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Posted by: | Posted on: October 29, 2011

Saving Cambodia’s Great Lake

Dear Fellow Cambodians;

First of all, we should pray for those Cambodians who are under fear of flooding. During this unusual flooding, many farmers claimed death, many claimed homeless and many claimed starvation. Not counting the rice paddies which those young seeds are devastated by water, live stocks and commodities are in danger and scarce.

What could we describe on this natural disaster in Cambodia? And what measures are we going to gauge for?

Natural resource is substantial source for national development. Human capital, financial capital and social capital is among important capitals to lift up national prosperity and dignity. Otherwise, natural capital has been debated in recent political dialogue among political scientists.

Political scientists pointed out that there are many countries in this world which leaders have used natural capital as tool to step up to power or maintain their power. The uses of natural capital for personal wealth and power have happened among ancient kingdoms and it has continued to modern day in some countries. Scholars called “failed states” for those countries that have misused natural capital or they have used it for personal wealth and power by allowing their citizens who is the owners of that natural capital live in a dirty poor and indignitary situation. Among those scholars, James Scott named it “predatory states”.

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Posted by: | Posted on: September 17, 2008

Pride or shame ?

Tuol Sleng Museum applies for registration with Unesco intrigued the question that this initiative will bring shame or pride to Cambodian people? If we check in the listing numbers of world cultural heritages subscribed by Unesco, we seem not see any genocidal or brutal place being put as World Heritage. But if Cambodia can achieve her purpose to register Tuol Sleng Museum with Unesco, it would be possibly questionable to the intent of this orientation.

Conceivably, many foreign visitors have always laid their expectation when they visit Cambodia: to experience the well-known greatness of Angkor Wat and the horrible notorious legacy of Khmer Rouge. Weighting these two expectations rationally reflect the pride and shame of Cambodia. The reputation of Angkor Wat highly honors the Cambodian people in the past, present and future. But the legacy of Khmer Rouge and Tuol Sleng prisoners’ camp ambiguously construes Cambodian people.

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