Law on Food Safety and Quality Is Not Implemented, Making Cambodia a Trash Basket for Foreign Leftovers – Wednesday, 19.8.2009

Posted on 20 August 2009
The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 626
http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

“A food safety and quality law was adopted by the National Assembly in 1996, attempting to protect the health and wellbeing of the citizens, but it unfortunately this law has been ignored and is not implemented effectively.

“Cam-Control officials who have the obligation to check goods at distribution points and at markets do not apply the above law strictly. Vendors who respect the law and do not dare to sell no-quality or expired goods, said that Cam-Control officials never pay attention to check goods thoroughly, but they just go to check occasionally, but it is not for checking, but to collect money from the vendors and from businesspeople who do illegal business by distributing or selling no-quality or expired goods.

“They went on to say that Cam-Control officials inform illegal vendors and businesspeople in advance about the date they will go to check goods and instruct them to remove their no-quality and expired goods from the locations to be checked, and replace them with legal goods to deceive the public.

“Citizens who use no-quality or expired goods accused Cam-Control officials, especially also the Ministry of Commerce, of destroying their health and wellbeing. Citizens asked why Cam-Control officials earn state salaries from the taxes paid by citizens, but why do they work to serve the interests of illegal vendors and businesspeople.

“Vendors and businesspeople added that no-quality or expired goods are imported through international border crossings, especially from Vietnam. Some other types of goods have expired, because they were kept too long at the stores or could not be sold.

“Occasionally, the authorities had cracked down on no-quality goods, such as chicken meat and eggs imported from Siam [Thailand] and Yuon [Vietnam]. One real example is the no-quality chicken meat confiscated recently by the authorities in Sen Sok district, Phnom Penh.

“According to the above source, a businesswoman, whose husband is a military police official, took up the business of importing no-quality chicken meat from Siam [Thailand] for a long time, but the local authorities did not intervene, keeping it as their ‘rice-cooking pot.’ The reason of the recent crack-down is that the businesswoman had stopped paying bribes to the authorities, because that place is no longer in the area of Russey Keo district under those who formerly controlled it.

“Formerly, the storehouse for illegal goods was under the control of the Russey Keo district, but after the Royal Government decided to create the Sen Sok district in Phnom Penh, two districts of Russey Keo were cut off to be under the control of the Sen Sok district.

“People living at the above location said that there would not have been any crack-down, if there had been no conflict of interest between the new district authorities and the Russey Keo authorities. Citizens complained not only about no-quality or expired goods, but they also expressed deep concerns about the contamination of food with chemicals, such as in the case of all kinds of meat, so that it maintains a good appearance, to look like Prahok and Po’ok, so that flies do not gather around it, and vegetables and fruits looking fresh, with Kuy Teav [noodle soup], and Num Banhchok [Khmer traditional noodle] so that it appears fresh, with fish sauce, soy sauce, and chili sauce, so that it can be kept for a long time etc… Chemicals are used with many other kinds of food.

“A doctor who asked not to be named told Khmer Amatak that eating food containing chemicals can seriously affect the health, resulting in liver cirrhosis (?), or kidney stones, nerve problems, diabetes, and other diseases. He warned that adding chemicals to food will lead to long term health problems and reduces the life expectancy of citizens.

“The director of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, Dr. Yang Saing Koma, said that Khmer farmers are using chemical fertilizers to grow paddy rice, vegetable, and fruits, to produce high yields. He warned that using chemical fertilizers not only affects those who apply the chemicals, but also seriously affects those who eat the products.

“He called on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries to take action to prevent the import of fertilizers with high chemical effects, and to announce their hazards. He recommends that the Ministry of Agriculture organize programs to train farmers to use organic fertilizers. Dr. Saing Koma said that his organizations has organized training courses to teach farmers how to produce using organic fertilizers.

“Khmer farmers blamed the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries for not taking strict action to prevent the import of chemical fertilizers by illegal dishonest businesspeople and for not making the hazards of using chemical fertilizers widely known, which allowings those businesspeople to continue cheating Khmer farmers to use chemical fertilizers, which seriously affect their heath and waste national resources.

“The World Health Organization had asked the Ministry of Health of Cambodia to crack down on the import of expired medicines and medicines produced with improper standards, especially from black markets. The World Health Organization had warned about the serious health hazards for Khmer citizens, specifically for farmers who live in remote areas where there are no proper health systems, and they frequently buy medicines from unlicensed pharmacies or from unprofessional medics.

“No-quality and expired medicines are trafficked countrywide without thorough checking by the Ministry of Health. Many pharmacies are run with no license, but the Ministry of Health does not penalize them according to the law. It is reported that some officials of the Ministry of Health commit corruption when they go to check private pharmacies and clinics.

“Also, the production of pure [bottled drinking] water in Cambodia is facing serious problems, because the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy does not check the production properly. Many types of pure water is being sold around Cambodia, and it is known that many brands do not have quality standards. Officials are accused of committing corruption when they go to check for pure water, fish sauce, soy sauce etc. by exchanging Khmer citizens’ health and wellbeing for their own benefit.

“Khmer citizens complained that at present, Cambodia is becoming a trash bin to accept goods that other countries throw away, while relevant officials become murderers who collude with wicked businesspeople and use the health and lives of citizens as their capital.

“Khmer citizens would like to call on the Royal Government, especially the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Commerce, to take thorough measures to prevent the import of no-quality or expired goods and the import of chemical fertilizers which is a way to guarantee health and wellbeing of the citizens, and particularly to save their money. The Royal Government must take action against Cam-Control officials who commit corruption, leading to damage to citizens’ health.”

Khmer Amatak, Vol.10, #639, 19.8.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 19 August 2009

Police Find Anti-Government Leaflets in Capital

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 August 2009


Phnom Penh police on Wednesday discovered hundreds of anti-government leaflets accusing the administration of Prime Minister Hun Sen of destroying the nation.

The leaflets were scattered at three prominent city sites: near Wat Phnom, Wat Botum and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They called on people to stand up against a Vietnamese-backed government put in placed in 1979.

Brig. Gen. Touch Naroth, chief of Phnom Penh police, told VOA Khmer the leaflets were intended to cause turmoil and sully the prestige of Hun Sen and the government.

The leaflet was the work of politically “partial” people seeking to weaken the influence of Hun Sen “and want to capture power from the current, legal government,” he said. “They understand that they can’t win in elections, and they’ve turned to oppose [Hun Sen] through a variety of turmoil and by making people confused.”

Anti-Hun Sen leaflets have routinely appeared in the city since 1993, with those found distributing them sometimes arrested.

Touch Naroth said the leaflets could potentially pose a threat to the government.

“If the throwers really dare, they can come out and solve their problems through court channels, and not make turmoil through leaflet-throwing,” he said. “People known and have heard and are bored with this problem. We gathered the leaflets to burn them.”

Police were seeking the perpetrators for arrest, he said. “We can charge the throwers for disinformation.”

The leaflets are printed with the names of five people, including a Sam Rainsy Party activist named Kim Sopheak.

Kim Sopheak was at the opposition party’s headquarters Wednesday, but he said by phone he had nothing to do with the leaflets.

“I am very worried and not going any place,” he said. “I understand that someone want to mistreat me and wants to blame me by writing my name on the leaflets.”

Officials from the rights groups Adhoc and Licadho said they were investigating the leaflets.

Foreign Fixed Investment Falls Mid-Year

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
19 August 2009

The total fixed investment of 13 countries involved in Cambodia fell at least $3.2 billion in mid-2009, about three quarters of its total value, according to official figures.

Investment fell from $4.42 billion in mid-2008 to $1.22 billion for the same period this year, the Council for the Development of Cambodia reported. Officials say the economic downward shares the blame with an overall decrease in a large number of high-dollar projects in 2008.

“But through mid-2009, there have been no such kind of investments,” said Yun Heng, deputy director of the CDC’s department for evaluation and incentives in investment.

In 2008, investors brought in money for giant city construction projects, garments and tourism, most of it from China and South Korea, Cambodia’s top two investment partners.

And with investment from both countries declining, the overall investment figures dropped severely.

