Hun Sen: report released by “The Economist” aims at repelling investors

Ka-set

By Ros Dina
07-04-2009

Cambodian prime Minister Hun Sen once again reacted strongly to the alarmist conclusions released in a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) , a branch of the British group The Economist, according to which Cambodia is amongst countries at high risk of political instability due to the global economic crisis.

Released at the end of March, the report ranks Cambodia fourth among countries where risks of social insurrection and political instability are at their highest after Zimbabwe, Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at the same level as Sudan but before Iraq, Haiti, Pakistan and Afghanistan.


The government already denounced the “political orientation” of the report, and Hun Sen quoted that very argument in his opening speech for the Fifth Asia Economic Forum (AEF) on Monday April 6th in Phnom Penh. “[This report] is a political attempt to stop flows on investments [in Cambodia], since here, we still manage to attract foreign investors”, he denounced.

According to the prime Minister, “no project” was withdrawn by investors. And he gave as evidence the “current” building of hydroelectric power plants which is “gaining pace” with the cooperation of China. Hun Sen also said he recently met a delegation of American investors working in countries which are part of the ASEAN, who allegedly said they were “ready to come and do business in Cambodia”.


For the head of government, Cambodia is not at risk of suffering a political crisis because of famine, as feared by economists at the EIU. If those experts mean this, it is because they “were wearing glasses with a prescription too strong for their eyes”, he said ironically. The risk of scarcity is small, the prime Minister added, since , on the contrary, the country is faced with crisis in rice exports as important stocks have not been sold abroad yet.

Hun Sen then urged the Cambodian population to rally and evade pessimistic predictions made by the economists. The head of Government prided himself on the fact that “In 2005, we forecast a growth rate for the economy situated between 1.6% and 2.4% in Cambodia. But we managed to climb all the way up to 13.3% and for five consecutive years, the country’s rate for economic growth reached an average of 10.4%”.

Predictions released by the main regional and international institutions for 2009 were recently revised downwards; especially those published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which now fears recession might befall Cambodia. The IMF bet on a -0.5% negative growth rate. At the Asian Development Bank (ADB), experts reckon for their part that the growth rate of the Cambodian GDP will be around 2.5%.

Besides, the Prime Minister also stressed that the Council of Ministers adopted on Friday April 3 a bill for the rectification of the 2009 Budget Law, intended for the support of agriculture along three lines: short-term loans to buy producers some rice at a reasonable price and ensure food security and the stability of prices; medium-term loans for companies in charge of transforming rice, in order to reinforce capacity for storage and drying; finally, medium and long-term loans with a view to support investments relating to the transformation of agricultural produce, to fulfil local needs and exports.

In a mission conclusion released in early March, the IMF advised the Cambodian government to allow budget deficit to rise around 4.75% and inject some 500 million US dollars in support of national economy. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy also put forward the idea of a stimulus plan, as several dozens of garment manufacturing factories closed down in the country and more than 50,000 workers were left jobless.

Army won't send more troops to temple area

Forces will be rotated, tensions ease after talks

Bangkok Post
Published: 7/04/2009

Newspaper section: NewsThe army will not be deploying more troops in the disputed border area in and around the Preah Vihear temple despite the clashes last week with Cambodia, Second Army commander Wiboonsak Neepal says.

Lt Gen Wiboonsak yesterday said instead of pouring in reinforcements, the army would rotate its forces to bring in fresh legs.

The rotation is necessary if morale and confidence is to be boosted in the area which was the scene of last week's clashes.

Tensions look to have eased after talks on Sunday between Suranaree Task Force commander Kanok Netrakawesan and Maj Gen Srey Doek, head of Cambodia's military division 3.

The two generals arm wrestled after their talks to ease tensions between the two armies.

Maj Gen Kanok said the two countries had no plan to withdraw their troops from the area, so the possibility of future confrontation could never be ruled out.

Nothing could be taken for granted no matter how disciplined the soldiers, he said.

Two Thai troops and two Cambodians were killed in the fighting on Friday. Another 10 Thai troops were injured, one seriously. The clashes took place in a 4.6 sq km area claimed by the two sides.

Thailand claims the area is in Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket, while Cambodia insists it is in Preah Vihear province.

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon will hold talks with his Cambodian counterpart Tea Banh aimed at preventing more clashes at the general border committee meeting in Siem Reap on April 27-28, an army source said.

The two neighbours have also started joint boundary commission talks in Phnom Penh aimed at resolving competing claims surrounding the Preah Vihear temple.

"The incidents that have happened show that the border issue needs to be resolved very quickly in order to avoid more incidents," Var Kim Hong told reporters before the talks.

Var Kim Hong co-chairs the committee with Thailand's Vasin Teravechyan.

The last meeting of the JBC ended in February with the two sides failing to reach an agreement on any of the key points, including the spelling of Preah Vihear in official documents.

Cambodia insists on using Preah Vihear while Thailand wants to refer to it as both Preah Vihear and Phra Viharn.

The World Court in 1962 gave ownership of the ruins of the Hindu temple to Cambodia, but tensions flared last July when the cliff-top structure was awarded United Nations World Heritage status. BANGKOK POST AND AFP

Vietnamese doctors receive Cambodian decoration

VOV News

Nine Vietnamese military doctors and a businessman were awarded the Friendship Order by the Cambodian Royal Government for their help to poor patients in Cambodia.

The Cambodian government conferred the Friendship Order, Senna class, to Nguyen Phuc Quoc, Nguyen Van Binh and Nguyen Van Hoang Dao from the Military Hospital 175 and Tran Thi Phuong Thu from Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital, at a ceremony in Phnom Penh on April 5.

It also presented six Friendship Orders, Assarat class, to other doctors from the two hospitals and Le Hong Lam, Director of the Vietnam Development Co. Ltd, which was a major donor for humanitarian healthcare activities in Cambodia.

Since 2007, the Military Hospital 175 and Ho Chi Minh City Eye Hospital of Vietnam have sent several doctor groups to Cambodia to provide healthcare checks-up and treatment to Cambodian poor patients, under their cooperation with the Preah Kat Mealea Military Hospital of Cambodia.

The programme has so far brought light to over 700 eye patients and provided medicine and treatment to almost 1,000 others.

On April 3 and 4, doctors from the two Vietnamese hospitals provided health checks-up and medicine to 300 local people and eye surgeries to 134 others.

VNA/VOVNews

The Waters Of Life: On The Road In Cambodia

Monday April 6, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff

There are a lot of differences between a place like Canada and Cambodia. But one thing both countries have in common is the need for clean drinking water. We're lucky enough to have that precious commodity. They don't always have that luxury.

CityNews anchor Gord Martineau is on the road with southern Ontario's Global Medic, helping to bring that liquid asset to a place that might otherwise never have it. See his report below.

Beyond Angkor Wat: Cambodia's Hidden Beaches

Serendipity Beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
Anders Blomqvist / Getty

TIME

By Jeninne Lee-St. John

Most visits to Cambodia begin with the ancient temples of Angkor Wat or the Khmer Rouge's infamous killing fields just outside Phnom Penh. I'm not saying they're not worth seeing, but on our recent 10-day journey through Cambodia, we visited neither. My husband had already hiked Angkor Wat a couple of months back and, frankly, it just felt too depressing to center an entire vacation around mass murder. So we headed instead to southwestern Cambodia, to the developing coastline, in search of waterfalls and beaches. And we found the people there were just as welcoming as the landscape.

We flew into Phnom Penh International Airport and took a tuk-tuk (a motorized rickshaw) into town. It was a $5, 45-minute, open-air trip on the highway, which probably did bad things to our lungs but helped ease my motion-sickness from our wobbly descent into the airport. It also gave us a nice visual primer of the capital, which we were using only as a way station. Looking back, I would have liked at least another day in Phnom Penh to take in the culture — the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, for example — and the laid-back, late-going bar scene. As it was, we had time only for dinner at the Foreign Correspondents' Club (363 Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh; +855-23-210-142), where we also stayed the night, and to hit up a couple of bars, including Love Orange — a disco packed with teenagers cheering on the drag-queen-lip-synching show.

