Kampot Cement saw sales fall 15pc in 2009

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Trucks wait in line at Kampot Cement's factory in Kampot province at the end of October. The firm saw demand fall last year but a company stakeholder said Tuesday sales were expected to pick up in 2010 as construction activity begins to recover.

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We hope this year's sales will increase by 10 percent, as construction seems to be more active than before."

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:03 Chun Sophal

Cambodian subsidiary of Siam Cement reports light activity in construction sector led to low demand for building materials

KAMPOT Cement Co, a joint venture with Thailand’s Siam Cement Group, said Tuesday that sales slumped 15 percent last year compared to 2008 as construction activity dropped following the onset of the economic crisis in the Kingdom.

Khaou Phallaboth, president of Cambodia’s Khaou Chuly Group, a stakeholder in the company, said that Kampot sold just 1.02 million tonnes of cement in 2009 compared to 1.2 million the previous year.

He did not give a revenue or profit figure, but the company sells cement at US$87 to $90 a tonne, which would place revenues between $88.74 million and $91.8 million.

“The fall in sales last year stemmed from bank restrictions on the disbursement of loans to trading bodies and building developers which were affected by the global financial crisis,” said Khaou Phallaboth.

According to a report by the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, in the first 10 months of last year, total investment in the construction sector dropped 19.6 percent to just $1.89 billion from $2.35 billion over the same period the previous year.

Cement imports fell even more over the first three quarters of last year, by just over 23 percent, according to figures released by Sihanoukville Autonomous Port.

The last quarter of 2008 saw construction activity nosedive in Cambodia as foreign developers pulled out, capital dried up and demand for building materials plummeted.

Thai Mengly, manager of construction projects at New World City which builds residential property in Phnom Penh, said Tuesday that construction activity at his firm was hampered in 2009 because of a backlog as buildings stalled at the end of 2008.

“We cannot compare our construction in 2009 to that of 2008 because things stagnated by the global economic crisis,” he said. He declined to give construction data for last year.

In 2009, total demand for cement in Cambodia was reportedly 2 million tonnes in total, a 20 percent drop from 2.5 million tonnes in 2008, meaning that Kampot Cement beat the decline to capture a greater share of the overall market.

Khaou Phallaboth said that Kampot Cement’s operations had not been badly affected last year, despite the slump in only its second year of operations since its January 2008 start-up.

“We hope this year’s sales will increase by 10 percent, as construction seems to be more active than before,” said Khaou Phallaboth, adding that the firm would produce about 1 million tonnes this year and import a further 200,000 tonnes from its parent in Thailand.

His prediction echoed that of Siam Cement Pcl’s President Kan Trakulhoon, who told Bloomberg Thursday that sales for the whole group would expand at least 10 percent, a projection made on rising prices for cement. Still, higher oil prices would likely raise production costs, he added.

Kampot Cement said in late October that it was holding plans to double production capacity by the end of 2012 due to falling demand last year. Khaou Phallaboth told the Post at the time that demand for cement was unlikely to start to recover until 2011 into 2012, and that Kampot Cement will stall plans for a $200 million upgrade that would have seen production capacity jump to 2 million tonnes per year.

Siam Cement holds a 90 percent stake in Kampot Cement. Khaou Chuly’s stake is scheduled to rise to 20 percent following the expansion, for which there is currently no schedule.

Acid attack suspect to face court

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:03 Tep Nimol

A WOMAN accused of pouring acid on a 22-year-old man in Phnom Penh’s Prampi Makara district earlier this month is scheduled to appear in Municipal Court today for questioning.

Lim Soma was arrested after the January 4 incident but was released two days later without being charged. She has said that she used a tooth-whitening formula taken from her dental practice in the attack, a claim she says is supported by the victim’s minor injuries.

She said Tuesday that she planned to answer the court summons.

“I will appear for questioning in front of the prosecutor, but I am not afraid because I did not do anything wrong,” she said.

The court initially dropped criminal proceedings in the case in the hope that Lim Soma and the victim, Hor Tin, could reach an out-of-court compensation deal, but intervened once again after Lim Soma refused to meet Hor Tin’s demand for US$10,000.

Kea Soheang, the victim’s employer whose complaint led the case to be reopened, has failed to show up for two court summonses.

Deputy prosecutor Ek Chheng Hout said the complaint would be “cancelled” if he failed to show a third time.

Payment system delayed, says NBC

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:03 Ith Sothoeuth and Rick Valenzuela

OFFICIALS at the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) said Tuesday, at a conference in Phnom Penh, that Cambodia was in the process of transforming its electronic payment system across the country, but that the process would be delayed by a few more years.

NBC officials said they were using an interim solution: Clearing houses – branches of the central bank at the provincial level – were processing payments separately.

Srey Siyout, director of the NBC’s Exchange Management Department, told the Post that currently, payments by cheque can be cleared in only three provinces: Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Preah Sihanouk.

Also, cheques can only be cleared nearest the province where they are issued.

For example, a cheque issued in Battambang to a person in Koh Kong province requires the Koh Kong client to bring the payment to the Siem Reap NBC branch to clear, said Srey Siyout.

Improvements to this system so cheques could be cleared anywhere were scheduled to be completed by the end of this year, according to a payment system “roadmap”, she added, but NBC Director General Tal Nay Im said Tuesday that the upgrade had been delayed.

“We are now developing [the system].... We hope in the next few years we will have a full payment system,” she told the Post on the sidelines of the Banking Cambodia International 2010 conference at Phnom Penh’s Naga World hotel and casino.

She added that the development of the full system would add security to Cambodia’s overall banking system, in that cheques – which are more secure than cash – could be exchanged more easily.

Under the new system Phnom Penh would house the central clearing house for the NBC, said Srey Siyout.

The NBC is preparing the tender process for the final phase, she added, but she said she did not know which companies would bid.

