A Change of Guard

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Tuesday 31 January 2012

Hun Sen orders TTY to send gunman to court

The guard seen here firing at the villagers from the roof of a bulldozer.

Published: 31-Jan-12

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) – Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered TTY Co owner Na Marady Tuesday to send a company security guard to court for seriously injuring four villagers in a shooting incident in Snoul district in Kratie province earlier this month and to apologize to local residents at the same time.

“The company knows exactly who the gunman is since he was employed to work for the company,” he said during a road inauguration ceremony in Sen Monorom, adding that police would arrest the company president if he was not handed over.

“I have told the Ministry of Agriculture to examine clearly the impacts on local residents before offering land concessions to the private sector,” Hun Sen added, warning companies that they would lose such concessions if they violated the rights of local residents.

In mid-January, the TTY guard was seen opening fire on about 400 residents of Snoul who were protesting against the company for bulldozing their crops. TTY has a concession for planting rubber trees.

Nuon Chea makes first references in trial to Heng Samrin, Chea Sim [Heng Samrin and Chea Sim were good friends of Nuon Chea]

Published: 31-Jan-12

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) - Former Khmer Rouge chief ideologist Nuon Chea (pictured) on Tuesday made the first references in his trial to senior Cambodian People's Party leaders Heng Samrin and Chea Sim.

“Heng Samrin was a poor, helpful and brave man who could be patient in all types of situations. He took me to Vietnam and he became a commander after Pol Pot began ruling the country," he told the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

"Another one was Chea Sim who was as poor as Heng Samrin and he was also from a clan in Tbong Kmom district.

We were also former classmates."
Nuon Chea, also known as Brother Number Two for his role as Pol Pot's deputy in the Communist Party of Kampuchea, also accused the United States and Vietnam of occupying Cambodia.

"Vietnam was like a python swallowing a rabbit," he said. "I don’t care if I stay in jail but I was concerned about the nation.”

Nuon Chea, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and former head of state Khieu Samphan are on trial for war crimes and genocide allegedly committed during the period of Khmer Rouge rule between 1975 and 1979.

After liberation from the Pol Pot regime in 1979, Heng Samrin served as president and leader of the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party while Chea Sim served as president of the National Assembly elected in 1981. Today, Heng Samrin is president of the National Assembly and Chea Sim is president of the Senate.

SRP says vote-buying fine not nearly enough

By Meas Sokchea
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

A Cambodian People’s Party member found guilty of attempted vote-buying in last Monday’s Senate election had been let off too lightly with a fine and should face legal action, an opposition Sam Rainsy Party councillor said yesterday.

At a hearing of the Battambang Provincial Election Commission last week, CPP member Cheam Pe A was fined US$1,230 after he was caught on tape offering SRP Tuol Ta Ek commune councillor Mok Ra $700 to cast his vote for the ruling party.

SRP Battambang provincial council member Chea Chiv said he would appeal against the decision, insisting the National Election Committee should pursue Cheam Pe A in the courts and temporarily remove his right to vote.

“We received the decision of the PEC, but we request that the NEC add punishments against Mr Cheam Pe A, deleting his name from the voter registry for five years,” he said.

CPP member Run Thel, who can also allegedly be heard speaking in the taped conversation with Mok Ra, should also face penalties, Chea Chiv said.

Cheam Pe A could not be reached for comment, but his lawyer, Ham Mony, said his client had accepted the PEC’s decision and would pay the fine.

“I have already discussed with my client about this case. So I have decided not to appeal any more. The PEC has already decided, and we will comply according to this decision,” Ham Mony said.

In the lead-up to Monday’s Senate election, the SRP repeatedly made allegations that CPP members were paying money to secure votes from opposition councillors or convince them to defect.

On Friday last week, three SRP commune councillors from Kandal province defected to the CPP, citing a lack of democratic structure and disregard of members as the factors that led to their decisions.

As expected, the CPP dominated the Senate election, with preliminary results from the NEC suggesting they had won 46 of 57 contested seats, although the SRP has hailed the result as victory for the party after increasing its standing from two seats to 11.

Oil production delayed

The picture of Chevron oil rig.

By Tom Brennan
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

The Kingdom’s much-hyped deadline of tapping its first oil reserves by December 12, 2012 – or 12-12-12 – will not be met, a government spokesman said yesterday.

Chevron Overseas Petroleum (Cambodia) Ltd, which is now exploring the Kingdom’s offshore Block A in the Gulf of Thailand, has notified the Cambodian government that no oil extraction would take place this year, the spokesman said.

“2012 is not possible,” Ek Tha, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said yesterday by phone.

A representative from Chevron early this month met with the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority to deliver the news, he said, though the reasons for the decision were not discussed.

Ek Tha would not disclose the name of the Chevron representative, although Chevron Overseas Petroleum (Cambodia)’s current president is Steve Glick, who arrived in Phnom Penh last April.

While a new tentative schedule was raised at the meeting, neither party was ready to announce a new deadline for oil production in the Kingdom, Ek Tha said.

The Cambodian government and Chevron plan to release a joint statement on the status of Block A and their partnership sometime in the first quarter, according to Ek Tha.

When asked if the Cambodian government was frustrated by the delay, as Prime Minister Hun Sen at one point had threatened to cancel Chevron’s contract if oil was not produced by 12-12-12, Ek Tha said both parties remained committed to extracting oil from Block A.

“We want to have oil produced as quickly as we can, but we have to work with Chevron as a partner,” he said.

“We want the oil and gas to come out to serve the social development of Cambodia, and the Cambodian people want to see that happen.”

Gareth Johnston, Chevron International Pte Ltd’s Asia Pacific media advisor based in Singapore, responded to questions yesterday by email, saying: “We are continuing to work with the Royal Government of Cambodia to move the Block A project towards a final investment decision.”

He did not answer questions about Chevron’s meeting with the Cambodian government, what prompted the delay or when the company expects to produce oil in Block A.

Chevron (Cambodia)’s Steve Glick told the Post in August that the company believed Block A was financially viable, though “relatively small”.

He also noted that Block A was technically changing to drill. The block’s oil is spread out among smaller pools, rather than one large reservoir, making it harder to reach, Glick said.

While he would not at the time provide details of any potential production of Block A, he did say that Chevron had drilled 18 wells and invested US$160 million exploring the area.

“Technically, Chevron’s ready to go … And we’re working through the remaining issues with CNPA with the target of getting a final investment decision this year,” Glick said at the time.

Japanese firms undertake oil exploration study in northern Cambodia

Mainichi Japan, January 31, 2012

PHNOM PENH (Kyodo) -- Two Japanese oil firms began seismic acquisition studies in Cambodia on Tuesday to explore for oil and gas reserves in three northern provinces.

Cambodian government spokesman Phay Siphan said the state-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. and Mitsui Oil Exploration Co. started the seismic acquisition operation in Tbeng Meanchey, Preah Vihear Province.

The operation will be conducted in a total area of 6,500 square kilometers in Preah Vihear, Siem Reap and Kompong Thom provinces, Phay Siphan said.

JOGMEC Executive Director Akira Suzuki told Deputy Prime Minister Sok An in a meeting Monday that the operation will roughly take four months to complete, according to a Cambodian official who attended the meeting.

JOGMEC has performed airborne magnetic and gravity surveys in Cambodia since 1996. Seismic acquisition interpretation is one of the first steps of oil and gas exploration.
-------------------------------
Blessing Ceremony for the Launching of the Seismic Acquisition Operation in Block XVII of JOGMEC & MOECO

AKP Phnom Penh, January 31, 2012 –

Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA) and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) & MOECO will celebrate on Jan. 31 in Tbeng Meanchey city, Preah Vihear province, Khmer traditional blessing ceremony, Krong Pealy, in order to start the seismic acquisition operation, according to a CNPA’s press release dated today.

“We note that, JOGMEC which formally known as Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC) has conducted airborne magnetic & gravity survey in 1996. CNPA and JOGMEC have signed the Basic Agreement for the Study and Survey Program in Block XVII onshore Cambodia, located in Kampong Thom province, Siem Reap province and Preah Vihear province on May 4, 2010,” said the press release.

Subsequently JOGMEC signed a cooperation agreement with MOECO in conducting the oil & gas exploration in block XVII, it said, adding that MOECO then accordingly carried out exploration program culminating in this seismic acquisition operation.

Seismic acquisition operation can be classified as one of the first steps of oil & gas exploration study. This study is the process of capturing vibration wave (sound wave) in order to acquire data for analysis and interpretation of the underground structure. CNPA and all relevant ministries and authorities have carefully studied, taken into high consideration and have ensured that this operation will not have any impact on the environment and national cultural sites.

Suicide suspected for Vallier [in Cambodia, when the police can't find the killers, suicide is always the cause of death]

By May Titthara
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Preliminary police investigations indicate that suicide was the cause of death for French national Laurent Vallier, whose remains were found alongside his four children’s in Kampong Speu province earlier this month, Cambodia’s national police spokesman said yesterday.

120131_02
Photo Supplied

Laurent Vallier (above) and the bodies of his four children were found in a car submerged behind their house earlier this month.
Police spokesman Kirt Chantarith said that police had found no signs of foul play, but believe Vallier deliberately drove himself and his children into the pond near his house where all five bodies were found.

“At his house, no property had been touched, everything was in order,” Kirt Chantarith said, adding that the only interference was the removal of an urn containing Vallier’s wife’s ashes, which was discovered inside the car after it was hauled out of the nearby pond.

“The car doors were locked and the car was found in third gear,” Kirt Chantarith said.

“Police cannot say if Laurent had drugs in his system, but they suspect the children were drugged before they were placed in the car.

“Police have concluded he likely drove the car into the pond himself, as there are no other footprints leading away from where the car was found.”

French Embassy first councillor Dominique Mas told the Post the French police team investigating the death has left Cambodia after drafting a preliminary joint report with a group of Cambodian experts.

“Since there is a legal investigation which is currently (being) carried out, the French embassy will not make any comment on it and about the various inputs of this investigation,” Mas said via email.