The next day, it was on to Koh Kong, a coastal frontier town on the Thai border, which until a couple of years ago was best accessed by boat. It is separated from the rest of Cambodia by the Cardamom Mountain range, a dense forest that houses endangered species like the Indochinese tiger and the Malayan sun bear, and used to be a Khmer Rouge stronghold. But a national highway, built with help from the Thais, including four bridges spanning rivers once crossable only by ferry, has cut the drive to Koh Kong from the capital in half — to four hours.

Koh Kong has one paved road, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it dock and an inordinate number of Germans. The main activity for travelers in this beach town is meeting other travelers. Most of the guesthouses and hostels in Koh Kong are run by Europeans and Australians (the proprietor and family usually live on-site) and are good for getting a drink, sitting in a hammock and chatting up your neighbor. They're also good for a cheap ($7 per night) room, if you can endure using a shared toilet. If not, I suggest you stay at the $35-per-night Koh Kong City Hotel (Street 1, Koh Kong; +855-35-936-777) on the waterfront, which is sparse and basic, but has decadent, memory-foam-style mattresses and private, Western-style bathrooms. The front-desk service here is lacking, but you'll sleep the sleep of the dead.

The tour outfits in Koh Kong aren't well advertised, but you can get yourself a seat on an organized excursion if you know whom to ask and don't mind surprises. We stumbled randomly on Otto, owner of a guesthouse called Otto's, on our first night in town. We went to his place for dinner (fantastic fried potatoes) and when we asked for advice on local tours, he pulled out his cell phone, dialed his friend Thomas and booked us instantly on a boat excursion for the following morning. His method was efficient, if mysterious. Even as we boarded the boat the next morning, we had no idea where we were going or what we would see.

There were eight other travelers aboard our long-tail motor boat, seven of whom were German and most of whom were staying at Thomas' guesthouse, Neptune. Thomas, also German, did the entertaining, while our Khmer captain steered with his foot and drank an Angkor brand beer. The first two hours took us south past islands dotted with stilted fishing villages painted in blues and greens and oranges, then through a mangrove forest, into the Gulf of Thailand. There we hit the jackpot: a school of dolphins jumping in the waves.

We stopped for lunch in a fishing village where Thomas had once stayed a night after being stranded at sea. He made friends with the villagers, and now returns often to introduce his tour groups. In general, as tourists, we try not to gawk at the poverty around us, but this was impossible at such close range. About 15 people lined up on the "dock" (really, a front porch) and helped us clamber from our boat over theirs and into their one-room home. There wasn't much dialogue between the groups, given that none of the tourists spoke Khmer and our hosts didn't know English, but there was much smiling and cooing at the babies, one of whom was cooling off in a pot of water. We ate stir-fried veggies and tofu with a cabbage salad cross-legged on the floor. Through the slats, you could see the water a few feet below. The hospitality was free: Thomas brought our lunch, and gave our hosts a case of beer as a token of friendship.

Another sail took us to Koh Kong Island, a dense national forest that is forbidden to recreational exploration. We dropped anchor off a deserted white-sand beach and hopped overboard into the clear, warm sea. The water was probably 70 degrees and not more than five feet deep, with gentle waves that glimmered in the late-afternoon sun. Then, sated and relaxed, we motored home.

The next day, my husband and I decided to find our own adventure. We rented a motorbike for $4 and borrowed a couple of sturdy helmets from Bob, the Australian restaurateur who runs Bob's, in town. Then we headed east about a dozen miles out of town, to check out the Tatai waterfall with two friends we had met on the boat the day before — a twentysomething German woman who was traveling solo in Asia for six months and a dreadlocked guy we called The Wanderer because when asked where he was from he said, "My last address was Berlin, but I am now a man with no address," and when we asked for his name, replied, "I don't believe in names. They are so superficial."

Tatai gushes rapids during the rainy season (May to October), but during the dry time of year the river is low and dotted with warm, fresh-water pools. Families picnicked and swam. And barefoot kids climbed up and hurled themselves off the cliffs in ways that would give most parents I know a seizure.

But the real adventure of the day was the motorbikes. The last time my husband, Keirn, had driven one was 10 years ago in the Philippines. Now that we live in Vietnam, where everyone gets around on scooters or motorbikes, we were keen to practice our driving skills and happy to do so outside of Saigon's swirling, incessant traffic.

We rode the highway, over hills, across a bridge and back. It was exhilarating. But on the dirt access road from Tatai to the highway, we hit a patch of sand and lost control of our bike. Next thing we knew, Keirn and I were lying on our sides, covered in red soil, wondering if we were still in one piece. We were. We had been traveling slowly, luckily on a dirt road not asphalt, and there were lots of people around to help us.

Everyone came running. A group of five women — our saviors — pulled their truck over just past our crash. A few of them hoisted our bike into the bed of their truck, tied it down and piled in after it. My husband and I climbed into the cab with the driver, who turned out to be the proprietress of one of the nicer guesthouses in town, Koh Kong Guest House (Street 1, Koh Kong; +855-16-654-171), and took us to a pharmacy before dropping us off at our hotel.

The Wanderer, it turned out, had trained as a nurse sometime in his mysterious past. It was another stroke of luck for us. I had gouged some holes in my hand in the accident and Keirn had a deep gash on his elbow that probably should have gotten a stitch. But we felt wary of our chances at a neighborhood clinic, so The Wanderer cleaned our wounds, patched us up, and sent us back to our comfy bed to relax.

Which is what we did for the rest of our trip. From Koh Kong, we moved on to Sihanoukville, a three-hour drive southwest. Sihanoukville, named after a former king, is billed as Vietnam's up-and-coming high-end resort town, but, for now, it is more accurately described as a beach-town-for-backpackers. Hostels are abundant here and there are a couple of nice hotels, where you can get rooms for $5 to $400, depending on your budget. We got the last room, a private bungalow, at the one real resort in town, the Sokha Beach Resort (Street 2 Thnou, Sihanoukville; +855-34-935-999; reservations@sokhahotels.com), which was nice enough, but not worth the $200-plus per night.

Sihanoukville's main public beaches, Occheuteal and Serendipity, are lined with cafes that offer lounge chairs by day and become bars night. This shoreline and the roads behind it constitute the town's most popular restaurant and nightlife area, and there's enough litter piled about to prove it. We had excellent Mexican food at the new Reef Resort (Road to Serendipity, Sihanoukville; +855-012-315-338; bookings@reefresort.com.kh), a boutique hotel, and practically fell asleep afterward on the huge pillows spread out on the sand at Purple Lounge (at about the midpoint of Serendipity Beach). The town's former main drag, which is a 10-minute ride northwest of that area, is called Victory Hill. The crowd there comprises mostly older Western men and their young Cambodian companions, which is a little creepy, but we had a nice French dinner at XXL (+855-92-738-641).

We pried ourselves off the beach for one day, paying a tuk-tuk driver $30 (probably too much) for a six-hour tour of town. If you like animals, ask someone to take you to the Buddhist monastery, where the legions of wild monkeys will eat out of your hand. And definitely set aside an hour to visit Boom Boom Room (Serendipity Beach Road; +855-12-219-657), where you can load up your iPod or MP3 player with supercheap music.

Recently, Russian developers have taken an interest in Sihanoukville, helming many new projects, including Snake House (a guest house, restaurant and zoo on Mittapheap Kampuchea-Soviet Street; +855-12-673-805) and the town's most impressive bar, Airport (Krong Street; +855-34-934-470): it's an open hangar housing a real Antonov-24 turboprop plane, which makes up the club's VIP section. Airport opens onto Victory Beach, which during the day offers a small, calm, shallow shoreline without the hectic scene found on Serendipity.

Sihanoukville is Cambodia's main shipping port, so there's local wealth here as well. In five years, a handful of new resorts and several middle-class housing developments will have likely sprung up. So, if you like your beach towns simple, cheap and dirty — The Wanderer, for one, thought Sihanoukville was already too bustling — you might want to go there now.

Meanwhile, if anyone wants to visit Angkor Wat, let me know.

Khmer Rouge jailer tells of torture

THE Khmer Rouge regime's prisons chief today recounted his grisly past, telling Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court that confessions extracted under his torture orders were rarely true.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, last week apologised at trial for crimes against humanity, accepting blame for the extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the regime's notorious main prison, Tuol Sleng.

"I never believed the confessions I received told the truth. At most, they were about 40 per cent true,'' Duch said today.

The grey-haired 66-year-old sat in the dock answering judges' questions about M-13 prison, a secret jungle centre he ran from 1971 to 1975 during the Khmer Rouge insurgency against the then US-backed Government.