Fixed investment from China dropped from $3.86 billion to $242.4 million between mid-2008 and mid-2009. In that period, investment from South Korea dropped from $258 million to $109 million. At the same time, investment fell $6.8 million from Taiwan and $4 million from Britain.

The downturn hit tourism hard, according to the CDC, dropping from $4.1 billion to $354 million in the mid-year periods. Industrial investment fell $152.1 million, and in telecommunications and services $137 million.

Agricultural investment rose during the yearlong period, up by $260.5 million in mid-2009. And while large investment projects have declined, there are many smaller projects on the increase.

Russian investment rose from $9.5 million to $234.7 million, and Thai investments went from $22.8 million to $178 million. Vietnamese investment climbed by $97.5 million, along with a rise in Singaporean investment of $41.8 million.

Lee Bien Cuong, the commercial councilor at the Vietnamese Embassy, said that companies in his country were interested in Cambodian investments in spite of the economic crisis.

“The relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam is getting better, so more and more Vietnamese companies are investing in Cambodia,” he said.

This year has also seen the addition of new investors, including those from France, Spain, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong. There were no investors from Canada, the US, Malaysia or Australia, as there had been in 2008.

Yun Heng said the mid-year figures were not a negative sign overall, and he expects the number to grow next year.

Villagers Stunned by Heavy Flooding

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Stung Treng
19 August 2009

Yin Pong’s house is still battered from the flooding, its thatch in tatters, his rice field inundated. The 44-year-old farmer from Sensan village, Stung Treng province, was one of many villagers affected by severe flooding in the province earlier this month.

In a recent interview with VOA Khmer, Yin Pong said he lost about 1 million riel, or $250, in crops, along with 10 chickens and 20 ducks, in severe flooding that affected hundreds of villagers.

“I have difficulty now,” said the father of four. “I have nothing; my rice, cucumbers, beans and sugar cane were fully damaged.”

According to villagers in Kamphun commune, the flooding started after a week of heavy rains, bringing half a meter of water into homes for four days before the water subsided four days later.

In Sesan district’s Phlok commune, not far from Kamphun, bamboo and other trees were still inundated with waters behind people’s homes.

Tuon Sim, 57, said flooding damaged his pumpkin and eggplant crops, costing him 80,000 riel, about $20.

“This was bad flooding,” he said.

One of his sons, Sim Chhairath, 15, was pale and ill, having suffered from malaria he caught fishing in the flooded fields. It was the first time he’d ever had the disease, he said.

Phlok commune chief Than Tim said eight of his 1,115 villagers incurred malaria after the flooding, which provided ideal conditions for mosquitoes.

Even before the flooding, he said, local health officials were educating villagers on how to protect themselves from the disease.

“If we did not protect our health, we would have this,” he said.
The flooding came from heavy rainfall after a typhoon hit northern Vietnam, pushing water to high levels in Cambodia that were exacerbated by the opening of floodgates of a dam on the Sekong river, in Laos, which flows through Stung Treng province.

On Aug. 2, the Ministry of Water Resources warned people living along the Mekong, Tonle Sap and Basac rivers, especially in Stung Treng, Kratie and Kampong Cham, to take precautions.

All told, more than 40 hectares of paddy and 400 families were affected in Stung Treng, provincial governor Loy Sophat said. No one was killed.

Stung Treng provincial authorities planned to provide rice seeds to victims at the end of August, but he did not disclose how much of rice seed each family would receive.

Mao Hak, chief of the Ministry of Water Resources’ hydrology department, said the water levels in Stung Treng’s river rose to 9.94 meters at the height of the flooding.

The river could swell to 10.70 meters in late September, flooding more areas, he said.

Leading IT Company Investing in Cambodia’s Poor

Workers at Digital Divide Data

By Ker Yann, VOA Khmer
Video Editor: Manilene Ek
19 August 2009

WATCH VIDEO, click here.

Cambodia has been slow in adopting the IT revolution, which has transformed much of East Asia. But a radical scheme is underway to give technical and skilled jobs to the country's most disadvantaged and break the poverty cycle. Digital Divide Data (DDD) is a nongovernmental organization operating in Phnom Phenh.

It provides career choices beyond traditional handicrafts, where unskilled workers are trained until they can find better paying jobs.

24 year old Treng Kuy Chheng was born into grinding poverty; at the age of two she had polio. Chheng was lucky to survive, but her illness left her disabled, and badly affecting her future prospects. Despite her disability she had to work every day at her family's food stall.

Treng Kuy Chheng: "This is my house. I lived here for about 18 years. Every morning I went to the market to buy vegetables which I sold just here. I never thought that I would have a life like I have today. I really thought I would just sell fruit forever."

Treng is now is one of five hundred disabled and disadvantaged people who have been offered the chance of a better life by Digital Divide Data (DDD). The people who find themselves at this Phnom Penh office arrive for all sorts of reasons. General Manager Kunthy Kann says the company supports socially and economically disadvantaged Cambodians.

Kunthy Kann, General Manager: "We founded Digital Divide Data to provide data entry jobs to some of the most disadvantaged people in Cambodia-- such as orphans, landmine survivors, polio victims and trafficked women."

Over one hundred and fifty people are now employed in DDD's Phnom Penh headquarters, with another one in Siem Reap. DDD doesn't just offer its employees work, it gives them confidence, independence and the opportunity to realize a better life for themselves. Unlike traditional crafts to which many of the unemployed workers have to turn to, they are given skills in a constantly growing 21st century industry.

Lynn Watson, VP of Client Services, Phnom Penh Office: "We've got young people coming on board who have never worked with a computer before; they certainly haven't worked in a large business environment. Part of what we do is to help train and teach what that's about: not only how to use a computer- but how to use it well, how to work in a business environment- skills that they can take and carry on to the next level in their careers."

New employees start by learning to type, and after six months training, they work on professional data entry projects. The staff is well rewarded; they earn about (US) $90 each month, that's double the national average. DDD also has strong market ambitions.

Kunthy Kann, General Manager: "We are competing with international companies in countries such as China and India, which have access to a skilled workforce. We take people with no experience or suitable education and train them to compete."

Even so the working day at DDD is only six hours long-- this is to ensure that its workers are given the opportunity to study at university in the evening. Thlok Srey Nay, 26, appreciates the company's benefits.

Thlok Srey Nay, 26, Employee: "Before I never used computers, but in here I practice on them a lot. I'm learning to use a lot of computer programs such as Word, which I never used before. And most important for me, DDD also provide me with a scholarship to study at university."

The employees say the opportunity give them independence and earning power to take care of themselves and not have to rely on other people. The company's goal is to build up human capital in Cambodia to tackle the root cause of poverty. Sor Sontheary, DDD's external relations coordinator recounts an old proverb.

Sor Sontheary, External Relations Coordinator, Phnom Penh: "We believe that developing human capital is the key to developing the Cambodian economy. We train people how to work because as the proverb says: it's better to teach a man to fish instead of just giving him fish to eat."

DDD plans to increase its work force to 1500 people by 2012. There are high hopes in Cambodia that projects such as DDD can play a key role in helping to reduce the country's poverty and help disadvantaged Cambodians.

Information for this report was provided by APTN.

Fake Cambodian 'general' charged with fraud, forgery

Earth Times
http://www.earthtimes.org/

Wed, 19 Aug 2009
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - A confidence trickster posing as a two-star general in Prime Minister Hun Sen's elite bodyguard unit has been charged with fraud, forgery and using illegal weapons, local media reported Wednesday. Meng Sarith, 42, was arrested after police were told that one victim had paid him 4,500 US dollars in exchange for the "general" using his supposed influence to free the payee's brother from jail.

The head of the Ministry of Interior's criminal police division, Mok Chito, told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that Men Sarith is now awaiting trial in Phnom Penh.

"After questioning him, we realized that he was a fraudster who (posed) as a government councillor and had fake identification cards pretending to be Hun Sen's bodyguard," Mok Chito told the newspaper.

Cambodia: Details are Sketchy

http://detailsaresketchy.wordpress.com/

August 19, 2009

Thailand has apologized for violating Cambodia’s airspace.

