Cambodian Voters in US Weigh Benefits of Presidential Candidates

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney campaign buttons are displayed ahead of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Aug. 26, 2012.
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

31 August 2012

WASHINGTON DC - Cambodian-American voters say that as the US presidential election approaches, they are most interested in a president that will help them with community issues here and political issues back in Cambodia.

Presidential candidates Barrack Obama, a Democrat, and Mitt Romney, a Republican, are in a tightly contested race for the White House, with both sides campaigning hard before the Nov. 4 election.

Schanley Kuch, a Cambodian-American from Maryland, told VOA Khmer he will vote for a candidate who can better the living standards of Americans, but will also espouse the principles of human rights and democracy that will help Cambodians back home.

“For the Cambodian people, in my view, it’s a necessary obligation to decide whether we choose economic growth in the US or think about our homeland, which is under the restoration of human rights, freedom and democracy, which needs the support of a powerful country.”

Kuong Khun, who is also from Lynne, MA, told VOA Khmer he and his family members will vote “as Americans.” He said he has a responsibility to vote for a president who will well serve the United States. But he also wants a president who “thinks about Asia, not just Cambodians, but minorities who live around the globe.”

He is undecided, he said, but will make up his mind a few weeks before Election Day.

Issues that affect Cambodians in America are similar to those the rest of the country is grappling with: economic growth, unemployment, immigration, health care and US foreign policy.

Obama is running on an incumbent platform whose basic message is that these things have improved since he came into office in 2008. Romney is challenging that, saying things have gotten worse under the current president.

Yap Kim Tung, who lives in Virginia, said he will vote for a leader that can develop the country. But he said the Cambodian-American vote will be split between the two candidates. Democratic supporters are those who lean more toward the improvement of their circumstances in the US, he said, while Republican supporters tend to be more concerned with what is happening in Cambodia.

A third group of Cambodians in America are those living in the States without citizenship, foregoing their right to vote.

Sara Pol-Lim, director of the United Cambodian Community, in Long Beach, Calif., where a majority of Cambodians live, said her organization helps some 5,000 Cambodians become citizens per year. Increasingly, Cambodian-Americans are learning the importance of political and community involvement, she said.

This year may be the best voter-turnout for Cambodian-Americans, because Los Angeles Country has begun printing election instructions and other material in Khmer, she said.

Hem Sinuon, a political advocate in Washington state, urged Cambodian-Americans to take advantage of their right to vote. Those who don’t get involved in politics, she said, are not exercising their rights to the fullest.

UN Envoy Says Political Solution Must Be Found for Opposition

In a statement Tuesday, the envoy, Surya Subedi, says a political solution should be found to enable Sam Rainsy to “play a full role” in the election
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer

31 August 2012

WASHINGTON DC - The UN’s special envoy for human rights is calling for a political solution that would allow the return of opposition leader Sam Rainsy ahead of national elections in July 2013.

In a statement Tuesday, the envoy, Surya Subedi, says a political solution should be found to enable Sam Rainsy to “play a full role” in the election. He also said Cambodian elections need the trust of the Cambodian people or the country risks a return to its violent past.

The statement was released alongside his most recent report to the UN on Cambodia’s human rights environment, following a visit earlier this year.

Sam Rainsy remains in exile, facing 10 years in prison sentences he says are politically motivated. He was recently named the head of a new opposition, the Cambodian National Rescue Party.

Subedi said in his statement the opposition must be given a fair chance to compete. That means the return of Sam Rainsy and the reform of a flawed voter administration, he said.

“If the electoral process is unable to command the trust and confidence of the electorate, the very foundation of the Cambodian political and constitutional architecture embodied in the Paris Peace Agreements will be shaken and the country may run the risk of a return to violence,” he said.

He gave 17 recommendations for election reform in order for next year’s polls to meet international standards. Those include reforming the National Election Committee, which is facing criticism it is politically biased toward the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.

National and local election committees need to be better balanced to reflect members of opposition and minority parties, Subedi said.

“And mechanisms must be established outside the NEC in order to resolve election-related disputes properly,” he said. “All major political parties should have fair and equal access to the mass media to convey their messages to the electorate.”

Government spokesman Phay Siphan said the current election body already reflects “the will of the people.” “No one has the right to command or pressure Cambodia at all, because Cambodia has sovereign and independent status,” he said.

He said the return of Sam Rainsy is a judicial issue, not a political one. “It’s a separate problem that’s under the authority of the courts,” he said.

Cambodian law makes those convicted of serious crimes ineligible to run for office. Sam Rainsy’s supporters say he was convicted of crimes related to racial incitement by a court biased toward the ruling party.

Election observers have said Cambodia needs to find a way to have a legitimate opposition contest the 2013 elections if they are to be considered legitimate.

Cambodians abroad should have right to vote: UN

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy voting

Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Bridget Di Certo
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodian citizens living abroad should be entitled to vote in national elections, UN special rapporteur Surya Subedi emphasised in his 2012 report on electoral reform.

Allowing Cambodian citizens abroad to vote, “at least in the countries where it has diplomatic and/or consular representation”, was one of 18 recommendations Subedi made on Monday

The sentiment was echoed by election monitor Comfrel’s director Koul Panha yesterday.

“Cambodians living abroad contribute in a big way to the economy in Cambodia and they should be able to be connected to Cambodian politics and encouraged to vote,” Panha said. “They sacrifice a lot to live abroad and we should be connecting them with the contribution they make to the economy through democracy.”

Special rapporteur Subedi also stressed that “voting should not be a privilege but a right”.

“As a country that has ratified many international human [rights] treaties and that currently holds the chairmanship of ASEAN, Cambodia should aspire to be a model in the region when it comes to holding free and fair elections, and should do better than many States whose democracy remains in its infancy,” he said.

Opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua said Cambodians living abroad were often upset about being unable to vote.

“This recommendation is not for party gain, but to protect constitutional rights,” Sochua said, noting that voting rights are not restricted to residents.

“This is not just Sam Rainsy Party members who are outside Cambodia, the Cambodian People’s Party also has its own members,” she continued, adding that all Cambodian citizens were allowed to vote in the UN-sponsored elections in 1993.

However, Panha said the clock was ticking on making reforms before next year’s elections.

“If [the NEC] really wanted something to happen in one year, it can happen, but I think now it is too late,” for change before 2013, he said.

NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha welcomed the recommendations in the report.

“For voting abroad at election time, we can allow people living in the country but who are working or studying abroad to have rights to vote. But for those who have been living abroad forever, no country would allow them to vote.”

Top U.S. trade official heads to Southeast Asia for talks

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk smiles during an event at the Singapore Management University April 26, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Tim Chong)

Wed Aug 29, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will discuss how the United States can deepen trade ties with fast-growing nations in Southeast Asia in talks this week in Cambodia, U.S. trade officials said.

