Only MPTC can licence airwave use, official says

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:01 Ellie Dyer

THE Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPTC) is now the only body that can issue frequency licences to businesses, its director general said Thursday when quizzed on a series of sector controversies.

The telecoms industry came under scrutiny last month when leading Internet service providers (ISPs) wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen to raise concerns about the ministry’s reissuance of nine existing licences to a company called Digital Star TV.

A permit gives businesses permission to use the radio spectrum to provide technology, such as mobile-phone services or wireless Internet, to customers.

Experts have said that multiple companies using the same frequency bandwidth make technology, like WiMax wireless Internet, impossible to use.

In an interview with the Post Thursday, ministry Director General Mao Chakrya spoke in detail about the row for the first time.

When asked why Star Digital TV was granted a licence already given to nine ISPs he said: “Any other country could have the same problem. This is because the MPTC issues licences, but it is not the only ministry involved.”

The Ministry of Information was at the centre of another licensing debate last year when it awarded Phom Penh Cable Television a monopoly to provide Internet protocol television to the Kingdom. This came despite the MPTC’s already having given a licence to offer the same services to Kazakh firm Digi.

“It involved some other [ministries],” Mao Chakrya said Thursday in reference to the latest incident.

He declined to comment further, pointing instead to a new ruling on licensing detailed in a letter signed by the Council of Ministers on February 2 and handed to mobile-phone providers Monday.

“Right now, the prime minister has instructed that the MPTC, and only the MPTC, should now issue licences,” he said.

The letter states that: “To ensure unity in giving permission to investment projects, there must be approval from the government in response to requests made by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Then the ministry can issue licences to the company.”

Mao Chakrya added that he believes the ISPs who wrote to Hun Sen should have discussed the issues with the MPTC first. The companies named in that letter are Angkor Data Communication Group, Cambodia Data Communication Co Ltd, Chuan Wei, Wicam, Wireless IP, AZ Communication Group and EZECOM.

MPTC cancels licences

MPTC informed two of these firms in a letter at the end of last month that their licences had been revoked, a decision the document said had been made in September, according to an unnamed industry executive. It remains unclear which two companies were involved.

“I think it would have been appropriate for all those companies to have worked with the ministry on behalf of the government, as we are responsible for the sector. They should have discussed [the issue] and written a letter to the ministry and so on,” Mao Chakrya said Thursday.

He added that he was happy to meet with all the ISPs involved but said some companies were not joining MPTC meetings.

He said another meeting, held once every two months, would solve this problem. The next session is due to take place in March, but the date has not yet been fixed, he added.

When the Post approached a spokesman for the group that wrote the letter to the prime minister Thursday, he referred back to the document sent to Hun Sen – which stated that the companies “wished to lodge concerns about the manner in which the MPTC is attributing new operators radio-frequency spectrum that is already under licence”.

SECC set to inaugurate exchange this March

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:01 Nguon Sovan

THE Cambodian Stock Exchange (CSX) will be inaugurated in March, an unnamed source at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SECC) said Thursday.

Although the new exchange is not expected to begin trading until the end of the year, 90 percent of preparations to establish its organisation are complete, said another SECC official, Director General Ming Bankosal, on Thursday.

“It will be formed soon,” he added, speaking at a public consultation session held at the Phnom Penh Hotel on Thursday regarding two new draft prakas, or edicts, on the exchange.

Approximately 200 representatives of the private sector took part in the consultation session, which looked at prakas on accreditation for professional accounting firms and the prime principles of operating rules for a securities market, clearance and settlement facilities, and a securities depository.

“Professional accounting firms play a crucial role in auditing a firm to have accurate financial statements,” said Ming Bankosal in reference to the first draft edict.

Professional accounting firms must hold minimum capital of 500 million riels (US$120,000) to comply, and must have conducted auditing in Cambodia for at least five years – along with the same experience overseas. Also, a firm’s financial statements must have been audited independently for the previous three years.

Once the CSX is formed in the coming weeks, it will implement the second draft prakas discussed Thursday, said Ming Bankosal.

Government licences fewer real estate firms

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN

Sung Bonna, president of Bonna realty Group, shows his newly issued real estate licence Wednesday at the firm’s office in Phnom Penh.

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:01 Soeun Say

Property-sector decline sees more agents drop out of business

THE number of real estate and valuation firms granted permits was down 54 percent in two years, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

In January 2008, 74 companies were licensed to carry out business in the Kingdom. In the same month of 2009, the number was 43, but by January 2010 it was just 34, Mao Pov, deputy chief of the real estate division at the finance ministry said Thursday.

The cost of a one year licence and a certificate is 700,000 riels (US$167) – as defined by a 2007 prakas, or edict.

Sung Bonna, president of Bonna Realty Group and president of the National Valuers’ Association of Cambodia said some firms had been hurt by the lull in the property market.

“[Some small real estate agents] have not applied to renew their licences because the sector has been affected by the world economic crisis. Companies have decided to halt or postpone their business,” he said.

Sear Chailin, director of Visal Realty Co, said that his company’s licence had expired.

“I am going to stop renewing my licence temporarily because my business is running very slowly,” he added.

One real estate agent, who preferred to remain anonymous, cited a need to pay high informal costs to avoid delays as a reason for falling renewals.

Most firms use brokers as go-betweens to speed up the process. The agent said the practice added to the overall cost, but the brokers were close to officials and so could navigate hurdles.

Seng Sopheak, valuation manager of Cambodia Property Limited (CPL), said he renewed his licence in August.

“We don’t want to work without a licence, but we must continue, despite the fact the property market is still no better,” he said.

He said his company paid about $1,000 a year to renew licences through a broker.

“In my view, that is not expensive for big real estate agents, but it is expensive for small real estate agents,” he said.

Norng Piseth, director of finance at the finance ministry’s Real Estate Division, denied that informal charges were required to process licences and certificates, saying that agents simply preferred to use brokers and lawyers.

Officials said they hoped the number of registered real estate agents might pick up.

Mey Vann, director of the Department of Industry and Finance at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said: “If the economy improves this year those real estate and valuation companies will come back and apply for a renewal or a new licence.”

Norng Piseth emphasised that any company operating without a licence would be fined 5 million riels.

HKL gets green light to receive deposits

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:01 Nguon Sovan

HATTHA Kaksekar Limited (HKL) became the second microfinance institution in a day and the fourth in total to be granted a deposit-taking licence by the central bank on February 5, said the lender’s general manager.

Hout Ieng Tong said Thursday that HKL had put the new service into operations Monday, allowing the firm to source loan capital from depositors rather than relying solely on international lenders.

AMK received a licence the same day.

“We have spent about $500,000 to prepare our facilities, staff, hardware and software for this service since we applied in December,” he said.

“So we can start immediately at all our branches in Phnom Penh and the other 12 provinces.”

More rural deposits

He said he expected the service to encourage more people in the provinces to save money with microfinance institutions (MFIs) where it is more secure, and that depositors could gain through competitive interest rates.

HKL sets interest rates of 8 percent and 9 percent for one-year deposit in US dollars and riels respectively.

“The interest rate is higher than offered at commercial banks, but … cheaper than we can borrow from foreign investors – [abroad] the minimum is 9 percent per year on dollars,” said Hout Ieng Tong.

Outstanding loans at HKL rose 6.7 percent last year compared to 2008. Profits fell 29.4 percent to $1.2 million over the same period as non-performing loans climbed 3 percent.

Day of the lovestruck tiger

VINCENT RUFO, ARTWORX STUDIOS CAMBODIA

Bazooka and Aya from musical group Milo will perform at Nest on Sunday, February 14.

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:00 POST STAFF

The stars have aligned and Siem Reap’s bracing itself for an action-packed weekend as Valentine’s Day and the start of Chinese Lunar New Year fall on the same day this February 14.

The marquee event of the weekend will be tomorrow night at Miss Wong Cocktail Bar, which will usher in the year of the tiger from 6pm with specials on Tsingtao beer and an ang pao tree hung with traditional Chinese red gift envelopes. Lucky partygoers can win more beer, free cocktails and dinners at restaurants around town. There will also be a fortune teller in front of the bar, which will be festooned with red lanterns.

Nest on Sivutha Boulevard is doing a dual celebration with a My Chinese Valentine dinner on February 14. Tunes will be provided by Japanese band Milo and a dinner/drink/gift combo for two will be on special for US$55.

Cambojam will be playing at a purely Valentine-themed night at the Brickhouse Bar in the Angkor Night Market tomorrow night at 9pm.

For those with more ritzy tastes, the Sothea hotel will host a Valentine’s to Remember dinner complete with a violin mini-concerto on February 14, courtesy of a classically trained quartet from Royal University of Phnom Penh’s College of Music and Fine Arts. The live serenade will occur from 7-10pm.

Meanwhile, a family-style night will take place at Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa on February 14. The hotel will serve a barbecue buffet dinner from 7pm, and a Chinese lion dance will be performed by the pool.

For the anti-romantics, dateless and hopeless among us, the Warehouse and Angkor What? bars will hold anti-Valentines Day parties, with Warehouse providing a prize for the best breakup story.

An eye in the sky

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:00 Peter Olszewski

No one wandered lonely as a cloud during Monday night’s launch of artist Srey Bandol’s black and white illustrations of clouds at the Arts Lounge at Hotel de la Paix

As usual, curator Don Protasio dipped deep into his creative grab bag to give the launch an innovative edge: Paper darts flitted through the air, a bubble making machine worked overtime – much to the delight of the kids present – and readings of cloud-oriented poetry gave the night a funky San Francisco Ferlinghetti literary salon feel.

The event itself overshadowed the art on display, which, disappointingly, wasn’t all that eye-grabbing. No lofty inspiration here among the “Clouds” drawings.

The mostly-pencil renderings in relentless black and white tended to be a tad tedious. Very much a case of same, same and not at all different.

Perhaps I’m jaded because only the week before, while flying into Siem Reap, I experienced the real thing: an awesome cloud show in the skies above the province, and mere pencilling certainly could never capture such breathtaking spiritual grandeur.

Meanwhile, a different launch on Saturday night was another exercise in mostly black and white. This was the opening of the new Anjali House Photo Exhibition at the Heritage Suites Hotel.

The modest but interesting exhibition, titled “Life & Disability”, presented the photography work of local teenager and apprentice electrician, Sokdam, aged 17. His work is the result of tutoring by the Malaysian photographer Abdul Rahman Roslan in November 2009 during the Anjali Photo Workshops, which are usually part of the Angkor Photo Festival.

This exhibition is a telling testament of the vital role the workshops and the almost-lost festival play in fostering the almost-lost art of local Khmer photography.

Find Your balls

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:00 Byron Perry

All they’ll find is your balls,” says Kevin Weiser, a tall, thin Texan transplant who’s been riding dirt-bikes all his life. “They’re protected by the bike frame.”

It’s Sunday morning and a group of Siem Reap dirt-bikers are discussing what would happen if one of them ran over one of Cambodia’s many undetonated landmines.

The riders are talking shop while smoking cigarettes and making minor repairs to their bikes at team mechanic Benny Kramer’s house before they head out on their weekly ride. Today they’ve chosen an easy run – a loop around the West Baray – because there are a few beginners in the pack, but it’s not always a leisurely Sunday drive. Telling war stories is an essential part of the crew’s weekly outings.

Mille says his friend Christian hit a juvenile cow on National Road 6 at 70 km/hr. Christian survived with only major burns, but the calf was dead before he knew what hit him.

Or there’s the time Mille Svennson, a Swede working at Soria Moria Boutique Hotel who rode motocross for four years in his homeland, slipped on a sand patch and crashed in the middle of nowhere, Mondulkiri Province, badly cutting the foot of his girlfriend Maria who was riding on the back.

“Local villagers who saw the crash ran into the forest, came back and spit into some leaves and tied them to her foot with a sarong. Then they yelled at me for crashing,” says Mille. At the undermanned local hospital Mwwille had to help the doctor stitch up Maria’s foot.

The troupe will try to avoid any such disasters on today’s trip. At a petrol stop near the Siem Riep airport, Benny lays out the rules. Number one: Wear your goggles, it’s gonna be dusty. Number two: If the guy in front of you raises his hand there’s danger ahead – slow down and raise your hand for the guy behind you. Number three: Stop at every intersection.

And then, in a cacophony of snarling engines and plumes of exhaust smoke, they’re off.

Half an hour later the crew of eight is getting radical on gnarled dirt roads by the West Baray. Squealing kids with brown teeth wave and make throttling gestures as the riders fly through villages.

One moment they’re buzzing along a straight and levelled road through rice paddies, next they’re navigating hairpin turns on sandy paths through scrub forest, and later sloshing through a muddy pasture.

The group consensus is that the trick to making it through the soft and treacherous sand is to go fast and trust the bike: same with mud, water and bumpy dirt roads. In fact, according to these guys, the solution to any terrain seems to be to gun the throttle and let the bike do the work.

“I can’t ride for shit, I just hold on for dear life,” says Kevin. “I’ve ridden all over the world but Cambodia is pretty hard to beat. There’s not a lot of infrastructure so you have to be more careful in terms of injuries. But you give up that to get more freedom from regulations.”

And Siem Reap is probably the premiere hub in Cambodia for dirt biking. “In Siem Reap you ride 10 minutes out of town and you’re in perfect country,” says Mille. “There may be more riders in Phnom Penh but it takes like two hours to get out of the city to somewhere good.”

For people who want to jump on a hog for a backwoods journey through Siem Riep, there are at least two official dirt bike tour groups in town, Siem Reap Dirt Bikes and Hidden Cambodia, and lots of informal outfits, says Mille.

Today, after more than two hours of riding, the group splits up. The gang is wet and mud-splattered from the waist down and covered with a thick layer of red Cambodian dust. Three of the more intrepid members continue on to more trying terrain, but most have to return to town.

Everyone has a big, shit-eating grin on his face.

Until next Sunday.

TV stations battle for bouts

Photo by: ROBERT STARKWEATHER

Cheam Adam (left) will face Thai Bunhan Sunday in the first set of round robin fights for CTN’s 65-kilogram tournament.

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

This Saturday, Bayon TV station will celebrate its second year of hosting the Khmer boxing with a four fighter championship featuring previous winners and runners up. Nget Ratha will face Mab Chhaya and Chantha Sarim is drawn against Soy Phearom, with the winners of each bout meeting in a final.

Also on Sunday, TV3 continues its return to live boxing broadcasts with five fights at its new stadium in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district. According to Ty Ranath, an official of TV3, the channel will strive to find the best boxers and organise regular international fights twice monthly.

Sunday sees the start of round robin bouts for CTN’s 65-kilogram championship, sponsored by local wine company Sach Dom. Eight top pugilists from various clubs across the kingdom will feature in the tournament, including Him Saran, Heng Samraing, Cheam Adam, Thai Bunhan, Khon Reach, Dun Ratha, Chea Samneang and Pech Arun. Ma Serey, director of Sport at CTN, announced the draw for the first round at a press conference Wednesday. Him Saran will meet Heng Samraing and Cheam Adam will do battle with Thai Bunhan Sunday, with the other matches scheduled for the following Sunday.

Mel Kado, representative of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and also General Secretary of Khmer Boxing Amateur Federation, hailed the progress in the Cambodia boxing sector thanks to cooperation from local TV channels. He also noted that Prime Minister Hun Sen supported boxing and would offer prize money for boxers, especially when they fought against foreigners.

New Cambodian expo

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Friday, 12 February 2010 15:00 May Kunmakara

DIAMOND Island, a new exhibition hall on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich Island, is set to host the first World Cam Exhibition over three days at the end of March, showcasing a host of products. Sim Sopheak, managing director of International Event Management, the event organiser, said it was hoped the exhibition would attract 200,000 traders and customers from Cambodia, Singapore, China and Malaysia. “It is huge and the first event of its kind for Cambodia,” he said. “We are not specifying the sector as is the case with other events because we want them all to come together to give options to our visitors.”

Chomsky and the Khmer Rouge

http://frontpagemag.com/

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Letters

The Observer

February 8, 2010

In his prickly response Letters, 17 January to Andrew Anthony’s “Lost in Cambodia,” OM, 10 January 2010 Noam Chomsky does precisely what he accuses Anthony of doing:

“Vilify the messenger, to ensure that unwanted history is forgotten.”

That unwanted history is of Chomsky himself casting aspersions on critics of the Khmer Rouge. During Pol Pot’s reign, Chomsky disputed the refugees themselves. Since Cambodia, he has expanded his game to North Korea and Bosnia. I must hand it to him – more than three decades after wagging his finger at refugees like myself in “Distortions at fourth hand” The Nation, 6 June 1977, and later in After the Cataclysm South End Press, 1979, he continues to quote selectively and to obfuscate. Chomsky’s formula is straightforward: 1 quote a critic saying something supportive of one little piece of an argument you wish to make; 2 needle other critics with it; and 3 repeat ad infinitum until you weave an entire tapestry with this flimsy thread. It is a game that only a linguist of Chomsky’s calibre can master.

I am merely a former Cambodian refugee, for whom English is my fourth language. Yet it does not take much effort to find precisely what Chomsky wrote in 1979 After the Cataclysm and to let it speak for itself:

“In the first place, is it proper to attribute deaths from malnutrition and disease to Cambodian authorities?”

Since my father died of malnutrition and disease, I am especially outraged by this question. While my family worked and died in rice fields, Chomsky sharpened his theories and amended his arguments while seated in his armchair in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I believe that he would probably have me blame the Americans and their bombs for causing everything around the Khmer Rouge to go wrong.

Incredibly, Chomsky and Ed Herman did precisely that when they claimed:

“If a serious study… is someday undertaken, it may well be discovered… that the Khmer Rouge programmes elicited a positive response… because they dealt with fundamental problems rooted in the feudal past and exacerbated by the imperial system.… Such a study, however, has yet to be undertaken.”

Perhaps that study had already been undertaken but was ignored, as Chomsky and Herman intimate: “The situation in Phnom Penh resulting from the US war is graphically described in a carefully-documented study by Hildebrand and Porter that has been almost totally ignored by the press.” This is high praise for a book that contained a propaganda picture of a Khmer Rouge “hospital” operating room.

It just so happens that my father died in a mite-infested Khmer Rouge “hospital”. Nam Mon, an illiterate Khmer Rouge “nurse”, testified in July 2009 at the Khmer Rouge tribunal now taking place in Phnom Penh that all she did was hand out paracetamol and aspirin, no matter the malady. To be sure, her patients got the special treatment; they were prisoners at S-21, the Khmer Rouge killing machine that produced more than 17,000 deaths.

When it comes to allowing for honest error, Chomsky will have none of it. He refers for example to Father Ponchaud’s differing American and British editions of Cambodia: Year Zero as evidence of duplicity. If he had cared to check with the easily accessible French priest, he would have learned that the error was due to his translator, who submitted the wrong edition to the publisher.

Writing about American leaders in At War with Asia (Pantheon, 1970), Chomsky poignantly argued that:

“Perhaps someday they will acknowledge their ‘honest errors’ in their memoirs, speaking of the burdens of world leadership and the tragic irony of history. Their victims, the peasants of Indochina, will write no memoirs and will be forgotten. They will join the countless millions of earlier victims of tyrants and oppressors.”

Indeed, perhaps someday Chomsky will acknowledge his “honest errors” in his memoirs, speaking of the burdens of academia and the tragic irony of history. His victims, the peasants of Indochina, will write no memoirs and will be forgotten. They will be joined by his North Korean and Bosnian victims.

For decades, Chomsky has vilified his critics as only a world class linguist can. However, for me and the surviving members of my family, questions about life under the Khmer Rouge are not intellectual parlour games. While he is a legend in linguistics, in international affairs Noam Chomsky consistently falls short of Thomas Jefferson’s maxim that universities are “based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”

Professor Sophal Ear

National Security Affairs

US Naval Postgraduate School

Monterey, California

Plastic surgery gives Cambodian man hope

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Published Date: February 12, 2010

Cambodian Nourn Chourn, 23, lost his lower jaw when he was hit by a stray bullet at the age of 12. In 2008, he underwent plastic surgery at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo before briefly returning to Cambodia. (UCA News)

Now he has returned, spending a great deal of his time in Japan since September of last year at Tsukiji Church, a Catholic parish near the hospital, making crafts using beads and knitted material.

Before the surgery, Chourn had great difficulty eating. Food fell from his mouth and he was unable to control his drooling. Though he lived in a household of nine, he had to eat alone.

Last year, he underwent a 21-hour operation in which bone from his leg, skin from his abdomen, and a tendon from his hand were all transplanted to his face. Last December, his right hand was secured to his jaw as part of an effort to restore his lips.

Upon the success of the operation, Chourn said, “Because of the hard work of so many people, I can look forward to eating with everyone.”

He added in a softer voice, “I hope kids will stop running from me now.”

Looks like we're in for another awful year

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By Thanong Khanthong

The Nation

Published on February 12, 2010

Let's keep an eye on several news developments affecting us directly or indirectly.

1. Vietnam has just devalued the dong for the second time since November. Effectively, the Vietnamese currency has been officially marked down by 3.3 per cent. The new midpoint for the US dollar and Vietnamese dong was quoted at 18,544, whereas the ceiling rate of 19,100 compared with Wednesday's market rate at around 18,550. Yesterday the Vietnamese currency fluctuated over a wide range of 18,700-19,100 to the US dollar. Many believe that the Vietnamese dong will still have ample room to go down further.

2. The growing possibility of Greece's default has prompted Germany to devise a bail-out plan. But other European Union members such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and the UK are also in trouble. Sovereign debt is the key theme this year. The euro is under the threat of a breakup.

3. Japan's public debt has surpassed 200 per cent of the gross domestic product. It is borrowing money at around 1.68 per cent. If the interest rate were to rise by one full percentage point, Japan would be plunged into a black hole.

4. More than 30 states in the US have already gone bankrupt. They are waiting for bail-outs from Washington DC. But the US federal government is also in dire straits, with public debt rising to beyond 80 per cent of GDP - not to mention more than US$100 trillion in contingent liabilities in healthcare and social security.

5. Prime Minister Hun Sen of Cambodia is piling up his army near the Thai border. What is he up to? Is he getting ready for war? It appears that the US is now more enamoured of Cambodia than it is of Thailand. Hun Sen has also lambasted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, invoking curses upon him and using foul language.

6. The Thai Army is now in firm control of the if the political situation gets out of hand. It will roll out the tanks if the red shirts strike first. The potential flashpoint could happen a week before the Supreme Court's reading of its verdict on the assets seizure case against fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra on November 26. Or trouble might happen afterward. The St Gabriel's alumni are secretly forming their shadow Cabinet.

7. The situation has become particular tense, with fund flows from abroad into the accounts of key members of the red-shirt leadership. The final battle is shaping up.

8. The coalition partners are playing the constitution amendment card, to add fuel to the fire. Abhisit is challenging them to walk away from the government. But the coalition partners do not want Thaksin to come back either.

9. The Supreme Court is most likely to hand down a verdict to seize the entire Bt76 billion of Thaksin's frozen assets. After which the National Counter Corruption Commission might follow suit with further criminal charges against Thaksin.

10. Thaksin will fight his last battle, the outcome of which will spill over into March.

That's my reading of what's going on around us in the immediate and near term. It will be a horrible year.

Cambodian Medicines Are Successful at Foreign Markets – Thursday, 11.2.2010

http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

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Posted on 12 February 2010

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 651

“When the company PharmaProduct Manufacturing (PPM – ‘French medecines produced in Cambodia’) was established in 1996, no one expected the extent of success it would achieve at the Cambodian market and around the world. But 14 years later, this Cambodian pharmaceutical plant is very successful in exporting pharmaceutical products to foreign countries. At present, Cambodian medicines produced by PPM have established their markets in 15 countries around the world, because the quality of Cambodian medicines produced by PPM is recognized.

“Representatives from 13 countries dealing with medicines produced by PPM met in Phnom Penh during the annual convention of PMM, which coincided also with the 50th anniversary of the invention of [the antalgic drug] KINAL. During the meeting with foreign representatives from 13 countries in the evening of 8 February 2010, the director of PPM, the pharmacist Mr. Hai Ly Eang, reported about the success of Cambodian medicines made by PMM at foreign markets, and pointed to the plan to further strengthen foreign markets.

“The foreign importers of PPM products are from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Tchad, Togo, and Vietnam.

“During the occasion to greet those foreign representatives on 8 February 2010 on a ship on the river, the director of PPM, Mr. Hai Ly Eang, said, ‘That we are all on the ship at this time shows the success of PPM, because we are traveling on the same ship, we cooperate and we provide mutual support.’

“He added that representatives of these countries significantly contribute to support PPM to progress at the markets in their countries. The sales of PPM medicines keeps on increasing every year in the 13 countries from where their representatives participated at this occasion in Cambodia.

“The leader of PPM called on and encouraged all foreign distributors to continue to support PPM.

“Besides, PPM announced to expand its markets in the country as well as abroad. The expansion of markets abroad for medicines produced by PPM will be made by spreading a deeper and more intensive understanding of the quality of the PPM pharmaceuticals.

“As for the strengthening of the local market, it will be made by stressing, ‘If we use Khmer medicines, we will create jobs for Khmer citizens, and we will work towards a future where Cambodia is self sufficient in supplying and controlling pharmaceuticals and the health sector.’

“When Cambodian citizens and doctors use more medicines directly produced by Cambodia, it creates not only jobs for Cambodian people who work at pharmaceutical plants, but it also prepares the way for a future, where Cambodia can produce enough for itself and can control its medicines and the health sector.

“Nowadays, PPM exports 50 types of Cambodia produced medicines to foreign countries, among them Gynomax against uterus inflammation, Panol (Paracetamol) for fever, Pyrantox (Pyrantel) for de-worming of children, Caltoux for dry cough, Carbotoux for cough with phlegm, Bibactin, Diaryl for Diarrhea, Septyl for cleaning the mouth, Rhinex for colds, Appetine for appetite, Allergyle for allergy, KINAL for reducing pain, and many other medicines.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5123, 11.2.2010

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Thailand Continues Claims on Disputed Border

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

Original report from Washington

11 February 2010

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While Bangkok continues to insist that a 4.6 kilometer stretch of land near Preah Vihear temple belongs to Thailand, Cambodian officials and border experts say the issue should be put to rest.

Phnom Penh claims the stretch of land, west of the 11th-Century temple, rightfully belongs to Cambodia, according to surveys and maps made in 1904 and 1908, when the country was under French protection. Thailand maintains that its own mapping of the area puts the strip of land under its possession.

The impasse over the area has stirred nationalistic sentiment on both sides, which have sent thousands of heavily armed troops to adjacent positions, leading to several skirmishes over the past 19 months and the deaths of at least eight soldiers.

Neither side has been able to diffuse the situation, while rhetoric between prime ministers Abhisit Vijjajiva of Thailand and Hun Sen of Cambodia has escalated in recent days, culminating in Hun Sen calling Abhisit “stupid” and “crazy” on Monday.

The Thai News Agency this week quoted Abhisit saying the Thai government will not give up the contested strip of land.

The news agency also reported that Thailand would petition Unesco to review a map submitted by Cambodia in 2008, when Preah Vihear temple was award World Heritage status under Cambodian ownership.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan told VOA Khmer Tuesday such claims showed a misunderstanding of the law by Thai officials.

“Unesco does not have any jurisdiction to make a judgment over land at all,” he said.

Cambodian officials have said Thailand lobbied Unesco using its own map. Thailand may petition again, officials said, because representatives of the UN body, which protects cultural heritage, have changed.

Cambodia’s map was recognized by the International Court of Justice in 1962, when it ruled that Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia, Phay Siphan said.

However, Thai spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said Tuesday that the 1962 decision did not include the 4.6 kilometers of land now claimed by both sides.

Sean Pengse, a Cambodian border expert living in France, said the International Court in fact used the 1904-1908 map when deciding on Preah Vihear temple, thereby legitimizing Cambodia’s claims to the area.

The Thai authorities “can do whatever, but the decision is legitimate and uses this French map,” he told VOA Khmer.

Cambodia failed a chance to resolve the matter when it did not immediately file a complaint with the UN Security Council when Thai troops occupied a pagoda in the disputed area in July 2008, sparking the standoff.

Panitan said Tuesday both sides remained committed to solving the problem bilaterally and asked that other countries not interfere. Thailand was pleased with Hun Sen’s commitment to bilateral talks, he added.

The problem will be solved ahead of a Unesco World Heritage meeting scheduled for later this year, he said.

The committee is scheduled to meet July 25 through Aug. 3 in Brasilia, Brazil. Cambodian officials say they will submit a plan for the conservation of Preah Vihear temple at the meeting.

Bird Flu Prompted Quick Response: Officials

By Nuch Sarita, VOA Khmer

Washington

11 February 2010

via CAAI News Media

A new outbreak of avian influenza in Takeo province last week prompted a quick response from the government, leading to the culling of hundreds of birds, a health official said Monday.

“In a response to the outbreak, the department of animal health and production of the Agriculture Ministry has culled 500 chickens and 760 ducks in the affected area within 5 kilometers,” said Kao Phal, director of the animal health department.

“We cooperated with police, law enforcement, local authorities, the Health Ministry, the Pasteur Institute in Cambodia, FAO, WHO, and National Disaster Management Committee,” he said, “to educate farmers and also families who raise poultry in small numbers and use them for household consumption and who would be able to hide the animals easily.”

Bird flu can be deadly to humans. It has killed seven Cambodians since 2005. Thousands of ducks and chickens died from the disease in Takeo last week.

“We organized to assess the potential risks of pandemic influenza virus at the human-animal interface,” said Kao Phal, as a guest on “Hello VOA.” “We ordered a temporary suspension of the purchase and sale of poultry poultries in the affected area. These bird flu outbreaks always occur during this period of time, around Chinese and Vietnamese New Year celebrations. This is because there is an increased traffic in poultry.”

In case of emergency, health officials can be reached at 012-833-795 and 012-214-970, he said. Other emergency numbers include: 115; 012-488-981; and 089-669-567.

Ly Sovann, another guest of “Hello VOA,” said Monday it was still difficult for humans to catch bird flu.

Investigators have begun screening people in infected areas, he said, but no one so far had been found with the illness.

Symptoms include high fever, cough, sore throat and fatigue.

“It rarely infects people,” he said, “but when it does, it is deadly.”

A Play’s Second Tour Furthers Reconciliation

By Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer

Original report from Takeo province

11 February 2010

via CAAI News Media

Around 500 villagers have gathered at a former Khmer Rouge prison camp in Takeo province to watch the performance. The crowd, at Kraing Ta Chan prison in Tram Kok district, bursts into laughter as a man acting like a monkey jumps on stage, but soon, the play turns more serious.

In another scene, a man asks a former Khmer Rouge soldier whether she’s heard of any massacres by the regime. She quickly tells him, “No. There were no killings in this village.”

“You are telling lies!” shouts a victim.

The play, “Breaking the Silence,” which encourages Cambodians to speak out about their experiences under the Khmer Rouge—as victims or soldiers—has begun a second tour.

The play, a series of skits by six performers from Amrita Performing Arts, depicts the atrocities of the regime and their impact on modern Cambodia.

“As suggested by its title, the play is aimed at calling people to talk, talk, and talk about what happened during the Khmer Rouge period,” said Suon Bun Rith, country director for Amrita Performing Arts. “We talk not to retain anger but to reconcile and find ways to live together in harmony for the sake of the next generation.”

The play, sponsored by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, was first performed last February in Phnom Penh and the provinces of Kampong Cham, Kandal and Takeo, ahead of the trial of Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch, by the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal.

The second tour, from Feb. 3 to Feb. 12, comes as the tribunal prepares Case No. 002, with a trial of Duch and four senior leaders of the regime expected to begin later this year.

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center, said the play seeks to encourage more people pay attention to the tribunal.

“All the scenes are from facts, and we want people to better understand that Case No. 002 is the most important and historical for them,” he said. “And through the court, we want people to look at how they can reconcile with and forgive low-ranking Khmer Rouge cadres now living next door.”

Annemarie Prins, the Dutch author of the play, said she hoped it would keep people talking about past ordeals and help them deal with psychological trauma.

“The big trauma is still with the people who survived, and many of them find it very difficult to talk about what happened,” she said. “And to talk about trauma, especially genocide, is very important in order to work through the terrible time for both perpetrators and victims; it’s extremely important to heal and to be able say, ‘I’m so sorry,’ to somebody you harmed in some way or another.”

Soy Ser, a former prisoner at Kraing Ta Chan, said he felt less angry with former Khmer Rouge soldiers after seeing the play.

“When they performed in a scene where they try to reconcile, my anger calmed down a bit,” said the 52-year-old survivor, who lives in the same neighborhood as some of the Khmer Rouge he encountered.

Khim Sochanvireak, a 12th grader from Chea Sim Takeo high school, said the performance had helped him understand better what happened under the Khmer Rouge, convincing him the regime was murderous.

“The play makes us understand that Pol Pot killed his own people,” he said. “So we should not let the same thing happen again.”

On course for a better tomorrow in Cambodia

Dubbo and Narromine residents are holding a charity golf day to raise funds for the children of Chumkriel in Cambodia.

http://www.dailyliberal.com.au/

via CAAI News Media

12 Feb, 2010

The children of Chumkriel in Cambodia are out of sight but not out of mind for Dubbo and Narromine residents who continue to fundraise for their future.

In mid-2009 the volunteers travelled to Chumkriel, which former Narromine woman Joselyn Barber has “taken under her wing”.

In the poverty-stricken community the Australians built a toilet block, taught youngsters to wash their hands, and offered expert advice to the Chumkriel Language School and Learning Centre on matters including its English curriculum and financial management.

In just weeks they broke down the barrier of distrust to become welcome visitors and contributors to the recovery from Pol Pot’s brutal regime.

Since returning to western NSW, the group has directed its efforts towards raising cash to help buy a block of land in Chumkriel where a much-needed new learning centre will be built by volunteers in May and October.

On March 7 it is teaming up with Narromine Rotary members in running a charity golf day.

Narromine’s Vicki Gainsford says all are welcome to attend, with the proceeds going “entirely into securing the block of land for the new classroom”.

“Cambodia’s population is predominately very young, very poor and uneducated, because of the slaughter during Pol Pot’s regime,” she said.

“One-in-five children will die of dysentery or related diseases.

“They are a beautiful people and they are so appreciative of the help we are giving them. We can give them a chance in life.”

Ms Gainsford was a member of the group that travelled to Chumkriel last year, as was Mark Horton of Dubbo Rotary Club.

“Mark informs me that Dubbo Rotary is still trying to raise several thousand dollars ... to seal the deal on the block of land,” Ms Gainsford said.

Dubbo and district residents are being encouraged to travel to Narromine next month and take part in the fundraising effort, a two-person ambrose.

The cost of $20 includes a barbecue lunch with “lots of prizes and fun guaranteed”.

Joselyn Barber is helping the people of Chumkriel “to realise the dream of gaining an education and learning English,” Ms Gainsford said.

“With Jos and Rotary driving the engine, we can be assured that no money is being wasted and Jos is there to see the project through to fruition,” she said.

For more information or to find a golfing partner, call 688 90115.

Lawyer: Ex-Khmer Rouge foreign minister stands no chance of bail

via CAAI News Media

Thu, 11 Feb 2010
By : dpa

Phnom Penh - A lawyer for the Khmer Rouge's former foreign minister Ieng Sary said Thursday he has "no illusions" that the UN-backed war crimes tribunal might release his client from pre-trial detention ahead of an expected trial next year. Speaking after Thursday's bail hearing, Michael Karnavas criticized as "ridiculous" arguments by the prosecution and lawyers for victims that allowing Ieng Sary to be held under house arrest could lead to social unrest.

He said the government would easily be able to provide security to ensure public safety.

"In my opinion there's no intention to release any of them under any circumstances - pre-trial detention is being used as a form of punishment because these cases may never get to trial or be fully completed," Karnavas said.

"I don't think there's a valid argument that this society is so fragile that you will have massive demonstrations in the streets [if he is granted bail and house arrest]," he added.

"So this may be one way of showing the public that they are incarcerated and spent their final years in jail."

Thursday's bail hearing was the third filed by lawyers for Ieng Sary, who was arrested in November 2007. Since then he has been in pre-trial detention, facing charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

A tribunal spokesman said the court would likely rule on Ieng Sary's bail application in the coming weeks.

Ieng Sary is one of four senior surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge in detention awaiting trial for their alleged roles in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

Lawyers for former head of state Khieu Samphan are to apply for bail on Friday, while lawyers for former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith will do so on Monday. Rulings for those bail requests are also expected in a few weeks.

The tribunal last month concluded its two-and-a-half year long investigation into Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Thirith, and former Brother Number Two, Nuon Chea.

A final decision on whether to prosecute or dismiss charges against them is expected in September. Should the trial go ahead, as is expected, it will likely begin early next year.

The trial would be the second case that the tribunal, known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), will hear. The first case, which saw the regime's chief executioner Comrade Duch tried for crimes against humanity and war crimes, was heard last year.

A decision is expected in Duch's case in the coming weeks.

Around a quarter of Cambodia's population is thought to have died from execution, disease, starvation and overwork during the Khmer Rouge's rule of Cambodia from 1975-79. Its leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998 on the Thai-Cambodian border.

Ageing Khmer Rouge minister pleads for release

Former Khmer Rouge deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs Ieng Sary

A general view shows the courtroom during the hearing Ieng Sary

via CAAI News Media

PHNOM PENH — Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister Ieng Sary appealed for bail as he appeared before Cambodia's UN-backed court Thursday, seemingly in frail health.

Ieng Sary, 84, is one of five top regime figures detained in connection with the Khmer Rouge's bloody rule over Cambodia from 1975-79, when up to two million people died from starvation, overwork or execution.

He has been held since being arrested with his wife Ieng Thirith in November 2007.

The hearing was adjourned twice during the morning so the former leader could go to the toilet. Ieng Sary excused himself from afternoon proceedings, waiving his right to be present in court so he could rest.

Defence lawyers, who have said that jail is harming Ieng Sary's health and could kill him, argued that he should be released, either to his home or hospital, until his trial, which is expected next year.

"Mr Ieng Sary is 84 years of age. He turns 85 this year. He has serious health problems which greatly limit his mobility. He can hardly walk, let alone flee," defence lawyer Ang Udom told judges.

Ieng Sary has been hospitalised several times for a heart condition and blood in his urine since his detention began.

A decision on the bail plea is expected within a couple of months.

The three other defendants due to be tried with him are also in their 70s and 80s and worries for their health have cast a cloud over proceedings as critics worry they could die before the process is complete.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998. Final arguments in the court's first trial, of former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, ended in November and a verdict is expected after April this year.

Besides Ieng Sary and his wife, former social affairs minister Ieng Thirith, the other ex-leaders in jail awaiting trial for genocide are "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea and former head of state Khieu Samphan.

Leader eyes second Cambodia power plant

via CAAI News Media

From Marina Emmanuel

Published: 2010/02/12

SIHANOUK VILLE: Leader Universal Holdings Bhd may build a second power plant in Cambodia after it completes the country's first coal-fired plant in 2012.

The Penang-based company, which yesterday broke ground for the construction of its 100-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power project in Sihanouk Ville in southern Cambodia, is eyeing a 700MW facility, managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Sean H'ng Chun Hsiang said yesterday.

"Our plan hinges on demand for power and we are currently in talks for this with our joint venture partner," he told Malaysian reporters after the signing ceremony for a US$140 million (RM479 million) syndicated loan for the first coal-fired plant.

The event, witnessed by Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister Keat Chhon and its Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem, is a 80:20 joint-venture project between Leader and Cambodia International Investment Development Group Co Ltd (CIIDG).

CIIDG is a group of Cambodian individuals.

Also present were Leader's chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail and deputy executive chairman Datuk Seri H'ng Bok San.

The group's wholly-owned unit Leader Infrastructure (Labuan) Ltd has secured a US$140 million syndicated term-loan from a group of lenders, led by OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Bhd.

OCBC is the sole bookrunner and joint mandated lead arranger with Malayan Banking Bhd. Ambank (M) Bhd and Bank of China are the joint-lead managers.

"We are pleased to be able to once again lead-arrange a landmark cross-border transaction for a Malaysian corporate with an innovative and cost-efficient project financing and is well participated by renowned regional banking group," OCBC Bank's head of investment banking Tan Ai Chin said after the signing ceremony.

Meanwhile, H'ng said the coal-fired electric power plant project in Sihanouk Ville is estimated to cost US$170 million (RM581 million).

"The introduction of a coal power plant technology currently is timely," he added, saying that coal prices are normally lower than oil prices, which means it could translate into a lower tariff for the Cambodian people.

Leader's presence in Cambodia dates to 1995 when it developed its first independent power producer project in Phnom Penh.

Last month, it inked a deal for a build-own-transfer power transmission project with state-owned power company Electricite du Cambodge (EDC). Under that deal, Leader will build a 230Kv power transmission system from north Phnom Penh to Kampung Cham.

Leader will manage and maintain the transmission line for 25 years before returning it to the government.

Oxford film-maker wins prestige prize

Rob Lemkin receives his award at the Sundance Festival

via CAAI News Media

Thursday 11th February 2010

By Matt Wilkinson »

IT was one of the most gruesome episodes in modern history, and one Oxford filmmaker appears to have captured the real story.

Director Rob Lemkin’s film Enemies of The People provides first-hand accounts of the genocide by Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, under the rule of Pol Pot, which killed an estimated two million people.

Last week, the documentary, co-directed with Cambodian journalist Thet Sambath, picked up the World Cinema Special Jury Prize for Documentary at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in America.

His documentary also got the thumbs-up from film festival founder and Hollywood star Robert Redford.

Father-of-four Mr Lemkin’s film company Old Street Films has been based in Hurst Street, East Oxford, for the past 20 years.

Mr Lemkin, 48, said: “This award is a great honour and we hope it helps us to reach the widest audience possible with our story.

“For the first time we have a network of people involved at all levels in the killing who are now telling the truth.

“In 30 years, no-one involved has mentioned a thing. Now in this film, people involved have spoken about the killings in detail.

“Some of them are still traumatised.”

Mr Lemkin spent three years making his documentary after meeting investigative journalist Thet Sambath while on holiday in Cambodia.

They managed to trace many people behind the atrocities and persuaded them to speak on camera.

The pair struck up a relationship with former ideological leader Nuon Chea, 83, known as Brother Number Two and second in command to Pol Pot, who makes a string of confessions in the documentary.

Chea has since been arrested by the United Nations accused of genocide and is due to stand trial this year.

The film was endorsed by Robert Redford at his festival in Utah.

Mr Lemkin added: “Robert Redford gave his full support and said he knew about the story of Cambodia from the Hollywood movie The Killing Fields in the 1980s, but didn’t know the real story.

“This documentary was the first time it has been told.”

Enemies of The People was funded by Screen South and received post-production grants from the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund and the Sundance Documentary Program.

Jack Gold, of Screen South, said: “Rob and his team deservedly win this fantastic prize.

“It is a credit to their patience, perseverance, integrity and film-making skills.”

The film received its world premiere in Amsterdam in November last year where it was nominated for Best Documentary and was voted among the top 10 in the Audience Awards.

Mr Lemkin has also directed documentaries for BBC, Sky, Channel 4 and the History Channel.

Cambodian General visits Soc Trang province

via CAAI News Media

02/11/2010

A delegation from the High Command of the Cambodian Royal Army Guards, led by its deputy chief General Dieng Sarun, on February paid a Tet visit to Vietnam’s Soc Trang province.

At a meeting with Soc Trang’s provincial Party Committee, People’s Committee and People’s Council, General Dieng Sarun, expressed his delight at the improvement in the local people’s living conditions.

The General, who is also Prime Minister Hun Sen’s adviser, thanked the Vietnam People’s Army and Soc Trang province for helping Cambodia defeat the Khmer Rouge Regime. On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, he offered his best wishes to the Soc Trang authorities and people.

The secretary of the Soc Trang provincial Party Committee, Vo Minh Chien, expressed his hope that the solidarity and friendship between the two countries would further develop, and conveyed Tet wishes to the General and the other delegates.

During the meeting, the two sides shared their experiences in promoting information and education and maintaining public order in ethnic adjacent areas.

News by Picture: Ieng Sary's bail appeal hearing

Ieng Sary, the Khmer Rouge's former foreign minister, sits in the court room on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Mak Remissa, Pool)  

Former Khmer Rouge Foreign Minister Ieng Sary (C) stands during his bail appeal hearing of the U.N. backed tribunal at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Couts of Cambodia (ECCC) in the outskirts of Phnom Penh February 11, 2010 . REUTERS/Mak Remissa/Pool

Ieng Sary, center, the Khmer Rouge's former foreign minister, sits in the court room on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Mak Remissa, Pool)

A security personnel gestures as the ambulance carrying former Khmer Rouge leader "Brother Number Two" Noun Chea leaves from the prison at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) to hospital for a routine medical check up on the outskirts of Phnom Penh February 11, 2010. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea