Angkor Wat tickets to be extended: minister

Angkor Extension

The new Angkor ticket system:
One-week ticket - $40
One-month ticket - $60
Source: Ministry of Tourism

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Kunmakara
Wednesday, 04 March 2009

MINISTER of Tourism Thong Khon has agreed to a proposal by the private Tourism Working Group to extend Angkor Wat tickets in a bid to attract more tourists, he said on Monday.

Following a recent meeting with the Apsara Authority, the body responsible for Angkor Wat revenues, the minister said the decision had been made to extend the validity of tickets.

"I support the task force with this proposal ... [it's an] appropriate request," said Thong Khon, adding that the ministry had been thinking over the idea for some time.

Three-day tickets to visit the Unesco World Heritage site - costing US$40 - will now be valid for one week, and week-long tickets can be used at any time for one month at $60 each, the minister said, adding the system would start next week.
But Bun Narith, director general of the Apsara Authority, said he had not yet heard news of a final decision.

"We can offer ... only a one-month visit but not much more than that - [it would be] really hard to manage," he said.

Ho Vandy, co-chair of the Tourism Working Group, welcomed the decision Tuesday, a move he said was necessary to boost the flagging tourism industry - hotels, airlines and Angkor Wat have reported fewer travellers in recent months.

"If we don't take measures now, we will be too late this year to promote our tourism sector," said Ho Vandy.

President of the Cambodian Hotel Association, Luu Meng, said the initiative would afford tourists more time to visit Cambodia's most famous attraction, adding it would facilitate tour packages to the Kingdom.

Deficit a risky business during global crisis

Cambodia's trade deficit has increased steadily in the past decade as imports have soared. In 1998, the country recorded a $364 million trade deficit that has grown each year since except in 2001 and 2003, years that saw a slight dip, National Bank of Cambodia figures show. In 2006, the deficit for the year climbed to over $1 billion for the first time at $1.034 billion and since then has escalated at an increasing rate. In 2007, the deficit was $1.331 billion jumping to $1.852 billion last year, according to central bank estimates, as imports reached $11.47 billion.

Steve Finch

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by George McLeod
Wednesday, 04 March 2009

Emerging markets expert Vanessa Rossi of Chatham House, the UK’s Royal Institute of International Affairs, warns Cambodia may require a bailout due to a rising accounts deficit

Asian leaders maintain that the region is in better shape than other areas of the world. Do you believe that Asia will escape the worst effects of the crisis?

Asia has two major problems - current accounts deficits are rising and trade is in decline.... Over the next six months or so, countries with current accounts deficits will run into problems.... The second issue is trade. Trade is falling quickly, and Asia has a high percentage of exports to GDP - with Western demand falling, this is going to hit Asian countries hard.

The National Bank of Cambodia said the current accounts deficit may rise from 11.2 percent of GDP in 2008 to 12.1 percent in 2009. Should that raise concerns?

That rings bells, and it shows that this is not a regional problem - it is a problem within certain pockets in Asia. Most Asian countries have [current accounts] surpluses and large foreign exchange reserves, so they are not as vulnerable to the problems that were seen during the Asian crisis. But there are some specific spots that are exposed, and Cambodia is one of them. Cambodia will find it very difficult to fund these kinds of deficits with private sector capital flows.

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Its worrying, especially with the cambodian central bank coming out with those figures.
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[Investment] has been buoyant in recent years but this year it is disappearing very fast. Neighbouring Vietnam had similar problems.... It's worrying, especially with the Cambodian central bank coming out with those figures ... and it might require an eventual IMF bailout.

Running a deficit
Cambodia's current account balance year-on-year:

- 2007: -8.2 percent of GDP
- 2008: -11.2 pc of GDP (E)
- 2009: -12.1 pc of GDP (F)
E-estimate F-forecast
Source: National Bank of Cambodia

What are the options available to Cambodia?

Depending on the scale of the foreign-debt buildup, one of the options is to be discussing this with the IMF - a number of countries are already taking pre-emptive action in talking to the IMF about assistance, possibly the same with the World Bank, to try to be able to tide over these capital flows.

Other policies to be considered would cut back the import bill because you very rapidly need to reduce the trade deficit, so the government may have to impose some kind of trade restrictions, unpopular even if they are.

Cambodia has run a current accounts deficit for years. Why is it only a problem now?

Because if you have a deficit, you have to have a counterpart to pay for it, so you have to have capital inflows that cover this, otherwise the country runs out of foreign exchange reserves. And you have a balance of payments crisis. In recent years, there have been very buoyant capital flows, and investment coming into emerging economies. But unfortunately with this crisis, many of these flows have not just disappeared, but they have actually reversed. In this case, it will be very difficult to get those flows to match continuing trade and current accounts deficits. So the implications are quite severe.

How long can Cambodia hold on before it needs an IMF bailout?

If you look at the foreign exchange reserves, you can see how many months of cover the country has.

I think most countries aim to have something like five or six months of cover to protect themselves, but if you start to run this down, you face an escalating problem of confidence in your economy.

The central banks need to be very attentive to how much reserves they have, and not just to use up these reserves but they need to take pre-emptive measures before they get down to two or three months.

Economist Niall Ferguson predicted that Asian economies could fare worse than the US. How do you respond to that?

Well, there are pockets in Asia that will have to be extremely careful - Singapore is already announcing a very big loss of GDP and there are some very serious problems in northeast Asia with Taiwan, Korea and Japan likely to be far worse than the US. And, of course, there are pockets like Cambodia and Vietnam that may not be able to resist the financial problems, as well as the trade problems. In that sense, it's quite possible, and quite ironic, that the crisis originated in the US, but may hit hardest in other regions.

I think that many people realise that this wasn't just a US financial problem, there are genuinely difficulties with the debt situation that has built up in other areas of the world. Its not the housing market that's the biggest problem in Cambodia, but certainly this buildup of external debt and a dependence on capital flows is a huge risk.

Siem Reap offices facing a very different outlook

Photo by: Kyle Sherer
The typical combined office/living space is still in favour with cautious developers in Siem Reap.

Photo by: Kyle Sherer

Property adviser David Coleman says development in Siem Reap will take a much different course to Phnom Penh.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Kyle Sherer
Wednesday, 04 March 2009

Purpose-built office space may supplement multi-use buildings in Siem Reap – but there are no high-rise developments on the horizon.

While an increasing number of businesses are settling in Siem Reap, don't look for high-rises in the city of low-rise temples.
The limitation on building height is just one of the factors that means office space development in Siem Reap is set on a markedly different course to Phnom Penh, said David Coleman, property adviser at Cambodia Angkor Real Estate.

"I don't think you'll get the construction of tower-block offices, the kind of thing you'd see in London or New York - or even in Phnom Penh­ - simply because of the constraint on height," Coleman told Prime Location.

"There's a limit on how high you can build here because of the Angkor protection site, so the buildings aren't visible from Angkor Wat. But I wouldn't be surprised if there is more of a demand for specifically designed office space here.

"There's so much interest, particularly from the travel industry and overseas firms looking to come here, that I think that demand for Western-style offices is likely to grow."

Coleman said the Siem Reap office style has been shaped by pragmatism. In the past, people converted residential houses into offices, or built shops with a living space attached.

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Demand for western-style offices is likely to grow.
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"Those three-storey shops-cum-houses are often used as office space for small businesses," he says. "That's probably due to demand in the past not being very high - people made good with what already existed."

But Coleman said that even though more businesses are settling in, the majority of new developments are still multi-use office/living space arrangements, a trend he credited to caution on the part of investors.

"You put up a property that could be used for a number of different things, and then you have a better chance of selling it or renting it."

Now that Siem Reap is more of an established city, Coleman said there will be a move toward developing grander, purpose-built office space, rather than hedging bets with dual residential/commercial designs. But although developing such buildings might be a smart long-term move, Coleman warned of risks in the immediate future.

"The price of land here is still astronomically high, so you need to be sure if you're going to build a purpose-built office that you're going to get a return on your investment. And at the moment, that's obviously riskier than it was 18 months ago.

"As a real estate company, we were doing far better business 18 months ago than we are doing now. But there's still interest in the real estate market of Siem Reap, and office space is part of that interest."

While the economic crisis might scare off many investors, Coleman said it could prove ultimately beneficial. He claims that the global slump will correct real estate prices that were monstrously inflated during Siem Reap's boom period.

"I think there needed to be a settling-out period, where business goes a bit quiet and more realistic prices are asked by landowners. It's better that business slows for a bit, then picks up again with more reasonable prices being asked, than prices continuing to rise but nothing moves."

