Mobile-phone operators face the levelling force of the free market

Photo by: Sovann Philong
Mobile phones have become ubiquitous in Phnom Penh.

Mobile Market

Already operating:
- Mobitel (Royal Group)- 012, 092, 017
- Hello (Telekom Malaysia) - 015, 016, 081
- M-Fone (Camshin) - 011, 099, 085
- qb (Cadcomms) - 013
- Star-Cell (Applifone) - 098
- Excell (GT-Tell Cambodia) - 018
- MetFone (Viettel) - 097
- Smart Mobile (Latelz) - 010, 093

Due to start up:
- Beeline (Sotelco) venture - June 2009
- Kahua - company and launch date unknown

Final operator remains unknown

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sebastian Strangio and Hor Hab
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

While Cambodia’s largely untapped mobile-phone market has potential for growth, insiders see the number of operators diminishing as the industry settles and the sector matures

AS the global economy slips into recession, domestic mobile-phone operators remain confident that Cambodia - a country with low mobile penetration rates and large untapped markets - will see mobile-phone usage continue to boom.

But with 11 mobile operators currently licensed in Cambodia, eight of which are operating, industry insiders say consolidation is likely once the market settles and the sector starts to mature.

"Cambodia provides a unique opportunity," said Syed Azmeer, chief marketing officer of mobile operator Hello. "If you look at the whole Mekong Basin or Indochina markets, this is one of the last untapped markets."

Hello, which is owned by Telekom Malaysia International, launched its new 081 phone prefix last month, and Azmeer said economic development and a heavy investment in infrastructure would drive the sector forward. "We've seen a good uptake in the last two years. We have a lot more people who can afford to own a phone now," he said.

Thomas Hundt, the CEO of Smart Mobile - a local subsidiary of Russian firm Latelz Co Ltd, which became Cambodia's eighth operator when it launched in February - said prospects for growth were "significant", and would compensate for any downturn in the global economy.

"Despite the economic crisis, Cambodia is still developing. In countries where development is taking place, telecommunications is one of the vital drivers," he said.

Room to move
Despite the heated competition in the Cambodian market, Hundt said that "poor" customer service levels and an undistributed market gave a lot of room for operators to carve out their own niche. "Despite the fact that there is a clear market leader, there are still significant developments to come in all dimensions of telecommunications," he added.

"There is a lot of potential and a lot of investments have been made."

While mobile phones have become ubiquitous in Phnom Penh and the major provincial towns, their presence conceals the fact that the market is still largely in its infancy.

Hello CEO Yusoff Zamri said although Cambodia had a SIM card penetration rate of around 30 percent, the figure overrated the true number of mobile users. He said that since many locals owned more than one phone, the estimated 3.8 million SIM cards in circulation translated to perhaps 3 million actual subscribers - leaving a market of nearly 12 million who are yet to enter the sector.

He added that Telekom Malaysia has invested "in excess of $100 million" in capital investments for the coming years, an indication of the company's confidence in the sector.

Price war
But in an unsettled, price-sensitive mobile market, some say that eight operators - leaving aside the three players that have been issued licences by the government but have not yet launched services - will saturate the local market and that local costs, while a benefit to consumers, would drive down profitability.

"Eight operators is too many," said Pasi Koistinen, CEO of Star Cell Mobile, owned by local operator Applifone Co Ltd. While low prices would be a boon for consumers, he said that there would be "no room" for new entrants, and that a price war would undercut companies' ability to conduct profitable business.

Some sort of consolidation was therefore inevitable, he said, and the 11 licences would likely shrink as firms merged or bowed out of the market.

Indeed, Asia's most developed economies have substantially consolidated local mobile operations: just three major state-owned operators make up the majority of the Chinese market, while Japan has five operators and Thailand four. Vietnam also has just four major players, although several new ventures are set to come online this year.

Hundt from Smart Mobile said consolidation would take place "in the medium to long term", but its exact form was hard to guess.

"I don't know any country in the world where eight or nine MP operators are in place," he said.

One method, said Hello CEO Yusoff Zamri, was direct government intervention in the sector. Zamri said Cambodia could follow the same path as Malaysia, which had eight operators until the government stepped in and forced them to merge with one another.

"What the government did was to force the companies to consolidate and let them talk amongst themselves and [work things out]. A couple years later, the number went down to three," he said. However, he added that consolidation depended largely on how willing the government was to intervene in a freely competitive market to "push" for consolidations.

In an interview with the Post March 23, So Khun, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, acknowledged that there were natural limits to the number of operators who could profitably operate in the domestic market, but that its international free trade obligations prevented it from forcing companies to consolidate. "I think Cambodia should have only three mobile service providers, but we can't limit the number we have as Cambodia is a member of the World Trade Organisation," he said.

Mao Chakrya, director general of the ministry, said the government would let open competition determine which operators prospered.

"The market is still there because penetration is still low, and the operators can see this," he said.
How the sector will settle over the next 10 years will be determined in large part on how operators can differentiate their services from one another.

Aside from the standard virtues of value for money and reliability, another potential frontier is technological innovation. With the launch of the qb (pronounced cube) network last March, 3G mobile internet services were pushed to the forefront of the Cambodian market.

Mao Chakrya said three operators - MobiTel, qb and M-Fone - were operating mobile internet services, and Hundt said Smart Mobile would introduce a 3G service later in the year.

Azmeer from Hello said the adoption of new electronic credit top-up technologies would increase the willingness of people to adopt mobile technologies.

"What's important here is the synergy between the bank and the telco," he said, adding that Hello was the first company to give its customers access to Wing services.

"We have the capacity and the security on the network to provide that [service]."

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No appetite for sharing among cambodia's mobile phone operators

EFFORTS are being made to reform Cambodia's notoriously anarchic mobile telecommunications industry, according to industry insiders, but officials say the government lacks the necessary laws to promote full cooperation between the country's eight telco operators.

Two related problems - network interconnectivity and mobile tower sharing - have put the brakes on the local industry, increasing call drop-out rates and delaying the arrival of new players into outlying markets.

Cambodia's mobile phone towers are owned by private companies, and without the regulatory framework, there is no way for the government to force operators into cooperation.

Thomas Hundt, CEO of Smart Phone, said that tower sharing had benefits both for the urban environment - by keeping the number of towers low - and for consumers, since companies did not each need to make expensive capital investments. "We are also in discussion about these things because we believe it benefits not only the mobile operators, but also the public domain," he said.

But Mao Chakrya, Director General of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, said some operators could be reluctant to share antennae as it could affect their ability to optimise signals. However, in the absence of a legal framework for the issue, the ministry's hands were tied, he said. He refused to say if a draft law under consideration would force operators to share antennae, acknowledging only that legislation was not the only way to bring providers together.

"It could be a good business strategy for a private company to come and build antennae to lease to providers," he said.

In terms of interconnectability, the Cambodian government put responsibility in the hands of private operators. Hundt said Smart Phone had concluded interconnection agreements with all operators and that its interconnection operated at a "very high level".

Yusoff Zamri, CEO of Hello mobile, said that there had been considerable improvements in interconnectivity in recent years, but that there were still improvements to be made.

But he emphasised the problem was not technical, and that just one local operator - whom he declined to name - was preventing connection from Hello subscribers "We only have issues with one particular operator. Except for this particular operator, we have no issue: [other operators] reach consensus quite quickly," he said.

"It's not a technical issue. It's more a strategic issue from this operator."

Sebastian Strangio

Women finding their voice online

Photo by: TRACEY SHELTON

Koulina Keo at work on her blog.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Geoffrey Cain
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

At less than half-a-percent, Cambodia has one of Asia's lowest rates of internet users – yet women make up nearly half its blogging community, which number in the thousands

FOR women looking to amplify their voices, blogs are leading the way in the Kingdom's women's empowerment movement.

While print, radio and TV remain male-dominated, the Kingdom's blogging scene showcases a disproportionate number of outspoken women, known as "BlogHers", writing about controversial topics.

"Most voices in the media have been dominated by high-ranking males in the government," said blogger Sopheap Chak. "Blogs are one medium that women, regardless of their position or political affiliation, can use to convey their voices to the public."

Sopheap Chak, who has written about human trafficking, corruption and women's issues in her iFocus blog, is one of the Kingdom's gutsiest bloggers, openly speaking out against government officials.

