Editorial | Articles about Cambodia | Khmer

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Cambodian MP wants bilateral agreement on domestic workers

Source: freemalaysiatoday.com

PETALING JAYA: Cambodian opposition MP, Mu Sochua, is determined to push for a bilateral agreement between Cambodia and Malaysia on the protection of Cambodian domestic workers here.

According to her, a mere memorandum of understanding, as suggested by Human Resources Minister S Subramaniam would be insufficient in addressing and resolving the issue of Cambodian domestic worker abuse in Malaysia.

Cambodia last month imposed a temporary ban on its citizens from working in Malaysian households following allegations of abuse.

Sochua, who was the driving force behind the ban, is adamant that better mechanisms be put in place when it is finally lifted to guarantee the protection of domestic workers and the prosecution of those who violate the law.

In a joint press conference with Tenaganita today, she explained that a bilateral agreement is crucial because it would have to include the Asean Migrant Workers Declaration, the International Labour Organisation( ILO) Convention on Domestic Workers and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

“And the agreement shouldn’t be limited to governments alone but must also include civil society, unions and NGOs to truly address the issue,” she said. “And politicians have to be involved as well so that we can hold ourelves accountable to our constituents.”

“I will continue pushing for clear mechanisms that will ensure a clean process of recruitment and accountability. This is not about business alone.”
Tenaganita, meanwhile, announced that it will push for a standardised contract for all domestic workers which will be the basis for the development of the bilateral agreement.

Its executive director, Irene Frenandez, told the media that Malaysia practiced discrimination in the way it addressed domestic workers as there are different contracts for each country.

“We need a standard contract for all domestic workers regardless of their countries of origin,” she said. “This way employers will also be clearer on their responsibilities in terms of protecting and addressing the rights of the domestic worker.”

Fernandez added that the Bar Council and other civil society groups had submitted a memorandum to the Human Resources Ministry about a year ago which included the recommended contract.

“We will revive that discussion and work together with Sochua and other civil society organisations in Cambodia on this matter,” she said. “Hopefully these basic demands and requirements are put in place so the ban can be lifted within three months.”

Fernandez also said that the two main issues that required restructuring are the recruitment fees and the need for a post-arrival orientation programme.

“Recruitment fees is one of the major controls that employers have over domestic workers,” she pointed out. “It creates debt bondage and has to go. Direct recruitment from Indonesia only costs RM2,000, so employers don’t really need to fork out huge amounts for a domestic worker.”

“The post-arrival orientation programme must be rights-based and conducted for both employer and domestic workers. We will ask the government to allow civil societies to also conduct this programme to prevent agencies from pushing their own framework of control.”

Sochua, however, acknowledged that certain measures would take more than three months to implement, like the full adoption of the Asean declaration, changing legislation and reforming the judiciary.

“But Cambodia has to clean its house first before asking Malaysia to do the same,” she said. “We need to address the problem of unemployment among women by protecting them instead of simply providing them employment opportunities abroad.”

“The temporary ban has sent out a very clear message in Cambodia and has received strong public support. And I believe that the Cambodian Prime Minister has the political will to change the situation. But there is still a long way between will and what is eventually done.”

During her first visit to Malaysia in August, Sochua only met with rescued domestic workers and NGOs to avoid her visit being politicised.

This time however, she will be holding informal talks with opposition MPs including Subang MP Sivarasa Rasiah and Batu MP Tian Chua.

But she made it clear that she isn’t here to seek out media opportunities or to seek the apology that Foreign Minister, Anifah Aman, promised to offer if the allegations of abuse are true.

Neither Anifah nor any government representative has responded to a recently released report by the Human Rights Watch on the abuse of Cambodian domestic workers to Malaysia.

“What is an apology without addressing the real issue or hearing the voices of the workers?” said Sochua. “And without realising that a visa of employment is not a visa of exploitation.”

Labels: Malaysia, Mu Sochua

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Peace Accords ‘Assurance’ of a Continued Cambodia: Analyst

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC

US Cambodians mark 20th anniversary of Paris Agreement in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.

The Paris Peace Accords, signed 20 years ago and ending decades of war, are the key to the continued survival of Cambodia, a leading political analyst says.

Speaking near the anniversary of the accords, sign on Oct. 23, 1991, Lao Monghay told VOA Khmer the accords ended the conflict and put in place democracy and human rights.

The accords ultimately eliminated the threat of the Khmer Rouge and paved the way for massive amounts of aid money to come to Cambodia for rebuilding, he said.

“I understand the Paris Peace Accords as an assurance for the eternal life of Cambodia,” he said during an interview in Washington. “If we constantly respect them, especially Cambodians.”

Cambodia still struggles with border demarcation, flawed elections and political violence, evidenced by the 1997 coup, as well as a muffled opposition in the National Assembly, he said.

Signatory countries to the accords have an “obligation” to enforce them, but only if they are given ample evidence through which to do so, he said. “We have this, but we don’t like to file cases,” he said.

Every country has a different policy, he said. The US intervenes on matters of human rights, while France continues good relations and Japan produces dialogue and other advice, he said.

Such cases could produce rocky international relations between Cambodia and other countries, he said. “That’s why they face difficulties. It is a problem with the government. They want continuous good relationships.”

Labels: 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Paris Peace Agreement

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Cambodia's fashionable rebels

By Guy De Launey BBC News, Phnom Penh

Cambodian youngsters are becoming increasingly fashion conscious and are trying new looks

More photos

As the sun sets, the rebels come out. Their favourite form of transport is the Scoopy motorbike. Their destination is Phnom Penh's riverside branch of Pencil.

On the face of it, this is an unlikely venue for youthful insurrection.

This nondescript, low-rise building in Cambodia's capital was, until recently, a slightly shabby supermarket. But where the shelves of food and household goods once stood, the rag trade has taken over.

This is what the rebels have come for. You shall know them by the brevity of their skirts and the blondness of their hair.

Too much flesh?

They arrive in force. Hundreds of motorbikes are already crammed into the narrow parking area in front of Pencil by 17:00, and a growing queue of others is starting to block the road. The four-wheeled drive cars dropping off the more well-to-do rebels exacerbate the congestion.

Many of those arriving share a common look: micro-mini skirts or hot pants for the women, and elaborately coiffed and coloured hairdos for the men.

In many countries, this would barely raise an eyebrow, but in Cambodia it could be read as a deliberate effort to confront authority.

The lithe-limbed, topless apsara dancer carved into the stones of the ancient temples of Angkor may be one of the icons of this small nation, but the modern powers-that-be frown on the exposure of too much flesh.

In the past, television celebrities have been ordered to dress modestly, and keep a conservative hairstyle.

Even those with a lower profile have had to contend with the attention of teachers and traffic police. Both groups have been known to administer impromptu haircuts or even cart offensively styled youngsters off for "re-education".

'More exciting'

All this is a sign of how the aesthetic norms, in place since three decades of conflict came to an end in the 1970s, are being challenged.

"It's changed a lot in the past two or three years," says Cambodia's leading model agent, Sapor Rendall.

"Designers are making things more exciting now. When we got out of the war, it was very conservative. In the past you'd think: 'My mum would kill me for dressing like this'," she says, gesturing to her low-cut, cleavage-exposing vest top. "But now... don't care."

That attitude is shared by the young crowd at Pencil.

"Sometimes my mum asks 'Aren't you ashamed of going out like that?' But it's changed for the new generation," says Arun, a 25-year-old shop-worker with crimped and highlighted hair, who says she takes style tips from international pop singers like Rihanna, Beyonce and Pink.

Her 23-year-old friend Monika says her mother does not mind her dyed-blonde hair or her preference for short skirts.

"People can do what they want now," she says. "Not just dress as the authorities say. It's a free style - a sexy style."

A Korean style, as it turns out. The young women all acknowledge the influence of the slew of celebrities coming out of Seoul, who they watch on the wildly popular local, youth-orientated channel MyTV.

One of the busiest concessions inside Pencil is simply called Korean Style.