Coleman said he is not worried about the long-term effects of the global financial shortfall, noting that the fundamental qualities of Siem Reap will remain unchanged.

"These things never last forever, and there was such interest in the real estate market in Siem Reap. Such an incredible interest in the prices and the kind of properties available, and that's bound to pick up again.

"I think there's a high availability of office space in Siem Reap. Anybody could come here and find office space, either purpose-built or converted from an existing building. There's plenty of scope for setting up here, and the construction companies are capable of building property to order.

"This is a pleasant, safe place to be, there are a lot of NGOs centred here, and it's an attractive town to move your business to."

Vespas in Cambodia

Photo by: STEPHANIE MEE Monivong Vespa.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Stephanie Mee
Wednesday, 04 March 2009

Italy's iconic scooter remains a presence in Phnom Penh thanks to the efforts of a handful of enthusiasts and shop owners.

That famous Italian mode of transportation, the iconic Vespa scooter, has seen better days in Cambodia. Once a popular mode of transport in the Kingdom, the Vespa has now taken a back seat to the popular Honda Dream motorbike and its cousins.

But despite this fact, there are a few devotees left who are making the effort to prolong Vespas' lifespan in Phnom Penh.

Currently there are two shops in the capital that sell and restore Vespa scooters, Monivong Vespa on Monivong Boulevard, and Kim Hong Vespa on Charles de Gaulle Boulevard.

According to the elderly Bun Choun, owner of Monivong Vespa, the ‘60s and ‘70s were a heyday for Vespas in Cambodia, with Vespas coming in just behind cars as the trendiest mode of transport.

After the Pol Pot regime and ensuing civil war, many Vespas were exported out of Cambodia to Thailand and Vietnam, as well as a few European countries, and today the number of remaining Vespas has dropped significantly.

"Khmer people like newer, more modern bikes," said Bun Choun. "Vespas are mainly popular with foreigners, who more often than not, will buy the bikes here and then ship them home when they leave Cambodia."

Sam Sambath, or 'Bo', who owns the Kim Hong Vespa shop, said that today most of the Italian Vespas in Cambodia are leftover vintages from before the war, while the newer models come from the Vespa manufacturing plant in Taiwan.

"Generally, the models from Taiwan are cheaper and easier to care for as they are newer," said Bo. "The older bikes sometimes have engine problems, although they are easy to fix and we can replace any old parts with newer parts from Italy, Taiwan or Thailand."

Bo echoes Bun Choun's observations regarding the Vespa market in Cambodia.
"In general, customers are mainly foreigners or expatriates here in Phnom Penh. I think it's all about aesthetics; foreigners like the look of a Vespa, while Khmers prefer the more modern Japanese style bikes."

Despite the lack of popularity for Vespas here in Phnom Penh, there are a few enthusiasts who swear by their Vespas and hope to raise awareness and approval ratings of the bikes.

Tong Soprach, a local freelance consultant, has recently created the Phnom Penh Vespa Club with his friend Ben, and they organize biannual Vespa rallies in and around the capital.

"Anyone can join the Vespa Club and the rallies," said Tong Soprach. "The idea is to make new friends and acquaintances through Vespas and to show people that Vespas are still present and fashionable in Phnom Penh."

"People sometimes tease me about owning a Vespa," said Tong Soprach. "They say if you drive a Vespa you won't have a girlfriend because Cambodian girls don't like Vespas, but I don't care," he said laughing. "I like the design, the stability, the strength of the engine, the safety of the storage compartment, and even the sound."

Alan Haire, well-known Vespa owner and proprietor of the popular riverside bar and restaurant Green Vespa, also cited some advantages of owning a Vespa.

"Vespas are good city bikes in that they have storage compartments, which makes them easy to go shopping with, they seat two people very comfortably, and in general, people don't steal them."

Alan points out that the Vespa's lack of popularity in Cambodia may well be what keeps them exempt from theft.

"Most Cambodians see Vespas as ‘uncool' or a relic from the past, and they are therefore un-stealable," he said.

Vespa paraphernalia can be purchased at Green Vespa. Merchandise includes t-shirts, caps, beer coolers, and prints of vintage photographs of famous film stars and their Vespas, from the original Piaggio 50th anniversary calendar.

For Vespa riders and aficionados, the next Vespa rally will take place on International Women's Day on Sunday, commencing at the Post Office at 10am, and will include a tour of Sisowath Quay, Norodom Boulevard, Monivong Boulevard, ending at the Independence Monument.

Monivong Vespa is located at 703Eo on Monivong Boulevard. Kim Hong Vespa is located at 341Eo on Street 217.

Green Vespa Pub and Restaurant is located at 95 Sisowath Quay.

U.S. can lead field of human rights

PACIFIC DAILY NEWS
March 4, 2009

The Burmese student who asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Feb. 17 at Tokyo University about U.S. policy toward Burma, put to the test President Obama's words in his inaugural address: "To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

The clenched fist reference is about all authoritarian regimes, including Burma, Cambodia and China, among others.

"We want to see a time when citizens of Burma and the Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi can live freely in their own country," answered Clinton. "Because we are concerned about the Burmese people, we are conducting a review of our policy," she said.

A day later, she told reporters in Jakarta, "Clearly, the path we have taken in imposing sanctions hasn't influenced the Burmese junta," but "reaching out and trying to engage them has not influenced them either."

On Feb. 19 the Washington Post reported, "Shift Possible on Burma Policy." It published former State Department speechwriter Rena Pederson's "Burma's Agony," about the world community's "failing to produce an effective, moral, organized response" to the Burmese generals who "defy world opinion."

On Feb. 20, Stanley Weiss of Business Executives for National Security argued in the International Herald Tribune's "Whom do sanctions hurt?" that "punitive sanctions" had "failed to moderate (Burma's) behavior"; the U.S. "must find a new way forward" and "should increase humanitarian assistance, channeled via the United Nations and NGOs."

On the same day, the Post editorialized in "Burma's Clenched First: Is it time for the United States to reach out to the junta?": "We hope that the coming policy review is truly realistic. ... The United States and other countries have been supplying food and fuel to North Korea for over a decade, with no appreciable change in that regime's horrific treatment of its people. Mr. Obama should conduct a policy review, by all means. But he must stick to the priorities implied in his inaugural address: If the United States is to extend a hand to Burma, that country's tyrants must first relax their grip on power."

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Hoagland's Feb. 22 "Obama vs. Clenched Fists" summarized Obama's "dominant foreign policy metaphor": "An American hand reaching out to an unclenching authoritarian fist, ... a simile of hope, as the president intends -- but also one of vulnerability, as Obama may discover sooner than he expects."

Clinton's remarks in Beijing that human rights issues "can't interfere" with discussions with China -- the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt, says the Post -- on other important topics, brought human rights groups' response: This does not eliminate the gravity of Bejing's human rights abuses.

In "Not So Obvious: The secretary of state underestimates the power of her words," the Feb. 24 Post editorialized, "Ms. Clinton's statement ... will demoralize thousands of democracy advocates in China, and it will cause many others around the world to wonder about the character of the new U.S. administration."

Last Nov. 24, the Post editorialized in "The Freedom Challenge" that "the United States can regain and retain the stature to lead in the world, only if it is using its power on behalf of universal ideals."

It seems America's founding fathers' belief in the equality of all men, "with certain unalienable rights," and in the creation of government "to secure these rights," has found an echo in the Chinese human rights Charter 08 that "freedom, equality, and human rights are universal values of humankind and ... democracy and constitutional government are the fundamental framework for protecting these values."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights warns, "disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts," and "it is essential, if man is not to be compelled ... to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law."

It cites "the highest aspiration of the common people" for a "world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want."

The nonprofit Global Integrity tracks governance and corruption trends in the world. Its 2008 report reveals concerns about the transparency or the flow of currency between and among governments and the danger that "foreign governments" funnel money to ruling parties "in exchange for economic and commercial concessions."

In its 2008 rankings of corruption in 180 countries, Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand lead the list of "highly clean," followed by Singapore, fourth. Cambodia is 166th and Burma, next to the last. Somalia is the most "highly corrupt."

"Governance ... is as old as human civilization," says the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; it is a decision-making process and a process of implementing the decisions made.

ESCAP says "good governance" that includes rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, accountability, is an "ideal" -- a topic worth examining.

To "ensure sustainable human development," says ESCAP, "actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality."

