A mile in her moccasins

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

via CAAI

Thursday, 06 January 2011 15:01 Heng Chivoan

The feet of Sambo, the beloved elephant who works at Wat Phnom, shod with improvised rubber soles. Because of the jerry-rigged footwear, wounds appear to have opened up between the pachyderm’s toes.

Small fry in single file

Photo by: Sovan Philong

via CAAI

Thursday, 06 January 2011 15:01 Sovan Philong

Children walk in line past a spray-painted phone number advertising a property for sale in Chroy Changvar commune Children walk in line past a spray-painted phone number advertising a property for sale in Chroy Changvar commune, Russei Keo district, Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

Hun Sen focuses ire on NGO law critics

via CAAI

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 20:46 Thomas Miller and Vong Sokheng

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday took aim at critics of the government’s new draft NGO legislation, ahead of a government-hosted consultation on the issue on Monday.

Speaking at the inauguration of a high school in Kampong Cham province, Hun Sen slammed critics of the law in the NGO community, arguing that they were demanding too many rights.

“How many rights do you have so far? You have many rights to insult [the government] every day,” Hun Sen said in his speech. “Or do you need more rights to hit the heads of others?”

The premier deflected recent concerns from NGOs that the intent of the new draft law was to control, rather than enable, civil society and suggested that organisations were exceeding their mandate.

“Even now, if there is a draft [law] to control NGOs, they play the role of the National Assembly. [The government] will allow a consultation but the adoption of the law depends on the National Assembly,” he said.

Local rights group Licadho yesterday released a new analysis of the draft legislation, containing some of the most trenchant criticisms of the law yet.

It states that the draft, made public December 15, “confirms long-standing fears that the government’s desire for such a law is in order to control, rather than promote and strengthen, civil society”.

The law is the third attempt by the government to regulate the country’s large NGO sector.

Licadho claimed the draft was a direct attack on the independence of NGOs, going on to say that it constitutes “the most serious threat to civil society in years”.

“The draft law seeks to take the ‘N’ out of ‘NGOs’, turning them into de facto government organisations,” the report states.

“It ignores the very concept of NGOs, associations and other civil society actors, that they are independent and should not be controlled by the government.”

Licadho said there are several specific areas of concern in the draft law, including restrictions on freedom of association, registration requirements, the authority given to government officials, reporting requirements and restrictions placed on foreign NGOs.

Meanwhile, following a meeting with roughly 250 NGO representatives in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, four umbrella organisations released a joint statement calling for changes to the draft law.

The Cooperation Committee for Cambodia, NGO Forum on Cambodia, Medicam and the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee said the draft law would “restrict” the work of NGOs working in all sectors of the Kingdom by placing “significant barriers on their registration and implementation of their work”.

The four groups plan to submit detailed recommendations to the government in a report that they said represents the inputs of more than 500 civil society organisations on the new legislation.

The statement called for a longer consultation period and the establishment of a “joint working group” made up of government and civil society representatives.

Lun Borithy, executive director of CCC, said the NGOs had completed their analysis and would make it public today. CCC senior operations and finance manager Soeung Saroeun said CCC representatives met with officials from the Ministry of Interior yesterday.

Lakesiders threaten China boycott

Photo by: Pha Lina

Residents facing eviction from the Boeung Kak lake area protest behind Chinese flags at Phnom Penh’s “Freedom Park” on Wednesday.

via CAAI

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 21:01 Khouth Sophakchakrya

Villagers from the embattled Boeung Kak lakeside community threatened Wednesday to boycott Chinese products if a Chinese firm reportedly involved in the development project set to displace thousands of lakeside residents does not send a representative to negotiate compensation.

During a gathering Wednesday at the capital’s “Freedom Park” in Daun Penh district, roughly 200 Boeung Kak residents called for talks with Inner Mongolia Erdos Hung Jun Investment Co, a firm that Chinese-language news reports cite as a joint venture partner in the Boeung Kak lake development, along with Cambodian companies linked to ruling party senator Lao Meng Khin.

“We will stop using Chinese products if the Chinese company does not send a representative to negotiate with us,” community representative Ly Mom said Wednesday, as villagers displayed Chinese flags amid their protest signs.

The Chinese reports reveal that Hung Jun’s lake development agreement was signed in July and involves both Shukaku Inc – which is owned by Lao Meng Khin – and the Cambodia International Investment Development Group.

The latter firm also appears to be linked to the senator. According to an undated government investment publication available online, the firm runs a special economic zone in Sihanoukville with Lao Meng Khin listed as the “zone developer”.

In September, Hung Jun representatives travelled to Phnom Penh for a meeting with the Prime Minister that was also attended by Choeung Sopheap, the wife of Lao Meng Khin and head of local conglomerate Pheapimex.

The lake development was reportedly part of a US$3 billion package of investment deals that also included a 750-megawatt power station in Sihanoukville and exploration for bauxite in Mondulkiri province.

The 133-hectare Boeung Kak lake development will ultimately displace more than 4,000 families, rights groups say.

Spokesman at the Chinese embassy Qian Hai denied on Wednesday that a Chinese firm was involved in the Boeung Kak development.

“From what I know, at this stage, no Chinese company is taking part in this project,” Qian Hai said.

He also dismissed Chinese media reports linking Hung Jun to the lakeside project.

“I don’t think you should publish this sentence in the newspaper – you just write what I told you,” he said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE

Mobile merger is approved

Photo by: Sovan Philong

Smart Mobile’s Chief Executive Officer Thomas Hundt (left) and chief marketing officer Kirill Mankovsky (right) speak on Wednesday.

via CAAI

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 19:37 Jeremy Mullins

The long-awaited consolidation of Cambodia’s overcrowded mobile phone sector started Wednesday, as Smart Mobile and Star-Cell officially merged into one company.