“The French embassy urges the national authorities to carry on with the important efforts they have been doing in order to clarify the causes of these deaths which plunge our two, Cambodian and French, communities into mourning.”

Mas said French authorities had conducted autopsy examinations and had taken DNA samples back to France for further examination.

A French investigating judge had been assigned to the case and Vallier’s family would participate in proceedings as civil parties, he said.

Provincial police deputy chief Sam Sa Moun said he could not comment on the causes of death. “We have to await results from the French authorities,” he said. A villager found Vallier, 42, with his two daughters and two sons, aged between two and 11, on January 14.

Bikers hit the road for good cause [not all bikies are bad]

By Roth Meas
Friday, 27 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Last weekend, roughly 100 bikers rode from Bangkok to Phnom Penh and then onto Sihanoukville in what was touted as the Kindom’s first regional bike fest.

120127_03a
Photo Supplied/Phnom Penh Post

Bikers take a smoke break during the first regional Bike Fest last weekend.
The drive was organised to raise funds for Head Start Cambodia, a joint initiative between the Motorcycle Riders Club of Cambodia and the Don Bosco Technical School in Phnom Penh.

Saraboth Ea, co-founder of the MRCC, said the money would go toward helping young mechanics at the tech school.

“The idea is to help them get the necessary skills, so they can go out and start their own garage or shop after they finish the program. We eventually want to work with the manufacturers and train students to repair big motorbikes. But that’s the next step. Right now, we just support them, to help them to learn how to repair regular size bikes.”

The MRCC started in 2008 as a “ritual after-work gathering” of bike fans at the Independence Monument. But the club has expanded in the ensuing years and now exists for the twin purposes of bike jaunts and charity fundraisers.

Saraboth Ea said that lending a hand to the Don Bosco school helps bikers as well as young techies.

“The benefit to us is that we will have qualified mechanics. People are not going to ride these big bikes if they can’t repair them or get the necessary spare parts. We need qualified mechanics, so we can order more motorbikes to Cambodia,” he said.

At the age of two, Saraboth Ea was forced to flee his home for a refugee camp in Thailand. He settled in the US in 1975, but returned to Cambodia in 2004, where he discovered a love for the motorcycle. Now he hopes to make the ride an annual trip.

“We will do it every year. We want to grow to two hundred or three hundred riders next year. In Thailand, they can get a thousand riders involved. As long as keep doing things like this, we can get sponsors, we can get good mechanics trained up, and we can get spare parts coming in. Then we grow the market and bring in more big bikes,” he said.

The bike fest was sponsored by Ford, Mobitel, Total SA, Cambrew Limited and the Cambodiana Hotel.

Kingdom trade with Vietnam climbs 54% [it's a one-way trade]

By May Kunmakara
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia's total exports to Vietnam had risen 54.87 per cent in 2011 year-on-year, officials said.

120131_09
Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

A worker dumps corn into a truck for export.
An improving economy and Thailand’s temporary suspension on importing Cambodian crops led to the increased exports.

Official data from the Vietnamese embassy’s Trade Promotion Office showed that bilateral trade between Cambodia and Vietnam grew 54.75 per cent to US$2.829 billion in 2011, compared to $1.828 billion in 2010.

Of this trade, Cambodian exports to Vietnam rose to $429 million in 2011, compared to $277 million the year prior. Total imports from Vietnam increased 54.63 per cent to $2.4 billion from $1.552 billion.

Chan Nora, secretary of state at the Ministry of Commerce, said the government wanted to promote trade with neighbouring countries by making it easier for countries to trade directly across borders, especially by facilitating traders’ successful passage through border checkpoints.

The government is working towards a “one-stop window”for exports, officials have said in the past.

Chan Nora also mentioned that issues with Thailand in recent years, together with the recent bans on Cambodian crops, had led Cambodians to orient more of the country’s exports towards the Vietnamese economy.

“Our crop exports to Vietnam rose sharply last year after Thailand suspended buying from us. So, our farmers have had to sell to Vietnam,” he said.

Cambodia’s total exports to Thailand decreased by more than 20 per cent year-on-year through November, the Post reported recently.

Tran Tu, trade attaché at the Vietnam Trade Office (VTO), wrote that after a difficult period between 2009-2010, the bilateral trade volume of the two neighbouring countries was on the rise again.

“This is because the two sides have been making great efforts to promote bilateral trade, with lots of activities including holding trade fairs, carrying out tariff preferences arrangements, and encouraging border trade,” he said.

Cambodia’s most-imported Vietnamese products included seafood, vegetables, coffee, confectionery, plastics, clothes, footwear, glass, steel, computers and spare parts, transportation vehicles, and mobile phones. Vietnam’s Cambodian imports included aquatic products, corn, tobacco, rubber, wood products, and steel, according to the data.

Tran Tu said a rising average Cambodian income required more imports to meet a growing local consumption.

“Of course, Vietnam-made products can well meet Cambodian consumer requirements, especially because they have good quality, and are now considerably cheaper than the others,” he said.

Chan Nora echoed this sentiment, saying: “Vietnam’s products are now popular among our consumers for their good quality and affordable prices.”

Cambodia's PM hails China for robust economic performance in past year

January 31, 2012

MONDOLKIRI, Cambodia, (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday hailed China for its strong economic growth in 2011, saying China's progress has been considerably benefiting the developing countries.

"I'd like to congratulate China on its high economic growth of 9.2 percent in 2011, this is a high growth in Asia," he said during the inauguration of a China-funded national road No. 76 in Mondolkiri province, some 386 km Northeast of Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

"It's a success for China, while the global economic growth is in the uncertain situation due to the crises in the United States and the Europe," he added.

Hun Sen added that China's progress has not only helped China itself, but it has also benefited the world, especially the developing countries, which need capitals for development.

The premier also highlighted close and good relations and cooperation between Cambodia and China, saying "Cambodia is very lucky that has a good friend like China."

Cambodians in bid to escape Thai boats [more Thai enslavements of Cambodians]

By May Titthara
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

A desperate group of Cambodian men have made calls to their families from Indonesia asking for help to escape from forced labour aboard exploitative Thai fishing boats.

The families of 14 men from Trea commune in Kampong Thom province’s Stoung district filed a complaint to rights group Licadho yesterday pleading for help to repatriate their loved ones.

Gnan Van, 33, said yesterday that her husband Yean Phean called her while docking at an Indonesian island on Sunday pleading for help to escape a fishing boat owner who made him work “night and day” and paid no salary.

“I’ve missed my husband for two years. Since [late] 2009, I did not get any news from him,” she said. “I just got his phone call yesterday, he asked me to ask NGOs to help him and other people back to Cambodia.

Her husband, along with 13 others, crossed into Thailand from Banteay Meanchey’s Malai district in December 2009 with a broker to work as pig farmers in Thailand despite her warnings about the risks of migrant work.

“I got some news about illegal border crossings to work in Thailand or Malaysia but my husband did not listen to me,” she said.

Oun Pheap, 59, said her son Sok Ly also ignored her when she warned him about the risks of travelling to Thailand with a broker.

“I told my son, ‘Don’t believe people who urge you to work in Thailand,’ but he did not listen to me, he just said to me that he can earn a lot of money working in Thailand,” she said.

Chhoung Run, Licadho’s Banteay Meanchey provincial coordinator, said yesterday’s complaint was the second he had received in relation to the case.

“[A court official] already sent this case to the head office for them to contact our embassy in Indonesia to help them,” he said.

Mao Naream, a consular affairs official at the Cambodian embassy in Indonesia, said he was unaware of the case but would look into it.

More than 100 Cambodian men have been rescued from Indonesia, Malaysia and Mauritius since December after they were trafficked onto fishing boats in Thailand.

Letter to the editor: Ways to ease Cambodia’s path into the global rice trade

By David Van
Letter to the editor
The Phnom Penh Post

Dear Editor,

From an insignificant tonnage of milled rice officially exported for the first time in 2008 to 60,000 tonnes in 2010 and growing exponentially to 170,000 tonnes in 2011, Cambodia at a first glance seemed to be back on the world stage of the global rice trade.

The Royal Government of Cambodia’s Rice Policy – launched in August, 2010, followed by a progress report undertaken at the end of 2011 for further recommendations – has certainly encouraged more foreign and local investments in the milling sector to enhance in-country capacity as an attempt to retain added value domestically.

One should be heartened by the increased export figures for 2011, as the growth in Cambodia’s rice exports was mainly due to circumstances under which the European Union and Russia granted tax-free status for rice of Cambodian origin.

Cambodian milled rice surely has room to improve in competitiveness compared with Thailand and Vietnam, its neighbouring giant rice producers and competitors, in the following areas:
By working on the ability of Cambodian rice exporters to single-handedly take on substantial shipments of 20,000 tonnes with better financial ability, better port infrastructure and making use of the under-utilised waterways in this country;

By improving corporate management of the mills to tackle, and control, actual cost at every step of the milling process and reduce substantial wastage resulting from the inadequate, antique equipment still in use across the country through the modernisation of machinery;
By working with the relevant public institutions to rapidly create a national standard. At the moment, Cambodian rice is deprived of the ability to command better prices because the majority of overseas buyers are still wary of inconsistency in both supply and quality; and
By entering into partnerships to raise financial resources for the procurement of all paddy rice produced every single year in Cambodia. This would avoid farmers having to sell their paddy to traders/collectors who re-export it informally to Thailand and Vietnam, resulting in a loss of added value captured in-country and leading to speculation that makes paddy prices uncontrollable.
The Royal Government of Cambodia’s latest progress report points to the need for the private sector to improve in the area of corporate management and governance.

Although local commercial banks have eased their requirements for loans to millers and exporters a little, it’s still insufficient to allow the rice sector to shift to a higher gear.

Cambodian millers and exporters must embrace a new mindset of mutual collaboration to overcome the current fragmented supply chain.

The formation of clusters, co-operatives or associations (whether informal or formal) would increase their ability to pool resources to tackle serious tonnage for shipments and learn better management techniques to control cost, thus narrowing the huge price disparity with neighbouring countries.