Death threat
She received one online death threat for criticising the CPP, she claimed, which read "It's the time to quit before you are getting kill CPP!! If I was you, I will look for the door now!" Most political blogs in the Kingdom remain anonymous.

"Blogs are one of the most exciting and innovative uses of technology for the right to expression while these rights are still restricted in Cambodia," Sopheap Chak said.

"We can share news, critically express our opinions and communicate through blogs."

Nearirath Sreng, a prominent BlogHer and one of Cambodia's few young female lawyers, received nationwide attention when she blogged about her experiences raising funds to compete in the prestigious Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington, DC.

"I love and really enjoy posting my blog about my experiences at Jessup because I have to ... update my coaches who couldn't make it to DC with us," she wrote by email from the competition. "And my little sister will read it every day to update my parents, too. So blogging is a good way to keep people I love and I know updated."

BlogHers also took centre stage on Women's Day on March 8, setting out their own beliefs in gender equality.

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With technology, we can bring Cambodia out of the past of poverty and war.
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"If you look at the past, women had to get involved most in family work," wrote Kounila Keo, a journalist. "But as time passes, the gender roles of men and women are, too, changing throughout the world. Women aren't just women now."

The Cloggers
The female blogger clique is part of a wider movement in the Kingdom known as the Cloggers, short for Cambodian bloggers.

The Cloggers began travelling around the Kingdom in 2005 under the leadership of popular blogger Mean Lux, holding workshops on information technology.

Since then, they've spawned from around 30 bloggers to a vibrant community in the thousands - nearly half of them women.

The popularity of blogs among women comes despite the Kingdom having an internet penetration rate of only 0.48 percent - or 70,000 Internet users out of a population of 14 million, among Asia's lowest.

"This is our wired generation of Cambodians," said Tharum Bun, a 27-year-old photographer widely perceived as the leader of the Cloggers. "With technology, we can bring Cambodia out of the past of poverty and war."

In September last year, the group hosted the first-ever BarCamp Phnom Penh, a popular technology conference where anyone can present. Techies attended from all over Southeast Asia, including representatives from Microsoft.

"The Cloggers are doing the right thing by just inviting as many people as possible and showing them technology in a neutral way," said Preetam Rai, former Southeast Asia editor for Global Voices Online, a blog aggregation service.

"Cambodia needs a generation of citizens who are able to discriminate information effectively."

Yet after the government ordered the website reahu.net to be blocked for its photos of semi-nude Apsara dancers, some bloggers worry censorship could hit their own content.

"In my opinion politicians have either not noticed online political blogs or they are deeply suspicious of them. I think Cambodia comes under the first category," Rai said.

"I am not sure how the politicians will behave when they do start encountering blogs critical to them.

"Practically speaking, blogs reach a very small percentage of Cambodian people. Politicians might as well ignore them for now," he added.

Web under scrutiny from censors

Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
An internet user views the controversial images of apsaras on a website blocked by domestic service providers since January.

Reaction to reahu
The ongoing blockade of the reahu.com website due to the naked images of Apsara dancers contained within has not only raised questions about government censorship but also over just what is and is not acceptable in Cambodian society when it comes to media images. “I don’t think it is wrong,” said Rasmey, a 21-year-old Royal University of Fine Arts student who also paints ApsaraS, but with their breasts covered with transparent cloth. “But I don’t like it because it makes people think that Cambodian women like to show their bodies in public,” he said. Rasmey said some degree of government intervention was needed because “these kinds of pictures can turn our culture into a joke”. For 19-year-old Chhim Srey Roth, a third-year art student at the Reyum Institute art school, the Apsaras she learned to draw were far more demure than the busty, topless women gracing the reahu website. “I used to draw Apsaras with very thin fabric covering their bodies. It does not look like the Apsara on the reahu website, who have very big breasts,” she said. She said Apsaras were meant to symbolise the gentle beauty of Khmer women, without alluding to them as sexual beings. As traditionally depicted on the walls of Angkor-era temples, Apsaras bear their breasts, noted Heng Monyphal, a professor of painting at the Royal University of Fine Arts. “So it’s an artist’s right to do it this way,” he said. But today, he said, most artists add some degree of cover out of respect for women, and he suspected modern-day compositions of topless Apsaras came not from a dedication to historical accuracy but rather an intention to catch the eye – and drooling mouths – of male audiences.
BRENDAN BRADY AND MOM KUNTHEAR

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Brendan Brady and Mom Kunthear
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

As more internet content pushes the boundaries of what is acceptable in Khmer culture, the government has moved to tighten its grip on what should be admissible online

WHen Khmer-American artist Koke Lor published images of naked Apsara dancers on his website reahu.com, he unwittingly kicked off a censorship storm that may shed light on the government's future attitudes towards the regulation of online content.

The website stirred up controversy after a major Khmer-language newspaper published pictures from the website of the bare-breasted dancers as well as a woman scantily dressed in the clothing of a Khmer Rouge cadre.

Access to the website has been blocked since the end of January for users of domestic internet service providers Angkor Net, Mekong Net and Online. Mobile service provider qb has also blocked access via its 3G internet network.

In late February, the website of the UK-based corruption watchdog Global Witness was also unavailable for some local web users following the organisation's release of a scathing report on the Kingdom's oil and mining industries.

Minister of Posts and Telecommunications So Khun confirmed at the time he had sent a letter to the internet providers, but said he did not know what effect it had.

Sy Define, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Women's Affairs, had told the Post her office cooperated with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to have the reahu website banned domestically along with other websites that she considered pornographic.

She also asked the Education Ministry to include lessons on traditional culture in school curriculums around the country to reaffirm Khmer morality. "Nowadays, youths seem more interested in Western culture than in their own," Sy Define said.

First lady Bun Rany has also crusaded against images and technologies that, she says, compromise the social mores of the Kingdom, such as when she spearheaded an effort among the wives of senior officials in 2006 to ban 3G net connections, citing concerns the video technology would be used to send pornography.

For his part, Koke Lor has shot back at local critics, calling them myopic.

"I am pushing the boundaries and that's being creative," he said. "If you don't push the boundaries, you cannot find your limits."

Phu Leewood, secretary general of the National Information Communications Technology Development Agency (NIDA), said he was sympathetic to Koke Lor but stood by the line of the Ministry of Women's Affairs. "With reahu in the US, this is freedom of information - it's fine art, attractive commercial art," Phu Leewood said.

"But, in Cambodia, some people say its pornography. The Ministry of Women's Affairs says it's degrading to women, and that stood."

However, he added that any decision to ban access to a website should have been approved by the Council of Ministers first.

Government denials
The government-prompted blacklistings follow denials from the Ministry of Information that new legislation it is drafting for audiovisual media will bear on content or online material.

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If you don't push the boundaries, you cannot find your limits.
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In mid-January, first reports of the proposal, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed, drew a sharp response from local media who cautioned it would be used as a tool of state censorship against online material critical of the government.

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith has since said the draft law is widely misunderstood, insisting that it would regulate the platforms of radio, TV and print media, but not their content - and would not apply to the internet.

However, Mao Chakrya, director general of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, said the draft law was explicitly about the content. The technology that allowed its delivery was not relevant, which was why the proposed law would be regulated by the Ministry of Information rather than the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, he said.

Local leaders of Cambodia's online community remain deeply cynical of any government efforts to govern the internet given its shaky track record with freedom of speech.

Cambodia is currently ranked 128th - or "partially free" - on the US-based Freedom House organisation's 2008 press freedom list.

Norbert Klein, a German national who is credited with introducing the first internet connection to Cambodia and is editor of the Cambodian Mirror website, said the government was running a haphazard campaign to "clean society".

He said an internet content law was no magic bullet, as developing a consensus on what content should be admissible had proved nearly impossible in other countries.

Govt key to lower internet prices

This map of Cambodia’s fibre optic network shows the country is reliant on Thailand and Vietnam for its internet access. Planned extensions to the network are also shown, one of which will travel through Laos and connect to Yunnan province in China. A submarine cable is also planned to link Cambodia to the Asia-America Gateway. graphic courtesy national ict development agency

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Nathan Green
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Government plans to connect to the Asia-America Gateway may improve internet reliability, but local service providers are worried the new connection may still carry a high price tag

Cambodia is one of the most expensive countries in the world when it comes to using broadband, according to a recent report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

In its latest ICT Development Index report, Cambodia ranked as 125 out of 154 countries in the costs of using broadband internet, and one of only 30 where the cost of broadband exceeded monthly per capita gross national income.