Following the announcement of the prospective deal last month, the firms on Wednesday claimed to have obtained the “necessary approvals” for the merger.

The newly formed provider will operate under the roof of the Smart Mobile brand and claims to be the third largest of the Kingdom’s eight mobile operators, with some 850,000 subscribers – though some in the industry have previously expressed skepticism at the number.

“There is a competitive advantage for those who are leading the market, including Smart Mobile,” said Smart’s chief executive officer Thomas Hundt at a Phnom Penh conference on the merger Wednesday.

“Those who cannot leverage on the economy of scale, they will have more difficulty to be successful, to be profitable.”

The number of operators is likely to shrink further to reflect the reality of the Cambodian market, he said, to perhaps four or five providers.

“There are not so many countries in the world comparable to Cambodia, which have such a high number of operators relative to the number of people,” said Hundt.

Existing Star-Cell outlets and dealers will be rebranded to Smart Mobile by March this year.

The combined provider will be 75-percent owned by Smart’s owners, Cyprus-based Timeturns Holdings, and 25 percent by Star-Cells’s parent company, TeliaSonera AB.

The two owners have also co-operated in other markets.

On December 6, the same day that TeliaSonera first announced the merger, TeliaSonera increased its ownership in Nepal service provider NCell to 60.4 percent, from 40.8 percent. Smart Mobile’s owners Timeturns also have a stake in NCell, according to their website.

Thomas Hundt said cooperation by the owners in other markets was a positive factor influencing the Kingdom merger – but not its main impetus.

“At the end of the day, it was a pure [business] decision based on the facts and based on the value for the investors here in Cambodia,” he said.

Hundt said that no cash payment had been made from one side to the other in respect to the merger.

The deal came after rival Cambodian providers had also expressed interest in acquiring Star-Cell. qb chief executive officer Alan Sinfield said his firm made a cash bid for Star-Cell. Smart plans to expand its coverage to the Kingdom’s 24 provinces by the first half of 2011, as well as making 3G service available in the larger cities.

Enforce law equally: governor

via CAAI

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 20:35 Mom Kunthear

Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema has called for police in the capital to stop treating the children of the rich and powerful with impunity, reassuring officials that they will not be demoted for arresting anyone who commits a crime.

Speaking during a monthly meeting at City Hall on Tuesday, Kep Chuktema said a widespread fear of retribution for arresting well-connected individuals was impeding police efforts to fight crime.

“The gangster issue is not a small problem and most gangsters are the children of high-ranking officials and powerful officials,” he said.

“Your position or rank will not move because you report about [high-ranking officials’] children’s problems.”

He noted that there was a clear difference in the way police treated those who did not have powerful connections.

“You are afraid of reporting about the high-ranking officials’ children doing something wrong, but the normal people you arrest and make suffer,” he said.

Referencing a speech last week in which Prime Minister Hun Sen made an outspoken public appeal for his wayward nephew Hun Chea to mend his ways and return to his family, Kep Chuktema appealed to police to be brave enough to at least report to him the activities of well-connected criminals.

“All of you heard already, right, that the Prime Minister made an announcement blaming his own nephew through the television, but all of you are afraid of reporting [well-connected perpetrators] to me; just report,” he said.

Kep Chuktema said there were a total of about 2,000 outstanding warrants that officials did not pursue in 2010.

In an effort to bring the lapsed cases to court, the governor announced that officials would receive incentive bonuses of 250,000 riels (US$62.50) for each arrest made.

The sum would represent a significant bonus to some low-ranking municipal police officials, who receive a salary of about 200,000 riels ($50) per month.

Municipal police chief Touch Naruth said during the meeting that 18 “gangsters” were arrested in the capital last year, while 17 were educated and released into the care of their parents.

“We have some lack of practice in the area, even though we had some successes,” he said, adding that growth and migration in the capital meant that local officials needed to remain vigilant and in touch with their communities.

“Village and police officials don’t pay enough attention to control the newcomers in their areas,” he said.

Touch Naruth could not be reached for further comment Wednesday.

Monk to marry after rape scare

via CAAI

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 20:52 Buth Reaksmey Kongkea

The former chief monk of a pagoda in Kratie province’s Chhlong district was released from police custody on Wednesday after a woman he was accused of raping leapt to his defence and claimed the sex was consensual.

Thim Narin, provincial coordinator of rights group Adhoc, said Wednesday that the monk – now defrocked – was detained on Tuesday after the woman’s family filed a complaint alleging he raped the woman in a rice field.

Keo Pisey, chief of the provincial office of anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection, said Wednesday that after police questioned the monk and his 29-year-old “victim”, they came to the conclusion that “he and the woman really loved each other” and that the “intercourse was consensual”.

“The former pagoda Buddhist monk chief was released after he confessed his deep love for the woman and agreed to marry her, with the approval of the woman and her parents,” she said.

Keo Pisey said the couple met each other at Chroy Peakmeak pagoda in Prek Chamlak village and kept in touch over the phone for more than a month before they decided to meet during a ceremony on Tuesday.

“He took his monks’ clothes off so no one would be suspicious,” she said. When the woman’s parents couldn’t find their daughter, they assumed that she had been raped by the undercover monk and filed a complaint to police.

PM takes aim at Liberation Day critics

via CAAI

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 19:03 Cheang Sokha

Prime Minister Hun Sen lashed out at opposition figures on Wednesday who criticised the country’s celebration of January 7 as a day of liberation from the Khmer Rouge, again emphasising the importance of the day in Cambodian history.