David Van
Phnom Penh

Cambodian police suspect suicide in death of French family [This is a typical finding from the incompetent Cambodian police]

Laurent Vallier and his children.

PHNOM PENH | Tue Jan 31, 2012

(Reuters) - Cambodian police probing the deaths of a Frenchman and his four children whose bodies were found in a car submerged in a pond have ruled out murder and suspect suicide.

The bodies of Laurent Vallier, 42, and his children aged two to nine were found earlier this month in a pond behind their home in Kompong Speu, close to the capital Phnom Penh, having been missing since September.

Kirth Chantharith, a spokesman for the Cambodian police, said on Tuesday an investigation indicated that the cause of death was probably suicide and Vallier had most likely driven into the pond with the doors locked.

"We've not found any sign of murder and we suspect suicide," Kirth Chantharith said, adding Vallier's property was untouched and that an urn carrying the ashes of his deceased Cambodian wife, who died during childbirth, was also found in the car.

The French embassy said French police had drafted a joint preliminary report with Cambodian experts. It said it would not comment on the contents of the report because the investigation was ongoing.

Kirth Chantharith, however, said the French investigators had told police they also suspected suicide as the cause of death.

The embassy had said on January 15 it was difficult to identify the bodies.

(Reporting by Prak Chan Thul; Editing by Martin Petty and Sanjeev Miglani)

Former Boeung Kak Lake residents to protest in front of City Hall

Tomorrow (Morning of 1 Feb) the former Boeung Kak Lake residents are going to protest in front of the City Hall,

They informed to Municipality of Phnom Penh to hold the press conference in Freedom Park, but the MPP did not allow them to do it. Then the residents decided to do it in front of the city hall.

Kindly join the monitoring of the protest in case of an occurrence of any human rights violations.

Secretariat
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Housing Rights Task Force (HRTF)
#2A, Street 271, Sangkat Boeung Tompun,
Khan Mean Chey,
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Tel/Fax: 855-23-996-531
Mobile Phone: 855-12-852-325
Email: sd@hrtfcambodia.org
Skype: phearumsia
Website: www.hrtfcambodia.org
Evictions Hotline: 855-68-470-480
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HRTF is the coalition of 13 local and international organizations that working to Prevent Force Eviction and Promote Housing Rights in Cambodia.
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Housing Rights is a Human Rights for all!

Sin Sisamouth- chloey Chas Mok Orn (Please answer yes, my darling!)

Sin Sisamouth- Chamrieng Moranak/Klong Khaek Haek Lok (A Song of Death)

SAM RAINSY PARTY said it is the only challenging force against the CPP

Sam Rainsy, the exiled president of the SRP.

Published: 30-Jan-12

PHNOM PENH (Cambodia Herald) - The Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) claimed that it is the strongest challenging force against the ruling Cambodian Ppeople's Party (CPP) after it won 11 seats in the senate election held January 29.

"The party has again confirmed its place as the second-largest in Cambodia, and the only political force capable of mounting a long-term challenge to the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which was in power since 1979," said the SRP statement.

"Only two parties were competing, the CPP and the SRP, the rest being too small to have a chance of winning a senatorial seat. The SRP is the only force which can provide a clear alternative to the CPP," the opposition added.

Sam Rainsy, leader of the SRP, was forced into exile at the end of 2009.

SRP parliamentarians demand the return of Sam Rainsy for the communal elections of June 2012 and the legislative elections of July 2013.

The list of 57 senators-elect -(មើល​ឈ្មោះ​អ្នក​ជាប់​ឆ្នោត​ព្រឹទ្ធ​សភាទាំង​៥៧រូប)

Source: Mekong-Post | janvier 30, 2012 /http://www.mekong-post.com/?p=9678

ដូច ​រាង​លឿនពេក​ទេ​ដឹង​ក្នុង​ការ​ចេញ​ឈ្មោះ​អ្នក​ជាប់​ឆ្នោត​ព្រឹទ្ធ​សភា ដែល​ទើបបោះ​ឆ្នោត​កាល​ពី​ថ្ងៃ​​ថ្ងៃអាទិត្យ​​ម្សិល​ម៉ិញ។ ទោះ​បី​ជា​មិន​ទាន់​ចេញ​លទ្ធផល​ផ្លូវ​ការ​ ប៉ុន្ដែ​លទ្ធផល​បឋម​ដែល​ចេញ​ដោយ​គ.ជ.ប​ ប្រហែល​ជា​គ្មាន​ការ​ផ្លាស់​ប្ដូរ​នោះ​ទេ ទោះ​បី​ជា​ផ្លាស់​​ក៏​មិន​ដល់​ថ្នាក់​ច្រើន​សម្លេង​ធ្វើ​ឲ្យ​ប្ដូរ​ចំនួន​ អាសនៈ​នោះ​ដែរ​។

ដោយ ​មើល​លើ​បញ្ជីឈ្មោះ​បេក្ខជន​សមាជិក​ព្រឹទ្ធ​សភា​របស់​គណបក្ស​ទាំង​ពីរ មក​ផ្ទឹម​ជាមួយ​នឹង​ចំនួនអាសនៈ​ដែល​គណនា​ចេញ​ពីលទ្ធផល​បឋម​ ខ្ញុំ​បាន​ស្រង់​អ្នក​ជាប់​ឆ្នោត​ទាំង​៥៧នាក់ ដូច​ខាង​ក្រោម​នេះ (សុំ​មិន​ដាក់​ងារជា សម្ដេច ​ឯក​ឧត្តម លោក​ជំទាវ ឬឧកញ៉ា​)៖

- ភូមិ​ភាគ​ទី​១ (រាជ​ធានី​ភ្នំពេញ) មាន​៦អាសនៈ (CPP ៤, SRP​ ២)
១- ជា ស៊ីម អាយុ ៨០ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មក​ពី​​ CPP
២- ស៊ឹម កា អាយុ ៦៤ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មក​ពី​ CPP
៣- ជា ជេដ្ឋ អាយុ ៦៤ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៤- ពុំ ស៊ីចាន់ អាយុ​ ៦៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មក​ពី​ CPP
៥- កែ សុវណ្ណរតន៍ អាយុ ៥០ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មកពី SRP
៦-ហូរ វ៉ាន់ អាយុ ៦៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី SRP

-ភូមិ​ភាគ​ទី​២ (ខេត្ត​កំពង់​ចាម) មាន​៨អាសនៈ​ (CPP ៦, SRP ២)
១- អ៊ុក ប៊ុន​ឈឿន អាយុ ៦៩ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មក​ពី​​ CPP
២- ទិត រាម អាយុ ៦៩ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៣- ឈូក ឈឹម អាយុ ៥៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មក​ពី​ CPP
៤- ហេង បូរ៉ា អាយុ ៤២ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៥- ឈិត គឹម​យាត អាយុ ៦៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៦- នួន សាមិន អាយុ ៦១ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៧- ថាក់ ឡានី អាយុ ៥៧ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មក​ពី SRP
៨- អ៊ុច សេរីយុទ្ធ អាយុ ៤២ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី SRP

- ភូមិ​ភាគ​ទី​៣ (ខេត្ត​កណ្ដាល) មាន​៥អាសនៈ (CPP ៤, SRP ១)
១- ទេព ងន អាយុ ៦៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
២- ទី បូរ៉ាស៊ី អាយុ ៧៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មក​ពី​ CPP
៣- ឡាវ ម៉េង​ឃីន អាយុ ៦៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៤- ប្រាក់​ ចំរើន អាយុ ៥៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៥- អេង ឆៃអ៊ាង អាយុ ៤៧ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី SRP

- ភូមិ​ភាគ​ទី​៤ (ខេត្តបាត់ដំបង បន្ទាយមានជ័យ សៀមរាប ឧត្តរមានជ័យ និងប៉ៃលិន) មាន​១០អាសនៈ (CPP ៨, SRP ២)
១- ឆាត់ លឿម អាយុ ៧៦ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មក​ពី​ CPP
២- ហុង ទូហាយ អាយុ ៧៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៣- សួន​ លន់ អាយុ ៦៩ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៤- អន ស៊ុំ អាយុ ៦២ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៥- អាំ សំអាត អាយុ ៦២ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៦- ចាន់​ ណារ៉េត អាយុ ៦៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៧- យឹម សេត អាយុ ៦១ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៨- អ៊ុក គង់​ អាយុ ៦៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
៩- យឹម សុវណ្ណ អាយុ ៤៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី SRP
១០- ហុង សុខ​ហួរ អាយុ ៥៦ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី SRP

- ភូមិ​ភាគ​ទី​៥ (ខេត្តតាកែវ កំពត និងកែប) មាន៧អាសនៈ (CPP ៦, SRP ១)
១- នៃ ប៉េណា អាយុ ៦៤ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
២- ប៉េង ប៉ាត់ អាយុ ៦៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៣- កុក អាន អាយុ ៥៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៤- អ៊ុង ទី អាយុ ៦៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៥- ម៉ុង ឬទ្ធី អាយុ ៥៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទប្រុស មកពី CPP
៦- ពុធ ខូវ អាយុ ៦៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៧- ទាវ វណ្ណុល អាយុ ៥៧ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី SRP

- ភូមិ​ភាគ​ទី​៦ (ខេត្តព្រៃវែង និងស្វាយរៀង) មាន ៧អាសនៈ (CPP ៦, SRP ១)
១- មាន ​សំអាន អាយុ ៥៦ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មកពី CPP
២- ចាន់ ភិន អាយុ ៧៤ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៣- ជា សុន អាយុ ៧៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៤- គឹម ណាំង អាយុ ៦៧ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៥- ម៉ែន ស៊ីផាន់ អាយុ ៥៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៦- ទឹម ផន អាយុ ៦១ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៧- គង់​ គាំ អាយុ ៧១ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មក​ពី SRP

- ភូមិភាគទី​៧ (ខេត្តកំពង់ស្ពឺ កំពង់ឆ្នាំង ពោធិសាត់ កោះកុង និងព្រះសីហនុ) មាន​៨អាសនៈ (CPP ៧, SRP ១)
១- សាយ ឈុំ អាយុ ៦៧ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី​ CPP
២- ឡាក់ អូន អាយុ ៦៧ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មកពី CPP
៣- លី យ៉ុងផាត់ អាយុ ៥៤ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៤- ឡាយ អ៊ីពិសិដ្ឋ អាយុ ៦៤ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៥- អ៊ុំ សារិទ្ធ អាយុ ៦៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៦- គង់ សារាជ អាយុ ៦៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៧- ថុង ចន់ អាយុ ៧១ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៨- នុត រំដួល អាយុ ៦៦ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី SRP

- ភូមិ​ភាគ​ទី​៨ (ខេត្តកំពង់ធំ ព្រះវិហារ ក្រចេះ ស្ទឹងត្រែង រតនគិរី និងមណ្ឌលគិរី) មាន​៦អាសនៈ (CPP ៥, SRP ១)
១- ប៊ូ ថង អាយុ ៧៤ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
២- យ៉ង់ សែម អាយុ ៦៩ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មក​ពី CPP
៣- ស៊ើយ កែវ អាយុ ៧៥ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៤- វ៉ាន់ វុធ អាយុ ៥៨ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មកពី CPP
៥- កែវ ម៉ាលី អាយុ ៥៧ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ស្រី មកពី CPP
៦- ម៉ែន សុថាវរិន្រ្ទ អាយុ ៥៣ឆ្នាំ ភេទ​ប្រុស មក​ពី SRP

Nearly 50,000 Families Hurt in Recent Land Disputes: Report

Photo: by Heng Reaksmey
More than 47,000 families have been embroiled in 223 land disputes, the center reported.