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Hoagland's Feb. 22 "Obama vs. Clenched Fists" summarized Obama's "dominant foreign policy metaphor": "An American hand reaching out to an unclenching authoritarian fist, ... a simile of hope, as the president intends -- but also one of vulnerability, as Obama may discover sooner than he expects."

Clinton's remarks in Beijing that human rights issues "can't interfere" with discussions with China -- the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt, says the Post -- on other important topics, brought human rights groups' response: This does not eliminate the gravity of Bejing's human rights abuses.

In "Not So Obvious: The secretary of state underestimates the power of her words," the Feb. 24 Post editorialized, "Ms. Clinton's statement ... will demoralize thousands of democracy advocates in China, and it will cause many others around the world to wonder about the character of the new U.S. administration."

Last Nov. 24, the Post editorialized in "The Freedom Challenge" that "the United States can regain and retain the stature to lead in the world, only if it is using its power on behalf of universal ideals."

It seems America's founding fathers' belief in the equality of all men, "with certain unalienable rights," and in the creation of government "to secure these rights," has found an echo in the Chinese human rights Charter 08 that "freedom, equality, and human rights are universal values of humankind and ... democracy and constitutional government are the fundamental framework for protecting these values."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights warns, "disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts," and "it is essential, if man is not to be compelled ... to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law."

It cites "the highest aspiration of the common people" for a "world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want."

The nonprofit Global Integrity tracks governance and corruption trends in the world. Its 2008 report reveals concerns about the transparency or the flow of currency between and among governments and the danger that "foreign governments" funnel money to ruling parties "in exchange for economic and commercial concessions."

In its 2008 rankings of corruption in 180 countries, Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand lead the list of "highly clean," followed by Singapore, fourth. Cambodia is 166th and Burma, next to the last. Somalia is the most "highly corrupt."

"Governance ... is as old as human civilization," says the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; it is a decision-making process and a process of implementing the decisions made.

ESCAP says "good governance" that includes rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, accountability, is an "ideal" -- a topic worth examining.

To "ensure sustainable human development," says ESCAP, "actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality."

It cites "the highest aspiration of the common people" for a "world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want."

The nonprofit Global Integrity tracks governance and corruption trends in the world. Its 2008 report reveals concerns about the transparency or the flow of currency between and among governments and the danger that "foreign governments" funnel money to ruling parties "in exchange for economic and commercial concessions."

In its 2008 rankings of corruption in 180 countries, Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand lead the list of "highly clean," followed by Singapore, fourth. Cambodia is 166th and Burma, next to the last. Somalia is the most "highly corrupt."

"Governance ... is as old as human civilization," says the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; it is a decision-making process and a process of implementing the decisions made.

ESCAP says "good governance" that includes rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, accountability, is an "ideal" -- a topic worth examining.

To "ensure sustainable human development," says ESCAP, "actions must be taken to work towards this ideal with the aim of making it a reality."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

Vietnam – Cambodia border landmark inaugurated

03/03/2009

VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnam’s Southern Province of An Giang and Cambodia’s Takeo province on March 2 held a ceremony to mark the planting of the 281st border marker.

This border marker designates the international border line separating Lac Quoi Commune in Tri Ton District of An Giang Province from Som Commune in Kirivong District of Takeo province.

The border marker planting was part of the implementation of the Vietnam – Cambodia Land Border Treaty.

It marks the fact that after two years of negotiations and field surveys, the demarcation of the international border between Vietnam’s An Giang Province and Cambodia’s Takeo and Kandal provinces is completed. Border markers having been placed along 99.6 kilometers of the borderline.

The two sides have also agreed upon sites for another 46 border markers, designating the final 60 kilometers of the borderline between Vietnam’s An Giang Province and Cambodia’s Takeo and Kandal provinces.

VietNamNet/TT

UN Lawyer O'Brien Refuses Questions on Cambodia Tribunal, Ignores Logo Misuse

UN's Patricia O'Brien make pledge to UN's Ban, transparency and accountability not shown

INNER CITY PRESS
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, March 3 -- The UN's new top lawyer, asking Tuesday about the funding and corruption crisis at the UN-affiliated genocide tribunal in Cambodia, refused to answer any questions about it.

At a press conference at UN headquarters in New York, Patricia O'Brien purported to respond to twenty minutes of questions about the so-called Hariri Tribunal, concerning the deaths of some two dozen people in Lebanon. The Cambodia tribunal, already plagued by allegations that local Cambodian staff paid bribes to get their jobs, is threatened with closure according to its top judge due to a lack of funds.

As Inner City Press asked what the UN is going to do, Ms. O'Brien said she would not answer any questions on that or any other non-Hariri Tribunal topic. Inner City Press followed up, will there be another opportunity to ask these questions? I am not undertaking any further commitment of availability, Ms. O'Brien said.

Several comparisons came to mind. The Cambodia tribunal deals with more than a million deaths, while the Hariri Tribunal deals with two dozen. On the latter, however, the UN has good news, or thinks it does. Its corruption-plagued tribunal, the UN would apparently prefer just went away.

Of this UN-assisted tribunal, "a report surfaced last week on the German legislature's Web site alleging that a top U.N. tribunal official had acknowledged the kickbacks and accused a senior Cambodian administrator of corruption. The head of public affairs for the tribunal refused to comment on the report."

Ms. O'Brien's predecessor Nicolas Michel, while more focused on Lebanon than Cambodia, nevertheless answered questions about Cambodia. Ms. O'Brien, since being awarded the UN's top legal job, has rarely if ever been available to the media. She came to one press conference and left before taking any questions.

Two weeks ago, Inner City Press approached Ms. O'Brien in the hallway of the UN, after a ceremony in which she and two dozen other Under Secretaries-General signed "accountability" compacts with Ban Ki-moon. Inner City Press told Ms. O'Brien of recent instances of corporations publicly using and misusing the UN logo and name to promote their business. Previously, when Inner City Press had raised such cases to the UN Office of Legal Affairs, which Ms. O'Brien now heads, some actions had been taken. Ms. O'Brien instructed Inner City Press to proceed as it had in the past.

Inner City Press e-mailed to Ms. O'Brien, at her UN-listed address, a half-dozen examples of corporate use of the UN logo. Having no response, Inner City Press sent the examples again, on the eve of Tuesday's press conference. Still no response, until the terse statement that only Hariri Tribunal questions about be entertained, and no other Q&A opportunity was envisioned.

The UN is ostensibly a public organization; in any event, Ms. O'Brien's salary is paid by taxpayers all over the world. While Ban's UN talks about accountability and transparency, even its top lawyer appears to resist or oppose both. We will have more on this.

Retired king of Cambodia says battle with cancer going well

www.chinaview.cn

2009-03-03

PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Retired king of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk has reported that his battle with cancer is going well, said English-Khmer language newspaper the Cambodia Daily on Tuesday.

His treatment in Beijing, China, has successfully reduced the amount of B-cell lymphoma that was discovered late last year by his Chinese doctors, the paper quoted his latest statement as saying.

His "Lymphoma B cancer is smaller than before, following treatment by excellent doctors in Beijing," said the statement.

B-cell lymphoma, a cancer affecting blood cells crucial to the body's immune defenses, was first discovered in 1993 in his prostate gland, and despite treatment, it once recurred in 2005.

The 86-year-old former king will remain in Beijing for continuing treatment, according to the statement.

Editor: Xiong Tong

Small Countries Key in US Security, Top U.S. Officials Say

By Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
03 March 2009

Senior US statesmen say cooperation with small countries like Cambodia and regional neighbors Thailand, and Indonesia is essential to global security and improving US relations with Muslim communities around the world.

Speaking at a briefing on the Project on National Security Reform, Ambassador Thomas Pickering, a member of the project’s Guiding Coalition, said his group has looked at broad priorities for the US administration, not challenges they face on a daily basis.

Pickering said the recommendations put forth by the project envision the U.S. stepping up cooperation with big and small nations alike. In response to a question posed by VOA Khmer about the role of small countries such as Cambodia in future U.S. national security plans, he indicated a greater flexibility would improve U.S. international relations.

“You have defined precisely the kind of problems that new system would be in a stronger position to deal with because it involves obviously multiple American interests and multiple countries,” he said in an auditorium at the VOA headquarters.

US-Cambodian relations have improved since after the lifting of a 10-year ban on direct assistance, in February 2007. Cambodia is now the third largest recipient of US development assistance in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and the Philippines. Cambodia received $61 million last year alone, with one of the main objectives of the assistance to reduce threats from terrorism.

