In 2001, the famous Hollywood actress, Angelina Jolie,  visited Cambodia whilst she was featuring in her latest box-office film, Tomb Raider.  Whilst in Cambodia, Angelina fell in love with a seven month old baby.  A year later, Angelina returned and officially adopted a baby named Maddox. Angelina has since admitted that she had no desire to have children before meeting Maddox, and meeting with the children at a school in Cambodia. Angelina is now a mother of six, with three of her children having been adopted. read more

Have you ever been to Borobudur during Waisak? Or went to Thailand and saw a lot of shops which provide the needs of the monks? Usually you need to provide extra money in your wallet.

Yes, the religion rituals and cultural tradition now have been used by the business people to get bigger profit under the pretext of culture-based tourism. Several places of religion rituals implement a system of admission, or the use of religious attributes that require us to pay the rent. In addition, the economic effects also be felt by its surroundings, like foods business and parking. These are what commonly called commodifications, which come from the words commodity and modification. Most of the experts in contemporary usage, define commodities as any goods or services associated with capitalist production and can be found as a result of the growth of capitalism, this is the inheritance of Karl Marx and the early political economy (Appadurai, 1986). Along with Karl Marx, Greenwood (1977) also stated that everything that is sold is assumed as a commodity, including culture. Modification means changing. If it merged with the meaning of commodity, commodification means changing a stuff to become economical commodity.  Shepherd (2002) stated that along with the increasing demand of tourism, commodification of culture cannot be avoided because the tourists want to feel different cultural experience as theirs. The debate is warmly discussed by the public and cultural and religion observers. read more