Duch told the court that he personally tortured two people, but regularly ordered his subordinates to beat prisoners who were destined to be "smashed'' to death with a stick at the back of the neck.

"The burden is still on me - it's my responsibility. I would like to apologise to the souls of those who died,'' Duch said.

The Khmer Rouge were later in power from 1975 to 1979, the period when Duch is accused of supervising Tuol Sleng prison and sending thousands of people to their deaths in the so-called "Killing Fields''.

The court is hearing about M-13 to better understand Tuol Sleng's organising structure.

Duch said M-13 was surrounded by a bamboo fence and shackled prisoners were often held in 2m deep pits, both to prevent escape and to protect them from US warplanes carpetbombing the area.

The former maths teacher has denied assertions by prosecutors that he played a central role in the Khmer Rouge regime's iron-fisted rule.

Duch faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder for his role in the Khmer Rouge regime.

He faces life in jail at the court, which does not have the power to impose the death penalty.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died under house arrest in 1998, and many believe the UN-sponsored tribunal is the last chance to find justice for the regime which killed up to two million people.

The tribunal was formed in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the UN and Cambodian Government, and is scheduled to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders after Duch's trial.

Khmer Rouge Jail Chief Details Torture Methods

Morning Star
4-7-09

PHNOM PENH (AFP)--The Khmer Rouge regime's prisons chief Tuesday recounted his grisly past, telling Cambodia's U.N.-backed war crimes court that confessions extracted under his torture orders were rarely true.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, last week apologized at trial for crimes against humanity, accepting blame for the extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the regime's notorious main prison, Tuol Sleng.

"I never believed the confessions I received told the truth. At most, they were about 40% true," Duch said Tuesday.

The grey-haired 66-year-old sat in the dock answering judges' questions about M-13 prison, a secret jungle center he ran from 1971 to 1975 during the Khmer Rouge insurgency against the then U.S.-backed government.

Duch told the court that he personally tortured two people, but regularly ordered his subordinates to beat prisoners who were destined to be "smashed" to death with a stick at the back of the neck.

"The burden is still on me - it's my responsibility. I would like to apologize to the souls of those who died," Duch said.

The Khmer Rouge were later in power from 1975 to 1979, the period when Duch is accused of supervising Tuol Sleng prison and sending thousands of people to their deaths in the so-called "Killing Fields".

The trial chamber is hearing evidence about M-13 to understand Tuol Sleng's organizing structure, the personality of Duch and the relevance of his role to the Khmer Rouge leadership.

"When I recruited people to assist me, I selected people from the peasant class to make sure the Party trusted me," Duch said Monday.

The former prison chief said Monday that he hated his role "detaining, interrogating and smashing" suspected spies at M-13 but he was afraid leaders would turn on him if he did not carry out orders.

Scholar Henri Locard said he doubted Duch was providing a full confession but that the former prison chief's exacting testimony was unique in a country where few accept responsibility for crimes.

"In Cambodian politics, I've never heard this," Locard said.

"It's fascinating. I've interviewed over 500 people (about Khmer Rouge prisons), and they've never given so many details," Locard said.

Duch said M-13 was surrounded by a bamboo fence and shackled prisoners were often held in two-meter deep pits, both to prevent escape and to protect them from U.S. warplanes carpetbombing the area.

The former maths teacher has denied assertions by prosecutors that he played a central role in the Khmer Rouge regime's iron-fisted rule.

Duch faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder for his role in the regime. He faces life in jail at the court, which does not have the power to impose the death penalty.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died under house arrest in 1998, and many believe the U.N.-sponsored tribunal is the last chance to find justice for the regime which killed up to two million people.

The tribunal was formed in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the United Nations and Cambodian government, and is scheduled to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders after Duch's trial.

U.N. assistant secretary general for legal affairs Peter Taksoe-Jensen held talks with senior Cambodian officials Tuesday to implement anti-corruption measures after claims Cambodian staff were forced to pay kickbacks for jobs.

Cambodia honours Vietnamese doctors

VNS

PHNOM PENH — Nine Vietnamese military physicians and a businessman have been awarded the Friendship Order by the Cambodian Royal Government for their assistance to the poor in Cambodia.

The Cambodian Government conferred the Friendship Order, Senna Class, on Nguyen Phuc Quoc, Nguyen Van Binh and Nguyen Van Hoang Dao from Military Hospital 175 and Tran Thi Phuong Thu from the HCM City Eye Hospital, in a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Sunday.

It also presented the Friendship Order, Assarat Class, to other doctors from the two hospitals and to Le Hong Lam, director of the Viet Nam Development Co Ltd, which has been a major humanitarian donor for health care in Cambodia.

Since 2007, Military Hospital 175 and HCM City Eye Hospital have sent several teams of professionals to Cambodia to provide checks-up and treatment to the poor, in co-operation with Cambodia’s Preah Kat Mealea Military Hospital.

The programme has so far brought light to over 700 eye patients and provided medicine and treatment to nearly 1,000 others. On April 3-4 alone, doctors from the two Vietnamese hospitals provided health checks and medicines to 300 people and conducted 134 eye surgeries.

Cambodia picks up 138 troops for UN missions in Chad, Central Africa

www.chinaview.cn
2009-04-07

PHNOM PENH, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia here on Tuesday declared the list of 138 troops, who will undertake UN peacekeeping missions in Chad and Central Africa, but their departure date has not been set yet.

The Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) held a ceremony at the headquarters of its special armed forces in the outskirts of Phnom Penh to highlight the honor.

In late March, Prime Minister Hun Sen told a university graduation ceremony that Cambodia will send its soldiers as UN peace keepers to these two countries according to the request of the UN Secretary General.

"We already sent three groups of soldiers for mine clearance in Sudan under the UN peacekeeping umbrella," he said.

In 2006, Cambodia sent 135 deminers to Sudan for UN peacekeeping mission, and then 139 in June 2007 to replace the old ones. The deminers were renewed again in 2008.

Editor: Fang Yang

Khmer Rouge jail chief details torture methods

Former Khmer Rouge prison commander Duch, real name Kaing Guek Eav, has recounted his grisly past at a war crimes court

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — The Khmer Rouge regime's prisons chief Tuesday recounted his grisly past, telling Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court that confessions extracted under his torture orders were rarely true.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, last week apologised at trial for crimes against humanity, accepting blame for the extermination of 15,000 people who passed through the regime's notorious main prison, Tuol Sleng.

"I never believed the confessions I received told the truth. At most, they were about 40 percent true," Duch said Tuesday.

The grey-haired 66-year-old sat in the dock answering judges' questions about M-13 prison, a secret jungle centre he ran from 1971 to 1975 during the Khmer Rouge insurgency against the then US-backed government.

Duch told the court that he personally tortured two people, but regularly ordered his subordinates to beat prisoners who were destined to be "smashed" to death with a stick at the back of the neck.

"The burden is still on me -- it's my responsibility. I would like to apologise to the souls of those who died," Duch said.

The Khmer Rouge were later in power from 1975 to 1979, the period when Duch is accused of supervising Tuol Sleng prison and sending thousands of people to their deaths in the so-called "Killing Fields".

The court is hearing about M-13 to better understand Tuol Sleng's organising structure.

Duch said M-13 was surrounded by a bamboo fence and shackled prisoners were often held in two-metre deep pits, both to prevent escape and to protect them from US warplanes carpetbombing the area.

The former maths teacher has denied assertions by prosecutors that he played a central role in the Khmer Rouge regime's iron-fisted rule.

Duch faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and premeditated murder for his role in the Khmer Rouge regime. He faces life in jail at the court, which does not have the power to impose the death penalty.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died under house arrest in 1998, and many believe the UN-sponsored tribunal is the last chance to find justice for the regime which killed up to two million people.

The tribunal was formed in 2006 after nearly a decade of wrangling between the United Nations and Cambodian government, and is scheduled to try four other senior Khmer Rouge leaders after Duch's trial.

Cambodia to face worst increase in poverty in Asia-Pacific

Photo by: Tracey Shelton

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Steve Finch
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

A newly-released World Bank report says Cambodia will be the hardest-hit country in the region as the global economic crisis continues to wreak havoc.

CAMBODIA is set to be the country hardest hit this year by the global economic crisis in the Asia-Pacific region, the World Bank said today, placing the Kingdom among only four countries projected "to experience absolute increases in poverty".

