SRP blocked on Takeo border visit

Photo by: Heng Chivon
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Tok Vanchan of Takeo province crosses a river in Borei Cholsa district’s Chey Chauk commune on Thursday, after a police blockade prevented a group of lawmakers from using the nearby bridge.

via CAAI News Media

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:02 Meas Sokchea

Takeo Province

POLICE in Takeo province on Thursday prevented a delegation of Sam Rainsy Party lawmakers from visiting a site along the Vietnamese border in Takeo’s Borei Cholsa district, in the latest in a series of showdowns between the opposition and the government over alleged Vietnamese encroachment.

Last week, Borei Cholsa residents complained that newly planted border posts along the Vietnamese frontier had cut off large portions of their farmland. Provincial authorities, they said, had prevented them from examining the border posts and had threatened them with imprisonment if they were to protest. Takeo provincial Governor Srey Ben said Wednesday that Vietnamese and Cambodian authorities had only been on a surveying mission in the area, and had not yet planted permanent border markers.

On Thursday, 20 SRP parliamentarians and around 100 supporters attempted to visit the border posts in question, but were confronted in Borei Cholsa’s Chey Chauk commune by around 30 provincial and military police and about 50 local residents who prevented them from going farther. The two sides exchanged words heatedly before the SRP delegation turned back.

“The SRP does not have permission from the government, so we do not permit them to enter,” Chey Chauk commune chief Tuon Vanhorm said.

“Let me see a letter of permission first, and then we will permit the delegation to enter.”

On Tuesday, after being notified about the planned trip to Takeo by the SRP, National Assembly President Heng Samrin wrote a letter in response, saying that he “would not allow and would not be responsible” for the SRP’s trip.

SRP spokesman Yim Sovann called the restriction of the delegation’s movements “illegal” and said that the ruling Cambodian People’s Party had paid off local villagers to join the blockade.

“This is intimidation,” Yim Sovann said. “They have illegally blocked the people’s representatives from fulfilling their duty.”

The SRP has made alleged Vietnamese encroachment along the border one of its signature issues since October, when opposition leader Sam Rainsy led local residents in uprooting border posts in Svay Rieng province’s Chantrea district that he claimed had been planted illegally. In January, the Svay Rieng provincial court sentenced Sam Rainsy to two years in prison in connection with the incident, and two Chantrea residents who took part in the protest received one-year jail terms.

Sam Rainsy, who has been travelling abroad since last year, was charged in March with falsifying public documents and spreading disinformation after he staged several video press conferences arguing his case and highlighting the border issue.

Var Kimhong, the government’s senior official in charge of border affairs, declined to comment on Thursday about the SRP’s trip and about the border-demarcation process more generally.

“I gave, already, all this information,” Var Kimhong said, referring to a November appearance before the National Assembly in which he defended the government’s approach to demarcation of its eastern border. “I don’t want to repeat again, again, again.”

Var Kimhong told the assembly in November that 140 of 375 planned border markers had been planted along Cambodia’s and Vietnam’s 1,270-kilometre shared border, a process that began in 2006 and is set to be finished by 2012.

Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project, said local authorities needed to prove that the SRP members were a security threat in order to legally justify restricting their movements. The government, he added, risked drawing more attention to the Vietnamese border by continuing to stifle discussion about it.

“If they act like this, then maybe people will still be suspicious about the problems along the border, so I think it is not a good way,” Sok Sam Oeun said.

Puon Pon, a Borei Cholsa district resident who joined the group blocking the SRP delegation, said he did not believe the farmland of local villagers had been significantly affected by the new border posts.

“They were planted in rice fields, but that land does not belong to anyone – it is state land,” Puon Pon said.

But Keo Kim, a Borei Cholsa resident who joined the SRP delegation, said the border posts would cost him all 2.5 hectares of his farmland if they became permanent. Police in Takeo, he added, had unjustly prevented the SRP delegation from investigating the issue.

“If the markers that they have planted are made official, my land will be totally lost,” Keo Kim said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JAMES O’TOOLE AND CHHAY CHANNYDA IN PHNOM PENH

$1.1 billion pledged in donor aid

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:02 SEBASTIAN STRANGIO AND NGUON SOVAN

INTERNATIONAL donors have pledged a record US$1.1 billion in development assistance for the upcoming 18-month period, following a two-day government-donor forum that wrapped up in the capital Thursday.

At the close of the third Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF), Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon hailed the outcome of the talks.

“The meetings have been conducted successfully for all of Cambodia’s donors, development partners and development partners from civil society,” he told reporters.

“This financing responds to the need for the development of the National Strategic Development Plan for this year.”

Keat Chhon said Japan was again the largest donor. He declined, however, to give more details about the $1.1 billion pledges, saying, “We cannot disclose the breakdown of how much each country is providing to Cambodia.”

Areas of focus in the government’s development agenda, he said, were “roads, water, human resources and electricity”.

During Thursday’s meeting, delegates discussed anticorruption measures, judicial reform and measures to improve aid effectiveness.

The $1.1 billion pledge – which surpasses the $951.5 million pledged at the last CDCF in December 2008 – comes amid mounting calls for international donors to pressure the government to meet good governance reform benchmarks.

On Tuesday, 15 local NGOs said donors should “take responsibility and speak out against the deterioration of rights and democracy in Cambodia”. Doing nothing, they added, could be seen as “tantamount to complicity”.

A series of 20 NGO position papers released last week said land rights and resource-revenue transparency should be key areas of focus.

Eleanor Nichol, a campaigner for UK-based watchdog Global Witness, described the CDCF meetings as a “mass exercise in intellectual dishonesty” that resulted in little concrete action on the ground.

Despite years of government-donor talks, she said, hundreds of millions of dollars in resource revenues have not appeared in national accounts.

“I’m absolutely astounded that in a year that’s been an annus horribilis in terms of corruption, donors have decided to up the amount of support they are giving the government,” she said.