Kirk will join trade ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) at their annual meeting on Thursday and take part in the inaugural ASEAN-U.S. Business Summit focusing on innovation and the digital economy.

His trip is also likely to include a stopover in Vietnam.

The visit sends an important signal that President Barack Obama’s administration is following through on promises to increase economic engagement with the region, said Ernest Bower, an expert on Southeast Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“I think Kirk will be pushed to define what is the U.S. plan for economic engagement” in ASEAN, Bower said.

In recent years, the United States has been represented by Deputy Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis at the annual ASEAN trade ministers meeting.

The 10 nations of ASEAN include Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, which together represent the fourth-largest trading partner of the United States.

The United States is negotiating a regional free trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), with 10 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including four from ASEAN: Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam.

But it lacks a robust vehicle to engage ASEAN as a region, unlike China, Japan and South Korea which are negotiating the so-called ASEAN+3 pact, Bower said.

Kirk should use the meeting to discuss ways to reinvigorate a forum known as the U.S.-ASEAN Trade and Investment, which has been “moribund” for years, he said.

The United States sees the TPP as a path to a long-envisioned Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, including all 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group.

Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines are closely following the TPP negotiations, which could wrap up some time in 2013, and are considered potential future members.

But since Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are not in APEC, they could never become members of the TPP unless the United States and other TPP participants agree to expand membership to countries outside of APEC.

Kirk is likely to visit Vietnam after the ASEAN meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Vietnam is the least developed country taking part in the TPP talks and faces the biggest challenges implementing the commitments envisioned under the pact, Bower said.

Kirk’s visit would be a show of U.S. support for the “massive political and legal changes” Vietnam would have to make under the TPP pact, Bower said.

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Independent Cambodian Radio Station Runs Without Jailed Owner

August 29, 2012
Rick Valenzuela
Voice of America

PHNON PENH — Independent radio station owner Mam Sonando is in a Cambodian prison awaiting trial on charges of insurrection. He was Beehive Radio’s sole reporter, and its main on-air personality. But while he is gone from the airwaves, he has not been forgotten – especially among the station’s loyal listeners.

A few days a week, radio station owner Mam Sonando would go on air to talk to callers. Now, the station and its listeners have to do without him, as he sits in prison across town.

The DJ who’s taking calls says Beehive is carrying on.

“There is no effect to the station’s operations. It’s a personal matter for the president. All the staff comes to work normally. Many staffers respect the station rules; we’re not afraid at all,” Phiev said.

Beehive is one of the few independent media outlets in Cambodia, where many stations are controlled by political parties. Its broadcasts have won praise from rights activists for championing causes that other stations ignore. It also carries Voice of America programming.

Callers used to have conversations with the owner about social issues and injustice. Now, Mam Sonando has become the subject of the shows he once hosted.

“I ask the government to release Mam Sonando, offer him freedom. We are his guarantors, we are 100,000 people and we will take his place in prison,” one caller said.

This is a somewhat familiar situation for Mam Sonando, who was imprisoned twice before for his reporting. This time he faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly attempting to form a secession movement.

His supporters say he is being targeted for criticism of the Cambodian government and of rights abuses by the powerful. Prime Minister Hun Sen dismisses the allegation.

Mam Sonando’s wife, Din Phanara, has taken over leading the station. She says his absence has been a big change.

“Because Mam Sonando is like the heart of the station,” she said.

She is dismissive of the court case against her husband – as well as even the idea that he could be planning a secession in rural Kratie in Cambodia’s northeast.

“How do we lead an insurrection just with two, three farmers earning a living feeding chickens and pigs? How do we secede? It is not true. It is not possible,” she said.

The court has not yet set a date for trial. And as Beehive goes on without its primary voice, the man behind it sits in pretrial detention, and his supporters worry about his health.

Asean trading link goes live in September

Wednesday, Aug. 29 2012
JEREMY GRANT
SINGAPORE — Financial Times

A share-trading system linking key markets in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is expected to go live next month after regulators approved the launch of a first stage of the project linking the Singapore and Malaysian bourses.

The project, known as the “Asean Trading Link,” is part of a vision by Asean policy makers to unite the capital markets of the 10-member bloc, which has an economy bigger than India’s.

Asean’s capital markets regulators have agreed on a “road map” for integration of the region’s capital markets by 2015. This would ultimately allow the creation of Asean “as an investable asset class,” according to the Singapore Exchange, one of the link’s main backers.

One person familiar with the project said the link, which was originally set to involve a handful of the biggest Asean exchanges, would start with the Singapore and Malaysian bourses after both countries’ regulators granted approval. Thailand will follow shortly afterward, while exchanges in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam would join later.

The project has involved building an electronic “order routing” system that will enable brokers in Malaysia and Singapore to more easily connect their clients to trading on each other’s exchanges.

It will electronically connect the exchanges to facilitate cross-border order routing and trading, and eventually allow investors and members to trade in multiple Asean markets from their own country or from outside southeast Asia.

“We’ve got the green light. It’s going to be in the next couple of weeks,” the person said. Neither SGX, the Singapore Exchange, nor Bursa Malaysia were available for comment.

Currently an investor in Malaysia wanting to trade shares in Singapore would typically have to telephone a local broker, who would contact a broker in Singapore – each time incurring fees.

The system bypasses that and should lower the barriers to entry for investors, sourcing more cross-border trading, experts say.

The Singapore Exchange and Bursa Malaysia have paid for most of the system, which has been built by Sungard, a U.S.-based trading technology company, although brokers will be charged a fee for using it.

The concept of the Asean link is similar to a three-way link launched last year in South America by bourses in Chile, Peru and Colombia.

Known as “Mila,” it also involves order routing and was set up as a way of boosting liquidity in such markets as a counterweight to the growth of Brazil’s exchange, which accounts for 80 per cent of company market capitalization in the region.

Temple dispute thaw could see observers’ role changed [-Thailand tries to renege the border agreement?]

Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
Tehran, Iran August 30, 2012

The terms of reference (TOR) for an Indonesian observer team to be sent to the disputed area adjacent to the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear might need to be modified to fit the situation, said Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul yesterday.

Surapong discussed the matter with his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa in Tehran on the sideline of the Non-Aligned Movement summit.

He told Marty of recent developments in the situation at the border near the temple where both Thailand and Cambodia redeployed their troops on July 18, a year after the International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s injunction.

“The redeployment, as agreed by Thailand and Cambodia, was a process of the troop withdrawal in accordance with the ICJ’s order,” Surapong told reporters.

The joint working group of Thailand and Cambodia agreed also to clear landmines in the disputed area near the temple before the troop withdrawal, he said.

Thailand and Cambodia have long been at loggerheads over the Preah Vihear. The latest dispute erupted as Thailand blocked Cambodia’s move to list the temple as a World Heritage site in 2008, resulting in a series of military skirmishes there last year.

Cambodia asked the ICJ to interpret the scope and meaning of the 1962 ruling to create a clear understanding of territory boundaries near the temple.