In a report released today, the bank said that Cambodia - along with Malaysia, Thailand and East Timor - would see contractions in per capita income and therefore increased poverty, noting that the Kingdom's weaker GDP growth, which the bank again revised downwards to -1 percent for 2009, would slow poverty reduction across the region.

"Cambodia is the country with the largest projected increase in the number of poor people," the World Bank said.

It projected 200,000 additional people in the Kingdom this year would be pushed below the poverty line - defined by the bank as US$1.25 a day - compared to East Timor, where a further 25,000 were forecast to sink into poverty.

The World Bank in February said that Cambodia had reduced poverty from 45 percent to 50 percent in 1993-1994 - a figure that improved to around 30 percent by 2007.

The report also said that Cambodia would see the greatest GDP growth reversal in the region.

"An expansion of 10.2 percent in 2007 stands in stark contrast to a contraction of 1 percent projected for 2009," it said.

"The difference (11.7 percent) over two years is the largest in the region, and arises from a sudden drop in garment exports and tourist arrivals."

Neighbouring Thailand is projected to see the next biggest reversal at -7.6 percent over the same period, followed by Malaysia with -7.3 percent. GDP growth in developing East Asia, as a region, will see a -6.1 percent reversal in the same period.

The World Bank's growth projection for Cambodia is among the lowest so far after the London-based Economist Intelligence Unit forecast a 3 percent contraction in 2009 in its March outlook.

The International Monetary Fund last month estimated -0.5 percent growth and the Asian Development Bank last week said Cambodia's growth would slow to 2.5 percent.

The World Bank blamed a narrow economic base and over-dependency on exports for the country's projected economic reversal.

"The economy is affected by simultaneous declines in export orders for garments (which account for almost four-fifths of exports, and most of the shipments are to the US), a drop in construction, a collapse in private capital inflows and a sharp slowdown in tourist arrivals," it said.

"Credit growth that helped fuel the earlier expansion, including in real estate, has slowed sharply."

The World Bank noted that Cambodia had taken a number of measures to fight the financial crisis, including tax holidays until 2012 for foreign direct investors and larger aid for food supplies. "Efforts are underway to support agricultural producers and provide trade financing to exporters," it added.

Make way for the Lycee

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Nhim Phy,38, and some 37 families who live near the Lycee Francais Rene Descartes, a French international school near Wat Phnom, were all fenced out of their homes Monday so that the land can be transferred back to the school.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Titthara
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

The evictees, some of whom have lived at the location for three decades, are shut out of their homes as land is handed over to the school.

AT least 37 families living next to Lycee Francais Rene Descartes, a French international school near Wat Phnom, have been fenced out of their homes on Monday as a result of an agreement between the governments of France and Cambodia to transfer land back to the international school, the government confirmed on Monday.

Sok Chenda, 54, has lived near the school since 1979 with her husband, an administrator at Lycee Francais Rene Descartes. She said she was willing to move but only for fair compensation.

"I don't want to have a problem with the authorities, but how can I move if they give me only US$10,000 ... I cannot construct a new house with that," she said.

"They invited us to a meeting about their compensation, but not all of us agreed, so yesterday they put a fence around our area," she added.

Meak Sina, 46, who has lived near the school since 1979, said, "I want them to pay us $40,000 in cash, and then we can go to find a house by ourselves. We don't need them to tell us to live in an area that will flood every year," taking issue with the government's proposal to provide the families with land near the often flooded Thnot Chrum village.

The village chief, Touch Yeum, admitted that most of the residents did not have land titles but claimed ownership over the land since many in the community had been living there for decades.

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Residents of the area next to the Lycee Descartes face eviction soon.

"We have lived here since 1979, but we don't have land titles. ... But now the authorities are saying we live on state land, and they need to give it to the French embassy," he said.

The land will not be under the control of the French embassy, but rather of the school, according to a French embassy spokeperson.

Established in 1951, the school is the oldest international school in Phnom Penh.

Chan Soveth, a monitor at the Cambodian rights group Adhoc, said this eviction was typical of other government evictions.

"What the government has been doing every day by force is to evict people without fair compensation. They use force first, and then they talk about compensation later."

Sok Penh Vuth, the deputy director of Daun Penh district and the man who ordered the fence around the villagers' houses said, "Nearly 50 percent of the villagers agreed to our compensation that we provided."

He added: "The 13 families who have lived in that location since 1979 will be given $10,000 and a 4-metre-by-8-metre plot of land . We will take this land and give it to France."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHRISTOPHER SHAY

Thais at fault in fatal border shooting: govt

Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
Cambodia's top border negotiator, Var Kimhong, speaks to reporters after bilateral talks on Monday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith and Vong Sokheng
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Cambodia's top border negotiator says before the talks that last week's violence occurred because ‘Thais did not respect international law'.

TALKS over disputed territory between Cambodia and Thailand opened Monday with the Kingdom's chief border official, Var Kimhong, blaming Thai soldiers for last week's clashes that marked the worst violence yet during a nearly nine-month standoff over land around Preah Vihear temple.

"The Thais have to understand international law," Var Kimhong said before the two days of discussions that, although scheduled before Friday's fighting, are likely to be dominated by the bloody shootout that left at least three Thai troops dead.

"I would like to say that the accident last week occurred because the Thais did not respect international law," Var Kimhong said, adding that one of the aims of the talks was to reach agreement on redeploying soldiers away from a pagoda near Preah Vihear temple that has been a flashpoint for conflict in the past.

"We have to resolve the border dispute soon in order to avoid another incident like the one that occurred last week," he said.

Heavy fighting broke out twice on Friday after RCAF troops said the Thai military crossed into Cambodia's Veal Antri, or Eagle Field, a section of the border where fighting also broke out last October.

Elsewhere on the Cambodian side of the border, a market burned to the ground after taking small arms and rocket fire, witnesses said.

The clashes also damaged the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in July, just before Thai troops first occupied what Cambodia claims is its territory around the monument.

On the agenda
Var Kimhong said the agenda for this week's meeting of the Joint Border Commission had been set before Friday's clashes.

A draft agenda distributed before the meeting Monday showed that officials would discuss the minutes from the February commission meeting in Bangkok, plans for fact-finding missions to determine the condition and location of boundary markers and a "draft provisional agreement" to move soldiers away from the area near Preah Vihear temple.

No agreement as UN, govt strive to tackle graft at KRouge court

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Vong Sokheng and Georgia Wilkins
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

The world body's legal chief holds daylong talks with Cambodian officials, as defence lawyers say corruption allegations are being ignored.

Daylong talks Monday between Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and the UN's top legal chief Peter Taksoe-Jensen over how best to tackle graft at Cambodia's war crimes tribunal ended inconclusively, with officials on the UN side saying the pair would enter a second round of discussions today.

"We were in deep discussion over the issues that need to be implemented from our joint statement made on February 23," Sok An told the Post before going into the second leg of meetings at 5:30pm Monday.

Key to the talks is the successful establishment of a process by which court employees can safely report instances of corruption, Taksoe-Jensen said Sunday.

The latest round of discussions were part of an ongoing effort to tackle graft, following allegations that first surfaced in 2007 that some employees on the Cambodian side of the court were forced to pay portions of their salaries to their bosses.

The graft claims sparked a UN review, the results of which have not been made public.

But a German parliamentary report posted online in November said that UN court official Knut Rosandhaug told German lawmakers that the court suffered from corruption.

Taksoe-Jensen said Sunday the UN's graft review would not be a part of this week's talks.

But lawyers acting for other former Khmer Rouge leaders detained by the tribunal have latched onto the allegations, demanding that the review results be made public.

Two separate defence teams brought the issue up in court last week, arguing that more than a year's worth of investigative work had possibly been tainted by the allegations.

However, they were silenced by judges who said that investigating the claims were not within their mandate.

"Nobody in a position of authority wants to talk about what everybody else is talking about," Andrew Ianuzzi, a legal consultant for Nuon Chea's defence team, told the Post.

"I suppose they hope that if they ignore it long enough, it will simply go away. But from a defence perspective, it's far too important an issue to be sacrificed to diplomatic expediency," he added.

Ianuzzi said the judge's decision to bypass responsibility was not only ignoring the issue, but also stepping outside of the law.