According to the report, which was based on 2007 pricing, broadband prices were 201.2 percent of monthly national income, compared with 6.3 percent in Thailand and 25.8 percent in Vietnam.

And it is not just the poor who are hit hard by high prices. Ted Perrein, managing director of Conical Hat Software, said the cost of broadband access was one of the biggest obstacles businesses faced in Cambodia.

"Reliability is all right, but the pricing is an issue. It is one of the big disadvantages of working in Cambodia, but most companies incorporate that into their business plan."

ITU spokesperson Ivan Vallejo said inadequate infrastructure and the lack of a competitive environment to foster the emergence of several internet service providers (ISPs) was a key reason for high broadband prices in most countries.

In Cambodia, the lack of competition is not an issue, at least at the ISP level, said Gary Wong, chief marketing officer at Online, one of Cambodia's largest ISPs. While exact numbers are hard to come by, around 37 ISP licences have been issued, and around 10 major ISPs are operating.

"Cambodia is a very price-sensitive market but we have to be prudent," Wong said. "Everyone is going into a price war at the moment, but if they sacrifice quality, then what happens next? We cannot go below our costs - we are not a charity."

To cut costs, the company was looking to invest more in its infrastructure to boost its contention ratio, or the number of subscribers it can provide service to for every megabyte of bandwidth it purchases from wholesalers. But Wong said efforts would be futile without government commitment to making prices cheaper to ISPs on the wholesale market.

Better links
Key to this was the greater cooperation with neighbouring countries through the Asian Development Bank-funded Greater Mekong Region Superhighway and developing a link to an international gateway to put pressure on operators in Vietnam and Thailand to offer cheaper access.

Cambodia currently relies heavily on bandwidth from these two countries, and that reliance comes with a hefty price tag. While wholesale prices within Vietnam are around $400 for every two megabytes per second of bandwidth, ISPs in Cambodia must pay between $1,300 and $1,400. A year ago, before reforms in Vietnam boosted competition, they were paying between $2,000 and $2,300. By comparison, the same bandwidth costs around $110 in Singapore and $50 in Hong Kong.

Mao Chakrya, director general of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, said the government and donors were investing heavily in upgrading and expanding the country's fibre-optic backbone and linking into the superhighway. As a key part of that, a new fibre optic link through Laos to China's Yunnan province is due to be connected in May, and planning had begun for another link from Kampong Cham to Vietnam, connecting at Smach on the border.

"We are working and fighting to reduce the price for voice and internet," he said. "Right now, as you see, we don't have a submarine cable into an international gateway so we rely on the prices set by telcos in neighbouring countries."

Chun-Wai Mah, sales director at Alcatel-Lucent Cambodia, which recently won a contract to build a nationwide mobile WiMax broadband network for CHUAN Wei (Cambodia), agreed that Cambodia was at the mercy of other countries when it came to broadband prices. "Cambodia needs its own international gateway out of the country," he said

"By having one you could really reduce dependency on telcos in other countries and help reduce the price so mass consumers are able to access the internet."

Respite is on the way, with local firm Telcotech winning a bid in 2007 to link Cambodia via a submarine cable to the Asia-America Gateway, a cable system connecting Southeast Asia to the US that will allow Cambodia to bypass neighbouring countries and connect directly to the World Wide Web.

But Sok Channda, CEO of the ISP AngkorNet, said the link would improve reliability of service by providing another link, but she was pessimistic about how much impact it would have on prices.

"It depends on the government," she said. "If they control the link, how much will they charge us is the big question."

The government's track record on pricing was cause for concern, she said, with transmission charges on the fibre-optic cable on the Cambodian side of the border, controlled by state-owned Telecom Cambodia, a major component of broadband prices.

ISPs must not only pay for transmission charges from the border to main centres, but also to connect customer premises to the nearest hub, and those hubs to AngkorNet's data centre. ISPs must pay Telecom Cambodia $15 a month for every connection to a customer's premises, a significant portion of the total bill charged to customers.

AngkorNet was building its own fibre-optic network to bypass the government, but that would take time and significant capital expenditure, she said.

"We are trying to bring down the price so that all Cambodians can access the internet as we need this for our development. We have already brought down the prices a lot from three years ago when we first started, and I hope we can bring it down more. But lower prices need to come from the government."

E-govt to get a bit of backbone

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Hor Hab and Brendan Brady
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

The Cambodian government aims to use fibre-optic cable to create an online connection to its offices in the provinces by the end of the year

All government offices across the country will be online and connected to the central government's information-sharing system within the year, according to the official behind the nationwide e-government rollout.

Phu Leewood, the secretary general of the National Information Communications Technology Development agency (NIDA), said large-scale servers had already been established in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville to feed connections and data to offices in their surrounding provinces.

"Each has a service and access network; it's a matter of connecting them to the backbone through a fibre optic cable," he said.

"All the main government offices within each province are connected to each other, but they need to be connected to the backbone," he added.

Called the Provincial Administration Information System, the e-government project has a budget of $15 million to connect offices within each province to each other, and another $20 million to connect each province to the central government in Phnom Penh.

"Once this application is available, government offices will be able to communicate with each other and with the central government more efficiently," Phu Leewood said.

Cheam Chansophaon, director of Battambang's provincial Agriculture Department, said the digitalisation of government offices in the countryside would streamline work between rural and Phnom Penh government officials.

"This will narrow the gap between provincial offices and Phnom Penh so we can send and receive reports on time," he said.

Soun Dy, director of Kampong Cham's Industry Department, said reports from his office to Phnom Penh were currently sent by fax since his office did not have an internet connection.

"If we can have a digital system, it would be a big break because then we can get information from anywhere and our work will become easier."

Rural kids disconnected from ICT access

PHOTO COURTESY UNESCO

Rural schoolchildren learn to use computers.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Robbie Corey Boulet
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

The high cost of technology means ICT education is making slow progress to the provinces

As the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport continues work on a master plan to incorporate ICT into schools nationwide, officials are grappling with how to best reach rural provinces, which are markedly less connected than their more developed counterparts.

Sun Lei, education program specialist for Unesco, which is working with the ministry to develop the Master Plan for ICT in Education, said recently that she expected it to be finished "sometime in 2009". But she said efforts to encourage the use of ICT in rural schools had been hindered by the limited nature of knowledge about ICT's benefits, as well as a pervasive lack of infrastructure.

Financial limitations, too, have proved a considerable barrier, she said.

"ICT is very costly," she said. "At this point, I think it'd make more sense to mobilise resources from the civil society and the private sector [rather than rely on government funds]."

Progress made in bringing ICT to rural schools has been slow, a point borne out by a 2006 Unesco report that assessed ICT access in seven provinces: Banteay Meanchey, Kratie, Mondulkiri, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng. The study concluded that "very few schools" were using ICT in the classroom; that ICT training was needed for both teaching and non-teaching staff; that access to computers was quite low; and that girls were being "disproportionately" affected by the urban-rural digital divide.

Sun Lei said this report, produced between 2004 and 2006, had provided the most recent relevant data, though she said there was little reason to believe the situation had improved since then.

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The greatest challenge lies in equitably sharing the benefits of economic growth.
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The ICT in education effort mirrors the broader push to promote ICT in rural areas, according to industry experts, who said in recent interviews that the Kingdom has a long way to go before it can achieve universal ICT access.

Ken Chanthan, president of the ICT Association of Cambodia, pointed to a handful of needs that have yet to be met, including a pro-ICT policy framework, infrastructure investments, the translation of applications and content into the Khmer language, and widespread education and training.

Eric Lim, project director for Gateway Communications, singled out financial resources as the biggest hurdle.

"There has been a lot of talk of using ICT to increase the telecom infrastructure, but it's a very slow process," he said. "In outlying areas, for example, it becomes very difficult because it is a very costly affair."

Benefits to Cambodia
Ken Chanthan said ICT expansion would bring a range of benefits to the provinces, improving everything from education to government to business.

"The community-driven use of information communication technology has the potential to help underserved citizens throughout the world to learn new skills, find new opportunities and improve their lives," he said via email.

In particular, he said, ICT could help businesses become more efficient, collaborate with other firms and expand market research efforts to better understand their customer base.

