Vietnam - Star director’s new gig: tourism ambassador

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King-sized: Kong: Skull Island, the mega-budget blockbuster is the biggest Hollywood project filmed in Việt Nam to date. — Photo courtesy of Legendary and Warner Bros.

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Viet Nam News 

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HÀ NỘI — Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of the new Hollywood blockbuster Kong: Skull Island, was voted Việt Nam’s next tourism ambassador by a 13-member council under the Ministry of Culture and Sport.

The American director is expected to be officially appointed next Monday. In an earlier exchange, Vogt-Roberts said he was happy to represent the country and promote its image to the international art community.

“’Kong: Skull Island’ is a joint US$190 million production between two major film powerhouses: Legendary and Warner Bros. The movie is expected to be a smash hit at the box office, attracting millions of viewers worldwide. Serving as our next tourism ambassador, Jordan Vogt-Roberts will bring about great coverage and improve the image of Việt Nam globally,” the council said.

In numerous videos featuring the making of the US blockbuster, the director and the film cast did not hide their admiration for Việt Nam’s pristine scenery, landscapes and local hospitality.

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“I don’t think most of the world knows how gorgeous Việt Nam looks. You see shapes and landscapes that you didn’t know existed in ages. It’s beautiful,” said Vogt-Roberts in a Youtube video.

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“And you just fall in love with the culture, the people and everything about this country.  And the places there, they are just spectacular,” he said.

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2016 Oscar Best Actress winner Brie Larson plays war photojournalist Mason Weaver. She said that “Việt Nam in particular is very special because it has never been captured on film before in this way.”

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“Promoting the image of a country and its tourism potential through cinema is important. A successful movie can inspire audiences to travel to its filming locations,” said deputy head of General Department of Tourism Ngô Hoài Chung.

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“There was already a similar case in Việt Nam. After the success of Vietnamese box office hit Tôi thấy hoa vàng trên cỏ xanh (Yellow flowers on green grass), central province of Phú Yên, where the movie was filmed, has seen a surge in the number of visitors."

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Chung also said steps have already been taken to preserve Kong: Skull Island filming locations for future plans.
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Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Kong: Skull Island was shot in three provinces of Ninh Bình, Quảng Ninh and Quảng Bình. It is the biggest Hollywood movie ever to be filmed in Việt Nam.

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The movie premiered in Việt Nam on Thursday, a day before it hit international cinemas. — VNS

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Cambodia - BigPhone dials into local market

A man browses Facebook on his smartphone in Phnom Penh.

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 Mobile World Investment Corp (MWG) – one of the largest mobile phone and electronic products distribution chains in Vietnam – will open its first store in Cambodia, operating under the name BigPhone.com, according to Vietnamese state media.

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Construction on the first 150- to 200-square-metre store in Phnom Penh is nearly completed and the branch is expected to open this quarter, Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The English-language news outlet quoted MWG director-general Tran Kinh Doanh as saying Cambodia was the first market for the company’s regional expansion, which will also see stores opened in Myanmar and Laos.

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“Cambodia was chosen to be the first country for the group to approach in Indochina,” he said.

Established in Ho Chi Minh City in 2014, MWG is a fast-growing retail chain for mobile phones and digital devices, including mobile phones, tablets and accessories. It operates a network of stores as well as an online channel.

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MWG (Cambodia) Co Ltd registered with Cambodia’s Ministry of Commerce last October. The company’s Vietnamese directors could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A study on cellphone and internet use in Cambodia published last year by the Asia Foundation revealed that the Kingdom’s market was already heavily saturated. Over 94 percent of Cambodians claimed to own their own phone handset, with nearly 40 percent of those surveyed claiming to have at least one smartphone.

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Bung Hor, CEO of T-Shop, a Phnom-Penh based electronics products distributor with eight branches, said yesterday that demand for mobile phones and accessories had grown significantly with deepening smartphone penetration. 

He said the rising demand had driven his company’s expansion, and he was confident there was still room in the market for new retailers of mobile phones and their accessories.

“There are more and more competitors while the demand is also higher,” he said.

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Source - PhnomPenhPost

Cambodia - The Monkey God’s last dance: Bidding a Lakhon Khol master farewell

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After the troupe of young boys had performed the Monkey Dance, and a group of Apsara dancers had left the stage, 67-year-old Royal University of Fine Arts professor Proeung Chhieng stepped up, shoulders hunched, to the microphone to address the several hundred mourners. Behind him, at the top of an elaborate funeral pyre set up in a field at the Secondary School of Fine Arts, was the body of his friend and teacher, Yit Sarin, who passed away at 91 on Saturday night. 

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“Today, at his funeral, I am so sad to lose someone so valuable for the country,” Chhieng told Post Weekend at the funeral on Monday. “However, I am also happy to see his students, for whom he devoted great effort in teaching, at his funeral … We are preparing to carry on his legacy and complete his unfinished mission.”

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Born on July 1, 1925, Sarin is renowned for being the first male dancer in Cambodia’s Royal Ballet and was the last surviving custodian of the knowledge, history and practice of the Khmer masked theatre dance known as Lakhon Khol. With his death, many fear an irreplaceable loss to the Kingdom’s cultural heritage. 

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Practitioners of the masked dance, relatives, and Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Phuong Sakonga paid their respects at the funeral service, but the overwhelming majority of those present were students at the Secondary School of Fine Arts, where Yit Sarin’s cremation was held. 

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All recalled Yit Sarin as a uniquely powerful teacher, dedicated to preserving and passing on the knowledge of Lakhon Khol.

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“To be honest, we could not afford such a big funeral, but his students, who adore him, have put together the money to make it happen,” his 62-year-old daughter Kao Amry told Post Weekend. 

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“He was both a family man and a great artist,” said cousin Sith Sothea, 50.

Sothea’s orphaned father was raised by Yit Sarin during the post independence Sangkum period, she said, and after the Pol Pot regime, when Sothea and her brother were orphaned, Yit Sarin took them in as well. “He adored his family and relatives, as much as he adored Lakhon Khol.”

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His only surviving son, 19-year-old Sarin Vathanak, recalled the utter devotion his father had for passing on the knowledge of the art form, even at the end of his life.
“My father had taught Lakhon Khol all his life until he was bedridden in 2015,” he said, weak from emotion. “I am grief-stricken to lose my father, but also proud of him.”
Grandpa White
Born “Keo Sar”, Sarin changed his name during the Khmer Rouge regime, although he later became known simply as Lok Ta Sar (Grandpa White) – a nod to his signature role: the Hindu deity Hanuman, who is represented as a white monkey.
The dramatic pre-Angkorian dance form involves masked characters performing episodes of the Reamker – the Khmer version of the Hindu epic Ramayana – while a director, speaking and singing in three distinct “voices”, narrates the play over music.
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According to Professor Aok Bunthoeun, vice dean of the Faculty of Choreographic Arts at the Royal University of Fine Arts, the theatre was practiced in palaces and pagodas for centuries, but only by one gender. 

“In the Royal Palace, it was said that officials would be jealous if male dancers were next to female dancers, so the male dancers of Lakhon Khol were relegated to pagodas,” he said. 
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 But this all changed in 1940 when Queen Sisowath Kossamak called Yit Sarin and three other boys from the Wat Svay Andet pagoda in Kandal to perform the Monkey Dance for three days at the Royal Palace. Delighted with the performance, she put the four under the tutelage of Royal Ballet master Mam Yan. However, all but Yit Sarin grew homesick and left the palace. 
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From that “revolutionary” moment, Bunthoeun said, the Royal Ballet became the first Lakhon Khol troupe with both men and women on stage, although the roles of men would be limited to monkey characters and “the hermit” in the Reamker. 
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Beyond establishing himself as a master of the art, teaching subsequent generations of dancers, Yit Sarin served as King Norodom Sihanouk’s personal assistant (or his Moha Tlik) during his quest for independence, for which he received several Royal Honours.

 

Thailand - Monastic council likely to make decision on defrocking Phra Dhammachayo today

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Monastic council likely to make decision on defrocking Phra Dhammachayo today

THE SANGHA Supreme Council (SSC) is expected to issue a resolution today regarding the controversial monk Phra Dhammachayo.
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The honorary abbot of Dhammakaya Temple is facing charges of money laundering and accepting stolen items. 

Although he has already been stripped of his high monastic rank, he has not been defrocked.
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 The Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), the Office of the Ombudsman and the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) yesterday submitted a complaint concerning Phra Dhammachayo to the National Buddhism Office (NBO), urging it to take action against the embattled monk. 

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Indonesia offers Lombok airport to Australia

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Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has said that the Indonesian government will offer an Australian company the opportunity to jointly manage Lombok International Airport in West Nusa Tenggara.