Speaking at a high school inauguration in Kampong Cham’s Memot district two days ahead of the national holiday, the premier claimed all criticisms of the event were motivated by politics.

“I would like to say that January 7 liberated everything, including ghosts and evil spirits and even liberated the heads of those who are cursing January 7,” Hun Sen said.

The holiday, commemorating the anniversary of the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese army in 1979, prompts an annual debate in Cambodia about the extent of Vietnamese influence that was ushered in by the event.

After Pol Pot’s overthrow, Vietnamese troops remained in Cambodia, battling resistance factions including remnants of the Khmer Rouge, until their withdrawal in September 1989.

But Hun Sen said that if there was no January 7, there would be no Khmer Rouge tribunal and the country would not have made any progress.

“Those who consider January 7 as their enemy, would they dare say if there was a genocidal regime of Pol Pot or not?” Hun Sen said.

Ke Sovannroth, secretary general of the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said that the SRP did not consider the day as one of liberation, seeing it rather as the birthday of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party – the successor of the communist People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea that took power in 1979.

She said the country should instead mark the anniversary of the 1991 Paris Peace Accords as the day of the country’s liberation.

“We do not welcome this celebration,” Ke Sovannroth said.

“We consider only the October 23, 1991, peace agreement as the day that brought an end to the country’s disputes and brought development.”

Hun Sen said, however, that without the toppling of the Khmer Rouge, the Paris Peace Accords would never have been signed.

“I would like to put the question at this point: If Pol Pot had continued to have power until 1991, would Pol Pot [have] agreed to sign it?” he said.

Cambodia's Success in Tackling HIV/AIDS Threatened: Study

via CAAI

From U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

January 4, 2011

A new study finds Cambodia "will need to significantly increase its own allocation" of funding and resources if the country is to continue its widely hailed HIV/AIDS efforts.

"The Long-Run Costs and Financing of HIV/AIDS in Cambodia" was prepared with assistance from the US-based Results for Development Institute (R4D) and UNAIDS. In it, government officials compared several funding scenarios from now until 2031. Each scenario has a different price tag and rate of success in preventing new infections, and all assume the government and foreign donors will eventually split the costs.

According to the report, the most cost-effective approach focuses on preventing infections in high-risk groups such as sex workers, injecting drug users, and men who have sex with men. This strategy could see annual new infections decline to just below 1,400 by 2031. "The total cost can be kept down to $68 million a year," said Richard Skolnik of R4D.

External partners currently provide 90 percent of funds for Cambodia's HIV/AIDS programs -- more than $50 million annually. New HIV infections have declined from around 15,500 each year in the early 1990s to about 2,100 in 2009. And 93 percent of 33,500 eligible HIV/AIDS patients are receiving antiretroviral treatment.

"The success that Cambodia has had with its AIDS program is at risk because of the possibility that external partners will withdraw financial support too quickly," said Skolnik, noting the global financial crisis and shifting priorities as reasons for the drop in funds.

Border row with Cambodia not hurting tourism, TTAA says

via CAAI

By Suchat Sritama
The Nation
Published on January 6, 2011

The current argument over sovereignty claims between Thailand and Cambodia will not spill over into tourism, the Thai Travel Agents Association said yesterday.

"More than 80 per cent of Thai tourists go to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat, which is far from the shared borฌder in Sa Kaew province, which is the current hot issue," said Charoen Wangananont, president of the TTAA.

Border trade at Rong Kluea in the same province has not yet suffered from the controversy, he said. Many Thais are still doing business there and crossing into Cambodia as usual.

However, some visitors have reportedly shunned Rong Kluea after hearing about the conflict.

Airlines are operating as usual between Thailand and Cambodia while outbound tours to Cambodia remain as planned.

Seven Thais, including one Bangkok MP, have been charged by Cambodia with illegal entry.

Charoen said locals were expected to swarm into Cambodia after the neighbouring country revoked its visa requirement for Thai tourists starting last Saturday.

This year, the outbound business is forecast to grow by 8-9 per cent, mainly on the strength of the Thai currency. Thais favourite Asian destinations are mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Last year, 5.2 million Thais travelled overseas, with 3.5 million going by air and 1.7 million by land.

Thai detainees in Cambodia seek bail

 via CAAI

Published on January 6, 2011

Prem concerned about fate of seven 'trespassers' as they head to court and Kasit insists no preferential treatment for Democrat MP Panich

Seven detained Thai nationals, including a lawmaker from the ruling Democrat Party, will today submit bail requests as they face trial in Cambodia over trespassing charges.

Privy Council President General Prem Tinsulanonda has expressed concern over their fate, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.

Abhisit said he had briefed Prem on the situation and the related boundary issue, which is a matter of dispute with Cambodia.

The seven Thais will testify in court one by one and a bail request will be submitted for each of them, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi.

The seven, including Democrat Party MP Panich Vikitsreth and yellow-shirt activist Veera Somkwamkid, were arrested last week while inspecting a disputed border area near Ban Nong Chan in Sa Kaew province.

A Cambodian court charged them with illegal entry and unlawfully entering a military area, which could lead to a combined sentence of 18 months in prison for each of them.

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya yesterday said the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh would stand bail for the accused.

Any assistance to the Thai nationals will be conducted step by step and without intervention in the Cambodian justice system, he said.

The minister dismissed an earlier report that he had recommended a Cabinet review of relations with Cambodia unless Phnom Penh were to speed up the trial process and ensure leniency. The government plans no measures to retaliate against Cambodia over the case, he added.