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It's a judicial issue, and deep down i think the international judges know that.
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"Any legitimate court has the inherent power to ensure the fairness of its own proceedings. And that is not a collateral issue; it's fundamental," he said.

"Ultimately - given the UN's willingness to negotiate itself into a corner - it's a judicial issue, and deep down I think all the international judges know that."

Taksoe-Jensen has visited the Kingdom several times in a bid to hammer out a deal with the Cambodian government that would allow international donors - many of whom are now reluctant to fund the Cambodian side of the court - to resume payments.

420 police deployed ahead of New Year's

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Khuon Leakhana
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

CITY officials deployed 420 traffic, military and other police officers at 60 different locations throughout the capital Monday as part of an effort to bolster road safety in advance of the Khmer New Year, a notoriously dangerous time for drivers and passengers.

The extra officers are to be deployed through April 17, Municipal Traffic Police Chief Tin Prasoeur told the Post, adding officials were particularly concerned about roads near the Chroy Changvar and Monivong bridges, which "are the way people travel to their birthplaces in the provinces".

Last Khmer New Year, there were 317 road accidents nationwide, resulting in 59 deaths and 702 injuries.

Group 78 continues fight for Bassac land

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda and Sebastian Strangio
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Villagers say govt attempts to divide them have not dented their resolve to remain on the land.

RESIDENTS of Phnom Penh's besieged Group 78 community say they will continue to resist City Hall's efforts to shift them from their homes in Tonle Bassac commune, amid local fears of a forced eviction following a strained meeting with city authorities Friday.

Residents walked out of a meeting with Deputy Governor Mann Chhoeun after being encouraged to sign documents acknowledging their "illegal" occupation of the 11,700-square-metre site.

The document, a copy of which has been obtained by the Post, would have forced residents to acknowledge that they are living illegally on state and company land and accept compensation of US$5,000 cash and replacement housing in Dangkor district.

"We are living legally, so we must resist until the end," resident Sieu Sopheak, 48, said Monday, adding that apprehension has set in since Friday's meeting. "They are trying every means to break our solidarity."

Increasing pressures
Since 2006, Group 78 has been embroiled in a land dispute with the municipality, which has plans to build a road in preparation for the construction of a planned bridge over the Tonle Bassac river, and with local Sour Srun Enterprises Co, which wants community land for a housing development.

Sun Vanthan, 29, who has been living in Group 78 since 1990, also expressed fears the community will soon face eviction from the site.

"I am afraid that they might evict us sometime in the future," she said. "I don't know who to ask for help."

Despite the fears, many residents have refused to sign the municipality's documents, seeing them as a last-ditch effort to force them off the land.

"The Phnom Penh Municipality wants to separate this community into two groups. They don't want us working together," said community representative Lim Sambo at a press conference held by villagers after their meeting with Mann Chhoeun.

"This is one of the tricks of [City Hall]. They have used it before."

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[The] municipality wants to separate this community into two groups.
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He said that while officials had not forced villagers to thumbprint the forms, they were trying to "intimidate" people by presenting them with quasi-legal documents, and that villagers would continue to hold out for market-value compensation.

A March 27 property appraisal by Bonna Realty Group, commissioned by the Community Legal Education Centre, found that the land of Group 78 was valued at $15,210,000 - around $1,300 per square metre.

"People want compensation based on free market prices because we are here legally and have an independent land appraisal," Lim Sambo said.

When contacted Sunday, Mann Chhoeun said the Friday meeting was set up to "assess family statistics" and denied residents' allegations that the city is trying to play a trick on them, accusing them of spreading "bad words".

"We want to be good with people, but they do not understand us," he said Sunday. "We are trying to avoid conflict."

Conservationists look to CSI for elephant counts

Photo by: PHOTO SUPPLIED
Three elephants trip an automatic camera in the Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area in Mondulkiri. Conservationists were pleasantly surprised to find an estimated 116 elephants in the area.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Christopher Shay
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

A technique allowing scientists to ‘fingerprint' elephant DNA from dung samples has revolutionised animal censuses.

WILDLIFE conservationists have no idea how many wild elephants there are in Cambodia, but as DNA analysis becomes more affordable, conservationists are turning to the same techniques used by crime laboratories to determine Cambodia's wild elephant population. The main difference from forensic detectives is that conservationists gather their evidence from fresh elephant dung.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), WWF and Fauna and Flora International (FFI) are all using "fecal DNA capture-recapture surveys", a simple and accurate method to calculate the elephant population that avoids the need to disturb elephants or put humans at risk.

The Forestry Administration and conservation groups send trackers to places where elephants are thought to congregate, but instead of looking for the animals themselves, they collect 1-cubic-centimetre samples of elephant dung and place them in a preservative, which are then sent to labs in Australia or the US.

"Our expert officers gather the elephant dung in the forest where they live and are used to exploring. They put their dung in plastic," said Men Phymean, chief of the wildlife protection office at the Forestry Administration.

Pamela Jarman, the general manager at DNA Solutions, a company that does the DNA analysis of FFI's elephant dung, made it clear that the dung itself wasn't the key to obtaining a DNA fingerprint; it's what's hidden inside.

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It's important to use sound science to back up conservation so we can know if we're being effective.
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"We take a dung sample and obtain skin cells from the outer portion of the dung ... the portion that would have rubbed against the digestive system as it passed through, thus hopefully picking up skin cells," she wrote in an email.

After the elephants' DNA is revealed by a lab, a statistical model is used to estimate the number of total elephants based on the amount of individual elephants "captured" multiple times in the samples.

For example, if there are 100 dung samples, but they are all from just two elephants, then there are probably only two elephants in the area, but if the DNA analysis reveals the 100 samples come from 85 different elephants, then the population is likely much larger than 85.

"This method is a godsend. Technically, it's not very complicated," Edward Pollard of the WCS said.

The results of WCS's work in the Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area in Mondulkiri province show the advantages of this new method.

Larger population
WCS collected 255 dung samples from 81 elephants, allowing them to estimate a population of 116 elephants, making it one of the largest populations in the region, according to Pollard.

"We thought there were maybe 30 or 40 elephants. We were pleasantly surprised," Pollard said, adding that it was a reminder of "how important Cambodia was for global biodiversity".

FFI has finished collecting samples from the Cardamom Mountains and received DNA fingerprints but has not finished tabulating the data from its 500 dung samples.

"It could be 50 elephants or 500," Matt Maltby at FFI said. "It's just so hard to know.... The populations are so remote and dispersed. It's not like Africa where you can fly over and count."

Maltby stressed that these first elephant censuses were only the beginning, and later counts would reveal if the population was increasing or decreasing.

"It's important to use sound science to back up conservation so we can know if we're being effective.... This will be the baseline point. It's the start of a lot of work."

As data from around Cambodia comes in, conservationists will also learn about elephant migration. WWF, for example, is currently working in northern Mondulkiri, and if they find some of the same elephants that WCS found in the Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area in southern Mondulkiri, they will know that elephants migrate between those two areas.

Pollard at WCS warns that if elephants are travelling outside the reserves, they could pose a threat to people and their livelihoods if new developments or farms infringe on their migratory track.

"If we know where the elephants are and their range, we can discuss solutions about where and how to farm before human-elephant conflicts occur," he said.

Cambodia is in a unique position where - armed with good information - the government and NGOs can help local residents avoid clashes with elephants, he added.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MOM KUNTHEAR

Bangkok Airways adds third daily flight to Phnom Penh

property-report.com

by News Desk

Bangkok Airways has expanded its service to Cambodia with a third daily flight between Bangkok and Phnom Penh, coinciding with a change of aircraft type for all flights on the route to Airbus 319, featuring the airline’s new Blue Ribbon business class.

Ariya Prasarttong-Osoth, vice president for sales at Bangkok Airways, said: “In my opinion, Phnom Penh has strong potential as a destination and will continue to grow consistently. Adding the afternoon flight and Business class service will satisfy the demand from both tourists and business travelers. I do hope that the additional flight will stimulate the tourism business between the two countries.”

The additional flight from Bangkok, PG 933, departs at 13.30, arriving in Phnom Penh at 14.40. Flight PG 934 departs from Phnom Penh at 15.30, arriving in Bangkok at 16.40. The Airbus 319 has a capacity of 108 seats in the economy class, and 12 recliner seats with private monitor in the Blue Ribbon Class.