There are dozens of other clothing stalls - most no bigger than a walk-in wardrobe, with garments hanging from floor to ceiling and a fitting area squeezed into a corner.

Daly Na, 19, runs a stall called Darlink, which specialises in hot pants.

"These are my designs," she says, pointing out the boldly coloured cut-offs on one side of the shop. Copycats are rife, she notes ruefully.

"People have seen what they're wearing in other countries," says Ms Na. "Everybody wants to be Korean - or pick up styles from Thai and Hong Kong fashion magazines."

'Not our culture'

Prices can be bargained down from an initial asking price of $15 (£9). However, the hot pants are still too expensive for those outside of a rapidly emerging urban middle-class.

And Ravy Nick, a 19-year-old student, finds it hard to disguise her distaste for the styles on display in Pencil.

"This is not our culture," she says. "Men look down on you when you wear sexy. They think you're easy."

However, Ms Nick believes the sartorial mood may have shifted irreversibly.

"The government can say things, but they haven't made any rules or laws - they're not doing anything about it."

As Cambodia has one of the youngest populations in the world, the numbers would seem to be on the side of the fashion rebels.

For the moment, their desire for self-expression appears to be limited to personal style and consumerism. There seems to be little appetite for any movement other than that of the upward march of the hemline.

However, as the increasingly affluent urban youth become ever more savvy with social media and foreign travel, they may also bring further changes to a country finally emerging from conflict and conservatism.

Labels: Fashion

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Tuesday, November 01, 2011

America’s fixer in Cambodia

In the post-communist kleptocracy, a former Reagan aide is the man to see.
By Ken Silverstein
Salon.com

Bretton Sciaroni, right, shakes hands with Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen

PHNOM PENH — Bretton Sciaroni, an American expatriate and former ideologue of Ronald Reagan’s White House, makes a most unusual power broker in contemporary Cambodia. The portly Sciaroni is an official advisor to the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-time Khmer Rouge cadre. The Cambodian government has bestowed on Sciaroni the titles Minister Without Portfolio and His Excellency. From his office in an exclusive section of the city — neighbors include the president of the ruling party — he runs a consulting firm that brokers business deals on behalf of foreign investors — deals that often benefit well-connected companies and individuals like Sciaroni himself.

Sciaroni also appears to be a chief intermediary between the U.S. government and Cambodia, which has emerged in recent years as an unlikely American ally. The U.S. cut most assistance to Cambodia in 1997 after Hun Sen staged a coup but resumed aid a decade later. Competition with China for influence in the region and growing trade ties — the United States buys more than half of Cambodia’s apparel production, its primary export — are the primary factors behind the political warming. It probably didn’t hurt that Cambodia struck oil and Chevron got a stake in the most promising field. Today Cambodia is the third-largest recipient of U.S. aid in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and the Philippines. And Brett Sciaroni is, at least politically, the biggest American in the country.

Earlier this year Sciaroni met me for drinks at the Elephant Bar of the Raffles Hotel. Wearing a light-colored jacket and yellow tie and sporting gold-rimmed glasses and a thick gold bracelet, Sciaroni offered an upbeat view of his adopted country.

“This is very much an emerging economy and democracy,” he said while sipping from a glass of Chateau Batailley, a French Bordeaux. “There’s been a lot of political progress. The ruling party no longer intimidates the opposition.” He describes his own work in Cambodia in altruistic fashion, saying, “This is a country where you can make a difference. If you make a suggestion to a government official and he likes it, it will happen.”

Most independent observers have a different view of Cambodia under Hun Sen, who has held power since a 1997 coup. Forty percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day, and groups like Human Rights Watch and Global Witness have documented large-scale corruption and political repression.

“Cambodia is run by a kleptocratic elite that generates much of its wealth via the seizure of public assets, particularly natural resources,” Global Witness said in a 2007 report. According to opposition parliamentarian Son Chhay, Sciaroni “covers up the government’s bad practices and uses his connections to convince the U.S. to keep [supporting] the government.” And Dana Rohrabacher, the conservative California congressman who says he personally likes Sciaroni, told me Hun Sen had no genuine legitimacy and that “Brett has become part and parcel of a clique of the Cambodian elite that is neither democratic nor honest.”

Reagan’s flimflam man

How did a fervent right-wing anti-communist and old pal of Ollie North’s end up in Cambodia as the chief foreign advocate for a man who fought as a Khmer Rouge guerrilla against a U.S.-backed government before becoming head of the Vietnamese puppet regime that overthrew it? That was a big ideological leap, but Sciaroni’s chief talent — performing intellectual acrobatics for his paymasters, whoever they might be — has served him equally well in Washington and Phnom Penh.

(I repeatedly sought comment from Sciaroni after our interview in Phnom Penh, but he declined to reply to questions about Iran/contra and his other political activities in the U.S, or his business or political activities in Cambodia.)

By 1984, just five years after he received a law degree from UCLA, the sky seemed the limit for young Bretton Sciaroni. Following short stints at two right-wing think tanks and as a Commerce Department political appointee under President Reagan, he was named chief counsel to the President’s Intelligence Oversight Board. During this period, he provided legal arguments needed to move forward with Reagan’s Star Wars scheme (on the specious grounds that it didn’t violate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty) and with military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, which Congress had flatly forbidden.

When Iran-Contra investigators subsequently asked him why the administration turned to him for advice instead of to more experienced staff lawyers at the White House or Justice Department, Sciaroni replied, “Frankly … that thought has crossed my mind as well. I don’t know why my opinion was the only one.”

The reason, however, was quite apparent. Like John Yoo and other conservatives on whom the Bush administration relied for the flimflam needed to justify torturing terrorism suspects in violation of the Geneva Convention, Sciaroni was a loyalist who the Reagan administration knew would reach the conclusions it wanted.

Indeed, compared with Sciaroni, Yoo looks like Oliver Wendell Holmes. In 1986, Sciaroni wrote a series of opinions, including a memo that said North’s aid to the Contras was legal even though Congress had flatly banned any training “that amounts to participation in the planning or execution of military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua.” (Sciaroni determined that the ban didn’t cover “generic” military aid, which he expansively defined as including categories like marksmanship, intelligence reporting and the construction of fortifications.)

When he was later asked by a superior at the oversight board to investigate media accounts of illegal aid to the Contras, Sciaroni determined they were false, largely on the basis of a five-minute conversation with North. The latter denied everything, which was good enough for Sciaroni.

But Sciaroni soon crashed. During his 1987 testimony before the congressional committee investigating Iran-Contra, it emerged that he had passed the bar exam only on his fourth try (in three different states), and that he got the chief counsel’s position despite never having previously held a job in the legal profession. Before long he lost his government job and was scraping by as a fellow at the American Conservative Union and as a pro bono lobbyist for a group of right-wing Salvadorans close to that country’s murderous military-dominated regime.

When he learned in 1993 from Rohrabacher that Hun Sen was looking to hire an American attorney for a short-term assignment, Sciaroni was quick to seize the opportunity. He arrived right before the May 1993 elections, which were organized by the U.N. following the reign of the Khmer Rouge and years of civil war. The royalist party triumphed in the balloting but agreed to a power-sharing arrangement when Hun Sen threatened to lead an armed revolt.

“The funny thing is that if the CPP [Cambodian People’s Party] had won the election, I probably would have been back in the U.S. after two months,” Sciaroni told me at the Elephant Bar. “But they lost and they panicked. I had written up some things they liked, and they asked me to stay on.”

It seemed odd that the strongly conservative Rohrabacher, a strong critic of Hun Sen’s ever since the 1993 vote, would help Sciaroni get a job with the government, but the congressman confirmed the story during a phone conversation. It turned out that Rohrabacher and Sciaroni had known each other since their college days, when they were members of Young Americans for Freedom and Youth for Reagan.

