Starting off, here's a fascinating story of what happened after Cambodian tribes emerged from the jungle years after vanishing into the bush in efforts to escape Vietnamese soldiers twenty-five years ago.

Lied to by the Khmer Rouge, terrified of the Vietnamese, these people were welcomed back into the fold when they first appeared, but found themselves soon forgotten.

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees helped with housing and everyone got a medical screening. Mr Kamon says he built his one-room wooden house in Krala village with $A380 given to him by a European magazine for an interview.

But the media caravan moved on, and there was no more assistance from provincial authorities. Mr Kamon and his family were left to find their own feet.

Chung Ravuth, the UNHCR's senior field officer in Phnom Penh, says the families were given rice and housing, "but we only gave once. We don't have a program for them any more, they were welcomed by their local community. There is no ongoing special assistance, they were provided land by their local communities."

All in all, however, they seem happy enough to be back in the world.

And speaking of the world that is Cambodia, things are gearing up for this year's round of commune elections, and there will be no shortage of participants. The National Election Council has announced that 102,266 candidates from twelve parties will be running.

A visit from the Cambodian Ghost of Politicians Past, Lon Nol's son is trying to drum up support for a new party.

The Khmer Republican Party was formed two years ago by Khmer living in the US, and party spokesman, Narong Chuon says there need for another voice ... although it's a bit hard to tell from this article what that voice is trying to say:

CHUON: In 1993, we have many, many diplomatic parties in Cambodia for bringing the freedom and justice in Cambodia. So all that party do not bring the freedom, justice and the human right for ......? in many, many country saying that we have create the new party for helping the Cambodian people now, because the many, many people live in the rural are poor.

HILL: But there is a lot of competition for the Khmer Republicans. Over 20 other political parties are competing for seats in this year's commune elections and next year's national elections. The Khmer Republican Party has not yet officially started campaigning for the elections and Narong Chuon is reluctant to give details about how the party will try to overcome the competition.

CHUON: According to this problems we want to tell the people in the countryside, we not say We want to bring a new activity in Cambodia, not bring in the past.

Hopefully, it makes more sense in Khmer.

Continued ...