VIP Bodyguard beaten a truck driver

This is the ANIMAL bodyguard with violent savagery to the Khmer Peoples

This kind of activity has proved that Cambodia is still running by a group of mafia style people. These idiots with monies and wants to show off other people about their power by ignoring that this kind of actvities will bring into Cambodia more shames and more laughable. People from outside will consider that Cambodia is a farm of untrainable animals( behaviour of people who owned all these animal bodyguards ). -- Areak Prey

Phnom Penh city – The driver of a dirt hauling truck was beaten by men dressed in bodyguard uniform on 07 January. This incident took place along National Road 5, in front of the Petrol gas station, at the entrance to the Kob Srov dike, at 8:15 AM.

On the morning of the incident, a procession of cars led by a car blaring siren sound was seen in traffic, however, it is not known whom the car procession belonged to, whether a high-ranking official or a rich businessman. The procession came across a dirt hauling truck which was turning the corner, in the direction of the Kob Srov dike, but because of the heavy traffic in that area in the morning, the truck driver could not pull back to make way for an easy passage of the VIP car procession. Even though the VIP car procession, including the car blaring the siren sound, was able to pass the truck already, the last car in the procession loaded with bodyguards, pulled back and blocked the truck, and out came three bodyguards. One of them pointed at the truck driver, but no one can tell what they were saying at each other, nevertheless, the bodyguard was seen grabbing the truck door and opened it, and he pulled out an (AK-47) rifle to point at the driver, he then pulled out the driver and dropped him down to the ground, and proceeded to beat him up. The truck driver was lucky when he dodged the beating aimed at this head, but he was beaten on the back instead. After the beating, the bodyguards took off, and the truck diver hurried to climb back into the truck and took off to the Kob Srov dike direction.

The incident took place under the plain sight of hundreds of travelers and residents living nearby. Everybody was exasperated by the action taken by these bodyguards, some of the spectators even cursed them because they pitied the truck drivers.

This event took place on 07 January, a day when all Cambodian people were freed from the blood-soaked hands of the KR regime, however, for this particular truck driver, it is a day when he was beaten up instead. The morning spectacle led some of the spectators to become speechless when they witnessed such violent savagery.

Foreigners get 120 yrs jail in Cambodia drugs bust

Jan 11, 2008
AFP

PHNOM PENH - FOUR Chinese nationals and a Thai man arrested last year in Cambodia's largest-ever drugs bust have been jailed for a combined total of 120 years, a court official said on Friday.

The five were among 21 people seized in April, during a police raid on a massive drugs laboratory located on a plantation 50 kilometres from the capital Phnom Penh.

Police discovered two tonnes of chemicals used in the production of 'yaba', a cheap and potent methamphetamine widely used throughout Southeast Asia.

Another tonne of drug-making chemicals was later found in Phnom Penh.

The Thai, along with three Chinese men, were sentenced on Thursday to 25 years each, Judge Iv Kimsry said, adding that a Chinese woman was jailed for 20 years.

A sixth suspect who has fled to Thailand was jailed in absentia for life, he said.

'The court found them guilty for involvement in illegal drug production,' the Judge said. 'It's the largest drug trial ever seen in Cambodia.'

Fourteen Cambodians also arrested at the scene were acquitted after the court determined that they had been tricked into thinking they were employed to spray chemicals on farmland, Judge Iv Kimsry said.

April's bust was the first evidence of large-scale drugs production in Cambodia, which is an increasingly popular trafficking point for narcotics after neighbouring Thailand toughened its stance on illegal drugs in 2002.

City welcomes Viet Kieu for Tet

11/01/2008
VietNamNet

Bridge – The HCM City People’s Committee has assigned the HCM City Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs to design programs to welcome Viet Kieu returning to Vietnam for Tet in late January and early February 2008.

Welcoming receptions will be organized at the Tan Son Nhat Airport from January 8 to February 16. The airport’s terminal has the motif of a traditional Tet festival. Volunteers will be posted at the airport to help the overseas Vietnamese when they arrive.

On February 18-19, the HCM City Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs and Vietnamese Embassies in Cambodia, the Vietnamese Association in Cambodia and HCM City’s Youth Union will pay visits and present gifts to disadvantaged Vietnamese in Cambodia for the occasion of the lunar new year.

A meeting with overseas Vietnamese will be held on January 29 at 111 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, District 3; participants will include HCM City’s senior officials and around 600 Viet Kieu.