It also asked the court to grant provisional measures to demilitarise the area while waiting for the judgment.

The court ordered on July 18 last year that both sides pull their troops out of the court-determined demilitarised zone of 17.3 square kilometers near the temple, to refrain from any military activities and to continue cooperation with Asean to have an Indonesian observer team monitor the troop withdrawal.

Jakarta submitted the TOR outlining the proposed role of its observer team last year. Cambodia has already agreed to the TOR but the Thai military was reluctant to accept it and has sat on any decision since then.

Surapong told Marty that some words in the TOR might need to be adjusted or modified to make it more relevant to the current situation.

“The court ordered a troop withdrawal and presence of observers when we were in military tension with Cambodia — but now such tension is over and the two governments, as well as the military of both sides, are on good terms,” he said.

“As the joint working group of Thailand and Cambodia agreed to clear the landmines first, we might need to put this response into the TOR for the observers,” he said.

Surapong said Marty understood the situation and the Indonesian minister told him that as the observer, Indonesia was glad to see the dispute between Asean members could be contained within the family.

Asked if the TOR would be submitted to Parliament for reading in accordance with the constitution, Surapong said the military would make a decision on the matter.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has already given her instruction to the military to seek proper ways of complying with the ICJ’s injunction, he said.

Cambodia hosts ASEAN garment, textile exhibition

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) — Garment and textile products from Southeast Asian nations were on display here on Wednesday evening, aiming at further promoting business opportunities, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said.
Organized by Cambodian Ministry of Commerce in cooperation with the Garment Manufacturers Association of Cambodia, the ASEAN Garment and Textile Fair 2012 will be held until Sept. 1 at the Angkor Coex Exhibition Hall.
“The event is to promote garment and textile businesses between ASEAN nations as well as with other ASEAN dialogue partners,” the minister said at the opening ceremony, which was attended by all ASEAN Economic Ministers, and Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yukio Edano as well as South Korean Minister for Trade Bark Taeho.
All the ministers are in Cambodia to attend the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and related meetings.
He said that the fair was also an opportunity for the manufacturers to exchange ideas and seek business partners.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Phnom Penh is in total denial: What a SHAME!!!

Surya Subedi (L) speaks to the media in Phnom Penh, May 9, 2012. (AFP)

Om Yentieng (Photo: Sok Serey, RFA)

Officials Slam Rights Report
Cambodia’s government rejects a UN report seeking electoral reforms and respect for human rights.
2012-08-29
AFP

Cambodian government officials have rejected a report by a United Nations expert pushing for electoral reforms and accusing the authorities of rights violations over economic land concessions.

They said that the report by Surya Subedi, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, does not paint an accurate picture of the current status of human rights in the country.

Subedi warned in the report that Cambodia may plunge into violence if it does not reform the current electoral system to allow for fair and free elections.

He also said that the human costs of economic land concessions in the country has been high, adding that the absence of proper consultation and negotiation with the people affected when granting such concessions has been a major concern.

Om Yin Tieng, head of the government’s Human Rights Committee said Subedi was taking a biased approach to the situation in Cambodia, accusing him of siding with the country’s political opposition and civil society.

“Subedi should work as an advisor to the opposition instead of as the U.N. Rapporteur,” he said.

“The situation of human rights in Cambodia is not as bad as what he wrote in his report.”

Phay Siphan, spokesperson for the Council of Ministers, also dismissed Subedi’s findings, calling the information “outdated” and saying it did not reflect the “positive developments of human rights in Cambodia.”

“The government has been promoting democracy, human rights, and land reforms with great success,” he said.

Report praised

But Subedi’s report received praise from Cambodia’s political opposition and nongovernmental organization (NGO) communities, which said that the government should stop denying the problems it has caused and work together to solve them.

Rong Chhun, head of the Cambodian Independent Teacher’s Association, hailed Subedi’s report as highlighting “much-needed truth.”

“The rights to assembly and expression, and the rights to housing and agricultural land, have been threatened by the government’s economic land concessions,” he said.

Yim Sovan, Member of Parliament for the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, also expressed support for Subedi’s report.

“The government has forced villagers from their homes and land for development without proper compensation,” he said.

“The government has to be responsible for the violation of human rights in this country and should not try to make any pretext or excuse to cover up the situation.”

Tools of repression

Opposition Human Rights Party MP Ou Channrith said that the government has used the very institutions meant to protect the rights of the people as tools to stifle them.

“The government has used the armed forces and judicial system to threaten and suppress the opposition party, civil society, workers, and citizens,” he said.

Subedi’s report is to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva at its upcoming September meeting.

In the report, the Special Rapporteur detailed “major flaws” in the administration of elections in Cambodia and called for “urgent and longer-term reforms” to give Cambodians confidence in the electoral process and in the National Election Committee, which organizes and manages polls.

Reported by Touch Yuthea for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

China supports HK’s access to FTA with ASEAN: minister

Xinhua | 2012-8-30

China supports Hong Kong’s access to the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone (FTA) as it facilitates the economic integration of the southeastern Asian nations, said the Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on Wednesday.

Chen made the remarks when speaking to the media at the sidelines of the on-going 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Cambodia’s tourist City of Siem Reap.

Chen said that Hong Kong’s access to the FTA is listed as one of the widely discussed topics during the ministers’ meetings. Some of the ASEAN nations had voiced their desires to initiate the negation about Hong Kong’s entrance.

“Hong Kong is a very important economy in east Asian area in terms of trade and investment,” said Chen, adding, “its access to the China-ASEAN FTA will positively facilitate the regional economic integration.”

According to Chen, Hong Kong’s economic advantages lie in its investment environment, strong service industry and its ability to develop the international market.

“However, some ASEAN nations have to carefully assess Hong Kong ‘s access to the FTA as their interests might be hurt by the latter’s high level of economic openness and freedom,” Chen added.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the ministers meeting on Monday, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen appealed to the ministers to finalize the discussions of Hong Kong’s access of FTA and submit it to the ASEAN summit in November for the final approval.

China, Asean pledge to boost trade ties

Thursday, August 30, 2012
Agencies

SIEM REAP (Cambodia) China and Southeast Asian nations pledged on Wednesday to strive for closer economic ties, setting aside regional tensions over a territorial row in the resource-rich South China Sea.

Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) jumped to over $200 billion in the first seven months of 2012, up 9 per cent year-on-year, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said during a meeting with regional economic ministers in the Cambodian tourist hub of Siem Reap.

The business relationship between Asean and China was ‘particularly important’ amid global economic gloom, he said, adding that both sides have ‘a solid basis for cooperation’ and “bright prospects”.

China is Asean’s largest trading partner, while the 10-nation bloc last year overtook Japan as Beijing’s third-biggest trading partner.

“China is willing to be Asean’s good neighbour, good friend and good partner,” Chen said in his opening remarks.

