Phnom Penh (Ah!) - PHNOM PENH TOP STORIES MAKE NOISE

NGO'S - GREEDY, SEEDY OR... Cambodian children are sold into prostitution by their parents. Some NGO's are doing something about it by creating a business and others teach and provide jobs. Other NGO's raise millions of dollars in donor money and.... just talk about it. OPERATION SMILE GIVES WITHOUT ASKING - COMING... INNOCENCE LOST - (NR Photo)

D. J. Ken - National Radio Text Service

A spike of interest was our observation of a report on Channel News Asia that the FBI is using our title Lost Innocence for the name of their program in tracking down pedophiles. Coincidence or not it raises some serious questions.

Sunday November 29, 2009

PP COLUMNS STIRS READERS INTEREST

Recently we published a list of the top three Phnom Penh columns which are most read by our readers. The program was so successful that we are now expanding that report from the top three to five.

Topping the list was last months report that was part 2 of our regular Phnom Penh column and that was what distinguished its popularity as part one failed to make it to the top 30.

What sparked our readers interest is not clear but the spike in the column was our observation of a column written in August of 1998 that was at that time ignored. That subject being US Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph A. Mussomeli which at that time for some unexplained reason gained some unexpected attention making it the number one column on the list.

The other spike was our observation of a report on Channel News Asia that the FBI is using our title Lost Innocence for the name of their program in tracking down pedophiles. Coincidence or not it raises some serious questions of integrity.

When you do the analysis the interest in politics coincided wit our visit to the US Embassy July 4th party in Phnom Penh. There was a state of paranoia and strange behaviors by Embassy employees. We asked the Embassy why they required background checks for those who purchase tickets to attend and the answer was they needed to know who was coming into their house.

As inadequate as that answer was it certainly contradicted the entrance procedures of the US Embassy in Bangkok said to be the largest in the world where they did NO BACKGROUND checks. We have the experience having been on the organizing committee.

So what is it about the US Embassy in Phnom Penh that has them so paranoid and deceitful? There are other incidents which point up to our point of view which we will disclose at a later date.

Another old column PP Burning covers the burning of Thai owned business in Phnom Penh after Khmer youths became enraged from a comments made by Thai actress Suwanan "Kob" Kongying who was reported as saying that she would never visit Cambodia until Angkor Wat was returned to Thailand.

We lived the experience and witnessed the gathering of students on motorbikes swarming around the Phsar Themy Market 15 minute before they torched the Samart building. Ironically at that time the police station was across the street diagonally opposite the arson site but that didn't make a difference.

The interest in that story coincidentally has spiked more attention due to the recent controversy with the appointment of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as a financial advisor to Cambodia.

The third position took a lighter side with USA'S AMAZING RACE VISITS PHNOM PENH. The follow-up episode revealed that a team that finished first had to drop out of the race because their passport was missing when they came to the finish line thus they couldn't continue in the race. The most interesting piece of information that came out of that was a take on the right hand should know what the left hand is doing.

During our research the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism wasn't aware of neither what the Amazing race was doing nor their schedule. There apparently wasn't any recognition of the value of the free publicity the program brought to the country and there was a failure to follow through on the free POSITIVE exposure from a highly respected international television show.

The fourth spot was taken by a previously number one position holder titled PHNOM PENH CHANGES. In the world of pedophiles finding Cambodia to be their heaven we were fortunate enough to meet tourists who came to help and not destroy. They were a group of Christians from Korea who first visited Siem Reap for four days. They spent one day seeing the Angkor Wat Temples. The remainder of their time in Siem Reap was spent visiting children in orphanages.

That column also included pictures of the dancing fountains at Hun Sen Park which was our suggestion as something for a tourist to do while visiting the city.

And last but not least the number five spot was taken by the column reverts back to the aforementioned experience at the July 4th US Embassy party. This column had the pictures of some surprising visitors.

In summary we will monitor the statistics and if this review continues to maintain readership demand we will continue to furnish you the results.

NATIONAL RADIO PUBLISHED IN 5 LANGUAGES

We are published in five languages, English, Thai, French, Russian and Khmer (Cambodian language). Any of our foreign language material and our Roman Wanderaugh columns are legally available ONLY on our National Radio

© Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED