Villagers critical of Apsara Authority

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:03 Rann Reuy

Siem Reap Province

VILLAGERS in Kork Chak commune plan to submit a petition requesting Prime Minister Hun Sen’s intervention after officials from the Apsara Authority tore down a house officials said had been built in a “protected area”, in part of what they call a broader effort to crack down on illegal construction.

Lim Enghav, a 36-year-old Military Police officer and owner of the dismantled house, said the petition contained nearly 200 thumb prints and would be sent to the premier’s cabinet today. He said he hoped Hun Sen would protect villagers’ rights to build new homes, as well as additions to existing ones. He had just finished his 20-square-metre corrugated tin home – which was torn down on Sunday by around 30 people – last Friday. “It is like robbery,” he said.

Bun Narith, director general of the Apsara Authority, which manages the Angkor temple complex, said the homes were located in a protected area, and that the organisation had already instructed them not to build new homes or additions.

“In general, we are doing this only for illegal houses,” he said. “And before we tear down homes, we ask the villagers to move their illegal constructions. If they do not listen, then this is the last stage.”

Kork Chak commune chief Seng Suth confirmed Apsara had ramped up enforcement, but several Veal village residents said the regulations were too restrictive. Tom Voeun, 57, said: “I thumb-printed this petition to support the right for people to build small houses to live in. If they do not allow people to construct homes, where will people sleep?”

New charges for traffic gunwoman

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Khay Dara is escorted by an official from the Court of Appeal, where her conviction for reckless endangerment and illegal possession of a weapon was upheld last month.

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:03 Chrann Chamroeun

AUTHORITIES in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district have filed new complaints against a woman who was imprisoned last month after firing a gun during a traffic incident, accusing her of intent to kill and trespassing on private property, officials said Wednesday.

Men Heng Tith, deputy chief of Meanchey district police, confirmed Wednesday that police were requesting investigations into the two additional charges against Khay Dara, 30, following an incident on September 28 in which she fired a gun into the air after a Honda CR-V sport utility vehicle cut across her lane of traffic, triggering a four-hour standoff with police.

On September 30, Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced her to 18 months in prison and fined her 1 million riels (US$240) on charges of reckless endangerment and illegal possession of a weapon.

In an attempt to avoid arrest, Khay Dara had falsely claimed she was an adviser to National Assembly President Heng Samrin, the niece of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and an acquaintance of National Police Commissioner Neth Savoeun.

Men Heng Tith said the two additional complaints were lodged with the court last week in relation to Khay Dara’s invasion of a clinic owned by the other driver during the dispute.

“I lodged two complaints against Khay Dara … [accusing her] of premeditated murder and violation of a person’s house at night without permission,” he said.

Rambunctious relatives

The new complaints came after Prime Minister Hun Sen highlighted Khay Dara’s case in a speech on October 27, describing her sentence as “light” and calling on authorities to impose additional charges for her reckless outburst. He also warned government officials to rein in rambunctious family members who use their influence to avoid the law.

“The culture of intervening in favour of [gangsters] should be eliminated,” Hun Sen said.

“I would like to state publicly that even if my children were gangsters, [the court should] put them in jail, and I would take rice to them at Prey Sar prison.” The next day, the Appeal Court rejected Khay Dara’s appeal.

Khay Dara’s defence lawyer Luong Sokha had not heard of the new complaints when contacted Wednesday.

Following Hun Sen’s speech, Khay Dara’s husband, Hang Mong Heng, wrote a letter of apology to Phnom Penh Governor Kep Chuktema and other local officials, apologising for his wife’s mistakes and calling her a “good and gentle” woman.

“I apologise for my wife’s behaviour before the local authorities, journalists and public and accept the court’s conviction,” he said in the letter, dated Friday.

The letter also rebuts a letter sent by Hang Mong Heng to the governor on October 2, accusing local journalists of trying to extort thousands of dollars from Khay Dara in order to keep the story out of the press.

Govt to ask Moscow to forgive Soviet-era debt

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:02 Khouth Sophakchakrya

NATIONAL Assembly President Heng Samrin is to urge the Russian government to cancel US$1.5 billion worth of Soviet-era debt during an upcoming visit to the country, officials said.

Heng Samrin, who will visit Moscow and St Petersburg during his November 4-10 visit, is expected to meet with Sergey Mironov, chairman of the Russian federation council’s federal assembly.

CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said Heng Samrin plans to request the cancellation of loans used for the purchase of weapons during the 1980s. Cambodia requested debt-cancellation from Russia in 2006 and 2008, but was unsuccessful both times.

“We don’t want to remind them again, but we do not need to pay back the loan because we borrowed the money from the ex-Soviet Union [which no longer exists],” said Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodia Independent Teachers Association, said that cancellation of the debt would benefit every Cambodian.

“Currently, each person in Cambodia has at least $2,000 of debt,” he said.

Cheam Yeap said that Heng Samrin will also try to encourage more Russian investors to do business in Cambodia and will present a medal to Sergey Mironov for promoting friendship ties between the parliaments of Cambodia and Russia. In 2008, Mironov invited Cambodian

parliamentarians to visit Russia for a cultural exchange tour.

Teen accused of rape, murder of 12-year-old

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:02 Chhay Channyda

A BATTAMBANG teenager stands accused of raping a 12-year-old girl from his own village before leaving her to drown in a water canal, court officials said Wednesday.

Phat Seng, 17, was charged with murder Tuesday, said deputy prosecutor Uy Samphea.

The parents of victim Pheng Phalla found her body Sunday lying in a shallow water canal 3 kilometres away from their home in Toul Snuol village, said Mong Russei district police Chief Kith Hean.

Investigators say they believe the girl was tending cattle in a rice field with her two brothers on Saturday before she was attacked. It is alleged that Phat Seng lured the victim’s brothers away by offering them 500 riels (US$0.12) to buy snacks.

Police say that Phat Seng then raped Pheng Phalla before throwing her body into a metre-deep canal, where she drowned.

Krouch Chan Pov, provincial monitor for human rights group Adhoc, said Wednesday that child rape in rural areas is a pressing concern.

“Parents like to allow their female children to go out alone,” she said. “It gives a chance for bad people take advantage of victims.”

If found guilty, Phat Seng faces a prison sentence of 15 to 20 years.

Water Festival comes to close

Photo by: Heng Chivoan/Sovan Philong

Left, a worker dismantles a light boat, which illuminated the river during this year’s Water Festival. Right, a woman’s head is silhouetted against the dazzling display.

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:02 May Titthara and Kim Yuthana

A sense of normality returned to the streets of Phnom Penh on Wednesday following the conclusion of the Water Festival as officials credited tight traffic controls in and outside the capital with holding traffic accidents to a minimum.

The municipality enforced a 10am-to-10pm no-vehicle zone encircling the main staging area of the three-day festival, as well as blockades outside the city to limit incoming traffic.

National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith said stricter traffic controls created a drop in road accidents Kingdomwide.

“During the Water Festival, there were 68 traffic accidents across Cambodia,” he said, adding that the numbers were marginally lower than last year, though he was unable to provide exact figures.

Restricted traffic zones, however, created snarls in surrounding neighbourhoods, where slow-moving tuk-tuks, motorbikes, cars and countryside trucks brimming with goods and people clogged the city’s major boulevards.

Meanwhile, Justice Ministry officials said that King Sihamoni would shortly issue a decision on the round of Royal pardons and sentence reductions that traditionally follows the Water Festival.

Pov Buntheoun, director of the Criminal Department of the Ministry of Justice, said that “there were about 160 prisoners around the country nominated for a reduced sentence and 30 nominated for a full pardon.” The list does not include Hang Chakra, the editor in chief of opposition Khmer Machas Srok newspaper, he added.

Heng Hak, director general of the General Department of Prisons at the Ministry of the Interior, explained that candidates are nominated by the prison chiefs themselves. To be eligible for a pardon, Heng Hak said, “prisoners must have already served two-thirds of their sentence, and prisoners nominated for a reduced sentence must have already served one-third of their sentence”.

Hang Chakra is serving a one-year sentence for disinformation and is technically ineligible. In August, however, a group of journalists unsuccessfully petitioned the King to grant him a special pardon, fuelling speculation that the King might use the Water Festival as an opportunity to free him.

Laymen face expulsion over border post row

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:02 Meas Sokchea

TWO Buddhist laymen who arranged a ceremony for opposition leader Sam Rainsy in Svay Rieng province late last month face expulsion from their pagoda after a controversy in which Sam Rainsy Party officials uprooted posts marking the Cambodia-Vietnam border.

Pov Pheap, second deputy chief of Chantrea district’s Samraong commune, said the two laymen – Chak Sovann and Mom Poy from Ang Romdenh pagoda – would both be removed from their posts on the pagoda’s layman commission and questioned by district religious officials over the organisation of the October 25 ceremony.

“The district office of religious affairs called them to meet and the meeting ordered the organisation of a new commission and to remove Chak Sovann and Mom Poy from the commission,” he said. During the October 25 ceremony organised to mark the Kathen festival, Sam Rainsy, along with villagers and other SRP lawmakers, uprooted six posts marking the border between Cambodia and Vietnam. The villagers had complained to him that the Vietnamese had illegally planted poles on their rice fields.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said the officials behind the removal of the two men should face criminal charges.

Nget Dara, a Svay Rieng-based coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said the move against the men was motivated by politics. “This removal is a case of political discrimination,” he said. “I wonder why they are acting like this – the pagoda is a place for Buddhist ceremonies.”

Sam Rainsy is also likely to face repercussions for his part in the ceremony. A statement released by the SRP this week said the government had filed a lawsuit against Sam Rainsy for the border stunt, following complaints from Vietnam that his actions threatened to disrupt the two countries’ joint border demarcation.

Chantrea district Governor Chea Yeang would not comment on the removal of the two laymen.

Hornets kill man after failure to seek doctor

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:02 Mom Kunthear

A MAN in Prey Veng province died hours after hornets stung him up to 20 times because neither he nor his family realised the stings could be lethal, district and police officials said Wednesday.

Yi Pov, 40, was found dead in his home in North Baray village Monday morning, said Baray police Chief Chan Narith.

Yi Pov was attacked Sunday after he tried to remove a hornets’ nest he had found in a bamboo thicket near his home.

“He wanted to remove it because the hornets posed a potential danger to villagers who walk past it,” Chan Narith said. “He also wanted to make food out of it.”

The victim’s family knew he had been stung but didn’t seek medical attention because they did not realise his injuries were so serious. Family members believed he had only been stung once or twice, said Chan Narith. In reality, hornets had stung him between 10 and 20 times.

Yi Pov fell asleep in pain and was dead by morning.

“If people knew how many times he was stung and sent him to the hospital on time, he would not have died,” Chan Narith said.

Yi Pov’s death was the first of its kind in Baray district, said district police Chief Hul Seng.

“We can say it is the carelessness of the victim’s family to assume that being stung by hornets poses no harm,” Hul Seng said. “But they were wrong.”

In late September, a 9-year-old boy died in Kampot province after he was stung more than 30 times by hornets. The boy and his mother were walking on a trail when a gust of wind knocked down a hornets’ nest from a nearby tree and the swarm of hornets attacked them.

Counting the cost of carbon

Photo by: PHOTO SUPPLIED

The newly designated Seima Protected Forest in Mondulkiri, viewed from the O’Rang station, could allow Cambodia to generate millions of dollars by selling carbon credits.

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:01 Tom Evans

A new biodiversity reserve in Mondulkiri will enable Cambodia to exploit the nascent international market for carbon credits.

Recently, the Post reported the Cambodian government’s decision to create a large new reserve in Mondulkiri.

The Seima Protection Forest will safeguard threatened species and vulnerable indigenous communities, but the new twist was that this is also the first reserve Cambodia has created with the explicit aim of conserving carbon stocks.

New economic opportunities from carbon-offset trading almost certainly helped to convince the Council of Ministers to add another to Cambodia’s already long list of reserves and sanctuaries. It comes hot on the heels of a decision to try carbon-trading from community forests in Oddar Meanchey.

Trading in forest carbon is still in its early days but may well become a multi-billion-dollar sector worldwide, creating strong positive incentives to keep forests standing and bringing new hope to embattled conservationists in sites like Seima all around the world.

However, dealing in this new financial arena raises many questions for the practice of conservation and brings risks as well. Learning by doing at Seima will help the government and its NGO and donor partners prepare for national-scale implementation and also feedback into the development of the still-embryonic global carbon-governance systems.

The concept of trading in “avoided deforestation” is not new. It was shelved during negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol a decade ago, but key technical issues have now been overcome, and, just as importantly, most decision makers now believe that it is right.

Some vocal critics still hold that paying for carbon offsets overseas lets polluters in the developed world off the hook, but the centre position is now that this either/or distinction is irrelevant, and deep cuts will be needed in both deforestation and industrial emissions if runaway climate change is to be averted. Tonne for tonne, emissions from deforestation are cheaper to deal with than many others, so it makes little sense to focus only on the more expensive solutions.

World leaders decided back in 2007 that forest carbon would be included in the successor to Kyoto, but with only a few weeks to go until the decisive Copenhagen summit, major political wrangles continue. While we await clarity, a voluntary market in carbon credits has grown up, driven by organisations wishing to demonstrate their green credentials now and perhaps reap the benefits of being early adopters in the future compliance market.

A carbon credit is a seemingly insubstantial thing, a document certifying that something that could have happened did not, so great pains are being taken to raise the confidence of buyers that they represent something concrete. Seima and the Oddar Meanchey project will be audited against the Voluntary Carbon Standard, a globally accepted framework for proving that avoided deforestation claims are real. The requirements are complex, expensive and onerous, since the authors were anxious to avoid the loopholes that have reduced trust in other forms of carbon offset trading. Accurate measurement is mandatory. For the past six months, survey teams from the Cambodian Forestry Administration and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have crisscrossed Seima, measuring trees, bamboo and dead wood on hundreds of forest plots, then felled and weighed several entire trees to determine total carbon content. At the same time, analysts have studied a decade of recent satellite images to allow prediction of future deforestation rates in the absence of the carbon project. This provides a baseline against which we can, in future, compare the real results of the project and calculate what damage was avoided – and so can be claimed in credit. It is as counterintuitive as it sounds, but the alternative – simply paying for standing stocks of carbon – would mean paying for protection of large areas under no risk of deforestation; a questionable use of funds.

Additionality and permanence are two other key requirements. Additionality means proof that the emission reductions would not otherwise have occurred. In Seima, deforestation rates have been reined in but continue to rise, despite the best efforts of a conservation team limited in part by funds and in part by some doubt regarding the long-term legal future of the forest. The latter has been resolved with the declaration of the protection forest, and carbon funds will soon enable patrolling, community outreach, titling of indigenous lands and direct incentives to villagers to be implemented fully across the whole reserve for the first time. To back our arguments showing the permanence and durability of project design, the Voluntary Carbon Standard will also require Seima to place a large percentage of its credits, unsold, into a buffer reserve, pooled across many projects globally, which acts as an insurance policy if any sites should fail through mismanagement or misfortune.

Although this certification is hard, in a sense it is the easy part. Trading the resulting credits will take the government of Cambodia and partner organisations into uncharted waters where millions of dollars are at stake. WCS has useful prior experience to share, since it assisted the government of Madagascar to set up the Makira Protected Area as a carbon project in 2004 and has since helped to broker sales of 140,000 tonnes of credits. Many of the buyers are major financial institutions accustomed to driving hard bargains, and there are difficult choices to be made between holding out for the best prices and forming long-term agreements with for-profit brokers or buyers who offer the investment capital needed to get a project started. The greatest risks are perhaps on the upside, since speculators might make high profits that could have accrued to the country if currently low forest-carbon prices soar when large compliance markets open.

After sales, there will be a new series of challenges to overcome. To ensure a flow of fresh credits and sustain investor confidence, the state needs to ensure that enough of the revenues are spent on permanent forest protection and community incentives, and that the net revenue is spent in a transparent way. Environmental and social safeguards also come into play.

For its part, Cambodia has signalled through its choice of pilots that community protection and benefits will remain a top priority. There are concerns, however, that in countries where no such commitments have been made, unscrupulous governments and private companies will wrongly displace poor forest dwellers to generate easy credits. While the Voluntary Standard guards against this, compliance markets might not. It is a positive sign that price premiums already exist for credits that go beyond carbon to include net benefits for community and wildlife; the Cambodian pilots will aim to certify this added value under the standard of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance, so helping Cambodia to leverage the greatest possible benefits from its finest forests.