“We’re not having anything like the sense of outrage that one would expect to find in a case where there’s been pilfering on a grand scale.”

Qimiao Fan, the World Bank’s country manager, said in an address Thursday that “transparency and accountability in the management of public finances and natural resources” were critical issues in CDCF discussions.

Speaking on the sidelines of Thursday’s meeting, Japanese ambassador Masafumi Kuroki said Tokyo had pledged $130 million at this year’s CDCF. He added that there is room for improvement in aid effectiveness.

“There is already increased monitoring of aid between the government and development partners, and I think we need to further promote this process,” he said.

US Embassy spokesman John Johnson said the US government had earmarked $68.5 million in aid for fiscal year 2010.

The European Union pledged around $60 million to the government, with EU member states supplying an additional $190 million, said Rafael Dochao Moreno, charge d’affairs of the EU Delegation to Cambodia.

Of this figure, UK ambassador Andrew Mace said his government had pledged around $33 million for 2010 after two days of “open and constructive dialogue” with the government.

“All the issues that were raised by civil society were on the agenda and were discussed,” he added.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, said the $1.1 billion pledge was “not a surprise”, and that human rights and democracy were not high on the agendas of Western donor countries.

But without an emphasis on issues such as land-tenure security and good governance, he said, little can be done to fight poverty.

“You can spend all the money you want to develop the agriculture sector, but if land is being grabbed and people don’t believe in the system – if they don’t feel secure – you’re not going to succeed at poverty reduction,” he said.

Nichol said donors have been making statements of intent for years, to little avail.

But others said donors play an important role in creating a bridge between the government and civil society through the CDCF process.

“To ensure aid effectiveness... civil society organisations need to be more active participants in the process itself,” said Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia.

PM vows to fight corruption

Photo by: Uy Nousereimony
Hun Sen speaks during a graduation ceremony Thursday at the National Institute of Education.

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:02 Cheang Sokha

GOVERNMENT officials caught engaging in corrupt practices will be swiftly prosecuted under the Kingdom’s new Anticorruption Law, Prime Minister Hun Sen vowed Thursday.

Speaking at a graduation ceremony for students from the Royal School of Administration, the premier urged officials to stamp out corruption in all its forms, and called institutional graft “a dangerous disease”.

“I am optimistic that we still have the capacity to fight against this dangerous disease,” Hun Sen said. “Corruption will damage our institutions.”

But the premier also defended the Kingdom’s police, military and government institutions, saying that most officials do not engage in corruption.

“People who commit corruption, they do it secretly. But be aware that other people working with you will find some way to know about it,” he said.

Cambodia is regarded as one of the most corrupt nations in the region, according to Transparency International, which ranked the Kingdom 158th out of 180 countries in its 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index.

Observers have questioned whether the Anticorruption Law, passed earlier this year, will give officials enough tools to effectively and thoroughly combat graft.

Yong Kim Eng, president of the People’s Centre for Development and Peace, said he is concerned the new law lacks safeguards to protect whistle-blowers. Particularly troubling, he said, is an article outlining punishments of up to six months in jail or 10 million riels (US$2,386) in fines for complaints that lead to “useless inquiry”.

“This makes it a problem for the public to report about corrupt people,” Yong Kim Eng said.

It also remains to be seen whether the new Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) will be able to ensure witness confidentiality, he said, or whether the unit will be sufficiently independent – both politically and financially, since it falls under the auspices of the Council of Ministers – to carry out investigations.

After the law was passed in March, ACU officials acknowledged that extensive training would be required for those tasked with fighting graft.

Deputy Director Chhay Savuth said Thursday that the body was still in the process of “forming an internal structure”.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY IRWIN LOY

Union leader agrees to postpone strike

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:02 TEP NIMOL AND IRWIN LOY

LABOUR Ministry officials have urged garment workers not to strike, after a prominent union leader threatened to do so as part of a campaign to raise the sector’s minimum wage.

In a letter addressed “to all workers” and sent to the Post Thursday, the ministry’s Labour Advisory Committee warned that union members should consider launching a strike only after attempts at agreeing on a new minimum wage have been exhausted.

“The Labour Advisory Committee would like to call for all workers to practise their rights properly, according to the law,” reads the letter, which was signed by Labour Minister Vong Soth.

The letter comes after Chea Mony, the head of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), threatened to strike if the ministry and an industry association, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), failed to respond to union requests to boost garment workers’ minimum wages to US$70 per month from the current $50.

Union representatives and employers previously agreed to renegotiate minimum-wage standards in garment factories by the end of this year.

But Chea Mony said Thursday that his union’s 86,000 workers can’t afford to wait.

“If we keep waiting for negotiations, one year will be lost uselessly,” said Chea Mony, who called the potential strike his “last achievement in helping workers” before his planned departure from the union at the end of the month.

He said the strike is still a possibility, but that he will wait for a response from GMAC before setting a date.

But it appears not everyone in the Kingdom’s vast labour movement is on the same page.

Tep Kim Vannary, president of the Cambodian Federation of Independent Trade Unions (CFITU), said she would not support a strike because negotiations with employers have yet to begin.

Kong Atith, vice president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU), said that he regards a strike as a “last choice”.

The demands of the CFITU and the CCAWDU also differ from the FTU. Instead of $70 per month, both unions are asking for wages of $93.

Ken Loo, GMAC’s secretary-general, urged patience in advance of negotiations.

“We have till the end of the year to complete such negotiations and as such, have a good seven months left,” Loo said in an email, describing the current situation as a “preparatory phase”.

He said the multitude of unions in the sector – there were 237 operating in the garment sector alone last year, according to an International Labour Organisation report – complicates the situation.

“It is close to impossible when GMAC has to deal with negotiating with so many unions who each have different demands,” Loo said.

One industry observer said the various unions must be in agreement if they hope to secure satisfactory concessions for their members.

“The unions should be united in order to get one voice and have specific proposals,” said Moeun Tola, the head of the labour programme at the Community Legal Education Centre.

