In ‘Red Light,’ a Portrait of the Sex Trade

Men Kimseng, VOA Khmer | New York
Tuesday, 29 June 2010

via Khmer NZ News Media

Photo: AP
Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, center, meets with victims of sexual exploitation during a visit to a shelter, in Siem Reap.

“The drunk chief of police who raped my daughter came to my home.”

A sex trade documentary that was four years in the making and took the collaboration of a politician and a former sex slave turned advocate premiered in New York last week, highlighting an ongoing problem fed in part by collaboration of society, officials and police.

“Red Light” shows how parents sell daughters, government officials use secret brothels to procure sex and the extent to which the trade exposes children to abuse.

The film, which took more than four years to make, was produced in part by actress Lucy Liu and features activist Mam Somaly, who escaped the brothels as a girl, and opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua, who was once a minister for women’s affairs.

Filmmakers used hidden cameras and took risks in brothels to bring back footage from the sex trade to increase awareness of the dangers of exploitation.

“When I saw the movie, I remembered every word those children said,” Mu Sochua told VOA Khmer after the screening. “I can still smell the mud at the brothels I passed on my way to Poipet. I can never forget the tears and emotion of these girls, who described to me their hardships and their experiences, [such as] losing their virginity for the first time, after they were sold to brothels, and being forced to serve more than 10 clients a day. We, as parents and as responsible people, cannot stand for that.”

“Red Light” examines betrayal by neighbors and friends who lure children into the sex trade. A 14-year-old girl describes her rape and subsequent sale by a neighbor to a brothel. She is then sold from one brothel to another. Two girls are sold by their own parents into brothels.

Another girl, Ani, 13, was forced to sleep with high-ranking government officials in a brothel disguised as a noodle shop.

“The drunk chief of police who raped my daughter came to my home,” Ani’s father says in the film. “He told me I should let him sleep with my daughter again. “I would never sell my daughter. You would have to kill me.”

“Red Light” is also a reminder of the loopholes in Cambodia’s legal frameworks that allow perpetrators to buy their way out of trouble.

“We need to ask ourselves, mostly men, why do men have this urge to exploit a little child, whether it’s a boy or a girl,” Adi Ezroni, one of three directors, said at the screening. “And that’s really the issue that we have to speak about.”

Film production team took risks from those who benefit from the business. They had to use hidden cameras to film in the lucrative karaokay parlors and brothels. Film makers hope their film will help raise more awareness of the danger of sexual exploitation children face.

“With enough of this education and exposure we are able to change both people’s mindset, law...and to decrease demand because as far as I am concerned kids should never ever be raped and touched by anybody,” film maker Guy Jacobson told journalists. “I don’t care who the kid is and I don’t care who the adult is, there is absolutely no scenario in which it is okay for an adult to have sex with a kid; period.”

However, victims get discriminated when they try to integrate back into society.

“I would like to make a new appeal to please have a pity on those people both the children and women. It was not their choice to fall into this trap of prostitution,” said Mu Sochua. “Once the society discriminates against them, they will lose their future.”

The premiere drew a wide range of audience including celebrities and rights activists.

“I just feel that we need to take some actions and that a lot of countries need to get involved than being involved now,” Cynthia Kirchner, an actress and model, told VOA Khmer. “The girls are so strong to have gone through what they’ve gone through and to tell their story and they are just so brave and I think that everyone that has involved has done such a good job in getting their story told.”

CAMBODIA: Life of sells spiders to travellers

A Cambodian woman sells deep-fried spiders at the town of Skun, Kampong Cham province, 75 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. The town is the well-known place for selling deep-fried spiders to travelers, who stop by on their way to and from the country's northern and northeastern provinces. Live spiders are also put into rice wine to make traditional medicinal liquor. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian girl sells deep-fried spiders to at the town of Skun, Kampong Cham province, 75 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. The town is the well-known place for selling deep-fried spiders to travelers, who stop by on their way to and from the country's northern and northeastern provinces. Live spiders are also put into rice wine to make traditional medicinal liquor. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodians buy deep-fried spiders at the town of Skun, Kampong Cham province, 75 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. The town is the well-known place for selling deep-fried spiders to travelers, who stop by on their way to and from the country's northern and northeastern provinces. Live spiders are also put into rice wine to make traditional medicinal liquor. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian woman collects live spiders for sale at the town of Skun, Kampong Cham province, 75 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. The town is the well-known place for selling deep-fried spiders to travelers, who stop by on their way to and from the country's northern and northeastern provinces. Live spiders are also put into rice wine to make traditional medicinal liquor. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian woman collects live spiders for sale at the town of Skun, Kampong Cham province, about 75 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. The town is the well-known place for selling deep-fried spiders to travelers, who stop by on their way to and from the country's northern and northeastern provinces. Live spiders are also put into rice wine to make traditional medicinal liquor. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian girl shows to travelers a live spider clinging on her shirt at the town of Skun, Kampong Cham province, 75 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. The town is the well-known place for selling deep-fried spiders to travelers, who stop by on their way to and from the country's northern and northeastern provinces. Live spiders are also put into rice wine to make traditional medicinal liquor. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Cambodian girl shows to travelers a live spider clinging on her shirt at the town of Skun, Kampong Cham province, 75 kilometers (46 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, June 29, 2010. The town is the well-known place for selling deep-fried spiders to travelers, who stop by on their way to and from the country's northern and northeastern provinces. Live spiders are also put into rice wine to make traditional medicinal liquor. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

SRP Speach in Manila during CALD Meeting

Sam Rainsy's Speech in Manila on 06-28-2010

sokhour55 | June 28, 2010

Sam Rainsy's speech in MANILA during CALD( Council of Asian Liberala and Democrats) meeting on June, 27 2010.

Mrs.Mu Sochua's speech in Manila, Philippine.June 28, 2010

Cambodia sends Vietnamese martyrs’ remains home

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06/29/2010

The Cambodian provinces of Kongpong Thom and Kongpong Cham on June 29 held a solemn ceremony to hand over the remains of 83 Vietnamese martyrs to Vietnamese provinces of Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh.

Speaking at the ceremony in Kongpong Thom province, provincial chairman Chum Chuan expressed his delight at the fine results of cooperation between the two countries in exhuming and moving the remains of voluntary Vietnamese soldiers who died in Cambodia.

This demonstrates the Cambodian people’s deep gratitude towards Vietnamese families whose relatives had died for Cambodia’s independence struggle, he said, adding that the work will be continued until the last set of remains is found.

The province of Krache will also have a similar ceremony on June 30 to hand over 81 sets of remains of Vietnamese martyrs to Vietnam.

Monk filmed naked women

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Jun 29, 2010

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia) - A CAMBODIAN court charged a Buddhist monk on Tuesday for secretly filming hundreds of women as they bathed naked with holy water at a temple and then sharing the clips, officials said.

Net Khai, 37, faces up to a year in jail after being charged with 'producing and distributing pornographic images' by Phnom Penh Municipal Court, prosecutor Ek Chheng Huot told AFP.

He was arrested at his pagoda in the Cambodian capital on Saturday over allegations that he secretly taped the women pouring sacred water over themselves in a pagoda bathroom, said police chief Touch Naruth.

Net Khai was arrested after a victim approached police and said that video clips showing the naked women had been shared among people via their mobile phones in recent weeks. He was subsequently stripped of his religious status.

'He has filmed hundreds of women since 2008. They came to the monk to be blessed with holy water, but they were secretly filmed,' Touch Naruth told AFP. 'His act affects other monks and Buddhism and seriously harms our tradition,' he said, adding that Net Khai had confessed to his crimes.

Police said they were looking for the man's accomplices. There are more than 55,000 Buddhist monks across Cambodia, which has 4,300 pagodas. -- AFP.

Cambodia's foreign tourist arrivals rise 11.5% in first 5 months

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English.news.cn

2010-06-29

PHNOM PENH, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Foreign tourist arrivals in Cambodia increased 11.5 percent in the first five months of this year, compared to the same period last year, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday.

From January to May this year, Cambodia had received 1,054,821 foreign tourists, up 11.5 percent, compared to the same period last year of 945,807 tourists, said the report.

Of the figure, Vietnam placed number one among the top ten, up 43.76 percent to 175,937, and followed by South Korea and China, increased by 33.53 percent to 125,455 and 32.07 percent to 74,558, respectively.

Whilst Thailand ranked ten among the top ten markets arrivals to Cambodia with the tourist number declined 13.83 percent to 36, 995 from 42,931 due to the turmoil in the country.

According to the report, for the month of May alone, tourists to Cambodia increased by 16.9 percent to 170,164 in 2010 from 145, 564 the same month of last year, of which Vietnamese tourists increased by 68.31 percent to 36,992, South Korea rose 44 percent to 19,108, and Chinese tourists up 43.45 percent to 11,162, while Thailand dropped 3.45 percent to 7,392.

Editor: Xiong Tong

More Cambodian youth watch TV during World Cup finals

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PHNOM PENH, Jun 29, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- More Cambodian youth have watched televisions during the World Cup in South Africa according to a survey conducted by Indochina Research Ltd. (IRL), local media reported on Tuesday.

The research showed that the percentage of the TV fans aged from 15 to 19 increased by 32 percent in the month of June alone, and that of general population aged from 20 to 29 who watches TV increased by six percent in June, Local Khmer newspaper Rasmei Kampuchea reported.

Those respondents were watching MYTV, a branch channel of CTN (Cambodian Television Network) which airs World Cup matches, the research showed.

Glen Felgate, general director of CTN said he anticipated that the group phase of FIFA 2010 World Cup will attract some 50 percent of the watchers to his network and the number will be higher in the elimination stage.

The IRL will issue a final research result on the TV fans for 2010 World Cup next month.

Ruling party time

Photo by: Khem Sovannara

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:00 Khem Sovannara

Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and Senate President Chea Sim (foreground, right) shakes hands with supporters as Sok Sambath, Daun Penh district governor, looks on during the CPP’s 59th anniversary celebration at party headquarters on Monday.

Land-mine casualties see a spike

Photo by: Heng Chivoan
A land mine located by Cambodian Mine Action Centre deminers prior to its destruction in Battambang province in April 2009.

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:03 Irwin Loy and Chhay Channyda

Officials say shortage of funds could slow deminers’ progress

WHEN an anti-tank mine exploded along a bumpy dirt road in Pailin province in early May, it marked the start of what would be the worst month for land-mine casualties recorded in Cambodia in nearly three years, according to statistics released Monday.