“The Cambodian government has been an excellent partner in the fight against terrorism, and mostly the assistance that we provide in that area is to try to build the capacity in combating crime, trafficking in persons and strengthening their border operations,” John Johnson, the US embassy spokesperson in Cambodia, told VOA Khmer by telephone Monday.

Cambodia’s cooperation with the US included an absentia life sentence to Jemaah Islamiyah’s ringleader, Hambali, and two associates in 2004.

Lt. Gen. Khieu Sopheak, spokesman for the Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior, said that the arrest of Hambali, through Cambodian help, in Thailand in 2004, showed the “good cooperation” Cambodia extended to the US.

Meanwhile, the US put on trial US-Cambodian Chhun Yasith, leader of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, who allegedly orchestrated an attack on the government in late 2000, while the two countries are cooperating to hunt for more plotters of failed bomb attacks near government buildings late last year, Khieu Sopheak said.

Cambodia has improved its security system and destroyed its stockpiles of surface-to-air missiles to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.

“In Cambodia we use our existing principles to fight terrorism, which is to prevent terrorism activities from happening, instead of finding a solution when a problem already arises,” Lt. Gen. Nem Sovath, director general of the Ministry of Defense’s department of politics and foreign affairs, told VOA Khmer by phone Sunday.

Gen. Pol Saroeun, commander of the Cambodian armed forces, praised the US government for extending technical and humanitarian assistance to the ministry and said the country still needs more support fighting terrorism.

As part of increasing global security, the US has begun paying attention to improving relations with Muslim communities.

A study by a US-Muslim project, released in February, concluded now is the right time for national discussions on relations with the global Muslim community.

In a hearing, titled “Engaging With Muslim Communities,” at the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee last Thursday, Sen. John Kerry spoke about President Barrack Obama’s intention to open a new chapter to improving relations with the Muslim world.

“Today, we must send a simple message to all Muslims: we share your aspirations for freedom, dignity, justice and security,’’ Kerry said at the opening of the hearing, which was attended by VOA Khmer.‘’We’re ready to listen, to learn, and to honor the president’s commitment to approach the Muslim world with a spirit of mutual respect.”

Former US secretary of state Madeline Albright told the Senate hearing that the West’s interest in Muslim communities spiked after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“A dialogue driven by such a traumatic event is sure to evoke accusations on one side and defensive on the other,” she said. “This means that if we are serious, we should separate our engagement as much as possible from the context of terrorism.”

Cambodia has around 500,000 Muslims living in the country and, as Zakariya Adam, secretary of state at the Ministry of Cults and Religion, told VOA Khmer in a phone interview, they are moderate and normally do not resort to violence to achieve their goals.

Without Immunity, Sam Rainsy Flies To Europe

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
03 March 2009

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy left the country Tuesday, to visit family and report on the suspension of his National Assembly immunity to the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Switzerland.

Sam Rainsy has been without immunity since a Feb. 26 vote to revoke it by the National Assembly’s Permanent Committee, after he failed to pay campaigning fines to the National Election Committee.

He has since paid the $2,500 in fines, which were levied for allegedly disparaging remarks made about the leaders of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party during election campaigning last year. However, his immunity remains in suspension.

Sam Rainsy said on Tuesday he would discuss the incident with European representatives of the IPU, an international body of parliamentarians.

“It was not my plan to visit Switzerland, but I reported already to the IPU, so I will spend my time to visit IPU to report about my parliamentary immunity,” he said. “I just told IPU to know that in Cambodia and the National Assembly and the Constitutional Council, the law is not respected. [The CPP members] use the Permanent Committee to threaten members of the National Assembly.”

CPP officials in the National Assembly, which is in recess, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but National Assembly President Heng Samrin has said the body will reconsider Sam Rainsy’s immunity question when it reconvenes in April.

SRP Deputy Secretary-General Mu Sochua said the Permanent Committee’s withdrawal of the immunity purposely came before a long recess and was a “political” decision.

No Case Left Behind, Senior Policeman Says

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington
03 March 2009

National police have begun investigating documents related to the killings of film stars, politicians and others, as part of an effort to strengthen national security, a senior official said Monday.

“We do not leave any case behind, that is the order of Gen. Neth Savoeun, the chief commissioner of national police,” Maj. Gen. Mok Chito, chief of the serious crimes department at the Ministry of Interior, said, as a guest on “Hello VOA.”

Neth Savoeun became chief of national police after the death of general Hok Lundy, in a helicopter crash, in October 2008.

Addressing concerns about the impunity in some killings, as well as attacks on film stars, singers and monks, Mok Chito said the police needed time to solve the cases. He also acknowledged the problem of hold-ups on gold sellers.

About 2,880 crimes were reported in 2008, a drop of 22 percent from the year before, he said, adding that Prime Minister Hun Sen had been clear in ordering integrity within the police and the punishment of law enforcement officials who commit wrongdoings.

“We will continue our effort to address crime,” he said.

Khmer Rouge lawyers threatened with sanctions over website posts

The Earth Times
Tue, 03 Mar 2009
Author : DPA

Phnom Penh - Judges at Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal on Tuesday said lawyers of a former Khmer Rouge leader faced "sanctions for a new offence" unless they removed confidential court documents from a website. A statement released by the court said judges had told lawyers for former head-of-state Ieng Sary that they must remove all legal documents from the website, other than those available on the tribunal's own website.

Lawyers were ordered to remove confidential documents already on the independent website within 48 hours, or else they will "force sanctions for a new offence," the statement said.

Ieng Sary, 83, is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders facing trial for their roles in the deaths of up to 2 million people through execution, starvation or overwork during the ultra-Maoist group's 1975-1979 reign.

His lawyers have previously stated that judges' refusal to make a range of legal documents public has undermined the court's transparency.

Indonesia to provide cultural scholarship for Cambodian students

PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will soon start to provide scholarship for Cambodian students in the fields of dance, cinematography and fine arts, said the official news agency AKP (Agence Kampuchea Presse) on Tuesday.

Minister of Culture and Fine Arts Him Chhem made this announcement upon his recent return from Bali, Indonesia, where a memorandum on Cambodia-Indonesia Cultural Cooperation was signed.

"The memorandum is very important. It helps strengthen our cultural cooperation, human resource development and the close relations between both countries," he said.

In the near future, there will be students, art performance and cultural delegation exchanges between Cambodia and Indonesia, he added.

SBS Cambodia For Sale

kiletters

Video Journalist David O'Shea reports from Cambodia, where locals are now faced with a new peril - rampant land developers literally smashing entire communities, leaving thousands homeless.

The threat of legalisation of job insecurity makes trade unions react

Toul Sangke, Phnom Penh (Cambodia), 18/09/2008. Clothes sellers, in front of a garment manufacturing factory, in the Cambodian capital
©Vandy Rattana

Ka-set

By Duong Sokha
03-03-2009

Several important union confederations mentioned yet again their categorical opposition to a project presented by the Cambodian Ministry of Labour about the amendment, soon, of Articles 67 and 73 of the Labour Law regarding employment contracts. This reform was originally requested by employers in garment manufacturing factories who wish to reduce, in these times of global economic crisis, the cost of workforce by advocating, like in the rest of the region, a wider flexibility of the labour market.

Fears of serious infringement of trade union freedom
Leaders of the Cambodian labour Confederation (CLC), of the Confederation of Khmer Unions (CKU) and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Asia Pacific) reminded at a press conference held in Phnom Penh on March 2 that those amendments, which communicated to them in December 2008 by the Ministry of Labour, notably stipulate that fixed duration employment contracts (FDC) can be renewed indefinitely.

For Noriyuki Suzuki, secretary-general at the ITUC, which is said to gather 19 million members coming from 49 trade unions in 24 different countries in the Asia-Pacific region, this measure means no less than a restriction of the freedom of trade unions, since unionists will not dare speaking up for fear of being punished with a termination of their contract renewal. “It would be negating the established interpretation [...] that employees who have worked for an employer for two years must be treated as permanent employees” and would weaken job security, the Japanese unionist said, giving the example of his own country: there, in order to face economic recession, the government had resorted to similar measures, which had resulted in 13,000 job losses among workers.

For his part, Ath Thun, who leads the CLC, predicts that if MPs adopt such amendments, workers will not dare assert their rights any more for fear of seeing their contract terminated by their employer. And trade unionists will be the first ones to be targeted by those short-term contracts. Discrimination might also affect pregnant women, according to him. “When they come back from a three-month maternity leave, they might not be able to have their job back. In other words, employers would be fully free to terminate contracts whenever they like,” he warned.