Lim said expanded ICT in rural areas would also aid government officials based in Phnom Penh. For instance, in an incident such as last year's conflict over Preah Vihear temple, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of National Defence could have a live feed directly to the fight, he said.

Wisal Hin, poverty reduction unit leader for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), said Cambodia's ability to meet its poverty targets would depend on its ability to diversify the economy in just this manner.

"Agriculture will continue to be one of the main drivers of the Cambodian economy...but will not provide sufficient growth on its own," he said.

In remote rural areas, the poverty rate was 45.6 percent in 2004, according to the 2005 interim assessment of Millennium Development Goal progress published by the Ministry of Planning.

"Since more than eight of every 10 Cambodians reside in rural areas, the greatest challenge lies in equitably sharing the benefits of economic growth, centred mainly in urban areas, with those rural communities," Wisal Hin said.

Changing Cambodia's attitudes to computers and e-government

Photo by: BRENDAN BRADY
Phu Leewood has been involved in Cambodia’s communications infrastructure since 1993.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Brendan Brady
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Phu Leewood, the secretary general of the National Information Communications Technology Development agency (NIDA), talks to Brendan Brady about the challenges the country faces in developing, and using, a robust information network.

How did you come to be involved in development of the ICT sector in Cambodia?
I left Cambodia in 1979, ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand and then went to Seattle in the United States. I came back to Cambodia in 1993 after the UNTAC elections and worked as an adviser for the Ministry of Commerce. Back then, people did not have literacy with computers so I provided computer training to people working at the ministry. My background was in computer science. I studied at Spokane University in Washington.

What was the ICT situation when you returned?
In 1979 people were just coming back to Phnom Penh to find their relatives. It was about survival. When I came to Cambodia in 1993, there were no computer skills. The Ministry of Commerce back then had 4,000 employees. I said, we don't need 4,000 people; we need maybe 40. What we need is a network connecting the department.

When did the government start investing in this network?
After the formation of the National Information and Communication Technology Development Authority, NIDA, in 2000 we started to implement IT development. In 2001, we implemented the GAIS [Government Administrative Information System] project, which included the import of about 1000 PCs for government offices.

There was resistance with government staff - people were afraid computers would take over their jobs. We had to change a lot of mindsets. We had to explain the computer will not take away your job, it will help you do your job better.

For the new generation, it's easier. But for the legacy workforce, we've had problems. For the older people, it is difficult to learn this new system.

What is the purpose of e-government?
People can get information about the government online. This information was not readily available in '93. Now, it's at your fingertips: information about each ministry and their contact numbers. But it's true more must be done by ministries in the future to put more information online. There is also a system that includes vehicle and real estate registration for revenue collection purposes. Before there was no way to track stolen vehicles. But now police on the street can radio a plate number back to an office to get information on who is the owner. There also have been problems with fraud of land titles. Once all that information is logged into a computer, it will solve a lot of problems.

Can e-government help reduce corruption?
Once information is online, everyone can know that information, so it's harder to take advantage of someone.

When information is not available, it is easier for people to make unreasonable demands.

How is internet changing lives of Cambodians?
Penetration of the internet is really affecting the lives of younger people. Now they have information from around the globe at their fingertips. It is changing education by offering education services online. In terms of information, youth are updated on world news.

Providing internet services in rural areas is very expensive but necessary. What is the government's strategy here?
This will be the burden of the government. We are planning on having connections to all schools, and from schools they will provide a telephone-based connection to the local area. This can happen after we connect rural government offices to the backbone.

What progress has been made on connecting rural government to the backbone?
Right now we have a connection for the central government only. The connection to the provincial offices will come soon. Some provincial offices have internet, but most do not. The moment we connect the backbone onto the access network of provincial offices, then they will be online and connected to the central government information sharing system. This should happen within the year.

All the main government offices within a province are connected to each other, but they need to be connected to the backbone. Once we achieve that, all provinces will be online and their systems will be connected and they will be connected to the central government. We have completed the access networks; it is now a matter of connecting them to the backbone.
We created three data centres - one in Phnom Penh, one in Siem Reap and one in Sihanoukville - and these data centres will act as a hub for surrounding provinces.

The growth of internet tends to push the limits of a society's attitudes towards acceptable media images. Cambodia has recently experienced tension over government-directed blocks of the reahu.com website.

This is quite a difficult issue because the technology is moving faster than the law. The technology is moving across boundaries faster than the law can address. This is a blurred line between freedom of information and cultural preservation. This blurred line will be defined; the internet law will be introduced soon.

For me, I was educated in the US, this is freedom of information, this is the expression of the artist. But what's attractive advertisement in the US may be pornography in another country.

Who will decide on content and what rules will be used?
We are working on it now. NIDA will be the sole agency in drafting this law. If you look at existing practice in the US, there is a blurred line as well: What is the line between attractive advertising and pornography?

The internet law will be based on other laws, as well. The criminal code needs to be passed first to define punishment under the internet law. We are working on the internet law now. We've been working on it for a few years, and we will have it soon after the Criminal Code passes.

A virus that can attack in a flash

Photo Supplied

Khmer Anti-Virus creator Kheng Vantha.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kyle Sherer
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Internet experts say the possibility of a slow-spreading local virus means Cambodian users should not rely solely on common anti-virus software, but also find extra protection locally

The development of high-speed internet in Cambodia has thrown open the floodgates for internationally created, fast-spreading computer viruses. Cambodian computer users who think they can beat malware by simply installing Norton AntiVirus are enjoying a false sense of internet security, according to Bernard Alphonso, director of Cambodian-based Alphonso Security Consulting.

"I have frequently encountered people in Cambodia who are under the impression that because they are not in a country with a high internet penetration rate, they should not been overly concerned about viruses, fraud or data theft," he said.

"This attitude could not be further from the truth, and it is putting many businesses and individual computer users at high risk."

Carlton Pringle, technical director at Conical Hat Software, said Cambodian web-surfers are just as vulnerable to internet viruses as people in other countries.

However, unlike in other countries, users here have more to fear from USB drives than they do from the net.

"I think the threat level from fast-spreading virus attacks in Cambodia is similar to anywhere else in the world," he said. "So all the usual security precautions used in the West are also applicable in Cambodia.

"However, the slow-spreading viruses, such as those spread by USB disks, present a whole new challenge. If a virus is created in this part of the world, perhaps in China or Vietnam for example, and spreads slowly on USB flash drives, then there isn't going to be the required critical mass of infection in the USA for the well-known antivirus manufacturers to provide a remedy through their software."

Layered protection
Pringle said that for this reason, Cambodian users should not rely on a single antivirus program. "Anti-virus programs typically work by keeping a database of threats. But no antivirus manufacturer is building a database of threats that exactly matches the threat profile in Cambodia."

"So it's a good idea for companies in Cambodia to also run antivirus software from other manufacturers based in other locations, such as Rising AntiVirus, made in Beijing. It's not unusual for companies that try alternative antivirus software to find they are infected with two or three viruses that well-known American antivirus programs are just not finding."

Kheng Vantha, web designer for Expat Advisory Services and creator of Khmer Anti-Virus, said there were a few precautions users could take to prevent slow-spreading viruses from attacking their computer.

"Instead of double-clicking on folders when you plug your flash drive into your computer, you should click the folder name on the left panel," he said.

"Some viruses on USB drives have a folder icon to trick users into activating them."

He said users should also disable the Autorun option on their computers, which automatically accesses external drives when they're plugged into a computer. "Autorun is a good way for a virus to attack your PC," said Vantha. "When you plug in a USB drive, Windows will automatically run the files, so your PC can catch the virus. But the TweakUI program, available on the internet, can disable Autorun easily."

But even if a Cambodian computer user is vigilant against viruses, there's still a minefield of dangers.

"Viruses are just the tip of the crimeware iceberg," Pringle said. "Understanding current and emerging security threats like rootkits, bot networks, spyware, adware and click fraud is certainly challenging for the average Cambodian computer user."

"To face internet threats, Cambodian computer users should not rely on one single type of protection," said Alphonso. "They should never take anything for granted. And when in doubt, don't click the mouse."

Customs overhaul coming

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

A centralised customs clearance system designed to drastically speed processing times will be phased in across the country following its country launch at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in May.