He, too, said the FTUWKC threats may be premature in light of the fact that negotiations have not even begun.

“The unions have the right to strike and the right to protest, but that should be the last option in my opinion,” he said. “There have been no consultations or negotiations ... yet.”

Russey Keo road project queried

Photo by: Sovan Philong
Construction workers on Thursday prepare land for the widening of National Road 6. Villagers living along the road have requested that the project be scaled back.

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:02 Khouth Sophakchakrya

NATIONAL Assembly President Heng Samrin has written a letter urging officials in Russey Keo district to consider scaling back a planned road expansion in response to a request from villagers who say they fear they will lose their homes if current plans for the project go forward.

About 100 families stand to be affected by plans to widen a 4-kilometre section of National Road 6 by 60 metres, said villagers who protested in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s home in Kandal province’s Takhmao town on Thursday.

A May 25 letter signed by Heng Samrin, a copy of which was obtained Thursday, said local officials should consider a request from the families to widen the road by only 27.5 metres.

“The villagers are certainly concerned about the loss of their homes due to this project, which is why they suggested expanding the road by only 27.5 metres total,” he said.

Sueng Phun, a representative of families living in Chroy Changvar commune, said Thursday that limiting the expansion to 15 metres on each side would spare some of the homes, and that others could be disassembled and moved back from the road.

“This plan will seriously affect our homes,” he said, “so we are seeking intervention from [Prime Minister Hun Sen] to reduce the road expansion from 60 metres to less than 30 metres.”

But Kop Sleh, deputy governor of Russey Keo district, said the families are living illegally along the roadside, and that only 80 homes would be affected if plans for the 60-metre widening go forward.

“Currently, the project will affect only 80 homes of people who are living on the sidewalk, which is a violation. However, we are still resolving their concerns,” he said.

Nhem Saran, director of the Municipal Department of Public Works and Transport, said US$143,199 had been allocated for the project.

Thais abused riot suspect, embassy says

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 James O'Toole

THAI police beat and extracted a forced confession from a Cambodian man detained during riots in Bangkok last month, the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok alleged in a statement this week.

In a letter to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated Tuesday, the embassy said that San Moniphet, a Battambang native who Cambodian officials say was arrested by Thai police in Bangkok on May 19 and accused of arson, had been subject to violent treatment in “gross violation of international law”.

“Mr San Moniphet informed the representative of the Royal Embassy of Cambodia who visited him in police custody that he was only standing near the scene and watching the burning building when the police arrested him,” the statement reads.

“He still insisted on his innocence despite being violently forced to confess by the police with beating on his mouth and chest.”

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said Thursday that Cambodian officials had yet to be informed about charges or a trial date for San Moniphet. Embassy officials in Bangkok, Koy Kuong added, had secured a lawyer for San Moniphet and were helping to prepare his case.

Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy spokesman Thani Thongphakdi called the allegations from the embassy “very serious” and said the Thai judicial system would settle the matter.

“The case is now subject to judicial process, and we have confidence that all suspects will be given due process and be given fair treatment,” he said.

San Moniphet has lived in Thailand for about five years and had been working at a beverage shop in Bangkok, Cambodian officials have said. He was allegedly arrested outside the shop during riots in the Thai capital that left 89 dead and over 1,900 injured.

Tith Sothea, a member of the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, said after San Moniphet’s arrest that Thai police reportedly confiscated a lighter, pieces of clothing and fuel from the suspect at the scene.

Vice raid leads to eight arrests

Photo by: Pha Lina
Motorists and a child pass by a coffee shop on Sisowath Quay on Thursday, one day after it was raided by Srak Chork commune and Daun Penh district police on suspicion of prostitution.

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 Chrann Chamroeun

POLICE in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district on Wednesday raided a coffee shop in Srak Chork commune suspected of doubling as a brothel, arresting the owner, three Vietnamese women believed to have been working as prostitutes and four male customers, as part of a continued crackdown on vice in the capital.

Commune police Chief Touch Sarin said his officers had collaborated with district police before carrying out the raid, which took place in the afternoon. He said the owner and the three suspected prostitutes were being held at the district police station, but that the four men had been released Wednesday evening.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has issued multiple calls for officials to raid venues suspected of permitting gambling, drug use and prostitution this year, saying the crackdown should be ongoing and likening it at one point to “drizzling rain”.

Though he could not provide official statistics, Touch Sarin said “multiple raids” had taken place recently in his commune alone. “We will always crack down on these private brothels like drizzling rain, and we have operated multiple raids on these illegal places,” he said. “We have seen that it has been reduced, while legitimate massage parlours and coffee shops still remain open for business.”

Em Saroeun, deputy district police chief, said the three alleged prostitutes and the shop’s female owner were still in detention and would soon be sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court for further questioning.

Yin Chanthy, one of the four detained customers, accused police of being overzealous and denied any involvement in the purchase of prostitution.

“I didn’t come here to have sex with the prostitutes,” he said. “I really didn’t know it was a brothel. I just came here to find shelter from the heavy rain and to have coffee with three other men.”

Trade competitiveness falls

Photo by: Nguon Sovan
Port workers tend to shipping containers at Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in 2008.

Trading up
How does Asia rate?

Cambodia dropped 11 places to rank the lowest of Asian countries surveyed on the ease of conducting trade and business, due mainly to graft issues.

Rank Country Change

1. Singapore (same)

30. Malaysia (-2)

60. Thailand (-10)

68. Indonesia (-6)

71. Vietnam (+18)

92. Philippines (-10)

102. Cambodia (-11)

Source: WEF

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 Catherine James

Survey sees improvement, but Kingdom’s regional ranking drops

CAMBODIA’S trade access and general business environment are improving, but its desirability as a trading partner has dropped, particularly compared to its regional neighbours, according to a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) Thursday.

Cambodia fell 11 places in a WEF survey on trade facilitation – dropping from number 91 to 102 out of 125 countries and ranking the lowest among Asian countries – despite increasing its score across the survey’s key areas.