“After the Iran-Contra scandal, all of Brett’s friends deserted him, which is typical of Washington,” Rohrabacher told me. “A Cambodian-American constituent told me that Hun Sen was going to hold free elections; he was looking for a lawyer to draw up an honest election code and was willing to pay top dollar. I knew Brett really needed the money and thought he’d be perfect for the job. And he did a good job — they did have a free and fair first-round vote. The only problem was that Hun Sen lost and didn’t abide by the results, and our government buckled. They should have told him, ‘You lost, get out,’ but instead they agreed to a compromise and Hun Sen became one of the two prime ministers.”

Rohrabacher was furious about the outcome, but Sciaroni continued to work for Hun Sen.

“He’s like a ‘Lord Jim’ character,” Rohrabacher told me of Sciaroni. “His own country abandoned him when Iran-Contra became a scandal. He became a destroyed human being who went overseas to start a new life.”

Spinning repression

Sciaroni’s close relationship with the regime became especially apparent after Hun Sen seized power in a bloody military coup in July 1997 that left at least 41 oppositionists dead. Enter Bretton Sciaroni, who assembled and directed a lobbying and public relations team that tried to spin the coup in Washington. The centerpiece of the campaign was a “white paper” that alleged that the royalist party had employed a “campaign of provocation” against the CPP and that the coup was therefore a legitimate preemptive measure by Hun Sen.

The Washington Times exposed the campaign, prompting outrage among Americans in Cambodia and some of Sciaroni’s right-wing comrades back home. When the Times asked him what help or advice he contributed to the white paper, “Sciaroni grimaced and responded, ‘No comment.’ ”

The following year, Sciaroni coordinated another P.R. campaign around an election that Hun Sen organized and handily won.

Rita Colorito, who worked on the campaign for an American lobbying firm recruited by Sciaroni, later wrote about her experience in an article called “Confessions of a Spin Doctor.” “The Cambodian People’s Party didn’t care about human rights progress,” she wrote. “It simply wanted favorable media coverage and renewed international aid.” Nonetheless, Hun Sen’s American spin team did its best to sell their client by “taking semantics to an absurdity,” Colorito wrote.

Sciaroni’s campaign misfired, though, when it persuaded Tina Rosenberg of the New York Times Magazine to come to Cambodia to report on Hun Sen’s inspired leadership. Rosenberg wasn’t impressed and wrote an article (under the headline “Hun Sen Stages an Election”) that said that since 1975, “Cambodia has suffered under an assortment of dreadful Governments, and Hun Sen has been in all of them.”

Petrified that Rosenberg’s story would cause them to lose their fat contract, the PR team held an “emergency phone conference” to spin the article to Hun Sen and convince him it wasn’t as bad as it looked.

Hun Sen apparently accepted the explanation. In 2002, his government granted Sciaroni Cambodian citizenship. Since then he has publicly lauded Sciaroni for “seeking justice for Khmers” and expressed hope that “he will continue to stay here with us.”

A bridge to U.S. business and government

Sciaroni’s success is based on a simple truth. Political contacts are the handmaiden of business operations the world over, but in a country like Cambodia — with its tiny intertwined political and economic elite — they are vital. “You get opportunities because you are close to the government,” a Westerner living in Phnom Penh told me. “You have to be in their good graces.” Sciaroni’s connections, this person said, run wide and deep: “Brett has been here since the early days, when things were very rough. There aren’t many [foreigners like that], and Brett is the only American.”

Numerous sources told me that Sciaroni’s closest contact in the regime is Sok An, the deputy prime minister and head of the council of ministers. Sciaroni has accompanied Sok An on international delegations and advised him during meetings with international agencies like the World Bank.

The State Department’s most recent annual report on human rights said that the CPP has “consolidated control of the three branches of government and other national institutions” and that the government “restricted freedom of speech and of the press … and at times interfered with freedom of assembly.” Sciaroni’s rosier assessment, which he offered when we met, is that “the electronic media is dominated by the government, but the print media is freewheeling and sometimes irresponsible. Elections are pretty good in a technical sense.”

During a speech at a 2007 investment conference in Cambodia he pitched Hun Sen’s authoritarian brand of government as a plus for business. “Investor confidence has been strengthened by the … stability in the officials you deal with,” he said. “You are not likely to see great swings in policy because of new officials coming on the scene.”

Sciaroni also pitched the regime during a 2009 visit to Cambodia by Virginia Sen. Jim Webb. “Sciaroni praised the Cambodian government’s regular dialogue with the private sector,” said a cable released by Wikileaks. “Sciaroni confidently asserted that no Amcham [American Chamber of Commerce] has as much influence on a government in Southeast Asia” as the one in Cambodia. (Sciaroni has headed the local American Chamber since it was founded in 1998.)

Son Chhay and other government critics I spoke with said they feared Sciaroni had played a role in softening American policy toward Cambodia, which until a few years ago placed a heavy emphasis on human rights. Nowadays, expanded trade and military cooperation get far higher billing. The United States has become “obsessed with the need for ‘dialogue’ with the government, and he is seen as a bridge for that,” one Cambodian activist, who asked not to identified, told me.

Sciaroni is not shy about what he can deliver for his customers. During his speech at the 2007 investment conference, Sciaroni explained how his firm had negotiated a major tax benefit for an American company that had balked at investing locally because the import of raw aluminum was taxed at a rate of 7 percent.

“In rapid succession we met various senior officials,” Sciaroni recounted. “[One of them] said ‘what would you like it [the rate] to be?’ and the company said ‘How about zero percent?’ And zero percent it was and is today.”

Sciaroni’s other clients have included Chevron and Mitsui, which hold stakes in Cambodia’s most promising oil field, and international mining firms like BHP Billiton, Mitsubishi and Oxiana. He has also worked with Raptor Forestry, which according to a business plan I obtained, is “investigating the potential” for large-scale timber and agricultural projects. Sciaroni, the plan says, received equity in the venture for providing legal services and his “network of local contacts.”

Sciaroni was listed on initial incorporation records as chairman of the board of a local subsidiary of another client, Paris-based CityStar for which he serves as legal counsel. CityStar set up shop in Cambodia in early 2007, almost precisely as the government was selling off for development public land near the coastal town of Sihanoukville. The process resulted in gorgeous beaches, islands and protected areas being purchased by well-connected companies on terms undisclosed to the public. CityStar, which plans to build luxury hotels and villas, won two concessions in a national park area as well as two other areas for development on separate islands off the coast of Sihanoukville.

And so it goes for Sciaroni, whose fleeting success in Ronald Reagan’s Washington served as a steppingstone for far bigger things in Cambodia. And with ties to the U.S. government warming and American firms like GE, DuPont and Microsoft setting up shop in Cambodia in recent years, the outlook for the future is bright.

“Opportunities abound,” Sciaroni told me of Cambodia, though he may as well have been describing his own good fortune in washing up here. “It’s a great environment.”

Ken Silverstein is a contributing editor at Harper’s magazine and an Open Society fellow. More Ken Silverstein

Labels: Bretton Sciaroni, Prime Minister Hun Sen

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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Khmer Rouge defense files suit against Hun Sen

By SOPHENG CHEANG

Defense lawyers in Cambodia's Khmer Rouge genocide trial filed a complaint Monday accusing Prime Minister Hun Sen of interfering in the proceedings.

Two lawyers for Nuon Chea alleged in a criminal complaint at Phnom Penh Municipal Court that Hun Sen and others in the government had blocked some witnesses from testifying and interfered with the defendants' right to a fair trial.

Previous similar challenges on side issues have failed to affect the proceedings.

Keo Ramy, a spokesman for Cambodia's Cabinet, said the government has not interfered in the tribunal's work and that Nuon Chea's lawyers were just carrying out a delaying tactic.

Nuon Chea, the No. 2 Khmer Rouge leader, is to go on trial with three other defendants late next month. The U.N.-backed tribunal is seeking justice for an estimated 1.7 million people who died of starvation, exhaustion, lack of medical care or torture during the communist Khmer Rouge's 1970s rule.

The four defendants have been indicted on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, religious persecution, homicide and torture.

Hun Sen has publicly chided and threatened the tribunal several times, saying it should not extend its prosecutions beyond the four people to be tried next month and one who has already been convicted. He says more trials could be divisive and even lead to civil war. Many believe, however, that Hun Sen fears his political allies could face indictment.