SRP asks Hun Sen to clarify remarks

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
Opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua at a recent press conference.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Meas Sokchea
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

It says comments about unnamed opposition MP point to Mu Sochua and a case now in court.

THE opposition Sam Rainsy Party on Monday submitted a letter of complaint to the National Assembly seeking clarification of comments made by Prime Minister Hun Sen over the weekend seemingly directed at SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua.

In a speech made during his visit to Kampot Saturday, Hun Sen said a "strong female MP from the opposition party in Kampot" who was a "skilled troublemaker" lost a button on her shirt while running around embracing people.

Hun Sen's remarks were interpreted by the SRP to reference its only female parliamentarian in the province, who has been outspoken in support of villagers in land disputes with the government.

It also seemed to refer to an altercation during last year's election when Mu Sochua says she saw an RCAF vehicle used for CPP campaign purposes. When she tried to photograph the vehicle, she says, an army general shoved her, tearing a button from her blouse and exposing her bra.

A case against the general is currently in the Appeal Court.

"Although Samdech [Hun Sen] declined to use my name, the circumstances in which he raised it make it clear it was me because there are no other women opposition parliamentarians in Kampot," Mu Sochua told reporters at SRP headquarters Monday.

"I regret that Samdech is not brave enough to use a specific name."

Mu Sochua said Hun Sen also referred to the unnamed politician as cheung chat, a derogatory term she said translated as something between a "gangster" and a "prostitute".

She said also that Hun Sen knows the case against the general is being heard at the Appeal Court, and as leader of the executive, he should have refrained from any comment.

His words would make it harder for her to get justice, she said.

"This [event] was shameful for me as a woman, and Samdech has always said that he glorifies women. How does this glorify women?" she asked.

The first vice chairman of the National Assembly, Nguon Nhel, said Monday that parliament had not yet seen the letter. He said that if the opposition had proof, it should lodge a complaint with the courts.

Koul Panha, executive director of election monitor Comfrel, said Hun Sen should refrain from repeating the story, as it had happened many months ago.

"This is a personal story and should not have been commented on," Koul Panha said.

"What should be raised are discussions to encourage all women to work in society without focussing on their political affiliation."

Cash for the afterlife

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Tracey Shelton
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Fake money and gifts for the dead lay amid skulls in a tomb to Khmer Rouge victims at Wat Champous K'ek in Kandal province Sunday. During the five-day Chinese celebration known as Qingming that culminated this weekend, families present gifts of food, fake money and other imitation goods at the tombs of loved ones.

ASEAN ready to dictate own terms, say regional officials

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON
Prime Minister Hun Sen attends the Asia Economic Forum at Raffles Hotel Le Royal on Monday. The premier again blamed the West for the current global financial crisis.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by George McLeod
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan joins Prime Minister Hun Sen in backing regional grouping as it aims for recovery from world financial crisis

Twelve years after the 1997 Asian financial crisis devastated markets and prompted International Monetary Fund bailouts, the region is seen as a catalyst for economic recovery, said regional leaders and dignitaries Monday at the Asia Economic Forum in Phnom Penh.

"Ten years ago, we were asked to make banks fail. Today, the West is doing the opposite to what we were asked to do 10 years ago. This is an admission that no superpower can dictate to the developing world," said ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan in his first major speech since the Group of 20 summit in London last week.

The secretary general told the Post that his meetings with US President Barack Obama at the London summit demonstrated a new thinking towards the developing world.

"There was a consensus about protectionism and about finishing the Doha Round [of free trade talks].... There is a new mindset with the new administration," he said.

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Emerging economies are suffering from policies of the developed world.
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"My impression from the G20 is that the world will not be driven by one giant economy, or one giant superpower.... We will be one of the [global] pillars," he said.

"It is no longer a G7, it is a G20. ASEAN was there.... This is a new era and ASEAN will be ready.... Cambodians are very determined to take advantage of globalisation," he said.

In contrast to last year's event focussing on globalisation, the 2009 forum was about coping with the effects of the economic crisis. "Globalisation has not lifted all boats," Surin said.

The Phnom Penh conference at Raffles Hotel Le Royal included key regional policymakers, diplomats and development organisations and was opened by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The premier's speech attributed blame for the global crisis firmly with the West.

"Emerging economies are suffering from policies of the developed world. The crisis started in the United States.... Developing countries are calling for the creation of a new international system," the prime minister said.

One of the UK's top emerging markets experts told the Post that ASEAN is on the right track for recovery.

"There is a lot of reason for Asia to look forward to recovery," said Vanessa Rossi from Chatham House in London. "We are seeing some sprouts of recovery emerging, especially from China, partly as a result of the Chinese stimulus package. The only caveat I have is that many industries will need to see a recovery in [Western] consumer spending," she said.

She emphasised that the days of IMF-imposed bailout packages seen in the 1990s are long gone. "What we are seeing is the beginnings of a multipolar world with a greater role for emerging economies," Rossi said.

But significant challenges remain for this region of more than a billion people that has been hit hard by the global economic slowdown.

One participant said ASEAN still had a long way to go before realising its potential. "There needs to be change - there are huge differences inside ASEAN that need to be addressed and they need more sub-regional cooperation.... The problems of Cambodia and Laos are not the problems of Singapore," said KP Nair, director of the Asia Centre.

Risk warning slammed by PM

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by George McLeod
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Hun Sen again criticises EIU report, calling assessment a bid to stop foreign investment

A REGIONAL economic forum opened Monday in Phnom Penh, with Prime Minister Hun Sen using much of his keynote address to again lash out at the research group Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for a recent report warning that the Kingdom was one of the countries most vulnerable to unrest due to the global financial crisis.

"Many companies are coming to Cambodia.... Cambodia is called a high-risk country equal to Chad? I sent Cambodian forces to Chad to increase our contribution under the UN umbrella. How could we send [peacekeepers] to Chad when we are considered to be at the same [risk]?" he said.

The two-day Fifth Asia Economic Forum brought together some of the region's top policymakers, economists and development agencies to discuss the economic crisis.

In a speech lasting nearly one hour, Hun Sen singled out the EIU for what he called an overly pessimistic view of Cambodia's stability.

Some countries are in wars and serious unrest, but [the EIU] said those countries are better than Cambodia. Is this an attempt to hinder the foreign inflow of capital into Cambodia?" he said.

Many experts at the forum were upbeat about Cambodia's prospects, saying the government was aware of the impact of the crisis.

"There is a general understanding of how serious the global situation has become," said Douglas Clayton, managing partner at the investment fund Leopard Capital.

"The conference has received a lot of government support including [from] key members of the government's economic planning team. The fact that the prime minister opened it says the government is listening," he said.

Caminco sale confirmed

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Robert Carmichael and Nguon Sovan
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Company acknowledges 75 percent takeover of state-owned insurance firm was finalised in November with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s backing

THE government sold three-quarters of its stake in state insurance company Caminco last year for US$5.7 million, the new majority shareholder confirmed on Monday. The deal, whose existence has not yet been made public, sees the government retain 25 percent of Caminco.

Caminco's new Managing Director Duong Vibol of Viriya BVB Insurance Plc told the Post on Monday that the deal was agreed in June 2008 - when full payment was made - and transfer of ownership was completed in November. He added that the deal was approved by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Existence of the deal is not widely known. Cheam Yeap, the head of the National Assembly's banking and finance committee and a Cambodian People's Party (CPP) member, told the Post on Thursday that he knew nothing about it.

The deal came to light in a brief Asian Development Bank (ADB) report released last week that evaluated ADB's technical assistance program designed to improve the government's running of the finance sector. Part of that program was improving the running of Caminco, with an eye to a sale, said the report.

ADB said that the new owners were a joint venture comprising an insurance company from Thailand and a Cambodian investor. That was incorrect, said Duong Vibol, who confirmed he is the Cambodian investor mentioned by the ADB.

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I had already registered Viriya BVB so I used Viriya BVB to buy Caminco shares.
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Duong Vibol said the new majority owner of Caminco is Viriya BVB Insurance plc, a purely Cambodian company, adding that the company has no relationship with Thai insurance company Viriya Insurance, although he said he had come close to an arrangement.

"Viriya Insurance in Thailand gave an exclusive for me to start an agency or brokerage [in Cambodia] on behalf of Viriya [Thailand]. But instead of that I was thinking that I start a company with the name of Viriya and my company BVB," he said.