Phnom Penh Autonomous Port was ready to introduce the Asean Single Window (ASW) information system as soon as it received the go-ahead from customs, Director General Hei Bavy said.

"We have already prepared the computer system and we have enough staff to implement the Asean Single Window," he said, adding that the Phnom Penh International Airport was also ready to introduce the ASW.

The agreement to link the region with a unified customs system went into effect in 2008 in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are set to fully implement the system by 2012.

When completed, it would allow a trader to submit customs data to a centralised hub, which would then be automatically shared and processed among the relevant agencies throughout the region. After clearing one regional port of entry, traders would be able to forward goods to any Asean country.

The system would cut clearance times to 30 minutes from a regional average of four hours, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port Deputy Director General Ma Sunhout said.

Slump forces closures in real estate industry

Photo by: Tracey Shelton
A closed real estate agency office lies unoccupied on Norodom Boulevard on Monday.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Kunmakara
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

With property investment drying up, more than 50 percent of real estate dealers may have already gone out of business, say sector sources

THE real estate downturn has forced mass bankruptcies among the country's property agencies, with the industry reporting that 50 percent of businesses in the sector had gone bust since the crisis hit Cambodia.

"The sector is in deadlock and many companies are going out of business," said Sung Bonna, president and CEO of Bonna Realty Group and president of the National Valuers Association of Cambodia.

He added that bankruptcies would be even higher if unlicensed companies were factored in. He said that 80 companies were licensed nationwide, but hundreds operate illegally.

"Most real estate companies are changing from companies to freelancers to stay afloat," he said, adding that his company has also struggled in the current environment.

"I have no plan to lay off staff ... although income is decreasing," he said, "My company closed last month because we could not afford to pay for staff and other expenses - how can we survive if we don't have income?" said Leng Chanthoeun, marketing manager of Golden Real Estate.

He said that his company was licensed last July, just when the sector began its gradual slowdown during the general election, but tough times continued with the Thai-Cambodian border spat and the global financial crisis, he added.

"It is not only my company that has closed.

"There are a lot more real estate agents who have been bankrupted as well," he said. "However, when the sector recovers, we will resume our business," he said.

Kong Vansophy, the administrative manager of the Real Estate Developers Association of Cambodia (CRDA), said "a lot of property owners are trying to quickly sell their property at low prices".

But other owners are acting as if the downturn never occurred. He said that landowners in Tuol Kork district are desperate for money and have dropped prices from about US$700 to $300 per square metre.

The manager of Say Group Realty, Uk Sophen, said that the downturn had cost thousands of jobs.

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My company closed last month because we could not afford to pay for the staff.
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"We don't have any customers coming asking us to buy or sell property or even asking for information," he said.

"I don't know how we will survive," he said, reflecting fears across the industry. "I think that my company will fold soon."

Sung Bonna blamed the government for waiting too long to help the struggling real estate sector.

"We just want the sector to operate normally," he said.

The government has loosened some real estate regulations and hinted that it has further plans to help the sector.

"The government is trying to deal with the problem - it is under way," said Ngy Tayi, the undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and chairman of the Inter-Ministerial Task Force.

China considered as export market for unsold cassava

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kay Kimsong
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Thai protectionism is leading to oversupply of Cambodian cassava, forcing farmers to push for exports to China

CAMBODIA is looking to the Chinese market for its cassava product, as Thai subsidies have undercut Cambodian exporters in Thailand, a foreign trade official said Monday.

The Commerce Ministry will soon send a group of trade officials to China to study prospects for breaking into the potentially lucrative Chinese market.

"We don't worry about rice exports, but our cassava product is a problem," admitted Thon Virak, deputy director general at the Foreign Trade Department.

He said Cambodia produced over 2 million tonnes of cassava in 2008 and was expected to produce the same in 2009.

When Thailand started subsidising cassava farms in January, demand for Cambodian cassava fell dramatically.

The result could be hundreds of thousands of tonnes of unsold product, farmers said.

Cambodia has two processing factories that turn dry cassava into flour, which can be used for anything from fertilisers to skin creams.

The two factories - one outside of Phnom Penh and one in Kampong Cham - can produce a million tonnes of dry cassava a year.

The rest of the crop needs to be exported.

Cambodian factories are incapable of processing raw cassava. Previously, farmers would sell their wet cassava to Thailand, but the price has fallen so low that only processed cassava is economically viable.

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We don't worry about rice exports, but our cassava product is a problem.
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Since January, the news has not been all bad for Cambodian cassava farmers. Thon Virak said the price of dry cassava increased from US$75 per tonne in January to $125 per tonne in late March.

At the same time, Cambodia is hoping to use Chinese technology to set up a new, higher-capacity processing factory, hopefully increasing domestic demand for the product.

Kasie Noeu, an agriculture researcher and chairman of the board of directors at the Peace and Development Institute, said cassava growers need to be patient and should not give up on growing the crop.

He said that farmers should create a cassava growers association to increase bargaining leverage and market their product as a collective.

Riding out the storm
Kasie Noeu pointed to corn and cashew crops five years ago as a lesson. In 2004 farmers abandoned their crops due to low prices, only to see prices jump in 2007.

"I see the price of cassava increasing in the next few years," he said.
"This [price decrease] is a trick the market plays."

But that's little solace for farmers struggling right now. Agriculture tycoon Te Haing, who grows 1,000 hectares of cassava in Banteay Meanchey province, said he expects 900,000 tonnes of unprocessed cassava to go unsold this year.

"We all sit around and wait for a market for our product, but we can't sell it because of the low price of wet cassava in Thailand," said Te Haing

Te Haing called for the government to take quick action to help farmers. Otherwise, some of them would abandon their cassava crops, he said, adding that a drying factory for wet cassava needed to be built in Banteay Meanchey province.

This, he said, would keep the cassava sector in Cambodia afloat.

"If we can sell wet cassava for just $50 a tonne, we will survive," he said.

"Farmers are suffering without the Thai market," he added: "We need help."

Govt plans port in Kep to help boost tourism

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Nguon Sovan
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

THE government is seeking new investment to develop a tourist port in coastal Kep province to boost tourism with Vietnam's Phu Quoc island, said Minister of Tourism Thong Khon on Monday.

"We have got the green light [from the government] to develop Kep as an international tourist port, now we are looking for a qualified investor to upgrade the dilapidated port or to build a new port in Kep province to link tourism destinations between the province and Phu Quoc island in Vietnam," said Thong Khon.

He added that were such a project to be completed, it would attract more visitors to costal provinces and eco-tourism destinations in Kep and Kampot from Phu Quoc island.

Travel between Phu Quoc and Kep takes only 90 minutes, he said, adding that Phu Quoc has become a popular destination for tourists in the region and could draw around 3 million tourists per year by 2012.

"There are two local and foreign investors interested in the project, but we have not made any decision yet," he said.
Thong Khon could not estimate how much the port investment would cost.

"We think that the development will begin soon and only take six months to complete because it is not a large port - it is not a significant investment for a port development, but cruise ships will be expensive because we need the facility to meet international standards," he said.

Vietnamese tourism grows
He said Vietnam has surpassed South Korea as the No 1 source of tourists.

"During the first two months of this year, 45,000 Vietnamese tourists came to Cambodia - 39 percent more than in 2008," said the minister.

Kong Sopheareak, director of the Tourism Ministry's Information and Statistics Department, said Cambodia saw 419,480 tourists in the first two months of 2009 - down 4.3 percent from the same period last year.

"I think the number of tourists this year will increase by 2 percent because we expect a strong second quarter," said Kong Sopheareak.

Last year, the number of foreign tourists vising Cambodia was 2.15 million - a 5.5 percent increase.

Urban life under microscope

Photo Supplied
Slum Buildings by Ian Whittaker, above, and Steamed River Snails by Chhim Sothy.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Zoe Holman
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Phnom Penh: The Life of the Streets', which opens today at the Meta House, offers up a trans-cultural perspective on the shifting landscape of a city in the midst of transition

Daily life in Phnom Penh is played out in the streets. Any pedestrian on the capital's boulevards and alleyways cannot help but see, feel, hear and sometimes smell the vitality of this rapidly changing scene. It is this urban dynamism that a collaborative exhibition between renowned Cambodian artist Chhim Sothy and Australian Ian Whittaker attempts to capture.

"Phnom Penh: The Life of the Streets" was conceived by Whittaker in response to the capital's continual state of flux.