This week’s talks between regional economic ministers marks the first high-level gathering of Asean members since a foreign ministers’ meeting in July ended in acrimony over how to deal with a dispute in the South China Sea.

The tension that hung over those meetings appeared absent from the cordial gathering in Siem Reap, suggesting that Asean members do not want the maritime row to hurt business.

South Korea braces for second typhoon

August 30, 2012
AAP

A TYPHOON barrelling towards South Korea has forced rescuers to suspend the search for seven missing crew members of two Chinese fishing boats wrecked in a previous gale.

Typhoon Bolaven – the strongest to hit the country for almost a decade – left a trail of death and damage this week.

A fresh typhoon alert was raised early on Thursday over the Yellow Sea off the west coast as Typhoon Tembin was 200 kilometres southwest of the southern island of Jeju and moving north at a speed of 41km/h.

Flights were grounded at Jeju airport, schools were closed or their class hours adjusted and scores of sea ferry routes were shut down.

Packing winds of up to 112km/h, Tembin was expected to make landfall around 0600 GMT (1600 AEST) on Thursday at the southern port of Gunsan, bringing up to 150 millimetres of rain, the weather service said.

Bolaven drove two Chinese fishing ships aground early on Tuesday off the southern coast of Jeju. Rescuers pulled a total of 12 people to safety, and six swam ashore.

Eight bodies had been recovered, bringing the confirmed death toll, including South Koreans killed elsewhere due to the storm, to 18. Seven crew members from the two Chinese boats were still missing.

“We suspended the search operation this morning due to high waves. We will resume it later today,” local coastguard spokesman Ko Chang-Keon told AFP.

Bolaven moved on to North Korea, damaging crops and toppling some 3,700 roadside trees, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. Human casualties were not reported.

It crossed the Yalu border river into China early on Wednesday.

Labour leader summonsed to court

Rong Chhun (C), president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, speaks to reporters during a protest by Tai Yang Enterprises workers in Phnom Penh last month. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 30 August 2012
Mom Kunthear and Shane Worrell
The Phnom Penh Post

Global brands Levi’s and Gap had continued slashing orders at the Tai Yang and Camwell factories in Kandal province, costing the company that owns them about US$6 million, its manager claimed yesterday.

Tai Yang Enterprises manager Wu Minghuor said the brands had reduced their orders from the factories by 80 per cent as a result of the strike over seniority bonuses, which began on June 25.

“We have found we have lost about $6 million in revenue and 80 per cent of orders from [Gap and Levi's],” he said – less than a week after telling the Post the brands had cut orders by 20 per cent.

The man responsible was Cambodian Confederation of Unions president Rong Chhun, who had “destroyed the company” by inciting workers to protest, Minghuor said.

Chhun was yesterday summonsed to appear in Kandal Provincial Court over allegations he incited the strike at the factories, in Ang Snuol district.

Provincial prosecutor Tep Monin said Chhun must appear on September 11 to also respond to allegations that he defamed management.

“We have summonsed Rong Chhun to appear in court for questioning following a complaint from the director-general of Tai Yang Enterprises, Jack Liu, who is suing [Chhun],” a letter signed by Monin says.

The well-known union leader is no stranger to run-ins with authorities, but this is the first time he has received a summons relating to a garment factory dispute.

Chhun said he was amused, not daunted by the summons.

“I never worry about complaints like this,” he said. “This case is a joke.”

The strike at the Tai Yang factories has involved about 4,000 workers, but fewer than 40 remain off work.

Dave Welsh, country director for the American Centre for International Labour Solidarity, said Minghuor’s 80 per cent claim did not seem like a legitimate case of the brands permanently pulling orders.

“When garment owners complain about orders being pulled, often it’s a red herring,” he said, adding that brands often put temporary holds on orders depending on business cycles.

Levi’s said it could not provide a response before deadline, and Gap could not be reached yesterday.

‘Suspicious suspect’ in Bavet shooting named

Thursday, 30 August 2012
Chhay Channyda
The Phnom Penh Post

Police in Svay Rieng province said yesterday a Bavet town police officer had been under court-ordered supervision since last week on suspicion of being involved in the February shooting at a garment factory protest in the Special Economic Zone there.

Provincial police chief Prach Rim said Sar Chantha, the chief of penal police in Bavet town, had been put under court supervision by Judge Pech Chhoeut in relation to the ongoing case.

Former Bavet town governor Chhouk Bandith was charged in April with “unintentional injury” for allegedly firing his gun at random into a crowd of 6,000 workers at the Kaoway Sports Factory in February, injuring three female garment workers.

Investigations in the case continue and no court date has yet been set for the disgraced governor, who was released on bail.

Rim could not give details of the criminal-code charge against the officer, but said he was a “suspicious suspect” in the case.

“We have just received the letter from court last week to put him under court supervision, but he was not in the shooting area, because he was 500 or 600 metres away from the shooting place,” Rim said.

“This case is under investigation, so he is not allowed to go anywhere and needs to inform the court of his whereabouts.

“Our officer has no fear, because it’s not a new case and he did not commit the crime.”

Rim added that Chantha was first summonsed to meet the prosecutor and judge in July.

Chantha could not be reached for comment, but Bavet town police chief Keo Kong said he did not know about the court case against his officer and said that Chantha “still comes to work as usual”.

Chin Lida, lawyer for the three female garment workers injured in the shooting, said he had heard of no further developments in the slow-moving case.

“In the law, if the investigation lasts for longer than one year, the party in the case can request the court to finish the investigation and set a date for hearing,” Lida said.

Fears for ethnic radio’s future

Rorchom Saroeun, a 20-year-old ethnic Jarai radio announcer, broadcasts during a program for ethnic minority communities on FM 95.5 in Ratanakkiri province. Photograph: Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 30 August 2012
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

‘Mae Mang Kit Sith Ngay Panes Laek Ra Kornong Pades Krae” in the mother tongue of the ethnic Tumpoun minority translates to “global human rights affairs”, which is exactly what the Voice of Ethnic Minority Communities radio program has been bringing to the most isolated ethnic communities in Ratanakkiri since 2007.

The radio program broadcasts in four languages – Jarai, Tumpoun, Kreung and Prao – for two hours, five days a week, and program president Eoun Som Ath said there was increasing demand for more air time.

“If possible, I want to add more broadcasting hours, because it is a significant program for the ethnic minorities to learn about health issues, agricultural methods and their own traditions,” he said.

A small team of reporters working for the program spend eight days a month reporting in some of the most secluded and remote areas in the Kingdom to bring current affairs discussion from communities speaking one of the four languages to the program, which is broadcast on the National Radio.

Rorchom Saroeun, 20, sits silently as he carefully translates verbally spoken Jarai language – his own ethnic mother tongue – into a phonetically compatible Khmer-language written statement to be read by the broadcaster on Voice of Ethnic Minorities.

