Villagers fight villagers, district chief, over farms

ALLEGED LAND DEAL
The three men detained over the dispute allege that the Chi Kraeng district governor has been trying since 2004 to force 1,347 families from their land in Chi Kraeng and Anlong Samnor communes so he can sell the land to an unknown businessman.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by KYLE SHERER
Monday, 26 January 2009

Villagers continue to protest outside the Siem Reap courthouse for the release of three men accused of tying a district govenor to land deals

Siem Reap Province

VILLAGERS were continuing a week-old demonstration Sunday outside Siem Reap provincial court, demanding the release of three jailed activists despite their commune chief urging them to return home and allow the matter to be dealt with through legal channels.

The recent protests erupted in November following the arrest of two Chi Kraeng commune farmers and a journalist from local newspaper Khmer Society who allegedly claimed a district governor was interfering in the dispute.

The arrests prompted an eruption of anger from Chi Kraeng commune - the majority of whom are farmers. They burned tires outside the Siem Reap courthouse and posted pig heads to members of staff there, despite requests from their commune chief to be peaceful.

"I went to the courthouse to try and bring them back but they did not come," Chi Kraeng commune chief Loeu Chenda told the Post on Wednesday.

Kim Savoeun, a representative of the Chi Kraeng protestors, told the Post Thursday that cooperating with the commune chief would be fruitless, as he believes she has organised a deal for the sale of the land behind their backs. "We will remain outside the courthouse until the three prisoners are released."

Conflicting claims

Farmers from Chi Kraeng and Anlong Samnor communes on the outskirts of Siem Reap province both claim ownership over the 475 hectares of flatland that falls within the borders of Anlong Samnor commune.

The Chi Kraeng community claim their district governor, in collusion with their commune chief, has sided with the Anlong Samnor villagers in a bid to force the 1,347 families in the area from their land so it could be sold for development.

Ownership of the area is hotly contested, and according to Anlong Samnor assistant commune chief At Eng and Korng Choeuh, a representative of the Anlong Samnor community, the Chi Kraeng farmers do not themselves have any rights to the farm land.

They claim the protesting farmers are new arrivals, telling the Post Wednesday that Chi Kraeng families only started moving onto the land after November 23 this year and are now preventing the original land owners of Anlong Samnor from planting their crops.

"We will give all the paperwork and ownership records to the commune chief so he can prove it to the court," At Eng said.

According to At Eng, the disputed land has been used by Anlong Samnor farmers since 2005. Now, he says, the commune's main concern is legally evicting the Chi Kraeng villagers.

"I am sure the verdict will be favourable. One side has no paperwork, and Anlong Samnor commune has all the records. Even the governor tried to appeal to the people in Chi Kraeng, but they were uncooperative," he said.

US to support legal training

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
The trophy for the second annual Client Counselling Competition gleams next to participants.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sarah Whyte
Monday, 26 January 2009

United States has committed US$12 million to five-year program aiming to improve legal education in the Kingdom and support rule of law

AGAINST a recent, rapid decrease in practising local legal professionals, the United States has pledged US$12 million over five years as part of a training project aimed at improving legal education across the Kingdom.

The USAID program, assisted by the East-West Management Institute and the American Bar Association, was described by Legal Education Specialist Steven Austermiller as a bid to improve the standard of teaching in domestic law schools.

"Traditional lecture formats will be complemented with hands-on practical forums and debates. This type of teaching gives students the ability to problem-solve, present on-the-spot legal analysis and to have effective communication in the law realm," he said Friday, adding that the program included ethics classes.

In September, the government was forced to speed up the legal graduate program to plug a widespread deficiency in judges.

The Supreme Council of the Magistracy appointed 55 new judicial graduates as judges and deputy prosecutors at 21 municipal and provincial courts across the Kingdom. Currently, there are still only 647 lawyers in Cambodia, which experts say is not enough to cater to a growing need for legal counsel.

The announcement of the funding, which will build on a previous USAID training program, came as law students nationwide participated in the second annual Client Counselling Competition, held Friday in Phnom Penh. The winners of the competition ­­- Tan Tepi Kanika and Theng Tith Maria from the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE) - will travel to the University of Las Vegas in the United States, representing Cambodia in the international version of the competition.

Despite participant numbers doubling from last year, many participants expressed a desire to practise overseas.

"Many students want to study internationally. Once I have finished, I would like to become a diplomat," said law student Ratana, 20, from RULE.

But the president of the Cambodian Bar Association, Chiv Songhak, said he was not worried that law students would be drawn to international law firms over local ones.

"Cambodia provides good opportunities for law students. There is no need to go overseas," he said.

Royalist alliance splits over candidate lists, party platform

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON

Nhek Bun Chhay’s Funcinpec will not be joining the NRP to contest May elections.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Brett Worthington and Neth Pheaktra
Monday, 26 January 2009

Funcinpec and NRP to contest May council elections separately after meetings on royalist collaboration fall apart over points of principle

FUNCINPEC and the Norodom Ranariddh Party (NRP) will not sign a memorandum of understanding to create a Nationalist Alliance ahead of May's district and provincial council elections, Funcinpec Second Deputy President Prince Sisowath Sirirath said Sunday.

Despite a promising first meeting, negotiations between the parties deteriorated last week when they failed to agree on a common platform.

"Everything is finished now," Prince Sirirath said. "The discussion between Funcinpec and the NRP has been stopped because of disagreement on the words used, and some of our principles."

But NRP spokesman Suth Dina said that while it was unlikely the parties would contest the elections together, talks were only being put on hold.

"The MoU agreement between the NRP and Funcinpec is postponed because in our two discussions we couldn't find a common principle that both parties could accept," he said.

"But in principle, the NRP intends to cooperate [with Funcinpec] in the local elections in May."

Stumbling blocks

Suth Dina said two obstacles now stood in the way of the parties teaming up, the first of which stemmed from a new subdecree changing the number of district, provincial and municipal council members.

He said the other problem the parties faced was their inability to agree on a list of candidates."Funcinpec wants to put a candidate on all candidate lists, but the NRP wants to alternate the name of the candidates on the list and share the votes for all candidates," Suth Dina said.

"In a province where Funcinpec has many members in the commune council, a candidate from Funcinpec would be at the head of the list, [but] the principle is still in discussion.

"The NRP spokesman said that, combined, the parties could win seats on new councils in 12 provinces but separately they could only win in six or seven.

Koul Panha, executive director of election monitor Comfrel, agreed, saying that alone both parties would struggle.

"By themselves they cannot gain more seats. If they negotiate, then together they could potentially gain seats," he said.

But, he said, in reality the two parties were bad at working together and have a difficult future. "They cannot come together," he said.

"They join and split and each time they do the voters lose confidence in them."

Negotiations first began almost two weeks ago as both parties attempted to rebuild following major losses in July's national election.

GOVT SHAKEUP: Top judge retains post

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Monday, 26 January 2009

CAMBODIA'S most senior judge will retain his post amidst a wider government reshuffle, Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vathana said Sunday. Dith Munty, president of the Supreme Court, will not be removed from his post despite Prime Minister Hun Sen's recent call for the retirement of all civil servants over 60 years of age "with no exception". "There is no information about the removal of Dith Munty from the post of president," he told the Post. But he said that the Supreme Council of the Magistracy will vote next week on the proposal to remove Phnom Penh Chief Prosecutor Ouk Savuth and replace him with Yet Chakrya, currently serving as provincial prosecutor in Banteay Meanchey.