Some human rights groups accuse the U.N. of bending to Hun Sen's will at the cost of true justice.

Earlier this month, Siegfried Blunk -- the tribunal's German judge responsible for indictments -- resigned, alleging that government interference in the investigation of new cases could give the impression he was bowing to pressure.

Blunk defended his record, blaming government pressure for the lack of new cases. He cited Cambodia's information minister as saying in May that if investigating judges wanted to probe new cases, "they should pack their bags and leave."

Labels: hun sen, Khmer Rouge Tribunal

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Fears of Food Shortages Rise With Thai Floods

By Shibani Mahtani

Southeast Asia’s battle with some of the worst floods in decades is far from over, with waters seeping deeper into the Thai capital of Bangkok. But the United Nations is already warning that parts of Southeast Asia affected by the floods are facing “serious food shortages,” a problem caused by destroyed crops and compounded by the difficulty in delivering food assistance.

A report from the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization says that significant flooding and devastation across Southeast Asia – including Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand – has caused severe damage to housing, infrastructure and agriculture.

Official estimates indicate that 1.6 million hectares, or 12.5% the total rice farmland has been damaged in Thailand alone. In Cambodia, 12% of paddy fields have been destroyed, with another 7.5% in Laos, 6% in the Philippines and 0.4% in Vietnam according to the FAO. In Thailand, while no precise crop damage estimates are available, the FAO warned that the main rice season is at the critical growth stage and is likely to be affected the most.

The region has also seen scores of livestock killed or displaced, with significant numbers considered to still be at risk. In Thailand alone, 9.9 million head of livestock are at risk according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, though this number is set to rise as the flood situation worsens.

Diplomats and representatives of countries affected by the floods have continued to downplay fears of food shortages across Southeast Asia, where rice is the most important food.

“Of course there will be less output this year, but I think there will be enough for export and for the consumption inside Thailand,” said the Thai Ambassador to Singapore, Nopadol Gunavibool, at a media briefing reported in the Straits Times.

The Cambodia Ambassador to Singapore, Sin Serey, said that some farmers in Cambodia had switched to flood-resistant rice grains which could grow even if paddy fields were flooded. Both were speaking at an event to raise funds for flood victims in Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines.

In Singapore, even though roads have remained relatively dry except for some relatively inconsequential flash floods, some in the import-dependent city-state are still worried about the availability and price of rice. The issue was raised in Singapore’s parliament, but the Ministry of State for Trade and Industry was quick to allay fears that the city-state will be affected. Though rice prices have risen 9% in Singapore since January, Lee Yi Shyan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry said that Singapore imports rice from a variety of sources – including Vietnam, India and the United States.

Additionally, all rice importers in the city-state keep a stockpile of two month’s supply. The Ministry of Trade and Industry is continuing to watch the situation.

Countries affected by the floods, however, may not be as fortunate. The Ministry of Commerce in Thailand warned last week – before the worsening flood situation – that there could be a possibility of a rice shortage later in the year with 5-6 million tons of rice lost to the floods, and an additional 35 warehouses and rice mills devastated.

Labels: Flood, Thailand

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Thai-Cambodia ties on the mend, but Thaksin casts a shadow

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen in Phnom Penh on Thursday. REUTERS

by Pavin Chachavalpongpun | Today Online
09:01 AM Sep 17, 2011

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra ended her first visit to Cambodia on Thursday. Her brother, the self-exiled former Premier Thaksin - still considered by supporters as Thailand's "real" Prime Minister - arrived in Phnom Penh just one day after Ms Yingluck's trip.

The twin visits to Cambodia by the Shinawatras have received much publicity in both countries and in the region. This is because they signal a sea-change in Thai policy toward Cambodia which could lead to rapid progress in bilateral ties.

These ties were severely damaged by the so-called Thai nationalists, mostly from the yellow-shirt People Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who had politicised the issues in Thai-Cambodian relations in order to undermine the pro-Thaksin regime in the past. The previous government of Abhisit Vejjajiva, with a foreign minister who was opposed to Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, also had a large part in sustaining the neighbourly animosity.

Ms Yingluck returned home after a productive discussion with her counterpart, Mr Hun Sen, especially on the issue of the withdrawal of troops in the disputed areas surrounding the Preah Vihear Temple. Ms Yingluck and Mr Hun Sen agreed to allow an Indonesian monitoring team to witness the redeployment of their troops - a win-win for Thailand, Cambodia and the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN).

It was not revealed whether the two leaders also addressed the issue of oil and gas exploration in the Gulf of Thailand where both countries have long engaged in a boundary dispute. But it was almost certain that both premiers would aim to proceed with joint development, rather than begin the demarcation of the maritime border which would be an uphill task.

As for a request to release two Thais from the anti-Thaksin Patriots Network charged last December with espionage and illegal entry, the Cambodian Government made it clear that both would have to serve at least two thirds of their eight-year sentences. Ms Yingluck's offer to negotiate with Cambodia for their release was meant to send a strong message that her government was willing to help its domestic political enemies walk free from a Phnom Penh jail.

Yesterday, Thaksin took his turn to visit Phnom Penh. He holds no official position in Ms Yingluck's government, but has acted as if he was serving in the Thai cabinet. He has claimed that his visit was to assist in rebuilding trust and friendship with Cambodia. Apart from meeting with Mr Hun Sen, he is planning to play golf in Siem Reap and take part in a football match between red-shirt members and Cambodian footballers.

Thaksin's presence in Cambodia will definitely irritate his opponents in Bangkok, and could therefore complicate the work of Ms Yingluck's government in the rapprochement with Cambodia.

Wanted under Thai law on corruption charges, his appearance so close to home is a slap in the face for the traditional elites who have made efforts to block his entry to many foreign countries. The warm Cambodian hospitality will have boosted Thaksin's confidence to make his case to the world that he was in fact a legitimate leader overthrown by a military coup.

As a result, his visit could open the door for the Thai elites to strike back at Ms Yingluck's administration. When he was appointed as an economic advisor to the Cambodian government in 2009, then Prime Minister Abhisit had cut Thailand's relations with Cambodia.

Now, the back-to-back visits may raise concerns among anti-government factions about possible private deals on oil and gas investments between Thaksin and certain influential personalities in Cambodia. And while Ms Yingluck did not meet up with her brother in Phnom Penh, his rush to arrive in Cambodia unfortunately eclipsed his sister's official visit.

Finally, the fact that Mr Hun Sen rolled out the red carpet for the Shinawatras, including organising a football game, underscores the fact that Cambodia is dabbling in the Thai domestic political game - and apparently with the Yingluck government's blessing. It used to be the other way round - Thailand intervening in Cambodian politics since the peak of the Cold War.

It remains to be seen if Ms Yingluck's trip to Cambodia would help heal the deep wound in Thai-Cambodian relations in the long run. There are many contentious issues, worsened by the distortion of history and the misuse of nationalism on both sides.

Ms Yingluck will have to try harder if she wants to seriously improve her country's relations with Cambodia. But she must do this without Thaksin standing in the background.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun is a fellow at the Institute of South-east Asian Studies.

Labels: Prime Minister Hun Sen, Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck Shinawatra

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Friday, September 09, 2011

Cambodia: Officials, police disrupt rights training event again

By Aliran, on 9 September 2011

For the second time in less than a month, a human rights training event in Cambodia has been disrupted by men carrying AK-47s, reports the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

Village, commune and district authorities, together with police armed with AK47s, disrupted a human rights training event on 7 September. The event was organised by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) and the Natural Resources Protection Group (NRPG) in Mean Rith commune, Sandan district, Kampong Thom Province. Those involved in the disruption threatened to arrest the organixers if the event proceeded. It was the second such disruption in a month.

While no arrests were made, officials and police photographed individuals seeking to participate in the event. The involved in the event were community members affected by the ongoing destruction of Prey Lang forest or other land conflicts as well as event organisers and observers.