The Overseas Vietnamese Liaison Association and the Overseas Vietnamese Business Association will organize a meeting with overseas Vietnamese to welcome the Tet festival on January 24 at the Phu Tho Sports Club.

(Source: Tien Phong)

Invading tourists force Cambodian school to rope off classrooms

11.01.08 07:34
DPA

A Cambodian-based not-for-profit educational charity has cooperated with students at a school near an ancient temple to stop foreign tourists wandering through their classes.

British-registered Schools for Children of Cambodia (SCC) posted the advisory on its website this week, saying it had roped off classrooms "to keep tourists from wandering on campus, photographing (the children) in class, and disrupting their education." "The school stands within 100 metres of the entrance to the 9th-century Lolei temple ruins, which attract hundreds of visitors each day," SCC general manager for Cambodia, Andrea Messmer, said in a statement.

Lolei Primary School's position at the edge of the famous Angkor Wat temple complex in the northern province of Siem Reap, about 400 kilometres from the capital, means it is prohibited by royal decree from erecting any permanent structure to control curious travelers, or potential sexual predators posing as tourists.

"While some tourists enter the school grounds to use the toilets ... others enter to get a glimpse of everyday Cambodian life," Messmer wrote.

Two Cambodian men vapourised by anti-tank mine

Fri, 11 Jan 2008
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Two Cambodian farmers were vapourised by an anti-tank mine they accidentally triggered while cutting bamboo, police said Friday. Nuth Veat, 43, and Mour Koy, 41, died instantly along with the two cattle they were using to pull their cart, Kamreang district police chief in the north-eastern province of Battambang, Cheam Kimhong said by telephone.

"There was not much left. The bodies of the people and the animals were obliterated and turned to rain. We can tell what is what from clothes alone," he said.

He said Wednesday's tragedy was followed within 24 hours by another landmine explosion nearby which left one man dead and three injured after they played with the mine and detonated it.

The Cambodian Mine Action Center said the number of deaths and injuries in Cambodia from landmines and unexploded ordinance last year fell to 339 from 450 in 2006 but provinces like Battambang, which saw heavy fighting during the 30-year civil war, still suffer a rate higher than the national average.

Hun Sen: Defectors Are Not Turncoats

By Mean Veasna,
VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
10 January 2008

Listen Mean Veasna reports in Khmer

Prime Minister Hun Sen told a group of government officials Thursday that defectors from the royalist party to the ruling party should not be considered turncoats.

Addressing a group of Funcinpec officials at an agricultural development meeting, Hun Sen said members of any political party had the legal right to move to another without being branded traitorous.

"He said, firstly, don't use the word 'submission' for those who defected from Funcinpec to the CPP. It's not right," said government spokesman Khieu Kanharith. "And, secondly, don't use the word 'turncoat' either. It is neither submission nor turncoat, because it is their political right to do so."

Funcinpec is the parliamentary partner of the ruling Cambodian People's Party, though its influence has steadily declined since it was a viable rival in the late 1990s.

"Actually, some people are former politicians in the CPP, and we'd just appointed them, so the majority are now going back to their party," said Funcinpec Secretary-General Nhiek Bun Chhay. "That's why some people just said those politicians are traitors. This point is not right either, because they are going back to where they once belonged."

Some Funcinpec officials have steadily moved their allegiance to the CPP and other parties following a sound defeat of royalist representatives in local elections in April 2007.

Forced Evictions Highlights Hazards of Urban Development

By Sok Khemara,
VOA Khmer Washington
10 January 2008

Listen Sok Khemara hosts 'Hello VOA' in Khmer

Recent clashes between residents of a Phnom Penh shanty neighborhood and a local construction company, along with the torching of the company's truck Tuesday, highlight some of the uncertainty Cambodia's urban poor live under.

More than 100 families are facing persecution and intimidation from city authorities and private business interests in the Red Earth neighborhood of Tonle Bassac commune, Chamkarmon district, said Am Samath, a monitor for the rights group Licadho.

The area is slated for development and the residents have been ordered to leave, leading to several clashes in recent weeks.

At least six people have been charged following a rock-throwing exchange on Tuesday, as residents worried the 7NG company from tearing down their homes, Am Samath said. At least one person was in Prey Sar prison as a result of clashes, which also led to the burning of a truck, he said, speaking as a guest Thursday on "Hello VOA."