Going backwards
As explained by the Cambodian NGO CLEC (Community Legal Education Centre), this would mean destroying social guarantees. Indeed, CLEC reminds that the Arbitration Council, created and supported by the International Labour Organisation, had interpreted Labour Law in the following way in several decisions it rendered: Any fixed duration employment contract (FDC) will legally become an undetermined duration employment contract (UDC) when the total length of the renewals exceeds two years.

Chuom Momthol, president of the CKU, a trade union considered to be close to the government, aligned itself with the position adopted by its peers, and proves as concerned and critical about the reform, “neither urgent nor compulsory” but just good enough, according to him, to be enforced in communist countries like China, Vietnam, Laos or Myanmar. “Protest is so strong among big international unions and among financial backers that I think the government will have to backpedal”, he says, while warning that if the government keeps turning a deaf ear to their calls, workers will launch an important strike – their only available weapon.

Trade Unions calling to government
Noriyuki Suzuki echoed the dissatisfaction of trade unionists in front of representatives of the Ministry of Labour on Monday March 2nd. Unionists promised they would bring their call all the way up to the government, until new negotiations are started again between the authorities, trade unions and employers.

Mid-February, Neil Kearney, general secretary at the International Textile, Garment & Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF), which brings together some 10 million members in 110 countries, wrote to prime Minister Hun Sen to ask him to “desist from its efforts to extend the use of temporary contracts and instead take measures to ensure security of employment”. He added that from what he knew, several major garment manufacturers had already “switched from permanent to temporary contracts”. This trend, if it is to be confirmed, “would make Cambodia less competitive from the point of view of corporate social responsibility,” the unionist warned.

Politics delays international justice

Toronto Star
Mar 03, 2009

Martin Regg Cohn

Tomorrow, all eyes will be on Khartoum if the International Criminal Court indicts Sudan's controversial president, Omar Hassan Bashir, for war crimes over the genocide in Darfur.

Later this month in Phnom Penh, a special court is set to begin the first trial for Cambodia's genocide, three decades after the Khmer Rouge were ousted.

And this past Sunday, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon officially got underway, tasked with prosecuting the killers of Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, in Beirut four years ago.

Each of these three major prosecutions will be breaking new ground this month, but the fact that each has taken so long is a testament to the painstaking delays and political difficulties of international law.

When it comes to prosecuting deadly acts in Sudan, Cambodia and Lebanon, the intersection of justice and politics makes for a difficult balancing act.

The Sudanese genocide has been going on for six years. And there are signs the UN Security Council may use the indictment as leverage to extract concessions from the Sudanese government, rather than follow through with a prosecution.

In Cambodia, it took 13 years to establish a special court because of domestic political resistance. A Canadian lawyer, Robert Petit, is acting as the influential co-prosecutor.

Another Canadian, Daniel Bellemare, is playing a similarly key role as chief prosecutor for the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The case doesn't involve genocide, but rather the political survival of a people under threat from outside forces for three decades.

It is being conducted under Lebanese law, but because of the volatile political and security situation in Beirut, it is being largely outsourced to a suburb outside The Hague where the Canadian lawyer and his international team have based themselves.

In 2005, a massive truck bomb demolished Hariri's motorcade in downtown Beirut, killing the former prime minister and 22 others. The unseen hand of Syria had slain Hariri, but also sown the seeds of the "Cedar Revolution" – a popular uprising that finally forced Damascus to withdrew all its uniformed troops.

When I first met Hariri in the late 1990s, his country was occupied by Israeli forces in the south and 40,000 Syrian troops everywhere else. Official portraits of Syria's then-president, Hafez Assad, were ubiquitous. I asked Hariri about Assad's domineering presence, but he fingered his prayer beads and fixed an exasperated glare on me, as if to say: What shall we do?

Years later, he acted. Assad had died in office and been succeeded as Syrian president by his son Bashar. Hariri challenged Syrian hegemony, but paid for it with his life.

Now, Bellemare describes the hybrid court as "the first international anti-terrorist tribunal." Indictments are expected within two months, drawing on three years of painstaking investigations.

But the biggest barriers lie ahead. There are signs of a rapprochement between Damascus and Washington that could lead to political trade-offs, especially if the tribunal needs help from the Security Council to extradite suspects. Syria is refusing any extradtions.

Lebanon's fledgling anti-Syrian government is also facing parliamentary elections in June. The country's divided parliament squabbled bitterly over the prosecutions, and if pro-Syria Hezbollah MPs make electoral gains, they could stonewall the tribunal.

Bellemare has vowed to maintain his judicial independence: "We will go wherever the evidence leads us. We will leave no stone unturned."

But political obstacles could yet block his path, just as they stand in the way of other international prosecutions.

Martin Regg Cohn's column appears Tuesdays.

Cambodia to host ASEAN-U.S. military exercise in 2010

www.chinaview.cn

2009-03-03

PHNOM PENH, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will host a large-scale ASEAN-U.S. military exercise in 2010, Khmer-language newspaper the Deum Ampil said on Tuesday.

"It is an honor for Cambodia to be chosen by ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and superpower U.S. as the location for such a large-scale international military exercise," Pol Saroeurn, Commander-in-Chief of Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), told the paper.

"We will take efforts to make it a success," he said, adding that he will also instruct all his subordinates to be careful with the work.

The Sihanoukville port will be used as the maritime location ofthis military haul, the paper also quoted a governmental official as saying on condition of anonymity.

Cambodia once joined international military exercises respectively in Bangladesh and Mongolia and also sent peacekeepers to Sudan for de-mining operation under the U.N. umbrella.

In April 2008, 40 Cambodian soldiers participated in a three-week multi-national peace-keeping exercise in Bangladesh.

The U.S.-led mission was named "Ambassador of Peace" and involved some 400 soldiers from 12 countries, including Bangladesh,India, Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Nepal, Brunei,Mongolia, Tonga, Cambodia and U.S.

In July 2007, 43 Cambodian soldiers took part in a military exercise for UN peacekeeping mission in Mongolia.

In addition, Cambodia sent 135 deminers to Sudan in 2006 for UN peacekeeping mission, and then 139 in June 2007 to replace the oldones. The deminers were renewed again in 2008.

Editor: Du

Construction Bidders: US$17 Million to Construct Health Buildings Is Stalled because of Foreign Advisors - Tuesday 3.2.2009

Posted on 3 March 2009

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 602

“Phnom Penh: A US$17 million loan from the World Bank to build referral hospitals at provinces as well as many health centers and posts has been stalled for two years, because of a lack of management competency of foreign advisors from LBG [unclear what LBG stands for in the original - maybe the quantity surveyor company LBG-NGT Corporation from Tuas/Singapore – but maybe not]. This was stated by construction bidders who attended biddings to implement this project.

“Construction bidders criticized that for two years, there has been no construction, but there were one or two biddings. Because of this slowness, the construction of up to 10 referral hospitals and many health centers and posts in most provinces, worth more than US$10 million, has been stalled until now.

“The same source added that though recruitment for the construction project was transferred to IPA [unclear what IPA stands for in the original – maybe the recruitment company Independence Procurement Agency – but maybe not] by the Ministry of Economy and Finance recently, this project still faces the possibility of failure. It is said that the trouble originates from the LBG advisors .

“The source blamed that the technical advisors of LBG are incompetent to do the managing, and furthermore, in the plans, there are no calculations based on standard formulas and on proper construction standards. This is a major obstacle for the construction bidders, and even though many companies had protested against the mistakes of the LBG technical advisors, there was no action taken by the Healthcare Services Specification Project of the Ministry of Health.

“According to the bidders, the project was put for bidding again for a second time at the end of 2008, but still there were not many bidders attending. There will be a third bidding, and this may be continue forever.

“Bidders know well that even if one or two more biddings are held, there still will be no bidders.

“Moreover, the rushed delivering of contracts for two projects, the Kampot and the Stung Treng referral hospitals, worth more than US$2 million, in mid February 2009 by IPA, leads to a loss of tens of thousands of dollars, because the price of the bidding for this project was 60% to 80% higher compared to the formerly calculated price.

“The source went on to say that the construction processes at most places have been stalled for years, which makes the expenses for technical advisors to increase by more than 20%, which is most highly problematic. Bidders criticized this and also requested that leaders of the Ministry of Health should check the contracts between the ministry and LBG advisors urgently. At the same time, they have to recheck the management system at the secretariat supporting the heath sector.