"I was supposed to start another insurance company on behalf of Viriya [Thailand], but I didn't start that business," he continued. "I had already registered Viriya BVB so I used Viriya BVB to buy Caminco shares."

Duong Vibol said that his company had discussed an agreement with Viriya Insurance in Thailand in which the Thai company would provide technical assistance to the newly privatised Caminco, but he later decided against it.

The ADB noted that better financial results from Caminco in 2007 led a successful sale. Duong Vibol said Caminco's results in 2006 showed net income of US$120,000, which more than tripled to $380,000 in 2007. Last year net income was down to $100,000, he said.

The ADB report notes that a previous effort to offload a stake in Caminco had been unsuccessful. The report said that in 2006 a list of 20 international companies was drawn up, with three companies shortlisted.

But after signing nondisclosure agreements, two of them (unnamed New Zealand and Singaporean firms) turned down Caminco, the report said. The third company - UK giant Prudential - expressed some interest then went quiet.

In December 2007, Caminco renewed its five-year operating licence. Caminco's main premium income is from motor insurance.

BlackBerry coming to Cambodia

BLOOMBERG
BlackBerry handsets are set to be sold in Cambodia for the first time on a Mobitel subscription, with prices still to be determined.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Steve Finch
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Handsets due for launch later this year, says Cellcard Mobitel, following discussions with RIM

CELLCARD Mobitel, Cambodia's leading mobile phone company by market share, is planning to launch BlackBerry handsets in the Kingdom within the next few months, Royal Group's chief financial officer said Monday.

Mark Hanna told the Post that the Royal Group - which owns a 38.5 percent stake in Mobitel - has been in negotiations with Canada-based Research in Motion (RIM), which manufactures BlackBerries, ahead of a Cambodia launch later this year.

"The board has approved it," Hanna said, referring to the proposed handset deal with technology manufacturer RIM.

BlackBerries are to be sold in the Kingdom on a subscription basis that Hanna admitted would see retail handsets sold initially at a high cost.

BlackBerry requires that the phone service providers pay a subscription fee for each handset on the network, a cost that Hanna said would inevitably be passed on to the consumer.

Mobitel must also invest in a BlackBerry email server, he added, a fixed cost that could be absorbed through developing the subscriber base over time.

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The more subscribers you have, the cheaper it [a Blackberry] is.
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"The more subscribers you have, the cheaper it [a BlackBerry] is," said Hanna, adding that the company is yet to finalise its BlackBerry retail prices.

Mobile expansion
Mobitel last month received US$100 million in loans - $40 million from the International Finance Corporation and $60 million from private foreign banks - which the company plans to use as part of a $350 million expansion program over the next three years, it said.

The company said it will launch a range of new products and services during this period, including the Blackberries, as it seeks to consolidate its dominant position in the Cambodian mobile phone market, which has become increasingly saturated with the addition new operators, including Viettel which launched officially in February.

The company already holds a 55 percent market share, with Camshin the second-biggest operator with about 18 percent.

BlackBerries, which offer 3G mobile services including email, have already been launched in most ASEAN countries except for Brunei, Myanmar and Laos, according to the BlackBerry website.

Strong BlackBerry sales
RIM has defied a general slump in the mobile phone industry following the global financial crisis, announcing strong financial results on Thursday.

Sales are projected to reach $3.5 billion in the period ending May 30, Bloomberg reported, which prompted shares in the telecoms company Friday to surge the most since December 2003 on the Nasdaq.

Kratie kid on path to networking expertise

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Hor Hab
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

22-year-old Cisco programmer looks to help Cambodia become increasingly tech-savvy

PHENG Sovanvichet, 22, a computer whiz from Kratie province, could soon be leading Cambodia's push to develop IT.

Currently in the third year of a network engineering course at Dali University in China's Yunnan province, Pheng Sovanvichet looks set to become the first Cambodian to complete the Cisco Certified InterNetwork Expert Routing & Switching course, an advanced networking qualification not available in Cambodia.

The certifications offered by California-based Cisco Systems Inc, a global leader in networking and communications technology and services, are a benchmark standard for IT qualifications.

Leng Bunny, a Cisco instructor at the National ICT Development Authority (NIDA), told the Post in March that the Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) degree, conducted in English, could give Cambodian graduates an edge in an increasingly competitive local market.

"The Cambodian market currently needs these people very much because it is a standard training course, which is necessary for current market demand," he said.

For his part, Pheng Sovanvichet, who hopes to graduate from Dali University in July 2010 after taking his lab exams in March or April, said he plans to return to Cambodia and work as a network consultant.

He said he hopes his new-found knowledge will allow him to increase web accessibility in the Kingdom - where internet services are still expensive and relatively sluggish. He has already established an online IT forum (www.khmeritforum
.net) where he shares his networking knowledge with Cambodians.

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The Cambodian market currently needs these people very much.
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"I want to help improve the level of understanding of technology among Cambodian people," he said. "I want to help Cambodians gain access to reliable, secure, confidential and cheap network connectivity and to have better knowledge of how network technology works."

"It is very interesting to get involved with networks that can help connect people better, and I always imagined seeing Cambodian people having better networks," he added.

Pheng Sovanvichet started his first Cisco certified course (CCNA Level 1) in Cambodia in 2005 at NIDA before moving to China, where he became more closely involved with networking technologies, earning a CCNA degree in September 2007 and Cisco professional degree (CCNP) in February 2008.

Challenging course
But his current degree, which is yet to be obtained by a Cambodian, is expected to be the biggest challenge. "I have to take two separate tests - for theory ability and an eight-hour exam in a lab for configuration - to pass I need to have a deep understanding ... of how technology works because it has to be applied in concrete scenarios," he said.

"But I expect to pass at my first attempt because I am working very hard."

Leng Bunny from NIDA said that 64 students were enrolled in Cisco's CCNA courses at NIDA in the first three months of 2009, in addition to the 172 students who completed the course last year.

Globetrotting troubadours

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
A Globe Note band member instructs a student at Phnom Penh’s Sok Sabay Centre on Monday

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Eleanor Ainge Roy
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Globe Note brings its eclectic sound and passion for musical education to the children of Cambodia during the brass band’s two-week stint in the capital

The music of a 10-piece brass band is not often heard in Phnom Penh, and certainly not a singing, dancing, ska, reggae and world music ensemble.

The band - Globe Note - is composed of 10 young French students who have been travelling for the last four months playing and teaching music to disadvantaged communities of children throughout the world.

They arrived in Cambodia just over a week ago and played Saturday night to a delighted audience of 50 or so at the French Cultural Centre.

The performance was vigorous and entertaining, with band members twirling pirouettes, joking with the audience and handling their musical instruments like a juggler would his balls.

Globe Note will be based in Phnom Penh for the next two weeks, and the band is spending their days with the 68 disadvantaged children of the expansive Sok Sabay Centre of Life.

Their classes include musical theory, dance, song, percussion, brass and how to fashion instruments from recycled materials.

Their work will culminate in a concert to be performed with the children this Saturday afternoon at the new Sok Sabay Centre, which will include a tale about Phnom Penh residents journeying to the provinces for Khmer New Year.

The concert will feature traditional Apsara dancing as well as new musical tricks learned by the children from the Globe Note musicians during the week.

Group leader Perceval Descours says Cambodia has been one of their best experiences the band has had to date.

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The kids here ... are really active and interested in playing music.
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"The kids here have responded well to what we do, and they are really active and interested in playing music. Our main goal is for children to have fun with music so our classes are very dynamic, with lots of questions, and I think it works and they like it," he said.

The group hails from an engineering university in the town of Lille, in Northern France, and after playing together in the 30-piece university brass band decided to break away from academic life and seek funding for a yearlong global tour.

Globe Note have already travelled to Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Thailand, and like to pick up songs from each country they visit to play to audiences later during their travels.

It is a band policy to play the songs they learn just as they were first heard, with no modification.

"Our music is very fresh and simple, and we don't need amplification," said Descours.

"Our arrangement works well because we can play wherever and whenever we want."

Descours says children all over the world respond to music in much the same way, though some children, like a group of intellectually and physically disabled children in Thailand, need special attention.

"Many of the children could not play instruments, and some could not even get out of bed, so we just played music to them and let them hear the differences of each individual instrument," Descours says.