Saroeun, who is one of the field reporters for the program, said ethnic villagers are often too shy to be interviewed for radio because they feel ashamed of their poor oratory skills. His reporting missions often take him deep into the jungles and plantations of Ratanakkiri to find and learn about the ethnic communities.

“I can put up with the difficulty [to secure interviews] for the benefit of the ethnic minorities,” Saroeun said.

Over the five days, the program covers education, health, agriculture, culture and law issues relevant to the ethnic minorities.

Kreung ethnic minority Keus Davy, 20, an agriculture journalist for the program, said the Kreung communities benefited greatly from education in their mother tongue.

“I am very happy when I see many ethnics listening to my radio program. If this project is stopped one day, it will seriously affect them because they lose the right to get information,” she said.

The prospect of the operation collapsing in the face of funding shortages is a very real fear for program president Som Ath, who has not yet heard whether UNESCO, which has funded the program since its inception in 2007, will renew funding for 2013.

“In 2010, we used to stop our operation due to budget shortages. I am worried we will not be able to resume our operations anymore in 2013 if the donors don’t continue their fund,” he said.

For 18-year-old Tumpoun minority Soeung Kora, the program provides a two-pronged benefit: an understanding of and an appreciation for modern technologies, such as sanitation and healthcare, and on the other hand, an understanding of and an appreciation for traditional culture, such as ceremonies and rituals.

Conversing in the Tumpoun language as she sold fruit brought from her family’s plantation, she said her family had advanced greatly from agricultural know-how broadcast on the program in their language.

“The Voice of Ethnic Minority Communities program is very useful for the illiterate people. Without this program, we can’t listen to others, because we know Khmer language well but the elders will get no information in the province,” she said.

Dam Chanthy, the female president of the Highlander’s Association, who is a Tumpoun staffer focusing on land rights education to that ethnic minority in Ratanakkiri province, said she witnessed progress in leaps and bounds after the radio was launched in ethnic language.

She added that remarkable attitude changes had occurred in the spheres of health and education, with the program encouraging villagers to seek out medicinal assistance at hospitals when they were sick and to send their children to school.

UNESCO chief of mission Anne Lemaistre told the Post by email yesterday that the program would be funded through until the end of 2012.

“It is indeed a very nice project Unesco is proud to have launched and has been supporting for three years now,” she said. “Unesco is working to ensure the funding next year too.”

Duch fails to ID Westerners imprisoned in S-21

The above photographs, of two unidentified men, were found with a cache of recently donated photographs of S-21 prison victims. Photograph: Documentation Center of Cambodia

Thursday, 30 August 2012
Joseph Freeman
The Phnom Penh Post

As part of an ongoing search to confirm the identities of two Westerners whose faces emerged in a recent anonymous donation of photos featuring inmates from the notorious S-21 prison, researchers yesterday turned to a man they believed might have special insight into the duo’s fate – their jailer.

Sitting in a small room outside his detention cell at the Khmer Rouge tribunal, where he is currently serving a life sentence for his crimes as the former chairman of the Phnom Penh detention and interrogation centre, Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, briefly studied the faces of the men, put them aside and began to talk.

There would be, however, no great revelations.

“He said there were only four Western prisoners at S-21, and he didn’t really remember the faces of those people,” the Documentation Center of Cambodia’s Savina Sirik told the Post. Sirik, and her colleague Kok-Thay Eng, interviewed Duch for two hours yesterday to try and solve the mystery of the two mens’ identities.

Sirik, who heads up the Living Documents Project at DC-Cam, said Duch could not remember details about many of the photos they brought, which weren’t limited to the two unidentified men.

Pictures included one of a church that Duch may have attended, and a photo of a man whose son had recently asked DC-Cam about the circumstances of his father’s death under the Khmer Rouge.

They also presented an S-21 photo of a man named Andre Gaston Courtigne, a former employee of the French Embassy in Phnom Penh, on the off chance that he might be one of the two unidentified men. Duch could not say.

A spokesman for the French Embassy said yesterday that an investigation about Courtigne is ongoing, but there was no new information.

Wearing eyeglasses, a collared white shirt tucked into slacks, and loafers over white socks, Duch was dressed more like the mathematics teacher he once was than a man convicted of crimes against humanity.

The interview, said Sirik, was at times tense and uncomfortable.

“At times he laughed at me, like when I asked him certain questions, he just burst into laughter, and I didn’t really understand what his laughter meant,” she said.

Sirik said Duch appeared to be in good health. And in the same interview where he looked at photos of executed men, Duch reminisced about his own attachment to the art of photography.

“He said he got a camera himself, and that he used that camera to take pictures of him and his family and his friends, so we wanted to know more of this personal experience,” she said. “He said that was his hobby, to take photos of himself and his family.”

He asked if DC-Cam could locate a picture of him, his wife and daughter taken in the bedroom at a house near Tuol Sleng.

Youk Chhang, the head of DC-Cam, said Duch also kept photos of people collected from records kept by the previous regime.

One of the two unidentified photos is believed to be of Christopher Edward DeLance, who was seized while sailing off the Cambodian coast in 1978. Presented with this image, however, Duch was also not able to confirm the identity.

Both photos were part of an anonymous donation of 1,427 images made to DC-Cam earlier this month. The majority of the victims depicted in the collection are from Thailand and Vietnam.

But if there was a person to identify the photos, Duch would be the go-to source – not merely for his position of command but for what judges have called his “enthusiasm” in his role. Duch was intimately familiar with prison operations at S-21 and is known to have kept meticulous records of prisoners, often annotated in his flawless, finishing-school script.

DeLance and three other Americans – Michael Deeds, James Clark and Lance McNamara – died after being imprisoned in S-21, where they were tortured into confessing to working for the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Efforts to get DeLance’s relatives in the US to confirm the photo have proved unsuccessful so far.

DC-Cam’s Youk said that an employee from the US Department of Defense’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), which tries to account for Americans lost in conflict, reached DeLance’s brother, but he declined to cooperate in confirming the photo. Calls and emails to JPAC’s center in Hawaii were not immediately returned.

Asked if he believed that Duch’s memory failed him and that he really couldn’t confirm the identities, Youk was sceptical.

“I sent my two staff to talk to Duch, because they were born after the Khmer Rouge and they want to understand why the Khmer Rouge did such a horrible thing against their own population and others.

For me, who have survived the Khmer Rouge genocide, I have nothing left in life to believe what the Khmer Rouge leaders have to say.”

At the end of the interview, Sirik gave it one last shot. She presented him with paper copies so he could study them another time, maybe something would jog his memory.

“But he didn’t want to keep them. I took back all the photographs that I wanted to give to him.”

Sea row set aside as China, ASEAN seek trade boost

29 August 2012
By Michelle Fitzpatrick (AFP)

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — China and Southeast Asian nations pledged Wednesday to strive for closer economic ties, setting aside regional tensions over a territorial row in the resource-rich South China Sea.

Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) jumped to over $200 billion in the first seven months of 2012, up nine percent year-on-year, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said during a meeting with regional economic ministers in the Cambodian tourist hub of Siem Reap.

The business relationship between ASEAN and China was “particularly important” amid global economic gloom, he said, adding that both sides have “a solid basis for cooperation” and “bright prospects”.

China is ASEAN’s largest trading partner, while the 10-nation bloc last year overtook Japan as Beijing’s third-biggest trading partner.

“China is willing to be ASEAN’s good neighbour, good friend and good partner,” Chen said in his opening remarks.

This week’s talks between regional economic ministers mark the first high-level gathering of ASEAN members since a foreign ministers’ meeting in July ended in acrimony over how to deal with a dispute in the South China Sea, exposing deep divisions within the bloc.

The tension that hung over those meetings appeared absent from the cordial gathering in Siem Reap, suggesting that ASEAN members do not want the maritime row to hurt business.

“It’s a completely different ballgame,” said Southeast Asia expert Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

The foreign and economic ministers have “completely different agendas”, he added.

Friction within ASEAN also eased significantly after Indonesia got the bloc to agree on six key points on the South China Sea following intense diplomatic efforts in the days after the failed ASEAN summit, Thayer said.

China claims sovereignty over almost all of the resource-rich sea, which is home to vital shipping lanes, but ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims.

Hanoi and Manila have recently accused Beijing of increasingly aggressive behaviour in the disputed waters.

The ASEAN group, which also includes Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand, saw its economies as a whole grow by 4.7 percent in 2011, down from 7.6 percent growth in 2010, according to ASEAN data.

“We recognise the external environment has become more hostile,” Malaysian Minister for International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamed said, in a nod to the economic troubles of the key eurozone and US markets.

Nonetheless, “we consider ourselves to be one of the most dynamic regions in the world under the circumstances”, he told AFP on the sidelines of the talks.

Cambodian politician Kem Sokha set to speak to supporters in Long Beach

August 29, 2012
By Greg Mellen
Staff Writer
Long Beach resstelegram.com
Posted: 08/28/2012 08:36:30 PM PDT
3:37 AM GMTUpdated: 08/28/2012 08:36:37 PM PDT
Greg Mellen

Former Cambodian human rights advocate and now political opposition leader Kem Sokha will meet with supporters and interested residents Thursday.

The 59-year-old activist- turned-politician is the leader of the Human Rights Party in Cambodia. Recently, Sokha’s party and the opposition Sam Rainsy Party submitted an application to the Ministry of Interior to form a new party called Cambodia National Rescue Party in order to compete in the general election in July next year.

The consolidated party hopes to make inroads against the ruling Cambodia People’s Party, which holds majorities in both the Cambodian National Assembly and Senate.

With Rainsy in exile and facing an arrest warrant after he was charged for his involvement with a protest on the Vietnamese border, Sokha becomes the in-country face of the new party.

Between 2002 and 2006, Kem was well-known for his human rights activism and sharp criticism of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

He will meet with Long Beach residents at 6 p.m. Thursday at La Lune Restaurant, 2801 E. Spring St. A $15 donation is requested.

For more information, call Tippana Tith, 562-314-9882.

Invitation to meet Mr. Kem Sokha in Long Beach, California on 30 August 2012

Chinese volunteer workers in Cambodia [-Will the Chinese volunteer comrades help rid Cambodia of the neo-capitalist bloodsucker Hun Xen?]

Xu Jiatian and other volunteers help build wooden classrooms and dormitories for children in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Xu Jiatian and other volunteers help build wooden classrooms and dormitories for children in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

2012-08-29
By Zhang Yue (China Daily)

Xu Jiatian was a high achiever in college. Instead of climbing the corporate ladder, he is now a volunteer worker in Cambodia. He shares his motivation with Zhang Yue.

Xu Jiatian is better known as Kurt to kids in many orphanages and primary schools in Cambodia.

“Kids would happily scream and run out of the classroom once they see Xu’s smiling face outside the classroom window,” says Boran, head of the PACDOC orphanage in Siem Reap.

Xu, 24, has been a volunteer in Cambodia since he graduated from college two years ago.

“I have always wanted to explore something new and different since I was still in college,” Xu says. “That was how I got to know about voluntary work.”

A year after graduating from college, with some savings and a loan from family and friends, Xu founded Green Leaders Adventure, a social enterprise that offers young Chinese people a chance to do voluntary work.

The group has been focusing on Cambodia, under the project named Cambodia International Service. So far, the organization has sent 160 Chinese teenagers to do voluntary work in Cambodia, such as building wooden classrooms and dormitories, and renovating primary schools and orphanages.

“Those who want to participate in the project have to contribute 18,880 yuan ($3,000) each,” says Xu.

“Half of their contribution will be spent on traveling and living expenses, while the balance will be spent on construction work in the village.

“Like most of my teammates, I am moved by the way people treat us there. I also find volunteering an amazing experience. I want more young people in China to share the same experience,” he adds.

Xu’s hometown is in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Before visiting Cambodia, he traveled to many countries in the Middle East and South Pacific Ocean.

“But working in Cambodia helped me discover more about myself and changed my perspective of the world,” he says.

Xu first visited Cambodia in 2010 with a group of volunteers from Taiwan who went to Cambodia to teach the locals to grow better crops to increase their income. Although it was not Xu’s first voluntary work attempt, he had an amazing time.

“Simple, but sincere,” he says. “Most people do not speak English but when I walk on the streets, people smile and wave at me. Their eyes shine and their smiles are sincere.”

Working in the rural areas of Cambodia is hard, but full of touching memories. Xu recalls one afternoon, exhausted from hours of farm work, he fell asleep under a tree in front of the house they helped.

“The family consists of a widow with her teenage son,” he says. “Her husband died three months earlier after he was bitten by a snake in the river.”

When Xu woke up at dawn, he found himself lying on the bed, with a bowl of food and some fried fish beside it.

“The first thing that came to my mind was, where did she get the fish?” Xu says. The translator told him that while he was asleep, the woman asked her son to catch some fish in the river for Xu, ignoring the danger that her only son might be bitten by a river snake like her husband.

“I later learned that this is the way the locals thank the people they care for. Once they get to know you, they will treat you like a real friend.”

At that time, Xu was still thinking about his career choice after graduation. He was a high achiever at college, with good grades and an excellent track records in social activities. Like many of his schoolmates, he was also preparing to further his education in the US.

“But those days spent in Cambodia gave meaning to my life,” he says. “I felt trusted and needed, despite the limited communication and language barrier. This is the kind of feeling that our generation longs for.”

Most of the teenage volunteers joined the project with the initial aim of gaining some social experiences and to enhance their portfolio for their university applications, but many ended up visiting Cambodia every vacation.

Ten people have joined Xu as full-time staff. All of them are in their 20s.

Since 2011, Xu has been staying in Cambodia during every winter and summer vacation, leading his team to do voluntary work and learning about local demands as well as doing social research.