As part of the process of developing Cambodia’s checking capabilities, the government, in mid-2009, standardised the appearance of the Kingdom’s cheques.

As part of the development of the new payment system, the government is drafting a National Payment System Law, a prakas, or edict, on third-party processors and a prakas on credit remittances, according to a presentation by Srey Siyout at Tuesday’s event.

Four hurt in protest over land, official says

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:03 Sen David

FOUR villagers were rushed to hospital following an altercation over land in Preah Sihanouk province between staff members of the Chinese-owned Yie Chea Company and neighbouring residents, a local official said Tuesday.

Lim Sarin, chief of Prey Nub village, confirmed that more than 40 villagers were involved in a three-day protest over land that turned violent after company staff members attacked the demonstrators.

“The company fought them until they were seriously injured, and now they’ve been sent to hospital,” Lim Sarin said.

Company representatives were unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

One of the injured, 68-year-old Chong Heab, said the dispute began after the provincial government gave about 100 hectares of land, some belonging to Prey Nub villagers, to the Yie Chea Company without an offer of compensation.

“It was unfair that the company didn’t pay us any money. Instead they fought me and my son, who nearly died,” she said.

Lim Sarin said he would hold a meeting today to try to resolve the land dispute but held out little hope for success.

Police Blotter: 27 Jan 2010

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:03 Phak Seangly

STUDENT, FEARING GANG, PACKS CLEAVER

Police detained and questioned an 18-year-old student after they found a cleaver hidden inside his briefcase on Monday in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district. The student confessed to carrying the weapon, saying that he needed it for protection from a gang of students who had injured him in an attack several days ago. Police “educated” him and asked his parents to sign a contract saying they would make sure he stopped carrying weapons.

KAMPUCHEA THMEY

NOT SO CLEAVER CLEAVER CRIME

Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday sentenced a man to six years in jail after finding him guilty of attempted robbery in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district in January 2007. The defendant attempted to rob a taxi driver with a cleaver when he could not afford the price of a trip. The driver shouted for help, prompting police to come to the scene and arrest the 26-year-old. Police said the man had confessed to the robbery attempt.

DEUM AMPIL

BABY GIRL SURVIVES CLEAVER RAGE

A 26-year-old man is on the run from authorities after allegedly chopping a one-year-old girl in the leg with a cleaver on Friday night in Kampong Speu’s Kong Pisey district. According to police, the accused was drinking with the girl’s father when an argument started and he attempted to attack the mother, who was breastfeeding the victim. The mother ducked the attack, but the girl was wounded. The young victim was rushed to hospital in Phnom Penh. She suffered severe cuts to her leg.

DEUM AMPIL

MEN RELEASED IN SHOOTING OF WORKER

A police officer and a bodyguard were arrested and held for one night after they allegedly shot a 23-year-old construction worker in Phnom Penh’s Dangkor district. Witnesses said the two accused men chased and shot the victim in the stomach, seriously injuring him. The two men tried to evade arrest but were ultimately caught by Military Police. After one night in custody, they paid US$125 in compensation to the victim before being released.

DEUM AMPIL

Clinic tackles root cause of dentistry woes

Photo by: BENNETT MURRAY

Dentist Dr Deborah Moore says Phnom Penh’s European Dental Clinic offers a local alternative to places like Bangkok, and even attracts the occasional health tourist.

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I'VE HAD ... EMAILS FROM PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA WHO WANT CONSULTATIONS ON THEIR VISIT TO CAMBODIA"
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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:03 BENNETT MURRAY

Western practice says it is working to make sure local dental industry isn’t just pulling teeth

ALTHOUGH locals, expats and tourists alike are generally sceptical of the Kingdom’s healthcare industry, international staff at Phnom Penh’s European Dental Clinic say it has raised standards of dental care in Cambodia.

Founded in 1994 by dentist Dr Eric Le Guen and technician Philippe Guibert, the clinic was the first of its kind in Cambodia.

“Before that, everyone was going to Bangkok,” European Dental Clinic dentist Dr Deborah Moore said.

The practice provides a range of services, akin to a dental clinic in the West, including hygienist services, implants, tooth extraction, as well as orthodontics offered monthly by a visiting specialist from Bangkok.

“We offer everything, really,” said Dr Moore.

Like many quality dentists in the region, the clinic offers western services at a little over Southeast Asian prices.

A standard consultation costs US$20, while a basic cleaning service costs $40. More complicated – and expensive – procedures, such as gum surgery and root canals, are also offered by the clinic’s four staff – three dentists from France, Cambodia and the United Kingdom and one French technician.

Given the pricing, most customers are foreigners, explains Dr Moore, but a few medical tourists also drop in.

“I’ve had a few emails from people in Australia who want consultations on their visit to Cambodia,” says Dr Moore, adding though that such visits are rare.

“I think most tourists care about their teeth before they come to Cambodia,” jokes Guibert.

The volume of customers the clinic receives varies, but Guibert estimates they see about 100 per month. In addition to their Phnom Penh clinic, European Dental Clinic also operates a branch in Ho Chi Minh City.

Before starting the clinic here, Guibert explains he was working with NGOs in rural areas providing dental care to poor Cambodians, a service the clinic still provides on Saturdays.

“Sixteen years after, we still offer this service…. We’ve known Cambodia for a long time,” he says.

Among the innovations the clinic brought to dentistry in Phnom Penh was the first dental lab, which Guibert says helped set the standard.

“In Phnom Penh, you now have many clinics with dental labs. Because we were the first here, other dentists saw that and realised they needed to open labs as well,” he says.

The domestic supply of dentistry products necessary to run a clinic is surprisingly good, says Guibert, with 90 percent available over the counter in Cambodia. The remaining supplies are imported from Europe and North America.

Although most dentists working at the clinic are foreigners, Guibert explained they have regularly cooperated with local dentists to raise standards.

