SAMBO-NEWS

5 Million Expected for This Year's Water Festival

2010-11-20T23:26:00.000-08:00

Cambodian racers row their wooden boats past hundreds of spectators at the Tonle Sap River in front

of the Royal Palace. (File photo)

Phnom Penh has deployed more than 10,000 security forces across the city in anticipation of 5 million guests for the annual Water Festival, officials said Friday.

The festival of boat races and celebrations will last through Monday, when the moon is full, the largest collective revelry in the Cambodian calendar...

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Volcano Eruption, Tsunami Devastate Indonesia

2010-10-27T05:59:00.000-07:00

An Indonesian man carries his son through a flooded neighborhood in Tangerang on the

outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, 27 Oct 2010

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is rushing home from a conference in Vietnam to oversee rescue efforts after twin disasters struck his country, killing more than 170 people and leaving hundreds missing.

Relief crews with planes and helicopters arrived for the first time Wednesday in the remote Mentawai islands, where whole villages were swept away on Monday by a three-meter tsunami triggered by a strong earthquake. Officials say 154 bodies have been recovered so far and about 400 others still are missing.

Officials in central Java, meanwhile, are reporting 29 people burned to death by hot ash and scalding gases when the nation's most active volcano erupted Tuesday. The dead include an elderly man known as the mountain's spiritual gatekeeper.

Almost 30,000 people were evacuated from the slopes of Mount Merapi before the eruption, but many of them have lost their homes. Authorities say more eruptions are still possible.

Rescue efforts in the Metawai islands, west of Sumatra, were hampered by bad weather that made it impossible to reach the area by air before Wednesday. Rescue crews spoke of bodies lying on the beaches and said many villages still have not been reached.

In Hanoi, Mr. Yudhoyono announced he is heading home before Thursday's start of the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. He said he wants to see the condition of the victims for himself and make sure the emergency response is running well.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to visit Indonesia next month, sent a message of condolence and said the United States "stands ready to help in any way."

Indonesia straddles several fault lines that make the vast island chain vulnerable to volcanic and seismic activity.

A giant quake off Sumatra's coast on December 26, 2004 triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people, about half of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.

Mount Merapi means the "Mountain of Fire." It last erupted in 2006, killing two people. A similar eruption in 1994 killed at least 60 people, and a 1930 eruption killed 1,300.

NEWS FROM VOANEWS

Cambodians Abroad To Demonstrate Ahead of Ban Visit

2010-10-23T05:46:00.000-07:00

Ban Ki-moon, right, Secretary General of United Nations meets with Hor Namhong, deputy

prime minister and foreign minister of Cambodia, left, at United Nations, September 2010.

Cambodian groups abroad say they are preparing demonstrations this weekend, just ahead of the visit of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon next week.

Organizers say they want to call attention to encroachment on Cambodia's sovereignty, its human right violations and backslides on principles of democracy.

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Music Today

2010-10-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

What About Now (Westlife)

Time For Miracle- Adam Lamber

Time For Time

South Korean Military Shipment Adds to Arsenal

2010-10-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, second right, shakes hands with South Korean President
Lee Myung-bak after they ended their summit in Phnom Penh, October 2009.

A South Korean shipment of military vehicles and material arrived in the port of Preah Sihanouk province on Wednesday, adding to the increased military aid the country has welcomed in the past few years.
The shipment included 100 vehicles, three utility boats, and engineering and medical equipment, military and port officials said.
The equipment came at the request of the Cambodian government, to help bolster its maritime defenses, Chao Phearun, a lieutenant general in charge of equipment for the Ministry of Defense, said.
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French Protesters Block Airport Road

2010-10-21T06:48:00.000-07:00

Youths overturn a car in a street in Lyon, central France amid nationwide tensions

over raising the retirement age, 21 Oct 2010.

