With the recent release of hundreds of cables from the US embassy in Phnom Penh, the WikiLeaks spotlight turns to Cambodia, a fast growing country of 15 million people and number seven on the list of recipient countries of Australian aid.
Cambodia
The Silk Road to Australian drug treatment: WikiLeaks cable
Rich Cambodian parents are secretly sending their drug-addicted children for detox in Australia and China to avoid the social stigma of drug use and the poor quality of rehabilitation centres in Cambodia, reports Luke Miller.
The pains and perplexities of Phnom Penh
After several months living in Cambodia, some of its charming quirks — shower heads that are too short for a six foot tall man, streets wide awake from 5am — have turned into daily annoyances for Allan Soutaris.
Music’s latest phenomenon: the Tuk-Tuk sessions
Allan Soutaris and a fellow Aussie living in Cambodia created the Tuk-Tuk Sessions to share music and provide friends and family with a visual tour of the vibrant street life in Phnom Penh.
travel Bowing to the hierarchy
It’s not easy moving overseas to a developing country to work at an NGO, what with the cultural differences, language barriers and technology problems. Allan Soutaris explains how he’s making it work in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
travel The slums of Phnom Penh: working with child drug users
At one stage I counted ten young street children injecting heroin in the ally around me. Monks slowly walked by on their morning alms. For a Westerner it was an unexpected juxtaposition, writes Allan Soultaris from Cambodia.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Journalists a’twitter about The Oz
Crikey readers have their say.
With the stench of death in the air, Phnom Penh hurries along
This morning the sun rose on Cambodia just like every other day. People began their business just like every other day. Today is not like any other day. Australian tourist Trevor Simons reports on the strange calm in Phnom Penh.
travel Climb aboard my sweaty, slum-filled Cambodian ride
Allan Soutaris is an AYAD, part of a government program shipping young Australians off to work in developing countries, where the first week in Phnom Penh, Cambodia includes cultural misunderstandings, lots of bowing and a planned trip to the slums…
Doing business in Cambodia,
BHP-style
Mining giant BHP Billiton could be guilty of paying $US2.5 million in bribes to the Cambodian government. Is this a repeat of the Rio Tinto saga, or are we seeing a pattern emerge? asks Georgia Wilkins.
Is the ANZ supporting the Cambodian military?
Is an ANZ subsidiary involved in a scheme to fund and support Cambodian military units? The bank is claiming it’s all a really epic typo, but the ABC doesn’t sound so sure.
Costello’s $600 million Cambodian crusade
Peter Costello’s $600 million private equity foray into Cambodia will struggle to avoid the corrupt taxes and charges attached to nearly all commercial deals in the mostly-peasant nation, write Bernard Keane and Andrew Crook.
Political snippets: A neighbourly disinterest
Two of Australia’s near neighbours are close to a state of war and what can you read about on the home web pages this morning of Australia’s newspapers? Not a word at all about the frightening deterioration in relations between Thailand and Cambodia.
Tips and rumours: Tips and rumours: The McPherson LNP preselection candidates revealed
The blog post that got a Courier-Mail subbie sacked, no news probably isn’t good news for Ian Macfarlane, customs staff don’t land on Free Parking, and a tasty tip-off on the McPherson LNP preselection candidates.
Grey skies as the Khmer Rouge trials begin
Stability is all Cambodian people seek. The government has no interest in defendants naming current members of the government or military as Khmer Rouge murderers, writes Humphrey Hollins.
Letter from … Phnom Penh
Kaing Guek Eav has been detained since 1999 and is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders currently facing trial for crimes against humanity, write Georgia Wilkins and Pat McGrath.
Despite a shaky election, the signs are good for Cambodia
The ruling CPP’s big election win on the weekend is not all bad news for Cambodians, writes Andrew Nette.
Cambodia’s one-eyed leader a shoe-in for victory
NGOs monitoring the Cambodian election have expressed concern over increasing political violence and persecution. Andrew Nette reports from Phmon Pehn.
Cambodia braces for an Australian mining invasion
Cambodia is in the process of changing from “100 percent conservation” to a system that can accommodate development and the issue of how that transition is handled came to the fore in recent weeks when, through a little-known Australian firm, Indochine Resources, two flamboyant Australians won the right to explore for unnamed minerals in 180,000 hectares, or 54 percent, of Cambodia’s Asean-heritage listed Virachey National Park, writes Douglas Gillison.