“When we started … we worked with the old dentists in Phnom Penh. We had lots of exchange programs,” said Guibert. “Today, the quality of Khmer dentists isn’t so bad.”

The clinic is expensive by Phnom Penh standards, but Guibert says they try to avoid out-pricing Cambodian practices, which have also benefited from professional exchanges.

In Cambodia there are just two schools of dentistry – the private International University, which offers a five-year program, and the University of Health Science, which offers a seven-year program and sees 16 dentists graduating each year.

Many of the country’s dentists, however, lack university qualifications meaning there is a large number of unqualified dentists in the Kingdom.

“The training is okay at the universities,” says Dr Moore, “but there’s no law saying dentists must have gone to the university.”

This means the provinces are a poor place to have toothache.

“In a remote area, there’s just a guy who pulls somebody’s tooth out,” says Dr Moore.

Rights abuses threaten HIV goals

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:02 Joe Amon

CAMBODIA is considered one of the few success stories in the global fight against AIDS. HIV is on the decline. Over 2 percent of adults were affected in 1997. A decade later HIV prevalence is 0.8 percent.

According to UNAIDS, “Cambodia provides evidence that well-focused and sustained prevention efforts can help reverse an HIV epidemic.” Antiretroviral therapy is currently provided to around two-thirds of those who need it, up from 14 percent in 2004. Cambodia is also praised – and rightly so – for its progressive AIDS law protecting people living with HIV from discrimination. Those are impressive accomplishments.

Yet, human rights abuses against populations particularly vulnerable to HIV infection threaten the government’s success. The positive achievements of government health authorities and their partners have been outmatched in the past year by the negative actions of the police, Ministry of Social Affairs and municipal authorities.

The real casualties have been among the most marginalised of Cambodians: those caught up in street sweeps, detained, or forcibly evicted out of Phnom Penh.

People considered “undesirable” – the homeless, sex workers, drug users, street children – are regularly arrested and detained by police and Social Affairs staff in advance of national holidays or visits by foreign dignitaries. Many people living with HIV are caught up in these campaigns. In May, Human Rights Watch talked to one homeless woman who was detained by Daun Penh district police during the ASEAN-EU foreign ministers meeting. When she asked a police officer to return her confiscated HIV medicine, he replied: “You complain a lot! Jump into the truck!”

In the lead up to Phnom Penh’s annual water festival earlier this month, similar detentions took place. The deputy governor of Daun Penh district claimed that sex workers were arrested for HIV prevention purposes, explaining, “We don’t want to see the boat racers bringing diseases such as HIV/AIDS back to their wives.”

People who use drugs, and particularly those who inject, are another group at risk – both for HIV infection and police abuse. The number of people who use drugs in Cambodia is hard to determine, but it is thought to be between 10,000 and 20,000; at least one in four people who inject drugs are estimated to be HIV positive.

But instead of addressing either the issue of drug use or HIV with evidence-based measures, the mainstay of the government’s strategy has been detention.

Cambodia has established 11 drug detention “rehabilitation” centres around the country. The “treatment” they provide? Forced physical exercises, military drills and hard labour. People in detention are recognised by UNAIDS as being at a heightened risk of HIV infection, but in addition to failing to provide effective drug dependency treatment, the centres provide neither HIV prevention nor treatment. These centres should be shut down and voluntary, in-community drug dependency treatment developed.

Another example of government policies undermining health goals, and violating the HIV law, was the forced eviction of some 40 families from Borei Keila in June to a de facto AIDS colony on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

Protests by Cambodian and international HIV and human rights groups generated scrambled visits by UNAIDS and the national AIDS authority. But the basic situation is unchanged: Those who were forced to move remain far from jobs and isolated from medical facilities and support services. Although local nongovernmental organisations have a long-term plan to improve housing conditions and begin income-generating activities, the situation for these families remains precarious.

In June 2006, the government committed itself to achieving ambitious national targets for providing universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010. Now, three years later, a UN delegation has come to Phnom Penh to review what progress has been made. The delegation should pay close attention to the government’s failure to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of those at highest risk of HIV. The actions of the police, Ministry of Social Affairs, and municipal authorities should be particularly scrutinised.

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Joe Amon is director of the Health and Human Rights division of Human Rights Watch.

The widening resource gap between private and public high schools

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:01 Touch Sopor and Cheng Lita

If high school students are going to be prepared for university academic programmes when they graduate, they must study theory and practice together during high school, said Bun Sophat, a finance and human resource manager of Pannasastra University of Cambodia.

Understanding theory means you know the ideas within a particular field of study; practice means you actually do the things that the theory talks about. To use science as an example, you can learn how to do chemical equations without actually knowing how to run experiments in a laboratory.

If students arrive at universities without practical skills, they require a period of preparation before they can engage in the curriculum being offered. “We have a science lab for doing experiments such as physics, chemistry and biology,” said Bun Sophat.

In order for students to make the most of these resources they should enter university with practical knowledge of how a science experiment works, which is only possible if they have been in a lab before.

Some of the kingdom’s private high schools have already begun to raise the quality of their education up to international standards because they have enough resources to fulfill educational requirements and create internationally competitive programmes.

While private schools have the benefit of serving students and families who have enough money to pay thousands of dollars a year to attend, educators at the Kingdom’s public schools have no such luxury. Sok Sovana, director of Bak Touk High School, says that Cambodia still faces many obstacles to improving public high schools because of a lack of resources.

According to Sok Sovana, there aren’t enough teachers, the classrooms are too small and the number of students per class is too large.

Sok Sovana added that, despite the less-than-ideal situation today, it is still an improvement over the past. Every year 10,000 public school students receive an education that qualifies them for a scholarship to study at universities in Cambodia or abroad.

“We are still very much concerned with training students in technology,” said Sok Sovana. “We don’t have enough computers, language labs, libraries or science labs for our students.”