"I just started painting, and a strong theme emerged that I was trying to capture. The city is in such a state of change and development, and I got excited about the idea," he said.

After approaching Meta House about the project, Whittaker was paired by the curators with the renowned Cambodian painter Chhim Sothy.

"We thought it would be interesting for him to work with an artist of the same age and similar family situation but from a different culture," said Meta House art manager Lydia Parusol.

Whittaker explains that the match proved apt.

"One morning we went for a ride around town and kept stopping at the same places. All the things we noticed were the same," he said.

Chhim Sothy agrees that the duo has very similar feelings and emotions about the city. Above all, it was the city's many contrasting facades that struck the pair.

"Before [the Khmer Rouge], there was mostly wealthy people living in Phnom Penh, but afterwards, lots of people from the countryside came to the city. Now, there are a lot more poor," said Chhim Sothy.

To Whittaker, conversely, the relative nature of material prosperity was prominent.

"I heard about the terrible history of Cambodia and I think I expected something much worse.... There is definitely poverty, but there is also progress," he said.

Visiting slums as well as more middle-class districts, Chhim Sothy and Whittaker have attempted to convey both aspects of affluence and deprivation in their depiction of the city.

"I focused a lot on the contrast between rich and poor. There is so much poverty, but luxury too," said Chhim Sothy. Whittaker agrees.

"I see a lot of progress and development, but we are also both very aware that it's not for everybody, that a lot of people are missing out."

So too, the artists are conscious that physical development does not always equate to social development.

"My country is not at all like developed countries, not like Europe and countries with enforced laws. Whatever people think of here, they just do. You can see this on the streets," said Chhim Sothy.

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I see a lot of progress and development, but we are also very aware ... that a lot of people are missing out.
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While this anarchy can make for colorful viewing and equally creative road rules that engage foreigners such as Whittaker, it is not always conducive to a functional urban environment.

"We have built roads and waterways and created laws, but because of our history and lack of education, people still have little understanding of them," Chhim Sothy said. "It's not just about building, but also about capacity building."

From traffic jams to boulevards lined with coconut trees planted by the Khmer Rouge, the country's social and political history is reflected in Phnom Penh's streets.

Photo Supply
Salon by Ian Whittaker.

And while there is much furious development, there are also signs of a stasis.

"Because the Khmer Rouge emptied out Phnom Penh, no streets or high rises were built during that time," said Chhim Sothy. "So it's like in some ways the city was frozen with just the old streets built by Sihanouk."

So too, he suggests, Cambodia's history is reflected in the capital's residents.

"Maybe some young people don't understand or want to know about our history, but old people always remember it," Chhim Sothy said.

For Whittaker, reconstruction efforts across the city suggest a tangible move forward from this disturbing past.

"When I got here and saw so much building and construction, it felt like people being brave enough to try to come out and catch up with the last 30 years," Whittaker said.

Yet he is equally wary of superimposing history onto either his perception or artistic depictions of Phnom Penh.

"If you study history, you can read things into the country, things that maybe aren't there," he said.

Whittaker's own portrayal is more personal than political.

"I see all the poverty and the underdevelopment, but I feel like as a guest; it's not my job to analyse or criticise that so much," he said. "I love the colour of the streets, so what I've captured is more something in myself and my response to the streets."

Nor, Chhim Sothy claims, are his own artworks a political treatise.

"Everything I show ... is what I see. It's not a critique of government, just my view," he said. "I want to inform my people to think about how to make the country clean and peaceful, to create the best society in Cambodia. When a country develops, people must develop too."

"The Life of the Streets" opens at 6pm today at Meta House.

Police Blotter: 31 Mar 2009

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Lim Phalla
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

SUSPECT ADMITS TO DIFFERENT THEFT
Herl Hean, male, 28, from Prey Veng province, was arrested and detained at Prey Sar prison on Thursday on suspicion of theft. Police have accused the man of stealing a motorbike two days prior to his arrest in Tuol Pongror village, Chaom Chao commune, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh. Police added that while in custody, the suspect also confessed to stealing US$10,000 from Tim Tun, 50, a resident Prey Veng province, last year.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

NEIGHBOURS FOIL HOME ROBBERY
A Stung Treng court on Friday detained a man on suspicion of robbery. The detainee, identified as Vong Ngoun, male, 39, from Bos Leav village and commune, Kratie province, is suspected of trying to rob a house in O'Russei Kandal village, Siem Bauk district, Stung Treng province the previous day with a group of friends. The owner of the house discovered the robbers and shouted for help, after which neighbours arrived and captured one of the would-be robbers.
RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

B'BANG POLICE BUST YAMA DEALER
Police in Battambang province raided a house in Kamakor village, Svay Pork commune on Thursday, seizing 343 yama methamphetamine pills and a package of ice methamphetamine. Kong Socheata, female, 35, who sold drugs from the house, was taken into custody. Police said they had the house under surveillance for some time after finding that several young people in the village often visited the house.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

WIFE-BEATER SETS FIRE TO HOUSE, FLEES
A man identified by police as Yeung Yi, 35, from Kraboav village, Chhouk commune, Prasath Sambor district, Kampong Thom province, severely beat his wife Chou Poeun, 30, and set his house on fire while drunk on Wednesday.
KOH SANTEPHEAP

The Phnom Penh Post News In Briefs

In Brief: New energy task force

Written by Hor Hab
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

PRIME Minister Hun Sen last month signed a decree approving an interministerial technical task force to manage oil and gas revenues, a government publication obtained on the weekend said. The task force has been selected from nine ministries along with the Cambodia National Petroleum Authority and the Council for the Development of Cambodia, the Royal Gazette said. The new body will study other countries in writing legislation on management revenues, it added.


In Brief: IBC elects committee

Written by George McLeod
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

THE International Business Club of Cambodia has elected a new executive committee for 2009, it announced late last week. The board is headed by Bretton Sciaroni, partner at Sciaroni and Associates, with John Brinsden from ACLEDA Bank as vice chairman. For 2009, the IBC plans to focus on publicity, increase representation at the World Economic Forum and boost activity in the Government Private Sector Forum. It added that attracting new businesses amidst the economic crisis will also be key. "Cambodia is still a very attractive business climate," said Sciaroni.


In Brief: Hanoi road works to be finished soon

Written by Chhay Channyda
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

City officials said Monday that the controversial Hanoi Road expansion will be completed in a month. Khoung Sreng, the governor of Sen Sok district, told the Post the expansion had affected 90 families in Teuk Thla and Phnom Penh Thmey communes. "Sixty percent of the 4-kilometre length has been paved," he said, adding that of the 90 affected families, 22 houses had been demolished and those families had already agreed to a 32-square-metre plot of land at Thnot Chrum in exchange.


In Brief: Pagoda to get a charity clean-up

Written by Mom Kunthear
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Wat Ounalom will benefit from a clean-up project later this week in preparation for Khmer New Year. Up to 100 students, parents, monks and laypeople will clean on Thursday between 3pm and 7pm, said Pou Sovachana, a volunteer teacher at the temple. He said the students at the Buddhism Education for Peace Centre wanted to volunteer to improve the pagoda and said they would tackle other temples at a later date. He said everyone was welcome to help: "Participants need only bring a broom, garbage bags, masks, gloves, a dustpan and most importantly a good heart and a smile."


In Brief: King sihamoni back in cambodia

Written by Neth Pheaktra
Tuesday, 31 March 2009

King Norodom Sihamoni returned to Cambodia on Monday after a week outside the country, said his adviser Prince Sisowath Thomico. The prince would not reveal the purpose of the trip, saying only that it was a private visit to a foreign country. But Agency Khmer Press (AKP) claimed the King had gone to France for a medical check-up.

Trial of Kaing Guek Eav (alias "Duch") - March 30, 2009

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Part 2



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Part 4

DUCH’S HEARING: A TURNING POINT FOR CAMBODIA

BY YOUK CHHANG

Director of Documentation Center of Cambodia

Phnom Penh - March 30, 2009

Today is a turning point for Cambodia. Today, after 30 years of waiting, Cambodians have taken a historical step. Through legal means, we are challenging impunity and moving ahead in our long journey for genocide justice. This journey is essential for us to come together as a nation. The Khmer Rouge trials are not only about justice; they are also about the Memory of Our Nation.

