My brother's killer
‘On the afternoon of the 13th, we thought we could hear a boat engine at intervals throughout the afternoon but we couldn’t be sure. Suddenly, a boat came in closer. I was about to go up on deck when the boat opened fire and sent some shots over our mast.’ – Kerry Hamill’s journal, August 13 1978.
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Riverfront Scammers and the Filipino Blackjack Con
It’s the beginning of the high tourism season in Cambodia. The tourists are back, and so are the scammers that prey on them, especially in tourist zones like the riverfront in Phnom Penh. Actually, the scammers never left, but in my forays up the riverfront these last couple of weeks they seem to be out in numbers and working hard, chasing the fresh crop of newbies in Cambodia. Day before yesterday in front of the Royal Palace I almost got a photo of three different scammers in the same shot, but they saw me raise my camera and scattered.
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Two paedophiles on the run are still wanted men
Two paedophiles on the run are still wanted men
The hunt for two of Australia's most wanted paedophiles is gathering pace, with two of South-East Asia's most effective anti-child sex campaign groups targeting notorious WA sex offenders Leon Mark Melzack and David Allen Shom.
The men, both 50, fled the country in 1997 - two days after being charged by Perth police with a number of child sex offences. They are alleged to have abused a nine-year-old boy, who is now 32, over a period of several years from 1987.
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Commit a crime in Cambodia and face the consequences
Yesterday I saw a motorbike zooming towards the Kampot jail with a man sat between two policeman. He was bare-chested and so I presumed he was a thief who had just been apprehended.
It got me thinking about how different things are here. I get that police vans are expensive but it just seemed totally bizarre that a criminal was being transported on a motorbike with two other people already on it.
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Australian shot dead in Cambodia
Australian shot dead in Cambodia
Cambodian police say they are investigating the killing of an Australian man shot dead on the weekend at a guesthouse in the capital Phnom Penh.
The 44-year-old Australian, named by local media as Eric Liu, flew into Cambodia on Saturday evening and was shot in the chest in the guesthouse's reception area.
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7 January 1997 – the Regular Annual Controversial Discussion
The Mirror, Vol. 15, No. 698
Year after year, this day – related to the survival of Cambodia, when the Khmer Rouge dominated period of killings, mainly of Khmers by Khmers, came to an end – leads to discussions about the role of this day in Cambodian history.
Nobody can deny that this day brought an end to an unprecedented period of killings. To quote some of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent statements:
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The International Anti-Corruption Day
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 694
Another International something Day – to be followed one day later by Human Rights Day – some of them are public holiday – in some countries only! – for some there are elaborate public meetings and ceremonies – others are barely known. Special sections of society may have special ways to commemorate a less well known international day of remembrance, like in the case of the International Anti-Corruption Day, where the World Bank Offices were on duty during several days of the week, using the opportunity to lift up again their understanding of the important, destructive role of corruption.
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A bit of excitement
A bit of excitement on this afternoon's walk. I was passing the intersection of Sihanouk Blvd and Monivong Blvd when I witnessed a minor traffic accident.
A Land Cruiser was tooling up Monivong against the flow on the wrong side of a divided road when he had a head-on accident with a motorcycle. In fact, I didn't see if he actually hit the moto, but when the motorcyclist was confronted with this Land Cruiser coming the wrong way he either dumped his bike trying to avoid it or was hit lightly and knocked over.
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Khmer Pedophiles and the Cambodia Daily
In the Cambodia Daily newspaper, foreigners who have been caught having sex with a minor child in Cambodia are routinely (and justifiably) referred to as 'pedophiles' or 'alleged pedophiles,' and the problem of 'foreign pedophiles' is almost always noted somewhere in such articles. There are also disturbingly regular reports in the Cambodia Daily of Cambodians "raping" children in Cambodia. In fact there currently seems to be an epidemic of Cambodians sexually abusing children. But, regardless of the age of the victims, Cambodians are never referred to as 'pedophiles' in the Cambodia Daily.
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Contraband Is Massively Imported while Members of the Authorities Are Collecting Colossal Amounts of Money
The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 679
“Phnom Penh: State income declines, because some members of the authorities and customs officers take monetary advantage from the import of contraband and they put the money into their own pockets. After they receive bribes, they allow merchants to import these goods smoothly.