“Before, studying in the morning or the afternoon was sufficient for university-bound students, but now they need to study outside of their high school in order to expand their knowledge base,” said Sok Sovan.

“We have to study in part-time classes and do practice exercises one or two hours after class because our studies in school are rather short. Otherwise, we will not be able to compete with other students.” said a student from Bak Touk High School.

In response to the inadequate education for many high schoolers in the Kingdom, the government has also been planning a new system to update the quality of education at upper-secondary schools. “In the near future, the [Ministry of Education] is planning to build more schools so students can study for the whole day,” Sok Sovana said.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers Association, said that the motivation of teachers, students and parents is very important because they are the main drivers in the development of education.

“The government has to encourage teachers by giving them a good salary, and build the confidence of students and their parents by increasing the employment rate.” He said. “This way parents will feel like it is worthwhile to send their children to school for higher education and students will commit to studying for a brighter future,” he added.

The only way for public schools to really compete with private schools is for the government to raise the budget for education. In the free market, the private schools are competing for the tuition money of wealthier families, and they must find ways to make their school stand out amongst their competitors by improving the academic and extra-curricular programs.

Cambodia’s public schools may not have the same immediate economic impetus for improvement, but if Cambodia’s high school graduates are going to have the capacity to build a brighter tomorrow, the secondary school system must improve.

Climbing the ladder: Ung Kim Oan

Ung Kim Oan braving the Romanian winter, left, and standing inside her university

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:01 Tha Piseth and Keo Kounila

Ung Kim Oan, 21, is from Kampong Thom province. After she finished high school in 2006, she passed a scholarship programme and got a place at the Department of Media and Communication, one of the rising departments of the Royal University of Phnom Penh. At the end of the second semester of her junior year, she got a scholarship from Erasmus Mundus Mobility with Asia scholarship (EMMA)*, run by the EMMA consortium of 18 universities in Europe and fully supported by the European Commission.

Why she won the journalism scholarship

Ung Kim Oan strongly believes that determination, perseverance and a bit of luck are key factors in receiving the scholarship. “In my opinion, I met the requirements of EMMA because I have experience related to the subject I chose, media. I used to work as a presenter at a Radio station and as a reporter for a popular magazine called Procheaprey.” Moreover, she had volunteered in some organisations working in fields related to media.

Why she wants to study abroad

Studying abroad has long been one of Ung Kim Oan’s big dreams. In the past, she was teased by her friends who said she was like a frog inside a well because she never left her house except to go to school. “I wanted to get out of the well. I wanted to know how big the world is; that’s why I decided to study abroad,” she says.

Vision towards being a Cambodian student in Romania

She can’t help but compare her time at DMC in Cambodia with her experience in Romania. She said that RUPP lecturers and administrators care far too much about attendance and making sure that the school uniforms are tucked into trousers or skirts properly, as well as respect that students must pay towards professors. Students in Romania are free to wear jeans, T-shirts or whatever they want to, she says. Teachers don’t even care that much about attendance. “I think wearing a uniform is good because then everyone wears the same clothes and there is not going to be a fashion show in the school. That makes everyone equal, but I think the school should make allowances for those who have to do some field work, especially in journalism. More than anything, the quality of the education is what matters.”

Future prospects upon returning to Cambodia

Ung Kim Oan hopes to fill the needs of her people after she finishes her programme in Romania. She told Lift through e-mail, “After finishing this exchange programme, I will come back to my country, Cambodia, and use what I have learned to serve the needs of people in terms of information, education and entertainment, as well as keeping them updated as the world changes”.

This way, I can contribute my skills to help communities and be a part of the country’s development process. Finally, by working as a professional journalist, I strongly believe that I can prove that female journalists can also make a valuable contribution to the country.

Besides the commitment she has made, Ung Kim Oan says, “I want to be a communication officer at an NGO. I hope I can work to help children in the countryside to have a better education, especially girls. I also want to work as a TV producer so that I can produce educational or entertainment programmes for my people.”

http://math.unice.fr/EMMA/

Baseball field opens in Kampong Speu

Supplied by The Cambodian Baseball Federation

The newly constructed Heo Koo-Youn baseball field in Kampong Speu province.

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:00 Dan Riley

A new baseball field in Kampong Speu’s Srang commune will be officially opened today with a 9am ceremony attended by the South Korean Ambassador to Cambodia and officials from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia. Two games will follow the ceremony, with the Cambodian National team facing local side Phnom Penh Blue Waves, and little league teams from Kampong Thom and Kampong Chhnang playing each other.

The field is to be named after Korean baseball legend Heo Koo-Youn, who donated a large sum of money for its construction. Now a TV commentator and influential member of the Korea Baseball Organisation, Heo was a former player on the South Korean national team and managed a professional Korean team.

The Cambodian Baseball Federation meanwhile is desperately trying to raise funds to relaunch activities in the Kingdom, with financial difficulties meaning the national team league was disbanded last August. The federation now aims to start a little league, while looking for a venue and funding for a five-day national championship tournament at the end of next month.

NOCC plans three tourneys

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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

Field hockey, triathlon and Khmer chess competitions to be held

IN an announcement on its Web site, the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) has expressed the need for sponsors to help organise field hockey, triathlon and Khmer chess sporting competitions in the Kingdom this year.

Vath Chamroeun, general secretary of the NOCC, told the Post by phone that these events will help promote the sports domestically and also attract sponsors to ensure their continued operations. “We need participation from athletes, but we also want to strengthen cooperation with sponsors interested in sports promotion,” he said.

Field hockey has been played in Cambodia since 2004, when former Pakistan captain Asif Maqsood Rana was appointed national team coach. In February 2005, Phnom Penh hosted the first-ever hockey tournament at the Olympic Stadium, in which the national team defeated Yamoto Club, comprised of students from eight universities in Japan.