Cambodia stands to benefit significantly from forest-carbon markets. If they work as planned over the coming decades, the country will be able to develop and industrialise without having to liquidate most of its forest for capital, as today’s industrialised countries once did. To make it happen, government and other stakeholders are going to need to learn quickly, keep learning as policies evolve and, above all, cooperate in forest protection and revenue management in as transparent a manner as possible. The first key steps have been taken on this road, but there is a long way to go.

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Tom Evans is country programme director of the Wildlife Conservation Society Cambodia.

Structural problems causing garment woes: World Bank

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

A cassava farmer sorts his stock in Battambang province last week. Agriculture remains the driver of Cambodia's GDP, the World Bank said Wednesday, as the garment sector has lost US clients.

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:01 Nathan Green

Forecasting 2 percent contraction in GDP this year, Washington-based lender says Cambodian garment sector has seen United States market share slide

THE World Bank pointed towards structural problems in Cambodia’s garment industry Wednesday as it released a report predicting the country’s economy would shrink 2 percent this year.

Speaking by videoconference from Washington, Ivailo Izvorski, the lead author of the bank’s latest East Asia and Pacific Update, titled “Transforming the Rebound into Recovery”, said Cambodia’s market share in the key United States garment market had fallen from 3.2 percent last year to 2.8 percent in mid-2009.

All countries in the region had been hit hard as US demand for garments plummeted in the midst of the economic and financial crisis, but Cambodia was hit hardest.

“We see a very negative development, where Cambodia’s garment exports are losing market share in the US, suggesting that perhaps there are deeper structural problems with competitiveness,” he said. “Whether that will be reversed is very hard to say, but the fact they lost position is something that they have to think about … given how large the garment sector looms for the economy.”

Total garment exports fell 26 percent over the first six months of 2009, according to World Bank figures, leading to the closure of 18 percent of garment factories and the loss of around 65,000 jobs. Cambodia Ministry of Commerce figures show the US takes around 70 percent of the country’s garment exports.

The garment industry was identified as one of three key sectors hit hard by the global financial crisis. A decline in tourist arrivals and construction activity was also dragging down the economy, which grew 6.7 percent last year and by double digits in each of the preceding four years, the report said. Only agriculture, which accounts for 27 percent of GDP, was performing strongly, with continued improvement in paddy production.

World Bank Senior Country Economist for Cambodia Stephane Guimbert said agriculture looked set to grow around 5 percent this year and next, providing the bedrock for a 4 percent expansion in 2010 when combined with a slight recovery in other sectors, he said.

Crisis hits home hard

Along with Malaysia and Thailand, Cambodia was rated among the worst-performing economies in developing East Asia and the Pacific, which was set to grow 6.7 percent this year on the back of projected growth of 8.7 percent in China.

The report labelled the economic rebound “surprisingly swift and very welcome” but noted the regional outlook was “less rosy” if China was removed from the picture, expanding just 1 percent this year, more slowly than South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and only slightly faster than Sub-Saharan Africa.

Izvorski warned that Cambodia was not likely to benefit directly from China’s growth, as much of its demand was for imports of commodities, parts and components for processing, and whiteware, none of which were sourced from Cambodia.

However, other countries including South Korea and Japan would benefit, indirectly boosting Cambodia.

“As the rising tide lifts all ships, I think you can expect to see Cambodia benefiting from a return of tourism, a return of demand for garments, but I don’t think there will necessarily be any direct relationship between China and Cambodia,” Izvorski said.

Praise for stimulus

Guimbert said Cambodia’s use of a fiscal stimulus “was very appropriate to support the economy”, but warned that the government could not afford to maintain an expansionary fiscal position indefinitely.

He said the deficit was expected to expand to 6.7 percent of GDP this year, well above the budget target of 4 percent, mainly due to a larger wage bill and an increase in capital expenditure.

Cambodia entered the crisis after years of budget surpluses in which it built up government deposits, giving it the fiscal space to increase spending, but Guimbert warned that maintaining the stimulus too long could create systemic problems in the economy, as it would eventually need to borrow to fund spending.

However, tightening too quickly could derail growth.

“That’s the tough call that the government has to make this year,” he said. “How to maintain the very prudent fiscal stance that was achieved over the last 10 years or so but on the other hand how to continue supporting the economy.”

New rice association ready to sell overseas

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:01 Chun Sophal

AN association of 10 rice exporters formed last week said it will export 20,000 tonnes of jasmine rice to South Africa and France over the coming harvest season.

The president of the Cambodian Golden Rice for Export Association (CGREA), Lim Bunheng, said the group would buy around 50,000 tonnes of jasmine rice paddy, which would be processed locally before export.

It had set aside US$5 million to buy the first batch, and would purchase more rice as revenues from sales began pouring in, he said.

“We hope that our activities can help expand the market for Cambodian farmers, provide stable prices and help create employment opportunities for people in the countryside,” Lim Bunheng said.

CGREA was eyeing purchases from farmers in Battambang, Pursat, Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Cham and Takeo provinces, he said. The group would offer the market price of around $0.30 per kilogram, but hoped to sell the processed rice for as much as $0.81 per kilogram.

Yang Saing Koma, director of the Cambodian Centre for Agricultural Studies and Development, or CEDAC, anticipated a low harvest and warned that exports had to be balanced against the need to ensure domestic supplies.

“I think that the amount of wet-season paddy harvested this year may be less than that of last year because Cambodia has been badly affected by changing weather and droughts,” he said.

Cambodia produced 7.17 million tonnes of paddy last year, CEDAC figures show.

Cambodia's rice revolution

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN <

Phou Phuy, head of Baitong Co, says Cambodia can benefit from the recent offering by the European Union of duty-free status for the country’s rice exports.

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Cambodia will be able to export rice at volumes comparable to neighbouring countries in the near future.
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(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:01 Nguon Sovan

With plenty of surplus rice but only recently the infrastructure to process paddy, the Kingdom is about to see exports soar, says Phou Phuy, head of Baitong Co

CEO TALK
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By Nguon Sovan

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Baitong Co has just invested millions of dollars in post-harvesting machinery for rice-processing at your Battambang plant. What is your business strategy?

Currently, Cambodia can export only 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes of rice to Europe because it has no post-harvesting technology to process rice to an international standard, so the rest of the husked rice has been sold to Vietnam and Thailand.

We are building this factory in order to enable Cambodia to export more rice to overseas markets.

The latest post-harvesting technologies are from Japan. This will process quality rice for export.... Without it that would be no way to export quality rice.

The mill cost US$7.8 million including the cost of 16 hectares of land for the site.

Construction began in August 2008, and up to now a rice store and drying machine are in use.

The remaining processing machine, polishing machine and packaging machine will arrive in mid-November and will take a fortnight to install.

When will all the machines be up and running, and what kind of capacity will they offer?

Operations will begin in January next year, and therefore the exports of good quality rice to overseas market will begin at the same month.

The post-harvesting technologies will be capable of producing 720 tonnes of processed rice per day (running 24 hours a day), or 259,200 tonnes per year, for export.

This amount is still low because Cambodia has about 2 million tonnes of husked rice or more than 1 million tonnes of milled rice in surplus for export.

What challenges remain in developing the rice industry for export to markets overseas?

Now there is no concern over the market, but the concern is that there is no capital to buy husked rice from farmers to process – the market is waiting for us.

With this post-harvesting machinery we also now have no concern over the quality of our rice in terms of meeting the necessary standard of overseas markets. It’s about quantity due to limited capital resources.

The limited capital to buy in husked rice from farmers is a concern for us and it is an obstacle to increasing stocks to process for export.

Currently, according to data from our 700 rice millers, 300,000 tonnes of husked rice worth $75 million has been purchased from farmers for stock with their own capital and loans from the Rural Development Bank (RDB).

This year, due to a good market, millers may increase purchases of husked rice for stock up to half a million tonnes because the RDB has offered more loans.

Financing from banks is very important for collecting rice from farmers.

When millers have more capital to buy husked rice … more will be processed in Cambodia for export, without selling out to Vietnam and Thailand.

In fact we do not want to sell husked rice, but due to limited capital we have to sell it all.

Another challenge for rice-market development is that some farmers use seeds that are not popular on overseas markets, so now we are educating farmers to change to types that are appropriate for European markets [in particular] which gain high prices, and produce high yields … up to 5 tonnes per hectare, compared to 2.5 tonnes to 3 tonnes with the current seeds.

You mention capital problems. To what extent have the RDB and private banks helped the sector this year?

With RDB, it has a special arrangement with the government so that interest rates are just 5 percent per annum.

This year, RDB has set aside $18 million to lend to rice millers, an increase of 38 percent on last year.

But thus far the [Rice Millers] association hasn’t accessed it, while interest rates at commercial banks are between 10 and 12 percent per year.

This is an acceptable rate, but in terms of developing Cambodian rice-milling, it would be more helpful if banks lend at 7 percent per year.

With limited capital, how concerned are you that Cambodian millers cannot compete with their counterparts in Thailand and Vietnam, in terms of buying up rice from farmers following the harvest beginning this month?

We cannot compete with them in buying rice from farmers because [millers] buy wet husked rice … because they have drying machines, while Cambodian millers – about 99 percent – have no drying machines or other modern post-harvesting machines.

On the other hand, we do not have much capital to buy all the rice from farmers.

Transportation costs in Cambodia remain high. How can Cambodia compete with its neighbours in terms of shipping exports to Europe?

In terms of transportation, it’s true that costs here are higher than in those countries.

We do not have a railroad, and their transport companies offer cheap fees, so expenses are higher … but we have more favourable conditions since September when Cambodia was given duty-free status on rice exports to European countries.

Therefore, tax exemption on rice will enable Cambodia to compete with Vietnam and Thailand on rice exports to EU countries.

In Europe, a tonne of good quality rice is about $940, and standard quality around $600.

How else will Europe’s decision to eliminate tariffs on Cambodian rice affect the domestic industry?

The tax exemption is a golden opportunity for Cambodia.

Cambodia is thus far not well known for exporting rice, so we will have difficulties, as we have not really exported rice before.

Therefore we do have overseas market partners. They do not know us, but they know Thailand and Vietnam.

However, I am worried that tax exemption will be a chance for neighbouring investors to do business in Cambodia in order to export rice from Cambodia to other countries duty-free.

It’s good for Cambodia if they’re serious, but we are concerned that they would just start companies to get a licence to export rice … then export just a little Cambodian rice and then bring in foreign rice … to use the Cambodian name to export to Europe so as to benefit from tax exemption.

If this were to happen it would kill local rice exporters.

Given the situation now, how do you see the future of the domestic rice industry?

Cambodia will be able to export rice at volumes comparable to neighbouring countries in the near future.

Cambodian rice will become well-known on international markets next year when our mill is in operation.

Companies from Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have visited Cambodia and told me that they need rice from Cambodia.

So far, contracts have not been signed, but when our machinery is in operation, we will invite them to visit our factories, and contracts will be agreed.

Police Blotter: 5 Nov 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:01 Mom Kunthear

MANLY SEDUCTION LEADS TO THIEVERY

Police say they have arrested two gay men who seduced another man near Phnom Penh’s Sorya mall, then allegedly made off with his motorbike. It happened Sunday when the victim was riding home past the mall. Police say the two suspects seduced the man and enticed him to engage in sexual activity at a nearby guesthouse. The man was blindsided the morning after, however, when he awoke to discover his motorbike was missing.

KOH SANTEPHEAP

BANANA FARMER KILLED IN ROBBERY

A 58-year-old woman was robbed and killed Sunday while she was working on her banana farm in Mok Kampol district in Kandal province. The robbers made off with the victim’s gold necklace. The woman’s lifeless body was found with one black eye and signs of choking. Police suspect that the robbers are either the victim’s neighbours or someone she knew, adding that they remain on the loose.

KOH SANTEPHEAP

MAN ACCUSED OF FATAL STABBING

A man was arrested in Battambang province on Sunday on suspicion of killing his landlord with a knife following a drunken argument. Police said the 58-year-old suspect and his landlord shared the same house in Phnom Prek district. However, an argument erupted and the man took a knife and stabbed the victim three times.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

SUSPECTED VANDALS ARRESTED IN KAMPONG SPEU

Three alleged vandals were arrested Sunday in Kampong Speu province after they were accused of hurling rocks at their landlord’s home. The men told police they threw the rocks because they were furious with the landlord, who had barred their mother from selling vegetables in front of their home. Police say the men broke windows and other property.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

FEAR DRIVES WOMAN TO COMMIT SUICIDE

A woman in Kampong Cham province who feared her husband would kill her took her own life instead Monday by leaping to her death from the third floor of a hotel. The victim’s mother said the 27 year-old woman wanted a divorce from her drunkard husband. However, the husband threatened to kill his wife if she went through with the divorce.

KAMPUCHEA THMEY

Cambodia likely to fall short on aviation audit, says senior official

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:00 May Kunmakara and Nathan Green

More outside expertise thought to be required if Kingdom is to achieve international standard

INTERNATIONAL expertise will be needed for Cambodian civil aviation to fully comply with international standards, a senior official said Wednesday following an audit last week by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

State Secretariat of Civil Aviation (SSCA) Director of Policy Planning and Legislation Sinn Chanserey Vutha said he expected the three-day ICAO validation mission, which ended on Thursday, would show that Cambodia had addressed 80 percent of the concerns raised in a similar audit last year that ultimately led to the grounding of Siem Reap Airways.

“We have nearly completed everything we needed to do to address their concerns,” he said. “But we have not been able to fully address around 20 percent of their concerns, which will require international expertise.”

However, the official results of the audit would not be released to the SSCA until March next year, Sinn Chanserey Vutha said.

The United Nations-mandated organisation releases its findings to governments only and refuses to release the results publicly or to airlines.

However, a source within the SSCA told the Post earlier this year that the last audit found Cambodian civil aviation in breach of 107 international standards.

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We have not been able to fully address around 20 percent of ... [the ICAO's] Concerns.

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The finding led to the blacklisting of Siem Reap Airways – the only airline operating under the oversight of the SSCA at that time – by the European Commission (EC), which meant European tour operators were barred from booking customers on the airline.

Key market bans flights

Europe remains a key market for Cambodia’s tourism sector – the United Kingdom and France provided close to 200,000 visitors to the Kingdom last year, or more than 16 percent of total arrivals, according to Ministry of Tourism figures.

Siem Reap Airways ceased operations in November as a result of the European ban, and the SSCA removed its air operating certificate (AOC) in February.

SSCA Secretary of State Mao Havannal told the Post last month the European Commission was due to meet November 12 and 13 with regard to its list of air carriers subject to an operating ban.

He said at the time that he expected Siem Reap Airways to be removed from the blacklist at the meeting as a result of the ICAO audit.

Mao Havannal could not be reached for comment Wednesday, and the EC had not returned a request for comment on the meeting’s agenda.

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We can't finalise an aircraft until we can show the owner that we have some prospect of being able to operate it.

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However, Sinn Chanserey Vutha said he hoped the blacklisting could be over-turned even without the official ICAO report, as Siem Reap Airways had completed all the stages required to receive a domestic AOC except registering an aircraft in Cambodia and performing a test flight.

The AOC application process has been overhauled since the last ICAO audit and now complies with international standards, he added.

Siem Reap Airways General Manager Terry Alton said Wednesday he was still waiting for the SSCA to provide written confirmation of the airline's application status.

“We can’t finalise an aircraft until we can show the owner that we have some prospect of being able to operate it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sinn Chanserey Vutha said he hoped Cambodia Angkor Air (CAA), which was launched July 27 as a US$100 million joint venture between the government and Vietnam Airlines, would meet the requirements for an AOC by the end of the year.

Vietnamese compliance

Soy Sokhan, the SSCA undersecretary of state in charge of CAA, also said the airline would register an ATR72 aircraft in Cambodia in January and another one next March in order to comply with Cambodian aviation law.

Sinn Chanserey Vutha acknowledged that the airline was operating under the AOC of its joint-venture partner under the oversight of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam due to the haste with which the airline was launched this year.

A special licence from the government is required to circumvent domestic aviation laws that require an airline to have an AOC and have at least one locally registered aircraft to fly domestic routes.

“Because the government wanted to have our own national carrier, we were in a hurry to establish it,” he said. “However, the airline completely follows SSCA rules in everything.”

Teliasonera blames low tariffs

Photo by: SOVAN PHILONG

Workers at a Star-Cell store use their mobile phones last week in Phnom Penh.

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:00 Jeremy Mullins and Steve Finch

Star-Cell owner cites Vietnamese firm and intense competition for 56 percent slide in subscribers during April-to-June quarter

THE parent company of Cambodian mobile phone operator Star-Cell on Wednesday attributed a 56 percent second-quarter drop in subscribers to stepped up competition as a result of the “next-to-zero pricing” policy of a new entrant from Vietnam.

Stockholm-based Teliasonera AB, which owns the company through its local subsidiary Applifone, highlighted the fall in total users from 150,000 in the first quarter to just 66,000 in the second in its third-quarter financial results published last week.

The company had 141,000 subscribers at the end of the third quarter, the company’s financial results showed.

Jen Borja Bornas, Applifone’s media manager in Cambodia, declined to comment Thursday on revenues and user numbers, but a Stockholm-based spokesperson said by email Wednesday that the blip was temporary.

“The main reason for the drop in Q2 was the entering of new players in the market, [especially] a Vietnamese player that had a next-to-zero pricing initially that created a temporary churn for us,” Ola Kallemur said. “Apparently most of the customers returned to us after a period.”

Kallemur did not mention Viettel by name, but the Vietnamese military owned firm launched its Metfone brand in February 2009 with a campaign of free SIM-card giveaways to build market share.

Viettel Managing Director Nguyen Duy Tho told the Post last month that the promotion was discontinued in May “due to its ineffectiveness”.

Kallemur said the firm had not yet made a “real effort” to gain market share in Cambodia, instead focusing on improving network quality.

The man behind the mask: saving an ancient tradition

by: OU MOM

Traditional Khmer masks made by master An Sitha.

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The ancient techniques are costly and difficult to produce, and require a lot of concentration and time.
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(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Thursday, 05 November 2009 15:00 Ou Mom

Many of Cambodia’s oldest stories have been lost, but An Sitha and his students are working to preserve Khmer folklore by reproducing its chief characters

GET ready to see an epic battle as Preah Ream and his monkey army wage war on demon king Krong Reap in order to win back the beautiful Neang Seda.

OK, maybe the battle’s a myth, but the tradition of ceremonial Khmer mask-making fuels the mind’s eye; one can imagine the spectacular vision of colourfully masked warriors embroiled in a furious melee.

Although traditional masks may not be the hottest thing to hit the Kingdom this year, or even this century, tutor An Sitha is working to ensure Cambodia’s youths don’t forget the artisanal skill that has helped sustain Cambodia’s traditional stories, such as the clash of the kings in Reamke, for centuries.

An Sitha teaches students in the Department of Plastic Arts at the Royal University of Fine Arts, and his disciples take the preservation of Cambodian’s heritage seriously. Mask-making students, who are required to have graduated from secondary school, must spend two years learning ancient drawing techniques before beginning three years of training in Khmer mask-making.

In An Sitha’s classes, each mask is a masterpiece. First, the basic shape of the monster, monkey or king’s head is sculpted in wet clay. A cement mould is then made of the front and back of the head, and strips of paper soaked in glue are pressed and painted into the mould form, building up the skin of the mask until there are at least 10 layers of paper. The visage is then allowed to dry a little until the basic mask form, still damp, is gently removed and left to harden before the detail is added.

An Sitha said he tries to produce masks that are as historically exact as possible, but it’s not easy. “The ancient techniques are costly and difficult to produce, and require a lot of concentration and time. We always light incense to concentrate our minds before we make a mask.”

A lack of materials also hampers An Sitha and his students in their mission to mimic primeval procedures. Raw materials such as lacquer and rare woods can be expensive and difficult to find.

Photo by: OU MOM

An Sitha talks with TV5 at a showing of his masks at the French Cultural Centre.

The pricey materials and demanding procedures make the masks rather expensive. An Sitha said that most of the buyers are actors, artists, foreigners, middle-class Cambodians and art-lovers. “But for some customers who want cheaper mask, we also make it from cheaper materials,” adding that the more money people pay, the better the quality of the product.

An Sitha’s students must also be well-versed in Khmer traditional stories and know the characters, their specific colours and their particular ornaments. Three hundred years of culture depends on An Sitha’s students. “Our history of masks goes back to the 7th century,” says An Sitha. “We make masks based on the old documents. Until now, we haven’t created or designed new techniques. When we compare the old techniques to new techniques, the old products evoke more emotions and spirit,” said An Sitha.

Neighbouring countries Myanmar and Thailand, where An Sitha has been exhibiting his Khmer mask collection, have different ways of making masks because they refer to newer documents from the 18th century. “We have unique styles and techniques; our masks are smaller than theirs, for example,” said An Sitha.

Smaller they may be, but they are no less important – especially in a country where culture is often all too ephemeral. An Sitha’s family is one of the few still making traditional masks in Cambodia. If you want to take part in the legacy and see their work, visit their shop at No 25, E1 on Street 178 in Phnom Penh.

Vietnam, Cambodia boost legislative cooperation

11/04/2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

The National Assemblies of Vietnam and Cambodia should foster their ties to help promote the friendship, solidarity and cooperation between the two countries, said Vice Chairwoman of the Vietnam National Assembly Tong Thi Phong.

Ms Phong made the statement at a reception in Hanoi on November 4 for visiting Deputy PM Men Sam An, who is also President of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Association (CVFA).

The Vietnam National Assembly will do its utmost to strengthen relations with its Cambodian counterpart, said Ms Phong.

She welcomed the results of visit exchanges and cooperation between Vietnamese and Cambodian friendship organizations in recent times and hoped that both sides will continue to support each other at multilateral forums.

For her part, Men Sam An noted that Cambodia and Vietnam have treasured long standing relationship and the two nations have stood shoulder to shoulder to overcome numerous difficulties.

She thanked the Vietnamese people for providing their heart-felt support and assistance to Cambodia to drive away the Khmer Rouge and reconstruct the nation.

She also noted with satisfaction progress in the exchange of visits and cooperation between the two legislative bodies, contributing the development of bilateral ties.

The same day, the Vice President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee, Nguyen Van Pha, received the Cambodia guest.

Cambodia appoints Thaksin as govt adviser

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

PHNOM PENH — Cambodia has appointed former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as economic adviser to premier Hun Sen and his administration, a Cambodian government statement said on Wednesday.

Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as Thai premier in a coup in 2006

Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted as Thai premier in a coup in 2006

The statement, read out on state television, said Thaksin would serve "as personal adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and the adviser to the Cambodian government in charge of economy".

The appointment, by royal decree, came almost two weeks after Hun Sen riled Thailand by offering safe haven to Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad to avoid corruption charges.

Thaksin Appointed ‘Adviser’ to Hun Sen

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

04 November 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

Ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra has been appointed as an economic adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, a move that is likely to rankle Bangkok, officials said Wednesday.

Thaksin lives in exile and faces a two-year jail term for corruption if he returns to Thailand, but Hun Sen has said he would welcome him in Cambodia despite an extradition treaty with Bangkok.

King Norodom Sihamoni had approved Thaksin as an “adviser” to Hun Sen, said Phay Siphan a spokesman for the Council of Ministers.

As a developing country, Cambodia needs knowledgeable advisers, and Thaksin knows many overseas investors, which could help, Phay Siphan said.

Thai officials have said they will begin an extradition process if Thaksin is found in Cambodia, and Thaksin himself has declined Hun Sen’s overtures that he stay in the country.

Still, the question of Thaksin’s legitimacy as a leader has riled Thai politics for more than three years and led to the unseating of several administrations, including his own; he was pushed out of power in a bloodless coup in 2006.

National Power Plan Outdated: Report

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

04 November 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

The nation’s power development plan, which calls for expanding large-scale hydroelectric dams and coal-fired plants, is outdated, expensive and risky, an umbrella group of non-governmental organizations says in a new report.

In its “Powering 21st Century Cambodia,” the NGO Forum instead advocates for decentralized electricity generation, rather than the large projects that can damage the environment and even increase poverty.

The 141-page report, written in English, advocates smaller power generation that creates local employment, encourages investment in rural businesses and can boost farmers’ incomes.

Smaller plans can include biomass gasifiers, gas-fired combined cycle plants, micro-hydro plants and solar power. These are built to smaller scale and where power is needed, according to the report.

“To support that large hydro [dam], the government is borrowing a lot of money in order to pay for the longest transmission line,” Grainne Ryder, the report’s author, who spent a year on its research, told VOA Khmer by phone from Canada. “The environmental damage is the most serious, and that is going to be the decline of Cambodia’s fisheries.”

“I don’t think the Cambodian government has even begun to realize the seriousness of those effects,” she continued. “So it could be quite a disaster for Cambodia.”

Ryder’s report notes that Cambodia has a chance to bypass the technologies of the previous century and to build its economy on the idea of decentralized technologies. It also notes that the “window” is closing, as Cambodia seeks more large-scale projects.

Electricity is costly in Cambodia, because power production currently depends on imported fuel. Meanwhile, only 18 percent of the population has access to grid-based electricity.

In an effort to do better, the government has proposed importing electricity from neighboring countries while building up hydro-dams and coal plants.

Since 2006, the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Ministry of Economy and Finance have approved five hyrdo-power projects, with 14 more under consideration, along with three other large-scale projects.

Dams would be built on the Mekong River at Kratie province, as well as on rivers in the provinces of Stung Treng, Ratanakkiri and Koh Kong, with investment coming from China, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam.

These projects are outdated, the report claims, because rural Cambodians need only a few hours of power each day, in demand far less than the large projects will produce. And while some countries have taken steps to avoid such projects, Cambodia has not.

Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the report was important and its findings noted, but that currently hydro-dam projects were a solution to an urgent problem.

“This is information that we have to pay attention to,” he said of the report. “But it is important to use [hydro-dams] to generate electricity, because we need electricity to develop an industrialized economy, as well of for people’s livelihoods.”

The report points out, however, that decentralized electrical power can cost less and be more easily financed, without the need for government guarantees and other subsidies.

And the government can promote it.

The report recommends, among others, removing import duties on technology and equipment for decentralized power projects (the government taxes solar power equipment 7 percent at present); introducing financing to help households, businesses and communities finance industrial-scale power generation projects over five- to 10-year periods; and opening the market to such projects by encouraging leading technologies.

Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum, said the group was ready to follow the report with further advice to government agencies, “to introduce to them more choices that can produce cheap electricity and not impact the environment.”

Appeals Court Takes Up Acid Attack Case

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

Original report from Washington

04 November 2009

(Posted by CAAI News Media)

The Court of Appeals is expected to hold a hearing Friday on the freeing of seven suspects, including a high-ranking military police official, accused in an acid attack, a rights worker said Monday.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court released Chea Rotha, a brigadier general in the military police, and six alleged accomplices in August, in a case stemming from a 2008 attack on her reported former lover, beauty queen In Solida.

“Because the Appeals Court has quickly brought the case for a hearing, we hope the Appeals Court will give justice to the victim,” Am Sam Ath, a rights investigator for Lichado, told VOA Khmer.

If the Appeals Court rejects the finding of the lower court, namely, to release the suspects, the case can be reinvestigated, either by the Appeals Court itself​ or through an order to the municipal court, he said.

In Solida, who was disfigured in the attack, has blamed Chea Rotha, who she left after an affair in 2008.