One of the first full time staff of the organization, Dong Shiqing, quit her job at a radio station in Beijing to join Xu.

“The people here need me. And I am very proud of what I do,” she says. “This (voluntary work) is what helps many of those in my generation become stronger, I think. Most of us try to live a successful life defined by society. But what makes me happy is to be useful to other people.”

“I enjoy the way I am growing as a person,” says Xu. “I see myself making a difference in the world every day. That’s real growth and the experience forms the best memory. We have started voluntary work in Cambodia and we aim to go further and last a long time.”

Contact the writer at zhangyue@chinadaily.com.cn.

The more you give, the more you receive

Li Kaiwen, a high school student in Beijing, poses with kids in Siem Reap, Cambodia, where she spent her summer vacation as a voluntary worker.

2012-08-29
ByZhang Yue ( China Daily)

Before leaving for Cambodia to do voluntary work, Li Kaiwen thought she was going to a poor country to offer her help. But, that was only half the story – she gained more from the experience than she ever imagined.

The Chinese high school student remembers trying with all her might to saw some plywood under the scorching sun of Siem Reap. She was sunburned, and beads of sweat rained down her cheeks. Yet she could not get the work done.

A 5-year-old Cambodian boy, seeing her struggling with the wood, ran to her and gently wiped off the sweat on her forehead with his sleeves. He offered to show Li how to saw the wood, which seemed like a piece of cake.

The 16-year-old from one of the best international high schools in Beijing says at that very moment, she felt like an idiot.

“If both the kid and I were left on a lonely island, the little one would be able to build himself a wooden shelter,” she says. “But I, well educated, well fed and raised, would freeze to death.”

Many Chinese teenagers who did voluntary work in Cambodia for 10 days during their summer vacation have similar stories. They were among 69 Chinese students who participated in the Cambodia International Service project, aimed at giving teenagers an opportunity to do voluntary work in schools and orphanages in poor regions in Cambodia. They have to pay for the stay themselves.

The program was started in early 2011 and 160 Chinese students have participated so far.

While many of their peers spent the summer touring prestigious universities in Europe and the United States, these young volunteers spent 18,880 yuan ($3,000) each to build houses in Siem Reap.

Li got to know of the project in school after listening to a talk by the program’s founder, Xu Jiatian, who shared his experiences of Cambodia. She was thrilled.

“I’m eager to try anything that will help others,” she says.

Her decision to do voluntary work in Cambodia surprised both her parents and classmates, who were worried about her safety.

But having been to Cambodia, Li says although the country is poor, it is not as dangerous as expected. She says she will never forget her first impression of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

“The children walked on the streets wearing nothing, bare footed,” she says. “And as we waved to the people on the streets, they all waved back and smiled at us sincerely.”

She also finds that the cows in Cambodia “look like sheep because they are too thin”.

“But the country is beautiful, nothing like I’d imagined.”

The village she volunteered in, is a six-hour drive from Phnom Penh. The first thing Li and other volunteers did was to stack some plywood to build a new house for an orphanage. Carpenters demonstrated how that was done. Later, they also worked in the fields, growing crops for villagers.

“Almost everyone suffered from insomnia during the first few nights,” says Tang Yutong, 18, another volunteer from Beijing. “Our backs and arms hurt so badly during the night because of the hard work in the day,” says Tang, who has done three voluntary work tours in Cambodia since 2011.

Both Tang and Li admit they do not have to do housework at home.

Li says what kept them going is the lovely kids who gathered around them, wiped off their sweat and sang for them in the Cambodian language. Some of the girls would sit beside her and braid her long hair while she took a break.

“The kids do not speak much English,” she says. “But they paint pictures for us, and write the words ‘I love you’ on them.”

And she can never forget a little boy who was always beside her while she worked and on the day the house was completed, he looked at her in the eyes and said in English: “Tomorrow? You come?”

Li says she burst into tears. The boy continued: “Two? Three?” “He wanted to know if I would be back in two or three days. I could not answer him,” Li says. “All I know is I will be back every vacation. Those days in Cambodia have shown me a life that I did not know before.”

It has been weeks since Li and Tang have been back from Cambodia. Staying in their air-conditioned homes in Beijing, they still reminisce about the hot but happy days in Siem Reap.

“It feels like being in two different worlds,” Li says.

“I used to do things that brought change to my life. But now, I am making changes in other people’s lives.”

Surya Subedi’s Warning of Return to Violence

Surya Subedi (L) speaks to the media in Phnom Penh, May 9, 2012. (AFP)

UN special envoy Surya Subedi warns of possible unrest in Cambodia if the authorities refuse to embrace election reforms.

2012-08-28
Radio Free Asia

Subedi also called for a “political solution” to enable exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia “to play a full role” in politics.

Cambodia may plunge into violence if it does not reform the current electoral system to allow for fair and free elections, Surya Subedi, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, has warned in a report.

He said there are “major flaws” in the administration of elections in Cambodia and called for “urgent and longer-term reforms” needed to give Cambodians confidence in the electoral process and in the National Election Committee (NEC), which organizes and manages polls.

“It is regrettable,” he said, that most of the proposals by bilateral and multilateral agencies to reform the electoral process based on shortcomings identified in previous elections “remain unimplemented” by the Cambodian authorities.

In a report to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva at its upcoming September meeting, Subedi said that he is “concerned by the capacity gaps that persist in the electoral process.”

“If the electoral process is unable to command the trust and confidence of the electorate, the very foundation of the Cambodian political and constitutional architecture embodied in the Paris Peace Agreements will be shaken and the country may run the risk of a return to violence,” he said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government “must therefore do its utmost to avoid such a situation,” he said in the report released this week.

Exile return

Subedi also called for a “political solution” to enable exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy to return to Cambodia “to play a full role” in politics.

Saying that Sam Rainsy has been convicted on charges that are allegedly politically motivated, Subedi added that “a concerted effort by the ruling and opposition parties towards reconciliation is in the interests of stronger and deeper democratization of Cambodia,” especially ahead of the 2013 elections.

Sam Rainsy, who is currently involved in efforts to merge Cambodia’s two key opposition parties into a united alliance against Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), went into exile in 2009 after leading a border protest and was convicted in absentia on charges of incitement and damaging property.

He has called his conviction groundless and unacceptable.

Subedi’s proposal for electoral reforms was shrugged off by the national electoral body.

Tep Nitha, General Secretary of the NEC, said on Tuesday that Subedi’s report “sounds like he is only listening to the opposition party and certain NGOs rather than reflecting the NEC’s current work.”

Tep Nitha claimed that Subedi’s recommendations had effectively been implemented, including the part about making the electoral panel independent and autonomous, and guarantor of voters’ rights.

He said Sam Rainsy’s absence “will not affect the process of the elections and democracy in Cambodia.”