Cambodia has received a letter of apology from the commander of a Thai airbase apologizing for a series of Thai air force flights that crossed into Cambodian territory in the past week, local media reported.

A Cambodian general told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that the commander of Thailand’s Chantaburi-Trat airbase, whom he did not name, had written that the incidents were due to bad weather affecting the navigation systems of the aircraft.

Bad weather? Does anybody really believe that?

Alexandria hosts annual Cambodian Community Day Festival August 23rd

http://www.examiner.com

August 18,
Alexandria City Buzz Examiner
Barbara Maxwell

Alexandria will host the annual Cambodian community day festival on Sunday, August 23rd, from noon to 6 p.m. at Ben Brenman Park, 4800 Brenman Park Dr in the west end of the city. Admission is free, and the event will be held rain or shine.

The festival’s theme this year is: “Cambodia, the Beautiful,” features entertainment by the Cambodian Mohoree Music Ensemble; classical and folk dances; and live band music and social dances. Exhibits include a showcase of the Angkor Wat Replica, and the Pailin and Tonle Sap regions. Family will activities include folk games for children and adults, sports, and vendors offering traditional Cambodian and Asian food and beverages.

The city's department of recreation, parks and cultural activities, and the Cambodian community day committee are cosponsoring the festival. Cambodian community day is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advocacy, preservation and promotion of Cambodian culture and heritage.

Limited parking is available at Ben Brenman Park, 4800 Brenman Park Dr., and at Armistead Boothe Park, 520 Cameron Station Blvd. The public is encouraged to bike, walk or take public transit to the event. For DASH schedule information, call 703.370.DASH or visit www.dashbus.com. For Metrobus schedule information, call 202.637.7000 or visit www.wmata.com. Bicyclists may visit www.alexandriava.gov/localmotion for the City’s Bikeways Map, which features the City's best on-street and off-road bikeways, as well as locations of grouped bicycle parking.

For additional information on the Cambodian Community Day Festival, call the City’s Special Events Hotline at 703.883.4686 or visit www.cambodiancommunityday.org

Lightning strikes kill 113 in Cambodia in 2009

Earth Times
http://www.earthtimes.org/

Wed, 19 Aug 2009
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Lightning has killed 113 people so far this year in Cambodia, making 2009 the worst in recent years for deaths attributable to the natural phenomenon, national media reported. Four more people have been struck and killed by lightning since Saturday, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported, including a 16-year-old youth walking two cows across a rice field on Tuesday.

The government's National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) said 93 people died last year from lightning strikes, more than double the 45 who were killed in 2007.

The deputy head of the NCDM, Nhim Vanda, said it was unclear why numbers are rising year on year, but said climate change could in part be to blame.

"This year lightning has killed more than 100 people, but it is more usual for lightning to kill around 40 people per year," Nhim Vanda told the newspaper.

He said the government is making efforts to educate Cambodians about the dangers of lightning, and how to protect themselves in the event of a storm.

"Everyone should turn off TVs, radios and telephones, and refrain from touching metal objects during rainstorms," he said.

The government will hold a series of workshops next year to educate people about the dangers of lightning.

Thai Navy apologizes for flying into Khmer territory

The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com

Wed, August 19, 2009

This is the first time Thai aircraft flied into Cambodian land

Phnom Penh - Cambodia has received a letter of apology from the commander of a Thai airbase apologizing for a series of Thai air force flights that crossed into Cambodian territory in the past week, local media reported.

A Cambodian general told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that the commander of Thailand's Chantaburi-Trat airbase, whom he did not name, had written that the incidents were due to bad weather affecting the navigation systems of the aircraft.

"We accepted the letter of apology by the Thai military but we have warned Thailand's airbase that we will not take responsibility for a second repeated airspace violation," General Bun Seng said .

The general said incursions usually took place over disputed areas on the border between the two nations, but said this time Thai aircraft had flown 30 kilometres inside Cambodia.

"This is the first time they have flown so far into Cambodian territory," he said.

A spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government accepted the apology, but warned that subsequent incursions would "be dangerous."

Cambodia and Thailand have a longstanding dispute over their 804-kilometre common border.

In the past year several Cambodian and Thai soldiers have been killed and injured in skirmishes around Preah Vihear temple on the border in the north of Cambodia

Misuse of law threatens Cambodian democracy

UPI Asia
http://www.upiasia.com

By Chak Sopheap
Guest Commentary
Published: August 19, 2009

Niigata, Japan — In a true democracy, freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. In Cambodia, however, repeated violations of this right by the government to silence critics are jeopardizing the pace of democracy.

The arrest and imprisonment of many human rights activists since the end of 2005 and early 2006 have been a big setback for democracy in Cambodia. Activists like Kem Sokha, former president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights and president of the Human Rights Party; Yeng Virak, executive director of the Community Legal Education Center; Mom Sonando, founder of Beehive Radio; and Pa Ngoun Teang, former director of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights’ Voice of Democracy radio and current president of the Cambodian Center for Independent Media have been imprisoned on charges ranging from defaming the government to promoting freedom of expression.

Many other prominent activists, including politicians like Sam Rainsy of the Sam Rainsy Party, have fled overseas for fear of being arrested by the government.

Following many appeals from international and local nongovernmental organizations and pressure from the international community, the Cambodian government has released the activists and promised to decriminalize defamation charges levied against them.

Despite that, in a surprise move, a new law was introduced to silence the voice of parliamentarians. It is similar to the U.N. Transitional Authority for Cambodia Law of 1992, which was used in the past to detain government critics on charges of criminal defamation.

The newly adopted Statute of Parliamentarians contradicts the Constitution, which states that no assembly member shall be prosecuted, detained or arrested because of opinions expressed while exercising his or her duties. Article 5 of the new law, however, takes away that protection if a parliamentarian is found to be abusing an individual's dignity, social customs, public order or national security – without clarifying what constitutes these acts. How can parliamentarians exercise their duties when they fear arrest?

The situation has become worse with the government using various ill-defined laws and the judiciary it controls as a political tool to silence critics. Government officials have filed recent lawsuits against political activists including members of the Sam Rainsy Party, Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, and other prominent journalists and individuals. These activists had raised their voices and concerns against the mismanagement of public services, with the constructive aim of remedying the situation.

Judges have ruled most of these cases in favor of the government officials without following independent court procedures. The case of Mu Sochua is proof that Cambodia’s courts and other public institutions function only to appease the rulers.

In April, Sochua announced that she would sue Prime Minister Hun Sen for allegedly using derogatory and threatening language against her in a speech he made during a visit to Kampot province in southwest Cambodia in March. Kampot is the parliamentary district represented by Soucha. However, the court rejected her case while a counter case filed by her opponent was allowed.

Another case of abuse of court and power was shown by a provincial judge in Ratanakiri province in northeastern Cambodia. Instead of fulfilling his function to resolve a case, he appealed to a human rights organization to remove its two provincial staff, who were involved in the court case, to end the story.

The continuous abuse of the court system and public institutions will weaken the rule of law, making it difficult to sustain democracy in Cambodia. If the government can arrest, sue and fine political opponents and human right activists for their criticisms of state policies, then the judges in the country are also not immune from such action, which then poses a serious threat to democracy and public confidence.

Therefore, the government should review its policies and procedures to improve human rights protections and the rule of law. This will help Cambodia to comply with its Constitution and other international rights covenants, and commit to fully democratize society.

--

(Chak Sopheap is a graduate student of peace studies at the International University of Japan. She runs a blog, www.sopheapfocus.com, in which she shares her impressions of both Japan and her homeland, Cambodia. She was previously advocacy officer of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights.)

Cambodia hosts meeting to discuss microfinance amid global financial crisis

People's Daily Online
http://english.people.com.cn

August 19, 2009

With the helps from the International Financial Corporation (IFC) and the European Union (EU), Cambodia is hosting a conference to talk on how microfinance can boost country's economy, promote financial inclusion and enhance customer protection.

The IFC which is a member of the World Bank Group is helping Cambodian microfinance institutions to strengthen their contribution to the country's socio-economic development, and expand financial services to the rural population amid the global financial crisis.

The two-day meeting, which began Wednesday, participated by representatives from the Cambodia Microfinance Association, senior microfinanciers, bankers, regulators, and local authorities.

"The microfinance sector in Cambodia has grown fast and significantly contributed to improving access to financial services for the rural population," said Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia.

"The success of the sector is vital to ensuring quick financial inclusion. We have adopted legislation that enables microfinance institutions to mobilize public deposits to help them access cheaper sources of funds while allowing rural populations to safely save their hard-earned cash," he said.

Participants also shared their views and experiences on how to respond to the global financial crisis, addressing credit culture, risk and nonperforming loan management, ethical debt collection practices, financial education, and consumer protection.

"The microfinance sector, which has loans of more than 280 million U.S. dollars outstanding to about one million clients in rural areas, already has felt the impact of the global financial crisis as no performing loans have increased from under one percent one year ago to 3.8 percent as of June 2009," said Huot Ieng Tong, president of Cambodia Microfinance Association.

IFC also works with individual microfinance institutions to help them diversify and focus their strategies, expanding their product range and improving their risk management capabilities.

"While the crisis has adversely affected microfinance institutions and their borrowers, it also brings opportunities for them to review their lending practices and risk and nonperforming loan management systems so they become more resilient to future crises," said Russell Muir, IFC Acting Head of Advisory Services for East Asia and Pacific.

Source:Xinhua

Thailand apologizes for repeated incursions into Cambodian airspace

Monstersa nd Critics

Asia-Pacific News
Aug 19, 2009

Phnom Penh - Cambodia has received a letter of apology from the commander of a Thai airbase apologizing for a series of Thai air force flights that crossed into Cambodian territory in the past week, local media reported.

A Cambodian general told the Phnom Penh Post newspaper that the commander of iland's Chantaburi-Trat airbase, whom he did not name, had written that the incidents were due to bad weather affecting the navigation systems of the aircraft.

'We accepted the letter of apology by the Thai military but we have warned Thailand's airbase that we will not take responsibility for a second repeated airspace violation,' General Bun Seng said .

The general said incursions usually took place over disputed areas on the border between the two nations, but said this time Thai aircraft had flown 30 kilometres inside Cambodia.

'This is the first time they have flown so far into Cambodian territory,' he said.

A spokesman for the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government accepted the apology, but warned that subsequent incursions would 'be dangerous.'

Cambodia and Thailand have a longstanding dispute over their 804-kilometre common border. In the past year several Cambodian and Thai soldiers have been killed and injured in skirmishes around Preah Vihear temple on the border in the north of Cambodia.

Former Premier’s Daughter Speaks Against Duch

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
18 August 2009

Antonya Tioulong, whose father was the prime minister in 1962, told the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal on Tuesday that Duch’s crimes as a prison administrator were unpardonable.

One of seven daughters of former premier Tioulong Nhiek, Tioulong filed as a civil party complainant in the case, having lost a sister and brother-in-law in the killing machine of Tuol Sleng prison.

Prosecutors say 12,380 people were sent to their deaths at the prison.

“We must teach the new generation of Cambodians that this crime is not pardonable,” she told the court. “The criminal must recognize [his crime], and there must be justice for that.”

Tioulong works for L’Express newspaper in France and is the sister of Tioulong Somura, the wife of Sam Rainsy and an opposition lawmaker.

“I beg the [Trial] Chamber to issue a verdict fitting the crimes committed by the accused,” Antonya Tioulong told the court.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Kek Iev, accepted the testimony, but he said Tioulong’s sister, Rainsy, died from illness.

Tioulong’s testimony follows statements from another civil party complainant on Monday, New Zealander Robert Hamill, whose brother was one of the few foreigners killed at Tuol Sleng.

Hamill told the court he wanted Duch to experience the same punishments his prisoners were subject to, including electrocution of the genitals, forced eating of feces, suffocation in water and a guillotine.

“I want you to have this pain; I want you to suffer,” he said in court.

There are no allowances for corporeal punishment under the tribunal—the maximum punishment is a life sentence—though Duch told the court last week he would accept stoning from the Cambodian people for his crimes.

US senator meets with Hun Sen, opposition

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
US Senator Jim Webb speaks Tuesday at the US ambassador’s house during his visit to Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Cheang Sokha and James O'toole

After meeting with junta leaders in Myanmar, Jim Webb comes to Cambodia to talk about free trade with Hun Sen and free speech with opposition leaders.

US Senator Jim Webb said he "listened in great detail to the concerns of the opposition leaders" during a visit to Cambodia on Tuesday, but stopped short of condemning the government's ongoing crackdown on political speech.

Fresh from negotiating the release of an American prisoner with Myanmar's ruling military junta on Saturday, Webb met with opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha, as well as Prime Minister Hun Sen, during his brief stopover in the Kingdom.

Kem Sokha, president of the Human Rights Party who was briefly imprisoned on defamation charges in 2006, said the US "should continue to monitor democracy in Cambodia because it is still not going smoothly."

He said that he did not present Webb with individual defamation cases during the meeting, but told the senator that freedom of expression has been an issue recently.

Webb met later in the day with Hun Sen and other government officials at the National Assembly. Eang Sophalleth, a spokesman for the prime minister, said afterward that talks focused on increasing cooperation between Cambodia and the US, particularly in the economic realm.

Hun Sen proposed that the US "continue helping Cambodia by allowing duty-free garment exports," Eang Sophalleth said, a proposal also floated to Webb by Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh in a morning meeting.

Webb said that Cham Prasidh "made a very compelling case" for US legislation to wave Cambodian garment duties, though he noted the importance of maintaining labour standards in the Kingdom's factories.

Cambodia is the fourth stop for Webb on a five-nation, two-week trip, the purpose of which, he said, is "to invigorate the relationship between the United States and all the countries of Southeast Asia." Some civil society groups, however, have been sceptical of Webb's capacity to generate meaningful reforms in the region.

Although Webb secured the release of American prisoner John Yettaw in Myanmar last week, opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention. Myanmar dissident groups last week released an open letter to Webb in which they expressed fears that the senator's visit would legitimise the ruling junta.

"We are concerned that the military regime will manipulate and exploit your visit and propagandise that you endorse their treatment of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and over 2,100 political prisoners," read the letter from groups including the All Burma Monks' Alliance.

These same concerns are present as Webb meets with leaders in Cambodia, said Eleanor Nichol, a campaigner for the Global Witness rights group. "The danger here is that Senator Webb's visit will be used to support the current government's lip-service on its commitment to democracy, human rights [and] rule of law," Nichol said.

Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann, however, was pleased that Webb took time to hear concerns from all sides during his visit in order to gain a "balance of information". "This is the culture we would like," he said.

Official warns Chea Mony

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, the men convicted of killing trade union leader Chea Vichea, address the press at the Court of Appeal on Monday, when the case was reopened for further investigation.

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Meas Sokchea

THE brother of murdered trade union leader Chea Vichea has been threatened with legal action for accusing the government of involvement in the killing, according to a report.

On Monday, the Appeal Court ordered the Chea Vichea case reopened for further investigation following requests from the defence lawyers of Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun, the two men convicted in the gunning down of the former head of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions in 2004.

Speaking at the court, Chea Mony, Chea Vichea's brother and president of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said he remained convinced the government was behind the killing.

"I maintain my stance from the beginning and acknowledge that [Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun] were fake killers, and I urge the court to find the real killers" he said. "I am ready to take responsibility and dare to be imprisoned for my conclusion about my brother's murder case, which is that the government prepared a plan to kill my brother."

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IF THE MINISTRY ... SUES CHEA MONY,THAT IS A SERIOUS HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.
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Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, accused Chea Mony of publishing disinformation, warning that any allegations of government impropriety would be met with the full force of the law. "If Chea Mony accuses the government of being behind [the killing] without any evidence, we will file a complaint, and Chea Mony will have to face the law," the newspaper Deum Ampil quoted him as saying.

Khieu Sopheak could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, but Chea Mony said he was not intimidated by the ministry's threats and would welcome a jail sentence if it could be proved that he had broken the law. "I'm not worried at all", he told the Post. "It is the ministry's right to sue me if I break the law. That is its right, its freedom."

Human rights groups condemned the ministry's threat as "unjust", not least because the investigation into Chea Vichea's death is still ongoing.

"The government should fulfil its obligation to investigate the killing before it sues anyone," said Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

Chan Soveth, a programme officer with the rights group Adhoc, attended Monday's hearing and said Tuesday that Chea Mony's allegations were based on the absence of any concrete evidence linking Born Samnang and Sok Sam Oeun to the murder, and did not warrant a lawsuit. "If the Ministry of Interior sues Chea Mony, that is a serious human rights violation," he said.

Meanwhile, the UN called for Born Samnang and Sok Sam Ouen to be acquitted. In a statement released to the press Tuesday, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation welcomed the court's decision to reopen the case and said all charges against the two men should be dropped.

"It now seems beyond doubt that there is insufficient evidence to maintain the charges against Born Samnang and Sok Sam Ouen," the statement read. "The two men's earlier conviction for the murder had been heavily criticised for its reliance on a retracted confession obtained under duress, for the lack of concrete evidence against the men and for disregarding witness testimony indicating that the men could not have committed the crime. The charges against the men should now be dropped, allowing the police to resume the search for those really responsible for shooting Chea Vichea in January 2004."

Hearing postponed on Mu Sochua's absence

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Meas Sokchea

THE Court of Appeal on Tuesday postponed a hearing on the dismissal of parliamentarian Mu Sochua's lawsuit against Prime Minister Hun Sen due to her absence from the court.

The Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker was summoned to appear in court Tuesday by Prosecutor General Ouk Savuth after she contested a Municipal Court decision last month rejecting her lawsuit against Hun Sen, who later successfully countersued her for defamation.

Mu Sochua sued Hun Sen following comments he made in an April speech in Kampot that she said defamed her.

Sam Rainsy Party spokesman Yim Sovann said he had not received confirmation of the postponement of Mu Sochua's case, but that she sent a letter to Ouk Savuth on August 5 requesting that the hearing be delayed because she was due to visit the United States for medical treatment.

The parliamentarian, who represents Kampot province, is scheduled to return from the US on September 20. Ouk Savuth could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Thai letter apologises for breach of airspace

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Vong Sokheng and Thet Sambath

THE commander of Thailand's Chanthaburi-Trat airbase has written a letter of apology to the Cambodian government for repeated Thai violations of Cambodian airspace in Pailin province last week.

General Bun Seng, commander of Cambodian Military Region 5, told the Post that in a letter dated Friday, the Thai commander, whom he did not name, apologised for the repeated incursions of Thai aircraft, some flying as far as 30 kilometres into Cambodian territory.

The letter explained that Thai jets were monitoring forests in Thai territory but strayed into Cambodian territory when bad weather caused the planes' navigation systems to malfunction.

"We accepted the letter of apology by the Thai military ... but we have warned Thailand's airbase that we will not take responsibility for a second repeated airspace violation," he said.

"We have air defence systems to fight against aircraft."

He said that Thai military jets were often reported to have strayed into Cambodian airspace, but that the incursions had often taken place over disputed borders.

"This is the first time they have flown so far into Cambodian territory," he added.

Koy Kuong, spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said he accepted the apology but seconded Bun Seng's warning that Cambodia reserved the right to defend its borders against foreign incursions.

"If they violate Cambodian airspace a second time, it will be dangerous, and the Cambodian government will utilise its right to defend its airspace and sovereignty," he said.

-21 victims 'martyrs': civil party

Photo by: Robbie Corey-Boulet
A photo of Raingsi Tioulong shown Tuesday at the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Robbie Corey Boulet

THE daughter of former prime minister Nhiek Tioulong told the Khmer Rouge tribunal Tuesday that the death of her sister and brother-in-law devastated her father, who she said was "completely caught off guard" by the fact that he couldn't save his daughter.

Antonya Tioulong, 56, one of four civil parties to testify Tuesday, said her sister Raingsi remained in Phnom Penh even after Lon Nol decreed in 1970 that the family should leave because of her father's close ties to Norodom Sihanouk.

Raingsi and her husband, Lim Kimari, remained in touch with the family in France until the Khmer Rouge takeover. In a letter dated March 28, 1975, Raingsi wrote to her father asking whether she should flee. That was the last letter her father received.

The family heard nothing until after the fall of the regime, when a cousin who survived reported having met a man who manufactured shackles at Tuol Sleng. The man said he had seen Raingsi's confession and photograph there.

"You know, Mr President, what is haunting us?" Antonya said to Trial Chamber President Nil Nonn. "It is that during this entire time that they were still alive, they must've been asking us why they were not being helped by their family."

Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, said he did not know whether Raingsi, who Antonya said was detained in late 1975 and executed in the spring of 1976, had been singled out for particularly brutal torture, noting that her confession had already been completed by the time he became chairman.

Antonya, the sister-in-law of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, ruled out forgiving the accused.

"It is not enough to say 'I'm sorry' to gain absolution. A sentence must be handed down," she said. "His victims were martyrs and suffered as such, and so never, never will I forgive him."

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Reforms are weak: Report

Anti-corruption reforms for Cambodia's war crimes court announced last week by the government and the UN are inadequate, according to a report by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI), a US-based legal watchdog. Released on Monday, the OSJI report argued that reforms, including the appointment of an independent corruption monitor, do not go far enough in establishing channels for the reporting and investigation of complaints. "The agreement to create the independent counsellor is a good first step in the process of creating an adequate anti-corruption mechanism at the court, but much more work remains," James Goldston, executive director of OSJI, said in a statement. The report registered particular concern about the tribunal's lack of protections for corruption witnesses, its failure to pursue previous allegations and the lack of accountability of the independent official, and called on foreign donors to pressure the tribunal on these issues.

JAMES O'TOOLE

The world's first genocide trial, 30 years on

Photo by: Documentation Centre of Cambodia
The People’s Revolutionary Tribunal tried Pol Pot and Ieng Sary in absentia in Phnom Penh in August 1979.

1979: ANATOMY OF A WEAK DEFENCE

In their Getting Away with Genocide?: Elusive Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Tom Fawthrop and Helen Jarvis write that the ineffective defence did much to undermine the legitimacy of the PRT. "The defence lawyers tamely accepted all the crimes of which the accused were charged and made virtually no cross-examination of witnesses, even though this right was specifically enumerated beforehand. The defence should have been as good as possible and still resulted in a conviction." Speaking at the time of the trial, US defence lawyer Hope R Stevens said: "It is now clear to all that Pol Pot and Ieng Sary are monstrous, mad criminals who have carried out a programme drawn up for them by people elsewhere. Consequently ... you have to try not only Pol Pot and Ieng Sary and their agents and subordinates, but also ... the masterminds of world imperialism; the profiteers of neo-colonialism; the fascist philosophers; the hegemonists who support Zionism; racism; apartheid; the reactionary regimes in the world.

All these must come here, together with the leaders of China's fake socialism, to hear the verdict pronounced by this tribunal." Yuos Por, a Cambodian defence lawyer, echoed the sentiment: "Behind the defendants are unacknowledged forces that incited; encouraged; pressured and protected them. These unacknowledged forces, despite all their efforts to conceal themselves, have shown their ugly face on the immense crime scene that is our country. This criminal, this highly dangerous abettor, is a mystery to no one. It is the hegemonist expansionists of Peking." A Far Eastern Economic Review article said the presence of defence lawyers amounted to "judicial cosmetics".

Yhe Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Robbie Corey Boulet

Proceedings at the People's Revolutionary Tribunal were initially disregarded as a show trial, but scholars point out that developments there weren't without meaning and historical value.

THIRTY years ago today, a tribunal in Phnom Penh sentenced former Khmer Rouge leaders Pol Pot and Ieng Sary to death in absentia for crimes committed by the communist regime.

The tribunal was staffed by both Cambodian and international lawyers. Transcripts of the proceedings were made available in Khmer, French and English. As they testified, witnesses frequently broke down in tears as they recounted the horrific experiences they endured while serving Pol Pot and his vision of an agricultural utopia.