Pigs for sale ahead of Year of the Ox

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Post Staff
Monday, 26 January 2009

A vendor at Phnom Penh's O'Russey Market sells roast suckling pigs Thursday ahead of the Lunar New Year rush. Suckling pig is a very popular dish on Lunar New Year - which starts today - and dozens of impromptu stalls selling pigs and other popular Chinese fare such as smoked duck, have sprung up across the capital. Although not officially a public holiday, the Kingdom's sizable Chinese community means that many restaurants and businesses close down for the week.

Government should take economic bailout seriously

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rainsy
Monday, 26 January 2009

Dear Editor,

In the front-page article "SRP calls for govt bailout" in the January 19 edition of The Phnom Penh Post, you wrote "opposition leader Sam Rainsy has called on the government to set aside a US$500 million economic stimulus package to offset the local effects of the world financial slump, claiming ‘tens of thousands' of Cambodian jobs have been lost to the global crisis". This article correctly reflects the spirit of my January 16 letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen drawing his attention to Cambodia's vulnerability in the face of the ongoing world financial crisis and to the seriousness of its worsening impact on our economy, the unprecedented fall in agricultural prices literally strangling our farmers, massive job destruction in the hitherto-growing nonagricultural sectors (garment, construction, tourism), and the collapse of the property market.

The suggested $500 million stimulus package would be the first emergency measure designed to alleviate the fallout from the world crisis and to prevent economic, social and political upheavals with incalculable consequences for Cambodia's stability and long-term development.

However, in the above mentioned article, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith is reported as saying there is no need for such a package because the government has already reserved funds for unforeseen circumstances, as it has been doing every year in the annual state budget. He is quoted as saying: "We have a reserve budget, not only for the global economic crisis but also for other disasters such as floods, and so forth", although he reportedly could not remember the exact amount set aside for 2009.

What the government has actually set aside for the 2009 fiscal year as "unplanned expenditures" - $144 million compared with $132 million for 2008 - is not adequate to cope with the deteriorating situation. Firstly, in the amount being far too little, and more importantly, in the concept, because the package must be thoroughly planned in order to produce its expected effects. For this purpose, we must forget "floods" and similar contingencies for a while, and concentrate on macroeconomics, fiscal policy, monetary policy, job creation, full-employment equilibrium, aggregate demand, deficit spending and other elements of Keynesian economic theory.

I would like to respond also to National Assembly Vice President Nguon Nhel who is quoted, in the January 18 edition of Khmer-language newspaper Rasmey Kampuchea, as saying the government does not need to follow my recommendation related to the world economic crisis because it has already taken "measures against inflation". Apparently, Mr Nguon Nhel does not realise that the problem is no longer inflation but deflation and recession.

Sam Rainsy
Member of Parliament

Cambodia Keeps Tax Breaks as Shortage of Cash Prevents Stimulus

Bloomberg,com

By Daniel Ten Kate

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Cambodia, reliant on overseas aid to finance a quarter of the national budget, said it will extend tax breaks for clothing manufacturers and invest in power plants as a cash shortage restricts its ability to provide economic stimulus.

“We cannot distribute cash to the people,” Hang Chuon Naron, secretary-general of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said in a telephone interview from Phnom Penh on Jan. 23. “What we can do is give targeted tax cuts to garment factories and spend more on infrastructure so we can prepare for economic development in the future.”

Cambodia needs to reduce business costs because it can’t afford the stimulus measures adopted by richer neighbors Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. The International Monetary Fund said the economy, Southeast Asia’s second poorest, may grow 4.75 percent this year, the slowest pace in 11 years.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said the government should ask for more grants and loans to fund a $500 million stimulus package he has proposed. The money would go to stabilizing crop prices and the construction of irrigation and road networks, he said.

“The Cambodian government is disconnected with reality and when the fallout materializes, it will be a terrible awakening,” Sam Rainsy said in an interview from Phnom Penh. “Every country around the region has announced a stimulus package, but Cambodia has done nothing so far.”

The government will extend a 2006 profit tax exemption for garment factories until the end of this year, Hang Chuon Naron said. That will help cut costs for an industry that accounted for 12 percent of gross domestic product in 2007 by supplying clothes for retailers such as Gap Inc. and Stockholm-based Hennes & Mauritz AB.

Donor-Funded

The tax breaks will be coupled with donor-funded investments in rural roads, power plants, irrigation systems and telecommunications networks, he said. More than two-thirds of the nation’s labor force work at least some of the time in the countryside, according to the Economic Institute of Cambodia.

Tourism, construction and garments, which together make up more than 60 percent of the economy, all face threats to growth this year, Hang Chuon Naron said. The number of foreign visitors may fall by 20 percent, construction will slow and garment exports might drop more than the 2 percent decline in 2008, he said.

“It’s very difficult to make a judgment about garment exports this year because we don’t sell high-end products,” he said. “We have to look at the real figures for the first quarter, which will be crucial.”

Dwindling Factories

The number of garment factories fell 10 percent to about 260 last year, leaving 20,000 workers without jobs, said Roger Tan, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers’ Association of Cambodia. The industry, which employs about 320,000 of Cambodia’s 14.2 million people, sells 70 percent of its products to the U.S., where retail sales have fallen for six straight months.

“Even if factories want to operate on the same scale, they may be forced to reduce their scale on account of reduced credit lines,” Tan said in an interview. “Buyers in Europe and America are telling us to ship on consignment.”

Cambodian lawmakers last month passed a $1.8 billion budget for 2009, increasing spending by a third from last year. The passage came days after donor countries pledged $950 million in aid, almost 40 percent more than they offered in 2008.

Last year marked an end to four straight years of economic growth in excess of 10 percent spurred by foreign-investment friendly policies such as 99-year leases for agricultural land, tax holidays and low import tariffs. The boom helped Prime Minister Hun Sen’s party win 73 percent of seats in a July election.

Stock Exchange

The country plans to open its first stock exchange in December, undeterred by a global financial crisis that halved the value of markets in neighboring Thailand and Vietnam last year.

Government coffers may soon get a boost from petroleum concessions in the Gulf of Thailand, where Chevron Corp., the second-biggest U.S. oil company, struck oil in 2005.

The government doesn’t have many options to boost the economy besides tax cuts and tackling corruption to ensure a more efficient use of donor funds, said Kang Chandararot, an economist with the Cambodia Institute of Development Studies. Transparency International, a global non-governmental organization, ranked Cambodia 166 out of 180 countries in its 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index.

“Not wasting the money we received from donor countries is the only way to induce private investment,” he said by phone from Phnom Penh. “Confidence in the real estate and construction sectors is in free fall.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net

Officials: GDP growth slowest in 6 years in Cambodia

People's Daily Online
January 26, 2009

Cambodia's Gross Domestic Products (GDP) hit 10.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, up from 8.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, but still the slowest growth rate in six years, national media said on Monday.