The report, titled “Enabling Trade in the Greater ASEAN Region”, examined market access, border administration, transport, communications infrastructure and the overall business environment.

“If you look at Cambodia’s scorecard, it has actually improved overall, moving from 3.5 to 3.6 on a scale of one [worst] to seven [best],” the report’s co-author, Theirry Geiger, told the Post. “But even if you improve in the score you can still fall in ranking because other countries improve more than you.

“This is where the corruption is a huge drag on Cambodia’s performance. Irregular payments, lack of transparency, unpredictability – how many days depending on how much you pay – we give these considerations quite a lot of weight,” Geiger added.

However, he pointed out that the overall score for corruption had slightly improved. Another concern is transport infrastructure, for which Cambodia ranked 116th, Geiger said.

“When it comes to being able to transport across the country, it’s important, and in this regard Cambodia ranks pretty low,” he said. “So it dropped 10 places, but again, it has improved slightly on the scorecard.”

The report said Cambodia’s “most notable strength regionally was in the market-access component”, ranking 40th worldwide. However, in terms of corruption it still ranks “among the highest”, at 120.

Among ASEAN members, Singapore was the standout performer in the region, maintaining the world number-one rank it took last year.

Vietnam showed the most improvement, jumping from 89 last year to 71, mainly on the strength of its “improved market access”, Geiger said. Yet Vietnam was ranked 50 for market access, behind Cambodia.

The report said Cambodia’s market access score was high because “the tariff structure is relatively simple (30th) with no tariff peaks and only four distinct tariffs across all lines.

“Cambodia enjoys favourable conditions for accessing foreign markets (sixth) with tariffs averaging 4.7 percent (fourth).” The barriers to trading include inefficient border administration (96th) where “procedures to import and export are burdensome, numerous and lengthy”.

“In addition Cambodia’s limited logistics capabilities and restricted connectivity result in delays, numerous hassles and high shipping costs.”

Ministry of Commerce Secretary of State Ok Boung said the government is working at facilitating trade, but admitted there is more that can be done. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MAY KUNMAKARA

Green Rich to establish acacia tree plantation

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 Chun Sophal

The Green Rich company has announced that it will invest US$9 million in Koh Kong province to grow acacia trees for export to China and Indonesia for the production of paper.

The company, which will eventually operate on 10,000 hectares of land in the province’s Koh Kong district, intends to plant more than 2.8 million trees, said Pich Ratana, Green Rich’s public relations manager.

“We hope [to] fulfill the market demand for paper,” he said Thursday, and added that the company expects to begin exporting wood in 2014.

Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries lauded the plan as a means to create jobs and increase national revenue. “The government supports the business of growing this kind of tree because it helps sustain the environment,” said Kith Seng, an undersecretary of state at the ministry.

Although the government supports its project, Green Rich’s dealings in Cambodia have not been without controversy.

In 2005, the legality of Green Rich’s operations in Cambodia was questioned by environmental NGOs that said the company was violating its contract with the government and had failed to assess the environmental impact of establishing an acacia plantation.

Labour conditions under Green Rich were also sharply criticised in a report, “The death of the forests: A report on Wuzhishan’s and Green Rich’s tree plantation activities in Cambodia”, by the group World Rainforest Movement.

Pich Ratana said Thursday, however, that Green Rich’s investment complied with government regulations and is in line with the Agriculture Ministry’s replanting scheme. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SETH MEIXNER

Alternate site for fire families

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 Khouth Sophakchakrya

TUOL Kork district officials on Thursday told families made homeless by a March 8 fire in Boeung Kak 2 commune that they could move to an alternate relocation site in Dangkor district, after learning that the site originally offered is privately owned, deputy district governor Thim Sam An said.

The Housing Rights Task Force, however, criticised the selection of the new site, saying it lacks infrastructure and is prone to flooding.

Thim Sam An said he had led 60 of the 170 families who have agreed to be relocated on a tour of the new site in Dangkor’s Choam Chao commune on Thursday.

He acknowledged that the area is subject to frequent floods, but said the land would be filled in to address the problem.

All 170 families are to be transferred to the site at the end of the month, and they will be eligible for land titles in five years, he said. He added that he hopes the 68 holdout families will agree to move with them.

“We hope the other 68 families will agree to relocate once these 170 families have moved,” he said.

But some villagers who had previously agreed to move said they, too, would resist relocation after visiting the new site on Thursday.

“We will not move if they have not built infrastructure and filled in the land by the end of month,” villager Phal Phornara said.

Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the Housing Rights Task Force, said the new site is far from ideal.

“The new place is a rice farm. It is commonly flooding. There is no infrastructure, nothing,” he said.

“From previous experience, we don’t think the authorities will build infrastructure before the relocation,” he added.

Railway freight hub delayed

Photo by: Sam Rith
People gather near the tracks in front of the Samrong train station last year.

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 Soeun Say

CONSTRUCTION on Cambodia’s largest freight rail station has been postponed to the end of the year, Ministry of Public Works and Transportation Undersecretary of State Yin Bonna said Thursday.

“We are still studying the design of the plan. We have not yet had approval,” Ministry of Public Works and Transportation undersecretary of state Yin Bonna said. Construction on the station was slated to begin in mid-2010 and be completed during 2012, he said late last year. When contacted Thursday he declined comment on meeting the 2012 completion date.

Samrong is the planned central node for freight shipments on Cambodia’s US $141 million revamped rail project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, the government, AusAID and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The new facility will be built on the site of a former station on 98 hectares of land in Dangkor district outside Phnom Penh, standing at the junction of the Southern Line connecting Sihanoukville and the Northern Line stretching to Thailand.

Some of the land earmarked for the new station was not under the railroad’s control, Samrong Krom commune chief Touch Phin said. “The government has not yet solved the problem for villagers.”

Agreeing on compensation for the land was the main point of conflict between the two parties, he added. “The villagers are asking for payments of $10 a square metre, but the government is only offering $2.90 per metre.”