If that sounds familiar, it's worth noting the many differences between the 1979 People's Revolutionary Tribunal (PRT) and the ongoing Khmer Rouge tribunal (KRT), before which Ieng Sary, the regime's foreign affairs minister, is expected to soon face allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

For one, there are the charges. The only charge brought by the PRT against Pol Pot and Ieng Sary was that of genocide, a charge that has not been levied against any of the five suspects at the KRT.

Another crucial difference lies in the international community's perception of the two courts. The KRT has the backing of the UN, whereas the PRT, coming just seven months after the January 1979 "invasion" of Cambodia by Vietnam, was dismissed by most Western governments as a "show trial".

In recent interviews, however, several experts said the tendency to view the PRT as an empty exercise was perhaps misguided.

"While the tribunal clearly was not in accordance with the rule of law, it cannot simply be dismissed as a show trial," said Alex Laban Hinton, associate professor of anthropology at Rutgers University and author of Why Did They Kill? Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide (2004).

"It was a first step towards helping the people heal and towards re-establishing a judiciary that had vanished during Democratic Kampuchea," he said. "Like it or not, it was also the world's first genocide tribunal."

Selective prosecutions
There are several explanations as to why the tribunal focused only on Pol Pot and Ieng Sary. Historian David Chandler notes that the two men, who were believed to have been in Thailand during the trial, had been "identified as villains in earlier Vietnamese propaganda".

In their 2004 book Getting Away with Genocide?: Elusive Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal, Tom Fawthrop and Helen Jarvis wrote that officials in the new Heng Samrin government were hoping for defections from other Khmer Rouge leaders, including Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, both of whom now await trial at the KRT.

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WITNESSES AND OBSERVERS ALIKE FREQUENTLY BROKE INTO TEARS AS THE HORRORS... WERE RECOUNTED IN GRAPHIC DETAIL.
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Though Pol Pot and Ieng Sary were tried in absentia, Fawthrop and Jarvis note that the atmosphere inside Chaktomuk Theatre was still "highly charged".

"Witnesses and observers alike frequently broke into tears as the horrors they had survived were recounted in graphic detail," they wrote.

The court heard testimony from 39 witnesses over five days.

An account from the Far Eastern Economic Review describes the proceedings as "little more than a legal re-run of horror stories similar to those recounted by tens of thousands of refugees fleeing Kampuchea during Pol Pot's three-and-a-half-year reign".

The verdict, handed down on August 19, found the two leaders guilty of genocide, sentenced them to death and ordered the confiscation of their property. It was a verdict that was never carried out.

Ieng Sary, now 83, was granted a royal pardon by King Norodom Sihanouk in 1996 in exchange for his defection to the government.

Pol Pot died of apparent heart failure in 1998, shortly after it was announced the Khmer Rouge had agreed to turn him over to an international tribunal.

Domestic concerns
By many accounts, the 1979 People's Revolutionary Tribunal had three goals: to punish the Khmer Rouge, to grant domestic legitimacy to the Heng Samrin government and to defend the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia to the international community.

Elizabeth Becker, a US journalist, interviewed Pol Pot shortly before the fall of the regime and later chronicled her experiences in her book When the War Was Over.

She said the PRT did little to sway international opinion, but Hinton said other nations may have been the government's least crucial targets.

"While the Heng Samrin government was clearly interested in gaining international legitimacy through the trial, they were probably more concerned about issues of domestic legitimacy and, it should be noted, providing a sense of redress for Cambodians who had endured such suffering," he told the Post.

Sesan II dam report cites impact fears

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Sam Rith and Sebastian Strangio

A HYDROPOWER dam slated for construction on the Sesan River in Stung Treng province could trigger "highly significant" social and environmental impacts if measures are not taken to mitigate its effects, according to an environmental impact assessment of the project.

The 179-page report warns that the US$816 million Lower Sesan II dam, scheduled to begin construction next year, could affect thousands of villagers living along the river.

"The project will cause some significant environmental and social impacts which must be balanced against the economic benefits of the project," the report states.

According to the study, conducted by Key Consultants Cambodia and Vietnam's Power Engineering Consulting Joint-Stock Company 1, the 480-megawatt dam will force the relocation of 4,785 people and lead to the destruction of 30,000 hectares of forest.

It is also likely to trigger changes in hydrology and water quality, and cut off access to migratory fish for thousands more people living along the Sesan.

Cosmetic consultations
Environmentalists have raised questions about the report, claiming residents still have not received sufficient information about the project.

"The company did not consult with communities upstream and downstream [from the dam], especially in Ratanakkiri," said Meach Mean, provincial coordinator for the 3S Rivers Protection Network.

Affected residents said they were not consulted about the report and continued to express concerns about the Lower Sesan II project.

"We do not want it to be built because we are concerned about losing our land for living, farming and planting rice," said Beang Teang, who represents 337 families in Sesan district's Sre Kor village.

Huon Kalib, a representative for four districts in Ratanakkiri, expressed concerns that the new dam would create problems similar to those produced by the 720-megawatt Yali Falls dam on the river in Vietnam.

"We are very concerned to be caught between the Yali [Falls] and Sesan dams," he said, adding that past water surges had swept away rice paddies, cattle and several villagers.

Carl Middleton, Mekong programme coordinator of International Rivers, a US-based advocacy group, said the high-risk nature of dam projects necessitated a close working relationship with local communities.

"This public acceptance can only be built through meaningful public participation in a decision-making process that explores a selection of options - including the "no-project" option," he said by email.

Prach Sun, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Environment, said the EIA had yet to be approved, and that inter-ministerial investigations were under way, including meetings with local residents.

"[We] are still checking the impacts on national fish resources, the environment, flooding and other impacts," he said, but did not say when a final decision would be made.

Lakeside residents continue protest

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Families from Boeung Kak lake’s Village 2 and Village 4 protest Tuesday in front of City Hall in Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
May Titthara

ABOUT 40 residents of Boeung Kak lake's Village 2 and Village 4 held protests in front of City Hall on Tuesday, requesting that they be allowed to stay at the lakeside temporarily while on-site replacement housing is being constructed for them.

Most of the families in the two villages have agreed to make way for a private housing and commercial development in the area, but have rejected officials' demands that they wait at Trapaing Anchanh relocation site, around 20 kilometres from the city.

"We will protest every day in front of City Hall to ask the authorities to help us live temporarily in our own area," resident Pol Toris said, adding that the Trapaing Anchanh site lacks access to schools and health facilities.

City officials have given residents until Sunday to relocate, warning that they will face "administrative measures" if they remain past the deadline and disavowing responsibility for any damage to residents' property that might result.

Despite the looming deadline, Pol Toris said residents were standing firm and pledged to remain at the site.

"If the deadline arrives, I will stay in my house and I will let them tear [it] down," he said.

"I would rather die in our place than move to Trapaing Anchanh."

Sia Pheareum, secretariat director of the Housing Rights Task Force, said that the move to the outskirts of the city would make life extremely difficult for Village 2 and Village 4 residents, cutting them off from the livelihoods they currently enjoy in the city centre.

"City Hall should find a middle way. If they evict people from the community, it will affect the government's policy of fighting poverty and will increase the number of poor people," he said.

Sok Penh Vuth, deputy governor of Daun Penh district, said he has had no dealings with the residents, but stood ready to implement "administrative measures" if the villagers stay past Sunday's deadline.

Families have been leaving the Boeung Kak lakeside since last August, when little-known developer Shukaku Inc began filling the lake with sand.

Over 4,000 families are expected to move to make way for the project.

'General' charged with fraud, forgery

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Chrann Chamroeun

A CON man posing as a two-star general serving in Prime Minister Hun Sen's bodyguard unit has been charged with fraud, forgery of public documents and using illegal weapons, police officials said.

Mok Chito, head of the Interior Ministry's Criminal Police, said Meng Sarith, alias Moeung, 42, was arrested on Saturday after being called in for questioning by police.

"We brought him for interrogation from his home in Russey Keo district's Chroy Changvar commune after receiving several complaints from victims for his alleged fraud and forgery of public documents," he said.