Company officials have said they are caught between a city policy to move the people and the people's resistance to moving.

"We want only peaceful resolution and proper compensation," said Chan Vichet, a village representative who was also a guest on Thursday's show. "We do not want intimidation or problems."

He appealed to Prime Minister Hun Sen to help the residents find a "reasonable exchange."
Since the truck was lighted on fire, said Loa Seyha, another resident on the show, parents have not allowed their children to go to school.

"We fear [authorities] will remove our homes," Loa Seyha said.

In 2005, 1,200 families were similarly removed from a Dankao District development site, and have since faced daily challenges far from city services, schools or jobs. Even now, the families have only informal land certificates, leading to worries they could be moved again.

The residents of the Red Earth neighborhood say they fear the same fate.

Samlot Residents Report Widespread Illegal Logging

By Chiep Mony,
VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
10 January 2008

Listen Chiep Mony reports in Khmer

Environment Ministry and military officials in a former Khmer Rouge stronghold are stripping the forests of luxury hardwood, a local official told VOA Khmer Thursday.

Government forces are giving logging businesses free rein to strip the forests in Samlot district, Battambang province, the official, who asked not to be identified, said.

"Those involved in the luxury wood trade are high-ranking officials, those at the border, those soldiers, police and military police and their networks," said the local official. "They allow traders to do their business with no arrests. They are paid."

Cambodia has seen relentless logging of its pristine forests over the years. Much of the money goes to a small circle of politicians and business owners with close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen, a report by the monitoring group Global Witness says.

A Samlot official Thursday denied allegations illegal loggers were operating in his area.

"If I said no, you would not believe me," said Samlot District Chief Hem Sophal. "So you don't have to believe either me or the informants, you'd better come and see for yourself with your own eyes."

Interactive travel show to hit Cambodia next week

Big News Network.com
Thursday 10th January, 2008

Alex Boylan winner of the "Amazing Race" will be in Cambodia next week. Want to explore the remote wilds of Kruger National Park, South Africa and Arusha, Tanzania without having to leave the comforts of your own home? Around The World Productions provides a multiplatform interactive reality travel show, "Around The World For Free," that allows you to do just that.

The show follows the travel adventures of Boylan as he circumnavigates the globe without a cent in his pocket.

The Internet fan community and the strangers that Boylan meets along the way are able to dictate the outcome of the show. Boylan says, "It is an honor to be welcomed into a complete stranger's home and treated as a member of their family where I can experience and learn about other people's culture. It makes me want to seek out new locations, new stories and new experiences to share with the Around The World For Free community."

In three months alone, the Internet fan community at www.aroundtheworldforfree.com has seen a wide variety of countries and people. In Peru, viewers travelled alongside Boylan as he arrived at the ruins of Macchu Picchu, where they were able to marvel at this natural wonder. While in Chile, they walked alongside him as he trekked and got lost in the Atacama Desert, the driest desert on earth, bordering Bolivia and Peru. In contrast, they got entangled in the rugged Kruger National Park in South Africa where they went on a ,safari with Boylan and met rhinos, hippos, black mambas and enjoyed the passing parade of wildlife.

Other features of the portfolio have included parasailing, rafting, surfing, 4 wheeling, walking through the jungle, working at a winery, working on a banana farm, and working as a camp counsellor.

New ASEAN Secretary-General Expects to Have an ASEAN Human Rights Organization

Phnom Penh: The new ASEAN Secretary-General, who has just taken up this position, expressed optimism that the ASEAN countries will join to create an ASEAN human rights organization as an important instrument to promote human rights in the region.

“Mr. Surin Pitswuan, the former Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs, who just took up the position of ASEAN Secretary-General in early January 2008, said that he believes ASEAN will have its human rights organization in five years, while the process for its creation has already started.

“He went on to say, ‘ASEAN will have an human rights organization.’ He added, ‘ASEAN government leaders have already announced the creation of this organization in a joint statement, and this is a positive process.’

His speech was quoted by the Antara News Agency of Indonesia after he had said so at a press conference this Monday.

“Ms. Seng Theary, the President of the Center for Social Development, a non-government organization in Cambodia, told Rasmei Kampuchea that she welcomes the creation of such an organization.

The president of the Center for Social Development added that this will be an important contribution to promote human rights in the ten member countries of ASEAN.

