Peterson's observation is still valid today, in particular with regard to the issue of student learning.

It states: “Although many institutions indicated that the curriculum has been a particular focus of internationalisation efforts in recent years, overall this is not reflected in the general education requirements that apply to all students.”

And in a clear but harsh way the report concludes: “At their core, however, colleges and universities are about student learning; no matter what shape the internationalisation process takes at a given institution, student learning must remain a central core.”

It adds that this seems not to be the case in many institutions. In other words, higher education institutions should not only talk about the importance of internationalisation of the curriculum, but place it at the centre of their curriculum reforms and learning outcomes.

These findings coincide with the results from the third Global Survey by the International Association of Universities (IAU) in 2010.

Also in that survey, one can note a strong difference between what institutions say about the importance of internationalisation and its priority in practice – in particular where it concerns the curriculum – not only in the US but also in other regions.

So, this discrepancy is clearly not a purely American problem, but an issue that applies also to Europe and other parts of the world.

Much to be done

We may be positive about the increasing attention being paid to curriculum and learning outcomes instead of the quantitative focus on study abroad and recruitment of international students that is manifested in these studies. But there is still a lot to do to make the shift a reality.

Funding is not the main obstacle to internationalising the curriculum and learning outcomes.

The IAU survey indicates that faculty resistance and an inflexible curriculum are probably more important. So leadership can make a difference, but the impetus for change has to move down to the programme level – to deans, department heads, faculty and students – for change to be realised.

At a time when internationalisation has become more bureaucratic and focused on quantitative targets, this requires a substantive change of mentality and approach, as I wrote in my previous blog for University World News.

Another interesting finding of the ACE report relates to the differences in progress between doctoral universities and other higher education institutions in the US:

“Broadly speaking, the doctoral sector does better than all others on many of the internationalisation indicators in the Mapping Survey. While associate institutions have made progress in some areas, their overall levels of internationalisation are still below those of institutions in other sectors.”

The report correctly notes that approximately 40% of the student body in the US attends associate institutions, and calls for new innovative approaches to internationalisation since the classical focus on study abroad is not the most useful for students in this sector.

Nevertheless, we do not yet see many signs of innovation in that sector. Interestingly enough, I have the impression that innovative and comprehensive strategies for internationalisation seem to come more from the top, private research universities in the US, which until recently were not focusing much on internationalisation but now seem to be taking the lead.

International innovative initiatives by Yale, New York University, Cornell and Stanford are regularly in the news while smaller colleges and institutions mainly seem to feature due to scandals and problems in their international activities.

In Europe, where top research universities are publicly funded, this is not so much the case, maybe with the exception of Germany where the excellence initiatives and funds from DAAD [German Academic Exchange Service] are positive incentives for the extension and innovation of internationalisation.

In other countries, the economic crisis does not allow for much innovation and investment. It will be interesting to see if internationalisation becomes an elite enterprise of top private research universities again.

* Hans de Wit is director of the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, and professor of internationalisation at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. He is co-editor of the Journal of Studies in International education. Email: j.w.m.de.wit@hva.nl. 

Academic oncologist brings altruistic dynamism to Catholic university

Andrew Green22 July 2012 Issue No:231

 

Dr Charles Olweny, a globe-trotting oncologist who trained and worked on four continents – including as a professor of medicine in Winnipeg – decided seven years ago to leave Canada and return home to lead Uganda Martyrs University, a private Catholic institution. His leadership strategy is guided by five core principles, he told University World News.

Uganda is undergoing a higher education boom. The result of introducing universal primary education in 1997 and universal secondary education a decade later is a surplus of students looking for a university placement.

Uganda's 30 public and private universities offer 50,000 spots for qualified secondary school graduates. More than 102,000 secondary school students sat for qualifying exams this year. But the demand for higher education is tempered by harsh economic reality, and even as students graduate many are unable to find jobs.

No less a presence than Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has laid the blame for the country’s high youth unemployment squarely at the feet of the higher education system.

The World Bank estimates that young people between 15 and 24 make up as much as 83% of the unemployed population. On a tour of the country last year, Museveni accused universities of not focusing on marketable skills, such as information technology and the sciences.

Since 2006 Dr Charles Olweny (72) has been trying to navigate this landscape.

As vice-chancellor of Uganda Martyrs University (UMU), he is responsible for strategically expanding his institution while maintaining a range of courses – some that meet the president’s definition of marketable, such as agriculture and science, and some, for instance development studies, that do not. Olweny said they are no less important, though.

Even as UMU is looking to develop two new campuses, he is also eager to experiment with new education models to ensure all of the university’s graduates are immediately employable.

It is a challenge Olweny relishes.

A trained oncologist, he built a career across four continents – Africa, Australasia, Europe and North America – as an administrator, researcher and academic. He took an 80% pay cut to return to his native Uganda from Canada and help establish UMU as “the benchmark of all institutions of higher learning, not just in Uganda, but in the entire Great Lakes region”. Click here for the video link.

The main campus of the 19-year-old Catholic university is Nkozi, west of the capital Kampala, just south of the equator. It also has a newer campus in the eastern town of Mbale.

There are more than 2,000 students, nearly 500 of them resident on the main campus, and the others on distance learning and part-time postgraduate courses around the country. Among a growing number of private higher education institutions, UMUis well established, respected, outward looking and focused on quality.

Olweny’s transition has come with some challenges. There were the expected ones – he is quick to highlight the constant search for funds – and those that he did not anticipate, including a battle to overcome institutional aversion to change.

In a wide-ranging and frequently funny discussion, Olweny spoke to University World News about the challenges for higher education in Uganda and how he is helping his institution to overcome them.

You trained as an oncologist and have spent your life all over the world in various positions. How did you end up in academia in Uganda?

As he describes it, Olweny’s first love was medicine, not academia. Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s when Uganda was still a British protectorate, he was responsible for keeping his family’s medical box – dispensing aspirin when people had headaches, or quinine when they developed fevers.

He went on to join the country’s first postgraduate programme in medicine at Kampala’s premier Makerere University. That was after he had already published four papers – two in peer-reviewed journals – during his undergraduate years at the institution. (He later got his MD from Makerere.)

Those articles “were in the area of oncology. And I didn’t quite know that was an area that would attract me. But it was soon after I had done my masters degree that the dean of the faculty of medicine called me to his office and said: ‘We all believe you have a lot of talent.’”

Olweny was offered a scholarship to study under Georg Klein – a cancer researcher and a member of the Nobel Committee – in Stockholm, Sweden.

That was the beginning of Olweny’s globe-trotting career. He worked and trained in the US, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Australia. He also served as director of Uganda’s Cancer Institute for more than a decade.

Before joining UMU, he had worked in Winnipeg, Canada, for 16 years, where he was a professor of medicine and head of the oncology department at St Boniface General Hospital.

It is a career that has consistently included work in academia, though Olweny is jokingly hard-pressed to explain why. “It’s almost like people are asking me, ‘Why did you ever leave Australia to go to Canada in that cold weather?’ My reaction, very often was, ‘I think I need my head examined.’”

But he said teaching had always attracted him, even as an undergraduate. So when an unexpected letter from UMU arrived in 2005, offering the deeply religious Olweny the vice-chancellorship of Uganda’s flagship Catholic university, he decided – after months of soul-searching and a heated family discussion – to move into academia fulltime.

What is your leadership strategy?

What Olweny calls his “guiding principles” are the stuff of legend at UMU. Carefully rationalised and easily presented, they have been widely adopted by the staff, alongside the university motto – ‘In virtue and wisdom lead the world’. Print-outs of his five-point list are hung on walls around the university.

• Transparency
  
• Accountability
  
• Reliability
  
• Action based on institutional ethos
  
• Quality
  

“I think that essentially guides my way of doing things. I brought those five [principles to UMU] and they have remained.” Click here for the video link. Quality, Olweny, is a major preoccupation of the university, not the least because it relies heavily on student fees for its financial survival.

The other quality he espouses is hard work. It is evident in how he structures his day – starting at 08h00 every morning and not ending until at least 19h30 every night. And those days are filled with meetings. Meetings with students, faculty or one of the five national and international boards he sits on.

“One of my kids, when they were growing up, he used to say they thought their dad was always eating meat, because I said, ‘I’m going for this meeting. I’m going for that meeting.' They thought dad is always eating meat.”

He adopted his work habits while at university. A mentor at medical school once told Olweny that his day should only really begin when everyone else was going home.

“Usually, that’s the most productive two to three hours. Nobody knows you are in the office. No telephones ring. What I’m able to achieve between 16h30 and 19h30 is enormous. Very often it is much more than what I’ve achieved through the rest of the day.” Click here for the video link.

What major change have you brought to the university?

Immediately on arrival, Olweny upended UMU’s educational philosophy. From his years at universities around the world, he said he had learned that most universities have a standard set of priorities: teaching, research and, then, community service.

“We have rearranged that. We have put research and scholarship first. And our No. 2 is community engagement. Not service, engagement. And we put teaching at the bottom.

“The reason is, we believe anybody can teach. You don’t need to be a professor to be able to teach. But you need to be a researcher to be at a university and we need to engage the community.” Click here for the video link.

Less than a month into his tenure, Olweny established a community relations committee, which meets regularly to decide how the community and UMU can work together. The key product of that relationship has been an effort to lift a nearby village, Nindye, out of poverty.

“What we have done is every faculty has been told they must mainstream outreach into their curriculum.” Departments like health sciences and education consult with the community and brainstorm ideas to help improve the lives of people living in Nindye.

The faculty of agriculture, for instance, is helping farmers improve yields and market their goods. The endeavour is modelled on the Millennium Villages Project, but draws on research conducted by UMU.

If the effort, which is being run in partnership with the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, is successful, Olweny plans to export it to other communities. Click here for the video link.

How have you positioned the university both for international recognition and to prepare students for Uganda’s job market?

Nearly 25% of UMU’s students are international. Most are drawn from East Africa, but a handful comes from the United States, Canada and Belgium.

The international strategy capitalises on Olweny’s own experiences working abroad. At UMU, he has forged partnerships with universities like Notre Dame, and also recruits staff from around the world.

“That’s part of our strategy, just to be as international as we possibly can. We also take pride in forging strategic alliances…That gives us a fairly broad perspective.”

As UMU seeks to expand its international presence, though, it also has to tailor its educational experience to preparing Ugandan students to find positions in a difficult job market. That can require two very different kinds of courses.

Olweny is using planned university expansion – introducing new campuses in northern and western Uganda – to deploy an unusual strategy addressing just that problem. “Every campus must be unique in character and not merely a replica of what takes place at our main campus,” he said.

The plan is for the new eastern campus in Mbale to spearhead education. Gulu in the north will be a “hard work campus. In addition to regular academics, they will be doing hard work.” The western campus will be a polytechnic. “We’re thinking of motor vehicle mechanical engineering, medical equipment repair engineering, petroleum engineering and agricultural engineering.” Click here for the video link.

With campuses tailored to specific skills, UMU can continue to attract local and international students to its varied programmes at the main Nkozi campus, while also offering the kind of vocational training that will allow entrepreneurial students to take advantage of gaps in regional markets.

In that vein, UMU also launched the Student Training Entrepreneurial Promotion (STEP) programme to teach students how to start their own businesses.

The increase in vocational offerings is critical in Uganda’s current economic environment but, despite recent urgings from the president and others, it is not the only solution to graduating students who will be able to find jobs in Uganda.

Olweny keeps returning to another advantage that UMU graduates have over other university-educated job applicants. It starts with what he describes as a mythical radio station that everyone in Uganda listens to, calling it WIII FM – the What Is In It For Me station.

“That’s what is killing Uganda today. Everybody will [ask], what do I get out of this? That’s the first question…Until that radio station is closed, this country is doomed."

He continued: “I’ve been singing to everybody, to the students, to the staff, and hopefully if the change can start there, it will spread in concentric circles and eventually it will catch up with everyone.

“At least I now know that most of my students, when they graduate, they will be grabbed. Especially by banks and other financial institutions. They’ll say, 'Yes, those are guys with integrity.'” Click here for the video link.

What other challenges have you encountered as leader of UMU?

Like most private universities in Uganda, UMU has a constant struggle to raise enough money to cover its costs, while still offering an affordable education. The mantra Olweny shares with his staff is that “it’s not business as usual”.

That means more dialogue between different departments to guide financial decisions. He just finished hosting a conference that pulled together UMU’s deans, associate deans and department heads to instil this message.

The other major hurdle, he said, is an attitude of complacency. “People don’t want to change. They are happy with the status quo. You bring in a new idea, they think you are crazy.”

Each innovation he introduces – from outsourcing campus security to creating an advancement office that would build greater alumni support – has been greeted with resistance, he said.

“They are beginning to accept [change], but we just have to keep reminding them.” Click here for the video link.

What advice do you have for future academic leaders?