High inflation normally eats away real GDP growth as money loses its purchasing power, Hang Chuon Naron, secretary general of the Ministry of Finance and Economy, was quoted by English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily as saying.

The National Institute of Statistics (NIS) of the Planning Ministry is expected to release the final GDP growth rate in June, which is likely to be 7 percent, he said, adding that NIS will take into account the year-on-year inflation rate of 13.46 percent.

The forecast rate would be slightly higher than the World Bank's projection of 6.7 percent and the International Monetary Fund's 6.5 percent.

Cambodian GDP grew strongly in the first half of 2008, but took a hit in the final months of the year amid meltdown in the global economy and the local real estate market, combined with slowdown in garment exports and foreign tourist arrivals, according to the secretary general.

The Cambodian economy once consecutively enjoyed double-digit increase during the 2005-2007 period.

Source: Xinhua

Cambodian Central Bank to cut reserve requirement

PROPERTY REPORT ASIA
by Asia Pulse

The National Bank of Cambodia will cut the bank reserve requirement from 16 per cent to 12 per cent and eliminate restrictions on real estate lending effective on Feb. 1, national media said on Monday.

This constituted a reversal of the bank´s monetary tightening measures brought in last year to cut inflation and rein in soaring property values, said English-language daily newspaper the Phnom Penh Post.

Officials said that they hoped the looser rules would stimulate lending amid a worsening economic crisis.

"We increased the reserve rate (from 8 per cent to 16 per cent in May 2008) because we were vigilant over the crisis and wanted to prevent the inflation. Now inflation is falling, so we lowered it to give banks easy cash to provide more loans to their customers," said Tal Nay Im, director general of the National Bank of Cambodia.

Inflation rocketed to 25.1 per cent in the first half of 2008 in Cambodia and dropped to 13.46 per cent in December, according to the National Institute of Statistics of the Planning Ministry.

Experts and bank industrialists have repeatedly called on the government to lower the reserve rate so that financial institutions could loan more money and fuel the economy in the grips of a financial slowdown.

The Cambodian economy enjoyed double-digit increase during the 2005-2007 period, but down to below 10 per cent in 2008 and will further slide to around 5 per cent in 2009, according tothe forecasts by experts and international financial institutions.

92% Cambodians with HIV/AIDS receive treatment

www.chinaview.cn

2009-01-26

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- More than 92 percent of the Cambodians living with HIV/AIDS have been provided with anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment in 2008, a 7 percent rise over 2007, national media said on Monday.

With this, Cambodia is coming closer to its objective of making ARV drugs available to nearly all who need them by 2010, Mean ChhiVun, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs, was quoted by English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily as saying.

"We now cover 92 percent. Our target is 97 percent in 2010. The universal access target is about 85 percent, but for Cambodia, we want to provide anti-retroviral treatment for all," he said.

The treatment was given free of charge last year to 31,989 patients, including 3,067 children, in 77 government-run health centers and partner organizations in Cambodia, he added.

According to official figures, around 100,000 Cambodians have died of HIV/AIDS since 1991 and some 120,000 now live with the disease.

The kingdom has brought its prevalence rate down to below 0.9 percent from the peak of 3.3 percent in 1997.

Editor: Yang Lina

Pictures of the day

Dey Krahorm resident sits on the remains of her home as she waits for a truck to transport her to a new location. "I have no money," she said. "What can I do? I don't know where I will sleep. I can't do anything because they destroyed everything." (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

A woman carries her mother from their home in Dey Krahorm, yelling, "Help me, help me, my mother is dead," explaining later that her mother has fainted from fear and worry. The woman then screamed at intervention police officers, "You are Cambodian, but want to kill Cambodians. You destroyed my house. You're like gangsters." (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Dey Krahorm resident carries away bedding as she passes red-clad hired hands from developer and property owner 7NG. In the foreground is a potrait of King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who in the 1960s pushed for construction of middle-class housing and shared public space, including the adjacent Bassac apartments, for which the Dey Krahorm land formerly served as a park. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

A woman wearing a helmet tries to stop a bulldozer as her daughter attempts to stop her, during the eviction of slum dwellers in Phnom Penh January 24, 2009. Cambodian police fired teargas and eight people were injured on Saturday during the forced eviction of 80 families from a Phnom Penh slum, rights activists and police said. At least two of the eight slum dwellers were seriously hurt in clashes with clean-up crews hired to tear down the dwellings on government land recently sold to a private company.REUTERS/Stringer (CAMBODIA)

A woman is helped by her neighbours after she was hit by a bulldozer after trying to stop it from tearing down her house, in Phnom Penh January 24, 2009. Cambodian police fired teargas and eight people were injured on Saturday during the forced eviction of 80 families from a Phnom Penh slum, rights activists and police said. At least two of the eight slum dwellers were seriously hurt in clashes with clean-up crews hired to tear down the dwellings on government land recently sold to a private company.REUTERS/Stringer (CAMBODIA)

Workers of garment factory L.A Garment block a road as they demand for their salaries, in Phnom Penh January 24, 2009. The company, which has stopped production, owes workers two months of salary, according to the protesters.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Workers of garment factory L.A Garment block a road as they demand for their salaries, in Phnom Penh January 24, 2009. The company, which has stopped production, owes workers two months of salary, according to the protesters.REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Workers of garment factory L.A Garment block a road as they demand for their salaries, in Phnom Penh January 24, 2009. The company, which has stopped production, owes workers two months of salary, according to the protesters. Placard (C) reads " Government please help us, owner did not pay us, only Prime Minister Hun Sen can help us."REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea (CAMBODIA)

Cambodian shoe-shine boys play soccer on the street for betting during their break in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, Jan. 23, 2009. Most of Cambodian shoe-shine children in Phnom Penh are spent their day-long working at restaurants without attending schools.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Trade in humans likely to increase

Cambodian fishermen trafficked to work aboard a Thai fishing boat are repatriated from Surabaya, Indonesia. Chris Lom/International Organistion for Migration

The National
Larry Jagan, Foreign Correspondent

PHNOM PENH // Human trafficking in Cambodia is expected to rise in the coming months because of increasing poverty, according to humanitarian agencies. They say that the full effects of the global economic downturn and international credit crunch have yet to hit the country. When they do, food and fuel prices will probably soar, putting many more people – especially women and children – at risk of falling victim to traffickers.

“The lure of a better life and a secure income is bound to trap more unsuspecting youngsters into the grip of these trafficking rings,” said Lim Tith, the project co-ordinator for the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP) in Cambodia.Last year the Cambodian government introduced a new anti-trafficking law. Although it did raise awareness of the issue, it also led to a draconian crackdown on sex workers, instead of trying to tackle all forms of trafficking and its root causes, said Vicheth Tuon, chief executive of the Coalition to Address Trafficking and (Sexual) Exploitation of Children in Cambodia.

“Trafficking is a mega-problem in Cambodia, and it’s becoming a critical issue that needs to be tackled head-on,” Mr Tuon said. “It has grown immensely in the last 10 years since the end of the conflict, and will continue to grow unless effective measures are taken to stop it.”In Cambodia, men and women, boys and girls are all susceptible to being trafficked, UN officials say. Some are trafficked inside the country, while others are sent abroad. “It’s a major social problem that affects both the victims and their families,” Mr Lim said. Most trafficking in Cambodia appears to be for “labour exploitation”, UN officials say.

Most victims end up in domestic service, factories and trawling ships, or as beggars and scavengers abroad. There are more than 200,000 Cambodians working in factories and boats in Malaysia and Thailand, at least half of whom have been trafficked, UN surveys show. Many women and children are lured away from the countryside by gangs to work as commercial sex workers in Cambodia’s major urban centres – Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville.

“I came to Phnom Penh to work in a restaurant,” said Pong Ly Kaeng, a 22-year-old bar girl.“The owner came to our village in Svay Rieng [in western Cambodia] and promised my sister he would look after me and pay me a good salary. So I went with him. But I left when the owner tried to make me have sex with a customer. Then my cousin found me a job in the bar. But I don’t sleep with all my customers.”

“At least 20 per cent of sex workers in Phnom Penh have been trafficked,” Mr Lim said. “It is difficult to estimate the number of people being trafficked into Phnom Penh to become commercial sex workers, but there is a constant stream. Maybe as many as 500 a month are coming.”Women have also been trafficked abroad for sexual exploitation in the past, according to UN officials.“A few years ago there was a major case of Cambodian women being smuggled into Somalia,” Mr Lim said. There have also been a few cases of women being taken to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

But trafficking in Cambodia is a two-way street. There are many Vietnamese women who have been trafficked from southern Vietnam to work in Phnom Penh’s sex industry. Many of them are underage, according to a Cambodian aid worker who monitors the situation. She declined to be identified out of concern that it might endanger her security.In an effort to prevent human trafficking, in response to pressure from the United States, the Cambodian government introduced new anti-trafficking legislation nearly a year ago. However, most NGOs say the legislation made the situation worse because authorities went after sex workers rather than traffickers.

“A lot of sex workers have been arrested without clear evidence and are being kept in detention centres where the conditions are atrocious,” Mr Tuon said. “The victims of trafficking are being persecuted – they are worse off than before,” he said. “The answer is not to close down brothels and the street sex trade; the girls’ need the income and their families depend on them. What they need is alternative employment.”

International aid groups working in Cambodia say the country’s campaign against HIV/Aids is also at risk. “Legislation is a necessary component to stop the spread of HIV and Aids,” said Tony Lisle, the UN Aids co-ordinator in Cambodia.“Now we need to make sure the police understand the intent of the law – and that the laws criminalise traffickers, not consenting sex workers.” But the traffickers continue to ply their trade with impunity. A few members of minor gangs have been arrested, but aid workers say they are scapegoats and believe the top men orchestrating the trafficking rings are left alone.

“No one can touch the ringleaders,” Mr Tuon said. “Everyone knows who they are, but because of their power and influence, they are left untouched by the police.”A recent development is that of young children being trafficked into Thailand and Vietnam to work as street-sellers or beggars.Most of the young girls selling flowers in Bangkok’s red light districts are Cambodians – such as seven-year-old Kimmi from Phnom Penh who has been selling roses in Nana for more than two years; her father sold her to a trafficker for US$50 (Dh184).

Cambodian children, especially from the western provinces, are being trafficked to Vietnam to beg or work as scavengers in the southern capital, Ho Chi Minh City.“Handicapped children are particularly vulnerable, as they are believed to be more effective beggars,” Mr Lim said. “Up to 700 children a month are being trafficked across the borders.”Although the government has adopted some measures to curb the trade in human beings, much more needs to be done, humanitarian workers in Phnom Penh say.

“It’s an uphill battle,” Mr Lim said. “Human trafficking is a major industry and it’s growing every month.”

Cambodia honours Dr. Thangsing with Royal Order of Sahametrei

Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Chief of AIDS Healthcare Foundation Asia Pacific Bureau, being conferred with Cambodia’s Royal Order of Sahametrei

morungexpress
January 26, 2009

Kohima: The Royal Government of Cambodia has awarded the prestigious Royal Order of Sahametrei to Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Chief of AIDS Healthcare Foundation Asia Pacific Bureau. The Royal Order of Sahametrei is an honour conferred by a royal decree of the king of Cambodia, primarily on foreigners who have rendered distinguished services to the king and to the nation. The award also recognised Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing’s exemplary contribution and dedication in humanitarian services to people living with HIV/AIDS and general public in Cambodia.

The Royal Order of Sahametrei was conferred following a citation by Professor Mam Bun Heng, minister of Health on behalf of the Prime Minister, the Royal Government of Cambodia, on January 21. “This is a big honour and my proud privilege to hand over the Sahametrei to you, to honour and recognise your selfless dedication and contribution to better the lives of our people,” the minister said.Accepting the award, Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing said he was deeply honoured and humbled for being awarded the prestigious Royal Order of Sahametrei. He also expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Royal Government of Cambodia, the ministry of health, and various other organisations and people Dr. Thangsing said he willingly endeavoured to fight for the ‘underserved and unserved’ and ‘for those who cannot do it themselves’.

Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, MBBS, son of Paokhosoi Thangsing, graduated from North Eastern Regional Medical College and is a postgraduate fellow of the Christian Academy of Medical Sciences. He is trained in applied psychology for HIV/AIDS. He has till date dedicatedly worked for over 20 years as a physician, HIV specialist and an ardent activist in the fight for HIV/AIDS. He is the Asia Pacific Bureau Chief of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, United States of America. AHF Asia Pacific bureau operates in Cambodia, China, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Nepal.

Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in his congratulatory message said: “What a great honour; we are all brimming with pride. We don’t do this work for the glory, but recognition such as this only confirms the importance of what we do”.

In 2005, AHF entered into a memorandum with the government, a comprehensive HIV/AIDS treatment, care and support program in Cambodia. Currently, AHF Cambodia care centers operate at 11 sites. The programs focus on technical and financial assistance ensuring the provision of high quality ART treatment and management services and strengthening of continuum of care services, networks and partnership with collaborators and all relevant stakeholders. Today, the collaborative program provides life saving services to over 6,000 patients.

Finally, Khmer Rouge leaders will face justice for mass murder

Trials of five brutal leaders will begin next month

Monday, January 26, 2009

NORMAN WEBSTER,
The Gazette

Finally, at everlastingly long last, someone is to answer for the atrocities of the Khmers Rouges - in particular, the savagery of 1975-79, when they ruled all of Cambodia. Agence France-Presse reports from Phnom Penh that Feb. 17 is the day the regime's torturer-in-chief will go on trial in the capital for crimes against humanity.

Kaing Khek Iev, better known as Duch, is the first of five scheduled to go before a UN-sponsored tribunal for one of the great crimes of the 20th century. An estimated 1.7 million Cambodians out of a population of 7 million lost their lives to the insanity - sick, starved, worked to death or simply eliminated, cost-effectively, by a hoe to the back of the neck. It was madness, administered without remorse.

And it wasn't even genocide. This was not one race or cultural group trying to wipe out another. It was a small corps of ideologues brutalizing their own people, in a weird attempt to return Cambodia to "Year Zero" and an agrarian society uncorrupted by education, money, cities and towns, religion, family life or human emotions. Angkar ("the organization") saw all, controlled everything, ruled everyone, killed as it pleased, in a world to challenge the imagination of an Orwell.

No one has properly answered for this. The regime's sinister leader, Pol Pot, who acquired his vision of social perfection during studies in France, died in his bed, unrepentant, in 1998. Others have joined him, or soon will. Time is running out. At least these five will have to face their crimes.

The first, comrade Duch, has a story to shrivel the soul. He ran the regime's house of horrors, Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh. Some 17,000 victims, all carefully photographed for the prison's archives, passed through his inventive hands before ending up as piles of bones in the killing fields. He used to be a schoolteacher.

Khieu Samphan, perhaps the most interesting of those to be tried, has a Paris Ph.D in economics. Many were murdered for less, but Samphan also happened to be both close to Pol Pot personally and Khmer Rouge head of state during its years in power. His testimony could have historic value if it brings deeper understanding of whatever it was that drove Cambodia's serene, paranoid executioner.

One story that would be interesting to follow is related by Philip Short, former BBC correspondent and author of Pol Pot: The History of a Nightmare. Short writes that Saloth Sar, as Pot was originally known, used to visit the royal palace to see his sister, who was a member of the king's harem. At 15, "little Sar" was considered young enough to enter the female quarters _ whereupon the young women would tease him, loosen his waistband, fondle him and masturbate him to a climax. Vairry interesting.

Plus these few scribbles from a traveller's notebook . . . .

The women of Laos are remarkably attractive - trim, personable, with ready smiles and warm brown skin. So it was a bit startling to hear our guide in Luang Prabang, a handsome woman in her late 30s, declare unhappily: "I wish my skin was whiter. Lao men prefer women with light skin." She isn't married and doesn't think she ever will be.

We heard the same lament in Vietnam.

Morning markets in Laos have all the usual food groups for sale, plus a few extras like rat, bat, lizard, deep-fried crickets and dried buffalo intestines. To wash everything down, there is rice liquor with a snake or scorpion pickled inside the bottle.

Out along the Mekong, the riverbanks are fertile with crops. All seems right with the world, except - the river and its weeds are littered with plastic bags, the bags that both Asian and North American shoppers use to carry home their vegetables, rice and dried buffalo intestines. It's a curse that girdles the globe.

In Vientiane, capital of Laos, we scored a guide with good English and an unusual accent. It wasn't the usual British or Noo Yawkish or even Indian English, with its odd Welsh lilt. No, it was purest Oz, acquired during studies at a Buddhist monastery in Melbourne. He sounded just like our Australian grand-daughter.

I asked him if his name was Bruce, but he didn't get the joke.

On to Hanoi, the Sparta of our world, where tall American tourists, many of them obvious veterans of the Vietnam War, tramp the streets with their families, unmolested and uninsulted. Our guide says he yawns when the regime drags out its warriors to reminisce about the good old days. He says he finds Vo Nguyen Giap boring.

Wow. Gen. Giap, now 97, is only one of the great military figures of our age - victor over the mighty French (Dien Bien Phu) and the mightier Americans, at level pegging with Rommel or Zhukov or China's Zhu De, a veritable modern Hannibal. Boring?! Giap's young critic risks having someone wash his mouth out with soap.

Norman Webster is a former editor of The Gazette.
© The Gazette (Montreal)

Land violences in Cambodia: Dey Krohom razed to the ground following a tough eviction

Multimedia slideshow on the final eviction at Dey Krohom. Images and sound by John Vink/ Magnum

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 24/01/2009: Police aiming a straight-shot tear gas gun

during the final eviction at Dey Krohom.

©John Vink/ Magnum

WATCHING SLIDE SHOW

Ka-set
By Ros Dina
25-01-2009

The threat of eviction had been lurking around them since 2006. The struggle of dozens of families who still clung onto their houses in Dey Krohom, in the central Tonle Bassac district of Phnom Penh, is one of the longest in the distressing two decade-old history of land matters in Cambodia. From one ultimatum to the next, the looming final offensive was expected to be carried out sooner or later. It happened in the early hours of the morning, on Saturday January 24th. Nobody imagined the eviction would be so well-organised but what is more, so violent. And the 7NG company, who was granted the land as part of a concession to build a residential tower block and a shopping mall, went all out in the process.

Methodical destruction

An army of more than 600 young men arrived at the scene shortly before dawn, accompanied by policemen sporting riot shields and batons, themselves followed by representatives of the authorities. The concept of task division was rigorously applied in this eviction operation. Split into several groups and told apart by the colour of their tee-shirt (red, blue, yellow, green, black and white), they cleared the site away with method. When the go-ahead was given at 6am, some erected in record time a barricade around the site which had been cordoned off prior to the offensive, while others were allocated the task of demolishing whole areas of the village. Some three hours later, the zone was entirely devastated, not a single thing was left to stand, not even trees, razed to the ground in the process.

Cracking down on every dwelling, house by house, like locusts swarming on crops, dozens of workers relentlessly applied themselves to knocking everything down with sledge-hammers and axes, leaving nothing behind but annihilation. The first action they set out to do was to wreck the houses of those who still formed pockets of resistance. There, diggers and bulldozers did the job without leaving enough time for residents to save their belongings. Even motorcycles parked inside homes were crushed by machines. Not an ounce of pity. Houses crumbled down at once in a crashing din of smashed objects, dishes, materials. A young woman, in an ultimate attempt to save a few things, fell with her own house, ravaged by a bulldozer. She came out of the rubble alive, but with several injuries.

Use of tear gas

Determined not to be bothered by residents showing protest, the one-off removers, covered by a large scale police cordon, tear-gassed the area and its inhabitants. As for those who still opposed to leaving their home, it is with fire extinguishers that workers attacked, filling houses and drowning their occupiers with white chemical solution until they came out. There again, fire extinguishers were used to tackle any fires started by inhabitants.

An old woman was sat outside on a raised board bed, lamenting the situation. “They shot teargas at us. It was impossible to breathe and it made us cry. They did this to flush us out! I don't know where I am going to live with my grand-children. Here, we only paid USD100 per month, we managed.” Her daughter, joining her, says with anger: “If I had known that they'd be capable of doing that, we would never have voted for them in the elections, in my family!”

Demolitions carried out with rage

One of the first houses to be targeted by workers was that of a young woman who obstinately refused to leave her house, racked by sobs and calling for help in harrowing cries. She was forced out by the day-workers hired for the occasion and taken away. Every single eviction gave way to violent altercations, and even direct confrontations between dwellers and workers. The latter showed excessive rage and anger in the way they proceeded, and even zeal, which sparked off the astonishment and daze of many. Every group was steered by a leader virulently exhorting workers to keep the same pace and not let the situation affect them. None of them agreed to reveal the amount of the salary they received for this task.

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 24/01/2009: Mechanical shovel destroying private property

during the final eviction at Dey Krohom.

©John Vink/ Magnum

In one of the dwellings, a man tried to set himself ablaze and one of his relatives, a woman, threatened to throw a brick at the depredatory workers. They were interrupted in their hammering and axing task by their leader calling them to keep going with the destruction. Behind them, police officials wearing uniforms also encouraged them: “Go! Destroy! We can't do it ourselves, there are too many foreign journalists and photographers!”

When the operations ended, injured people reportedly included four residents – among whom two suffered serious injuries - and ten workers. The police proceeded to several arrests. As she watched her house being wrecked and despite her imploring for some more time to move all their belongings, a mother collapsed and was taken to hospital. “We used to run a small grocery shop, we had many things to take out of there. They just wouldn't listen. I even tried to make the district chief change his mind, but he retorted: 'We allowed you several days to move out, so why didn't you?' We lost half of our personal property...” her husband said, appalled by the situation.

Inhabitants left in shock

Slightly further away, a resident, wearing his police uniform, eyes sore from crying and speaking in a choked voice, refused to helplessly witness the demolition of his home. “You're alone against them, you can't do anything! Stay calm!”, his friends told him. He arrived there in 1993 and remembers, like others, promises made by prime Minister Hun Sen back then, that the inhabitants of that neighbourhood could one day become the true owners of their piece of land...

A neighbour, whose house was faced with the same fate, could not stop expressing her astonishment in front of the violence deployed. A dweller at Dey Krohom since 1987, she did not show any more interest than other families - those officially recognised by the company 7NG - in the latter's offer of resettlement in the Chom Chao area on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, or in the USD20,000 cash compensation per family (last offer made by 7NG), which was thought to be insufficient. “They show more brutality and meanness than during Pol Pot's regime! But today, Cambodia is part of the ASEAN and has its place on the international scene, they cannot act like this! The government robs inhabitants to serve the company's own interest!” A young teacher, standing beside her, adds: “They see the poor as slaves. They decide on our life and death!”

Journalists and observers mistreated

No one was allowed to enter the zone, and those who tried hard to make their way through were severely reprimanded, shoved away in a more or less strong manner. The general trend was to keep observers away. Fire hoses were deliberately pointed at photographers.

“This is not good for you, Barangs [expatriates], to stay here, it's dangerous!”, the lawyer for the 7NG company insistingly advised. A Barang replied to him, not without irony: “But there are policemen here, and they are here to take care of security, aren't they?”. For his part, Phay Siphan, the spokesman for the Council of Ministers, enquired about observers' situation: “Were you treated well?”

Authorities trying to make a good impression

His back turned to the scene, Mann Chhoeun, the deputy governor of Phnom Penh, who arrived at the scene at about 8 o'clock, tried to be reassuring. “We are taking inhabitants to the resettlement site [Damnak Trah Yeung village, Chom Chao district, about 12 miles west of the capital], it is necessary to respect what is written here!”, he explained, waving a report made by the municipality on Dey Krohom, the back of which states the offer made by 7NG to inhabitants: a 4m x 12m house built by 7NG in the Damnak Trah Yeung village, or the sum of USD15,000, each offer being topped up with 770,000 riels (USD192,50) and 30 kilos worth of rice and dehydrated noodle packs.

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 24/01/2009: Family crying the loss of their belongings

during the final eviction at Dey Krohom.

©John Vink/ Magnum

In the light of this little reminder, the deputy governor defends the morning intervention: “We are not throwing them out into the street, we have a house for them!” The company 7NG acknowledged the existence of 91 families when the site actually houses 150 today, as a few came last minute to add themselves up to the lot. The company will examine each dossier on a case-by-case basis and it is down to them to decide whether they will do something for them”, Mann Chhoeun detailed, pointing out that 8 out 91 families accepted the offer of 7NG in the past few days

Authorities and 7NG promote the resettlement site

“Those who did not jump on 7NG's last offer [which settled the amount of compensations at USD20,000, an offer which is not valid any more today, according to 7NG manager] claim between USD50,000 and USD120,000, and the highest claim was made by a family. But negotiations have come to an end...” The deputy governor then painted the idyllic picture of the resettlement site, “connected to the drinking water network”, where dwellers will be able to benefit from “a 700 million riel [ USD175,000] credit fund set up for them to obtain loans”. “And also, the authorities are in charge of building a school there”.

7NG manager Srey Chanthou, on site, wearing a tee-shirt with his company's logo and a material mask, presented a similar line of argument. “More than 1,300 families in Dey Krohom agreed to go and settle there, why do others cause problems? They will have nice accommodation!...” The representative then added up to the list of assets of the Damnak Trah Yeung village by mentioning the existence of a market and a factory.

As Human rights and housing rights organisations set up a series of meetings since Saturday morning's events, some twenty evicted families found refuge at the headquarters of Cambodian Human rights NGO (LICADHO).

Who's next?

Residents of the Building, living right next to the Dey Krohom area, did not miss a second of the operations. They also said they were shocked by the deployment of violence. The net is tightening around them. All the squats and makeshift villages which used to surround them have now disappeared, replaced by tall buildings. They know it: they are now next on the list of evictions in Phnom Penh.

FM to visit Thais jailed of terrorism charge in Khmer prison

By The Nation

Phnom Penh--Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya arrived here this evening to begin a two-day visit focusing on revitalizing Thai-Cambodian relations.

He will have a full program tomorrow with a scheduled bilateral discussion with his counterpart, Foreign Minister Hor Namhong in the morning.

After the discussion, he will meet the two Thai religious teachers at the Phnom Penh Prison who were arrested in 2003 and now are serving a life sentence on terrorist charges.

Kasit plans to seek royal pardons for Muhammad Yalaluding and Abdul Azi Haji Chiming in the bilateral talks. The foreign minister will be joined by their spouses from Yala.

The Thai Embassy here has already requested a pardon from Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni but it will take time.

On Monday, he will pay several courtesy calls to Cambodian leaders including Prime Minister Hun Sen (Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen) and presidents of both upper and lower houses, Same dech Akka Moha Thamma Pothisal Chea Sim and Samdech Akka Moha Ponchea Chakrei Heng Samrin respectively.

The familiarization trip is aimed at restoring the Thai-Cambodian friendship which dated back several centuries. The ties have been soured due to the disagreement over the 7th century Hindu temple known as Phra Viharn in Thai or Preah Vihear in Cambodian.

Kasit will have an audience with King Sihanomuni tomorrow's afternoon and later on makes a sightseeing tour of Silver Pagoda inside the Royal Palace.

Trade between the two countries amounted to US$1.8 billion last year from US$1.4 billion in 2007.

From 1986-2008, Thailand has provided a grant of 1.2 billion baht and a soft loan totaled 2.2 billion baht for infrastructural development projects. Other assistances also include technical cooperation and training in various fields.

Never too late to learn

An instructor from St. Vrain Valley Adult Education School, who did not want to give her name, helps Rin Chea from Cambodia with some of his English homework. In the background, Suzannah Harris helps Saul Castro from Mexico with his work. A recent report indicated that about 7 percent of Boulder County adults cannot read well enough to understand newspapers or brochures. At St. Vrain Valley Adult Education School, instruction is given for adult basic and secondary education in a lab setting rather than in classes.

Adult Education School helps adults become literate, earn diplomas

By Victoria A.F. Camron
Longmont Times-Call

LONGMONT — During the year that Rin Chea studied English in his native Cambodia, he mostly learned to read and write the language.

Since the 32-year-old immigrated to the United States 13 months ago, though, he needs to become literate and fluent in English, he said.

“I want to enter college here,” he said Wednesday while studying at the St. Vrain Valley School District’s Adult Education School on Bowen Street.

A banker in Cambodia, Chea hopes to study accounting here as well, he said.

Chea is one of about 260 students enrolled at the center this year, according to the school district’s enrollment report. Anyone older than 17 who does not have a high school diploma can enroll in the program.

Ardith Loustalet, the school’s English as a Second Language coordinator, said about half the school’s students are English-language learners; the other half speak English as their native language but aren’t literate.

“(They are) adults from all walks of life who for some reason did not complete their education,” Loustalet said. “Here, they’re going to find individual instruction, and that satisfies a whole world of needs.”

A National Center for Education Statistics study released this month estimated that 7 percent of Boulder County residents age 16 or older lack “basic prose literacy,” meaning they cannot understand pamphlets or even printed television listings.

The National Assessment of Adult Literacy estimated that 14 percent of Weld County residents age 16 or older are similarly illiterate; the state-wide estimate is 10 percent.

Of the students enrolled at the Adult Education School, 50 percent are Hispanic, 45 percent are white and 5 percent are other minorities, according to the St. Vrain Valley School District.

Many students are between the ages of 24 and 40, but the number of those younger than 21 is increasing, said Mary Willoughby, coordinator of the Adult Education School.

“We like to say we are doing a better job of finding those high school dropouts,” Loustalet said.
Often, high school counselors direct the dropouts to the program, Willoughby said.

Saul Castro, 20, grew up in Mexico and moved to Longmont about six years ago. He attended Skyline High School for his freshman and sophomore years but dropped out to work, he said.

He was working in landscaping but recently was laid off, Castro said.

Three months ago, he began studying at the Adult Education School.

“I want to graduate ... because I get better job and learn English,” Castro said.

Both Chea and Castro are enrolled in what the school calls “High School I,” which offers individualized programs in basic reading, writing and math.

A standardized placement test determines the level at which the student starts.

Marcia Bettger, who manages the High School I level, said 37 percent of the school’s students read at or below the fifth-grade level. In math, 90 percent of the students test at or below fifth grade, she said.

“We need to help students and get them up so they can manage in life,” she said.

When students enroll at the school, Bettger helps them determine their schedule and set goals, both large and small. She tries to understand why they dropped out of school previously and helps them overcome the same obstacles, she said.

The instructors encourage the students along the way and celebrate when they reach a goal.
A good student who has time to study can complete two levels a year, Loustalet said.

“It’s self-paced, so a student doesn’t have to keep up with a crowd like they did at school,” Loustalet said.

When students reach the equivalent of a seventh-grade reading level, they move on to “High School II,” where they can earn their high school diplomas.

Victoria Camron can be reached at 303-684-5226 or vcamron@times-call.com.

Thai minister to discuss temple dispute in Cambodia

Cambodian Buddhist monks at the Preah Vihear temple near the Thai border

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thailand's new foreign minister will travel to Cambodia on Sunday for his first official visit, with both neighbours hoping to make progress on resolving a sporadically violent territorial dispute.

A foreign ministry official said that Kasit Piromya would leave for Phnom Penh at 6:55pm (1155 GMT) and arrive back Monday evening, with the disputed land around Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple likely on the agenda.

"The foreign minister will make his first official visit to Cambodia mainly to introduce himself to Cambodia and strengthen relationships between the two countries," a press officer at the ministry said.

"He may ask about or mention some issues such as Preah Vihear... to update information and see the progress of those issues."

A spokesman from Cambodia's foreign ministry told AFP on Thursday that officials including Kasit's counterpart, Hor Namhong, will urge the visiting minister to help broker a peaceful solution as soon as possible.

Troops from Cambodia and Thailand clashed on October 15 on disputed land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple, leaving four soldiers dead.

The Cambodian-Thai border has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.

Tensions flared in July when the cliff-top Khmer temple, which is in Cambodia, was awarded United Nations World Heritage status, rekindling the long-running disagreement.

Troops from both sides have been stationed around the area since then, and negotiations aimed at reaching a solution stalled last year as Thailand was gripped by political turmoil which brought down the previous government.

New Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva named Kasit as foreign minister last month, but he has turned out to be a controversial choice.

Kasit was a vocal supporter of protests which shuttered Bangkok's airports for a week in November and December, and the staunch nationalist also criticised the previous government's handling of the crisis with Cambodia.

Kasit is due to meet Cambodian premier Hun Sen, King Norodom Sihamoni and other high-ranking officials.

Temple leadership put to vote again

Congregants vote for nine new board members of Wat Vipassanaram in Long Beach on Friday. A court challenge to an election a year ago framed a yearlong dispute over leadership of the Cambodian Buddhist temple. More than 400 temple members were expected to vote. (Stephen Carr/Staff Photographer)

Press-Telegram Los Angeles Newspaper
By Greg Mellen Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - Despite a gloomy forecast, cold weather and rainfall, for the second time in a year about 400 congregants of a Cambodian Buddhist temple showed up to cast ballots in an attempt to find leadership at the embattled temple.

Friday's election, for all nine spots on the temple's board of directors, was ordered by Superior Court Judge Joseph Di Loreto, who has been overseeing a yearlong legal battle between the long-standing board of directors at Wat Vipassanaram and a dissident group of congregants supported by the monks.

Although temple bylaws allow only three members to be elected to the board in any year, Di Loreto said the existing board members had so abrogated their responsibilities that all nine seats should be put up.

The temple was open from

9 a.m. until 8 p.m. to give working templegoers time to vote. Ballots were being counted late Friday night and results should be in Sunday's Press-Telegram.

The candidates are Yin Ath, Chhan Aun, Nhror Aun, Bryant Ben, Kosal Chhum, Kea Him, Amphan Keo, Elizabeth Keo, John Kong, Alex Lim, Siu Chheng Lim, Anthony Ly, Chou Ngim Ly, Sonly Muy, Teang Neth, Sovannara Nou, Chhakry Oun, Mum Pel, Teang Pream, Larry Sar, Hack Sok, Darin Sun, Sophal Um, Praseur Vann.

Twenty-four congregants were nominated and placed on the ballot, including monk Aun, in an apparent violation of the temple bylaws. Typically monks, especially in the conservative Theravada school of Buddhism practiced at Wat Vipassanaram, eschew politics and secular matters. Aun was the only monk to accept nomination to the board.

A last-minute appeal by the existing board of directors for an injunction to stop the election failed when the Second District Appellate Court denied the petition.

While the election was being staged on one side of the wat complex, Siphann Tith, executive director of the current board, and his supporters sat on the other.

Tith said he sent a letter to the dissidents saying an election wouldn't be allowed on temple property, but relented when the congregants arrived.

"As long as they don't cause problems," Tith said, he wouldn't contest the staging of the event.
"I'm not going to have a confrontation, there has already been too many," Tith said.

Regardless of Friday's results, the existing board of directors is appealing Di Loreto's authority and rulings. None of the current board members is on the ballot, and Tith says he will not recognize the results.

The dissidents say when Di Loreto approves the election results they will assume control of governance of the temple and its assets, which are currently being handled by a court-appointed receiver.

"It feels good, finally," said board candidate Ly, one of the original leaders of the group contesting the current board of directors. "We'll just follow the judge's orders and everything should be OK."