Recommendations ‘necessary’

But the Executive Director of the Committee for Free and Fair Elections in Cambodia (COMFREL), Koul Panha, stressed that all of Subedi’s recommendations “are vital and necessary” for electoral reforms.

“And the most urgent and immediate reform to be done prior to the national election in 2013 is the full guarantee of voters’ rights,” he said.

In his report, Subedi cited a host of issues that needed to be addressed before parliamentary elections scheduled in July 2013. Among them:

• The NEC should have independent and autonomous status in the constitutional and legal structure of Cambodia, with its own independent budget allocated by the parliament.
• There should be consensus among the major political parties represented in the parliament on the appointment of the president and members of the NEC and the provincial election committees.
• There is a need to amend the law and to create another institution, such as a special election tribunal or election court within the judicial structure of Cambodia or a special election tribunal within the National Constitutional Council to resolve election-related disputes, rather than using the NEC itself to do so.
• All major political parties should have fair and equal access to the mass media to convey their messages to the electorate.
• All opposition parties must be free to organize and campaign without fear and hindrance. The Special Rapporteur “has been informed of cases of harassment and intimidation of people attending party political meetings of opposition parties by government officials and the secret police.”
• There should be a more effective, impartial and non-discriminatory procedure for the registration of voters in Cambodia.

Subedi also cited a petition directed to him from a Cambodian citizen who had expressed “frustration with the existing electoral process.

The Cambodian wrote that “if the current state of affairs continued, the ruling party would win the elections forever and that there was no hope for other political parties.”

Reported by Neang Ieng for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Yanny Hin. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.

US Dodd-Frank Bill Hoped To Benefit Oil Transparency in Cambodia

The US-listed oil giant Chevron is investing in offshore oil extraction in Cambodia, through a locally registered company.

The disclosures must also be made available online to the public, according to the law.
29 August 2012
Sothearith Im, VOA Khmer

WASHINGTON DC – A US regulatory agency has approved a section of a new law that transparency advocates say could help with resource revenue in Cambodia.

On Aug. 22, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved a section of the law meant to protect consumers and improve financial transparency in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act requires the disclosure of payments by US stock exchange-listed companies to foreign governments for exploration and production of oil, gas and minerals. The disclosures must also be made available online to the public, according to the law.

That means a company doing business with Cambodia will have to report any payment, which includes “taxes, royalties, fees (including license fees), production entitlements, bonuses, and other material benefits,” the law states.

Transparency International called the Aug. 22 passage of section 1504 of the law “a milestone in the long campaign for transparency in the extractive industry” that “sets a global benchmark.”

Cambodia expects to see oil revenue from offshore reserves by 2016, well after the law comes into effect, Sarath Chhay, executive director of the watchdog group Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency, told VOA Khmer in a recent interview.

By then, US companies will have to publicize their payments to the Cambodian government, he said. “Then, if people know how much we get from oil and gas, they can keep the government accountable,” he said.

International and local groups say they fear Cambodia lacks the transparency and rule of law to responsibility use its resource revenues. Critics point to the luxury timber trade, which is rife with corruption and has stripped Cambodia of much of its forest cover, enriching only an elite class in the process.

And the Dodd-Frank law is not a cure-all. Under the law, only US-listed companies will have to report. Currently, the US-listed oil giant Chevron is investing in offshore oil extraction in Cambodia, through a locally registered company. It has invested $160 million so far in the endeavor, Oilprice.com reported earlier this year.

But there are companies from Europe, Asia and the Middle East all with interests in Cambodia’s oil, gas and minerals.

Sarath Chhay said the US law is being used as an example by the European Union, which could pass similar legislation to improve transparency in global finance, including in the extractive industries, he said.

The US law should be an example to Cambodia, too, he said. “If our government pays attention to this law, it would prove to the world and potential investors that Cambodia is on the right track, and they would be confident to come and invest in Cambodia.”

Sarath Chhay said his group wants to see the EU pass its law as soon as possible. He also encouraged Cambodia to sign onto an international agreement called the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which would improve disclosures in the extractive industry.

“Being a member of EITI benefits the country a great deal, because it helps the effectiveness of collecting resource revenue and attracts potential investors to Cambodia,” he said. “Socially responsible companies can only invest in countries with the rule of law.”

Please donate to the National Rescue Foundation

.

Prince Sisowath Chakreynupul left the NRP to join the Democratic Coalition for National Rescue

Mr. Tim Tithika left the NRP to join the Democratic Movement for National Rescue

Mr. Mao Ratana left the NRP to joing the Democratice Movement for National Rescue

Cambodia Offers Rice To Indonesia

SIEM REAP (Cambodia), Aug 27 (Bernama) — Cambodia has requested that Indonesia buy rice from that country and invest in post-harvest business, reports Antara news agency.
Indonesian ambassador to Cambodia Soehardjono Sastromihardjo said Monday that Cambodia’s prime minister Hun Sen made the request to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the Asean Summit in Bali last year.
“I myself heard (prime minister) Hun Sen made (the request) directly to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when they met at the Asean Summit in Bali last year,” he said on the sidelines of Asean senior officials’ meeting ahead of the 44th Asean Economic Ministers’ Meeting here.
Hun Sen is scheduled to open the Asean Economic Ministers’ Meeting that would discuss trade and investment cooperation as well as food security.
Indonesian trade minister Gita Wirjawan arrived here on Sunday for the meeting.
Cambodia has been known as an agrarian country with 80 per cent of its population being farmers. It produces 8.25 million tonnes of rice in 2011 and has set a target of exporting 180,000 tonnes of its rice this year.
“Until 2015 Cambodia expects to export minimally one million tonnes of rice. The quality of its rice is good and it is also cheaper,” said Soehardjono, who was also present at the meeting between Hun Sen and Susilo in Bali.
Mohamad Helmi, the director of business development of PT Galuh Prabutrijaya that supplies fertilisers to Cambodia, confirmed that the quality of Cambodia`s rice is not inferior compared to that of Vietnam and Thailand.
“The price of Cambodia’s best quality rice is around US$450 per tonne while that of Thailand is up to US$600 per tonne” he said.
Besides requesting Indonesia to import rice from Cambodia Hun Sen has also asked Indonesian investors to invest in the post-harvest business,.
“They do not have sufficient rice hulling facilities and therefore they have so far sent their unhulled rice to Vietnam and Thailand,” he said.
Cambodia has been targeting Europe and the US for its rice export markets and South Korea, China, Japan and Indonesia in the Asian markets.
According to Antara Cambodian daily The Phnom Penh had at end March this year reported Cambodia’s plan to sign an agreement with Indonesia for the export of 20,000 tonnes of rice to Indonesia at a price f US$400 per tonne.
The president director of logistics company PT Bulog, Sutarto Alimoeso, has said that discussions were held since a year ago for the rice export plan but no agreement yet been signed.
“We have been exploring rice imports from other countries with regard to preventing monopoly that could raise the price of rice,” Antara quoted him as saying.