The explosion, which killed five people and injured nine others, was a reminder of the uphill battle Cambodia still faces in reducing land-mine casualties, and underscored why authorities say they have been forced to re-evaluate the Kingdom’s timeline to end accidents.

It happened in Pailin’s Stung Treng commune, where there have now been more casualties from land mines recorded than any other commune in the country over the last two years, according to government statistics.

Ry Dara, the commune’s police chief, said a loaded van heading to nearby cassava fields was driving through the rain when it hit a mine lying just beneath the road’s surface.

Three people were killed instantly, and another two people died in hospital, he said.

“Villagers felt shocked, because they did not know the area had mines,” he said.

Before May, there had been only one land mine casualty recorded in Pailin province for the entire year. By the end of the month, the Cambodian Mine/Explosive Remnants of War Victim Information System, which tracks data on land mine casualties, had recorded 50 casualties nationwide – the highest monthly total reported since August 2007.

Chhiv Lim, the CMVIS project manager, said spikes in casualties are not uncommon, and that they tend to occur, for example, around March and April, when land is being cleared in preparation for the upcoming wet season.

But he added that the May report was worrying, in part because it brought the number of casualties recorded this year to 134, five higher than the number of casualties recorded in the first five months of last year. There were 244 casualties in all of 2009, meaning that Cambodia could potentially see an increase in land-mine casualties in 2010 for the first time in six years.

“We’re very concerned about this. We need to study more about why this happened,” Chhiv Lim said.

MDG target to change

Over the longer term, Cambodia has managed to significantly reduce land-mine casualties, from 1,691 in 1993 to 244 last year.

But authorities have acknowledged that its initial obligation to clear all contaminated areas in the Kingdom by 2009 – part of its commitment under the Ottawa Treaty, which bans the use of land mines – may have been unrealistic.

Cambodia was granted a 10-year extension on that goal during a gathering of parties to the treaty held in Cartagena, Colombia, in December.

Now, authorities are also reconsidering Cambodia’s Millennium Development Goal pertaining to the eradication of land mines.

The Kingdom’s target to eliminate land mine casualties and clear all contaminated areas by 2012 will now be “impossible” to reach in such a short period of time, Leng Sochea, deputy secretary general of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA), said Monday.

“Last week, we had a discussion … to refocus our goal,” he said. “The old goal was a bit too ambitious to achieve.”

A more realistic objective, he said, would be to reduce land mine casualties by the rate at which they have dropped since 2005 – roughly 10 percent a year.

“Through the experiences of the last two years, we have seen that this figure may be more realistic,” Leng Sochea said.

Officials have warned, however, that fluctuations in international funding could have an impact on whether Cambodia will meet any new targets on reducing land mine casualties.

Leng Sochea said the government would require roughly US$330 million for its new 10-year plan. But money has been short as of late.

For the last three years, Cambodia has received $29-30 million each year for mine-clearance programmes.

“But this year, the figure is down,” Leng Sochea said. “Up until now, we have secured around $23 million only.”

He attributed the drop to global factors such as economic conditions in donor countries.

“If the development partners keep their promises and give funds, maybe we can clear the land and meet our obligations. We need the development partners to be responsible,” he said.

International groups that work on mine issues in the Kingdom have also been hit by funding cuts.

Cameron Imber, programme manager for mine-clearance charity The Halo Trust, said his organisation’s budget has dropped from $7 million to $4 million in two years.

If the funding continues to decline next year, the organisation is facing the possibility of laying off 40 percent of its 1,100-member staff – the majority of whom work in the mine fields on a daily basis, he said.

“We’ve had to scrimp and save, but we won’t be able to do it anymore,” Imber said.

He attributes the shrinking funds to “donor fatigue”.

In Afghanistan, where he worked for more than four years before coming to Cambodia, funding was never an issue.

“It was the focus of global attention. Here, the attention is dropping off slightly,” he said.

“It is a problem. At the end of the day, the more de-miners out there, the more mines will be cleared.”

Wasp hoped to save cassava crop

Photo by: Photo Supplied
Mealybugs (top) have already destroyed cassava crops in Thailand, but experts hope that the release of the Apoanagyrus lopezi wasp will reduce their impact in Cambodia.

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:03 Christy Choi and Thet Sambath

Paraguayan insect already saved Africa from mealybug disaster, expert says

THE government has approved the importation of a Paraguayan insect parasite that farmers in the northwest hope will combat a pesticide-resistant mealybug infestation that is threatening cassava crops, officials said this week.

Hean Vanhan, the deputy director of the Agriculture Directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said the parasite – named Apoanagyrus lopezi – was expected to arrive in early July, but that the insects would be bred in a controlled environment before their release. “The imports should arrive next week, and breeding should take 10 weeks,” Hean Vanhan said.

The Post reported in March that cassava mealybugs – small, white pests that destroy cassava – had been detected in multiple districts in Banteay Meanchey province. In Thailand, the presence of mealybugs is one factor expected to reduce cassava yields for 2009-10 to 23 million tonnes, down from an earlier projection of 29 million tonnes. The Bangkok Post reported in February that private-sector analysts had predicted that the yield could drop to as low as 20 million tonnes, a decline that could translate into the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to the 2009-10 annual report from the Agriculture Ministry, released in April, there are approximately 160,000 hectares of farmland devoted to cassava in Cambodia, and around 3.5 million tonnes of cassava are produced each year.

Rod Lefroy, regional coordinator for the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, estimated on Monday that the Cambodian cassava industry is worth US$300 million annually.

The Cambodian War Amputees Rehabilitation Society, which works with cassava farmers in the northwest, asked the government for permission to import Apoanagyrus lopezi on April 2, said John Macgregor, the NGO’s communications director.

He said the mealybugs posed a direct threat to the livelihoods of 3,000 cassava growers working with the NGO in Battambang province, and could potentially affect thousands of others in Battambang and elsewhere.

Unless they are controlled, Macgregor said, the mealybugs could result in the same type of damage that hit a group of 30 African countries that became infested with mealybugs in the 1980s.

“The 30 African countries that were hit by mealybug in the 1980s saw an average 80 percent destruction of their crops, some 100 percent. The same potential exists here,” he said.

He added, though, that Apoanagyrus lopezi had provided a successful solution.

“A lopezi was subsequently released in 30 countries across Africa, where it terminated a continent-wide mealybug infestation. This saved the African cassava industry from destruction, and prevented millions of people from starving to death – all while not harming anything else,” he said. “It was the most successful biological control intervention ever.”

Officials at the Agriculture Ministry could not provide statistics detailing how many hectares of Cambodian farmland have been affected by mealybugs so far, nor could officials at the Agriculture Department in Battambang. An official at the Agriculture Department in Banteay Meanchey, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the issue with a reporter, said 8,382 hectares of crops in that province had been affected.

Macgregor said the stocks of Apoanagyrus lopezi due to arrive next week are being provided by Thai entomologist Amporn Winothai, who could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Lefroy described the release of the parasite as “imminent”, but noted that it would need to be approved by the Thai government.

“Cambodia will not be able to release the parasites until the Thai government approves the release in Thailand – in other words, when exports are approved,” Lefroy said.

Officials at the Thai Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Macgregor said the onset of rains has curbed the spread of the mealybugs, but that officials are expecting the threat to surge again towards the end of the wet season in late October.

Hean Vanhan at the Agriculture Ministry said that even if the importation of the pests had not been approved, they would likely have migrated into Cambodia after being released in Thailand’s mealybug-affected areas.

“They will be in Cambodia soon anyways. It’s part of the natural movement. No one can stop them,” he said.

CPP marks 59th year with call for solidarity

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:03 Vong Sokheng

AROUND 5,000 supporters of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) turned out at the party’s headquarters on Monday for a celebration marking the 59th anniversary of its founding.

Balloons were released and traditional dances performed before party president Chea Sim delivered a speech praising what he described as a long history of resisting colonialism and promoting peace in Cambodia.

“We celebrate this event in the spirit to offer deepest respect and gratitude to patriots of all generations, including a great number of cadres and soldiers who had fought with braveness and sacrificed their lives in all stages for the nation,” Chea Sim said.

The party traces its origins to the formation of the communist Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party in June 1951, four months after the Indochinese Communist Party was dissolved and replaced by parties for the Vietnamese, Khmer and Lao communist movements.

Chea Sim said the CPP deserved credit for triumphs over French colonialism as well as attempts by the United States to draw Cambodia into the war in neighbouring Vietnam.

“For the past 59 years, the CPP adheres strictly to its nature of being a party that is of the people, and for the people,” he added.

The current iteration of the party – known until 1991 as the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea – was not formed until 1981, after the Vietnamese-backed overthrow of the Khmer Rouge regime two years earlier.

Call to arms

Chea Sim also encouraged the party’s officials to continue strengthening the CPP’s “internal solidarity and unity” and to “attain further successes in the construction and defence of the motherland within the spirit of self-reliance”.

“The CPP earnestly supports the Royal Government’s policies and measures in continuing to fight against corruption, forestry and fisheries offences, putting a stop to anarchic grabbing of state land, while maintaining sustainable environment and natural resources exploitation with conscience and responsibility,” he said.

But Chea Poch, a Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker, said Monday that issues such as land grabbing, illegal logging and corruption have been widespread across the country during the CPP’s rule.

“I think that the CPP’s political programmes are good on paper, but there is a lack of real political will to curb hot issues such as corruption, land grabbing and illegal logging,” he said. “There are many poor people that come out to protest almost every day about their farmland being grabbed by powerful individuals from the ruling CPP and the rich.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen did not attend Monday’s ceremony because of ill health, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said.

Monk questioned over peeping

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:03 Chrann Chamroeun

A DEFROCKED monk who allegedly recorded videos of naked women in the public shower of a pagoda was questioned at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday on charges of distributing pornography, court officials said.

Neth Kai, 35, was arrested on Saturday following a complaint from a woman who accused the monk of secretly recording a video of her while she was showering in a bathroom at Srah Chak pagoda in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune.

“After a few hours of interrogation, I decided not to charge the monk yet. There is a lot of evidence to go over such as a confiscated computer, memory cards, pornographic VCDS, a camera, mobile phones, etc,” Ek Chheng Huot, deputy prosecutor at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said Monday.

He added that the man would again be held overnight at the Daun Penh district police station before being questioned further today.

A court clerk who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Neth Kai would be prosecuted under charges related to the production and distribution of pornography, a charge that carries with it a sentence of between one month and one year and a fine of between US$48 and $480.

A Daun Penh district police official who also declined to be named said on Monday that anyone caught viewing the pornographic videos recorded by Neth Kai could also face arrest.

On Saturday, the suspect allegedly admitted to recording videos of about 20 women using mobile-phone cameras hidden inside a wall and a pot of incense sticks.

Govt denies harbouring Thai activists

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:03 Cheang Sokha

GOVERNMENT officials have again accused the Thai government and media of levelling false accusations against Cambodia, after a local newspaper reported that two Red Shirt activists suspected of bombing the headquarters of a Thai political party fled to Cambodia last week.

On Monday, The Bangkok Post quoted Benjapol Rodsawas, identified as an immigration official in Sa Kaeo province, as saying that two men – Warisaya Boonsom, 42, and Kobchai Boonplod, 41 – crossed the border into Cambodia last Wednesday following the bombing of the headquarters of the Bhumjaithai Party in Bangkok the day before.

In a statement issued Monday, the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers said there was no evidence the men had entered Cambodia. The statement also called on the Thai government to end what it described as a “malicious campaign to fault Cambodia” and draw Cambodia into Thailand’s “unending internal squabbles”, which it said have brought Thailand close to “falling into the predicament of a failed state”.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Monday that the allegations were “stupid”.

“Cambodia completely denies this kind of provocative information,” he said. “If Thai immigration police found them entering Cambodia, why didn’t they arrest them?”

The denial is the latest in a series of statements accusing the Thai media of making inaccurate reports and the Thai government of fuelling them.

On June 22, the government dismissed a story published by Thai newspaper The Nation that said senior Red Shirts “are reportedly hiding in Cambodia while allegedly plotting a third Red Shirt rally and even underground operations in the coming months”.

Thani Thongpakdi, deputy spokesman for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Ratanakkiri ‘vampire’ deaths dismissed by health officials

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:02 Mom Kunthear

FOUR ethnic minority men who died in Ratanakkiri province’s Voeun Sai district over the past month were not killed by vampires or spirits, despite reports to the contrary from local villagers, provincial health officials who visited the area over the weekend said Monday.

Rather, they were likely the victims of heart attacks and poisonings, the officials said.

Tha Bunthak, deputy director of the provincial health department, said five health officials visited Voeun Sai district on Sunday to investigate the deaths, and that doctors and health officials from across the province had attended a meeting on Monday to discuss the cases.

“After we spent a whole morning together, we can evaluate that they died because of poisoning and heart attack,” he said. “It is not because of a vampire or spirit as those villagers thought.”

District police chief Toeun Nou Thorng said Monday that two of the men had died in Korng Nork village, and the other two had died in Kok Lak village. He added that the four deaths took place between May 25 and June 24, and that marks on the necks of all four victims had led villagers to believe that they had been attacked by vampires.

Tha Bunthak said investigating health officials had settled on a more prosaic explanation for the neck wounds.

“Before they stopped breathing they felt difficulties, and they always pinch or scratch on their body,” he said.

He added that health officials suspected that some of the victims had been accidentally poisoned by food, water or alcohol, but said that the cause of death had not been formally determined for any of the four men.

Toeun Nou Thorng said it was common for ethnic minority villagers in the district to pray rather than seek medical help for illnesses. He said police officials had visited residents of both villages to encourage them “not to be afraid” of receiving medical help.

Tha Bunthak said health officials visiting the district on Sunday had also taken the opportunity to urge locals to seek medical help in case of illness.

“I explained and educated them not to believe in the spirit more than technology, and I urged them to go to health centres or hospitals when they are sick,” he said. “It is very difficult to change their belief or habit, but we try our best to help them and change them step by step.”

SRP reverses Sochua decision

Photo by: Pha Lina
SRP lawmaker Mu Sochua leaves the Supreme Court following a hearing on June 2.

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:02 Meas Sokchea

THE opposition Sam Rainsy Party has apparently backed away from an earlier pledge to pay 16.5 million riels (around US$3,928) in fines and compensation on behalf of parliamentarian Mu Sochua, stating instead that she will have the final say in the matter.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court levied the fine and damages against Mu Sochua when it found her guilty of defaming Prime Minister Hun Sen in August last year, a ruling that was upheld by the Appeal Court in October and the Supreme Court on June 2.

The Kampot province parliamentarian has consistently stated she would rather go to jail than pay the fees, and SRP officials previously supported her stance.

On Sunday, acting SRP spokesman Kimsour Phirith said the party decided at a meeting on Thursday that it should pay the fines in order to prevent Mu Sochua’s fight with Hun Sen from affecting the SRP’s work.

Mu Sochua noted in an email, however, that she had not authorised the payment.

On Monday, Kimsour Phirith said the party would allow her make the final decision.

“SRP is leaving the final decision to Her Excellency Mu Sochua … since she is the victim of the lawsuit. If she has decided to face jail and absolutely not pay the fine, it is her business,” he said. “[We] must respect her rights as an individual.”

He added that the SRP raised the issue of the payment last week in an attempt to promote stability and demonstrate political maturity.

The defamation case arose after Mu Sochua filed her own lawsuit against Hun Sen, claiming he defamed her during a speech in Kampot in April.

Mu Sochua said on Sunday that she would be returning to Cambodia on July 5.

On June 17, National Treasury President Ker Bunleng issued a letter ordering Mu Sochua to pay a fine of 8.5 million riels to the treasury within two weeks, or by July 1.

The treasury did not set a deadline for the 8 million riels in compensation that make up the balance of money Mu Sochua owes.

Ker Bunleng could not be reached for comment on Monday.

Sok Roeun, deputy prosecutor at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said that if Mu Sochua fails to pay the fine by the July 1 deadline, the treasury will notify the court, which will then take legal action to obtain the money after issuing a final 10-day ultimatum.

“If Mu Sochua refuses to pay, [we] will force her,” he said, and added that the lawmaker could ultimately end up in jail.

Tith Sothea, a spokesman for the Press and Quick Reaction Unit at the Council of Ministers, said Monday that the issue of whether the SRP or Mu Sochua agrees to make the payments or not is of little consequence to the government.

But he said Mu Sochua’s political life could be affected by the decision she makes.

“If Mu Sochua decides not to pay and agrees to jail, this will be her political life story,” he said, adding: “This is the SRP’s business.”

Frenchman gets a year in jail for indecent acts

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:02 Chrann Chamroeun

KAMPOT provincial court sentenced a French man to one year in prison on Monday, finding him guilty of committing indecent acts against two underage boys after downgrading an initial charge of purchasing child prostitution.

Jean Marie Beranger, 61, was arrested last September in Sihanoukville on suspicion of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. He was released on bail by Preah Sihanouk provincial court and was arrested in Kep province in December after being accused of sexually abusing two boys aged 12 and 16.

During Monday’s hearing, presiding judge Tak Kimsear ordered Beranger to pay each victim 1 million riels (US$238) in compensation on top of a fine of 2 million riels ($476).

Noun Panith, a lawyer provided to the victims by child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), said afterwards that the decision to downgrade the charges had been “unacceptable”. Beranger faced two to five years in prison under the previous charge.

“There was enough evidence against the man ... and the two boys proved in the hearing that they had been sexually abused by the suspect,” he said.

He said Beranger had fled to Phnom Penh following his release on bail last year, and that APLE suspected he had abused several boys in the city before his arrest in Kep.

But defence lawyer Tan Meng Sroy said Monday that there had been insufficient evidence against his client.

“He didn’t commit the crime like the allegations claim, and he has denied it at all levels of investigation since his arrest,” he said.

Delayed again

Also Monday, Preah Sihanouk provincial court postponed for the fifth time a hearing against a French man charged with the unlawful removal with purpose and the unlawful removal for cross-border transfer of two underage boys and the sexual abuse of five underage boys.

The hearing was postponed because both the defendant and his lawyer were absent.

Roger Michel Blanchard, 44, was arrested in August 2008 for sexually abusing five Cambodian boys ages 11 to 16 in Sihanoukville. The other charges were brought in April this year in connection with allegations that he engaged in sexual acts with a 17-year-old boy, also in Sihanoukville.

Peng Maneth, a lawyer provided by APLE, said the case had become a “a waste of our time”.

“The defence lawyer has intentions of extending the court’s procedure by not informing court officials in advance of his absentia,” she said.

If found guilty, Blanchard faces 15 to 20 years for each charge, she said.

Reservoir destruction to continue: minister

via Khmer NZ News Media

Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:02 Khouth Sophakchakrya

MINISTER of Water Resources and Meteorology Lim Kean Hor on Monday reiterated the government’s intention to remove all reservoirs surrounding the Tonle Sap lake, and said that six of them had recently been demolished in Kampong Thom province.

Prime Minister Hun Sen in April ordered the destruction of all reservoirs near the lake, saying they caused environmental damage, especially to the surrounding forest and fish stocks. Farmers have argued, however, that they need the reservoirs to boost crop yields.

In a meeting with a handful of reporters in Phnom Penh, Lim Kean Hor said officials had destroyed a total of six reservoirs in Kampong Thom since Friday, the date by which their owners had been told to have them removed.

A total of 30 reservoir owners were facing the Friday deadline, and the minister said Monday that the demolitions would continue.

“Most of the illegal reservoirs in Kampong Thom, Siem Reap and Battambang are at least 1.5 square kilometres in size,” he said.

“The owners paid between $80,000 and $100,000 to construct the reservoirs, which local farmers could not possibly afford to do.”

Um Meng, a representative of a fishing community in Kampong Thom, said he supported the government’s decision to remove the reservoirs around the lake, but added that he was concerned that the owners of the reservoirs would simply rebuild once the crackdown is complete.

“They built the reservoirs to cultivate rice during the dry season, but they devastated the forest, which is home to fish and prawns,” he said.

“We welcome and encourage the government to remove them and continue to crack down forever. If not, the reservoirs will be rebuilt.”

He also said that local officials had arrested only farmers who had been making use of the reservoirs, and that the reservoir owners had gone unpunished.

Lim Kean Hor said the ministry was preparing recommendations for local officials to begin carrying out the arrests of noncompliant owners under Article 98 of the Fisheries Law.

“They can face three to five years in prison,” the minister said.

Kraya evictees facing hunger

Photo by: May Titthara
Authorities transport the belongings of villagers in Kampong Thom province’s Kraya commune to a relocation site roughly 7 kilometres from their former homes in December.

via Khmer NZ News Media

Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:02 May Titthara

Officials say distribution of new farmland could begin by the end of this month

KAMPONG Thom provincial authorities said Monday that the distribution of 1-hectare plots of farmland promised as compensation to around 600 families evicted from their land last December could commence by the end of the month.

“We will provide new farmland to those 602 families, and we will provide it to them on time, either during the rainy season or at the end of this month,” said Out Sam On, Kampong Thom deputy governor.

On December 15, the families were violently evicted from Kraya commune, located in Santuk district, to make way for a 8,100-hectare rubber plantation to be developed by Vietnam’s Tin Bien company.

The villagers, many of them military veterans, were shifted 7 kilometres away to Thmor Samleang village, where they have built homes but are still awaiting farmland promised to them in May.

Out Sam On said officials were waiting for the results of an “impact study” being carried out to ensure that the distribution of the farmland will not lead to future disputes.

“We do not want to delay distribution of land to the villagers any longer,” he said.

Pich Sophea, Santuk district governor, said provincial and district authorities had submitted a request to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries asking for permission to begin distributing replacement plots, but had not received a response.

“The local authorities have now decided that even though the [ministry] has been late to reply to us on this issue we will go ahead and provide the villagers with farmland because we want them to be able to plant their crops on time,” he said, and added that the ministry could sign off on the arrangement later.

The families, which have been prevented from planting crops on their old land, have frequently expressed concern that they will not be able to produce enough food if they are not given new farmland before the onset of the rainy season.

On March 7, three men were shot by police after a group of about 40 farmers tried to access their old farmland to plant cassava.

Om Saran, a villager living at the Thmor Samleang site, said the authorities should follow through on their promise.

“It is almost the end of June and the rainy season has already begun. We want to plant rice and cassava on time; the authorities should understand the difficulties we will face if we cannot plant our crops,” he said. “I would like to ask the authorities to please stop lying to us.”

Nuth Khim, another villager awaiting replacement land, said that because authorities lived lives of privilege, they had no way of understanding the plight of the poor.

“We are living in poor conditions but still they delay in providing us with farmland,” he said. “Villagers here do not have food to eat, and we cannot support our families anymore.”

Poe Oumoete, provincial monitor for local rights group Licadho, said authorities needed to make a better effort to communicate with the Kraya villagers.

“The raining season started recently, so the villagers are facing a lot of problems. They don’t have enough food, and they need farmland and answers from the authorities,” he said.

Court hears two cases of meth trafficking

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:02 Chrann Chamroeun

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court on Monday heard two drug cases involving three people charged with trafficking crystal methamphetamine, or ice.

In one, a 20-year-old Vietnamese man was arrested last year after police found him carrying less than a gram of ice in a cigarette, and a 46-year-old Vietnamese woman was arrested during a raid of the man’s home.

The man, Ly Pi, told the court on Monday that he had merely been delivering a package of cigarettes on behalf of a man who worked with him at a construction site, and that he did not know it contained drugs. The woman, Vieng Tibay, said she barely knew Li Pi, having approached him just a few days before their arrest for help in securing a job at the construction site. But presiding judge Suos Sam Ath rejected their testimonies, calling them “liars”.

In the second case, a 26-year-old Cambodian woman confessed to having sold small packages of ice for 25,000 riels (about US$6) each, but requested that judges give her a lenient sentence, saying she needed to sell drugs to support her children.

No verdict date was set in either case.

Thai soldiers to conduct border patrols

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:01 Thet Sambath and Tep Nimol

THAI military officials stationed across the border from Oddar Meanchey province have informed their Cambodian counterparts that they intend to conduct patrols along the frontier for one month beginning July 1, a border official said Monday.

Touch Ra, deputy chief of the Thailand-Cambodia Relations Office at the Chom international border gate, said the patrol would stretch over 40 kilometres along the border between Anlong Veng and Trapaing Prasat districts.

“Thai military have informed us they will patrol for one month to look for illegal logging and crime in their territory along the border,” Touch Ra said.

“They have informed us in advance because they are worried the border troops might clash again due to misunderstandings.”

On June 8, Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged warning shots along the border in Trapaing Prasat district after a “misunderstanding” between the two sides, government and military officials said at the time.

The warning shots came less than two months after Thai and Cambodian soldiers traded fire in two brief skirmishes in Samraong district on the morning of April 19.

Chea Morn, commander of Military Region 4, said Monday that he had not been notified about the communication from the Thai military, but warned that Thai troops must stay out of Cambodian territory.

“We have no problem with a patrol if they do it inside their territory, but they must not walk in prohibited places along the border,” he said.

Also on Monday, a military official in Battambang province’s Samlot district said Thai soldiers had vowed to send back 10 Cambodian farmers and two Cambodian soldiers who were arrested in Trat province on Saturday while scavenging for food.

Tuy Bunly, deputy commander of Military Region 5, said he had been negotiating with Thai authorities since their arrest, and that he had been “promised that they will send them back on Tuesday”.

Oddar Meanchey evictees seek infrastructure for relocation site

Photo by: Pha Lina
A former resident of O’Ampil village in Oddar Meanchey province (left) discusses his community’s complaints with a representative of Prime Minister Hun Sen’s cabinet on Monday.

via Khmer NZ News Media

Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:01 May Titthara

AROUND 50 families from Oddar Meanchey province’s Anlong Veng district who were evicted from their homes last month protested in front of Wat Botum on Monday to petition Prime Minister Hun Sen about the lack of infrastructure at their relocation site.

On May 25, more than 100 homes in O’Ampil village in Anlong Veng commune were burned down by provincial authorities. Siem Reap provincial court had ordered that the homes be removed after a complaint was filed by Forestry Administration workers, who accused the families of living illegally on protected land.

Village representative Meas Socheat said the residents, who have since been relocated to O’Rumchek village in Anlong Veng commune, about 10 kilometres from O’Ampil, came to protest because they no longer have access to farmland.

“We are farmers who depend on planting rice to support our living. If they do not provide us with farmland, we will die,” he said. “Recently, we have been facing hunger. We want to ask the prime minister to help us to live legally on our old land.”

Chhaom Chhoeun, a 42-year-old farmer, said the villagers had been granted 20-by-40-metre plots of land in O’Rumchek, but that basic infrastructure was severely lacking.

“There is no clean water to use, no schools and no health centre. It is far from the market, and the authorities have only provided us land for a home. We don’t have farmland for planting rice,” he said.

But Anlong Veng district Governor Yim Phanna dismissed claims that the evictees have not been given sufficient plots. He also said they had inflated the number of families in the old village to maximise the amount of land granted.

“We tried to help them even though they used ‘ghost families’ to increase the numbers from 102 families to 173 families,” he said.

He said the authorities had cooperated with an unnamed NGO to dig wells for the community, and that the construction of more infrastructure would proceed “step by step”.

But rights groups said the use of violence against the O’Ampil villagers back in April had forced the farmers into appealing directly to Hun Sen.

“The local authorities used violence against them by burning down villagers’ homes without giving them the new replacement land first, and that put them in a difficult situation ... with the recent onset of the rainy season,” said Srey Naren, provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc.

Lim Leang Se, deputy chief of Hun Sen’s cabinet, could not be reached Monday.

Banks' health is on the mend

Neav Chanthana, deputy governer of the National Bank of Cambodia, speaks at an event Monday at the Hotel Cambodiana marking the launch of a Cambodian branch of Vietnnam's Agribank. Heng Chivoan

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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 15:01 Nguon Sovan

NBC official says at Agribank opening that assets and deposits are rising in ’10

HEALTHIER growth in assets, lending and deposits has been reported in Kingdom’s commercial banking sector so far this year, according to the deputy governor of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC), Neav Chanthana.

Although profits in Cambodia’s commercial banking sector fell nearly 50 percent in 2009, this year’s first quarter has shown the sector bouncing back with more confidence from local and foreign investors, Neav Chanthana said at the launch of Cambodia’s first Agribank branch Monday.

“It’s been healthier in terms of assets, lending and deposits,” she said, and cited statistics showing total asset growth in Cambodia’s banking system had increased 14 percent, lending rose by 9.8 percent and deposits surged by 15 percent between January and March this year.

A report released by NBC Friday showed that profits claimed by Cambodian banks declined to US$60.2 million in 2009, from $114.7 million in 2008, as non-performing loans increased and credit expansion dropped. By the end of 2009, the report noted, total assets in the banking system were $4.99 billion, around 48 percent of GDP. Loans to customers totalled $2.51 billion, and deposits were $3.3 billion.

Neav Chanthana’s comments came as Vietnam’s largest bank by assets, Agribank, became poised to cash in on Cambodia’s banking sector by officially opening its first outlet on Monivong Boulevard.

She said Agribank – Cambodia’s 28th commercial bank and Vietnam’s third to open in the Kingdom – would bring a variety of financial products and services to the banking system.

“Agribank’s presence reflects the confidence of foreign investors in Cambodia’s banking industry,” she said at the opening ceremony.

“I hope the bank complies well with the rules of the Central Bank in order to compete with other banks with quality and effectiveness.”

Nguyen Van Giau, governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, noted during a speech that Vietnamese businesses and investments in Cambodia have increased considerably in recent years.

“The bilateral trade volume between Cambodia and Vietnam has increased by an average of 30 percent year-on-year and expected to reach up to $2 billion in 2010,” he said.

“On the investment side, 63 Vietnamese investment projects have been carrying out business in Cambodia nowadays with a total investment value of nearly $900 million.”

Agribank first opened a representative office in Phnom Penh in 2005, focusing on facilitating cross-border payment for imports and exports, according to a press release Monday.

However, the establishment of a branch in the capital means the bank can now also service the Cambodian market.

According to the release, Agribank, also known as the Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam, is the biggest financial institution in Vietnam, with assets of almost $26 billion and outstanding loans of $19 billion.

It employs 40,000 people and has more than 2,300 branches and transaction offices connected online, as well as relationships with more than 1,000 foreign banks in 96 countries.

“The branch opening marks the expansion and increase of the outreach of Agribank network abroad,” said Nguyen The Binh, the chairman of Agribank. “It would bridge the financial and banking markets between the two countries.”

Agribank is the third Vietnamese bank to fully operate in Cambodia after Sacombank and BIDC.