Monday, 30 January 2012
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

Tens of thousands of families have been affected by dozens of land disputes over the last four years, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights reported Monday.
More than 47,000 families have been embroiled in 223 land disputes, the center reported. Nearly 80 land cases involved government land concessions that affected more than 30,000 families.

Often, the rule of law was not applied in the cases, leaving many families poorer, the report said.

Land disputes have become an increasingly thorny issue for Cambodian authorities, leading to violent demonstrations that have blocked national roads, are held outside courts or municipal buildings and have led to the detention of many civic representatives.

Chor Chanthyda, a project coordinator for the center, said economic concessions have been granted nationwide, but the problems are concentrated in resource-rich provinces like Kampong Speu, Kratie, Mondolkir and Ratanakkiri.

Under the concessions, families face the loss of their land and the threat of violence or court action if they protest, she said.

“They face poverty because they have no farmland for crops,” she said.

The government has granted concessions to 222 private companies, mostly from China, South Korea and Vietnam, since 2005, said Uch Leng, a project officer for the rights group Adhoc.

“The private companies and the government don’t offer appropriate compensation [to villagers] and don’t take care of their livelihoods,” he said. “On the contrary, people who are affected fall into poverty, and the private companies that come to develop do not improve people’s lives.”

Government spokesman Ek Tha said there is no government policy to “ill treat people.”

“We have a policy to help people improve their lives,” he said. “We think of people’s well being and suffering.”

The CCHR report recommends collaborative, participatory approaches in conjunction with rights groups and villagers, as well as improved local communication, to mitigate problems.

Tourism Indochina: Reaching Sihanouk Ville, the paradise gateway of Cambodia

One of Sihanoukville beaches: Enjoying Cruise?
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30th January, 2012

Sihanoukville (Khmer: �� - Krong Preah Sihanouk), also known as Kampong Saom, is a province in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. This port city is a growing Cambodian urban center, located 185 kilometres (115 mi) southwest of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. The province is named after King Father Norodom Sihanouk and grew up around the construction of Sihanoukville Port. Construction on the port began in June 1955 and it was the only deep water port in Cambodia. The port was built in part due to the waning power of the French leading to the Vietnamese tightening their control over the Mekong Delta and hence restricting river access to Cambodia. Sihanoukville's beaches have made it a popular tourist destination.

The province is served by Sihanoukville International Airport, 18 kilometres (11 mi) from downtown, although it has a limited commercial operation. The planned flights between Sihanoukville and Siem Reap may encourage visitors to Angkor temples in Siem Reap to extend their stay, though the crash of a charter flight in Phnom Damrey on 25 June 2007 from Siem Riep, has caused concerns. The flights are scheduled to start on December 14, 2011.

Sihanoukville attracts tourists with its relaxed beach atmosphere when compared to Thailand's more developed ones. However, the city has attracted not only tourists, but several NGOs and foreign and national investors in the last years in order to develop not only the growing tourist industry, but its capacity as an international sea port and other sectors like textile and real estate. In Sihanoukville is also located the main factory of Angkor Beer, the Cambodian national beer.

Sihanoukville was the place of the last official battle of the United States army in the Vietnam War, although the incident took place outside Vietnam. It is known as the Mayagüez incident on May 12–15, 1975 between the US forces and the Khmer Rouge. Currently, visitors dive in Koh Tang, one of the Sihanoukville islands where the major battle to free the SS Mayagüez took place. Divers can see two shipwrecks 40 metres (130 ft) down.

On 22 December 2008, King Norodom Sihamoni signed a Royal Decree that changed the municipalities of Kep, Pailin and Sihanoukville into provinces, as well as adjusting several provincial borders.

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Khmer Rouge tribunal too broke to pay Cambodian staff

Cambodian and foreign journalists listen to former Khmer Rouge leader 'Brother Number Two' Nuon Chea speaking during a live feed video at ongoing Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunals. (TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP/Getty Images)

Courts set up to punish horrific war crimes won't pay staff until April

It's bad enough that the trial against Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge cabal has been delayed so long that many of its aggressors -- and victims -- are now senile.

Now it appears that the special courts aren't paying Cambodian staff. According to the Phnom Penh Post, some employees won't be paid until April.

The courts, set up to prosecute the murderous Khmer Rouge regime, are scraping by with unpaid help.

According to the AP, this doesn't apply to international staff paid by the United Nations. But about 300 employees paid by Cambodia -- some of which haven't been paid since October -- are affected as "donor funds" from outside countries have wilted away, according to a tribunal spokesman.

The tribunal has completed only one trial and has many more to go.

These trials, which seek to punish those responsible for 1.7 million deaths, have already suffered from meddling from Cambodia's ruling party and the passage of time. Now this. And it still remains unclear if the Cambodian staff will even be paid by April, the Phnom Penh Post reports.

[Washington state's] Woodinville Sisters Raising Money for Cambodian Students



"Tourism is really big in Siem Reap, and English skills are important for someone who wants to work in a hotel, for example. By providing village kids with training, we can hopefully help them improve their chances for eventually getting good jobs to help their families", said Charlotte. Credit Courtesy James Reinnoldt

Editor Annie Archer
Woodinville Patch

Chelsea and Charlotte Reinnoldt and their friends have raised over $450 through Christmas caroling and snow shoveling during the recent storm for impoverished schools in Siem Reap province, Cambodia.

The Reinnoldt sisters and a friend shovel snow to raise money for Cambodian students in need.
"Tourism is really big in Siem Reap, and English skills are important for someone who wants to work in a hotel, for example. By providing village kids with training, we can hopefully help them improve their chances for eventually getting good jobs to help their families", said Charlotte.
"Tourism is really big in Siem Reap, and English skills are important for someone who wants to work in a hotel, for example. By providing village kids with training, we can hopefully help them improve their chances for eventually getting good jobs to help their families", said Charlotte.
"Tourism is really big in Siem Reap, and English skills are important for someone who wants to work in a hotel, for example. By providing village kids with training, we can hopefully help them improve their chances for eventually getting good jobs to help their families", said Charlotte.

Chelsea and Charlotte Reinnoldt, twin sisters who attend Woodinville Montessori school, are organizing some fund-raising programs among classmates, friends and neighbors to raise money for impoverished schools and children in Siem Reap province, Cambodia.

"We first visited Siem Reap as part of a five-month, educational around-the-world trip that our parents took us on in 2010-11. We went to Siem Reap to see the ancient ruins at Angkor Wat, but ended up meeting quite a few kids that were our age selling things in the street to earn a bit of money for their families, so my sister and decided to help them once we got back to the U.S.", said Chelsea.

Since that time, the girls and their friends have raised over $450 through Christmas caroling and snow shoveling during the recent storm. The money will be used to buy a water buffalo for a family and school supplies for a school in Siem Reap. The donations that Chelsea and Charlotte help raise also sponsor English classes for kids in the rural areas of the country.

"Tourism is really big in Siem Reap, and English skills are important for someone who wants to work in a hotel, for example. By providing village kids with training, we can hopefully help them improve their chances for eventually getting good jobs to help their families", said Charlotte.

Chelsea and Charlotte's father, James, is a lecturer in Global Business at the University of Washington, Bothell. He will be taking a group of MBA students to Thailand and Cambodia on a study tour in March 2012. He and his 17 students will be helping non-profit organizations in Cambodia with their business strategies, and will also sponsor the construction of water wells, compost toilets, and vertical gardens through the money they are also raising. Anyone interested in donating games, clothes or funds to these charity programs can contact James at jreinn@u.washington.edu.

Information from James Reinnoldt

Monday 30 January 2012

Cambodia to send 1st batch of medical personnel to South Sudan for humanitarian missions

Lt. Gen. Sem Sovanny talking to the press.

PHNOM PENH, Jan. 30, 2012 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia will send a group of more than 200 medical personnel and military police to South Sudan sometime in March in order to help the country in humanitarian activities, a senior Cambodian military official said Monday.

"This is the first time and a new mission for Cambodia that we will send medics for overseas humanitarian activities under the United Nations global peacekeeping framework," Lt. Gen. Sem Sovanny, director-general of the National Center for Peacekeeping Force, Mine and Explosive Remnants of War Clearance at Royal Cambodian Armed Forces, told reporters Monday after he presided over a ceremony to send medical equipment and supplies, light and heavy vehicles and water tanks to South Sudan for medical missions.

"As scheduled, the shipment of all these things will arrive in South Sudan's Juba within 45 days," he said, adding "soon after they arrive, we will dispatch more than 200 forces including 76 experienced military medics and military police."

"This will be a new pride for Cambodia," he said.