Duch's hearing today offers a chance for survivors and Cambodians born after the Khmer Rouge period to learn about that terrible period in our country’s history from those who were directly involved in it. There may be no single answer to what really happened. However, we all have the obligation to participate in the search for truth. Together, we can build a better understanding of our common past.

Cambodia is a deeply wounded nation after years of war and genocide. We have been a divided people for many decades, but we all share a common concern about the future of our country and the legacy we will leave our children. We need a credible legal process that will help us restore faith in justice. We also need a process that helps us feel that we are in charge of our own history.

Victims have an obligation to take responsibility and help this process be a successful one by confirming the brutality they suffered and by sharing their part of our history. This process is a crucial step forward for the healing of our nation. Reconciliation is not only about the victims or the winners but also the perpetrators. Former enemies can only reconcile in a genuine way if they are armed with the truth.

I hope the government will make it possible for all Cambodians to participate in the trial process by encouraging media throughout the country to televise the court hearing. I also hope that the government will declare a national holiday to allow everyone to spend a day to observe, reflect, and remember.

Questions hang over K. Rouge trial

Saudi Gazette

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

As Cambodia’s UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal resumes its landmark first trial Monday, analysts said allegations of corruption and government interference threaten the court’s legitimacy.

Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, will be confronted with his role in the torture and killing of more than 15,000 people while he was head of Tuol Sleng prison – but the proceedings are dogged by unresolved questions.

“The hope is that the tribunal itself will be a model of a fair and impartial trial process,” said Michelle Staggs, a trial monitor for the Asian International Justice Initiative.

“This (corruption and political interference) has always been a concern and the fact that it’s a concern now isn’t surprising,” Staggs added.

The tribunal, which mixes international and Cambodian staff, was designed to inspire justice in this country where corruption is common, and courts usually enforce wealthy, powerful interests.

While most laud the arrest of Duch and four other senior leaders for their roles in the late 1970s regime which killed up to two million people, they also worry the court can do little to fight impunity in Cambodia.

After Duch’s trial, the court plans to prosecute former Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife, minister of social affairs Ieng Thirith.

But analysts were dismayed about allegations of interference by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s administration, after the Cambodian co-prosecutor opposed pursuing six more suspects on the grounds it could destabilize the country.

“How would those people be able to destabilize the situation? I doubt this argument,” said Thun Sary, head of local human rights organisation ADHOC.

As judges mull whether to open cases against other Khmer Rouge members, the administration has been accused of trying to protect former cadres who are now in government.

Some senior officials have publicly indicated prosecutions should be limited to the five who have been arrested.

“It’s surprising to me that neither the donors nor the UN have expressed concern that recent statements by government officials indicate an attempt to control prosecution decision-making,” said Heather Ryan, who monitors the tribunal for the Open Society Justice Initiative.

Lao Mong Hai, senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission, called on the government to avoid making statements on the issue.

“Certainly, the government should not make comments giving messages that pressure the court not to go after more suspects. It’s blatant interference in the tribunal,” Lao Mong Hai said.

Meanwhile, claims that some Cambodians paid kickbacks for their jobs at the tribunal have apparently made donors wary to fund the local side of the court. Cambodian staff were in danger of not getting their salaries this month until Japan made an emergency 200,000-dollar donation.

Court officials have said the allegations were “unspecific, unsourced and unsubstantiated.” However, details of last year’s UN investigation of kickbacks at the court have not been released.

All analysts said more must be done to address allegations of corruption within the court.

“We cannot tolerate corruption,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, which researches Khmer Rouge crimes.

“There is a lack of competent administration on the Cambodian side and it needs to be replaced and the problem fixed before the verdict is issued,” he added.

The UN and Cambodian government, which established the tribunal in 2006 after years of wrangling, have not announced results of talks to stop alleged corruption.

“The UN and the government have been aware of allegations of corruption for over two years, and the fact that they haven’t found a way to definitively deal with this problem is discouraging,” Ryan said. – AFP

Cambodia: 1997 Grenade Attack on Opposition Still Unpunished

The attack on Sam Rainsy and his supporters remains an open wound in Cambodia, but neither the government nor Cambodia's donors are doing anything to hold those responsible to account. The perpetual failure to address this crime has made March 30 ‘Impunity Day' in Cambodia. This anniversary, on the day the Khmer Rouge trials is beginning, shows how far Cambodia has to go toward holding human rights abusers accountable.

Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Suspects in Attack Have Been Promoted Instead of Prosecuted

Human Rights Watch

March 30, 2009

(New York) - Twelve years after a grenade attack on an opposition party rally that killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 100, the Cambodian government has still taken no steps to bring the perpetrators to justice, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch criticized the recent promotions of officials suspected of involvement in that attack.

On March 30, 1997, about 200 supporters of the opposition politician Sam Rainsy gathered in a park across the street from the National Assembly in Phnom Penh to denounce the judiciary's lack of independence and judicial corruption. In a well-planned attack, four grenades were thrown into the crowd, killing protesters and bystanders, including children, and blowing limbs off street vendors. An FBI investigation concluded that Cambodian government officials were responsible for the attack.

"The attack on Sam Rainsy and his supporters remains an open wound in Cambodia, but neither the government nor Cambodia's donors are doing anything to hold those responsible to account," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "The perpetual failure to address this crime has made March 30 ‘Impunity Day' in Cambodia. This anniversary, on the day the Khmer Rouge trials is beginning, shows how far Cambodia has to go toward holding human rights abusers accountable."

On the day of the grenade attack, Prime Minister Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit, Brigade 70, was, for the first time, deployed at a demonstration. The elite military unit, in full riot gear, not only failed to prevent the attack, but was seen by numerous witnesses opening up its lines to allow the grenade-throwers to escape and threatening to shoot people trying to pursuing the attackers.

Rather than punishing the people who ordered and carried out the grenade attack, the government has handed out high-level promotions to several known human rights abusers in Cambodia's armed forces and national police - including at least two linked to the 1997 attack.

The commander of Brigade 70 at the time, Huy Piseth, who ordered the deployment of Brigade 70 forces to the scene that day, is now undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Defense. Hing Bunheang, who was deputy commander of Brigade 70 at the time and who threatened to kill journalists investigating the case, was promoted to deputy military commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) in January 2009.

"Handing out promotions to people implicated in massacring peaceful demonstrators is a slap in the face for the victims," said Adams. "This seems to be an intentional message from Hun Sen - that those who do his bidding will be promoted, no matter how egregious their acts."

Six other deputy military commanders face serious allegations of human rights abuses and were also promoted in January. These include Military Intelligence Chief Mol Roeup and Military Police Commander Sao Sokha. Like the commanders of Brigade 70, these men are close confidants of Hun Sen who have been implicated in abductions, torture, and extrajudicial killings.

The failure to pursue those responsible for the 1997 attack is part of a widespread pattern of well-connected perpetrators evading justice. Some examples include:

On September 4, 2008, Mean Sokchea, a RCAF major working in Brigade 70, shot dead 21-year-old waitress Put Samphors at a restaurant in Kandal province. Mean Sokchea, in a drunken stupor, fired his gun and apparently mistakenly hit Put Samphors in the stomach. She was taken to a hospital but later died of her wounds. Mean Sokchea was detained by the police overnight but was then released, allegedly after intervention by Hing Bun Heang. Put Samphor's family received US$2,700 from Mean Sokchea, and the police told them that their daughter was shot while authorities were chasing robbers.

On the night of January 16, 2003, a street youth named Prak Sitha was beaten to death at the Ministry of Interior (MOI) headquarters after he was arrested and detained by off-duty MOI officers on suspicion of theft. His body - bearing numerous injuries to the head, torso, arms, and legs - was dumped at a Phnom Penh pagoda the following morning by ministry officers, in violation of police regulations regarding deaths in custody. No criminal charges were filed in connection with this death. In December 2004, the case was cited by the UN secretary-general's special representative for human rights in Cambodia - who stated that Prak Sitha died at the ministry "following beatings by a known police officer" - as an example of a "consistent and continuing pattern of impunity" in Cambodia.

