Corruption hurting business: vendors

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:03 May Titthara

MARKET vendors at a Kampong Cham border crossing claim corrupt Cambodian border police are demanding too much money from Vietnamese customers, forcing them to accept lower prices for their goods.

The vendors have sent an official complaint to Prime Minister Hun Sen demanding an end to the practice, according to Lim Hong Chheang, who said he represents vendors at the Trapeang Phlong border crossing.

The payments “force Vietnamese vendors to buy Cambodian farmers’ produce at lower-than-market prices”, Lim Hong Chheang said.

Border officials demand 50 riels per kilogram of goods that the Vietnamese customers try to bring home, he said. The practice reportedly forces vendors to sell their offerings at a lower price: Dried cassava that might ordinarily fetch a price of 650 riels per kilogram, for example, now brings only 600 riels per kilogram.

“This corruption doesn’t affect just me,” Lim Hong Chheang said.

“It affects all the vendors’ standards of living. This isn’t new, either. It’s happened for a long time. We have enough evidence to file a complaint.”

Lim Hong Chheang also said that border officials were charging truck drivers 130,000 riels (US$31) to cross the border.

Claims rejected

But the official in charge of the Trapeang Phlong border checkpoint disputed the allegations.

“I haven’t heard about this issue,” said Oum Thalot, calling the matter a “personal problem” between the vendors and their landlord.

Oum Thalot said he was concerned that the villagers’ complaint had been filed.

Neang Sovath, the provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc in Kampong Cham, said he has never received a complaint regarding the matter from the province’s vendors.

Govt rejects Paris group’s border claims

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:03 Meas Sokchea

THE Council of Ministers on Tuesday moved to rebuke claims that markers on the Cambodia-Vietnam border were planted illegally.

The statement comes amid fresh debate two weeks before opposition leader Sam Rainsy is to face criminal charges for moving posts at the border.

In an interview with Voice of America last week, outspoken border activist Sean Pengse said the controversial border markers were planted illegally, because a 1985 treaty used as a basis for the border delineation was cancelled.

The government failed to consult with landowners who lost parts of their land to the divisive border, the Paris-based president of Cambodia’s Border Committee (CBC) claimed.

“It is illegal under national and international law. Only absolutely communist countries do things like this,” Sean Pengse told VOA Khmer, and also slammed the National Assembly, calling its lifting of opposition leader Sam Rainsy’s parliamentary immunity “undemocratic”.

The Council of Ministers, however, dismissed Sean Pengse’s concerns in a statement Tuesday.

“It is not true that the border markers were planted illegally because landowners were not informed. Border land is not recognised as privately owned land,” the statement read.

Land titles in the area were never issued, the statement continued, because the precise border was never clear.

A Sam Rainsy Party spokesman, however, rejected criticisms of Sean Pengse, calling the former minister of mines under the Lon Nol government a “border expert” who had the Kingdom’s best interests in mind.

“Sean Pengse has no political interests. He does not want to be a government minister,” SRP spokesman Yim Sovann said.

The public spat comes ahead of a January 27 court date in which SRP leader Sam Rainsy and five Svay Rieng province villagers have been called to face charges relating to the uprooting of border markers in October.

Officials urge disaster readiness

Photo by: Sovan Philong

Villagers in Kampong Thom province carry donations from the Red Cross through floodwaters left by Typhoon Ketsana last year.

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:02 Khouth Sophakchakrya

Flood-prevention plan in four provinces touted as an example to follow.

OFFICIALS with the National Committee on Disaster Management on Tuesday urged all provinces to adopt strategies to reduce the potential impact of natural disasters, citing as an example a flood-prevention plan implemented in four provinces in 2006 that they said had been particularly effective.

“Creating a plan for preparedness and reducing the risk of disasters at the provincial and district level is a very important responsibility that will allow all of the people to live in peace,” Peou Samy, the NCDM’s secretary general, said at the beginning of a two-day conference on disaster preparedness.

Funded by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, the flood-prevention plan adopted in Kandal, Prey Veng, Kratie and Svay Rieng provinces involved the expansion of irrigation systems and the building of roads and public services on elevated terrain.

Loy Rego, deputy executive director of the ADPC, said Cambodia is one of the most vulnerable countries in the region, but that officials have made efforts in some areas despite limited resources.

Peou Samy said at the conference that last year’s Typhoon Ketsana caused US$53 million in crop damage, much of which was from flooding.

R’kiri police close ‘porn cafe’, citing cultural impacts

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:02 Mom Kunthear

A CAFE owner in Ratanakkiri province was arrested on Tuesday and ordered to close his business after he was accused of screening pornographic videos, local authorities said.

Ratanakkiri provincial police Chief Rai Ray said authorities closed the Lorn Monorum Cafe, which had opened just 10 days earlier, after discovering it was screening pornographic films, arresting 20 patrons along with the owner.

“I have the right to close any business that dares to show pornographic movies, because I’m worried that they’ll degrade our culture, especially the culture of local ethnic minorities,” he said. “I won’t allow these kinds of cases to happen in my province.”

Patrons detained in the raid were held for about four hours while police lectured them on the ills of watching pornographic material, which they fear will be adopted and mimicked by local minorities.

“It is my responsibility to teach nightclub and karaoke parlour owners not to show pornographic movies or offer sexual services, and I will close their businesses without negotiation if they do,” Rai Ray said.

But Pen Bonnar, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, said the crackdown was a useless publicity stunt that did nothing to solve the underlying problem, since the suppliers of the movies and local power elites remained unpunished.

“Criminal businessmen usually pay bribes in order to keep their business open, even though they know what they are doing is illegal, so I think the crackdown is inefficient,” he said.

He said it would be more effective for the police to take sustained action against perpetrators at every level of the illegal business.

“It’s a good way to stop people watching pornographic movies and at the same time stop the production of pornographic movies. And it is good for the police, too, because they don’t have to bother with crackdowns,” he said.