The first elements of the Southern Line are slated to open October 1, with the full line seeing freight shipments by April 2011, ADB Senior Transport Economist Peter Broch said. Cambodia has signed the Trans-Asia Railway agreement intended to link Asian and European nations by rail.

A proposed line to Vietnam is still in the earliest planning stages. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JEREMY MULLINS

Suspect in child sex case goes missing

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 ChrannChamroeun

SIEM Reap provincial court on Thursday heard the case of a 39-year-old Canadian national accused of engaging in indecent acts with three underage boys, though the suspect failed to appear, and lawyers for both sides said they feared he had fled the country after being released on bail last year.

James Gant was arrested in February 2009 in a guesthouse in Siem Reap town on suspicion of sexually abusing three street children aged between 10 and 15 years. His lawyer, Sun Socheat, said Gant had been released on bail after being held for “a few months” in pre-trial detention.

He told the court that he did not know the whereabouts of his client, and speculated that he may be overseas.

“I don’t know the whereabouts in Cambodia or overseas, as he has not contacted me since his release on bail in 2009,” he said.

Peng Maneth, a lawyer for the alleged victims provided by child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, said she, too, didn’t know where Gant was.

“If he is found guilty, we will request the court to send a verdict letter to the embassy or Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prosecute the accused if he has fled the country,” she said.

Sun Socheat denied the charges against his client on Thursday, saying that only two of the three boys had appeared in court, and that their statements had been inconsistent.

“There were only the testimonies from two of the boys, which have changed during every level of interrogation,” he said.

All three are seeking US$3,000 in compensation. Judge Ith Sothea said a verdict would be handed down this morning.

Durians due for facelift

Photo by: Peter Olszewski
7Days’ Thika Chariya savours a Kampot durian – she adores the aroma but says the smell gives her auntie a headache.

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 Peter Olszewski

Few fruits, if any, raise as much emotion as the Southeast Asian durian. It’s both venerated and reviled, mainly because of its pungent smell. Most travellers in the region bemusedly recall signs in hotels and public transport banning the fruit.

I first discovered the dreaded durian during the 1970s while scouting new backpacker locations for Qantas Airways, and in my room at a Surabaya hotel I noticed a sign saying, “No smelly fruits in room.”

Enquiring further as to what this meant, I was introduced to the concept of the durian, and after sampling it I wondered why on earth anyone would want to take one to a hotel room anyway.

Over time, I came to warm to the durian but it’s never loomed large on my list of favourite foods. And I would never regard it as the “king of fruits”, as some hail it. That honour I grant maybe to the mangosteen.

Be that as it may, Siem Reap’s Raffles Grand Hotel d’Angkor is holding a Durian Gourmet Festival, a “one-week carnival of durian” from June 21-27.

Attendees will be able to do many durian-oriented things, such as sample durians from different regions in Cambodia, talk to durian growers from Kampong Cham and Kampot, and stop at stalls to buy durian products.

But mostly attendees will be able to experience durian cuisine.

A durian dinner, costing an auspiciously numbered $18.88, will feature creations such as green pepper and durian sautéed prawns, lemongrass and basil poached chicken breast with mashed garlic and durian salsa, and mushroom and durian cutlets with durian concasse.

Also featured will be a range of durian desserts, including new creations durianmisu and durian éclair, and drinks such as durian smoothies.

But the highlight of the occasion will be, according to general manager Robert Hauck, the unleashing on the public of the durian pancake, which attained culinary cult status among the region’s foodies after its introduction at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur earlier this decade.

Hauck, who worked at the Mandarin in 2004, says he’s inspired by the popularity of the durian pancake and decided to give it a run here.

The durian festival is aimed at Khmer and expatriates, not just hotel guests. But the big question is: Can hotel guests who attend the festival take durian back to their room?

Robert Hauck’s resounding response is, “No.”

He claims it’s too difficult to get the smell out of the room. And so goes the story of the durian.

PUBLIC SERVICE WARNING:

On September 16, 2009 New Scientist reported, “According to Asian folklore, eating the famously pungent durian along with alcohol can kill you. Now intrepid researchers have confirmed there may be some truth in this supposition. It is the first time combining a fruit with booze has been scientifically linked to an adverse reaction.”

Police Blotter: 4 Jun 2010

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Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 Sen David

STONE-THROWING SUSPECTS SOUGHT

Two people in Russey Keo district are looking for answers after a group of young ruffians pelted them with stones while they were minding their own business in front of their home Monday. The couple said they have no idea why anyone would want to chuck stones at them. The victims reported being seriously injured because the assailants threw many stones at them and their house, which was damaged. Police vowed to find the suspects, send them to court and force them to pay compensation to the victims.

DEUM AMPIL

DRUNK DROWNS IN SIEM REAP LAKE

A 58-year-old man drowned after he tried to cross a small lake in Siem Reap province by himself, authorities said. Police said the man got drunk before he attempted the crossing, a possible factor in his death. A fisherman found the man’s dead body and contacted police. The man’s wife said her husband told her he was going out to look for firewood. His friend reported that he and the man drank wine together before he left. He said the man insisted on crossing the lake by himself even though he was inebriated.

KAMPUCHEA THMEY

MAN’S BODY FOUND IN KANDAL WOODS

Police are looking for clues after a villager’s body was found in the woods in Kandal province Tuesday. Police decided that the man’s death was suspicious because the body was found with multiple stab wounds, possibly indicating that some sort of vicious crime had taken place. The victim’s mother reported that she had not seen her son in 10 days. She said she figured her son had made a snap decision to go on a leisurely holiday with a friend, thereby explaining his otherwise mysterious absence.

DEUM AMPIL

10 YEARS LATER, COPS SEIZE RAPE SUSPECT

Authorities in Battambang province say they have arrested a man suspected in a rape case – 10 years after he was first accused of the crime. Police said the suspect was accused of raping a woman in his village when both he and the victim were in their teens. But he somehow managed to escape, flouting any legal consequences for the better part of a decade – until now. The victim, now 25, said the suspect had returned home two or three times in the intervening period, but that she decided not to tell police because she was afraid. On his most recent trip home, however, the victim finally decided she had had enough and notified police, who promptly carried out the arrest.

