THE WORLD'S PEACE

Two New Songs Hail Virtue of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un

2012-01-21T22:32:00.001+07:00

SEOUL-North Korea’s propaganda machine has moved swiftly to inspire loyalty toward new leader Kim Jong Un by officially approving two new songs to be sung in factories and other venues. One song, “Footstep,”si a tribute to Kim Jong Un. The other is titled, “We Will Defend Feneral Kim Jong Un at the Risk of Our Lives.” The state-run Korean Central News Agency said Sunday that the songs were performed at a concert in Pyongyang attended by Kim Jong Un. Kim Jong Un’s father, the late Kim Jong II, also promoted “music politics” as a means to unite society and inculcate loyalty.

KCNA said Kim Jong Un also attended a new year’s concert with senior officials. Accounts to musical events constitute about half of all KCNA’s reports this year on Kim Jong Un’s activities. All songs in North Korea must be approved by the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Implicit in the lyrics is the message that the authorities want to get across, said Kim Seong-min, director of Free North Korea Radio, which is operated by North Korean defectors living in South Korea. A researcher in South Korea who defected from North Korea said songs serve as a major pillar to shore up the regime by urging people to unite. “When the government distributes new songs, everybody sings them together at workplaces to the accompaniment of propaganda officers’ accordions,” the researcher said. “They are easily memorized because people sing them repeatedly.” According to a source familiar with Japan-North Korea relations, Kim Jong Il was so fond of music that he once declared, “My first love was with music.” He viewed music as, a vital propaganda tool.

Obama Expected to Visit Cambodia, US Diplomat Says

2012-01-21T22:24:00.001+07:00

A US State Department official US President Barack Obama to visit the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh in November and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit in July to attend the Asian Ministerial meeting. The US Embassy, however, said that both visits have yet to be confirmed, and said the State Department official was expressing his “hope” that the high-level visits would take place. Joseph Yun US Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, met with Foreign Affairs Ministry Secretary of State Ouch Borith yesterday.

At a news conference later at the ministry, they briefly discussed the US president’s potential visit to Cambodia. “We expect to have of course, our secretary o state here in July, as well as our president for the [East Asia] Summit. So we have a really exciting year ahead,” Mr. Yun said. He said officials had met to discuss US-Cambodian bilateral relations, the US’ Lower Mekong Initiative donor program and upcoming regional meetings. “The goal of [the meeting] is how do we build our relationship this year in 2012,” Mr. Yun said, adding that officials did not discuss Cambodia’s Lon Nol-era debt of $274 million, which Cambodia wants the US to cancel. As Asean chair, Cambodia plays a leading role in regional meetings in 2012, as it will host the Asean Ministerial Meeting in July – during which foreign ministers from Asean and other nations will meet – as well as the annual Asean Summit in Phnom Penh in November. The East Asia Summit is held right after the Asean Summit and is also hosted by Cambodia as Asean chair. The US has been a member of the East Asia Summit since 2010 and last year Obama became the first US president to attend the summit. Speaking by telephone later, US Embassy spokesman Sean Mclntosh clarified that “both the visits of Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama have yet to be confirmed. “What I understand is that Deputy Assistant Secretary Yun was expressing his hope that the secretary of state and the president will visit.” At the news conference, Mr.Borith said Cambodia expected both visits to go ahead, adding that the meetings would mark a high point in Cambodia-US relations. “President Obama will be at the upcoming top Asean meeting in November in Cambodia. It shows that the relationship between the US and Cambodia is very good,” he said. “We will learn the date soon. This is a matter of security” concerns.

Remains Believed to Be Frenchman, Children

2012-01-21T22:20:00.001+07:00

CHBAR MON CITY, Kompong Speu province – Police on Saturday found the remains of five bodies thought to belong to a missing Frenchman and his four young children inside his car submerged in a pond next to their home in Rakar Thom commune. Frenchman Laurent Vallier, 42, and his four children – aged 2 to 9 – west missing about four months ago from their home, which was cordoned off as a crime scene yesterday.
Provincial and Interior Ministry level police yesterday swarmed around Vallier’s garden, conducting forensic tests on the bones, spraying the muddied SUV with a fireman’s hose and collecting evidence to determine if the family was murdered or if the deaths were due to suicide. The recovered bones belong to one adult and four children but have not yet been formally identified. Police said yesterday that they suspect the remains belong to Vallier and his family, said Chhay Sinarith, director of the Interior Ministry’s internal security department. He said police had also recovered and urn of ashes from inside the car that are believed to be the cremated remains of Vallier’s wife, who died two years ago. One of the children’s skulls was found in an open suitcase used to hold repair tools, said Mr. Sinarith. “It doesn’t mean they were murdered, “he said, adding that the skull might have fallen into the suitcase while the white 4x4 Nissan SUV was being dredged out of the pond where it was discovered. “It is too early to confirm the cause of death and we are waiting for experts to finish the investigation,” he said.