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The offer came after a meeting between Budi and Australian Regional Development, Regional Communications, and Local Government and Territories Minister Hon Fiona Nash on Thursday.

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"We are offering an airport operator in Australia the chance to jointly operate Lombok airport," Budi said. Currently, the Lombok International Airport is managed by state airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) I.

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 The airport has not yet been able to turn a profit and as such the minister hopes that the cooperation will increase traffic and spur further development of the airport.

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The meeting also highlighted possible cooperation between the two countries in tourism and aviation, especially in remote and border areas.

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The development of airports in border areas such as Rote Island and emerging tourist destination Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, were also discussed during the meeting.

Indonesia has invited private companies to take part in developing airports because of limited funds in the state budget.

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Australia mentioned the Christmas Island as well as an area in Brisbane as possible locations for collaboration in area development.

Fiona also welcomed the business talks between the two countries. "Certainly there are various ways to extend our opportunities in front of us," she said. (bbn)

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source: TheJakartaPost

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Thailand - Funeral of King Bhumibol 'planned for late October'

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 The funeral of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej will be in late October, according to the government spokesman. 

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A government committee overseeing the funeral arrangements had agreed at a meeting on March 1 that that the rites be held by late October, government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Wednesday.
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He said reports that the funeral would be held in late December were incorrect.
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It was reported that the Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn suggested the rites be scheduled for Dec 25-29 this year.
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The reports quoted the Prime Minister’s Office as saying the princess gave the advice during a meeting of the government panel overseeing the funeral of the late King.

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.Source; BangkokPost

Cambodia - Events call for equal rights

Activists and sex workers march in Phnom Penh yesterday to raise awareness of discrimination against sex workers ahead of International Women’s Day. United Sisterhood Alliance

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Human rights organisations called for an end to discrimination against women at a raft of events yesterday ahead of today’s International Women’s Day.
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The Women’s Network for Unity (WNU) organised a march that was joined by about 70 sex workers and women’s rights activists to raise awareness about sex workers’ lives and rights, strengthen solidarity and demand to be free from harm and violence.
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The half-hour march included women from different areas in Phnom Penh, many of whom carried red umbrellas – an international symbol for sex workers’ rights, according to Pech Polet, managing director of WNU. “What they are demanding is that sex work is [recognised as] work, and sex workers are humans. Sex workers’ rights are women’s rights,” she said.
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Discrimination against sex workers, she said “is getting worse and worse from day to day”, and the death of sex worker Pen Kunthea “still affects the sex workers today”. Kunthea drowned on January 1 while being chased by security guards in Phnom Penh’s riverside area.
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Boeung Kak lake activists, meanwhile, celebrated Women’s Rights Day yesterday near the Boeung Kak mosque, despite an order by the government not to do so.
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“We still did it because it is legal and we don’t do anything against the government,” activist Bov Sophea said.
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She said that more than 200 people came to “ask the government to respect human rights.” She said they also called on Prime Minister Hun Sen to release activist Tep Vanny as a “present” for International Women’s Day.
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At an event by the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, female rights activists – including cis- and transgender women – yesterday pointed to the obstacles they encountered when advocating for labour, environmental and land rights. Executive director Chak Sopheap said women were often perceived as “second-class citizens” under Cambodian social norms.
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“Domestic violence and abuse, the exclusion of women from leadership positions in business, politics and public life, and the widespread perceptions of women as being weaker than men, are all symptoms of the same heteropatriarchal system that still rules Cambodia.”
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Though “more and more women are taking up leadership positions, both in business and public life … more continue to be oppressed,” she said, pointing to imprisoned activists Vanny and Lim Mony, and drowned sex worker Kunthea as examples.
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Today, the Cambodian Food and Service Worker Federation (CFSWF) will hold a workers’ rights event that will highlight women’s rights issues at work, according to CFSWF vice president Ou Tepphallin.
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She said women faced multiple issues, including having to support their families and take care of their children and parents while also working. Moreover, she highlighted that women who worked at karaoke bars or in restaurants had to work until late at night. When going home, she said, “they are not feeling safe when they walk, so they need to run”, because some areas “are dangerous at night”.
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Speeches to highlight the importance of women were also held at the Senate, the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Social Affairs, CMAC and City Hall, where employees will have the day off today for the holiday. 

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Source: PhnomPenhPost