KAMPUCHEA THMEY

Need we prepare for tumbling temples?

Are the temples of Angkor falling down? Ken Feisel/Bloomber

via CAAI News Media

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 Peter Olszewski

Water is a great concern for Siem Reap residents. Last year we virtually had no water for more than six weeks due to the supply being cut for roadworks. Then, shortly after regular supply was reinstated, we were deluged with water during the worst floods the city had seen in recent memory.

But the world at large is also concerned about our water – the worry is that tourists are using so much that the ground table is sinking and the temples are tumbling.

This concept was raised again last week by the Wall Street Journal in an article about the celebrated Cambodian architect Vann Molyvann.

The article stated, “Unchecked development in Siem Reap has led to a dramatic drop in groundwater levels, causing subsidence that has put the Bayon, one of the main temples in the Angkor area, in danger of collapse, according to experts from the Japanese Conservation Team for Safeguarding Angkor.”

The notion of Siem Reap’s temples sinking due to the ravages of tourism has repeatedly surfaced for more than half a decade, and seemed to first gain traction in a November 2006 Associated Press report.

The journalist, Ker Munthit, wrote that “some experts” fear that “unrestricted local pumping of underground water to meet rapidly rising demand may literally be undermining Angkor’s foundations, destabilising the earth beneath the famous centuries-old temples so much that they might sink and collapse”.

Ker Munthit wrote that the World Bank said hotels were pumping underground water but “no one was quite certain how this affects the aquifers, or underground layers of rocks and sand, from which it is pumped”.

But the article added, “One of Angkor’s temples is reportedly falling into a sinkhole, suggesting that the underground aquifers may be rapidly disappearing.”

The notion of collapsing temples escalated in a March 2008 article in The Independent newspaper, headlined, “Heritage site in peril: Angkor Wat is falling down.”

The article said, “According to heritage experts ... a plethora of new hotels, cashing in on the country’s near-exponential rise in tourist numbers, is sapping gallons of water from beneath nearby urban areas. They say this could upset the delicate foundations on which Angkor Wat sits and could lead to parts of it ... taking an unheavenly tumble to earth.”

Also quoted was UNESCO’s culture program specialist Philippe Delanghe, who said that if the balance between the water and sand on which the temples were built was taken away, “then we might have trouble with collapse”.

Teruo Jinnai, the director of UNESCO’s office in Cambodia, said that while the groundwater level is definitely lowering in Siem Reap town, “it is not yet considered at a dangerous level. If the water intake doubles or triples then ... this could well affect historic monuments such as Angkor Wat in the long term.”

The Independent article also revisited the World Bank’s 2005 assertion that an Angkor temple “is reportedly falling into a sinkhole”.

The article added, “The monument in question was the Bayon temple. ... It is reportedly still collapsing into the sandy ground and visitors can observe its sinking foundations and widening cracks.”

The background to that comment can be found in a newsletter about some of the proceedings of the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor Technical Committee Meeting – December 12 and 13, 2002.

UNESCO noted in the World Heritage newsletter that the Bayon temple “is unfortunately in a most critical state ... the Northern Library is in danger of collapsing. ... The dismantling of its foundations in 1996 revealed that their irregular subsidence was due to the soil content which had been washed away over a long period of time.”

UNESCO then noted that in regard to The Royal Plaza and its terrace, a study of a tower about to collapse “showed that the repeated contraction and expansion of the ground caused by fluctuation in the water table has been proved to be one of the reasons for the inclination of the structure”.

But these fluctuations occurred over centuries of floods and droughts, not just in the few years that tourists have been pouring into Siem Reap.

In late 2008, some months after the Independent article, Philippe Delanghe explained to me that stories of temples tumbling due to tourism were the unfortunate result of long-term conjectures he had made to some journalists.

He claimed he’d originally said that if nothing changed over the ensuing 50 years or so, if Siem Reap’s population and tourist numbers continued to expand, and if nothing was done about the town water supply, then the temples might, with the emphasis on might, be in danger.

But he added that right now no temples were tumbling due to tourists’ intemperate use of water.

Strikers set their marks in Golden Boot pursuit

Photo by: Nick Sells (www.nicksellsphotography.com)
Build Bright United’s Nuth Sinoun (right) is the only player to score in double figures so far this Metfone C-League season.

via CAAI News Media

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 Ken Gadaffi

THE first round of the Metfone Cambodian League has seen a grueling war waged between attack and defence, with a handful of standout strikers finding the back of the net at an alarming rate. A total of 182 goals were recorded in the 45 games of the first leg, with 11 hotshots accounting for 77.

Here are the top scorers in line for the season’s Golden Boot award:

Nuth Sinoun – 10

Nuth Sinoun is the league’s leading scorer and one of the main reasons why his club Build Bright United currently reside on top of the league table. The 22-year-old local has been a revelation this year, scoring ten goals in his eight games for the University backed side, and bagging a brace on three separate occasions.

Julius Chukwumeka – 9 goals

Julius Chukwumeka’s tally of 16 goals last season was pivotal for Kirivong Sok Sen Chey’s sixth place finish. Creative with the ball, the Nigerian has remarkable strength and pace and has scored nine goals in eight appearances for the Takeo-based team, with a fantastic five put past newly promoted Chhma Khmao.

Uche Prince Justine – 9 goals

‘The Prince’ was highest goal scorer last year with 22 goals while playing for Spark FC (now Wat Phnom). Injury and rotation has limited him to playing in seven games of Phnom Penh Crown’s nine matches, yet he amassed nine goals. The young Nigerian will have to maintain his form in front of the sticks to realize his dream of winning back-to-back golden boots, as competition for the accolade is hotter than ever.