Cambodia has firstly sent its troops to Sudan in April 2006 under the UN umbrella and the demining mission in Sudan was ended in September last year.

Beside this, the country has also sent troops to Chad, Central African and Lebanon for humanitarian missions.

Sem Sovanny said so far, Cambodia has sent 1,074 troops to these countries including 594 in Sudan.

Firms invest $2 billion in foreign projects [$806 million invested in hydro-power in Cambodia]

January, 30 2012
VNS (Hanoi)

HCM CITY — Vietnamese companies are investing in more overseas projects, with total registered capital amounting to US$2.12 billion last year, according to figures from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The investments were for 75 new overseas projects licensed in 2011, and 33 other projects already operating abroad.

The biggest of the overseas projects were in the energy and telecommunications sectors, an MPI report said.

Major projects licensed in 2011 include the Se San Hydro-Power No. 2 Project in Cambodia with total registered capital of $806 million from the Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN); a $408 million telecommunication project invested by the Vietnamese Military Telecommunications Group (Viettel) in Peru; and the $275.2 million Se Kong 3 Hydro-power Project invested by Song Da (Black River) Corp in Laos.

Most of these overseas projects are progressing smoothly. These include a project to cultivate 10,000 ha of rubber trees invested by Dak Lak Rubber Co; a project to cultivate 5,000 ha of rubber trees to be exploited by Hoang Anh – Gia Lai later this year; and a $273 million Senkaman Hydro-power project No. 3 invested in by Song Da Corp. in Laos.

By the end of 2011, Vietnamese firms had invested in 627 projects abroad, with total registered capital up to $10.8 billion.

Disbursements of these overseas projects are estimated at $2.7 billion.

The largest disbursements for overseas investment projects were made by Viet Nam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) with some $347 million remitted, followed by Viettel with $185 million; Song Da Corp. with $161 million; Viet Nam Rubber Corp. with $134.6 million; Hoang Anh – Gia Lai Group with $39 million, and Indochina Green JSC with $23.7 million.

Vietnamese companies have been licensed for overseas projects in 55 countries and territories.

In addition to major investments for projects in neighbouring countries such as Laos and Cambodia, investments from Vietnamese companies are also in Venezuela, Russia, Peru and Mozambique.

SRP touts senate gains [SRP gained 9 seats, while CPP gained only one seat]

Meas Sokchea and David Boyle
Monday, 30 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

The Sam Rainsy Party was celebrating unofficial senate election results yesterday, claiming to have increased its number of seats in the upper house from two to 11 despite the incumbent government winning an overwhelming majority of the preliminary ballot results.

120130_01
Heng Chivoan/Phnom Penh Post

Officials count votes for the national senate election yesterday at a polling station in a school in the capital’s Boeung Trabek commune.
Early results showed the SRP had won 21.93 per cent of the vote. The ruling Cambodian People’s Party dominated as expected, with 77.81 per cent after initial polling by the National Election Committee ahead of official results to be announced on Saturday.

Fifty-seven of the 61 seats in the Cambodian senate are being contested in the election. Two of the remaining four will be appointed by the legislative house of parliament, the National Assembly, and the others by King Norodom Sihamoni.

In a vote derided by some analysts and observers as undemocratic because its participants are limited to commune-council members rather than the public, the SRP last night claimed a modicum of success.

From France, where he lives in self-imposed exile after a spate of criminal convictions in Cambodia, Sam Rainsy hailed the result as a brilliant success that was particularly meaningful because in this ballot, the SRP was pitted solely against the CPP.

“Even though the election system and the broadcast media remain very biased toward the CPP . . . if we are still there and we not only maintain our presence but increase it from two to 11 when the current is against us, we must be very strong to swim against the current,” he said.

“The CPP tried to buy us like hell. They have the power of money. In a poor country like Cambodia, another party would have disintegrated,” Sam Rainsy said, referring to several alleged and one confirmed attempt by their political rivals to buy SRP votes.

But in an election uncontested by all other opposition groups including Funcinpec, the Norodom Ranariddh Party and the Human Rights Party, others were less upbeat about the SRP’s gains.

Son Soubert, an outspoken government critic and high privy councillor to King Norodom Sihamoni, said the preliminary results suggested the party had not fully absorbed the void left by the absence of other opposition contenders.

“Well, it’s not a bad result, but it’s not enough, because the HRP did not register any candidates, but instead told their members to vote in favour of the SRP. [The SRP] should have gotten more,” he said.
“If they could have 20 seats or something like that, it would be an occasion to rejoice,” he said.

In Cambodia’s bicameral parliament, senators, who serve six-year terms, play a largely advisory role through committees. The senate has no power to veto or even add amendments to legislation from the National Assembly.

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said he was not worried about SRP gains, pointing out that his party still held a two-thirds majority in the senate and the National Assembly.

“This result is normal, but CPP has still won a landslide number,” Cheam Yeap said.

“Don’t accuse the CPP or don’t say the election is not just any more, and don’t boycott any more.”

COMFREL executive director Koul Panha said his organisation had chosen not to appoint its officers to participate in the vote because about $US500,000 had been spent on a useless election that allowed only members of political parties to vote along party lines.

“Commune councillors vote for their party, what does it mean? Because they have no choice. They vote for their party, so it is meaningless.

“This election system is meaningless,” he said.

In total, 11,412 votes had been cast by 11,470 eligible commune officials, the NEC reported.

The strongest result for the CPP – 81.45 percent – was recorded in region 7, which comprises Kampong Speu, Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk provinces, while the SRP fared best in region 1 – Phnom Penh – with 34.76 per cent of the ballot.

Seafood spat leaves bitter taste

By Tom Brennan
Monday, 30 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Nautisco Seafood Manufacturing Limited, the Kingdom’s bellwether seafood processor, is slated for a restructuring after its parent company claimed minority shareholder Leopard Capital had put Nautisco in “dire financial health”.

Leopard Capital, a leading private-equity firm in the Kingdom, yesterday criticised the move, saying representatives from majority shareholder Nautisco Inc never consulted Leopard prior to the request for restructuring.

“The decision to restructure occurred after Nautisco HK, an affiliate of Leopard Capital, took a number of actions under their leadership that placed Nautisco Seafood Manufacturing Limited under severe financial stress,” a statement released late on Friday by Nautisco Inc said.

Nautisco Inc claimed Leopard “took control of the board and management of Nautisco Seafood Manufacturing Limited” and put the company “in dire financial health through sophisticated financial structures that benefitted the minority partner with disrespect for fiduciary duties and conflicts of interest”.

The more than 700 employees working at Nautisco Seafood last June had dwindled to fewer than 20, Nautisco Inc’s statement claimed.

Nautisco Seafood, formed in 2008 by Canadian investors, processes shrimp at a 3,600-square-metre plant in Sihanoukville, according to its website. The company is widely recognised as one of the biggest seafood processors in the Kingdom.

Leopard Capital bought a 31 per cent stake in Nautisco Seafood in April 2010, and last January increased its holding to 38 per cent, the Post previously reported. At the time, Leopard declined to release the exact amount of its investment in Nautisco.

On December 19, majority shareholder Nautisco Inc had applied to the Court of First Instance of Phnom Penh Municipality for a “plan of compromise” that would allow for the restructuring of the company, according to Friday’s statement.

The Nautisco statement defined a plan of compromise as a legal process wherein the courts act as an unbiased third party to solve the dispute, and “protect the business while a sustainable business plan is developed”.

The court had ordered the plan of compromise in early January, and by mid-January had appointed an administrator to handle the proceedings, a legal representative of Nautisco Inc, who requested anonymity given that the case was ongoing, said yesterday.

The representative declined to comment further on the case, but he did claim that Leopard Capital had appealed the ruling.

Leopard Capital’s Scott Lewis yesterday in an email stressed that Leopard’s Nautisco HK was a minority shareholder and that the company’s executives had been appointed by Nautisco Inc.

He claimed that Nautisco HK “has provided most of the capital required to finance the operations of [Nautisco Seafood] since April 2010”.

Leopard Capital took issue with Nautisco’s push for a restructuring, he also said.

“The application for a plan of compromise was made by Nautisco Inc representatives without consulting Nautisco HK or its representatives.

“Nautisco HK continues to stand behind Nautisco Seafood Manufacturing and remains committed to building a world-class seafood processing business in Cambodia,” he said in the email.

He declined to confirm whether Leopard Capital had filed an appeal in the case.

Leopard Capital is now in the process of launching a separate seafood company, Leopard Seafood (Cambodia) Co Ltd, which will also operate out of Sihanoukville.

A number of job openings have been listed online as recently as this month.

Nao Thouk, director general of the Fisheries Administration, yesterday noted the importance of Nautisco Seafood to the Kingdom’s seafood processing industry. Nautisco has created jobs for Cambodians, exposed foreign markets to Cambodia’s fisheries, and he claimed it was the only fish-exporting company that complied with international processing and quality-control standards.

“So it’s very important that Nautisco not go out of business and support Cambodia,” Nao Thouk said.

Nautisco Seafood CEO Sam Peou could not be reached yesterday for comment.

Uncertainty over Uighurs [after they were deported from Cambodia to China]


Mary Kozlovski with additional reporting by Cassandra Yeap
Monday, 30 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

The United States is attempting to confirm recent media reports that as many as four of the 20 ethnic Uighur asylum seekers deported from Cambodia to China in 2009 have been sentenced to life in prison.

“We’re seeking to confirm these reports with the Chinese,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland (pictured) said at a press briefing on Friday, adding that the US goverment “has repeatedly called on the Chinese...to provide information on the whereabouts of all 20 of the Uighur asylum seekers”.

In December 2009, 20 Uighur asylum seekers were deported to China after attempting to seek refugee status through the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Phnom Penh.

They were reportedly held at the Interior Ministry on December 18 before being flown to an undisclosed location in China the following day.

It was reported that a few days after the deportation, China signed off on US$1.2 billion in economic aid agreements with Cambodia.

On Thursday, a Radio Free Asia report, which cited “family sources” and authorities in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, stated that two asylum seekers had been sentenced to life imprisonment, and a third had received a 17-year jail sentence.