With technical support from Asif Maqsood Rana, the NOCC will host the seventh edition of the hockey tournament from February 28 to March 2. “I hope that the tournament will play at Olympic Stadium, but we are currently still uncertain about that,” stated Vath Chamroeun, adding that numerous teams have registered, mostly featuring expatriates living in Cambodia, and that only one Cambodian team had been entered, by a local NGO.

The Triathlon Federation of Cambodia was formed in 2008 after a split from the Amateur Swimming Federation. Last year, the first-ever competition was organised in Kampot province.

“The NOCC recently received an agreement from the Council of Ministers to organise this [triathlon] event annually in Siem Reap province in collaboration with a Japanese company,” revealed the secretary. “Triathlon has a strong connection between sport and tourism, so it’s important for us to attract Cambodian people and foreigners to participate in this event.”

The competition, to be held March 21 around the Angkor temple complex, will feature a 40-kilometre cycling route, 10-kilometre running course, and a 1.5-kilometre swim in the West Baray reservoir.

“The funds generated from different sources for this event will be used for charity,” said Vath Chamroeun.

The NOCC is also seeking sponsorship for what it intends to brand as the Samdech Techo Khmer Chess championship. In 2008, Cambodia held its inaugural tournament, but according to Vath Chamroeun, it was done without any standardisation of rules.

“The players are from different regions, and they have different methods of playing, so we decided to set up a common rule for them,” remarked the sports official. “I hope that the players from different villages in the Kingdom will participate in this event, which we will organise in March or April.”

According to the general secretary, the NOCC plans to offer a US$5,000 cash prize for the winner, the runner-up would collect $2,000, and $1,000 would go to third. However, Vath Chamroeun said, these are not guaranteed amounts and could increase or decrease depending on sponsorship.

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

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Pursat Run goes online

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:00 Dan Riley

PURSAT – Organisers of the annual Pursat River Run, now in its fourth year, have launched a Web site to help promote the event and assist with participant registration. This year’s race falls on November 14. Log on to www.runpursat.info for more information.

Korean centre opens

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:00 Soeun Say

PRIME Minister Hun Sen opened a new US$8.7 million South Korean culture, tourism and trade centre Monday in Phnom Penh. Kim Kwan Yung, governor of Gyrong San Bukdo province, which backed the project to build ties with Phnom Penh, said the centre would help promote business relations between the two countries. The three-storey centre built by DKC & C Co, a South Korean construction firm, will feature a department store, a public Internet hub, a VIP area, conference hall and a display area for cultural works from Cambodia and South Korea.

Pawn licences required

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 15:00 May Kunmakara

THE MINISTRY of Economy and Finance called Monday for pawnbrokers to apply for licences following a prakas, or edict, signed this month. In an announcement in the Khmer-language press, the ministry said it would issue the US$250 annual licences until the end of March. “We have opened for those who have the ability to obtain a licence because we want to bring them within areas in which they are under control,” said Mey Vann, director of the Financial Industries Department. New rules say pawnshops must have minimum capital of 200 million riels (US$50,000), and that interest rates will be capped at 5 percent.

'Cambodia today is a country for sale'

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth

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By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth • January 27, 2010

The conflict between Cambodia's proponents of development and of human rights continues, despite the 1991 Paris Peace Accords' stipulation that economic development and respect for human rights must go hand in hand.

Surely a Cambodia in relative peace, with new roads and buildings, is better than the Khmer Rouge's Cambodia of forced labor, destruction and death.

Last month, even U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Carol Rodley, who acknowledged Cambodia's continued problems with democracy and human rights, told a Long Beach audience that today's Cambodia has more roads, more buildings and more businesses; the people are more competent and more optimistic; Cambodia sends troops with U.N. peacekeepers abroad.

The Monivong Boulevard's Kentucky Fried Chicken, the 27-story Canadia Bank Tower with health club and restaurant, among others, are eye-catching. The third of Cambodia's 13 million people who live on 50 cents a day; the poor scavenging the city's dumps, eating rodent meat or who are evicted from their homes and their land to accommodate new development, aren't.

While the Paris Accords' necessary stipulations weren't implemented, Hun Sen, who lost the 1993 U.N.-organized election, was allowed to elbow himself to become "co-premier." His 1997 coup killed many royalists, and sent the elected premier fleeing town. Sen has ruled without meaningful opposition since.

Cambodia's sad story is written with the help of foreign aid donors, who have provided more than 50 percent a year of Sen's national budget.

A 2006 report by the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho), "Human Rights in Cambodia: The Façade of Stability," accused the world community of a failure to "speak out" against Sen's regular human rights breaches. It warned: "Cambodia's current period of relative political calm is no guarantor of meaningful long-term stability, and ongoing, systemic human rights violations will, to the contrary, promote instability."

It detailed illegal land grabs, arrests and threats of arrests of opposition and human rights activists, continued impunity, a corrupt, incompetent and politically biased judiciary. "There can be no genuine stability without human rights and rule of law," the report stated.

In June 2007, "Cambodia's Family Trees," by the London-based Global Witness, an anti-graft NGO, detailed Premier Sen's family members, business associates and senior officials, dubbed as a "kleptocratic elite," who were allegedly engaged in illegal logging and stripping of Cambodia's public assets for personal profit.

In February 2009, its report, "Country for Sale," charged the same "corrupt elite has captured the country's emerging oil and mineral sectors while Cambodia's international donors turn a blind eye."

"Cambodia today is a country for sale. ... Over the past 15 years, 45 percent of the country's land has been purchased by private interests" and "millions of dollars ... paid to secure concessions" never showed up in Sen's economy and finance ministry's revenue reports.