Ratanakkiri provincial Military Police Chief Tuy Sim said he could not confirm when the cafe owner would face court.

“The coffee shop owner was released on bail, but I will send his case to the court so they can punish him as a lesson to all the other people who want to show pornographic movies,” he said.

The arrest comes less than a week after Phnom Penh authorities launched a new crackdown against the sale of pornographic and other pirated DVDs and VCDs.

Grenade Blast: Explosion targets local official

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:02 Kim Yuthana

Grenade Blast

Police in Kandal province said Tuesday that they were investigating a Monday night grenade attack on a commune chief that they suspect was related to ongoing land disputes. No one was injured in the attack in which a grenade was launched into the home of Thuch Chanthou, chief of Am Povprey commune, Kandal Stung district. District police Chief Sim Buth Bandidh said police had identified an obvious motive, but had no leads in the case and were “grinding their knuckles” to solve it. “Touch Chanthou has been the subject of many scandals related to land disputes, and has generated a lot of negative sentiment through some of his decisions, which might cause some people to seek revenge,” he said. But Touch Chanthou said Tuesday that the attack had nothing to do with revenge, though he conceded that he had made some unpopular decisions. “There are always people who are happy and unhappy with my choices,” he said.

Repeating an empty slogan

Photo by: Bloomberg

A supporter of deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra protests in Bangkok in December 2008.

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:02 Atiya Achakulwisut

Red Shirt demonstrations over controversial land deals reveal a national affinity for the ‘double standard’ refrain in politics.

NO other words seem to prick the easily excitable hearts of Thai protesters and their belligerent ringleaders more sharply than this coinage, always recited in its foreign form: “double standard”. These past few years, the phrase has morphed from a foreign term scarcely used or understood here, to one of the most commonly heard and effective marching orders. When someone – of whichever coloured camp – shouts “Double standard!” the rest of the column becomes instantly roused and willing to go to any lengths to rectify that injustice, inequality, indiscretion – all the myriad things that are less than fair in this country – in their own way and, well, by their own standards!

Though there is no doubt the phrase has caught on with the protesting crowds, I wonder what the practical use will be of its constant recitation and regular usage as a pretext to protest.

On Monday, members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) went one step further and unfurled a red banner reading “Village of Double Standards” at Khao Yai Thiang, Nakhon Ratchasima. Their target was a 14-rai (about 2.25-hectare) property owned by former prime minister and Privy Councillor Surayud Chulanont. The UDD protesters said they were making a point against what they perceived as the government’s (and judiciary’s) “double standards” in dealing with forest encroachers. Whereas some villagers who occupied forest reserve land on the mountain have been sued for encroachment, General Surayud, who bought, and thus occupied, a piece of land there that technically couldn’t be sold, was asked only to return the land without facing prosecution.

The office of the attorney general ruled that Surayud and the man who sold the plot to him did not have to face punishment because they only violated a cabinet resolution that allowed landless farmers to use forest reserve land for farming, without the right to sell it to other people.

The devil, they say, is in the details, and I think the same applies to the practice of double standards. The UDD did not answer the following question: Did the villagers they upheld as committing the same mistake as Surayud purchase the land that technically can’t be bought on Khao Yai

Thiang? Or did they simply occupy land that was actually classified as forests? This is not to say that the villagers are wrong if they are forest squatters. This is to say that it would be a completely different problem requiring a different set of standards to deal with it.

Also, I wondered the following as I listened to the UDD’s threat to cut down trees and set up a “village” on the mountaintop as a way of illustrating the damage people like Surayud caused to the forest: Why do the Red Shirts see only the wrong of Surayud and not another glaring double standard? The Forestry Department says there are about 45,000 people nationwide who’ve made the same risky investment as Surayud by buying into about 5 million rai (800,000 hectares) of land that legally can’t be sold. I wouldn’t dare say the Forestry Department may have spent too much time in the woods, but I’m sure this minute number does not reflect the widespread reality. Ask your friends or colleagues. How many of them have in their possession these types of “grey” land plots? Check out all those scenic resorts and hotels by national parks and forest reserves. Can we be sure they are sitting on legal plots with title deeds?

Instead of harrassing only Surayud and cutting down precious trees simply to protest, I think the Red Shirts would do the country a service if they pushed the Forestry Department to apply the same standard of “punishment” they’ve meted out to Surayud to other buyers of unsellable land throughout the country: Return the land and they face no further punishment. That would be setting a standard, not promoting hypocrisy.

After listening to how the phrase “double standards” has been applied to many perennial problems in Thailand – pick any and you will be able to brand them as being ridden with double standards – I’ve really started wondering if this labelling will be of any help.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t prosecute those who violate the law, but I think we must concentrate on setting a new standard as well.

Setting a standard is not as easy, excitable and gratifying as shouting refrains or felling trees in protest, but it is a necessary chore. Otherwise, we’d get lost in the expedience of multiple standards and endless duplicity.

BANGKOK POST

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Atiya Achakulwisut is the editor of the Bangkok Post’s editorial pages.

Tourism takes biggest hit as investment falls

Photo by: STEVE FINCH

Tourists look around Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s main tourism attraction, in August. Investors largely stayed away from the tourism sector last year as Cambodia succumbed to the global economic crisis.

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:01 Chun Sophal

Government data show approved investment in tourism fell more than $5 billion last year as total projects dropped 46pc

GOVERNMENT-approved tourism investment plummeted by almost US$5 billion last year, figures released Tuesday by the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) showed.

According to the statistics, 2009 saw 13 tourism projects worth $3.98 billion approved by the government, compared with 20 projects worth $8.78 billion in 2008.

The $4.8 billion dive was by far the largest contributor to the total slide in the amount of approved investment in Cambodia, which dropped an annualised 46.18 percent or $5.03 billion overall. The total value of investment projects approved by the government in 2009 was $5.85 billion compared to $10.88 billion in 2008.