As with most of his answers, Olweny has a readymade list of advice for his successors. In essence, it boils down to three critical points:

“Do what you like to do. Do not do it because other people want you to do it. You would not succeed. You have to do what you want, what you like doing.”

He also emphasised the importance of working within a group of people who support the same vision and adhere to the same value.

And finally, “not to lose sight that, in fact, we’re training leaders of tomorrow”. He added, somewhat implausibly given his groundbreaking work at UMU: “Our time is gone. My time is gone.”
 

Taking on corruption in international higher education

Philip G Altbach22 July 2012 Issue No:231

 

A spectre of corruption is haunting the global campaign towards higher education internationalisation. An overseas degree is increasingly valuable, so it is not surprising that commercial ventures have found opportunities in the internationalisation landscape.

New private actors have entered the sector, with the sole goal of making money. Some of them are less than honourable. Some universities look at internationalisation as a contribution to the financial ‘bottom line’, in an era of financial cutbacks.

The rapidly expanding private higher education sector globally is largely for-profit. In a few cases, such as Australia and increasingly the United Kingdom, national policies concerning higher education internationalisation tilt towards earning income for the system.

Countries whose academic systems suffer from elements of corruption are increasingly involved in international higher education – sending large numbers of students abroad, establishing relationships with overseas universities and other activities.

Corruption is not limited to countries that may have a reputation for less than fully circumspect academic practices, but that problem occurs globally.

Recent scandals

Several scandals have recently been widely reported in the United States, including the private unaccredited ‘Tri-Valley University’, a sham institution that admitted and collected tuition fees from foreign students.

That institution did not require students to attend class, but rather funnelled them into the labour market, under the noses of US immigration authorities. In addition, several public universities have been caught admitting students with sub-standard academic qualifications.

Quality assurance agencies in the UK have uncovered problems with ‘franchised’ British-degree programmes, and similar scandals have occurred in Australia.

A prominent example is the University of Wales, which was the second largest university in the UK, with 70,000 students enrolled in 130 colleges around the world. It had to close its highly profitable degree validation programme, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of institutional revenue.

With international higher education now a multibillion-dollar industry around the world – with individuals, countries and institutions depending on its income, prestige and access – it is not surprising that corruption is a growing problem.

If something is not done to ensure probity in international relationships in higher education, an entire structure – built on trust, a commitment to mutual understanding and benefits for students and researchers – a commitment built informally over decades, will collapse. There are signs that the structure is already in deep trouble.

Unscrupulous agents

A serious and unsolved problem is the prevalence of unscrupulous agents and recruiters funnelling unqualified students to universities worldwide.

A recent example was featured in Britain’s Daily Telegraph in late June of an agent in China caught on video, offering to write admissions essays and to present other questionable help in admission to prominent British universities.

No one knows the extent of the problem, although consistent news reports indicate that it is widespread, particularly in countries that send large numbers of students abroad, including China and India.

Without question, agents now receive millions of dollars in commissions paid by universities and, in some egregious cases, money from the clients as well. In the University of Nottingham’s case the percentage of students recruited through agents has increased from 19% of the intake in 2005 to 25% in 2011, with more than £1 million (US$1.5 million) going to the agents.

Altered and fake documents

Altered and fake documents have long been a problem in international admissions. Computer design and technology exacerbate it. Fraudulent documents have become a minor industry in some parts of the world, and many universities are reluctant to accept documents from institutions that have been tainted with incidents of counterfeit records.

For example, a number of American universities no longer accept applications from some Russian students because of widespread perceptions of fraud, document tampering and other problems.

Document fraud gained momentum due to commission-based agents who have an incentive to ensure that students are ‘packaged’ with impressive credentials, as their commissions depend on successful student placement.

Those responsible for checking the accuracy of transcripts, recommendations and degree certificates face an increasingly difficult task. Students who submit valid documentation are placed at a disadvantage since they are subjected to extra scrutiny.

Examples of tampering with and falsifying results of the Graduate Record Examination and other commonly required international examinations used for admissions have resulted in the nullifying of scores, and even cancelling examinations in some countries and regions, as well as rethinking whether online testing is practical.

This situation has made it more difficult for students to apply to foreign universities and has made the task of evaluating students for admission more difficult.

Several countries, including Russia and India, have announced that they will be using the Times Higher Education and Academic Ranking of World Universities (Shanghai rankings) as a way of determining the legitimacy of foreign universities for recognising foreign degrees, determining eligibility for academic collaborations and other aspects of international higher education relations.

This is unfortunate, since many excellent academic institutions are not included in these rankings, which mostly measure research productivity. No doubt, Russia and India are concerned about the quality of foreign partners and find the rankings convenient.

Visa rules

Several ‘host’ countries have tightened up rules and oversight of cross-border student flows in response to irregularities and corruption.

The US Department of State announced in June 2012 that visa applicants from India would be subjected to additional scrutiny as a response to the ‘Tri-Valley scandal’. Earlier both Australia and Britain changed rules and policy.

Corruption is making internationalisation more difficult for the entire higher education sector. It is perhaps significant that continental Europe seems to have been less affected by shady practices – perhaps in part because international higher education is less commercialised and profit driven.

The internet has become the ‘Wild West’ of academic misrepresentation and chicanery. It is easy to set up an impressive website and exaggerate the quality or lie about an institution.

Some institutions claim accreditation that does not exist. There are even ‘accreditation mills’ to accredit universities that pay a fee. A few include pictures of impressive-looking campuses that are simply photoshopped from other universities.

What can be done?

With international higher education now big business and with commercial gain an ever-increasing motivation for international initiatives, the problems mentioned are likely to persist. However, a range of initiatives can ameliorate the situation.

The higher education community can recommit to the traditional ‘public good’ values of internationalisation, although current funding challenges may make this difficult in some countries.

The International Association of Universities’ recent report, Affirming Academic Values in Internationalisation of Higher Education, is a good start. The essential values of the European Union’s Bologna Initiatives are also consistent with the best values of internationalisation.

Accreditation and quality assurance are essential for ensuring that basic quality is recognised. Agencies and the international higher education community must ensure that universities are carefully evaluated and that the results of assessment are easily available to the public and to international stakeholders.

Governmental, regional and international agencies must coordinate their efforts and become involved in maintaining standards and protecting the image of the higher education sector.

Contradictions abound. For example, the US Department of State’s Education USA seeks to protect the sector, while the Department of Commerce sees higher education just as an export commodity. Government agencies in the UK and Australia seem also to be mainly pursuing commercial interests.

Consciousness-raising about ethics and good practice in international higher education and awareness of emerging problems and continuing challenges deserve continuing attention.

Prospective students and their families, institutional partners considering exchanges and research, and other stakeholders must be more sophisticated and vigilant concerning decision-making.

The Boston College Center for International Higher Education’s Corruption Monitor is the only clearinghouse for information relating directly to corrupt practices; additional sources of information and analysis would be helpful.

The first step in solving a major challenge to higher education internationalisation is recognition of the problem itself.

The higher education community is by no means united, and growing commercialisation makes some people reluctant to act in ways that may threaten profits. There are individuals within the academic community who lobby aggressively to legitimise dubious practices.

Yet, if nothing is done, the higher education sector worldwide will suffer and the impressive strides taken toward internationalisation will be threatened.

* Philip G Altbach is Monan professor and director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College in the United States. Email: Altbach@bc.edu. The author acknowledges comments from Rahul Choudaha and Liz Reisberg.

International students feel left in the lurch over UK visa changes

Yojana Sharma22 July 2012 Issue No:231

 

Phon from Thailand has just completed the first part of a degree in architecture at a university in London, her fees paid by a Thai government scholarship. But with changes to the UK’s student visa regime, in particular an end to the right to stay on for up to two years after graduation to seek employment, her future hangs in the balance.

Phon (not her real name) says she cannot continue to the second part of the seven-year architectural qualification without spending a year in a work environment. But new visa rules, effective since 6 April, state that only those in jobs earning more than £20,000 (US$31,000) can stay on.

“For students of architecture, employers don’t usually pay that much – it’s more like £15,000 and some architecture companies specifically say they only want applicants with the right to work in the European Union [who are not subject to immigration rules],” Phon told University World News, adding that she had so far had no replies to her letters of application to architectural firms.

She must find a position before October when her current student visa expires. Gaining the required on-the-job training at home will be difficult.

In Thailand the architectural degree lasts five years without the work break that is customary in the UK. Architectural firms in Thailand do not normally take on student architects for training mid-way through the qualification.

“I feel it is unfair,” she said. “I understand the economic situation here [in the UK] is not good but architecture should be an exception because it’s a professional degree that requires time in work in order to qualify.”

She believes the Thai government may not have funded the three years that she has already completed had they known in the beginning that the rules would change.

Return to Singapore

Tan, a Singaporean who did not want to be named, is in a similar position, having completed the first part of an architectural degree at University College London’s prestigious Bartlett School of Architecture. He must leave before August if he does not find a training position in an architectural firm.

He may have to work in Singapore. However, the rules set out by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), which oversees architectural qualifications, are that “out of the seven years required to qualify to be an architect, two years is work experience of which one year has to be in the UK,” Tan told University World News.

Although the UK government publicised the rule changes to the post-study work visa a year in advance, Tan started his degree four years ago. “What’s unfair is that had I finished the first part a year ago, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

It is not just a matter of finding a job that pays above the Home Office salary cut-off. Architectural firms taking on foreign students must now be licensed by the Home Office.

“That’s the tricky bit because smaller firms don’t usually obtain a licence, which makes it even more difficult,” said Tan.

The changes could affect business. While the UK and the construction industry are in recession because of the economic downturn, many of the top UK architectural firms rely on overseas projects, with links often made through students who studied in the UK.

Professional degrees

According to Migration Watch, a UK immigration think-tank, more than 184,000 post-study work visas were issued between 2004 and 2011. But the current government is attempting to cut back on overall immigration numbers, and students who stay for more than a year are classified as immigrants.

The problem with degrees that require time in work to qualify has been known for some time. A number of other professional degrees with large numbers of overseas students, such as pharmacy and qualifications to become an optician, require a year of work before the full qualification is granted. But they have already negotiated successfully with the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to allow students to stay on.

Students are approved or sponsored as a group by the college that accredits degrees in the subject, rather than relying on small pharmacy firms to gain licences to sponsor them for jobs.

The RIBA said in a statement that it has been “liaising with the Home Office since the introduction of the points-based immigration system, in order to highlight the unique nature of architectural education in the UK, and to press for appropriate provision to be made within the different visa categories.

“There is provision for work placements to take place under the structure of the Tier 4 student visa, and the RIBA has sought additional guidance from the Home Office in order to act as a broker for information, and to support student members and validated course providers.”

Constant changes

However, the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), which advises international students and lobbies the government on behalf of their interests, said the problem was that the government’s immigration rules were constantly changing.

“The system – the whole idea of a minimum salary for the granting of visas – is changing as we speak. The system is not immediately clear,” said Beatrice Merrick, UKISA’s director of services and research.

“Unfortunately the institutions are not able to find the answers they want. It is stressful for students not knowing if they can continue,” she said.

Whatever the adjustments and changes still to come into effect, the impact is already being felt on universities, as applications from overseas students have plummeted.

Simeon Underwood, academic registrar at the London School of Economics (LSE), told a parliamentary committee in May that his institution was spending at least £250,000 per year trying to comply with the new rules and provide the right paperwork to UKBA on its international students, compared to a fifth of that sum five years ago.

Drop in Indian students

Describing the system as “Kafkaesque”, he said that because of the new rules, applications from South Asia to the LSE had dropped by 20% this year.

Nicola Dandridge of the vice-chancellors’ organisation Universities UK, told a parliamentary committee on 26 June that universities were already seeing “an actual reduction in student intake from some countries, particularly from India, particularly in the postgraduate market, and for some universities that is quite marked.

“They are concerned about it and particularly concerned about the impact on particular subject areas, particularly STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics], where the continued impact in the future could affect the viability of some subjects.”

India is particularly affected because without the ability to work after graduation, it is impossible for students to pay back the large loans they have to take out to afford high international student fees.

The Indian government says it has been lobbying the UK, including at meetings with ministers.

China

Media in China has been reporting “a growing number of Chinese students deported from the United Kingdom recently because of visa policy changes”, according to Shanghai Daily in May.

The newspaper reported that police were reminding students to “study the new policies”, and had warned that a deportation record could make it difficult to visit the UK again.

The Chinese government is concerned in part because of graduate unemployment problems in China. Students returning with no work experience under their belt would add to the problem.

Sources said the Chinese embassy in the UK was keeping close watch on the visa issue and had approached the UK government about it.

In an unusual public move in March this year during a British Council conference Wang Lisheng, deputy director-general in China’s Ministry of Education, openly criticised changes in the UK’s student visa policies.