Prahok Production Expected to Quadruple; Prices Drop by Half

2012-01-04T15:19:00.001+07:00

Production of the pungent fermented fish paste Prahok is expected to quadruple this year as fisheries this season are reporting much higher annual catch numbers of the fish used in the paste then last year, officials said yesterday. Nao Thuok, general director of the Fisheries Administration, said that fishermen are expecting to catch up to 30,000 tons of Siamese mud carp, or trey riel, in the first of two annual fishing periods, up from just 7,000 tons last year. “The reason this year for the increased catch is because the government…cracked down on illegal fishing traps,” he said, adding that recent efforts to bolter fish reproduction in the Tonle Sap lake have also paid off. “The government was aided in releasing 137 tons of female fish and 4.6 million baby fish into the waterways surrounding the Tonle Sap,” he said.
Prahok, an integral part of the tradition Khmer diet, is made by setting the fish out to dry, rolling it with salt and packing it into jars, where it ferments over the course of a few weeks and eventually becomes a strong-flavored paste. Chan Bo, 4.6 million baby fish in Sen Sok district’s Samroang commune, said her fish catch has more than doubled this year, improving from 4,000 tons a week last year to 10,000 tons a week currently. “We are very happy this season because we have improved our fish catch to sell to farmers, and because there is more, the price is cheaper and more affordable,” she said.

She also said that the price at which fish is being sold has significantly dropped compared to last year, from between 15,000 and 20,000 riel per kg last year to between 700 and 800 riel per kg this year. Minh Bunly, the Tonle Sap lake program coordinator at the local NGO Fisheries Action Coalition Team, said that although the recent folds have adversely affected some rural businesses, it has had the opposite effect on the fishing industry. “According to information we received from fishermen around the Tonle Sap, there has been an increase of five to 10 times the amount of fish caught because of the floods,” he said, adding that the high water levels made it easier for the fish to breed. The first of the trey riel fishing periods will expire on Sunday, while the second is set to occur from Jan 30 to Feb 7.

Tourist Arrivals Rise to 2.5M in First 11 Months

2012-01-02T08:41:00.001+07:00

Tourist arrivals to Cambodia increased by 14 percent to 2.5 million during the first 11 months of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Tourism obtained yesterday. The data show that arrivals by air went up by 51 percent during this period, while visitors arriving by land or boat had increased by 49 percent. Kong Sopheareak, director of the Tourism Ministry’s statistics department, said the country will definitely achieve its goal of seeing 2.8 million visitors by the end of the year, especially since Cambodia Angkor Air began regularly scheduled flights between Sihanoukville and Siem Reap earlier this month. “The increase of flight connecting Siem Reap and Sihanoukville will prolong the stay of international tourists,” said Mr. Sopheareak, adding that the government aims to get 3.1 million international tourists in 2012.

Hun Sen Names Overpass Bridge After January 7

2012-01-02T08:30:00.004+07:00

Prime Minister Hun Sen announced yesterday that Phnom Penh’s second overpass, set to open Jan 6, would be named the January 7^th Bridge, honoring the day in 1979 when Vietnamese forces stormed the capital and ousted the Khmer Rouge regime. Speaking at a university graduation ceremony, the prime minister declared that the new four lane overpass, which will arch over the intersection of Russian Federation and Kampuchea Krom boulevards, would be named the Prampima Makara, or January 7th, bridge to commemorate how far the country had come since 1979.
“Thirty-three years ago, when [people] returned to the city wearing black shirts and black pants and carrying kids, [they were] suffering so much and almost died, and 33 years later, [the city] has two overpasses that can allow entrance from the east and west,” the prime minister said. Work on the $8.7 million overpass, built by the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation (OCIC), was completed several days ago, OCIC project manager TouchSamnang said. “We are just now finished the garden under the bridge,” said Mr. Samnang, whose company is also behind the construction of the city’s third overpass on Monireth Boulevard in Meanchey district.

Japan Loans $92 to Expand Water Services in siem Reap City

2011-12-28T20:48:00.000+07:00

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday it is preparing to make a $92 million concessional loan to Cambodia for expanding water services in Siem Reap city by constructing a new treatment plant. Japanese Embassy First Secretary Shinichi Tamamitsu said the new plant is expected to be completed in 2018 and would produce 60,000 cubic meters of clean water per day from the Tonle Sap lake.