Sok Chenda, CDC secretary general, was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Some commentators have blamed the downturn on the global economic crisis, pointing to a reduction in construction projects, particularly in the hotel industry, as a major contributor.

Kang Chandararoth, president of the Cambodia Institute for Development Study, said on Tuesday that the world economic crisis contributed to the drop.

He said that the credit crunch particularly affected the construction sector, in which the number of houses and hotels built had greatly increased in 2008 before experiencing a sharp decline last year.

He added that the situation of investment for 2010 is likely to be better than during the past 12 months, as three key sectors have already seen improvement.

“Obviously, we see that the investment trend is going upwards in the agriculture, energy and telecommunications sectors,” said Kang Chandararoth.

Those three sectors were the strongest performers in 2009.

The agricultural sector attracted $590 million of investment, 91.79 percent of which came from foreign business. This compares with just $106 million in 2008.

Telecommunications was also a big player, with $235 million pledged for just one national project this year, compared with $87 million overall last year.

The energy market’s $665 million of investment contributed most of the industrial sector’s $958 million worth of funding, but still represented a $170 million drop from 2008.

However, according to Yun Heng, director of the Department of Evaluation and Incentive of the Cambodian Investment Board, who spoke to the Post in September, the fall in investment was due to the lack of capital flow from overseas – a result of the global economic and financial crisis.

Approved investment from China, 2009’s largest contributor, decreased from $4.37 billion to just $892 million.

Singapore, however, increased its projects to $272.4 million compared with $52 million in 2008.

Russia, which ranked third in terms of investment, more than doubled its approved investment to $235.7 million from $102 million, while Vietnam, which stood fourth, had investments worth $210 million approved, more than quadrupling its 2008 figure of $52 million.

Revenues from taxes up 12pc in December

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 Nguon Sovan

IMPORT and export tax revenues increased by an annualised 12 percent last month, according to figures released Monday by the General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE).

December 2009 saw tax revenues of US$53.5 million, a 12 percent or $5 million increase on the same month in 2008.

A Monday press release said customs and excise revenues totalled $597.5 million in 2009. Last year, the director general of GDCE told the Post that the Kingdom had collected more than $500 million.

GDCE added that fines, earned from crackdowns on illegal goods, had doubled to $5.5 million in the past year.

But Yim Sovann, a parliamentarian for the Sam Rainy Party, said the revenues were very low compared to the Kingdom’s GDP, which was more than $10 billion in 2008. He said that in neighbouring countries such as Thailand and Vietnam, customs and excise revenues were more than 20 percent of GDP.

“If there was no rampant corruption, no offers of goods as bribes for corrupt officials, no powerful officials using power to intervene in the importation or exportation of goods, then customs and excise revenues would be at least 20 percent [about $2 billion] of Cambodia’s GDP,” Yim Sovann said.

Pen Simon, GDCE’s director general, did not reply to repeated calls Tuesday. His deputy Kum Nhem declined to comment.

The government has stated in recent years that it plans to more strictly enforce tax regulations in a bid raise state revenues.

According to the data, customs and excise revenues declined 22 percent to $280 million in the first half of 2009, due to a downturn in vehicle imports and construction materials.

This trend reversed from July to December.

Cambodia-Laos IFC fund raises $10m

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 Steve Finch

EMERGING Market Investments Pte Ltd (EMI) closed funding on a new Cambodia-Laos investment fund in December at US$10 million, a company executive said Tuesday.

Joshua Morris, managing director of EMI, told the Post that the fund had fallen short of its initial target, which was set at $20 million last year.

Thus far, Norfund and Finnfund, development arms created by the Norwegian and Finnish governments, have injected $4 million each into the fund, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) adding the remaining $2 million “to the fund’s first closing”, according to a Norfund statement.

Julia Brickell, IFC’s resident representative in Cambodia, confirmed Tuesday that the IFC’s “initial investment” would be $2 million. The IFC Web site says “it is proposed that IFC invest up to $4 million”, although it is not permitted to make statements about future investments prior to the investment closing, according to the rules of Luxembourg, where the fund was established.

Morris said the fund was already looking at five potential companies in which to invest across different sectors in Cambodia.

“We began speaking to firms during the fundraising period,” he said, adding that talks were also ongoing with five companies in Laos.

The fund would likely attribute about 60 percent of capital to Cambodia and 40 percent to Laos given the difference in size between the two neighbouring economies, Morris added.

IFC says on its Web site that the Cambodia-Laos Development Fund will target small-and-medium-sized businesses. These would likely be in business services, agribusiness and microfinance, according to Norfund.

Union leader Chea Mony sends letter on tariffs to US

Photo by: SOVAN PHILONG

A vendor sews clothes at Phnom Penh’s Russian Market. Cambodian exports incur duties averaging 16 percent upon entering the United States, the Kingdom’s biggest overseas market.

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 Sen David

Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia head calls on Capitol Hill to back bill abolishing duty on exports

THE President of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia said Tuesday he had sent a letter to Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi through the US Embassy in Phnom Penh as part of the latest effort to push for duty-free exports for the Kingdom.

Chea Mony, who sent the letter Monday to the speaker, said it was necessary given the huge decline in Cambodian exports to the US – mostly garments – following the onset of the economic crisis.

“It is a message to show that we want to help Cambodian workers because nowadays there are so many workers that have lost their jobs,” he said, adding that although the US donates a lot to the Kingdom, excessive corruption means that much of it does not reach the people.

“If the US wishes to help Cambodia, the US will pass duty-free access for Cambodian exports,” said Chea Mony.

While almost all garment-producing countries suffered a decline in exports last year, Cambodia suffered more than others due mostly to structural weakness in the sector and high tariffs.

In the first eight months of last year, the Kingdom’s exports to the US fell 23.31 percent compared to an average 14.3 percent slide, according to US Office of Textiles and Apparel statistics. Vietnam, where total manufacturing costs are about 20 percent lower than Cambodia, saw garment exports fall just 1.2 percent over the same period.