"After questioning him, we realised that he was a fraudster who [had posed] as a government councillor and had fake identification cards pretending to be Hun Sen's bodyguard."

Mok Chito cited one victim's complaint that Meng Sarith cheated him of US$4,500 after promising to use his "influence" as the prime minister's bodyguard to free the victim's imprisoned brother from Siem Reap provincial prison, just one of several complaints made against the man.

Meng Sarith is now in Prey Sar prison awaiting trial, he said.

KCF head laments government snub

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Chrann Chamroeun

Moeung Sonn says he has received no response to letters apologising for Angkor Wat lighting remarks.

KHMER Civilisation Foundation head Moeung Sonn says he has received no response from letters of apology he sent to Prime Minister Hun Sen and King Norodom Sihamoni last month, seeking to overturn a disinformation conviction relating to criticisms of a new lighting scheme at Angkor Wat.

On July 14, Phnom Penh Municipal Court convicted Moeung Sonn of disinformation in absentia, sentencing him to two years in prison and ordering him to pay 15 million riels (US$3,627) in fines and compensation.

"Until now, I have not received any letters of response from any government officials, which makes me deeply concerned," Moeung Sonn said in a statement issued from France on Sunday.

Shortly after being charged in late June, Moeung Sonn fled to France. In an interview by phone then, he said, ""If I had not left Cambodia shortly after [being charged], I would have been arrested and detained with a court warrant because the government was terribly angry with me."

Moeung Sonn sent letters to Hun Sen and King Sihamoni on July 17, apologising for comments made in late May, when he suggested that the heat from a new lighting scheme at Angkor Wat could damage the 11th-century temple.

"Please Samdech, consider providing justice and freeing me from the charges in order to pave the way for me to return to my beloved homeland safely," Moeung Sonn wrote in his letter to Hun Sen.

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I HAD NO INTENTION OF INCITING CONFUSIONS ABOUT GOVERNMENT POLICY.
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Moeung Sonn's apologies came after former Sam Rainsy Party lawyer Kong Sam Onn and Dam Sith, publisher of the opposition-aligned Moneaksekar Khmer newspaper, both wrote personal apologies to the prime minister after being sued for defamation by government officials.

Both saw the charges against them dropped.

However, legal experts told the Post last month that since he has been convicted on disinformation charges already, only a royal pardon from King Norodom Sihamoni would be able to clear him of the charges.

In his statement on Sunday, Moeung Sonn reiterated that his comments were only "to express my concerns as a Cambodian citizen", and that his only aim was to protect the country's cultural heritage.

"I had no intention of inciting confusions about government policy," he said.

Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said Tuesday he did not wish to comment, but Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said that for the prime minister to intervene and lift Moeung Sonn's charges would go against the court's ruling and violate its jurisdiction.

"Moeung Sonn already played a game with the government, so if Prime Minister Hun Sen makes the decision to excuse him he would be trapped" he said.

Report shows petty crime up this year; violent crime down

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Chhay Channyda

REPORTS of crime increased during the first six months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, according to the National Police.

The total number of crimes reported in the Kingdom rose from 1,410 in the first half of 2008 to 1,678 this year. The most common offences remain minor crimes such as bag-snatching, theft and violence, the majority of which were committed in public places and tourist hot spots.

Kirt Chantharith, spokesman for the National Police, blamed the overall increase on a surge in minor crime from 872 incidents in the first half of last year to 1,144 in 2009 through June. The number of people injured during these incidents had also risen from 422 to 492, he told the Post on Tuesday.

The number of serious crimes, meanwhile, has fallen from 278 to 238. "Although the total number of crimes has increased, serious crime has decreased because of a drop in the number of armed robberies," Kiet Chantharith said. The National Police attributed the reduction to round-the-clock police patrols in communes.

Crackdowns on gangster activity are now being incorporated into police plans, Kirt Chantharith said, because gangsters tend to congregate in public places, prompting unrest. "We are following recent directives from Prime Minister Hun Sen and the Ministry of Interior to crack down on gangsters and re-educate them," he said. "We want them to become good people."

In Phnom Penh, the authorities have made a concerted effort to curtail boisterous behaviour among youths. "We raid groups of gangsters who sit in the park, drinking at night," said Sok Penh Vuth, deputy governor of Daun Penh district in Phnom Penh.

"They drink and make noise, which creates disorder and makes people feel insecure in public areas," he said, noting that such gatherings often culminated in criminal activity.

On Saturday and Sunday, police in Daun Penh and Chamkarmon district detained 248 youngsters on suspicion of gang-related activity, Penh Vuth said.

First arrests result in a caution, but the penalty for second offences is more severe. Anyone caught a second time would be held by police until their parents signed a document and agreed to curtail their child's anti-social behaviour, Penh Vuth said.

VN to help draft construction laws

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Khouth Sophakchakrya

THE Vietnamese government is to help Cambodian officials draft construction laws and create master plans for the development of two provinces, Nonn Pheany, spokesperson of the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction said Tuesday.

According to a memorandum of understanding signed Friday by both countries' ministries of land management, she said, Vietnam will help Cambodia draft laws to replace the current building regulations, arrange exchanges of architecture students and create a construction master plan for two provinces, which are still to be selected.

"Currently, we are researching French construction laws, but we have had problems translating the documents from French to Khmer," she said.

She added that Vietnam is currently drafting a construction law of its own and that Vietnamese experts would be sent to help Cambodia.

Border zone offers tax break

Photo by: NATHAN GREEN
Farmers work their fields near Phnom Penh. Ministry of Commerce Secretary of State Mao Thora says agricultural exports are a key way to address the trade imbalance with Vietnam.

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
May Kunmakara

Cambodian businesses that set up in new economic zone on Vietnam’s side of border will receive three-year holiday on import-export taxes, official says

Anew special economic zone on the Vietnam side of the border with Cambodia is offering businesses a three-year holiday on import-export duties to set up operations.

Lam Minh Chieu, chairman of the An Giang Provincial People's Committee, where the Tinh Bien Border Gate Economic Zone is situated, said Tuesday the zone was part of an effort to drive trade between the two countries to more than US$2 billion annually by the end of 2010.

"Both sides will be able to sell products across the border free of tax for three years from 2009 to 2012," he told a press conference in Phnom Penh.

"I firmly believe this new economic zone will enhance trade volume of both sides to reach more than $2 billion by 2010."

Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth $637 million in the first half of 2009, according to figures from the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh, down 29 percent from $900 million for the corresponding period a year earlier.

Of that, Cambodia exports to Vietnam were worth $95 million, down from $123.5 in the first six months of 2008.

Embassy commercial councillor Le Bien Cuong said in a recent interview that he expected bilateral trade to reach $1.45 billion by the end of 2009.

Lam Minh Chieu said nearly 70 percent of trade between the two countries took place across three border gate economic zones connecting Vietnam's An Giang province with Takeo and Kandal provinces in Cambodia.

"Although trade has dropped around 30 percent [through the province] in the first half year of the year, I think that our trade exchange will reach $1 billion by the end of this year."

Tinh Bien Border Gate Economic Zone covers 10 hectares and is about 120 kilometres from Phnom Penh.

The other zones in the province are Khanh Binh and Vin Xuo'ng.

Learning opportunity
Mao Thora, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said the owners of Cambodia's special economic zones needed to learn from their Vietnamese counterparts.

"We should exchange experience with Vietnam about how to manage, handle taxes and attract investors, and the ministry urges them to do so."

Cambodia has 21 registered special economic zones, only about six of which are operational.

The ministry was working hard to boost exports of the country's agricultural products to Vietnam to help even out the trade imbalance, Mao Thora said.

"[We] are working hard with the Ministry of Agriculture to export cassava, corn, rubber, rice and cashew nuts to Vietnam," he said. "Last year we sold around 1 million tonnes of unmilled rice to them."

Than The Hanh, the director of the Phnom Penh branch of Vietnamese bank Sacombank, said the bank was offering loans to Cambodian traders looking to set up in the zone.

"If we see that their business gains a high profit and has an effective business performance, we will offer them the loan even if they don't cooperate with Vietnamese businessmen," he said.