“Bidders still remember Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen’s former words, saying that substantial expenses for foreign advisor services were right. Bidders emphasize that this is not acceptable. Everyone knows that better health services in rural areas are desperately needed by citizens almost everywhere, and also in this priority sector of the Royal Government, which is to be strengthened. Thus, the above source calls on the Ministry of Health to thoroughly check and take action against any negative points, or any individual who wastes a lot of national resources, because all money to support the health sector comes from all Cambodian citizens who will have to repay the loan to the World Bank in the future.

“Regarding what is mentioned above, Rasmei Kampuchea tried to contact the secretariat of the Ministry of Health, and LBG, for explanations, but could not reach them.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #4835, 3.3.2009
Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Tuesday, 3 March 2009

Cambodia KRouge defence warned over website

Tue Mar 3, 2009

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - The defence team of a Khmer Rouge leader has been ordered to remove confidential documents from Cambodia's UN-backed war crimes court from a website, the tribunal's investigating judges said Tuesday.

Lawyers for former foreign minister Ieng Sary "face sanctions" if they do not remove all documents relating to judicial investigations within 48 hours, the court's co-investigating judges said in a press statement.

Ieng Sary, 83, is one of five leaders from the late 1970s regime charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, but details of the investigation ahead of his trial are kept confidential.

Investigating judges said they needed "to guarantee the protection of privacy of those persons mentioned in the case file and the presumption of innocence, as well as to promote efficiency in investigations."

But the website containing defence filings and letters has also posted a letter to court officials saying that no documents on the site relate to the current investigation of Ieng Sary.

The letter by defence lawyers Michael Karnavas and Ang Udom goes on to allege that judges suppress filings "which may be embarrassing or which call into question the legitimacy and judiciousness of acts and decisions."

Ieng Sary has been rushed to hospital nine times since he was detained by the court in November 2007, and last week had an appeal for release from the Khmer Rouge court delayed after he said he was too ill to appear in court.

As the top Khmer Rouge diplomat, Ieng Sary was frequently the only point of contact between Cambodia's secretive communist rulers and the outside world.

He has denied any involvement in atrocities but he was one of the biggest public supporters of the regime's mass purges, researchers say.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the 1975-1979 regime emptied Cambodia's cities in its drive to create a communist utopia.

The long-awaited first Khmer Rouge trial started last month when the regime's notorious prison chief, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by the alias Duch, went before the court.

Food prices tax urban poor

Photo by: AFP
A young boy stands outside his home in a central Phnom Penh slum.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Bobbie Corey-Boulet
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

A NATIONAL survey conducted late last year indicates that rising food prices have fuelled an increase in acute malnutrition among poor children in urban areas.

The Cambodia Anthropometrics Survey, initial findings of which were made public two weeks ago by the National Institute of Statistics, found that acute malnutrition among poor urban children under the age of five had increased from 9.6 percent in 2005 to 15.9 percent in 2008.

Viorica Berdaga, chief of child survival and development at the United Nations Children's Fund, said via email Thursday that the increase in acute malnutrition among the urban poor "is large, likely to be significant, and very logical considering that high food prices have the largest effect on those that have to buy all of their food".

The survey also found that acute malnutrition among children under five had increased from 8.4 percent to 8.9 percent between 2005 and 2008. But Berdaga said the survey was designed to measure changes of at least two percentage points, meaning that this finding might not be statistically significant.

"It is possible that acute malnutrition has increased nationally over the last year, but we do not know this," Berdaga said. "What we can say with some confidence is that gains in acute malnutrition seen from 2000 to 2005 have stopped in 2008."

Berdaga said that if the results do, in fact, point to worsening child nutrition, then the Kingdom could have difficulty meeting Millennium Development Goal No 4: to reduce child mortality.

The mortality rate for children under five fell from 124 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1998 to 82 deaths in 2005, far surpassing the target of 105. The 2015 target is 65 deaths per 1,000 live births.

"If nutrition begins to worsen and if no action is taken to address malnutrition, it would be logical to expect child mortality might follow the same path," Berdaga said.

Unicef representative Richard Bridle said via email that the preliminary results of the survey were "not surprising" and that conditions were not likely to improve without a "concerted effort" to apply tested nutrition interventions, backed up with sufficient resources.

ECCC says no pay for nationals

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Georgia Wilkins
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Judge says insufficient funding has left Cambodian side insolvent.

A JUDGE at the Khmer Rouge tribunal has announced that Cambodian staff will not receive their salaries this month, as donor funds dry up amid concerns of corruption.

Kong Srim, president of the tribunal's Supreme Court chamber, told participants and media at the opening of the judge's fifth plenary Monday that the court's long-standing funding problems would now materialise into bankruptcy.

"Unfortunately, the national side of the court will not have sufficient funds for the staff salaries for this month," he said.

"I see this as our most important challenge, as it hardly seems reasonable for judicial officers and staff to be expected to continue working without remuneration," he added.

He said, however, that he was confident the problem would be resolved "before such a situation arises".

Trial chamber Judge Silvia Cartwright, speaking after Kong Srim, said resolving the issue of corruption is the only way to quash donor concerns.

"The problems mentioned by [Kong Srim] concerning funding can be resolved once the international community is confident of a corruption-free environment in which to hold trials," she said.

"International judges have said clearly and repeatedly that they will not allow corruption to interfere with the tribunal's delivery of justice for the people of Cambodia," she added.

The UN Development Program, which was administering donor funds to the Cambodian side of the court, decided to withhold funding after allegations arose in July, leaving hundreds of staff members without salaries for two months.

To date, neither side of the court has confronted previous allegations, and a review made in September by a UN oversight body has yet to be made public.

Court spokesperson Reach Sambath was unsure whether the more than 200 Cambodian staff would continue to work unpaid again.

"It's too early to say.... Our greatest concern is the translators. If it affects translators, it affects the whole court," he said.

The court began its first trial last month, with testimonies to start after March 30.

Video connects Asean states

Photo by: SOVANN PHILONG
Participants at the Phnom Penh video conference watch Surin Pitsuwan speak from Bangkok on Monday morning.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Sam Rith and Cat Barton
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan spoke to groups in eight of 10 member states during the weekend summit.

THE video conference had an informal air with the resolutely cheerful moderator joking with the Indonesian team about their batik shirts and maintaining a running commentary on which traffic jam the Asean secretary general was stuck in. But when Surin Pitsuwan did eventually arrive - some 45 minutes late - his speech was, participants concurred, worth waiting for.

Emphasising the shift in the regional body's attitude - from being a talking shop for regional leaders to a participatory, people-orientated organisation - Surin Pituwan spoke, via video link, to groups of students, journalists and civil society representatives in eight of the group's 10 member states - Brunei and Myanmar did not participate.

He hailed the "Herculean task" achieved by the drafters of the body's new charter, saying they had a difficult task to accommodate the bloc's "tremendous diversity".

"It [charter] is a good beginning," Surin Pitsuwan said, speaking Monday at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

"It includes the ideal of a human rights mechanism [which will function] independently and efficiently."

The Asean charter, which emphasises the "protection and promotion" of human rights, has laid good foundations for a proposed human rights mechanism and could ensure the group's future human rights body is independent, accountable and effective.

However, whether this happens will depend on the readiness of member states and the pressure that people will put on their respective governments.

Local support for rights
Nay Vanda, head of the advocacy section of the rights group Adhoc who attended the Phnom Penh video conference, said in Cambodia there remain many human rights issues that require government action - and he singled out the need to pay more attention to the rights of the urban poor and land dispute victims.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asean should do more to ... actually intervene and investigate.
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"The most serious human rights issue in Cambodia now is land disputes," he said.

"Their rights are losing sway, their protests get less and less attention from the government, and many are arrested and detained [unfairly] in connection to land disputes," he said.

Nay Vanda said thatcompared with other Asean countries, with the exception of Myanmar, Cambodia was lagging in terms of human rights.

"Asean should do more to ... actually intervene and investigate, not only say it will protect and promote," he said.

Surin Pitsuwan also discussed the bloc's response to the economic crisis, saying the body must put up a "united and brave front" in the face of a mounting global economic turmoil and resist sliding into protectionism.

Gov notes bettors' end

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by May Titthara
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

PHNOM Penh Governor Kep Chuktema has announced the closure of the city's gambling centres in line with a government order issued to municipal authorities Thursday.