At the same time the Kingdom is severely hampered by US tariffs – 30 out of 49 least-industrialised countries in Asia enjoy duty-free, quota-free access to the US, whereas Cambodia is subject to an average 16 percent tariff, a fact that many – including Chea Mony – deem unfair.

The US is Cambodia’s biggest export market. In 2008, official figures showed 65 percent of the Kingdom’s exports were garments, of which three-quarters went to the US.

US Embassy Spokesman John Johnson confirmed Tuesday that the letter had been received and would be passed on to Washington.

It comes after a Cambodian delegation – including Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh – went to the US capital in November to lobby for the passage of a bill that would grant duty-free access for Cambodian garments.

Cheat Kemra, a senior official of the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia (GMAC), said Tuesday that garment producers would focus more on Asia and the European Union as the US continues to struggle to recover from the economic downturn.

Also working against the Kingdom, he said, was the fact that Cambodian exports make up 3 percent of the total imports into the US – typically Washington does not grant duty-free access to exporting nations representing above 2 percent of the total.

“It is an obstacle, but we believe that the US will favour … Cambodian garment exports,” said Cheat Kemra.

New film to raise HIV/AIDS awareness

A promotional poster for the new movie High School Love's Story.

via CAAI News Media

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 Ou Mom

AS the Cambodian film industry struggles with piracy and film closures, many local filmmakers have trouble finding their place in the industry.

This hasn’t stopped 28-year-old filmmaker Kao Seiha from starting production of a drama that tackles some of Cambodia’s more sensitive subjects.

Kao Seiha’s movie, High School Love’s Story, deals with the tale of a family whose mother abandons her HIV-positive husband.

“It mainly focuses on the situation of people living with HIV/AIDS, gay sex and the discrimination people living with HIV/AIDS endure,” said Kao Seiha at the ceremony marking the beginning of shooting.

The movie also tackles the grim results of a broken family. “Children can easily go the wrong way if they lack care from their parents, particularly the mother. I want to explain that the happiness in a family is not based only on money. The important thing for families is to struggle together through hard times, especially for the sake of the children’s future,” Kao Seiha explains.

The movie’s budget is set at US$30,000 and Kao Seiha expects shooting to last for one month.

“I do not expect monetary gain from making this film but if it does gain some money, I will produce the next movie.”

The cast includes several local actors and actresses, including Keat Sovanna Lang as the leading female Thida. Kao Seiha said she was selected after being impressed by her previous productions, such as Hang Meas and Big Man. “Thida is a gentle girl,” says Keat Sovanna Lang. “I think

I have similar characteristics.”

The main actor is Chea Vannarith, who is known in Cambodia for his martial arts skills. “The audiences will be surprised with Chea Vannarith, who has always been a good actor, but in this film, he will play a gang member and demonstrate his taekwondo fighting skills,” says Kao Seiha.

The plan for film production will reflect a Cambodian film industry that isn’t completely lost quite yet. “I will try my best to make a good quality movie,” the filmmaker said.

Kao Seiha said this is his first experience making a feature film. Before, Kao Seiha assisted with Ministry of Education, Youths and Sports productions, and dabbled in novel writing, which won him first place in the Mekong Novel Competition in February 2009.

Oddar Meanchey grab a place in the last 16

Photo by: Ung Chamroeun

An Oddar Meanchey forward (right, blue) attacks the Kampong Thom penalty area during their Cup tie in Siem Reap Tuesday.

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Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 Ung Chamroeun

The rapidly improved provincial team finished second in group D after victories over hosts Siem Reap and Kampong Thom

Provincial side Oddar Meanchey secured their place in the last 16 knockout round of the 2010 Samdech Hun Sen Cup in emphatic style with a 5-1 drubbing of Kampong Thom Tuesday at the Siem Reap provincial stadium. Oddar Meanchey finished in second place of group D behind current Cambodian Premier League (CPL) champions Naga Corp, who also notched a comfortable win Tuesday, beating hosts Siem Reap 7-2.

Oddar Meanchey had started their Cup campaign with a predictable loss to Naga Corp Friday, before rallying to a 1-0 victory over Siem Reap Sunday, much to the disappointment of the 200-strong home crowd that turned out to watch.

“I’m so happy that our team has the chance to play the next round,” said Koeu Slaymann, manager of Oddar Meanchey. “We will face Preah Khan Reach, who finished first place of group H. It will be difficult for us, but I will push my boys to work hard soon during the preparation.”

Koeu Slaymann has been managing the provincial team for the last two years. Under his leadership, they clinched two championships in 2009, the Regional Cup and the Division A2 title.

Photo by: Ung Chamroeun

Oddar Meanchey manager Koeu Slaymann has seen rapid improvement in two years.

The manager promised the team would at least consolidate their position in Division A1 next year, but could not guarantee promotion into the top flight. “Everything depends on sponsorship,” he explained. “Now we are poor. I spend my own money, with a little from the provincial department of Education, Youth and Sports.... We don’t have salary for [the players], but we can afford food and accommodation.”

Oddar Meanchey’s Nor Muslim smashed in a hattrick against Kampong Thom Tuesday, while teammates Mao Tola and Sieng Lundy also got in on the act. Kampong Thom defender Sean Sopheak came off injured during the first half to watch the rest of the game on the sideline. “We are the same standard as two others provincial sides,” claimed the defender. “But the problem for us is our team had little time to train together. However, congratulations to Oddar Meanchey [for making the next round].”

Nov Vuthy, temporary coach of Naga Corp, could only admire the performance of Oddar Meanchey team, citing a significant improvement from the previous competition. “Last year, we beat them 9-0,” he stated. “But this time, we only won 5-2. They are stronger than before. I saw five players this year, namely Ren Sovireak, Huy Ratana, Mao Tola, Sieng Lundy, Man Natavann, and I want them to join our team.”