"But basically children everywhere, if they are disadvantaged or not, take to music really well. They are often bored by the theory of it, so we really want to make the whole experience fun for them."

Globe Note will perform with The Mekong Pirates at the Equinox Bar this Saturday.

Siem Reap asides: A potent new weapon in the culture wars

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Peter Olszewski
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

T-SHIRTS with slogans, messages and witticisms are the fashion statement for travellers who aren't making a fashion statement, and in Siem Reap top of the pops in terms of T-shirt cred is the "same same ...but different" shirt.

This is a shirt that seems to unify all creeds and colours with its cunning cross-cultural message encompassing universality, individuality and originality.

It's a potent shirt to wear, as it serves as a subtle weapon in the armory necessary to combat the in-your-face sales pitches purveyed by the small army of Siem Reap's Pub Street precinct tuk-tuk drivers with their endless manic mantras of: "You want tuk-tuk, what hotel you go to, you want boom boom, you want beautiful lady, you want massage, you want sister, you want lady boy, you want, you want, you want..."

Wearing a "same same" T-shirt seems to chill out some of the Pub Street tuk-tuk drivers who, perhaps perceiving it as a symbol of universal fraternity, give the thumbs up and chant "same same" and then, after a beat, "but different".

This has the same miraculous effect as Moses parting the Red Sea, with the drivers chuckling good humouredly, backing off and creating a path for the barang to pass virtually unscathed.

"Same same but different" is a regional pop-culture phenomenon, derived from the Thai habit of saying "same same" instead of "same".

Who knows who gave it the twist by adding "but different", and who knows who was the first entrepreneurial pioneer to emblazon the phrase on a T-shirt.

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wearing a ‘same same’ t-shirt seems to chill out some of the pub street tuk -Tuk drivers.
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This is one of the mysteries of the travel circuit, but maybe there is an earnest archaeologist at work right now on the genesis and development of the saying, which has certainly made its mark and become part of the traveller meme.

A Google search, for example, elicits 1.89 million references.

Wikipedia lists it as an example of Tinglish, the imperfect form of English produced by native Thai speakers due to "language interference from the first language".

The saying has been adopted as the title for several books, including a study of quirky Thai street scenes such as knotted aerial lines, bamboo scaffolding, hand-painted signs and converted plastic bags.

More recently, a novel of the same name about a love affair between a Cambodian woman and German expat has become the basis of a movie of the same name.

Meanwhile, back in Siem Reap another locally produced T-shirt has emerged to give the "same same" number a run for its money, and this T-shirt has upped the stakes in regards to tuk-tuk communication.

The shirt has been specifically designed by Aqua Sydney bar proprietor John to fend off tuk-tuk drivers, and it carries the message: "No Postcards, No Tuk-Tuk, No Temples, No Sunset".

John has been caught by surprise by the demand for this shirt, which was an instant sellout. He has now ordered new stock to be printed and has also modified the shirt's message adding, after numerous requests, the phrase "No ganja".

Whether this shirt will have the same effect on tuk-tuk drivers as the "same same" shirt is yet to be ascertained, but here's hoping.

Police Blotter: 7 Apr 2009

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Lim Phalla
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

FARMER PLOUGHS OVER LAND MINE
Si Sopheak,18, was severely wounded on Saturday after his tractor ploughed over a land mine left over from the civil war in Kamchat village, Battambang province. The tractor was completely destroyed in the explosion, and Si Sopheak was taken to hospital.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

RUBBISH BIN THIEF ARRESTED BY POLICE
Than Thol, 26, was turned over to police by Chheng Sothearak on Friday after he and two friends allegedly stole 74 rubbish bins and attempted to sell them at a market. The accused was found at the market where he had managed to sell 35 of the stolen bins.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING 2 IN FAMILY
Police arrested Ol Eng, 25, on Saturday for allegedly murdering his stepfather and grandmother and then dumping their bodies in a nearby well on March 7. Police say the suspect killed Yim Saman, 48, because he treated his mother and him very badly. It is also alleged that he killed his grandmother, Long Dear, 77, because she witnessed the crime in Bamnork village, Pursat province.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

FIRE DESTROYS 13 HOUSES IN KOH KONG
A fire destroyed 13 houses in Khemarak Phumin town, Koh Kong province on Saturday. Police said they suspect that the fire was ignited after a gas tank exploded in a gas seller's house, which was at the centre of the fire. Total damages remain unknown.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

STOLEN MOTO RETURNED TO OWNER
Neang Sineng, 26, was arrested for allegedly buying a stolen motorbike from thieves on Friday. The motorbike, owned by Sok Sokuntheary, 27, was stolen by her nephew, Ruos Serey Sambath, while she was away for Qingming. The bike was returned to its owner, but the thief remains at large.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

ONE KILLED IN COLLISION ON ROAD 6
One man died and 11 people were severely injured after a pickup truck collided with a car on National Road 6 in Banteay Meanchey province on Thursday. All the victims, from Samraong Thom village, Preah district were travelling in the truck at the time of collision. Chhum Rong, 58, was killed in the collision.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

The Phnom Penh Post News In Briefs

In Brief: First Swatch outlet open

Written by Hor Hab
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

SWATCH, the Swiss brand of watches, will be available in Cambodia for the first time by distributor K Thong Huot Telecom, the local distributor of Nokia mobile phones. Yoeun Makara, acting retail sales manager, said that Swatch watches would fill a market niche in the Kingdom. "We believe that there is a strong market for Swatch watches in Cambodia as it appeals to the young and trendy," he told reporters Monday at the launch of the first Swatch outlet on Monireth Boulevard.


In Brief: Toyoya plans expansion

Written by Nguon Sovan
Tuesday, 07 April 2009

JAPANESE car giant Toyota is planning a US$6 million expansion in Cambodia over the next two years in the face of falling domestic sales, according to its local distributor. "We still commit to expanding our sales to bring us closer to provincial customers," Kong Nuon, president of TTHK Co, the sole distributor of Toyota in Cambodia, said in a press briefing Sunday. Further showrooms will be opened in cities including Battambang and Siem Reap, he added. Toyota expects to sell 750 vehicles this year, down from 1,100 in 2008.

The Khmer Rouge's prisons chief Monday told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court that he had "sacrificed everything" for the revolution "

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the former Khmer Rouge prison chief of S-21, or Tuol Sleng prison in court in Phnom Penh in March. The Khmer Rouge's prisons chief Monday told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court that he had "sacrificed everything" for the revolution that ultimately killed up to two million people.(AFP/Pool/Mak Remissa)

A Cambodian boy looks at skulls and bones inside a stupa at the popular tourist site Phnom Sampov near Samlot ,northwest of Phnom Penh in March. The Khmer Rouge's prisons chief Monday told Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court that he had "sacrificed everything" for the revolution that ultimately killed up to two million people.(AFP/File/Tang Chhin Sothy)

A Cambodian child watches photos of former prisoners on display at a former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, April 5, 2009. Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal on Monday resumes trying Kaing Guek Eav, alias, Duch, accused of running a torture center for the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian boy walks past photos of former prisoners on displaying at a former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, April 5, 2009. Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal on Monday resumes trying Kaing Guek Eav, alias, Duch, accused of running a torture center for the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian Buddhist monk watches a painting of a torture scene at a former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, April 5, 2009. Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal on Monday resumes trying Kaing Guek Eav, alias, Duch, accused of running a torture center for the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian Buddhist monk, right, sits outside a former Khmer Rouge prison, known as S-21, of the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, April 5, 2009. Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal on Monday resumes trying Kaing Guek Eav, alias, Duch, accused of running a torture center for the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Chum Mey, right, 78, a survivor of the S-21 prison during the Khmer Rouge regime, walks into the court room for attending a trial of Former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, at U.N.-backed tribunal Monday, April 6, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia's genocide tribunal reopens its historic trial of the accused Khmer Rouge torture chief on Monday, but allegations of corruption threaten to overshadow the proceedings.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian military police personnel relaxes outside a court room as he waits for spectators coming to a trial of former Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, also know as 'Duch'at the U.N.-backed tribunal Monday, April 6, 2009 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodia's genocide tribunal reopens its historic trial of the accused Khmer Rouge torture chief on Monday, but allegations of corruption threaten to overshadow the proceedings. Duch is the first senior Khmer Rouge figure to face trial, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as homicide and torture.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)