Dragon Boats are Back
Published on Dec 2, 2023 by Luke Hunt
Cambodians are celebrating the return of dragon boat races at this year’s Water Festival after a three-year absence amid hopes it will bolster the tourism industry and an economy struggling to recover in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Luke Hunt reports. Camera: Luke Hunt, David Brown, Vicheka Kol. A Bomborra Production for Voice of America.Click here to watch..
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World Music
Chris Minko and his daughter Anya have carved out prominent lives in Thailand and Cambodia through music, sport, and education that came with the backing of Australian World War II hero Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop and Thai philanthropist Mechai Viravaidya.Chris was raised in the small town of Myrtleford in the alpine valleys of southeastern Australia and initially found fame as a musician with jazz band Bachelors from Prague in the mid-1980s before moving into event management.He courted controversy with Melbourne’s Moomba Festival when he defied orders and put an Aboriginal float at the head of an annual parade but also found favor with the trade unions and the Australian Football League (AFL), where he organized half-time entertainment at the Grand....
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A Refugee's Story
Published on Oct 3, 2023 by Luke Hunt
In 1979, Mylinh Lee arrived in Australia as a child, by boat and as a refugee. More than four decades later she is a public relations specialist in Melbourne where she is also dedicated to the construction of the Vietnamese Museum Australia.The museum, due to open in 2025, is the first in the world dedicated to the plight of Vietnamese refugees, who began arriving in Australia shortly after the fall of Saigon in April 1975, signaling the end of the Vietnam War and the communist takeover of South Vietnam.Click here to listen to her podcast recorded with Luke Hunt from The Diplomat..
From Pol Pot to US Presidents
Published on Jul 5, 2023 by Luke Hunt
From the Killing Fields to the US Secret Service. A conversation with author Leth Oun. As a child, Leth Oun enjoyed a happy life in Battambang City in western Cambodia. His family was poor but his father, a lieutenant in the Lon Nol government, ensured he went to school and that there was food on the table. Then, in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge marched into town.He survived Pol Pot's tyrannical rule, was rescued and eventually granted refugee status in the United States. Leth Oun now works for the Secret Service, the first Cambodian to join those ranks in its 158-year history. He guards presidents, vice presidents, and their families with a focus on the K9 unit, training and deploying....
Two British Poets
Published on Jun 18, 2023 by Luke Hunt
A podcast with James Fountain about the British poet Joseph Macleod from the 1930s and 40s. Fountain also talks about author Graham Greene and the literati of that time. With Brighton-based Waterloo Press, Fountain was commissioned with re-introducing and editing all of Mcleod's major works. He also has a novel and two of his own collections of poetry accepted for publication. Some of his poems appeared in UK literary magazines such as Acumen, The Journal and Dream Catcher. Click and listen here..
Unfinished Business
Published on May 1, 2023 by Luke Hunt
Five years ago, Chinese investors began turning Sihanoukville, a sleepy coastal city with pristine beaches, into a gambling mecca rivaling Macao and Las Vegas, but that ended with a ban on online gambling and the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 200,000 Chinese workers had to return home. Plans are now being developed to rebuild and finish about 1,100 abandoned skyscrapers. Ravid Brown, Luke Hunt and Sreynat Sarum produced this television report for VOA. Click and Watch Here.
Flicker & Fade
Published on Mar 29, 2023 by Luke Hunt
Flicker & Fade screened at Straight8 Cannes International Film Festival 2018. A short film by Mark Roy & Julien Poulson based on the life and disappearance of Cambodian singer Poev Vannary. Featuring the voice of Kak Channthy and The Cambodian Space Project. Luke Hunt is the narrator.Click here to watch on Vimeo..
Broken Leg
Published on Mar 13, 2023 by Luke Hunt
Broken Leg is a short film by Morgan Reinwald which follows Western expats as they venture forth into the streets of Phnom Penh and its notorious nightlife along Street 136..Watch on YouTube..
Marc Carnegie: 1963-2023
Published on Feb 7, 2023 by Luke Hunt
Marc Carnegie, an American foreign correspondent who has reported from Iran, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan and dozens of other countries around the globe, passed away on Feb. 7 from complications of the liver and a brief illness. He was 59.His work in Iraq was lauded by his peers for many years afterward. Marc had worked the desk but knew where his correspondents were and did everything he could, and more, to get them across the line safely.Long time friend and colleague Susan Stumme wrote: "I’ve struggled to find the right words to describe this devastating loss. Marc Carnegie was so many things: dear friend, brilliant wordsmith, music lover, gifted drummer, obstinate pain in the ass, booze hound, complicated soul.".
Shirley Shackleton: 1931-2023
Published on Jan 16, 2023 by Luke Hunt
Shirley Shackleton, who passed away aged 91 on Jan. 15 was an author and tireless campaigner for Timor-Leste, she was best known as the wife of Greg Shackleton, one of the 'Balibo Five' journalists.The ABC reported she was an unlikely hero.A new mum and TV segment presenter from Melbourne, she suddenly became one of Australia's most vocal human rights advocates after her journalist husband Greg and four other Australian newsmen were brutally murdered in 1975 by Indonesian forces.They came to be known as the Balibo Five, having gone to Timor in the weeks leading up to Indonesia's occupation, to film the military invasion for Channel 7 and 9.But days after they arrived in Balibo, they disappeared.Read more here..