Koeu Slaymann said he will respect the decision of his players if they chose to leave the club, but noted a concern they would not have time commit to a professional team such as Naga Corp. “We use the name Oddar Meanchey, but our players come from many areas across the Kingdom, such as Siem Reap, Kampong Speu and Phnom Penh.” Koeu Slaymann’s nephew Kop Isa joined Naga Corp last year.

Other results from the Cup

Meanwhile in Battambang Tuesday, Mekong Kampuchea University stunned CPL stalwarts National Defence Ministry 2-1 to snatch top spot in group B. Pursat sneaked D.A.T.E. 3-2 to claim a consolation third.

In Kep, group E concluded with CPL side Kirivong Sok Sen Chey and CPL relegated team Phouchung Neak heading back to the capital for more action in the knockout stage, after wins against Life University and Kampot respectively.

In Svay Rieng’s group G, Prey Veng denied provincial rivals Kandal a place in the last 16 by winning their crucial tie 2-1. CPL heavyweights Preah Khan Reach meanwhile cruised through to the next round as group leaders thanks to a perfect set of wins, which included a 15-0 goalfest against Arizon Cambodia Tuesday.

The Phnom Penh Post News in Brief

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ACLEDA expands in Laos

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 Post Staff

ACLEDA Bank announced the opening of its 12th office in Laos which will take place Friday in Khammouane province, according to a statement obtained Tuesday. The new branch, in Nongbuakham village, marks the latest expansion in neighbouring Laos for Cambodia’s second-biggest lender. A full range of banking services will be offered. Narin Phon, CEO and managing director of ACLEDA’s Laos operations said Tuesday that the bank enjoyed a strong 2009 with US$1.4 million in revenues as the country recorded an estimated 7.5 percent GDP growth.

PM backs Koh Pich

Canadia Bank’s owners received a boost for their riverside investment Tuesday when Prime Minister Hun Sen recommended universities hold their degree ceremonies at Diamond Hall on Phnom Penh’s Koh Pich (Diamond Island). Speaking at a degree ceremony at the conference hall of the National Institute of Education, the usual venue for such events, the prime minister said a shift in location would help ease capacity concerns. “Now we have a big location for over 5,000 people on Koh Pich” said Hun Sen, adding that students should contact Canadia to arrange ceremonies in the future. Koh Pich is being redeveloped as part of a US$200m investment by Overseas Cambodia Investment Corp owned by the President of Canadia Bank, Phung Kheav Se.

Gameweek 21 winner

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 Dan Riley

PHNOM PENH – Gameweek 21 was almost a complete white out, with subzero conditions canceling all but three fixtures. Kevin O’Reilly blasted his Reaper Rockets through the snow wall to claim the weekly prize of a US$20 Cellcard phone voucher and T-shirt with a score of 65 points. Unsurprisingly, the star player and wise choice as captain was hattrick hero Carlos Tevez of Man City, who doubled up to haul 34 points for the Rockets. O’Reilly also benefited from Micah Richards’ nine points and Vassiriki Diaby’s six points. Gameweek 22 will hopefully host a full set of fixtures, with deadline for team changes at 6:30pm Saturday. DAN RILEY

Wednesday, 13 January 2010 15:00 May Kunmakara

Muslims In Singapore Strive To Elevate Status Of Islamic Youths

http://www.brudirect.com/

Written by Azaraimy HH

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

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Bandar Seri Begawan - Singapore Muslim youths are making a mark in the academic and non-academic areas, but despite their success, there is much to be done to elevate the status of Malay youths to be on par with the other races.

Across other Southeast Asian countries, Muslim youths also face some other challenges. In Cambodia, the Muslim youth population requires more schools and teachers while in the Philippines Muslim youths are faced with difficult social, economic and political structures.

These are some of the issues deliberated by speakers during the Southeast Asian Islamic Youth Conference currently held at the Rizqun International Hotel. Adnan Abdul Hamid from the Singapore Islamic Religious Council shared on the progress of the Malay community, particularly the younger generation, since the days of independence.

He said Singapore is a nation-state highly dependent on its people as its key asset. In a fast-paced world where change is the order of the day, Singaporeans need to be forward-thinking and adapt to changes.

"Muslim youths in Singapore have better vision and this is a potential that needs to be harnessed," he stated.

A 2009 estimate indicated that out of a population of 4.7 million, Malays make up almost 14 per cent (495,000 persons) in a multiracial society that also consists of Chinese, Indians, Eurasians and other races.

As of June 2008, Malay youths aged 18 and below make up approximately 34 per cent (168,000 persons) of the community's total population in Singapore.

With greater focus on raising educational standards, community efforts in recent years have seen fewer Malay student dropouts at the primary and secondary level, with more representation at postsecondary and tertiary institutions. This has had a positive impact on the decline in juvenile delinquency over the years.

Despite many achievements, challenges remain. The Malay community cannot rest on its laurels. More is needed to be done in areas including education, for example, even though there is a rise in young Malays taking up post-secondary education, there is a decline in the PSLE Math grade passes.

In other areas, it was reported that in 2007, a total of 1,040 Malay drug abusers were caught. These made up half of the number of all drug abusers caught in Singapore. But Singapore has been making efforts to tackle the issues such as through the setting up of a Community Leaders' Forum. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

Fear can be unconditioned, unlearned

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth

By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth • January 13, 2010

via CAAI News Media

Last week I wrote about Vietnam's military invasion of Cambodia and characterized Jan. 7, 1979, as a day of infamy, the precipitant of a dark era in the country.

More than 100,000 Vietnamese troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, crossed the border into Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1978 in a swift military invasion that sent Pol Pot and his gang running for their lives. The Vietnamese captured Phnom Penh 14 days later, installed a puppet regime and stayed in control for the next 10 years.