"The Foreign Ministry has an obligation to maintain good relations, not to make trouble and spoil the relationship," he told reporters, adding: "I beg all parties not to create any misunderstanding between the two countries."

The ministry will provide equal assistance to all the detained Thai nationals, he said, rejecting a report that only Panich would be regarded as a priority case for obtaining bail, while the others, notably Veera, would be left to their own devices as they had provoked the arrests.

Veera and his group were briefly held in the same area last August, but Border Police managed to release them shortly after their capture.

The group believed the area where they were walking last week belongs to Thailand, but has been occupied by a Cambodian community since the late 1970s when many Cambodians fled civil war to settle there. They later refused to move out after the end of the war.

However, many Thai agencies, including the Foreign Ministry and the Royal Thai Survey Department, have indicated that the group walked at least 55 metres farther than that area - into territory under Cambodian sovereignty.

A leaked video clip showed Panich was apparently aware of the fact that he was walking into Cambodian territory, as he was speaking on the phone with an unknown person and requested that a message to that effect be conveyed to Abhisit.

The clip and the information provided by agencies has dismayed many yellow-shirt activists, as they insisted that the seven Thai nationals had been arrested on Thai territory.

Yellow-shirt activist and senator Kamnoon Sithisaman said areas near the disputed boundary belonged to Thai people, as the Thai authorities had issued land titles to them long ago. The area was indeed used as a shelter for Cambodian refugees in 1975, but has not been returned to the rightful Thai owners since, he said.

"I don't know why Foreign Minister Kasit said the seven Thai people had invaded Cambodian territory," he added.

Kamnoon and his group of 40 senators yesterday inspected the area near Ban Nong Chan and met some of the people who had lost their land to the Cambodians.

He urged the prime minister to listen to local residents and help them solve the problem.

Separately, another group of yellow-shirt activists yesterday rallied from Sa Kaew's Aranyaprathet district to see the disputed area in which their comrades had been arrested.

Local authorities provided tight security, fearing they would clash with residents in Non Mak Moon subdistrict, who disagreed with their presence out of concern that it could cause tension with Cambodia and make life difficult for them.

Two Telecom Companies Merge Amid Tough Market

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 05 January 2011

via CAAI

Photo: AP

A combo photo of file photos shows people using their cell phones. The merger, with 75 percent input from Smart Mobile and 25 percent from Star Cell, will join 850,000 subscribers.

“Our goal is to become a leading company.”

Cambodia's two smallest telecom firms, Smart Mobile and Star Cell, merged their operations on Wednesday, in an effort to boost their competitiveness in a tight market.

Starting from Wednesday, subscribers to the company, which keeps the brand name Smart Mobile, will have the same prices for calls, the same bonuses and additional calling minute advantages, said Thomas Hundt, chief executive of Smart Mobile.

“Our goal is to become a leading company,” he said.

Cambodia has a total nine mobile operators for its 6.3 million users, led by Mobitel, which is owned by Kith Meng, director of the Royal Group and president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce. Mobitel is followed by Vietnamese-invested Vietell, under Metfone, and then by the Malaysian company Hello, Russian Beeline, Mfone, QB, Excell, Star Cell and Smart Mobile.

The merger, with 75 percent input from Smart Mobile and 25 percent from Star Cell, will join 850,000 subscribers. The new company hopes to cover the entire country by mid-2011.

“Once they have large capital, they can improve coverage and include new technologies,” Telecom Minister Sok Khun told VOA Khmer. Cambodia has too many companies, compared to other countries, he said, and mergers like this will improve service.

No Response, as Sit-In Protest Passes Second Day

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 05 January 2011

via CAAI

Photo: AP

Residents say they want $1,500 per square meter, or 15 hectares slotted for themselves in the new development.

“There have been no government officials, no lawmakers, to come see what we need.”

Protesters sat for the second day at Freedom Park on Tuesday, shouting into loudspeakers and demanding fair compensation from a city developer for their land. But they mostly shouted to each other.

No city officials or company representatives came to meet with them.

Residents at the Boeung Kak lake development site say they want $1,500 per square meter for a buyout, or 15 hectares of the 133-hectare development, a demand the developer, Shukaku, Inc., has refused.

Residents say they will sit at Freedom Park, in the shadow of one the largest bank building in the country, Canadia, for a week in search of mediation.

“There have been no government officials, no lawmakers, to come see what we need,” said Ly Mom, a representative of the residents.

The protesters sit on the ground, roped in by nylon cord, calling out for intervention from Prime Minister Hun Sen, former king Norodom Sihanouk, and countries like China, Japan and the US.

“We insist that [Phnom Penh] Governor Kep Chuktema come and discuss this with us to find a positive result,” Ly Mom said.

Shukaku, which will develop the lake area after it is filled in, has offered $8,500 to families. Some have been forcibly removed. Others have stayed, even as their houses are flooded from lake overflow while Shukaku dredgers pump sand and mud from the bottom of the Tonle Sap river into the lake.

Protesters say they have asked for meetings with the governor five times and sent four letters for help to Hun Sen, to no avail. One said he would “better die at home than to leave.”

City officials declined to comment on Tuesday, as they have in the past.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the protesters “can file a complaint with the court if they do not obtain any result.”

However, Yim Sovann, a spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, said it was the government's “responsibility” to settle the problem.

Groups Prepare for Tough Discussions on NGO Law

Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 05 January 2011

via CAAI

Photo: VOA Khmer

The Ministry of Interior prepared the draft law late last year. Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, said some articles of the new law violate the constitution by making it difficult to establish NGOs or associations by citizens.