Christina Yan Zhang, former representative for international students at the UK’s National Union of Students (NUS), who is from China, said that with 80,000 students from China in the UK “the Chinese government is paying attention.

“It’s not just in the long term about Chinese students coming here [to the UK] to study, but also in the long-term interest of Chinese businesses who want to do business with the UK.
Many will hire people who formerly studied at UK universities.

“Some of these Chinese students will be the people who build up business links,” she said.

The visa changes, which also tightened up on students’ English language proficiency and reduced the number of hours students are allowed to work part-time from 20 hours to 10 hours a week, come at a time when Chinese universities are keen to collaborate with UK institutions.

“Almost all of the top 400 Chinese institutions are cooperating overseas and things are blossoming right now,” said Philip Hao, of the UK visa and international Education Centre in London, who added that the impact of the changes had not yet filtered through.

However, “those who want to apply for joint degrees may have to consider whether they should still do so or turn to the US or Australia instead. The number of Chinese applicants to the UK will consequently fall,” he was quoted in China Daily as saying.

Zhang said that in an NUS survey carried out in March, 75% of international students questioned felt very strongly about the visa issue, saying if they had known about visa changes in advance they would not have come to the UK to study.

“That’s a very strong message,” said Zhang.
 

តើ​ទទួល​បាន​ចំណេះ​ដឹង​អ្វីខ្លះ ពី​ការ​អាន​អត្ថបទ​ដែល​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ​និង​បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍​ជីវិត​ឯកជន​របស់​គេ?

23 July 2012

តុង សុប្រាជ្ញ

ការ​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ មិន​មែន​ជា​វប្បធម៌ អរិយធម៌​ខ្មែរ​ទេ ​តែ​ជា​ទម្លាប់​មិន​ល្អ​របស់​បុគ្គល​មួយ​ចំនួន​ ដែល​ចូល​ចិត្ត​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ ពោល​គឺ​ភាគ​ច្រើន​និយាយ​អាក្រក់​ ពី​បុគ្គល​ឯកជន​ណា​ម្នាក់​។​ សកម្មភាព​នេះ​ហាក់​បី​ដូចជា​គ្មាន​រឿង​អ្វី​ថ្មី​មក​និយាយ​ គឺ​ដើរ​តែ​និយាយ​ជុំៗ​គ្នា ​ឬ​ដើរ​ពី​ផ្ទះ​មួយ​ទៅ​ផ្ទះ​មួយ​នាំ​គ្នា​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ ​ហើយ​ពេល​ខ្លះ​ក៏​ឈ្លោះ​ប្រកែក​គ្នា​ដោយ​សារ​តែ​មាត់​ឥតគ​ម្រប​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ ​នោះ​ដែរ​។​ នេះ​ក៏​មក​តែ​ភាគ​ច្រើន​គាត់​អាន កាសែត​ក្នុង​ស្រុក​មួយ​ចំនួន​ដែល​ចូល​ចិត្ត​តែ​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ​ហ្នឹង​។​ តើ​អ្នក​អាន​ទាំង​នោះ​ ទទួល​បាន​ផល​អ្វី​ខ្លះ​ពី​ការ​អាន​កាសែត​បែប​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ និង​បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍​ជីវិត​ឯកជន​របស់​បុគ្គល​ណា​ម្នាក់​នោះ​?

នេះ​មិន​ មែន​ជា​សកម្មភាព​ដែល​ទើប​តែ​កើត​ឡើង​នា​ពេល​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​នោះ​ទេ​ ចំពោះ​កាសែត​ ក៏​ដូចជា​ទស្សនាវដ្តី​ ក្នុង​ស្រុក​មួយ​ចំនួន​ គឺ​ការ​សរសេរ​អត្ថបទ​ហែក​ហួរ​កេរ្តិ៍​ខ្មាស​ពី​បុគ្គល​ណា​ម្នាក់​ ពី​ជីវិត​ឯកជន​របស់​គេ​។​ មាន​តំាង​ពី​បញ្ហា​ផ្លូវ​ភេទ​បី្ត​ប្រពន្ធ​ ឬ​ការ​យក​រូប​អាក្រាត​របស់​ពួក​គេ​មក​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ទៀត​ផង​។ ការ​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ទាំង​ងងឹត​ងងល់​ ដោយ​មិន​បាន​សម្ភាស ឬក៏​យក​រូប​ភាព​របស់​បុគ្គល​ឯកជន​នៅ​ក្នុង​កន្លែង​ឯកជន​របស់​បុគ្គល​នោះ​ គឺ​ពុំ​មាន​ការ​យល់​ព្រម​នោះ​ទេ។

ឧទាហរណ៍​៖ កាល​ពី​សប្តាហ៍​មុន​នេះ​ មាន​សារ​ព័ត៌មាន​ក្នុង​ស្រុក​មួយ​ដែល​និយម​ផ្សព្វ​ផ្សាយ​ពី​ការ​និយាយ​ដើម​ គេ​ បាន​ចុះ ផ្សាយ​អត្ថបទ​អេចអូច​ និង​អត្ថាធិប្បាយ​បន្ថែម​រិះគន់​យ៉ាង​ធ្ងន់ធ្ងរ​ទៅ​លើ​ស្រ្តី​ម្នាក់​ និង​រូបថត​របស់​ស្រ្តី​នោះ​ទៀត​ ដែល​កំពុង​ចត​រថយន្ត​ឡើង​លើ​ចិញ្ចើម​ផ្លូវ​ក្បែរ​របង​ស្ថានទូត​បារាំង​ ហើយ​បិទ​កញ្ចក់ បញ្ឆេះ​រថយន្ត​បើក​ម៉ាស៊ីន​ត្រជាក់​ ហើយ​ក៏​សម្រាក​នៅ​ក្នុង​រថយន្ត​នោះ​មួយ​ភាំង​​ បែរ​ទៅ​ជា​អ្នក​ការសែត​នេះ ​បាន​ចាប់​យក​រូប​ភាព​មួយ​ទំហឹង​តែ​ម្តង ហើយ​បាន​អត្ថាធិប្បាយ​បែប​របៀប​បៀត​បៀន​កេរ្តិ៍ខ្មាស និង​បៀត​បៀន​ផ្លូវ​ភេទ​ តាំង​ពី​រូប​សម្រស់​រហូត​ដល់​ហ៊ាន​វិនិច្ឆ័យ​ថា​ស្រវឹង​ស្រា​ទៀត​ផង...។

តែ ​តាម​ពិត​នៅ​ក្នុង​អត្ថបទ​នោះ ​អ្នក​យក​ព័ត៌មាន​នោះ​មិន​បាន​សម្ភាស​ជាមួយ​ស្រ្តី​នោះ​ទេ​ និង​ក៏​គ្មាន​ក្លិន​ស្រា​ចេញ​មក​ខាង​ក្រៅ​ឯ​ណា​ដែរ​។​

តើ​ឯណា​ទៅ​ក្រម ​សីលធម៌​របស់​អ្នក​កាសែត​នោះ​?​ ឬ​មួយ​ក៏​អ្នក​កាសែត​នេះ​មិន​ដែល​បាន​ចូល​សាលា ឬ​ក៏​មិន​ដែល​ធ្លាប់​បាន​ចូល​វគ្គ​បណ្តុះ​បណ្តាល​វិជ្ជាជីវ​សារព័ត៌​មាន​ ហ្នឹង​គេ​ទេ គ្រាន់​តែ​ចេះ​សរសេរ​កំណត់​ហេតុ​ ហើយ​បន្ថែម​បន្ថយ​ពាក្យ​សម្តី​ដោយ​ខ្លួន​ឯង​? ហើយ​ហេតុ​អ្វី​បាន​ជា​នាយក​និពន្ធ​កាសែត​នោះ ដាក់​ទំាង​អត្ថបទ និង​រូបភាព​ស្ត្រី​នេះ​នៅ​ទំព័រ​មុខ​កាសែត​របស់​ខ្លួន​ទៀត​ទាំង​ងងើល​?​ ហ្នឹង​ហើយ​គេ​ហៅថា​អ្នក​កាសែត​ជើង​ចាស់​ដែល​ល្បី​ថា​ពូកែៗ​នោះ ពូកែ​ពេក​ទៅ​រហូត​ដល់​មើល​ឃើញ​ថា​យក​តែ​ម្តង​។​ ឬមួយ​ក៏​អាង​ថា​ខ្លួន​ឯង​ជា​អ្នក​កាសែត​ចង់​សរសេរ​អាក្រក់​ពី​នរណា​ក៏​ចេះ​ តែ​សរសេរ​ទៅ​នោះ ​ដើម្បី​ធ្វើ​យ៉ាង​ណា​​បំពុល​អ្នក​អាន ឲ្យ​ពុល​តាម​ដែល​យក​មក​និយាយ​ដើម​គេតៗ​គ្នា? តើ​អ្នក​អាន​អត្ថបទ​បែប​ហ្នឹង​ ទទួល​បាន​ចំណេះ​ដឹង​អ្វី​ខ្លះ​ពី​ការ​អភិវឌ្ឍ​ខ្លួន​នោះ​? ចំណុច​នេះ​ម្ចាស់​អត្ថបទ​ត្រូវ​តែ​ពិចារណា​ឡើង​វិញ អ្វី​ដែល​ហៅ​ថា​អត្ថបទ​?​ វិចារណក​ថា​?​ ការ​វិភាគ​?​ និង​អ្វី​ដែល​ហៅ​ថា​បុគ្គល​សាធារណៈ​? បុគ្គល​ជីវិត​ឯកជន​?

ចុះ​បើ​ ស្រ្តី​នោះ ត្រូវ​ជា​ប្រពន្ធ​ ឬ​ក៏​បង​ប្អូន​ស្រី​របស់​ម្ចាស់​អត្ថបទ​ ឬ​ក៏​នាយក​និពន្ធ​វិញ ​ហើយ​ត្រូវ​បាន​កាសែត​ផ្សេង​ចុះ​ផ្សាយ​ដូច​គ្នា​អ៊ីចឹង​ដែរ ​តើ​អស់​លោក​មាន​អារម្មណ៍​បែប​ណា​?​ ឬ​មួយ​ក៏​អស់​លោក​មិន​ចេះ​ខ្មាស​គេ​ទេ​?​ ឬ​មួយ​ធ្វើ​កាសែត​ជិត១​ជីវិត​ទៅ​ហើយ​ ចេះ​រក​តែ​អត្ថបទ​បែប​បរិហាកេរ្តិ៍​ជីវិត​ឯកជន​របស់​គេ​ហ្នឹង​ទេ​?​ នេះ​មក​តែ​ពី​ដឹង​អំពី​ឥរិយាបថ​របស់​អ្នក​អាន​ដែល​ចូល​ចិត្ត​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ​ បែប​ហ្នឹង​ ដែល​គ្មាន​ផ្តល់​ចំណេះ​ដឹង​អ្វី​បន្តិច​សោះ ​មិន​តែ​ប៉ុណ្ណោះ​ថែម​ទាំង​បញ្ឆេះ​តែ​គំនិត​និយាយ​ដើម​គេ​ទៅ​វិញ​ទេ​។​

តាម ​ពិត​ទៅ​ការ​ដែល​ធ្វើ​ដូច​ស្រ្តី​នោះ ​ដែល​ដឹង​ខ្លួន​ថា​បើក​ទៅ​មុខ​លែង​រួច​រក​កន្លែង​ឈប់​ចត​សម្រាក​បែប​នេះ គឺជា​ការ​ត្រឹមត្រូវ​ទៅ​វិញ​ទេ​។​ ពីព្រោះ​បើ​គាត់​ទៅ​មុខ​ទៀត គឺ​គាត់​ប្រឈម​មុខ​នឹង​គ្រោះថ្នាក់​ចរាចរណ៍​ខ្ពស់​ណាស់​ ដែល​ផ្ទុយ​ពី​អ្នក​គ្រោះថ្នាក់​ចរាចរណ៍​ខ្លះ ​ដឹង​ខ្លួន​ថា​ខ្លួន​ឯង​បើក​ទៅ​មុខ​លែង​រួច បាត់​បង់​ភាព​ម្ចាស់​ការ​ក៏​នៅ​តែ​ប្រឹង​ទៅ​មុខ​ទៀត​ដែរ ទាល់​តែ​បុក​គេ​បាន​ដឹង​ខ្លួន​។