The training event was the first to be held by the CCHR and the NRPG following a media report in The Cambodia Daily on 6 September. The report quoted Kampong Thom provincial police chief Phan Sopheng as accusing the two groups of inciting people through the provision of human rights training. He threatened to seek the suspension of both groups if further training events were conducted.

On 6 September, the chief monk at Wat Kiribotaram, under pressure from commune and district level officials, withdrew the permission he previously granted to both groups for the use of the pagod. The groups were supposed to hold a training event on 8 September in Dang Kambith commune for another community affected by the destruction of Prey Lang.

This morning at 8.30am, staff from CCHR and NRPG arrived in Mean Rith commune to prepare the venue for today’s training event. The training was organised in response to information from community members that deforestation activities in the area had increased of late.

In total, 34 participants registered to take part in the training although organisers were informed by participants that others had been stopped from traveling to take part in the event. Shortly after the venue was prepared, officials and police arrived and informed CCHR and NRPG that, if they were to proceed with the event, they would be arrested.

Commune and district officials stated that the organisers had failed to provide adequate notice of the event. But the Law on Peaceful Demonstrations provides that no such notice is required for “education dissemination activities” including training events. The organisers had nevertheless informed the provincial authorities of the event in writing.

Under the direction of deputy governor of Sandan district, Div Hok, police photographed all participants who had registered for the event as well as the organisers and observers from The Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights (LICADHO) and The Community Legal Education Center (CLEC).

Div Hok requested that the organisers provide the identity cards of all participants and observers. This request was denied. After a two hour stand-off between the authorities and the organisers, the event was eventually allowed to proceed following a discussion with Sandan district council member Uch Bunhy.

In response to the intervention of officials and armed police, Ou Virak, President of CCHR, commented:

For the second time in less than a month, a human rights training event organised by CCHR and NRPG has been disrupted by men carrying AK-47s. Again, the authorities have claimed that CCHR and NRPG have failed to satisfy notification requirements that simply do not exist. To see the authorities resort to these kinds of tactics against ordinary citizens who simply want to inform themselves of their rights under Cambodian and international law is nothing short of shocking.

Nevertheless, what I will remember most from today is not the school yard bully-boy tactics deployed by the authorities; rather it is the defiance of the participants – ordinary people motivated by their desire to inform themselves of their human rights under Cambodian and international law facing down armed police.

Labels: Cambodian Centre for Human Rights

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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cambodia tribunal - judges bowing to political pressure?

Published on : 25 August 2011 - 10:41am | By International Justice Desk

Reuthers Pictures: Former Khmer Rouge president Khieu Samphan (2nd row from front, C, in glasses) sits at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) on the outskirts of Phnom Penh June 29, 2011. The four most senior surviving members of Cambodia's murderous Khmer Rouge regime went on trial for war crimes on Monday, three decades after its "year zero" revolution marked one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century.

Judges will announce “sometime next year” if two politically sensitive cases will be heard at Cambodia’s tribunal, according to the court’s international co-prosecutor. The decision will hinge on whether the suspects can be considered “senior leaders or those most responsible” for crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge regime.

By Jared Ferrie, Kampong Chhnang

Andrew Cayley made the comments during a presentation to about 70 teachers attending a training course on Khmer Rouge history. In a question and answer period following his talk, one teacher asked about the status of the court's third and fourth cases (003 and 004), which the government has warned will not be “allowed” to go to trial.

Cayley noted that prosecutors built those cases before he was appointed to the court in 2009.

“They were put into my lap,” he told the teachers. “The only thing I can do is follow the law and the rules of the court in addressing these case. Ultimately, it will be a matter for the judges to decide whether people involved in these cases were senior leaders or those most responsible.”

Mid-ranking cadres
The identities of the suspects have not been released, but leaked documents reveal that 003 involves the heads of the Khmer Rouge navy and air force, while the suspects in 004 were mid-ranking cadres who allegedly oversaw mass killings and other atrocities in areas under their control.

In a recent statement, the co-investigating judges said they had “serious doubts about whether the suspects (in 004) are ‘most responsible’”. But the judges shared no information about the nature of those doubts.

In an interview last month with VOA, Investigating Judge Siegfried Blunk expressed similar doubts about the suspects in 003.

Political pressure
Observers worry that such statements indicate the judges are bowing to political pressure and preparing to dismiss the cases. The judges ignited an ongoing controversy when they closed down the investigation into 003 despite failing to interview suspects or examine sites that may contain mass graves.

Cayley has lodged an appeal with the Pre-Trial Chamber, which can ask the judges to re-open the investigation. He said in an interview that Blunk’s statements regarding doubts that the suspects fall under the jurisdiction of the court are premature.

“I believe that you’ve actually got to carry out a full investigation before you can make that determination of whether somebody is either senior or most responsible,” he said.

An August 5 “Court Report”, released by the public affairs section of the tribunal, notes that investigations are ongoing into 004. An investigating judge interviewed key witnesses in July, and legal staff members are examining more than 50,000 pages of “evidentiary material”, according to the report.

On August 19, the court also released a redacted version of Cayley’s appeal to the Pre-Trial Chamber – a move Cayley had requested in its text.

Inadequate investigation
Among other arguments, the appeal states that the investigation carried out by the investigating judges was inadequate and did not produce enough information to determine whether the suspects fall under the court’s jurisdiction.

“Given that the PTC (Pre-Trial Chamber) has ruled that jurisdictional issues are fundamental, without further investigations it is highly possible that the entire Case 003 could be dismissed,” the document reads.

In an interview, Cayley noted that Blunk told VOA that he and his Cambodian counterpart, You Bunleng, developed a criteria to determine whether suspects fall under the jurisdiction of the court, under the categories of senior leaders or those most responsible”.

“My office will be asking for those criteria because we haven’t seen them so far,” he said. “And certainly when we can make an assessment ourselves whether that test actually falls within the remit of international criminal law.”

Jurisdiction
He added that the Supreme Court Chamber is expected to issue a judgement soon regarding the court’s first case, which will deal with the issue of jurisdiction.

“I anticipate they will be coming up with their own set of criteria which Judge Blunk will be bound by,” he said.

Cayley was referring to an upcoming judgment in response to an appeal by Duch, a Khmer Rouge prison chief who was convicted last summer. He appealed his sentence, arguing that he had no choice but to follow orders and thus did not fall under the court’s jurisdiction.

Cayley said the court is expected to issue a verdict by the end of this year.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Labels: Andrew Cayley, Khmer Rouge, Khmer Rouge Tribunal

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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Cambodia shrugs off aid curb

A Cambodian worker (C) stands on a pipe pumping sand into the Boeung Kak lake in central Phnom Penh on August 16, 2011. Cambodia has moved to resolve a high-profile dispute about a mass eviction from a lakeside area in the capital after the World Bank froze lending to the impoverished nation over the row.

By Brian McCartan | Asia Times Online

Cambodian leaders have shrugged off a World Bank move this month to suspend new lending due to state-sponsored, large-scale evictions to clear land for development projects. While rising access to private Asian capital, particularly from China, has helped Cambodia weather previous Western donor pressure for reform, the socio-economic costs of the latest sanction could be much higher.

The World Bank had come under pressure from local and foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to take a tough stance against Cambodia's government in response to well-documented forced evictions of communities. The issue centered on a large-scale urban development project planned for central Phnom Penh at Boeung Kak lake where many of the residents are involved in catering to a growing tourist industry.

The pressure increased late last year after an internal investigation found that the World Bank had violated its own social and environmental policies in supporting the project. It is being led by the privately-held Cambodian Shukaku company, which signed a 99-year lease with the government in 2007 to develop Boeung Kak and the surrounding area into a district of luxury apartments and high-end shops.

The company is chaired by Lao Meng Khin, a powerful senator affiliated with the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and a close associate of Prime Minister Hun Sen. Shukaku is partnered with the Inner Mongolia Erdos Hongjun Investment Co Ltd of China, which has pledged broadly to spend US$3 billion in Cambodia on property development, metal processing and power generation.