Speaking during the municipality's annual congress Monday at City Hall, Kep Chuktema said police and military police had cracked down on all forms of gambling - including slot machine parlours, sports betting and illegal casinos - in each of Phnom Penh's eight districts.

"Lotteries may look like a simple thing, but this gambling causes poor people to become poorer and poorer," he said, adding the current crackdown had four aims: to get signatures from gambling operators promising to cease their operations; to force Cambo Six and Sporting Live Group outlets to remove their logos and shut up shop; to force lottery owners to cease business within a week; and to shut down illegal gambling centres and send their owners to court.

Nuon Samet, chief of the Municipal Cabinet, said at the congress that authorities had previously "lacked control" of slot parlours and football betting, which he said were a "significant cause" of robberies.

He added that City Hall had created a 2009 plan to enforce the closure of gambling centres, in addition to karaoke bars and video sex cafes close to schools.

The municipal crackdown comes following a February 24 order by Prime Minister Hun Sen for the closure of Cambo Six sports betting outlets and slot machine parlours across the country.

Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naruth said that 44 slot machine venues, 29 Cambo Six outlets and 12 Sporting Live Group outlets had been closed since Thursday, and said that on the whole, operators had complied with government orders.

New provincial courtrooms to deliver efficient justice

Photo by: HENG CHIVOAN
Minister of Justice Ang Vong Vananna in a file photograph.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Cheang Sokha
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Proposed courts would prevent residents of Pailin, Kep and Oddar Meanchey from having to travel to hear court cases.

AUTHORITIES from three newly established provinces that lack provincial courts have asked the Ministry of Justice to set up new courthouses to help deliver justice more efficiently to residents.

Currently, Oddar Meanchey province and the recently created Palin and Kep provinces have justice offices, but these can deal only with civil cases where the parties are not in dispute. All other cases fall outside their jurisdiction, which means suspects and victims must travel to adjacent provinces to be heard.

Koeut Sothea, deputy governor of Pailin, said that this caused significant problems.

"It is time to establish a court here so that we can provide legal services to local people," he said Monday.

"We face lots of difficulties in transporting suspects and criminals to other provinces."

Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana could not be reached for comment, but a ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity said senior justice officials were actively discussing setting up courts in the provinces, although he could not give a timeline for delivery.

"The decision will be made by higher-level officials in the ministry," he said. "The main problem is finding the budget to build courtrooms, and to pay judges and prosecutors."

The official said the current status was that Pailin forwarded cases to Battambang, Oddar Meanchey sent its cases to Siem Reap and Kep sent its cases to Kampot.

Chhoun Makkara, Pailin coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said generally weak law enforcement and slow progress in hearing cases were further hindered in his province by the lack of courtrooms, forcing people to spend time and money travelling to Battambang, around 100 kilometres away.

"Many people complain about the difficulties of travelling. It is also difficult for us to reach police and court officials when we intervene in cases."

Villagers say court ordered them to compensate trafficker

ALOOF COURTS
Rights group says human trafficking remains pervasive, and largely unpunished, in Cambodia. Some 141 human trafficking cases were reported last year, but only 15 were heard by the courts, according to a February report by the Cambodian National Council for Women.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chhay Channyda
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Prey Veng villagers protest court order, arguing they were given false promises of work abroad and should not be forced to honour contract.

VILLAGERS in Prey Veng province's Mesang district filed a complaint Monday with local rights group Adhoc over a court decision demanding they hand over their property to a man they say is a human trafficker who duped them to work in Thailand.

Vi Savoeun, 21, said he was promised a job in Thailand by Len Own in 2005, but was put in prison when arriving there because he did not have immigration documents.

"I was promised a job in Thailand with 20 other men. We are poor and had hoped to earn money, but we were arrested and put in jail for four days and then sent back to Cambodia."

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I was promised a job in thailand with 20 other men... we were arrested and put in jail for 4 days and sent back to Cambodia.
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He said he had mortgaged his land title to Len Own in exchange for a promise of employment across the border.

Another man, Khin Sat, 21, said he also faced property seizure, including his house and motorbike, following a broken promise of employment from Len Own. He also said he was promised 400,000 riels (US$96.95) as an upfront bonus, but he did not see the money.

Scared to speak up
Several families are facing property seizures from the court, but only two families have filed a complaint with Adhoc, according to the group's provincial monitor Nget Nara, who said the other families feared reprimands from local authorities if they came forward.

He said the court flaunted the law and made its ruling "without any investigation".

"The is a typical case of human trafficking where we see villagers cheated because they are very poor" and easily lured with promises of money, he added.

He said two cases of human trafficking in Prey Veng had been reported to Adhoc last year, and this was the first case it received this year. He said people should inform authorities before attempting to work abroad in order to avoid falling victim to exploitation.

March 11 is the deadline for Prey Veng's provincial court to seize the homes in Sramor village, Prey Rumdeng commune. Nget Nara saidt he would write a letter to the court to delay the seizure and open further investigation.

Provincial prosecutor Yam Yet said that it was not his role to solve villagers' complaint, but to follow the court's decision.

But he added: "I know they are poor and have nowhere to live if we seize their property, so I will check all possibilities of helping them."

Len Own could not be contacted Monday.

R'kiri game hunting park approved

Photo by: MICHAEL HAYES

Banteng, or wild cows, in Ratanakkiri province last month. These animals may soon be the target of big game hunters when a planned game park gets off the ground.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Michael hayes and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Government claims controlled hunting of big game species in remote northeast can provide a framework for conservation and social development - and be a cash cow into the bargain.

FOLLOWING internal debate within various government departments that has been ongoing for the last four years, the Council of Ministers approved Friday the establishment of a new protected area in Rattanakiri Province.

Comprising around 100,000 hectares, the O'Yadav Protected Forest (OPF) is slated to become the Kingdom's first hunting reserve, where big-game trophy hunters will be allowed to pay thousands of dollars to shoot wild animals including gaur, banteng, wild boar and deer.

According to the government, revenues would be used to protect the area, manage sustainable wildlife levels, provide funds for social development and generate income for the national budget.

"If we calculate several gaur and banteng [per year] in the next five years - gaur, a maximum of 20, and banteng about 40 - with that and other small pigs and deer, we can generate about US$4 million," said Chheang Dany, deputy director of the Wildlife Protection Office (WPO) at the Forestry Administration.

"And from royalties and licences [we could earn] about another $600,000."
Based on recent field surveys conducted in the OPF, the wildlife office estimates that there are between 50 and 80 gaur and between 250 and 350 banteng currently in the area.

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The project will reduce forest clearing and illegal hunting.
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A Spanish company, NSOK Safaris, has been working with the government on the reserve. Chheang Dany says several of their executives visited the area in 2006 and that an investment proposal had been submitted to the Council of Ministers.

He did say, however, that NSOK's proposal included plans to build a hunting lodge, a small airport so hunters could fly directly from Phnom Penh to the protected forest, and that they were committed to build a school and a health clinic - probably in a local village.

In theory, the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) would have to approve any final investment proposal.

A controversial strategy
Trophy-hunting as a method of managing and preserving wildlife is a controversial issue that has seen hunting organisations and conservation NGOs go head-to-head for decades.

"I support the concept with the caveat that it has to be done right," said Hunter Weiler, a technical adviser to the WPO.

Seng Teak, Cambodia country director for the global conservation group WWF, said that the decision to designate the area as a protected forest was "good news" but that any hunting had to be based on "scientific information and sound management".

"This can help produce results for managing the site and help improve the livelihoods of the people," Seng Teak said.

"Otherwise, it could ruin the [animal] population. We need to ensure the population of species needed to take off is available there. It must be studied very thoroughly."

The local provincial government seems optimistic that the project will benefit Ratanakkiri.

"I strongly believe that the project will reduce forest clearing and illegal hunting," Deputy Governor Bou Lam told the Post Sunday.

Pen Bonnar, Adhoc's provincial coordinator in Ratanakkiri , said the project was better than economic land concessions that he has seen destroy forests without much benefit or compensation to local villagers.

The majority of the OPF is presently covered with deciduous forest, meaning forest cover is sparse and water is very scarce during much of the year.

The area east of the O'Tang River, which flows from the Vietnamese border southwest into the Srepok River, and north of the O'Leo River - an area of about 80,000 hectares - is too dry to sustain agricultural settlements.

"This is the best [area] of unprotected dry forest in the lower Mekong," said Weiler.

There are a few remote police posts along the border, but the area is generally open for poachers and illegal loggers.