ចំពោះ​ករណី​នេះ ​គឺ​ស្រ្តី​រងគ្រោះ​នេះ​អាច​ប្តឹង​កាសែត​នោះ​បាន​ប្រសិន​បើ​ស្រ្តី​នោះ​ មិន​យល់​ព្រម​ គឺ​តាម​ក្រម​ព្រហ្មទណ្ឌ នៃ​ព្រះ​រាជាណាចក្រ​កម្ពុជា​ឆ្នាំ​២០១០​ ពី​ការ​ប៉ះពាល់​ដល់​ជីវភាព​​ឯកជន មាត្រា​ទី២០៣ បទ​ប៉ះពាល់​ដល់​សិទ្ធិ​ខាង​រូបភាព​នៃ​បុគ្គល​៖«អំពើ​ថត​រូបភាព​នៃ​បុគ្គល​នៅ ​ក្នុង​ទីកន្លែង​ឯកជន​ ដោយ​គ្មាន​ការ​ព្រមព្រៀង​ពី​បុគ្គល​នេះ​ទេ​ ត្រូវ​ផ្តន្ទាទោស​ដាក់​ពន្ធនាគារ​ពី១​ (មួយ)​ខែ ​ទៅ​១​(មួយ)​ឆ្នាំ​ និង​ពិន័យ​ជា​ប្រាក់​ពី​១០០.០០០​(មួយ​សែន)​រៀល​ ទៅ​២ .០០០.០០០​(ពីរ​លាន)​រៀល​ លើក​លែង​តែ​ករណី​ដែល​ច្បាប់​អនុញ្ញាត​។​»និង​ក៏​អាច​ប្តឹង​តាម​រយៈ មាត្រា​ទី​៣០៦​អំពើ​បរិហារកេរ្តិ៍​តាម​សារព័ត៌មាន។

ព្រោះ​ករណី​នេះ ​ជា​សិទ្ធិ​ជីវិត​ឯកជន​ ដែល​មិន​មែន​ជា​បុគ្គល​សាធារណៈ ដូច លោក​ ហោ ណាំហុង​មាន​តួនាទី​មុខងារ​សាធារណៈ យក​កូន​ប្រុស​៣​នាក់​មក​ធ្វើ​ការ​កាន់​តួនាទី​ធំៗ​ នៅ​ក្នុង​ក្រសួង​ការ​បរទេស​ និង​ឯកអគ្គរាជ​ទូត​ជប៉ុន​ និង​អង់គ្លេស​ទៀត​។​ ឯ​លោក​ ចម ប្រសិទ្ធ​ លើស​លោក​ ហោ ណាំហុង​ទៀត​ ដែល​មាន​ទាំង​ប្រពន្ធ​ ទាំង​កូន​ប្រពន្ធ​មុន​ ទាំង​ប្រពន្ធ​ក្រោយ​គឺ​នៅ​មូលនប​គ្នា​កាន់​តួនាទី​ធំៗ​សុទ្ធ​តែ​ក​ន្លែង​ សម្រេច​ចិត្ត​  ហើយ​ជ្រៀត​ជ្រែក​កិច្ច​ការ​ក្នុង​ក្រសួង​ពាណិជ្ជកម្ម ដូច​លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី ​ហ៊ុន សែន​ធ្លាប់​បាន​ព្រមាន​ម្តង​រួច​មក​ហើយ​កាល​ពី​ខែ​មីនា ​ឆ្នំា​២០១០ មក​ម្ល៉េះ ​តែ​មក​ដល់​ពេល​នេះ ​ការ​ព្រមាន​នោះ​គ្មាន​អ្វី​ផ្លាស់​ប្តូរ​គួរ​ឲ្យ​កត់​សម្គាល់​នោះ​ទេ។

ទី​បំផុត​អ្នក​អាន​កាសែត​របៀប​នេះ​ ជាង​២​ទសវត្សរ៍​ គឺ​មិន​បាន​ទទួល​ផល​ប្រយោជន៍​អ្វី​សោះ​ពី​អត្ថបទ​បែប​នេះ​ទេ គឺ​ថែម​ទាំង​ខាត​ពេលវេលា​ទៀត​។​ ដូច្នេះ​អ្នក​អាន​គួរ​តែ​ជ្រើសរើស​យក​កាសែត​ណា​ដែល​មាន​អត្ថបទ​ផ្តល់​ផល​ ប្រយោជន៍​ និង​ចំណេះ​ដឹង​ដើម្បី​អភិវឌ្ឍ​ខ្លួន​ឯង​។​

ជាមួយ​គ្នា​នេះ​ដែរ អ្វី​ដែល​គួរ​ឲ្យ​ខ្មាស​គេ​នោះ​កាសែត​ដែល​ចូល​ចិត្ត​តែ​បង្ហាញ​ពី​រូបភាព​ ហិង្សា រូបភាព​អាស​អាភាសន៍​ និង​រូប​ភាព​បែប​ហែក​កេរ្តិ៍​បុគ្គល​ជីវិត​ឯកជន​នៅ​ទំព័រមុខ​នោះ ដាក់​បង្ហាញ​ឲ្យ​សមាជិក​អាស៊ាន​មក​ប្រជុំ​អាន​។ ​កុំថា​ឡើយ​ដល់​ឲ្យ​អ្នក​បក​ប្រែ​បក​ឲ្យស្ដាប់នោះ ​ផ្ទុយ​ទៅ​វិញ គេ​គ្រាន់​តែ​ឃើញ​តែ​រូបភាព​ឆ្អែត​បាត់​ទៅ​ហើយ​។​ ទន្ទឹម​នឹង​នោះ គេ​ក៏​អាច​វាយ​តម្លៃ​គុណភាព​នៃ​សារព័ត៌​មាន​ទាំង​នោះ​និង​ពី​ការ​ពុំ​មាន​ សុវត្ថិភាព​ក្នុង​សង្គម​ផងដែរ៕

ចូល​រួម​ផ្តល់​យោបល់​តាម​រយៈ​  soprach.tong@phnompenhpost.com

កិច្ច​ប្រជុំ​អា​ស៊ាន​ក្លាយ​ជា​សង្វៀន​ដណ្តើម​អំណាច​តំបន់

18 July 2012

បាង​កក ប៉ុស្តិ៍

 

វា​មិន​មែន​ជា​រឿង​ភ្ញាក់​ផ្អើល​នោះ​ទេ ដែល​រដ្ឋ​មន្រ្តី​ការ​បរទេស និង​ប្រមុខ​រដ្ឋ​អាស៊ាន មិន​អាច​ឈាន​ដល់​ការ​ព្រម​ព្រៀង​ស្តីពី​វិវាទ​បូរណ​ភាព​ទឹក​ដី នៅ​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង នៅ​ក្នុង​កិច្ច​ប្រជុំ នៅ​រាជ​ធានីភ្នំពេញ។

ការ ​មិន​អាច​ប្រកាន់​យក​ជំហរ​មួយ គឺ​ជា​ការ​បញ្ជាក់​ជាថ្មី​ម្តង​ទៀត ពី​តម្លៃ​ជា​ស្នូល​របស់​អាស៊ាន គឺ​ការ​មិន​ជ្រៀត​ជ្រែក​។ នេះ​ជា​គោល​នយោបាយ ​ដែល​បណ្តាល​ឲ្យ​មាន​ការ​រិះ​គន់ ពី​សហគមន៍​អន្តរ​ជាតិ​ជា​ច្រើន​ឆ្នាំមក​ហើយ មកដល់​អាស៊ាន ទាក់​ទង​នឹង​ភាព​ស្ទាក់​ស្ទើរ​របស់​អាស៊ាន ​ក្នុង​ការ​​ដោះ​ស្រាយ​បញ្ហា​រំលោភ​សិទិ្ធ មនុស្ស ក្នុង​បណ្តា​រដ្ឋសមាជិក​អាស៊ាន ជា​ពិសេស​នៅ​ប្រទេស​មីយ៉ាន់ម៉ា។

ប៉ុន្តែ ​មាន​កត្តា​មួយ​ទៀត​ ដែលប្រហែល​ជា​សំខាន់​ជាង​នេះ ដែល​ជំរុញ​ឲ្យ​គ្មាន​សកម្មភាព ក្នុង​កិច្ច​ប្រជុំ​អា​ស៊ាន នៅ​រាជ​ធានី​ភ្នំពេញ។ កិច្ច​ប្រជុំ​ក្លាយ​ជា​សង្វៀន នៃ​ការ​តស៊ូ​ដណ្តើម​អំណាច​ថ្នាក់​តំបន់ រវាង​មហា​អំណាច​ទាំង​ពីរ គឺ​ចិន និង​សហ​រដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក ហើយ​មេដឹកនាំ​អាស៊ាន ប្រហែល​ជា​ដឹង​ថា មិន​គួរ​បង្ហាញ​ពី​ការ​ប្រកាន់​ជំហរ​នោះ​ឡើយ។

ទាំង​ចិន និង​សហរដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក​បាន​បញ្ជូន​ប្រតិភូ​ថ្នាក់​ខ្ពស់​មក​ចូល​រួម វេទិកា​ប្រជុំ​។ ក្រុម​ប្រតិភូ​សហរដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក ត្រូវ​បាន​ដឹក​នាំ​ដោយ​លោក​ស្រី ហ៊ីឡារី គ្លីនតុន រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ការ​បរទេស​។ លោក​ស្រី​បាន​ជួប​រដ្ឋ​មន្រ្តី​ការ​បរទេស ​ក្នុង​កិច្ច​ខិត​ខំ​ប្រឹង​ប្រែង​បញ្ចុះ​បញ្ចូល​ពួកគេ ឲ្យ​ផ្ញើ​សារ​ច្បាស់​លាស់​មួយ​ ប្រាប់​ចិនឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា អាស៊ាន​ច្រាន​ចោល​ការ​ទាម​ទារ​បូរណភាព​លើ​ផ្ទៃ​សមុទ្រ ដែល​កាន់​តែ​ខ្លាំង​ក្លា​ឡើង​របស់​ចិន​ ប៉ុន្តែ​ចុង​បញ្ចប់​ លោក​ស្រី​បែរ​ជា​ខក​ចិត្ត​។ ​ក្រៅ​ពី​​ហ្វីលីពីន និង​វៀត​ណាម ដែល​កំពុង​បន្ត​មាន​វិវាទ​ផ្ទៃ​សមុទ្រ​ជាមួយ​នឹង​ចិន ប្រទេស​ឥណ្ឌូនេស៊ី និង​សិង្ហបុរី​គាំទ្រ​សេចក្តីថ្លែង​ការណ៍ ដែល​ឆ្លុះ​បញ្ចាំង​នូវ​ជំហរ​សម្រុះ​សម្រួល ​ដែល​ពុំ​មាន​លក្ខណៈ​អរិភាព​ ប៉ុន្តែ​ប្រទេស​ដទៃ​ទៀត​នៃ​អាស៊ាន ពុំ​បាន​សម្រេច​ចិត្ត​ច្បាស់​លាស់​នោះ​ទេ។ សំខាន់​ទៅ​ទៀតនោះ គឺ​លោក ហោ ណាំហុង រដ្ឋ​មន្រ្តី​ការ​បរទេស​នៃ​ប្រទេស​ម្ចាស់​ផ្ទះ បាន​បដិសេធ​មិន​ធ្វើ​តាម​ការ​សម្រុះ​សម្រួល​នោះ​ទេ ដោយ​លោក​បាន​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា វា​គឺជា​«​គោល​ការណ៍»​សម្រាប់​អាស៊ាន ដែល​មិន​ត្រូវ​ប្រកាន់​ជំហរ​ណា​មួយ​ឡើយ​ក្នុង​វិវាទ​ទ្វេ​ភាគី។
កាសែត New York Times បាន​ស្រង់​សម្តី​អ្នក​ការ​ទូត​ម្នាក់ នៅ​កិច្ច​ប្រជុំ​កំពូល ដែល​ស្នើសុំ​មិន​បញ្ចេញ​ឈ្មោះ ដោយ​និយាយ​ថា៖ «​ចិន​បាន​ទិញ​ប្រធាន គឺ​សាមញ្ញ​បំផុត»។ លោក​បាន​សំដៅ​លើ​ឥទិ្ធពល​សេដ្ឋ​កិច្ច និង​នយោ​បាយ​រឹង​មាំ​របស់​ចិន ក្នុង​ប្រទេស​កម្ពុជា ដែល​ចិន​បច្ចុប្បន្ន កំពុង​ឧបត្ថម្ភ​ដល់​ការ​រីក​ចម្រើន​ខាង​ការ​សាង​សង់​។ អ្នក​ការ​ទូត​ម្នាក់​នោះ​បាន​ចង្អុល​បង្ហាញ ពី​អត្ថបទ​មួយ កាលពី​ថ្ងៃព្រហស្បតិ៍ ដោយ​សារ​ព័ត៌​មានរដ្ឋ​ចិន​ឈ្មោះថា Xinhua ដែល​ក្នុង​អត្ថ​បទ​នោះ លោក Yang Jiechi រដ្ឋ​មន្រ្តី​ការ​បរទេស​ចិន ត្រូវ​បាន​ស្រង់​សម្តី​ថា បាន​ថ្លែង​អំណរ​គុណ​លោក​នាយក​រដ្ឋ​មន្រ្តី ហ៊ុន សែន ដែល​បាន​គាំទ្រ​ផល​ប្រយោជន៍​ស្នូល​របស់​ចិន។