France is dealing with another day of protests against plans to raise the country's retirement age. Demonstrators on Thursday blocked a road leading to the airport in the southern port city of Marseilles. The protesters stopped cars from reaching the airport, but aviation officials said there were no plans to cancel flights.
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Music Daily

2010-10-15T05:53:00.001-07:00

RSS Feeds RSS Feed Government Issues Heavy Rain Warning

2010-10-11T10:23:00.000-07:00

A Cambodian motorcyclist maneuvers through a flooded street along side cars on a rainy day in Phnom Penh.

The Ministry of Hydrology on Monday warned that maritime provinces and others are facing the threat of flooding and damages under continued rains...
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Anti-Corruption Unit Considers 90 Tax Complaints

2010-10-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

Om Yentieng, the director of the Anti-Corrupiton Unit.

The Anti-Corrupiton Unit is preparing to examine some 90 complaints of graft by tax officials from the Ministry of Finance.
Ninety complaints from 2,700 people across 14 provinces were filed with the unit last month....
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Cameron: British Hostage May Have Been Killed by US Grenade

2010-10-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron gestures during a press conference in Downing Street in London, where he said aid worker Linda Norgrove, 36, who died in Afghanistan during a rescue attempt, may have been killed by her American rescuers, rather than her Taliban captors, 11 Oct 2010

U.S. and British officials in Afghanistan will launch an investigation to determine how a British aid worker was killed during a rescue attempt in eastern Afghanistan. The British prime minister David Cameron says new evidence has emerged that she may have been killed by her rescuers, not her captors, as initially reported.
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School Year Begins, With Struggling Teachers Absent

2010-10-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Young students in Cambodia.

Banoy primary school sits on a bumpy road about 50 kilometers from Takeo town, the provincial capital. A ringing bell means the end of class, and schoolboys and schoolgirls on a recent afternoon filtered out of the school and began heading home....
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Palestinians Weigh Peace Talks After Israeli Settlement Deadline Expires

2010-09-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

The future of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is uncertain after Israel allowed a freeze on settlement construction to expire. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is delaying a decision on whether to pull out of peace negotiations.A bulldozer digs at the Revava Jewish settlement Monday in the northern West Bank. It is a scene that stokes anger among Palestinians and raises questions about whether the talks that started less than a month ago will continue.

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International Report Highlights More Abuses Over Land, Press

2010-09-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Cambodian Buddhist monks read local opposition newspapers at a ceremony in Phnom Penh.

The Cambodian government is facing more accusations it has cracked down on freedoms of expression and the media in the past several years.
In a new report by the Paris-based Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, researchers found “trade union leaders, land rights activists and journalists have faced among the worst human rights violations [and are] facing new legal restrictions and fierce retaliation for documenting and denouncing abuses.”
Dozens of land rights activists were detained on charges “designed to remove them from the role as community leaders,” the research group said in a statement.
The group cited the case of venerable monk Loun Sovath, who is embroiled in a land dispute in Siem Reap province, as an example.
Two of Loun Sovath's family members were shot during land protests in Anlong Samnor commune, Chi Kreng district, where villagers and the owner of a water reservoir were disputing ownership of nearly 100 hectares of rice fields.
Loun Sovath, who has led a number of awareness campaigns over the dispute, told VOA Khmer on Thursday the arrests of nine protesters and the wounding of others was “unjust for villagers who led a protest against a land grab.”
“I do not think the violence is calming down,” he said. “But I think that arrests are increasing.”
The international researchers also pointed to the jailing of opposition newspaper editor Hang Chakra as further evidence of the erosion of free expression.
Hang Chakra, the editor of the Khmer Mchas Srok newspaper, was jailed for nearly a year in 2009, after he published articles alleging corruption within the Council of Ministers.
“Since I was in jail, I think media expression has gone down,” he told VOA Khmer Thursday. “The Cambodian government should open their hearts to receive criticism and consider what the NGOs and media are doing. That's better than thinking about a dictatorship against criticism.”
Cheam Yiep, a lawmaker for the Cambodian People's Party, said freedoms of expression and media were not on the decline. “Right now the Cambodian government is reforming step by step on human rights issues,” he said.

News from VOANEWS

No more stealth tactics by city police

2010-09-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

An officer stops a motorist as another peers around the corner on Russian Federation Boulevard yesterday.

PHNOM Penh’s top cop has ordered his officers to stop hiding behind trees during crackdowns on traffic violations.

Municipal Police Chief Touch Naruth said yesterday that he had ordered traffic police to lead by example in teaching drivers respect.

“It is important that traffic police keep safety on the road. Make sure that people respect you and the law,” Touch Naruth said yesterday as he relayed a message given during his Tuesday meeting. “Don’t just stand under trees and jump out to crack down on drivers without helmets or mirrors. It’s dangerous for you and drivers on the roads.”

Touch Naruth said traffic police should man checkpoints stationed at main intersections. Instead, he said, many officers spend an inordinate amount of time behind trees hoping to spot potential violations.

But Touch Naruth also criticised motorists who try to evade traffic police by pulling abrupt U-turns and speeding off in the opposite direction – dangerous manoeuvres that he said are likely to cause accidents.

Traffic police have also been instructed not to chase drivers fleeing potential fines, since many drivers are not suspected of crimes but are merely visitors from outside the capital who do not know the laws.

“You can chase them if they are criminals. If they do not wear helmets and you cannot fine them because they escaped you, let them be. Later, they will respect the law,” he said.

However, it appears not everyone agrees with the police chief’s strategy. Him Yan, director of the public order department at the Interior Ministry, said hiding behind trees is “an unavoidable strategy”.

“This strategy is to make people cease their bad habits,” Him Yan said. He said other countries also employ such measures to enforce the law.

But Long Chy, a 34-year-old motorbike-taxi driver, said that he blamed police for causing traffic accidents when trying to surprise rule-breakers.
“Police activities are much more anarchic than regular people’s,” he said.h

News from PhnomPenhPost

PM says border still an issue

2010-09-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks at the National Institute of Education yesterday.

PRIME Minister Hun Sen chided the Thai government yesterday for its inaction in resolving an ongoing border dispute with Cambodia, taking up a familiar rhetorical pose in remarks before a graduation ceremony in Phnom Penh.

Although Cambodia and Thailand restored full diplomatic ties last month following the resignation of fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from his position as economics adviser to the Cambodian government, Hun Sen said yesterday that discord between the two countries will not be resolved until Thailand withdraws its troops from disputed territory near Preah Vihear temple.

“The solution to the problem is easy – just withdraw the troops from Cambodia and it will all be finished,” Hun Sen said, apparently addressing Thai officials.

Thailand withdrew its ambassador to Cambodia in protest at Thaksin’s appointment last year, and returned the envoy last month following news of Thaksin’s resignation, prompting Cambodia to follow suit. But although Thai officials have hailed Cambodia’s decision to cut ties with the fugitive billionaire, wanted in Thailand on graft charges, as a harbinger of improving relations, Hun Sen said yesterday that the move was unrelated to politics, and that Thaksin was “still my friend”.

“I will not be happy and smile at you while you are shaking my hand but stepping on my foot,” Hun Sen said. “Even though the ambassadors have been restored, I am still not happy because you have not withdrawn the troops from my land.”

Hun Sen and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva plan to meet on the sidelines of October’s Asia-Europe Meeting in Belgium at the suggestion of Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan. Hun Sen said yesterday that the meeting would touch on trade and economic issues in addition to concerns about the border.

Border negotiations under the bilateral Joint Border Commission are stalled pending the approval by the Thai parliament of the latest round of negotiations. A scheduled approval vote in Bangkok was postponed earlier this month, to the consternation of Cambodian officials.

Thai government officials could not be reached for comment yesterday.

News from PhnomPenhPost

Labour agency investigated

2010-08-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

Kin Ya, 27, speaks to police at a training centre run by APMN, a local labour recruitment firm, in order to secure her release yesterday. The centre was raided after her husband claimed the company was holding her against her will.

POLICE in Phnom Penh raided a labour recruitment training centre yesterday after a man complained that its director had refused to release his wife.

Chamkarmon district police officers dropped in on the training centre run by the firm APMN in the morning, said deputy district police chief Heang Tharet.

“We talked with the company staff about the complaint,” he said. “We told them that we cannot allow the woman to stay in this centre any longer because a man asked us to help his wife get out.”

The complainant, Prom Nai, said his wife, Kin Ya, had started training with the firm in July in the hope of becoming a domestic worker in
Malaysia.

But he said she wanted to quit because she was not permitted to leave the facility. The company, however, refused.

“The centre asked for US$975 from me if I wanted my wife to leave, but I don’t have that much money,” Prom Nai said.

Company officials agreed to a compromise fee of $300 following negotiations yesterday, he said.

Ben Sokpich, the chief of administration at the centre, yesterday confirmed that the company had agreed to accept a fee from the man in exchange for allowing his wife to leave.

“We asked for $975, but we accepted only $300 because we don’t want to have more problems for our centre,” she said.

Ben Sokpich rejected Prom Nai’s claims that workers were barred from leaving the training centre; they are only required to ask permission to leave, she said.

Sunday’s complaint comes as Labour Ministry officials deliberate ways of regulating the rapidly expanding labour recruitment industry, which has seen multiple new firms pop up in the last year in a bid to supply other countries with Cambodian labour.

Authorities have promised stricter rules in response to reports that women have been detained and forced to live in cramped quarters during training programmes.

Meanwhile, the father of a woman who died after falling ill at a centre run by a separate firm said yesterday that he planned to demand $20,000 in compensation, even though he had already agreed to a lesser payment of 1.2 million riels ($235).

Yun Mab died in hospital after she fell ill at a centre run by the firm VC Manpower.

Her father, Ream Vy, said that his daughter had bruises on her neck and face when she died.

However, the company said she died from a previously undiagnosed case of leukemia.

Sen Ly, VC Manpower’s director, could not be reached for comment.

An employee who answered the phone at the training centre yesterday, who declined to provide a name, said the company believed the case had been settled.

News from PhnomPenhPost

Koh Kong villagers attempt to block road

2010-08-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Photo by: Photo Supplied

Villagers involved in a land dispute plead with police in Koh Kong province’s Sre Ambel district during a protest on Friday.
VILLAGERS involved in a long-simmering land dispute in Koh Kong province say they will send a new petition to authorities, after four protesters suffered injuries this past weekend while attempting to block a national road.

Ouch Leng, a programme officer for rights group Adhoc, said villagers blocked National Road 48 in Sre Ambel district Friday as part of a demonstration aimed at drawing attention to a dispute that could see 34 families evicted.

But a motorist who was angry with the traffic jam caused by the protest clashed with villagers, resulting in injuries to four of them, Ouch Leng said.
“The car owner tried to crash into the bed that villagers used to block the road,” said Ouch Leng, who described the injuries as “not serious”.

The villagers say they could be on the verge of eviction after a company owned by Koh Kong businessman Heng Huy set today as a deadline for the clearance of roughly 100 hectares of disputed land. The Supreme Court last year ruled that the land belonged to Heng Huy and another businessman.

Pher Nherng, a representative of the villagers, called the protest a “last choice” after Heng Huy began clearing parts of the disputed farmland last week. He said villagers yesterday began preparing a complaint to send to provincial, district and commune officials urging them to stop allowing military police to support Heng Huy. Last week, military police stood by as workers hired by Heng Huy cleared parts of the farmland. Pher Nherng said villagers also want authorities to issue land titles.

Heng Huy yesterday questioned how villagers could be issued land titles.

“How can they issue another land title to villagers if the land is already owned?”

Sre Ambel district governor Tuon Seila said that he would forward the complaint to provincial officials.

News from PhnomPenhPost

Ties Renewed, But Doubt Remains Over Border Issue

2010-08-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Pedestrians and a tricycle motorist pass the Cambodian Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.

With renewed diplomatic ties between Cambodia and Thailand, officials from opposite sides offered different views on whether the ongoing border issue can be resolved.
Cambodian officials say mutual renewal of ambassadors this week are not necessarily a positive step toward solving the issue bilaterally.
A Thai spokesman, however, said renewed ties would mean better communication over the border and could lead toward steps within the Thai government for more Joint Border Committee talks.
“I think with our ambassadors in place, it would facilitate more efficient and closer coordination and communication between both countries,” the spokesman, Thani Thongphakdi, told VOA Khmer Thursday.
Both sides replaced their ambassadors this week following withdrawals in late 2009, when Cambodia made Thailand's fugitive ex-premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, an economic adviser.
Cambodian officials are less optimistic that the ongoing border row, over a disputed piece of land west of Preah Vihear temple, will now be settled.
Thai parliament has yet to approve border measures already discussed between the Joint Border Committee, said Var Kimhong, a senior government adviser and head of Cambodia's border committee.
“I am not optimistic while [the report] has not been approved in nearly three years,” he said.
Officials said border demarcation can only begin after Thai parliament approves three agreements reached between the border committees since 2008.
“Even now that diplomatic relations are normalized, non negation can get started until Thai parliament approves these agreements,” Koy Kuong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said.
Thai spokesman Thani said he hoped the parliamentary endorsement would come in the near future. In the meantime, he said, discussions are now underway between the two sides for a meeting between prime ministers Hun Sen and Abhisit Vejjajiva.

News from VOANEWS

New Book Examines China's Policy Toward Cambodia

2010-08-25T01:40:00.000-07:00

Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, right, arrives with Chinese President Hu Jintao, at a reception marking the 55th anniversary of the founding of communist China, in Beijing's Great Hall of the People Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004.

China's foreign policy follows five principles in dealing with other countries, including Cambodia, with which it has had ties since the 1950s. But changes in China's policy have at times had direct political effects on Cambodia.
In a new book "China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence," author Sophie Richardson examines how China's foreign policy has influenced Cambodia.
“I think the Chinese government deals very conscientiously with all different kinds of countries and governments in pretty much the same way,” Richardson said a recent launch for her new title, in Washington. “It is not nicer to communist governments than it is to non-communist ones. It is not tougher on democracy than it is on dictatorship.”
Richardson, who is also advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said her research was based mostly on archives, including China's, and on hundreds of interviews with diplomats.
The five principles espoused by China are mutual respect for sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference, equality, mutual benefit and peaceful co-existence. These were created by the founding members of the Chinese Communist Party in 1940 and furthered by Mao Zedong.
When Cambodia gained independence from France in 1954, China's policy towards it was based on the principles rather than security, wealth or ideology, Richardson said.
Cambodia was at first seen as a part of Indochina, but that changed with a meeting between Chinese premier Zhou Enlai and then-prince Norodom Sihanouk. China began to recognize Cambodia and Cambodia was a help to China.
“If Sihanouk got nothing else, in terms of his relationship with the Chinese government, his very early support and very public support for the one-China policy and for the PRC regaining the Chinese seat at the UN made an enormous difference,” Richardson said. “To this day, you'll hear people in Beijing talk about that particular decision on Sihanouk's part.”
China was also concerned about its own security and growing US involvement in Southeast Asia, while newly independent Cambodia wanted major powers to see it as neutral. That helped tie the two together.
Delegations followed, including one led by then secretary of state for education Pung Peng Cheng in late 1950. His daughter, Pung Chhiv Kek, who went on to found the rights group Licadho, remembers the trip.
“We had a royal ballet troupe that included Princess Bopha Devy and Prince [Norodom] Chakrapong,” Pung Chhiv Kek told VOA Khmer. “There didn't seem to be a political or economic discussion. I think it was mainly to strengthen friendship.”
That friendship did grow, and China kept close to its five principles for the most part. But when it did stray, developments in China were to have a sweeping impact on Cambodia.
Under the Cultural Revolution, radical Marxists began spreading their ideology and support. They developed close ties with the Khmer Rouge. Chinese officials also supported Norodom Sihanouk's exiled government, following his overthrow in 1970.
Those relationships made current diplomatic ties hard at first.
Richardson writes that the ruling Cambodian People's Party looked to China as “the best source of aid and diplomatic resources” without conditions, but that “Beijing's history with Sihanouk, the [Khmer Rouge], and [Democratic Kampuchea] made forging this relationship difficult.”
Hun Sen at first was wary of China, Richardson writes, quoting a Chinese article. But Hun Sen was “also aware that China is big and strong, peaceful and cooperative, does not interfere, and can help Cambodia out of its poverty, so the past must be forgotten to win China's support.”
In the end, mistrust on both sides was put aside.
“Beijing may have had its hesitation about Hun Sen, but the reverse was not true...One Chinese official was even willing to overlook the CPP's past connection to Hanoi in praising the stalwart CPP members who had not left the country in the 1980s.”
Today, China has become a major donor to Cambodia, and diplomatic ties are as strong as ever.

News from VOANEWS

Thaksin Resignation Leads to Renewed Diplomatic Ties

2010-08-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

Former Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was appointed as personal advisor
to Prime Minister Hun Sen, in November 2009.

Thailand's ambassador to Cambodia was expected to arrive in Phnom Penh Tuesday night, marking renewed diplomatic relations between two countries that have been at odds with each other for months.
The return of Ambassador Prasart Prasartwinitchay will be followed by his counterpart's arrival in Bangkok Wednesday, in steps made possible by the resignation of exiled Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to Cambodia.
Thaksin's resignation, announced late Monday, removed a major sticking point for Bangkok, and Thai government spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Tuesday the arrival of their ambassador meant “good mutual cooperation and relationship between both sides.”
Cambodian Ambassador You Ay will arrive in Bangkok in “a sign of...normalization of the diplomatic relationship,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said Tuesday.
Both sides withdrew their ambassadors in late 2009, following the appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen. The diplomatic crisis came amid a prolonged military standoff over a disputed border area near Preah Vihear temple.

News from VOANEWS

Police clash with lakeside villagers

2010-08-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

          The face of defiance
           A protester stares down riot police near the home of Prime Minister Hun Sen in
                               Phnom Penh yesterday.The row was over Boeung Kak lake floodwaters.

.
Boeung Kak resident Soung Sophoan said the villagers were forced into an impromptu demonstration after Srak Chak commune authorities prevented a scheduled meeting at the nearby National Institute of Education. Police and villagers were involved in minor clashes as the protest moved towards the premier’s house near the Independence Monument.

“We planned to have a peaceful consultation at the National Institute of Education, but Srah Chak commune chief Chay Thirith banned it and told us to do it at the Red Cross Hospital,” he said. “But the hospital was closed, so we did the protest here.”

He said people were not protesting against anyone in particular, but highlighting the fact that they “need a solution from the government because people’s houses are being flooded higher and higher”.

Villagers have linked the rising waters to the filling of the lake for a controversial 133-hectare real estate development. Rights groups estimate more than 4,000 families will eventually make way for the project.

Photo by: Heng Chivoan

Residents from the Boeung Kak lakeside area protect a village representative from the grasp of local authorities during protests on Suramarit Boulevard yesterday.

In a statement yesterday, the Housing Rights Task Force slammed the disruption of the meeting, which it said had been intended as a forum to discuss residents’ demands that they not be forced out of their homes and receive adequate housing in return for relocation.

“HRTF calls for the authorities to investigate the incident as a violation of people’s rights to assembly, as well to respect people’s rights as enshrined in the Cambodian constitution,” the statement said.

Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the HRTF, said yesterday that the disruption of the meeting “was entirely unjustified”.

“The authorities need to respect human rights including the freedom to assembly,” he said.

When contacted yesterday, Chhay Thirith denied allegations that he had stopped the proposed meeting from being held. “I did not know about the problem because this morning I was at a drug conference,” he said.

Phnom Penh police chief Touch Naruth denied that police were deployed to forcibly remove lakeside residents from the park in front of Hun Sen’s home.

“Police were deployed to protect public order,” he said. “Before we resorted to violence, we requested that they move their protest to Wat Botum.”
He said that human rights groups should not make their accusations about the police action based on testimony from “bad people”.

News from PhnompenhPost

Hun Sen, Abhisit talks on the agenda

2010-08-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

THAI Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that he was ready to discuss border issues with Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Asia-Europe Meeting in Brussels in October.

The comments came after Thursday’s announcement by the Foreign Ministry that Hun Sen was willing to raise the border dispute in accordance with the suggestion of ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan.

“I’m ready to talk with Prime Minister Hun Sen concerning the Thai-Cambodian conflict together with the Preah Vihear temple issue at the ASEM,” Abhisit said. “It is not necessary to bring other organisations to deal with the Thai-Cambodian row since the two countries are well aware that they are neighbouring countries, and I believe both of us don’t want the problem to escalate.”

Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong reiterated yesterday that if Abhisit requested a meeting with Hun Sen during the October 4-5 summit, then it could proceed, but he said a meeting had not yet been confirmed.

Cambodia is still wondering why Thailand is afraid to put the border issue on the table multilaterally.

On Thursday, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya wrote to ASEAN chair Vietnam, saying that the lingering border dispute – which dates back to July 2008, when Preah Vihear temple was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site – could be solved by bilateral talks.

“I wish to assure you that Thailand remains committed as always to exercising utmost restraint,” Kasit said in the letter, which came after a similar letter from Hor Namhong calling for ASEAN mediation to prevent “large-scale armed conflict” over the border dispute.

He went on to “categorically reject” Hor Namhong’s allegations that Thailand had taken an aggressive stance over the border issue.

But Koy Kuong said that despite its stated commitment to bilateral negotiations, Bangkok had always found a way to delay talks.

“Cambodia is still wondering why Thailand is afraid to put the border issue on the table multilaterally,” he said. “Thailand repeatedly says [it wants] bilateral talks with Cambodia, but its willingness is nothing.”

News from PhnompenhPost

Anti-Corruption Unit Seeks To Reassure Investors

2010-08-23T22:38:00.000-07:00

The ministry works both domestically and internationally, and within the context of ASEAN, to create opportunities and
a good workingenvironment for producers and exporters.

The government's Anti-Corruption Unit is preparing a plan to help ensure businesses and investors are protected from corruption, a senior official said Monday.
The new plan will help businesses register with the Ministry of Commerce and receive business certificates and licenses, said Om Yienteng, head of the Anti-Corruption Unit, during the Cambodia-Korea Transparency International Symposium in Phnom Penh.
“For example,” he said, “The Ministry of Commerce lists a company. What documents does it need? How much does it cost? How long is the wait?”
The new plan will also include birth certificates for Cambodians and efforts to prevent officials from asking more money than is legally required, he said.
The Anti-Corruption Unit is also developing internal oversight for its own investigating officials to ensure they are maintaining proper relationships.
Om Yientang also said it was important that people accused of corruption are sent to court as a deterrent. “If someone dares to make corruption, that man cannot make corruption,” he said.
“I am convinced that Cambodia can achieve greater successes for fighting against corruption by reforming the system in the government ministries and institutions in the future,” Shin-Bom Lee, a former member of South Korea's National Assembly and now a member of the Blue Korea Foundation, said.
Savuth Bora, the head of DNL Global Services Co., Ltd, said that the Anti-Corruption Unit's plan would help investment in Cambodia by preventing the bribes many companies complain of making to government officials.
“The Anti-Corruption Unit can make a clear plan by limiting that all businessmen must pay $100 or $120 for their company license or company listing,” he said.
Van Luy, head of Eurotech Import Export Co., Ltd., said the plan will also help government revenue that is lost to bribes and illegal operations.
“If we issue a strong and clear law, it is very good for Cambodia,” she said. “All walks of people will not dare to violate the law.”

News from VOANEWS

2010-08-18T07:32:00.001-07:00

THE Thai government has delayed a parliamentary session to approve the latest round of border demarcation agreements with Cambodia, a move Cambodian officials said was part of a long-running strategy of putting off negotiations.

A report from Thai state media yesterday said a parliamentary vote to approve the three most recent sessions of Thailand and Cambodia’s Joint Border Committee, established under a 2000 Memorandum of Understanding, had been postponed because the legislature’s agenda was already full. Border demarcation talks through the JBC have been stalled since April of last year pending Thai parliament approval of the latest negotiations.

“This is not a surprise to me,” said senior minister Var Kimhong, Cambodia’s chief border negotiator. “I don’t really care about this matter anymore because I’ve learned that this is the habit of the Thai party.”

Cambodia called for assistance from the UN and ASEAN last week in reviving the stalled border negotiations with Thailand, with Prime Minister Hun Sen warning that the current stalemate could lead to “bloodshed”. Thai officials have said they are opposed to negotiations in a multilateral forum and prefer the bilateral JBC.

Tension has been high between the two countries since the conclusion earlier this month of a UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting at which Cambodian representatives submitted a management plan for Preah Vihear temple, inscribed as a World Heritage site in 2008. The management plan will be discussed at a meeting of the committee in Bahrain next year.

Thai officials who have supported further border negotiations have received criticism from the members of the ultranationalist People’s Alliance for Democracy, also known as the Yellow Shirts, which charges that the JBC meetings could lead to the “loss” of Thai territories along the border.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong said yesterday that if Thai officials were truly committed to bilateral talks, they would move more quickly to secure parliamentary approval of the JBC negotiations.

“Our patience with bilateral talks has ended, so we are seeking a multilateral way,” Koy Kuong said.

“Thailand insists on bilateral talks, but the documents have yet to be processed,” he said.

“They cannot use the JBC to play with Cambodia in this way.”

News from PhnomPenhPost

Cambodia Preps for Oil Agreement With Iran

2010-08-11T05:08:00.000-07:00

A Muslim woman carries her child at dusk in the holy city of Qom, Iran.

Cambodia is preparing a high-level delegation to visit Iran next week, where they expect to sign an agreement on petroleum cooperation, among others.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told VOA Khmer Friday the petroleum agreement would allow Iranian oil experts to provide technical assitance to Cambodia.
The delegation will be led by Foreign Minisgter Hor Namhong and will include Ho Vichit, vice chairman of the National Petroleum Authority, a ministry statement said.
Cambodia expects to see oil flowing from offshore blocs in 2012, Koy Kuong said, and Iran is one of the largest producers of oil in the world.
The visit will improve diplomatic relations between the two countries, as well as promoting trade, tourism and investment, he said.
The trip, scheduled for Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, could also mean positive developments for Cambodia's Muslim community, said Sman Teath, a Muslim and deputy director of the National Assembly's finance committee.
Cambodia has a population of nearly half a million Muslims, many of whom remain in poverty after devastating treatment at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.
Sos Mos Sin, head of the Cambodian-Muslim Student Association, said the community needs trade and investment opportunities as well as humanitarian assistance from Iran.
“We want Iranian companies to invest in Cambodia, boosting economic growth and development for poverty reduction,” he said.
There are so far no plans for Iranian businesses to come here, Koy Kuong said.
Cambodia has had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1992, but it communicates with the country through its embassy in Hanoi.
Mohsen Kohkan, head of the Iran-Cambodia Parliamentary Friendship Group, who visited Cambodia in June, asked Cambodia to establish an Embassy in Iran. The Iranian Assembly has been encouraging its government to appoint an ambassador to Cambodia.

News from VOA-NEWS