CIO Wishes All Its Readers, a Very Happy, Prosperous and Successful New Year. We are back after a short hiatus with a new look. We welcome comments without expletives please.

31 per cent of tourists Entered Cambodia via Thailand - Time to Change This!
Updated: 05^th January, 2009

Cambodia's tourism was severely impacted   by the political protests in Thailand and it is shocking to hear that up to 31%  of tourists coming into Cambodia originate from Thailand! As Cambodian Review  had said in their December issue, it is time for Cambodia - fueled by the Tourism Ministry, the Transport Ministry and the Airport Concession Holders, to strive hard to make Cambodia a destination rather then extension of a destination of Thailand. Bangkok's two main airports were closed in late November had a significant impact, closing a major transit hub to Cambodia for over a week. Would Thailand be impacted if Cambodia's airports were closed? Unlikely since were are overly dependent on Thailand to feed Cambodia's tourism inflows. The Government must take  concerted, coherent and cohesive measures to get the airport concessionaires to  get the two airports it is already managing and the 3rd which it is supposed to manage to make the airports operational around the clock and facilitate bigger aircrafts to land regularly, not a  pace of two a year or 3 a year!  Cambodia is already at odds with Thailand over the Preah Vihear border issue. Cambodia should not give Thailand any more ammunition to have  a strange hold over Cambodia's tourism economy or  other aspects of the economy brought about by the hub facility in the neighboring capital!.

IED Makers Must be Punished Severely
Updated: 03^rd January, 2009

The three Improvised Explosive Devises (IED) which were placed near the Ministry of National Defense and the TV 3 station is a despicable incident never mind the supposed sick reasons churned out by a pro opposition website. The fact that these kind of incident   has reared its head in the first few days of the New Year  is an attempt to sabotage the nation's political, security and social stability. The Ministry of Interior, instead of relying on unconfirmed and conflicting reports, should come out with factual and accurate statements to avoid confusion and misinterpretation.  In the years, there were the Black Maria gangs which set up explosives at two hotels and which went off moments apart in a supposed extortion attempt.   The notorious big brother gang is also reputed to be involved in such activities, not forgetting the many attempts at forced regime change in Cambodia. The authorities should be taken to task for allowing the latest incidents to have taken place, next to the Ministry of National Defense where there is a significant visible security presence. This suggests that the perpetrators were bold, innovative with their creation of the IED, and out to cause civilian casualties. These are stark reminders of events in Southern Thailand and the Middle East where  IEDs kill an main innocents! The full weight of the law should be brought in to  investigate these  acts as makers of IEDs are a dangerous lot and can easily perpetrate similar crimes elsewhere to devastating effects! There should be no finger pointing and lame duck excuses. Only serous factual  statements and evidence must be deduced to convince the public that the nation's security forces are a competent lot.

New Government in Thailand but Old Border Woes Remain
Updated: 01^st January, 2009

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya plans to visit Cambodia to continue discussion on the border issues between the two countries in late January but with the  same stance. If Thailand and Cambodia are to progress together into the new year with renewed efforts to strengthen bi lateral relations and good neighborliness, Thailand should first of all, not set any conditions to renew border talks. Secondly, current Thai leaders  should be cognizant of the fact that when they were in the opposition, they had vehemently opposed any attempts by the then Thai Government to resolve the Preah Vihear issues and had demanded that Thailand retake the ancient temple, ignoring international legal judgments. Former foreign minister Noppadon Pattama has already thrown the challenge when he urged Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to keep his promise to get the ancient Hindu ruins of Preah Vihear back from Cambodia. Mr Abhisit, who was then opposition leader, insisted he would reserve the right to press for the return of the border temple to Thailand. Now, the harsh realities of "Real Politik" dawns on Mr. Abhisit. Thus. the Government of Thailand would do well to avoid domestic political consumption and stick to legal and judicial issues when attempting to resolve the Preah Vihear dispute for the good of both Cambodia and Thailand. Any attempt to politicize the issue with Thailand's running domestic political uncertainties would surely taint the forthcoming talks and drive a deeper abyss into the already strained border talks.