Horst Faas Dead

Published on May 11, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Celebrated combat photographer Horst Faas, who covered the Vietnam War for the Associated Press, has died aged 79, his daughter says. Germany-born Faas won four major photo prizes, including two Pulitzers, during his career, and served as AP’s Saigon photo chief at the height of the war. The BBC reports. .

Khmer Rouge, a Family Affair

Published on May 8, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Cambodia is enduring a controversial period. The recent murder of Chhut Vuthy, a high-profile environmentalist, has rattled the country and diverted attention from issues the government would prefer its bureaucrats to focus on, including Cambodia taking over as annual hosts of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and a diplomatic plan to win Cambodia a seat as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. But on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, at the Extraordinary Chambers for the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC), this country’s main event has motored along at a steady, if grisly, pace and has now gone into recess after another marathon session of sensational revelations of atrocities committed by Pol Pot and his....

Murder in Cambodia

Published on May 8, 2012 by Luke Hunt

ASIAWATCH — In Cambodia, the murder of a high-profile environmentalist has sent shockwaves around a country which has never shaken-off its reputation for violence, corruption and a culture of impunity among the ruling political and moneyed classes. Luke Hunt reports. Understandably, the shooting of Chhut Vuthy, 45, in a remote southern forest has outraged human rights groups and despite 14 years of peace has also reinforced perceptions of Cambodia as a lawless country still at war with itself. But his death has wider ramifications and what exactly happened may never be known. Chhut Vuthy was founder and director of the Natural Resource Protection Group, a small NGO dedicated to saving what’s left of Cambodia’s forests. According to his friend Seng....

Cambodia’s Corporate Darling

Published on May 5, 2012 by Luke Hunt

ASIAWATCH — When the Khmer Rouge were driven out of Phnom Penh in 1979 they left behind a city that had been laid bare. Its infrastructure was in ruins and utilities like the colonial-era water supply were in a state of filthy disrepair. The ideology of the ultra-Maoists also left 1.7 million people dead and obliterated Khmer culture. Even money was abandoned as an agrarian utopia based on self-reliance was attempted. It failed and 33 years later the historical ironies of Cambodia’s past are becoming all too evident. Industries such as tourism and garment production are booming. Mining is taking off and the Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX) is finally up and running after a 10-month delay with Phnom Penh Water....

Xayaburi Threatens Mekong

Published on May 5, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Construction has begun on a massive $3.8 billion dam in Laos that will profoundly effect Southeast Asia’s mighty Mekong river. The Xayaburi hydroelectric dam on the Mekong is being supported by Thailand, who have pledged to purchase a good 95% of the electricity the dam could potentially generate. Faine Greenwood write in UN Dispatch. .