The following day, an RFA report stated that a further two asylum seekers had received life sentences and another 12 had received various jail sentences, attributing the information to family sources and lawyers.

US Embassy spokesperson Sean McIntosh said via email yesterday that the embassy was aware of the reports but could not provide “independent confirmation”.

Yang Tianyue, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh, told the Post that he had not been contacted about the matter.

In a statement released on Friday, the World Uighur Congress condemned the reported sentences “in the harshest possible terms”.

Cambodia considers oil imports from Iran [refined it and re-exported to China]

30 January 2012,
http://en.trend.az

Cambodia plans to import and refine oil from Iran, a spokesman from the Council of Ministers has said, just one among several proposed forms of strengthened co-operation between the two countries, PhnompenPost reported.


During their latest meeting in Brussels on January 23, EU foreign ministers reached an agreement to ban oil imports from Iran, freeze the country's central bank's assets within EU, and ban sales of grains, diamonds, gold and other precious metals to Iran.

EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, claimed that the new sanctions aim to bring Iran back to negotiations with P5+1 -- US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany -- over the country's peaceful nuclear program.

The United States, Israel and their European allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear program and have used this pretext to impose four rounds of international and a series of unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Iran has refuted the allegations, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Tehran is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful use.

Cambodian officials have maintained that the Kingdom will take foreign direct investment from all interested nations. The US Embassy in Phnom Penh said that it expected all United Nations members to take into consideration US regulations when dealing with Iran.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and Iranian Ambassador Seyed Javad Ghavam Shahidi agreed on Thursday to strengthen economic ties between the two countries, Council of Ministers spokesman Ek Tha said.

Among the proposed economic activity were oil imports from Iran, which would be refined in Cambodia and then sold to China starting in 2014, Ek Tha had said.

Construction on Cambodia's first oil refinery, located on 365 hectares in Sihanoukville and Kampot provinces, will begin in April and finish in 2014, PhnompenPost reported last month.

Domestically owned Cambodian Petrochemical Company, China National Automation Control System Corporation and China's Sino March Company will invest US$2 billion in the refinery.

Cambodia Petrochemical's Han Kheang said that he has met with the Iranian ambassador twice to discuss the oil imports.

"Other proposed economic cooperation between the two countries included agricultural exports to Iran, as well as Iranian investments in medicine and education in Cambodia," Ek Tha said.

"The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on oil and gas projects last year," he added.

Cambodia will not take into account the foreign policies of other countries toward Iran when considering investment in the Kingdom, Ek Tha said.

"Some Western countries put economic sanctions on [Cambodia] after we toppled the Pol Pot regime. We have learned some hard lessons about the damage of sanctions, so we will keep our economy open."

Sean McIntosh, spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, said members of the United Nations shouldn't ignore US policy toward Iran.

"We expect all UN members to strictly enforce UN [Security Council] relations and to consider carefully the impact of new US regulations when considering engaging in economic activity with Iran," he said.

A North Korean delegation arrived in Phnom Penh in July to discuss strengthening economic and trade relations with Cambodia, the Post reported last year.

Edited by: S. Isayev

Kingdom considers oil imports from Iran [refined in Cambodia and then sold to China starting in 2014]

Sieam Bunthy and Don Weinland with additional reporting by Reuters
Monday, 30 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Cambodia plans to import and refine oil from Iran, a spokesman from the Council of Ministers has said, just one among several proposed forms of strengthened co-operation between the two countries.

The announcement comes at a time when the United States and European Union have approved some of the toughest sanctions yet against the Islamic country.

Cambodian officials have maintained that the Kingdom will take foreign direct investment from all interested nations.

The US Embassy in Phnom Penh said yesterday that it expected all United Nations members to take into consideration US regulations when dealing with Iran.

Deputy Prime Minister Sok An and Iranian Ambassador Seyed Javad Ghavam Shahidi agreed on Thursday to strengthen economic ties between the two countries, Council of Ministers spokesman Ek Tha said yesterday.

Among the proposed economic activity were oil imports from Iran, which would be refined in Cambodia and then sold to China starting in 2014, Ek Tha had said at a press conference on Thursday.

Construction on Cambodia’s first oil refinery, located on 365 hectares in Sihanoukville and Kampot provinces, will begin in April and finish in 2014, the Post reported last month.

Domestically owned Cambodian Petrochemical Company, China National Automation Control System Corporation and China’s Sino March Company will invest US$2 billion in the refinery.

Cambodia Petrochemical’s Han Kheang said yesterday that he has met with the Iranian ambassador twice to discuss the oil imports.

Other proposed economic cooperation between the two countries included agricultural exports to Iran, as well as Iranian investments in medicine and education in Cambodia, Ek Tha said.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on oil and gas projects last year, he said.

The United States and European Union imposed sanctions this month that would cut off crude oil exports from Iran on July 1. The move came on the longstanding concern that Iran’s nuclear programme is aimed at developing weapons.

Iranian lawmakers yesterday were set to vote on a ban on exports to the EU in retaliation to the sanctions. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Tehran yesterday in the hopes of resolving questions surrounding the country’s nuclear programme.

Cambodia will not take into account the foreign policies of other countries toward Iran when considering investment in the Kingdom, Ek Tha said.

“We do not discriminate where our FDI comes from,” he said via phone, adding that the deepening of cooperation with Iran was strictly civilian, not military.

“Some Western countries put economic sanctions on [Cambodia] after we toppled the Pol Pot regime. We have learned some hard lessons about the damage of sanctions, so we will keep our economy open.”

Sean McIntosh, spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh, said members of the United Nations shouldn’t ignore US policy toward Iran.

“We expect all UN members to strictly enforce UN [Security Council] relations and to consider carefully the impact of new US regulations when considering engaging in economic activity with Iran,” he said in an email yesterday.

Iran has refused to address the international community’s concerns about its nuclear programme, McIntosh said, citing a recent statement from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Although an increase in economic activity between Cambodia and Iran could draw negative attention from the West, Cambodia has never appeared to violate UN sanctions, Carlyle Thayer, a political science professor at the University of New South Wales, said via email yesterday.

“Cambodia’s relations with North Korea and Iran would of course attract scrutiny from the US and other Western countries because of UN sanctions. But there is no hint that Cambodia is violating these sanctions in its relations with Iran or North Korean,” he said.

A North Korean delegation arrived in Phnom Penh in July to discuss strengthening economic and trade relations with Cambodia, the Post reported last year.

Police general accused of beating bank employee in Cambodia

Victim Keang Keatly.

Monsters and critics
Jan 30, 2012,

Phnom Penh (DPA)- An irate police general allegedly beat a bank employee with a mobile phone in Cambodia after the worker refused to cash a cheque, national media reported Monday.

Representatives from Canadia Bank in the western city of Poipet filed a complaint against Major General Sok Lihuoth, accusing him of intentional violence, the Cambodia Daily newspaper reported.

The officer allegedly became enraged after the bank employee had declined his wife's request to cash a cheque worth more than 14,000 dollars on Thursday. The cheque had been made out to him.

Keang Keatly said the officer hit him on the head with a phone and yelled: 'Do you know who I am?'

A bank official said there was video of the incident. A provincial military police commander said the major general had fled.

Calls for re-evaluation of short-term workers [as Cambodians are looked down upon by foreign employers]

Chhay Channyda
Monday, 30 January 2012
The Phnom Penh Post

Almost 120,000 Cambodians who illegally crossed into neighbouring countries in search of work were repatriated during 2011, new figures from the Ministry of Interior have revealed, prompting a senior ministry official to call for a re-evaluation of how Cambodian workers are treated abroad.

120130_05b
Mai Vireak/Phnom Penh Post

Illegal crossed workers return from neighboring country in December 2011.
Chou Bun Eng, secretary of state at the ministry, told the Post on Friday that Cambodian embassies had facilitated the return of workers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, East Timor and Saudi Arabia.

According to the ministry’s data, 118,791 workers were returned through crossings along the Thai-Cambodian border last year, while 585 were repatriated by plane following assistance from Cambodian embassies abroad. Only a very small number of those returned were victims of human trafficking, according to the ministry.

Chou Bun Eng, who chairs the secretariat of the Anti-Women and Children Trafficking Commission, said that some people had been counted more than once, and urged against assuming that returned workers were “illegal” workers, suggesting the terms “irregular” or “undocumented” instead.

“[Thailand] said these workers are illegal, but we have a memorandum of co-operation with them,” she said. “They want our workers to work in Thailand, but these people have been found [by Thailand] to be illegal.”

The Anti-Women and Children Trafficking Commission must re-examine the legal procedures for short-term workers in foreign countries, she said.

Ya Navuth, director of KARAM organisation, which assists migrants, said that Cambodian workers travelling to foreign countries were often looked down upon by their employers.

“The problem is mostly about discrimination – if [you are] found with HIV, you are not allowed to work in a foreign country,” he said.

Since June last year, KARAM had received 50 complaints detailing serious violations of workers’ rights, mostly of which were reported from Malaysia, he said.

In October, the Cambodian government temporarily banned recruitment agencies from sending workers to Malaysia, following numerous reports of abuse against Cambodian maids working in the country.

Girl aged 14 was sold to a foreigner for 80,000 THB by her step father

The Pattaya Daily News
Published : January 30, 2012

The police and Director of the Center for Subduing of Human Trafficking assisted a Cambodian girl and found that she was beaten by her stepfather and her mother with the 3 children who were all forced to be beggars, if on any day they cannot find money, all of them would be beaten severely.

Pattaya, January 26, 2012 [PDN]; at 6.30 p.m. Pol. Lt. Col. Kreetha Tankanarat, Deputy Superintendent, Pol. Lt. Col. Ormsin Sukkarnka, The head of Center of Protecting Children and Women and Subdue for Human Trade, Chonburi province, Pol. Maj. Kreangsak Boonprawat, Pol. Maj. Kingkaew Charoenpitakpracha, Inspector of Subdue work, Pol. Capt. Pemika Wiwattanapongpan, Ms. Sonthaya Maenpeun and Mr. Phalisorn Noja, the Director of the Center of Subdue of Human Trade were notified from Krajokngao foundation that a Cambodian guy forced his step children to be beggars and offered to sell his step daughter, age 14, nationality Cambodian to a foreigner for the price of 80,000 THB [about $2,666] for sexual services and asked the officer to investigate and assist this girl.