Also last week, Cambodian Premier Hun Sen blasted as "beasts" those who do not regard Jan. 7 as the anniversary of Vietnam's "liberation" of Cambodia.

Hanoi, like the rest of the world, knew that Pol Pot's agents had perpetrated brutalities against the Khmer people since April 17, 1975, when the Khmer Rouge forced the evacuation of the entire Cambodian population from homes, villages, towns and cities, to perform forced labor. Suffering, death and destruction were the order of the day.

The widely reported burning of homes and massacres of civilians in Vietnam's An Giang and Chau Doc provinces in 1977 by Pol Pot's guerrilla units offered an incitement to Vietnam, which was then busy strategizing and plotting Ho Chi Minh's grand design of a greater Vietnam, to put in play a takeover plan that would advance its goal of a federation of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

It was no coincidence that the Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia on the same day Brezhnev's Soviet 40th Army entered Afghanistan, Dec. 24, 1979. The Soviet Union was Vietnam's chief ally and financial supporter at the time.

Following the regime change in Moscow, in May 1988, one month after Gorbachev announced the Soviets would leave Afghanistan, the Soviets began to exit that country.

Vietnam observed the rapid changes under way in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, where communism was in retreat; the rise of rival China; the warming of U.S.-China relations and their support for the anti-Vietnamese Khmer Resistance. While it began to hint at its eventual withdrawal from Cambodia -- which was accomplished in December 1989, 11 years after the initial invasion -- Vietnam took offensive action against the Cambodian resistance, maneuvered to weaken the anti-Vietnam U.S.-China alliance by encouraging talks between the Vietnam-created regime in Cambodia and the resistance factions in order to improve the puppet government's legitimacy, and presented itself as a reliable and attractive future partner of the U.S. in the region.

At the same time, Vietnam ensured that members of the Khmer Viet Minh were positioned in Cambodia's administrative and governmental organizations. The KMC was largely made up of those several thousand Cambodians, mostly children, who had been taken to Vietnam in 1954 after the signing of the Geneva Accords, and raised and acculturated there. They were later trained at the Son Tay Military Academy and the Nguyen Ai Quoc school.

As history reveals, Vietnam's labors yielded great results.

The Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia were signed in October 1991 and Vietnam's Cambodian proxies, now legitimized by the world community, sat in positions of power. Important stipulations in the accords were not implemented, allowing Vietnam's surrogate, Hun Sen, who lost the 1993 general elections, to elbow himself to become a co-prime minister. In 1997, Sen unleashed a coup d'etat, in which hundreds were killed, and seized power.

The journey toward a greater Vietnam has not ended. It began in 939, when Nam Viet freed itself from a thousand-year bondage to China, and moved southward, taking over and integrating what stood in the way. In 2010, that journey has put the Vietnamese in a position to have an impact on Thailand's political stability.

The current Cambodian-Thai conflict has been inflamed by Sen's continuing provocations, intended to destabilize Thailand and provide opportunities for Vietnam to influence events there. Hun Sen's success at diverting his countrymen's attention from their own meager lots to the possibility of a conflict with their historical adversary has had the side benefit of increasing support for his regime.

As has been the case many times in history, Cambodians have connived with the Vietnamese to accomplish Vietnam's goals: Khmer King Chey Chettha II in 1620, King Ang Chan II in the 1800s, Prince Sihanouk in the Vietnam War, Pol Pot and Paris-trained Khmer Marxists, Hun Sen and his ruling Cambodian People's Party, supported by the King Father and his son, the current king.

The institution of the Khmer monarchy has tumbled to its lowest ebb as it now has acquiesced to become a political instrument of the Sen regime. Sen has extracted a royal decree from the king to appoint a fugitive former premier of Thailand as Sen's personal and economic adviser and another royal decree to pardon a Thai engineer who was imprisoned as a "spy" for a foreign power.

Cambodians are being manipulated by Sen to respond to Thailand based on historical animosities not relevant to today's political realities. It would be preferable if lessons could be taken from history so that it is not repeated.

Hurling racial slurs and insults only makes one angrier. It's time to unlearn and relearn, adopt what's useful, discard what's not. As fear is conditioned and learned, so it can be unconditioned and unlearned. The general inclination to conform, and not to ask questions, needs to change. Progress requires it.

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.

China to Switzerland: Do Not to Resettle Guantanamo Uighurs

China is calling on Switzerland and other countries not to accept Uighurs from the American detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It says they are criminals and should be returned to China to face punishment.

VOA News.com

Stephanie Ho

Beijing 12 January 2010

via CAAI News Media

Detainees stand during an early morning Islamic prayer at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (2009 file photo)

When he became U.S. president, Barack Obama ordered the Guantanamo detention facility closed within a year. That deadline is now fast approaching.

Of the prisoners who remain at Guantanamo, U.S. authorities will have a difficult time resettling the seven Uighurs who are still there.

The Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking Chinese Muslim minority. Beijing has not wasted any opportunity to assert its claim to decide what happens to the Guantanamo Uighurs.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu Tuesday repeated her country's opposition to either the freeing of the Guantanamo Uighurs or their transfer to a third country.

Jiang says China also considers the Guantanamo Uighurs members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which is on the United Nations list of terrorist groups. She says, instead of freeing them, they should be handed over to Chinese authorities for, in her words, "legal treatment."

Uighurs from Guantanamo have been resettled to Albania, Bermuda and Palau. The United States has refused to send them back to China or grant them U.S. refugee status.

The latest country to consider taking in two of the Uighurs is Switzerland.

The Chinese spokeswoman called on Bern to take into consideration China's concerns.

Jiang says she hopes Switzerland can consider overall bilateral relations and refuse to accept any Uighur suspects from Guantanamo Bay.

Swiss officials say there has been no final decision.

Last month, Cambodia returned to China more than 20 Uighurs who had fled to Cambodia to seek refugee status, following strong protest from the Chinese government. The Uighurs had left their homeland, Xinjiang, in western China, following deadly ethnic riots in July that left nearly 200 people dead.