“This draft law has complicated duties and stirs up difficulties to the civil society."

Non-governmental agencies and other organizations are preparing to discuss a controversial law on NGOs with the government next week.

Many NGOs say they are worried the law needs corrections lest it be used to crackdown on organizations deemed anti-government. In a joint statement, a group of NGOs said the law in its current form would restrict their work, thanks to barriers for registration and other impediments.

That could lead to restriction on funding sources and hurt long-term development, the groups said.

For example, the draft law calls for complicated registration and the submission of work reports, action plans and change of staff to the Ministry of Interior, all of which could eat up time and resources and become increasingly complicated.

“This draft law has complicated duties and stirs up difficulties to the civil society,” said Yong Kim Eng, president of the People's Center for Development and Peace. “In general, this law seems to manage NGOs and associations, but it is not a law to protect their interests or to provide rights and freedom to civilians to ensure freedom of their activities. In our view, that is worrisome, and we wonder about some points in the law.”

Thun Saray, president of the rights group Adhoc, said some articles of the new law violate the constitution by making it difficult to establish NGOs or associations by citizens.

“It has many conditions, statutes and principles for registration,” he said. “So NGOs and associations in rural areas cannot undertake their activities.”

However, Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said the draft was “no better and no worse” than laws in other countries. While some points of the law are worrisome, it would weed out about a third of the countries NGOs, which either do no activities or will have a hard time meeting registration requirements, he said. “I think it is between good and bad,” he said.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the government “will receive their good and constructive recommendations for making this law better, but their recommendations must serve the interest of Cambodia and its people.”

More Troops on Thai Border in Wake of Arrests: Official

Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 05 January 2011

via CAAI

Photo: AP

With Cambodian flags flutter on the top of a gate in the background, Thai soldiers guard Aranyaprathet checkpoint in Thailand.

“We've deployed the troops to block demonstrators, not in preparation of battle with Thailand.”

A border official says troop levels for both Cambodia and Thailand have increased along the frontier in the wake of the high-profile arrest of a Thai delegation last week.

The seven suspects, including a Thai member of parliament, were detained last week for allegedly crossing the border illegally and have been formally charged in Phnom Penh.

The arrests sparked demonstrations in Bangkok and along the border in Thailand by “yellow shirt” protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy.

Sok Sovan, deputy commander of Region 503, in charge of the border in Banteay Meanchey province, told VOA Khmer that Cambodian border police and Region 5 troops have moved to the border there to prevent Thai “yellow shirt” demonstrations from crossing.

“We've deployed the troops to block demonstrators, not in preparation of battle with Thailand,” he said.

Lo Mithona, deputy director of the Cambodian-Thai border relations office in Poipet municipality, on the border, said more than 1,000 black uniformed soldiers and others from Thailand have been deployed and laying concertina wire along the border in recent days.

“Today, at least 200 'yellow-shirt' demonstrators held protests” on the Thai side of the border, he told VOA Khmer. Thai authorities had prevented the demonstrators from entering Cambodia, he said.

Cambodian Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Cambodia's official stance was to “follow after Thailand.”

Meanwhile, the Bangkok Post reported Wednesday that Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya wants “progress” in the case. Kasit reportedly said on Thai television that he hoped Cambodia would speed up court proceedings and not treat the illegal entry accusations as a serious crime.

Even in Art, The Khmer Rouge Wrought Anger: Expert

Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Wednesday, 05 January 2011

via CAAI

Photo: by Heng Reaksmey

Professor Sum Chhum Bun, director of Asia research at the Cambodian Royal Academy, on “Hello VOA” Monday.

"The Khmer Rouge used the power of propaganda from the beginning of their jungle resistance until they were finally toppled."

Even though the Khmer Rouge dismantled much of Cambodia's culture, abolishing schools and executing intellectuals, there was room for art and literature. But that art was used “especially to create anger,” professor Sum Chhum Bun, director of Asia research at the Cambodian Royal Academy, told “Hello VOA” Monday.

Sum Chhum Bun was among a group of scholars who gathered to discuss Khmer Rouge culture at the Royal Academy in Phnom Penh on Thursday. “The literature, arts and culture at that time were just for Marxist-Leninist ideology,” he said. Still, he said, the works of the Khmer Rouge had a powerful effect on the youth, especially in conflict, and in the production of agriculture.

The Khmer Rouge used the power of propaganda from the beginning of their jungle resistance until they were finally toppled, he said.

“Was the practice of culture and the arts during the struggle of the Khmer Rouge influenced by communist Vietnam against the Lon Nol regime, which was endorsed by the United States?” he asked on Monday. “There was a theme of the Khmer Rouge to fight against the United States' endorsement and against Lon Nol's regime, and they said it was to liberate the country.”

Ultimately, the Khmer Rouge cadre and leaders succumbed to kharma, he said. They “are now serving their punishment; they are among the poorest, they never live in peace, and they have been arrested for trial.”

DAP News. Breaking News by Soy Sopheap

via CAAI

Two Cambodian Telecommunications Merge for Future Benefit and Competition

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 12:09 DAP-NEWS/VIBOL

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PENH, JAN 5, 2010-Star cell and Smart mobile telephone service providers in Cambodia on wednesday announced that they had merged for future benefit and competition in the telecommunication industry in the country.

Mr. Thomas Hundt, CEO of smart mobile told reporters in press conference that now we put share under framework of 25 per cent share for Star CELL and Smart Mobile controlled 75 per cent of the capital . We are looking for benefit and competition in the country, “ he added.

In 2011, it will cover services across the country after it merged the customer will increase more,” he said, adding that currently smart has clients to 850,000 and it will be a leading company in the country.