After they had been notified by the Krajokngao foundation, the officers found the mother with her 3 children begging money at second Pattaya Road Moo 9 Tambon Nong Preu, Amphur Banglamung, Chonburi province. The officers restrained them and brought them to the Center for Subduing of Human Trafficking at Banglamung police station.

The mother’s name was Mrs. Hen age 32 with her eldest daughter Orh (alias) age 14, her body had wounds all over, a boy Or (alias) age 10 had signs of being beaten with a broken nose, broken mouth and swollen body, another boy A (alias) age 15 months, was very thin and suffering from lack of food. Mrs. Hen said that at 5.40 a.m. on January 26, 2012 Mr. Jan age 40, nationality Cambodian, her husband and the step father of her children beat her and the children and took money from begging and had gone back to Cambodia already and forced her and children to continue to be beggars and forced her to try to sell her eldest daughter to a foreigner for 80,000 THB in order to buy land to build a house in Cambodia so she asked for assistance from the good people to notify Krajokngao foundation before she would be forced to sell her daughter.

After investigation, Pol. Lt. Col. Ormsin Sukkarnka said that initially the police had arrested Mrs. Hen age 32, the mother of 3 children in the accusation of escaping into town illegally and for her 3 children he let the officers to bring them to cure and take care of at the Home of Children and Family before following up to arrest Mr. Jan, the cruel step father to prosecute according to the law.

Phnom Penh's New Look (The tale of an American journalist)

Phnom Penh Photos
This photo of Phnom Penh is courtesy of TripAdvisor: Another Khmer styled building in Phnom Penh. (skylark692000, Jan 2008) Phnom Penh.

Jan 28, 2012
Thomas Beller
The Atlantic Cities (USA)

When I first arrived in Phnom Penh, in 1994, I looked out the window of my descending plane and saw a landscape of rice paddies dotted with palm trees. It might have been, in a parallel universe, or perhaps just in a neighboring country like Thailand, a pastoral image, but for me it was synonymous with land mines, Agent Orange, genocide, death. My feelings were shaped in part by popular culture—movies such as The Killing Fields and Apocalypse Now and books like Elizabeth Becker’s When the War Was Over and Nayan Chanda’s Brother Enemy. To say they told of a darkly mysterious place where terrible things had happened was only part of it; in 1994 the Khmer Rouge was still in control of large chunks of the country, even after the United Nations had sponsored a historic democratic election the previous year. I had come to Phnom Penh to write for a fledgling English-language newspaper, the Cambodia Daily, a decision whose logic had completely escaped me by the time the wheels hit tarmac. I swore that I would proceed through Phnom Penh with the utmost caution.

But by my second night I was at a party eating a piece of cake that I had just been told had an entire pound of pot baked into it, when someone rushed in yelling, “Coup! Coup! There’s a tank in the middle of downtown!” Because the party was filled with that strange breed of catastrophe addicts who have found their calling as journalists, everyone piled into the backs of pickup trucks and rushed off to look for the tank. I went, too, fretfully, like some eighth grader herded into a group activity he knows is wrong but is too spineless to resist.

We never found the tank.

To arrive in Phnom Penh today is to encounter a city teeming with energy and enterprise. There are skyscrapers, high-end hotels and restaurants, hip coffee shops, galleries, boutiques. The streets are thronging and chaotic but the overall mood is civilized. When I first came to this town, I was fascinated by the way women would ride sidesaddle on the back of motos, one foot on the footrest and the other with the ankle cocked gently upward so their flip-flops didn’t fall off. The modern bustle has removed only some of this charm.

For most of the past decade, until 2009, the country experienced an average of nearly 10 percent annual growth. The despotic prime minister, Hun Sen, has provided stability, which, as a local businessman whom I know remarked, “is the magic recipe for cheap labor for garment factories and two million pairs of feet each year wandering around Angkor.” He also said, “Ten percent growth in a country that didn’t have an economy a decade or more ago isn’t anything stunning.”

But I was stunned, mostly in a good way—Phnom Penh, once a lawless haven for adventurers, layabouts, and hedonists of all stripes for whom freedom was just another word for no real law enforcement, is now praised in similar terms but for different reasons by a new class of small-business owners who see the place as an opportunity.

“There are so many opportunities because they are not weighed down by traditional hierarchy,” said Yoshie Treiber, who runs La Clef de Sol, a fancy boutique specializing in housewares, bags, and dresses. It sits at the end of a quiet alley off hectic Sihanouk Boulevard. Originally from Japan, she spent five years in Cannes before moving to Phnom Penh. “Everything is new here. If you have guts, you can do anything in Phnom Penh.”

And yet, when I saw a friend who has lived here for 18 years, he said, “Phnom Penh isn’t as exciting as it used to be, but it’s nice that you can get good coffee and Wi-Fi is everywhere.” By this he meant that it no longer felt as if you had arrived at the drop-edge of the world.

Street Life

I was visiting toward the end of rainy season, which I knew about, and the start of the Pchum Ben holiday, which was news to me. Nuon So Thero, the Cambodia Daily’s general manager, picked me up at the airport. Thero was the first person I ever met in Cambodia, having rescued me as I sat bewildered and a bit frightened outside the locked doors of the newspaper, suitcase by my side, transfixed by the steep pitch of the Royal Palace roof across the street, the bright orange-yellow of its tiles glinting in the sun. Now, 17 years later, I saw his smiling, intelligent face, changed but unchanged, beaming from the waiting crowd. “It still has that fantastic smell!” I said as we loaded the car. Phnom Penh’s air has a sweet, smoky scent, as though someone were slowly roasting cardamom over a fire.

“I live here,” he said, “I never noticed it.” We drove to my hotel, and Thero pointed out the new parliament building and the new office of the prime minister, both radiating prosperity and redolent of something built by Mussolini. We arrived at Raffles Hotel Le Royal, my last recollection of which was as a ruin. “I know exactly where I am!” I exclaimed. “We’re right near the Youth Club.” The International Youth Club was a whitewashed bastion of francophone leisure, fragrant with a colonial prerogative that was only partially antique.

“Youth Club gone,” Thero said. “The American Embassy is there now.”

“They built the American Embassy on top of the Youth Club?” I said. “Oh, the French must have hated that.”

“I think they did,” Thero said. We headed off to dinner at a Chinese restaurant on Monivong Boulevard. Once there had been an outdoor noodle stand with plastic chairs and a fluorescent light hooked up to a generator. Now, even after midnight, the place was filled with well-appointed revelers. The menu was epic, a scroll of fine print. I had crab soup. Salt-and-pepper shrimp. The restaurant took credit cards.

I spent the next day wandering the streets on foot and by cyclo—a bicycle version of a gondola, but with no singing—a now mostly antiquated form of transportation in a town filled with motos, cars, and SUV’s.

On my first trip into Phnom Penh, cars had been scarce; they pushed through the bikes and motoslike a bull gingerly parting a flock of sheep. Busy intersections were manned by traffic police in sharp military-style uniforms and white gloves. They stood on battered metal pedestals and performed a rather ornate and formal set of gestures that combined, either by osmosis or intent, elements of Khmer dance’s fluidity with the more rigid hand motion one associates with the wordstop! The effect was a bit like vogueing.

But these were vestiges of an old order. The city now has stoplights that people obey; metal dividers down the center of the avenues ensure traffic is mostly two-way. Once it had been four, or six, or eight-way and composed largely of two-wheeled vehicles, slender as minnows. Turning left had required entering a dream state of faith in which you drifted slowly across the avenue into the oncoming traffic, hoping the force was with you, until you got to your turn.

News from Cambodia

I met my old friend Ek Madra, who used to be a moto driver but then got a job as a translator and then as a reporter for the Cambodia Daily, and later became an accomplished bureau chief for Reuters. He picked me up at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) in his car. “Madra, I cannot believe what is going on in this city!” I shouted after we hugged. He whisked me off to the Sorya Restaurant, near the madness of the Central Market. Located in a space that was once a movie theater, its lighting was bright; the napkins were red linen; at least one person catered to our needs at all times, which I took to mean that Madra was now a big shot.

“This is a new Cambodia on old land,” he said. “I believe in human lucky.” The phrase contained a boosterism that did not sound like a journalist. It turned out Madra had recently started a business himself. His firm is called Ek Tha & Madra Associates and imports dried fish from Vietnam.

“But Madra, Ek Tha is a pseudonym you sometimes use. Your company is you and you.”

“Yes,” he said. “That way no one can steal from my family!” Madra, who had always been very dramatic, said, “People are going from war to wealth.”

Completely by chance I was in Cambodia at the same time as Chris Decherd, my old friend from theCambodia Daily who now runs the Cambodia division of the Voice of America, in Washington, D.C. The VOA had recently stirred up a hornet’s nest with a report on the current Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) prosecution of Khmer Rouge leadership. Pol Pot died in 1998, but Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, and Ieng Sary—icons of a genocide—are elderly and alive. The tribunal was supposed to be a cathartic national event, a moment of reckoning, but the VOA suggested it was being undermined by Prime Minister Hun Sen. This provoked a blistering critique of the VOA by Hun Sen, a strongman whose critics have, on occasion, met untimely deaths. I had thought Chris was here to smooth ruffled feathers. But the VOA’s television news clips are in high demand in Cambodia. He was here to negotiate distribution deals. We had dinner at a restaurant called Malis, no pun intended. The chef, Luu Meng, served a feast of green mango and smoked fish, spicy scallops with mint leaves, beef carpaccio, and lemongrass chicken. Chris said he was waking early the next morning for a four-hour drive to Battambang, Cambodia’s second city, in the north and asked if I wanted to join him. “You can drive to Battambang?” I said, amazed.

“Sure,” he said. “You can drive anywhere now.”

