Australia, Cambodia

In 1996 and 1997 I taught English at Cambodian Association of Victoria.

I remember it as a pleasant place to work, with some dedicated staff. At the time Jeff Kennett was in power, Pauline Hanson was condemning immigrants, and Springvale, Victoria was touted as ‘Heroin City’ by the Herald-Sun. It seemed pretty tame to me.

Now it seems that the Association is in the news again – this time

relating to politics. I don’t know about the veracity of the allegations,

I think time will tell the truth.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/19/1066502077090.html http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/19/1066502077087.html

http://www.theage.com.au/media/2003/10/19/1066502077632.html

The Cambodian community in Australia is pretty cohesive compared to the USA, but it has many challenges like refugee populations the world over. Here is hoping things will resolve themselves in a way that is conductive to helping transparency and local participation in the political process.