Ben, another board candidate, was eager for the results to come in Friday afternoon.

"As soon as the judge approves, we're going to take action right away," Ben said.

"We're going to clean up this mess," said Sar.

In January 2008, in similar weather, members of the wat showed up in big numbers to oust the existing board of directors in the first election in more than a decade.

At the time, members of the board asked that the election be postponed until March. They had been in the process of rewriting bylaws since June to conform to California law and said they needed to finish the job to provide a fair and legitimate election.

Members of the existing board accused outsiders of trying to hijack the election and control of the temple assets by orchestrating a large influx of temple members with no real connection to the wat.

No members of the board were listed as candidates in the 2008 election and the board did not recognize the vote.

The two sides have been in court ever since.

The year-long legal struggle for control of Wat Vipassanaram, which owns several properties and had $4 million in assets before the legal wranglings began, has been a tumultuous experience.
Along the way:

The existing board of directors tried to dissolve the board and reform it as a separate entity.

The court appointed a receiver because of fears of absconding of temple funds.

The executive director was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to turn over financial records to the receiver.

The temple had a brief relationship with a Gnostic church in Orange run by John Ramirez, aka Johnny Rhondo, who was implicated in a Texas insurance fraud scheme in 2002.

As the rain fell, Paline Soth, another dissident, reflected on the parallels between this year's election and last year's.

"If it's raining, a lawsuit will follow," he said with a laugh.

Pig breeder clinches £1m Cambodia deal

ACMC is shopping quality breeding pigs to Cambodia

From yorkshirepost.co.uk

By Mark Casci

AT a time when the welfare standards of Britain's pig farms are being discussed at the highest level, a batch of top quality breeding pigs are being dispatched to the Far East.

Yorkshire-based international pig breeding company ACMC has clinched what is thought to be the first ever deal to ship them to Cambodia.

Worth nearly £1m, the deal will see ACMC's special Meidam and Voltane damlines and Vantage sirelines, plus boars representing all three breeds being sent to the South East Asian country.

The deal has been struck by the Cambodian government as it strives to cope with its expanding population, which is expected to grow from its present 13 million to 16 million by 2015.

The country at present imports 2,000 pigs a day – mostly from neighbouring Thailand.

The news comes at a time when Britain's pig farming industry is striving to reduce the amount of cheap pork entering the country, and to emphasise the high quality of the methods of which pork is reared domestically.

TV chef Jamie Oliver will present a documentary on Thursday this week on the issue, Jamie Saves Our Bacon, during which he spoke to several Yorkshire farmers and butchers.

The project involves the pigs being sent to a new specially designed five-hectare site in the Prey Nop district of Sihanoukville city in the west of the country. The site will house the nuclear herd and which is expected to eventually supply enough commercial AC1 sows to produce 1.1 million slaughter pigs a year. It is also anticipated to provide employment for thousands of people in rural Cambodia.

A spokesman said: "Interestingly, Cambodia will be importing genes, albeit much modified, originally sourced from the Far East."

More than two decades ago the prolific Chinese Meishan was brought into Europe. Over a 20-year period ACMC used these genetics to create a new breed, the Meidam, to boost productivity. The Meidam is selected with 16 functioning teats and produces 15 per cent more milk than conventional European lines, enabling it to rear more pigs. In Europe, the AC1 has been shown to produce up to 30 pigs per sow.

"The spokesman added that ACMC believes it is the only company that has managed to incorporate this ability while maintaining high quality lean carcasses in the finishing generation – and this is what appealed to the Cambodians.

A new company has been formed to handle the operation under the name of M's Pig ACMC (Cambodia) Ltd.

The project will also encompass a feed-milling operation with a projected output of 330,000 tonnes a year and a slaughter and processing plant to produce premium quality pork.

Cambodian slum dwellers evicted

The land on which Dey Krahorm stood has bought by a property developer

By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

Police have been overseeing the eviction of hundreds of people from a slum community in the centre of the in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

Residents of Dey Krahorm, who have been fighting eviction for the best part of three years, say they have a legal right to the land.

But the local authorities signed it over to a property developer.

It is the latest in a series of evictions, which have accompanied a dramatic increase in land values.

Dawn operation

As the bulldozers moved into Dey Krahorm at dawn on Saturday, residents had little chance of resisting.

Hundreds of military and civilian police accompanied workers from the property developer which bought the land from the city.

At first, they would not allow journalists or human rights workers to observe the eviction, and forcibly removed those who had made it through the barricades.

Dey Krahorm had been the heart of Cambodia's artistic community. Traditional musicians and dancers held classes there in an effort to pass on their skills to the younger generation.

Their instruments could be seen among the rubble, along with the other belongings of the former residents.

'Excessive force'

Housing rights workers criticised the way the eviction was carried out, saying it was unnecessarily violent.

"They cannot stand again because of the excessive use of force, of tear gas. A few of my colleagues got hurt more than me," said Yeng Virak of the Community Legal Education Centre (CLEC).

Housing rights workers said the eviction was unnecessarily violent

The evicted residents will be taken to land on the outskirts of Phnom Penh.

The local authorities and the developers say they will find better living conditions there, with running water, electricity, health centres and schools.

Phnom Penh's deputy governor, Mann Chhoeun, insists the city has been generous to the people of Dey Krahorm.

But the residents say the negotiations had not finished and that they have not received fair compensation for their land.

They add that moving outside the city centre will stop them from earning a living.

The demise of Dey Krahorm will also cause concern among several other communities threatened with eviction.

Cambodian cops use teargas to evict slum dwellers

Forced eviction: Cambodian workers pulling down structures at a slum during the eviction of families in the capital Phnom Penh yesterday. Around 250 police, many armed and in riot gear, and more than 200 workers moved early in the morning to evict hundreds of families refusing to leave the shantytown.

Picture: AFP

THE BRUNEI TIMES

PHNOM PENH
Sunday, January 25, 2009

CAMBODIAN police fired teargas and eight people were injured yesterday during the forced eviction of 80 families from a Phnom Penh slum, rights activists and police said.

At least two of the eight slum dwellers were seriously hurt in clashes with clean-up crews hired to tear down the dwellings on government land recently sold to a private company.

Police cordoned off roads around the area near the Russian embassy, as the 300 workers backed by bulldozers and cranes cleared away the decade-old community.

Rights activist Am Sam Ath and witnesses said eight people were injured during the forced eviction, including two seriously hurt and sent to hospital.

Witnesses said an old woman and a boy were hit by a bulldozer, while others were hurt in clashes with the workers armed with clubs and stones.

Police denied using excessive force to evict the group, who had waged a 3-year battle against their eviction.

"We did not use violence against them, but tear gas to disperse the people who resisted," Phnom Penh police chief G Touch Naruth said.

The eviction came after the squatters rejected the company's offer of $20,000 ($30,000) per family in compensation for the prime 2-hectare (4.9 acres) plot of land facing the Mekong River.

Land disputes are a hot issue in Cambodia, where garment factories and hotels have sprung up to expand the major textile and tourist industries.

Last week, police opened fire on farmers protesting against a land grab south of Phnom Penh, wounding two of them, rights activists said.

Reuters