Teab Vathanak – 9 goals

Teab Vathanak has been a regular in coach Prak Sovannara’s Naga Corp squad, with the frontman well admired for his knack of goal scoring. He has an impressive nine goals in as many appearances, with four coming against the league’s whipping boys Chhma Khmao.

In Vichheka – 7 goals

20-year-old Kirivong forward In Vichheka was sidelined for nearly six months following a nagging knee injury, and has made just six appearances this campaign, starting in only one, but nevertheless blasting seven past opposition. The prolific sharp shooter plays with the strength of steel, and should be running rings around opponents come the second leg once he regains full fitness.

Contenders to the throne

Meanwhile, other players still in contention include Preah Khan Reach’s Sam El Nasa and Khoun Laboravy, and Naga Corp’s Joseph Oyewole on six goals, while National Defence Ministry trio Khim Borey, Phoung Soksana and Souern Vireak have each netted five times so far this term.

Crown heads to Thai tourney

Barely a week after returning from their failed attempt to reach the quarterfinals of the 2010 Singapore Cup, Phnom Penh Crown departed Thursday for Thailand to take part in a four-team invitation tournament.

Be Makara, manager of the Metfone C-League club, revealed Wednesday that his team is looking to use the two-day competition to prepare for the second round of the domestic season as well as a “continuation of our plans to give our players international exposure.”

Thai sides Mukdahan FC and Leoi City, and Champasak FC from Laos, will compete Crown face Thai second division side Mukdahan FC Saturday, while visiting Laotian club Champasak will meet Leoi City with the winners of both matches playing a final on Sunday.

Phnom Penh prepares for outbreak of World Cup fever

Team jerseys, official balls and flat screens displaying highlights of the 32 countries participating in the 2010 World Cup adorn the lobby area of NagaWorld Hotel and Casino Wednesday to commemorate the event, which kicks off June 11 in South Africa. Bejan Siavoshy

via CAAI News Media

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 H S Manjunath

The world’s most-watched sporting event starts next week, with businesses around the city competing to offer the best viewing experience for footie fans

WE are just a week away from the global sensation that is the World Cup. After 853 qualifying games featuring 2,344 goals, and with 268 countries denied a place in the coveted finals in South Africa, just 32 nations remain in the fray. Could there be a more engrossing spectacle?

“Around half the planet watched the 2006 World Cup Final,” writes David Goldblatt in his bestselling book The Ball is Round. “Three billion humans have never done anything simultaneously before.”

Germany showcased its World Cup four years ago as a “Time to make friends”. This time around, South Africa’s slogan is “Ke Nako – Celebrate Africa’s Humanity”, with the world ready to embrace the Rainbow Nation with open arms.

As football writer Brian Glanville puts it: There is no more “people-friendly” game. And the public needs its fill of World Cup action.

Only six cities – Berlin, Mexico City, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Rome and Sydney – have been granted official permission from FIFA to host International Fan Fests, outdoor arenas that allow spectators to watch the games on huge screens in their thousands. Nine South African cities that host the World Cup matches will also have Fan Fests.

Local telecoms giant Cellcard, which had procured the rights to broadcast all the World Cup matches, which will be screened on CTN and MYTV, was sadly denied the opportunity to host a Fan Fest in Phnom Penh after applying to FIFA. However, Cellcard is offering an SMS alert service to keep subscribers up to date with results and team news, and is giving away a brand new Ford Ranger in a prize draw from text-messaging participants.

Meanwhile, NagaWorld Hotel and Casino has pulled out all the stops to provide its clients with a memorable World Cup experience. The portico and the spacious lobby have been transformed with colourful signs, bunting, posters on team groupings, and a giant board showing match schedules and TV times. Beside a huge cut-out of the South African map stand displays of neatly framed official jerseys from all 32 nations, accompanied by several TV screens for live-action viewing. A whole host of World Cup information also adorns the display.

NagaWorld’s catchline says it all: Score, win, celebrate. A total of US$288,888 worth of prizes is slated to be given away during the course of the monthlong competition, and for the die-hard football fan there is a lucky draw for the chance to take home one of the official team jerseys or a replica of the Jambulani, the official eight-panelled football used in the tournament.

“It is open to all,” states NagaWorld Marketing Communications Director Philomena Chan. “Members of the public are welcome to watch each and every game live in our Darlin Darlin club.” Hotel restaurants will also screen games with a national flavour, with the Korean Grill showing Korean fixtures, while the Bistro Romano will concentrate on the progress of reigning champions Italy. Hungry customers spending $70 or more will collect a one-time US$10 betting chip and a ticket for the July 13 grand raffle draw for the World Cup memorabilia.

“We want to make NagaWorld the luckiest place in Indochina, where your chance to enjoy football goes hand in hand with your chance to strike it rich,” declared NagaWorld Creative Director of Sales and Marketing Webster Tai.

The lucky draw offer is only valid for foreign passport holders due to the anti-gambling laws for locals.

Several other establishments in the city are also upping the ante and to attract the hoards of roaming spectators. People “are here to celebrate more than anything else”, said Allan Keehan, manager at riverside sports bar Paddy Rice. “We are doing the whole place up. There is a giant screen and a few more monitors to watch the action, and we have several promotional offers going. We are tying up with Coca Cola and San Miguel, and I can assure you every purchase across the counter, no matter how big or small, will be good enough for the customer to seek some incentive or the other.”

Keehan says the bar will offer prizes to those smart enough to predict the winning team, man of the match, and first goal-scorer, and will put on special World Cup-themed meals as well as a weekly barbeque on Wednesdays. Fifty lucky punters will also be gifted vouchers worth US$25 for food and drink during the final on the night of July 11.

“We have also marked out five dates June 12, 20, 29 and July 3, 11 for fun games, with several attractive prizes,” asserted Keehan.

A few blocks south along the riverfront, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia (FCCC) also unveiled its World Cup offensive. Teaming up with several affiliated outlets including FCC Siem Reap, Visaya Spa, Chow and Cafe Fresco, customers will receive a lucky scratch card for each purchase over $5, with prizes ranging from discounts on hotel rooms to an FCC ice cream.