ប្រទេសចិន ចង់​ដោះ​ស្រាយ​ជាមួយ​នឹង​ប្រទេស​នីមួយៗ ដែល​ពាក់​ព័ន្ធ​នឹង​វិវាទ​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង ហើយ​ជឿ​ជាក់​ថា សហរដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក កំពុង​ជ្រៀត​ជ្រែក​ក្នុង​តំបន់ ហើយ​ពុំ​មាន​កិច្ច​ការ​អ្វី​ត្រូវ​លើក​ទឹក​ចិត្ត​អាស៊ាន ឲ្យ​ប្រកាន់​ជំហរ​នោះ​ទេ ដែល​នឹង​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ចិន មាន​អំណាច​ចរ​ចា​ចុះ​ខ្សោយ។ កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​ទី ២១ ខែ​មិថុនា ​សភា​វៀតណាម បាន​អនុម័ត​ច្បាប់​សមុទ្រ​ដែល​អះអាង​ជា​ថ្មី នូវ​ការ​ទាម​ទារ​របស់​ប្រទេស​វៀត​ណាម ចំពោះកោះ Spratly និងកោះ Paracel ដែល​ចិន​ហៅ​ថា ជា​ការ​រំលោភ​បំពាន​ធ្ងន់​ធ្ងរ លើ​អធិបតេយ្យ​ភាព​របស់​ចិន។

ក្នុង ​សេចក្តី​ថ្លែង​ការណ៍​មួយ លោក​ស្រី គ្លីនតុន បាន​ផ្តល់​មូល​ហេតុ ពី​ការ​ជាប់​ពាក់​ព័ន្ធ​របស់​សហរដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក ក្នុង​វិវាទ​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូងថា៖ «​គ្មាន​ប្រជា​ជាតិ​ណាមួយ មិន​ព្រួយ​បារម្ភ ពី​ការ​កើន​ឡើង​នៃ​ភាព​តាន​តឹង ដែល​ជា​ការ​ប្រើ​សម្តី​អរិភាព និង​ខ្វែង​គំនិត​គ្នា លើ​ការ​ទាញ​យក​ធន​ធាន​នោះ​ឡើយ​»។

លោក​ស្រី គ្លីនតុន ធ្វើ​ត្រឹម​ត្រូវ​ក្នុង​ការ​រិះ​គន់​ពី​ភាព​តាន​តឹង ដែល​កើន​ឡើង​ដោយ​សារ​ការ​ទាម​ទារ​សិទិ្ធ​ផ្ទៃ​សមុទ្រ​យ៉ាង​តឹង​រ៉ឹង ពី​សំណាក់​ចិន​។ ព្រឹតិ្ត​ការណ៍​ធ្ងន់​ធ្ងរ​បំផុត​នោះ​ គឺ​ពាក់​ព័ន្ធ​នឹង​ការ​ប្រឈម​ដាក់​គ្នា រវាង​នាវា​ហ្វីលីពិន និង​ចិន លើ​កោះ​តូច​មួយ ហៅ​ថា Scarborough Shoal នៅ​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង​។ ការ​ប្រឈម​ដាក់​គ្នា​នោះ​បន្ត​ ២ ខែ​ ហើយ​ជា​ច្រើន​លើក​ច្រើន​សារ ប្រទេស​ចិន​បាន​ត្រៀម​ជា​ស្រេច ក្នុង​ការ​បង្ហាញ​កម្លាំង តែ​ក្រោយ​មក​ភាគី​ទាំ​ង​ពីរ​បាន​ដក​ខ្លួន​ចេញ​។

ប៉ុន្តែ វា​គួរ​ត្រូវ​បាន​ចង្អុល​បង្ហាញ​ផង​ដែរ​ថា សហ​រដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក មិន​មែន​ជា​អ្នក​គ្មាន​កំហុស​សោះ​ទេ ពាក់​ព័ន្ធ​នឹង​ភាព​តាន​តឹង​កើន​ឡើង​នោះ។ ទីក្រុង​វ៉ាស៊ីន​តោន ​បាន​បង្ហាញ​ពី​ចំណុច​សំខាន់​នៃ​អាស៊ី បន្ទាប់​ពី​ខ្លួន កំពុង​បញ្ចប់​សង្គ្រាមពីរ នៅ​មជ្ឈិម​បូព៌ា គឺ​ត្រូវ​តប​នឹង​ឥទិ្ធពល​កំពុង​កើន​ឡើង​របស់​ចិន នៅ​តំបន់​សមុទ្រ​ប៉ាស៊ីហ្វិក​ខាង​កើត​។ ការ​ធ្វើ​សម​យុទ្ធ​រួម​គ្នា នៅ​សមុទ្រ​ចិន​ខាង​ត្បូង ដែល​ចូល​រួម​ដោយ​កម្លាំង​សហ​រដ្ឋ​អាមេរិក និង​ហ្វីលីពីន ៧០០០ នាក់ ​ក្នុង​អំឡុង​ពេលចិន​និង​ហ្វីលីពីន ប្រឈម​មុខ​ដាក់​គ្នា​នៅ Scarborough Shoal នោះ ជា​រឿង​គួរ​ឲ្យ​ចោទ​សួរ​ផង​ដែរ។

ពុំ​មាន​អ្នក​ឈ្នះ​ច្បាស់​លាស់​ រវាង​មហា​អំណាច​ទាំង​ពីរ​នៅ​ភ្នំពេញ​ កន្លង​ទៅ​នោះ​ទេ ហើយ​វា​ជា​ផល​ប្រយោជន៍​អាស៊ាន និង​ពិភព​លោក ដែល​គ្មាន​អ្នក​ឈ្នះ​ក្នុង​ការ​ប្រទាញ​ប្រទង់​អំណាច​នេះ​។ ផ្ទុយ​ទៅ​វិញ​ប្រទេស​ទាំង​ពីរ​គួរ​ទម្លាក់​ចោល​នូវ​ផ្នត់​គំនិត សង្គ្រាម​ត្រជាក់ ហើយ​ចាប់​ផ្តើម​ធ្វើ​ការ​រួម​គ្នា ដោះ​ស្រាយ​ជម្លោះ​សមុទ្រនិង​បញ្ហា​ដទៃ​ទៀត តាម​វិធី​ដែល​ឆ្លុះ​បញ្ចាំង​ពី​ការ​ពឹង​ផ្អែក​លើ​គ្នា​ទៅ​វិញ​ទៅ​មក​លើ វិស័យ​សេដ្ឋ​កិច្ច និង​យុទ្ធសាស្រ្ត៕ TK​ដោយ​ បាង​កក ប៉ុស្តិ៍
 

Cassava plantings decrease in Cambodia

A worker lays cassava out to dry on a plantation in Sala Krao district in Pailin province last year. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post 

 

Monday, 23 July 2012

Rann Reuy

 

 

Cassava plantings in Battambang province dropped more than 18 per cent in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2011, according to agriculture officials.

Deputy Director of Battambang’s Agricultural Department Chhim Vuthra said the planting of cassava decreased from 66,000 hectares (hc) to 54,000hc in the first six months of this year.

The decease is a result of that previous year’s yield fetching a low price and farmers having no place to store cassava after harvesting, resulting in damage to the produce and a lower quality yield which traders showed no interest in, he said.

In April a shipment of 1,600 tonnes of cassava was blocked at the border to Thailand but was eventually let through once the traders had been granted expediated licenses for the sale of cassava.

Other difficulties have plagued Cambodian cassava growers, such as Thailand requesting Cambodia to curb its exports to the neighbouring kingdom in an effort to maintain Thailand's own high prices.

Chea Kea, a local trader based in Pailin, said he planted red corn instead of cassava on about 1,000hc, but the corn did not grow well because of insufficient rainfall last season.

He thinks the price of the cassava is unstable for the coming harvest and is unsure whether it will increase as first he needs to see the market.

Chhim Vuthra said that red corn plantings reached 54,000hc in this year compared to last year’s of only 27,000hc across the province for the first six months of 2012.

"The decease in cassava planting will affect the cost, leading to higher prices once the produce is moved to market – a good thing.”

A wholly-Cambodian owned cassava processing plant being built in Battambang province will reportedly add value to the cassava being exported.

Heng Bung Hor, director of the Agricultural Department of Banteay Meanchey province, said the cassava plantings in the province decreased about 2,000hc from 42,000hc last year to 40,000hc this year.

He said that though cassava-growing farmers were affected by the last year's price, cassava is easier to grow than other crops because it is not difficult to take care of and provides a large output. “If the market is good, they will have a lot of benefits.”

Cambodia mulls over atomic energy power

 Hokkaido Electric Power Co’s Tomari nuclear power plant in Tomari town on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido in May. Photograph: Reuters

 

Friday, 20 July 2012

May Kunmakara

 

Cambodia is mulling over a nuclear power option to feed its anemic energy sector, although private sector pundits called the rough plan a dream – a dangerous one at that.

The government plans to use atomic energy in the future as oil, coal and biomass power sources were bound to be depleted, Suy Sem, Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, told the National Assembly this week.

“We cannot avoid building nuclear power plants. It is the government’s target,” he said, without giving a specific time when a project might be launched.

Vietnam and Thailand have recently looked into nuclear power, Suy Sem noted.

Japan’s Fukushima crisis pushed Thailand’s project back by three years, Reuters reported last year. A nuclear reactor was originally scheduled to come on line in 2020 but will be delayed until 2023.

Vietnam announced this year that it would push along with the atomic energy plans it’s had since 1995.

Representatives from Cambodia’s private sector called the plans dangerous and politically risky.

“We should not consider it because it is very dangerous. We don’t have enough experts,” Nguon Meng Tech, director general for the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday.

“Moreover, later on we will get into some political problems such as those some are countries facing now … We’re still poor. We should not spend much money on this project. I think it is just a dream.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency said nuclear power projects required longer than 100 years, as well as the resources to support the program throughout.

“It is therefore of the utmost importance to fully understand the long-term committments for a nuclear power programme before even considering a specific nuclear power plant project,” IAEA guidelines state.

The Cambodian government would also have to guarantee complete technical and institutional competence to carry out the project successfully, according to the guidelines.

As demand for energy rises in step with industry investment, Cambodia will need continued power infrastructure. But hydropower projects and power purchases from neighbouring countries should suffice, Nguon Meng Tech said.

Hiroshi Suzuki, chief executive and economist at the Business Research Institute for Cambodia, said a nuclear power program was viable but it would require a great increase in human resources if the country was to operate a plant.

Suzuki agreed with minister Suy Sem on the risks associated with reliance on fossil fuels.

“It is dangerous to relay on oil alone for energy because the price of oil fluctuates. It is very good to diversify the energy resources in a country,” he added.

About 68 per cent of Cambodian villages have access to power, according to Suy Sem.

The Kingdom generates about 300 megawatts of power but a shortage of up to 50 megawatts still causes blackouts in Phnom Penh during the dry season.

Cambodia imports about 45 per cent of its energy from neighbouring countries.