“At a conference of ASEAN ministers in 2007 in the Philippines, the ten ASEAN countries, including Myanmar (Burma) which previously had opposed this creation, now it also expressed its support for the creation of an ASEAN human rights organization.

“It should be stated that Samdech Akak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, expressed full support for the initiative when Cambodia was in the chair of an unofficial ASEAN conference on the creation of an ASEAN human rights organization, in 2007 in Siem Reap.

Samdech Akak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen hinted that Cambodia is also on the way to create a national organization for human rights.” Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4484, 9.1.2008

Publisher Urges Municipal Court to Demand $20,000 from Radio Free Asia

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 542

Phnom Penh: Mr. Bernard Krisher, the publisher of The Cambodia Daily, said on 6 January 2008 that he explained to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on 25 December 2007 his lawsuit against Radio Free Asia [RFA] demanding approximately US$20,000 compensation, because RFA copied all pieces of information from them, The Cambodia Daily for more than ten years.

“During October 2007, Mr. Kem Sos, the President of the Khmer service of RFA, gave explanations to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court regarding the lawsuit of The Cambodia Daily.

Mr. Kem Sos made no comment when Koh Santepheap contacted him by phone, but he passed questions on to his lawyer to answer instead of him, but also the lawyer did not make any comment.

“Mr. Bernard Krisher added that for two years, RFA had copied and faxed all pieces of information from The Cambodia Daily from Phnom Penh to Bangkok, and then they sent it to the United States.

He affirmed, ‘We will not allow this, no matter how much would be paid, because it is a violation of copyright legislation of the country.

They can quote some pieces of information but not all – for example for teaching students.’ “A RFA staff member, who asked that his name should not to be mentioned, said that as far as he knows, this issue had already been settled between the leaders of the two institutions.

The same staff member said that the lawsuit might have already been finished. “However, a RFA staff member had said that some issues were to be decided by the [RFA] leaders in Washington, USA. “Mr. Bernard Krisher went on to say, ‘We want the court to demand the money from RFA to be paid into our account. Then we will use that money to help poor people, such as by constructing school buildings in Kandal etc.’

He continued to say that when he was explaining the issue to the court, the court required him to give them the name and the address of the president of RFA, and he gave this information already to the court. “

Mr. Bernard Krisher added, ‘According to law, they cannot copy all pieces of information from The Cambodia Daily; previously they had acknowledged that they were guilty and they said they would not commit the offense any longer, but later on they did the same.’

He continued that during the first two years, he wrote to Mr. Kem Sos about this issue and there was an apology at that time, but after that, they said that they were not guilty concerning this issue.

Therefore, Mr. Bernard Krisher decided to file a complaint to the court, asking for help to find justice.

“The publisher of The Cambodia Daily affirmed that previously, the Sam Rainsy Party had copied whole articles and posted them on their homepage, but he wrote to them and then they paid $2,000 and promised not to continue to do what they had done any longer.

He continued that also the United Nations Development Program used to do the same, but they paid US$5,000. ‘We do not prohibit to quote from the content for publication, but not the whole content.” Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6239, 8.1.2008

Near Anniversary of Leader's Murder, Union Calls for Mass Rally Over Salaries

By Heng Reaksmey,

VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
10 January 2008

Listen Heng Reaksmey reports in Khmer

A trade union in Cambodia is seeking government permission to hold a massive rally Jan. 25 over workers' salaries and the rising cost of living in Cambodia.

Chea Mony, brother of slain union leader Chea Vichea and president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, told VOA Khmer he was seeking permission to gather 100,000 workers.

The proposed rally would come just three days after the fourth anniversary of the murder of Chea Vichea, which sparked widespread worker unrest.

Cambodia earns much of its foreign revenue from garment factories, and unions continually clash with authorities over their rights.

Chea Vichea was murdered Jan. 22, 2004.

In two separate letters, to Minister of Education Kol Pheng and Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema, Chea Mony requested permission to rally 100,000 workers from 180 factories near Olympic Stadium.

"If the wage is still low while inflation keeps increasing, and the garment factory associations have shown the increase in products in both 2006 and 2007—up to 12 percent—we'd like them to use those profits to increase the salaries of the workers," Chea Mony said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hun Sen told the Cambodian Union Federation in a letter Thursday the government's response to inflation could be to raise the minimum wage to $72 per month, while their living expenses are only $30 per month.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Union Federation, called the response "an excuse and temporary answer to avoid dealing with the problems, while inflation is worsening."

Rubber group to expand plantation in Cambodia

Mathaba News Agency
Asia Economy
2008/01/10

Phnom Penh (VNA) – Four subsidiaries of the Viet Nam Rubber Group (VRG) will plant a combined acreage of 4,100 ha of rubber in Cambodia this year.

The plan was announced at a conference of the VRG held in Phnom Penh on January 9 to discuss measures to speed up rubber cultivation in Cambodia under an agreement between the two governments.

So far, six companies under the VRG have been allocated over 22,000 ha of land in Cambodia to grow rubber trees.

Of them, Phu Rieng and Tan Binh companies have so far put 270 ha under rubber trees, generating many jobs for local people. However, the companies complained of the costly land reclamation due to poor soil, a lack of skilled workers, materials and machines and hindrances from import procedures.

Participants agreed on several measures to accelerate the planting, including looking for local supply of materials and equipment and training local labourers.

Thailand considers lending US$41 mn to Cambodia

BANGKOK, Jan 10 (TNA) – Thailand is considering giving financial assistance to the neighbouring country of Cambodia for the development of roads in that country, according to Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanond.

Gen. Surayud on Thursday presided over the first meeting in 2008 of Thailand's committee on neighbouring countries development cooperation at Government House.

He said after the meeting that the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) had earlier proposed many cooperation projects between Thailand and its neighbouring countries including construction of roads and bridges, cargo transportation and arms maintenance projects.

The committee agreed to forge ahead with a plan to lend Bt1.4 billion(US$41 million) to Cambodia to build a 100 km road from the Chongjom border pass in the Thai border province of Surin to Cambodia.

The projects will be submitted to the cabinet for approval at its next meeting, he said. (TNA)-E003

Trabant Team Tackles Two Continents, 320 Breakdowns

The four Trabi travellers who made it to Phnom Penh posed Tuesday with two of their vehicles. From left to right: John Drury, Daniel Murdoch, Lovejoy, and Anthony Perez.

Trabi drives past the Palace of the Republic, the former seat of the East German parliament, in Berlin in this 2006 file photo. The Trabant, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, is much maligned for its poor construction and shoddy performance -- it is made mostly of plastic, and is capable of a top speed of around 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour. Nevertheless, Trabis are a pop culture icon in Germany.

A team of ambitious young travellers have driven a fleet of three Trabants, the infamous East German autos, from Germany to Phnom Penh as a fundraiser for Cambodian street children. The 16,100 mile journey spanned 21 countries -- and 320 breakdowns.

A team of intrepid young travellers arrived in the Cambodian capital this week to cap off a fundraising campaign that sounds as unlikely as their method of transport -- a fleet of East German-made Trabant cars.

John Lovejoy, a 27 year-old American, came up with the idea to drive Trabis from Europe to Cambodia in 2006 after buying one of the infamous Soviet-era autos in Hungary for $60 (€41). He promoted the so-called "Trabant Trek" as a fundraiser for street children in Cambodia, and set an ambitious goal to raise $300,000 (€204,000).

The four-person team that he led into Phnom Penh Monday piloted three jury-rigged Trabis all the way from Germany. The six-month journey took them 16,100 miles (26,000 kilometers) across 21 countries.

Eight people started the trip last July, but four dropped out along the way as the team struggled to coax the three Trabis -- named Dante's Inferno, Ziggy Stardust, and Fez -- across two continents.

The dauntless travellers endured more than 320 breakdowns. On some days, said Lovejoy, the finicky Trabis would need to be repaired 10 times. Only two of the vehicles made it to Phnom Penh.

Despite being much maligned for their shoddy construction -- the cars are made mostly of plastic and have a top speed of around 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour -- Trabants are an icon of German popular culture. Trabiphiles celebrated 50 years of the cult car (more...) in 2007 -- the first Trabant rolled off the assembly line in the East German town of Zwickau on Nov. 7, 1957.

Lovejoy's Traban Trek was a fundraiser for two charities, Mith Samlanh and M'Lop Tapang, both of which work with homeless children in Cambodia.

"We're passionate about this cause and knew we'd have to take an unusual spin on traditional fundraising tactics to really get the word out," Lovejoy told the Associated Press. He said the team had raised $16,000 (€10,880) as of Wednesday -- slightly more than 5 percent of the original target.