The 24-hour sports bar Pickled Parrot on Street 104 has assured customers that it will provide matches with English commentary after its planned coverage via South Africa satellite channel Super Sports “just vanish[ed]”. General manager Graham Burbidge noted that one or two other sports bars that relied on Super Sports will also be badly affected, but confirmed Thursday that the Pickled Parrot will have games in English via satellite. With the stress-inducing setback seemingly resolved, Burbidge promises the Pickled Parrot “will do all it can to make it an attractive World Cup to watch.”

The kickoff of the first group game is approaching fast, and World Cup frenzy is beginning to grip Phnom Penh, just like it is in most cities, towns or villages across the planet.

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

via CAAI News Media

Exports down

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 May Kunmakara

Cambodia’s exports to Indonesia declined 36.4 percent to US $334,981 during the first two months of 2010 compared with the same period last year, according to figures obtained from the Indonesian embassy. The drop was Indonesia out-competing the Kingdom’s agricultural goods through the use of high technology in producing foodstuffs, said a senior Cambodian official who asked to remain anonymous. “We cannot compete in some agricultural products, but there are opportunities to export milled and unmilled rice.”

Bourse Seminar

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 Jeremy Mullins

A seminar aimed at helping Cambodian companies raise capital on US stock markets was held in Phnom Penh by Nevada-based PHI Group with participation by NASDAQ and the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce. Discussions centred on listing requirements, how to go public and keys to success as a publicly listed company in America. “We are excited to collaborate with NASDAQ and PHI Group to provide this unique opportunity for our members to learn about the US stock markets and ways they can raise capital to expand their business,” Cambodia Chamber of Commerce president Kith Meng said, according to a PHI Group release.

Vietnam teams join locals in Bayon Challenge

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 Dan Riley

THE ninth annual Bayon Challenge International Tournament plays out this weekend at Phnom Penh’s Old Stadium. This year features eight teams, with four travelling from Vietnam and four local teams participating. The Vietnam teams are Saigon Saints, Saigon Raiders, Minsk, and Hanoi Drink Team, while the local sides include reigning champions ACLEDA Bank, Ezecom, Bayon Wanderers, and Apsara Dancers.

All teams will play in a single group round robin format, playing each other once before the top four teams advance to winners semifinals and final, while the bottom four progress to consolation semifinals and final. Thus a total of nine games will be played by each team. Games will be spread out over Saturday and Sunday, with the grand final scheduled for 4:15pm Sunday. Each team will receive a trophy.

“With most Cambodian teams not accustomed to two-day tournament structures, it will be a learning experience for them,” noted tournament organiser and Bayon Wanderers founder Billy Barnaart, adding that he hopes the sides will also learn to respect the terms of amateur competitions, which requires registration fees to cover event costs. He claimed many teams had declined to compete due to these fees.

Barnaart asserted that a ‘pay-to-play’ policy for locals as well as foreigners is necessary help development football in Cambodia. “I believe that if the amateur basis is strong, the top professionals will be strong,” he stated.

Jan Olde Riekerink, Head of Youth Education at Dutch professional team Ajax, wrote a letter welcoming players to the tournament, which he said “has a rich history starting in the mid-nineties, as one of the few 11-a-side International amateur tournaments in Southeast Asia.

“Its an amazing featb to keep this tournament going ... Congratulations to the organisers of what, I am sure, will be a competitive and enjoyable weekend for you all.”

MEDIA FREEDOM:Press blasts lawsuit filed in Siem Reap

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:01 Vong Sokheng

Media freedom

The Press Council of Cambodia has accused law enforcement officials in Siem Reap province of pursuing “increasingly inappropriate lawsuits”, following the filing of disinformation and defamation charges against a reporter who wrote a story accusing police of accepting bribes from an illegal gambling den. Sok Sovan, the council’s president, said he had sent a letter Thursday to Interior Minister Sar Kheng requesting intervention in the case against Bun Ratha, a reporter for daily newspaper Kampuchea Thmey, who was charged at Siem Reap provincial court on May 26. “We need the Ministry of Interior to monitor its law enforcement [officials] at the provincial level, where there have been increasingly inappropriate lawsuits filed by local authorities to silence journalists who closely monitor the work of police,” he said. But Chhuon Chhean, police chief of Kean Sangke commune in Siem Reap’s Sotr Nikum district, said Bun Ratha had unfairly accused him of accepting bribes of 100,000 riels (US$24). “It is not true; therefore, my boss had to file a complaint for disinformation,” he said.

Later, curator

via CAAI News Media

Friday, 04 June 2010 15:00 Post Staff

The launch of a new exhibition at Hotel De La Paix’s Arts Lounge on Tuesday night represents a change of guard in curatorship.

Exiting, amicably, is the Arts Lounge’s long-term curator Don Protasio, and the official word is he wants to explore new pursuits. Protasio represented the new wave in art circles and he will be replaced by Sasha Constable, who in a sense represents the old guard as she has been a stalwart of the Cambodian expat art scene since her arrival in the kingdom in 2000.

On her website she is described as being “born into an artistic family and comes from a long line of ‘Constable’ artists dating back to her famous ancestor John Constable, the quintessential British landscape artist of the 19th century”.

Her first La Paix exhibition, launching on Tuesday, June 8, is, not surprisingly, a spin-off from another of her ventures, a stone carving workshop she set up last year at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh.

This exhibition has been showing at RUFA’s exhibition hall in Phnom Penh and now makes the journey to Siem Reap.

The workshop in Phnom Penh encourages students to translate the ancient Khmer tradition of sandstone carving, so exquisitely evidenced in the temples surrounding Siem Reap, into a modern context.

Most recently rendered stone carvings have been mere replications.

The workshop set out to address this and some of the modern carvings produced in Phnom Penh form the basis of this exhibition.