Local people liked using the mobile phone services, and one person has two or three phones with different phone services providers. Cambodia has over 14 million populations but the most people used mobile phones.

Cambodia’s Royalist Alliance Still Considers before General Election in 2013

Wednesday, 05 January 2011 11:48 DAP-NEWS/VIBOL

CAMBODIA, PHNOM PEHN, JAN 5, 2010-Royalist Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) which plans to merge with FUNCINPEC party but the two parties still stand far away from each other, the statement from NRP said on Wednesday.

“We are so regret after the FUNCINPEC party completely did not accept the initiative of establishment of FUNCINPEC 81 by Prince Norodom Ranariddh,” the release from NRP said, adding that FUNCINPEC 81 means FUNCINPEC party that created by former King Norodom Sihanouk in 1981.

“In the future, the matter of breaking royalists should not be blamed on Prince Norodom Ranariddh,” the statement added. FUNCINPEC said that its members did not agree on the move.

On December 6, Prince Ranariddh met with brother in-law Keo Puthraksmey, president of FUNCINPEC party to seek the common ideas of making alliance before general election in 2013. In 2006, Prince Ranariddh was deposed as president of FUNCINPEC party after allegedly making corruption. Recently, Prince reentered the political life and plan to stand for vote for general election.

Norodom Ranariddh party has two seats, FUNCINPEC party for two seats of 123 seats in National assembly which dominated by Cambodian People Party led by PM Hun Sen.

Last week, Lon Rith, son of former president Lon Nol (1970-1975) declared that his party also will join the general election in 2013, and in 2012 for commune and senate elections.

Grapevine Plantation In Battambang Province

ADB Helps Cambodia Revive "Lost Habit" Of Reading

via CAAI

PHNOM PENH, Jan 5 (Bernama) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has opened Public Information Centers in three universities in Cambodia to provide a range of knowledge resources for Cambodian people and contribute to the development of human resources in the provinces, said a press release of the ADB on Wednesday.

The Public Information Centers are part of a joint ADB/World Bank project, which the ADB officially inaugurated in late December 2010, reports China's Xinhua news agency.

According to the ADB, the three Public Information Centers are located in Kampong Cham's Western University, Siem Reap's Southeast Asia University and Preah Sihanouk's University of Management and Economics.

Each center is equipped with computers, printers, and Internet connections, and stocked with thousands of books in English and Khmer on various development issues in Cambodia and across the globe, including economic theory and statistics, social development and information on projects and other activities of development partners.

The ADB plans to open the fourth joint Public Information Center in Battambang province in early 2011, the release said.

"The Public Information Centers serve as dedicated resource hubs for knowledge sharing with the public, including students, researchers, staff from civil society organizations and government officials," Putu Kamayana, ADB Country Director, was quoted as saying.

"They provide a gateway to deepen Cambodians' knowledge on development issues, and at the same time, it will help develop human resources at the provincial level," Kamayana added.

Despite increasing literacy rates and standard of living, the habit of reading is lost in Cambodian society since the turbulent Khmer Rouge era when books became an unnecessary part of peoples' lives.

Kamayana believes that the Public Information Centers, which contain a range of updated versions of books and access to Internet resources, will stimulate the new generation to become increasingly interested in reading.

"Young people are starting to read more and more as books and the Internet have the potential to open up a new world of knowledge for them," Kamayana was quoted as saying.

Cambodia and Human Trafficking

via CAAI

By Luke Hunt
January 5, 2011

Cambodia’s ability to cry poor and use this as an excuse to justify bad behavior has for years been a major source of irritation among this country’s monarchy, offshore donors and anyone who thinks a sense of propriety and fair play should be incorporated into generous foreign aid packages.

Donor fatigue among foreign governments is only exacerbated by the enormous wealth accumulated by the political elite and well-connected—and the sometimes appalling behavior of their precocious, over-indulged offspring, dubbed by headline writers as the 'Khmer Riche.'

The spoilt brats of the capital are a far cry from the kids in the countryside who are increasingly being pushed in unprecedented directions as Phnom Penh winds crying poor into its foreign policy.

This is being felt in Malaysia. A few weeks back, in Kuala Lumpur, I had a chance meeting with a young girl from Sihanoukville. We were in the waiting room at Tenaganita—a human rights organization that focuses on women and migrants, something that often translates into human trafficking and people smuggling.

Lina, who says she is 21-years-old, anglicized her name and traded her home on Cambodia’s southern coast for a job in Malaysia where she worked under contract in a hair salon. She was supposed to be paid 1,000 ringgit ($325) a month, but rarely was. Instead she was forced to take out loans from her employer to cover costs that included accommodation, food and the products for work like shampoo and conditioner she was also told she had to purchase.

After 9 months, she was told she owed 2000 to 3000 ringgit and would have to work it off. The math doesn’t make much sense, but that didn’t seem to bother her employer.

Any regular employee heading into such a position would simply walk out, but Lina is on a two-year deal offered by touts who scour the region looking for cheap labour. So she fled, and on the advice of friends found help at Tenaganita, who have freely housed and fed her.

Meanwhile, the former employers have called the authorities and she isn’t allowed to leave the country until her debts have been repaid, an obviously infuriating position, which Tenaganita is negotiating.

That said, relatively speaking Lina wasn’t badly treated. Aegile Fernandez, who helps run Tenaganita, has a litany of horror stories including girls being stripped naked, strung upside down and their toes plugged into a light socket for perceived slights and misdemeanours.

In one case, a human trafficker spent a year studying psychiatry at a local university so he could better control and manipulate the girls who came under his charge.