Up at La Villa

I am staying at La Villa, one of several examples of French-colonial architecture in Battambang. It overlooks the river. I collapse in the afternoon and sleep through dinner, waking in darkness to the sound of pouring rain. Within that sound is something difficult to identify, a kind of music. I go to the window and realize it is a monk, chanting into the darkness of Pchum Ben. The river at night looks like a tiny Seine, dotted with elegant lamplights and arching bridges. A moto comes into view, moving slowly through the downpour on the far side of the river.

My room is an attic-like space with exposed beams, ceiling fans, and dark wood floors. There is a bare wooden desk with a gorgeous old standing lamp beside it, and a writing mat. The room, the rain, the chanting, it all suggests the intrigue of a Graham Greene novel, the ruined mansion of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, Bogart in Casablanca—I watch the moto move through the rain on its mysterious errand.

A little while later the rain tapers off and I go for a long swim in the pool. The air is filled with the singsong voice of the chanting monk as the trees and plants around the pool reveal themselves in silhouette against the dawn. I swim back and forth in the pool of La Villa, wondering if Cambodia has exorcised the demons of the Khmer Rouge.

History Lesson

In Battambang I go to school. First to an empty high school, where a conference on education is under way, and later to a place where everyone has more or less run away to join the circus. In the morning I hear the nation’s most renowned psychiatrist talk to secondary-school teachers. The title of the workshop is “How History Teachers Who Were Victims of the Khmer Rouge Teach the Khmer Rouge History to Students Who Are the Children of the Khmer Rouge Perpetrators.”

One teacher stands to say she had told her students of her suffering at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and they had laughed. “I could forgive the Khmer Rouge but not those students who laughed,” she says.

Dr. Ka Sunbaunat, dressed in white linen, is an unlikely apostle of the talking cure. “You have to teach the Khmer Rouge history,” he says to his audience of teachers. “You have to get comfortable with it. Otherwise there is no catharsis.”

That afternoon I visit Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), an arts school that functions partly as a shelter for street kids; it is run by ethnic Khmers who were refugees at the Site 2 camp on the Thai border in the late eighties and received drawing lessons from a French teacher. On its small campus at the edge of town there is an outpouring of activity: drawing, painting, video animation, music. PPS is responsible for turning Battambang into something of a hotbed for artistic talent in Cambodia, producing artists such as Srey Bandol, whose intricate pencil drawings of Angkor’s temples subtly reconfigure the landscape, making it feel like it’s an old master painting from Europe.

Its centerpiece, both architecturally and as a business, is its circus, which puts on regular performances in Battambang and tours in Asia and Europe. I spend almost an hour watching kids of different ages fly through the air, twisting and spinning (and sometimes crashing) to the cheers of their peers. Standing amid such energy and laughter, with rhythmic music coming from the building nearby, where kids are jamming on ancient Khmer instruments, I remember a remark by a UN official in 1997: “I don’t think there is a good outlook for this generation. The hope is for the Cambodians not yet born.” Fifteen years later I am watching that future generation. They fly spinning through the air and, most of the time, land on their feet.

Water World

I had intended to take a boat from Battambang to Siem Reap, but the torrential rains have flooded the docks. I take a taxi instead. It’s a pleasant drive that arcs around the northern tip of the Tonle Sap. We skirt those areas once held by the Khmer Rouge. Anlong Veng, Pailin. The violence connoted by those names is mocked by the landscape outside the window. I love rice paddies. I love their green. I love the strange, weaving effect of so many tiny strands making a dense, textured whole, a kind of luscious rug. I love the mystery of their always being submerged.

All of Siem Reap, it turns out, is submerged in water at the moment. But the temples are open, and I rush to Angkor Wat and submit to its scale, which is both monumental and oddly soothing. One approaches on what must surely be both the world’s largest and most primitive runway—a runway to the gods—and enters its terraces of astonishingly detailed bas-reliefs of sex and death, monkeys and men, which spill across endless walls. Leaving Angkor I encounter actual monkeys who have wandered in from the jungle, and brought snacks in the form of coconut, which they leisurely eat while ogling tourists.

I first glimpsed Angkor through an airplane window during my visit in 1994. Siem Reap was then composed of just a few guesthouses and you could, if you went at the right time, wander nearly alone through the temples. It wasn’t entirely safe; not long after my visit an adventurous tourist was killed by suspected Khmer Rouge on the periphery of the temple complex. On the ground the temples feel monumental, but from above I saw them as a tiny arc of civilization in an ocean of jungle. A mysterious force had willed Khmer civilization to such heights that it could build these temples and then, with equal mystery, had laid them low and in ruins. There they sat silently for hundreds of years while the jungle encroached like the sea.

Ta Prohm, a 15-minute tuk-tuk ride from Angkor Wat, is where this feeling of discovering a modern-day Atlantis is most explicit. It’s a landscape from myth. Enormous trees have grown over the buildings and carvings like a forest that descended from the sky. Their giant roots drip down over the structures like candle wax or the tentacles of a huge squid. Beautiful figures carved in stone live within a tangle of vines and roots, which seem to imprison them. The natural and the man-made conspire to make a beautiful kind of hybrid art, and yet there is also the suggestion of strangling, choking, entwining. It feels like a metaphor for the unbelievable complications of telling stories about Cambodia, past and present, a superstitious place where epic horror has unfolded against a landscape of dreamy gentleness.

Going Green

The changes in Siem Reap are as striking as those in Phnom Penh. It has justifiably become an international tourist destination, an item on the bucket list of every collector of the ancient and monumental. Legions of brand-new hotels line the main road, almost Soviet in scale. Because of the rains, I had decided to stay at Sojourn Boutique Villas, a gorgeous oasis just outside of town that strikes a balance between the escapism of a full-service resort and a kind of cultural tourism that encompasses the temples and also Treak, a nearby rural village from which Sojourn hires most of its wonderful local staff.

That afternoon, Sokheurm, a man who speaks with such calm, soothing attentiveness that I couldn’t help but feel I was in the care of a reassuring and talented therapist, arranged an in-room massage, a cooking lesson, and a visit to Banteay Srei, where I spent a morning obsessing over the fanatical detail of more temple carvings. But the activity that most intrigued me was helping plant rice in the nearby village. Which is how I came to be standing shin-deep in a rice paddy, bent forward and pushing with my thumb a clutch of rice stalks into the mud. We had walked for a long time along ridges separating the paddies, which stretched out across a perfectly flat landscape to mountains in the distance, interrupted only by shacks on stilts and the occasional palm tree. The people whose plot I helped plant made me lunch, which included a bowl of vegetables and rice withprahoc, a Cambodian delicacy involving fermented fish.

“This is heaven,” I said to Anthony Jaensch, Sojourn’s owner, and then without thinking added, “I could live here.” He waited a few moments before diplomatically pointing out that I might start to miss certain amenities, like electricity.

To the Sea

I arrive at Knai Bang Chatt at night. The wind is very strong. The air is warm. I can hear the waves rushing ashore in a continuous tumbling hiss. I want to go right to the sea for a swim but the sea is very rocky, I am told. And it is dark. “Perhaps you should swim in the pool.” And so as I had done in Battambang, Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh, I inaugurate my time in Kep, this seaside resort area built by the French in 1908, with another long session in the pool. I feel a bit like John Cheever’s “The Swimmer.” Spalding Gray’s famous monologue was “Swimming to Cambodia”; mine seems to be swimming through it.

Gray was something of a pioneer in using a national horror as the setting for self-exploration and neurotic comedy. For a number of years in the mid-nineties young travelers flocked to Cambodia in the spirit of mountain climbers, except instead of proving themselves on the face of the Eiger, they flitted through the lawless world of Cambodia waiting to see if gravity would assert itself. For this group, traveling in the country was a form of playing with fire. Some of them got burned. Perhaps the most sensational example unfolded here on Vine Mountain in 1994. Three young travelers were kidnapped off a train. In part because they were French, English, and Australian and, in part, because it was a protracted baroque drama, it was a media sensation. They never came down from the mountain.

I have breakfast at a long wood table, sampling Khmer and Western food, and then set off by tuk-tuk to the Vine Retreat. The name alone amazes me, just as I am amazed to learn that a new private island resort, Song Saa, has been developed just down the coast. The mountain had once been controlled by the Khmer Rouge and festered with land mines. But the Khmer Rouge has gone. The land mines have been cleared. And the lodge, nestled among mango and jackfruit trees, with a spectacular view, is surrounded by a Kampot pepper farm. I find a few young people kicking back around the pool. Later, over lunch, in what feels like the fire tower of a national park, a man from the north of England who specializes in training plastic surgeons on the latest Botox techniques extols the virtues of Cambodia. “As soon as I am here, the pedal is off. I’m home.”

“Home? But this is a very exotic place,” I say.

“Yes, but as soon as I am here, all the cares slip away.”

And this is true of the lodge and the coast and much of the country—it lulls you. On the way down the mountain I pause at the train tracks. After the international scandal of the hostages—about which new reports are emerging to this day—the train was shut down. I see a new line is being put in.

Time Travel

My flight leaves late on Friday night and so I have one last evening in Phnom Penh. I have my last supper at the Chinese House, an old villa overlooking the river. Getting there is joyous mayhem. My tuk-tuk lurches through traffic along the quay, which is throbbing with colored lights, food vendors, and many groups of people partaking in what seems to be a cross between an exercise class and an outdoor dance party. I arrive to find a dimly lit building with gigantic doors that looks closed. Then two men pull the doors open to reveal a bar lit in hues of silvery blue; upstairs is a giant, modish room festooned with Chinese lanterns, where the restaurant, Tepui, serves excellent South American food.

I rush back to the hotel, then the airport, passing by the Olympic Stadium on my way. Mobs of people used to play basketball, volleyball, and soccer on its perimeter, me among them, but now it is being renovated and there is a fence around it. I am looking for the giant Seiko clock that used to adorn the side of the building. The clock had been permanently stopped at around four in the afternoon. But it seems it has been removed as part of the renovation, which is fitting. In the country of Year Zero, time is moving again.

This article originally appeared at TravelandLeisure.com, an Atlantic partner site.