However, the joint venture has raised some eyebrows due to the unlisted Chinese company's murky background and ownership. Critics say that the company has no proven expertise in any of the areas in which it has pledged to invest, and there is an unusual lack of publicity around a company that has promised to commit such a large amount of capital outside China.

The developers began pumping sand into the lake in 2008, flooding homes and virtually wiping out the once tranquil lake's ecology. Land holders have had no say in the process and have been accused by the government as illegal squatters on state-owned land. These accusations, NGOs say, run counter to Cambodia's land law, which provides protections against evictions to long-time land holders. Many of the residents at Boeung Kak have lived there for decades.

However, the lake's residents were excluded from a process organized by the World Bank to adjudicate property claims. Over 2,000 have already been forced from their homes and another 10,000 now face eviction. The international lender has since called on the Cambodian government to halt the evictions and agree to fair compensation for land holders. After failing to reach an agreement, the World Bank stated on August 9, "Until an agreement is reached with the residents of Boeung Kak lake we do not expect to provide new lending to Cambodia."

The World Bank has lent Cambodia between US$50 million and $70 million annually for the past few years with the last disbursement made in December 2010. Most of the loans have been committed to health and education projects. Despite these capital commitments, Cambodian leaders have so far shrugged off the World Bank's statement about withholding future loans.

Analysts say they can afford to, given the billions of dollars of aid and investment the government now receives from China without strings attached. Cambodia's foreign donors pledged $1.1 billion in aid last year, with China committing the most of any country. China has also become Cambodia's largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI), with stated plans to spend $8 billion on 360 different projects during the first seven months of 2011.

It is difficult to separate Chinese foreign aid from investment since they are often intertwined. Chinese companies receive government subsidies to participate in projects that by Western standards would often be considered as development related. During a 2010 visit by Hun Sen to Beijing, China promised to provide a $300 million loan to construct two national highways and irrigation projects. Other deals concluded during the visit, mostly related to infrastructure, were worth around $293 million.

Hun Sen has made it clear in several speeches that he prefers Chinese to Western aid due to the lack of attached conditions. Western donors often predicate their aid packages on democratic reforms and improvements in human rights and counter-corruption. Hun Sen is apparently not alone in this opinion: the opaque regimes in Laos and Myanmar have also shown a preference for Chinese aid and investment for similar reasons.

Sphere of interest
Together with Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos are often considered Beijing's "sphere of interest" in Southeast Asia.

China became Laos' largest foreign investor in 2010 with total investments amounting $2.9 billion since 2000. Much of China's investment there is in mining, hydropower projects, agribusiness and services. It has also secured a prominent place as an aid donor through large-scale infrastructure projects such as the construction of Route 3 connecting southwestern China with northern Thailand through Laos.

Some of these projects have aimed more at securing goodwill, such as the widening of the Central Avenue in downtown Vientiane and the construction of the National Cultural Hall, than making money. That's evidenced in the fact that many loans are dispensed interest-free.

Last year, largely Western aid agencies and donors cautioned Laos about racing ahead with a development plan based too heavily on natural resource exploitation without enough emphasis on health, education and capacity development among the local population.

The Lao government has stated some of its own concerns over investment, especially in terms of long-term and concessions, such as those granted to Chinese investors to build casino complexes. However, the government has made it clear it intends to reduce its high dependency on official development assistance in favor of increased access to Asian private capital, especially from China.

In Myanmar, where the country ostensibly made a transition from direct military rule to a democratic system earlier this year, there is increasing Chinese investment as the country's leaders continue to look to Beijing for economic as well as diplomatic support. Much of China's investment is in natural resource extraction, hydropower projects, and infrastructure, but there is a growing interest in acquiring agricultural land, especially for rubber.

Myanmar's rulers have long relied on Chinese investment and aid to make up for a lack of development assistance from the West. Sanctions and concern over human-rights issues have prevented Western donors from providing funding at levels similar to that donated to Laos and Cambodia. Human-rights and political opposition groups have long argued that Chinese aid has allowed the military to stay in power and continue to repress the population.

China plans in coming years to further expand its trade with the region and is making moves to develop more extensive physical trade arteries. Beijing has announced plans to pour money into road and rail projects in coming years, linking its landlocked southwestern region with ports in Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia. It is hoped this will increase trade, promote regional investment and tourism, as well as strengthen ties with the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This may be music to the ears of Southeast Asian policymakers who are interested in developing their countries' economic potential as well as improving their own financial situations given the high levels of corruption in the region. However, growing Chinese influence, especially in the economic sphere, is becoming increasingly worrisome to the average farmer and shopkeeper in these countries.

For instance, there is growing discontent in Laos over what some see as too much Chinese influence in the country. Laos are especially concerned by the growing number of Chinese migrating to work in the country on Chinese projects. This became especially acute in Vientiane when plans for an urban development project near the iconic That Luang monastery came to light.

The project, which was widely perceived as building a "Chinese city" in the heart of the capital, has stirred nationalistic responses from the city's growing middle class. In addition to a penchant by Chinese companies to import Chinese workers to work on their projects, Laos are worried those workers will not return home after the projects are finished, as has been the case on certain roadway projects in remote northern areas.

Land concessions are also an issue, especially in the north where Chinese companies have been able to acquire large tracts of land for plantation agriculture. While many villagers have been able to arrange contracting agreements to provide rubber to Chinese companies, others say they have been forced to convert their land to rubber cultivation. The north is also the location of two Chinese casino, hotel and shopping complexes at Boten and Huay Xai, where sovereignty has seemingly been handed over to Chinese developers.

There is also a longstanding, but largely quiet, animosity towards Chinese influence in Myanmar. Growing Chinese economic influence in recent years has heightened a perception of Chinese as untrustworthy businessmen bent on taking over the country.

As evidence, many Burmese point to the large areas of Mandalay and other cities which have become crowded with shops with store signs only in Chinese and catering to the growing number of Chinese moving into them. This perception apparently extends to the upper echelons of government, where some leaders are reportedly alarmed by China's growing economic clout vis-a-vis the local population.

For the average Myanmar farmer, especially in the country's northern region where there is an increase in China-linked agribusiness projects, there is concern over being evicted from their lands in favor of commercial plantations. Human rights groups have documented this practice throughout the country in a process often carried out by military units.

Others are worried their land will be taken for infrastructure and other projects. Environmental groups have documented the confiscation of land to build a deep sea port in Myanmar's south that will ship oil and gas through pipelines being constructed by Chinese companies to China's land-locked southwestern region.

While not solely the work of Chinese companies, rising evictions in Cambodia are creating a huge number of landless displaced people across the country. Some analysts speculate that the sheer number of people displaced could lead to social stability problems in the future as Cambodians forced off their land and without other viable economic options become increasingly desperate.

Unless Cambodian government policymakers make a shift from their headlong rush for development and reckless policies to supply China's demand for natural resources, agricultural products and diplomatic allies, the risk will rise that their development projects cause more social problems than they resolve.

It's a message the World Bank has delivered belatedly with its suspension of new lending and advice Cambodia's leaders would be wise to heed if they are to maintain social stability amid rapid economic growth and rising Chinese influence.

Brian McCartan is a freelance journalist. He may be reached at brianpm@comcast.net.

Labels: Boeung Kak Lake, Lao Meng Khin, Prime Minister Hun Sen, World Bank, Yeay Phu

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Monday, August 22, 2011

AP ENTERPRISE: Sand for Sale; Environment Ravaged

By DENIS D. GRAY Associated Press
KOH KONG, Cambodia August 22, 2011 (AP)

Round a bend in Cambodia's Tatai River and the virtual silence of a tropical idyll turns suddenly into an industrial nightmare.

Lush jungle hills give way to a flotilla of dredgers operating 24 hours a day, scooping up sand and piling it onto ocean-bound barges. The churned-up waters and fuel discharges, villagers say, have decimated the fish so vital to their livelihoods. Riverbanks are beginning to collapse, and the din and pollution are killing a promising ecotourism industry.