---

To contact the reporter on this story: May Kunmakara at kunmakara.may@phnompenhpost.com

កម្ពុជា​បង្ហាញ​ពី​ផែនការ​បង្កើត​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ

20 July 2012

ម៉ៃ គុណ​មករា

 

ភ្នំពេញៈ កម្ពុជា​កំពុង​ពិចារណា​អំពី​ជម្រើស​បង្កើត​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ ដើម្បី​ផ្គត់ផ្គង់​វិស័យ​ថាមពល​ដែល​កំពុង​ខ្វះខាត ប៉ុន្តែ​វិស័យ​ឯកជន​បាន​ចាត់​ទុក​ថា គម្រោង​នេះ​ហាក់​ដូចជា​រហ័ស​ពេក និង​គ្រាន់​តែ​ជា​ក្តី​ស្រមៃ​មួយ​ដែល​អាច​បង្ក​គ្រោះថ្នាក់។

លោក ស៊ុយ សែម រដ្ឋ​មន្ត្រី​ក្រសួង​ឧស្សាហកម្ម រ៉ែ និង​ថាមពល បាន​លើក​ឡើង​ក្នុង​កិច្ច​ប្រជុំ​សភា នៅ​សប្តាហ៍​នេះ​ថា រដ្ឋាភិបាល​មាន​គម្រោង​ប្រើ​ប្រាស់​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ នា​ថ្ងៃ​អនាគត ដោយ​សារ​ប្រភព​ថាមពល​ដើរ​ដោយ​ប្រេង ធ្យូង​ថ្ម និង​ជីវម៉ាស់ បាន​កាត់​បន្ថយ​បន្តិច​ម្តង​ៗ។ លោក​លើក​ឡើង​ថា៖ «យើង​មិន​អាច​ចៀស​ផុត​ពី​ការ​សាង​សង់​រោងចក្រ​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ​បាន ឡើយ។ នេះ​ជា​គោលដៅ​របស់​រដ្ឋាភិបាល»។ ប៉ុន្តែ លោក ស៊ុយ សែម មិន​បាន​បញ្ជាក់​ឲ្យ​បាន​ច្បាស់​អំពី​ពេលវេលា​នៃ​ការ​ចាប់​ផ្តើម​គម្រោង​ នេះ​ឡើយ។ លោក ស៊ុយ សែម បន្ថែម​ថា បច្ចុប្បន្ន វៀតណាម និង​ថៃ បាន​សម្លឹង​ទៅ​រក​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ​ហើយ។
រ៉យទ័រ​បាន​រាយការណ៍​កាល​ ពីឆ្នាំ​មុន​ថា វិបត្តិ​នៅ​រោង​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ Fukushima ប្រទេស​ជប៉ុន​បាន​ជំរុញ​ឲ្យ​គម្រោង​របស់​ថៃ​ត្រូវ​ពន្យារ​ពេល​៣​ឆ្នាំ ទៀត។  រ៉េអាក់ទ័រ​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ កាល​ពី​ដើម​ឡើយ គ្រោង​នឹង​ដាក់​ដំណើរការ​នៅ​ឆ្នាំ​២០២០ ប៉ុន្តែ​ឥឡូវ​ត្រូវ​ពន្យារ​​ពេល​ដល់​ឆ្នាំ​២០២៣។

ឯនៅ​វៀតណាម បាន​ប្រកាស​ថា ខ្លួន​នឹង​ជំរុញ​គម្រោង​ផលិត​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ ដែល​ខ្លួន​មាន​គម្រោង​តាំង​ពី​ឆ្នាំ​១៩៩៥។

តំណាង​មក​ពី​វិស័យ​ឯកជន នៅ​កម្ពុជា​បាន​ចាត់​ទុក​ថា គម្រោង​នេះ​ពិត​ជា​គួរ​ឲ្យ​គ្រោះថ្នាក់ និង​មាន​ភាព​ប្រថុយ​ប្រថាន​ផ្នែក​នយោបាយ។

លោក ងួន ម៉េងតិច អគ្គនាយក សភា​ពាណិជ្ជកម្ម​កម្ពុជា បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​កាល​ពី​ម្សិលមិញ​ថា៖ «យើង​មិន​គួរ​ពិចារណា​អំពី​ថាមពល​នេះ​ឡើយ ដោយ​សារ​វា​គ្រោះ​ថ្នាក់​ខ្លាំង​ណាស់។ យើង​មិន​មាន​អ្នក​ជំនាញ​គ្រប់គ្រាន់​ឡើយ។ ម្យ៉ាង​វិញ​ទៀត នឹង​មាន​បញ្ហា​នយោបាយ​មួយ​ចំនួន​ដូចជា បញ្ហា​ដែល​ប្រទេស​មួយ​ចំនួន កំពុង​ប្រឈម​នា​ពេល​បច្ចុប្បន្ន​នេះ។ យើង​នៅ​តែ​ជា​ប្រទេស​ក្រីក្រ។ យើង​មិន​គួរ​ចំណាយ​ប្រាក់​ច្រើន​លើ​គម្រោង​នេះ​ឡើយ»។
ទីភ្នាក់ងារ​ ថាមពល​អាតូម៉ិក​អន្តរជាតិ (IAEA) បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា គម្រោង​ផលិត​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ​ទាមទារ​ពេលវេលា​លើស​ពី​១០០​ឆ្នាំ ក៏​ដូចជា​ធនធាន​ជា​ច្រើន​ដើម្បី​ទ្រទ្រង់​កម្មវិធី​នេះ។

គោលការណ៍​ណែ​ នាំ​របស់ IAEA ​បញ្ជាក់​ថា៖ «ប្រការ​សំខាន់ គឺ​ត្រូវ​យល់​ច្បាស់​អំពី​ការ​តាំង​ចិត្ត​យូរ​អង្វែង​ចំពោះ​កម្មវិធី ផលិត​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ មុន​នឹង​ពិចារណា​អំពី​គម្រោង​សាង​សង់​រោងចក្រ​ផលិត​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ​ជាក់​ លាក់​ណា​មួយ​»។ រដ្ឋាភិបាល​កម្ពុជា​នឹង​ត្រូវ​ធានា​រ៉ាប់រង​លើ​សមត្ថភាព​បច្ចេកទេស និង​តាម​ស្ថាប័ន ដើម្បី​អនុវត្ត​គម្រោង​នេះ​ឲ្យ​បាន​ជោគជ័យ។ នេះ​បើ​យោង​តាម​គោលការណ៍​នោះ​។
លោក ងួន ម៉េងតិច បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា ដោយ​សារ​តម្រូវ​ការ​ថាមពល​កើន​ឡើង​ស្រប​តាម​ការ​វិនិយោគ​ក្នុង​វិស័យ ឧស្សហកម្ម កម្ពុជា​នឹង​មាន​តម្រូវ​ការ​ហេដ្ឋា​រចនា​សម្ព័ន្ធ​ថាមពល​ជា​បន្ត​បន្ទាប់។

ប៉ុន្តែ​គម្រោង​ថាមពល​វារីអគ្គិសនី និង​ការ​ទិញ​ថាមពល​ពី​ប្រទេស​ជិត​ខាង​នឹង​គ្រប់គ្រាន់​ហើយ។

លោក Hiroshi Suzuki ប្រធាន​នាយក​ប្រតិបត្តិ និង​ជា​អ្នក​វិភាគ​សេដ្ឋកិច្ច​ប្រចាំ​វិទ្យាស្ថាន​ស្រាវជ្រាវ ពាណិជ្ជកម្ម​កម្ពុជា បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា កម្មវិធី​ផលិត​ថាមពល​នុយក្លេអ៊ែរ ពិត​ជា​សំខាន់​ណាស់ ប៉ុន្ត​វា​ទាមទារ​កំណើន​ធន​ធាន​មនុស្ស​ជាច្រើន​បើ​ប្រទេស​នេះ​ត្រូវ ដំណើរ​ការ​កម្មវិធី​នេះ​មែន​នោះ​។

លោក Suzuki បាន​ឯកភាព​តាម​យោបល់​របស់​លោក ស៊ុយ សែម លើ​ភាព​ប្រថុយ​ប្រថាន ទាក់ទង​នឹង​ការ​ពឹង​ផ្អែក​លើ​ថាមពល​ផូស៊ីល។
លោក ​បាន​បន្ថែម​ថា៖ «វា​ពិត​ជា​គ្រោះថ្នាក់​ណាស់ ក្នុង​ការ​ពឹង​ផ្អែក​លើ​ថាមពល​ប្រេង​តែ​មួយ​មុខ​នោះ ដោយ​សារ​តម្លៃ​ប្រេង​ឡើង​ចុះ​មិន​ទៀង​ទាត់។ វា​ជា​ការ​ល្អ​ក្នុង​ការ​ស្វែង​រក​ប្រភព​ថាមពល​ចម្រុះ​នៅ ក្នុង​ប្រទេស​មួយ»​។
លោក ស៊ុយ សែម បាន​ឲ្យ​ដឹង​ថា​ ភូមិ​ប្រហែល​៦៨​ភាគរយ​នៅ​កម្ពុជា មាន​ថាមពល​ប្រើ​ប្រាស់។

កម្ពុជា ​ផលិត​ថាមពល​បាន​ប្រហែល​៣០០​មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់​ ប៉ុន្តែ​នៅ​តែ​ប្រឈម​នឹង​ការ​ខ្វះ​ថាមពល​​ប្រើប្រាស់​រហូត​ដល់​ទៅ​៥០ មេហ្គាវ៉ាត់។ កង្វះ​ថាមពល ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ចរន្ត​អគ្គិសនី​ត្រូវ​កាត់​ផ្តាច់​តាម​តំបន់​មួយ​ចំនួន​នៅ​​ រាជធានី​ភ្នំពេញ​ក្នុង​រដូវ​ប្រាំង។ កម្ពុជា ទិញ​ថាមពល​ប្រហែល ៤៥​ភាគ​រយ ពីប្រទេស​ជិត​ខាង​របស់​ខ្លួន៕
 

Recent opposition merger tops agenda

Monday, 23 July 2012

Bridget Di Certo

 

Human Rights Party President Kem Sokha (centre) greets party members yesterday in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

 

The opposition Sam Rainsy Party and Human Rights Party will stick around until 2017, despite their leaders announcing that they will form a new political party this year, politicos said yesterday.

Speaking after the second congress of the Human Rights Party held in Phnom Penh and attended by about 2,000 members yesterday, spokesman Pol Horm said two working groups had been formed to examine how best to initiate members and candidates into the slated Cambodia Democratic Movement of National Rescue.

“When we form the new party, the main objective is to present our candidates under this new name. Mostly, the candidates are coming from SRP and HRP, and most of them are already in the National Assembly, and cannot leave to join the new party [or they] will lose their seats,” Horm said.

“This will also be a problem at the commune level – [elected members] cannot leave the party [they were elected under] because they will lose their seats.”

The congress was also attended by high-ranking leaders within the Sam Rainsy Party, including the planned secretary-general of the new National Rescue party, Mu Sochua, and current SRP spokesman Yim Sovann.

“The SRP and HRP will stay registered for six years until the term of the next Senate mandate and also the termination of the current commune councillor mandate in 2017,” Sovann said.

He added that as well as working out legal technicalities, the working groups would finalise the name of the party and the new party logo some time next week.

The two opposition parties are putting a heavy emphasis on differentiating the new party from the SRP and HRP.

“This new movement is the main door for other democratic politicians who wish to join a new movement but not to come through the HRP or the SRP,” Horm stressed.

“We welcome all politicians, even those ones [who] maybe do not like the HRP and the SRP, and this is the best way to come to move forward with us.”

---

 

គណបក្ស​សមរង្ស៊ី​និង​បក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​នឹង​រួម​បញ្ចូល​គ្នា​ផ្លូវ​ការ​នៅ​ឆ្នាំ​២០១៧ 

ភ្នំពេញៈ ក្រុម​អ្នក​នយោបាយ​កាល​ពី​ម្សិល​មិញ​បាន​អះអាង​ថា គណបក្ស​សម​រង្ស៊ី និង​គណបក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស នឹង​បញ្ជូល​គ្នា​រហូត​ដល់ ២០១៧ បើ​ទោះ​ជា​មាន​ការ​ប្រកាស​ថា មេដឹក​នាំ​នៃ​គណបក្ស​ទាំង​ពីរ​នឹង​បង្កើត​គណបក្ស​នយោ​បាយ​ថ្មី​មួយ​រួម គ្នា​ក្តី។

ថ្លែង​បន្ទាប់​ពី​សមាជ​របស់​គណបក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​លើក​ទី២ ​ដែល​បាន​រៀប​ចំ ធ្វើ​ឡើង​ក្នុង​ទី​ក្រុង​ភ្នំពេញ និង​មាន​ការ​ចូល​រួម​ពី​សមាជិក​ប្រមាណ​ជាង​២​ពាន់​នាក់​កាល​ពី​ម្សិល​មិញ​ លោក ប៉ុល ហំម បាន​មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ថា ក្រុម​ការងារ​របស់​គណបក្ស​ទាំង​ពីរ​ត្រូវ​បាន​បង្កើត​ដើម្បី​ត្រួត​មើល​ថា តើ​គួរ​ដាក់​បញ្ជូល​សមាជិក​និង​បេក្ខជន​ចូល​ក្នុង​ចលនា​ប្រជាធិប តេយ្យ​សង្គ្រោះ​ជាតិ​កម្ពុជា​តាម​របៀប​ណា?