Many countries simply ban their women from working abroad in menial jobs. Others, like The Philippines, have well-established and enforced laws that afford some protection and guarantees for its citizens when working abroad.

In Malaysia, the minimum age for a woman to enter the country to work is 21. Fernandez says this is because such a life-changing decision—to leave one’s family and emigrate—requires a mature mind and anything less is simply too young. But she says Cambodian girls often lie about their age and carry fake Cambodian ID cards that they’ve used to obtain passports: ‘Children as young as 14, 15, 16 have passports saying they are 21, 22 and 23.’

The Cambodian response, however, has been anything but sympathetic. They want the Malaysian Government to lower their age limits and allow more Cambodians access to ‘employment opportunities.’

‘I’m very upset with the Cambodian Government, they have written a letter to the Malaysian government asking them to lower the age requirements,’ Fernandez says. ‘They say things like “we are a poor country” and this “will allow poor people a chance to work.” It’s nonsense, they are still children.’

25 reasons why 7 clumsy Thais should be released

via CAAI

By Tulsathit Taptim
The Nation
Published on January 5, 2011

Starting 2011 this way is too deja vu for comfort, so here's my open plea to the Cambodian government. Please set free the 7 clumsy Thais immediately for the following reasons:

1. We've had enough laughs. Please free them before things get really serious, which they otherwise will, soon.

2. New Year spirit. Come on.

3. With Thaksin Shinawatra no longer your economic adviser, he can't just land on your soil and play the hero again.

4. Even if he could, how ironic and paradoxical that would be. A man without a Thai passport entering Cambodia to help secure the release of those detained for illegal entry, though they hold genuine Thai passports. Please don't let it get messier than this.

5. Time will continue to fly. The Preah Vihear-Unesco controversy will resurface in the blink of an eye at a Bahrain meeting. Let's save our energy for that mega showdown.

6. Unlike the Preah Vihear dispute, this will win an election for nobody. Cambodian voters couldn't care less about the arrest of a Thai MP who strayed over the border like a lost puppy. Thais are so enthusiastically divided that they won't let this trivial incident influence their decision anyway.

7. Think of the good old days when we helped you fend off the Vietnamese.

8. Sometimes neighbours simply have to put conflicts to rest. We've stopped talking about the "red training camp" and speculating on the whereabouts of Arisman Pongruangrong.

9. Abhisit Vejjajiva and Hun Sen looked really "bromance" together. Let's not spoil that.

10. Kasit Piromya is a bit of a loose cannon. We give you that. But hasn't he behaved himself lately? (This was written before the foreign minister was to go on air to tell the Thai public about what the Thai government planned to do. If he was back to his belligerent self, remember one half of Thailand doesn't like him that much either.)

11. No offence to your national soccer team, but you don't want the next game with ours to be highly politically charged, do you?

12. If this is all about ego, repeat after me: We have 3G; the poor Thais don't.

13. If you release the Thais, here's the deal: We can do a hit soap opera featuring a compassionate Cambodian heroine who fights against all odds to help free a group of Thais arrested for illegal entry. And for the sake of the "cultural cooperation" pledged by both prime ministers, we'll have any Cambodian actress of your choice play that heroine.

14. On the contrary, failure to release the prisoners may result in Thai hackers scrambling our TV signals, thus depriving Cambodians of excellent-quality soap operas showing, ironically, how to lock a girl up and make her love you in 10 days.

15. After a series of cordial meetings, Abhisit and Hun Sen agree that one way to shore up bilateral relations is to solve "easy issues" first. If a group of Thai border surveyors wandering into Cambodian territory can't be considered an easy case, we don't know what can.

16. Now that I'm at it, didn't both governments just sign an agreement allowing brief, visa-free, cross-border visits? Of course, travellers are supposed to go through immigration, not cross a field and say, "Hey, look, I'm on Cambodian soil now", but could you bend the rules a little for goodwill's sake?

17. If you put Panich Vikitsech in jail, you'll inadvertently trigger a heated constitutional question of whether he should lose his MP status. Spare us this headache and we'll never forget you.

18. Consider our mess. Panich belongs to the Democrat Party, which is accused by the yellow hard-liners of giving in too much to Cambodia. He was taken to the spot where he was arrested by someone who broke away from the yellow-shirt mainstream. The yellow shirts, nonetheless, are planning a protest soon, and the fate of those arrested would be a sure-fire "I told you so" rallying cry. If you wanted to punish us, that wish has already been fulfilled.

19. New Year countdown is a big deal for Thais. If you wanted to punish Panich, locking him up as the clock ticked toward 2011 did it.

20. In fact, the publicity of "that clip" has done it.

21. Think of the money we Thais spend at your casinos year after year.

22. This may be politically impolite, but please think of the refugee camps.

23. Neither of us wants to be part of the next generation's textbook on "Silliest border conflicts of all time", do we?

24. Come on, "Asean community" has to mean something apart from "hand-locking" photo ops and snail-paced free trade negotiations.

25. Of course, we've had some laughs over this episode, but overall, we are just so sick and tired. Please help.

Cambodian: disentangling telecoms

http://blogs.ft.com/

via CAAI

January 5, 2011
by Tim Johnston

Smart Mobile and Star-Cell, two of Cambodia’s larger mobile telephone operators, have formalised their merger, the first of what is expected to be a wave of consolidation in one of the world’s most crowded telecoms markets.

The new company, to be called Smart Mobile, will be 75 per cent owned by Cyprus-based Timeturns Holdings Ltd and 25 per cent by a subsidiary of Sweden’s TeliaSonera, Star-Cell’s parent.