What is bad news for the poor, remote Tatai community is great tidings for Singapore, the wealthy city-state that is expanding its territory by reclaiming land from the sea. Sand from nearby countries is the prime landfill and also essential building material for Singapore's spectacular skyline.

As more countries ban its export to curb environmental damage — entire Indonesian islands have been all but wiped off the map — suppliers to Singapore scour the region for what still can be obtained, legally or not. Cambodia, a poor country where corruption is rife and laws are often flouted, is now the No. 1 source.

Singapore is by no means the only nation taking part in what is a global harvest of sand from beaches, rivers and seabeds. Officials and environmentalists from China to Morocco have voiced concern and urged curbs. As construction booms in emerging economies and more sources dry up, however, exploitation of the remaining ones is likely to intensify.

Sand mining began anew in May on southwestern Tatai River, which empties into the ocean almost directly north of Singapore, across 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) of open water.

Despite denials by the main owner of sand mining rights in Koh Kong province, two Cambodian officials told The Associated Press that the sand is destined for the island nation.

Singapore will not say where its sand comes from; the Construction and Building Authority said it is not public information. The National Development Ministry said the state's infrastructure development company buys it from "a diverse range of approved sources."

The mining visible on the Tatai River clearly violates some of Cambodia's own legal restrictions, not to mention a recent government order to suspend it temporarily.

Vessels of a Vietnamese company were tracked by boat from about 10 kilometers (6 miles) upriver to the Gulf of Thailand, where nearly a dozen seagoing barges, tugs hovering around them, took on the sand.

The AZ Kunming Singapore, a 5,793-ton (5,255-metric ton) barge pulled by the AZ Orchid, was seen arriving empty from the open ocean, its tug flying a Singaporean flag. Both are registered with the Singapore government, which would not comment on the barge's cargo or destination.

Ships from several countries, including China, were spotted in sand-mining operations in Koh Kong province, where residents joked about going to Singapore and planting a Cambodian flag there.

The vessels included one from Winton Enterprises, a Hong Kong-registered group that was subcontracted to export sand to Singapore, according to Global Witness, a London-based environmental group that published a detailed account of the trade last year.

The report said that miners had penetrated protected mangrove, estuary and sea grass areas, breeding grounds for marine life along a coastline and hinterland harboring some of the country's last wilderness areas.

Cambodia's cabinet spokesman, Siphan Phay, who was investigating the issue in Koh Kong, appeared angry that the temporary halt order was being ignored. He described the activity as illegal mining destined for Singapore, a surprising statement given that government ministers awarded the concession.

A police officer in the economic crime division, who demanded anonymity given the issue's sensitivity, also said the sand is going to Singapore.

Ly Yong Phat, who holds the major concession in Koh Kong, has at times openly acknowledged the Singapore connection. But in a recent AP interview, amid tightening restrictions and mounting criticism, he said his company had not shipped sand to Singapore for more than a year because "our sand did not meet their standards."

The dredging, he added, was for local sale and to deepen river channels.

However, a Malaysian company, Benalec Holdings, said it was ready to tap up to 530,000 tons for a reclamation project in Singapore from several sources in Cambodia, including Ly Yong Phat's LYP Group.

Known as the "King of Koh Kong," Ly Yong Phat is one of Cambodia's biggest tycoons and a senator with close ties to Prime Minister Hun Sen. His holdings include hotels, a casino and agricultural plantations.

Land reclamation has enlarged Singapore by more than a fifth, and up to 100 square kilometers (nearly 40 square miles) more are slated for reclamation by 2030. What was once seabed is now Changi, among the world's finest airports, and more recently the Marina Bay complex, which includes a 2,560-room hotel and casino developed by Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Mountains of sand are needed for such fills. U.N. statistics show Singapore imported 14.6 million tons last year, ranking it among the world's top customers. Global Witness estimated that nearly 800,000 tons a year, worth some $248 million, were streaming to Singapore from Koh Kong alone.

The U.N. figures show that Cambodia supplied 25 percent of Singapore's imports in 2010, followed by Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines. With its secrecy and lax enforcement of environmental regulations, Myanmar could emerge as a major supplier.

The damage caused by sand extraction has spurred clampdowns on exports.

Malaysia imposed a ban in 1997, though the media there frequently report on massive smuggling into neighboring Singapore. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad complains that sand pirates are "digging Malaysia and giving her to other people."

An Indonesian ban came in 2007, following years of strained relations with Singapore over the sand on islands lying between the two countries. When miners finished with Nipah Island, reportedly all that was left was three or four palm trees protruding above the waterline. Environmental groups say smuggling is believed to be continuing.

Vietnam banned exports late last year.

Cambodia outlawed the export of sand from rivers in 2009 but allows it from some seabeds. Recently, some government officials said that rivers where seawater flowed into fresh water, replenishing sand naturally, were exempt.

Global Witness spokesman Oliver Courtney said the trade in Cambodia revealed a "mismatch between Singapore's reliance on questionably sourced sand and its position as a leader for sustainable development." The city-state prides itself on environmentally sound urban planning.

The dredging of the Tatai River began on May 17 "with a fury," creating a veritable traffic jam on the water, said Janet Newman, owner of the riverside Rainbow Lodge.

"Before you could see crab pots bobbing in the river everywhere and fishermen going out. Now there is nothing and nobody," the British woman said.

Chea Manith of the Nature Tourism Community of Tatai said 270 families along the river have seen an estimated 85 percent drop in catch of fish, crab and lobsters and were being forced to eke out a living from small garden plots. Tourists have all but vanished.

Armed with a petition, village leaders, tourism operators and a wildlife group met with Ly Yong Phat in early July. He appeared sympathetic, Newman said. He substantially reduced the dredging and has promised to stop altogether in October.

A subsequent letter from the Minister of Water Resources and Meteorology ordered the LYP group to halt operations temporarily on the Tatai, citing a breach of regulations. The letter was obtained by Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post newspaper, which made it available to the AP.

Hun Sen himself expressed concern over the mining in the river.

"We hoped that the prime minister's recent promise to review the impacts of the sand trade would lead to proper regulation of dredging operations," said Courtney of Global Witness. "Unfortunately, the pledge does not appear to have been followed up with meaningful action."

The mining has continued on the Tatai, and violations, such as dredging closer than 150 meters (165 yards) from riverbanks, were clearly evident.

The Post also obtained a Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy letter extending LYP Group's concession in Koh Kong until Sept. 2012.

"We are just little people. We cannot do anything," Chea Manith said.

Newman sounded a more optimistic note. "It's my hope that the LYP Group will become sympathetic through this experience of having seen the reaction from people passionate about protecting their environment," she said. "It would be sad if they just went somewhere else to dump the same on others."

———

Associated Press writers Sean Yoong in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Alex Kennedy in Singapore; Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar; and Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed to this report.

Labels: Cambodian Sand, King of Koh Kong, Ly Yong Phat, Singapore

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Cambodian Villagers Mimic Avatar Characters to Defend Forest

More than 100 Cambodian villagers dressed themselves as characters from the hit movie Avatar Thursday to protest what they say is the destruction of Southeast Asia's largest remaining lowland evergreen forest.

The villagers, wearing green and blue face paint, demonstrated in front of the royal palace in Phnom Penh and then spread across the city distributing leaflets. Police arrested dozens of them but released them without charges.

The villagers say about 200,000 people rely on the Prey Lang forest for their livelihoods. But they say it is under increasing threat from illegal logging and exploitation by rubber and mining companies. They compared themselves to the forest people in Avatar, who also fought to defend their forest from greedy corporations.

The Prey Lang forest spans about 3,600 square kilometers in northern Cambodia and is home to a number of rare plants and endangered animals.

Source: http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/08/18/cambodian-villagers-mimic-avatar-characters-to-defend-forest/

Labels: forest ecosystems

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Silencing Cambodia's Honest Brokers

By ELIZABETH BECKER | The New York Times
Published: August 17, 2011

WASHINGTON — This year is the 20th anniversary of the Paris peace accords that ended the Cambodian war and any further threat from the murderous Khmer Rouge. It required all the major powers — the United States, leading European countries, the former Soviet Union and China — as well as most Asian nations to come up with an accord, a rare achievement. In a speech last week, Gareth Evans said that during his eight years as the Australian foreign minister “nothing has given me more pleasure and pride than the Paris peace agreement concluded in 1991.”

