European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 24, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                They re twisting again in phenom penh Cambodia returns to being merely abnormal by Paul Wedel United press International it was saturday night on the lop Ito or of the Monogram Hole in downtown phenom penh and tearoom was racking As the National radio band knocked out let s Tivisa again the 1965 Chubby checker hit Marc than a Hundred Young people. Inc City s clinic. Sipped imported vietnamese Beer or danced to the music As 3 policeman blood at i to door his Cap soil cod with Iho Rod and Gold Symbol of the ancient angkor Wai ruins. Cambodia s 12th Century National heritage the right people officials and their families Small businessmen and cambodians working with the International Aid organizations were frisked Lor weapons and Lei in of hours without connections were kept out. Oul Sido on the dark is reels where pigs rambled at Wil amid he garbage vietnamese troops and their cambodian allies manned chock polls and patrolled the capital. Nine years after the vietnamese overthrew the Radical China backed regime of communist Leader pol pot and put a pro Hanoi government in Power the City has been repopulated and Street Commerce resumed. Along Wilh the surrounding Countryside the capital is returning to merely abnormal a dispirited Down at the Heets remnant of a peaceful and Graceful past. Still phenom penh today is a dramatic reversal of the Khmer Rouge years of 1975-1978, when pol pot and his nearly faceless organization of puritanical super communists emptied the City and spent the three years trying o drag the nation Back into a pre Indus Lariat life. Private property was virtually abolished. The National Bank was destroyed and Bank note used for cooking tires the Khmer Rouge harshly organized living and working into communes and Shalle de family Unity by encouraging children to spy on their parents. Today the capital s markets Are Well stocked Wilh consumer goods from Singapore and Thailand and japanese motorbikes Are a Standard Means of transport. A soviet built ground Lalion has brought television into the country. On the Island of Koh Kong. 15 Miles Southeast of Thailand and in the port town of Kampong som Bolh pipelines for imports there is a building Boom with substantial Brick houses under construction that Are clearly beyond the reach of the official salaries which barely can provide necessities. Marxism is not simply a theory remarked a provincial official in Takeo. Explaining Why the vietnamese backed cambodian government was no longer organizing the Rural Economy along strict ideological lines. Ii must conform to the reality in each  the vib Trueie traditionally objects of cambodian suspicion if not hatred have been cautious in imposing marxist orthodoxy. Instead they have tried to build on the average cambodian s gratitude for expelling the Khmer Rouge who had murdered or starved to death untold millions of people. Afler the liberation the rebuilding of the parly was the most urgent most important and most difficult task we Tiad to face prime minister Hun sen said in an interview. From less than 200 members when the vietnamese arrived in 1979, the party has grown to More than 10.000 under the direction of Hanoi officials Sard i Don t Trust this government said an English speaking technician working for the government but so far comparison with the Khmer Rouge they have been pretty Good " Page 14 the stars and stripes the government still does t feel Strong enough to push hard on communism explained a foreign observer in it Nom penh. They pay lip service to ideology. At least Lor now Hoy have to to pragmatic to win popular  added in International official the typical pattern is one member of Iho family works in he government for the Rice ration and the political pull while another works in some private business to make real Money while party ranks fatten however party officials worry about the members commitment and Quality. A Lei of people use party meetings to catch up on their  said one Young official. Officially All the nation s Farmers Are organized into Samaski or Solidarity groups self help organizations of 10-15 famines. The government has plans to further organize them upward into communes known As Nanakorn. Starling in 1930. But in is wary and says in will Lei the people themselves decide if they want them. We hardly dare use the word  said Chea Kong a provincial official because pol pol used this word for his work  Western reporters Are accompanied by an official interpreter and restricted to relatively secure areas of the Countryside bul people appear to talk freely and even venture mild complaints most of which concern a Lack of irrigation and government help to Farmers. Those concerns have been heightened by a drought that threatens serious food shortages. The agriculture ministry estimated that the Harvest would fall 270,000 tons of Rice Short of what was needed to feed the fast growing population of about 7 million. Malnutrition among children is already a devastating problem according to or  Samedy. President of the cambodian red Cross it Breaks your heart to see children 6 years old who weigh Only 12 pounds he said. Malnutrition is complicated by bad sanitation. A private Western Aid Agency is working to improve the water system that health of facials hold responsible for much of the disease in phenom penh. You can improve water treatment quite a bit but the distribution system is so full of holes that Quality goes Down sharply before in reaches the people one Aid official said in some places cily residents have sunk heir own Wells straight into City water Mains. The government has turned a Blind Eye to More grandiose opportunism. Much of the capital s merchandise Lor example is openly imported by thai merchants through the government wharf on Koh Kong. Dealing in Gold and foreign currency is Ess open bul a foreign visitor hears frequent whispered otters of Black Market Rales for  dollars four limes the official Rale of 30 riels per Dollar. Most Street traffic comes to a Sharp halt at 9 p m., when the curfew begins. Even though the rebels Are More an annoyance than a threat to the capita there have been a number of recent injuries attributed to Small plastic anti personnel mines around the City. None of which seems to curtail saturday night s Posl curfew revelry Al the government owned Monogram hotel. The Young cambodians who pay the equivalent of about $4 for a Billle of Vietnam s "33" Brand Beer twist. Boogie or Glide through the paces of the Graceful cambodian dance the ram atop As the band plays on there Are All kinds of people Here said one English speaking dancer of Licals and their families traders people who work Wilh International Aid organizations " but what about the curfew if you have the influence or the Money to gel in. Then you Don t have to worry about the Curlew " make believe by James Popkin United press International a Salesman and weekend guerrilla Humberto Alvarado was instructing his troops in one of the liner Points of hand to hand combat when a plane buzzed overhead. Hit the deck Alvarado shouted in Spanish sending his men lunging for cover. The plane it turned out was a commercial Airliner minding its own business. Bul no matter this is Camp Oliver North a land of make believe warfare in new Jersey where Sticks substitute Lor rifles and imaginary communists Lurk behind every other Iree. Located on a 30-acre farm the Camp is the secret training ground of brigade one a group of latin american expatriates and anti communists who live in Mew Jersey. New York City and Connecticut. United by political conviction and. In some cases desire to return to their native Nicaragua Cuba Honduras or other latin american nations these Lacter workers truck Drivers and electrical engineers have come to the Camp each weekend since May to prepare their minds and bodies for the Rigours of War. Brigade one leaders concede they Are not formally affiliated with in contras seeking to overthrow the sandinista government Nicaragua but they claim contacts Wilh individual Contra leaders in Nicaragua Border areas and say they already have sent a handful of graduates to the Region the current brigade members Hope to be contras themselves someday death to the sandinistas1 Don t leave one behind 10 camouflaged members of the troop shouted in unison while pillaging a mock san Misla Camp and quickly retreating to a dense new Jersey Forest saturday. Ouli