“There are truly too many (operators). Therefore, market consolidation should take place and we have taken a pioneering step,” Thomas Hundt, CEO of Timeturns’ Latelz Co. Ltd, which will run Smart Mobile, told a news conference.

Before the merger, Cambodia’s 15m citizens were a faced with a startling choice of 9 different mobile operators. The competition was great for consumers – Cambodia has some of the lowest rates in the world – but it created a brutal environment for operators: the average return per user (ARPU) was just $5.27 in 2009, according to Research and Markets, a market research database.

In October, TeliaSonera wrote down the value of its investment by $100m, and in November Malaysia’s Axiata, which owns the Hello brand in Cambodia, discounted the goodwill value of its investment by $15.7m,

For investors, it is a difficult market to parse. No one is even sure how many subscribers there are: estimates range from 3.7m users to over 7m. Part of the problem is that many companies count the number of SIM cards they have sold rather than active subscribers, a tactic that might bulk up their profile, but probably contributes to their lamentable ARPU. Even the Ministry of Posts and Communications is unsure, saying that it believes that mobile penetration is somewhere between 50 and 59 per cent.

Certainly there are a lot of duplicates. It is not uncommon for a Cambodian business card to list two, three or even four different mobile numbers that callers try sequentially, and often repeatedly, to get a connection. In the picture above, a Cambodian gambler talks on 18 mobile phones at the same time while commenting on a boxing match in Phnom Penh.

All of which leads to other uncertainties. The newly merged Smart Mobile says it will have 850,000 subscribers, making it the third largest operator behind Mobitel, owned by Cambodia’s Royal Group, and Metfone, part of the Vietnamese military’s Viettel group, but some analysts wonder about the accuracy of the data.

But the problems do not seem to have dimmed foreign enthusiasm for Cambodian telecoms. Last month both France Telecom and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia announced that they were in the final stages of a deal to buy a stake in Mobitel.

Cambodian officials told to declare assets

Senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, will have to declare their assets

via CAAI

Jan 5, 2011

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia has ordered more than 100,000 government officials to declare their personal assets starting from this month in a bid to fight rampant corruption, an official said Wednesday.

Senior officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, must make confidential declarations of property, vehicles, business interests and other assets, said Keo Remy, spokesman for the government's National Council for Anti-Corruption.

"It is historic for our country," he told AFP.

Keo Remy said the officials would be required to report their assets to the country's newly established Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), but the details would not be made public.

"The asset declaration by the officials will be done in secret," he said.

"We have to safeguard each official's physical and mental safety, and also the country's political stability in particular."

The deadline for the asset declaration had not been set, he said.

Yim Sovann, the spokesman for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, slammed the process as pointless.

"Secret asset declaration means no asset declaration," he said.

"So we don't support this because it is useless," Yim Sovann added.

The move followed parliamentary approval of a long-awaited anti-corruption law last year that could see officials jailed for up to 15 years if convicted of accepting bribes.

Cambodia was ranked 154th worst out of 178 countries on anti-graft organisation Transparency International's most recent corruption perception index.

It was also ranked the second most corrupt southeast Asian nation after Indonesia in an annual poll by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy last year.

Conservationists hope to avoid teenage kicks over elephant's false leg

via CAAI

Handlers face daunting task of fitting a powerful and dangerous male Cambodian elephant with a new and larger false leg

Fiona MacGregor

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 January 2011

via CAAI

When English wildlife rescuer Nick Marx found three-legged baby elephant Chhouk wandering through the Cambodian jungle, he thought the injured youngster would never survive the snare injuries that cost him his front foot. But after a UK-based prosthetic charity's groundbreaking intervention to fit Chhouk with a false leg two years ago, the little elephant has gone from strength to strength. And as Chhouk, now aged five, enters the elephant equivalent of his hormonal teens, his handlers are faced with the daunting task of fitting a powerful and dangerous male elephant with a new and larger false leg.

Marx and his team at the Phnom Tamao rescue centre, outside the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, are using a hands-off training methods along with the help of Chhouk's adopted "big sister" Lucky, an older female elephant who was also rescued as a baby, to teach him to enter a special enclosure where he can have his false foot safely fitted. It will also minimise his contact with humans allowing him to live a more natural life according to Marx.

Meanwhile staff from the Cambodia Trust, a UK-based charity which runs a school for creating human prosthetics in the heavily land-mined south-east Asian country, are trying to come up with innovative ways to create a false leg that is strong enough to keep the increasingly heavy elephant on his feet.

Marx, and the Wildlife Alliance charity which supports Chhouk, are currently raising funds for the new $30,000 (£19,234) enclosure for Chhouk. He will enter a confined space where his keepers can reach through and fit his foot from behind protective barriers. He has two prosthetics - made from plastic and the kind of foam used inside training shoes – a sturdy one for day time and a softer more comfortable one he wears during the night when putting less weight on it.

"He's a brave little chap and it's his courage and tenacity that have kept him alive," said Marx as he watched Chhouk and Lucky playing together during their daily bath. But though playful Chhouk still looks cute, Marx warned that an adult male elephant is always dangerous. It is rare for an elephant to survive long after losing a limb, and although two female elephants in Thailand have been fitted with prosthetic limbs in recent years, Chhouk's male hormones make him a far more troublesome patient.

"He's just a little boy getting on with his life and mostly as long as he's got his food he's happy. But he's a male elephant and they can be aggressive," said Marx.

Wildlife charities in Cambodia believe there are now as few as 200-300 wild elephants remaining in Cambodia, although population studies there have only begun recently and data remains sketchy.