“This is the first facility which takes water from the Tonle Sap lake,” Mr. Tamamitsu said, adding that the current water supply to Siem Reap from underground wells was not enough to meet the city’s growing population. Sorm Sothea, director of Siem Reap Provincial Water Authority, said that in addition to the city’s current water supply of 9,000 cubic meters per day, another 17,000 cubic meters of water was needed to meet demand. “But from 2019 to 2030, we’ll need 60,000[cubic meters of water per day],” Mr. Sothea said. He added that the increasing numbers of tourists visiting Siem Reap city was contributing to the water shortage and had resulted in the government’s requesting a loan from the official aid arm of the Japanese government. “Local people and tourism increase, so the provincial water authority cannot provide enough water,” he said. According to statistics from the Ministry of Tourism, 647,028 tourists flew into Siem Reap in the first 10 months of the year, compared to 557, 145 for the same period last year. Clean running water in Siem Reap city is currently reaching 40,000 families, up from 25,000 families five years ago, according to Siem Reap city governor Tep Bun Chhay, Construction on the new treatment plant is due to start in 2013.

Number of Missing in Philippines Floods Soars to 1,000

2011-12-28T20:38:00.001+07:00

MANILA – The Philippines disaster agency said on Friday more than 1,000people were missing from a storm and flash floods last week, sharply raising the number of victims unaccounted for as the true extent of the disaster became known. Typhoon Washi and the flash floods it caused on the southern island of Mindanao are known to have killed 1,080 people, the national disaster agency said. The agency said on Thursday dozens of people were missing but on Friday it revised that figure to more than 1,000, saying more complete data had come in and people were reporting the disappearance of relatives.
Most of the casualties were in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, where hundreds of thousands of people were displaced. Many of them are sheltering in schools, churches, gymnasiums and an army base. Benito Ramos, head of the national disaster agency, said authorities had expanded the search in light of the new tally of missing and because some bodies had been found on shores nearly 100 km from the disaster area. “We’ve deployed helicopters to help navy ships scour the seas further away,” Ramos said, adding that the number of missing was put at 1,079, million to highways, bridges, schools and other infrastructure, the agency said. The agriculture department estimated $7.1 million worth of crops, including 774 tons of unmilled rice and 8,544 tons of corn were destroyed. Ramos said the situation for survivors was slowly getting back to normal though the displaced needed sustained help. Two navy ships and aircraft from the main island of Luzon had been deployed to help in the search and relief operation, he said. “We’re not taking any Christmas break,” Ramos said. Some families have moved home and are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. “We only need something on top of our heads this Christmas,” villager Teresita Bragas told a television station, as she and some neighbors tried to rebuild amid mounds of logs and debris in their coastal village. Aid agencies have appealed for $28.6 million aid to ease overcrowding at shelter areas.

More Japanese Firms Look to New Investments in Cambodia

2011-12-27T10:39:00.001+07:00

Low labor costs, support from the Cambodia government influence Japanese businesses

PHNOM PENH – More Japanese firms are looking to Cambodia this year either to invest or to learn about the investment environment in the country, participants in an economic forum were told Friday. Sok Chenda, secretary general of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, told the forum in Phnom Penh for Japanese investors that the government is improving as quickly as possible the investment environment, human resources and infrastructure.
More than 65 Japanese representing various institutions and companies attended the meeting. Yoshihisa Kainuma, president of Minebea Co, said some challenges remain in Cambodia, such as incomplete infrastructure and the high cost of electricity, but his company decided to invest here because of low labor costs, strong support from the government and a location close to Thailand where his company had already. Statistics provided by the council showed that in the first 10 months this year, 16 Japanese companies invested $67.6 million in Cambodia, up sharply from only six companies that invested $35.3 million in all of last year. In addition, nine more Japanese companies have applied in the first 10 months of this year to make investments worth another $53 million, according to the statistics. The investments cover a variety of industrial sectors, including shoemaking, garments, motorcycles and packaging, as well as beach and island development. Japanese investments in Cambodia since 1994 through October this year totaled $250.6 million. Since 1994 through November, China has invested $8.8 billion, South Korea $4 billion and Malaysia $2.6 billion.

After Alleged Massacre, Observers Enter Syria

2011-12-27T10:36:00.001+07:00

BEIRUT – Arab League officials arrived in Syria yesterday to prepare for monitors overseeing an Arab peace plan, after activists said President Bashar al-Assad’s forces carried out the deadliest assault in their nine-month crackdown on protests. The Syrian Observatory for Human Right said Syrian forces killed 111 civilians and activists on Tuesday when Assad’s forces surrounded them in the hills of Idlib province and unleashed two hours of bombardment and heavy gunfire.
France branded the killings an “unprecedented massacre,” and the US said Syrian authorities had “flagrantly violated their commitment to end violence.” Another 100 army deserters were either wounded or killed, making it the “bloodiest day of the Syrian revolution.” the Britishbased Observatory’s director, Rami Abdulrahman, said. Events in Syria are hard to verify because authorities, who say they are battling terrorists who have killed more than 1,100 soldiers and police, have banned most independent reporting. Tuesday’s bloodshed brought the death toll reported by activists in the last 48 hours to more than 200. The main opposition Syrian National Council said “gruesome murders” were carried out – including the beheading of a local imam – and demanded international action to protect civilians. The escalating death toll in nine months of popular unrest has raised the specter of civil war in Syria, with Assad, 46, still trying to stamp out protests with troops and tanks despite international sanctions.

Hun Sen sets Out Northeast Development Plans

2011-12-22T21:08:00.003+07:00

Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday outlined the government’s plans to spur economic growth in the northeast of the country through implementing a wide range of projects in sectors such as agriculture and the extractive industries. Rights workers have warned that little information on the plans for the area has actually reached local communities and that they could jeopardize the environment and ethnic minorities in the area if not handled properly. “No later than 2020, Cambodia will create a new fourth economic area in the northeast region, which will cover Ratankkiri, Mondolkiri, Stung Treng, Kratie and Preah Vihaear province,” said Mr.

Hun Sen during an inauguration ceremony of the NGO SOS Children’s Villages International in Ratanakkiri province’s Banlung city. “This zone will be for the agricultural sector and mineral development, yet,” he added. Mr. Hun Sen also said that National Road 78 would be completed by 2012. The road has been funded with the help of Vietnam at a cost of $25.6 million and will link Banlung city to the Vietnamese border. There is also a road being planned for construction between Ratanakkiri province’s Lumphat district and Mondolkiri province’s Sen Monorom district, Mr. Hun Sen said. The plans Mr. Hun Sen talked about yesterday are part of a large scale plan agreed on in 2004 by Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The master plan for the development of the so-called “triangle area,” which includes Kratie, Stung Treng, Mondolkiri and Ratanakkiri provinces, is vast and includes trade facilitation, tourism, security, health, education, infrastructure, energy and natural resources – by no means an exhaustive list.

North Korea’s Enigmatic Strongman Dies

2011-12-21T20:59:00.001+07:00

SEOUL- North Korean leader Kim Jong II, the mercurial strongman who styled himself as a “Dear Leader” while ruling over an impoverished police state, died at 69, according to North Korean state media. Kim was believed to have suffered from multiple chronic illnesses, but his death – reportedly from a heart attack while traveling by train on Saturday morning – was sudden. He had been grooming a son to succeed him and his death creates uncertainty about the future direction of a nation with few international friends but a nuclear weapons capability. His foreign-educated son, Kim Jong Un, who is in his 20s and is being primed to be the next leader, is largely unknown outside North Korea, to the point that even his exact age is debated. The elder Kim had raised his son’s profile and responsibilities over the past 18 months, but North Korea’s murky inner workings make it uncertain whether that succession will take. For nearly two decades, Kim both defied and baffled international leaders with his isolated regime’s nuclear ambition inflammatory rhetoric and surprise attacks on South Korea. Kim, who came to power in 1994 upon the death of his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, led one of the world’s most enduring dictatorships, a repressive regime that has long defied predictions of its demise.

$20M Worth of Rosewood Seized in Single District

2011-12-21T20:55:00.001+07:00

Authorities in Kompong Thom’s Stong district have confiscated 109 cubic meters of high-quality rosewood worth an estimated $20 million from illegal traders since the beginning of the year, officials said yesterday. According to Tong Yi, chief of the district Forestry Administration, forestry officials have seized a total of 22, 777 assorted pieces of rosewood from 107 vehicles that include Cadillac Escalades, Toyota Land Cruisers, Land Rovers and military vehicles since January All of the confiscated goods are currently being stored inside a ware house at an unknown location in Kompong Thom province, and the government now plans to conduct a bidding process to sell the luxury timber with supervision from the Ministry of Finance.

“We have made a request to the Ministry of Finance to auction the rosewood with expectation that it is worth $20 million,” Mr. Yi said, adding that the money would be paid into the national treasury. This is our plan, as the price of rosewood is soaring,” he said. The rosewood that has been confiscated in Strong district is for one of three checkpoints that police have set up across Kompong Thom province to stop vehicles suspected of illegally transporting the luxury timber to Vietnam. Where much of it is thought to continue on its journey into China. The figures show just how much money the figures show just how much money there is to be made in the illegal logging of rosewood, most of which is felled by Cambodian loggers in Thailand. This year, at least 15 Cambodians have died after being shot by Thai soldiers who patrol Cambodia’s northwest border for illegal loggers. With much of the woodland in Cambodia having already been deforested, loggers are now venturing further afield in search of the valuable commodity, which has seen dramatic price hikes recently due to its increasing scarcity. But authorities have struggled to clamp down on the problem due to strong connections that have been forged between the military and illegal loggers.

Floods in Philippines Leave Hundreds Dead

2011-12-20T08:48:00.001+07:00

CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Rescuers searched for more than 800 people missing in the southern Philippines yesterday after flash floods and landslides swept houses into rivers and out to sea, killing more than 650 people in areas ill prepared to cope with storms, Cagayan de Oro and nearby lligan cities on Mindanao island were worst hit when Typhoon Washi slammed ashore while people slept late on Friday and early Saturday, sending torrents of water and mud through villages and stripping mountainsides bare.

The Philippine National Red Cross said 652 people were killed in eight provinces in the southern Mindanao region, with more than 800 missing. “Our office was swamped with hundreds of requests to help find their missing parents, children and relatives,” Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the PNRC, told reporters. “We’re helping coordinate the search with local government, army, police and even other aid agencies.” Floods washed away entire houses with families inside in dozens of coastal villages in Cagayan de Oro and lligan. “This is the first time this has happened in our city,” said Vicente Emano, mayor of Cagayan de Oro. He said officials in the area did not receive adequate warning before the typhoon struck. Te state disaster agency said adequate warnings had been given to officials and residents three days before the typhoon made landfall on Friday. Disaster and health officials were struggling to deal with the scores of bodies that have been recovered. Some were stacked one on top of each other in understaffed mortuaries that were unable to cope with the numbers of dead.

Three Shot, Injured While Logging on Thai Border

2011-12-17T22:19:00.003+07:00

Three Cambodians were injured by gunfire and six are missing following two incidents on Tuesday on the Thai-Cambodian frontier involving Thai border forces and illegal loggers hunting for rosewood, police officials and human rights workers said yesterday. Two men were shot and injured inside Thai territory near the Cambodian villager of Tumnop Akphivit village, O’Svay commune in Oddar Meanchey province’s Trapaing Prasat district, said Toch Ra, Chief of the border liaison office at the Choam-Sa Ngam border checkpoint.
Mr. Ra said that it was Thai soldiers who reported the shooting to Cambodian border police, claiming that the two Cambodian loggers were injured in the shooting but escaped with their lives. “We received a report from villagers that two men are missing in the forest. I sent my forces to find information,” Mr. Ra said, adding. “But, in fact, they shot them.” In a separate shooting on Tuesday, also in Oddar Meanchey, one Cambodian logger was injured and six others fled into the forest after Thai troops strafed the group with bullets when they were found hunting for rosewood, said Ly Lada, a provincial military police colonel. Thai border forces have also reported that two of their forestry officials are missing in the area, said Col. Lada. Since Prime Minister Hun Sen warned government and military officials on Tuesday to stop their involvement in illegal logging inside the Thai border and their facilitation of the trade in luxury rosewood from border areas, military sources in Oddar Meanchey province have become silent, a human rights worker said yesterday. “They have shut down all news involved in rosewood loggers and shootings by Thai soldiers,” said Srey Naren, a monitor for local rights group Adhoc in Oddar Meanchey. So far this year, 15 Cambodians have been killed in Thai territory while hunting for rosewood. Nine Cambodians were killed on the border in 2010.

Government Prohibits Alcohol Brands From Offering Prizes

2011-12-15T18:59:00.001+07:00

Information Minister Khieu Kanharith ordered all media outlets to ban advertisements that offer prizes for buying alcohol, according to a statement from the Ministry of Information obtained yesterday. The statement, released Friday, said newspapers, television and radio stations, and magazines have until Jan 9 to implement the order. “[I]f the media agencies do not implement this order, the Information Ministry will ban the alcohol advertisements…and withdraw the license of the products,” the statement said. Alcohol brands often try to entice consumers by organizing lotteries that promise money or other prizes, such as expensive cars or home appliances.
The statement said that all alcohol advertisements must also include a warning that advises people not to drink and drive. Prime Minister Hun Sen last month rescinded the Phnom Penh municipality’s complete ban on wine and spirits advertising, but said that ads for all alcoholic beverages must include a warning not to drink and drive. “Put the sign that says, ‘If drunk, do not drive’ or ‘Drive without drinking alcohol’ below the product’s logo,” said the Information Ministry statement, which added that the lure of prizes can lead to young people binge-drinking, thus causing more traffic accidents. sam Chhaya, deputy director general of the Cambodia Television Network, said he would stop alcohol product advertisements for prizes when he receives the order from the Information Ministry. “We would respect the Information Ministry’s order to stop showing the alcohol advertisements [for prizes] on TV,” said Mr. Chhaya, adding that he had not received the order yet. Praising the announcement, Mam Sonando, Behive radio station director, said that his station already does not accept advertising from alcohol and cigarette companies. According to the Ministry of Public Work and Transport’s road and transport department, road fatalities increased by 12 percent this year. As of this week, there have been 1,731 road-related deaths compared to 1,545in all of 2010. The transport department said that 12 to 13 percent of all accidents were caused by drivers operating vehicles under the influence of alcohol.

Malaysian Body Opens First File on Cambodian Deaths

2011-12-14T19:12:00.003+07:00

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has for the first time agreed to open an inquiry into the death of a Cambodian maid, opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua said yesterday, calling the investigation a “positive sign.” Ms Sochua said that while she had in the past sent several letters to the Human Rights Commission asking them to investigate some of the nine maid deaths that have reportedly occurred this year, this was the first time that the commission had agreed to launch an investigation. “We have come a long way,” Ms. Sochua said, adding that she would now go back to her previous letters and request that the Commission open files on “ two cases of so-called suicide” of Cambodian maids.
The case the commission has agreed to investigate concerns 18-year-old Pov Nich, who died on Oct 22 from what Human Manpower – the Cambodian recruitment agency that had sent her to Malaysia just two months before – described as an overdose of medication. In a letter to Ms. Sochua, Ameer Hamzah, principle assistant secretary of the Human Rights Commission’s complaints and inquiries working group, confirmed that an investigation into Ms. Nich’s death would be carried out. “I wish to inform you that a file has been opened and an officer, Mr Shahizad [Sulaiman], has been assigned to take this case,” the letter read. In October, Ms. Sochua returned from a trip to Kuala Lumpur saying that Cambodian Embassy officials there had informed her that a total of nine Cambodian maids had died in Malaysia so far this year – at least five deaths more than previously reported. Yesterday, Ms. Sochuasaid she had sent a letter to Prime Minister Hun Sen asking for a Cambodian investigation into all these cases, as the details surrounding the deaths of the maids remained unknown. Following the spate of scandals surrounding abuse of maids in Malaysia, and the illegal activities of the recruitment agencies that send them there, Prime Minister Hun Sen in October ordered a ban on the sending of maids to the country.

RCAF General Tortured by Family, Police Say

2011-12-14T08:21:00.004+07:00

An RCAF one-star general was allegedly confined to a small room in his Tuol Kok district house for nearly three months by his wife and three sons, who systematically beat and tortured him in order to extort $80,000 in cash, police and court officials said yesterday. Ngin Chantreatevy, 50, and the couple’s three sons, Panh Shanea, 24, Panh Dararith, 23, and Panh An An, 19, were arrested on Saturday after serious crime police at the Interior Ministry raided the family’s rented home in Depot II commune and discovered Brigadier General Noun Pak, 52, locked in a room with wounds and burn marks coverings his body and face. “They tortured the victim Noun Pak very cruelly, tying the victim with ties, chains or karmas, then beating him with wooden sticks as thick as a wrist and metal wrenches, cutting him with big knives and pouring boiling water on his body,” said Lor Sokha, deputy serious crimes bureau police chief at the Interior Ministry’s penal department.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged Ms. Chantreatevy yesterday with torture and cruelty, while the three sons were charged with being accomplices to torture and cruelty, according to court clerk Kim Chheng Bun. According to a Dec 9 police report, Brig. Gen. Pak’s mother, Doeng Soth, told police that in mid-September her son had come to visit her in Ratanakkiri province covered in bruises and wounds and told her that his wife was beating him, locking him up and feeding him just one small dish of food ever day. But soon afterward, Ms. Chantreatevy followed her husband to Ratanakkiri and convinced him to return home, promising that she would stop being violent toward him, the police report said. Starting in late November, Ms. Soth received a series of phone calls from her son asking for $80,000 in cash in order to stop his conflicts with his wife. He told his mother that if he didn’t get the money, “My wife will hurt me until I die.” According to the report, Brig. Gen. Pak’s three sons told police after their arrest that their mother was displeased with their father because he had too many debts. After he ran away to Ratanakkiri in September, Ms. Chantreatevy confined their father to a room in their house and began to torture him, they said. The three sons insisted that they did not participate in the torture, but just guarded their father so he could not run away. Brig. Gen. Pak, who is currently an adviser to RACF, told police he had been married to Ms. Chantreatevy since 2986 and they had four children together, but after he fell into debt and was forced to pawn his land title, she locked him up and began torturing him three times a day. RCAF Commander-in-Chief Pol Saroeun declined all question to Brig. Gen. Pak, who could not be reached.

Police Officer Questioned Over Suspects’ Escape

2011-12-11T10:51:00.001+07:00

Three suspected drug dealers who escaped a holding cell at a Phnom Penh police station on Tuesday night are still at large, while the police officer on duty at the time of their escape remained under questioning, deputy municipal police chief Pen Roth said yesterday. “Although a team of municipal anti-drug police have not yet rearrested the three men, we are working hard to catch them and continuous to investigate how they managed to cut through the bars of their cell,” Mr. Roth said. Seng Vannak, 35; Kom Phearin, 27; and Long Pitu, 30, were arrested on Saturday in possession of nine bags of methamphetamines. On Tuesday, Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged the men with drug dealing and sent them back to their holding cell with the intention if transferring them to Prey Sar Prison the following day. Following the escape, the municipal anti-drug police officer on duty, Chet Khemara, was detained for questioning, but it is not clear if he helped facilitate the men’s escape, Mr. Roth said. Mr. Khemara claimed during questioning that he had stepped away from his post to take a bath when the men escaped, a police source said.

Afghan Worshippers Killed In Sectarian Attack in Kabul

2011-12-11T10:32:00.001+07:00

KABUL – At least 14 people have been killed when a suicide bomber attacked a packed religious shrine in Kabul on one of the most important days in the Shiite religious calendar. Witnesses said the bomber carried a backpack full of explosives into the crowd of worshippers outside the Abul Fazl shrine before detonating the device yesterday. The shrine was packed with Shiite worshippers who had gathered for Ashura, the Shiite Muslim holiday marking the death of Hussein ibnAli, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad. Kabul police said 48 people had died in the attack. A police officer at the festival said hundreds of pilgrims were standing shoulder to shoulder before the blast. One witness, Rohullah, 21, who saw the explosion from a nearby rooftop, said it had sent bodies and limbs flying into the air. A spokesman for the Health Ministry said 14 people, including two women and a child, had been killed and 105 others wounded. Mustafa, a shopkeeper who witnessed the blast, said he and his mother were delivering food to the worshipper when the bomb went off. “It was very loud. My ears went deaf, and I was blown three meters,” said Mustafa, who uses only one name. “There was smoke and red blood on the floor of the shrine. There were people lying everywhere.” Stunned and tearful locals milled around the scene of the attack as loudspeakers still played recorded verses of the Quran. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what is believed to be the worst sectarian attack in Afghanistan’s recent history. Although such attacks have become commonplace in neighboring Pakistan and parts of the Middle East such as Iraq, they have not occurred in Afghanistan. Mohammad Bakir Shaikzada, the top Shiite cleric in Kabul, said he could not remember a similar attack having taken place.

CTN to Reduce Live Coverage of KR Tribunal

2011-12-08T12:19:00.001+07:00

Station does not have enough time to broadcast ECCC live, director says

National television station station CTN is reducing its live coverage of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the network said yesterday. Since the ECCC started hearing cases in 2009, CTN has run live broadcasts from the court. Sam Chhaya. Deputy Director General of CTN would not say when th3e live broadcast reduction would start or by how much it would be reduced. “We will not do live ECCC broadcasts all the time due to other programs increasing a lot ... We received a lot of advertising and programs. We do not have enough time for live broadcasts on the trial all the time,” Mr. Chhaya said. “We will still go live on parts of the trial that are important,” he said. Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said that CTN has the right to reduce its live coverage of the court, but the UN and the ECCC should ensure that the tribunal is somehow televised at all times. “It is important for villagers to hear and see the trial directly by the TV,” he said. “Villagers that are the victims have been waiting to hear the trial for 30 years, and a new generation has to learn from the experience of real history,” Mr. Chhang added, noting that the current proceedings-in which three senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime are on trial are “the most important.” ECCC spokesman Neth Pheaktra said that the tribunal is thankful for CTN’s coverage and that its decision to reduce coverage will have minimal effect. “Even if there is no live coverage from the tribunal, we believe that thousands of villagers who come to hear the trial will spread the process of the trial to other villagers,” he said. “TV stations, radio and other media will run brief spots on the trial that will be seen by other villagers,” he added.

Volcano Erupts in Eastern Indonesia; Thousands Flee

2011-12-08T12:04:00.002+07:00

JAKARTA – Mount Gamalama erupted to spew lava and ash on Ternate in eastern Indonesia, prompting thousands of residents to flee the volcano on one of the former Spice Islands. There were no immediate reports of casualties after the 1,715-meter-high volcano first erupted late Sunday. Residents grabbed warm clothing before fleeing their house, with many taking refuge at the local governor’s house. “We advised residents to use masks and the local authority to close the airport until everything is normalized,” said Surona, head of Indonesia’s Center of Vulcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation. He said many residents were returning to their homes, although authorities were keeping the volcano at the second-highest level of alert. The Sultan Babullah airport in the provincial capital of Ternate was closed yesterday, said Pujobroto, corporate secretary at PT Garuda Indonesia, which flies twice a day to the city in the Molucca chain of islands. The volcano has clove groves on its foothills, one of the spices that led the Portugese and Dutch to settle there several centuries ago, and Ternate city is the business center for an island group now becoming known for nickel mining. Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most populous country, is on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is frequently prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis and floods.

Boat Carrying Aid for Flood Victims Sinks

2011-12-08T12:01:00.001+07:00

A boat carrying more than 10 tons of milled rice and other food aid for about 450 families affected by flooding sank on the Tonle Sap river in Kongpong Chhnang province Thursday, Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) officials said yesterday. The CRC boat that sank, which was carrying food for families in Cholkiri district’s Cholsa commune, including instant noodles and cans of sardines, was lost in the river or was damaged, said Prak Sophorn, the provincial Red Cross director. Another 5 tons of rice were saved from the water. The boat was one of four hired by the CRC from local villagers to deliver rice and other food to nearly 1,400 families in Cholkiri district, Mr. Sophorn said, and was a mere 2 km from its destination when it was scuttled by an unattended leak. The boat owner, who could not be identified by provincial authorities, reportedly offered to sell the damaged rice as feed for livestock to repay the CRC, Mr. Sophorn said. He added that while the boat owner is technically responsible for the lost ask him to pay for the damaged food. About 230,000 hectares of rice paddy were destroyed during the floods that have inundated large parts of the country over the past few months, and 250 people – at least half of them children – have died. The CRC, working on behalf to the government, and NGOs like Oxfam and Caritas have delivered about 10,750 tons of rice to more than 430,000 families whose livelihoods were ravaged, said Keo Vy, cabinet chief for the National Committee for Disaster Management.

Somali Pirates Abandon Ship, Hold Four S. Korean Hostages

2011-12-02T22:46:00.000+07:00

SENGAPORE- Somali pirates released a chemical tanker owned by Singapore shipping company Glory Ship Management, but broke an agreement to release all the crew, keeping four South Korean seamen including the captain captive, the company said yesterday. The crew comprised 13 Indonesians, five Chinese nationals and three crew from Burma in addition to the South Koreans. The pirates have called for the release of five other Somali pirates captured in a South Korean naval operation earlier this year. “MT Gemini,” the 29,871-ton chemical tanker, was carrying crude palm oil from Indonesia when it was hijacked 215 days ago off the East African coast, the company said in a statement. “The pirates on Nov. 30 released 21 of the 25 crew on board but took four South Korean seamen, including the captain, ashore at the last moment despite earlier promises to release the entire all man crew,” Glory said. “We are relieved that 21 of the crew have been released and are in good health ...In the meantime, we are expending all efforts to secure the release of the four South Koreans still held as hostage.”

Hun Sen Annuls Results of bids for Fishing Lots

2011-12-02T22:43:00.001+07:00

After discovering that government officials had fixed a bidding process for companies interested in operating fishing lots on the Mekong River, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Friday annulled the results of the bidding and rescheduled it for next year. Speaking at a plenary session at the Council of Ministers, Mr Hun Sen said that next year’s bidding process would now be monitored by the Anti-Corruption Unit to make sure that only the most competitive companies win the licenses to operate lucrative fish breeding lots. “Prime Minister Hun Sen has decided to cancel the results to the bidding for seven fishing lots located in Kompong Cham, Prey Veng and Takeo provinces organized by the Agriculture Ministry,” the Council of Ministers said in a statement. Earlier this month, Mr Hun Sen ordered Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun to explain the irregularities that had taken place during the bidding process. The bid scandal was first highlighted in a report given to the prime minister by Water Resource Minister Lim Kean Hor, which detailed how government officials had fixed the process to ensure certain companies won bids. According to the report, one firm won a fishing lot in Kompong Cham province with a 315 million riel or about $79,000, bid for the contract, despite another firm having offered a higher bid of 330 million riel, or about $81,000. Fishery experts also said that prior to the bidding process’s starting, only a small number of firms had been informed about the opportunity to apply for a license. “There was no transparency for the bidding for fishing lots,” Said Om Savath, executive director of the Fisheries Action Coalition Team, an NGO that supports local fisheries. He added that the recent bidding for licenses had been carried out behind closed doors and with no public consultation. Sam Nov, deputy director of the Fisheries Administration, declined to comment on the bid-rigging.