Khmer Voice

The Associated Press

Cambodia’s political parties kicked off campaigning Thursday for next month’s general election, which is almost certain to see the return to power of Asia’s longest-serving leader, Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Eleven parties are contesting the July 27 polls for the 123-seat National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, with the winner forming a government for the next five years.

Hun Sen’s long-running control over the levers of state and his unmatchable political instincts all but ensure that he will lead a return of his Cambodian People’s Party to office.

Hun Sen, once a member of the ultra-leftist Khmer Rouge, has been at the helm of Cambodia since 1985, when he was made prime minister of a communist government installed by neighboring Vietnam. He became an elected prime minister in a democratic vote only after his party won an 1998 election. His party has tightened its grip on power since then, with 73 seats in the National Assembly.  Read more... (247 words, estimated 59 secs reading time)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: An old hospital was razed to make way for Phnom Penh’s tallest building — a 42-story twin condominium tower. A garbage-strewn slum became prime real estate after police evicted its dwellers to a parched rice field outside the capital.

Cambodia is experiencing a construction boom fueled by foreign investment, particularly by South Koreans, and buying and selling among the country’s few nouveaux riche — while leaving the poor majority behind.

Shopping malls and tall apartment buildings are sprouting up, transforming the capital’s landscape that once bore the charm of colonial French-styled villas but resembled a ghost town at the fall of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime nearly 30 years ago.

Political stability and robust economic growth of nearly 10 percent have lured investors to the real estate market that has seen prices surge over the last few years — though they are still lower than in neighboring Vietnam or Thailand.  Read more... (1125 words, estimated 4:30 mins reading time)

Written by Ronnie Yimsut
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January morning light gently filtered through the leaves of the flooded forest, the “Prey Roniem,” in the north estuary of Tonle Sap Lake. A group of long-tailed Macaque monkeys rattling nearby tree branches and screaming aloud to warn each other of the eminent danger. It could be a large snake crawling, lurking nearby looking for prey. It could be my pursuers, the Khmer Rouge’s soldiers!

My imagination wanders
Into an ocean of uncharted water

A raft of curiosity seems
To keep me afloat,
Guiding me towards adventures
Beyond my wildest dreams.

I sometimes find myself
Blown off course,
In my own little world,
Circling around in my own shadow.
When I am alone,
I am lost

But

That is when I find myself.
—————————————
Written by Sin Dan Mer

I walked barefoot
Above dampened ground,
Covered by a thin silver sheet.
My heart sought
what it had found.

I have not seen
These pillars of bark,
Rising high through
the clouds of green,
Before; never in parks.

I was happy
In my own Kingdom.
Jewels of light in
the canopy
Set my soul to freedom.
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Written by Sinang Lee

Khmer poem written by: Leang Kunleang

 Poem written in Khmer by Leang Kunleang. “Treum Neuk Knong Jett”.
Literal translation “Only Miss in Mind”.

Basically, the following translation would apply:
1) You are only on my mind
2) I only miss you
3) Only think of you
…etc.