I reported from Paris on the negotiations, which took several years of convoluted diplomacy since few countries or political parties had clean hands in the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge. When the deal was finally signed in October of 1991 there were self-congratulations all around, champagne and a huge sigh of relief that Cambodia could move on to peace and democracy.

It didn’t turn out that way. Cambodia today is essentially ruled by a single political party with little room for an opposition, has a weak and corrupt judiciary, and the country’s most effective union leaders have been murdered.

That wasn’t the scenario envisioned in Paris. Now, just as 20th anniversary commemorations are approaching, one of the few groups still enjoying the freedoms created under the peace accords are about to be silenced. The government of Cambodia is poised to enact a law that will effectively hamstring the country’s lively civil society and NGOs, among the last independent voices in Cambodia.

In Paris, the framework for Cambodia’s democracy was a much debated element of the peace accords. That debate led to Cambodia’s Constitution and its guarantee of freedom of association and speech. The proposed law on civil society would deprive these independent Cambodian groups of those rights and undermine much of their work representing the country’s most vulnerable citizens — advocating for their rights and dispensing aid, largely paid for with foreign donations. Most recently, these civil society groups exposed the government’s eviction of the poor from valuable land in Phnom Penh. As a result, the World Bank is suspending all new loans to Cambodia until those made homeless receive proper housing.

Under the new law, these independent citizen groups would have to register with the government and win approval to operate under vague criteria; if the government disapproves of a group’s behavior it can dissolve it using equally vague criteria. There would be no right of appeal.

The normally fractious Cambodian civil groups have joined together against the new law and asked the government for serious amendments to protect basic constitutional rights. They were rejected and only superficial changes were made. With little time left, one of their NGO leaders made an emergency trip to Washington to meet with international organizations, foreign embassies and the U.S. government, asking them to speak out loudly against the measure before it passes in the coming weeks.

“If this law is passed we will be silenced. Foreign donors will give us less money. The people who will suffer are the poor,” said Borithy Lun, the head of the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia. He led a meeting at the offices of Oxfam America, where I am a member of the board of directors. The law would diminish the ability of international NGOs, like Oxfam, to help the poor in Cambodia as well, since it requires all foreign nonprofit organizations to work directly with official agencies, essentially becoming an arm of the government.

All of this will have a direct impact on Cambodia’s impressive economic gains. Foreign businesses have come to rely on Cambodia’s civil society groups to act as honest brokers, pointing out the pitfalls in an economy marked by corruption and weak law enforcement. Foreign governments and institutions have already warned the Cambodian government that if the proposed civil society law is passed, they will rethink the $1 billion in aid given to Cambodia every year, which is roughly half of the country’s budget. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has spoken up repeatedly in favor of strong, independent civil societies and Cambodia has made no secret of its desire to continue improving relations with the United States.

As the commemorations of the Paris peace accords begin, with more champagne and seminars, instead of looking backward to past glory, it might be better to focus on today and reinforce the accords. Countries that are rightfully proud of their role in bringing peace to Cambodia are in a good position to require preserving the independence of civil society when Cambodia comes asking for their votes at the United Nations this fall.

The Cambodian government has two big objectives: It wants to win one of the nonpermanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, and to get the United Nations to help resolve the Thai-Cambodia border dispute centered on the temple of Preah Vihear. Cambodia has dispatched senior diplomats to countries large and small to win their votes and has initiated border talks with the government of the new Thai prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. The price for greater influence and prestige in the world should be reinforcing democracy, not diminishing it.

Elizabeth Becker is a former New York Times correspondent and author of “When the War Was Over,” a history of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge.

Labels: 1991 Paris Peace Accords, Prime Minister Hun Sen

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Friday, August 05, 2011

Cambodian Capital Modernizing Fast

Robert Carmichael | Phnom Penh (Voice of America)

Photo: Soeung Sophat, VOA Khmer- This July 2010 photo shows construction of high-rise buildings along Preah Monivong Boulevard, Phnom Penh's main thoroughfare.

Ten years ago, the infrastructure in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, was in poor condition. Power outages were frequent. Heavy rains and poor telecommunications slowed commerce and limited outside contacts.

But in the past decade, new roads and high-rise buildings have changed the landscape. And in July, the nation's first stock exchange and a multiplex cinema opened.

Phnom Penh has several active cinemas dating from the 1950s, but they mainly screen the small number of domestically produced films or translated Thai imports. Pirated DVDs have cut into their business, keeping people at home.

Until July, the only way to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster in a theater was to catch a plane to Thailand or Vietnam.

But now, for $6, one can go to the new air-conditioned, three-screen Legend cinema in central Phnom Penh, grab a box of popcorn and settle down to watch Kung-Fu Panda 2 in 3D (three dimensions).

Michael Chai, a director at WesTec Media, which built the cinema, is aiming at a young, internet savvy Cambodian market.

“If I look at Facebook for example, I've been looking at the numbers. In May 2010 there were only about 50,000 of them on Facebook. May 2011 we had almost 400,000. So that figure alone, that kind of growth, speaks a lot already. And most of them on Facebook are communicating to each other in English.”

While it would take most Cambodians several days to earn the price of the $6 ticket, the owners are betting that a growing middle-class will become regular customers.

Prum Seila, a 24-year-old office worker, is in Chai's target demographic. Just a few weeks after the theater opened, Seila has visited twice.

“I went there to see the Transformers 3. And I've never seen 3D in my life. I just saw the Transformers 3, and I know that in Transformers 3 there is a scene in Cambodia and [so] we should have seen it. And it is just kind of supporting stuff like that in Cambodia," Seila says.

The growth in Phnom Penh has been fueled in part by garment factories, an economic pillar in Cambodia, that are located around the capital, drawing young workers to the city.

The jobs and new technology are changing things quickly. A recent survey indicates more than 90 percent of young Cambodians have access to a mobile phone. Internet usage, though low, has doubled in a year to 6 percent.

Prum Seila, the eager movie-goer, grew up in the capital. He says he and his friends now spend their free time hanging out in food halls, scores of gleaming new coffee shops and entertainment venues named Diamond Island and Dreamland, where you can sing karaoke.

He says shopping is popular.

“The people like me they have jobs, they have money," he says. "They save money to buy expensive brands like Apple, iPhone. Some of the girls they try to buy the clothes from internet, from Facebook.”

In July, officials opened the country's first stock exchange. Although no companies have yet listed, the government says three state-owned firms will do so later this year. Others are expected to follow.

Stephen Higgins heads ANZ-Royal Bank, a joint venture between the Australian banking giant and a Cambodian firm.

“Long-term the stock exchange will be a positive for Cambodia," Higgens says. "It will help raise funds for development. It provides a means for private equity firms to exit their investments, which is very important for them when they first decide to invest. But these things are going to take time. Anyone who has a short-term horizon with the stock exchange, they're going to be disappointed.”

Ten years ago only a handful of banks had the ability to dispense cash over the counter. Now there are hundreds of cash machines from around 30 local banks, and some offer electronic payment of utility bills.

“Cambodia is coming from a long way back, in terms of its development generally but including financial services," says ANZ's Higgins. "It's catching up rapidly.”

Despite the changes in the capital, what happens here generally does not affect the 80 percent of Cambodians who live in rural areas. Income inequality has worsened in recent years as economic growth benefited the wealthy more than the poor.

The country's hospitals and health clinics still offer poor quality healthcare; corruption is rampant; and the judiciary is woefully inadequate. Poverty hovers around 30 percent.

But some changes do help: better roads and access to mobile phones, for instance, make a profound difference to the lives of the majority of the country who rely on agriculture for their livelihood. And the government hopes that the improvements that have come to the Phnom Penh will eventually ripple out across the rest of the country.

Labels: Cinema, Michael Chai, Phnom Penh

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Article Titles

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