លោក​បាន​បន្តថា ៖ «​នៅពេល​ដែល​យើង​បង្កើត​គណបក្ស​ថ្មី គោល​ដៅ​សំខាន់ គឺ​ត្រូវ​បង្ហាញ​បេក្ខជន​របស់​យើង​នៅ​ក្រោម​ឈ្មោះ​ថ្មីនេះ​។ បេក្ខ​ជន​ភាគ​ច្រើន​មក​ពី​គណបក្ស​សមរង្ស៊ី និង​គណ​បក្ស​សិទិ្ធ​មនុស្ស ហើយ​ភាគ​ច្រើន​ក្នុង​ចំណោម​ពួកគេ​បាន​ត្រៀម​ចូល​ក្នុង​សភា​ជា​ស្រេច ហើយ​គេ​មិន​អាច​ចាក​ចេញ​ទៅ​ចូល​គណបក្ស​ថ្មី​ឬ​បាត់​បង់​អាសនៈ​របស់​គេ បាន​ទេ»។
លោក​បាន​បញ្ជាក់​ទៀត​ថា​៖ «​ប្រការ​នេះ​នឹង​អាច​មាន​បញ្ហា​នៅ​តាម​ថ្នាក់​ឃុំ​សង្កាត់ [សមាជិក​ត្រូវ​ជ្រើស​រើស​រួច​] មិន​អាច​ចាក​ចេញ​ពី​គណបក្ស​នេះ​បាន​ទេ​[ពួក​គេ​ត្រូវ​តែ​នៅ] ព្រោះ​ពួកគេ​នឹង​បាត់​បង់​អាសនៈ»។

សមាជ​បក្ស​ដែល​បាន​ចូល​រួម​ដោយ​ ថ្នាក់​ដឹក​នាំ​កំពូលៗ​ក្នុង​គណបក្ស សមរង្ស៊ី​រួម​មាន​អនាគត​អគ្គលេខាធិការ​ចលនា​ប្រជាធិប​តេយ្យ សង្គ្រោះ​ជាតិ​កម្ពុជា​លោក​ស្រី មូរ សុខហួរ និង​អ្នក​នាំ​ពាក្យ​គណបក្ស​សម រង្ស៊ី​គឺ​លោក យឹម សុវណ្ណ។
លោក​យឹម សុវណ្ណ មាន​ប្រសាសន៍​ដែរ​ថា គណបក្ស​សម​រង្ស៊ី និង​គណបក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​នឹង​ចុះ​ឈ្មោះ​សម្រាប់​រយៈពេល​៦ឆ្នាំ​រហូត​ដល់ អាណត្តិ​ព្រឹទ្ធ​សភា​ក្រោយ​និង​អាណត្តិ​ក្រុម​ប្រឹក្សា​ឃុំ-​សង្កាត់ ចប់​ឆ្នាំ​២០១៧​»។

លោក​បន្ថែម​ទៀត​ថា ដោយ​មាន​បញ្ហា​បច្ចេក​ទេស​ខាង​ច្បាប់​ផង​នោះ ក្រុម​ការ​ងារ​នឹង​បញ្ចប់​ឈ្មោះ​គណបក្ស​និងស្លាក​គណបក្ស​ថ្មី​នៅ​សប្តាហ៍ ក្រោយ​នេះ​។
គណបក្ស​ប្រឆាំង​ទាំង​ពីរ​បាន​កំពុង​ផ្តោត​ការ​យក​ចិត្ត​ ទុក​ដាក់​យ៉ាង ខ្លាំង ​គឺធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​គណបក្ស​ថ្មី​ដែល​កើត​ចេញ​ពី​គណបក្ស​ គណបក្ស​សម​រង្ស៊ី និង​គណបក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស មាន​ការ​រីក​ចម្រើន។

លោក ប៉ុល ហំម បានបញ្ជាក់​ថា៖ «ចលនា​ប្រជាធិប​តេយ្យ​សង្គ្រោះ​ជាតិ​កម្ពុជា​ថ្មី​នេះ គឺជា​ច្រក​ដ៏​សំខាន់​សម្រាប់​អ្នក​នយោបាយ​ប្រជាធិប​តេយ្យ​មាន​បំណង ចូល​រួម​ចលនា​ថ្មី​មួយ​នេះ ​ដោយ​មិន​ចាំបាច់​តាម​រយៈ គណបក្ស​សម​រង្ស៊ី ឬ​គណបក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​ឡើយ។
លោក​បន្ត​ថា៖ «​យើង​ស្វា​គមន៍​គ្រប់​អ្នក​នយោបាយ​ទាំង​អស់​បើ​ទោះ​ជា​គេ​មិន​ចូល​ចិត្ត ​គណ​បក្ស​សម​រង្ស៊ីឬ​គណបក្ស​សិទ្ធិ​មនុស្ស​ក្តី ហើយ​នេះ​ជា​មធ្យោបាយ​ដ៏​ល្អ​បំផុត ​ដើម្បី​ចូល​រួម​ជាមួយ​នឹង​ពួក​យើង​»៕ SP

អាស៊ានអំពាវនាវឲ្យភាគីជាប់ពាក់ព័ន្ធសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូងបន្តអត់ធ្មត់ និងយកច្បាប់អន្តរជាតិមកនិយាយ

Friday, 20 July 2012 18:04 ដោយៈ បាន ចក់-Posted ID-030 

ភ្នំពេញៈ បន្ទាប់ពីកម្ពុជាបានដាក់ចំណុច ជាគោលការណ៍ទៅកាន់ បណ្តាសមាជិកអាស៊ានទាំង អស់ ស្តីពីបញ្ហាសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូង នារសៀលថ្ងៃទី២០ ខែកក្កដា ឆ្នាំ២០១២នេះ អាស៊ានបាន អំពាវនាវដល់ប្រទេសទាំងអស់ ដែលជាប់ពាក់ព័ន្ធអំពីបញ្ហា ដែនសមុទ្រខាងត្បូងបន្តការអត់ធ្មត់ ហើយត្រូវធ្វើការដោះស្រាយគ្នា ដោយកុំប្រើប្រាស់អាវុធ និងគួរតែយកច្បាប់អន្តរជាតិមកនិយាយ។

ឧបនាយករដ្ឋមន្រ្តី និងជារដ្ឋមន្រ្តីក្រសួងការបរទេសកម្ពុជា លោក ហោ ណាំហុង បានមាន ប្រសាសន៍ប្រាប់ដល់ អ្នកសារព័ត៌មានជាតិ និងអន្តរជាតិនាវិមានសន្តិភាពថាសមាជិកអាស៊ាន ទាំងអស់ បានតាំងចិត្តនិងប្តេជាជាថ្មី ដើម្បីឲ្យមានសន្តិសុខក្នុងតំបន់ ជាពិសេសគឺបញ្ហាសមុទ្រ ចិនខាងត្បូង ដែលបច្ចុប្បន្នកំពុងជាប់ពាក់ព័ន្ធជាមួយ នឹងប្រទេសមហាយក្សចិន ជាមួយនិង សមាជិកអាស៊ានចំនួនបួននោះ រួមមានប្រទេសហ្វីលីពីន វៀតណាម ម៉ាឡេស៊ី និងប្រ៊ុយណេ។

លោក ហោ ណាំហុង បានមានប្រសាសន៍ថា អាស៊ានបានចេញនូវសេចក្តីថ្លែងការណ៍ ចំនួន៦ ចំណុច ដើម្បីបញ្ជាក់អំពីជំហររបស់ពួកគេ អំពីបញ្ហាសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូង ដែលចំណុចជា គោលការណ៍ទាំងនោះមានដូចជាៈ

១- ការអនុវត្តទាំងស្រុងនូវសេចក្តីប្រកាស ពាក់ព័ន្ធនិងការប្រតិបត្តិ នៃភាគីនៅសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូង (២០០២)

២- គោលការណ៍ណែនាំសម្រាប់ ការអនុវត្តសេចក្តីប្រកាសពាក់ព័ន្ធ និងការប្រតិបត្តិនៃភាគីនៅសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូង (២០១១)

៣- សម្រេចឱ្យបានឆាប់ នូវក្រមប្រតិបត្តិតំបន់នៅសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូង

៤- គោរពទាំងស្រុងគោលការណ៍ នៃច្បាប់អន្តរជាតិ រួមទាំងអនុសញ្ញាអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ ស្តីពីច្បាប់សមុទ្រឆ្នាំ ១៩៨២ (UNCLOS) ដែលមានការទទួលស្គាល់ជាសកល

៥- បន្តរក្សាភាពអត់ធ្មត់ និងការមិនប្រើកម្លាំងនៃគ្រប់ភាគីទាំងអស់

៦- ការដោះស្រាយវិវាទនេះ ដោយសន្តិវិធីស្របទៅតាមគោលការណ៍ នៃច្បាប់អន្តរជាតិ រួមទាំងអនុសញ្ញាអង្គការសហប្រជាជាតិ ស្តីពីច្បាប់សមុទ្រឆ្នាំ ១៩៨២ (UNCLOS) ដែលមានការទទួលស្គាល់ជាសកល។

រដ្ឋមន្ត្រីការបរទេសអាស៊ាន ប្តេជ្ញាបង្កើនការសិក្សាពិគ្រោះយោបល់របស់អាស៊ាន ដើម្បីជំរុញនូវគោលការណ៍ខាងលើនេះ ស្របទៅតាមសន្ធិសញ្ញាមិត្តភាព និងសហប្រតិបត្តិការនៅអាស៊ីអាគ្នេយ៍ (១៩៧៦) និង ធម្មនុញ្ញអាស៊ាន (២០០៨)។
លោកឧបនាយករដ្ឋមន្រ្តី ហោ ណាំហុង បានមានប្រសាសន៍បន្តថា អាស៊ានក៏ដូចជាមហាយក្សចិន គឺមានគោលបំណងដូចគ្នាតែមួយ ពួកគេចង់និយាយអំពី ក្រមប្រតិបត្តិ CoC (Code of Conduct) ដើម្បីជំរុញឲ្យ DoC ( Declaration of Conduct) បានសម្រេច។

លោក ហោ ណាំហុង បានមានប្រសសន៍បន្តថា បញ្ហា CoC នេះ កម្ពុជាក្នុងនាមជាប្រធានអាស៊ាន តែងតែខិតខំប្រឹងប្រែងយ៉ាងខ្លាំង ធ្វើឲ្យមានការប្រជុំមិនផ្លូវការរបស់ ឧត្តមមន្រ្តីអាស៊ាន ជាមួយនិង ចិន ដើម្បីផ្លាស់ប្តូរយោបល់អំពី CoC នោះ។ «ខិតខំកាលពីឆ្នាំ២០០២ សម្រចបាន DoC (សេចក្តីថ្លែងការណ៍រួម នៃក្រមប្រតិបត្តិ) ដែលជាឯកសារមួយសំខាន់ណាស់ សម្រាប់ដោះស្រាយបញ្ហានៅសមុទ្រ ចិនខាងត្បូង ១០ឆ្នាំក្រោយមក កម្ពុជាក៏ខិតខំដើម្បីឲ្យឈានទៅរក ការចរចារបញ្ហាក្រមប្រតិបត្តិ CoC ទៀត»។

សូមបញ្ជាក់ថា បញ្ហាសមុទ្រចិនខាងត្បូងនេះហើយ ដែលជាបញ្ហាក្តៅគគុកជាងគេក្នុងតំបន់ ក៏ដូចជាពិភពលោក ហើយក៏ជាឧបសគ្គធំជាងគេ ចំពោះសេចក្តីថ្លែងការណ៍រួម នៃកិច្ចប្រជុំ រដ្ឋមន្រ្តីការបរទេសអាស៊ានលើកទី៤៥ ដែលបានបញ្ចប់កាលពីថ្ងៃទី១៣ ខែកក្កដា ឆ្នាំ២០១២កន្លងទៅនេះ មិនបានចេញផងដែរ។

ជាមួយនិងសេចក្តីថ្លែងការណ៍ទាំង ៦ចំណុចខាងលើ ដែលអាស៊ានបានចេញនៅថ្ងៃទី២០ ខែកក្កដា ប្រមុខដឹកនាំកម្ពុជា សម្តេចតេជោ ហ៊ុន សែន ក៏បានសាទរដោយចាត់ទុកថា សេចក្តីថ្លែងការណ៍ទាំង៦ចំណុច ជាជោគជ័យដ៏ធំមួយរបស់កម្ពុជា ក្នុងនាមជាប្រធានអាស៊ាន៕

Royal party seeks to oust leader

Friday, 20 July 2012

Meas Sokchea

Prince Norodom Ranariddh (left) attends a meeting with other members of his political party in April. Photograph: Hong Menea/Phnom Penh Post

 

The upper echelon of Norodom Ranariddh’s own party is publicly urging the leader to step down so officials can revive a moribund merger with Funcinpec.

The move, officials from both sides say, would free up the parties to negotiate without the clashes between Ranariddh and Funcinpec head Nhek Bun Chhay that have upended previous mergers.

Sao Rany, an NRP lawmaker and secretary-general of the party, told the Post that the act was a negotiation strategy to build up power before next year’s national election.

“I see that if we do not merge, we will die in 2013,” Rany said. In June’s commune elections, Funcinpec and NRP had an abysmal showing.

Rany said he and six deputy secretary-generals wrote a letter to King Father Norodom Sihanouk on Monday asking him to persuade Ranariddh to “take a break from politics”, or in other words, to resign.

Pheng Heng, a deputy secretary-general with NRP, declined to comment about the letter. He did, however, confirm that it was sent and that he signed it.

In a prepared statement, Ranariddh, the former prime minister forced out of power during 1997 clashes with the forces of Prime Minister Hun Sen, said he wasn’t the obstacle. He placed all the blame on “Nhek Bun Chhay’s sabotage”.

“At first, I would like to remind … that the initiative of the merger between Norodom Ranariddh Party and Funcinpec, it really appeared from my will,” the letter stated.

He also said Rany can’t use his secretary-general position as a negotiating tactic. Without the party leader’s involvement, Ranariddh added, any agreements reached won’t be recognised.

The argument is spot on, according to the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia’s Koul Panha, who is generally perplexed with the attempt to pull the rug out from under Ranariddh.

“I don’t understand. NRP is NRP, it’s the Norodom Ranariddh Party,” he said. “Like the Sam Rainsy Party, you cannot make a move without Sam Rainsy agreeing. I think they should work with him, I don’t know why they are doing this.”

Funcinpec’s Bun Chhay is happy to attempt an explanation. He told reporters in a press conference at Phnom Penh airport yesterday before leaving for China that the majority of leaders from both sides are in support of a union. The only roadblock is Ranariddh. Bun Chhay claimed that his popularity “with the people” has been going down.

“As I see, 80 per cent of all those leaders want to have merger. Therefore, I hope that the process of this merger can be possible,” Bun Chhay said.

“I would like to say honestly that in the city, in public gatherings, with intellectuals, students, business persons, as I listened to them, most of them do not support him. He has supporters in isolated areas because they’ve heard that [Ranariddh] is the king’s son,” he added.

The parties have tried and failed to join before. Prime Minister Hun Sen blessed the latest attempt on May 24, though it quickly sputtered. Leadership in both camps placed the blame on each other.

Comfrel’s Panha said the constant bickering back and forth can lead to supporters losing faith in their respective parties.

“They should get into discussions and dialogue. I think that’s important. Otherwise they’ll always flip, divide, and there’s no solution. The reason why the ground members, the supporters are frustrated, they are frustrated because they always see the conflict,” said Panha.

The news comes only days after the Sam Rainsy Party and the Human Rights Party cemented their groups into one at a conference in Manila this week.

The newly formed party will operate under the name the Cambodia Democratic Movement of National Rescue. 

 

Foreigners appreciate Khmer language

Foreigners take Khmer-language lessons in Phnom Penh. Photograph: Phnom Penh Post

Sounds and pronunciation usually practiced by young Cambodian school children are being mumbled by foreigners in Phnom Penh. “Kor, Khor, Koa, Khoa…” More and more people from all over the world are taking Khmer classes at the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL).

Soeung Phos, coordinator of the ‘Khmer for Foreigners’ program at IFL as well as a Khmer literature lecturer at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, says that the IFL has provided Khmer language courses for foreign students since 1982. Although it’s not essential for foreigners living in Cambodia, learning the local language can help with work, studies and socialising.

Miriam Park, an 18 year old Korean girl agrees. “I decided to learn Khmer at IFL, because I want to live in Cambodia and study for my bachelors’ degree here,” she says.

28-year-old Australian NGO worker, Amee Brown, is learning Khmer so that he can communicate with the people he works with in the provinces. He says, “Most people in the provinces do not speak English and that’s why I must understand Khmer.”

Chan Vathna has been teaching Khmer for eight years at IFL. He thinks that the fact that more foreigners are learning Khmer has its benefits and its draw-backs.

“It is a good thing for Cambodia because it means ​that we can raise awareness of our culture and civilisation through them. However, it also can harm our religion because some foreigners are spreading their beliefs in Cambodia,” he says.

Elvie Daradar, a 39-year-old woman from the Philippines is amongst those who wish to preach here.

“I love this nation and I want to speak the Khmer ​language so that I can tell the people how precious they are to God, that’s why I decided to invest in Khmer courses at IFL.” Acknowledging that not everyone shares her faith she said, “If they don’t accept, it is their right.”

After completing the year-long ‘Khmer for Foreigners’ course, students can further their learning at the RUPP’s Department of Khmer Literature. The Advanced Study of Khmer Program (ASK) provides overseas students with the linguistic basics so that they can partake in academic research, professional discourse and cultural interaction.

39-year-old Do Sung Uk from Korea is doing ​exactly this and he says that his language skills will be useful even after he returns home from Cambodia. In recent years there has been an influx of Cambodian workers to Korea and he will be able to converse with them in their mother tongue.

Soeung Phos laments that although many foreigners are interested in learning Khmer, many Cambodians focus on learning other languages.

“Foreigners ​give value to Khmer language and literature, but we do not, we appreciate foreign language,” he says. “Many Khmer people send their children to study foreign language instead of Khmer language.”

If the feelings of Khmer student Oun Theary are anything to go by, Soeng Phos’ fears are well founded.

But perhaps he shouldn’t worry too much. The19-year-old Theary believes that Khmer is not an international language and therefore not valued on the job market.

“However, for me, I love leaning Khmer language, because it is a means of boosting Khmer literature,” he says.

Modern youth almost forget their own language

Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Tong Soprach

 

 

All over the world groups of people speak a same language and may sound completely different from each other. This also applies to Cambodians: some of them speak fast, some speak slowly; others use slang. That depends on the area they live in – and lately very much on their age. Many young Khmers speak their own language using accents from countries far away from the area they live in.

Cambodia opened its home market to the rest of the world in the early nineties. With it came the need to communicate with foreigners in different languages and many Cambodians sat down and began to study hard. English, especially, became popular. One has to say though that in the beginning, pedagogic techniques ranged from either questionable to non-existent.

With even greater ambition than in the early nineties, young Cambodians study foreign languages today, mainly English. That, however, softened their voices and slurred their pronunciation, giving older Khmers a hard time to understand the young generation. This problem becomes even more imminent when young Khmers had the chance to go abroad as an exchange student. Not only language is affected by change but also style and behaviour.

Sometimes, young Khmers change so much that they find themselves to be very different from their older Khmer friends. Well, and when they are on cloud number nine with a Western sweetheart they may forget that they are Khmer all together.

The question coming up now is why studying a foreign language changes so many young Khmers in the way they speak and behave? A possible explanation is that they want to show-off, letting everybody know how well they speak a foreign language. Another explanation is that many young Khmers inconsiderately adapt to Western ideas – however obscure and foul they may be.

By just saying “Yes” and “OK” to everything foreign, Cambodian ways of life, tradition and ideas get neglected.

A simple example is the way a young Khmer would address participants of a workshop or a national or international meeting: “Sour Sday Neak Teang Ars Knear!” translates to a simple “Hello everybody!” An informal salute like this disesteems the presence of older people and this therefore disrespectful.

Acknowledging differences in age and also position however is a vital aspect of the Khmer culture and should not be given up just like that. How hard could it be to just say: “Som Korop Lok Loksrey Deal Mean Watamean Nouv Tineas” which translates to: “Dear respected ladies and gentlemen who are present here today!”

Consequently, youths are facing the difficulty of communicating with possible working places and government. Unintelligibly there are parents that don’t allow young Cambodians to learn their own Khmer language at all.

Ironically, children of Chinese and Vietnamese origin who came to live in Cambodia whether legally or illegally make efforts to speak Khmer well. If they were born and raised in Cambodia they mostly speak Khmer fluently, making efforts to use proper accents and phrases.

This should remind Khmer youths who have started to neglect their mother tongue and cultural identity of the aphorism by Krom Ngoy said who said: “Komdeal Neaksrae Trokol Aeng Khmer Komprae Krolas!” “Don’t look down on the Cambodian peasants, because you are Cambodian yourself. Keep it real!”

Indonesia plays peacemaker

Friday, 20 July 2012

Vong Sokheng and David Boyle

 

 Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa (left) talks to his Cambodian counterpart Hor Namhong (facing away) during a meeting in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photograph: Meng Kimlong/Phnom Penh Post

 

In what he described as intensive “shuttle diplomacy” to restore ASEAN consensus on the South China Sea dispute, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa touched down in Phnom Penh yesterday following trips to Manila and Hanoi in the past 36 hours.

Stopping off before heading to Singapore, Natalegawa met with Cambodia Foreign Minister and current ASEAN chair Hor Namhong to thrash out the details of a statement on the issue that polarised member countries and China during last week’s ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh.

“We, ASEAN foreign ministers, agreed in principle on a number of issues over the South China Sea issue,” Namhong told reporters afterward.

Namhong provided no details of the agreements, but said he hoped to release a statement today pending approval from all 10 ASEAN foreign ministers.

Negotiations on a Code of Conduct to tackle competing claims over the South China Sea broke down during the summit and led to the failure of the 10-country bloc to issue a final joint communiqué for the first time in its 45-year history.

But Natalegawa told reporters he had spoken to all ASEAN foreign ministers bar one and said there was consensus on the basic principles of tackling the South China Sea.

“The fact is, despite suggestions to the contrary … ASEAN remains united, ASEAN remains cohesive and therefore, ASEAN remains able to fulfil its role in the central and driving seat in our region,” he said.

At the summit, he labelled the failure of ASEAN states to agree on key elements of the COC as “utterly irresponsible”.

Four ASEAN member states have claims to the South China Sea. Two of the countries, Vietnam and the Philippines, have active disputes with China.

China claims almost all of the waters, which carry about half of the world’s shipping tonnage, or some US$5 trillion in trade per year, and are thought to be rich in oil and gas.

Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported yesterday that a fleet of 30 fishing boats arrived on Wednesday at a reef in the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

The burgeoning super power favours a bilateral approach to negotiations for competing claims in the disputed waters, while US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed for a multilateral talks at the summit.

Cambodia has been accused of sidling up to China during the summit by stifling negotiations on the COC.

It is an accusation Cambodian officials vehemently reject, pointing to the 130 points of the joint communiqué that were agreed to outside of the South China Sea.

“ASEAN is proactive, so we are moving forward rather than the past,” said Foreign Affairs Secretary of State Kao Kim Hourn.

Political analyst Lao Mong Hay said the fact that Indonesia had taken the initiative to patch up differences suggested the failure of negotiations last week had been serious.

“I think Indonesia has been pursuing what is known as the ASEAN way; they will try to reach compromise even if it is not so meaningful. I think they have to restore unity after the collapse of the last meeting.”

ASEAN Readies Stand on Sea Row

The Southeast Asian grouping is set to make a common position on its maritime row with China.

 Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong (R) and his Indonesian counterpart, Marty Natalegawa, meet for talks in Phnom Penh, July 19, 2012. 

A week after failed talks, Southeast Asian nations are poised to issue a joint statement underlining their common position on the South China Sea territorial dispute with China.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will issue the statement on Friday, Hor Namhong, the foreign minister of Cambodia, the current ASEAN chair, said after talks on Thursday with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa in Phnom Penh.

The 10-member ASEAN was scheduled to issue a customary joint statement incorporating the main points of its annual ministerial talks, including the hotly debated overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, last week but put it off for the first time in its 45-year history.

Cambodia, China's key Southeast Asian ally, decided against issuing the statement after the Philippines and Vietnam, which have territorial disputes with Beijing, insisted that the communique include a specific reference to Beijing's alleged encroachment in their respective exclusive economic zones and continental shelves, diplomats said.

Some ASEAN diplomats said China used its mighty influence over Cambodia to prevent any statement that may be damaging to Beijing but Hor Namhong said his government does not support any side in the dispute.

He said on Thursday "solutions" have been found by ASEAN states over the issue and "details" will be provided on Friday.

"I am ASEAN chair, I would like to have a positive results,” he said, with Indonesian minister Natalegawa beside him.

Mediator

Natalegawa had taken on the role of mediator after the ministerial talks failed to reach a common position on the maritime row, visiting Hanoi and Manila before going to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to forge a consensus on the issue.

"I have already informed the ASEAN chair about the solutions,” he said, adding that ASEAN members will strive to resolve the dispute based on international law and without use of force.

Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea but ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei have overlapping claims in the area, which is believed to contain vast oil and gas reserves.

A standoff at the Scarborough Shoal, a horseshoe-shaped reef in waters that both China and the Philippines claim, began earlier this year when Manila accused Chinese fishermen of poaching in its exclusive economic zone, including the shoal. Both sides had sent government ships to the area.

Vietnam has faced its own problems with China, mostly resulting from Beijing's detention of Vietnamese fishermen in disputed waters. Hanoi has also protested a recent announcement by the state Chinese oil company opening nine oil and gas lots for international bidders in areas overlapping with existing Vietnamese exploration blocks.

Solidarity threatened

ASEAN's diplomatic crisis underscores the extent to which the long-running maritime dispute has dampened solidarity within the grouping and China's expanding influence in the region as it flexes its economic and military muscle, analysts say.

The row has also held up progress on a proposed "code of conduct" between ASEAN and China aimed at preventing any armed conflicts in the contested waters.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Reported by Sok Serey for RFA's Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.