MoneyGram, ABA tie up to offer money transfers

Photo by: NATHAN GREEN
A new partnership with global money transfer giant MoneyGram is part of Advanced Bank of Asia's efforts to diversify and provide a full range of services, Chief Marketing Officer Adel Legarta says.

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Nguon Sovan and Nathan Green

Deal makes mid-sized lender the global firm's third Cambodia agent

Advanced Bank of Asia launched global money transfer services Monday through a tie-up with New York-listed MoneyGram International, the mid-sized lender's chief marketing officer said Tuesday.

Adel Legarta said the service would be available at all of the bank's seven branches - five in Phnom Penh and one each in Battambang and Siem Reap. An eighth branch will open in Phnom Penh this month.

She declined to predict demand for the service, but said MoneyGram had given the bank the "go-ahead signal" because there was "huge demand" in Cambodia.

"We will try our best to promote the service and we'll see from there, she said. "Nothing is impossible if you advertise."

In an email from Hong Kong Tuesday, MoneyGram Regional Marketing Manager Sabrina Chan also declined to release remittances figures.

The bank,which is majority owned by Kazakhstan-based private equity firm Visor Group, also has a long-standing tie-up with Philippine bank DBP allowing the Filipino community in Cambodia to send money home via bank remittances.

The deal gives MoneyGram three Cambodian agents, having already tied up with Canadia Bank and Cambodia Commercial Bank. Rival global money transfer firm Western Union also operates in Cambodia through ACLEDA Bank, Singapore Banking Corporation and Cambodia Asia Bank.

ACLEDA Executive Vice President So Phonnary said $41.2 million was transferred into Cambodia last year through ACLEDA-linked Western Union branches and $10.2 million out. In the first seven months of this year, $26.8 million was transferred in and $6.3 million out.

Legarta said the partnership was part of the bank's efforts to diversify and provide a full range of services.

Trade law opens door for ASEAN

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Chun Sophal

Measure seen as step towards lifting agricultural tax barriers

The National Assembly approved a law Tuesday paving the way for the Cambodian government to negotiate with fellow ASEAN countries to lift trade barriers on agricultural products.

Ministry of Economy and Finance Secretary of State Kong Vibol pledged that the ministry would intensify its trade negotiations with member countries following the passage of the ASEAN goods trade law.

"We hope that Cambodia will gain a lot of benefit from this legislation after all ASEAN countries remove tax barriers," he said.

The ministry aims to have removed all tax barriers on products imported from the 10 ASEAN members, aside from 61 strategic products, including pigs, chicken, ducks, cows, horses, meat, vegetables and fruit. These will be taxed at 5 percent.

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We hope that Cambodia will gain a lot of benefit from this legislation.
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Uy Sambath, director of the ministry's department for economic integration into ASEAN, said the law was a necessary step for Cambodia to become part of a single ASEAN market and production base, as set out in the ASEAN Charter and the Declaration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint, which was signed by leaders of the ten member countries on November 20, 2007, in Singapore.

The blueprint calls for a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development and a region fully integrated into the global economy.

The AEC calls for a free flow of goods, services, investments and skilled labour, and a freer flow of capital, with equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socioeconomic disparities by 2015.

More work needed
Uy Sambath said the new law was just a starting point. "I think that Cambodia will add more trade preferences into the law so that the cost of its trade with other ASEAN nations will decrease and customs will be able to make transportation of goods easier and faster," he said.

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Cambodia already lagged behind its neighbours countries in terms of exports of agricultural products, and that the removal of taxes could make matters worse if the country is not prepared.

"The government must conduct a study to help Cambodian farmers, because in 2018 the Kingdom will remove all tax barriers," he said.

Big plans for a small radish entrepreneur

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Kandal province businesswoman Vouch Lim hopes to take her dried radishes on the global market.

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We don't currently have the resources to export our products abroad, but that's our long-term goal.
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The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Soeun Say

Dried Radish Lim Enterprise hopes its local delicacy will eventually turn into a popular export

Kandal province - Vouch Lim, a young Kandal businesswoman, credits her family with steering her towards an unlikely career that has nonetheless given her independence and a steady income.

"My parents told me that making dried radishes was an easy way to make money and to create a life for myself," she said, adding that she would benefit from the more than 15 years that she had studied the trade under her parents' guidance.

The 25-year-old took that advice and founded a small business, Dried Radish Lim Enterprise, in 2008, after being married a year. Her aim was to target local demand by supplying small community markets.

She invested about US$8,000 to establish the business in Prek Kouy commune, Kandal province, about 20 kilometres from the Vietnamese border.

After a year in the trade, Vouch Lim says business is good, but that it requires a great deal of energy and planning.

"If you are lazy or careless with your business, you will lose clients, and in order to succeed, you have to be able to find new markets for your product," she said.

One obstacle, she notes, is technical innovation. "We are still trying to learn how to improve the shelf life of our products," Vouch Lim said, adding that she has made some progress but continues to research the subject.

Small beginnings
The business began small and remains so, with only five employees covering purchasing, production, research and sales, she said.

Staff earn between 100,000 riels and 150,000 riels (about $24 to $36) per month, depending on experience.

But Vouch Lim's plans include expanding her factory and adding employees in order to better serve her clients and expand distribution of her products.

The factory currently requires three to four tonnes of raw radishes to satisfy her clients, Vouch Lim said.

They are sourced principally from Cambodian farmers in Takeo and Kampong Cham provinces at a cost of between 1,400 and 1,500 riels per kilogram.

Her factory produces both sweet and salty varieties of dried radish, and the company sells between 2,500 and 3,000 kilograms each day on average, bringing in anywhere from $2,500 to $5,000 per month in net profits.

Clients of Dried Radish Lim Enterprise come from as far afield as Phnom Penh, Prey Veng, Preah Sihanouk and Siem Reap provinces.

"Dried radish is a favourite among Cambodians. Many people buy them because they are a healthy thing to eat.

"Others buy them as gifts for friends or family, and foreigners often purchase them to take to their home countries," Vouch Lim said.

It is the foreign market, she said, that the company hopes to target over the next few years as she attempts to expand operations.

Despite the popularity of dried radishes, there has not been enough demand in the local market to support the company's aspirations.

"We don't currently have the resources to export our products abroad, but that's our long-term goal," she said.

New campus faces wreckers if found dwarfing Palace

Photo by: Sovan Philong
Pannasastra University of Cambodia’s new campus on Sothearos Boulevard faces the wrecking ball if it is found to be in breach of Phnom Penh height restrictions.

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We are checking ... and if they have done no wrong ... they will be fine.
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The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Mom Kunthear

Ministry of Construction officials to rule if Pannasastra University building exceeds capital’s height restrictions of 30m in vicinity of Royal compound

A newly constructed 10-storey building opposite the Hotel Cambodiana faces destruction if found in violation of height restrictions.

The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction was investigating the building to determine if it breached planning rules limiting buildings in the vicinity of the Royal Palace to 30 metres tall, a ministry spokesperson said.

"If it has violated this rule, it has to be destroyed," Nonn Pheany said, although she conceded that the owner may simply be asked to reduce its height to less than 30 metres if it is found in breach.

"We are checking the technical specifications, and if they have done no wrong according to those conditions, they will be fine."

The structure was built to house a new Pannasastra University of Cambodia (PUC) campus, Nonn Pheany said. The Post understands the building was due to be officially opened on September 5.

The building's owner, Tong Seng, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Daun Penh district Deputy Governor Sok Penhvuth said Tuesday he had warned the owner of the building that his initial plans were in violation of the rules.

"After that, they told us that they had developed a plan to improve the building's aesthetics and sent it to the Phnom Penh construction department, so it is not our problem," he said.

Not received
Sin Bormei, deputy director of the Phnom Penh Municipal Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction Department, said the plans were not received.

"All I know is that construction activity on the new university building stopped at one stage temporarily, but I did not receive any document to improve the beauty of the building," he said.

Nonn Pheany said that the ministry would question lower-level officials from Phnom Penh's municipal construction department as to why they allowed the building to be erected in violation of ministry guidelines.

An assistant to Kol Pheng, PUC's general director, said Tuesday he was teaching and was not available for comment.