Bunly Meas

Rural Cambodians do not have electrecity to use in their homes and for their farming. Some at the provintial town are paying more for their electricity use than their friends at the capital city. They use car battery for their few lamps and black-white TVs. For cooking, they depend on firewood near their homes. Those forests become scare and they need to travel far away from home to find them. The lack of electricity block their business initiatives. The government realize this and have been developing many hydro-power projects, which will come to life in the next few years. A commune in Battam Bang province came up with an idea to bring electricity to their homes. They grow leuceana, fast-grown trees, and sell to an electricity generating workshop. The workshop sells back the electriciy to villagers. I would like to invite friends to see a short documentary about that project.

If the plan to build a Toyota factory in Cambodia succeeds, it will be a new step in the country's development. Both sides, Cambodia and Toyota, will benefit of course. The question is who will gain more? And how can Cambodia maximize its benefits from this investment? Toyota is looking for new markets after its sales decreased this year. Cambodia's rapid economic growth for the last few years and its low cost of labour are two attractions for the company. Those factors should make Cambodia a good market for Toyota. Some rich Cambodians are waiting for the chance to buy the latest Toyota cars to drive in the streets without paying import tax. But poor, rural Cambodians will not see any benefit from the new auto factory. They might have hoped that the factory will provide jobs to their children but their children's farming skills will be of no use to Toyota. Cambodia, of course, will receive foreign capital from a Toyota factory. The country will also have the opportunity...

Resulted from decades of war, Cambodia is left with poor infrastructures and almost zero of human resources. Even worst, the country is still struggling with landmines, one of the country's silent killers. It a slow and paintful process to clear one signle landmine. A deminer could spend the whole day to just identify and clear one. All of my friends, I would like to invite all of you to spend 3 minutes on a documentary about landmine clearance. It is an effort to rescue land for farmers. Enjoy it and I am waiting for your comments.

Cambodian Finance Minister confirmed last week that Cambodia will have its own stock market in 2009 despite the world's exchange crisis, reported the Phnom Penh Post. Although the plan is going ahead, there are some sceptics questioning if Cambodia is ready for this big move. Are there enough laws to implement the new system? And do the Cambodian companies and public have enough knowledge to participate? There have been efforts from the government to make sure that enough law mechanism is already in place in advance. The Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) invest more than $1 million each year just to make this Korean style stock exchange exist. So why does Cambodia need a stock market? Cambodian officials said the market will provide other sources of money coming to the country. Now Cambodia depends on Aid, banks and a little amount from foreign direct investment. This trend is not stable for long-term market solution. More interestingly, the establishment of the mar...

All my friends, it is really great that Samdech Sang Choun Nath dictionary now available as software. Thanks for the efforts of Cambodian Buddhist Institute. Since I am always a fan of the dictionary, I tried to bring it with me to Europe. However, I could not. The dictionary's availability now could help me a great deal. I hope it will be useful for you all too. Click here to download it :

Humanitarian: World Food Programme resumed their breakfast distributions to 450,000 Cambodian school children in rural areas, reported AP on Tuesday. The new scheme will cost around USD 9 million per year, which means each children wil recieve around USD 20 in terms of food cost, added the news wire service. The attemp is to reduce children's lack of nutritions and as the result will increase their learning capacity. But the United Nations World Food Programme is not so sure if this programme could last longer due to fund insecurity, stressed AP. Comments: It is always very nice to see children come to school in the morning, holding their bags. In addition, they also bring their plates and wait for yummy breakfast. Later on, they stay at schools and learn from their teachers. It is such a good innitiative to attract students to come to class. And it is not expensive. Only USD 20 per year could change their lives and histories. It is more than worth to invest.It helps both child...

All my friends, I think I found a good song that inspires me to go on doing my master here. It helps me to forget all culuture shock and rudeness I have faced so far. Friendliness, Patience and smile is our Khmer uniqueness!

Politics: Cambodian Prime Minister said his new ministers will be more focused on their ministerial work by dropping their parliarmentary positions, reported the Phonom Penh Post on Friday. Ther are around 40 Cambodian People's Party officials, who are holding dual postions both at the government and parliarmentay, are being considered to resign, added the paper.