China accuses some Uighurs of seeking an independent homeland. Uighurs accuse the Chinese government of discrimination and repression.

CATS put back in charge in Cambodia

Published: 13/01/2010

via CAAI News Media

Cambodia has returned management of its air traffic control service to the Thai joint-venture firm, Cambodia Air Traffic Services (CATS).

The Cambodian government took over CATS in November last year after Cambodia arrested a Thai employee of CATS, Sivarak Chutipong, on a spying charge.

Mr Sivarak accessed the flight schedule of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was visiting Cambodia as a VIP guest, and gave the information to a Thai diplomat.

After taking over air traffic control, Cambodia set up a temporary management team to run day-to-day operations of CATS. Thai employees were barred from entering their offices but not otherwise penalised.

Watchai Vilailuck, the president of CATS' parent firm Samart Corporation, expressed his appreciation for the move on Monday by the Cambodian government.

"The Kingdom of Cambodia is open and fair to foreign businesses and will win investors' confidence in the long term," he said.

Samart Corp won the build, operate and transfer concession in 2001 to run CATS for 32 years.

Samart was notified of the successful handover of CATS by Cambodia, he said.

During the transition period, CATS received excellent co-operation from the temporary management and company operations were uninterrupted, he said.

Mr Watchai praised the integrity and professionalism of the transition team and said CATS had incurred no losses. He also expressed thanks to Prime Minister Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister Sok An for their understanding and for expediting a return to normal operations.

The charge of spying that triggered Cambodia's assumption of control over CATS came during a dispute over Cambodia's relationship with former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

In 2008, a Thai court sentenced Thaksin in absentia to two years in prison for violating a conflict of interest law, but he fled into exile before the verdict. He had been ousted by a 2006 military coup after being accused of corruption and abuse of power.

In early November, Cambodia named Thaksin as a government economic adviser. The appointment, and Thaksin's subsequent visit, set off a diplomatic spat in which both countries recalled their ambassadors. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said Thaksin had been unfairly convicted for political reasons.

Mr Sivarak was convicted and sentenced to seven years in jail but was pardoned soon afterwards and allowed to leave for Thailand.

In 2009 Tax Income Amounted to US$595 Million – Tuesday, 12.1.2010

http://cambodiamirror.wordpress.com/

Posted on 13 January 2010

The Mirror, Vol. 14, No. 647

via CAAI News Media

“The tax department announced that in 2009, the tax income amounted to about US$595 million, approx. US$49 million per month, and in 2010 the incoming tax is expected to be about US$52 million per month.

“On 11 January 2010, the tax department held a meeting to give a comprehensive report on its work in December 2009, chaired by Dr. Pen Simon, the Director-General of Cambodian Customs, appointed by the Royal Government, with participation by other customs officers from all provinces. Dr. Pen Simon said that in December 2009, the tax income was Riel 219,000,000,000 or US$52 million, which increased by about Riel 23,000,000,000 [approx. US$5.75 million], compared to December 2008. He said that in 2009, customs officers collected about Riel 2,491,000,000,000 or approx. US$595 million in total. On average, that is about Riel 208,000,000,000 [approx. US$52 million] per month, exceeding the plan by more than 3%.

“He stressed that in 2009, customs officers suppressed illegal trafficking and imposed fines of more than Riel 23,000,000,000 (approx. US$5.5 million) which was 50% higher than 2009. Dr. Pen Simon said that in 2010, the tax administration is challenged by a plan to aim at a higher collected amount of about Riel 217,000,000,000 per month [approx. US$54 million], while the global economic and the financial crisis is strongly influencing the growth of the GDP, reducing exports leading to reduced taxes. He added that this requires the tax administration to accelerate reforms both in management, monitoring, and implementation, and in establishing more effective taxation policies and measures to suppress tax evasion.

“He requested that in 2010 customs officers in mobile tax monitoring units in all provinces have to investigate and to suppress products being trafficked effectively. Information about a basuc law and other regulations recently approved have to be shared with all tax officials. Departments for tax crime prevention and suppression have to be strengthened to work efficiently. No illegal checkpoints should be established to collect money illegally. Officials have to check suspicious activities, for example of vendors who produce fake tax stamps and and fake vehicle licenses, including cases where officials are faking them. Services for the specification of vehicle identification papers have to be established quickly, in order to avoid delays because of improper reasons.

“He went on to say that in 2009, goods being moved across some special crossing point were about 20%, but there were not many crimes, and further assessment is neecessary. In addition, Mr. Pen Simon told customs officers that they have to control the export and import of vegetables and fruits by vendors in general, and prepare procedures to collect taxes from already identified motorbikes on certain listss.”

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.18, #5097, 12.1.2010

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Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Hun Sen Blasts Thais Over Temple Remarks

By Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

12 January 2010

via CAAI News Media

Prime Minsiter Hun Sen on Tuesday warned Thai officials to surrender their ambitions to “invade” Cambodian land near Preah Vihear temple.

The premier was referring to comments made by the Thai Foreign Ministry Monday that claimed a pagoda near Preah Vihear temple, where troops from both sides have amassed since July 2008, belonged to Thailand.

The military standoff along the border has seen several skirmishes over the past 18 months, killing at least seven soldiers.

“Thailand, you are invading my country, and Cambodia cannot tolerate your invasion,” Hun Sen said, speaking at a graduation ceremony at the National Institute of Education. “This is an invasion and an insult that we cannot tolerate.”

Parallel to the border confrontation, Thailand and Cambodia are embroiled in an ongoing diplomatic row over the appointed of ousted Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an economic adviser to Hun Sen.

Both sides have withdrawn their ambassadors and other diplomats in the dispute.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said Monday Thailand would not engage in “normal” relations between the two countries as long as Thaksin retained his position.

“Kasit Piromya should stop talking about conditions for the return of the ambassador to Cambodia,” Hun Sen said Tuesday. “The presence of the charge d’affaires is enough.”

In July 2008, Preah Vihear temple, which sits on a high escarpment overlooking the Cambodian plains, was granted Unesco World Heritage status under Cambodian management.

The approval sparked protests in Bangkok and led to the deployment of troops on both sides to areas around the border, including the Keo Sikha Kiri Svara pagoda, which is claimed by both sides.

A Thai court last week declared an agreement between Cambodia and Thailand that led to the listing of the temple as a World Heritage site should be canceled.

Borders and temples remain lightning rods for politics and nationalism on both sides.

In 2003, a Cambodian mob sacked and razed the Thai Embassy and other Thai businesses in a night of Phnom Penh rioting, after unconfirmed rumors a Thai actress had claimed the famed temples of Angkor Wat should belong to Thailand.

Thai Employees Retake Air Traffic Responsibilities

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer

Original report from Phnom Penh

12 January 2010

via CAAI News Media

Cambodia has returned responsibility for its air traffic to a team of Thai controllers that had been suspended since November—with changes officials say will improve national security.

The Thai-owned company, Cambodian Air Traffic Services, saw its senior Thai staff replaced by Cambodian counterparts in the wake of a scandal in November, when one of its employees reported flight information to the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh.

The employee, Siwarak Chotipong, was charged as a spy by a Cambodian court for reporting information related to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was expected to arrive in Cambodia as a new economic adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Siwarak received a royal pardon in December, but Thai staff at CATS had remained on the sidelines.

Those top posts were reoccupied by Thai staff on Monday, officials said. However, the company has been restructured to include Cambodian staff in each of the company's departments.

"Cambodian staff from now on will occupy the flight office and equipment control office, and they communicate directly to the general director of the company," said Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, which ordered the reinstatement.

The air traffic imbroglio came in the midst of deepening diplomatic divisions between the two countries over Thaksin's appointment, and Phay Siphan said Tuesday the reinstatement of Thai staff was not intended to improve diplomatic ties but was rather "an application of commercial law."

Koy Kuong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Tuesday the diplomatic situation between the two neighbors is "still the same."

Full Justice ‘Impossible’: Tuol Sleng Survivor

By Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

Washington

12 January 2010

via CAAI News Media

A survivor of the Khmer Rouge’s Tuol Sleng prison considers the formation of the UN-backed tribunal a bit of good luck, and says even if the court doesn’t bring full justice, it may bring enough.

“Although the tribunal can’t get 100 percent justice, I would accept even 50 percent,” said Chum Mey, one of the few survivors of the prison run by Kaing Kek Iev, or Duch.

The trial for Duch in his role as administrator of Tuol Sleng and other facilities concluded in October, with a verdict expected soon. Duch and four senior regime leaders will go on trial for atrocity crimes as early as this year.

Speaking as a guest on “Hello VOA” Monday, Chum Mey said the court provided a historical lesson that could prevent other atrocities like those committed by the Khmer Rouge. However, he warned, people need to participate.

“How can we get 100 percent if there are those who do not open their mouths to speak, open their mouths to tell the truth?” asked Chum Mey, 78, who recently stared the Khmer Rouge Victims Association.

The association has 800 members who were victims of the regime, and he said he hopes to bring national healing and reconciliation to the country.

Around 7,000 victims have so far filed complaints and other briefs to the tribunal through its Victims Unit, but for the court to bring full justice for the atrocities of the regime would take years, Chum Mey said. “It’s impossible.”

“Just Duch so far, in how many years already?” he said. “It’s 30 years already.”

Kasit hangs tough on renewing ties with Cambodia

Sivarak Chutipongand his mother Simarak na NakhonPhanom present flowers to Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya to thank him for the assistance the government gave the engineer to fight spying charges brought against him by Cambodia in November. PATTANAPONGHIRANARD

Published: 13/01/2010

via CAAI News Media

Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya is insisting normal diplomatic relations with Cambodia cannot resume until Phnom Penh ends its relationship with former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

In a tit-for-tat response to Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong's rejection on Monday of Thailand's demand that Thaksin be dismissed as economic adviser to Phnom Penh, Mr Kasit yesterday refused to budge on the question of ties.

Mr Kasit accused Cambodia of creating the diplomatic row by interfering in Thailand's judicial process in not extraditing Thaksin and by appointing him as its economic adviser.

The Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Political Office Holders sentenced Thaksin in October 2008 to two years in jail on charges of abuse of power while he was prime minister between 2001 and 2006 by helping his wife secure the purchase of a prime real estate development site on Ratchadaphisek Road.

Cambodia refused to honour an extradition treaty with Thailand when Bangkok sought Thaksin's return after he travelled to Phnom Penh in mid-November last year to take up his post as economic adviser.

Both nations subsequently recalled their ambassadors and other senior embassy staff.

The ambassadors have yet to return to their posts.

Meanwhile, Sivarak Chutipong, the Thai engineer convicted in Cambodia on Dec 8 on charges of spying, yesterday thanked the government and the opposition Puea Thai Party for their help while he was held in detention in Phnom Penh.

Mr Sivarak, accompanied by his mother Simarak na Nakhon Phanom and his younger brother Pongsuree, visited Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at Government House to express his thanks for the government's assistance while he faced charges in Cambodia, government spokesman Panithan Wattanayakorn said.

The Thai engineer, who works for Cambodia Air Traffic Services, was pardoned by the Cambodian king on Dec 12 after being convicted of supplying the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh with Thaksin's flight schedule. Mr Sivarak also visited Mr Kasit yesterday to thank him as well.

He and his family earlier visited the Puea Thai Party headquarters to express their gratitude to Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, the party's chairman, Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadol Pattama and Puea Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit for their assistance that led to his release.

Mrs Simarak also thanked Gen Chavalit and the party for helping her son return to work in Cambodia.