Chheang Dany says that he has heard rumours that poachers are coming across the border and taking out wildlife trophies secretly. He also says that off-duty soldiers and hunters from the Cambodian side are taking out one banteng a week just so they can eat some meat and sell the rest to buy a few drinks to help wash it down.

But don't expect to see rifle-toting big-game hunters kitted out in safari suits passing through Phnom Penh any time soon, as a raft of regulations still remain to be passed.

The Ministry of Interior will have to decide regulations for importing and carrying weapons; the Ministry of Finance needs to determine the exact trophy and licensing fees; and the Forestry Administration will have to determine annual quotas for each species.

Moreover, the global economic downturn may for the time being take the wind out of the sails of any guy who needs to come up with the $50,000 required to walk around the jungle looking for a wild cow to shoot.

Officials to investigate prison break

CROWDED HOUSE
The Kingdom's provincial prisons have long been notorious for overcrowding and poor conditions. A study of 18 prisons conducted by local rights group Licadho found that the jails' combined population rose from 3,282 prisoners in 1999 to 9,315 in April 2008.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

Authorities to launch investigations into a breakout that saw two convicted criminals fashion a replica jail key and escape from a recently built prison in Preah Vihear province.

THE governor of Preah Vihear province has ordered the provincial court prosecutor and prison officials to open investigations into the escape of four men on Friday from the province's new prison.

Governor Preap Tann told the Post Monday that the error lay squarely on the shoulders of prison officials.

"This prison was constructed in late 2008, and it is a strong building," he said. "I will not excuse any prison officials if they are found to have made a mistake. I have told the court prosecutor to issue arrest warrants for these criminals and return them to jail."

The four men broke out of the cell they were sharing around midnight Friday, said prison chief Krouch Bundil. He said it appeared they had fashioned a replica key from iron sourced from their cell and used it to unlock the door.

Krouch Bundil said two of the men were convicted criminals, while the other two were in pretrial detention. He named the four as Yoeun Chhoeun, who was convicted of raping his daughter; Sao Sovanna, convicted of robbery; Bun Boeun, is charged with murder; and Sor Toth, who is charged with raping an 18-year-old woman and killing another woman who tried to help the victim.

Given the slip
Ros Chanthy, the chief guard at the prison, said the escape was not his fault, blaming three prison wardens who handled the keys, saying they had been careless in their actions.

Krouch Bundil said a series of errors had led to the breakout.

"There were three errors made: My men didn't check the prisoners in their cell; my men didn't check their keys; and the criminals unlocked their door and fled," he said.

"I have talked with the provincial governor to recommend a timetable to improve procedures for overseeing cells and to punish prison officials for their carelessness," he said, adding that photographs of the four escapees had been sent to district police.

However, Krouch Bundil said he was not optimistic the men would be caught since two of them were repeat offenders.

Provincial prosecutor Keo Shim said Monday that he sent a formal letter to the Ministry of Justice's prosecutor general and summoned the three prison guards in charge of the keys, as well as other involved parties, to explain themselves. He said procedures had not been followed and confirmed that arrest warrants had now been issued for the four men.

Govt moves raise censorship fears

Photo by: Sovann Philong
A computer user looks at some of controversial artist Reahu's work.

The Phnom Penh Post

Written by Brendan Brady
Tuesday, 03 March 2009

A series of recent orders by the government to restrict access to online content have critics concerned that a more comprehensive campaign against the internet may be on the way.

WHILE the vice squad in Cambodia set its sights on racy magazines in recent weeks, the more concerning trend for local observers has been government-directed blocks of controversial websites through a haphazard, piecemeal campaign that has left them uncertain who is calling the shots on censorship and how.

Access to reahu.org, the website of the Khmer-American artist Koke Lor, has been blocked since the end of January for users of domestic internet service providers Angkor Net, Mekong Net, Online and qb.

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

The government and some social observers condemned the work as lewd and insulting to Cambodian culture, while others defended the artist's right to freedom of expression.

The artist, in an email to the Post, accused the government of using him as a "scapegoat" to project contemporary social ills onto his work, and, in a posting on his website, cautioned: "If this kind of basic freedom is denied God knows what will happen next."

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

Moral decay
Sy Define, a secretary of state for the Ministry of Women's Affairs, said her office cooperated with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to have the reahu website banned domestically along with "some other websites that show sexy pictures ... such as websexplace.com and thomsunder.com."

"Apsara images like those in the reahu website have a bad effect on our culture," she said. "The Aspara is supposed to show women as being gentle, not looking very sexy."

The ban on reahu divided Pan Sorasak, a secretary of state at the Commerce Ministry who has spearheaded the government efforts to promote e-commerce.

"The internet can be a doubled-edged sword. It can help promote business, but it can also lead to problems," he said. "We are trying to promote the better half."

"To block the website was a bit strong," he added. "It's a fine line - the Ministry of Women's Affairs was against the website, and I support them."

Phu Leewood, secretary general of the National Information Communications Technology Development Authority (NIDA), the government's main internet body, said he was unaware of an official internet ban on reahu or that local providers had filtered out content.

But he said he would respect the Ministry of Women's Affairs decision if they had called for a ban on the reahu website - although he was adamant his office "supported freedom of information."

While he said it would be a long time coming before Cambodia had internet-specific regulations, the laws of other mediums can be applied to the internet, he explained, adding that since pornography in magazines is illegal, it is illegal online as well.

Official enforcement of anti-pornography laws, he said, can come from the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Women's Affairs because "pornography offends Cambodian culture and Cambodian women" - although Sy Define of the Women's Affairs Ministry said monitoring online pornography was not the domain of the Culture Ministry.

Not a censorship policy
The moves follow denials from the Ministry of Information that new legislation it is drafting for audiovisual media will bear on content or online material altogether.

In mid-January, first reports of the proposal, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed, drew a sharp response from local media who cautioned it would be used as a tool of state censorship against online material critical of the government.

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

But Sam Rithy Doung Hak, a monitor for the Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists, said the ministry was simply backtracking following public condemnations of its plans.

Despite the ministry's claims, he believed the government intended to rein in popular websites and online cartoons critical of the government.

"The government said it wouldn't regulate internet content, but it has already broken that promise," he said, referring to blocked access to the work of reahu.

"They didn't do it through proper channels. They did it discreetly, behind the scenes."

Local leaders of Cambodia's online community remain deeply cynical of any government efforts to govern the internet given its shaky track record with media. Cambodia is currently ranked 128th - or "partially free" - on the US-based Freedom House organisation's 2008 press freedom list.

Tharum Bun, a leader in Cambodia's blogging community who headed the country's first major blogging conference, said the disparate sources of would-be internet regulators here stemmed from the government's lack of tech savvy: An offended office, wishing to shut down a site,
contacts another office, hoping they know what to do, and the process spirals.

"When the Ministry of Women's Affairs wanted to shut down the website of reahu, they spoke about the internet as if it were the radio or television," he said. "It was clear they don't understand how the internet works."

And while the lack of legislation related to the internet in Cambodia allows users to post material that may be banned in other mediums, it also allows the government to censor it without rules to guide how and under what circumstances, he added.

Norbert Klein, who is also editor of the online Cambodian Mirror, put the online blocks in the context of a larger censorship campaign by "self-appointed groups that act to clean society without the authority to do so."

Last month, Information Ministry officials removed from Phnom Penh newsstands a Khmer-language magazine Sameiy Thmei, or Modern Magazine, which included lifted online images of nude women. The street raid came a day after first lady Bun Rany - a long-time crusader against people, places and things deemed by her to compromise the Kingdom's social mores - railed against the proliferation of racy images of women in Cambodia and blamed the Ministry of Information for failing to stamp them out.

Legal limbo
What most disturbed Klein about the online blocks was the lack of accountability: "We need clarity: Who has done what and on what legal basis?" he said. "The government is supposed to operate in a state of laws. but there isn't transparency with this."

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodia Centre for Human Rights, said the government-directed blocks were twofold in purpose: to steer attention away from the real social ills it claims to be addressing and to remind would-be critics of its power to control them.

"Reahu is not pornography, while actual pornography - including child pornography - is available throughout Cambodia at the markets, at vendor stalls," he said.

He said an overwhelming victory at the polls in last July's general election gave the ruling party a strong mandate, "one aspect of which is censorship of things they don't like, whether it's an NGO report or something cultural."

Instructing internet service providers to block websites, he said, is intended to have a discreet, but resounding, ripple effect. "It's a way of saying, ‘We control you'."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MOM KUNTHEAR