In the March-April 2009 Foreign Affairs Magazine's "Cambodia's Curse," Stanford's Joel Brinkley wrote that U.S. embassy-funded studies in Phnom Penh "showed in stunning detail that Cambodian government officials steal between $300 million and $500 million a year (most years, the state's annual budget is about $1 billion)."

Regional peace and stability were put at risk last month, as Sen used his favorite graduation ceremony to blast Thai foreign minister Piromya as "chief of terrorists," declaring the Abhisit government does "not have long to live" and charging, "Thailand, you are invading my country, and Cambodia cannot tolerate your invasion."

To show he's in control and his government's popular support, Sen read the results of a survey by the International Republican Institute, a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization: 79 percent of people polled said the Sen government was moving in "the right direction" and 53 percent said they will vote for Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party.

The reliability of a survey, conducted in a general atmosphere of threats, arrests, physical disappearances, repression and fear may be questioned, but new roads, modern bridges and new schools are improvements that are tangible and real to the Cambodian people.

Andrew Marshall's Dec. 12 "Khmer Riche," in the Good Weekend Magazine for the Sydney Morning Herald, asserted: "The Khmer Rouge are dead; the Khmer Riche now rule Cambodia."

Marshall toured Phnom Penh's Tuol Kork precinct -- like "a 'homes of the stars' tour in Beverly Hills, except that Tuol Kork's backstreets are piled with rubbish" -- as his driver "points out giant mansion after mansion, and tells me who lives there."

"Depressingly, the Khmer Riche Kids sometimes seem indistinguishable from the old colonial ruling class," he wrote. "They carry U.S. dollars ... and live in newly built neoclassical mansions so large that the city's old French architecture looks like Lego by comparison."

Such as Meas Sophearith, 21, son of a general, whose family has a "four-mansion compound with lots of razor wire, and a gate guarded by special forces soldiers." Or Ouch Vichet, 28, whose parents gave him "a villa, half a million U.S. dollars, and a 400-hectare rubber plantation," while his parents-in-law gave him "$100,000 in cash and another villa worth $200,000."

These "rich kids can spend $2,000 on drinks in a single night." They are "Cambodia's future," Marshall wrote.

If these accounts represent Cambodia moving in "the right direction," Cambodians have lots more to worry about.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Cambodian rehab centers torture drug users: rights group

via CAAI News Media

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) – Detainees at Cambodian government-run drug rehabilitation centers suffer “sadistic violence” such as electric shocks, forced labor and rape, a human rights group said Monday.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on Cambodia to close at least 11 centers around the country where it said people are often sent without reasonable cause, suffer grave abuses and are denied access to a lawyer.

The government denied the allegations saying that “the places are centers to save people.”

HRW's 93-page report said: “Many detainees are subjected to sadistic violence, including being shocked with electric batons and whipped with twisted electrical wire.

“Arduous physical exercises and labor are the mainstays of supposed drug 'treatment'.”

Rights groups have made allegations about abuse at Cambodia's drug rehabilitation centers and UN health officials have questioned their treatment methods in the past.

“Individuals in these centers are not being treated or rehabilitated, they are being illegally detained and often tortured,” said Joseph Amon, director of the health and human rights division at HRW.

“These centers do not need to be revamped or modified; they need to be shut down.”

Moek Dara, secretary general of Cambodia's national authority for combating drugs, told AFP that “there is no reason authorities would commit torture... we only help those people recover from drugs”.

HRW also alleged detainees were forced to have sex with staff and to donate blood, were fed rotten or insect-ridden food and chained while standing in the sun as punishment.

The centers, run by various branches of the Cambodian state including police and the ministry of social affairs, detained nearly 2,400 people in 2008, according to the report.

Detainees were arrested for drug use and vagrancy, but were also frequently rounded up in police sweeps of people considered “undesirable” in advance of national holidays or international meetings, it added.

Government data showed that more than 500 of the detainees were aged under 18, HRW said, and one former 16-year-old detainee named M'noh described staff members using electrical wire for whippings.

“(A staff member) would use the cable to beat people... On each whip the person's skin would come off and stick on the cable,” he said in the report.

UN rapporteur 'encouraged' but says human rights still fall short

Tue, 26 Jan 2010

By : dpa

Phnom Penh - The UN human rights rapporteur said Tuesday the Cambodian government was cooperating with him to identify and address human rights problems, marking a turnaround from the fractious relationship Phnom Penh had with his predecessor. Speaking near the end of his second visit, Surya Subedi said he was encouraged by progress made in some areas, including the completion of the first case at the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal and efforts to reform the prison system.

But he said Phnom Penh had failed to meet its international human rights obligations in a number of areas, not least in relation to the expulsion to China last month of 20 Uighur refugees, whose fate remains unknown.

The expulsions caused a storm of international criticism, including from some of Cambodia's key donors.

"The issue here is compliance to international laws," Subedi said. "Whether it is Uighur refugees or other refugees, due process should be followed and they are entitled to the protection of international law."

Subedi added that the government had refused his request to consider a moratorium on land evictions until a legal framework was in place, saying that any such halt would interfere with development.

"But they are receptive to having national guidelines, so those are being developed," he said, adding that the UN Human Rights Council, to which Subedi reports, had for the first time said the country should have guidelines in place.

"So it is now becoming an international requirement," he said.

Subedi met Prime Minister Hun Sen and other senior officials, as well as diplomats and representatives from civil society. He said the focus of his second visit was to measure the strength of country's institutions such as its courts and parliament.

"[But] my primary task is to make sure that the government's activities and the activities of other state institutions conform to the international standards and the standards spelled out in [local law]," he said, adding that he expected the government to live up to its obligations under international law.

Cambodia's human rights situation was heavily criticized by US-based Human Rights Watch in its annual review released last week, and again earlier this week in a subsequent report outlining torture and rape allegations in state-run drug detention centres.

Subedi pointedly described HRW as "a highly respected institution" during his press conference Tuesday. The Cambodian government had flatly rejected the human rights report as "insulting" and said the findings of the second report were without merit.

Subedi's predecessor, Kenyan lawyer Yash Ghai, had a rocky relationship with Phnom Penh and quit the post in late 2008.

In 2006, Yash Ghai described the government as "not very committed to human rights." Hun Sen later called the rapporteur "deranged" for saying that power was to centralized with the prime minister.

Justice in the Midst of Conflicts

http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

via CAAI News Media

Posted on 26 January 2010

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 648

The report on the increasing number of rapes, especially also of young girls less then 10 year old, in some cases ending with the killing of the victim, carried a terrifying comment: “Law enforcement by the relevant authorities, especially the courts, remained limited, as giving impunity to perpetrators continued,” continuing: “The number of cases brought to be heard at the courts was not so high, simply because of out of court arrangements.” Money is used instead of justice.

In another context, the Ratanakiri authorities are reported to have seized a truck with illegally logged wood after a Cambodian NGO and local citizens informed the authorities – but this is worse: Citizens who tried to report and to prevent forestry crimes were threatened by armed personnel, and the authorities do not dare to disclose the names of the powerful wood traders who hire citizens to commit these crimes. Power is used instead of justice.

In view of these and many other, specifically identified cases, there is not much value in discussing, in the abstract, whether Cambodia is a country to be described as under a state of law – because the Constitution says so – or not; the call to strengthen and to ensure effective law enforcement is also not very useful, unless it is accompanied by analyzing why law enforcement is so weak, and therefore: how this might change.

When I am traveling in Phnom Penh – that is normally on the back seat of a motorcycle-taxi – and I question the drivers why they breaks traffic rules, there is almost always a similar answer, with references that “everybody does it, especially the big cars: some without license plates, speeding on the middle of the road or on the wrong side, driving on, even if the traffic light is red, etc. etc.” If the law is not seen to be enforced equally on all, irrespective of money or power, it is very difficult to see how a state of law can be achieved. It can be achieved only when the very same authorities enforcing it are also following the law themselves.

Scanning regularly through news media from other countries, there is one item which is mentioned more and more: How do the Cambodian authorities consider the role of law in their relations with the neighboring country of Thailand? The armed clash yesterday at the border invited again regional concerns. And one concern discussed in other ASEAN countries, which have a tradition of not interfering into internal affairs of other members, is the fact that this seems to be happening now with the appointment of Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, convicted for corruption but fugitive from Thailand, with an Interpol warrant, as an official adviser to the Cambodian government – disregarding the legal system of Thailand, and declaring a verdict for substantial financial corruption to be political. And by doing so importing – in spite of denials that this is not the intention – the political tensions of Thailand into Cambodia.

Several news items followed each other:

14 January 2010: International media reported that Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra will visit Cambodia again, even “Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Mr. Thaksin will visit Cambodia later this month.”

15 January 2010: Mr. Noppadon Pattama, a legal adviser to Mr. Thaksin, said the plan for a visit had been canceled, but Mr. Thaksin would instead visit another country in Asia.

17 January 2010: The Puea Thai Party chairperson Mr. Chavalit Yongchaiyuth meets Mr. Thaksin in Brunei, it is said that Mr. Thaksin would return to Cambodia late in January, staying several days.

19 January 2010: Mr. Thaksin canceled his visit to Cambodia – according to a Khmer newspaper.

21 January 2010: Mr. Thaksin arrived in Cambodia for a brief visit – no press conference, no lecture as economic advisor – only a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen is reported.

22 January 2010: Mr. Thaksin demanded to close the legal case to expropriate his property.

25 January 2010: Mr. Thaksin is reported to have declared already on 18 January 2010 he may set up a government in exile depending on political developments.

Of course the main stage for all this is in Thailand themselves, where extremely difficult problems are being faced: a mix of politics and the law, and the question is still open what will be the outcome of the conflicting dynamics between the two.

After Mr. Thaksin was ousted by a bloodless military coup in 2006, his in-country assets were frozen; the Thai supreme court is scheduled to decide on 26 February 2010, whether these US$2.3 billion – 2,300,000,000 US dollar! – were gained by the misuse of power and corruption as prime minister and will go to the state, or whether they were gained from his salary as a police officer and later businessman and will be returned to him. In addition, Mr. Thaksin said that he still has about US$100 million available abroad.

The attorney-general of Thailand, Mr. Julasing Wasantasing, shared the dilemma and his approach in an interview yesterday, Saturday, in The Nation, where he said that it is increasingly difficult for Thailand’s justice system to function, as there are two powerful pressure groups – the Yellow Shirts and the Red Shirts – trying to enforce their will: “I have been told I have to listen to the people. But when the people are divided into two camps, which side should I listen to?” When the course of the law is not followed, but instead the actions of the police or of prosecutors and judges are defined not by the law, he said: “We should stop and start anew. If every case is influenced by the yellow or red colors, Thailand’s problem is never going to end.”

The attorney-general has also been criticized, from both camps, when they were not happy with decisions based on the law, and he expressed his concern that “legal cases here are being judged by the public not on their legal merit, but on perceived political significance.” He summed up his own position in these conflicts by quoting John Quincy Adams, a US lawyer, diplomat, and politician, and finally the 6th president of the USA from 1825 to 1829. This was at a time when the USA were still a weak country – a “developing country” as we might say today.

“I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where our country might be in the wrong: ‘Let justice be done even if heaven should fall.’ My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right.”

If this position would be taken also in view of the tensions between Cambodia and Thailand – not success for oneself is the goal, but justice even if it is for the other side – what a good future could be developed soon together!

Cambodia cracks down on condom sales in capital

via CAAI News Media

26th January 2010

Cambodian authorities have cracked down on as many as 37 condom sales shops in Phnom Penh over the last three months, a government official said Tuesday.

Sok Sokun, director of Phnom Penh Municipal Health Department said that the Ministry of Health in cooperation with police and local authorities have cracked down on 37 shops since November last year.

He said those shops owners had sold condoms which had expiry date and drugs for sexual-enhancement without being first advised or prescribed by doctors.

However, he said, selling condoms and sexual enhancement drug are not considered illegal, but these kinds of goods are harmful to consumers'

health once they are out of date or fake.

The vendors whose shops were raided were re-educated for the health alert.

It is common to see condoms sales of many kinds in many corners in Phnom Penh streets at night besides proper places like pharmacies.

Cambodia is known as one of the Asian countries that are successfully in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDs related diseases.

The Krolan: a Landmark Production in Kratie, Cambodia

via CAAI News Media

2010-01-26 - Kratie province is famous for Krolan, in particular Thmo Kreae Commune 10km north of Kratie.

Krolan is one of local product in Kratie Province which is made of rice mixed with coconut and bean and cooked in the bamboo tubes.

This product has been significantly becoming a common job for people in the province and some families have been for more than half a century. If you travel across this province, you will see the Krolan is sold along roadside and waterfront in Kratie. This Krolan is also transported to Phnom Penh markets each day but it is cooked with more salt.

It can be kept up to two days without refrigeration. Making Krolan is good business since the 40 percent of the costs come from the domestic supply and this business can contribute to poverty alleviation for people along the Mekong River. DO NOT to forget to buy local product when you are on trail to Mekong River.

Hun Sen Says Tourism to Lead Economic Growth in Cambodia

http://english.cri.cn/

via CAAI News Media

2010-01-26

Xinhua

Web Editor: Hu Weiwei

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said Tuesday that tourism is a locomotive for economic growth in his country and vowed to accelerate it as one of the world's most wanted tourism sites.

Giving his speech at the inauguration of Cambodia-South Korea Center for Culture, Tourism and Trading in Phnom Penh, Hun Sen said the tourism has become a priority sector for economic policy and is a locomotive for sustainable socio-economic development of Cambodia.

"Cambodia is in a process to develop itself into a cultural, social and natural tourism center in Southeast Asia where is considered the most developed tourism in the world today," he said.

He added that the political and social stability and peace being enjoyed by Cambodia people and the country are one of the factors that attract more tourists to this country.

He said in 2008, there were 2.1 million foreign tourists visited Cambodia, an increase of 5.5 percent compared to a year earlier, and within 11 months in 2009, there were 1.9 million, an increase of 1.6 percent if compared to that in 2008.

While the number of foreign tourists visiting Cambodia on gradually increased on yearly basis, Hun Sen was also satisfied with the figure that showed 6.7 million local tourists traveled around the country in 2008.

Hun Sen noted that in 2004, Cambodia earned only 578 million U. S. dollars, but it earned as much as 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, and employed more than 30,000 Cambodians.

Cambodia's Angkor Wat Temple, built between 9th to 12th century- - is one of the world's famous tourist sites. Angkor Wat Temple was registered as the world heritage site.

Cambodia Gold & Ruby Exploration Project Moves to Second Phase -- Terra Energy & Resource Technologies Increases Royalty Rights

via CAAI News Media

January 26, 2010

Terra Energy & Resource Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: TEGR), a natural resources exploration services technology company, announces that the Company has signed a phase two contract for gold and ruby exploration in Cambodia, increasing its royalty rights in the overall project.

The exploration services contract engages Terra in its proprietary satellite-based STeP® analysis of gold and ruby mineralization in Cambodia, which is the second phase contracting of exploration after it successfully completed the first phase of the project. As requested by the client, in addition to STeP®, Terra is to perform other traditional geological and management services, in order to further define and locate resources after presenting the client with good indications of mineral prospectivity and priority zones as a result of Terra's phase one survey.

Terra previously signed a working agreement with the Millennium International Group, which serves as a frame work of the relationship between the companies and outlines the pricing, royalty as well as co-investment rights, among other provisions, Terra Energy & Resource Technologies obtains as consideration for its services.

In connection with the phase two contract, Terra has an increased royalty interest in the acreage and co-investment rights contingent upon the advancement of the exploration license in Cambodia.

"We have had several service contracts with the Millennium International Group over the past six months. This relationship is dear to us, and we are encouraged that this client is also our market partner in Asia," said Dmitry Vilbaum, Chief Executive Officer of Terra Energy & Resource Technologies.

"The synergy is in Terra performing the services for cash, royalty, and non-promoted co-investment rights, effectively creating a joint venture with the client," said Dr. Alexandre Agaian, Terra Energy & Resource Technologies' President. "Terra is encouraged and incentivized to perform its innovative technology work and help our JV shorten the exploration cycle and expense to a minimum, so that Terra can start receiving the royalty cash flow and potentially co-invest on the same terms as the Millennium International Group."

About Terra Energy & Resource Technologies, Inc.

Terra Energy & Resource Technologies, Inc., through its subsidiary Terra Insight Services, Inc., provides mapping and analysis services for exploration, drilling, and mining companies related to natural resources found beneath the surface of the Earth. The Company uses a suite of innovative and efficient technologies, which facilitate the prediction and location of commercially viable deposits of hydrocarbons, gold, diamonds, and other natural resources, and assesses them for any given geographic area -- on or offshore. For more information, visit http://www.terrainsight.com.

Safe Harbor for Forward-looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. There are many factors that could cause the Company's expectations and beliefs about its operations, its plans to acquire interests in exploration properties or technologies, plans to drill or drilling results to fail to materialize, including, but not limited to: competition for new acquisitions; availability of capital; unfavorable geologic conditions; prevailing prices for oil, natural gas and other natural resources; and general regional economic conditions.

For More Information, Please Contact:

Terra Energy & Resource Technologies, Inc.

212-286-9197

info@terrainsight.com