On December 5, 1999, Tat Marina, age 16, was severely disfigured in an acid attack in Phnom Penh. The attack was allegedly committed by Khun Sophal, the wife of a senior government official, Svay Sitha, because she was angry her husband had a sexual relationship with Tat Marina. Neither Khun Sophal nor those suspected of being her accomplices in the attack were brought to justice. Intense media publicity compelled the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Khun Sophal for attempted murder, but the police claimed that they could not locate her, although journalists reported that she was living at home as usual.

While the Cambodian police and courts regularly allow well-connected or financially able criminal suspects to escape prosecution, the justice system is also routinely used by the government to lock up its political opponents who have committed no crimes. For example, on March 20, 2009, Tuot Saron - former Sam Rainsy Party commune chief in Kompong Thom - was convicted on charges of kidnapping and illegal confinement, although no credible evidence was put forward by the prosecution (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/03/22/cambodia-opposition-officials-arrested-sway-elections). On February 19, the Appeal Court upheld the murder conviction of Thach Saveth, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for the 2004 murder of a trade union official, Ros Sovannareth, despite the government's failure to produce any credible evidence against Thach Saveth.

Human Rights Watch said that the Cambodian judiciary's lack of independence will impact its ability to provide fair and impartial justice in the trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders, being carried out with a mix of Cambodian and international judges.

"The political control of Cambodia's courts is the main reason so many Cambodians and observers are concerned that the trials of Khmer Rouge leaders will lack credibility," said Adams. "In this way, Cambodia's tragic history and troubled present are deeply connected."

Cambodians watched as the UN-backed tribunal began on Monday at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.David Longstreath/AP

"Duch" is charged with crimes against humanity for his time as a prison commander under the regime.

By Simon Montlake Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
March 30, 2009

Bangkok, Thailand - A former Khmer Rouge prison commander went on trial Monday in Cambodia's war-crimes tribunal, 30 years after the fall of a communist regime blamed for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

Prosecutors read out the charges against Kaing Guek Eav, known as "Duch." He ran the SS-21 prison in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, whose population was evacuated when the Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975. Duch is charged with committing crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, and murder during four years as prison chief.

He spoke in court Monday only to acknowledge his identity and the charge sheet, which described how SS-21 was a death camp for known dissidents as well as a torture center used to extract confessions. Of the roughly 15,000 prisoners sent there, only a handful survived.

"I have already been notified of the charges against me," Duch told the court, according to Agence France-Presse. "Before I was arrested by the military court, I was a teacher."

A defense lawyer for Duch said he would be allowed to address the court later this week. Administrative hearings were held in February, but Monday began the first significant part of the trial. The war crimes tribunal is a hybrid Cambodian-international body based on French law that has so far cost $143 million and has attracted criticism for slow progress on trying suspects.

In his trial, Duch is likely to implicate his fellow cadre, who have denied all the charges and have sought to blame foreign powers for the killings. He cooperated fully with the investigating judges probing the grisly events at SS-21, a former school that is now a museum of torture.

"It's important that someone who was a participant in the crimes – a key link in the chain of command – can set the record straight," says Nic Dunlop, a British photographer who discovered Duch in 1999 while working in a refugee camp in Cambodia.

In addition to Duch, four other Khmer Rouge leaders have been indicted, including Nuon Chea, a deputy leader known as "Brother No. 2."

The movement's notorious leader Pol Pot died in 1998 in western Cambodia, where its forces retreated after Vietnam invaded in 1979. Today, many former Khmer Rouge live freely there under a government amnesty.

A convert to Christianity who has expressed remorse for his acts, Duch is by far the most straightforward to prosecute, says Mr. Dunlop, author of "The Lost Executioner," a biography of Duch.

For a generation of Cambodians born since the Khmer Rouge's rule, the bloody history of the period is blurry. Educators and parents often avoid the topic for fear of opening old wounds. Government officials, including Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge officer, have been leery of allowing a tribunal that would delve too deeply into the past.

This effectively limits the court's scope, to the frustration of those who believe that a proper accounting for past abuses can help heal the nation's wounds.

The maximum sentence that the tribunal can award is life imprisonment. Some of the detainees are elderly and in poor health, however, raising concerns that they may die before they face justice.

One Million Cambodians Have Diabetes and Hypertension - Tuesday ,31.3.2009

Posted on 31 March 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 606

“Phnom Penh: As living becomes more modern and nourishing food increases, Cambodian people are facing two types of diseases that up to one million people have: diabetes and hypertension.

“The director of the Disease Information Center which is treating, counseling, and observing 1,300 people having diabetes in Phnom Penh and in Takeo, Mr. Maurits van Pelt, said, ‘At present, in Cambodia there are one million people having diabetes and hypertension.

“According to observations by the World Health Organization and of the Ministry of Health, 12% of people in Siem Reap and 20% in Kompong Cham have hypertension. Also, a similar observation which was conducted from 2004 to 2005 found that 5% of people in Siem Reap and 11% in Kompong Cham have diabetes.

“What is the cause of the high prevalence hypertension? Mr. Maurits van Pelt explained that it is because not many Cambodian people do exercise, and many eat much, making them fat and pot-bellied. Furthermore, it is also a result of genetic factors, since in China and in India, many people have such diseases, and Khmers have much genetic material in common with the two people.

“He added, ‘Laziness not to do exercise, no roads for walking, and some other factors resulting from different diseases, make people have hypertension. Also some urinary diseases may lead to hypertension and other diseases.’

“The president of the Disease Information Center questioned why leaders of rich countries are often slim and leaders of poor countries are fat and pot-bellied. He went on, ‘Khmer leaders do not act as models of the people, because they are too fat. Khmers like pot-bellies showing that that they are wealthy.’

“He continued to say that slim people have about 50 % of all diseases that exist, but fat people have more diseases, and overweight people are found to live seven years less than others. Urban people have twice as often hypertension, compared to those living in the countryside.

“He added, ‘Normally, we need to sweat half an hour per day, but many people say that the weather is too hot and they do not want to sweat; this is not right. To avoid overweight, we need to do physical work at least 30 minutes per day, and should not eat too much.’

“What should we eat to prevent hypertension and diabetes? Mr. Maurits van Pelt said that we should eat much vegetable, and eat some fish; Khmers should rather eat unpolished rice, for it contains Vitamin B, but Khmers like eating white rice for its taste, yet it contains much sugar and lacks vitamins.

“He said also, ‘If people are overweight, they must do exercise to put off their weight. Their health will be better. When they can put off a lot of weight to be in the right proportion with their height, they will no longer have hypertension.’

“Mr. Maurits warns, ‘The spreading of these diseases will increase, because there are more overweight people than before, more vehicles, more American food imported to Cambodia, which contains a lot of cholesterol, and such long-processed food is not good.’

“Regarding people having diabetes, Mr. Maurits said that diabetes patients have to be careful not to have hypertension. He added that if they have diabetes for five years, they may get urinary diseases and continue to have hypertension. Therefore, people who have diabetes have to do exercises, eat food that is not salty, and take care not to get overweight.

“He added that besides providing education through a Friends-Educate-Friends Program for people with diabetes in a district in Takeo and at poor regions in Phnom Penh, he is asking for funds from the European Unions to expand the program at Thma Puok district in Banteay Meanchey. But, there is no response from donors yet.

“He criticized donors, “I asked them once, but they did not agree to provide funds, saying that it is not important. They tell me to work with AIDS, but there are only more than 60,000 AIDS patients, while there are one million people having hypertension and diabetes.’

“He added that donors provide 60% of their funds for AIDS and less than 1% for non-infectious diseases. He said, ‘There are many AIDS and tuberculosis experts, but why aren’t there non-infectious disease experts?’

“Mr. Maurits continues to say, ‘I think Khmers dare not to ask for aid for this field. I think that is wrong.’

“The director of the World Health Organization in Cambodia, Mr. Michael O’Leary, said during the closure of the health convention last week that the high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and the changes of the pattern of living is a clear sign of the spreading of interaction between these in Cambodia.

“He added that a study shows that about half of the Cambodian men smoke cigarettes, and this number is still increasing. With these interrelated problems, progress must be made to deal with health care needs, for which the government has to find responses.

“However, [the Minister of Health] Dr. Mam Bunheng said, ‘The rate of smokers among men and women declines, but the indicators of the program have not yet achieved their goal in 2008. That is diabetes, hypertension, and the identification of people suffering on their heads in traffic accidents are difficult to measure. Therefore rechecking is necessary.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4858, 30.3.2009
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Tuesday, 31 March 2009